{"speech_id":1090000019,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. STEVENS. former Senator Murkowski. and Ms. CANTWELL. respectively. advanced to the desk of the Vice President. the oath prescribed by law was administered to them by the Vice President. and they severally subscribed to the oath in the Official Oath Book.","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":258,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090000075,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Now. countless American voices are also sounding loudly and clearly in that same spirit. I am grateful for the efforts of so many around the world to come to the aid of those in need. including U.S. military personnel who are working day and night to help. Businesses and individuals from around Wisconsin have contacted my office. looking for ways that they can help. I am proud to be a cosponsor of the resolution before the Senate that expresses our sympathy and pledges our support to the victims of this catastrophe. and I pledge to continue working with my colleagues to ensure that our words continue to be matched by our actions.","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1859,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090000076,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I also want to share with my colleagues that we should be aware that the generosity of the American people in response to this disaster extends to the knowledge we have to share with the world regarding the monitoring and reporting of oceanic and climatic events. There is important research and monitoring already being done by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on tsunami events. work that involves the University of Washington in my State. Scientists are learning how better to monitor patterns or impending developments in our oceans so we can be prepared for future possible events. We do not always focus on the good work being done by NOAA. until something tragic like this tsunami occurs. Congress has January 4. 2005 COIN an obligation to people on our coasts to fund NOAA and see that it can do its job well. and we hould work to fulfill that obligation. In the United States. NOAAs National Weather Service operates two tsunami warning centers. the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii and the West Coast\/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center in Alaska. In the event of a tsunami. the Centers will issue local tsunami advisories to the Emergency Managers Office of each potentially affected State. The decision to evacuate a coastal area rests with each responsible EM. The Seattle Post Intelligencer reported that the current U.S. network consists of six deepsea sensors in Alaska. ","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6249,"word_count":232}
{"speech_id":1090000085,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it is count Monsignor McDermottFather with sadness that I rise to pay tribute Macas one of those people. When I first came to the Senate. the IrishAmerican clubs of Chicago came to me and suggested we should have a postage stamp that would acknowledge the contribution of Irish immigrants to America. I was surprised it had never happened. So the first phone call I made in the Senate was to my colleague. Senator TED KENNEDY. If there is anything dealing with Irish Americans. you better get TED KENNEDY on board. He thought it was a great idea. So we worked together. and we were successful. -The Postal Commission decided to commission a commemorative stamp commemorating the immigration of the Irish to Chicago. TED and I tried to decide which one of us would announce the stamp. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4543,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090000098,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Democratic Presidents have talked about it. Republican Presidents have talked about it. Senator KERRY has authored an innovative proposal. Senator FRIST has come up with ideas that I happen to think are attractive. What we ought to be doing as a body is looking for common ground and the opportunity to work together. As Senator SNOWE and I have done with prescription drug cost containment. I would hope the Senate could come together for a bipartisan catastrophic illness proposal that I think would make a very meaningful dent in these huge expenses we so often face for catastrophic illness. There are other areas that lend themselves to immediate action as well. In this regard. I particularly commend the distinguished senior Senator from New Mexico. ","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11621,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090000115,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The city. the county. and the Federal Government all worked together. He did a superb job. It was a great success. Today that neighborhood is an entirely- different community than it was in the early 1990s. I later told him. when they put you in the ground. this is one achievement you know made the world better. In 1994. I was elected attorney general of Alabama. and the office was in the midst of a funding crisisand I mean crisis. I do not mean a 1. 2. or 3percent shortfall. Spending was on track to exceed the funds available to the office by $5 million.. and the budget was a $10 million budget. I chose Armand to be our administrative officer. and his performance was superb. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6450,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090000122,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I publicly congratulate the Northern State University Marching Wolves on being selected to march in the Presidential Inaugural Parade on January 20. 2005. Northern State University has been an integral part of Aberdeen. SD. for the past century. The Marching Wolves were founded by Harvey Moen in 1941 and have represented Northern State University well for the past six decades. Today they are led by Dr. Alan LaFave. the Director of Bands at Northern State University. and Mr. Boyd Perkins. the Director of the Marching Wolves. The tradition of the Inaugural Parade is as old as the office of the President. as George Washington traveled from Mount Vernon to New York for his swearing in. militia members began to walk behind him. joined by government officials and Members of Congress once he arrived in New York on April 30. 1789. ","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2265,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090000193,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And changes in the rules. as was said by the previous speaker. should strengthen. not weaken. those standards. As it stands now. I think the previous speaker said we are gutting the ethics committee standards now. We are not as it stands now. I would not be standing up here encouraging people to support the rules package if in any way I thought we were gutting it. We are tweaking it. and as I said earlier. we are tweaking some of it in a way that I wish we were not tweaking it. but it does not gut it. It is something that the rules work pretty well the way they are now. and this does not change that that much. I have had the privilege of serving on the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct since 1997 and have had an additional responsibility as serving as chairman since 2001. And during that time. I have learned one paramount lesson: ethics must be bipartisan. ","speaker_name":"JOEL HEFLEY","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5343,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090000207,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we are making a terrible mistake here today by changing the rule in terms of the provision that would simply require no action after a 45day period because. as the earlier speaker immediately preceding me indicated. what we will have done is change a nonpartisan committee that is based on a nonpartisan process into one that provides for a partisan veto over action where the behavior of an individual Member or Members is at question. That. I suggest and submit. is something that this institution will suffer from. There has been much discussion recently regarding this package. It was anticipated that there would be additional provisions that were not submitted today. but let us be clear what is at risk here. It is the confidence of the American people in the integrity of this institution. Perception. as we all know. is reality. And when the American people understand very clearly that we now have a Committee on Standards of Official Conduct in which either side has a veto. it will undermine the confidence of the people in our ethical process. My question to the proponents would be. what is wrong with the current rules? We have operated on them.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1173,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090000224,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in opposition to what I consider a shameless rules package which will undermine the ethical standards held by this House. After the elections in November. the first thing the Republican majority did was to lower the Houses ethical standard. In an act of unprecedented shamelessness. they changed the rule of their party to permit an indicted member of their party to remain in a leadership position. Yesterday. in the face of an overwhelming bipartisan and public condemnation they changed their rules back. This is not shocking. What is shocking is that they ever considered it in the first place. Even more shocking. just if you think you have seen it all. is that the majority considered deleting the most fundamental of ethics rules which says that Members of the House should be held to the highest standards of ethical conduct. It says a Member shall conduct himself at all times in a manner that should reflect creditably on the House of Representatives. ","speaker_name":"NANCY PELOSI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10032,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090000237,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"While this was originally intended to make it easier to consider legislation making corrections to outright errors in law. it turned out to be more cumbersome than other procedures. such as consideration under suspension of the rules. And yes. Mr. Speaker. in a change guaranteed to draw applause from my colleagues. the House rules will now allow us to make reference to the Senate and its Members. so long as those references are confined to the question under debate and avoid personality. The Senate has long had similar provisions and this new rule merely conforms our rules to theirs. I know that my colleagues and I share the desire to maintain our traditions of dignity and decorum in proceedings. and will do so even with this rules change. On another topic. the package makes a sedes of changes to our ethics rules. We included two provisions suggested by the chairman and ranking member of the Standards Committee: (1) clarifying the rule on officially connected travel to allow a family member other than a spouse or child to travel with the member at the sponsors expense. and (2) conforming the rules of the House to current law which allow the use of campaign funds to pay for certain official expenses. such as a cellphone. We also included provision suggested by the gentleman from Connecticut to conform the rules of the House to current law with regard to the 90day preelection limit on franked mail. The package also includes two other provisions addressing our ethics rules. ","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11815,"word_count":254}
{"speech_id":1090000238,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I strongly oppose the changes in the House ethics rules that the Republican majority is seeking to adopt today. The proposed Republican rule changes would cripple the ethics process in the House and dramatically lower the bar for standards of official conduct. Late yesterday. the Republican majority in the House released the details of its rules package for the 109th Congress. Some of the newspapers reported this morning that the majority had abandoned its efforts to loosen rules governing Members ethical conduct. but this is not the case. While the majority backed away from some of its rule changes. the most egregious ethics change remains. This provision would make it much more difficult for the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to investigate allegations of wrongdoing by Members of the House. Under current rules. if the Ethics Committee deadlocks on whether or not to pursue an ethics complaint against a Member of the House. the matter automatically goes to an investigative subcommittee. Under the proposed change. a complaint against a Member would be tabled unless a majority votes to take action on it within 45 days. ","speaker_name":"SANDER LEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2676,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090000293,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. your committee appointed on the part of the House to join a. like committee on the part of the Senate to notify the President of the United States that a quorum of each House has been assembled and is ready to receive any corn-. munication that he may be pleased to make has performed. that duty.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":309,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090000308,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I offer a resolution (H. Res. 12) expressing condolences and support for assistance to the victims of the earthquake and tsunamis that occurred on December 26. 2004. in South and Southeast Asia. and ask unanimous consent for its immediate consideration.","speaker_name":"HENRY HYDE","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":266,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090000315,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This effort is the latest instance in a long American tradition of humanitarian generosity. and our actions demonstrate our belief that the earthquake and the tsunamis of December 26 were not primarily an Asian tragedy but a human tragedy. The people of the United States and all people of goodwill stand in solidarity with the many victims. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"HENRY HYDE","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2332,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090000324,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"January 9. in Houston. Texas. Might I close by saying this is what can be done all over the Nation and I know it is being done. I will also ask my colleagues to join me in supporting. legislation that I am filing. a resolution on temporary protective status of those individuals in this country whose documentation may be expiring and therefore are not able to go back to these devastated countries will be allowed to stay here until their nations are rebuilt. I look forward to working with my colleagues on this important effort. I thank the leiders who have put forward this resolution. They are visionaries but most importantly they are humanitarians. I am glad today this Congress is standing up to be called not just a Congress but people who care. who believe in the world family.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3607,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090000341,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we have no additional requests for time. In concluding. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I again want to express my deep appreciation to my friend and distinguished colleague. the chairman of our committee. the gentleman from Illinois . I want to say that all of us here are profoundly proud of the generosity of the American people. the generosity of our government. and the extraordinary skill and heroism of our military in facing up to this crisis. Those who cannot get over their mindless antiAmericanism should look at what the American people. the American government. and our military have done in the last few days concerning this crisis. and they will need to rethink their mindless hatred of this great Nation. \u0095 Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":796,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090000346,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"For example a 1993 tsunami followed an earthquake in Japan by a mere 6 minutes. Although 200 people perished. 1.200 people escaped the waves by running inland as soon as they felt the shaking. Research on the causes of tsunamis is also needed. One of the most severe tsunamis in recent history occurred in Papua New Guinea in July 1998. The initiating earthquake was unexceptional at a magnitude of 7.1the size of an earthquake that strikes somewhere in the world about every 3 weeks. Geological modeling strongly suggested that the quake caused an underwater landslide that together triggered the exceptional size tsunami. Other preliminary research indicates that under some conditions. tsunamis may be detectable from aircraft or satellites using radar or radiometers miles away from coastal areas. In this regard. I look forward to working with the Science Committee to identify opportunities for natural disaster detection and warning. and I look forward to hearing tomorrows briefing from Dr. David Applegate from USGS and","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4501,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090000354,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise to express my deepest condolences and support to those affected by the earthquakegenerated tsunamis that struck numerous countries in South Asia and East Africa on December 26. 2004. This enormous natural disaster. which has so far claimed more than 150.000 lives. including many Americans. requires a robust response from the international community. I am pleased that the United States is taking a leading role in the relief and recovery efforts. We should continue to partner with the United Nations. nongovernmental organizations. and other members of the international community to render humanitarian assistance throughout the region. I look forward to working in Congress to increase Americas contributions to this effort as additional needs required for longterm rebuilding are identified. Over the past 10 days. the outpouring of condolences and financial support from the American people has been tremendous. The efforts of the thousands of Americans who are giving of their time. money. and resources are truly reflective of the American spirit. and they exemplify our Nations values and ideals. I join with my colleagues- today in support of the House resolution.","speaker_name":"BENJAMIN CARDIN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1195,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090000373,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thankthe gentleman from California for the time. Mr. Speaker. today we mourn a friend and able colleague. It is a tremendous loss to each of us and to our country. BOB MATSUI was someone that virtually everyone in the Sacramento area knew and respected. Indeed. I was not elected to Congress until 1986. almost 10 years into BOBs service in the House. but my wife Pam and I already knew BOB and his wife Doris. One really could not be from the Sacramento area and not know and have tremendous respect and admiration for. the Matsuis and for their work in the community. ","speaker_name":"WALTER HERGER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2407,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090000384,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"His wisdom and counsel will certainly be missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family during this time. with Doris. with Brian and Amy. BOB MATSUI -believed in the value of public service. As a Congressman for 26 years and as a city councilman and vice mayor of his beloved Sacramento before that. he understood that government had a positive role to play in peoples lives. Inspired by the calling of President Kennedys speech challenging Americans to ask what they could do for their country. BOB MATSUI dedicated his life to that challenge. BOB MATSUr was a mentor. a statesnan and a role model. As a founding member of the Asian Pacific American Caucus. he was able to provide his insight and experience about the importance of public service and how to get the job done to many of us junior Members. Several members of that caucus join me today in honoring BOB MATsuts life and selfless service. As a senior member of the Committee on Ways and Means. ","speaker_name":"FORTNEY STARK","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2688,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090000397,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We literally had to cut it off. Afterwards when I spoke with BOB. he was on the ceiling. just delighted with the response we had gotten. and ready to suit up. ready to do battle over Social Security. It was this sort of zest that made BOB MATSUI a delight and a joy to work with. On our side we have a deep bench and we will fill his committee position with a competent successor. but no one can surpass BOBs mastery of the subjects which were his domain on either side of the aisle. The Congress has lost a great leader and the country a true patriot. a citizen. a third generation American who was interned as a child with his family who suffered an awful. terrible. unforgivable injustice. But he loved his country nevertheless and committed his life to making it better. We do not ask today for whom the bells toll. They toll for all of us. but especially for those of us who served with BOB MATSUI. loved him as a friend. and wonder if we will ever see his like again. To Doris and to Brian and Amy and little Anna. our hearts go out. But just as BOB lives on in all of you. he lives on in all of us who worked with him for years and years. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2827,"word_count":225}
{"speech_id":1090000399,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"BOB. I feel really at home with all of these chickens. So when I got up to speak. I said to the president of the university. I said. Mr. President. I know there is some controversy about chickens on the campus. .but do not move the chickens. let the chickens stay here. And BOB laughed and laughed. and we got an agreement out of the president that the chickens would remain on the campus. We visited schools. we visited a synagogue. a church. and a service in memory of Dr. ","speaker_name":"JOHN LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3594,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090000411,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think. We all work in these fields. and we have some outstanding individuals in this Congtess that I have served with over 30 years who have fought these fights. BOB was one of those. I had the opportunity to work with him on the reparations bill and in the Manzanar Historic Monument bill of one of the internment camps so that this country could remember what happened in the Tule Lake and the other internment centers. I do not know what else to say except that this is the loss of a really. really special person who was a wonderful friend. who was a great. great credit to this institution and who leaves behind a magnificent legacy along with a magnificent family. a family that no spouse or father could have been more proud of than he was of Doris and Brian and daughterinlaw Amy and this new granddaughter Anna. To see him and Doris at public events. engaged in their community and the partnership that they had and their conferring back and forth on the issues.and the battles that he was engaged in. was a wonderful experience. I am going to miss him greatly. I think this country is going to miss him even more.","speaker_name":"GEORGE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2655,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090000416,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. Iwould like to conclude by thanking all of those who have participated this evening as well as some of our colleagues who were unable to actually physically be here but who have prepared their statements for our colleague. a giant of the legislature. a man who warmed our hearts. who broke our hearts when he died. someone who was never petty. always modest but always a leader. always someone who could make America proud.","speaker_name":"ZOE LOFGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":475,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090000418,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He was a man of unparalleled integrity. compassion. intelligence and dedication. I will miss BOB MATSUI. I know that the people of California. the United States. and the Members of this body share my sentiments.","speaker_name":"KEN CALVERT","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":44.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":923,"word_count":35}
{"speech_id":1090000421,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"A reliable and true public servant. for the disadvantaged. for our seniors. and for our young Americans. who he inspired with his example and character. BOB MATSUI was gifted leader who epitomized the noblest qualities of public service. On behalf of the people of Guam. I extend our deepest sympathies to his wife. Doris and their family and to the people of the fifth District of California.","speaker_name":"MADELEINE BORDALLO","chamber":"H","state":"GU","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":1710,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090000423,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"His contributions to our country. particularly on behalf of Japanese Americans. will never be forgotten. We are all better for his efforts. While I am greatly saddened that he is no longer with us. it is my honoi to be able to recognize and pay tribute to such a fine American.","speaker_name":"DENNIS CARDOZA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1149,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090000425,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He worked tirelessly to reform the program and make it operate more efficiently. without compromising its purpose. A biblical proverb states that \"Good men must die. but death cannot kill their names.\" Representative ROBERT MATSUIs legacy will live on in the Congress as we continue his longstanding work to preserve Social Security and our countrys ideals of helping those who need and deserve it. We will miss him. but his name Will not be forgotten.","speaker_name":"STEPHANIE JONES","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1882,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090000428,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it is with great sadness that I rise to express my deepest regrets over the loss of my friend and colleague. BOB MATSUI. . My thoughts and prayers are with the Matsui familyespecially Doris. Brian. Amy. and Anna. Our country has lost a great leader. BOB MATSUI personified integrity and passion. He served California and America with great conviction and dedication to his beliefs. .BOB MATSUI was an inspiration to all Americans. Although he was taken to a Japanese American internment camp at only 6 months old. he never gave up his dedication to bettering our great country. ","speaker_name":"JOE BACA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":43.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1582,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090000433,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We were colleagues and friends throughout these years. our families each moved to the Washington area and our wives Sylvia and Doris also became good friends. One of my fond memories together was attending Brian and Amys wedding in California a few years ago. Brian also gave me my first official tour of the U.S. Supreme Court facilities where he clerked recently. His parents were so proud. Sylvia and I are shocked and deeply saddened by BOBS passing. and we offer Doris and the Matsui family our most sincere condolences.","speaker_name":"MARTIN SABO","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1175,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090000435,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He had a lifelong commitment to public service and the public good. Even though his early years were spent in a JapaneseAmerican internment camp in California. that injustice did not dim his love and devotion to our country. He remained in California. served on the Sacramento City Council. and as vice mayor of Sacramento. and eventually came to this House. which he also loved so very much. For his entire career. he was devoted to the welfare of children. the promotion of free trade. and the preservation of Social Security for future generations. I know that the committee will miss his expertise and good counsel for many Congresses to come. I want to personally extend my heartfelt condolences to his wonderful wife Doris. his son Brian. daughter inlaw Amy. and his granddaughter Anna. We will miss BOB and forever treasure his camaraderie.","speaker_name":"BENJAMIN CARDIN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1390,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090000439,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it is with great sadness that I rise today to honor a valued colleague and true gentleman. the late Congressman BOB MATSUI. I met him when I served as a state legislator within his congressional district in Sacramento. Since that time. I have been taken by his approachability and his ability to make those around him feel that he is truly listening to their concerns. During his 26 years in Congress. he has been a champion on issues that affect the lives of all Californians and Americans. from protecting Social Security to working for civil rights. Congressman- MATSUIS fight -against privatizing Social Security showed his deep commitment to fighting for the poor or less fortunate in our country. He led the efforts to ensure its fundamental purpose was never compromised. Congressman MATSUIs strong belief in social justice is apparent by looking at the legislation he championed. He drafted bills that became the backbone for child welfare reform. proposing to expand the social services available to atrisk children and families in the child welfare. mental health and juvenile justice systems. ","speaker_name":"GRACE NAPOLITANO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":38.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2041,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090000441,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He was one of a small number of Democrats who pushed for passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement. First elected in 1978 following. his service to the City of Sacramento. BOB and I were in the same freshman class of Congress as I too was elected that year. I got to know. and become very good friends with BOB during the 26 years we served in the House together. The people in the Sacramentobased 5th district lost a good legislator when BOB passed away on January 1. and he will be missed by his friends and family. It is with a heavy heart that I say goodbye to BOB. My wife Cheryl and I would like to express our condolences to his wife. Doris. and the entire family. in this time of sorrow and sadness. They will be in our prayers.","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1705,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090000442,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it is with a sad heart.that I rise today to honor my colleague. the Honorable ROBERT T. MATSUI. Far before these past 4 years where I had the opportunity to work with him in Washington. BOBS work effort. faith and determination were a constant source of inspiration for me. BOB fought in Congress for 28 years on principles that were unshakeable for the betterment of all. He took a genuine interest in Members concerns. visited Members districtsincluding mine in the San Gabriel Valleyand fought hard to ensure equality for the underserved and to bring justice to those wronged. BOB was a champion for Social Security. fought for all of our children and was determined to achieve economic justice. I am proud to say that BOB MATSUI is among those I consider a close personal friend. I send my condolences to his family and I am consoled only by knowing that BOBs legacy will live on. and the world will be better for it.","speaker_name":"HILDA SOLIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":934,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090000449,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to commend the gentlewoman from California for taking out this special order on our dear friend BOB MATSUI and to all of our colleagues who participated in it. I hope it is a comfort to the Matsui family. to Doris. Brian. Amy and Anna. that so many people in this Chamber and I know throughout the country *share their grief and are praying for them at this sad time.","speaker_name":"NANCY PELOSI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":387,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090000587,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Last week. Senator LIEBERMAN and I traveled to Iraq. to Baghdad. When I visited Iraq a year and a half ago. our Senate delegation in Baghdad and other cities. Basra and Tikrit. boarded armed Humvees and with military escort drove throughout those respective cities. Last week. we. were confined for security reasons to the heavily fortified green zone. which Is the command post of the United States military. our Government representatives. and the Iraqi government. The necessity for those restrictions was made apparent because one of the opposition political leaders with whom we were supposed to meet and where we envisioned traveling for 5 minutes outside of the green zone was the target of an assassination attempt the previous day. He was not harmed. but a suicide bomber killed himself and nine other Iraqis outside the location where the meeting was to occur. which underscores the perilous nature of the environment and the impossibility of providing the necessary and complete security for our own forces who are performing heroically and continue to risk their lives. and in some cases give up their lives. tragically. to protect the Iraqi people from the insurgent forces which are brutal and sometimes lethally effective in what they are intending to do in that. particular country. Sunday. I had the occasion to meet with a few hundred Minnesotans. family members of loved ones who are presently serving in Iraq. They asked the same question over and over again: When are our husbands. wives. sons. fathers. mothers. coming home? Although I opposed the Iraq war resolution in October of 2002 and continue to believe. unfortunately. we have on an overall basis weakened our national security. not strengthened it by our action. we are there. with 150.000 of our Armed Forces committed. ","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11613,"word_count":295}
{"speech_id":1090000609,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am pleased to respond to the inquiry of the Democratic leader. The budget assumptions for the next .committee funding biennial period. subject to appropriations. will be an acrosstheboard freeze budget. with salary baselines adjusted by COLAs of 3.71 percent in 2005. as approved by the President pro tempore this week. and 3.3 percent assumed for 2006 and 3.5 percent assumed for 2007. although both the 2006 and 2007 actual COLA amounts remain subject to the approval of the President pro tempore.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":501,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090000610,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Is it my understanding that such a freeze will result in aggregate funding levels. subject to appropriations. as follows: March 1. 2005September 30. 2005: $53.243.918. October 1. 2005September 30. 2006. $93.467.365. and $39.782.891. and that such funding levels include. but do not separately allocate. the additional 10 percent allocated to the committees in the 108th Congress?","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":379,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090000633,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the irregularities were not confined to the State of Ohio. Let me give you an Illinois example. In DuPage County. IL. 26 percent of provisional ballots were counted. but in Chicago. a few miles away. 61 percent were counted. That is more than twice as many. That is largely because Chicago allows provisional ballots to be cast by a voter who turns up in the wrong precinct on election day. DuPage County does not. the county right next to Cook County. How is it that the fundamental right of an American citizen to have his or her vote counted can vary dramaticallynot just from State to State but from county to county? We need to address this on a national basis.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":681,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090000635,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Thousands of voters waited in line for up to 10 hours to cast their ballots. Some waited until 4 in the morning. and some waited for hours in the rain. Many voters with job. family. and other responsibilities simply could not wait any longer. and they left without voting. It is unreasonable to expect voters to wait 10 hours to exercise their constitutional right to vote. Some soldiers and other Americans living overseas believe their ballots were not counted. Without question. everylegal ballot should count. whether it is cast overseas or here in the United States. Many precincts across the country continue to use outdated punchcard ballots and decadesold voting machines that are more prone to error or simply do not work properly. That is disturbing enoughmachines from the 1950s being used in 2004but even more disturbing is that urban areas are disproportionately affected. More urban areas do not have the modern voting machines and equipment that is available in other areas of the country. This disparity affects voting for a large number of minorities. and that is unacceptable. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4289,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090000637,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Clearly. the legislation we enacted to do so after the 2000 election was not adequate for the 2004 election. Forty years ago this year. after the SelmaMontgomery march. many of us in the Senate and House worked hard to pass the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965. to guarantee that racism and its bitter legacy do not close the polls to any citizen. After the 2000 election. we passed the Help America Vote Act in an effort to correct the serious problems that undermined the right to vote in that election. Unfortunately. last November. we learned that we still have work to do. As in 2000. the votes of many who wanted to vote were not. in fact. counted. The reasons are many and varied. Some voters gave up in the face of endless lines and waits of many hours at polling places unable to handle the large turnout of voters. In other cases. voting was frustrated by broken or ancient voting machinery. by confusion over applicable rules for voting precincts. or because States decided that certain votes did not comply with arbitrary and inflexible State or local procedures. We saw all -those problems in Ohio. It is far from clear the extent to which these serious problems were the result of intended manipulation or widespread incompetence. but either way. the voting process did not live up to the standards worthy of our democracy. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3325,"word_count":234}
{"speech_id":1090000638,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is important work and it should and will continue. When the investigatiohs conclude. should there be solid evidence of criminal activity. those responsible should be prosecuted. no matter how high that responsibility mayreach. But the Senate should not prejudge the results of those investigations. I applaud the efforts of the Senator from California. Mrs. BOXER. and the Congressional Black Caucus to defend the integrity of the electoral process. But the question before us today is whether we uphold the objection to the certification of Ohios electors in the count of the electoral vote. The Senate must vote. based on the information available to us at this moment. and absent the clear conclusions of the ongoing investigations into reported irregularities in Ohio. I shall vote to allow the electoral count to proceed. In this session of Congress. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2585,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090000639,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That legislation set Federal requirements for provisional ballots and for voter information. registration. and identification. Unfortunately. that legislation has not yet been fully implemented and does not go far enough. I would like to work with rmy colleagues craft legislation to ensure that all of our citizens are encouraged to vote and participate in our democratic process. Our citizens must believe their vote will count. At a time when we are risking lives of our service men and women to spread democracy throughout the world. we cannot ignore the threats to the democratic process here at home. I do not relish the vote I am forced to cast today. but I as I do. I look forward to being able to cast future votes on Federal election reform to ensure that we are not in this position again.","speaker_name":"DANIEL INOUYE","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1745,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090000643,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"HAVA. and have consistently supported adequately funding this law so that States can achieve its requirements and improve voting procedures to ensure every valid vote is counted. In addition. I helped introduce the Restore Elector Confidence in Our Representative Democracy. RECORD. Act. S. 2313. last year. This act contains a provision to strengthen security measures for electronic voting devices to prevent outside tampering and requires a paper printout of votes cast at electronic voting machines. The right to vote freely and without intimidation is the foundation of democracy and. we must do all we can to ensure every vote is counted and recorded accurately. I believe voters must have faith in the electoral process for our democracy to succeed. and I look forward to working with my colleagues in the coming year to ensure that our Nations election system is fair and effective.","speaker_name":"BLANCHE LINCOLN","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1578,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090000650,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I believe it is extraordinarily important for both sides to be gracious when an American election is over. But I also believe it is extraordinarily important not to ignore urgently needed election reform. such as requiring a paper trail for every single ballot that is cast in our country. Such a paper trial is required in my home State. In this last election. record numbers of Oregonians voted. There were no allegations of fraud. The system worked. and it worked well. Unfortunately. that is not the case in too many communities in our country. .When the Senate last debated the issue of election reform. this body spent weeks debating whether one dog in the Midwest was an illegal voter. I worked with colleagues .on a bipartisan basis. ","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3209,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090000658,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today great men and women of our Armed Forces are working to bring the right of free and fair elections to Iraq. In less than a month. there will be elections in Iraq. The sacrifice of our military demands that we work to ensure our own elections are fair. That is why todays debate is here. and I applaud my friend from California for allowing us to talk a little bit about elections generally. A constitutional right that can be said to help secure all other rights is the right to vote. History has shown us that the right to vote demands constant vigilance and attention. While secured by our Constitution. widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans and other Americans led to the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the amendments in 1970. 1975. and Constitutional protection was not enough. We needed tough newlaws and took action. More recently. the abuses in Florida 4 years ago demonstrated the need for change and led to reformand it was reformin the Help America Vote Act of 2002. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4356,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090000660,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I will end by saying we look forward to enacting commonsense measures such as the Voting Integrity and Verification Act which Senator ENSIGN and I will introduce in a few days to continue to improve the integrity of our elections. I do not view the need to consider these additional reforms as a sign that our electoral system has failed. That we learn. investigate. and reform demonstrates its strength. The only failure following the 2004 election would be to not acknowledge and act to strengthen the right to vote. I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will join with me in that effort.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":604,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090000668,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today as a Member of the body who recently was sworn in for his second term. In my first 6 years as a Senator of the United States in this institution. I faced challenges unprecedented in this countrys history. While we have made tremendous progress making our Nation more secure. increasing Americas competitiveness in the global marketplace. and upholding the Federal Governments promise to seniors by enacting a prescription drug benefit through Medicare. we still have serious problems confronting our Nation. On November 2. voters across this Nation chose their Government that will face these forthcoming challenges. The voters of Ohio and our Nation chose President George W. Bush. Even with a recount in Ohio. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE VOINOVICH","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1065,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090000684,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to express my support for the resolution submitted this week by Senator FRIST and Senator REID expressing sympathy and support for the victims of the devastating earthquake and tsunami. Words cannot begin to describe my emotions when I first learned of the scope of the disaster and the loss of life. More than 140.000 people from 12. -nations have perished to date and the number could double or triple as a result of infectious diseases spread in the disasters aftermath. The victims. their families. and all the affected countries are truly in my thoughts and prayers. When I visit the Indonesian Embassy this week to sign the condolence book. I will do so with a heavy heart but also a commitment to ensure that we do everything in our power to help in the rescue. recovery. and reconstruction efforts. I welcome the Presidents commitment to provide $350 million in relief and as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. and I stand ready to do my part to designate a robust and comprehensive aid package. Initially. we must provide emergency supplies such as water. sanitation. food. and shelter to prevent the spread of disease and give people hope. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2530,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090000689,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on December 22. 2004. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service published a final rule that will streamline the process used by the Forest Service in revising forest. management plans. I am pleased that the Department completed work on this important regulation. Ultimately. this rule will help local forest managers provide future generations with healthier forests. cleaner air. cleaner water and more abundant wildlife through more efficient management of our forests and grasslands. I am also pleased that this regulation builds upon one of the important lessons we learned during consideration of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act in the 108th Congress: emphasis on actual forest management rather than administrative paperwork. This will result in our forest managers being able to undertake important forest hearth projects rather than be overburdened with administrative processes. Although the final planning rule is very comprehensive I would like to point out several key components: It will for the first time incorporate implementation and outcome assessment into the forest planning process. which will ensure that the forest planning process is a dynamic one that can quickly adjust to changing -conditions. As we learned with the Healthy Forest Restoration Act. a dynamic management system allows the Forest Service to address the most timesensitive forest health issues such as wildfire. invasive species. or disease. ","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2889,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090000697,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. after years of faithful service and dedication to his work at Argonne National Lab. a friend and respected Idahoan. John Sackett. is retiring to pursue a quieter life with his family. John served in a number of positions in the Lab over the past 34 years. the most recent being director or Argonne National Lab West located at Idaho National Environment and Engineering Lab in southeast Idaho. He has earned international recognition and respect for his work in the areas of nuclear safety and advanced reactor design. I have had the privilege of working with John the entire time I have served in Congress. Over the past 12 years. I have witnessed his steady leadership. 6ommitment to the goals of the Lab and DOE. John and I share a fervent belief in the role of nuclear energy and research in economic. technological. security and energy sectors. Perhaps what is most remarkable is that despite the tremendous demands of his work at Argonne. he finds the time to give back to his community. serving on numerous medical and economic boards and councils in eastern Idaho as well as on the advisory boards of both the University of Idaho and Idaho State University. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CRAPO","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1375,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090000698,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"By bringing a TVA environmental impact statement up to Corps standards. he- helped advance the authorization of and funding for this new lock. He also worked hard with TVA. SEPA. and SEPAs power customers to allow SEPA customers to fund rehabilitation of hydropower facilities in the Cumberland River basin. a first in the Great Lakes and Ohio River Division. I extend warm congratulations to Dave Day on his retirement: He will be missed. but I know the citizens of Tennessee join me in wishing him all the best as he moves forward in life.*","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3056,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090000707,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Counsel to President George W. Bush. Washington. DC. Panel III: Admiral John D. Hutson. Ret. USN. President and Dean. Franklin Pierce Law Center. ","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":818,"word_count":23}
{"speech_id":1090000723,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Look at the basis for the legal challenge. Mr. Speaker. Mysterious hackers manipulating voting machines. phantom agents committing unspecified acts. Senator KERRY receiving fewer votes than another statewide candidate. and the final results not reflecting exit poll numbers. Mr. Speaker. this is absurd. None of these charges are legitimate. But votes are. The quicker we accept the fact. get on with addressing the issues that caused the American people to support George Bush in record numbers. the better we will be.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1269,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090000725,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And so. Mr. Speaker. it begins. the canard of hyperbole. the delusional statements. indeed. word coming to this body that later today. in a joint session. one from the other body will lead an Americanborn Boxer Rebellion. The conspiracy theorists use celluloid and mockumentaries and fevered imaginings to try to mischaracterize debate and. as we understand. even this afternoon. try to dissuade numbers and facts. Mr. Speaker. the sour grapes. the sensationalism. the conspiracy theories. and the fear and smear should be laid to rest. It will be later this afternoon. and for the American people it will be through vigorous factual debate.","speaker_name":"JOHN HAYWORTH","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":641,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090000731,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker. I thank my frienid from Florida. especially in terms of the fact that a quick check of the weather map indicates that his district may enjoy temperatures in the 80s this weekend. and in Arizona. we are just creeping back up to 65 in the Sonoran Desert. So I appreciate the fact that he is willing to pack a sweater. Hopefully. no umbrella will be needed in the wake of the moisture. We very much needed it in the desert earlier this week and in the high country in terms of snow. But weather aside. we hope that all our friends from the class of 1994 and the 104th Congress will enjoy their time as we take a look at where we have been and Where we are headed in this 109th Congress.","speaker_name":"JOHN HAYWORTH","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":745,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090000746,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the certificate of the electoral vote of the State of Colorado seems to be regular in form and authentic. and it appears therefrom that George W. Bush of the State of Texas received 9 votes for President and DICK CHEtNEY of the State of Wyoming received 9 votes for Vice President. Senator JOHNSON. Mr. President. the certificate of the electoral vote of the great State of Connecticut seems to be regular in form and authentic. and it appears therefrom that JOHN F. KERRY of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts received 7 votes for President and John Edwards of the State of North Carolina received 7 votes for Vice President.","speaker_name":"ROBERT NEY","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":640,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090000753,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. State of Wyoming received 3 votes for President. the certificate of the elec- Vice President. toral vote of the State of Maine seems Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. to be regular in form and authentic. President. the certificate of the elecand it appears therefrom that JOHN F. toral vote of the State of Nebraska KERRY of the Commonwealth of Massa- seems to be regular in form and auchusetts received 4 votes for President thentic. and it appears therefrom that and John Edwards of the State of George W. Bush of the State of Texas North Carolina received 4 votes for received 5 votes for President. and DICK Vice President. CItNEY of the State of Wyoming reSenator LOTT. Mr. President. the ceived 5 votes for Vice President. certificate of the electoral vote of the Senator LOTT. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1191,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090000755,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the certificate of the electoral vote of the State of New Mexico seems to be regular in form and authentic. and it appears therefrom that George W. Bush of the State of Texas received 5 votes for President. and DICK CHENEY of the State of Wyoming received 5 votes for Vice President. Senator LOTT. Mr. President. the certificate of the electoral vote of the State of New York seems to be regular in form and authentic. and it appears therefrom that JOHN F. KERRY of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts received 31 votes for President. and John Edwards of the State of North Carolina received 31 votes for Vice President.","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":633,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090000829,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. Ohio symbolizes that the Help America Vote Act fell short of the lofty goals set by this Congress. Ohios Secretary of State. Kenneth Blackwell. a Republican. in a State in which all statewide offices are controlled by Republicans and. in our State legislature. Republicans outnumber Democrats two to one in both chambers. our Secretary of State repeatedly took actions to make it more difficult for as many Ohioans as possible to have their votes fairly cast and accurately recorded. No national standards were set for voting equipment because the Bush administration appointed members of the Election Assistance Commission so late that their confirmation was nearly a full year later than required by HAVA.itself. They had no time to recommend standards until it was too late. and those standards are still not in place today. The Ohio Secretary of State tried to force county boards of elections to buy equipment that his own reports showed to be flawed. Federal dollars that this Congress appropriated to help modernize elections became stuck in Ohio between the Secretary of States office and local boards of elections who were often in deep disagreement as to which machine standards were trustworthy. ","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2651,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090000841,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the right to vote has been stolen from qualified voters. Stolen through corruption. through political cynicism. through incompetence. through technical malfunction. Despite the fact that the widespread and documented irregularities in the Ohio election have not been proved to change the outcome of the presidential election. the loss of the right to vote by so many is unacceptable. Elections must not only be fair and honest. they must be seen to be fair and honest in order to maintain the legitimacy of our democratic institutions. This year we have dodged a bullet. If the apparent margin of victory in Ohio were closer. the Florida 2000 fiasco would look like a picnic. Mr. Speaker. normally the process of counting electoral votes is a purely ceremonial event. Normally it is a celebration of our democratic institutions. ","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3434,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090000844,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the American people must be watching this debate and literally shaking their heads. With all of the challenges facing our Nation we are spending our time debating the challenge to the validity of the Presidential election simply because the Democratic Party cannot accept the fact that their candidate lost this election. They cannot accept the fact that their agenda. that their vision for America has been rejected by the majority of Americans. They cannot accept the fact that President George W. Bush simply received more votes than Senator JOHN KERRY. This election was very hard fought on both sides. The Arferican people have accepted the fact that it is over and they want this Congress to get to work and to work in a bipartisan way. If this is a minority partys idea of bipartisanship. then let the people of our Nation see it for what it is. Because in the spirit of bipartisanship. the Democrats are asking us to overturn the Presidential election which President Bush won by over 3 million votes nationwide and by over 118.000 votes in the State of Ohio. ","speaker_name":"CANDICE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3808,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090000853,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the numerous irregularities that occurred with the electronic voting machines in Ohio on November 2 of last year point to an unresolved national crisis. The lack of a unified standard for all voters and all ballots casts in a federal election. Congress must establish this standard with a verifiable paper or audit trail. It is the only way to ensure integrity ofthe federal election process. Reports of voter intimidation. inadequate and malfunctioning voter machines. incompetent election judges and lines at the polling places in urban areas that lasted for many hours were widespread. These irregularities were compounded by the irresponsible conduct of the allegedly unbiased top election official who openly became a partisan advocate for his partys Presidential nomination. Honorable colleagues. the numerous irregularities that occurred with the electronic voting machines in Ohio on November 2nd of last year point to an unresolved national crisis: the lack of a unified standard for all voters and all ballots cast in a federal election. Congress must establish this standard. with a verifiable paper or audit trail. It is the only way to ensure the integrity of the federal election process. ","speaker_name":"WM. CLAY","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1597,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090000875,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The problem is that while Congress can require that States allow voters to use provisional ballots. it has little control over how election officials count those provisional ballots.","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1452,"word_count":28}
{"speech_id":1090000889,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I traveled to Ohio where the gentleman from Michigan convened hearings. and I listened to citizen after citizen describe the Ohio election debadle. When there is a shortage of voting machines that leads to lines of up to 10 hours to cast a vote in precincts that are predominant minority and Democratic voters. forcing countless prospective voters to leave without voting. and where a number of Democratic precincts had fewer machines than were used in the primary election. despite the certainty of a much higher turnout in the hotly contested general election for President. it is clear that Ohio has failed to run a fair election. When Mr. Blackwell arbitrarily and unreasonably refused to provide provisional ballots to voters who were in the right county but the wrong precinct. or to voters who requested but did not receive an absentee ballot in a. timely manner. it is clear that Ohio has failed to run a fair election. When a county in Ohio shows more votes cast than registered voters. or when another Ohio county shows an underfunded Democratic State Supreme Court candidate getting substantially more votes than the wellfunded campaign of Senator KERRY. it is clear that Ohio has failed to run a fair election. When Secretary of State Blackwell refused to recognize thousands of new voter applications because they are not on postcardweight paper. it is clear that Ohio has failed to run a fair election. And where Secretary Blackwell. in violation of his statutory duty to investigate election irregularities. refused to investigate or remedy any of the hundreds of cases of voter intimidations reported to him. it is morethan clear that Ohio has failed to rdn a fair election. Mr. ","speaker_name":"MAXINE WATERS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":35.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4562,"word_count":284}
{"speech_id":1090000892,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I have not heard one election official in any of the 88 counties. Democrat or Republican. raise any concern about the outcome or the fairness of the election that occurred in their counties. If we really want to have a debate about how elections are run. that debate ought to occur at each of the 50 State legislatures where they in fact ought tQ look at what happened in their State. They ought to be making adjustments. But the election officials are doing the best they can. and I do think that what is happening today is really an indictment of the good work of many of those people in. our States. So I would ask my colleagues. let us get this behind us. quickly. and let us come here to do what the American people sent us here to do. Mr. Speaker. I yield to my colleague and friend. the gentleman from Ohio","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1897,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090000903,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker. let us face it.. This is nothing more or less than an attempt to sow doubt on the legitimacy of this President. It is an attempt to weaken President Bush. and it is unfortunate because we have much work to do in this House and in the Senate putting this country on the right track. On November 2. 2004. George W. Bush received a majority of the votes cast in this country. including the State of Ohio. the State that I happen to be a Member of this House. As a Congressman from Cincinnati. Ohio. ","speaker_name":"STEVE CHABOT","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1337,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090000931,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We can do better. Our ATM machines give receipts in return for cash. It is clearly not a technological barrier to provide a receipt in return for a vote. This is America. We are the incubator for democratic evolution. We are a beacon to the free world. Ohio had special problems this time. but they are problems we can fix. and when we fix them in Ohio. we will have made the progress in 2005 that we failed to make over the last 4 years. I am voting to support this challenge to the certification of Ohios vote as a legitimate and constructive beginning to a more perfect democracy and a more perfect union.","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1515,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090000939,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the 2004 election is over. and the results are in. I am not here today to dispute which candidate won the election. I join my colleagues today in expressing concem. however. about the irregularities that have been. documented from the election in Ohio. Mr. Speaker. we can argue all day about what did or did not happen with the election in Ohio. the procedures that were or were not used there. or about the voting machines. The issue we are addressing today. however. is the fundamental right of every Ajmeridan to vote. I am not challenging the outcome oi the past election today. What I am challenging is the fact there are people in America who have been denied the right to vote. And that. ","speaker_name":"SUSAN DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":53.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3048,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090000942,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"My concern with this protest. is its overtly partisan nature. I notice that my colleagues are quick to. criticize the vote in Ohio. a s.tate that the President carried. Yet we have heard little about potential problems with voting in states that Senator KERRY won. Rumors of voter problems have been reported in states other than Ohio. including my own state of Pennsylvania. But the focus today seems to only be on a state carried by President Bush. and that leads me to believe that todays protest is about the outcome not about the process. I believe a good deal of the reason for the last election is the failure of the left to produce a vision. And with an opportunity to regroup. take responsibility and work hard. they have walked away to the comforting shoulder of smear attacks. I say lets move on to do what we were elected to do. make positive change in this country. Its time we put partisan politics behind us.","speaker_name":"BILL SHUSTER","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1733,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090000963,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the certificate of the electoral vote of the State of Oregon seems to be regular in form and authentic. and it appears therefrom that JOHN F. KERRY of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts received 7 votes for President. and John Edwards of the State of North Carolina received 7 votes for Vice President Senator LOTT. Mr. President. the certificate of the electoral vote of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania seems to be regular in form and authentic. and it appears therefrom that JOHN F. KERRY of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts received 21 votes for President. and John Edwards of the State of North Carolina received 21 votes for Vice President.","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":661,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090000965,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the certificate of the electoral vote of the State of Tennessee seems to be regular in form and authentic. and it appears therefrom that George W. Bush of the State of Texas received 11 votes for President. and DICK CHENEY of the State of Wyoming received 11 votes for Vice President. Senator LOTT. Mr. President. the certificate of the electoral vote of the State of Texas seems to be quite proud in reflecting the regular form and authenticity. and it therefore appears that George W. Bush of that great State of Texas received 34 votes for President. and DICK CHENEY of the State of Wyoming received 34 votes for Vice President.","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":646,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090000967,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the certificate of the electoral vote of the Commonwealth of Virginia seems to be regular in form and authentic. and it appears therefrom that George W. Bush of the State of Texas received 13 votes for President and DICK CHENEY of the State of Wyoming received 13 votes for Vice President. Senator LOTT. Mr. President. the certificate of the electoral vote of the State of Washington seems to be regular in form and authentic. and it appears therefrom that JOHN F. KERRY of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts received 11 votes for President and John Edwards of the State of North. Carolina received 11 votes for Vice President.","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":641,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090001087,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that today. following the confirmation of the Spellings nomination. the Senate proceed to the confirmation of Condoleezza Rice to be Secretary of State. provided further that there be 2 hours of debate equally divided in the usual form. and that following that debate the Senate proceed to a vote on the confirmation of the nomination with no intervening action or debate.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":411,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090001091,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. some of us were just at a luncheon where I had a chance to speak with the current Secretary of State who is anxious to get back to tinkering with his cars. So he will note that objection with some regret. As I indicated. we anticipated an objection. Senator REID had indicated there would be a problem on that side for any amount of debate we would have today or tomorrow. so therefore I ask that on Tuesday. January 25. at a time determined by the majority leader. after consultation with the Democratic leader. the Senate proceed to executive session for the consideration of the Rice nomination. provided further that during Tuesdays session there be 9 hours of debate equally divided between the two leaders or their designees. I further ask consent that when the Senate resumes the nomination on Wednesday. January 26. there be an additional 40 minutes of closing remarks equally divided between the two leaders or their designees. Finally. I ask that following that debate. the Senate proceed to a vote on the confirmation of the nomination with no intervening action or debate. and that after the vote the President be immediately notified of the Senates action.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1184,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090001115,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Governor Johanns and I have discussed and agree that it is important for the Secretary of Agriculture to work in a bipartisan manner with Congress. With a Farm Bill reauthorization effort nearing. I look forward to working cooperatively with him to develop a practical approach to our national agriculture policy that will support and promote our agriculture products and producers. The new Farm Bill should further the goals of consumer safety and confidence in our nations food supply. without compromising the ability of our producers to competefreely and fairlyin the global marketplace. I was pleased to learn of the administrations selection of Mike Johanns as the Secretary of Agriculture. I have said repeatedly. and believe thoroughly. the person who will administer the farm bill and build for the future of agriculture in America needs to be somebody with Midwestern agricultural experience. Governor Johanns has that kind of experience and that perspective and in my opinion will serve the administration and the country well.","speaker_name":"BEN NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4362,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090001122,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Part and parcel of protecting our family farmer and rancher is ending the monopolization of the meatpacking industry and helping small. family agribusinesses to compete. Our family farmers. ranchers. and rural business people deserve fair farm. rural development and conservation programs as well as a safe food supply and other policies that help create more successful communities. I send my thanks to Governor Johanns for his service to Nebraska and his willingness to serve the Federal Government. and I look forward to working with him on these important issues. (At the request of Mr. REED. the following statement was ordered to be printed in the RECORD.)","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5053,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090001123,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Unfortunately. the MILC program is scheduled to expire in September 2005. 2 years earlier than the rest of the farm bill commodity programs. I believe that is unacceptable and will be joining soon with a bipartisan. multiregional coalition of Senate colleagues to introduce legislation that would extend the MILC program. I ask unanimous consent that a letter that several of my colleagues and I recently sent to the President on this topic be printed in the RECORD. I look forward to working with Secretary Johanns on this issue in the months to come.","speaker_name":"HERBERT KOHL","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1410,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090001125,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I congratulate the President on his choice to lead the Department of Agriculture for the next 4 years. I appreciate Governor Johanns commitment to continue an outstanding record of public service and I recommend to my colleagues that they all support his nomination.","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2065,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090001128,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"\"people have a right to a safe work environment whether they earn five or fifty dollars per hour.\" As Secretary of Agriculture. he will continue to grow and strengthen our farm economy. There will be challenges. including protecting the food supply. and developing alternative energy sources like ethanol. But Governor Johanns lifetime of experience and leadership makes him superbly and uniquely qualified to meet these challenges. Governor Johanns says his father cried when he learned that his son was going to become a lawyer instead of a farmer. I hope today is cause for celebration. I look forward to the swift confirmation of Governor Johanns. and I look forward to working with him to keep America moving forward.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2263,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090001136,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I congratulate my friend and colleague. Senator ENZI. on his appointment as the chairman of our committee. He is my favorite chairman to the year 2007. I thank him very much. I am glad to withhold if the Senator desires. As always. he is very gracious. but I am glad to wait until he has completed his remarks. Then I intend to talk about education.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":364,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090001142,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Education is in the homes and communities and schools. and it is paid for. 93. 94 percent. outside of Washington. But the Education Secretary can help our President put a priority on education. A lot of improving education is simply valuing education. I used to say down in Tennessee. when I was Governor. trying to get our State to value it more than that. the reason the Minnesota schools are better than the Tennessee schools is that in Minnesota they value education more. that we were valuing fast cars and football games and they were valuing high scores in math and science. and we were getting the fastest cars and they were getting the highest scores in math and science. So having the President and respective Members of the Senate put this upfront and having a competition for who can have the best \"better schools\" program and the best new initiative. that is the way we should be doing it. I look forward to that. I believe Margaret Spellings can help President Bush complete 8 years as a genuine education President. Because she knows him. She worked with him in Texas. She helped him introduce one of the strongest accountability programs any State has. ","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11099,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090001148,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Title IX ought to be a guiding principle in hiring. tenure. scholarships. and lab space for all scholars on all the academic campuses around our country. Title IX can finally give women studying science a fair shake where they have not gotten one before. It does not sound like a tall order. but it is not happening. Unfortunately. the Federal Government is not taking the lead in terms of tackling the issue. For example. I asked the General Accounting Office to examine whether the Federal Government is following the law and enforcing title IX. What the General Accounting Office found was disappointing at best. They looked at the Department of Education. NASA. the Department of Energy. and the National Science Foundation. and they found that little or no efforts were being made to ensure compliance with title IX requirements for grantees getting Federal dollars. Of all the agencies reviewed. the Department of Education was the only Federal agency that conducted any title IX compliance reviews. ","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7603,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090001173,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It starts with the premise that some 44 years ago today with the inauguration of John Kennedy. there was a change in fashion in America and men stopped wearing hats. Mr. Steinberg debunks that notion but goes into a very interesting history of not only John Kennedy wearing a hat but also hats in America. People remember that inauguration 44 years ago. Seven inches of snow fell the day before. Some 3.000 soldiers were on the street overnight shoveling the snow. using flamethrowers to try to melt the snow to make way for the inauguration the next day. The inauguration started an hour late. Senator Kennedy. of course. became the President and gave his famous speech: Ask not what America can do for you but what you can do for your country. Robert Frost was at that occasion. People seem to remember there were no hats there. that John Kennedy did not wear a hat. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11483,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090001182,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. as I was sitting at the West Front of the Capitol on this Inauguration Day listening to the speech of the President and the hopes of all the speakers for a fresh beginning. I kept thinking of another fresh beginning that occurred yesterday when our daughter Kate presented her husband Howard with a second daughter and her daughter Bess with a sister. Samantha Louise. While the hopes for a new beginning of an administration are always tempered by time and reality. the hopes which spring from a new baby are boundless. And so. at the inaugural lunch today in Statuary Hall. Senator WARNER and his wife Jeanne and General Myers and Mrs. Myers. as well as our other lunch partners. raised our glasses in congratulations and best wishes to the President and Vice President. but also graciously and gleefully raised their glasses with my wife Barb and me in salute to the birth of our granddaughter Samantha Louise. I know my colleagues will forgive this burst of a grandfathers pride as we undertake the serious business before us.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1045,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090001183,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Ms. Soelter served on the Board of Directors: in the early 1970s for the Billings Multiple Sclerosis Society. Helping Hands from 1991 through 1993. and from 1994 to 2000 for the Billings Community Center. Jan has participated in local. regional and national workshops and conferences. She has also received many local. regional. and national awards and recognition for her employment with the Social Security Administration. When Jan Soelter retired on December 31. 2004. we lost a very dedicated and caring public servant. She is an inspiration to us all. and a tireless worker for the cause of Senior Citizens. I have personal knowledge of Jans dedication. drive and commitment. not only to her profession. but more importantly to the people she worked with. and the citizens she worked for. Thank you. Jan. for your service to our country.","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1657,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090001196,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Vice President. please raise your right hand and repeat after me. The Speaker of the House of Representatives. J. DENNIS HASTERT. administered to the Vice President the oath of office prescribed by the Constitution. which he repeated. as follows: \"I. RICHARD BRUCE CHENEY. do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic. that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. that I take this obligation freely. without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of my office of which I am about to enter. So help me God.\"","speaker_name":"J. HASTERT","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":668,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090001202,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"You are great and gratefully to be praised. 0 God. as we conclude this 55th inaugural ceremony. we conclude it with an attitude of thanksgiving. Thank You for protecting Americas borders. After all. as the Psalmist reminds us. unless You. 0 God. guard the territory. our efforts will be in vain. Thank You for our armed service personnel. And it is with unswerving thanksgiving that we pause to remember the persons who have made the ultimate sacrifice to help ensure Americas safety. Thank You. 0 God. for surrounding our personnel. their families. their friends. and our allies with Your favor and Your faithfulness. Deploy Your host from Heaven so that Your will for America will be performed on Earth as it is already perfected in Heaven. I confess that Your face will shine upon the United States of America. granting us social peace and economic prosperity. particularly for the weary and the poor. I also confess. 0 God. that each Americans latter days will be better than their former days. Let it be unto us according to Your words. ","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2585,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090001207,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it adjourn until 2 p.m. on Monday. January 24. I further ask that following the prayer and the pledge the morning hour be deemed to have expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and there then be a period of morning business until 3 p.m.. with the first half of that time under the control of the majority leader or his designee. and the remaining time under the control of the Democratic leader or his designee. provided that at 3 p.m. the Senate proceed to executive session. as provided under the previous order.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":663,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090001223,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this afternoon. we will be in a period for morning business so Senators may introduce legislation and mak6 statements. Following that 1 hour period. the Senate will proceed to. executive session for the consideration of the noinination of Carlos Gutierrez to be Secretary of Commerce. Chairman STEVENS will be here to manage the hour of debate on this side of the aisle. and I understand Senator DORGAN will control the remaining 1 hour. We do not have a request for a rollcall vote on the nomination. Therefore. we will proceed to a voice vote at the expiration of that time. Consequently. we will not have any rollcall votes today. I do want to take this opportunity to remind my colleagues that we will begin debate on the nomination of Condoleezza Rice during tomorrows session. The order from last week provides for debate on Tuesday with closing remarks on Wednesday and a vote on that nomination on Wednesday morning. There are several other Cabinetlevel nominations that may be ready for floor action this week. including the nominations of the Secretary of Energy. the Secretary of Health and Human Services. and the Attorney General. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1292,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090001238,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it is my. understanding there are two or three Senators on the floor who would like to pay tribute to Mr. Liebengood. as Senator FRIST did. I will ask unanimous consent they be recognized. if we can get an idea how much time they will use. and then if we could return to the scheduled morning business with the remaining time on the Democrat side and then the balance on the Republican side.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":406,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090001255,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to speak in memory of Howard Liebengood.-who passed away on January 13. The majority and minority leaders and other Members of this body have already spoken in Howards memory. In addition to associating myself with their remarks. I would like to offer a few brief words of reflection on behalf of myself and my wife Jackie. who knew Howard well through her work for Senator Jake Garn of Utah. As someone who essentially grew up in this institution. I have always had a great deal of respect and affection for the United States Senate. While some today may dismiss the notion as quaint. I continue to regard the Senate as a familyone where personal friendships can transcend ideological beliefs. and one that in its finest moments can rise above party differences to truly make a difference in the lives of the people whom we serve. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3029,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090001354,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to discuss the latest developments regarding the Canadian softwood lumber dispute. With yet another curious and ultimately inconsequential lumber unfair trade determination due today at the behest of a NAFTA dispute panel. it is important to place this matter in proper perspective. Would. the distinguished Senator from Montana and my colleague from Idaho engage in a colloquy with me concerning the Canadian softwood lumber dispute?","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":462,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090001363,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Communities. churches. synagogues and families must continue to come together to help provide a strong source of support and counsel for young men and women as they become adults.","speaker_name":"CHARLES HAGEL","chamber":"S","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1143,"word_count":29}
{"speech_id":1090001375,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. as reports continue to appear in the media. there can be little doubt that a critical area of homeland security. and one on which I will be focusing as Chairman of the Health. Education. Labor and Pensions Committee. is the issue of bioterrorism. It is clear that we cannot separate the need for a strong national biodefense from other aspects of emergency preparedness. Last summer. when President Bush signed the Project Bioshield Act into law. he called bioterrorism and efforts to use modern technologies against us the greatest danger of our time. The threat posed by bioterror has not gone unnoticed by terrorists and those who wish to do us harm. That is why we -must continueto do everything we can to ensure our ability to respond to the use of biological weapons. In the months to come. my Committee will be working together to develop the strategy we will need to provide for a strong national biodefense. We will be exploring a number of options in that effort. like providing incentives to increase private sector participation in the development of bioterror countermeasures and biopreparedness tools. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2368,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090001399,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Director of the USMCI. Dr. John Potter. is a Professor of Surgery at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS). A highly talented cancer epidemiologist. Dr. Kangmin Zhu. has also been recruited to lead the USMCI Prevention and Control Programs.","speaker_name":"DANIEL INOUYE","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1630,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090001406,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Bill with no penalty or enrollment fee. and reimburse those service men and women covered by this bill who have already paid the $1.200 enrollment fee prior to the enactment of this legislation. The current Montgomery G.I. Bill is tailored to serve members of our military in a time of peace. Upon enlistment. recruits are given the option of enrolling in the G.I. Bill. If they choose to participate. they are charged a $1.200 enrollment fee which is deducted from their monthly pay over 12 months. However. we are now in a time * r and the demands on our service members and their families have been transformed and increased. To that end. changes must .be made to the G.I. Bill to ensure that it continubs to provide realistic and relevant educational opportunities to those who are defending our country. This is an issue of fundamental fairness. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES HAGEL","chamber":"S","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5142,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090001408,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"On December 26. 2004. Ukraine took another historic step in its pursuit of democracy with the legitimate election of its new President Viktor Yuschenko. This election showed the world that Ukraine has joined the family of democracies. The United States can help advance this young democracy by repealing our Cold Warera laws that should no longer apply to them and welcoming them to the international economic community as a full partner. This bill will accomplish these goals. In addition to welcoming the Ukrainian government to the family of democracies. we must also take a moment to honor the Ukranian people for their commitment to democratic institutions in civil society through peaceful demonstrations. Free and fair elections were conducted only because of the courage and hard work of the Ukranian people. Without their persistence Ukraine was in danger of moving forward with an illegitimately elected president. By drawing Ukraine into normal trade relations. the international community will be helping Ukraine to achieve greater market reform and continue its commitment to safeguarding religious liberty and enforcing laws to combat discrimination. PNTR status will hopefully do more than increase bilateral trade between the United States and Ukraine and encourage increased international investment in Ukraine. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3910,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090001409,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I promoted free and fair election procedures that would strengthen worldwide respect for the legitimacy of the winning candidate. Unfortunately. that was not possible. The Government of Ukraine allowed. or aided and abetted. wholesale fraud and abuse that changed the results of the election. It is clear that Prime Minister Yanukovich did not win the election. In response. the people of Ukraine rallied in the streets and demanded justice. After tremendous international pressure and mediation. Ukraine repeated the runoff election on December 26. A newly named Central Election Commission and a new set of election laws led to a muchimproved process. International monitors concluded that the process was generally free and fair. This past veekend Viktor Yushchenko was inaugurated as President of Ukraine. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD LUGAR","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3912,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090001410,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today. I am introducing along with Mr. DOMENICI the \"Pecos National Historical Park Land Exchange Act of 2005\". This bill will authorize a land exchange between the Federal government and a private landowner that will benefit the Pecos National Historical Park in my State of New Mexico. Specifically. the bill will enable the Park Service to acquire a private inholding within the Parks boundaries in exchange for the transfer of a nearby tract of National Forest System land. The National Forest parcel has been identified as available for exchange in the Santa Fe National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan and is surrounded by private lands on three sides. The Pecos National Historical Park possesses exceptional historic and archaeological resources. The Park preserves the ruins of the great Pecos pueblo. which was a major trade center. and the ruins of two Spanish colonial missions dating from the 17th and 18th centuries. The Glorieta Unit of the Park protects key sites associated with the 1862 Civil War Battle of Glorieta Pass. a significant event that ended the Confederate attempt to expand the war into the West. ","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1413,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090001412,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2227,"word_count":17}
{"speech_id":1090001415,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I am reintroducing legislation to enable those former prisoners of war who have been separated honorably from their respective services and who have been rated as having a 30 percent serviceconnected disability to have the use of both the military commissary and post exchange privileges. While I realize it is impossible to adequately compensate one who has endured long periods of incarceration at the hands of our Nations enemies. I do feel this gesture is both meaningful and important to those concerned because it serves as a reminder that our Nation has not forgotten their sacrifices. I ask unanimous consent that the text of my bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"DANIEL INOUYE","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":688,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090001424,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the text of my bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"DANIEL INOUYE","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":834,"word_count":17}
{"speech_id":1090001427,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. all too often we find that our Nations civilian employees of the Federal Government who have been forcibly detained or interned by a hostile government do not receive the recognition they deserve. My bill would correct this inequity and provide a prisoner of war medal for such citizens. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the text of my bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"DANIEL INOUYE","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":392,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090001437,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in our effort to accommodate many Americans by making Memorial Day the last Moniday in May. we have lost sight of the significance of this day to our nation. My bill would restore Memorial Day to May 30 and authorize our flag to fly at half mast on that day. In addition. this legislation would authorize the President to issue a proclamation designating Memorial Day and Veterans Day as days for prayer and ceremonies. This legislation would help restore the recognition our veterans deserve for the sacrifices they have made on behalf of our Nation. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the text of my bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"DANIEL INOUYE","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":656,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090001441,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I introduce legislation to amend Title 18 of the United States Code to allow our Nations clinical social workers to use their mental health expertise on behalf of the federal judiciary by ponducting psychological and psychiatric exams. I feel that the time has come to allow our Nations judicial system to have access to a wide range of behavioral science and mental health expertise. I am confident that the enactment of this legislation would be very much in. our Nations best interest. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the text of this bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"DANIEL INOUYE","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":601,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090001446,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This approach would stimulate private charitable giving to food banks at the community level. Each citizen can make an important contribution to the fight against hunger at a local level. Over the years. I have had the opportunity to visit numerous Hoosier food banks. and have been especially impressed by the remarkable work of these organizations. In many cases. they are partnered with churches and faithbased organizations and are making a tremendous difference in our communities. We should support thfs private sector activity. which not only feeds people. but also- strengthens community bonds and demonstrates the power of faith. charity. and civic involvement. Thank you. Mr. President. I yield the floor. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD LUGAR","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4481,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090001447,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Currently. some 37 percent of bridges in New Jersey are considered structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. Their average age is 42 years old. But. the fees. tolls. and gasoline taxes paid by the operator of a 100.000pound truck only covers 40 percent of the cost of the damage that truck does to our roads and bridges. taxpayers make up the difference. I believe that motorists should not have to share the road with these dangerous behemoths and pay for the extra damage they cause. In the 108th Congress. the Senate passed portions of this legislation in the highway reauthorization legislation package. I believe that if we act to pass this legislation. we can make a big difference in the lives of people who share our highways with large truck traffic. I thank my colleague Senator DEWINE for once again joining me in sponsoring this important legislation. and I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Congress to improve highway safety and increase the remaining life of our countrys roads and bridges. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3847,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090001490,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Again. in conclusion. I thank the leadership for their support and my colleagues for their support on this particular amendment. We had a number of elections for Senate seats where this was .a very important issue and critical to the election of many of Qur new Members in the Senate. We have at least five votes that have switched as a result of this election. I think that is the American people having an opportunity to speak their mind. I can say. this amendment is to protect the voice of the American people. The proper way to have this debate is in the legislative bodies of America. That includes the Congress and each and every legislature. Again. I thank the leader for his leadership on this particular issue. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1022,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090001500,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it adjourn until 9:45 a.m. on Tuesday. January 25. I further ask that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and there then be a period of morning business for up to 60 minutes with the first half of the time under the control of the majority leader or his designee and the remaining time under the control of the Democratic leader or his designee. provided that following morning business. the Senate proceed to executive session as provided under the previous order. I further ask consent that the Senate recess tomorrow from 12:30 p.m. until 2:15 for the weekly party lunches.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":789,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090001515,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Hussein regime is now out of power. The former dictator and killer of thousands is sitting in prison and the first democratic elections in Iraq are about to take place. Our Nation is more secure because a dangerous regime. with a history of aggression and links to terrorist organizations. is no longer in power. Today. America has demonstrated its resolve in the global war on terror. American troops and their coalition allies have achieved this historic effort thanks to their sacrifice. As democracy in Iraq succeeds. a message will be sent forth that freedom can be the future of every nation and that freedom improves the peace and security of the United States. I am certain Dr. Rice will present this powerful message abroad with skill and determination. Just as importantly. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5884,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090001526,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Economic development and trade and foreign direction investment and the spread of modern technology and telecommunications have raised the standard of living throughout the world and connected people of the world as never before. But too many nations and people have been left behind because of failed governments or failed economies. They have become breeding S378 Co grounds for terrorists who threaten us all. Today. there is hope. Members of democracy are beginning to glow where that powerful light has existed little or none before. The Afghans and the Palestinians have recently held successful elections. This Sunday. Iraq will hold a historic democratic election. I know the circumstances are difficult there. but having been there myself just a few weeks ago I can speak with some confidence that the turnout will be large and the affirmation of the Iraqi people for a better and freer future will be clear. Whether these embers grow into beacons for the rest of the Arab world or fade into dark and cold will depend uniquely upon strong. skillful American leadership and diplomacy. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8349,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090001567,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The chaos that has arisen from the lack of security and stability has fed this insurgency. I asked one of our top ranking officials in Iraq in December which was growing more quickly. our ability to train Iraqis to combat the insurgency or the insurgency itself? His twoword response: The insurgency. Unfortunately. in some regards we have even succeeded in discrediting the very cause for which we are fighting and dying today. I listened intently to the Presidents inaugural address on the steps of this Capitol in which he spoke repeatedly about the need to advocate freedom and liberty and democracy around the world. not only because it is in our interest but because it is in the interest of peace and stability across the planet as a whole. In that regard he is right. But I could not help but recall the words of a member of the Iraqi Electoral Commission. a Turkoman from Kirkuk. who finally looked at me in Baghdad and said: Senator. you do not understand. For too many of my people. when they hear the word \"democracy.\" they think violence. they think disorder. they think death and economic disintegration. It does not get much sadder than that. It is heartbreaking that the sacrifices that have been made. the idealism of our troops. Americas prospects .for success in Iraq. our very standing in the world. have too often been undercut by ineptitude at the highest levels of our own Government. ","speaker_name":"EVAN BAYH","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6363,"word_count":244}
{"speech_id":1090001571,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Senator. given the gravity of the situation facing the United States in Iraq. I also want to take this moment to meet my obligation to advise Dr. Rice and the President. I do this for one reason. We all serve here at the pleasure of the citizens of our States. Our efforts fail or succeed based on the informed consent of those citizens. Nowhere is that more clear than in the areas of war and peace. The consequences of war are clear. Like so many American families. my family knows the pain and sacrifice of war. My relatives have been killed on the soils of Europe and other places. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5452,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090001589,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"\"America and all free nations are facing a generational struggle against a new and deadly ideology of hatred that we cannot ignore.\" She stressed the importance of public diplomacy to counter this ideology of hate. including increasing our exchanges with the rest of the world. A unilateralist course would only complicate our relations with the Muslim world. Dr. Rices nomination has offered an opportunity -for the Senate to consider not only the merits of the nominee. but the foreign policy challenges that we face. The Senate should be a forum for debate about foreign policy. The former Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. J. William Fulbright. observed that the Congress has a: traditional responsibility. in keeping with the spirit if not the precise words of the Constitution. to serve as a forum of diverse opinions and as a channel of communication between the American people and their goternment. Chairman LUGARs distinguished leadership of the Foreign Relations Committee has been in concert with the former chairmans words. Senator Fulbright received criticism for holding public hearings on Vietnam. especially with a President of his own party in office. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES HAGEL","chamber":"S","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5864,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090001608,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":0,"speech_text":"My antitorture amendment passed in the Senate. went to conference on the Department of Defense authorization bill. but it was changed slightly from a prohibition to a statement of policy. I didnt care much for the change. but I accepted it because I thought it still preserved the basic goal. which was to restate our countrys policy against torture. The part that did not change was my amendments requirement that the Department of Defense report regularly on any violations of this policy against torture. That was what happened in the Department of Defense bill. Then came the intelligence reform bill. and I feltit was important that we try again to restate our law of prohibition against torture. It was equally important that the reporting requirempnts for violations apply not only to the military agencies as we did in the Defense bill. but also apply to the variety of different intelligence agencies covered by the intelligence bill. I tried with both bipartisan amendments to cover the circumstances of those who would take into detention someone during the course of war in Iraq or Afghanistan or some other place. This amendment passed and it was sent to conference. I followed the conference closely as a Senate conferee and a member of the Governmental Affairs Committee. I was surprised and disappointed to Slearn as I went to conference that a message had come down from the White Housespecifically from Dr. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11382,"word_count":237}
{"speech_id":1090001615,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my distinguished colleague. the chairman. for his great leadership in handling this nomination. That leadership is consistent with what I have observed these many years. now being in my 27th year in the Senate. my colleague being a year or 2 senior to me. But on behalf of the Senate and on behalf of the country. we thank you. Mr. Chairman. And I must say. I think your ranking member. in large measure. has been supportive. I am anxious to see how this works out tomorrow. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11453,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090001667,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. Reno. NV. is a wonderful city and a great place to live. The sparkling Truckee River flows through the. heart of town. The campus of the University of Nevada sits on a hillside overlooking the city. The Nevada Museum of Art is nearby. And standing on the streets of downtown Reno. one can see majestic mountains in every direction. including the peaks of the Sierra Nevada around Lake Tahoe. A beautiful city and a fine place to raise a family. But like any other city. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4564,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090001670,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"On a fundamental level. however. the world is facing the same choice we did over 60 years go: do we respond to heinous crimes against humanity. or do we ignore a growing tragedy until it is far. far too late? This is the challenge that confronts us today. as we commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz and the other Nazi death camps to ensure that the cry of \"never again\" does not ring tragically hollow. In closing. Mr. President. I would like to note that in addition to the anniversary that we are commemorating this week. todays date marks a special occasion in the Jewish calendar. Today_ is the holiday of Tu BShvat. the traditional New Year for trees. It heralds the coming of the spring. and is an occasion for celebrating renewal. transition. and hope. It is my hope that as Americans and people around the world reflect on the 60th anniversary of liberation. we can seize this solemn occasion to look towards the future. and to plant new seeds of hope. tolerance. and justice among all of humankind.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5032,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090001676,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Prior to the inauguration. on Tuesday. January 18th. 2005. I had the opportunity to meet with the students of the Red Rover Marching Band and to listen as they practiced for their inaugural performance. The Red Rover Marching Band was chosen out of 300 bands from across the nation. In our meeting. I could feel the excitement of these high school students as they prepared for the opportunity to display their talents and participate in such an important event. It brings a great sense of pride to the residents of Easton and to all Pennsylvanians that the Red Rover Marching Band was selected to represent the musical talents of Pennsylvania youth in the inaugural parade. It is a great honor for the Red Rover Marching Band to participate in such a dramatic event of pomp and circumstance. I am thankful for the time that they put in practicing and reviewing their song selection. They should be proud to be among the many other topnotch bands that performed before the President and First Lady in the Inaugural Parade. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2019,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090001678,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. with great pride and admiration I honor the Carroll College football team. better known as the Fighting Saints who. on December 18. 2004. defeated the University of St. Francis Cougars to win their third consecutive NAIA football championship. Carroll is the first team to achieve this feat since Texas A & I accomplished it in 19741976. St. Francis was leading 1312 with just 1:13 left to play in the game and 89 long yards for Carroll College. Without a timeout remaining. quarterback Tyler Emmert drove the Saints within field goal range and with ten seconds on the clock to spare. which gave freshmen kicker Marcus Miller an opportunity to kick a 32yard field goal. Along with the honor of being national champions. quarterback Tyler Emmert was named the offensive MVP of the NAIA AllAmerican Team. Four other team members of the Fighting Saints were also named to the NAIA AllAmerican Team and two received honorable mentions. This great team is led by head coach Mike Van Diest who was named 2003 NAIA National Coach of the Year and Frontier Conference Coach of the Year. ","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3901,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090001699,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Laguna. Acoma. Isleta. Picuris. and Taos. the National Congress of American Indians. the Hopi Tribe. The Wilderness Society. the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance. the Coalition for New Mexico Wilderness. on behalf of more than 375 businesses and organizations. the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club. the National Parks Conservation Association. the Albuquerque Convention and Visitors Bureau. 1000 Friends of New Mexico. and numerous individuals. The Ojito provides a unique wilderness area that is important not only to its local stewards. but also to the nearby residents of Albuquerque and Santa Fe. as well as visitors from across the country. It is an outdoor geology laboratory. offering a spectacular and unique opportunity to view from a single location the juxtaposition of the southwestern margin of the Rocky Mountains. the Colorado Plateau. and the Rio Grande Rift. along with the volcanic necks of the Rio Puerco Fault. Its rugged terrain offers a rewarding challenge to hikers. backpackers. and photographers. It shelters ancient Puebloan ruins and an endemic endangered plant. solitude and inspiration. Designating Ojito as a wilderness area ensures that the beauty of this special place will be protected and enjoyed for years to come. ","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2261,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090001700,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. Im introducing a bill today that is aimed at helping rural communities build or improve essential community facilities such as shelters. nursing homes. hospitals. medical clinics. and fire and rescuetype projects. My bill would make it possible for project sponsors to accept certain USDA loan guarantees without risking the tax exempt status that enables them to finance these initiatives. Clarification of existing tax rules. as proposed in this bill. will provide certainty for project sponsors. help lower project costs for rural communities. and help deal with a backlog of loan applications for small communities. The needs are great Ph many rural communities. This measure will help communities help themselves and I look forward to working with the Senate Finance Committee on this important topic. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the measure be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"HERBERT KOHL","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":900,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090001704,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"One of the provisions of that bill was written especially with the intent of not allowing companies to simply reorganize as a way to get out of their obligations to their workers. Unfortunately. too many companies are increasingly using bankruptcy courts to achieve the same results. It should not be necessary for me to introduce this bill today. Congress has already spoken on this subject. The law is clear: Coal Act retirees are entitled to full benefits provided under the statute. No judge should rewrite the law to take those benefits away. However. because judges are legislating from the bench. it will be helpful for Congress to reiterate our intention to protect the health benefits of coal miners and their families. This issue is extremely important to all of those who are being victimized by the bankruptcy courts. I hope that my colleagues will join me in this effort to protect the miners. retired miners. and families who are simply seeking the benefits they were promised in exchange for years of hard work. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"JOHN ROCKEFELLER","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2279,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090001712,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In the increasingly knowledgedriven. information age economy. intellectual property is the new coin of the realm. \u0095 . . (Report of the DOJ Task Force on Intellectual Property. p. 7.] As the DOJ IP Task Force Report notes. Americas economy re~ies more and more on ideas we create. not things we make. We need to protect our Nations innovative and creative works with strong laws and enforcement of those laws because doing so is vital to our national economic security. Having noted and Quoted the DOJ Report. I want to pause to thank the Justice Department and outgoing Attorney General John Ashcroft for taking these issues seriously and for taking significant steps to address them. The formation of the Intellectual Property Task Force spotlighted these issues at the Justice Department and the work of the Task Force. headed by David Israelite did a superb job in developing comprehensive and serious steps better protecting our intellectual property interests. The DOJ engaged in serious domestic and international investigations and prosecutions against digital thieves who have misused promising digital technology like the Internet to further their attacks on American businesses. General Ashcroft and the Justice Department. who deserve our gratitude for so many reasons. certainly deserve it for their efforts on this area. Having provided that foundation. let me discuss briefly some of the important- provisions contained in this legislative package. We have purposefully compiled a package of legislation that strikes a balance between innovation and copyright protection. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9485,"word_count":245}
{"speech_id":1090001775,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Sen-\" ate completes its business today. it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday. January 26. I further ask that following the prayer and the pledge. the morning hour be deemed to have expired. the Journal of the proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. that there then be a period of morning business equally divided until 10:30 a.m.. with the first half of the time under the control of the Democratic leader or his designee. and the remaining time under the control of Senator BROWNBACK or his designee. provided that at 10:30 a.m. the Senate proceed to executive session. as provided under the previous order. provided further that the vtte occur on the Rice nomination at 11:30 a.m. with the debate prior to the 11:30 a.m. vote occurring in the following order: Senator LUGAR. Senator BIDEN. Senator BOXER. Senator BYRD. Senator REID. and Senator FRIST. I further ask that the last 5 minutes be reserved for Senator LUGAR or his designee.","speaker_name":"RICHARD LUGAR","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1029,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090001787,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We thank you. Father Mac.","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":770,"word_count":5}
{"speech_id":1090001793,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The resolution also commends the people of Ukraine for the remarkable effort they made to ensure that democracy was carried out in their country and the true will of the people to elect the president of their choice was accomplished. Mr. Speaker. rather than an external geopolitical struggle. events which took place in Ukraine between November 21 and December 26 were all about democracy. of freedom. of real. rather than declared. rights. as we heard Mr. Yushchenko explain. and the right of the people to freely and fairly choose their leaders. The United States Congress attaches great importance to the success of Ukraines continued transition to a democratic state. with strong institutions and a flourishing market economy. U.S. Government policy- must remain focused on promoting and strengthening a stable. democratic. and prosperous Ukraine. Today. through H. Con. Res. 16. we congratulate President Yushchenko. ","speaker_name":"HENRY HYDE","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4642,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090001804,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the Chairman and the Ranking Member for bringing this important legislation to the Floor today. As the former Chairman and Ranking Democrat on the Helsinki Commission. I was honored to advocate for the basic human rights of dissidents in the former Soviet Union. including in Ukraine. and know well their commitment to freedom and democracy. And today. as this legislation recognizes. the people of Ukraine have achieved their long sought goal and under the leadership of their new President. Viktor Yushchenko. and today are moving forward with a spirit of optimism and hope. Over the last several months. the people of Ukraine have weathered nothing short of political crisis. The November 21st presidential runoff between thenPrime Minister Viktor Yanukovich and President Yushchenko. who was then the opposition leader. was racked by voting irregularities and illegalities. Ukranian and international observers both determined that state resources were abused in support of Prime Minister Yanukovich. who \"won\" that runoff. there was illegal voting by absentee ballot. multiple voting. assaults on election observers and the use of counterfeit ballots. ","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2235,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090001806,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And Mr. Yushchenkos peaceful inauguration. and smooth transition to power. displays yet another positive sign for a bright future for the Ukrainians and sets an exceptional example of the power of freedom and democracy for the entire region. As a senior Member of the House International Relations Committee. I extend my personal congratulations to Mr. Yushchenko and wish him all the best as he works to bring Ukraine into the community of democratic nations. As freedom and democracy descends on Ukraine. I hope that their peaceful transition to a modern democratic country will serve as a further catalyst for the growing international movement to bring liberty to all peoples of the world that still suffer in the shadows of tyranny and dictatorship.","speaker_name":"DAN BURTON","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1622,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090001817,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The administration and the governments of the allies in World War 1I and of the European Union deserve our thanks for their efforts to arrange for a session of the U.N. General Assembly to commemorate this anniversary. and I also thank the U.N. Secretary General for his important. personal support for the special session and for his remarks yesterday. Yesterdays U.N. meeting did not take place on January 27. the precise anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. because many of the leaders participating at the U.N. are traveling to Auschwitz for a special commemoration at that site. where well over a million souls perished. I commend the President for asking Vice President CHENEY to lead the American delegation to that commemoration. The President demonstrated additional insight by naming Mrs. Lynne Cheney. as well as our friends. the gentleman from California","speaker_name":"HENRY HYDE","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2259,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090001820,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"H. Res. 39. recognizes the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz in Germanoccupied Poland. We also seek to strengthen the fight against racism. intolerance. bigotry. prejudice. discrimination. and antiSemitism. The Congress of the United States joins those in Poland and elsewhere who are marking this solemn occasion. I particularly support. Mr. Speaker. this resolutions call for education about what happened during the Holocaust in general and at Auschwitz in particular. At that single camp. an estimated 1.1 million men. women. and children were slaughtered. All in all. more than 60 percent of the preWorld War II Jewish population perished during the Holocaust. Others drawn into the Nazi machinery of death included Poles. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3110,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090001824,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He was one of the lucky ones. like our good friend and colleague. the gentleman from California . who survived this terrible time when hell was in session. So. again. this is another one of those issues that we all are deeply concerned about. There is no division between Democrat or Republican. And again I want to thank the gentleman from Illinois for his leadership on this as well. It has been extraordinary. Mr. Speaker. I submit herewith the \"Report on Global AntiSemitism\" referred to earlier.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1862,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090001825,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume to express my deepest admiration to both my friend. the gentleman from New Jersey . and the gentleman from Maryland . who not only on the Helsinki Commission and in this body but in their own personal activities have provided extraordinary leadership in fighting bigotry and hatred in all its forms. Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Maryland . the Democratic whip and my good friend.","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":490,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090001826,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. and I rise as well to say that no Member of this body has been any more personally affected. and certainly no Member of this body has more consistently raised the consciousness of the American people and. indeed. the international community on the importance of never forgetting. [] 1500 Madam Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman HYDE). who is committed to this issue and has been a leader and has traveled and headed the delegations of the Helsinki Commission to the Parliamentary Assembly and raised our voice in foreign lands. 0 I also thank the gentleman from California . the ranking member. the only.Holocaust survivor ever elected to Congress. In particular. I want to say to the gentleman from California. his indefatigable commitment to human freedom and basic human dignity is a source of inspiration to all of us privileged to serve with the gentleman. It should be emulated by us all. Madam Speaker. 60 years ago at 3 p.m. on January 27. 1945. Soviet Red Army soldiers entered Auschwitz concentration camp. Those of us who visited Auschwitz long after that date but who saw the horrible implements of death constructed there by the Nazi regime can only imagine. knowing the horror that we felt. the horror and revulsion that those Soviet soldiers. human beings. must have felt as they entered that camp in a village in southern Poland 30 miles west of Krakow. ","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4216,"word_count":247}
{"speech_id":1090001845,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would like to say to the gentlewoman from Florida who remarked that God forgot to come to Auschwitz. if she would read Elie Wiesels book \"Night.\" she would find an instance where the Nazis lined up the Jewish prisoners in front of the gallows and they were having a hanging of some person who tried to escape and a low voice said. \"Where is God?\" Someone said. \"Hes up there on the gallows.\" He was there. He was just being punished. The gentleman from California . the gentleman from New Jersey . the gentleman from Maryland . the gentleman from Maryland . the gentleman from Virginia . there is a long. honorable list of people who are really the conscience of this Congress and. hence. of our country on this matter of human rights. God must look down on this globe and see the killing that goes on in the Sudan. that went on in the gulag. that goes on in China. We just honored Ukraines accession to democracy. Well do we remember the collectivization of the farms in the early thirties when millions of Ukrainians were starved to death. ","speaker_name":"HENRY HYDE","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2200,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090001847,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We must remain steadfast in our dedication to eliminating antiSemitism in every country and here at home. We must ensure that all Jews have a secure homeland in the State of Israel to seek refuge. . And we must act to stop genocidein Sudan or anywhere else. The murder of innocent people must never happen again.","speaker_name":"ANTHONY WEINER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1078,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090001858,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Nobe! laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and foreign ministers from Israel and a numbdr of European countrjes spoke to many empty seats in the General Assembly chamber while they delivered powerful and often moving addresses about intolerance and genocide. Of the 191 members of the General Assembly. only 138 agreed with the proposal by the U.S. to hold the special day of commemoration. We must wonder why. after all these years. there are over 50 countries which did not agree to this most basic proposal to recognize a day which will forever be etched in our minds. Any government whose people exhibit any act of antiSemitism must provide security and safety to their Jewish communities. must prosecute and punish perpetrators of antiSemitic violence. and must cultivate a climate in which all forms of antiSemitism and discrimination are rejected. Mass violence. the abuse of fundamental human rights. and the mistreatment of human beings as a result of discrimination are ugly faces of our humanity. Apart from the Holo-\" caust. the genocides in Turkey. Cambodia. Tibet. and Bosnia. the killing of the Tutsi in Rwanda. the slaying of thousands in Sudan. and the deaths of millions during the Irish Famine. are all instances .of oppression and prejudice succeeding throughout our history. The complacency and inaction of governments around the world. standing silently by while discrimination grows. is inexcusable. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3204,"word_count":233}
{"speech_id":1090001859,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. as an original cosponsor of H. Res. 39. I rise today to support this resolution marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and exposing the world to this dark chapter in human history. An estimated 6 million Jewish men. women and children. more than 60 percent of the preSecond World War Jewish population of Europe. were murdered by the Nazis at Auschwitz and other death camps during World War II. The Holocaust and the human suffering perpetrated by the Nazi regime against the Jews of Europe deserves to be commemorated with prayer. reflection and the solemn words of this resolution. On this day. as we remember the victims of Auschwitz and the genocide which ravaged Europe during World War II. genocide is not a relic of history. but a reality in todays world. The human race has not conquered the tyranny of men willing to commit mass murdergenocideagainst other human beings. At this moment in the Darfur region of Sudan our own Secretary of State has called the systematic murder and rape of tens of thousandsalong with the forced dislocation of some 1.8 million peoplea modem day \"genocide.\" In fact. it is because I am traveling back from the Sudan and eastern Chad having visited directly with the victims of the ethnic cleansing in Darfur. that I am not present to vote in support of H. Res. 39. Today. as we remember the liberation of Auschwitz. the liberation of human beings forced to suffer unimaginable horrors. let us commit this House as well as the will and power of our great Nation. to the cause of eradicating genocide and holding the perpetrators of such grotesque crimes against humanity accountable. ","speaker_name":"BETTY MCCOLLUM","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"F","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1844,"word_count":283}
{"speech_id":1090001885,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. due to my participation in the Presidents delegation to Poland to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. I will miss two rollcall votes on January 25. If I were present. I would vote \"yea\" on H. Res. 39 and H. Con. Res. 16.","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":262,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090001888,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have to be smarter than the insurgents if we wish to see a free and democratic Iraq. In the end. withdrawing our forces is the smarter option. This is not a suggestion that our troops have failed. It is an acknowledgment that the military option itself has failed us. It is a recognition that we need to address the root causes of the Iraq insurgency instead of watching America become further bogged down in an unwinnable war. In the 108th Congress I introduced a SMART Security Resolution for the 21st Century which called for a Sensible. Multilateral. American Response to Terrorism. Adopting this type of foreign policy will help us avoid the many mistakes that have been characterized in the war in Iraq. SMART security calls for the United States to address the root causes of terrorism by engaging our international partners and the humanitarian community in international reconstruction and political transition processes. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4338,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090001903,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Abortion is violence against children. Mr. Speaker. and these kids feel that pain. Abortion clinics. if we look at them as what they really are. are not only killing centers. they are torture chambers as well. I hope that we all can move on this legislation as quickly as possible.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2377,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090002020,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Cincinnati Bengals once again will not be in the Super Bowl this year. Maybe next year. But Cincinnati is blessed with some of the best high school football in the Nation. In fact. for the last 3 years in a row the Ohio State champs have been from my district. from Cincinnati. twice Elder. and now Colerain High School. What a team. They so dominated this year that they went undefeated 15 and zero. and in the final playoff game defeated arguably the second best team in the State by 40 points. and on the rivals home field. So often we hear that a teams character is a reflection of its head coach. Never before has this statement been so true. Dedication. tenacity. and heart are all words that come to mind when describing Head Coach Kerry Coombs. ","speaker_name":"STEVE CHABOT","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1082,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090002025,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I extend my warmest congratulations and best wishes as we commemorate Indian National Republic Day. As the cochair of the Congressional Caucus on India. and a friend of the Indian American community. I have been privileged to witness and directly participate in the growing IndianAmerica bond. Our common goal of safeguarding liberty and combating terrorism has united our nations and stimulated an already strong relationship based on values that our cultures share. In the coming years. India and the United States will face many challenges. As the world comes together and joins forces to help its people. I am positive that the strong ties between India and the United States will serve as an example of fruitful and positive bilateral relations. ","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":922,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090002032,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today I am sending a letter to SecretaryDesignate Rice and Ambassador Negroponte expressing concerns over the Iraq elections that are to take place in just 5 days. It will be impossible to determine the extent to which corruption. voter intimidation or outright fraud will mar the results. Here is why: there is a total absence of international election observers for the process. As such. it will make the elections themselves. regrettably. a farce. International observers were present at polling sites in Nigeria. East Timor. Haiti. Afghanistan. Palestine. and Ukraine. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1041,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090002033,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in recognition of the fact that this Sunday. January 30. will be a truly historic day. a day when the Iraqi people. once oppressed and without a voice. will cast their vote in their nations first democratic elections. It is an amazing fact when you think that just 2 years ago they suffered under a brutal dictatorship. There is no question that the desperate tactics and deliberate attacks will increase in the final days leading up to the election. But in spite of the efforts of those that hate freedom. the elections will take place. and it will begin a new period in Iraqs history. a beginning that will lead to freely elected leaders. a national assembly and a constitution founded on freedom and equal rights. Today. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"CHRIS CHOCOLA","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":989,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090002034,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to recognize an outstanding labor of love and faith in my district. Carl Demma of Oak Lawn had a vision nearly 20 years ago of expressing his Catholic faith by creating a largerthanlife statue of the Virgin Mary. His goal was to encourage people to reflect on their religious faith at the beginning of the new millennium. Mr. Demmas vision was realized in a 33foottall statue of the Virgin Mary. Our Lady of the. New Millennium was blessed by Pope John Paul II in 1998. and. since that time. hundreds of thousands of the faithful have been able to view the statue. Since Carl passed on in 2000. his beloved wife Francine has dedicated her time and energy to ensuring that the statue continues to be transported from parish to parish for all the faithful to experience. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL LIPINSKI","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":907,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090002037,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. our Nation has made tremendous strides in securing our homeland since the 9\/11 attacks. Americans have performed amazingly well in staying alert and aware. while the Federal Government has done an excellent job in making travel safer for airline passengers. Nevertheless. our achievements merely highlight how much more work remains. Before we can truly be safe. we must direct more funding and attention to securing our ports. Americas seaports have become the locomotives of economic growth. receiving 95 percent of our Nations imports. Florida alone has 14 deepwater seaports. and 56 percent of all of our imported oil comes through the Gulf of Mexico border region. Thus. terrorists know what devastating death and destruction would be wrought through the detonation of one dirty bomb in one cargo container. which would bring international commerce to a screeching halt. We spend a great deal of time debating how to secure our land border. We must start devoting the same amount of time and energy to the security of our water border. starting today. ","speaker_name":"KATHERINE HARRIS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1173,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090002052,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I appreciate the comments from the gentleman from Florida. my good friend from the Committee on Rules. and would like to ask him at this time if he would like to consume the time. At this time. I may have one additional speaker. but do not at this time and would wish that the gentleman would consume his time. Then I would expect to close. I would like to ask the gentleman if he would like to do that.","speaker_name":"PETE SESSIONS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":459,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090002054,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Reagan. the President of the United States. Dr. King and Mrs. King. very surely representatives of the human and American spirit. I would ask my colleagues to reconsider this legislation and most specifically because it violated. if you will. the precise rules that we adhere to. oversight by committees. the Committee on Rules involvement in an open rule. and the bipartisan spirit in which we honor our heroes and sheroes. whether dead or alive. Mr. Speaker. I rise to urge my colleagues to defeat the overly restrictive rule that has been reported out of Committee relating to H.R. 54. Despite my disappointment and dismay at not only the criteria of this rule but the nature of the underlying legislation. I am pleased that two amendments offered by my colleague from New York. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4554,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090002087,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Not to prolong the debate. either. because I know we want to move on. but since 1999 when we passed the Coin Act. there have been some concerns on our side of the aisle. I know that one of the amendments your side has accepted. or that was accepted in the Rules Committee. it remains to be seen whether It passes or not. that would evenly divide the number of gold medals. that did not exist in the coin bill that passed. Overwhelmingly it has been one side. In terms of bipartisanship. it has not been very bipartisan in terms of coins that have been established. According to our records. 15 out of the 16 coin bills that were passed were sponsored by Republicans. I do not think that is just going to happen under this legislation. That is also. I think. some of the fear in terms of changing the rules. for lack of a better word. on the gold medal has stirred up consternation on our side of the aisle. I offer that as well. I recognize that the minting of a coin Is a way that we can bring recognition to individuals and to groups. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH CROWLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1496,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090002103,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself as much time as I may consume. This amendment is a simple and fair amendment that would increase the maximum number of Congressional gold medals that Congress could award from two per calendar year to six per Congress. an increase of two medals per Congress. The reason for this amendment was best summed up by the Republican Rules Committee Member. the gentleman from Georgia","speaker_name":"JOSEPH CROWLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":405,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090002117,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I do not think that is a very fair and balanced way in which we can collectively and bipartisanly recognize those who have made tremendous sacrifices or achievements or contributed to this country. And I believe that we are limiting it to. in this case. this legislation. if passed the way it does. four congressional gold medals that we in the minority may very well find ourselves In a very difficult position in that we may not have any of our honorees awarded the medal even though we go through the process of collecting the twothirds. It then becomes a political decision as to which honorees will get the gold medal in that particular year and which will not. For instance. if there are 16 individuals who are sponsored by Members of the House and those individuals get twothirds of the signatures required. which of the 16 will get the four medals? Which of those 16? That decision will be made based on a political decision that is made within the House. and I dare say that outside influence would also come to bear on that decision that was made as well. l 1145 That is why I am asking for this fair and balanced approach. that if we are going to limit it to just four. that it will be two per year. I do not think it Is unreasonable to ask that it is done in this way. Quite frankly. if there is someone that the Democratic side of the aisle. if we have used up our one per year and we have another extraordinary person. I think we can work with each other to ask a Republican Member of the House to sponsor that bill. And vice versa. If we somehow find we have run out of opportunities on our side to introduce legislation. I do not think it is unusual to ask a Member of the other side of the aisle to sponsor the bill. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH CROWLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2793,"word_count":329}
{"speech_id":1090002122,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the gentlemans comments. I know that the gentleman does not approach this in any other fashion but a bipartisan fashion. But the question I have is if we are going to limit this to two per year. it could be that five Members on our side of the aisle have five individuals they want to recognize. There could be five individuals on the Republican side of the aisle who have five individuals they want to recognize. That is 10 people. 10 bills. 10 instances where Members have garnered twothirds. Who then will decide who gets the medals? It then becomes a very political decision as to who gets each of the medals. Will it be the five on the majority side? Will it be two from the majority side? Will it be two from the minority side? Will it be one each? Who of the 10 deserving will get it. and who will not get it?","speaker_name":"JOSEPH CROWLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":843,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090002154,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"First of all. Mr. Speaker. let me point out that this is a motion with instructions. so it does not go back to the Committee on Financial Services. it would automatically come back to the floor. Secondly. I want to applaud the gentleman from Delaware. who sponsored this legislation. The concept behind the gold medal. the highest award that the Congress can provide. has historically been given. historically. to an individual. The first individual was George Washington. even before the Declaration of Independence. Historically that was the case. In the first 123 years of the existence of our country. only 45 medals were given out. all of them to individuals. Since that time. we have had a tenfold increase in the next subsequent 100 years. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL OXLEY","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1856,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090002168,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I was not able to participate in floor proceedings on January 2526. 2005 as I was in Poland as part of a Congressional Delegation to the ceremonies honoring the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. As a result I missed rollcall votes 813. On rollcall No. 8. passage of H. Con. Res 16. congratulating the people of Ukraine for conducting a democratic. transparent. and fair runoff Presidential election on December 26. 2004. and congratulating Viktor Yushchenko on his election as President of Ukraine and his commitment to democracy and reform. I would have voted \"Yes\" had I been present. On rollcall No. 9. regarding commending countries and organizations for marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and urging a strengthening of the fight against racism. intolerance. bigotry. prejudice. discrimination. and antiSemitism. I would have voted \"yes\" had I been present. ","speaker_name":"SHELLEY BERKLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1514,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090002173,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman. I appreciate the information. I understand he anticipates a substantive resolution on the Solomon amendment and the court ruling thereon. But can I ask you. is it your understanding that a resolution regarding the recent Palestinian elections will come to the floor next week as well? Is that possible?","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":325,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090002175,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the leader. I know that the majority whip and myself are working on this. and running it by your office as well as we are the leaders office on our side. Hopefully we can move that. I know that all of us believe that we have an opportunity to at least resolve the violence and hopefully reach towards a peaceful resolution of that dispute. and hopefully we can move forward on this resolution. I thank the leader for his response. Secondly. Mr. Leader. the supplemental appropriation. we hear about the supplemental appropriation. clearly for the tsunami victims as well as further assistance to our troops and efforts in Iraq and in Afghanistan. Can you tell us whether or not there is any possibility of that coming next week. or do you anticipate that would be the week following or sometime thereafter?","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":814,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090002176,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am not sure that the White House has even made a decision on when they will send the request for the supplemental to us. or if they will send us one or two requests. I think those decisions are still being made by the White House. Obviously those decisions will help shape how and when we will consider the bill here in the House. At this time I do not expect us to consider the supplemental prior to the Presidents Day recess. but I would not rule that out. either. We will take the Presidents request. obviously our Appropriations Committee will do its work. and we will expedite the process and get it to the floor as soon as possible.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":640,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090002182,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today. it adjourn to meet at 2 p.m. on Friday. January 28. 2005. unless it sooner has received a message from the Senate transmitting its concurrence in House Concurrent Resolution 21. in which case the House shall stand adjourned pursuant to that concurrent resolution.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":336,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090002190,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Government Reform be discharged from further consideration of the resolution (H. Res. 40) honoring the career and philanthropic contributions of Johnny Carson. and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.","speaker_name":"STEVEN LATOURETTE","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":272,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090002217,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They said. would you please take them home and read them? Their words. their hopes. their calls for help are being translated at the moment. and I will share them with my colleagues when they are done. But I want to share my thoughts about Africa with some of my colleagues in the House. and with the American people. In the past week I was invited to join a congressional trip to the Sudan region by a Republican. the gentleman from California . I say this because this House and the American people need to know the depth and the breadth of a man who serves his constituency with distinction and his country with honor. The gentleman from California knows how to reach across the aisle. and I applaud him for his leadership and his humanity. He knows of my love and interest in Africa. That transcended any label of Republican or Democrat. As chairman of the House Committee on International Relations. Mr. ROYCE put together a trip so that we could see firsthand what was happening. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4282,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090002225,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is frightening to see us doing to ourselves what even bin Laden never dreamed he could accomplish with his suicide bombers. We do not understand the difference between a vague threat of terrorism and the danger of a guerilla war. One prompts us to expand and nationalize domestic law enforcement while limiting the freedoms of all Americans. The other deals with understanding terrorists like bin Laden who declared war against us in 1998. Not understanding the difference makes It virtually impossible to deal with the real threats. We are obsessed with passing new laws to make our country safe from a terrorist attack. This confusion about the cause of the 9\/11 attacks. the fear they engendered. and the willingness to sacrifice liberty prompts many to declare their satisfaction with the inconveniences and even humiliation at our Nations airports. There are always those in government who are anxious to increase its power and authority over the people. Strict adherence to personal privacy annoys those who promote a centralized state. It is no surprise to learn that many of the new laws passed in the aftermath of 9\/11 had been proposed long before that date. ","speaker_name":"RONALD PAUL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12254,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090002267,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"President. that it be in order for us to take a moment of silence and prayer for those who have just lost their lives in Iraq.","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1043,"word_count":26}
{"speech_id":1090002271,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to speak later in commending Senator BROWNBACK on his legislation. I am proud to be a cosponsor of it. I think it is a reasonable moderation on the excesses of abortion. I commend him for his leadership. I will speak on the Rice nomination later. I was asked to propound this request: I ask unanimous consent that during the hour of debate on the Rice nomination. time on the Democratic time be divided as follows: Senator BIDEN. 20 minutes. Mrs. BOXER. 5 minutes. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":566,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090002292,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"She opposed it. She wrote that she opposed it. When I asked her about it. she denied that she opposed it. when she had opposed it in writing. I know there are other Senators coming to the floor of the Senate and saying this argument doesnt hold because she made statements that came from faulty intelligence. If that were the case. I would have no problem with Dr. Rice. Everybody knows there was faulty intelligence. But she continues to put out these misstatements. As a matter of fact. in front of the committee. if one listened closely. she muddied the waters even more. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2745,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090002301,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We are all public servants. including the President and his team. and we are all therefore accountable to the public for our achievements and mistakes on a continual basis. We are also accountable to the future and to history. So while I. and many of my colleagues. have strong concerns about her role in the development of a flawed Iraq policy. an overwhelming majority on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. including a large majority of committee Democrats. voted in favor of forwarding her nomination to the full Senate. While many of my Democratic colleagues on the committee. including the ranking member. share my concern over her role in our Iraq policy. they think it worthwhile to give her a chance in this new role. That judgment. from Senators who had the opportunity to probe and question Dr. Rice on her qualifications. tips the balance in favor of voting for Dr. Rices nomination to be Secretary of State. in my mind. I am hopeful that Dr. Rices background and training will enable her to serve as Secretary of State with distinction and that she will carry the lessons of our policy failures in Iraq with her as she leads the Department of State. She does have the Presidents ear and I hope she will use her role to direct the Presidents attention to addressing our frayed alliances in Europe. our relationships with Latin America. our policy toward Russia. nuclear proliferation around the world. especially in Iran and North Korea. personal sustained attention to new opportunities for lasting security and peace in the Middle East. problems and opportunities posed by China. ","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4259,"word_count":269}
{"speech_id":1090002305,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I also expect our Secretary of State to join in demanding real intelligence reform. Without it. we will be unable to stabilize Iraq or confront other current and future threats. Our foreign policy must be based on an understanding of our enemies. And our policies and the intelligence behind them must be credible with our friends. The Administrations approach to the war in Iraq was disastrously unilateral. It ignored the weapons inspectors. rejected our allies. and ended up isolating America. The result of these policies is now borne by our troops. who are fighting nearly alone in Iraq. and by American taxpayers. who are paying 90 percent of the costs of the war. We cannot afford to continue in this vein. I hope that. in this second term. the administration will recognize the heavy costs of unilateralism and place a priority on diplomacy and alliances. With Iraqi elections less than a week away. the new Secretary of State can begin by acknowledging that ballots do not equal democracy. and that the hard work of stabilizing Iraq will require a concerted global effort. ","speaker_name":"JON CORZINE","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9781,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090002336,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. let me say forthrightly that we have the Ambassadors nomination on the floor today because of the cooperation of the ranking member. and I greatly appreciate that. Both he and I have reviewed what we believe Is the mission of the committee. We are very excited about the work we will do in the coming years to help our veterans and work on their behalf through this important committee. I thank him for his cooperation. Madam President. I yield to our colleague from Colorado.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":493,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090002338,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2912,"word_count":6}
{"speech_id":1090002370,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As we get closer to January 1. 2006opening day for the drug benefit--HHS will have many important decisions to make. I look forward to working with Governor Leavitt to ensure that North Dakota seniors get the options and information they need to make the best choice about the right drug benefit for them. Also. given his record. I hope Governor Leavitt will take an active role in addressing funding shortfalls in the rural healthcare system. Many of the provisions in the Medicare Modernization Act that erased the inequities that existed between rural and urban providers are due to expire in 2006 and 2007. I am committed to reauthorizing these important provisions and trust that Governor Leavitt will work with me towards this end. More generally. it is important that HHS and Congress look at other areas where healthcare needs are being unmet and take the appropriate steps to improve access to healthcare in rural America. For example. Congress should improve the financing of our rural emergency medical services. Our rural EMS squads are a vital component of the healthcare system. and current Medicare regulations do not adequately reimburse these squads for their services. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2890,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090002371,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Leavitt brings impressive skills to this critical post. As a former governor he knows how HHS works. and where it needs improvement. At EPA. he confronted health issues similar to many of those dealt with by HHS. Everyone who knows him respects his intelligence. his high energy. and his experience as a manager and problemsolver. His new position will test all those skills. and hell face an especially heavy challenge this year. Many of the most important programs he oversees get lavish praise but little real support. Last year. the administration was able to push through the Congress a flawed Medicare drug bill that benefited drug companies and insurance companies at the expense of patients. Governor Leavitt will now have to implement that flawed bill. Press reports indicate that the administration intends to block grant Medicaid and cut it deeply. and to cut Medicare deeply as well. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5005,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090002379,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Sufficient votes exist in both the House and the Senate to pass legislation allowing for the reimportation of prescription drugs. The only reason that legislation has not been passed and gone to the President is it has been blocked by a minority. and blocked by those who want. apparently. to protect the President from having to veto legislation that includes reimportation. The President has indicated opposition to the reimportation of prescription drugs. Let me describe why the reimportation issue is important. The fact Is. American people pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. That occurs because the pharmaceutical industry can charge those prices. Unlike most other industrialized countries. we have no price controls. There. in fact. are some price controls. but the controls are in the hands of the pharmaceutical industry. They actually control prices in this country. and they control prices because of a piece of legislation that was passed a couple of decades ago that prohibits the reimportation of prescription drugs. except by the drug manufacturer itself. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10559,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090002396,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"IOM. a critically important group of workers who had been on the scene from the beginning. He asked me to tell the American people that American troop efforts and that of volunteers had been outstanding. This was the theme heard time and time again from many different sources. When I arrived at a concrete structure serving as the command center. Indonesias coordinating minister in charge of relief efforts. Alwi Shihab. an old friend who had visited me in Washington. DC a week before the tsunami. expressed the profound gratitude of the people of Indonesia for the great work the Americans had done. He expressed his hope that the U.S. troops would stay in the country until Indonesian resources could take over the immediate relief effort. Later. the Indonesian Defense Minister. Juwono Sudarsono. told Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz that the United States had been the backbone of the relief effort. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12108,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090002413,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank them for their service to the Nation over the years. for their concern for our men and women in uniform. and for their support of this legislation. The loss of a family member in combat is. indeed. a terrible tragedy for the survivors. I have had the responsibility to call numerous families in Alabama since the war on terrorism began and talk to family members and attend funerals and wakes for those who have been lost. So many things occur to these families all at once. In the midst of their grieving. plans must be made for funerals. transportation of loved ones. and families must bear all the expenses and arrangements. To the survivors. it will feel like everything in the world has come to a shattering standstill. Indeed. there may be requirements that a family move. relocate. or either sell or purchase a house. There are great numbers of expenses that can occur for them at that time. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1701,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090002415,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my friend and colleague from Alabama for his kind words. I thank him for his leadership on this issue and so many other matters to our Nations security and for those who fight and serve in uniform to protect us. Senator SESSIONS and I have worked together as members of the Armed Services Committee. He was chair. and I was ranking Democrat on the Airland Subcommittee. In some ways. the public. after listening to the chatter and the noise. would be surprised to hear we work so often in these committees with total nonpartisanship in the national interest. which is the way it ought to be. I forgot the moment. but we were considering the question of what kinds of benefits there are for our men and women in uniform. and we came to death benefits. We were both. frankly. shocked and embarrassed and ultimately outraged that It had been $6.000. just raised to $12.000. When you think of death benefits generally and the impact on a family. the loss of a loved one. it just cried out for some kind of change. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6610,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090002421,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It will have an initial cost estimated at $459 million. and it should drop to half of that in the future and hopefully much less than that. I think these costs are clearly justified. Our service members are assigned all over the globe in dangerous parts of the world. As an editorial in the San Diego Union Tribune said: The costs are beside the point. This is a case in which lawmakers have a moral obligation to do the right thing. regardless of cost. I think this legislation is the right thing. I do believe we have great support so far and I look forward to seeing it become law. I also thank the Chair for his cosponsorship of this legislation. I thank Senator TALENT for his courtesy. and I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2163,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090002433,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on Friday of this week we will be holding in the Democratic Policy Committee a hearing that deals with part of our overall goal to hold oversight hearings that are not being held by committees. This Fridays hearing will be on the subject of Social Security. Among the witnesses at this hearing will be Franklin Delano Roosevelts grandson. the AARP. and we will have a couple of employees of the Social Security Administration who will testify about efforts inside the Social Security Administration to get some of the career employees to push the issue of privatization and the issue that there is. in fact. a crisis in Social Security. We are going to have a hearing on these issues. Incidentally. we have invited witnesses who will provide a full range of opinions. A representative of the Cato Institute is invited to appear. As we have always done with our hearings. we have people with divergent viewpoints. As I indicated previously. I would invite any Republicans to join us at any of our hearings at any time. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1742,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090002434,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"People are living longer and healthier lives. We can and will and should make some adjustments in Social Security. but major surgery is not needed. I do not support privatized accounts In the Social Security system. With respect to retirement security. we have two things. Social Security is the foundation. That is the basic retirement insurance. It is the one without risk and that will be there no matter what. Above that. we have retirement investments. 401(k)s. IRAs. and other private pension programs. I support those as well. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6788,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090002444,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I want to detail for the Senate the reasons why I voted to support the nomination of Condoleeza Rice to be our Nations next Secretary of State. Her diverse professional background as a Professor at Stanford University specializing in Russian affairs. her time as President Bushs National Security Advisor. and her demonstrated understanding of world affairs and diplomacy qualify her to run the Department of State. My support for Dr. Rice does not come without reservations about the direction this administration has taken with regard to foreign policy. We confront an enormous responsibility with respect to world affairs. The individual charged with the running of the State Department will set the direction for our countrys policies around the world. This person will have the power to decide whether to nurture and develop. or halt our Nations great diplomatic efforts. I hope Dr. ","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2093,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090002447,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Jason. Today. I join Kyles family. his friends and the entire Terre Haute community in mourning his death. While we struggle to bear our sorrow over this loss. we can also take pride in the example he set. bravely fighting to make the world a safer place. It is his courage and strength of character that people will remember when they think of Kyle. a memory that will burn brightly during these continuing days of conflict and grief. Kyle was known for his dedication to family and his love of country. His brother Jason told the Terre Haute Tribune Star that Kyle had been more than a brother to him. that he was his best friend. Jason recalled that Kyle had been his role model. \"Hes the one who pretty much made me the person I am today.\" Today and always. Kyle will be remembered by family members. friends and fellow Hoosiers as a true American hero. and we honor the sacrifice he made while dutifully serving his country. ","speaker_name":"EVAN BAYH","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3358,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090002458,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to comment today on S. 50. the Tsunami Preparedness Act of 2005. a timely and muchneeded bill in the aftermath of the devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean. The world has learned valuable lessons in the past month about human suffering and loss. as well as generosity and good fortune in the face of impossible odds. We have also learned a great deal about the generation of tsunamis. the need to instrument the ocean. and the need to assist in the development of a warning and civil defense system for vulnerable nations around the world. I joined my colleagues Senators DAN INOUYE and TED SEVENS. the ranking member and chair. respectively. of the Committee on Commerce. Science. and Transportation. as an original cosponsor of S. 50. the Tsunami Preparedness Act of 2005. which was introduced on Monday. January 24. 2005. The bill would authorize. expand. and improve our domestic tsunami warning system. Equally importantly. it would authorize the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5418,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090002460,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it is with the greatest pleasure that I rise today to honor William Randle and Connie Marie Hudgens on the occasion of their 70th wedding anniversary. The Hudgens were married on November 10. 1934. in England. AR. and celebrated their Platinum Anniversary on November 10.","speaker_name":"MARK PRYOR","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":286,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090002470,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to discuss a bill Senator DODD and I are introducing today. This is a bill about children. and it covers an issue that is difficult to think about or talk about. but one that is critical to many children and their families in our Nation. What I am talking about is what we can do when a child develops a lifethreatening or terminal illness. How do we make sure we do everything in our power to make a sick child as comfortable as possible and as happy as possibleeverything in our power to ease their sufferingwhen that child is terminally ill. We have a pressing need for comprehensive. compassionate. continuous care for children who are facing death as a result of serious illness. No parent or family member ever expects a child to die. With todays modern medicine and.research advances. it is easy to think that only older people die. but. tragically. we all know that is not the case. That is why today we are introducing the Compassionate Care for Children Act. a bill we introduced previously in the 108th Congress along with Representative DEBORAH PRYCE in the House. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11737,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090002475,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. water is the lifes blood for New Mexico. When the water dries up in New Mexico. so will many of its communities. As such. the scarcity of water in New Mexico is a dire situation. Unfortunately. the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer. NM OSE. lacks the tools necessary to undertake the Herculean task of effectively managing New Mexicos water resources. Today. I introduce legislation that would allow New Mexico to make informed decisions about its limited water resources. In order to effectively perform water rights administration. as well as comply with New Mexicos compact deliveries. the State Engineer is statutorily required to perform assessments and investigations of the numerous stream systems and ground water basins located within New Mexico. However. the NM OSE is ill equipped to vigorously and comprehensively undertake the daunting but critically Important task of water resource planning. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2050,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090002478,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The State of Utah is nearing completion of their new Field House Museum at a cost to the State of $6.5 million. Because of the colocation. NPS staff. visiting scholars. interns and volunteers would have access to the State museums space for exhibit. classroom. conferencing. education. restrooms. public access. parking. and other needs not included in the curatorial facility. The 22.500 square foot facility will be built outside the boundaries of the park on land donated to the Park Service by the city of Vernal and Uintah County. The legislation will also permit the Park Service to accept the donation of the land. valued at approximately $1.5 million. The Park Service estimates the total cost of adding the research and curatorial center to be $8.7 million. Other Federal agencies. such as the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service. who are also in need of collections storage. have become minor partners and would utilize a small portion of the storage facility. An additional partner in the project. the Intermountain Natural History Association. has agreed to fund and carry out the soil and environmental testing necessary to permit the Park Service to accept the donation. Mr. President. it is imperative that we care for these paleontological resources and ensure their availability to future generations. both for scientific study and the enjoyment of the public. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BENNETT","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3864,"word_count":224}
{"speech_id":1090002482,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This bill also eliminates the dollarfordollar reduction of SBP benefits by the amount received in dependency and indemnity compensation. Under current law. the surviving spouse of an active duty or retired military member who dies from a serviceconnected cause is entitled to $993 a monthfor a survivor without childrenfrom the Department of Veterans Affairs. However. the surviving spouses SBP annuity is reduced by the amount of DIC. SBP and DIC payments are paid for different reasons. SBP. in most cases. is elected and purchased by the retiree to provide a portion of retired pay to the survivor. DIC payments represent special compensation to a survivor whose sponsors death was caused directly by his or her uniformed service. To offset DICwhich we provide to the families of those who have lost their life in the service of their countryfrom annuities earned and paid for. is blatantly unfair. This bill has the broadest possible support among organizations representing our troops and their families. including Air Force Association. Air Force Sergeants Association. Air Force Women Officers Associated. ","speaker_name":"JON CORZINE","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5438,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090002488,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"For those with advanced degrees. earnings are two to three times higher than high school graduates. Moreover. society enjoys the financial returns on the investment in higher educationfrom generated higher tax payments to decreased dependency on public incometransfer programs. Overall. higher education improves individual and societal quality of life. While we are convinced that higher levels of educational attainment produces positive outcomes we need to do more to ensure access to higher education. With the cost of college tuition continuing to rise. financial aid is the decisive factor in determining whether thousands of high school seniors are college bound or not. In particular. Federal Pell grants are especially critical for lowincome students financing their way through college. According to the college board. college tuition at 4 year institutions increased on average by over 10 percent in the 20042005 school year. At 2year public colleges. tuition increased by over 8 percent. However. the Department of Educations recent changes to the formulas for financial aid eligibility will cut $300 million in Pell grant assistance to students nationwide. resulting in drastic reductions of Pell grant awards to more then one million students. ","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3826,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090002490,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I offer today legislation to authorize appropriations for fiscal years 2005 through 2011 to carry out the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program. SCAAP. I am pleased to be joined on this bill by a bipartisan group of Senators. including Senators KYL. SCHUMER.","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":275,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090002499,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today in Glendale. CA. there was a tragic commuter train crash. All of the details of the crash are not available at this moment. However. at least 10 people were killed and over 100 injured. The National Transportation Safety Board has already sent a team to investigate. I have been talking about the problem of grade crossings and the need for grade separations for several years. According to the Federal Railroad Administration. \"grade crossings are the site of the greatest number of collisions and injuries\" in the railroad industry. In 2000. there were 3.502 incidents at grade crossings. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2316,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090002511,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate. on Wednesday. January 26 at 9:30 am.. to consider pending calendar business. Agenda On Wednesday. January 26. at 9:30 a.m.. the committee will hold a business meeting in Dirksen 366 to consider the following items on the agenda: Agenda Item 1: The Committees Budget Resolution for a 2year period. March 1. 2005 through February 28. 2007. Agenda Item 2: To consider the nomination of Samuel W. Bodman. to be Secretary of Energy. In addition. the committee may turn to any other measures that are ready for consideration.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":665,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090002527,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Clear Air. Climate Change. and Nuclear Safety be authorized to meet on Wednesday. January 26. 2005. at 10 a.m. to conduct a hearing regarding multiemissions legislation. The hearing will be held in SD 406.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":269,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090002540,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it adjourn under the provisions of H. Con. Res. 21 until 1 p.m. on Monday. January 31. 1 further ask that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and there then be a period of morning business with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":461,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090002631,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In the short term. the administrations plan to establish private accounts will actually increase our budget deficit and cost the Federal Government approximately $2 trillion dollars over the next 10 years. He has not indicated how he would pay for that. and so that number just gets added onto the Federal debt. not even accounting for whatever privatization will cost us in the following years. Estimates indicate that this increased borrowing. primarily from foreign nationsJapan. China and otherscould potentially double our publiclyheld debt by 2041. further increasing our dependence on foreign creditors. Yes. any longterm savings the administration plan might create will be at the expense of providing seniors and all Americans a guaranteed benefit. I do believe that we should at least start a discussion about the longterm solvency of Social Security and we should explore all options for addressing this issue. I support encouraging Americans to establish private accounts only that are above and beyond what we do in Social Security right now. All of our citizens deserve a shot at a comfortable life in their old age. To get there we need to create a sturdy stoola retirement security stool that provides a solid leg through a secure. guaranteed Social Security benefit. another leg helps protect the health and longterm health care needs of all people. and a third encourages individuals to save money for their retirement years. through private accounts. pensions and other programs. These are the things we should be thinking about as we look to the future. ","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8909,"word_count":253}
{"speech_id":1090002636,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It would be an unprecedented step. We need to make sure that is a step that is not taken. One of the best ways of doing that is to get our overall Federal budget back into equilibrium.","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2216,"word_count":37}
{"speech_id":1090002643,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But this peace agreement does not include Darfur. a separate region that is facing its own genocidal conflict. In the last 10 days. over 100 people have been killed and more than 9.000 were injured by Janjaweed rebels. according to the United Nations. Reports from the BBC indicate that the Sudanese Air Force may have bombed a Darfur town. killing another 100 people. Today. there are approximately 1.400 African Union troops in Darfur. a region roughly the size of France or Iraq-.400 peacekeepers from the African Union. They cannot stop the killing. In fact. that is not even their mission. They are supposed to be monitors of the ceasefire that has badly broken down. Their mission is just too limited. and their resources and numbers are too few. Eleven years ago. we failed to act when the machetes came out in Rwanda. Eight hundred thousand people paid for our inaction with their lives in that African nation. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11659,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090002674,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I urge my colleagues to keep in mind that 90 percent of Pell Grant recipients are considered lowincome. Nearly 1.4 million recipients nationwide will see a reduction or total loss of their Pell grants. The Departments new tax tables will eliminate or reduce aid for 26 percent of all Pell grant recipients. These are kidsstudents--who with their families are working hard to finance a college education. The students most affected by these changes are likely to work longer hours. borrow more money. or reduce their academic course load in order to balance any loss of funds. Without grant assistance. lowincome students have to rely more heavily on student loans. Pell grant recipients are already four times more likely than all other students to take out loans. and they will graduate with twice as much debt as their peers. Why is this happening? It has been 17 years since the tax tables were last updated. Yes. we need timely updates. greater accuracy and alignment with current state tax policy. but the administrations proposal does not even reflect current tax levels. Under the updated calculation. families are getting less credit for their state and local taxes at a time when they are actually paying more taxes. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3081,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090002684,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. Mr. Charles W.. Bill. Sedgwick is retiring after more than 40 years of celebrated service with the Food and Drug Administration. His career began on June 7. 1964. as an investigator for the Kansas City district. From beginning to end. Bill sharpened his skills through work performed in a variety of locations. Kansas City. ","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1780,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090002686,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I wish to recognize the Dahl Arts Center in Rapid City. SD for all that it does to expand access to the arts and theatre to the entire Rapid City region. This corner stone of the Rapid City community has cultivated contemporary visual arts. community theater. and arts education since 1974. when Mr. and Mrs. Art Dahl bequeathed a generous gift to the Rapid City Arts Council. Not only has the Dahl Arts Center provided a forum for South Dakota artists to display their works and talents. but the centers free art galleries and art education classrooms provide the Rapid City community and its visitors the opportunity access our shared artistic heritage. The Dahl Arts Center is one of a dozen free attractions on Rapid Citys Star Tour. The Center also houses a 200 foot oiloncanvas mural painted by Bernard P. Thomas. This cycloramic mural depicts 200 years of American history and is enhanced by a taped narration and special lighting effects. ","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2314,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090002698,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This bill will simply change the legal framework for the parcel so that the transfer can take place. I hope the Senate can act on this bill as quickly as possible so that Rio Arriba County can move forward to meet the pressing needs of the people there. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1251,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090002741,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of House Resolution 23. offered by the gentleman from Minnesota . This resolution increases the awareness of Catholic education. while honoring the contributions of Americas Catholic -schools. They are- dedicated to not only educating their students academically but to developing their moral. intellectual. physical. and social values. January 30 through February 5. 2005. is Catholic Schools Week. an annual tradition in its 31st year. aid jointly sponsored by the National Catholic Education Association. the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops as well. The purpose of this resolution and Catholic Schools Week is to celebrate the vital role Catholic elementary and secondary schools play in providing a valuesadded education with high standards of quality and excellence to millions of American children. ","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2465,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090002760,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have obligations to reach down and give a hand up to people who need it. We have an obligation to put our arm around somebody who is in need of comforting and stabilizing in a time of crises. These are the basic tenets that you learn in Catholic School. When you learn that in Catholic School. hopefully you are able to carry it through the rest of your life. I know. as one who has spent most of my life in public service. have recognized those tenets when I have beenengaged in the problems of families at risk and children at risk. When I was chair of the Select Committee on Children. Youth and Families in this Congress. we spent a great deal of time with Catholic organizations talking about what do we do for the very young. what do we do for the adolescents. It was the Catholic Church that said. if you are going to start this committee. it was going to be the committee on children and families. They insisted that youth be in the title of that committee because they said. for far too often. public policy has been afraid to confront and discuss and try to deal with the problems of adolescents and teenagers at risk and the kinds of policies that this Congress could call into play and that this Nation could use to help those young people as they go through a troubling time in their life and a challenging time in their life and a risky time in their life. That turn out to be the right move. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3891,"word_count":267}
{"speech_id":1090002766,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H. Res 23. celebrating the contribution of Catholic schools in promoting academic excellence and helping to develop and shape our Nations youth. Catholic schools are exceptional at providing students with an opportunity to understand better ethnic diversity. Nearly 2.5 million students were enrolled in Catholic schools for the 20042005 school year. and more than 26 percent of them were from minority backgrounds. I recently had the opportunity to visit Villa Victoria Academy. an exemplary Catholic school in the 12th Congressional District of New Jersey. on the occasion of their 70th Anniversary Celebration. Villa Victoria has an outstanding graduating class of 2005. with 5 National Merit Commended Students and a National Merit Hispanic Scholar. In addition. many of the students have received early acceptances to some of the top colleges and universities in the country. including University of Pennsylvania. University of Notre Dame. and Boston College. ","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2220,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090002784,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"His impressive accomplishments should not be overshadowed by the tribulations he endured. Congressman Saund served this country admirably until 1962 when he lost his reelection bid after suffering from a stroke. Congressman Saund died at the age of 74 in Mr. Speaker. today we remember and honor Congressman Saund. He proved in his own life what he preached in his public career. \"There is no room in the United States of America for secondclass citizenship.\"","speaker_name":"MICHAEL HONDA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3655,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090002785,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I have no 108th Congress. I had the honor of high- further speakers. and I yield back the lighting the accomplishments of Congressman balance of my time. Saund and the trail he blazed for young Indian Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker. I have no furAmericans today. ther requests for time. and I yield back From New York to- Iowa to New Jersey to the balance of my time. Minnesota to the U.S. *House of Representa- The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. tives the accomplishments of Indian Ameri- ADERHOLT). ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH CROWLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2348,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090002786,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"An admirer of Lin- suspend t resan p the bill coln. Gandhi. and Churchill. Saund devoted to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service lohis life to serving the people in his community cated at 8200 South Vermoit Avenue in and furthering a cause greater than his own. At every stage of his remarkable story. Saund Los Angeles. California. as the \"Staff embodiedChurchills words to \"never: never. Sergeant First Class John Marshall ebidhronever. never. Post Office Building.\" as amended. never. never give up.\" Saund remained proud of his Indian herit- The Clerk read as follows: age and became a strong voice for immigrants H.R. 289 from India. After a twoyear battle. he con- Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Repvinced Congresswoman Clare Booth and Con- resentatives of the United States of America in gressman Emanuel Celler to sponsor legisla- Congress assembled. tion that would allow for Indian immigrants to SECTION 1. SERGEANT FIRST CLASS JOHN MAR-","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2322,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090002787,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. Dalip Saunds each will control 20 minutes. story is one of determination and true accom- The Chair recognizes the gentleman plishment. He personifies the idea that every from California . person can. through hard work and dedication. GENERAL LEAVE achieve amazing heights. Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker. I ask unaniThrough his election to Congress. ","speaker_name":"BOBBY JINDAL","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":920,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090002802,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Michael P. Anderson. Laurel Clark. David M. Brown. William C. McCool. Kapana Chawla. and Ilan Ramon. These astronauts were international in their standing. but united in their commitment to space exploration and helping humanity. \u0095 Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2110,"word_count":37}
{"speech_id":1090002849,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlewoman from Wisconsin. I was not aware of Wisconsins important role in the development of this program. Mr. Speaker. I wish to yield to my colleague. the gentleman from the great State of New York . and to thank him for speaking out and being with us here tonight.","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":294,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090002854,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Social Security helps to ensure equal footing for women in retirement by using a progressive benefit formula that proportionately pays a greater benefit to those who earn less. Women earn only 77 percent on the dollar compared to their male counterparts and spend less time in the workforce. putting them at an immediate disadvantage for saving. Women who work hard providing for their families. who leave the workforce to raise children should not be penalized in later years for time outside of the workforce when they were not able to add to their private accounts. In fact. if men could have babies. I wonder what they would be doing about their shorter work lives. Recently. some of my Republican colleagues have proposed that women. because they live longer. should receive smaller benefits than men. Imagine such an idea. that women would receive less money than men because they live longer. If anything. -the longer average life span of a woman is an argument against private accounts which do not guarantee paid benefits throughout a persons life. Social Security benefits cannot be outlived and are inflationproof. Women need to know that they can rely on this safety net to ensure that every American can live out their life with financial security. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4263,"word_count":210}
{"speech_id":1090002863,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman for his statement. I would suggest that the gentleman from New Jersey and others listen very carefully to the State of the Union tomorrow night. ask some serious questions and demand some answers. Mr. Speaker. I submit the following article for the RECORD. [From the Washington Post. Feb. 1. 2005]","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":319,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090002872,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"\"Freedom leads to prosperity. Freedom replaces the ancient hatreds among the nations with comity and peace. Freedom is the victor.\" And I think that that is what we saw in Iraq on Sunday. Freedom was the victor. The intimidation. the resistance. was not a barrier. it was an obstacle. And it was a tough obstacle. and the Iraqis stepped up to remove that obstacle and go in incredible numbers against incredible odds and start to take charge of their own destiny. As interim Prime Minister Allawi said. their job now is to rebuild their nation and the world is watching. And we are watching. and. frankly. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KLINE","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2077,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090002876,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Certainly. some like Senator KENNEDY even called for an almost immediate withdrawal of American forces. They wanted us to tell the world that the United States did not have the strength and the determination to defeat terrorism. and they were wrong in every instance. This President stood .tall. Our Armed Forces did not waiver. The American people refused to yield to tyrants and terrorists. and we watched the Iraqi people refuse to yield to tyrants and terrorists and fhe pressures. Today we know that .our President was right. Despite all the doom and gloom and despite the constant focus on every single failure that could have possibly taken place in Iraq. despite seeing those \"two steps forward and one step back\" as we marched towards success. we somehow managed to hold safe and orderly elections in Iraq. And I think that tells us all something. It tells me that the national media had already decided in their minds that Iraq was not going like it ought to go. - and they reported everything and anything that they thought could make it look like it was going to be hopeless. They ignored every little single shining success. ","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6700,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090002887,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. this morning we have a period for morning business until 10:45. At 10:45. we will proceed to executive session for the consideration of the nomination of Alberto Gonzales to be Attorney General. Chairman SPECTER will begin that debate. On this side. we are prepared to allow for a reasonable time for debate and then set a time certain for the vote. I hope that at an early hour today we will be able to lock in an agreement so that Members will be able to prepare accordingly. We do want all Senators to have the opportunity to come to the floor and express themselves and debate appropriately. Over the course of the morning. we will hopefully have more certainty in terms of when we will complete debate. I do want to encourage Senators in the meantime to contact the chairman or the ranking member in order to facilitate an orderly schedule for speakers. I welcome the debate on Mr. Gonzales and look forward to the Senate acting on this important nomination. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1364,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090002892,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The scars will be there for a long period of time. Senator STEVENS will have a hearing tomorrow to look at some appropriate initial responses in terms of prevention of that sort of catastrophe in the future. Tomorrow. I will be talking about a broad picture looking at public health issues such as cleaning of water and sanitation. and the role curing disease and public health can play as an expression of compassion and caring but also as a","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1497,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090002905,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Although other Guard troops remain and could be tapped for Iraq duty. they belong to units that historically have not received the same priority in equipping and training as the brigades chosen to go in the rotations so far. \"It doesnt mean that the cupboard is bare.\" Lovelace said. \"It just becomes a challenge then for the National Guard.\" As the Army reaches farther down in the. reserve force. Lovelace said. the amount of \"premobilization\" time necessary to get the troops ready to send to Iraq is likely to increase. \"Were not going to send anybody into combat who is not trained and ready\" the threestar general said. But he noted that already in each rotation. the amount of premobilization time required has increased. To continue to be able to draw on the better trained reservists. Army officials have said they are considering petitioning Rumsfeld to extend the 24month limit on the total time a reservist could be caned to active duty. Madam President. I ask that the full text of the story be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2370,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090002918,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He has served us well. He reorganized the Department of Justice with new directives. new directors. I thank him. His friendship. his service to the country. should not go unnoticed and unappreciated. He has done a tremendous job in very stressful times. I venture to say for an Attorney General. no time has been more stressful than the time John Ashcroft has hung his hat as Attorney General downtown. We welcome the nominee. We have the highest hopes for him. We wish him not only good luck but good hunting. We also thank the outgoing Attorney General. ","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2942,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090002930,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I believe his judgments not to have been sound. On the contrary. several of this Administrations legal policies have been exceedingly harmful to our national interests. As Attorney General. the nominees judgment about our laws would be of enormous consequence. This is a different type of Cabinet position than many others. In many Cabinet positions. such as the Secretary of State. the Secretary of Treasury. and others. the Cabinet member states the Presidents position. They state the Presidents position and carry out the Presidents policies. The Attorney General is different. The Attorney General is not the Attorney General of the President. he is the Attorney General of the United States. This is a position where the cabinet member has enormous flexibility to carry out decisionsto bring prosecution or withhold it. to begin an investigation or to withhold an investigation. to determine to go into a place where he believes there may have been a voting rights violation or to say there is none. This individual must be independent of the President. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10802,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090002975,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Time and time again the administration has gotten itself into trouble by trying to go at it alone rather than doing business in the open. particularly in the Justice Department. Whether it was the total information awareness project. the TIPS Program. or torture. they have been burned by their peculiar penchant for complete secrecy. I encouraged Judge Gonzales to be. candid with the committee when discussing these issues. I encouraged him to give us some hope that he would run a different department. a more open department. one more willing to listen to the oral arguments than John Ashcroft. Unfortunately. even a cursory review of his answers reveal strict adherence to the White House line and barely a drop of independence. A set of answers very important to me came in response to my questions on the nuclear optionwhether to rule from the chair that Senators were not allowed to filibuster judicial nominees. When we met in private. I asked Judge Gonzales his opinion about the constitutionality of the nuclear option. He said he had not reviewed the applicable constitutional clauses. and that in any event it was a iatter reserved for the Senate. I asked him at that private meetipg before the hearing. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES SCHUMER","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9213,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090002976,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I reCeived a letter this morning addressed to Senator COLLINS and myself. Senator LEAHY and Senator LIEBERMAN. from Senator KENNEDY and Senator DURBIN concerning the certain second report from the Department of Justice. Immediately on receiving the letter. I contacted the Department of Justice to obtain a copy of the report. This is a report that did not go to Judge Gonzales but went to another client agency by the Department of Justice advising them as to the legal parameters for interrogation techniques. and that the identity of the memoranda that previously had been disclosed to Senator LEAHY. although the memo had not been transmitted. And the matter had been briefed to the chairman of the oversight committee which has jurisdiction over the client committee. I am not very happy about all this circumlocution. but that is the information I have. Since Senator KENNEDY was scheduled to speak in a few minutes when I got this at 2:20. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1166,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090002983,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I find it ironic that we are debating the nomination of this fine nominee for Attorney General and hearing some vehement criticism of not just him but of this administration and its policies in Iraq and combating the war on terror. and when on Sunday we saw free Iraqis conduct their first democratic election in many years. with the kind of turnout that. frankly. brings a little embarrassment to those of us in America because they had such a tremendous outpouring of emotion and support for the opportunity to rise up against their oppressors. thanks to coalition forces and the sacrifices made by the American people and our allies. and be able to do what we do here on a regular basis. and that is let the will of the American people be known through the process of electing our representatives. But here we are. and shortly on the heels of the debate on the nomination of Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State. Of course. what we are told by those on the other side of the aisle is the outcome of this debate is not in doubt. Even the opponents of Judge Gonzales. just as the opponents of Condoleezza Rice. even as they stand here and claim these are great American success stories. which they are. and claim to personally like and respect these nominees. at the same time we see them excoriated and abused by partisan politics which. unfortunately. I hoped would cease or at least be mitigated somewhat by the results of the election on November 2. We saw on November 2 not only the Presidents reelection by substantial margins. but we also saw an increase in our side of the aisle in the Senate and larger numbers in the House. One reason I believe that happened was because of this debate on the wisdom of our policies of this Government. particularly over the last 4 years. We held a popular referendum on November 2 and. frankly. the politics of obstruction and anger were repudiated. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11462,"word_count":340}
{"speech_id":1090002991,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We are all cleared. obviously. as Members of the Senate to classified information. We need the information to decide on the Gonzales nomination. and we should have it before the vote. In the final paragraph of the note from the Justice Department. it Says: Finally. the Office of Legal Counsel in its recent memorandum of December 30 stated we have received this offices prior opinions addressing issues involving interrogation of detainees and do not believe that any of their conclusions would be different under the standards set forth in the memorandum. So the Justice Department piles secrecy upon secrecy. Then in a letter received today. they refused to provide the second Bybee memo. Justice says basically what the administration has said: Dont worry. it is taken care of. You in the Senate dont have to worry very much about it. I find that troublesome.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2808,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090002999,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask nesota. Senator STABENOW of Michigan. unanimous consent that the time until and Senator JOHNSON of South Dakota. 8:15 this evening be equally divided for The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without debate between the chairman and rank- objection. it is so ordered. ing member or their designees. pro- Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President. reservvided further that the Senate then re- ing the right to object. and I do not insume consideration of the nomination tend to object. I believe implicit in at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow. with the time what the Senator from Illinois said is that there be an alternating of speakers. and I will present a list of Republican speakers to integrate with what Senator DURBIN has stated.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":713,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090003010,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to oppose the nomination of Judge Alberto Gonzales to be the Attorney General of the United States. The Attorney General is the chief law enforcement officer for our country with tremendous legal powers. He or she is responsible for enforcing our laws and for making important decisions on how they will be interpreted. The Attorney General can decide what person will be charged with a crime or detained. This is a job thatrequires sound legal judgment and impartiality because the Attorney Generals duty is to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law. But this job is not just about our laws. it is also about the ideals of our country. It is about what we stand for. It is about our freedom and liberty and justice as embodied in our Constitution. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6529,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090003018,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I know you will join me in applauding the Nathan Adelson Hospice. and its efforts to increase minority participation in hospice care.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2324,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090003030,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I introduce. with Senators INOUYE and MuRKOwsK. the Federal Land Recreational Visitor Protection Act of Across our State of Alaska. Western States. and areas of the Northeast. local governments and businesses struggle each year to remove potential avalanches or recover from the disastrous effects of avalanches. While such damage can bring hardships to many local communities. none can compare with the loss of a friend or family member. The U.S. averages over 20 deaths a year from avalanches. a majority of which are results of recreational activities in unmitigated avalanche areas. Earlier in January. 3 people were killed in two separate avalanches in northern Idaho and Utah. bringing the total number of people already killed in the U.S. this winter season to 16. Some States try and set aside money for rescues prior to the winter season. knowing that the resources required to clear all avalanche threats are not at hand. This bill brings those resources to the entities that need them the most. enabling us to significantly reduce the effects of avalanches on visitors. recreational users. transportation corridors. and our local communities. By Mr. DEWINE (for himself and Mrs. ","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1220,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090003034,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Congress created the CAR program in 1997 to ensure that those in isolated. rural communities have access to health care. To protect the viability of these hospitals. often a communitys only source of vital health care services. Congress established costbased reimbursement for Medicare inpatient and outpatient servicesregardless of where the services are provided. The new regulation would fundamentally alter this wellestablished practice. We have tried to work with CMS to change the rule. In November of 2003. I was joined by 28 Senators in a bipartisan letter to the Administrator of CMS asking for his assistance in constructing a rule that does not penalize CAHs for offering offsite laboratory services. Unfortunately. CMS responded that the rule would stay intact. I am pleased to be joined in this effort by Senator SUSAN COLLINS. ","speaker_name":"BEN NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5190,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090003042,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Some 475.000 reserves have been called up cumulatively since the issuance of the original Executive Order. Today. there are about 193.458 reserves on active duty in the war against terrorism. Of the approximately 150.000 troops serving in Iraq. 40 percent are reserves. This number is expected to increase to approximately 50 percent in the near future as current troop deployments mobilize. Earlier this month. published reports showed that Lt. Gen. James R. Helmly. the Commander of the Reserve. has told Army Chief of Staff General Peter J. Schoomaker that the burdens placed on military reservists since the September 11. 2001 attacks. combined with dysfunctional Pentagon policies. have damaged morale and retention and threaten to turn the Army Reserve into a broken force. Lt. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10430,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090003046,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Our goal was to find common ground through recommendations that could be helpful to all governments and policymakers worldwide for developing solutions to address.climate change. Indeed. our first recommendation calls for a longterm objective to prevent global average temperature from rising more than 2 degrees Centigrade. or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit. above the preindustrial level by 2100. This target would limit the extent and magnitude of the impacts of 61imate change if all countries take various actions. I will ask unanimous consent to submit the ICCTs ten recommendations for the RECORD. In the upcoming weeks and months. I will be introducing legislation that reflects these public policy recommendations. The temperature goal is crucial to the debate on abrupt climate change because. if the earth goes beyond the 2 degree C level. scientists have suggested that risks to both ecosystems and humans increase significantly. As the risks of accelerated oras our report stated-\" runaway\" climate change increases. a \"tipping point\" could be reached that would include the loss of the West Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets. leading to the rise of sea levels. On this score.- abrupt and paleoclimate research can greatly enhance the evolving body of scientific evidence. and that is why Senator LAUTENBERG and I spearheaded. the effort last year to restore the FY2005 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad:. ministration. NOAA. research pro-. grams that will enable us to examine past climate change patterns. ","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7876,"word_count":234}
{"speech_id":1090003049,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Our bill benefits not just the people of Nevada and Utah. but citizens of every State in our Union. It highlights an area of outstanding cultural and natural value and brings people together to celebrate common values and a common history of which we all can be proud. I was pleased that my distinguished colleagues recognized the value of this legislation during the 108th Congress and supported its passage by the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and by the Senate as a whole. I look forward to working with my friends to move this bill in a timely manner during the current session. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3012,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090003051,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"DRI plays a critical role in identifying and helping protect the regions scarce water resources. DRI shares its facility with the Western Regional Climate Center. one of six regional climate centers operating under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations climate program. The Western Regional Climate Center conducts applied research and provides high quality climate data and information pertaining to the western United States. The Desert Research Institute wishes to expand its Northern Nevada Science Center. DRI is considering an innovative means of financing the expansion. which would involve a private developer who would build and finance the expansion and lease it back to DRI. The private developers with whom DRI has discussed the proposal. as well as the Institutes counsel. however. have pointed out that the terms of the patents and the restrictions imposed by the Recreation and Public Purposes Act represent obstacles to such an arrangement. Truckee Meadows Commhnity College and the Northern Nevada Science Center are exceptional assets of the scientific and educational community in the Truckee Meadows. The Center serves not only the citizens of Washoe County. but the needs of all Nevadans and the western United States as well. It deserves the opportunity to -grow and prosper with the communityone of the fastestgrowing communities in the Nation. The bill Senator ENSIGN and I present to you today simply directs the Secretary of the Interior to convey this property from the Bureau of Land Management to the University and Community College System of Nevada. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4040,"word_count":247}
{"speech_id":1090003053,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Today much of the original Kingston Cemetery is on land managed by the U.S. Forest Service and the Maidens Grave Cemetery in Beowawe sits on land managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Under current law. these agencies must sell the cemeteries back to the communities at fair market value. However. these historic cemeteries were established prior to the designation of the Federal agencies that now manage them. For years. Lander County has been required to lease much of the Kingston Cemetery from the Forest Service. The Forest Service previously sold approximately 1 acre to the Town of Kingston. but this land transfer did not allow for the protection of uncharted graves or for the implementation of the communty s original site plan. Because the people of Beowawe and Kingston should not have to buy or lease cemeteries that are rightfully theirs. our bill provides for the simple conveyance of the Maidens Grave Cemetery to Eureka County and the balance of the original location of the Kingston Cemetery to Lander County. NV. The conveyances provided by this bill will benefit our federal land managers as well as our rural communities. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2972,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090003059,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on February 1. 2005. at 9:30 a.m.. in open session to receive testimony on death benefits and services available to survivors of military personnel and legislative proposals to enhance these benefits.","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":331,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090003067,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that Michael ONeill. chief counsel of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Brett Tolman. a detailee from the Department of Justice. and Nicholas Rossi. a detailee from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. be granted floor privileges for the first session of the 109th Congress.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":311,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090003164,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Chet Gentry of the Cumberland Family Care Clinic in Sparta. TN. who does not deliver babies anymore. does not practice obstetrics anymore. When one asks him why. without any hesitation. crystal clear. it is because his insurance premiums grew too high. Simply. he could not afford to deliver babies. and by dropping obstetrics he cut the insurance premiums he has to pay for this privilege of practicing medicine by twothirds. down from $38.000 a year to $14.000 a year. So by not delivering babies. he cuts his insurance premiums down that dramatically. There is an incentive to not take care of moms when they are going through this wonderful process of giving birth. In a rural community as small as Spartaand it has a relatively small population. only 5.000 peoplelosing Dr. Gentrys services for families is a huge blow. Eighteen months ago. that town had five family physicians. Today. there are three doing obstetrics. delivering babies. and only two of them will perform Csections. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8656,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090003175,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There is an extra special reason this is meaningful to me. That is because of the number of Hispanics in my State of Arizona and their aspirations and their pride at the achievements they have accomplished. As the Senator from Florida pointed out. it is important for this country to recognize the kind of talent Alberto Gonzales represents and to hold that up as an inspiration to young people to let them know. regardless of their race or ethnicity. if they work hard. even when they come from humble beginnings. this country offers opportunities that are not available in any other country. and regardless of their background they have the opportunity to become the Attorney General of the United States of America. That is a tremendous testament to this country. It is a testament to the Senate which has allowed people like Alberto Gonzales to have an opportunity. to the President for his perspicacity in nominating such an individual for Attorney General. It would be a very strong message not only around this country but around the world for the Senate to confirm the nomination of Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General of the United States.","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6457,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090003176,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the distinguished Senator from Arizona. a member of the Judiciary Committee. who has done a wonderful job on that committee. It is a tough committee. but he has done a terrific job. That was an outstanding statement on behalf of Alberto Gonzales. Looking at this mans incredible background and how far he has come clearly shows the great country that America is and the great perseverance and intellect that Alberto Gonzales has. I yield the time he may consume to the Senator from New Hampshire. Mr. GREGG.","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":530,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090003191,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":15,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I served in the Department of Justice for 15 years. I would like to share a few thoughts to give us some perspective about the role Judge Gonzales has played. Judge Gonzales was legal counsel to the President. He was the Presidents lawyer. Of course. everyone who is a lawyerI am a lawyer and a good number in this body are lawyers--knows that lawyers protect the legal prerogatives of their clients. You do not want to in memorandum and public statements make statements that constrict the ultimate power of the institution of the Presidency of the United States. That is a fundamental thing. That is what you have to do. That is what you are there for. When 9\/11 happened and we were taken aback by the viciousness of the attacks. we were worried. rightly. that throughout this country there would be terrorist cells continuing to plot as they were perhaps in Arizona. or in other places. as we have learned. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11336,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090003212,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Yet Judge Gonzales insisted that the decision: ... will not prevent the administration from fully enforcing core labor protections against employers. regardless of the status of their employees. When he made this statement at a meeting of MALDEF. the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. I am told that one could sense the passion of a person with a genuine appreciation of the noble sacrifice and the hard labor of the working poor. Judge Gonzales is going to lead the Justice Department. His personal commitment to justice is deeply rooted. I know the time pressures that attorneys face and yet Judge Gonzales has never let the demands of his profession or his career stand in the way of his voluntary service to his community. Somehow. in the midst of building a successful law practice and second career as a public servant. he found time to serve as director of Catholic Charities and of Big Brothers Big Sisters. As Lynne Liberato explained in the Houston Chronicle: As a young lawyer. Al was committed to the education of minority kids. While a young associate at Vinson & Elkins he was instrumental in establishing the Vinson & Elkins Minority Scholarship. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11921,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090003216,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"His parents. a scant 8 years of formal education between them. taught their kids the value of hard work and persistence. It was in Humble. TX. a small town north of Houston. that Alberto Gonzales watched his father Pablo. a migrantworker. and two of his uncles build the twobedroom house in which he and his siblings grew up. It is the same house in which his mother resides today. Gonzales graduated from public high school in Houston in 1973. Having never considered college a realistic possibility and full of desire to learn and see the world. Alberto Gonzales enlisted in the Air Force. He was assigned to Ft. Yukon. AK. where he became inspired to apply for an appointment to the United States Air Force Academy. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12151,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090003222,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the Chair. Mr. President. Alberto Gonzales is Counsel to the President of the United States. For the past 4 years. Mr. Gonzales has served as the chief legal adviser to President Bush. housed in the west wing of the White House. a stones throw from the Oval Office. The official biography of Alberto Gonzales on the White House Web site states that before he was commissioned to be White House Counsel. Judge Gonzales was a justice on the Texas Supreme Court. Prior to that. he served as the onehundredth Secretary of the State of Texas. where one of his many duties was to act as a senior adviser to thenGovernor George W. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11888,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090003226,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise in relation to the nomination of Judge Alberto Gonzales to be the next Attorney General of the United States. Before making my comments about Judge Gonzales. I also want to say that earlier this afternoon I had a highly enlightening and very rewarding discussion with the distinguished Senator from West Virginia. Mr. BYRD. Senator BYRD spoke just before me. He is a man of tradition and hard work. I am very grateful for his leadership and his inspiration. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3297,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090003227,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He has pledged his support and has pledged to come to Colorado to meet and learn from Colorados heroic law enforcement officers about their experiences and their needs. Finally. Judge Gonzales. I believe in his heart. knows about the importance of civil rights and liberties. He knows first hand of the indignities of a society that turns a blind eye to discrimination and prejudice. Because he knows that reality of the American experience. I expect him. as Attorney General. to help lead the way for the creation of an America that despises hate and bigotry and recognizes that every human being deserves a government that will fight for the dignity and equality of all. I will vote to confirm Judge Alberto Gonzales to be the next Attorney General of the United States. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1729,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090003240,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There is a congressional Hispanic caucus which was among those that I was mentioning a while ago. They endorsed Senator KERRY. supported him. campaigned for him. I wouldnt expect them to be for this nominee. I think I said most of what I wanted to say to the Senate for those who are interested in the other side of the coin from what the Democrats--small in number but by sufficient numberswant to make a lot of people in the country think. that this man should not have this job. I think they are wtong. I think the Hispanic community of America should know that they are wrong. I think the Hispanic community of America should know that most people who are concerned about themHispanic Americans--are for him. I think they could rightfully conclude that those who are not for him dont care about Hispanic Americans because most of them overwhelmingly think he is the right man for this job. I thank the Senate for the few moments I have had to discuss this matter and hope that my few words will have something to do with adding to the chorus of support for this candidate. and for some of those who listened to -that which is said against him will at least think if they were leaning toward believing that. that there really is another side. and that real side is probably somewhere close to what I said in the last 10 minutes. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1350,"word_count":247}
{"speech_id":1090003256,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I welcome this opportunity to pay tribute to Lieutenant Colonel Gabriel R. Patricio. who is concluding a 24year career of dedication and excellence in the United States Marines. At the Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico. VA in recent years. he has had a leading role in modernizing combat clothing and equipment to make troops faster. more efficient. lighter and safer in battle. Colonel Patricios talents have produced the most significant upgrade in individual clothing and combat equipment for Marines in more than 56 years. Colonel Patricios ability to think outsidethebox served him well in finding better ways to solve old problems. His innovative ideas have reduced the time it takes to move a product from concept to the field. so that lifesaving equipment is being made available to Marines more quickly. As an example. he reached across the services to the Armys Research and Development Center in Natick. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2071,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090003265,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am pleased today to join my colleague. Senator MIKE DEWINE. in introducing the Training and Research in Urology Actthe \"TRU\" Act. Each day. millions of American men. women and children suffer with urologic conditionschildren suffering from urological abnormalities. women living with painful urologic illnesses. the elderly for whom urologic conditions can present a wide variety of very serious health problems. The silent struggle of patients with urologic diseases has gone on too long. The legislation we introduce today seeks to ease the burden of millions of Americans suffering from urologic illnesses. The amazing breakthroughs of the last decade in basic science have resulted in new treatments and even cures .for some urologic conditions. Unfortunately. these exciting advancements often fail to reach many who suffer from urologic diseases. It is time to change the way we think and deal with urologic disease. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3834,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090003270,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. each year. nearly 1 of every 10 Americans is injured and requires medical attention. Injuries are the fifth leading cause of death in the United States. Trauma kills more people between the ages of one and 44 than any other disease or illness. While injury prevention programs have greatly reduced death and disability. severe injuries will continue. Given the mass trauma events of September 11. 2001 and our Nations renewed focus on enhancing disaster preparedness. it is critical that the Federal Government increase its commitment to strengthening programs governing trauma care system planning and development. The direct and indirect cost of injury is estimated to be about $224 billion a year. according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The death rate from unintentional injury is more than 50 percent higher in rural areas than in urban areas. Only one fourth of the U.S. population lives in an area served by a trauma care system. Studies of conventional trauma care show that as many as 35 percent of trauma patient deaths could have been prevented if optimal acute care had been available. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1581,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090003271,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to introduce legislation to put an end to the spate of propaganda we are seeing across our government. In my view. it is a practice that is inconsistent with democracy. and we have to put a stop to it. That is why Senator KENNEDY and I have drafted the \"Stop Government Propaganda Act\" which we are introducing today. along with our cosponsors. Senators DURBIN. CORZINE. CLIN-","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":398,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090003276,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"While it would have been most helpful to these businessesfrom small heating oil dealers to small manufacturersto enact the legislation in November when the prices were- at an alltime high. we can still be helpful now. In that spirit. together with Senator REED and 17 of my colleagues. I am reintroducing the Small Business and Farm Energy Emergency Relief Act. I thank Senators REED. DODD. BINGAMAN.","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1667,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090003293,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask unanimous consent that the Presiding Officer of the Senate be authorized to appoint a committee on the part of the Senate to join with a like committee on the part of the House of Representatives to escort the President of the United States into the House Chamber for the joint session to be held tonight. Wednesday. February 2nd. 2005. at 9 p.m.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":352,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090003301,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Tomorrow. following morning business. the Senate will resume consideration of the nomination of Alberto Gonzales to be Attorney General for a total of 8 hours of debate remaining with the time equally divided between the chairman and the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee. It is my hope that some time will be yielded back. allowing us to proceed to a vote earlier in the afternoon. We have had full debate on this nomination. We all appreciate the orderly fashion in which we have conducted the debate. Again. Senators are reminded to gather at 8:30 this evening in the Senate Chamber. The Senate will proceed as a body promptly at 8:40 tonight apd to the Hall of the House of Representatives for the Presidents 9 p.m. address.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":736,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090003308,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. Judge Alberto Gonzales is a true American success story. an embodiment of the American dream. He deserves to be confirmed as Attorney General. He was born in Humble. Texas. to immigrant El This symbol represents th6 time of day during the House proceedings. e.g.. is 2:07 p.m. 0 Printed on recycled paper. counsel to then Governor Bush and counsel to the President of the United States. I am truly inspired by Judge Gonzales and his outstanding contributions to our Nation. He is a highly qualified nominee who is a true American success story and a source of pride for Hispanics across the country. I urge my colleagues across the Chamber to do what is best for America and confirm Judge Gonzales.","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":711,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090003311,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We will fight to improve the Social Security system. not dismantle it. As one of my colleagues said. \"Lets not throw grandma out with the bath water.\"","speaker_name":"HILDA SOLIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1109,"word_count":27}
{"speech_id":1090003335,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to thank both of my colleagues for their extremely generous and kind remarks. Mr. Speaker. I am very pleased.to yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas . my good friend who has been fighting for peace in that region ever singe she came to this body and before.","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":286,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090003354,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Abbas has taken steps since his election to stop these groups. but these efforts must be continued and expanded to end the terrorism that has killed and injured thousands of Israelis and Palestinian people. Mr. Abbass election provides an excellent opportunity for the Palestinian Authority to reign in these terrorist groups and for the Palestinian people to move beyond this violence and work with Israel to create a lasting peace. Mr. Speaker. I have traveled to Israel. several times and know that the Israeli Government and the Israeli people are ready and willing to work with the Palestinians but have not had a reliable partner to negotiate with in the past. Mr. Abbas has the opportunity to put the Palestinian Authoritys past failures behind him and demonstrate to Israel and the United States that he is dedicated to the peace process by stopping terrorism and fulfilling Palestinian commitments under the roadmap. Again. I strongly support this resolution and would like to congratulate Mr. ","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1912,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090003357,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. there is a very troubling development taking shape in the security policy of the European Union concerning arms sales to China. Briefly stated. the major European countries have already resumed arms sales to China and now propose to terminate altogether the longstanding embargo on arms sales that they imposed in 1989 following the Tiananmen Square massacre. This is all part of a new \"strategic partnership\" which the European Union proclaimed at its summit meeting with China last December. Also reflected in the communiqu6 for that meeting is European support for Chinas membership in the Missile Technology Control Regime. The contrast with the policy of the United States Government could not be greater. Just a few days later. the Department of State once again imposed sanctions on several most prominent entities in Chinas military industrial complex for illicit sales to Iran. Recent public comments by European authorities seek to downplay the significance of their new policy. They maintain that their arms sales to China will not result in quantitative or qualitative increases. But. this provides little assurance since the major EU member states have already doubled their arms sales in the one year period between 2002 and 2003 to $500 million. ","speaker_name":"HENRY HYDE","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3123,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090003369,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of this resolution that was introduced yesterday by the gentleman from Illinois . expressing the strong concern of the House that the EU may lift its arms embargo directed at China. In his recent inaugural address. President Bush reaffirmed Americas commitment to democracy and freedom throughout the world. Yet. by selling advanced weapons systems to the Peoples Republic of China. the EU is directly undermining the security of one of Asias most vibrant democ- racies. our close ally. Taiwan. ","speaker_name":"ELTON GALLEGLY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1839,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090003381,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of this resolution. The European Union imposed a ban on arms sales to the Peoples Republic of China following the Tiananmen Square Massacre back in 1989. In recent months it has become apparent that European nations. seeing an opportunity to profit from Chinas largescale military modernization program. may well be prepared to lift that embargo in the near future. and I believe that would be a terrible mistake. In a November 30. 2004. letter to the President of the European Union. 25 Members of this body who opposed the lifting of the arms embargo stressed that such a decision would alter the currefit fragile military balance across the Taiwan Straits. It would rapidly tip the balance in the PRCs favor. ","speaker_name":"STEVE CHABOT","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1907,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090003401,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As President Bush has told the American people. this will be a long struggle. Iraq is very difficult terrain. The stars of last weekend clearly were the Iraqi people.. They put their lives on the line for a better future. Some were killed. But. make no mistake about it. there was a key supporting cast. Our Nation owes a debt of gratitude to the many members ofour Armed Forces. our diplomats and other Americans in Iraq who are also risking their lives and ip some cases sacrificing their lives to help Iraqis and also Americans. We have a strong national interest in seeing Iraq become a success. If this happens. when the history of this era in Iraq is written. these men and women will be widely revered.","speaker_name":"CANDICE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2239,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090003409,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"\"There is a tide in the affairs of men. which taken at the flood. leads on to fortune. omitted\" or delayed. \"all the voyage of their lives is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea. we now find ourselves afloat. and we must take the current when it serves or lose our ventures.\" Mr. Speaker. as we take this current to freedom. let us remember that the best leverage to maintain freedoms march in the world is to make sure that its foundations are secure beneath freedoms home. and then. Mr. Speaker. let us take this tide of freedom as it serves so that one day all generations will bask in this glorious sunlight of liberty just as it has now begun to dawn on the people of Iraq.","speaker_name":"TRENT FRANKS","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2508,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090003416,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. before yielding back our time. mayI just remind all of my colleagues and all of the American people that we have been debating three important policy resolutions with a degree of bipartisan unity that should fill us with pride and joy in the recognition of the fact that. despite all the commentary of deep divisions in this body. we stood together. Republicans and Democrats. supporting the same resolutions and the same policies. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":494,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090003421,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is all of our hopes that this election marks the beginning of a new chapter for the Iraqi people. one in which they enjoy the sweet taste of the fruits of freedom. democracy and sovereignty. Mr. Speaker. in closing I would like to commend the sponsors and leadership for bringing this important resolution to the floor and I urge an \"aye\" vote.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1594,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090003433,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H. Con. Res. 36. Once again. activist judges threaten our authority. first of all. to direct Federal fund spending. and. second of all. they attempt to create law. We have required here in Congress at universities that receive Federal dollars to extend access to military recruiters equal to other outside groups. But in the name of free speech and association. some schools seek to deny their students access to recruiters and ROTC. obviously afraid that their students would maybe even make a wrong choice. It is ironic that an institution whose sole function. whole reason for being. is based on the free exchange of ideas. would then boycott the Armed Forces. the very people who actively protect their academic freedom. It is further ironic that those who are often noted for concern that lowincome Americans are serving in disproportionate numbers in .the Armed Forces would block many of their students born with a silver spoon access to ROTC. ","speaker_name":"W. AKIN","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1407,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090003442,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I insert in the RECORD at this point two articles. One is an editorial from the New York Times entitled. \"The Price of Homophobia.\" Another is an Associate Press story entitled. \"Report: Number of gay linguists discharged higher than thought.\" [From the New York Times. Jan. 20. 2005]","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":297,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090003472,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of the amendment today out of a bit of a sense of confusion as to why we really need to revisit this issue one more time. It is odd that in a Nation at war that institutions of higher learning would take steps to limit the Army and the Navy. the Marine Corps. Coast Guard and other services access to their students. I wonder what they are afraid .of as to why they would take this particular position. They pride themselves on having the brightest in America at their universities. particularly the ones in question. As an aside. I was at a university in January. excuse me. in November. at freshman orientation and saw a couple of coeds walking across campus that obviously have impaired reading skills because they were both smoking. Nevertheless. ","speaker_name":"K. CONAWAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2315,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090003483,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This law. recognizes the importance of having a capable. educated and wellprepared military. one that is ready to defend Amer-","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1420,"word_count":20}
{"speech_id":1090003487,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Express the Sense of Congress that the Executive Branch should aggressively challenge any decision impeding or prohibiting the operation of the \"Solomon law.\" Encourage the Executive Branch to follow a doctrine of nonacquiescene by not finding a judicial decision affecting one jurisdiction to be binding on other jurisdictions. The socalled \"Solomon law.\" section 983. title 10. U.S. Code. named for its original proponent Representative Gerald Solomon (RNY). is based on the principle that if a college or university accepts federal funding it must permit military recruiters and\/or ROTC access to campus and to students. Enacted first in 1994. and added to by Congress in 1996. 1999 and 2002. and 2004. the \"Solomon law\" prohibits some defenserelated and other federal funding from going to colleges and universities that prevent ROTC access or military recruiting on campus. The Solomon law: (1).does not apply to institutions of higher education that have a longstanding policy of pacifism based on historical religious grounds. and. (2) exempts federal student financial assistance.from termination. - The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. on 29 November 2004. reversed a district","speaker_name":"JACK KINGSTON","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4224,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090003493,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"CPA financial officials stated the CPA would rather overpay salaries than risk not paying employees and inciting violence.\" the inspector general said. The inspector generals report rejected Bremers criticism. It concluded that despite the war. \"We believe the CPA management of Iraqs national budget process and.oversight of Iraqi funds was burdened by severe inefficiencies and poor management.\"","speaker_name":"CYNTHIA MCKINNEY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4190,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090003494,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I do support the intent of this legislation because I honor the men and women who serve in our Armed Services and who sacrifice their lives for us. However. I also support the upholding of the United States Constitution and the respect for jurisprudence. and.l believe it seriously damages our commitment to the three branches of government to encourage the interference with judicial decisions before a final rendering of a final review by the U.S. Supreme Court.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2408,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090003495,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This policy unfairly excludes homosexuals from military service on the basis of their sexual orientation alone. For example. numerous military linguists who are critically needed in the Global War on Terrorism have been discharged under Dont Ask Dont Tell. Supporters of H. Con. Res. 36 say that denying military recruiters access to college campuses is a national security threat. but they are completely missing the big picture. The real national security threat is the Dont Ask Dont Tell policy that forces our military to discharge gay servicemen and servicewomen regardless of their job performance. I strongly believe that the nondiscrimination policies of colleges and universities should be respected and I urge my colleagues to vote against this resolution.","speaker_name":"SAM FARR","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1394,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090003525,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if the gentleman will continue to yield. I would assume that the Committee on Rules would follow a process similar to the one that they followed for the rest of the 9\/11 Commissions recommendations. and that is to have a structured rule that allows for a variety of amendments. But I will let the chairman of the Committee on Rules make announcements on that and reserve decisions for the committee on what those amendments will be. I can tell the gentleman that we are contemplating. although actions by the Committee on Rules will need to be taken. contemplating a rule that would merge the border security bill into another bill. another mustpass piece of legislation. not knowing what that would be. But. obviously. the supplement could be a candidate for that.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":778,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090003531,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We are contemplating several major pieces of legislation that we would hope to complete before the Easter break. and we are also contemplating several bills that we contemplate completing prior to the Presidents Day district work period. The comprehensive energy bill. which we passed in the last Congress and in the 107th Congress. is a very high priority for this year. There is a good chance that we could consider a national energy policy bill before the Presidents Day district work period.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":495,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090003535,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I appreciate the gentleman yielding to me. Mr. Speaker. We have not discussed any rule. Actually. we are discussing with the relevant committee chairmen whether we can get it that quickly or not. But I would imagine that the Committee on Rules would have the same sort of rule that we have had on this bill for the last couple of years. So I would not see anything changing.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":374,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090003559,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. let me begin by completely embracing and endorsing the comments of the gentleman from California earlier today in support of H.R. 302. a continuation of a long fight for justice for our Filipino veterans. I say. as the representative from the district out of 435 in our entire country containing and holding the largest number of Filipino Americans. this is exactly what we must do to bring justice and conclusion to this sorry story in our history. But I rise here today to highlight another issue which goes as well to the very heart of our collective obligation to dur Nations veterans. whether they be members of our greatest generation. like Hawaiis own 100th Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team. or those lost tragically in the deserts and streets of Iraq and Afghanistan. and that is our promise that our fallen be buried with their comrades in our great national cemeteries. be they Arlington or my own National Cemetery of the Pacific. Despite this most elemental undertaking. increasing numbers of veterans are facing a dire situation. Currently. 11 States do not have a national cemetery operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs. and an additional six States. including Hawaii. have national cemeteries that no longer accept casket remains. To assist with this indefensible shortfall. a number of States. including Hawaii. have worked with the VA to construct and operate State veterans cemeteries. Established in 1978 to complement the VAs National Cemetery Administration. the State Cemetery Grants Program assists States in providing grave sites for veterans in those areas where VAs national cemeteries cannot fully satisfy their burial needs. On most of the neighbor islands of Hawaii. my district. we have State cemeteries operated under this program. Specifically. grants from the State Cemetery Grants Program may be used only for the purpose of establishing. expanding or improving veterans cemeteries that are owned and operated by a State or U.S. territory. ","speaker_name":"ED CASE","chamber":"H","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5282,"word_count":321}
{"speech_id":1090003706,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the dean of our women in the Senate. the woman who was first and blazed the way for all of us. the distinguished Senator from Maryland. I thank her so much for her leadership on this and other issues. Our dean has said so many times. honor thy father and thy mother. They are not just important words in the Bible. but they are important words to live by. This debate about Social Security certainly reflects our values in honoring our fathers and our mothers. So I thank her for that. I rise with my colleagues to speak today about the greatest American success story of our time. Social Security. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7871,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090003710,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Without Social Security. virtually twothirds of the elderly women in Arkansas would be forcedto live in poverty. Many of those women use Social Security as their only source of income. I can remember going to the store with my mother and being a bargain shopper. I find myself as a young mother doing the same thing. But it would break my heart to think that my mother had to choose between food. utilities. or pharmaceuticals. Many women find themselves in that position even today. If we privatize Social Security. that will explode. Many of these","speaker_name":"BLANCHE LINCOLN","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5564,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090003746,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. first. I would like to say straight out that I thought the President gave a great speech yesterday. I thought it was forward looking. positive. and I think he issued a challenge to Members of Congress. It is a challenge we should face up front. I rise today to talk about the Presidents State of the Union Address. The President last night reminded us of our freedom and liberty. our personal responsibilities. and solemn obligations. Freedom and libertyno two words have given more to those blessed by them and damned more those who have taken them away. The Presidents address reminded us that the march of freedom continues throughout the world. The success of the elections in Afghanistan. Iraq. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6487,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090003768,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today in strong support of the Presidents nominee for Attorney General. Judge Alberto Gonzales. Judge Gonzales is a gentleman whom I have had the opportunity to work with in his role as counsel to President Bush. I have found him to be intelligent. steady. discreet. and honest in all our dealings. He is well qualified to be Attorney General. One should look at someones record of performance. He served with skill and integrity as an effective counsel to the President. He has served as a distinguished jurist on the Supreme Court of Texas. as the 100th Secretary of State and chief elections officer in Texas and then as chief counsel to thenGovernor Bush. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6496,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090003771,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The President then gets to pick his team. We look at character. we look at intellect. we look at integrity. and all of those factors. That should be the judgment we bring every time. That is what the senior Senator from Virginia. with . his experience. has brought to the table. I would like him to know that I intend to follow that in my time here. I think it is the right standard.","speaker_name":"NORM COLEMAN","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1194,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090003772,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am deeply humbled by the comments of the Senator. It has been a privilege. I have had an awful lot of good luck. and a lot of people have given me the wisdom and counsel in which I have put together this modest career. I thank the Senator for his service and I enjoy working with him.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":301,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090003779,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I do not have confidence that a Justice Department under his leadership will conduct the Enron investigations with sufficient vigor and independence. We want our Attorney General to uphold the law no matter who the criminal is no matter how politically inconvenient and no matter who asks for his advice. This administrations ties to Enron are -common knowledge. In audiotapes released last summer. we heard Enron traders bragging about Enrons status as the number one contributor to the Presidents election campaign in 2000. We know that former Enron executives even had a hand in bankrolling the Presidents Inaugural festivities last month. So I think its important for my colleagues to also realize that Judge Gonzales himself also had substantial ties to Enron while he was an attorney in private practice and then a candidate for the Texas Supreme Court. . Given the significance of this case and the past recusal of the outgoing Attorney General. Judge Gonzales should have made clear his intention to recuse himself from that investigation. Let me repeat this important point. Attorney General Ashcroft knew to recuse himself because of similar political ties to Enron. ","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12202,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090003787,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Gonzaless fitness to be the Attorney General. Because of this. but even more because of his fundamental lack of respect for basic human rights. I cannot support ljim to be the chief law enforcement officer of this country.","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4436,"word_count":38}
{"speech_id":1090003789,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today in opposition to President Bushs nomination of Alberto Gonzales to be Attorney General of the United States. While I have long held that any President deserves a presumption in favor of his nominees for Cabinet positions. the advice and consent role of the Senate should never be regarded as a mere formality. The Attorney General. in particular. is far more than simply another political appointee or adviser to a President. The Attorney General plays a key role in the provision of justice for all Americans. and nominees to this enormously important office must be reviewed with senatorial scrutiny which is fair and not political but demanding. I am profoundly troubled that Mr. Gonzaless promotion of torture flies in the face of deeply held American values. undermines our Nations reputation around the world. and places American troops and other citizens abroad in great danger. As the father of a soldier who served in combat in both Afghanistan and Iraq. I am particularly concerned that our Nations utilization of torture creates an environment where other nations and other organizations feel they have justification for torturing our troops and our citizens. ","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5059,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090003796,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Afghanistan. and elsewhere has deepened the anger and resentment that some feel toward our country and has given a propaganda club to our enemies. Longstanding legal prohibitions against torture and inhumane treatment are pivotal to the protection of American troops engaged in combat outside the United States. because upholding our commitments to international prohibitions against torture and inhumane treatment gives us the moral and legal standing to demand that others refrain from torturing or mistreating American service men and women in their custody and to enforce those demands. Our top military lawyers. including the.Legal Adviser to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Armys Judge Advocate General. expressed reservations and concerns at various times during the development of the administrations legal policies regarding the handling of detainees. Military lawyers warned against deviating from the standards of the Geneva Conventions. Military lawyers also reportedly argued against tough interrogation techniques advocated by civilian . attorneys saying such tactics would violate established military practice and. if revealed. would provoke public condemnation both at home and abroad. In the end. Judge Gonzales sided with the civilian attorneys in opposing the recommendations of our Senior military lawyers. Also. a group of 12 retired senior military officers. including former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. retired Army General John Shalikashvili. took the highlyunusual step of writing the Senate Judiciary Committee a letter critical of Judge Gonzales. They expressed deep concern in particular over his role \"in shaping U.S. detention and interrogation operations in Afghanistan. Iraq. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":13077,"word_count":253}
{"speech_id":1090003800,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"How did this start? Where did it start? Who is responsible? We do not know everything because the administration refuses to come clean. But what we do know gives us some clear answers. And those answers should disqualify Mr. Gonzales from becoming Attorney General. It started when those who wanted to use extreme methods of coercion approached the White House and asked for legal cover. They went to the Office of the White House Counsel. the Presidents lawyer. Mr. Gonzales. Mr. Gonzales went to Jay Bybee in the Justice Department and asked him for a legal opinion on torture. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9024,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090003808,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"However. there is a limit to how long we need to keep talking about it. We have been here all week. I hope now most of us can come to the decision that it is time to move on. I frankly do not know the judge. I have not worked with him. as many people have. But I was impressed listening to those who have. particularly about his Texas experience. He certainly seems to have worked on cases diligently and has done a great job. He has not been influenced outside the courtroom. Those are excellent qualifications for someone in this job. Certainly. there has also been the opportunity to serve with the President as White House Counsel. ","speaker_name":"CRAIG THOMAS","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5247,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090003810,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"When we think about the history of our country. for the first 250 years from the founding of Plymouth Rock and Jamestown to the civil war. we were a country that divided ourselves by the race of our skin. so that if one was one race. they were able to own as property members who were from another race. It took a very bloody civil warin fact. the bloodiest of all wars that this country has been engaged into end that system of slavery and to usher in the 13th. 14th and 15th amendments that said we are equal in this Nation. Notwithstanding that bloodiest of wars and notwithstanding the fact that we had amended the Constitution in those ways. it took another 100 years for us to legally end the system of segregation in this country because it was not until 1954 and the decision written by Justice Warren in Brown v. The Board of Education that we said that segregation was wrong and that we would not tolerate it under our system of law. As we have evolved in our relationships within groups over the last half a century. there have been leaders. both Democrats and Republicans. who have embraced the doctrines of diversity and an inclusive America. In the 1960s. that effort was lead by Democrats. such as John Kennedy. Robert Kennedy. and Lyndon Johnson. It was the Civil Rights Act of the 1960s that created opportunities for all of us in America to recognize that we are. in fact. one Nation. But it was not just the Republicans or the Democrats who were in the lead in that role. There were also others who were involved. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4807,"word_count":280}
{"speech_id":1090003820,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"KENNEDY. MIKULSKI. DAYTON. and STABENOW. Yesterday. the debate on this side of the aisle included eloquent and powerful statements by Senators BYRD. DURBIN. JACK REED. and JEFFORDS. all stating their reasons for opposing this nomination on the merits. No one should be accusing these Senators of doing anything except their constitutional duty. Today. we heard as well from Senators DODD. OBAMA.","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1181,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090003859,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"At the time of his -death. he was advocating a peaceful resolution to the problems in South Ossetia. We mourn his death. People throughout the world. who believe in freedom. democracy. human rights. and the viability of peaceful political opposition in a political struggle. mourn him as well. He will be missed.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1030,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090003861,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Our friend and colleague. Senator Ernest Hollings of South Carolina. left us last year to enjoy a wellearned retirement. However. he still has a few words of wisdom. and just a little vitriol. that he would like to share. Senator Hollings was one of the most fascinating speakers ever to take the Senate floor. His comments were sometimes controversial. but always thoughtprovoking and delivered in a way only Fritz Hollings could orate. We miss him. I ask unanimous consent that the statement of Senator Hollings be printmay not agree with all his statements. but as usual I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I hope all Americans will enjoy it as well.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":650,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090003865,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act is a symbol that can become substance. I believe that by passing this legislation and changing current law. we can change hearts and minds as well.","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1022,"word_count":32}
{"speech_id":1090003867,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I The death of Prime Minister Zhvania. while tragic. does not spell the end of democratic reforms in Georgia. In fact. his contributions to Georgian democracy will be long lasting. In the short time Prime Minister Zhvania was in power. he and his team began a process of significant institutional reconstruction and orientation that will one day. in the notsodistant future. firmly entrench Georgia into the western institutions of the European Union and NATO. Tomorrow. in Tbilisi. a large international conference will convene to discuss Georgia and the Caucasus region integration with the West. And. in less than two weeks. the Community of Democracies will hold a workshop with representatives from more than 17 countries to discuss and develop action plans for further democratic and institutional reform in Georgia. Neither would have occurred had it not been for the courage and dedication to democracy and freedom exhibited by President Saakashvili and his trusted advisor and ally. Zurab Zhvania. which led the Rose Revolution to victory and brought hope to the Georgian people. I believe that one of the finest tributes to the Prime Ministers memory will be for all of us. in Georgia and in the West. to redouble our efforts to ensure that Zurab Zhvanias aspirations for democracy in Georgia are fully realized in the critical months ahead. Let me say that America will continue to work with the people of Georgia. President Saakashvili. and other Georgian leaders to ensure that their aspiration to become fully integrated into the worlds community of nations is met. as expeditiously and irreversibly as possible. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3169,"word_count":262}
{"speech_id":1090003882,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Many of these businesses fear that. this year. they will have to decrease their hours of operation during what is their busiest time of year. This would translate into lost jobs for American workers. lost income for American businesses. and lost tax revenue from .those businesses. These losses will be significant. and they can. be avoided. This is why I am today introducing the Summer Operations and Seasonal Equity Act of 2005. Similar to legislation that I cosponsored last year. this bill would exclude from the cap returning workers who were counted against the cap within the past 3 years. Ths legislation also seeks to address the inequities in the current system by requiring that no fewer than 12.000 visas be made available in each quarter of the fiscal year. By holding back a limited number of visas for use in each quarter. we will ensure that employers across the country. operating in all four seasons. have a fair and equal opportunity to hire these muchneeded workers. We must act quickly on this legislation. however. or we will be too late to help thousands of American businesses that need our help now. We cannot be content to say: \"Its too late for this year. maybe next year.\" It is true that comprehensive. longterm solutions may be necessary. but we have immediate needs as well. This problem demands immediate solutions. ","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6732,"word_count":229}
{"speech_id":1090003883,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The legislation I am introducing today clearly outlines who isyesponsible for trying these cases by clarifying when a crime should be prosecuted in Federal. tribal. or State court. At the same time. the bill honors tribal sovereignty. If we do not address this problem. it will only .worsen. This legislation culminates a lot of work among the New Mexico delegation. the pueblos. and the State. It is a necessary bill. It is a good bill. And I hope that my colleagues will act quickly to clarify jurisdiction over these lands. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1615,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090003891,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The courts only deal with defendants deemed mentally ill by qualified mental health professionals or the mental health court judge. Similarly. participation in the court by the mentally ill is voluntary. however. once the defendant volunteers for the Mental Health Court. he or she is expected to follow the decision of the court. For instance. in any given case. the mental health court judge. attorneys. and. health services liaison may all agree on a plan of treatment as an alternative sentence or in lieu of prosecution. The defendant must adhere strictly to this courtimposed treatment plan. The court must then provide supervision. and quickly deal with any failure. This way. the court can quickly deal with any failure of the defendant to fulfill the treatment plan obligations. The mental health courts provide supervision of participants that is more intensive than might otherwise be available. with an emphasis on accountability and monitoring the participants performance. In this sense. the mental heath courts function similarly to drug courts. Offenders with a mental illness who choose to have their cases heard in a mental health court often do so because that is the first real opportunity .that many of these people have to seek treatment. A judicial program offering the possibility of effective treatmentrather than jail timegives a measure of hope and a chance for rehabilitation to these defendants. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7327,"word_count":226}
{"speech_id":1090003896,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Agriculture. Nutrition. and Forestry be authorized to conduct a hearing during the session of the Senate on Thursday. February 3. 2005. The purpose of this hearing will be to examine the effects of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) on U.S. imports and exports of cattle and beef.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BENNETT","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":345,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090003898,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senateon February 3. 2005. at 10 a.m.. in open session to receive testimony on U.S. military operations and stabilization activities in Iraq and Afghanistan.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BENNETT","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":281,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090003918,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on Monday. following morning business. the Senate will begin consideration of the class action bill. The managers of the bill will be here on Monday. I encourage Members to make themselves available for opening statements. The previous order provides for debate only on the class action bill during Mondays session. and I expect we will start the amendment process early on Tuesday. I would also announce to my colleagues that we are working on a resolution relating to the recent elections in Iraq. It is our intent to have a vote on that resolution on Monday evening at approximately 5:30 p.m. Again. we do not have that locked in. but we will be working in good faith on the final language and agreement for that 5:30 vote.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":741,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090003926,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. when President Bush was elected. he said that he wanted to be a uniter and not a divider. We took him at his word. The last 4 years have not worked out well. There has not been much unity in Washington. but a lot of divisive matters come before us and the tone has not been good. The day after this last election when the President was reelected he called me when I was in Las Vegas and we had a very pleasant meeting on the telephone. He said he wanted to get along. He wanted to set a better tone in Washington. This past Wednesday. the State of the Union Message was given. The President said the same thing therehe wanted to get along. to cooperate. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2849,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090003932,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Let me repeat: Small businesses take in 25 percent of Americas business revenue but they bear 68 percent of the tort costs. They spend a staggering $88 billion a year on legal fees-$88 billion that could be used to hire more workers. create more jobs. expand their businesses. or develop new products and services. Many small businesses cant afford the legal burden. so they close up shop and jobs are lostand the economy overall suffers. Clearly. it is time for reform. We simply cannot afford the status quo. The cost of doing business in America keeps going up while respect for our legal system goes down. That is why today. as a first step. we are tackling class action. We should consider focusing on other areas of lawsuit abuse. including medical liability. asbestos. and bankruptcyand in due time we will do just that. But we are beginning with class action to help those injured by negligence who often receive little or nothing while their attorneys pocket millions. Class action serves an important purpose in our justice system. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7039,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090003964,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that at 5 p.m. today the Senate proceed to the consideration of a resolution regarding the Iraqi elections. which is at the desk. provided further. that there be 30 minutes for debate equally divided between the leaders or their designees. and that there be no amendments to the resolution or preamble. I further ask unanimous consent that at 5:30 p.m.. the Senate proceed to a vote on the adoption of the resolution. and that following that vote. the preamble be agreed to. without intervening action or debate.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":551,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090003975,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It would be my request to my colleagues that the matter be examined and studied because we are going to have to move forward on it one way or another. if it is to be taken up at an early date. I have set a very demanding schedule on the work of those who have been in the drafting process. So I ask consideration of my colleagues to consider this matter at an early opportunity. I thank the Chair. I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":432,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090003985,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The fact is. they must get involved and stop shirking their responsibility. We also must help the Iraqi government develop positive relations with its neighbors and regional states. Our Presidential elections are over. the American people have spoken. and it is time for our allies to get over their past differences with the Bush administration and act in their own selfinterest to promote a stable. unified. representative Iraq. A week ago. several of my colleagues from both sides of the aisle had the chance to visit with President Chirac. I think it is fair to say we sensed a new willingness to work with us if France is given a seat at the table. Similarly. Chancellor Schroeder. during Secretary Rices visit last week. offered additional German assistance to train Iraqi security forces. build Iraqi ministries. and support Iraqi civil institutions. We must not squander yet another opportunity to bring our key allies into the effort. Last April. I called for the creation of a board of directorsa contact groupconsisting of the major powers. the Iraqi government. and key regional countries to support Iraqs transition. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6442,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090003986,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The American occupation has fueled the insurgency. We are all moved by the bravery of the Iraqi people who voted in the recent election. and we honor the courageous men and women of our Armed Forces who continue to risk their lives for a better future for the Iraqi people. The election is an opening. if we are wise enough to seize it. to demonstrate to the Iraqi people that we have no longterm designs on their country. I hope the administrations decision to withdraw 15.000 American troops from Iraq is a downpayment on a more enlightened policy. and that the administration will seize this opening. Our men and women in uniform deserve more. We need to redouble our efforts to train the Iraqi security forces before the election of a permanent Iraqi government at the end of the year. so that a stable and free Iraq will be established and our troops can come home with dignity and honor. I congratulate the Iraqi people and the men and women of our Armed Forces who made this election possible. and I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2405,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090004006,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am pleased to introduce today the Upper Connecticut River Partnership Act. This legislation will help bring recognition to New Englands largest river ecosystem and one of our Nations fourteen American Heritage Rivers. The purpose of this legislation is to help the communities along the river protect and enhance their rich cultural history. economic vitality. and the environmental integrity of the river. From its origin in the mountains of northern New Hampshire. the Connecticut River runs over 400 miles and eventually empties into Long Island Sound. The river forms a natural boundary between my home state of Vermont and New Hampshire. and travels through the States of Massachusetts and Connecticut. The river and surrounding valley have long shaped and influenced development in the New England region. This river is one of Americas earliest developed rivers. with European settlements going back over 350 years. The industrial revolution blossomed in the Connecticut River Valley. supported by new technologies such as canals and mills run by hydropower. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3936,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090004018,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wish to announce that the Committee on Rules and Administration will meet on Tuesday. February 8. 2005. at 9:30 a.m.. to conduct its organization meeting for the 109th Congress. For further information regarding this hearing. please contact Susan Wells at the Rules and Administration Committee on 2246352.","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":323,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090004054,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I was pleased to hear they are going to continue to look at these two weapon systems. and hopefully we will make some changes from the budget that are more realistic. more reasonable. and decisions that are a lot more correct than the decisions contained within the budget. The second area I will talk about that concerns me relative to this budget is the proposal to reduce the budget of the Department of Agriculture by some $5.7 billion over 10 years. In 2002. we wrote the latest farm bill. That farm bill was a controversial farm bill. It has been criticized by conservatives. It has been criticized by liberals. It has been applauded by both sides as well. I happen to think it is the right kind of farm bill that allows our consumers in America to go to the grocery store and be able to continue to buy the most reasonable food products of any industrialized country in the world. We spend less money per dollar on food products in this country than any other industrialized country in the world. We have a guarantee that those products are safe and secure. and at the same time we provide the research that allows our farmers to produce the highest quality and the largest yields of agriculture products of anyone in the world. ","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9524,"word_count":222}
{"speech_id":1090004071,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have increased NIH funding from $12 billion to $28 billion. which has provided for enormous improvements. There has been a march toward cures in Parkinsons. diabetes. heart disease. cancer. and many other illnesses. In the context of what is happeningwith these programs. I have decided to stay and fight rather than switch. I am delighted to yield to Senator HARKIN.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4596,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090004086,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. who reinforced the notion that if we adopt this bill as it presently reads. then there will no changes in the House and they will accept the Senate language. That is good news for those of us who have worked on this compromise. Certainly. this is not a perfect bill. No bill is. We all know that. but I think it strikes a careful balance between remedying the shortcomings and retaining the strengths of current class action practice in this country. Obviously. the bill is not yet through the Senate. But the consent agreement entered into by the two leaders is an auspicious beginning to preserving the balance. Let me. once again. reiterate my thanks to Senator REID of Nevada. the distinguished Democratic leader. and for Senator FRIST entering into that agreement which allows us to have this debate. and for all relevant and germane amendments to be considered to this legislation. Certainly. that is the way it ought to be done. Moreover. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2031,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090004092,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Take. for example. the change in 1966. from a system where class members were required to \"opt in\" to a system. where now they are required to \"opt out.\" By 1971. four times as many class actions were being filed than had been in 1966. In other words. from 1966 to 1971. we saw four times the number of class actions brought. Since that time. recoveries have skyrocketed. This chart behind me reflects the growth I mentioned a moment ago. You can see that from 1973 to 1975 there were relatively few class action lawsuits and relatively modest recoveries. But they have obviously ballooned and appear to be getting bigger year by year. The problems we increasingly experience with abusive class action lawsuits call for a significant overhaul of our civil justice system and particularly our rules providing for the resolution of mass tort litigation. I must tell you that the bill we have before us today is clearly a modest reform. It amounts to an improvement over the status quo. but it doesnt begin to approach the comprehensive solution America needs. As it stands. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11600,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090004096,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If we go back over a couple hundred centuries in this country. we ended up with a law that the Congress passed that said if we have a defendant from one State and plaintiffs from another State. it is not fair to the defendant to have the case necessarily heard in the home of the plaintiffs. Someone may have dragged the defendant in across the State lines and put them in a courthouse or courtroom where there is a bias toward the local plaintiffs who brought the case against the defendant from another State. and in an effort to try to make sure that we are fair. to both parties. those who are bringing the accusations and those who are defending against them. we have the Federal courts which were established in many cases to resolve those kinds of issues. Unfortunately. we have seen an abuse of some class action lawsuits in recent years which led the Congress to begin debating this issue and considering legislation to address these abuses starting in. I want to say 1997. 7 years ago. The original problem that was discovered or was pointed out is this: There seems to be a growing prevalence of plaintiffs attorneys who are forum shopping in State or local courts where the plaintiff class may have an inordinate advantage against the defendant. I will not go into the examples today. but there are any number of instances where one can see forum shopping has gone on. a State or a county courthouse has certified a class. agreed to hear a case. and it sets up a situation where the defendant company or the defendant knows they are going to have a hard time getting a fair shake in that courthouse. As a result. the defendant will agree to a settlement with the plaintiffs attorneys. The settlement may richly reward the plaintiffs attorneys for bringing the case. the defendant may cut their losses. but the folks on whose behalf the litigation was brought in the first place. those who allegedly are harmed. in many instances get little or nothing for their harm. That is not a fair situation. It is not fair to the little people on whose behalf the case has been brought. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5430,"word_count":374}
{"speech_id":1090004112,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In other words. a lot of people have difficulties. and the class action lawyer may discover what he thinks is a wrong. Then he appoints himself to be the righter of that wrong. Then he goes out and identifies a class. He does not talk to the individual clients. as lawyers do in a normal situation. he appoints himself to take on these cases. The clients may not even be dissatisfied with the goods and services they bought. They may not be unhappy at all. But unless they opt out of a class whose existence they may be unaware. they become plaintiffs anyway. I heard a Senator recently say he was involved in a class action. and the person who was being sued was a friend. and he did not even know he was involved. Continuing to quote: Class actions present almost infinite venue shopping. Infinite venue -shopping. that is what I was saying. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11200,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090004130,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mine Company and seven executives face criminal charges. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the entire article be printed in the RECORD after my remarks.","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1752,"word_count":26}
{"speech_id":1090004137,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It contained the compromise language that we worked out with Senators DODD. LANDRIEU. and SCHUMER. Senator FRIST then attempted to bring up the bill last July. Unfortunately. we were once again denied the ability to close debate on the bill. and we lost. again. a cloture vote. This was because Senators wanted to offer nongermane amendmentsamendments. as you know. Mr. President. that have absolutely nothing to do with the subject matter of the underlying bill. This was particularly disappointing to me after all of the hard work we had done to reach an acceptable compromise with several Democrats. We could have passed the bill in the 108th Congress. but raw politics got in theway. Now is the time to get this bill done. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11460,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090004162,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to publicly recognize Dean Meinen of my D.C. staff on his contributions and accomplishments to my office and the State of South Dakota. For years. Dean Meinen has served as my economic development director. He is leaving my office to go work with Strategic Marketing Innovations. which represents science and technology firms throughout the country. I know first hand that Dean has done a great deal to enhance opportunity and prosperity all across South Dakota. He is an extraordinarily talented person with a great deal of energy and ambition. Dean is not only a great friend. but a wellrespected staffer throughout the U.S. Senate. ","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2171,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090004163,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Soon thereafter she married E.D. Cannady. who was the founder of the Advocate. Portlands only AfricanAmerican newspaper at the time. Beatrice Cannady quickly became one of the most important civil rights activists in Oregon. Just 4 years after her","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1556,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090004164,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This act is important because it doesnt punish schools and counties when timber harvests are uncertain. In 2000. just like in 1908. Congress recognized these States and counties needed stability in the 25percent payments in order to plan year to year and provide valuable services. Without the Secure Rural Schools Act. in 2004. Montana counties would have received only $6 million. rather than the $11.7 million provided under the 2000 act. The education of nearly 100.000 Montana schoolchildren in 170 school districts in 34 counties is affected by these pay-. ments. Another benefit of the act is the \"full payment\" option. Under this option. counties can reserve 15 to 20 percent of the payment for title II. Public Land Projects. These project funds are allocated by a 15person Resource Advisory Committee. ","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3054,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090004167,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wish to recognize the 100th anniversary of Southwest Missouri State University. The university was founded March 17. 1905. in Springfield as Missouri State Normal School. Fourth District. and has \"Dared to Excel\" for the past 100 years. The Southwest Missouri State University System. including its campuses in West Plains and Mountain Grove. are celebrating their centennial -year from July 1. 2004. through June 30. 2005. The \"Dare to Excel\" theme is most appropriate for this university that has never rested on its laurels. To quote SMS President John H. Kaiser. \"Over the first 100 years of its existence. the institution has changed dramatically. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4396,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090004168,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I pay tribute to William \"Bill\" Sinclair. Bill is a cum laude alumnus of St. Martins College in Olympia. WA and he has done graduate work in Finance and Administration at Emory University in Atlanta. Bill is currently selfemployed as a consultant in fundraising for churches and other nonprofit corporations in the western United States. Throughout his life. Bill has given his time generously to worthy causes. dedicated to the betterment of our community and nation. Bill has been heavily involved in the Colorado Springs community. He is the past president of Downtown Rotary Club. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2355,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090004172,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to join my colleague. Senator LAUTENBERG. in both support and the introduction of the RiskBased Homeland Security Funding Act. I think this is simply urgent. It is fundamental to the recommendations of the 9\/11 Commission. as Senator LAUTENBERG mentioned. Quoting language that was in that Commission report: Homeland security assistance should be based strictly on an assessment of risks and vulnerabilities. Quoting further: [F]ederal homeland security assistance should not remain a program for general revenue sharing. In fact. I believe we should relabel the bill. ","speaker_name":"JON CORZINE","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7676,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090004176,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In rural areas. this signal may not reach many people. but it provides rural citizens with another media outletanother voice in the market. In urban areas. this signal may reach hundreds of thousands of people and provide not just local content. but very specific neighborhood news and information. Localism is increasingly important in todays changing media landscape. Rampant ownership consolidation has taken place in the radio industry since passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Since that time. many Americans have complained that the large media conglomerates fail to serve local communities interests and seem to use their local station license as a conduit to air national programming. Low Power FiV was introduced. in part. to respond to such complaints. Between May 1999 and May 2000. the Commission received over 3.400 applications for Low Power FM stations from noncommercial educational entities and community organizations. However. before the Commission could act on many of the applications for this new commdnity service. broadcasters frightened legislators into halting the full implementation of Low Power FM. Broadcasters masqueraded their true concerns aboutcompetition from a real local radio broadcaster in thinly veiled claims of interference. Due to the broadcasters subterfuge. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5871,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090004179,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In 2003. Congress adopted the NunnLugar Expansion Act. which authorized the NunnLugar program to operate outside the former Soviet Union to address proliferation threats. The bill that I am introducing today would strengthen the NunnLugar program and provide it with greater flexibility to address emerging threats. To date. the NunnLugar program has deactivated .or destroyed: 6.564 nuclear warheads. 568 ICBMs. 477 ICBM silos. 17 ICBM mobile missile launchers. 142 bombers. 761 nuclear airtosurface missiles. 420 submarine missile launchers. 543 submarine launched missiles. 28 nuclear submarines. and 194 nuclear test tunnels. The NunnLugar program also facilitated the removal of all nuclear weap-","speaker_name":"RICHARD LUGAR","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1570,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090004180,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The commonsense legislation that Ive introduced today will combat such egregious forum shopping by requiring that corporate debtors file where their principal place of business or principal assets are located. rather than their state of incorporation. and forbidding parent companies from manipulating the venue by filing first through a subsidiary. Bankruptcy venue abuse is not just bad for our legal system. it hurts Americas consumers. creditors. workers. pensioners. shareholders. and small businesses. Under current law. corporate debtors effectively get to pick the court in which they will file for bankruptcy.. As a result. creditors can be forced to litigate far away from the realworld location. where costs and inconveniences associated with travel are prohibitive. This troubling loophole also serves to unfairly enable corporate debtors to evade their financial commitments. It badly disables consumers. creditors. workers. pensioners. shareholders. and small businesses from pursuing and receiving reasonable compensation from bankruptcy proceedings. Current law allows debtors to forum shop and thereby to pick jurisdictions likely to rule in their favor. If debtors get to pick the jurisdiction. then bankruptcy judges have a disturbing incentive to compete with other bankruptcy courts for major bankruptcy cases. by tilting their rulings in favor of corporate debtors and their attorneys. The examples are numerous. Here are three of the most prominent incidents: Polaroid. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7632,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090004189,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"According to the Center for Law and .Social Policy. child support constitutes 16 percent of family income for lowincome households that receive it. For families who leave welfare. this number almost doubles. A Washington State study of families leaving welfare with regular child support payments found that these families found work faster and kept jobs longer. compared to families without steady child support income. Its time for Congress to change this system and encourage States to distribute more child support to families. My home State of Wisconsin has been a leader in this practice. which has benefited thousands of working families. In 1997. I worked with my State to institute an innovative program of passing through child support payments directly to families. An evaluation of the Wisconsin program clearly shows that when child support payments are delivered to families. noncustodial parents are more apt to pay. and to pay more. In addition. Wisconsin has found that. overall. this policy does not increase government costs. ","speaker_name":"HERBERT KOHL","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4845,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090004191,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I also received a letter from Jack Holmes a former school teacher from Las Vegas. who wrote: \"I am dying. I have malignant mesothelioma . . . I can expect extreme pain and suffering before I die.\" I also heard from Robert Wright of Henderson. NV. who was exposed to asbestos while serving in the United Febtuary 8. 2005 States Navy. He now suffers from asbestosis. These are just a few of the hundreds of citizens of Nevada that are suffering with asbestosrelated diseases. Every one of their stories is a tragedy and every one of them could have been prevented with greater awareness and education. Most Americans think asbestos was banned a long time ago. Nothing could be further from the truth. New asbestos is used every day to insulate water pipes. as insulation. in making ceiling tiles and in many other building materials. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5047,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090004241,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mercy Home For Boys and Girls. and Uhlich Childrens Advantage Network and Working in Schools. I also want to commend the Chicago public school system. the board of education. for the development of a program called Cradle to the Classroom. where they had mentors who worked individually with young parents and students who had become pregnant and who had children and yet have been able to finish their high school education and graduate with the help of a mentor. In Chicago and across the country. it is clear that the framework is in place. Now we just need more people to volunteer their time and help change the life of a child. I am very pleased to be associated with many groups and organizations like the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. which has a great national mentoring program. and especially my local chapter. Mu Mu Lambda. I am also pleased to be associated with the 100 Black Men of America. who have mentoring programs. and chaptersthroughout the Nation. Mr. Speaker. once again I want to commend the gentleman from Nebraska for his insight. dedication. and continuous work with the development of the young people. as expressed in this resolution. I urge strong support for it. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4797,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090004259,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. . Mr. Speaker. H.R. 315. introduced by my colleague. the gentlewoman from Florida . will designate the United States courthouse located at 300 North Hogan Street in Jacksonville as the \"John Milton Bryan Simpson United States Courthouse.\" Born in Kissimmee. Florida. John Simpson progressed through what would be called by any reasonable person a long. distinguished. and publicly oriented career. After receiving his law degree from the University of Florida. and 7 years of private practice. John Simpson would begin what would result in a career in public service spanning 54 years. ","speaker_name":"BILL SHUSTER","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1705,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090004264,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I just want to say I appreciate the gentlemans remarks on Judge Simpson. He personalized it and once again pointed out that only in America could somebody come from such humble beginnings and rise through the ranks of the American judiciary. and today we are naming a Federal courthouse after him. So I have no further speakers. I encourage all of my colleagues to support H.R. 315.","speaker_name":"BILL SHUSTER","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":395,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090004273,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Tony Hall worked to make life better for those less fortunate. whether it was educating a single child who may not otherwise have attended school. or as an administrator of an international organization bringing food to the hungry worldwide. This is an appropriate honor that has the support of the entire Ohio delegation. Unfortunately. this is the third time that this matter has come to the Floor. During the 107th and 108th Congresses. my predecessor. the gentleman from Ohio . brought this matter before the House and each time it passed by voice vote. but was never considered by the Senate. As a new subcommittee chairman. it is my pleasure to continue his efforts to get this bill enacted into law. I hope the results of our consideration this year will be more positive. I support this legislation and encourage my colleagues to do the same. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"BILL SHUSTER","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1559,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090004276,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As colleagues. Tony and I worked together in a partnership for the benefit of citizens of the Miami Valley on numerous projects and initiatives. including those involving Wright Patterson Air Force Base and the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historic Park. which is the first bill that I passed in this legislature. A leading humanitarian. Tony has been nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work with hunger. relief aid programs. and improving international human rights conditions. Tony was a football star.a little All American at Denison. a Peace Corps volunteer. a noted world traveler. and a devoted husband and father and a dedicated public servant. We are all better people today because Tony Hall was in Congress. The example he set in working to improve the lives of others is something that all of us can learn from. This legislation is a lasting way to pay tribute to Tonys efforts over the years. and I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill. And I hope we will meet with better success this year in the other body than we did in the two previous years. And I urge all my colleagues to support this legislation.","speaker_name":"DAVID HOBSON","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2040,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090004280,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That is a ministry. Now today he is doing the same thing as our ambassador to the U.N. agency in Rome. He is not riding a desk. He is not sitting back and have others report to him. He is going out. And his average day is not spent inRome. but it is spent traveling throughout the world. seeing firsthand. witnessing these different programs. finding out those that work and improving them. finding out those that do not work and are failing. And even today. he is doing what he did here. Poor children. those that are sick. those that are without hope. Tony Hall today in his travels throughout the world is making a better life for them and for us. Let me close by simply discussing two things. ","speaker_name":"SPENCER BACHUS","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3517,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090004295,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. Im proud to join my colleagues from Ohio in cosponsoring H.R. 548. which will designate the Tony Hall Federal Building and United States Courthouse in his hometown of Dayton. I thank the gentleman from Springfield. Mr. HOBSON. for introducing this legislation to honor our exemplary former colleague. Tony Hall continues to be a tireless advocate for human rights around the world. His dedication to combating world hunger and helping the poor and needy made him. the ideal choice to oversee the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture. a job for which he was tapped in .2002. While we miss his leadership and friendship here in the House. we know that President Bush could not have picked a greater humanitarian or man of faith for this vital role. I was honored to serve with Tony for more than two decades. and was grateful for the leading role he played and the stellar example he provided to all of us. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL OXLEY","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1450,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090004337,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. yesterday President Bush delivered to this Congress his proposed Federal budget. In the coming months. Democrats and Republicans in Congress will debate budget proposals largely based on divergent cardinal moral values. We will debate budget cuts that represent more than just program additions or scalebacks. The Presidents proposed cuts to vital government programs are reflective of differences in moral core philosophies on the role of our government in serving our people. Budgets are moral documents that reveal fundamental priorities of a person. of a household. of a community. of a business. of a government. There is no better example of where Democratic and Republican values diverge than on Medicaid. The President claims he only wants to cut programs that are either not getting results or that duplicate current efforts or that do not fulfill essential priorities. As Democrats. we could not agree more on the need for efficient government. ","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3908,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090004357,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"At the same time. we have a program called the Missile Defense Systems program. and it is adding. it is increasing that budget. It will now be $8 billion. Twice as much as is being cut for education is going to be spent this coming year on the Missile Defense program. which does not work. And they say that they are cutting the education programs because they do not work. This defense program has been around for some time. It used to be called Star Wars. All kinds of different labels have been placed upon it. but We read. occasionally about them testing it and rockets going off in the sky and misfiring. and every time that happens it is $75 million or $100 million. The failed test costs us millions of dollars. yet we go on. we continue. It does not work. it costs millions of dollars. but we do not eliminate it. Security. they say. is the number one issue. and I agree. security is the number one issue. ","speaker_name":"MAJOR OWENS","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7946,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090004382,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding to me. I have a couple of questions for the gentlewoman from California and for the chairman. but before that we have had several discussions about the budget and what the budget reflects. Mr. Speaker. when you are in a group or organization. or in the church. you can tell something about the people as to how they spend their money. It is clear that this Bush administration does not value the people that are paying the bills. They do not value the people that are paying the bills. All you have to do is follow the dollars. Every single domestic program is cut under this administration. ","speaker_name":"CORRINE BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1148,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090004383,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. Mr. Speaker. I would tell the gentlewoman that it is more than 60 years old. And if I had a glass of wine here. I would drink a toast to it. Let us drink a toast to an aging lady in her 60s. That is really the prime these days. The most beautiful program that ever was developed. Social Security. ","speaker_name":"MAJOR OWENS","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":571,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090004385,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. my chief of staff and I were talking today about the program. He is a young man in his 40s. but his father died when he was a young man. and he was able to get that benefit that took care of him until he went to college. That is a benefit of the Social Security- program. So it helps those people that have parents who die. and it also helps the disabled. is that correct?","speaker_name":"CORRINE BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":385,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090004396,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I agree with them. We can save America one dollar at a time. and that is what we are going to do. We are going to take these first steps and put it on the road. saving America one dollar at a time. What those headlines should be saying is this: President Bush and the Republican Congress believe taxpayer dollars ought to be spent wisely or not spent at all. Sounds like something ours grandmothers probably told us. If you are going to do it. do it right. If you are going to do it. do it right the first time. If you are going to make some money. save it. If you are going to spend it. spend it wisely or do not spend it. In Tennessee we call that good old common sense. ","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9210,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090004398,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. I appreciate the gentlemans comments so very much. and I appreciate his insights and his wisdom that he brings to the discussion. And he is exactly right. Government can do better. and it is our responsibility to challenge government to do better. to challenge our systems of accounting. to challenge our systems that we are using to track the agencies and the outcomes that are there. Everything is funded by the taxpayers dollar. and we do want to invite the American people and our constituents to join us and be a part of this team ag we look for ways to foot out waste. fraud. and abuse in our system. We want to be certain that for future generations. for my children. for my grandchildren. that this is a healthy. vibrant nation where hope and opportunity continue to live and continue to be realized by every American man. woman. and child who seeks to find that American Dream. And I agree with the gentleman from Mississippi that all too often some of the liberal elites. those that are government elitists. their answer to everything is. just give us a little more money and we can make it right. And we know that does not work. Higher taxes do not yield greater outcomes. ","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2093,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090004399,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the government budget has grown almost three times faster than the family budget over this same time period as measured by median worker income. I have a hard time believing and my constituents in the Fifth District of Texas have a hard time believing. why. with the exception of a national emergency. does the Federal Government budget have to grow so much faster than the family budget? And guess what? They are related. That money is coming from somewhere. It is coming out of the family budget. and it is going into the Federal budget. What we call mandatory spending now amounts to 11 percent of our economy for the first time in the history of America. What we call discretionary spending in this body is now approximately 7 percent of our economy for ther first time in a decade. We are spending over $20.000 for American households for only the fourth time in the entire history of the United States of America and for the first time since World War II. It would be wonderful. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11029,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090004402,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I wonder if the gentleman would yield on that point. because I appreciate him making that very good point. There are programs which are designed to help those people that cannot help themselves or that are at a disadvantage for whatever reason. The gentleman makes an excellent point that when someone cheats on a program like that. they are not only cheating the government and the taxpayers. but they are cheating the neediest Americans. the most disadvantaged Americans. I wonder if I could go back to another point the gentleman from Texas made. Did the gentleman say that there is a 25 percent error rate in the earned income tax credit?","speaker_name":"ROGER WICKER","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":655,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090004411,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. while we are there. let me mention one other area of cost that waste. fraud. and abuse causes. Every single time we have an incident of waste or fraud. the regulatory agencies in charge put on layer upon layer of additional regulatory burdens to try to prevent it. I am not criticizing them for that. but that is just the way the system works. They try to figure out. how did this person cheat us. how can we put some additional regulations in place so that we do not let that happen again. Every time that happens. legitimate providers of services for Medicare. as an example. or health care have to continue to comply with this increasing burden of regulations that we have put -in place. This costs them money. In a business. when you have to comply with a regulation of some sort. you either have to hire somebody to help you with that. a direct cost. or you have to allocate some resource within your organization who was previously working to help you make money and help you provide services to clients to comply with that. So either one of those costs those providers within the system money. and it is a direct result of cheaters in our system. Now. ","speaker_name":"K. CONAWAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1541,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090004412,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I wonder if I could interject one other thing at this point. We are about to run out of time. and I do not know if we have complimented the leader of this Special Order quite enough. She has been very generous in her remarks about us. Actually. th6 gentlewoman from Tennessee has been quite a champion in the area. particularly. of credit card fraud -within the Also. the gentleman from Virginia Federal Government. I understand this (Chairman DAVIS). who chairs the Coinamounts to almost $100 million a year mittee on Government Reform. has put in lost taxpayers money. The gentle- an incredible amount of time over the womah. I think. has introduced. along past 2 years with that committee. holdwith the gentleman from South Caro- ing hearings and having reports. getlina . legislation to ad- ting things on paper so that we are bedress this problem. is that not correct? ginning to find out what is and is not","speaker_name":"ROGER WICKER","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":925,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090004422,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Now this budget is going to make the waiting longer. That is the experience in Washington. I just wonder what the experience is in Ohio.","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1210,"word_count":25}
{"speech_id":1090004428,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The - veterans are a very uncomplaining group. I find veterans to be the least demanding group. perhaps. of any people I work with. It is just not in touch with the spirit of America of wanting to embrace these people. It is denigrating their contribution. It is not understanding how deep people feel about the sacrifices that these folks have made in Iraq and Afghanistan. That is why we will have a very vigorous effort to restore this funding.","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2255,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090004500,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the time in relation -to the statement I will give which pertains to the class action bill be charged to the class action bill. There is no time agreement. but rather than take up my leader time or morning business. that the time be charged against the time on the bill.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":314,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090004502,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Insurance practices: In one case. a Missouri state judge gave preliminary approval to a settlement agreement in a class action brought by Missouri plaintiffs. where a pharmacist diluted prescriptions for thousands of patients. including chemotherapy patients. Because the defendant is based in Iowa. although they sell policies in Missouri. the case could be removable to federal court under this bill. Equitable Life Insurance was accused of misleading and cheating customers. This was a situation of the socalled vanishing premium cases in the 1980s. They sold policies when interest rates were high. They told customers as soon as the interest rates went down their premiums would be lower. That was not true. Class action lawsuits were filed in Pennsylvania and Arizona state. courts. and Equitable settled the suits for $20 million helping over 130.000 people. However. because the insurance company was based in another state. under this legislation. the case would have been removed to federal court and these people harmed between 19841996 would still be waiting for justice.. Wageandhour employment disputes: In California. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12273,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090004524,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the Chair. I rise to say a few words to congratulate my colleague. a gentleman I have known for many years and so many in Louisiana and around the Nation have come to admire and respect for his energy and commitment. I can only say the only disappointment in his maiden speech is that he did not call for the Mardi Gras to be a national holiday. The two of us are going to join forces and continue to work on that. I think most of our colleagues would readily sign that resolution. so we will see. But let me in seriousness thank him for joining the effort and putting his shoulder to the wheel to lower prescription drug costs for the people of Louisiana and our Nation. There are many critically important and urgent issues before the Congress but that ranks among the top. I believe his expertise in that area is going to be called on often in the next few months as this debate continues. Also. I would need to mention that I thank him for his efforts in mentioning and fighting for. both in his time in the House and the Louisiana Legislature. the issue of coastal erosion. ","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2195,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090004552,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In the context where we are limiting the ability for class actions to be brought under S. 5. that ability of the attorneys general to protect vulnerable consumers is all the more important. It is important for us to make sure as this legislation is being considered that we all understand it is going to have no impact on the powers and duties of the attorneys general. The letter that came in from our 46 of our former colleagues. interestingly. is an accumulation of almost all of the attorneys general from around the country. It includes Democrats and Republicans alike. It includes Republicans such as my successor. John Suthers. from the State of Colorado. and Democrats such as Tom Miller from the State of Iowa. I think their letter and Senator PRYORs amendment with respect to some of those are indeed just an effort to make sure the legislative intent that has been talked about here would impact the legislation. that is. that this legislation. S. 5. is not going to have any diminishing effect -whatsoever on the powers and duties of the attorneys general to proceed forward under the laws of their States. both constitutionally and also consumer protection laws. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2181,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090004561,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I ask for the yeas and nays on my amendment.","speaker_name":"MARK PRYOR","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1552,"word_count":10}
{"speech_id":1090004569,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The following Senator was necessarily absent: the Senator from New Hampshire . [Rollcall Vote No. 5 Leg.] Alexander Allard Allen Bennett Bond Brownback Bunning Burns Burr Carper Chafee Chambliss Coburn Cochran Coleman Collins Cornyn Craig Crapo DeMint Akaka Baucus Bayh Biden Bingaman Boxer Byrd Cantwell Clinton Conrad Corzine Dayton Dorgan YEAS60 DeWine Dodd Dole Domenici Ensign Enzi Frist Graham Grassley Gregg Bagel Hatch Hutchison Inhofe Isakson Kohl Kyl Lincoln Lott Lugar NAYS39 Durbin Feingold Feinstein Harkin Inouye Jeffords Johnson Kennedy Kerry Landrieu Lautenberg Leahy Levin Martinez McCain McConnell Murkowski Nelson (NE) Roberts Santorum Schumer Sessions Shelby Smith (OR) Snowe Specter Stevens Talent Thomas Thune Vitter .Voinovich Warner Lieberman Mikulski Murray Nelson (FL) Obama Pryor Reed Reid Rockefeller Salazar Sarbanes Stabenow Wyden","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":860,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090004598,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Finally. class action litigation protects our citizens from future injuries by putting an end to certain acts of corporate malfeasance and negligence. Although there have been abuses on occasion. the benefits of class action litigation should be evident. Under current law. an individual has the right to participate in a class when a number of people have been injured in a similar fashion by the same defendant. Once the class has been created. if the injury is based on a violation of State lawand many are. as there are really no general consumer protection lawsthe class representative generally has the option of filing either in State court or Federal court. In this respect. a class action is similar to any action that is filed in court. that is. the plaintiff is the master of his or her claims. The proponents of this legislation have argued that the basic goal of the legislation is to move these large class actions to Federal court. For instance. Stanton D. Anderson. executive vice president and chief legal counsel for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. wrote in the Philadelphia Inquirer. dated February 27. 2004. that: [t]he Class Action Fairness Act would simply allow federal courts to more easily hear large. national class action lawsuits affecting consumers all over the country. ","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11906,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090004633,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In short. workers who bring State labor claims after the Act passesand I expect that it willwill have the exact same rights they have now. Third. Federal courts have frequently certified overtime class actions. Some critics have said .they are worried about Federal courts refusing to certify employee claims. but that is not true. A recent study by the Federal Judicial Center found that class actions generally \"are almost equally likely to be certified\" in State and Federal court. Certification. of course. is when a Federal court agrees that a class action should be tried as a class action. A lawyer cant go in and declare. I am representing a whole class of people. without some finding that there is a class that has been similarly wronged. or there is a similar litigation issue at stake. A review of these decisions in Federal court found numerous examples of Federal judges certifying wagelabor class actions. For example. a Federal court in New York recently certified a State labor law class action on behalf of employees of a chain of natural food stores. many of whom were immigrants. who claimed they were not properly compensated for their overtime claims. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9557,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090004664,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Not surprisingly. it opposes the amendment. The Judicial Conference historically has opposed. as it says in its letter. \"statutory imposition of litigation priority. expediting requirements. or tiffe limitation rules in specified types of civil cases.\" In other words. judges do not like being told by Congress how to prioritize their cases or how quickly they should do their work. And I do not blame them. But we do it when we think it is important. And here we are sending a potentially large new number of cases to Federal court. We are increasing the workload of the Federal courts. making it more likely cases will be delayed because of crowded dockets. What the committee amendment did was to require the courts to quickly assess whether a case belongs in Federal court. whether this bill applies to it. I do not think that amendment of mine was unreasonable at all. On the other hand. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10598,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090004684,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am a Muslim. but I am also a leader of all Malaysianswhatever their faith. Similarly. we have tried to ensure that the rights of women are protected and that they fulfil their potential without having to face artificial barriers constructed in the name of Islam. We know Islam to be just and fair. and that it honours the position and rights of women. But there are clear instances of prejudices being cloaked in religious teachings in the Muslim world. aimed at passing off gender discrimination as the accepted norm. This will simply not do. Finally. Singapore. which lies between two great nations with majority Muslim populations. should be commended for the valuable role is has assumed in promoting a continental dialogue over these critical issues. Singapore Senior Minister. Gob Chok Tong. is leading the way to the creation of the AsiaMiddle East Dialogue. Bourne out of an extensive trip to the Middle East. where he observed in many Middle East .countries a mainstream society both diverse and inclusive. the first AsiaMiddle East Dialogue. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4398,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090004701,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. over the last several years as the economy came down from the high of the 1990s. we have seen how devastating it can be for workers when their companies declare bankruptcy. From the enormous Enron bankruptcy at the end of 2001 to the bankruptcies of WheelingPitt and then Weirton Steel in my own home State. every bankruptcy has brought heartache for workers who had dedicated themselves to their employers. In many cases. employees and retirees have very limited ability to recover the wages. severance. or benefits they are due when their companies seek protection from creditors. Wbrkers deserve better. So today I am introducing the Bankruptcy Fairness Act to strengthen workers rights in bankruptcy and to provide greater authority to bankruptcy courts to ensure a fair distribution of assets. I am very pleased that Senator LEAHY. the distinguished ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee is an original cosponsor of this bill. Specifically. the bill will do three things. It will ensure that retirees whose promised health insurance is taken away receive at least some compensation for their lost benefits. Second. my legislation would allow employees to recover more of the backpay or other compensation that is owed to them at the time of the bankruptcy. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ROCKEFELLER","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9764,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090004702,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Now. I am working to ensure voting integrity across the country. By introducing the Voting Integrity and Verification Act. I want to ensure that HAVA is clearvoters must be assured that their votes will be accurate and will be counted properly. A paper trail provides just such an assurance. Technology has transformed the way we do many thingsincluding voting. But we cannot simply sit on the sidelines and assume that our democracy will withstand such changes. We recently witnessed the birth of democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq and watched as citizens risked their lives to cast their votes. Our continued work to ensure that each vote counts here in the United States underscores the idea that we must always be vigilant in protecting democracywhether it is brand new or more than 200 years old. The Voting Integrity and Verification Act protects democracy by protecting the sanctity of our vote. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2692,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090004703,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I also recognize that this will require new kinds of platforms and different force structures. But at a time when the worfd presents a number of challenges that may require use of stealth capability. I am committed to maintaining the current configuration of the FliT fleet and I urge my colleagues to support this bill. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2187,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090004705,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I am introducing legislation to initiate a study of the feasibility of designating the route of Captain John Smiths exploration of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries as a National Historic Trail. Joining me in sponsoring this legislation are my colleagues Senators WARNER. ALLEN and","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":307,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090004714,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"For further information. please contact Raymond V. Shepherd. III. Staff Director and Chief Counsel to the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. at 224-","speaker_name":"NORM COLEMAN","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1184,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090004730,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. on Thursday. February 10. I further ask that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate then begin a period of morning business for up to 2 hours. with the first 30 minutes under the control of the majority leader or his designee. the second 30 minutes under the control of the Democratic leader or his designee. . the third 30 minutes under the control of Senator MCCAIN. and the final 30 minutes under the control of the Democratic leader or his designee. provided that following morning business. the Senate resume consideration of S. 5. the class action bill.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":811,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090004740,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. 1 week ago in this Chaffber the President of the United States began a national conversation about modernizing Social Security. I think there are a few things every American needs to know about Social Security reform. First and foremost. if you are over the age of 55. Social Security reform will not affect you. Secondly. to every working family. small business and family farm. we will bring about this reform without raising payroll taxes on working Americans. The third thing we need to know is. the current system cannot afford to pay promised benefits to younger workers. so we have to bring the new and powerful idea of personal retirement accounts to give Americans the opportunity to make the same amount of dollars work harder for them in the future. President Franklin Roosevelt. on January 17. 1935. said in a speech to Congress about Social Security that its second wave would be \"compulsory. contributory annuities which in time will establish a selfsupporting system for those now young and for future generations.\" President Roosevelts vision for Social Security was right for the 20th century. and his second vision is right for the 21st. a","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1172,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090004759,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I still remember how proud my mother and my father were when I attained the rank of Eagle Scout. I remember it as if it were yesterday. The sponsor of my Eagle Scout class was Dr. Milton Eisenhower. and as I mounted the podium with the other branded Eagle Scouts and a rose was handed to me. which I was to hand to my mother. which I did. and Dr. Eisenhower. after hearing my name called off. my first name being Ike. he leaned over to me. shook hands with me. and said. \"That is what they used to call me. Ike.\" So evidently all the Eisenhower boys were called by that name. Madam Speaker. later I was an assistant scout master. I later was the cub master of a cub troop in my hometown. I am enormously proud of .our family who also participated in the scouting program. one of our sons of course being an Eagle Scout. ","speaker_name":"IKE SKELTON","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2243,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090004761,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The ACLU seems to wake up in the morning and look for ways to tear down great institutions in our society. so it is no wonder they would again attack another one. with the Boy Scouts being their goal. What do kids learni in Boy Scouts? The gentleman from Tennessee just talked about how it can help kids who do not have fathers. who may have had a broken home and a hard life. What does it teach them? It teaches them the value of hard work. It teaches them goalsetting. It teaches them team effort. community service. It is open to all. It teaches them respect for one another. Boy Scouts is a good organization. and in our society in order for a representative democracy to thrive as it has. we need good civic clubs like Rotary and Kiwanis. We need good nonprofit institutions like the Cancer Society and the Heart Fund and the United Way. We need good churches and good synagogues. ","speaker_name":"JACK KINGSTON","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2119,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090004766,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I urge my colleagues to pass this resolution.","speaker_name":"STEPHEN BUYER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1345,"word_count":8}
{"speech_id":1090004769,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I rise to oppose H. Con. Res. 6. a resolution expressing. the sense of Congress that the Department of Defense should continue to exercise its statutory authority to support the activities of the Boy Scouts of America. I do not oppose the Boy Scouts. However. I do oppose the Federal Government using its resources to support an organization that bJatantly discriminates against various groups. As a private organization. the Boy Scouts may exclude individuals from membership based on their sexual orientation. religion. or gender. I disagree with that decision. but itis their right. But I oppose a resolution commending any part of our government--even the Department of Defensefor supporting the Boy Scouts or any other organization that promotes active discrimination. ","speaker_name":"FORTNEY STARK","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1189,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090004771,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I have long admired the services of the many Boy Scout volunteers and have benefited from the organization myself. It is sad that their good works have been clouded by a policy that governs who can participate in -the organization. Until the organization changes that policy. I do not feel comfortable voting for resolutions such as this. I look forward to the day the Boy Scouts of America can better represent their communities by extending membership to all persons who abide by the Boy Scout creed.","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":515,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090004783,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Their missions would be over enemy territory in Italy and North Africa. some of the most challenging assignments of the war. and some of them would notreturn. Yet many did. Those who did survive those battles lived to claim unprecedented redords of success and high honors for their bravery. But we all know World War II was not their only battle. These proud soldiers. the Tuskegee Airmen. were the first African Americans ever to serve our Nation as Army fighter pilots. They were true leaders. men who battled our enemies oversees while fighting bigotry and racism at home. Madam Speaker. as we debate todays resolution honoring the Tuskegee Airmen. we will hear of their struggles. We will hear their stories of being turned away at the officers clubs because of their race. and we will hear of the prejudices they faced overseas. Yet they did not give up. They persevered. and along with others from our greatest generation. joined with our allies across the globe and helped defeat the forces of tyranny. ","speaker_name":"MIKE ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3055,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090004786,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. on behalf of my constituents in Alabama. I ask my colleagues to join me. in celebrating the achievements and the legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen. Their successful endeavor into military flight provided inspiration to a new generation of aviators. On March 24. 1945. the 332nd Fighter Group received the Presidential Unit Citation for its longest bomber escort mission to Berlin. Germany. On the 50th anniversary of such an accomplishment. I rise to honor these men who succeeded not only in great military feats. but also in breaking down the barriers and boundaries of racial segregation. As Tuskegee Universitys President Dr. Benjamin Payton said. \"The Tuskegee Airmen story is about much more than flying airplanes. it is about teaching people to soar.\" Madam Speaker. ","speaker_name":"JO BONNER","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3104,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090004801,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Jr.. of Wichita Falls. Texas. My uncle and others served here at home. in North Africa. Sicily. and Europe. They proved that they were not only some of the Air Forces best men but the militarys best men. On October 9. 1943. Tuskegees 99th Pursuit Squadron was paired with the allwhite 79th Fighter Group. These groups were integrated and no longer restricted to being escorts. instead. they were assigned to the highly hazardous duty of bombing key German strongholds. Tuskegee Airmen destroyed over. 1.000 Germany aircraft and received some of our Nations most prestigious military honors. including 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses. 744 Air Medals. eight Purple Hearts. and 14 Bronze Stars. and they never lost a single ship. On February 2. 1948. ","speaker_name":"EMANUEL CLEAVER","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1665,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090004824,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the storied history of our Nations Armed Forces was written by the .great men and women who served our country with honor and bravery. Among the most courageous was a group of men who defied both fascism abroad and racism at home while establishing a record as one of the most successful fighting units in American history. Mr. Speaker. in the 108th Congress I was honored to sponsor House Concurrent Resolution 417 honoring the Tuskegee Airmen and I am again delighted to stand here today in support of House Concurrent Resolution 26 honoring the Tuskegee Airmen for their bravery and sacrifice. My first experience with the Tuskegee Airmen occurred through one of my former staff members. Traci Scott. Her father. Captain Jesse H. Scott was an original member of the Airmen and was so eager to join that he even lied about his age to be accepted into the Tuskegee Airmen. ","speaker_name":"JON PORTER","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2607,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090004826,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to honor the Tuskegee Airmen for their bravery and for their patriotism. The Tuskegee Airmen blazed trails as they grazed the clouds high above the Mediterranean. They fought on the frontlines of two wars simultaneously. and they were victorious in both. These pilots. navigators. and bombardiers. helped save Europe from the murderous clutch of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. They also won a crucial battle in the war for racial equality in America. The first African American air squadron. the Tuskegee Airmen were an elite flight unit. known as the Red .Tail Angels and as the Blad k Bird Men...These fearlessfighter pilots flew in 15.500 missions and destroyed over 260 German aircraft. They. were awarded for their \"extraordinary heroism\" with 850 medals. including numerous purple hearts- and silver stars. Mr. ","speaker_name":"ELIJAH CUMMINGS","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2048,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090004841,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I am pleased that the House will consider H. Con. Res. 30. This resolution supports the goals and ideals of National Black HIV\/AIDS Awareness Day. The HIV\/AIDS epidemic in the United States has changed dramatically over the past 2 decades. ","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2237,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090004848,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Georgia for yielding me this time and providing me the opportunity to speak on this important issue. I want to commend the gentlewoman from California for her leadership in this arena. As I have spoken about many times on the floor of the House. prior to being elected to the Congress. I used to take care of AIDS patients. and I and my colleagues in the field began to see in the 1980s the very disturbing trend lines in the black community. and indeed now. today. those trend lines continue going up and up and up. and we have a very significant crisis. The President asked me several years ago to assist him in getting his African AIDS initiative through the House and getting it enacted into law. and I was very pleased to be able to help in that arena. I had the opportunity to go to Africa twice in 2003 to actually look at what was going on in\" Africa. what was working and what was not working. Since that time. I have met with many of the black ministers in my congressional district. ","speaker_name":"DAVID WELDON","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4201,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090004870,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"African Americans accounted for half of all new HIV infections. even though they make up only slightly over 12 percent of the Nations entire population. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control tell us that AfricanAmerican women account for 67 percent of all new AIDS cases among women. and AIDS is one of the top three leading causes of death among AfricanAmerican women ages 35 through 44. Among AfricanAmerican men. AIDS also falls in the top three of causes of death among those ages 25 through 54. Todays vote highlights the needto support the goals and ideals of National Black HIV\/","speaker_name":"MIKE ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1661,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090004884,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And I would be pleased to make sure that the. gentlewoman has that at this time.","speaker_name":"PETE SESSIONS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1135,"word_count":16}
{"speech_id":1090004904,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They all should be considered. Mr. Speaker. this is an important issue. For many.. it is a life or death issue. The least we can do is give this bill an open rule. This is the very least we can do given the lousy process that we have been shown. What we should do. however. is send this bill back to committee. allow the committee to hold hearings and discuss this thoughtfully. Let us hear from the experts. Let us all understand the impact of this bill. Let the committee do a markup and send the bill to the full House for a vote. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3876,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090004906,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This bill also tightens the process of applying for asylum in the United States to close loopholes in the system that have been taken advantage of by. terrorists. This issue was widely debated on the floor last year. The example I gave was the terrorist who was here from Jordan who had bombed an international school in Jordan full of American kids. Well. that terrorist had not committed a crime in this country and under the current law was allowed to stay here unsupervised in a country full of American kids. Certainly that is not acceptable. That person should have had to have a hearing. This legislation requires that. I urge that we adopt the rule and the legislation.","speaker_name":"ROY BLUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3067,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090004921,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As regards another aspect. asylum. we have a situation in which a legislative body. as it has come to be. that is also known as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. has enacted legislation that overcomes and overwhelms a judges right and ability to judge credibility as * it should. That has to be overcome by this legislative body. trumping that legislative body called the Ninth Circuit. That is what we are trying to do. I have heard friends across the aisle say that Americans have journeyed freely in the past and that this goes against the very freedoms which this Nation was founded on. But the truth is. try getting on an airplane. We do not have freedom anymore. And the more liberties that we forgo withdrawing at the border. and restricting and making sure people who are coming in do not mean us harm. then the more liberties we are going to lose in this country. So it is important that we make sure we have that water metaphorically flowing into this lake to give it life. but it is even more important that we restrict those who would harm us from coming in. as they would.","speaker_name":"LOUIE GOHMERT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1972,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090004925,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"\"My daughter worked at the Republican Convention this summer. I worried abouther. Unbeknownst to me. during the convention an illegal alien from Pakistan was picked up and arrested for attempting to bomb the Herald Square subway station. She rode on that subway every day going back and forth to work.\" He was quoted as saying. \"I want at least 1.000 to 2.000 to die in a single day.\" And that alien had applied for asylum. Mr. Speaker. these are sensible provisions. We are completing the work of the Intel bill. and I support it. We need to get it done and we need bipartisan support.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1739,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090004939,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And in addition. thereto. in case someone thinks that there are a whole bunch of left wing crazies that are out here trying to protect the personal rights of individuals. the Gunowners of America Association opposes this measure and the American Conservative Union. I would think. then. that those 100plus organizations should give us a lot of food for thought before we proceed.","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2331,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090004956,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The 9\/11 Commission terrorist travel report stated that \"Abuse of the immigration system and the lack of interior enforcement were unwittingly working together to support terrorist activities.\" The report further states that \"Members of al Qaeda clearly valuedfreedom of movement as critical to their ability to plan and carry out the attacks prior to September 11th.\" Finally. the report observed. \"If terrorist travel options are reduced. they may be forced to rely on means of interaction which can be more easily monitored and to resort to travel documents that are more easily detectable.\"","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1420,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090005008,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I struggled with this issue. as the chairman had said. In my former role as the Secretary of State in Michigan. where I served as the chief motor vehicle administrator. I was forced to issue drivers licenses to illegal aliens. Unfortunately. Michigan is one of the States that continues this practice. It has become a State of choice for illegals to obtain a license. We must stop this practice. I urge my colleagues to support the bill.","speaker_name":"CANDICE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2624,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090005009,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The bill lays out how to do it. By September 2005. this committee. under the aegis of the Department of Homeland Security. will provide recommendations. a detailed assessment of the costs and the benefits of its proposals. By June 2006. a proposed regulation based on the committees recommendations. with such changes as should occur by December 2006. the Federal agencies will accept only new licenses that conform with these minimum standards. What is wrong with that procedure? What is wrong with that procedure? It is difficult to find fault with that kind of careful procedure in a Federal republic. especially when you consider the supremacy clause and that the Congress of the United States can overturn regulations. So what are you afraid of. since in fact the ball stops when it comes to a matter of national security with the Federal Government? Why are we trying to shut the States out? Why are those who speak up for the States whenever - it suits their fancy putting down the States now? I do not agree with everything that is happening in the States. I just do not believe we should pass a piece of regulation that says you 4re not in this. except you better pay for it and you better do what it takes to enforce it within 3 years. although experts tell us it will take a dozen years for them to even begin to get through competently what it is we are asking them to do. What is mandated is a negotiated rulemaking process that incorporates the practical issues that nobody in this Congress knows anything about. the issues that the States pass. It is a reckless bill. It would literally undo the 9\/ 11 legislation and mandate on this issue. I am asking that we come to an agreement before we vote down our own States on how to proceed. regardless of where you stand. ","speaker_name":"ELEANOR NORTON","chamber":"H","state":"DC","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":5346,"word_count":319}
{"speech_id":1090005017,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. our committee chairman is exactly right. we can go to page 384 in the 9\/11 Commission Report. And I encourage all of my constituents to do this. look at this: \"For terrorists. travel documents are as important as weapons.\" And what is the number one travel -document? It is a drivers license. It is a huge gaping hole that we have. That is why it is imperative that we pass the REAL ID Act today and we set a national standard. Maybe that is just too much common sense for some of my friendsthat do not want us to do that. but if someone is going to use a travel document as a drivers license and use it as a way to circumvent our laws and harm our citizens. then it is imperative that we close that loophole. Having standards that all the States would follow is a great way to close that loophole. I would encourage my colleagues to support the REAL ID Act. I thank the gentleman from Virginia (Chairman TOM DAVIS) for his good work on this issue. and I encourage our constituents to read this report and see the importance of the actions that we are taking today.","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1079,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090005059,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. I have been watching this debate all morning. and I am really concerned about what is happening here on the floor of the House of Representatives. I have never heard so much. misstatement of fact about a piece of legislation that is very important. \" The problem is. this legislation never had a hearing in committee. never had public review. We have never looked at the language. I doubt that any Members have read the bill in its entirety. That is not what this House is all about. because this law is a very. very serious law. and it is going to affect peoples lives. I have heard statements here on. the floor that the recommendations in this bill are in the 9\/11 Commission. ","speaker_name":"SAM FARR","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2100,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090005070,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Additionally. the bill will protect the American people by ensuring that grounds for keeping a terrorist out of the country are also grounds for deportation. Incredibly. we have legal justification to prevent an individual from entering the country if they have known terrorist ties. however. under current U.S. law once they set foot inside the border we cannot deport them. This hinders our ability to protect Americans from foreign terrorists who have infiltrated the United States. I think all Americansand those of us on both sides of the aislecan agree that the 9\/ 11 Commission identified a number of improvements that will help upgrade our intelligence and enhance Americas security. This bill provides common sense provisions to help prevent another 9\/11type attack by protecting our borders and disrupting terrorist travel in the United States. I urge members to vote in favor of the REAL ID Act.","speaker_name":"RANDY NEUGEBAUER","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2767,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090005081,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He served at a positive role model. I want to thank Ossie Davis for his role in supporting this country and for being a role model. Earlier today I wanted to also speak on the Tuskegee Airmen because they also served as a role model. I have been honored by being with the Tuskegee Airmen on several occasions. They fought for their country. They never lost a single bomber that they escorted. and they served this country proudly and also served as positive role models. Many of those role models are still alive today. So I would like to thank again Members on both sides of the aisle. Let us honor Ossie Davis for the man that he was. for the activist that he was. for the actor that he was. and the father that he was.","speaker_name":"RANDALL CUNNINGHAM","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":50.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1307,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090005102,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. not so much to chronicle all of the attributes and contributions that Ossie Davis made. When he was willing to stand tall in the miast of the civil rights era. when he could use his talents simply to enhance himself. he decided to use that eloquent voice to fight for justice and equality and stand alongside of A. Philip Randolph. to stand alongside of Martin King. to stand alongside those who could not speak for themselves. Growing up in nearby Waycross and Valdosta and being born in Cogdell. Georgia. in 1917. one- would think that he would succumb to being just a rural country boy. but he took those beautiful and wonderful roots and made them the strength of America and the strength of himself. I will just simply say. may he rest in peace. God bless him and God bless Ruby Dee and his family. Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to be here today to recognize the extraordinary contributions of the late Ossie Davis for his service to the Nation in the military. as a civil rights leader. and as an actor. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3812,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090005108,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Ossies career spanned the last five decades as a writer. and actor. director and producer for the theater and in film. He was a trailblazer for African Americans. He served our country in World War II as a surgical technician in the first black station hospital and also entertained his fellow soldiers as a writer and producer of stage shows. He came home from war and used his talents both on stage and off to make the world a better place. He and his wife Ruby Dee shared their lives and their art and together received Kennedy Center Honors for their lifetime achievements in the arts. the National Medal of the Arts and the Screen Actor Guilds Lifetime Achievement Award. IHe was a friend. a great talent. a leader. and a great American. He will be greatly missed.","speaker_name":"JOHN LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1500,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090005109,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Some years later he responded to my plea for his presence at an \"AllNight TeachIn\" held at the Borough of Manhattan \u0095 Community College to protest devastating budget cuts of education and social programs. My last face to face meeting with Ossie Davis occurred at a Brooklyn College \"Rally for the Restoration of Democracy in Haiti\". That was in October of 2004. just four months ago. Again. not worrying about the consequences of his public statement. Ossie Davis denounced the murder of democracy in Haiti by the Bush administration. To the very end he was a \"Man with a Plan\" available to promote truth. freedom and justice. His life and the record of his achievements will long endure to inspire millions in the future.","speaker_name":"MAJOR OWENS","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1646,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090005128,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. over the past 4 or 5 years. I have. as chairman of the Committee on Government Reform and chairman of the Subcommittee on Health and Human Rights. held a number of hearings regarding mercury in vaccines and what kind of an impact it had on children. When we first started having the hearings. we were concerned that there was an epidemic of autism and other Tiberi Waxman Tierney Weiner Towns Weldon (FL) Turner Weldon (PA) Udall (CO) Weller Udall (NM) Westmoreland Upton Wexler Van Hollen Whitfield Velazquez Wicker Visclosky Wilson (NM) Walden (OR) Wilson (SC) Walsh Wilson (SC) Wamp Wolf Wasserman Woolsey Schultz Wu Waters Wynn Watson Young (AK) Watt Young (FL)","speaker_name":"DAN BURTON","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":678,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090005131,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They demonstrated that the Iraqis can and should take control of their own destinies. Leaving will not be sufficient to defeat the insurgency. but staying absolutely will intensify it. What is fueling the insurgency and what gave rise to it in the first place is our continued military presence in Iraq. Our troops. whom the administration assured us would be embraced as liberators. are the focal point of antiAmerican extremism. making them sitting ducks. Let me be clear: I am not advocating a cutandrun strategy. It would be irresponsible for the United States to abandon the Iraqi people. What we must do is play a role in facilitating their transition to stable democracy. We ought to work with Iraqs elected officials. the United Nations and the Arab League to create an international peacekeeping force that will keep Iraq secure. Much of the money we are spending on this military campaign should be diverted to infrastructure projects that will improve Iraqis lives. such as road construction. new schools. water processing plants and more. Up to this point. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4692,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090005133,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This dismantling of our homegrown technology base would come just when subsidized foreign competitors are jockeying to displace United States manufacturing. Once lost. these hardacquired skills will not easily return to our workforce. and. in some cases. they will never return. In the end. at stake are vital national interests: American technology knowhow. our global positions in the aerospace industry. and. most importantly. the safety of our men and women serving overseas. We must focus our armed services on more than just the asymmetries of a global war on terrorism. We cannot ignore. Mr. Speaker. a rising China. nuclear Iran. increasingly unstable North Korea. and other unconventional military threats that may need to be faced by the capabilities found in the F\/A22. It is the job of any administration to produce an annual budget that satisfies the Nations immediate needs like the war in Iraq. But we in Congress also have a leadership responsibility to prevent rash and unwise decisions destined to actually increase spending and cripple our ability to effectively defend against future threats.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3863,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090005135,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Congressional Budget Offi6e says 50 years from today. 80 percent of promised benefits.. So there is a problem that is out there. We should resolve that. I have proposed in the past three Congresses legislation to do that. it is done simply. to say that all Americans who work for wages and salary should pay the same amount of tax on all of their earnings. Millionaires today pay a tiny fraction of their income to Social Security because after $90.000. no one pays. Someone who earns $30.000 a year pays 6 percent of their income. If you lift the cap. you create so much income for Social Security. that you could exempt the first $4.000 of earnings. So under my proposal. everybody who earns less than $90.000 a year gets a tax break. The less you earn. the bigger the tax break. So that is one way of resolving that. ","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5501,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090005155,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"When that vote was exposed to daylight. when they found out that vote was going to be challenged by our side of the aisle. by the Democrats in the House. they. of course. changed that action because it would not stand up under scrutiny. but they did not do anything. Unlike the old rules. the investigation would have proceeded because the committee is evenly split between Republicans and Democrats. It would have proceeded. Now. unless one person from one party or another crosses the party lines and agrees to the investigation. the investigation dies. We now have the situation where the party that may have somebody under investigation. in effect. has a veto. That is not the ethics process that the public is entitled to or the Members of the House are entitled to. We now see that that is the rules of the House. We now also see that in the replacement of the Members of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. we have two Members of the committee who have contributed to the defense fund for the majority leader. If they are called upon to undertake an investigation. because apparently that matter is still pending before the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. they will be in a position of havfng to decide whether to proceed or not. and they have already cast their vote with their contribution to that defense fund. So we now have a Committee on Standards of Official Conduct that is severely conflicted with respect to its duty to the people of the country and to the Members of this House. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5598,"word_count":268}
{"speech_id":1090005163,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Rather. we are concerned about our troops and our military families whose loved ones have been ordered to fight and stay in a war that our leaders refuse to even send their own children and the children of wealthy families to fight. Again. we quote Dr. Kings words: I am as deeply concerned about our troops there [Vietnam] as anything else. For it occurs to me that what we are submitting them to in Vietnam is not simply the brutalizing process that goes on in any war where armies face each other and seek to destroy. We are adding cynicism to the process of death. for they must know after a short period there that none of the things we claim to be fighting for are really involved. Before long they must know that their government has sent them into a struggle among Vietnamese. and the more sophisticated surely realize that we are on the side of the wealthy and the secure while we create a hell for the poor. The war in Iraq is not only creating a hell for the poor in Iraq. The griefand suffering it has wrought have been disproportionately forced onto the lives of poor and struggling families in our nation. These families. far more than those who are wealthy. send their loved ones to serve as members of the active force or as reservists and members of the National Guard. It is not just or patriotic for our leaders to thrust the sons and daughters of low income families into unnecessary military engagements.","speaker_name":"DIANE WATSON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":33.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5745,"word_count":259}
{"speech_id":1090005171,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I just want our constituents to understand that. and I want the Members of this body to understand that. I thank the gentleman for his leadership on this issue. We are not going to do anything to Social Security disability and survivorship. but we do need to give our younger workers an opportunity not only to save the system for their future. but to get a better deal than the onehalf percent return or 1 percent return that they are getting now. EJ 1900 We can do better. and if we can. we certainly ought to for retirees now and also for future generations. And I thank the gentleman for yielding to me.","speaker_name":"ROGER WICKER","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":620,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090005177,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if the gentleman will continue to yield. I will tell the Members one thing the chairman has always said is that this is not Republican Social Security. this is.not Democrat Social Security. this is not white or black or any other ethnicity Social Security. This is Social Security for Americans. period. We ought to come together as Americans in Congress on this issue and solve that.","speaker_name":"KEVIN BRADY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":397,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090005185,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There should be no change for those currently retired. They need that peace of mind. Third. we have heard mention tonight aboutgenerational fairness. It is imperative that we save and secure Social Security so that our children and our grandchildren receive the same benefits we have enjoyed. Generational fairness is imperative. Another principle: it should not be partisan. When it comes to the retirement of tens of millions of Americans. there are not any Democrats and there are not any Republicans. there are only Americans. And those Americans. they are counting on us to work together and do what is right for the current generation now receiving benefits. for the next generation who are paying those benefits. and for future generations who are now just entering the workforce. Finally. all Americans. we have to remember here that it is your money. that it is your future. and that it is your life. So it is a promise. ","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9150,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090005191,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is not true. And I hope that through a bipartisan debate and a bipartisan plan. and I am not talking about one or two members of the Republican Caucus. I am talking about this entire Congress because we all have Social Security recipients that are our constituents that are counting on us to be able to make sure that Social Security is solvent for many years. Mr. Speaker. I will suspend on my comments right now. but I have my cochair here. the gentleman from Ohio","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4064,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090005209,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I see the gentleman from Ohio has some examples of what can happen to many of the young people. and the gentleman knows he is in charge of the charts. I just want to say. it is important to not only give our email address out. because we want to continue to talk with Americans about this issue. and also Members of Congress we would say. and even the other body. to go onto our Web site to get information on what we talked about today with the Democratic leader of going out into America. speaking to groups that want to knok\u0080 more information about what this Social Security privatization scheme has in store for them if we fail them as a Congress.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":664,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090005217,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. the gentleman from Georgia could not say it better. And just in closing. Mr. Speaker. as we close. we want to make sure that we want people to go on to find out more about not only what House Democrats are talking about. but as it relates to our tour throughout the country. It is democraticleader.house.gov\/ 30something. Also. we would close with the message that Democrats want to strengthen Social Security without slashing benefits to Americans that","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":486,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090005222,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I do not know what I am going to tell peo-\" ple when I go back home. I am going to go back home and meet these people who are affected by this every day. Every day people living in cars. living in abandoned parts of the cities. We can do much better than this. it seems to me. And that is why I applaud the gentleman for yielding to me. I look forward to working with him in the committee. He has been a really good member. and I appreciate his time and his interest on this issue.","speaker_name":"LANE EVANS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2995,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090005223,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. I thank the gentleman from Illinois . our ranking member on the Committee on Veterans Affairs. not only for serving on the committee but for his service to this country and for his continuing service as a veteran. I think it is time for some straight talk about what is being done for veterans. There may be some veterans listening tonight. I hope there are. There may be some family members of veterans listening or probably just Americans who may not know any veterans. but who are concerned that this Nation do the right thing. I think a pattern is developing in this country. certainly within this Congress. I first noticed it at least a couple of years ago when the Veterans Administration put out a gag order. It was a change in policy that went out to all of the health care providers at VA hospitals and facilities across this country. and it was a dramatic change in policy. ","speaker_name":"TED STRICKLAND","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5230,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090005235,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Reclaiming my time. I do think this year is different than in past years. because in past years. this House is controlled by Republicans. That means every committee has a Republican as the Chair of that committee. For the last 4 years. the veterans of this country have had a friend in the chairs position. the gentleman from New Jersey . The gentleman from New Jersey was a member of the Committee on Veterans Affairs for 24 years. For almost a quarter of a century this man served on the Committee on Veterans Affairs. He had served as the chair of the committee for the last 4 years. Quite frankly. when the President tried in the past to impose a user fee of $250 a year and when he tried to increase the cost of a prescription drug from $7 to $15. the gentleman from New Jersey as the Republican chairman was effective in keeping those increases from being enacted. Well. what did they do to the gentleman from New Jersey ? At the beginning of this Congress the Republican leadership in this House called the gentleman from New Jersey","speaker_name":"TED STRICKLAND","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1039,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090005236,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the sad thing is that the gentleman is talking about thepeoples House. and the peoples House. under this administration. more so than even when the Republicans took over. but under this administration has been run like a dictatorship. It is very. very sad. and I am glad that the gentleman from Ohio pointed out what it is that veterans can do. I know the organizations are talking to their members because they are talking to me. But they need to contact their Member of Congress and let them know. as Senator and former Governor Chiles used to say. \"This dog wont hunt.\"","speaker_name":"CORRINE BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":585,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090005248,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would say that if we did a poll. one of those CNN polls or one of those polls that we do every day. and ask. Do you want the 1 percent tax cut done away with to completely fund the veterans program. I bet we would get 75 or 80 percent saying. Let us fund the veteran program. Without a doubt. the American people want to pay their debt. and we owe these veterans. It is not welfare. It is paying for people that have stood up for you in their prime. and now they need us. And what are we doing? We are giving tax breaks to people that contribute to our campaign. ","speaker_name":"CORRINE BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":887,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090005322,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Oh. by the way. you had better Vol. 151 No. 14not get wounded or you will have to pay extra for your health care. Shame on this terrible veterans budget.","speaker_name":"TED STRICKLAND","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1137,"word_count":30}
{"speech_id":1090005323,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. sound economic policy cannot be made in a vacuum. Today I am introducing a resolution to help take steel policy out of that vacuum. My resolution calls on the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission. the ITC. to simply consider domestic steel consumers when they decide whether to continue duties on imported steel. Although Commerce and the ITC have the authority to consider steel consumers in sunset reviews. they traditionally have not done so. and frankly. that is simply wrong. Steel consumers are hurting. and unnecessary distortion in the steel market is the reason why. As decisions are made about the import duties on steel products. does it not make sense to consider the impact on steel consumers? Some steel duties are still necessary. but some are not. The deck should not be stacked in favor of keeping unnecessary duties. Let us look at the full impact. It is a matter of fundamental fairness.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH KNOLLENBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":941,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090005324,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this week the President delivered a $2.5 trillion budget to Congress and the American people. What was missing was nearly a trillion dollars for his plan for Social Security. What was missing was the $1.8 billion. the cost of making the tax cuts permanent and retiring tax cuts. What was missing was the cost of the war in Iraq. He has already spent $280 billion. He has asked for $80 billion more. none of it in the budget. What was in the budget was $60 billion cut for Medicaid. Over 40 million people. children and poor people. a $60 billion cut. What was missing was a $2 billion cut that was in the budget for community development block grants. monies to cities and towns to build their infrastructure. to help in their housing and other local community programs. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN KILPATRICK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":988,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090005326,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The administration is going to have to borrow money to set up private accounts. and the shortfall is going to be for 45 years. They are going to have to borrow up to $15 trillion. They are going to try to get the money off the backs of Americas retirees. It is wrong. No to privatization and no to price indexing.","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1346,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090005335,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. and -I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding me the customary time. Mr. Speaker. my colleagues on the other side. for the balance of these ar.guments today and during yesterday. said very frequently. and it was repeated again by the gentleman from Texas. that the horrible people that were on the airplanes that did the dastardly deed here in America on September 11 had. collectively. 63 drivers licenses. That is. without any kind of misunderstanding between the two sides. they had these drivers licenses. and there is no question about it. But one of the things that goes ignored is the fact that in the days before 9\/11. including that day. airport review of drivers licenses did not occur. and. therefore. it is a total irrelevancy. They were in this country. some on expired visas. some with visas that had been approved. and probably one or two with fraudulent visas. What in the world did drivers licenses have to do with it? Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9182,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090005337,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I know some will argue against that and they say this is voluntary. but it really cannot be voluntary. If a State opts out. nobody is going to accept their drivers license. So this is not voluntary. As a matter of fact. evan the House Republican Conference. which sent a statement around with some points about this bill. said \"the Federal Government should set standards for the issuance of birth certificates and sources of identification such as drivers licenses.\" This is nationalization of all identification. It will be the confirmation of the notion that we will be carrying our papers. As a matter of fact. I think it might be worse than just carrying our papers and showing our papers. because in this bill there are no limitations as to the information that may be placed on this identification- card. There are minimum standards. but no maximum limitations. The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security can add anything it wants. So if they would like to put on our drivers license that you belong to a progun group. it may well become mandatory. because there may be an administration some day that might like to have that information. ","speaker_name":"RONALD PAUL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2958,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090005368,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Tim Roemer. a former colleague of ours who did serve on the 9\/11 Commission. and myself and others filed the original legislation leading to the development of the 9\/11 independent commission. And my colleague has cited that commission frequently. but I defy him on the subject of border security. page 186. to tell me anywhere where it says anything about drivers licenses. They talk about creating an interagency center to target illegal entry and human traffickers. imposing tighter controls on student visas. taking legal action to prevent terrorists from coming into the United States and to remove those already here. further increasing the number of immigration agents to FBI joint terrorism . task forces. activating a special court to enable the use of classified evidence. And I could go on and on and on in the Clark working group and the 9\/11 report. and not one word. not one word regarding any drivers licenses. People that are going to do harm in. this Nation are not going to do anything other than everything that is fraudulent. But what we need to know is that there are a variety of people who are significantly opposed to this legislation. The AFLCIO. the American Jewish Committee. the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund. Catholic Charities USA. the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. Irish American Unity conference. Gun Owners of America. the American Conservative Uniofi. the Republican Liberty Caucus. the National Association of Latino Elected Officials. the National Conferenc6 of State Legislatures. the Council of La Raza. the Federation of Filipino American Association. the Service Employees Union. and there is a list that goes up to 121 organizations that have been shut out because there were no hearings and no opportunity for them to have been heard. other than through the limited debate. ","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2495,"word_count":299}
{"speech_id":1090005373,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. This rule makes in order five amendments for Members of both sides of the aisle. including one that I have submitted to ensure that aliens and terrorists are not in the United States illegally. and if they are. we are going to deport them. I think that this is a good bill. a good rule. and I support H.R. 418. We need to implement muchneeded drivers license reform. We need to close asylum loopholes. We need to defend our borders. and we are going to strengthen our deportation laws. And I encourage all of my colleagues to support the underlying legislation in this rule.","speaker_name":"PETE SESSIONS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":626,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090005379,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This unanimous consent request would change my amendment so as not to change this good provision added at the last minute by the chairman. If we had seen the managers amendment before the Committee on Rules deadline. this request would not be necessary. f 1145 If the majority is sincere in wanting a fair process. there should be no reason to object to this unanimous consent request. This unanimous consent request would not have been necessary if we had seen the managers amendment before the rules deadline.","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1260,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090005392,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. let me first of all say and repeat what I have said many times. that immigration does not equate to terrorism. Also I have said just recently. this morning. that the immigration reform question is a bipartisan question. I also took note of the fact that if one were to take polling numbers. there obviously is an overwhelming impression that what we are addressing today is an immigration bill. Certainly the Sessions amendment deals more with immigration than it does with straight issues of terrorism. because there is no divide amongst the American people regarding securing the homeland. My concern with this legislation is procedural. but itis also a question of fairness. This is a serious departure from the normal trends that we have now expressed by the body of this Congress and that is the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2222,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090005401,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. First of all. let me also refer my colleagues to the 9\/11 Commission report. What it said is that there were certain systems that needed improving or were broken. They suggested no such solution that the gentleman from Texas-","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":282,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090005402,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the manager on the Democratic side for yielding me this time. Mr. Chairman. this amendment was brought to our attention yesterday evening. and at first blush. this is a shocking correlative point to be made and a comparison to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. in which agents were given the broad powers. to return freed slaves in free States and return them back to slavery. What we are doing here with bail bondsmen is giving them the ability to enforce immigration laws by summarily rounding up and deporting people and also gaining access to incredible private and secret material in data files. And I just wanted to briefly ask the gentleman from Texas what inspired him to add this to a bill that we already had a considerable number of problems about and have never had any hearings on a provision such as this.","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":839,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090005412,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"My amendment is intended to enhance the information contained in Homeland Securitys aviation security screening databases and to ensure that our security is not compromised through the use of falsified drivers licenses. Specifically. the amendment would require Homeland Security to enter into the appropriate database any person convicted of using a false drivers license in attempting to board an airplane. Currently. aviation screeners at the Transportation Security Administration immediately detain individuals suspected of presenting false drivers licenses and then turn them over to the custody of either the Department of Justice or local authorities. The criminal justice system is then responsible for determining whether the suspect is guilty or innocent. Under the present system. if convicted. this person is sentenced to federally mandated punishment. but the Department of Homeland Security is not required to put their name on a watch list. My amendment would go a step further in protecting our Nation by also requiring the Department to enter a violator into one of its national aviation screening databases. Improving the quantity and quality of information contained in these passengerscreening databases is essential to enhancing our ability to identify potential threats and prevent terrorists from gaining access to our airliners. When a person is convicted of trying to deceive security to get on an airplane. there is serious cause for alarm. My amendment would ensure that those convicted of using a false drivers license in attempting to board an airplane would be redflagged for airport screeners. The amendment does not impact persons who use false drivers licenses for other purposes. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CASTLE","chamber":"H","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3348,"word_count":260}
{"speech_id":1090005417,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We obviously have to improve. I was concerned as to whether or not it is the spotting of someone. saying you have a false drivers license. or can you restate that it is actually going through a judicial system with a conviction. determining that is what you ultimately did?","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":935,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090005420,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Some are better probably than others at this. Obviously. if one has a database. it is obviously much more of a clear signal that this person needs to be looked at because they tried to do this before. That is the reason we feel it should be added into the database as it goes on. I do not think this is going to change actually the way they look at licenses presently in the first instance or even in second instance. It is just a trigger mark as other things might be in terms of potential risks.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CASTLE","chamber":"H","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1277,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090005430,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"While everything else in the 9\/11 report is of huge importance. I have always felt that this particular area of making sure who is in this country and who is boarding planes or other transportation. systems is vitally important. So I would hope we would be able to join together and pass an amendment like this and hopefully later the legislation. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CASTLE","chamber":"H","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1316,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090005461,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Because current law already places the burden of proof on the asylum applicant and places the applicant in custody until he or she meets the initial burden of proof. a terrorist who wishes to enter the United States would most likely attempt to do so by a tourist visa or on fraudulent papers. They are not going to claim political asylum and then be put in jail until they can show a credible fear of persecution. But this bill seeks to raise the bar when people finally do get into court. If we pass this bill in its current form. mothers. fathers. children with legitimate asylum claims will be sent back to their persecutors with no benefit to national security. Current law provides that an asylum seeker must prove a reasonable fear of persecution by reason of race. color. creed. national origin. sex. or political opposition. The new provision in this bill would require proof that one of these factors. race. color. creed. political opposition. is the \"central reason\" for the legitimate fear. This is an almost \" insurmountable burden of proof since the persecutors rarely stop to explain their motives while they are *committing torture. rape. and murder. The judge would be forced to look into the minds of the persecutor and decide what weight to give to a particular motive in cases of mixed motives. which they are. in order to prove. the burden of. proof. that this is the central reason. Not one of the major reasons. a central reason. This is an impossible burden of proof with no purpose other than to deny the asylum claim. ","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3997,"word_count":270}
{"speech_id":1090005466,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. it is very hard for me to respond to what the chairman just shared with us because basically if we do not pass this amendment of striking this 101 section. we might as well just take all the language in 101 and say. if you are being persecuted or if you are being raped as a woman or you are being abused as a child. do not come to America because that is basically what this amendment is saying. They were raising the bar beyond the capabilities of the individuals that are fleeing persecution. They are running for their lives literally. and many of these individuals are incarcerated. And where are the commercials? Where are the media reports of how lax our asylum laws are here in the United States? Because they are not. Where are the law enforcement agencies? Why are they not knocking down the doors in the halls of Congress saying. we really have to tighten up those asylum laws because they are too weak now? Where are they? We are following the people who have focused on this the most. the 9\/11 Commission. and what they are asking for is for us to review and make sure we have gbod asylum laws in place. We are not saying it is bad. We are not saying it is good. I commend my colleagues who are looking at this. but moving in haste and having this managers amendment before the Congress and no one has seen it. All of the agencies. all of the religious organizations that are helping these individuals that we are trying to deal with now are saying that they support the Nadler\/Meek\/JacksonLee amendment. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1692,"word_count":281}
{"speech_id":1090005478,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. CAairman. the gentleman from New Jersey and other speakers have made excellent points. but I want to make one different point. This amendment. rather this section which we are trying to eliminate. is not focused on terrorism. It does not focus on terrorism. It does not focus on terrorists. All it does is put up additional bars to all asylum seekers. legitimate victims or otherwise. It has nothing to do with terrorism. does not claim to focus on terrorism. Does not do anything to distinguish between a terrorist and a legitimate victim of persecution or anybody else. It simply sets the bar for all claimants at an unrealistically high level and ought to be defeated. and the amendment therefore ought to be passed for that reason. I yield back.","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":753,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090005479,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And the comments that the gentleman from New Jersey makes about torture are simply not true. This bill does not impact the obligations of the United States under the convention to prevent torture by prohibiting the deportation of people to countries that torture them. Now. simply what is stated is that the burden of proof is on the applicant. just like it ought to be. like it is on our constituents who apply for Social Security disability. And it sets up standards for determining the credibility of the witness. If the witness comes and says. Gee. I made a mistake because I forgot the birth date and admits to that mistake. that certainly is exonerating evidence. Vote down the amendment. All of these arguments are a red herring.","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1672,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090005480,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. during the debate of the REAL ID Act of 2005. of which I am a cosponsor. I was unavoidably detained and unfortunately missed the opportunity to vote on the amendment offered by Representative JERROLD NADLER. If I would have been present. I would have voted a resounding \"no\" against this amendment. The Nadler amendment would have stricken the provision in the REAL ID Act that tightens and improves our asylum system. which has been abused by terrorists with deadly consequences. The REAL ID Act will protect the American people by allowing immigration judges to determine witness credibility in asylum cases and ensuring that all terrorismrelated grounds for inadmissibility are also grounds for deportation. In summary. as a cosponsor of this bill. I believe that all of the provisions in the REAL ID Act are essential in protecting our citizens from future terrorist plots and I would have voted \"no\" on the Nadler Amendment.","speaker_name":"CHARLES PICKERING","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":943,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090005519,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. no person in our country should be given unfettered authority. unfettered discretion to waive any or all laws. for whatever the purpose. Take this situation. In order to expedite construction of this fence. the Department of Homeland Security could select a contractor without competitive bidding. use undocumented workers. violate child labor laws. pay the workers less than the minimum wage. exempt contractors from Federal and State withholding. workers could be forced to put in 18hourdays without overtime pay. in uinsafe conditions. and be transported in trucks used for hazardous cargo. and allow the Secretary discretion to have these workers construct fences and roads through private property. That is wrong. You can build a fence. but you do not have to violate all those laws.","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":802,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090005522,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. as chairman of the Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation. I have to ask. Who should be in charge of counterterrorism policy? Should it be the California Coastal Commission or should it be the Department of Homeland Security? That is the crux of this argument. Now. environmental groups have successfully fought the completion of this fence over the years. claiming that it would have a serious impact on everything from the San Diego fairy shrimp to the San Diego button celery. all that in this 3.5 mile strip of desert along the border. Does anyone think we can secure the border and save the button celery by putting up a fence to stop people from trampling on it? Yes. we can. Can we protect . ourselves from al Qaeda operatives who have joined forces with alien smuggling rings like MS 13 in order to enter the United States through our porous southern border by stopping them from squishing the fairy shrimp as they slip through the gap in the fence? Yes. we can. It is a winwin. In the interest of national security. we need to defeat this amendment. SE H557","speaker_name":"EDWARD ROYCE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":40.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1102,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090005546,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today in opposition to H.R. 418. Although I support the goals of this legislation. H.R. 418 unfortunately contains too many misguided provisions. Last year. I voted to pass the 9\/11 Commissions bipartisan recommendations to reform identification standards and beef up security on our nations border. This legislation would repeal that new law before it has a chance to work. Had the provisions of HR. 418 been in place prior to September 11. 2001. they would not have stopped a single one of the 19 terrorists. H.R. 418 would force virtually every adult in the United States to go to the DMV to get a new drivers license. and with 14.000 local jurisdictions in this country currently issuing identification. it would be impossible to impose a single standard within in the threeyear limit in the bill. ","speaker_name":"BOB ETHERIDGE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1200,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090005551,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In addition. it would grant DHS. unchecked authority to abrogate criminal law. child labor laws. laws that protect workers. civil rights laws. ethics laws for clean contracting and procurement policy. It goes even further. No procedures for using this authority are established. and judicial review by federal or state courts is expressly prohibited. It even appears there would be NO judicial review concerning the taking of private property. The breadth of this provision is unprecedented and must not stand. Now lets look at Section 101. This section requires that in certain asylum claims. appli-. cants must prove that their race. religion. nationality. membership in a particular social group. or political opinion \"was or will be a central reason\" for their persecution. In effect. this will bar many legitimate refugees who have fled brutal human rights abuses. including torture. rape. and other horrific violence. from receiving asylum. This section creates new burdens on those seeking asylum. including a corroborating evidence test. empowering an immigration officer or immigration judge to deny asylum to a refugee because he believes. in his discretion. that the refugee should have somehow been able to obtain a particular document when fleeing her. country. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JOHN DINGELL","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3814,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090005553,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"No one doubts the need to review standards for issuing drivers licenses. That is why Congress worked on a bipartisan basis to implement the recommendations of the 9\/11 Commission. The recently enacted 9\/11 bill established minimum Federal standards to ensure the integrity of drivers licenses issuance and verification. The regulations are in the process of being developed. with the input of the state agencies that issue drivers licenses. Enacting a new bill that prescribes eligibility for drivers licenses would delay and disrupt the implementation of the 9\/11 bills standards even before they have been put in place. The strongest reason to approach this issue thoughtfully is that the process.of applying for drivers licenses brings new people into government databases. which can be crossreferenced with FBI and terrorist watch lists. The only reason we had any information about the 9\/11 hijackers. their whereabouts. and their connections to others. is because we could track information from drivers license databases. Shutting off this flow of information is not a smart or effective way to combat terrorism. This bill is only the latest example of how this Congress has ignored regular order to rush a partisan bill to the floor with little deliberation or debate. I oppose this process and this bill.","speaker_name":"MARTIN MEEHAN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2178,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090005554,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have a real opportunity to adopt meaningful reforms to improve our immigration system. H.R. 418 establishes strict proof of identity for all applicants for Stateissued drivers licenses and identification documents. This bill serves to protect the integrity of our immigration laws by requiring States. in effect. to confirm lawful immigration status or disclose the lack of confirming identification on the face of cards issued. H.R. 418 also makes aliens deportable for terrorismrelated offenses to the same extent that they would be inadmissible for the same grounds. If nothing else. our immigration system must prevent potential terrorists from entering the United States. We would not be exercising our responsibility to protect national security if we were to allow our immigration system to be exploited by those malevolent individuals who seek to destroy Americans and our way of life. Mr. Chairman. there are many flaws in our immigration system which need to be fixed. H.R. 418 does not address them all. but it does represent a good step forward in discouraging lawbreaking by those who would choose to exploit 6ur welcoming nature. As a cosponsor of the REAL ID Act. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BILIRAKIS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2576,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090005591,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"What I was talking about is. as the gentleman knows. the Senate is debating that bill as we speak. If indeed that bill comes out as. it passed by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary with no amendments. .then we could very well pick up that bill and just consider it here without going through committee.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":305,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090005592,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Leader. I know in the past the gentleman has been very reluctant to simply take the Senates work product. and I am somewhat shocked that the gentleman apparently suggests that process now. I do not know whether that is going to be a precedent for the future. But may I ask the gentleman. is it his contemplation that it would come directly to the floor and not go to committee for consideration?","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":399,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090005595,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman for yielding.. As the gentleman knows. the Committee on Rules will take that up under consideration and perhaps the gentleman should contact the gentleman from California on that question as it relates to this bill. I am not advised as to what the Committee on Rules will do.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":297,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090005601,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I hope the gentleman is not raising a standard that is even higher than given to the Constitution. in that when twothirds of this House has voted for a measure. in order for it to be bipartisan. we have to go even higher than twothirds of the House. We are continuing to work with the minority leader. Wxe understand her concerns and your concerns. But when you have well over twothirds of the House voting for a bill. it gets more and more difficult to write a bill that requires unanimity.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":491,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090005611,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The energy bill. we are continuing to work on that bill. just working on putting it together in order to introduce it. It is not ready. and I do not know. frankly. when it will be ready to even introduce. much less think about committee action and when the House might consider it.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":281,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090005619,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I take this time for the purpose of making an announcement The Committee on Rules may meet the week of February 14 to.grant a rule which could limit the amendment process for floor consideration of H.R. 310. thV Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005. Any Member wishing to offer an amendment should submit 55 copies of the amendment and one copy of a brief explanation of the amendment to the Committee on Rules in room H312 of the Capitol by 12 noon on Tuesday. February 15. 2005. Members should draft their amendments to the bill as reported by the Committee on Energy and Commerce on February 9. 2005. which is expected to be filed on Monday. February 14. Members are also advised that the text should be available for their review on the Web site of the Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Committee on Rules by Friday. February 11. 2005. Members should use the Office of Legislative Counsel to ensure that their amendments are drafted in the most appropriate form and should check \u0095 with the Office of the Parliamentarian to be certain that their amendments comply with the rules of the House.","speaker_name":"ROB BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1120,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090005622,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Iran and al Qaeda. We also encourage the President to deal with the problem of the NPTs loophole that allows nations like Iran to pursue nuclear weapons through the guise of a nuclear energy program. Our bill asks the President to submit a report outlining strategies to better control fuel cycle technologies and possible ways to close the loophole in Article IV without undermining the overall integrity of the treaty. These are commonsense approaches to combating the nuclear threat. The gentleman from Connecticut and I are committed to working together on a bipartisan basis to do whatever we can to reduce -the danger V of a nuclear attack on the United States. and we hope that all of our colleagues will join us in that effort.","speaker_name":"ADAM SCHIFF","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4983,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090005625,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Examples of successful electronic medical records such as these provide the leadership necessary to ensure that health information technology becomes a reality. The President has already shown his commitment to health information technology by committing $125 million to the Office of the National Health Information Technology Coordinator. Now we need to work with private industry to continue to make the case for successful implementation of health information technologies. Mr. Speaker. if Congress accomplishes one thing this year to improve health care. we should work to develop incentives for hospitals and providers to successfully implement a secure and interoperable electronic health record. This will save money. it will save lives. As the cochairman of the 21st Century Health Care Caucus. which I cochair with the gentleman from Rhode Island . we will continue to work on a bipartisan basis to fully implement electronic medical record systems and to reach this important goal of using this as a mechanism to improve health care in America.","speaker_name":"TIM MURPHY","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4029,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090005660,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I congratulate the new Senator from South Dakota on his initial speech in the Senate. I say to him that he could not have picked a more important topic than saving Social Security for our children. I had the pleasure to be here and listen to his speech. I have had an opportunity to get to know the Senator from South Dakota over the last few years. I want to say again on behalf of all of our colleagues. welcome to the Senate. and congratulations on an outstanding speech.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":489,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090005679,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. in response to the question of the Senator from Washington. I obviously cannot answer that because no one knows what this privatization plan woulddo exactly. It certainly is not healthy for the Social Security system to see payroll taxes that had been anticipated and dedicated to paying retirees being removed and put into private investments with the risk attached to them. So I do not think there is any certainty for any retiree if the President cannot come up with more details on what he plans to do. I. for one. think the Presidents plan weakens -Social Security and does not strengthen it. (The remarks of Mr. DURBIN and Mrs. MURRAY pertaining to the introduction of S. 341 are printed in todays RECORD under \"Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.\")","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":790,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090005682,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I hope we get better responses from him. But -for now. let me just say that it seems to me that President Bush believes that in his budget veterans are a nonessential priority. That is an insulft. It is an insult to them. to their service. and their sacrifice. I know I. along with many of my colleagues. will not stand for this assault on our veterans. They deserve better. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1212,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090005694,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise in strong support of S. 5. the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005. In doing so. I wish to recognize and thank them for their leadership. so many Senators who have moved the bill thus far. certainly including the chairman of the Judiciary Committee who just spoke. also the Senator from Iowa. the chief sponsor of the bill. and also the Senator from Utah. the former chairman of the Judiciary Committee. I am also an original cosponsor of this bill. because it wouldprotect consumers from some of the most egregious abuses in our judicial system. Let me begin by saying that class actions are an important part of our justice system. They serve an important purpose when properly defined. No one would dispute they are a valuable feature of the legal system. This bill doesnt do away with them. ","speaker_name":"DAVID VITTER","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11840,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090005746,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is about accountability for those who cause harm to the public. The businesses that are responsible for environmental contamination. for producing dangerous products that cause injuries. for manufacturing items that shouldnt be sold. or for overcharging customers. should be held liable. But these business interests come to Congress for help. and they are going to win today. As a result of this victory. fewer consumers and fewer families are going to have a chance to succeed in court. The Government closes down the agencies to protect you. Congress will not pass the laws to protect you. and now this Senate will pass a law to close the courthouse doors in your States when you want to come together as a group and ask for justice. This is the highest priority of the Bush administration: closing that courthouse door. making sure these families and these individuals dont have a fighting chance. I think there are a lot of other priorities we should consider. such as the cost of health care in America. We will not even talk about that issue on the Senate floor. let alone discuss bipartisan options for addressing that pressing problem. This socalled Class Action Fairness Act may pass today. but the ultimate losers are going to be families across America who are hoping that Congress will at least consider their best interests in the very first piece of legislation that we consider. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5829,"word_count":236}
{"speech_id":1090005754,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Further. Ohio businesses are going bankrupt as a result of runaway asbestos litigation. And today. one of my fellow Ohioans can be a plaintiff in a class action lawsuit that she doesnt know about and taking place in a State she has never even visited. In 1996. as Governor of Ohio. I was proud to sign H.B. 350. strong tort reform legislation that became law in Ohio for a while. It might have helped todays liability crisis. but it never got a chance. In 1999. the Supreme Court of Ohio. in a politically motivated 43 decision. struck down Ohios civil justice reform law. even though the only plaintiff in the case was the Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyersthe personal injury bars trade group. Their reason for challenging the law? They claimed their association would lose members and lose money due to the civil justice reform laws we enacted. The bias of the case was so great that one of the dissenters. JusticeStratton. had this to say: This case should have never been accepted for review on the merits. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE VOINOVICH","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8466,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090005756,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I do think it will address some of the welldocumented problems created by overlapping class actions in State and Federal courts. In particular. the DoddLandrieuSchumer language included in S. 5 ad.dressed some of my biggest concerns about moving class actions to Federal court. Many class actions involve only State law issues. are brought by plaintiffs from the same geographical area and have a defendant who is based within that same community. Moving these cases to Federal court is inappropriate. especially if they do not involve issues of national importance. In many cases. it is our State judges who are in the best position to make determinations about State law. The DoddLandrieuSchumer compromise created a new exception for keeping cases like this in State court. Under the bill. if twothirds of the plaintiffs are from a given State. the injury happened in that State and at least one significant defendant is from that same State. then the class action can remain in State court. As a result. I believe S. 5 ensures that \"nationwide\" class actions are separated from those that should continue to be heard in State courts. I also believe that any attempt to stop forum shopping by plaintiffs should minimize foruni shopping by defendants. ","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4140,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090005769,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Senator FEINSTEIN. Senator SCHUMER. Senator LANDRIEU. and other Members on the Democratic side who have worked on this issue to make this possible. Again. my thanksand it should be notedto the distinguished Senator from Nevada. Mr. REID. and Senator FRIST. who struck a procedural agreement so the Senate could consider this bill.","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":330,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090005778,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is designed to rein in lawsuit abuses. and it does just that. The plaintiff may end up in Federal court. yes. rather than State court. but no citizen will lose his or her right to bring a caseno citizen. In fact. the Class Action Fairness Act will protect plaintiffs in large interstate class action cases. No longer will predatory lawyers be able to negotiate deals that leave their clients with coupons while they take home millions. Plaintiffs will now be covered by a consumer bill of rights for the first time. a consumer bill of rights that will require lawyers fees for coupon settlements to be based either on the value of the coupons that are actually redeemed or on the hours actually billed. Take the case such as the one in my home State of Tennessee involving a Memphis car dealer. It was discovered that a dealership was instructing its employees to cheat carpurchasers by as much as $2.000. Numerous residents were affected so a class action suit was filed. The suit was eventually settled. and the plaintiffs received a coupon for $1.200. but that coupon could only be used if they went back to the same dealer who had cheated them in the first place and bought another car. Meanwhile. the trial attorneys who settled the suit received $1.3 million in legal fees. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4230,"word_count":226}
{"speech_id":1090005804,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Bellweather award was established in 1995 as integral part of the Community College Futures Assembly. This assembly primarily focuses on cuttingedge. trend setting programs. which often run the risk of being replaced at larger colleges. -I hope that you will join me today in both recognizing and congratulating West Kentucky Community Technical College in their recent achievement. They serve as an example to the rest of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. I wish them continued success in their program.0","speaker_name":"JIM BUNNING","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1285,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090005807,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we have long recognized that our country has an obligation to take care of the brave men and women who wear the uniform of the United Statesand their families. Sixty years ago we passed the GI Bill of Rights for the 16 million veterans who served in WorId War II. By providing new opportunities in housing and education. we helped them return to civilian life. Our military forces have changed dramatically since thenbut the benefits we offer to military families havent kept pace with the changes. * Today our military relies on volunteers. and our security depends on recruiting and retaining good troopsincluding members of the National Guard and Reserves. The Guard and Reserves serve at the command of State governors. but merhbers are also available to be called to active duty by the President. And over the last 10 years. the role of the National Guard and Reserves in our military has steadily increased. Today. reports indicate that almost half of the forces deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom come from the National Guard and the Reserves. These Guardsmen and Reservists are not only providing muchneeded \"boots on the ground.\" They bring specific skills that our regular active military cannot duplicate. For example. in my home state of Nevada. half of the pilots in the Nevada Air National Guard are civilian pilots. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5154,"word_count":230}
{"speech_id":1090005816,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my friend. Senator LIEBERMAN. again. and I would like to quote again from Prime Minister Blair. who announced that action on global warming will be his first priority as Chair of the G8. He has taken a leadership role. choosing to take action and not to hide behind the uncertainties that the science com-. munity will soon resolve. The Prime Minister made it clear in a recent speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos as to his intentions when he said: ... if America wants the rest of the world to be part of the agenda it has set. it must be part of their agenda too ... It is past time for our country to show leadership in addressing the worlds greatest environmental challenge. climate change. By Mr. WYDEN (for himself and Mr. SMITH):","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":767,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090005821,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to reintroduce the Canadian Waste Import Ban Act of 2005. to address the rapidly growing problem of Canadian waste shipments to Michigan. Michigan has been known for its beautiful waters.lush forests. and now unfortunately as a top importer of international trash. My colleagues may be surprised to learn that the biggest source of waste to Michigan is not from another State. but from our neighbor to the north. Canada. The rapid increase in waste shipments is stunning. In 2003. 180 trash trucks crossed the Ambassador and Blue Water bridges into Michigan. Today. that number has more than doubled to 415 trucks per day. You can see these trucks lined up for miles waiting to cross into Michigan. polluting the air and creating traffic congestions. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4043,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090005831,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The machines failed to remove most of the bits of crab shells from the meat. and the consumers flat out rejected it. As for the criticism that these temporary workers wont leave. a long review of the management of this program reveals otherwise. The employers have successfully ensured that the workers return to their home country. If they dont. employers arent able to participate in the program next year. and neither are the workers. Most consulates in their home countries require the workers to present themselves personally to prove that they have returned home. The future success of the H2B visa program rests on the ability of businesses- to participate in it. but right now. many will be denied access to the program for the second year in a row. The bill introduced today helps fix this problem by focusing on three main objectives to help make the H2B program more effective and more fair. First. the bill will reward good workers and employers by exempting from the cap H2B workers who have participated in the program successfully in one of the past three years. These are companies and employees that have faithfully abided by the law. and they have a successful track record of working together. Second. the bill will make sure that the government agencies processing the H2B visas have the resources they need to detect and prevent fraud. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6042,"word_count":231}
{"speech_id":1090005838,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But there is no trade debt limit. Whatever the trade debt is. it is. Katy bar the door. no matter how high it is. There is no requirement to do anything about it. The legislation I introduced. along with my colleague Senator CLINTON. will establish a trade debt limit and a trade deficit limit. When the trade deficit exceeds 5 percent of our gross domestic product. then it requires certain things. It is an alarm clock that requires the administrations trade review group to have an emergency meeting. and within 45 days the administration and the trade ambassador have to submit to Congress a plan to reduce the trade deficit. Somebody someplace. someday. some way has to decide the current situation cant continue. This is all about jobs and future economic opportunity. This is real. and it is immediate. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5576,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090005843,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Attracted by economic opportunity as well as beaches and other recreational amenities. more than 3.600 people are moving to this area each year. This relatively small portion of our country supports approximately 361 sea ports. including most of our largest cities. At the same time. it provides critical habitat for a variety of plants and animals. ranging from rare microscopic organisms to commercially valuable fish stocks.","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1335,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090005846,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Sea garbage would seem to be a simple issue that surely cannot rise to the priority level of the stresses our 21st century civilization places on the natural environment. Regrettably. that perception is wrong. While marine debris includes conventional \"trash.\" it also includes a vast array of additional materials. It is discarded or lost fishing gear. It is cargo washed overboard. It is abandoned equipment from our commercial fleets. Nor does the \"lowtech\" nature of solid refuse diminish its deadly impact on the creatures of the sea. Whether an. animal dies from a immune system weakened by toxic chemicals. or drowns entangled in a discarded fishing net. the result is the sameand in many cases. preventable. Global warming. disease. and toxic contamination of our seas has already stressed these fragile ecosystems. These threats have been described in last years Final Report of the U.S. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL INOUYE","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5039,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090005848,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"These efforts led to the development of rudimentary nautical charts designed to help mariners navigate safely. The rapidly increasing uses of our coastal and ocean waters. however. call for development of a new generation of ecosystemoriented mapping and assessment products and services. The technologies of today create richly layered mapping products that expand far beyond just charting for safe navigation. Now. by combining such information as mineral surveys of the U.S. Geological Service. habitat characterizations of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration NOAA. and watershed assessments of the Environmental Protection Agency into a single product. map users are able to consider the impacts of their actions on multiple facets of the marine environment. Last year. the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy issued a report highlighting the urgent need to modernize. improve. expand. and integrate federal mapping efforts to improve navigation. safety and resource management decisionmaking. By employing integrated mapping approaches. urban and residential growth can be directed away from areas of high risk from oceanbased threats such as tsunami and tidal surge. The risks of maritime activities can be minimized by identifying hazards that could impact on sensitive ecosystems. and devising appropriate mitigation plans. Living marine resource managers can also gauge where and how best to focus their efforts to restore essential marine habitats. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL INOUYE","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3565,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090005857,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking. Housing. and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on February 10. 2005. at 10:00 a.m.. to conduct a hearing on \"The Role of the GovernmentSponsored Enterprises in the Mortgage Market.\"","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":286,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090005958,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They have seen no reimbursement. and they are receiving mixed signals from FEMA as to what further information they may have to submit in order to get their application finally processed. I will give you another example: Charlotte County. Charlotte County is down on the southwest coast of Florida. It is where the first monster hit. Charley hit with full force. with winds of 145 miles an hour. right off the water. It came right off the Gulf of Mexico. up Charlotte Bay. and hit Punta Gorda in Charlotte County. The county officials have stated that one day a FEMA official will declare some piles of debris eligible for reimbursement and the next day a different inspector will look at it and declare it is ineligible for reimbursement. This has to stop. I will give you another example. Escambia County has received some relief but Pensacola. which is the main city in Escambia County. has not. ","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4946,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090005968,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it absolutely baffles me. this discussion going on about Social Security of which the President has laid out by sounding the alarm bell that something needs to be done. and yet the President has not come forth with a plan to address the fact that in 37 years. in the year 2042. Social Security will not be able to pay the full benefits. rather. 37 years in the future. would be able to only pay 73 cents on the dollar of Social Security benefits. Where is the Presidents plan? The President has laid out that he wants to privatize Social Security with private accounts. Where is the Presidents plan? Why is there not a message from the White House to the Congress? I can suggest a reason as to why there is no plan: because basically the privatization plan does nothing for the solvency of Social Security when it needs it in 37 years and. instead. does the opposite by whacking benefits and increasing the national debt considerably. whether you look at a 10year or a 75year period. whatever one is calculating. This Senator is not going to whack or cut Social Security benefits. nor is this Senator going to go with a plan that not only cuts benefits but also adds trillions of dollars to the national debt when we are running at a deficit situation where in excess of $400 billion a year is spending in the red. And how do we get it? We go and borrow it. By the way. guess where we borrow it from. Mostly from banks in Japan and China. That doesnt sound too good from a defense posture of the country. ","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3221,"word_count":281}
{"speech_id":1090005994,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If he doesnt remember. I take him at his wordhe doesnt remember. That is not the question. The question is. Are there members of his division who were present so that we can ask them whether they informed their supervisors. and whether. just possibly. Judge Chertoff. then head of the Criminal Division. was informed. If he doesnt remember being informed. I dont doubt that. I am not doubting that at all. But I guess the most direct question I can ask is this: If those names were not redacted. if instead we had those four names there. is there any doubt in any Senators mind that we could ask those people whose names we know whether they informed their supervisors of this heated debate between the FBI and the Department of Defense personnel? The FBI in memo after memo after memo was strongly objecting to the practices of military members of the Department of Defense. some of whom were pretending they were FBI members. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10791,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090006009,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my good friend and the ranking Democratic member on the committee for his statement. He has applied his usual good judgment in coming to the conclusion that Judge Chertoff deserves his support and in urging our colleagues to vote for him when the vote finally occurs tomorrow. The Senator from Alabama is seeking to speak on the nomination. I yield 15 minutes.","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":383,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090006036,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to commemorate the life of CAPT Frank Albert Manson. an outstanding Virginian who served his country with valor during World War II and the Korean War. While Captain Manson passed from this earth on January 20. he has left an exceptional legacy through his humanitarian vision. his insightful observation of naval conflict. and especially in the hearts of his loving wife. three children. and ten grandchildren. His daughter Jennifer Joy Wilson was a longtime member of my staff and remains a valued advisor. Born in Oklahoma in 1920. Frank Manson earned a bachelor of science in education from Northeastern Oklahoma State University in 1941. Following 2 years of teaching at the highschool level. he attended officer candidate school at Cornell University and gained his commission for the United States Navy. Like many other brave young men who answered the call of duty in World War II. thenLieutenant Manson was sent to combat in the Pacific Theater. Appointed as the communications officer on the USS Laffey DD724. he was responsible for providing the media with the detailed accounts that followed the Laffeys triumphant efforts of April 16. 1945. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1799,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090006038,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":28,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But all of them have one thing in common. their dedication to helping the schoolchildren of Hawaii achieve all they can. I am proud to enter their names into the RECORD of this august body. During the 2004 year the following teachers received the credential: Cynthia Acierto. KalihiKai Elementary School. Oahu. Deborah Anderson. Honokaa High and Intermediate School. Hawaii. Laura Brown. Pearl Ridge Elementary School. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9091,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090006052,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations: Calendar No. 11 and Calendar No. 12. I further ask that the nominations be confirmed. the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table. the President be immediately notified of the Senates action. and the Senate resume legislative session.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":362,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090006058,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to. the preamble be agreed to. the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. with no intervening action or debate. and that any statements relating to the resolution be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":263,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090006067,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. tomorrow the Senate will be in a period for the transaction of morning business throughout the morning. At 2:15 p.m.. we will resume consideration of the Chertoff nomination for Secretary of Homeland Security. Under the agreement. at 4 p.m.. the Senate will proceed to a vote on the confirmation. The confirmation vote tomorrow afternoon will be the first vote of the day. For the remainder of the week. the Senate will act on any legislation or nominations cleared for action. It is my hope we will be able to move forward with the Genetic Nondiscrimination Act which was reported out of the HELP Committee last week. We will continue to work with the Democratic leadership to reach an agreement on this legislation. I will have more to say on the weeks schedule tomorrow.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":788,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090006095,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I visited our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. and I have seen with my own eyes their commitment and determination. It is phenomenal. They believe in what they are doing. They know they are making a difference. I am reminded of those who have already sacrificed much but yet have not given up and remain\" committed to their duty. Soldiers such as Army CPT David Roselle have been an inspiration to me and many other Coloradans. While on .patrol last year in Iraq. Captain Roselle lost a leg when an antitank mine went off nearby. After several surgeries and intense physical therapy. Captain Roselle rebuilt and retrained his muscles. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5588,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090006143,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He also successfully prosecuted the Mafia Commission Case. which charged the bosses of all five New York La Cosa Nostra Families with operating a national commission through a pattern of racketeering acts such as extortion. loan sharking. and the murders of a mafia boss and two associates. Upon his confirmation. Mr. Chertoff ran the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice during the trying days after September 11. As Senator COLLINS stated: since 9\/11. Judge Chertoff has established himself as a leading expert on the legal and national security issues surrounding the war onterror. After this period. in which I worked. closely with the Criminal Division of the Justice Department to formulate the PATRIOT ACT. Judge Chertoff was nominated to the third Circuit and was confirmed by a vote of 88 to 1. As we all know. becoming a judge on the 3rd Circuit is a lifetime appointment and the culminating achievement of many outstanding legal careers. Few leave the bench before retirement. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3953,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090006156,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It does not make sense to criticize the process because the committee refuses to engage in an exercise that. at its core. is built upon the premise that Judge Chertoff is somehow being less than truthful with the committee. I reject that premise. There is no basis for it. Let me close these remarks by saying a word about the Senates constitutional role of advise and consent because I think a lot that has been said about this role misses an essential point. We. the Senate. advise and consent. It is the President who appoints. We do not appoint. Sometimes I think some of my colleagues believe the Senate should do all of the appointing for the President. but that is not how the system works. That is not how our Constitution works. Indeed. as Professor Laurence Tribe has notedand he is a liberal law scholar. not a conservative onethe appointments clause \"seeks to preserve an executive check upon legislative authority in the interest of avoiding an undue concentration of power in Congress\"-in Congress-\"in. executing our responsibilities.\" We should do well to remember that it is the President who is appointing these positions. ","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6986,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090006163,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am meeting with firefighters. sheriffs. and emergency response personnel. It has been tremendously enlightening to me .to talk to them about the problems that we have. from the communication and resource challenges facing urban centers such as Las Vegas and Reno. but also rural communities all over the State of Nevada. They have special needs. special demands. Of course. I mentioned already Las Vegas with its booming tourist industry. About 20 people an hour are moving into Las Vegas. It is growing and the growth has not stopped. So Nevadas homeland security needs run the gamut. Our State and local officials will need the support and help of Judge Chertoff and the Department of Homeland Security in the work they do. His job is a tough and challenging job. and that is an understatement. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10064,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090006185,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I wish to recognize the public service of Mark Morse of Las Vegas. NV. Mark has served as field manager for the Bureau of Land Managements Las Vegas Field Office for the last 5 years. Serving as a field manager for any BLM office is a challenge. but nowhere are the competing demands of recreation and conservation. urban development and species preservation more pronounced than in southern Nevada. Some might throw up their hands in the face of such challenges. but Mark confronted them head on. He is respected by such diverse groups as local and county government officials. environmental organizations. and recreation advocates for balancing the needs of all who take an interest in our public lands. He has forged partnerships between the BLM and local organizations. including the Red Rock Canyon Interpretive Association. Friends of Red Rock Canyon. the National Wild Horse Association. Master Gardeners. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2569,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090006202,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Therefore. I feel it is now time to introduce legislation to bring local back into local broadcasting. I believe this legislation is a step in the right direction. It will have a small impact on those stations that are currently meeting their public interest obligations. but it should have a large impact on those citizens whose local broadcaster is not meeting its obligations. I refuse to believe that the \"public interest\" is served by minimal campaign coverage. such as a 12 second sound bite on from a candidate during a halfhour local news program as found in the study. Citizens deserve more from their local broadcaster. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3770,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090006209,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Overall. the Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that the cost of the loss of human life and personal property from not having a firesafe cigarette standard is approximately $4.6 billion per year. In my State of Illinois. cigaretterelated fires have also caused too many senseless tragedies. In 1998 alone. the most recent year for which we have data. there were more than 1.700 cigaretterelated fires. of which more than 900 were in peoples homes. These fires led to 109 injuries and 8 deaths. Tobacco companies spend billions on marketing and learning how to make cigarettes appealing to kids. It is not unreasonable to ask those same companies to invest in safer cigarette paper to make their products less likely to bum down a house. As of today cigarettes are designed to continue burning when left unattended. A common scenario is the delayed ignition of a sofa or mattress by a lit cigarette dropped ty a smoker. The Fire Safe Cigarette Act of 2005 requires the Consumer Product Safety Commission to promulgate a fire safety standard. specified in the legislation. for cigarettes. The CPSC would also have the authority to regulate the ignition propensity of cigarette paper for rollyourown tobacco products. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3567,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090006216,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous -consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during .the session of tie Senate on February 15. 2005. at g:30 a.m.. in open session to receive testimony on the priorities and plans for the Atomic Energy Defense activities of the Department of Energy and to review the defense authorization request for fiscal year 2006.","speaker_name":"JOHN ISAKSON","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":372,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090006234,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. \\President. I ask unanimous consent that at 11 a.m. on Wednesday. February 16. the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. a84. a bill to extend the existence of the Nazi War Crimes Working Group. provided that there be 90 minutes of debate equally divided between the majority leader or his designee and the Democratic leader or his designee. provided further that no amendments be in order. and that following the use or yielding back of the time the bill be read a third time and the Senate proceed to a vote on passage without any intervening action or debate.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":570,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090006257,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to offer heartfelt sympathy to the people of Lebanon and to the many. mahy leaders of that country who have suffered a great loss yesterday with the assassination of the former Prime Minister. Rafik Hariri. Over the last 10 years. I have had the opportunity to visit the small country of Lebanon. I have taken an interest in the country because of my Lebanese heritage and the fact that Lebanon needs a few advocates in the House of Representatives. and I have tried to be a strong advocate for this small country. During the 10 years that I have visited Lebanon. I had the opportunity to become well acquainted with Prime Minister Hariri. Over the 10 years that I have had a chance to visit Lebanon. ","speaker_name":"RAY LAHOOD","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2861,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090006277,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is. even though we were informed. even though we were progressive. we had no idea of the specific indignities of the segregated lunch counters. the signs that said \"whites only\" and \"colored\" for drinking fountains. We knew the schools were desegregated supposedly back in 1955. We saw the Montgomery bus boycott in 1956. We saw the power of direct action in the African states who first gained independence at the same time. But what occurred amongst the students in Greensboro spread throughout the Nation like wildfire. not just in the South but also in the North. We believed what Martin Luther King. Jr. stated so eloquently from the Birmingham jail: \"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor. It must be demanded by the oppressed.\" And we saw the sitins. a simple and quiet act perhaps. but one of great courage. considering the risks they were running. the Ku Klux Klan sitting at the same counters or nearby these first demonstrators. Those of us in the North who thought we were brothers and cousins of those in the South started talking about what we should do. how we should .help. I remember. in fact. meeting the gentleman from Georgia (JOHN LEWIS). a colleague of ours from Atlanta. just a few months after that. and we ended up on the same bus to Jackson. ","speaker_name":"BOB FILNER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":51.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3324,"word_count":224}
{"speech_id":1090006319,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It also means a coach who deflects personal credit as adroitly as he outsmarts opposing coaches. Similarly. class seems suitable for a coach who should rather talk endlessly about his role models than about himself. even after he eclipses those role models in all measures of success. Class also means a team that overcomes injuries to two key starters. Ty Law and Tyrone Poole. when unheralded players. such as Randall Gag and Asante Samuel. play like seasoned veterans in the most stressful situations imaginable. to the disbelief of all observers. It means a group of players whom many outside New England dont recognize by name or face but only as part of a team And class might also describe a team whose accomplishments are sometimes dismissed as \"luck\" even when. by definition. .\"luck\" cant explain continuous triumph. game after game. season after season. at home and on the road. in close games and blowouts. in airconditioned domes and Foxborough blizzards. Class refers to players. such as Tom Brady and Deion Branch. who would rather credit their teammates than tout their own efforts. Class describes players such as Willie McGinest and Tedy Bruschi. who would rather win Super Bowls than AllPro invitations. as well as players such as Corey Dillon and Rodney Harrison. who have silenced past critics with their onfield performance not their offfield remarks. Class means owners who care as much about the team as does the most passionate fan. The Kraft family. longtime New Englanders and Patriots season ticket holders. seem to fit that description to a tee. Like the rest of Patriots Nation in 1994. ","speaker_name":"MARTIN MEEHAN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3308,"word_count":268}
{"speech_id":1090006322,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 80) recognizing the Virginia Fire Chiefs Association on the occasion of its 75th anniversary and commending the Virginia Fire Chiefs Association for sponsoring annually the MidAtlantic Expo and Symposium. as amended.","speaker_name":"CHARLES DENT","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":294,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090006328,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. I applaud Congressman VIRGIL GOODE ef my home State of Virginia for introducing this important resolution and urge an \"aye\" vote.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1133,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090006379,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Ray lost his life trying to rescue fellow soldiers that had fallen into a canal while their particular Humvee flipped over. Rays mother was told that her son was the first to jump in the water to help the soldiers. and his selflessness in this act demonstrates the best a person can be. Ray Rangel is the first Air Force member from South Texas killed in Iraq. He is also the ninth U.S. service member from the San Antonio area and the 42nd from South Texas killed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Rays parents remember that despite criticism leve led at President Bush over the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Rangel did not want his family to be bitter if he got hurt or killed. He would often remind his family that he loved his country and he wanted to serve the best that he could. Mr. Speaker. I am privileged to have had this time to honor Staff Sergeant Ray Rangel. a true hero that exemplifies the noblest qualities of the human spirit-","speaker_name":"HENRY CUELLAR","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3602,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090006387,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The budget provides only half of the funding promised for -afterschool programs. In New Jersey. these cuts will mean nearly 33.000 New Jersey children will no longer have access to critical afterschool programs. The Presidents budget also cuts 440 million in Safe and Drug Free School grants. 500 million in education technology State grants. 325 million for the Even Start Literacy program. and 280 million for the Upward Bound program for innercity youth. Now. this may sound like a lot of bureaucracy. but these are real education cuts that are going to hurt children. And yet the President has no problem cutting those programs while at the same time continuing his policy of providing large tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans. Now. these are certainly not my values. I would hope that they were not the Presidents values. But certainly the budget says the opposite. The President also proposes huge cuts in the Medicaid program. Now. this program serves nearly 930.000 children. seniors and people with disabilities in my State of New Jersey. \u0095 It is estimated that the $60 billion in cuts that the President is proposing will cut onefourth of the Medicaid money sent to my State over the next decade. ","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5230,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090006406,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if the gentleman will yield further. those of us in this business and those at home obviously interested in this kind of debate and what is going on in your community and country. looking back and having all the anger and personal issues that we have today here in Washington. D.C. and in our State capitals. politics has gotten so bitter and so personal. can you imagine President Reagan and Tip ONeil strolling out saying. \"We did it. We sucked it up for the American people and did what was best. and part of it was your idea and part was our idea. and part was conservative and part liberal. But we made it work for the American people. for the people who this program lifts out of poverty and the 48 million people that get it.\"","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":746,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090006410,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You do what you did and what we did in 1983: in a bipartisan fashion sit down like adults and fix the problem and not try to destroy the system. I mean. I am not the sharpest knife\" in the drawer. but when I went through all these and we had a briefing today from people.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":886,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090006413,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What choice do we have? There is no other economy in the world that can sustain it. Well. for the first time the Euro has now become a reserve currency of the world that is competing with us. So what does this mean to the average New Yorker. the average person who lives in Ohio or Florida? What it means is that we. the Federal Government. are going to have to compete with Europe in terms of who is going to have the higher interest rate. What. does that mean? That means that not only are Tbills going to be higher. your interest rates on our credit cards is going to be higher. Your interest on your bank loans is going to be higher. Your interest rate on your mortgage is going to be higher. If you think this only matters to you. you are 30 years from retiring or getting a Social Security check today. you are completely wrong. If we keep going on this path. what we are going to be doing is essentially competing with ourselves for interest. and it is going to wind up costing average Americans hundreds and hundred of dollars each month on their dollars. If we have one good thing going for us in the last couple of years. it is low interest rates. If it were .not for low interest rates driving demand for homes and cars. this economy would be in a worse rut than it has been in the last several years. and we are putting that at risk. and that is why deficits matter. ","speaker_name":"ANTHONY WEINER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6332,"word_count":265}
{"speech_id":1090006427,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Hopefully the Iraqis will be ready or close to being ready for taking responsibility for their country and for the security of their country.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3283,"word_count":24}
{"speech_id":1090006444,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Exactly. Mr. Speaker. And if the gentleman will continue to yield. three times. three times the amount of money it would take to fix this problem with veterans so they would not have to stand in line for 6 months to get treatment when they come back from Iraq. this administration lost three times as much money in the financial netherworld of Iraq. and they refuse to do anything about it because it is embarrassing.","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":417,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090006462,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If you do not believe the gentleman from Ohio . the gentleman from Washington","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":846,"word_count":14}
{"speech_id":1090006465,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This was a lot of personal courage there that we should respect in a lot of ways. One would think we ought to honor that and send some messages to Iraq about how to run a democracy. Well. look at just three examples. how under the leadership of the current House. what our lessons to Iraq are. Number one. to the Suhnis. we want the Sunnis to come into the Iraqi government. We want the minority group to participate in the government. because if we do not get the Sunnis involved in the Iraqi government. this insurgency is going to continue to bloom. So our message is to the Shiites. embrace the Sunnis. Let them come in and have a voice in your government. Let dissent have a voice. Reach a consensus through embracing the minority. What do they do here in the House of Representatives? To their own Member. the gentleman from New Jersey","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1596,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090006534,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have a relative who is a widow whose family receives Social Security survivor benefits for her last child. She had three. If it was not for that amount of money. she would be living in poverty. Democrats believe that all American workers should get the benefits they paid for. We will fight to improve the Social Security system and not dismantle it.","speaker_name":"HILDA SOLIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1148,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090006539,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the recent assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister reminds us once again how fragile life can be in this part of the world. That is why we must remain resolute in our mission to support efforts in the Middle East that promote stability and promote peace. In Iraq. we are witnessing an emerging democracy that is bringing new hope and sovereignty to oncevanquished peoples. The recent IsraeliPalestinian truce is the crucial step towards reestablishing the confidence that has so often eluded its leaders. This is a necessary ingredient to advance the cause of peace in a region inflicted by terror and violence. Mr. Speaker. the historic developments of the past few months are a ray of hope in a region that is often clouded by darkness and give us reason to believe that a new era has begun. one which will eventually lead to peace.","speaker_name":"CHRIS CHOCOLA","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":859,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090006542,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I salute President Bushs leadership on the need to strengthen Social Security with personal retirement accounts. I am hearing a lot of haranguing on the other side. most of it untrue. This debate begins and ends with our pledge that nothing will change for people 55 and older. This current debate must focus on the future of younger Americans. Social Security was created for a much different America. Created in 1935. current taxes more than covered current opinions. The average working male lived to age 60. when people retired at age 65. When Social Security started. 42 people supported one retiree. ","speaker_name":"SAM JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":832,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090006546,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It increases the penalties on media companies who openly flaunt the FCCs rules against obscene broadcasts. Mr. Speaker. when we give media companies the right to broadcast in our communities on our airwaves. one of the few things we ask in return is they refrain from broadcasting lewd. indecent programs during the hours that children may be listening or watching. That does not seem like a lot to ask. but many media companies seem to find it hard to comply even with the most basic rule. a rule most Americans practice every day in their lives. Put simply. you do not say crude or offensive things when you are a guest in somebodys home and theirchildren are in the room. This is an American value that we can all embrace. so I would ask why the standards are different for the media. The bottom line is that they should not be. The FCC has fined a number of broadcast licensees over the past several years for lewd and inappropriate broadcasts. and I hope that the increased penalties in the bill will make these companies think twice before they do it again. But with all the money they make. I doubt that. ","speaker_name":"LOUISE SLAUGHTER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7009,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090006551,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of the rule for H.R. 301. the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005. I believe this is a fair rule and one that accords both sides of the aisle a good opportunity to explore the issues surrounding this legislation. Just last year. the House took a strong step forward on this issue when it passed H.R. 3717 by a vote of 391 to 22. Unfortunately. the other body was unable to schedule this legislation for consideration before the close of the 108th Congress. Mr. Speaker. we have a real opportunity today. As a father and a husband. over the years I have had genuine concerns about the suitability of some of the programming that is now aired on television. As my colleagues know. the law holds that indecent material is not appropriate for television. ","speaker_name":"TOM COLE","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1846,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090006579,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have joined with a number of colleagues in forming a media reform caucus. which will be working to make sure that the voices of the communities we represent are present at the table as Congress.revisits the issues of media ownership and telecommunications regulation. And for those who share our concerns about the state of the media industry. I urge you to join in this fight. I assure you. Mr. Speaker. you have not heard the last from us. this fight is not over. Let me just comment on this court decision which a number of people have cited. Last June the.4th Circuit echoed the concerns I have been addressing here today. when it stayed the implementation of the FCCs relaxed ownership rules. But we have no guarantee that the FCC will not pass a new version that would again make it easier for a few big conglomerates to control our airwaves. In fact. it is quite likely that they will. ","speaker_name":"DAVID PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2913,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090006604,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"\"Instead of narrowly focusing on real abuses of the system. the measure that is before us today reconfigures the civil justice system to achieve a significant rollback of corporate accountability and peoples rights. The main impact of the bill. which has a sort of propagandistic title normally assigned to such laws as the Class Action Fairness Act will be to funnel nearly all major classaction lawsuits out of State courts and into all overburdened Federal courts. That will inevitably make it harder for Americans to pursue legitimate claims successfully against companies that violate State consumer. health. civil rights. and environmental protection laws.\" Mr. and Mrs. America. let me tell you something. When this legislation passes on the Republican clock. I am going to tell you that the doors of the courthouse will be closed to you. and if you have Johnny Jones. the country lawyer. trying to bring justice to rural America. Johnny Jones will have to take his smalltime practice and mortgage his house to get into the Federal court. And not only that. you might get there 50 years from the time that action occurs. This is the greatest abomination and insult to justice that I have ever seen. It is an outrage. and I ask my colleagues to vote down the rule. vote for the Democratic substitute. and put this terrible bill where it needs to go. packing out of the door. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8801,"word_count":235}
{"speech_id":1090006613,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. Federal courts have had jurisdiction over substantial cases between citizens of different States since the founding of this Nation. But due to the interpretations of the laws. State courts have had to bear the brunt of class action lawsuits in this country. This legislation is a fantastic bipartisan effort to reform the legal system and is a good first step toward addressing the costs of litigation on small businesses. large businesses. and all Americans. I encourage my colleagues to support this effort. and I appreciate the leadership shown by the Speaker. the majority leader. and the chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary towards getting this legislation passed through the Senate and on the desk of the President. I urge my colleagues to support this measure. the rule and the legislation.","speaker_name":"LYNN WESTMORELAND","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1767,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090006614,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I would like to read a couple of cases here. Mrs. Higgins of Tennessee was a 39yearold woman who died of a sudden heart attack after taking Vioxx. She was the mother of a 9yearold son. When she was diagnosed with the early onset of rheumatoid arthritis. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2547,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090006635,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 5 minutes. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of this legislation. I want to particularly thank a number of Members. I want to thank the gentleman from Texas . Without his dedicated effort. we would not have this bill through the fast track that we have it today. and his support means quite a bit. I also want to thank my friends on the other side of the aisle. ","speaker_name":"FRED UPTON","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4012,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090006643,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 15 seconds. I would just remind my friend in the well that the FCC specifically dismissed complaints against \"Saving Private Ryan.\" and with regards to the ad that was trying to be run by United Church of Christ. that was a first amendment right that the station made themselves. I do not think anyone thought that the FCC would fine them for the airing of that commercial. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"FRED UPTON","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":448,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090006656,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am a parent of a 5yearold and I am a prude. so I guess I meet the gentleman from Californias definition. Willfully and intentionally. the use of public airwaves for indecent material or conduct. that is what we are addressing today. And I want to congratulate the committee. the gentleman from Texas (Chairman BARTON). the gentleman from Michigan","speaker_name":"JOHN SHIMKUS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":361,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090006666,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I look forward to voting in favor of this bill and thank Representative UPTON for his efforts.","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA BROWN-WAITE","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":951,"word_count":17}
{"speech_id":1090006670,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have reached the point in this country where questioning our leaders is called unpatriotic and characterized as aiding the terrorists. columnists are paid our tax dollars by the Federal Government to spout the Bush administrations official propaganda. the very agency charged with maintaining a diversity of ideas on the airwaves wants to give free rein to a handful of corporations to control information. and where stations refuse to air the movie \"Saving Private Ryan\" lest the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission might be ordered to find a sacrificial lamb to appease the religious right. I do not support the rush to media conglomeration and I do not trust religious zealots to decide for every American what they can and can not watch. Since that is who this administration is serving. I vote \"no\" on giving them more authority to undermine freedom of speech.","speaker_name":"FORTNEY STARK","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1675,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090006685,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I just want to thank the staff. Kelly Cole. Will Nordwind and Howard Waltzman. They have been terrific working with staffs on both sides. I remind my colleagues this passed overwhelmingly in not only the committee. but last year as well. and also in the Senate. ","speaker_name":"FRED UPTON","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":366,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090006700,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this is the 60th anniversary of the liberation of over 2.000 prisoners from the camp at Los Banos. and at a time when our military is deployed in harms way around the globe. let us recognize those individuals who sacrificed to bring their brothers and sisters home. and let us honor the heroic actions of the past by officially reaffirming our Nations commitment to leave no fighting man or woman in enemy hands at any time. now or in the future. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"TRENT FRANKS","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3237,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090006731,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 91 honoring the life and legacy of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. Extremely well thought of by the international community. Mr. Hariris tragic and untimely death is a great loss to us all. Mr. Hariri was born in Southern Lebanon in 1944 to a family that was neither political nor powerful. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JOHN DINGELL","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3092,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090006747,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. when it comes to our Nations spending priorities. President Bush and his administration do not know which way is up. Already the President has given Congress a 2006 budget that is all but certain to explode in the year 2009. a ticking time bomb set to detonate after President Bush leaves office. In a move that should surprise no one. this budget conspicuously omits funding for any and all military operations and reconstruction efforts in Iraq. leaving the funding to a supplemental spending bill that does not count against the Presidents deficit estimates. These funds are not insignificant. To date Congress has funded a $154 billion military operations and reconstruction budget in Iraq. and the Democratic staff on the House Committee on the Budget has estimated that the war in Iraq could cost the United States as much as $650 billion by the year 2015. Adjusted for inflation. this amount rivals the combined costs of the Korean War. the Vietnam War. and the first Gulf War. the combined costs. Let me be clear that my opposition to the Presidents reckless fiscal policies is not a condemnation of the service men and women who so bravely serve our country. I want everyone to know that I oppose the war. not the warriors. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4434,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090006753,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to pay tribute to our brave men and women in uniform serving around the world and here at home. Our ActiveDuty personnel. Guard members and reservists constitute the besttrained and most dedicated fighting force the world has ever known. They are our family members. our close friends and our neighbors. our teachers. physicians and small business owners. They have pledged to us their valued time. their honor. and their lives. Let us now take a moment to recognize them and remember their loss.. Mr. Speaker. since 2001. more than 36.000 of my fellow Illinoisans have served in Afghanistan and Iraq. ","speaker_name":"MELISSA BEAN","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1986,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090006781,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. that this has not had a fair hearing. nothing could be further from the truth. I want to ask my colleagues to look at this slide here to my left and the title of the slide. \"Who Wins?\" This is pretty clear. This would be a typical classaction abuse case. Maybe it was in Madison County. Illinois. where so many of these cases are filed in State court. I do not know if this particular one was there but we know lots of cases have been filed there in Madison County. Class members. Coupons for crayons. a video rental. apple juice. popcorn. golf balls. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5920,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090006789,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Even though we now know that given the bottom line of the budget. the red condition. the fact it is a historic deficit. $427 billion. the bottom line can only get worse if those tax cuts are extended and made permanent. The President says. \"I want to do that.\" In addition. there is another $383 billion of expiring tax cuts that will have to be handled as well. But there is one big item called the Alternative Minimum Tax. Over the next several years. this tax will affect more and more tax filers. Last year. to buy us a little time so we could repair that particular formula of the Tax Code so that it does not hit middleincome taxpayers. for whom it was never intended but is hitting now because it is not indexed to inflation. we built a little patch in last years budget to at least leave the effect of it in constant status for 1 year.","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5376,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090006807,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if the gentleman will yield for a question. this is a little bit before my time. but correct me if Im wrong. it was really a Democratic Congress. working with the first Bush administration. the current Presidents father. that first instituted the payasyougo rules back in the 1992 budget. is that correct?","speaker_name":"RON KIND","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":318,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090006811,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And. Mr. Speaker. not one Republican back then had supported the payasyougo rules that required tough political decisionmaking. tradeoffs. in essence. with the budget. which is something that the Democrats in Congress today are advocating in the alternative budget resolutions that were submitted. because it worked so well in the 1990s. the payasyougo rules. which are very simple. If you are proposing a pay increase or a tax cut in one* area. you have to find an offset in the budget to pay for it in order to maintain balance. And it led to the 4 years of budget surpluses. as the gentleman pointed out. 2 years of which the Social SecurityMedicaid trust fund was not even being raided but. instead. we could use that money for important debt reduction. starting to pay off the national debt. I was here during that first Bush taxcut debate we had a few years ago where the big concern. on the Republican side at least. was that we were going to pay off the national debt too fast. if you could believe those days. which never materialized. But now today. we are back into chronic budget deficits. and one of the fastest growing areas in the budget today is interest on the national debt. I see two major problems with the huge budget deficits today that are unprecedented and we did not face before. One is. who is owning that debt? Who is paying for our deficit financing? Right now. Japan is the number one purchaser of our government debt. soon to be surpassed by China. ","speaker_name":"RON KIND","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3161,"word_count":263}
{"speech_id":1090006834,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It will dramatically reduce guaranteed benefits. and it will significantly add to the Nations growing debt. So I ask the gentleman to confirm these. and I will say one third thing that I know it does. and that is that it does nothing to promote the longterm solvency of Social Security.","speaker_name":"ALLYSON SCHWARTZ","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3901,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090006844,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And. yes. we need to preserve educational programs like the Even Start program. So how do we do both? And I think. just like you have said before. in order for us to do this. just do it just like we do the budget at home. we set priorities. We set priorities. We need to decide in Congress what are those priorities? Is it spend ing $280 million to study the icy moons of Jupiter. or do we educate our children? Is it spending $480 million to support the states of the former Soviet Union. or are we going to save Americas farms? I think. like you have been saying.","speaker_name":"HENRY CUELLAR","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2726,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090006853,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The bottom line: disease management programs save money and improve health care quality. And thanks to the Medicare Modernization Act. these programs will create a better quality of life for seniors with congestive heart failure. diabetes. chronic obstructive disease. and other chronic illnesses and bend the curve of Medicares cost growth. These recent estimates we have been hearing so much about simply do not include any consideration of the power of disease management programs to reduce the cost of chronic disease and to improve the quality of care in Medicare. Twenty percent of our seniors have five or more chronic conditions and account for twothirds of Medicare spending. Twenty percent. Of course disease management will reduce the cost of Medicare. MMA also initiated another new. though related. development in Medicare that will create significant savings while improving quality. but isnt reflected in cost estimates drawing attention today. For the first time. electronic prescribing will become routine in the Medicare program. with electronic medical trends coming along thereafter. Electronic prescribing technology will save lives and money by eliminating adverse drug interactions. eliminating handwriting errors. and by notifying physicians when a lower cost generic alternative is available. As we all know. generic drugs often far cheaper than brand name drugs. ","speaker_name":"NANCY JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6241,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090006858,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"One of the most stunning statistics that I learned during our trip was that 40 percent of the Afghan population is under 14 years of age. many of them in the picture you have there. If we do not help the Afghan children. the leaders of tomorrow. have a good education and have an opportunity for a good job in a growing economy. then they will choose a path that is destructive. They will choose a path of terrorism and crime. If they have an education and they have an opportunity for economic growth and a good job. they will be our partners in peace and democracy.","speaker_name":"CHRIS CHOCOLA","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1619,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090006859,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would ask the gentleman to reflect on that and how that bears on his keen insight about the need to encourage greater. more expansive education in this difficult part of the world.","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":964,"word_count":35}
{"speech_id":1090006866,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And I said. When you come home.. call me. And I gave him my contact information. And he did. He came home a few weeks later. and he did not stop by just to say hi. He stopped by. As the gentleman will recall. we gave a couple of flags to the soldiers at Camp Phoenix. We gave them an American flag and an Indiana flag. Then a constituent of mine has designed a battle flag that really commemorates and honors all the major battles that our Armed Forces have been in since the founding of our country. E 1830 I left two of those flags there. ","speaker_name":"CHRIS CHOCOLA","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2566,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090006869,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I do want to express my profound gratitude to the gentleman from Indiana for being willing to leave family and his constituents behind and travel. as .we described tonight. through Islamabad. Pakistan. through Parachinar. where we met with tribal leaders. into Kabul. where we went to Camp Phoenix. through the mountains of Jalalabad to Bagram Air Base. and then out of the country. It was a great. great privilege to travel with the gentleman from Indiana . the gentleman from Tennessee . and the gentleman from Arizona . all of whom I think exemplified the very best of a servants attitude about public service. I told many soldiers as we traveled that there was not hardly a person that I served in all of eastern Indiana who would not rather be standing right there in front of them thanking them for their service. assuring them of their prayers. and expressing the gratitude that the gentleman from Indiana just described. that the American people feel for the success that the American soldier has wrought and is continuing to provide to the good people of Afghanistan. I close by just reminding. Mr. Speaker. anyone that might be looking in. what the gentleman from Indiana heard from President Karzai. As I have said again and again tonight. ","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1905,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090006892,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As we see with this chart. there is more red ink in the Presidents budget than we care to see for years to come. Unfortunately. if his privatization plan goes into effect. massive new debt increases are added in the years after this plan takes effect. The President. as h6 did with Medicare. likes to talk about the cost of implementation over 10year periods. What he does not mention is that for 5 years under those projections. the plan is not fully phased in. So rather than considering his already bloated $700 billion transition projection. lets look at an outside source. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says the borrowing numbers we have heard from the administration \"are misleadingly low.\" They are generated by using a tenyear budget window (2006 to 2015) that includes only five years of the fully phasedin plan. The plan would not be launched until 2009 and not be in full effect until 2011. Over the first ten years that the plan actually was in effect (2009 to 2018) it would add $1.4 trillion to the debt. Over the next ten years (2019 to 2028) it would add about $3.5 trillion more to the debt. All told. the plan would add $4.9 trillion (14 percent of GDP in 2028) to the debt over the first 20 years. ","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8147,"word_count":222}
{"speech_id":1090006905,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I want to take a second to convey my appreciation to the Senator from Vermont for his eloquent and I know heartfelt remarks. Today is a good day for open Government in the Senate. I wish to recognize the leadership of Senator DEWINE for legislation he will be pursuing later today that enhances disclosure of records regarding Nazi war criminals. Senator DEWINE. Senator FEINSTEIN. and I are proud to be cosponsors of the legislation. as is the Senator from Vermont. We are all proud of that effort under the leadership of Senator DEWINE. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":608,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090006937,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If you were to ask the Ambassador about his most memorable activities while here in Washington. working with his U.S. counterparts to prevent further terrorist attacks would rank toward the top of that listtaking our border relations to the next level to fight terrorism by implementing the Smart Boraer Process to keep terrorists out while allowing for the legitimate flow of commerce and visitors between our nations. It is appropriate to remember. as we are again considering comprehensive energy legislation. that Ambassador Kergin played a key role in the aftermath of the August 2003 blackout that hit the Northeast through the CanadaUnited States Power Outage Task Force. which was to improve our integrated electricity grid. I would also be remiss if I did not mention the Ambassadors work to develop natural gas pipelines from both Canadas MacKenzie Delta and Alaskas North Slope to meet our common energy needs. Mr. President. many of my colleagues from the West are quick. to point out the differences between Eastern and Western United States. Canada is much the same. And when you look at a map. it is readily apparent that the seats of government for both nations are very much in the East. So it was a pleasant surprise for me when I first met Ambassador Kergin to learn that he was from British Columbia. When Alaskans speak about fishing or timber or mining issues. he gets it. He understands the Alaskans point of view. ","speaker_name":"LISA MURKOWSKI","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3327,"word_count":242}
{"speech_id":1090006963,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Now. the second part I would like to correct is that when the Democratic leader was asked whether obstruction would create a 60vote threshold for all future judicial nominees. he said: Its always been a 60vote for judges. There isnothing change[d]. He said: Go back many. many. many years. Go back decades and its always been that way. Well. we took his advice. and we did go back over the years. It turns out it Fgbrdary 16 2005 hag not always been that way. Indeed. there has never. ever. ever been a refusal to permit an upordown vote with a bipartisan majority standing ready to confirm judges in the history of the Senate until these last 2 years. Many nominees have. in fact. been confirmed by a vote of less than 60 Senators. In fact. the Senate has consistently confirmed judges who enjoyed a majority but not 60vote support. including Clinton appointees Richard Paez. William Fletcher. and Susan Oki Mollway. and Carter appointees Abner Mikva and L.T. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7956,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090006985,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In order to accomplish this. he said: We need a vigorous research enterprise with the involvement of large ni~mbers of individuals. so that we can draw more.precise connections between a particular spelling of a gene and a particular outcome. With all this tremendous potential. this effort cannot reach its full promise if patients have a reason to feel repercussions of genetic test results. Given the advances in science. there are two distinct concerns at hand. The first. of course. is discrimination by health insurance. The second is employment discrimination based simply upon an individuals genetic information. This legislation addresses both of these issues based on the firm foundation of current law. With regard to health insurance. these are clear and familiar issues which the Senate has previously debated in the context of larger patient privacy issues. Indeed. as Congress considered what now is known as the Health Insurance Portability and Ac: countability Act of 1996. we also addressed medical information privacy. Moreover. any legislation that seeks to fully address these issues must consider the interaction of the new protections with the privacy rule which was mandated by HIPAA and our legislation which accomplishes just that. Specifically. we clarify the protections of genetic information as well as the request to receive a genetic test from being used by the insurer against the patient. ","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8891,"word_count":222}
{"speech_id":1090006995,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. I thank Senator ENZi and all those. who have worked hard on this bill. I have a few questions in terms of my concern about prenatal testing. Do I understand from the remarks of the Senator from Wyoming that this legislation is directed against a wide range of cases with which individuals of families may be discriminated against in health insurance coverage based on the results of genetic tests conducted on any family member?","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":445,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090007012,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank and congratulate the Senator from New Hampshire. Mr. GREGG. for his efforts on this bill. He was actually the committee chairman who made sure that all the parties came together. which around here is no small task. and came up with this package that does what our purpose was. He did it with such diligence. care. and completeness. Rather than take the time to put out a new committee book about the bill. we used his book. It gives an explanation. and it also shows that the bill didnt need to be changed from what he had. So it is actually Senator GREGGS efforts that brought this bill to the floor and brought it in this complete fashion and moved it along so quickly. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":763,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090007017,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I tell my friend that I do acknowledge that title XVIII of the Social Security Act is within the jurisdiction of the Senate Finance Committee. The matter before the Senate makes amendments to the Employee Retirement and Income Security Act and the Public Health Service Act. The section to which you have raised concerns was included as a conforming amendment to ensure consistency in Federal policy. I want to reassure my friend that I have every intention of respecting the jurisdiction of all Senate committees and will endeavor to consult with him on all matters before my committee that touch on the jurisdiction of the Senate Finance Committee. I ask my friend to provide me the same courtesy. -","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":716,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090007021,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Without strong accountability provisions. there is little to deter employers and health insurers from using genetic information inappropriately. In addition. I hope that when this legislation is conferenced. the conferees will find ways to strengthen the privacy provisions. It is essential that our laws keep pace with technological advances and that we continue to protect the privacij of our citizens. Advances in technology cannot place fundamental American rights at risk. Despite my concerns about the enforcement and privacy provisions. I believe this legislation is a critical first step and look forward to working with my colleagues to continue addressing the important issue of genetic discrimination.","speaker_name":"JON CORZINE","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1650,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090007042,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Since Congress has restricted shipment of birds for fighting. it should also restrict implements designed specifically for fights. This is commonsense. longoverdue legislation. It does not expand the Federal Governments reach into a new area but simply aims to make current law more effective. It is explicitly limited to interstate and foreign commerce. so it protects States rights in the two States. Louisiana and New Mexico. where cockfighting is still allowed. Further. it protects States rights in the other 48 States where weak Federal law is compromising their ability to keep animal fighting outside their borders. Mr. President. this legislation is needed for humane reasons. But it is also urgently needed to protect poultry health and public health. In 2002 to 2003. we had an outbreak of exotic Newcastle disease among poultry in my home State of Nevada. as well as in California. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5777,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090007047,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"More often than not. those stories would show up somewhere on the pages of the next issue. Later. when I made my decision to run for office for the first time. for a seat in the Idaho State Senate. I went to the Dopfs to ask if they would print the pocket brochure for my campaign. Their sons. Alan and Don. had just started a printing business the year before. so it was an easy choice for me to go there. Throughout my life. whether in the activities of my younger days. my endeavors in the legislature. or my time in the U.S. House and Senate. Stu Dopf always provided a fair. unbiased account in the NewsReporter. He always gave me a fair opportunity to makd my point. Continuing Stus example. the editors generously include each weekly column I write in the paper. and I am truly grateful. ","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3417,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090007069,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Under current law. in order to close down an Internet website selling prescription drugs prosecutors must take enforcement actions in every State where the Internet pharmacy operates. requiring a tremendous amount of resources in an environment where the location of the website is difficult. if not impossible. to determine or keep track. of. This bill will allow a State Attorney General to bring a civil action in a Federal district court to enjoin a pharmacy operation and to enforce compli- ance with the provisions of the law in every jurisdiction where the pharmacy is operating. While this legislation pertains to domestic Internet pharmacies. the practice of international pharmacies sellinj lowcost drugs to U.S. consumers who have valid prescriptions from their doctors deserves to be discussed and debated on the Senate floor. It is my hope that the Senate will act this year on prescription drug importation legislation. In closing. I want to share with you the story of Ryan T. Haight of La Mesa. California in whose memory this bill is named. Ryan was an 18year old honor student from La Mesa. CA. when he died in his home on February 12. 2001. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7689,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090007076,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today. along with my good friend and colleague Senator DODD. to reintroduce the Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking Actalso known as the STOP Underage Drinking Act. I thank Senator DODD for his commitment to this issue. as well as our colleagues on the House sideRepresentatives Roy-","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":313,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090007077,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In 2002. 20 percent of eighth graders had drunk alcohol in the previous 30 days. Fortynine percent of high school seniors are drinkers. and 29 percent report having had five or more drinks in a row. or binged in the past two weeks. Tragically. we know that this year underage drinking will directly lead to more than 3.500 deaths. more than two million injuries. 1.200 babies born with fetal alcohol syndrome and more than 50.000 youths treated for alcohol dependence. We also know that the social costs associated with underage drinking total close to $53 billion annually. including $19 billion from automobile accidents and $29 billion from associated violent crime. And while no one can argue with the tragic loss of life and significant financial costs associated with underage drinking. too few of us think of the equally devastating loss of potential that occurs when our children begin to drink. Research indicates that children who begin drinking do so at only 12 years of age. We also know that children that begin drinking at such an early age develop a predisposition for alcohol dependence later in life. Such early experimentation can have devastating consequences and derail a childs potential just as she or he is starting out on the path to adulthood. The consumption of alcohol by our children can literally rob them of their future. The truly alarming and devastating effects of underage alcohol use are what initially led Senator DEWINE and I to begin work to address this important. issue. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2356,"word_count":252}
{"speech_id":1090007085,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"\u0095 submitted the following resolution. which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary: S. REs. 56 Whereas deepvein thrombosis is a condition that occurs when a blood clot forms in one of the large veins. which may result in a fatal pulmonary embolism. Whereas deepvein thrombosis is a serious but preventable medical condition. Whereas deepvein thrombosis occurs in approximately 2.000.000 Americans every year. Whereas fatal pulmonary embolism causes more deaths each year than breast cancer and AIDS combined. Wherease complications from deepvein thrombosis take up to 200.000 American lives each year. Whereas fatal pulmonary embolism may be the most common preventable cause of hospital death in the United States. Whereas the risk factors for deepvein thrombosis include cancer and certain heart or respiratory diseases. Whereas pulmonary embolism is the leading cause of maternal death associated with childbirth. Whereas. according to a survey conducted by the American Public Health Association. 74 percent of Americans are unaware of deepvein thrombosis. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1796,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090007089,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Agenda Item 6: S. 57A bill to further the purposes of the Sand Creek Massacre NationalHistoric Site Establishment Act of 2000. Agenda Item 7: S. 97A bill to provide for the sale of bentonite in Big Horn County. Wyoming. Agenda Item 8: S. 99A bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to contract with the city of Cheyenne. Wyoming. for the storage of the citys water in the Kendrick Project. Wyoming. Agenda Item 9: S. 101A bill to convey to the town of Frannie. Wyoming. certain lahd withdrawn by the CommissionofReclamation. Agenda Item 10: S. 128A bill to designate certain public land in Humboldt. Del Norte. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1765,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090007126,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business. it adjourn until 10 a.m. on February 17. I further ask that following the prayer and pledge the morning hour be deemed to have expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate proceed to a period of.morning business until 12 noon. with the first 30 minutes under the control of the Democratic leader or his designee and the second 30 minutes under the control of the majority leader or his designee. and the remaining time be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees. I further ask that at 3 p.m. the Sen*ate resume reconsideration of S. 306. Genetic Nondiscrimination Act. and immediately proceed to the vote on passage. with no intervening action or debate.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":826,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090007192,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. there is no ban or gag on stem cell research. In fact. more than 15.000 patients will benefit from stem cell research this year. However. we need to distinguish between the types of stem cells. Embryonic stem cell research has resulted in no cures for diseases. Aside from the destruction of embryos. embryonic stem cells present two significant problems. tumors and rejection. The other type of stem cells. adult stem cells. we are hearing. can be found in many places: umbilical cord blood. fat tissue. bone marrow. muscle. the spleen and baby teeth. just to name a few. Already doctors have treated diseases with adult stem cells in over 45 clinical trials. and extracting them does not harm anyone. and they are successfully being used. These cells do not present the serious ethical concerns and medical dangers of embryodestructive research. We need to focus our efforts on adult stem cells. not speculative and unethical research of embryonic stem cells.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":976,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090007200,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. pursuant to House Resolution 96. I call up the Senate bill to amend the procedures that apply to consideration of interstate class actions to assure fairer outcomes for class members and defendants. and for other purposes. and ask for its immediate consideration.","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":278,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090007230,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding. The principles that have just been enumerated apply to another provision that I would like to discuss. the mass action provision. Under this provision. defendants will be able to remove mass actions to Federal court under the same circumstances in which they will be able to remove class actions. E] 1100 However. a Federal court would only exercise jurisdiction over these claims that meet the $75.000 minimum. In addition. a mass action cannot be removed to Federal court if it falls under one of the following four categories: number one. if all of the claims arise out of an event or occurrence that happened in the State where the action was filed and that resulted in injuries only in that State or in contiguous States. number two. if it is the defendants who seek to have the claims joined for trial. number three. if the claims are asserted on behalf of the general public pursuant to a State statute authorizing such an action.. and. number four. if the claims have been consolidated or coordinated for pretrial purposes only. -I would appreciate the gentleman from Wisconsin clarifying how the $75.000 amount in controversy minimum would apply to assessing whether Federal jurisdiction exists over a mass action. and. most importantly. explaining the intent of the sponsors with regard to the first and third exceptions.","speaker_name":"FREDERICK BOUCHER","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1382,"word_count":230}
{"speech_id":1090007237,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. and- Mrs. Investor of America. But if you are afraidfor the health Of your family. if you know that the groundwater in New Hampshire has been poisoned by Amerada Hess and 22 other oil companies that are not in New Hampshire. you know what the Republicans say? You know what the Bush administration says? The case should not be held in New Hampshire. If Amerada Hess. the big oil company. is a defendant. the case should be outside of New Hampshire. not protecting the person whose familys health has been injured. And so that is what it is all about. It is the final payback to the tobacco industry. to the aspestos industry. to the oil industry. to the chemical industry at the expense of ordinary families who need to be able to go to court to protect their loved ones when their health has been compromised. And these people are saying. your State is not smart enough. your jurors are not smart enough to understand how the MTBE ruined the groundwater in their State and poisoned thousands of people. that it has to go to a State where Amerada Hess or some large oil company feels comfortable. because they are not headquartered in New Hampshire. they do not have a large plant in New Hampshire. All they did was sell the material which poisoned your neighborhood. That is what it is all about. ladies and gentlemen. You just watch across the board every single interest that harms the health and wellbeing of America skyrocket as soon as we take the vote on final passage of this bill today because President Bush is going to sign this bill with great joy because the oil. the chemical and polluting industries are going to be happy.","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4858,"word_count":295}
{"speech_id":1090007243,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And. second. it cracks down on these couponbased class action settlements by requiring fee awards to be based on the number of coupons actually redeemed or the number of hours actually billed. Mr. Speaker. I urge my colleagues to vote \"yes\" on this class action reform legislation. It is about common sense. it is about justice. and it is about time.","speaker_name":"RIC KELLER","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2094,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090007247,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in opposition to S. 5. the Class Action Fairness Act. Despite its name. this bill is anything but fair to the class action device that has provided redress to large numbers of American citizens who have been harmed by the same defendant or a group of defendants. Class action procedures have made it possible for injured Americans to aggregate small claims that might not otherwise warrant the expense of individual litigation. This bill before us will effectively undermine the utility. practicality. and choice the class action mechanism has offered to injured persons with legitimate claims against powerful entities. There appear to be improvements in this bill from the bill we -considered last Congress. yet there could and should be more improvements. But the trend thus far this session is to dispense with regular order. deny committee consideration. and to leave Members with 1 to 2 minutes to hurriedly voice our concerns. I can guarantee my colleagues. having practiced law for over 20 years. that the core provisions of this bill will invite prolonged satellite litigation into illdefined or undefined terms in this bill. clogging the Federal courts and denying prompt justice to worthy claimants. For example. where \"significant relief\" is sought against a home State defendant. the court has no jurisdiction What is significant and what is not significant? Also. and worse in my judgment. no longer will a coherent description of the class be sufficient before the trial on the merit proceeds. ","speaker_name":"MELVIN WATT","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3454,"word_count":247}
{"speech_id":1090007262,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong opposition of S. 5. the socalled \"Class Action Fairness Act.\" This bill will send the majority of class action suits from State to Federal courts. making it more difficult for people who have been unfairly hurt to collect compensation for their injuries. Federal courts are already overwhelmed by a large nOmber of drug and immigration cas~s. and they dont have the time or the resources to deal with complex issues of State law. This bill has it all wrong. Instead of punishing individuals who pursue frivolous lawsuits. this bill will punish innocent people who have been wrongfully hurt. This bill is a payoff to large companies and special interests. ","speaker_name":"JOE BACA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":43.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1371,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090007270,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I would like to briefly describe why this substitute is the superior piece of legislation before us today. The substitute is much better for the following reasons: civil rights carveout. The substitute would carve out State civil rights claims in order to make sure that civil rights plaintiffs. especially those seeking immediate injunctive relief. can have their grievances addressed in a timely manner. Believe me. this is an issue of great moment to those of us who are still prosecuting for a fair day in our Nation and have civil rights laws to back us up. but we now are pleading to keep the proper forums. For example. every State in the Union has passed a law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1739,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090007281,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This substitute provides that if such a gag order is requested. the court must make a finding as to whether the defendants interest in confidentiality outweighs the public interest in knowing of the threat to its health or safety. If the court finds that the privacy interest outweighs the public interest. the court will issue the gag order. If the court finds the public interest in health and safety outweighs the privacy interest claimed in the specific case. the court must prohibit the sealing of the information. Too often. critical information is sealed from the public and people are","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2216,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090007285,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am with him. Let us make minimum amounts that they pay for the injuries. that they have to get. because the harm is so great. I wantto remind my colleagues and the citizens watching this why the system is structured this way. Imagine for a moment if someone who is making a shoddy automobile. who was not paying attention to whether sharp objects got into a cereal box. did not have to be concerned about lawsuits anymore. Do my colleagues think they would really say let us hire that extra safety precaution. that extra employee to keep an eye out for consumers? No. They would be less inclined to do that. The system works as it is intended. Are there abuses? I am sorry to say that there are some. and I wish we would address some of them in this legislation which. of course. we do not. but frankly to stand before the wheel of rhetoric. which really is a wheel of bad doers who got caught by the justice system. which we are trying to dismantle here today. and say this is evidence that the system does not work is entirely the opposite of the truth. unless my colleagues believe that a jury of peoples peers cannot make these informed decisions. that we are the only people brilliant enough to make these decisions. I love these small government types who believe we have better judgment on these things than 12 men and women in a community. then we have to believe that the system in those cases worked. I would say to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle that the Conyers\/Nadler\/JacksonLee substitute only puts lipstick on a fraud. ","speaker_name":"ANTHONY WEINER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4412,"word_count":283}
{"speech_id":1090007289,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman very much for yielding me this additional time. and I am surprised that such an able lawyer would be unwilling to engage in a debate -on his time. but I will take 30 seconds simply to rebut what the gentleman said. In every one of those cases on the wheel of rhetoric that the gentleman 7 put up. those that were found guilty. those who were found to be responsible. those who were found to be culpable of doing harmful things to our community admitted it. paid a fine. paid a penalty. that was. approved by a judge. and that is the fact. that the gentleman took cases of people who admitted with their actions there was wrongdoing involved. And if they had not been caught by this system. I ask the gentleman. what system would they be caught by?","speaker_name":"ANTHONY WEINER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":782,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090007380,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He had a very long life. died on the day that the March on Washington gathered here in his late nineties. So no wonder it took two volumes. But it was his.remarkable life. a life that in a real sense takes us on a journey of 20th century America for what blacks have encountered and how their effort to obtain equality in our country has proceeded. I recommend it to anyone who is interestednot only in serious history but in wonderful writing and in events that in a real sense help us understand a lot of what is happening today. It is extraordinary work. which is why I think it won the Pulitzer Prize in the first place. The second black to graduate from Harvard with a Ph.D. was one far less well known than W.E.B. fu Bois. whose name is so closely associated with the NAACP. He worked for the NAACP for \"The Crisis.\" their publication. for decades. He was central to its formation. But less well known is the second black person to graduate from Harvard. Carter G. ","speaker_name":"ELEANOR NORTON","chamber":"H","state":"DC","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":4802,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090007381,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. I thank the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia. Her point is that history is still continuing. and in the African American history museum that I spoke about before. there probably should be a section for unfinished business. D 1515 One of the pieces of unfinished business certainly is the fate of the District of Columbia respective of full representation in the House and the Senate. I would like to say that the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia had mentioned some individuals. and that is very much a part of the history that is ongoing. and I hope that there will never be a minimizing of the role that has been played by individuals like Shirley Chisholm. like Ossie Davis. But more closer to home. today is the 80th birthday of Congressman Louis Stokes. Congressman Stokes was an outstanding Member of Congress serving on many different committees: the Select Committee on Intelligence. the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. and the Committee on Appropriations. The kinds of things he got done while he was here are legendary. and I hope that history does not lose track of the achievements of Congressman Stokes. A few days ago. at the ceremony for Shirley Chisholm. ","speaker_name":"MAJOR OWENS","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3189,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090007390,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"These moneys are being paid to people who do not deserve them. people being paid by accident. being paid in many instances through fraud schemes. where folks are frauding the very systems that we put in place to help and nurture those in our society. those in our communities who can least afford to live. Those programs get preyed upon by some of the worst in our society You know. I suspect that speaker after speaker has stood at these microphones. on both sides of the aisle. to condemn wasteful spending. money that is getting spent that should not get spent. I suspect that if we took a vote in this House it would be a 435to0 vote against wasteful spending. It is very difficult to find a politician who would stand up and defend wasteful spending. It. is hard to find a constituent group that would stand and defend wasteful spending. The President has proposed a budget recently. and in that budget he has proposed about 150 programs that would be either cut. or spending reduced. In Washington. since that budget came out on the February 7. we have been the recipients of special interest groups across the board who want to defend those very programs. We cannot find a single special interest group who would be willing to defend waste. fraud and. abuse in our Federal spending. Let me give you some examples that will help put this in context for our fellow Members here in the House this afternoon. kind of what we are talking about. ","speaker_name":"K. CONAWAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10326,"word_count":259}
{"speech_id":1090007392,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Women. Infants and Children program that is designed to serve lowincome mothers and their children who are at nutritional risk. Some wonderful successes. and this program achieves some wonderful goals. especially in my home State of Louisiana. However. the $5 billion program annually does no income verification of its participants. If we did one simple thing. if we simply made sure that those who get WIC are actually eligible for WIC. that the number of participants who have incomes exceeding eligibility levels were properly limited the way we do in the school lunch program. as many as 27 percent of the current participants may not be eligible. That is according to the Los Angeles Daily News. Twentyseven percent of the participants in what is otherwise a good program may not be eligible if we just enforce our existing rules. Another example. This comes from an. Inspector Generals report. ","speaker_name":"BOBBY JINDAL","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10274,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090007417,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So the thing gets loose and goes over the Everglades. and they are chasing it with helicopters. Finally. it lands on the top of some trees in the Everglades. They had to find a way to get it off. Helicopters had to come down and commandos rappelled down to salvage the equipment. It is a comedy of errors. But the administration has a plan now. They have decided they are going. to get rid of Fat Albert. or maybe continue to use it but only part time. Now they want to buy an airplane for $8 million so they can send an airplane up to send television signals to TV Marti to the Cuban people who cant see them. $8 million for the airplane. $11 million for the broadcast. and $2 million for maintenance on the plane. It is like Katy bar the door. it is as if there is no deficit. It is unbelievable to me that we are going to continue to spend money we do not have on something we do not need. and send television signals from an aerostat balloon and now an airplane that viewers cannot see. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11098,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090007431,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Acting right and acting now will take a lot of political courage. The Presidents budget shows a little but not nearly enough. It reduces spending by some $20 billion next year. That leaves another $560 billion to go -in order to balance the Federal operating budget and leave the Social Security surplus in its lockboxin other words. just to restore us to the level of fiscal responsibility that President Clinton left. That is a lot of political courage. It would require a major truth telling to the American people about how we got into this fiscal mess and how we are going to get out of it. starting \"right now. with no gimmicks. no games. just straight. honest accounting to balance the Federal budget without spending the Social Security money. to protect Social Securitys surpluses and use them only for Social Security. to stop borrowing for current spending and adding that to the increasing national debt and then to start to pay down that debt. If the President and. the Congress are really serious about strengthening Social Securitys future. that is what we must do now. and that is the best that we can do now. Straightening out the current budget mess and putting the Federal Government back on a responsible and sustainable course of balanced operating budgets and accumulating Social Security surpluses is a real action plan. Everything else is just posturing and pretending. Because sound Federal fiscal policy now contributes to future economic growth. it increases the likelihood that Social Security. as it is currently structured. will be able to pay its promised benefits with future revenues and income for many decades to come. ","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11493,"word_count":276}
{"speech_id":1090007443,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":14,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to speak in morning business and address the issue which has become central to our debate about the domestic agenda for America. There is a lot of time being spent by the President and Members of Congress talking about the privatization of Social Security. Social Security is a very important program for millions of Americans. It brought dignity to senior citizens and gave them a chance in their retirement years to live with enough money to get by. Before Social Security. if a person were fortunate enough to save enough money during their lifetime. they were OK. If they happened to have a generous family. the family would bring their mother and father to live with them in their later years. That was one of the outcomes. But if things went poorly. a lot of senior citizens before Social Security ended up in county poorhouses. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11278,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090007477,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. at the outset. I see my chairman. Senator ENZI. who has taken the chair of our committee. I commended him for bringing this legislation up. and I say to you. Mr. Leader. we thank yoif for your willingness to schedule this legislation. It is of enormous importance. We have had a good debate and discussion about all of the concerns families are faced with without this kind of protection. We thank you very much. and Senator REID. for getting this legislation up and giving us a chance to express the Senate view on this matter.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":543,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090007486,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am pleased to have supported the \"Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2005.\" a bill that will prohibit discrimination based on genetic information with respect to employment and health insurance. This bill represents much cooperation on the part of my colleagues. and I want to thank them for* all the hard work done on this important issue. I am extremely pleased with todays passage of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act as it marks a great milestone for those of us involved in the Human Genome Project. It seems. only a short time ago that the Human Genome Project was created as a joint effort between the Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health. What progress we have made. In the last 2 years. there have been many events celebrating the completion of maps of the human genome. The genome map has brought a promise of improved health through revolutionary new treatments for illness and disease. The ultimate result of mapping the human genome is a complete genetic blueprint. a blueprint containing the most personal and most private information that any human being can have. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3338,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090007487,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Sickle cell disease. the most severe variant of this condition. carries a significantly increased risk of disability and early death through a variety of infectious and thrombotic complications. Changes in lifestyle and compliance with regimens of preventive care. e.g. prophylactic antibiotic therapy. are easier for affected individuals to tolerate if they believe that the risks and benefits really apply to them. * Some might argue that diseases like these. though unquestionably worthy of public attention. represent a lesser national priority when compared to the other health care needs. In addition. other pressing domestic and international concernsdeficit reduction and national securityfigure prominently. as they should. in the national debate. Wyoming has relatively few citizens at risk for some of the diseases I highilighted today. so most citizens of my state might. understandably. focus their thoughts elsewhere. I think there are two reasons why they dont. The people of Wyoming take appropriate responsibility for one anothers wellbeing. They lend a hand whenever help is necessary. not in the expectation that to do so will be of direct benefit to them. but because it is. simply. the right thing to do. There is a direct benefit. however. to be realized. Full implementation of the results of the human genome project will have a revolutionary impact on- diseases that are of concern to all of us. in Wyoming and across the United States. regardless of our age. gender. or ethnicity. Already. experts recognize the practical and the potential applications of genetic research to the diagnosis and treatment of cancere.g.. breast. colorectal and ovarianheart disease. degenerative neurological diseasee.g.. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10053,"word_count":263}
{"speech_id":1090007496,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This legislation addresses that potential problem right up front and prevents that from happening. Over the last 3 weeks. we also confirmed the last of the Presidents Cabinet nominees. We approved Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State. Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General. Samuel Bodman to lead the Energy Department. and Michael Chertoff as head of the Department of Homeland Security. Earlier today. the President announced his selection of John Negroponte to serve as the Director of National Intelligence. We had the opportunity last night to have a presentation. an exchange of information. with Ambassador Negroponte. who is serving us so well today in Iraq. Ambassador Negroponte. as Director of National Intelligence. will be responsible for revamping and integrating Americas 15 intelligencegathering services. As the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and the United Nations. he has proven his ability to manage complicated organizations and tackle the difficult challenges we face today under intense pressure. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4988,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090007502,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"ETHA brings Medicaid eligibility rules in line with Federal Government guidelines on the standard of care for treating HIV. ETHA helps address the fact that increasingly. in many parts of the country. there are growing waiting lists for access to lifesaving medications and limited access to comprehensive health care. Access to HIV therapies reduces the amount of HIV virus present in a persons bloodstream. viral load. a key factor in curbing infectiousness and reducing the ability to transmit HIV. Early access to HIV therapies as provided under ETHA would not only delay disease progression and increase life expectancy. but it would also reduce the need for more expensive treatment and costly hospital stays. According to a study conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers. ETHA would reduce gross Medicaid costs by 70 percent. saving the Federal Government approximately $1.5 billion over 10 years. With the administration looking for ways to reduce Medicaid costs. passing ETHA would be a good start. Its also the right thing to do.\"","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3666,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090007503,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the debate on how to most effectively combat gun violence frequently centers on the ability of criminals to access dangerous firearms. Today. I would like to call my colleagues attention to another important issue in our fight against gun violence: the ability of our teenagers and children to access firearms. Safe storage and child access prevention laws are critical steps as we seek to reduce the occurrence of accidental shootings and suicides involving guns. Such tragedies have claimed the lives of thousands of young people and destroyed families even though many of these occurrences could have been prevented by common sense legislation. According to a Journal of the American Medical Association study released in 2001. suicide is the thirdleading cause of death among youth aged 10 to 19. Between 1976 and 2001. the period of the study. nearly 40.000 youth aged 14 to 20 committed suicide using a gun. The study also found that there was a significant reduction in youth suicide rates in States that had child access prevention laws. Unlike suicide attempts using other methods. suicide attempts with guns are nearly always fatal. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3273,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090007504,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Its a stress caused by frivolous and junk lawsuits. It doesnt make any sense to have a society that sues so often that expectant mothers are worried about finding a doctor. Unfortunately. her story is becoming too commonplace. Additionally hundreds of emergency departments have closed in recent years. Emergency departments have shut down in Arizona. Florida. Mississippi. Pennsylvania. and Nevada. among others. During this same time. the number of visits to the Nations emergency departments climbed more than 20 percent. While more Americans are seeking emergency medical care. emergency departments are losing critical staff and essential resources. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5409,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090007513,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I pay tribute and congratulate Lexington .Catholic Girls Basketball Team. the Lady Knights. who were recently ranked No. 3 in ihigh.coms national ratings. and No. 5 in USA Todays Super 25. The Lady Knights are currently undefeated within their region and will go on to next month to compete within the State for the State championship title. Their recent performance has given Kentucky reason to be proud. Led by coach Greg Todd. the Ladies Knights .are currently ranked No. 1 within their region with a record of 22 to 1. In doing so they have beaten the four highestranked regional teams in the Louisville CourierJournal newspapers Litkenhous Ratings by a combined 70 points. I cannot think of a much better group of young people to represent Kentucky. As a former Major League Baseball player. I appreciate their athletic excellence. ","speaker_name":"JIM BUNNING","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1509,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090007520,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This bill makes it clear that voters who do not register before a government official in person will have to provide the ID requirement. We heard reports of partisan * election workers who brought in bundles of voter registration cards. and when they told the governmental election officials they had seen the voter ID. those cards were accepted. Anybody who would accept that ought to be buying the 14th Street bridge. To say somebody who is not a government official and is partisan is going to fulfill the governmental requirements is a stretch too far. Furthermore. in some Federal elections. I think it is past time to go to a full ID provision. So this legislation requires xoters in Federal elections to present identification at the polls while creating a program to ensure that all voters have access to an ID if they cannot afford one. We now ask our citizens to provide a photo ID for so many tasks of everyday life. To provide it once more for election officials on election day seems a small request in order to help ensure our elections are fair and accurate. If a person does not have a photo ID and cannot afford to procure one. our bill provides the requirement and the resources to ensure that one is provided. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10577,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090007521,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. if I can very briefly say to my good friend and colleague from Missouri. it is a pleasure to team up with him once again in our pursuit of better elections in this country and to report to him on the prosecution front there actually was a conviction. I know the occupant of the Chair is interested in this as well. There actually was a conviction in my State for vote fraudtwo of themover the last 6 months. We will see whether that has an impact on habits of many decades that exist in my State and I know in several parts of the State of Missouri as well. I congratulate the Senator for his statement.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":618,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090007528,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I am pleased to introduce the Death Tax Repeal Permanency Act of 2005 along with Senator BILL NELSON. This bipartisan legislation will make the death tax a thing of the past. As we all know. Congress. working with President Bush. enacted bipartisan legislation in 2001 to phase out and eventually repeal the death tax in 2010. Unfortunately. because we did not have the 60 votes we needed to avoid a filibuster by opponents of the cuts. we could not make the repeal permanent. Rather. under Senate rules. the cuts could only be extended for the term of the budget: 10 years. As a consequence. the death tax springs back to life in 2011. at its old rate of up to 60 percent and at its old exemption level of only $1 million. Senator NELSON and I understand that this tax structure is simply unworkable for families and family businesses. We agree that the best solution is to simply get rid of the death tax once and for all. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6531,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090007529,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today with my colleague from Arizona. Senator KYL. to introduce a bill that will eliminate the death tax once and for all. I want to thank my friend for his tireless leadership in fighting to completely and permanently repeal this unfair and unwise tax. I am proud to join him in this bipartisan effort. First. though. I think a little historical context is important. Remembering back to 2001. this body passed a tax cut bill that set us on the path toward full repeal of the death tax. Under this plan. between 2001 and 2009. the tax gradually is phased out. reducing the marginal rates and increasing the amount that would be exempt from taxes. ","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3038,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090007530,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As a recreation for residents and draw for tourists. the contribution of water sports to Wisconsin is immeasurable. Today. Senator LOTT and I are introducing legislation aimed at giving back to the fishing and boating communities. This legislation. however. would not exist if it were not for the leadership of Senator Breaux. who worked tirelessly on boating and fishing issues during his tenure in Congress. In 1984. as a member of the House of Representatives. he worked with then Senator Malcolm Wallop. to create the Aquatic Resources Trust Fund. The trust fund. commonly known as the WallopBreaux Trust Fund. serves as a collection point for most of the excise taxes attributable to motorboat and small engine fuels. as well as the taxes on fishing equipment. The WallopBreaux fund is one of the most successful examples of a \"user pays. user benefits\" program. the excise taxes that are collected into the fund are then used on programs that directly benefit boaters and anglers. The funding is then distributed to States for activities ranging from boating safety education to maintaining our nations wetlands. I am dedicated to continuing the legacy of WallopBreaux. That is why Senator LOTT and I are introducing legislation that will reauthorize the Aquatic Resources Trust Fund and expand the size of the Fund. ","speaker_name":"HERBERT KOHL","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3886,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090007531,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We include planning grants to support innovative research on juvenile arthritis in order to develop better care and treatment for children. and collect data on its likely causes. We support training for health providers specializing in pediatric rheumatology. so that all children will have greater access to these uniquely qualified physicians. The legislation will improve the quality of life for large numbers of adults and children. It will save lives. reduce disability. and avoid millions of dollars in medical costs. Citizens everywhere will have greater access to the latest research and medical care to prevent and treat this debilitating disease. I urge our colleagues to support this much needed legislation. By Mr. JEFFORDS (for himself.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2679,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090007547,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Second. the Antitrust Division also has a corporate leniency program. which has been very successful in investigating and prosecuting criminal antitrust conspiracies. In exchange for fully cooperating with an antitrust investigation. an otherwise guilty corporation may receive lenient treatment. But. this method. too. depends on the cooperation of one who was on the inside of the criminal conspiracy. Our bill adds a third technique by amending Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act (18 U.S.C. Section 2510 et seq.) to make a criminal violation of the Sherman Act a \"predicate offense\" for an order authorizing the interception of wire or oral communications. hereinafter \"wiretap order\". Amending this law to make criminal antitrust offenses -a predicate offense would give the Department of Justice a much needed tool to investigate the inner workings of criminal antitrust conspiracies. Unlike.using a cooperating witness or the corporate leniency program. a wiretap order does not require the cooperation of someone who has inside knowledge of the conspiracy or who is actually participating in the conspiracy. Upon a showing of probable cause to a Federal judge. the Department of Justice could obtain a wiretap order. for a limited time period. to monitor communications between conspirators. There are over 150 predicate offenses from title 18 and dozens of other predicate offenses from other parts of the U.S. Criminal Code. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4784,"word_count":225}
{"speech_id":1090007556,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. more than 30 years have passed since Congress enacted the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act which settled the aboriginal land claims of the first inhabitants of Alaska by making each eligible Alaska Native a shareholder in 1 of 13 regional corporations and many of these people shareholders in a village corporation as well. Each of the corporations was capitalized with land and money. The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act was a bold experiment. and its implementation was not without controversy. As originally enacted. the law provided that a shareholder of an Alaska Native Corporation could sell his or her stock on or after December 18. 1991. without any intervening action by the corporation. This provision could have resulted in massive sales of stock by Native shareholders in the ensuing years and caused the wholesale transfer of Native assets to nonNative interests. Thanks to the leadership of the Senator from Alaska.","speaker_name":"LISA MURKOWSKI","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":952,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090007557,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In effect. the original legislation disenfranchised an entire generation born after the cutoff date from having a stake in the Native corporations. It disenfranchised an entire generation of young people from playing a role in the governance of the Native corporations and from having an ownership interest in their Native lands. The 1987 amendments allowed the shareholders of aNative corporation to remedy this unintended consequence by allowing new stock to be issued to the descendants of a corporations original shareholders provided that a majority of the outstanding shares agreed. Under the 1987 amendments. such stock could only be issued to those descendants who had one quarter or more Alaska Native blood. A subsequent technical amendment allowed the stock to be issued to descendants without regard to their blood quantum. at the option of each corporations shareholders. Time has demonstrated that the remedy for incorporating the generation born after December 18. 1971 is an imperfect one. This is sad because one of the most important responsibilities faced by the Board of Directors of any corporation is to plan for its own succession and the succession of the corporations leadership. Since 1987. less than a handful of the 13 regional Native corporations have put the question of enrolling the next generation to their shareholders. However. all of the corporations that have considered the question have voted in the affirmative. Why then have more corporations not taken the question to a vote? The answer seems to lie in the voting requirements imposed by the 1987 amendments. which essentially requires an affirmative vote of a supermajority of the shares represented in person or by proxy at a shareholder meeting. ","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9894,"word_count":275}
{"speech_id":1090007559,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I join Senator CLINTON in introducing the Count Every Vote Act of 2005. The 2000 election exposed a number of serious problems with the accuracy and fairness of election procedures in this country. as well as the reliability of certain types of voting technology. As a result of those irregularities. many eligible voters were effectively disenfrachised and thus deprived of one of our most fundamental rights. In the 2004 election. we again saw serious irregularities when voters across this country went to the polls to cast their votes. From untrustworthy electronic voting machines. to partisan secretaries of state. to outrageously long lines at the polls. the election system was far fr6m what voters are entitled to have. At Kenyon College in Ohio. for example. voters were made to wait in line until nearly 4 a.m. to vote because there were only two machines for 1.300 voters. In the Columbus area alone. an estimated 5.000 to 10.000 voters left polling places. out of frustration. without having voted. In Cleveland. thousands of provisional ballots were disqualified after poll workers gave faultyinstructions to voters. Because of these irregularitiesas well as voting irregularities in many other placesI joined Congresswoman STEPHANIE TUBBS JONES of Ohio in objecting to the certification of the Ohio electoral votes on January 7. 2005. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3261,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090007561,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We cannot allow such a natural disaster to separate families. orphan children and destroy livelihoods once again. There is no magic solution. Coastal .areas. by nature. will face significant damage if a tsunami strikes. However. an advance warning would go a long way to reduce the loss of life in particular. Had governments in South Asia been able to inform their citizens of the approaching tsunami. tourists would not have been tanning on the beach and coastal markets would not have been obliviously going about their everyday business. While they would not have been perfect. rudimentary coastal evacuations could have taken placeand as a result we would not see the awful human cost that I witnessed this January. We currently operate an effective warning system in the Pacific Ocean. which warns our citizens and coastal governments about potential tsunami threats faced in Hawaii. Alaska and West Coast states. This system utilizes a sophisticated network of buoys in the Pacific Ocean that monitor rising and falling water levels. Using this data. and seismic observation of the ocean floor. ","speaker_name":"JON CORZINE","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3879,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090007567,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"CHAFES. ROCKEFELLER. and COLLINS. and with the Chairman of the Finance Committee on these important provisions in the upcoming months. and I urge my colleagues to join us in support of this legislation. I also wish to thank all of the organizations that have expressed support for this bill. I have received support letters from those organizations. and I ask unanimous consent that those letters be printed in the RECORD I ask unanimous consent that the text of this bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4459,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090007571,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on February 17. 2005. at 9:30 a.m.. in open session to receive testimony on the Defense authorization request for fiscal year 2006 and future years defense program.","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":295,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090007579,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a markup on Thursday. February 17. 2005. at 9:30 a.m.. in Senate Dirksen Office Building Room I. Legislation: S. 256. A bill to Amend Title 11 of the United States Code. and for Other Purposes Act of 2005. [Grassley. Hatch. Sessiohs]","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":341,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090007600,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 60. S. Res. 61. S. Res. 62. and S. Res. 63. which were submitted earlier today. en bloc. that the resolutions be agreed to. the preambles be agreed to. and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the- table. en bloc.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":320,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090007602,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":43,"republican":1,"speech_text":"OK. Atoka: Harolds Redi Mix. Lehigh. OK. Joe Brown Co.. Inc.. Atoka. OK. Rustin Concrete Company. Atoka. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7008,"word_count":17}
{"speech_id":1090007605,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I look forward to continuing to work with them in the years ahead. S. REs. 63 Whereas on February 14. 2005. Rafiq Hariri. the former Prime Minister of Lebanon. was assassinated in a despicable terrorist attack. Whereas the car bomb used in the assassination killed 16 others and injured more than 100 people. Whereas the Intent of the terrorists who carried out the assassination was to intimidate the Lebanese people and push Lebanon backward toward chaos. Whereas Rafiq Hariri served as Prime Minister of Lebanon for a total of 10 years since the end of the Lebanese war in 1991. Whereas Rafiq Hariri helped revitalize the economy of Lebanon and rebuild its shattered infrastructure and pioneered and directed the rebirth of Beiruts historic downtown district. Whereas Rafiq Hariri stepped down as Prime Minister on October 20. 2004. Whereas Syria maintains at least 14.000 troops and a large number of intelligence personnel in Lebanon. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4390,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090007666,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This assistance is especially necessary for those who are undertaking the challenge and the financial responsibility of postsecondary education. in the hopes of increasing their earning potential and employability. The goal of this program is to give participants the tools necessary to succeed into the future so that they can become. and remain. selfsufficient. Choosing to go to college requires motivation. and graduating from college requires a great deal of commitment and workeven for someone who isnt raising children and sustaining a family. These are significant challenges. and thats even before taking into consideration the cost associated with obtaining a Bachelors degree. This legislation would provide those TANF recipients who have the ability and the will to go to college the assistance they need to sustain their families while they get a degree. The value of promoting access to education in this manner to get people off public assistance is proven by the success of Maines \"Parents as Scholars\". PaS. program. Maines PaS graduates earn a median wage of $11.71 per hour after graduation up from a median of $8.00 per hour prior to entering college. When compared to the $7.50 median hourly wage of welfare leavers in Maine who have not received a postsecondary degree. PaS graduates are earning. on average. $160 more per week. ","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6559,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090007669,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today with my colleague. Senator KENNEDY. to introduce the Senate companion to the CrosbyPuller Combat Wounds Compensation Act. This legislation is designed to help our soldiers who are returning from combat with serious wounds to maintain their pay during their recovery. Too often. young wounded soldiers are struggling to recover from wounds of combat and. simultaneously struggling financially as well. A soldiers pay may be cut in half just as they are sent to the hospital. This adds to their stress and worries. It also can mean that family. including wives and children. cannot afford travel to the hospital to be nearby and support in the recovery. Congressman MARKEY introduced this bill during the last Congress. and he has introduced it this year. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ROCKEFELLER","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1538,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090007775,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I welcome everyone back from the Presidents Day recess. I suspect the weather out.side today makes our distinguished President pro tempore homesick for his home. Alaska. As we communicated over the last week. today. in just a few minutes. we will begin debate on the bankruptcy bill. S. 256. the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005. The chairman and ranking member are here to begin the opening remarks. Other Members will want to speak. I am sure. this afternoon. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2745,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090007799,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As it turns out. he was the only person to cast a vote in Waldport that day. Despite the chaotic times in which he lived. Louis Southworth was embraced by his community. Before he died in 1917. his neighbors raised the $300 needed to pay off his mortgage in Corvallis. OR. Louis Southworth provides one example of a man triumphing over seemingly insurmountable odds. As a Black man living in troubled times. his personality. compassion. work ethic. talents. generosity. and devotion to the community service allowed him to become a respected leader. He was accepted by many of his peers. of all races. religions. and ethnic backgrounds. long before this was common or expected. His legacy of service and kindness is one that lives on today. and one that- should be remembered for years to come. On this last day of Black History Month. ","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3849,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090007800,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I was struck by the number of comments and sentiments that clearly showed that Corporal Smith was a true friend and loved by all who knew him. In one particularly moving tribute. a fellow mourner wrote that he could not imagine Corporal Smith departing this life \"in any other way than selflessly serving others.\" Mr. President. it is a privilege to learn about the extraordinary life of such a man.","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2246,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090007806,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The new resdlts database would include all trials. except for preliminary safety trials. and would require the submission of results data. Our legislation would enforce the requirement to submit information to the databank in two ways. First. by requiring registration as a condition of Institutional Review Board. IRB. approval. no trial could begin without submitting preliminary information to the registry and database. This information would include the purpose of the trial. the estimated date of trial completion. as well as all of the information necessary to help patients to enroll in the trial. Once the trial is completed. the researcher or manufacturer would be required to submit the results to the database. If they refuse to do so. they would be subject to monetary penalties or. in the case of federally funded research. a restriction on future funding. It is my belief that these enforcement mechanisms will ensure broad compliance. However. in the rare case where a manufacturer does not comply. this legislation also gives the Food and Drug Administration. FDA. the authority to publicize the required information. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9642,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090007809,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I am introducing a bill. the AntiPhishing Act of 2005. which targets a serious threat to the security of the Internet. Phishing is a rapidly growing class of identity theft scams on the Internet that. is causing both shortterm losses and longterm ebonomic damage. In the shortterm. these scams defraud individuals and financial institutions. Estimated losses from phishing attacks are now in the billions of dollars. and those losses are growing. The shortterm losses. however. are just a chapter in a larger story. In the longterm. phishing undermines the publics trust in the Internet. By making consumers uncertain about the integrity of the Internets complex addressing system. phishing threatens to make us all less likely to use the Internet for secure transactions. If you cant trust where you are on the web. you are less likely to use it for commerce and communications. Those well versed in popular culture may guess that phishing was nameQ after the phenomenally p6pular Vermont band. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4846,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090007811,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Along with the aging of the population came an increase in the number of Americans living with bne. and often more than one. chronic condition. Today. it is estimated that 125 million Americans live with a chronic condition. and by 2020 as the population ages. that number will increase to an estimated 157 million. with 81 million of them having two or more chronic conditions. Twentyfive percent of individuals with chronic conditions have some type of activity limitations. Twothirds of Medicare spending is for beneficiaries with five or more chronic conditions. Many individuals with chronic conditions rely on family caregivers. Approximately 9 million Americans provide such services. and on the average. they spend 24 hours a week doing so. Caregivers aged 6574 provide an average of 30.7 hours of care per week and individuals aged 75 and older provide an average of 34.5 hours per week. Women are more likely than men to have chronic conditions. in part because they have longer life expectancies. These same women are caregivers to other chronically ill persons. In addition. 65 percent of caregivers are female. and of all caregivers. nearly 40 percent are 55 years of age and older. ","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":13104,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090007814,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Because of the limited time available for the hearing. witnesses may testify by invitation only. However. those wishing to submit written testimony for the hearing record should send two copies of their testimony to the Committee on .Energy and Natural Resources. United States Senate. Washington. DC 205106150. For further information. please contact Frank Gladics 2022242878 or Amy Millet at 2022248276.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1333,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090007829,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. at approximately 11 oclock tomorrow. when we finish morning business. Senator DURBIN will be here to offer the first amendment. We have had good opening statements by the two managers of the bill. I do not know if Senator HATCH will be managing the bill or Senator SPECTER. It was good to see him here. A long statement by Senator LEAHY. the ranking member of the committee. was given today. We are going to start offering amendments. and if people want to make statements. therewill be time during this billthere will be quorum calls and they will be able to do that. We are going to try to limit those as much as we can and move forward. Senator DURBINS amendment will be one relative to bankruptcy.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":716,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090007902,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Effectively. this means these older homeowners have no bankruptcy relief available to them at all. We have to address this gross inequity before we pass this bill. My amendment would create a uniform federal floor for homestead exemptigns of $75.000. applicable only to bankruptcy debtors over the age of 62. protecting the lower- and middleclass senior citizens who need it most. I will give an example that illustrates why it is so important that we fix this problem and fix it now. Let me tell my colleagues about Mary Bobbit. Mary Bobbit is a 70yearold widow who lives in North Carolina. where the homestead exemption is only $10.000. According to a local news story. she recently lost her- husband to cancer. a battle that left her with more than $175.000 in unpaid medical bills. Her only remaining asset is the home that her family built themselves 26 years ago. a home that she paid off just last year. And now she is faced with a horrible dilemma. because if she files for bankruptcy in North Carolina. she will lose the home that she and her husband worked so hard to build and pay for. As Mary Bobbits story shows. this is not a hypothetical problem. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11764,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090007911,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Notehear me againnote that nowhere in the Constitution of the United States is a vote on appointments mandated. When it comes to the Senate. numbers can deceive. The Senate was never intended to be a majoritarian body. That was the role of the House of Representatives. with its membership based on the populations of States. The Great Compromise of July 16. 1787. satisfied the need for smaller States to have equal status in one House of Congress. the Senate. The Senate. with its two Members per State. regardless of population. is. then. the forum of the States. Indeed. in the last Congressget this--in the last Congress 52 Members. a majority. representing the 26 smallest States. accounted for just 17.06 percent of the U.S. population. Let me say that again. Fiftytwo Members. a majority. representing the 26 smallest Statestwo Senators per Stateaccounted for just 17.06 percent of the U.S. population. In other words. a majority in the Senate does not necessarily represent a majority of the population of the United States. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11931,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090007923,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But we also know. however. that many bankruptcies stem from oldfashioned. outright fraud and abuse. This potential for abusing the system was not fully anticipated when Congress created our current Bankruptcy Code in 1978. A key purpose of this bill is to help crack down on the abuses of the system. In its simplest terms. our bankruptcy laws attempt to distinguish between those who can and those who cannot repay their debts. When a case is filed under chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code. the debtor is required to surrender his assets to a bankruptcy trustee for liqpidation and distribution to creditors. except for those assets that are exempt under State or Federal law. Yet under this provision of law. the debtors future income is protected from creditors. By contrast. those who file for bankruptcy under chapter 13 retain possession of their assets. but pay all or a portion of their debts through plans approved by the bankruptcy court. For some contemplating bankruptcy. this makes for a simple strategy: Do everything you can to get into chapter 7. Chapter 7 protects all of your future income from creditors. Once you are protected by chapter 7. you pay off secured creditors--such as your mortgageholderfirst. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11632,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090007958,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The personal identifiers protected under this provision are the same ones defined as \"means of identification\" under the Identity Theft Deterrence Act of 1998. This definition is codified in Section 1028(d) of Title 18 of the criminal code. The amendment also allows the court. for cause. to seal or redact \"information that could cause undue annoyance. embarrassment. oppression or risk of injury to person or property.\" This standard is drawn from the current civil procedure discovery rules. This change would allow the court to protect information. such as the home or employment address of a debtor because of a personal security risk. Unfortunately. many times that risk is from a former spouse or a stalker. It would also allow the court to protect other information normally considered private. such as medical information. The amendment would provide persons the opportunity to request protection of sensitive information not only after it is filed with the court. but prior to filing as well. This protection is particularly important in an electronic filing environment. where information once filed is immediately available to the public. In addition to enhancing court discretion. the amendment also protects Social Security numbers. Currently. the bankruptcy code requires debtors to include their tax payer identification numbers (which for individuals is almost uniformly his or her social security number) on any notice the debtor gives to creditors. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3334,"word_count":226}
{"speech_id":1090007960,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I also know he does not support the bill. or at least has not been a supporter of it. I expect it would not hurt his feelings if this amendment. which would upset the agreements we reached on homestead. led to the defeat of the bill. It would not hurt him at all. We had a Schumer amendment last time on a very discrete issue. a very controversial issue that ended up blocking final passage of the bill. We do not need to do that this time. I believe there are strong protections for our service men and women. I do not think. as a matter of principle. that a serviceman should be exempt from the means test. The means test is not harsh. It does not mean \"mean.\" it means \"means.\" income. how much is your income. and if your income is - above the median income in America and you can pay back some of those debts. I think anybody ought to do that. if they can. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4338,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090007971,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The first vote for my Senate colleagues will be on the Sessions amendment. The Sessions amendment changes S. 256. the bankruptcy bill. in the section where the bill establishes a presumption that people are abusing bankruptcy. In other wordsr they are not entitled to bankruptcy. The Sessions amendment says that the judge should consider whether the person who has filed for bankruptcy is in the active military service and is therefore a special circumstance. So Senator SESSIONS leaves the military men and women in the section of this bill where one presumes to be abusing the law. I do not approach it in that way at all. and that is the reason why the military groups and families are supporting my amendment and not the Sessions amendment. As I said earlier. Senator SESSIONS certainly respects the military. but we can show our respect for the military -y saying if they are activated to serve this country. if they are removed from their family. removed from their job. removed from their business. and terrible things happen and the business fails or their family goes into bankruptcy and they have to go back to America with their life and limbs intact and file in bankruptcy court. we are going to give them special consideration. They did something special for America. we are going to do something special for them. We are not going to make them jump through all the hoops that have been created by this new bankruptcy law that are expensive. tim6 consuming. and loaded with documents that need to be filed. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1902,"word_count":262}
{"speech_id":1090007995,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the Senator from Illinois has suggested that I go first on his amendment. I know he would like to do the closing argument. He is very good at that. The Senator from Illinois suggests that we are accusing military persons who file for bankruptcy as abusers if they. qualify for the means test. That is an incorrect statement of what we are about with the amendment we just passed and what the bankruptcy bill is about. This legislation provides that if a bankruptcy filer makes above median incomethis explains a lot about the billthen absent special . circumstances. a filer can be required to pay back at least a part of the debts they owe. only if they make above median income. It also provides that if their income falls below median income. they can stay in chapter 7 and wipe out all their debts just as they always have.- If a debtors income is above median income and special circumstances apply. they still may be eligible to avoid chapter 13. wipe out all their debts under chapter 7. The amendment I just offered and just passed explicitly states that when one is called to active military duty in the Armed Forces. that can be a special circumstance that could protect them and provide an additional opportunity to not go into chapter 13. An expert testified at the committee last week that about 80 percent of the people who file are below median income and that about 7 percent in addition will qualify under the special circumstances. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1730,"word_count":259}
{"speech_id":1090008002,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator fiom Massachusetts. How many of us have seen men and women going off to serve our country to risk their lives knowing that they are leaving behind families and their businesses and knowing the economic hardship they will face? Some of them are going to be forced into bankruptcy. We have case after case where it has happened. All the Durbin amendment says is. if you have to file bankruptcy after this new bankruptcy reform bill were to become law. the bankruptcy system will consider the fact that you have served our Nation by exempting you from certain aspects of this new bill. We will not push you into a means test. but we will consider your individual circumstances. We will give you a homestead exemption of $75.000 regardless of where you have. been assigned for military duty. We will protect your personal assets with the Federal personal exemption regardless of where you have been assigned to duty and where you have to file bankruptcy. There are those who say this is a special favor for the armed services. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1323,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090008027,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"USA Today. which conducts an annual -National Sportsmanship Day essay contest. and its sports editor Monte Lorell. the Presidents Council on Physical Fitness. the Old Dominican Athletic Conference. which has reinforced the values of sportsmanship among its teams. and Playing for Peace. an international organization which uses basketball and sportsmanship to bring young people together from communities such as Belfast. Northern Ireland and Johannesburg. South Africa. I am proud Rhode Island is home to the Institute for International Sport and National Sportsmanship Day. and pleased to see the positive influence it has had on youngsters across the Nation during its 15 years of promoting the best in athletics.","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1438,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090008032,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to honor Benjamin W. Timberman. a community leader. educator and humanitarian from New Jersey. Mr. Timbermans career began as a mathematics teacher at Monroe Township Junior High School in Williamstown. NJ. He served in that capacity for 2 years when he was drafted for a 2year tour of duty in the U.S. Army. Upon his return. he continued his teaching until 1961 when he became vice principal. ","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2075,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090008037,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I am introducing legislation to correct a tax injustice affecting my home State of Washington. and all. States that do not have a State income tax. My bill. the Nonresident Income Tax Freedom Act. would prohibit States from imposing income taxes on individuals that are not residents of that State. I hear about this issue in the areas of my State that border Oregon and Idaho. both States that have income taxes. In fact. wherever I go in Vancouver and throughout Clark County. I hear time and again from constituents about the unfairness of living in Washington Statea State that does not have an income taxand working in Oregona State that does have an income tax and being taxed on their income earned in Oregon. According to the Oregon Department of Revenue. in 2002. there were 51.991 Clark County residents working in Oregon. Taxed on their income. these nearly 52.000 individuals remitted $104 million to Oregon that year. Representing all of Washington State in Congress. it is not lost on me that an additional 30.181 Washington State residents outside of Clark County were also employed in Oregon in 2002. and these 30.000 paid the State of Oregon $49.8 million. ","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4649,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090008038,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am introducing the Water Infrastructure Revitalization Act. which authorizes $60 million through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to assist communities in North Dakota with water supply and treatment projects. Imagine if you went to turn on your kitchen faucet one day and no water came out. This scenario became true for thousands in the communities of Fort Yates. Cannonball. andPorcupine just days before Thanksgiving in 2003. The loss of drinking water forced the closure of schools. the hospital and tribal offices for days. About 170 miles upstream. the community of Parshall faces similar water supply challenges as the water level on Lake Sakakawea continues to drop. leaving its intake high and dry. These and other communities in the State have faced significant expenditures in extending their intakes to ensure a continued supply.of water. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3083,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090008051,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday. March 1. at 10 a.m.. to receive testimony on the Presidents proposed budget for FY 2006 for the Department of the Interior.","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":280,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090008077,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We want success in Iraq. But the constant bloodshed. the loss of lives of young men and women. the children of our American families going overseas with no road map. no design. no success strategy that will bring them home. We are owed a debate on the floor of the House to determine how we can resolve this matter to bring our troops home and have a success strategy and peace in Iraq. My sympathy to those families who lost their love ones.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1313,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090008082,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution providing for the acceptance of a statpe of Sarah Winnemucca. presented by the people of Nevada. for placement in National Statuary Hall. and for other purposes. as amended.","speaker_name":"ROBERT NEY","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":253,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090008086,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Army. Sarah spent her life as a champion of the Paiutes in Nevada and across the country. In 1879 she went on a nationwide speaking tour to teach people about- the Indian culture and the difficult life on the Indian reservations. Trying to bridge two seemingly incompatible cultures. Sarah gave more than 400 speeches to publicize the injustices suffered by the Paiutes and met with high officials in the American Government. including President Rutherford B. Hayes. to improve the horrendous conditions of Indians living on the reservations. Eventually. Sarah received many promises from our government to make improvements for her people. Unfortunately. our government broke those promises. causing many of her own people to lose confidence in her.. On Sarahs East Coast speaking tour. she secured thousands of signatures on a petition calling for the promised allotment of reservation land to individual Paiutes. ","speaker_name":"SHELLEY BERKLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4191,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090008115,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reserving the right to object. while I do not intend to object. I would like to give the chairman the opportunity to explain the resolution. and I would also like to acknowledge the gentleman from Massachusetts for having introduced this resolution.","speaker_name":"SHELLEY BERKLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":262,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090008151,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Illinois and the gentleman from Nevada for joining in commemorating what is truly a historic day. historic in many ways: historic in that this day arrives every 7 years. but also historic in that it is a celebration of the study of the Talmud. something that has gone back for over 1.500 years. In celebration of Daf Yomi. what we have is the ultimate egalitarian religious observance. We have. as my colleague. the gentleman from New York","speaker_name":"ANTHONY WEINER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":479,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090008152,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think that the participants and teachers alike deserve a rousing applause from this body for their shared sense of purpose. I stand in strong support of this resolution and again want to congratulate each and every person who will participate and all of those for whom it will have meaning. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2020,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090008190,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. pursuant to clause 2 of rule Xl of the Rules of the House. I submit for printing in the RECORD the Rules of Procedure of the Committee on Veterans Affairs. which were adopted at the organizational meeting of the Committee on February 10. 2005.","speaker_name":"STEPHEN BUYER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":256,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090008228,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the gentleman -was talking about how there are winners and losers. actually a very narrow band of winners with our trade policy. mostly the investors and the multinational corporations. but I notice that because of an inquiry that the gentleman from Ohio had made. that it was found that public dollars from the Agency for International Development. the USAID office were used to promote the Presidents trade policy. as I understand it. in violation of Federal and USAID lobbying restrictions. that a $700.000 taxpayer funded grant was actually given to business groups to promote CAFTA in violation of the regulations. I think that when there is a policy debate for the administration. to unfairly use these taxpayer dollars to propagandize. to fund outside organizations. business organizations who stand to gain from the outcome. is really improper. if not illegal activities. and I really want to congratulate the gentleman for looking into this. because the taxpayers deserve a right to know.","speaker_name":"JANICE SCHAKOWSKY","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1010,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090008229,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think when we look at sort of the values of all of this and the moral questions involved in trade where the elite. the wealthiest people in the world do very well and nobody else much does. and how that is such a betrayal of our moral values as a Nation and then you use taxpayer dollars to undercut that even further. it is just reprehensible. and I would hope President Bush would speak out and say never again will this happen. anybody that ever does anything like this loses his job or her job. no questions asked. I hope the President would speak his own moral values and say this is the wrong thing to do. He has remained silent and continued to do this. We caught them again. if you will. Who knows how many more times they are going to try to use tax dollars to push this very unpopular agreement through this Congress.","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1899,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090008232,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What has happened with the CAFTA is that the multinational corporations and this administration know right now they do not have. the votes. and I have been in. this city when it gins up over an issue. and it scares me to death to think that we are going to be selling America down the road if we pass this CAFTA.","speaker_name":"CHARLES MELANCON","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1503,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090008244,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. I. can tell my colleague that I am at a loss for words when it comes down to all the Federal jet fuel that has been burned on the U.S. taxpayers dollars on the flying. around the country with no plan and talking about privatization of Social Security. There are millions of Americans that are benefactors of Social Security. We cannot break our promise to them. For anyone to go and say we will privatize and everything will be fine. the evidence. which we will talk about later on in this hour. is leaning towards benefits being cut as it relates to the privatization. We will be talking about that a little later on. I am glad to have my colleague.. the gentlewoman from Florida . who was here with us in the past. She had a townhall meeting. a couple of them I think in her district. and so I will now yield to her.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":824,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090008245,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Florida for yielding to me. It is a pleasure to be here with my 30something colleagues once again. I did have townhall meetings in south Florida last week. I had three townhall meetings. and more than 500 people attended those meetings. Other than two. two out of those 500 hundred. every single person left with the feeling that they were completely opposed to the Presidents privatization plan. They understood first and foremost that it is incredibly disturbing that the privatization proposal he has put forward does not even solve the problem. We. I think. have tried to stress as Democrats that we are not saying there is no problem. that there is a problem that needs to be addressed. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1646,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090008252,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Exactly. And what the gentleman said about debt in general and making sure that we continue to have sound public policy when it comes to Social Security. these senior citizens understand that because we do not have the savings in generations following them. we have to make sure that we adopt an approach to fixing Social Security that recognizes that the emphasis should be on encouraging savings. There is a way to do that without moving to a radical proposal like privatizing the program. Chairman Greenspan testified before the Committee on Financial Services and was pretty unequivocal in his testimony before our break about what he believes the direction we should take is. His focus was absolutely on any policy change that moved away from encouraging a national savings was not a sound one. Almost every one of the comments that he made undermined the Presidents arguments. He testified in front of our committee that the overriding longterm retirement issue facing the Nation is increasing national savings. Before I yield back. I want to tell my colleagues a really telling story. The thing that I think is important to stress is that Social Security was created in 1935. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1916,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090008285,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I Mr. KING of Iowa. for 5 minutes. hope we continue this discussion. It is today. nice because it is not a 30second ad. Mr. MIKE ROGERS of Michigan. for 5 We can actually talk about the facts minutes. today. and get into a little more discussion.. Mr. FORTUfNO. for 5 minutes. March 2.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":298,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090008363,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And while we bolster and enhance our existing programs and strategies. Senator REID and I are pleased to put forward this new initiative that fully acknowledges the role that safe water plays in health and development. In the future. we must find the additional resources to fully fund the Safe Water Act of 2005. without decreasing our support for existing safe water and other foreign assistance programs.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":407,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090008368,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"JeanDavid Levitte is Frances Ambassador. and I havehad a particularly warm and productive relationship with this ambassador since he was posted. He has had an extraordinary career. He has been here in Washington a number of times in previous positions. It is well known he is very close to President Chirac. When asked a question about the relationship between our country in the context of the Presidents trip. he said as follows: Yes. I do think so. Wolf. I participatedI was privileged to participate in the dinner in Brussels betweeir the two Presidents. and it worked very well. That is his appraisal. Then Wolfgang Ischinger. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7647,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090008374,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Syrian troops out of Lebanonentirely out. not. just the troops but the security forces as wellso that the Lebanese elections this spring can be uninhibited by foreigners. All of this is going on. and added to that we have the President of Egypt saying they are going to have a real election. That has certainly not been the case in Egypt in the past. A real election presumably means real choices with the opposition allowed to speak. participate. and run for office. We have even seen some elections in Saudi Arabia. though women are not yet allowed to vote. That is a step obviously in the right direction. What is happening here? I think the Iraqi policy of the President of the United States is transforming the Middle East and -transforming European attitudes toward America and the policy in the Middle East. The Presidents trip last week I think underscores that. He had unanimous support from NATO. all 26 countries. to do something within their capability to help the Iraqi emerging democracy. The French want to help. ","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6590,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090008390,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today in opposition to the Feingold amendment. I explained yesterday why I oppose this provision and would like to summarize my remarks today. First off. I commend Senator FEINGOLDS commitment to the elderly. He is very sincere in his efforts. We all are concerned about our senior citizens. I have worked particularly hard on this bill to make sure there 4re provisions that protect the elderly along with women and children and I think that my colleagues who have worked with me on this bill recognize this fact. We have lots of protections in this bill. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3685,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090008398,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I appreciate the time. I rise in opposition to the upcoming amendment submitted by Senator AKAKA. The amendment would amend the Truth in Lending Act and impose significant new compliance mandates and disclosure requirements on lenders. This amendment makes considerable changes to an area of law squarely within the jurisdiction of the Banking Committee which I chair. and I hope it will not be included in the bankruptcy bill. This is simply not a dispute about asserting the Banking Committees jurisdiction which we have here. The Akaka amendment. if it were agreed to. would be a significant change to the Truth in Lending Act. This is a highly complex law. and amendments to it. must be considered carefully. and should be considered in the committee first. I will be glad and happy to work with the distinguished Senator from Hawaii in that regard. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SHELBY","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1226,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090008408,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"LEAHY. SARBANES. and LIINCOLN. for their support.","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1185,"word_count":7}
{"speech_id":1090008446,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I commend my colleague from Illinois because he pointed to several issues in our State which dramatized the problem with this bankruptcy bill. This Horizon Mining Company in southern Illinois when it goes out of business not only shortchanges shareholders but leaves retirees in the lurch. We have reports of individuals who worked a lifetime for this mining company. paid in as they were supposed to. expecting to receive health care benefits after they retired. and then the company files bankruptcy and men and women with serious health issuesblack lung and emphysemafind themselves without health care protection before they are eligible for Medicare. These are the people falling into the bankruptcy courts. Our friends on the other side of the aisle say we need to change bankruptcy law because of moral failures in America. immoral conduct by people walking into the bankruptcy court when they should just pay their bills. We go to the people who are supposed to monitor abuse in bankruptcy courts and they say of all the bankruptcies filed. only 3 percent3 out of 100may fall in that category. The credit card companies say it may be as high as 10 percent1 out of 10who should not be filing for bankruptcy. But. still. we are going to change the law for everyone walking into the court. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7029,"word_count":221}
{"speech_id":1090008450,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is what I hear. and what Senator OBAMA and others hear. That is why his amendment is so important. Yesterday. we lost an amendment that said if you were serving in the Guard or Reserve. activated to duty in Iraq. and you go over there to serve your country and risk your life for America. and you lose your business and go into bankruptcy because you are overseas serving AmericaI offered an amendment to say. at least give those soldiers a chance in bankruptcy to protect their homes. Do you know what happened to that amendment? We lost it. 58 to 38. Many of the 58 Senators who voted against that amendment for the Guard and Reserve are the first ones waving the flag in the Fourth of July parade: How much we love our soldiers.. Where were they yesterday? These great lovers of the American military were nowhere to be found when they had a chance to do something for them when they serve their country and face bankruptcy at home. Here is a chance for some of ourcolleagues who talk long and hard about feeling the pain of ordinary families to do something. The Kennedy amendment offers them a chance to do something. to say that in the bankruptcy court. we will acknowledge the disasters that families face across America because of medical bills. and we will do something about it. I salute the Senator for his leadership. and I look forward to passing the amendment.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3119,"word_count":249}
{"speech_id":1090008454,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The proponents of this bill want to ignore this reality because it doesnt fit in with their rhetoric about the bill. My amendment focuses on those people for whom medical debts and lost income due to illness were the primary factors in their bankruptcies. Their medical debts would have to equal 25. percent or more of their annual income or they have to have lost one months income due to their illness. This is what it means to be a medically distressed debtor under my amendment. Those families clearly deserve laws that will protect them. As currently written. this bill does not protect those who were forced into bankruptcy by a serious family illness.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3238,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090008462,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Senator from Massachusetts asks the correct question. What is the problem we are addressing here? Is it a narrow problem of a few abusers of the credit systemand the estimates I see are 10 percent or lessand when we address that. are we encompassing far too many people who are situationally disadvantaged by how the bankruptcy system would work in future circumstances? The Reserve and Guard folks who the Senator from Illinois talked about. the people who are dealing with an outofcontrol cost structure in our medical system or longterm caregivers44 million people* who. are looking after seniors and disabled in this country are getting not a whit paid for from that. We are going to impose a cost on them that we are going to end up paying back in the Medicaid system? It is just bad economics. It is not even smart public policy. saying. lets do an accounting estimate of what the cost ig and the way it is today. where people are providing $257 billion worth of aid. and we are going to turn around and force that into a system. I dont know. Where I came from. we like to look at the costs and the benefits. and we try to identify the right side of the equation. In my view. this bankruptcy bill is not taking into account these very important situational circumstances. It is going to raise enormously the cost of doing health care business in this country and the cost of recruitment in our military. and the only people who will benefit are the guys who have the smart lawyers who will teach them how to put protective trusts together and move to Florida or wherever the homestead protections are the highest. It is a disaster economically. as well as -for individuals lives. I appreciate the question. ","speaker_name":"JON CORZINE","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1995,"word_count":306}
{"speech_id":1090008484,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":14,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is interesting that people who manage their money well are very careful with how they spend. They dont run off and buy new cars. They take care of their money carefully. They dont usually end up in bankruptcy courtvery seldom. Look around at your neighbors. the people you know who take care. They dont overdress. They drive a modest car. They take care of their money. They are not filing bankruptcy. Some of them get into trouble through no fault of their own. no doubt. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10812,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090008487,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like the people following this debate to understand what is being said. We have spent billions of dollars on the war in Iraq. and I voted for every penny of it. If it were my son or daughter over there. I would give them everything they needed t o get their mission accomplished and come home safely. I ask the Senator from North Dakota. how many official committee hearings and investigations have there been in Congress looking into the solesource. multibilliondollar contracting the Senator has referred to?","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":533,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090008503,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I must be -living under a dark cloud because I not only had my identity stolen.several weeks ago.. but I am also one of the 60. Senators who. like the Senator from Illinois. was a victim of this apparent theft ofa computer tape of official business credit cards of the Senate which compromises our credit cards. Ili my situation 4 or 5 years ago. I received a phone call from a collection agency in my home in Illinois saying: DURBIN. we finally caught up with you. I do not* know if you thought you could get by with this forever. We knew we- would find you. You owe our company in Denver. CO. $2.000. I.said: I have never been to your companys place in Denver. CO. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1332,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090008506,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Indeed. the Senator has put hisfinger on the problem and the attempted solution to the problem. recognizing that we want to work with the banking industry and the credit card industry so this does not become a loophole that somebody can get out of following the law and be irresponsible about filing bankruptcy. We have even put it in the amendment that there has to be a threshold for the person who would have this exemption because of identity theft. For example. it would have to be a claim against the debtor in excess of $20.000.. or 50 percent of all the claims asserted against the debtor. or 25 percent of the debtors gross income for a 12month period. With that reasonable protection. so that somebody is not abusing the law. we come back to the basic issue of fairness.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":780,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090008549,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I announce that the do it shortly after the second vote. We Senator from Connecticut would like to continue business. but as and the Senator from Hawaii (Mr. soon as we finish that second vote we INOUYE) are neccessarily absen t. will be making an announcement as to","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":266,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090008566,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. for the information of our colleagues. this will be the last rollcall vote tonight. We will continue debate tonight on amendments. We will plan on stacking votes on those amendmentsnot first thing in the morning but late morning or very early afternoon. .","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":270,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090008586,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 802(c). I have submitted a petition to discharge the Senate Committee on Agriculture. Nutrition. and Forestry from consideration of S.J. Res. 4. a joint- resolution providing for congressional disapproval of the rule relating* to risk zones for introduction of bovine spongiform encephalopathy. submitted by the Department of Agriculture under chapter 8 of title 5. United States Code.. the Congressional Review Act.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":458,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090008593,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He later turned himself in at a Los Angeles police station. Unfortunately. assault weapons such as the ones reportedly used in these two shootings as well as many other similar assault weapons are once again being legally produced and sold as a result of the expiration of the assault weapons ban. I again urge my colleagues to act to help prevent tragedies like these by ecacting a common sense ban on assault weapons.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2956,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090008594,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Congress. But Hiram Revels story started in a place very far from Washington. DC. He was born to free parents in 1822 and grew up as an apprentice to a barber in North Carolina. But Hiram wanted to learn more and see more. and so he left for Indiana and then Ohio. where he furthered his education. He was soon ordained a minister by the African Methodist Church. and traveled to congregations all over the Midwest and the South until he finally ended up in Baltimore. At the beginning of the Civil War. he helped recruit AfricanAmerican troops for the Union. and he ended up serving as a chaplain for a Mississippi regiment of free Blacks. He stayed in Mississippi after the war. and continued serving as a pastor at various local churches. In 1868. and he ran and was elected alderman. Respected by both Whites and African Americans. he was soon elected as a Mississippi State senator. ","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2614,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090008601,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is in todays paper. March 2. 2005. \"The American Witness.\" where a U.S. marine on the ground. a captain in the Marine Corps. is citing and stating and documenting the continuation of this tragedy in the lives of these people in Darfur. I ask unanimous consent that these articles be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"JON CORZINE","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3368,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090008606,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today with several bipartisan colleagues. Senator CORZINE and I introduced the Darfur Accountability Act of 2005. For nearly a year. this body has been aware of the ongoing genocide in Sudan. Last July we declared genocide in Darfur. followed shortly thereafter by the same declaration by former Secretary of State Colin Powell. Yet no punitive measure has been taken by the international- community against the Government of Sudan for these egregious human rights violations. Some sources estimate that as many as 400.000 people have died as a result. and nearly 2 million have been displaced from their homes. Yesterday I spoke on the Senate floor in an attempt to display the face of genocide. Photographs of scorched bodies. castrated men. dead children. and burned villages were provided to me by Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times. These photos do nothing less than display the cruel impunity of those committing genocide. ","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2438,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090008610,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I appreciate the comments from the Senator from New Jersey. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bills be printed in the RECORD. There being. no objection. the bills were ordered to be printed in the RECORD. as follows: S. 496 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled.","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":361,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090008643,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. tomorrow the Senate will first debate a disapproval resolution related to a rule submitted by the Department of Agriculture. Following the use or yielding back of the allocated debate time. the Senate will have a series of three stacked votes. Those votes will be. on the disapproval resolution. the Dayton .amendment. and the Nelson amendment to the bankruptcy bill. The majority leader has stated that we will continue -to process additional bankruptcyrelated amendments on Thursday. and therefore rollcall votes will occur throughout the day.","speaker_name":"JIM DEMINT","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":560,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090008647,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We are honored in Kansas to have him now as the National American Legion chaplain. He is a U.S. Army veteran himself. who fought in the Korean War. and Reverend Akers is not only involved in the American Legion and service to other veterans. but he is also a member of the Disabled American Veterans. the Reserve Officers Association of the United States. and is a Companion of the Military Order of World Wars. I have known Reverend Akers for a long time now. We often meet people in life who make a tremendous difference just on meeting them. He is a warm and caring and compassionate person who loves his fellow man. and it is a real honor to have him today as our guest chaplain in the United States House of Representatives.","speaker_name":"JERRY MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1531,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090008650,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. I ask that the Menibers join me in congratulating the gentleman from Georgia . on the occasion of his 65th birthday.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1013,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090008674,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 30 seconds. We have no further requests for time. .and I just want to conclude and again say to my friends on the other side of the aisle. to the gentleman from Massachusetts . the gentleman from California . as well as to the gentleman from Illinois . the chairman of our distinguished Committee on International Relations. to the gentleman from Connecticut and. of course. to our majority leader for his leadership on this in ensuring that this very important piece of legislation not only gets expedited treatment butwill be passed early and closed enough to the tsunami in order to address some of the problems that were exposed as a result of it. Children need protection. Women need protection. This bill advances that ball. It is an important and very noble task. and I am glad we have bipartisan consensus on this kind of humanitarian and human rights legfslation.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":900,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090008675,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And while so much. good has come out of something so terrible. there remains a dark and vicious threats that has infiltrated this region for years. South Asia has been a source and destination for human trafficking for a long time. While efforts are being made to put a stop to this horrific form of modern day slavery. the problem remains prevaldnt in this region. Natural disasters. like the tsunami. significantly increase the risk for trafficking and exploitation of women and children. That is why the legislation were considering on the floor today is important. It takes us another step forward in our global effort to combat human trafficking and the sexual exploitation -of women and children. This measure will help insure that the children in the tsunamiaffected region who lost family members or the roof over their heads will be protected from those who may try to prey on~hem. I urge my colleagues to lend their strong support for this critical legislation.","speaker_name":"DEBORAH PRYCE","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1954,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090008692,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It has brought in medical care workers of all faiths to. work and provide medical care and dental care for the recipients in that community. We started a housing program which turned into the Inner City Christian Federation. and we spun off this organization as well as Baxter Community Center. but they are still largely faithbased organizations. ICCF. the Inner City Christian Federation. developed housing programs. and they had built many houses before Habitat for Humanity started in our community. but ICCF has built and remodeled more houses than almost any organization within the city that I am aware of. Again. it is faithbased. The employees are hired partially on the basis of their faith and their commitment to serving ii! the inner city and often work for less pay than they could get elsewhere. Our church. not our individual congregation. but our denomination started a mental health institution. Pine Rest. years ago because the people of our church and of our community were not getting adequate mental care. Today it is one of the largest mental health hospitals in our Nation. It serves many people of different faiths and of no faith. but it is a faithbased institution because their treatment modalities are based. to a large extent. on our beliefs about the nature of people and their interaction with each other. It has been very successful. ","speaker_name":"VERNON EHLERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7161,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090008714,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I * thank the gentlewoman for yielding. Tillie had an awful lot of friends in this Chamber. And for those of you that will not be able to go to Jacksonville for the funeral service on Friday. next Tuesday night we have reserved a time of Special Order to celebrate her life s) and her service. And so if you would like to be part of that celebration. if you would please contact my office. Tillie was a remarkable woman. She was a rare combination of passionate drive and dedication coupled with just a warm -and caring feeling for all the people around her. and she will be missed by not only her family. but her friends in this Chamber. by the people of Florida. as well as the people of this Nation whom she so proudly served. So I am sure you all join as we send our thoughts and prayers to her husband Buck. and her two daughters in this difficult time.","speaker_name":"ANDER CRENSHAW","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":871,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090008770,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We also believe that faithbased providers. especially in large urban centers. can provide a very necessary outreach to help those who are really needy have an opportunity to get the kind of training and retraining they need to become productive members of our society. I think what we have here is a very good bil1. And while my friends on the other side of the aisle have some disagreement. I think all of us understand that by and large. this is a good program. that the bill before us is worth the support of my colleagues and I would ask them to do that.","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1540,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090008771,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It allows the states to rob- from Adult Education. Veterans Reemployment. and job training programs for individuals with disabilities to fund more bureaucracy. This would severely jeopardize services to our most vulnerable populations. Most troubling. this bill sends the message that discrimination will be condoned in federal. taxpayerfunded job training programs. We all. recognizeand appreciate the work of faithbased organizations in their service to communities in need. But there is absolutely no- evidence that the current law protections have hampered the full participation of faithbased organizations in providing job training services. This bill. however. would allow religiousgroups to discriminate on the basis of religion when hiring or firing staff for federallyfunded job training initiatives. It would permit those seeking jobs funded by the federal government to be judged solely on the basis of their religious beliefs and practices. not on their qualifications or ability to do the job. Instead of promoting the good works of religious organizations. this bill unfairly tarnishes them with the specter of discrimination that they have nobly fought so hard against. The bills constitutionally dubious provisions will introduce needless uncertainty and controversy. ","speaker_name":"NANCY PELOSI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3087,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090008774,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And thus the language allowing religious discrimination should be stricken from the bill. As should all language that does not add to the well being of jobseekers or -employment services. The Founding Fathers of this country found it necessary to say that no one should be unfairly judged or discriminated against on the basis of their religion. This Congress should do no less. We should not create law that does harm. We should not encourage discrimination of any kind. religious or otherwise. Surely. this country prides itself on its diversity and its willingness to open its doors to people of different religions. races. and ethnic backgrounds. Yet on the floor of the peoples House we are faced with an attempt by the Republicans to create a monolithic subculture within our employment training programs. Despite the rhetoric on the other side of the aisle. H.R. 27 as it currently reads will not only result in the loss of jobs for applicants who do not identify with their prospective employers religious beliefs but more importantly it will cause the loss of quality workers. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4208,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090008778,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In a dynamic and changing world economy. many Americans are faced with the reality that they might have to change careers multiple times. This plan will strengthen the ties between job training programs. adult education and vocational rehabilitation programs and the people they serve so they can continue to grow in their careers. -Of particular importance to me and my colleagues who support this plan is provision I proposed that is reflected in the bill were voting on today. The provision paves the way for added support for disabled veterans who need help finding meaningful work as they transition to the civilian sector after their dedicated service to our nation. The men and women of our Armed Forces who have given of themselves shojld not only be honored. but aided as much as possible in starting life again upon their return. The Job Training Improvement Act is a crucial step in taking the American workforce into the 21st Century. and I encourage my colleagues to support its passage.","speaker_name":"THELMA DRAKE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2023,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090008788,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So as a way of trying to bring more synergy to an effort to help outofschool youth. I think the language we have in the bill strikes the right balance. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1450,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090008792,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is also important to appreciate this is a Department of Labor program. The Department of Education has a phenomenal number of programs eligible for inschool youth that really dwarfs the amount of money for the outofschool individuals. 15 to 1 by my count. Some of those programs are title I grants to improve education for the disadvantaged. neglected and delinquent grants to local educational agencies. 21st Century Learning Centers. Safe and Drugfree Schools and community State grants. Bilingual Education Instructional Services. Dropout Prevention Grants. and on and on and on. Striving Readers Grant and Vocational Technical Education. In summary. no one. no one is decreasing the amount of money to inschool youth for the concerns and the issues that they have. What we are doing is making it so that this bill addresses those individuals that are most in need.","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1570,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090008794,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They are already used up. Most of them are underfunded: Safe and DrugFree Schools being slashed by the President. Title I. underfunded.. You can go right on down the line. So I hope my colleagues look at this and do not disadvantage those States that need to have the flexibility to serve more inschool youth. and at the same time realize that this amendment harms those who need more outofschool youth served in no way at all.","speaker_name":"JOHN TIERNEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1468,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090008829,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I want to further elaborate on the last point in this amendments attack on religious liberty in the United States. that in fact the interpretation in the Presiding Bishop v. Amos. .the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the language permitting religious organizations to staff on a religious basis in matters concerning employment when they receive Federal funds. in a unanimous decision. Finding that the exemption did not violate the establishment clause. the Supreme Court has made it clear that it is \"a permissible legislative purpose to alleviate significant governmental interference with the ability of religious organizations to define and carry out their religious missions.\" Even where the content of their activities is secular. in the sense that activities do not include religious teaching. proselytizing. or worship. and it is very important for everybody to understand. we all agree you cannot have prayer. you cannot proselytize. you cannot use government funds for anything but a secular purpose in job training. Justice Brennan. hardly a conservative. said that even if a religious organization is providing job training. which would be a secular thing. it is likely to be infused with a religious purpose. In other words. the motivation of the individuals probably is religious. He also recognized that churches and other religious entities \"often regard the provision of such services as a means of fulfilling religious duty and of providing an example of the way of life a church seeks to foster.\" He is perhaps one of the greatest liberal justices of all time. And then he recognized that preserving the title VII protections when religious organizations engage in social services is a necessary element of religious freedom. This attempt. to redefine the Supreme Court in todays debate is unfortunate. ","speaker_name":"MARK SOUDER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5739,"word_count":289}
{"speech_id":1090008839,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have all heard about the bad old days when signs hung in windows: \"No Catholics need apply.\" \"No Jews need apply. Fill in ones favorite denomination. That is wrong. People of every faith pay their taxes. and we have no right to deny them employment paid for by those taxes. It is wrong. It is unAmerican. It is immoral. It is unnecessary. and it is unprecedented. These are the armies of compassion. Religious discrimination with taxpayers dollars is not compassionate. ","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2490,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090008845,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in opposition to the Scott amendment. which seeks to strike important protections for religious organizations included in the bill. I am frankly appalled at the scale of the rhetoric being presented by the minority party on this issue. We know that many religious organizations in our hometowns and across America provide invaluable job training services in our communities. We must help religious organizations. whether they be churches. synagogues. or mosques. maintain their* integrity while continuing to provide these vital services to those in need. This debate is about whether a religious organization should have the ability to select employees who share common values and sense of purpose. This is not saying that they will not hire people of other religions but we will not force them to do so. This is a vital criterion for all organizations. especially religious ones. A secular group. such as Planned Parenthood or the Sierra Club. that receives government money. is currently free to hire based on their ideology and mission but still use Federal funds in accordance with the terms of the program. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2884,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090008850,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Yet repeatedly I have heard on.this floor those say on this side of the floor that supporters of the Scott amendment are opposed to faithbased groups being involved in providing social services. I would suggest perhaps they should not only preach the Ten Commandments. perhaps they should exercise and practice the ninth commandment. because to make that argument is to suggest that the Baptist Joint Committee. the American Jewish Committee. and numerous other religious groups are somehow opposing faith: based groups involvement in Federal social service programs. You know that argument is simply nof correct. This amendment. the Scott amendment. is about one question and one question alone: Should any American citizen have to pass another- American citizens private religious test to qualify for a federally funded job? I hope the Members of this House will respect the Founding Fathers and the first amendment and the views of the vast majority of American citizens and say. no. you should not be denied a taxfunded job because of the exercise of your religious faith. I urge Members on both sides of the aisle to put partisanship and politics aside. Vote for religious freedom. Vote for the Scott amendment.","speaker_name":"THOMAS EDWARDS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4721,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090008890,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. my motion to recommit is simple. It provides extra assistance to workers whose jobs have been outsourced and veterans who are returning from conflicts overseas. Mr. Speaker. half a million jobs have been outsourced over the past 3 years. An additional 830.000 jobs are expected to be outsourced in 2005 and 3.3 million by 2015. Up to 6 million jobs may be sent overseas in the next 10 years. These statistics represent lost jobs for American workers. Fewer jobs means that American workers will struggle to provide for their families and fall further into debt. The administration has turned a deaf ear to the needs of these workers. ","speaker_name":"DALE KILDEE","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1300,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090008915,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I was deeply moved by the intense pride his parents show in their son and in the sacrifice he made for our Nation. And yet. I could not help but think that Private First Class Emanuel MelendezDiaz had not been able to vote for his CommanderinChief because he is Puerto Rican. That is morally wrong. Today we commemorate the 88th anniversaryof Congress granting US citizenship to the people of Puerto Rico. Yet we still cannot vote for our President. cannot vote in this Chamber. cannot vote on legislation that affects us. Congress has an unfinished agenda with Puerto Rico. The 4 million U.S. citizens that live in Puerto Rico should finally be given the opportunity to make an educated. fair and democratic choice regarding their final status preference. After 106 years of territorial status. and 88 years of being U.S. citizens. we are tired of waiting. The people of Puerto Rico deserve better. ","speaker_name":"LUIS FORTUNO","chamber":"H","state":"PR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":3816,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090008927,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They were led by a 27yearold lawyer by the name of William Barrett Travis. The Alamo and its 186 Texans were all that stood between the invaders and the people of Texas. And behind the cold. dark. damp walls of that Alamo. Commander William Brrett Travis sent the following appeal to Texas requesting aide. This appeal read in part: \"To all the people of Texas and Americans in the world. I am besieged by a thousand or more of the enemy under Santa Anna. I have sustained a continual bombardment and cannon fire for over 24 hours and have not lost a man. The enemy has demanded surrender at its discretion. otherwise the fort will be put to the sword. I have answered that demand with a cannon shot. and the flag still waves proudly over the walls.. I shall never surrender or retreat. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4180,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090008948,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman from Connecticut for yielding. Mr. Speaker. we held three town hall meetings and so many of our colleagues held many. many. It is interesting that our Republican colleagues in Michigan as far as I know during the break held no town hall meetings on Social Security. I think the main reason is it has become increasingly clear that the diversion of Social Security moneys for privatizatidn is a bad deal for everyone. for seniors. for younger workers for men and for women. I am glad that the gentleman from Arizona preceded us. because I want to say just a few words. The facts really are allies here of those who are defending Social Security and the facts really are the antagonists of those who want to dismantle it. For example. the gentleman who preceded us from Arizona said that people who are coming to the Republican meetings are oming to heckle. First of all. I do not think there are that many meetings held by our Republican colleagues. ","speaker_name":"SANDER LEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1289,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090008958,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I did it along with my two Senators from Illinois. Senators DURBIN and OBAMA. and then we had an overflow room and then an overflow for the overflow room and still had to turn people away. young people. older people. persons on disabilities. I want to tell my colleagues one story. It may not be obvious at first why this is a story about why Social Security is important to women. A friend of mine. someone I have known for a very long time. a gentleman. middleaged. got up and talked about something I never knew before. And he was telling about how his first wife died at the age of 35 and left him with their three children. three young children. And he said how Social Security and those benefits made it possible for them to hold the family together and for those children to go on to college. But the other thing that he added. which was so poignant. was that that Social Security benefit enabled his wife. his deceased wife. to keep the promise that she had made to their children to always take care of them. And even now it brings tears to my eyes when I think of that. So that they could feel it was their mother that was helping enable them to go on to college to be the second generation. ","speaker_name":"JANICE SCHAKOWSKY","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3539,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090008959,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. that is an excellent point. and the gentlewoman from Michigan made it earlier as well when she stated quite succinctly and clearly. Social Security was never intended to be in and of itself the retirement vehicle. It was. as she pointed out. the third leg of a threelegged stool. having pensions. which we know are under stressed everywhere. personal savings. where it is so difficult for people to save. but the thing that people could count on. The reason that it came into existence was to provide. as the gentlewoman has pointed out. an absolute guarantee. the full faith and credit of the United States of America standing behind its commitment to its citizens. It is as simple and as fundamental as that and more eloquently stated by our citizens and the young women who have come to forums and hearings and town hall meetings like the gentlewomans all across this country.","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":912,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090008962,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. let me just say that it is no wonder. then. that the womens organizations. bipartisan womens organizations. are opposing this privatization plan. The American Association of University Women. the League of Women Voters. who go through a very rigorous process in order to come to a position. They are raising all kinds of concerns and say that diverting money from the Social Security trust fund into private accounts could hasten the insolvency of the fund. The result could include a substantial increase in the deficit and significant cuts in some or all of the Social Securitys retirement and disability and survivor benefits. The National Womens Law Center. the National Council of Womens Organizations. the Older Womens League. all these organizations are opposed to these risky privatization plans.","speaker_name":"JANICE SCHAKOWSKY","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":817,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090008978,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if the gentleman.will yield further. who will benefit from a private plan that invests through Wall Street? The Presidents buddies. It would be great if his buddies could make everybody in this country wealthy. but that will not happen. And when there is a bubble in the economy. like we had the bubble burst 2 years ago. who is going to be holding the problem? It is going to be right here. the Federal Government. Who is going to pay for it? It is going to be the taxpayers. They are not going to let all these seniors who lose their life savings in the stock market go on the streets with no food and no health care and no way to pay their rent. Absolutely we would never do that in this country. or I hope we would not. anyway. So we will do the bailouts. But in the meantime. there are going to be a lot of people making a lot of money. and those are stockbrokers and securities bankers. and that is not what Social Security is supposed to be about. It is supposed to be a safety net. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2373,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090008983,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The monthly retirement benefit for a woman is $798. In America. could you live on $798 a month? This is what the guarantee is. But it does prevent these people from falling into the depths of poverty. It is what Franklin Delano Roosevelt promised to the American people.","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":270,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090008986,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if the gentleman will yield further. this will be my final thought because I think the gentlewomen from California that are here need to take up some of this time. but these are Social Security benefits that cannot be outlived. They are inflationproof and they can be relied upon. and that is what would change if the system was privatized. and it is women that it would affect to the greatest degree.","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":414,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090008993,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The gentlewoman is absolutely correct. And I thank her for pointing that out. I would like to yield to both the gentlewomen from California to finish off the remainder of our time and focus on the specific needs and concerns that you both articulate so well Mrs. CAPPS.","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":269,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090008999,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The cuts to spouses. survivors. and recipients of disabled worker benfits would be even deeper. And workers who become disabled or die young would not have worked long enough to build up a private account to help support them or their surviving spouse and children. In the Town Hall meetings that I held during the recess women were particularly concerned over the loss- of benefits that the Administrations proposal would entail. They were right to be concerned. Women have -more to lose here. But we can fight back. We are making progress. Just today. the distinguished Majority Leader of the other body suggested that the Administration might not be able to get a vote on this this year and might have to drop private accounts from any proposal. This is no time to rest. We must speak out in Special Orders Town Hall meetings and otherwise to make sure Social Security is protected or our mothers for our daughtersand for every American. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3170,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090009004,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And we are going to get into that some more this evening. but I am disheartened. frankly. I am disheartened to hear some of the language that we were listening to earlier. Our colleagues ascribed some motives that I think are out of place. One of them. for example. said that the President wanted to reward his buddies with his proposal. and that is simply not true. It is not fair and it ascribes a motive that is not there. One of our colleagues said that we want to gut Social Security. That is not true. I know that the gentleman has been trying year after year after year to. in fact. strengthen Social Security and make sure that not only do the current retirees not lose benefits. but that my daughter. my son. and my grandchildren do not lose benefits either. And I just hope that my colleagues would all understand that our motives are to strengthen Social Security. We should be working together in a bipartisan way as my colleague has been doing to do just that. and I hope that we can move away from some of the harsh rhetoric that we unfortunately have heard tonight and I am afraid that we are going to be hearing in the future.","speaker_name":"JOHN KLINE","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2180,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090009005,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the comments of the gentleman here. and I think they are on point. I think the gentleman is absolutely correct. It really does not serve anyone very well to have the kind of harsh rhetoric that we have been hearing about this issue. It is too important to carry on in that kind of a partisan nature. e I remember sitting on this floor when the President of the United States. President Bill Clinton. talked about Social Security reform in 1998 and standing and applauding when he had the courage to get up there and talk about it. In fact. the President then followed up with only one major effort. outreach effort that he did. and he happened to do it in my congressional district. I flew with him on Air Force One to Tucson in order to talk about this issue. and I was struck by the amazing grasp of the detail that President Clinton had about the nature of the problem that we were facing. It is exactly the things that we have been talking about and that we will continue to talk about and that President Bush is talking about today. ","speaker_name":"JAMES KOLBE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1709,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090009012,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Again. Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Minnesota for his participation in this discussion here tonight. Just moving forward a little bit. and I do want to respond to what my colleague said. it reminds me of some ex-. -periences I have had. I have been. as I mentioned. talking about this for a lot of years. And I go into high school audiences. where there are seniors that are old enough to kind of understand the issues involved here. or go into college classes and I ask the same questions every time: How many of you think Social Security will be there when you get ready to retire? I almost never have a single hand that goes up. Never a single hand. So they do sense that there isa problem with it. And they are exactly right. because the numbers we just ran through. ","speaker_name":"JAMES KOLBE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1332,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090009013,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I believe that is true. As I said in my remarks just a moment ago. I know that that was an anecdote that many of our colleagues have expressed. because they have had the same experience of asking young people. high school seniors. college students. others. if they think Social Security is going to be there when they retire. I have never had a hand. I have had the same experience as the gentleman. I have not been asking the question for as many years. but never a hand goes up where they believe it is going to be there. And what a shame. because they ought to have a system. all Americans ought to. have a system that they can count on and that they believe is going to be there. And until we do something to really -strengthen the system. they will not have faith that it is there. And they should not. because without that fix it just will not be there in that manner.","speaker_name":"JOHN KLINE","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":874,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090009016,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As I said. it is the link to the next generation because as I said. personal accounts do not fix the problem. Indeed. if we are going to take a carveout as I think we should because to add it on is to say just a huge new tax on Social Security. a tax to be added as a burden on the people. if we are going to carve it out of the current amount being paid in retirement taxes. we are going to have in a sense a bigger problem. so we have to do something to make it all balance. Guess what. you can. do it. but you have to make some tough choices. and that is what nobody has been willing to do. Particularly as I listened over here. I do not hear anybody willing to make some of those tough choices. What do we do? Well. the legislation we have introduced does a little bit of everything. We would make some modest reduction to the Consumer Price Index on which the annual costofliving adjustment is made. and that is justified by the superlative index which accounts for durable goods lasting longer today. Alan Greenspan has talked about it..It is a little complicated economic issue. but basically the Consumer Price Index today is a little bit out of whack with the reality of where the inflation rate is actually going. In our bill. we would increase the amount of income subject to taxes. not increase the wage rate because we do not want to say to the person earning $25.000 we are going to increaseyour Social Security tax. too. you are going to have less takehome pay. But we are going to say to the person who currently makes over $100.000. you- are going to pay more tax because we are going to increase the amount of wages subject to taxation. ","speaker_name":"JAMES KOLBE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9637,"word_count":314}
{"speech_id":1090009018,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This discussion about evening. all the plans we are talking the personal accounts and the kinds of about leave the vast majority of the index funds they might be invested in taxes in the current system. so that it leads me to the two kind of final points pays beneficiaries today and is going to that I wanted to make here tonight. pay beneficiaries in the future the We heard on the other side. and the same kinds of defined benefit that we gentleman talked about this a moment now get from Social Security. ago. the comment that was made to- Mr. Speaker. I appreciate this oppornight saying this is being done for the tunity this evening to have this diaPresidents buddies on Wall Street. The logue with my friend from Minnesota. I truth of the matter is. I have been appreciate his comments and I appreworking at this thing for 8 years with ciate the passion with which he apa bill. I have.never heard from Wall proaches this issue. I think we both Street on this. The reason is simple. know this is one of the most signifiThere really is not much in it for Wall cant debates I think we will ever have Street. Why? Because you are investing in our lives in this legislative body. bein index funds. ","speaker_name":"JAMES KOLBE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4880,"word_count":221}
{"speech_id":1090009082,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this week we celebrate the 44th anniversary of the Peace Corps and the service of current and return Peace Corps volunteers. Today 7.700 Americans of all ages. including 38 volunteers from my congressional district. are serving our Nation and advancing the cause of peace in cities. towns. and villages in 72 countries around the world. As we all know. with service also comes sacrifice. So as we celebrate this Peace Corps success. I would like to remember a young Minnesota Peace -Corps volunteer. Melissa Mosvick. who died in a bus accident last November while serving our Nation in Morocco. Her service and sacrifice are also honored. Nearly 180.000 Americans have served our Nation as Peace Corps volunteers these past 44 years. The service and commitment of all Peace Corps volunteers to our Nation and the world is truly a very special gift all Americans can celebrate.","speaker_name":"BETTY MCCOLLUM","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"F","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":889,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090009084,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. in every major war since -the Revolution. the United States Congress has acknowledged our returning veterans for their service and sacrifice. In this proud tradition. last weekend I announced a Welcome Home G.I. Bill for the veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. It is a bold new direction in .helping our veterans achieve the success they so rightly deserve and earned. The Welcome Home bill provides health care for up to 5 years for that member and their family if they cannot get it from their employer or lost it when they were overseas. The Welcome Home bill includes $75.000 for college education and waives the $1.800 fee required for the benefit. And. finally. it will offer them a taxfree $5.000 down payment on a home. Most importantly. under the plan all returning veterans are treated equally whether they served in active duty. National Guard. or Reserve. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1174,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090009085,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. George Washington once said that \"history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of Republican Government.\" But the United States Supreme Court has taken to relying on foreign law and foreign documents when issuing opinions. . This week. the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution forbids the execution of convicted killers who are under the age of 18 when they commit their heinous crimes. Many of us might agree with this decision. but the court used the laws of other countries and foreign documents to determine whether American laws on this should stand. American laws are made by the people chosen by Americans to make them. That is a republic. The court has no right or authority to consider any other basis for legal opinion. In doing so. it only undermines the very structure under which it operates. the consent of the governed as defined by the United States Constitution. Foreign law is still a baneful foe of our republican government.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1001,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090009088,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We are prepared to work together as Democrats. as Americans. to solve it.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1226,"word_count":13}
{"speech_id":1090009110,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to take this opportunity to briefly describe this amendment before going further. This amendment makes. in order another amendment to take one more step toward satisfying the concerns of the minority and the Senate by extending the time limits by which States can hold elections. It is a short extension. but useful in that it allows States to phase their eleetion plans over 7 even weeks. To that end I would urge my colleagues to support this fair rule and the underlying legislation. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time. and move the previous question on the amendment and on the resolution. The previous question was ordered.","speaker_name":"TOM COLE","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":662,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090009115,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Article 1. section 2 of our Constitution states: \"When vacancies happen in the representation from any State. the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of elections to fill such vacancies.\" The key word here is \"elections.\" No event should be reason enough to change this historic and constitutional constant. The bill under consideration today allows us to remain true to the course charted for us by our Founding Fathers. There have been a number of suggested alternatives to the proposal in this legislation. Some have called for perhaps temporary appointment of the Members of Congress in such an emergency either through gubernatorial appointment like that in the Senate. or even by a sitting Member naming a successor to take the seat in the event of that Members death. Any of these ideas would require a constitutional amendment. which would be a change from both tradition and constitutional mandate which expressly calls again for the direct election of Members of the House of Representatives. Concerns have also been expressed regarding the requirement that special elections be completed within 49 days of the Speakers announcement of 100 existing vacancies in the House would be difficult. Mr. Chairman. before I came to Congress actually. I was honored to serve as Michigans Secretary of State for 8 years with a principal responsibility of serving as that States chief election official. so this is an area that I do have some expertise in. Some have argued and will argue that more time is necessary. but I disagree. ","speaker_name":"CANDICE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8157,"word_count":252}
{"speech_id":1090009120,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. this bill does have flaws. as have been identified. and I think the criticisms are fairly taken. And the ranking gentlewomans amendment is a sound one I will support. But in the end. we do need to have special elections in the case of a catastrophe. I voted for this last year and will vote for it again. The problem is it misses the point of what happens in the 45 days or. if the gentlewoman from California passes. in the 75 days. What happens then? I read with some alarm the \"Roll Call\" article of December 6.-2004. on this subject. and I will quote from that article: \"The country is going to be under martial law until we have elections anyway.\" That was actually said by the gentleman from Ohio . chairman of the Constitution Subcommittee. And I just must say. is the agenda martial law? Because that appears to be the case. and absent a constitutional amendment to allow for a temporary appointment. we will have martial law and the elimination of a Republic in this country.","speaker_name":"ZOE LOFGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":998,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090009131,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is about our ability to secure the homeland. and it does that by ensuring that our democratically elected government is able to respond in the face of an urgent threat. Homeland security is not a Republican issue. It is not a Democratic issue. This is an issue that affects every single American. Mr. Chairman. and the Congress should act in the interest of America and of democracy. I urge all 6f my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 841. and I look forward very much to supporting and passing this important and historic legislation.","speaker_name":"CANDICE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3212,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090009139,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today to offer this managers amendment. but first I want to thank the gentlewoman from Michigan . She is our able new committee member. We are so pleased to have the gentlewoman on the Committee on House Administration and thank her for managing this bill. She is a former Secretary of State. She brings a wealth of knowledge and personal experience regarding running elections to this debate. And of course House Administration does a wide variety of things. but we also oversee Federal election laws. so we appreciate her carrying this bill through. and also her perspectives on it. And it is a pleasure to be here with the gentlewoman from California . our new ranking member. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT NEY","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3307,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090009151,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in opposition to the amendment. and I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. the amendment proposed by the gentlewoman from California. while certainly a very wellintentioned amendment. is completely unnecessary and. I believe. would. severely weaken this bill. While this amendment would only increase the time limit in which to conduct the special election by 11 days. more than the limit provided for in H.R. 841. it would weaken the power of Congress in a significant way. According to the War Powers Act. when the March 3.-2005 President has put our Armed Forces into action. Congress must act within 60 days to either approve or to disapprove the use of those troops. Following an attack in which over 100 Members of Congress have been killed. it is quite likely that a military response would be required. ","speaker_name":"CANDICE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4406,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090009153,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me this time. I rise today in opposition to this legislation and am disappointed we are taking up this measure again when we should be debating this issue in a more thoughtful and comprehensive manner. Many of my colleagues. including the gentleman from Washington . the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox). the gentleman from Ohio","speaker_name":"JAMES LANGEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":382,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090009171,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the gentlewoman yielding. The membership has been preparing for the debate on this bill with the amendment made in order under the rule. The gentlewoman now wants to submit a new amendment. I do not think that is fair to the membership who have prepared debate on.the bill. so the answer is no.","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":321,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090009177,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong support of the JacksonLee amendment. A portion of the gentlewomans amendment seeks to provide an expedited appeals process to the United States District Court for matters arising out of the special election process. We have been talking about this 44. 45. 49day deadline for special State elections. and it already places significant constraints on the electoral process and on the citizens represented due to its brevity. Taking away the right of an appeal to United States District Court would excessively curtail the procedural due process rights enjoyed by citizens. I support the gentlewomans amendment.","speaker_name":"JUANITA MILLENDER-MCDONALD","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":37.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":639,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090009178,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"After 9\/11. we went to New York to show that we are not afraid of the terrorists. I believe we should show that we are not afraid of them by upholding the Constitution and due process on behalf of the American people. Vote for the JacksonLee amendment. I ask my colleagues to vote for this amendment. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1343,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090009196,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You do not want that. But if you stop at this bill. you leave this Nation vulnerable. Mr. Chairman. if there is no one to speak in opposition. I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my preferential motion.","speaker_name":"BRIAN BAIRD","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1494,"word_count":37}
{"speech_id":1090009200,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Chairman of the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union. reported that that Committee. having had under consideration the bill to require States to hold special elections to fill vacancies in the House of Representatives not later than 45 days after the vacancy is announced by the Speaker of the House of Representatives in extraordinary circumstances. and for other purposes. pursuant to House Resolution 125. he reported the bill back to the House with an amendment adopted by the Committee of the Whole.","speaker_name":"STEVEN LATOURETTE","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":522,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090009226,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. on H.R. 841. I asked for a recorded vote. I was seeking recognition but the mike was not on. 0l 1400 Mr. Speaker. I stood when the board was being cleared on the last vote which was a motion to recommit. Now I am told that I cannot ask for a recorded vote on H.R. 841. and I have a parliamentary inquiry.","speaker_name":"JUANITA MILLENDER-MCDONALD","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":37.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":317,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090009249,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding to me. Mr. Speaker. the House will convene on Tuesday at 2 p.m. for legislative business. We will consider several measures under suspension of the rules. A final list of these bills will be sent to Members offices by the end of the week. Any votes called on these measures will be rolled until 6:30 p.m. On Wednesday and Thursday. the House will convene at 10 a.m. We will likely consider additional legislation under suspension of the rules. as well as the Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":749,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090009269,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But even as President Mubarak and the Egyptian government have shown great leadership in the quest for peace. they have dragged their heels when it comes to the political and economic reform that is crucial if Egypt is to remain a regional leader. Recently the Egyptian government arrested Ayman Nour. the leader of a small prodemocracy party in the Egyptian parliament. Nours arrest is widely seen as politically motivated and precipitated a decision by Secretary Rice to cancel a planned trip to Cairo this week. I have introduced a resolution calling on Egypt to release Nour and embrace the reforms just announced by President Mubarak. As an important ally. we must rot stand idly by and watch Egypt take steps -that threaten not only democracy. but our own security. Throughout the 20th Century. America fought to expand the reach of liberty and democracy. first against Nazism and fascism. and then against Soviet communism. Now with the dawn of the 21st Century. we are again faced with both the fundamental challenge to our core values and the opportunity to bring those values to millions of people. Mr. Speaker. we can and must both meet the challenge and seize the opportunity.","speaker_name":"ADAM SCHIFF","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5552,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090009294,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Through the Chair. to my distinguished friend. at 9:45 or thereabouts. we are supposed to talk on the mad cow. resolution before the Senate. We have no morning business. as I understand it. I am not going to be here. but I would have a standing objection to any morning business. We have had very few amendments completed on the. bankruptcy matter. Maybe the time on morning business could be yielded off the resolution in opposition. to that. It is my understanding the Senator from Iowa is here to speak in morning business.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":526,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090009298,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this morning following the leader time we will proceed to consideration of Senate Joint Resolution 4. which is a disapproval resolution relating to a Department of Agriculture rule regarding Canadian cattle. The agreement reached last night provides for up to 3 hours of debate Qn the resolution prior to a vote. We hope to be able to yield back some of that debate time and vote earlier so we can resume consideration of the bankruptcy bill for further progress. Last nights order also allows for two more stacked votes on bankruptcyrelated amendments. therefore. we will. have three votes today. sometime around noon. depending on the amount of time consumed for the disapproval resolution. In other words. We hope as much of that can be yielded back as possible after debate on the resolution. Once those votes are completed. I expect the Senate will stay on the bankruptcy bill through the day and possibly into the evening. We willcontinue to have votes this afternoon and into the evening as necessary to move toward passage of this bill. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1569,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090009316,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"You cannot have anybody more interested. more vitally concerned about the beef industry than this Member. In fact. the number of cattle in Ford County. where Dodge City is located. far outnumbers the citizens of the county. I used to say they were in a lot happier mood. Not only is the beef industry king in Ford County. Dodge City. southwest Kansas. and the State of Kansas. it is a huge industry representing over $5 billion in annual revenues. We are a State with 6.65 million head of cattle compared to a human population of 2.6 million. Cattle represented 62 percent of the 2003 Kansas agriculture cash receipts. and the processing industry alone employs over 18.700 Kansans. We rank in the top three of virtually every major beef statistic. There are few issues as important to the people of Kansas as the issue of how we handle actions that are related to BSE. Prior to the discovery of BSE in the United States in December 2003. ","speaker_name":"PAT ROBERTS","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6239,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090009336,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I have to yield. but I simply close by saying. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution to send a strong message to our producers and consumers that we are going to support making sure that the feed ban is being complied with. and we 4re going to work hard to make sure our export markets are open before this rule is implemented. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JOHN THUNE","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":371,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090009342,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let me make a couple quick points. It is true we had an investigation group go to Canada. Here is what they found. They went to seven feed mill operations in Canada. In six of the seven. they found .one or more unsatisfactory task ratings. In two of the seven. they found serious failures to ensure prohibited material did not enter the food chain.. More seriously. the assessment found that only 3 percent of Canadas onfarm feed manufacturers have been inspected at least once over the last 3 years. Now we are talking about 25.000 onfarm feed operations. These mills represent onehalf of Canadian livestock feed production. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1450,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090009352,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I also compliment Secretary of Agriculture Johanns for his efforts in trying to protect the beef industry and to use good science. He comes from Nebraska. That is a big beef State. as are many of the other States. But the important thing is to recognize that free trade is a benefit of agriculture. It has benefited particularly the beef industry. We want to make sure we get the border open. and we need to use good science in opening it. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3550,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090009355,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise in support of the bipartisan resolution to disapprove the opening of the Cana-* dian border. My position on this is clear. Until we resolve comprehensively the underlying issues fcomprehensively in the interest of health and safety in support of our family farms and ranchers. we should keep the border closed. Today. I speak on behalf of those men and women who are on farms and ranches across America. whose livelihood depends on being able to have a quality livestock industry in place in their States. I join organizations such as the Colorado Cattlemens Association which said it is not now time for us to lift the ban on Canadian imports. I have -spoken with Secretary Johanns about this issue. -I have told him that I am for the lifting of the Canadian ban at the appropriate time. For me. that means. we are not yet ready to do it because there are too many questions that still have to be answered prior to getting to that decision. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2610,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090009367,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"After all. we are so close in so many ways. We have the same heritage. the same language. The Canadians and Americans are very similar in their outlook on life. with same values. so forth. But we in the United States are a little concernedmany of us arewith the direction the U.S. Department of Agriculture has taken on this matter. that is. the Department has been quite secretive. that the Department. in announcing its first rule to open the border for Canadian beef. did not tell us something they knew at that time. What is that? They knew at that time that BSE was just discovered in Canada. It turned out even after USDA made their announcement of the rule. another case of BSE was found in Canada. There have been several cases of BSE found in Canada. The one case of BSE found in the United States was a Canadian cow. recently imported from Canada. So we are rightfully a little concerned. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4377,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090009374,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is a consequential vote. The potential risk to this country is enormous. Anybody who is betting that. Canada is enforcing their regulations is making a bet that I do not think stands much scrutiny. I will end as I began. at least in this part of the debate. When the Canadian media used the Information Act in their country to look at what the Canadian testing authority themselves had found. they looked at 70 tests conducted by the Canadian agency. and they found in 59 percent of the cases. animal matter was present where it was not supposed to be. This is a risk that is not worth taking. The consequences could be far too grave for the American people and the American economy. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2988,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090009425,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I would say to my colleague from Massachusetts. they cant even afford the lawyer to write the first page of the trust that these others can. Again. the question answers itself. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. What is good for someone below the poverty- line certainly ought to be good for millionaires and billionaires who want to abuse the bankruptcy process. I yield the floor in deference to my colleague from Pennsylvania.","speaker_name":"CHARLES SCHUMER","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":445,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090009435,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have taken this into consideration. We have worked long and hard over 8 years to get this right. And. frankly. I think this amendment is an inappropriate amendment and should be voted down. I hope our colleagues will vote it down. I yield the remainder of our time. Mr. President. I ask for the yeas and nays.","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1261,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090009511,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I believe it is critical that we appropriately reform our bankruptcy system. and I applaud the efforts of Senator GRASSLEY and others to do that. But it is important that we ensure that. wherever possible. loopholes subject to abuse are closed. This is just such a loophole. I hope that my colleagues will join me and Senator SCHUMER in closing this one.","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":354,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090009584,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Today over 3.100 Peace Corps volunteers are helping to implement President Bushs Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Even as they work on their projects to help those in the countries they serve. Peace Corps volunteers become Americas unofficial \"ambassadors\" of goodwill. fulfilling the Peace Corps second goal of helping to promote a better understanding of America. In the words of former U.S. Ambassador Tibor Nagy: \"During my long overseas service. I consistently met two categories of people who were highly favorable toward our country: those who had close contact with Peace Corpsvolunteers. and those who had studied in the U.S.\" These kinds of public diplomacy efforts are more important today than ever. Whats more. Peace Corps volunteers unofficial \"ambassador\" duties do not conclude when they return home to -the United States. Rather. they set about completing the third goal of the Peace Corps -by promoting a better understanding of other countries here in America. In this way. ","speaker_name":"NORM COLEMAN","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2967,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090009602,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"MURRAY. LINCOLN. KERRY and DURBIN in introducing the Public Safety EmployerEmployee Cooperation Act of 2005. This legislation would extend to firefighters and police officers the right to discuss workplace issues with their employers. With the enactment of the Congressional Accountability Act. State and local government employees remain the only sizable segment of workers left in America who do not have the basic right to enter into collective bargaining agreements with their employers. While most States do provide some collective bargaining rights for their public employees. others do not. Studies have shown that communities which promote such cooperation enjoy much more effective and efficient delivery. of emergency services. Such cooperation. however. is not possible in the States that do notprovide public safety employees with the fundamental right to bargain with their employers. The legislation I am introducing today is balanced in its recognition of the unique situation and obligation of public safety officers. ","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3246,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090009611,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mdrch 3. 2005 Last year. the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General issued the following reports on lost and stolen passports: \"A Review of the Use of Stolen passports from Visa Waiver Countries to Enter the United States\". December 2004. and. \"An Evaluation of the Security Implications of the Visa Waiver Program\" (April 2004). I encourage my colleagues to read these reports on the vulnerabilities in our current border security. To summarize. the reports state that: In the United States alone. immigration officials have records for 1.2 million stolen passports. Aliens applying for admission into the United States using stolen passports have little reason to fear being caught and are usually admitted. It has been standard practice to simply return a fraudulent passport to an individual seeking entry -and let them return to their country. This. in effect. is the soft underbelly of the entire passport system. The Director of the U.S. National Central Bureau of INTERPOL said that for 55 of the 181 INTERPOL countries. there probably were over. 10 million lost and stolen passports that might be in circulation. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8580,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090009615,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Only then will the commitment to offer equal access to quality child care ring true. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the text of this legislation be printed in the RECORD. There being no 6bjection. the bill was ordered to be printed in the RECORD. as follows: S. 526 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled.","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3385,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090009746,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I say to the Senator. I think that is a very thoughtful and important change he is proposing. We need to give it the most serious consideration. It would strike me that it does go to the heart of what democracy is. We created a legislative and executive branch elected by the people and empowered to deal with certain of these issues. It should be only for extraordinary things that a court would maintain extended jurisdiction over the elected representatives.","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":461,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090009763,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We moved it up to the top. Everybody who knows anything about this bill knows that women and children and their alimony and child support is going to be secured in a way it never has been before. It is offensive what Professor Warren is saying about this bill. This college professor keeps writing things that are not so. I dont know howI guess she has tenure. She also is the one who has gone around this country and promoted the idea. and had a press conference a few weeks ago. to announce that medical bills are the cause of everything. She says that all the people filing. half the people plus. 54 percent of the people who file bankruptcy are in bankruptcy court because of medical bills. What do we know about that as a fact? She had a survey that indicated that. Do you know what we discovered. when you read the fine print of her survey? It includes gambling debts. It includes alcoholism and drug problems. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10835,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090009776,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to speak about the need for hate crimes legislation. Each Congress. Senator KENNEDY and I introduce hate crimes legislation that would add new categories to current hate crimes law. sending a signal that violence. of any kind is unacceptable in our society. Likewise. each Congress I have come to the floor to highlight a separate hate crime that has occurred in our country. Late last year. two gay men were attacked when attempting to leave a night club in Tampa. Florida. The men were repeatedly punched and kicked in the head by two assailants. Authorities in Florida have designated this case as a hate crime because the apparent motivation for the vicious attack was the sexual orientation of the two victims. ","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1058,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090009777,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This is because Medicaid currently requires that States provide nursing home care for Americans with disabilities. but does not require the same for communitybased services. Due to this inequity in Medicaid law many individuals with disabilities and older Americans are forced to live in isolated settings. . In order to preserve the freedoms of our friends and loved ones in the disabed community. we must do something to reverse this trend. It is my privilege today to join my distinguished colleague from Iowa as a cosponsor of the Money Follows the Person Act of 2005. Under this legislation. Oregons effort to help an individual move out of an institutional facility and into a community home would be 100 percent federally funded for one year. After that first year. the Federal Government would pay the states normal Medicaid rate. These incentives can help reintegrate countless older Americans and Americans with disabilities into a setting where they can be more active citizens. Americans everywhere realize the value of integrating persons with disabilities into their communities. It is unfair and unjust to needlessly isolate productive citizens from their communities. regardless of their condition. ","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2482,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090009778,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Significantly. Saparev also gained headlines last year for publishing an inflammatory article about Roma in which he argued they should be forced to live in ghettos. Even worse statements have come from Russia. Yevgenii Urlashov. a city official in Yaroslavl. recently characterized all Roma as drug dealers and called for them to be deported. Not to be outdone. fellow municipal legislator. Sergei Krivnyuk. said. \"residents are ready to start setting the Gypsies houses on fire. and I want to head this process.\" Although nongovernmental human rights groups have condemned. this antiRomani rhetoric. other leaders in Bulgaria and Russia have largely remained silent. But it is critical that public leaders. from all walks of life. speak out against such hate mongering. Speaking on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Polish President Kwasniewski noted that \"complete extermination was also [intended] to be the fate of the Roma community.\" It will not do. 60 years after the liberation of Auschwitz. to stand by in silence while Roma are crudely caricatured as criminals. just as they were by the Nazis. ","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3614,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090009781,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I bring to the attention of my colleagues a signal anniversary occurring tomorrow. the 50th wedding anniversary of Harry and Judy Maitland. Harry and Judy Maitland were married in St. Louis. MO on March 5. 1955. Harry. a fellow Navy man. served on the U.S.S Randolph during the Korean War. Subsequently. he worked for Missouri Pacific and Union Pacific. and he and Judy were blessed with three children and eleven grandchildren. I join all of their family and friends in congratulating Harry and Judy on their signal anniversary..","speaker_name":"RICHARD LUGAR","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":545,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090009797,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it adjourn until 2 p.m. on Monday. March 7. I further ask that following the prayer and the pledge. the morning hour be deemed to have expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate resume consideration of S. 256. the Bankruptcy Reform Act. provided that at 2:30 p.m. the Senate begin 3 hours of debate on the Santorum and Kennedy amendments. as provided under the previous order.","speaker_name":"JOHN ISAKSON","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":537,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090009801,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on Monday. the Senate will continue its consideration of the bankruptcy bill under an agreement reached yesterday. We will debate the Santorum and Kennedy minimum wage amendments on Monday afternoon. At 5:30 p.m.. we will proceed to the two stacked rollcall votes. The first will be on the Kennedy amendment. to be followed by a vote on the Santorum amendment. Additional amendments may be considered during Mondays session as well. On behalf of the majority leader. I remind my colleagues that cloture was filed on the bill today. Senators have until 2:30 p.m. Monday to file their firstdegree amendments to the bill. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ISAKSON","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":794,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090009860,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And I was called a whole number of things as to what I was going to do to all these poor children. What happened as a result of the welfare reform bill was that poverty among AfricanAmerican children. the thing Senator KENNEDY referred to. was at its lowest rate ever by the year 2000. It has crept up slightly during the economic decline of the early part of this decade. but it is going back down. So the idea that the minimum wage solves these problems is just a fallacy. There are lots of things that work. One of them is work. Another is marriage. We are going to have an opportunity on the floor of the Senate. when the welfare bill comes up. to talk about how we shift Government policy away from. at bestI think it is \"at best\"-neutrality toward marriage. how we shift Government policy when it comes to interacting with families and being neutral with respect to marriage. See what the huge impact is on the poor. the huge impact on poor communities and poor children. when moms and dads are helped to stay together in marriage and. more importantly. when they are introduced to the concept because many women and. unfortunately. men choose not to marry when children are born out of wedlock. So there will be plenty of time for debate on this issue of other things we can do. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5246,"word_count":236}
{"speech_id":1090009871,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Again. I urge my colleagues to disavow the Santorum amendment and support the Kennedy amendmeht. It is the least we can do for the least among us--to raise their minimum wage. give value to their work. This is a values issue. This is at the heart of it. It is an issue of what kind of country we want. what kind of Congress we are. and what kind of Senators we are. With that. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":395,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090009887,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I say to our colleagues here in the Senate who care about equal pay for equal work for women. this is a bad deal.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2804,"word_count":24}
{"speech_id":1090009913,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Sixty percent of the 11 million minimum wage workers are women. and many are single mothers who must put food on the table. make rent payments. and provide childcare. Increasing the minimum wage by a mere $1.50 per hour would mean an extra $3.000 a year for working families. These additional dollars can provide tangible help to these families in the form of groceries. rent. and the ability to pay ones utility bills. The problems posed by our insufficient minimum wage are stark in my home State of New Jersey. Accordingto New Jersey Department of Labor statistics. there are just over 181.000 people making minimum wage in the. State. While some States have set higher minimum wage levels. New Jersey is like most Statesits minimum wage mirrors the Federal minimum wage. But New Jersey is also different because the.cost of living in New Jersey far exceeds the national average and working families in the State are unable to make ends meet at the current minimum wage. As a result. minimum wage workers in New Jersey are worse off than minimum wage workers living in other parts of the country. ","speaker_name":"JON CORZINE","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6135,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090009971,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we went through a debate last time over the retirement benefits. the savings plans. I thought we capped those at $1 million. My question to the Senator from New York. Mr. President. is. how confident is he under the bankruptcy bill as written that these trusts will be held by bankruptcy judges as not subject to being part of the assets of the debtors estate? Is this something about which the Senator from New York is concerned? And we are not sure or do we have any law that will give the Senator cause to believe that they would not be captured as part of the estate?","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":586,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090009999,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Although Frank retired in 1989 after 25 years with the machinists union. he remained an active union leader. holding impressive positions as a machinists union delegate to the National AFLCIO. vice president of the California Labor Federation for the AFLCIO. chair of the Western States Trucking Committee for the National Auto Transporters. chair for the Sea Land West Coast negotiating committee. and treasurer for the California Alliance of Retired Americans. It is not just Franks accomplishments in the field of labor that made him stand out. Frank was one of the most wonderful people that I have come in contact with in all of fry years of public service. His warmth and intelligence were a true inspiration to me. When he talked to me about injustice in the workplace. or in the world. his eyes would tear up. I knew that I could never let him down. Frank Souza was a deeply loved labor leader who championed the causes of Americas working families. not only in this country. but throughout the world. We can take comfort in knpwing that future generations will benefit from his spirit. his vision. and his leadership. He taught us about the dignity and soul of working people. and in his memory we wont forget.e","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2505,"word_count":209}
{"speech_id":1090010004,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I wishto recognize the service of Sibal Holt. who is the first female and the first African American to serve as the President of the Louisiana AFLCIO. Firsts like these have become commonplace for this barrierbreaking woman. She has long been a trailblazer in the State of Louisiana. She became the first African American to be hired into the Bell System and also the first registered lobbyist in the State of Louisiana. both remarkable achievements given the climate of the times. Sibal Holt has been a selfless steward of her community. She formerly served as the president of the Louisiana American Red Cross. as well as other charitable organizations. such as Volunteer Baton Rouge and the Baton Rouge Womens Resource Center. Sibal is probably most recognized for her pioneering efforts in voter registratiom Holt once led a statewide voter registration drive. resulting in an astounding 70.000 new voters for Louisiana. But it is the AFLCIO where she has left her biggest imprint. Sibal began her work at the AFLCIO in 1975. not surprisingly becoming the first minority selected to join the Executive Board of any States AFLCIO. ","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1611,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090010006,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As a result. many Native Americans lack access to emergency 911 services. are unable to secure employment because they do not have telephone service or Internet. and cannot otherwise participate in many daily activities that nonNative Americans take for granted. Moreover. the lack of telecommunications infrastructure impedes the economic development of tribal communities. educational opportunities. language retention and preservation. and access to adequate health care. Tribal governments and their citizens must have access to the necessary resources to develop their telecommunications capacities. A recent report by the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development credited tribal selfgovernance for improvements in socioeconomic growth at rates that far exceed progress being made nationally. This bill will provide the resources necessary to enhance and strengthen tribal selfdetermination to address telecommunications needs. As a result. tribal governments should be able to make further gains in socioeconomic conditions. I urge my colleagues to give their favorable consideration to this measure. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"DANIEL INOUYE","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2318,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090010009,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is also about moving treatment into the medical mainstream. Unless family doctors. nurses. physician assistants. and social workers can identify addiction when they see it. unless they know how to intervene. we will never make any real progress. That aspect of the challenge came into sharp focus for me when I read a report. a few years ago by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. CASA. That report said that fewer than 1 percent of doctors presented with the classic profile of an alcoholic older woman could diagnose it properly. Eightytwo percent misdiagnosed it as depression. some treatments for which are dangerous when taken with alcohol. A followup study showed that 94 percent of primary care physicians fail to diagnose substance abuse when presented with the classic symptoms. and 41 percent of pediatricians fail to diagnose illegal drug use in teenage patients. No one recognizes this problem better than the doctors themselves. Fewer than one in fiveonly 19 percentfeel confident about diagnosing alcoholism. And only 17 percent feel qualified to identify illegal drug use. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5564,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090010010,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This will require bold leadership. A decade later. those words still define my position on Social Security. Social Security has been one of the most important and successful Government programs in tde history of America. Almost every American family over the last 70 years has been touched by Social Security. In signing the Social Security Act of 1935. Franklin Roosevelt said: None of the sums of money paid out to individuals in assistance or insurance will spell anything approaching abundance. But they will furnish that minimum necessity to keep a foothold. and that is the kind of protection Americans want. A fundamental point that President Roosevelt made was that Social Security was not intended to replace the personal responsibility of individuals saving for and preparing for their own retirements. Social Security was never intended to be a substitute for a retirement or savings plan. It is a safety net for people. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES HAGEL","chamber":"S","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12231,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090010012,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I hope that we will complete work on a comprehensive energy bill in this Congress that will help us do so. However. there are some fiscal policies alrealy in place that will help us move toward greater energy independence and diversity. Current laws Federal income tax credit for facilities producing electricity from wind and other renewable energy sources is among the most important of these polices. In fact. we are told by energy developers year after year that the renewable energy production tax credit. PTC. is absolutely essential for bringing renewable energygenerated electricity to the marketplace at a competitive rate. Today. for example. our country has over 6.700 megawatts of wind energy capacity. or enough electric capacity to serve about 1.6 million homes. And all that electricity is generated on U.S. soil. producing U.S. jobs. Last year. Congress extended the availability of the PTC and expanded it to cover other forms of renewable energyincluding geothermal and solar. I supported this effort. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5304,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090010027,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it adjourn until 9:45 a.m. on Tuesday. March 8. I further ask unanimous consent that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be .deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two.leaders be reserved. and the Senate then resume consideration of S. 256. the Bankruptcy Reform Act. provided that at 10:15 the Senate resume consideration of the Schumer amendment as provided under the previous order. I further ask unanimous consent that the Senate recess following the conclusion of the vote on the Schumer amendment until 2:15 p.m.","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":664,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090010048,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I offered an amendment that said what about the Guard and Reserve units. men and women who are serving overseas leaving behind businesses that go bankrupt? Should we not give them some consideration in this bill? Should not the harshest aspects of this bill not apply to men and women in uniform serving our country? The Republican side of the aisle said no. apply the law as harshly as possible to these soldiers as you would to everyone else. Time and again. as we have offered amendments to try to stand up for those who were struggling in America to get by in a tough economy. in difficult times. facing family disasters. the Republican side of the aisle said it is more important that the credit card companies get another dollar from those families. It is more important that the banks prevail. Even if the loans they offered in the first place are illegal. we have to stand by the credit industry. The credit industry will win this battle. American families. American soldiers. and those struggling with medical bills will be the losers. I hope before this bill is completed that a few basic amendments that show common decency and common sense will prevail. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2309,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090010054,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am pleased that Senators LEAHY. FEINSTEIN. and MURRAY are also cosponsors of the amendment. Put simply. the SchumerReid amendment would end the ability of violent extiemists to hide behind bankruptcy laws to escape courtimposed debts. The amendment is very simple: If you use violence or the threat of violence to achieve a goal. a political goal. and you are successfully suedas you should beby the person or persons you have used. violence against. you cannot then go back home to a bankruptcy court and say. protect me. Has anyone who ever envisioned the bankruptcy law felt that it should be used to protect those who use violence or threats of violence? I doubt it. There is talk by some of \"peaceful protests.\" As I will talk about later. the bill explicitly protects .peaceful protests but not violence or the threat of violence. It doesnt matter if you are S2204 CO an extremist in the prolife movement or the animal rights movement or any other movement. if you believe you are so right that you have the ability to take the law into your own hands and threaten others and do violence to others because your knowledge and feelings are superior to everybody elses. you are wrong. That is not American. Again. you should not be allowed to use the Bankruptcy Code to protect yourself from a rightfully imposed civil remedy. This amendment could really be called the SchumerReidHatch amendment because in -2001 Senator HATCH sat down with me and together we worked out this compromise. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES SCHUMER","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11360,"word_count":256}
{"speech_id":1090010078,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In fact. the centerpiece of this legislation is a means test that presumes chapter 7 filers are abusing the bankruptcy laws because their monthly income increases by as little as $100. The Schumer amendment is intended to prevent extremists and fanatics from abusing our bankruptcy laws to shield themselves from paying fines and fees imposed by a court of law after they have endangered someones livelihood. These attacks are more common that one might imagine. Since 1977. there have been 7 murders. 17 Attempted murders. 41 bombings. 171 arsons. 100 butyric acid attacks. and 655 threats targeting abortion providers alone. In total. there have been more than 4.000 .cases of stalking. burglaries. kidnappings. assaults. anthrax threats. invasions. attempting bombing and acts of vandalism. perpetrated against people who were performing or offering a legal procedure. And in case after case. after the perpetrators of these acts of intimidation and violence are brought to justice. -they hide behind the bankruptcy code to shield themselves from assuming responsibility for their actions. As Senator SCHUMER has said. this issue is neither prochoice nor prolife. it is \"proruleoflaw and antiviolence.\" While. we have a right to disagree with the law in this country. and a right to try to change the law. no person has the right to take the law into his own hands. I have followed this issue for a long time. The first blockade of an abortion clinic occurred in Cherry Hill. NJ. in The first murder of an abortion provideroccurred 12 years ago. on March 10. 1993. when Dr. ","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4366,"word_count":258}
{"speech_id":1090010095,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in a few hours we will be voting on cloture for this bill. I would just like to take a minute or two and remind everyone why it is time to end the debate on this bill. It has been 8 long years of consideration on this legislation. We have all compromised a great deal. Not everyone got their preferred language or amendments. Not everyone is happy with the current legislation. But I think everyone would have to agree that we have given thoughtful consideration and fair opportunity to all suggestions on the bill throughout the years of debate. Over the years. we modified the homestead exemption. We modified the means test. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2551,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090010115,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the Senator would stay for a few moments. I would like to see if we can get to an agreement on our disagreement. Right now. under current law. when I go into chapter 7 filing for bankruptcy. I am bound by the requirements of the Bankruptcy Code under section 521 to file a list of my creditors. unless the court orders otherwise. a schedule of assets. liability. current income. current expenditures. and statement of debtors financial affairs and more when it comes to consumer debt currently. That is what happens when one goes into bankruptcy courtand that is this sheath of paperthey have to fill these things out. These are the documents that get one into court.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":670,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090010147,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The amendment would modify the means test to provide greater flexibility and reasonableness when calculating a debtors ability to pay. Allowable expenses are broadened to ensure that parents. whether married or divorced. can still support their children as they live through a bankruptcy. For example. the amendment would allow a single mother. recently deserted by her husband. raising children who has filed for bankruptcy to continue paying education expenses for her child. Let us say that the mother. being a religious person and from a family that had used parochial schools for generations. is struggling to keep her child in one of these parochial schools. In this case. her 10 year old son has gone to a parochial school since kindergarten. It is where his friends go. After being fairly shy and withdrawn. he has begun to thrive there. has developed close relationships with several of his teachers. The mother was able to obtain a hardship reduction in tuition from the archdiocese. reducing the tuition to $3.500 a year. Under the means test in the pending legislation. under our bankruptcy bill. this mother could not file chapter 7 or chapter 13 if she continued to send her son to parochial school. The means test allows only $1.500 for tuition and any other education expensesnot enough for any religious school. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11888,"word_count":219}
{"speech_id":1090010176,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We would expect to finish this bill in all likelihood sometime tomorrow. late tomorrow. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":829,"word_count":18}
{"speech_id":1090010213,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I appreciate the willingness of the chairman and ranking member of the Banking Committee to work with Senators KYL. BROWNBACK. and me on this important issue. And I understand that the Banking Committee has an interest in regulating credit cards. I would like to state here. for the record. bhe key points of the agreement that we have arrived at: Senators SHELBY and SARBANES have agreed to hold a hearing within 6 months on the substance of the amendment to the Bankruptcy Bill that Senator KYL. BROWNBACK. and I offered. on increasing notice to credit card holders who pay only their minimum monthly payments. I understand that this hear\u0095ing will address a set of issues relating to credit cards and consumer rights. However. I also understand that Senators SHELBY and SARBANES will ensure that the substance of agreement. will be directly considered. and will be an area of focus. during that hearing. and that I will be afforded the opportunity to testify. I understand that Senators SHELBY and SARBANES will work with me. with Senator KYL.- and with members of the Banking Committee to ensure that this issue and my bill are carefully considered. My bill would give those consumers who make only the minimum required payments for 6 months detailed notice about the interest and length of time that it will take them to pay their own individual debt and interest. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1540,"word_count":232}
{"speech_id":1090010224,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"At the outset. I thank my colleague from North Carolina for coming to the floor and reminding us of this wonderful chapter in American history. where the men who were on Iwo Jima and all the men and women who fought in World War I demonstrated such uncommon valor that inspires us even to this day. The story the -Senator has told us of Mr. Lucas is nothing short of incredible: This 14yearold boy performed feats of courage which are almost unparalleled. In fact. as the Senator noted. he is the youngest recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor. which I am sure is a great source of pride. The first job I ever had as a college intern in the Senate was for Senator Paul Douglas of Illinois. who enlisted in the Marine Corps at the age of 50 and went through training at Parris Island. fought in Okinawa and was injured. as Senator Bob Dole was injured. with a serious injury to his left arm. I have always had a special spot in myheart for the men and women who serve in the Marine Corps. and I just want to join the Senator from North Carolina in making certain that this is bipartisan and nonpartisan in our salute to the Marine Corps. all the men and women in uniform. and particularly the great veterans of World War II and Iowa Germany.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1248,"word_count":233}
{"speech_id":1090010228,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Fortyeight million men. women. and children rely on Social Security benefits each month to help them live with dignity. The benefits are protected from inflation and one cannot outlive them. Social Security is an insurance program. not an investment plan. and private accounts would destroy much of the insurance value of the program. More than onequarter of Social Security benefits go to survivors and disabled workers and their families. and these benefits would be at risk under the Presidents proposal. We all acknowledge the longterm fiscal imbalance of the Social Security trust fund. However. it is equally critical to recognize that the Presidents private accounts do absolutely nothing to address this imbalance. as a senior administration official recently acknowledged. In fact. diverting payroll tax revenues exacerbates insolvency and accelerates the date of trust fund imbalance. For obvious reasons. the President has not mentioned this or other facts that are so critical to the Social Security trust fund. His privatization scheme requires cutting benefits by more than 40 percent. even for those who choose not to invest in privatized accounts. Those choosing a private account could be hit with an additional \"privatization tax\" of 70 percent or more of the value of their account. which would be deducted from their Social Security benefits upon retirement. ","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5296,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090010233,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Delete \"ChairsErgonomic -(with or without arms)\" 2. Delete \"ChairsFolding Chairs\" 3. After \"ChairsConference\" add \"(with or without arms)\" 4. Delete \"ChairsReception\" and substitute \"ChairsDesk (with or without arms)\" 5. Delete \"ChairsReception (without arms)\" 6. Delete \"Chairs--Secretary\" 7. Delete \"CoatsRack\" 8. Add \"Credenza-(Conference room & Front office only)\" 9. Delete \"DeskSecretary\" and substitute \"DeskLShape\" 10. After \"FireplaceScreens\" add \"(Russell SOB only)\" 11. ","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7018,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090010241,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It was in Dayton that scientists discovered how to trigger the chain reaction that unleashed the power of the atom. To continue that effort. the Atomic Energy Commission established the Mound Laboratory in Miamisburg. just southeast of Dayton. As my colleague explained. the act directs the Secretary of the Interior to study three specifically named sites associated with the history of the -Manhattan Project. I would like to ask the distinguished Senator if there is the opportunity for sites associated with the Dayton Project to be recognized?","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1470,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090010252,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I introduce a bill that would provide .a technical correction to the Veterans Benefits Improvements Act of 2004. Last session. the law that allowed severely disabled members of the Armed Forces to receive specially adapted housing grants from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). while still on active duty. was inadvertently repealed. This was an oversight that occurred when the law was changed that authorized the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide specially adapted housing for veterans whose disability is the result of the loss. or loss of use. of both upper arms above the elbow. Currently. only veterans are statutorily eligible for adapted housing grants. Congress originally intended eligibility for both disabled veterans and servicemembers. as was the case before the change in law last Session. The correcting language in my bill would again provide the adapted housing benefit to disabled servicemembers in need of accommodations as they return to their homes. The adapted housing benefit is essential for providing an adequate standard of living for our disabled servicemembers. The benefit provides necessary modifications to servicemembers homes to accommodate their disabilities. I ask that we continue to make every effort to ensure that those servicemembers who have sacrificed to defend Freedom receive the benefits that they deserve. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1527,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090010266,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Agriculture. Nutrition and Forestry be authorized to conduct a hearing during the session of the Senate on Tuesday. March 8. 2005. The purpose of this hearing will be to consider the reauthorization of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":304,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090010274,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session on Tuesday. March 8. 2005. at 10 a.m.. to hear testimony on \"PhysicianOwned Specialty Hospitals: In the Interest of Patients of a Conflict of Interest?\"","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":262,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090010278,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a hearing on Tuesday. March 8. 2005 at 9:30 a.m. on \"Judicial Nominations.\" The hearing will take place in the Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226. The tentative witness is attached. Agenda: PANEL I: Senators. PANEL II: Thomas B. Griffith. of Utah. to -be United States Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit.","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":433,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090010286,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"National Communications System Deputy Manager (Acting). Department of Homeland Security. Washington. DC.","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":616,"word_count":12}
{"speech_id":1090010306,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. the Senate adjourn until 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday. March 9. I further ask that following the prayer and the pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved and the Senate then begin a period of morning business for up to 60 minutes. with the first 30 minutes under the control of the majority leader or his designee and the second 30 minutes under the control of the Democratic leader or his designee. provided that following morning business the Senate resume consideration of S. 256. the Bankruptcy Reform Act. as provided under the previous order.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":723,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090010311,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Now we are at the point where children are not allowed to pray in public schools. The mildest nonsectarian invocations are forbidden at public events. the Boy Scouts are ostracized for mentioning God in their oath. and even the words \"under God\" in the Pledge of Allegiance are under fire. Perhaps these Ten Commandments cases will be the turning point in the legal war against religion. We need to have a commonsense approach towards the relationship between religion and the State. That is why I was particularly interested to hear Justice Scalias take on this case. He was his usual straightforward and honest self in his questions. He asked the ACLU lawyer. \"If a legislature can open its session with the public present with a prayer. why can it not. in the same building. post the Ten Commandments?\" He also called the Ten Commandments \"a symbol of the fact that Government derives its authority from God. which seems to me an appropriate symbol to put on Government grounds.\" Justice Scalia also logically noted that those who oppose the Ten Commandments on public grounds would \"also think that Thanksgiving proclamations are also unconstitutional. which were recommended by the very first Congress. the same Congress that proposed the first amendments.\" Mr. Speaker. this is an issue that the American people care about deeply. In fact. according to a recent AP poll. 76 percent of Americans support these religious displays. which Justice Scalia alluded to when he said the Ten Commandments send \"a profoundly religious message. butit is a profoundly religious message believed in by a vast majority of the American people.\" The irony of the Supreme Court hearing on these cases last week and of the outright hostility that the Court has displayed against religion in recent years is that above the head of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is a concrete display of the Ten Commandments. ","speaker_name":"CLIFFORD STEARNS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4649,"word_count":317}
{"speech_id":1090010319,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"She is responsive. She will look at you. attempt to vocalize: She will attempt to kiss her parents. The judge in the case. Judge Greer. has tried to dismiss these obvious behaviors indicating that she does have a higher level of functioning and she should not be described as vegetative. as primitive reflexes. And I would assert as a physician that it is extremely dangerous to walk down that kind of a path. Where you have somebody with mental retardation. disability or any type of brain injury and you start ascribing obvious humanlike behavior on the part of these individuals as being primitive reflexes and that these people are expendable. Terry is under a court order to withdraw food and water. This is unprecedented in our -legal history. Previous cases that received national notoriety. like the Karen Ann Quinlan case. involved familyand physicians mutually recognizing that this person did not have a chance of surviving and wanting to withdraw. in the case of the Quinlan case. a respirator. and the court going along with it because the clinicians involved did not want to ie prosecuted for manslaughter or murder. In this case. there is a dispute. ","speaker_name":"DAVID WELDON","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4405,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090010321,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Republican Members who had voted \"no.\" trying to get them to change their vote. It is now 4:30. They woke up the President of the United States who from his living quarters at the White House got on the phone and began to try to lobby the 26 or 27 Members of the Republican side who had voted \"no\" on Medicare. They all stood their ground. At about 4:45. the Republican leaders surrounded Nick Smith. a Republican from Michigan. who told his story on the radio the next day. He had already announced his retirement: His son was running for his seat. He was told that if he changed his vote. they would come up with $100.000 for his sons campaign. When he said no. they said. if you do not change your vote. we will come up with $100.000 for your sons opponents campaign. Congressman SMITH. under great duress with great courage. said. Nothing doing. ","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4793,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090010330,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. you know Social Security is quickly becoming social insecurity for millions of Americans approaching retirement. Let us take a step back for a moment. and take the politics and the pundits and rhetoric out of the debate. and let us examine the most overlooked aspect of what has been discussed thus far. the facts. Fact: Social Security is safe for todays seniors. but is in serious danger for our children and our grandchildren. Fact: since the 1950s. the number of retirees has been risinlg faster than the number of workers. And fact: without reforms. Social Security is not sustainablQ in the long run. Mr. Speaker. the system is not in crisis. the system is not in limbo. The system which worked well for many. many years is now broken. ","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1087,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090010332,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in appreciation of President Bush seeking to strengthen our Social Security system. When Social Security was conceived in the mid1930s. the average age of life expectancy in the United States was 60. Today the average Americans life expectancy is over 77. Americans are now receiving benefits over longer periods of time because we are so grateful they are living longer. Our current Social Security system is financially broken. outdated. and unable to meet the retirement needs of our children and grandchildren. If we fail to act now. we will burden further generations with dramatically higher taxes. massive new borrowing. or sudden and severe cuts to Social Security benefits or other government programs. In 1998. President Bill Clinton said. ","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1260,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090010342,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I would say many Americans wonder why the resources for the committees are not divided onehalf\/onehalf. Well. they should understand that it is traditional. now that the majority party would have most of the committee staff. most of the committee resources. and so twothirds\/ onethird division has become traditional and that is what the gentlewoman from California is hoping to achieve. I thank the chairman for his consideration. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":550,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090010390,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"International Womens Day. let us make it a priority to ensure that women in the poorest countries receive the educational opportunities they need and deserve. Just as important. women need to be encouraged and allowed to participate in the political process in every country if we are to see a more secure world. And above all else. we must remember that if international security efforts fail to include women. then they are excluding more than half of the worlds population. Let us include all of the worlds population and let us secure our world for the 21st century.","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4135,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090010411,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Domestic abuse scars children through the images of violence and fighting. the ramifications if they try to intervene. the emotional anguish they suffer for years. Domestic abuse in some cases results in withdrawal or unhealthy perfectionism. and in other cases they act it out. The American Psychologidal Association Presidential Task Force on Violence and the Family concluded in 1996 that a childs exposure to the father abusing the mother is the strongest risk factor for transmitting violent behavior from one generation to the next. In addition. the American Medical Association has calculated that family violence costs taxpayers in the range of $5 billion to $10 billion a year in medical expenses. It is not only a family problem and a criminal problem. it is a health issue. Domestic violence costs us -in police and court costs. shelters. foster care. sick leave. and nonproductivity. . As a former judge and founder of the Congressional Victims Rights Caucus. this epidemic is of great alarm to me. I believe we must work to eliminate this domestic abuse while protecting the victims that have already resulted from this trend. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3668,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090010416,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am saddened by her death. but I am proud of the legacy that she leaves behind her. and I know that Members here tonight share in that.","speaker_name":"ANDER CRENSHAW","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2117,"word_count":30}
{"speech_id":1090010417,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Upon her departure from Congress. Representative Fowlers extraordinary efforts to ensure a strong United States military were recognized by the Secretary of the Navy and the Secretary of Defense. She received the Navys Distinguished Public Service Award and the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service. These are the highest civilian awards given by the Navy and the Department of Defense. Shortly after leaving Congress. she was appointed by the Speaker of the House to the Commission on the Future of the Aerospace Industry which was created by Congress to assess the aerospace industry in the global economy. particularly in relationship to the national security of the United States. The Center for Strategic & International Studies also named her to its Distinguished Congressional Fellows panel. She was appointed to the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in 2001. In May Of 2003. the Secretary named her as Chairman of the prestigious board which advises the Secretary of Defense on issues central to strategic planning for the department. She is the first woman to serve of Chairman of the Defense Policy Board in its 20year history. She also serves on the Chief of Naval Operations Executive Panel whose purpose is to advise the CNO on questions related to national seapower. ","speaker_name":"ANDER CRENSHAW","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5947,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090010424,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We had a friendship that went beyond being just colleagues. it went outside of this Chamber. outside of this Capitol. The friendship that evolved is one that I will always remember. We had a service down in Jacksonville just a few days ago. Two plane loads came down to be at that service from both the Pentagon as well as from this great body here. The outpouring that we saw in that community was really beautiful. The military was there. Both sides of the church were flanked by soldiers from all of the services. and the service ended up with a flyover. which I am sure Tillie would have loved. I remrember the preacher in that small church. The church was absolutely full. People were standing in the front yard of the church just to hear the service and be near those so close to Tillie. ","speaker_name":"E. SHAW","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1719,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090010428,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. my favorite hymn is \"Let the Work I Have Done Speak For Me.\" I think that more than anything explains our friend and former colleague. Tillie Fowler. My prayers and deepest regret goes out to her immediate family. Buck and their two girls. Tillie Ann and Elizabeth. Tillie and I shared a lot. We were in the great class of 1992. We said that was the class. the year of the woman. One distinguished objective to describe Tillie was she was a tremendous fighter. ","speaker_name":"CORRINE BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3217,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090010436,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Just a couple of weeks ago when I was in Atlanta. I ran into her brother and I inquired about Tillie. and he told me she was doing fine. Little did we know that we would be coming here tonight to say these wonderful things about Tillie because she had gone. All the world is a stage and all the men and women are players. Tillie served in so many capacities. She was wife to Buck and mother to Tillie and Elizabeth. But through all of that. she touched our lives in so many ways. We are sad and only one who has worn the garment of bereavement can truly understand the pain that comes when one has been taken from the midst. Yet as we reflect prayerfully. our pain must turn into joy. because truly all of us have been blessed to know. love and to have shared this life with such a wonderful woman as Tillie Kidd Fowler.","speaker_name":"SANFORD BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2590,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090010440,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As a colleague. she was a confidant and a true inspiration. someone that you could always turn to in a very difficult moment. And Tillie always seemed to say the right words. She was like a human sponge. She would soak up and be such a great listener. and then she would always convey the right words. and you would walk by feeling good about yourself that you now have a direction. and she would do that in such warm personal leadership. I am grateful for the time that we spent together in this chamber and thankful for the memories that she will leave with me. I am a better person for having known her. and the country is a better place through her efforts. To her husband. Buck. and her daughters. Tillie and Elizabeth. I extend my heartfelt sympathy. ","speaker_name":"STEPHEN BUYER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4125,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090010444,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I wish to thank the gentleman from Jacksonville for hosting such an honorable memory to Tillie Fowler. Mr. Speaker. America lost a remarkable leader last week. The people of Florida lost a passionate and effective ally. and our brave men and women in uniform lost a stellar advocate. I lost a dear friend. Congresswoman Tillie Fowler was much more than a role model for women who followed her into public service. Though her trailblazing example and her indomitable spirit will always inspire us. she was much more than northwest Floridas greatest promoter. ","speaker_name":"KATHERINE HARRIS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2022,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090010446,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I. too. as a fellow Floridian wouldlike to pay tribute tonight to my friend. Tillie Fowler. Tillie was a role model. not just for the women who followed in her footsteps. but for all of us who attempt to represent our communities and our Nation with dignity and respect. Through hard work and perseverance. Tillie was a true trailblazer. one of five women in her class of 106 from Emory Universitys law -school. She was the first female president of the Jacksonville City Council. As we recounted here tonight. in her 8 years in Congress. Tillie rose to the highest rungs of power in the United States Congress in the Republican Caucus. ","speaker_name":"JAMES DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3117,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090010452,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"One Jacksonville resident said. \"Mrs. Fowler . . . obtained information on my fathers WWII service for which I will always be grateful. When she left office she made sure that the process was completed by her successor. While she impacted this nation in so many positive ways. her attention to the details of one small request gives her a special place in the hearts of my family.\" We can take a lesson from this. And our contribution to Tillies legacy should be to continue to work here in Congress. Her remarks at the 1995 National Prayer breakfast can guide us: For a Member of Congress. Waqhington can be a dangerous place. not because of crime. although that exists. but because every day we face the possibility of losing our perspective. of becoming tangled in the snares of business. partisanship and selfimportance that lie all around us and which distract us from remembering why we are here .... In the mist of all the sound and fury it is very easy and very human to get carried away by some personal or partisan agenda and forget about the importance of actually accomplishing something constructive on behalf of the people who sent us to Washington. It is statements like this that reflect why Tillie will be remembered not just as a conscientious public servant. but also as a human being who was unfailingly courteous and had a kind word for everyone she ever met. ","speaker_name":"JEFF MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5441,"word_count":243}
{"speech_id":1090010453,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Just do the right thing.\" In following his advice. she became one of the most well respected and effective members of Congress. Through her quiet tenacity and steady leadership. Tillie solved difficult problems and achieved tremendous successes. She was committed to protecting Floridas bases. helping Americas military families. and enabling our men and women in uniform to successfully defend our country. As we fight the War on Terrorism today. Tillies accomplishments are more relevant than ever. True to her word. Tillie retired after eight years of service in the House of Representatives. She continued to serve her country as Chairman of the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee. She was awarded the Navys Distinguished Public Service Award.and the Department of Defense Medal. for Distinguished Public Service. the highest civilian awards given by the Navy and the Department of Defense. ","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1879,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090010457,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"She always took on the hard issues. investigating sexual assaults at our military academies and torture at prisons in Iraq . . . both difficult and thankless jobs. Tillie was a rare breeda class act and a scrappy fighter. Tillie was the picture of grace and compassion. Public service was genetic for her. her father was former Georgia State Sen. Culver Kidd. I will miss my friend. I fully expected to be working with her in the upcoming BRAC deliberations this year. She was tenacious. she was gracious and she was a beautiful soul. Her familyher husband. Buck. and their daughterswill be in my thoughts and prayers.","speaker_name":"SOLOMON ORTIZ","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":27.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2422,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090010466,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I thank the gentlewoman from Wisconsin and the gentleman from Connecticut for arranging this discussion. Madam Speaker. America is all abuzz about this discussion on Social Security. and that is because it is recognized from coast to coast. from every little village to every city. as very important. It is recognized. I would say. as one of the great accomplishments of America in the past century. One of my constituents wrote me saying. \"Representative HOLT. please remind the Members of the House of Representatives how important Social Security has become for American families.\" And she tells an important story that brings up a part of Social Security that we sometimes forget. The discussion often concerns retirement. But she tells the story of how her mother was widowed. and she and her two brothers were left without their father when he died in 1931. ","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3673,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090010467,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I thank the gentleman for his words and also for the spotlight he has put on the words of his constituents. I was mentioning. as the gentleman from New Jersey just did. about the 31 percent of all Social Security beneficiaries who are not retirees but are. in fact. disabled workers or survivors. I would like to have my colleagues hear from some additional con-. stituents of mine who fit in that category and are advocating in that manner. Martha from Madison Writes. \"I can speak to the power of Social Security professionally as well as personally. I work for an agency that assists adults with developmental disabilities. For these individuals. much. if not all. of their livelihood comes from monthly Social Security checks. Few of us could live on $58.77 a month. Their lifestyle is not extravagant. but it is possible. ","speaker_name":"TAMMY BALDWIN","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2633,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090010470,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"About 30 percent of Social Security benefits go to those who are disabled and those who are family members. And the President said. if I might take another .30 seconds. that they would not be affected. the disabled. But that does not work out because what he has called a good blueprint provides for major benefits cut. And the plan. the second plan of the commission that is part of that good blueprint does affect the disabled. And if you were to have these massive cuts over time. especially hurting younger workers. for retirees and not for the disabled. it would mean deeper cuts yet for younger workers who are going to retire.","speaker_name":"SANDER LEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":633,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090010480,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I thank the Congressman and I am very pleased that he brought up the issue of the risk that Social Security would be subject to if these private accounts were allowed to occur. and I have just a couple of letters on that point too that I wish to share. Jack from Fort Atkinson. Wisconsin. writes me. \"Tammy. thanks for your hard work to keep the promise of Social Security. This privatization plan is about the dumbest thing that Bush has come up with besides the war in Iraq. We have a privatization deal now via IRAs. and let me tell you. my wife and I lost over half of our investment in our IRA accounts after 2000. The only people that will make money in this deal are the brokers.\" Another one here. Cheryl. from Madison. writes. \"I have deep concerns with President Bushs proposal. ","speaker_name":"TAMMY BALDWIN","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1565,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090010486,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"(during the Special Order of Ms. BALDWIN). from the Committee on Rules. submitted a privileged report (Rept. No. 10914) on the resolution (H. Res. 140) providing for consideration of the bill to authorize funds for Federalaid highways. highway safety programs. and transit programs. and for other purposes. which was referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed.","speaker_name":"SHELLEY CAPITO","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":374,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090010550,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask unanimous consent that the resolution and preamble be agreed to en bloc. the motions to reconsid6r be laid upon the table en bloc. and that any statements related to the resolution be printed in the RECORD. without intervening action or debate.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":250,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090010579,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Senator SESSIONS: I remind all of my colleagues that people who are economically distressed and have incomes below the median income already will be exempt from the means test. If this is true. and I hope it is. there is no reason this amendment should not pass overwhelmingly. in fact by a voice vote. But if those who drew up this bill really want to put everybody through these means tests regardless of their income. even those in the lowest income categories. that is -another story altogether. We know that half the people who go to bankruptcy court today are there because of medical bills. They are people who ended up with a mountain of debt because of an illness in their family. Do you know -what else? Threefourths of those people filing for bankruptcy because of medical bills had health insurance. They thought they had protected themselves and their families. They didnt have enough health insurance or they lost their job after the diagnosis. It happens. What we are saying is if you are in one of those terrible situations where things have gone terribly wrong for your family and you are facing bankruptcy and you are in a lowincome category. for goodness sakes. why would we heap more procedural requirements. more cost. more paperwork. more demands on the poorest among us? This amendment says what three Republican Senators have said on the floor word for word: If you are below the median income. you do not have to fill out the papers for the means test. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3914,"word_count":258}
{"speech_id":1090010594,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I commend the Governor of California. I say to him that whatever we can do here on a bipartisan basis to back you. up. you have our support and our encouragement. Please take your message nationwide. Dont just keep it in California.. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":303,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090010604,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I suppose they would. if cats. could pay interest. But let me tell you about this particular egregious situation I am trying to fix. I think it would shock Americans to understand this. The fastest growing part of the credit card business is the young people in this country. The credit card companies entice our young people to gp. into debt. go into debt. and they know the sky is the limit as to what they can charge for that debt. Is it 10 percent? No. That would be low. Is it 20 percent? That would be low. There was an amendment here to cap it at 36 percent. and that failed. We are talking about taking a young person who doesnt have a clue and offering them credit cards. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3800,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090010606,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this amendment basically protects workers who are able to take a priority preference in back wages. vacation pay. severance pay. and sick pay when a company goes bankrupt. Under the -bill. there is a -limit of $10.000. That is fine. I do not touch that. This amendment lifts the 180 days. For example. lets say a worker has worked for a company for 10 years and they get $500 a year severance pay. The company goes bankrupt. Normally. you get $5.000. but because of the 180 days. you only get $250 for which you get a priority. otherwise. you get in line with the other creditors. What this does is lift the 180 days. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1133,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090010618,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask unanimous consent the last vote in this series in relation to the Dodd amendment occur at 2:45 today. provided further that following that vote. the Senate proceed to vote in relation to the Kennedy amendment numbered 68. further that no amendments be in order to the amendments prior to the vote.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":303,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090010620,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"My amendment will help people who are struggling to repay their obligations. I encourage all of my colleagues to support this amendment to help consumers enrolled In debt management plans to successfully repay their credits. free themselves from debt. and avoid bankruptcy. My amendment has been endorsed by the Consumer Federation of America. U.S. Public Interest Research Group. Consumer Action. and the National Consumer Law Center. I ask unanimous consent that a letter of support for my amendment be included in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3660,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090010682,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There is no moral failure there. If her health insurance is not good. she is left in a position where she can never. ever pay back the bills. That is not a person who should be put through a more rigorous procedure in a bankruptcy court. Senator KENNEDY said that if you dont do anything else for that poor woman and her family. at least say at the end of the banikruptcy court hearing she will still have a home. a roof over her head. So -we asked for a $150.000 homestead exemption so that a person could at least have a modest home to return to after bankruptcy from a medical. illness. That amendment was rejected. Everybody on the other side of the aisle voted against it. I offered an amendment and said. what about the men and women in uniform today. the Guard and Reserve Who are being activated. They joined thinking: once a year I may have to serve my State. mycountry for a month or so. Nowwe are calling them into battle for a year. a year and a half. and no end is in sight. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7321,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090010692,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the very able Senator from Vermont. the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee. I am pleased to join with him in offering an amendment to the Bankruptcy Act. This amendment addresses a provision in the bill that would drastically weaken the conflictofinterest protections of the Bankruptcy Code in regard to investment banks. Section 414 of this bill makes sweeping changes in the conflictofinterest requirements of the bankruptcy process in regard to investment banks. These changes are opposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. by such legal experts as Judge Edith Jones of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Dean Nancy Rapoport of the University of Houston Law Center. They were rejected by the National Bankruptcy Review Commission of 1997. ","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1344,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090010740,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Why do you have to take time when you are talking about what the impact of this legislation is going to be on the members of the National Guard and Reserves. who go overseasthe.20.000 that would be bankrupt this year and subject to the harsh provisions of this legislation. And then we had a phony amendment that was accepted here that will do virtually .nothing to protect them. What about the homestead exemption. which says that those who exist in five States are going to be able to squirrel tens of millions of dollars away so that if they go into bankruptcy they would be able to protect their million dollar homes? Why not have fairness across the country? Oh. no. we cannot do that because we have a delicate compromise. What is that delicate compromise they are talking about? I thought this legislation was going after spendthrifts. We agree to go after them. but when we know half of the people going into bankruptcy are going there because of health care bills that are run up. with 75 percent of those individuals covered with health insurance. but because they have a heart attack in their family or because they have a stroke in their family. or because they have a child who has spina bifida in their family. they are subject to the harsh provisions of this legislation that will virtually make them an indentured servant of the credit card companies for the next 5 years. That is what is in this bill. We have pointed that out. No. we will vote that down. We will vote down any consideration for the National Guard and any consideration for the Reserve if they happen to be individuals who may be running a family business. one or two working in a particular employment or a momandpop store. and they go overseas and they are going to serve: for many months. and the store bellies up. then they are subject to the harsh provisions of this. No. we are not going to give consideration to. those veterans. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11130,"word_count":345}
{"speech_id":1090010749,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The provision included in the bill however. while obviously better than the current laws allowance of an unlimited homestead exemption. is still not a comprehensive solution to thq current abuses of the law. It would allow those who establish their residence in an unlimited homestead state more than 3 years and 4 months before a bankruptcy filing to shelter an unlimited amount of money in their residences. All it ivould take for a greedy or unscrupulous individual to take advantage of this provision to defraud his or her creditors is some planfning and foresight. And it does nothing to stop lifelong residents of these states from taking advantage of the unlimited homestead exemption to protect their assets from creditois. A review of a few examples in recent years show how willing disreputable debtors are to engage in such planning to hide their assets. Let me give you just a few of the many examples: John Porter. WorldComs cofounder and former Chairman. bought a 10.000 squarefoot ocean front estate in Palm Beach. Florida in 1998. a home featured on the cover of the November 2004 issue of Luxury Homes magazine. and now worth nearly $17 million. The IRS says he owes more than $25 million for back taxes. and he is .the defendant in several multimillion dollar securities fraud lawsuits resulting from the failure of WorldCom. Porter filed for bankruptcy in May 2004. ","speaker_name":"HERBERT KOHL","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6786,"word_count":232}
{"speech_id":1090010762,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Morriss. I know all of my colleagues join me in congratulating Dave. his wife Mary Elizabeth. and sons John. Will. and .Graham. on the completion of an outstanding military career.*","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2711,"word_count":30}
{"speech_id":1090010774,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"American theater is admired and respected throughout the world and we should honor those whose genius and hard work have contributed to that success. This resolution honoring the life of Arthur Miller is an opportunity for all of us to express our appreciation for the extraordinary and eloquent gift he brought the Nation. His great works have enriched the lives of all Americans. and of theaterlovers around the world. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3362,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090010789,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Indian Affairs be authorized to meet on Wednesday. March 9. 2005. at 9:30 a.m. in Room 485 of the Russell Senate Office Building to conduct a business meeting on S. 147. the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act. and S. 536. a bill to make technical corrections to laws relating to Native Americans. and for other purposes. to be followed immediately by an oversight hearing on Indian Trust Reform.","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":467,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090010812,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We will work with the Republicans on trying to deal with the Social Security problems that exist in the future. but we cannot support privatization.","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1227,"word_count":25}
{"speech_id":1090010831,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. from time to time.. it is important that we acknowledge our individual histories and the characteristics that define. us as Americans. Last month. we celebrated AfricanAmerican History Month. Today. I am very happy to stand with the gentleman from North Carolina and the other 56 cosponsors of H. Res. 41. This bill recognizes the outstanding achievements and contributions made by Scottish Americans to the United States by expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that a day should be established as National Tartan Day. Scottish Americans have played important roles in the growth and development of this Nation. Three such Scottish Americans are John Witherspoon. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2688,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090010844,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. Madam Speaker. I also stand in support of House Resolution 119. My father served as a pilot of a landing craft during the Battle of Iwo Jima. and it is an honor and a pleasure to recognize the sacrifice and contributions of the United States Marine Corps and other services on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima. I had the honor of meeting a humble hero of the Battle of Iwo Jima sometime ago back in my district when we dedicated the Medal of Honor Memorial at the Riverside National Cemetery. His name is Bob Bush. and he received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his service as a medical corpsman with the 2nd Battalion. 5th Marines. on May 2. 1945. His citation reads like a scene from a John Wayne movie. but it is all true: \"Fearlessly braving the fury of artillery. mortar. and machinegun fire from strongly entrenched hostile positions. Bush constantly and unhesitatingly moved from one casualty to another to attend the wounded falling under the enemys murderous barrages. As the attack passed over a ridge top. ","speaker_name":"KEN CALVERT","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":44.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2213,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090010865,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Orlando. Florida. 58 cents on the dollar. Tucson. 57 cents on the dollar. Dallas. Ft. Worth. 75 cents on the dollar: this is an imbalance for the vast majority of metropolitan areas in the country. There has been an effort to get an amendment made in order by my friend. the gentlewoman from Texas","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1450,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090010866,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I would like to reiterate that this is the first rule for this bill. There will be further consideration of amendments later this afternoon and will continue into tomorrow with further consideration of additional amendments. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"SHELLEY CAPITO","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":340,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090010877,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The gas tax is meant to be a surrogate for road usage and is the standard for the userpay system of our Federal highway program. but I am afraid that we are using a 20thcentury benchmark in the 21st century. H.R. 3 takes real concrete steps to move us toward modernizing and updating how we finance our Nations roads. The bill before us does differ from H.R. 3550 in that we have made revisions relating to the donor State issue. The \"scope\" issue has been addressed so that. for example. high priority projects are now once again covered under the Minimum Guarantee program. a major change fromthe bill last year. and other improvements have been made as well. As it has been noted. this issue will continue to be addressed as we are in conference. and this is not the final resolution for this particular issue. This is my fifth transportation bill since joining the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. and this is always the most complicated issue to resolve. While I wish the funding levels were higher. nevertheless every State will see an increase in its funding. The bill includes programs for safety: infrastructure safety on the road. work safety. motor carrier safety. and behavioral safety. Harley Davidson is headquartered in my State. and we have several provisions addressing motorcycle safety. D 1145 Motorcycle safety grants are authorized. and I encourage States to look at using these and section 402 funds to address impaired driving. which is a great cause of concern. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS PETRI","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5222,"word_count":253}
{"speech_id":1090010882,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Without increases to meet our mass transportation needs included in this legislation. we will have to macadam our living rooms to reduce congestion on our roads. There is one provision I am disappointed is missing from the legislation. The gentlemen from New Jersey","speaker_name":"BILL PASCRELL","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1565,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090010896,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Congestion is on the rise in urban areas. and deterioration of air quality poses an even greater risk to the health of our residents. particularly seniors and children. . I have one amendment that was accepted but there is another one that is still in question ..where we really. need. to address congestion. urban congestion. Our constituents have spoken. and we must act. It is imperative that we commit ourselves to working together to passing a final bill today. or tomorrow. that addresses our Nations crumbling infrastructure. This creates badly needed goodpaying jobs. which we need to give attention to. It addresses our congestion and poor. air quality. expands inclusion of minority and womenowned businesses in Federal transportation contracting and makes donor highway funding equity close to a reality. We must get this bill through conference and to the Presidents desk as soon as we can. I thank both of the leaderships. majority and minority. I support this bill and hope that we can move it along rapidly.","speaker_name":"EDDIE JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2175,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090010904,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Chairman. transferring funds set aside by the government for highway projects to bail out troubled transit systems is wrong. The transit system in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia has continually had problems meeting its financial responsibility. and it is out of the pockets of rural Pennsylvanians that the funding shortfalls are met. Critical highway projects in our region are put in jeopardy when highway moneys are transferred to transit. Our highway system weaves a thread of viability through our State and between our urban areas. Quite simply. you cannot travel from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia without going through rural central Pennsylvania. To this end. I am pleased that included in the bill is language directing the Government Accountability Office to review this transfer authotity and how it is being used. I want to thank my colleagues. the gentleman from Pennsylvania and the gentleman from Pennsylvania . for their support on our effort on this issue. It is critical that Congress address this issue and examine the possible need of limiting Governors ability to shift funds in the future. Rural Pennsylvanians. rural Americans should not have to continue to foot the bill for transit riders in the large metropolitan areas of this country. ","speaker_name":"BILL SHUSTER","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4388,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090010916,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the highway and transit reauthorization bill is long overdue. and we must not lose sight of the big picture regarding the critical importance this legislation offers. As my constituents in North Carolina. as well as the State infrastructure planners from across the country remind me on a.regular basis. we must get a suitable transportation bill passed by both bodies expeditiously. and I look forward to remaining actively involved in the legislative process to ensure that all States receive the necessary funding and important policy initiatives H.R. 3 authorizes. As I said .at the outset. Mr. Chairman. vehicular congestion. It costs taxpayers millions of dollars each year. and I do not suggest that the bill before us will automatically cure that problem. but it will certainly address it and assuage the discomfort that results therefrom.","speaker_name":"HOWARD COBLE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2400,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090010947,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong support of this legislation. and I thank the gentleman from Alaska (Chairman YOUNG) and the gentleman from Minnesota (Ranking Member OBERSTAR). as well as the -gentleman from Wisconsin . the subcommittee chair. and the gentleman from Oregon","speaker_name":"JOHN OLVER","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":329,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090010979,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This amendment is not about flexibility. it is about rolling back safety soa few companies can increase profits. Do you know anyone who works a 14hour day whod rather change that to 16 hours? Who. in their right mind. really wants to show up for work at 7 a.m. and leave at11 p.m.? What about the families and their children? What about time to sleep? The Boozman amendment is a bad idea that will endanger our families on the road and decrease the quality of life for truck drivers. I urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment.","speaker_name":"JOE BACA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":43.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1386,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090010990,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They have immense liabilities if that happens. They have as great or greater interest in safe. alert truck drivers than we certainly do in Congress. This industry is burdened by regulation that is not proven to increase safety with respect to oil and gas operations. It is simply an added layer of regulation that I believe is unnecessary. This amendment would unburden that very important industry in our country. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"K. CONAWAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1312,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090011012,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. The gentleman from Kansas is a very distinguished and decent and a wellthinking member of our committee. He has offered many thoughtful amendments. We have on the committee worked together to respect the unique needs in agriculture during planting time. harvest time. within a reasonable distance of the point of production and endpoint of distribution. The purpose of the language in the committee bill was to ensure that products grown and harvested get from the farm to market in timely fashion. I understand that. I have got large sectors of my congressional district that are intensely agricultural. We want that corn and soybeans to get to market in timely fashion. ","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1832,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090011028,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As evident certainly are his efforts to form the Bipartisan Retreat Committee. his service on. Members and the Family Room Committee. and as cochair of the Faith and Politics Institute with our colleague. the gentleman from Georgia . Naming this bypass the. Houghton Bypass is but a small tribute to a great man. but it will serve as a permanent honor to this Congressman. to Amo Houghton. and to his tireless service to the community and to the Nation. Mr. Chairman. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment. This is a right and fitting thing to do. Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KUHL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3709,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090011034,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman forintroducing this amendment. I gladly accept the amendment. I am a little concerned. though. about having this bypass named after Aro Houghton. As such a gentleman and one so civil and always so friendly. I do not like to see a bypass get congested because they will start saying that Amo Houghton Bypass is all congested and does not work any more. So I hope it is big enough and new enough so that traffic will always flow through it. It is an honor to name this after him. and I repeat all the words that all the Members have said about Amo.","speaker_name":"DON YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":582,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090011066,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I want to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox) for bringing this amendment up and for the committee for entertaining it. and I trust that it will pass. hopefully. unanimously.","speaker_name":"JAMES MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":893,"word_count":31}
{"speech_id":1090011067,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Cox\/Moran amendment helps to clarify the specific types of regulation state and local governments may enact. Without legislative clarification. the courts will continue to be the forum to resolve disputesand. without judicial consensus. this would only create more uncertainty. Absent a uniform national policy direction. consumers will continue to lose. Given the current Administrations initiative to curtail plaintiffs ability to have their meritorious claims heard. this amendment amounts to an effort to protect innocent consumers and property owners. Mr. Chairman. for the reasons mentioned above. I support the gentlemens amendment an urge my colleagues to do the same.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3631,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090011073,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. This amendment addresses the big issues surrounding this years road bill. How .do we meet expanding capacity? How do we do so without increasing. taxes or expanding tile deficit? How do we address an over reliance on the gas tax? .The degree to which the FAST Act. introduced by myself and the gentleman from Washington . attracted strong bipartisan support reflects the success in addressing these issues. by expanrding capacity. by \"removing an outdated prohibition against charging fees on the interstate. and preserving the trust of the drivipg public by doing so only if the fees are charged on new lanes. so we have new concrete or tar. charge electronically. so there are no toll booths and the fees go aiway when construction and maintenance costs have been provided for. The use of these optional lanes would be optional to drivers. and the program is optional for States to use and does not impact their funding allocations. It is estimated that the FAST provisions couldprovide $50 billion in additi6nal capacity over the road bill period without increasing -taxes or expanding the deficit.","speaker_name":"MARK KENNEDY","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1158,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090011076,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the enitlemans courtesy. I want to make clear that I personally am open .to the possibility of having more flexibility within the transportationfund:Vaie pricing and tolling have a role. They have hada role since the beginning of our freeway system. But this amendment is not the FASTlane bill that the gentleman from Minnesota introduced last year. Despite the rhetoric that it is supported by every major highway user group. his amendment is opposed by almost every highway user group. including AASHTO. My colleague from Minnesota pointed out AGC. APTA. AMPO. and the International Bridge and Tunnel Turnpike Authority. ","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3013,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090011079,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Again. I thank the gentleman for yielding. and I wish the gentleman would continue to work with us to work to solve this problem.","speaker_name":"DON YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2029,"word_count":24}
{"speech_id":1090011084,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise to oppose this amendment. Our State department of transportation is very opposed to the language in the Kennedy amendment and would ask that the House defeat this amendment and use the language that is in the main bill. In Texas. we have such a unique problem because we have such a large geographic footprint. second only to Alaska. Yet at the same time. we receive nowhere near the Federal funding the State of Alaska receives. As a consequence. we are constantly behind and constantly looking for ways to finance necessary and needed road projects in my State. We have farmtomarket roads and State highways in my State that carry traffic. burdens of traffic they were never intended to carry. and they cannot be financed with the gas tax alone. We need the flexibility to take the money from a toll road and move it to a near neighbor. neartime project. which I understand that this amendment would prohibit. Finally. we cannot allow the sunsetting of the tolls on a toll project. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BURGESS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1137,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090011102,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan . the ranking member on the Committee on the Judiciary.","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":921,"word_count":19}
{"speech_id":1090011110,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. this is a very specious argument that we have before us. The rental company has insurance. so that makes everything fine. except that the amendment relieves the rental company of the liability on their insurance. except in the case of negligence. That does not make any sense whatever. If I have a vehicle and allow someone else to use that vehicle and that person has an accident. I am the one that is liable. Why should a car rental company be any different than the individual? The answer is they have got a good lobby and they are lobbying for this amendment. They are lobbying to free themselves of responsibility and liability. That is not right. States have different rules. ","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1177,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090011136,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"She seemed very curious about the presence of strangers in her room. When she heard their voices. particularly -her mothers voice. Terry instantly turned her head towards them and smiled. Terry established eye contact with her family. particularly her mother. who spent the most time with her during our visit.\" Obviously. she is not comatose. I hope that Congress will expeditiously consider the legislation introduced by the gentleman from Florida to address her type of case so that she does not have to die a very painful death. in accordance with this judges decision.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1045,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090011146,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"For more than a year. I have been strongly advocating for the creation of such an investigative committee. and today. I also became a cosponsor of this legislation that I hope we can include in the Iraq supplemental next week. Mr. Speaker. every Member of Congress should want to vote for this legislation. After all. one of our main functions in the legislative branch is to oversee exactly where the executive branch is spending funds we appropriate. As Senator Truman demonstrated during World War II. this has absolutely nothing to do with party politics. Instead. it has everything to do with ensuring that the administration is not wasting the American taxpayers money. I still cannot understand why congressional Republicans. with the one exception of the gentleman from Iowa","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3909,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090011159,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is not just a southern Utah issue or a Western issue. In fact. the National Cancer Institute completed a study looking at concentrations of iodine 131. the isotope that causes thyroid cancer. and looked at how this was dispersed across the country from the testing. And from the Nevada test site going north and east. Members can see it has crossed the country. and even some counties in upstate New York and Vermont received higher concentrations of fallout than some counties close to the test site. So this is indeed an issue of national importance and national scope. I have introduced legislation that I think is very responsible in terms of ensuring safety before any nuclear weapons testing can take place again. This legislation calls for a full environmental review. an environmental impact statement. before testing can happen so we can establish all of the health and safety risks and how they can be addressed before testing can happen. That has never been done before. It also calls for setting up an extensive nationwide monitoring system so we can detect any radiation and fallout from the testing. It will not just be a governmentrun system. we will have a second monitoring system run.by independent third parties through our university system to ensure that we understand the truths about what is going on with nuclear testing and exposure to radiation. ","speaker_name":"JIM MATHESON","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5126,"word_count":230}
{"speech_id":1090011165,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That .is over four cents higher than any other region of the country. Residents in Cleveland are paying today more than $2.07 a gallon. an increase of over 12 cents from the last week of February and over 33 cents per gallon from a year ago. What is truly dangerous and tragic about this trend is our continued dependence on imported sources of oil. It means that our Nation is strategically vulnerable to disruptions in those with over half of the petroleum we use imported. That is why. when I asked Secretary Donald Rumsfeld this week when he was before our defense committee what he was doing as the Secretary of the largest Cabinet agency in the government of the United States to help lead America to a new energy era. I was very surprised to hear his answer. which I quote from the record: The Department of Defense has no authority to do anything about oil. Needless to say. we dont get funds appropriated by this committee for doing things that relate to reducing our Nations dependency on oil. I was shocked at his answer since we were considering the supplemental appropriation bill this week for the Defense Department. and just in the supplemental. there is over $1.411 billion related to unforeseen fuel price increases. for fuel delivery costs. For instance. the Defense Logistics Agency is going to pay $742.300.000 morejust in the -supplemental. the Marine Corps. $311.380.000. and the list goes on and on. Indeed. the Institute of Local SelfReliance. in a report done just a few years ago. says that in any fiscal year. our government spends over $100 billion just allowing oil to flow into this country. ","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4789,"word_count":281}
{"speech_id":1090011175,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. would you believe that 66 percent of the American people support Amtrak? Not 66 percent from the Red States or the Blue States. but 66 percent of the American people. Mr. Speaker. I yield to the gentleman from Maryland . a member of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and a leader in this country on transportation and infrastructure.","speaker_name":"CORRINE BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":363,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090011191,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We are working on the bill. hopefully. we will pass it tomorrow. But Iwant to point out. we are looking at a bill that is $284 billion. and our Department of Transportation indicated that we needed $375 billion. So we are way behind. This is because this Bush administration does not support the investments that we really need to make in transportation. and that is why we are 17 months behind passing a transportation bill that the country and all of the Governors. the local communities. the private sector. they all need this investment. because our infrastructure in the United States is falling apart.","speaker_name":"CORRINE BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":607,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090011202,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But as far as I am concerned. the American people need to understand. arid I think it is our job to help educate them on the importance of Amtrak and give them a method that they can communicate to us and let us know that Amtrak is important. With that. I am proposing that we do a series of whistle stops throughout the country. I think the Members need to get out into the districts. ride the train. aid talk to the people that are doing that ridership. And we are working on that. and we are organizing that. And I hope that the gentlewoman will participate because I think that the best thing to do is to have townhall meetings where the people can give us direct input. This is the peoples House. and we represent the people of the United States. and we are closer to them. We have to come before them every 2 years. And so I think this would be one avenue with those whistle stops. to get out and talk to the American people and hear what they have to say about Amtrak. My hour is up. ","speaker_name":"CORRINE BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12443,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090011211,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The President has included $125 million in this years budget to help meet the goal of ensuring that most Americans have electronic medical records within the next 10 years. Patient records are usually kept on record on paper. I know when I worked in hospitals. if we needed to call upon a patients file. sometimes that would take a good deal of time. Whether it was half an hour or hours. that could have an effect on some of the decisions. I ask the. gentleman to describe the cumbersome system in terms of what we are trying to move away from.","speaker_name":"TIM MURPHY","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1510,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090011215,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The gentleman also The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. bus well knows that doing these kinds of DENT). Under a previous order of the of things saves money. The Center For In- House. the gentleman from California in formation Technology leadership esti- is recognized for 5 min- ent mated that. if we move towards elec- utes. con tronic health records. it could save Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker. I want to nes about $78 billion a year. or 5 percent of begin by congratulating the gentleman for the Nations total annual healthcare from Georgia and the the cost. And in a time when so many busi- gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. nur nesses have seen their health care costs MURPHY) for their fine work focusing tha climbing. sometimes up into the dou- on the very important health care B bledigit amounts per year. it can do a needs that exist and the challenges Sta great deal. that the American people have in ob- dir I know we only have a few minutes taining quality health care. wo left. but one other thing just to whet I want to take just a few minutes to em the appetite with which we will need to talk about an issue which was very ate come back to at another time is elec- critical and important in last falls vey tronic prescribing. No offense to. the campaign. and I want to talk about tra good doctor. but very often. it is tough some of the wild inaccuracies that yea for someone to read a physicians hand- came to the forefront during that cam- the writing. This can also .lead to errors. paign. ","speaker_name":"TIM MURPHY","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2681,"word_count":275}
{"speech_id":1090011216,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Despite the series of massive ws to our economy in the early part this decade. despite an ongoing war terror. despite sluggish growth in ny of our biggest trading partner ions. President Bush presided over 4 .rs of net job creation. 119.000 jobs to exact. But those 119.000 payroll jobs only a small slice of the overelmingly positive news about our nomy. his Depressionera job survey is a le out of its league in our very fast.ed 21st century economy. While it .nts payroll jobs in longestablished inesses. it misses many of the types jobs that are increasingly common an economy based on innovation and repreneurship. Todays independent tractors. consultants. small busis owners and LLC partners account onethird of new job creation. But y are not reflected in that payroll nber. that Depressionera structure .t is used for counting payroll jobs. y contrast. the Bureau of Labor .tistics survey of households goes ectly to individuals. All types of rkers. regardless of how they are ployed or how their jobs were cred. are covered by the household sur. Consequently. the picture it porys of our economy over the past 4 .rs is far more complete than what payroll survey conveys. By suring the entire workforce. it demtrates that President Bush presided .r the creation of 2.5 million new s in his first term. Again. he did this oughout incredibly tumultuous and icult times. he household survey figure of 2.5 lion new jobs is much more in line h other economic indicators that hlight just how absfird that Herbert over claim actually is. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4509,"word_count":261}
{"speech_id":1090011302,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. -today. on the front page of the New York Times. there is a story that says \"U.S. Called Ready to See Hezbollah in Lebanon Role. A Sharp Policy Reversal.\" The article states. \"After years of campaigning against Hezbollah. the radical Shiite Muslim party in Lebanon. as a terrorist pariah. the Bush administration is grudgingly going along with efforts by France and the UN to steer the party into the Lebanese political mainstream. administration officials say.\"Administration officials say. what a mistake. What a mistake to deal with terrorists. President Bush has repeatedly said that we showld not deal with terrorists. There are no good terrorists. There are no good terrorists. All terrorists are bad. ","speaker_name":"ELIOT ENGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1477,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090011316,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am supporting this rule. despite the fact that it does restrict the amendment process. and while an open rule is generally preferable. this rule does allow the House to consider and vote on some important amendments. especially the PascrellMenendezLoBiondo anticorruption amendment. The first rule provided for general debate on H.R. 3 and made in order nine Republican amendments. and one that was bipartisan. This rule makes in order 10 Republican amendments. including a managers amendment by the gentleman from Alaska (Chairman YOUNG) that was drafted in consultation with the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Democrats and is supported by the gentleman from Minnesota (Ranking Member","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":717,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090011318,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Almost every district faces these challenges. I do. as I speak to the challenge. express also some concern about the guarantee within this bill that essentially would suggest where we fall short of money under current circumstances. additional funding will come by way. or likely come by way. of the general funds. As all of the Members know. we are working intently this year to move our appropriations bills ahead of schedule and indeed under budget. As we go about that. there are a lot of pressures on our dollar availability as relates to the general fund. So I really rise to express concern about things like the following: The funding floors mandated in TEALU would require discretionary appropriations of about $1.7 billion from the general fund for 2006. Because those funds remain short. obviously. such a conflict will create difficulty in moving forward with the regular appropriations process. In addition to the mass transit difficulty that is obvious to anybody who will but look. the highway category of TEALU guarantees $37.4 billion in highway budget resources. This is $1.6 billion over the Presidents request of $35.9 billion. As you can see. we have great difficulty moving our way through this process and making sense out of the budget. too. It is my intdntion to work very closely with the chairman and the ranking member to make sure that these challenges are handled in a way that meets all of our needs. ","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3426,"word_count":242}
{"speech_id":1090011328,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. in a letter that went from Suzanne Novak on behalf of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU to the gentleman from Alaska . the honorary chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. add the gentleman from Minnesota . ranking member. she wrote in that letter in support of the Federal Government supporting States and being very specific about the bidding laws in contracting to respond to the collusion or the possibilities of collusion that have existed. I can assure my colleagues. not only in the State of New Jersey. She wrote this: \"Several recent scandals regarding government contracting in New Jersey prompted New Jersey to establish a criterion of responsibility for government contracting which prohibited the State from contracting with an entity that has contributed to a candidate for or holder of the office of Governor. or to any State or county political party committee. within certain time frames. The executive \"order of the Governor\" \"explicitly stated that the growing infusion of funds donated by business entities into the political process at all level of government has generated widespread cynicism among the public that special interest groups are \"buying\" favors from elected officeholders.\" Mr. Speaker. the courts have recognized that contributions from government contractors present a severe risk of engendering corruption. the appearance of corruption and. thus. have generally upheld paytoplay contribution bans. and this is what this amendment is all about. It is a bipartisan amendment to reform government. to help government clean up its act. We have similar laws on the Federal books about contracting and bidding. We want to remove cynicism from the public about when the government does business that there is proper conditions that will be implemented to make sure that it is done according to the law. Blount v. the SEC was a perfect example. ","speaker_name":"BILL PASCRELL","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3718,"word_count":305}
{"speech_id":1090011343,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In particular. I support the changes to the calculation of \"Revenue Aligned Budget Authority\" (RABA\". reestablishment of budgetary firewalls for highways and transit programs. reauthorization of the Swift Rail Act at $100 million per year (title IX of the bill). and extension of revenue provisions approved by the Ways and Means Committee. Moreover. I support the improvements to the bill proposed in the Managers amendment. In particular. due to the tremendous bipartisan efforts of my colleagues. the amendment now includes language to guarantee that TEA 21s 90.5 percent Minimum Guarantee is protected. with a scope defined as no less than 92.6 percent of the highway program funds in the bill. This is a significant improvement over the bill passed by the House last year. I thank the distinguished Majority Leader for his work in ensuring that this measurewill protect these provisions. allowing the House to move into conference in a stronger negotiating position toward achieving a higher MG above 90.5 percent. The Managers Amendment makes this a better bill for Houstonians and for Texans. I would like to offer my support for the amendment offered by Mr. DAVIS of Virginia that will ensure that tolls are applied equally to all users of toll facilities. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5034,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090011351,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Federal levels to lay enough. asphalt on these lanes. and so we are using tolls in some of these areas. The current bill contains several provisions that make it difficult for us to collect tolls on the interstate highway without trying to decide how much money people make. and there is almost a means testing into who uses them. It is Very. very difficult to determine how much you are going to collect to get your bonds. what percent are .low income and what percent are high income. and so we basically knock that out of the current language in this legislation. I support the- provisions that allow the highoccupancy tolls. but I am concerned about the requirement for States to establish procedures to permit lowincome individuals to pay reduced tolls. These are user fees. These are not taxes. This requirement would impose unmanageable requirementson those States who would otherwise like to make use of these tolling provisions. and in our case it is the only way .we can lay down new pavement. The Commonwealth of Virginia now seeks to use toll provisions to finance several important projects. including widening of the Capital Beltway. adding HOT lanes to 195. and adding dedicated truck lanes on 181 in the Shenandoah. Valley. The Capital Beltway HOT lane proposal. which would greatly benefit my constituents. as an example. is a publicprivate partnership. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4754,"word_count":229}
{"speech_id":1090011393,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today in support of the Issa amendment. Quite simply. the increased use of fuel efficient vehicles is a boon to our country. Hybrid vehicles benefit our environment. Our cities and towns are being choked by smog. The increased use of hybrid vehicles would reduce this problem. Hybrid vehicles also benefit our ecofiomy. The Ford Escape Hybrid is assembled in my home State of Missouri. Sales for the Escape hybrid have been so strong that this plant cannot keep up with demand. ","speaker_name":"RUSS CARNAHAN","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1025,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090011427,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. the extensions we have had are only 6 months at a time. We have had a couple of those. We would like to extend to the end of the authorization period. Mr. Chairman. I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":280,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090011433,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. as a point system (such as a driving while intoxicated. of clarification. it is my understanding court) for the purpose of changing the behavthat what is in TEALU only extends ior of alcohol or drug dependent offenders arthe flexibility to 2005. What mine does rested for driving while impaired.\".","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":311,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090011482,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Chairman. I affirm my willingness to work with the gentleman and the chairman to resolve this matter as we proceed to conference on withdrawal of the amendment. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":268,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090011489,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It would. however. put the discussion for State priorities where it belongs. at the State levels or among State delegations. Meffibers of my delegation from Arizona. for example. could get together and say we are not convinced that our State Department of Transportation is putting the right priority on this area or this area. or. politically. they are ignoring m: district. for example. Those are decisions that could be made there. but other States should not be penalized by our earmarks. And that is what has happened in years past. I just want to make sure that it does not. I would like to ask the chairman or the ranking minority member if they are willing. after offering this amendment. my understanding is that the managers amendment actually contains language to fund earmarks below the line and do much of what my amendment intended to do. My concern is that the criteria for earmarks that will still be funded above the line may be a little too loose and that. in the end. those earmarks will end up coming out of my States formula as well. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1843,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090011490,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The amendment punishes States that do well in highpriority projects and transit new starts and redistributes those dollars elsewhere. That is contrary to the entire intent of this legislation. Members should have a say in the distribution of the dollars under this legislation. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1027,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090011491,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. my understanding of the gentleman from Minnesota . if he will clarify. my understanding is that the managers amendment did contain language to actually fund the earmarks below the line. meaning that they actually will and much of this amendment is actually contained in the bill already. Is that not the case? Because if so. there is no way we can come anywhere close to reaching the 92.6 that has been. if not guaranteed. bandied about.","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":508,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090011494,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. we reached a delicate balance in extensive negotiation between the majority and minority. between the leadership in a formula that is spelled out in the managers amendment that accomplishes the goal in real terms of achieving 92.6 percent return for all States.","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":275,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090011495,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Reclaiming my time. if the chairman would chair. my understanding is. and if the gentleman would clarify. that the guts of this amendment is already contained in the managers amendment. If that is the case. then I am willing to consider withdrawing. But what I want to make sure is that the earmarks that are still funded. and according to news reports this morning. earmarks will still be funded above the line that are regional in nature or regional in national significance. I just want to make sure there is criteria for those that will not start pulling other earmarks above the line. therefore diminishing the amount of return that my State gets.","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":652,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090011498,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I do not believe the gentlemans State will get any less money under what we propose. It will be at 92.6. and the problem with this amendment is that it is the Flake amendment and that is the number one problem. I will tell you very frankly. after stressing that we worked very closely with the leadership. with everybody trying to reach a solution with the amount of dollars we have and still in fact take care of those Members that believe in fact they should have a say about some monies that &o into their State and where it goes. The idea that collectively you will sit down with your fellow Members and you will arrive at a decision and you have got two senators over there. you can forget it because that is not going to happen. And this is the one time Members themselves have an opportunity to make a decision for the State in their district. California. in which I believe has 52 Congressman now. I have some areas that have never got a nickel of Federal monies because of Caltrain who spends it all in the larger populated areas. That is the unfortunate fact of life. ","speaker_name":"DON YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1995,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090011508,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I do. with the understanding that we do reach the 92.6 and understanding that we can only do that if we include earmarks under the line. Frankly. if my colleagues do the math. that is the only way we can. That is why I was pleased to see that the managers amendment did contain that provision. My concern is. and the gentleman from Alaska. my good friend. did mention that every dollar goes toward transportation. It is simply not the case. I read the bill last night. and some of it. some of it. but I did not have to read all of it.","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":548,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090011509,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. reclaiming my time. I think the gentleman has made his case. Our side. has made the case. and we have the right to close. and I assure the. gentleman from Arizona that the interests of the State of Arizona are well cared for in this legislation and of all the States and the agreement that is embodied in the managers amendment was reached at the very highest levels of policy within this body and on the majority side. and we have to reject the gentlemans amendment. and I would. in fact. urge him to withdraw the amendment. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":590,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090011533,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. reclaiming my time. the regional transit authorities are important to transportation in rural areas. I would be happy to discuss this matter further with the gentleman from South Carolina and the gentleman to determine whether we can help with the problems in South Carolina.","speaker_name":"DON YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":289,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090011544,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today in strong support of this legislation. I would like to commend the efforts of Chairman YOUNG and Ranking Member OBERSTAR as well as Subcommittee Chairman PETRI and Ranking Member DEFAZIO for their tireless efforts on crafting a strong bipartisan bill. As we all know. this legislation has been a long time coming. and I would like to extend my gratitude to these four men for the work they have done to produce such a strong bipartisan bill. In todays current environment in the House. it is really a testament of how Chairman YOUNG and Mr. OBERSTAR run the committee and put the needs of United States infrastructure before partisan issues. This is one of the most important pieces of legislation for me because of the benefits it will provide to my district. Without the leadership of Mr. YOUNG. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH CROWLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1140,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090011554,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I strongly urge my senior colleagues who will be involved in the upcoming conference on the highway bill to adopt the Senate amendment to use CMAQ to fund the installation of diesel retrofit devices on heavy duty diesel vehicles used on cdnstruction sites. This amendment was included in last years Senate bill and. from what I understand. will very likely be included in Chairman INHOFES bill for consideration in his Committee next .week. And. significantly. the Administration strongly endorsed the amendment during the debate over the highway bill last year. Reduction of fine particulate matter emitted by heavy duty diesel vehicles has been a centerpiece of the Presidents environmental policy. He spoke about this during the Presidential debate. And. in his FY06 budget. he proposed the appropriation of $25 rnillion to deploy diesel retrofit technology on a range of heavy duty vehicles from school buses to dump trucks. Mr. Chairman. I am very proud to promote the use of diesel retrofit technology because it was invented in my district by Corning Incorporated. As many of my colleagues know. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KUHL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3756,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090011609,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Well. again. the supplemental appropriations bill is the first item that we will be working on. and then it will be some time later in the week. Obviously. if we do as I suspect. the Committee on Rules will make in order different substitutes. we will need to have time for that. So it will be later in the week next week. So I cannot tell the gentleman exactly what day it will be. but it will be into the week. And again. quite possibly. it could extend until Friday.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":469,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090011617,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would say that it is our intention in light of the fact that we are discussing this Thursday afternoon that the announcement that I plan to make when we complete this colloquy is that we will ask for the amendments to the budget to be submitted to the Committee on Rules by 10 a.m. on Tuesday which will allow us to meet Tuesday afternoon. So I would encourage. we are now before 3 oclock on Thursday. I would encourage Members to begin looking at budget substitutes that they may want to offer and fashion those. I understand it will be tomorrow before they have access to the full text. but I would encourage them tomorrow and over the weekend and on Monday to assemble those substitutes or proposed amendments that they would have. and our deadline is intended to be 10 oclock on Tuesday morning.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":814,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090011663,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We owe the Bowmans a heart of gratitude for setting such a positive example for all of us to follow.","speaker_name":"MARILYN MUSGRAVE","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"F","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2325,"word_count":20}
{"speech_id":1090011707,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is what people are afraid of. There is not so much confidence in investing in the stock market. When I had my town hall meetings. and I had three of them. I asked people to raise their hands. and I had more than 200 at two of mine. and 500 or more at all three combined. and I asked people at each town hall meeting for a show of hands. how many of them would feel comfortable in their own ability to make investment decisions or their childrens or grandchildrens ability to make investment decisions to ensure that they would have as much money as Social Security would provide for them when they got to their retirement. And literally. at my first town hall meeting. three people raised their hand. at my second town hall meeting. two people raised their hand. and no one raised their hand at the third one. People do not want to throw their retirement security to the wind. They do not want to subject it to the whims of the stock market. Social Security is not supposed to be a gamble. like investment in the stock market is. You go in with your eyes open when you invest in the stock market. You know you may lose your money. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3196,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090011718,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Also. Social Security faces a longterm challenge. but not a crisis. A challenge. but not a crisis. I want to make sure that I put emphasis on that. Americans have earned their Social Security benefits. and it would violate their trust and penalize Americans who have paid into Social Security all of their lives to go to private accounts. Here on this side of the aisle. Democrats will preserve the Social Security promisethat we made long ago. Mr. Speaker. I Also want to once again. before I close. commend fiot","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1471,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090011778,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the amendment of the Senator from Hawaii is dressed up as a credit counseling amendment. but it would cause havoc in our modern consumer credit system. It requires that a lender stop charging interest on the outstanding debt of any bankrupt debtor who participates in a debt management program. The practical result is that lenders are forced to either waive further payments on an extension of credit or have the debt discharged in bankruptcy. This will not be good for the consumer. the borrower. This is a sweeping change in modern banking practices. We have had no hearings in the Senate Banking Committee. I ask my colleagues to oppose this amendment.","speaker_name":"RICHARD SHELBY","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":671,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090011791,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the Peoples Republic of China recently enacted an antisecession or antiseparation law. the intent of which may believe would restrict the Taiwanese peoples freedom of speech and allow the Chinese Government to use force to annex Taiwan if China suspects separatist speech making or any other separatist activities on the island. This law has caused a tremendous uproar in Taiwan. Taiwans foreign minister and chairman of Taiwans Mainland Affairs Council have both denounced the law as a unilateral act on the part of China. It will cause tensions in the Taiwan Strait to rise and may have serious consequences for future TaiwanChina relations. I agree with the assessment that China is seeking to change unilaterally the status quo in the Taiwan Strait. China seems to have abandoned any attempt at future dialogue between the two sides and seeks to impose this law on the 23 million people of Taiwan. Chinese assumptions are that Taiwan and China are now already unified and that China has jurisdiction over Taiwan. especially the authority to serve penalty and punishment to Taiwanese people and their leaders. China has ignored the fact that Taiwan and China have been two separate political entities since 1949 and neither has jurisdiction over the other. China. therefore. has no right to carry out punishment to Taiwanese people and leaders whenever China sees fit. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2785,"word_count":225}
{"speech_id":1090011815,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I again commend my able colleague from Vermont for coming forward with this amendment. I am.very pleased to join with him in cosponsoring it. and I. urge its adoption upon our colleagues. First. I want to underscore. the Senator from Vermont has tried very hard to work out a very reasonable proposal. The existing law prohibits the investment bankers from playing any part in the bankruptcy. if a company for which they were an investment banker goes into bankruptcy. They cant come along and then become an adviser to the bankrupt com.TE S2425 pany. The rationale for that is strong because often the investment bankers. because of their own activity. need to be examined and reviewed. and they may be held accountable. The argument has been made: Well. suppose they were the investment banker 20 years ago and they have not had a connection with this company since. ","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1720,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090011866,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senate for considering this bill at this moment. It is a bill that has wide bipartisan support. I thank Senator KENNEDY and all of the members of the Health. Education. Labor. and Pensions Committee and all of the staff members who have worked on this bill. It has been a tremendous bipartisan effort to make sure that we will have as many people able to enter the workforce with good skills as possible and to make an improvement in the way high schools operate. I thank a number of Senators for being cosponsors: Senators GREGG. AL-","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":561,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090011871,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We believe this bill is the first leg of a threelegged stool that will provide that. We will have other bills we will be bringing along at a later time. I thank our fellow Senators for their indulgence in allowing us to bring this bill up. I look forward to getting it through the Senate.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1020,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090011877,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to support the reauthorization of the Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of This bill is critically important to ensure that students are entering the workforce with the academic. vocational. and technical skills they will need to be successful in todays job market. According to 2003 U.S. Census data. only 27 percent of Americans have a college degree. Therefore. vocational education programs are necessary to provide occupational training to the majority of high school students who do not go on to earn a bachelors degree. Without adequate vocational and technical training programs. these individuals have few career options. Unfortunately. high schools currently offer fewer vocational education classes than in the past. due to funding shortages. There are many ways in which Perkins funds are used. and I would like to share a few examples pf how these dollars are utilized in my State of California which typically receives approximately 11 percent of Federal funding for vocational education through Perkins. The Fresno Unified School District uses about $1 million in Perkins money to fund vocational education classes in areas such as introductory business. computers. and multimedia for students in grades 710. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2016,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090011881,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am here today in support of a bipartisan bill that would reauthorize the Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act. Few issues are as critically important to the future of the country as the competitiveness of our workforce. This bill will help to ensure Americas economic dominance for years to come. Essential to strengthening the workforce. the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act not only prepares youth and adults for the careers of today. it prepares them for the careers of tomorrow. For that reason. it is the first line of defense in ensuring Americas competitive advantage in a global economy. We have heard a lot lately about American students losing their competitive edge. In math and science our fourth graders are among the best in the world but by their senior year of high school. they score near the bottom of all industrialized nations. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4530,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090011916,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"and the Senator from Pennsylvania. Senator SPECTER. who are working on a number of changes and accepting a couple of amendments so we can move this process through. The result will be that the next five votes on my amendments will not be necessary. if this agreement is made. So I hope that causes the unanimous consent agreement to go through.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":344,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090011930,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I voted against a bankruptcy bill that puts credit card companies and politics ahead of ordinary Americans. Rather than providing balanced reform. this bill punishes those who have fallen on hard timesparticularly our military families and those who are struggling under. the weight of soaring medical bills. I have heard from residents across Washington State that the cost of medical care is forcing them into bankruptcy. In fact. a report last summer by the Working for Health Coalition found that half of Washington State bankruptcies were due to rising health care costs. Most of these families are working and more than half have health insurance. but the growing cost of health care is so overwhelming it pushes them into bankruptcy. A national study last month found that 61 percent of bankruptcy filers did not seek the medical care they needed. These families deserve help. but instead this bill punishes them for circumstances beyond their control. This bill also fails to adequately protect our military families. particularly our Guard and Reserve members. These patriotic families have had to struggle with half their normal income during longand often extendeddeployments. ","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3756,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090011975,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to introduce a bill to reauthorize Title VIII of the Native American Housing Assistance and SelfDetermination Act. Title VIII provides authority for the appropriation of funds for the construction of lowincome housing for Native Hawaiians and further provides authority for access to loan guarantees associated with the construction of housing to serve Native Hawaiians. Three studies have documented the acute housing needs of Native Hawaiianswhich include the highest rates of overcrowding and homelessness in the State of Hawaii. Those same studies indicate that inadequate housing rates for Native Hawaiians are amongst the highest in the Nation. The reauthorization of Title VIII will support the continuation of efforts to assure that the native people of Hawaii may one day have access to housing opportunities that are comparable to those now enjoyed by other Americans. I would ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"DANIEL INOUYE","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":982,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090011977,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to speak of the life. leadership and the truly remarkable legacy of the 40th President of the United States. Ronald Reagan. President Reagan was a great communicator with a powerful message. He preached the gospel of hope. freedom and opportunity not just for America but for the world. Reagan was a genuinely optimistic person who brought that spirit of optimism and hope to the American people and to enslaved peoples around the world. He was a man who took disappointment and moved on. He was a man of unfailing good humor. care and thoughtfulness. Even people who disagreed with his policies across the board could not help but like him. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5089,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090011980,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"My friend from New Jersey has been a leader on this subject and this issue. He has been banging us aboit the head to do more. He has a much more expansive proposal. which I support. than what I am proposing today. I have stood in this Senate and defended our European allies against some of the broader allegations in the Bush allegation. but I must say today. I am tired of our French friends and others bleeding all over us about the plight of the people in Iraq. the plight of the people in other parts of the world. when it is fully within their capability right now that France could do this all by itself. Right now. They have the wherewithal. they have the aircraft. they are positioned. and they very much want to make sure that they are recognized as a major player in Africa. I am. quite frankly. more than disappointedappalledfor all their talk that they are not acting at all. That does not relieve us of responsibility. The fact that another nation has the capacity and has a history that would warrant it taking the action that needs to be taken now. and does not. does not free us of an obligation. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9440,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090012001,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session for the consideration of the following nomination on the Executive Calendar. No. 23. Michael Jackson. to be Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security. I further ask unanimous consent that the nomination be confirmed. the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. that any statements relating to the nomination be printed in the RECORD. further. the President be immediately notified of the Senates action and the Senate then resume legislative session.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":535,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090012034,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. if I cduld just say to my friend. I couldnt agree more. I think the debate was handlid very nicely. Members got an opportunity to have their say. to get their votes. and the Senate has done itself proud. In spite of the mixed views about the outcome. the Senate did itself proud with the first two bills this year. and I hope it is a good recipe for the future.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":376,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090012141,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"For example. the Presidents budget cuts health care for the most vulnerable citizens. The budget would cut Medicaid. which ensures that more than 50 million children. pregnant women. elderly. and people with disabilities have access to the medical services they need. At the same time. the budget maintains a slush fund with billions for HMOs. That is not right. The Presidents budget also calls for cutting education. More than 48 education programs will be affected. with the cuts exceeding $1 billion. So our children will suffer. At the same time. the budget calls for opening a precious wilderness area in Alaska for the oil and gas industry. That is not right. The budget cuts benefits for veterans. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5557,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090012156,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":14,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Social Security is a program that has been remarkably successful. that has lifted tens of millions of senior citizens out of poverty over many years. The fact is. people are living longer. healthier lives these days so we will have to make some adjustments. perhaps. in the future. but it is not major surgery that is required and it is not justification for saying there is a criis or it is bankrupt or other types of language that the President and others have used. The kind of adjustments that may have to be madeagain they may not have to be made if we have robust economic growth in the coming 75 yearsbut the kinds of adjustments that may have to be made are not major. We can do that. But this ought not be a pretext for taking Social Security apart and talking about privatization of Social Security. I was curious about why this comes up in this context right now. I know it is not about economics. President George W. Bush ran for Congress in 1978 and he said then that Social Security would be broke in 10 years. by 1988. and we ought to go to private accounts. Well. almost 30 years later. he is saying the same thing. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10958,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090012167,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. through the course of the debate on the bankruptcy reform bill. it has become clear there are many Senators who have concerns about the numerous aspects of the credit card industry. I want to point out that I am aware of the Senator from Ohios concerns in particular. I want to indicate for the RECORD that I recognize these concerns and to note that I have had a longstanding interest in exploring these matters more deeply. Therefore. I am willing to commit to holding hearings in the Banking Committee later this year to examine the credit card industry and the need to reform credit card regulations. I believe the ranking member also shares my interest in holding hearings.","speaker_name":"RICHARD SHELBY","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":693,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090012186,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the Senate will reconvene on Monday at 10 a.m. and immediately begin consideration of the budget resolution. As I mentioned earlier this morning. and I mention again now. it is going to be a long and challenging week. Senators should expect to be here in the evenings. There will. of course. be multiple votes during the course of the week. We typically do what is referred to around here with a wry smile as a votearama toward the end of the budget week. I caution all Senators that next Friday will be an unusual Friday. a Friday in which we will. in all likelihood. be here and working throughout the day and up into the evening. If previous years Fridays of budget week are any indication. that is what we can expect .next Friday. I want everybody to be on notice that notions of pulling out early on the Friday before the recess probably will not hold. unless we have incredible cooperation early in the week to move much more quickly. We are looking at an unusual and long Friday with lots of votes next Friday. ","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1224,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090012253,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I hope bipartisan support of this legislation will continue. and I urge adoption of the bill. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"WALTER JONES","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1880,"word_count":25}
{"speech_id":1090012254,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. today we are poised to pass this bill for the second time. I thank the gentleman from North Carolina for his kind and supportive remarks. I also want to take this opportunity to thank the gentleman from California and the gentleman from West Virginia","speaker_name":"DONNA CHRISTENSEN","chamber":"H","state":"VI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":319,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090012263,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"H.R. 412 mirrors legislation that was supported by the majority and minority of the committee and the administration and passed the House during the 108th Congress. I urge adoption of the bill. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of* my time.","speaker_name":"WALTER JONES","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1029,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090012285,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This bill protects our national security. saves the taxpayers a minimum of $40 million and protects private property and is fair to all parties concerned. I urge my colleagues to join me in passing H.R. 486.","speaker_name":"STEVAN PEARCE","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2214,"word_count":36}
{"speech_id":1090012292,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H.R. 1160. the Welfare Reform Extension Act of 2005. Mr. Speaker. this legislation will continue funding for the Temporary Assistance For Needy Families Program and other related programs for 3 months through June 30th. Mr. Speaker. this is the ninth extension of these programs we have considered since their original authorization expired at the end of 2002. ","speaker_name":"WALTER HERGER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1299,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090012313,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I appreciate very much the assistance of the gentleman from Florida . the actions of the Committee on Ways and Means and the gentleman from California . and I rise in support of this bill. H.R. 1134. My home State of Oklahoma in the last 15 years has received some $60 million in mitigation grants to help people avoid potential injury from tornadoes through the construction of storm shelters and safe rooms. It is important that they not be told now that those are subject to taxation. when they are being told or had been told throughout this time that. no. this is not taxable. this is to protect you. because. after all. we know that although you can move out of the flood plain. you can move away from the coast. you can stay clear of an earthquake fault line but tornadoes hit everywhere and they have wind speeds of up to. in fact. in some cases over 300 miles an hour. twice as much as the wind speed you have in a hurricane. They occur in Oklahoma. but they also occur in Massachusetts. They occur in Wisconsin and Illinois and Missouri and Alabama and Ohio and Texas. You cannot mitigate in advance by moving someplace where you know that it cannot happen. It is important that we not improperly subject people now from the construction of these shelters to taxation \u0095 on them. ","speaker_name":"ERNEST ISTOOK","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1952,"word_count":237}
{"speech_id":1090012317,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak on a bill that quite frankly is common sense. Thousands of Americans reach out to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. in times of disaster. Their homes have been battered and decimated by earthquakes. volcanoes. tornadoes. floods and more. In these moments of despair. they look to the Federal Government for help and we provide that help. Through FEMA. Americans are able to get back on their feet in financial situations where they normally would have no other resource. Emergency grants are just that. emergency funding. money to be spent in extreme circumstances. to get a roof back on a familys home. to put a missing wall back on a community resource center. to coordinate local outreach for first responders. These funds were never intended to .be taxed. ","speaker_name":"DAVID REICHERT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1202,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090012320,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"BENJAMIN CARDIN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":931,"word_count":10}
{"speech_id":1090012321,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Let me again personally thank the gentleman from Maryland for both his cosponsorship and his helping us in bringing this bill to the floor today. I want to thank the gentlewoman from New York in her considered comments. I want to thank the gentleman from Ohio . the gentleman from Louisiana . the gentleman from Washington State . the gentleman from Pennsylvania for their comments. and of course the gentleman from Oklahoma . who has worked with me side by side on this measure. bringing it to the floot today. I think we have heard from all of the speakers the reasons for this important legislation. so I thank my colleagues for taking an active participating interest in this legislation. I thank the 87 cosponsors who joined with us in urging the leadership to bring this measure to the floor. Again. thanks to the gentleman from Texas for allowing the bill to be scheduled for consideration. and of course the gentleman from California . the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means. without whose guidance and help this bill would not be possible. We know it is important. ","speaker_name":"MARK FOLEY","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2019,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090012325,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"H.R. 1134 allows individuals to accept these vital disaster prevention grants without fear of possible tax implications and that is quite clearly how the program is supposed to work. H.R. 1134 will also be of great help to my constituents in the 18th Congressional District of Texas. Houston due to its location and geography has always been particularly vulnerable to flooding. In 1900 a major hurricane destroyed much of Galveston Island. killing more than 6.000 people. An elevated barrier. the Sea Wall. was later constructed to hold back future storm surge and flood waters. allowing the city to thrive. This is a clear example of how projects for disaster prevention can be tremendously successful in alleviating future damage. Houston was again devastated in 2001 when Tropical Storm Allison displaced thousands of Houstonians and left $5 billion in damage in the wake of its flood waters. I am thankful that the FEMA grants that were given to individuals after that natural disaster were not taxed. otherwise many individuals would have to reject these grants out of fear of an overwhelming tax burden. This legislation makes certain that no victim of a natural disaster has to choose between accepting federal disaster assistance or contemplating its tax implications.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2510,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090012342,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of House Resolution 135. for within its wisdom rests the realization a nations democracy is never more imperiled than in its infancy. This realization and the extension of protections to emerging democracies are vital to our ensuring these newborh nations first breaths of freedom burgeon into the full fruit of liberty. Mr. Speaker. especially as we watch the ominous portents emanating from Russias experiment in representative governments. we must ever remember the inception of a democracy is not an end. It is a beginning. And let us ever stand ready to assist those of our fellow human beings who are fitfully and finally breathing free. I urge the adoption of this resolution.","speaker_name":"THADDEUS MCCOTTER","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":714,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090012354,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. given- Hezbollahs bloody record. the charges against Hezbollah made by both Israelis and Palestinians and the European Unions frequent protestations of its commitment to Middle East peace. it is very odd.. indeed. that the European Union continues to omit Hezbollah from its list of terrorist organizations. But it is completely stupefying that this omission continues while Hezbollah trains and equips many of the very groups already on the European Unions terrorism list. such as Islamic Jihad. alAqsa Martyrs Brigade. and Hamas. The logic of the European Unions decisionmaking on this matter is at best baffling. Europeans sometimes point out in their defense that Hezbollah holds seats in the Lebanese Parliament. Let me point out. Mr. Speaker. that Hitlers Nazi Party held seats in a democratically elected German Parliament before the onset of World War II. Furthermore. Hezbollahs limited electoral success does nothing to revive the victims of. terrorism. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4400,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090012411,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. in just a few minutes. the gentleman from Maryland will address the House for some period of time talking about energy sources. oil in particular. and the fact that many experts say that oil production. especially in the United States. but actually throughout the world. oil production of conventional oil under current patterns is expected to grow at a rate much faster. that means the use of oil by the world community is supposed to grow mu~h faster than oil discovery production. What is clear. because we are not sure exactly when that peak will come in oil production. some say it is peaking right Aow. some say it will peak in 10 years. the amount of oil we get out of the ground will exceed the demand. but what is clear is that at some point in this century. world oil production will peak and then begin to decline. There is uncertainty about the date because many countries that produce oil do not provide credible data on how big their reserves are. But more uncertainty calls for more caution. not less. and caution in this case means working to develop alternatives. When production of conventional oil peaks. we can expect a large increase in the price up to the price of the substitutes. whether socalled unconventional oil or renewable fuels. Although increasing domestic productio)n may ease oil dependence slightly. the United States is only 3 percent of the worlds estimated oil reserves and uses 25 percent of the worlds oil. I want to explain just from the perspective of the United States the huge increase in energy demand in the last century. I am going to use the word \"quadrillion.\" Quadrillion is a number. If I put 1 followed by 15 zeroes. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE GILCHREST","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3326,"word_count":295}
{"speech_id":1090012443,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the words of my colleague are right on target. I wish the budget matched the words. The Senator acknowledges the need for fiscal discipline. This budget does not provide it. As I have indicated and shown from their own numbers. he debt goes up $600 billion a year under the budget the Senator advocates. That is fiscal discipline? No. no. My belief is that fiscal discipline represents a deficit going down. not going up. My view of fiscal discipline is one that reduces the debt. not increases the debt. The Senators own budget documents show that he is going to add to the debt $600 billion a year each and every year for the next 5 years. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4395,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090012449,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"You will have a fight of priorities. And that is the way -it should be. But any amendment on this floor which says I am going to increase Radio Marti or I am going to increase veterans funding is actually an amendment which is simply saying I am going to increase general spending of the Federal Government. I am going to .raise that top line. I am not going to live by that cap. That cap doesnt work for me. I want it to be higher. I want to spend more money. That is what that amendment says. And it does not say that money is going to go to that program which they allege they want to spend more money. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4962,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090012451,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is fiscally responsible. That is exactly what a budget is supposed to be about. The President sent up a budget with no war cost past September 30 and said it is hard to estimate. Of course it is hard toestimate. That is what a budget is about. There is no family in America which leaves out the utility bill because it is hard to estimate. There is no family in America which leaves out the food cost because it is hard to estimate. They leave out things. It is no wonder we are in deep deficit and a massive increase in debt when they come with a budget and they leave things out. My colleague says the mark has no assumptions concerning discretionary policy. that all he is providing to the Appropriations Committee is a budget authority total and an outlay total. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3328,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090012469,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So the bottom line is that paygo makes absolutely no sense with respect to tax cuts. the whole point of which is to leave more revenue in the private sector. It makes every bit of sense with respect to spending increases because there your whole point is to try to keep spending level. So if you increase it in one area. obviously you need to cut it by a like amount in another area. thus the socalled paygo. I hope these remarks help to make the point that we have a great and robust economy. and that we can sustain that growth by the sensible policies that are embodied in the budget that has been presented by the Budget Committee. I certainly encourage my colleagues. as this debate unfolds. to appreciate the arguments that we have made today and to support the budget that has been submitted.","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2040,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090012473,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It assumes that Americans are selfish. by borrowing billions more each year from Social Security to cover President Bushs distorted priorities instead of paying back the trillions of dollars that the White House has already taken from Social Security to\" pay for its tax breaks for the wealthy and the corporations. It assumes that Americans are selfish by providing $70 billion more in tax breaks. . primarily benefitting the wealthiest taxpayers. while cutting billions from Medicaid that would go to provide health care for our poorest citizens. The tax cuts on dividend and capital gains income provided for in this budget will give billionaires an average annual tax break of over $35.000 while families with incomes under $50.000 will receive only $6 per year in tax savings. To assure continuing opportunity for our citizens. we must strengthen our commitment to education and health care. Without these commitments we weaken the American middle class. and the challenge of poverty will continue to grow. In just the past 4 years. middleclass families have seen their health insurance premiums jump 59 percent. college tuition rising some 35 percent. housing going up some 33 percent. and gasoline up 22 percent. At the same time. their jobs. the middle class jobs. are being shipped overseas and the new jobs created in todays economy make it harder and harder to provide for their families and plan for their future. The newer jobs provide lower wages. less health care. and fewer opportunities to save for a good retirement. The answer to this challenge is not to lower our wages but to raise our skills. We must invest more in education and job training. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11288,"word_count":276}
{"speech_id":1090012483,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would ask my friend and colleague from North Dakotawe heard about how plush the Medicaid Program is and that there are no alternatives left. It is my understanding in this particular proposal there is a $70 billion tax cut. Am I correct. there is approximately $70 billion that will be included in this budget? So there are questions of priorities. that there will be $70 billion in tax cuts at a time when we are listening to those talking about the pressures that are on the States in terms of Medicaid. I am wondering whether the Senator would agree with me that we have seen a loss of health insurance for 5 million American workers. a growth in poverty among childrennearly three quarters of a million more children fell into poverty between 2002 and 2003. and 4million more Americans fell into poverty in the last four years. and the States are hard pressed. Would the Senator not agree with me that all of us are strongly against the kind of asset protection frauds that take place? That isnt what we are talking about here. My understanding of this is that there are going to be some real cuts for people and real benefits for people. I was interested in what the Senator from North Dakota felt about these priorities.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1243,"word_count":222}
{"speech_id":1090012488,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This budget from our colleagues has nothing. The $700 billion is left out. I said to the Presidents people when they showed me -this budget. why did you not leave out some more things and claim you balanced the budget? They said they are going to cut the deficit in half. They are going to cut the deficit in half by imagining. They are going to cut the deficit in half by leaving things out. When we put back the Social Security money that they are taking. $2.5 trillion that they do not count. here is what one sees: Operating deficits every year approaching $600 billion. Somebody out there may be saying. well. that is Senator CONRAD. He is from the other side. He is the loyal opposition. He is giving his view of it. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7287,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090012573,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But it is an admission by the Republicans. who put this together. that they cannot pay for the Presidents privatization *plan on Social Security. The President cannot explain how he will pay for it.. When the Senate Republicans were given that responsibility. they could not either. So here we have a plan that the President says is his acceptance of responsibility of leadership to privatize Social Security. and yet neither the President nor the Senate Republicans on the Budget Committee can tell us how they will pay for taking trillions of dollars out of the Social Security trust fund and gambling them in the stock market in the hope that those who invest would make more money than they would lose. It is a big gap in this budget. There is not a penny in here to pay for privatization of Social Security. Let me tell you that it also fails to pay for the full cost of the war in Iraq after 2006. I have not heard any person in this administration even suggest the possibility. that all of the American troops will be home by October 1 of this year. I dont believe that will happen. I dont think Iraq is safe enough for our troops to come home. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11112,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090012580,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The resolution before the Senate is here on time and out of committee in not small measure based on their hard work. Jim Hearn joined the budget committee in 1995. He holds a Master of Public Policy degree with a concentration in Economics and Forecasting from the University of California at Berkeley. Jim served with the Congressional Budget Office. or CBO. from 1984 * until 1995. He serves as our director for Federal Programs and Budgeft Process. He also is author of our committees Budget Bulletin. which distills and explains the latest budget developments on the Hill. and seeks to explain complex budgetary concepts. Jim is one of those people in Washington who fully understands the Budget Act and the budgetary process. The technical accuracy of the budget. and the drive to bring \"good government solutions\" to the budget process are Jims constant passion. He is respected by OBO. OMB. and budget experts everywhereinside and outside Government. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3331,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090012598,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Their only interest is making sure the patient is medically stable and being taken care of. Congress has long recognized the important role played by EMS providers. However. Federal support for EMS has been unfocused and uncoordinated. with responsibility scattered among a number of different agencies. In 2001. the General Accounting Office cited the need to increase coordination between the Federal agencies involved with EMS issues but not much progress has been made since that report was issued. The Federal Government doesnt even have a good handle on how much it is spending on EMS or what the needs are for EMS. A report to be released today by the New York University Center for Catastrophe Preparedness and Response highlights some of the deficiencies in our support for EMS. AQcording to that report. less than 4 percent of the Office of Domestic Preparedness first responder grant funding and 5 percent of HHS bioterrorism grant funding goes to EMS. More than half of ambulance providers received no direct Federal funding for homeland security preparedness. EMS providers receive very little homeland security preparedness education. training. and equipment and tend not to be well integrated into overall response planning. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4645,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090012605,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is therefore doubly unfair to penalize them when it comes to their Social Security benefits. These public servantsor their spouseshave all paid taxes into the Social Security system. So have their employers. Yet. because of these two provisions. they are .unable to collect all of the Social Security benefits to which they otherwise would be entitled. While the GPO and WEP affect public employees and retirees in virtually every State. their impact is most acute in 15 States. including Maine. Nationwide. more than onethird of teachers and education employees. and more than onefifth of other public employees. are affected by. the GPO and\/or the WEP. Almost one million retired government workers across the country have already been adversely affected by these provisions. Millions more stand to be affected by them in the future.* Moreover. at a time When we should be doing all that we can to attract qualified people to public service. this reduction in Social Security benefits makes it even more difficult for our Federal. State and local governments to recruit and retain the teachers. police officers. firefighters and other public servants who are so critical to the safety and wellbeing of our families. The Social Security windfall elimination provision reduces Social Security benefits for retirees who paid into Social Security and who receive a government pension from work not covered under Social Security. such pensions from the Maine State Retirement Fund. ","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7004,"word_count":235}
{"speech_id":1090012606,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to offer. along with Senators WARNER of Virginia and DEWINE of Ohio. the Assault Weapons Ban Reauthorization Act of 2005. We are joined by Senators SCHUMER. MIKULSKI. DURBIN. CLINTON. BOXER. LEVIN. DODD and REED. who are original cosponsorsof this critical legislation.. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9741,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090012616,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. tomorrow the leader wishes Senators to know the Senate will resume consideration of the budget resolution. We will continue the amendment process tomorrow morning. Each side will have policy luncheons tomorrow. however. the Senate may remain in session during that period. For the remainder of the day. we will continue to work through additional amendments and Senators should expect rollcall votes throughout the day and into the evening tomorrow.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":464,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090012667,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr: Speaker. I rise today to recognize our Nations fiscal crisis and budgeting process that. frankly. defies logic. As we consider the budget this week. let us keep a few facts in mind: First. our Nations debt is out of control. We are expected to run a $427 billion deficit in 2005. with more deficits projected well into the future. This is $600 billion if you count what is being stolen from Social Security trust funds. Second. we do not even have a firm grip on where our money is.going. For example. at the Department of Defense. only 6 of 63 departments are able to produce a clean audit. That is less than 10 percent. Third. the Bush budget omits so many major expenses that the budget is virtually a sham. The administration has essentially cooked the books using Enronstyle accounting. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS CARDOZA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1305,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090012676,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. at a hearing last week the GAO Comptroller General David Walker. a former Social Security trustee. said Social Security privatization would \"exacerb.te the solvency problem.\" It would exacerbate the problem by eliminating the Social Security Trust Fund surplus and fail to increase the Nations savings rate. In todays economy families are taking on more and more risk. They face uncertain jobs. the loss of health care. jittery financial markets. rising costs of college education. Their retirements are less secure than ever. Folks like the security that comes with Social Security. This debate is about choosing between privatization and the dismantling of Social Security as we know it or strengthening the guaranteed benefit that comes with So-* cial Security. Rather than dismantling one of the most effective retirement programs in American history. we should be working together to strengthen Social Security for future generations. In these uncertain times we should be helping American families. not exacerbating the risks that come with retirement. Privatization is simply the wrong direction.","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1116,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090012677,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Our family appreciates firsthand Iraq service with our son. Captain Alan Wilson of the South Carolina Army National Guard. In conclusion. may God. bless our troops. and we will never forget September 11.","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1120,"word_count":33}
{"speech_id":1090012678,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today I rise to bring attention to what can potentially be the worst drought season the State of Washington has experienced in nearly 3 decades. In my district and throughout the State precipitation levels are hovering at or near record lows. Mountain snow pack levels are at 26 percent of normal averages. Many rivers and streams are flowing at levels well below normal for this time of the year. Unfortunately. it looks as though the worst is yet to come as theNational Weather Service has predicted that dry. warm weather will continue through the spring. . If these conditions persist as predicted. the drought will have a devastating impact on our. States agriculture. fishing. and recreation industries and will increase the potential of destructive forest fires this spring and summer. I would like to commend Washington States Governor Christine Gregoire for her leadership and foresight in declaring a statewide drought emergency and forming a Drought Emergency Command Center. This emergency declaration will allow the State Department of Ecology to provide assistance and relief. including the issuance of emergency water permits and the temporary transfer of water rights. ","speaker_name":"RICK LARSEN","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1579,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090012679,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Terris time is running out.\" Congress can and must act this week. We cannot allow the execution of this disabled young woman.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":839,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090012680,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this young womans story. Ashley Smith. speaks of courage and valor and common sense. that she was able to direct authorities to a courthouse alleged killer. but I believe that her story speaks to an ill that is occurring throughout America. and that is the lack. of security in the Nations courthouses. I realize that most who come into the courthouses come for justice. whether they are prosecutor or defendant. whether they are plaintiff or defendant. but in Americas courthouses. there are challenges and .difficulties. the killing of a judges family in Illinois. the courthouse terror that occurred in Atlanta. Georgia. and the numerous. yet unannounced. threats against courthouse personnel throughout America. Law enforcement officers who participate in the security of those courthouses are working very hard. but I believe the plight of courthouses and justice in America cries out for congressional response. congressional hearings and congressional legislation. So I intend to introduce the Secure Americas Courthouse Act of 2005 that will bring Americas attention to its courthouses both in terms of resources. in terms of equipment and personnel and the protection of the Nations judges. I ask my colleagues to join me in the Secure. Americas Courthouse Act of 2005.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1291,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090012688,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. for the purpose of debate only. I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York . pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution.- all time yielded is for the purpose. of debate only. Mr. Speaker. on March 14. the Committee on Rules met and granted an open rule on House Resolution 151. with 1 hour of debate equally divided between the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations. This rule accords priority of recognition to Members who have preprinted their amendments in vides one motion to recommit. with or without instructions. Additionally. this rule attaches the text of H.R. 418. as passed. to the base text of the bill. H.R. 418 previously passed the House by a bipartisan vote of 261 to 161 on February 10 of this year. Mr. ","speaker_name":"TOM COLE","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5740,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090012704,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentlewoman from New York for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker. I rise in opposition to the rule. Last night. I offered an amendment before the Rules Committee that would have added $1.2 billion to this bill for VA health care and $100 million for reintegration services for National Guard members being released from active . duty. Unfortunately. my amendment was not ruled in order. Americais currently asking more of its allvolunteer militaryforce than it ever has before. Yet even as America prepares to continue its large and prolonged military campaign in Iraq. it has done very little to provide for the veterans of this war. Our obligation to support our troops does not end when they leave Iraq. ","speaker_name":"DARLENE HOOLEY","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1966,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090012767,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. Mr. Chairman. I will vote in favor of this bill. We cannot let our troops down who are out there on the front line. Let me wish our new chairman the very best in his maiden voyage through this body on the floor. \" Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"IKE SKELTON","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2268,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090012778,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Having no additional speakers under general debate. I would just like to close by saying that the discussion we have had thus far on this very important measure has been very healthy. The fundamental thrust of thissupplemental is to support the troops in Iraq and in the Middle East. We do have funds that involve the terrible tragedy. the tsunami. The. discussion will lead to amendments that will round out this debate. I expect it will be a very efficient. hopefully very speedy. debate.","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":547,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090012779,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. several provisions in this legislation are of particular interest to the Committee on Homeland Security. First. this spending bill will be procedurally consolidated with the REAL ID Act. which the House approved 261161 on February 10. 2005. We cannot effectively fight terrorism if we cannot verify the identity of people boarding airplanes. entering nuclear power plants. visiting the White House. or gaining access to any of the countless places a terrorist could use as a stage to multiply the effect of an attack. Accurate identification of individuals before permitting them access to critical infrastructure is a prerequisite to success. The failure to ensure the integrity of identification documents that can be legally used to access critical infrastructure means that the entire process of checking IDs is deeply flawed. Likewise. the time and effort. of eyery law abiding citizen who waits in seemingly endless lines. first to obtain and then to present identification. is wasted. Document fraud is a crime against all Americans who must tolerate the indignity of life in a post9\/ 11 world. Why must honest Americans prove who we are. again and again. if terrorists and qriminals are free to make a hash of this requirement? Five weeks ago. the House approved the REAL ID Act. just as we did in the 108th Congress. In so doing. we responded to the challenge put before us by Mir Aimal Kansi. who slaughtered five people at CIA headquarters. by Ramzi Yousef. who masterminded the first World Trade Center attack. and by several of the 9\/11 hijackers who would have found it far more difficult. if not impossible. to carry out their terror attacks had we prevented them from using false identification. ","speaker_name":"C. COX","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":48.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2660,"word_count":283}
{"speech_id":1090012809,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"According to a 2003 GAO report. \"Iraq appears to be the first case where the United States Government has used private contractors extensively for protecting persons and property in potentially hostile or hostile situations.\" Indeed. it is estimated there are as many as 20.000 private military personnel in Iraq. What are they all doing? Why are private companies protecting some of the highest level officials we have there rather than our U.S. military? Who is writing those contracts? What about Abu Ghraib? What kind of contract was struck there? What kind of accountability existed? Well. it did not. why not? We ought to be investigating as a Nation. Mr. Chairman. what happens with $200 billion. our people have a right to know. Never have we had a military conflict where so many private contractors are involved. We should be concerned about this and concerned about who is writing these contracts. A recently Congressional Quarterly article indicated. \"Neither the Defense Department nor private industry says it has exact numbers of how many people are on private payrolls under contracts paid by U.S. tax dollars.\" We should do what is right with the money of the American people. There does not appear to be .any legal framework in place to handle and deal with the role of nonmilitary personnel in a war zone. ","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2868,"word_count":221}
{"speech_id":1090012839,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There have been too many blank checks and not enough accountability. I will vote against the supplemental and urge my colleagues to do the same.","speaker_name":"BARBARA LEE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2867,"word_count":25}
{"speech_id":1090012842,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Chairman. to commend the gentleman from Massachusetts and the gentleman from Iowa","speaker_name":"NANCY PELOSI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":674,"word_count":12}
{"speech_id":1090012847,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the last word. Mr. Chairman. if the previous speaker is going to describe something I did in committee. I wish he would get his facts straight. The fact is. contrary to what the gentleman said. when the majority brought its recommendations to the full committee with respect to the provision in the bill which raised life insurance benefits from $250.000 to $400.000. with respect to that provision. the committee had applied it retroactively only to those persons who died in Iraq and Afghanistan. [ 1430 Contrary to what the gentleman said. my amendment did not restrict what the committee was doing. it expanded what the committee was doing. We added coverage for what was estimated to be 2.400 additional American service people who died but were not in Iraq or Afghanistan. We did that. for instance. on the theory that if you are a member of the Reserve. you are called up to go to Iraq. but you are killed in a training accident before you can get there. that you are just as dead. your family is just as much in need as would be the case with someone who went to Iraq and then died in an accident. Now. the gentleman is the chairman of the Committee on Veteians Affairs. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2567,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090012851,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"With all due respect. the gentleman just misquoted. Reclaiming my time. with all the due respect. the gentleman misquoted and mischaracterized my amendment in committee. The gentleman described it as an amendment limiting benefits when in fact it expanded them. and I do not appreciate that.","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":291,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090012884,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. my amendment is very simple. It adds $50 million for disaster assistance and $50 million for refugee assistance in Sudan and other African countries. If this amendment passes. the House product would still be $550 million below the Presidents request. So for colleagues that argue we are spending too much money. this ainendment is fiscally prudent. But more importantly. adopting this amendment is quite frankly the right thing to do. Mr. Chairman. my amendment could be the most decent. moral and effective $100 million spent in this bill. This $100 million in disaster relief and refugee assistance would go very far in alleviating the multiple disasters and refugee crisis in Africa. Most of Africas urgent humanitarian needs are shockingly affordable. ","speaker_name":"JESSE JACKSON","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1284,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090012885,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We saw the terrible. terrible suffering that the people there are going through. We are in complete agreement on our need to take every step that we can to provide not only for a peaceful solution in the area. but also to provide for humanitarian relief for the people who live in. that region. and therefore I am prepared today with concurrence of the chairman of the committee to accept this en bloc amendment. and we will take a very good look at this in the conference with the Senate and see where we are at that point. We will be a little bit further down the road and have some time to get a better handle on this at that point. I again \"want to commend the gentleman for his commitment. his dedication. his passion in offering this amendment today.","speaker_name":"JAMES KOLBE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1333,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090012910,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the chairman for accepting this amendment. and I rise in support of the Maloney amendment. With experience and success in saving lives and helping to ensure the safe delivery of tens of thousands of babies in more than 50 countries and territories. UNFPA is uniquely qualified to assist victims of the tsunami devastation. A small transfer of $3 million to tle UNFPA would. go a long way in making an immediate and tangible impact on the lives of women and children in Indonesia. Sri Lanka. and the Maldives. I again thank the chairman for accepting this language. and I thank my colleague. the gentlewoman from New Yorlk . for placing the language.","speaker_name":"NITA LOWEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":671,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090012923,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Customs and Enforcemejit. needed an additional 300 million in order to finish the fiscal year 2004. This .is an emergency. Officer Callahan came before the Judiciary Committee just a few days ago on March 10 and indicated that in 5 days we might see the closing of the operations of ICE. That is the internal enforcement agency that deals with protecting the homeland internally. Now. I have stood on the floor of this House over and over again. and I have said that immigration does not equate to terrorism. There are hard working individuals who are undocumented in this country who clearly have come here for economic reasons. But we also know that coming across the southern bqrder there are what we call OTMs. Other Than Mexicans. and they come across the border. They are net detained. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8012,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090012924,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. reluctantly I make a point of order against the amendment because it is in violation of section 302(f) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. The Committee on Appropriations filed a suballocation on budget totals for fiscal year 2005 on July 22. 2004. The amendment would provide new budget authority in excess of the committee allocations and is not permitted under section 302(f) of the act. I ask for the ruling of the Chair.","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":444,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090012928,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. my understanding of an emergency supplemental is to deal with emergency funding situations in the government. I realize that the present language speaks directly to Coast Guard. which is part of now the Department of Homeland Security. This amendment amends that section and asks and has a viable offset and asks simply to allow $40 million of that amount to be able to be utilized for the underfunded ICE agents that do not have uniforms. that do not have badges. that do not have IDs. Frankly. I believe if we are to do our work in.Iraq. whether we agree or disagree with the war in Iraq. we do know that it is. represented to us by the administration to be a war on terior. How can we fight the war on terror in Afghanistan and Iraq and not fightthe war on terror in this country within our boundaries? The Immigration Customs and Enforcement helps us do that. It separates out those who intend to do us harm from those who are here who may be undocumented but are here simply for economic reasons. We need to be able to thwart those who may come across the border to do us harm and are not caught at the border. We need to be able to have the agency well equipped to protect us by securing those individuals and detaining them. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1995,"word_count":231}
{"speech_id":1090012938,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. while I am very empathetic to the gentlemans concern. for I have many a grandchild myself. I make a point of order against the amendment because it proposes to change existing law and constitutes legislation in an appropriation bill and therefore violates clause 2 of rule XXI. The rule states in pertinent part: \"An amendment to a general appropriation bill shall not be in order if changing existing law.\" In this case. the amendment addresses funds in other acts. and so I have to reluctantly ask the Chair to rule.","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":532,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090012961,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. House Report 108773 which accompanied the Military Construction Emergency. Hurricane Supplemental Bill stated. \"The conferees agree to provide an additional $6.5 billion for disaster relief activities. associated with declared disasters such as Hurricanes Frances. Ivan and Jeanne.\" Supplemental funds appropriated in the wake of the four hurricanes may be used by FEMA in administering relief to stricken communities and victims in areas such as Florida where the President declared disaster areas that meet current statutory eligibility under the Stafford Act.","speaker_name":"HAROLD ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":578,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090012972,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Most recently. with the passage of the Intelligence Reform Bill. Congress promised to provide funding to hire thousands of new border patrol agents and create thousands of beds for immigration detention and removal activities. Unfortunately. the President proposed his FY 2006 budget and*it falls woefully short of meeting these needs. And I fear that Congress will once again fail to keep its commitment. Meanwhile. every day foreign nationals from over 150 different countries who are here in the United States illegally are being apprehended and turned back on to our streets because we lack the space to detain them. At the same time. we hear of known terrorists who are training recruits to infiltrate our country -in order to do us harm. The time has long since come to make good on our border security promises or to continue to risk the safety of the American people. The second of my amendments deals with funding for veterans health care. Specifically. it would provide an additional 1.3 billion for veterans health care programs for fiscal year 2005. This increase is requiredin order to maintain existing service levels within the VA health care system and would bring spending in line with the recommendations of the bipartisan leadership of the Committee on Veterans Affairs. ","speaker_name":"SILVESTRE REYES","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3200,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090012979,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I reserve a point of order on the gentlemans amendment. and since .the gentleman from Texas has already spoken. I do not know whether he intends to speak again before I make the point of order or whether he is prepared to go forward at this time.","speaker_name":"JAMES KOLBE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":260,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090012992,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This bill provides yet another some $590 million for this building. The second reason that I support the amendment and oppose this provision in the bill is that we knew years ago that we were going to need a new embassy. and yet last summer when plans were laid for construction of this particular site it was not included in the omnibus appropriation bill taken up in November. The 2006 budget request which came up in February. no moneys were included in the Presidents budget request for that as well. I would note that the National Taxpayers Union supports this amendment. I would also note that time and time again I supported more support for our troops. body armor. supported the Presidents request. but this embassy stuck into this bill with this process is not right. We need regular order and that is why the gentlewoman from North Carolina and the gentleman from Wisconsin and I are offering this amendment on a bipartisan basis. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"FRED UPTON","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1928,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090013008,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I ask unanimous consent that debate on this amendment. and any amendments thereto. be limited to 10 minutes. to be equally divided and controlled by the proponent and myself. the opponent. The Acting. CHAIRMAN. Is there obJection to the request of the gentleman from Arizona?","speaker_name":"JAMES KOLBE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":289,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090013027,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise to oppose my friends amendment. I will tell you why personally. I spent a lot of time in Saudi. They can either go the wrong way or the right way. We talk about not putting foreign troops in foreign countries. Do they have problems? Yes. But when you talk about the government itself. I know from the intelligence community. ","speaker_name":"RANDALL CUNNINGHAM","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":50.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1266,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090013054,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the gentleman raising this point. and I want to make it very clear that religious organizations may compete on an equal footing for USAID funding in this bill. as they may for USAID funding in other bills. So the answer to the gentlemans question is yes.","speaker_name":"JAMES KOLBE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":281,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090013068,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Except as otherwise specified. each amendment shall be debatable for 10 minutes. equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent. An amendment shall be considered to fit the description stated in this request if it addresses in whole or in part the object described.","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1708,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090013085,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. The gentleman has an amendment that is very worthy of consideration. We all know we have a difficulty with the Guard and Reserve and how they maintain their level of income that they have had or what they had before they were called up. There are incredible problems here. But the gentlemans amendment involves the authorizing arena. and we are doing everything we can in this new appropriations committee to work with our authorizing committees to try to avoid doing their work. The gentleman. for example. is one of the truly outstanding members of the Committee on International Relations. He plays a phenomenal role in this arena. In the past. ","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1265,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090013086,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I appreciate my good friends comments. He is a great leader of the Congress and a great leader in California. This issue will not go away. I understand that there are technical objections at this moment to my amendment. But the justice and fairness of this amendment speaks for itself. It is an outrage to have men and women called up for active duty and have their families lose their homes and not be able to put food on the table because of the differential between their previous civilian pay and their current military pay. There is no Member in this body who can approve of such a circumstance. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":822,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090013093,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Jamess story is the story of many more soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. struck down by hostile fire or mortars or improvised explosive devices. Soldiers who would never leave a wounded comrade unattended on the battlefield suddenly find themselves in a hospital bed fighting for their lives. They have been separated from their unit. they are distressed about their condition.. about what it means for the future. about suddenly being ripped from their unit by a mortar shell. about being helicoptered away from a very special group that had promised to protect each other come hell or high water. Now they are in the hands of people who made no such pledge. and the first thing the soldier learns is that his pay is being cut. I cannot imagine a more unambiguous way of telling that soldier that he or she is not as valuable today as yesterday. Some have said to me. these are special pays for special purposes. We cannot be extending them indefinitely. There are two answers to this: one. my amendment would not extend them indefinitely. only to the point where the soldier has recovered and been reassigned or discharged. and. two. the Congress has already recognized the principle that combat pay should be extended to the wounded soldier in the hospital. It did so in the case of the combat pay tax exclusion which exempts combat pay from taxation until .the soldier is discharged from the hospital. I would hope that this body would accept my \"do no harm\" amendment. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3270,"word_count":256}
{"speech_id":1090013108,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 1 minute. The amendment I am offering today simply reaffirms the United States commitment to the Convention against Torture. The United States signed this treaty under President Reagan. and the -Senate ratified it in 1994. Despite our commitments under this treaty and the recent statements made by the administration emphasizing that the United States is emphatically and unambiguously against the use of torture. reports keep growing of the United States sending detainees to countries where they are likely to face torture. including countries notorious for human rights violations. including Syria. Uzbekistan. and Egypt and other countries. My amendment will just restate existing law so that this body is put on record taking the position which Ronald Reagan did in his negotiation of the Convention against Torture. Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":899,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090013134,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I would just like to stress again. we know that this istough. We know this is not easy or there would have been peace a long time ago. And if Sharon is willing to work with Abu Mazen and if he is willing to work with the Palestinian Authority. we feel we have to take risks for peace but not risks for just throwing the dollars. If you look at this bill carefully. and I know the gentleman has. there are very clear auditing guidelines. There is a clear requirement for a plan. It is not as if we are going to say. here. here is the $200 million because we respect the fact that there have been many failures in the past. But in my judgment. if the Israelis want peace. if Sharon is willing to work with the Palestinians and take these risks. then we should be willing to do it with appropriate accountability and auditing.","speaker_name":"NITA LOWEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":837,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090013142,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Chairman. I move the Committee do now rise.","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":662,"word_count":8}
{"speech_id":1090013146,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am a strong suppbrter of our President and I feel that he has done a good job in this Nation. Actually the world owes him and the First Lady a lot of support and our gratitude. Sometimes the bean counters in the White House though take a look at a program and do not look at its effectiveness and they eliminate it. Many times they have to look at a program and eliminate it if it is duplicative or wasteful or ineffective. But during the last budget process there was a program on the list that was not only effective but enhanced Leave No Child Behind and education. and the title of that was Even Start. Ask any teacher. administrator or parent that if a parent is involved in the program called Even Start and my friend. the gentleman from Wisconsin","speaker_name":"RANDALL CUNNINGHAM","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":50.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":768,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090013151,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Just $2.6 billion would allow our rail and public transit systems to meet important security requirements. . Just think of what we could do at home for $200 billion: universal preschool education. comprehensive health coverage for every American. a safe child care system that will give peace of mind to all working families. There would still be plenty left over to implement a SMART security agenda that would be about preventing war. not preemptive war. that would eliminate wasteful programs like missile defense and the many Cold War relics that are doing nothing to keep us safe. SMART security would mean robust multilateral alliances to stop the spread of terrorism. vigorous inspection regimes to stop weapons of mass destruction proliferation. and an ambitious humanitarian development program that tackles the poverty and despair that foster terrorism in the first place. $200 billion. -that is about $675 for every American man. woman and child. which is not to say that the sacrifices of this war have been spread evenly throughout the population. The wellconnected and the wealthy have not been asked to sacrifice. even though rolling back the Bush tax cuts would go a long way toivard paying this enormous bill. No. the ones who have sacrificed are coming home in flagdraped coffins because they were sent to depose a regime that represented no imminent threat to our security. Their families did not get a tax cut. The only thing they got from the government was a devastating letter that Donald Rumsfeld did not even bother to sign personally. The most disturbing thing about the Presidents request for more Iraq funding is the lack of accountability. Why are we writing another check for a mission that has been so badly botched? Who is being held responsible for the misuse of the money we have already approved? If Secretary Rumsfeld and the Pentagon could not manage to get body armor to our troops with the first. $100 billion we gave them. why would we trust them with even more hardearned American tax dollars? Where is this money going? How much of it is enriching war profiteers? Why did the Army waive its usual procedures and make full payment to Halliburton. despite legitimate questions about overbilling and financial mismanagement? Why can we not get a congressional investigation into the $9 billion that mysteriously disappeared from the books at the Coalition Provisional Authority? If the President wants more money for this war. he can take it out of something he cares about instead of taking it out of the hides of the American people. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3935,"word_count":429}
{"speech_id":1090013154,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I want erans across this country will say. how to explain to my . colleagues and to come you voted against that amendAmericans across the country what ment to give $3 billion more for our happened here today on the floor of the health. care? How come you did not reHouse. especially what happened to the spect our active duty._ whenthey come veterans of these United States. vet- home will not find the services? How erans of past wars. veterans of the cur- come they negatively influenced the rent war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Iran morale of our troops. because they may be next. know that they are not getting proper We had a supplemental budget. they treatment back home? call it. on the floor today. a budget for I hope people ask that to those Re$81 billion to fund our war in Iraq and publican Congressmen who voted down Afghanistan. and they called it a sup- my motion on a technicality. when we plemental so they could do it over and have veterans from World War II and above the regular budget so they do since and coming back today who are not have to pay for it in ways that you suffering. and I have to pay for things or our 0 1930 businesses have to pay for things. They Madam Speaker. I think that is disjust create a bigger deficit without ac: graceful. I think the American people countability. had better question this Congress So they are on their way to passing about why they do not support the vetan $81 billion supplemental bill for our erans of this UnitedStates. active duty troops. and yet when I The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. brought on to the floor an amendment DRAKE). Under a previous order of the to that $81 billion that said let us put House. the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. $3 billion into care for our veterans. BROWN) is recognized for 5 minutes. those coming back from the wars today (Mr. BROWN of Ohio addressed the and those who have been in wars pre- House. His remarks will appear herevious to this. ","speaker_name":"BOB FILNER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":51.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3624,"word_count":358}
{"speech_id":1090013174,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":15,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In fact. they believe it makes it worse. Bobby from Eureka. MT. put it this way: I strongly oppose President George Bushs proposal to privatize Social Security or any part of it. I feel this is only the first step to. dismantling Social Security all.together. She is concerned about the first step to dismantle Social Security. ind there is a real basis for her beliefs because the private accounts have nothing to do with solvency. Many of us are wondering whether Bobby might be right. We have to start with the proposition that President Bush is looking somewhere else besides private accounts for the real answer to extending Social Security. solvency. To be c.ndid. none of us know exactly how the President wants to pay for extending Social Security solvency. He hasnt given us a specific proposal. In the State of the Union speech. however. he mentioned five possibilities. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11453,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090013188,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my friend. I might say. in regard to the recent statement by my good friend from Colorado with respect to privatization accountswith all due respect. I want to point out. I dont know if he is quite accurate. I would like his response to this. Isnt it true. though. that today Federal employees have both Sodial Security and private accounts? In addition. to Social Security. that is. you have your Thrift Savings Plan. Federal employees have the Thrift Savings Plan. and they also pay into Social Security. which is not the Presidents program at all. The Presidents program is to take money away from Social Security and put it into a personal account. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1461,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090013189,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the Senator from Montana for his response. I appreciate his clarification as far as Federal employees. But the point I would make is in the State of Colorado. our employees in the State dont pay into Social Security. I think a lot of other States do that.","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":263,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090013196,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What are the facts? The facts are. according to their own calculationthis is from their own budget documentthe debt goes up each and every year of this budget by over $600 billion. It goes up $669 billion this year. it goes up $636 billion next year. $624 billion in 2007. up $622 billion in 2008. and up $611 billion in 2009. They say they are improving the deficit. No. they are not. This budget before us makes the deficit worse by $130 billionworse than if we just put the Government Ion autopilot and made no policy changes. But this budget does make policy changes.- and the policy changes that it makes makes the deficit worse. makes the debt Worse in 5 years by over $3 trillion of additional debt when we have already got the debt that is running away from us.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3149,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090013203,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Items which were not being taxed before. such as capital gains assetsassets which had appreciated and which people were refusing to sell or convert or trade because they did not want to have to pay taxessuddenly people were saying: Well.. lets sell that stock. Lets sell that piece of real estate. Lets sell our small business because today we will pay less in tax. So assets which had been locked down from which the Federal Government was getting no revenue suddenly were being sold. As a result. we had a huge spike in revenues from capital gains. Not only did we get the spike in revenues. we saw those revenues reinvested in a much more efficient way because the dollars that came out of those assets which had been sitting there were now cash in peoples hands. and they had been put back in the economy in a more productive way because that is the way a market economy works. So we got a double benefit. We got more tax revenues as a result of that tax cut. and we got a more efficient marketplace. As a result. we have gotten more jobs and more productivity as a nation. That is all a big plus. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9834,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090013237,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Reserving the right to object. let me just say I will be constrained to object until we get the actual text of the amendment. I understand now that we dont have the text of the Republican amendment or at least that we cant be certain that the text we have is the amendment that * would be offered. so we need to get that before we could agree to this unanimous consent request.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":377,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090013255,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is out of control. Now we have a proposal with regard to Social Security. not even to speak of the merits that you already heard in the discussion here. a proposal that is going to add massively to the debt of the United States. This is not the fiscally conservative nor prudent way to approach a budget. So I have offered a sense of the Senate: It is the sense of the Senate that Congress should reject any Social Security plan that requires deep benefit cuts or a massive increase in debt. and a failure to act by 2042 would result in deep benefit cuts. therefore Congress should take action to address Social Security solvency. Now. why 2042? I could have used the year 2052 because the Congressional Budget Office has said it is the year2052when Social Security will have to cut its benefits down to something like 73 cents on the dollar. But the Social Security trustees say that date is 2042. That is 37 years from now. Why is that important? It is important to give us a marker at the point at which Social Security cannot pay 100 percent of the benefits. This is quite in contrast to what we faced when I was a Member of the House of Representatives. For there. in 1983. ","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5419,"word_count":219}
{"speech_id":1090013292,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is not a justification for that. Now. in many ways. this is about values. I respect those who believe Social Security should never have been adopted. I do not agree with them. I respect their right to take that viewpoint. I respect those who want to take the Social Security system apart right now. I do not agree with that either. but I respect their right to make that case. But it seems to me if you go back to 1935 at a time in this country when 50 percent of Americas senior citizens were living in poverty. this country decided: We cannot have that. We are not going to allow that to happen. So we created an insurance program. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9660,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090013307,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is on page 5. It shows the increases in the debt that would result if this budget is adopted: a $669 billion increase in the debt this year. next year it increases the debt .$636 billion. the next year it increases the debt $624 billion. the next year it increases the debt $622 billion. the next year it increases the debt $611 billion. This is not my document. This is in the budget resolution before us. and it says this is a blueprint to increase the debt $3 trillion. Is that what we should be doing? Is that really the blueprint to strengthen Americas economic security? I do not believe so. I think that would be a profoufid mistake. Mr. President. what is the time remaining on our side?","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4279,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090013380,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Senator from North Dakotas comments are well made. \"Permanent\" to me is to do whatever we need to do at whatever point in time to secure the safety net. starting today. Senator CONRAD is right. we should have started yesterday dealing with all these problems. Social Security is only a small slice of it. This budget sense of the Senate I hope will bring us together in honestly defining the problem. I am not asking anybody to prejudice an outcome. as to how they would solve the problem. But now we have on paper what the problem is for America. Working together. I think we can solve it. If we do not. we know what happens. ","speaker_name":"LINDSEY GRAHAM","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":682,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090013393,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr.. President. this amendment has a lot of problems. But three of the major ones are. first. it creates a precedent of mixing the general fund with the Social Security fund. which is a big mistake. Second. it treats entitlements entirely different than it treats tax cuts. which is a big mistake. And third. it is brought forward by a party which says there is no Social Security problem and. therefore. we will never have a tax cut because they will not admit there is a problem. It is essentially a stalkinghorse for doing nothing on the issue of relieving American taxpayers of the burden which they have under the present tax system at any time in the future. As we know. we need major tax reform. So it would be a huge mistake to put this point of order in place.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":769,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090013425,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I urge that we adopt the amendment.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":970,"word_count":7}
{"speech_id":1090013434,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the distinguished Senator from New York for her very lucid. cogent. and persuasive statement. And I thank her for her support of this amendment. I thank her very much. Mr. President. I believe the distinguished Senator from Utah. Mr. BENNETT. is prepared to speak on the amendment.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":304,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090013436,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And we said: \"Why. of course. We will be happy to meet her train.\" -We were a little less happy when we discovered that the train was arriving at 2:30 in the morning. and that this was its only stop. this was the only time. There was not an alternative time because the timing of the trains coming through. 2:30 in the morning was the only time this train came through Utah. We went down to the depot or the terminal. and I was a little bit struck by how shabby it had become through misuse over the years. But we were there. She came. We met her. I counted the number of people who got off the train with her. and it was fewer than you could count on the fingers of your two hands. There are fewer than 100 people a week that come into that station in Salt Lake. After 9\/11. there would have been no disruption whatsoever of people traveling in and out of Salt Lake if Amtrak. were not there. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BENNETT","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9934,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090013489,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It seemed to me there would be enormous problems. You would not be able to land at National Airport. now Reagan Airport. and get -through the Baltimore tunnel. We were able to save Amtrak. We have saved Amtrak in every year. There is an enormous amount of work which needs to be done on Amtraks infrastructure. fleet. and equipment. Amtrak is setting record ridership. and as the congestion of our airports and highways continues to. increase. it would be a grave mistake to cut back. On February 10 of this year. 35 Senators. including 8 Republicans. wrote to Chairman GREGG and Ranking Member CONRAD expressing our deep concern regarding the Presidents proposed elimination of Amtrak funding in the 2006 budget proposal and setting forth in detail the reasons Amtrak should be funded. Mr. President. I ask unanimous con-. sent that the letter to Chairman GREGG and Ranking Member CONRAD be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1770,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090013492,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In January of this year. a total of 37.445 passengers used Amtraks Hiawatha Service between Milwaukee and Chicago. That is 37.000 fewer cars on our roads. reducing congestion and pollution. So many times. when you hear commuter rail. we think of only the Northeast corridor. I want to assure the people of Wisconsin that I know this is not the case. and that I will fight to ensure that the corridors in Wisconsin are not shut down. I support reforms in Amtrak. and look forward to working with Amtrak. with the administration. and with my colleagues to enact meaningful reform. But we cannot move forward on reform if Amtrak has been forced to abandon its services in other areas. The Northeast is not the only region in the country that relies on a viable rail systemnow is not the tihe to force the more than 540.000 people who used Amtrak in Wisconsin on to our overburdened roads and airports. I urge my colleagues to support Senator BYRDs amendment.","speaker_name":"HERBERT KOHL","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1798,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090013518,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In my response to the question. I am not saying in the history of the Senate this never occurred. But I will say to the Senator from Alaska. he knows as well as anyone who has been in this Chamber for a period of time that this is not the usual order of Senate. This is an extraordinary procedural move being made by the Senator from Alaska because he has had a difficulty passing this important bill that he would like to see passed. I think that is a fact of life. What I would like to address for a moment. though. is the merit of the issue. Think about it for a minute. When we ask the Bush administration. What is your energy policy for America. they tell us the centerpiece for their energy policy for America is drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Surely you must believe. if you think that is truly the centerpiece. there must be an extraordinary trove of oil and gas there that will sustain America for a lengthy period of time. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11628,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090013520,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The caribou go where they want to go in the area and the area includes the petroleum reserve. State land. ANWR. and Canada. The caribou go across all of those jurisdictions without paying attention to the names that are given to the land they are wandering over. It was interesting to talk to some of the people in Barrow. which is the northernmost city in the United States. They pointed out that when Prudhoe Bay was opened for exploration and the pipeline was built there was great concern about the caribou being unable to cross the pipeline. Overpasses were built over the pipeline to allow the caribou free access to the other side because they said it will upset the caribous migrating habits. it will upset their mating season. it will upset the calving season if they cannot move freely across. Ultimately. the compromise was that we will build the overpasses for the caribou. As this native of Barrow who has lived there all of his life said to us. the caribou didnt understand that. The caribou dont use the. overpasses. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BENNETT","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9210,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090013527,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. I rise to oppose *the reconciliation instruction in this budget resolution directing the Finance Committee to cut Medicaid by $15 billion over 5 years. These cuts will tear the fabric of our Nations safety net at a time when Medicaid is needed more than ever. I -plan to cosponsor an amendment to strike these instructions and instead establish a bipartisan Medicaid Commission. Medicaid is just too. important to be subject to arbitrary budget cuts. It is a critical public program that provides a lifeline of health coverage and longterm care services to more than 53 million of our Nations most vulnerable individuals. For example. Medicaid ensures access to health coverage for more than one in four children. Just think of that: one in four. It is the Nations largest single purchaser of longterm care services and fills the gaps in Medicares coverage for more than 6 million lowincome senior and disabled individuals. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9514,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090013573,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"and he has proposed legislation to do that. We have had that debate. too. We have had that debate about as long as we have had this debate about whether we should open up ANWR to oil drilling. The fact of the matter is. in 1980. section 1003 of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act specifically prohibited oil and gas development in the entire refuge or the leasing or development leading to the production of oil and gas from the range unless authorized by Congress. So that is what we are here debating: unless authorized by Congress. I have given you my reasons why I do not think we should authorize on the budget resolution this significant of an action without discussing energy p01icy and the impacts of opening up ANWR on the refuge. I personally think there are many things we should be doing to attain our energy future. I think there are many policies that would be far more interesting to us as a country because a lot of people are trying to argue that we should do this now because it is an energy supply and it is national security. Well. I can tell you. this Senatpr. along with my fellow west coast Senators. is outraged over the price of gasoline in America. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7556,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090013609,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let me stop at this point. and yield to my colleague from Nevada for the purpose of the offering of an amendment. further discussion on this important issue of veterans funding. and then I believe we will be joined by my colleague from Texas. Senator HUTCHISON. to further discuss this before we close out for the evening. But I believe we can turn to the Senate tomorrow and ask them to vote on a very responsible veterans budget as proposed by the Senate. With that. I yield to Senator ENSIGN.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":510,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090013615,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"President. is not the amount of money we are spending. but rather the manner in which we are spending it. By that I mean that veterans are moving away from the Rustbelt to faster growing States like Nevada. A large number are moving to the west coast. A lot to the Sunbelt States- They have chosen to move. but a lot of the VA facilities are still located in the Rustbelt. Because of the way Congress works. Senators and Representatives work hard to keep a lot of money in their States. even though the veterans have moved away. So while States such as Washington and Nevada may have VA facilities that are packed to the gills. there are some VA facilities that have 20 to 30 percent occupancy in their beds. Frankly. some of them should be closed. This President has. with the CARES Commission. proposed reallocating some of the funds so that the veterans with the greatest needs will get the care they deserve. Our amendment recognizes that you cannot do this overnight. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4991,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090013619,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"When they became covered a few years ago. really. it was thought by Congress that there would not be a big surge to get the Veterans Affairs coverage because they. we thought. had private insurance. But. in fact. that has been the big surge in medical care coverage for veterans. in those 2 categories. 7 and 8. and 15 percent of those do not have private coverage. So what we are doing with this amendment is we are saying we are not going to change anything right now. We are not going to have copays. and we are not going to have enrollment fees. But I did talk to the Secretary about making sure that if there is private insurance. that that insurance would be the first payer in a veterans health care need. that the private insurance payer would pay first. and Veterans Affairs would come second so that we could recoup some of the money that could be going into serving other more needy veterans and try to also keep a balance in the budget. That is what we are trying to do. We are trying to increase what is in the budget. and we will do that in this amendment. We are. most certainly. going to try to do it in a way that will not harm any veteran at all. We are not going to have copay increases. We are not going to have enrollment fees. and we are not going to have a reduction in the per diem payments for nonserviceconnected veterans in State veterans homes. ","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5125,"word_count":261}
{"speech_id":1090013627,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But. we cannot stop at preventing the transmission. We have to ensure that there is treatment available for children when necessary Approximately 2.2 millioh children under the age of 15 are infected with the HIV virus. and 1.900 children worldwide are infected with HIV each day. To date. more than 4 million children worldwide are estimated to have died from AIDS. We must ensure that HIVpositive children and children with AIDS are no longer overlooked and that they begin receiving the treatment and care that they deserve. Few programs specifically target the treatment of children with HIV\/AIDS in resourcepoor countries due to significant challenges in diagnosing and treating infants and young children with HIV. Such challenges include: difficulty in diagnosing HIV in infants less than 18 months of age. lack of appropriate and affordable pediatric HIV\/ AIDS medicines. and lack of trained health care providers. When I went to Guyana two years ago. only one childone child in the whole countrywas receiving antiretroviral treatment medicine. I know that more are receiving treatment now. but not many. We have to do more to change that. We need to ensure that physicians and clinicians are trained in pediatric care and that safe and effective medicines are available to infected children who need them to survive. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8932,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090013630,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to congratulate the University of Montana. which for the first time since 1997 will watch both its mens and its womens basketball teams advance to the NCAA tournament. and we do so with Big Sky tournament championships fresh in hand. The University of Montana mens basketball team will head to the tournament for the sixth time in school history. The Grizzlies now face a daunting task. facing the No. 1 seed University of Washington. and we are going to beat them. Under Coach Larry Krystkowiak. we have a coach and a team that is going to win. Larry was a legendary basketball player for the Grizzlies in the 1980s. rising all the way up to the NBA. and now in his first year as head coach of the Grizzlies. he is a champion. We won the tournament. We are going to beat those characters over in the State of Washington. We are going to win the next round. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1564,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090013634,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today there will be rallies in 50 cities across the world calling on the Canadian Government to stop the cruel and needless slaughter of seals. Animal protection and environmental groups in the U.S. and throughout the world have condemned Canadas increased seal hunt. which will allow sealers to kill over 300.000 baby seals this year alone. The hunt officially opened on Nov. 15. 2004. but the bulk of the killing will begin toward the end of March. after the babies have been born. They will be clubbed and shot mainly for their fur. A recent study was conducted by an independent team of veterinarians which found that the seal hunt failed to comply with basic animal welfare standards and that Canadian regulations with regard to humane killing were not being enforced. The study concluded that up to 42 percent of the seals studied were likely skinned while alive and conscious. The United States has long banned imports of seal products because of widespread outrage over the magnitude and cruelty of the hunt. Our neighbor to the north is fortunate to have vast and diverse wildlife populationsanimals that deserve protection. not senseless slaughter. Americans have a long history of defending marine mammals. best evidenced through our Marine Mammal Protection Act. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1774,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090013638,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I want to recognize three students who finished events with times in the top 10: Pete Petry. Erik Willborg. and Johanna Aaker. I know how hard all of the students on the ski team worked to achieve these fantastic finishes. and I am pleased to represent such talented individuals. To both. the mens and womens ski teams of Rocky Mountain College. congratulations on your fantastic seasons.*","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1377,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090013643,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to introduce the Paiute Indian Tribe Land Conveyance Act of 2005. This bill would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to convey or transfer four small Paiute trust land parcels to the city of Richfield. The Paiute Indian Tribe Land Conveyance Act of 2005 would allow the Secretary of the Interior to transfer three acres of land held in trust for the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah to the city of Richfield. UT. The city of Richfield would provide fair market value compensation directly to the tribe. and pay any costs incurred in this transaction. This land transfer would allow expansion of the Richfield Municipal Airport and provide the Tribe with proceeds to purchase land that has economic development potential. This bill passed the House last year and I introduced it.in the Senate. but the Senate bill did not make it through the legislative process prior the end of the 108th Congress: . This proposal has support from all sides. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5279,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090013646,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"One sure way to have strong economic growth without the pain of inflation is to increase productivity. And most productivity gains are derived from technological advances. which reduce the cost of prod.ucing goods and services. and thereby help maintain low consumer prices. An additional benefit of productivity growth is a corresponding increase in corporate profits. Such increases lead to higher returns on savings and investment. and higher wages for workers. I believe the greatest benefit of increased R&D is productivity growth. which in turn forms the foundation of higher living standards. Productivity growth also largely determines our societys longterm economic welfare. Our ability to deal with budgetary challenges. such as Social Security. Medicare. and other entitlements. depends critically on the future direction of our productivity. From 1995 through 2003. average annual productivity growth was three percent. double the 1.5 percent growth rate that prevailed between 1973 and 1995. According to economists. this surge in productivity is the result of businesses beginning to efficiently integrate computer and information technology into daytoday Operations. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8324,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090013648,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The September 2000 issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion reported that approximately 25 percent of all employer medical costs are caused by lifestyle factors. Emerging research is showing the value may be closer to 50 percent today. Medical care costs are reaching crisis levels. Some major employers are actively exploring discontinuing medical insurance coverage if costs are not controlled. The Federal Government has the same cost problems with its own employees. and the cost to Medicare of lifestylerelated diseases will only increase as Baby Boomers retire. and more and more beneficiaries are diagnosed with lifestylerelated illnesses. An obvious first step to addressing our health and medical cost problems is to help people stay healthy. The good news is that both the public and private sectors are starting to do more in the area of health prevention and health promotion. For instance. the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 included several new prevention initiatives for Medicare beneficiaries. Also in recent years Congress and the Administration have worked together to pass numerous- pieces of legislation to establish grants to provide health services for improved nutrition. increased physical activity. and obesity prevention. However. despite the success of many health promotion programs. there is a quality gap between the best programs and typical programs. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD LUGAR","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3658,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090013652,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I am introducing two Senate Joint Resolutions appointing citizen regents to the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. I am pleased that my fellow Smithsonian Institution Regent. Senators FRIST and LEAHY. are cosponsors. The Smithsonian Institution Board of Regents recently recommended the following distinguished individuals for appointment to six year terms Qn the Board. Robert P. Kogod of Washington. D.C... and Shirley Ann Jackson of New York. I ask unanimous consent that a copy of their biographies and the text of the joint resolutions by printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":601,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090013666,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a hearing on Tuesday. March 15. 2005 at 2:30 p.m. on \"SBC\/ATT and Verizon\/MCI MergersRemaking the Telecommunications Industry.\" The hearing will take place in the Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226. The tentative witness list is attached. PANEL I: Edward E. Whitacre. Jr.. Chairman and CEO. SBC Communications. ","speaker_name":"LINDSEY GRAHAM","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":650,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090013674,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on National Parks be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday. March 15. 2005. at 2:30 p.m. The purpose of the hearing is to receive testimony on the following bills: S. 175. a bill to establish the bleeding Kansas and Enduring Struggle for Freedom National Heritage Area. and for other purposes. S. 322. a bill to establish the Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership in the States of Vermont and New York. and for other purposes. S. 323. a bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to study the suitability and feasibility of designating the French Colonial. Heritage Area in the State of Missouri as a unit of the National Park System. and for other purposes. and S. 429. a bill to establish the Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area in the State of Connecticut and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. and for other purposes.","speaker_name":"LINDSEY GRAHAM","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":932,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090013680,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the following fellows and interns of the Finance Committee be granted floor privileges during consideration of the budget resolution: Brian Townsend. Mary Baker. Janis Lazda. Richard Litsey. Cuong Huynh. David Schwartz. Stuart Sirkin. Janellen Duffy. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":430,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090013693,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It leaves behind nearly 3 million children who could be fully funded and fully served if title I were funded at the authorized level. And. as I said. it eliminates all the funding for the Perkins Vocational Education Act. This is one I am particularly concerned about. It is a program that was just reauthorized in the Senate on a bipartisan basis by a vote of 99 to 0. The Perkins Act makes -possible a broad range of vocational and technical education programs for millions of young people and adults. It is a true lifeline for students at risk of droppingout of school. For millions of these atrisk students. vocational education programs are relevant. and they are meaningful. They give kids a reason to stick- it out until graduation. maybe to go on to a community college. and they lead to good. solid jobs. In Iowa alone. elimination of the Perkins Vocational Education Program would impact 93.000 high school students and more than 37.000 community college students. The impact nationwide would be a disaster for millions of students. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8489,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090013708,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Greenspan advocates making tax cuts for millionaires permanent while advocating a cut in Social Security benefits for the middle class. all the while bemoaning the rising deficits this country has seen and $2 trillion of additional debt. Thank you very much for that independent analysis. Mr. Greenspan. Mr. Greenspan. you know better.","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1280,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090013711,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the integrity of the peoples House supersedes the interests of any individual Member who is privileged to serve here. of either political party. We bear an individual duty. as well as a collective obligation. to abide by the highest ethical standards and to conduct ourselves in a manner that instills public confidence in this institution. Yet. today. the ethics process in this House is at a standstill. Our bipartisan process to address alleged ethics violations has been stymied by a partisan roadblock that is inconsistent with the purpose and history of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. The gentleman from West Virginia","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":653,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090013714,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Changes must be made. and the sooner we act the more secure we all will be.","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1254,"word_count":16}
{"speech_id":1090013739,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I want to make clear that I assume good faith on the part of the White House. and I hope we can work things out. But if we do not. I will be pursuing every possible avenue to see that an amendment such as this is adopted because this Congress has an obligation to know what is happening in some of these covert and clandestine operations. Mr. Chairman. I ask unanimous consent to withdraw the amendment.","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":417,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090013767,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the mission is the veterans service organizations are a great voice for veterans here in Washington. Like the gentleman. they are constantly pounding their chest saying. I am calling for money. more opportunity for veterans. I insist that they help us go back to where .the hospitals are and see that veterans are treated like real human beings in those hospitals. I cannot get the VSOs to do it. Maybe I can get the gentleman to do it because the gentleman is obviously more concerned than the VSOs are about those veterans benefits and the way they are being treated.. Mr. Chairman. I ask. would the gentleman from California join me in that effort. or does the gentleman believe the money is being spent very well at veterans hospitals? \u0095","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":755,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090013780,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Once again we are using the rules to block a commonsense amendment. It seems to me that the chairman has deeper issues than a blocking of the thing on a procedural ground and feels that the VA is not doing its job. That is obviously a deep issue that we ought to discuss. but that should not lead him to block this amendment. In addition. the only way I could judge the sincerity of the majority party in these issues is to see what they had done to the chairman of the committee I have sat on for the last 12 years. that is. the VA Committee. The chairman was removed from that job. purged from that job because he stood up for veterans. I hope. Mr. Chairman. that the gentleman will join me on a mission as I join him on a mission for accountability and efficiency to convince the leadership of his party to put back on that committee members of the committee who actually fight for veterans. Once again. I think the veterans of this Nation ought to understand that the rules of this House can be waived for anything that the majority party wants. but when it comes to the veterans of this Nation. they refuse to waive the rules.","speaker_name":"BOB FILNER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":51.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1131,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090013796,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of H.R. 1268. the Emergency Supplemental and Wartime Appropriations Act of 2005. This supplemental provides necessary funding for a variety of military operations and for equipment that will keep our troops safe while they fight the War on Terror. We are asking the brave men and -women of our Armed Forces to put their lives on the line in defense of our freedom. In return. we should not hesitate to give them the best protective gear that we can provide. However. I have serious concerns about providing additional nondefense and nonemergency items. such as money for facility construction and international peacekeeping efforts that are included in this supplemental. I believe that while these items may be vital to our Nations interests. they are not true emergencies. I commend the chairman of the Appropriations Committee. the distinguished gentleman from California. ","speaker_name":"RANDY NEUGEBAUER","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1758,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090013799,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of H.R. 1268. I would like to thank the committee leadership for their efforts to provide our men and women in uniform with the equipment that they need to succeed. As a member of the House Armed Services Committee. I have worked with my colleagues to provide muchneeded force protection equipment to our troops. H.R. 1268 includes $75 million for body armor. $51 million for uparmored Humvees. and $611 million for addon armor kits for vehicles. Having visited our wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. I know that we can prevent further injuries by funding this important equipment. and I appreciate the committees efforts in this area. Furthermore. the bill raises the military death gratuity from $12.000 to $100.000 and increases subsidized life insurance benefits from $250.000 to $400.000 for families of service members who died or were killed on active duty. retroactive to October 7. 2001. ","speaker_name":"JAMES LANGEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2385,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090013819,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in opposition to the motion to recommit largely because I believe on both sides of the aisle the body recognizes that the reason for this supplemental is to provide as quickly as possible money flows in support of our troops. This is a supplemental dealing with our challenges in the Middle East especially. It is a supplemental dealing with the crises that have resulted from the tsunami. But. in the meantime. the gentlewoman is suggesting that we should recommit this bill to add $150 million. The best thing that we can do for our troops is to move this bill very quickly and send it on its way for a conference with the Senate. There is absolutely no question that to have a recommittal motion be successful that would add $150 million to an $82 billion package. the vast percentage of which is in support of our troops. at best is a technical exercise. 0l 1130 To recommit for the sake of recommitting is not a reflection of how seriously we are taking the challenge we have of supporting our troops. So I rise in opposition to the motion to recommit. and I urge Members on both sides of the aisle to -recognize that we must move forward with this supplemental. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1237,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090013846,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of this resolution. and first I would like to express my appreciation to the gentleman from Illinois for introducing this important and timely resolution and for moving it so expeditiously to the floor. I also want -to express my gratitude for his support to the gentleman from New Jersey . I am proud to be the lead Democratic sponsor of this important measure. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2811,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090013848,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The future of Taiwan should be determined by the people of Taiwan. Any effort by the Communist leadership in the Peoples Republic of China to deny a free people in Taiwan a safe. prosperous and democratic future should be condemned. Mr. Speaker. this is a very important issue. I am very pleased that it is being taken up by the Congress here today. It deserves the utmost attention. I want to thank again the gentleman from Illinois for bringing this forward. I also want to thank the gentleman from California for whom I have great respect and has been a leader in this area for many years and the gentleman from New Jersey as well.","speaker_name":"STEVE CHABOT","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1892,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090013852,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of the resolution. House Concurrent Resolution 98. which expresses the concern of the U.S. House of Representatives regarding Chinas AntiSecession Law. This misguided law effectively authorizes use of military force against Taiwan if Taiwan moves toward formal independence. I believe the antisecession law is a dangerous and unnecessary escalation of tensions between China and Taiwan. The future of Taiwan should be resolved by peaceful means and with the consent of the people of Taiwan. The United States should continue to encourage dialogue between Taiwan and China. In todays world. we should strive to ensure peace. liberty and democracy. ","speaker_name":"HILDA SOLIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":747,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090013877,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that all M embers may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Con. Res. 32. expressing the grave concern of Congress regarding the occupation of the Republic of Lebanon by the Syrian Arab Republic.","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":304,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090013884,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But too often these unintended consequences occur and then we do not know how to reslfond to them. In Iraq in January of this year there was some polling done. an expression by the people on what they thought about foreign occupation. Eightytwo percent of the Sunnis. I guess understandably so. said that all foreign troops ought to leave. and 69 percent of the Shiites said all foreign troops ought to leave. I wonder why that is not important to anybody? Ijstead. we are talking about occupation for years. about building 14 bases in Iraq. How long do we stay in these countries and why is it so necessary for us to be telling other people what to do and when to do it and how to do it and stirring up nothing but antiAmerican sentiment. while at the same time. even though our goals may be wellintentioned. they are never achieved? We just do not achieve them. And to think that the election under the conditions that we are condemning in Lebanon is the salvation. is the evidence that we are having tremendous achievement. I think is something that we are just pulling the wool over our eyes. E 1300 John Adams gave us some pretty good advice about what we should do overseas. And I think that when we have resolutions like this. and we do have them continuously. and we have done them for decades. ","speaker_name":"RONALD PAUL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5034,"word_count":238}
{"speech_id":1090013899,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Reconciliation instructions are the critical step to begin the process of getting our mandatory spending back to a sustainable level. I am hopeful that while the authorizing committees are reviewing their programs they may also conclude that many of these mandatory programs would be better suited as discretionary and. therefore. subject to greater oversight by the Congress. I am .proud of the work the Committee on the Budget has put forward this year. I thank the gentleman from Iowa (Chairman NUSSLE). the chairman of that committee. for pushing forward with fiscal discipline and bringing us this outstaiding budget for consideration. I urge Members to support the rule and the underlying bill. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6007,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090013903,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I also agree with the increases for our national defense and homeland security to provide for our troops fighting the war on terror and to keep our communities safe. One source of concern for me was the Community- Development Block Grant program. It is crucial to city and rural areas across my district. The Presidents budget proposed reducing funds to the CDBG and 17 other economic development programs from $5.31 billion to $3.71 billion. I am pleased that the Committee on the Budget added an additional $1.1 billion to the Presidents request for the functional category encompassing these programs. This budget resolution makes no assumption on the Presidents proposed Communities Initiative. Our veterans deserve the very best health care and services our Nation can offer them. Funding for veterans have increased by 47 percent over the past 4 years. and I am pleased that the committee added $297 million this year to the Presidents. budget proposal for veterans. and I will continue to seek further and additional funding for our veterans and their health care. I continue to have some concerns with the budget. I am a strong supporter of vocational education and TRIO programs. ","speaker_name":"SHELLEY CAPITO","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2793,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090013921,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. There will be that opportunity. this being the rule on the budget. but I will engage in a bit of discussion about the Social Security because I am one who will gain or lose a great deal. being someone who will reach that retirement age at that ybar of insolvency. And it is shocking to me that the party who gave us Social Security. and should be very proud of it and are. are almost in complete denial about the looming crisis that it faces and refuse to accept the fact that. regardless of which option we choose to solve the problem. that it is something that should be kicked down the road to future generations. to future Congresses. to future years. And there is a stone wall of resistance to any discussion at all about for once Congress getting ahead of a big issue. for once Congress actually dealing with the problem before it is crashing down around our heads. for once Congress actually being bold and looking into the future beyond the next budget cycle. beyond the next election. beyond the next shortterm problem and actually tackling it and dealing with it. Anyone who has been through their freshman orientation upon being elected has a bipartisan group give them the longterm unfunded liabilities of this government. and we acknowledge that there are vast differences in the approach to saving Social Security. But. unfortunately. largely with one bold. brave exception in the gentleman from Florida . there has been total resistance to have any constructive effort to bring about a solution to this problem.","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1582,"word_count":276}
{"speech_id":1090013924,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the gentlemans yielding to me and very much appreciate the constructive tone of his debate. We actually have advanced provisions for the safeguarding of Social Security. This Democratic Party which stood so strongly in preserving surplus dollars saved Social Scurity first. walling them off. the lockbox. We saved Social Security revenues for Social Security. And it is the Democrat Members of this body who are prepared to enter discussions when goingin principles are agreed to. Those principles: there shall be no insecurity added into Social Security and that there should be no additional Federal borrowing. no vast amounts of Federal borrowing.","speaker_name":"EARL POMEROY","chamber":"H","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":676,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090013928,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I will modify this rule to provide that immediately after the House passes the budget resolution. it will take up H.R. 1330. the Social Security Trust Fund Protection Act. This legislation. introduced by the gentleman from Colorado . would ensure that Social Security contributions are used to protect Social Security solvency by mandating that trust fund moneys cannot be diverted to create private accounts. Mr. Speaker. while Members of this House may differ on what is the best longterm solution to ensure solvency of Social Security. I think we probably all agree that we need to protect the money that goes into the trust fund and that any diversion of these funds must be undertaken with great care. Private accounts do not help the trust fund solvency. In fact. it is estimated that they would cost the system more than $5 trillion. H.R. 1330 will give us an opportunity to vote up or down on whether we want the Social Security trust fund to be used to pay for these fiscally irresponsible private accounts. Let me make it very clear that a \"no\" vote on the previous question will not stop consideration of the budget resolution. nor will it change the process by which it is to be considered. But a \"no\" vote will allow the House to vote to prevent the siphoning off of the Social Security trust fund to pay for private accounts. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2085,"word_count":235}
{"speech_id":1090013945,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. last week on March 9 during the discussion of the transportation bill. I was detained out of the building and away from the Capitol. and I missed the following votes and would like to have recorded in the appropriate place of the transportation bill that on the Graves amendment if present I would have voted \"no\". on the Kennedy amendment if I was present. I would have voted \"no\". on the Osborne amendment if I was present. I would have voted \"no\". on the Moran amendment if I was present. I would have voted \"aye\". on the Conaway amendment if I was present. I would have voted \"no.\"","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":598,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090013955,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. if you do that. you are taking money out of public trust funds. putting them in private trust funds. and. therefore. money will have to be borrowed to meet the obligations of Social Security. to wit. $754 billion beginning in the year 2009 and extending to the year 2015. That is not my number. The White House gave us that estimate. And yet they did not put it in their own budget. When you add all of these things together. what you get is not a deficit that is going to be Gut in half over the -next 5 years. or the next 10 years. for that matter. What you get is a deficit that moves from $427 billion next year to $621 billion in the year 2015. Let me just show you in three simple lines what this means looking backward over the immediate last 3 years. When my Republican colleagues passed the Presidents budget and his tax cuts in the year 2001. his offices at OMB told us in earnest. we will not be back here hat in hand to ask to increase the debt ceiling of the United States. the legal limit on what we can borrow. again until 2008. So confident are we that these tax cuts will be replenished. we do not think we will be back here until 2008. They were back here in the year 2002. asking for an increase in the debt ceiling of $450 billion. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10912,"word_count":245}
{"speech_id":1090013959,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. and I want to compliment the gentleman and the staff for putting together what I consider an excellent budget. Your work will be recognized as we move this. . Continuing our progress in providing for homeland security. this budget provides for a total homeland security spending of $49.9 billion. an increase of 8.6 percent. About 55 percent of that would go to the Department of Homeland Security or other homeland securityrelated funding spread through the government. including the Department of Defense. Health and Human Services and Justice as well. These funds will work to meet the needs in three key strategic areas of homeland security. including. first of all. preventing attacks. We provide for increases in funding for homeland security programs and agencies specifically designed to help prevent attacks from occurring. including border security. counterterrorism and counterintelligence. Secondly. we reduce other vulnerabilities. ","speaker_name":"JIM RYUN","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3607,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090013961,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Some cuts are implemented over a 10year budget window. but many are eliminated entirely in fiscal 2006. For example. all vocational education programs are eliminated immediately. The budget slashes.$522 million for all technology education programs and $437 million for State grants for safe and drug free school and community programs. The Environmental Protection Agency. EPA. budget is cut by nearly one half billion dollars. jeopardizing EPAs ability to enforce environmental regulations and coordinate mitigation programs with State and local governments. The Republicarn budget cuts veterans health care by $14 billion below current services over the next 5 years. These cuts come at a time of unprecedented growth in demand for services. The Veterans Health Administration. VHA. is struggling to provide adequate health care services for our aging Vietnam. Korean. and World War II veterans. in addition to serving the needs of the countless and increasing Iraq war veterans. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5497,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090013975,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. and I thank him for saying what he did earlier about tax increases. I have been watching these budget debates for 11 years now as a Member of Congress. 3 years as a member of the Committee on the Budget. and year after year the argument is the same. Our colleagues from the other side of the aisle criticize our budgets in two respects. They say Republican budgets do not spend enough. and they say taxes should be higher. That is pretty much the gist of their complaints against our budgets. So I am glad to see the chairman pointing out his opposition and join him in adding my opposition to tax increases. Now. I do want to talk as the chairman has asked me about mandatory spending. ","speaker_name":"ROGER WICKER","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6106,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090013985,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong opposition to the Nussle budget. This budget cuts $20 billion from Medicaid. Our friends on the other side of the aisle claim that this is not a cut. just a reduction in growth. But it is a- cut. When prices increase. and they surely have in health care. and spending does not match that increase. you are reducing the programs purchasing power. You are cutting the program..This budget is going to deny States. health care providers and lowincome working families $20 billion for the health care services that they would have had. And there is no evidence that closing loopholes or fighting waste. fraud and abuse would save anywhere near this amount. Medicaid provides health care. irreplaceable health care. to 52 million of our poorest children. poor pregnant Women. parents and the elderly. ","speaker_name":"LOIS CAPPS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2466,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090013997,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I asked my staff to examine where past Republican practices might be in this politically engineered budget crisis. $18.7 billion is coming out of the Committee on Ways and Means. None of it out of Social Security. None out of Medicare. What is left? Poor people and children. Two million of our Nations poorest families will see Draconian cuts in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Child care assistance for loWincome working families could be eliminated. Social service block grants could be cut 60 percent. and Federal assistance for foster care could be slashed by 80 percent. And if that is not enough. let us take $5 billion worth of food stamps out of childrens mouths. It is Americas most vulnerable who will pay for the Republican intention to extend tax breaks for capital gains. with 75 percent of the benefit going to people earning over $200.000 a year. What in the world is going on? Do Republicans intend to starve the poor so they can feed the rich? Budgets reflect values. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2082,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090014003,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Conference of Mayors. the National League of Cities. that have had a great deal of concern about the consolidation of -18 programs. some of which are currently located in HUD. to Commerce and the reduction in overall spending. which was proposed of 30 percent. This House. in taking the action of supporting the Committee on the Budgets resolution. does not accept the Presidents level of funding and looks to restore functions for CDBG that go to important issues in our community such as taking abandoned houses and refurbishing them. demolishing abandoned buildings where they cannot be rehabilitated. taking abandoned lots that might have been strewn with broken grass or be places where criminals congregate and turning them into community parking lots that can help support areas of local community business districts. Looking. as the gentlewoman from Connecticut was saying. to the area of brownfields. we have abandoned factory sites throughout our urban core which make it more difficult for us to bring jobs to those areas of our cities. to find ways to environmentally clean up those sites. and to demolish the buildings. bringing jobs back into them. The Community Development Block Grant program supports those functions. I also serve as chairman of the Federalism and the Census Subcommittee of the Committee on Government Reform. and we recently held a subcommittee hearing on the administrations proposal to consolidate existing direct grant economic and community development programs within the Department of Commerce. We heard information from the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the National League of Cities where they told of the success of these programs. I want to thank the chairman for listening to the great degree of success that they have had\" in the past and looking to ways that we can continue to support this program. So I appreciate the addition of the $1.140 billion and the notation of the support for the Community Development Block Grant program.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL TURNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3390,"word_count":320}
{"speech_id":1090014005,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I agree. And I would remind them that the balanced budgets of the late 1990s were passed by Republican Congresses. without much help from our friends on the other side of the aisle. Hardly any of them voted for it. How anyone takes credit for policies they opposed is beyond me. but I guess that is politics. But. again. so is the idea that raising $392.4 billion in new taxes. as Committee on the Budget Democrats proposed just last week. would somehow help the economy to create jobs. Well. Mr. Chairman. the facts are indisputable: Democracy is on the march around the world. the war on terror is being won. the economy is growing. jobs are being created. deficit projections are shrinking. and the looming demographic crises facing Social Security and Medicare are being addressed. all thanks to .the courage. the policies and the leadership of President Bush and this Republican Congress. That the same people who have criticized us all along are criticizing our -11661 budget today. Mr. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3873,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090014007,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank my colleague from South Carolina. our ranking member on the Cqmmittee on the Budget. for yielding me time. Mr. Chairman. I wish I had enough time to respond to the Majority Leaders problems with this budget. but. in all honesty. the War on Terror. we just passed the supplemental that was not part of this budget. and most of us. in fact I voted for that supplemental because it was the War on Terror. But I rise to oppose the drastic cuts in Medicaid in this budget resolution. Medicaid is not the problem child of our health care system and should not take the fall for this administrations inability to balance the budget. I Medicaids cost per capita growth is lower than Medicare or even private insurance. despite the fact that Medicaid has absorbed an increased beneficiary population due to gaps in Medicare coverage. an economic downturn and the decline of employersponsored. health insurance. Medicaid is a success story in this country. not a program that belongs on the Federal chopping block. ","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2216,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090014011,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It pluses up the program. The Republican budget does not aggressively fund nuclear nonproliferation programs. Both sides of the aisle. and as a matter of fact during the last campaign both the candidates. for President. .said that stopping a nuclear weapon from getting in the hands of terrorists is our top national security priority. The Spratt budget backs that up with dollars. Mr. Chairman. I urge my colleagues to support the budget to be offered by the gentleman from South Carolina","speaker_name":"IKE SKELTON","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2091,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090014013,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This budget does not reflect the family values of the American family. because the American family respects the service and sacrifice of our veterans. not just with speeches on Veterans Day. We are awfully good about that. But they expect us to respect veterans every day. and this bill does not even come close to maintaining present services for health care for our veterans. They can show their charts. how they have increased veterans funding. but the reality is it does not keep up with present services. So. in effect. every Member of this House who votes for this bill is voting for a real cut in health care services. education services and monthly disability pension checks for Americas veterans. I think the American people. andI know Americas veterans. are going to be offended by the values and priorities of this bill. Let us not just say yes to veterans on Veterans Day and turn our backs on them on budget day. Sadly that is what this budget does. Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS EDWARDS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3061,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090014021,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But our budget does single out veterans as one group deserving of more spending. more than just a current services. budget. because the demands are clearly there. So our budget provides $1.6 billion more than theirs. than the Republican resolution. for veterans health care in 2006. And between 2006 and 2010 we provide $17 billion more for veterans health care. Our budget resolution contains no reconciliation instructions to the Committee on Veterans Affairs. What does that mean? Their resolution calls upon the Committee on Veterans Affairs to report savings out of mandatory programs that will save $798 million. There are only two places those savings can come from: either cutting disability benefits or raising the fees that veterans must pay to use veterans facilities. Our budget resolution contains special provisions for our troops to make sure that the increases in life insurance to $400.000 for combat fatalities voted up in the supplemental for 1 year will be extended for future years. and that the death gratuity raised to $100.000 will also be continued for future years. And we will provide more funding for family separation centers. for deployed troops. and more communitybased health care for returning troops and their families. two things that have been critically noted. Our resolution recommends that the funds be taken from the Missile Defense Agency and advanced satellite programs to pay for these personnel benefits. We think it is a good tradeoff. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2462,"word_count":237}
{"speech_id":1090014026,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman from South Carolina for yielding me this time and for his work in developing a budget for all Americans. Every year the administration and Congress are taxed with developing a budget that reflects our Nations priorities in spending. priorities that reflect our countrys values. Unfortunately. the budget resolution we have before us. and the values it represents insults the true values of the American people. given the extensive cuts to first responders. community policing. veterans benefits. health care. and education funding. Under the Republican leadership the entire budget- process has become a complete fraud on the American people. This budget adds more than $4 trillion to the deficit in the next 10 years. without even including the enormous costs that have been left out of the budget. It is past time for this House to be honest and restore fiscal responsibility to this process and to the Nation. the same fiscal responsibility that each of our constituents face when they try to balance their household and business budgets. Unfortunately. this budget shows that the Republican Congress does not share the values of the American people. What type of values would cut funding to the Fire Act Grant Program which helps meet the basic needs of firefighters by 30 percent? Firefighters on the front lines of the war on terror in New Jersey stand to lose $4 million under this resolution. which means they will have less protective clothing. fewer portable radios than they need to protect our citizens. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT MENENDEZ","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3325,"word_count":254}
{"speech_id":1090014037,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman from South Carolina for presenting a budget that has a better vision for the American people. and for the gentlemans hard work that he does for the American people. Mr. Chairman. this is the third year that I have been in the Congress. There has been a similar routine every year I have been here. We debate the budget and our side says it is a statement of our values. and we say it is a statement of who we are. I would add one observation to that. This is a process that tells us a great deal about whether we are who we say we are. because there is an irony that I see with my friends from the other side of the aisle. \u0095 As we move into the year and move into the holiday season. we spend a lot of time talking about shared benevolence. but they will pass a budget tomorrow that will cut $5 billion from food stamps. and only 2 percent of people who are eligible receive food stamps. It is not a program filled with waste and fraud. ","speaker_name":"ARTUR DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3373,"word_count":191}
{"speech_id":1090014041,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Another important element is the land and water conservation fund authorized at almost $1 billion. yet this budget includes only $147 million for actual programs to help preserve parks. forests. wildlife refuges and open space. things that touch people where they live at home. garnering broad bipartisan support. This year the President and the Republicans go even further by eliminating the land and water conservation State grants programs which have provided critical funding to States and local communities to preserve open space and develop recreation facilities. And one of the most significant broken promises is in the area of conservation in the agriculture sector. One of the elements that was negotiated as part of the farm bill. there were going to be investments in farm conservation. and yet this budget takes something that is so critical to Americas farmers. particularly small and mediumsized operations. and cuts more than a half billion dollars from these vital farm bill conservation programs that\" unite rural America. conservation interests. people who care about natural resources. There is currently over a $4 billion backlog of producers waiting to participate in these critical farm conservation programs. It is a travesty as far as the environment is concerned. and it is a sad. sad story for Americas farmers who deserve better. I strongly urge the rejection of the majority proposal.","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2943,"word_count":223}
{"speech_id":1090014047,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I believe very strongly in balancing our budget and reducing the deficit. but I think we need to set certain priorities that are important to our families. My hope is that we do this in a bipartisan approach. that we develop a consensus. and I do want to thank the gentleman. from Iowa and the committee for allowing us to put some committee report language dealing with education in the budget and with resultsoriented budgeting which I believe we need here at this House. We need to balance the budget. but I think we need to protect our families and we need to make sure that we epsure that we are not trying to fix the March 16.. 2005","speaker_name":"HENRY CUELLAR","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":652,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090014050,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Our budget is also out for 10 years that shows that -we come to balance by 2012. Their budget is a 5year proposal. And the reason they do not do it at 10 years is because their deficits explode in the second 5 years. But their budget has also hidden the true and real cuts that are occurring in their education programs. ones that affect real people. real students in reallife conditions and will not help improve the condition of education or access to higher education. which we desperately need in this country. Their budget proposal actually calls for eliminating $4.3 billion worth of education programs in the next fiscal year alone. They completely wipe out vocational education. the Federal commitment to that. They completely wipe out all the Federal education technology programs that exist. They wipe out the Safe and DrugFree Schools Grant program. They also get rid of TRIO and GEAR UP. targeting lowincome students who want to go on to postsecondary education opportunities. They wipe out Even Start Family Literacy programs. ","speaker_name":"RON KIND","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3688,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090014052,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding to me. Over the past decade. funding for NASAs Aeronautics Research has declined by more than half. to about $900 million. The Presidents budget proposes to cut aeronautics research by 20 percent over the next 5 years. I am concerned that the United States is losing critical expertise in aeronautics research and development. This degradation will have a tragic impact on military and civilian aviation. which contributes significantly to our national defense and our economy. I believe that the Presidents funding levels for aeronautics programs should be reassessed and that the House should give priority to restoring these vital programs. Will the gentleman commit to bring to the conference report language that will clarify that the resolution makes no assumption regarding the .Presidents proposed funding level for NASAs Aeronautics Research programs?","speaker_name":"JO ANN DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":909,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090014059,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I take the chairman of the committee. my good friend. at his word. but I have to point out the language of the resolution does increase the allocation for Community Development and Regional Development programs by $1.1 billion more than the President riequests. But it is still $1.5 billion below this years level adjusted for inflation. What we have done in our resolution is to make amply clear that the CDBG will survive intact and will be fully funded. not suffer some crippling cut. as we have provided $9 billion more than their resolution for Community Development programs over 5 years. That will guarantee. virtually. if the committees are willing. that the CDBG and other important Regional Development and Community Development programs will not have to be cut. H157i Mr. Chairman. I yield 3 minutes to situation. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1106,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090014069,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"fornia. Mr. Chairman. it is a pleasure to be here on the floor speaking on this subject since some may know I left this place. for 16 years. and coming back to the floor of the House and having an opportunity to serve on the Budget Committee has given me a perspective that I did not have before. Being away from this place for 16 years gave me a little bit of a birds eye view of how the rest of the public views what we do here. And I just must say that during the several years that I was embarking on my endeavor to return to this House. I was constantly reminded by the people that I came into contact with in my district as to the spending spree they believe the Congress has gone on and been involved in over the last number of years. The amount of discretionary spending that we have had in terms of its increase is remarkable. I wish they could go back 16 years from when I left this wonderful institution back in 1989 to show what we are talking about. This chart merely goes back to 1994. but it shows us spending $513 billion in 1994. and we are talking about now stretching our way to $900 billion. I was in my office watching some of this debate. and I heard what appeared to me to be crocodile tears expressed by some on the other side about how much we are cutting. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL LUNGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4351,"word_count":251}
{"speech_id":1090014091,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is a heroic accomplishment over the last 5 years by these Republican budgets. nearly $9 trillion in negative results. The public debt has almost doubled and will probably reach $5 trillion before the end of this year. all of that as a: result of these budgets. and this particular budget that we are addressing tonight continues these same policies. One consequence of the low national savings associated with large budget deficits is that we are running now a very large trade deficit. In January. for example. the last month for which we have figures. it was $58.3 billion in trade deficit just for the month of January. Last year we accomplished a record trade deficit. The trade deficit for the year 2004 was a record $617 billion. This budget continues those same policies. But those deficits are unsustainable. Our economy will not survive if we continue along the same road. American workers are becoming more productive. but that productivity as a result of these budgets is not showing up in their wages. ","speaker_name":"MAURICE HINCHEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4777,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090014102,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Growth for 2005 year. every 18 months. $1 trillion every is expected to be at a 3.7 percent robust 18 to 20 months to our national debt. rate. More Americans. Mr. Chairman. are working today than at anytime in our Nations history. and employment is at a record level of more than 140 million. The unemployment rate in February was 5.4 percent. lower than the averages for each of the last three decades. Payroll employment rose by 2.2 million jobs during 2004. It is up by more than 3 million jobs since May of 2003. Last month. we saw employment gains of 262.000 jobs. more than a quarter of a million new jobs in the month of February alone. This suggests that there is clearly forward motion in the economy. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11226,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090014138,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill to amend title 28. United States Code. to provide for the removal to Federal court of certain State court cases involving the rights of incapacitated persons. and for other purposes. as amended.","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":255,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090014151,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It lends itself to the criticisms of my colleagues. which is. who is defined as such. We appreciate the passion of the parents of this young woman. I think they have legitimate standing. But \"next friend\" defined as an individual who has some significant relationship. does that mean a church member and family members are fighting against it? So more thought on this particular bill as it expands itself to incapacitated persons is what I think that we would have needed. I think also we have a circumstance as td whether or not this does mean that you would interfere in all kinds of medical procedures as opposed to this unique and special circumstance. Is a person incapacitated temporarily or for a long period of time? If it is a temporary incapacitation. meaning they have come in with a terrible tragic accident and may have the ability to recover. what does that mean in terms of this particular initiative? Does it then come in at that point or is it a longterm incapacitation? The idea that someone could argue or could utilize the courts. in this instance the courts in the State of Florida. to act on their desires to eliminate the feeding of an individual to me is abhorrent. But I hope that this legislation would not then be the precedent for interference in a womans right to choose. and I think this is a difficulty when you jump the legislative process and come from a written legislative initiative and then come to the floor of the House with no opportunity to ask the hard questions and to answer the hard questions as well. I would hope that the Private Relief Bill that is proposed in the other body is a route that is taken. I believe a bill that is as broadas this one needs a full hearing. and I believe that .this also cries out for bipartisanship. All of us feel the pain that the parents of this young woman are experiencing. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4454,"word_count":335}
{"speech_id":1090014153,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. The genius of our federalist democracy is that it maximizes the. power of people to govern themselves by explicitly requiring that those decisions that can be made at the local level are within the purview of local government. Those decisions that can be managed at a State level are within the purview of the State government. and that only in exceptional cases can Federal power override the power of State and local governments. This is a very tragic situation. It is a difficult and serious issue. It is one that every State legislature has struggled with. And the laws in our different States are different because the people across our large and diverse democracy differ on some of these issues. I personally believe that the reason America is still vital and strong is because we are a federalist democracy. and we do have this wonderful vitality and differences in how we govern ourselves at the State level. For 7 or 8 years this has been a tragic and disputed case in Florida. ","speaker_name":"NANCY JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1979,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090014157,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I feel very compelled to stand up here and passionately support this bill. and I hope my colleagues on the other side will join us because I think it is the right thing to do.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":996,"word_count":35}
{"speech_id":1090014159,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. this House has seen plenty of outrage. but this is the most outrageous thing I have ever seen. You come with a bill that is not on the calendar. You pop it out in the middle of the night. when all the Members are down at the White House on the Republican side having dinner with the President. You try and change what is going on in a court because you do not like what is going on in a court. How do you know what is going to come out of those courts in Florida? Oh. no. let us put it up in a Federal court or let us change everything. The Members on the other side of this aisle do not believe in process. You do not believe in government by law. You believe in raw power. If you have power. you can bring anything out here at any time and run it through here without any debate and no hearings and no anything. You ought to be ashamed of yourself that you have no shame. that you would come on this floor like this with a bill that is as complicated as this and do it without a single moment of hearing. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1039,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090014206,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Where is this Presidents leadership on expanding access to health care? When I go down the street. when I go to the supermarket at home. when I go to street festivals. people stop me in the street. I have heard the gentleman talk about people stopping him in the street and talking about issues that are important to them. The thing that they stop me on the most often is education and health care. They say. if my baby girl or my baby boy is sick. I have no health insurance and I cannot get them shots. If they have a cold. I cannot bring them to the doctor. I have to wait until the problem is bad enough to bring them to the emergency room. and no mother. or father should have to suffer through something like that. This President needs to exercise some leadership in this budget on how to solve this problem and he has not. It is an abdication of leadership.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1846,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090014213,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I know the gentleman is involved in talking about Social Security in his community. Please discuss some of what you hear and some of the misconceptions.","speaker_name":"ANNE NORTHUP","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"F","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1390,"word_count":26}
{"speech_id":1090014242,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. those who advocate drilling in the Arctic claim that the drilling is needed to reduce our Nations dependence on foreign oil. But what is included in the Senate budget resolution doesnt increase U.S. energy security. To the contrary. it is a license to export Alaskan oil outside the United States. With the inflated revenue projections of $2.5 billion from drilling in the Arctic included in the budget. the Federal Government will be forced to sell the oil to the highest bidder to even come close to reaching that amount. Under the Senate budget. if the highest price is in South America. oil from that wildlife refuge would have to go to South America. If the highest price is in the Far East. Arctic oil would have to go to the Far East. If the highest price is in the Middle East. Arctic oil would have to go to the Middle East. ","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4459,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090014269,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Comptroller General of the United States. the head of the General Accounting Office. warns us now that the fiscal outlook is worse than claimed. He says: The simple truth is that our Nations financial condition is much worse than advertised. The Comptroller General has it exactly right. Our fiscal condition. our financial condition is much worse than advertised. Why? Because when the President says to us he is going to reduce the deficit. he is going to cut it in half over the next 5 years. the only way he gets there is he just leaves out things. What does he leave out? First of all. he leaves out of his budget any war costs past September 30 of this year. We have money for this year in a supplemental. Some of that will be spent next year as well. But that is $82 billion. The Congressional Budget Office says we ought to be budgeting $383 billion for residual war costs--Afghanistan. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2448,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090014276,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the Senator from North Dakota. I think we can do that. I have 8 minutes remaining. There is 22 minutes in opposition. My speculation is that neither of us will use all of our time. I do not want to make a commitment to the other side on that. then. in advance. but probably no later than 10:20. 10:25. we can return to the Senator from North Dakota for his presentation. taking time off the bill. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent we follow that procedure.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":469,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090014312,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"No. I will not yield. The point. of course. is this: If you have 51 votes for your position. you win. Fiftyone votes to say there should not be drilling. that there should not be exploration. that this small postage stamp of land in this vast area of land should not be looked at for the purposes of giving us some independence in the area of energy. addressing our energy needs as a nationif you have 51 votes to say that. you win. If. on the other hand. the Senators from Alaska. who feel that in good conscience they had a commitment from the Senate for many years that they would be allowed tb pursue this initiative and that they can do it in an environmentally sound way. have 51 votes for their position. they win. That is the way the rules of the Senate are set up. So it is totally inappropriate for a Senator to come to this floor and represeft that this is some sort of unethical act. as was implied by the Senator from Massachusetts. We are using the rules of the Senate as they are set up to be used. and that happens to be the rule of the Senate. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1079,"word_count":209}
{"speech_id":1090014316,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is affecting our travel and people in their homes. There are three reasons this amendment needs to stay and. we get this revenue from this production. No. 1. security. We are overly dependent upon foreign sources of energy. We are being jerked around and sitting here reading emails to see what OPEC is going to do. Are they going to increase production by a few hundred thousand barrels? What impact will that have? Yes. other countries. such as India and China. are taking coal and taking energy. such as oil. But the point is we should be less dependent and reliant for our own security on OPEC and Vehezuela and all these different countries. primarily in the Middle East. for our own security. We are presently 58percent dependent upon foreign oil. It is going to go up to 68 percent in the next 15 years. That is the estimate. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5037,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090014321,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I do not have before me the anticipated flow of revenue. But. really. that is not so important as the fundamental underlying question: Is this an attempt to do something by way of a policy change that is merely incidental to the budget process? I think one would have to answer: Clearly it is. That makes it an abuse of the process. Reconciliation. again. for my colleagues. was designed to be used for deficit reduction. This cannot be seen. seriously. as a deficit reduction plan.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":482,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090014322,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the Senator. This is not a deficit reduction plan. That is the fundamental choice here. For those colleagues who are wavering about this. who wonder about it. this is a precedent. Some people around here may take these precedents casually and the moment may seem very opportune. What goes around comes around. Someday these folks over here may be in the minority and they will want the rules played by properly. That is really what is at stake. not just the issue of the Arctic Wildlife Refuge but how the Senate is living up to its own standards and its own rules. I thank the Chair.","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":592,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090014335,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank Senator CANTWELL for her wonderful leadership on this issue. I sit here and I am listening to this debate which we have been involved in so many times. Now I know why Christie Todd Whitman wrote her book \"It Is My Party. Too.\" When you look at who set aside the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. it was a Republican President. Here the biggest forces for opening drilling are coming from the Republican Party. fervor about how this is going to solve our energy problems when everyone admits if we get oil out of their at all it is not going to be for another 10 years. and the economically recoverable oil is 6 months. maybe. So the zealotry that we hear shows the changes in the Republical Party. That is a fact of life. Now. lets see what President Eisenhowers Secretary of Interior. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4114,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090014338,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If we do not get them today. this will be a big issue out in the country. -I hope the oil companies will continue to walk away from this because clearly it is very controversial to go into this pristine area. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":966,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090014351,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I believe it was my request that is pending. Let me make a couple of observations. First. whenever Senator STEVENS wishes to speak. I will defer to him. Second. since we only have 41\/2 minutes of time. I would be willing to take just 41\/2 minutes to speak only on ANWR and come back on the other issues at another time. I amend my request to ask that I be allowed to take this 42 minutes if it is off the resolution so I can address this issue.","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":459,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090014379,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If we increase energy efficiency and further develop alternative energy sources. we will reduce our reliance on foreign oil. save consumers money. increase our economic competitiveness and military effectiveness. and protect the environment. In his parting words from the Oval Office. President Dwight Eisenhowerwho first set aside the Arctic National Wildlife Refugetold the Nation: \"As we peer into societys future. we . . . must avoid the impulse to live only for today. plundering for our own ease and convenience. the precious resources of tomorrow.\" I call upon my colleagues to leave intact the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Let us Instead develop a balanced energy policy that protects our environment. improves efficiency. and develops our renewable r~sources.","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3344,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090014380,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The coastal plain. which proponents of drilling paint as small and relatively insignificant. isthe ecological heart of the refuge and the center of wildlife activity. Developing the coastal plain would threaten the refuges abundant wildlife. The approximately 130.000 caribou of the porcupine herd rely on the coastal plain as a calving.area. One hundred thirtyfive species of migratory birds use the coastal plain during the summer. The coastal plain provides critical habitat for many of the refuges species. Drilling would also threaten the traditional livelihoods of the Gwichin people dependent upon the porcupine caribou for subsistence. Proponents of drilling would have us risk all of this damage for a small amount of oil that would not even begin to flow for 10 years and would barely reduce our dependenbe on foreign oil. In short. the refuges coastal plain is too precious. and contains too little oil. for us to allow drilling to take place. Increasing fuel efficiency is the better solution. Future generations will thank us for our foresight in protecting the coastal plain and its wildlife. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3732,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090014382,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But since the spill. there is no more herring.\" Even today. pools of toxic oil can be found just below the surface and sometimes on top the ground. In my office. I have a sample that the Alaskan families left with me when they traveled all the way to Washington to ask for our help. They found rocks drenched in oil just a few. inches beneath the surface of the ground. Some might say nothing on such a scale could ever occur in the Arctic Refuge because the oil would be transported by pipeline. not tanker. But nothing built by humans is perfect or accidentproof. And even under a bestcase scenario. drilling for oil could ruin the Arctic Refuge. I had the privilege of visiting the Arctic Refuge a few years ago. It is a remarkable place where more than 100 species of birds breed. Caribou migrate 1600 miles to reach the Refuge. where they give birth to their calves. ","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3917,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090014394,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have heard a lot about tribes in Alaska. I want to point out to my colleagues that the National Congress of American Indians. an organization representing more than 500 tribes across the country. have previously opposed drilling in the wildlife refuge. and that certainly is what we are talking abouta debate of national significance. I point out that many- people in Puget Sound and across the country do believe this isnt going to do anything to meet our countrys energy needs. This newspaper article says: Drilling in the refuge would increase Americas reliance on fossil fuels and do little to limit our dependence on imported oil. Mr. President. I yield 6 minutes to the Senator from Connecticut. who has been so outspoken and important to this debate. I thank him for his leadership on this issue.","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":806,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090014466,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Instead of fixing that problem. this resolution repeats the blackmail threat: breakup the system. or no funds. No passenger rail system in the world operates without support. Almost no passenger rails system in the world operates on the low level of support inflicted on Amtrak over the years. We have starved the system of one of its most basic needs: capital. From the day we created it over 30 years ago. Amtrak has been put in the impossible position of trying to increase its ridership. to increase its own revenues. while we have refused to provide it with the resources needed to do the job. Railroading is a classic capitalintensive industry. The huge costs for the right of way itself. which Amtrak owns all along the Northeast corridor. the costs of maintaining the locomotives and passenger carsthose are the costs that virtually every other advanqed industrial economy in the world undertakes today. - . S2794 coi They. dont do it out of nostalgia for the golden age of rail. They dont do it because they lack other kinds of transportation. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4398,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090014468,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. for fiscal year 2006. the Presidents budget seeks the complete elimination of direct subsidies for Amtrak. The budget resolution presumes enactment of the budget proposals for transportation which would result in bankruptcy for Amtrak. My amendment. which has cosponsors on both sides of the aisle. would increase Amtrak funding by $1.05 billion in fiscal year 2006. If Senators really desire all Amtrak services to come to an immediate and grinding halt for lack of a Federal subsidy in 2006. they will vote against the amendment. Across the Northeast. corridor. the busiest urban transportation corridor in the Nation. elimination of Amtraks premier service would be a transportation disaster. Elimination of Amtrak service would have disastrous results in both rural and urban America. The elimination of an Amtrak subsidy is not a recipe for a streamlined railroad. it is not a recipe for a more efficient railroad. It is a recipe for a dead railroada dead railroad. dead. dead. dead railroad. I urge Senators to vote fot my amendment.\u0095 I thank the Chair.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1074,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090014475,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I urge my colleagues to vote against the Cantwell amendment. We have an opportunity today to open a very tiny portion of Alaskas coastal plain to exploration and opportunity. This is an opportunity for us to focus on energy security. economic security. and environmental security. The price of oil just bumped up to 56 bucks a barrel this morning. What we are talking about in terms of the security for domestic reserves is on average a million barrels of oil per day. The other side has said it doesnt mean much. Let me tell you what. it means. It is enough fuel to run the State of Maryland for 100 years. ","speaker_name":"LISA MURKOWSKI","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":965,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090014499,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The highest possible income tax rate produces the least possible income tax revenue. Instead. what you need is a rate at which people would feel they can continue to work and make enough money for themselves so it is worthwhile to continue to work. But at a certain point. you are taxing that next dollar earned at a point at which people will no longer work. That is what has happened to the European economy. Their higher tax rates over there have resulted in less work. less productivity. less income to their treasury as a result of their taxes. Paygo works perfectly fine for the increases in spending that need to be offset. but it doesnt work at allin fact. it is counterproductvewith respect to reductions in taxes. which is what we are trying to preserve by the budget by the reconciliation construction. I reserve the remainder of the time on this side.","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5452,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090014503,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Our kids and grandkids dont get to vote for the Senators and Congressmen who are imposing these future taxes on them. That is taxation without representation. and that is something the leaders of our War for Independence had some thought about. It is wrong and it is unAmerican to impose taxes on our children and our grandchildren to pay for the spending spree of the Federal Government. It is long past time to restore to Congress the same commonsense budgetary approach that every family in America has to live by. That approach is simple. If you cant pay for it. dont spend it. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1257,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090014531,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today as a proud cosponsor of the amendment offered by the Senator from Wisconsin. I support this amendment because of my grave concern about our budget deficit. We in Congress have an obligation to put and keep this Nations fiscal house in order. By passing this tough paygo amendment. we can send a signal that we do not intend to shirk this duty. I think all of the Members of the Senate know what this amendment does. It simply imposes a budget rule that requires any new tax cuts or entitlement spending to be offset. If no offset exists for new tax cuts or entitlement spending. then 60 Senators will need to vote to override the rule. In short. this amendment forces Congress to make the tough budget choices. ","speaker_name":"LINCOLN CHAFEE","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3492,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090014541,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have put in place a rule that would be grossly unfair as well as unwise in terms of economic recovery and. as I said. unwise in wanting more revenue to be collected by the Federal Government because a smaller economy produces less revenue to be taxed. I urge my colleagues to vote against the Feingold amendment. I yield back any time that remains on this side.","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4633,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090014544,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There is no barrier whatever in this paygo rule to tax cuts as long as you get enough votes or. better yet. if you pay for it. What has happened in the leadership on the other side is they have become openly hostile to fiscal discipline. openly hostile to balancing the budget. openly hostile to anything that gets in the way of tax cuts regardless of what the consequences are for our budget and our economy. That is a sad moment. To paraphrase an old song. \"where have all the deficit hawks gone. \" I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1982,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090014621,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Certainly. It is our expectation that we will run through these amendments this evening and have very vigorous debate on all of them. hopefully add a couple of other amendments. Senator LIEBERMAN and Senator CLINTON. and on our side hopefully Senator VITTER and Senator ALLEN will speak on their amendments. As a result. we will not have any further votes this evening. but my colleagues can expect that we will have a large number of votes tomorrow and plan to be here for awhile voting.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":488,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090014638,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The amendment also has a very good idea. which is to enact a commission to take a broad look at the Medicaid Program and report back to Congress in 1 year with its recommendations. which means in another year we might get around to doing something about it. The Senator from Oregon talked about the tsunami coming. He is exactly right. He is talking about the tsunami in mandatory spending we have all been talking about and how important it is to get spending under control. If I may respectfully say. I believe his position could be fairly characterized as saying we heard the tsunami is coming. lets wait around a year or two before we get off the beach and appoint a commission to study. My position is appoint the commission. but the prudent thing is to move to higher ground while we study all of this. And we can move to higher ground. What I want to say in the next few minutes is that in order to restrain the growth of Medicaid spending from 41 percent over the next 5 years to 39 percent over the next 5 years. which is $14 billion out of $1.12 trillion. we know exactly what to do to do it and we should move to higher ground and get going with this before we are drowned by this tsunami of mandatory spending Social Security and Medicaid and Medicare that will make it impossible to fund preschool education. to fund kindergarten through 12th grade. to fund our research laboratories. our research and health. and maintain the greatest research universities in the world. That is the choice we will have to make. ","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3667,"word_count":279}
{"speech_id":1090014659,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Our Nation should be getting its fiscal house in order. not undermining the foundation of that house. If proponents of -additional tax cuts wish to cut taxes further. they should pay for them. They should offset them. in my view. We already have that requirement on the spending side of the Federal ledger. I believe we need to apply the same principle to the tax side. Now. the Senate voted on Senator FEINGOLDs and Senator VOINOVICHS amendment to reinstate paygo requirements that require Congress to find offsets to pay for any new tax cuts or spending on any entitlement programs. My amendment takes the area of this budget resolution where we are actually spending more moneyand that is $70 billion in tax cutsand applies the iaygo standard. As demonstrated by my vote on the FeingoldVoinovich amendment. I favor applying paygo standards universally. both on the spending side and on the tax side. My views are pretty basic. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2662,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090014759,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will. retain all of m3 time. That was a joke. It would be a real interesting day tomorrow. wouldnt it? I just think we should make clear that at the end of this evening we will be yielding back oil .both sides all of our time with the exception of the time we have laid out in this agreement. Is that correct?","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":326,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090014821,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So I think the distinguished chairman of the Budget Committee actually helps make the point of how reasonable our approach is. that we chose to go for a more modest number than the previous amendment that was debated this evening. Furthermore. I point out that that amendment. to the best of my knowledge. was not accepted this evening. It is still a pending amendment. So this is about setting priorities. and surelywe can provide funding just equal to last yearswe are not even proposing an inflation increaseto ensure that we continue to strengthen the preparedness of this Nation.","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1647,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090014835,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Vehicle Systems Program is a vitally important aspect of NASA. aeronautics. and our country. I am a competitive person. I think this country needs to be a leader in innovation and technology. whether that is nanotechnology. which is a key technology for the future in a variety of areas from life sciences to medical sciences to energy to microelectronics. Another .key area for our countrys competitiveness and our security in the future is aeronautics. The share of the United States of global commercial aviation sales has been declining for the better part of the last three decades. dropping from 90 percent of market share in 1940 to just over 45 percent last year. In fact. last year was the first time the United States was not first in sales of commercial aircraft. Despite this decline in market share. U.S. commercial aviation is one of the few areas of U.S. manufacturing where we actually have a positive balance of trade. The administrations proposal is shortsighted. and the kind of \"penny wise. pound foolish\" idea that will hinder the United Statess economic growth and eliminate any chance that our commercial aviation industry will be able to regain market share against our global competitors. Make no mistake. the European Airbus consortium has a specific. targeted. and funded effort to achieve overwhelming dominance of the commercial aviation market by the year 2020. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4123,"word_count":229}
{"speech_id":1090014847,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As I understand it. the budget resolution before us today assumes a total reduction in Agriculture Committee mandatory spending programs of $5.4 billion over the fiveyear period covering fiscal years I 2006 through 2010. I further understand t that $2.8 billion of this total is to be achieved by the Agriculture Coinmittee by changing laws governing mandatory spending programs within its jurisdiction through the budget reconciliation process. Assuming the Agriculture Committee complies with its reconciliation instruction. this leaves an additional $2.6 billion in assumed. but unreconciled. mandatory spending reductions in Agriculture Committee programs. My understanding is that the additional $2.6 billion in assumed reductions will not impact such programs if the Agriculture Committee chooses not to achieve them. Is my understanding correct?","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":852,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090014849,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would like to explore this a little further because it is an important point. It is possible that subsequent to the completion of the budget reconciliation process. the Agriculture Committee may wish to move legislation that affects programs within its jurisdiction. My understanding is that no budget points of order will lie against such an Agriculture Committee bill as long as it is spending neutral. Is my understanding correct?","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":435,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090014857,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They are properly left to the States. That said. under this President and this Congress. overall investment in elementary and secondary education exceeds $500 billion annually. surpassing spending on national defense and exceeding perpupil education spending of every other country except Switzerland. Finally. we are hearing a lot of rhetoric about \"tax cuts for the rich.\" I would first point out that many of these \"rich\" are small business owners who are trying to make capital investments and meet payroll. Secondly. we must all remember that money belongs first to those who earn it. and taxes are the share an individuals earnings that is paid to support the Government. The money isnt ours first. It is theirs. Limiting Government to its essential purposes and allowing people to keep more of their own money is something we all should strive to accomplish. The burden of government has grown entirely too large and way beyond what our Founders intended. These same people who rail about deficit increases \"resulting from tax cuts for the rich\" are not advocating fiscal restraint on the spending side. To the contrary. they . consistently argue for bigger and bigger increases in Federal spending and more and more entitlement programs funded by the Federal Government. ","speaker_name":"CRAIG THOMAS","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3289,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090014865,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"His professional advice helped me better understand the costs and sacrifices made by our military personnel during this war. I know many of my colleagues feel the same way. His personal testimony as the parent of a troop in harms way- was even more valuable. Petes son. Justin. came home wounded from Iraq. Just as he was recovering from that injury. he was in a serious car accident. I want Pete to know that he. Justin. and the entire Bunce family are in my thoughts and prayers. While I have relied on Colonel Bunces military advice. I have valued his friendship even more. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1763,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090014869,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I pay tribute and congratulate Boneal Incorporated of Means. KY. This company has been named Regional Prime Contractor of the Year for Region IV by the Small Business Administration in Washington. DC. Boneal has been chosen for this award among companies from Kentucky. Tennessee. North Carolina. South Carolina. ","speaker_name":"JIM BUNNING","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1237,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090014870,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to recognize Fair Housing Month and the efforts of Housing Opportunities of Northern Delaware. HOND. On April 4. 2005. HOND will hold their 22nd Annual Proclamation Signing Ceremony. Their theme for this year will be \"Diversifying our neighborhoods with quality by building relationships through culture and lifestyles.\" In April 2005. the nation will observe the 37th anniversary of the passage of the Fair - Housing Act. the groundbreaking legislation that affirmed in this country the right of every citizen to obtain the housing of their choice without being limited by race. color. religion. national origin. sex. disability or familial status. Housing Opportunities of Northern Delaware. Inc. is a nonprofit organization promoting fair and equal housing opportunities in the sale and rental of housing in Delaware. HOND also provides housing programs which support the mission of equal access to housing and provides information about the law and housing programs available to Delaware residents. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3336,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090014874,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The exporters routinely ship U.S. goods to Cuba where they remain under the custody of the seller until such time as the sellpr certifies full payment. Only then are the goods released to Cuba. At no time is credit extended in any form to Cuba. This standard method of doing business has been in practice since sales to Cuba began. TSREEA was meant to expand access for agricultural producers to the Cuban market. By taking into consideration the unique nature of agriculture trade with Cuba. my legislation intends to overturn OFACs new definition of \"cash in advance\". We should not be making it harder to export agricultural products when the United States is experiencing a massive trade deficit. I am committed to helping expand opportunities at home and abroad for our nations farmers and ranchers. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Senate on this important issue. By Mr. ","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2903,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090014916,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it adjourn until 9 a.m. on Thursday. March 17. I further ask unanimous consent that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate then resume consideration of S. Con. Res. 18. the Senate budget resolution. provided further that the Senate then resume debate on the Smith amendment under the previous order.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":524,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090014977,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today I rise because the constituents in the 32nd Congressional District are very concerned about the privatization of Social Security. There are nearly 60.000 Social Security beneficiaries in my district who are very concerned about the risky privatization scheme that the President is proposing. However. other young workers also are very concerned about the future of their retirement security. To date my office has held well over 25 senior center visits. high school visits. parent centers visits. and health care facilities visits. and we have spoken to constituents about this proposed privatization plan. We have been asking them to fill out surveys on how they feel about Social Security. We have one in English and one in Spanish. Overwhelmingly. my constituents are telling me that they are not in agreement with the proposed privatization plan. They would like to see a secure and a structured reform that would truly be available to every single individual that needs and requires Social Security assistance. I would like to tell Members that we have received well over 300 responses through email and direct mail from our constituents who are resoundingly saying that the President should rethink his plan.","speaker_name":"HILDA SOLIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1233,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090014982,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is based on sound politics. I have urged the Secretary of Energy to appoint an independent body to investigate the science. We know now it has been falsified. It is wrong. This is a bad project and I urge the President to rescind his order to Yucca Mountain and stop this project now.","speaker_name":"SHELLEY BERKLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1350,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090014997,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the distinguished ranking members suggestion that if we disagree we should vote against it. and I assure him that we shall. Mr. Chairman. I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Iowa . chairman of the Budget Committee.","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":263,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090015000,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I could not resist speaking this morning on this amendment that promotes. in my opinion. family values. The budget instructions. call for $4.3 billion in cuts in education. How does that reflect family values? It calls for a $69 billion reduction in health care programs like Medicaid and food stamps. I as a parent and as a Member of this body would hope that the majority would see the wisdom in adopting the Obey amendment.","speaker_name":"GWEN MOORE","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":440,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090015022,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The CBC budget supports public education by fully funding No Child Left Behind. provides critical funding for Head Start. TRIO. IDEA. and elementary and secondary school counseling. To address the education needs of our military families. the CBC budget allocates more funding for Impact Aid. Millions of atrisk students are hoping to succeed in high school and enroll in college. and to make that dream a reality the CBC alternative allocates funding for the GEARUP program. raises the maximum amount for Pell Grants. increases funding for historically black colleges and universities and Hispanicserving institutions. In addition. the CBC budget funds for the Perkins student loan program. as well as job training. adult education. and vocational education programs that are critical in todays global economy. In order to close the existing economic disparities in the United States and to help entrepreneurs realize the American dream. the CBC alternative funds job creation programs under the Small Business Administration. It suapports community -development programs. including community development block grants. child nutrition programs. and health programs such as Community Health Centers. The budget also addresses disparities in housing. and believes that everyone in the United States is entitled to a safe and comfortable home. It supports HOPE VI. section 8 housing programs. housing for the disabled and elderly. and low income energy assistance.. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6339,"word_count":219}
{"speech_id":1090015023,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"ida. Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I commend the gentleman from North Carolina and his colleagues for bringing forth an alternative budget. We know how difficult it is to put together a budget of this magnitude. As the gentleman said. this is a substitute budget. a true alternative budget to what was passed out of the committee. It highlights the differences between the Democrats strategy and the Republican budgeting strategy. ","speaker_name":"MARIO DIAZ-BALART","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2255,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090015024,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Furthermore. spending per veteran has increased to $2.700 per veteran. I think it is appropriate to notice the rapid rise in veterans spending. So we are funding priorities. This budget. although restraining nondefense. nonhomeland security discretionary spending. and taking on mandatory government programs and finding savings. although slight. we are finding savings in those programs that will enable us to keep continuing to cut taxes and enable us to avoid raising taxes at the same time. Mr. Chairman. as I said. I thank the gentleman from North Carolina for offering this budget alternative. I respect what the gentleman is trying to do. but we have different ways of achieving the same result of funding the priorities and helping the American people.","speaker_name":"PATRICK MCHENRY","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3326,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090015036,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. it is up to the Congress to inject a dose of realism into this budget debate. Only then will the country get a budget that makes sense. Mr. Chairman. I want to thank the Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. Mr. WATT. for his steadfast support of the development of this CBC budget alternate. I also want to thank Mr. SCOTT for his readership. ","speaker_name":"EDDIE JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4792,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090015047,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Chairman. because the CBC believes that education is the greatest legacy that we can provide to our children. the CBCs budget fully funds No Child Left Behind. We also provide an additional $2.5 billion for school construction and an additional $450 million for Pell Grants which will help thousands more students attend college. We also increase funding for Head Start by $2 billion over the Republican budget so that we can ensure that more lowincome children are properly prepared to enter the first grade. The CBC budget substitute recognizes the vital role that the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program plays in improving our communities. The Republican budget proposes to cut CDBG by at least $800 million and the cuts could end up as high as the $1.9 billion cut proposed by the President. These cuts to the CDBG program will leave a huge hole in the budgets of our local governments. a hole they cannot and will not be able to fill with their own resources. The CBC budget substitute rejects these cuts. and instead provides an increase of $1.2 billion more than the Republican budget for CDBG. We also reject the $286 million in cuts proposed for the Hope VI program and instead provide $500 million for Hope VI so that it may continue its important role in rehabilitating our nations public housing. The CBC budget alsoprovides an additional $880 million for Section 8 Housing Programs. preserving and expanding this vital safety net program for millions of people. Mr. ","speaker_name":"MAXINE WATERS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":35.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3900,"word_count":251}
{"speech_id":1090015066,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In fact. the Presidents budget cuts 2006 funding for the Department of Education by $1.3 billion below the amount needed to maintain purchasing power at the current level. and by $530 million below the 2005 enacted level of $56.6 billion. This is the first time since 1989 that an administration has submitted a budget that cuts the Departments funding. The CBC alternative budget in stark contrast provides a much needed boost of $23.9 billion to education and training. including.$2.5 billion for school construction. The CBC alternative fully funds the fiscal year 2006 authorization level for No Child Left Behind. NCLB and provides for an expansion of the Head Start program. In addition. the CBC alternative doubles federal funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Hispanic Serving Institutions. again closing the disparities often witnessed in higher education. In that regard the CBC alternative increases the Pell grant allotment for college students. Because as we all know. a mind. any mind. is a terrible thing to waste. Clearly. the CBC alternative emphasizes this ideal more than. the Republican budget resolution. Few things are more important to Americans than their home and their communities. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7646,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090015098,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The chairmans budget. the committees budget. Mr. Chairman. is a good budget. I am proud of the work the Budget Committee and the chairman have done. I urge we move this budget forward today. we do the tough things in discretionary spending .and mandatory spending it asks us to do. that we defeat the substitute and get on with our work.","speaker_name":"ROY BLUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2616,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090015103,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"One of the big differences between us and them is that we provide more for veterans health care and for veterans benefits. And now on that point. I recognize and yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas. Mr. EDWARDS.","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":650,"word_count":40}
{"speech_id":1090015110,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Chairman. I include the following correspondence for the RECORD:","speaker_name":"THOMAS EDWARDS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1105,"word_count":9}
{"speech_id":1090015121,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I think. reflect the principles and the priorities of this House. First. we believe that our country ought to be protected and strength is emphasized. That is our national security and our homeland security. Second is to be sure we have a strong economy. The tax relief has worked: 4.4 percent growth last year. 3 million jobs added to our economy in the last 21 months alone. The economy is strong and growing. We need to be sure that continues and that is why tax increases are not part of this budget. And. third. to be sure that we do as the gentleman from South Carolina","speaker_name":"ROBERT PORTMAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":978,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090015123,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The budget- deficit for this year is a record $427 billion. The February budget deficit. my colleagues. of $114 billion for the month of February. a deficit of $114 billion. is the highest monthly deficit ever and the first time it ever went over $100 billion in one month. In 2001. President Clinton left President Bush with a projected $5.6 trillion in surplus. In just 4 years. President Bush has turned that record surplus into a record deficit of nearly $4 trillion. a $10 trillion swing in the wrong direction. Make no mistake. these deficits are the direct result of Republican policies. huge tax cuts for the wealthy. a refusal to pay as you go. poor planning for a war of choice in Iraq. The list goes on and on and on. America is awash in red ink because of Republican budget irresponsibility. Tragically. this Republican budget is yet another missed opportunity to return to fiscal discipline. ","speaker_name":"NANCY PELOSI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7746,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090015128,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Republican budget will result in a spending deficit of $376 billion in 2006 alone. Unbelievably. this figure does not include the costs of several illconceived Republican initiatives such as the costs of privatizing social security or the Presidents war in Iraq. We have all heard President Bush tout his grand scheme to privatize social security. yet not only has he put forth no coherent plan to do so. but he has failed to include the financial requirements of such a plan. Vice President CHENEY has suggested \"transition costs\" of up to $2 trillion or more. How can this cost not be included in any budget proposal? But there are alternatives. Both the Congressional Black Caucus and Representative SPRATT have suggested sane alternatives to the Republican madness. Both of these budgets represent an approach to meeting the needs of regular Americans while maintaining the fiscal responsibility this nation needs. Mr. Chairman. I was going to stand here and tell you that the Republicans are balancing the budget on the backs of the poor. but they are not balancing this budget on anyones backs because this budget doesnt reach that far! The people that are hurt by this budget are not only the poor but the average American. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS MOORE","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7722,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090015137,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the Republicans 2006 budget resolution makes the wrong choices for our Nation. It reflects skewed priorities and runs counter to our deepest held beliefs. The budget embraces disastrous economic policies while at the same time failing to put forward a vision of what the United States should be. What Amer- \" ica needs instead is responsible policies that reflect our values. help bring our Nation together. and invests in the future by expanding opportunity. Many programs .important to Georgia are cut. including $800 million from the Centers for Disease Control. funding for firefighters by 30 percent and $26.7 million in Homeland Security Funding for Georgia. These programs provide frontline protections to Georgia communities. Further. this budget hurts my states military installations and veterans by cutting $60 million from last years spending for military construction projects and cutting healthcare for. 2 million Georgian veterans. Communities are harmed by cutting Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) by $211.9 million over the next four years. Representatives from the. cities of Riverdale and Powder Springs told me this week that their plans for building community centers depend on funding of CDBG. ","speaker_name":"DAVID SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2925,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090015141,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Beyond national security. this budget provides sufficient funds to meet our priorities. but it also take important steps to begin addressing Congress spending problem. First. our budget does not raise taxes in order to pay for more spending. as some are proposing in their alternatives. Second. our budget actually reduces nondefense and nonhomeland security discretionary spending by .8 percent. Third. this budget will set us on course to reduce the growth. in mandatory spending. which is growing far faster than our economy and comprises nearly twothirds of all federal spending. By maintaining the tax relief and not allowing for tax increases. our House budget ensures that the economy will continue to grow and create jobs. Sustained economic growth resulting from sustained lower taxes also narrows the budget deficit. While nondefense discretionary spending is only about 20 percent of federal spending. it is the area in which Congress exercises the most direct annual control. We know there are programs that are wasteful. duplicative or unnecessary. By reducing spending in this area by .8 percent. we force ourselves to do better at finding the waste and consolidating or eliminating the programs we dont need in order to make the best use of the resources available. I For the first time in eight years. ","speaker_name":"RANDY NEUGEBAUER","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5434,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090015156,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today. it adjourn to meet at 2 p.m. on Monday. March 21. 2005. unless it sooner has received a message from the Senate transmitting its concurrence in House Concurrent Resolution 103. in which case the House shall stand adjourned pursuant to that concurrent resolution.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":335,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090015172,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. the United States set a new record officially. and that is something. unfortunately. which will haunt us for decades to come. a new record trade deficit of $665.9 billion. We have two growing categories of exports as the leading industrialized nation in the world. and one iswaste. We are exporting more waste paper. bottles. cans and things to the worlds fastest growing industrial giant. China. which they turn into high value added goods and ship back to us. Our second greatest export. or actually the greatest export is U.S. dollars. We are borrowing $665.9 billion from overseas producers to bring goods into this country without adding to the economic industrial base. in fact to the \"detriment of the economic industrial base of the United States. Japan today holds $820 billion. China $610 billion. China will soon eclipse Japan. Within 3 years. ","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3775,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090015186,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Up until that day. the other side of the aisle described the AARP as the gold standard of orgaiizations out protecting the welfare of seniors in America. The day they chose to embrace a plan offered by President Bush. they became the scoundrels. the leadership of their party went down and picketed at their front door and declared that the AARP was an enemy of senior citizens. What a difference a year makes. Now that they are opposing any plans even to consider personal accounts. they are back in the good graces and AARP once again is fighting for people. What is desperate about this attack is that Alan Greenspan has presided over the economy in an extraordinary fashion. It is interesting that when Mr. Greenspan speaks. the world listens. The Whll Street marketmakers listen. Political leaders around the world listen. His words are carried across every wire story in the world because of the impact his words have on the economies of our Nation and our allies.-He is not viewed as a political hack by those allies. ","speaker_name":"MARK FOLEY","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4760,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090015207,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I voted for the supplemental funding bill for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. I believe that we need to finish the job we started in the Middle East and bring stability to that region and then to immediately bring our troops home. \" God bless the men and women who have served during the war: on terror. and God bless the men and women who are still serving on the other side of the world. These veterans have protected this country for years. since its inception. and the highest honor that we could bestow upon them is to make sure that we take care of them. Mr. Speaker. we have the freedoms we enjoy today because of the sacrifices that our soldiers have made throughout. history. and I am proud today to honor the men and women of the Mahoning Valley who have served this country in the Persian Gulf and have served so nobly. Mr. Speaker. I yield to my good friend. the gentleman from Ohio","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2113,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090015220,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Dan. if you can start that lawn mower. you can mow the lawn. So I watched from the window as I was on the telephone. and Dan pulled and tugged and pulled and tugged and pulled and tugged on this rope to start this lawn mower. and the sweat was just pouring down his face. and I thought soon he would give up. but he kept on going. Finally. then he came to the point where he was so exhausted he had to stop and pause. and he put his head down and he wondered. where do I turn now. what do I do. This was a proud moment for me as a father because he stopped. he looked up. he put his hands together. and you could read his lips. He said. please. Lord. start this lawn mower. Then he bent over and pulled on the rope. and the lawn mower started. So I thought to myself. you know what. if God wants Dan to mow the lawn. I am not going to stop him. Here is the moral of the story. ","speaker_name":"DAVID REICHERT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4174,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090015247,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is a picture of our values. I cant think of anything that is worse in this budget resolution than the picture that says for the most vulnerable children. the poorest children. or poorest seniors in the country. we are going to take away health care for them. That doesnt fit with what I know about my faith and beliefs about helping the least of these. It does not reflect what the people of Michigan believe about what is important in supporting each other in community and caring about each other. In a way it balances priorities. Obviously. we want dollars that are spent efficiently and effectively. and we want to give the States flexibility. In my home State. I am very proud of what they have been able to do in bulk purchasing for prescription drugs under Medicaid and working with other States and saving dollars. and we certainly know we want flexibility for them under Medicaid. But we also know that Medicaid is the single greatest provider of health insurance. covering over 21 million children. our future. 800.000 children in Michigan. our future. How many times do we say children are our future? Well. this budget does not reflect that. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3608,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090015261,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. a vote for this amendment to defer these cuts to this commission and a reform effort that is bipartisan is not about being against reducing the deficit. It is. in fact. a way to achieve reductions. if that is what it comes to. in a way that takes care of the most vulnerable people in our society. We are talking about 52 million Americans. Of these. we are talking about the elderly who are in nursing homes. Of these. we are talking about the chronically ill people without income who suffer from cancer or HIV. We are talking about the children of the working uninsured. We are talking about people who have no other recourse except. if they lose their health care. to go to the emergency rooms of our community hospitals. When they go there without the ability to pay. they. are served. but we are all then later served the passing on of these costs in the form of higher prices to private plans and businessessmall businesses especiallythat struggle mightily to continue providing health care. Right now every year 3 percentand it grows by that numberlose their insurance from their businesses because of the escalating costs largely driven by the inefficient distribution of health care. ","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3824,"word_count":209}
{"speech_id":1090015281,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Otherwise. the administration would have provided specific policy proposals for strengthening Medicaid for the future. instead of vague ideas that even the Congressional Budget Office could not score. If this budget were truly about improving Medicaid. then the administration would not be attempting to shoehorn sweeping changes to the program into an arbitrary budget number. Instead. Medicaid policy would determine the budget number. I would like to say to my colleagues that Democrats are happy to discuss strengthening the Medicaid program for the future. We are happy to work toward reforming the program for the better. However. the prescription for Medicaid must adequately address the larger problems with our health care system that have an impact on the program. This is clearly not the case with this budget. The bottom line is that this budget is about choices. and this administration has chosen to unfairly target lowincome working families. This budget robs the most vulnerable in our society. while simultaneously giving greater tax breaks to the rich. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ROCKEFELLER","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6043,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090015311,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. this amendment increases spending by $2.5 billion.. exceeding the cap. and it increases taxes by the same amount of money. It is a taxandspend amendment. Therefore. I would oppose it. There are a lot of other reasons I would oppose it. but I wanted to give the Senator from Missouri an opportunity to say a couple of words on something else. I yield to the Senator from Missouri. and I yield the remainder of my time on this amendment.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":452,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090015323,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"To my colleagues. I rise to speak in support of the TalentStabenow amendment. It is very simple. as my colleague indicated. It is extremely important as the Senate begins the work of SAFETEA transportation legislation. As in past resolutions. the current budget resolution in the reserve fund section allows. the budget chairman to make adjustments to the surface transportation allocation. However. this budget resolution as written ties the hands of the Finance Committee and restricts the transportation funding options available to them such as using interest from the highway trust fund and drawing down the trust fund balance. All the TalentStabenow amendment would do is modify the language to put all the funding options on the table. This change would be identical to the provision in the current House budget resolution and what has been included in past House and Senate budget resolutions. \u0095 We all know how critical SAFETEA is. Transportation issues in each of our States are absolutely critical. The transportation bill creates jobs. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1430,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090015349,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. section 402 of the pending budget resolution establishes a procedure for designating emergency appropriations that I believe creates a new and unnecessary hurdle for Congress in responding to emergency situations. It distorts the balance of power between Congress and the President. Section 402 permits an emergency designation of an appropriation to be challenged on a point of order and provides that the point of order can be waived only by a vote of threefifths of the Senate. That point of order has been incorporated in budget resolutions for several years now. It was put in place to curb what was seen as an overuse of the emergency designation to escape the limitations of the caps on discretionary spending. It has served successfully to impose restraint on emergency designations. But now. in this resolution. the distinguished chairman of the Budget Committee has included. in addition to that requirement. the further requirement that the President must also designate the appropriation as an emergency in order for it to escape being counted against the budget resolution caps for discretionary spending. While it is true the Presidential designation was part of the process in the original Budget Enforcement Act of 1990. that legislation was a comprehensive measure with a number of budget enforcement provisions. and was before the threefifths or 60vote requirement had been imposed on the process. It seems to me we do not need both the 60vote requirement and the new Presidential designation requirement. Let me suggest a hypothetical situation. ","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3405,"word_count":250}
{"speech_id":1090015405,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my chairman. who has almost an impossible job on this budget. I rise to discuss this resolution and its impact on agriculture. I ask the Senator. is my understanding correct that this budget resolution directs the Senate Agriculture Committee to contribute toward deficit reduction by reducing mandatory program spending by $2.8 billion over the next 5 years? Is my understanding correct?","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":411,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090015431,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"To quote President Reagan: The only thing in this city that has eternal life is a Federal program. COPS is the No. 1 poster child for that statement. Why is the COPS Program being wound down? Because when it was started. it was supposed to end after 3 years.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":258,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090015466,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The bill approved in committee yesterday distributes almost $25 billion less to our States in formula funds than the bill approved by more than threequarters of the Senate last year. We now see precisely the amount of money that States will lose as a result of this retreat because it represents the elimination of almost 1.2 million jobs that would have been created without that lost funding. A major benefit of the committee having marked up its bill yesterday is that every Senator can see what their State will lose as a result of this retreat. Currently sitting on every Senators desk is a table comparing the amount of funding that was distributed by a formula to every State between 2005 and 2009 under the bill approved by the Senate last year and the smaller bill approved by the Environment and Public Works Committee yesterday. I have taken the liberty ofincluding in this table the size of the job loss that results from these funding reductions. I ask unanimous consent this table be printed in the RECORD at this point.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2756,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090015467,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I ask every Senator to take a close look at this table before voting on this amendment. Senators should be aware of precisely the amount of investment and the number of jobs their State will be losing if they vote against this amendment. In my state of West Virginia. failure to adopt this amendment will mean a loss of almost $275 million and this amendment will mean a loss of almost $275 million and more than 13.000 desperately needed jobs. For several larger Statessuch as Florida. Georgia. and Ohiothe loss over a 5yearperiod to each State is more than $1 billion and more than 50.000 jobs. Mr. President. before any Senator argues that my amendment just increases spending without ensuring it will be spent on highways and mass transit. let me point out that my amendment restores the special highway and transit budget categories. Every additional penny provided by this amendment will be required to be spent on our highways or mass transit programs. The offset for my amendment is the very same type of financing mechanism that served to enhance the receipts to the highway trust fund and were included in last years highway bill with the bipartisan support of the Senate Finance Committee.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1200,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090015471,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I know that some Members are saying that it is foolhardy to try to pass a highway bill at $318 billion because the Presi-. dent has already vowed to veto a measure of that size. But I wish to remind my colleagues that our jobour job hereis to legislate based on our recognition of what is needed by our States and by the Nation. It is the Presidents job to either sign that bill or veto it. So I ask my colleagues. why do our constituents send us here if we do not look out for their needs? We have been sent here to vote our conscience and to stand for the needs of our constituents. So in offering this amendment today. I am saying to my colleagues. lets do our job. Lets adopt a budget that will enable us to pass a highway bill that we believe addresses the transportation and commerce needs of the Nation. The President will review that piece of legislation. and he will either sign or veto it. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1292,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090015490,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. Senator GREGG and I will work out how the time is used right here. It will either come out of the time in opposition or perhaps we could work out how we are using the balance of the time here. the 71\/2 minutes. Did the Senator want to use the time in opposition or should I use this time?","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":303,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090015508,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The only thing I want to say is that my amendment gives the Finance Committee the resources to do this. A sense of the Senate does not give the Finance Committee the resources to make the changes in the law that reduces the 35 percent tax on senior citizens. I yield back my time.","speaker_name":"JIM BUNNING","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":280,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090015576,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let us face up to our responsibility. Let us quit piling debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren. I urge my colleagues. support this amendment. let the debate begin. and let us examine it in the light of day. I ask for the yeas and nays. and I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":272,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090015614,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have not checked with . Senator FRIST. I wouldnt want to do anything without checking with him. I dont think it would be appropriate. If he doesnt agree to this. I would be happy to rescind the unanimous consent request. In the meantime. I ask unanimous consent the time between votes be 30 seconds per side.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":310,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090015622,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. before we start. I know the majority leader would agree. We have to keep a better tab on the time around here. It is possible to speed things up. I am sure this vote will take more than 10 minutes. After that I think we should enforce the 10minute rule. If people cant get here to vote because they have business to conduct. they may have to miss some votes. I hope the majority would allow the 10minute vote to be a 10minute vote. I understand that if there is a vote which is close and people have to play around the votes a little bit. that stalls a little bit. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":793,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090015626,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. 200plus groups who support the SmithBingaman amendment believe this would be a poison pill. I fear the same because it tries to put the Senate on record as requiring the Senate Finance Committee. under the Damocles sword of reconciliation. to report out an agreement that Secretary Leavitt may reach with any group of Governorsnot even a.majority. not even from the National Governors Association. I urge a \"no\" vote.","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":432,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090015644,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the iminediate consideration of S. 653. a bill introduced by Senator MARTINEZ regarding Theresa Marie Schiavo. that the bill be read a third time and passed. the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":343,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090015669,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the effect of this amendment is obviously to take the reconciliation process out of the budget. The reconciliation process is going to guarantee to the Senate the opportunities to get things done that need to be done without making tax issues a political football. That tax policy was made in 2001 and 2003 to keep that current law. We have seen too many times that laws that have widespread political support are filibustered and do not get passed.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":464,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090015682,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this amendment restores the Perkins Vocational Education Program and pays for it by eliminating two tax provisions that havent even come into force yet. We are not raising anyones taxes. We are not rolling back anything. There are two items in the 2001 tax bill called PEP and Pease. They start next year. They d6nt have to go into effect. Who gets the benefits? Ninetyseven percent of the benefits go to people making more than $200.000 a year. and 54 percent go to people making over $1 million a year. I am just saying. dont let that go into effect. That saves $146 billion over 10 years. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":742,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090015711,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let me very quickly explain why we are going to try this experiment on three votes. Here is the situation we face. In 2 hours we have done six amendments. We have 26 amendments in this queue. We have 40 or 50 amendments after that. You do the math: 20 and 40 is 60. three amendments an hour. that is 20 more hours of voting. Now. we can either subject ourselves to that or try to find a way to break through this morass and make more progress. The leadership has agreed to try on three amendments an experiment: 5minute votes. Please. colleagues. lets see if we cant make this go more efficiently.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":612,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090015722,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the amendment Senator LIEBERMAN and I have offered would restore homeland security grant funding to last years level for the first responder programs and for port security. It is a very modest amendment. Let us remember that when disaster strikes. our citizens do not dial the 202 Washington. DC. area code. they dial 911. It is our firefighters and police officers and our emergency medical personnel who are first on the scene. It is fully offset.","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":464,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090015766,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this amendment seeks to ensure that it is Congress who sets the discretionary caps and enforces them. It does not transfer to the President a new power of enforcement. If the President submits an iirgent. supplemental. as he has done now. and the House passes a supplemental bill and it comes to the Senate. if we add an emergency designation for an item. you can make a 60vote point of order against that if it exceeds the caps. and we enforce that cap in that fashion. This adds that the President has to enforce it by specifically agreeing that it is an emergency. That is not in the law now. and it should not be added on this resolution.","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":657,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090015795,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"At this point. I plead with colleagues. Let us not have a situationin which we are here until 3 oclock this morning. This is our opportunity now during these votes for Members to notify which amendments they are willing to hold off on. Please do that.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":879,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090015796,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the manager of our bill. the Senator from North Dakota. is very busy. and his person to work with on these amendments is Senator DURBIN. If people would help Senator DURBIN and Senator CONRAD and help us move through amendments on our side.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":255,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090015833,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will be very brief. This is an opportunity to talk to a number of my colleagues. As most people know. this is coming. to the floor very quickly. And the real. fundamental reason is. if we do not act. there is a good chance that a living human being would be starved to death in a matter of days. That is why the action now. That is why we are. not rushing things. but deliberating quickly. so we can get it to the House of Representatives. She will be starved to death next Friday. I have had the opportunity to look at the video footage upon which the initial facts of this case were based. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1744,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090015835,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But as we go to the vote on this matter. I would urge colleagues to think about what it is going to mean when people from all over this country. all of our States. all of our communities. ask the Congress to step in on these kinds of cases. I thiik that is a very troubling precedent. It is my intention to vote no. I thank my colleagues. and particularly the majority leader for his courtesy. I yield the floor. as many others wish to speak on this matter.","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2598,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090015849,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator from Florida for his outstanding leadership on this extraordinary remedy for a woman who. when I observed her on videotapes. clearly is conscious and has the ability to feel. I believe in the sanctity of human life. I think most of us feel in good conscience we cant just sit by and allow this innocent woman to starve to death. Just because she has lost her ability to verbally communicate her feelings in no way means that she has lost her desire to live or her right to life. When in doubt. I think it is appropriate and. indeed. logical to presume that people want to live. I am proud of the Senate and Senator MARTINEZ for his leadership in helping to protect Terri Schiavos right to life.","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":729,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090015878,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. just to report to the.colleagues. we have five more amendments in this queue. We have five amendments that we are working to try to get approved. We have 23 amendments beyond that. I make an appeal. There are a number of Senators with multiple amendments. We have 8 Senators that. among them. have 20 amendments. I appeal to those Senators. please work with leadership to try to reduce those amendments. We are working diligently to get. as we have just seen described by the chairman. a series of amendments approved. Lets work and make modifications where necessary. where we can get others handled in that way. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":772,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090015890,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this amendment says simply that we ought to repeal the tax that applies to Social Security benefits. that we should do it in a way that does not cut Medicare funding and that does not further increase deficits and debt. I urge my colleagues to support the amendment.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":281,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090015892,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this is a senseoftheSenate amendment. It has no meaning at all. and it is not paid for by any method. so it means nothing. The senior citizen is still stuck with the additional 35percent tax on their benefits on Social Security. I urge a \"no\" vote.","speaker_name":"JIM BUNNING","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":263,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090015919,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in the last 4 years we have raised the Nations debt limit three times. from less than $6 trillion to more than $8 trillion. Now we are being asked to add $446 billion of new debt. $1.500 for every man. woman. and child. without debate. My amendment says we ought to have a debate and answer the question after we have discussed it. The issue ought to be debated. Nothing poses. a greater threat to our future security. The President said he doesnt think it is right to avoid facing up to tough issues that our children will have to deal with in the future. Let us face up to our responsibilities.","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":611,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090015930,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the Comptroller General of GAO tells us that prepackaged news that is put together by Federal agencies is unacceptable and thatI am quoting them\"Americans deserve to know when their Government is spending taxpayer money to try to influence them.\" My amendment simply encourages agencies to add a disclaimer to those prepackaged news stories that says \"Paid for by the United States Government.\" This is very important for the taxpayers to know it is their money that is being spent. I hope and I wish the other side would agree to this amendment. If not. I guess we will have to have a vote. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":625,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090015960,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I urge my colleagues support.","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":900,"word_count":5}
{"speech_id":1090016015,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in the two matters that were listed. so we have this all straight. my amendment No. 197. which has not been acted onwe passed my amendment 198. which was a sense of the Senate insofar as aeronautics funding which has been adoptedI ask unanimous consent that amendment No. 197 be withdrawn.","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":304,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090016022,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"All time has expired.","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":618,"word_count":4}
{"speech_id":1090016085,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. amendment 252. as modified. creates a reserve fund for the extension of the treatment of combat pay as earned income for purposes of the earnedincome tax credit and the child tax credit. This actually is something the Senate signed off on last year. but it was knocked out in conference. I certainly would appreciate positive consideration- for this amendment.","speaker_name":"MARK PRYOR","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":375,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090016092,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this amendment is 6n behalf of Senator DEWINE. myself. Senator LIEBERMAN. and others. We have lost 2.8 million manufacturing jobs in this country in the last 4 years. We have a very modest program called the Advanced Technology Program. which. according to the Department of Commerce. in their publication. which I would be happy to share with those who can come to take a look at it. according to the Department of Commerce. this program has had a result eight times more in technologies developed than the amount of money we have put into the program. It is an eighttime returnmultiplein advanced technologies which is achieved when the Department of Commerce partners with industry.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":700,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090016128,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I begin by complimenting my friend from New Hampshire and the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee on a job well done. As the new Chairman. he has skillfully navigated a difficult course to produce the budget resolution before us today. Congratulations. I also want to tell him that even though this is his first year as the Budget Committee chairman. he has handled the job like a seasoned veteran. I would like to raise the issue of mental health parity as the Senate debates the FY 2006 Senate Budget Resolution. It is my understanding the resolution before us assumes the revenue impact of enacting a mental health parity law at a cost of $1.5 billion over 5 years. However. I want to make sure that this is indeed the case because the assumption I just mentioned is not specifically referenced in S. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":948,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090016135,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the description of the intent of the reserve fund offered by my colleagues from Massachusetts and from New Hampshire also reflects my understanding of the intent of including this fund in the budget resolution. I commend the chairman and ranking member of the Budget Committee for their leadership in including this reserve fund in the Senate budget resolution. And I commend my colleagues from New Hampshire and Massachusetts and others for their willingness to work toward this signal of our bipartisan commitment to improving the quality and safety of health care in this country. and to addressing the problem of health care costs. These are critically important issues facing our nation today. and I look forward to continuing our bipartisan dialogue. making the best use of this important reserve fund. and working together on legislation to encourage the adoption of health information technology for quality improvement and to develop performancebased payment systems.","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":991,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090016138,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Global Fund to Fight AIDS. tuberculosis. and malaria is an important component of U.S. efforts. and supports approximately 300 projects in 130 countries. The United States was the first and remains the largest contributor to the Global Fund. To balance the U.S. share and encourage contributions from other donors. the administration supported language in the U.S. Leadership Against HIV\/AIDS. Tuberculosis. and Malaria Act of 2003 that links U.S. contributions to the Fund to the contributions of other donors. Together with Senator DURBIN. I believe Congress should fulfill the commitment implied in the act by matching. on a onetotwo basis. the contributions of other donors. Through a midyear review process. Congress and the administration should assess anticipated contributions to the Global Fund and ensure that U.S. contributions. at yearend. are at the appropriate onetotwo ratio. and that the U.S. does not exceed 33 percent of total -contributions to the fund. For fiscal year 2005. the Global Fund estimates it will renew $2.4 billion worth of effective programs that are already operating on the ground. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2717,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090016139,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This high octane economic development engine should be supported by Democrats and Republicans alike. If we want NIST to continue making these important jobcreating ATP awards. we have to fund it. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. nationally we have lost nearly 2.8 million manufacturing jobs since January 2001. In the face of these losses and strong global economic competition. we should be doing all we can to promote programs that help create jobs and strengthen the technological innovation of American companies. Supporting the ATP program is one way to do this.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4329,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090016140,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to speak to an amendment with my good friend and colleague. Senator GRASSLEY. expressing the sense of the Senate on the High Intensity Drug Trafficking area. or HIDTA. program. My amendment assumes that the HIDTA program will be fully funded at $227 million in fiscal year 2006 and that the HIDTA program will remain with the Office National Drug Control Policy. ONDCP. where it was last authorized by Congress to be. Additional cosponsors are Senators LEAHY. BINGA-","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":494,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090016150,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today in strong support of the Harkin amendment. I am proud to be a cosponsor of this amendment. which preserves funding for Perkins career and technical education for the next 5 years. While the Administration has determined that Perkins is ineffective. I rise today to defend Perkins and highlight its proven effectiveness in my home State of Wisconsin. Perkins provides over $24 million in education and job training to Wisconsin students. These funds are allocated between the Wisconsin Technical College System and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Over the past 5 years. 97 percent of Wisconsins high schools have participated in the federally funded Perkins career and Cechnical education programs. This includes over 98 percent of llth and 12th grade students. as well as secondary special students in the State. ","speaker_name":"HERBERT KOHL","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2580,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090016153,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I commend Senator- ROBERT BYRD for this amendment and I regret having inadvertently missed this vote.","speaker_name":"MARK PRYOR","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":927,"word_count":16}
{"speech_id":1090016156,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I believe this nondefense\/homeland security freeze is a very important feature of this budget. Even though this restraint is rather modest. it is being met with a great deal of concern from many who had hoped to see more growth in the programs that fall under this category. The budget also makes some small progress in bringing mandatory spending under control. Over the 5year budget period provided by this resolution. this type of spending growth is cut by $32 billion. Although this is just a fraction of the growth in entitlement spending projected over this period. it is significant that this budget represents the first attempt to cut mandatory spending growth since 1997. The results of these changes on the deficit are not dramatic. but they are noteworthy. The President set a goal last year to cut the deficit for fiscal year 2004. which was $521 billion. or 4.5 percent of GDP. in half within 5 years. The budget resolution before us projects this goal being met in fiscal year 2008 with a deficit of $258 billion that year. and falling to $208 billion by 2010. In relative terms. the deficit is projected to be 1.8 percent of GDP by 2008 and just 1.3 percent by 2010. While still too large. these deficits are certainly more manageable than those of recent years. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6867,"word_count":222}
{"speech_id":1090016165,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Our spending cuts must be balanced even if it requires rolling back the tax cuts for the ultrawealthy. I have a long standing commitment to rural America and our Nations farmers. and I understand the challenges they face to maintain and strengthen their way of life. That is why I am so disappointed that this President has decided. through his budget. that our farmers and our rural communities areno longer a priority for him and his Administration. I would like to take a few moments to focus on five areas where I believe the President failed rural America. The first area that the Presidents budget has come up short is with respect to rural law enforcement. The Presidents budget cuts close to $1.9 billion in funding for local and state law enforcement and first responders. These cuts will be particularly crippling to rural law enforcement and inhibit a wide range of services including their ability to combat Arkansas growing methamphetamine problem. The Presidents budget includes a 27 percent cut. totaling approximately $455 million. in first responders funding. These cuts would hinder critical state and local efforts to protect our communities by making less funding available for the preparedness of first responders and citizens. public health. infrastructure security and other public safety activities. I am particularly concerned with how these cuts would affect the amount of federal Homeland Security funding provided to small and rural states such as Arkansas. ","speaker_name":"BLANCHE LINCOLN","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11194,"word_count":238}
{"speech_id":1090016169,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. very briefly. I thank Senator GREGG for the tone he set not only in committee. but on the floor. I thank his staff for their professionalism and cooperation. We have gotten to know them and have worked closely with them and have enjoyed the experience. I thank Members of the Senate who worked cooperatively. Just hours ago. we could have been faced with being here until 3 oclock in the morning. Senators on both sides of the aisle really cooperated to allow us to complete business at this hour. With all of that said. I urge Members to oppose this budget resolution. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1719,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090016180,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. through the Chair. we are going to have a busy session when we get back. I would love to continue our discussion. We have a number of issues such as patient safety. and we have a couple of district judges that we need to do. We will see how far we get with welfare reform. We can have a busy 3 weeks.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":315,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090016194,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"First. that our Nation is currently experiencing recordhigh deficits. Second. that these deficits are impeding our ability to meet our needsin education. transportation. communication. health care. national security. and homeland security. There are strong views on both sides on how we got here. I believe that our change from record surpluses to record deficits was not an accident. nor was it a product of unforeseen events. but was a direct result of the fiscal policies pursued by the current administration. This result was not unforseen. not unexpected. and in some corridors even desired since there are those who have told us that deficits are \"good\" on the theory that chronically high deficits will preclude what they consider to be unwise and wasteful government spending. by which they mean spending on education. transportation. research and development. among other priorities. Unfortunately. the bpndget that just passed does not in good faith address our record deficits. In fact. it worsens our Nations fiscal health. This budget is a continuation of the reckless and unfair policies that -have been pushed forward by this administration since its first days in office. and by its supporters in Congress. The majoritys budget resolution would make deficits and debt worse. not better as they have claimed. Over the next 5 years. this budget proposal would increase deficits. by $130 billion over what they would be under current law. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2948,"word_count":230}
{"speech_id":1090016195,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is happening across the Appalachian region. It is happening in Indiana. Kentucky. and Illinois. In West Virginia. it is affecting elderly workers who are near retirement. What security they had is gone. What they had been promised. they have no time to get back. In such circumstances. it is incumbent upon the Congress to take action. I urge the Finance Committee. as well as the Judiciary Committee. to consider these issues. I urge both committees to hold hearings and solicit testimony from those workers affected. The chairman of the Finance Committee has said that his committee ought to look at the issues raised by Senators SPECTER and ROCKEFELLER in the context of a comprehensive review and a comprehensive solution. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4179,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090016202,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I can tell you. having spoken to both I believe today Members of both parSenator REID and Senator DURBIN. and tiee er to pass a both is others on the other side of the aisle- ties came together to pass a bill that is they have helped us arrange meetings designed to ensure this woman has an with Members who have concerns opportunity to have a review of her about that issue. the House bill on the case by a Federal judge in the hopes Democratic side of the aisle. We are that maybe her parents may prevail. Putting those meetings together. We but whatever the outcome may be. so are going to have those discussions. we she may have and we may be assured are going to see if this is something that every last measure of justice has that can be acceptable and passed. and been given to her. again we have to pass with unanimous I also am very pleased the House of consent. That process is underway. Representatives acted swiftly outside Many in this Chamber believe the normal procedure in order to make this House bill is a superior way to go. I happen. I am very grateful for their know the House strongly feels that work. I am grateful for what they did. way. Relief provided in the House bill It is unfortunate we came at it because does something that is essential. that of the rush of business over the last is. take the case out of the hands of the several days. the very shortened period judge who seems determined to end the of time we had available to end up with life of Terri Schiavo. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8549,"word_count":283}
{"speech_id":1090016212,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Further. that all after the resolving clause be stricken and the text of S. Con. Res. 18 as agreed to be inserted in lieu thereof. further. that the resolution then be agreed to as amended and the Senate insist on its amendment. request a conference with the House. and the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":315,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090016216,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Is there a Member in this Chamber who is opposedto that? If there are going to be tax cuts in this budget. then we must increase funding for a range of energy tax incentives. Supporting at least $15.5 billion in energy tax incen.tives will send a strong message that these incentives are necessary to develop a national energy policy. and I urge my colleagues to stand with me in this request. Unless we can increase the pie for all of these energy technology approaches. there will not be enough to achieve our energy goals in any serious way.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5942,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090016218,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Infantry Division near the DMZ in Korea. Steve volunteered to join his units 2nd Brigade Combat Team to spare medics with spouses and children and arrived with the unit in Kuwait in early August 2004. Within a few weeks. he deployed to Ramadi. about 45 miles west of Baghdad. where his unit supported the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and was responsible for VIP escort. area security and other \"highly operated missions.\" He died when an improvised explosive device detonated near his military vehicle in Ramadi. Iraq. Before returning home. Steve was awarded the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal. the National Defense Service Medal. the Korean Defense Service Medal. Good Conduct Medal. Purple Heart. Army Commendation Medal. Army Achievement Medal. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5041,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090016221,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on March 14 the National Congress of the PeoplesRepublic of China passed a bill termed the \"AntiSecession\" law that preemptively positions China to take military action should it judge Taiwan to be moving toward formal independence. While the threat of force from Beijing is not new. legislation that refers to \"nonpeaceful means.\" even described as a \"last resort\" can only be seen as counterproductive. -At a minimum. it is not conducive to building confidence between Taiwan and China nor facilitating dialogue. which are key to future- stability in the straits and to peace and prosperity for both sides. This is not an issue that can be successfully resolved through military means. All would lose. The timing of this law is equally unfortunate. Since the beginning of this year. Chinese and Taiwanese officials have taken concrete. pragmatic steps to build better relationssuqh as direct flights. shipping links. and increased trade. There have also been gestures of personal respect and there has been a lowering of the rhetorical temperature. on both sides. These are heartening developments. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ROCKEFELLER","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1851,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090016222,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Braving bullets. bombs. and substantial personal threat. they joined their fellow countrymen to vote in the nations first free election. an act that warrants our deepest respect. When I reflect on their courage. I realize that in the United States we have no point of reference to understand what they must have felt on that Monday in January. Though the women in our Nation have fought and continue to fight for justice and equal opportunity. the trip from our homes to the voting booth has never involved a life or death decision. The fact that 8 million people. 60 percent of whom were women according to some estimates. chose to risk their lives to vote is. quite frankly. astounding to me. These women have grasped at democracy and they now clench it with tightened fists. I think we can learn something from this. I would like to call attention to their sacrifices and to highlight the lessons that their courage can teach women in the United States and around the world. It is easy to take for granted today. but women in America also had to fight for the right to vote. After a decades long struggle. women finally secured the right to vote in 1920 and since that time women have made incredible advancements. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5759,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090016226,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"My bill ensures that the IRSs disaster tax does not see the light of day. I ask unanimous consent that two letters from the Department of Treasury be printed in the RECORD. These letters are written to the chairmen of both the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee expressing support for S. 586 and H.R. 1134 and committing to prevent retroactive taxation at the request of Congress.","speaker_name":"MARK FOLEY","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1842,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090016228,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to speak about the need for hate crimes legislation. Each Congress. Senator KENNEDY and I introduce hate crimes legislation that would add new categories to current hate crimes law. sending a signal that violence of any kind is unacceptable in our gociety. Likewise. each Congress I have.come to the floor to highlight a separate hate crime that has occurred in our country. Last week. a 15yearold high school student was charged with assault after attacking a fellow student. According to police. the attacker yelled disparaging remarks about the victims sexual orientation before the fight broke out. The victim was taken to the doctor with bruised ribs after he was repeatedly kicked. I believe that the Governments first duty is to defend its citizens. to defend them against the harms that come out of hate. ","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1030,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090016230,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I do not sign a letter without first asking. \"Has Declan looked at this?\" Despite her busy work schedule. Declan has many creative pursuits. She is both a lover of the theater and a talented actress herself. Recently. she has performed at Washingtons Studio Theater. the Chevy Chase Players. and the Silver Spring stage. Declan is an inspiration to the young men and women who come to work in Washington every year. Every morning. she is the first to arrive in my office. where she proceeds to scour her hometown Boston Globe. the New York Times. the Washington Posts Style section. and Page Six. over a cup of black coffee. As her coworkers arrive. she enthusiastically shares the best stories with them. On behalf of her Senate coworkers over the past 20 years and the thousands of constituents she has assisted. I thank Declan for her dedication and excellent public service. ","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1566,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090016232,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I have sought recognition to inform the Senate of the passing of Jay Cutler on March 4. 2005. Jay was a dear friend to many in Washington. a loving husband. father. and grandfather to his family. and a true asset to Capitol Hill and the field of mental health policy. Both on the Hill and in his role as the lobbyist for the American Psychiatric Association. Jay worked diligently to educate people about mental health and to alleviate the stigma attached to mental illness. I had the pleasure of working closely with Jay on a number of issues affecting millions of Americans afflicted with these maladies. Most importantly. Jay had an overwhelming love for his family. especially his wife. children. and grandchild. They. along with me. the United States Senate and Washington. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":995,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090016236,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"J. Paul Taylor: The Educator. J. Paul Taylor: The Politician. J. Paul Taylor: The Father of Border Health. J. Paul Taylor: The Advocate for the Poor. J. Paul Taylor: Childrens Advocate. ","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2536,"word_count":31}
{"speech_id":1090016238,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Observers have described these threats as including the lack of accountability for the killing of journalists and government restrictions on the media. It is in the broader context of the challenges to press freedom in Russia that the importance of Paul Klebnikovs murder has been brought home to me in a very personal way by. his family. which has long ties to New York. Paul. with family roots in Russia. grew up in New York. and his wife and their children still reside in New York. At the time of his death at age 41. Paul Klebnikov was working in Moscow as the editorinchief of Forbes Russia. after having served as a senior editor at Forbes. Paul Klebnikovs contributions to press freedom have received special recognition since his death. He was arecipient of the CPJ 2004 International Press Freedom Award. He was also a recipient of the 2004 Knight International Press Fellowship Award for achievementsin the face of threats. At the CPJ 2004 International Press Freedom Awards ceremony. Pauls widow Musa underlined Pauls deep sympathy for the plight of the Russian people and the way in which he. chose to translate his ideals into action: \"Being surrounded by criminality. greed and misuse of power has made people suffer from apathy and hopelessness. ","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6002,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090016239,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am profid to submit this statement in praise of David Vigliarolo Bauer. a New York City public school student who won the top $100.000 prize in this years Intel Science Talent Search. STS. David attends Manhattans Hunter College High School. known for its excellence and high educational standards. His project. which was inspired by the events of September 11. began in thebioorganic chemistry lab of Professor Valeria BaloghNair at the City College of New York. CCNY. A coworker at the CCNY lab had been exposed to asbestos at Ground Zero the day of the attack. David has designed a new typo of universal sensor for neurotoxins in the body which be believes has the potential to save thousands of lives by rapidly detecting. and evaluating individual exposure to biochemical agents. The Intel STS is often considered the \"junior Nobel Prize\" and is Americas oldest and most highly regarded precollege science competition. ","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1410,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090016244,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The biofuels industrys output is on track to surpass even our ambitious target of 8 billion gallons a year by 2012. Several studies further indicate that renewable fuels could provide more than 25 percent of our transportation fuel by 2025. Our bill will ensure that market demand. for these fuels grows accordingly. Many of the biofuels plants that will be built will be farmerowned. bringing tremendous added value to our rural economies. For example. according. to a. recent study. each typical ethanol plant built in the United States creates 700 jobs. expands the local economic base by over $140 million. and increases the local corn price by 5 to 10 cents a bushel. Iowas ethanol plants are expected to contribute $4 billion annually to our states economy once all are in production. This RFS is expected to create over 200.000 new jobs nationwide. add nearly $200 billion to our GDP. and do more to reduce foreign oil dependence than all of the oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge could possibly do. This legislation has builtin flexibility through a system of tradable credits for refiners who exceed their minimum requirement. It takes strong measures to protect air and water quality. and it rewards production of secondgeneration biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol that promise tremendous value to farmers. consumers and the environment. For these reasons. our bill has generated strong support from a broad range of interests. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4243,"word_count":236}
{"speech_id":1090016248,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am pleased to join as a cosponsor of the Fuels Security Act of 2005. which sets a renewable fuels standard for the years 2006 to 2012. To lessen our dependence on foreign oil and strengthen our economy here at home. renewable fuels like ethanol ought to be a larger part of our domestic fuel supply. This bill will contribute to that objective. and I commend Senators LUGAR and HARKIN for their leadership in crafting this legislation. Yesterday. during the markup of a similar bill in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. I expressed strong support for establishing a meaningful renewable fuels standard as an important part of a comprehensive national energy policy. The bill before the Committee set targets at 3.8 billion gallons in 2006 and 6 billion gallons in 2012. improving upon last years RFS provision in the energy bill conference report that set targets at 3.1 billion gallons and 5 billion gallons. respectively. I voted for the chairmans mark yesterday because it gets the RFS debate rolling in the new Congress. However. ","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4092,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090016251,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have spoken many times about the need for a comprehensive. independent investigation into the abuse of detainees. I have no doubt that such an investigation would be painful. but it is also a necessary step to moving forward. Prisoner abuse by U.S. personnel is deeply troubling. but it is only one aspect of a broader and serious problem. While we must ensure that prisoners are treated humanely by our own personnel. we must also prohibit the use of socalled \"extraordinary renditions\" to send people to other countries where they will be subject to torture. Article 3 of the Convention Against \"Torture states that \"no State Party shall expel. return or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.\" The bill I introduce today. the \"Convention Against Torture Implementation Act.\" will ensure that we honor this commitment. We have addressed this issue before. Congress implemented Article 3 of the Convention Against Torture in the Foreign Affairs. Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998. but this Administra\u0095tion has exploited loopholes in that law to transfer detainees to countries where they are subjected to torture. Attorney General Gonzales recently said that U.S. policy is not to send detainees \"to countries where we believe or we know that theyre going to be tortured.\" but he acknowledged that we \"cant fully control\" what other nations do. and added that he does not know whether countries have always complied with their promises. In fact. they have not. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8146,"word_count":257}
{"speech_id":1090016258,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Postal Service is clearly in need of modernization once again. Back in the early 1970s. none of the Postal Services customers had access to fax machines. cell phones or pagers. Nobody imagined that we would ever enjoy conveniences like email. and electronic bill pay that could replace a First Class letter. That. of course. is no longer the case. Most of the mall I receive from my constituents these days arrives via fax and email instead of hard copy mail. a marked change from my days in the House and even from my more recent days as Governor of Delaware. This continuing electronic diversion of mail. coupled with a slow economy and the threat of terrorism. has made for some rough going at the Postal Service of late. In 2001. as Postmaster General Potter came onboard. the Postal Service was projecting its third consecutive year of deficits. They lost $199 millionin 2000 and $1.68 billion in 2001. They were projecting losses of up to $4 billion in fiscal year 2002. Mail volume was falling. revenues were below projections and the Postal Service was estimating that it needed to spend $4 billion on security enhancements in order to prevent a repeat of the tragic anthrax attacks that took several lives. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12349,"word_count":210}
{"speech_id":1090016259,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Treasury. $7.6 billion for workers compensation claims. $3.5 billion for retirement costs. and as much as $47 billion to cover retiree health care costs. The Government Accountability Offices Comptroller General. David Walker. has pointed to the urgent need for \"fundamental reforms to minimize the risk of a significant taxpayer bailout or dramatic postal rate increases.\" The Postal Service has been on GAOs \"HighRisk\" List since April of 2001. The Postal Service is at risk of a \"death spiral\" of decreasing volume and increasing rates that lead to further decreases in volume. The Postal Service is the linchpin of a $900billion mailing industry that employs 9 million Americans in fields as diverse as direct mailing. printing. catalog production. and paper manufacturing. The health of the Postal Service is essential to the vitality of thousands of companies and the millions that they employ. First and foremost. my bill preserves the basic features of universal serviceaffordable rates. frequent delivery. and convenient community access to retail postal services. If the Postal Service were no longer to provide universal service and deliver mail to every customer. the affordable communication link upon which many Americans rely would be jeopardized. This postal reform legislation grants the Postal Service Board of Governors the authority to set rates for competitive products like Express Mail and Parcel Post. as long as these prices do not result in cross subsidy from marketdominant products. It replaces the current lengthy and litigious ratesetting process with a rate capbased structure for marketdominant products such as firstclass mail. periodicals. and library mail. ","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3205,"word_count":257}
{"speech_id":1090016265,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This provision recognizes the importance of public acceptance of hydrogen as a safe and secure energy source. and it recognizes the industrys needs for standards of safety codes and standards for hydrogen energy systems whether stationary. mobile. or portable. The bill does not require the standards to be developed \"inhouse\" within the Department of Energy. but importantly authorizes the Secretary of Energy to enter into cooperative agreements. grants. and contracts with industry groups and with the cooperation of the Federal- interagency Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technical Task Force. Mr. President. I urge my colleagues in the Senate to support this bill. By Mr. DEWINE (for himself. Mr.","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4810,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090016270,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Cesar Chavez came from humble roots. but his strength of character led him to achieve great things. Chavez was born on March 31. 1927 in Yuma. AZ. where he spent his early years on his familys farm. At age 10. his family lost their farm in a bank foreclosure. forcing them to join the thousands of farm workers that wandered the Southwest to find work. They worked in fields and vineyards. harvesting the fresh fruits and vegetables that people throughout the world enjoyed unaware of the daily hardships endured by farm workers. Cesar Chavez experienced these hardships and witnessed first hand the injustices in farm worker life. He became determined to bring dignity to farm workers and in 1962. he founded the National Farmworkers Association. which would later become the United Farmworkers of America (UFW). Through the UFW. Chavez called attention to the terrible working and living conditions of Americas farm workers. Most importantly. he organized thousands of migrant farm workers to fight for fair wages. health care coverage. pension benetits. livable housing. and respect. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2806,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090016274,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to introduce the Workplace Religious Freedom Act. I am pleased to be joined in this effort by Senator KERRY and appreciate the work he has done on this bill over the years. I am also pleased to have a number of Senators. both Democrats and Republicans. liberals and conservatives. join me in cosponsoring this important legislation. The bill we introduce today is intended to ensure that employees are not forced to choose between their religious beliefs and practices and keeping their jobs. It recognizes that an individuals faith impacts every part of their life. including the many hours spent in the workplace. America is distinguished internationally as a land of religious freedom. and it should be a place where people are not forced to choose between keeping their faith and keeping their job. This simple proposition is why we are reintroducing the Workplace Religious Freedom Act (WRFA). which provides a balanced approach to reconciling the needs of people of faith in the workplace with those of employers. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was meant to address conflicts between religion and work. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2910,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090016282,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"FAA. to retire before age 65. Again. with the airline industry experiencing severe financial distress. we need to enact this legislation to assist pilots whose companies have been or will be unable to continue their defined benefit pension plans. My bill will slightly alter Title IV ofthe Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to require the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation to take into account the fact that pilots are required to retire at the age of 60. when calculating their benefits. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation was established to ensure that workers with defined benefit pension plans are able to receive some portion of their retirement income in cases where the employer does not have enough money to pay for all of the benefits owed. After the employer proves to the PBGC that the business is financially unable to support the plan. the PBGC takes over the plan as a trustee and ensures that the current and future retirees receive their pension benefits within the legal limits. Four of the ten largest claims in PBGCs history have been for airline pension plans. Although airline employees account for only two percent of participants historically covered by the PBGC. they have constituted approximately 17 percent of claims. For example. Eastern Airlines. Pan American. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4529,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090016298,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday. March 17. 2005. for a committee hearing titled \"Back from the Battlefield: Are We Providing the Proper Care for Americas Wounded Warriors?\" The hearing will take place in Room 418 of the Russell Senate Office Building at 10 a.m.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":374,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090016318,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask unanimous consent exposure: Now. therefore. be it that not withstanding the recess. com- The preamble. as amended. was mittees be allowed to file legislative agreed to. and executive items on Wednesday. The resolution. with its preamble. March 30. between the hours of 10 a.m. reads as follows: and 12 noon. S. RES. 43","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":324,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090016324,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 88. submitted earlier today by Senators AKAKA. SARBANES. COCHRAN. BAUCUS. and others. The* PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":256,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090016346,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I hope we finish our work on the Schiavo issue early next week and. if so. we will begin the Easter break.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1078,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090016530,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It allows Terris case to be heard in Federal court. More specifically. it allows a Federal district judge to consider a claim \"by or on behalf of Theresa Marie Schiavo for the alleged violation of any right of Theresa Marie Schiavo under the Constitution or laws of the United States relating to the withholding or withdrawal of food. fluids. or medical treatment necessary to sustain her life.\" I am pleased with our progress thus far. and I am committed as leader to see this legislation pass and give Terri Schiavo one last chance at life.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1485,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090016546,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that upon entry of this order. the Speaker may decline to entertain a motion to adjourn until after disposition of the motion to suspend the rules described in this order. that it be in order at any time on Sunday. March 20. 2005. for the Speaker to entertain a motion that the House suspend the rules with respect to S. 686. and that such motion be debatable for 3 hours. equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on the Judiciary or their designees.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":538,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090016556,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman for those comments and would make it clear to the House. Mr. Speaker. that of course one of the considerations is Members are trying to get back. They have had 17 hours notice of reconvening and with the vote to occur at 12. obviously. 9 oclock will have been 14 hours. and the reason we did not want to go sooner is because there are Members on either side of this question who would want to make their positions known. So that is the reason for our concern. So I appreciate the gentlemans comment. and my expectation then is that we will go back in at 9. Mr. Speaker. I withdraw my reservation of objection under those representations. The SPEAKER? Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Texas?","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":735,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090016563,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And while I would not dare suggest otherwise. I would ask the question. if the Florida courts had found in favor of Terri Schiavos parents. would we be here this evening? I suspect not. So it is fair to conclude. therefore. that the reason we are here this evening is that the majority is unhappy. objects to the decision rightfully reached by the courts of the State of Florida. and as a result. the majority wishes to undermine over 200 years of jurisprudence and a long history in this country for respect for our judicial independence as well as the States court systems and the jurisdictions assigned to it. In closing. Mr. Speaker. I would simply suggest this one thing. this is heartwrenching for all Americans. Each American I believe tonight and today has been searching his or her soul wondering how they would react if. God forbid. they were in this position. But the issue before this Congress is not an emotional one. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT WEXLER","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3790,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090016568,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Florida . who both as a Member of this body and previously as a member of the Florida legislature has a rare commodity on the floor today. genuine knowledge on the subject of which we are speaking.","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":271,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090016574,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Hubert Humphrey once said that a society is measured by how it treats those in the dawn of life. those in the shadows of life. and those in the twilight of life. It is true that Terri Schiavo lives among us in the shadows of life. But she is not brain dead or comatose. She is awake and she is able to hear. she is able to see. she is often alert. She can feel pain. she interacts with her environment. she laughs. she cries. She expresses joy when her parents visit her and sorrow when they leave. Mr. Speaker. she reminds me so much of another woman. whose name I will not mention. who was in much the same circumstance as Terri and a young nurse insisted every morning on singing to this patient. Of course. her colleagues upbraided her and said. well. she cant hear you. those are just reflex actions. But she continued day after day. year after year. to sing to her every morning. ","speaker_name":"TRENT FRANKS","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2919,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090016584,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we are turning a sad family tragedy into a grotesque legislative travesty. It is a tragedy. But what we are talking about tonight is nothing other than inserting our judgment for the courts. Today every day in every county in America. families. doctors. hospital chaplains are making lifeanddeath decisions. tough decisions and tender decisions. Each one has its own circumstance. and Congress cannot reasonably understand each and should not be involved. For 215 years it has been a solid principle of this country that Congress is not involved in issues like this. Today in church at Palm Sunday services. I read the bulletin. and as is the usual practice there was a list of the sick and hospitalized. the homebound. I read each name. ","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2517,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090016586,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker. we meet tonight under extraordinary circumstances. and I for one am very grateful to the Speaker and majority leader DELAY for bringing us back because a muchloved disabled woman in Florida has been ordered to die by starvation and dehydration. We meet tonight because Terri Schiavos family. including her parents. Bob and Mary Schindler. refuse to allow their precious daughter. who is not in a coma nor is she terminally ill nor is she in a persistent vegetative state. to be killed by starving her to death. Disabled people deserve no less than everyone else deserves. to have their fundamental human rights protected and properly asserted. We meet here tonight because there are serious questions whether Terri Schiavos estranged husband. Michael. who has abandoned Terri for another woman and has had two kids with the other woman. could be trusted as a legal guardian for a woman for whom he has sought death for many years. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2340,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090016605,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Michael. to let them take care of Terri. He has not only refused this request. he has denied Terri the rehabilitative care they might have offered her to help with her condition. Now he has had her feeding tube removed and sentenced her to a most excruciating death. citing Terris own wishes as the rationale. Yet Terri did not express this to her parents or siblings or reduce her wishes on paper. and Michael did not remember the supposed request until years after Terris initial injuries when a cash settlement was awarded to her. a settlement he would stand to inherit. If we as a Congress allow this to happen without guaranteeing her 14th amendment rights to due process. Terris blood is on our hands. If we do not act now. our inaction is completely irreversible. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.","speaker_name":"JIM RYUN","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2311,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090016609,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And it is our responsibility to protect that right. Now. I interpret and a lot of people have looked at the decision by the Florida judiciary and they interpret this as something that says our society. our country should be willing to accept and facilitate the murder of an adult human being. a human being who has not committed any crime at all whatsoever. I do not think the Founders of our country or our Constitution would agree with that decision. Mr. Speaker. I think it is entirely appropriate that the Federal courts consider this matter. a matter that so clearly speaks to the core of our belief. the belief that every human being has worth. every human being has a value. and every human being has a right to live. Our hearts are with Terri Schiavo and her family. Our reason and our intellect are with the Constitution.","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1485,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090016612,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. and I commend him for the work he has put in over the last 4 days to try to bring this bill to the floor. This is not the original version of the bill that I introduced about 2 weeks ago. but I think it will have the intended result. For many people listening and watching. you may get the impression this is a dispute between the Democrats and the Republicans. but there were 30. approximately 30 Democrats on the bill and I know that many Democrats do support this. I practiced medicine for 15 years. internal medicine. before I came to the House of Representatives. I took care of a lot of these kinds of cases. And there were basically three features of this case that compelled me to feel that a Federal review of the case was warranted. And by the way. I think it has been pointed out by some of the people that preceded me. ","speaker_name":"DAVID WELDON","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1957,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090016614,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I served as a clinical neuropsychologist. I have been with many patients in persistent vegetative state. I wish life were different. I really wish it were. I will tell Members the stories like the gentleman from Arizona and others about sudden recoveries. where people almost miraculously or magically are better and return to their former state are apocryphal for the most part. After years of coma. people do not return to who they were before. What happens is we have a brain stem that is miraculously robust at protecting breathing and heart rate. but it is our cortex that makes us who we are and that cortex dies when it is deprived of oxygen and we effectively die with it. And I am sorry about that. It is so tragic. I honestly do not know what to do. ","speaker_name":"BRIAN BAIRD","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2397,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090016626,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I think of the lengths that I would go to. to care for my children. I would die for my children. I would do anything for them. My heart is raw when I hear the things about Terri Schiavo and her mother and her father and her siblings. because I just lost my brother in November. I think of how my life changed in an instant and all the lives of those who cared for him. We talk about a family decision. What about Terris mom and dad? What about her siblings? What about the people who cared for her and nurtured her as she was growing up? Do you not think they know what Terri wants? When we talk about a permanent vegetative state. I am offended by that. Terri smiles and acknowledges the people that love her when they come to see her. She cries when they leave. ","speaker_name":"MARILYN MUSGRAVE","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"F","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1892,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090016636,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"ida. Mr. Speaker. on December 3. 1963. Theresa Marie Schindler was born in Pennsylvania. At the time. I was pregnant with my first child and my beautiful daughter. Danene. was born 5 days later on December 8. She is my best friend and today she. too. is a mom. I certainly can relate to Mr. and Mrs. Schindlers love for their daughter and their passionate fight to keep her alive. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA BROWN-WAITE","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3443,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090016642,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the chairman for yielding me this time. I also want to thank the Speaker for the difficult decision to call the Members back. though the difficult decision maybe was made less difficult by the circumstances. The hard work of the gentleman from Wisconsin over the last few days. of the gentleman from Texas . majority leader. the work of the gentleman from Maryland . who may not be on the same side as I am when we take the vote tonight. but who has certainly worked hard to see what we could do to make this work in the best possible way for the Members. who were called back. Terri Schiavo is in a terrible situation tonight. She has been in a terrible situation for a long time. a situation none of us would want to be in. a situation we would not want our loved ones in. a situation we would not have to decide about. but when this happens we do have to decide. And there is clearly a conflict between members of Terris family about what she would want to happen. Someone observed earlier that when one is her age they probably have not written that down yet. and of course that is right. When one is my age they probably should have written that down. and sometime in the next few days I am going to check to see what I wrote 10 years ago and if I still agree with what I wrote 10 years ago. as I suspect many of us will. ","speaker_name":"ROY BLUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2841,"word_count":262}
{"speech_id":1090016661,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. since I was a child and to this very day on the floor of the House I have been guided by a fundamental principle that we as men and women. indeed. we as a society will be judged according to how we treat the most vulnerable amongst us. That is the issue we face today. I believe Terri Schiavos case must be judged in that context. For me the following points are the most important: Terri left no living will or written instructions. Terris mom and dad. the people that have loved her the longest and have fought so valiantly for her. want responsibility for their daughter. I spoke with her brother who wants his parents to be able to protect his sister. Terris life has value and worth. and we must do everything we can to protect her rights and those of other disabled people here in America. The law ought not to provide. should not provide. more protection for murderers guilty of terrible crimes than for an innocent woman lying in a Florida hospital bed. So today we must act on behalf of Terri Schiavo. ","speaker_name":"MARK KENNEDY","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1435,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090016664,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Second. even if they granted it. she would likely lose her case under the very difficult procedural hurdles any habeas petitioner faces. Third. she has already been denied an emergency review by the Supreme Court. And. fourth. the ordinary review process in the Supreme Court will take far too long. She will probably die in the interim. Consequently. Terri Schiavos only hope is the current bill which will guarantee a fresh review of her case in the lower Federal court immediately. without any deference to State court determination and with the lower Federal court issuing a stay of the State court order until it can determine the Federal claims the court is required to hear under this bill on its merits. That is what Terri Schiavo needs. and that is what this bill will get her. and that is why it should pass.","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4123,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090016675,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I want to just close with the commentary from the guardian ad litem. He spent 20 of 30 days with her. He put his face up close to hers and tried to make eye contact. pleading desperately. trying to will her into giving him any kind of sign. He said. I would beg her. please. Terri. help me. You want to believe there is some connection. You hope she is going to sit up in bed and say. \"Hey. Im really here. but dont tell anybody.\" Or. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2631,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090016685,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of S. 686. As many before me and many still to come have indicated. this is not an easy situation. If it were. we would not be here at this late hour. on this day. What makes this situation difficult is that there are so many unresolved questions. What are Terris wishes? Terri Schiavo never prepared a living will to express definitively what her wishes would be. So we are left with conflicting accounts of what course of action Terri would want her doctors to take. What has the family decided? Opponents of this legislation say this should be a family issue. I agree. ","speaker_name":"RANDY NEUGEBAUER","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2445,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090016688,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of the U.S. Constitution. the principle of states rights. and democracy. This private relief measure. as I asserted last Wednesday. March 16. 2005. while is a flat rejection of a states right to adjudicate these private matters. is a better vehicle than H.R. 1332 to allow interested parties to have full opportunity to address the dilemma that surrounds the case of Ms. Schiavo while at the same time preserving the right of Congress to fully debate the very important issues that lie beneath the special facts of this case. Last Wednesday on the House Floor I expressed my reservations about H.R. 1332. the Protection of Incapacitated Persons Act of 2005. I indicated that the scope of H.R. 1332 requires. at the very least. hearings before the committees of jurisdiction. This legislation was introduced a few hours prior to its passagethat is incomprehensible for a public measure. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5297,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090016699,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to address S. 686 for the Relief of the Parents of Theresa Marie Schiavo. Numerous courts have reviewed the tragic case of Terri Schiavo. and all have agreed that the right to make decisions about her care rests solely with her legal guardian: her husband. Michael Schiavo. Even in cases where the patient has made it clear that she did not wish to persist in a catatonic state. families face excruciating decisions about how to proceed. Disagreement about the medical facts or the express wishes of the patient only add to the agony. and often lead to painful disputes within families. We are a nation of laws. and as such we have a proper and unbiased way of resolving these difficult situations. The Schiavo case involves a family dispute over who has final decisionmaking regarding Terri Schiavos medical care. and as such falls exclusively under jurisdiction of the State courts. Federal courts do not have any jurisdiction in this case. the U.S. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL HONDA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2372,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090016705,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. thank you for giving me an opportunity to voice my thoughts on this significant issue. This Nation was founded to preserve the sacred rights of mankind: life. liberty. and the pursuit of happiness. Alexander Hamilton correctly noted that these rights were intrinsic and could \"never be erased or obscured by mortal power.\" Our Nation was premised on this notion. and our government built upon its foundation. Yet. more than 200 years after our founding. we are still fighting to realize this sacred vision. The fight to save the life of Terri Schiavo. a disabled Florida woman. is evidence of our struggle. In cases like Terris. when there is no living will and exact wishes are impossible to determine. we must err on the side of protecting innocent life. Without such guiding principles. how can we be sure that we have not forsaken her rights and replaced them with a courtordered death sentence based solely on hearsay? It is not only mortal power that seeks to take the life of Terri Schiavo. but moral power overseen and blessed by government. If we allow this course to continue. and if we stand idly by as this human life expires as a result of governmentordered starvation. we will have lost the moral compass passed down to us by our forefathers. If we cannot protect innocent life in these circumstances where there is no written evidence of the individuals wishes. the family is deeply divided. and death is neither imminent nor certain in the near future. we have failed to do our jobs of protecting her constitutional rights.","speaker_name":"JOHN SHADEGG","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1552,"word_count":266}
{"speech_id":1090016707,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Each time the evidence pointed to the same unbiased conclusion: Terri Schiavos wishes were clear and convincing. Doctors who have examined Ms. Schiavo have consistently said that she is in a persistent vegetative state. The only ones who disagree are those who are deciding based on videotapes. In fact. the Florida State legislature has not overridden the decisions of their State courts. There is no doubt that this is a family tragedy. But. there is no room for the Federal Government in this case or in any similar case. It is unfair that this family during their time of grief has become a political pawn in an ideological war the conservative leadership is inappropriately propelling. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2757,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090016708,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As a father. I can empathize with the feelings of Ms. Schiavos mother and father. My feelings for the pain of this family are precisely the reason for my position on this bill. In the first instance. tragic choices such as those confronting this family should be made by the family itself. In a case such as this. in which the family cannot come to a consensus. the courts are the proper place for decisions to be made. The Florida courts have examined this matter in great detail for a very long time. For any legislative bodyleast of all the Federal legislatureto impose its will is an abuse of its power. Excruciating decisions such as this belong first to families. and only if there cannot be agreement within a familyin the courts. The political process is the least appropriate place for such a decision to be made.","speaker_name":"ROBERT ANDREWS","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1063,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090016710,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"\"I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.\" This week. millions of Americans. many of my colleagues. and I found ourselves in a similar position. Through this action. Congress is not only saving the life of Terri Shiavo. we are making a statement about the country we live in and the culture of life which we seek.","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1241,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090016714,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in opposition to S. 686. Relief for the Parents of Theresa Marie Schiavo. I am very disturbed that this tragedy is being used for what seem to be political purposes. I am concerned because this bill would set a dangerous precedent in dealing with a very serious and personal issue. This bill is an intrusion into a familys medical decision and Congress should not play a role in a private family matter when it is being dealt with in the State courts. As Congress. we should respect the sanctity of the judiciary and not use legislative powers to overturn court decisions when we disagree with such decisions. I wish for Terri. her husband and family peace.","speaker_name":"HILDA SOLIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":683,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090016736,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. opponents of free speech and debate claim that. during my tenure as majority leader in the United States Senate. I established precedents that now justify a proposal for a misguided attempt to end debate on a judicial nomination by a simple majority vote. rather than by a threefifths vote of all Senators duly chosen and sworn as required by paragraph two of Senate rule XXII. Their claims are false. Proponents of the socalled nuclear option cite several instances in which they inaccurately allege that I \"blazed a procedural path\" toward an inappropriate change in Senate rules. They are dead wrong. Dead wrong. They draw analogies where none exist and create cockeyed comparisons that fail to withstand even the slightest intellectual scrutiny. .Simply put. no action of mine ever denied a minority of the Senate a right to full debate on the final disposition of a measure or matter pending before the Senate. Not in 1977. not in 1979. not in 1980. or in 1987the dates cited by critics as grounds for the nuclear option. The Congressional Research Service confirms that only six amendments have been adopted since the cloture rule was enacted in 1917. and \"each of these changes was made within the framework of the existing or entrenched rules of the Senate. including rule XXII.\" In none of the instances cited by those who threaten to invoke the nuclear option did my participation in any action deny the minority in the Senate. regardless of party. its right to debate the real matter at hand. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11808,"word_count":257}
{"speech_id":1090016740,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to speak about the bill we just passed that will give Terri Schiavo another chance. The bill we passed this afternoon centers on the sanctity of human life. It is bipartisan. it is bicameral. The House of Representatives is considering the exact same bill today. After the Senate and House pass this legislation. the President will immediately sign it into law. There has been a lot of discussion about what this bill actually does. Let me point out several things. Simply put. it allows Terris case to be held in Federal court. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3465,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090016741,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Con. Res. 23. the adjournment resolution. which is at the desk. I further ask that the concurrent resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":278,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090016746,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I believe in the dignity and value of life at all stages and I strongly supported the legislation to help Terri Schiavo. Doctors have said that Terri is not in a persistent vegetative state and there is a lot of evidence that she would improve if she can get the care her family wants to give her. It is not uncommon in cases where there has been a miscarriage of justice for the Congress to pass private bills. Our actions are consistent with the will of the people of Florida who have been repeatedly frustrated by the State courts. We have a chance to allow this young woman to live under the nurturing of her parents and to improve her condition. On Sunday. March 20. the Senate passed the Terri Schiavo bill. The House passed the bill early on Monday. ","speaker_name":"JAMES TALENT","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1194,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090016753,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. the Senate stand in adjournment until 9:30 a.m. on Monday. March 21. unless the House adopts S. Con. Res. 23. at which time the Senate will then be in adjournment under the provisibns of the concurrent resolution until 2 p.m. on Monday. April 4. 2005. I further ask that following the prayer and the pledge. the morning hour be deemed to have expired. the Journal of the proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate then begin a period of morning business. with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":659,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090016786,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I had the good fortune of traveling to Alabama yesterday to be with his widow Mike at that funeral in the rural community of Tuscumbia. AL. That is where he had his home and law practice and where he died. He had very little suffering. He was 83 years old. He got sick one afternoon and died within an hour or two after that. The Senate will always be a better place as a result of Senator Heflin having been a Member. Death comes at inopportune times. I want his widow to know that even though there were only a few Senators there. including Senator BINGAMAN. and Senator SHELBY. who had another funeral he had to go to. Senator SESSIONS was there. it came at such an inopportune time. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2076,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090016788,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"John Paul fostered harmony between Catholics. Eastern Orthodox. and Protestant Christians. He reached out in friendship to Jews and members of other faiths. and he warmly promoted interfaith understanding. He was the first Pope to visit a mosque and the first Pope to visit a synagogue. A poet. a playwright. and a philosopher. Pope John Paul II dedicated himself to the defense of the weakest and most vulnerable members of the human family. He eloquently defended the right to life of every human being. irrespective of race or sex. age or size. stage of development. or condition of dependence. He believed that \"science can purify religion from error and superstition. Religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes.\" On his visits to the United States. he called on all Americans to be faithful to the great principles of liberty included in our Declaration of Independence and in the Constitution. Even in his last frail moments. he remained devoted to God and the cause of justice. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3573,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090016808,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The significance of that is in testimony in our Senate Armed Services Committee. over and over. four star admirals have come in front of us and said: Dont keep all of your carrier assets in one place. Spread them out. It is no secret that when a terrorist is looking to do some damage of closing up a port. particularly a port that is upriver such as Norfolk. with some one or several carriers that could be in port. just sinking debris in the channel could close up the port. That is not the defense posture we want. So there is no one who is in the uniformed military who thinks you should not spread your assets. As a matter of fact. on the west coast. on the Pacific fleet. we have three ports for aircraft carriers. The response is: If you are going to scrap the Kennedy. which is a conventional carrier. powered by oil. why not then take one of the nuclear carriers and put it down at Mayport Naval Station and you have achieved the same thing? That would be good. but it is going to take. according to testimony in the Armed Services Committee. a minimum of 5 to 7 years before that could happen because of the environmental impact statement that first has to be done and then. secondly. the reconfiguring of the docks and the other facilities to be able to handle a nuclearpowered carrier. The result of this is that for 5 to 7 years you do not have another home port for a nuclear carrier on the east coast of the United States. and all of them are homeported in one place. That is not the defense posture the United States should be in. It is another thing to talk about the parochial interests. which I represent. of Jacksonville and Florida. ","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6183,"word_count":309}
{"speech_id":1090016817,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator from Texas. I join with him in his thoughts about Pope John Paul II and the thoughts of our other colleagues that have been expressed. He was a man of sincerity and great character. He traveled more than any other Pope. He traveled the United States more than any other Pope. He carried a message of peace. He carried a message of charity. He had a profound impact on the world and his native country of Poland. ","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1210,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090016819,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The first thing wrone here is that some House Members want to stick that identification card proposal on the appropriations bill that supports troops in Iraq. We should not slow down money for our troops while we debate identification cards. The second problem is that States not only get to create these identification cards. States will likely end up paying the bill. This is one more of the unfunded Federal mandates that we Republicans especially promised to stop. Supporters argue this is no mandate because States have a choice. Well. true. States may refuse to conform to the proposed Federal standards and issue licenses to whomever they choose. including illegal immigrants. But. if they do. States licenses will not be accepted for \"Federal purposes.\" such as boarding an airplane. ","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5119,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090016827,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They tried to shut the schools. The Catholic schools flourished during all the time of communism. They could not shut them down. This weekend. the Catholic Church lost its spiritual leader and a spiritual leader of the world. Just because you are not of that faith does not take away from the spiritual power of this man. I acknowledge his spiritual power. In the book I read. I learned it was not unusual for Pope John Paul II to pray for 4 or 5 hours at a time. He was a man of great spirituality. Without any reservation. the world lost its spiritual leader and incredible role model. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6457,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090016832,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He was killed when a rocket propelled grenade struck his Bradley Fighting Vehicle. His final heroic moments resulted in the posthumous awards of a Purple Heart and Bronze Star. I offer my sincere thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of First Lieutenant Iwan. His service to our Nation will forever be appreciated. He was an outstanding American. Nebraskan. and soldier who embodied the bravery. spirit. grace and values of our grateful Nation.","speaker_name":"BEN NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1690,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090016835,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to speak about the need for hate crimes legislation. Each Congress. Senator KENNEDY and I introduce hate crimes legislation that would add new categories to current hate crimes law. sending a signal that violence of any kind is unacceptable in our society. Likewise. each Congress I have come to the floor to highlight a separate hate crime that has occurred in our country. Last month. a 19yearold gay man from New York was brutally murdered. The victims dismembered limbs were found throughout Brooklyn. including inside a subway tunnel. I believe that the Governments first duty is to defend its citizens. to defend them against the harms that come out of hate. The Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act is a symbol that can become substance. ","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":882,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090016843,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Bipolar disorder is thought to affect 12 percent of adults worldwide. Fiftynine percent of adults with bipolar disorder report that their symptoms first appeared during or before adolescence. The disorder is often inherited. and symptoms can emerge at any time in life. Bipolar disorder has a significant impact on our society. Children with the condition are at higher risk for school failure. substance abuse. and suicide. The terrible human and social costs highlight the importance of discovering better treatments. and ultimately a cure. for bipolar disorder. Few controlled studies have been done on the use of psychiatric medications in children. Cameron. however. is bravely doing his part to increase our knowledge of this disease. Cameron volunteered to leave home for several months to participate in a study that required that he be locked in an 8bed unit. submit to blood tests. brain scans. and other tests. go off all medication. and receive lithium or placebo. possibly risking his own wellbeing in the process. He consented to being forced into seclusion or medicated if his rages could not be controlled. ","speaker_name":"EVAN BAYH","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2355,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090016847,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Starting with a mere $20.000. the budget of Friendship Industries now approaches $4 million. It employs 20 staff to run the program. and contributes over $3.6 million to the Harrisonburg area through wages. contract services and job training and services. Mr. David Flick. president of Friendship Industries since 1976. has been instrumental in. the growth and success of the program. With his leadership. the agency has expanded the access and breadth of the program by providing transportation to interested trainees and by forming a network of friendly area companies. I commend David for his unwavering support and passion for helping the disabled get back to work in the Shenandoah Valley. I congratulate Friendship Industries on 40 years of dedication to improving the lives of persons with disabilities. and wish them continued success for many more years.*","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2013,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090016855,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"A panel consisting of representatives of the Department of the Interior. Arch Coal. and the Governors of Wyoming and New Mexico will help determine fair market value. While the Interior Department is authorized to exchange PRLAs for bidding rights. the Department has not done so. largely because of the difficulty it perceives in determining the fair market value of the coal reserves. The panel method in this legislation will promote the objectivity of that process. Upon the relinquishment of the PRLAs and the issuance of a certificate of bidding rights. the Department of the Interior will execute patents to the Navajo Nation of the lands encompassed by the PRLAs. This is a winwin situation for all parties involved. is endorsed by the affected parties. and is a fair resolution to this ongoing problem. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4051,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090016857,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it has been nearly 4 years since the terrorist attacks of September 11. 2001. In the days. weeks. and months since that day. the American people have braced themselves for the possibility of another terrorist attack on our homeland. After all. we know all too well that alQaida is a stealthy. sophisticated. and patient enemy. and that its leadership is extremely motivated to launch another devastating attack on American soil and American citizens. In fact. outside the United States. alQaida and affiliates of alQaida have continued to be enormously active. responsible for numerous terrorist attacks on foreign soil in the last few years: 2001 (Dec.): Man tried to denote shoe bomb on flight from Paris to Miami. 2002 (April): Explosion at historic synagogue in Tunisia left 21 dead. including 14 German tourists. 2002 (May): Car exploded outside hotel in Karachi. Pakistan. killing 14. including 11 French citizens. 2002 (June): Bomb exploded outside American consulate in Karachi. Pakistan. killing 12. 2002 (Oct.): Boat crashed into oil tanker off Yemen coast. killing one. 2002 (Oct.): Nightclub bombings in Bali. Indonesia. killed 202. mostly Australian citizens. 2002 (Nov.): Suicide attack on a hotel in Mombasa. Kenya. killed 16. 2003 (May): Suicide bombers killed 34. including 8 Americans. at housing compounds for Westerners in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia. 2003 (May): Four bombs killed 33 people targeting Jewish. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8960,"word_count":224}
{"speech_id":1090016875,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. tomorrow the Senate will be in a period of morning business. We are working with the Democratic leadership to reach an agreement with respect to the State Department authorization bill. It is my hope and expectation we will be able to structure an orderly debate of this measure and begin its consideration early tomorrow. In addition to the State Department authorization bill. we have a resolution relative to the passing of Pope John Paul II. We have just scheduled a vote on adoption of the resolution for 4:45 p.m. tomorrow. and that will be the first vote of the day. I also remind everyone that tomorrow evening. after we have finished work on the State Department authorization. our two policy committees will have a debate on the issue of Social Security. This 70minute debate will take place on the Senate floor. and I encourage all Members to listen to this important questionandanswer session. We have a lot of work to do this week. and given the events scheduled at the Vatican. and President Yushchenkos address to Congress on Wednesday. we will need to make the most of our time. Rollcall votes will occur during tomorrows session and throughout the remainder of the week as we try to complete work on the State Department authorization.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1267,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090016880,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to introduce to my colleagues someone that they may already know. Ida May Fuller. Ida May was the recipient of the first Social Security check ever issued. In 1940. the year Ida May began collecting. Social Security was a dream come true for retiring Americans. For every Ida May. there were 42 younger workers contributing to her retirement. Ida May worked under Social Security for 3 years. paid in $24 and got more than $22.000 in benefits. Ida May Fuller got one heck of a deal. ","speaker_name":"E. SHAW","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1215,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090016883,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I noted with interest my colleague from Florida talking about Ida May Fuller. the first recipient of a Social Security check January 31. 1940. I. too. think that she is a symbol of what this debate is about. The debate is about our commitment to assure that our seniors and disabled and widows and survivors .are not subjected to a life of poverty. We do have far fewer workers today than we had for each Social Security recipient. We also have far fewer dependefits today. In many households today there are more workers than there are dependents. We are changing. but this was part of a plan that was approved by President Reagah and Democratic Speaker Tip ONeill to change the Social Security program in 1983 to build up a $1.3 trillion surplus that will continue building up in the future. We do not have a problem if we keep the trust in Social Security and use that surplus for what it is used for. rather than spend it on tax cuts for people who do not need it or other frivolous government spending. ","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1147,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090016896,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume and join my colleague from Michigan in commemorating the extraordinary life and the tragic death of Zurab Zhvania. the late Prime Minister of the Republic of Georgia. While he served in the position of Prime Minister for a relatively short time. all independent observers conclude that he contributed immeasurably to the democratic reform of the Republic of Georgia. He was committed to opening the minds of the Georgian people and inspiring them to move away from the regressive wrongdoings of the Communist establishment. He will always be known as a true reformer..a strong believer in democratic values. and a good friend of America. We are all saddened by his loss. and I join my colleagues in expressing condolences to the familyof Mr. Zhvania. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":896,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090016906,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. and I wish to begin by sending my gratitude to the distinguished gentleman from Oregon for bringing this resolution before the House. The December 26. .2004. earthquake off the coast of Indonesia was one of the largest natural disasters on record. devastating coastal areas throughout the Indian Ocean area. particularly in Indonesia and Sri Lanka. The cost in human life now stands at nearly 300.000 dead or missing. another 1 million displaced. and many more otherwise affected. The response by U.S. military and civilian personnel was nearly instantaneous as they moved into action to provide help to those caught in the tragedy. The logistics. airlift. and other supplies and services provided by the Department of Defense were. by all accounts. indispensable. Similarly. the humanitarian relief providd by U.S. civilian agencies. particularly the United States Agency for International Development. demonstrated the capacity and compassion of the American people who tried to aid those who were suffering: In addition to its speed. the United States Government has been generous in its response: Nearly $150 million has already been spent and will be followed by several hundred million more dollars for ongoing recovery and reconstruction programs. The American people should also be greatly complimented for their -generosity. as private donations from the United States alone are estimated to be at $1 billion. This resolution recognizes Americas military and civilian first responders to this terrible disaster and extends the appreciation of Congress to them for their work in saving lives. helping the survivors. and displaying our American virtues to our brothers and sisters beyond our shores. ","speaker_name":"THADDEUS MCCOTTER","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1809,"word_count":273}
{"speech_id":1090016921,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Con. Res. 34 in order to celebrate the life of this extraordinary man. At the age of 18 during a time of turmoil. he led his village of 7.000 people over 325 miles on foot to the safety of New Delhi. India. He served the Government of India faithfully through both civilian and military service. When he came to the United States. he founded a nonprofit private educational. scientific foundation dedicated to serving humanity. improving physical wellbeing. deepening spiritual awareness. and offering guidance on nutrition and health. interpersonal relations. child rearing. and human behavior. In 1971. the President of the Governing Body of Sikh Temples in India named him the chief religious and administrative authority for Sikhism in the Western Hemisphere. and he was given the responsibility for creating a Sikh ministry in the West. In June of 1985. he established the. first International Peace Prayer Day Celebration which draws thousands of participants annually. Mr. Speaker. it is appropriate that Congress join in the celebration of his passing and recognize his legendary compassion. wisdom. kindness. and courage and extend its condolences to his wife and family. ","speaker_name":"THADDEUS MCCOTTER","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1560,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090016926,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He became CoPresident of the World Fellowship of Religions in He became a trusted management consultant for 14 corporations worldwide. representing industries as diverse as health food manufacturing (KIlTGolden Temple Foods). computer systems (Sun and Son). and security services (Akal Security). He conducted business seminars and authored several books to guide the aspiring entrepreneur as well as the seasoned executive. He is survived by his wife. children. five grandchildren and all those in his 3HO and Sikh Dharma families.","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3397,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090016927,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"New Mexico. I had the privilege of Yogi Bhajans friendship and support for more than 20 years. He was a dynamic. powerful person with a strong devotion to human rights. religious freedom. and good health. Whatever your faith. Yogi Bhajan had the right words. the right lesson. the right message. He spoke to us all and he inspired us. Around the world he was a powerful voice for peace. I am pleased that he will be honored by Congress today. Before he passed away. Yogi Bhajan requested that his passing be a time of celebration of his going home. ","speaker_name":"TOM UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4397,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090016974,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am asking all of my colleagues to cosponsor the Pharmaceutical Market Access Act of 2005. We have over 70 sponsors now in the House. we have a growing list of sponsors in the Senate. You can get information on my Website at gil.house.gov. But realy we should be willing to subsidize people in subSaharan Africa in terms of the cost of prescription drugs. We should not be required to subsidize the starving Swiss. Please join me in sponsoring the Pharma.ceutical Market Access Act of 2005.","speaker_name":"GILBERT GUTKNECHT","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4186,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090017000,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman from Louisiana not only for the depth of his knowledge in Medicare. but his service befgre to our country. Certainly if we are able to implement some of the changes he has spoken about so eloquently tonight in changing not only the waste. fraud and abuse. but making Medicare work more effectively. we can make it last longer. . The points made here about when we think about Social Security hitting its financial demise sometime around 2042. when they talk about Medicare. if we do not make some changes to improve the system. again that is what we are talking about. improving the system. it may face its own demise in 2024. some 20 years ahead of Social Security. not because the difference in more people retiring at faster rates -and less money going in. but because of the waste. fraud and abuse that is in the system and because of inefficiencies. It is so important that we work together in a bipartisan way to improve the efficiency of Social Security so that money goes to care for our seniors in ways that we need to make sure they get that care. I would like to turn to another one of my colleagues for the wrapup in our session tonight. and that is the gentleman from Georgia . who is no stranger to speaking on health care issues. He and I chair this conference team on dealing with health care issues. He is as dedicated as they come to working on this.","speaker_name":"TIM MURPHY","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1390,"word_count":256}
{"speech_id":1090017015,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And that is not the way we did it in 1983. And everyone has been talking about this monumental national discussion and Tip ONeill sitting down with President Reagan and Bob Dole. and we had all the great political figures of that generation coming together to say we are going to put politics aside. and we are going to fix the problem. And we are not here to bash the President or to bash the Republicans or to bash anybody. but we are here to say we~have issues here that are going to affect the longterm interest of the country. In many districts across the country we are losing manufacturing jobs. One of the main problems we have with this whole thing is we do not have enough taxpayers working and making a good living and paying into the Social Security System. My own opinion is that is what would really help fix this long term. But we are just here to say we want to sit down and work with you. You cannot have a national discussion if you do not include the opposition into your town hall meetings. Boy. it would be great to go to a meeting and never have anybody stand up and question any votes you have had or anything like that. We cannot get away with that. in our congressional seats. nor shoula we be able to. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1467,"word_count":233}
{"speech_id":1090017022,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the gentleman is so right. I represent a community where it is not just the poor we are concerned about. it is the regular middle- to lowermiddle class who are struggling. I have hundreds of thousands of senior citizens in south Florida who struggle every single day because Social Security for the vast majority of them is their primary source Of income. They are much more focused. It is what I hear when I am stopped at a picnic or at the supermarket. They are concerned about how they are going to pay for their medication. Some of them cannot even make their copayments. They are concerned about the increase in their. premiums for Medicare that just happened. That is the handwringing that is going on. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1141,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090017026,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the gentleman because the gentleman was here. The thing I talked about and heard about on the campaign trail last year was how we ended up with a Medicare bill that added a prescription drug benefit but did not allow. in fact prohibited. the negotiation of discounts for prescription drugs. I know that the VA. the Veterans Administration. already has that ability and drugs made available to our veterans through the VA are significantly less than they are on the private market. So maybe the gentleman can help clarify that for me because I was not here. People out in the real world do not understand that.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":636,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090017029,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The gentlewoman makes a great point about just kind of how the whole system is working right now. Basically by not having the Secretary of HHS be able to negotiate down the drug prices and by not freetrading pharmaceuticals. it is basically corporate welfare. It is basically public taxpayer. hardearned money coming down here. and we are giving it to the pharmaceutical companies and inflated drug costs through the Medicare program. So we have corporate welfare going to the most profitable industry in the world right now. Then you give tax cuts to those. people who make more than $350.000 a year so they do not have to pay. You reduce the corporate tax rate so those shareholders. and those. people who benefit most from moving jobs overseas get the tax benefits there. too. And then you are cutting services here with Medicaid and food stamps and education. the Pell grant and everything that we have talked about. And now you want to go try to mess with Social Security. So if you see what is happening down here. if you take a step back and you see the whole process. there is all this corporate welfare going to all the big major corporations. they get all the tax cuts. the people who run those companies get tax cuts. and the rich get richer. and the poor are getting poorer. They say. well. thats class warfare. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2007,"word_count":236}
{"speech_id":1090017042,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I join in mourning the loss of Pope John Paul II. In my lifetime. he was the first Pope I can remember who could actually be put in the category of being an evangelist. No other Pope ever traveled as much as this Pope did. and no man ever took the Word to the different corners of the world like this man did. and that is why he is so revered around the world. (The remarks of Mr.. BURNS pertaining to the introduction of S. 696 are printed in todays RECORD under \"Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.\")","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":541,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090017061,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He moved into the crowds. and he spoke the language of the people. often literally because he spoke so many languages. The Pope was the father of the church. but he was also a son of Poland. my own cultural heritage. I remember when I heard the news about the new Polish Pope. the first nonItalian in over 400 years. I live down the street from the Polish parish. St. Stanislaws in Fells Point. We felt such pride and joy. The bells rang. the tugboats tooted. We closed the streets and had a fantastic party. We were so excited. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA MIKULSKI","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5502,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090017116,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I say to my friend. we are just clearing it with the leadership. We are working that out. I am sure we will be able to move the amendment immediately after my statement which I dont think will take more than a few minutes. Mr. President. under the leadership of Chairman LUGAR. we tried .very hard to move this bill in the last couple of years. I hope the third time is a charm. As I believe the chairman has explained. the bill contains the basic authorization for all the major foreign affairs agencies and programs at the Department of State. foreign assistance programs. the Broadcasting Board of Governors. and the Peace Corps. The bill contains several initiatives I would like to briefly highlight. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5630,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090017131,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But today their hands are tied. and even worse their hands are tied because the Bush administration has imposed a political ideology on the world. We cannot allow this undemocratic policy to deny women and their children health care and ultimately sentence them to die. As my colleague. Senator BOXER. has talked about. when President Bush took office in 2001. he signed an Executive order known as the global gag","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1916,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090017158,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in an effort not to belabor this too much. there is a set of semantics being argued back and forth. I invite my colleague to submit suggestions on regulatory changes to the USAID to try to address this narrow point. if that is. indeed. the case. I hope we do not. in focusing on a particular very narrow tragic issue and circumstanceand nobody is celebrating that tragedyI hope we do not lose focus of the broader issue of taxpayer funding of abortions overseas. We can focus in on this very narrow point of viewand it is a tragic circumstance. I will concede that to my colleague. Maybe we can negotiate a regulatory change to address these important concerns if these words do not do it. I think we are arguing semantics here. Lets not lose sight of the fact. which is that this amendment would send taxpayer dollars to fund abortions overseas. I urge my colleagues to vote against the Boxer amendment.","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":919,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090017216,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I now ask unanimous consent that following the vote at 4:45 on the resolution regarding Pope John Paul II. the Senate proceed to a vote in relation to the Boxer amendment. provided further that there be 2 minutes of debate equally divided between the votes.","speaker_name":"RICHARD LUGAR","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":272,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090017233,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I hope my colleagues will support the BoxerSnowe amendment. It is very important to make sure women around the world are given the health care they deserve. Since 1973. the Helms amendment has been in place. That means no American funds can ever be used for anything to do with abortion. But the global gag rule which we are trying to overturn goes much further. It says nonprofit organizations overseas cannot use their own money to help a woman by giving her options. by giving her a referral. It even says a nongovernmental organization would lose all their USAID funding if they advocated to change a very restrictive law in their own country. This is clearly unconstitutional if it were applied here in America. .With our men and women dying around the world for freedom. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":959,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090017270,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Before the Castro government caught the signal.and jammed it. they would get a minute or two. So that is a sighting. That is a Cuban who was able to see the signal of TV Marti. *They finally stopped measuring that because the audience was so miniscule as to be almost zero. Finally their argument was. the same official says: TV Marti. though jammed. is well positioned to be an important instrument of U.S. foreign policy should a crisis occur on the island. So there we are. We have big. old. Fat Albert up there. an aerostat balloon sending signals to the Cuban people they cant see. We spend $10. $12 million a year on something we dont have. And now the President says we should double that. And do you know how we are going to do it? A balloon isnt enough and a balloon causes problems because the balloon got off of its aerostat mooring and. went over the Everglades. and we had people on grappling hooks and ladders trying to tame the balloon that was broadcasting signals into Cuba. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5199,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090017282,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will be very brief. The amendment I have sent to the desk does a simple thing. It maintains the current. cap on the amount that the United States contributes to the United Nations peacekeeping missions. It keeps. it at 27.1 percent for the next 2 years. For those who may be watching. they may wonder what that is all about. When a peacekeeping mission gets sent overseas. authorized by the United Nations. the countries in question have a prior assessment as to how much they are going to pay. usually based on the size of their countries and the size of their economies. and it has been agreed to by us that the appropriate figure for the United States to chip in is 27.1 percent. So if it costs $1 million for peacekeeping. our share would be $271.000. and so on. Let me briefly explain the history of the law and what this does to the Lugar amendment. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7037,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090017310,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Demonstrating a vital understanding of this complex world. he led the foundation in its expanding role to educate young. talented. and dedicated military officers in learning foreign languages and in understanding foreign cultures through the awarding of scholarships to study overseas for. 2 years. With our military deployed for wars in over 100 countries across the globe. the importance of having officers imbued with the cultural sensitivities and language capabilities provided by this special education is essential. Thanks to Admiral Trosts innate understanding of. the importance of the training provided to Olmsted scholars and his visionary leadership. the number of scholars studying annually doubled and the foundations endowment increased dramatically. Admiral Trost also established the TriService Academy Cadet and Midshipman Overseas Travel and Cultural Immersion Program at our three service academies in 2001. He later extended this important training and educational program to the three Service Reserve Officer Training Commands. ROTC. and the six senior military colleges. title 10 schools. Admiral Trost graduated from the Naval Academy in 1953. where he was first in his class of 925 midshipmen. He went on to become an Olmsted Scholar in 1960. studying in the German language at the University of Freiburg from 1960 to 1962. From there he had a most successful tour as a submarine officer. eventually commanding the blue crew of the nuclearpowered ballistic missile submarine. USS Sam Rayburn. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3196,"word_count":229}
{"speech_id":1090017312,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I was unable to be present for todays vote honoring His Holiness. Pope John Paul II. At the time of the vote. I was in Colorado attending my fatherinlaws funeral service. Having been an original cosponsor of the resolution. I would have supported the measure if present. As we mourn the passage of Pope John Paul II. we also pause to reflect on the many blessings his life bestowed upon the world. This great man was not only a defender of his faith. but of the weakest and most vulnerable among us. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":816,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090017318,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Repealing. the SOT on alcohol is supported by a broadbased group of business organizations and enjoys widespread bipartisan support on Capitol Hill. Last year. we made progress in ending this burdensome tax on small businesses. We repealed the tax for three years. More can be done. Business owners across the United States deserve assurance that they wont be hit with this antiquated tax down the line. The legislation preserves the TTBs recordkeeping requirements. while removing the agencys enforcement burden. and will save over $2 million per year. The GAO examined SOT efficacy several times. and found it fundamentally flawed. The Joint Committee on Taxation called for the elimination of SOT in its June 2001 simplification study. More than 90 percent of all SOT revenue comes from retailersa great majority of those are small businesses. Our small business sector is a great strength of our economy. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3895,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090017325,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This is a good bill. Mr. President. and it could make a real difference in the lives of so many individuals in need. I ask my colleagues to join us in support. I ask unanimous consent that the text of my bill be printed in. the RECORD.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4141,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090017342,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management. the Federal Workforce. and the District of Columbia be authorized to meet on Tuesday. April 5. 2005 at 10 a.m. for a hearing entitled. \"Monitoring CMS Vital Signs: Implementation of the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit.\"","speaker_name":"RICHARD LUGAR","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":322,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090017356,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I further ask unanimous consent that immediately following the vote tomorrow morning. the Senate stand in recess until 12 noon so that the Senate may proceed as a body to the House Chamber for a joint meeting to hear an address by Ukrainian President Yushchenko.","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":277,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090017365,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator. We are the chairmen of our respective policy committees. Republican and Democratic parties. We have on previous occasions decided to arrange some debates on the floor of the Senate about some significant issues. I participated in previous debates. For this evening. however. the debate will occur between Senator DURBIN and Senator STABENOW on the Democratic side. Senator DEMINT and Senator SANTORUM on the Republican side. This debate is about Social Security. the larger issue. and also the merits of private accounts in Social Security. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1711,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090017380,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the Chair. I would like to ask a question about the 6 percent of the workforce that does not participate in Social Security. They are State and local workers. My first question is. Do you support requiringjust as you did in 1983 by requiring Federal workers to participate in Social Securitythose State and local workers to participate in Social Security? And if you do not. then why would you deny current workers who are in the Social Security system the opportunity to have a personal account like those workers do and allow them to continue to have their funded pension system and funded Social Security system. not allow current workers to have at least a partially funded Social Security system?","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":709,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090017381,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Social Security Program was stronger. We were borrowing less money from it. Since President Bush arrived we have borrowed $800 billion out of the Social Security trust fund. The socalled file cabinet has been very generous to the President when he wanted to finance his tax cuts. If he hadnt given tax cuts to the wealthiest people. that file cabinet would have been full of money for Social Security recipients. lengthening the life of this program. Also. this whole thing about the miracle of the markets. I commend my colleague from Pennsylvania. Thank you for finally saying the words. You said we are talking about lower benefits but the opportunity to do better. That is what it is all about. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2237,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090017385,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. first I say to my friend and colleague. I am .shocked to hear him say the people of America who have paid into the Social Security trust fund. the baby boomers. do not have a secured obligation by all of us. Is the Senator saying whether it is moral or whether it is legal. or is he saying we do not have to pay those benefits? He is actually saying that for the folks who have paid in as baby boomers that we are not obligated to pay those benefits?","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":465,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090017400,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Now my question. I asked this question. Senator DEMINT asked the same question of both of my colleagues. and in neither instance did we.get a response. So I will give my colleagues one last try. We asked. what would my colleagues do. what is their plan? I just want to get the transcript. In neither case did either my colleague from Michigan or my colleague from Illinois put forward specifically what increases in taxes do they recommend. what reduction in benefits do they propose. or how much are we going to tax existing Social Security benefits to make up the shortfall. Pick the date as to when my colleagues want to solve the problem. whether they want to wait until 2018 or 2042 or 2052. whatever the case may be. How are they going to solve this problem that at least some on their side of the aisle admit exists?","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":823,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090017539,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. recently I had the opportunity to visit DeereHitachi Construction Machinery Corporation in North .Carolinas Fifth District. This plant manufactures hydraulic excavators which are used widely in the construction industry as earthmoving and utilitytype tracked digging machines. The company is a joint venture between John Deere and Hitachi Construction Machinery located in Tokyo. Japan. The company. formed in 1988. is a rare mix of American and Japanese cultures. This combination manifests itself in an extraordinary safety. quality. and delivery record. As a result. Hitachi has grown significantly in the past 3 years. Production volumes of both John Deere and Hitachibrand models have risen to over 6.000 units. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1772,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090017541,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as a member of the House Committee on International Relations. I rise to express a word of humble welcome to one of freedoms men in the former Soviet Union. President Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine. who addressed a joint session of Congress just moments ago. Like the democracys Orange Revolution that he personifies. President Yushchenko is the man who would not die. He survived the toxic machinations of those who see freedom as a threat. And those wicked men were right: freedom in the Ukraine and their brave President are a threat to every form of tyranny against the minds of men and women in that ancient land. It is all together fitting that the capital of democracy on planet Earth welcomed one of its first 21st century heroes to these hallowed halls. retirees. and longer life spans will bankrupt Social Security. We must work together to save the system. which can be done without changing benefits or raising taxes on current and near retirees. ","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1409,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090017547,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think there is only one choice. and that is to honor the debt of the country. But we have a President who is saying he might not. Who is he going to pay first? The Chinese. the Japanese? Is he going. to pay off his Treasury bonds first and then default on the savings of the working people of this country? Mr. Speaker. it is an outrageous and reckless statement of the President of the United States to make. and if the bond markets believed the President. there would be an economic catastrophe today.","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1409,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090017556,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of H.R. 1077. the Realtime Investor Protection Act. As has already been indicated. this legislation will require the National Association of Securities Dealers to make its databases of complaints against brokerdealers publicly available on a secure Internet site and is relatively straightforward. Let me explain. however. this is indeed a serious problem. I personally know of individuals whose entire wealth has been wiped out by fraud which could have been detected had these investors taken the time to research the brokerdealer they were dealing with in an appropriate manner. As has been .explained. the current law requires the NASD to maintain BrokerCheck. BrokerCheck is a system through which investors can research their brokerdealer before entrusting with them their hardearned savings. But in light of Congress increased focus on retirement security. I believe we should encourage Americans to. in fact. take advantage of BrokerCheck. and even go beyond that and to conduct their own research before making any investment decision. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SHADEGG","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3801,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090017557,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of the Realtime Investor Protection Act and would like to commend my good friend from Arizona. Mr. SHADEGG. for his excellent work on this important legislation. Informed investors are critical to our Nations markets. Ready access to complete information about securities firms and brokers is critical to informing investors and building investor confidence. NASD. the selfregulatory organization for brokerdealers. has been providing this information to the public since 1990 when Congress mandated that NASD make relevant portions of the information available to the public without charge through a tollfree telephone number. At the time. the telephone was the easiest and most convenient solution. However. investors today have embraced the Internet as their preferred means of obtaining information. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL OXLEY","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1981,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090017594,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is a valuable bipartisan relationship. It is the way you get things done around here. So I commend the gentleman from Arizona on his leadership on this issue. and I thank my colleagues for bringing the bill to the floor. I certainly encourage this bills adoption. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time. - ..","speaker_name":"JIM MATHESON","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5479,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090017638,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank the gentleman from Illinois. and I thank all the other speakers on this important resolution. I think it is important that we. as a Congress. periodically recognize the contributions and the sacrifices that our firefighters make on our behalf every single day. So I hope all Members will join me in supporting the adoption of this resolution.","speaker_name":"GILBERT GUTKNECHT","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":408,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090017643,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I rise today in support of H. Res. 188. a resolution to honor and recognize firefighters for their many contributions throughout the history of the Nation. As a member of the Congressional Fire Services Caucus. I commend the service and honorable duty firefighters across the country provide to our communities. I am especially proud of the firefighters and fire departments that protect and look after the 12th Congressional District of Illinois. For thefire service to maintain a strong voice in the federal discourse on homeland security issues. we must have a strong U.S. Fire Administration and sufficient funding for personnel. vehicles. and equipment. As a result. I have continually supported the Assistance to Firefighters Grants program and have been very successful in helping many departments in Southern Illinois secure grants to inprove their operations each fiscal year. ","speaker_name":"JERRY COSTELLO","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1609,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090017647,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam During his first. tour in 2003. he Speaker. I move to suspend the rules helped liberate five Iraqi cities. In his and pass the bill to des- second tour. Captain Stubenhofer ignate the facility of the United States served as a company commander for Postal Service located at 6200 Rolling the 1st Battalion. 41st Infantry RegiRoad in Springfield. Virginia. as the mert. 3rd Brigade. 1st Armored Divi\"Captain Mark Stubenhofer Post Office sion. He was awarded numerous medals Building\". and honors. among them two Bronze","speaker_name":"THOMAS DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":522,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090017658,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He spoke with clarity to them and to the world. He led by example. and in the process. like St. Peter before him. he changed the world. He stared down the Soviets when they threatened to put down the Solidarity movement in his native Poland. He traveled more and touched the lives of more people than any Pontiff in history. I thank God for giving us Karol Wojtyla. He will be succeeded. He will be hard to replace.","speaker_name":"GILBERT GUTKNECHT","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1642,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090017666,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"April 6. 2005 viving tragedy as Pope John Paul II did and pledging yourself to bettering the lives of others. A culture of life is forgiving those who try to extinguish your life as Pope John Paul II did when he visited his wouldbe assassin in jail and forgave him for his sins. A culture of life -is knowing too well the misery of war and becoming a champion of peace. A culture of life is embracing the diversity of people living on this planet. kdvocating religious tolerance. human rights. and a more equitable distribution of the Earths precious resources. Mr. Speaker. a culture of life is treating each human being as Karol Wojtyla treated Edith Zierer. Let a culthre of life. in this fashion. be Pope John Paul IIs lgacy.","speaker_name":"ELIJAH CUMMINGS","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2004,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090017668,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Many of these prolife supporters of war tried to avoid facing the inherent contradictions in their position by distorting the just war doctrine which the Pope properly interpreted as denying sanction to the Iraq war. One prominent talk show host even suggested that the Pope was the enemy of the United States for this position. . In conclusion. I am pleased to pay tribute to Pope John Paul H. I would encourage those who wish to honor the memory of John Paul to reflect on his teachings regarding war and the sanctity of life and consider the inconsistencies in claiming to be prolife but supporting the senseless killing of innocent people that inevitably accompaniesmilitarism or in claiming to be propeace and procompassion but supporting the legal killing of the unborn.","speaker_name":"RONALD PAUL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1910,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090017674,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. let me add my voice to the millions of Americans and people throughout the world who. now mourn the loss of Pope John Paul II. He was an extraordinary man of great courage and conviction of faith. His life was consumed in sacrifice. out of love of God and love of others. and he reminded us constantly of the.duty we have to the least among us. the poor. the vulnerable. the weak who have no power but the protection of those who willfully sacrifice on their behalf. Pope John Paul II not only confronted physical deprivation but also intellectual and spiritual poverty. His constant admonishment to us. particularly those of us in power. to rebuild a culture of life is a message so desperately needed in our world. He had a heart for the youth and traveled extensively to bring a message of hope and love. saying to the young especially. act courageously and do not be afraid. Mr. Speaker. I will miss him. ","speaker_name":"JEFF FORTENBERRY","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1046,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090017689,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. in concluding on our side. may I just say that for the last hour you have heard an outpouring of genuine affection and respect and admiration for a great spiritual leader. These were not empty phrases. These were heartfelt thoughts and expressions of profound respect for a person who in a profound way has changed our world for the better. In concluding. I again want to thank my friend for crafting this brilliant and moving resolution on which we are about to vote. Mr. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":587,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090017693,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"South America. and Africa. He was the only pope to have visited a Caribbean country and has held mass in a host of Central and South American countries. In the last two decades under the Pontiff. the number of Catholics in Africa has doubled and the Pope has visited over a dozen countries on the continent. He appointed nearly two dozen cardinals from Latin America and the Caribbean. including Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras and Claudio Hummes of Brazil. and thirteen from Africa. including Francis Arinze of Nigeria. Citing the commitment to social justice in the Old Testament. the Pope was a longtime champion of debt relief. In 1994. he called on the United States and other nations to forgive the debts of 40 of the worlds poorest countries. to fight vigilantly against hunger. poverty. and disease. and to establish programs to build sound economic policies in those countries. Though he mourned September 11th with the rest of the world. the Pope steadfastly believed that peace. not war. is the path to creating a safer world for all. He was an outspoken critic of the Iraqi war and called on international leaders to find a peaceful mechanism to address their differences. Pope John Paul II worked to ease the centuries old tensions between the Catholic Church and Jews. He was the first Pope to visit a concentration camp and was also the first Pope to visit a synagogue. calling Jews \"our eldest brothers.\" He has repeatedly tried to keep the Catholic Church morally grounded in its advocacy but adaptive to changes in the world. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES RANGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3705,"word_count":265}
{"speech_id":1090017708,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I hope that in this time of sadness and reflection. we also remember the gifts that John Paul II brought into the world. celebrating his life and his ministry to the worlds greatest troubles and needs. We should keep Pope John Paul Ils actions for the betterment of others always in our mind. He fought for the dignified treatment of all people. he stood up for the downtrodden. and he worked to unify the world in common missions for greater good.","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1731,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090017750,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if the gentleman would yield. the gentleman is correct. and we are all concerned about the higher gas prices and as important as that is to higher prices of oil and gas. We have been trying to pass or get to the President an energy bill for almost 5 years or 6 years. We have an excellent chance of actually getting a bill to the President this year. We have had three committees scheduled to mark up components of the energy bill this week. the Committee on Energy and Commerce. the Committee on Ways and Means. and the Committee on Resources. but due to the shortened week. only one of those was able to begin their markup. I hope. and we are going to work very hard. and I expect that all three of those committees will complete their markups next week. and we will be able to have a comprehensive energy bill on the floor hopefully by the following week.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":871,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090017768,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. regardless of how one feels about the Terri Schiavo case. and regardless of whether one is a liberal or a conservative. everyone should be concerned that the judiciary seems to be setting itself up as a type of stiperlegislature. Our Founding Fathers clearly did not mean for the judicial branch to be superior to or more powerful than the legislative and executive branches. A Member of the other body. former State supreme court justice. the gentleman from Texas . made some very serious charges on the floor of the Senate Monday. He said. \"It causes a lot of people great distress to see judges use the authority they have been given to make raw political or ideological decisions.\" He added that \"sometimes the Supreme Court has taken on this role as a policymaker rather than an enforcer of political decisions made by elected representatives of the people.\" The reason l eople on both sides of the political spectrum should be concerned about this judicial power grab is that the political pendulum swings. Sometimes conservatives control legislative bodies. sometimes liberals do. Would liberals someday want conservative judges overruling their -legislation? The Schiavo bill was very narrowly drawn to apply to just that case at the request or insistence of more liberal Members of both the House and Senate. fl 1615 Then some liberals in the media. in Congress. and in the courts criticized the bill as being too narrowly drawn. One judge. showing great arrogance. even scolded the Congress for acting. issuing a bitter nonjudicial type of an opinion. I served for 72 years as a circuit court or State trial court judge in Tennessee. ","speaker_name":"JOHN DUNCAN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5248,"word_count":276}
{"speech_id":1090017781,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Sergeant Matthew Adams. Lance Corporal Andrew Nowacki. and Private First Class Brent Vroman. Mr. Speaker. these brave marines. their families and their employers back home all made sacrifices to support freedom and human rights and tolerance around the world. During their service in Iraq. Iraq became the United Nations newest democracy. We celebrate the citizen soldiers who wear the uniform so proudly to protect their great nation. To the men and women of the 2nd Battalion of the 24th Marine Regiment. to the unit based in Waukegan. Illinois. we offer you our heartfelt thanks for your service and sacrifice. We thank your loved ones for their sacrifice and support. ","speaker_name":"MARK KIRK","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3240,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090017787,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Austria and the Netherlands. saw an opportunity to elect a nonItalian as a compromise between competing factions of Italian cardinals. They joined with other cardinals to make history by electing the first Polish Pope. We should stop to think for a moment of what occurred during this conclave. We as elected officials in the House of Representatives. each of us made the conscious decision to stand for election before our peers within our own districts. We made these decisions. all of us. of our own volition and with knowledge for the most part of the consequences of our respective decisions to run. Cardinal Wojtyla did not have that same opportunity. As I have said. as a member of the College of Cardinals in October of 1978. Cardinal Wojtyla. despite his status as a great spiritual leader in. his archdiocese. had no reason to believe that he would emerge as Pope when white smoke would emerge from the stovepipe at the top of the Sistine Chapel. He would soon be surprised. It is believed that as the ballots were held. counted and revoted and the votes in conclave crept steadily higher and higher for Cardinal Wojtyla. he became more and more concerned. ","speaker_name":"BRIAN HIGGINS","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":27.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11667,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090017805,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Here was a man who. while standing for his faith. brought the essence of freedom to everyone unapologetically. His 26year Papacy saw him take this message to every corner of the world. He was seen by more of his flock than perhaps all of his 263 predecessors combined. He reached out to Jews. Muslims. Protestants. and the Eastern Orthodox Church. He took the time to learn at least a few phrases in over 100 different languages just. so that he could communicate his message of hope at every place that he visited. His message of human. dignity is understood in every language. and it was understood in every land he saw during the generation he served humanity and God as the bishop of Rome. . In one of his many writings. he argued that humanity is right to seed freedom. but only if it is a freedom that is used to do justice. And justice. as he reminded us. is to confer. preserve. protect. -prolong. and give meaning and value to life. ","speaker_name":"MARK KENNEDY","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8025,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090017808,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. that he reminded us that we are the Easter people. that ours is a solemn hallelujah. and that we need never be afraid again. Mr. Speaker. on behalf of all my colleagues. I wish this great. noble leader an eternal godspeed and a conviction that he has heard those words that are the greatest words any human being can hear. and that being. Well done. thou good and faithful servant.","speaker_name":"TRENT FRANKS","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":941,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090017811,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"A hundred thousand dead Iraqis. as estimated by the Lancet Medical Journal. certainly are not better off. Better to be alive under Saddam Hussein than lying cold in some grave. Praise for the rdcent election in Iraq has silenced many critics of the war. Yet the election was held under martial law implemented by a foreign power. mirroring the conditions we rightfully condemned as a farce when carried out in the old Soviet system and more recently in Lebanon. Why is it that what is good for the goose is not always good for the gander? Our government fails to recognize that legitimate elections are the consequence of freedom and that an artificial election does not create freedom. In our own history. we note that freedom was achieved first and elections followed. not the other way around. One news report claimed that the Shiites actually received 56 percent of the vote. but such an outcome could not be allowed for it would preclude a coalition of the Xurds and the Shiites from controlling the Sunnis and preventing a theocracy from forming. This reminds us of the statements made months ago by Secretary Rumsfeld when asked about a Shiite theocracy emerging from a majority democratic vote. and he assured us that would not happen. Democracy. we know. is messy and needs tidying up a bit when we do not like the results. Some have described Baghdad. and especially the Green Zone. as being surrounded by unmanageable territory. ","speaker_name":"RONALD PAUL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11858,"word_count":246}
{"speech_id":1090017818,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Chairman LUGAR and Senator BIDEN are expected to be on the floor throughout the day working on amendments. Senators should notify their respective cloakrooms if they intend to offer an amendment to the State Department bill. We will need to work very efficiently over the course of the day. I ask for all Members assistance in this process.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1445,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090017831,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wish to comment on the majority leaders remarks about Viktor Yushchenko. who will be addressing a joint meeting at 11 oclock. Two weeks ago. I had the privilege. with the Democratic leader. of visiting with Mr. Yushchenko for an hour. We also were in Georgia. Iraq. Palestine. and Israel. We saw emerging democracies across the country. ","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1404,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090017839,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"U.N. reform is going to be high on the agenda. The HelmsBiden legislation anticipates that the U.S. share of peacekeeping dues would decline to 25 percent of the world total. This remains a goal of U.S. policy toward the United Nations. I believe we should give the U.S. negotiators the most leverage possible to attain U.S. goals. It has been suggested that the 27percent agreement struck subsequent to the HelmsBiden legislation is the best we can do. Many Senators assert this is true. particularly since we are entering a period when substantial reform negotiations will take place at the U.N. But in the coming weeks. Congress will have further opportunities to work with President Bush to craft the most efficient means possible of reducing the U.S. share of peacekeeping assessments. I believe defeating the Biden amendment at this time will. facilitate these consultations and strengthen the hand of our negotiators. I reserve the remainder of my time. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD LUGAR","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1760,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090017883,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. I used a picture of Fat Albert. the aerostat balloon. I will show that once again. Fat Albert was fearlessly broadcasting television signals that no one could receive. doing it for 16 years or so. And now. in order to continue broadcasting signals no one can receive. we have expropriated the use of the Pennsylvania Air National Guards airplane called Commando Solo. one of only a half a dozen ever made. used in Bosnia. used in Iraq. used in Afghanistan. for very sophisticated electronic psychological warfare purposes. That has been flying now for 4 hours a week. broadcasting signals. without any evidence at all that the Cuban people can see those signals. So we have gone from Fat Albert to Commando Solo and now the next step. to purchase a new airplane. to purchase a new airplane so TV Marti has its own airplane to broadcast signals no one can see. Does it sound a little goofy? It would in my hometown. if you told this story. Sometimes there are people who serve here who think they know more than anybody else. they can see over the horizon things others cannot see. There is a broad common sense in this country that takes a look at things like this. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1523,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090017888,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I believe that when the facts are examined. we would also know that the Interests Section Survey in Havana monitors the ability of the Commando Solo flights to be seen by the Cuban people. There is no such thing in Cuba as a Gallup poll or the ability to even speak freely about what you watch on TV. but 16 percent of those surveyed responded in the affirmative to the U.S. Interests Section in Havana that they were. in fact. seeing TV Marti and that it reached an audience. It does not cover the entire island. It doesnt cover as much as we would like. But each and every day. we make more happen with it. I am proud to be a supporter of the efforts of TV Marti. and I urge my colleagues to defeat this amendment which would end the little glimmer of light that is vailable to the people of Cuba today and that otherwise would not be there for them. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"MEL MARTINEZ","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8010,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090017892,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This is how I measure freedom myself for people if they are living in a free and just society. The first pillar is freedom of religion. where peoples rights are not enhanced or diminished because of religious beliefs. second. freedom of expression. third. private ownership of property. fourth. the rule of law. where disputes are adjudicated fairly and Godgiven rights are protected: The second pillar. freedom of expression. is absolutely essential. where people are allowed to get information and to think for themselves. To comnmunicate not in a way that is harmful. but the Godgiven rights of expression being protected. We have to support the opportunity of the people of Cuba to get information. They are not going to get it from their Government. People will say. gosh. we are having to use airplanes. There are different ways you have to get at it. You cannot use balloons or a dirigible. you cannot do it off of broadcasting. Why cant we use it the way everybody else sees TV? It is because of that regime. Sometimes you have to be more clever than some of the reptilian cutthroats that we are dealing with. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5866,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090017935,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Every year it gets larger and larger and larger. Admittedly. some of that trade surplus is due to the rules of free trade. But much of that trade surplus is because the Chinese dont play fairly. They dont let our goods into their country. I can tell you of company after company in New York that cannot sell goods in China or can only sell the goods under c6rtain conditions that make it impossible for them to sell them. The Chinese make no effort to prevent the ripping off of our intellectual property. These are our crown jewels. the -great creativity. the great entrepreneurialness of the American business community that is taken. and they shrug their shoulders. And worst of all. the Chinese. despite the fact that they have tremendous advantages by the rules of free trade. pile on unfair rules that violate free trade. At the top of that list is the fact that the Chinese peg their currency abnormally low so that their exports get a 27percent advantage in the United States. our imports get a 27percent disadvantage when sold in China. Every tenet of free trade. if you believe in it. says they should not peg their currency. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES SCHUMER","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4389,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090017970,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the Senator from New Jersey is addressing the Senate on a very important issue. the independence of the judiciary. I think this is an important statement. Many of us have been deeply concerned by statements that have been made recently by Congressman TOM DELAY. who used the words. \"The time will come for men responsible for this to answer for their behavior.\" in relationship to the decision of the courts in the Schiavo case. TheSenator from Texas has also mentioned and talked about the judiciary in a similar vein this week.. I ask unanimous consent that a New York Times editorial. regarding these statements be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":655,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090017971,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I draw to the attention of the Senate that today the Judicial Conference has asked the White House and the Senate for $12 million to help protect judges from violence. When we see leaders in Congress making statements which clearly have incited. or threaten to incite. violence against judges. the same judges. honorable men and women appointed to uphold Americas laws and ideals. who are living in fear of violence. we must be concerned. The Judicial Conference is requesting $12 million to provide protection for the American judiciary. What in the world is this Congress and this Senate coming to? I think it is appropriate for the leaders -and other members in this body and the House to tone down their rhetoric. and avoid the threats to the American judiciary. I think that is absolutely unconscionable. When you have the Judicial Conference asking for this. that indicates where the judges themselvesmade up of Republicans and Democratsare coming from. I intend to offer an amendment on the supplemental to positively respond to their request and to get the $12 million. 1.am interested if my friend from New Jersey would cosponsor that.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1159,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090018055,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. It is said that Pope John Paul II was probably the most widely recognized person in the entire world. We have heard many inspiring tributes to this great man. and rightly so. I would like to take a few minutes to pay tribute to two other great men who died recently. Unlike the Pope. their names and their faces were not instantly recognizable. But they shared some of his finest qualities. They were remarkably brave men who risked much to protect transcendent truths. and who continued to defend those truths even in the twilight of their lives. In their cases. the truths were the principles that are the essence of America. Both of these men first made their marks on American history during World War II. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5484,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090018062,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He ran for President at gteat risk to his own life. And he prevailed. President Yushchenko spoke today with optimism and with hope for Ukraines future as a democratic country. He said of his country. \"We want a government of the people. by the people. and for the people.\" This is a desire that we as Americans understand and share. I look forward to working with my colleagues in Congress and with President Yushchenko to help nurture the flame of democracy that has started to burn so brightly in Ukraine. a","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2177,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090018070,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I recognize and praise the outstanding contribution of Delta Group Electronics and Canberra Aqulia of Albuquerque. NM. and New Mexico State University to ongoing efforts to protect our service men and women from improvised explosive devices. IEDs. in Iraq. One of the greatest threats to our military personal deployed in the global war on terrorism is the IED. These devices used by terrorists and insurgents in Iraq are the single greatest cause of American casualties. These remote controlled bombs are used to attack American forces individually and as part of larger assaults on patrols and convoys. While the uparmoring of military vehicles has provided a partial solution to the problem of combating IEDs. a better solution is to prevent IEDs from exploding at all. The IED countermeasures equipment. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1660,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090018075,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is my view that we must bridge this gap. Without a meetingof the minds between police management and union officials. the enactment of a meaningful law enforcement officers bill of rights will be difficult. Law enforcement officials are facing unprecedented challenges. and management and labor simply must work together on this issue and the numerous other issues facing the law enforcement community. I urge my colleagues to join Senators","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5895,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090018079,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In general. this bill would permit small businesses throughout the country to band together for purposes of obtaining an insurance quote from an insurance com.pany. By pooling these businesses together. they would pay lower premiums because of the increased risk pool. Again. this bill would increase the number of Americans that would be able to afford health insurance because their insurance premiums would be based on a more reasonable number. The bill I am introducing today builds upon this and goes a step further by putting more small business owners and their employees on a level playing field when compared to workers of a larger company. Specifically. many large companies and even the Federal government enable their employees to purchase health insurance and other qualified benefits with taxfree dollars. Larger companies are able to do this by qualifying for certain employee benefit delivery mechanisms under the tax code. One such delivery mechanism is a cafeteria plan. As the name suggests. cafeteria plans are programs whereby employers offer their employees the opportunity to purchase certain qualified benefits of their choosing. The key here is that the employer provides the opportunity for the employee to purchase the benefit. and the employee is then free to chose whether to participate and which benefits to buy. Under current law. qualified benefits include health insurance. dependentcare reimbursement. and life and disability insurance. ","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12657,"word_count":227}
{"speech_id":1090018090,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Their shirts are made of pima cotton that is grown in the Southwestern U.S..-but spun into fabric only by special mills in Western Europe. Gitman must compete against Canadian shirt companies that import the same fabric tarifffree and who can then ship their shirts into the U.S. tarifffree under NAFTA. These workers and their families deserve trade laws that do not chase their jobs offshore. This legislation enjoys the support of the domestic shirting industry. UNITE. and the Pima cotton associations.. I offer this legislation on behalf of the men and women of the Gitman factory in Ashland. the domestic dress shirting industry. and the pima cotton growers. so that for them free trade will indeed be fair trade as well.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2883,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090018092,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Senate without the possibility of even a single amendment. So I anM offering today a resolution of disapproval for extension of fast track. in accordance with the law. And I am going to do everything I can to see to it that the Senate gets a chance to vote on this resolution. one way or another.","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3022,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090018158,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I want to report that I was most impressed with what we saw there. We met a man in his late fifties. who had been in exile from Iraq for a number of years because of the brutality of Saddam Hussein. He is a physician. It seems as though physicians are ascending in all sorts of different places. including in the U.S. Senate and in Iraq. He is a welleducated man and conducted our discussion in English. He showed in his presence a great deal of calm. He is not a quiet man. but he is a calm man who seems to know exactly what he believes and what he thinks. I was taken with the fact that he began his discussion with us with about a 5minute monolog about the brutality of Saddam Hussein. He said he was \"worse than Hitler. worse than Stalin.\" Those were his words. ","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3868,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090018160,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I have noted some deeply disturbing statistics about students knowledge of our past. For example. of all the subjects tested by the National Assessment for Education Progress. also known as our Nations report card. American history is our childrens worst subject. But today I am here to follow Alex Haleys advice to find the good and praise it. When it comes to teaching American history. some of the best news can be found right here on Capitol Hill. On January 25. the College Board announced that the House page school ranked first in the Nation among institutions with fewer than 500 pupils for the percentage of the student body who achieve collegelevel mastery on the advanced placement exam in U.S. history. Twentyone students. or about onethird of the schools student body. took the exam. and 18 received the required score of 3 or above to demonstrate mastery of the subject. A number of Senate pages also take the AP U.S. history exam. Madam President. 12 students in the current class of 29 in the Senate page school will take 22 different AP exams this year. Eleven will take the U.S. history exam. ","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4680,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090018194,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"By 2060. 35 percent of GDP will be equal to the debt we have accumulated for private accounts. I think we will stop for a moment: 35 percent of GDP. the debt will equal 35 percent of gross domestic product in the year 2060. but add that to current debt. the debt we are funding to operate our Government. and by 2060. the staggering total of debt relative to GDP is 70 percent. We have not run those debt levels since the end of World War II in which we all know we dedicated every resource we had to defeat the Axis. This is a much different world than 1945 and 1946. In 1945 and 1946. we were at the sanctuary. if you will. of economic productivity for the world. Our infrastructure had not been destroyed. We had tooled up to create the most technologically advanced military force in the world. We quickly transitioned our tanks to Oldsmobiles and Chrysler automobiles and washing machines. Now we are in a world of intense competition. global competition. and if we believe we can live with debt equal to 70 percent of our gross domestic product. I think that is a fanciful notion. but that is the consequence of the Presidents proposal for private accounts. ","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11142,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090018204,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Peter. Pope John Paul H made a triumphant return to Poland. His beloved nation was struggling to survive under the iron fist of Soviet rule. An adoring crowd of 1 million supporters gave him a heros welcome. For his fellow Poles. who for decades were deprived of their freedom to worship. the Pontiff had a strong. clear and inspirational message. \"You are men. You have dignity. Dont crawl on your bellies.\" he said. This visit was a crucial turning point in Americas Cold War with the Soviet Union. Working together with the people of Poland and the United States. the Pontiff transformed his homeland into the spiritual battlefront of the Cold War. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5889,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090018211,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"After graduating from the Naval Academy in 2003. Ensign McMurtry was assigned to the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the National Military Command Center at the Pentagon. For all those who worked with Ensign McMurtry at the Pentagon. they knew him as quiet. purposeful. and respectful. Ensign McMurtry had dedicated his life to protecting the freedom and liberties we hold dear as Americans. I value Ensign McMurtrys courage and patriotism. I am also inspired by this young mans conviction and desire to spend his life serving our Nation. I am deeply saddened that his life ended so tragically. Ensign McMurtry leaves behind wonderful family. friends. and coworkers. My thoughts and prayers are with those that were blessed to know Ensign McMurtry.*","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1406,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090018217,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Circuit Judge for the Fourth Circuit. Priscella R. Owen. to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Fifth Circuit. Robert J. Conrad. Jr.. to be U.S. District Judge for the Western District of North Carolina. and James C. Dever III. to be U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":979,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090018235,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on Monday. the Senate will begin consideration of the IraqAfghanistan supplemental. The chairman and rankingmember will be here. and we will begin the amending process Monday afternoon. As I announced earlier today. the next rollcall vote will occur at 5:30 Monday afternoon on a district judge. the one we announced a few moments ago. Other votes are possible around that 5:30 time in relation to the supplemental bill. I say to all of our colleagues. this will be a busy week. This is a big. important piece of legislation. We hope to finish it next week. But in any event. whether we finish it then or not. we are going to have a busy week. with lots of votes throughout the entire week. including the likelihood of night sessions.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":749,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090018376,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Finally. the remaining funds are provided to support those nations which are taking part in the operations abroad. including training and equipping the Afghanis and Iraqis. and to support related efforts for recruiting. morale welfare. recreation. and other military personnel needs. I support this bill. and I urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting this measure. I thank the Chair. Mr. President. I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"DANIEL INOUYE","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1523,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090018382,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In New York. Paul Crottys nomination is not the exception. it is the rule. We have worked extremely well togetherthe White House. the Justice Department. and the Senator from New .S8398 Yorkto bring judges to the floor. There have been no vacancies that have been outstanding for a long period of time in either the Second Circuit. which I know my good friend and colleague. the ranking member. Senator LEAHY. is part of as well. nor have there been in the four district courts of New York in the East. Northwest. and South. I think we have worked together well on this Crotty nomination. In general. we have worked well together in New York. The White House and Senate. including Democrats in the Senate. can work well together. to bring fine men and women to the bench. The candidates who have been nominated in the Second Circuit and in the courts of New YorkI dont agree with them on everything at all. but they are fine people. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES SCHUMER","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5277,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090018385,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Crotty family. which extends far. beyond the names I have mentionedthere are too many to enumerateis a very closeknit family. I know how much pride they take in this nomination. Pauls father. Peter J. Crotty. who passed away in 1992. was a great political leader in New York. He instilled in his children that sense of tradition. Finally. I want to acknowledge Pauls mother Margaret who is 92 years old and still lives in Buffalo. She has been and remains a tremendous influence in Paul Crottys life and that of the entire Crotty family. With this nomination today. ","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2491,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090018406,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator for his question. The phrases \"any additional action\" and \"large commercial aircraft market\" are solely intended to address those activities associated with business activities regarding the marketing and sale of large fixedwing aircraft to commercial carriers in the passenger transportation market. They are not intended to address business activities of any specific company at the secondary or tertiary supplier leve. Nor are they intended to address other business activities of any specific company engaged in other platformrelated activities.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":584,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090018407,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank.the majority leader for his response. Additionally. I understand. that it is not the purpose of this resolution. and more specifically of the fourth \"Resolved\" clause. to suggest panitive action be taken against any companys activities related to products sold to U.S. Government agencies. such as the Department of Defense. Department of Homeland Security. or the U.S. Coast Guard. whether those products are radars. components of radars. or helicopters. Is this understanding correct?","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":509,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090018420,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I will read just a bit from that piece: Also exhibiting at the show. European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company. EADS. and its subsidiary Eurocopter. which has launched a campaign in the United States to get a bigger share of Pentagon contracts. featuring ads that wrap the company in American flag. But if the company is so proAmerican. why is itignoring U.S. policy to isolate Iran. As a European company. we are not supposed to take into account embargoes from the U.S.. says Michael Tripler. with EADS. Michael Tripler. from EADS. once again. saying and doing anything anywhere to advance the European interests of a European company. Airbus and EADS clearly sing one tune in newspapers in the United States. another at media events in France. and quite a different one while selling their products in Iran. Taken together. the goal is clear: EADS and Airbus do not intend to stop until they have gobbled up the entire aerospace market. So what is next for Airbus? Any question of their intentions was answered as we tried to work out an amicable solution to the dispute this past January. On a day that could have been a turning point in the process. ","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3708,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090018428,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"According to the National Academy of Sciences. eliminating the use of antibiotics as feed additives in agriculture would cost each American consumer not more than five to ten dollars a year. The legislation recognizes. however. economic costs to farmers in making the transition to antibioticfree practices may be substantial. In such cases. the Act provides for federal payments to defray the cost of shifting to antibioticfree practices. with preference for family farms. Antibiotics are among the greatest miracles of modern medicine. yet we are destroying them faster than the pharmaceutical industry can create replacements. If doctors lose theso critical remedies. the most vulnerable among us will suffer the mostchildren. the elderly. persons with HIV\/ AIDS. who are most in danger of resistant infecttons. I urge my colleagues to support this clearly needed legislation to protect the health of all Americans from this reckless and unjustified use of antibiotics.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6809,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090018433,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Congress has a responsibility to ensure that no Government entity. such as FPI. has special status in the Government procurement process that forces Government agencies to buy from that entity. This contradicts one of the fundamental ideas in which this great Nation was founded upon. the ideal of competition. Accordingly. I provide my support to protect small business interests across Montana and America.","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1267,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090018434,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to bring to the Senates attention the retirement of a Colorado native from the U.S. Army. LTC Julia Cook. Lieutenant Colonel Cook has distinguished herself with exceptionally meritorious conduct while serving in key positions of ever increasing responsibility as an Army quartermaster and human resources officer. culminating her career as a legislative liaison for Secretary of the Army. Office of the Chief Legislative Liaison. During her years of superlative service. Lieutenant Colonel Cook. consistently demonstrated exceptional leadership. resourcefulness and professionalism while making lasting contributions to Army soldiers and families. readiness and mission accomplishment. Lieutenant Colonel Cooks 20 years of dedicated and faithful service enhanced the soldiers and the units to which she was assigned and reflects the greatest credit upon herself and the. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4699,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090018506,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They decide our most important private disputes and they explain what our laws mean. Our constitutional duty to evaluate judicial nominees is doubly important because judges are appointed for life. If we make *a mistake. our country is stuck with a bad judge for years and sometimes decades. On March 1. 2005. I sent a letter to President George Bush concerning judicial nominations. I respectfully suggested to the President that there are many wellqualified candidates to serve on the Federal bench. men and women who unquestionably would gain the consensus and approval of this body. The fact that theSenate reached consensus on 205 of the Presidents 215 judicial nominations over the past 4 years demonstrates the willingness. indeed the strong desire. of the majority and minority in the Senate to achieve this consensus. Let me repeat that statistic one more time: 205 of the 215 nominations of President Bush have been confirmed by this body. That is a 95percent confirmation approval rating. When there is that kind of approval of the Presidents nominees. this body is doing its job and not being. as some people have suggested. an obstructionist body. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4630,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090018567,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It means understanding that their lives. both as warriors fighting for their Nation and as spouses. parents. brothers. sisters. sons and daughters struggling to see that the needs of their families are metthe fact is that too many military families suffer when duty calls. Thousands of reservists take a very significant pay cut when they are called up. Suddenly. single parents are left to struggle with the bills. One in five members of the National Guard dont have any health insurance at all. That is devastating to their families. It is damaging to troop readiness. I believe that everyone here understands the simple tenet that the Government has to keep faith with our troops. To do that we need to put in place a comprehensive military family bill of rights that puts action behind the promise to support our troops. I understand that the supplemental bill is not the place to ask for the full consideration of that military family bill of rights. so I am not going to propose the entire bill as an amendment here.. But I am bringing two amendments to the floor that are broken out of this bill of rights that I believe we could all agree on and which would make an enormous difference in the lives of our soldiers. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2959,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090018569,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Without question. our dedication to veterans I hope is unquestioned. The reality is are we dealing with an emergency in an emergency supplemental. or is there a very real need out in veterans land and with the Veterans Administration and the systems that it funds and operates to meet current veterans and incoming veterans needs? I say certainly without question that thereis always a need. We could expand budgets well beyond where they are today to meet needs. but by what definition? Critical. necessary. important for the moment. dealing with the most needy veterans. the most handicapped. or simply spreading it out and making it more available? Those are some of the tough choices you and I and members of that subcommittee and certainly members of the subcommittee on appropriations have to make. The Senator from Washington has appropriately challenged us to look at a variety of other aspects that have value. The question is. Are they an emergency at the moment? Do they serve veterans who are not being served? In some instances. that would be arguably yes. But are those veterans of critical service in the sense they can find health care elsewhere in the sense of priority? Let me talk briefly about what we are doing. We have just finished trying to shape through a budget resolution the 2006 budget. We included $450 million more than the Presidents request. and we have increased the 2006 budget over the 2005 budget by about $1.2 billiona substantial increase by anybodys observation. We have also done that without turning to veterans in the less needy categories and saying they will have to pay more for their services. ","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2929,"word_count":277}
{"speech_id":1090018583,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am pleased to join Senator MURRAY in cosponsoring this important amendment to increase veterans health care funding. We owe it to our veterans. who have so bravely served our country. to give them the best medical care possible. It is disappointing that funding for veterans programs. especially veterans health care. has not kept pace with either the increased number of veterans in the system or medical inflation. This amendment is crucial to providing veterans with the services they have earned. As I have talked to veterans in Californiaand as I have met with returning soldiers from Iraq and AfghanistanI have come to one disturbing conclusion: we are not serving all of the needs of our veterans now and we are not prepared to serve the tens of thousands of veterans who will be returning over the next couple of years. Senator MURRAYS amendment begins to address this situation. It will increase veterans health care funding by almost $2 billion. This includes $610 million for new veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2213,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090018600,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am happy to talk to the chairman of the Appropriations Committee in order to work out a time agreement. I do have more I would like to say. This amendment is extremely serious. It is an emergency. We would like some more time. so I am happy to talk to the chairman about having an agreement on time. if he would like to do that.","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":345,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090018613,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise in support of the amendment offered by my colleague. Senator MURRAY. Senator MURRAY. I believe. offered this identical amendment in the Appropriations Committee when it marked up the appropriations supplemental bill. I was very pleased to support her then. I want to refer back to a time when we held a hearing with the Secretary of Defense. My colleague. Senator MURRAY. was at that hearing. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6529,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090018615,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise in strong support of the Murray amendment. This is an emergency supplemental bill. We are considering funding for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. I voted against this war. I didnt think we were prepared. I didnt think we had a coalition to stand behind us that would send in the soldiers and bring the resources to the battle. Our military went into this war .and performed admirably. We were well prepared for the military invasion. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8886,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090018617,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They fear this country has forgotten them despite all the rhetoric on this floor. The Senator from Illinois is right. This is not a Republican issue. It is not a Democratic issue. This is an American issue This is about our American men and women serving us honorably and who deserve to have the services when they come home. The Senator from Illinois is right. To look into the eyes of a young family. where one of them is suffering from posttraumatic stress syndrome affecting their marriage. job. their entire community. and what are we saying? Wait in lines. You dont get in to be served? That is not an emergency?What we have now in front of us is a point of order saying this is not an emergency. If it is not an emergency to take care of our men and women who are now serving us overseas. who have come home. then I dont know what is. When I am going out and talking to service organizations. and every single VISN in this country is telling us they are working under debts. they are not hiring doctors and nurses to replace those who are leaving. they have beds that are being held together by duct tapeif that is not an emergency. then I cant think of one that is. ","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2112,"word_count":221}
{"speech_id":1090018620,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the VA is not prepared to deal with the soldiers who are coming home. So far 240.000 soldiers have come out of our service and are now available or have available to them veterans services. 50.000 already have asked the VA for care. This is an emergency. As I talked about this morning. in State after State. in Alaska. where priority 7 veterans who are not enrolled in VA primary care are not getting appointments to date. in Colorado. where they have a $7.25 million shortage this year. in. California where the VA hospital in Los Angeles has closed its psychiatric ward at the exact time we have generals telling us that at least 30 percent of our soldiers who are coming home from Iraq will need mental health care capacity and we have psychiatric emergency rooms being closed. in Florida. where there is $150 million deficit. in Idaho. where we have the Boise Idaho VA facility with a hiring freeze. in Kentucky. where we are having soldiers lie on broken tables because there is simply no money to replace any equipment there. In Maine. we have a $12 million deficit. in Minneapolis. $7 million shortfallI remind the Senate. there are four facilities that see the most difficult. complex injuries once they have been discharged. Minnesota is one of them. and they have a $7 million shortfall. The list goes on and on. This is an emergency. ","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3529,"word_count":239}
{"speech_id":1090018631,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Senator is correct. Actually. the President sent us an $82 billion supplemental. The Senate is considering $80.1 billion. We have the means to still be less than what the President has sent us by adding this amendment. I sincerely cannot think of any other issue more important than to make sure that those men and women who served us. when they come home. have the services they need.","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":389,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090018634,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Senator from Michigan is correct. Frankly. I have joined her in trying to make veteran services mandatory so we are not here. It is disturbing to me that we are desperately pleading to our colleagues to call this an emergency. What are we doing to our soldiers when we tell them we are in a desperate fight on the floor of the Senate that we are going to lose on a partisan vote over our veterans? That is the wrong message to send to the men and women in the services. It should be part of our budget. part of the appropriations every year. that if you serve your country. you get your care. We dont have that now. so we are here in our lastditch effort. last attempt. last ability to try to provide these services for the men and women in the services. I find that appalling. but I will fight hard because I believe more than anything that we should be making sure if a young man or woman comes home from Iraq or Afghanistan. they are not turned away at their VA hospital. We need to make sure that anybody who serves in any warVietnam. Korea. or anywhereis not turned away at a VA hospital. ","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1467,"word_count":210}
{"speech_id":1090018640,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Senator is -exactly right. We are hearing that from every region. including yours. That is why this amendment is before us. I have little time left. I see some colleagues on the other side are on the floor. They are going to make their arguments. Again. this is an emergency. this is part of the supplemental. We should not tell our soldiers that they are not an emergency when they come home. I yield to my colleagues on the other side.","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":441,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090018688,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. for the information of Senators. there are no other amendments that I know of that will be offered this afternoon or this evening. There were two amendments that were offered earlier in. the day which we set aside to dispose of the amendment of the Senator from Washington. These are offered by the Senator from Massachusetts. Senator KERRY. amendments numbered 333 and 334. It will be the intention of the manager of the bill to move to table these amendments when we convene tomorrow. We will be pleased to continue to set them aside and have them available for debate during the remainder of todays session. So if Senators want to speak on these amendments. this is the time to do it. Tomorrow when we convene and go to the bill. it will be the intention to move to table these amendments if there is no further debate. In the meantime. we encourage Senators to let the managers know of their amendments that need to be considered to the bill. ","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1854,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090018705,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"When I asked the question of Premier Wen. he said. We know there is a problem. but we are not sure when we will do it. I can say they will not do it unless we continue to put prEssure on them to do it and convince thE!m that. again. it is not only in our best interest but their best interest if they want to be a player in the global marketplace. That is why Wednesdays. vote was important. It showed the Senate is willing to take matters into its own hands and take effective steps to address the serious problem if the administration continues to refuse to do so. No one wants to see tariffs imposed on Chinese exports. but the United States needs to take action to address Chinas unfair exchange rate policy. I hope Wednesdays vote will motivate the administration to do more to get China to address the serious market distortions caused by the undervaluation of Chinas currency. I believe in fair trade and improving our trading relationship with China. I was one of the leaders in the Senate to approve normal trade relations. with China. I wrote articles in Ohio magazines. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE VOINOVICH","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5416,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090018711,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I continue my series of talks on the four pillars of climate alarmism. Last week I showed the first pillar. the 2001 climate change report by the National Academy of Sciences. It was really a farce. and we documented it very well. The same is true of the 2001 -report of the IPCC. That is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. It supposedly provides irrefutable evidence of the global warming consensus. Simply put. it does not. as my speech today will demonstrate. The media greeted the release of the IPCCs Third Assessment Report with the predictable hysteria with which they normally respond to things such as this. From the Independent newspaper of London: In a report published today by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). hundreds of the worlds leading scientists give their unqualified support to the view that global warming is real and that the release of manmade greenhouse gases is largely responsible. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1716,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090018727,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to introduce. along with my colleague. Mr. CRAPO. a bill to rename a National Conservation Area in the State of Idaho after the late Morley Nelson. This bill renames it the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area. After.returning home as a decorated veteran of World War II. having served with the famed 10th Mountain Division in Italy. Morley Nelson recognized the unique importance of the Snake River area for birds of prey. He worked for its protection and various designations. culminating in its establishment by Congress as a National Conservation Area. Starting in the 1950s. ","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1672,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090018737,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I rise today to introduce legislation with Senators MIKULSKI. TALENT. HARKIN. ROBERTS and COLEMAN to establish a division of food and agricultural science within the National Science Foundation to support fundamental agricultural research of the highest quality. I present this to begin a critical discussion that I believe we must have over the next several months about how we are going to ensure we capitalize on the technology to maximize the benefits and minimize the costs of our agricultural production. We remain the world leader in food and fiber production. We do. it safely and through technology and the hard work of the American farmer. In the past half century. the number of people fed by a single U.S. farm has grown from 19 to 129. We have a tremendously innovative agricultural research program. Our farmers. our farm leaders are on the cutting edge of developing new technology. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7031,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090018742,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"However. those wishing to submit written testimony for the hearing record should send two copies of their testimony to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. United States Senate. Washington. DC 205106150. For further information. please contact Kellie Donnelly 2022249360 or Shane Perkins at 2022247555.","speaker_name":"LISA MURKOWSKI","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1618,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090018787,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I know many members of our committee have fought to meet our obligations to our service members and our veterans. and I would particularly like to thank and recognize the efforts of our Ranking Member. the gentleman from Missouri . as well as the leadership of the gentleman from Illinois . Again. Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from North Carolina for his dedication. and I urge all of my colleagues to remain committed to guaranteeing sufficient military readiness and veterans services.","speaker_name":"JAMES LANGEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3798,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090018806,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. H.R. 135. introduced be my good friend. the distinguished gentleman from Georgia . and cosponsored by a wide range of Members from both parties. creates the 21st Century Water Commission to find ways to increase and conserve water supplies. The gentleman from Georgia and his colleagues have properly recognized that water shortages are a common problem throughout the United States. The goal of this legislation is for a broadbased commission to recommend a comprehensive water strategy that recognizes and upholds the primary role of the States in administering our water laws. The commissioners. appointed by the President and the Congress. would look at ways to improve interagency coordination. eliminate government duplication. create new financing opportunities and improve our Nations water infrastructure. among other things. all very important goals. The commission is directed to hold no less than 10 public hearings around the Nation and submit a final report no later than 3 years after its first meeting so that this commission will not drag on forever. The legislation sunsets the commission within 30 days of the final reports submission. Madam Speaker. there is. and should be. a limited Federal role in these matters since States and localities primarily administer water rights and know the most about them. This bill does not add Federal regulation to the books. ","speaker_name":"JOHN DUNCAN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2537,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090018809,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I. yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Georgia . probably the Member of this body who was the first to recognize the grave importance of water issues in this Nation. the distinguished primary sponsor of this bill. I commend the gentleman for his steadfast and yeomans work on this legislation. and it should be noted that one of our leading national newspapers just a few years ago wrote a series of articles saying that water would be the oil of the 21st century.","speaker_name":"JOHN DUNCAN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":499,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090018828,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. the Lincoln National Forest land exchanges takes approximately 80 acres of forest land in the Lincoln National Forest and exchanges that for private land currently owned by Lubbock Christian University. I would hope that this is in perpetuity rather than to be put up for sale at some time in the future.. This has been a verygrave area -for me. Our committee worked hard in the 108th Congress to refine the language that would make this exchange fair to the American taxpayer. The bill we are considering today requires that the exchange be of equal value. If the land appraisers determine the parcels are not of equal value. the bill provides for equalization of values through cash payment. We are aware that land exchanges can often be controversial and contrary to the public interest. However. in this case we have worked to ensure a fair deal which both improves the National Forest by consolidating land ownership and enables Lubbock Christian University to extend its summer camp. Madam Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"GRACE NAPOLITANO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":38.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1053,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090018832,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. Madam Speaker. I simply want to close by commending the gentleman from Texas for his very fine work on this legislation. This is a very worthwhile land exchange. I urge all of my colleagues to support it. Madam Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JOHN DUNCAN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":310,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090018834,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to convey certain land to Lander County. Nevada. and the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain land to Eureka County. Nevada. for continued use as cemeteries.","speaker_name":"JOHN DUNCAN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":264,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090018855,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. we strongly support passage of H.R. 18 which will provide financial assistance for cleaning up contaminated drinking water supplies in the Santa Ana River watershed in Southern California. There have been many problems in Southern California as well as in other parts of the Nation that deal with perchlorate. and this is just but one of them. We hope that we will be able to shed some light on how we can do a better job of assisting our communities in being able to put that water back to good use. and that is by working with the municipalities. I commend the principal sponsor of H.R. 18. the gentleman from California","speaker_name":"GRACE NAPOLITANO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":38.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":637,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090018864,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"A survey of dubious merit. apparently at the behest of people who coveted the Tribes lands. was substituted for the valid surveys. As a result. the La Paz lands were excluded from the reservation. All credible evidence indicates that the La Paz lands were wrongly deleted from the Tribes reservation. Subsequent attempts to restore them a few times during the 1900s did not meet with success. H.R. 794 finally restores the La Paz lands to its rightful owner. subject to valid. existing rights and interests and excluding certain parcels owned by the State of Arizona. The bill requires the boundary line of the reservation to reflect the addition of these lands. As I explained. with one minor exception. this bill is exactly the same as H.R. 2941 that was passed by the House last year but went no further. The only difference is the title of the map has been changed \u0095 to correct a typographical error. Because this measure is unchanged from what the House approved last year. I urge my colleagues today to pass H.R. 794. ","speaker_name":"JOHN DUNCAN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2067,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090018877,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rie to pay tribute and to honor the memory of Travis Bruce. Mr. Speaker. it is perhaps ironic that. as the family of Specialist Travis Bruce was learning the tragic news. I was at the military hospital in Landstuhl. Germany. We all ask ourselves the questions .that have haunted leaders from Washington to Grant to this very day: Are Smith (NJ) Smith (TX) Snyder Sodrel Soils Souder Spratt Stearns Strickland Stupak Sullivan Sweeney Tancredo Tanner Tauscher Taylor (MS) Taylor (NC) Terry Thomas Carter Edwards Ford Gillmor Thompson (CA) Watson Thompson (MS) Watt Tiahrt Waxman Tiberi Weiner Tierney Weldon (FL) Towns Weldon (PA) Turner Weller Udall (CO) Westmoreland Udall (NM) Wexler Upton Whitfield Van Hollen Wicker Velazquez Wilson (NM) Visclosky Wilson (SC) Walden (OR) Wolf Walsh Woolsey Wamp WU Wasserman Wynn Schultz Young (AK) Waters Young (FL)","speaker_name":"GILBERT GUTKNECHT","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":868,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090018882,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the President says he is going to change his tack. he is no longer going to scare the people. He is going. to give them a solution. This weekend. Gary Trudeaus renowned \"Doonesbury\" performed an important public service. It codified the recent words of the President describing his Social Security plan. Here it is. To ensure that every American has equal access to his remarks. let me enter \"Doonesbury\" into the RECORD and read some of the Presidents remarks. This is a direct quote from the President of the United States. He is explaining the plan he has: \"Theres a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1404,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090018885,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have written Attorney General Gonzales and asked him to endorse my bill. And if he cannot endorse it. I want to know why. I understand the Second Amendment concerns of lawabiding citizens and gun owners. But these laws can coexist with responsible peoples rights to hunt and protect their families. Responsible gun ownership is a right of all lawabiding Americans. but we also have to take the responsibility to protect lawabiding Americans from acts of terror and crime. Mr. Speaker. we have seen. unfortunately. many. many acts of crime and gun violence in the last few weeks. Each week for the next several weeks now. I am going to bring this subject up. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MCCARTHY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4334,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090018887,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It was not until 21\/2 months later that his radio operator mentioned the incident to another Marine. who then accused Lieutenant Pantano of murder. He now is facing charges of two counts of murder. Mr. Speaker. I have met Lieutenant Pantano and his family. I have watched again and again the \"Dateline\" interview Stone Phillips conducted with Lieutenant Pantano. and I have researched this situation at length. I believe Lieutenant Pantano is truthful in his recounts of the events of April of 2004 and he was justified in his action while having to make a splitsecond battlefield decision. I question why the radio operator would wait 2 months to tell his report of the events if he really believed murder had taken place. Furthermore. as is noted in the \"Dateline\" video. the sergeant was never even present for the actual shooting. How can he make a judgment call on something he did not see? Mr. ","speaker_name":"WALTER JONES","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2504,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090018899,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would like to agree with the gentleman from Ohio . The Commerce Department just announced another record trade deficit for our country. As an avalanche of imports comes in here and a whimper of our exports go out. we do not have free trade. We have a free fall in trade. This month the Commerce Department sent out a press release saying this past month had a recordbreaking trade deficit. The U.S. trade deficit soared to an all. time monthly high of $61 billion negative. The Commerce Department said that. in fact. the February imbalance was up 4.3 percent from the record gap in January of $58.5 billion. It looks like the executive branchs promises are faltering again. ","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3649,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090018901,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I remember thinking how fitting it was that I would be holding my newborn baby in my arms while watching the staunchest defender of human life praying and saying mass in my hometown. It was a feeling I have never and I shall never forget. The Holy Father can never imagine how he touched. in a most profound way. all those who heard and saw him wherever he traveled with his goodness and fierce protection for the sanctity of life. In his letter. The Gospel of Life. John Paul II vigorously reaffirmed the value of human life and at the same time presents a pressing appeal addressed to each and every person to respect. protect. love and serve life. every human life. He writes. \"Even in the midst of difficulties and uncertainties. every person sincerely open to truth and goodness can. by the light of reason and the hidden action of grace. come to recognize in the natural law the sacred value of.human life from its very beginning until its end and can affirm the right of every human being to have this primary good respected to the highest degree. \"Upon the recognition of this right.\" he continued. \"every human community and the political community itself are founded.\" And as a wife and as a mother of two teenage daughters. ","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4024,"word_count":220}
{"speech_id":1090018906,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I certainly sympathize with my constituents and I empathize with their concerns and their consternation. and I truly share their frustration when I read some of the things I read about illegal immigration. We have an obvious flouting of the laws. and yet there are some who think that we should actually ignore this problem. Thankfully. we have made some progress this year. and we should credit the gentleman from Wisconsin","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1524,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090018908,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. last year the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development of the Committee on Appropriations bravely stood up to the White House by rejecting the administrations request for new nuclear weapons funding. The White House had requested over $70 million for research on the robust nuclear earth penetrator. also known as the \"bunker buster\" and other nuclear weapons initiatives. The Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development of the Committee on Appropriations zeroed out the Presidents nuclear weapons initiative. and. just as importantly. they have boldly rejected all funding for the supremely misguided bunker buster nuclear bomb. labelling it provocative and unnecessary. * I credit the subcommittees chairman. the gentleman from Ohio . He courageously stood up to the White House on this issue. But President Bush did not let that stop him from once again requesting funding for the bunker buster bomb in this years 2006 budget proposal. This year the President has requested $4 million to study the feasibility of constructing the bunker buster and another $4.5 billion for bunker buster testing in the Air Force budget. The Presidents budget also notes that he may request another $14 million for the bunker buster in fiscal year 2007. What could the Bush administration possibly be thinking? The United States already possesses the most sophisticated and modern military ever created. yet sometimes it seems like President Bush and his allies still think we are fighting the Cold War. Fortunately. there are still many. many in Congress who live with the rest of us in the 21st century. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4603,"word_count":257}
{"speech_id":1090018914,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from West Virginia for yielding me this time. I had the opportunity to serve on the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct for a little over 6 years during some very difficult times for this institution. I remember Speaker Foley calling me and asking me to serve on the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. It was not a request. I was being drafted to carry out a very important responsibility that we all have. Under the Constitution. we must judge the conduct of our own Members. It is a solemn responsibility. How we go about doing that will reflect on the integrity of this institution. and that is why it is so important that we do it in the right manner and in a bipartisan manner. ","speaker_name":"BENJAMIN CARDIN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1286,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090019049,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. this country is dangerously close to a real biological crisis. Yesterday we learned an American company mailed a deadly avian flu strain to 37.000 laboratories in the United States and around the world as part of a routine test kit. The potential error is a reminder of the real danger of a flu pandemic and the millions of deaths it could cause. It also reminds us of the responsibility as a Congress and as a Nation to improve our ability to produce and distribute flu vaccine and to prepare for the pandemic. The Flu Protection Act. which Senator BAYH and I Introduced. would help ensure that enough vaccine is produced each year. fund research to combat avian flu. and require the development of contingency plans in the case of a pandemic. The impending crisis must encourage this administration to take action now. Earlier this month. President Bush took an important step when he authorized a quarantine to stem the spread of avian flu. In a letter that Senator BAYH and I will send today to the White House. there are other steps the President can take without legislation. He. can increase our vaccine stockpiles. help States and cities prepare for the crisis of a pandemic. and provide the incentives for vaccine manufacturers to increase their production. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1532,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090019051,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I was moved by the words of Dr. Dodd from Omaha and thought about todays continuation of the charade our friends in the Republican leadership play. a very cynical game. that they have done every Congress since I have been here that is both unnecessary and unjustified. Instead of allowing the legislative process to work here to deal with the consensus that exists to raise estate tax limits and solve problems of family businesses and farms. instead they are going to go through an empty effort to repeal it altogether. which ultimately they know will not happen. In the meantime. this week. 2.9 million families are caught in the snare of the Alternative Minimum Tax. not the fabulously wealthy who are dodging taxes but hundreds of thousands of hardworking. nonrich Americans. whose. only sin is. they pay their taxes. they are raising their family and they are saving for the future. Rather than the fixing the Alternative Minimum Tax. todays charade is a shameful dereliction of duty for American taxpayers.","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1027,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090019060,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. last year. former Clinton National Security Adviser Sandy Berger stole classified documents from the National Archives. five copies of an \"afteraction\" memo on the 2000 millennium terror plot. to be precise. He later destroyed. he cut up. three of the copies that contained handwritten notes from administration officials. Then. he lied about it to Federal investigators. The memo was severely critical of the Clinton administrations handling of the incident. Recently. we learned that Mr. Berger made a deal with Federal officials. and the deal was not 5 years in prison instead of 10. No. he gets a slap on the wrist in exchange for admitting he lied. So let us just make sure we have the score right here. Martha Stewart tells a lie about a stock sale. she goes to prison. Sandy Berger lies about stealing and destroying national security documents. he gets a slap on the wrist. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1160,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090019064,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. the House majority today is about to increase our deficit by $290 billion. We are going to offer an alternative. but they will reject that alternative so that they can take care of threetenths of 1 percent of the very wealthiest people in this country. For the difference in cost. you could restore food stamps to 300.000 families. you could restore medical care to the 7 million poor elderly people in the nursing homes that you just cut from the Medicaid program. you could restore 300.000 day care slots for poor children. These are people who suffer from the accident of birth and. in many cases. only because of the accident of birth. in order to reward a handful of families who are advantaged by the accident of birth. who have the very best education. the very best contacts. the very best prospects for economic success. and yet we will take billions. tens of billions. hundreds of billions of dollars - out of Federal revenue to reward that threetenths of 1 percent. That is unfair. and it is unAmerican. This was envisioned as a Nation of equal opportunity. not one of inherited aristocracy.","speaker_name":"JAMES MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1117,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090019084,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Judge Vela is perhaps best known in the community for his work with schools. encouraging youth education and literacy programs. This naming is fitting tribute to their dedicated service. and I urge my colleagues to support this legislation. I would also like to recognize my colleague. the gentleman from Texas (iVfr ORTIZ). for his dedication to bringing this legislation to the floor. I thank him for ensuring these men are recognized for their service. Madam Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"BILL SHUSTER","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1764,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090019091,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I rise today in strong support of H.R. 483. the GarzaVela United States Courthouse Designation Act. offered by my colleague and my good friend. the gentleman from Texas . This bill pays tribute to two great Americans. Federal Judge Reynaldo Garza and Federal Judge Filemon Vela who were judicial legends in the great State of Texas. Judge Garza was the Nations first Mexican American Federal district judge appointed to the Federal bench by President Kennedy in 1961. This outstanding man had done advanced study in the field of law and was a great orator. Judge Garza served our Nation through the turbulent years of the civil rights movement. His decisions contributed to the changes that opened up many opportunities for minorities. In 1976 President Carter asked him to serve as the Nations Attorney General. but he declined because he did not want to leave his beloved south Texas and his service on the Federal bench. He did. however. accept an appointment to the 5th Court of Appeals by President Carter and for many years commuted back and forth between south Texas and the circuit court in New Orleans. ","speaker_name":"RUBEN HINOJOSA","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3959,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090019104,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"His district and the greater Sacramento region were always his number one priority. Today. we will vote to rename the U.S. courthouse in Sacramento after Bob Matsui. This courthouse is a symbol of Bobs commitment to his district. Here in Congress. he was able to secure $142 million that was used and needed to build that courthouse. The courthouse not only created 1.200 new jobs in the Sacramento area. but it was the anchor for redevelopment and revitalization of downtown Sacramento. California. It is more than fitting that we name this important building in honor of a very important figure in our history and our friend. Bob Matsui. I urge everyone to cast a vote for this bill.","speaker_name":"MIKE THOMPSON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1832,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090019106,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I salute him and I thank the gentleman for bringing forward this legislation to name a courthouse after him in his home base.","speaker_name":"NANCY JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1348,"word_count":23}
{"speech_id":1090019120,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Every day he tried to do his best to bring America together. to create one America. one family. one House. the American House. Mr. Speaker. with this legislation I think we are doing the right thing by honoring Bob Matsui.","speaker_name":"JOHN LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":675,"word_count":40}
{"speech_id":1090019124,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of this bill to name this courthouse the Robert Matsui Courthouse. I cannot think of anything more fitting. as others have said. the notion of a courthouse where justice is weighed and issued for a person who had injustice done to him and never lost his sense of right and justice. It would have been easy for Bob to be angry. but he always sought fairness both personally and professionally. I think it is quite fitting and it has a sense of poetic justice that we are naming a courthouse for a gentleman who was not treated fairly at one time by his country. but who always sought fairness and justice and equality throughout his life. It is fitting to remember him this way. someone who will always be part of our family here. and I thank the gentlewoman from California for allowing us to be part of his family.","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":846,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090019131,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Undoubtedly. this experience had a profound impact upon his life and career. Accordingly. I now ask my colleagues to pass this legislation in honor Bobs service to his constituents and Nation.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM THOMAS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1362,"word_count":31}
{"speech_id":1090019148,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Again. at a total budget cost of $290 billion over the first 10 years and more than $800 billion over the second 10 years. This is a budget buster. my friends. At a time when we are talking about how we address the longterm solvency of Social Security. to just. without a concern. pass a $290 billion bill to help threetenths of 1 percent of the most affluent in this country seems to be standing priorities directly on their head. The very people that favor privatizing Social Security. which is going to add risk in the Social Security benefit. which is going to reduce benefits sharply because they change the inflation index going forward. that is going to reduce the benefits on our children and grandchildren. want to now run up the debt on our children and grandchildren in order to help that threetenths of 1 percent. the very wealthiest among us. What kind of sense is that? So we have proposed something quite different. immediate and certain estate tax relief. $6 million per couple. $3 million per individual. right now. and in 2009. $7 million. per couple. $3.5 million per individual. And. once mbre. a proposal that I think we would want to consider closely. we could take the difference between the majority bill and our bill and dedicate it to the Social Security trust fund. There is a lot of talk from the other side: Wheres your plan? Wheres your plan? How about this one? Let us start by addressing the problem and making a good deal of it go away. If we took the difference. the amount of estate tax revenue over the $7 million figure at the end of the decade. and dedicated it to the Social Security trust fund. we could fill 40 percent of the hole over 75 years. almost make half the problem go away. while preserving benefits. while keeping the inflation adjustment that our grandchildren need. I think in the consequence of our floor discussions today it is important to talk about both concepts. the immediate and certain estate tax relief alternative that we are advancing and what we could do with the difference. They say this estate tax has to be repealed. that it is the most unfair thing in the world. ","speaker_name":"EARL POMEROY","chamber":"H","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5673,"word_count":381}
{"speech_id":1090019156,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is what this is about. This is not about working families. This is not small family farms or small businesses. This is about protecting the richest of the rich. [From the Washington Post. April 13. 2005]","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":835,"word_count":37}
{"speech_id":1090019159,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I appreciate the words from my colleague on the Committee on Rules. the gentleman from Florida. but quite frankly. I do not know what he is talking about. The small businesses and the family farms. we are all in agreement that they need to be protected. That is not what the debate is about here today. The debate is about whether threetenths of 1 percent of higher incomeearners in this country deserve additional tax relief at a time when they are cutting Medicaid. veterans benefits. when they are dipping into the Social Security trust fund. This is not a death tax. What they are talking about is a debt tax. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1325,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090019163,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume to remind my colleagues that the rule that we are debating here to talk about the repeal of the death tax makes in order the substance of the subject that the gentleman from Massachusetts talked about. the Pomeroy substitute. We will have a vigorous debate on that. This is a very fair rule so that we can debate the difference between the two. and the body will work its will. Mr. Speaker. I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana .","speaker_name":"DOC HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":495,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090019165,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from North Dakota","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":888,"word_count":11}
{"speech_id":1090019166,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In my opinion. that is immoral. What I think we ought to have captured in this debate on estate tax is the tradeoff. because they say it is just estate tax. believe me. it is also Social Security. If you take $290 billion out of the budget for the wealthiest three out of 1.000. you impact the ability to fix Social Security for everybody else. And the proposal I would like considered before the House is. let us give immediate and certain estate tax relief. 6 million per couple. and let us capture the amount over that dedicated to Social Security. That would fill 40 percent of the unfunded liabilities. In context. we are looking at a 75year solvency figure that the President has found so troublesome he wants to privatize Social Security. Well. by dedicating the sums that we capture with this threetenths of 1 percent. we could fill 40 percent of the hole on Social Security. We would not have to cut benefits for our children. We would not have to cut benefits for our grandchildren. So what we have is a very reasonable proposal going forward. ","speaker_name":"EARL POMEROY","chamber":"H","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2820,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090019203,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I guess it becomes my job to point out that the Republicans are at it again. Another huge tax cut or break for the less than 1 percent of the richest Americans while they turn their back and cut Medicaid. refuse to recognize that Social Security is not in crisis but needs some adjustment. cut Head Start. cut programs for housing. cut programs for the environment. fail to provide the promised benefits to our 140.000 servicemen in Iraq. turn their back on all that is American to give a few dollars to the very richest of Americans. Now. not- all Republicans are that way. I find thatmany of the Republicans who have actually worked for a living at some point in their lives. and not just either inherited money or been at the trough of the government. actually oppose this bill. Warren Buffett. the Gates family. people who have done quite well think that as I do it is a stupid bill and will do nothing for our free enterprise system. ","speaker_name":"FORTNEY STARK","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4317,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090019211,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. my colleague from Florida. I wish he would stay. because we are here today because the Republican majority would like to repeal the estate tax. but they have forgotten history. I am sure my colleague wasnot here. but I would like to remind him that it was a Republican. President Roosevelt. Teddy Roosevelt. who strongly supported an estate tax in the first place. Here is what he said. There is no argument for this. \"The man of great wealth.\" Teddy said. \"owes a particular obligation to the State because he derives special advantages from the mere existence of government.\" Wow. nicely said. and a Republican. too. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3483,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090019213,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank my good friend. the gentleman from Missouri . for yielding to me and for the great work he has done on this issue from the day we came to Congress 8 years ago. I rise in support of the bill that would repeal this tax. The House and Senate are already .both on record for repealing the tax. We just did not repeal it permanently. EJ 1445 By not repealing the tax permanently. we created an incredible situation for those people who would have an estate that was not taxable at all in 2010. but is highly taxable in 2011. The alternative that the other side of the aisle have disbovered during the hard work to achieve the goal of this bill are certainly a long way from where they were a few years ago. In fact. we have all heard about the impact on -small businesses and family farms. but it bears repeating as we consider this legislation today. More than 70 percent of family businesses do not survive the second generation. and 87 percent do not make it to the third generation because of the estate tax. ","speaker_name":"ROY BLUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2828,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090019215,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They deserve a Congress that will be fiscally responsible. and the passage of this bill just does not do it. I urge my colleagues to. reject this legislation.","speaker_name":"BENJAMIN CARDIN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1933,"word_count":28}
{"speech_id":1090019217,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Funeral homes. weekly newspaper publishers. radio station owners. local dry cleaners. all are affected all across the demographic spectrum. Mr. Speaker. although reasonable minds may differ on this issue. I believe that the death tax is politically misguided. morally unjustifiable. and downright unAmerican. Let us vote today to finally eliminate the death tax and return to the American people and their progeny the hardearned fruits of their labor.","speaker_name":"SANFORD BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1666,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090019251,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I voted for todays base bill because if it is not enacted the estate tax. which is being phasedout over a period between 2001 and 2010. will return in 2011 with an exemption of just $675.000 and a top .rate of 55 percent. While my first choice would be to significantly increase the exclusion and lower the top rate. I believe full repeal is preferable to the return of this onerous tax.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SHAYS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1219,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090019255,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today I voice my strong support for the Death Tax Repeal Permanency Act of 2005. It is imperative we pass this very important legislation. The Death Tax is an unreasonable and unfair burden on thousands of American families. small businesses. and family farms. The Death Tax is the largest threat to the vitality of familyowned businesses and farms because most of their owners have the entire value of their business or farm in their estate. The Federal Government currently receives nearly half of an estate when the owner passes. As a result. more than twothirds of family businesses do not survive the second generation and nearly 90 percent do not make it to the third generation. So much for the American dream. Rather than *encouraging people to build their own livelihoods. the Death Tax discourages hard work and savings. According to the Heritage Foundation. the Death Tax costs our country up to 250.000 jobs each year. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1321,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090019282,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. I yield two minutes to the gentleman from Iowa .","speaker_name":"KENNY HULSHOF","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":977,"word_count":11}
{"speech_id":1090019305,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Gary Moran (KS) Messrs. OBEY. MEEHAN and TOWNS changed their vote fromi \"no\" to \"aye.\" So the amendment in the nature of a substitute was rejected. The result of the vote was annbunced as above recdrded.\" Stated against:","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA BROWN-WAITE","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1952,"word_count":38}
{"speech_id":1090019313,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Women possess dignity and intrinsic beauty. and abortion tears them apart at the very core of their being. I am proud to have had the opportunity to join with such dynamic prolife women as Patricia Heaton. the costar of the TV show Everybody Loves Raymond. She is an outspoken advocate for women and for the protection of the rights of the unborn. This past week. I met with Patricia while she was in Washington meeting with Members of Congress and staff members discussing the crucial need that we have as a society to strive to address the real challenges facing pregnant women and promoting womencentered solutions to significantly reduce abortion and protect womens health. I am pleased to be associated with organizations that work to increase public awareness of the devastation that abortion brings to women. men and their families. These organizations ensure that the emotional and physical pain of abortion will no longer be shrouded in secrecy and silence but rather exposed and healed. This past year. the prolife movement has enjoyed many major victories in Congress. We have seen the passage of legislation protecting the sanctity of life and addressing the critical needs of women. The Partial Birth Abortion Ban was signed into. law by President Bush. ","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4181,"word_count":209}
{"speech_id":1090019317,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Two and one half months later. a sergeant under his command. who never saw the shooting. accused him of murder. Lieutenant Pantano now faces charges of two cognts of murder. Mr. Speaker. what is happening to this young man is an injustice. In a combat fitness report. his superiors praised his leadership and talent. and he was by all accounts an exceptional marine. Mona Charen. a respected Washington journalist. wrote the following about this case: \"Obviously. the United States cannot turn a blind eye to war crimes. If a soldier lines up civilians in front of a pit. My Lai style. and massacres them. he would richly deserve. and every selfrespecting American would demand. a court martial.\" She further states. \"But. good Lord. by what possible standard can this be called murder? Pantano was in the middle of a war zone. not a vacation on the Riviera. He had been dodging ambushes and booby traps for weeks. ","speaker_name":"WALTER JONES","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3678,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090019319,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I could not help but note the irony that a man who has encouraged democracy through such peaceful and nonviolent means had been invited to speak to a joint session of the U.S. Congress. which is still working with the White House to create a democracy in Iraq through the barrel of a gun. The irony is that Ukraine. an Eastern European holdover from the Soviet Unions Communist bloc. understands the inner workings of democracy better than the President and Congress of the United States. I believe that the war in Iraq flies in the very face of democratic governance. Instead of upholding the tenets of -democracy. the war in Iraq has violated democracys core principles to a degree unimaginable when the U.S. declared war in March 2003. In January 2005. the Iraqi people held their first election in over 50 years. and I congratulate them for their bravery in accomplishing this feat. But the ends do not justify the means. From the very beginning. the Presidents case for invading Iraq was based on false premises and manipulations of the truth. hardly the stuff democracies are made of. We know now. and many of us knew back in 2003. that Saddam Hussein did not pose a threat to the United States. He never possessed ties to al Qaedas terrorist network. and no weapons of mass destruction have ever turned up in Iraq. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4652,"word_count":232}
{"speech_id":1090019323,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I hope Members will go to my Web site at gil.house.gov. get the facts. take a look at these charts. get a copy of the bill. and decide to become a cosponsor. It is important. because we need to send a message that Americans deserve to have worldclass access to worldclass drugs at worldmarket prices. -and when we do. we will see the prices here in the United States reflect more what is the average among the industrialized world. So I hope my colleagues will join me. Go to my Web site at gil.house.gov. there is a lot of information there. We have about 70 sponsors right now. we would like to get that to 220. Please join me in the Pharmaceutical Market Access Act of 2005.","speaker_name":"GILBERT GUTKNECHT","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3089,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090019328,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Tomorrow. this same House will vote on bankruptcy legislation that does not protect our veterans. Many of our servicemembers. especially the citizen soldiers of the Guard and the Reserve forces. face terrible financial problems because they do not qualify for a narrow protection of debt incurred while on duty if S. 256 becomes law. Since 9\/11. approximately half a million Reservists and Guardsmen have been called to active duty. some more than once. Hundreds of thousands of Reservists and National Guardsmen are currently activated n support of the ongoing military operations. According to the National Guard. four out of 10 members of the National Guard and Reservist forces lose income when they \/ leave their civilian jobs for active duty. The people of this country need to see what policies the Republicans actually Vote for. They talk the talk very well. but they do not walk the walk or roll the roll for our veterans who have sacrificed their bodies for this Nation. Today. the gentleman from Illinois","speaker_name":"CORRINE BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1863,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090019357,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"ida. Mr. Speaker. another day in the Fifth Congressional District means that again my seniors received calls trying to frighten them about Social Security. This is the sixth set of calls that have gone into my district. The majority of the responses I receive is stop. stop. stop those calls. We trust you. we know you will do what is right. As the American public knows. the longterm future of Social Security is problematic at best. We have all heard the facts that in the year 2017 the Social Security trust fund will begin paying out more than what it takes in and that if Congress does nothing. the program will face at least a 25 percent guaranteed cut in benefits in 2041. So if we do nothing. there will be future cuts. These are the facts. and they are indisputable. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA BROWN-WAITE","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8947,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090019369,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it is Democrats who are here tonight providing the leadership for tax fairness. for tax relief. for tax simplification and. most importantly. for reducing taxes on working American families. Americans are doubletaxed by thetime and expense that it takes to do their taxes. For example. individuals. businesses. taxexempt public and private entities spend nearly 6 billion hours complying with the Tax Code. Nearly 60 percent of taxpayers currently use a tax professional to prepare their taxes. compared to only 40 percent ift 1990. A typical taxpayer knows that a competent tax professional does not work for free. so it is costing taxpayers an estimated $100 billion each year in accounting fees and the value of their time to complete their tax returns. Now. Mr. Speaker. I am reading a very interesting book by Thomas Friedman. and it is called \"The World is Flat\". ","speaker_name":"DAVID SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4239,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090019373,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the gentleman from Maryland for his support for the years I have here in Congress and his support for my appointment to the Committee on Ways and Means. I am happy to be on the committee that is going to have the opportunity to review the Tax Code. and I want to thank him for his leadership on this issue. Public distrust. that is the main reason why we urgently need fundamental tax reform. More and more Americans distrust the current tax system because they perceive it as unfair. Are they wrong? No. Lower- and middleincome Americans bear a disproportionate tax burden. Small businesses bear a great compliance burden. That is unfair. ","speaker_name":"STEPHANIE JONES","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5895,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090019461,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Perhaps we should expect no less from an outfit whose operating maxim is printed on this board behind me. Dr. Dale Klein. the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Nuclear. Chemical. and Biological Defense Programs. admitted in his testimony last week before the House Armed Services Committee that. as he said: As I often tell people. some of our budgeting processes are accurate but incorrect. Let me run that by you one more time. He said: As I often tell people. some of our budgeting processes are accurate but incorrect. What nonsense. Can you believe that? Dr. Klein. speaking of the Department of Defense. said on the record: \u0095 . .-some of our budgeting processes are accurate but incorrect. I will leave it to someone else to figure out exactly what that means. but it does not fill me with confidence in the Departments ability to resolve this issue. ","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9939,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090019485,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I say to the Senator. if I had not lost this amendment twice in conference after it passed the Senate. I would agree to that. but I think we need a record vote. I do not know what it takes to finally get this Senate to go on record and stand by the Senate position in conference. Twice now we have taken this proposal to conference and it has disappeared. with the White House or Department of Defense or somebody opposing it. If we have a record vote. I think we have a much better chance to say to the conferees. for goodness sakes. the third time. let us stand up for these men and women I am sorry. I want to insist on the yeas and nays. I believe that is the only way to make it clear where we stand on the issue and to convince the .conferees to finally stand for the Senate position if it succeeds.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":805,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090019501,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Its also very important to extend the length of time for surviving widows and children to remain in military housing to a full year. either on base or with housing assistance. Currently. surviving spouses and dependents of military personnel -killed on active duty may continue in their military housing or receive their. military housing allowances for up to 180 days after the death of their loved one. Their loss is traumatic enough without the immediate pressure of having to find a place to live. moving. and disrupting their life all over again. Extending the length of time for survivors to stay in military housing gives them greater flexibility as they struggle to deal with what has happened. Children will be able to finish the school year among frienas and in familiar surroundings. We know we can do much more to take care of military families after the loss of a loved one. We have been complacent for too long. and I urge my colleagues to support us in providing this much needed and welldeserved relief to these courageous and suffering families.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4411,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090019537,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The last thing we want is for them to start moving into detention facilities to try to free prisoners and. in the process. harm innocent Americans or the people who are guarding those prisoners. So I ask the Senate to vote this amendment down and give the administration and the Department of Defense the capability to house these prisoners in the mostefficient way possible and certainly in a way that protects American lives to the greatest extent possible. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3685,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090019558,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Reserving the right to object. I have no objection to that request. I note that Senator FEINSTEIN. who is also joining me as a cosponsor on this amendment. would like to speak following me. Senator ISAKS6N would also like to speak. I ask unanimous consent they be recognized.","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":275,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090019573,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"What we want to create for California and -the rest of the country is a legal workforce that is there. real. and honors those here for 3. 4. 5 years. who are married and have families here. We say: Go back to Mexico. and you may get back across the border.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1611,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090019585,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I do not have the page. It is a section that permits former immigrants. who worked here illegally in agriculture but have since returned to their home. to return to our southern border and apply for the special status that is set up in the bill the Senator from California described earlier in order to file a preliminary application for status as temporary permanent resident if they appear in designated ports of entry with an application that \"demonstates prior qualifying employment in the United States.\" and then could be granted admission to the United States by the Department of Homeland Security. That is question No. 1. Is that one of the areas in which additional illegal immigrants would be attracted to come into this country?","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":740,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090019590,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This has been and is today a huge problem. Additionally. there is another problem on our south\u0095ern border. if the Senator would give me a minute. and that is. other than Mexicans crossing the border being picked up illegally. I think it was up to 88.000 last year. So it is shooting up. And when you ask the Border Patrol about it. they say this is very difficult for them to sort it all out because there is such pressure on the border. The Senator. certainly. in Arizona knows that pressure on the border. The fraud of documents is well known. One can buy a drivers license. a Social Security card fraudulently in places that I know of and have seen it happening in southern California for $15 or $20. So that is not a big problem.","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":733,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090019594,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Those of us who may be conferees will walk into","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1941,"word_count":10}
{"speech_id":1090019595,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I appreciate the question of the Senator from Illinois. For purposes of the Senate bill. it is absolutely critical. as I think the debate has shown so far. we not get into other unrelated issues to the war supplemental. but we ought to leave it up to the conferees. Obviously. we are going to have to deal with the House provisions. and that. is going to be worked on in the conference committee .I do not expect to be on. This is the agreed language Senator FEINSTEIN and I have been able to come\u0095 up with. and it covers the area we have some control over. that is. what happens in the Senate on the Senates version of the bill. Certainly. I will want to work with the Senator from Illinois and all my colleagues to try. to make sure we enact compreliensive reform. Part of the problem is we are taking this in a rifleshot fashion when I think what we need to do is deal with it comprehensively. That is the reason for the resolution.","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":950,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090019604,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I point out the debate we have been seeing here in the last couple of hours to me proves the point. and that is this is a complex. difficult. contentious issue. but one. that. from what I heard over the last couple of hours. we all agree n eeds to be addressed. Indeed. that is what the resolution says. It says Congress must engage in a careful and deliberate discussion about the need to bolster enforcement of and comprehensively reform our immigration laws. That is what the resolution says. I know different Senators have different proposals. As I have said. I think the idea is we ought to take up those in the Judiciary Committee in the Subcommittee on Immigration. and we ought to be able to come up with a bill we can present to the chairman of the Judiciary Committee and other members. We can have it marked up. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7057,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090019640,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I. first. commend Senator MIKULSKI. and I see the Senator from Maine. Ms. COLLINS. and others who have been interested in this issue. Am I right that the earlier numbers by and large have been taken up primarily by winter tourish? The time for application comes at the time of the year when great numbers are taken up for the winter tourism. which has happened historically. and what wd are trying to do with the Senators amendment is to treat the summer tourism and the summer needs on an even playing field. as they are in my own State. which are primarily smaller momandpop stores and some very small hotels that need that. So this basically creates a more even playing field. as I understand. between those who would be taken in the wintertime and those who need the help in the summer. No. 1. am I correct?","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":811,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090019650,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. first of all. if I could just say preliminarily. in order not to split the united front in support of this amendment.. I am not going to get into a debate between the quality of the Virginia crabcake and the Maryland crabcake. although I must note it is the Maryland crabcake that has always held preeminence in that discussion.","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":343,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090019652,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In other words. employers would still be held responsible in terms of how they conducted their effort. As I mentioned earlier. they are required to go through all of the necessary measures to ensure they have not been able to find available. qualified U.S. citizens to fill these jobs before they file an H2B visa application. This amendment is limited in time. It is limited in scope. but it would address the current crisis situation. It might not totally address it. but we are confident it would do so sufficiently to enable most. if not all. of these businesses to carry out their functions.. I think it does not raise larger questions and. therefore. because it has been very carefully developed. I think it constitutes an appropriate response to the situation we are now confronting. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment. It does the job. It does it in a very direct and focused way. and it will enable us to work through these problems while we await general revisions of the immigration laws. ","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5395,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090019662,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator from Maine for her remarks. along with her and her colleague from Maine for their advocacy on. behalf of Maine workers. We know Maine has been hard hit. with many issues. I ask unanimous consent to add Senator DEWINE of Ohio as a cosponsor.","speaker_name":"BARBARA MIKULSKI","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":275,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090019710,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As I understand the regular order. the H2B amendment I have offered is pending. I note that there are other speakers on the other side of the aisle but on the same side of the issue who. wish to speak. I note the Senator from Wyoming is here and he wishes to speak. I want to continue the debate on this amendment.","speaker_name":"BARBARA MIKULSKI","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":314,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090019775,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Government Accountability Office. GAO. found that agencies have ignored this requirement or failed miserably in their attempts to satisfy it. The GAO also found that SBREFAs language is unclear in some places about what is actually required. That is why today. I am introducing The Small Business Compliance Assistance Enhancement Act of 2005. to close those loopholes. and to make it clear that we were serious when we first told agencies. and that we want them to produce quality compliance assistance materials to help small businesses understand how to deal with regulations. My bill is drawn directly from the GAO recommendations and is intended only to clarify an already existing requirementnot to add anything new. Similarly. the compliance guides that the agencies will produce will be suggestions about how to satisfy a regulations requirements. and will not impose further requirements or additional enforcement measures. Nor does this bill. in any way. interfere or undercut agencies ability to enforce their regulations to the full -extent they currently enjoy. Bad actors must be brought to justice. but if the only trigger for compliance is the threat of enforcement. then agencies will never achieve the goals at which their regulations are directed. The key to helping small businesses comply with these regulations is to provide assistanceshowing them what is necessary and how they will be able to tell when they have met their obligations. ","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6113,"word_count":232}
{"speech_id":1090019776,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The current law requires that ships entering the Great Lakes must exchange their ballast water. seal their ballast tanks or use alternative treatment that is \"as effective as ballast water exchange.\" Unfortunately. alternative treatments have not been fully developed and widely tested on ships because the developers of ballast technology do not know what standard they are trying to achieve. This obstacle is serious because ultimately. only onboard ballast water treatment will adequately reduce the threat of new aquatic nuisance species being introduced through ballast water. Our bill addresses this problem. First. this bill establishes a deadline for the Coast Guard and EPA to establish a standard for ballast water management and requires that the standard reduce the number of plankton in the ballast water by 99 percent or the best performance that technology can provide. This way. technology vendors and the maritime industry know what they should be striving to achieve and when they will be expected to achieve it. After 2011. all ships that enter any U.S. port after operating outside the Exclusive Economic Zone of 200 miles will be required to use a ballast water treatment technology that meets this standard. I understand that ballast water technologies are being researched. and some are currently being tested onboard ships. The range of technologies include ultraviolet lights. filters. chemicals. deoxygenation. ozone. and several others. Each of these technologies has a different price tag attached to it. It is not my intention to overburden the maritime industry with an expensive requirement to install technology. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8766,"word_count":254}
{"speech_id":1090019780,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As the son of a landman. Pickens quickly appreciated the business potential of oil exploration. Oklahoma State University awarded Pickens a bachelor of science in geology in 1951. He grew frustrated with the bureaucracy of working for a large company and decided to start his own in 1956. This company was the basis for what became one of the leading oil and gas exploration and production firms in the nation. Mesa Petroleum Company. Not only did Pickens lead in the energy industry itself. he possessed the unique ability to recognize and acquire undervalued companies.. Repeatedly. markets eventually realized the worth of these companies. and shareholder profits soared. His innovative thinking and business skills amassed the fortune and wisdom he unselfishly shares with others. Oklahoma State University has benefited from his generous investment in academics and athletics. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2168,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090019781,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Work currently conducted by these stations will then be done by employees located in the remaining 20 stations. The Federal .Aviation Administrations proposal will lead to decreased safety for pil6ts of small planes because they will no longer be talking to personnel familiar with regional weather and topography. The consolidated system will strain service capability because fewer employees will be responsible for a growing system of general air traffic. The proposed plan will be especially harmful to rural areas that more heavily rely upon smaller aircraft. The Federal Aviation Safety Security Act would ensure that these facilities can continue to preserve and protect general aviation in the United States. This legislation is supported by a large number of general aviation pilots and others who depend on their regional Flight Service Station. The bill already enjoys significant bipartisan support. and I will continue to work with members of both parties to preserve aviation safety. \u0095 I ask unanimous consent that the text of the Federal Aviation Safety Security Act be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2336,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090019782,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Maryland State Highway Administration. perhaps in anticipation of the enactment of this bill. has already changed some of the signs leading to the Park. This bill would make the name change official within the National Park Service and on official National Park Service maps. Moreover. the mission and characteristics of this parkwhich include the preservation of significant historic resources and important natural areas in locations that provide outdoor recreation for large numbers of peoplemake this designation appropriate. This measure would not change access requirements or current recreational uses occurring within the park. But it would assist the visiting public in distinguishing between the many units of the State and Federal systems. It will also. in my judgment. help promote tourism by enhancing public awareness of the National Park unit. I urge approval of this legislation and ask unanimous consent thatthe full text of the legislation be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4310,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090019788,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday. April 13 at 11:30 a.m. in room SD366 to consider pending calendar business. Agenda Item 1: To consider the nomination of David Garman. to be Under Secretary of Energy. In addition. the Committee may turn to any other measures that are ready for consideration.","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":418,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090019802,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Assistant Professor. Wayne State University School of Medicine. Detroit. MI.","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":638,"word_count":10}
{"speech_id":1090019804,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Personnel be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 13. 2005. at 1:30 p.m.. in open session to receive testimony on active and reserve military and civilian personnel programs. in review of the defense authorization request for fiscal year 2006.","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":331,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090019806,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support be authorized to meet during the .session of the Senate on April 13. 2005. at 10 a.m...in open session to receive testimony on high risk areas in the management of the Department of Defense in review of the defense authorization request for fiscal year 2006.","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":355,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090019824,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This achievement reflects the hard work and detication of many people. Congratulations to all the DU Pioneers. Congratulations to Chancellor Daniel Ritchie. Provost Bob Coombe. President Mark Holtzman. Interim Director of Athletics Stuart Halsall. Coach Gwozdecky and his staff. and especially the Pioneer players. students and fans. You have made us all very proud.","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2359,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090019829,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"At the same time. we still mourn the loss of the Columbias crew as NASA readies the Space Shuttle for its return to flight next month. Dr. Griffins first task will be to ensure that the shuttle program gets back on its feet safely and effectively. NASA needs its next Administrator immediately. and I thank the Senate for agreeing to the request from Senator INOUYE and myself to discharge and approve this nomination. Dr. Griffins extensive background in space and science will serve him and NASA well. He is currently head of the Space Department at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Previously. Dr. Griffin was President and Chief Operating Officer of InQTel. an independent. nonprofit venture group chartered to identify and invest in cuttingedge commercial technologies for intelligence community applications. ","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3653,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090019882,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I amgoing to be in Columbus. Ohio. tomorrow speaking on education when the RIONING THE LEADERSHIP President is visiting the Cleveland area ACROSS THE AISLE to speak on Social Security. Now. the BLACKBURN asked and was President has alternately asserted rmission to address the House there is no Social Security trust fund nute and to revise and extend or it is just IOUs. .rks.) Here is a copy of the trust fund reLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker. yes- port from the Social Security Adminishe minority leader of this body tration. There is a $1.68 trillion surplus the good work we did in re- in the trust fund. It will grow to $6.6 the death tax. She called it trillion by 2028. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2082,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090019884,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. Americans want. need. and rightfully expect Congress to protect them from the prying eyes of identity thieves and give them back control of their Social Security numbers and personal health information.","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1397,"word_count":32}
{"speech_id":1090019889,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak about the urgent need to strengthen Social Security. It is often said the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. Well. we have a problem. We have a serious problems. Analysts predict that Social Security will be bankrupt by 2042. That may seem a far way off but. in reality. it means Social Security will not be around when todays 20yearolds retire. Since the 1930s. we have seen medical advances. technological advances. transportation advances. but we have not seen Social Security advances. We have to make this program sustainable for current and future demographics. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1273,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090019909,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. My respect for the chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary is immense. and he has thrust all of these hearings and all that were in committee where 40 Members of the Committee on the Judiciary had an opportunity to participate. What we are talking about is today. 35 Members of the House of Representatives. 35 amendments are not being permitted today. So I guess the 40plus people are the ones who are representing the near 395. 40plus none for the American people. That would be what I would put on the table from the minority side. Mr. Speaker. I am delighted to yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from California . our newcomer. who is making her first statement as a Committee on Rules member.","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":757,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090019912,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as. I may consume before yielding to the distinguished ranking member to respond to my colleague from Georgia by indicating. the last time I looked at the rules: it allowed that individual Members have a right to make amendments. and we are not required to offer a substitute. Mr. Speaker. I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York . my good friend.","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":396,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090019918,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"All S. 256 says is that. in a limited range of cases. a debtor with meaningful capacity to repay may have to file in chapter 13 as opposed to chapter 7. In no case is a debtor denied access to the bankruptcy system. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1830,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090019922,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this is a great day. Not only are we going to be able to see the Nationals play the first home game in 34 years. but we are going to finally pass bankruptcy reform legislation that can get to the. Presidents desk and be signed. Also. tomorrow many of us are going to be paying our taxes. We have constituents who are complaining justifiably about the high cost of gasoline. On average. passage of this legislation will save a family of four $400 a year. and $400 a year is a very important amount of money for an awful lot of people in this country. and that is the price that they are paying because of the abuse that we have seen of our bankruptcy law that has been going on for years and years and years. I happen to believe that it is essential that we provide that $400 in relief to the American people just as quickly as we can. We know. as the gentleman from Wisconsin has said. and I congratulate the gentleman for all of the effort that he has put into this. that we for years and years and years have been going through the amendment process. We have had a wide range of concerns brought to the forefront. and we have been able to address them. ","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2351,"word_count":224}
{"speech_id":1090019932,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If I could reclaim my time. what I am suggesting is that because of abuse of bankruptcy filings that take place today. that is acost that is imposed on American consumers to the average family of four of in excess of $400. That is the reason it is absolutely essential. Mr. Speaker. that we pass this legislation.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":313,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090019943,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time and for his leadership. Mr. Speaker. I rise in opposition to this rule and to this morally bankrupt bill that puts corporate greed over fairness for ordinary folks. This bill takes the phrase \"kick them when they are down\" to a whole new level. What about the fact that half of the people who file for bankruptcy protection are forced to do so because of high medical costs. loss of a job. or scam loan sharks? This bill would say to these people. the answer is. of course. too bad. Make no mistake. Mr. Speaker. this bill is a bigtime corporate payoff that was drafted with one overriding goal in mind. that is. profits. profits. profits. I am all for curbing abuses in bankruptcy and would suggest that we start by .closing bankruptcy loopholes for millionaires and taking steps to address predatory lending and payday loans rather than a onesided. harsh industry payoff. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA LEE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1276,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090019950,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I request permission to place in the RECORD. in response to this statement. statements by Bar Associations across this country. womens organizations. womens legal defense. asserting what I have said that children are put second to credit card companies. The material referred to is as follows:","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":306,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090019977,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. does the rule not state that the objection must be asked for prior to the speaking of the Member? This Member spoke. and the objection was asked for after the party spoke. My understanding is it should have been done ahead of time. What is the correct rule?","speaker_name":"MAXINE WATERS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":35.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":270,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090020029,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The banking private sector is demanding governmental interference in a situation where the taxpayers prefer not to pay agents for the work of strong enforcers. To serve the interest of consumer justice I urge a \"no\" vote on S. 256. the Bankruptcy Reform Bill.","speaker_name":"MAJOR OWENS","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1021,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090020090,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. on Tuesday night I took an amendment to the Rules Committee asking the com mittee to permit this body to consider allowing each Member the opportunity to approve that amendment or reject it. The Republican majority on the Rules Committee. however. rejected giving Members that opportunity. My amendment would have simply provided that if more than one half of the creditor claims against you in bankruptcy are the result of identity theft. you should not be forced out of the protections of chapter 7. It was similar to an amendment offered by Senator NELSON of Florida. but was even narrower than that amendment. Mr. Speaker. a few years ago. the manager of the identity theft at the FTC commented on how identity theft was becoming rampant in this country. that it wreaks havoc on the credit of the victim and can even force them intobankruptcy. Since then. the problem has grown even worse. and an estimated 27.3 million Americans have fallen victim to identity theft in the last 5 years. We have all heard of recent brea6hes of massive databases holding personal information. On Monday. the parent company of the LexisNexis reported that 310.000 people. nearly 10 times more than the original estimate reported last month. may have had their personal information stolen. including names. addresses. ","speaker_name":"ADAM SCHIFF","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3608,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090020123,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What is sad is that we could have produced legislation which would have been fair and balanced. We continue to hear that fair and balanced theme. but the credit card industry would not allow it. They would not tolerate any effort to make them accountable. no matter how minimal. To cite just one example. myself and the gentleman from North Carolina","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1485,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090020130,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. it is fitting that this House take up this 512page goodie bag for every special interest in town. Just yesterday. the Republican majority rammed through a bill that would eliminate the estate tax for the very wealthiest Americans. At least the Republican majority is consistent: more for the very wealthy. no responsibility for big banks. and squeeze tlje middle class. This bill. which can only be described as the posterchild for campaign finance reform. will soon shoot through this House and to a President who has vowed that he would sign it. Mr. Speaker. bankruptcy is notoriously complicated. but the members of this House have certainly never let the complexity of a problem get in the way of a good deal. The people who understand how bankruptcy law functions in the real world: the scholars. judges. trustees. and lawyerswhether they represent debtors. creditors. businesses or individualshave all told us this bill wont work. that it will be costly. that it will produce unfair and irrational results. But we are ignoring them. trusting instead lobbyists. credit card companies. banks. and anyone else who wants some special favor. And boy. are there favors galore. The credit card companies are the big winners. but so are shopping centers. car lenders. crooked debt collectors. investment bankers. credit unions. and assorted subprime lenders. ","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10469,"word_count":219}
{"speech_id":1090020133,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture. I am pleased that we are finally making the chapter 12 provisions of the Bankruptcy Code permanent. Bankruptcy relief for family farmers will be made easier for those to obtain a discharge of their indebtedness. In addition. the bill allows more family farmers to qualify for chapter 12 relief by doubling the debt limit and lowering the percentage of income that must be derived from farming operations. In addition. S. 256 prevents fraud. Under the current system. irresponsible people filing for bankruptcy could run up their credit card debt immediately prior to filing knowing that their debts will soon be wind away. What these people may not realize or care about is that these debts do not just disappear. They are passed along in higher charges and rates to hard working people. Mr. ","speaker_name":"BOB GOODLATTE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5684,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090020135,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I think it is important as we debate this question that the opponents of thisbill not be defined or classified as opposing responsibility and opposing the responsibility of being a good citizen and adhering to the debt that you accrue. I think that is a wrongheaded definition of the opponents. We have been described as nonpatriot in other debates. in war and peace. scoundrels and socialists. But I think it is important for the American people to understand that we are engaging in a democratic process to be able to allow a voice of opposition to be heard for a tainted. stale and stagnant piece of legislation that has been bought and paid for by special interests. Our. desire is to possibly encourage our colleagues in the House to take a serious and deliberative review of S. Now. we have heard already that we were refused and denied amendments and one would ask the question why. If we are a deliberative body. why not make a bill that is as dated almost as the Gulf War. not the Iraq war. to make it better. Now. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2558,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090020138,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. Mr. Speaker. it is about great pleasure that I rise today to express my strong support for the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act. A Chinese proverb says. Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. And that is exactly what this bill before us does today. There are many reasons to support this bankruptcy refQrm bill. but I want to focus on one that is important to many of my colleagues. to me. and to the American people. ","speaker_name":"JUDY BIGGERT","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1645,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090020142,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Local Loan Company v. Hunt. in which the court wrote that \"the purpose of the act has been again and again emphasized by the courts in that it gives to the honest but unfortunate debtor a new opportunity in life and a clear field for future effort. unhampered by the pressure and discouragement of preexisting debt.\" Over the last several decades. bankruptcy protections have expanded to cover basically anyone and everyone. not just those who truly need it. Sta.tistics reveal that in 2004 approximately 1.5 million individuals sought bankruptcy protection. Increasingly. this protection is being sought for the consumer debt that has skyrocketed out of control as a result of the misuse of credit cards and other credit options. This expansive coverage comes at a price. Personal bankruptcy filing cost businesses and our economy tens of billions of dollars every year. It is basically a $500 per family annual tax on each and every American family. H.R. 685 the Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act of 2005. the bill that is here before us today. strikes a balance. It requires those who have the means to repay debts to do so while protecting those who truly need the assistance provided by chapter 7. such as those with serious medical conditions. the men and women of our armed services who are on active duty. as well as those disabled veterans who served in years past. Decisions to seek the protection of bankruptcy should be taken seriously. ","speaker_name":"STEVE CHABOT","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2579,"word_count":245}
{"speech_id":1090020144,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. what the gentleman suggested was. if someone has overwhelming medical bills. hundreds of thousands in medical bills. that they can file under Chapter 7. That is not true. If they have a job and they have $100 a month left over after essential expenses. they are going to have to go under a wage earner plan for the next 5 years. Every dime they have got after food and rent will go to all of their bills. They cannot file under Chapter 7.","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":451,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090020148,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. you would not even exempt our brothers and sisters coming back from war. and you want me to believe that this is reasonable legislation? Rising debt levels in turn reflect a shift in our economy away from a time when families could afford to save and into a time when their wages are stagnant. The costs of their health premiums increased 163 percent since 1988. Their tuitions have increased 170 percent. Their mortgages. their child care. This is not a stable economy. They are not crooks. They are not evil people. The American Bankruptcy Institute says that 96.3 percent of the people filing Chapter 7 just do not have the money. Now we are not saying forget about all of this. but we are saying let us be reasonable. ","speaker_name":"BILL PASCRELL","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1154,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090020150,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of S. 256. the Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Prevention Act. Mr. Speaker. we have seen a sharp increase in bankruptcies in the past 25 years. In 2003. consumer filings peaked at over 1.6 million filings. a 465 percent increase from 1980. Those who believe credit card companies. mortgage lenders and other financial institutions are bearing the cost of consumers filing for bankruptcy do not understand how business works. These costs will be shifted to American families who are paying the price for this debt. some studies reflect $400 per year in every household. by higher interest rates on their credit cards. auto loans. school loans and mortgages. When the legislation passes today it will be the American families who are the real winners. This legislation balances the consumers challenge of debt repayment with the needs of businesses that collect money rightfully owed to them. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CASTLE","chamber":"H","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1755,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090020169,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. over the last eighteen months. the House leadership has passed bills that are windfalls to the pharmaceutical industry and big oil and. have given massive tax breaks to corporations. while the deficit continues to break records. Now lining up for their share and licking their lips is the credit card industry. that stand to make billions of dollars at the expense of the American consumer. With the hope of helping to protect Veterans from these new regulations. I offered an Amendment to this bill to simply waive any fee charged for credit counseling for any service member returning from a combat area. for a period of two years. Unfortunately. the majority didnt allow any. Many of these men and women have been away from their families. homes and jobs for long periods of time because of unethical procedures that keep them overseas. This is resulting in severe economic hardships. business closures. homes foreclosures and bills unpaid. We must not penalize our troops for serving our country. It is appalling that any Veteran would face bankruptcy because of their sacrifice. Mr. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2369,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090020173,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This bill is especially bad for women. who are the single largest group currently in bankruptcy. By making it harder for them to file for bankruptcy. we will make it more difficult for them to maintain essential items such as the car that gets them to and from their job. Women who are owed child support will be forced to compete with credit card companies and other lenders for dollars to spend feeding and clothing their children. The bill also allows perpetrators of violence against women at health centers to escape liability for their actions through the bankruptcy courts. Mr. Speaker. this bill is yet another product of an Administration and majority that taxes work and rewards wealth. It appeals to the worst in all of us. painting honest middleclass families who are working hard and taking personal responsibility for their actions as liars. cheaters and spendthrifts. At the same time it lets off the hook those who do act irresponsibly by preserving loopholes which allow wealthy bankruptcy filers to hide their true wealth in mansions and trust funds. I can hardly imagine a more unfair piece of legislation less concerned with promoting the common good. and I urge my colleagues to oppose it.","speaker_name":"ROSA DELAURO","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2843,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090020194,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Second: the bill will provide for prefiling credit counseling. It requires debtors. prior to filing for bankruptcy. to receive credit counseling from a nonprofit counseling agency. The counseling must include a budget analysis and disclosures regarding the possible impact of bankruptcy on a debtors credit report. Next: the bill will provide for predischarge financial education. requiring debtors to complete an approved instructional course on personal financial management prior to receiving a discharge under Chapter 7 or 13. The bill will also include important exceptions. It authorizes phone and Internet counseling for both the prefiling and predischarge education requirements to assist debtors in rural and remoteareas. In addition. either or both requirements may be waived if services are not available or in exigent circumstances. Finally. the bill requires the Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Trustees to: (1) develop a financial management training curriculum and materials to educate individual debtors on how to better manage their finances. and (2) evaluate and report to the Congress on the curriculums efficacy. This .will ensure that Congress can evaluate the effectiveness of these financial literacy provisions in the longterm. ","speaker_name":"JUDY BIGGERT","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4354,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090020195,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am submitting for the RECORD the following remarks from Mr. Arkadi Kuhlmann. CEO of ING DIRECT. in opposition to the bankruptcy reform legislation under consideration. I remain a strong supporter of S. 256. however. I believe Mr. Kuhlmanns statement should be made part of the RECORD.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CASTLE","chamber":"H","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":299,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090020196,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker I rise in strong opposition to the misnamed \"Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act.\" . Current bankruptcy law needs some adjustment. but this bill is not the solution. It hurts middleclass consumers in a variety of ways: the bill would allow landlords to evict battered women without bankruptcy court approval. even if the eviction poses a threat to the womens physical wellbeing. and. it permits credit card companies to reclaim common households goods which are of little value to them. but very important to the debtors family. It is very important to note that the bill does absolutely nothing to discourage abusive underage lending. nothing to discourage reckless lending to the developmentally disabled and nothing to crack down on unscrupulous payday lenders that prey on members of the armed forces. Last year nearly one and a half million middle class individuals filed for bankruptcy. Their average income was less than $25.000 and the principal causes for their filings were layoffs. health problems and divorce. In my judgment. it is a grave mistake to punish these individuals while rewarding credit card companies and business lobbyists at a time when corporate greed has already destroyed the lives of millions of American workers. I will support a balanced bankruptcy reform bill. but S. 256 is in no way balanced and I believe does more harm than good. therefore I strongly oppose this bill.","speaker_name":"SAM FARR","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1438,"word_count":233}
{"speech_id":1090020203,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of S. 256. the \"Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Prevention Act of 2005.\" It has been seven years since we made our first attempt to reform the bankruptcy system in the 105th Congress and thanks to the tireless efforts of Chairman SENSENBRENNERS Committee. we can see a real chance for passing a full and comprehensive bill this year. Mr. Speaker. we have seen a sharp increase in bankruptcies over the past 25 years. In 2003. consumer filings peaked at over 1.6 million filingsa 465 percent increase from 1980. Those who believe credit card companies. mortgage lenders and other financial institutions are bearing the costs of consumers filing for bankruptcy dont understand how business works. American families are paying the price for this debtsome studies reflect $400 per year in every householdby higher interest rates on their credit cards. auto loans. school loans and mortgages. When the legislation before us passes today it will be the American families that are the real winners. \u0095 This legislation. balances the consumers challenge of debt repayment with the needs of businesses to collect money rightfully owed to them. In an effort to better educate consumers and improve financial literacy. the legislation requires many filers of bankruptcy to attend financial counseling. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CASTLE","chamber":"H","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4577,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090020232,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I appreciate my Appropriations colleague yielding me a moment just to say that my colleague. the gentleman from Wisconsin . and I have spent a lot of time together discussing these questions and the schedule and otherwise. The relationship is extremely positive. and I believe he and I this week. before the week is out. will have a chance to sit down and talk about 302(b)s. for example. We are going to move forward very expeditiously. and I think it will benefit. one more time. my colleague and I. who are Appropriations members together. and it will benefit our committee greatly. I very. much appreciate the gentleman yielding.","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":646,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090020254,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I certainly will yield to the leader. but before I do. do you see my point. Mr. Leader? Either one of us could protect ourselves. Either one of us. your side could protect yourselves by your five holding firm. Our side could protect ourselves by holding firm. That may protect us individually. but our position is it does not protect the institution. and that is what our concern is. I yield to my friend.","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":405,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090020305,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Four years later. another tornado. traveling almost in the identical path. destroyed another 500 homes and injured many people. Each time we got superb help from the Federal Government and from FEMA. both in the immediate disaster and in the aftermath. to mitigate the consequences of future events of this type. and we were very. very grateful for that help as Americans. . It came then as an enormous surprise to the constituents that I represent years later that this help turned into potentially a taxable event. That is. there was talk at the Internal Revenue Service of going back. taking the grant and actually levying a tax on them years after they have been given. I want to commend the gentleman from Florida . who has had similar circumstances dealing with hurricanes in his home State. for working with our delegation in Oklahoma on a bipartisan basis. the gentleman from Oklahoma . the gentleman from Oklahoma . the gentleman from Oklahoma . the gentleman from Oklahoma and myself and for working across the aisle with our good friends who have this problem in common. On this floor we sometimes do have partisan disagreements. but when the good of the_ country is at stake. it is amazing how often we do come together. And certainly we come together regardless of party to help people that have been hurt through no fault of their own in the course of disaster and to help them prepare so that those disasters never threaten their wellbeing again. So I want to thank again my friend. the gentleman from Florida . for his outstanding work. I commend our colleagues in the Senate for working with him in getting this bill done just in time. Literally. ","speaker_name":"TOM COLE","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2603,"word_count":290}
{"speech_id":1090020308,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I certainly appreciate that invitation. but I am quite proud of serving Florida. I think it is important to thank the gentleman from Louisiana has been a prime sponsor. as have been Democrats and Republicans. That is one of the joys of the process when we actually get something done with bipartisan support. I want to thank the staff on the Committee on Ways and Means but specifically Elizabeth Nicholson from my staff. my deputy chief of staff who has labored very long. hard hours on trying to get this to fruition. We are here on -the floor and I am very excited and pleased that we will be able to provide this relief for our taxpayers. And. of course. the gentleman from Oklahoma","speaker_name":"MARK FOLEY","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":699,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090020322,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The vote should have been the other way in this House. but the American people must know who is willing to feed corporate greed ahead of feeding vulnerable kids. My distinguished colleague. the gentlewoman from New York . had proposed an amendment which would ensure that the debtors make child support payments ahead of credit card payments. The Republicans would not even allow it to be heard in this House. They had their marching orders. and these orders come directly from the credit companies. April.14. 2005 CO Banca rotta. the bench is corrupt. the bench is broken. We are a Nation of laws. but we are also a Nation that legislates on a foundation of religious and spiritual values. Nothing in Christianity or Judaism or Islam supports the concept of usury against the defenseless. but that is exactly what this corrupt. broken benchdoes: It pits women and children against credit card companies. Corporate lawyers will get their money regardless of whether women and children get their dinner. Shame on the credit card companies for demanding this. and shame on the Republican majority for caving in. Republicans are enslaving the American people to credit card companies.","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3465,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090020349,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. I think it is important that we realize the urgency of so many issues that are before us. And the issue as it relates to Social Security. as the majority side or as the administration would like for us Americans to see it. is that it is not rocket science. It is not a Federal emergency. Fortyeight million Americans celebrate Social Security right now. Thirtythree million of those Americans would be.living in poverty if it was not for it. We have a number of young people that are going to school solely on survivor benefits because their family members have moved on. And I can tell the Members what is even further appalling is the President saying to the African American that I am pushing private accounts because African American males do not live as long as Anglos.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":807,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090020355,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. I think it is important for the Members to understand and also for many Americans to understand that we did not just draw that number up in the back. that we were back there drinking a bottle of water. saying can we come up with a number that is a big number? I know some of the Members are in their offices. and I think it is important that they know that national debt number as of today. and Americans and Members can go to the official Website of the U.S. Treasury. They have to go a couple of clicks. but I am going to share with the Members how they can get directly to that number and that ticker. Because if I am in the Treasury Department. I am going to have people go into two or three different clicks once they go to my home page and maybe. just maybe. they will get to the ticker because it is nothing that we can be proud of. 0l1730 Also. as it relates. we need to talk a little bit about those countries that have bought our debt and we are beholding to foreign countries. The gentleman does that better than me. But the Web site is www.ustreas.gov. That is the Department of Treasury Web site. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1952,"word_count":221}
{"speech_id":1090020369,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I know we can work out a process to keep moving forward on the emergency supplemental bill. but we have to address specifically the range of immigration issues that have been brought forth to the managers. The managers will continue to consider the amendments that are brought forward. Amendments that are brought forward. I encourage they relate to the supplemental emergency spending bill as much as possible. We expect votes over the course of today. and we will .have. I expect. a very busy schedule over the course of the day. Mr. President. I have a few other remarks to make. but I will be happy to turn to the Democratic leader.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1916,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090020381,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I will work in concert with our leader. and with the distinguished majority whip.","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":735,"word_count":14}
{"speech_id":1090020387,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Obviously. nothing can replace the loss of life. But a .decent death benefit and adequate life insurance can provide our service members and their loved ones with a sense of security about their future which they deserve. For too long. they have not gotten that peace of mind. and indeed not the respect they deserve.Senator SESSIONS and I have worked together for some time as members of the Senate Armed Services Committee to investigate and then to react to this wrong. We began looking at the question of what survivor benefits were in place for our men and women in uniform as we were concerned that the benefits being provided to families of those who lose their lives in the service of this country lagged behind benefits provided for public service employees in highrisk occupations. namely policemen and firefighters. The families of fallen policemen and firefighters deserve those higher benefits. But so. too. of course. do the families of fallen military personnel. When Senator SESSIONS and I began this review. the death benefit paid to the families of service men and women who were killed in action was $6.000. an embarrassing sum. A small step forward was taken last year when the death benefit was increased to $12.000. but obviously that was still woefully inadequate. Two studies. one done by the Department of Defense and the other done by. the Government Accountability Office. documented that survivor benefits provided to some of the public employee groups I have mentioned in highrisk positions were greater than those provided for our soldiers killed in combat. That was evidently unfair. and that is why our legislation. the HEROES bill. was worked on for over 2 years with the Pentagons service member group and veterans groups which resulted in a bill to correct that imbalance by adjusting military survivor benefits to more equitably reflect todays world. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5761,"word_count":311}
{"speech_id":1090020389,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We began to figure and think about what we could do to make fami-. lies more secure in the case of the loss of a loved one. Last year. they completed the study and we began to look at it. The President and the Secretary of Defense responded to our request promptly and. I believe. honestly and objectively. The Senate report that is before us today recommended increasing the death gratuity benefit from $12.420 to $100.000 for our service members who dieon active duty in a combat theater. and then we amended the bill to include those who serve on active duty who lose their lives. It also allows. asI have proposed. for every member of the military to raise the level of coverage under the servicemens group life insurance which is capped out at $250.000 to $400.000. I believe that is a more legitimate sum for a family suffering this kind of loss. Additionally. for those serving in the combat zone or a designated contingency. the Department of Defense will pay the members premium for the first $150.000 of insurance to guarantee they are participants in that program. The report before us also makes these changes retroactive to cover those who lost their lives since the beginning of the global war on terrorism which began October 7. 2001. Families of our service members who have died since October 7. 2001. will receive a onetime cash payment of $238.000 which is a sum of the added coverage of life insurance. $150.000 more life insurance. coupled with proposed increase of the death gratuity of $88.000. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5698,"word_count":264}
{"speech_id":1090020437,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Unfortunately. the administrations implementation of this legislation has created a new inequity by discriminating between two categories of totally disabled retirees. There are those veterans who have been awarded a 100 percent disability rating by the VA and those whom the VA has rated \"totally disabled\". The veterans considered totally disabled are paid at the 100 percent disabled rate. This is because the VA has certified that their serviceconnected disabilities have left them unemployable. I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the RECORD a letter sent by the Defense Department to the Office of Management and Budget on this issue last December.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2069,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090020439,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The letter indicates clearly the Defense Department General Counsels opinion that both of these groups should be paid their full retired pay and disability compensation under the law Congress passed last year. and it requested permission from OMB to execute the payments to unemployables. That permission apparently was not forthcoming. since the Pentagon is still withholding payments for the \"unemployable\" group after all these monthscontrary to its own General Counsels legal review. For all other purposes. both the VA and the Defense Department treat unemployables exactly the same as those with 100 percent disability ratings. In fact. these unemployables must meet a oriterion that not even the 100 percentrated disability retirees have to meet. They are certified as unable to work because of their serviceconnected disability. The administration pays equal combatrelated special compensation to both categories. Yet the administration is discriminating unemployables and 100 percent disabled retirees with noncombat disabilities in flagrant disregard for the letter of the law as interpreted by its own legal counsel. The time to act is now. As we stated last year. these veterans do ffot have 10 years to wait for the full phasein of their benefits. The administration needs to act quickly. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1504,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090020458,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Training Iraqi troops to take the lead in Iraq is critical to our success in that country and to getting our service men and women back where they belongwith their families at home. Therefore. we are offering an amendment today to measure our progress toward that goal. In this bill. the Senate is appropriating $5.7 billion for the Iraqi Security Forces Fund. The accompanying committee report states: The funds\" shall be available to train. equip. and deploy Iraqi security forces as well as provide increased counterinsurgency capabilities. That is certainly very good. Our troops cannot come home until Iraqi forces can hold their own. When I was in Iraq just a few weeks ago. General Petraeus took us from the Baghdad airport to a training field nearby. where we saw about 12 Iraqi soldiers who were masked to hide their identity for fear of retribution from their fellow Iraqis as they went through training drills. I have not been in the military. I cant grade these troops as to their progress. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5339,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090020482,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Now. however. it appears that this effective program that has lifted over 2.7 million children above the poverty level is coming under attack. Recently the House of Representatives indicated that it is considering cutting the EITC in its budget reconciliation. Such cuts. if enacted by the full Congress. could lead to higher taxes for many of our military families. This is not fair and this is not right. At a time when many of our military personnel are overseas and when our national guard reserves have been called up at historic rates. we should be providing for our men and women in uniform. We should not be taking away from them and placing them at a greater financial disadvantage. I hope the Senate will be heard loudly and clearly that this is not the right thing to do. Our troops and their families deserve no less. I urge my Senate colleagues to reject any cuts to the EITC. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3338,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090020512,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"USDA established a weekly satellite feed of material for news and farm broadcasters. This included readytoair feature stories. sometimes called video news releases. The information includes where there are signups for commodity or disaster programs. promoting producer participation in county committee elections. new farming practices or technologies. or important crop reports and surveys. From the Department of Health and Human Services. there has been a long list of video news releases such as the Surgeon Generals Osteoporosis and Bone- Health Report. educating the public health officials on how to recognize anthrax. CDC in post 9\/11. educating the public on CDCs capabilities. healthy baby news releases. which I have been very interested in. The Health Resource Services Administration put out a video news release educating parents and parentstobe on the health care of their newNborns. There have been efforts to educate women of childbearing age about the absolute necessity of including 400 micrograms of the appropriate yitamins in their diets to prevent tooth defects. The CDC has educated public and health communities about the proper use of antibiotics and the potential problems of overuse of antibiotics. The IRS has produced VNRs on two topics: how to file electronically. and the earned income tax credit. The goal was to generate coverage of the efiling to help Americans understand qualifications for claiming the EITC. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6556,"word_count":221}
{"speech_id":1090020514,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I rise in support of the Byrd amendment. This amendment is important. It is offered at an important time. and it is offered during a periodwhen we have seen so many examples of fake news. or propaganda. to use another word. I dont think this is partisan. I think it would apply to a Republican or Democratic administration. The question is. Should the Federal Government be involved in propaganda? Should we be observant of fake news and do nothing about it? The Senator from West Virginia offers an amendment that is filled with common sense. Let me describe a fake news program. A report narrated by a woman who speaks in glowing terms about an administrations plan and concludes by saying: \"In Washington. this is Karen Ryan reporting.\" The Department of Health and Human Services spent $44.000 in taxpayer dollars on this type of propaganda. Is this what we want to pass for news? I have talked often in the Senate on a subject very important to me. the concentration of broadcasting in this country. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6371,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090020534,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the distinguished Senator for his willingness to not move to table at this point. I hope we can take a little time and see if we might reach a meeting of the minds on language that might accomplish the purposes that we hoped to accomplish. For that reason. I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":314,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090020538,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So an independent derstanding is we would have to set counsel was impaneled and began inaside the Byrd amendment to do so. I vestigating that charge. ask the chairman and also Senator That independent counsel has been BYRD whether that is possible at this working for some 10 years. in fact. But moment. the Cabinet officer who was the subject","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1364,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090020541,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I will be mercifully subject pled guilty. and 4 years after brief. This is not an amendment that the subject was pardoned. It is unbewill take a long time to explain. and I lievable. do not intend to delay the proceedings I do not know anything about the of the Senate at all. case. I do not really know the Cabinet official in question. I guess I met him AMENDMENT NO. 399 some years ago. But this is not about","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":411,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090020542,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. with that official any longer. He has pled that in mind and with the cooperation guilty. been pardoned. and here we are of the Senator from Mississippi. the years later with an independent counchairman of the committee. and my sels office still spending money. colleague Senator BYRD. as well. I offer I quote Judge Stanley Sporkin. the an amendment on behalf of myself and presiding judge over Mr. Cisneros Senator DUR3IN has asked to be a co- trial: sponsor as well. I send the amendment The problem with this case is that it took to the desk and ask for its immediate too long to develop and much too long to consideration. bring to judgment day ... [the matter]","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":680,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090020579,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank my colleague. the Senator from Mississippi. for that offer. and I believe all of us feel the same way. These are the soldiers that are most severely wounded. We want to take the very best care of them. and I very much appreciate the consideration of the Senator from Mississippi.","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":287,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090020654,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Oceans Commission and the Pew Oceans Commission. We all want to make sure we enjoy abundant supplies of healthy foods in the future. but not if it means unnecessary and avoidable damage to wild species. to the environment generally. and to the economies of Americas coastal fishing communities. I ask unanimous consent that the text of my bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"LISA MURKOWSKI","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5321,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090020660,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This bill recognizes drought as the natural disaster it is. The act also creates the National Office of Drought Preparedness. This would be the permanent body that assists the National Drought Council in the formulation and carrying out of the national drought policy action plan. A drought assistance fund will be established by this act. to assist State and local governments in their development and implementation of drought preparedness plans. The act will also provide assistance for the rapid response to wildfires. which is critical to mitigating the effects of a prolonged drought in forested areas. like we have in western South Dakota. Lastly. the act provides for the development of a national drought forecasting and monitoring network. that will help forecast the onset of droughts better and improve reporting on current droughts. I am encouraged by what the National Drought Preparedness Act of 2005 has to offer to the farmers and ranchers of our great country. We must treat drought like all other disasters are treated. and take an aggressive stance toward minimizing its effect on communities across America. That is why I am pleased to be an original cosponsor of this important bipartisan piece of legislation. By Mr. ","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3663,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090020661,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass this legislation that is not just important to our nations economy and the health of our workforce but to the quality of life for millions of Americans and their families. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"NORM COLEMAN","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1237,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090020686,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet on Thursday. April 14. 2005. at 2 p.m.. for a hearing title: \"U.S. Postal Service: What Is Needed To Ensure Its Future Viability?\"","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":256,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090020691,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 14. 2005. at 2 p.m. to hold a closed briefing. THE PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection. it is so ordered.","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":251,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090020694,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Washington. DC and Victor Cerda. Acting Director of Detention and Removal. U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Washington. DC. Panel II: David Venturella. U.S. Investigations Service. ","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":829,"word_count":25}
{"speech_id":1090020707,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam. President. I also rise today to extend my congratulations to the Oklahoma State Universitys wrestling team for winning the 2005 National Collegiate Athletic Associations Division I Wrestling Championship on March 19. 2005. at St. Louis. MO. The Cowboys historic victory this year contributes to an already exceptional legacy of achievement that makes the OSU wrestling program. a touchstone for all others. In fact. the Collegiate Wrestling Hall of Fame is at OSU. The 2005 Championship title is the 33rd overall title in the storied history of wrestling at OSU. and also rep-. resents the most. possessed by any school in the history of Division I wrestling. Moreover. this years win marks the Cowboys third consecutive championship under the dynasty of Coach John Smith. an accomplishment that had not occurred at OSU since the 1954 to 1956 seasons. Indeed. the Cowboys dominance was in full display not only during the season in which they went undefeated but also in the finals where they continued to remain perfect. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1890,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090020762,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is a very important issue. but we will be having these three cloture votes on the immigration issues I briefly outlined. and we have filed cloture on the underlying bill. which does allow us to stay on amendments. germane amendments that were laid down to changing. altering. improving this bill as we go forward. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1590,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090020769,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"COLEMAN. DOLE. KENNEDY. SALAZAR. and CORZINE. We believe this is the equitable thing to do. it is the fair thing to do. and it is the right thing to do. Again. to repeat: All it does is put this child who has lost a parent in Iraq. who lost a parent in Afghanistan. who has lost a parent in service to our country. in the same position that child would have been if that parent would have continued to serve in the military and would have continued to live. Today. without this amendment. that child is discriminated against. After 3 years. that child has to pay for his or her own premium. that family has to pay the premium and. not only that. even if they pay the premium. they are put in a different position than if the parent would have lived. The child of a person in the military who lives is in a better position than a child of a person in the military who is deceased. and that is wrong. This amendment corrects that. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1884,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090020785,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"India. our country. and other places. It is about time we did this. I urge my colleagues to join me in protecting the pocketbook of working families from OPECs profiteering by supporting the amendment. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"CHARLES SCHUMER","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5120,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090020802,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Similar savings may be available to Americas seniors from the savings achieved using the HHS bargaining power. like the Veterans Affairs bargaining power for the benefit of veterans. These savings may provide Americas seniors with fiscal relief from the increasing costs of prescription drugs. I believe this bill can provide desperately needed access to inexpensive. effective prescription drugs for Americas seniors. The time has come for concerted action in this arena. I urge my colleagues to move this legislation forward promptly. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4241,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090020805,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"China is a textbook case of how a foreign government has used a network of illegal subsidies and government interventions in order to destroy foreign competition. both in the United States as well as in many other countries. According to the U.S. China Economic and Security Commission. these actions have gone virtually unchallenged by the U.S. government. despite the fact that Chinas actions are in clear violations of both U.S. trade law and WTO rules. These \"anticompetitive actions by Chinas government include currency manipulation (estimated to provide as much as a 40 percent subsidy for Chinese exporters). illegal direct government subsidies of its money losing stateowned textile and apparel sectors. illegal export tax rebates (13 percent) and the deliberate extension of billions of dollars in nonperforming (\"free money\") loans by Chinas central banks in order to award a competitive advantage against foreign competition.\" The Commission goes on to say that \"in the case of China. the dramatic increase in subsidies has .caused Chinese prices to drop by an average of 58 percent over the past two years in those product areas where quotas have been removed. As a result. China has gained a near monopoly share in these products over the last 24 months. taking 60 percent of the market.\" However. the U.S. government has failed to file any complaints at the WTO. despite the Chinese governments repeated and widespread violations of WTO rules. Our governments inaction is costing us millions of American jobs. crippling our manufacturing sector. distorting trade and investment patterns globally. and leaving hundreds of millions of Chinese workers vulnerable and mistreated. Let me give you a concrete example of the violations that are occurring. Counterfeit automotive products are a big problem in my home State of Michigan. Not only does it kill American jobs. but it has the potential to kill Americans as cheap shoddy automotive products replace legitimate ones of higherquality. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5473,"word_count":316}
{"speech_id":1090020807,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This legislation offers two separate grant programs to help different types of businesses pool their resources and bargaining power. Both programs would aid businesses to form cooperatives. The first program would help large businesses that sponsor their own health plans. while the second program would help small businesses that purchase their health insurance. My bill would enable larger businesses to form costeffective cooperatives that could offer quality health care through several ways. First. they could obtain health services through pooled purchasing from physicians. hospitals. home health agencies. and others. By pooling their experience and interests. employers involved in a coalition could better address essential issues. such as rising health insurance rates and the lack of comparable health care quality data. They would be able to share information regarding the quality of these services and to partner with these health care providers to meet the needs of their employees. For smaller businesses that purchase their health insurance. the formation of cooperatives would allow them to buy health insurance at lower prices through pooled purchasing. Also. the communication within these cooperatives would provide employees of small businesses with better information about the health care options that are available to them. Finally. coalitions would serve to promote quality improvements by facilitating partnerships between their group and the health care providers. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6810,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090020810,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. as in executive session. I ask unanimous consent the Banking Committee be discharged from further consideration of PN 76. Pamela Hughes Patenaude. to be an Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. I further ask consent that the nomination be confirmed. the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. and the President be immediately notified of the Senates action.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":394,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090020917,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to discuss an. amendment that I. along with my friend from Arizona. Senator JON KYL. have introduced. This amendment represents a practical alternative to S. 359. which has been introduced by Senator CRAIG. commonly known as the AgJOBS bill. My hometown of Moultrie. GA. is located in Colquitt County. It is one of the most diversified agricultural counties in the country and often referred to as the most diversified agricultural county east of the Mississippi River. During my 26 years of practicing law. before I came to Congress I represented farmers who grow almost every kind of crop there is. These farmers. as do most farmers in America. depend very heavily upon migrant labor for their means of planting. harvesting. and getting their crops to market. ","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8868,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090020962,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise in strong support of the proposal offered by Senators CRAIG and KENNEDY. I see Senator KENNEDY on the floor and Senator CRAIG on the floor. Their work is a testament to their. persistence and the staying power of a handful of agricultural workers and employers who have been willing to set aside ideology and partisanship to hammer out -a major overhaul of our law in this area.","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":400,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090021017,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to speak about immigration and the issue that will be before us for two very important votes tomorrow. My colleague from Alabama is also in the Chamber. I will take the allotted time under the unanimous consent. and then I think he wants to spend more time on these issues. What I find very fascinating is that everyone who has come to the Senate floor this afternoon to talk about immigration agrees that our country is in near crisis at this moment for our inability to control our borders. to stem the tide of illegal movement into our country. and to fashion comprehensive or targeted immigration law that effectively works. Simply put. our Federal Government has to do better. It has to move faster in improving our border security and meeting this phenomenally large and Important issue of illegal immigration. Congress is no further along today on a comprehensive bill than it was a year ago at this time when my bill. the AgJOBS bill. had a thorough hearing before the Judiciary Committee. It is now well over 1.300 days since we woke up after 9\/11 with thousands of our country men and women dead and a phenomenal frightening awakening on the part of the American people that there were millions of undocumented foreign nationals living in our country. ","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7111,"word_count":223}
{"speech_id":1090021035,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank my colleague for yielding. What is important is the bill be read very thoroughly. Extrapolations can be made. But when it says 100 hours of work. I think it is important to assume you would only work 1 hour a day for 100 days. That is iot a very logical process. I thank the Senator for yielding.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":304,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090021114,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"First. I commend my colleagues from California and Vermont for recognizing such a remarkable woman. someone who represents everything that is good and peaceful about America and who set an example in such a tumultuous time and place but clearly giving all of the love she had to give at a time when it was needed the most. I thank my colleagues for taking the time to recognize that.","speaker_name":"BLANCHE LINCOLN","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":383,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090021121,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We lose jobs. and not just farmworker jobs. Agricultural economists tell us each farmworker job in these industries supports 31\/2 jobs in the surrounding economy: processing. packaging. transportation. equipment. supplies. lending. and insurance. They are good jobs. filled by Americans. We lose them if we do not do this the right way. Work in these industries in Ohio is seasonal. demanding. and out in the weather. Many of our producers have tried to use the existing H2A program. This is especially true of our nursery. sod. and Christmas tree growers. They represent 79 percent of the H2A use in Ohio. The program is expensive. bureaucratic. and a litigation nightmarethat is the current program. The program is failing and it needs fixing. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE VOINOVICH","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9906,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090021172,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. as we are in the midst of this important debate on the war supplemental. immigration. and other pressing issues. all over America things are happening that dont always make it to this floor. This week in my State and in my home city. where I was born. Atlanta. GA. there will be a retirement. Mr. Mark Fitzgerald will retire from his years of service with the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Atlanta. an association he has built to become one of the largest in the United States of America. He will be honored. There will be testimonials. There will be gifts. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ISAKSON","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1246,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090021177,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Recognizing that creating healthy neighborhoods begins but does not end with public safety. Anne Blumenberg expanded the Community Law Centers programs to include economic development and real estate issues. Today the center has successful projects to end predatory lending and flipping practices and. to end the blight of vacant properties in city neighborhoods. Further. the volunteer spirit that gave the center its start lives on in its pro bono project. which currently has 185 active pro bono attorneys and has opened over 500 cases serving hundreds of organizations in the Baltimore area. In addition to the hours she has dedicated to the Community Law Center. Anne Blumenberg has generously donated her time to serve as a board member to numerous other community organizations. including Civil Justice. Inc.. Empowerment Legal Services. the Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning. and the Lawyers Clearinghouse. And she has literally \"written the book\" on starting a nonprofit organization: her manual. \"Starting a NonProfit Organization: A Practical Guide.\" is now in its fourth edition. ","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3369,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090021179,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Reverend T.F. Tenney for more than 25 years of guidance. service and leadership throughout the great state of Louisiana. I recognize Reverend T.F. Tenney. United Pentecostal Church District Superintendent for the State of Louisiana. Reverend Tenney retired on March 31. 2005. after 26 years of service in central Louisiana and throughout the state. More than 4.000 people came to offer heartfelt appreciation and best wishes at his retirement ceremony. Through his role as district superintendent. he was responsible for overseeing all of Louisianas United Pentecostal Churches. ","speaker_name":"DAVID VITTER","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1132,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090021187,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I encourage my colleagues to work with us to ensure that the improvements that would be brought about by this bill are in place before- the next filing season begins. As I previously stated. this legislation is composed of several provisions. The first section would create a $10 million matching grant program for lower income tax preparation clinics much like the program we have currently have in place for tax controversies. I have seen first hand the impact free tax preparation clinics can have on taxpayers and their communities. as we are fortunate to have one of the best statewide programs in the nation in New Mexico. TaxHelp New Mexico. which was started only a couple of years ago. helped 17.000 New Mexicans prepare and file their returns last year. resulting in over $14 million in refundsall without refund anticipation loans. This year they are on pace to pass their goal of helping 25.000 elderly and economically disadvantaged taxpayers with free tax preparation and electronic filing of their returns. This program. started by Fred Gordon and Robin Brule from TVI and Carol Radosevich and Jeff Sterba from PNM. has turned into one of the best delivery mechanisms for public assistance I have seen in the state. This program has beep fortunate to receive. additional funding from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the McCune Foundation. In order to continue to grow. though. we need to do our part in Congress and give them matching funding so they can continue their outreach into new communities in need of assistance. ","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6712,"word_count":258}
{"speech_id":1090021196,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am pleased that the Senate is going to pass S. 289. a bill to reauthorize the Mental Health Court Program and provide $10 million in grant funding annually for mental health courts through fiscal year 2011. I am the lead Democratic sponsor of this bill. and cosponsored similar legislation in the last Congress. Senator DEWINE and I have worked together on a number of mental health issues. Last year. we worked together to enact the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act. which authorizes $50 million annually for a range of State and local projects designed to reduce . the number of crimes committed by mentally ill individuals. We are now working together to obtain appropriations to fund the new law. As former prosecutors. Senator DEWINE and I both realize the -tremendous impact of mental illness on our criminal justice system. We need to stop the \"revolving door\" whereby mentally ill offenders cycle in and out of the criminal justice system for relatively minor offenses. taking up the time and resources of law enforcement officers. judges. and the community as a whole. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1426,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090021257,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That kind of employment arrangement would be irrational. If someone did show up and claim they had worked 1 hour a day for 100 days. that would be a reason to investigate them for fraud.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":759,"word_count":35}
{"speech_id":1090021281,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I understand it is kind of the semantics we played a few moments ago. Temporary is not permanent. even though they are permanently here temporarily. I understand those semantics. yes. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act. 1 hour is a day. But I do require not 1 hour. I require 100 days. You require 1 hour.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":305,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090021287,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In my situation. they must have worked and. of course. they must do that full background check we all go through. It is a timeconsuming thing. One of the things the American people want that we are both doing is to control the current illegal population. to identify and find out who they are. to make sure they are not bad people. if we are going to grant them the right to stay and work. That we both accomplish. It is not just. oh. get a card because you got 100 hours or. oh. you get a card because you got 1 hour. in your circumstance. It is because you have submitted yourself to a full background check. That is 14 pages in the current code of this country as it relates to immigration. That is very significant for all of us.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":733,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090021289,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I certainly hope we are not about to make this law. I understand. at one point. there were over. 50 cosponsors to the CraigKennedy legislation. which is breath.taking. in a way. But I dont think the American people and Members of this body fully understand the import of it. It is a big deal. I say to my colleagues. you will be voting on this soon. I urge you to get your mind focused on what we are abouit to vote on and I urge you to say. \"I am not ready to vote\" on such comprehensive legislationthis is a Defense bill\"-and vote no. That is the first thing we ought to do. Let me see if I can summarize. from reading this legislation carefully. what I think the AgJOBS amendment says without any doubt. People who are here illegally. for any number of reasons. who should not be here contrary to the law. and. therefore. are who also working illegally and violating American lawunder this bill. if they have worked 100 hours in. 100 days. meaning 1 hour per day. within 18 monthsvirtually no real work is required in the 18 monthsthey become. immediately. just like that. a lawful temporary resident. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7582,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090021307,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. reserving the right to object. we dont have very much time on our side. and that would mean that we could get out of time without the other side even coming down here until the very end. May I ask the ChairI would like to pose a parliamentary questionunder the agreement that was entered into. the time is not taken equally off of both sides in a quorum call. is it?","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":381,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090021399,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"At a time when our military is already stretched thin. why would we want to eliminate one of the most effective methods of projecting our power and possibly opening up an area of vulnerability for the United States and our allies. The decision is clear: We must preserve at least a 12carrier minimum for the safety of Americans and for the rest of the world. particularly our allies. I strongly support this amendment and urge my colleagues to do the same. This amendment offers a lifeline to the USS John F. Kennedy. and I am pleased that my good partner. Senator WARNER. was able to offer this commonsense approach to keeping the Kennedy viable as well as our deterrence and our ability to protect our interests in the western Pacific. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":756,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090021456,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today in support of the Save Our Small and Seasonal Business Act. offered as an amendment by Senator MIKULSKI to the Supplemental Appropriations Act. As many of my colleagues have stated. this amendment is very simple and straightforward. It is a temporary fix and does not reward illegal workers. It basically allows those workers who have followed the rules and returned home at the end of their season to come back to work in the United States and not count against the H2B visa cap. As the situation stands right now. the many businesses across our Nation that use the visas are limited by how many can be approved each year. The demand of the visas is high and the Department of Labor has certified that there are positions that cannot be filled locally. With the cap being for the entire fiscal year. those businesses with their season in the fall and winter have a better chance of getting the employees they need. In Wyoming. we have strong summer and winter seasons. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2704,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090021470,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. for the purpose of completing action on cleared amendments. there are two amendments that do not require a rollcall vote. Senator HUTCHISON has an amendment and Senator CHAMBLISS has an amendment. I ask unanimous consent that it be in order for them to offer those amendments at this time.","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":304,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090021476,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask all of my colleagues to support this amendment.","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":635,"word_count":10}
{"speech_id":1090021557,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the distinguished Senator. my friend from Vermont. He is a valuable member of the Appropriations Committee. Mr. President. I am pleased with the progress we have been able to make on this supplemental appropriations bill today. The Senate is working hard to ensure we consider requests that have merit which should be included in this bill. The focus of the bill. as everyone realizes. though. is on assisting and providing for our troops. the Department of Defense facilities that are located in Iraq. trying to\" help ensure we protect the forces we have there. giving them what they need to bring these operations to a successful conclusion. We have made tremendous progress there. as well as in Afghanistan. bringing an opportunity for peace and freedom to the people of both of those countries. ","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2097,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090021569,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Sue has experience in grant writing. program creation and implementation. She has presented training on numerous occasions in the community and for BMW on leadership. legislation. and many other topics of interest. Sue was instrumental in planning the state legislative conference in February 2000. Sue is a team player and is a selfstarter with decision making and leadership abilities. She has experience as a mentor and is devoted to empowering all persons to be equal as human beings. Sue is a dedicated and creative person who will speak up for ideas that promote BMW and womens issues. She believes that we grow more from embracing our differences and learning from each others experiences and knowledge. Sue is currently selfemployed since 1998 in private practice as a Licensed Mental Health Therapist. Prior to that. Sue was clinical director for a community health agency for eight years. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2610,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090021570,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am pleased to commend Ken Murphree of Tunica for his distinguished service as president of Delta Council this year. Delta Council is an economic development organization representing the 18 Delta and partDelta counties of northwest Mississippi. Delta Council was organized in 1935 to bring together the agriculture and business leadership of the region to focus on the challenges which face the economy and society of the Delta. Ken Murphree has served admirably as president of Delta Council. and with his distinguished record of public service as a county administrator for DeSoto County during its early years as a growtharea for the Memphis metropolitan region. and more recently. as the county administrator for Tunica County. MS. he has provided careful and responsible leadership for orderly economic growth in our State. The growth of the local tax base in Tunica County. MS. resulting from the rapid expansion of the gaming industry in that area. has ben characterized as a model and a standard by which other rural growth areas are measured. Ken Murphree has been a strong proponent of Delta Councils programs of education and health care during the past year. ","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1984,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090021574,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I am reintroducing a measure that will begin to restore democracy for dairy farmers throughout the Nation. When dairy farmers across the country voted on a referendum six years ago. perhaps the most significant change in dairy policy in sixty years. they didnt actually get to vote. Instead. their dairy marketing cooperatives cast their votes for them. This procedure is called \"bloc voting\" and it is used all the time. Basically. a Cooperatives Board of Directors decides that. in the interest of time. bloc voting will be implemented for that particular vote. It may serve the interest of time. but it doesnt always serve the interests of their producer ownermembers. While I think that bloc voting can be a useful tool in some circumstances. I have serious concerns about its use in every circumstance. Farmers in Wisconsin and in other States tell me that they do not agree with their cooperatives view on every vote. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2516,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090021582,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent between the comments I have made. which have not been made from a text. and the text of my language which I am currently stating. be included. so that those who read the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. if anyone does. will know the repetition in the prepared text is occasioned by the fact that the initial statement was made without reference to a text and there will necessarily be some repetition in the prepared text. I thank the Chair. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":565,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090021584,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In improving the way the asbestos legislation handles exigent claimsthose victims who are sickest and may not have long to liveSenator FEINSTEIN was instrumental in developing a creative solution. I thank the senior Senator from California for her tireless efforts on behalf of sick and dying asbestos victims. These victims should not be forced to wait a year while this new trust fund gets organized and ready to process claims. Under Senator FEINSTEINs approach. which we adopted. exigent cases would receive an immediate lumpsum payment. and. as I noted earlier. if the fund is not operational in nine months. these sickest victims will be able to continue their cases in court. As part of this compromise legislation. a particular class of lung cancer sufferers. those who have had significant asbestos exposure but no markings of asbestosrelated disease. are not treated as compensable victims for purposes of the asbestos trust fund. Because of the absence of markings. it is not possible to establish asbestos as the cause of their disease. If they develop markings. however. they will become eligible for compensation from the asbestos trust fund. As with many other administrative claims processes. this bill sets a limit on attorneys fee. In connection with this asbestos fund. the limit is set at 5 percent on victims awards within the fund. In addition. in order to prevent victims of asbestos exposure from retooling their complaints to circumvent the asbestos trust fund. the bill also imposes a higher burden of proof within the tort system for plaintiffs seeking damages resulting from exposure to silica. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6378,"word_count":261}
{"speech_id":1090021589,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking. Housing. and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 19. 2005. at 3 p.m.. to conduct a hearing on \"Proposals for Improving the Regulation of the Housing Government Sponsored Enterprises.\"","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":295,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090021597,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans Affairs be author-. ized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday. April 19. 2005. to mark up the nomination of Mr. Jonathan B. Perlin to be Under Secretary for Health. Department of Veterans Affairs. and to hold a Committee hearing titled \"Back from the Battlefield.. Part H: Seamless Transition to Civilian Life.\". The meeting will take place in room 418 of the Russell Senate Office .Building at 10:15 a.m.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":490,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090021601,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"DC.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":614,"word_count":1}
{"speech_id":1090021603,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Seapower be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 19. 2005. at 3 p.m.. in open session to receive testimony on United States Marine Corps Ground and Rotary Wing Program and Seabasing. in review of the defense authorization request for fiscal year 2006.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":339,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090021611,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I now ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it Stand in adjournment until 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday. April 20. I further ask that following the prayer and the pledge. the morning hour be deemed to have expired. the Journal of the proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and there then be a period of morning business for up to 60 minutes. with the first 30 minutes under the control of the Democratic leader or his designee. and the final 30 minutes under the control of the majority leader or his designee. provided that following morning business the Senate resume consideration of H.R. 1268. the IraqAfghanistan supplemental appropriations bill. provided further that notwithstanding morning business and the adjournment of the Senate. all time be counted against cloture under rule XXII.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":873,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090021626,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There is no question that America in this century will rely much more heavily on renewables and conservation. The sad note is that we are slipping behind the Chinese. who are increasing their- cars fuel efficiency standards. and further behind the European and Japanese. who are already racing ahead of us inenergy efficiency. Even in a defensedominated. securityobsessed environment that this Congress operates in. we cannot make energy investments that will at least enhance our military to make the military and Americas families more secure. We can and should do better.","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4039,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090021641,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"F. Lee Bailey. Professor Charles Ogletree and other legendary legal scholars. Johnnie Cochran was an incredible human being who really cared about the plight of the poor and disadvantaged regardless of race. color. creed. or religion. Johnnie was often fond of saying. \"The. clients I cared about the most are the No Js. the ones who nobody knows.\" Attorney Cochran truly believed in justice for all. Even after death. Johnnies legal legacy was larger than life. His funeral last week in Los Angeles. entitled \"Johnnies Journey To Justice.\" was a celebration of his incredible life. The Alist of celebrity clients were among more than 5.000 admirers saying goodbye to their hero who fought for civil rights. police reform. and basic human rights for everyone. ","speaker_name":"DIANE WATSON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":33.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1974,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090021643,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"\"times awasting.\"","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BURGESS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1427,"word_count":2}
{"speech_id":1090021661,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. S. 167 includes several intellectual propertyrelated measures that were considered during the previous Congress. but were unable to be acted on by both Houses prior to adjournment. Notably. this legislation addresses the growing desire of parents to be able to control what their children see in the privacy of their own homes. One component .of this legislation. the Family Movie Act. clarifies that existing copyright and trademark law cannot be used to prevent a parent from utilizing available technology to skip over portions of a movie they may find objectionable. The legislation also addresses the rampant piracy problem facing our Nations creative community. New technologies have made theft and duplication of copyrighted works easier than ever before. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2087,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090021720,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to support the appointment of Robert P. Kogod as a citizen regent of the Smithsonian Institution. Bob received a B.S. in 1962 from American University located in Washington. DC. He joined the Smith Companies in 1959 where he served as president. chief executive officer and director until 2001. Rob is a member of the boards of directors of Vornado Realty Trust and ArchstoneSmith Trust. Bob also serves as President of the Hartman Institute in Jerusalem which is home to the Kogod Institute for Advanced Jewish Research. In 1979. the Kogod School of Business at American University was named in honor of a major gift from the Kogods. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1429,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090021746,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to thank the men and women of our Armed Forces for the courage and the dedication that they have so bravely displayed while liberating and securing Iraq from tyranny and terrorism. Through their hard work and dedication. these Marines. sailors. airmen. and soldiers have succeeded in defeating terrorism and giving birth to a new democracy in the Middle East. one that will serve as a model for the entire region. Every day. U.S. forces transfer more security responsibilities to Iraqis. giving them the tools that they need to secure their nation. Today. there are more than 150.000 Iraqi security forces who have been trained and equipped by the United States and our coalition forces. Iraqis now patrol Baghdads hotspots. partsof Mosul. Fallujah. and Saddams hometown of Tikrit. Every week. between 1.500 and .3.000 new Iraqi security forces enter active duty. joining the U.S. and coalition forces in our joint battle against terrorism. ","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3224,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090021756,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And the truth is that every Congress. every Congress. at the end of hostilities has had a package ofcompensation for its veterans. Going back to the War of Independence. disabled veterans received a pension. There has not been a military engagement that the United States Congress. as the voice of the American people. has not designed a package for its returning vets. and it is high time that the 109th Congress follow the great tradition of every Congress before and begin to think what we will do for the vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Two weeks ago I met the Marine Corps 2nd Battalion 21st Regiment. I had seen them off 7 months earlier. and greeted them at Rosemont Horizon Arena in the Chicago suburbs. and saw those families. And one father said to me in a very poignant way. that this reception was a lot different from the reception he received about 35 years ago when he came home. Now. what I have done in this package. which we have put together now with 15 sponsors. and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. the Illinois Chapter has endorsed and supported. is three parts: education. health care and housing. In the area of education. today. full benefits would be around $36.000 in 3 years under the Montgomery GI educational benefits. and you would have to pay $1.800 to get that $35.000. The Welcome Home GI Bill is 75.000 over 4 years. and you do not have to pay $1.800 to get that educational benefit because. in the view of the legislation. your service is your contribution. You do not have to pay $1.800 to receive an educational benefit. whether that is for college. 4 years of education. whether it is for job training. whether it is for postgraduate work. that benefit you earned by your service. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4595,"word_count":306}
{"speech_id":1090021759,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Following training. he was assigned to Special Forces Bravo Company and sent to Iraq on September 7 just having turned 21. Not 6 weeks later he was promoted to specialist and 2 days after that the attack that changed his life forever occurred. Now facing the greatest challenge of his young life. to return from a near mortal head and bodily injuries and trying to regain as much strength as he can. Matthew Drakes dream of becoming a physical therapist have turned to dreams of gaining inches of recovery day by day. He had always planned to work in a profession where he could be of help or service to other people. Yet his commitment to his family. his feeling responsible to protect his younger siblings brought him to a most dangerous place. He felt he had a job to do. and he did it. How many times have we heard that sentiment echoed by the families of the more than 11.000 service members injured in Iraq? Matthew Drake joins the 6.050 of those who were not able to shortly return to duty and whose future in service to America and their God will take another form. Matthew faces struggles of rehabilitation most of us cannot imagine. Even swallowing whole food is still not possible. -Matthews story represents one familys heroic struggle multiplied by more than 11.000 families whose loved ones have been injured and the over 1.550 who have had to lay their loved ones to rest. ","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5650,"word_count":248}
{"speech_id":1090021762,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. later this week the House will vote on energy legislation that concerns every man and woman in America. This energy bill presents a terrific opportunity to reduce our Nations continued dependence on petroleum by promoting clean and renewable energy sources. But instead of encouraging the use of renewable energy. this Neanderthal legislation promotes the interest of corporations through tax breaks that encourage air pollution. water contamination. and the general destruction of our environment. This energy legislation will harm more than our environment. Americans continued reliance on fossil fuels is the single largest factor that contributes to 6ur national insecurity. That is because we obtain most of our. fossil fuels from the Middle East. a region where democracy is about as common as desert oases. By spending billions of dollars annually on foreign fuels. the United States supports autocratic regimes in countries like Saudi Arabia. Libya. and Venezuela. The citizens of oilrich countries run by despots rarely. if ever. receive even a dime from these oil sales. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4431,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090021860,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There cannot be at the prison door a wave and say: So long. you served your 23 years. have a good life. There must be highlevel monitoring. It is unbelievable to me that we know the names of these people who are committing these murders because they have been behind bars and they are released despite the fact that psychiatrists. psychologists. and others judge them to be at high risk for reoffending. I dont want to see the list of victims. which includes Dru Sjodin. Polly Klaas. Jessica Lunsford. and Sarah Lunde. get longer. We can do something about this. We can pass this legislation. Incidentally. this legislation which I reintroduced now with ARLEN SPECTER was passed by unanimous consent last year. We did not get it through the House. but I have now reintroduced it. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4497,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090021862,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I hope. as we proceed in the coming days. there will be some sober reflection among those who understand the roles of those in this institution and the judiciary. who understand the separation of powers. and who understand checks and balances. If that is the case. those who now talk about the socalled nuclear option will rethink their position. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3502,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090021870,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So now those who support the rejected nominees are saying they were rejected because of their faith. You see what they are trying to do. They are trying to draw us into a position where we are going to use religion as some sort of weapon in this debate. That is a mistake. The Constitution. which has carefully separated church and state throughout our history. says to every American that they have a right of conscience to decide what they want to believe. When we start imposing religious tests. as some in the right would have us do. it is a serious mistake. As Mr. DELAY lashes out at Supreme Court Justices and -others for their outrageous conduct in \"doing research on the Internet.\" ana we see these rallies that are attacking those who are upholding Senate rules and traditions of over 200 years based on some flawed interpretation of ouff Constitution. we understand it is time for Americans who really want to see moderate and balanced and fair judges to speak out. We have to have the process where the rules are respected. where we have checks and balances in our Government. and where people seeking lifetime appointments must demonstrate not only honesty and competency but the fact that they are in tune with the values and the needs of the American people. Unfortunately. in the case of 10 judges. many of us believe the nominees sent by the White House do not meet that test. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3054,"word_count":247}
{"speech_id":1090021988,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am happy to assure the Senator we will have an opportunity to vote on any amendments that require votes. There are some Senators who are off the premises right now and I ask they be given some notice so they can get back. We will confer with the leader and I will consult with the Senator from Illinois. I thank the Senator for his assurances.","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":360,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090021991,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I paid attention. Let me tell you what they said: REAL ID threatens to eliminate relief for immigrants most in need of protectionthose fleeing persecution in their home countries. REAL ID is inconsistent with our commitment to international agreements relating to refugees. and it violates some of the rights that we. as a nation of immigrants and a global leader of human rights. cherish. Madam President. I ask unanimous consent to have this letter printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1279,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090021993,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. clearly. the REAL ID Act is a Draconian piece of legislation that would impose unnecessary hardships on the States and the American people and lead us to turn away deserving refugees who are fleeing persecution. I sincerely hdpe the Senate Republican leadership. which has said they do not want this provision in this bill. will oppoe its inclusion in the conference report. Madam President. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":427,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090022067,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We simply do not know. since it is not a decision of the central Government of Japanit is x decision of the local municipal governments that influence the deciAionwhether they will be receptive to a nuclearpowered carrier. If some time between now and 2008. when the conventionally powered. carrier. the Kitty Hawk. that is residing in Japan. is scheduled to be decommissioned. if at some time in that time period Japan says no to a nuclear carrier. suddenly we are without an aircraft carrier homeported in Japan. I remind the Senate what the Chief of Naval Operations. the fourstar chief admiral of the Navy. testified to before the Senate Armed Services Committee: With the rising threat of China. one carrier in Japan is worth a great deal to him as opposed to other carriers that are stationed elsewhere around the world. If I could get the attention of the Senator from Virginia. I want him to hear my appreciation because he has. in his independent and expert judgment. come to this conclusion. He has stepped forth and offered this amendment so it would be led by the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and many of his bipartisan membership who have joined with him. Mr. President. I say to all Senators. listen to the chairman. He knows what he is talking about. ","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2717,"word_count":223}
{"speech_id":1090022074,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. when Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act in 2001. the Enhanced Border Security Act of 2002. and the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. Congress recognized. on a bipartisan basis. the need to provide more people and more resources to patrol and secure our borders.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":301,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090022105,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. first of all. I compliment Chairman COCHRAN for all of his hard work on this bill. and I appreciate so many of the Members who I have been able to work with for a better understanding in how we approach the ability we have to help our service men and women. That is exactly the intention of my amendmentto provide the Army the ability to study some of the tools that are used in other branches of the armed services in order to be able to provide the correct direction on the leave policies that they have. We all certainly share our pride and our gratitude for the service men and women from our Guard units and Reserve units in our home States who have portrayed such courage and dedication to our Nation and to the freedoms for which they fight. As they return. we want to ensure that every opportunity is made available to them. and certainly we want to give them everything they need to readjust and transition back into their communities. So I am delighted to be able to offer this study. It is giving theArmy. National Guard the opportunity to study what. the Air National Guard. and. Air Force do in their leave policy. ","speaker_name":"BLANCHE LINCOLN","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1491,"word_count":210}
{"speech_id":1090022179,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Additionally. there are other nonrecoverable costs totaling $47.1 million. Some of these are planning costs that will be required to be spent again if the complex overhaul of the Kennedy is reinstated. thereby increasing the original cost estimate of the complex overhaul. The Navy also informs me that workload disruptions throughout all shipyards would be severe if their workload mitigation plans were changed at this point in the fiscal year. I repeat that. They have told me workload disruptions throughout all naval shipyards would be severe if their workload mitigation plans were changed at this point in the fiscal year. I will try to respond to my colleagues who suggest the Kennedy would be available to replace the USS Kitty Hawk. which is currently forward deployed and permanently homeported in Japan. if the Kitty Hawk was not available for operations. The Navy assures me the Kennedy would not be moved to Japan if something happened to the Kitty Hawk. The Navy leadership believes the Kennedy does not provide the capabilities required to meet the mission for that area of responsibility. Although the Kennedy is older than the Kitty Hawk. the Navy- provides regular upgrades and maintenance on the Kitty Hawk to keep her in excellent material condition. If the Kitty Hawk becomes unavailable for operations. the Navy will rotate a nuclear carrier into the region until the Kitty Hawk would be repaired. ","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7823,"word_count":232}
{"speech_id":1090022180,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I think there is adequate testimony in our records of the Armed Services Committee to the effect the Navy believes keeping a ship in that area of operation. particularly at this time of heightened tension. is in the interest of our national security and our ability to work with our allies and friends in that region. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1730,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090022182,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Between now and when the Kitty Hawk is going to retire in 2008. we do not have any assurance the municipal government in Japan is going to say: We will accept a nuclearpowered carrier. Therefore. out of prudent and conservative planning. for our projection of forces in the Pacific region. we should keep this conventional carrier alive.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1780,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090022194,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my good colleague Senator WARNER for his great leadership on this matter. This is a bipartisan effort. Let us recall what this amendment is about. It is to provide our Navy with the maximum flexibility to project our power in East Asia. The Senators amendment says before we mothball the JFK. two things have to happen. There is the Quadrennial Defense Review to determine how this mixture should be. and actually 180 days thereafter. and also assure us we can have a nuclear carrier ported in Japan. .which prohibits nuclearpowered ships in their land. A little over 2 years ago. Admiral Clark said: The current force of 12 carriers and 12 amphibious groups is the minimum we can have to sustain the operations we are in. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1839,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090022201,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The threats in the western Pacific are greater than they were before. Even last year. the funding was put in for this year for the refurbishment and the maintenance of the JFK. For the sake of our security and the flexibility we need for projecting our power. protecting our interests in the Far East. the wise thing to do is accept the amendment of the Senator from Virginia. which is shared by cosponsors from Florida and elsewhere. I yield to the Senator from Florida.","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":471,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090022205,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the chairman for yielding. I am the chairman of the Seapower Subcommittee. which is kind of strange given that I am from Missouri. It is not as though we have ports or shipyards in Missouri. although we do build the planes that go on these carriers. I want to endorse this amendment. which I have cosponsored. and endorse what other Senators have said in support of it and briefly give the Senate the broader picture. Several years ago the Chief of Naval Operations opined that we needed about 375 ships in the U.S. Navy to meet the national military strategy. basically to protect our security. We now have around 288. A Quadrennial Defense Review is underway. ","speaker_name":"JAMES TALENT","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2127,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090022218,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I regret being here with this argument because Ihave such deep respect for Senator WARNER. the Senator from Virginia. the former Secretary of Navy. But I think this year I am going to be at this desk saying this again and again. We are in a program of reshaping our military. We are looking out to the future. based on the lessons we have learned in Afghanistan and Iraq and the war on terrorism. We note some of the failures of our system. One of them is the failure to modernize in time. We got behind. The very fact that this 40yearold vessel is out there with overhaul appropriations was wrong. to begin with. ","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1564,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090022253,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We are not asking for any more money. We have mentioned everything in this billphysical disabilities. mental illness. loss of fishing boats. highways. houses. schools. I have read every page of it. and I am on the Appropriations Committee. I cannot find a mention in here about the U.S. Governmentafter many of us have traveled to the region and taken pictures with orphans and with the families and promised aid. I dont see why we cannot earmark and set as a priority $25 million. which is a small amount of money. to this end. That is basically the argument. I hope the leadership will accept it. I thank the chairman. the Senator from Mississippi. for :his great help and support. I know it is a difficult bill to move through. ","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3341,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090022274,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This has been a matter of some public attention in Newsweek Magazine and elsewhere. It is a chronic need we need to address now. The figure the Army indicates they currently needand allegedly have metwould not have been met at all if. last year. we had not taken similar action to do what I am currently requesting. They would have had funding for thousands of fewer vehicles and not met the need that currently they suggest is imperative. The figure they are saying is sufficient today includesthink about thisa range of attrition of 226 vehicles throughout the combat in Iraq. They have only lost 226 uparmored humvees throughout the last 2 years in that theater. This is below the attrition rate of 10 to 15 percent. suggesting strongly that they are erring yet againfor the tenth time. I ask my colleagues. when it comes to something this important. with a track record of underestimating the need this clear. should we not err on the side of doing more. rather than less. when it comes to protecting the lives and safety of our military men and women? I note some of my colleagues. who I esteem greatly on the other side of the aisle. will suggest the generals are simply saying we dont have an additional need at this time. Mr. President. that is not what the troops are saying. ","speaker_name":"EVAN BAYH","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3449,"word_count":229}
{"speech_id":1090022404,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. as the Senate is aware. I proposed an amendment identified as No. 429. which is still pending in the Senate. That amendment is verbatim the amendment that came out of the House of Representatives with regard to the REAL ID and came to us on the supplemental appropriations emergency bill. I am about to ask unanimous consent to withdraw that amendment. Prior to doing so. I want to be clear for the record I believe the House position on the REAL ID. the 9\/11 Commission position. which is where that came from. and the security of our borders is truly an emergency situation and an appropriate place for that amendment to be on the emergency supplemental for Iraq and Afghanistan. I respect those who had differences. and I respect those who have withdrawn -amendments to this bill. Because of that. and because we are reaching a conclusion. I will respectfully ask unanimous consent my amendment be withdrawn with the express understanding that I sincerely hope the conferees and the conference committee. before this bill finally comes to rest. will have agreed that position is correct. that REAL ID will have been included. and they will have addressed the security of our borders and the identification of those entering the United States of America. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ISAKSON","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1327,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090022410,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. there are many Members on both sides of the aisle with strong objections to the REAL ID Act. which the House included in its version of the emergency supplemental and which .Senator ISAKSON has offered as an amendment. -I oppose the REAL ID Act because I value our Nations historic commitment to asylum. and do not want to see severe restrictions placed on the ability of asylum seekers to obtain refuge here. I oppose it because I value States rights. and side with the National Governors Association. the National Conference of State Legislatures. and the Council of State Governments in objecting to the imposition of unworkable Federal mandates on State drivers license policies. And I oppose the REAL ID Act because I support environmental protection and the rule of law. both of which the act would subvert by requiring the DHS Secretary to waive all laws. environmental or otherwise. that may get in the way of the construction of border fences or barriers. and by forbidding judicial review of the Secretarys actions. Although I oppose the REAL ID Act. I respect Senator ISAKSONs desire to LTEJ: April 20. 2005 debate it in the Senate. The Senate should have a debate and vote on his amendment. and state clearly where we stand. I fear that if we do not. the Senates silence will be treated as acquiescence by the Republican conferees from both Chambers. As a result. we will see this highly objectionable legislation included in an unamendable conference report. Such a backdoor approach may be the preferred course of action for the Senates Republican leadershiip. but it is no way for us to conduct our business. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2290,"word_count":278}
{"speech_id":1090022464,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"China has come out firmly against the U.N. Security Council holding Iran economically accountable for its nuclear program. Likewise. in Sudan. China seeks to defuse or delay any U.N. sanctions against Khartoum. It hardly seems coincidence that 4 percent of its oil imports come from that conflict stricken country. a supply that China seems ready to protect at all costs. Keep in mind we are talking about the same area \"in northern Uganda and southern Sudan where they have the terrorist attacks that have consistently gone out. where they abduct these young children. train them to be soldiers. instruct them to kill their parents. and if they do not do it. they cut their arms off. their lips off. and their ears off. That makes no difference to China. If it means 4 percent of its oil imports potential in the future. they are willing to do it. The United States and the European Union have sanctioned Zimbabwe. hoping to pressure its corrupt regime into reforms. China. on the other hand. has boosted aid and investment. working to blunt the sanctions. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10162,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090022476,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In 1923. the people of the region overthrew the Ottoman government and established modern day Turkey. Since its establishment. the Republic of Turkey has disputed the tragic suffering inflicted on the Armenian people during this period. Sadly. it is estimated that 1.5 million Armenians perished between 1915 and 1923. Affirming the truth about the Armenian genocide has become an issue of international significance. The recurrence of genocid6 in the twentieth century has made the recognition of the criminal mistreatment of the Armenians by Turkey all the more a compelling obligation for the international community. It is a testament to the perseverance and determination of the Armenian people that they were able to overcome one of the most egregious acts in history. I support this important annual commemoration of a horrible chapter of history so that it is never repeated again. Congress should continue to show support for Armenia and their struggle to set the historical record straight on this tragedy.","speaker_name":"HERBERT KOHL","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2236,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090022484,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Although nearly half of the entries for top honors were from Wisconsin. Krahenbuhl put Indiana on the cheese map with his incredible quality cheeses. I come from a tradition of family farming. so I know firsthand that Indianas farmers have played a key role in Indianas rich history. Our farms have long been recognized as some of the best in the country and this contest is yet another example of Hoosier farming representing the very best of Indiana. Randy Krahenbuhl presides over the dairy operation at Fair Oaks Farm. where he has the chance to design his own cheese and ice cream factory. and the freedom to run it as he pleases. I am pleased to congratulate Randy Krahenbuhl and Fair Oaks Farm on winning such an honor and bringing recognition to Indiana. We are proud to have him in the Hoosier State.9","speaker_name":"EVAN BAYH","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1476,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090022487,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Coach Gaines won 828 basketball games during his 47 years. fifth best of all time. To understand just how successful a coach he was. Gaines won more games than legends John Wooden and Phog Allen. and finished not too far behind Dean Smith. Perhaps Gaines most successful season came in 1967 when he coached the Rams to a 311 record and an NCAA Division H National Championship. His was the first predominantly black college team to win an NCAA title and he became the first black coach to be named NCAA Coach of the Year. He went on to win eight Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association titles and was named the CIAAs Coach of the Year five times. Coach Gaines was named to the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in 1982. WinstonSalem State University honored Clarence Gaines by naming the Athletic Department facility and the schools Hall of Fame for him. It would be a mistake. however.. to merely list his coaching accomplishments. Clarence \"Big House\" Gaines was more than a coach. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD BURR","chamber":"S","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2301,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090022490,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to discuss legislation I am introducing that would protect ginseng farmers and consumers by ensuring that ginseng is labeled accurately with where the root was harvested. The \"Ginseng Harvest Labeling Act of 2005\" is similar to bills that I introduced in previous Congresses and developed after hearing suggestions from ginseng growers and the Ginseng Board of Wisconsin. I would like to take the opportunity to discuss American ginseng and the problems facing Wisconsins ginseng growers so that my colleagues understand the need for this legislation. Chinese and Native American cultures have used ginseng for thousands of years for herbal and medicinal purposes. As a dietary supplement. American ginseng is widely touted for its ability to improve energy and vitality. particularly in fighting fatigue or stress. In the U.S.. ginseng is experiencing increasing popularity as a dietary supplement. and I am proud to say that my home State of Wisconsin is playing a central role in ginsengs resurgence. Wisconsin produces 97 percent of the ginseng grown in the United States. and 85 percent of the countrys ginseng is grown in just one Wisconsin county. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4969,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090022494,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is esand to build equity and wealth. They timated that this legislation will ensee the importance of homeownership courage the construction and substanand the stability it can bring to fami- tial rehabilitation of up to 500.000 lies and neighborhoods. It is often homes for low- and moderateincome homeownership that financially an- families in economically distressed chors American families and civically areas over the next ten years. anchors our communities. But I believe President Bush has long supported our focus on homeownership also re- the creation of a homeownership tax turns our attention to the basic ideals credit as have the majority of both the of the American Dream. Ensuring ac- House and Senate in the last Congress. cess to homeownership is among the This proposal also has the backing of a most significant ways we can empower large and broad coalitidn of housingreour citizens to achieve the happy. pro- lated groups. including the National ductive and stable lifestyle everyone Association of Home Builders. the Nadesires. tional Council of State Housing AgenHaving a house of ones own that pro- cies. and the National Association of vides security and comfort to ones Realtors. In addition. this initiative family and that gives families an ac- has the backing of major nonprofit tive. vested interest in the quality of groups. including Habitat for Humanlife their community provides is cen- ity. as well as the Local Initiatives tral to our collective ideas about free- Support Corporation and the Enterdom and selfdetermination. As a na- prise Foundation. tion. we know that homeownership This important legislation addresses helps the emotional and intellectual a key issue facing many Americans growth and development of children. today. housing affordability. It also adWe know that homeowners show great- dresses the community. developmenter interest and more frequent partici- needs of many neighborhoods. It conpation in civic organizations and tinues to have strong bipartisan supneighborhood issues. We know that port. and I am hopeful that it will be when people own homes. they are more enacted this year. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10801,"word_count":336}
{"speech_id":1090022518,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Chief of Counterterrorism Section. Criminal Division. Department of Justice. and Mr. Dan Meron. Deputy Assistance Attorney General. Civil Division. Department of Justice.","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":574,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090022522,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that on Thursday. April 21. at a time to be determined by the mkjority leader. after consultation with the Democratic leader. the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination on the calendar: No. 69. John Negroponte to be Director of National Intelligence. I further ask unanimous consent that there be 4 hours of debate equally divided between the two leaders or their designees. and that the Democratic --time be equally divided between Sen. ators ROCKEFELLER and WYDEN. provided further that at the expiration or yielding back of that time the Senate proceed to a vote on confirmation of the nomination with no intervening action or debate. provided further that immediately following the vote the President be notified of the Senates action and the Senate then resume legislative session.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":859,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090022540,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. on January 4. 2005. the first day of the 109th Congress. this House adopted several changes to the House ethics rules that many in this body warned would severely weaken the ability of the House Committed on Starldards of Official Conduct to enforce the highest standards of ethical conduct in its Members. officers. and employees. In the middle of March. these warnings. sadly. came to pass when the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct failed to adopt committee rules that would have given it the ability to investigate credible allegations of misconduct even in cases where partisan considerations caused the committee to be deadlocked. Npw we are left with a shell of a committee. a paper tiger that can perform only a fraction of the advisory. enforcement. and investigatory duties assigned it. The absence of a functioning ethics committee and the collapse of the ethics enforcement process are untenable. unacceptable. and irresponsible. In the eyes of the American people. this can only serve to undermine the. integrity and credibility of the Members of the House and the House as institution.","speaker_name":"BART STUPAK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1127,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090022547,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It makes one wonder just whom they are trying to protect. Ethics and morals have been overtaken by hypocrisy.","speaker_name":"DIANE WATSON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":33.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1176,"word_count":19}
{"speech_id":1090022550,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we need to ask ourselves every now and then in a moment of truth on a bipartisan basis what this House is doing. Ethics rules should be there to prosecute somebody who has broken them. The same rules should be there to protect somebody who is innocent. The Democrat members on the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct do not want to meet. They do not want to give the gentleman from Texas","speaker_name":"JACK KINGSTON","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":407,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090022569,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would like to thank my colleague. the gentleman from Texas . for introducing this legislation and seeing it to the floor today. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"KENNY MARCHANT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1576,"word_count":32}
{"speech_id":1090022579,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. this important resolution recognizes the National Week of Hope in commemoration of the 10thyear anniversary of the terrorist bombing in Oklahoma City. Mr. Speaker. I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Oklahoma . the distinguished sponsor of House Resolution","speaker_name":"KENNY MARCHANT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":347,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090022616,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I cannot overstate the important role that the small businesses in these industries have played in improving our health. safety and overall quality of life. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"NYDIA VELAZQUEZ","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2854,"word_count":35}
{"speech_id":1090022631,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We offer our condolences and support as they continue the healing process that they have just begun.","speaker_name":"MARTIN SABO","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1119,"word_count":17}
{"speech_id":1090022643,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What can we do? For starters. we can reauthorize the Indian Health Care.Improvement Act which will provide significant improvements to the delivery of health care services for Indian people and authorize funding for health programs. projects. and facilities. We can increase funding for Indian country law enforcement. public safety and victim assistance programs to help combat the problems of juvenile crime and violence on our Indian lands. We can also increase funding for schools and colleges located on Indian reservations that were the subject of significant decreases in the presidents 2006 budget. I look forward to working with my colleagues to identify how we can help the Red Lake Community specifically.","speaker_name":"DALE KILDEE","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1403,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090022644,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"May those who died be remembered forever in our hearts.","speaker_name":"JAMES RAMSTAD","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":925,"word_count":10}
{"speech_id":1090022650,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 208) recognizing the University of Pittsburgh and Dr. Jonas Salk on the fiftieth anniversary of the milestone discovery of the Salk polio vaccine. which has virtually eliminated the disease and its harmful effects. as amended.","speaker_name":"TIM MURPHY","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":304,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090022655,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DOYLE","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2871,"word_count":11}
{"speech_id":1090022668,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. back in 1995. my Republican colleagues. the socalled champions of States rights. led the fight to pass the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act. a bill they claimed would stop the Federal Government from imposing the costs of federally mandated programs on States and localities. Well. here we are 10 years later and the tables have turned. My Republican colleagues are bringing a bill to the floor that imposes a multibillion dollar unfunded mandate on communities around the country whose water supplies have been tainted by the fuel additive MTBE. This additive. a known brown water contaminant used by oil companies for nearly two decades. has seeped into our Nations water supply. In all. MTBE has been detected in over 1.800 water systems. which serve 45 million Americans. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3238,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090022721,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. I will include in the RECORD a packet of letters from the coastal commission. the California PUC. the lieutenant governor. and the California Ocean Protection Council. Under this rule. I do not think we even have the opportunity to debate and vote on the most important amendments dealing with them. I ask my colleagues. particularly my California colleagues. to join me in voting against the rule and the underlying bill. The letters previously referred to are as follows:","speaker_name":"ANNA ESHOO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1962,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090022724,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If there is a problem in supply overnight. an immediate problem like we had in Arizona last year. Wisconsin on a couple of times with a pipeline break or a refinery fire. the EPA has waiver authority on a 20day basis to fix that. . The second thing we do is we cap the amount of fuel blends so the problem does not get any worse now that we are running to the 8hour rules. We can have clean air and cheap gas at the same time. Mr. Speaker. That is what this bill does. I urge adoption of this rule and this bill.","speaker_name":"PAUL RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2616,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090022726,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The ability of governors and legislatures--I have a Republican governor in my State who does not like a proposal to site an energy plant in a wholly inappropriate place. way up river in the city of Four Rivers. which the gentleman from Massachusetts and I share. This governors objections will be muffled. So I guess I should congratulate you on the bipartisanship of your contempt for democracy. It is not just our colleague from Tennessee who could not get amendments through. my Republican governor cannot get his voice heard. This rule and this bill ought to be defeated.","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2153,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090022732,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. I rise to support the rule and the underlying bill. As everyone knows. high energy costs are the greatest drag that we currently have on our economy and actually on world economy. and every year we delay passing this legislation. we become more dependent on foreign oil. I would like to mention very quickly a small part of thd energy bill which has to do with ethanol -and biodiesel. The bill mandates 5 billion gallons of ethanol production by 2012. Interestingly enough. here this year. in 2005. we will produce 4.5 billion: so we are almost there. Next year. 2006. we will produce well over 5 billion which will be 7 years before the end date of 2012. So we have great capacity to do even better. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS OSBORNE","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1885,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090022744,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank my colleague for allowing me to take some time. Mr. Speaker. I urge my colleagues to oppose this rule and the underlying bill. In a desire to pass any comprehensive energy bill. some of my colleagues may be willing to overlook the massive damage that this bill would do to our existing clean air policies. I do not blame the energy companies for ignoring their responsibility. It is otir responsibility to protect the people as the. peoples representatives against dangers. As a matter of fact. ","speaker_name":"EDDIE JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1942,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090022748,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself the remaining time. Mr. Speaker. first of all. with regard to the rule. the majority just does not get it. Out of 90 amendments that were offered last night in the Committge on Rules. there were 22 Democratic amendments made in order. Thanks for making the 22 amendments in order. but quite frankly. it is not enough. This is the energy bill. This is an important bill. As my colleagues have heard from various Members here today. a lot of important amendments were not made in order. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":544,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090022772,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But most of our constituents dont come from oil producing states. Most of our constituents are energy consumers. and from a consumer perspective this bill is seriously deficient. In fact. I would suggest that this bill is a bit like that old Clint Eastwood spaghetti Western: \"The Good. the Bad and the Ugly.\" There is a tiny bit of good in the billlike extending daylight saving time by a month in the Spdrng and a month in the Fall. Now. that was a good idea. it really wasand Im glad that the gentleman from Michigan and I were able to get it in the bill. But in all honesty I think I have to say that for the most part. what we have here before us today is one truly Bad and Ugly bill: First. lets take a look at the Bad: This bill does virtually nothing to address the current spike in crude oil prices or the price of gasoline at the pump. In fact. a Department of Energy analysis of an almost identical bill in the last Congress concluded that \"changes to production. consumption. imports and prices are negligible.\" This bill would open the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and natural gas exploration. even though there is such a small supply of oil and gas there that most of the oil companies have pulled out of the coalition trying to open it to drilling. This bill contains a liability waiver for the big oil companies that would force cities and states to spend billions to clean up drinking water supplies that have been contaminated with the gasoline additive MTBE. which is known to cause cancer. This bill tramples on the right of state and local governments to protect their citizens from potentially dangerous energy facilities. such as large Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminals sited right in the middle of densely populated urban areas. This bill allows oil and gas companies to pollute drinking water by granting them special exemptions from the Clean Water Act. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5584,"word_count":338}
{"speech_id":1090022810,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We just passed a Budget only after clarifying a point of order would defeat any Appropriations bill over Budget. It appears that we have to expand this point to protect against bills like this.","speaker_name":"MARK KIRK","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1011,"word_count":34}
{"speech_id":1090022818,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"H.R. 6 also contains provisions to spur production of renewable energies such as geothermal so we can reduce our reliance on traditional sources. \" Through this important legislation. we will have increased ability to utilize the vast renewable energy resources on our public lands in an environmentally responsible manner. I urge all of my colleagues to support the passage of this legislation that will allow us to capitalize on our Nations energy exploration and development technology. commitment to environmental quality and conservation. and work ethic to develop our domestic energy resources.","speaker_name":"JAMES GIBBONS","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1530,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090022822,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We are drilling on some offshore platforms that cost billions of dollars to set in place. We are drilling on those with great risk that we will lose money. and what we are simply saying is that deep well incentives should be in place. Now. the incentives that are in place for onshore production are either very difficult areas to drill in or the incentives only kick in after the price falls to a certain level. Madam Chairman. it is time for us to pass an energy bill. The consumers in this Nation depend on it. and they are depending on Republicans because our friends on the other side of the aisle refuse to help.","speaker_name":"STEVAN PEARCE","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1958,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090022892,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"With due respect to the gentleman from Texas . I believe my amendment provides a far better alternative for consumers than the wholly inadequate provisions of H.R. 6. H.R. 6 includes only limited cosmetic changes to current Federal electricity law. It outlaws \"roundtrip trading\" and filing of false information. but offers no protection against schemes liken Enrons Death Star. Get Shorty. or Richochet. Moreover. H.R. 6 does not authorize FERC to grant full refunds to consumers who were skinned by inflated electricity prices. but rather allows refunds only from the date when the complaint is filed. Finally. H.R. 6 repeals PUHCA. leaving consumers and investors even more vulnerable to deception by Enrontype players who concoct \"special purpose entities\" to move money around while hiding behind complex. opaque corporate structures. I would note a recent Standard & Poor report states: \"Utility investment in noncore businesses has been responsible for most of the credit deterioration in the utility industry.\" I urge my colleagues to adopt the amendment.","speaker_name":"JOHN DINGELL","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2850,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090022901,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam Chairman. over the past several months. the gentleman from Texas and I have worked toward a fair and equitable solution to the problem of contamination caused by MTBE getting into our groundwater and other waters. I appreciate all his efforts and the faith he has placed in me on this issue which is so critical to New Hampshire. a State that has been affected significantly and. obviously. other affected States. Like him. I had hoped that we would be able to have our solution ready for todays House consideration of the Energy Policy Act. However. I am not satisfied that what we have agreed upon in principle is sufficient to the problem or comprehensive enough to have my support. and I would rather not rush it simply for the sake of being done today. Does the gentleman agree that spending additional time will result in an improved product that will provide a mechanism to ensure that our drinking water is clean and safe today and into the future?","speaker_name":"CHARLES BASS","chamber":"H","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":998,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090022920,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. as I rise to the podium here. I want to bring up a poster which shows what this Arctic National Wildlife Area really is. First of all. let me say that the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is 19.5 million acres of Alaska. set aside in 1960. Also in 1960. they set aside 1.5 million acres for exploration for oil. That is called the area 1002 part of ANWR. This is area 1002. This is the area we are going to be drilling on for oil and gas. As you can see. no big trees. no big mountains. no big herds of anything. It is just frozen tundra out there. E) 1745 But the 1002 area will continue to provide. as the USGS has already said. an estimated oil reservoir for this country that will equal the amount of oil we will get from Saudi Arabia for 30 years. ","speaker_name":"JAMES GIBBONS","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1640,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090022924,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. I want to thank the gentleman from California (Chairman POMBO) and the gentleman from Texas (Chairman BARTON) for their fine work on a. good piece of legislation that starts our process in becoming independent. providing energy policy. which I have heard none from the other side. Remarkably. when I hear people talking about new innovative ideas. they do not tell me what \"new\" is. We are fossilfuel oriented. and I will admit to that. And we are also dependent. and we have to admit to that. And we are talking about an area that is not pristine. an area. in fact. that should be developed that is 74 miles from the pipeline. an area that we have developed already in Prudhoe Bay. and we can see the great damage that is done up there. The caribou are using the pipeline to rub their backs on. The caribou are calving around the wells. The gentleman from Massachusetts","speaker_name":"DON YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":886,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090022938,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We do not want to have the destruction of this migration. because their livelihood depends on having caribou. . and their entire existence rotates around that. So I would urge my colleagues to support the Markey amendment and vote down this dangerous energy bill.","speaker_name":"TOM UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1024,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090022974,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Clearly. the current process. Mr. Chairman. is working. Opposing this amendment protects jobs. passenger safety. consumer choice. and advancing auto technology. I urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment.","speaker_name":"DALE KILDEE","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":931,"word_count":29}
{"speech_id":1090022982,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"One in 10 jobs are related to the auto industry. Fuel economy standards are set scientifically. and this body should not get into that. fl 1830 We have standards. The American people choose the cars and trucks they want to drive. I believe that the standards are set fine. And as we go on. the millions of dollars that the industry has put into new development. new cars that are energy efficient we will see as time goes on. Americans are working and we are winning. Leave the standards to NHTSA.","speaker_name":"CAROLYN KILPATRICK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1160,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090022990,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In my home State of Pennsylvania. which is not normally thought of as a State closely tied to the automotive industry. a total of 220.800 jobs are dependent on the industry. 39.700 of these people are directly employed by it. and when you add in other spinoff employment. we are talking about over 220.000 jobs in Pennsylvania alone. Mr. Chairman. in these difficult economic times. I simply do not think it is prudent to put those jobs and this vital industry in jeopardy when it is not clear the benefits potentially derived would merit doing so. With the gentleman from Michigan","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DOYLE","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1196,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090023006,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"For these reasons. I urge a \"no\" vote on this amendment.","speaker_name":"BART STUPAK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1236,"word_count":11}
{"speech_id":1090023023,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I wonder how many Americans have bought a car and wondered why their gas mileage was not what had been advertised. Well. it is because the fuel economy numbers advertised by automobile manufacturers are based on 30yearold fuel economy tests. tests that have not been adjusted for todays realities. and that leads Americans to be regularly misled by inaccurate labels. The automobile industry has changed significantly over the last 3 decades. but the EPA standards are stuck in the past. overestimating fuel economy data. I support this amendment. It will require the EPA to update its testing standards so that consumers will have accurate fuel economy information in the future.","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":694,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090023073,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. let us give Americans in the Northeast and on the West Coast something to cheer about. America needs electricityreliability and protection from fraud and blackouts. H.R. 6 would repeal the Public Utility Holding Company Act. Our act would strike that provision. PUHCA is the only line of defense for millions of taxpayers protecting them from skyrocketing energy costs and greedy corporations. We should not allow utility holding companies to use the profits obtained from their regulated business activities squeezed from their captive ratepayers and pour it down the sinkholes of unregulated businesses. PUHCA should not be repealed. it should be applied appropriately and enforced. Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"TIMOTHY BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3613,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090023078,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There are regulations in place to keep them from shifting their inventory around to take advantage of the accounting rule. So this is not something. some gimmick for the oil and gas industry. It is a very sound accounting principle used throughout industry in this country. So I would urge this House not to listen to the words of the gentleman. but look at the action embodied in the amendment. This amendment does nothing to the underlying tax provisions in the bill. It doubles the cost of the bill. and it would impose upon the oil and gas industry. just one industrial sector in this country. a retroactive tax increase because under his accounting change. those companies would have to go back and recapture what they would have paid in taxes and pay them- prospectively over the next 10 years. I hope we have concluded in this body that retroactive tax increases are bad policy. So for that reason alone. I would recommend that we reject this amendment. EJ 1930","speaker_name":"JAMES MCCRERY","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3194,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090023118,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman1 I thank the gentleman for yielding to me. And I would simply say that the gentleman from Minnesota . the ranking member on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. has offered an amendment that would authorize $20 million for the administrator of General Services Administration to proceed with the Sun Wall design project. and the majority is prepared to accept it and work with the gentleman from Michigan and the gentleman from Minnesota to maintain it in conference with the Senate. I urge a \"yes\" vote.","speaker_name":"JOE BARTON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":532,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090023176,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I offer this amendment to HR. 6 with the hope of reducing our nations reliance on oil and advancing our efforts in Hawaii to become more energy selfsufficient. This is philosophically consistent with other provisions of H.R. 6 encouraging energy production. My amendment authorizes a 3year demonstration program for the production of ethanol from sugar cane in Hawaii. Specifically. $8.0 million would fund a $1.00 per gallon payment to refiners and 8.0 million gallons of ethanol fuel. This pilot program would parallel the existing corn program to show that the process can be applicable to cane sugar and can be replicated on a larger scale. Nationally. the sugar cane industry is currently formulating a program to process 700.000 tons of cane sugar into ethanol. With a large domestic surplus of sugar. and the possibility of additional imported sugar being allowdd into the domestic market through free trade agreements. a program of such size would stabilize domestic markets and produce a significant volume of ethanol. This pilot project will provide invaluable insight on problems that may arise with a national program. The State of Hawaii has passed a law that goes into effect on April 1. 2006. mandating a 10 percent ethanol blend for gasoline consumption in the state. Oil refineries are building ethanol storage and blending facilities in anticipation of meeting the nequirement. ","speaker_name":"NEIL ABERCROMBIE","chamber":"H","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3007,"word_count":223}
{"speech_id":1090023184,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is just encouraging language. It asks that those responsible for the current strategic reserve think more creatively. take the time to look at these alternative fuels. and help put America on a more energyindependent course. Without question. the farmers across this country need new value added. and with the price of oil skyrocketing. and it really will not go down. it has not gone down in the last 30 years if you look at the progression of oil pricing in the spot markets. for e cample. And now these fuels are competitive. There are many States taking the lead. Take Minnesota. take Iowa. take Nebraska. take the Dakotas. There are many places that have seen the future and are developing it. I think we here in Congress should respond to that inventiveness and that desire of the American people to invent their way to a new fuel future. And. in fact. when you come to my part of the country and you look across the fields. you can see part of Americas future in the fields of the future. and fuels of the future that will be produced on them and are being produced on them more and more every day. Why should the Departments of Energy and the Interior not help us to move America forward. ","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4699,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090023208,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Chairman. I would like to close with one statistic. In 1981 there were some 1.6 million people employed in the oil and gas industry. Today. at the end of 2004. that number now just barely reaches 500.000. A dramatic decrease in the number of good. solid jobs in this economy and jobs in an industry that is clearly vital to our national interest. I encourage my colleagues to vote in favor of the amendment. ","speaker_name":"K. CONAWAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":515,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090023290,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Anyone who believes that such a scenario is a stretch needs only to give a cursory look at the more than 4.000 earmarks in this years transportation bill. Members will be hard pressed to vote against a bill intended to protect our national security even if it is over budget or stuffed with pork. For that reason. lobbyists will view it as a mustpass vehicle for earmarks. Adding earmarks to the homeland security appropriations bill is clearly bad policy. but I also believe that for Republicans it is bad politics as well. The earmarking process was abused by the Democrats. but I am -sad to say that during Republican control of Congress we have made it much worse. It is no wonder that the Republican Party. the party of fiscal constraint since the New Deal. has seen public trust in its ability to balance the books evaporate. For the most part. Americans no longer believe that Republicans are more fiscally prudent than Democrats. I cannot say that I blame them. Every Republican who values serving in the majority should be troubled by this trend. ","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4915,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090023321,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlewoman for her comments. As we continue with our debate. as we were saying earlier. we will be looking at electricity. and we are going to have some provisions in this bill that the Federal Government is going to lead on energy conservation issues. One of our colleagues talked earlier about clean coal technology and renewable sources. Those will be addressed in the bill also. And we will look forward tomorrow as we come to the floor to being able to continue our discussion and to draw attention to these issues.","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":546,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090023349,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I rise today to praise Bentonville High School senior David McMillon for his academic excellence. When David was in the 10th grade. he scored a 35 on .the ACT exam. just one point shy of a perfect score. That excellent score was 14 points higher than the national average. Now a senior. David took the test again. and this time managed to best his previous accomplishment by achieving a perfect score. David was one of only 17 students who took the ACT last December to get a perfect score. It is quite an elite group when you consider that over 371.000 students across the country took this test last December. And David achieved this honor while serving as captain of the schools ACE team. earning the distinction of National Merit Finalist. and playing the lead in several Bentonville High School drama productions. Madam Speaker. ","speaker_name":"JOHN BOOZMAN","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1022,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090023350,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. all over this country. the American people are troubled by the fast incrasing price of gasoline. The oil companies are making billions of dollars in windfall profits while families have had to tighten their budget. While families * have experienced less money for food. clothing. shelter and education. the oil companies continue to rake the American consumer over the coals. The fastest way to bring relief from these high prices is to eliminate the price gouging by the oil companies and reduce demand. I have submitted a bill called the Gas Price Spike Act of 2005. which will discourage price gouging and reduce demand by implementing. first. a windfall profits tax on gasoline and diesel. Such a tax is to be imposed on key oil industry profits that are above a reasonable rate of return. If the oil companies are collecting excessive profits. they should be subject to a stiff tax on those excessive profits. It is time to stand up for the American consumers and take on these oil companies.","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1012,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090023382,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise this morning in opposition to the Udall amendment. The Udall amendment will strike Section 631. which provides R&D funding for environmentally sensitive uranium mining and reclamation. Nuclear power is an important part of our domestic fuel mix. It is an emissionfree source of electricity that powers our homes and businesses. Today. nuclear power provides 20 percent of power in the United States. As our economy continues to grow. we will consume more electricity. I think we can all agree that a healthy. robust economy is a desirable thing. Clean air is also desirable. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BURGESS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1235,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090023407,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. it is definitely in Texas. And we want to be able to use that fuel in a new way. So we thank the gentleman for allowing the amendment to be offered. I would hope that we would get favorable consideration by the committee or when we come to the floor for a vote. So we would urge consideration and support of the KapturKucinich amendment. which is futureoriented. budgetneutral. and helps move America to a new biofuel age.","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":436,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090023425,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"With ISTEA and TEA21 we have increasingly supported bike facilities through State. Federal and local funding. This amendment will leverage these investments to help people take advantage of energy conservation choices they have in getting around their community. First. the amendment would establish a Conserve by Bicycling pilot program in the Department of Transportation. oversee up to 10 geographically dispersed pilot projects across the country designed to conserve energy resources. providing education and marketing tools to convert car trips to bike trips. In addition. the projects would encourage partnerships between stakeholders from transportation. law enforcement. education. public health. environment and energy fields. The project results in energy savings must be documented. and the Secretary of Transportation is instructed to report to Congress the results of the pilot program within 2 years of implementation. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. bicycles are second only to cars as a preferred mode of transportation. demonstrating their potential for commuter use. [] 1100\" In recent years there have been significant upgrades to bicycling environments in the communities across the country. At a time when these communities are seeking to reduce traffic congestion. improve air quality. increase the safety of their neighborhoods. decrease petroleum dependence. bicycles offer a relatively simple. energysaving alternative to driving. At a time when we talk seriously about transportation alternatives as an important component to comprehensive energy conservation strategy. this gives us the elements to make sure that we can document the impact. . The Conserve by Bike program is a critical step in the right direction. ","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3660,"word_count":257}
{"speech_id":1090023435,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It has created our jobs. of course. and created the underpinnings of the economic infrastructure for America. We have been on rocky times. Mr. Chairman. We -have gone through some challenges whether it relates to the appropriate or inappropriate handling of our finances that drew the collapse of some of our companies. to some tragedies that have occurred that have caused the loss of life. But I do believe that the consensus is that we need an energy policy that responds to all of the elements that want an independent and strong future for America. I would hope that at the end of the day we will have legislation that will speak to a strong future for America and that requires not only safety in our further development of refineries and our LNG sites but also giving opportunity to many different aspects of our society to create energy. My amendment authorizes funds to be appropriated to the Secretary of Energy for integrated bioenergy research and development programs. projects and activities at a cost of $49 million for each of fiscal years 2005 to 2009. equaling $5 million. Activities funded under this subsection shall be coordinated with ongoing related programs of other Federal agencies. including the Plant Genome Program of the National Science Foundation. Of the funds authorized under this subsection.. at least $5 million for each fiscal year shall be for training and education targeted to minority and socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. many of whom have looked to future opportunities to ensure that they are taking advantage. one. of the current needs of America. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9140,"word_count":265}
{"speech_id":1090023448,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I join my colleagire. the chairman of the Committee on Government Reform. in urging Members to adopt this change in the Department of Energy structure. The change would increase the total number of Senateconfirmed Assistant Secretaries in the Department from six to eight. We have had an opportunity to evaluate this proposal. and it makes good sense. I think the Department will become much more efficient. and it will give greater attention to very important energy issues. So I join in support and urge my colleagues to vote for the DavisWaxman amendment. Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"HENRY WAXMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":663,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090023461,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today in support of the DavisWaxman amendment to H.R. 6. Mr. Chairman. I could stand here all day and discuss some of the problems that are currently plaguing the Department of Energy. but as chairman of the Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce and Agency Organization within the Committee on Government Reform. I am growing more and more convinced the Department of Energy is not only experiencing problems relating to how to remove nuclear waste. but also other energyrelated projects. Now is not the time to be introducing two new Assistant Secretaries at the Department of Energy. I firmly believe that adding additional layers of bureaucracy to this department will only serve to cause more problems. rather than to solve problems. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JON PORTER","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1207,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090023494,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Chairman. as my colleague said a moment ago. this amendment is laudable. and I admire the gentleman for pushing it. but I have to say that. in reality. it is really special treatment for one company. with one facility. in one State. Pure Energy Corporation is the only company I know of in the United States to have a patent for technology that can convert urban waste into a DOErecognized fuel called a PSeries fuel. This amendment would grant enormous latitude for the application for this one technology to benefit this one company. and it is really not a matter of national policy. Further. the company in question also receives funding and grants from the DOE in support of this technology. This is the type of action that government agencies are designed and delegated to do. to spot promising technologies and financially assist their development. and they are doing that. Government agencies are a lot better suited to determine the value of burgeoning technologies in their respective fields than Congress would be. and we should leave these decisions to the experts. ","speaker_name":"RALPH HALL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2134,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090023518,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Al Green. Gene Grijalva. Gutierrez Gutknecht Harman Harris Hastings (FL) Hayworth Herseth Higgins Hinchey Hinojosa Hobson Hoekstra Holden Holt Honda Hooley Hostettler Hoyer Hulshof Hunter Inslee Israel Issa Jackson (IL) JacksonLee (TX) Jefferson Johnson (CT) Johnson (IL) Johnson. E. B. Jones (NC) Jones (OH) Kanjorski Kaptur Kennedy (MN) Kennedy (RI) Kildee Kilpatrick (MI) Kind King (NY) Kingston Kirk Kolbe Kucinich LaHood Langevin Lantos Larsen (WA) Larson (CT) LaTourette Leach Lee Levin Lewis (GA) Lewis (KY) Lipinski LoBiondo Lofgren. Zoe Lowey Lungren. Daniel E. Lynch Maloney Manzullo Markey Marshall Matheson Matsui McCarthy McCollum (MN) MeCotter McDermott McGovern McHugh McIntyre McKinney McNulty Meehan Meek (FL) Meeks (NY) Melancon Menendez Michaud MillenderMcDonald Miller (MI) Miller (NC) Miller. George Mollohan Moore (KS) Moore (WI) Moran (KS) Moran (VA) Murphy Murtha Nadler Napolitano Neal (MA) Ney Northup Oberstar Obey Olver Ortiz Owens Pallone","speaker_name":"SHELLEY CAPITO","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2675,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090023552,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"By focusing on intelligent transportation. it will be one important area of research. application that will make a difference for millions of Americans. it will save hundreds of millions of gallons of fuel. and it will improve the quality of life for our communities in the offing. This is the sort of approach that will truly make our communities more livable. make - our families safer. healthier. and more economically secure. I appreciate the gentlemans leadership and strongly urge the adoption of this amendment.","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1614,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090023578,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 1\/2 minutes. and appreciate the opportunity to bring this amendment to strike an unfunded mandate to the floor for debate. Mr. Chairman. this motion would do one thing: It would strike the safe harbor provisions for MTBE which CBO has identified as an unfunded mandate. This is CBOs analysis of the bill. and I quote. \"Section 1502 would shield manufacturers of motor fuels and other persons from liability for claims based on defective product. \"The provision would impose both an intergovernmental and private sector mandate as. it would limit existing rights to seek compensation under current law.\" This provision in H.R. 6 transfers the cost of cleanups from responsible parties to constituents. It is an unfunded mandate. and it should. be stricken from the bill. .[ 1400 Mr. Chairman. this is a bad provision. ","speaker_name":"LOIS CAPPS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1068,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090023592,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What we wanted was cleaner gasoline. and they did not have to use MBTE.","speaker_name":"HENRY WAXMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":379,"word_count":14}
{"speech_id":1090023593,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. reclaiming my time. I want to read a quote and have the gentleman tell me whether he thinks he said this or not. I quote from the gentleman from California : \"This level of oxygenation. required in the Clean Air Act amendments. is high enough to achieve most of the benefits of oxygenated fuels but low enough to allow several different oxygenates to compete for market share. The leading oxygenates are ephanol and ethers made of ethanol. ETBE. or methanol. MBTE.\" That is attributed to the gentleman as a direct quote. Is that correct?","speaker_name":"JOE BARTON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":551,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090023604,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Capps amendment and we Say. those responsible should pay.","speaker_name":"THOMAS ALLEN","chamber":"H","state":"ME","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1913,"word_count":10}
{"speech_id":1090023606,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In addition to that. I would like to tell mycolleagues that right now as it stands. we are not paying for sufficient cleanup as it is of underground storage tanks where we know MTBE is leaking. We are doing a foul job on behalfof the American public. Approximately 136.000 leaks are not being addressed right now. and EPA anticipates that over the next decade anywhere from 6.000 to 12.000 new leaks will occur each year. Who is going to get caught with the tab to clean that up? Guess who? Our local townships. our local municipalities. our States. and the public. Despite the need to clean up funds through EPA. we know that this is a wrong decision. We need to work this out. We need to make sure that we support the Capps amendment and that we do everything we can to educate the public of the harmful effects of MTBE. because in the State of California. we are plagued with having to clean up this water. We have higher standards there. We should be looking at models. models from other States. ","speaker_name":"HILDA SOLIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1980,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090023661,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I am opposed to my friends amendment. and he is a friend. he is a good friend. I have not had a chance to speak on the floor. but I thought this fit right in line with environmental justice. When many of us came in 1990. the Clean Air Act came up. And I remember Mr. Daschle. who is no longer with the other body. standing up and talking about how good MTBEs were. None of us knew. I saw a special that showed how bad MTBEs are. and that they are poisoning our waters in many communities. They should be removed. ","speaker_name":"RANDALL CUNNINGHAM","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":50.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1206,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090023677,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I am very concerned about the process by which terminals for LNG will be selected in this country. Let me say. I support natural gas. I support the use of liquefied natural gas. I understand we need ports. I also understand the nearer they are to the pipeline the better off we are. But the bottom line is that the process that is in this legislation which supplants the existing process. in my judgment. tramples on the rights of the States and the individual communities. as they have indicated in their letters to us. to be able to influence these decisions that are made. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CASTLE","chamber":"H","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1588,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090023691,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Six more have already been licensed by the State governments and the Federal Government in the United States. There is no crisis. So why are the mayors. why are the Governors being walled out? It is because the Republican majority wants to hand it over to the Federal Government and to the natural gas industry. But it would be very dangerous to exclude the communities that are most affected. especially when States know they need the LNG. we admit that. but we want to put it in more remote areas in the State or perhaps offshore and have it be piped in. But the Republican majority says. no. we want to put it in the most densely populated areas and wall out all Governors. all State officials. Vote \"yes\" for the Castle amendment. Protect States rights.","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1375,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090023704,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Chairman. this issue is one of whether or not you want ank the Federal Government to decide if you are on a coastjine in the United md- States that an LNG facility is coming Re- to your district. If you want your govbe- ernor. your mayors to have a role. eci- some role. in deciding where an LNG and facility is located. which would have Fed- catastrophic consequences if there was this an accident or terrorist attack. you vote \"aye\" on the Castle amendment. If you just want the Federal Government to decide in the middle of your e to district where this most attractive of ity. all terrorist targets will be located. ates then you vote \"no.\" but understand the oing consequences on the floor today. SE H2433","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SHAYS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3623,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090023707,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I will speak for my constituents by lending my support to Mr. CASTLES amendment. I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan measure.","speaker_name":"TIMOTHY BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2518,"word_count":23}
{"speech_id":1090023708,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today in support of Mr. CASTLES amendment. Under current law three new liquid natural gas facilities have been constructed in recent years and six others approved. Current law permits construction of liquid natural gas facilities but it doesnt do what this bill in its present form would do: virtually guarantee construction of liquid natural gas facilities in any location where there is a strong energy demand regardless of state and local concerns that arise. These concerns can include safety. environmental risks and\/or terrorist threats. These are not concerns that should be divorced from the approval process. In fact. these concerns. and state and local governments ability to represent them. ought to be elevated in importance. Our nation has a heritage of listening to the voice of its people. ","speaker_name":"STEVE ISRAEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1859,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090023735,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We cannot drill our way to independence. The only effective strategy will balance increased fuel efficiency with renewable energy technologies. Instead of using the technology we already have and could achieve to increase the fuel economy of new fleets of vehicles. the bill does little more than order a study. Unfortunately. this bill will only worsen our Nations dependence on fossil fuels imported from the Middle East. At current production levels the U.S. supply of oil will only last another 20 years. while the oil supply in Saudi Arabia is estimated to last another 75 years. Our reliance on Saudi oil is harmful to our environment and our values. Fossil fuels like oil and coal provide the vast majority of energy for the United States. That was unlikely to change for the near future no matter what bill we had a chance to vote on. Unfortunately. this bill does little to put this Nation on a path to greater energy independence. This bill does not represent a national energy policyit is 1000 pages of shameless special interest giveaways. ","speaker_name":"MARTIN MEEHAN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2392,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090023738,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today in support of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This important legislation is critical to protecting and preserving our Nations freedom. security. and prosperity. Over the past decade. the United States energy consumption has increased by more than twelve percent. however. our domestic production has increased by less than onehalf of one percent. That means that our Nation is more and more reliant on foreign sources of energy. When our Nation depends on just a few countries for the majority of our energy. this adversely impacts American security. This is unacceptable. Mr. Chairman. the Energy Policy Act of 2005 sets forth a comprehensive national energy policy. ","speaker_name":"CONNIE MACK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1523,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090023740,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in opposition to the energy legislation that we are debating on the House floor today. As an energy scientist who spent nearly a decade working at one of the nations premiere alternative energy research labs I understand the complex and clhallenging nature of moving toward sustainable energy sources. Having served in this body for more than six years. I understand the difficulties in balancing competing interests to obtain a policy that benefits the nation. Unfortunately. rather than providing a productive and clear vision that leads this nation towards energy independence. this bill subsidizes oil and gas companies and eases environmental regulations and fails to put the U.S. on the right path. This legislation sets a dangerous precedent by allowing the destruction of one of our national treasures to extract a minimal amount of resources. The very essence of the Arctic Refuge is that it is a pristine and untouched ecosystem. This unique environment serves as a critical breeding or migratory habitat for over 200 species of animals including polar and grizzly bears. ","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2971,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090023743,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Farmers working to provide a secure future for their children watch as their operating margins are squeezed even further. And all too many lowincome and elderly Americans are being forced to decide between adequately heating and cooling their homes or purchasing the food and medicines they need. The American people understand that we face both a short and a longterm energy crisis and that we must develop a comprehensive and balanced plan for our Nationa plan that finds 21st century solutions to deal with our 21st century energy needs. A bill that directs needed resources to renewable energy sources and efficiency programs. It is unfortunate that the best the majority believes we can do is pass a bill better suited to the start of the industrialization era. The bill. inexplicably. provides little to promote renewable energy sources or reduce energy use. Instead. it funnels ever more tax benefits to energy companies already making huge profits from high energy prices. In fact. an April 19. 2005 wall street journal article relates the news that Exxon Mobile recently reported a fourthquarter profit that amounted to the fattest quarterly take for publicly traded U.S. company ever: $8.4 billion. Of the $8 billion in tax incentives. less than $500 million would go to promote renewable energy sources or foster efficiency and conservation programs. After sticking it to the consumers at the pump. do big oil companies like Exxon really need taxpayerprovided \"incentives\"? President Bush doesnt think so. ","speaker_name":"RON KIND","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6101,"word_count":243}
{"speech_id":1090023744,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"HR 6 is a massive giveaway to oil and gas companies. It provides $7.5 billion in tax breaks and billions more in royalty relief to companies like Exxon. Mobil. Chevron. Texaco and ConocoPhillips. which are already earning record profits. supposedly to encourage these companies to drill more on our public lands and produce more gasoline and oil. As the President noted the other day. with the price of oil at $55 per barrel. these companies do not need any more encouragement to produce gasoline and oil. The bill also permits drilling in the Artic refuge thereby putting at risk one of the last pristine areas in the world. simply to gain less than six months worth of oil. Opening ANWR does not make -economic or environmental sense and we should not allow it to happen. Instead. we should be increasing the corporate average fuel economy. (CAFE) standards for cars and trucks sold in the United States to a more reasonable level. Taking this step would save millions more gallons of gasoline than would be recovered from ANWR. and raising these standards would help improve the quality of air that we breathe. 7HI2442 This bill also weakens our nations environmental laws including the Clean Air Act. ","speaker_name":"MAXINE WATERS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":35.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3786,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090023747,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. coal is by far the largest domestic source of energy we produce. Here in the United States. we have between 250 and 300 years of a coal supply. That is more than the amount of recoverable oil contained in the entire world. I am proud to represent the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania. which have the largest anthracite coal deposit in North America. arguably the largest deposit in the world. It is a highBtu. lowsulfur fuel. and is considered the cleanestburning solid fuel on the commercial market today. But as we can see through rising fuel prices. we are too dependent upon foreign oil. In the United States. we consume about 20.5 million barrels of oil per day. Thats about 7.5 billion barrels per year. Half of that is imported. ","speaker_name":"TIM HOLDEN","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3164,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090023753,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in -support of the Boehlert\/Markey CAFE standard amendment. When it comes to cheap energy and low gasoline prices. we have lived on borrowed time. As a whole our.energy policies promote profligate consumption. The more you buy and consume the cheaper the unit price. The bill before us does little to wean our nation from its dependence on foreign and unstable sources of energy. According to DOE. this nation consumes 24 percent of the worlds energy while comprising less than 7 percent of the worlds population. Today. the world is racing to develop and catching up with our consumptive habits and standard of living. Its a race that cannot succeed and is unsustainable over the long term. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1980,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090023755,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"To address that need and its impact on our economy. this legislation also helps expand domestic exploration. We can take important steps in not.only creating a greater sense of independence and lowering the costs at the pump. but also help our own economy and the small. independent producers who are struggling today. We cannot and should not allow our very own producers to be overlooked when resources are limited and the price of gas is rising. My home state of California has seen its share of energy problems. It is critical for our nation to have a national strategy on energy so we can clear many of these hurdles looming in our future. This bill takes our country in the right direction. Again. I wish to thank Chairman BARTON for his diligence and effort on this legislation.","speaker_name":"MARY BONO MACK","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":45.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1749,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090023756,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"These payments increase the trade imbalance. reduce the strength of the dollar. drive upthe cost of other imported goods. and stunts the growth of the nations GDP. In addition. many of the worlds major automakers recently signed an agreement with the government of Canada that commits them to improving fuel economy standards by 25 percent by 2010. China will soon produce cars and trucks that are more energyefficient than the U.S. fleet. Considering that the U.S. consumes a quarter of the worlds oil. we must keep pace with these other countries and improve our fuel economy standards. This amendment matches the rhetoric by truly reducing our dependence on foreign oil. helping our economy. and benefiting consumers. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.","speaker_name":"TOM UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1801,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090023826,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. once again it is an honor to not only address the House. but the American people. to make sure that this government stays within the realm of the responsibility that the American people have given us to come to this U.S. House of Representatives and this Congress to represent them and their needs and their familys needs. Those great Americans that have worked their entire lives to save and be a part of the Social Security system. to make sure that we hold our promise to their wellbeing not only during their retirement years. but even those that are beneficiaries of those that have passed on. The gentlewoman from California","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":643,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090023836,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Rightfully so. I am glad I am a Member of the Congress and no one can walk in here and escort me out. I mean. right now they cannot. But I am glad. I am glad that that is the case because I would be kind of concerned if I were standing outside at one of the stops that the President was making and we were having this conversation. We may very well be asked to spend some time in the parking lot because we cannot go in.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":420,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090023841,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is why we spend an hour on this every week. because there is plenty of information to disseminate. I sit on the Committee on Financial Services.. and I have an opportunity to interact with people on the New York Stock Exchange and Chairman Greenspan. who testified before our committee. and representatives of the Mercantile Exchange and the Board of Trade and all of the exchanges. One of the things that I got out of those meetings that was clear and that has been written about in the last few days is. let us remember what the foundation of this whole privatization is built on. It is built on the stock market. It is built on stocks and bonds. Now. last week. we had one of the most significant drops in the market in over 2 years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has fallen more than 9 percent in the last 6 weeks. including a drop of 115 points. or 1.1 percent. on Wednesday. Now. I do not know if most Americans are going to want to throw their retirement security to the whims of the stock market. There are two words in the name of this program: social and security. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1365,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090023845,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I mean. that is a big number. That is all it will be. so you do not need to be worried about it. Even though we are borrowing that too. that is all it will be. Later. I was looking. while the gentlewoman was talking. I was looking through my notes. because that is the reason why democracy has to play a role here. Bipartisanship has to be a part of this debate. If bipartisanship was a part of the debate. maybe we would not have been shocked later to find out that it would be $400 billion. Did it stop there? Well. sure enough. after the bill was passed. it jumped up to $530 billion. Now we are being told. now. just recently. just a month ago. we are being told that it will be $724 billion. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4579,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090023847,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So that is the reason why some of the Members even on the majority side are saying no can do: I am not going to disrupt my constituents and their way of life and add on to the party numbers of my district. because it is not right. And if it is not right. I do not care if you fly around for 160 days. It is not going to change as long as you are talking about gambling with the Social Security and the security of folks retirement. So I can tell my colleague right now. I look forward to the day that Americans say. enough is enough. and that we do not have to speak from the position of saying. well. we are informing you. we will be actually doing it if we were in control of this House. and that is what the debate is about. It is about not only sharing with the Members that if they get into this whole issue of believing the hype on the privatization of Social Security and folks start losing benefits. they are making a career decision. They do not want to be in Congress. because I can tell my colleague right now. when folks say. listen. I do not know what I have been doing. maybe I have been voting politics over principle. Maybe I need to get back to voting principle over politics. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1711,"word_count":235}
{"speech_id":1090023875,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Smith because he wanted an appropriate ruling from the Rules Committee of which Mr. SMITH was the chairman. And Smith wouldnt even return the Presidents call. He knew he did not have to. He stood for the legislative branch of Government. He didnt have to take orders or suggestions or even talk to the President. He may have -carried things a little too far. but that shows the 6trength of the legislative branch. We are as powerful as the judicial branch of Government and the executive branch of Government. When we come to the realization that we are not. it is not good for this country.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2640,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090023877,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. I respect the Senator and I appreciate what he has to say about wanting to move the agenda. That is something I am very concerned about because of the Highway Bill. as well as the Energy Bill. Those are things that are lined up and need to be done. They are unfinished business from the last Congress. My concern from all this. and the Senator from Nevada has been here long enough. obviously. to know this. the Senate does set its rules and proqedures. That is part of the. Constitution. Back in 1980. of course. the Senate did the same things we are talking about doing here when the Democrats had control under Senator BYRD. But more important. this needs to be based on facts. ","speaker_name":"JOHN THUNE","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3306,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090023890,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. I want to take a moment this morning to discuss the election of Pope Benedict XVI as the leader of my. church and the leader of the 1 billion Catholics in our world. I pray for him as he assumes this awesome responsibility for our church and for our world. I have also been comforted by the comments we have heard from Pope Benedict XVI. We know we face some difficult challenges in the Catholic Church in the days and years ahead. We also know we as Catholics are not united on every issue. As I said on this floor after the passing of Pope John Paul the Great. we as Catholics are both comforted by our churchs teachings and challenged by its demands. That will continue to be the case. And that is as it should be. What is also true is what Pope Benedict XVI said yesterday. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1551,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090023910,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Free thought is the ultimate road to truth. Free thought is the energy that drives the political machine that leads to good public policy in our society. Free thought. and its companion. freedom of speech and assembly and press. are the core attributes of democracy that are today taking root around the world. \"Free trade in ideas\" cannot flourish when Senators are constrained to follow a political partys edict. When the merits of individual Judicial nominees are debated and considered. without the countermarjoritarian filibuster preventing resolution. only then do we achieve Holmess \"best test of truth.\" Similarly. if the constitutional\/nuclear option is.debated and considered without adherence to the party line. we will pursue the tested process to find the truth that is \"the only ground upon which [our] wishes can be successfully carried out.\" The value of independence. expressed in the dissenting opinions of Holmes and Brandeis. called public attention to values which later became the pillars of our democracy. Dissenting in Olmstead v. United States. Justice Brandeis said: The makers of our Constitution conferred. as against the Government. the right to be let alonethe most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men. To protect that right. every unjustifiable intrusion by the Government upon the privacy of the individual. whatever the means employed. must be deemed a violation of the [Constitution]. That view of the most basic \"right to be let alone\" later became the pillar of civil rights in our society in many contexts. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4330,"word_count":249}
{"speech_id":1090023914,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"To facilitate that chain of command. and to foster accountability. the National SecuritV Intelligence Reform Act of 2004 gave the DNI significant management authorities and tools. including expanded budget authority. acquisition. personnel. and tasking authorities. These authorities. however. are limited in significant ways. and the legislation leaves certain ambiguities about the DNIs authorities. As a result. there are questions about the DNIs ability to bring about the kind of change and true reform necessary to address the. failures highlighted by the 9\/11 attacks and the assessments of Iraqs WMD programs. So the task of resolving these ambiguities and questions will fall to the first Director of National Intelligence. As the WMD Commission pointed out in its recent report. the DNI will have to be adept at managing more through resource allocation than through command. Moreover. the first DNI will define the power and scope of future Directors of National Intelligence and will determine. in large measure. the success of our efforts to truly reform the intelligence community. Bringing about that reform is not going to be easy. Numerous commissionsmany commissions--have identified the same failings as those that resulted in the legislation that created the DNI. Yet previous reform efforts have proven largely fruitless. So immune to reform is the intelligence community that the WMD Commission described it as a \"closed world\" with \"an almost perfect record of resisting external recommendations.\" Allow me to relay one example to demonstrate this point. ","speaker_name":"PAT ROBERTS","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7368,"word_count":240}
{"speech_id":1090023919,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator for a very comprehensive statement. I thank him for what I think is a very accurate statement. more especially with the history he has outlined of the intelligence community. more especially with the contributions of the men and women within the intelligence commuility who have successes that obviously you cannot talk about. but the obvious need for reform because of ivhat we bkave gone through. especially for the Senators comment in relationship to the new DNI in relation to the Department of Defense. That was right on target. There has been a great deal of comment. as the vice chairman knows. that 80 percent of the funding of the intelligence budget goes to the military. and in terms of being the majority user of intelligence nobody would quarrel with that. I dont know of any Member of Congress who would say otherwise. I think we have made great progress between the intelligence and the military and the realtime analysis or realtime intelligence to the warfighter. even though our challenges in parts of the world are very great. But I point outand I think the vice chairman agreesthat the principal user of intelligencenot majority but principal user of intelligenceis not the military. as important as they are. it is the President of the United States and the National Security Council and the Congress of the United States to determine policy. I thank the Senator for bringing that out and I thank him for a very fine statement and also for being a fine vice chairman. ","speaker_name":"PAT ROBERTS","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1591,"word_count":260}
{"speech_id":1090023921,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I could ask for unanimous consent to lock in the order. but I think I can just make a suggestion with the few Senators we have here. I am sure more will come. Senator BOND has a time conflict and would like to be recognized for 10 minutes. Senator FEINSTEIN has been waiting. as has Senator WYDEN. And then Senator COLLINS will come to the floor very quickly. one of the coauthors of the Intelligence Reform Act. If we can have an understanding that that would be the order. I think that would be appropriate. Also. ","speaker_name":"PAT ROBERTS","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":631,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090023948,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have put forward this amendment because I think it must be done. I do not consider it irrational. I do not consider it against our troops. I think I made the point it is in part to protect our troops because we are going to be facing these kinds of situations for years and years to come. I look forward to and I have some confidence that the chairman and myself and members of the committee can come to an agreement on how we approach this in a way which works. gives us the information we need. and we can proceed forward to protect our soldiers.","speaker_name":"JOHN ROCKEFELLER","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1437,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090023955,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In his confirmation hearings. Mr. Negroponte identified ways to improve the intelligence processformalizing lessonslearned exercises across the community. utilizing \"Team B\" analyses to avoid selfreinforcing analysis premised on faulty assumptions. improving interagency and communitywide cooperation. and removing barriers between foreign and domestic intelligence. He must also be able to work effectively with Secretary Rumsfeld and the Department of Defenseand its 80 percent of the intelligence budgetto really reform the community. Many of us in Congress will support his efforts. and I urge President Bush to be steadfast in this regard as well. But Mr. Negropontes most immediate and urgent task will be to speak truth to power. When the intelligence does not support the policy goals or ambitions of the administration. Mr. Negroponte must never flinch. never waiver. never compromise one iota of his integrity or the integrity of the intelligence. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3062,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090023957,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Only then will we be creating the 21st century global intelligence capabilities that will make bin Ladens inevitable successors and wannabees sweat and run. In my conversations with Ambassador Negroponte about his new brief. I have shared some of my ideas with him. and I have found him to be welcoming of these and all ideas. He understands the problems we face. as he has been a consumer of intelligence for most of his career. and he has spent his last tour in Iraq confronting the challenge of multiple armed groups dedicated to collaborating against us. I believe he knows what we need. and I know he is determined to take the impressive technological and human capacities already in place in our intelligence community and take it to the level necessary to give the American public a strategic intelligence capability we need and must have. I believe Ambassador Negroponte has always served this country honorably. As we confirm him today. which I trust we will. I offer him my support and. once again. gratitude for choosing to serve his country in one of the most challenging positions in our history.","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3626,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090023959,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Negropontes career in public service spans four decades and three continents. He has served in Europe. Asia and Latin America. He speaks five languages fluently. and has won Senate confirmation for 7 previous posts. He is widely regarded as one of our most distinguished and respected public officials. Among his many career highlights. Mr. Negroponte has served as Ambassador to Honduras.. Ambassador to Mexico. Ambassador to the Philippines. and Ambassador to the United Nations. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2550,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090023973,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I yield back all time on the pending nomination. other than the 5 minutes that will be reserved for Senator STEVENS. provided further that the vote on the confirmation of the nomination occur at 3:45 today. I further ask that at 3:30 today the Senate resume consideration of the emergency supplemental bill for the final 15 minutes of debate and that the votes scheduled on the two amendments and final passage occur immediately following the vote on the Negroponte nomination. I ask that all votes in the sequence after the first be limited to 10 minutes in length and that there be 2 minutes for debate equally divided between the votes. Finally. I ask unanimous consent that following this consent. the Senate proceed to a period for morning business with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.","speaker_name":"PAT ROBERTS","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":828,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090023985,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will speak about the second issue I would like to talk about. The Republican nuclear option has been discussed endlessly on editorial pages. talk radio. and here in this Chamber. The ongoing debate is about much more than Senate procedure. At its core is a debate. really. about where we are headed in our relationship between each other. Republicans and Democrats. leaders all sworn to uphold the Constitution and with the responsibility to try to lead this Nation in difficult times and find the common ground and build a consensus for our country. At its core is a debate about how we live out our own democracy in America. Beneath it are questions about how this city. the Nations Capital. is functioning today. how we relate to each other. how our committees work. how the Senate .itself functions. It appears as if we are headed in a direction that ultimately clashes with the real will and needs of the American people. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11358,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090023989,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I associate myself with the remarks of the senior Senator from Alaska concerning the qualifications of John Negroponte. Both the Senator from Alaska and I have known him for many years and his servide is one of great distinction. I am confident he will receive the endorsement of an overwhelming majority (if the Senate.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":335,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090023990,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Bolton wishes to be dispatched for 4 years to an ineffective body. unloved by the United States. I do believe he wants to work actively to reform the U.N.. make it stronger and better. Mr. Bolton. seeing clearly the U.N.s strengths and its weaknesses. will be well positioned to improve the organization. and Americas relationship with him. As the Chair well knows. what kind of a U.N. is it that has Libya. Cuba. and Zimbabwe as part of its Human Rights Commission? Is it all right with the U.N. today? We are seeing more and more indications of the OilforFood scandal which. again. the Senator from Minnesota. the Chair. has carefully examined. There is a crying need for reform. I am pleased the Secretary General of the U.N. has made proposals for reform. I support those and believe perhaps we need more. Again. it seems to me Mr. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7308,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090024063,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I had the opportunity to speak to the distinguished Senator from Alaska. Mr. STEVENS. and I know he was anxious to address the Senate with regard to his desire to obtain time to speak in opposition to the Bayh amendment. Might I ask. what is the parliamentary situation with regard to that? Hopefully. we can see the appearance of the Senator from Alaska.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":370,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090024099,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. a unanimous consent has been agreed to by both sides for the Senate to immediately proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations on todays Executive Calendar: PN 421. LTG Michael V. Hayden. to be General. reported by the Armed Services Committee today. and No. 70. which is the confirmation of General Hayden to be the Deputy Director of National Intelligence. I further ask unanimous consent the nominations be confirmed en bloc. the motion to reconsider be.laid upon the table. the President be immediately notified of the Senates action. and the Senate then return to legislative session.","speaker_name":"PAT ROBERTS","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":627,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090024103,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. last evening. as we were finishing up this bill. we had a series of amendments thst were offered as amendments. and we were in the process of changing them to senseoftheSenate resolutions. There are a couple others we failed to offer. approved by both sides. I ask unanimous consent they now be offered en bloc and have them considered en bloc.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":359,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090024115,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Yes. the Senator is correct. When the Appropriations Committee was putting together the Supplemental. the Majority and Minority. working together. included $25 million to prevent and respond to an outbreak of the avian flu. because of the urgent nature of the situation in southeast Asia. I would also add that- $25 million is onefourth of the WHO appeal. and as we know. the traditional U.S. share of such multilateral efforts is onefourth of the total cost. I would also point out that this is the amount that has been authorized in S. 600. the Foreign Assistance Authorization bill that was debated in the Senate last week.","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":626,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090024119,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I want to thank my friend. Senator MIKULSKI. for her work on this issue. -You have called attention to a solemn and critically important issue. and I commend you and join with you in your commitment to ensure that we provide a real .and meaningful death gratuity to the families of our brave young men and women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice. And I also share your commitment to ensure that those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice are not forced to pay againto the IRS. in the forn of taxation of these gratuity payments. Unfortunately. addressing the tax treatment of these payments on this bill. could raise procedural hurdles to getting this bill signed into law as quickly as possible. But as Chairman of the Finance Committee. I pledge to work with you. Senator BAUCUS in his role as ranking member. and the rest of the Finance Committee and Congress to ensure that these gratuity payments will not be subject to Federal tax and to enact any necessary changes at the earliest possible date on the first available vehicle. I look forward to working with the gentlelady to resolve this issue expeditiously.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1119,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090024120,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to support the efforts of my friend and colleague Senator MIKULSKI to protect payments to the families of our brave Americans serving and dying for this country. There are currently 1.254 Montanans deployed overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan with onethird of those deployed coming from our guard and reserve forces: We have lost seven service members since the war on terrorism began and with each sacrifice I am .made more aware of the strength and commitment of our military families. Senator MIKULSKI has wisely offered an amendment to ensure that the additional death gratuity\" benefits would not be subject to taxes. just as other death gratuity benefits for military families are taxfree. It is certainly my hope that such an amendment is not needed. However. I have promised to work with Senator MIKULSKI and my good friend. Chairman GRASSLEY. to clarify that. this is the. case. should there be any question in the future about the taxfree status of these payments. Certainly. for these families who have already given so much to this country. it is the right thing to do.","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1100,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090024121,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to thank the chairman of the Finance Committee. Senator GRASSLEY. and the ranking member. Senator BAUCuS. for their support of ensuring that death benefits paid to the families of those who give their lives for our country are taxfree. Ilappreciate their commitment to getting this done through appropriate tax legislation. if necessary. as soon as possible. And I appreciate the help of their staff on the Finance Committee. who worked with my staff on this issue.. Given these commitments from Chairman GRASSLEY and Senator BAUcus. I will not proceed with my amendment -on this critical supplemental appropriations bill. to meet the needs of our troops. I thank the Chair and yield the floor.","speaker_name":"BARBARA MIKULSKI","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":722,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090024124,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I regret the managers of the bill did not seize the opportunity to extend the mandate of the Special Inspector General for Iraq reconstructiQn in this bill. Transparency and accountability in the reconstruction effort is not about finding new things to criticize. It is about responsible stewardship of U.S. taxpayer resources. and it is about getting reconstruction right. Ultimately. it is about achieving our goals in Iraq. We need ongoing. vigorous. focused oversight of the reconstruction effort. While I was unable. to get. my amendment passed. I will continue to work to ensure that this need is met. Finally. I strongly support the tsunami relief provisions in this bill. The scale of this December 2004 tsunami disaster was nearly overwhelming. and the human losses were horrifying. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3813,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090024137,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This was- clearly and emphatically expressed again in of the sense of the Senate amendment earlier this week. I hope that this administration will take serious note of the Senates strong view in this regard. I assure my colleagues here today and the people of this country that I fully and wholeheartedly support our men and women in uniform. I give these troops my gratitude and my respect. I wish that we could give them moreI wish that we could give them a clearly defined mission. with a clearly defined strategy for ending the war in Iraq and coming home. But. this administration is not winding down its military operations in Iraqthat is evident from the size of this most recent request submitted by the President. To the contrary. it appears that the United States may be gearing up either to accommodate a permanent military presence in Iraq or to establish a launching pad for other military operations in the region. This. certainly. would be the wrong message to send to the people of Iraq and others in the region. I pray that this is not the case. Thank you. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3226,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090024153,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"A new Institute of Medicine survey issued today reports that one of the biggest obstacles to fighting HIV\/AIDS in Africa is the severe shortage of medical personnel. SubSaharan Africa has 25 percent of the worlds HIV\/AIDS cases. but only 1.3 percent of the worlds health force. In Rwanda. for example. there are less than two doctors per 100.000 people. If we are to maximize our help to these countries. we need to strengthen the medical delivery systems on the .ground. HIV\/AIDS medicine does no good sitting in boxes. Vaccines cant protect children from preventable diseases if there is no one to administer the shots. Strengthening the local infrastructure and teaching local citizens basic health skills will go a long way to addressing their medical needs. The second goal of the Global Health Corps is to deploy health care assistance as a tool of public diplomacy. John F. Kennedy recognized that our assistance to other nations carries the most weight when it involves personal. intimate contact on the community level and provides tangible benefits to everyday people. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6684,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090024154,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. combating violent crime. especially gun crime. requires that our law enforcement agencies are adequately staffed and equipped. I have been a strong supporter of the Community Oriented Policing Services. COPS. program. The COPS Program has been critical to our Nations law enforcement community since its creation in 1994. and I am pleased to join Senator BIDEN as a cosponsor of the COPS Reauthorization Act.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":423,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090024164,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I hope that Wisconsinites and citizens across America take Senator NELSONS words to heart. I hope that they use this Earth Day to collect their thoughts and voice their opinions about the need to protect the environment and need for Congressional leadership on this issue. Wisconsinites value a clean environment. not just for purely aesthetic or philosophical purposes. but because a clean environment ensures that Wisconsin and the United States as a. whole remains a good place to raise a family. start a business. and buy a home. We understand that by protecting our environment we are protecting our economy. And. it is important on this Earth Day 2005 that we continue to fight for strong environmental laws. and we press for strong environmental leadership in Congress. Lets continue to move forward. not roll back.","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":822,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090024167,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to pay tribute to oncology nurses. May 1 marks the beginning of the 10th annual Oncology Nursing Day and Month and this year marks the 30th Anniversary of the Oncology Nursing .Society. As cochair of the Senate Cancer Coalition. I would like to recognize that oncology nurses play an important and essential role in providing quality. comprehensive cancer care. These nurses are principally involved in the administration and monitoring of chemotherapy and the associated sideeffects patients experience. As anyone ever treated for canceror who has a loved one who has been treatedwill tell you. oncology nurses provide quality clinical. psychosocial and supportive care to patients and their families. In short. they are integral to our Nations cancer care delivery system. The Oncology Nursing Society is the largest organization of oncology health professionals in the world. with more than 31.000 registered nurses and other health care professionals. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3597,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090024174,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I am offering a measure which could serve as a first step towards eliminating the inequities borne by the dairy farmers of Wisconsin and the upper Midwest under the Federal Milk Marketing Order system. The Federal Milk Marketing Order system. created nearly 60 years ago. establishes minimum prices for milk paid to producers throughout various marketing areas in the U.S. For sixty years. this system has discriminated against producers in the Upper Midwest by awarding a higher price to dairy farmers in proportion to the distance of their farms from areas of high milk production. which historically have been the region around Eau Claire. WI. My legislation is very simple. It identifies the single most harmful and unjust feature of the current system. and corrects it. Under the current archaic law. the price farmers receive for fluid milk is higher the further they are from the Eau Claire region of the Upper Midwest. This provision originally was intended to guarantee the supply of fresh milk from the high production areas to distant markets in an age of difficult transportation and limited refrigeration. But the situation has long since changed and the provision persists at the detriment of the Wisconsin farmers even though most local milk markets do not receive any milk from Wisconsin. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6197,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090024180,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Imagine a world without that extraordinary discoverywhere peoples everywhere lived in fear of the polio virus and the devastation it brings. Thirty years ago. Congress was considering whether to ban research on reBy Mr. DOMENICI (for himself.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1190,"word_count":37}
{"speech_id":1090024188,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"All of our lives have been enriched by our National Parks. This bill provides an opportunity to show our appreciation to restore and maintain our countrys cultural and natural heritage for generations to come. The passage of this legislation will ensure that our national parks will have a glorious 100th birthday to celebrate. Lets get on with it!","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2514,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090024205,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health. Education. Labor. and Pensions be authorized to hold a hearing during the session of the Senate on Thursday. April 21. 2005 at 10 a.m. in SD430 THE PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection. it is so ordered.","speaker_name":"PAT ROBERTS","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":272,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090024216,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the subcommittee on Personnel be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 21. 2005. at 1:30 p.m.. in open session to receive testimony on the Present and Future Costs of Department of Defense Health Care. and. National health Care Trends in the Civilian Sector.","speaker_name":"PAT ROBERTS","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":325,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090024331,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is a smear. It is untrue. Every Senator. Republican and Democratic. knows it. The Republicans should denounce a campaign based on bigotry and demagoguery. With rare exceptions. they have refused to do so. And even the majority leader will apparently act in support of such a campaign this weekend.","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1011,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090024342,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I urge my colleagues to honor the memory of the 1.5 million Armenian genocide victims by recognizing that there are still those in the world who will stop at nothing to perpetuate campaigns of hate. intolerance. and unthinkable violence. We must do all we can to stop atrocities. like those in the Darfur region of Sudan. from occurring as well as continue to provide adequate recovery aid to survivors. In doing so. we will truly honor the memory of genocide victims and fulfill our responsibilities as a world leader.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2659,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090024343,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Clearly. this was in part the administrations motivation for its recognition last fall of the genocide in Darfur. In his testimony before the Foreign Relations Committee on September 9. Secretary Powell declared that \"the evidence corroborates the specific intent of the perpetrators to destroy a group in whole or in part.\" This begs the question: if Darfur. why not Armenia? Did the Ottomans not seek to destroy the Armenians to this same extent? Although Americans of Armenian origin. many of whom came to this country fleeing persecution and looking to rebuild. make up a relatively small community among the multitudes that comprise our Nation. they have enriched our national life beyond proportion to their numbers. in the arts and sciences. in medicine. in business. and in the daily life of communities across the Nation. I support Americans of Armenian origin in calling for recognition of the genocide committed against their relatives 90 years and just a few generations ago. In recognizing this tragedy. we reinforce our commitment to building a world in which history will not repeat itself.","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4609,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090024345,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is customary for Members of Congress to focus on a few issues during their career. JIM is unusual because he has significant accomplishments in so many areas. Over the course of his 30year career in Congress. JIM has had an enormous impact on every education and job training bill. including the elementary and secondary education and the higher education reauthorization bills and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. IDEA. every farm bill. the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact. and every environmental protection bill. including the landmark 1990 Clean Air Act amendments that established the \"cap and trade\" program for sulfur dioxide that has done so much to reduce acid rain in our part of the country. JIM has also been one of the staunchest and most effective advocates for the arts. humanities. libraries. and museums. And he has been a tireless champion of the women. infants and children. WIC. nutrition program. Back home in his beloved Vermont. he is known as \"Gentleman Jim.\" And he is a gentleman. one of the most decent and thoughtful Members ever to have served in the Senate. Because he is so softspoken and moderate. people underestimate him. ","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3530,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090024349,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it is with great honor that I recognize the leadership and many achievements of South Dakota Secretary of Social Services James Ellenbecker. Secretary Ellenbecker embodies the highest qualities of public service and has deservedly 6arned the respect and admiration of all those who have had the opportunity to work with him. After 35 years of public service. Secretary Ellenbecker is retiring as South Dakotas Secretary of Social Services. leaving behind an extraordinary legacy. Secretary Ellenbecker began his career with the South Dakota government in 1970. and has since dedicated his life to serving the citizens of South Dakota. Working for the State Planning Agency and then the Department of Labor. he ultimately found himself in the Department of Social Services after providing thenGovernor Bill Janklow with information he urgently needed late one Friday afternoon. Following their encounter. Governor Janklow appointed James Secretary of Social Services in 1980. a post he has held ever since. During his 25 year tenure as secretary. under the leadership of four different governors. ","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3262,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090024352,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In many National Park units. the capacity of parking facilities at interpretive or scenic areas is well below demand. As a result. visitors park along roadsides. damaging park resources and subjecting people to hazardous safety conditions as they walk near busy roads to access visitor use areas. On occasion. National Park units must close their gates during high visitation periods and turn away the public because the existing infrastructure and transportation systems are at. or beyond. the capacity for which they were designed. In addition. the TRIP legislation is designed to implement the recommendations from a comprehensive study of alternative transportation needs in public lands that I was able to include in the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century. TEA21. as section 3039. The Federal Lands Alternative Transportation Systems Study confirmed what those of us who have visited our national parks already know: there is a significant and welldocumented need for alternative transportation solutions in the national parks to prevent lasting damage to these incomparable natural treasures. The study examined over 200 sites. and identified needs for alternative transportation services at twothirds of those sites. The study found that implementation of such services can help achieve a number of desirable outcomes: \"Relieve traffic congestion and parking shortages. enhance visitor mobility and accessibility. preserve sensitive natural. cultural. and historic resources. provide improved interpretation. education and visitor information services. reduce pollution. and improve economic development opportunities for gateway communities.\" In fact. the study concluded that \"the provision of transit in federallymanaged lands can have national economic implications as well as significant economic benefits for local areas surrounding the sites.\" The study determined that funding transit needs would support thousands of jobs around the country. while also providing a direct benefit to the economy of gateway communities by \"expand[ing] the number of visits to the site and expand[ing] the amount of visitor spending in the surrounding communities.\" The study identified \"lack of a dedicated funding source for developing. implementing. and operating and maintaining transit systems\" as a key barrier to implementation of alternative transportation in and around federallymanaged lands. The Transit in Parks Act will go far toward helping parks and their gateway communities overcome this barrier. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12683,"word_count":365}
{"speech_id":1090024444,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"to be the conferees on the part of the Senate. The message also also announced that the Senate has passed a bill of the following title in which the concurrence of the House is requested: S. 643. An act to amend the Agricultural Credit Act of 1987 to reauthorize State mediation programs.","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":288,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090024516,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In his long career. Mr. Wheeler has earned the respect of his colleagues at all levels of government and his achievements have earned him awards from the Virginia Water Environment AssociationVWEAand Environment Virginia. Mr. Wheeler also has served as an adjunct professor of Environmental Engineering at Old Dominion University. In the true sense of the word and by his many achievements in a long and distinguished professional career. Mr. Wheeler is an \"environmentalist\" who will now proudly serve in a new leadership role the industry in which he has worked for so many years. It is with pleasure that I congratulate and commend Mr. Wheeler on being elected the first president of NACWA.e","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1931,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090024518,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"NACWAs success is a direct result of its unparalleled membership. NACWA. then AMSA. was established in 1970 by representatives of 22 municipal wastewater treatment agencies. Since then. AMSA has grown into an organization of nearly 300 municipal agency members. including Oklahoma City. Stillwater and Tulsa. and a total membership of nearly 400 organizations poised to ensure that the 21st century will enjoy continued water quality progress. The associations public agency members not only represent what is best about public service. they exemplify what it means to be environmental practitioners. Their daily work enables us to enjoy our Nations rivers. lakes. streams and bayssomethng we as a National must never take for granted. Once again. I congratulate NACWA on this important milestone as an organization and applaud its members for their outstanding service.*","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3162,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090024529,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wish to announce that the Committee on Rules and Administration will meet on Wednesday. April 27. 2005. at 9:30 a.m.. to mark up S. 271. a bill which reforms the regulatory and reporting structure of organizations registered under Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code. For further information regarding this hearing. please contact Susan Wells at the Rules and Administration Committee on 2246352.","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":418,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090024536,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent when the Senate completes its business today. it stand in adjournment until 9:45 a.m. on Tuesday. April 26. I further ask that following the prayer and the pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate then proceed to a period of morning business for up to 60 minutes with the first 30 minutes under the control of the Democratic leader or his designee and the final 30 minutes under the control of the majority leader or his designee. provided that following morning business the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 3. the highway bill. and there be 60 minutes of debate equally divided between the two leaders or their designees. provided further that upon the use or yielding back of that time the Senate proceed to the cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the bill.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":940,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090024547,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":30,"republican":0,"speech_text":"LCpl Hilario F. Lopez. age 22. died December 12 as a result of enemy action in Al Anbar Province. He was assigned also to Camp Pendleton. LCpl Gregory Rund. age 21. died December 11 as a result of enemy action in Al Anbar Province. He also was assigned to Camp Pendleton. CPL Ian W. Stewart. age 21. died December 12 as a result of enemy action in Al Anbar Province. He was also assigned to Camp Pendleton. and he was from Lake Hughes. CA. SGT Jeffrey Kirk. age 24. died December 12 as a result of enemy action in Al Anbar Province. also assigned to Camp Pendleton. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11494,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090024551,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Wrong. You are contradicting your own people here. Now. ORRIN HATCH himself admitted there were filibusters on the floor: Indeed. I must confess to being somewhat baffled that. after a filibuster is cut off by cloture. the Senate could still delay a final vote on nomination. That is ORRIN HATCH. This is the major point I want to make. Who is the real leader out there pushing to end the filibuster on judges? Pushing. pushing. pushing? And. by the way. it is unbelievable we have confirmed 205 of George W. Bushs nominees to the courts. We have stopped 10. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4410,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090024566,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today we will begin our session with a 1hour period of morning business. Following morning business. the Senate will have an hour for debate on the motion to proceed to the highway bill. Under the order. after the 60 minutes of debate. the Senate will begin a vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the highway legislation. I do expect that cloture will be invoked and that we would be able to consider the substance of the bill during todays session. Once we are on the bill. Senators can expect amendments. Therefore. additional rollcall votes will occur today. Today we will also recess from the hour of 12:30 to 2:15 to accommodate the weekly policy luncheons. In addition to the highway bill. this week we will consider any conference reports that become available. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1197,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090024627,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I understand there is no further debate on the pending motion.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":859,"word_count":11}
{"speech_id":1090024637,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We worked so hard last year to get it done. and for a lot of reasons it did not happen. but the Senator from Oklahoma has my good wishes on this most important bill for not only Nevada but the country.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":691,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090024643,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the Senator from New York approached me a few moments ago off the floor asking for 2 minutes prior to my response to the Democratic leader. I will be happy to grant him 2 minutes. provided that I be recognized as soon as the Senator from New York completes his 2 minutes.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":286,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090024645,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Thank you. Mr. President. I thank my colleague from Kentucky for his usual graciousness. I compliment our leader. HARRY REID. not only for his words but for his actions. The compromise he seeks is a vital one to the history of this body. Because if we do not reach compromise. the constitutional confrontation that will occur is something the likes of which the Senate has never seen. It could end up destroying whatever is left of comity in the Senate and undo our efforts to move forward on issues the American public cares about. We are acting here out of strength. not out of weakness. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES SCHUMER","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1120,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090024658,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is my desire.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1862,"word_count":4}
{"speech_id":1090024678,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This. along with the overall increase in program funds. will help to address the growing- transportation planning needs. Section 1104 is the equity bonus section. TEA21 used the minimum guarantee calculation to guarantee that States receive back at least 90.5 percent of their percentage contributed to the highway trust fund. This is very significant. It has become. quite controversial. Last week and this week we have talked for several hours on this bill about the various donor States. My State of Oklahoma has always been a donor State. since the programs began. I can remember that donor amount was 75 percent. that is to say. each State was guaranteed to get back 75 percent of the molpey that was sent in. Slowly that has crept up and it is currently at 90.5 percent. Had we passed the bill that we had in conference last yearthe bill that we sent to conference had $318 billion of authorizationthen we would have everybody at the end of this 6year period up to 95 percent. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9381,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090024684,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I hope the managers will be able to accept the amendment. As I said earlier today. I hope we can proceed to get this bill through the process. through the Senate. into conference with the House. and on the Presidents desk because it is so important to this Nations future. to my State of South Dakota. and to all those tribes. local governments. State highway departments. business groups. and those who are awaiting final action on the highway bill. I yield back the remainder of my time and ask for favorable consideration of this amendment.","speaker_name":"JOHN THUNE","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2653,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090024702,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the regular order of business is the Transportation bill. We will proceed now- It is our desire to discourage people .from coming down to the Senate floor until we have started receiving these amendments. There is no more important piece of legislation that we will consider this year than the Transportation bill. I am prepared to go through it section by section. I will certainly yield to the ranking minority member. Senator","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":443,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090024709,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. as we go through section by section. we talked about congestion. but we neglected to elaborate because this is one of the more serious problems we have now. According to the Department of Transportation. time spent in congestion increased from 31.7 percent in 1992 to 33.1 percent in 2000. Based on this rate. a typical rush hour in an urbanized area is 5.3 hours a day. The problem is not simply in urban areas. Cities with populations less than 500.000 have experienced the greatest growth in travel delays. according to the DOT. Very often we do not talk enough about the cost. Right now we are sensitive to the cost of fuel. Yet we can see traffic stopped. with engines idling. This is another factor that has to be entered into the equation. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11518,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090024716,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Wooden Award. an honor given to layman whose life shows commitment to. and active involvement in. a faith community and evidence of putting ones faith to work for the welfare of humankind. In 2001. he was the recipient of the Governors Economic Development Leadership Award for the State of Kentucky. Additionally. the Junior Achievement of the Bluegrass inducted Luther into the 2004 Bluegrass Business Hall of Fame. due to his labor and vision to improve the quality of life in the Bluegrass area. Later this month. Luther will be the honoree at the Volunteers of America Tribute Dinner in Lexington. KY. Here the community will have an opportunity to thank him for all of his contributions and honor his achievements. Mr. President. today I ask. my colleagues to join me in honoring and recognizing one of Kentuckys preeminent professionals. Mr. ","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2108,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090024718,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"On January 7. 2005. a \"7yearold student dashed past the group of children who were waiting for a van to pick them up. darting out into the path of the van. Fortunately. Jared stopped her before she was hit. though the van was only a few feet away. The sixth AAA Lifesaver Award recipient is- Naomi Wall. an 11yearold student at Dan Emmett Elementary School in Mount Vernon. OH. On March 19. 2004. a 5yearold student named Braden walked into the road. obeying a walk sign though against his sister Naomis patrol flag telling him to stop. At the same time. a car had run a red light and was headed right for a car going through the intersection. Had Naomi not held her brother back by the arm. he would have been in the middle of the crash. In addition to honoring these six brave patrollers. AAA also recognizes one student as National Patroller of the Year for demonstrating leadership qualities. strong academic performance. and civic involvement. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5199,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090024736,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking. Housing. and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 26. 2005. at 10 a.m.. to conduct a hearing on \"An Update on Money Services Businesses Under Bank Secrecy and USA Patriot Regulation.\"","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":294,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090024752,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday. April 26. 2005. to markup the nomination of Mr. Jonathan B. Perlin to be Under Secretary for Health. Department of Veterans Affairs. The meeting will take place in room S 216 (the Presidents Room) of the Capitol at 11:45 a.m.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":370,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090024764,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Piracy and counterfeiting of copyrighted products in digital and other formats have grown to an enormous scale because these illegal activities offer a high rate of return with minimal risk to the criminal producing element. This element can conduct piracy with little capital investment. and in many countries. little chance of apprehension. Even if apprehended. the penalties may be so minor that they offer no deterrent. There are various agreements between nations implemented at different levels for the protection of intellectual property. One of these is part of the World Trade Organization. WTO. charter. the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. TRIPS. Key TRIPS provisions require all WTO members to provide certain minimum standards of protection for patents. copyrights. trademarks. trade secrets. geographical indicators. and other forms of intellectual property. There is also a requir~ement to provide effective enforcement of each nations domestic intellectual property regulations. Also currently in force are two copyright treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization: the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty. which entered into force in 2002. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD LUGAR","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5089,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090024772,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it stand in adjournment until 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday. April 27. I further ask that following the prayer and the pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate then proceed to a period for morning business for up to 120 minutes. with the first 30 minutes under the control of the majority leader or his designee. the next 60 minutes under the control of Senator BIDEN or his designee. and the final 30 minutes under the control of the majority leader or his designee. provided that following morning business the Senate resume consideration of H.R. 3. the highway bill.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":745,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090024796,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H.R. 1158. the Steel and Aluminum Energy Conservation and Technology Competitiveness Act. I would like to commend my colleague. the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania . for reintroducing this important legislation which she originally introduced and which passed the House in the 108th Congress. There are many reasons why we should pass this legislation today. First of all. the metals industry is highly energyintensive. Taken together. the steel. aluminum. and copper industries account for more than 10 percent of industrial usage in the United States. ","speaker_name":"JUDY BIGGERT","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2115,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090024800,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H.R. 1158. the Steel and Aluminum Energy Conservation and Technology Competitiveness Act. I want to thank my friend and colleague from Illinois. Representative BIGGERT for her leadership. as well as Representative MELISSA HART. for her persistence in introducing this legislation in the 108th Congress and again in the 109th Congress. I am pleased Chairman BOEHLERT and Ranking Member GORDON acted quickly in the House Science Committee to markup this bill and bring it to the floor today because it helps our steel. aluminum. copper. and other metal industries stay competitive in todays global marketplace. H.R. 1158. the Steel and Aluminum Energy Conservation and Technology Competitiveness bill before us today authorizes the Department of Energy to develop a public and private partnership to build upon important research goals. such as energy efficiency. increasing competitiveness of the U.S. metals industries. and improving the environment. By working together. both the taxpayers and share holders can benefit from this federal cost share between the government and the metals industries. The domestic steel industry alone has come a long way since the steel crisis began in 1988. In my home state. of Illinois. the crisis has resulted in four steel companies filing for bankruptcy. including Laclede Steel and the parent company for Granite City Steel. which are in my Congressional District. ","speaker_name":"JERRY COSTELLO","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2189,"word_count":224}
{"speech_id":1090024808,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"For instance. the automotive industry uses highperformance computers to reduce costs and improve quality and safety during the vehicle design process. Pharmaceutical companies simulate chemical interactions to design new drugs. These approaches help companies increase the speed to market for new products. Highperformance computers also are central to maintaining U.S. leadership in many scientific fields. Computational science complements theory and experimentation in fields such as plasma physics and fusion. astrophysics. nuclear physics and genomics. However. in June 2002. a new Japanese supercomputer. the Earth Simulator. was named the fastest in the world. a title it held through November 2004. Some experts claim that Japan was able to produce the Earth Simulator. a computer far ahead of American machines. because the U.S. had taken an overly cautious or c6nventional approach to computing R&D. In hindsight. we see that caution meant lost opportunities. Japans Earth Simulator is an example of a road not taken. But the U.S. is coming back. ","speaker_name":"JUDY BIGGERT","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5329,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090024814,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. as I mentioned earlier the Committee on Science held a hearing on the highperformance computer in May of last year. And at that time my colleague. the gentleman from California asked the experts who testified at that hearing whether there was any danger of computers approaching the cognitive abilities of humans. And the witnesses gave a resounding no in answer to that question. More specifically. my colleague wanted to know how close we were to a machine that has reached a level of intelligence where it would be entitled to the minimum wage. Dr. Jack Marburger. the Presidents Science Advisor responded. ","speaker_name":"JUDY BIGGERT","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2361,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090024838,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It decreases drug and alcohol abuse in many programs by as much as 50 percent. It decreases crime. gang membership. teen pregnancy. and dropout rates. So this is about the best thing we have going. and it is very important to remember that it is very cost effective. It costs about $30.000 a year to lock somebody up. and yet most mentoring programs. some of the very best ones. cost maybe $400 to $500 per mentee per year. So we cannot have a better return on investment than that. I serve as a mentor. I have been mentoring a young person now for about 3 years. and I had another young person for 4 or 5 years before that. My wife also mentors. A mentor is somebody who cares. somebody who shows up. An awful lot of young people in our culture today do not have an adult in their life that they can count on. that they know cares about them unconditionally and will be there for them through thick and thin. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS OSBORNE","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3698,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090024863,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"for sponsoring this legislation to name the post office at 12433 Antioch Road in Overland Park after longtime Mayor Ed Eilert. The job of mayor is a challenging position. Each day they are tasked with the responsibility of making their community. their home. a better place to live. They do this with the eye of the public always on them as they live and work in that community. The fact that May Eilert was reelected six times speaks volumes of his dedication and character. During his over 24 years in office. Mayor Eilert worked hard to improve Overland Park. and his leadership is well respected.","speaker_name":"DENNIS MOORE","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":600,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090024864,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"spoke of the infrastructure improvements that Mr. Eilert helped bring to Overland Parkthe Clock Tower Plaza. KUs Edwards Campus and the Fire Training Center. to name a few. I want to emphasize that these centers and buildings are much more than physical structures. They are symbols of economic development. job creation and improvements in quality of life. During the time Ed served as Mayor. Overland Park grew to be the secondlargest city in Kansas. Eds vision helped to ensure that the city is both bigger and better for the businesses. individuals and families who are proud to call Overland Park their home. Mayor Eilerts commitment to Overland Park extended beyond his role as mayor. He was an active member of many civic organizations including the League of Kansas Municipalities and the National League of Cities. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS MOORE","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2205,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090024872,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H. Res. 227. which I introduced to recognize the contributions to our Nation of Indian. Americans. and specifically the graduates of the Indian Institutes of Technology. After winning independence in 1947. India began building a democraticnation to provide its citizens with equal opportunities. fl 1530 One of the successes of the new nation was the Indian Institute of Technology. or IIT. which was established in Kharagpur in May. 1950. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2354,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090024886,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Finally. this legislation includes H.R.\" 767 as a second title. This legislation. introduced by the gentleman from Illinois and the gentleman from Illinois and cosponsored by the entire Illinois delegation. will redesign the Lincoln penny in 2009 in celebration of the 200th anniversary of President Lincolns birth. The redesign will feature four designs. each representing a different aspect of his life: first. his birth and early childhood in Kentucky. second. his formative years in Indiana. third. his professional life in Illinois. and. finally. his Presidency in Washington. DC. Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the gentlewoman from New York for her work on this legislation. indeed there was a great deal of work. as well as the gentleman from Ohio (Chairman OXLEY) and the ranking member. the gentleman from Massachusetts . for their support. I urge my colleagues to support this fun and educational program. Mr-. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CASTLE","chamber":"H","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6145,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090024902,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This improved transparency will enhance the ability for regulators and law enforcement agencies to track wire* transfers used for illegal activity. Increasing the ease with which regulators and law enforcement agencies can follow the money trail is consistent with the recommendations of the 9\/11 Commission on Terrorist Financing. Allowing Federal credit unions td offer products and services to all consumers within their field of membership would provide further benefits to our economy by allowing credit unions to establish relationships with individuals who are currently \"unbanked.\" Many users of remittance services are recent immigrants and should be empowered with the knowledge and resources necessary to open personal accounts at mainstream financial institutions. Studies indicate that as many as 10 million American households do not have a bank account. Establishing and successfully managing a personal account with an insured depository institution can lead to greater economic selfsufficiency and longterm financial security. Particularly for low- and moderateincome Americans. opening a checking or savings account can be an important first step in establishing a credit history. which can unlock doors to other financial opportunities. I believe that this bill is a positive step toward ensuring that millions of unbanked Americans have access to secure. lowcost remittance products. while drawing these same customers into the regulated financial mainstream. I therefore encourage all of my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R.749. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CASTLE","chamber":"H","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2888,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090024903,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I. yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I think the gentleman from Delaware summarized well the reasons for voting for this bill. If I had more forbearance. I would simply sit down. but I have a really nicely written speech here and will use a few minutes. hopefully abbreviating it. since so many of its points have already been covered. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"BRAD SHERMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":27.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":511,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090024913,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In January of this year. at the initiative of the Spanish Government. the EU temporarily suspended these measures for a 6month period. Mr. Speaker. at the 61st session of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. which was held this past month. the United States. I am very proud to say the United States offered a resolution on the human rights situation in Cuba. The resolution recalled the resolutions of the previous 15 years. and I would just say. parenthetically. I was there 15 years ago when Armando Valladares led the U.S. delegation. having been sent out of the government or out of Cuba by Castro. and got that body. which is dysfunctional in many ways. to finally focus on these ongoing and persistent violations of human rights in Cuba. and that was the first time. I am glad to say that we just. at U.S. insistence. were able to get another statement by the U.N. Commission on Human Rights focused oft the ongoing abuses by Cuba. The resolution passed by a vote of 21 to 17 with 15 abstentions. but only after a full court press by the U.S. delegation led by Rudy Boschwitz. which included personal pleas from President Bush to the presidents of Ukraine and Mexico. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12459,"word_count":210}
{"speech_id":1090024914,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"to show that these prisoners are not forgotten. Fidel Castro. his brother Raul. and numerous leaders of Cubas dictatorship. are directly responsible for crimes against humanity pastand present. Some day these oppressors will be held to account and the people of Cuba will live in freedom. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of our time.","speaker_name":"ROBERT MENENDEZ","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":336,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090024934,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"President Johnson included the cost of paying for the war in Vietnam in his 1966 budget request. President Clinton. at the insistence of this Congress. provided in the regular budget for the costs for financing our Bosnia operations and the enforcement of the nofly zone edict in the 1997 budget. People think that the President this year has submitted a budget which contains a deficit of $390 billion. In fact. that budget deficit does not include $1 of the more than $80 billion that this House voted to add to pay for the war in Iraq just a couple of months ago. So I would say this provision simply is in pursuit of truth in budgeting. and I see no public policy reason why either of these provisions should be resisted. I ask for a \"yes\" vote when the vote occurs. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4658,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090024946,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I offered an amendment to add $772 million to hire an additional 1.000 Border Patrol agents. provide 8.000 beds for immigration and detention removal operations. and install radiation portal monitors at Ports of Entry. That amendment. which would have provided essential border security funding. was ruled out of order on procedural grounds. Unless we insist on the highest possible levels of funding for border security in this conference. Congress will once again fail to keep its commitment on this vital issue. Meanwhile. every day foreign nationals from over 150 countries who are here in the United States illegally are being apprehended and turned back out onto our streets because we lack the space to detain them. At the same time. we hear of known terrorists who are training recruits to infiltrate our country in order to do us harm. Mr. Speaker. the time has long since come to make good on our border security promises--or continue to risk safety of the American people. I urge my colleagues to support","speaker_name":"SILVESTRE REYES","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2085,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090024973,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I rise in strong support of the motion to instruct. and I observe that this motion instructs the conferees to recede to the Senate position. Instead of Medicaid cuts. a nonpartisan. independently appointed commission would be insfructed to come up with improvements in the program. That is exactly what the gentleman from Iowa suggests. Now. let us look. There is money here to make a better use of public funds. The MEDPAC. the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. observed that we overpay the HMOs by $20 billion. That happens to. be just about- exactly the amount of the cut that we are talking about here. Every Governor in the United States is in favor of this motion. Medicaid is critically important to more than 50 million Americans. ","speaker_name":"JOHN DINGELL","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1932,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090025033,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. woven deeply into the fabric of our culture. Americans stand for freedom and basic human rights for all. Let us further demonstrate our deep conviction for the ideals we hold dear in our resolute opposition to crimes against humanity and officially recognize the Armenian Genocide.","speaker_name":"XAVIER BECERRA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":31.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1322,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090025034,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today we gather to remember and commemorate the Armenian Genocide. one of the darkest chapters of World War I. and the first of the series of genocides we saw in the 20th Century. The Armenian Genocide is sometimes called the \"Forgotten Genocide.\" In fact. as most of you know. back in 1939. prior to the invasion of Poland. Adolph Hitler argued that his plans for a Jewish holocaust would. in the end. be tolerated by the West. stating: \"After all. who remembers the Armenians.\" Who remembers the Armenians? Today. we provide an answer: We Do! We Remember! We do so because it is important. indeed it is essential to remember and reflect upon these events. but we also do so because we know that the Armenian people today struggle on an ongoing basis to confront and surmount the legacies and the consequences of those dark days. Consider. for a moment. what might have been. At the end of the first World War. the American public was acutely aware of the atrocities that had been committed against the Armenian people from 1915 onatrocities that we knew had resulted in the death of more than 1 million Armenians and left the remaining Armenian population starving and destitute. .At the time. U.S. Ambassador Henry Morganthau reported that \"When the Turkish authorities gave the orders for these deportations. they were simply giving the death warrant to a whole race. they understood this well. and in their conversations with me. they made no particular attempt to conceal the fact.\" A military mission headed by Major General James Harbord in 1919 had been sent to report on conditions in the region and make recommendations to U.S. policy makers. General Harbord sent a clear message about the defenselessness of the Armenians and the dangers they still faced. By the time of the Paris Peace negotiations at theend of the War. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6712,"word_count":315}
{"speech_id":1090025037,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in commemoration of the 90th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. This is both a somber and encouraging day for both myself and many of my constituents. who are survivors or ancestors of survivors. Somber in memory of the millions who lost their lives. and encouraging in the success of the Armenian American community of building. new lives in the U.S.. as well as an independent Armenia. April 28. 1915 will live as a day of infamy in the lives of all Armenians. all over the world. It was this day that the Turkish government ordered the deportation of 2.5 million Armenians out of the Ottoman Empire. Within hours. Turkish forces had rounded up over 300 Armenian scholars. and deported or killed them. Over the next year. 1.5 million Armenians were killed or deported to concentration camps to await certain death. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH CROWLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1824,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090025040,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"On this 90th Anniversary. I join with my colleagues in Congress and the Armenian community worldwide in commemorating this solemn day of remembrance. In particular I commend the ArmenianAmericans from my district who departed from the All Saints Community Center in Glenview. IL. to join dozens of Armenians from the Chicago area to peacefully protest at the Turkish Consulate in Chicago. This sort of activism is an important step to finally gaining official recognition of the genocide. This anniversary serves as a reminder of the horrible campaigns of genocide that occurred in the past. from the Holocaust. to Rwanda. to todays atrocities in Darfur. Sudan. We must uphold our duties as global defenders of human rights and give the Armenian community. as the victims of the 20th Centurys first genocide. the recognition they deserve.","speaker_name":"MARK KIRK","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1539,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090025041,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Henry Morganthau. His report to Washington described the Ottoman campaign as one of \"race extermination.\" The almost unimaginable pain and suffering endured by the Armenian people has been compounded since by the refusal of the Ottoman Empire and now the government of Turkey to acknowledge that the Genocide ever even occurred. Generations of Turks have been raised to deny this atrocity. perpetuating resentments and hostilities. By trying to defend the indefensible. the government of Turkey has denied the Armenian people. as well as its own people the chance to begin the process of healing these wounds. Mr. Speaker. 90 years is far. far too long for a people to wait for an acknowledgment of the crimes committed against them. That is why I am proud to support the resolution that will be introduced in the coming days remembering the victims and honoring the survivors of the Armenian Genocide. This resolution will appropriately recognize these acts for what they were. Only with a common understanding of this dark period can we move forward and work to prevent similar tragedies in the future. While we mark the loss and pain of the Armenian people every April 24th. it is my fervent hope that some day soon. it will no longer be necessary to urge the recognition of these terrible events as genocide. ","speaker_name":"SANDER LEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2542,"word_count":220}
{"speech_id":1090025046,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am honored to stand here today with my colleagues to acknowledge this important event and to have the opportunity to commemorate the 90th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. one of the saddest chapters of history. We join the ArmenianAmericans across the nation and the Armenian community abroad to mourn the loss of so many innocent lives. In this turbulent century. we have witnessed humanitys great potential for good and badbut the world has triumphed more often in the last 90 years than it has disappointed. And yet. while focusing on humanitys successes is always more attractive than remembering any failures. we as civilized peoples. countries and nations must not deny the immorality of atrocities such as the Armenian Genocide. The U.S. is fortunate to be home to an organized and active Armenian community. whose members contribute and participate in every aspect of civic life. This is one of the reasons that myselfalong with 170 members of Congresshave asked President Bush to join us in reaffirming the United States record on the Armenian Genocide. As a proud member of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues and an ardent supporter of Fresnos ArmenianAmerican community. I wish the people of Armenia success in their efforts to bring about the lasting peace and prosperity that they deserve. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE RADANOVICH","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1512,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090025054,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Jerry King has always brought Athens together to achieve many worthy goals. including the opening of a new city hall that is modern and meeting the needs of the citizens of that community and the Texas Freshwater Fishery Center. which is truly a won-. derful showplace facility for Athens and east Texas that helps educate numerous tourists and school children on the wondersof nature and the environment and our freshwater fish. He has helped revitalize downtown Athens. Texas. Mr. Speaker. at a time when many small towns in rural America and rural Texas have seen a decline. they have seen their glory days pass them up. downtown Athens is vibrant. it is alive. it is well. thanks to the leadership of Jerry King. It shows that Athens glory days are in the present and inthe future. not in the past. Mayor King has also worked to improve Athens transportation infrastructure through the new loop that Is just vital to economic development in that part of east Texas. Mayor King has led and won the support on so many different programs and projects that are important to the people of Athens. This is truly a record of accomplishment. Undoubtedly because of it. ","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4277,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090025060,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Every time we buy a tankful of gas. twothirds of the money we spend goes somewhere else. and it goes to places that are undemocratic. The New York Times reports today. and it has this picture in the paper. about the Presidents meeting. and it also has an article about Venezuela. which I will submit to the RECORD. Venezuela provides about 15 percent of the oil that we consume. In fact. I have a chart here that shows from the Middle East where we get about 30 percent of the total supply. with Saudi Arabia being the largest supplier. along with Kuwait. Iraq. United Arab Emirates. and then Venezuela about 15 percent. nearly half of what we consume comes from those regions of the world. America has to understand this. because until the people of the United States understand. this place will not change. If we look at the sad energy bill that passed this Chamber last week. without my support. it lives in the past. It lives in the 20th century. not the 21st century. ","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5157,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090025065,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But that. unfortnately. will not undo the damage or bring back a life that has been lost. It is time.for the Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Forest Service to change its attitude. quit trying to protect a goodoldboy network which is unable to function. and to permit others to get into this business. including the Russians. who we would like to have invest in this type of domestic. peaceful technology.","speaker_name":"DANA ROHRABACHER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":46.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4416,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090025081,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I care deeply about the integrity of our electoral system. Twentyfive States have already proven this option works and it is safe. It is time to give voters in the remaining States this convenient. secure. and affordable alternative. While I am proud to be from a State where citizens already have this right. I believe democracy works best when all citizens have an equal opportunity to have their voices heard. Right now. an uneven playing field exists between States that already offer the option of mailin ballots and States that do not. E 2030 When the same election is more accessible to voters in California than it is to voters in Maryland. the system is unfair. States that fail to offer this choice stand to compromise their leverage in Federal elections by curbing the greatest level of voter participation. We should follow the lead of half of our Nations States and ensure a uniformity of rights for all voters. I ask my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join me in supporting this effort to strengthenthe Democratic process and give American voters the choices they deserve.","speaker_name":"SUSAN DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":53.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3930,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090025084,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Two large police officers. one large teacher. and I love teachers. but this. excuse me. administrator. I believe this was a deputy principal. could not handle a 5yearold. A mother. a working mother on a job that could not get there quickly. but got to school and they would not let her see her 5yearold. What an outrage. I believe that school system and that district and the State of Florida needs to be penalized for the kind of reckless. irresponsible stigmatizing of a 5yearold. You could have called the mental health authorities. You could have waited. You could have given her a toy and a television set to calm her down. but yet two big police officers put her in the.police car with handcuffs for a little girl who was disruptive. What an outrage. I think we can do better than this and I am going do write legislation to punish school districts who do not understand how to deal with 5yearolds. particularly those who do not understand that 5yearolds do not need to be handcuffed. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5572,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090025086,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"About 475 of them. according to this article. are former Federal Government employees. 40 of them are former Members of Congress. It is the most influential and wellfinanced lobbying operation in Washington. Challenging the drug companies is always a costly undertaking. and. more often than not. it is a very difficult one and a losing one. But I want you to know what you are getting for your $158 million. Congress. when it passed a prescription drug bill last Congress. the 108th. we prevented the United States Government from negotiating prices like the Veterans Administration does. like WalMart does. like Sams Club does when they want to negotiate. When they want to deal with a supplier they negotiate best prices. not the United States Government. It explicitly prevents the United States Government from negotiating on behalf of Medicare for 43 million seniors for the lowest possible price. What does it say to our taxpayers? What does it say to our senior citizens? We are not going to do best business practices like Sams Club. like Lowes. like other people who negotiate price. We will send you out there and make you pay the highest price possible. which is why the United States taxpayers and senior citizens pay the highest pharmaceutical prices of any major industrialized. country in the world. That is what you got for their $158 million. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4875,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090025111,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We want more Americans to be in homes.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":518,"word_count":8}
{"speech_id":1090025123,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And now they are overstepping. Now we are being critical. And I think the American people are going to see that the Democratic Party has something to offer.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1485,"word_count":28}
{"speech_id":1090025148,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"America? And yet we seem to be there today. I am not taking the sides of whether you like or do not like how elections come out. But when did it become everybody goes to court? When did this have to happen? I mean. our Founding Fathers trusted the American people to elect their representatives. Did they design a system where judges rule the country? I do not think so. If they had had that system. they would have kept the King. and old George would still be around here. No. the purpose of the American justice system is justice. It is fairness. it is a place to seek recourse when there is no other place for recourse and to get a fair judgment. Now it has become a weapon of politics. It has become a weapon of business. it has become a weapon to make school boards change policies. It has become a weapon to make city counsels shut down parks or take down symbols. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CARTER","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":31.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6858,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090025231,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Framers sought not to ensure simple majority rule. but to allow minority viewswhether they are conservative. liberal. or moderateto have an enduring role in the Senate in order to check the excesses of the majority. This system is now being tested in the extreme. I believe the proposed course of action we are hearing about these days is one that has the potential to do more damage to this system than anything that has occurred since I have become a Senator. History will judge us harshly. in my view. if we eliminate over 200 years of precedent and procedure in this body and. I might add. doing it by breaking a second rule of the Senate. and that is changing the rules of the Senate by a mere majority vote. When examining the Senates proper role in our system of Government generally and in the process of judicial nominations specifically. we should begin. in my view. but not end with our Founding Fathers. As any grade school student knows. our Government is one that was infused by the Framers with checks and balances. I should have said at the outset that I owe special thanksand I will list themto a group of constitutional scholars and law professors in some of our great universities and law schools for editing this speech for me and for helping me write this speech because I think it may be one of the most important speeches for historical purposes that I will have given in the 32 years since I have been in the Senate. When examining the Senates proper role in our system of Government and in the process of judicial nominations. as I said. we have to look at what our S4358 c( Founders thought about when the. talked about checks and balances. The theoretical underpinning of this system can be found in Federalist 51 where the architect of our Constitution. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11833,"word_count":319}
{"speech_id":1090025252,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Democrats are trying to portray GOP efforts to restore majority rule to the Senate as it relates to judicial nominations as an assault on the traditions of the Senate and the Constitution itself. As if the filibuster were James Madisons dying wish. As a practical matter. the filibuster didnt even exist until the 1830s. when it was used to block legislation and not judicial picks. It was used by Democrats to defend slavery and oppose the Civil Rights Act--hardly noble purposes. In 1841. the filibuster was used by Sen. John Calhoun to defend slaveholding interests. In 1957. thenDemocratic Sen. Strom Thurmond held the floor for 24 hours straight to block civil rights legislation. And in 1964. 18 Democrats and one Republican blocked the Civil Rights Act for 2\/2 months. In 1916. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6187,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090025270,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I will be glad to respond to any questions the Senator has. after I get one thing taken care of here. Madam President. I ask unanimous consent that at 1:30 p.m. the Senate proceed to executive session for the consideration of Calendar No. 39. the nomination of J. Michael Seabright. to be U.S. district judge for the Southern District of Hawaii. provided further that there be 30 minutes for debate equally divided between the chairman and the ranking member or designees. and that at the expiration or yielding back of the time. the Senate proceed to a vote on the confirmation of the nomination with no intervening action or debate. provided further that following the vote. the President be immediately notified of the Senates action. and the Senate then resume legislative session.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":785,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090025272,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. as we said over and over again. I have a list of about eight amendments people have said they want to come down and offer. This is the third day now we have been inviting them to come down. So far only Senator THUNE has brought his amendment in. We did adopt that amendment. I encourage others to come down. I think this could very well be considered by most people the most significant vote on a bill we will be considering on the floor this entire year. We want to make sure. while we have the time. that we give adequate consideration and time for the amendments that different Members may have. I invite them to come down at any time during this process. With that. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":705,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090025292,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"President Clinton made a nomination to that seat in advance of the vacancy. but the Republicans in control of the Senate refused to act on it. They preserved the vacancy for a Republican President. In 2002. President Bush nominated James Rohlfing to the vacancy. That nomination failed. however. because in the view of his home State Senators and the American Bar Association. he was not qualified for the position. It took the White House more than 2 additional years to agree. Finally. in May 2004 that nomination was withdrawn by President Bush. The administration finally got it right after consultation with the Hawaii Senators. The President sent Michael Seabrights name to the Senate last September. An outstanding attorney who has experience in private practice as well as a sterling reputation as an Assistant United States Attorney. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10420,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090025313,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"At the time when our Nations countervailing duty laws were approved in 1979. the Department of Commerce decided it was impracticable to apply those laws to nonmarket economies such as China due to the difficulty of determining what defines a government subsidy within the context of a statecontrolled economy. However. since that time. many nonmarket economies have undertaken significant economic reforms that have liberalized the state control over their economies. Unfortunately. however. some of these nations. such as China. refuse to comply with standard international trading rules and practices and use subsidies and other economic incentives to give their producers an unfair competitive advantage. This has a direct impact on job loss in Michigan. as well as in other States. As we all knowand it has been documentedthese subsidies range from currency manipulation. to providing below interest rate loans to less than creditworthy companies. to providing preferential access to raw materials and other input. I should mention that I was very proud to be a part of the effort to get a very strong vote a few weeks ago. 67 Members on both sides of the aisle joined to send a message both to the White House and to China that we expect China to stop manipulating their currency. which means it costs more for us to sell to them than for them to sell to us. It is part of what we need to do to level the playing field. I hope that because we have joined together in the vote we had on a very strong bipartisan basis. we will see the same kind of vote on this Bayh amendment. I will give you a few examples of how this hurts Michigan manufacturers and workers directly. Counterfeit automotive products are a very big problem in Michigan. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8910,"word_count":298}
{"speech_id":1090025356,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The amendment increased the amount of money that political action committees could contribute to national political parties from $15.000 to $25.000. That is a 67percent increase. And it eliminated the restrictions on trade associations soliciting member companies for those contributions without prior approval of those companies as well as limitations on the number of times each year they could be solicited. Most egregious. the amendment that was adopted allows Members of Congress to transfer unlimited amounts of money from their leadership political action committees to national parties and to the political committees that are established and maintained by a national political party which includes such enterprises as the Democratic and Republican senatorial campaign committees. congressional campaign committees. and other subdivisions and political committees of the national parties that are used to directly attack Members of Congress for their reelections or to assist challengers or to assist incumbents. It opened the door widely. broadly. in allowing Members of Congress to use their positions of power and influence to solicit these contributions from special interests on a yearround. roundtheclock basis and then turn those moneys over in unlimited amounts to all of these other political activities. So at the same time this legislation purported to restrict the ability of individuals to make these kinds of large expenditures on behalf of political causes and candidates. it threw the door wide open for special interest groups to do exactly what they said they were prohibiting. It is a terrible step in the wrong direction. It is evidence. again. of why allowing incumbents to be involved in socalled election law regarding their own selfinterest is akin to giving a blowtorch to a pyromaniac. They simply cannot resist the abuses that are available to them. I urge my colleagues to look at this legislation cautiously as it proceeds to the Senate floor. ","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3294,"word_count":306}
{"speech_id":1090025359,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on April 6. 2005. I voted against a motion to table amendment. No. 309. otherwise known as the Schumer amendment. to the fiscal year 20062007 Foreign Affairs authorization bill. Upon careful consideration of this issue I have come to the conclusion that this amendment will o be ineffective at best and harmful at - worst. As it is currently written. the i Schumer amendment will impose a tarr iff on all Chinese imports. Sponsors of 1 the amendment claim this measure is - necessary in order to compel the Chinese Government to revalue its currency. I am a supporter of free trade. I also believe that the benefits of free trade 1 must be weighed against any harm 1 that could be done to vital American 3 interests. Understandably. there is considerable angst over the expanding trade deficit between the United States and China. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2620,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090025361,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Six decades after the smoldering flames of the Shoah were extinguished. we are still confronted with reality that the embers of antiSemitism could today be fanned into a consuming fire. As chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. I am committed to confronting and combating manifestations of antiSemitism and related violence at home and abroad. I look forward to the upcoming OSCE conference in Cordoba. Spain. as it will assess what nieasures countries are or are not taking to confront antiSemitism. As a member of the Senate. I have and will continue to support the vital educational work of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and other institutions. While the world professed shock at the scope of the atrocities and cruelty of the Holocaust. it has not prevented genocides elsewhere. Bosnia. Rwanda. and now Darfur. ","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2856,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090025362,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"President Bush requested his speciality. Peking Duck. Dan Tang is a true American success story. He is a role model for hardworking small business owners across the country who are creating their own American dream..","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1352,"word_count":35}
{"speech_id":1090025363,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Before he graduated from high school. he landed his first job on a radio station in Temple. He called himself \"The Lone Wolf.\" When he graduated from high school in 1957. his career began to take off. He was hired by a station first in Round Rock. then in El Paso. where he enrolled at Texas Western College. Radio was so good. he dropped out of college and took a job with a chain. He ended up in Des Moines. IA. broadcasting as Lee Western. During his job there. he had his first child. who was born over Texas soil even though the birth took place in a Des Moines hospital. Bill Baileys mom sent him some dirt from his hometown which he wrapped in sterile cloth and placed under the delivery table. That is an authentic Texan. On New Years Day. 1960. he tuned in to listen to the University of Texas play in the Cotton Bowl. ","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4765,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090025368,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. KOLBE. Mr. WALSH. Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. HOBSON. Mr.","speaker_name":"JIM RYUN","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":894,"word_count":12}
{"speech_id":1090025373,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The State of Texas leads the Nation with almost 49.000 bridges. about ten percent of the total. Ohio is second with about 28.000 highway bridges. A little known and disturbing fact about these 590.000 highway bridges is that nearly 78.000. or 13 percent. are considered to be structurally deficient according to the most recent statistics from the FHWA. The percent of structurally deficient bridges varies widely among the 50 states. For example. this chart shows the top ten states with the highest percentage of deficient bridges. State Number of bridges Number of structurally deficient bridges Percent of structuraleficient bridges (perOklahom a .................................................................................................... ................................... 23.312 7.307 31.3 Rhode Island .2................................................................................................................................... 749 193 25.8 Pennsylvania .................................................................................................................................... 22.253 5.464 24.6 M issouri . .......................................................................................................................................... 23.791 5.028 21.1 Iowa 2 2 ......... ............ ..... .. .. .. .............)................................................. 24.90 M ississippi .............................................................................................................. ....................... 16.838 3.379 20.1 Verm ont ............................................................................................................................................. 2.690 484 V9.0 South Dakota ...................................5 ................................................ .............................................. 5.96 1.072 18.0 North Dakota ....................................................................................................................... ........... 4.507 803 17.8 Nebraska .......................................................................................................................................... 15.455 2.550 16.5 M ichigan t46........................................................................................................................................ 1. 1.764 116 The source is the FHWA National Bridge Inventory System. December 2004 Florida and Arizona have the lowest percentages of structurally deficient bridges at less than 3 percent each. Structurally deficient bridges are a particular concern in rural areas of our country. According to FHWAs 2002 edition of its Conditions and Performance Report to Congress. 16 percent or rural bridges are structurally deficient compared to only 10 percent of urban bridges. The report estimates the average costs required to maintain the existing 590.000 highway bridges is $7.3 billion per year. ","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12186,"word_count":263}
{"speech_id":1090025376,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This designation currently prevents the construction of this important flood control project. leaving the land and residents living downstream vulnerable to flood damage. Even though the Las Vegas Valley is a desert. flash flooding is an all too common problem affecting the people in Las Vegas. Along with property damage and deaths related to flooding. Clark County residents experience inconvenience resulting from impassable roads during flooding events. Support services such as police. fire and ambulance can also be delayed. creating lifethreatening incidents. I look forward to working with the Energy Committee and my other distinguished friends to move this bill in a timely manner during the current session. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1960,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090025380,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Introduction of legislation in this vein is a bit of a ritual for this Senator. West Virginia industries depend on efficient and dependable rail service at fair prices to move their products to market. This is a perfectly reasonable goal. However. for shippers without competitive rail accessreferred to as captive shippersit is a cruel and impossible dream. I have tried for years. with partners from both sides of the aisle and all parts of the country. to change the status quo. and improve the economic situation for rail shippers and retail shoppers. This is the seventh time since 1985 I have sponsored legislation to address this issue. and the fifth congress in a row in which I have worked closely with my good friends CONRAD BURNS and BYRON DORGAN to help shippers and their customers. And I wont give up until I actually succeed. Predictably. the railroads will overreact to this bill with scathing accusations of what we are doing. In truth. we intend nothing more radical than helping shippers. consumers. and the railroads themselves. reap the benefits of the basic principles of capitalismthe ability of sophisticated actors to conduct armslength negotiations for competition. service. and fair prices. Currently. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ROCKEFELLER","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7167,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090025381,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the bill I am introducing todayto amend chapter 1 of title 3. United States Code. relating to Presidential successionbe printed in the RECORD. I also ask unanimous consent that the section by section analysis titled \"Presidential Succession Act of 2005\" and the letter sent to the chairmen of the RNC and DNC be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":378,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090025386,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The President says that to fund his high school initiative we need to eliminate one of our most effective education programs for high schools. technical schools and collegesPerkins Vocational and Technical Education grants. There is a better way. The Pathways for All Students to Success (PASS) Act provides the resources schools need to sharpen the focus on literacy and mathskills critical to success in the workforce or in postsecondary studies. High schools can employ literacy and math coaches to help support and supplement the teachers in traditional classrooms. The legislation also allows for additional academic counseling. to provide that targeted. individualized assistance that many students need to achieve proficiency in key academic areas.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1679,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090025389,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"These households tend to do their banking at checkcashing outlets that charge exorbitant fees for such services. A lack of basic consumer finance education. including lack of familiarity with how a checking or savings account works. has been cited as a major reason why millions of Americans do not set up such accounts. Not only are lowincome people more likely to be unbanked than other individuals. but they are also the most vulnerable to abusive lending practices and hostile credit arrangements. Those with the fewest financial resources end up paying the most to obtain financing. Financial education that addresses predatory lending will help prevent lowincome families from becoming victims of unaffordable loan payments. equity stripping. and foreclosure. Burdened by significant financial needs. welfare recipients need practical information on the fundamentals of saving. household budgeting. taxes. and credit. With this knowledge. individuals will be better equipped to move toward selfsufficiency and maintain financial independence.","speaker_name":"JON CORZINE","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1936,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090025398,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Second. our bill will provide the Director of CPDER with significant new authorities. including: the authority to require drug companies to conduct I postmarket studies of their products if I there are questions about safety or effectiveness. the authority to take cor- r rective actions. such as labeling t changes. restricted distribution. and other risk management tools. if an un- i reasonable risk exists. the authority to review drug advertisements before they are disseminated. and to require certain disclosures about increased risk. and in extreme cases. the authority to pull the product off the market. These new authorities will allow the FDA to act quickly to get answers when there are questions about the safety of a drug. and to act decisively to mitigate the risks when the evidence shows that a drug presents a safety issue. With these authorities. we will never again have a situation where a critical labeling change takes two years to complete. as was the case with Vioxx. When we are talking about drugs that are already on the market and in widespread use. any delay can put millions of patients in harms way. Third and lastly. this legislation will authorize the appropriation of $500 million over the next 5 years to provide the new center with the resources to carry out the provisions of this legislation. I would like to thank several groups that have endorsed this bill. and that were instrumental in its drafting. including Consumers Union. the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD). the National Womens Health Network (NWHN). the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG). the Consumer Federation of America. and the Center for Medical Consumers. I look forward to working with all of my colleagues. including Senator ENZI and Senator KENNEDY on the HELP Committee. to see this legislation enacted as soon as possible. By strengthening the ability of the FDA to ensure the safety of prescription drugs once they are on the market. this legislation will allow physicians to prescribe. and patients to use. prescription drugs without wondering if the medicines intended to help them will hurt them instead. It will help ensure that the term \"FDAApproved\" will remain the gold standard for safety and quality. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6376,"word_count":373}
{"speech_id":1090025400,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Its time to build on this success. and ensure that millions of workers can also take time off when they need an annual checkup. when their children are sick with a cold. and when their ailing elderly parents need to be taken to the doctor. Hardworking men and women deserve better. Thats why Congresswoman DELAURO and I are introducing legislation to guarantee workers 7 days of paid sick leave a year to care for their own medical needs and those of be able to finish fly rods here. leading to an increasingly competitive place in the market for American goods. With this change Montanas small businesses will benefit as will our overall economy in the state. I am pleased that some of my colleagues in the House have decided to assist in this effort. I truly appreciate the work of Representative SIMMONS of Connecticut. who is leading this legislation in the House. He has already signed on 17 cosponsors to this legislation at last count. His assistance has been invaluable. and I look forward to working with him as this legislation moves forward. ded for in subheading 4503.90.60) .. 1 6% their family members. This proposal covers workers at all businesses. except small businesses with fewer than 15 employees. This is a family issue. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3458,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090025448,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the - Senate completes its business today. it stand in adjournment until 9:30 a.m. tomorrow. Thursday. April 28. I further ask that following the prayer and the pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate then proceed to a period for morning business for up to 60 minutes. with the first 30 minutes under the control of the Democratic leader or his designee and the final 30 minutes under the control of the majority leader or his designee. provided that following morning business. the Senate resume consideration of H.R. 3. the highway bill.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":697,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090025453,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They did not come to the committee. Senator HATCH is right. they certainly did not get a floor I vote. Also. we keep hearing we have to have upordown votes on judicial nominations. I was somewhat amazed yesterday by what people from the other side of the aisle said. that we are going to allow filibusters on other I nominations that come from the President. Now. let us see what logic there is here. On a lifetime appointment. that is a judge who becomes a district I court judge or a circuit court judge. i they can be appointed at age 35 and serve for the next 40 years. and we cannot use our advise and consent that we have as Senators? But if someone is going to serve for a few months or a few years. as other nominations. then we can talk as long as we want. our ability to speak is not taken away there? If we look at this. there might be something more there than meets the eye. The American people are not interested in seeing us fight about the rules or pursuing partisan goals. That is why this body has to come together and worked out this issue. We need to take on issues the American people wrestle with every day. Whether it is in Chicago. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4975,"word_count":222}
{"speech_id":1090025466,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"People spoke against it. And we did things the oldfashioned waywe voted on them and then sent the bill to the House. That is the way we did it. We have to develop faith in what we are trying to do. I am saying to everyone. trust us. Yes. I have spoken to Republican Senators. I have spoken to every one of the Democrat Senators. I have spoken to quite a few Republican Senators. I hope they give us the benefit of the doubt. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2358,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090025501,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I rise today to ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Harlingen High School for being selected as one of the 2005 College Board Inspiration Awards. Harlingen High School is one of three exemplary high schools in the Nation being honored for their steadfast commitment to fostering student success in some of Americas most povertystricken communities. Each school receives a prize of $25.000 to use in furthering its academic goals. The Inspiration awards recognize outstanding work in improving the academic environment and helping economically disadvantaged students achieve the promise of a higher education. I would like to congratulate the superintendent. Dr. Linda Wade. the principal. Richard Renaud. the teachers. students. and entire school community for their prestigious award. Harlingen High School is truly an inspiration for all of us who value education and academic excellence for all students. ","speaker_name":"RUBEN HINOJOSA","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1380,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090025504,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. 34 States currently have parental consent laws when it comes to minors and abortion. Unfortunately. they are too often and too easily ignored simply by going to another State. Today. the House is going to vote to make it a Federal crime to transport a minor across State lines for an abortion. This legislation would not affect State laws. but would prevent minors from being transported to evade a parental consent law in the girls home State. The average American parent would be outraged if some adult took their child across States lines for an abortion. The Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act protects parents and minors from adults who might conspire with or even pressure them to cross into another State for an abortion. This bill is for our kids and for a better America. I urge a \"yes\" vote.","speaker_name":"SAM JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":824,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090025506,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. the AARP has publicly denounced any plans to reform Social Security that might include personal savings retirement accounts. They have taken out fullpage ads claiming that investing for retirement is like playing the slot machines in Las Vegas. But the AARP Web site tells its senior members to invest their money in a 401(k) or an IRA. and also says that seniors do not invest enough in retirement plans. Why are these retirement plans safe and advisable but personal retirement accounts through Social Security are too risky? In addition. the AARP has its own investment plan through Scudder Investments that invests in mutual funds and stock index funds. If the AARP exists to look out for the interests of retired persons and they advise their membership to invest c their money in mutual funds and stock index funds. my colleagues. it seems c suspect that they would not support a program that would allow some. some flexibility through the Social Security program. t -aS","speaker_name":"CLIFFORD STEARNS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":991,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090025523,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The creation of private savings accounts sticks them with a severe logistical headache. in fact an unfunded mandate. Consider this: under a personal savings plan. small businesses would be responsible for everything from pro- x viding. collecting. filing paperwork. to I establishing an accounting system to ensuring proper payment over time. to e handling quarterly and annual report- f ing to the employee. c Furthermore. the administration has s been telling Americans that this plan c is only. is just like a Thrift Savings r Plan. The truth of the matter is that f. there are tremendous costs associated with administering these types of t plans. and most often those costs will a fall on the employers. n And judging by the experience with TSPs and other retirement accounts. employees will look to their employers if there is a problem. Who knows how responsibility and liability will be determined? Small firms will be sued if anything goes wrong with an account or with the investment. In light of the facts that I have laid out. Congress should be taking a harder look at the realities of having small businesses assume the administrative burden of collecting and paying out for private accounts. A proposed blueprint that does not address all the realities and the real needs of small businesses is once again a oneway street with a dead end. I urge a \"no\" vote on the rule.","speaker_name":"RAUL GRIJALVA","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2593,"word_count":236}
{"speech_id":1090025550,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me read my amendment. \"The prohibitions of this section do not apply with respect to conduct by taxicab drivers. bus drivers. nurses. medical providers. or others in the business of professional transport.\" It was described in the report as saying: \"Mr. Scott offered an amendment that would have exempted sexual predators from prosecution if they are taxicab drivers. bus drivers. or others in the business of professional transport.\" Let me just say that if a person is known to be a sexual predator. the last thing a prosecutor would have done would be to say. aha. we have him for transporting a minor across State lines - as a taxicab driver. and we can get him for a misdemeanor. when. obviously. if e they can show that he is a sexual predg ator. they have many felonies they a could prosecute him for. But my view t on the description and the distortion of this amendment is that it says more about the character of the persons re- sponsible for describing the amend- ment that way. or for those trying to n defend the distortion. than it does - about the amendment. - I would point out that the Comt mittee on Rules changed the descript tion from the distortion in the com. mittee report and described it as fol1 lows: \"Amendment immunizes taxicab - drivers. bus drivers. and others in the f business of professional transport. docI tors and nurses and others. medical i providers or their staff. from the transportation provision of the bill.\" A de5 scription of what the amendment says. L a clarification of the distortion. but again. Mr. Speaker. it just says more about the character of the people who wrote that distortion than it does about the amendment. I would hope that we would adopt an amendment to the rules that would require the Committee on Rules to eliminate that distortion so that the public will be accurately informed as to what is in the bill and the amendments.","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2683,"word_count":336}
{"speech_id":1090025557,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The only issue my amendment dealt with was to give the minor child more protection. The only thing that I think is appropriate is for the chairman of the full committee to exercise some sort of comity and collegiality to remove this abusive language. First of all. the specifics of my amendment says that I offered an amendment that would have exempted sexual predators from prosecution under the bill. My amendment dealt specifically with allowing clergy. godparents. aunts and uncles or first cousins. minimally speaking. and then I offered a GAO study. The description in the report language also says I have a GAO study dealing with clergy and godparents. This is an abuse of power and incorrect. And I know this is inside the ballpark. but it also says if you have the votes for this legislation. win fair and square. Do not win by maligning colleagues and defeating the purpose of the rules of this House. Vote this rule down. Mr. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3817,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090025564,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time on this extremely important issue. I decided it was important to speak some words about it. As a State legislator for a number of years. and a lot of us here were. I understand the importance of State laws and the importance of respecting families. I am just shocked at some of the debate I hear on the other side of the tisle opposing this legislation. The vhole point here is to support the famly. The whole point here is to prevent the person who may even be a sexual redator or the person who is exploitng this minor from transporting this :hild across a State line to obtain an bortion and basically get rid of his roblem. It is outrageous that we would not upport this legislation. ","speaker_name":"MELISSA HART","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1080,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090025568,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of the rule and the underlying bill. the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act. Mr. Speaker. eight in 10 Americans favor parental notification laws. and 44 States have recognized the important role of parents in a minor childs decision to have an abortion by enacting a parental involvement statute. Even so. many of these laws are being circumvented by people who simply transport girls across State lines to States e without parental notification laws for - the purpose of getting an abortion. y All too often these other adults are b grown men who sexually preyed upon the young girls. and they used the n abortions to cover up their crimes. - CIANA returns parental rights to par. ents. Despite the strong deference it gives I to abortion rights. even the U.S. Supreme Court recognizes that parents \u0095 rights to control the care of their children is among the most fundamental of all liberty interests. The Supreme - Court has consistently recognized that parents have a legal right to be in* volved in their minor daughters decision to seek medical care. including * abortion. The court has consistently affirmed a States right to restrict the circumstances under which a minor may obtain an abortion in ways that adult women seeking abortion are not restricted. ","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2356,"word_count":220}
{"speech_id":1090025588,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Congress cannot turn a blind eye to those who would violate the law and endanger our children. Mr. Speaker. this Congress has an obligation and absolute moral duty to parents and their children alike to make sure that these State laws are upheld so that nonguardians do not make medical decisions for our children. Parents and children deserve better. Mr. Speaker. and this bill will ensure that they get the care and consideration that they need. Again I would like to thank the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. RosLEHTINEN). the sponsor of the bill. and all my colleagues who support this bill. I encourage each and every Member to think long and hard about this matter. to put rhetoric aside and to listen to their conscience. Mr. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1723,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090025596,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mass mailings by committees would tave to be approved by the bipartisan Franking Commission and would be subject to the 90day cutoff that individual Members are subjected to. This clarifying language and the limitation provide guidance which will allow committees to strategically plan their franking use during each session of Congress. By a separate action of the Committee on House Administration. we adopted a committee resolution setting an overall committee limit for all forms of franked mail. including committeeinitiated frank mailings. of $5.000 per session. Again. this gives committees a planning tool. And we recognize that a committee might find itself in crisis due to exigent circumstances. During the markup of this resolution. the gentleman from Ohio (Chairman NEY) expressed clearly and unequivocally that any committee needing additional franking authorization above the $5.000 must return to the committee to request and justify the needed increase. Such an increase would be adopted by the full committee in the form of a committee supplemental resolution. and the increased funding could not be used for mass mailings. Mr. Speaker. I insert a chart in the RECORD at this point.","speaker_name":"JUANITA MILLENDER-MCDONALD","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":37.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4050,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090025599,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise to address just one aspect of the funding resolution. I have come to this floor before with my concerns that mass mailings have been sent by a particular committee. We as Members of the House have constituents that we need to keep in touch with. but a committee has as its constituents only the members of that committee. A committee does not answer to the whole people of the United States. it answers to this House and to its Members. This funding resolution makes it clear that the mass mailings of any committee cannot exceed over $5.000 in postage in any year. Basically. that means no effort to reach out to an entire community. an entire congressional district. with an ideological message. For that reason. I want to commend the ranking member and the Chair for putting to rest that issue. at least for as long as this funding resolution is operative. ","speaker_name":"BRAD SHERMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":27.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1487,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090025603,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I agreed with is good. and all the chairs of the committees and the ranking members agreed with the change.","speaker_name":"ROBERT NEY","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":759,"word_count":20}
{"speech_id":1090025604,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"One of the promises made by the Republicans was to pass a resolution on the first day of the 104th Congress that would provide for the selection of a major. independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste. fraud or abuse. Republicans were concerned that tax dollars were being misspent by the House of Representatives. Chairman NEY signed the Contract with America. and I can only assume that he supported this provision. It seems odd to me now that a little over 10 years later. my friend BOB NEY and his Republican colleagues do not seem to have the same zeal for investigating waste. fraud and abuse here in the House. During the Committee Funding Resolution hearings in March. I posed several questions about the budget and policies of the Resources Committee during the 108th Congress to Resources Committee Chairman RICHARD POMBO. On October 6. 2004. The Hill reported that Chairman POMBO planned to close the Resources Committee for a month leading up to the November 2004 elections. It went on to state that the staff would receive a month of vacation time and Chairman POMBOs spokesman stated ontherecord that some staff may choose to go and work on campaigns during their time off. During the hearing. ","speaker_name":"ZOE LOFGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5589,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090025636,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me this time. c The resolution we are talking about 1 today is supposed to express the sense of Congress that we are committed to meeting the needs of small businesses. But. frankly. as we fiddle away. we ignore that small businesses need action t now. We have been speaking of the most glaring example. where Congress and the administration have been long on promises and very short on action. A comprehensive health care reform for small business needs to be a priority. The number one challenge facing our Nations businesses today is inability to access affordable health care. The problem has deepened in the past 5 years. an increase in cost of over 60 percent over the past 5 years. While it seems that everybody recognizes there is a problem. there has been no major reforms in the last 5 years. Since 2001. the President has repeatedly talked about bringing down health care costs for small businesses. but he has done little in the way of making any real changes. ","speaker_name":"RAUL GRIJALVA","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1979,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090025639,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker. today we are going to vote on a resolution that will do nothing to help small businesses in Nevada and throughout this country. My friends on the other side of the aisle call this resolution the Small Business Bill of Rights. yet in my opinion this is another case where their rhetoric does not match the reality. Small business is very important to me. Half of the businesses in Nevada are small businesses. We are all concerned about the cost of health care to small businesses. We are all concerned about the amount of paperwork that small businesses are deluged by. and we are all concerned about the skyrocketing costs of energy for all business. including small business. ","speaker_name":"SHELLEY BERKLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2331,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090025651,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. and certainly she can get her own time to respond. but. no. there was a lady who was invited to testify before the committee representing herself. She certainly did not represent 100 percent of all minorities in the country. She did not pretend to represent any minorities other than herself. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time. .","speaker_name":"RIC KELLER","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":374,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090025654,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yielc myself such time as I may consume. I will respond to the comments of thE gentlewoman from California. Mr Speaker. no one. no one. at the hearinE of this resolution. either submitted written testimony or spoke about thE Small Business AdministrationE microloan program. That is not to say that the program is unimportant. The Committee on Small Business has argued against eliminating the microloan program in the past. However. the main purpose of this resolution is to include only those issues that affect a broad crosssection of all small businesses. The microloan program serves a small niche marketplace. Access to capital issues are already addressed in the Small Business Bill of Rights. ","speaker_name":"RIC KELLER","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2618,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090025665,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So I think the President has taken the lead with respect to tax relief. and the Congress has agreed with him. and we have i had some pretty good success with that. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time. s","speaker_name":"RIC KELLER","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1370,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090025672,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Again. I respect the comments and enthusiasm of the gentleman from Illinois. and I wish I had his wonderful voice. by the way. maybe I would be more persuasive. We hear criticisms that. well. this is just a blueprint. we need action. And then it is criticized because it does not have a thing or two that they want in there. So if it is. in fact. a meaningless blueprint and does not in fact do what I say it does. and that is provide a blueprint of action for this Congress. why are they so desperately trying to get their provisions in here? I have to tell my colleagues that there are some folks who do not agree with their characterization that this is not important. The NFIB. which represents 600.000 small businesses. sent t out a letter yesterday to every Member of Congress. please vote for the Keller Small Business Bill of Rights. This is - important to us to have this blueprint. r The Chamber of Commerce sent out a letter on April 25. 2 days ago. which I represents 3 million people. asking s each Member of Congress. please vote for this Small Business Bill of Rights. - This is a blueprint that is critical to have on the record so that this Coni gress will follow it. ","speaker_name":"RIC KELLER","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2608,"word_count":233}
{"speech_id":1090025674,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The point is that sufficient authority exists to protect small businesses against unnecessary regulatory burdens but. unfortunately. Mr. Speaker. these laws are not being carried out tc the intended level by the executivE branch. I agree with the regulatory provision of H Res. 22. However. thiE issue should remain where it belongs: in the committees oversight plan. Mr. Speaker I. therefore. support House Resolution 22. Mr. Speaker. I rise to address a provision el H. ","speaker_name":"MADELEINE BORDALLO","chamber":"H","state":"GU","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":4201,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090025706,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. the purpose of House Resolution 210 is to congratulate the World Intellectual Property Organization. commonly referred to as WIPO. for its work and to support the goals of World Intellectual Property Day. which include teaching the importance of intellectual property as a tool for economic. social. and cultural develop. ment. WIPO is considered the most important international organization for the promotion of intellectual property. Among its other responsibilities. WIPO administers those treatieE known as the Berne and the Paris conventions to protect intellectual property globally. The United States is a WIPO member. Five years ago. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1174,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090025707,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In spite * of the tremendous importance of intellectual property. many Americans are unaware that the entertainment they enjoy and the technology they use tc get their work done would not exist it not for the protections our Founding Fathers placed in the Constitution and the value our society has continued to place on these vital. yet intangible. contributions. World Intellectual Property Day is focused this year on bringing intellectual property to young people around the globe. Through it. we can reach out to young people about the importance of intellectual property and to increase understanding of how protecting IP rights helps to foster creativity and invention. America is an unsurpassed leader in imagination and innovation. and it will be up to our children and through the efforts of groups like the World Intellectual Property Organization of the U.N. to continue this strong tradition. House Resolution 210 will help bring attention to World Intellectual Property Day and to the tremendous value of intellectual property. and I hope that all of our colleagues will join us in support of this resolution. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the remainder of my time.","speaker_name":"ROBERT WEXLER","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3321,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090025724,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This young girl was essentially t pressured by the boyfriend and the boy- c friends parents. This young girls par- a ents thought they were sending her to r school. she was then taken out of E State. from Pennsylvania into New Jersey. where an abortion was per- h ormed on her. The parents and the s boyfriend. they went out and had lunch 1 while she is undergoing this abortion. o This girl did not want to go through s vith it to begin with. They pressured t her. and when she got there. she said she did not want to go through with it. That was the evidence in the committee. She was told by them if you do not go through with this. you do not have a way to get back home. So she would have been stuck there. The mother found out about this. and the daughter. she said. still cries about this constantly. that she wishes she could go back and undo what happened to her. but obviously it is too late. The parents should have been entitled to have been involved in this process. but. unfortunately. too often that is not the case if they are being pressured by the boyfriend or some abusive adult. Parents such as Mrs. ","speaker_name":"STEVE CHABOT","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5080,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090025746,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today in strong opposition to H.R. 748. This bill is yet another example of government intrusion into the most private of family decisions. and it once again criminalizes the actions of doctors who seek to provide women with confidential reproductive health care services. Mr. Chairman. in a perfect world every child would be able to turn to their parents for guidance. In a perfect world. every parent would have their childs best interests in mind. In a perfect world. every parent would create a safe and loving home where their teens could talk openly about important decisions. But. Mr. ","speaker_name":"TAMMY BALDWIN","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1155,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090025760,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Let us not kid ourselves. Abortior mills do not nurture. they do not heal they do not cure disease. unless you construe pregnancy to be a disease. and some abortionists do. including Dr Willard Cates. who used to be the head of the CDC Abortion Surveillance Unit and gave a 1976 speech before Planned Parenthood. titled \"Pregnancy: The Second Most Prevalent Sexually Transmitted Disease After Gonorrhea.\" But if you do not see pregnancy as a disease and the child a tumor or wart. then we are talking about abandonment. Abortion clinics are in the business. and a Member just a few moments ago talked about abortion mills as small business. It is not just small business. this is big business. and abortionists make millions of dollars plying their lethal trade. But they are in the business. I say to my colleagues. of dismembering the fragile bodies of unborn children with sharp knives and hideous suction machines that are 25 to 30 times more powerful than a vacuum cleaner used at home. This is not healing. this is killing. and it is abandonment. I say to my colleagues. no wonder 3 out of 4 Americans strongly support parental notification laws. This bill ensures that those State laws are not violated and young girls and young women are protected from abuse and abandonment.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3171,"word_count":221}
{"speech_id":1090025764,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the question was asked. whose side are we on? I am on the side of the family. It seems to me the practice of ferreting some pregnant girl who is a minor out across the State line so that parents will not know about it is an assault on the family. and I do not know why the family should be assaulted as much as it is routinely by some elements. Where in the world is the humanity in killing an unborn child? I have listened to this whole debate. and not one syllable has emanated from the opposition to this bill about the real tragedy of abortion: the killing of an innocent human life. That is what abortion is. And you are busy attempting to facilitate abortions. The litany of medical societies that support abortion is a scandal. At one time. abortion was a crime. Now it is a constitutional right. But it is wrong. and the sad thing is. we have gotten used to it. ","speaker_name":"HENRY HYDE","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1065,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090025768,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman this bill imposes a Federal parental no tification requirement on the 27 States including my own of Illinois. that ei ther have no parental involvement lav in effect. or require parental involve. ment but allow flexible alternatives such as allowing an adult family mem. ber to be notified or give consent. Since Illinois has no parental involvement law in effect. the bill will impose tough and unrealistic requirements to Illinois providers for the first time. Under the bill. doctors will be asked to comply with other State laws. verify the information provided by patients. and obtain inperson parental consents. even if the parents were abusive or guilty of incest. To make matters worse. because this bill lacks an adequate exception for medical emergencies. Illinois doctors could be force to withhold needed medical treatment from their patients in order to comply with this Federal law. Young people from Missouri. Indiana. and other neighboring States often travel to Illinois for safe abortion care. frequently because the nearest abortion provider happens to be located in Illinois. Yet this legislation would criminalize responsible adults.","speaker_name":"JANICE SCHAKOWSKY","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1167,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090025774,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Girls will be less likely to seek the assistance of a trusted adult if they know the adult could face criminal charges for assisting in obtaining an abortion. I also have concerns that this bill does not include an exemption for the health of a mother. In tle Supreme Court case Stenberg v. Carhart. the Court struck down Nebraskas Partialbirth abortion ban because it did not include such an exemption. This bill requires a physician to wait 24 hours before performing the abortion on a girl r from a State with a parental notifica- b tion law. even if the parent of the girl is present. If an abortion is needed to I protect the health of the mother. a b doctor would have to wait 24 hours be- ( fore they could perform the procedure. I Though I am not a lawyer. based on the a precedent set in the aforementioned t court case. I have concerns that this 1 )ill would be unconstitutional should t become law. n The Child Interstate Abortion Notifi- Is cation Act does not ensure that girls vill seek the support and guidance of t? the parents when faced with a pregnancy. Instead it increases the likelihood that they will not seek the guidance of any adults. which could harm themselves and the fetus they are carrying. For these reasons. ","speaker_name":"MARK UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2884,"word_count":226}
{"speech_id":1090025778,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This legislation would jail California doctors with outofstate patients unless they inform the parents in person 24 hours in advance of the procedure. If the parents are unreachable. doctors would have to give notice \"by certified mail. return receipt requested. restricted delivery to the last known address of the person being notified. with delivery deemed to have occurred 48 hours following noon on the next day subsequent to mailing on which regular mail delivery takes place.\" This ludicrous meddling in medical decisionmaking would be a joke if it werent so tragic. I If enacted. the consequence for offending it the religious right now carries with it up to a n year in prison. God help the doctor who is as n confused by that sentence as I am. - Mr. Chairman. those of us who still believe r in science know that the best way to reduce the number of abortions in this country is to r have comprehensive sex education and proI vide full funding for family planning so that unintended pregnancies dont happen in the first place. Its no coincidence that the abortion r rate. which hit a 24year low when President I Clinton left office. has risen throughout President Bushs first term. The \"culture of life\" philosophy of hypocrisy. fear. and shame works better on the campaign stump then it does in \" practice. If this is what the culture of life is I really all about. then I want no part of it. I vote - no on this shameful. unconstitutional bill.","speaker_name":"FORTNEY STARK","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2866,"word_count":256}
{"speech_id":1090025782,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I believe this legislation would dissuade young women from turning to other trustec adults. such as an aunt or older sibling. in a time of need. While this bill might be well intentioned. it is a deeply flawed attempt to curb young womens access to private. confidential health services under the guise of protecting parental rights. I would like to see abortion remain safe and legal. yet rare. Whatever ones views on abortion. I believe we all can recognize the importance of preventing unintended pregnancies. When women are unable to control the number and timing of births. they will increasingly rely on abortion. Making criminals of advisors. however. is simply not the way to accomplish this goal. I urge my colleagues to oppose this legislation.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SHAYS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2815,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090025825,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That court stated. \"Almost anyone in a religious organization willing to offer what purports to be spiritual advice would qualify for clergy status.\" That is Waters v. OConnor. 2004. the Court of Appeals of Arizona. That means that under this amendment. an impressionable and vulnerable minor could be sexually exploited by a cultist and the cultist could escape liability and prosecution under this legislation because the cultist claims clergy status. In fact. when the Federal Rules of Evidence were being debated in Congress. Congress specifically rejected using the word clergy in those rules. Doing so would have invited courts. just as this amendment would. to allow all matter of cult figures to fall under the term. Parents. and not anyone else. know and can provide their dependent minor - childrens complete and accurate med- ical histories. Before children undergo - medical procedures. parents are required to provide this critical information. Without that medical history. an abortion could be devastating to a childs health. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5485,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090025851,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. what the two proponents of the motion to recommit are arguing is something that simply is not going to happen. If the father of a young girl impregnates her as a result of an incestuous act. filing a lawsuit will expose that crime and the evidence that would have to be submitted by the defendants would end up very clearly showing that that father did commit a crime. What would happen as a result of this bill not passing. with or without the amendment. is that the father who did commit that crime of incest would want to destroy the evidence of that crime without alerting the authorities. This bill prevents that. and the bill reluires the alerting of appropriate authorities to protect young girls from future abuse. Those who oppose this bill and are upporting this motion to recommit vould doom the victims of rape and inest to continued abuse. Supporters of his bill want to prevent that abuse rom continuing. Vote down the motion to recommit. and vote for the bill. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1038,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090025877,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This rules change will permit us to carry out that most sacred responsibility so we can restore public confidence in this body. This is a great institution. and this rules change will allow this institution to carry out that responsibility. Mr. Speaker. I regret that we have been delayed 4 months in this work. I am glad tonight that we are correcting the mistake that was made. I urge my colleagues to support the resolution.","speaker_name":"BENJAMIN CARDIN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2716,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090025879,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. the House must now consider a return to the old rules. Despite the flaws in the old rules. we in the majority cannot and will not accept a Committee on Standards of Official Conduct held hostage for purposes of political gain. Mr. Speaker. I encourage my colleagues to support the bill.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2250,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090025890,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank m: colleague for yielding me this time and since I do not need the full 2 min utes. I will be yielding back some time but I just want to say to her and to ev eryone in this Chamber. that the ethic process needs to be bipartisan. and s( it is so right to return the rules bac to the way they were. I believe that the gentleman fron Washington and th( gentleman from West Virginia . the chairman and rankinE members respectively. can work oul whatever other differences that still remain. These are two good men. And I also want to say that I have tremendous respect for Members of thik Chamber from both parties for the good will and integrity they exhibit. I just think it is important for us to put this behind us and to move forward. It may be that on a bipartisan basis the chairman and ranking member and the full committee will come back with recommendations that this full body can consider. It would be an absolute shame. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SHAYS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1468,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090025908,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. some in the minority are obsessed with the vanity of power and they will hatchet the ethics process and people. I have taken down some of the words used here tonight by the minority: tarnish. gutted. subverted. destroyed. flawed. violated. What are they talking about? I am unceasingly amazed and gravely disturbed by the torrent of darkness caused by what I will refer to as false prophets of justice engaged in ignominious conduct. It is called the politicalization of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. and it is wrong. I have been a victim of a vicious political attack and gone before the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. I will assure Members. having been brought before the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. and I was fortunately cleared by unanimous e vote. but when another Member wants t to make a partisan attack and go bes fore the committee. that is wrong. So I we are engaged in this session to clar- ify it. I supported the changes. 1 Mr. Speaker. to the American people. n what are we talking about: the right to counsel. due process. notification. bipartisanship. ","speaker_name":"STEPHEN BUYER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1212,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090025985,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I agree. We are all looking for the best possible solution. I think when you ask the question. can we afford to wait. the followup question is. or what we often hear from the other side of the aisle. we do not have a crisis now because the trust fund will take care of us until 2017 or Let us talk a little bit about why that is not the solution. I do not know whether the gentleman from Georgia","speaker_name":"ANNE NORTHUP","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"F","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":408,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090025989,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. I do see that my friend .nd colleague. the gentleman from Visconsin . has come in. I now that he has put forth or introuced a plan that has all of us very inerested in that plan and how it would rork. Maybe I could ask the gentleman o spend a little while telling us about is program.","speaker_name":"ANNE NORTHUP","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"F","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3394,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090026002,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. more than a month ago. the House and Senate passed budget resolutions both on a fast track. Our hearings were minimal. ostensibly to finish up for the Easter break. But this years budget has become the classic case of hurry up and wait. Only yesterday. a month after finishing the budget resolution. did the House finally appoint conferees. and today we held the first and only meeting of the conference committee. We held that meeting amidst reports that agreement on the conference report was almost already a done deal. So the meeting was a formality. a gesture to lend some sort of collaboration to the budget process. But there has been no collaboration. and the budget resolution said to be emerging from conference does not reflect the resolution that we would pass if we were full partners in this process. This year the Federal Government faces a deficit estimated at $427 billion. the third record deficit in a row. With deficits of this size. $427 billion. rising and never ending. the budget should be used to make the bottom line better. not worse. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11250,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090026006,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the gentleman will yield further. this is probably hard for the folks back home to understand. and I know it is hard for many Members here to understand. but this news simply has not gotten out to the American people. It is my understanding that. what. votes on raising the debt ceiling anymore do not happen?","speaker_name":"JIM COOPER","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":312,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090026013,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This chart shows the percentages of our debt that are held by foreigners. As you can see. they have steadily increased to the point where in 2004 -the share of foreignowned debt rose to 44 percent. One of the reasons that it is difficult to get this message across to the American people is that they are not really feeling the effects of it. since foreigners are buying for now a lot of our debt. But when and if they cease buying it in huge quantities as they have been. w have got a problem.","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":494,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090026026,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mi Speaker. I thank the gentleman fo yielding. I have been listening. listen ing over in my office initially and nov here on the Floor to the discussion and it strikes me that what the Repub licans have given us is a worstofboth worlds budget. The Ranking Member on the Coin mittee on the Budget has described t( us very convincingly how this budge takes us over the cliff fiscally. There i. no question. We are looking at $400 bil. lion. $500 billion deficits as far as the eye can see. just unprecedented deficit. and debt piling up on this country. One would like to think that if we are incurring that kind of deficit. we are at least getting some bang for the buck. right? We would like to think that we are getting adequate funding for domestic needs. for example. We would like to think that the economy is getting some juice. some stimulus. Yet. we are not getting that. either. We are getting the worst of both worlds. ","speaker_name":"DAVID PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1834,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090026028,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if the gentleman will yield. we are stuck here in the Congress not able to pass a transportation bill. Our communities are crying out for highway maintenance. for modernizing our highway system. for bringing transit on line. The administration has stood in the way of a congressional accommodation on a transportation bill that would invest in our future. Is highway spending part of that equation?","speaker_name":"DAVID PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":411,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090026031,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. as I acknowledged. terrorists and war and recession have all taken a toll on the budget. But the President has basically taken the attitude that we can have guns. butter. and tax cuts too. and never mind the deficits. The tax cuts keep coming every year. The President has an unfinished tax agenda of at least 1 trillion 400 billion. and that does not include everything. because he does not put on his agenda anything. anything to fix the alternative minimum tax. I paid it this year. I paid it last year. more and more Americans are going to be paying the AMT until it rises. Treasury tells us. to 30 million tax filers in the year 2010. not far away. e The political truth of the matter is. t we will have to do something about that. That means that the Presidents tax agenda. tax cut agenda calls for ans other $2 trillion beginning in 2011. They s conveniently stop their budget project tions in 2010. so we miss the outyears. o but here is what happens in the outd years when you add AMT to the Presin dents other requests. principally to a make permanent the tax cuts adopted - in 01. 02 and 03. This is what happens to e the baseline projections of the deficit. d it gets worse and worse and worse. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1304,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090026048,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"One thing we know will o up is interest expense on the naional debt because the deficits are the argest in American history. It is geting harder and harder to blame 9\/11 for hat because they have produced the argest deficits in American history ear after year after year. as this chart hows right here. As the gentleman ilistrated earlier. the sea of red ink is ontinuing. deficits. the largest in American history. as far as anyone car see.","speaker_name":"JIM COOPER","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":441,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090026051,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me ask one more question. The gentlemen mentions interest on the national debt. I remember in 2001 when this administration came in. when Chairman Greenspan was testifying. the questions he had to answer were along the lines of should we pay off the whole national debt or should we pay off just the shortterm debt or the longterm debt? What will happen to the interest rates when you pay off the national debt? Were the projections not at the beginning of 2001 when this administration came in that we could pay all the debt held by the public. we could pay it off by 2008. and by 2013. 2015. we could have put all the money back into the trust funds that we borrowed from like Social Security?","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":699,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090026052,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The gentleman makes a great point because we have gone from the prospect of being a debtfree Nation to being one of the most indebted nations in the world. In fact. there is a tragic tipping point that will occur in the last year of the Bush administration. because in that year. and this is according to the House Republican budget. we will actually be spending more on interest payments to our creditors than we spend on all regular domestic government in America. So in a sense it will be a better deal to be a bond holder of this country. even a foreign bond holder. than to be a citizen of this country. And that Is the classic result of budget mismanagement which we are seeing year in and year out under this administration.","speaker_name":"JIM COOPER","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":731,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090026072,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If I could just jump in here. I wanted to come to a conclusion about what this means. these huge deficits. these unprecedented deficits. the highest deficits in American history. They mean higher interest rates in the long run. higher interest rates than we would have otherwise.","speaker_name":"THOMAS ALLEN","chamber":"H","state":"ME","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":279,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090026074,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"On car loans and hom mortgages and on business loans. Tha is number one. And because it mean higher interest rates in the long run. i means slower economic growth. slowe: economic growth than we would hav with more responsible policies. Wha does slower economic growth yield Fewer jobs. Fewer jobs for the Amer ican people. Ui 2320 So we have higher interest rates slower economic growth. fewer jobs. It is hard to believe the people whc care about America would do what the Republican majority is doing to the American people through these budgets. They have fed the wealthiest people with tax cuts. the largest tax cuts in American history. and they are taking from the middle class opportunities for education and job training and advancement that ought to be part of what this country means. I think it is embarrassing. it is a shameful activity. and it clearly is the worst fiscal irresponsibility that I can remember in the last 100 years.","speaker_name":"THOMAS ALLEN","chamber":"H","state":"ME","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":945,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090026186,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President and fellow Senators. I want to start by submitting a couple of editorials from papers in the State of New Mexico. First of all. I want to start with an editorial from a paper in New Mexico called the Santa Fe New Mexican. I do not want to editorialize too much about this paper. but I think it is fair to say this is not a conservative newspaper. I believe it is fair to say it is a pretty liberal paper. It is probably even more than mildly liberal. very liberal. But I was impressed by their grasp of this issue and a statement that was in -their editorial. Madam President. I ask unanimous consent that these editorials be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":664,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090026187,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. I want to read the operative paragraph from the Santa Fe New Mexican: With this spiteful behavior toward Bush appointees. the Dems arent exactly gaining goodwill. If they find [these nominees] so repugnant. let er vote against [them]. at least theyll be putting their ideals--or their party colorson display. But this is no Mr. Smith against some diabolical establishment. its a bunch of sore losers making themselves even more so.... * This is not PETE DOMENICI speaking. I am reading from this editorial: The last thing our justice system needs is an ongoing feud over appointments to district and appellate judgeships. Now. yesterday. or maybe a day before. the major paper in the State. the Albuquerque Journal. had an editorial with a very interesting title: \"Filibuster Puts Bar [BAR] Too High for Judges.\" It is a very interesting editorial. with a play on words: \"Bar\" meaning the beich. and \"Bar.\" with the idea that you have to have 60 votes. is disavowed by this. editorial. There is some nice recognition and discussion about the fact that a number of the Senators on the other side who are talking about this issue as if there was a filibuster allowed for judgeswhich I do not believe there. isthe editorial explains that a number of Democrats were for doing away with the filibuster in its entiretyabout 10 years ago. At a point. that was a very major discussion here. and it was principally motivated by the Democratic Party. to get rid of the filibuster in its entirety. The editorial says how interesting and paradoxical it is thatsome of those who did not. at the time. want the filibuster around at all are arguing about it existing for judgesthis is not conclusive but is interesting. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11066,"word_count":293}
{"speech_id":1090026190,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In no way does it say \"maybe.\" \"sometimes.\" or \"whatever.\" There is one point made from time to time which I would like to elaborate on and respond to. There are those who say: Well. but the Constitution. when it establishes the House and the Senate. the legislative branch. it says that both shall establish their rules under which they operate. Therefore. we are just using a rule to prohibit an upordown vote on the judges. Well. if you carry that argument to the logical extreme. what if we passed a rqle that the Senate could pass by a majority vote the ratification of treaties? Could we contravene the Constitution? I think not. because the Constitution is specific. It is as specific in our responsibility for twothirds to ratify treaties as it is specific in our responsibility for us to advise and consent on judges. I dont believe we could invalidate. through a rule. that responsibility any more than you can extrapolate that because we have a rule that includes a filibuster. that it applies to a constitutional responsibility and can invalidate our very requirement. It is just not really logical. That is not Republican or Democrat. it is not a marketing phrase or marketing phrase. it is real simple. When I was sworn into the House of Representatives almost 7 years ago now. I was elected in a special election. and. unusual in the House of Representatives. when you are elected in a special election. you get to make a speech when you are sworn in. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ISAKSON","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3650,"word_count":257}
{"speech_id":1090026194,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. we have several pages of amendments that are out there. We repeat our invitation on behalf of myself and Senator JEFFORDS. We want to invite all Democrats and Republicans who have amendments to the highway bill to bring them down. It is going to get crowded later as we go on. Now we have time for adequate consideration. for deliberation. and we encourage Members to bring their amendments to the floor. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":440,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090026236,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If I could engage my colleague in a colloquy. I assume the leader is going to speak relatively briefly as well. If that is the case. I certainly want to be courteous. I ask unanimous consent. then. that I have up to 10 minutes to speak after the majority leader has spoken and that my colleague from Rhode Island. Senator REED. have the opportunity to speak for up to 10 minutes after me.","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":388,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090026244,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. again. we find ourselves with an objection to a committee meeting and doing its work. There is objection on the other side of the aisle to the Judiciary Committee meeting. Therefore. we need to recess the Senate to allow the committee to meet. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in recess until 2 p.m. today.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":334,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090026276,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"To give an example. this is the book State DOTs have to follow. This pertains to rules and regulations that apply to highway projects. It seems to me to be quite thick already. .. The amendment I am offering does nothing to take away from the existing environmental reviews. historic preservation. and planning requirements each transportation project is subject to. Very simply. it removes the prospect that this provision will result in the Federal Government imposing new requirements on top of those already in law or rule. including in the subjective area of \"community values.\" I believe many of my colleagues would agree the best decisions are made by individuals at the State and local levels. If this provision were to be signed into law. I fear States will be told by the Federal Government what their community values are. Even more concerning to me and my departmentof transportation is the risk that there will be varying interpretations of -community values from State to State and regional divisions of the Federal Highway Administration. Our current design. planning. and construction processes are difficult enough as it is. Unless we remove section 1605(a) from this.bill. we will effectively be allowing the Federal Highway Administration to tell our States what their respective community values are. ","speaker_name":"JOHN THUNE","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4467,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090026326,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They need transportation. There are waters needs. yes. but these water needs are about $200 billion-$200 to $250 billionand unfunded. We could take the entire transportation budget. dump it into water. and still not meet the needs. He has talked about how important safe drinking water is for health. And I agree. Really. it is one of the best environmental investments we could make. But when you are talking about public health. lets talk about the slaughter on the highways. The whole purpose of this bill is called SAFETEA. The administration says. and I believe. we need to make our highways safer. We kill three people a day or more on Missouri highways. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4509,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090026329,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This -has been a very good debate and lively debate. and you both adequately confused me. I think that we should maybe draw this to an end. In a moment I would like to make a unanimous consent request that would limit the debate on the amendment. I have been checking with you individually. So I ask I be recognized at the conclusion of the Senators remarks and any remarks the Senator from Virginia may have for that request.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":426,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090026354,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wish to point - out that as Senators come down to vote. I will put this sheet down for their examination. It shows the current allocation of aggregate Surface Transportation Program funds to their respective States. followed by a column which indicates the amount of money that the current markup with the Warner provision in it takes for the storm water. And then in the righthand column is what their States owe under the EPA mandate to clean up water. You will find that I offset by just a small percentage the enormous obligation each Senators State has with regard to the EPAmandated cleanup of the water. I thank the Chair and thank my colleagues for a very good debate. I hope we have fairly and adequately framed it for all Senators. I move to table Bond amendment No. 592. and I ask for the yeas and nays.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":831,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090026399,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Half of that is defense. which we have to do today in a very aggressive Way because we have been attacked and are at war .and people are out there who want to harm us. I held a hearing this morning on terrorists relative to their desire to use biological and chemical weapons against us. It is very sobering. to say the least. but we have to defend ourselves and it will take a lot of money to do that. Of about 30 percent. half is defense. and the other part goes to nondefense discretionary so it is not the large part of the budget. of the appropriations bills that come through. The most significant part of the budget is the part of the entitlement accounts which never come across the Senate as individual spending items such as appropriations bills do. They simply are on automatic pilot. Absolutely the only way we can address policy effectively in mandatory accounts is through something called the reconciliation process. To quickly explain. that allows for the committees that have jurisdiction over these entitlement programs that are already in place and that have grown radically over the years to take another look at those programs and see if they are working as well as they could work. Medicaid is a classic example of a program that beeds another look. where if we adjust it so Governors have more flexibility. we have a slower rate of growthin dollars. they can probably do a lot more for a lot more people if we give Governors the type of powers they need to accomplish that. Reconciliation is the only avenue for effectively doing that type of a review of the mandatory side of the ledger which .represents 59 percent of Federal spending today. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5631,"word_count":296}
{"speech_id":1090026415,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It does not. We have this supplemental. as the Senator knows. that is going through the process. We passed it in the Senate. It is in conference committee now. It is $82 billion. Much of it will be. spent this year. some of it will slop over to next year. This is what the Congressional Budget Office says should be in any realistic budgetnot $82 billion. but $380 billion. and it is this gap which is part of the unrealistic nature of the budget that is before us and the budget the President sent us.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":502,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090026419,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is not really a budget. It is a political statement. perhaps. but it is certainly not a budget. When we go back and add back the items the President has left out. just the major itemsthe alternative minimum tax. the ongoing war costs. according to the Congressional Budget Office the cost of the Presidents privatization planinstead of this trend line which the President is predicting. instead we see this hashed red line. Over the next 10 years. this is where we see the deficits going under the Presidents plan. The budget before us has much the same pattern. exploding deficits for as far as the eye can see and at the worst possible time. right before the baby boomers retire.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2574,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090026439,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If we just used the CBO baseline. we would have lower deficits than is produced by the work of this conference committee and the majority. In fact. they have increased the deficits by $168 billion over 5 years. over the CBO baseline. So they have made the deficits worse by $168 billion in comparison to what would have happened if we would have just put the Government on autopilot. When our friends say they are going to cut the deficit in half over the next 5 years. here is the strongest answer in factual terms I know of. It is right here. This is the fiscal year 2006 budget resolution from the GOP conference report. This is their own document. their own calculation. of what is going to happen to the debt of the United States each and every year under this budget. Here is what it says. It is not my document. This is their document. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3323,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090026442,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As this wall of debt is built up. I want to come back again to the carrying cost on that debt. It has to be understood. in each annual budget. there is going to be a larger and larger amount to cover the interest charge on this expanding debt that is being built up year to year. Furthermore. if we run a risk that other countries are not going to want to hold our paper. as they are doing. we are probably going to have to raise our interest rates. In fact. interest rates are already on the way up. in any event. If you have to raise them even more. to get others to continue to hold our paper. the carrying charge is going to go up. So the carrying charge is going to go up because the debt is going up. and it is also going to go up because the interest rates will be going up. So there will be a double blow dealt to the American economy. and a bigger and bigger chunk of each years budget will be eaten up in paying the interest charges on this enormous debt. Isnt that correct?","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":984,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090026450,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me ask the question: I asked midday whether you knew what was in this conference report. and I well understand now why you could not know if the conferees on this side of the aisle were not welcomed to the conference. In fact. if the conference was held without participation from the minority party. then I understand this report is produced. in whole. by the majority party. It is a big. thick document stuck on our desks maybe midafternoon or late this afternoon. I was listening to the debate by my colleague. Senator CONRAD. and he was talking about deficits and debt. I. thought maybe someone would challenge him on his figures. Wouldnt it be the case that it would be hard to challenge your figures because they come from page 4 and page 5 of the budget prepared by the majority party? In fact. what it says on page 4. which is their conference reporta conference they didnt allow the minority to participate inis that each and every single year. they are going to have massive amounts of deficit spending. And they start with $7.9 trillion of debt on page 4 and end up with $11.1 trillion. Yet they are out here thumbing their suspenders. boasting about how terrific they are at reducing the Federal deficit. Can you show me any place in here where they are reducing the Federal deficit? It looks to me. on page 4 or page 5. they are filling the tub with deficits.","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1376,"word_count":250}
{"speech_id":1090026452,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If I may inquire further. isnt it the case that this budget document is actually a budget document that is wearing makeup? If you take the makeup off this document. what does it look. like? Lets assume they put everything in this document that they know is going to happen. Then what does it look like? As bad as it is now. isnt it the case that this becomes a fiscal catastrophe?","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":380,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090026459,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Those who earn from $200.000 to $1 million a year get on average $1.480 under the tax cut plan that is contained here. Again. those who earn more than $1 million a year get. just on these tax provisions--by the way. these are just a couple of the tax provisions. This does not include the estate tax provisions that go overwhelmingly to the wealthiest among us. Just these two tax provisions would give $35.000 a year to those earning $1 million a year and $6 of tax cut to those who earn less than $50.000. It will give $112 to those who earn between $50.000 and $200.000. I would just say that the priorities of this budget are also out of whack. This budget.. in the year 2006. for those fortunate enough to earn over $1 million a year. the tax cuts going to that group of people will cost $32 billion in that year alone. That is the cost of the tax cuts for those earning over $1 million a year in that year alone: $32 billion. But they say there is not the money to restore the education cuts that are contained in this budget which would cost $4.8 billion. They say there is no money to do that. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1602,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090026466,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Does anybody care? Is anybody paying attention? It is not just in education. It would cost $1.1 billion to maintain funding for law enforcement. But. no. they say you have to cut the COPS Program. shred the COPS Program.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1125,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090026470,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I sure dont. That is exactly the basis on which they create a strategy. It is a mirage. a total myth. This document pretends to do something it doesnt. It is an embarrassment. The minority was not allowed to come to conference. and the majority that is supposed to represent the conservative movement in the United States has become the biggest spenders in the history of this country and the biggest supporters of Federal debt and deficits we have ever seen. And that is in this document. Do not take it from me. it is not my word. it is in black and white on page 4 and page 5. I am very anxious tonight for somebody to come down here and describe why and how they got to this point and how they justify it. I appreciate the Senator yielding.","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2421,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090026498,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I was listening to the Senators comments earlier about the foreign policy implications of debt. He has been active in areas of education. He knows from his own experience in the Foreign Relations Committee. the Banking Committee. the Joint Economic Committee. what is happening in the other countries. What we saw on the front page of the Washington Post last week was that China was reducing their overall numbers in their military. What they are doing is enhancing their research and development and education and training programs because they are going to go smaller -in terms of the total numbers of people in the military and go more into hightech military equipment which require high level training and high skills. Would the Senator not agree with me? They are graduating 300.000 engineers. and India is graduating 200.000 engineers. And General Electric has just moved its top research center over towhere? to Maryland or to Massachusetts? noto India. And DEC. one of the leading. innovative companies in this country. has just opened their new research facility. hiring 3.000 Indian engineers. We are not just exporting jobs. we are seeing the export of research and technology. And what is our response? Cutting back on training young Americans and giving more tax breaks to individuals. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1530,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090026503,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We are talking now about math. science. and engineering. Everyone talks about technology. the competition we are engaged in. and so forth. How do you compete in that world if you do not train the people and have the professionals with the skills to do It? We went from being third in the world as to the percentage of our young people going into math. science. and engineering. to where now. as of the year 2000. we are 15th in the world. as I read over on the right side of that chart. We have slipped all the way back. there are 14 countries ahead of us worldwide in terms of the people they are putting into math. science. and engineering.","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":642,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090026521,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I prefer regular order in the Senate. but recent tax legislative history in the Senate suggests that the reconciliation option is an important tool to have at our disposal. With partisan obstructionism on the part of Democratic leadership. many regular order tax relief packages over the last 2 years have been stalled in the Senate. Even tax relief packages that the Democrat leadership claims to support encounter that sort of partisan obstructionism. Members will recall that several cloture votes were required to get the bipartisan FSC\/ETI legislation through the Congress last October. Likewise. we were unable to go to conference with the House on the CARE Act and other popular tax relief packages because of Democratic leadership objections. The situation has only become worse this year. The climate may still be more difficult if the Democratic leadership acts on the threats they have talked about of shutting down the Senate if the controversy over judicial nominations is brought to the forefront. From a practical standpoint. there is a significant risk that reconciled tax relief may be the only tax relief vehicle that can pass the Senate in this environment. I hope that is not the case. It is prudent to consider a possibility. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4327,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090026529,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In fact. it is incredibly irresponsible. It contains the largest deficits in the history of our country. Think about that: the largest deficits in the history of our country. It will add $1.4 trillion to the national debt over the next 5 years. This budget will force our children and our grandchildren to pay for the misplaced priorities of this President and this Congress. This is reckless. this is wrong. and it does not reflect real American values. The idea of America is based on optimism. that .tomorrow can be better than today. We all want our children to have it better than we did. We all want to leave them with a good economy. not a stagnant one saddled with a large national deficit. We want our children to have great jobs. not a great big debt. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11800,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090026538,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We ought to fund public security. Yet this budget accepts the Presidents priority for law enforcement and homeland security. and in so doing. the Nation and Colorado will suffer.","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3314,"word_count":29}
{"speech_id":1090026573,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The \"payasyougo\" rules were successful in the 1990s and would be successful again in restraining the deficit without unduly harming critical public services. The majority has opposed reinstating these rules because they dont want to be forced to pay for new tax cuts. The budget plan that is before the Congress is a huge missed opportunity. We could be debating a budget today that addresses our Nations most pressing problems. such as the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs. inadequate education. and the 45 million Americans without health insurance. Instead. this budget makes some problems worse. In the Senatepassed budget resolution. we were able to de-\u00b0 feat proposed cuts to Medicaid. and cuts to the health care program for millions of children. pregnant women. elderly and the disabled. However. this conference report still proposes $10 billion in Medicaid cuts over the next 5 years. It is unconscionable for this administration and this Congress to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans by cutting health care for the most vulnera~le Americans. This budget also weakens environmental. protection by providing for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. We have a responsibility to promote a balanced energy plan that invests in Americas future and protects our environment. not one that damageo our protected lands. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4071,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090026601,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As the majority leader has described. the independent commission will assist Congress and the administration by making recommendations regarding the modernization of the Medicaid system. The commission will have two primary tasks and two important deadlines: It will make shortterm recommendations on how to implement the requirements of the budget resolution with respect to the Medicaid program. These recommendations will be contained in a report to the Secretary by no later than September 1. 2005. The commission will also make longterm recommendations on how to modernize Medicaid. These recommendations will be contained in a report to the Secretary by December 31. 2006. I thank my colleague for his work to develop a commission. and I look forward to working with him and my colleagues on the Finance Committee as we consider the recommendations of the commission to help create a viable plan to modernize and strengthen Medicaid.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":939,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090026624,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the next vote be the cloture vote with respect to the Johnson nomination. and further that following the disposition of that nomination. the Senate proceed to the consideration of the Portman nomination. as provided under the previous order. provided further that prior to the cloture vote on the Johnson nomination. Senator REID be recognized for up to 5 minutes. Senator VOINOVICH for up to 5 minutes. and Senator CARPER for up to 5 minutes. I further ask consent that following this consent. Senator ALLEN be recognized for up to 3 minutes in order to make a statement regarding his colleague. Senator WARNER.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":656,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090026633,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr.. President. as one who grew up in Danville and Roanoke. VA. as one who served in the U.S. Navy with JOHN WARNER as our Secretary of the Navy. I join my friend GEORGE ALLEN and all of you in saluting him. It has been my privilege to serve under him as a naval flight officer for a number of years. It has been my privilege to serve with him and with all of you for about the last 4 years. During that time I have worked with a number of you on our side and on the Republican side to try to find common ground with respect to issues such as class action. asbestos litigation reform. bankruptcy. the next step in welfare reform. a comprehensive energypolicy. a business model for the Postal Service in the 21st century. The list goes on. As a former Governor. one who used to nominate people to serve in cabinet posts and judgeships. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4248,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090026649,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This is especially true in one of our most important areas. intellectual property. Representative PORTMAN and I have discussed this issue. but I wanted to reiterate its importance by stating. publicly how concerned I am about the recent reports that I have heard regarding the increase in intellectual piracy in nations such as Russia and China. .Representative PORTMAN will face many challenges in his new assignment as United States Trade Representative. One of the most immediate will be the Dominican RepublicCentral American Free Trade Agreement. As many others. I have concerns about what this agreement will mean for U.S. jobs and how effectively the U.S. can compete in this global marketplace. However. after diligently studying the agreement. I have come to the conclusion that U.S. companies and consumers. including Utahns. will benefit exponentially from this agreement with increased exports to our regional trading partners and lower doniestic prices for many goods and services. \" I As Congressman PORTMAN has pointed out to many of us and as Acting Representative Allgeier discussed during his testimony before. the Senate Finance Committee 2 weeks ago. there are a number of advantages for the United States to ratify this agreement. Particularly interesting is that it would reverse the United States policy of unilaterally affording preferences to Central American goods under the Caribbean Basin Initiative and the Generalized System of Preferences. That means that where once U.S. goods faced trade hurdles. barriers would be eliminated. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3600,"word_count":240}
{"speech_id":1090026664,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We must stop the killings. The death toll will only rise without immediate. convincing and unified intervention by the international community. It is our obligation as free people to bring hope and banish repression. And it is my belief that we should use the message shared by the Passover story. and. indeed. the.. wisdom of all traditions. to guide. us wisely on our Journey.","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3239,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090026670,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Jefferson have done since. served 4 years as Governor. During Thomas Jeffersons Presidency. James Monroe returned to France and was essential in the negotiation of the Louisiana Purchas6 in 1803. His foreign policy experience led James Madison to name him both Secretary of State and Secretary of War as the United States was once again pulled into war with Great Britain in Elected President of the United States in 1816. Monroes Presidency has long been referred to as the Era of Good Feeling. During this time he helped resolve longstanding grievances with the British. acquired Florida from the Spanish in 1819. signed the Missouri Compromise and renounced European intervention or dominion in the Western Hemisphere with one of our Nations greatest foreign policy documents. the Monroe Doctrine. In 1820. Monroe achieved an impressive reelection. losing only one electoral vote. reserving the honor of a unanimous election for George Washington alone. My own family has strong ties to the legacy of James Monroe. My wife Susan and I enjoyed our wedding on the grounds of his home. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3125,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090026675,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Staff diversity increases the effectiveness of any healthcare institution. a fact which the center has recognized and incorporated into their operating procedures. In January 2004. I had the opportunity to visit the center and was impressed at the level of technology this collabo.rative effort had been able to bring to this rural community. I commend the Benewah Medical and Wellness Center on its tremendous achievement in the overall community healthcare and wellness. I look forward to hearing of future successes.*","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CRAPO","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1712,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090026698,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In addition. the Act is flexible and provides for reasonable local forest management and emergency services in wilderness areas. such as the use of motorized equipment and aircraft for search and rescue operations. or to combat fire. insects and disease. I am particularly pleased to include in the legislation an authorization for the establishment of a nonmotorized trail between County Route 650 and Forest Development Road 4018 outside of the new Raccoon Branch Wilderness area. This trail will follow the historic Rye Valley Railroad Grade and will be a popular route for mountain bikers. equestrians and hikers. In addition. this bill directs the Forest Service to develop trail plans for the wilderness and national scenic areas. As a father and a grandfather. I feel a weighty obligation to ensure that our children have lasting opportunities to enjoy Virginias immense natural beauty and diversity. This legislation is a crucial step in our quest to preserve these lovely areas for the enjoyment and use of future generations. By Mr. FEINGOLD (for himself.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3084,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090026714,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"All three utility sectors must be able to participate in incentives in order for emerging technologies to fully realize their potential and become economic. Clean energy bonds can provide electric cooperatives and public power systems with an incentive comparable to the production tax credits that are available for the private sector. The bill would make technologies that are eligible for the production tax credit under section 45 eligible for the bond. Under the bill. the electric cooperative. cooperative lender or municipal utility (\"issuer\") would issue the clean energy bond. With a conventional bond. the issuer must pay interest to the bondholder. But with a clean energy bond. the Federal Government pays a tax credit to the bondholder in lieu of the issuer paying interest to the bondholder. Treasury sets the rate of the credit in an amount that permits the issuance of the tax credit bond without discount and without interest cost to the issuer. The bondholder can deduct the amount of the tax credit from their total income tax liability. The bonds are taxable. so if the credit is worth $100 and the bondholder is in the 35 percent bracket. the bondholder would deduct $65 from their tax liability. Public power systems have long used bonds to finance projects for infrastructure improvements and upgrades. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4997,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090026717,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Our legislation builds on an effort made during the 106th Congress that was supported by governors. mayors and a coalition of more than 5.000 organizations from throughout the country. Unfortunately. despite widespread support. our efforts were cut short before a bill could be signed into law. Instead a commitment was made by those who opposed the legislation to guarantee funding for these programs each year through the appropriation process. However. as we have painfully witnessed since then. that commitment has not been met. What has happened is exactly what those of us who initiated the effort always anticipated. Each of these significant programs continues to be shortchanged and a number of them have been left out altogether or forced to compete with each other for Federal resources. The legislation we are introducing today provides reliable. significant and steady funding for the urgent and worthy conservation and outdoor recreation needs of our states and rapidly expanding urban and suburban areas. What makes more sense than to take a portion of revenues from a great but depleting capital asset of the Nationoffshiore Federal oil and gas resourcesand reinvest them into sustaining our Nations natural resources: wetlands. parks and recreation areas and wildlife? The Americans Outdoors Act dedicates assured funding for four distinct programs and honors promises made long ago to the American people. They include: Coastal Impact AssistanceS450 million to oil and gas producing coastal States to mitigate the various impacts of states that serve as the \"platform\" for the crucial development of Federal offshore energy resources from the OCS as well as provide for wetland restoration. This program merely acknowledges the impacts to and contribution of States that are providing the energy to run our countrys economy. ","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9432,"word_count":286}
{"speech_id":1090026748,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management. the Federal Workforce. and the District of Columbia be .authorized to meet on Thursday. April 28. 2005. at 2 p.m.. for a hearing entitled. \"Waging War on Waste: An Examination of DoDs Business Practices.\"","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":304,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090026773,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I express my support today for an important resolution. S. Res. 117. submitted by Senators FEINSTEIN and SANTORUM along with Senator SANTORUM to designate the week of May 9th as National Hepatitis B Awareness Week. Hepatitis B is an extremely infectious virus that affects more than 12 million Americans. with 100.000 new cases expected this year. Unfortunately. many people dont even know they have this disease. And by the time they do learn about the disease it with Hepatitis B will develop cirrhosis of the liver or liver cancer. The good news is that we can beat this disease. Scientists have been working for years and have made great strides in the study and treatment of Hepatitis B. ","speaker_name":"JON CORZINE","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1706,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090026800,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. the Senate stand in adjournment until 2 p.m. on Monday. May 9. I further ask consent that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate then resume consideration of H.R. 3. the highway bill.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":408,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090026802,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on Monday. May 9. the Senate will resume consideration of the highway bill. We have made some progress on the bill this week. and we will continue our work when we return. I encourage Senators who wish to offer amendments to contact the bill managers over the next week so they can schedule time for floor consideration. Senators should expect one or more rollcall votes in relation to amendments to begin at 5:30 p.m. on Monday. May 9. In addition to the highway bill. it is my hope that the conference report to -S4607 accompany the IraqAfghanistan supplemental appropriations bill will be available upon our return. It is my intention to move to this conference report as soon as it becomes ready. I would also like to congratulate the chairman of the Budget Committee once again on completing work on the fiscal year 2006 budget resolution. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1017,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090026829,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. I yield 7 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina .","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":959,"word_count":12}
{"speech_id":1090026835,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. I would simply point out the gentleman making up onethird of. the entire delegation to the conference committee. the ranking member has certainly been a greater participant. in that conference role than members on the majority side. other than the chairman and the gentleman from Wisconsin","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":322,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090026836,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the gentleman -from Florida- for clarifying the schedule. but it just seems to me that a budget resolution that deals with over $2.5 trillion deserves a little bit more attention by each Member in this House than what the leadership on that side of the aisle is giving us. As the gentleman from South Carolina pointed out. we have rules in this House that the other side of the aisle continues to break. One of those rules is that we are supposed to be able to read the legislation. before we vote on it. We are supposed to understand what the impacts are. I would think that a concern on not only our side of the aisle. but I would think there are thoughtful Members on the gentlemans. side of the aisle who would want to read and understand what the budget conference has decided. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1313,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090026840,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They have made the choice to give out reckless tax cuts. not the kind that help to shore up middleclass Americans. and while they make that choice. they then make another choice to underfund Social Security. That is what is wrong with this budget resolution: the continuing use of moneys that should be utilized for Social Security. Of course. as we take dollars out. we have got an indebtedness on behalf of the United States of America. The crisis. of course. is that our President has gone to West Virginia and said that does not count. We Democrats believe we can put a budget resolution that provides solvency for Social Security. funds Medicaid. eliminates a $60 billion cut that will throw senior citizens out of nursing homes across America. and we believe that we can fund education and provide the resources that we need for our veterans and stop closing veterans hospitals. But the choices over here are an insolvent Social Security. a $60 billion cut in Medicaid. and closing the doors on our veterans. I have not taken a servicemens oath. but when I listen to a young veteran talk to me about the oath of service or the oath that our soldiers take. willing to give the ultimate sacrifice. then I think today we need a little bit more light on this budget resolution to allow us to give a little bit more dignity to the returning veterans. the injured soldiers coming back as amputees. the widows and widowers who lost their loved ones who deserve to be funded for the rest of their lives. There are flaws in this conference report. but most importantly. there is a major flaw in this budget. And I would hope that we would have the good sense to turn this back and give us the opportunity to serve the American people.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3010,"word_count":310}
{"speech_id":1090026861,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. is the gentleman suggesting that we should have the right to read legislation only if we pledge to support the legislation that comes to the floor? I am trying to understand. when the gentleman was going on about how he did not think any of our side would vote for the budget resolution. that may very well be true. but the point of this martiallaw rule is to bring it up on the same day so we will not have an opportunity to fully read the entire budget. The rules of the House say we should have 3 days. I am asking the gentleman. does he believe the rules should be waived and people should not have an opportunity to be able to read legislation if they will disagree with the gentlemans party?","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":710,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090026866,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. the gentleman in his 30 minutes of debate. has made the point that he is opposed to us facilitating consideration of this bill today so that Members can get home. and he has respectfully made his point. We have made ours.","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":254,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090026919,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank my friend for yielding me time. and congratulate him on the fine job that he has done on this and as a member of the Committee on the Budget. as well as the Committee on Rules. This a great day. Mr. Speaker. We are at the point where. once again. we are continuing to do the work of the American people. We have spent weeks and months focused onthis very important budget issue. We have now seen both houses of Congress address these questions. and we have come together with a conference agreement. It is a conference agreement which is going to allow us to focus on a number of priorities of the Federal Government. that is. our national defense and our homeland security. but at the same time we are focused on very important societal needs that are out there. as well as the fiscal responsibility. ","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1729,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090026942,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 5 minutes and 15 seconds. Mr. Speaker. basically. the budget before us is the Presidents budget sent to us a couple of months ago. subject to a few puts and takes. Unfortunately. neither the President nor the Republicans in the House nor the Republicans in the Senate have done what was done for years in good budget practice. and that is run their numbers out for 10 years. They simply give us a 5year display of their numbers and that conveniently avoids showing the effect. the enormous effect. on the budget of having the renewal of the tax cuts after the year 2010. But if Members want to see basically where this budget will. take us. they can look in CBOs analysis done in the early part of March required by law of the Presidents budget because it basically is the same as the Presidents budget. They do not have to read past .Page 2 in this analysis of the Presidents budget. And when they do. they will see that if we follow the path that the President is proposing. we will add $5.135 trillion to the national debt to the United States between now and 2015. over the next 10 years. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5217,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090026953,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the distinguished gentleman from South Carolina for yielding me time. and also. more importantly. for his very distinguished service to our country through his leadership on issues relating to our budget and other matters of concern to working families in America. I thank him for his great leadership. Mr. Speaker. I rise in opposition to this misguided budget resolution becapse it is a missed opportunity. Instead of strengthening Social Security. this budget spends 100 percebt of the Social Security surplus. $160 billion for this year alone. on tax -cuts to the wealthiest Americans. Instead of being an engine of growth. this budget and its deficits will put the brake on job creation. Do not take it from me. ","speaker_name":"NANCY PELOSI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3291,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090026955,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We do the things that grow the economy and create jobs by ensuring that taxes on job creation and on American families are not automatically raised over the next 5 years. We restrain government spending. and we reduce the deficit with the first reduction in nonsecurity discretionary spending since Reagan was President. and the first proposal for mandatory savings in 8 years. This budget sets the framework for the spending and tax policies we pursue this year. For our friends on the other side who oppose this budget. really. what is the plan that they would have? Do we want fewer funds for the armed services and homeland security? Do we want tax increases on businesses and families. particularly on small businesses and families who have that 10 percent bracket. and other things we have added? Do we want even more government spending that will only increase the deficit? This is a good budget. I say to my colleagues. for our country. We need to adopt this budget and set these priorities for America: create jobs. control spending. and support our Armed Forces. Mr. Speaker. I encourage support of this conference report.","speaker_name":"ROY BLUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1739,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090026957,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. a minute is not a long time. but I want to spend it for thanking the gentleman from South Carolina for building unanimity on this side of the House. I make that observation because. frankly. this is only the second time on a major vote this year that this side of the House will have been united. and that is in large tribute to the gentlemans good work. but it speaks to something else. To everyone in this caucus. to everyone in every corner of America who styles himself or herself as progressive. if you want to know if Democrats still stand together. if you want to know if we still have a common groind. I submit that you see it in the debate over this budget. The common ground that we occupy is in defense of 46.000 families in Mississippi who have been cut from the Medicaid rolls. 300.000 families in Tennessee who have been cut from the Medicaid rolls. 13.5 million children in this country who live below the poverty line who cannot stand to see subsistence programs cut further. millions of veterans who cannot stand to see their premiums rise. and it is a common ground for everyone who believes in a more generous.. more responsible. more inclusive America. So I thank the gentleman for building that unanimity. and I hope it stands for the whole country to see. As it is so often said by the leader on the other side. there are profound differences between these two parties. We stand for a fairer country. They stand for a narrower country and a narrower vision. and I hope the people will take note of that.","speaker_name":"ARTUR DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1538,"word_count":281}
{"speech_id":1090026959,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And this budget that we are going to pass today ensures that we are doing everything that we can do to support the sustained growth in job creation which is so critical to our Nation and its people. This years budget is not an easy budget. but the steps it takes to keep taxes and spending down are critical to a strong economy and a better life for all Americans.","speaker_name":"ANDER CRENSHAW","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1476,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090026975,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this budget reflects our military values to ensure that health care for our service disabled. special needs and indigent -veterans remain the highest priority of our Nation. With an increase of nearly $1 billion in discretionary spending. this budget will fund care for our veterans. including those now serving from service in the war on terror. Mr. Speaker. you asked us to examine the system that serves Americas veterans. We are doing so. Yet. it is not timely to carry out the mandatory savings that you originally had asked. There will be no increase in. copays and no enrollment fees at this time. We must work with Secretary Nicholson and Senator CRAIG to develop a clear picture. and craft a good legislative product to eliminate inefficiencies. waste and fraud in the VA for discretionary savings. And we will produce that product for you. ","speaker_name":"STEPHEN BUYER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1774,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090026998,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It provided funding for community and for small business development. and It provided for real national security that included economic security.","speaker_name":"BARBARA LEE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1139,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090027000,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this is a big day. Gas is at $2.50 a gallon. The Presidents Social Security road -show is a shambles. His numbers are falling in the polls. Iraq has more violence. The Japanese are loaning us $450 billion to cover our loans on our deficit. And the Rubber Stamp Congress is back in shape. They are all here with their stamp to give the President exactly what he needs. Now. in about 40 minutes he is going to come on TV. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":908,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090027018,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in opposition to the Republican Budget Conference Report. One of the most egregious offenses committed in the Republican Budget is the proposal to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling. Although a budget should have nothing to do with controversial environmental policy decisions. this budget would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge through backdoor budget chicanery. In poll after poll. the American people have expressed their disapproval of using the budget to decide such a contentious issue. The Republican Majority knows that it cannot pass this measure as standalone legislation. By shoehorning the Arctic Refuge into the budget. they are making an endrun around the legislative process. knowing that it cannot pass in the Senate any other way. While the budget claims that oil leases from the Arctic Refuge will generate $2.4 billion in revenue. this appears to be a case of gross deception and misinformation. When the Presidents Office of Management and Budget was asked why it is assuming that the oil leases in the Refuge will sell for amounts that are hundreds of times greater than the average North Slope lease over the last 15 years. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1610,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090027060,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding to me. I too want to commend the gentleman from Ohio . particularly his family for willingly sacrificing him both to the service in this Congress as well as the endeavor he is about to undertake. The President chose wisely. The gentleman from Ohio has been one of the most intellectually honest. sincere members of our committee. He has tackled the tough issues. He has faced them head on. He comes from a very important State. He understands the dynamics of trade. ","speaker_name":"MARK FOLEY","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1177,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090027225,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"While it is a useful tool when considering legislation. and should remain as subh. we cannot allow filibustering of judicial nominations. Each time a nominee is denied an upordown vote. the impact is vast. Not only is our Federal judiciary weakened. but our Constitution becomes more vulnerable. and as chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution. let me emphasize that these actions are unprecedented and should be abhorrent to those of us who are bound by oath to uphold our countrys most sacred document. the United States Constitution.","speaker_name":"STEVE CHABOT","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1134,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090027229,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. are very. very important. They I are designed to ensure that drivers licenses do not get into the hands of people who are here illegally. It also is designed to complete the 31\/2mile gap in the border fence which exists along the border between Mexico and the United States. between San Diego and Tijuana. We. I believe. are going to be much better off with these items that are included. But as we move beyond this issue. it is important for us to also focus on other priorities that we have legislatively to deal with the border security issue. Next week we are scheduled to have a hearing in the Judiciary Committees Subcommittee on Immigration on H.R. 98. a measure which enjoys bipartisan support. I am proud that the lead cosponsor of the legislation is the gentleman from Texas . former chairman of the Hispanic Caucus. and we have support from a wide range of Members. H.R. 98. ","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4339,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090027233,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Son Mark stays in Hobbs. He and his wife Cindy have raised their family there. The abiding memory of Mr. Stout is that he was always with his wife Liliane. They raised their family in Hobbs. He was a dedicated family man. In these days of partisan politics. I know that many times Mr. Stout disagreed with my opinions. but he frankly encouraged me to do the best that I could. He did the best that he could. ","speaker_name":"STEVAN PEARCE","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1951,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090027245,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. last Thursday our President told the Nation that he was willing to listen to any ideas from anyone and was willing to share the credit for a solution to Social Security problems. Finding a solution requires more than just complaining and my colleagues on the other side would like you to believe that they have a plan. but plans require more than just complaints. A recent national poll by Harvard University found that 7 out of 10 college students do not believe that Social Security will be there for them. Younger workers know that the government has used their Social Security money for other programs. They also understand voluntary personal accounts offer a better way to provide security for them. And it is only fair. In past years. retirees received a return of 10 percent and more from Social Security. Today that return is barely 1.5 percent and that is not fair to younger Americans. Younger workers today are much more familiar with investments through 401(k) plans offered which employers. workers know the power of compound interest and how their contributions to these accounts grow steady. ","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1248,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090027247,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is time for every judicial nominee to receive an up or down vote. Remember. never before has a .judicial nominee with clear majority support been denied an up or down vote on the Senate floor.","speaker_name":"LAMAR SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":901,"word_count":36}
{"speech_id":1090027248,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"ida. Mr. Speaker. recently the Wall Street Journal highlighted a disturbing trend among labor union boards. They are engaging in pension fund blackmail to bully corporations into agreeing with their partisan political agenda. A top AFLCIO lobbyist was referring to financial services funds backing the Presidents personal retirement account proposal and he said. \"We have no intention of letting any of these companies get away with this while they manage our workers funds.\" And 3 trustees representing the New York City Employees Retirement System sent a letter to several investment banking companies demanding to know their Social Security stance. These union boards should be ensuring their members pensions are being wisely invested in qualified ethical companies. How can we say that SarbanesOxley has strengthened corporate responsibility if labor unions are investing in and managing corporate boards based on their political interest rather than their fiduciary responsibilities to their members and the corporations for which they represent?","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA BROWN-WAITE","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1052,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090027251,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 218) congratulating charter schools and their students. parents. teachers. and administrators across the United States for their ongoing contributions to education. and for other purposes.","speaker_name":"JON PORTER","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":266,"word_count":40}
{"speech_id":1090027255,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Charter schools respond to the needs of Americas communities families and students while promoting the principles of quality. choice. and innovation. Charter schools must meet the same No Child Left Behind student achievement accountability requirements as other public schools and often set higher and additional individual goals to ensure that they are all high quality and truly accountable to the public. According to the Center for Education Reform. as many as 15 studies find that students who frequently enter charters significantly are below the normal grade level. These students then. achieve the same or even higher gains as compared to their surrounding districts demographicallycompared schools. or even the State average. A report from Americas Charter School Finance Corporation called \"Take Me on a Reading Adventure.\" cites research from several States that shows greater gains and!or higher scores in reading for charter schools as compared to their traditional school peers. Charter schools have enjoyed broad bipartisan support from the administration. the Congress. State governors and legislators. educators and parents across the Nation. The Sixth Annual National Charter School Week held this week. May 1 through May 7. 2005. recognizes the significant impacts. achievements and innovations of our Nations charter schools. Through this resolution. ","speaker_name":"JON PORTER","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4823,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090027263,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I was at St. Francis DeSalles Elementary School. and I was at St. Anthonys Elementary School. both over in the northeast part of town. and both schools. part of the 13 schools that make up the citys Center Consortium. These are 13 very poor Catholic schools here in the District. who I have been involved with over the last few years to help raise them private money to help provide scholarships. to help keep .those schools open in those very poor neighborhoods. Last week. I visited four schools in the southeast part of town. in Anacostia. I did not realize Anacostia was as large as it is. but it is very large and it is very poor. And the fact that those schools are there provide more children more choices. more opportunities to have a chance. I saw kindergartners this morning reading at a firstgrade level at both of these Catholic elementary schools. Yes. they have some students that are there because they get D.C. scholarships. others are there because of the generosity of an awful lot of people who want to keep these schools open and provide a choice for those parents and those students. ","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5114,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090027294,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I rise today to thank my colleague. the cochairs of the Congressional Caucus on Vietnam. Representatives TOM DAVIS. ZOE LOFGREN. CHRIS SMITH and LORETrA SANCHEZ for their leadership in bringing H. Res. 228 to the floor. This resolution honors the contributions to the United States made by the Vietnamese Americans since their arrival nearly 30 years ago. Today. there are 1.2 million Vietnamese Americans living in the U.S. More than 484.000 Vietnamese live in my home state of California. giving us the largest Vietnamese American community outside of Vietnam. my hometown of San Jose the largest Vietnamese population of any city outside of Vietnam. The Vietnamese community makes up the largest population of Southeast Asian refugees to have settled in the United States. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL HONDA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2924,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090027295,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Arthur B. Birtcher. Mr.Walter L. Hannen Sr.. Mr. Alex L. Hoang. Mr. Joe Keleman. ","speaker_name":"MADELEINE BORDALLO","chamber":"H","state":"GU","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":3865,"word_count":15}
{"speech_id":1090027307,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. I rise in strong support of this resolution. I first would like to commend the gentleman from California for introducing this timely and important resolution. which calls on the Nigerian Government to hand over former Liberian President Charles Taylor to the Special Court for Sierra Leone. Madam Speaker. the stability of West Africa and many innocent lives may be in jeopardy if Charles Taylor is allowed to avoid justice for the horrendous crimes he committed during the Sierra Leone civil war. There is no doubt that the Nigerian Government stepped in and helped end that civil war and brought peace to Liberia by offering Taylor exile. The terms of that exile stated. however. that he was not to interfere in the internal affairs of Liberia. According to the U.N. Secretary General. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2407,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090027311,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. before yielding back my time. let me just observe that our cooperation across party lines on this issue is emblematic of the many. many problems and areas and countries where the House Committee on International Relations functions in a uniquely bipartisan fashion for the national interest. Madam Speaker. we have no further requests for time. and I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":400,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090027323,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The resolution also recognizes the continued friendship between the people of the United States and the people of the Czech Republic. In fact. in honor of the liberation of their city. the citizens of Pilsen will be dedicating a statue of General Patton on the 60th anniversary of the liberation of their city and all of Western Bohemia. Madam Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1197,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090027324,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. in just a few days. we will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the victorious end of World War II in Europe. and the President will mark this important historic anniversary by visiting Holland and Russia for special commemorative events. It is very appropriate. Madam Speaker. that in addition to recognizing that allimportant date. we recognize the liberation of the Czech people who have gone through so much in their search for liberty. Our resolution calls attention to the role of American military forces in the liberation of Bohemia and the city of Pilsen in the very last days of the Second World War. Madam Speaker. 10 years ago. on the 50th anniversary of this event. it was my privilege to represent the United States in Bohemia commemorating this historic occasion. and I sensed firsthand the warm friendship and gratitude the people of the Czech Republic have for the United States and for our role in liberating them. The strong friendship and the good relations between the United States and the Czech Republic were profoundly strengthened by the liberation of western Bohemia in May of 1949 under the leadership of General Patton and the Third Army he led. which included not only American. but also free Belgian and Czech troops. Our resolution reaffirms the bonds of friendship between the American and the Czech people. which go back to the strong and enthusiastic support President Woodrow Wilson and the American people displayed for the establishment of Czechoslovakia at the end of the First World War. In the last decade and a half. those ties have been further strengthened as we have welcomed the end of the Communist era in Central Europe. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2660,"word_count":292}
{"speech_id":1090027337,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"During World War II. more than 4 million members of the United States Armed Forces fought in Europe. This is the largest military force ever committed by the United States in any theatre of operation. And almost 200.000 American troops were killed in the European theater. In addition. H. Res. 233 recognizes the sacrifice of the millions of members of the armed forces of allied nations in defeating Nazi Germany. liberating Europe. and putting to an end an unspeakable crime and crimes perpetrated by the Nazi regime. H. Res. 233 was approved by the European Emerging Threats Subcommittee. and I hope that every Member of the House will support its passage this afternoon. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3892,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090027338,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I welcome this resolution marking the 60th anniversary of the allied victory in Europe at the end of World War II. which was introduced by the chairman of the Europe Subcommittee. the gentleman from California","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":265,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090027384,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So let me read my amendment: \"The prohibitions of this section shall not apply with respect to conduct of taxicab drivers. bus drivers or others in the business of professional transport.\" However. the report in the markup filed by the majority described the amendment thusly: \"Mr. SCOTT offered an amendment that would have exempted sexual predators from prosecution if they are taxicab drivers. bus drivers or others in the business of professional transport.\" Now. I will let the public decide whether or not that is a distortion. I believe that it is. But I would just say that if a prosecutor has evidence that a person is a sexual predator. the last thing they would do would be to go to this provision of the code. which is a misdemeanor. rather than the various felonies that they could prosecute the person for. The amendment does not immunize a sexual predator from the crimes of being a sexual predator. just the provisions of this transportation provision which is just a misdemeanor. Now. Mr. Speaker. let me just say. in any event. whatever you think of the bill. this distortion obviously speaks to character. btt in my view. the descriptions in the committee report and the distortion of those amendments. particularly the one I just described. say more about the character of the person responsible for describing the amendment that way and the character of those trying to defend the distortion. than it does about my amendment. I would therefore. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2650,"word_count":248}
{"speech_id":1090027386,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. Last Wednesday this House passed H.R. 748. the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act. .CIANA. It was a bipartisan vote. It was 270 to 156. 63 percent of this House voted for this bill. And as was mentioned before. 54 Democrats. almost twothirds of this House voted for this bill. Now. enacting CIANA was critical. It is very. very important to better protect young girls from falling prey to abusive boyfriends and older men and ensuring that parents have the opportunity to be involved in their daughters medical decisions. CIANA accomplished this. both these purposes. first by making it a criminal offense to transport a minor across State lines in order to obtain an abortion in another State and avoiding a parental notification law in that State. ","speaker_name":"STEVE CHABOT","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2854,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090027388,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I particularly want to thank the distinguished gentleman from Michigan for allowing us to debate today. really. the integrity of the House. This debate is not about the underlying bill. H.R. 748. That is not what it is about. It simply is about those in power abusing power. taking advantage of the minority. and not telling the truth. \" Frankly. the amendments that were offered. there is no language whatsoever that would equate to the description that was in the final report or the report of the particular committee. In fact. as the resolution reads. although it is the long and established practice on House reports to describe recorded votes with objective. nonargumentative captions. the Committee on the Judiciary majority departed from the practice in House Report 10951 by captioning those five amendments with inflammatory. inaccurate captions. implying that these three Members of Congress were engaging in criminal behavior. Let me tell you that my constituents said to me. we are glad that you are concerned about grandparents and clergy. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2430,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090027397,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Michigan - for yielding me time. I see the logic of the majority. If they were commenting on the Bill of Rights. the fourth amendment is an amendment designed to quash evidence coming from an unlawful search and seizure that could allow the conviction of sexual predators. The fifth amendment gives sexual predators the right to protect themselves from selfin-\" crimination. The sixth amendment allows wily and cunning lawyers to use cross examination and technical rules to keep sexual predators from getting convicted. This is how the majority chooses to interpret. in this particular case. the substance and.the intent of a series of amendments made to the bill we voted on last week. I have great respect for the chairman of the committee. He is a fair and honest man. and he has worked hard to defend the jurisdiction of the committee. ","speaker_name":"HOWARD BERMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2074,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090027401,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"No wonder we have a lack of civility in this House.","speaker_name":"LOUISE SLAUGHTER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2770,"word_count":11}
{"speech_id":1090027416,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. are our best defense. They are what make the debate and the democracy work. As I said. Mr. Speaker. you even see in this close on this important debate that there is an interest in stopping the conversation. I hope that the Speaker and the Republican leadership will reflect on their obligations to the House. and indeed. to all the Members of both parties. and that they will ask the chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary to apologize for the affront to this House and the blatant abuse of position as the chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary. This is. in my view. an aberration for the gentleman from Wisconsin . As I said. many of us. while we may disagree on issues. have held him in great esteem and respect. He is an articulate spokesperson for his point of view. But his point of view is not necessarily the point of view of everyone in this body. and his point of view should not be the description of the amendments that Members in the minority are presenting to the Congress. ","speaker_name":"NANCY PELOSI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7002,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090027447,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it is my pleasure to join the House Republican Conference chairman. the whip. and shortly the chief deputy whip and the vice chairman of our conference in congratulating Kathryn Lehman on an outstanding career here in the Congress and to -wish her Godspeed as she leaves this great institution and goes out into the wide world to seek other challenges and opportunities. Kathryn has served the House of Representatives longer than the vast majority of the Members who serve here today. She has an incisive legal mind. and I came to know that many years ago when I was first elected to serve here and had the privilege of being appointed to serve on the House Committee on the Judiciary. where Kathryn was serving as a counsel for the then senior member of the committee. the gentleman from Illinois and shortly thereafter became chairman of the committee. Kathryn was the staff director and chief counsel for the Subcommittee on the Constitution. She advised the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman HYDE) and subsequently Speaker Gingrich. with regard to the procedures that the House needed to follow with regard to the very somber process of impeachment of a President of the United States. Since then. she has gone on to serve in our leadership. A number of Members who we can see here today recognize that she has not only the great sense of humor that has been recognized already. but a great ability to step back and see the big picture at a time when many of us get tied up in the heat of the moment. That is something that is a valuable. valuable asset for this Congress and this Republican Conference. Kathryn. we thank you. and we wish you the very best.","speaker_name":"BOB GOODLATTE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1675,"word_count":294}
{"speech_id":1090027473,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Latinos hold the majority of lowwage jobs in the U.S.. these positions mostly do not offer health care bene-\u00b0 fits. I want to make a special note of the fact that nearly 80 percent of those without health insurance are employed. Listen. they are employed. but they have no health care coverage. So we have to stop the myth that the uninsured problem is only about people that are unemployed. In fact. this is a picture here depicting a family in our district that shows people who are working. They are working. but unavailable to them is health care insurance. and in a country that prides itself on equality. it is evident that our health care system is broken when people suffer from a lack of access to health insurance and quality of care. More disconcerting. Latino children. the most vulnerable group in our society. are 21 percent more likely to be uninsured than nonLatino children. In fact. almost one in three Latino children receives health care through Medicaid or what we know as the State Childrens Health Insurance Program. the SCHIP program. While plenty of Americans live without health insurance. programs like Medicaid and the SCHIP program are often the only means of providing families like this with health care coverage. ","speaker_name":"HILDA SOLIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5070,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090027478,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"E 2045 This is a problem for all Americans as the uninsured often use emergency rooms as their primary source of medical care. In fact. a study of emergency room use in Harris County found that 57 percent of the diagnoses made in safety net hospital emergency rooms could have been treated in a physicians office or clinic. This increases health care costs for all Americans. The uninsured are less likely to seek preventive health care and only get care once their problems reach emergency proportions. In fact. nearly 50 percent of uninsured adults have postponed seekingohealth care because they cannot afford it. Only 15 percent of those individuals with healthinsurance have postponed care for this reason. It is no surprise. that the uninsured and underinsured are generally more expensive to treat because they fall through the cracks in our health care system. Unfortunately. the policies that this Congress has supported only serve to widen those cracks. Despite being faced with record levels of uninsured individuals. this Congress has put Medicaid cuts at the top of the budget agenda. Medicaid is the health insurer of last resort in this country. and subjecting this critical program to budget cuts will only serve to further increase the number of Americans without health insurance. ","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5201,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090027483,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. Bloomberg News reported today. and I read the quote. \"CAFTA.\" the expansion of NAFTA to all of Latin America. \"will fail in Congress.\" And Peter Morici. a University of Maryland professor and former chief economist for the International Trade Commission. comments: \"CAFTA is in trouble because of frustration with Bush administration inaction on the trade deficit and the Chinese yuan.\" which means that we axe not dealing with the difficulties of the exchange rate between not just China and the United States but several other nations. One and a half years ago. a 7member Congressional delegation traveled to Mexico. to examine the modern template for all of these trade agreements that is called NAFTA. the North American. I like to call it \"failed\" Trade Agreement. and the impact it has had on working families and farmers on both sides of that border. E 2100 The delegation included the gentleman from Illinois . the gentleman from Arizona . the gentlewoman from Illinois . the gentlewoman from California . the gentleman from Mississippi . the gentleman from Ohio","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1083,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090027506,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"AAPI families who seek to be reunited with their families overseas have not seen their dreams come true because of our broken immigration system. Over 1.5 million Asians are caught in the family immigration backlog and immediate family members from overseas wait as long as 10 years to reunite with their families in the U.S.. and if they are a young teenager. by the time they reach 18. they get switched to another line. Mothers and fathers wait to reunite with their children. but due to the long years. of waiting. their children may have already reached the age of 18 and their families will have to start the process over again. As we honor the 40th anniversary of the Immigration Nationality Act of 1965 and the 30th anniversary of the Refugee Act of 1975. we need to remember that our country was founded and created to protect our freedom and civil liberties. As Chair of CAPAC. we have worked closely with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to speak out against the REAL ID Act. For the AAPI community. the REAL ID will make it harder for those seeking asylum to prove their case. This will prevent legitimate asylum seekers from obtaining relief in the United States. The REAL ID Act requires asylum applicants to prove that the central motive for their persecution was race. religion. nationality. membership in a particular social group. or political opinion. The REAL ID Act ignores the fact that those who flee brutal human rights abuses often escape from situations that preclude gathering of documentation to present \"corroborating evidence.\" Applicants may be denied based on any inconsistencies or inaccuracies in their stories. An escapee from the Darfur region cannot go back and track evidence of their persecution without facing a life threatening situation. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL HONDA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4549,"word_count":297}
{"speech_id":1090027508,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"\"Nidoto Nai Yoni\" or \"let it not happen again.\" I am proud that the history of Dr. Kitamoto has become part of the American story. and I was proud to sponsor legislation that will hopefully make the \"Nidoto Nai Yoni\" memorial at Pritchard Park an officially recognized part of our national heritage. That bill passed this Chamber last year. we are in the planning phases now. to make this a national memorial. Most of this dock is not here now. but we have just a beautiful memorial planned so that this story can remain part of our national tapestry. It is my honor to join efforts with Dr. Kitamoto and sit beside him at the dedication ceremony for the memorial. It is my honor now to remember and share this story of a group of Americans whose quiet strength and sacrifice and courage and patriotism. of the many sons who served in World War II while their families were in these camps. Their story really is an inspiration for everyone everywhere. and I want to thank the gentleman from California . for convening this important discussion.","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3984,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090027511,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He was later instrumental in securing the passage of the JapaneseAmerican Redress Act as well as in ensuring a monument to JapaneseAmerican patriotism during World War I1. Representative Matsuis experience demonstrates the determination and perseverance that characterized Asian Pacific Americans during their time here in the United States. oftentimes overcoming discrimination. language and cultural barriers. I am pleased Americans have so much to benefit from as a result of our diverse society. We continue to learn from each other and share each others traditions. history. and culture. That is why it gives me great pleasure today to recognize the significant advances and contributions made by the Asian Pacific American Community to our country during Asian Pacific Heritage month.","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3149,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090027514,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Asian and Pacific Islander Americans are leaders in public service. government. science. law. education. athletics. and the arts. As business entrepreneurs. Asian and Pacific Islander are helping to strengthen our economy and our communities through their hard work and ingenuity. As patriots. Asian and Pacific Islander Americans continue to risk their lives defending liberty. We are grateful for the service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform and for their families who love and support them. The commitment of Asian and Pacific Islanders to family. community and hard work has helped to shape our Nation for many generations. This year the country suffered a great loss at the death of Congressman Robert Matsui. who exemplified these qualities. A fellow Californian. Congressman Matsui served his district and the Nation 26 years in Congress with great distinction and honor. ","speaker_name":"HILDA SOLIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2203,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090027515,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I was an original cosponsor of legislation signed into law that designated May of each year as Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. I am blessed to serve the First Congressional District of Hawaii which is comprised primarily of Asian Pacific Americans (APA). Its an inspiring and empowering sight for other APAs from around the country to see. I know I say this every year. but I feel that it needs to be repeated. There is a special strength and resilience embodied in Hawaiis unique cultural mix: we have chosen to be defined by our diversity rather than divided by our differences. That resolve to work together with Aloha can serve as an example to the rest of the country. \u0095 While we can look at APA Heritage Month as a time to recognize and celebrate many individual accomplishments. we must also take action. My colleagues and I are committed to improving the lives of all APAs by working on issues of importance to our community. such as fighting to eliminate racial and ethnic health disparities. defending civil liberties. protecting Social Security. and ensuring educational opportunities for our children. These are the principles that reflect this years theme. \"Liberty and Freedom for All.\" This years. theme represents the past and ongoing contributions of APAs. such as Congresswoman Patsy T. Mink who dedicated her life to economic and social justice. ","speaker_name":"NEIL ABERCROMBIE","chamber":"H","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3163,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090027528,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I. too. am concerned about Social Security. Probably the single heaviest lift. -as that phrase is used in these Chambers. that we have ahead of us. It will look like a walk in the park when we begin to consider Medicaid and Medicare and overall health care spending and costs in this Chamber. So we need to get it done now. As we address the issue of Social Security we have got more options today than we will as each year passes. If we do not act. if we continue to keep our heads in the sand. which if you think about the posture that you are in with your head in the sand it is not particularly flattering. If we continue that posture. we have add a $600 billion increase to the unfunded liabilities that are Social Security for each year that we fail to act. for each year that we do not consider those 23yearsold as they enter the workforce. Our oldest son is 32 years old. and he will be retiring about the point in time where benefits look like they are going to cut under current conditions. about 27 percent. ","speaker_name":"K. CONAWAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1775,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090027536,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am not speaking to whether that is right or wrong. but it is certainly an expensive process to drive an automobile these days. We passed the Energy Policy Act. which. unfortunately. is not designed and does not have the capacity to have an immediate impact on gasoline prices. That is a l9ngterm problem. it has been a long time coming. and there is no silver bullet. There is no immediate solution to that. It is simply supply and demand. As more of us continue to drive. as China continues to go from a bicycle economy to a moped economy to a4cylinder engine economy. to a 6cylinder engine economy. their demands for crude oil and gasoline continues to grow much faster than anywhere else. India. likewise. has significant growth in their demand for the use of gasoline and crude oil. So it is a supplyandde.mand issue that the Energy Policy Act we have just passed and sent over to the Senate just cannot address. However. it can address opportunities to reduce our dependency on crude oil imported and natural gas imported from other countries. Each barrel of oil and each MCF of natural gas that we need to import from other sources makes us more dependent on those sources. ","speaker_name":"K. CONAWAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5068,"word_count":209}
{"speech_id":1090027546,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I want to show a number. This is a 1 with 15 zeros. That is 1 quadrillion. In 1910 we used 7 quadrillion Btus in the United States. In 1954 we used 35 quadrillion Btus. energy demand increase. Right now we use 100 quadrillion Btus. and that is not slowing down. What we need in this country is logic and intellect to move us away from an energy source that has now lost its usefulness for a number of reasons. It is putting carbon dioxide into our atmosphere faster than we have seen that infusion of carbon dioxide in the last 400.000 years. and our supply is diminishing quickly as our demand is increasing even faster. There are a number of energy sources. The gentleman from Maryland","speaker_name":"WAYNE GILCHREST","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3015,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090027606,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As We struggle to deal with the loss of this young man. let me assure Members that Specialist Gavin Colburns life was not sacrificed in vain. Specialist Colburn was a young man full of promise. passion. bravery and heart. a young man fighting for what he believed was right and fighting for a cause he believed to be true. Gavin loved his fiancee. his family and friends. And he loved his country. His family. his fiancee. his friends. the community of Frankfort. Ohio. and the. United States of America. will never forget the incredible sacrifice this young man has made. for Specialist Gavin Colburn was born more than a soldier. he wa an American patriot and an American hero. May God rest his soul.","speaker_name":"ROBERT NEY","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1277,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090027610,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to recognize the efforts of some exceptional young Minnesotans. The students and staff of Lakeville High School have taken it upon themselves to meet a growing need within their community. Inspired to act by the tragic drug and alcoholrelated death of a Lakeville student. principals Julie Espe convened a task force focused on drug education and prevention. and the \"Challenge to Change\" effort was begun. Lakeville students and staff members involved in this task force have organized awareness activities for high school and junior high school students. including. panel discussions with students who have overcome challenges. as well as those who have made the tough choice to avoid drug and alcohol use. These events have made a significant impact on the youth of the Lakeville community. and have gained the attention of community leaders and local officials. Encouraged by the early success. the group has many more activities planned to emphasize their message throughout the upcoming graduation season. The proactive efforts of the Challenge to Change group are a fantastic example of the positive power of community involvement in the lives ofour children. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KLINE","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1315,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090027614,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today td honor William Clay Ford. Sr.. for 57 years of dedicated service as a member of the Ford Motor Companys board of directors. He has served on the board with distinction for over half of the Ford Motor Companys history of almost 102 years. As the only surviving grandson of the late Henry Ford and the father of the current chairman. he uniquely links Fords past. present. and future.","speaker_name":"THADDEUS MCCOTTER","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":410,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090027621,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. a few short months ago. millions of Iraqis risked their lives by simply casting a vote. This week. the bravery demonstrated on that historic January day came to fruition as the countrys first freely elected government in over half a century was sworn in. The new cabinet is representative of the various ethnic and religious groups in Iraq and will be charged with the important task of writing a permanent Iraqi constitution. This milestone is yet another victory for the Iraqi people and delivers a further blow to the terrorists and advances the cause of freedom worldwide. Mr. Speaker. I wish to reiterate our continued admiration and support of the Iraqi people. and I commend them for the courage and tenacity they continue to demonstrate as they embrace freedom and democracy.","speaker_name":"CHRIS CHOCOLA","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":796,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090027630,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Red Cross board member. and he was even an elder at the Pilgrim Presbyterian Church. Mr. Speaker. Francis Goodpaster passed away on March 3. 2002. We support this legislation that will memorialize his contributions to his hometown of Vinita. Oklahoma. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SHAYS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1384,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090027633,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. As a member of the House Committee on Government Reform. I am pleased to join the gentleman from Connecticut and the gentleman from Oklahoma in consideration of H.R. 1082. legislation naming a postal facility in Vinita. Oklahomba after the late Francis C. Goodpaster. This measure. of course. was introduced by the gentleman from Oklahoma on March 3. 2005. and unanimously reported by our committee on April 13. 2005. and it enjoys the support and cosponsorship of the entire Oklahoma delegation. As we have heard. Mr. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":981,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090027651,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I urge my colleagues to support this resolution and the underlying bill. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"DORIS MATSUI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1817,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090027659,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This rule makes some very important amendments in order. The rule is fair. The rule allows this legislation to move forward. And with that. Mr. Speaker. I would urge adoption of the rule. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"ROB BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4534,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090027682,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I urge .the adoption of the rule and the underlying legislation. Mr.. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time. and I move the previous question on the resolution. The previous question was ordered.","speaker_name":"ROB BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1130,"word_count":35}
{"speech_id":1090027696,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think we all agree that every student deservzes a fair and equal opportunity for a quality education that meets the need for personal and academic career development. This program does that for millions of students. The United States Department of Education Office of Vocational and Adult Education tells us that onethird of college students are involved in career and technical programs. and that over 40 million adult learners engage in short term. postsecondary educatiorial opportunity and training. Before I close. I would like to address one particular aspect of this bill. and that is that this bill merges the successful tech prep program into Perkins basic State grants. The gentleman from Wisconsin and I tried to amend that in the committee and were not successful. We wanted to restore the separate authorization for tech prep. If we restore the separate authorization. we would block any potential loss of funds. The General Accountability Office indicates when programs are block granted. they not only lose funding eventually. but the focus on the program is lost and accountability is lost. We hope to deliver these programs through the Statewide network of consortia of secondary schools. postsecondary institutions. employment and training providers. and business and industry groups so they can work collaboratively on this tech prep program. ","speaker_name":"JOHN TIERNEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2968,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090027712,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Meeting this challenge requires a new set of big ideas. Instead of the administration being so eager to dismantle the New Deal. we should be working together to offer the American people a New New Deal. A New Deal that will enable our people to compete successfully in the 21st century economy with a renewed commitment to worker training programs. an education investment that emphasizes math. science and engineering. research funding in science and medicine. and a comprehensive broadband strategy so every American has access to highspeed Internet hookup. We believe that economics does not necessarily have to be a zerosum game. it can be a winwin proposition for everyone involved so long as they have the tools in which to succeed. One of the unfortunate aspects of this reauthorization bill is the attempt to remove as a separate funded program the Technical Preparation program. I commend my friend from Delaware who is about to offer an amendment later today at least calling for level funding of the Techprep program for the next fiscal year. But once you eliminate the separate status of the Technical Preparation program. the fear is that we are going to lose focus and that the institutions will lose focus or. even worse. thfat the funding stream will become weakened in future years. I would encourage my colleagues to support the amendment that the gentleman from Delaware will be offering to at least provide level funding of this important program. Technology is driving the innovation. Technology is driving the creativity. ","speaker_name":"RON KIND","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3120,"word_count":254}
{"speech_id":1090027718,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. First. I want to praise the gentleman from Ohio . chairman of this committee. and the gentleman from Delaware . subcommittee chairman. because I rise in strong support of H.R. 366. the Vocational and Technical Education for the Future Act. because it does a number of basic things. It continues to help States better utilize federal funding. increasing accountability. emphasizes student academic vocational and technical achievement. and improves coordination between secondary and postsecondary vocational and technical education. *We have contirnually. worked at how to get this type of cooperation to streamline it. not to micromanage the States. to give them flexibility on how to do it. but set guidelines as to what we expect and the type of results that we want. In my home district in Northeast Indiana in Fort Wayne. vocational education has been a cooperative effort between the city of Fort Wayne and the Chamber of Commerce in taking the old Central High School. which had been abandoned. which my mom had attended inthe 1940s. and it is now the Anthis Career Education Center. There they have laboratories. classrooms. worksites. different career options. youth apprenticeships. cooperative education. They have nearly 20 different career options that work with Indiana Vocational Technical State College. In addition. they have programs for kids who may go to 4year colleges. that they can take part of their day and go over and get specialized courses. go out and work with manufacturers. ","speaker_name":"MARK SOUDER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3593,"word_count":250}
{"speech_id":1090027722,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I offered an amendment in the committee to restore this cut. I am also concerned that this bill merges the tech prep program with the basic State grant. and I appreciate that our Republican colleagues on the committee have maintained funding for tech prep activities. But as we all know. not sending tech prep funding separately to the States means that eventually States will lose their focus on those activities. Another area that I am concerned about and I want to reiterate is the issue that the gentleman from California has just discussed. which is his amendment offered td end abuses like the Department of Educations contract with Armstrong Williams. His amendment simply said that the government cannot hire journalists to create government propaganda and required that if the Department of Education continues to produce prepackaged news pieces. it has to fully disclose that fact in the piece. I am sorry that that language. which is really about government being honest with the people. is not in this bill. Finally. we must ask ourselves. despite bipartisan support and despite the support of the gentleman from Ohio (Chairman BOEHNER) and the gentleman from Delaware (Chairman CASTLE). where will the appropriators find the funds to support this and other critical education programs that the President wants to eliminate or underfund? For example. this year alone. the President wants to provide our schoolchildren $12 billion less than he promised under the No Child Left Behind Act. Mr. Chairman. one last comment: this is a good. bipartisan bill. and we must fix the little pieces that are missing in conference. Mr. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2423,"word_count":267}
{"speech_id":1090027726,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. today I rise to speak in favor of H.R. 366. the Vocational and Technical Education for the Future Act. Vocational education is an extremely important component of secondary education for millions of students. It is too often neglected at the State level","speaker_name":"RICHARD POMBO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":267,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090027736,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The intent of the program is for high schools and postsecondary institutions to draft agreements that allow for a nonduplicative. seamless transition for students. The rationale behind consolidating the programs was to streamline the funding stream. We can all agree that TechPrep is an important component of technical and vocational education. which is what this amendment is intended to clarify by ensuring TechPrep activities are still funded. In order to prohibit the inadequacies of the past. H.R. 366 incorporates program improvements to ensure that TechPrep activities will include credit_ transfer agreements ensuring that secondary vocational and technical education students can move easily into postsecondary education. a necessary exercise for those students who decide to go on to some form of postsecondary education or training. I urge my colleagues to support my simple and technical amendment. -Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CASTLE","chamber":"H","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2411,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090027737,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Wisconsin .","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1212,"word_count":19}
{"speech_id":1090027747,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I support the amendment. Clearly those who take technical and vocational education programs ought to have the ability to take those credits and that time that they have invested in that program and be able to move on. if they choose. into. whether it is a 2year school or a 4year school. What we have seen in the past. many students who were in vocational schools.. technical schools. and who may have then decided to change their minds. did not have the ability to move on to get that 2year degree or to get that certificate they may be looking for. or even a 4year degree. And I think that the articulation agreements that would be permissible under this bill. with the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Wus) amendment. are growing from State to State. ","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1938,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090027759,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman I want to thank my colleague. the gentlewoman from California for offering this very important amendment. We hear a lot of talk. especially with every increasing gas prices of the need for alternative automotive fuel technologies. And we need to do more. because we are not developing the technologies nor the talent to develop the technologies. In fact. several Congresses ago. then Secretary Reich encouraged us to take more interest in hightech automotive job training. noting then of the severe shortage of workbrs for the industry. and because cars and trucks are not simply machines. simply machines at that. we have to have a Workforce of technicians who understand what is needed. or else we will all be in really big trouble. not just personally. but economically as a country. This amendment would ensure that regardless of changes in fuel technology. we will have.the workforce we need. and I encourage my colleagues to support it.","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":955,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090027774,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. covert propaganda has no place in our democracy. Today we encourage the formation of democracies.in countries that have long suffered under the brutality of totalitarian regimes. America ought to set an example that the governments of democratic societies do not resort to propagandizing and misinformation campaigns with taxpayer dollars. That is exactly what this administration has been doing. The Education Department secretly paid conservative commentator Armstrong Williams $241.000 of taxpayer funds. The purpose? To promote the Presidents No Child Left Behind education law. The administration has also paid two other columnists. They produced fake news reports to promote the Presidents controversial Medicare and marriage initiatives. The GAO has found these video news releases violate existing law. ","speaker_name":"ROSA DELAURO","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1315,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090027783,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. on Wednesday. May 4. 2005. I was unavoidably detained due to a prior obligation. reflect that had I been present and voting. I would have voted as follows: Rollcall No. 153. \"yea\" (On Motion to Recommit with Instructions on H.R. 366. the Vocational and Technical Education for the Future Act).","speaker_name":"LORETTA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":47.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":306,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090027800,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"FDIC. that deposit insurance is overdue for needed structural reform. H.R. 1185 would merge the Bank Insurance Fund. BIF. and the Savings Association Insurance Fund. SAIF. into a single fund covering all banks and thrifts. increase peraccount coverage levels from $100.000 to $130.000. and adjust that coverage for inflation every 5 years beginning in 2007. and double the $130.000 coverage amount in the case of certain retirement accounts. including IRAs and 401(k)s. Providing $260.000 in deposit insurance coverage for retirement accounts is critically important in an era when many Americans have accumulated retirement nest eggs that far exceed $100.000. and when. according to FDIC estimates. there is more than $200 billion in IRA accounts alone In this Nations banking system. Several highprofile bank failures in recent years have given many Americans a rude awakening as they discover that amounts in their retirement accounts above the $100.000 coverage limit are uninsured. The bill also raises coverage levels on instate. municipal or public deposits. This will have the effect of encouraging local government agencies to keep more of their deposits in the local communities where the funds were generated. thus promoting economic growthin those areas. Finally. the bill fully implements a provision bnacted more than a decade ago to give banks a discount on their deposit insurance premiums for deposits attributable to socalled basic banking accounts which provide a financial lifeline for lowincome families that are currently without bank coverage. This has strong bipartisan support. - This legislation passed this body last year with a vote of 411 to 11. and this years effort likewise enjoys very strong bipartisan support. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2648,"word_count":268}
{"speech_id":1090027814,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself all remaining time. There are several things I think we need to say to correct the record. One was it was said by the gentleman in opposition that this was taxpayer guaranteed. and. in fact. these deposits are insured not by the taxpayer. but by the BIF and SAIF funds. and it is the depository that insures his own accounts. And for the taxpayer to pay one red cent. all assets of every federally insured financial institution would have to be exhausted before the taxpayer would have to pay onecent. In other words. all the assets of all of the federally insured banks and savings associations would have to be paid. And in that regard. I am sure the gentleman from California would agree that if that moment ever came. we would be. we would probably be in dire straights. and I certainly never anticipate that happening. It has never happened in the history of our country. ","speaker_name":"SPENCER BACHUS","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3796,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090027847,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"May I askthe gentleman a question. Did someone keep the gentleman from offering that amendment? Why did the gentleman not offer that amendnent? It is the gentlemans amendment. Is the gentleman criticizing me for his amendment? If the gentleman thinks his amendment should be different. make it different.","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":304,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090027855,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Second. the gentleman did mention the fact that we do have a provision in here covering municipal deposits or government deposits and that is for $2 million. The reason we did that is not to protect the big guy or the rich guy. The reason we did that is from time to time a school system or a city or a county or a governmental retirement system will put $2 million or $1.5 million in a bank and it is really not practical for them to go around and put $100.000 in each bank. And that is basically as a result of the American Association of School Boards and others saying not only do we want to deposit more than that. but in several States. particularly the Farm Belt. there is only one hometown institution. And the school board or the government or the city or the fire district wants to deposit their money in their own hometown. And that is to allow that.","speaker_name":"SPENCER BACHUS","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":861,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090027885,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This was opposed by the minority leader. The Border Security Act. supported by 42 Democrats. This will implement a muchneeded -national standard for drivers license requirements and strengthen our borders so that those who intend to do us harm find it harder to enter our country. This was opposed by the minority leader. Thank goodness for the moderates in the Democratic Party who are willing to put aside partisan bickering and work together to get things done for America. The minority leaders continued opposition tactics more closely resemble the pirates of the South Seas who hijacked commerce and progress and accomplished absolutely nothing in the long run. What a shame.","speaker_name":"GEOFF DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2532,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090027889,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I have always maintained the innocence of Lieutenant Pantano. and I believe last weeks hearing produced information that will ultimately prove his innocence. During the hearing. it became clear that the sergeant who accused Lieutenant Pantano. Sergeant Coburn. -disobeyed orders to not grant interviews to the media on this case. At one. point he left the stand after the hearing officer read him his rights and explained he could face charges for disobeying orders. When he finally did return to testify on Saturday. he is reported to have said \"I dont know\" or \"I cant remember\" over 50 times. His story simply could not hold up under crossexamination. Mr. Speaker. it is clear that this mans testimony cannot be considered credible. How can these charges move forward when the primary witness is someone who did not actually see the shooting and who cannot definitively stick to one recollection of the series of events that took place? If that is not enough evidence. let me also quote briefly from Navy Medal Corpsman George Gobles. the only other person present at the time of the shooting and the prosecutions other main witness who took the stand. He called Pantano. and I quote. ","speaker_name":"WALTER JONES","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3371,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090027908,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. we need to take care of the people who take care of our kids. and if what is happening in Ohio is any indication. we are failing miserably. On Monday of this week. I was at a school in my district. and while at that school. I learned of schools in our region terminating breakfast programs in order to save money. I learned of art and music classes being canceled. I learned of libraries being closed in some schools. and operating on a halftime basis in others. I learned of teachers of gifted students being laid off. I learned of high schools where all foreign language classes have been canceled. In short. I heard about conditions which. left unabated. will lead to the disintegration of our great State. ","speaker_name":"TED STRICKLAND","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2340,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090027918,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And the trade deficit is totally out of control as well. As this happens. what are we doing? Ladies and gentlemen. we are doing absolutely nothing. Recently the Blue Dogs introduced a 12step reform program to cure our Nations addiction to deficit spending. It requires a balanced budget. stops Congress from buying on credit. and puts a lid on spending. We have a provision in this plan that requires payagyougo budgeting. so that when we have an increase in the budget. or we have a tax decrease. we have to- offset them. The principles in this 12step reform plan should be able to be agreed on by everyone. The plan injects a little common sense into the way Congress and the White House does business. I hoje that some day this Congress will wake up and help us restore our fiscal responsibility as a Nation. The time to stop digging the hole deeper is now.","speaker_name":"DENNIS CARDOZA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2799,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090027946,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He had to make a living. had to take care of his family. and so he withdrew his name. I think that should have been lesson enough. but what happened was that the minority in the other body continued with the filibuster process. They held up a good number of the Presidents nominees. and I believe that number was 10. Today. the President has pledged to reappoint those nominees that were held up in the 108th Congress. and so now those names are before the Senate again. IH2950 In speaking of this impending constitutional crisis. I would also. Mr. Speaker. address the situation and ask that we remember the nomination process for Justice Thomas. and the long. drawnout grilling affair that was used on him when he was finally confirmed by the Senate by a majority vote. That process and what this country went through was an agonizing thing. It was an embarrassment to the dignity of the United States that we would bring out all those details. ","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7211,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090027947,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise again today to add my voice to the chorus that is convened in this House Chamber to denounce the grave disservice that the Senate Democrats are doing to our fellow Americans. I am pleasantly surprised at how many people at home keep encouraging me to do all I can to see that the judges that the President has nominated become confirmed. When the Franiers of our Constitution brilliantly crafted the greatest form of government on earth. they deliberately installed a detailed system of checks and balances. and I think the point that the gentleman from Iowa","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":578,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090027953,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I have got to think. Mr. Speaker. that many Americans looking in are. still asking that question. can Mr. Smith still go to Washington? And I think it is absolutely imperative that we say tonight an emphatic yes. Mr. Smith can still go to Washington. that specifically all the dulyelected majority of the United States Senate seeks to do is to eliminate filibusters on judicial nominations. which. I will argue is unprecedented in the Senate to begin with. It has never been accepted. And recently. in. the last 5 years. by prominent members of the Democratic then majority of the Senate. people like Senator TEDDY KENNEDY. people like Senator PATRICK LEAHY. people like- Senator Tom Daschle. decried the use of the filibuster on judicial nominations. The filibuster that Jimmy Stewart used in the famous movie \"Mr. ","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5526,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090027957,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But we do not stand for the complete filibuster of judicial appointments. Rather. the socalled Constitutional Option actually is a very narrow rule change. and it affects only the Supreme Court and circuit court nominees. So. once again. we come back to where we have been for 214 years.. and that is the fact that never. never in the history of this Republic has it ever happened that a judge -that was supported by a majority was denied the right to have a simple vote on whether or not they could serve. Never in our history has a nominee with clear majority support failed to receive a vote in the U.S. Senate. This is our longstanding tradition. We believe that at least a majority should have the right to cast a vote on whether or not we will seat a judge. and that is all that we are talking about. It is an essential tenet of our whole representative form -of government. the idea that there should not be some tyranny which makes it so nobody can even hive a chance to vote. And that is certainly a new use of the filibuster and something which threatens to shut down our entire confirmation process for the courts. We have never embraced a system in which it requires 60 votes to confirm a judge. and we should not be doing that now. ","speaker_name":"W. AKIN","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2496,"word_count":231}
{"speech_id":1090027958,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for his contribution to this important subject matter that is before us here. It is actually pending before the United States Senate. A couple of pieces that I think came out in this discussion we have had tonight has been that even though we are asking Mr. FRIST to utilize the Constitutional Option and to call for a rule decision that would be that in the case of a constitutional issue in the United States Senate. when the confirmation of judges are before the United States Senate. a simple majority vote will have to prevail. It is not unprecedented in the Senate rules. What it would do is it would set aside the filibuster option with regard to judicial appointments. There is no filibuster right now for appropriations bills for obvious reasons. because if you allowed a single Senator or a minority of the Senators to hold up the spending. then anyone could hold the appropriations process hostage to their particular agenda and their particular wishes. Those rules reflect the reason for suspending filibuster for the purposes of appropriations. ","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5332,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090027961,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"fornia. Mr. Speaker. this evening I rise in opposition to the Central American Free Trade Agreement. I am glad to see that there are other Members fighting against this deeply flawed trade agreement. When a trade agreement is so terrible that the Costa Rican president says he thinks it will hurt hardworking people and that their parliament is reluctant to even approve it. you know that it is a bad deal. When a trade agreement is so terrible that the majority will not even bring it to the floor of the House for a vote until a year after signing. you know it is a bad deal. When a trade agreement is so terrible that the Labor Department cannot even comment. they could not even mount an effective counterargument about CAFTAs awful labor provisions. well. then you know it is a bad deal. If Costa Rica cannot justify it. if the majority has no confidence in it. and if the U.S. Labor Department cannot even defend it. then it needs to be scrapped. There is not one single reason to support an agreement with this many problems in it. ","speaker_name":"LINDA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":39.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3400,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090027965,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Maine for yielding. I thank the gentleman for his leadership on this very important issue. I am told that the clinical definition of insanity is the tenancy to do the same thing over and over again and expect. different results. And this proposed Central American Free Trade Agreement is another example of the United States continuing to enter into these socalled free trade agreements with countries and regions of the world that give carte blanche to corporate America to send our American jobs to other parts of the globe. The one thing that I have been struck with. after coming here to Congress is. how many people in Washington. D.C. talk about job loss like they are talking about the weather. or a natural disaster like an earthquake. They talk about job loss like it is something that happens beyond the control of Congress. when. in fact. much of the job loss that we see in America today is the result of poor trade policy. and lopsided trade agreements in which we have negotiated away our jobs and failed to protect the American worker. Now. given the experience that we have had thus far. with our subsequent trade agreements with NAFTA and others. you would think that with our experience of job loss that we have had there that when you find yourself in a hole that you might stop digging. ","speaker_name":"STEPHEN LYNCH","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11718,"word_count":238}
{"speech_id":1090028003,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I must say. a lot of discussion about prescription drugs. And from Florida let me say that that is a big issue. I can say this also. that we came to this floor given information from the majority side and from the administration on the true costs of what they may call prescription drugs and not allowing us to have negotiating power with the pharmaceutical companies to be able to bring prices down for prescription drugs. Could the gentleman do that again?","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2811,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090028079,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. instead of bringing our troops home from Iraq. today our majority party.is advocating sending billions more to Iraq to keep our troops there indefinitely. Instead of winding down operations -in Iraq. today the administration will receive money to help build permanent bases in Iraq. At a time when the American people are waking up to the disaster of the war in Iraq. this House is going to sleep. Wake up. The administration .manufactured intelligence to take us into war in Iraq. Wake up. The flower of Americas youth is being sent to battles. spilling their blood to find weapons of mass destruction which did not exist. Wake up. Mr. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1152,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090028081,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Because of my personal experience with osteoporosis. I. am committed to ensuring that my fellow Americans are aware of the importance of early detection and prevention. Men and women can reduce their chances of developing this disease. I encourage everyone to see your doctor. get screened for osteoporosis. It is a very silent. but very deadly. disease.","speaker_name":"SHELLEY BERKLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1046,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090028084,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as we were reminded with a thudding explosion on the streets of New York City at 3 a.m. this morning. we are a Nation at war. And so it is with particular pleasure that I rise to extol the arrest of Abu Farraj alLibbi by Pakistani authorities yesterday .in Pakistan. The capture of the thirdranking operative in al Qaeda is a momentous and significant event in the war on terror. The President said. \"His arrest removes a dangerous enemy who was a direct threat to America and a critical victory in the war on terror.\" Stephen Hadley. the national security adviser. said he was not only doing operations. but was also into finance and administration. and he calls it a \"real accomplishment.\" As I learned when I visited Pakistan last December. and let us be clear on this point. while Pakistani authorities are to be commended for the thirdranking member of al Qaeda. let us make sure that we know as Americans it was a cooperation with American forces and American intelligence personnel on the ground in Pakistan that made that possible. A joint effort with Pakistan is winning the war on terror.","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1111,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090028167,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Regarding the Foreign Operations. Export Financing. and Related Programs Subcommittee chapter of this legislation. the conference report includes $2.53 billion in funding for programs under the jurisdiction of the Foreign Operations. Export Financing. and Related Programs Subcommittee. which I chair. While this overall level is $1.4 billion less than requested. let me say once again I strongly support the objectives of the President that he seeks to achieve with this request.for Afghanistan. the Middle East. and the -tsunamidevastated areas of Asia. I believe that this conference agreement provides the financial support necessary td help the United States achieve these objectives. The major elements of the conference agreement that differ from the Housepassed levels are additional funds for Afghanistan reconstruction. the Solidarity Initiative. and support for Ukraine. The $739 million proposed by theHouse for Afghanistan reconstruction represented the highest priority projects that could be implemented and executed during 2005. The Senate provided $1.3 billion. the administrations request. And the conference level is $1.086 billion. or $347 million over what the House had recommended. This increase over the House level supports some 2006 requirements. which is. ","speaker_name":"JAMES KOLBE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10381,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090028181,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. why is Congress approving yet another multibillion dollar spending -bill when the previous 3 multibillion dollar spending bills have been misused. improperly managed. and. in some cases. downright stolen? A report by the Special Inspector General for Iraqs reconstruction has stated that nearly $100 million for re.construction projects in southern Iraq is missing and cannot be accounted for. These funds must be accounted for before allotting one more dollar for the war in Iraq. And where is the congressional investigation into the $9 billion that mysteriously disappeared from the books at the Coalition Provisional Authority? Why are we voting on writing another check for a mission that has been so badly botched? Who is being held responsible for the misinformation that led us into the war in the first place? Who is being held responsible for the troops not being equipped and armed with the billions of dollars that we have allocated to Iraq? Where is our exit strategy? This bill is nothing short of highway robbery. and the victims are the troops and the American people. No more blank checks. Mr. Speaker. No more wars without reason. I will vote against the supplemental.","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1199,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090028183,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The conference report also includes $241.6 million for domestic appropriations to support the war on terror. including FBI counterterrorism efforts and. for DEA. a counternarcotics program in Afghanistan. Finally. it includes $17.2 million to jumpstart the improvement of the United States tsunami warning capabilities on both coasts. The conference report before us provides funding for important security measures for our diplomatic personnel. for our ongoing State Department and Justice Department commitments. and I strongly urge support of the conference report.","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1841,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090028193,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from California for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker. I thank him for his hard work on this conference report. As many in this Chamber know. this conference report contains the provisions of the Real ID Act. which I offered. and the House overwhelmingly approved earlier this year. The sensible reforms contained in this legislation are long overdue and will make America safer. These provisions will hamper the ability of terrorists and criminal aliens to move freely through our society by requiring that all States prior proof of lawful presence in the U.S. for their drivers licenses be accepted as identification for Federal purposes. such as boarding a commercial airplane. entering a Federal building or a nuclear power plant. This legislation will also require a temporary drivers license issued to a foreign visitor to expire when their visa expires. with the maximum term of 1 year. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2003,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090028195,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me the time. Mr. Speaker. I want to thank both the chairman and the ranking member for this bill. especially for its Iraqi dollars. because this bill analyzes microscopically the kinds of equipment that is needed there now. and then surgically targets those dollars in a vastly efficient manner for our troops. The bill also deals with healing the wounds of both mind and body of those soldiers who are returning. The bill also deals with small businesses being able. through the H2B process. to hire legal workers. And the bill also deals with enhanced technology for the tsunami situation that we saw so much. months ago. I want to thank the gentleman from California for the legislation. and I urge its adoption. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE GILCHREST","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5038,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090028206,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So I would simply urge House Members to vote for this motion. It ought not be at all controversial. It is practical if you want to put your money where your press releases have been with respect to border patrol. Mr. Speaker. I yield for the purpose of making a unanimous consent request to the gentleman from New York","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2461,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090028220,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise tday in opposition to the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations (HR 1268). on substance and process. I am strongly supportive of our fighting men and women. and mourn the loss of nearly 1.600 Americans who have died in Iraq. four of whom resided in my congressional district. On substance. this bill fails to provide an exit strategy for our troops in Iraq. Since Iraq held democratic elections in January. the US should have been implementing an aggressive exit strategy that includes a timetable for the training of Iraqi security forces. so US troops can return home. Moreover. with nearly $10 billion already appropriated but not spent for critical reconstruction projects in Iraq. like -rebuilding electrical grids and establishing telecommunications networks. US policy objectives for Iraqi independence are jeopardized. On process. many of the items in this bill should be funded under the regular order in the annual appropriations cycle. Unfortunately. the Republican Leadership has used this bill as a vehicle for passage of immigration measures that are divisive and harmful for our country. and couldnt be passed as standalone bills. ","speaker_name":"SAM FARR","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3994,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090028230,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is hard to understand until you remember that Secretary Rumsfeld and the other civilian leaders at the Pentagon argued that our troops would be greeted in Iraq as liberators with flowers and candy. not the bullets and bombs that have led to more than 1.500 of our doldiers getting killed. Before. the invasion. the Pentagon planned to. reyuce our troop levels to 20.00030.0001FAn a few weeks of overthrowing Saddam 11u{sein. The fact that 150.000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq more than a year and a half after the war began shows how badly the Pentagon leadership miscalculated the postwar situation. Those miscalculations also led the Pentagon to vastly underestimate the equipment that our troops would need to survive and succeed in Iraq. First. the Pentagon leadership did not even order the necessary equipment like body armor. armored Humvees and bomb jamming devices. For example. under the Pentagons original war plan. the Pentagon planned to have only 235 armored Humvees in Iraq for the 20.000 troops who would remain after overthrowing Saddam Hussein. Then. when it became clear that this equipment was necessary. the Pentagon did not procure it with any sense of urgency. As The New York Times article I mentioned above noted. \"The Armys procurement system. which also supplies the Marines. has come under fierce criticism for underperforming in the war. and to this dayithas only one small contractor in Ohio armoring new Humvees.\" The performance of Secretary Rumsfeld and his senior leadership at the Pentagon has been a disgrace. Unfortunately. it is our troops who have had to pdy the price.","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5384,"word_count":264}
{"speech_id":1090028236,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If they do not. the citizens of that State will not be able to use their drivers license to identify themselves for many purposes that they use them for today. such as boarding an airplane. The bill and the report make clear that the Secretary must determine the uses. in addition to those set forth in the bill. for which drivers licenses only from complying states will be accepted. Importantly. the final bill makes clear that the Secretary of Homeland Security will be responsible for ensuring that the certifications represent full compliance. This requirement ensures that the national security interests of the United States will be protected through enforcement of the requirements -of the bill. States will also be required to confirm the applicants proof of legal presence in the United States. Currently. only 11 states lack such a requirement. meaning a majority of states have already recognized the need for tighter standards. but unnecessary and dangerous gaps in the system still exist. Importantly. States are still permitted to issue drivers licenses to individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States or who cannot provide satisfactory proof of identity. The ability of States to have such a system is currently under challenge in court. and this legislation will provide them with express authority. The bill further provides that these licenses or identification cards must be clearly visually differentiated from Dther licenses and contain specific language regarding their validity for federal identification and other official purposes. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5761,"word_count":247}
{"speech_id":1090028256,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the majority deputy whip for that information. I will continue to yield to the gentleman to ask about the gang violence and the first responder bills. Which day will we. consider each bill. and what type of rule is anticipated for each bill?","speaker_name":"JOHN LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":262,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090028284,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Government Reform be discharged from further consideration of the resolution (H. Res. 231) recognizing and celebrating the life and accomplishments of the great African American jockey Jimmy \"Wink\" Winkfield and the significant contributions and excellence of other African American jockeys and trainers in the sport of horse racing and the history of the Kentucky Derby. and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.","speaker_name":"JOHN DUNCAN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":484,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090028287,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"His Eminence carded Wink to victory in the 27th running of the Kentucky Derby. His Eminence was bred in Kentucky by O.H. Chenault. In the 28th Run for the Roses. Wink was carried to victory riding AlanaDale. a beautiful horse that was also Kentucky bred by T.C. McDowell. Jimmy \"Wink\" Winkfield was truly one of the great jockeys of all time and achieved great success despite discrimination and numerous setbacks.","speaker_name":"ED WHITFIELD","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1075,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090028289,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I too rise to wish our mothers across America a happy Mothers Day. and I also rise and honor Cinco de Mayo. But. Mr. Speaker. unfortunately I had to cast a \"no\" vote on the previous bill because of the illconceived provisions dealing with immigration. I am not for a national ID card. Unfortunately. without the input of States and hearings. that is what this body voted for. a database. subjected to the FBI. investigation of your personal matters. along with everyday hackers finding out information about Americans that do not keep the homeland safe. Today. Mr. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1208,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090028292,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask my fellow Americans to join me in praying for our brave men and women in uniform for fighting to protect our freedoms and to spread freedom throughout the world. I also ask that we pray that God help our leaders to make the right decisions and have the strength and resolve as they meet the challenges ahead.","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1262,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090028314,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"E 1445 In the process. they have created an underground criminal industry based on graft and deceit. with the sole purpose of undermining the public records of this Nation. To allow this to continue would be far more damaging than just allowing false information. It would allow a culture of corruption to take seed and grow in this country. until the weeds of graft choke the economy and the public integrity of America. as it has the nations that the illegal immigrants flee from. especially south of us. I urge the Senate. I urge the Senate to join us in passing this essential first effort against illegal immigration.","speaker_name":"CHARLES NORWOOD","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3469,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090028322,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Dachau. Treblinka. Babi Yarthe Shoah. But above all. we must never forget. because we must continue to look forward. as well as behind us. Man must never again allow his fellow man to stand by while the wholesale extermination of entire peoples is attempted under our very noses. We must never forget the maxim offered by Edmund Burke centuries before the Holocaust: that the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.","speaker_name":"STEVEN ROTHMAN","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3680,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090028326,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to recognize Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Day. known in Hebrew as Yom Hashoah. to memorialize the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazi regime during the Holocaust. In 1933. Europes Jewish population was over nine million. However. by 1945. almost two out of three European Jews had been killed as part of the Final Solution. a policy to murder the Jews. However. the Nazis cruelty was not just limited to Jews. they also murdered gypsies. the mentally and physically disabled. homosexuals. and those deemed religious dissidents. like Jehovahs Witnesses. We must remember the lives of those who were subjected to unspeakable atrocities. targeted simply because of their religious beliefs. We must remember those mothers. fathers. sisters. brothers. daughters. and sons who perished so brutally in the camps. in the ghettos. and in the gas chambers of Nazi Germany. This year. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1481,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090028327,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We shall never be silent again.","speaker_name":"BENJAMIN CARDIN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3702,"word_count":6}
{"speech_id":1090028329,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to commemorate Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Day. marking the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. Today. as those who witnessed the horrific crimes perpetrated during the Holocaust are becoming fewer. great effort must be taken to ensure that both we and generations to come will never forget this. the most monstrous event in the history of the modern world. This year. we mark this solemn day by reflecting on the liberation of the Jews of Europe and the pursuit of those responsible for committing these heinous offenses. Sixty years ago as allied forces pressed farther into reaches of Nazioccupied Europe. the names of places such as AuschwitzBirkenau. Dachau. and Mauthausen had yet to be seared into our collective conscious. As allied soldiers broke down the doors of the camps. they were overwhelmed by the sights of human suffering that confronted them. The scale of that suffering was unimaginable. The allied powers. faced with the enormous task of bringing to justice the perpetrators of this genocide. together established the International Military Tribunal. ","speaker_name":"HOWARD BERMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1574,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090028332,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Each of usthe next generationsmust rededicate ourselves to speaking out for religious tolerance. peace and justice. We must keep this sentiment within our hearts and minds each and every day.","speaker_name":"SAM FARR","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1293,"word_count":30}
{"speech_id":1090028333,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today. communities in the United States. Israel. and around the world will gather to observe Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Day. known in Hebrew as Yom Hashoah. This solemn day commemorates the beginning of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. and this year it coincides with the 60th anniversary of the end of the War World II. On this day. we remember the six million Jews murdered during World War II. I join all those here today in mourning the innocent lives and vibrant communities lost. destroyed by Nazis while the most of world silently and shamefully watched. We must combat antiSemitism and intolerance wherever it exists in the world today. It is vital that we remember this dark period in history. The Holocaust made clear mans capacity to do evil. We remember this tragic event and firm our resolve that history will not be repeated. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL HONDA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1620,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090028339,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today. on Yom Hashoah. Holocaust Memorial Day. to honor the memory of the victims who perished in World War II during the Holocaust. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Europe from the evil hands of the murderer Adolf Hitler. Hitlers shadow caused darkness to fall upon the earth.He slew the innocent and pure. men and women and children. with vapors of poison. and he burned them with fire. When the light of freedom. shined again. tens of millions were dead. cities and nations were in ruin. and a world stood awestruck at the horrors that had occurred. Justice Robert Jackson. a justice on the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg in 1945. said: The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been so calculated. so malignant and so devastating that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored. because it cannot survive their being repeated. We in the United States. the birthplace of Thomas Jefferson and Martin Luther King. enjoy a great deal of freedom. We must not take these freedoms for granted. ","speaker_name":"ERIC CANTOR","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1509,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090028341,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I join my colleagues in remembering wonderfully vibrant communities that were senselessly destroyed across Europe. I would also like to pay tribute to the thousands of Holocaust Survivors in the United States and around the world who continue to educate us on the atrocities of the Holocaust. I implore all of us to take this Remembrance Day one step further and stand up against antiSemitism. intolerance. ignorance. and discrimination in our nation and around the world today. Let us never forget.","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1436,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090028346,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Last year alone there were reports of antiSemitic desecration and vandalism of about 40 schools. 140 statues and cemeteries. 60 synagogues and 60 businesses around the world. The number of antiSemitic incidents in the United States also rose by 17 percent in 2004. Sixty years after the end of the Holocaust. it is important that we strengthen our fight against antiSemitism and religious intolerance. It has been said that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Yom Hashoah reminds each of us where racism. bigotry and religious intolerance can lead. so that something as horrific as the Holocaust is never repeated.","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2113,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090028352,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker I rise to join people around the world who are commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day. Yom HaShoah. and mourning the six million people who were murdered simply because they happened to be Jewish. It is important that we take time each year to remind ourselves of the devastating horror of a world.in which insanity ruled and it was possible for the Nazis to try to eradicate an entire people from the face of the Earth. The horror of the Holocaust comes not merely from the fact that massive numbers of people were murderedin truth the total civilian body countin World War II was enormous. including roughly 20 million Russians and 10 million Chinese. There have been other conflicts in which vast numbers of civilians have died. The true horror of the Holocaust is that a modern nation used organized. efficient. systematic. scientific methods to try to wipe out a minority population. What compounds the horror is that the Nazis brought their peculiar brand of death with them as they swept through Europe and rounded up Jews in occupied countries. We must not forget that the world watched silently and allowed the Holocaust to happen. The Nazis could never have been as effective at targeting Jews if it were not for the collaboration of local populations. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3729,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090028358,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If we are going to reap the full benefit of the enormous investment of taxpayer dollars in biomedical research. it is important that we move this legislation forward. I would say to my colleagues. if you think that we have cured enough rats and believe it is time that we look to cure a few more humans. join me and the gentleman from Pennsylvania in the bipartisan Clinical Research Act of 2005.","speaker_name":"DAVID WELDON","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5759,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090028366,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Your attention will send a clear message about the gravity of this situation.","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2715,"word_count":13}
{"speech_id":1090028372,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I woul like to thank the gentleman from Ala bama for his touching re marks. He is so right. Mr. Speaker. I would also like to pa tribute as my colleague. a forme: judge. the gentleman from Texas has indicated a celebration o Cinco de Mayo. We will be enjoyinf that this weekend there in Tyler. I ap preciate Gus Ramirez and Salvado: Sanchez and other friends that are put ting that on again this year. Last week I read an article about th ongoing investigation in Austin by th local Democrat District Attorney. ","speaker_name":"LOUIE GOHMERT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4607,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090028379,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. MILLER ofFlorida. and Mrs. Jo ANN DAVIS of Virginia): \u0095 H.R. 2202. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase the base and adjusted base amounts used for purposes of determining the amount of Social Security benefits excluded from gross income. to the Committee on Ways and Means. By Mr. SHADEGG:","speaker_name":"JOHN KUHL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":319,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090028471,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I answer my friend: the. answer is yes. even though this man is a controversial nominee. I know my distinguished friend. the senior Senator from Vermont. has on a number of occasions criticized this nomination. I have mentioned already a number of the reasons. including his practice of law without a license in a couple of different jurisdictions. But I have stated that I would be willing to move forward on this nomination. We would have adequate time on our sideup to 5 hoursto talk about the merits or demerits of this gentleman. and the majority could have whatever time they wanted. We would move to an upordown vote on this man. I think this would be an appropriate way to move forward andagain. I repeat for the third timehave in this body cooperation rather than confrontation.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":787,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090028500,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"\"the Senate. acting unilaterally. could thereby increase its. own power at the expense of the President\" and \"essentially take over the appointment process from the President.\" Judge Edwards thus concluded that \"the framers never intended for the Congress to have such unchecked authority to impose supermajority voting requirements that fundamentally change the nature of our democratic process.\" Mr. President. I think Ihave about 5 more minutes of my remarks. I ask unanimous consent that I be given an additional 5 minutes and the Senator from Vermont be given the same.","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2515,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090028524,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. will the chairman yield? Mr. Chairman. we are ready. We are open to do business. There have been a. great many discussions about the highway title. We have people ready to take those amendments who are ready to discuss those with our colleagues on the other side of the aisle to see which ones we can accept. Is it my understanding that we only have 31\/2 days to complete work on this very complex bill that covers not only the EPW section but commerce. finance. and the other sections? Is that correct?","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":518,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090028547,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the Senator will yield. I share the sentiment and understand his frustration 3 years into this process still trying to come up with a bill. I want to see this done as quickly as possible. I will urge the staff that is now reviewing this new substitute amendmentsome are just seeing it for the first timeto move quickly and to urge all colleagues on both sides. Democrats and Republicans. to bring their amendments to the floor and lets get on with it. I say to the Senator. I understand his feelings. and if it is in the form of a question. does the Senator believe he is deserving of my empathy?","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":599,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090028638,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We will consider it and we will vote on it. That is what the process is all about. We have a lot to be done in the next 4 days. We expect that we are going to be doing it. We are encouraging people to come down with their amendments. I chair the EPW committee. but we also have some titles in here by the Banking Committee. the Commerce Committee. and the Finance Committee. We have been talking to those chairmen. I believe they are ready. So we could entertain amendments on any of these sections orany of the titles of the bill.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3559,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090028655,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I commend the leadership. I rise to address the Senate on the subject of sexual predators. We have certainly had our fill of these people who prey on children in the State of Florida. The Nation has recently joined Florida in mourning the deaths of two young girls murdered by registered sex offenders. In March. an attacker walked in to-","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":353,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090028659,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Unfbrtunately. it did not stop there. About a month later. 13yearold Sarah Lunde wks abducted from her home in Rushkin. FL. and she was murdered. Her confessed killer is her mothers exboyfriend. who is also a convicted sex offender. In our State alone. we have over 30.000 registered sex offenders. and there are more than 300.000 nationwide. The Bureau of Justice Statistics has provided data showing that 70 percent of all the men in prison for a.sex crime were men whose victim was a child. In 2003. the Justice Department published a report on recidivism rates of sex offenders. and it has produced some disturbing statistics. The Department of Justice tracked 9.691 male sex offenders released from 15 State prisons. including Florida. They tracked them for a 3year period and found that 40 percent of the sex offenders who reoffended did so within the first year. and within 3 years of their release from prison. 5.3 percent of those sex offenders were rearrested for another sex crime. Is this beginning to tell us a story? Half of the sex offenders tracked in this study included men who molested children. and within the first 3 years of their release from prison. 3.3 percent of these convicts were rearrested for another sex crime against a child. ","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4635,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090028665,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the following fellows and interns of the Democratic staff of the Finance Committee be allowed on the Senate Floor for the duration of the debate on the Transportation Reauthorization Bill. Brian Townsend. Cuong Huynh. Richard Litsey. Jorlie Cruz. Waylon Mathern. Emily Meeker. Rob Grayson.","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":333,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090028688,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it stand in adjournment until 9:45 tomorrow. Tuesday. May 10. I further ask that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate then begin a period for morning business for up to 60 minutes. with the first 30 minutes under the control of the majority leader or his designee and the final 30 minutes under the control of the Democratic leader or his designee. provided that following morning business. the Senate begin consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R. 1268. the IraqAfghanistan supplemental appropriations bill. I further ask consent that the Senate recess from 12:30 to 2:15 for the weekly party luncheons.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":847,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090028719,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Let me just make this point. We confirmed. in 6 years of Republican control of the Senate. 377 judges for President Clinton. That was five less than the alltime confirmation champion Ronald Reagan. All of these people who are up have wellqualified ratings from the ABA. all had a bipartisan majority to support them. What is wrong with giving them an upordown vote- and retaining 214 years of Senate tradition? What is wrong with that? I think it is wrong to try and blow up that tradition the way it is. being done. With that. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":581,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090028725,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Yet they are torn because of a small group way out of the mainstream. The same people who believe their message. which may come from the heavens. dictates to them what is right for everybody else seem to be in control. It is a crucial time for America. The ageold checks and balances that are at the center of this Republic. at the center of our Constitution. are hanging at the precipice. It is the Senate where the Founding Fathers established a repository of checks and balances. It is not like the House of Representatives where the majority leader or the Speaker can snap his fingers and get what he wants. Here we work many times by unanimous consent where you need all 100 Senators to go along. In some instances. we work where 67 votes are needed. in some with 60. and in most with 51. But the reason we dont always work by majority rule is very simple. On important issues. the Founding Fathers wantedand they were correct in my judgmentthat the slimmest majority should not always govern. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES SCHUMER","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6917,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090028731,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let me tell you. I listen to the talk shows. and I hear people say that until these judicial nominees were challenged with extended debate or filibuster.- it never happened before. I will also submit for the RECORD. for the third time. this chart which shows on 11 or 12 different occasions when a filibuster was invoked on judicial nominees throughout history. including Supreme Court Justices. This is not new. not novel. It is certainly not earth shattering. It has happened before. I ask unanimous consent that it be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":558,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090028738,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this morning I rise to speak about the tragedy and human crisisyes. the genocidein Darfur. Sudan. and the failure of our Nation to do everything we can do to stop the killing and save the lives of the well over 2 million people who are displaced in Darfur. Just a few weeks ago on the Senate floor. we passed the Darfur Accountability Act offered by Senator BROWNBACK and myself. an amendment to the supplemental appropriations bill which we will be voting on. and I will be supporting today. or in. the next several days as it comes out of conference.. The Darfur Acdountability Act provided the tools and sets out the policies needed to confront this grave humanitarian crisis that exists in the Sudan. It also had broad bipartisan support and 30 cosponsors from both sides of the aisle. It passed by unanimous consent on the floor of the Senate. Yet. inexplicably. the amendment . was stripped from the bill in conferenceall of it. including support for African Union forces. the call for a military nofly zon6. the extension of the arms embargo to the Government of Sudan. and the authority to freeze the assets and deny visas to those responsible for genocide and crimes against humanity. Even the Senates statement that the atrocities in Sudan are genocide was removed. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JON CORZINE","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7584,"word_count":223}
{"speech_id":1090028771,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. before the Chair announces the recess for the policy luncheons. I have eight unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during todays session of the Senate. They have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. I ask unanimous consent that these requests be agreed to and the requests be printed in the RECORD..","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":340,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090028783,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let me go much longer. I am sorry. for 3 seconds let me thank my colleagues. This is the time to be controlled on our side by consent. if I might read it into the record? My guess is it will go back and forth: Senator BYRD. 20 minutes. Senator REID. 15 minutes. Senator SALAZAR. 15 minutes. Senator CORZINE. 10 minutes. Senator OBAMA. 10 minutes. Senator LIEBERMAN. 10 minutes. Senator LEAHY. 15 minutes. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":656,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090028838,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As a sovereign country. we have the right to control and identify those who enter and exit. I have worked with my colleagues to support hundreds of millions of dollars for more Border Patrol agents to help exercise that right. But controlling immigration is a Federal responsibilityit always has beenand it should not come at the expense of State budgets or basic civil liberties. We should have more time to examine and debate the REAL ID provisions as part of comprehensive immigration reform. These provisions. currently in the bill. are opposed by religious organizations. civil liberties groups. civil rights organizations. church groups. and hundreds of other groups. The legitimate concerns of these groups have not been properly aired in the Senate. I am aware of the fact that the REAL ID Act. despite what I say. despite my reservations. will become law. It will become law not because it is the right thing to do but because the House majority has abused its. privilege to attach this unexamined bill to mustpass legislation. This is highly inappropriate. and I hope that all of the Senate will agree to highlight and correct the deficiencies of these immigration provisions in the year to come. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5332,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090028839,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There is also $1 billion for additional purchases of Army and Marine Corps trucks. tactical vehicles like humvees. night vision and other important protective equipment to keep our soldiers as safe as possible on the battlefield. We have also preserved support for the C130J aircraft. so vital to transporting troops and materiel around the world. U.S. troops will stay in Iraq and Afghanistan long enough to ensure that those nations can defend themselves against chaos and terrorism. It is important that we provide training and equipment to prepare Iraqi and Afghan security forces to take over when American troops come home. To do this. we have provided $7.0 billion to train security forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. There is also $1.78 billion for Afghan reconstruction and counternarcotics efforts. In addition to providing $7.7 million to support U.S. diplomatic and reconstruction efforts in Iraq. we have provided $20 million in assistance to Iraqi families who have been affected by coalition operations in Iraq. We must do everything we can to care for soldiers when they are injured. I am very proud that we have provided an additional $211 million for the Defense Health program. This funding also includes assistance to provide meal and telephone services for soldiers recuperating from injuries suffered in Iraq or Afghanistan. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA MIKULSKI","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11906,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090028856,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank Senator KYL for his question. He is correct in his understanding that the E3 visa would not be limited to employment that is directly related to international trade and investment. To qualify for an E3 visa. an Australian national must be seeking employment in a \"specialty occupation.\" as that term is defined in the Immigration and Nationality Act. and the U.S. employer must have obtained a certified labor attestation from the Department of Labor. In other respects. such as visa application procedures. periods of admission. dependent admissions. and spousal work authorizations. the rules applicable to the new E3 visa will be the same as for other E visa holders currently. Also. Australian nationals will continue to have access to all existing categories of visas to which they are currently entitled.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":818,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090028869,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to address the provisions of the conference report to H.R. 1268. the Iraq and Afghanistan Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act. concerning small business contracting at the Department of Energy. As chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business &nd Entrepreneurship. I am concerned that. although the conference report did not contain a substantive change to the Small Business Acts prime contracts goaling requirements. it does contain a provision addressing small business contracting. I remain deeply disappointed that H.R. 1268. an emergency appropriations measure. includes targeted language dealing with the Department of Energys small business contracting. Numerous groups and individuals. including the SBA Administrator and the SBA Chief Counsel for Advocacy. wrote to Congress in opposition to substantive changes to small business prime contracting goals. As a result of inclusion of this provision. the Congressional small business committees prepared a joint statement to be submitted in both the House and the Senate. Chairman MANZULLO of the House Small Business already filed this Statement in the House prior to the vote on the conference report for H.R. 1268. I ask unanimous consent to have. printed in the RECORD the following statement.","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1291,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090028883,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I will tell the Senator that I have something that is really burning because they are trying to drill for oil off the coast of Florida. But I am going to yield to the majority leader and to his wishes so he can expedite the process and the vote. I yield.the floor.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":264,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090028953,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Isnt that effective multilateral leadership? I certainly think so. He was the driving force in the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1540 to get countries to take meaningful steps to stop the spread of dangerous weapons. He has clearly been instrumental in both diplomacy and multilateralism and has proven to be an advocate of a United Nations that fulfills its potential. its calling. to make the world safer. and to help people throughout the world develop to their fullest. He will not. however. be an enabler of a dysfunctional U.N. John Bolton has supported reform within the U.N. to help make it a better organization. This reform effort should not be misconstrued as opposition to the U.N. but. rather. as constructive and effective criticism. When parents discipline their children. it is not because they dont support them or believe in them. In fact. it is exactly the opposite. Good parents set guidelines and high standards for their children to guide them in life and to make them more responsible adults. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11852,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090028965,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As a young man Miguel worked with Cesar Chavez of the United Farm Workers Union to organize farm workers to secure improved working conditions and better wages. In 1996. Miguel became the executive secretarytreasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. AFLCIO. Under his leadership the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor grew to become a powerful voice for working men and women of Los Angeles County. Miguel was the driving force behind the transformation of an organization that went from a union of 125.000 members to a multiethnic coalition of union workers now nearly 800.000 strong. Through his leadership Miguel led a unionsponsored grass roots political drive that played a significant role in deciding the outcome of five Los Angeles congressional seats and countless state and local races. Miguel tirelessly spent his life working to empower others. no matter their station in life. While Miguel Contreras may be remembered most for his tenacity as a labor leader and role model for the Latino community. his efforts to se-. cure a better future for American workers everywhere will live on. My deepest sympathy goes out to his wife Maria Elena Durazo and their two sons. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1823,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090028969,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to The Islamic Center of America. one of the first Islamic institutions in North America. On May 12. the Center will celebrate the completion of its new mosque complex in Dearborn. which will have the distinction of being the largest mosque in the United States. The festivities will continue with a grand banquet to be held on May 14. These events will bring together Muslims. as well as many others. from Michigan and around the country. The Islamic Center of America traces its origin to the 1940s when Muslim immigrants from Lebanon and Syria began settling in Detroit and thus sought to bring a religious leader from the Middle East to the Detroit area to serve their community. A young author and scholar. Imam Mohammed Jawas Chirri. was the choice. arriving from Lebanon in February 1949. When the newlyformed Islamic Center Foundation Society was established in 1954. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2950,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090028978,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"My proposal would open this opportunity to many more urban teachers and would provide high quality professional development to educators and policy makers throughout the Nation. In this way. we can set high standards for effective teacher professional development as we have done for student achievement outcomes. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the. Teachers Professional Development Institutes Act be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6586,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090028981,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The bill provides reporting rules requiring an applicable exempt organization or other person that makes a taxable acquisition of an applicable insurance contract to file a return showing required information. A statement is required to be furnished to each person whose taxpayer identification information is required to be reported on the return. Penalties apply for failure to file the return or furnish the statement. including. in the case of intentional disregard of the return filing requirement. a penalty equal to the amount of the excise tax that has not been paid with respect to the items required to be included on the return. The bill is effective for contracts issued after May 3. 2005. The bill requires reporting of existing life insurance. endowment and annuity contracts issued on or before that date. in which an applicable exempt organization holds an interest and which would be treated as an applicable insurance contract under the bill. This reporting is required within one year after the date of enactment. By Mr. McCONNELL (for himself.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2842,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090028984,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise with several of my colleagues to speak about the importance of the renewal of the Burma sanctions. I also wish to speak candidly about the Burmese Military Juntas continued oppression of their people through rape. torture and other severe human rights abuses. As the worlds only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient. Aung San Suu Kyi continues to inspire the democracy movement and seek support for their peaceful dause. It has been reported that the National League for Democracy has collected more than 300.000 signatures on a petition calling for change in the country. Those who sign are actively putting their lives in danger by publicly stating that they seek democratic change and some 1.400 political prisoners are locked up for supporting human rights and democracy. The human rights abuses in Burma continue daily against ethnic minorities. political activists and others who simply suffer as innocent bystanders. A 2002 Human Rights Watch report found that Burma has nearly 70.000 child soldiers in its army. more than any other country in the world. ","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4650,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090029006,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution and preamble be agreed to en bloc that the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc and that any statements relating to the regolution be printed in the RECORD. with no intervening action or debate.","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":269,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090029042,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"New home sales grew 12.2 percent over last year. and the overall economy grew at 3.1 percent for the first quarter of 2005. The economy is strong. it continues to grow. and that strength and growth make it possible for us to meet the needs of our military and conquer the challenges of the war on terror. Last week. Mr. Speaker. we built on those successes by passing President Bushs emergency supplemental war budget with strong bipartisan support. And at the same time. offensive operations in the Iraqi and Afghani theaters have netted our troops significant victories over the last week. Dozefis of terrorists and insurgents have been captured. and our intelligence gatherers continue to close the noose around our enemies. Our continued success around the world enhances our security here at home. where this week we will add to that momentum by taking up a bill to reform the way that the Federal Government funds our first responders. Under the new bill. firefighters. police. and emergency medical personnel will get the money they need via a streamlined funding system. That will help bolster our homeland security and national preparedness. which will further protect our economy. which will. in turn. continue to support our war effort. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2467,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090029050,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today I rise in support of H. Res. 142. celebrating and honoring Rotary International with a day of recognition. Asa Rotary member and past president of my hometown club. I can attest to the remarkable accomplishments of Rotary International. which was founded over 100 years ago. the worlds first service club. and is now one of the largest nonprofit service organizations in the world. \"Service above Self.\" the clubs motto. has inspired members to provide humanitarian assistance and promote international good will. Rotary International funds club projects and sponsors volunteers around the May. 10. 2005 community and worldwide. In 1985. Rotary International launched Polio Plus and spearheaded efforts to immunize the children of the world against polio. Since then. polio cases have dropped 99 percent. and the world now stands on the threshold of eradicating this dreaded disease. ","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1181,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090029051,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I do applaud the comments being a Rotarian. Rotary International has done a great deal. But I rise today because. yesterday. we heard and read news reports of the United Nations efforts to keep secret the very information with which it should have been most forthcoming. At a time when the United Nations reputation for trust. justice. fairness and following its own rules is at an all time low. it should be doing everything it can to bring information to light. whether it is good or bad. However. this United Nations and apparently its leader has far more guilty culpability than many of us ever suspected. The United Nations leadership seems united in one thing: Do not let people discover the truth. The U.N. leadership. if it spent half the time lining the fabric of freedom as it is alleged to have done in lining the pockets 6f his family and friends. we would not have these problems. If the U.N. is going to cover up the wrongs it has done from those who pay for the U.N.. then it is high time we cover our U.S. bank account from them. ","speaker_name":"LOUIE GOHMERT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1350,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090029052,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. at the end of last week. we got reports of an unanticipated surge in revenues to the Federal Treasury. Many people on this House Floor from the other side of the aisle for a long period of time deqriei the prospects of the Bush tax outs. saying that they would take our. econqmy right into the tank and ensure that we would never be able to balance the Federal budget. Well. the fact of the matter is. Democrats and Republicans alike now talk about the need to focus on fiscal responsibility and turning the corner on the massive Federal deficit that we have. The single most important thing that we can do is to make sure that the economy is growing. And we. by virtue of putting into place the tax -cuts in the last 3 years. have actually dramatically increased through those tax cuts by 29 percent the flow of revenues to the Federal Treasury. beyond what had been anticipated. Our policy of making sure that we grow the economy is critically important. Another component of that will be passage of the Central American Free Trade Agreement. which we will be voting on in the nottoodistant future. It is critically important that we keep this progrowth agenda moving so that we can. in fact. have the revenues we need to balance the budget.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1256,"word_count":226}
{"speech_id":1090029058,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. during my recent tenure as chairman of the Subcommittee on Spaceand Aeronautics of the Committee on Science. one of my top priorities was to mitigate the threat posed by nearEarth objects. The hearings of our subcommittee have revealed that monitoring and tracking nearEarth objects. that is. NEOs. such as comets and asteroids. not only advance astronomy but are critical to identifying the nearEarth objects that may threaten the Earth. Mr. Speaker. just as recently as last December. an asteroid 350 yards in diameter. named 2004 MN4. was discovered to have an orbit that will take it less than onetenth of the distance from here to the moon. That is right in the region of where our artificial satellites are. and that will happen in the year 2029. ","speaker_name":"DANA ROHRABACHER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":46.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7810,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090029060,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as r may consume. Mr. Speaker. let me note that there are a lot of people who poopooed this idea of nearEarth objects and said. you are just trying to scare people. or whatever. And after the movie \"Deep Impact\" and such. that maybe this is some sort of scare tactic or you are trying to get attention by talking about something. a threat that is so minuscule that why should we worry about it. Well. several years ago. I chaired a hearing into the nearEarth object issue. and one of the witnesses who was poopooing this idea and downplaying the risk suggested that the chances .pf me dying from this nearEarth object striking the Earth were the same chances that I would have of going to Las Vegas and having a royal straight flush. And it was a shocking thing for him to tell me that because. Mr. ","speaker_name":"DANA ROHRABACHER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":46.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1314,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090029063,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I appreciate my colleague. Congressman DANA ROHRABACHER. introducing this important legislation honoring our late California constituent. Charles \"Pete\" Conrad. for his remarkable achievements in spaceflight as well as his contribution to the U.S. aerospace industry. Pete was a great American and this is a tribute to his contributions to space and to science. Pete Conrad was an individual who was always pushing. the envelope with an exuberance that matched his animated personality and sense of humor. Petes first flights were in the Gemini program. where he established both the record for endurance and for altitude in space. Then. as the commander of Apollo XI1. he became the third man to walk on the Moonto which he exclaimed in his typical enthusiastic manner. \"Whoopie! Man. that may have been a small one for Neil. but its a long one for me.\" His final National Aeronautics and Space Administration mission was a commander of Skylab II. the first United States space station. ","speaker_name":"KEN CALVERT","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":44.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2076,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090029078,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of H. Res. 193. which expresses support for the courageous advocates of freedom in Cuba. who are gathering ten days from now in Havana for the first Assembly to Promote the Civil Society conference which will focus on bringing democracy. liberty. and the rule of law to this enslaved island. Madam Speaker. in recent years. this House has overwhelmingly passed numerous resolutions condemning the egregious human rights violations of the Castro regime. These violations. which have been continually cited through comprehensive. compelling reports. include the pervasive use of torture and vicious beatings of political prisoners. We know that this year the UN Convention on Human Rights in Geneva also passed a resolution condemning the government of Cubas deplorable human rights record. Today. we celebrate those brave Cubans who have been undaunted by Castros reign of terror and who continue to speak out fearlessly for freedom in Cuba. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3642,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090029096,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In fact. to celebrate their 100th Anniversary. Rotary designated April 2005 \"Centennial Service Above Self Volunteer Month.\" Each club member wasencouraged to volunteer at least 10 hours of personal time in service to others. focusing on meeting community needs. lending vocational expertise. and assisting communities abroad. As CoChair of the Congressional National Service Caucus. I am grateful for Rotarys -commitment to our communities. Approximately 1.2 million Rotarians belong to more than 31.000 Rotary clubs. which fund club projects and sponsor volunteers to provide medical supplies. health care. clean water. food production. job training. and education to millions in need. particularly in developing countries. I am proud to have Rotary International Clubs in 14 towns in my District. including Bridgeport. Darien. Fairfield. Greenwich. ByramCos.Cob. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SHAYS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1852,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090029115,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This event has historically been the largest and most successful Special Olympics grassroots fundraiser and awareness vehicle. and with the authorization of House Concurrent Resolution 135. we will ensure its continued success. The sponsors of the event will work with the Architect of the Capitol and the United States Capitol- Police to comply with all the applicable regulations relating to the use of the Capitol Grounds and will assume responsibility for all expenses and liabilities related to the event. I encourage my colleagues to join the law enforcement community in supporting the Special Olympics and join me in supporting this resolution. Madam Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"CHARLES DENT","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1795,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090029127,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Since Americas first lineofduty death was recorded in 1792. more than 16.500 men and women have fallen. including three Capitol Police officers. one in 1984. and two in 1998. Nationwide. 153 officers died in the line of duty last year. 13 of them in California. according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. Thus. in 2004. somewhere in the United States a lawenforcement officer fell in the line of duty ever 57 hours. I wish it were not so. Madam Speaker. We all wish it were not so. But at least 35 have already fallen in 2005. and still others will follow. If anyone among us could do anything to prevent even one more lawenforcement officers death. we would surely do it. I certainly hope that this Congress. every state legislature. and every other policymaking body will do everything possible to prevent more such deaths. Madam Speaker. as we pause on this years National Peace Officers Memorial Day to reflect upon the sacrifices made by the valiant men and women of law enforcement who have given their lives for our communities. let us resolve to cherish their memory on May 15 and every day. ","speaker_name":"JUANITA MILLENDER-MCDONALD","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":37.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2164,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090029147,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would like to submit this statement for the RECORD and regret that I could not be present today. Tuesday. May 10. 2005. to vote on rollcall vote Nos. 162 and 163 due to a family medical emergency. Had I been present. I would have voted: \"Yea\" on rollcall vote No. 162 on H. Res. 193expressing support to the organizers and participants of the historic meeting of the Assembly to Promote the Civil Society in Cuba on May 20. 2005. in Havana. \"yea\" on rolicall vote No. 163 on H. Res. 142supporting the goals and ideals of a \"Rotary International Day\" and celebrating and honoring Rotary International on the occasion of its centennial anniversary.","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":661,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090029179,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The budget resolution that we voted on 2 weeks ago and. essentially. we voted on it 2 months before that. because it did not change a lot from the House version to the final resolution passed by both Houses. it is a document that I think does not meet our best moral impulses. it does not meet our best impulses about what we owe each other as a community. The gentleman from South Carolina and others have detailed on this floor and elsewhere the cuts to veterans. the cuts to our young people. the cuts to all kinds of commitments and obligations that we have to our environment. to our workforce development system in this country. but once again. the stakes are broader. Because what this budget does is to slowly but surely begin to walk away from the idea of national commitment and national obligation. It slowly but surely begins to walk away from the idea of community. I make these final two sets of points before I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida tonight. I happen to think that we do have an obligation to get our fiscal house in order. there is no question about that. We cannot sustain these deficits. we cannot sustain this debt. It is unconscionable the President wants to add to it with his Social Security plan. It is unconscionable that the President does not have a longrange plan to pull us back from deficit. But this is what is the real moral rub. ","speaker_name":"ARTUR DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10771,"word_count":251}
{"speech_id":1090029180,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentlewoman from Florida . I thought the gentlewoman and the gentleman from Alabama shared some really good comments. I see that the gentleman from South Carolina has a board there that he wants to share with us. and I know the gentleman has some comments based on our comments.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":290,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090029184,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And that is Social Security. And what we do know. and I hope that you would get an opportunity to talk about. the Presidents plan cuts benefits twice on one of the charts that I know you have there. to let the American people know that and also Members know that when you go to privatization that you lose benefits. I mean. that is what the record is reflecting right now. And I think it is important that everyone understands what is happening.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":445,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090029189,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What I Wanted to bring out was exactly what the gentleman was talking about. We have a problem that needs to be addressed. But we can not throw our Nations retirement security. our constituents retirement security. to the whims of the stock market and then add insult to injury by saying that we are going to adjust their benefits based on the price index as opposed totheir wages. because obviously wages grow more quickly than prices do. So their benefits are going to be cut both through the indexing and through the privatization and on top of that will add to the deficit. This is about the most irresponsible proposal that I have ever heard of.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":650,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090029196,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The most shocking chart that the gentleman provided to all of us here is how the benefit structure goes down. 34.587 cut. I want to thank the gentlewoman from California . the Democratic leader. once again for allowing us to have this time.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1746,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090029203,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Michigan for his continuing and abiding interest in this subject. I am afraid sometimes the rest of us do not take as much note of it as he does. Perhaps we had a little trouble with the math and science ourselves. I guess. But I understand how important that is. Every time I talk to companies. to people who come into Delaware looking to locate in Delaware. they make a big fuss about that. We happen to have more Ph.D.s per capita than any other county in the country in New Castle County. As a result of that. there is a great deal of interest in research in our area. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CASTLE","chamber":"H","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":772,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090029204,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If the gentleman will yield. I want to thank the gentleman for his comments. It just reminded me of something I often say to students when I am in high schools. I tell them. Look. you have a choice: You can either be a nerd. or you can end up working for a nerd. Which would you rather be? That is what it is likely to come down to in the future because. if you do not understand math and science. you are not going to have a really quality job.","speaker_name":"VERNON EHLERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":445,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090029210,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But in Marbury v. Madison. the cofurt inferred this power based on the fact that Constitution is the supreme law of the land. But judges should always remember that the Constitution itself is the supreme law of this land and that each judge should never forget their oath to upholdthe. supreme law of the land and not be citing the law from other jurisdictions. from other lands that have nothing to do with our Constitution. I tell you that Justice Scalia is an amazing intellect. In the Roper v. Simmons case. I do not *take issue here with the outcome of the case. but for our purposes I would like to take issue and I think it is critical we take issue with the- methodology- in arriving at their opinion. And Justice Scalia did that in his dissent on behalf of himself and Chief Justice Rehnquist and also Justice Thomas. He said this. this is just an excerpt. \"In urging approval of a Constitution that gave life tenured judges the power to nullify laws enacted by the peoples representative. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7578,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090029269,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. blocking confirmation of judges by a minority in the Senate illserves the American people. Filibustering judges is not part of the Constitution. it is not even part of the old Senate rules. The Constitution is clear on what is required of the Senate and its responsibility under the Advice and Consent Clause as it applies to judicial nominations: Majority support. Never has a nominee with clear majority support been denied an upordown vote. Four vacancies continue to exist in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals where my district of Cincinnati is contained. One of those vacancies could have been filled by Judge Richard Griffin whose nomination has been pending for 145 days. 145 days. Judge Griffin has the support of his colleagues and individuals such as former President Gerald Ford. He has been rated by the American Bar Association as \"well qualified.\" a rating that has historically secured a nominees confirmation. but not anymore. If the Senate wants to amend the Constitution. it should do so as provided by our Founding Fathers. not by the threats of a minority to shut the place down if they do not get their way.","speaker_name":"STEVE CHABOT","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1142,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090029270,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Under Miguels leadership. union membership in the Los Angeles County area grew by more than 125.000. creating a powerful voice for working families. Miguel led successful organizing campaigns for janitors and bus drivers. among others. In a lifetime dedicated to service of working men and women. Miguel Contreras touched many lives. including my own. It was Miguel who encouraged and supported my run for executivesecretary treasurer of the Orange County Federation of Labor. I became the first Latina to head a federation. so I jokingly described myself as Miguel Contreras in high heels. I want to thank him for being a great role model and teaching me many of lifes invaluable lessons. Miguel was not only a friend and a mentor to me. but more importantly. he was a remarkable labor leader. activist. community spokesman. power broker. husband and father. and he will be sorely missed.","speaker_name":"LINDA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":39.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1467,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090029301,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume to clarify and to remind my colleagues on the other side. who are suggesting we should be adding more social programs to this legislation. that this is nfot a social programs bill. It is a law enforcement bill. If they would like to work with the chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary to craft a bill that would authorize arts and craft classes for gang members. certainly they can do that. I would also like to mention that we currently have spent over the past 4 years. 2001 to 2004. over $2.1 billion on juvenile social programs aimed at prevention. Andoeven with $2.1 billion. we have continued to see this dramatic rise in gang violence. Mr. Speaker. I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia . the distinguished author of the bill and member of the Committee on the Judiciary.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":849,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090029306,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The gentleman from Texas is going to have an amendment made in order under this rule. The gentlewoman from California is going to have two amendments made in order under this rule. The gentleman from Virginia who is sitting here on the floor along with the gentlewoman from California is going to have an amendment made in order under this rule. The -fact is six of the 10 amendments that are going to be made in order under this rule are being offered by members of the minority. creating an opportunity for us to consider a wide range of alternatives in dealing with what everyone acknowledges is an extraordinarily serious problem. I want to take a moment to talk about three other amendments that are made in order under this rule that are very important. and I urge support for those amendments. They are being offered by the gentleman from Virginia","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1919,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090029309,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. The gentleman from Virginia who just spoke is a brilliant lawyer. and I know he is not missing any points. but I want to say it is very important that the rest of our colleagues understand. we know that all of these crimes mentioned here today are illegal. But the point is. this bill addresses the dismantling of the systems that support gangs. and I think it is very important that we keep that in mind. Mr. Speaker. I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Washington . 8 years King County sheriff and 30 years as a police officer.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":589,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090029310,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Gangs are becoming a magnet for youth. as they long to belong to something. This is hardly the team we want our children to join. Gang violence in America is not a sudden problem. It has been a part of urban life for years. offering an aggressive definition and identity to those seeking a place to belong in the chaos of a large metropolitan area. However. as gangs gain momentum and invade smaller communities. it is time to take a more serious and focused approach. The gentleman from Virginia addresses this critical problem today in the Gang Deterrence and Community Protection Act of 2005. Prior to being elected to sheriff. as I said. I served 33 years as a cop. I have worked with prostitutes. drug dealers. and gang bangers for that length of time. My colleagues in the sheriffs office and I actively fought to curb the growth and influence of gangs. ","speaker_name":"DAVID REICHERT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3274,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090029311,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. The gentleman from Washington just said that our local law enforcement would appreciate the support of the Federal Government. 0j 1130 I could not agree with him more. Then why are we cutting community policing programs? I mean it does not make any sense to me. And why did the Committee on Rules last night deny the gentleman from Massachusetts","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":401,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090029333,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. I appreciate the words of the Minority Leader. and she is absolutely right on. I just would finish by saying. people need to realize. because there are already critics on television. it is amazing. but people need to realize that very serious decisions have to be made in times like these: A decision to scramble the jets. a decision to shoot the flares. a decision to shoot the plane down or not and a decision to evacuate the building when that plane is only 3 to 4 minutes away from this building. Those are very critical decisions that have to be made. and we appreciate the people that have made those decisions and made them properly and protected the lives and property of the Capitol.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":725,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090029342,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. I yield myself 1 minute just to say. first of all. that my distinguished colleague from Virginia and I will be working together later this week if they try to close any military bases. But on this bill we. unfortunately. have to disagree. First of all. Madam Chairman. murder. rape. kidnapping are already illegal in every State. Interstate gang members can be caught by RICO and organized crime. continuing criminal enterprise. FBI is already working on that. But this bill contains a provision that fist fights can subject young people to 10year mandatory minimums. . The afterschool programs that have been disparaged are the kinds of things that will actually reduce gang involvement. You can disparage them by calling it arts and crafts for gang members. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1027,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090029351,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. I rise reluctantly because rarely do I oppose a majority bill. In this case. however. as I expressed in the Committee on the Judiciary. I think there are three problems with the bill: First. it federalizes State crimes. Second. it spends too much money. Third. it has mandatory minimums. I voted for mandatory minimums a number of times in my previous time in Congress. and then I had 6 years out. six years out to talk with people in the community. to talk with judges. And during that time. I became very uncomfortable with our approach about mandatory minimums. ","speaker_name":"BOB INGLIS","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1690,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090029357,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Organized crime syndicates like the ultraviolent MS13 have reportedly agreed to smuggle terrorists over our southern borders. This is now a homeland security issue. H.R. 1279 will apply a RICOtype approach to prosecuting modern street gangs. At the heart of this bill are provisions that allow prosecutors to go after the gangs as an enterprise. Rather than trying to shoehorn such cases into the existing RICO statute. the new gang crime statute is narrowly tailored to address the specific problem of gangs. Gang investigations and prosecutions take time and resources. and those resources will be provided by this bill. Organized crime. Madam Chairman. has been prosecuted in the same way with long and complex trials designed to take out a number of defendants in one single prosecution. and they were successful in ending their spread. Madam Chairman. let us give our police and prosecutors the freedom to end the spread of gang violence.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL FITZPATRICK","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2930,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090029360,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. I yield myself 15 seconds. Madam Chairman. I am sure that a social worker would have been able to convince the person who murdered the 18monthold hot to do it. If my colleagues believe that. vote \"no.\" If not. vote \"yes.\" Madam Chairman. I yield 12 minutes to the gentleman from Iowa .","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":301,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090029363,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I know from personal knowledge that our amendment would have reduced gang activity nationwide because I have seen community7based programs work in my very own district. The Gang Resistance in Paramount. or GRIP. program has been educating kids about the dangers of gang participation for years. I spent some time inside a fourth grade class inside of Paramount last year to see the GRIP program in action. I saw firsthand how the program caught the attention of the students. and it was amazing how the program engaged the students in learning and how quickly they saw the dangers in gangs. I urge my colleagues to oppose H.R. 1279 and instead work towards a comprehensive approach.","speaker_name":"LINDA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":39.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2493,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090029374,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today to express my strong support for H.R. 1279. the Gang Deterrence and Community Protection Act of 2005. I have spoken with sheriffs and police chiefs back in my district and they tell me: we need to be ready. we need to learn how to confront these gangs. This legislation will do just that. it will provide local. State. and Federal law enforcement and legal authorities with personnel. equipment. and training needed to combat vio-. lent criminal gangs. In Virginia. no urban area has gone unscarred by criminal gangs. Across Virginia. officials estimate that as many as 80 gangs totaling 30j000 members or more roam our city streets. The Commonwealths law enforcement and prosecutors will now have greater resources to combat violent criminal gang activity. We must act now. if we are to protect Virginias families and communities. ","speaker_name":"ERIC CANTOR","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":894,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090029398,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Rather. H.R. 1279 creates new death penalties. mandatory minimum sentences. and measures to prosecute children in adult court. in other words. applying adult punishment to young people. This is the wrong approach. and I cannot support it. I urge my colleagues to join me in opposing H.R. 1279 and insisting that we go back and prepare legislation with real workable solutions and alternatives to gang violence.","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2049,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090029406,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"My amendment would simply authorize the creation of the center. Mr. Chairman. by helping law enforcement share information. we will be giving our police on the streets a powerful tool in the fight against violence and help them better protect our citizens.","speaker_name":"HENRY CUELLAR","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1083,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090029416,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In addition. it will allow law enforcement to track the movement of gangs and members throughout the country. coordinate police response to gang violence. and enhance officer safety. This system is a fundamental step in combating future gang violence. I ask my colleagues for their support for this important amendment.","speaker_name":"EDDIE JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1341,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090029457,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I want to remind the House that it is already illegal to murder. rape. kidnap. .cut off hands with machete attacks. conspiracy to do any of those acts. We lock people up for that. In fact. since we are talking about immigrants. one in 27 Hispanic males 25 to 29 are in jail today already. Those are crimes. They are doing the time. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1062,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090029466,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in opposition to this amendment. And I am surprised that my friend would propose that we increase the amount of money that taxpayers are paying for incarceration to now expand it to illegal aliens who commit crimes. leave the country and come back in. Where are we going to get all of this money? We have one of the highest incarceration rates of any nation in the entire world. And we are spending a disproportionate amount of money on incarceration. I submit to my colleagues that I think. deportation is the answer. but have they thought about the fact that they should place the responsibility on keeping these criminals out of the country on the heads of the leaders of those countries? We go right along with the leaders of these countries on trade agreements. on foreign assistance. with all kinds of assistance to these governments. I would submit to my colleagues that if they submit the name of everybody that they deport and they send them back and they say to the leaders of these countries. If these people come back. we are going to penalize you in one of several ways that we cooperate with you. again. we have so many ways that we provide assistance to other countries. and we have got to make them responsible for keeping their criminals at home. So I do not like the idea that we have a problem and that we are deporting criminals. and they are coming back. and we are going to make the American people pay for it. ","speaker_name":"MAXINE WATERS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":35.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1886,"word_count":264}
{"speech_id":1090029468,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I urge support of the amendment.","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1268,"word_count":6}
{"speech_id":1090029477,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mahmud Abouhalima entered on a tourist visa in 1985. which expired in the spring of 1986. He was givenpermanent residence in 1988 as part of an amnesty for agriculture workers. There was no evidence. however. that he was ever an agriculture worker. He made several trips to Afghanistan where he received combat training. He was implicated as a lead organizer in the 1993 plots to bomb New York landmarks. Mohammed Salameh entered on a 6month tourist visa issued in Jordan in 1988. He should never have qualified for the visa by law as he fit the profile of intending immigrant. He rented the truck in the 1993 WTO bombing. Eyad Ismoil entered on a student visa in 1989. left school after three semesters. violating the terms of his visa. and became an illegal alien. He later drove the World Trade Center van full of explosives. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES NORWOOD","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4210,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090029489,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I point to the previous amendment where we talked about estimates a little bit. Well. this is dealing with estimates. This amendment would simply require a study conducted jointly by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice on the link between illegal aliens and gang membership. Surprisingly. despite the overwhelming agreement from all parties that the two are linked. there is no comprehensive report anywhere that we can find on this topic. It is time for that to change. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES NORWOOD","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3095,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090029500,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Having heard the distinguished views from my friend. the gentlewoman from California and the gentleman from Georgia . I am -convinced that the amendment is well taken. however misplaced in time. We should have considered this before the gentleman from Roanoke. Virginia. but as my colleague has said. better late than never. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":432,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090029519,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The members of these gangs consciously choose to act out against their communities. They dispense the violence. no one forces them to do so. That type of influence is like a cancer. These gangs seep into young men and women and corrupt them. They erode the good of our neighborhoods and destroy lives. Our communities need to be safe. In order to be safe. we need to stop this cycle before it begins. Mandatory minimums enforce that gang members and their theft. prostitution. weapons and drugs will not be tolerated. They will be dealt with to the fullest extend of the law. In May of 2001. ","speaker_name":"DAVID REICHERT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3909,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090029544,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Acting Chairman of the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union. reported that that Committee. having had under consideration the bill to amend title 18. United States Code. to reduce violent gang crime and protect lawabiding citizens and communities from violent criminals. and for other purposes. pursuant to House Resolution 268. he reported the bill back to the House with an amendment adopted by the Committee of the Whole.","speaker_name":"RAY LAHOOD","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":442,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090029577,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He was himself a person of character. Despite the important role that he played in the glamorous hearings. Congressman Rodinos real legacy is in the work that he did to further civil rights for all Americans. As the son of an Italian immigrant who grew up on the ethnically diverse streets of Newark. Congressman Rodino understood the importance of building bridges to unite ethnic communities. He was determined to see women and Americans of all races and religions receive. equal civil rights. In his role on the House Committee on the Judiciary. Congressman Rodino was instrumental in managing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on the House floor. where it passed and was eventually signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson. Congressman Rodino authored the Fair Employment Practices Amendment within the historic civil rights bill. He strived to advance the rights of women. immigrants. and disenfranchised ethnicities.. ","speaker_name":"BILL PASCRELL","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3000,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090029579,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to encourage my colleagues in this Congress to continue fighting illegal immigration in our great country. My Republican colleagues were joined by 42 sensible Democrats to make great strides towards securing our borders by \" enacting the recommendations of the 9\/11 Commission with the passage of the REAL ID Act. As a freshman Member of this House. I am honored to have played a role in that process. However. Mr. Speaker. more still can and must be dohe to secure our borders and combat illegal immigration. The terrorist attacks on our homeland highlighted the potentially disastrous effects of porous borders and the need to bolster border security. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2936,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090029581,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. last week. the trial of lowlevel military officers involved in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq reached a climactic turning point. Colonel James Pohl. the military judge trying PFC Private First Class Lyndie England -declared a mistrial in the case. Now this case will have to be tried again from the very beginning. Englands case was thrown out after Private Charles Graner claimed that the photos of abuse at Abu Ghraib Prison were taken for training purposes. This claim contradictr Englands guilty plea in which she accepted responsibility for her actions and admitted that she had acted outside the scope of military orders. There is no shortage of evidence that England is guilty of having participated in the abuse of Iraqi prisoners which included subjecting the prisoners to forced nudity. savage beatings. electric shock and harassment by dogs. Some prisoners. as a matter of fact. died as a result of the abuse. Nor is there a question that the abuse of prisoners violates our American ethical and moral code. Red. the color of blood. is the color that resulted from the beating in Abu Ghraib Prison last year. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4330,"word_count":191}
{"speech_id":1090029599,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. last night. the House passed House Resolution 193 as a suspension bill. For people who may not know. suspension bills are meant to be noncontroversial measures the House typically passes unanimously. I voted no. Let me tell you why. Because it was a protest vote meant to encourage freedom and liberty for all Americans. Let us start with what it said. H.R. 193 is a resolution that says in part. \"expressing support to the organizers and participants of the historic meeting of the Assembly to Promote the Civil Society in Cuba on 20 May 2005 in Havana. Whereas. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5445,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090029617,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And when my children. much less my four wonderful grandchildren. retire. there will be only two. That chart. when you put that on an easel and the folks attending the town hall meeting have a chance to look at that and absorb the impact. by the time I get to the point in the meeting where I ask all those attending how many of them think we need to do something. that we need to do something to strengthen Social Security. to fix Social Security. every hand goes up.I think it is inescapable. It is interesting that. in my town hall meetings. most of them were designed to invite senior citizens to come into the meeting. and so the vast majority of the folks attending the meeting and engaging in the discussion were in fact seniors. Some of them had come at the urging of organizations like the AARP. But across the board. they look at the inescapable fact that we have fewer and fewer and fewer people working for each retiree. and also they realize the inescapable fact that we are just living longer. If you look back to when Social Security started. under the urging of President Roosevelt. the average life expectancy was around 61. I know it changes if you are a man or if you are a woman and so forth. but the general life expectancy was about 61. By .the way. retirement age was 65. A very interesting concept they had back then. But. today. the life expectancy is on the order of 77 years. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KLINE","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4217,"word_count":260}
{"speech_id":1090029620,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am so impressed that the gentleman from Texas would tell us he has six grandchildren. My husband and I. after 36 years of marriage and six children. have one grandchild. I hope that I will catch you someday. They are the most blessed part of our lives and it is one of the things that makes us think long term as we consider public policy. what about our children. -what about our grandchildreh and hoping that their days are going to be as hopeful and filled with opportunity as our generations have been. The gentleman from Georgia has joined us. Welcome. Tell us what you are hearing in Georgia about Social Security.","speaker_name":"ANNE NORTHUP","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"F","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":622,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090029637,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I wanted to mention. if I can. that we met with the AARP. American Association for Retired People. the largest retirement group in America. and did it on a bipartisan basis. And the gentleman mentioned that the gentleman from Texas pulled that group together. One of the things I was glad to hear AARP say is. We admit there is a problem. there is a problem with Social Security. I can tell my colleagues. in Washington. that is a huge first step because. months ago. we were hearing. No. there is no problem. that the President is exaggerating. So let us say we have got a little bipartisan glimmer of hope here that there is a problem. ","speaker_name":"JACK KINGSTON","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1310,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090029638,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if the gentlewoman will continue to yield. I would like to add one furtherthing. I enjoyed the piece the gentleman put together on Social Security reform and actually outlining what we in the conservative side of the House want to do in order to achieve lasting reform. to have generational fairness. while at the same time maintaining our commitment to have a strong. vibrant Social Security system. And I certainly appreciate what he wrote in the newspaper today. It was a wonderful article. and I recommend those who are watching or hear us here today to take a look at that. to understand what we are. going for here by reforming this vital system. And I certainly appreciate the gentlewoman from Kentucky taking on this challenge and leading our public affairs team in the House on the Republican side in such a good. strong direction by getting the message out on the need for reform and the positive aspects of it as well. So with that. I thank the gentlewoman from Kentucky for hosting this hour.","speaker_name":"PATRICK MCHENRY","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1017,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090029640,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have worked to try to get some sort of lockbox passed in the House in the past. and I am not sure we should reopen it. I have had some discussions about it. and it always boils down to. okay. you have a lockbox. What do you do with the money? I am a believer that if you almost did nothing with it. you would be better off than What we are doing now. But I think that part of the Social Security solution is we should have a real discussion on what do you do with the temporary surplus. I say \"temporary surplus.\" because it will start to be gone in the year 2018. rapidly diminishing going to 2041. But I think all these things. if we can get some bipartisan discussions going. I believe we will find some things we agree with the other party about. The gentlewoman from Kentucky knows that when we sat down with the AARP and they showed us their set of core principles and we showed them our core principles. there was a lot of overlap. It was not perfect. .but there was plenty to stay in the room and keep talking about.","speaker_name":"JACK KINGSTON","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1985,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090029644,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Sir. respectfully. I have to tell you that is not acceptable for me. because I am going to be the one paying. Similarly. a lot of people think the golden arrow here is taking the cap off it. But if you take the cap off it. people get more benefits. One thing to keep in mind. anytime you make it more expensive to hire an employee. then our folks are going to be going offshore with the jobs. We are already losing too many jobs offshore. Furthermore. there will be a lot of illegal aliens in America not paying into the system. I think part of Social Security should be tied into illegal. immigration. It is actually not immigration if it is illegal. you are here as an illegal alien. All of this stuff. we should get the best ideas of the Democrats and Republicans. throw them on the table. get the folks back home to say this is the direction we want. and that is what we are trying to accomplish here.","speaker_name":"JACK KINGSTON","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1811,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090029647,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They went to Los Angeles. they went to Albuquerque. they came to my State of Ohio attempting to convince Americans this is a good idea. The Bush administration has not been able to sell it. Business in this country has not been able to sell it. The free trade ideologues in this Congress- who need your vote for every trade agreement. they have not been able to sell it. So what is next? They bring the six presidents from Central America to come in. Unfortunately. these presidents are not telling the whole story. Like our own President. they tried to convince us that CAFTA will lift up lowincome workers and that CAFTA will create jobs here at home. First of all. there is no truth to that. We have heard that on every trade agreement. But what they do not say about CAFTA. what they have not said is that the combined purchasing power of the CAFTA nations. the combined purchasing power is equal to that of Columbus. ","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8848,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090029654,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And we end up taking our income and paying somebody else to do the work that we used to do. and we accumulate these growing trade deficits. And they get worse with every decade. When NAFTA passed in the early 1990s. we actually had a trade surplus with Mexico. which immediately turned into a trade deficit. and with Canada we have doubled the deficit that we already. had. When we signed the agreement with China. which those of us who were here voted against. we did not get any more jobs. We did not get any more income. All we got was more trade deficit. It is so deep America has never been in this kind of deep water before. In fact. this year the trade deficit will accumulate at over half a trillion dollars. America has never faced this kind of loss. So it is amazing to me that they name an agreement to rhyme with one of the biggest failures. ","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5080,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090029662,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. you can imagine a fairly midsized. kind of smalltown community. when a major employer like that leaves town. it does not just impact that business or those workers. It resonates throughout the community in a very negative way. and it is really hard to recover from that. I want to say. just bringing a WalMart to a community like that so you can buy really cheap products. is that our future in this country? That we will be able to buy imported goods? Flags made in China? Tshirts that are made for 12 cents? And that.is not our future if we are going to continue to be a great country. So it hurt Galesburg. It is hurting communities all over our country.","speaker_name":"JANICE SCHAKOWSKY","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":670,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090029667,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as I hear you talk and I think about what has happened with workers around the world. one of the great things about our economy. one of the great things about our country is if you work somewhere. if you work for General Motors or if you work for the local hardware store. if you are a teacher or if you are a nurse. you create value. You create either a profit for your company. wealth for your company. You create value if you are not working for a forprofit company. Under our system. in part because ol labor unions. in part because we have a democratic system. and in part because of our history and our traditions. you share in the wealth you create. The lesson of these trade agreements you can go anywhere that we have these trade agreements. You can go to Mexico. Nicaragua and China. and you will notice that workers do not share in the wealth they create. I heard the gentlewoman from Ohio","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":913,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090029668,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They cannot provide any kind of a decent life for their family. and they are willing to do anything to do that and so they come here. If we want to be able to protect our borders and to have good trade policies. then we have to look at things that will help to lift those workers in other countries so that they can prosper in their homelands.","speaker_name":"JANICE SCHAKOWSKY","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2135,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090029669,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They are trying to reach out to people. just like you said. and whether it is fair trade coffee or whether it is quilts or whatever they are buying. they are trying to bring it in and pay people a decent price for whatever that product is and to cut out these middle extortionists. I call them. people in the middle that are trading on that squalor and that exploitation. Also to say that one of the greatestreligious leaders I ever met said ultimately Gods judgment would demand not just individual morality for us as persons. but in a rich and powerful Nation like America. justice of us as a Nation. So we are judged not just as persons within our own family. but the kind of society and country we create. We will be judged on many levels. and I think these trade agreements are. as you said. immoral because those who are the least among us are hurt the most. I think of Norma McFadden from Dixon Ticonderoga in Sandusky. Ohio. who worked there her whole life and was about my age and then was told you get a pink slip. even though the company was profitable. and moved to Mexico. What happened to Norma? What happened to Norma was she could not afford health benefits because under the Federal program. COBRA. it costs about $800 a month. Well. she lost her job. ","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3339,"word_count":235}
{"speech_id":1090029673,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Oil. or natural gas. is not at the bottomless well. Oil or natural gas or fossil fuel are finite. and they will not last forever. So we are in a transition period. because the demand is increasing dramatically. and the supply continues to decrease. The gentleman from Michigan gave us a history lesson about transitions from one energy source to another over a long period of time and showed how our cultures. our industry. our economy. and our cultures have changed. We know that coal in this country some time ago replaced wood and actually saved the forests. Coal was actually more efficient and better for burning or for heating in those earlier years because we stopped burning our forests. Our forests create habitat for wildlife. it is an environmental issue. So coal replaced wood. Oil supplemented coal and oil is more efficient than coal and it is actually cleaner burning. Natural gas supplemented oil. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE GILCHREST","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6567,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090029680,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. I thank the gentleman from Maryland. The gentleman has given an excellent presentation. Unfortunately. we do not have time to go into details. but as the gentleman mentioned. I believe we have other time next week when we can do that. I look forward to hearing more from the gentleman about his field of expertise. Mr. Speaker. I would also enter into the record a letter from the Energy Future Coalition which was sent to President George W. ","speaker_name":"VERNON EHLERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1253,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090029697,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Guaranteeing that every judicial nominee receives an upordown vote is truly a matter of fairness. It doesnt mean that there is no debate or opportunity to disagree. It does mean fair consideration. debate. and a decision in a process that moves forward. I say that today with the Republican President in the White House and a Republican majority in the Senate. but I know we will uphold the upordown vote when we eventually have Democrats back in control. That is because this is the fairest way to maintain the health of the judicial nomination process and the quality of our courts. Our Founding Fathers set up a form of Government with three separate branches. and they were all very distinct. The current state of affairs in the Senate threatens the very balance of power. Although the upordown vote is critical to maintaining that balance. there is a need to reform the committee process as well. Each committee should discharge nominees. whether it is with a positive or a negative vote. But at some point. that nominee deserves to have a vote of the full Senate on the fipor. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4851,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090029767,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is long overdue. The previous bill. TEA21. expired in September of 2003 and on six occasions we have had to pass extensions. The current extension expires at the end of this month and we need to get this bill to conference as soon as possible. in my mind. so we can resolve what differences exist between the House and the Senate bill and so the President can sign it as soon as possible. It should be clear to all of my colleagues the path to getting a bill signed into law will be smooth only if Congress stays within the spending parameters that have been laid out by the budget resolution we passed last month and by the President of the United States who must ultimately sign this bill. The budget resolution. as Chairman GREGG has noted. allowed for transportation spending over a 6year period of $283.9 billion. We passed that budget resolution here in the Senate a couple of weeks ago. on April 28. In addition. the President of the United States has made it clear he will not sign a bill into law that spends more than the amount provided for in the budget resolution283.9 billion over 6 years. He made it clear publicly. privately. and in the statement of administration policy on this bill. which clearly states: Should the obligation or net authorization levels that will result from the final bill exceed these limits the Presidents senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill. Finally.. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2513,"word_count":250}
{"speech_id":1090029780,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Those points having been made. I acknowledge defeat on this point. I admire. as I said. the chairman of the committee for being a successful chairman who knows how to get things done around here. We may disagree on occasion. but my admiration for him certainly does not abate in any way because of those disagreements. In fact. my respect grows. But do not expect we will disappear. We were not wilting violets around here on the Committee on the Budget. We will continue to try to make points on the points of order we think are appropriate.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":542,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090029807,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I also want to note the House of Representatives included a similar measure in its version of the Transportation bill. It was a bipartisan amendment sponsored by New Jersey colleagues. FRANK LOBIONDO. a Republican. and BILL PASCRELL. a Democrat. This was passed unanimously. the same language. by the House. In my view. this is an imperative step to allow States to have better control and more transparency and honesty in their contracting processes. I think it will move to save money for our States and put in place a greater sense of credibility for the public when it deals with its oversight of public contracting. I think we owe the taxpayers this. and I urge my colleagues to support the CorzineLautenberg amendment. We should join the House. in my view. in instituting this ability for States to control their own contracting process. ","speaker_name":"JON CORZINE","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1218,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090029829,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I appreciate the comments. even though I disagree with them. of the Senator from New Jersey. I know he is sincere. I know there is a problem and he is trying to correct the problem and there is an honest difference of opinion. I ask unanimous consent that a letter from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce opposing the Corzine amen dment. a letter from the American Road & Transportation Builders Association opposing the LautenbergCorzine amendment. and also a letter from the Transportation Construction Coalition. which is. I believe. almost every labor union in the United States. be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":618,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090029874,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I want to acknowledge that there are funds in the bill for increased bike paths and trails. We have kept the enhancement money. That is all well and good. I dont know the exact kmount of money. but there is a quite a bit involved. The problem is there is nothing in current practice that requires State departments of transportation or metropolitan planning organizations to integrate in their planning upfront for bike paths and sidewalks when they are planning highways. Again. I think a. lot of the good money for bike paths and trails will be used to redo and retrofit what they should have done in the first place. That is what we always seem to be doingwell fix it up and add something later on. That always costs more money. What this amendment does is it says: Lets have them at the initial planning stage integrate into their planning sidewalks and bike paths. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11349,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090029891,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This amendment will improve our transportation system. It will improve pedestrian and bicycle safety. And it will be good for the health and wellness of the American people. I urge my colleagues to join me in a strong. bipartisan vote in favor of this amendment. - yield the floor.","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":281,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090029952,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday. May 11. 2005 at 2:30 p.m.. in closed session to mark up the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2006.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":261,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090029960,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Indian Affairs be authorized to meet on Wednesday. May 11. 2005. -at 9:30 a.m. in room 106 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building to conduct an oversight hearing on Federal Recognition of Indian Tribes.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":262,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090030043,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But there has to be a better way than war. One of our greatest Presidents. Franklin Roosevelt. knew this and he knew war. He concluded: \"If civilization is to survive. we must cultivate the science of human relationships. the ability of all peoples of all lands to live together and to work together. in the same world at peace.\"","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1204,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090030044,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would like to point out that we are experiencing a growing economy in this country. a growing economy which creates jobs. Figures just released show that 274.000 additional jobs were created in this economy this last month. That is 274.000 families that are better off because they are working. They have also revised the figures to show that 93.000 additional jobs were created in February and March. . I participated in a needs assessment in Midland. Texas. back in the early 1990s. a process about figuring out what was going on within those communities. We came up with the top 10 needs that the folks in Midland. Texas. told them about. ","speaker_name":"K. CONAWAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":969,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090030045,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Spedaker. Senate Republicans are preparing to blow up 200 years of tradition in the U.S. Sehate. abusing their power in order to force through a few judges who have been unable to earn a bipartisan consensus for their lifetime judicial appointments. Democrats have helped confirm 95 percent of President Bushs judicial nominees. The few that our Democratic colleagues in the Senate have opposed are those who have had serious questions raised about their independence. fairness. and record on issues involving our most vital rights. Republicans are willing to attack the constitutional system of checks and balances and change the rules of the Senate in the middle of the game. all of this for seven extreme judges. Senate Republicans know full well the impact their nuclear option will have on the bipartisanship that is necessary for a productive and effective Senate. but they simply do not care. If Senate Republicans are successful at abolishing the rights of the minority. what is next?","speaker_name":"JANICE SCHAKOWSKY","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":996,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090030050,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. in the coming weeks. some will say that they only want to use Federal funds to. destroy human embryos stored in IVF clinics for stem cell research. This is a skilled use of the baitandswitch tactic. First. these embryos are not primed for research. they are primed for adoption. Eightyone embryos have been adopted today with dozens more on the way. called \"snowflake adoptions.\" Researchers who support embryonic stem cell research acknowledge that these IVF embryos will not provide near the desired type or number of stem cell lines demanded by the biotech industry and admit that they will not be genetically diverse. In order to get that sample and overcome that rejection. they will need to clone human embryos. Advocates have admitted as much on this floor in the Chamber. The ultimate goal of researchers is free and unfettered access to Federal dollars to create. clone and destroy human embryos for lab experiments. Congress should instead focus on supporting adult stem cell research. which has been proven to work successfully. is not morally controversial. and holds true promise for disease victims. We should not kill to harvest an experiment.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1171,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090030059,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. thankfully. there have been a couple of bright spots over the past week in the economy. April. was just the sixth month during this administration in which at least 250.000 jobs were created. a welcome relief for this struggling economy. Meanwhile. the trade deficit in March decreased from its record high level in February. though it is still on pace to become a record year. the highest trade deficit in the history of our country. Still. the positive news on the economy is often accompanied by equally troubling news. New statistics show that each paycheck American workers take home ends up buying less and less. The prices of many basic goods from gas to milk have shot up. but workers wages have not kept pace. Americans are working hard and producing more. but they are not seeing the benefits in their buying power. This is terrible news for Americas families. We have to have those wages at least keep pace with inflation.","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":946,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090030065,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The bill we will be debating today is a good piece of legislation and is designed with our first responders in mind. It does several things. First. it reforms the grant funding system that most States. including my home State of Alabama. believe is ineffective. For example. a 2004 committee report found that nearly. 85 percent of the grants distributed to States have not yet been utilized. And because current law requires a minimal level of funding given to States. many States receive a lump sum of money from DHS without a clear understanding of how to spend it. Threeandahalf years after 9\/11 I find this unacceptable. Yet these facts speak to the need for a bipartisan reform which will ensure taxpayers know what they are getting. Second. H.R. 1544 helps the Federal Government allocate first responder funding based on actual risk. Under this legislation. ","speaker_name":"MIKE ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3691,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090030081,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield 3 minutes to the very distinguished gentleman from Nevada . a young man who was on the frontline. a captain. a pilot in the United States Air Force. who served during the Persian Gulf War and who is a Member of Congress. serving since the 104th Congress. And while this country has great respect for the men and women who are on the frontlines defending our country in the United States military today. we also remember back to those first men and women of the military during the Persian Gulf War who were standing ready not only to protect this country. but also to liberate others and to provide freedom.","speaker_name":"PETE SESSIONS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":628,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090030084,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. at this time I am very. very pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox). the young chairman of the Select Committee on Homeland Security. a very distinguished Member of Congress. and a man who has worked very diligently not only on a bipartisan basis with the minority. but also with the Speaker and in particular with the Committee on Rules as we went about preparing this important piece of legislation to ensure its success. So I am very. very proud of the chairman from Orange County. California (Mr. Cox).","speaker_name":"PETE SESSIONS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":550,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090030093,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Under the PATRIOT Act. each State is guaranteed to receive threequarters of a percent and each territory .25 percent Of the total amount appropriated each year for terrorism preparedness grants. The balance of the funds is -then distributed to each State and territory based on population. In hindsight. we can see that this system of allocation is flawed. For example. in fiscal year 2005. the minimum allocation for each State is $11.25 million. Using that total. based on current census numbers. the State of Wyoming would receive a minimum guarantee of $22.23 per person in homeland security grants while tqhe State of California would receive a minimum guarantee of just 31 cents per person. In other words. the Federal Government would allocate approximately 7.100 percent more funding per capita at a minimum to the State of Wyoming than it would to the State of California for homeland security grants. \"That is why I am a cosponsor of H.R. 1544 and voted to support the bill in committee. It is the responsibility of this government not only to- ensure that we are protecting the people but also to ensure that we do so in an efficient and measured fashion. Let us be clear about one point. H.R. 1544 does not eliminate minimum guarantees for the States. ","speaker_name":"JOHN LINDER","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2567,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090030100,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today in strong support of H.R. 1544. the Faster and Smarter Funding for First Responders Act. I am here on the floor today with the ranking member of the Committee on Homeland Security. the gentleman from Mississippi","speaker_name":"C. COX","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":48.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":281,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090030107,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"fornia. Mr. Chairman. I thank the chairman and the ranking member of the committee for the work they have done in bringing to the floor the Faster and Smarter Funding for First Responders Act. H.R. 1544. and I rise in support of that bill. Yesterday. we had a reminder. if we even needed a reminder. of the events of 9\/11 and the aftermath. Yesterday. as we were proceeding out of this Chamber. we were urged by those who were in uniform to move faster. to move to a place of greater safety. And that is an apt analogy for the bill we bring to this floor today. because we truly are attempting to do a better job in terms of the funding on the Federal level for first responders. There is no doubt that this Chamber. acting with the other Chamber and the executive branch. attempted as best we could at that time to come up with a comprehensive approach to get funding to first responders in view of the threat as we saw it after 9\/11. But in the intervening 3plus years. we have seen that that which we have done is not perfect. that there are improvements to be made. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL LUNGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2110,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090030113,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Bush administration continues its trend of shifting money from nat7 ural and general disaster preparedness programs. For example. the Committee on Appropriations was recently forced to cut FIRE grants. one of the most successful Federal grant programs in existence. by over $100 million. at a time when our Nation is expecting more than ever from our understaffed and illequipped fire departments. So while I applaud the committee for its work in crafting a strong bill. we ought to make clear that voting for this bill is not enough. When it comes time to make some harder choices and pay for these first responder programs that we happily authorize. we will need the same bipartisan support for those on the front lines that we see here today.","speaker_name":"DAVID PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1941,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090030127,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Chairman. this bill really clarifies the appropriate uses for Federal Homeland Security grants and evaluates and annually. prioritizes pending grant applications. and it is great that our local communities and our States are going to have the support they need in the communities. the guidance that they need to appropriately use the funds and put it to work. put it to good use in our communities.","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1599,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090030155,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today to express my support for H.R. 1544. The Faster and Smarter Funding for First Responders Act. My colleagues and I agree there is a need to reform the current system for funding first responders across our Nation. The Department of Homeland Security and this Congress should allocate Federal funds based on risk in order to protect critical infrastructure and high. profile targets from attack. I do want to take this opportunity to express my concern that largely rural states such as Colorado will see a decrease in Homeland Security grant funds. As states prepare their risk assessment and the Department of Homeland Security evaluates them. I urge all parties to place high pri-. ority on protecting facilities such as dams. reservoirs and other potential targets outside of urban centers. I also urge the proper authorities to take advantage of the provisions in this bill that allow the formation of regional cooperatives to pursue Homeland Security funds. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SALAZAR","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1301,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090030168,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. it is ry appropriate that this amendment be accepted because it will give the partment of Agriculture their righ place at the table in representing al culture in this country in the prol tion of our homeland. Mr. Chairman. I yield such time a may consume to the distinguished @ tleman from Mississippi .","speaker_name":"ROBERT BERRY","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":317,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090030178,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of this amendment. This amendment would ensure that the First Responder Grant Board would coordinate with State and local governments. Throughout this process we have sought to ensure that State. local. and tribal governments are consulted throughout this process. This amendment would make it crystal clear to DHS that we expect them to listen to State. local. and tribal governments as they make their funding decisions. I support this amendment.","speaker_name":"BENNIE THOMPSON","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":480,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090030182,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"For example. the bill directs the Secretary to establish a first responders task force. This task force. which will advise the Secretary of Homeland Security on preparedness. benchmarks. will consist of 25 members. representative of all of the firstresponder disciplines and a substantive crosssection of geography from across the Nation. The Berry amendment. in my view. will help ensure that the Grant .Boards riskbased analysis adequately- addresses the concerns of State. local. regional and tribal governments who. after all. have direct jurisdiction and control over the first responders who are the focal point of this legislation. This amendment will provide important comfort to covered grant applicants as the department shifts from a political. formuladriven system to one based on risk. A dramatic programmatic shift such as the one established by this bill cannot be made in a vacuum. It must be made in close coordination with the people most affected. That is the purpose of the bill as it is written. I think the Berry amendment clarifies that purpose in a. useful way. and I strongly support it. Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"C. COX","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":48.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1622,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090030184,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We know in examining not only the 9\/ 11 Commission report but every other report since the tragedy of 9\/11 that the lack of coordination between the various levels of government is a very. very dangerous situation. This bill. in its totality. strikes at that very vulnerability. and this amendment. I think. precisely talks to the very important factor of coordination of those agencies. I want to commend the -sponsor of the amendment.","speaker_name":"BILL PASCRELL","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1081,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090030199,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I strongly support the BassNorwood amendment. I congratulate its authors for presenting it before the House.","speaker_name":"C. COX","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":48.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2283,"word_count":16}
{"speech_id":1090030211,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. and I too rise in opposition to this amendment. I agree with the intention of the author of the amendment to limit the number of grant awards under the Urban Area Security Initiative. but I do not agree with the thrust of the amendment. which is to. in essence. perpetuate a system that sends money exclusively to cities and ignores regions. One of the important reforms made in H.R. 1544 is that we open up the process to regional grant applications. I come from the most populated State in America: California. My county. just one of 58 counties in California. has 3 million people. Los Angeles. obviously. is an enormous urban center. But the important thing to note about both Los Angeles and New York is that the L.A. region and the New York City region are bigger and geographically more relevant than the city qua city. The municipal boundaries of New York or the municipal boundaries of Los Angeles are not nearly so important. if there is a radiological attack. for example. as nnderstanding where that plume is going to go and what are the evacuation corridors. ","speaker_name":"C. COX","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":48.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2815,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090030237,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"To the gentleman from Virginias credit. he did vote \"no\" then. I do not know if a single thing has changed in that interim time. It is pretty simple. We have large corporations. for the most part. that have their own fire equipment. It is very modern. It is generally unused. They donate it. They are not going to donate it unless this liability provision is removed. Most big States. or at least a lot of big States. have looked at this and have made the decision to go ahead and do that. And it just seems to make sense all over this country. as we try to support our volunteer fire services. that we would give them the best equipment possible. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CASTLE","chamber":"H","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1652,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090030254,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Appropriations have until midnight May 13. 2005. to file a privileged report making appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for the fiscal year ending September 30. 2006. and for other purposes.","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":268,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090030264,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the Majority Leader for that information. With respect. Mr. Leader. to the Homeland Security Authorization bill. can you presently tell us which day of the week will that be considered? Mr. Speaker. I yield to my friend. the gentleman from Texas .","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":268,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090030285,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is time for my Republican colleagues to respect that basic notion and end their abuse and their bullying in the Congress.","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1050,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090030291,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And if he chooses to veto it. then pressure the Congress to override that illintentioned veto. Let him veto something wasteful. Let him veto something that we are borrowing money to pay for. but do not veto a paidfor highway bill with vital investment in Americas transportation future.","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4735,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090030302,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You want to revisit America in 1932? My mother still is alive. thank God. and she would be the first to tell you that 1932 was not good. It was economically and humanitarianly a disaster for America. Millions could not afford to eat. Millions had no home to call their own. Americans did not have a lifeline. much less a safety net. It was a dark and horrifying period of American history. Why in the world does the President continue ignoring history? He proposes a plan. no. the President demands a private insecurity social system. He says he will listen to any idea as long as it is his. So. today. the Presidents water is carried by the distinguished but misinformed chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means. I said it before and I say it again: The Presidents plan for a private insecurity social system is dead as disco. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5236,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090030347,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent to include in the RECORD at the conclusion of my remarks a written statement that I submitted at a symposium sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on extending the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act. or TRIA. and a letter signed by seventyfour CEOs of the largest integrated financial services companies in the country which provide banking. insurance and investment products and a second letter from the Coalition to Insure Against Terrorism. CIAT. which represents over seventyfive companies and major associations. a virtual cross section of the U.S. economy. both of which express strong support for extending -the terrorism insurance program.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":684,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090030405,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":14,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This Congress continues to ignore the working man and the single mother. There are lots of them out there and they have to go through this every day when they drive up to the pumps. Think of them. Who is here to take a stand for themthe little guys? There are lots of them out there. The little guy is getting the shaft because we refuse to stand up for him. Again. this Congress continues to ignore the working man and the single mother. This administration continues to ignore the working man and the single mother. and it continues to ignore the outdoorsman who can no longer afford to fill up his pickup truck or SUV for a weekend of workyes. they even work on the Sabbath. they have to sometimesor for a weekend of hunting and fishing. If the Congress cannot wave a magic wand to lower prices at the pumpand it cannotat least we can provide shortterm relief to compensate workers. and that relief ought not be delayed. We have those workers in Texas. we have them in Oklahoma. and we have them in West Virginia. Italk with them every day. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10314,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090030413,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I will yield to the good judgment of the managers of the bill. If you would like to wait until the arrival of those two Senators. that is fine for me. May I take this moment to congratulate him and congratulate his comanager sitting by my side. the very distinguished Senator from New Hampshire. Mr. President. you are doing your duty. I say. speaking in the second person. which I am not supposed to do in the Senate. I hope they will come to the floor and make themselves heard.-","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":481,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090030416,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have done what Senators sometimes do. They make a mistake. They have done it to me. too. in referring to a Senators State as a wrong State. Sometimes they say I am from the State of Virginia. I count that as a great compliment. but I am from the great State of West Virginia. In this case. I have mistakenly referred to the distinguished Senator from Vermont as the Senator from New Hampshire. both great States. I am talking about the Senator from Vermont. I believe I referred to him as the Senator from New Hampshire. OK. the Senator from Vermont. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":574,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090030423,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the Senator.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1182,"word_count":4}
{"speech_id":1090030456,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Senator BYRD. I feel this very way. very strongly. I say. respectfully. to a man who is the dean of the Senate today. has been in the Senate almost 50 years. who I have the widest respect for. we are not going to resolve this issue right now. We are trying to do that. We are going to have some private conversations. What I am saying to my distinguished leader. give us a little bit of time.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":392,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090030465,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They were sent up here by the President of the United States. .They were not given an upordown vote. They were kept in committee.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":910,"word_count":24}
{"speech_id":1090030477,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Not yet. if I may respectfully decline. I will shortly. The Senator from Tennessee may wish to stand on his feet and defend the beliefs. the opinions. the rights of the people of Tennessee from a majority. Over there is the majoritarian body. the House of Representatives. There is where majority rules. This is the forum of the States. It is a forum for minorities. where we can have dissent on the part of a minority. The majority is not always right. The majority has been wrong before. And so I say. lets protect the rights of the minority to filibuster. if I may use that word. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":782,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090030489,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. another quick question. reserving the Senators right to the floor. Yesterday. in the Senators statement to the President of United States. it was to the seven nominees he delivered to us about whom the distinguished Senator from West Virginia said: I want them. or I am willing to haveI dont know if the Senator wants or is willing to have an upordown vote on the seven nomineesdidnt the distinguished Senator from West Virginia tell the President of the United States and other Senators that at the same time he addressed my legacy?","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":548,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090030490,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am not doing that at all. The leader-","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":674,"word_count":9}
{"speech_id":1090030505,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And 7 of those are back before the Senate. out of 218? My. how much land does a man need? How many nominees do they want? Mr. President. just send up some new nominees. it is that simple. Mr. President. I thank all Senators. I am ready to proceed on the amendment. if the Senator would like.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":291,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090030551,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I say to my distinguished friend. we have heard a lot of speeches in the last several months on this subject. but I have to say candidly that this is the best speech we have heard. This is outstanding. especially coming on the footsteps of the great Senator ROBERT BYRD who made a statement about the right to free speech. As I look back at a very young Senator from a very small State taking on people who had been here a long time. going against a majority of his party. in a pense. certainly a lot. as a young Senator. shows why 20 years prior to giving this speech he was a hero on the battlefield for America and why he has been a hero on the battlefields of the Senate for all these many years.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":700,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090030566,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"States that already have primary safety belt laws would receive 250 percent of the 2003 level in highway safety money. At the end of the bills reauthorization in 2009. any leftover safety funds will be distributed to States that have enacted primary belt laws. With this increased funding. States can spend more on highway safety improvements and make our roads even safer. NHTSA Administrator Runge best described the importance of safety belt usage in April of this year. when he told the Senate Commerce. Science and Transportation Committee: Unlike a number of complex issues facing the Nation today. we have at least one highly effective and simple remedy to combat highway deaths and fatalities. Wearing safety belts is the single most effective step indi. viduals can take to save their lives. Buckling up is not a complex vaccine. doesnt have unwanted side effects. and doesnt cost any money. It is simple. it works. and it is lifesaving. I could not agree more. ","speaker_name":"ELIZABETH DOLE","chamber":"S","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5132,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090030593,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let me just respond to some of the things the Senator is talking about. First of all. Senator SANTORUM has done a great job leaning on us and talking to us and is largely responsible for the fact that we made a major change in this bill. This change increased the amount that will be going to Pennsylvania by $208 million. But I would like to say this: When you talk about the miles of substandard roads and highways. Oklahoma has a larger percentage that are substandard than Pennsylvania. I am .not saying it because I am proud of it. because I have not been doing my job. I suppose. but in terms of the percentage of substandard bridges. Oklahoma is considerably higher than Pennsylvania. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1539,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090030630,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But what we do is give a bonus. an extra incentive for States to consider. State legislators. Governors. et cetera. to consider passing these type of laws because it will benefit their citizens and benefits the Nation. I urge my colleagues to vote against this amendment when it comes up. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"MARK PRYOR","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3498,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090030650,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would feel better about it. I think the Senator is not really in disagreement too much with that. But when you move a piece of legislation as he has. it requires a lot of cooperation and partnership.","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1499,"word_count":38}
{"speech_id":1090030679,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"These modern slaves are comA few of the aohievements of the pelled to Work against their will. often 110th deserve particular recognition. as victims of human trafficking or They successfully shot down what is ruthless governments. believed to be the first German plane A new report by the International downed in France during the liberation Labor Office shows how massive the of Europe. Members of their reconnais- problem of forced labor is. According to sance team were among the first Amer- the report. over 12 million people are icans to enter Paris. In total. the 110th its victims in todays world. and they destroyed 65 enemy planes. 11 tanks. produce $44 billion in profits for their and 80 ground vehicles. overseers. It gives me a good deal of pride to To combat the problem. the report note that many of the members of the urges countries to work together to 110th hailed from Massachusetts and reach a global solution. Countries need Connecticut. As the birthplace of our stronger laws to protect victims and Nation. New England boasts a long and punish perpetrators. They also need honored tradition of deep patriotism stronger law enforcement and more efand dedicated service to our country. fective cooperation between labor minNew Englanders have served in every istries and law enforcement. Fair labor single one of our Nations conflicts. standards and acting to reduce poverty from the Revolutionary War to Oper- are essential as well. ation Iraqi Freedom. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7533,"word_count":242}
{"speech_id":1090030680,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to say a few words in honor of the Asian and Pacific Islander communities of the United States. As my colleagues know. May marks AsianPacific American Heritage Month. Throughout this month. the United States celebrates the history. culture. and traditions of Asian and Pacific Islanders. and recognizes their unique contributions to the United States. First proposed as a 1week celebration in 1977. the occasion was expanded into a monthlong event in 1990. May was chosen because of its unique significance to the history of Asian Americans. May 7. 1843 marked the first recorded immigration of Japanese to the United States. while May 10. 1869 marked the completion of the transcontinental railroad. which would not have happened when it did without the labor of Chinese immigrants. The Asian and Pacific Islander population has a rich history in this country. especially in the Pacific Northwest. ","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2727,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090030683,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"She expanded the effort to include other Idaho -schools and collaborated with local civics groups to record literally hundreds more interviews that went to both the Eagle High School archives and the Idaho Oral History Center. One of the most significant accomplishments of Gail and her students was their participation in the Veterans Stand Down in Boise where homeless veterans were given the opportunity to record interviews. Her efforts were not confined to veterans of past wars. Gail and her students also have sent gift boxes and cards to our current service women and men in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2002. She was instrumental in making Eagle High School the top school donor for the World War II Memorial. with a donation of close to $25.000. The list of her accomplishments. enhanced further with her natiolpal recognition by the Daughters of the American Revolution this year is long. but that is not the focus of my remarks today. Gail has turned the teaching of history and civics into the action of patriotism. Perhaps the most compelling and significant accomplishment of Gail Chumbley is not her esteemed list of awards and honors. which are many and richlydeserved. Her most important contribution is her role in creating a sense of citizenship within the hearts and intellect of many Idaho youpg people. This citizenship lives on in these students as they grow into adulthood and manifests itself in their actions. commitments and convictions. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CRAPO","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2709,"word_count":240}
{"speech_id":1090030695,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to introduce legislation reauthorizing appropriations for the Water Resources Research Act. The Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Senators INHOFE andJEFFORDS. respectively. as well as Senators CLIN-","speaker_name":"LINCOLN CHAFEE","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":277,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090030696,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The American Public Transportation Association estimates that Americans now take over 9 billion trips on transit per year. the highest level in more than 40 years. The Texas Transportation Institute has estimated that without transit. the 85 urban areas they studied would have suffered an additional 1.1 billion hours of delay. a 27 percent increase. which would have added $18 billion to the national cost of congestion. Transit benefit programs are playing a vital role in increasing transit ridership. which benefits both transit users and drivers. In 1998. the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century amended the tax code to allow financial incentives related to commuting costs for both employers and employees. These transit benefits allowed employers to offer a taxfree financial incentive toward the costs of transit commuting. starting at $65 per month and raised in 2005 to $105 per month. Based upon the findings of the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Transportation. there are clear improvements to congestion. energy efficiency. and air quality from transit benefit programs. According to their findings. an employer with 1.000 employees that participates in a combination of transit benefits. carpool. and telecommuting programs can take credit for taking 175 cars off the road. saving 44.000 gallons of gasoline per year. and cutting global warming pollution by 420 tons per year on average. In April 2000. an Executive Order was signed requiring all executive branch agencies in the National Capital Region to offer transit benefits to their employees. As a result. ","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7698,"word_count":251}
{"speech_id":1090030705,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"For example. we have produced three times as many resources on the OCS as we thought existed 30 years ago. In fact. the Minerals Management. ServiceMMSestimates that from 1985 to 2001. OCS offshore facilities and pipelines accounted for only 2 percent of the oil released into U.S. waters. In fact. 97 percent of OCS spills are one. barrel or less in volume. Serving Americas energy needs and being good stewards of the environment need not be mutually exclusive goals. However. despite our technological prowess and responsible exploration. we have yet to fully realize the potential the OCS has to offer. Today only 2.5 percent of the 1.76 billion acres that make up the OCS are leased. Most of the Pacific Coast and the eastern Gulf of Mexico are off limits as is the entire Atlantic seaboard. Almost all of the area on the OCS that is currently leased is in the Central and Western Gulf of Mexico. off the coasts of Louisiana and Texas. where 98 percent of total OCS production occurs. ","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3857,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090030709,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I introduce two bills to expand access to college. I am pleased to be joined in this effort by Senators COLLINS. KENNEDY. and MURRAY. We are slated to reauthorize the Higher Education Act this Congress. after being unable to do so in the 108th Congress. Over the course of this time. the discussions on higher education have not focused on. proposals that would help the neediest students attend college. This is troubling. particularly as more and more students are being priced out of college. which shortchanges their future and that of our Nation. An individuals climb up the economic ladder is directly related to the amount of education he or she receives. Given the strong correlation among educational attainment. employment. and wages. the cost of not going to college is just too high. And yet. too many college students are underprepared. underfinanced. and overworked. ","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3520,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090030741,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate immediately proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination on todays Executive Calendar: Calendar No. 59. I further ask unanimous consent that the nomination be confirmed. the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. and the President be ilhmediately notified of the Senates action.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":360,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090030771,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This is how brain damage occurs. which in turn can lead to mental retardation. social and emotional problems. learning disabilities and other problems. In fact. FASD is the leading cause of mental retardation in all of western civilization. including the United States. Since the only cause of FASD is prenatal alcohol consumption it follows that by abstaining from the consumption of alcohol during pregnancy a woman can completely foreclose the possibility that her baby will be born with one or another of the conditions that are regarded fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. Every day of the year we must remind women that no amount of alcohol consumed during pregnancy is safe for their baby. No alcohol during pregnancy is safe. None at all. To dramatize this point. a group of parents who were raising children afflicted with fetal alcohol came together on the Internet and wondered in cyberspace. \"What if a world full of FAS and FAE parents all got together on the 9th hour of the 9th day of the 9th month of the year and asked the world to remember that during the 9 months of pregnancy a woman should not consume alcohol?\" If this were to occur. they wondered. \"Would the world listen?\" On the 9th hour of the 9th day of the 9th month every year they called upon all the peoples of the world to observe a moment of silence to remind women of childbearing age that no amount of alcohol is safe during pregnancy. ","speaker_name":"LISA MURKOWSKI","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5014,"word_count":249}
{"speech_id":1090030811,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Senators will have the final opportunity to offer their amendments. We will vote on one or two of those amendments on Monday evening. That will allow the Senate to return to the measure Tuesday morning and vote on the remaining amendments and final passage. After consulting with the chairman of the committee and the Democrat leader. we are hopeful most of these amendments will not require votes. that only a few remaining amendments will need rollcall votes prior to passage. As I did last night. I commend the managers for their hard work. I look forward to finishing the bill early next week. We .have spent 2 weeks on this bill and given plenty of opportunity. plenty of time for Members to come forward. They have done so. We are on a final glidepath to completion of this very important bill.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1383,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090030827,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"During the first World War. Choctaw code talkers served with distinction in France. By transmitting in their native tongue a variety of open voice messages relating to unit movements. U.S. forces completely surprised the enemy during battle. Following the success of the Choctaw code talkers. soldiers from the Navajo. Sioux. Comanche and Meskwaki tribes. along with members of 14 other tribes. served as code talkers in some of the most dangerous operations in both theaters of World War II. Today I introduce the Code Talkers Recognition Act to honor those who were overlooked when medals were awarded to the Navajo code talkers in 2001. This bill authorizes the presentation of commemorative medals on behalf of Congress to Native Americans who served as code talkers during any foreign conflict in which the United States was involved during the 20th century. I ask my colleagues to help honor the heroic contributions of these gentlemen by cosponsoring and passing this legislation.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2355,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090030842,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it stand in adjournment until 2 p.m. on Monday. May 16. I further ask consent that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders reserved. and the Senate then resume consideration of H.R. 3. the highway bill.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":398,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090030844,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on Monday the Senate will resume consideration of the highway bill. As a reminder. we reached an agreement last night that limits the final list of amendments in order prior to passage. Those amendments also must be offered no later than 4 p.m. on Monday afternoon. Senators who have amendments on the list should make themselves available to come to the floor Monday afternoon in order to get their amendments pending. We will also have at least one rollcall vote Monday. beginning at 5:30 p.m. That vote will be in relation to an amendment on the highway bill. and it is possible we will stack another amendment for a vote to follow the 5:30 vote. I do thank the chairman and ranking member. who have been here throughout the week working through amendments and moving this important legislation forward. Thanks to their efforts. we were able to establish a roadmap that will allow us to move to passage of the bill on Tuesday of next week.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":957,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090030922,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator from Wyoming for an excellent point. and that point is we are on our sixth extension now. Some extensions are 30day extensions. some of them are 6month extensions. and you cant expect the contracting community out there to be able to plan in an efficient way to spend the money to build the highways. to build the bridges. or repair the highways if they cant plan in advance. This would give us 5 more years on a 6year authorization. It is absolutely imperative. I say to my colleagues that we are now operating on the bill. so whoever seeks recognition can get recognition as he or she desires.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":630,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090030947,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. first. this Commission worked 4 years. They studied it from a security and economic standpoint. It was bipartisan and had every expert one can think of on the Commission. They came out with some very. strong recommendations. I would hope the Senator from North Dakota and the Senator from South Carolina might want to expand what they are doing after reading the recommendations. Maybe we can join forces at a later date and have a resolution recommending the adoption of the recommendations of this Commission. Mr. President. again. we are on the highway bill. Senator JEFFORDS. the ranking member of the EPW Committee. and I worked so well together on this. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1029,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090030963,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Senator KENNEDY has done very good work in terms of trying to sort this out so as to determine when a company tries to unload their responsibilities at a time of crisis. The Senate Finance Committee. on a bipartisan basis. should do more. What the Senate ought to be doing at a time when we are seeing our workers suffer and their pensions disappear. the Senate ought to make sure that shareholders and the public can find out exactly and conveniently what these executives will be getting upon their retirement. I am proposing a bit of sunshine come into these executive pension. lockboxes. Lets do for the workers whose pensions are being offered up for the CEOs. a bit of justice. Lets also do it for taxpayers because with every company that the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation steps in to rescue. the agencys deficit grows. From an estimated $23 billion today. it is anticipated to grow to an expected $40 billion with the takeover of additional airlines. We are seeing our workers sacrifice. The question is. What are they sacrificing for? Apparently. on the basis of the news in the last couple of weeks. some of these workers are sacrificing in order to fund the retirement packages for the CEOs. ","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4663,"word_count":210}
{"speech_id":1090030978,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We spent many hours trying to work out variances. The problem we always have is nothing happens in a vacuum. If we take care of a problem in Texas. then that aggravates a problem in Pennsylvania. So formulas are tough. They are tough to deal with politically. They are tough to deal with rationally. I think we have tried to do the very best we can. With that. I am glad to yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1931,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090030984,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is about trying td find a research justification for giving the Federal Government authority to mandate that a private company change its manufacturing process or the chemicals they use. The studys parameters reveal this intent when it states \"substituting less lethal substances than toxic inhalation hazards in the manufacturing process.\" There are entire books written about the subject of FIST by various groups. including current efforts by the Center for Chemical Process Safety and- the American Institute of Chemical Engineers to update their 1996 \"gold book\" on the subject. These are chemical process experts. The Federal Government is not. I do not believe mandatory FIST is good for our Nations security. Besides that. it is not a transportation issue. If it is something you want to debate in the Senate as a freestanding bill. do it that way. but do not sneak around behind and throw little a part into this bill through the Commerce title that has nothing to do with transportation. I mention this and anything else we find in the bill that perhaps we have overlooked that has nothing to do with transportation. we will make every effort to make sure it gets out when it is in conference. I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3112,"word_count":210}
{"speech_id":1090031003,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to give a progress report. We are down to four or five amendments now. Many of them have been agreed to or have been withdrawn. We dont have anyone at this moment who is going to ask for a vote tonight. We had previously scheduled a vote at 5:30. We did not anticipate at that time that we would be getting the- cooperation we are getting from the Members who have worked things out. So I announce on behalf of the leadership that we will not be having the vote at 5:30 tonight. Let me make a couple of comments. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10466,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090031031,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Clearly more needs to be done. Sprawl development not only hurts our citizens where they live and breathe. it also hits them in their wallets. A number of studies have come out that show the costs of sprawling growth are significantly higher than more compact. managed growth patterns. These studies show that taxpayers can save billions of dollars in public facility construction and operation and maintenance costs by opting for growth management. Because of the major impacts federally funded transportation projects can .have. there is an appropriate role for the Federal Government in ensuring these projects and the development they spawn are both economically and environmentally sound. That role should not be to embroil the Federal Government in land use decisions that have historically been State and local issues. We do not want Federal zoning. Instead. the proper role for the Federal Government is to create incentives to encourage and build on the State and local efforts to aaldress transportation and growth that are already underway. I am very pleased that the Senate SAFETEA bill extends and expands the TCSP program to help local communities grow in environmentally sustainable ways by creating incentives for smart growth management. The additional funding for TCSP in the Senate transportation bill is a good start. ","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4821,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090031040,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Joseph Trisolini. and Morgan Wright. I especially thank their teacher. Ms. Sandra Cashman. for once again seizing this opportunity to educate students about the significance of the American institutions of constitutional democracy. The mere fact that Kahuku students competed here for 11 of the last 12 \"We the People\" competiti6ns is a testament to Ms. Cashmans skills as a civics education teacher. As a former Kahuku High School teacher. I take pride in these students who rose to the challenges presented in this competition. and gave impressive performances. I know that it is because of school and parental support. dedication. and commitment that these students were empowered and encouraged to excel in this arena. These students have no dohbt made everyone in their school. their families. and their friends proud of what they achieved. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2846,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090031042,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. Idahos small businesses make up over 95 percent of total businesses in the State. New companies launch their products and services every day. These businesses are the lifeblood of Idahos economy and their existence indicates the overwhelming entrepreneurship that abides in our communities large and small. A hnique publicprivate partnership between the Idaho National Lab. Boise State University. and the Idaho Department of Commerce and Labor is helping these vital organs of Idahos economy grow and function to their best potential. The Small Business Administration recently recognized this effort. giving Idaho TechConnect a national \"Best Practices\" award at an economic development conference here in Washington. Idaho TechConnect has been instrumental in providing small high tech busi ness entrepreneurs with development assistance. and facilities and services to assess the progress and direction of their business expansion. The partnerships with industry and higher education provide these ventures with inspiration. innovation. outside experience and consultation from those in academia as well as -the established and thriving high tech industry in Idaho. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CRAPO","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1523,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090031048,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Keep up the good work. Best Regards. Richard Decker\" My answer to Richard is that we hear him. and we are trying to respond. We have a serious problem. It is easy to point a finger at the energy companies for high gas prices. but the reality is that government rules and regulations combined with a complete lack of a national energy policy and unfriendly tax rules have kept our refining capacity far short of our need. There are no silver bulletq that will bring price relief immediately. but we can act now to start meeting this need. Last year. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham asked the National Petroleum Council to make recommendations to improve our oil supply and to increase our nations oil refining capacity. Among the Councils recommendations was a call to adjust the depreciation schedule for new refining equipment from 10 years to five years to make refineries consistent with other manufacturers in the U.S. I believe that the 10year depreciation schedule is unwarranted. and that it has contributed to a hostile economic environment for refineries. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6075,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090031054,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr: President. I would like to anriounce that the Committee on Indian Affairs will meet on Wednesday. May 18. 2005. at 9:30 a.m. in Room 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building to conduct an oversight hearing on Taking Lands into Trust. Those wishing additional information may contact the Indian Affairs Committee at 2242251.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":325,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090031062,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this resolution concerns a request for representation in a civil action pending in Federal District Court in the District of Columbia. In this case. the United Nations is seeking to prevent an individual from complying with subpoenas for testimony anid documents issued by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and other congressional committees in connection with their inquiries into allegations of fraud and corruption in the United Nations Oil for Food Program. The individual at issue. Mr. Robert Parton. is an investigator formerly associated with the Independent Inquiry Committee. an entity formed by the United Nations to conduct its own investigation into the program. The United Nations contends that its privileges and immunities. and its iontracts with Mr. Parton. bar him from complying with the subcommittees subpoenas. Mr. President. subcommittee staff has been discussing for some time with United Nations and IIC counsel their concerns regarding United Nations privileges and how any such privileges might be accommodated consistent with the investigative needs of the subcommittee. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1893,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090031065,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. .I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it stand in adjournment until 9:45 a.m. on Tuesday. May 17. I further ask that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate then begin a period of morning business for up to 60 minutes. with the first 30 minutes under the control of the Democratic leader or his designee and the final 30 minutes under the control of the majority leader or his designee. provided that following morning business. the Senate resume consideration of H.R. 3. the highway bill. I further ask consent that there then be 30 minutes equally divided between the chairman and ranking member or designees prior to beginning the series of votes in relation to the pending amendments as under the original order. I further ask unanimous consent that the Senate recess from 12:30 to 2:15 for the weekly party luncheons.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1009,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090031067,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Tomorrow. following morning business. the Senate will resume consideration of the highway bill. Under a previous order. following the final 30 minutes for closing remarks. the Senate will proceed to a series of stacked votes on the pending amendments to the bill. Following the disposition of those amendments. the Senate will immediately vote on passage of the bill. Therefore. Senators should expect multiple rollcall votes beginning at approximately 11:30 a.m. tomorrow. culminating in passage of the highway bill.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":517,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090031077,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. a couple of weeks ago I was disturbed to read of reports that people at the Air Force Academy were inappropriately and improperly putting pressure on cadets to follow certain religious practices. In this particular case. cadets who did not follow a certain brand of Christianity were being ridiculed and being criticized. and the allegations were that they. were even being pressured by officials of the Academy to follow this specific set of religious practices. Obviously. we should create a situation in which people of any religious persuasion are free at the Academy to follow that. But for young men and women who were sent to the Academy to learn to lead our Air Force and defend our country in that important institution to be subjected to religious pressures. religious ridicule and criticism because they do not particularly follow one or another religion is terrible public policy. and. of course. unconstitutional. When I heard that. my reaction was to give the Air Force the benefit of the doubt. I wrote a letter to the Air Force Academy and the Secretary of the Air Force asking that the Air Force be looking into this. and I had read that in fact they were. So I thought. well. I hope we are talking with reasonable people. These allegations sounded to me like things that no reasonable person would allow to go forward. Let us see what happens. ","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5540,"word_count":237}
{"speech_id":1090031083,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. some good news todayr from down in my home State of Texas. Recognizing that a unique turnaround is under way in the State of Texas in the arena of medical liability reform. the American Medical Association today announced that it was removing Texas from its list of States in crisis from the medical liability crisis. The medical liability crisis in Texas was halted thanks to sweeping reforms that took place almost 2 years ago. in September. 2003. when voters in the State of Texas passed a constitutional amendment which placed an upper limit on noneconomic damages on pain and suffering. Since those reforms were passed. signs of improvement are widespread in Texas. Access to care is increasing and claims are down. physician recruitment. physician retention is up. especially in highrisk specialties. New insurers are entering the Texas medical liability market. creating more choices for doctors. Subsequently. competition is increasing. and all five of the largest insurers in the Texas medical liability market have announced rate cuts. Rates are down. Doctors are coming back to the State of Texas. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BURGESS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1292,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090031098,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The unveiling of the calendar still occurs every October at a fundraiser known as the \"Pink Tea.\" a tradition Linda started. In addition to Sisters Journey. she .organized the first Relay for Life held in the Hamden community. raising nearly $50.000 for the American Cancer Society. Sadly. Linda. a grandmother of two. .finally succumbed to the disease in 2003. and we miss her to this day. For all her outspokenness on behalf of women too reserved to speak up for themselves. Linda faced her own breast cancer in such a quiet way that many of her neighbors and friends were not aware of the gravity of her illness. \" Linda approached advocacy with the same humility. dignity. and grace. receiving numerous awards from the American Cancer Society for her efforts. She won the Greater New Haven NAACP Freedom Fund Award and the \"Daily Point of Light\" award by the Points of Life Foundation. which honors those who have made a commitment to bring people together through service to help meet critical needs in their communities. Indeed. she did. And today. ","speaker_name":"ROSA DELAURO","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4056,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090031111,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Jr. Boulevard in Madison. Wisconsin as the \"Robert M. La Follette. Sr. Post Office Building.\" Mr. Speaker. Robert. otherwise known as \"Fighting Bob\" La Follette. is a true Wisconsin hero and a leader of the progressive movement. He was born on a farm in Primrose. Wisconsin on June 14. 1855. ","speaker_name":"TAMMY BALDWIN","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4659,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090031119,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H.R. 1760 to designate the postal facility at 215 Martin Luther King. Jr. Boulevard in Madison. Wisconsin. as the \"Robed M. La Follette. Sr. Post Office Building.\" A man of the people. Bob La Follette captured the hearts and minds of Wisconsins citizens and rose to a place of distinction in the history of my State and this Nation. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1470,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090031130,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Peace Officers Memorial Day brings us together to honor the sacrifice our nations law enforcement and public safety officers make to our communities and our nation every day. It is important as we discuss and pass both H. Res. 266 and H.R. 2107 that we must also resolve to provide our public safety officers the resources they need to meet the daily challenges of their jobsespecially at a time when we have placed greater demands on them to fight and prevent terrorist threats. We can do that by fully funding important grant programs such as COPS. Byrne. and Local Law Enforcement Block Grants. These programs allow our local agencies to buy essential protective gear. hire the officers that they need. and obtain all the resources they must have to make themselves and our communities safe. Congress can provide these resources through grants.. especially the Community Oriented Policing Services or \"COPS\" program. This program was so successful that it helped to put 100.000 cops on the street under President Clinton. It is critical that Congress fully fund this program! Unfortunately. the Presidents budget devastates the COPS program. requesting only $117.8 million for this important program. That is a $381.2 million cut below last years levell The Presidents budget also zeroes out the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance grant program that provides funding for 19 different programs for counterdrug initiatives in rural communities. ","speaker_name":"BART STUPAK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6516,"word_count":231}
{"speech_id":1090031179,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am proud to say that El Paso is leading the way when it comes to inland desalination. in addition to our ongoing conservation and reclamation initiatives. This bill will further our efforts by authorizing the city of El Paso to expand the soontobe constructed desalination plant or to construct an additional plant if and when additional capacity is required over the next 10 years. Ensuring a reliable. longterm water source for El Paso and the El Paso region is essential for the communitys future. Desalination. and therefore. this legislation. is an integral part of that effort. In closing. Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the gentleman from Nevada","speaker_name":"SILVESTRE REYES","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1558,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090031181,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Chino Hills. Fontana. Ontario. Upland. Montclair. and Rancho Cucamonga. IEUA and CVWD are replacing waterintensive applications like landscape and agricultural irrigation. construction. and industrial cooling with highquality recycled water. fresh water can be conserved or used for drinking. thereby reducing the dependence on expensive imported water. In addition. by recycling water which would otherwise be wasted and unavailable. these agencies provide that the water available goes through at least one more cycle of beneficial use before it is ultimately returned to the environment. I want to reiterate my thanks to the House Resources Committee. as well as to my colleagues. KEN CALVERT. GRACE NAPOLITANO. ","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2161,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090031212,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. personal business in my district prevents me from being present for legislative business scheduled for today. Monday. May 16. 2005. Had I been present. I would have voted \"yea\" on H.R. 627. designating the \"Linda WhiteEpps\" Post Office in Hamden. CT (rollcall No. 171). \"yea\" on H. Res. 266. a resolution supporting the goals and ideals of Peace Officers Memorial Day (rollcall No. 172). and \"yea\" on H.R. 2107. the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial and Maintenance Fund Act of 2005 (rollcall No. 173).","speaker_name":"CAROLYN KILPATRICK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":524,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090031225,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. my intent tonight was to come to the floor and talk about my opposition to CAFTA. which I think is a bad policy for the future of America. But tonight I am glad to come to the floor after 4 weeks of coming and talking about Lieutenant Ilario Pantano. a Marine who was charged with miurder for actions he took as a Marine officer in Iraq over a year ago. I have been on the floor for 4 weeks saying this man should never have been charged. He did his job as a Marine officer. But because of circumstances of a sergeant who did not like the gentleman. he filed charges 21\/2 months later. I am pleased to say this past Friday I was notified by the attorney for Lieutenant Pantano that the hearing officer. Major Wynn at Camp Lejeune. North Carolina. in my district. has decided that he will recommend these charges be dropped: two charges of premeditated murder that should never have happened. But Major Wynn will now send his recommendations to General Huck who isin Iraq. and it is my hope and prayer that General Huck will agree with the hearing officer and drop these charges. ","speaker_name":"WALTER JONES","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3301,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090031229,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Senate Democrats have strongly and arrogantly and openly threatened to shut down the operations of the government if Republicans insist on the constitutional option. Mr. Speaker. I would suggest -that it is far better to let the Democrats shut down this government temporarily than it is to allow them to shut down this Republic permanently. In this critical struggle for the future of this Republic. one of two things will occur. Either the timehonored and tested provision of advice and consent. written in the Constitution. will prevail or unprecedented judicial filibuster and obstructionism will take its place and become the tragic legacy of these days. Mr. Speaker. I should not have to remind my Republican colleagues that the people who have entrusted us with this majority have spoken with resounding voice on the issue of judicial nominations. They hear it and I hear it everywhere I go. ","speaker_name":"TRENT FRANKS","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4751,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090031231,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this week we are considering legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security. These are necessary. important pieces of legislation. two bills we are taking up. that will help protect our homeland from terrorist threats and make the type of investments we need to make in areas of our airports. ports. roads. chemical facilities and nuclear facilities. Overall the homeland security bill funding will increase by 4 percent. But while we are focused on defending ourselves from terrorists here in the United States and fighting terrorists in Iraq. one has to wonder whether we are not missing some other threats that are looming on the horizon that America must protect themselves. Friday in the New York Times. Tom Friedman mentioned that the University of Illinois recently tied for 17th place in the world finals of a major computer competition. That is the university that also helped develop the Internet. Seventeenth was the best of any U.S. university and the worst we have done in 29 years of the competition. Who was number one? Shanghai. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5175,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090031233,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise this evening to honor 30 years of service by Cobb County history teacher Winfred \"Windy\" Orrell. who is retiring from teaching this Friday. May 20. With admirable dedication. Mr. Orrell served his students not only in the classroom but also on the field as a coach for the football. baseball. track and crosscountry teams at Campbell and Cobb County High Schools. While some in Hollywood may know him as Julia Roberts history teacher. Coach Orrell is most famous in Cobb County for his colorful history reenactments. His reenactment of the Battle of Vicksburg is legendary among his students as he crawls on his belly with imaginary rifle in hand. moving in and out of imaginary trenches. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2317,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090031246,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if I may reclaim the time for just a moment. I want to explain something that I discover often confuses individuals. and that is. when you reach the peak. they say. well. we have only used half of it. but the problem is that showed beautifully in that chart there. we are already in a habit of using so much oil. and it is going up yet. So even though we only used half. the demand is going to be so high. and as we go over the peak. production decreases. the oil becomes more expensive to retrieve because we may be tapping tar sands or shales at some point there. So you have double effect. It is going to be more expensive to find and produce. but at the same time. the demand keeps increasing. The demand versus supply gets worse. and so the price. of course. goes up and the wealthiest people can buy it. To contrast that. we are talking a bit about solar energy. The best estimate we have at the moment is that the sun will probably continue for roughly 1 billion years. producing just as much energy as it is producing today. After that time. we have to start worrying. ","speaker_name":"VERNON EHLERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1918,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090031256,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"President Bush now presides over the lowest court vacancy rate since Ronald Reagan was President. There is no judicial crisis here. Mr. Speaker. It is manufactured by the Republicans. Despite the fact that Democrats have helped confirm 95 percent of President Bushs judicial nominees. the President is choosing to pick fights and resubmit the names of nominees who have been rejected during his first term. There were 10 nominees that our Democratic colleagues in the Senate opposed because they had serious questions about their independence and fairness. One wonders. why are the Republicans preparing to throw out all these constitutional checks and balances just for a couple of extreme judges? Some people say it is because of the Supreme Court. that President Bush wants this fight on the filibuster before a Supreme Court justice retires. which is something that could happen anytime. That may be what is behind it. but it is still really not the way to proceed. To say that Supreme Court nominees would only need 51 votes instead of 60. again there would be no consensus on the very important selection of Supreme Court judges. ","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8251,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090031341,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am very happy we finally got to this point. We are operating under unanimous consent at this time. We will have for the next 45 minutes a discussion and then a vote on the Allen amendment at 12 oclock. We will have this 45minute period of time to talk about the highway bill. and hopefully we can confine arguments to that. with the exception of 5 minutes for Senator LANDRIEU right before the vote takes place. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":447,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090031346,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I know there are a lot of Members interested in the Allen amendment. We are close to final passage. We may have a couple of amendments after we return at 2 oclock. at which time we will want to debate those. We will be limited to 2 minutes on each side for those amendments. I encourage Members who want to be heard on those amendments that we will be considering after 2 oclock. this is the time to do it. This is the only time Members will have.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":462,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090031355,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have just as much right as they to indicate what we should do.. As I have said in this Chamber many times. legislating is the art of compromise. It is time for the administration and the House to demonstrate a willingness to work with the Senate on this bill. We are now ready to go to conference. We have less than 2 weeks until the expiration of the current extension of these programs. We have to get moving. The only chance we have to get this bill done is if we act quickly. reach an agreement soon on the funding levels in this bill. that once we have reached an agreement on the funding levels. I think virtually everything else will fall into place. I urge my colleagues in the House and in the Senate. also in the executive branch. to work with us. find an agreeable funding level for these programs. We cannot afford to argue for months about this issue. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2104,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090031359,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There is no reduction in guaranteed spending. Everybody knows last year in our bill. there was $318 billion in contract authority and $303 billion in guaranteed spending. That is the figure you are concerned with. There is no reduction in guaranteed spending on the Sessions amendment. Guaranteed spending is the amount the bill requires to be spent on the program. So there is no change in actual spending or the deficit. The amendment also ignores the complexity of the formula. As a result. the amendment drops the contract authority of some donor States below thie minimum rates of return identified in the bill. For example. Arizonas rate of return would drop below 90.3percent in 2005 and 90.9 percent in 2006 as opposed to 92 percent. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2914,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090031365,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Failure to make the investment that is necessary will constitute a setback to our efforts to build a better and stronger economy.","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2248,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090031374,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in these few moments before the vote. I commend the chairman of our Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Senator INHOFE. along with Senators JEFFORDS and BAUCUS. for a job well done. We cant forget Senator REID. whom we consider an emeritus member of the EPW Committee. who has helped a great deal. Tremendous staff work has gone into this. I appreciate the great work of my staff: Allen Stein. John.Stoody. Heideh Shahmoradi. Senator INHOFES staff. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1000,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090031417,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"A second provision Is the \"Elimination of Hazards Relating to RailwayHighway Crossings.\" which provides at least a $178 million setaside from the Highway Safety Improvement Program each year for the elimination of hazards at railwayhighway crossings. Does this include projects on grade separations?","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":299,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090031435,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank Senators LOTT and INOUYE for their commitments to address this issue in conference. I also raise my concerns with the amendment offered by Senator PRYOR to define the term \"household goods motor carrier.\" Definitions matter. and in this case. meeting the definition of a \"household goods carrier\" subjects the carrier to certain existing and new regulations that others who do not meet that definition do not have to provide. At the same time. I support excluding express delivery and parcel delivery carriers from the definition of \"household goods carrier.\" As. currently drafted. however. I am concerned that the amendment would make it substantially more difficult for an established moving company to enter one of these new markets in which consumers are provided a trailer or container which they pack themselves and which the company then transports for them. The definition. as now offered by Senator PRYOR. would mean that an existirig moving company would be subject to these new regulations while others who offer these services. but do not provide traditional moving services. would not be. As this bill moves to conference with the House. I am committed to working with the managers of this title to find a definition that is accurate and fair and that covers the universe of services that are being offered to consumers who are planning interstate moves of household goods.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1395,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090031437,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I appreciate the Senators commitment. and I also offer to work with you and Senator LOTT and INOUYE in conference on the amendment regarding procedures for allowing State attorneys general to pursue enforcement actions against interstate household goods movers in federal court. This amendment. which I have worked out with the managers and is being offered by Senator LOTT. establishes an approval process for actions taken by State attorneys general by the Secretary of Transportation before the AGs proceed in court. The amendment is critical because it establishes a responsible framework with a delineation of responsibilities to the States. The efforts of State governments should be focused on investigating and prosecuting those carriers that are too small or cases of fraud that are too isolated to cause a Federal response. At the same time. Federal agencies should be pursuing complaints of fraudulent activities by large and established carriers. By focusing our enforcement efforts along these lines. we will leverage our resources which will improve the effectiveness of the response to fraud and abuse in the household goods moving industry and ensure that no carrier slips through the cracks. The amendment also will ensure that State cases are legitimate and properly prepared. In addition. the amendment provides intervention and substitution authority for the Secretary if the Secretary believes that Federal Government would be in a better position to prosecute the case.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1491,"word_count":230}
{"speech_id":1090031445,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The legislation before us amends the apportionment formula for the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality. CMAQ. program to include nonattainment and maintenance areas for fine particulate matter. socalled PM 2.5. and to make adjustments for the new 8hour ozone standard. It does not amend the formula. however. to include nonattainment and maintenance areas for PM10 particulate matter. Would the senior Senator from Oklahoma be willing to explore the question of whether the CMAQ apportionment formula should include factors for this Federal air quality standard as well?","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":572,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090031454,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It will also see an increase its return on the highway dollar from the current 90.5 cents on the dollar. which is the absolute minimum. to 92 cents on the dollar. This money is sorely needed. New Jersey is the most densely populated State in the Nation. This is causing gridlock on our roads. According to the latest study by the New Jersey Institute of Technology. the average New Jersey driver now spends 45 hours a .year stuck in traffic. I repeat. 45 hours a year. All this time spent behind the wheel does more than hurt New Jerseys quality of life. It also costs us an average of $1.255 per driver in wasted gasoline and lost productivityfor a total cost of $7.3 billion a year. That is a huge blow to New Jerseys economy. I have spent 25 years of my life commuting from northern New Jersey into New York City. ","speaker_name":"JON CORZINE","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5630,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090031459,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This kind of congestion costs this country approximately $63 billion a year and wastes nearly 2.5 billion gallons of fuel. We can do better. This bill would provide Delaware with $793 million over 5 years to address our transportation needs. These needs include the replacement of the Indian River Inlet Bridge Replacement in Sussex County which carries 16.000 to 18.000 vehicles daily. not including the summer beach traffic. It also includes needed improvements to increase capacity at the 195\/SR1 interchange. the busiest interchange in New Castle County. Transit would receive around $46.5 billion over 5 years. funding the increasing demand for transportation choices. allowing people to get around without a car. This demonstrates our growing awareness that while roads and bridges and highways are important and we still love our cars in this country. more and more people are using transit. With the congestion we have on our highways. with our increasing dependence on foreign oil. with our increasing problems with air pollution. it certainly makes sense to provide reliable transit for people to get to work. shop or attend a ball game. In the city of Wilmington. nearly . 27 percent of households have no car and 44 percent have only one. This saves families money that can be better invested in homeownership and their childrens education. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10347,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090031483,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today the Senate has overwhelmingly approved the Safe. Accountable. Flexible. and Efficient Transportation Equity Act of 2005. SAFETEA. H.R. 3. I supported this important legislation. as I did last year when the Senate passed a similar measure. S. 1072. I believe it is a critical step toward funding our Nations transportation infrastructure and creating much needed jobs. Now the real work begins. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4971,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090031515,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Gamellis guidance. the ABA has expanded its reach and established its position at the forefront of its field. Many physicians. nurses. and health care workers who are members of the ABA are currently on the front lines. serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and treating Americas injured soldiers. As professor and chair of the Department of Surgery at the Loyola University Medical Center. Dr. Gamelli has dedicated his life to advancing clinical treatment of burn victims. accident and trauma victims and others whose medical needs are among the most difficult and dire a doctor ever sees. As a teacher he has provided guidance to high school students. college students. medical students. residents. graduate students. colleagues and others. encouraging them always to strive for excellence and look for new answers.- As a researcher he has helped his department secure funding for more than 20 years from the National Institutes of Health. He is nationally and internationally recognized for his. research and has authored more than 150 scientific articles. 23 book chapters. and 8. books. In 1997 and 2000 Dr. Gamelli was named by Chicago Magazine as one of \"Chicagos Top Doctors.\" and in 1982. 1985. 1986. 1988. 1989 and 1990. he was named Professor of the Year by the medical students at Loyola. He was selected by the faculty council of Loyola University Chicago as the 2002 member of the year for his excellence in teaching. research. patient care and service. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2896,"word_count":239}
{"speech_id":1090031518,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Kansas -and North Dakota have a total of 1.750.000 acres currently. enrolled in staterun access programs. Furthermore. this study notes that hunting licenses sold in the State of Kansas increased from 175.000 in 1996 to 205.000 in 2001. a 22.9 percent increase. In North Dakota. hunting license sales increased from 118.000 in 1996 to 133.000 in 2001. a 12.7 percent increase. During this same time period. the number of hunters nationwide decreased from 14 million to 13 million. This is a disturbing trend that has resulted in lost jobs. reduced revenues for local communities. and fewer Americans enjoying our rich hunting heritage. Staterun access programs are proof that opening additional acres of private land to hunting increases the numbers of hunters and provides a significant boost to the economies of small towns and rural areas. I cannot emphasize enough what a tremendous opportunity Open Fields provides our colleagues to invest in America and to help preserve our hunting and fishing heritage. Currently. access programs are being successfully administered in states all across America. from Arizona with 2 million acres to Pennsylvania with 4.3 million acres. In 18 States. more than 23 n~illion acres are enrolled. Administrative and incentive payments total just over $23 million per year. an average of about $1 per acre. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5913,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090031519,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. .I come to the floor today to praise an extraordinary man. Paul Peck. I had the honor of meeting Mr. Peck through our mutual interest in the Smithsonian Institution. Mr. Peck has been an effective proponent of the civic process. In 2002. Mr. Peck generously donated $2 million to enhance the National Portrait Gallerys presidential programs. allowing for educational resources related to the presidency. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1014,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090031527,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"While recommitting the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to familycentered care and the unique work of Title IV. this legislation will also expand the innovative strategies Title IV projects have used to prevent mothbrtochild HIV transmission. Since 1994. when the administration of preventive drug interventions was shown to significantly reduce perinatal HIV transmission. the number of newborns infected with HIV has decreased dramatically. Yet mothertochildren transmission does continue to occur. largely due to missed opportunities for identifying HIVpositive pregnant women and providing the supportive services needed to ensure adherence to recommended treatment regimens. We propose to fund demonstration grants to assess the effectiveness of two strategies in reducing mothertochildren transmission: (1) increasing routine. voluntary HIV testing of pregnant women and (2) increasing access to prenatal care. intensive case management. and supportive services for HIVpositive pregnant women. In addition. this bill will encourage research into key care and treatment questions affecting the pediatric populations. These include: the longterm health effects of preventive drug regimens on HIVexposed children. the S5306 - CO longterm health. psychosocial. and prevention needs for children and adolescents perinatally HIVinfected. the transition to adulthood for HIVinfected children. and safer and more effective treatment options for infants. children. and adolescents with HIV disease. Since history suggests that a vaccine may prove to be the most effective. affordable. longterm approach to stopping the spread of HIV. this legislation will also ensure that children are not an afterthought when it comes to the development of an HIV vaccine. Currently. some of the populations hardest hit by the pandemicinfants and youthare at risk of being left behind in the search for an effective vaccine. Because we cannot assume that a vaccine tested in adults will also be safe and effective when used in pediatric populations. it will be important to ensure that promising vaccines are tested in infants and youth as early as is medically and ethically appropriate. Failure to begin planning for the inclusion of these groups in clinical trials could mean significant delays in the availability of a pediatric HIV vaccine. at the cost of countless thousands of lives. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8283,"word_count":350}
{"speech_id":1090031536,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Congress enacted the Indian Health Care Improvement Act to meet the fundamental trust obligation of the United States to ensure that comprehensive health care would be provided to American Indians and Alaska Natives. The health status of Indian people remains much worse than that of other Americans. The Indian Health Care Improvement Act is the statutory framework for the Indian health system and covers just about every aspect of health care. It provides grants and scholarships to recruit Indians into health professions serving native communities and funds to expand the health care infrastructure. It lifted the prohibition against Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement for health services provided by the Indian Health Service or the Indian tribes. and established health services for Indians in urban areas. Reauthorization of this Act is a high legislative priority. Critical improvements have been provided in this bill including provisions exploring options for longterm care. governing children and senior issues and the following: new sources of funding for recruitment and retention purposes. access to health care. especially for Indian children and lowincome Indians. more flexibility in facility construction programs. consolidated behavioral health programs for more comprehensive care. and a Commission to study and recommend the best means of providing Indian health care. I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to ensure passage of this important legislation. I ask unanimous consent that the full text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2586,"word_count":242}
{"speech_id":1090031540,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking. Housing. and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on May 17. 2005. at 10 a.m.. to conduct a hearing on \"Examining the Current Legal and Regulatory Requirements and Industry Practices for Credit Card Issuers with Respect to Consumer Disclosures and Marketing Efforts.\"","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":369,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090031573,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"During the 1980s and 1990s. there were terrorist attacks on American interests around the world and in our country itself. If we had paid attention. General Steiner reminded me. we would not have been surprised on 9\/11. The next big surprise in this country. will be to our pocketbooks. But it doesnt have to happen. If we pay attention. we already know we have the highest natural gas prices in the industrialized world. Three or 4 years ago. we had the lowest natural gas prices in the industrialized world. Today we have the highest. We know gas at the pump is at record levels for our country. We know China and India are increasing their demand for energy. ","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11340,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090031579,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"\"I believe it is time for Democrats to offer an alternative to the President.\"","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1213,"word_count":14}
{"speech_id":1090031586,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. as we continue debating the future of Social Security. it is important to remember for more Americans they cannot save enough for their retirement. In fact. over half of all Americans do not participate in employersponsored retirement plans. and for 28 million households in America they have no other retirement security outside of Social Security. For Americas families retirements are less. not more secure. United Airline employees last week learned that painful lesson. For that reason it is crucial that we strengthen. not weaken. Social Security. as well as enable more Americans to save for their retirement. Specifically. step one. we should encourage companies to automatically enroll their employees in their 401(k) plans. At R.R. Donnelley. a Chicago company. auto enrollment dramatically increased 401(k) participation when they did automatic participation. up to 92 percent. Second. we should make the Savers Credit fully refundable and permanent. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1291,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090031589,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank Mr. Macaulay. Alex. Jay. Patrick. Jack. Justin. Alexander. and Carter for all they have done. Their efforts are an inspiration to us all.","speaker_name":"JOHN KLINE","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1104,"word_count":25}
{"speech_id":1090031593,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If the Senate employs the constitutional option. it will not be changing the rules. it will simply be restoring the precedent and a 200year tradition. Justice Owen deserves a fair upordown vote. as do all of President Bushs judicial nominees.","speaker_name":"KENNY MARCHANT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1036,"word_count":40}
{"speech_id":1090031651,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of the FY 2006 Homeland Security Appropriations bill. This is not a perfect bill. but it provides much needed funds to make our country safer. Total funding in the bill is increased from this years levels. with significant increases over the requested levels for Immigration and for customs enforcement and border protection. Funding for port. transit and aviation security is also much improved over the presidents budget request. Still. Im concerned about shortfalls in the bill. It cuts fire grants by 16 percent. even as a recent survey found that fire departments all over the country are not prepared to respond to a hazmat incident and lack equipment. The bill cuts State homeland security formula grants. local law enforcement terrorism prevention grants. and urban area security grants by 14 percent. ","speaker_name":"MARK UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3001,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090031652,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"FEMA reports that mitigation and building standards already in place have resulted in over $1 billion annually in reduced flood losses. I appreciate the strong support of Financial Services Chairman MIKE OXLEY. Ranking Member BARNEY FRANK. and their staff. who have worked tirelessly to ensure that the Flood Insurance Reform Act is implemented. The Homeland Security bill also includes crucial local preparedness grants. which are an important part of the Federal governments responsibility to be a good partner to local communities. I am pleased that these grants will be distributed. after a state minimum guarantee. on the basis of risk. as the 9\/11 Commission recommended. However. I. am disappointed that three and a half years after the terrorist attacks of September 11. our homeland security budget continues to underfund some of our most pressing needs. from border security to infrastructure security to first responders. But this shortfall stems not from the appropriations bill. but from unfortunate budget choices and the resulting inadequate allocations.","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2232,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090031659,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. this amendment is the combination of the three amendments I will offer today. It would supply funds for the shortfall of ICE agents. or Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. border patrol agents and detention beds that have not yet been funded by this Congress. This shortfall occurs as a result of the difference between authorized levels due to last years National Intelligence Reform Act and a combination of this. years appropriations bills. this appropriations bill and the recently passed supplemental. Immigratons and Customs Enforcement is the agency tasked with enforcing immigration laws internally within the United States. It is critical that ICE. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. receive the resources necessary to successfully complete its mission. The 9\/11 Commission recognized the great importance of adequately securing our Nations. borders against the potential threats. We must make up the shortfall in funding and provide funding for the additional 500 border patrol agents who have not yet been funded. It is also critical that we have adequate detention bed space to house aliens that might otherwise never return for hearings or. worse. might commit crimes if not detained. ","speaker_name":"JOHN HOSTETTLER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1452,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090031661,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. there is plbnty of money in this section of the bill. I think we have put all the money we can into that section. and it is ample. Mr. Chairman. the amendment proposes to amend portions of the bill not yet read. The amendment proposes to increase the level of outlays in the bill. and I ask for a ruling from the Chair.","speaker_name":"HAROLD ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":333,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090031685,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. first of all. I need a clarification. The amendment is on page 2 line 9. and the offset comes on page 37 line 12. I do not understand what the Objection is to the amendment in terms of out of order. I seek a clarification. What is the objection?","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":259,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090031686,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr.Chairman. I will read it again to the gentlewoman. The amendihent proposes to amend. portions of the bill not yet read. The amendment may not be considered en bloc under clause 2(f) of rule XXI because the amendment proposes to increase the level of outlays in the bill.","speaker_name":"HAROLD ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":273,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090031688,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. let me just say I would hope that the chairman would be willing to waive the point of order. I consider this amendment so important that I will withdraw the amendment. Mr. Chairman. I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment without prejudice at this time.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":276,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090031700,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The concern of the committee to get a rebaselining of the Coast Guard construction program is not something that has just happened recently. I think we have been working on this for a year and a half. 2 years. something like that. to get the rebaselining. It is not a lastsecond whim that has occurred. but something that we have been concerned about for an extended period of time and have not gotten a response.","speaker_name":"MARTIN SABO","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":413,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090031701,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The gentleman is exactly correct. In fact. in the 2002 period of time we were requesting the new baseline. We did that in 2003. And then in the 2005 bill finally. we wrote it into the law tha said you shall furnish the rebaselining on a such and so date. That time has long past gone. We still do not have it. What else can we do? I am opens to all ideas. but I think the only weapon we have left is withholding funds.","speaker_name":"HAROLD ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":418,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090031704,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong support of the Lobiondo amendment. The Coast Guards Deepwater Program will result in a nearly complete recapitalization of the Coast Guards fleet of vessels. aircraft. and supporting systems. The Coast Guards legacy assets are failing at an alarming rate. jeopardizing the success of Coast Guard missions and the lives of Coast Guardsmen. We must bring the new assets that will be procured through the Deepwater Program online as quickly as possible. The current bill will not only fail to accelerate the rate at which these assets become available. but it dramatically slows down the delivery of these critical assets. Following the events of 9\/11. the Coast Guard has taken on significant responsibilities to protect maritime homeland security in addition to carrying out its imporfant traditional missions of search and rescue. illegal drug and migrant interdiction. oil spill response and prevention. and fisheries law enforcement. We must provide the resources necessary to allow the men and women of the Coast Guard to successfully carry out these missions. The Deepwater Program will provide these assets and I applaud the chairman of the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation for his amendment to provide funding to procure the assets needed by the Coast Guard. ","speaker_name":"DON YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1340,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090031730,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. when the gentleman first described to me the \"catchandrelease\" policy and how it has affected the border communities. I was surprised to learn that the Department had not made full use of its authority. I understand that doing so will not only allow the Department to remove OTMs two to three times faster than traditional methods while permitting legitimate asylum claims. but would cut detention costs fbr such individuals by more than 50 percent.","speaker_name":"HAROLD ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":463,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090031743,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. our amendment increases the funding for the fire grant program by $50 million. $25 million for the SAFER program. and $25 million for the regular grant program. With the $25 million added to the SAFER program. it would be funded at $75 million. or $10 million above last years funding. With the increase to the regular fire grant program. it would be funded at $575 million. unfortunately still a $75 million cut from last years level. If we had more funding. and more offsets. we would have added it to this program. I might add that whatever the problems are with the larger local grant program. this is a program that has worked very efficiently and effectively. It is a proven successful program. and grant decisions are made on the basis of independent board review. The needs of our fire departments are great. and our Federal funding for the fire grant program has decreased in recent years and. actually. as a population that has grown. the number of firefighters nationwide has fallen. Firefighters still lack basic equipment. The number of firefighters with proper breathing gear and protective clothing has not substantially improved since 9\/11. ","speaker_name":"MARTIN SABO","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1737,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090031749,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So we are preparing to extend that assistance. without forgetting that these first responders have been on the frontlines all along. Traditional disasters. traditional emergencies have not gone away. In fact. the need for a conventional capacity is as strong or stronger than it ever was. So let us resolve that we are not merely going to pay lip service to these people on the frontline who defend our communities every day. Let us resolve to strengthen the Federal partnership and provide the Federal support that they need and deserve. Support the Sabo amendment.","speaker_name":"DAVID PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3985,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090031788,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I cannot help but be very skeptical that the Coast Guards research and development program will continue to support such a broad scope of investigations under a DHS program that is wholly devoted to improving homeland security. The Coast Guard has always been and has continued to be a unique. multimission Service within the Federal government. As such. Congress required the Coast Guard to remain an independent entity within the Department of Homeland Security with complete control over all of the Services functions. authorities. and assets. Any changes to the Coast Guards research and development program will restrict the Services ability to improve methods to protect the safety and security of lives and vessels in U.S. waters and on the high seas. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment and to maintain the integrity of the Coast Guard by restoring funding for the Services research and development program. I thank the gentleman. from Connecticut again for bringing forth this amendment.","speaker_name":"FRANK LOBIONDO","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2394,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090031811,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise to raise a point of order against page 17 beginning with the colon on line 2 through \"intent\" on line 11. This proviso violates clause 2 of rule XXI. It changes existing law and therefore constitutes legislating on an appropriation bill in violation of House rules.","speaker_name":"JOHN MICA","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":286,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090031819,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the gentleman brings up a good point. and I think the gentleman would agree that since 9\/11 we have spent most of the Transportation Security money on air flight and w6 have neglected. I think. rail security and port security and bus security and some of the others. trucking. However. I will be happy to work with him so that we do \u0095have moneys. that are designated for these particular purposes. so that the Department does not have the capability of spending it all in one place. I think it is important that we do have. if we can get it through the authorization process. kitties destined just for rail. just for ports. just for trucks. buses. and the like. Does the gentleman agree?","speaker_name":"HAROLD ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":701,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090031820,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. reclaiming my time. I do agree. And I want to thank the distinguished subcommittee chairman. I know some of the frustration that some of us have felt is that the TSA should be named the Aviation Security Administration rather than the Transportation Security Administration. So I know that what the gentleman and the subcommittee were attempting to do was shared by at least this gentleman and I would assume most of the people in the. Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Our concern. and I think our concern has always been. as we move forward. that we not create two parallel universes. neither of which has sufficient money to get this job done. And the only purpose of this amendment. which I am going to withdraw when I am through yielding to the gentleman. was that we look at existing programs that already exist and if we want to put $150 million dollars in for rail security that it go to the FTA and that we say that it is going to be used only for security and it is not going to be used for other goofy stuff.","speaker_name":"STEVEN LATOURETTE","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1047,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090031835,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. reclaiming my time. I thank the gentleman from Kentucky for all his great work on this very difficult bill. We know that homeland security is an issue that is at the forefront of all Americans minds with a lot of competing priorities. I know the gentleman from Kentucky has worked hard to accommodate all of these competing programs. We appreciate that he still has a lot of work to do. and we appreciate all the great work he did in the past in building that border fence that is presently in the number one smugglers corridor in America between California and Mexico. And as the chairman knows. we have been constructing that border barrier for a number of years. In fact. I remember the days when a number of border patrolmen held a big sign up saying \"Thank you. Hal Rogers\" for the work that he has done. ","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1992,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090031838,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. it will be my pleasure to work with the gentleman and delegation on this project. In fact. I remember not long ago. perhaps last year. helicoptering along that fence and then getting to the gap where there is no fence and seeing the results of that. So I will be happy to work with the gentleman.","speaker_name":"HAROLD ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":310,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090031843,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I will be glad to work with the gentleman and all of our colleagues toward that goal. In fact. between the supplemental bill that passed last week and this bill that is on the floor. if it is successful. we will have added some 1.500 new agents between now and next year. So we are getting closer to his goal.","speaker_name":"HAROLD ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":323,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090031882,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. if the gentleman will yield. perhaps the gentlemans concern goes back to the law. What I am talking about is adding a penalty to the law. The law is on the books. I am not creating law here. The law is a Federal law. it was passed in1996. The only thing we are doing is. adding some sort of penalty to the violation of the law. So the fact that we have had it now for almost 10 years. it seems to me that we are not creating any new problpm for any of these departments. and if the gentleman is concerned about the law itself. then that is where he should perhaps address his concerns.","speaker_name":"THOMAS TANCREDO","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":599,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090031891,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have real problems with immigration. The real problems relate to how we deal with our borders. The real problem deals with how we deal with undocumented people in this country who have violated criminal laws of this country. And to start harassing every unit of government. large or small. depending on what information they send to the Federal Government. tying that to they are eligible for funding to deal with basic homeland security in this country. I think is just a serious mistake. I would hope the House would reject this amendment.","speaker_name":"MARTIN SABO","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1102,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090031892,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Does this amendment mean better national security? No. Under this amendment. foreign nationals who might otherwise be helpful to security investigations will only be more reluctant to come forward. Does this amendment mean better communication between localities. states. and the Department of Homeland Security? No. Cities with these quoteunquote \"sanctuary policies\" are already often the ones who communicate with DHS most regularlyto deal with foreign nationals who have committed crimes. Does this amendment mean crime victims will be better protected? Sadly. no. Crime victims who unfortunately happen to be immigrants will fear their immigration status might be called into question. and will avoid stepping forward to seek justice. So who benefits from this amendment? People who dont like immi.grants and people who mean our country serious harm. Instead of working to support the efforts of state and local police. Instead of working to make reasonable improvements to our immigration system. Instead of state and local govemments being able to decide which policies allow them to best \"serve anl protect\" their communities. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH CROWLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2425,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090031910,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And I know that is authorizing language. But I appreciate the gentleman who has jurisdiction over this issue letting us do this at this point in time. because I think he and I share the same view. We may not be able to pass an authorization bill during the year. so this is sort of a backup procedure. And if you pass an authorization bill dealing with the subject. we will happily stand back and take second fiddle.","speaker_name":"HAROLD ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1293,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090031911,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman. and in spite of the incident that we had last week. and that was not a planned scheduled arrival. it was a departure from what we are talking about and properly opening National Airport to general aviation. I think. again working together. that we can find a plan that will work and not let the terrorists intimidate us in operating our Nations capital airport. Thank you.","speaker_name":"JOHN MICA","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":395,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090031916,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. first of all. I applaud the chairman for this bill to better protect America. I would. however. like to highlight an unfunded Federal security mandate on the already struggling airline industry. The airline industry is an important sector of the American economy. with increasing fuel costs and taxes. though the industry lost $9.1 billion last year alone and has lost $32 billion since September 11. 2001. Currently taxes and fees comprise 26 percent of an average $200 airplane ticket. While the Federal Government has taken over much of the security for airlines after the terrorist attacks of September 11. airlines are still paying $777 million annually out of their own pocket for unfunded Federal security mandates. such as catering security. security for checkpoints and exit lanes. and first flight cabin sweeps. The people loading the peanuts. for example. the airlines are forced to expend $81 million on not only their salaries. but the security checks on these caterers. the people who mark your ticket up with the red crayon at the checkpoint and exit lanes. Airlines. not the government. dispense $79 million on these folks. and the first class cabin sweep crew that inspects the plane prior to boarding. the people who check for bombs in the bathrooms. airlines pay $26 million for them. Perhaps the most and largest unfunded mandate.. however. is the Federal Air Marshal Service. which costs the airlines $195 million each year. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4505,"word_count":238}
{"speech_id":1090031917,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in opposition to the amendment. Mr. Chairman. we have 50.000 employees in the Transportation Security Administration. and they make it safe to fly on airlines. The United States Government is paying the bill. We have hundreds of millions of dollars wQtth of xray machines that we have put in every airport in the country to be sure that the people flying the airlines are safe. Uncle Sam is paying the bill. I could go on. The airlines requested that we have marshals on board airplanes so they can say it is safe to their customers for flying on airlines. ","speaker_name":"HAROLD ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1023,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090031920,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I totally agree with the gentleman. This amendment should be defeated.","speaker_name":"MARTIN SABO","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":605,"word_count":11}
{"speech_id":1090031922,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If this amendment was crafted so that we charged the airlines for putting the air marshal on. I might agree with my colleague because we have a shortfall. I also stated earlier. the airlines came before the Subcommittee on Aviation when we crafted the TSA bill and pledged to pay it $1 billion. That is what they said they would pay if we took away from the airlines. who had that responsibility. the responsibility for passenger screening. Do my colleagues know what they paid last year? Let me repeat it again. $315 million. a shortfall of almost $700 million. So I will be darned if I am going to stand here and support an amendment that would in any way reimburse them for the great expenses. Look at the event of last week. Not only do we have the apparent expenses. we spent some $20 billion on passenger screening on a system that I have great questions about. but we have also spent billions of dollars in training the pilots to be armed. I supported that program. I promoted that program. but most of those pilots do not go at airline expense. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MICA","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3144,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090031929,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today to urge my colleagues to adopt this amendment. which I hope will cease the recent actions of the Department (if Homeland Securitys Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to begin closing the only secure detention center in New York City for noncriminal foreign nationals who enter our country illegally. Closing this facility and releasing these individuals into the streets. as ICE is beginning to do. without conducting a proper screening. endangers the safety and security of New York .City. The Queens detention facility has been utilized by ICE and its predecessor. INS. since 1989. Located within 4 miles of John F. Kennedy International Airport. the facility houses and processes detainees until their status can be determined. ICE oftentimes cannot properly classify a person as \"high risk\" or \"low risk\" at the initial questioning at John F. ","speaker_name":"GREGORY MEEKS","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3070,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090031970,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman. I am just afraid we are doing another miniature No Child Left Behind in this law that we passed a couple of weeks ago. It is the Federal Government again deciding how the States should run something that States have historically done. States have historically issued drivers licenses in this country. So now wise people in Washington are now telling them how to do it. Again. we are not going to pay them money to do it. Then we have all kinds of requirements that may or may not make sense. They make sense to somebody -who sits down here and writes law who. ","speaker_name":"MARTIN SABO","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1305,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090031981,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the distinguished chairman. I am willing to accept the chairmans acceptance. Let me just say. Mr. Chairman. that this amendment speaks to the whole question of protecting our borders in an authorized manner. There seems to be an effort to do it in an unauthorized manner. and I desire to protect those who need -protecting. I would ask my colleagues to support this amendment and. as well. I do want to acknowledge that the work that we have done with staff. I want to appreciate it and I hope the Members will consult with their staff on amendments when Members do consult with the Members staff and that their amendments are in order. With that. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":702,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090032007,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"personal business in my distric from being present for legisl scheduled for today. Tuesday. Had I been present. I would ha on rollcall No. 174. on orderin question. \"no\" on rollcall No. 278. a resolution providifig a ru sideration of H.R. 2360. the Homeland Security Appropriatio cal Year 2006. \"aye\" on rollca amendment offered by Rep. R DEZ of New Jersey. \"no\" on r an amendment offered by Mr. Colorado. \"aye\" on rollcall amendment offered by Mr. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN KILPATRICK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":605,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090032008,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"would like to submit this stat record and regret that I could today. Tuesday. May 17. 2005. call vote Nos. 174. 175. 176. and 180 due to a family medic Had I been present. I woul \"No\" on rollcall vote No. 174 o Previous Question on H. Res. for consideration of H.R. 2360 priations for the Department of curity for the fiscal year ending 2006. and for other purposes. vote No. 175 on Agreeing to the Amended on H. Res. 278. pro sideration of H.R. 2360 making for the Department of Homelan the fiscal year ending Septerm and for other purposes. \"aye\" No. 176 on an Amendment to H crease funding (by transfer) by State and local governments f4 of chemical plants by first respo rollcall vote No. 177 on an H.R. 2360 to prevent the use o travention of a provision in the \u0095 tion Reform and Immigrant Re (PL 104208) that prevents Fe local government officials from restricting government agencie from sending or receiving infor eral immigration officials regard uals immigration status. \"aye\" No. 178 on an Amendment to H sert anew section at the end of hibit the use of funds from being any detention facility operated b of U.S. Immigration and Custom that has been operational in 2 rolicall vote No. 179 on an","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1205,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090032016,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Unfortunately. there is too much being spent on advertising. but I am not one who says they should not be able to advertise. But I believe Americans ought to have access to worldclass drugs at worldmarket prices. I am asking my colleagues to join me in supporting. and I have another chart that is easier to read. compare London to Athens to the United States. We now have pharmacists from around the world who. regularly send us their prices for the drugs. In almost every case. it is less than half what we pay in the United States. These same five drugs. Lipitor. Nexium. Prevacid. Zoloft. and Zyrtec. those five drugs in London. $195.95. ","speaker_name":"GILBERT GUTKNECHT","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3215,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090032022,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"DFW is what it is today because it is the only airport in the metroplex that passengers can use to fly anywhere in the world. Moreover. it has not achieved the success it has by being anticompetitive. On the contrary. it has always welcomed all comers. DFW currently has gates available and is seeking new airlines. Love Field was never meant to be a competitor to DFW. In fact. DFW would probably have never been built and the tens of thousands of jobs and the billions of dollars of economic stimulus it has given DallasFort Worth would never have been realized if Love Field had remained an unrestricted airport. The best proof of that statement is evidenced by the 21 empty gates currently vacant at DFW. Despite any attractive incentives. DFW has been unable to attract new. lowcost tenants because of the discussion of repealing the Wright amendment.","speaker_name":"KENNY MARCHANT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5050,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090032040,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. I just want to make sure because we- point out when there is inaccurate information out there. And some of our friends here in the Beltway. which is Washington. D.C. they have an imagination about what the truth is about. We talk a lot about what the truth really is. We talk a lot about the $350 billion socalled prescription drug plan that is supposed to help Americans. and now it is $724 billion. but we were told $350 billion when it first started. So the President is saying $5 trillion on a privatization plan. What is it going to be next year? Is it going to be $10 trillion?","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":616,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090032041,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if the gentleman will continue to yield. he brings up a great point because over the next 10 years. and I do not know if he said this before I arrived. in the next 10 years we are going to have to borrow $2 trillion to fund this privatization scheme. Over the next 20 years we are going to have to borrow $5 trillion. This is billion. We have to borrow .$5 trillion to fund this privatization scheme. So it is just brilliant that he brought that up in such a timely fashion because it ties into this. As we are running a $162 billion trade deficit with the Chinese at the same time that they are stealing our manufacturing. stealing our jobs. we are borrowing the money right now for our annual deficit that we have. from the Chinese. $500 billion. So what do we have to do to fix this problem? One. we have to balance the budget. But if we are already borrowing $500 billion from the Japanese and the Chinese. why would we then go out and say let us go borrow another $5 trillion to roll the dice on and play roulette?","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1032,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090032042,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"EJ 1900 And if you bring it to the floor. I am going to vote against it. rightfully so. Do we know why? Do we know why it is not on the floor tonight? Because I believe. just like the American people know and just like many Members of this House know. it is not because we are Democrats and we are right. we are Democrats and we are willing to stand up to say what is right for Social Security. This is not a political issue. this is an American issue. So when we start talking about what people are saying here on the floor as it relates to the majority side. we do know we were given that prescription drug number. $350 billion. it ended up being $724 billion and climbing. and still did not put forth a plan where we can combine buying power and take the price down for seniors.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2168,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090032045,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They withheld the administration from your constituents and my constituents. and we made a faulty decision here on the House floor where many Members would not have voted for it. When we go back and look at the war. what we were told about the war: we are greeted as liberators. we will use the oil for reconstruction and it will only cost us $50 billion when we have already over $300 billion invested in the war. all of these things that turned out not to be true. Here we are today being promised a scheme that we have to borrow $5 trillion to implement. It is bad enough we have to borrow it and pay it back. we have to pay the interest on it too. Talk about sticking it to the next generation.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":698,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090032051,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the gentleman brought up a great point. and we will share some more information from the Departmentof the Treasury of the United States of America. This is the national debt. and I believe this is moving. You can go to a Web site. next week we will have to bring the Web site up so you can see. but this is actually always moving: $7.79 trillion in debt that the United States owes other interests. Your share of the debt. I say to the gentleman from Florida. $26.349.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":481,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090032059,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The same in Ohio. 315.000 folks that receive survivor benefits. 16 percent of people who receive a Social Security check in Ohio. 16 percent of them are survivor benefits. So this is a program that helps people who lose a parent at a very young age. they are under the age of 18 and they need a little assistance. And that is what the gentleman from Alabama talked about last week is a sense of community where we are going to have a system that protects and looks out for each other. gets .each others back. I think it is very important that we recognize that Social Security is really the best system. because it inherently. embodies what is best about the country. and I think it is great. I want to just raise a question here. We are kind of running out of time here. We only have a few more minutes left. We have a little bit of time.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":839,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090032061,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But we have less than we had when we started. and we are closer to the end than we are to the beginning. so I am going to try to make a final point or two towards the end here. The question really. and I want to ask the people at home. is this: What do you think. someone watching at home or if you are having a discussion with your friends over dinner. or your family over dinner tonight. what do you think the greatest crisis is in the United States of America? What do you think this Chamber and our friends across the hall and the White House. what do you think we should be focusing on? Do you think that this problem that is 47 years away or 40 years away or 35 years away? We have all kinds of different numbers. we will give you the benefit. say 35 years away. Do you think that is the greatest problem facing the country. or do you think that the 40some million Americans without health insurance. maybe that is the greatest crisis facing the country. or do you think the rising costs of health insurance. if you are a small business owner. or you are in a union and you are trying to negotiate a contract or you are trying to run a school system. and you are the superintendent or you are the teacher. maybe that is the greatest crisis facing the country. How about. and I am sure in your district just like mine. Youngstown City Schools. Akron City Schools. Cleveland City Schools. 80. 85 percent of the kids qualify for free and reduced lunch. Maybe that is a more imminent crisis than a Social Security issue that is. you know. 40 years out. And I just ask the American people to ask themselves. what do you think the great crisis is in the country today? The fact that the trade deficits. the debt. the annual deficits that we are running? To me. I share my opinion. those are the issues. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2456,"word_count":345}
{"speech_id":1090032062,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am taking care of him through the drug store. I am buying off the shelf. which I think is a greater problem. I hope it is a cold. That is a crisis. A crisis is not saying. hey. listen you know something. I got to move this private account thing while we are in power so we can help make our buddies even more buddies to us. Because that is what I think the underlying issue here is. And so I just Want to step in there. because you made an excellent point.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1743,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090032063,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I just think that is it. Thanks for reiterating it. It is just what is the crisis? What do you at home want us to deal with. because we work for you. What do you want us to deal with here? And we are trying to bring up issues like China and how we are going to deal with that tremendous threat. and the administration brushes it off. You know. we want to deal with health care and the amount of poverty. not necessarily for compassionate reasons. although some may feel that way. But because we need everyone playing. We are going on the field now with only half a team. and that is getting very dangerous. So as we wrap it up. I want to share again. send us an email. 30somethingdems @mail.house.gov. Do I have time to read?","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":725,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090032070,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So drug testing. if you know you are going to lose your job if you are drug tested. that is one of the best prevention programs. but those are some of the highlights of the prevention strategy. the national ad campaign. Partnership for a DrugFree America. the community coalition. drugfree schools and drug testing. Then you go. okay. if this stuffs too cheap or too pure. basically it overwhelms the prevention policy. So what do we do? First. we try to get this stuff. get the illegal narcotics at its source. So let us take cocaine and heroin in Colombia. First. you try to eradicate it. You go there. spray the stuff. hit it multiple times a year. If you fail and some gets out. which it always does. then you try to interdict it in the source country and get it before it hits the shores of the Caribbean or the eastern Pacific. Once it gets in the water. now we are dealing rather than in an area maybe the size of Texas. we are dealing in an area that is huge. the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific. So it is much harder to get it. ","speaker_name":"MARK SOUDER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11024,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090032076,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In 1992. the first year I was elected to Congress. we had a trade deficit in this country of only $38 billion. That was in 1992. Last year our trade deficit was $618 billion. It went from $38 billion.. and a dozen years later $618 billion. It is hard to argue that our trade policy is working with that kind of gargantuan swelling budget deficit. Opponents to the Central American Free Trade Agreement know in fact it is simply an extension of the North American Free Trade Agreement. which clearly did not work for our country. It is the same old story. Every time there is a trade agreement. the President says it will mean more jobs for our Nation. The President says it will mean more manufacturing in the United States. The President says it will mean better wages for workers in the developing world. and as their standard of living goes _up they buy more things from the United States. ","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11331,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090032079,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is why our brothers and sisters in Central America need us to stand up. Yo creo que es muy importante pelear por los derechos de los trabajadores. It is very important to take a stand for the rights of workers.","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2495,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090032082,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Taking back my time. it is no surprise. or no coincidence. that as this trade deficit has increased from $38 billion the year I first ran for Congress 121\/2 years ago to last years deficit of $618 billion. that is the same trajectory where we have seen health benefits cut. where we have seen workers in our country losing their pensions. When we lose these manufacturing jobs. every time a Ford worker loses his job or her job in Avon Lake or in Cleveland. that is often one fewer person in Ohio with health benefits. one less person that has a pension. These trade agreements clearly have pulled down the standard of living for way too many of my colleagues constituents and way too many of mine. way too many people in North Carolina where textiles and the apparel job loss have devastated their part of the country. I want to make a prediction. My colleague made a statement a minute ago that in one of the Central American countries with whom we have negotiated this deal that legislation was passed in the middle of the night. I will make a prediction. Based on a lot of facts. the facts that every major piece of legislation. or virtually every major piece of legislation this Congress has considered the last 2 years. the debate started about this time of night. maybe even a little later. started about midnight. started around 1 oclock. the debates on these very important issues. Head Start. money for veterans benefits. money for education. $87 billion for Iraq. the major tax cuts. Medicare and the trade promotion authority. The last big trade agreement this Congress voted for. we voted in the middle of the night. ","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3375,"word_count":288}
{"speech_id":1090032083,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But they are being made now elsewhere at a fraction of the price. where workers are underpaid. where they have no rights. When we started years *ago challenging these trade agreements. some of us were told. well. you are being an isolationist. we have to have trade. Well. it is true. we do have to have trade. but we have to have fair trade. We have to have trade which respects the undeniable fact that all people are interdependent and interconnected. These trade agreements create a divide. a chasm. between the very wealthy and the increasingly poor. These trade agreements have helped to bring about the destructive undermining of Americas middle class. So when you look at that map. Isay to the gentleman. and you can see not only various colors of States. depending on how many jobs they have lost. but behind those statistics are individual stories of dreams that. were shattered. of families that were broken. of opportunities that were denied. of futures that were totally changed. of the American Dream being dashed. of the American Dream being dashed. That is why we are standing here tonight. challenging CAFTA and. hy reference. all of the other trade agreements that have passed.","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1941,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090032087,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Right. China at this moment is organizing its economy to be able to excel in steel. automotive. and aerospace because Chinese leaders recognize that it is those very industries that enabled America 50 years ago to achieve preeminence in all the -world. So we need a new American manufacturing policy. and we need a new policy which rebuilds our infrastructure. Just as FDR understood that the New Deal was an opportunity to put millions of people back to work. we should create a deal where we rebuild our infrastructure. where we rebuild our bridges. our water systems. our sewer systems. where we rebuild parks and hospitals and schools. where we rebuild Americas infrastructure and create millions of new jobs. and then that would be an investment that would enable people to go back and start factories again. Mr. Speaker. we need a new direction in this country. We need a new approach with. Our economy. We have to do something about this trade deficit. but we have to make sure that our basic infrastructure is strong to help create productivity. and we also have to do something about our tax system. which is incentivizing the movement of jobs out of this country. our tax system where 34 percent of the tax cuts go to the top one percent. Also. we have to recognize. as some of our major industries are recognizing. that if we are going to protect industry in this country. then we have to have a universal. singlepayer health care system. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2970,"word_count":253}
{"speech_id":1090032130,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to executive session to consider calendar No. 71. the nomination of Priscilla Owen to be United States Circuit Judge for the Fifth Circuit. provided further that the first hour of debate. -from 9:45 to -10:45. be under the control of the majority leader or his designee. further that the next hour. from 10:45 to 11:45. be under the control of the Democratic leader or his designee. and the time for debate rotate in a similar manner every 60 minutes. provided further that the Senate recess from 3:45 to 4:45 to accommodate an allSenators briefing. provided further that the time from 5:45 to 7:15 be under the control of the Democratic leader and the time from 7:15 to 7:45 be under the control of the majority leader or his designee.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":803,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090032148,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would be happy to look at the letter and request of the administration. what requests are made in the letter. and see what their response would be. In the meantime. Mr. President. what I would like to do is proceed with Priscilla Owen. who is a qualified nominee. who is a nominee we are going to have a lot of debate on back and forth. to determine whether or not she is out of the mainstream. as people say. We will go through regular order and take these nominees the President has submitted to the Judiciary Committee. who have been fully evaluated in the Judiciary Committee. and who now are on the Executive- Calendar ready for business. So we are going to begin that debate shortly.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":706,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090032149,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. reserving my rights further. Mr. President. as I understand. there is a new nominee who is on the Executive Calendar. Brian Sandoval of Nevada. who has general broad support. Is he not a nominee we could confirm in a matter of moments here? We could at least take care of that vacancy.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":291,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090032174,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There will be a lot more said about Priscilla Owen. but I think a fairly good indication of the kind of judge she is should come from the Attorney General of the United States who says that her unconscionable activism is replete through her opinions. I assume he knows what it means. I am confident he does. He is a brilliant man. \"Shockingly unjust. unscrupulous\"-those are not the words of the Senate Judiciary Committee. not some special interest group. those are the words of the Attorney General of the United States about Priscilla Owen. And she has had a vote here on the Senate floor. Janice Rogers Brown. I am sure she has come from nothing to something. I think that is good. That is the way America should be. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11646,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090032179,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. that would be acceptable to me. I am the manager. in my capacity as chairman -of the Judiciary Committee. on Priscilla Owen. We would accommodate to \u0095 have an equal amount of time allotted to the Democrats. It may. be. Mr. President. that I will not use the full hour.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":283,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090032181,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask the distinguished chairman this. We have 41 minutes on our side and 42 on the other side. If you dont complete your remarks in 41 minutes. then we will agree to yield an equivalent amount of time in the next hour. to deduct that equal amount of time in the next hour from both sides.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":304,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090032187,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. as we begin consideration of the nomination of Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. the Senate Chamber is filled with anticipation that we may be embarking on a historic debate which could redefine minority rights in the Senate and impact our fundafmental constitutional doV:. trine of separation of powers. As we all know. if 60 votes are not obtained to invoke cloture to cut off debate on this nominee and three others to be called up sequentially for confirmation votes. a ruling is likely to be sought to change the required vote from 60 to 51. unless a compromise can first be reached. This controversy did not arise. in my judgment. because Democrats concluded that Miguel Estrada and nine other President Bush circuit court nominees were unqualified. so they should be filibustered. but rather because it was payback time for Republican treatment of President Clintons nominees. While there have been a few scattered cloture votes in the history of the Senate. it is totally unprecedented for a party to engage in such a systematic pattern of filibusters. In almost 25 years on the Judiciary Committee. I have seen circuit court nominees confirmed routinely where their qualifications were no better than those under fire today. These filibusters are the combination of a power struggle between Republicans and Democrats as to which party can control the judicial selection process through partisan maneuvering. As a starting point. it is important to acknowledge that both sidesDemocrats and Republicanshave been at fault. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12385,"word_count":259}
{"speech_id":1090032188,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In conclusion. Mr. President. I know my time is nearly up. I had a chance to talk at some length with Justice Priscilla Owen. She is an intelligent. articulate lawyer who has had very substantial experience on the Supreme Court of her State for some 10 years. She has been endorsed by 84 percent of the electorate of Texas. She has recognized the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade and is bound to apply it and has recognized its principles and is not at all hostile to Roe v. Wade. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1183,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090032202,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I hope during the course of the debate we will take a deep breath. as we try to calmly but deliberately address the issues that lie before us. That is what I will strive to do for my part. I want to talk in particular about Priscilla Owen. Before I do. I neglected to ask unanimous consent that I be allotted 20 minutes out of our sides time.","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1307,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090032204,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"She is a distinguished jurist and a distinguished public servant. She has excelled at virtually everything she has undertaken. She was a top graduate of her law school class at the remarkable age of 23 years and received the top score on the Texas bar. examination. She entered the legal profession at a time when few women did. After a distinguished record in private practice.. she reached the pinnacle of the Texas bar. which is the Texas Supreme Court. She was supported by a larger percentage of Texans in her last election than any of her colleagues84 percentafter enjoying the endorsement of virtually every newspaper in the State. She has been honored as the Young Lawyer of the Year by her alma mater. as well as an outstanding alumna of Baylor University. The. irony in this partisan obstruction of a bipartisan majority who stand ready to confirm her is that Priscilla Owen enjoys bipartisan support in the State of Texas. Three former Democratic judges on the Texas Supreme Court. as well as a bipartisan group of 15 past presidents of the State bar of Texas support this nominee. The Houston Chronicle. one of our major newspapers. in the year 2000 called her \"[c]learly academically gifted.\" stating that she \"has the proper balance of judicial experience. solid legal scholarship. and realworld knowhow to continue to be an asset on the high court.\" The Dallas Morning News. another major newspaper in our State. wrote on She has the brainpower. experience and temperament to serve ably on an appellate court. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11186,"word_count":257}
{"speech_id":1090032225,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As Senators we have a responsibility to vote. These nominees deserve fair consideration. fair scrutiny. but ultimately we have a responsibilit.y- to get off our haunches. show the backbone. show the spine. vote yes or vote no. and be responsible to our constituents. I thank you. Madam President. and I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1080,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090032234,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Judges are now under siege. Our Constitution is under attack. Our precious system of checks and balances is under assault. Some of my colleagues seem to have forgotten we in the Senate have a constitutional role to play. and we will. The Founding Fathers did not intend us to march lockstep like lemmings behind every Presidential appointee no matter how many times he or she is put before the Senate. The Founding Fathers. whom many of us like to cite. foresaw collaboration between the President and the Senate in the seating of judges. The Founding Fathers expected. because of the advice and consent clause. the President would be judicious. that he vould talk to the Senate about nominees. This President has done none of that. No President has nominated judges more through an ideological spectrum than this President. When he asks why he doesnt get cooperation from the Democrat side. he has reaped what he has sown. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES SCHUMER","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11365,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090032247,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Since she was. appointed to the Supreme Court. a couple things have happened that provide confidence in her good performance. During the 1998 election. she was on the ballot and had to win the majority of the vote to stay on the bench. The people of California. who didnt vote for President Bush and certainly are not a rightwing electorate. voted to keep Justice Janice Rogers Brown on the court with 76 percent of the vote. That is a big vote by any standard. Probably 20 percent of the people in California vote against anylbody on the ballot. Other judges .were on the ballot. She got a higher percentage of the vote than any of the other four judges on the ballot. That is an affirmation by the people of California. In 2002. for example. Justice Browns colleagues on the supreme court relied on her to write the majority opinion for the court more times than any other justice. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3718,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090032251,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The court is now stepping into that. My question to my colleague would be. Where does this stop if you dont start putting on judges who are judges rather than super legislators? Where does it stop?","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1474,"word_count":36}
{"speech_id":1090032278,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The people of Texas have recognized these attributes in Judge Owen and rewarded her twice by electing her and reelecting herto the Texas Supreme Court. In fact. she was reelected with 84 percent of the vote. Yet some try to characterize her as somehow outside of the mainstream. How can they justify that? For 4 long years now. her nomination has languished as a result of a deliberate and systematic strategy to deny upordown votes to the Presidents majoritysupported nominees. They claim nominees such as Justice Owen are extremists and conservative activists. Her record does not support these assertions. and I commend the President for renominating this eminently qualified jurist. In contrast to the false charge that she is an extremistand I might add. how can she be an extremist and have the highest approval of the American Bar Association. certainly not a conservative group? So in contrast to the false charge that she is an extremist. the fact is Priscilla Owen is one of those relatively few nominees who received a unanimously wellqualified rating from the American Bar Association. the highest rating possible. I am under no illusions here. The Senate is a unique. deliberative institution where the opportunity for serious debate must be vigilantly. protected. Unfortunately. it seems likely that not many are going to have their minds changed by this debate. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11719,"word_count":224}
{"speech_id":1090032284,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They would conclude that she was not making law but was interpreting the law according to the way the Texas Legislature had intended. In cases involving parental notification. they would conclude that she had faithfully applied the law. In addition to discussing Justice Owens nomination. I also want to address the confirmation process as a whole. In the past. whether it was Judge Robert Bork or Clarence Thomas. Republicans were unhappy with the treatment that some nominees of Republican Presidents received. The reputation of Judge Bork and Justice Thomas had been attacked. These fine men were vilified. Republicans felt that those nominees were treated unfairly in committee and then on the floor. When President Clinton was President. some of his nominees were likewise mistreated. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7587,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090032290,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":14,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator from Washington who has been on the floor today addressing some of the major issues we are considering. This is an historic debate. Although there are few people gathered on the Senate floor. many people across Capitol Hill and across the Nation are following this debate. This is the first time in the history of the -Senate where there is an attempt being made to change one of the most fundamental rules and one of the most fundamental values of this institution. To think how many Senators have. come and gone in the history of this bodythe number is fewer than 1.900 in totalIn all of that time. no Senator has been so bold as to stand up and do what we understand the majority leader is likely to do very soon. the socalled nuclear option. Why in the history of this Chamber has no Senator ever done this? Because. frankly. it strikes at the heart of this institution. It goes to the value of the Senate in our. Constitution. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11527,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090032292,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Our democracy values the importance of checks and balances. Our democracy values an independent judiciary. But with this nuclear option and the rhetorical assault that is being launched at Democratic Senators by activists around the country. we now see those values under attack. The nuclear option is an assault on the American people and many of the things we hold dear. It is an attempt to impose on the country. through lifetime appointments. the. extreme values held by a few at the cost of many. It is the tyranny of the majority personified. Confirming these nominees by becoming a rubberstamp for the administration would be an affront to the 200yearold system we have in place. a system of checks and balances. At the same time I have to say it would be an affront to the values I promised to defend when I came to the Senate. It is not always easy. Building and maintaining. a democracy is not easy. ","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10007,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090032305,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This drug scam exemplifies how the Internet can be a door to an unregulated world of just about any kind of pharmaceuticalincluding counterfeits and potentially dangerous narcotics. This is particularly concerning given the growing ease at which prescription drugs can be purchased over the Internet. At the heart of the debate on foreign importation of prescription drugs is the concern over the cost of prescription drugs. Often proponents claim that importation would allow Americans access to other countries drugs at a cheaper price. despite thorough analysis by the U.S. Health and Human Services Task Force on Prescription Drug Importation. The HHS Task Force reported that any associated cost savings with importation would be negated by the costs associated with constructing and attempting to safely maintain such a bystem. and ultimately concluded what both Past and current Administrations have found: the safety of imported drugs purchased by individuals. via the Internet or other means. cannot be guaranteed. Moreover. generic prescription drugs in America are on average 50 percent less than their foreign counterparts. This holds true in the case of the \"Bansal Organization.\" in which the vast majority of the tiafficked drugs were sold at prices higher than what a consumer would have paid at a legitimate pharmacy. The safety of the American drug supply should not be sacrificed for supposed savings. Those that continue to purport that importation would provide cheaper drugs are misleading the American people. and as a result putting their health and lives at risk. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5489,"word_count":248}
{"speech_id":1090032307,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mississippi. Arkansas. and Texas. It also has enormous potential for freight movement. but it also cuts across the poorest region of my State where economic development -is vitally important to the future of local communities. The amount of jobs a project such as 169 would create has the potential to lift these areas out of poverty. During debate on the highway bill. I have requested. amounts that would provide Arkansas with a sufficient amount of money to make significant progress on the.4e two extremely important roadways.","speaker_name":"MARK PRYOR","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2096,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090032314,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to publicly commend two American Legion Auxiliary units in South Dakota for the wonderful services they provide to their communities. I point to Unit 230 PikeHuska American Legion Auxiliary Post of Aurora. and Unit 74 of Brookings as fine units whose efforts are worthy of recognition. In April of 2005. Unit 230 in Aurora sponsored an Election Forum designed to introduce voters to the four candidates running for Aurora City Council. The meeting enabled the community to not only meet the candidates. but also learn about their positions on various issues. Additionally. Aurora Unit 230 joined with Brookings Unit 74 to fulfill \"The Dictionary Project.\" Since Aurora school children are bussed to the three schools in the Brookings School District. the two units collaborated by purchasing and hand delivering 206 dictionaries. one to each third grade student in the Brookings district. Upon receiving the dictionary. each student signed it. thus establishing it as his or hers to keep. ","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1614,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090032316,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Steve grew up on the family ranch and attended my alma mater. Stanford University. before heading to the University of Colorado School of Law. After five years with the California Department of Water Resources in Sacramento. CA. Steve returned to San Luis Obispo County to help manage the familys ranches andcontinue his private water law practice. In addition to all this. Steve also has been active in his community. working with numerous organizations. coaching sports. and serving on the Shandon School Board for fifteen years. As a U.S. Senator representing the State of California. I congratulate Steve on winning this award and thank him for his many years of service to our State. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3314,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090032361,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to recognize and honor Army Private First Class Travis Anderson. who was killed in the line of duty while serving his country honorably in Iraq. He was extremely proud to wear his Nations uniform. and we should all pay tribute to this brave and courageous young man. Each day our men and women willingly face unknown dangers as part of the effort to promote peace and democracy throughout the world. Their individual stories of honor and courage must notbe forgotten. Travis Anderson was from the San Luis Valley in Colorado. and he loved hunting and .fishing. He was an excellent marksman and was one of the best known coyote hunters around. Travis knew from an early. age that he wanted to use his talent to serve his country. His passion for serving his country and marksmanship earned him a place in the elite Special Forces. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SALAZAR","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1644,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090032372,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Stand with President George W. Bush. Reject taxpayer funding of human embryo research.","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":871,"word_count":13}
{"speech_id":1090032376,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as my colleagues know. the United States Senate leadership wants to have an up or down vote on Supreme Court nominees. Why? Because that is what the Senate should be doing: voting yes. voting no. * We have heard that the President is promoting extreme fringe members of the judiciary for appointments on his court. That being the case. why do the Democrats not have the guts to just go ahead and debate it in public. instead of hiding behind the cloak of committee? It is incumbent protection. Let us bring the votes to the floor. I want to introduce to my colleagues one of these nominees. Justice Janice Rogers Brown. She was elected with 76 percent of the Statewide vote in California. hardly an extremist if one gets 76 percent of the vote in California. She was born the daughter of a sharecropper in Alabama in 1948 and grew up under Jim Crow laws in the South. She is a selfmade woman. ","speaker_name":"JACK KINGSTON","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1283,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090032384,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. I am pleased to yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from California . the chairman of the Committee on Rules.","speaker_name":"PETE SESSIONS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1253,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090032399,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we spoke earlier about how Members provided information back and forth not only to the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox) and the Homeland Security Department but also about how we were able to have a Committee on Rules meeting yesterday with thoughtful ideas that were presented yesterday. Our next speaker was a. part of those thoughtful ideas. He not only sat through hours of testimony. quizzing Members about their questions and comments. things that would make things better. but also a few ideas himself. Mr. Speaker. I am very pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia .","speaker_name":"PETE SESSIONS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":607,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090032403,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Connecticut .","speaker_name":"PETE SESSIONS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":595,"word_count":10}
{"speech_id":1090032406,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. *Speaker. I rise in opposition to this restrictive rule which does not make in order several key amendments that could go a long way to enhancing our security efforts and addressing serious vulnerabilities. Case in point: the cargo security amendment offered by the gentleman from Massachusetts and just spoken of by the gentleman from Connecticut . That being said. today we will consider H.R. 1817. the first ever authorization measure for the Department of Homeland Security. I want to congratulate the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox) and the gentleman from Mississippi . ranking member. for bringing this important bill on the floor. I am proud to serve with them on the Committee on Homeland Security. While it is not as far reaching as many of us had hoped. H.R. 1817 takes several critical steps in improving our Nations security and preparedness. It authorizes sufficient funding to hire an additional 2.000 border patrol agents. which will help us meet the goal of 10.000 new agents over 5 years set forth in last years intelligence reform bill. ","speaker_name":"JAMES LANGEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2511,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090032409,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let us begin to do it today.","speaker_name":"ELEANOR NORTON","chamber":"H","state":"DC","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":2273,"word_count":7}
{"speech_id":1090032411,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank my distinguished friend from New York for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker. I rise against this rule. I am very disappointed that my bipartisan amendment to restore funding fob shoulderfired missile protections was not permitted by this rule. The President of the United States requested $110 million for shoulderfired missile research and development. The bill that we are going to vote on later today reduces it to $10 million. Over the past several years. the gentleman from Florida . ","speaker_name":"STEVE ISRAEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2267,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090032421,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today in opposition to the rule on H.R. 1817. the Homeland Security Authorization Act for FY2006. Republicans on the Rules Committee blocked the consideration of several amendments offered by md and my colleagues to this bill. This body should have the right to discuss and to consider each amendment. One of the amendments blocked was the amendment I offered which would put passenger security fees into two- funds that will guarantee that TSA will spend the authorized amounts of $650 million a year and $250 million for the installation of inline baggage screening systems and passenger checkpoint explosive detection. respectively. We are currently collecting over $1.5 billion a year from the passenger security fee for aviation security services. Given that these security investments are financed by the existing passenger security fee. the Congressional Budget Office has determined that the increased investment does not increase the size of the deficit. In April. the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General (DHSIG) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) both released reports that indicate that our airport screening system still needs improvement. While the traveling public is more secure today than before September 11th. 2001. airport screeners are not detecting prohibited items at the level we need. ","speaker_name":"JERRY COSTELLO","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4215,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090032450,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In addition to authorizing over $34 billion in funding for DHS operations in fiscal year 2006. this legislation calls for DHS to accelerate its efforts to identify and deploy homeland security technologies and creates mechanisms by which State and local leaders can effectively communicate with Federal homeland security officials. As the chairman of the Subcommittee on the Prevention of Nuclear and Biological Attack. I have been tasked with overseeing the Departments efforts to prevent terrorist attacks on the United States using nuclear and biological weapons. I cannot think of a more devastating event both in terms of loss of life and economic fallout than an attack on this country involving a weapon of mass destruction. H.R. 1817 refocuses the mission of DHS to follow a similar path. First. this legislation authorizes full funding of 2.000 new border agents. It is no secret that much of our Nations 7.000 miles of border with both Canada and Mexico are vulnerable to illegal crossings. The addition of these agents will strengthen our Nations ability to protect those borders and to prevent terrorists from smuggling nuclear or biological material into our country. Prevention. however. should not be limited to our borders. and H.R. 1817 authorizes approximately $200 million in funding for a new nuclear detection office which will play a substantial role in coordinating the overseas nonproliferation efforts of the Federal Government. Moreover. ","speaker_name":"JOHN LINDER","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3017,"word_count":229}
{"speech_id":1090032463,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I would like to thank the gentleman from California (Chairman Cox) and the gentleman from Mississippi . ranking member. for conducting what I think is a thoroughly balanced markup of this bill. the first House authorization of the Department of Homeland Security. This bill is a bipartisan product of our committee. and I am pleased that the committee included my amendment addressing the importance of agriculture security in the bill. Too often folks take the safety of our food for granted. It is critical that the Department of Homeland Security work in close cooperation with other agencies of the Federal Government. especially the U.S. Department of Agriculture. to ensure the safety of the food in this country. Although the authorization bill addresses~many important issues. it is far from perfect. It fails to address a number of the important and wideranging security gaps. including the need for communication and interoperability betweqn first responders. We also need more investment not only in the research and development of security technologies but also in the training of scientists. researchers. and analysts to support and protect our Nation. ","speaker_name":"BOB ETHERIDGE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1493,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090032465,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Baton Rouge. my hometown. is the Nations furthest inland port. the only port in the country capable of handling superships. My State is the third largest producer of petroleum. the third leading State in petroleum refining. all of which requires critical infrastructure. Twentyfive percent of the Nations exports are already shipped through Louisiana. For those reasons. I strongly rise in support of these provisions that shift our funding to one based on the risk and threat of actual attack as opposed to just politics. Louisiana is already home to a Coast Guard and border patrol regional office. We certainly hope that when the Department does come and decide where to locate these regional offices. we will be considered. I rise in strong support of the bill.","speaker_name":"BOBBY JINDAL","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2710,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090032473,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. The Republican leadership has denied a debate on the House floor on the very important issue that passengers who fly on commercial flights across An ica. tens of millions of American year who put their families on ci mercial flights. are put in the situat where they take off their shoes. t have their computers checked. t have their bags which are inspected those passenger flights. because know that al Qaeda is trying to ii trate commercial flights in America But the cargo. the cargo which g on that very same plane. of someb who did not buy a ticket on that fl but placed the cargo on that plan( going to fly without being screene( all. Almost none of the cargo on Ar ican planes that carry passenj across our country is screened. though that cargo is almost the si size as your bags. which are on same plane. So you have your I screened. you have your far screened. but the cargo on that plar not screened. How much sense does that mi that your shoes are screened but I the cargo on the very same plane is screened? And do my colleagues want to I something else even more absurd? * is a package 16 ounces or less. the: not even look at the paperwork fo It goes on that passenger plane a matically. Mr. Chairman. this is wrong. In past week. we have had two plane. verted that were coming from over because the nofly terrorist list had been completely checked before plane was in midair. and it causec versions both times. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3270,"word_count":277}
{"speech_id":1090032487,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman.. I am glad that the chairman pointed out the good points about this amendment and. also \"maybe pointed out a few other issues as it relates to the budget issue. This is the Homeland Security Authorization bill. not the appropriations bill. We are authorizing the Department. hopefully. to be able to move towards this $200 million to be able to take care of some of the issues that we hear about and read about in newspapers daily. about mismanagement. about contractors not following through on their obligation to the Federal Government. I mean. it is not fine if it was just wasteful spending. but this is the protection of the homeland. And when we look at accountability and protection. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1312,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090032504,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The driver identified was in possession of a U.S. passport. and the passenger was identified as a citizen of Mexico illegally present in the United States. A consensual search of the vehicle found nine firearms and ammunition hidden under the bed liner of the truck. Both were taken into ICEs custody for prosecution. It is important to note that all officers enrolled in this program received extensive training in cultural sensitivity and civil rights procedure. Contrary to the fears of the programs opponents. ICE has received no complaints of intimidation. harassment orprofiling. In fact. Alabama law enforcement officials have reached out to its immigrant community to help educate them on the law. Overall. the program is an essential force multiplier and helps ICE officials better enforce our Nations immigration laws. I would also like to recognize the work of the gentleman from Texas . a member of our committee. and all that he has done on this committee. ","speaker_name":"MIKE ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2010,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090032508,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"No longer can we afford the turf battles between State. Federal. and local law enforcement. As the head of the Joint Terrorism Task Force back in my State. the State of Texas. I can tell you that State and locals participate in the Joint Terrorism task forces. This will give them the tools and the training necessary to enforce not only our terrorist laws but the immigration laws that so often overlap into the Federal terrorist criminal penalties. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment. It will bring law enforcement together in a unified front to protect our national security.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL MCCAUL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1926,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090032530,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Chairman. and I would like to commend the gentleman from Rhode Island for his comments on and his commitment to this vitally important issue. I too am committed to citizen terrorism preparedness. I agree that the Department of Homeland Security should make it a priority to engage the American public as partners in homeland security. It simply makes sense to encourage continued dialogue between the Department and its constituency. the American people. E0 1415 The Department of Homeland Security has taken many important steps to foster just this kind of dialogue. For example. the Department administers the Citizen Corps Program which is specifically designed to improve civilian terrorism preparedness. In addition. the Department Science and Technology Directorate plans to establish a Center of Excellence on Domestic Preparedness and Response Capabilities. When established later this year. this center will engage in missionoriented research to enhance citizen preparedness and improve citizen input into local. ","speaker_name":"C. COX","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":48.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1850,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090032541,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. there are a number of places in the managers amendment to H.R. 11817 that refer to coordination efforts between the Department of Homeland Security with \"other relevant Federal agencies.\" specifically as it relates to protection of critical infrastructure and cybersecurity. I want to ask the distinguished chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security if those \"other relevant Federal agencies\" would include the departments and agencies under the jurisdiction of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. including the Department of Commerce. Department of Energy. Department of Health and Human Services. Federal Communications Commission. Federal Energy -Regulatory Commission. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Federal Trade Commission. National Information Agency. and the Environmental Protection Agency?","speaker_name":"JOE BARTON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":819,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090032553,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the ranking member as well as the chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security for coming forth with this legislation. The objective of my amendment is very simple. This amendment attempts to promulgate a national standardization of emergency medical response training to events involving weapons of mass destruction. I I The centerpiece of the National Medical Preparedness Consortium is its affiliation with the Center for Mass De-. struction Defense. a CDC Center for Public Health Preparedness. The Cgnter For Mass Destruction Defense is the original developer of the National Disaster Life Support courses. Basic Disaster Life Support and Advanced Disaster Life Support. which provides an allhazards approach to emergency medical services preparedness and are the only courses certified by the American Medical Association as national standards. The Center for Mass Destruction Defense was also one of the founding members of the National Disaster Life Support Education Committee of the AMA. which oversees the development and current implementation of the basic and advanced disaster life support courses. as well as a cofounder of the National Medical Preparedness Consortium. The funding for the National Medical Disaster Consortium would come from the Office of Domestic Preparedness which would not exceed $5 million. ","speaker_name":"EDDIE JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6691,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090032596,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. reclaiming my time. I believe the gentleman has very clearly and accurately stated the jurisdictional question on this amendment. It has been determined that it falls within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Homeland Security. For that reason I would propose that the Committee on Homeland Security take up this issue and use its jurisdiction to help solve this problem. :","speaker_name":"C. COX","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":48.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":389,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090032600,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Since this is most often the case. it seems strange to give AMO. a law enforcement agency within Customs and Border Protection. the lead in airspace security. If one thing went right last week it was communication. coordination and each Federal agency understanding and fulfilling their role. If it aint broke. dont fix it! Therefore. I urge my colleagues to vote \"no\" on the Souder amendment.","speaker_name":"JOHN MICA","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2281,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090032642,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. with all respect to my colleague. the gentleman from Florida . I could not disagree more strongly. The Constitution of the United States gives to our national government the responsibility to provide for the common defense. When al Qaeda turned airliners into missiles. hundreds of passengers aboard those aircraft were killed. but thousands of people in the World Trade Center Towers and in the Pentagon were also killed. And none of them was an airline passenger. Neither were the millions of Americans who suffered the economic damage of billions of dollars inflicted by al Qaeda as a result of those attacks. Homeland security. in my view. is the essence of national security. And this amendment puts that question to the test. Is homeland security merely the correlation of national security. or is it the core of what we are seeking to establish when we provide for the common defense and protecting the territory and the population of the United States? If every time the Pentagon needed a new weapons system they had to find a user fee in order to pay for it. we would have a thirdworld national defense. ","speaker_name":"C. COX","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":48.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1534,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090032643,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise and express strong support for the amendment of the gentlewoman from Oregon . It sends a strong and simple message to Congress: do not raise aviation passenger fees. I strongly believe that raising fees will place an additional burden on the flying public and could weaken the economic strength of domestic commercial aviation. Mr. Chairman. I strongly support the Hooley amendment and urge my colleagues in the House to vote in favor of this important amendment.","speaker_name":"BENNIE THOMPSON","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":484,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090032673,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam to give it the authority to charge a similar fee Chairman. I ask my colleagues to sup- to familybased applicants and petitions. port the amendment. and I yield back The accounts are mixed. Mr. Chairman. on the balance of my time. how well the premium service fee for employ-","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":280,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090032674,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Me. Chairman. I rise in sup- mentbased applications and petitions has port of the Jackson Lee\/Conyers amendment worked. We have heard from some. for into H.R. 1817. which would direct the Govern- stance. that implementation of this diversion ment Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a has resulted in a slowing down of adjudicastudy of two Administration proposals to in- tions .for those businesses who decline to pay crease fees paid by applicants and petitioners the extra $1.000. At a minimum. an impartial for immigration services. body should study how the premium service The administrations fiscal year 2006 budget program is working in the business arena besubmission proposed that Congress enact leg- fore extending it to familybased applications islation to authorize the United States Citizen- and petitions. ship and Immigration Services (USCIS) com- Moreover. Mr. Speaker. there are vast difponent of the Department of Homeland Secu- ferences between the resources available to rity to increase the fee paid by applicants for employmentbased and familybased petiTemporary Protected Status (TPS). above the tioners and applicants. Businesses often can statutory limit of $50. pass on the costs of a premium fee to their The administration also has proposed that customers or adjust the wages and benefits of Congress enact legislation to extend a provi- the prospective employee to recover the extra sion that permits USCIS to charge an extra cost. These options are not available to famifee for providing faster services to some em- lies. on the other hand. ploymentbased immigration applicants and If reports are true that implementation of the petitioners. The administration wants Con- program in the employment arena has slowed gress to extend this program so that the extra down adjudications for those businesses that fee can also be charged to familybased appli- decline to pay the fee. expansion of the procants and petitioners. as well. gram to the familybased arena could have The Jackson Lee\/Conyers amendment disastrous. unintended consequences for would require that the Government Account- those families that cannot afford to pay an adability Office conduct studies of each of these ditional $1.000 for each application or petiproposals so that Congress can have an op- tions. portunity to assess their consequences and ConclusionMr. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2930,"word_count":364}
{"speech_id":1090032686,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. I actually did not know who to come to talk to because we did not know who would be leading against this amendment. If I may. it is a very. very simple drafting error in the bill on line 7 where we are saying that law enforcement personnel of a State or political subdivision of a State are fully authorized to apprehend and detain. Then it goes on to say \"or remove.\" \"Or remove\" should not have been in there. And so we are just asking unanimous consent at this point to take that out and it will help the bill. and we are going to get it out somewhere anyway.","speaker_name":"CHARLES NORWOOD","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":578,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090032689,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Oklahoma. Oregon. and in nearly a dozen more. Colleagues. the only area of law that State and local law enforcement are not enforcing because they are unsure about what can be done is the immigration law. That should change. It must change. And this is the right time and the right bill to correct this critical matter. Madam Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"CHARLES NORWOOD","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2950,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090032690,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. I rise in opposition to this amendment. and I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam. Chairman. I encourage Members to vote \"no\" on the Norwood amendment. The Norwood amendment seeks to clarify the inherent authority of State and local law enforcement to apprehend. detain. remove. and transport illegal aliens in the routine course of duty. That is not what it does. State and local police already have authority to report criminals who are foreign nationals to the Department of Homeland Security and to assist the Federal Government in criminal -investigations. But current law does not allow law enforcement to pick up immigrants and deport them unilaterally. That is essentially what this amendment allows. ","speaker_name":"BENNIE THOMPSON","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2617,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090032698,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If the City of Houston does not want to play. they do not have to. But the rest of us need our law enforcement people to help us get these terrorists out of this country. and there are somewhere between 10 and 15 million that have come across our borders because we have failed to do anything about it for nonsensical reasons. It is time for this to come to an end. If Members are for correcting immigration in this country. vote for this. If Members are against immigration corrections and do not think it needs reform and want an open border. vote against it. Madam Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"CHARLES NORWOOD","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1963,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090032703,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So for these reasons. I am in opposition to the amendment.","speaker_name":"BENNIE THOMPSON","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1211,"word_count":11}
{"speech_id":1090032730,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We cannot maintain our role as global leader on. a pure servicesbased economy. It is also important to remember that this amendment does not increase the share of the Buy American Act. It simply codifies the content percentage of what is an existing regulation. Madam Chairman. I urge adoption of this amendment. Madam Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"DONALD MANZULLO","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3165,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090032731,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This increased restriction on the Departments ability to obtain needed technology from the world market is a Cold War anachronism. Given the Department of Homeland Securitys growing reliance on information technology and other advanced products and the current global nature of the industry. the Departments ability to fulfill its critical antiterror mission will be crippled by this restrictive provision. I hope that Members have the sense to vote against this. and I urge that we defeat this amendment. Madam Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4814,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090032735,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It says if we want to keep technology in the United States. then buy the technology that is here. If a particular item has to be purchased and it is not made in the United States. then the Buy American Act simply does not apply. This is a commonsense amendment. I am going to be offering it to every single authorization bill that I can. and I would urge Members to vote \"aye\" on this.","speaker_name":"DONALD MANZULLO","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1188,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090032744,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"His funeral expenses were paid by the American taxpayer. A gentleman from Palm Bay. Florida. died of lung cancer 6 days before Hurricane Frances made landfall. The gentleman was buried before the hurricane made landfall. His widow said that FEMA damage inspectors came to her home and suggested she might qualify for funeral expenses. She said that she did not think her husbands death was related to Hurricane Frances. She had her husbands funeral paid for by the American taxpayers. The Inspector General in the Department of Homeland Security with a report that came out today echoed these concerns -and called for two specific changes: a change that the Department should develop specific criteria and guidelines for determining if a death is disaster related. and a specific requirement that staff of FEMA provide for an analysis of each request and document the rationale for approval or disapproval of funeralrelated assistance. This is an issue that is hugely important to Florida as we try to eliminate waste. fraud. and abuse and allow FEMAs limited resources to go to those who are truly in neel. We had offered a different approach to this as it related to medical examiners. ","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2459,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090032745,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. I appreciate the gentlemans working with us to modify language on his amendment. I think all of us know and I know specifically as I travel to Florida to review some of the damage and some of the problems that occurred during those hurricanes and with FEMA coming down there and things they did and did not do. I know firsthand that there are problems and we need to make these types of corrections. I think the gentlemans amendment. by modifying it. has strengthened the language and put into law not just a process or a regulation by FEMA but these are going to be standards that FEMA is going to need to adhere to when they are determining whom to pay funeral expenses to. those who deserve and those who do not deserve. And we heard of cases. a couple of hundred of them in Florida where there was fraud. abuse. and they got funds to pay for funeral expenses. and I think this language is going to go a long way to making sure that that does not happen. not only in Florida but across this country. On the subcommittee that I chair. the Subcommittee on Economic Development. Public Buildings and Emergency Management. we are committed to working with my friend. the gentleman from Florida . to talking to the FEMA folks and making sure they are reviewing these cases in the past. but also going forward. So the gentleman has my commitment. and we will sit down and. as I said. talk to the folks from FEMA to see that we clear up this matter. I thank the gentleman. and I appreciate him working withus.","speaker_name":"BILL SHUSTER","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1521,"word_count":280}
{"speech_id":1090032756,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. I yield myself 3 minutes. Madam Chairman. this is a very simple amendment. It merely extends the authorized appropriation for the Department of Homeland Security Office of Counternarcotics Enforcement for one year for fiscal year 2006. In other words. it just inserts 2006 after 2005. This office was created structurally as part of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act in December of 2004. We realized that in narcotics. almost all the major interdiction agencies. Coast Guard. Border Patrol. and Legacy Customs. are inside Homeland Security. When you are pursuing international terrorists. you are going to pick up a share of narcotics as you control the border as much as we can. and as we move forward we have been picking up narcotics. ","speaker_name":"MARK SOUDER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3570,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090032766,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. I thank the chairman and the gentleman from Mississippi for all the hard work that they have done to bring this authorization bill to the floor. I fully intend to support the bill as I did in committee. but I would like to take a moment at this time to discuss a concern that Members have. like myself. the gentleman from Connecticut and the gentleman from New York . and ask for the chairmans commitment that the committee will pursue these issues. We have heard from the Department of Homeland Security employees and their representatives regarding their concerns with the final personnel regulations that the Department issued in February. Some of these provisions in the regulations are troubling. They limit collective bargaining rights. and they appear to reduce due process standards for employees of the Department. Both of these issues were specifically addressed in the Homeland Security Act that created the Department. and my concern is that the regulations promulgated following that act do not adhere to the requirements of the act to maintain collective bargaining rights. I would ask that the committee provide its members with the opportunity to question appropriate administration officials about these regulations. as well as to provide employees and their representatives the opportunity to give us their views. Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT SIMMONS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1610,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090032778,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today in support of this legislation\" and the Democratic Substitute being offered by the gentleman from Mississippi. I would like to commend the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Committee on Homeland Security for bringing this bill to the floorthe first authorizing bill for the Department of Homeland Security since the Department was created. This bill does many good things. It authorizes additional funding to cover the full cost of hiring an additional two thousand border patrol agents in order to meet the first year target established in the Intelligence Reform bill last year. Regrettably. the appropriations bill that passed the House yesterday fell short of actually finding these critically needed personnel by 500. But that does not diminish this accomplishment in the bill. This bill contains several important provisions that will help to fix the Directorate for Intelligence Analysis and Infrastructure Protection. which. in my judgment. has struggled the most to find its direction in the new department. And the bill raises the level of our governments top cybersecurity official to an Assistant Secretary within IAIP. something that should have been done when the Department was created. ","speaker_name":"NORMAN DICKS","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3793,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090032780,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong support of Ranking Member THOMPSONS substitute amendment. While H.R. 1817 takes important steps in improving our security and preparedness. it simply does not go far enough. Now. the Thompson substitute contains the critical provisions that I believe must be in any comprehensive. effective DHS authorization. Now. all told this amendment would provide about $41 billion for our homeland security needs. nearly $7 billion more than requested by the President. This substitute would provide additional grant funds for continuing needs. in port. rail. transit and bus security. communications interoperability and firefighter hiring and preparedness. It also enhances air security by requiring that 100 percent of air cargo be screened within 3 years. tightening restrictions on access to sensitive airport areas. and providing flight crews the training and communications tools to effectively respond in an emergency. Furthermore. the Thompson amendment ensures that we fulfill commitments made in the intelligence reform bill to implement the 9\/11 Commissions recommendations. It authorizes funding for nearly 2.000 new border patrol agents and provides resources to install explosive detection systems to baggage screening at airports. which is a critical unmet need at T.F. ","speaker_name":"JAMES LANGEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2616,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090032793,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Chairman. by congratulating the Chairman of the Homeland Se6urity. my friend CHRIS COX for fulfilling his promise to establish an annual legislative review of the Department of Homeland Security. It has been an honor and a distinct pleasure to serve with Chairman Cox. first as a member of the Select Committee on Homeland Security in the last Congress and again in this Congress on the permanent Committee. Over the past nearly two and a half years. our committee has traveled across the country meeting with the men and women on the front lines of defending our homeland. The bill before us today as well as the Faster and Smarter Funding for First Responders Act which we debated and passed last week are largely the product of those efforts. Included in the Thompson substitute. Mr. Chairman. is an amendment I sponsored during the markup of H.R. 1817 in committee. to provide for a border patrol unit in the Virgfn Islandsthe number one priority of all of the law enforcement first responders in my district and tlke single most important missing ingredient in the defense of the Territory and yet another weak link in the protection of our Nation. With over 175 miles of unprotected and open borders. the Virgin Islands is today the gateway to the U.S. and our Nations southern most border. It is also increasingly becoming the gateway of choice to the U.S. for human smugglers. Since 1998 hundreds of Chinese nationals have entered the U.S. ","speaker_name":"DONNA CHRISTENSEN","chamber":"H","state":"VI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":5991,"word_count":247}
{"speech_id":1090032840,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. I now yield 11\/2 minutes to my colleague. the gentleman from Massachusetts .","speaker_name":"BENNIE THOMPSON","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1752,"word_count":14}
{"speech_id":1090032860,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I was recently playing a card game with my 5yearold grandson. Teddy. And he knows it is wrong to change the rules in the middle of the game just to win. But the Republicans do not seem to play by any rules. If they sense vulnerability. they will rewrite historical laws to suit their needs. That is exactly what they did in the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. and that is exactly what they are trying to do by eliminating the filibuster in the judicial nomination process. Americans do not want this Nation to be run by leaders willing to change the rules. to forgo the laws of the land. to cater to their special interests. They do not want judicial nominees that are bullied through Congress. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1030,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090032890,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. It is the same kind of philosophy done in the name of science. We can find and have found better and other ways to produce similar and better science. We need to follow that path. There is no legal prohibition against embryonic stem cell research. in this country. The debate in this Congress is about will we impose a tax upon Americans and compel them to dig into their pockets and contribute to this diabolical science that ends the life of an innocent human being for the potential of improving the life of others when. we have other alternatives. Mr. Speaker. I rise this evening to join my colleagues in explaining the. progress and promise of adult stem cell research and to dispel many of the myths promoted by those urging more federal funding for the destruction of human embryos. required for embryonic stem cell research. Among the favorite myths of proponents of embryonic stem cell research is the legend that there are 400.000 embryos stored at IVF clinics that are simply going to be discarded. so we should derive some benefit from them. ","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11734,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090032901,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise this evening because I fear that a number of good people will make a bad decision in the coming weeks. What is worse is I fear they will be making this decision based on a plethora of false information. and that is why I am here this evening. There is an abundance of misinformation. exaggeration. and blatant lies being spread by interest groups regarding the prospects for embryonic stem cell research. The first misconception is that embryonic stem cell research is not legal. The fact is. embryonic stem cell research is completely legal. Research on embryonic stem cells has taken place for years. But what has this research produced? Nothing. While adult stem cells have treated over 58 diseases in human patients. embryonic stem cells have not treated even one patient. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11561,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090032949,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But I always like the opportunity to come and visit with those of you who have served so well in this Congress &nd provided for us such an outstanding institution in which to serve. It is a little more acrimonious than when most of you served here. Perhaps that will. at some point in time. get tettef. But in any event. on behalf of all of us who still serve here and who have benefited by what you have done through the years. thank you very much. And I hope that you have had a great visit back. We see you often. I see Bob on a very ragular basis. but I hope that all of you are doing well. Thank you for your. assistance through the years. Thank you very much.","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1164,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090032964,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to voice my strong concern over the unconscionable and harmful stalling tactics we are seeing in the confirmation process over in the other body with regard to several qualified judicial nominees. Two in particular. Justice Janice Rogers Brown. the nominee that the gentlewoman was speaking about just a minute ago. and Judge till Pryor. are outstanding jurists. and I am proud that they are both natives of my home State of Alabama. Justice Brown is a native of Luverne and the daughter of a sharecropper. She has enjoyed an extremely successful career beginning on the Third District Court of Appeals in California and continuing for the past 9 years on that States State Supreme Court. Judge Pryor. a native of Mobile. was one of our States finest attorneys general and served with distinction during his temporary appointment on the llth circuit of the Court of Appeals. Both of these individuals are experts in their field. and both of them represent the finest in legal minds anywhere in this country. and they deserve a vote.","speaker_name":"JO BONNER","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1058,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090033001,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It provides significant increases for our national parks. Indian schools. hospitals and clinics. wildfire programs. forest health is a high priority. and the Healthy Forest Initiative is fully funded. The Payments in Lieu of Taxes program has a healthy increase of $30 million above the budget request. and more than $3 million above the 2005 level. Despite our very tight allocation. the Committee believes it is important to provide this increased funding for PILT. There is an increase of $64 niillion for operations of our National Park System. including a $30 million increase specifically designed for individual units of the National Park Service This targeted park base increase will benefit all of our parks. The bill also restores critical funding for science programs. historic preservation programs. National Forest Systems programs. and Save Americas Treasures grants. Finally. we have restored critical environmental education. research and rural water programs in the Environmental Protection Agency. and provided some limited increases for initiatives proposed in the budget request. including Superfund. homeland security. school bus retrofits. the Clean Diesel Program. Methane to Markets Initiative. and the Brownfields Program. The budget request for EPA. while substantially below last years level and proposed increases in that budget request. were funded by elimination of many critical mission essential programs. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES TAYLOR","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3012,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090033004,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The bill contains necessary initiat:.ves in foresthealth. in backlog maintenance in the national parks. Everglades restoration. and the national fire plan. This is a bill that makes tough but right choices and puts priorities where they should be. This bill is as good as it can be given the budget restrictions. It deserves our support and I urge its passage.","speaker_name":"DONALD SHERWOOD","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1833,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090033006,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We absolutely agree with that. That is why this House should never have voted to eliminate all taxes on estates of over $7 million. It should never have voted to give persons who make more than a million dollars $140.000 tax cuts next year and do it all with borrowed money because the result of that vote has been a $400 million cut in EPA programs to improve the quality of our air and our water. E] 1230 Tha result has been a 40 percent cut in the clean water revolving fund. We have $388 billion worth of needs at the community level to fix sewer and water systems. and yet this program is cut by 40 pe:rcent in this bill. The damage done by this bill cannot be fully understood unless we take a look at it in a broader context. This is a great and growing country. When I came to this Congress. there were 203 million people in this country. Today. there are 282 million. That is a 34 percent increase. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4305,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090033016,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. there are many important parts of this bill but I want to speak briefly to the House about our love for the national parks. We have about a $600 million backlog. and it is overwhelming to try to address this in an appropriation bill where money is so tight. We have a bill called the National Parks Centennial Act that tries to address this. Senators MCCAIN. FEINSTEIN. and ALEXANDER are leading the figh: in the Senate and the gentleman from Washington . myself. as well as key appropriators such as the gentleman from Virginia . the gentleman from Ohio . the gentleman from Illinois","speaker_name":"MARK SOUDER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":600,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090033017,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. I have come to the reluctant conclusion that this bill does not deserve approval. and so I will not vote for it. This is not a criticism of Chairman TAYLOR. Congressman DICKS. and the other members of the Appropriations Committee who had the unenviable task of developing the bill. The budget authority allocated to the Interior and Environment Subcommittee fell far short of the amount needed to adequately fun. the agencies and activities within their jurisdiction. That in turn was the result of the unrealistic and inadequate budget resolution that the Republican leadership pushed through the Congress earlier this year. But while the shortcomings of the bill are understandable. they are nonetheless so serious that I cannot vote for it. Among the worst are its severe reductions in funding for the Environmental Protection Agency. It cuts EPAs Clean Water State Revolving Fund by $242 million below the 2005 funding level. This will mean that many communities in Colorado and elsewhere will be adversely affected as projects that have already been approved by State water authorities for future funding probably will be rejected. scaled back. or substantially delayed. ","speaker_name":"MARK UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2834,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090033018,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Big business should never be allowed a free pass to destroy the environment while endangering the health of millions of Americans who will be exposed to dirtier air and water. I wont vote for this indefensible legislation that only serves to harm the environment and put Americans health at risk. We have a responsibility to protect our citizens and our environment and this legislation blatantly takes us in the opposite direction. I urge my colleagues to vote \"no.\"","speaker_name":"FORTNEY STARK","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1364,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090033024,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The EPA has not updated the standards on nitrogen pollution in almost 20 years. We need to commit more moneynot lessto enforce the Clean Water Act. No issue united the people of Maryland and our region as well as the effort to \"Save the Bay.\" Rather than fulfill the obligations of the federal government to serve these people and protect the Bay. this bill reduces the federal governments commitment to enforcing the Clean Water Act. We have an obligation to ensure that our estuaries nationwide are there fpr future generations. and to do that we must restore funding to enforce the Clean Water Act.","speaker_name":"BENJAMIN CARDIN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1933,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090033047,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"NEA and NEH programs remain seriously underfunded due to past budget cuts. This modest amendment seeks to increase funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities \"We the People.\" initiative by $5 million. and the National Endowment for the Arts \"Challenge America\" program by $10 million. In congressional terms. these amounts are a blip on the budget screen. But in terms of what they mean to these programs and the constituents who benefit from them. such increases are incredibly helpful. and can mean the survival of numerous arts and humanities programs around the country. I often hear from New Mexicans who attest to the effectiveness of the We the People initiative in strengthening youth understanding and appreciation of American history and cul* ture. We the People helps all of us become more aware of our past. our values. and our institutions. I believe this effort is crucial for the progress of our country. In addition to economic benefits of the arts. recent studies have shown the significant impact that arts education can have on atrisk youth. The YouthARTS Development Project recently conducted a study- showing that students who are exposed to arts education show an increased ability to express emotions appropriately. communicate effectively with adults and peers. and to work cooperatively with others. They also show decreased frequency of delinquent behavior. improvement in attitudes toward school. higher selfesteem. and much lower dropout rates. ","speaker_name":"TOM UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2558,"word_count":233}
{"speech_id":1090033050,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. I rise in strong support of the amendment to increase funding for the NEA and -the NEH. Without this amendment. the continued flat funding the President requested this year will really amount to another cut. I wish we could return to the days of the first President .Bush when the arts were funded at $175.million. The amount we are asking for today amounts to little more than a comma in the budget. a rounding error when compared to Federal spending in other areas such as defense. Whether it is the educational value. the cultural enrichment. or the substantial economic windfall the arts and humanities create. the NEA and the NEH are two of the best investments this Nation makes. When we shortchange the NEA. we ignore the $134 billion in business that the arts generate. the 4.8 million jobs. the $89.4 billion in household income. and the $25 billion in tax revenues. A recent RAND study noted the importance of the intrinsic benefit of the arts for individuals and communities. This modest amount asks only to restore the funding level the House supported last year. but that was stripped during conference. It is the very least we should do today. ","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1340,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090033052,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. I rise in strong support of this .amendment. Certainly if we do not do a better job of educating our children in the arts. we will be a Nation of poor spirit and little understanding. It is really through the arts that we understand how destructive is greed.","speaker_name":"NANCY JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":274,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090033057,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I strongly support the SlaughterShaysDicksLeach amendment. and I urge my colleagues to do the same.","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1661,"word_count":15}
{"speech_id":1090033065,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman. There will be an amendment comingup. the Cubin amendment. which will seek to restore a better balance to Federal land acquisition as opposed to PILT funding. Let me just point onthis map again. people point to the red State\/blue State issue. The red in this case indicates the percentage of Federal land ownership. or the incidence of Federal land ownership. As my colleagues can see. there is a lot of red out there. We do not need as much red. The more red you have. the more red ink that local governments have. We need to restore this imbalance.","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":572,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090033069,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The gentleman is correct. In no way should this study delay or disrupt either phase I or II of the planned cleanup of the Hudson River or any. other ongoing Superfund project. I will work with the gentleman to consider modifications to clarify this in the conference agreement.","speaker_name":"CHARLES TAYLOR","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":277,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090033087,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentlewoman from Wyoming for yielding me this time. I would also like to begin by thanking the people who have worked so hard on this bill. especially the gentleman from Nort Carolina . who has been very thoughtful about the Payments in Lieu of Taxes issue and has worked well with us in the past. We are committed to getting full funding for PILT because the counties in rural America and areas where they are dominated by the Federal Government need that kind of support. I have a map beside me here which is similar to the map the gentleman from Colorado had just a moment ago. although we did it in red because we want to represent the statement. so we can see the meaning of a statement that was made by President Ronald Reagan in 1988. He said: \"I have a map. I wish everyoie could see it. Its a map of the United States. And land owned by the government is in red. and the rest of the map is white. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER CANNON","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1999,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090033095,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It has been cut by the chairman down to $43 million. It is still too much. and particularly when PILT is underfunded.","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":724,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090033107,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"People have often said to me. you are so lucky to live in the West with all of the open space and all the public land. and I do consider myself lucky because of that. But people who do not live in the public land States do not realize sometimes that these public lands and all that open space comes at a cost. My colleagues saw the gentleman from Utahs map up here with the red and so forth showing the public lands. East of the Mississippi. there are a few red spots scattered around. West of the Mississippi. it is almost solid red. The West is essentially owned by the government. . For every acre under public ownership. western counties and municipalities lose part of their tax base. In Colorado. this amounts to almost 30 percent of the States acreage. Of course. we heard earlier. this pales to the about 85 percent of the States acreage in Nevada that is under Federal control. We have one county in Colorado. ","speaker_name":"JOEL HEFLEY","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2989,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090033111,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in opposition to this amendment. recognizing the very serious problems that its proponent seeks to address. But it .would be very unwise to cut the budget of the NEA. especially after we succeeded in adding a little money back to it. because the NEA is simply doing a fantastic job now of strengthening public arts education. of strengthening arts institutions. and of helping arts institutions to market themselves and strengthen the economies of not only our inner cities. but small. rural communities. So in Connecticut. the NEA. in conjunction with the Connecticut Commission on the Arts. has really helped us develop the itineraries that we needed to attract tourism to the small towns with arts institutions or performing groups where the agricultural economy is failing. In our schools. the HOT schools. (the Higher Order of Thinking schools). have been supported by the NEA. and have helped children understand that not only thinking is a powerful process. but original thinking is an extraordinary process children can possess and use to grow in mind and spirit. as well as technical capability. In 139 of Connecticuts schools. they are using the NEAs Shakespeare in American Communities. a free educational . kit that really helps kids grasp the power of Shakespeare. Who better can teach children about the horrendous power of greed to do evil and .the tremendous opportunity of love to do good. So the arts are extremely important to the spiritual strength of this Nation. the strength of its economy. and the health and wellbeing of our children. for the arts provide the power to aspire to new heights of greatness in each of us. So I must oppose this amendment. because it drains resources from the National Endowment for the Arts.","speaker_name":"NANCY JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1767,"word_count":294}
{"speech_id":1090033151,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Washington. New England. and the entire Atlantic Coast This amendment is an attack on the moratorium. and an attack on the rights of coastal States and local govemments to raise legitimate objections to offshore development that affects their coastlines. Mr. Chairman. this amendment is a bad idea for a number of reasons. not least because it is completely unnecessary. Proponents of the amendment say that we need to drill offshore to put an end to high energy prices. The only problem with this argument is the moratoria areas arent where the resources are. The Minerals Management Service conducts a resources survey every five years. The latest comprehensive analysis assessment was finished iii 2003. This assessment includes estimates of undiscovered oil and natural gas that is conventionally and economically recoverable. We already know. for instance. that 81 percent of the Nations undiscovered. economically recoverable natural gas on the OCS is located in the Central and Western Gulf of Mexicowhere drilling is currently allowed and underway. ","speaker_name":"LOIS CAPPS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4696,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090033162,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is *a blue collar issue. This is a family issue in terms of bringing down prices and getting a safe supply of fuel for this country. If we do not get into this kind of alternative. we are going to be struck forever in rhetoric and not being able to produce for our people. not just fuel but produce it in a way that is truly alternative and within the bounds of peoples budgets. That is why we need to support this amendment.","speaker_name":"NEIL ABERCROMBIE","chamber":"H","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":869,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090033166,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for the time. It seems like there is quite a bit of discrepancy here in our information. Many of us believe that natural gas can be extracted without endangering the environment. I happen to be on that side of the issue. We have continually increased our emphasis and our dependence on natural gas. and yet our supply has remained stagnant. We have tried to put in the pipeline from Alaska. That has been stalled. Currently. we are paying 600 percent more for natural gas than many other nations in the world. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS OSBORNE","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1054,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090033168,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. hardworking American families are paying a high price at the gas pump today because of our Nations dependence upon foreign energy. Every day high gatoline prices are hurting good. decent hardworking families who are having to cut back on their purchases of food. medicine. and clothes. High natural gas prices are hurting our Nations businesses. who are laying off families and breadwinners. This is simply about supporting anamendment that will provide environmentally safe and sound production of natural gas off the eastern Gulf Coast. something we are already doing off the Texas and the Louisiana coast. And to my friend. the gentleman from California . I have walked on Texas beaches since I was 2 years old and have yet to end up with blackbottom feet because of oil on our beaches. Mr. Chairman. this can be done in a positive way. But most importantly we need to send a message to the OPEC nations that we are tired of a handful of OPEC oil ministers putting their hands around the necks of family budgets and businesses here in America.","speaker_name":"THOMAS EDWARDS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1060,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090033176,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I apologize to my good friend. the gentleman from California . but I have always supported the oil and gas exploration. Our economy demands it. and I believe this can be done safely. It is a jobs issue. it is about lowering the price of energy. and I strongly urge support for the Peterson amendment.","speaker_name":"JOHN DOOLITTLE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":314,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090033178,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. I would point out that Iowa and the Corn Belt are held hostage to the price of natural gas in two ways. It is our input cost for nitrogen fertilizer. Ninety percent of the cost is the cost of natural gas. The other side is that we use it to dry grain. W6 have to have a full energy picture. I congratulate the gentleman for bringing this amendment. fully support it. and I urge adoption of it.","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":456,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090033181,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We will drill this gas. We will simply do it before or after we lose our jobs. We will do it before or after people have to give up their homes to heat them.","speaker_name":"STEVAN PEARCE","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":704,"word_count":34}
{"speech_id":1090033194,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I make a point of orderagainst the amendment because it proposes to change existing law and constitutes legislation in an appropriations bill and therefore violates clause 2 of rule XXI. The rule states in pertinent part: \"An amendment to a general appropriations bill shall not be in order if changing existing law.\" The amendment imposes additional duties. I ask for a ruling from the Chair.","speaker_name":"CHARLES TAYLOR","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":407,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090033201,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I move that the Committee do now. rise. Accordingly. the Committee rose. and the Speaker pro tempore having assumed the chair. Mr. SHIMKUS. Acting Chairman of the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union. reported that that Committee. having had under consideration the bill making appropriations for the Department of the Interior. environment. and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30. 2006. and for other purposes. had come to no resolution thereon.","speaker_name":"CHARLES TAYLOR","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":500,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090033202,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that. during further consideration of H.R. 2361 in the Committee of the Whole pursuant to House Resolution 287. no further amendment to the bill may be offered except: Pro forma. amendments offered at any point in the reading by the chairman or ranking minority member on the Committee on Appropriations or their designees for the purpose of debate. Amendments printed in the RECORD and numbered 3. 6. 8. 11. 13. and 17. Amendments printed in the RECORD and numbered 1. 4. 5. and 14. which shall be debatable for 20 minutes. An amendment by the gentlemanfrom Florida regarding environmental justice. which shall be debatable for 20 minutes. An amendment by the gentleman from Wisconsin regarding a $500 million increase in Clean Water State Revolving Fund and tax matters. An amendment by the gentleman from Wisconsin regarding a $100 million increase in Clean Water State Revolving Fund. which shall be debatable for 20 minutes. An amendment by the gentleman from Ohio regarding State and Tribal Assistance Grants. An amendment by the gentleman from Ohio or the gentleman from New Jersey regarding the Tongass National Forest. which shall be debatable for 20 minutes. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES TAYLOR","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2604,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090033204,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reserving the right to object. I am trying to stall for time while we clear up a controversy that has arisen. Fl 1500 I certainly am in support of the intention of the gentlemans request. but it is my understanding that there may be a problem with. one bf the amendments. I am hoping that by the time I am done filibustering here the jentlemans staff will have worked it out with the Parliamentarian and we will be able to proceed.","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":444,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090033231,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And if they want to do something. I read where an oil company from the United States had a $12 billion profit. the first quarter. I am probusiness. but I am not for proripoff. and that is what we ought to look at in the cost of gas.","speaker_name":"RANDALL CUNNINGHAM","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":50.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2029,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090033241,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am asking the chairman to join me in urging officials at the Bureau of Indian Affairs to reprogram existing funds so school officials can immediately begin construction of adequate temporary dormitory facilities for the students at this school.","speaker_name":"STEPHANIE HERSETH SANDLIN","chamber":"H","state":"SD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1229,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090033251,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in opposition to the amendment. and I yield myself such time as I may consume. The amendment would increase funding for the Superfund program at the expense of EPAs research program funded under the Science and Technology Account. I note that the Superfund program received an $8 million increase over the 2005 level under the committees recommendations. while the total amount for EPA is $348 million below the 2005 level. so the Superfund site received much better treatment than most of our programs. The bill as a whole is more than $800 million below the 2005 level. Now. we have received many requests from Members of Congress asking that we fund programs for EPAs research. and we are able to do so only to a limited extent. and many people want the science and technology area just as well. A cut of the $130 million in science and technology would decimate the programs restorations. These research programs provide critical support to all other EPA programs. including the Superfund program. The Superfund program was treated the same as the Science and Technology Account in that limited increases were provided for proposed initiatives associated with homeland security. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES TAYLOR","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1574,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090033282,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I make a point of order to the language beginning with quote. except that notwithstanding section 1452(n) on page 67. line 17 through water contaminants on line 22. violates clause 2 of rule XXI of the rules of the House of Representatives prohibiting legislation on appropriation bills. The language that I have cited says that notwithstanding the provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act none of the money in the fiscal year 2005 Department of Interior appropriations bill or even previous appropriations acts may be reserved by the EPA Administrator for health effects studies on drinking water contaminants. This language clearly constitutes legislating on an appropriations bill. and as such. violates clause 2 of rule XXI.","speaker_name":"PAUL GILLMOR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":743,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090033306,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They get a tiny little $100.000 or $150.000 program for their districts. They go to their districts. they say. \"Oh. look. what a good boy am I. look what a friend I am for clean water.\" Meanwhile. the votes that they have cast on the budget resolution have gutted the ability of this Congress to provide meaningful help to communities who need real help on sewer and water. I think we are sort of chasing our tail. and so. as the gentleman from Washington (Mr. DicKs) says. this is a very difficult priorities choice. and I do not fault the gentleman from North Carolina at all for the choice he has made. I think we have an obligation to try to put some more money back into the basic program first. That is what the amendment tries to do. and I would urge a \"yes\" vote.","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1634,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090033315,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I am offering this amendment today to clarify some language in the bill that is under the jurisdiction of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. It is a good amendment that I hope we can adopt today. As part of the debate on this amendmens. I would like to engage in a colloquy with the gentleman from North Carolina . the chairman of the Subcommittee on the Interior. Environment and Related Agencies of the Committee on Appropriations. First. however. let me thank the gentleman from North Carolina (Chairman Taylor) for his patience and express my appreciation both to him and to his staff for the fair way that they have worked with me and my staff to remove authorizing provisions in the appropriations bill. which are under the jurisdiction of the Committee on Energy and Commerce.","speaker_name":"PAUL GILLMOR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":843,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090033328,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. my amendment will provide an additional $2 million for brownfield assessments and cleanups. while fully funding grants for States to administer their voluntary cleanup programs. The assessment and cleanup of brownfields are critical to the economic and environmental health of communities across the Nation. Brownfields represent lost opportunity where they exist. In 2002. President Bush signed the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act. That bill authorized $200 million annually in Federal assistance to. ","speaker_name":"EDDIE JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3262,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090033393,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I raise a point of order against the provision beginning with \"notwithstanding\" on page 121. line 11. through the comma on line 12. on the grounds that this provision changes existing law in violation of clause 2(b) of House rule XXI and therefore is legislation included in a general appropriation bill.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":304,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090033424,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"These horses get starved. they are weakened. they become diseased and. of course. they are not as easily adopted as before. If this amendment is passed. the unintended consequence will be to prevent the Bureau of Land Management from properly managing. And today this amendment is moot. The Bureau of Land Management today announced Strict new rules for the sale of wild horses. These changes will ensure Americas wild horses and burros go to good homes. and the new rules will expressly prohibit the sale of these animals for slaughter. Specifically. before horses are sold buyers must sign a contract that will bind them to providing humane care for the horse or burro. Buyers cannot sell or transfer ownership of any of the purchased horses or burros to any person or organization that intend to process them for commercial products. Anyone falsifying or concealing information in that contract is subject to criminal penalties under U.S. law. Additionally. the BLM is working to ensure that all three :U.S. horse processing plants make certain any BLM horses. which are easily identified by a unique -brand under its mane. are turned away and the proper authorities are notified. In sum. the new BLM rules will make it a crime to sell wild . horses for slaughter. yet will allow for the sale of these animals to buyers seeking to provide them good caring homes. ","speaker_name":"JAMES GIBBONS","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2432,"word_count":231}
{"speech_id":1090033437,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to support the amendment to the Department of the Interior appropriations bill being offered by Mr. RAHALL and Mr. WHITFIELD to help save a national treasurethe wild horse. The wild horse is known throughout the world as a symbol of the American west. and we should be doing everything we can to protect it. At the turn of the 20th century there were more than one million horses roaming the vast lands of our west. however by 1971 that number dropped to approximately 60.000 due to the actions of their main predatorhumans. Public outcry and the work of a group of citizens lead by Wild Horse Annie forced Congress to find a solution and pass the Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Protection Act to protect the wild horse. Throughout the years this law has been eroded. and currently. there are only 35.000 wild horses living on our lands today. Current law will only make this number decrease more rapidly. . ","speaker_name":"JAMES MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2224,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090033438,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today in opposition to the Rahall amendment. Although I appreciate the good intentions of this amendment. I am deeply. concerned about its potential for unintended consequences. In restricting the ability of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to sell wild horses and burros under the Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971. we. are also restricting opportunities for responsible owners or groups to purchase *horses that might have otherwise been sentenced to spend their lives in holding facilities or to starve on our rangelands. I disagree with the actions of individuals who purchased horses under the Act and then sold them to a slaughter plant. however. I do not believe that we should prohibit responsible people from purchasing wild horses due to the actions of a few. This morning. the BLM announced new regulations that will strictly prohibit individuals who purchase wild horses from sending these animals to slaughter. The BLM has also entered into a partnership with Ford Motor Company to help protect these wild horses for future generations. -I applaud the BLM for their proactive stance on this issue. and I am hopeful that their initiatives will be successful so that .other horses are sent to slaughter. ","speaker_name":"JON PORTER","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2902,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090033462,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr.. Chairman. I move to strike the last word. Mr. Chairman. we have fought over the last few years to reinsert funding for the Park Service to take care of their uncontrollable costs. and we had a hard time doing that. We find out that 1 percent. when it is added up. is $261 million. That is a very significant hit on these accounts in this important agency. I would urge that Members support the chairman and we vote this amendment down.","speaker_name":"NORMAN DICKS","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":440,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090033473,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. First I all I- would like to read a letter from the Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency: \"Dear Chairman Taylor: \"This is regarding the November 2003 Draft Blending Policy which addresses the management of peak wet weather flows at municipal wastewater treatment facilities. The draft policy received extensive public comment and has been the subject of considerable ongoing discussion and debate. including being the focus of a recent hearingbefore the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment. \"Based on our review of all of the information received. we have no intention of finalizing the blending policy as proposed in November 2003. We continue to review policy and regulatory options to manage this issue.\" I think this letter is selfexplanatory. Mr. Chairman. I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Tennessee . the distinguished chairman of the Subcommittee on Water Resourcesand Environment.","speaker_name":"CHARLES TAYLOR","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1014,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090033485,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As the gentleman from Michigan says. we are not trying to change the last resort issue. What we are trying to do is to set up an issue where we cannot have these wastewater treatment plants continue to dump more less treated or smaller treated wastewater into our waterways.","speaker_name":"JEFF MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1373,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090033493,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding time. I want to really applaud the gentleman from Michigan for putting together a truly bipartisan amendment that not only put together a broad coalition of Members in this House. including the chairman of the subcommittee. who has accepted the amendment. to stop this blending regulation. We all saw when Milwaukee dumped over 4 billion gallons of sewage into Lake Michigan just last year and an incredible rise in the number of beach closings along the Illinois shoreline: Nine* in Glencoe. 12 in Wilmette. 34 in Winnetka. a rising tide of dirty water that would have been increased with this. But what this bipartisan amendment has done is it has backed down the EPA. Thanks to his work and Members on both sides of this aisle. the EPA has largely accepted what this amendment would have already laid out and have stopped this regulation. It is going to listen to the Congress on environmental protection. and I really want to thank my subcommittee chairman for accepting this amendment.","speaker_name":"MARK KIRK","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1039,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090033500,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. if the gentleman will continue to yield. with the understanding. and it is certainly our understanding. that all EPA regions and all permits that are written must comply with the Clean Water Act rules and safeguards. and that is the only thing we are trying to do here. We are not trying to change anything. So with the assurances from the chairman that he will make sure that that is what we are going to do and we have some time to clarify this even further. we will not ask fora recorded vote. We accept his* courtesy that he will accept our amendment and make it a part of the bill. and we look forward to working with him on this and other related matters. I want to thank the gentleman from Tennessee also for his work in this area. along with the gentleman from Washington and the Members on our side.","speaker_name":"BART STUPAK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":822,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090033508,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Sewage blending is the practice of taking partially treated wastewater. mixing it with fully treated wastewater. and then relying on the dilution to meet discharge limits. I do not believe that sewage blending is what was intended when the secondary treatment requirements for publicly owned treatment works were put in place by Congress in 1972. Congress intended that all domestic sewage receive a minimum of secondary treatment. and greater levels of treatment where water quality demanded it. Since sewage blending is a process that is used only during periods of high flows. then the question presents itself as to whether blending complies with the secondary treatment requirements. Even the proponents of blending acknowledge that blending is used only in limited high flow circumstancesat all other times the sewage otherwise receives full secondary treatment The current. acknowledged limitations on the use of blending lead to the questionif blending constitutes secondary. treatment. then why is it not acceptable all the time. or if it does not constitute secondary treatment. why is it allowed at all? Recently. the EPA Assistant Administrator for Water acknowledged. \"the heart and soul of the Clean Water Act. is that dilution is not the solution to pollution. that you need to treat the sewage. Blending isnt the solution. Its a shortterm fix. [EPA] want[s] to make sure that it only occurs in the very limited. narrow -circumstances and that it meets all requirements in their Clean Water Act permit. and that water quality standards downstream are also maintained.\" Mr. Chairman. increasing the use of blending is not an acceptable longterm solution to meeting secondary treatment requirements. I support the amendment to bring the expanded use of blending policy to a halt.","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2677,"word_count":283}
{"speech_id":1090033578,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"\"no\" on rollcall vote No. 191 on an amendment to H.R. 2361 to increase funding for Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) by $4.800.000 and to reduce- funding to the National Endowment for the Arts. \"no\" on rollcall vote No. 192 on amendments en bloc to H.R. 2361 to insert \"oil\" after \"offshore\" on page 53. line 12 strike \"and natural gas\" on page 53. line 20 and to strike \"and natural gas\" on page 54 line 3. \"no\" on rolcall vote No. 193 on an amendment to H.R. 2361 to reduce funding for the Environmental Protection AgencyScience and Technology by $130 million and to increase funding for the Environmental Protection AgencyHazardous Substance Superfund by $130 million. \"yea\" on rollcall vote No. 194 on an amendment to H.R. 2361 to increase funding in the Clean Water State Revolving Fund by $100 million. \"no\" on rollcall vote No. 195 on an amendment to H.R. 2361 to increase funding for Wildland Management by $27.500.000. to increase funding for hazardous fuels reduction activities and to reduce funding for the National Endowment for the ArtsGrants and Administration by $30 million. \"yea\" on rollcall vote No. 196 on an amendment to H.R. 2361 to prohibit the use of funds from being made available for the selling or slaughter of wild freeroaming horses and burros. \"no\" on rollcall vote No. 197 on an amendment to H.R. 2361 to reduce total appropriations in the bill by $261.591.250. \"yea\" on rollcall vote No. 198 on the motion to recommit H.R. 2361 to the Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior. Environment. and Related Agencies. and \"no\" on rolicall vote No. 199 on passage of H.R. 2361Department of the Interior. Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2228,"word_count":287}
{"speech_id":1090033582,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the distinguished minority whip yielding to me. The House will convene on Monday at 12:30 p.m. for morning hour and 2 p.m. for legislative business. We will consider several measures under suspension of the rules. A final list of those bills will be sent to Members offices by the end of the week. Any votes called on these measures will be rolled until 6:30 p.m. On Tuesday and the balance of the week. the House will consider several bills under a rule: H.R. 810. the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005. H.R. 2419. the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2006. and H.R. 1815. the National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 2006. In addition. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":843,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090033587,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"L thank the gentleman for that information and would ask that certainly the substantive Democratic amendments be made in order. This. obviously. is a very important bill. a large sum of money. critically important at a time when we are confronting terrorists in Iraq and around the world and our men and women are in harms way. All of us want to make sure that we have our ideas on how we can best strengthen our efforts in that bill. So to the extent that the leader can prevail upon the Rules Committee to allow such amendments as Democratic Members and. for that matter. Republican Members want to offer. I think that would be in the best interests of full consideration. Mr. Leader. the stem cell research legislation you indicate will be on Tuesday. It is my understanding that that bill will. be brought to the floor and that it will not be subject to amendment. it will be considered as reported out of committee. Is that accurate?","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":938,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090033588,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We are working with your side on a unanimousconsent request to bring the bill up even without a rule. Hopefully. we can agree to a -lengthy debate. This issue is so important for an upanddown vote. Hopefully. we could have a full and open debate on this very important issue. And it will be hopefully done under a unanimousconsent request that will be worked out with your side. probably on Monday.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":398,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090033600,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would just say that the President has been criticized for not vetoing any bills over the last 4 years. but it has become a -tradition around here to include the President as we do legislation through the House and the Senate and therefore working out any of our differences so that he would not have to veto a bill. and I do not see that the highway bill is any different than anything else we have been doing for the last 41\/2 years. So he is obviously a major player in this process. The House. as the gentleman says. has expressed. itself at a number. We think the President will sign the bill. The Senate has chosen to do otherwise. Hopefully. we can work this out in the conference committee so that the President will not have to mar his record by vetoing a bill.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":784,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090033622,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As I speak. a small spacecraft bearing dust from a comet is zooming back towards -Earth and will parachute into Utah on January 15 of this coming -year. A coffee tablesized probe named Deep Impact is scheduled to crash into another comet on July 4 of this year. a feat described to me recently by scientist CharlesElachi as hitting a bullet with a bullet. NASAs jet propulsion laboratory managed by the California Institute of Technology has designed. built. or controlled all of these programs. JPL has been a pioneer of our exploration of the solar system from the beginning of our space program. Earlier. I mentioned JPLs Explorer I. Americas first satellite. At the time that it was launched. the United States had fallen behind the Soviet Union in the space race. and several other attempts at getting an American Sputnik into orbit had ended in fiery explosions on the launch pad. Every American space probe that has visited another planet was managed by JPL. Through the wonders of technology. we have zoomed by Jupiter with Voyager. witnessed a Martian sunset with Viking. rolled across the surface of Mars with our rovers. and marveled at Saturns rings with Cassini. ","speaker_name":"ADAM SCHIFF","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5666,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090033627,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to discuss national security and public safety for our country and who is responpible for that duty. PfibliQ safety. that is the first duty of government. Local security. local public safety goes to local cities and local law enforcement. National security. national public safety is the responsibility of the Federal Government. But there is an unfunded public safety mandate that is affixiating an alread3y struggling industry: our airline industry. The airline industry is an important sector of the American economy. With increasing fuel costs and taxes. the industry lost $9 billion last year alone and has lost $32 billion since September 11. 2001. Presently. taxes and fees comprise 26 percent of a $200 airline ticket. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5279,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090033640,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Just 2 years ago. Coach Roy Williams came home to North- Carolina to coach a Tar Heel team coming off an 820 season. His leadership turned a group of talented young men into great players with heart and determination. They made a commitment to work hard. to become a better team. and now they will join the ranks of other North Carolina basketball championship players. and the list is long. two of whom I will mention. Michael Jordan and James Worthy. As the gentleman from North Carolina has previously stated. UNC is wellknown for producing student athletes who -not only succeed in the NBA but in every walk of life. and this is important. from the university with a rich history. I wish the best of luck to the graduating seniors and expect that they will continue to have success in their future endeavor. and I am proud to join again my colleague the gentleman from North Carolina and my other North Carolina colleagues this evening in congratulating the University of North Carolina players. coaches andtheir fans on this singular accomplishment. Go Tar Heels.","speaker_name":"BOB ETHERIDGE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2435,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090033648,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mary Ansley and Robert. and four precious grandchildren. Rosser. Georgia. Trey and Hunter. and an entire community who loved her dearly. After only 59 years. Ansleys life and physical presence in her beloVed Marietta. Georgia. has ended. But. Mr. Speaker. her passing leaves Marietta with a legacy of service. dedication. and humble leadershil that will remain for generations to come. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2932,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090033655,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"All of these States have lost more than 20 percent of their manufacturing jobs as these trade agreements have kicked in and taken effect. Michigan. 210.000. Illinois. 224.000. Ohio. 216.000. Pennsylvania. 199.600. New York. 220.000. North Carolina. 228.000. Smaller States. Mississippi. Alabama. ","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7887,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090033664,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we did. yesterday. have a vibrait and spirited debate on the Senate floor. We have been debating a very simple principleone based on fairness and one grounded in the Constitution. The principle is that judicial nominees. with the support of a majority of Senators. deserve a fair upordown vote on the floor of the Senate. Yesterday. 21 Senatorsevenly divided. Ibelieve 11 Republicans and 10 Democratsdebated for over 10 hours on the nomination of Priscilla Owen. We will continue that debate10 hours yesterdaymaybe 20 hours. maybe 30 hours. and we will take as long as it takes for Senators to express their views on this qualified nominee. But at some point that debate should end and there should be a vote. It makes sense: up or down. \"yes\" or \"no.\" confirm or reject. and then we move on in regular order. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4211,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090033677,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I have addressed the Senate on several occasions to do what I believe is setting the record straight about Senate history and the rules of this body. But. frankly. I would much rather address wage and health care costs.. bringing down gas prices. talk about education. spiraling deficits we have. But the majority leader has decided we will spend this week and next week. or at least part of next week. talking about judges who I believe. Mr. President. are not in the mainstream of American jurisprudence. I am happy to engage in this debate. I would rather not. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10948,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090033709,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am of the belief that some of the efforts to shut down the activities of the Senate may be coming to a close. and I will seek the floor for the purpose of offering a unanimous consent to allow the Foreign Relations Committee to at least meet. which is good news. Unfortunately. other committees are still shut down by not following the normal procedure in the Senate where committees are busily at work while action is occurring on the Senate floor. As a result of actions in the last 2 days. the Energy bill is thwarted. the JOBS bill is thwarted. disaster relief is thwarted. and a closed intelligence meeting was not held again today. The Energy bill. the HELP Committee is out of action today. Asbestos is not going forward. All of these efforts to delay activity in the Senate. to shut down the Senate are not necessary. It is routine in the Senate for committees to be doing work while we have debate on the floor. Nothing extraordinary is happening on the floor. We are following regular order. The majority leader. as is his right. had called up a nomination. and we are debating it. ","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2112,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090033713,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me close briefly and say if the argument is being made by the Republican side that there is committee activity that should go on that is more important than this constitutional debate on the floor of the Senate. I would also make the argument that there is important floor activity that just could have taken place. We could have approved four more judges for President Bush at the circuit level. moved forward on a bipartisan basis. and done it before lunch. It was the decision on the Republican majority side that rather than bring this to a vote. bring it to closure. make progress. show we are working together on a bipartisan basis. instead they are going to continue to press for the socalled nuclear option so that Vice President CHENEY can wipe away a 200year tradition in the Senate with the -wave of a hand. Unfortunately. that is a $ad commentary on where we stand today. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":906,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090033717,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Chair and our side for the time to speak on this issue. This is an issue and a moment in Senate history which. frankly. I wished there could have been found a way to have avoided. I have been among those who have said to my leader: You have a qualified yes for my support to try and negotiate. Those negotiations have apparently broken down. So then it falls to each of us to study and to take as seriously as we can the weight and moment of this decision and how we should come down on the issue of filibustering judges who have majority support. I ran for the Senate because I value this body. appreciate its unique role in the history of our Nation. and very much want to see it succeed in doing the peoples business. So I have taken -as seriously as I can the decision I have made to be an unqualified supporter of what the majority leader is attempting to do here. ","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11299,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090033721,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank Senator MCCONNELL for his comments and for his leadership in this area. In many respects. I would like to pick up where he left off in the discussion of how did we reach this point. How did the Senate come to where we are going to have to have hours. days. weeks of debate on highly qualified men. women. and minorities for the Federal judiciary? Most of my colleagues in the Senate know over the years I have been a believer that we should get things done for the American people. that we should have cooperation. that we should vote on these judges up or down and move on. that we need to be working as we did earlier this week to report a highway bill. to get energy legislation. to deal with the very critical and difficult issue of immigration reform. pass appropriations bills. take up other critical issues for the future in our country. the creation of jobs. to promote the continued development in critical hightech areas such as telecommunications. We have a lot of work to do and yet here we are. stalled out. in my opinion. unnecessarily. I believe we -should reach across the aisle and try to find accommodation. Whether one likes it. that is how the Senate was set up. that is how we. work. quite often by consenpus. Over the years. when I served in leadership positions. ","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10790,"word_count":238}
{"speech_id":1090033725,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As I believe has been stated many times before. Justice Owen has won overwhelming support. more than threequarters support of the majority of Texas and the endorsement of major leading newspapers. the Bar Association. but the leftleaning groups did not like her. Our colleagues in the minority want congratulations for the fact that nearly all of the Presidents trial court judges have been confirmed. I respect greatly the men and women on the Federal district court. In the eyes of the Senate Democrats. however. clearly. all judgeships are not created equal. We see the contrast between the way the Democrats are conducting business and. the way business has been conducted by tradition. Nearly- one of three of the Presidents nominees to the appellate court. the circuit court are being filibustered. Prior to the Democrats embarking on this path. 2.372 nominees were confirmed without a filibuster. 377 of President Clintons nominees were confirmed without a filibuster. Judges were confirmed for 214 years without there being a filibuster. So the minority has turned over the determination as to who is and who is out of the mainstream to a number of outofthemainstream groups.. and they let these groups lead us down the path of destroying Senate tradition of 200 years. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2470,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090033729,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. will the Senator yield for a question? He quoted that wonderful and very important editorial by former majority leader. Bob Dole. saying without any doubt this is an unprecedented act to filibuster. I notice that Senator HATCH. one of our most distinguished Members. the former chairman of the Judiciary Committee. has just joined us on the floor. I will ask the Senator from Missouri if he remembers. several years ago. after Senator Dole had left the Senate. that a discussion was had in the Republican Conference about the possibility of filibustering judges. and that Chairman HATCH explained to us that it was totally against the traditions of the Senate. and we did not maintain a filibuster against Clinton judges. I wonder if he remembers that.","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":767,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090033741,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They are effectively tearing up the rules. They are basically running roughshod over the Senate rules. the institution that has served this Nation well for 224 years. That is what is being proposed. When all is said and done. we mention all these other past histories of activities. this is effectively what is being done. I think most Americans may take issue with what happens here in the Senate. They may agree with the activities of the Senate or may differ -with them. But one thing in which the American people have some degree of confidence is their basic institutions of Government. With the proposal by the majority leader. we are rending asunder the power and the authority that was described in the Constitutional Convention and described in the Constitution for the Senate. That is why people are feeling so strongly about this. many of us feel so strongly about thisbecause basically we are undermining what our Founding Fathers wanted. This is an issue that has been overhanging the Senate now for some weeks. for some months. in spite of the fact that we have approved 208 of the Presidents judges: 95 percent. a higher percentage than the previous President Bush. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11303,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090033745,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Both the household officials and the members of \"the great and continual council\" were named in Parliament. So I say to the distinguished Senator from Tennessee. who presently presides over the Senate. with a degree of aplomb and grace and dignity that is so rare as a day in June. that the Senate routinely debated nominations in closed session in the beginning. John Tyler was the first Vice President to become President on the death of the incumbent. Early in the Tyler administration. President Tyler broke with the Whig majority in the Senate. which thereafter frustrated his efforts to appoint his own supporters to office. Nothing in the Senates history has ever. ever matched the spectacle that occurred on March 3. 1843. the last day of the Senates session. when President Tyler came to the Capitol. just down the hall. to sign legislation and to submit lastminute nominations. Tyler nominated Caleb Cushing to be Secretary of the Treasury. not once. not twice. but three times that night. Are you listening? Three times. And each time. the Senate rejected Ciishing by an even larger margin than before. the votes being. as recorded in the Senate Executive Journal. 19 for to 27 against. then 10 for to 27 against. and on the third time. 2 for Caleb Cushing and 29 against. Three times President Tyler named Henry A. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11849,"word_count":226}
{"speech_id":1090033752,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have the best judiciary. We have Democrats and we have Republicans who serve on the bench. They are nominated by Republican and by Democratic Governors. I ran into a friend of mine not long ago who has loosely beeh following this debate on judicial nominations. He asked: Why do you not confirm more of the Presidents judicial nominees? And I said: How many do you think we have confirmed. or what percentage do you think we have confirmed? He said: Maybe half. And I said: No. no my friend. 95 percent. He said: Really? Do you not have a lot of vacancies on the Federal judiciary bench? I said: No. We have one of the lowest vacancy rates we have had in years. I asked him in return: While we have confirmed over the last 4 years 95 percent of President Bushs nominees to the bench. what percentage of Pfesident Clintons nominees do you think were confirmed during his first 4 years? Well. I do not have a chart here that says what the answer to that question is. but just to remind us all. from 2001 to the beginning of this year. 95 percent of President Bushs nominees have been confirmed. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8958,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090033755,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That bill is going to die if the nuclear option goes through because we will lose the ability to move bipartisan legislation. We have law enforcement legislation at a time when most of the law enforcement grants. such as the COPS grants and whatnot. are being cut by the administration. A lot of Members on both sides of the aisle are trying to find a way to get that money back to our police officers. the money being cut. We cannot have a debate on it. This is going to take upyou confirmed 208 judges. blocked. actually. 5. I have been here 31 years. I dont believe anyone has had a record that good. Certainly no baseball team ever had a record that good. The President ought to declare victory on that. having done so much better than all but about three Presidents of recent memory. and let us get on withthings. Bring down the .price of gasoline. for one. that is affecting the American people.","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2052,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090033759,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I will tell my colleagues I cannot think of anything more important if there is going to be a fight than that fight be on who we put on the bench. Now. todays debate. though we have a nominee up. I dont think is about one particular person because clearly we have not heard arguments that this is an unqualified individual. As a matter of fact. in seeking compromise there have been proffers now to this side that suggested: We will vote on five. but not seven. and you pick the two you want to chuck overboard. What message do we want to send to that law student out there who aspires one day to being on the bench and ultimately seeking a nomination by the President to a Federal court or to the Supreme Court? If you want to do it. understand you will go through personal character assassination. that in some cases you may have to wait 4plus years to get there. In 1995. Senator LAUTENBERG stood on this same floor. in this same building. as a Member of the Senate. and he said this then when talking about fairness of the system and how it is equitable for a minority to restrict the majority view: Why can we not have a straight upordown vote on this without threats of filibuster. without threats of filibuster. Whether it was Robert Bork and John Tower or Clarence Thomas. even though there was strong opposition. many Senators opposed them. The fact is. the votes were held up or down. June 21. 1995. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD BURR","chamber":"S","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10898,"word_count":261}
{"speech_id":1090033771,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":14,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. as most have said. we believ6 we have been more than fair. We have confirmed 95 percent of the Presidents judges- As I have said before. if iny daughter came home with a 95 on her report card. I would say. great. What some on the other side want to say is this: Only got a 95? Break the rules and get 100. We do not believe in that and would like to exhibit in the most graphic way how we have supported 208 of the 218 judges by doing something very simpieby reading the names of the 208 judges the President has nominated and gotten approved by this Senate. 1. Callie Granade. SD AL .2. Consuelo Callahan. 9th Cir. 3. David Bunning. ED KY 4. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES SCHUMER","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2465,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090033776,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If those who seek to change the rules succeed.. especially by breaking the rules. it will be only a matter of time before the next step comes. It will be only a matter of time before some future Senate leader decides to once again to break the rules to change the rules. and abolish the filibuster altogether. And what. will the Senate look like then? Then all our votes will be simple majority votes. Then lost will be a. centuriesold check and balance. And then what will be left will be a vastly different Senate from the one to which I came in 1978. The majority leader has proposed that debate on important judges be limited to a fixed number of hours. to 100 hours. That might sound like a lot of time. But the point is not the number of hours. The point is that at the end of a set amount of time. no Member of the minority party need participate. At the end of a set amount of time. only the majority party will rule. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7738,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090033782,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Reserving the right to object. I was going to speak at 6 oclock. My understanding is the minority leader and the majority leader wanted to intercede with a brief colloquy or comments. In order for my scheduling purposes. I would like to know what the timing then might be. Can the distinguished minority leader give me some idea?","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":329,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090033807,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have worked. together with Senator LAUTENBERG. and before him with Senator Torricelli. with the White House to come to an agreement on smart. fair. and hardworking judges for the Federal bench in New Jerseypeople clearly in the mainstream. people of whom we will all be proud to have as lifetime judicial appointments. All of these are judges committed to the rule of law and not to promoting their own political views or trying to rewrite law through judicial activism. I have voted many times for judges with whom I disagree on important issuesissues as fundamental to me as choice or worker protections. But I have voted for them because they respect the law and precedent. What I cannot and will not agree to are nominees who are political ideologues people who let us know that they will challenge precedent in order to promote their political beliefs and what I believe is an extremist agenda. They want to change the law. The job of writing laws is the job we have right here on the Senate floor. This debate is particularly important in a practical sense to me because there is a vacancy currently on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals due to the retirement of Michael Chertoff. now the head of our Nations Department of Homeland Security. I fear this Third Circuit vacancy is in jeopardy of going the way of what we have seen with the nomination of these activist judges--jurists with views outside the mainstream. with extremist views. who believe that it is their right to make the law as opposed to interpret it or apply it. If these activist individuals want to make lawand they may have remarkable resumesthey should run for Congress or the Senate rather than accept a nomination to the Federal bench. ","speaker_name":"JON CORZINE","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11773,"word_count":299}
{"speech_id":1090033826,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to honor and share with my colleagues the memory of a very special woman. Alice Yarish of Matin County. who died May 9. 2005. She was 96 years old. Alice Yarish was an awardwinning reporter and the Grande Dame of Marin journalism. I knew her during the 11 years she worked for the Pacific Sun. exposing political scandals and pushing for prison reform. During her years as a journalist in Marin. Alice demonstrated personal courage and a strong commitment to social justice. Alice is most well known for her- relentless coverage of prison reform and she continued to fight for prisoner rights and prison reform until her retirement from the Pacific Sun in She went on to write her autobiography. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2786,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090033827,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He believes strongly- that the institution must have a vision. and the president must support and encourage that vision. In Hampshires case. the vision is firmly grounded in the value of social justice. Prior to his presidency. Hampshire had become the first college in the country to divest its stock in corporations doing business in South Africa. Greg Prince continued to set an example in everything he did. He has had an indelible impact on the campus by his strong commitment to the colleges mission of selfexpression and action. He has inspired all of us through his leadership on issues that affect college educationparticularly on student aid and academic freedom. Through his speaking. his writing and most importantly his actionshe has demonstrated his commitment to the quality and diversity of higher education. Greg Prince has served Hampshire College. the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. and the Nation well. and I know I join his many friends and admirers in extending our gratitude for his extraordinary service and our best wishes for the next phase of his outstanding career..","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1994,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090033828,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I come. to the floor today. to congratulate students from Central Academy High School in Des Moines. IA. who competed in national finals of the \"We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution\" program in Washington. DC. earlier this month. The students won the Unit Three Award at the competition. This was the second year in a row that students from Michael Schaffers government classes have won this prestigious recognition. These outstanding young Iowans competed against classes from every State in the country. and earned the highest score by demonstrating a remarkable understanding of the fundamental ideals and values of American constitutional government. Clearly. the future of democracy is in good hands. as demonstrated by the skill. knowledge and poise shown by these students. I recognize and salute the students from Des Moines and surrounding suburbs who were involvedin the competition: Emily Burney. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1550,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090033829,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I want to thank Senator LINCOLN and Senator GRASSLEY for their leadership on this important issue. We need to prevent this tax credit from expiring. It is expected to increase biodiesel demand from an estimated 30 million gallons in fiscal year 2004 to at least 124 million gallons per year. based on a U.S. Department of Agriculture study. By Mr. JEFFORDS (for himself.","speaker_name":"JAMES TALENT","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3435,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090033836,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to introduce the Streamlined Procedures Act. This legislation will reduce delays in federal courts review of habeas corpus petitions filed by State prisoners. Currently. many Federal habeas corpus cases require 10. 15. or even 20 years to complete. These delays burden the courts and deniy justice to defendants with meritorious claims. They also are deeply unfair to victims of serious. violent crimes. A parent whose child has been murdered. or someone who has been the victim of a violent assault. cannot be expected to \"move on\" without knowing how the case against the attacker has been resolved. Endless litigation. and the uncertainty that it brings. is unnecessarily cruel to these victims and their families. As President Clinton noted of the 1996 habeascorpus reforms. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11946,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090033839,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As such. this will be the first of several hearings the Subcommittee intends to hold on the response of the Federal Government to terrorist threats. The Subcommittee hearing is scheduled for Thursday. May 26. 2005. at 9:30 a.m. in Room 562 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. For further information. please contact Raymond V. Shepherd. III. Staff Director and Chief. Counsel to the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. at 2022243721.","speaker_name":"NORM COLEMAN","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2004,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090033852,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the resolutiofi and the preamble be agreed to en bloc. that the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. and that any statements relating to the concurrent resolution be printed in the RECORD. without intervening action or debate.","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":278,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090033871,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it stand in adjournment until 9:30 a.m. on Friday. May 20. I further ask that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings. be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate then return to executive session and resume consideration of the nomination of Priscilla .Owen to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. provided further that the time from 9:40 a.m. to 10 a.m. be under the control of the majority leader or his designee and the time from 10 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. be under the control of the Democratic leader or his designee. provided that at 10:30 a.m. the majority leader or his designee be recognized and floor time then rotate every 30 minutes between the two leaders or their designees until 1 p.m. at which time the Democratic leader or his designee be recognized until 1:45 p.m.. to be followed by a Republican Senator until 2 p.m.","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1009,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090033948,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Coming from a small State such as Arkansas. which has only 6 voting delegates in Congress out of the entire 535. I do not take lightly the fact that the compromise which gave birth to the Senate was based on the principle that all States. regardless of their size. and all Senators privileged to serve in this body. are on equal footing. The Senate was deliberately designed to protect the interests of small States such as mine and to provide a restraint on the ability of a temporary majority on any issue before this body to prevail unchecked. Recently. in order to get the attention of this administration. I had to use tools. I had to use some of those tools I have as a Senator. to simply get an answer. a letter answered on international child abduction. on the way Southern producers in agriculture were being treated in this budget. It was not an issue of me getting all of what I wanted. It was simply an issue of me getting an answerme. a small State. someone representing a small State. being able to get an answer on principle and on idea and purpose. from the administration. That is what we are talking about. everyone being repPesented. The debate we are having and the issues at stake are much more important to me than my political party. ","speaker_name":"BLANCHE LINCOLN","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10925,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090033959,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I think we are waiting for Senator LIEBERMAN who is to appear on the floor momentarily. I was going to. seek to say a few words following Senator LIEBERMAN. but I understand he is on his way to the floor right now and I would prefer not to proceed without him. so I think we will put ourselves in a quorum for a moment. I make a point of order a quorum is not present.","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":383,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090033963,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I suppose if one party gets 60 votes. that argument is all over but not totally because even within that 60 they may have to work to get it. In the current context. that is what we are talking about. It could flip again to another party. my party being in the majority. It requires on every measure that to pass something you have to get more than the Members of your own party. You have to get more than people of one philosophical or ideological point of view. You have to get to 60. It is often not very hard to do that. That is why I say. the 60vote supermajority requirement is today. in a partisan Senate. one of the last best hopes. pressures. for bipartisanship in the most literal sense. You cannot get to 60 votes with Members of one party. and for moderation. which is where America has always done best. and where I am convinced the majority of the American people still rest. There were polls that came out this week. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10153,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090033971,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I appreciate the eloquent comments of our colleague from North Dakota. I. too. wish we could get on with the Nations business dealing with the high price of gasoline. which is hurting our economy and hurting consumers and people who need to commute to and from work to do their job. I wish we could get on addressing the issues of the uninsured and lack of access to good quality health care by too many Americans. I wish we could talk about securing our borders and how we deal with our inability to control our borders and the threat that that presents to our national security. If we could simply get the upordown vote that was recognized as the Sehate tradition for 214 years before the last Congress. we would be addressing those other issues. But here we are. having debated for 19 days on the floor of the Senate about this nominee. Justice Priscilla Owen. Interestingly. that is 2 more days than the nominations of all nine sitting members of the U.S. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11589,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090033978,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that there be an additional 15 hours of debate equally divided on the nomination. and that following that time. the . Senate proceed to a vote on the confirmation of the nomination. with no intervening action or debate.","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":258,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090033999,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on Monday. the Senate will resume consideration of the nomination of Priscilla Owen to serve as a circuit judge on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Monday will be the fourth consecutive day the Senate considers the Owen nomination. Over the past 3 days. a number of Members. on both sides of the aisle. have come to the floor to speak on the nomination. We have conducted over 25 hours of debate. and we will continue on Monday. Moments ago. we filed a cloture motion on the nomination. and that will ripen on Tuesday of next week. On behalf of the majority leader. I remind shy colleagues the leader has announced our next rollcall vote will occur Monday afternoon at 5:30. That vote will be on a motion to instruct the Sergeant at Arms to request Senators attendance. Senator FRIST will have more to say about next weeks session on Monday.","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":859,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090034076,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. since 1994 China has pegged its currency. the yuan. to the United States dollar. Many economists contend that for the first several years of this peg. the fixed value was likely close to market value. but in the past few years. economic conditions have changed. such that the yuan would likely have appreciated. like virtually every other currency. if its exchange rates were determined by simple market forces. This policy constitutes a form of currency manipula- Chinese imports fall in the shortrun. tion and is intended to give China an Many of the affected firms are in the unfair trade advantage. Also. it is con- manufacturing sector. This causes the tributing to the loss of United States U.S. trade deficit to soar. to rise. and manufacturing jobs. reduces aggregate demand in the short Chinas currency is significantly un- run. dervalued visavis the United States dollar. Some experts contend that it is Mr. Speaker. in 2004. China became undervalued by as much as 40 percent. the United States second largest supmaking Chinese exports to the United plier of imports. A large share of ChiStates cheaper and U.S. exports to nas exports to the United States are China more expensive than they would laborintensive consumer goods such as be if market forces determined the ex- toys and games. textiles and apparel. change rates. shoes. and consumer electronics. ","speaker_name":"CLIFFORD STEARNS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4924,"word_count":227}
{"speech_id":1090034083,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. Senator JIM DEMINT published an excellent oped in The State newspaper yesterday that the Senate has an obligation to ensure timely upanddown votes for all nominees. regardless of who is President or which party is in power. Ensuring that our courthouses are filled with wellqualified judges is one of the most important responsibilities of the U.S. Senate. As Senator DEMINT notes. the majority of Americans trust the Senates judgment on judicial nominees. and it is unfair for a minority of Senators to ignore the will of the American people. If the. minoritys case against these nominees is so strong. they should be able to convince other Senators to oppose the nominees during a fair upanddown vote. This week. Majority Leader BILL FRIST will lead the Senate to vote on the constitutional option. which will restore a 200year tradition to ensure that each nominee receives a fair vote. After years of debate on this topic. it is tinie for the Senate to follow the will of the American people. ","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1084,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090034111,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I would like to note that I also serve on the Committee on Homeland Security. and we are well aware that phishing to the extent that it yields identity theft information is of great concern as we seek to protect the Nation from terrorism. So what we are doing here today is important for consumers. it is important for business. it is important for the future of our hightech economy. and it is important for the security of the Nation. I would urge my colleagues to strike a blow for the continued vitality of the Internet and again pass this bill unanimously. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"ZOE LOFGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3580,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090034113,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I believe that four overarching principles should guide the consideration of any spyware legislation: first. we must punish the bad actors while protecting legitimate online companies. second. we must not overregulate but. rather. encourage innovative new services and the growth of the Internet. third. we must not stifle the free market. and. fourth. we must target the behavior. not the technology. The targeted approach of the ISPY Prevention Act will protect consumers by punishing the bad actors without imposing liability on those that act legitimately online. In addition. this legislation will avoid excessive regulation such as onesizefitsall notice and consent requirements prescribed by the Federal Government. A targeted approach will avoid red tape that hampers the creation of new and exciting technologies and services on the Internet. By encouraging innovation. the ISPY Prevention Act will help ensure that consumers have access to cuttingedge products and services at lower prices. Increasingly. consumers want a seamless interaction with the Internet. and we must be careful to not interfere with businesses ability to respond to this consumer demand with innovative services. -The ISPY Prevention Act will help ensure that consumers. not the Federal Government. define what their interaction with the Internet looks like. As we move forward. I look forward to continuing to work with all stakeholders to further ensure that bad actors are punished while legitimate businesses are protected including working with the Department of Justice which has expressed an interest in working with our office on this issue. In addition. technological solutions are crucial in winning the fight against spyware. As the spyware debate continues. ","speaker_name":"BOB GOODLATTE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3772,"word_count":264}
{"speech_id":1090034115,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Spyware encompasses several potential risks including the promotion of identity theft by harvesting personal information from consumers computers. Additionally. it can adversely affect businesses. as they are forced to sustain costs to block and remove spyware from employees computers. in addition to the potential impact on productivity. Spyware has been defined as \"software that aids in gathering information about a person or organization without their knowledge and which may send such information to another entity with the consumers consent. or asserts control over a computer with the consumers knowledge.\" Among other things. criminals can use spyware to track every keystroke an individual makes. including credit card and social security numbers. Some estimates suggest 25 percent of all personal computers contain some kind of spyware while other estimates show that spyware afflicts as many as 8090 percent of all personal computers. Businesses are reporting several negative effects of spyware. Microsoft says evidence shows that spyware is \"at least partially responsible for approximately onehalf of all application crashes\" reported to them. resulting in millions of dollars of unnecessary support calls. Mr. Speaker. again. I am strongly in support of the legislation.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2198,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090034128,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today as a cosponsor and in support of a strong consumer and privacy protection bill. H.R. 29. the Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass Act. or the SPY ACT. I want to thank the gentleman from Texas","speaker_name":"JANICE SCHAKOWSKY","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":272,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090034130,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Texas . my distinguished chairman of the full committee. for yielding me this time. This is a very important bill. We have passed this bill once before. so it is clear the House is going to pass this. The question is. We have got. to appeal to the Senate to pass this thing and move forward. During the hearings we had on this bill. there were lots of witnesses that talked about this spyware Internetbased technology that can be used to defraud Americans today. So this bill is very important. We need to move it. and we need to move the Senate to move it. ","speaker_name":"CLIFFORD STEARNS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1081,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090034133,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding me this time. The gentleman from Texas (Chairman BARTON) has been a steadfast leader and advocate for spyware legislation. He has worked tirelessly on this important issue. I appreciate his efforts in bringing H.R. 29 to the floor. I also extend my appreciation to the gentleman from Michigan . ranking member. the.gentleman from Florida (Chairman STEARNS). the gentlewoman from Illinois . ranking member. and the gentleman from New York . the original Democratic cosponsor. Each of them. as well as their staff. David Cavicke. Shannon Jacquot. ","speaker_name":"MARY BONO MACK","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":45.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4642,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090034141,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a deduction to members of the Armed Forces serving in a combat zone for contributions to their individual retirement plans even if the compensation on which such contribution is based is excluded from gross income. and for other purposes. as amended.","speaker_name":"SAM JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":361,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090034183,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. the purpose of this legislation is to correct an error in the 1964 public land withdrawal that created the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge in California. H.R. 1101 is identical to legislation passed by the House during the 107th and 108th Congresses. and we have no objection to this noncontroversial bill. Mr. Speaker. I have no further requests for time. and I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"DONNA CHRISTENSEN","chamber":"H","state":"VI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":466,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090034207,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I am very pleased and proud to represent an area in Chicago known as Chinatown. and also to note that I just returned during the break from visiting both China and Sri Lanka. 0l 1600 So I rise today in support of H. Res. 280. celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. I also want to take a minute to acknowledge the gentleman from Virginia . the distinguished chairman of the. Committee on Government Reform. for his leadership on this important matter. H. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2527,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090034234,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I commend our colleague from South Carolina. JOE WILSON. for his effort in introducing this is resolution and I am delighted to join him extending the heartfelt congratulations of the Congress and the American people to the Israeli people in recognition of the 57th anniversary of their independence. which they celebrated this month. Mr. Speaker. Israel is a tiny island of refuge in the midst of a roiling sea of hostile neighbors. Although relentlessly under attack since their nations birth. the Israeli people have succeeded in creating the only democracy in the Middle East. and one of the most prosperous. technologically advanced. and reliably just societies on earth. In the 57 years of its independence. Israel has absorbed millions of Jewish immigrants from all around the world. including over a million immigrants from the former Soviet Union in just the past 15 years. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3931,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090034257,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Apparently special attention will be paid to properties once belonging to religious communities and national minorities. The goal is for all outstanding claims to be resolved by the end of 2006. This would be a welcomed achievement. For 15 years. these property claims have beep a source of anguish and frustration for so many Romanians. The political will being demonstrated by President Basescu and his government is commendable. Mr. Speaker. I join my colleagues in this action today. encouraging the Romanian authorities to provide equitable. prompt. and fair restitution of the confiscated properties.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2446,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090034317,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Congress must do everything it can to recognize and reward our brave men and women fighting today. Many are serving longer than they expected. Many are in danger each and every day. They serve with pride and with dignity. Let us honor their service by passing this legislation to treat them with the respect that they deserve.","speaker_name":"BOB FILNER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":51.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1790,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090034342,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that it shall be in order at any time without intervention of any point of order to consider in the House H.R. 810. The bill shall be considered as read. the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill to final passage without intervening motion except: (1) three hours of debate on the bill. equally divided and controlled by the chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce and the gentlewoman from Colorado","speaker_name":"ROB BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":467,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090034353,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise tonight. joining with many of my friends on the Democratic side. because I am opposed to CAFTA. and I would like to take just a few minutes to explain why I am opposed to CAFTA. the Central American Free Trade Agreement. and I like to quote from a gentleman I have great respect for. particularly when it comes to protecting American jobs. Pat Buchanan. The title of his article is called \"CAFTA: Last Nail In The Coffin?\" And I will read a few paragraphs from the article. He says. \"As I write. the Department of Commerce has just released trade deficit numbers for February of 2005. Again. the monthly trade deficit set a record of $61 billion. In JanuaryFebruary 2005. the annual U.S. trade deficit was running $100 billion above the alltime record of $617 billion in 2004.\" Let me go read a little bit more from his article. \"Between 1993 and 2004. the United States trade deficit with Beijing. ","speaker_name":"WALTER JONES","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3916,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090034355,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Legislative Director of the Greenpeace Toxics Campaign. is. If you fastforward to a disaster. what would you want to have done?\" And this is what the New York Times and what Greenpeace say should be some of the priorities: \"First. tighter plant security. There should be tough Federal standards for perimeter fencing. Concrete blockades. armed guards and other forms of security at all of the 15.000 facilities that use deadly chemicals. \"Second. use of safer chemicals. Refineries. when practical. should adopt processes that do not use hydrofluoric acid. the chemical that is now putting New Orleans at risk. Some plants that once used chlorine. such as the Blue Plains wastewater treatment plant in Washington. D.C.. have switched to safer alternatives. \"Third. reducing quantities of dangerous chemicals. An important reason that chemical facilities make such tempting targets for terrorists is the enormous quantity of chemicals they have on hand. ","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5140,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090034360,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. earlier this month the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the law preventing convicted felons from purchasing guns does not apply to individuals convicted of felonies in foreign countries. In the case of Small v. United States. the ruling stated the law needs to explicitly state that foreign felons are also prohibited from buying firearms. This ruling has opened the doors for dangerous criminals to purchase guns in thi country with no questions asked. But the loophole can easily be fixed. That is why I. have introduced H.R. 1931. the Foreign Felons Gun Prohibition Act. My legislation will ensure our gun laws take crimes committed in other countries into consideration before allowing a firearm purchase to go forward. We cannot allow convicted drug dealers. murderers. rapists and even terrorists to purchase guns just because their crimes were committed in another country. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MCCARTHY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3172,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090034370,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Maryland for yielding to me. And I think particularly at this point I wanted to interject some thoughts. First of all. the gentleman from Maryland . as he pointed out just a second ago. is a Ph.D. physiologist who taught years ago in medical school and taught physiology but. more importantly. has also taught the subject matter. which is difficult to understand. I know. I was there in medical school. And that is the subject of embryology. Embryology. Medical students get maybe in a 4year period of time. 6 months worth of embryology. and of course. to hear my. colleague from Maryland explaining the embryologic process. it sort of takes me back to those days. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5198,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090034372,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So whether we have 400.000 or 20.000. maybe 1.000. maybe 10.000. maybe 15.000. maybe more than that will be adopted out. Many will argue that adult stem cells are more productive in research. As the gentleman has pointed out so effectively here. some of that has to do with the length of time of research. There is no question. But there is no question that adequate resources and adult stem cell research will produce results. There is also the question about private funding. There is no restriction on private funding on embryonic stem cell research. If it is so promising. then why has the private sector not stepped. up. because obviously there are huge profits to be made if you have some type of a cure for juvenile diabetes or Alzheimers or whatever. and yet we do not seem to see that afoot. Then I guess the last thing that I would mention is that there is the ethical question. should we use public funds in doing research that is so divisive. that has so many people on both sides of the fence? It seems we should have more unanimity in using public funds to do this type of research. So I applaud the gentleman for the proposed legislation that he has before us. because in this legislation is the prospect of using embryonic stem cells without destroying the embryo. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS OSBORNE","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3767,"word_count":230}
{"speech_id":1090034377,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. once again. it is an honor to be here before the House of Representatives and have an opportunity- to speak to the Members and to the American people. Mr. Speaker. we would also like to thank the Democratic leader. the gentlewoman from Califbrnia . along with the Democratic whip. the gentleman from Maryland . and our chairman. the gentleman from New Jersey . the chairman of the Democratic Caucus. and also the vice chair. the gentleman from South Carolina for providing the kind of leadership that Americans need and want here in this great country of ours. This week. as every week. we come to the Floor. the 30something Working Group that was formed in the 108th Congress by Leader PELOSI to talk about the issues that are not only facing the 30somethings. but also facing the American people in general. We also come to the Floor. along with the gentleman from Ohio . my good friend. we come to the floor to be able to talk about a number of issues. not only Social Security. but also student loans. to talk about issues facing the environment. as well. as the evergrowing debt. which is always on our agenda. Without any further ado. I would say to the gentleman from Ohio how much I appreciate the fact that he commits. and our good friend. the gentlewoman from Florida . who will not be here tonight. every night to come to the floor to share good and accurate information not only with the Members of Congress. but with the American people.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1463,"word_count":262}
{"speech_id":1090034391,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Prescription drug costs would go down if we were in charge of this House right now.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1510,"word_count":16}
{"speech_id":1090034404,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Basically what this chart says. and it is continuing to increase as the years go on. as we run these deficits that we had in the last chart. that we have been running as we are borrowing that money. more and more of that money is coming from foreign interests. This is a dangerous situation that we are putting the country in. As the gentleman from Florida stated. we are on the Committee on Armed Services. We see this in the committee hearings and with the poppy in Afghanistan. We see this dealing with the Chinese in their increase in military spending and the issue of Taiwan. and North Korea is beginning to test nuclear weapons. - The more power we cede to foreign interests dealing with our own personal monetary situation. the more dangerous a situation we are going to be in. It is a bad political move. it is a bad economic move. and it threatens our country as well.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2217,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090034405,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as I look at the printed material that I have before me. I cannot help but say this maybe is at the crisis level. Maybe what the gentleman just pointed out. maybe the fact that we have the highest deficit in the -history of the Republic. maybe because we have a number of Americans that are still cutting pills in half after we. the Congress. or the majority side. has said we have done all that we can do. Maybe that is the crisis. Maybe it is important to let not only the majority side know. but also the American people know that it is about who is running this House and who is not -raising an objection to what has happened already. let alone what is going to continue to happen. If left up to the mechanics of the majority right now. 41 percent will be the early years of foreign countries buying our debt. Mr. Speaker. it may very well go to 55 percent if the American people do not hold us accountable for the decisions we are making. or the decisions we are not making. I think it is important. and we have to talk a little bit about extreme measures in the Congress. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7451,"word_count":209}
{"speech_id":1090034413,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the subject of my Special Order this hour is how meth is ravaging our communities in the United States. Yet in our budget. in our appropriations. it is called on to eliminate what are called Byrne grants and the HIDTA program reduced by.56 percent. Let us talk a little bit about what meth does. I have a picture here from the Des Moines Register of a 13yearold Iowa girl. a Very pretty little girl. Unfortunately. she became hooked on meth. This is the before. This is within a year later. It is kind of a grainy picture. but you can see a stark difference. Unfortunately. even though her mother tried rescuing her from this lifestyle. this little girl committed suicide. ","speaker_name":"LEE TERRY","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2686,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090034414,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I certainly thank the gentleman for yielding. Obviously. I have the worst affliction that a politician can have. I have laryngitis. I am playing hurt tonight. This is an allNebraska deal. it looks like. I really appreciate the gentleman from Nebraska","speaker_name":"THOMAS OSBORNE","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":250,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090034415,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I do appreciate the gentlemans time in playing hurt. I am sure there have been times when he was coaching that he encouraged people with sore throats to get out and take one for the team. so I appreciate that. The gentleman from Nebraska raised several good points that I will take some time on. He talked about some of the rather toxic ingredients. In fact. where I live in Valley. Nebraska. at least for the next day or twb before we moved. the Saturday night before last there was a meth bust just about a half mile outside of town. and it was rather interesting in driving by and seeing the number of fire trucks and Hazmat units that are there. And what people do not understand. although the gentleman from Nebraska","speaker_name":"LEE TERRY","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":734,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090034417,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. I had read from our State Attorney General Jon Bruning. who is doing a fantastic job in that position. that it is 60 percent. But I did too have a local law enforcement officer that suggested it is higher than that. at least when we add the totality. He said. first of all. there are many of the folks in our State prison that are there because they are involved with meth. that they are dealing. cooking. distributing. or that they committed a crime while high on meth or. getting up to about that 90 percent figure. they are out burglarizing. robbing. plundering to get money to buy the drug. So manyi of our local officers feel that it is as high as 90 percent. whether it is directly related to the distribution or cooking of meth or just that they are so hooked that they are out robbing money to get it..","speaker_name":"LEE TERRY","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":843,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090034432,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I think for planning purposes. that has worked out well for the last 26 hours. If over the course of the morning and afternoon we jointly agree. we can continue that as late as necessary tonight or into the hours of the morning. As I mentioned. debate has been very orderly and very constructive. We will continue with that constructive debate over the course of today and tonight.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":381,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090034464,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my colleague from Hawaii for his kind remarks and for his graciousness in yielding. I just want to make a point that we have not heard enough. It is these numbers: 2.703 to 1. This is the number of times Republican Senators have voted for court of appeals nominees either by direct vote or cloture versus the number of times they voted against them2.703 yes. 1 no. The one \"no\" vote was TRENT LOTT who voted againstMr. Gregory to the Fourth Circuit who Jesse Helms would never allow to go on the bench. So when we are talking about upordown votes. we are really not. We do not have any diversity of opinion on the other side. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES SCHUMER","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1580,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090034470,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Senator KENNEDY was enunciating a timehonored. Senate procedure that said a majority had the right to change the rules. This was in 1975. Senator Mondale served in 1975. Senator Mondale had this to say about what was done in 1975. For those who are talking about timehonored Senate procedures. this was the Senate procedure 30 years ago. And for 30 years it has stood the test of time. Senator Mondale said: ... the President of the Senate . . . and the membership of the Senate . . . have both clearly. unequivocally. and unmistakably accepted and upheld the proposition that the U.S. Senate may . . . establish its rules by majority vote. uninhibited by rules adopted by previous Congresses. Somehow this happened. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BENNETT","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11383,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090034491,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As we have discussed. rule XXII requires 60 votes to invoke cloture. or end debate. on any matter pending before the Senate. This includes bills or nominations. but it also includes motions to proceed to those bills or nominations. ThenMajority Leader BYRD wanted the Senate to confirm an individual nomination. He made a single motion to go into executive session to consider a nomination. a step that is not debatable under our rules. and to proceed to an individual nomination. a step that was debatable. This time. the point of order came from a Republican Senator. arguing that this procedural twostep was improper. The Presiding Officer agreed. ruling against what Majority Leader BYRD was trying to do. He still prevailed when a majority of Senators voted to overturn the Presiding Officers ruling. Doing so eliminated the filibuster on a motion to proceed to a specific nomination. Mr. President. this chart shows that seven Democratic Senators serving in this body today voted to eliminate those nominationrelated filibusters. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11945,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090034515,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the Senate is on a path toward a divisive and actually unnecessary showdown. I have been here long enough to know that if the vote on the Republican leaders nuclear option were by a secret ballot it would fail overwhelmingly. There are too many Senators who will tell you privately that on a secret ballot they would never vote for it. We know this because. as these Senators know. it is harmful to this institution and it is wrong for this countrywrong in terms of protecting the rights of the American people. wrong in terms of undercutting our fundamental system of checks and balances. wrong in terms of defending the independence of and public support for an independent Federal judiciary. But especially it is wrong in unilaterally destroying minority protections in the Senate in order to promote oneparty rule. something this Senate has never known and has never wanted. * I have served in the Senate for alfnost 31 years. During that time. sev16ral times the Democrats wre in barge of the Senatein the majority. Sevdtal times the .Republicans Were. The hallmark Of every ldader. Republican or Democratic. wasthat the special minority protections of the Senate would remain. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11689,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090034530,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. our colleagues complained that by affording any Presidents nominees a simple upordown vote. we are trying to stifle the right to debate. while I think it is worth noting that we have devoted 20 days20 daysto the Owen nomination. go this is not about curtailing debating rights. This is about using the filibuster to kill nominations with which the minority disagrees so 41 Senators can dictate to the President whom he can nominate to the courts of appeal and to the Supreme Court. If there is any doubt about this. I remind our colleagues that last year the distinguished minority leader said: There is not enough time in the universe\"Not enough time in the universe\" for the Senate to allow an upordown vote on the Owen nomination. So we should stop pretending this debate is simply about preserving debating prerogatives. It is clearly about killing nominations. Our debate Is about restoring the practice honored for 214 years in the Senate of having upordown votes on judicial nominees. Never before has a minority of Senators obstructed a judicial nominee who enjoyed clear majority support. Our friends on the other side of the aisle recite a list of nominees on whom there were cloture votes. but the problem with their assertion that these nominees were filibustered is that the name of each of these nominees is now preceded by the title \"judge.\" meaning. of course. they were confirmed. ","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12231,"word_count":238}
{"speech_id":1090034534,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I say to my friend from Iowa. if the majority leader does have to exercise the constitutional option and ask us to support it. it will be narrowly crafted to effect only circuit court appointments and the Supreme Court. which are. after all. the only areas where there has been a problem. I further say to my friend from Iowa. in the years I have been in the Senate. the only time anyone has tried to get rid of the entire filibuster was back in 1995 when such a measure was offered by the other side of the aisle. Interestingly enough. the principal beneficiaries of getting rid of the filibuster in January of 1995 would have been our party because we had just come back to power in the Senate. yet not a single Republican. not one. voted to get rid of the filibuster. Nineteen Democrats did. two of whom. Senator KENNEDY and Senator KERRY. are still in the Senate and now arguing. I guess. the exact opposite of their vote a mere 10 years ago.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":946,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090034606,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It happened with Democrats in control of the Senate and Republicans in control of the White House. I think that point needs to be made. I have heard a lot of moaning and groaning. I know my colleagues know I did everything in my power to accommodate them and help them.","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1021,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090034613,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In other words. we will see an attempt to overthrow the Senate as we know it. Hopefully. some courageous Senators will step forward. vote their conscience. and put a stop to this once and for all. There are several people who disagree with their leader on the Republican side. and they have expressed their unwillingness to go through with this muscular takeover of the Senate. It is unbefitting the body. President Bush and the majority leader want to get rid of the filibuster because it is the only thing standing between them and absolute control of our Government and our Nation. They think the Senate should be a rubberstamp for the President. That is not what our Found-. ers intended. It is an abuse of power. and it is wrong. whether a Republican or a Democrat lives in the White House. I say to the American people: Please. get past the process debate here. Lets not forget how important our Federal judges are. ","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7194,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090034617,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If you listerr to the President. Secretary of State Rice. and others. they talk about how essential it is to ensure that there are real procedural protections for the Sunni minority in Iraq. In fact. what they are trying to do in Iraq they are trying to undo in America by stripping away those procedural protections that give the minority a real voice in our Government. In a recent National Review article by John Cullinan. a former senior policy adviser to the U.S. Catholic Bishops. he said it very well. He posed a question in this way: Will Iraqs overwhelming Shiite majority accept structural restraints in the form of guaranteed protections for others? Or does the majority see its demographic predominance as a mandate toexercise a monopoly of political power? This. in a very telling phrase. sums it up: Does a 60percent majority translate into 100 percent of the political pie? The question we will answer today. tomorrow. and this week: Does the 55vote majority in the Senate translate to 100 percent of the political pie when it comes to naming Federal judges? Just as it is wrong in Iraq. I believe it is wrong here because without minority protections. without the ability of the minority to exercise their rights. to raise their voice. this process is doomed to a very difficult and. I think. disastrous end. We have today measures before us that threaten the filibuster. and I believe this is not the end of the story if this nuclear option prevails because I think the pressure by the interest groups that are pushing this issuethe far right who are demanding that this nuclear option be exercisedwill not be satisfied by simply naming judges because that is just part of what we do. They will see in the days ahead. if this nuclear option succeeds. opportunities to strike out our ability to stop legislative proposals. to stop other Executive nominees. ","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10664,"word_count":321}
{"speech_id":1090034659,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"She works with the hearing impaired and organizations dedicated to service animals for those with disabilities. She teaches Sunday school and is committed to the poor and underprivileged. Jt is clear that she is qualified to serve on the Fifth Circuit Court. The American Bar Association unanimously rated Justice Owen \"well qualified.\" its highest possible rating. She has the support of former Democrat justices on the Texas Supreme Court and 15 past presidents of the Texas State Bar. To say that she is not qualified is utterly ridiculous. Because her credentials are so outstanding. throughout this debate. the other side has relied on hyperbole and rhetoric. accusing her of being \"extreme\" in order to smear her nomination. So the question her nomination presents us. then. is whether she is extreme or qualified? The great thing about the Constitution is that it provides us with a mechanism to make this type of \"advice and consent\" determination on whether she is extreme or qualifiedthrough a simple upordown vote. An upordown vote is a simple matter of fairness. Every judicial nominee that makes it out of the Judiciary Committee should receive an up or down vote. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9444,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090034667,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This year. Memorial Day has a special significance as the.60th anniversary of the battle of Iwo Jima. This past February marks the dates in history that cost nearly 26.000 lives. The service members involved in that battle responded with courage and bravery. Iwo Jima is one of the most important battles of World War I. On behalf of a grateful Nation. we pay respect to the veterans of Iwo Jima and those who made the ultimate sacrifice. This Memorial Day we also honor the men. and women currently -serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. We must honor our commitment to them by making sure they have .everything they need to complete their mission and come home safely. We must also keep our promises to those who proudly served our country by making sure they receive the benefits they deserve. So. as we observe this holiday we call Memorial Day. let us remember the centuries of sacrifice by the many men and women that this day represents. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2000,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090034679,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They contribute to our Nations competitiveness and economic growth. They help revitalize neighborhoods and small towns across the country. And most are fiercely proud to call themselves Americans. Yet. in 1996. Congress denied safety net services to legal immigrants who had been in the country for less than 5 years. Today. Senator CHAFEE and I are here to introduce legislation that would take a first step towards correcting that injustice. The Immigrant Childrens Health Improvement Act will allow States to use. Federal funds to make SCHIP. (the State Childrens Health Improvement Program. and Medicaid available to pregnant women and children who are legal immigrants within the 5year ban. There is tremendous need for this legislation. ","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3477,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090034682,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"At the same time. the Federal Government has continued to strengthen its unfunded water quality standards. Several years ago. in an effort to resurrect the Conduit. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell and I worked to secure $200.000 for a Bureau of Reclamation Reevaluation Statement on the project. Thanks to this effort. the people of the valley began to realize that the Conduit may one day be more than just a pipedream. and that Congress was serious about fulfilling the promise of the FryingpanArkansas Project. Our legislation calls for a 80\/20 Federal\/Local cost share. This is a sizeable sum. but is a far cry from the estimated $640 million it would take to build new treatment facilities for each of the communities if the Conduit was not built. It requires cooperation of the Department of the Interior. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and local project participants. The Arkansas Valley Conduit will deliver fresh. clean water to dozens of valley communities and tensofthousands of people along the river. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3346,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090034686,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today along with Senator HAGEL. Senator LAUTENBERG. Senator DURBIN. Senator CORZINE. and Senator FEINGOLD to submit a resolution calling on the parties participating at the Seventh Review Conference in New York City to reaffirm their support for and take additional measures to strengthen the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Our resolution calls on parties to the conference to. among other things: insist on strict compliance with the nonproliferation obligations of the Treaty and to undertake effective enforcement measures against states that are in violation of their Article I or Article II obligations. agree to establish more effective controls on sensitive technologies that can be used to produce materials for nuclear weapons. support the efforts of the United States and the European Union (EU) to prevent Irin from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability. support the SixParty talks that seek the verifiable disarmament of North Koreas nuclear weapons program. accelerate programs to safeguard and eliminate nuclearweapons usable material to the highest standards to prevent access by terrorists or other states. agree that no state may withdraw from the Treaty and escape responsibility for prior violations of the treaty or retain access to controlled materials and equipment acquired for \"peaceful\" purposes. and. accelerate implementation of the NPTrelated disarmament obligations and commitments that would. in particular. reduce the worlds stockpiles of nuclear weapons and weaponsgrade material. More than 180 states have gathered in New York to review progress on implementing their respective obligations as signatories of the Treaty and discuss additional steps each party can take to fulfill all of the NPT objectives. The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty has played a critical role in protecting U.S. national security interests and promoting peace and stability in the international community by bringing nuclear armed and nonnuclear armed states together to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Each party has clear and specific obligations. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5527,"word_count":308}
{"speech_id":1090034704,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But we have been inundated with messages from Iowans telling us what they want the Senate to stay up all night working on. Believe me. detonating the nuclear option is not on their list. To the contrary. my fellow Iowans are deeply concerned about \"kitchen table\" issues such as health care. job security. pension security. education. increasing the minimum wage. the war in Iraq. the price of gasoline. Sherry. in Sioux City emailed me to make two points. One. I do not like the GOP violating the rules and violating the Founding Fathers checks and balances. and. two. I am retiring from teaching tomorrow and I am afraid most of my students will not be in good enough jobs to afford their own health care. Plus I myself must wait 24 months for health coverage because I dont qualify for Medicare. Linda in Des Moines sent the following email: Mr. Harkin. thank you for asking. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10640,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090034708,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":15,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The filibuster started in 1806. This is the filibusters 200th year. It has been used sparingly. Lets look at how many times we have blocked President Bushs judges. I hope I dont have to bring this chart out again. I hope we are done with this. But for tonight we need to summarize where we have been. Mr. President. 208 to 10 is what caused all the angst by the Republicans. They wanted to take away our right to block 5 percent of George Bushs judges. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10910,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090034712,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. And I thank those Senators on both sides of the aisle for bringing us back from this precipice. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":741,"word_count":24}
{"speech_id":1090034767,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. I think it would be betterI havent had a chance to discuss this with the majority leaderto vitiate the vote on cloture and then set a time to complete the debate on Priscilla Owen. We would be willing to do that. It would move things along. I wanted the leader to know that. We would be happy to talk about schedule. how much time people need. and what we are going to do the rest of the week. We havent had time to talk this morning.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":451,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090034770,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Well. I think we need to think how much we can do realistically this week. With that understanding and the backlog we have on judges. if we can move those expeditiouslyand we put in a plan or process to do sowe should do just that. We have had various offers from your side of the aisle on the Michigan judges .and on Griffith. and now we have this memorandum of understanding for upordown votes on three other nominees we have been debating. Leadership to leadership. we ought to sit down and plan how we can deal with judges since we have waited a long time for these upordown votes and since offers have been made back and forth. In light of the understanding the 14 Senators came to. I think we should move expeditiously and address the judges who * have been waiting a long time. At the same time. we have other very important businessJohn Bolton to be Ambassador to the U.N.-which we do need to address as well. As I say that. I want to make an appeal to Senators. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1523,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090034771,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. I wish to briefly comment on the events of last night. The evening moved very quickly. and it did alter the course of what likely would have occurred over the course of today. Certain adjustments will be made and are being made. as we just. heard in the colloquy between the Democratic leader and I. in terms of the schedule. Although I am not a party of the memorandum of understanding signed last night by 14 of our colleagues. I have had the opportunity to further review that agreement in more detail. I do believe the memorandum of understanding makes modest progress in that three individuals will get upordown votes on the floor of the Senate. To me. it does stop far short of guaranteeing judicial nominees the fair upordown votes they deserveother nominees. nominees in the future. I say that and recognize that with civility and trust. which are two values I have tried to stress again and again. and with that memorandum of understanding being a starting point and the spirit in which it was generated. I believe we can successfully bring. these nominees to the floor. after coming through the Judiciary Committee. debate them extensively. and ultimately bring them to a vote. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6773,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090034783,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I read from the agreement about rules change: In light of the spirit and continuing commitments made in this agreement. we commit to oppose the rules changes in the 109th Congress. which we understand to be any amendment to or interpretation of the Rules of the Senate that would force a vote on a judicial nomination by means other than unanimous consent or rule XXII. The current rule. There it is. Yet we heard the mention by the leader earlier this morning that he believes somehow the nuclear .option is still alive and well. It does seem to me the American people want to get about the American peoples business. This has been an enormous distraction. I listened to my friend and colleague from Tennessee who says we want to follow the rules and traditions of the Senate. so we are going back to the regular order. If we go back to the regular order. we are going back to the traditions and rules as. they stand: You have the vote of every member on this side. That is not what the majority leader was talking about. He was talking about we will go back to the regular order. he was going to change the order with a whole series of changed rules. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9001,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090034802,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Perhaps her experience as a judicial nominee has exposed her to a broader range of views. and that experience may make her more sensitive to concerns regarding privacy. civil rights. and consumer rights. I have never questioned her intellectual capabilities. The agreement that will allow Justice Owen to receive an upordown vote also had the effect of taking the nuclear option off the table for this Congress and. I think. in our lifetime. I wish to review what I believe was at stake in this debate. The agreement makes clear that the Senate rules have not changed. The filibuster remains available to the Senate minority. whether it be Democrat or Republican. Last night. the seven Democrats .agreed that filibusters will be used only in extraordinary circumstances. In my view. the fact that there have been so few out of the 218 nominations in. the last 4 years. means that filibusters already are rare. In any event. the agreement provides that \"each signatory must use his or her own discretion and judgment in determining whether [extraordinary] circumstances exist.\" This. of course. is a subjective test. as it always has been. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7690,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090034835,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to recognize the accomplishments of Colonel Russ Howard. head of the department of social sciences and director of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. Colonel Howard is retiring June 3. 2005. after 37 years of Active and Reserve military service. In his previous positidn. he was the deputy department head of the department of social sciences. Prior to that. Colonel Howard was an Army chief of staff fellow at the Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. Formerly. -Colonel Howard was the commander of the 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Lewis. WA. Other recent assignments include assistant to the Special Representative to the Secretary General during UNOSOM II in Somalia. deputy chief of staff for I Corps-. and chief of staff and deputy commander for the Combined Joint Task force. ","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1002,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090034839,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Some are saying this doesnt really look like a human. life. it is so small. so microscopic in some cases. that some say it really cannot be human life. Yet. according to the biological and scientific definition. this is young human life. If allowed to be nurtured. it becomes you. me. or anybody watching. Life has to be nurtured at all stages. It is no different biologically at that stage versus at a later stage. It has the same biological components. or \"software.\" if you will. or DNA structure. It needs to be nurtured. and it matures into an adult human. If we are going to proceed on this. I think we are really hurting ourselves as a society. I also point out that some people are saying we need to do this to find cures. ","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7703,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090034844,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I voted no on cloture. and I will vote no on the nomination of Priscilla Owen to be a judge on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Court. I would like to take a few minutes today to explain my votes. I also would like to make a few comments on the events that led up to these votes. I strongly oppose the threat of the nuclear option. I believe this was an illegitimate tactic. a partisan abuse of power that was a threat to the Senate as an institution and to the country. Attempting to blackmail the minority into giving up their rights that have been part of the Senates traditions and practices for centuries was a new low for a majority that has repeatedly been willing to put party over principle. Unfortunately. the blackmail was partially successful. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11959,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090034847,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. at various times during the course of debate in recent days over the nomination of Justice Priscilla Owen. a number of her previous rulings have been badly mischaracterized. Last Thursday. May 19. I rose to speak about a number of those cases and to correct the record. And just this morning. I published an oped in National Review Online to further rebut these baseless criticisms. I ask unanimous consent that an excerpt of that oped be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":476,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090034855,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Tim Ball. and Dr. Steven Schroeder. the politicians clearly do not realize that the major conclusions of the IPCCs reports are not based on hard evidence and observation but. rather. largely upon the output of assumptiondriven climate models. The alarmists cite the results of climate models as proof of. the catastrophic warming hypotheses. Consider one alarmists description. who wrote recently: Drawing on highly sophisticated computer models. climate scientists can project. not predict. how much temperatures may rise by say 2100 If we carry on with business as usual. He continues: Although scenarios vary. some get pretty severe. and so do the projected impacts of climate change. rising Sea levels. species extensions. glacier melting and so forth. It sounds pretty scary. but the statement is completely false. It sheds no light on the likelihood or reliability of such projections. If. for example. a model shows a significant temperature. increase over the next 50 years. how much confidence do we have in that projection? Attaching probabilities to model results is extremely difficult and rife with uncertainties. In the 2000 edition of \"Nature.\" four climate modelers noted that: A basic problem with all such predictions to date has been the difficulty of providing any systematic estimate of uncertainty. This problem stems from the fact that: These [climate] models do not necessarily span the full range of known climate system behavior. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9732,"word_count":227}
{"speech_id":1090034871,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In the last decades of the 20th century. Lincoln transformed itself from a life insurance company into a nationally recognized financial services enterprise. The corporation adopted the name Lincoln Financial Group as its marketing name in 1998. In addition to Fort Wayne. Lincoln maintains primary offices in Philadelphia. PA. Hartford. CT. Chicago. IL. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD LUGAR","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4061,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090034874,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"New Mexico. South Dakota and Wyoming. In Pennsylvania. the Department of Defense is working to adopt the CHI PACC model for its health care system. The goal of all of these efforts is to prove the effectiveness of the CHI PACC model so that it can be adopted universally through Medicaid. SSCHIP and private insurers. As we approach Memorial Day. it should be noted that Childrens Hospice International is a living memorial to Ensign Alan H. Armstrong and his shipmates lost aboard the U.S.S. Frank E. Evans during the conflict in Vietnam. Armstrong is the brother of CHI Founder Ann ArmstrongDailey. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BENNETT","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4671,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090034875,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I wish to say a few words about National History Day. For the past 25 years. National History Day has provided students in grades 612 with opportunities to study different periods or trends in Americab history. National History Day is a yearlbng educational opportunity for students to examine a period of American history closely through extensive research. development of exhibits and presentations. and multimedia documentaries. This years national competition topic is \"Communication in History.\" and the competition will be held on the campus of the University of Maryland in June. I am especially proud of the students from my State of North Dakota who have been selected. to participate in this program this year. These students participated in the North Dakota State competition and were selected to represent the State in the national competition. They \" include Edward Gallegos. Kelbi Clarke. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1409,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090034876,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I am introducing the Rural Access to Emergency Services (RAES) Act. which will improve access to emergency medical services (EMS) in rural communities. This bill will take the critical steps to help sustain rural emergency care in the future. EMS is a vital component of the health care system. particularly in rural areas. Ambulance personnel are not only the first responders to an emergency. but also play a key role in the provision of lifesaving medical care. It is said that time is one of the most important factors relating to patient outcomes in emergency situations. Rural EMS providers often have the enormous strain of responding to emergencies many miles awaysometimes nearly 50 minutes. However. current reimbursement levels are insufficient for the squads to bear the costs of responding to calls over these long distances. As rural EMS squads are forced to close. rural residentsand others traveling through rural areasare left without access to emergency services. Due to the inadequacy of Medicare reimbursement. rural ambulance providers are also finding it difficult to maintain the heightened \"readiness requirement.\" exposing communities to the threat of being illprepared to respond to a major public health emergency. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2745,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090034877,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Canada. Alberta recognized the potential of its own tar sands deposits and set forth a policy to promote their development. As a .result. Canada has increased its oil reserves by more than a factor of 10. going from a reserve of about 14 billion barrels to its .current reserve of 176 billion barrels in only a few years. And just think we are sitting on one trillion barrels. more than five times what Canada has. I think its outrageous that Utah imports about onefourth of its oil from Canadian tar sands. even though we have a very large resource of those very same tar sands in our own State sitting undeveloped. The government of Alberta. which owns the resource. has moved forward in leaps and bounds. whiile the United States has yet to take even a baby step toward developing our untapped resource. Our proposed legislation looks to the Alberta model to help the United States move toward greater energy independence. The Oil Shale and Tar Sands Development Act represents a necessary shift by our government from an almost complete reliance on . conventional sources of oil to our vast unconventional resources. such as tar sands and oil shale. In drafting this legislation. we have been mindful of the environment and of States water rights. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7652,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090034878,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I -am pleased to join Senator GRASSLEY. and our other colleagues. in introducing legislation to make the Section 529 enhancements enacted in 2001 permanent. In 2001. it was the Senate. especially my good friend Chairman GRASSLEY. that insisted on including education savings in the tax bill. I am proud of that fact. And I am proud that the Senate is again taking the lead to make these important proVisions permanent. Higher education is critical to our childrens future and our Nations economy. As a parent. or grandparent. you know that providing your children with a college education means they are likely to earn substantially more than if they only have a high school degree. One study estimated a million dollars more in todays dollars. College is a good investment. but a very expensive one. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3598,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090034921,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. if the distinguished majority leader will yield. I think it is appropriate that we have this vote at noon. We would have been willing to have it earlier. This way the committees can go about their business. I know I have a ranking members meeting at 12. So this will work out perfect. Even though we are waiting for the vote. I think this will work out well for the schedule.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":390,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090034931,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today on the floor of the House. we will momentarily suspend the annual spring appro.priations debates to provide a vital and noble service to the American people. We will consider two bills that transcend both party and politics and oblige us to engage in a moral and metaphysical inquiry into the very nature of man. If it sounds a little more sobering and important than the regular goings on around here. well. we can only hope. Mr. Speaker. The first bill to be considered under. suspension of the rules. and sponsored by the gentleman from New Jersey","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":569,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090034942,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. one of the privileges we have from time to time is to stand and recognize those in our community who do good. who improve the quality of life. who make our communities a better place to live. And today I have that opportunity to recognize Reverend Douglas Westmoreland. the pastor of Tusculum Hills Baptist Church in Nashville. Tennessee. In June of 1975. 30 years ago. Reverend Westmoreland answered the call and began sharing his ministry with the members of Tusculum Hills Baptist Church. It is my privilege today to join with those members and to thank him for his appreciation of the congregation. for his guidance he has given the congregation and the inspiration that he has given not only to the congregation but also to our entire community. We thank Reverend Westmoreland for his continued service. and I thank the Members of this body for joining me in honoring him.","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":890,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090034944,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if Members are interested in finding a cure for Parkinsons disease. diabetes. cancer. and many other of the dread diseases that we face. please vote for this stem cell bill today and please vote for the cord blood bill today. They need to vote for both. The narrow issue may seem whether we expand federally funded research into embryonic stem cell work. but I think a better way to view the issue is whether we allow the continual discarding of embryos from IVF clinics or whether we allow those to be used for productive and lifegiving research. This is a very important moment for this House. I would urge all of my colleagues to do the right thing for the future of our kids and grandkids because this research needs to be conducted. It needs to be conducted with Federal support. It needs to be conducted here in America. There was a breakthrough just last week in South Korea. Are we going to send our loved ones overseas in order to get this lifesaving research? We should do it here.","speaker_name":"JIM COOPER","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1004,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090034945,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This means that embryonic stem cells may be pluripotent. that is. able to give rise to cells found in all tissues of the embryo except for germ cells rather than being merely multipotent.\" \"The bottom line. as far as Im concerned. is we. just dont know at this point what each can do. and we ought to be investigating both.: Dr. Joanne Kutzberg at Duke University. One expert after another has said that there is tremendous potential there. Let us not let it go to waste. Vote \"yes\" on both of these bills.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CASTLE","chamber":"H","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1587,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090034946,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I have enormous respect for the gentleman from Delaware and for the sincerity of his purpose in bringing forward legislation today that would fund. the destruction of human embryos for the purpose of scientific research with Federal tax dollars. Mr. Speaker. I am not a scientist. I do know that there have been more than 60 successful treatments using adult stem cells. there have been zero treatments developed using embryonic stem cells. But let us be clear today about this debate. Embryonic stem cell research today. despite my objection and the objection of tens of millions of prolife Americans. embryonic stem cell research is legal in America today. It goes on using private dollars every day. ","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1189,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090034955,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today is not that day. I agree with my colleagues that we must find a solution to the escalating energy problem in this country. However. digging a hole in the Nevada desert and burying the waste is simply not the answer. The Yucca Mountain project was based on 1980s science and technology and has no place in our country today. We need to focus on 21stcentury solutions like reprocessing and transmutation processes to reduce our nuclear waste. Going forward with the Yucca Mountain project is like still using cassette tapes or even 8track stereo tapes in an era of MP3 players and Ipods. In addition to this disregard of modern technology. it seems now the DOE does not even care about ensuring the science they are basing the project on. outdated or not. is even accurate. I met with Secretary Bodman. aloftg with the rest of the Nevada delegation. and we discussed the recent scandal regarding the falsification of science from some employees directly involved in the project. Despite -the manipulation of the data and the complete disregard for quality assurance that the employees have shown. the Secretary demonstrated absolutely no willingness to review the Yucca Mountain project. ","speaker_name":"JAMES GIBBONS","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2576,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090034995,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I knew Yucca Mountain was not scientifically sound. but I never.dreamed and never thought that Federal employees would purposely falsify documents to cover up the lack of basic science. In 90 pages of emails. the USGS employees fabricated dates and names of programs used in modeling for quality assurance audits and deleted information that did not fit favorable and hopedfor conclusions. The employees made it clear that quality assurance was not a priority of this project. but rather. an obstacle. Let me share with my colleagues some of the comments made by these i 37ff8cc empl6 )\/e6s. arid I qhute: \"Dont look at the last four lines. Thb se lines are a mystery. Ive deleted the linds from the official QA version of the files. In the end. I keep track of two sets of files. the ones that will keep the QA happy and the ones that were* actually used.\" Another email says. \"Like you said all along. the Yucca. Mountain project has now reached a point where they need to have certain items work no matter what. and the infiltration maps are on that list. ","speaker_name":"SHELLEY BERKLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4511,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090035002,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I note that the gentleman from Ohio included in the committee report a provision directing the Secretary of Energy to begin moving commercial spent nuclear fuel into interim storage at one or more Department of Energy sites. I want to be sure that your intent is for the Secretary to focus his attention on existing DOE sites and not go looking for private sites that might be used for interim storage. Is my understanding of the gentlemans intent correct?","speaker_name":"ROB BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":470,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090035018,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. as the gentleman from Florida is aware. the budget is very tight this year. and due to the lack of Federal funds. many projects the committee supported in the past did not receive appropriations this year. Because money is tight. locals will need to do more with less and finish this with other local money. As the gentleman knows. I have got three grandchildren living in Florida. so I am interested in the State of Florida. and I appreciate the gentlemans bringiig this to our attention.","speaker_name":"DAVID HOBSON","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":503,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090035024,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Vigil. \"It is a fundamental principle of appropriations law that where Congress merely appropriates lumpsum amounts without statutory restriction. a clear inference may be drawn that it does not intend to impose legally funding restrictions. and indicia in committee reports and other legislative history as to how the funds should. or are expected to. be spent do not establish any legal requirements on the agency.\" Nonetheless. report language that conflicts with an agencys statutory responsibilities warrants- a response. The committee report directs DOE to do something the Nuclear Waste Policy Act does not permitto establish one or more centralized interim storage facilities for commercial spent fuel. to take title to \"some\" commercial spent fuel. and to consider altering the order in which dlility fuel is. scheduled to be removed from utility sites. What would adoption of this \"interim storage\" proposal mean? First. it would mean that some State other than Nevada. which Congress ratified as the sole candidate for licensing a permanent repository. would \"win\" the lottery for hosting an interim storage facility that would open in 2006. The report language helpfully notes that three DOE sites in the States of Idaho. South Carolina. and Washington. could be selected. It notes as well. however. that other Federal sites. including closed military bases. could be picked. This would not be permitted under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. Second. the proposed interim facility would. not be subject to licensing by the NRC. It is not clear that the National Environmental Policy Act would even apply. ","speaker_name":"JOHN DINGELL","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4626,"word_count":253}
{"speech_id":1090035029,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Strickland. as well as others in both the House and Senate. and with Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson and his colleagues in the Clinton Administration. to pass the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA). I am proud to have beenable to help get this program enacted and I will continue working to improve it for those who have worked at Rocky Flats and other sites. And. we need to also remember the other workers at Rocky Flats as well. As they near the completion of their jobs at the site. they are understandably concerned about what will come next. Many have moved on to other jobs. and others will do so. But many are facing uncertainties about their futures. For all of them. it is essential that DOE acts promptly to resolve remaining questions about the futures they can expect when their work at Rocky Flats is finished. For that reason. I recently wrote to ask Secretary Bodman to give immediate attention to two important matters-(1) determining the future administration of pension and health insurance plans for Rocky Flats workers (and for those at other closure sites as well). and (2) assuring thecontinued availability of medical benefits for Rocky Flats workers who will not be eligible for full retirement at the time of the sites closure. I pointed out that DOEs Office of Legacy Management (LM) has stated that it is developing a plan for the transition of pension and insurance plans. as well as for record keeping and other matters for which LM is responsible. ","speaker_name":"MARK UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5338,"word_count":258}
{"speech_id":1090035034,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am pleased the Committee included funding for three important projects which I had requested back in March for the 3rd District of Colorado. First and foremost. the Committee included $56 million in funding for construction of the AnimasLa Plata Project. This funding level represents a $4 million increase over the Presidents budget request and comes on the heels of a Colorado delegation letter which I spearheaded back in March. I would also like to thank the Committee for the inclusion of language which directs a larger percentage of program funds towards construction. not administrative costs. Completion of the ALP will provide a muchneeded waler supply in the southwest comer of our state for both Indian and nonIndian municipal and industrial purposes. It will also fulfill the intent of a carefully negotiated settlement agreement in the mid1980s to ensure the legitimate claims ofthe two Colorado Ute Tribes could be met without harm to the existing uses of their nontribal neighbors. Since 2002. the Bureau of Reclamation has made much progress. and work has been completed or initiated on many key project features. This increased funding will allow the Bureau to move forward in a way that will ensure timely completion of the ALP and avoid costly delays. The FY2006 Energy and Water Appropriations bill also includes $315.000 for the Arkansas River Habitat Restoration Project. The U.S. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SALAZAR","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3608,"word_count":226}
{"speech_id":1090035071,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I want to repeat that. This is about the use of embryonic stem cells which would have been discarded anyway. It has been estimated that there are currently 400.000 frozen IVF embryos. which would be destroyed if they are not donated for research. I would never condone the donation of embryos to science without the informed. written consent of donors and strict regulations prohibiting financial remuneration for potential donors. Our Nations scientific research must adhere to the highest ethical standards. But it is important that we do embryonic stem cell research. We are falling behind other countries. and this is not what ought to be happening. \" President Bush has limited Federal funding of stem cell research to only those stem cell lines that existed prior to August of 2001. But unfortunately. only 22 cell lines are available for study. which prevents scientists from having access to important genetic cell diversity. Simply put. if it continues. that would not be ethical. ","speaker_name":"ELIOT ENGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2711,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090035083,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to lend my voice to the stem cell research debate. As a cosponsor of H.R. 810. I hope we can expand our scope and benefit of existing stem cell lines. H.R. 810 represents afiother step forward in our battle against diseases and illnesses which we have spent billions of dollars trying to research. treat. and cure. As the premier medical research Nation. we must allow our researchers and doctors to -remain at the top of their fields of research both internationally. and nationally. We must support our research instftutions as they embark on the ethical. expert and very. very necessary trials. Federal research restricts federal funding of stem cell research to the 78 stem cell lines that existed prior to Aug. 9. 2001. Mr. ","speaker_name":"STEPHANIE JONES","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":761,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090035117,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Research also demonstrates that conditions such as leukemia and sickle cell disease could be cured by more advanced umbilical cord stem cell research. Cord blood cells are already being used to treat over 67 diseases. We need to support this research. and creating a nationwide umbilical stem cell transplantation system is an important first step to providing scientists with the resources they need to make advances in this field of study. This database can also be used to allow potential donors to patients in need of various types of transplants. H.R. 2520 provides a vehicle for promoting and enhancing promising scientific research in the field of umbilical stem cell transplantation. It certainly meets the highest standards of bioethics and has a track record of scientific evidence suggesting that investing taxpayer resources to promote this field of study will result in positive dividends forjhe health of our communities. I strongly support H.R. 2520. and I encourage my colleagues to vote yes for this important legislation.","speaker_name":"MADELEINE BORDALLO","chamber":"H","state":"GU","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":2180,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090035140,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 2 minutes. Mr. Speaker. just speaking to the Members perhaps back in the offices listening. I have 820.000 constituents in Delaware. and probably more than a third of them have some kind of a disease that might be able to be benefited by embryonic stem cell research. That is true of the figures in the country. We have 110 million people who have illnesses out of the 290 million people who are living here. They have visited my office. They have visited your offices. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CASTLE","chamber":"H","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10478,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090035154,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the leader for yielding me this time. I ask myself this question: If we are going to deal with this debate on embryonic stem cell research. what are the ethics of this? One can go to Google and do a Google search on permissible medical experiments. And I did that. and I found that there is a list of 10 things that have to be qualifiers for permissible medical experiments on human beings. One is the subject must be a volunteer. The second one is there must be no alternative. The third one is results of animal experimentation must be proven successful prior to their experiments. The net result in death or disability cannot be accepted. The seventh one is there cannot be even a remote possibility of injury. disability. or death. ","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1101,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090035159,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of H.R. 810. I would like to thank the chairman for all of his work in bringing this bill to the floor. and I would like to thank my leadership for allowing a vote on this important legislation. As Representatives. we are in the unique position to frequently meet with a wide crosssection of people. many of whom are suffering from debilitating diseases. injuries. and ailments. These millions of patients. as well as their loved ones. have a clear message for policyfakers: we support this research and we need their help. Opponents of this bill have argued that we should not use Federal funds to pay for embryonic stem cell research. I respectfully disagree. The issue at hand is allowing for more pristine stem cell lines to be eligible for research. Scientists and researchers throughout the United States are constantly reminding us that the focus needs to be on the quality of the stem cell lines available which are eligible for Federal research. ","speaker_name":"MARY BONO MACK","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":45.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2635,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090035175,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we do not know yet. but the possibility is very real that stem cell research may be the greatest breakthrough in the history of science. There are deep and profound moral and philosophic issues surrounding the research. but our government should be very cautious about coming down on the wrong side of science. especially when the scientific endeavor is designed to lengthen and ennoble life. It has been suggested here today that no breakthrough therapies have yet been developed with stem cell research. This is simply not the case. Using. for example. the microenvironment of human embryonic stem cells. Dr. Mary Hendricks and her team of researchers at Chicagos Memorial Research Center have developed a methodology to slow the aggressive properties of metastatic cancer cells. How in heavens name can we deny the promise of such research? There is consensus at this time in this body and in the research community that scientists should not play God in attempting to clone human beings. but we are at a stage of human existence where there is a practical possibility that a. blastocyst that would otherwise be thrown away as waste can. in a petri dish. be used to help solve these incredible diseases. from Alzheimers to Parkinsons to diabetes to cancer. If one believes that life matters. the balance of judgment should be to carefully open the door. as this bill. led so beautifully by my good friends the gentleman from Delaware and the gentlewoman from Colorado","speaker_name":"JAMES LEACH","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1483,"word_count":248}
{"speech_id":1090035186,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Tesia.\" Mr. Speaker. this building was built by our Founders on pillars. but not just pillars of marble. One pillar was the conviction that God grants life as an inalienable right. and they fought so that pillar would not be toppled by tyrants. And our sons and daughters fight so that pillar will not be toppled by terrorists. We must vote today so that that. pillar will not be toppled by technology that is run amok. Oppose public funding which destroys little yous and mes. and oppose this harvest of destruction.","speaker_name":"W. AKIN","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2904,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090035192,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Scientists believe a cure is on the horizon within the next 5 to 10 years. They also believe that the advances in Parkinsons research will lead to accelerated cures for other illnesses such as Alzheimers. Only embryonic stem cells hold enormous potential in order to treat these patients. Doctors treating patients with disease or injury may feel compelled to ease the suffering by taking every ethical avenue possible to find treatments and cures. These doctors are among some of the most talented. dedicated. and wellrespected doctors in this country. Today we decide whether to free these scientists or to hold them captive. We will decide whether those suffering from Parkinsons. diabetes. spinal cord injuries. and others will have the greatest potential for cures. or whether they will just simply sit on the bench. Mr. Speaker. I do not think that is the right message to send patients and doctors. ","speaker_name":"LANE EVANS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2196,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090035257,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. Leon Koss said that good things men do can be made complete only by the things they refuse to.do. Now I have no doubts about the compassion and convictions of both sides on this issue. but I take issue with the direction of their convictions. because in .the end a life without a name is still a life. Words cannot take away that this is a life. By calling them \"discarded\" or \"unwanted\" embryos does not take away that they are still lives. While some may see this as scientific efforts of ingenuity and future Nobel Prize work. it does not take away the lethality of this research. Further. let me state that President Clintons Bioethics Council stated: \"Embryos deserve respect as a form of human life.\" In 1999 the council said: \"Funding of embryonic stem cell research should be done only if there are no alternatives.\" The research that we have reviewed today and has been reviewed by this Congress in the past when these amendments have been looked upon over the last decade. is that there is still no alternative in the sense that the research is showing that cord blood stem cell research and adult stem cell research is where the results are found. I] 1600 I have as much compassion as anybody. I have worked with developmentally disabled kids all my professional life and would love to see cures for them. but I want to see the funding go in the direction where we can see success. where that direction has been achieved and we will continue to see that. ","speaker_name":"TIM MURPHY","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1757,"word_count":266}
{"speech_id":1090035262,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think we should look at it and say. what is the ethical consideration of the human nature. and that should be the first question we should ask. not what are the means we obtain it by. what is left over when we obtain the embryonic stem cells. or what is its effectiveness. I think we have to look at the ethical -considerations. Because cloning is one method to produce embryos for research. the ethical issues surrounding cloning are also relevant. In fact. I believe those ethical issues should really be the first question we should ask before we debate the means of obtaining. or even the effectiveness of the proposed treatment. I would hope that life would triumph hope and the question is really before we even get into effectiveness or means. but what is the human nature consideration? That should be the first question we should answer. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"BART STUPAK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1842,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090035274,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I have a profound deep and abiding belief in the right to life. I have introduced a constitutional amendment to ban abortions every session of Congress since 1997 and have a perfect prolife voting record. Two years ago I visited the Bader Peach Orchard in Campbell. I met the Baders son. Cody. after my tour. Cody is a handsome and articulate young man who happens to live in a wheelchair because of a car accident. Cody asked that I rethink my opposition to embryonic stem cell research because he thought that one day if it did not help him. it might just help another young person like him. I later wrote a note to Codys family telling them that even after hearing his story. ","speaker_name":"JO ANN EMERSON","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"F","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2309,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090035283,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Our bill allows donors of these stem cells to make a donation decision. a donation to research. A narrow segment of our Natioi did hot stop lifesaving kidney donations. and a narrow segment should not stop embryonic stem cell research. Healing is a moral thing to do. I met a man at the Transplant Association the other day. He and his wife had. in fact. had an in vitro fertilization. He had other additional embryos that were available. He wanted to make those available to cure people with diabetes and Parkinsons disease. and he had one thing he asked me. He said to me. Let me and my wife make that moral judgment. not the 435 strangers who know nothing about my moral interior values or my life. That is an American right to donation. ","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1546,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090035311,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. I rise in strong support of the legislation before us which I consider to be extremely important. It builds on the Presidents policy by merely allowing the use of embryonic stem cells created for fertility purposes to be donated with permission. but without payment. by the woman for research. research to cure some of the terrible diseases that plague our lives. These free citizens would simply exercise their right and their conscience in donating embryos that would otherwise be discarded. destroyed. as waste. I believe we have a moral responsibility to advance the research that saves lives. relieves pain. and prevents suffering. rather than destroying those embryos. Those embryos could produce the stem cells that would save lives. and should not be destroyed as waste. Why do. we have to do this today? Because if we do not. stem cell research will be done. but will not be uniformly governed by NIHs ethics policy. Why do we have to do this today? Because no nation has created a sustained. strong. globallycompetitive economy without the freedom to research the frontiers of knowledge. ","speaker_name":"NANCY JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2090,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090035348,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I come at this as a 100 percent prolife. lifetime. voting Member of Congress. As I said earlier. this will be my second vote this year where I have not adopted the prolife position. So I am not quite 100 percent any more. but I would think that 99.8 percent over 21 years qualifies me as a prolife Congressman. I have also voted numerous times for our defense bill. where we have voted hundreds of billions of dollars to defend our Nation and put our young men and women at risk. some of them that might have to give up their lives. I have voted for many bills for ou law enforcement officials. where again they may have to give up their lives to protect the common good. Now. you might say. yes. but in those instances they were adults and they had free will and they voluntarily made a choice that they might have to sacrifice their lives. Well. I accept and support that an embryo is a life. I agree with the gentleman from New Jersey that we were all embryos once. I understand that. ","speaker_name":"JOE BARTON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3240,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090035349,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Today. I will vote to keep my promise to Sue and Faith Stamos and to the thousands of other Marylanders who are waiting for cures. I will vote to expand the stem cells lines available for federally funded research. Mr. Speaker. in closing. I must note that stem cell research is a controversial and emotional subject. It touches on questions of human suffering. medical ethics. scientific potential. the role of government. moral considerations. and life itself. H.R. 810 strikes the right balance. It encourages research. but it does not encourage the creation of embryos for research purposes. It allows us to support the efforts of the brilliant scientists in our research institutions who have dedicated their careers to alleviating the suffering of others. ","speaker_name":"BENJAMIN CARDIN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5818,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090035357,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Germany. and South Koreain the percentage of 24yearolds with a college degree in a science or engineering fieldthats down from third in the world 25 years ago.. Mr. Speaker. this legislation will help the U.S. to move forward on our moral imperative to perform stem cell research in an ethically responsible way. I urge all of my colleagues to support it.","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2555,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090035360,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Ashleys goal is to enter a healthrelated field such as a nurse or diabetes educator. because as Ashley has said. \"I know the pain that children diagnosed with diabetes go through. and I think I could help in relieving that pain.\" There is currently no cure for juvenile diabetes. a disease that affects another child every hour of every day. Embryonic stem cell research offers great potential for advancing treatments or even curing diabetes. as well as many other diseases such as Parkinsons disease. cancer. ALS. paralysis and others. Particularly in the case of diabetes. embryonic stem cell research holds the greatest possibility for understanding and curing this disease. since adult stem cells are not present in the pancreas. the organ attacked by diabetes. Embryonic stem cell research is an extremely difficult issue. involving the potential for critical medical breakthroughs on the one hand. and very complex bioethical issues on the other. The bill requires that research only be conducted on stem cells derived from embryos created for fertility treatments that were in excess of the need of the mother and would otherwise have been destroyed. My vote today is supported by over 200 major patient groups. scientists. and medical research groups. and I believe that my vote can provide hope to families in North Dakota like Ashleys who are suffering through the illness of a loved one.","speaker_name":"EARL POMEROY","chamber":"H","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2067,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090035368,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as a cosponsor of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005. I believe that stem cell research holds the promise of scientific breakthroughs that could improve the lives of millions of Americans. This bipartisan legislation would provide federal funding for a wider range of research while establishing ethical guidelines. The most compelling arguments for expanding federal funding for stem cell research can be heard in the heart wrenching stories of individuals suffering from debilitating diseases for which there are currently no cures or treatments. While it is too late for the countless Americans who have passed away from terrible diseases. it is not too late for the millions of other Americans hoping this House will support funding for this potentially lifesaving resource. For these patients and their families stem cell research is the last hope for a cure. This bill provides that embryos that are otherwise likely to be discarded can be used to help develop treatments for debilitating diseases and life saving cures. We should allow federally supported research to proceed to find such treatments and cures.","speaker_name":"CHRIS VAN HOLLEN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1142,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090035369,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Our restrictive policy not only puts us at risk of losing our scientific edge. we are also at risk of losing some of the best American scientists to other countries where policies are less restrictive. Important advances in the science of embryonic stem cell research have been made since the August 2001 policy was set. Earlier this year. researchers at the University of Wisconsin in Madison figured out how to grow human embryonic stem cells without using mouse feeder cells. This is exciting news since mouse feeder cells are thought to be a source of contamination if the cells are ever to be used therapeutically in humans. From its earliest days. stem cell research has been important to the people o f Wisconsin. In fact. Dr. James Thomson. a researcher at the University of Wisconsin. was the first to isolate -and culture embryonic stem cells.. In 2003. this esteemed researcher received the Frank Annunzio award. given torecognize the innovative research of American scientists who devote their careers to improving the lives of people through their work in science. Wisconsin has been at the forefront of embryonic stem cell research from the beginning. ","speaker_name":"RON KIND","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3621,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090035371,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There has been significant misrepresentation of science today and in this debate. because \"science is not a policy or a political program. Science is a systematic method for developing and testing hypotheses about the physical world. It does not promise miracle cures based on scanty evidence. . . . statements . . . made regarding the -purported medical applications of embryonic stem cells reach far beyond any credible evidence. ignoring the limited state of our knowledge about embryonic stem cells and the advances in other areas of research that may render use of these cells unnecessary for many applications. To make such exaggerated claims. at this stage of our knowledge. is not only scientifically irresponsibleit is. deceptive and cruel to millions of patients and their families who hope desperately for cures and have come to rely on the scientific community for accurate information. . . . Nonembryonic stem cells\" on the other hand have a history \"very. different from that of embryonic stem cells.\" Cord and adult stem cells are \"Producing undoubted clinical benefits and .. . (b) one marrow transplants\" have benefited \"patients with various forms of cancer for many years before it was understood that the active ingredients in these transplants are stem cells. \u0095 . . Use of these cells poses no serious ethical problem. and may avoid all problems of tissue rejection if stem cells can be obtained from a patient for use in that same patient. . . . In contrast to embryonic stem cells. adult stem cells are in established or experimental use to treat human patients with several dozen conditions. . . . They have been or are being assessed in human trials for treatment of spinal cord injury. Parkinsons disease. stroke. cardiac damage. multiple sclerosis.\" juvenile diabetes \"and so on ... \"Therefore . . . to declare that\" embryonic stem cell research \"will ... receive any particular amount of federal funding. regardless of future evidence or the usual scientific peer review processis . . . irresponsible. ","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12609,"word_count":334}
{"speech_id":1090035376,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H.R. 810. the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. Scientific and biomedical research and innovation has made our Nation and our world a safer and healthier place. Advances in medicine have made virtually obsolete killer diseases like smallpox and polio. have increased life expectancy and improved the quality of life for people around the globe. From Roman times around 2000 years ago to 1900 life expectancy increased from 25 to 47 years of age. However. because of important discoveries and advances in medicine and medical treatments. by the year 2000 life expectancy had increased to over 76 years of age. The advances in medicine that resulted in this dramatic increase in life expectancy did not happen by accident. They occurred as a result of visionary leadership in both the public and private sectors. They occurred as a result of political will and public capital. ","speaker_name":"BOB ETHERIDGE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3030,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090035399,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Major construction projects may get delayed for technical reasons. For these reasons. the Corps has traditionally attempted to maximize the benefits to the nation with the available.funds by reprogramming money to best meet current needs and conditions. I agree that the Corps should get Congressional concurrence before moving around funds that have been earmarked in the report of the Appropriations Committee. I also agree that the Corps needs to track and report these reprogramming decisions. so the impact on current and future budgets is transparent. How-","speaker_name":"JOHN DUNCAN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1728,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090035421,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the gentleman should agree that provisions should not apply to scientists who are located here in the Washington. D.C.. area and who have niever been on detail from their lome laboratory. that is. they have lived here for the duration of their employment without ever having been located at the home lab. In addition. they have not incurred additional transportation and housing costs associated with detailees for temporary assignments in the Washington. D.C.. area.","speaker_name":"NORMAN DICKS","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":481,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090035442,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I do not support the gentlemans amendment transferring all of the funds proposed for our spent fuel recycling initiative. Our bill. and the administrations budget request. includes $750 million for the Advanced Fuel Recycle Initiative under the Office of Nuclear Energy. Science and Technology. Among other activities. this program funds research into advanced reprocessing technologies that can avoid some of the shortcomings of existing technologies. Specifically. there are new reprocessing technologies that have the potential to minimize the waste streams of radioactive waste products and also minimize and eliminate the presence of separated plutonium. This country would be foolish to ignore the potential benefits of new technologies. Our bill adds $5 million to this research and directs the Secretary to make recommendations by fiscal year 2007 on advanced reprocessing technologies suitable for implementation in the United States. ","speaker_name":"DAVID HOBSON","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2258,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090035452,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to join with my colleagues. Representatives EDWARD MARKEY and JAY INSLEE. in offering an amendment to H.R. 2419. Our amendment eliminates funding for the new Spent Fuel Recycling Initiative. and redirects this $15.5 million to energy research. The regislation we are debating today directs the Department of Energy to conduct a new Spent Fuel Recycling Initiative. putting the United States on the path to reprocessing of spent nuclear reactor fuel. This new Initiative was not included in the Presidents budget request. and is over and above the existing research program on nuclear fuel reprocessing. It is a radical measure that moves the United States from research to actually undertaking nuclear fuel reprocessing. The Initiative has two linked elements: moving existing spent nuclear fuel away from commercial reactor sites to centralized interim storage. and initiating a reprocessing program for this fuel. Reprocessing creates a plutoniumbased of fuel for nuclear reactors that is easier to use in -nuclear weapons. ","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2978,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090035453,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"While I find it troubling that the Committee has decided to appropriate over $600 million for Yucca Mountain. I am encouraged that they have recognized the need for legislative that I intended to offer. but that I will language citing the need for interim storage not offer as a result of the ensuing colfor the reasons that my Subcommittee has al- loquy. ready uncovered. Mr. Chairman. I have filed an amendI may also take a moment. Mr. Chairman. to ment for myself and - the gentlenian publicly acknowledge my opposition to Yucca from South Carolina Mountain and my support for any site. interim that states that none of the funds made or permanent. outside of my district and the available in this act may be used in State of Nevada. contravention of the Nuclear Waste","speaker_name":"JON PORTER","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1650,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090035459,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I move quisition of plant and capital equipment and to strike the last word. other incidental expenses necessary for Mr. Chairman. I yield to the gen- atomic energy defense weapons activities in tleman from South Carolina (Mr. carrying out the purposes of the Department SPRATT) for the purpose of a colloquy. of Energy Organization Act (42 U.S.C. 7101 et P seq.). including the acquisition or condemna-","speaker_name":"DAVID HOBSON","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":417,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090035462,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today to engage the esteemed chairman in a colloquy concerning language and funding for Floridas red tide research problem. Mr. Chairman. earlier this year. my district in southwest Florida experienced a harmful red tide outburst off the coast which caused harmful effects that were felt by people. animals. and the environment that make up our precious ecosystem and economy. Hundreds of people endured respiratory ills. including sneezing. coughing. and other effects that are damaging to ones health. Moreover. the Florida manatee. an endangered species that everyone seeks to protect from far less harmful events. saw a gigantic spike in their death rate. This year. in the entire State of Florida. we have seen 29 manatees die due to boat: ing accidents. However. from this red tide bloom. which only lasted a couple of months and was confined only to southwest Florida. we have a confirmed count of 46 manatee deaths. What is more. thousands. of people. some from this very room. come to southwest Florida each year to vacation on our beaches and to swim in our waters. ","speaker_name":"CONNIE MACK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1713,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090035463,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I want to thank the gentleman for coming forth with this. I understand that red tide blooms are harmful. and a scientific approach. we need to learn more about these ocean events that are an appropriate use of research and development funds. In fact. I was personally involved last Congress in securing the funding that we talked about so we can learn ways to fight. red tide. Funds in excess of the budget requests have been provided for worthy research and development activity such as this. And I would hope. since I my grandchildren are residents of Florida. I hope we can get on and get rid of red tide one of these days. and especially as I get older. It affects older people and I visit there. so I want to get rid of it too.","speaker_name":"DAVID HOBSON","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":746,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090035479,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The number of earmarks for Members projects this year is down substantially over past years. Frankly. the administration did a better job this year of addressing some of the concerns of Members and of the overall program. I think the gentleman would also be pleased to note that in this bill. for the first time. we are requiring a 5year development plan for the Corps of Engineers. for example. and the Department of Energy. In that process. when we get that. similar to what we did in the military construction when I chaired that committee. we will. over a period of time. begin to get control of the situation. so that if they do not fit within the 5year plan. then these projects are not going to be in there. But we do not have that plan in place today. We are trying to make it in place. And I think it is going to make for better. more responsible use of tax payers dollars.","speaker_name":"DAVID HOBSON","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1442,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090035502,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. would the distinguished chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development of the Committee on Appropriations engage in a colloquy with me about some provisions and programs in this bill that fall under the jurisdiction of the Committee on Science?","speaker_name":"JUDY BIGGERT","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":272,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090035534,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank my colleague for yielding me this time. and I appreciate that we talked yesterday with the chairman about this particular amendment. but if he would just allow us to make a particular statement. I appreciate the time the chairman gave us. and I understand his point of order. Mr. Chairman. this amendment helps to raise the clean air standards on the border. I am from Laredo. Texas. on the border. And if yrou would just take the border region and make it a particular State. you would see that it is one of the fastest growing parts of the country. and it is one of the poorest parts of the whole country. If the border region was its own State. it would rank last in access to health care. second worst in death from hepatitis. last in per capita income. and first in the number of schoolchildren living in poverty. ","speaker_name":"HENRY CUELLAR","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1872,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090035540,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Not just my district. but I can tell you that the waterways are so critical to the economic importance of these counties and States in North Carolina and throughout the United States of America that we need to remember that those people who make their living off the waterways are just like every other American. they are in need of every dollar they can make. My district says to me. Mr. Chairman. when we can find $6.5 billion. not from this bill now. I want to make that clear. but we have spent $6.5 billion in Iraq with the Corps of Engineers. and then my taxpayers say to me and to the gentleman from Indiana. why can we not get a little bit of help? So this is a modest amendment. Mr. Chairman. I understand the gentlemans opposition to it. but I can honestly tell you that the waterways of. America are the economic engines for the coastal districts of America. and not just North Carolina. And. to me. to be able to take just $20 million and do a little bit of good is better than not having .the $20 million. ","speaker_name":"WALTER JONES","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2455,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090035561,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That may not sound like a lot. but for a middleclass family. already struggling to keep up with rising tuition. health care costs and saving for retirement. this increase in gas prices will add up very quickly. Todays Journal also reports that other experts. estimate that the cost of oil may spike again to as high as $60 per barrel. I offered an amendment to the energy bill that would have prevented that increase. although it was not incorporated into the Housepassed bill. Mr. Chairman. as we approachone of the most heavily trafficked holiday weekends of the year. let us act now to do something positive for American families. By restricting funds used to store petroleum in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and in consideration of other market factors. we can realize a drop in the cost of oil of between $6 and $11 a barrel. In 2001. President Bush ordered the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to be filled to a capacity of 700 million barrels. The Reserve currently holds 692 million barrels. nearly 99 percent of the Presidents goal. Thus. ","speaker_name":"TIMOTHY BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2247,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090035576,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I understand the gentleman from Michigans concerns about the effects this policy may have on small harbors. While I believe that tonnage should be a consideration when the Army Corps prioritizes operations and maintenance dredging projects. I do not believe it should be the sole basis. I look forward to working with the gentleman from Michigan and the Army Corps to address this issue and identify appropriate factors for consideration.","speaker_name":"DAVID HOBSON","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":438,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090035625,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The OPEC oil cartel conspires to restrict supply and drive up the price of oil in violation of all the socalled free trade agreements that this Republican Congress and this Republican President say should rule the world. The World Trade Organization. well. I have asked this President four times now in writing to file a complaint. about this illegal activity by the OPEC cartel. It violates the rules of the World Trade Organization. of which this President is such a great fan. Now. why will he not file a complaint? Of seven of the OPEC cartel. six are in the World Trade Organization and one wants to join. Tremendous leverage. File a complaint about their illegal activity. Save the American people from cartels that pricegouge them. But. no. the President will not do that. Why is that? It is because the oil companies. from which the President has sprung forth. and the Vice President make a lot of money on this. ","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3656,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090035643,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak about the fourth national Prepare Tomorrows Parents Month. the month between Mothers Day and Fathers Day. This month is a time for teachers. parents and youth group leaders nationwide to promote parenting education and relationship skills classes for all young people. Prepare Tomorrows Parents Month is being sponsored by a national nonprofit organization formed in 1995 called Prepare Tomorrows Parents. Suzy Garfinkle Chevrier. founder and president of Prepare Tomorrows Parents. says. \"Parenting is not a hobby. It is the most important work most of us will ever do. Lets not leave our grandchildrens future to chance.\" Is it not strange. Mr. ","speaker_name":"BOB FILNER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":51.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3113,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090035650,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This sum does not include medical costs or disability benefits. There is hope. though. The Department of Health and Human Services has chartered a CFS Advisory Committee that meets quarterly to advise the Secretary for Health on research and on education policy as it relates to CFS. The CDC is conducting promising research that may lead to a diagnostic test. Other researchers are following important leads that may improve treatment and deepen understanding of the way CFS affects various body systems. However. in fiscal year 2004 just $15 million was spent by the Federal Government to conduct research on this devastating illness. . CFS consistently ranks at the bottom of the NIH funding charts. and even during the period when Congress was doubling the NIH budget. support for CFS research declined. A June 2003 commitment by NIH Deputy Director Vivian Pinn to issue a request for applications for CFS has not been fulfilled. The Secretary for Health has not yet a~ted on a set of 11 recommendations delivered by the CFS Advisory Committee on August 23. 2004. Many challenges remain. and more Federal funding is needed to answer basic questions. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3439,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090035731,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He is an expert in the area of natural resources. public lands. water and water law and. most importantly. environmental law. Mr. Myers has been nominated to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. which covers my State. along with Arizona. California. Hawaii. Idaho. Nevada. Oregon and also Guam and the Northern Marianasby far. the largest of all of the appellate district courts. It is huge. The caseload is huge. ","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5721,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090035737,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"She has had innuendoes about what she believes. no one speaking from knowledge. and yet she has never lashed out. she has never shown anger or bitterness. always a judicial demeanor. always respect for the Senators as they were questioning her. I believe it is an important time in the Senate that we are now voting on someone who has been held up for four years. and I hope this is a time that is never repeated in Senate history. I hope we will go forward with all of the judges who should have the respect given to people willing to serve. people who have taken an apppintment with the honest view that they can do a good job for our country and. in many cases. taking pay cuts to do so. I hope they will be treated by the Senate in the future with respect. I hope we can debate their records according to the different views. But in the end. I hope they will get an upordown vote.. not only for these nominees. but out of respect for the President of the United States. Our President. George W. Bush. has had fewer circuit court of appeals nominees confirmed by the Senate than any President in the history of our country--69 percent. ","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8140,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090035753,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I was also distressed by the suggestion made by some of my colleagues that judicial nominees in the future may only be blocked if they have personal or ethical problems. I look at the agreement and come to a.very different conclusion about what the term \"extraordinary circumstances\" means. So I am deeply troubled when I hear that the nuclear option is still on the table. except under circumstances where the nominee has personal or ethical issues. I believe that interpretation is inconsistent with the spirit and intent of this delicate compromise. And. I note that the agreement specificallyand clearlystates that it is up to each individual Senatorusing his or her own discretionto decide when a filibuster is appropriate and what constitutes extraordinary circumstances. So I believe it requires a lot of vigilance and attention as we go forward with judicial nominations for appellate and Supreme Court vacancies. jobs that come with lifetime appointments. We must ensure that our courts retain the independence that has been. and should continue to be. the hallmark of our judiciary. The stakes could not be any higher. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JON CORZINE","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9115,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090035792,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"First. let me finish this point. But. his staff says. you can tell Mr. Bolton he cannot say it only if it will reveal a source or a method. In other words. his staff was seeking carte blanche to allow Mr. Bolton to cherrypick. as the former chairman of the National Intelligence Council said. factoids in isolation to make a case that didnt exist. I will yield to my friend for a question.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":389,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090035800,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So it i\u00a7 Mr. Bolton who was chastised by the Deputy Secretary of State as a consequence of these encounters. because the Deputy Secretary of State said: Hey. look. John. in addition to the analysts being correct. you are no longer authorized to make any speech that is not cleared by me. you are no longer authorized to give any testimony before the Congress that is not cleared by me. So not only were these analysts backed up by their superiors in the intelligence hierarchy. they were backed up by the policymakers.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1433,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090035822,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the Senator would yield. not only a refusal to provide them .to our committee that has that responsibility. refusal to provide them even to the Intelligence Committee that. is once removed from this processthe same information that was made available to one of several Under Secretaries in the State Department and his staff.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":328,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090035844,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Bolton and his staff for engaging in this practice. So the argument that Mr. Bolton and his staff did not succeed in their efforts does not absolve them of responsibility for having tried.","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":881,"word_count":33}
{"speech_id":1090035845,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He does not want to hear from you if you do not believe the. Moon is made of green cheese. That is none of your business. He does not want to hear that. Look. I dont know how you define an \"ideologue.\"","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2145,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090035847,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":14,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think it is pretty close. It is like that famous expression in. a different context of Justice Holmes. He said prejudice is like the pupil of the eye. The more light you shine upon it. the tighter it closes. It seems the more information you gave Mr. Bolton that conflicted with his predetermined ideological notion. the less he wanted to hear it. If you persisted in giving it to him. which was your job. he would try to get you fired. This is not a minor deal. At the very moment when whoever we have as our ambassador to the United Nations is going to be the man. unfortunately. or woman. who will have to stand up before the whole world and say. We have evidence that North Korea is about to do the following. or. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11219,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090035885,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. -President. I deeply respect my colleague from Ohio. and I deeply respect the passion that he brings to his concern about this nomination.. I also bring passion ald concern. I have been involved as chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and have been looking 9t the U.N. and the oil for food scandala scandal which allowed Saddam Hussein to rebuild his military capacity. to bribe individuals close to the leadership of member states of the Security Council. to fund terrorism. I have looked at the U.N. over recent years. at the scandals of sexual abuse and child prostitution in Africa. where U.N. officials were not responded to for months and months. I have looked at the world in which we live. and the challenges we face. and I realize the United States cannot be the worlds sole policeman. the worlds sole humanitarian provider. We cannot do it on our own. We need partners and we need a U.N. that is strong and credible. This President has made a decision that the person who can best do the heavy lifting that is required for U.N. reform is John Bolton. He does that by looking at the record of John Bolton. ","speaker_name":"NORM COLEMAN","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11240,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090035898,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will conclude just by saying I would hope my colleagues would consider this. and rather than get to the point tomorrow night of having to invoke cloture. would they not even quietly ask the administration to be forthcoming? We do not need to go through this. We could have a vote on Mr. Bolton up or down tomorrow afternoon. one way or the other. and avoid this precedentsetting circumstance where legitimate information is not forthcoming. That is the point I wanted to make this evening. I thank the Chair and thank my colleagues.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":549,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090035900,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will speak very briefly and yield to my colleague from Virginia. Mr. President. I would note that the chairman of the Intelligence Committee is here. and I suspect he will respond to some of these issues. There is just one point the distinguished Senator from West Virginia raised again and again. and I just want to make the RECORD very clear. that is. again. he stated that it is clear. in his words. that the Under Secretary criticized this employee \"because his analysis did not support Boltons view.\" I want to make it clear. the record does not support that. In fact. it was very clear that John Bolton said to the intelligence analyst: You are welcome to disagree with me. but* not behind my back. That is what this was about. In fact. the analyst himself gave some conflicting reasons of why he did not tell Bolton that he had tubed his language before he sent it around. ","speaker_name":"NORM COLEMAN","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1762,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090035913,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It was only Senator ROCKEFELLER and myself who were briefed by General Hayden. and that was a very good meeting. We went over virtually every intercept. as it should be. That was my point. That is what the Intelligence Committee does. It is accepted practice for the full committee. which many members of the full committee have trouble. understanding. that only the vice chairman and the chairman have access to this kind of highly compartmented material. So when this kind of thing is bandied about on the floor in a generic way. it causes ine great concern.","speaker_name":"PAT ROBERTS","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":560,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090035924,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I take it my colleague from Kansas was not at the business meeting when the Bolton nomination was discussed. My colleague from Kansas was not at the hearing where the Bolton nomination was discussed. I do not know if it would surprise my colleague to note that in the business meeting. other Senators. not the Senator from Connecticutthis issue of intercept was raised again by another Senator and a similar question was asked. So it is not just the Senator from Connecticut who raised the issue during the questioning of Mr. Bolton. But. in fact. during the business meeting this came up again and again. I presume my colleague from Kansas must have been informed of that. to raise the level of concern he has.","speaker_name":"NORM COLEMAN","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":711,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090035967,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In the last Congress. there was not one mdntion in the Senate of the millions of AfroLatinos who continue to experience this widespread discrimination and socioeconomic marginalization. Now is the time for more action on this issue. not less. Emerging civil society groups are growing stronger throughout many countries in Latin America. and this growth should be encouraged as it presents important opportunities for partnerships and collaboration. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Senate and House on this critical concern in the coming months. and I believe that together we can and will make a difference.","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1734,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090035982,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Alabama. Arizona. Arkansas. California. Florida. Illinois. Indiana. Missouri. Nevada. South Carolina. and Pennsylvania have passed similar legislation at the state level. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4889,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090036007,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Indian Affairs be authorized to meet on Wednesday. May 25. 2005. at 10 a.m.. in room 485 of the Russell Senate Office Building to conduct a hearing on S.J. Res. 15. a joint resolution to acknowledge a long history of official depredations and illconceived policies by the United States Government regarding Indian tribes and offer an apology to all Native peoples on behalf of the United States.","speaker_name":"GEORGE VOINOVICH","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":456,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090036013,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Washington. DC. Taylor Hackford. Board Member. Directors Guild of America. Los Angeles. CA. and Robert W. HolleymanII. President and Chief Executive Officer. Business Software Alliance. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE VOINOVICH","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":969,"word_count":25}
{"speech_id":1090036031,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. tomorrow. the Senate will resume consideration of the nomination of John Bolton to be U.S. ambassador to the U.N. As a reminder. cloture was just filed a moment ago on the nomination. The cloture vote on Bolton will occur at 6 p.m. tomorrow night. If cloture is invoked. we will immediately proceed to a confirmation vote. Therefore. I encourage all Members who wish to speak on the nomination to contact the managers as soon as possible.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":453,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090036042,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. why should a family risk losing everything they have worked a lifetime for because one of their family members gets sick? Right now. one of the major economic crises in this country is the lack of accessibility to affordable health care for the American people. There are 45 million Americans without health insurance. and those who have health insurance are finding that their premiums. copays. and deductibles are putting a tremendous financial burden on their families. It is time for this Congress to come up with a solution. There is a solution at hand. It is H.R. 676. a bill to establish Medicare for all. A universal. single payer. notforprofit health care system. which takes the resources of our system and makes it possible for people to be covered for all medically necessary procedures: for vision care. for dental care. for mental health care. for longterm care. and a prescription drug benefit. 0 Printed on recycled paper. It is time that we recognize that the people of this country are suffering from a health care system which is not responsive to their needs. It is time for Medicare for all. universal single payer. notforprofit health care. H.R.","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1182,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090036044,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. yesterday the President said. \"Those who obstruct reform. no matter what party they are. will pay a political price.\" Ironically. it is the Presidents insistence on privatization of Social Security that is slowing retirement reform. Privatization of Social Security has become the poison pill of progress. We need to broaden the debate on privatizing Social Security into a discussion of retirement security. Democrats have ideas and proposals. our Republican friends have ideas and their proposals. We are not all that far apart. But before we can move forward. the privatization of Social Security has brought progress to a standstill. \u0095 Here are four ideas I have proposed: automatic enrollment in 401(k)s for all Americans. direct deposits of tax refunds into savings accounts. a government match of the first $2.000 you save. matching it for 50 percent. and the universal 401(k) to simplify and consolidate the \"16 different savings vehicles that exist. Madam Speaker. make no mistake. this is the domestic issue of our time. We can choose to lead. or we can continue to debate the privatization plan the public has already rejected. Let us not allow the President to stand in the way of progress. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1266,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090036046,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. one item the House will not debate today in the Defense authorization is the hidden issue behind base closure: the Pentagons inability and Congress unwillingness to have the military clean up after itself. Incredibly. we are starting the fifth round of base closures when we have 17 bases and thousands of acres that remain from the 1988 round that have not been cleaned up. No wonder people are concerned about BRAC. This footdragging is bad for the environment. it is bad for local economies. and it gives the military a reputation for being a poor partner. Congress should no longer be missing in action in this critical area. and it is time for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to stop trying to sidestep environmental responsibility and make sure that the military cleans up after itself. The public demands and deserve no less.","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":852,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090036050,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Now the filibuster is not in place. because it has be limited. and now democracy has been shackled and tied.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1170,"word_count":20}
{"speech_id":1090036090,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the distinguished gentlewoman from New York for allowing me time to speak. Mr. Speaker. today I rise in opposition of Rule H.R. 1815. Last night the Rules Committee rejected an amendment that I offered to help our military families who have lost loved ones in the defense of our freedom. My amendment would eliminate the survivors benefit pension dependency and indemnity compensation offset. Under current law. survivors are prohibited from receiving payments from both programs at the same. time. This is unfair and an unjust provision that hurts the families of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to defend our freedom and democracy. If a soldier was enrolled in a survivor benefit plan when they died of service connected causes. the spouses SBP benefit is .reduced dollar for dollar by the amount of the DIC. a $933 a month deduction. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SALAZAR","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1685,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090036101,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. HUNTER will offer an amendment that waters down the provision slightly but combines it with other provisions. thus preventing a clean up or down vote on this very important issue. Many more amendments worthy of House consideration were not made in order. This means that the bill we will debate today on the House floor will not address some of the key issues affecting our military and our policy in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mr. Speaker. this rule stifles debate. and I cannot support it.","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1909,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090036136,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania . who is the vice chairman of the full committee and the chairman of the Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee. and who has done a great job in putting his package together in terms of modernizing our forces.","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":279,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090036142,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The bill recommended by the committee recognizes that we remain a na-. tion at war. The asymmetrical threat that I have warned of since the middle 1980s has indeed grown to be a worldwide menace. Our successes in meeting this new world threat are measured by our ability to evolve our warfighting strategies and tactics more quickly than the enemy. While we certainly have the initiative. we do not have a monopoly on all of the ideas. The enemy is clever. growing desperate and must be taken seriously by the people of our country. This bill will help our soldiers keep the enemy on the defensive. In closing. Mr. Chairman. I want to express my appreciation again to you and to the ranking member. as well as to the ranking member on our subcommittee. the gentleman from Massachusetts . with whom I have worked closely over the years and particularly this year. ","speaker_name":"H. SAXTON","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3899,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090036166,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the full committee chairman. the gentleman from California . and our ranking member. the gentleman from Missouri . And I would be remiss for not saying thank you to my. ranking subcommittee chairman. the gentleman from Texas . for the kind remarks that he has made. And without question. we do have some of the most complex and controversial issues in the mark. And I appreciate the hard work of all the members in trying to reach agreement on this. We did not always agree. but we did reach a bipartisan mark. and I again thank all the members and the hard work done by the staff. The subcommittees portion of the bill makes some very hard decisions containing appropriate development of transformational capabilities while imposing reductions in certain areas where the technology is not yet mature. In the Missile Defense Agency. the bill before you adds $150 million for additional testing of the groundbased midcourse defense system. While we fund both the boost phase defense programs and the budget request. the bill does call for- a costandcapability comparison between the Airborne Laser and Kinetic Energy Interceptor programs. ","speaker_name":"TERRY EVERETT","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2422,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090036173,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"fornia. Mr. Chairman. I rise today to speak about our Nations military space programs. But first I would like to offer my sincere thanks to the gentleman from California (Chairman HUNTER) and to the gentleman from Missouri . the ranking member. and particularly the gentleman from New York (Chairman McHugh) and the gentleman from Arkansas . ranking member of the HASC Military Personnel Sub-. committee. for their hard work and support on another issue. that of revising the sexual assault statute in the Uniform Code of Military Justice. the UCMJ. language included in this bill adopting a modern complete sexual assault statute that protects victims. empowers commanders and prosecutors. and improves the good order and the discipline of the Armed Fotces. It offers military prosecutors a clear definition of sexual assault and refined tools for effectively prosecuting sexual offenses. It also affords increased protection for victims by emphasizing acts of the perpetrator rather than the reaction of the victim during the assault. As I said several months ago. we are at a critical juncture in dealing with sexual assault in the military. And I am thrilled to see that Congress is taking a major step to help with these problems in the military. fl 1315 Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"LORETTA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":47.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2533,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090036177,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the opportunity to speak. We will have a managers amendments later. on this afternoon that will strike the language limiting the assignment of women in the military. I believe that those provisions were unnecessary and unhelpful. and I appreciate the willingness of the chairman to remove them from the bill. I also wanted to thank the gentleman from Missouri and the gentleman from Arkansas and the gentleman from Illinois","speaker_name":"HEATHER WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"F","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":450,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090036181,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I y: myself the balance of my time. Mr. Chairman. in reference to gentlewoman from New Mexicos (B WILSON) remarks. the women in .military issue is past. There were sc trying moments. there were amendments. one quite onerous the other just onerous. I thank gentlewoman. I thank the gentleman from Ark sas . I thank the g tleman from Illinois . their work. along with the chairr and the gentlewoman from Virgi","speaker_name":"IKE SKELTON","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":421,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090036184,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. I support the National fense Authorization Act. Mr. Chairman. as our troops continue to risk their lives to defend our country. Congress is acting today to ensure that these brave men and women have the necessary training and equipment to win the war on terror. As a father of three sons who are currently serving in the military. I am personally invested in the war on terror and the safety of our troops. In February. my son Alan returned after serving for one year in Iraq. I am proud of his Army National Guard service. and I am dedicated to ensuring a safe return for all of the brave soldiers who selflessly serve in the United States Armed Forces. Today. ","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2459,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090036186,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Current law provides for two honor recognitions. the Combat Medical Badge and the Combat Infantryman Badge. The basic eligibility standards for both of these awards were crafted during World War II. a time before helicopters entered the field of battle for rescue and medical evacuation purposes. NonMedevac pilots and copilots. who flew aircraft during the Korean War. and every war since then. have long been recognized with a Combat Badge. However. because of an omission in the statute. Medevac crews that operate rescue helicopters have never been eligible for the same recognition. Last week. this omission was corrected during the Defense Authorization markup. when Congressman DAVIS offered an amendment to establish the Combat Medevac Badge. which was passed en bloc. I commend Congressman DAVIS for taking the lead in committee and bringing this long overdue award one step closer to fruition. Mr. Chairman. I would again like to commend Chairman HUNTER. ","speaker_name":"TIM HOLDEN","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2674,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090036188,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"CRAMER. and SNYDERand with the various security contractor groupsto develop legislation that would address these problems and help rationalize the security contracting system. Last month. we introduced a bill based on those efforts. the Transparency and Accountability in Security Contracting Act. and we have been working with the Armed Services Committee to incorporate the major elements of our bill into the Defense Reauthorization legislation we are considering today. I am grateful for the support that Representatives HUNTER and SKELTON have provided in addressing these issues. There were some items in our bill that I would have preferred be included in the measure now before us. but I understand there are some jurisdictional issues that would have complicated that. Nevertheless. the provisions that are part of the Defense Authorization bill are a solid first step. and I am pleased with this bipartisan accomplishment. To date. the federal government has had no precise estimate of thenumber of armed contractors working in Iraq and. as a result. the Defense Department has had no systematic way to communicate with them. puffing both contractors and troops at risk. The Defense Authorization bill would address that problem by requiring DoD contractors to provide information on their personnel who carry weapons. including the exact location where they are working. They would also be required to certify that those personnel have received the necessary training to do their jobs safely and effectively. The bill also would require combat commanders to establish protocols to improve communication between military personnel and contractor personnel. And it would require the Pentagon to establish guidelines for contractors as to the type of weapons they may use and the amount of training required to use them. ","speaker_name":"DAVID PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3133,"word_count":282}
{"speech_id":1090036189,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"No piece of legislation is perfect but I would like to commend the chairman and the ranking member and their incredible staff for working hard to craft such a bipartisan bill that I hope many of the members of this House will support.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH CROWLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5009,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090036191,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Especially given the amount of strain our citizen soldiers are under. its all the more important that we take the time to let them know how much their service and sacrifices mean to their communities and to the nation. The bill also includes language directing the Secretary of the Army to evaluate the type of aircraft available in the Armys inventory that can replace aging equipment currently in use at HighAltitude Aviation Training Site (HAATS) in Eagle. CO. HAATS. which is operated by the Colorado Army National Guard. is the primary site for training military pilots on Operations in hostile and highaltitude environments under all weather conditions. The training that is done at HAATS is essential to reduce the number of accidents our forces have recently experienced when operating in high mountainous areas. such as Afghanistan and Northern Iraq. But the training site currently uses aircraft that are being phased out this year. and no replacement aircraft have been programmed. So Im glad that the Chairman has pledged to work with me to help HAATS continue to provide its important training. I was pleased that the bill includes favorable language on the Pueblo Chemical Depot. a former chemical weapons site located in southeastern Colorado. Coloradans were alarmed last year when the demilitarization project was put on hold. so they want to see that DoD is committed to using the neutralization technology to destroy the 2.600 tons of mustard agent stored at Pueblonot transporting the weapons to a different site for destruction. The Colorado delegation has worked hard to put the project back on the right track. so I am grateful for language in the bill directing the Secretary of the Army to continue to implement fully the neutralization technology at Pueblo. ","speaker_name":"MARK UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9891,"word_count":291}
{"speech_id":1090036197,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We all agree that protecting Federal sites was an important duty after 9\/11. and that soldiers who served in that capacity deserve Federal retirement credit. But those who risked their lives at Ground Zero. in the most dangerous conditions anywhere in the country. deserve the same fair treatment. Right now. many of the same soldiers who protected New York after 9\/11 from the Fighting 69th are serving courageously in Iraq. Sixteen members of the Manhattanbased 69th National Guard Regiment have died in the Iraq war8 in the past year. In April. 6 members of the 69th were Awarded Purple Hearts after being wounded in Iraq from roadside bombs. We can honor the service of our National Guard. by providing them with fair Federal retirement credit for their 9\/11 service. I would like to thank Chairman HUNTER. Ranking Member SKELTON. Representative SNYDER. and especially Representative MCHUGH. who were so instrumental in this process. and I commend them for their commitment to the men and women serving this country all over the world. I also would like to acknowledge both the majority and minority staff of the committee for their assistance. .The terrorist attacks of September 11. 2001. were an unprecedented event in American history. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3489,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090036628,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Chairman\" we are all going to go to Memorial Day services on Monday. A heck of a lot of people in that crowd are going to be Guardsmen. Reservists and their families. They are going to know bow we voted. So you can plan to maybe duck some and hide from some. you can give them some lame excuse that. well. it wasnt what my party wanted. it wasnt what my chairman wanted. or you can look that young person who in the next year might be the father of a child and say. Youre a National Guardsman. Youre a Reservist. We as a Nation are willing to help you pay for that child. Who in the next year may have cancer in their family. we are saying. Doggone it. youre serving your country. ","speaker_name":"GENE TAYLOR","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5114,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090036650,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have to work with the White House. There are complicated policy issues and. whenever you are dealing with formulas to distribute money. there are sensitive funding issues to address. But we need to get it doneand get it done right. So one more time I will ask my colleagues to approve this extensionwith the clear intention that next time we are on the floor. we will be here to ask for your vote on a conference report to extend these programs through 2009. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"THOMAS PETRI","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2557,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090036654,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the ranking member for yielding me this time. I am pleased that we finally have a bill out -of the Senate. and I am pleased that we are going to move forward to conference. At this point. given the tardy adoption of the legislation by the Senate. it is necessary that we have. hopefully. one last. final. temporary. 30day extension. We are now 20 months overdue on this essential piece of legislation. This is a bill that. if adequately funded. could provide tens of thousands of jobs. putting Americans to work at projects that are needed to improve the transportation infrastructure. failing bridges. roads. highways. congestion management. mass transit. to more efficiently move people to work. from work. about in their daily lives. to move goods to firms for justintime delivery. It could be a real boost for an economy that. in my opinion. is still sputtering. and dependent upon too much borrowing and not enough real investment. This is real investment. This is money we do not have to borrow. ","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2103,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090036658,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. let me express my appreciation to the committee leadership and the entire committee. We were faced with the Department of Transportation saying that we need $376 billion just to .take care of the areas of crisis for safety and for travel. yet. we are still trying at this bill. It is unfortunate that we have to extend one more time. but I hope this is the last time that we have to extend before we get a permanent bill. . I appreciate all of the support that the committee has given. As a matter of fact. the committee is trying to cooperate with the Department of Transportation by even mentioning $376 billion. and we did pass something that the President has agreed to. but now we go to conference. So to tide us over. because. yes. our communities are suffering. the persons who build are having to lay off people. things are becoming more expensive while we wait and debate the real bill of which we can start to work on the real problems in transportation in this country. Our environment is getting worse. the congestion in the cities is getting worse. as well as bridges falling. It is time for us to think of the American people. put them to work. and give us the needed infrastructure improvement that we need in this country. I urge everyone to vote for this extension and hope this is the last one.","speaker_name":"EDDIE JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1325,"word_count":242}
{"speech_id":1090036664,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Comnuters in my district in San Franciscos Bay Area are suffering in the second worst city in America for gridlock. Theyre losing a total of over $2 million in wasted fuel and several hours each week. away from their offices and their families. At the samp time. our infrastructure is in need of repair. Our roads and highways are crumbling and we have limited funds to invest in new transit systems. Mr. Speaker. the American people get it. They know that we need an infusion of federal funds to begin addressing our critical transportation infrastructure needs. Theyre tired of paying gas taxes at the pump and receiving nothing in return. Its time to get this bill done. Its time for the President to put his veto stamp away and listen to the American people.","speaker_name":"ELLEN TAUSCHER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1362,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090036668,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would like to commend the Pulmonary Hypertension Association for raising awareness and for creating a network of support for patients with pulmonary hypertension. I would especially like to recognize the dedication of my colleague. the gentleman from California","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":276,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090036684,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. by ensuring prosperity for all. not just a select few. ThisCAFTA fails to do that. We protect our own borders and security by protecting workers and- families in our sister countries by raising wages and improving their living standards. This CAFTA fails to do that. We help our neighbors at home and overseas by creating healthy and safe communities through worker protections and investments in the environment. This CAFTA fails to do that. We ensure democracy when we conduct trade negotiations openly and publicly. not by doing so behind closed doors and protecting the drug industry. CAFTAs negotiators failed to do that. This CAFTA fails to promote fair trade. It fails to protect workers and the environment. ","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4824,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090036702,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You have to number me as one who had misgivings about the war in Iraq and the approach that we took. But now that we are there. my attitude is that we have to find a way clear to stabilize the situation and make good on our promises to the Iraqi people. In that undertaking. I think we are neither Democrats nor Republicans nor members of other political parties. we are Americans with a commitment to that part of the world. The strategy to all of us is clear. It has three sections. As we have done. we have to hold the elections and support the standing up of this new government and it still has a ways to travel. That is well under way. The second. and we heard a great deal about this from General Casey. General Petraeus and other military leaders. is to support the Iraqi security forces. the police and the military. ","speaker_name":"MARK UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4592,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090036708,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it was certainly a blessing to have traveled with the gentleman from Nebraska and with the entire delegation to Iraq. the time that we spent in Jordan. the times that we spent with the ladies from Iraq as we tried to relate to them how wonderful a democracy is and how wonderfully it works in our country. I had an opportunity on more than one occasion. once before. in February. to go to Iraq. And when I was there it was just before the insurgency really started. It was February of 2004. And we spent time in Basra. as well as in Baghdad in the Sunni triangle. The troops I met there were upbeat. they were excited. We had. very quickly with the military that we had. won a war from what many of us in this country felt would be more difficult. But I think. the enthug!lasmof our troops. the tra fitg of\" ditroops. the commitnitnt~of our troops to be sure that Iraq wasdiberatedifromn a tyrant called Saddat HuSselh. as v the driving force in thosewho .Aer.e in our military serviceg. T think that all of us who have been to Iraq or Afghanistan have renewed energy for support of our troops that are there. ","speaker_name":"LINCOLN DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8152,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090036710,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The civil affairs officers in our military and the civilian nongovernment organizations that are there. we need to remember that we have to support them in every way possible.","speaker_name":"MARK UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1152,"word_count":29}
{"speech_id":1090036727,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. thank you for an opportunity to be here tonight. And I deeply appreciate it. This is my second term. so I am kind of new as far as being a Member of Congress. But it is a delightful group that I am with. and I certainly look forward to this Nation having better leadership with individuals like those I serve with who are Members of our Blue Dog Coalition.","speaker_name":"LINCOLN DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":369,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090036734,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We can pay a very modest amount in health care for our Guard and Reserve because of this debt. but also because we want to make sure we can make those tax cuts permanent. Now. that is fundamentally unfair. That is just bad priority. Meanwhile. as we are telling our Guard and Reserves that we cannot afford their health care. which does not make us stronger. for 2 years. as we told military families that we could not take care of their life insurance. increase their life insurance. increase the death gratuity. Meanwhile. we continue to engage in reckless fiscal policies with the enemies that we are told that we will have in the future. namely. the Chinese. Every time you have a briefing they tell you. you have to start worrying about China. but meanwhile we are allowing them to finance our debts. So the adversaries that we are told we should worry about in the next few years are keeping the lights on in the House of Representatives. are running our Humvees in Iraq. How can you have a coherent national security policy when you have to rely on the adversaries that you expect to finance your Treasury. when they own 40 percent of your debt? It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. The final point I want to make is this: This is bad enough. The decisions that are made on the floor of the House with respect to our military are bad enough. but think about what our children are going to have to deal with when they are here on the floor of the House. when they have to figure out how they are going to pay their taxes. balance their checkbooks. ","speaker_name":"STEVE ISRAEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2646,"word_count":286}
{"speech_id":1090036748,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have heard their excuses for too long. So this would freeze them until they learned how to behave and learned how to count the money they are entrusted with. Another key element of the plan is that Congress has to tell taxpayers back home how much we are spending. because right now many bills go through this body with a voice vote. with no cost estimate. So we are proposing. just as a place to start. not that this is a perfect number. but any bill that spends more than $50 million we will have to have a recorded vote on so that the taxpayers back home will know who voted for what. so there is finally some accountability in this body.","speaker_name":"JIM COOPER","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":644,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090036756,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let us set aside a little money in advance so that not everything becomes an emergency here. We spend tens. sometimes hundreds. of billions of dollars a year here because it is a socalled emergency. And some of them are. But in the most recently past emergency supplemental bill of $82 billion. a lot of that was for our troops in Iraq. and we are all for that. but a lot of it was for other stuff that powerful Congressmen and Senators snuck in the bill. because they knew they could get away with it.","speaker_name":"JIM COOPER","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1526,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090036757,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the gentleman will yield on that. I think it is so important that we do have a rainy day fund. We have had natural disasters every year since I have been here. We either have droughtsor floods. and sometimes both depending on where you live. and we have to be there for our farm families if we want to have a safe and reliable source for food and fiber. which I believe is. every bit as important to our national security as oil. But what is so important about the need for a rainy day fund. I believe. is it helps stop the deficit spending. You have money set aside in a fund knowing that something is going to happen. And the gentleman raised the issue of the $82 billion supplement. Most folks think that went to support our troops. I supported it. because a large part of it did go to our support our troops. ","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1626,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090036761,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"\"SIe gentlemaii from Texas . the majority leader. did. It was over 1.000 pages. over 12.000 local spending projects. We had just a few hours to read it. Sure enough. it was full of errors. including allowing congressional staffers to look at peoples tax returns. And so all 435 Members had to fly back up here to fix that. among other things. That is just one of 12 commonsense budget reform steps that we think have to happen before Democrats or Republicans can provide a truthful. meaningful budget again.","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1125,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090036822,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Federal Marriage Protection Amendment will ensure that States decide this issue of critical importance. If the other side really believes their own rhetoric. they will back this amendment and fight for judges who allow the people and their elected representatives to debate and decide cultural issues.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1324,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090036827,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"His action helped raise citizen awareness of candidates and issues and encouraged more people to participate in the political process. For this. Mr. Longworth and Triad Today were awarded the Spectrum of Democracy Award: Mr. Speaker. the press has a responsibility to fulfill its role as the fourth estate. that is. to serve as a guardian of democracy and defender of the public interest. I am pleased to congratulate Triad Today for its outstanding commitment to keeping the community informed.","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1530,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090036834,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Georgia for yielding me the customary 30 minutes. and I yield myself 5 minutes. Mr. Speaker. this is the first year that the House will consider a military quality of lifeVA appropriations bill. As a result of the subcommittee realignment adopted earlier this year by the Appropriations Committee. military construction. Defense Department health programs and all veterans programs are now contained in this one appropriations bill. I want to commend Chairman WALSH and Ranking Member EDWARDS for the bill that they have crafted. Both gentlemen are well known for their skill at reaching out and working in a bipartisan manner and this bill reflects that collaboration as well as their deep commitment to our uniformed men and women and their families. both those in current service and those who have honored our Nation with past service. Regrettably. while H.R. 2528 is a significant improvement over the Presidents shameful budget for veterans health care. even this bill will not get the job done for the men and women who are depending on the Department of Veterans Affairs to meet their health care needs. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4975,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090036837,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In some instances. veterans face wait times of up to 6 months. Yet the bill before us does not provide the funding necessary to provide prompt access to health services. And with our ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. the number of veterans needing medical service will only continue to rise. I am truly thankful that those men and women honorably serving our Nation in tile worlds hot spots are likely to return home to their family and friends. With protective armor and the improving qualitk of medical treatment in the field. more of our servicemembers are surviving combat wounds and returning. though with an increased need for medical service. Many of these men and women are amputees who will need months of rehabilitation to learn to walk and use prosthetic limbs. Because of these injuries. the men and women of our Armed Forces will need continuous care for the rest of their lives. At a time when American men and women are serving our Nation in hostile environments. we must demonstrate our intent to fulfill our promise and fund veterans medical services at the highest possible level. We must provide them with the most efficient and highest quality medical care this country can offer. I hope that on the floor today. we can make in order the gentleman from Wisconsins amendment increasing our commitment to veterans.","speaker_name":"DORIS MATSUI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2628,"word_count":227}
{"speech_id":1090036864,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Today. more than 50.000 veterans are waiting in line for at least 6 months for veterans health careand that problem will only get worse with the growing numbers of returning soldiers from Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. As of May 2005. VA had treated only about 85.000 of the 360.675 veterans from these deployments. In 2006. the Department expects to treat 5.2 million veteransdouble the number in 1995. And the overall medical care inflation rate for 2003 was close to double the inflation rate. It is telling that major veteran service organizations call this bill \"totally inadequate\" and tantamount to veterans being \"kicked to the curb.\" The current proposal before us is no less than $2.6 billion below the amount needed to maintain current V A services. The majority is nothing if not consistent. and has once again blocked attempts to fully fund the VA. The Obey.amendment. blocked from even being considered on the floor today. would have increased spending on veterans health services by a total of $2.6 billion over H.R. 2528 This amendment means real improvements to medical services to meet increased demand for mental health services. prosthetics and amputee care. and for priority 8 veterans. It adds $300 million to upgrade and improve accessibility to VA medical facilities. restoring most of the $400 million cut in the bill. And it does so by reducing the tax cuts for millionaires by about 8 percentso instead of a $140.000 tax cut. the millionaire filer would get $129.000 tax cut. ","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3507,"word_count":251}
{"speech_id":1090036892,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman from Georgia for raising this issue. and I share his concern. The gentleman has correctly indicated that this bill works to address PTSD research so that we can better treat mental health symptoms of our active and retired military personnel. 0 1215. As the gentleman is aware. in this difficult budget climate. we crafted a bill that uses our resources wisely. I commit to the gentleman that I will take his views with great respect as they relate to PTSD into consideration as we move forward toward the conference of this bill.","speaker_name":"JAMES WALSH","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":552,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090036896,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Presidents proposed VA budget. for example. would have significantly raised outofpocket health care expenses for many veterans. That was his socalled increase. by increasing fees to our veterans. And I am glad that this Committee on Appropriations saw to it that we would not raise the outofpocket costs for veterans. That is not the acceptable answer for the VA funding problems. The answer to the funding problem is to adequately fund the VA in the budget so that the veterans will receive the kind of care that they were promised when they signed up to defend our country. While I am pleased that the Committee on Appropriations saw fit to increase VA funding from the wholly inadequate amount requested by the President. I am very disappointed that the efforts of the gentleman from Wisconsin . our ranking member. to provide significant additional funding. $2.6 billion. for our Nations veterans. financed by reducing the tax cut for the very richest Americans. that all of this was blocked by the Republican majority. As a member of the Blue Dog Coalition. I readily advocate the importance of fiscal responsibility in government. but let us not do that on the backs of our veterans.","speaker_name":"LORETTA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":47.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2171,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090036914,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker I want to thank my colleagues Chairman WALSH and Ranking Member EDWARDS for including two provisions very important to me and so many Americans in this legislation. This bill preserves the organization of our Defense Cancer Research Programs. which have served our Nation so well and have helped drive breakthroughs in breast. prostate and ovarian cancer research. Consolidation of thesb programs would have disrupted and delayed the granting of research awards. siphoned scarce resources away from research endeavors to support administrative functions. And I am pleased my colleagues. with the help of Mr. Murtha. were able to maintain the distinct nature of these cancer research programs. I am especially pleased by the funding level for ovarian cancer research. Ovarian cancer is the fourth deadliest cancer for women. This year. approximately 22.220 women will be diagnosed and an estimated 16.210 will lose their lives to the disease. One in 57 women will get ovarian cancer. a disease with a 5year survival rate of only 24 percent when caught in advanced stages. ","speaker_name":"ROSA DELAURO","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3996,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090036915,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in favor of this appropriations bill. although with some reservations. I am pleased that the reorganization of the appropriations bills has brought about a more logical and supportable Veterans Affairs appropriations product. I do retain strong concerns over some of the funds appropriated under the Military Construction and North Atlantic Treaty Organization Security Investment Program sections of this bill. Although I recognize the need for legitimate funds for military construction. I do remain concerned that the funds appropriated herein will be used to fund the construction of U.S. military installations overseas. At a time when we are closing dozens of military installations in the United Statesinstallations that actually contribute to the defense of the United Statesunder the auspices of saving money. it is unconscionable to be spending money for the defense of foreign countries. I also strongly object to the appropriation of U.S.taxpayer funds for. as the bill states. \"the acquisition and construction of military facilities and installations (including international military headquarters) and for related expenses for the collective defense of the North Atlantic Treaty Area.\" NATO is a relic of the Cold War and most certainly has no purpose some fifteen years after the fall of the Soviet Union. ","speaker_name":"RONALD PAUL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1833,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090036943,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the last word for the purpose of enter ing into a colloquy with the gentleman from New York (Chairman WALSH). Mr. Chairman. I would like to enter into a- colloquy to discuss a funding matter concerning the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alterfiatives program. I rise today. Mr. Chairman. to bring attention to a significant funding problem that. if it is not solved. could halt the destruction of dangerous chemical weapons stockpiles in Richmond. Kentucky and Pueblo. ","speaker_name":"BEN CHANDLER","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2601,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090036946,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank I am also recently aware that rethe gentleman. search being done in the gentlemans I am aware that the Department of district may lead to significant Defense wants to revise the budget re- changes in how we treat pain and offers quest for this program. I am also aware the promise of reducing the side efthat the Department does not want to fects. This research in the area of phosubmit a budget amendment. The gen- ton mediated treatment for pain. in eftleman from Kentucky is correct. the fectusing light and its associated heat. jurisdiction complicates the transfer of offers enough hope that I Would sugfunds from RDT&E to the Chemical De- gest it as an area of further research militarization Construction account. within the Department of Veterans Afand the timing of this request is also a fairs. complicating factor. However. I assure Mr. MEEHAN. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JAMES WALSH","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1155,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090036958,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And we will look at what funds may reasonably be added to the prior BRAC accountto accelerate environmental cleanup. We need to make May 262O005 sure i90M1more funds will actus translate Thto more effect. Since I not know. at this time. what that p] up could be. I am afraid that I must pose the gentlemans amendment.","speaker_name":"JAMES WALSH","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2290,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090036979,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As has been indicated. the rule that was adopted precludes this amendment from being. or I should put it this way. the rule that is offered makes this amendment subject to a point of order. That means that it cannot be considered unless a point of order is not lodged against it. I would hope that the majority would not lodge a point of order against it so that we might adjust so very slightly the tax cut for those who are already the most fortunate people in our society economically. and allow this money to be added for veterans health care. I do not want to take any more of the Houses time. I would simply urge an \"aye\" vote in the event that a point of order is not lodged. against the amendment. E 1330","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1730,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090036980,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I make a point of order against the amendment because it proposes to change existing law and constitutes legislation on an appropriations bill and. therefore. violates clause 2 of rule XXI. The rule states in pertinent part: An amendment to a general appropriation bill shall not be in order if changing existing law. The amendment does indeed change the application of existing law. The gentleman from Wisconsin has served for many. many years with distinction on the Committee on Appropriations. He knows full well the powers of the Committee on Appropriations. This is not one of them. The ability to manipulate and change the Tax Code is not within our jurisdiction. So. ","speaker_name":"JAMES WALSH","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":783,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090037000,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the last word. Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of the Jones amendment today because it gives this House -another opportunity to slow the process down. We did not take that. opportunity last night in support of the amendment offered by the gentleman from New Hampshire","speaker_name":"STEPHANIE HERSETH SANDLIN","chamber":"H","state":"SD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":298,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090037025,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Chairman of the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union. reported that that Committee. having had under consideration the bill making appropriations for military quality of life functions of the Department of Defense. military construction. the Department of Veterans Affairs. and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30. 2006. and for other purposes. had directed him to report the bill back to the House with an amendment. with the recommendation that the amendment be agreedto and that the bill. as amended. do pass.","speaker_name":"CHARLES BASS","chamber":"H","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":551,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090037048,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the gentlemans courtesy in yielding me this time to speak on his motion to instruct. And I must say. Mr. Speaker. that I join in the gentlemans assessment of the capacity. of the chairman of our committee. who will be chairing the conference committee. and we know there will be no cell phones that will violate the sanctity of the conference committee activity. Would that it would set the tone for the entire Congress. I take modest exception to my friend from Florida. because I think the spirit with which this is offered is to. in fact. strengthen the foundation upon which the chairman and the members of our conference committee will go into this discussion. It is an opportunity for us to present a united front in the House. I think it is quite clear. based on the work that has gone on in the course of the last 21\/2 years. that there is strong. strong interest and understanding and appreciation of what robust means. ","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2191,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090037055,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. We have had a good discussion of the subject matter. I think it need not be further elaborated. Again. if you are serious about a good result in the conference. you will support this motion to instruct conferees. a fair. equitable. and balanced motion. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":354,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090037069,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank Americas veterans and to offer my sympathy to those familieg that will experience for the first time and for many. many times the difficulty of Memorial Day. for they are the families that are now suffering the loss of a loved one who has fallen in battle or in the service of his or her country. Today. we had the honor of traveling to Arlington Cemetery. as I said earlier. to place the wreath of honor in honor of women who have fallen in battle. The good news about America is that in times of conflict. however we may disagree on the policy. we are united behind the men and women who leave their homes and leave their families and leave all that they love to be able to serve this country. My sadness. however. is that there are so many that are coming back in caskets covered and draped by the American flag. And so I think it is extremely important that on this Memorial Day. we are united in our honoring and our admiration and our affection for those who have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. May God bless them. God bless their families. and God bless the United States of America.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1157,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090037087,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise this afternoon to voice my outrage and great disappointment about a recent development in Turkey. A conference set to begin yesterday in Bogazici University. of Turkish scholars and academics. entitled \"Ottoman Armenians During the Decline of* the Empire: Issues of Scientific Responsibility and Democracy.\" was indefinitely postponed by the university organizers. According to Agence FrancePresse. Turkish Justice Minister Cemil Cicek yesterday accused conference organizers of committing treason. saying. \"We must put an endto this cycle of treason and insults. of spreading propaganda against the Turkish nation by people who belong to it.\" In addition. Turkish officials have demanded copies of all papers submitted to the conference. The development further affirms the speculation that the image that the Turkish Government has attempted to create for itself is nothing more than a desperate attempt to create a facade. Contrary to what Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan and other Turkish officials would have us believe. the Government of Turkey is not democratic. is not committed to creating a democracy. is not making an effort to create better relations with Armenia and is definitely not ready to join the European Union. ","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5151,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090037110,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"BarberNichols possesses both advanced engineering and manufacturifig prowess that are ideal for reducing the high cost of technology equipment such as the ATT. a very complicated weapon which has approximately 700 separate parts. BarberNichols has used their expertise to help the Navy and the American taxpayer reduce the cost of the torpedo and provide tremendous cost savings in the program. To date. fdr every $1 we have spent on the ATT affordability program. the Navy has realized future production cost savings of $15. BarberNichols approached the Navy and their design agent. the Applied Research Laboratory. or ARL. at Penn State to discuss how to consider manufacturability and assemble ability concepts in the design today so that we can save money in the production tomorrow. As we have all witnessed. Mr. Speaker. developing and maintaining the best military in the world comes with a hefty price tag. In an extremely tight budget environment. it goes without saying that any program that can save money helps that service perform better. With that said. let me tell you more about the ATT program and the affordability efforts that are ongoing in this program. The surface ship torpedo defense program and the antitorpedo torpedo program were started by the United States Navy because our ships were. and remain. vulnerable to torpedo attack. ","speaker_name":"BOB BEAUPREZ","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11503,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090037137,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And it is not just one reason against John Bolton. there are about six. I hope I have laid them out. I thank you very much. Mr. President. I yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2056,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090037161,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is not every single day hereafter for this administration. it becomes a precedent for every administration. And I suggest to all Members of the Senate that they may find themselves. down the road at some point. seeking information they- think is relevant and having it denied to them by the executive branch. citing the refusal to provide the information in the Bolton case as a precedent for the action they are taking.","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":423,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090037169,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have a little less than 20 minutes remaining. What I want to do is give the 20 minutes I have left to my colleagues to use. Mr. President. I make that request. that the time remaining be divided between the Senator from Maryland and the Senator from Massachusetts.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":266,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090037173,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Bill Richardson. Richard Holbrooke. John Negroponte. and John Danforth. The fact that at least 17 of them. spanning 8 administrationsRepublican and Democratichave been elevated to serve on the Presidents Cabinet demonstrates the critical importance in which this position historically has been held. The fact that we proudly remember so many of these names. after the passage of a number of years. underscores both the visibility of the U.N. ambassador and the statesmanship that the position requires. On a daily basis. our ambassador to the U.N. speaks to the entire world on behalf of the United States. The comments our ambassador makes and the relationships he or she cultivates make the difference between a United States that is respected as a leader in the world. setting an example of American values and principles. aid a United States that is ignored and misunderstood. In todays world. this difference affects the lives of millions at home and abroad. The United Nations is not a tool to be used \"when it suits our interest and when we can get others to go along.\" as Mr. Bolton has suggested but is. rather. an essential and ongoing forum for the advancement of U.S. foreign policy and the protection of U.S. national security interests. ","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12105,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090037177,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Boltons past conduct. These people. in effect. volunteered themselves to give what they thought would be an accurate view of Mr. Boltons behavior. It took a lot of courage for people like Mr. Ford. Mr. Wilkerson. Mr. Hutchings. Ambassador Hubbard. and others to come forward. ","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1792,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090037206,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":14,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let me begin my statement today by outlining what I think this debate is not about. I do not believe this debate is about Mr. Bolton being rude on occasion. This debate is not about Mr. Bolton being blunt. The debate is not about Mr. Bolton occasionally losing his temper. As the distinguished Senator from Arizona just noted. if this is the criteria. many of us in the U.S. Senate would not be qualified to serve in a position that requires confirmation. ","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11811,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090037236,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Subsequent to the President making that choice. an enormous amount of information has come forward. not from traditional sources. not from people who might have been disposed to oppose this nomination. but from people who have worked with Mr. Bolton. from people who are ideologically in the same place as he is. who are members of the same administration. The picture they have painted is clearly one that ought to raise concern for any Member of the Senate about a position that requires special credibility. special stature. and special ability to be able to carry the message of our country in one of the most important fora in the world. in a very complicated world. On several occasions. a number of Senators have talked about this issue of credibility. and it cannot be overlooked. One cannot gloss by it. We are in the midst of delicate. critical negotiations with Iran. Nobody knows where that will go in these next months. The potential for critical intelligence analysis to be put before. the United Nations in order to persuade the world of potentially dangerous steps requires a voice that has no questions attached to it. where people will not have to ask whether that person speaks for the administration or for themselves. The history of Secretary Colin Powell. whom we all admire but who was sent to the United Nations with information that was inaccurate and made a speech which he now personally wishes were otherwise. raises even further the question of credibility. In addition. we will have to deal with Syria itself where important issues have been raised with respect to Mr. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11930,"word_count":271}
{"speech_id":1090037266,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Boltons superiors recalled him to the United States and sent a replacement. This blunder is not the only black mark on Mr. Boltons record. He also failed in another highly critical negotiationour unsuccessful attempts to convince Iran to curtail its nuclear activities. Mr. Bolton also has publicly and often expressed his disdain for the United Nationsthe very institution the President has chosen to send him presumably to represent us and pursue our interests. How can he do that when his public criticism of the U.N. has been. not constructive br thoughtful. but he.avy handed and destructive? He has advocated not paying our U.N. dues and. in a moment of high arrogance. said he thought there should only be one permanent member of the Security Councilthe United Statesto reflect todays international power structure. Statements like these make our allies believe that we do not value their cooperation and effortand perhaps Mr. Bolton does not. ","speaker_name":"HERBERT KOHL","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3043,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090037268,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There are other instances of this behavior during the hearings. where our Ambassador to South Korea has disputed what Mr. Bolton said Finally. there is a tone and temperament issue with Mr. Boltons nomination. According to respected officials who have worked with him. Mr. Bolton bullies. belittles and undermines those who do not agree with him. We all lose our cool from time to time. Disagreements are part of human discourse. But. there is a pattern with Mr. Bolton that goes beyond appropriate behaviora disturbing trait for someone seeking to become our chief diplomat at a place where people come together to resolve disagreements. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4329,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090037296,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. while we have Senators in the Chamber. I wish to express. through- the Chair. the appreciation of especially Senator BIDEN and Senator DODD for the ends to which the majority leader went to- try to resolve this issue. He spent an inordinate amount of time trying to get the information requested and was unable to do so. He did get information but not all that was necessary. I am disappointed that tonight we were unable to have a vote on Mr. Bolton. but it is not the fault- of the Democratic caucus. We are not here to filibuster Mr. Boltons nomination. We are here to get information regarding Mr. Bolton. information to which we are entitled. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1930,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090037303,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. everyone here should understand that it is now the 26th day of May. This is the first filibuster that has been conducted in this Congress. if. in fact. we want to call this a filibusterNo. 1. first one. We have not been doing filibusters. We worked through some very difficult issues we talked about here beforebankruptcy. class action. and a number of other issues. So it is not as if we are looking for things to have extended debate on. We need to work together. and I think this week has established that. We are going to work together. But how can we work together when information is not supplied? So I hope we will all slow down the rhetoric during the break. This is something that happened. This is part of the Senate. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":840,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090037347,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I believe that the Governments first duty is to defend its citizens. to defend them against the harms that come out of hate. The Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act is a symbol that can become substance. I believe that by passing this legislation and changing current law. we can change- hearts and minds as well.","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1097,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090037349,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"On veterans and education issues. in particular. he has developed a long list of legislative victories both small and large. Bob has a gift for seeing legislative opportunities. One example I will never forget involves the Vchip. For years. I had heard from parents. educators. health care professionals and religious leaders about their concerns regarding the influence of television violence on young people. In response. Bob helped me form a steering committee of interested individuals and organizations to talk about possible approaches to help shield children from gratuitous violence on television. And we developed Vchip legislation. During the debate on the 1996 telecommunications bill. I offered my amendment to require that the Vchip be included in TVs so that parents would have the ability to blQck out violent shows. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5723,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090037350,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. during the floor debate on the recently passed bankruptcy bill. an important letter from a number of medical and law professors regarding the high number of debtors who are forced into bankruptcy due to the cost of health care was discussed on numerous occasions. The letter was addressed to Senator GRASSLEY and points out a number of the professors concerns with the findings of the U.S. Trustee Program related to medical debt. Since it is such a valuable document. it is important that this letter be printed in the RECORD so that all people have access to it. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the letter be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":660,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090037351,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Korematsu and Bob Matsui are testaments to the remarkable display of courage. will. and determination of millions of Asian Americans to succeed in our country despite personal hardships and at times. discrimination. Currently. Asian Pacific Islander Americans constitute one of the fastest growing minority communities in the United States. and I am proud to recognize the State of California as home to the greatest number of Asian Pacific Islander Americans. There are over 13 million Asian Pacific Islander Americans in the nation with more than 4.5 million living in California. With this wealth of Asian American diversity. our State is enriched by many famous ethnic enclaves such as San Franciscos Chinatown. Westminsters Little Saigon. and the City of Artesias Little India. In fact. the second largest populations of Filipino. Korean. and Vietnamese in the world are located in California. In this congressional session. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5555,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090037353,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This unique scene includes alpine lakes. canyons. rapids. waterfalls. historic mines. and broad variations in elevation including mountain peaks of over 14.000 feet high. Not only is it beautiful. but its rich history is deeply intertwined with the history of this great country. The San Juan was originally the homeland of the Ute Indians as well as an area that was ..frequented by the Navajo and Apache Tribes as well. Many pioneers who were looking for routes to the West traveled through the San Juan. Some of these individuals remained there establishing mining sites which contributed to development and a growing community. The San Juan National Forest benefits the communities of southwestern Colorado through the supply of timber. minerals. oil and gas. grazing pastures. recreation. clean water and air and other natural resources. All of these amenities offered by the San Juan National Forest are important to the quality of life and economic well being of southwestern Coloradans. this has been the case for the past 100 years. it is the case today. and hopefully will be true for the next 100 years. I urge all citizens of Colorado and our Nation to join in the centennial celebration of the San Juan National Forest through the many activities scheduled for June 14. 2005. to celebrate this special place and show appreciation for our national forests. Finally. this year also marks the centennial of the U..S. Forest Service. the Federal agency which manages the San Juan and 154 other National Forests across our country. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2536,"word_count":253}
{"speech_id":1090037354,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They have S6014 Co had to make choices that most experienced and educated adults would find difficult. They have lived with fear and witnessed death. Some of them have lashed out. They have joined gangs. sold drugs. and. in some cases. inflicted pain on others. But they have played baseball and gone on dates and shot marbles and kept diariep. For. despite all they have seen and done. they areand we must constantly remind ourselves of thisstill children.\" During National Foster Care Month. I encourage you to log on to www.adoptuskids.org to learn more about the children who are waiting in our country and across the Nation for the safe. loving home they deserve. As Mistral said. \"Many things we need can wait. the child cannot. To him we cannot say tomorrow. ","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3127,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090037355,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. after over 7 years ofservice. Orson Swindle announced today his resignation as Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission. Mr. Swindle has been dedicated to protecting the interests of the American consumer by promoting competition and fairness in the marketplace. He will be sorely missed. Mr. Swindles accomplishments at the FTC have been numerous. but his efforts to promote the vigorous development of the Internet and technology generally have been particularly important to our Nations economy. His service with the Commission started shortly after the birth of electronic commerce. and it was thanks in part to Mr. Swindles efforts to keep the Internet free of overregulation that it is now such a robust and widelyused medium of communication. commerce. education. and political participation. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1559,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090037359,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The residents of New Iberia identify with this special place. and it contributes to the quality of life and sense of community pride shared by them. Founded in 1779. New Iberia was a prosperous antebellum community that matured into a modern city. By the mid 1960s. New Iberias Main Street began experiencing decline typical of many communities in the United States at that time. Recognizing the role of Main Street in the life of a community. New Iberias business leaders. elected officials. and citizens started a progressive downtown revitalization effort known as Operation Impact in the early 1970s. This focus on Main Street continued. and in the 1990s. New Iberia further enhanced its efforts by initiating an officially designated Main Street Program. The unified commitment. hard work. and enthusiasm of the people of New Iberia over nearly 40 years has reestablished their downtown as a vibrant nucleus of culture. commerce. and tourism. ","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2393,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090037368,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This exchange will enhance land in both the northern and southern parts of the State. It is an example of how local. State. and Federal partners can come together to collaboratively develop an exchange in which the public and the land are the ultimate beneficiaries. By Mr. COLEMAN (for himself.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2992,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090037369,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am pleased today to be introducing the bipartisan Treatment of Childrens Deformities Act. I am pleased to be joined by many of my friends and colleagues. including Senators LANDRIEU. DEWINE. SNOWE. COCHRAN. VITTER and BAYH. Imagine being a parent with a child who has a cleft lip and palate or another more severe congenital facial deformity that requires reconstructive surgery .to achieve a sense of normalcy and function. Now imagine receiving a letter from your insurance carrier that states the following: The reviewer determined that although the procedures listed above would enhance the appearance of the patient. the procedures listed are not necessary to correct a functional disorder and therefore do not meet the criteria for benefits as outlined in the medical plan. ","speaker_name":"NORM COLEMAN","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3505,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090037372,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Dehydroepiandrosterone. or DHEA. is an anabolic steroid that once ingested. the body turns into testosterone. DHEA like all other steroids. may cause a number of long term physical and psychological effects. including: heart disease. cancer. stroke. liver damage. severe acne. baldness. dramatic mood swings. aggression etc. In fact. DHEA is already banned by the Olympics. the World AntiDoping Agency. the National Collegiate Athletic Association. the National Football League. the National Basketball Association. and Minor League Baseball. yet it actually enjoys special protections under the Anabolic Steroid Control Act. In an effort to keep all potentially dangerous steroids out of the hands of unsuspecting consumers and children. I am pleased to introduce legislation today that would add DHEA to the list of controlled substances under the Anabolic Steroid Control Act. This legislation will eliminate the special exemption granted to DHEA. thereby treating it as every other substance in the steroid family. With the dramatic rise in the use of steroids among our nations youth. now is the time to act to curb this increasingly growing problem. Just like all other anabolic steroids. DHEA should not be available over the counter. but only under a doctors supervision. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2739,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090037378,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think that it is time that we be willing to make one in return. The least we can do is to help these families find relief from the financial woes caused by this gap. To help do this. my colleagues Senator GRAHAM. Senator ALLEN. Senator DURBIN. and myself are pleased to introduce the Helping Our Patriotic Employers at Helping our Military Employees Act of 2005. We call the bill by its nickname: HOPE at HOME. Our guard and reserve families have enough to worry about when a loved one gets called away. the least we can do is relieve some of the financial worry by encouraging employers to make up the pay gap. Let me describe for my colleagues how this legislation works. HOPE at HOME will give a 50 percent tax credit to the thousands of employers around the country who have taken the patriotic step of continuing to pay the salary of their guard and reservists employees who have been called to active duty. There are literally thousands of employers out there who already take this noble stepthey do it voluntarily. selflessly and at great sacrifice. ","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7965,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090037381,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I urge my colleagues to cosponsor this bill. By Mr. ROCKEFELLER (for himself. Ms. SNOWE. Mr. BAucus.","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3079,"word_count":17}
{"speech_id":1090037387,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to discuss the Dirty Bomb Prevention Act- of 2005. which I am introducing today in the Senate. and Congressman MARKEY is introducing in the House. Since September 11. we have increased our focus on dirty bombs. and rightly so. Most Americans are not aware of how common this radioactive material is in our country. Often we think of warheads or rods used in nuclear reactors. However. we use less radioactive materials in positive ways in our hospitals. research laboratories. food irradiation plants. oil drilling facilities. airport runway lighting. and even in smoke detectors. And although these materials have beneficial uses. the fact is that some of them. in the hands of a terrorist. could be used to make a dirty bomb that could be used to contaminate a wide area in New York City or in many other places across the country. According to the Federation of American Scientists. \"material that could easily be lost or stolen from U.S. research institutions and commercial sites could contaminate tens of city blocks at a level that would require prompt evacuation . . . ","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5146,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090037391,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The commission consists of three Federal representatives. three State representatives. four representatives from local towns on Mount Desert Island. three from adjacent mainland communities. and three from adjacent offshore islands. These representatives have provided invaluable advice relating to the management and development of the Park. The commission has proven its worth many times over and deserves to be extended for an additional 20 years. Acadia National Park is a true gem of the Maine coastline. The park is one of Maines most popular tourist destinations. with nearly 3 million visitors every year. While unsurpassed in beauty. the parks ecosystem is also very fragile. Unless we are careful. we risk substantial harm to the very place that Mainers and Americans hold so dear. In 11 years. Acadia will be 100 years old. Age has brought both increasing popularity and greater pressures. ","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3953,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090037401,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Senator WYDEN and I talked about a few other approaches that are not included in this legislation. I think I can speak for the Senator from Oregon when I say we look forward to talking to our colleagues about other ideas that might be out there. We look forward to sharing ideas and information with producers themselves who. I hope. are willing to look at ways to help save the consumers money. help save taxpayers money. and help deal with directtoconsumer advertising in a more responsible way. We are going to do a Medicaid bill this year in the Senate. While we also deal with some issues at HIS and the VA in this bill. certainly the costs associated with Medicaid and our recommendations with regard to Medicaid are a central part of the bill. I will work with Senator WYDEN and any of my interested colleagues to try to include and capture some of these ideas in Medicaid legislation this year. It is a great opportunity to look at the issue of health costs and drug costs in a fresh way. in a different way. I very much appreciate the work Senator WYDEN has done in helping to craft this legislation and his willingness to lend his strong support. as a longstanding and more senior Member than I. as a member of the Senate Finance Committee. and as a Member of the Senate on the other side of the aisle.","speaker_name":"JOHN SUNUNU","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4151,"word_count":241}
{"speech_id":1090037425,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management. Government Information. and International Security be authorized to meet on Thursday. May 26. 2005. at 2:30 p.m.. for a hearing regarding \"An Assessment of Federal Funding for Private Research and Development.\"","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":304,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090037469,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Most recently. I have worked with OIPA in the introduction of the Natural Gas Production Act of 2005--S. 926. which I introduced. that would extend section 29 to include natural gas produced from depths below 15.000 feet. This bill is strongly supported by OIPA members and I thank them for their support. The Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association has been and -will continue to be an invaluable asset in developing and promoting the oil and gas industry in the United States. - I am introducing this resolution as an expression of my appreciation. I congratulate the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association for its 50year history and its contributions to the oil and gas industry in Oklahoma and the United States.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2161,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090037632,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Someones rise from humble beginnings is very important. but it does not mean they can run a major company. It does not mean they would be a great lineman or center or linebacker for the New York Giants. It is a wonderful thing. but it does not qualify them for the job. Judge Janice Rogers Browns humble rise cannot offset her radical and regressive approach to the law. I would argue that none of the views of the nominees we have had so far are so off the charts as Janice Rogers Brown. None of what she has done in her life can mitigate her hostility to a host of litigants who have appeared before her. If someone is polite and then takes your argument and throws it out. even though the law is behind you. and leaves you hopeless. it does not mean they have done a good job as a judge. Janice Rogers Brown. on the merits. is the most out of the mainstream. the least deserving of all of the Presidents appeals court nominees. In a moment. I am going to review those reasons. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES SCHUMER","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11199,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090037643,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I have sought recognition to honor George W. Mullen of Pennsylvania. who will step down as State Adjutant of the Pennsylvania Department of Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States this June. Georges retirement will mark the end of a distinguished 59 year career of service to our military. our veterans community. and our Nation. George W. Mullen joined the United States Navy in 1943 at the age of 17 and served during World War II aboard the merchant ship SS Ben Holt and the destroyer USS Cotton in both the Atlantic and Pacific Theatres. While on active duty aboard the Holt. his ship arrived 2 days after the invasion of Normandy. France. to help supply Allied forces in the battle against Germany. His duty on the Cotton included helping rescue a downed American pilot and supporting the invasion of Okinawa. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1701,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090037647,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Among its most notable structures are the Sylvan Lake Hotel. Sioux Falls City Hall. St. Marys Catholic Church. Sioux Falls Arena. IBP\/Tyson Foods Corporate Headquarters. South Dakota Technology Business Center. Harrisburg High School. and Sioux Falls Veterans Memorial Park. Following the firms significant expansion in 1969. TSP established offices in Minnesota. ","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1207,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090037653,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to introduce a bill to reauthorize the Kalaupapa National Historical Park Advisory Commission. an advisory group to Kalaupapa National Historical Park. The park was established by statute in 1980. P.L. 96565. to provide for the preservation of the nationally and internationally significant resources of the Kalaupapa settlement on the island of Molokai in the State of Hawaiithe residents. culture. history. and natural resources. The purpose of the park is to provide a wellmaintained community in which the Kalaupapa Hansens disease patients are guaranteed that they may remain at Kalaupapa as long as they wish. and to protect the current lifestyle of these patients and their individual privacy. The Act provides that the preservation and interpretation of the settlement be managed and performed by patients and Native Hawaiians to the extent practical. Section 108 of the enacting legislation establishes the Kalaupapa National Historical Park Advisory Commission consisting of 11 members. appointed by the Secretary of the Interior for terms of five years. Seven of the members are patients or former patients elected by the patient community. Four members are appointed from recommendations made by the Governor of Hawaii. and at least one of these is Native Hawaiian. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2109,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090037700,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"\\ Mr. President. I thank my colleague from Massachusetts for allowing me to go out of turn. I will be fairly short. Mr. President. we have been debating the circuit court nominations of Justice Janice Rogers Brown and too many other nominees for way too long. Justice Brown was first nominated to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals in July of 2003. Over the years. I have grown accustomed to the talking points of Browns liberal opposition. I think I have them committed to memory now. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5630,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090037740,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to speak about a problem impacting communities across the United States and throughout the world. As many of my colleagues know. today is National Hunger Awareness Day. It is a day meant to focus our attention on those for whom putting food on the table continues to be a daily struggle. For the last several years. my home State of Oregon has been at or near the top of repeated nationwide studies of hunger and food insecurity in the United States. While we have made some progress in fighting hunger in Oregon. there is still a long way to go to ensuring that children and families in my State and around the country do not go to bed hungry. According the U.S. Department of Agricultures Economic Research Service. in 2003. approximately 36.3 million Americans lived in households that at some point during the year did not have access to enough food to meet their basic needs. Of those 36.3 million. 3.9 million were considered hungry. ","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2861,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090037741,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. before speaking on what I want to address -to the Senate. and that is the pending business on the nominee. I want to bring to the attention of my colleagues an excellent editorial in the New York Times today: \"Crushing Upward Mobility.\" It is basically an analysis of a regulation that was put forward by the Department of Education that will save the Department of Education some resources. but at the cost of those middleclass families. working families. who are eligible for student loan programs. That is not the direction in which we should be going. At the current time. we have a number of these young students who are paying 9.5 percent on guaranteed student loans. Can you imagine haying a deal like that? You put out money and the Federal Government guarantees that you have nothing to lose. and it still costs these students 9.5 percent. We ought to be doing something about that. like taking the profits and making a difference in terms of lowering the burden on working families and middleincome families who are trying to help their children go on to college. rather than put more burden on them. This is an excellent article. I ask unanimous consent that the editorial be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1224,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090037748,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We believe that Justice Brown is qualified because she is a superb judge. We who have worked with her on a daily basis know her to be extremely intelligent. keenly analytical. and very hard working. We know that she is a jurist who applies the lawwithout favor. without bias and with an even hand. This doesnt sound like the same lady who is being discussed on this floor by some of my colleagues on the other side. Ellis Horvitz. a Democrat and one of the deans of the appellate bar in California. has written in support of Justice Brown noting. that: ... in my opinion. Justice Brown [possesses] those qualities an appellate jurist should have. She is extremely intelligent. very conscientious and hard working. refreshingly articulate. and possessing great common sense and integrity. She is courteous and gracious to the litigants and counsel who appear before her. Regis Itane. director of Minorities in Law Enforcement. a coalition of ethnic minority law enforcement officers in California. wrote: We recommend the confirmation of Justice Brown based on her broad range of experience. personal integrity. good standing in the community. and dedication to public service . . . In many conversations with Justice Brown. ","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11542,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090037769,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"spoke yesterday regarding the reauthorization of the USA PATRIOT Act. I look forward to the Senate acting later this year on PATRIOT Act reauthorization. but today I just want to address one aspect of the Senators speech. his opposition to administrative subpoena power. In his speech. the Senator argued that any reauthorization should not extend those subpoena powers to FBI terrorism investigators. He correctly noted that Intelligence Committee Chairman ROBERTS has held hearings about extending this authority. which is common within the Government. to FBI agents investigating terrorism. I was happy to see Chairman ROBERTS do this because last year I cosponsored S. 2555. the Judicially Enforceable Terrorism Subpoenas Act. On June 22. 2004. I chaired a hearing in the Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism. Technology. and Homeland Security that examined this subpoena power and heard testimony regarding how the subpoenas work and how the government protects civil liberties when using them. One of the things that struck me as I learned about administrative subpoena power was how widespread it is in our Government and. how unremarkable a law enforcement tool it really is. It was for that reason that I asked the Senate Republican Policy Committee. which I chair. to examine this issue in greater detail. to study the constitutional and civil liberties questions that critics have raised. and to identify the other contexts where the Federal Government has this power. ","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2353,"word_count":231}
{"speech_id":1090037777,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to introduce the \"Neighbor Islands Veterans Health Care Improvements Act.\" My State of Hawaii is home to 115.000 veterans. nearly 18.000 of whom avail themselves of VA health care. Unfortunately. the level of care provided to those living on Oahu and the Neighbor IslandsKauai. Molokai. Lanai. Maui. and the Big Islandis not at the optimal level. My legislation would significantly improve the level of care the veterans residing in Hawaii have so bravely earned. Hawaii is undoubtedly an exceptional place to make ones home. and its population continues to grow each year. As such. the number of veterans seeking VA health care has grown. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3540,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090037783,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"More and more of our imported brain power is returning home to their native countries. And regrettably. as they return home. many American high tech jobs are being outsourced with them. The effects of. these educational trends are already being felt in various important ways. For example: according to the National Science Board. by 2010. if current trends continue. significantly less than 10 percent of all physical scientists and engineers in the world will be working in America. The American Physical Society reports that the proportion of articles by American authors in the Physical Review. one of the most important research journals in the world. has hit an all time low of 29 percent. down from 61 percent in 1983. And the U.S. production of patents. probably the most direct link between research and economic benefit. has declined steadily relative to the rest of the world for decades. and now stands at only 52 percent of the total. Fortunately. we already have an existing Federal program up and running that. if modified. can help. Under current law. the $14 billion a year Pell Grant program awards recipients grants regardless of the course of study that the recipient chooses to pursue. So. under curreht law. two people from the same financial background are eligible for the same grant even though one chooses to major in the liberal arts while the other majors in engineering or science. While I believe studying the liberal arts is an important component to having an enlightened citizenry. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6976,"word_count":251}
{"speech_id":1090037784,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I introduce a bill to remedy a small gap in our passport laws. The change that I propose could be important to family members of servicemembers who lose their lives in service of their country. Under current law. the State Department may not charge a fee to issue a passport to relatives of a deceased member of the Armed Forces who are proceeding abroad to visit the grave of such a member. But the law as applied requires that the family be visiting an official gravesite overseas. The law does not. however. allow the waiver of passport fees if the family is attending a funeral or memorial service for a servicemember killed in action. but who is buried or memorialized overseas. The need for such a waiver probably does not occur often. but it happens. Last year. a servicemember from my home State of Delaware was killed in action in Iraq. The servicemember was stationed in Germany and his wife was German. She wished for him to be buried in Germany. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1520,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090037787,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Booker T. Washington and Harriet Tubman Upton for making civil rights one of his trademark issues. At a speech before the 1886 graduating class of Howard University. La Follette said. -\"We are one people. one by truth. one almost by blood. Our lives run side by side. our ashes rest in the same soil. [Seize] the waiting world of opportunity. Separatism is snobbish stupidity. it is supreme folly. to talk of noncontact. or exclusion!\" La Follette ran for President three times. twice as a Republican and once on the Progressive ticket. In 1924. as the Progressive candidate for president. La Follette garnered more than 17 percent of the popular vote and carried the State of Wisconsin. La Follettes years of public service were not without controversy. In 1917. he filibustered a bill to allow the arming of United States merchant ships in response to a series of German submarine attacks. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10856,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090037824,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. this week the House will begin itssummer session by hitting the ground running. Between now and the August recess. the House will take up several major pieces of legislation that will touch every piece of our national agenda. We will consider bills that will help us continue to fight and win the war on terror. Among these security proposals will be a bill to reform the institution and the programs bf the United Nations. to help begin to make it possible for this vital international organization to meet its global responsibilities. We will also reauthorize the PATRIOT Act. the antiterrorism legislation passed after 9\/11 that has provided our law enforcement community with the tools they need to combat the unique threats presented by international terror. We also hope to take up the final conference report on the longoverdue national energy policy that President Bush and the American people have been calling and waiting for since 2000. By reducing our dependence on foreign oil. the energy bill will provide the United States greater flexibility in dealing with the tumultuous Middle East region. and it is a huge jobscreation bill. The energy bill will also empower our national economy. creating jobs and. over the long run. lowering gas prices for American consumers. The longawaited conference report on the highway funding bill. which we also hope to take up before the August recess. will improve our national infrastructure. provide greater mobility for the American people. and create millions of new jobs across our country. Just as important to our economy as our infrastructure is international trade. which will be greatly enhanced in every region of our Nation and every sector of our economy by passage of the Central American Free Trade 0 Printed on recycled paper. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2593,"word_count":295}
{"speech_id":1090037845,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. today the House is considering H. Res. 169. a resolution that I have introduced with the gentlewoman from California . our colleague. to encourage sun safety. I want to thank the gentlewoman from California . the gentleman from Texas . the gentleman from Virginia . and the gentleman from New York . who also have cosponsored this resolution. H. Res. 169 is a straightforward resolution which encourages all Americans to protect themselves and their children from the dangers of excessive sun exposure. Most of us. especially those of us from the Sunshine State. enjoy the outdoors. though too few of us protect ourselves and our children from the suns harmful ultraviolet rays when engaged in outdoor activities. Skin cancer. Madam Speaker. is the fastestgrowing cancer in our country today. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BILIRAKIS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3007,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090037859,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Both leaders. in fact. presided over their countries in times of crisis. exhibiting great courage and perseverance in the fight for selfdetermination. Both grew up in poverty and studied law. Both fought against bigotry and racism. In fact. President Lincoln and President Juarez were contemporaries who held each other in high regard. In fact. in 1858. upon hearing of Juarezs struggles in Mexico. President Lincoln sent him an encouraging message expressing hope. and I quote. for the liberty of your government and its people. Even in the midst of our own Civil War. President Lincoln provided arms and munitions to President Juarez to support the Mexican people in their fight against France. When the U.S. ","speaker_name":"ENI FALEOMAVAEGA","chamber":"H","state":"AS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":4771,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090037872,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. calls for the United Nations to officially and publicly condemn antiSemitic statements in all U.N. meetings and hold accountable member states who make such statements. It calls for the United Nations Educational. Scientific. and Cultural Organizations. known as UNESCO. to develop and implement Holocaust education programs throughout the world as part of an effort to combat the rise in antiSemitism. \u0095 Further. Madam Speaker. it calls for the United States Ambassador to the United Nations to continue working toward further reduction of antiSemitic language and antiIsrael resolutions. House Resolution 282 requests the Secretary of State to include in.the Department of States annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices and annual Report on International Religious Freedom information on activities regarding antiSemitism at U.N. bodies by each of the countries included in these reports. and. further. it requests that projects under the Middle East Partnership Initiative and that U.S. overseas broadcasts include programs that educate Arab and Muslim countries about fighting antiSemitism. about fighting religious intolerance and fighting incitement to violence. As we have witnessed. historically. and in todays world. such charged rhetoric as antiSemitism invites violent action. There must. therefore. be renewed vigilance against purveyors of antiSemitism. and the United Nations must be an .integral component of any comprehensive strategy. It must help build a culture of tolerance. The United Nations must hold countries and their representatives accountable. It must make hateful rhetoric and incitement politically and culturally unacceptable. instead of offering an environment that enables the proliferation of antiSemitism. ","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4957,"word_count":251}
{"speech_id":1090037875,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Kofi Annan said. \"The United Nations must never forget that it was created as a response to the evil of Nazism. or that the horror of the Holocaust helped to shape its mission. That response is enshrined in our Charter and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Such an evil must never be allowed to happen again. We must be on the watch for any revival of antiSemitism and ready to act against the new forms of it that are happening today.\" From Secretary General Kofi Annan. Mr. Speaker. our resolution urges the member states of the United Nations and our own government to step up the fight against antiSemitism. religious intolerance. and incitement to violence. In keeping with the original mission and the enduring vision of the United Nations as a beacon for humanitys potential at its best. I strongly urge all of my. colleagues to support our resolution. Mr. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4920,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090037885,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt. who distort the mission of the U.N.. must be held to account for their actions. The United Nations is capable of good and important work. in the eradication of disease. in alleviating poverty. It can and should do more. but it can never live up to its potential and its mission unless it sheds the stain of antiSemitism. The United States must take the lead in this important effort. I support this resolution. I hope that the President heeds its message and does what he must do to end the bitter reign of antiSemitism at the U.N.","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2739,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090037910,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Rost talked about and is made in Ireland. all of it is imported somewhere because it is all made in Ireland. but in London. $40.88. in Athens. $55.65. but a months supply in the United States is $76.41. C] 1915 You look at the entire list and then you total them up. the five most commonly prescribed drugs. In London. those five drugs are $195 U.S. In Athens.. they are $231 in American dollars. Here in the United States.-$507. Mr. Speaker. the chart can get worse. too. If you look at what we see. for example. in Germany. and these numbers again are from. earlier this year. when you compare on this chart we have 10 of the most commonlyprescribed drugs brought at the Metropolitan Pharmacy in Frankfort. Germany. and this is essentially just coming in off the street. not expecting any special discount either in the United States or here. but those 10 in the United States total $1.040. In Germany. you can buy the same drugs for $455.57. ","speaker_name":"GILBERT GUTKNECHT","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3268,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090037928,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. first of all. I will submit for the RECORD an article in the New York Times entitled. \"Pension Loopholes Helped United Hide Troubles.\" The article. by Mary Williams Walsh. discusses loopholes in the current laws that allow corporations to grossly underfund their employees pensions. and to do so legally. They use accounting tricks to give the appearance of healthy financial standing. and as Senator GRASSLEY says. \"We saw similar practices and events at Enron but. unfortunately. this time it is perfectly legal. \" These companies keep the poor health of their pension funds hidden from the public until they decide to terminate them. as United Airlines currently is doing. United knowingly underfunded its pension fund as it faced bankruptcy. shielding from its workers the truth about their retirement futures. I would like to share two statements from hardworking. people in Illinois who .are personally affected by pensionaccounting sleight of hand. These statements are from the more than 2.000 dedicated United Airlines employees and retirees who submitted testimony to the online hearing that the gentleman from California and I held highlighting the United pension crisis and clearly showed just how devastating losing ones retirement security can be. ","speaker_name":"JANICE SCHAKOWSKY","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4836,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090037939,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And although the bureau says it knew about the loss since last year. Governor Taft was only notified about it today. There are investigations going on. including the Ohio I~ispector General. the bureau spokesman. Jeremy Jackson told the Toledo Blade today. But the news came to light as a handful of agencies are looking into the bureau and its dealings with the Toledo area coin dealer. Mr. Tom Noe. who is one of the people that took some of this $50 million and put it into coins and purportedly collectibles. The Ohio Ethics Commission on Monday said it was looking into other investments held by the bureau. the agency charged with providing assistance to injured workers. . This is where I want to say in my district. the ninth district of Ohio. we have had four deaths of people. iron workers trying to build the largest transportation project in Ohio history over the Meumee River. These were unnecessary deaths because the State of Ohio was not inspecting the project properly. ","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7024,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090037947,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I address the body tonight about the future of this great country. and the previous speaker said we did just have a chance to celebrate Memorial Day. In the district that I was in. we recognized the anniversary of the DDay landing. and we understand that it is with the sacrifices of brave young men and women throughout history that a nation is able to sustain itself. and it is only through those sacrifices in each generation. One generation cannot pay for the next generation. But. tonight. I would like to look a little bit at the economic future that faces us. both in the world and in this country. and would like to have a discussion about what it is that will allow America to offer its promise into the future so that our sons and daughters. our children and grandchildren. would have the opportunities that our generation has seen. I am the secondoldest year of the baby boom generation. and I will tell my colleagues that my mother and father grew up in very difficult circumstances in West Texas. When my father graduated from high school. he went to work for a cousin of his farming and actually in the role as a sharecropper. I recently had a chance to visit with my mom and dad in the place where I was born and lived the first 2 years of my life. ","speaker_name":"STEVAN PEARCE","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11250,"word_count":236}
{"speech_id":1090037949,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. once again it is an honor to be before the House of Representatives. I would also like to thank the Democratic leader for allowing the 30something Working Group to reappear on the floor again for another week to talk about issues that are facing 30somethings throughout this country and are also facing Americans in general. When we talk about issues such as Social Security. the debt. national security. health care. education. those are issues that we all care about. And for the last couple of weeks. we have been talking about Social Security. talking about strengthening Social Security. talking about making sure that Social Security is there for not only the 30somethings but the 20somethings. those that are receiving survivor benefits. retirees that are receiving benefits from Social Security. the 48 million Americans that we speak of. and also those that are receiving disability because of an injury while they were working. But it is an honor being here once again with the gentleman from Ohio","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1020,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090037950,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But then the women and the mothers had their own roles to play back here at home. Whether it was going to the factory or working in the house or working on the farm or wherever it was. everyone in the country made that sacrifice to have the kind of success we had. I think if there is one governmental program that is indicative of that spirit. it is the Social Security program. We have been focusing on this for many. many months now. really since the beginning of this Congress. and just trying to hammer away at this issue and trying to get our arms around it. I think we have come to grips with the fact that this program is not in a crisis state. It is the greatest program that this country runs. It runs at a 1 percent administrative cost. Ninetynine percent of the money that goes into the system gets back out into the pockets of beneficiaries. Only 1 percent is administrative costs. Even those folks out there that may say government does not run efficiently. and I would agree that there are cases throughout government where programs do not run as efficiently as they should. would say this is efficient. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3795,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090037958,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Then we begin to look at. project that $26.000 out for another 22 years from the day they were born. and then we begin to deal with young Americans in college. And this was a very interesting statistic that we were able to find in an article last week. According to a survey released .by Sallie Mae. the Nations largest provider of student loans. college seniors expected to graduate this year. prob-. ably right around now. with $28.953 in debt. basically $29.000. $26.000 of it is going to be student loans. and another $2.800 of it is going to be credit card debt. So if you are graduating from college today. you owe the 26 grand already from the debt that we need to pay off. which each citizen owes. and then they owe another $28.000. $29.000 basically in student loans and credit card debt. And that feeds into a real problem that we have in this country. It is a disincentive to go to school. it is a disincentive for college. and really it traps a young man or a young woman coming out of college with a good education. and all this debt. That is not freedom. And we hear freedom. freedom. freedom. freedom in this Chamber time and time and time again.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2514,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090037963,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So we have legislation that is on the floor now to replace those dollars. Now. all we can do as Democrats is try to fight through the tall bushes here in the House. here in Washington. D.C.. to try to replace -that money for these young people. The gentleman talks about freedom. That is definitely not financial freedom. I say to the gentleman. I will tell my colleague another thing on top of that: we are not only working with what we have and putting forth legislation. but we are also .urging young people now. today. now. and parents and Members of this House that have children that have college debt or loans that they owe. to consolidate those loans now before July 1. because on July 1. the interest rate will go up 2 percentage points.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2202,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090037964,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am so happy that that my colleague from Florida is fighting these battles. who used to be chair of the education. higher education committee in the House of Representatives when we were in the Florida House of Representatives a couple of years. well more than a couple of years ago. but dealt with these issues that are facing young people. And I am so glad you are here.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1919,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090037969,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You talk about financial literacy. You are absolutely right. What is happening now. number one. we are not setting the example at the top of the mountain. I mean. what we are doing here is adding to our deficit month after month. year after year. What kind of message are we sending. to generations that are going to come behind us about the importance of minimizing your debt? I mean. we are deficit spending. So why would most Americans think that that is not a normal way. a responsible way to live? Most Americans. let me not overstate it. many. many Americans live paycheck -to paycheck. and they live right to their means. This is a society where. no. I cannot have that now because I cannot afford it right now. is not instilled in people from the time that they are young. That is why financial literacy is so important. We have a Financial Literacy Caucus. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1497,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090037973,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"My nfother came. a past Member of this Congress. We sat out there. And they had all the World War II veterans and veterans in general stand up. Some of them could stand. Some of them could only put their hand up in the air. When you look at what is happening here with the Federal debt. taking this Federal credit card that I keep pulling up and charging it to the American people and to their future for many of thq. wrong reasons. it cannot help but make you very upset with the individuals that are making the decisions. And that is where the rubber meets the road. When you start looking at those who have served. who allow us to celebrate the very freedom that we live under right now. and they are having to run around here worrying about if they can make acopayment or not. You go to the VA hospital. they do not treat. There are not a lot of veterans. unfortunately. that are Members of Congress. or maybe it would be a lot different in this town. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3004,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090037975,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So I feel in no way sorry by pointing out the blatant inequities in leadership and being able to provide for those veterans and being able to provide for future veterans when we start talking about Social Security and what we -should be doing here in Washington.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1959,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090037984,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There is not a lot more that can be said other than that I think that we need to continue to come to this floor every week and I can commit to you that I will join you and make sure that we can continue to highlight the direction that they are taking this country and the increased debt and the selection of the people who need the least over the people who need the most. And I am not talking about people who are struggling to make ends meet. You have average working families in America whose priorities include health care and quality education and just making sure that they can stay out of debt. And. instead. the wealthiest few are the priority of the leadership in this Congress.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":687,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090038093,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That is absolutely not true. One Senator. I believe Senator DORGAN. said she believes that zoning laws are the equivalent of theft and are unconstitutional. That is not true. That is not a fair characterization of her record. This is what the San Remo case was about. First. she never said the zoning laws were unconstitutional. But the San Remo case in California came before her. It involved a Draconian. overreaching zoning law that forced hotel ownersI know the Presiding Officer has had some association with real estateforced hotel owners who wanted to convert lowincome residential units to hotel units to pay a large fee or replace the residential units that would be lost. It was a takings case. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10299,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090038100,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. Janice Rogers Brown should not be confirmed to the D.C. Circuit. I listened to the eloquent statement of my friend from Oregon. This is not an issue where we are voting on a life story. What we are talking about is a vote for a nominee to the D.C. Circuit and whether that persons votes will be consistent with our constitutional values and will that person have an understanding of the very special role the D.C. Circuit has in interpreting the laws which have been passed by the Congress and which are subject to the D.C. Circuit Courts interpretation. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12134,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090038122,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Democratic. Republican and Independent. we wish especially to emphasize what we believe is Justice Browns strongest credential for appointment to this important seat on the D.C. Circuit: her openminded and thorough appraisal of legal argumentationeven when her personal views may conflict with- those arguments. Having gotten to know Justice Brown during this unnecessarily protracted confirmation process. I fully concur in this bipartisan consensus. And I can tell you she has cultivated these virtues against many odds. Janice Rogers Brown was born in Greenville. AL. in 1949. She attended segregated schools. She was a firsthand witness to the injustice of Jim Crow and Its failure to extend the promise of the 14th amendment to the descendants of freed slaves. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6621,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090038123,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The instances they cite do not support these hysterical charges. and I want to consider them at some length. One of Justice Browns speeches received quite a bit of attention. In April 2000. she was invited to speak at the University of Chicago Law School. I have had the same privilege. by the. way. Evidently. her critics say what she said there was so radical that we should keep her off the Federal bench. Never mind that a public speech is an opportunity to be provocative. especially at a law school. Never mind that judges. like most folks. are able to separate out their personal and political beliefs from their professional duties. And never mind that Justice Brown was doing a service to these students by coming to speak before them. jar their imaginations. and give them something more to think about. The fact is. what she said was not that radical. Groups have keyed in on her colorful critique of the New Deal. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6722,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090038126,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They were not happy208 to 10. and they threatened to change a system that has been in place well before the movie \"Mr. Smith Goes to Washington\" came out. For more than 200 years. the Senate has had the right to unlimited debate that can only be shut off by a supermajority. We have had that in place for a very long time. The Republicans did not like it. They only got 95 percent of their judges and. by God. they wanted 100 percent. It reminds me of my kids when they were little. and probably I was that way when I was little. \"I want it all. I want everything. I dont want to give up a thing.\" That is not the way the Senate works. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11211,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090038149,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"She repeatedly and consistently has advocated turning back the clock 100 years to return to an era where worker protection laws were found unconstitutional. It is no small irony this President. who spoke of being a uniter. has used his position to renominate Justice Brown *and others after they failed to get consent of the Senate. These provocative nominees have divided the Senate and the American people. and they brought us to the edge of a nuclear winter in the Senate. This confrontational approach and divisiveness have. continued. despite the confirmation of 209 out of his 218 jurdicial nominees. I oppose giving Justice Brown this lifetime promotion to the second highest court in our land because the American people deserve judges who will interpret the law fairly and objectively. Janice Rogers Brown is a committed judicial activist who has a record of using her position as a member of a court to put her views above the law and above the interests of working men and women and families across the Nation. We must not enable her to bring her \"jurisprudence of convenience\" to one of the most important Federal courts in the Nation. Over the course of the Senates consideration of the nomination of Janice Rogers Brown to be a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. I have publicly explained why I cannot support it. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9589,"word_count":232}
{"speech_id":1090038183,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He earned a BA degree in organizational management from Midway College. graduating with Summa Cum Laude honors in 1998. Mr. Fister was a member of the Lexington Board of Realtors and worked for Smith Realty Group before his passing. He was also an independent sales representative for Unishippers. A civicoriented individual. Mr. Fister was president of the Jaycees and had been active in the Knights of Columbus. Mr. Fister is survived by his wife of 45 years. Nancy Jo Hostetter. and his five children. all of Lexington. his four siblings. eight grandchildren. and two sistersinlaw. ","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2127,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090038184,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Although medication can limit the inflammation of the lungs caused by pulmonary fibrosis. there is no cure. The foundation is dedicated to finding a cure and raising awareness about pulmonary fibrosis. It seeks to improve quality of life for the people affected by the disease through support services for patients and their families. It is my pleasure to congratulate the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation on the occasion of its fifth anniversary and to commend the foundation for its efforts to find a cure and help those who suffer from this. devastating illness.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2168,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090038187,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to speak about the need for hate crimes legislation. Each Congress. Senator KENNEDY and I introduce hate crimes legislation that would add new categories to current hate crimes law. sending a signal that violence of any kind is unacceptable in our society. Likewise. at each Congress I have come to the floor to highlight a separate hate crime that has occurred in our country. A 25yearold gay man was physically assaulted by a group of white males last year in Ohio. The victim was followed from a wellknown Columbus gay bar after the bar closed. The victim was dragged from his car. severely beaten and later found by the Columbus Police Department several blocks from his car. I believe that the governments first duty is to defend its citizens. to defend them against the harms that come out of hate. ","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1022,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090038189,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The United States has one of the highest rates of unintended pregnancies and STDs among industrialized nations. and too many women do not have access to basic preventive health care while the ranks of uninsured Americans continue to grow. As we commemorate the Griswold decision. it is critical that we keep taking steps forward to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and improve access to womens health care. Therefore. I have introduced legislation. the Prevention First Act. which would improve womens health. reduce the rate of unintended pregnancies. and prevent abortions. The legislation takes common sense steps towards strengthening access to contraception. for women while also reducing health care costs borne by taxpayers and employers. We should all be able to agree that reducing the number of unintended pregnancies and improving access to womens health care should be a priority. I will continue to fight for the Prevention First bill so that we can keep building on the progress of Griswold v. Connecticut for generations to come.","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1719,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090038196,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This bill will provide that flexibility. Doctors. nurses. and other health professionals are often the first responders for treating the injuries women suffer from domestic and sexual violence. It is essential for those who help them to be able to respond effectively and compassionately.. When health providers screen for domestic violence and follow up on such cases. women are more likely to be safer over the long term. This bill includes new funds for training health professionals to recognize and respond to domestic and sexual violence. and to enable public health officials to recognize the need as well. The research funds provided by this bill are vital because we need the best possible interventions in health care settings to prevent future violence and help the victims. Violence against women can occur throughout womens lives. beginning in childhood. continuing in adolescence. and in numerous contexts and settings. It is important for any bill on such violence to focus on girls and young women as well. and this bill does that. In 1994. we included an important innovative provision in the bill to fund a National Domestic Violence Hotline. When the hotline opened in February 1996. victims of domestic violence across the nation finally had help available tollfree. 24 hours a day. 365 days a year. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5104,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090038206,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session on Wednesday June 8. 2005. at 10 a.m.. to hear testimony on \"The Tax Code and Land Conservation: Report on Investigations and Proposals for Reform\".","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":258,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090038226,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Moon & Hodge in Charlotte. NC. Ms. Shappert earned her b@ chelors degree from Duke University and her J.D. from Washington and Lee University School of Law. where she earned the title of managing editor of the Washington and Lee Law Review. I have no doubt that Ms. Shappert will continue to represent North Carolina well in the judicial branch of our Nation.","speaker_name":"RICHARD BURR","chamber":"S","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1079,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090038253,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"President Bush. your Justice Department legal team is failing you. and failing you miserably. Tobacco companies have bilked the consumer for hundreds of billions of dollars. I am proud to say that State attorneys general recovered $215 billion for their States. We find out today in The Washington Post theJustice Department has given away the ranch. The headline says it all: \"Tobacco Escapes Huge Penalty.\" Even the tobacco attorneys are mystified. They said. \"Theyve gone down from $130 billion to $10 billion with. absolutely no explanation. Its clear the government has not thought through what its doing.\" President Bush. there is still time. Call your Attorney General and tell him to put on a real case. Otherwise. you are throwing in the towel to Big Tobacco.","speaker_name":"TOM UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":768,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090038260,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that I may here\"after be considered as the first sponsor of H.R. 1704. a bill originally introduced by Representative PORTMAN of Ohio. for the purposes of adding cosponsors and requesting reprintings pursuant to clause 7 of rule XII.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER CANNON","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":272,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090038299,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We cannot and should not stand by and watch these tragedies unfold. Mr. Speaker. it is time we raise the bar and pledge to end hunger once and for all. It is time to really tackle the issue of poverty. In the meantime. until we make that commitment and back it up with real action and greater resources. we must at least maintain funding for the domestic and international nutrition and antihunger programs in this bill. That is why it is so important that this bill increases funding for mandatory programs like food stamps and other child nutrition programs like the school lunch program. I am also pleased that discretionary programs like WIC also receive increases. These programs are among the most successful of our Federal antihunger programs. and they help millions of Americans get the food they could not otherwise afford to buy. Unfortunately. important programs like the summer food service program are not fully funded. This important program provides meals to lowincome children during the summer when they can not receive a school lunch because the schools are closed for summer vacation. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8726,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090038305,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"A much better approach is for Congress to approve a voluntary program and place control in the hands of consumers at the marketplace. It is for this reason that I have joined the fight with the gentleman from Virginia . who is our Committee on Agriculture authorizing chairman. on our voluntary countryoforigin legislation that would permanently make the countryoforigin legislation a voluntary program for meat and meat products. not. Mr. Speaker. for vegetables. for fruit. for other products. but for meat and meat products. products that have a longer life. products that are more mobile. and products that in many cases are going to be already in the hands of producers. on the farms of producers before September 30. 2006. with potentially no legal way to sell those products. Voluntary labeling. on the other hand. would give producers added market value rather than a costly Federal mandate. Voluntary COOL would ultimately give consumers. not the Federal Government. control of countryoforigin labeling for products. The voluntary labeling program would add value throughout the food chain. including the producer as well as the consumer. Voluntary COOL would also create a brand for products of the United States and encourage consumers to buy American meats where they shop. The label would add value to American agricultural products. Voluntarily labeling beef. .pork. lamb and other meat products is a better way to need the needs of consumers and promote American agricultural products without the enormous costs and burdens of a mandatory law. ","speaker_name":"ROY BLUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3253,"word_count":248}
{"speech_id":1090038307,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And the results of such counsel have -been predictable. Despite the fact that 23 of 27 members of the FDAs advisory. panel voted in favor of allowing overthecounter sales of Barr Laboratories Plan B emergency contraceptive and despite the overwhelming scientific evidence in support of the application. the FDA made the unusual decision to disregard its own advisory panels recommendation and reject the application. One of the dissenting panelists was evangelical conservative Dr. W. David Hager. In October of 2002. I sent a letter to President Bush expressing my deep reservations about appointing Dr. Hager as Chair of the Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health Drugs at the FDA. Based on Dr. Hagers past conduct. ","speaker_name":"LOUISE SLAUGHTER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4942,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090038328,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Yes. Mr. Chairman. It is my understanding that there are benefits to the Organic Transition Program being managed as part of the Integrated Organic Program. and my intention is that it should continue to be managed as it was in fiscal years 2004 and 2005.","speaker_name":"HENRY BONILLA","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":255,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090038332,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I will vote for the bill because I think the major fault for the inadequacies of the bill lies with the Committee on the Budget. not with the gentleman who produced the bill. But I think Members need to understand this bill is not adequate to meet the economic development needs of rural America. It is not adequate to meet the environmental needs of rural America. It is not adequate to meet the public health requirements of the American people. I wish it were. Maybe some day it will.","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2427,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090038333,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 2 minutes. Let me just say that I want to make it clear that what we tried to do with regard to the Food and Drug Administration was to call attention to the series of crises that. in fact. have been rampant over the last several months. whether it is Vioxx or whether it is Bextra or whether it is the postmarketing studies that were to occur that never did occur or the slighting. I believe. of our committee in not coming forward and having the director come before our committee. What we tried to do is to create a balance. and that is to provide additional funding for the Office of Drug Safety to look at directtoconsumer advertising in order to try to protect the public and to provide additional funding to create some more infrastructure. I. too. believe that we should have made in order the amendments offered by the gentleman from New York . Really what should be happening is FDA should be coming to the Congress for authority in order to be able to change the labeling that. in fact. ultimately protects the public interest and that we ought to have the opportunity and they ought to come and demand from us authority in order to do postmarketing surveys about the risks of some of the products that are on the market. They should be coming to us. Instead. we want to provide that authority but are not allowed to be able to do that. ","speaker_name":"ROSA DELAURO","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1645,"word_count":254}
{"speech_id":1090038336,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have been a very strong supporter of bioenergy funding every year since we first added the firstever energy title to the farm bill in the year 2001. It took us to this new century and millenium to envision a new energy future based on American agriculture. It is amazing it has been such an uphill struggle to get the Department of Agriculture to help the farmers of our country pull this new industry forward. Sadly. it is the Department of Agriculture that has been the most lax in this partnership. Every citizen knows America cannot continue importing our fuels. We must restore energy independence here at home. No group is better situated to do it immediately than our farmers and ranchers. More ethanol and biodiesel are being produced each year. America is only beginning to realize the full potential of American agriculture to help move America toward energy independence sooner rather than later. Just yesterday. producers from around our country displayed a broad array of biobased products here up on Capitol Hill. ranging frbm everything from trash cans to lubricants to carpeting to new materials to ethanol to soy diesel. all from American agriculture. as we unlock the mystery of organic chemistry and renewable energy for our future. ","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6117,"word_count":209}
{"speech_id":1090038339,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Here we have an attempt to make sure that the Congress and the voice of the American people is clear on the issue of funding for reimportation. and in the dark of night. mark my words. they will strip this out. as they did last year. as they did the year before. and Ground Hog Day will come to the . United States Congress. Instead of using the money and the limited resources we have to help de* velop a system to allow for drug reimportation. the FDA has insisted on using their time and the precious resources of the American people to crack down on elderly Americans who purchase affordable prescription drugs from Canada. England. Ireland. and the rest of Europe because they cannot afford those medications here. The FDA has even seized the drugs purchased through the Statesponsored programs like the Illinois ISave Rx program. As Senator FRIST would say. all we are asking is for an upordown vote. and that is What we would like on reimportation. Let us listen to the American people. to the will of the bipartisan Members of Congress and allow a vote on this comprehensive prescription drug importation legislation this year. I would like to thank my colleague from Connecticut for her leadership on this. For the Members who want it to be clear. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2583,"word_count":222}
{"speech_id":1090038367,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"E 1315","speaker_name":"HENRY BONILLA","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1318,"word_count":2}
{"speech_id":1090038447,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"While the burden of labeling falls on grocers. it has not been difficult for the meat department staff to adjust to the change. It is just a matter of putting the sticker on the package. he said Monday. \"By naming the country of origin. the labels give savvy customers the opportunity to choose fish from countries with high sanitation standards and better growing conditions. Several customers have already commented on the change. Allen said. \"Annette Eastman. shopping at Raleys Tuesday morning. said she was glad to see the new labels. She would prefer not to buy seafood from countries such as Mexico because she worries that the quality of the water where the fish that are raised is poor. \"I would much rather buy something from the U.S.A.. she said. pointing to the fish fillet labeled Product of the. U.S.A. Another shopper. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS REHBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5203,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090038451,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. reserving the right to object. I ask unanimous consent from this point on debate on this amendment be limited to 30 minutes with 15 minutes allotted to the gentleman from Montana and 15 minutes allotted to myself who will rise to oppose this amendment.","speaker_name":"HENRY BONILLA","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":266,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090038464,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong opposition to the gentlemans amendment. This is an issue that many of us have been working on for many years. The countryoforigin labeling provisions that were part of the last farm bill would present a nightmare to many producers in this country. Good. saltoftheearth people in agriculture know that this would impose up to $1 billion in additional costs to their already overworked people and to their budgets. which are already being taxed. This is also an issue for anybody who believes that grocery stores and retailers are part of Americana in this country. and they would rise in strong opposition to this amendment because there is a liability in the countryoforigin labeling that would in essence make your friendly corner grocery store liable for trial lawyers to come in and say you did not put the fact that this calf may have been born in one country. processed in another country. and now on the meat counter in your local grocery store. ","speaker_name":"HENRY BONILLA","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1943,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090038468,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"E 1415 The program should already be up and running. Instead. the large meat packers have rallied to kill this program because they do not want American consumers to discover how much of the meat in the grocery case is actually imported. And these packing interests have found strong and willing allies here in this body. Two years ago in an appropriations bill. Congress voted to delay the implementation of this program until September 30 of next year. Now we see that this 2year delay was not enough for them. Their allies in this Chamber are at it again today. seeking to delay implementation of this important program for yet another year. This is unconscionable and it is just the tip of the iceberg. Leadership in this body is breaking faith with rural America on a host of important issues. The administration is leading the fight to reopen our border to Canadian beef despite ongoing concerns about the safety of their beef supply and over the strong objections of many U.S. ranchers and consumer groups. ","speaker_name":"STEPHANIE HERSETH SANDLIN","chamber":"H","state":"SD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3562,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090038470,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. I agree with the statements made by my colleague from Montana. and I thank him for the leadership he has showA on this issue. Our amendment is very simple. It would allow countryoforigin labeling. better known as COOL. which was approved by -a majority of this House in the last farm bill. to go forward this next year. We have got to stop yet another backdoor attempt to halt countryoforigin food labeling rules. Consumers deserve to know where their meat is produced and that it is safe. and farmers and ranchers deserve the fair deal provided by open and honest labeling. The gentleman from Montana is up here today for the same reason I am. Like me. he represents an agricultural district and countryoforigin labeling is something that our farmers want. ","speaker_name":"DARLENE HOOLEY","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2586,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090038478,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of the Bonilla provision to delay implementing mandatory country of origin labeling. which is known as COOL. for meat and meat products for 1 year. This distinction is important. This delay is for meat and associated products alone. In the 2002 farm bill. we added the COOL requirement for fruits and vegetables. The conference. however. .expanded the mandate to meat. fish. perishable agricultural commodities. and peanuts. As most things not vetted by committees. these regulations brought a number of problems and unintended consequences. Several government and private studies have identified numerous costs added. especially for consumers. American families should not pay the price for marketing beef without it being any safer than it is now. ","speaker_name":"SOLOMON ORTIZ","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":27.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1061,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090038489,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Ready. Aim\" approach led to the creation of the current mandatory countryoforigin labeling law. This issue clearly needs further attention and delaying the implementation of the law for meat and meat products is a step in the right direction. I would like to reiterate that the provision included in the agriculture appropriations bill only affects meat and meat products. I urge my colleagues to support the appropriations bill and reject the RehbergHooley amendment.","speaker_name":"ROBIN HAYES","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2723,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090038495,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the last word. Mr. Chairman. last night I went before the Committee on Rules to seek the ability to offer an amendment to the bill today that would have given the Food and Drug Administration. the FDA. two critically important new authorities to improve the agencys drug safety operations. It would have given FDA the authority to require drug companies to conduct postmarketing studies of FDAapproved drugs and the authority to mandate changes to the labels of FDAapproved drugs. But the Committee on Rules would not allow the amendment.. Almost every week we hear about another unsafe drug and the significant harm that those drugs are doing to millions of people. Yet Congress has done nothing. The most recent case is the cholesterollowering drug Crestor. which a recent study found is significantly more likely than other drugs in its class to cause muscle deterioration that can lead to kidney disease and kidney failure. ","speaker_name":"MAURICE HINCHEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5202,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090038502,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I make a point of order against the amendment because it proposes to change existing law and constitutes legislation in an appropriation bill and therefore violates clause 2 of rule XXI. The rule states in pertinent part: \"An amendment to a general appropriations bill shall not be in order if changing existing law.\" This amendment directly amends existing law. I ask for a ruling from the Chair.","speaker_name":"HENRY BONILLA","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":411,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090038517,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Businesses are .adversely affected. Property values are being adversely affected. The longer we take the provide effective controls. the more damage will be caused. the broader the area of infestation will become. and the more it will ultimately cost to end this infestation. I had planned to offer my own amendment calling for emergency use of funds to deal with this- problem. even though I know that the bill already provides some funding for emerald ash control in the coming year-$14 million even though expert opinion suggests that we will need $55 million. Hopefully this money will come via the emergency route. Chairman BONILLA and ranking member DELAURO. I thank you for your support. I want to work with you to secure the right level of funding to deal with this disease. as well as the many other invasive species pests that plague several states. They may be different in their makeup. but they are equally devastating to the communities they infest.","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2870,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090038525,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. my amendment would prohibit the Food and Drug Administration from appointing scientists who have conflicts of interest to FDA advisory committees. The amendment does not change current law. it simply makes sure that the FDA is adhering to current law. The FDA is charged with protecting the public health and. to assist with this mission. the FDA relies heavily on advisory committees composed of outside scientists to guide the agency policy on the safety and effectiveness of drugs and medical devices when questions arise regarding those products. While the FDA is not bound by the decisions of these panels. the agency itself calls .advisory committees one of its most important resources for helping to regulate the over 150.000 marketed medical products that the FDA oversees. Because of the critically important nature of these committees. there should be no question as to whether the committee members are looking out for the public health. But recent FDA actions have created serious doubts about whether committee members are serving only the public interests and. as a result. industry biases now taint many advisory panel decisions. ","speaker_name":"MAURICE HINCHEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4947,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090038538,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today in support of the Hinchey amendment. and I appreciate the effort he has been doing with these last two amendments. and I hope we will continue his work. because the amendment is very important. It will help us put a stop to the conflict of interests which actually weakens the drug approval process. The FDA advisory committees are charged with ensuring that the medicines our families take are safe and effective. j 1515 Current law prohibitsconflicts of interest between the members on the advisory committee and the companies whose drug is being examined by the advisory committee. Though the FDA has the authority to waive this prohibition under certain limited -circumstances. this exception has now become the rule. and too often the FDA places scientists with financial connections to the drugs they are examining on the advisory committees. Conflicts of interest create disastrous consequences. In some cases. onethird of the advisory committees appointees do parttime consulting work. research or own stock in the companies whose drugs they are considering. Such a committee approved the drug Vioxx. As many as 100.000 people have been injured by taking Vioxx. ","speaker_name":"BART STUPAK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2323,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090038540,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And so. Mr. Chairman. I ask the Members of this body to do something that is in the best interests of the people of our Nation. Let us have a Food and Drug Administration that is actually carrying out its regulatory authorities as this Congress set them up to do. Let us have an FDA that actually regulates the entities. Mr. Chairman. I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Connecticut .","speaker_name":"MAURICE HINCHEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2890,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090038556,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If people still want to put down their horse by some other means. it does not stop them from doing that. It will simply stop the proper inspection of these horses. which. as the gentleman from Texas correctly notes. will deprive us of a lot of useful information that will be gathered by those veterinarians about diseases and so on that will confront these horses if indeed they do not get properly inspected and they have serious diseases. Other organizations that oppose this: The American Farm Bureau opposes this legislation. The American Meat Institute opposes this legislation. The Equine Nutrition and Physiology Society opposes this legislation. The Animal Welfare Council opposes this legislation. The National Horse Show Commission opposes this legislation. Organizations that represent literally millions of horse owners in this country and elsewhere around the world oppose this legislation because of their concern. not about whether somebody is eating horses or not but whether or not these horses will be treated humanely if they are not allowed to gc through the process they go through today. So I urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment. It is not in the best interest of Americas horses. it is not in the best interest of Americas horse owners. and it is not in the best interest of the fiscal concerns that we must have if we are confronted down the road with the possibility of having to take care of these many. many horses.","speaker_name":"BOB GOODLATTE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5504,"word_count":243}
{"speech_id":1090038558,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. first question. what is the effect of this amendment? This amendment in simple terms will stop the slaughter or human consumption of horses. the meat of which will be exported to foreign countries. It does not stop. affect or any way impede euthanasia by veterinarians. It stops the brutal slaughter at slaughterhouses. Sometimes horses are jacked up by their hind legs and have their throats slit. This is the kind of slaughter that this bill will prohibit so that the meat can be exported to Europe and other places. Secondly. who is affected? Slaughterhouses in two States. That is it. Three different slaughterhouse locations in two States. That is it. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2851,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090038603,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I urge my colleagues to support the amendment. f 1630","speaker_name":"JOHN SHADEGG","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1857,"word_count":10}
{"speech_id":1090038614,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. It is a fascinating debate that we are having. I appreciate the spirited nature. and I hope that it leads to a broader discussion. because I hope each and every Member- does his or her own individual research and considers some of the fantastic claims that have been made here. I had one of my colleagues say. \"We have the most open market in the world for sugar in the United States.\" Let us take a step back and have people examine that. because no expert that I have heard suggests that that is remotely the case. \"Sugar does not receive any special benefits or treatment\"? Not true. Sugar alone has this system of keeping out production from 41 other countries except under tightly controlled circumstances and providing lavish guarantees to many large sugar producers. The. point I made earlier. was not that somebody couldnt cite a poor sugar farmer that he or she may know someplace. ","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1392,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090038632,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank my friend from Ohio for his commonsense amendment. If this Congress were not a captive of special interests. the Chabot\/Brown amendment would pass unanimously. We in this body. we preach balanced budgets. yet we spent. as the gentleman from Ohio said. $1 billion on this program. on this welfare program. We preach in this body prudent spending. yet we are suggesting spending $125 million for fiscal year 2006 on this program. We preach free enterprise in thig body day after day after day. yet we are using government dollars to advertise on behalf of private interests. The Market Access Program. as the gentleman from Ohio said. gives away $100 million annually to groups like the Catfish Institute. the Popcorn Institute. the Ginseng Board to market their products overseas. We encourage these organizations. these private forprofit or notforprofit. it does not matter. we encourage them to advertise overseas if that helps their bottom line. But they. should do it on their dime. not on the taxpayers dime. ","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1696,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090038679,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As to the second part of your ruling. Mr. Chairman. you said we are creating new law. We were very careful. as I pointed out. that every word used in the proposed amendment is the same words used in the Public Health Service Act and the Federal Food. Drug and Cosmetic Act. That is exemption. that is in both acts. registry of clinical trials. exact same words. and limits to. quote. serious or lifethreatening disease or condition. again words all found in the 1997 act which we require the Secretary to do. so we do not get into this thing about putting a new requirement on FDA or NIH.","speaker_name":"BART STUPAK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1010,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090038685,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Again in a bipartisan way. this subcommittee works very hard to put a bill together each year with the majoritypassed budget constraints that we have to live under. The gentleman from Colorado is a good Member who comes to the table year in and year out. and sometimes week in and week out. with an effort to cut the bill even further. However. again. with all due respect to his efforts. the bills that we put together on appropriations are done as a part of a team effort. We feel like we are at the rock bottom number that we could possibly be at at this point and strongly oppose the amendment. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"HENRY BONILLA","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":706,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090038725,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If you can answer that parliamentary inquiry. I would appreciate it.","speaker_name":"BART STUPAK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1543,"word_count":11}
{"speech_id":1090038748,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I make a point of order against the amendment because it proposes to change existing law and constitutes legislation in an appropriation bill and. therefore. violates clause 2 of Rule XXI. The rule states in pertinent part: \"An amendment to a general appropriation bill shall not be in order if changing existing law.\" The amendment imposes additional duties. I ask for a ruling from the Chair.","speaker_name":"HENRY BONILLA","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":408,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090038750,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I want to say that the gentleman is right. There is a point of order. because we need to legislate to fix this problem. I hope that when the authorizing and appropriating committees meet next year that they will consider this approach. giving it the consideration it deserves. It is for both American cattlemen and consumers. The gentleman is correct. I will concede the point of order. and I thank the Chair.","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":423,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090038797,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"What this chart shows is that at some point in time. and the only argument is when. the world will peak in its oil production. But before the world peaks in oil production. it is noted. from this curve that the demand will be exceeding for several years. it is like a decade. if this is the curve which is followed. the demand will be exceeding supply. What this has given rise to. of course. is a look for oil around the world. The second largest importer of oil in the world. wlhich is China. has beenscouring the world for oil. This chart shows the places where China has secured leases for oil. It is in Canada. it is in Colombia. Venezuela. Brazil. Argentina. negotiating in Russia. in Africa and \"all over the Middle East. of course. and we have a symbol here showing that they were negotiating for an oil company in our country. Unocal. ","speaker_name":"ROSCOE BARTLETT","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4015,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090038830,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. there are key moments in the life of our country in the course of this Congress when the United States faces a path towards democracy or towards war. That choice may be approaching in the policies we face regarding Irans development of nuclear weapons. I. for one. choose diplomacy over conflict. and I believe that the United States and our allies can achieve our ends to the Iranian nuclear program without a shot being fired in anger. This should be our goal. and towards that end I join with my Democratic colleague. the gentleman from New Jersey . to form the bipartisan House Iran Study Group. The mission of our group is to review the situation in Iran. to measure the potential threat. to examine our military options. but most importantly to find and promote diplomatic policies that advance our security interests without a resort to arms. I could not have chosen a better partner for this effort than my colleague from New Jersey. He is. first and foremost. not a Republican or a Democrat. He is an American. We both agree with Senator Arthur Vandenbergs dictum. who said that partisanship should end at the waters- edge. ","speaker_name":"MARK KIRK","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1530,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090038845,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is my hope that it is never necessary. that the mere fact that this is being discussed will embolden progressive. freedomloving Iranians to take matters into their own hands. But I think it is going to take more than that. And I think that the idea the gentleman from Illinois has sketched out is one that will work. It is pragmatic. it represents our best tools and values. and I look forward to supporting it.","speaker_name":"ROBERT ANDREWS","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3304,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090038925,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. -Speaker. as so many American families struggle with the rising costs of health care and with the unavailability of health care. I think it is important to keep in mind that roughly onethird of every health care dollar goes to wasteful administration and profit. The result is that we pay more for our health care than any other industrialized country by a wide margin. Since American businesses are the main provider of health care in the United States. they bear the burden and it is hurting their competitiveness. How do we know? Our competition tells us so. The CEO of the Ford Motor Company of Canada. the president and CEO of GM Canada. and the CEO of DaimlerChrysler Canada had this to say in a 2002 letter: \"Publicly funded health care thus accounts for a significant portion of Canadas overall labor cost advantage in auto assembly. versus the U.S. which in turn has been a significant factor in maintaining and attracting new auto investment. to Canada. \" The time has come for national health insurance. \u0095","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1020,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090038927,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the House Republican leadership pulled the intelligence authorization bill from the floor today because the leadership here is doing the dirty work of Defense Secretary Rumsfeld. We all know that Rumsfeld was against the intelligence reforms that the 9\/11 Commission suggested. and now he is trying to prevent those reforms from moving forward. The Republican leadership is keeping the intelligence bill from coming to the floor today because Secretary Rumsfeld does not want to give up any intelligence control to new Intelligence Director Negroponte. Let us be clear. Secretary Rumsfeld and the Republican leadership are preventing intelligence reform that could make our Nation safer than it is today. The 9\/11 commissioners warned us earlier this week that time is not on our side. It is time the House Republican leadership stops listening to Rumsfeld and starts listening to the 9\/ 11 Commission so we can finally begin to protect our Nation.","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":961,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090038930,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I salute our Republican leadership for their commitment to this.","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1012,"word_count":12}
{"speech_id":1090038934,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Again. I pay tribute to the gentleman from Illinois and the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. RosLEHTINEN) for working with me on this.","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1195,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090038943,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We want a rulesbased system. but we want to strengthen that system. Mr. Speaker. quite frankly. I think we should be spending more time talking about the Doha Round. That is the next stage of trying to move internationally under the WTO to expand opportunity for American manufacturers. farmers. and producers. The socalled Doha Development Agenda negotiations have reached a critical phase. It is generally agreed that in order to have a successful meeting of the ministers this December in Hong Kong. the members of the WTO will have to come to a significant level of agreement by July on three key areas. First. agriculture. I must tell the Members I am concerned we have not made anywhere near the progress on agriculture that we need to do. I welcomed the announcement last week that the next directorgeneral of the WTO will be Pascal Lamy. the former trade commissioner of EU. who comes from France. ","speaker_name":"BENJAMIN CARDIN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7238,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090038945,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Texas and the gentleman from Vermont for bringing this joint resolution to the floor. Mr. Speaker. I come to the floor today because I believe that WTO membership has been a disaster for the U.S. worker. Since WTO. 1995. Americas annual trade deficit grew from $96 billion to $617 billion. My home State of North Carolina has lost over 251.000","speaker_name":"WALTER JONES","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":383,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090038949,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. Mr. Speaker. I rise today to stress the importance of our countrys participation in the World Trade Organization. Right now. it seems this resolution is destined for rejection. But addressing it today does give us a muchneeded opportunity to focus on the WTO and how the U.S. can maximize its membership for the benefit of U.S. firms. workers and farmers. The success of U.S. participation in the WTO should be measured by our ability to liberalize markets and set fairtrade rules for all WTO Members. Clearly. the United States has benefited greatly from its WTO membership and plays a leading role in shaping the way the world trades today. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM JEFFERSON","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3167,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090038951,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Federal. State. or local laws. They have no authority to change a U.S. law or to require the United States or any State or local government to change its laws or decisions. Only the Federal or State governments can change a Federal or State law. If a U.S. lhw is inconsistent with the WTO. our trading partners may withdraw trade benefits of equivalent effect. However. under trade agreement rules. the United States retains complete sovereignty in its decision of how to respond to any panel decision against it. That was made abundantly clear the last several years as Congress grappled with changes to our corporate tax structures for foreign sales corporations. or FSC. to accommodate commitments we have made to our trading partners. Only Congress could make those changes to the law as we grapple. and we grappled. with that. Those who falsely portray the WTO as a violation of U.S. sovereignty are ones who simply want an unfettered ability to preserve or create more protectionism. I urge my colleagues to vote against this resolution and to continue the U.S. membership in the World Trade Organization.","speaker_name":"JAMES KOLBE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2864,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090038958,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Florida on that clarification. because I find it kind of ironic. the fact that we are on a fundamental question. should the United States continue to belong to the World Trade Organization or not. complaining about degrees of differences in various pieces of trade legislation. That is. in fact. how we got here in the first place. Prior to World War II. in fact. many historians argue the reason we got into the Great Depression as deeply as we did is because the United States chose to throw up significant tariffs and barriers to commercial interaction among nations. Following World War II. there was an agreement that we should not do that again. and we created a rather imperfect agreement called the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. It was as good as we could get at the time. As we continued to operate under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. with socalled rounds named after various cities. which has become a tradition now. the Uruguay Round. the Tokyo Round. the Rome Round. we decided that we need to move to another level. a higher level of integration and coordination. and that became the World Trade Organization. The United States was somewhat frustrated. one. in our dispute resolution mechanism. and the problem was we were winning with no substantive result in those disputes. We thought we needed a better dispute resolution mechanism. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM THOMAS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8978,"word_count":240}
{"speech_id":1090038962,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I could hardly believe my ears to hear one of my colleagues say that America does not need protection from the WTO. We have lost almost 3 million manufacturing jobs. Tell that to those millions of families who have seen their lives destroyed by this trade structure which is based. inherently based. on inequality. We have a $617 billion trade deficit. America does not need protection? We have workers who are struggling to save their homes. but these trade agreements are causing jobs to be moved out and people do not have the opportunity to save their homes. I have been all over this country. and I have seen padlocks on gates and grass growing in parking lots where they used to make steel. where they used to make cars. where they used to washing machines. where they used to make bicycles. America does not need protection? Yes. it is time for us to get out of the WTO because the WTO has set the stage for a driving down of the quality of life in this country. Everyone in this House knows that we cannot write into our laws that workers rights must be regarded. let us say. in China. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3411,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090038964,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"America is in crisis. Our workers. too many have lost their jobs and many more to come. I represent General Motors. and this week they announced the closing of more plants. dislocating more workers and at the same time put $2 billion in China last year. So I say stay in the WTO. make it better. This is a world economy. and the U.S. is the most powerful. I would hope that as we move forward in this discussion. and I know the vote will be overwhelming that we stay. that we build it and that we make sure that the countries that are taking our jobs have a responsibility to the workers of this country. However Members intend to vote on the resolution before us. the issue of trade remedies under the rules established by the World Trade Organization (WTO) is of paramount concern to the industries of my district in the years ahead. How we address this issue will be an important factor in determining whether we can retain support for open markets and the international trading system as we know it. Countries like China. Japan. and India that have most consistently dumped in this market and violated international rules are pushed hard to have those disciplines eviscerated. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN KILPATRICK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4228,"word_count":210}
{"speech_id":1090038978,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. although I disagree with much of what the WTO does. I.do not think it is in the best interest of our Nation to withdraw from that organization at this time. Doing so would give the United States little bargaining power as we work to promote a global economy that is both free and fair. Withdrawal would put in jeopardy negotiations that are necessary to meet that goal. However. my support for the longterm goal of more equitable international trade does not translate into blanket Support. but it is difficult to ignore the fact that the U.S. is increasingly the target of WTO action. We are sued more than any other country. and our laws seem to be condemned by the WTO every month. We have been the defendant in 19 of the last 36 cases decided by the appellate body. These negative decisions have threatened American products and American businesses with sanctions. For example. in recent years the WTO has disapproved everything from our tax policies and trade laws to our sovereign right to regulate activity such as Internet gambling and set tariffs against unfair pricing by foreign countries. ","speaker_name":"TIM MURPHY","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2732,"word_count":191}
{"speech_id":1090038998,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That being said. the WTO is by no means a perfect institution. It is important that we are having this debate today. In the ongoing Doha round of trade negotiations. the U.S. and our global partners have the opportunity to substantially .improve the WTO by reaching agreements on service negotiations. the reduction of tariffs and nontariff barriers. and the authority of the WTO dispute resolution system. We need to see these negotiations through to a satisfactory end. Nevertheless. despite its imperfections. the WTO provides a stable and predictable global trading system that benefits the U.S. both economically and strategically. And although I will be watching the Doha Round with keen interest. I support U.S. participation in the WTO and therefore oppose this resolution.","speaker_name":"LORETTA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":47.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1436,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090038999,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. there are many reasons to question whether or not the United States should remain in the WTO. Among them: the current trade deficit of $618 billion. the disappointing enforcement efforts of the Administration on past trade agreements. and the lack of consensus in the WTO on how to move forward with the Doha Round. But at this point. it is too early to give up hope. The WTO is essentially our only chance to address the major distortions in world agricultural markets. . The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is a group of 30 countries including the United States. most European countries. Japan. Mexico. Australia. and New Zealand. It is widely regarded as the most reliable source of objective information comparing subsidy levels of various developed countries. ","speaker_name":"COLLIN PETERSON","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3354,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090039002,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We cannot compromise the strength of our domestic steel industry. The WTO must be cognizant of the trade challenges faced by U.S. steel manufacturers. I believe that the United States should continue to be a member of the WTO and remain committed to free trade. However. we must ensure that our domestic concerns are properly addressed within the WTO.","speaker_name":"STEPHANIE JONES","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2168,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090039029,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman. for that information. First. if the distinguished whip knows. my presumption is. based upon the schedule that has been submitted. that the probability is we will not have votes on Friday next. Is that a reasonable assumption. do you think. for our Members to make?","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":287,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090039039,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Because I think it is important to both sides of the aisle. it is important to the integrity of the House. and I think it is important to the American people.","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1130,"word_count":31}
{"speech_id":1090039040,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would say it would be hard to be more disappointed than I am that this committee has only met once because of continuing concerns. From the point of view of the majority. I am sure it is our view that we removed what we thought were the obstacles of this committee moving forward with its work. only to find that there is another obstacle. And we do need this committee to work. but all sides need to be looking for ways to make the committee work. not to just find the reasons that the committee does not work. which is my view of this. And we clearly want this committee to work. need this committee to work. and I think the majority has made substantial efforts both publicly and privately to create an opportunity where this committee could do its job.","speaker_name":"ROY BLUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":758,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090039049,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure be discharged from further consideration of the resolution (H. Res. 309) expressing the importance of immediately reopening the famous Beartooth AllAmerican Highway from Red Lodge. Montana. to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.","speaker_name":"RICHARD POMBO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":377,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090039054,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I too would like to thank the chairman and encourage passage of this resolution. The Beartooth Highway connects two cities in Montana. but it passes through Wyoming. and many people need to travel on the Beartooth Highway in order to get into Yellowstone National Park. For many. many years this highway has been sorely neglected. It is not safe in its current condition. but it has not been safe for a long time. Yellowstone National Park is the crown gem of the park system. and it is important to the whole country. So this is something that the country needs tb do at this time. I thank the gentleman for yielding.","speaker_name":"BARBARA CUBIN","chamber":"H","state":"WY","gender":"F","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":631,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090039064,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this always gives me an opportunity to bounce back and forth between the podiums because this is really a special time. I will get a chance to address you all tomorrow at the departure ceremony. which will be a first for me. although being with the page program for a long time. The work and effort that you have put in. you know what you have done. and we really thank you for your efforts and the sacrifice you have made. Yop have heard now from two Members of Congress. There are Members who you know who always pay a little closer attention to the pages because of love and admiration. maybe a history in the progran. and we have one of those with us. I would invite him to come up and say his goodbyes. Mr. Speaker. I yield to the gentleman from Arizona .","speaker_name":"JOHN SHIMKUS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":773,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090039086,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Pakistan and Israel. and they are not parties to the NPT. North Korea is believed to have a handful of nuclear weapons. and Iran is engaged in a diplomatic game of chicken with the West in its pursuit of nuclear weapons. . Mr. Speaker. after three and a half decades. the NPT is showing its age. and the review conference was held at a critical time for the international communitys efforts to halt the spread of nuclear weapons. In December of last year. a panel of experts convened by the U.N. issued a stark warning that we are approaching the point at which the erosion of the nonproliferation regime could become irreversible and result in a cascade of proliferation. One of the members of that panel was Brent Scowcroft. who served as national security adviser to President George H.W. Bush. The twin nuclear crises with North Korea and Iran have exposed flaws in the NPTs \"grand bargain.\" which was first articulated in President Eisenhowers \"Atoms for Peace\" proposal. In exchange for the commitment to forgo the acquisition of nuclear weapons and to agree to international safeguards and inspections. the NPT guarantees nonnuclear weapon states who are parties to the treaty the peaceful development and use of nuclear energy. The problem with this bargain is that it allows nations like Iran or North Korea access to fissile material and technological knowhow that is the necessary precursor for a nuclear weapons program. ","speaker_name":"ADAM SCHIFF","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5937,"word_count":240}
{"speech_id":1090039102,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They have failed 300 times to do their main mission. So let us never depend on the United Nations for our security or to protect American interests.","speaker_name":"TOM FEENEY","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1121,"word_count":27}
{"speech_id":1090039104,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And in the area of peacekeeping. where there have been such extraordinary scandals of late. children. little girls. 10. 11 and 12 years of age being sexually molested by bluehelmeted U.N. peacekeepers. which photographs record being made of the molestation and then the trafficking of those records. there are fundamental reforms in the Hyde legislation that would mandate a single and enforceable uniform code of conduct for all personnel serving in peacekeeping missions. And there is a strict mandate that the criteria of the commission on peacekeeping reform that was adopted by the United Nations. that the five criteria and objectives be implemented in the immediate before any additional peacekeeping operations can be authorized by the President of the United States. I want to yield back to the gentleman from New Jersey because there will be ample time on the floor next week. I believe. when the U.N. Reform Act comes to this floorj to unpack it for the American people. But it is. in a very real sense. an opportunity to take that information that the gentleman from New Jersey is leading on to the floor today and who has been such a champion of. taking the truth about the U.N. and saying. here is the proper response of the American people. As I close. let me say that one response could simply be the American people. through their elected representatives. could profoundly reduce our participation financially in the United Nations. And it is important to say that the U.N. Reform Act keeps funding level. There is no reduction in funding by the people of the United States of America to the United Nations in the U.N. ","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5986,"word_count":278}
{"speech_id":1090039107,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman for his comments. I thank him for his work. I know that the American public agrees with you when you say that we should be withholding funding to an organization such as this where there is no accountability and there is no transparency of what has been going on all of these many years and this failing mission. So I thank you for your work. At this time. I see we are joined by the gentleman from. Texas.","speaker_name":"SCOTT GARRETT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":428,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090039114,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the subject that I want to spend a few moments talking about this afternoon really began for our country in 1962. We were still testing nuclear weapons then. and for the first time the United States tested a weapon above the atmosphere. This weapon was detonated over Johnston Island in the Pacific. This was a part of a series of tests called the Fishbowl Series. and this was Operation Starfish in 1962. We had no prior experience with the detonation of a weapon above the atmosphere. We prepared for this test with airplanes and ships using radar and theodelites and instrumentation to measure the effects on the ground from a blast that was some 400 kilometers in altitude. In conversations just today with Dr. Lowell Wood from Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. I learned more of the details of the results of that test. ","speaker_name":"ROSCOE BARTLETT","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11248,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090039128,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"One of the primary energy challenges we face is this reliance on foreign oil. In the 1960s and early 1970s. the United States produced almost as much oil as we consumed. and during that period of time imports were very small. In 1972. however. U.S. oil productioh began to -decline. and that production has been declining steadily ever since. The U.S. consumption of oil has been steadily increasing. So we have declining production and increasing consumption. As a result. our reliancethis. I would say irresponsible reliance that we have today on foreign oil. on imported oilis growing. Ten years ago. in 1995. we were 47 percent dependent on foreign sources of oil. Today. that 47 percent has grown to a 56percent dependence on foreign sources of oil. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7524,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090039186,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Well. he has had an opportunity to demonstrate that. has he not. I say to my friend from Alabama. with respect to the laws regulating abortion? He has been in a position to demonstrate that he is willing to set aside his personally held views and apply the law as it is. has he not?","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":282,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090039198,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In fact. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg criticized the Supreme Courts approach in the Roe case. I bet many of our colleagues would be surprised to learn that she described Roe as a \"breathtaking\" decision whose \"[h]eavyhanded judicial intervention was difficult to justify.\" That is Ruth Bader Ginsburg. who. no doubt. liked the outcome in Roe. but found the decision. as she put it. \"breathtaking\" and a \"[h]eavyhanded judicial intervention [that] was difficult to justify.\" So here was someone whose personal views were probably opposite of Judge Pryors. but who reached the same conclusion as Judge Pryor did about the rationale for the decision. the basis of - the decision.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":689,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090039200,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask my. friend from Alabama if he is aware that liberal constitutional scholar and current Harvard law professor. Laurence Tribeoften quoted by Members on the other side as the authority on many issues of constitutional lawdescribed Roe as a \"verbal smokescreen.\" and noted that \"the substantive judgment on which it rests is nowhere to be found.\" This is Laurence Tribe commenting on Roe v. Wade. Even though. no doubt. he likes the result of Roe v. Wade. he is nevertheless criticizing the rationale for it.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":511,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090039211,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So I want to make sure I have this correct. Both Judge Pryor and Judge McConnell criticized Roe v. Wade. both swore under oath they would follow Supreme Court precedents. including those they may personally disagree with. but unlike Judge McConnell. who was a law professor at the time of his nomination and did not have the opportunity as an academic to enforce the law. Judge Pryor has been a public official who has had the chance. on repeated occasions. to put his money where his mouth was. and he has consistently followed the law? Our Democratic colleagues confirmed Judge McConnell by unanimous consent but are vigorously objecting to Judge Pryor. is that the case?","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":673,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090039220,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Bill Pryor is a man of the law and that is what we need in our Federal judiciary. Whether as a prosecutor. a defense attorney. the Attorney General of the State of Alabama. or a Federal judge. he understands and respects the constitutional role of the judiciary and specifically. the role of the Federal courts in our legal system. Indeed. I have no doubt that he will make an exceptional Federal judge because of the humility and gravity that he brings to the bench. I am also confident that he will serve honorably and apply the law with impartiality and fairnessjust as he has doiie during his brief tenure on the Eleventh Circuit. I again encourage my colleagues to support Judge Pryors nomination because I believe it is what is right for our people. and it is what is right for our country. I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"RICHARD SHELBY","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2768,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090039224,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today in support of the nomination of Judge William Pryor to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. I woild like to respond to the accusations by some of my colleagues concerning Bill Pryors comments related to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Judge Pryor has an outstanding record on civil rights and a demonstrated commitment to seeking equal justice for persons of all races. Nevertheless. some .of my colleagues on the other side have tried to characterize Bill Pryor as \"out of the mainstream\" because. as you have heard. he has called for the amendment of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Judge Pryor is not out of the mainstream on this issue. and Ill explain why. After you hear who agrees with Judge Pryor on his reasoning here. I think you will agree with me that if Bill Pryor is \"out of the mainstream\" on his critiques of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. hes \"out there\" with some great Americans. First. let me explain what Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act is about. ","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3093,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090039230,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The kids with disabilities have to be allowed in the public schools. also. But for Mr. Pryor. no. He says. no. not even one instance do we have of an unconstitutional discrimination. I do not know where Mr. Pryor went to law school. I did not even look it up. It does not make any difference to me. But whatever he learned there he must have forgotten. It seems to me. here is an individual with an ideological perception that he is. right and everyone else is wrong. that only he knows what is constitutional and notnot the Congress. not the Senate. not even the Supreme Court. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5653,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090039264,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. my record as Attorney General shows that I am able to put aside my personal beliefs and follow the law. even when I strongly disagree with it. to look carefully at precedents and to do my duty. That is the same duty that I would have as a judge. Now. as an advocate for the State of Alabama of course I have an obligation to make a reasonable argument in defense of the law. but as a judge I would have to do my best to determine from the precedents what the law actually at the end of the day requires. My record demonstrates that I can do that. Chairman HATCH. So even though you disagree with Roe v. Wade you would act in. accordance with Roe v. Wade on the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals?","speaker_name":"MARK PRYOR","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":701,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090039276,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"With regard to the Voting Rights Act. Mr. Pryor had the following to say when he testified before Congress in 1997: I encourage you to consider seriously. for example. the repeal or amendment of section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. which is an affront to federalism and an expensive burden that has far outlived its usefulness. and consider modifying other provisions of the Act that have led to extraordinary abuses of judicial power. The Voting Rights Act is still of vital importance. and section 5 is one of its most important sections. I have grave concerns that if Mr. Pryor cannot understand the continuing need for voting rights protections for minorities. he is unlikely to rigorously enforce the act in cases before the Circuit. This is especially important since all of the States within the circuit are covered. in whole or in part. by Section 5. Mr. Pryor has waged an assault on other civil rights laws. In the case of Alexander v. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9510,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090039304,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"On March 20. 2000. the chief judge of the Sixth Circuit sent a letter to Chairman HATCH expressing concerns about a reported statement from a member of the Judiciary Committee that \"due to partisan considerations\" there would be no more hearings or votes on vacancies for the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals during the Clinton administration. His concern would turn out to be well founded. On May 2. 2000. I sent a note to Chairman HATCH. but neither Judge Whites nor Ms. Lewiss nominations were placed on the Committees hearing agenda. Over the next several months. Senator LEAHY went to the floor ten more times to urge action on the Michigan nominees. I also raised the issue on the Senate floor on several occasions. In the fall of 2000. in a final attempt to move the nominations of the two Michigan nominees. I met with Majority Leader LOTT to discuss the situation. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11635,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090039308,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Judge Griffin also provided pro bono legal services as a volunteer counselor and attorney with the Third Level Crisis Clinic. In 1989. Judge Griffin successfully ran for the Michigan Court of Appeals. He was reelected to retain his seat in 1996. and again in 2002. The American Bar Association rated Judge Griffin \"WellQualified\" for appointment to the Sixth Circuit. Judge Griffin has engaged in numerous noteworthy activities. In addition to his duties on the Michigan Court of Appeals. Judge Griffin also devotes a significant amount of time to volunteer activities. Judge Griffin has served as president of the Grant Traverse Zoological Society since 1987. He also has served as chief judge of the YMCA Youth in Government Mock Trial Program since 1997. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6263,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090039343,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"National Institutes of Health. has the responsibility for making sure that we are on course to bring on line adequate responses should we be attacked with a biological weapon such as anthrax. a plague or botulism. The Department still has a huge role in this area. and it obviously has a role in the nuclear area of detection and making sure that we are ready to try to anticipate and stop a weapon of that sort. Below that level of addressing the weapons of mass destruction issues. we have to look at the other areas of threat and how we as a governmept are structured to handle it. There was a report today that the President of the United States. in a meeting with the leadership of the House at least. and maybe the Senate. said that he thought we should be focusing on border security as a priority in the area of maintaining our security as a nation. I think that is absolutely true. Most Americans today wonder why there are still literally tens of thousands. maybe hundreds of thousands of people coming across our borders. entering this country illegally. A lot of other Americans wonder why today there is so much happening in the area of people coming into the country without us knowing what their purposes are or what their potential threat is as individuals. There is concern about our capacity to screen folks who are coming into this Nation who may have as one of their purposes to do us harm. We need to strengthen our ability to stay on top of this situation. There is significant concern about what is happening within our ports and whether we are putting in place systems which adequately review and give us the capacity to address what might be in a container in one of the hundreds of thousands of containers that come into this country on a daily basis. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10943,"word_count":321}
{"speech_id":1090039351,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask that a copy of the Executive Summary of this report be in the RECORD for lawmakers and the public to review.","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2132,"word_count":25}
{"speech_id":1090039353,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Statistical analysis of the resulting data revealed that adolescents who were exposed to gun violence were more than twice as likely to carry out violent acts within the following two years. Describing the results of his study. Mr. Bingenheimer stated. \"The primary implication of these findings is that violence can be transmitted from person to person by means of exposure in the community. This makes the epidemic of violence metaphor seem particularly apt. and is consistent with sociological theories of violent crime as a contagious social process.\" While Congress cannot simply legislate an end to the gun violence epidemic. we can do more to support local law enforcement officials as they work to prevent gun violence in our communities. One important program. known as COPS. was created by President Clinton in 1994 to assist State and local law enforcement agencies in hiring additional police officers to reduce crime through the use of community policing. Nationwide. the COPS program has awarded more than $11 billion in grants. resulting in the hiring of 118.000 additional police officers. Unfortunately. authorization for the COPS program was permitted to expire at the end of fiscal year 2000. Although the program has survived through continued annual appropriations. its funding has been significantly cut. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4334,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090039362,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Refiners who request the lowest level of assistance will earn production contracts. As the volume of biofuels production grows. competition will increase. and per gallon incentive rates will decrease. After the first billion gallons of annual production. cellulosic ethanol is expected to be competitive with gasoline without government assistance. * It establishes a new Assistant Secretary position for Energy and Bioproduct Development at USDA to provide the necessary priority and resources for bioenergy and bioproduct programs. It expands the Federal Government biobased product procurement program of the 2002 farm bill to include government contractors. It also extends the program to the U.S. Capitol Complex. and establishes the Capitol as a showcase for biobased products. It creates grant programs to help small biobased businesses with marketing and certification of biobased products. and funds bioeconomy development associations and Land Grant institutions to support the growth of regional bioeconomies. The legislation calls on Congress to create tax incentives to encourage investment in production of biobased fuels and products. and it provides for education and outreach to promote producer investment in processing -facilities and to heighten consumer awareness of biobased fuels and products. Together. these measures will send a strong signal to innovators. investors and biobased businesses that Congress is committed to advancing the bioeconomy. With full funding. this bill will deliver the technological advances needed to help make biobased fuels and products cost competitive with petroleumbased equivalents. and it will take a big step toward a future in which our cars run on cleanburning renewable fuels. our plastics turn to compost. and our Nations farmers fortify our energy security. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8521,"word_count":266}
{"speech_id":1090039371,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I myself was a victim of a similar recent loss of computer tapes by ]Bank of America. In both of these cases. Citigroup and Bank of America acted responsibly and notified possible victims in a prompt and timely manner. But this is not always the case. At the very least. consumers deserve to be made aware when their personal information has been compromised. Right now. they must hope that the laws of a few individual States. such as California. apply to their case. or that victimized institutions will act responsibly on their own. The legislation I am introducing today. the Financial Privacy Breach Notification Act of 2005. would protect consumers by requiring prompt notification by any financial institution or affiliated data broker in all cases. subject. of course. to the concerns of law enforcement agencies. It would also require automatic inclusion of fraud alerts in victims credit files to minimize the damage done. Notification by itself wont solve everything. but it is an important first step that requires immediate attention. I intend to introduce more comprehensive legislation in the very near future to further protect consumers against the growing threat of identity theft. but requiring notification in a uniform fashion is an important and urgently needed first step. ","speaker_name":"JON CORZINE","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2643,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090039377,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I am introducing legislation that provides an important clarification to the Fort Peck Reservation Rural Water System Act of 2000. The water project authorized by that legislation will provide desperately needed drinking water to the residents of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation and the communities surrounding the Reservation Dry Prairie Rural Water System In order to accomplish this. the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation and Dry Prairie are set to enter into an agreement. allowing Dry Prairie to use the water. The Dry Prairie allocation will be approximately 2.800 acre feet of water. The agreement is consistent with the provisions of the Tribes Water Compact. However. to address any possible questions regarding the Tribes grant of use of this water to Dry Prairie. both the Tribes and Dry Prairie would like the Secretarys authority to approve this water use agreement to be clearly approved by Congress. The legislation I am introducing today provides this clarification. The Project. as authorized. calls for the water to be diverted from the Missouri River at a single location south of Poplar. MT to an intake system or an infiltratio gallery. The estimated amount of annual project diversion is 6.000 -acre feet for the entire Project area. ","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2156,"word_count":209}
{"speech_id":1090039384,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Agriculture. Nutrition and Forestry be authorized to conduct a hearing during the session of the Senate on Thursday. June 9. 2005 at 2 p.m. in SR328A. The purpose of this hearing will be to review the nominations of Mr. Walter Lukken and Mr. Reuben Jeffries to be commissioners of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and also for Mr. Jeffries to be chairman of the Commission.","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":442,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090039515,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. last December we created an independent panel to simply come up with ways to make the United Nations more transparent and more effective. Today it is being reported that the panels work is done. and their 174page report will soon be made available to all of us. I am very interested to see what this bipartisan panel has to say about changing and reforming the United Nations. I understand from this report that its recommendations perhaps do not go far enough. It does criticize the U.N. for being too bureaucratic. but it hardly lays the blame where I think we all know it belongs. of course. to the Secretary General Kofi Annan. It squarely should be on his shoulders. Here is what has occurred at the U.N. under Mr. Annans watch: We have had genocide in the Sudan. countries such as Cuba. Libya. and China are on the U.N. ","speaker_name":"CLIFFORD STEARNS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4391,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090039531,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. thank you for the opportunity to share my remarks on H.R. 1812. the Patient Navigator Outreach and Chronic Disease Prevention Act. I rise in strong support of this important legislation. H.R. 1812 would authorize the Department of Health and Human Services to make grants for the development and operation of a pilot \"patient navigator program.\" This demonstration project would provide Community Health Centers. National Cancer Institute centers. Indian Health Service centers. Rural Health Clinics. and other health providers with funding to help patients \"navigate\" what can often be a complicated and confusing health care system. Under this legislation. patient navigators would help individual patients and their families overcome obstacles to the prompt diagnosis and treatment of their diseases by helping them understand the processes for receiving medical care and insurance. helping them coordinate referrals between different providers and specialists. helping them identify and possibly enroll in lifesaving clinical trials. and even helping them manage. their treatment plans. The bill ensures that particular attention is paid to patients with significant barriers to highquality health care services including those who are geographically isolated. those with cultural or linguistic barriers. and the uninsured. In their endorsement of this important legislation. the American Cancer Society noted that despite notable advances in prevention interventions. screening technologies. and highquality treatments. a disproportionate burden of cancer falls on the uninsured. those who live in rural areas. and minority and other medically underserved populations. These populations have higher risks of developing cancer and poorer chances of early diagnosis. optimal treatment. and survival. ","speaker_name":"JIM MATHESON","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2203,"word_count":256}
{"speech_id":1090039553,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The actions of Conrad Poppenhusen and his revolutionary kindergartenthe first kindergarten free and open to all. helped engrain the idea of free and public kindergartens throughout our great Nation--opening up the ideals of the American Dream to tens of millions of Americans since then. The American Dream of using education as a foundation for supporting oneself. ones family. The American Dream of using education as a foundation for a good job. home ownership. and a brighter future overall. This important moment. when this kindergarten opened in 1870 in College Point. Queeas. NY. is all the more profound today. as Department of Education studies show the impact of kindergarten on the children that attend. Children who are enrolled in kindergarten benefit immensely from the knowledge and skills they learn. while simultaneously profiting from their interaction with children of a similar age. The reading and math skills. which students learn in kindergarten. are invaluable to a childs later education. Moreover. for many children. kindergarten is one of the first places in which they interact with students from a multitude of cultural. economic. racial. and religious backgrounds. These early interactions are pivotal in establishing relationships. which promote awareness of the importance of numerous cultures and ideas. something particularly important in Queens. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH CROWLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6239,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090039571,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Congressman WALTER JONES. Jr.. one of my closest friends in this body and one of our finest Members. All Members of the North Carolina State delegation have cosponsored this legislation. and I join them in strong support. Madam Speaker. Floyd Lupton. Sr.. was born and raised in the town of Pantego. North Carolina. near the Atlantic coast. in 1922. He went to college at North Carolina State University. but like so many of his generation. -his education was interrupted by World War II. Floyd left home to heroically serve in the Armys 99th Infantry Division. with which he fought in the Battle of the Bulge. among other combat experiences. For his heroism Floyd earned the Bronze Star. and he was honorably discharged as a first lieutenant. ","speaker_name":"JOHN DUNCAN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2736,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090039575,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I have no other requests for time. but I do want to say how moved I was by the gentlemans presentation. I have known Floyd Lupton only through the descriptions and the information. the cold statistics. that have been furnished to us. but the gentleman from North Carolina has given us a picture of a man who. through his service and his availability and his commitment to the public good. is well deserving of the tribute that we are bestowing upon him by naming this facility after him. I hope it will stand as an example for others - to look at. the plaque that will be posted there. as a tribute to a man that they should remember as an example for all people to be committed to the kinds of ideals that he stood for. Madam Speaker. I yieldback the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"HENRY WAXMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":829,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090039599,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. in classrooms across the country. schools are making the grade when it comes to No Child Left Behind. In my home State. Georgia is making significant gains. The achievement gap is narrowing as students in schools are held accountable for their performance. Educators know that merely promoting students to the next grade level is not the solution to low test scores. In 2002. 64 percent of African American fifthgraders passed the State math test compared with 86 percent of white students. a 22 percentage point gap. Now. thanks to No Child Left Behind. 80 percent of African American students passed the test. compared with 92 percent of white students.- a 10 percent improvement. In 2002. 71 percent of Hispanic thirdgrade students passed the State reading test compared with 90 percent of white students. a 19 percentage point gap. This year. 86 percent of Hispanic students passed the test compared with 96 percent of white students. ","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1209,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090039602,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They.will tell Members the best way to ensure high morale. and they will say the best way is for our soldiers to be assured they will actually be coming home. they will leave Iraq and there will be a plan to make it happen. The way to ensure that and to raise their morale is by starting to bring them home. Why then has President Bush not stated Americas longterm intentions in Iraq? His comments on the subject have been limited to statements like. We will stay until the mission has succeeded and not one day longer. Mr. Speaker. how does he define the mission as succeeded when he will not even acknowledge that there is an actual end to the mission? Even if the President will not create a plan to end the war in Iraq. there are many in Congress and around the country who will. Earlier this month nearly onethird of the House voted for the amendment I offered to the defense authorization bill to urge the President to create a plan for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq. This sensible amendment would not have whisked our troops out of Iraq prematurely. it siniply asked the President to get busy and develop a plan for the end of this war. Believe me. if he does not. we will because the people of this country want to bring our troops home. Fortunately. there is a plan that would secure America for the future. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4001,"word_count":245}
{"speech_id":1090039604,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Throughout the European Union. a pharmacist in Germany can buy their supplies from Spain or from Norway or wherever they can buy that Zocor cheaper. As a result. they have a competitive marketplace over there. If Members want to learn more about that. we have a videotape by Dr. Peter Rost. who is an M.D. and he is an executive with one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. and he has come out in favor of parallel trading. He is very strongly in favor of the bill I have introduced which is cosponsored by a wide range of Members of the House which would open up the pharmaceutical markets. much as we do with everything else. I also want to say a special tribute to Minnesotas governor. Governor Tim Pawlenty. because he was one of the first governors to recognize that Minnesotans should not be held hostage. And now he has opened up not just the drugs from Canada. but we have actually opened up to Great Britain as well. One of the things that he often says is the industry says this is unsafe. He says if it is really unsafe. show me the dead Canadians and the dead Europeans and the dead Germans. ","speaker_name":"GILBERT GUTKNECHT","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4665,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090039606,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think we. the U.S. Government. owe you. our fellow citizens. a more frank and honest way of discussing this problem. Ambassador Evans was merely recounting the historical record. which has been attested to by over 120 Holocaust and genocide scholars from around the world. By doing this. he earned a prestigious award that was taken from him because of politics and denial. Mr. Speaker. I want to add my voice to all tho se who. in Ambassador Evans own words. and again I am quoting. think it is unbecoming of us as Americans to play word games here. I believe in calling things by their name. Evans was right. and the American Foreign Service Association was correct in awarding him the Christian A. Herter Award. ","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3890,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090039609,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Each of the DRCAFTA countries has been cited by the International Labor Organizatio\\ for policies which provide inadequate protection against antiunion discrimination. Four of the five countries have laws on the books that significantly impede workers ability to strike. and each of the countries has laws that restrict union formation or union leadership. Mr. Speaker. free enterprise includes not only me as a businessperson. but also me as a person to be able to collectively bargain for my wages and my working conditions. What is worse. the CAFTA agreement has no real enforcement mechanism to force a change in these labor laws. True. the agreement technically requires the enforcement of all labor laws. and as a penalty for failing to enforce its labor laws. a CAFTA country must pay a fine to improve the labor conditions. However. the agreement contains no guarantee that the fine will be used for that purpose. In fact. as a party to the CAFTA agreement. the U.S. has the ability to withdraw trade benefits only based on whether that fine is paid. not on how that money is used. This provision violates the spirit of the fast track negotiating authority under which Congress will consider CAFTA. Under fast track. all parts of an agreement must be subject to equal remedies. ","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4381,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090039617,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Bosnia. where the U.N. police mission was accused of misconduct. of corruption. and sexual trafficking. This is just horrendous. The U.N. repeatedly and reportedly quashed an investigation into involvement of U.N. police in enslavement of Eastern European women in Bosnian brothels. In response. the bill before us. Mr. Speaker. is going to have some provision to deter these horrible incidents and bring a level of respect to the United Nations. and I hope that our colleagues will support this Hyde bill this week. Among others. it includes provisions that mandate the: adoption of a minimum standard of qualifications for senior leaders and managers. adoption of a uniform Code of Conduct which applies equally to all personnel serving in U.N. peacekeeping operations regardless of category or rank. written acknowledgement by personnel sent as peacekeepers that misconduct may include immediate termination of participation in an operation. and establishment of a permanent. professional. and independent investigative body dedicated to United Nations peacekeeping. It is monstrous that an international organization charged with operating peacekeeping missions around the world and with assisting nations to rebuild after major turmoil has experienced an alarming number of scandals involving sexual exploitation. rape. sex trafficking. misconduct. harassment. and other criminal acts. However. not only has systemic mismanagement and corruption been a recurring characteristic of the United Nations. but the U.N. organization is being corroded by discrimination against Israel and antiSemitism as never before. The viciousness with which Israel continues to be attacked at the U.N.. and the reluctance of Member states to defend Israel or to accord it the same treatment as other countries. suggests that there is a considerable antiSemitic component behind the policies pursued in U.N. forums. ","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10227,"word_count":280}
{"speech_id":1090039628,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we hear the word \"freedom\" come out of this Chamber a lot. Is that young girl free? She is trapped. She is an indentured servant just like there has been throughout the history of. many times in this country. and many others. She is not free. So we use freedom when it is convenient for us. but in the instance where it may hurt some corporation to reduce their profits. freedom does not mean anything.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":415,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090039647,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And just to take that thought and put it in context for someone like our colleague. the gentleman from Nebraska . who represents 682 counties. this funds the multijurisdictional aspects that the local jurisdictions would not be able to fund because of their rules on funding. So this allows intraagency and counties in the district of the gentleman from Nebraska to actually work together. So with that. Mr. Speaker. I yield to my colleague from Nebraska.","speaker_name":"LEE TERRY","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":455,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090039656,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The gentleman brings up a very critical other point. That is that the map we saw earlier that Coach. Congressman. maybe Governor OSBORNE had up here showed all these States where meth has been in. But it has been predominantly in the rural areas. But what we are seeing is that it is starting to come into towns like Fort Wayne. a town of 230.000. in Omaha. and if this stuff hits the major. .cities. if it gets into Minneapolis and St. Paul. as it comes in from the rural areas and into the suburbs and into those cities. we are going to see an epidemic in America like we have not seen in a long time. Things like what you are talking about with the snipers. in one place in Hawaii. they are now charging people to go in. I think it is $200. to get their apartment cleaned before they come in because if somebody has been cooking in Honolulu and a kid gets into that. they can get sick and die. So now there is a charge in some apartment complexes to be able to go in.","speaker_name":"MARK SOUDER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":970,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090039660,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for sponsoring this legislation. Based on my experience as a judge and prosecutor for almost 30 years combined. this epidemic of methamphetamine is a disease that is affecting a lot of people. It crosses all barriers. all social economic barriers. all races. all ages. both sexes. And it is incumbent upon Congress to make sure that our local law enforcement officials have the ability to fight the war on drugs. to fight it the way they understand best. and the nationalization of this whole process is a very bad idea.","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":555,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090039663,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In fact. I suspect I heard more criminal cases in 1 year than all the *nine judges of the Supreme Court decided in an equal amount of time. As a criminal court judge. I used the Constitution. particularly the first 14 amendments. every day. I made decisions that affected people. real people. defendants. victims. and the community. Those decisions affected those individuals for the rest of their lives. I determined whether individuals should lose their property. their liberty. and their freedom. Sometimes the decisions I made even resulted in those individuals losing their life. Yet every one of those 20.000 cases was rooted in the United States Constitution. Individuals who came to my court. whether they were defendants. victims. or members of the community. knew that the basis of all American law is in the Constitution. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11802,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090039674,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"His sense of humor was wonderful. Jim Exon loved Nebraska football. He cared about a lot of issues. but other than his family. Nebraska football came first. He is going to be buried in Lincoln. NE. on this Wednesday. He died. I believe it was Friday night. BEN NELSON called me Saturday morning. Jim Exon was certainly a mentor of BEN NELSON. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":957,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090039694,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am prepared to debate more extensively on some concerns that have been raised and may be raised today about Mr. Griffiths bar membership. I might add that the ABA has looked into this matter very carefully and gave Mr. Griffith a qualified rating. And you would think that if the ABA was satisfied on a matter relating to bar membership. that this should put the matter to rest. Nevertheless. some questions have been raised. This issue has been fully explored and. I think. put to rest in two Judiciary Committee hearings on Tom Griffith. In any event. it has been the subject of a few stories in the press. I might add that one of the newspapers that carried this story. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11708,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090039698,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If confirmed the eleven judges on the court will include a majority of seven judges appointed by Republican Presidents. At Mr. Griffiths hearing last March. I rioted that unlike the many anonymous Republican holds and pocket filibusters that kept more than 60 of President Clintons moderate and qualified judicial nominees from moving forward. the concerns about Mr. Griffith were no secret. Unlike the Republicans pocket filibusters of Allen Snyder and Elena Kagan. who were each denied consideration and an upordown vote when nominated to the DC Circuit. Mr. Griffith knows full w*ell that I think he has not honored the rule of law by his practicing law in Utah for five years without ever bothering to fulfill his obligation to become a member of the Utah Bar. He has testified that he has obtained a Utah drivers license and pays Utah State taxes. but he is not a member of the bar despite admitting practicing law there since 2000. According to his answers to my questions. he has taken no steps to fulfill the requirements for practicing law in Utah by taking the Utah bar exam and becoming a member of the Utah Bar. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11643,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090039720,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"NC. law firm of Robinson. Bradshaw & Hinson. He then continued his very distinguished professional career as a partner at Wiley. Rein & Fielding. In 1995. by unanimous resolution. the Senate. sponsored by the Republican and Democratic leaders. appointed him to the nonpaktisan position of Senate legal counsel. During his tenure as Senate legal counsel. Mr. Griffith tackled a very tough issue relating to the impeachment of President Clinton. He did an outstanding job. He also argued. on behalf of the Senate. two very important matters involving committee investigations and the line item veto litigation. which resulted in two landmark decisions by the Supreme Court of the United States. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3162,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090039721,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There has been a challenge against Mr. Griffith. with respect to his Utah bar membership. Because he serves as general counsel to Brigham Young University. there were some questions raised as to whether he should have been a member of the Utah bar. I think that issue has been clarified. although some are still contesting it. I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the RECORD a full explanation of the Utah bar membership issue.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":433,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090039722,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Similarly. there had been an issue regarding Mr. Griffiths lapsed membership in the District of Columbia bar. which occurred because of an administrative oversight. Excuse me. nothing is as troublesome as a pesky summer cold. Without this cold. my speech would be considerably longer. Mr. President. so there are some advantages. at least. for anyone who may be watching on CSPANif anyone watches CSPAN during these late afternoon proceedings of the Senate. I ask unanimous consent that a full explanation of the DC Bar membership issue also be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":567,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090039729,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Andrew Johnson. the second that never got to the Senate. which was Richard Nixon. and the third. President Clinton. The Senator said Andrew Johnson. clearly not guilty. clearly a political vendetta. Richard Nixon. clearly guilty. clearly should have been removedhe stopped that by resigning. and then he said the Clinton one was in between. It was a close case that could have gone one way or the other. Some of my friends on the Democratic side of the aisle said it is not a question of whether he did it. It is not a question of whether it was a high crime and a misdemeanor. The only question was whether it was a serious enough high crime and misdemeanor on the part of the President of the United States to justify removing him from office. I think that was a thoughtful summary of where things were. Why am I saying all of this with respect to Thomas Griffith? Because during the period that the Senate went through that very difficult and historic debate. the counsel to the Senate of the United States was Thomas Griffith. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BENNETT","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6591,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090039738,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Lynching was nothing less than a form of racial terrorism. It took the vision and courage of men and women such as Mary White Ovington. W.E.B. DuBois. George H. White. Jane Adams and. of course. fellow Tennessean Ida WellsBarnett to pass Federal laws against lynching and put an end to the despicable practice. Ida WellsBarnett. indeed. may have done more than any other person to expose the terrible evils of lynching. A school teacher from Memphis who put herself through college. she became one of the Nations first female newspaper editors. A civil rights crusader from her teens. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5456,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090039748,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. tonight this body will take an important and extraordinary step. The Senate will. belatedly but most sincerely. issue a formal apology to the victims of lynching and their families. some of whom are with us tonight in this Chamber. for its failure to pass antilynching legislation. Without question. there have been other grave injustices committed in the noble exercise of establishing this great democracy. Some have already been acknowledged and addressed by this and previous Congresses. and our work continues. However. there may be no other injustice in American history for which the. Senate so uniquely bears responsibility. In refusing to take up legislation passed by the House of Representatives on three separate occasions and requested by seven Presidents from William Henry Harrison to Harry Truman. the Senate engaged in a different kind of culpability. Beginning in 1881. this tragic phenomenon of domestic terrorism was documented in large measure through the groundbreaking and heroic efforts of Ida B. WellsBarnett and the independent newspapers and publications. ","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11560,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090039752,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am proud that this resolution will pass tonight. The Senate is going to be on record condemning the brutal atrocities that plagued our great Nation for over a century. I will close with the words of our resolution: Whereas. an apology offered in the spirit of true repentance moves the United States toward reconciliation and may become central to a new understanding. on which improved racial relations can be forged. Now. therefore. be it Resolved. That the Senate(1) apologizes to the victims of lynching for the failure of the Senate to enact antilynching legislation. (2) expresses the deepest sympathies and most solemn regrets of the Senate to the descendants of victims of lynching. the ancestors of whom were dpprived of life. human dignity. and the constitutional protections accorded all citizens of the United States. and (3) remembers the history of lynching. to ensure that these tragedies will be neither forgotten nor repeated. My colleagues. I ask you to join all of us in examining our history. learn from history. never again sit quietly. and never again turn ones head away when the ugly specter of racism. antisemitism. hate. and intolerance rises again. It is our responsibility to stand strong for freedom and justice. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2230,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090039774,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Year after year. they have met with resistance. Listen to the arguments of those who oppose a stronger hate crimes bill today. and you hear the same arguments that were made against a Federal antilynching bill decades ago. The names have changed. the arguments and the excuses are the same. They say we in Congress cannot pass a strong hate crimes bill because it will infringe on States rights or because the Constitution does not give Congress explicit authority to pass such a law. Listen to what a Member of the House of Representatives. James Woods of Virginia. said in 1922: This bill. commonly known as the \"antilynching bill\" would be described more accurately if designatedfrom the standpoint of its effects rather than from its purposeas a \"bill to override the Constitution of the United States. to foment race hatred. and to revive sectional animosity.\" If it were possible to put an end to lynching by a lawful act of Congress. none would support such legislation more earnestly than we of the South. The Constitution does not say anything explicitly about the Civil Rights Act. which the Senate passed 41 years ago. or the Voting Rights Act. which turns 40 today. There always will be political voices that Will. find excuses to delay acting on the moral challenges of our time. Finding the moral courage to deal with those challenges in our own time is the real test of leadership. What is it we are doing or failing to do today that would lead the Senate 50 years from now to apologize? That is the question. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3433,"word_count":266}
{"speech_id":1090039781,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Griffiths outstanding academic record. He graduated summa cum laude from BYU. receiving high honors with distinction from its Honors Program. He later received his Juris Doctor from the University of - Virginia School of Law and served on the editorial and articles review board of the Virginia Law Review. Mr. Griffith has the support of a broad. bipartisan group of attorneys and law professors. including Abner Mikva. former Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. This nominee has also served on the American Bar Association Central European and Eurasian Law Initiatives Advisory Board. With the CEELI. he participated in the training of judges and lawyers in Croatia. Serbia. Russia. the Czech Republic and several other countries and has actively worked to establish a regional judicial training institute in Prague. ","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2721,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090039782,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have cosponsored this resolution because an apology is surely in order. and I believe Senator LANDRIEU deserves great credit for bringing this important issue to the Senates attention. This public act of contrition is an important gesture today to take responsibility for the civil rights misdeeds of the past. But it is also an opportunity for Congress to show the country that we will not tolerate similar offenses. As we pass this resolution. it is fitting to carry this principle to the present and act in kind to prevent civil rights and human rights abuses occurring now in this country and around the world. As we pass this resolution. we should also recognize that it is long past the time to pass the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act. which would strengthen and extend our Federal hate crimes law. The Senate has repeatedly passed this bill. with 65 votes in the last Congress. The Republican leadership in the House. with the acquiescence of the Bush White House. has killed it. It is fitting that we apologize for past inaction. but that does not obviate the need to solve todays problems. By the same token. we should reauthorize the Voting Rights Act in this Congress and not wait for 2007. We need to ensure that this law. one of the most important bills of the 20th century. remains in effect to safeguard the fundamental right of all citizens to participate fully in our democracy. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3804,"word_count":243}
{"speech_id":1090039784,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Unfortunately. lynching occurred throughout the United States. with cases documented in all but four states. From 1881 to 1964. there were 4.749 recorded victims of lynching. Of these victims. 3.452 were African Americans. Worse still. in nearly all cases of lynching before 1968. local and state law enforcement officials failed to investigate or prosecute the perpetrators. An antilynching law would have allowed Federal prosecutors to bring the perpetrators of lynching to justice. On three occasions. the House passed antilynching bills. but each time a small group of Senators filibustered the proposals in the Senate. Although a resolution cannot make up for the terrible injustice perpetrated against the victims of lynching and their families. this resolution is. at least. a positive step toward recognizing the Senates past mistakes. There is much more that the Senate must do to address continuing racial - injustice in this country. But this resolution is a worthy effort. I am proud to support it. and I am pleased that the Senate will pass it tonight.","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1967,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090039797,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"President. to end tonight. Really. there were hundreds of them that would be appropriate. But one was especially appropriate. for the close of this debate because. while it ends one chapter. it begins many new chapters in the history of our Nation. The woman I will quote from is one I have admired my whole life. I have read much about her and have been taught a lot about her. I will read this quote from this particular woman because it took guts to say what she did. at a. time when people in America didnt want to hear it. This came at a time when people didnt want to hear what women had to say. generally. about any subject. let alone the subject of injustice and intolerance not only in our Nation but the world. The woman I will quote is Eleanor Roosevelt. who actually led a group of descendants into this Chamber in 1938 to urge the Senate. hopefully by their presence. to actmen and women who came with their own being. their own bodies to try to tell the Senate what you are reading about isnt true. these are innocent people. Eleanor Roosevelt escorted them to this Chamber and. of course. through all of their mighty efforts. actions were not taken. but not through any fault of hers. What I want to quote is what she wrote about universal human rights. ","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6405,"word_count":234}
{"speech_id":1090039804,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. over the Memorial Day recess my colleagues from Idaho and South Carolina joined me on a trip to Europe and the Middle East to review political and economic developments in emerging democracies. and U.S. security and foreign assistance activities that support the march of freedom in those regions. I want to take a brief moment to share with my colleagues some of the trip highlights. Our first leg took us to Latvia. where Senators CRAPO and DEMINT and I met with senior government officials and President Vaira VikeFreiberga. Although a young democracy. Latvia is unquestionably headed in the right direction. A painful and horrific past under Soviet occupation has seemingly steeled in that countrys national consciousness a drive and determination toward freedom and free markets. Not surprisingly. Latvian officials today are keenly aware of events in neighboring Russia. and expressed concern with what they perceive as growing authoritarianism in Moscow. A member of NATO and the EU. ","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7384,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090039808,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. a column published -recently by Lino A. Graglia in the Wall Street Journal. and another by Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post. frame particularly. well the debate we are having in the Senate on judicial nominations. I ask unanimous consent that these columns be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":307,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090039809,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As I see it. the VA and Medicare need to share this cost in order to provide excellent care to those who need it most. In March. I met Major Tammy Duckworth. an Army pilot who lost both of her legs after a rocket propelled grenade hit the Black Hawk helicopter she was in while flying in the skies above Iraq. Although now a double amputee. she is determined to both walk and fly helicopters again. Major Duckworth has my full support. but needless to say her life has been changed forever. That is why the legislation I introduced would require that a service member who has lost a limb from a serviceconnected injury receive a disability rating of not less than 50 percent. This is our way of saying thank you and helping our veterans achieve their dreams. Some of the hardest hit victims of this war are not soldiers or veterans. but survivors of the fallen. These brave men and women need our help. This year I voted to extend survivor benefits from $12.000 to $100.000 and to extend military housing privileges from 6 months to 1 year. ","speaker_name":"JOHN THUNE","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4458,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090039810,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Becky Napier. Krystal Lewallen. Kara Lorenz. Ricki Rothbauer. Heather Cotner. Stephanie Leimbach. Michelle Logan. Angie Lindeman. Emily Breitholle. Jeni Schamp.- Sarah King. ","speaker_name":"JIM BUNNING","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1265,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090039813,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"O","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1719,"word_count":1}
{"speech_id":1090039815,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Ashley Gersuk. Courtney Flynn. Christy Finch. Lindsey Munday. Emily Lovett. Laura Glassanos. Shelby Chlopak. Kaitie Lenahan. Lynda McCandlish. Abby Alley. ","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1705,"word_count":20}
{"speech_id":1090039818,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have learned a great deal more about the conditions under which members of a population are likely to become victims of trafficking. Those who are displaced from their homes or suffering from poverty are much more likely to become victims of trafficking. Unfortunately. military forces and organizations charged with protecting and providing for vulnerable populations have. at times. actually encouraged the trafficking of humans. There have been instances in the Congo and in Bosnia where increased demand for prostitution and forced labor caused by foreign peacekeeping troops and humanitarian aid workers accelerated the exploitation of already vulnerable populatfons. There have even been reports where contractors. working on behalf of the United States Government. have contributed to. and even participated in. the trafficking of humans abroad. Nothing is more contrary to the freedoms we cherish than the trafficking of humans. which is why I introduce today the Federal Contractor Extraterritorial Jurisdiction for Human Trafficking Offenses Act. My bill closes a loophole in U.S. criminal law. Under current law. Federal contractors who engage in human trafficking offenses abroad are subject to prosecution in the United States only if \"employed by or accompanying the Armed Forces.\" The bill closes this loophole by permitting the prosecution of. Federal contractors of \"any executive agency.\" I believe all U.S. contractors should be treated the same. and all should be held to the same standards. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5493,"word_count":229}
{"speech_id":1090039822,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Faced with uncertainties in electricity energy markets. turmoil in the Middle East. the need to cut back on the fossil fuel emissions linked to global warming. air pollution that contributes to high rates of asthma and fills even our national parks with smog. the United States must diversify its energy supply by promoting the growthof renewable energy. Since 1999. Las Vegas electricity rates have increased by 50 percent. In the same time period. natural gas prices across Nevada rose 45 percent. We need to change the energy equation. We need to diversify the nations energy supply to reduce volatility and ensure a stable supply of electricity. We must harness the brilliance of the sun. the strength of the wind. and the heat of the Earth to provide clean renewable energy for our Nation. Mr. President. I rise today to introduce a bill with Senators FEINSTEIN.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":867,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090039823,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to announce for the information of the Senate and the public that the hearing originally scheduled before the Subcommittee on National Parks of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources for Tuesday. June 14th 2005. at 10 a.m. has been postponed and will be rescheduled for a later date. For further information. please contact Tom Lillie at (202) 2245161 or Brian Carlstrom at (202) 2246293.","speaker_name":"CRAIG THOMAS","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":423,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090039878,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is kind of interesting. Many years ago. I served in the U.S. Army. It is the same thing we said at that time. We have been living those words not just since the time I was in the Army but for 230 years. Both Senator AKAKA and I. the cochairmen of the Senate Army Caucus. were soldiers in the U.S. Army. The principles we learned thenthe timeless principles of discipline. pride. integrity. honor. and sacrificehave helped guide us throughout our lives. They still characterize the Army today. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2867,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090039908,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let ine first congratulate our chairman. Senator DOMENICI. on successfully bringing this bill through the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. and to the Senate floor. As he indicated. the vote to report the bill from committee was 21 to 1nearly unanimous. That vote is a testament. not only to what is contained in the bill but also to the process he followed when moving the bill to the Senate floor. It has been over 4 years since President Bush released his energy policy plan. I believe President Bush was right to want to fashion a comprehensive energy policy for the Nation. President Clinton had such a policy document put together by a task force under Secretary of Energy Federico Pena. The first President Bush also had a national energy strategy document that was put together by thenSecretary of Energy James Watkins. after numerous public hearings around the country. The fact that three successive Presidents have seen the need for comprehensive energy policy illustrates an important fact. that is. a good energy policy does not happen automatically. ","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8353,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090039918,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wish to say to the Senate. the distinguished junior Senator from Florida. Mr. MARTINEZ. has spoken with this chairman on numerous occasions about this issue. He continues to be as concerned as Senator NELSON about this issue. We are working with himI am not sure how it is all going to turn out in terms of a colloquy. but we do not intend to do anything to harm Florida. We have already told everybody that. It is very hard to make broadbased commitments in advance. and it is not just up to me. There are other Senators. including Senator BINGAMAN. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":675,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090039988,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we have been discussing this Energy bill. At 10 oclock this morning. I had discussions with the chairman of the committee and the ranking member. They were trying to work out some language to solve the -problem with regard to drilling off the coast of Florida. and it is 6% hours later. and I still dont see any of thaf language. So I was going to go on and continue to explain the background on this amendment. unless the chairman of the committee had something he wanted to share. I will yield to him without giving up my right to the floor.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":558,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090039989,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is what I have in mind. We should be ready soon. I thank the Senator for inquiring. and I hope he will let us take up an amendment on ethanol. It will not take very long. and we will be back to the Senator very soon. Mr. NELSON\u0095 of Florida. Mr. President. I am glad the Senator clarified that. I think it is curious why. since this Senator made the initial request and did so last Thursday when I told the chairman of the committee I would not object to the motion to proceed. and didso yesterday in my conversation with the Senator on the telephone. and I did so in a personal conversation with Senator BINGAMAN. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1763,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090039997,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the Senator. and I thank the distinguished chairman. I take the distinguished chairman at his word. but this Senator cannot evaluate any language unless he sees it. For some reason. it is being shared with everyone in the Senate except this Senator from Florida. So the Senator from Florida is going to proceed with the explanation of why this is so critical to 18 million Floridians.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":392,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090040009,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I ask the Senator to yield so the Senator from California can offer an amendment. She will speak for up to 20 minutes.. In the meantime. Senator DOMENIcI has a piece of paper you are probably interested in. and that would probably move this thing along rather quickly.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":268,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090040027,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I want to say the distinguished Senator from Florida. who has been speaking. submitted a proposal quite a few hours ago. an idea. a thought piece. I want everybody to know that was not acceptable not only to the Senator from New Mexico. it was not acceptable to Democratic Senators on his side of the aisle. So we have not tried to hide anything. I regret the Senator has even implied that we tried to do that. It is not right. We have been working as hard as we can. It is not much to take 4 or 5 hours. Sometimes around here you have to take a dictionary when you are working on something because people do not understand words. That is how hard it has been in the past. Having said that. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":943,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090040039,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Not true. The special interests and the people who represent ethanol will say the waiver is not really broad. It only protects these makers of ethanol from one type of lawsuit. But let me state the type of lawsuit they are protected against. It is the only lawsuit that has standing in the courts of the United States of America. How do we know this? Look at MTBE. Lake Tahoe won their MTBE suit. Why? Because they were able to use the defective product liability claim. The judge. as a matter of fact. threw out the negligence claim. the nuisance claim. So when my colleagues get up here and say. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7563,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090040043,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And between OPEC and the few larger energy companies these days. I do not have any great confidence that there is not market manipulation going on. However. I dont know. but I saw what happened in California with electricity because they could. because that kind of market power allowed them to do that. So I am very interested in trying to see if we can diversify the production of fuel. This capability. through ethanol. gives farmers a new market. allows us to grow fuel in our farm fields and rely on less of it from under the sands of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and Iraq. for example. It is a winner all the way around. in my judgment. This 8billiongallon requirement that we have in this bill is carefully constructed. It moves this country in a very important direction. It will reduce crude oil imports by 2 billion barrels. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3939,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090040101,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have 16 ethanol .sites in Iowa. 11 are predominantly owned by farmers. There is one that Cargill owns. and ADM owns one. Almost all of the new ethanol plants being built in the United States are owned and operated by farmerowned enterprises. It so happens that ADM was there in the beginning. But what is happening nowand especially with this legislationis you are going to see more and more farmerowned plants. That is what is happening. My friend is talking about the past. We are talking about the future. The way to break the OPEC cartel is to get a lot of farmers around the country. using new technologies. making ethanol out of corn and cornstalks. and a variety of other feedstocksand we will soon be making ethanol in the State of New York. as well as in New England. That is what this is about. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":846,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090040109,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Maybe. under the quality of life and our homeland and chairmans leadershipif the chairman economic security. will yieldwe should add that wonder- As this body considers omnibus enful amendment to this bill and pass it ergy legislation. it is crucial that we right now. formulate an energy bill that meets","speaker_name":"CHARLES SCHUMER","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":304,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090040121,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let me take a minute. also. and underscore the comments our colleague from Nebraska and Senator DOMENICI have made about Jim Exon. He was a great U.S. Senator and one with whom I was fortunate to serve on the Armed Services Committee for many years. He contributed a tremendous amount to his home State and to this country. He will be missed by all who served with him in the Senate. There is a service for him tomorrow in Nebraska. which I hope to attend. I will also have extensive comments to offer at a future time. It is a great loss to the country and a great loss. of course. to all those who knew him. He will be fondly remembered in this Senate. ","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":688,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090040123,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"When States have failed to enforce their own criminal laws because of local pressure or bias. the Federal Government has frequently established laws to vindicate the civil rights of all Americans. Mr. President. I strongly believe that it is not enough for us to stand here and apologize for things that happened in the past. We must use this recognition of the Senates past inaction to motivate us to enact laws today that protect the basic civil rights of all Americans. such as the Local Law Enforcement Act of 2005. This bill. which I am proud to cosponsor. will strengthen the ability of the Federal. State. and local governments to investigate and prosecute hate crimes based on race. ethnic background. religion. gender. sexual orientation. and disability. I urge all my colleagues to support this bill. a true test of the commitment of the Senate to do the right thing.","speaker_name":"JON CORZINE","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4362,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090040126,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to ask unanimous consent that the following analysis of the 1993 Hawaii apology resolution. prepared by constitutional scholar Bruce Fein. be entered into the RECORD following my present remarks. To be sure. I do not think that the nature of the events that led to the end of the Kamehameha monarchy is relevant to the question whether we should establish a racebased government in Hawaii today. I believe that America is a good and great Nation. and that all Americans should be proud to be a part of it. The United States does not deserve to have its government carved up along racial lines. Nevertheless. proponents of racially separate government in Hawaii have advanced their arguments for S. 147. the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act. in terms of history. It is thus instructive to take a close look at that history. [The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii. Jun. 1. 2005]","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":913,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090040132,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Anthony Rudnick. and Cpl. Raymond H. Smith. Only recently has the Air Force shared the details of this incident. As a result. most of the victims families were left in the dark about the specifics surrounding their loved ones deaths in World War II. For over a decade. the members of the Bakers Creek Memorial Association. based in Orrtanna. PA. led by George Washington University professor Robert S. Cutler. have worked to locate the victims families and to notify them of the circumstances of the tragic mishap. Because of the dedfcation of this small group of military veterans. the families of 36 of the 40 casualties now have been contacted. including those of: Private Finney. Technical Sergeant Frezza. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2822,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090040140,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Tiffany Mason. the most recent Senate page from Michigan. for her hard work. dedication. and enthusiasm in carrying out her daily responsibilities over the last several months. It is. in part. through the efforts of our Senate pages that the Senate is able to efficiently carry out its important work. which includes receiving messages from the President and allowing for the introduction of bills. Pages are also asked to complete a variety of other important tasks when the Senate is in session. Senator Daniel Webster has the distinction of selecting the first Senate page more than 150 years ago. In those days. as is the case today. a page was chosen and sponsored by a Senator. During his or her time in Washington. a page is not only expected to serve the needs of the Senate but also to attend school and complete the necessary requirements of high school juniors. Thirty pages from across the country serve as Senate pages each session. In May 1971 the first two female pages were selected to serve in the Senate. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1841,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090040143,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask unanimous consent.that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1344,"word_count":14}
{"speech_id":1090040144,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Diana filed for legal permanent residency. with the ultimate goal of achieving American citizdnship. After the commencement of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Todd joined EOD Technology. Inc. as a Security Manager for Iraq. The U.S. Army assigned Todd to Iraq as a contractor to support our rebuilding efforts. Before leaving for Iraq. Todd asked Diana to raise his son. Dalton. in the event of his death. Assigned to an area just outside of Fallujah. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2360,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090040149,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It also allows the Secretaries to grant noncompetitive hiring status to corps alumni for future Federal hiring. Finally. the bill authorizes $15 million a year. of which $10 million is for the priority projects identified in the bill and $5 million is for nonpriority projects. I have named this legislation the Public Lands Corps Healthy Forests Restoration Act because it builds on both the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993 and the recently enacted Healthy Forest Restoration Act. I also want to note that last year the administration supported an earlier. but substantially similar. version of this bill. - This bill uses the cost saving resources of youth corps to carry out projects. It is estimated that youth corps generate $1.60 in immediate benefits for every dollar in costs. This figure is important given both the great need and greae costs associated with fighting fires. The Federal Government is responsible for overseeing 689 million acres of land and five Federal agencies reported spending $1.6 billion in 2002 on fire . fighting suppression effortsa whopping $300 million more than the previous record. As an example of what can happen in one State. consider 2003s catastrophic wildfires in southern California. Before these wildfires were contained. they scorched a total of 739.597 acres. killed 24 people. and destroyed approximately 3.631 homes and thousands of other structures. Not only did insurance payouts cost more than $3 billion. but public expenditures for firefighting and recovery ran into the hundreds of millions of dollars.- And California is certainly not the only State to incur large costs from fires. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5518,"word_count":262}
{"speech_id":1090040155,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today with Senators JEFFORDS. KERRY and FEINGOLD to introduce the Medical Education Affordability Act. MEAA. The purpose of this bill is to make medical and dental education more affordable. Upon graduation from college. students whQ demonstrate economic hardship are eligible to extend their student loan deferment for up to 3 additional years. Using the economic hardship deferment. a formula that takes into account earnings and debt level. the majority of medical and dental residents defer repayment of their student loans until the end of their residency period. Unfortunately. for those specialties that require a residency of more than 3 yearsOB\/GYN. psychiatry. and general surgery to name a fewstudent loan repayment begins before a residents medical or dental education is completed. This situation creates an enormous financial burden for residents who have. in most cases. incurred significant debt. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2108,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090040167,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet in open executive session during the session on Tuesday. June 14. at 10 a.m.. to review and make recommendations on proposed legislation implementing the U.S.-Central AmericaDominican Republic Free Trade Agreement.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":305,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090040204,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Our present policy damages our environment with fully onethird of the greenhouse gases now coming from vehicle emissions alone. \" And the truth is. the problem is not going away. it is only getting worse. Right now we are importing 60 percent of our oil from foreign countries. That percent is expected to increase. not decrease. to about 70 percent by According to the Natural Resources Defense Council. America spends $200.000 per minute on foreign oil. or $13 million an hour. And more than $25 billion goes to the Persian Gulf imports alone. A study by the Department of Energy found that our dependency on oil from unsteady regimes outside our borders has cost the country an astonishing $7 trillion over the last 30 years. measured in current dollars. If these figures are not disturbing enough. here is one more. According to the National Defense Council Foundation. the economic penalties of Americas oil dependence are between $297 billion to $304 billion annually. The Institute for the Analysis of Global Security. using this data. calculated the hidden costs at the gas pump. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10235,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090040242,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume to point out that this bill does provide $2.6 billion for assistance to State and local law enforcement for crimefighting initiatives. and that is actually $1 billion above the Presidents request. in response to the gentlewomans remarks about the Obey amendment. Unfortunately. the Committee on Rules could not waive points of order against the gentlemans amendment. While the intent of his amendment is admirable. the means of his amendment does not comply with the rules of the House. The amendment would seek to offset an increase in funding for States -and local law enforcement through a tax increase. and such changes in tax policy. as we know. are under the jurisdiction of the Committee on Ways and Means. Therefore. the amendment. as written. was not germane to H.R. 2862 and subject to a point of order. Mr. Speaker. I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana .","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":931,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090040243,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is time this administration faced up to the fact that gangs are not our number one problem in America. meth is our -number one growing problem in America. and it is closely related to the gang problem. We need a coordinated methamphetamine strategy out of this administration. And quite frankly. the same thing is happening over in the. United States Senate. And if administration does not address the meth question. then it will be addressed by the House and the Senate in the force of law. unfortunately often chaotically through the appropriations process or random little pieces of bills. So while I plan to vote for this rule and I plan to vote for the underlying bill. even if these amendments do not pass. I strongly urge Members to realize what is happening here. We are going to have a meth epidemic in America unless we increasingly address it with some of the amendments that will be offered today.","speaker_name":"MARK SOUDER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4804,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090040256,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The amendment would then comply with the rules of the House and could be considered and voted upon by Congress. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1436,"word_count":29}
{"speech_id":1090040278,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have drafted what I consider a responsible bill for fiscal year 2006 spending levels for the departments and agencies under the subcommittees jurisdiction. We have had to carefully prioritize funding in the bill and make hard choices about how to spend scarce resources. I want to thank the gentleman from California (Chairman LEWIS) for supporting us with a fair allocation and helping us to move the bill forward. I also would like to thank the ranking member. the gentleman from West Virginia . who has been very effective and a valued partner and colleague on this bill. I appreciate his principled commitment and understanding of the programs in the bill. Also I wanted to thank all members of the subcommittee for their help and assistance: the gentleman from North Carolina . the gentleman from Illinois . the gentleman from Illinois . the genftleman from Florida . the gentleman from Texas . the gentleman from Louisiana . the gentleman from New York . who used to be the ranking member on the committee. the gentleman from Alabama . the gentleman from Rhode Island . and the gentleman from Pennsylvania . and also the gentleman from Wisconsin . the ranking member of the full committee. Mr. Chairman. I also want at the outset to thank the members of the staff who have worked incredibly hard. as I am sure all subcommittee staff on this committee do on appropriations. but particularly want to thank them publicly. Mike Ringler. the clerk of the subcommittee. who has led the subcommittee through the House appropriations process. ","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5611,"word_count":261}
{"speech_id":1090040282,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. The distinguished majority leader must know that the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee. the gentleman from Wisconsin . went to the Rules Committee to ask for a rule to allow him to offer an amendment to increase the funding for State and local law enforcement. which was dramatically reduced in this bill. It only exists in the bill because the chairman has restored several hundred million dollars to States and locals which the President asked to cut. So the distinguished majority leader must know that the gentleman from Wisconsin went to the Rules Committee and that the gentleman from Wisconsin is trying to get at the inadequacy of the funding for State and local law enforcement levels from the Federal Government. and the gentleman is not at all interested in cutting NASA. But the gentleman from Wisconsin","speaker_name":"ALAN MOLLOHAN","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":885,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090040291,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the ranking member for the time. I rise in strong support of this subcommittee bill. I am privileged to be a member of this subcommittee. and I think the chairman. the gentleman from Virginia (Chairman WOLF). and his staff have crafted an unbelievably good bill under very difficult circumstances. I particularly. on behalf of the National Childrens Alliance. want to thank the chairman and the ranking member for their commitment to funding for this remarkable national network of childrens advocacy centers which have been a part of this bill for mahy years now. As my colleague from Texas just remarked about the crime victims trust fund funding. my local nonprofits there in north Alabama and around this country are pleased that that trust fund was not rescinded. that money was restored in there. Again. I thank the chairman and the ranking member for those plusups. This is a good bill. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT CRAMER","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2117,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090040315,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I want to thank both the gentleman from Michigan and the gentleman from New York for their comments. Frankly. I have learned a lot from them on this issue. and a lot of what they have been pushing for. I now see. if you will. So I want to thank them. I understand their concerns. and I will be pleased to work with them to explore what might be done to address these concerns in conference. I support the MSP program at the NSF and look forward to working with the gentleman from Michigan and also the gentleman from New York to see if we can address the legitimate concerns they raise. Furthermore. ","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":921,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090040318,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise to engage the gentleman from Virginia in a colloquy regarding the American Corners Program. Mr. Chairman. the American Corners Program are partnerships between the Public Affairs sections of U.S. Embassies and host institutions. They provide access to current and reliable information about the U.S. via book collections. the Internet. and through local programming to the general public. Sponsored jointly by a U.S. Embassy and a host country organization. an American Corner serves as an information outpost. similar to a public library reference service. The multimedia book and periodical collections are open and accessible. ","speaker_name":"STEVE ISRAEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1648,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090040338,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I joined over 100 House Members deeply concerned about the health of our oceans and coastal areas to request support for additional funding for key National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration programs. or NOAA: After considering other competing priorities. the subcommittee approved the NOAA budget of $3.43 billion. almost $500 million below last years level. Now. I understand the Federal budget constraints. and I understand.the constraint of the subcommittee and the appropriations process. but I would ask the chairman to consider looking at these issues as we move this bill through to the conference.","speaker_name":"WAYNE GILCHREST","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1546,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090040346,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The ocean economythe portion of the economy that relies directly on ocean attributescontributes well over $100 billion to American prosperity. About one tenth of the nations annual gross domestic product (GDP) is generated in nearshore areas. the relatively narrow strip of land immediately adjacent to the coast. Coastal watershed counties. representing about one quarter of the nations land area. contribute about half of the nations GDP. NOAA funding is not only an in-. vestment in the protection. wise management. and productivity of our oceans and coasts. it is an investment in the wellbeing of our coastal cities and communities. \u0095 Cuts to NOAA threaten the wise management of our oceans and will have far reaching ramifications such as on the tourism industry in my district and tourism in coastal districts around the nation. Tourism is one of the largest economic drivers of coastal areas. and my district is no exception. Tourists flock to my district for the same reason people want to live there. because of its natural wonders. Not only are the rocky shores dramatic. but people can watch sea otters paddle in the kelp. sea lions lounge on the docks. and whales breach in the bay. The more adventurous dive in the lush fish filled kelp beds. and the less adventurouswell. they go to the Monterey- Bay Aquarium. The Marine Sanctuaries program has been cut by 40% and the Coastal Nonpoint and Community Resource Improvement Grants program has been cut out completely. These two NOAA programs have been instrumental in keeping the coastal waters of my district unpolluted. allowing the waters to teem with life. ","speaker_name":"SAM FARR","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6755,"word_count":267}
{"speech_id":1090040351,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Law enforcement agencies need to identify and aggressively pursue those responsible for these superlabs. as they now account for more than twothirds of the meth entering the United States. I hope that the chairman agrees that Congress needs to work with the administration. Mexico and other countries to reduce pseudoephedrine shipments used to produce meth. I look forward to working with the chairman to address this critical issue.","speaker_name":"THOMAS OSBORNE","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1405,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090040379,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"According to the Department of Justice. every dollar we invest in the COPS program contributes to a decline in 10 violent crimes and 27 property crimes per 100.000 residents. As a former city police officer and a Michigan State Trooper. as well as cochair of the Congressional Law Enforcement Caucus. I understand how much our local communities need and rely on the Byrne grants and COP grants to keep these successful programs going in their neighborhoods. The ByrneJAG grants provide funding for 29 different and vital programs such as antidrug education programs. treatment programs. and alternative sentencing initiatives. giving the States the ability to choose which programs they find most beneficial in their State to do under this Federal funding. As most of us know and we hear when we go back home to our local districts. the Byrne grants fund the local drug enforcement teams. We have toprovide this funding so our drug enforcement officers can do their jobs. We must listen to what our drug enforcement officers are telling ua and fully fund the Byrne grant program. Local drug enforcement teams are crucial to keeping our communities safe and drug free. If Byrne grants are funded at the level currently provided in this bill. our teams will be unable to hire the officers they need to sustain their drug enforcement teams. In my home State of Michigan. we would lose 11 of the 25 teams we have in Michigan. ","speaker_name":"BART STUPAK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3075,"word_count":241}
{"speech_id":1090040392,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I think I am hearing a different amendment being debated. The fact is this amendment does not cut our core sciences. The Presidents budget is the one that squeezed those programs. This amendment does nothing of. the kind. This amendment is very simple. This bill before us has increased the account that contains the Moon to Mars mission which is a mission that is going to occur 25 years in the future. This bill raises that account by half a billion dollars. $500 million. It is paid for by cutting $400 million out of local law enforcement. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2113,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090040405,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In addition. the Bureau of Prisons. $22 million out. State and local law enforcement programs are reduced including a $2 million reduction in COPS and $1.5 million from Juvenile Justice. This amendment. not that the gentleman meant it to be that way. even cuts education benefits for the survivors of public safety officers killed in the line of duty. as well as disability benefits for officers while injured on duty. Lastly. NASA is cut by $70 million. Science goes down the tubes and is cut with regard to that. Embassy security. $6.8 million. and remember Americans killed in Tanzania. Americans killed in Nairobi. A $4 million is cut from SEC. Remember Enron. and we would take money from the SEC. ","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2126,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090040409,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the gentleman from Nebraska and the other supporters of this amendment should be appreciative of the chairmans efforts with regard to law enforcement. They have a focus on methamphetamine and the plague that it represents across our country. They should know that there is hardly a hearing that goes by that the gentleman from Virginia (Chairman WOLF) does not bemoan the condition that the country and the challenge that the Nation faces with regard to methamphetamine and illegal drug use. He is totally supportive of their efforts in principle. The problem is we have a tough bill. and when they go to an acrosstheboard cut. that is an expression of extreme desperation with regard to the appropriation process. When they offer an acrosstheboard cut as an offset. what they are really saying is that this bill is so incredibly tight that we cannot find offsets anywhere else. It is absolutely the wrong place to go. I would suggest to the gentlemen that are down to offering acrosstheboard cuts to reassess their vote on the budget resolution. We need more money in these bills for law enforcement. to provide funds to State and localities which are being cut from last year. ","speaker_name":"ALAN MOLLOHAN","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1230,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090040413,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in opposition to the amendment. An appropriations bill is all about balance. All of us have programs in this bill we would like to see funded a little more or a little less. But the question before us is whether the bill strikes the overall balance among programs. given the fiscal constraints that we all face. And I think that with this bill. the appropriators did an outstanding job with their balancing.act. We should be very cautious about throwing off that balance. Let me give you an example from a program under the jurisdiction of the Committee on Science. Is the National Science Foundation lavishly funded? Hardly. ","speaker_name":"SHERWOOD BOEHLERT","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1237,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090040452,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the gentleman raising this issue. This is really an important issue. Before I came to Congress. I was involved in a reentry program at Lorton Reformatory. so I think what the gentleman is trying to do is a good idea. Reentry programs are critical to rehabilitating prisoners: I support the programs and will continue to work with the gentleman. The bill includes a $6 million increase in the Bureau of Prisons and $10 million in OJP for reentry programs. You really cannot put a man or a woman in jail for 15 years and then. at the end. just open up the cell and let them out without having any reentry programs. So what the gentleman is trying to do is exactly right. ","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":826,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090040473,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The gentleman from Illinois . the chairman of the Small Business Committee who last year supported this amendment. is now supportive of the program continuing to operate without a subsidy appropriation. He has written a Dear Colleague letter. and I hope every Member has read that Dear Colleague letter in support of the status quo. This would really hit Justice Department programs and State Department programs. So in summary. Mr. Chairman. it is not necessary to provide a subsidy appropriation for 7(a) loan programs. With the legislative and appropriation changes made last year. theprogram is running strong. The offsets are not a good idea. I urge Members to oppose the amendment. Mr. ","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":736,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090040478,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The 7(a) program shut down. Small business people could not plan. The lenders had no idea what was going on and chaos broke loose in the 7(a) industry. We do not need the 7(a) subsidy. As the chiiirman of the Small Business Committee. I have spoken to people all over the country thanking me saying. you know. we are paying a little bit more for our loan. but we realize that by the small business people paying a little bit more for their loan and the amount up front gets rolled over to the eventual length of the term of the loan. that makes not only more money available. but it makes the program predictable. So I would encourage my colleagues to vote \"no\" on the Vel6.zquez amendment. Vote \"no\" to spending $80 million in taxpayers funds.","speaker_name":"DONALD MANZULLO","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2397,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090040482,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The small business community creates up to 80 percent of the new jobs in this country. The SBA estimates that a new job is created for every $33.000 in small business loans. Thus. $79 million in Federal investment has the potential to create 500.00.0 jobs in this country. First. let us correct the rhetoric. These are not subsidies or handouts that we are talking about. These are loans at affordable interest rates. and if one is for deficit reduction. then they should support this amendment. which reduces the overall cost to the bill by $32 million per the Congressional Budget Office. It is time that Congress steps forward to support the small business community through access to affordable capital. The Velazquez amendment will reduce fees.to small business owners and lenders and create an environment which will foster critical domestic job growth and the local economic expansion so vital to the Eighth District of Illinois and to communities across the Nation. I urge my colleagues support of this amendment.","speaker_name":"MELISSA BEAN","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2263,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090040501,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I. yield myself such time as I may consume. The numbers cited by the proponents of this amendment say that SBAs numbers are deceiving. I understand what the gentlewoman is trying to do. I have information here on the gentlewomans district. showing that 7(a) demand is up. Last year in the gentlewomans district. for the entire year. there were 7.849 loans. This year. for the year to date. meaning there are still 31\/2 months left to the end of the fiscal year. the figure is 9.267 loans. if that trend continues. the number of loans will. almost double. It is one of the few times we have actually made a difference and rolled something back in this body. .","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":672,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090040567,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I wanted to respectfully make the gentleman aware of this. Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the last.word. We will look into this. We were led to believe by the FBI that they do not have this. The gentlewoman may be right. We will look into it and work with her to see that this does not take place.","speaker_name":"MARILYN MUSGRAVE","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"F","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1295,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090040596,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. is if we cannot cut the Legal Services by 2.8 percent. symbolically and give it to a program like the Justice Assistance Grant. which is going to help these people so they do not need Legal Services. they do not need the governmentrun legal program. because they will be free of crime. then I think we are making a mistake. So this is a very simple amendment with great symbolic reference here that one as a Member can say. I believe in my local community. I want to fight crime. I want to give grants to the States so that they can do it so that in the end they do not need these legal services. And good golly. if we cannot cut the Legal Services Corporation by about 2.8 percent. then really. Mr. Chairman. we are really not interested in trying to even look. at fiscal responsibility. much less symbolic. responsibility for helping our local police sheriffs in all of our congressional districts and all the counties throughout this country. So with that. ","speaker_name":"CLIFFORD STEARNS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2121,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090040618,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. let me compliment the gentleman on his statement. I totally concur with those goals. The gentleman has never let me forget the importance of keeping oceans as a priority. The fact of the matter is. as we look at the $5.7 billion budget request for the Department of Commerce. 63 percent of that budget request is for NOAA. which we know is critically important. I do not in any way undermine the importance of it. I do believe. though. if you look at this $50 million in administrative expenses. this is something that clearly could be handled very. very easily within that massive budget of NOAA. Mr. Chairman. I yield 1 minute to the distinguished chairman of the full committee. the gentleman from California","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":725,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090040624,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"My point is that as it is a reimbursement to States. it is not for fighting ontheline illegal immigration. Secondly. Mr. Chairman. it is not benign in a very important way: the House mark already cuts the NOAA budget by over $486 million from the 2005 enacted levels and $153 million from the Presidents request. So NOAA in this bill is already feeling the pain. along with a lot of the other accounts. because of our inadequate allocation. This amendment is extremely difficult to NOAA for a lot of reasons. First and foremost. just looking at it overall. this amendment would result in RIFs to NOAA. Over 100 emhployees. NOAA employees. government employees. would be affected. would be RIFd by this amendment. and over 200 nongovernmental researchers and staff. This comes* from operations. a. lot of this money. ","speaker_name":"ALAN MOLLOHAN","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2477,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090040698,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"JONES of Ohio. regarding EEOC. an amendment by Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin. regarding SBA funding. an amendment by Mr. WEINER. regarding State and local law enforcement funding. an amendment by Mr. HAYWORTH. regarding U.N. funding. an amendment by Mr. McDERMOTT. regarding travel to Cuba. an amendment by Mr. REYES. regarding torture of human rights activists. Each amendment may be offered only by the Member named in this request or a designee or the Member who caused it to be printed in the RECORD or a designee. shall be considered as read. shall not ba subject to amendment. except that the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations and the Subcommittee on Science. State. Justice. Commerce. and Related Agencies each may offer one pro forma amendment for the purpose of debate. and shall not be subject to the demand for division of the question in the House or in the Committee of the Whole. ","speaker_name":"PETER KING","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2181,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090040833,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today the Committee on Homeland Security will hold a hearing on chemical security. something that has been put off for far too long. It has almost been 4 years since the attacks of September 11 showed us just how determined terrorists are to attack us. In that time the House has taken action to deal with nuclear secu.rity. cybersecurity. port security. border security and airline security. just to name a few. But we have yet to deal with chemical security. something that Richard Falkenrath. a former Bush administration official working on homeland security. called \"uniquely deadly. pervasive. and susceptible to terrorist attack.\" Imagine a terrorist blowing up a chemical storage facility and releasing a cloud of toxic gas. threatening the lives of millions of Americans. The time to act is now. and that is why I have introduced the Chemical Security Act. I am glad the Committee on Homeland Security has started this process. but it cannot stop there. My own committee. the Committee on Energy And Commerce. which has jurisdiction over chemical security. must now follow suit. because the consequences of inaction are just too great.","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1157,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090040838,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. our immigration policies are badly broken. When they get in the way of justice being served. it is time for strong enforcement of our laws and to secure our borders.","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1179,"word_count":31}
{"speech_id":1090040840,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. -Speaker. as the largest financial contributor to the United Nations.. the United States should be assured that U.N. programs are accountable. efficient. and resultsoriented. Unfortunately. we still have no guarantee that our contributions are used for valuable purposes. Although U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has discussed reform of the United Nations for years. his words have rarely resulted in action. In 1995.. two dozen U.S. staffers defrauded or squandered up to $10 million in agency funds. Two years later. 16 U.N. employees were under investigation after siphoning off $6 million during an 8year period. Additionally. in 2003. a U.N. probe into corruption allegations found that one senior U.N. official improperly gave 11 contracts to his wife. The Committee on International Relations chairman. the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman HYDE). requires the U.N. to drastically reform or risk losing 50 percent of Americas contributions to the U.N.-assessed budget. Actions speak louder than words. and if we link U.S. support to U.N. results. the U.N. will be more effective. In conclusion. ","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1168,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090040848,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to indicate that I will be offering an amendment later to the State Department appropriation bill that will prohibit funds from being used to enforce. new restrictions. new as of a year ago. that limit gift parcels to Cuba. This amendment is called the toothpaste and toilet paper amendment because we prohibit those personal hygiene items from being shipped from a family member in the United States to .a family member in Cuba. I would suggest. Mr. Speaker. that that is not what this country is all about. That is not what we should be doing. When these new rules were promulgated. the Department of Commerce and the Department of State said we will come out and change those because of public input. Guess what? Over 1 year later. they have not. ","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1099,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090040849,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. previously I introduced an amendment to the appropriations budget which would have called upon the committee to remove 50 percent of the United States annual dues to the United Nations. I did so to expound upon a point and to presage a prospective debate. As we debate the Hyde bill or the Lantos substitute amendment to it. let us remember that there is an American cost to the United Nations corruption. For example. by reducing the annual dues to the United Nations. within this budget alone we could have increased funding for violence against women prevention and prosecution by $45 million. increased trade.adjustment assistance by $40 million. increased spending on minority business development by $50 million. increased spending on the Manufacturing Extefision Partnerships by $40 million. and increased money for the United States Institute of Peace by over $6 million. So as we enter this debate. let us remember that out of the oilforfood corruption and the scandals of sexforfood in the Congo. that if the United Nations does not cleanse itself. that American money could be better spent here at home.","speaker_name":"THADDEUS MCCOTTER","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1127,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090040856,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"MORAN of Virginia. regarding export licenses for firearms. An amendment by Mrs. MUSGRAVE. regarding NASA Hollywood liaison. An amendment by Mr. OTTER. regarding delaying notice on search warrants. .An amendment by Mr. KING of Iowa. regarding implementation of section 642 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of An amendment by. Mr. SCHIFF. regarding DNA collection from convicted felons. An amendment by Ms. JACKSONLEE of Texas regarding safety requirements for the space shuttle and the international space station. ","speaker_name":"PETER KING","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1998,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090040868,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We believe the COPS program demonstrated that conclusively.\" That is John Ashcroft. When Tom Ridge was sworn in as the Secretary of Homeland Security. he said homeland security starts in our home towns. Yet what we have done. the last 4 years. since September 11. we have had a steady decline in the COPS program to where it is zero. The hiring component is at zero. We are actually taking cops off the street rather than putting them on. I have complete confidence that the gentleman from West Virginia and the geptleman from Virginia understand the value of the COPS program. In the district of the gentleman from Virginia","speaker_name":"ANTHONY WEINER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3392,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090040869,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 1 minute. Mr. Chairman. I rise in very strong opposition to the amendment. It would inflict a major blow to the Nations. basic scientific research. The Nation has reached a crisis point in terms of science and technology. Any advantage -that we have enjoyed is rapidly eroding.. The research budget should be considered part of the national security budget. ","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1100,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090040875,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Just for the purpose of clarification. under my amendment we are not reducing the budget of the NSF. It is going up. It is going up. I just want to make that clear. What we are doing is we are saying it should rise back to the level it was cut back to.","speaker_name":"ANTHONY WEINER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":252,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090040878,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If I can take back my time. I understand that. That is why I had an amendment yesterday to add $400 million to local law enforcement. The majority rejected that. I had another amendment adding $200 million to local law enforcement. My position in favor of the COPS program is clear. My brotherinlaw is a former district attorney who was shot. I have no less concern about law enforcement than the gentleman from New York. But the National Science Foundation and all of its ancillary programs. especially its education programs. are crucial to the future health of this country. It would be mindless to pass this amendment.","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":622,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090040901,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 3 minutes. I rise in opposition. to the gentlemans amendment. The amendment cuts the Bureau of Industry and Security by over 6 percent. What does that mean. because it does not sound that it is that significant? A cut of $5 million to the Bureau of Industry and Security wquld severely diminish efforts to deter weapons of mass destruction proliferation. would prevent sensitive dualuse items from falling into the hands of terrorists. and enforces the antiboydott laws of the United States. Some think that the Bureau of Industry and Security is actually too weak. and I may be in that category. American industry is being hampered in the international marketplace by the long processing time of export license applications. This amendment would roll back the progress that we have made in reducing the average processing time from 44 days to 32 days since 2003. With additional money we could probably get that down. ","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1757,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090040912,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. there is no amendment. We were going to reserve a point of order on it. But I just want the RECORD to show. and I appreciate the gentlemans comments. that the bill provides $800 million for the Marshals Service. which is $41 million above the current year and $10 million above the request. This is in addition to the $12 million provided in the war supplemental for judicial security. So with that I just thank the gentleman for his comments. C1 1130","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":465,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090040924,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Lastly. this body should know that along with the gentleman from New York . as ranking member. we had in our bill last year a task force chaired by Speaker Gingrich and Majority Leader Mitchell that just reported today. I read their entire report over the weekend on dramatic reforms to the U.N. At a press conference today at 10 oclock. I made the comments that because of the failure of the U.N. to deal with Darfur. and nobody has been more critical in this institution of the U.N. thanI have. I led the first delegation to Darfur where genocide is taking place. we went through all those. but we set up the GingrichMitchell task force of the bipartisan AEI. Heritage and all the groups like that. they have now come up with recommendations that will embolden the administration and this Congress to make sure that the reform is done. Also. how can we even be dealing with this amendment today when the chairman of the Committee on International Relations is bringing his U.N. reform bill to the House floor this Thursday?.The gentleman from Illinois (Chairman HYDE). God bless him and his committee. worked hard to ensure that reform takes place in the U.N. To take this amendment before the Hyde bill comes up is not only putting the cart before the horse. it just does not make any sense. The bill of the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman HYDE). as the committee and Members know. requires that 39 reforms must take place. and the Secretary of State must certify that these reforms have taken place. ","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3430,"word_count":265}
{"speech_id":1090040962,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This is a story from the Washington Post a couple of years ago. Guillermo Morales is a fugitive on the run from the FBI. but at this particular moment he is sipping a cappuccino in a chic hotel lobby in Havana. Nine and a half of his fingers are gone. blown to bits by a bomb he was making in New York in 1978. but he manages to open a packet of sugar and stir it into his coffee. On the lam for 23 years. he has cleverly learned how to live with what remains of his hands and his life. The convicted felon was facing 89 years in prison for illegal possession of firearms when he escaped from a New York hospital in 1979 while under police custody. Mr. Morales and so many of his cohorts terrorized this country. led to the demise and permanent maiming of many individuals. including many members ofthe New York City Police Department and other law enforcement officials. And what we wanted to do in an amendment. Mr. Chairman. is basically get the truth out to the peopleof Cuba. ","speaker_name":"VITO FOSSELLA","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3015,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090040978,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The report language says Americas advantage in science. math and technology is slipping. Our systems of basic scientific research and education are in crisis. While our countries are tedoubling their efforts. the United States can remain the worlds technology leader if it makes the commitment to do so. It also has $3 million for the International Trade Administration and the Department of Commerce for the Office of China Compliance. And we need to continue our efforts to make sure that there is no antidumping policies going on through the Chinese Government. With this bill we give the agencies with oversight of our science and technology policy and trade policyj. commerce and small business development the tools to help American employers improve their competitiveness. Now we need to make sure they follow through with policies that reflect Congress priorities. It is my hope that each and every Federal agency should take into consideration the proposed policies on competitiveness of U.S. business and be held accountable for those effects. To give you just a small idea how difficult it is because of regulations to start a business in America. I went to the Small Business Administration Web site. and I just listed some of the things that they have as what you need to consider before you start a business. ","speaker_name":"TODD TIAHRT","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4574,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090040989,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He is a naturalized American father who has been caught up in a national obsession to overthrow Castro. Decade after decade. plot after plot. the facts remain the same. The policy. or the plot. call it what you will. the new travel restrictions inflict pain and suffering on an American. not Castro. Carlos is a person. not a political pawn. a soldier who defended his country and asks only for his country to defend his freedom. He came to America on a raft in the 1990s. Since then he has made a new home and a new life. He has given back to his country and served with distinction. He is a patriot. The least we can do is allow Carlos to visit his children in Cuba Allowing him to travel to Cuba would say much more about freedom and opportunity in America than any new administration policy. You want to hurt Castro. send Carlos to see his children. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3727,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090041016,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"ida. Mr. Chairman. when I listen to this debate. I am reminded of the phrase \"the more things change. the more they remain the same.\" This is very similar to the debate when the Soviet Union was still in existence and President Reagan had a comprehensive policy to try to eliminate that regime. And the debate is the same: it- is going to hurt the people. When President Reagan was trying to cut off the funding:. it is going to hurt the Soviet people. they are the victims. No. No. Ronald Reagan was right then. George W. ","speaker_name":"MARIO DIAZ-BALART","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1266,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090041018,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of my time. I rise in strong opposition to the amendment. I would also like to say to the gentleman from Arizona . I would love to go down to Cuba. and I would ask if the gentleman can intercede for both of us to go together. and that would be an unusual trip.","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":301,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090041060,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. like my constituents. I believe that doctors should be permitted to prescribe marijuana for patients suffering debilitating diseases like cancer. AIDS glaucoma. spastic disorders. and many more. We want the Federal Government to get out of our way because our State of California passed Proposition 215 in 1996. allowing for the use of mar-. juana for medical purposes. The Members should know that my mother suffered from glaucoma and marijuana relieved her tremendously. In fact. her favorite Christmas present was a tin of marijuana. She is gone now. but I am certain that I speak for her today in asking that those who suffer from these debilitating diseases get help and can use marijuana if that help works. We want the Justice Department to stop punishing those who are abiding by their State laws. Join me in supporting this important amendment.","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":867,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090041072,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Chairman. let me just say in closing that the opposition to this amendment today on the floor has presented 19th century arguments for a 21st century problem. We have people in this country who are suffering the debilitating pain that comes from cancer and chemotherapy. No relief is available to them except by association with cannabinoids. That association should be allowed under a doctors prescription. That condition exists now in 10 States across this country. This Congress says to those 10 States. ","speaker_name":"MAURICE HINCHEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1075,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090041075,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I hope Members will join with the chairman in voting down this amendment.","speaker_name":"MARK SOUDER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3436,"word_count":13}
{"speech_id":1090041112,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. rollcall No. 251. I was unavoi Had I been present. I would ha Shaw Shays Sherman Sherwood Shimkus Shuster Simmons Simpson Skelton Slaughter Smith (NJ) Smith (TX) Sniith (WA) Snyder Sodrel Solis Sooder Spratt Stark Stearns Stupak Sullivan Sweeney Tancredo Tanner Tauscher Taylor (MS) Taylor (NC) Terry Thomas Thompson (CA) Thompson (MS) Thornberry Tiahrt Tiberi Tierney Turner Udall (CO) Uldoli INMi","speaker_name":"JEFF MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":402,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090041145,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. moving to one other matter. it is my understanding that the 2006 Science. State. Justice and Commerce. Appropriations bill requires agencies to notify the Committee on Appropriations 15 days before funds are reprogrammed to implement egovernment initiatives. As the chairman of the authorizing committee with jurisdiction over the EGovernment Act. and in fact I was one of the authors of the EGovernment Act. I would ask the gentleman from Virginia if he will share information that he obtains with the Committee on Government Reform on the funding and implementation of egovernment initiatives in this bill so we could be so Advised.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":648,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090041150,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman from Virginia for his good work on this bill. I also appreciate the opportunity to offer this amendment. This amendment is really about prioritizing spending and fiscal responsibility. Over the last 2 years. NASA has spent $20.000 for an artistinresidence program. ","speaker_name":"CHRIS CHOCOLA","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1924,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090041159,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They have an education program with a chief education officer. The ability to communicate the mission of NASA and the benefits of space exploration are still intact fully. But we have to make hard decisions. Having an artistinresidence that produces a play that has minimal. if any. relationship to NASA and the mission of NASA is not wise spending of taxpayer dollars. I appreciate the chairmans support of this amendment. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"CHRIS CHOCOLA","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":794,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090041171,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I think that is fine. We will work with her if she wins. God bless her. If she loses. the gentleman from West Virginia and I willwork to make sure that before we approve any reprogramming. we talk to her and also let her see what the GAO says when they come up with their report. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1151,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090041208,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Chairman. I will include for the record a letter from the Justice Department dated June 14. It says the following: \"Further. libraries and bookstores have never been exempt from similar investigative authorities. Prosecutors have always been able to obtain records for criminal investigations from bookstores and libraries through grand jury subpoenas. For instance. in the recent case of Olympic Park bomber Eric Rudolph. a grand jury served a subpoena on a bookseller to obtain records showing that Rudolph had purchased a book giving instructions on how to build a particularly unusual detonator that had been used in several bombings. This was important evidence identifying Rudolph as the bomber. \"In the 1997 Gianni Versace murder case. a Florida grand jury subpoenaed records from the public libraries in Miami Beach. Similar in the 1990 Zodiac gunman investigation. a grand jury in New York subpoenaed library records after investigators came to believe that the gunman was inspired by a Scottish. occult poet and wanted to learn who had checked out that poets book. \"Finally. bookstores and libraries should not be carved out as safe havens for terrorists and spies. who have. in fact. used public libraries to do research and communicate with their coconspirators. For example. in March and April of 2004. ","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3162,"word_count":209}
{"speech_id":1090041219,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the PATRIOT Act. as it stands. forces or could force users to selfcensor their own reading choices. just on fear alone. Mr. Chairman. censorship is not what America is about. Under the PATRIOT Act. the FBI can go after your library or your bookpurchasing records. and librarians or book sellers. under the penalty of law. cannot inform patrons of the library or the bookstore that it is under investigation or that a patrons records have been searched. That is why. Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of the Sanders Freedom to Read amendment. Americas right to read and purchase books without fear of government monitoring has been erased by the PATRIOT Act. and Congress must repeal this unconstitutional provision. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":842,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090041237,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for the time. I feel a certain irony that we are having this debate today in the aftermath of the final disclosure of the identity of Deep Throat who was part of an effort in the Federal Government to cover up illegal acts at the highest level of American government. and. in fact. Deep Throat was the number two member of the FBI caught up in the internal swirl of politics. I would suggest that 9\/11 was not so much a failure of secret access to our library records and to bookstores. but it was the fact that the FBI did not know how to talk to itself. how to listen to people who actually had information. We do not need to extend this reach. We have tools available. The problem that we have seen over and over again is that the Federal Government has. in fact. abused the rights of American citizens. including in the FBI. I would suggest that rather than drag our bookstores and our libraries into this illconsidered issue. that we would be far better off to approve the Sanders amendment. which is a small step towards sanity in this regard.","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1085,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090041243,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The FBI then served a subpoena to the library a week later demanding a list of everyone who had borrowed the book since November of .With government having the ability to easily obtain records of books that everyday Americans. our constituents. are borrowing. all of us forfeit the freedom to learn more. Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act clearly gives the Federal Government an unwarranted amount of power. There must be a higher standard of suspicion to justify this invasion of privacy. This amendment only applies to the records that contain information about the books and reading materials that are checked out of the library or purchased from a bookstore. It is important to note that prior to September 11. law enforcement was able to arrest Ted Kaczynski. the Unibomber. via his library records. The authority already existed in law without the secrecy and overreach of section 215. The adage \"keep your friends close and your enemies closer\" can be upheld via the freedom to obtain knowledge about those who wish to do us harm. I urge my colleagues support.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1923,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090041247,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for the time. In response to the gentleman from Washington. the PATRIOT Act under 215 has been used. It has been used 35 times. There have been 35 specific reports that have been presented to Congress. It has just not been used in libraries. This amendment is worse than previous law before the PATRIOT Act was passed because this creates a sanctuary and the sanctuaryis listed in the Sanders amendment. It says library circulation records. library patron lists. book sales records. or book customer lists. That will be the place where we cannot investigate an international terrorist investigation. ","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1390,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090041290,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"fornia. Mr. Chairman. I appreciate what the gentleman is saying. It is a third party. There is no doubt about it. In some cases it is essential to be able to get that information if you are involving yourself in a counterterrorism investigation precisely because you do not want those people to know you are going after that. But the recipient of the letter has the ability to refuse to give that to the authorities. The idea that somehow we have such an abuse of these letters flies in the face of any presentation we have had frbm the committees of jurisdiction. that is. the Intelligence Committees of the House and the Senate. There has been no report to us that there has been an abuse. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL LUNGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1420,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090041298,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I just urge my colleagues to look at this. not so muchas substantive because the money was appropriated. It was in last years bill. This is basically saying. before we go ahead and give this money. we should tell the United Nations. give us a plan. let us have an opportunity to review the cost before you go ahead. and then we can look at it more carefully. This is not an amendment that is against the United Nations. It is just an amendment asking for some kind of fiscal responsibility by these people be: fore they spend the money. The amendment that I am offering today proposed a very simple goal. It merely states that none of the funds made available in this act shall be used to renovate and modernize the U.N. headquarters in New York City. As we all know. the United States already pays roughly 22% of all U.N. expenses. We do so despite the fact that the U.N. often goes against American values and Americaninterests. Now the U.N. is planning a $1.2 billion renovation of its New York City headquarters. ","speaker_name":"CLIFFORD STEARNS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6168,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090041300,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in opposition to the amendment. It is my understanding that the gentleman will withdraw his amendment upon an understanding that the chairman. who I would support. would encourage a GAO study?","speaker_name":"ALAN MOLLOHAN","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":256,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090041305,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of my time. These are seribus questions when you spend $1.2 billion. Obviously we are going to pay onefourth of this. At the very least. with all this kind of waste we have seen and fraud in some of these estimates around here. it is not unreasonable for taxpayers to have some kind of control over this. We are just trying to make sure that American taxpayers dollars are used wisely. and that the renovation project is being run in a transparent and costeffective manner. and. in fact. when these employees go to other places to live while they do the renovation. that they do not waste hundreds of millions of dollars in doing so. I think the United Nations has had several offers from developers in town. in New York City. to say we will do this for onethird of the cost. I think the United Nations has to tell us. if you are going ahead with this project. we have got to have assurance that there is going to be a fixedcost basis on this contract and not procurement on a costplus fee basis or costplusplus basis. These are the kind of contracts that just roll out of pocket. ","speaker_name":"CLIFFORD STEARNS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1298,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090041343,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Moreover. Helro improved customer satisfaction and its credibility in the marketplace. allowing for easier introduction of its new product line. The results at TruVal Tubng and H elro are not an anomaly. In fiscal year 2003 alone. MEP served more than 18.0 0 manufacturers nationwide. Those manufacturers reported an additional $2.6 billion in sales. $686 million more in cost savings. $912 million of additional investment in plant modernization. and more than 50.000 more jobs just as a result of their projects with MEP Centers that year. Additionally. an estimate of the Federal return on our investment in MEP Centers is $4 in Federal tax revenue for every $1 invested in the program. MEP has a documented positive impact on our manufacturing sector. and is particularly vital to our small manufacturers. As vital as this program is to our manufacturers. fiscal year 2006 funding is vital to MEP. In addition to the funding restored to MEP. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH KNOLLENBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5460,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090041345,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Chairman of the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union. reported that that Committee. having had under consideration the bill making appropriations for Science. the Departments of State. Justice. and Commerce. and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30. 2006. and for other purposes. had come to no resolution thereon.","speaker_name":"DOC HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":352,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090041403,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I know the majority leader. and I want to move this legislation along. We have great plans for the last week of this work period to do some appropriations bills. one of which I hope would be the bill of Senator DOMENICI and this Senator which we have been fortunate enough to be chairman and ranking member of that committee for many years. We were able to complete that yesterday in the subcommittee and will be ready to move. It is such a waste of the countrys time not to move forward. I have made my goodfaith gesture to do so. I hope everyone understands that we cant rush forward on cloture when there is nothing having been done to allow us to offer amendments.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":683,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090041419,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is my understanding that the ranking member of the committee has one on renewables that is ready to go. electricity renewables. portfolio standard that we have debated on a number of occasions. I assume that with all the work done on global warming. there are several amendments around. some of which are bipartisan. I am sure that is ready to go. So there are a number of amendments ready to go.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":399,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090041440,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Just for the benefit of the Senators. I know it is close here to leaving. but we are getting close also to a vote. I am very hopeful that will occur in a couple of minutes here. We will ask for the yeas and nays and have a vote on the ethanol amendment. as modified. which I think will make many people happy. before we draw to a close this afternoon. We will not be closing the Senate. -but as far as voting. we will wait until the Senators return from the Nebraska trip on behalf of the late Senator Exon.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":507,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090041474,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. having said that. Senators on our side have heard we will be on this amendnient for 2 hours. probably longer. If any of my colleagues desire to come down and debate the issue. I would very much appreciate them letting us know or. in fact. come to the floor and we will arrange for them to speak. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":329,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090041480,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the Senator for her leadership. The amendment she is proposingand we hope will be embraced by both sides of the aislewill set a goal to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. I cant think of a single person in America who wouldnt agree with that goal. We can all understand that as we wait every day for a press release from the OPEC nations to try to determine whether or not the price of gasoline is going to go up or down. This proud. strong. leading nation in the world goes hat in hand to the Saudi peninsula looking for oil. We wait for them to determine what the price will be. It affects every individual and family and business and airline. right down the line. Is it not true that the bill before us. S. 10. has a goal of reducing dependence on foreign oil over the next 10 years by 1 million barrels a day. which is not as ambitious or as far reaching as the goal of reducing dependence on foreign oil by 40 percent over 20 years? Is it not also true that the President sent a letter to Congress yesterday and said if we include this provisionthe weaker provision that is already in the billreducing the barrels of oil by 1 million a day over 10 years. the President will veto the bill? Is that the message that we have received from the Bush White House about our goal in reducing dependence on foreign oil?","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1326,"word_count":252}
{"speech_id":1090041481,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It doesnt say: You are going to have CAFE. you are going to have nuclear power. A lot of my colleagues are betting on nuclear power. There is new language in here for new nuclear technology. A lot of people think it will provide us. hydrogen sources. and we will have hydrogen fuel cells. We will move to having a more fuelefficient economy that way. I am not being prescriptive because 2025 is a long time from now. But I know if we look at specifics. we can get there through these various means. but we wont get there without a goal.","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2474,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090041499,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If you can buy biofuels in Seattle now in the $2.60 range. $2.70 range. I know that we can create more incentive. as we are in this bill. more research and development to get that cost down. So I know I can get it competitive to what I think gasoline prices are going to be. I want to do that. I am gungho about that. I am gungho about what the Brazilians have done because they have turned their economy around by becoming almost net exporters of energy instead of net importers. That is an incredible story the United States should learn from. As my colleague from North Dakota said. there are many different technologies in the bill. but other countries are starting to gain the advantage. If we think about it. we are not the experts on fuel efficiency that the Japanese are. We are not the experts on wind energy that some of the Scandinavian countries are. ","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5137,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090041505,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It seems to me the answer is impossible. That is the answer. This is an impossible amendment. People want tor dream. but you do not build a country on dreams. Maybe you can dream. wake up and think of something that is quite appropriate for goal achievement. This seems like somebody dreamt up something to tell us we ought to save 40 percent of crude oil we use in the United States by 2025. is that what it sounds like to the Senator? S6632. Co","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":446,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090041516,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We could close up the wells offshore in Louisiana and say. \"Thank you.\" Of course not. We need moreand conservation. But I thought. since you raised the subject of offshore. we ought to tell the Senate. tell the few people listening. where the real value in America is. that we refuse. We are like ostriches when it comes to offshore. People say. it is so pretty here. we dont want to touch it. What about 100 miles out from that shore? You cannot even see it. And people around here are crying that you will hurt their States. You could put any limitation you would like that is credible and lets go beyond that and try to do something with this very important assetthis asset field that is ours. I thank the Senator for her comments and thank her for yielding. \u0095","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":764,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090041521,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. that is exactly what we have done in the State of Washington and many parts of the -Northwest. It has cost our environment. but yet we get 70 percent of our power from that. We have one nuclear powerplant in our State. We have one coal plant in our State. We have a few natural gasfired plants in our State. We have four major refineries that take crude oil and convert it to petroleum products. such as gasoline. jet fuel. diesel. and asphalt. So we in Washington State are involved in all those activities. The fact is. we do not have significant oil and natural gas off the coast of Washington. I know that is something that is being discussed. But the Minerals Management Service Report that was conducted basically says there is not a lot of natural gas off the coast of Washington. ","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3171,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090041530,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I apologize for the interruption. A number of people have called asking for the schedule for tonight in terms of voting. We will be voting on the Cantwell amendment sometime tomorrow morning. and we will not have rollcall votes tonight. I have one unanimous consent request.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":289,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090041546,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I see the Senator from Kansas waiting patiently. I do not want him to sit here and miss the picnic. I will just speak for a few minutes more. The point I was trying to make when I yielded to the majority leader is there is dramatic growth in the Chinese economy. and- with that growth. there will be an increase in their demand for oil. They will be competing with the United States around the world. We will find the old laws of supply and demand will not work. Increased demand without increasing supply means higher prices. So we will be in competition for this foreign oil. paying more for it. watching our economy strangled by this dependence on foreign oil. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11789,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090041564,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to recognize June 15. 2005 as National History Day. The National History Day Program is an annual celebration to recognize the importance of a strong -history curriculum in schools in Missouri and across the country. This celebration is also a showcase for students across the Nation to present their knowledge and interest in particular events in history through performances. documentaries. and exhibits. This year. Missouri has 5 exemplary students selected from a group 2.000 finalists to perform and present their projects at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Kate LaRose. a student at Jefferson Junior High School in Columbia. MO. was recognized for her project \"Martha Graham: The Power of Communication through Dance.\" Robert Adams. Raeed Chowdhury. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1100,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090041565,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am pleased to congratulate the students from Connecticut who have been selected to represent our State at this years National History Day competition. It also gives me great pleasure to pay special tribute to Sadie Hartell and Elizabeth Kelly. . Sadie Hartell and Elizabeth Kelly. both students at Hall Memorial School in Willington. CT. were among the 19 students chosen out of more than half a million across America to display and present their history projects at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Sadies project is titled \"The Beatles: Communicating to their Generation.\" Elizabeths project is titled \"The Second American Revolution: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her Fight.\" I applaud all 50 delegates from the State of Connecticut for having been selected to represent our State as finalists in the National History Day competition and commend these students for their diligence and creativity. I join with the citizens of.the State of Connecticut in wishing them well in all their future endeavors.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2060,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090041573,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I congratulate Mary as she is honored for her presentation. and commend her for her dedication and commitment. I join with the citizens of Rhode Island -n wishing Mary well in all her future endeavors..","speaker_name":"LINCOLN CHAFEE","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1211,"word_count":35}
{"speech_id":1090041577,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Bolling AFB. DC. Serving briefly in this capacity. she returned to Andrews AFB where she became the first Nurse Corps officer to command the 89th Medical Group. concurrently served as the Assistant Air Force Surgeon General for Nursing. and became the first Air Force nurse promoted to major general in 2003. Her career culminates in a dual role as Assistant Air Force Surgeon General. Medical Force Development and Assistant Air Force Surgeon General for Nursing. through which she established and appraised personnel policy and force development actions for over 40.000 active duty officer. enlisted. and civilian medical personnel. I extend my deepest appreciation to Major General Brannon for her 30plus years of dedicated military service and offer her my congratulations on a phenomenal and inspirational career.*","speaker_name":"DANIEL INOUYE","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2600,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090041581,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Anthonys Pier 4 became famous for serving quality New England seafood to visitors from all over the world and by the late1960s Anthonys Pier 4 was the port of call for movie stars. signers. performers of all sorts and athletes. Irrespective of name recognition or social standing. every guest received the same gracious reception from Anthony. To walk in his.door was to be regarded and treated as someone special. This hospitable approach had practical applications as well. proven by the restaurants ranking as the fifth most successful restaurant in the country in The embrace he received from his peers in the restaurant community was complete and sustained. He received the Silver Plate Award from the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association. the Ivy Award of Distinction from InstitutionsVFM Magazine. the Golden Door Award from the International Institute of Boston. the Restaurant of the Year Award in 1976 from the National Restaurant Association amongst many others. The best business leaders in our country are people who not only excel in commerce but also embrace the larger needs of their community. Anthony embraced this notion with the same passion and determination that defined his professional life. He contributed time. energy and resources to preserving our national history at the USS Constitution Museum Foundation. reached out to other entrepreneurs through the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. brought comfort to suffering families through his work with the American Cancer Society. and helped create the next generation of restaurateurs through his support of the American Institute of Food and Wine. Anthony breathed real life and meaning into the American Dream by not only maximizing its possibilities for him and his family but by expanding those very same opportunities for others. The last time I walked into Anthonys Pier 4 I was greeted in* the same way I have been for years. with a smile and handshake from a true gentleman. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3335,"word_count":313}
{"speech_id":1090041582,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I congratulate Miriam Strauss of Apache Middle School in Sierra Vista. AZ for her National History Day Project entitled. \"Franklin D. Roosevelts Fireside Chats.\" Miriams project. along with seven others from around the Nation. was chosen from among more than 2.000 finalists for presentation and display at the White House Visitors Center on June 15. 2005. Her project was part of this years National History Day theme. \"Communication: The Key to Understanding.\" The National History Day program includes half a million students in grades six through twelve in all 50 States and the District of Columbia. so the selection of. Miriams project for presentation is a tremendous honor. I wish this budding - historian the best of luck in the future.o","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":761,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090041583,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to recognize Mr. Andrew Ivy. an exceptional history teacher and role model from Kirkland. WA. Mr. Ivy has been named Teacher of the Year by the Richard T. Farrell Teacher of Merit Award for outstanding success in teaching history. This national award is presented every year to an educator who develops and uses innovative and creative teaching methods that interest students in history and help them make exciting discoveries about the past. As a teacher at International Community School in Kirkland. ","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2262,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090041589,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We can use the opportunity of the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act this year to find a data source that provides timely. accurate information. Until we have done so. I urge my colleagues to support the KennedyCorzine bill. so that thousands of students who are harmed by these changes can retain their grants of aid and continue their college education. By Mr. REID (for Mr. JEFFORDS (for himself. Mrs. MURRAY. Mr.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1698,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090041614,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent request that Lauren Mical. a fellow with Senator JEFFORDSs Environment and Public Works Committee staff. Margaret McCarthy. Katie Gallagher and Matthew Kireker. three interns on Senator JEFFORDSS staff. be granted the privilege of the floor during consideration of H.R. 6.","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":311,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090041723,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is not as great a challenge as putting a man on the Moon. but America did that. It may not be as great a challenge as the Manhattan Project. when President Franklin Roosevelt said develop an atomic bomb that will end World War II. but we did that. I am confident. with the creativity and ingenuity of America. we can meet this challenge40percent reduction in dependence on foreign oil over the next 20 years. That is the pending amendment. You would think most Senators would say: Fine. lets accept the challenge. Let America rise to this challenge and meet it. But sadly. if you listen to the debate. primarily from the other side of the aisle. that is not what we hear. We hear. instead: Oh. this is too big a challenge for America. We cant do. that. The technology isnt there. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9034,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090041724,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It isnt that the Senator doesnt think we should have an American plan. What we have in this bill is an American plan. Senator BINGAMAN and I and many others have worked hard to put it together. Some people say it does not do enough as it is. I heard some reporters yesterday commenting. I wondered what they were reading. They said: It doesnt do anything for nuclear. It is the most farreaching pronuclear set of proposals we will have ever before us. The same commentators said it cost too much money. I. dont know where they got the numbers. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4887,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090041725,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask unanimous consent the Cantwell amendment be temporarily set aside. Senator BINGAMAN be recognized in order to offer an amendment regarding RPS. provided further there be 3 hours of debate equally divided in the usual form and that following the use or yielding back of time. the Senate proceed to a vote in relation to the amendment and that no seconddegree amendments be in order to the amendment prior to .the vote.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":423,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090041735,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I remind the Senate that we have an hour and a half on our side. I am in control of the time. I am going to yield control of the time to the junior Senator from Tennessee. He will start and use as much tim6 as he wants. Then I will return and use some. I have put the word out. if anybody else would like to speak in opposition to the Bingaman amendment. With that understanding. I yield the floor and thank the Senator from Tennessee.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":450,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090041739,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I re- of S. 1262 are printed in todays RECORD ceived notice that our Republican lead- under \"Statements on Introduced Bills erwishes to speak. he said. at 11:15. and Joint Resolutions.\") I want to make an observation and The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who see if the Senator from Tennessee will yields time? answer it. The Senator from New Mexico. The Senator from Tennessee went Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President. I will through all these other ways we could take a very few minutes to respond to go about cleaning upour air and reduc- some of the points that the Senator ing the carbon emissions. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2376,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090041755,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It would also reduce electric utility carbon dioxide emissions by 7.5 percent. This does not even take into account all of the benefits that I believe would flow from this amendment. When it comes to renewables. we in the United States need to catch up. We are behind in this effort compared to other countries and we need to spur innovation and creativity. I also support Senator CANTWELLS amendment. This improves on a provision in the bill that would require the President to develop a plan to save 1 million barrels of oil per day by 2015. That is a laudable provision. Actually it was approved by the Senate 99 to 1. 2 years ago. It is unfortunate the President opposes this provision and has even threatened to veto the Energy bill over it. At a time when oil and gas prices are high. at a time when national security interests clearly dictate that we reduce our dependence on foreign oil. rather than rejbcting this provision. we need to go further than we went with the 99to1 vote. and that is exactly what the Cantwell amendment does. ","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2844,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090041759,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"States that cant do this because of the unfortunate situation of naturethey do not have the wherewithal to produce it. or it they had to produce it. they would produce it in places they would not want to produce it because it would not be consistent with another use of that land that is paramount and has a priority to the development of windmills. such as right down the middle of a national park. Having said that. another point was made by my distinguished friend from New Mexico. Senator- BINGAMAN. who has been a tremendous partner in this bill. He knows on this issue we do not agree. but he understands that on 99 percent of this bill. we will fight for it and win and have an energy bill for the first time that has a lot of good. solid things for the country. My good friend Senator BINGAMAN said that other States already have these goals. They set their own requirementsnot goals. their own requirements. He used the word that they have done so \"aggressively.\". I remind the Senator. and I think I am correct. that those States do not use the same formula for what will make up their portfolio of renewables. I submit. if the Senator would like to amend his amendment and allow the myriad kinds of energy production used in other States to meet their current goals or current mandates. that would be a good bill. For instance. the State of Pennsylvania has a very aggressive plan. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10507,"word_count":253}
{"speech_id":1090041776,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Yes. This has been cleared with both sides. I ask unanimous consent that at 2:15 today. the Senate proceed to a vote in relation to the Cantwell amendment. which will be modified with the changes that are at th6 desk. which we have seen. I further ask that following that vote. the Senate proceed to a vote in relation to the Bingaman amendment. provided further. that no seconddegree amendments be in order to either amendment prior to the votes. and finally. prior to the vote on the Cantwell amendment. there be 30 minutes of debate equally divided in the usual form. Before the Chair rules. I note that there is no provision for wrapup debate on the Bingaman amendment.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":673,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090041783,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I call this the homegrown energy. or an Americanmade energy amendment. Let me use a picture to make a point. This happens to be a photograph of a wind turbine just south of Minot. ND. There are actually two wind turbines that sit on a hill south of Minot. North Dakota is a wonderful State. I am enormously proud to represent- North Dakota. We happen to be fiftieth in the 50 States in native forest lands. Translated. we are dead last in trees. It is a great State. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7096,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090041787,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have been having a big argument dbwn here about the Clean Air Act. whether to take the Presidents version or. say. the Carper version. which I cosponsored. According to the Environmental Protection Agency analysis. the difference is a $5 billion effect on the economy. and everybody was shooting off rockets about that. This is $18 billion. But the Senator from New Mexico said keep reading the letter. It says: ... cumulative expenditures for natural gas and electricity by all endusq sectors taken together decrease by $22 billion. That would look like the net increase was almost nothing. The problem with that is that assumes the price of natural gas is $5. That also looks at the year 2020. If you go out to 2025 with no RPS. according to the Energy Information Administration. the cost of natural gas is $4.79 and the cost with RPS is $4.79. What I am saying is. ","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10183,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090041788,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. energy diversification is important\u00b0to the future of our country. and for that reason. the distinguished ranking member of the Energy Committee has proposed an amendment to require 10 percent of our electricity to be produced from renewable resources by 2020. However. for those regions of the country that do not have the capacity to greatly increase renewable resources in their State. a financial hardship may result through no fault of their own. My State of Florida is one of the States that will have difficulty meeting the standards because the geological. climatic and topographical conditions make it impossible to harness certain forms of renewable energy like wind and hydropower. Furthermore. the Energy Information Administration concludes that Floridas energy technical potential for renewable energy is 8 percent. Currently. Florida has 1.8 percent in existing renewables. and more than 50 percent of that 1.8 percent comes from municipal solid waste. a form of renewable energy not included in the definition of \"new renewable energy\" in the ranking members amendment. For these reasons. I have expressed my concerns to Senator BINGAMAN. While I remain supportive of expanding the use of renewable energy supplies. ","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1432,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090041802,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank our friend from Washington for making this modification. This is a very important modification from my perspective. But for this modification. the language of the amendment would propose that the goals that are set forthwhich are only goals but nonetheless they are goalswould need to be achieved by implementing measures \"under existing authorities of the Federal agencies.\" That is the language which is in 151(c)(2)(B) of the amendment. That is lines 8 and 9 on page 4 of the amendment. Now. that is very problematic language and unacceptable language because if we are going to achieve the goals that are set forth. if we have any chance of doing so. it would have to be with significant changes in our authoritiesfor instance. in the tax incentives which would be so essential in order to achieve a reduction in imports of oil. There is no way I can see or that many others can see that we could achieve the kinds of reductions that are hoped for without significant tax incentives being put into the lawtax incentives that do not now exist. There are some existing authorities and some existing tax incentives. but they do not come close to what they must be if we are going to reduce the amount of imported oil that we use. So it is important to me that the existing authorities language either be removed or superseded in this amendment so that the President could seek and we could grant. if we so chose. new authority. additional authorities. new tax incentives. for instance. to move to new technologies. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3889,"word_count":267}
{"speech_id":1090041804,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This amendment is technologyneutral. It simply lays out a vision that the United States should attempt to achieve over the course of the next 20 years. The only assumption underlying this amendment is that the United States has the ingenuity and innovative spirit to reverse the rising trend of American dependence on foreign oil imports. Today. foreign oil constitutes approximately 58 percent of our domestic supply. a figure that is projected to reach 68 percent by 2025. Because of the nature of world oil markets and the geologic fact that twothirds of global reserves are located in the Middle East. the United States is on track to become increasingly dependent on OPEC to fuel our economy. and will be competing. with developing nations such as China for access to these oil supplies. Because of the economic and national security implications of foreign oil dependence. this amendment simply states that it is in the national interest of the United States to attempt to curb our appetite for imported oil. The underlying bill provides a number of tools to help this country achieve the goal established by my amendment. and there are many potential pathways to its attainment. However. none of them are specifically assumed by the Cantwell amendment.","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1259,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090041808,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Because the amendment is technologyneutral and simply lays out a vision. accelerated ethanol production and use is not specifically assumed. However. there is no question that biofuels -can play an important role in achieving the goal established by the Cantwell amendment. by displacing imported petroleumbased products with domestic fuel derived from plant matter. In fact. it has been estimated that increased domestic biofuels production can contribute more than half of the oil savings goal established by the Cantwell amendment. It is also worth noting that the underlying bill contains important provisions that will help accelerate the production of ethanol and other alternative fuels. including provisions I authored that would provide incentives. research. development and demonstration of processes to produce ethanol from cellulosic sources. While not specifically prescribed by the Cantwell energy security amendment. these measures would assist substantially in achieving the amendments goal.","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1007,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090041889,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator from Oregon for his comments. Again. I strongly oppose the RPS. but if there must be one in the Energy bill. I ask the distinguished chairman if he will commit to work with the Senator from Oregon and myself in conference to make these modifications to the provision to ensure that the RPS promotes renewable energy where it is mostneeded without harming consumers.","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":400,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090041901,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is a big deal for the State of New Jersey. It is for anyone who is exposed to the coast and has a tremendous amount .of industry and tourism that is the livelihood of those individuals who live near the shore. We can avoid the conflict as it relates to the overall energy policy. But it is the responsibility of those who are to defend the interests of our State. to stand up firmly to protect our economy. to protect our environment. to protect our quality of life. We do not need this conflict with regard to this bill. I hope my colleagues will keep that in mind in the days ahead. Otherwise. there will be those who have to fight in ways that are not our preferred approach especially when we would like to get a bipartisan energy bill to go forward. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JON CORZINE","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":778,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090041909,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Democratic leader. I believe it is pretty clear in terms of the planA: No more rollcall votes today. We will have a pro forma session tomorrow. We expect people to continue today to offer amendments and to bring them forward on Monday as well. We will have a rollcall vote on the Bolton nomination. to reconsider the cloture vote on the Bolton nomination. at 6 oclock on Monday. We will complete the Energybill next week. And then we will turn to the appropriations bills. as we had planned.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":518,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090041926,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But risking and exploiting our shore is a step too far. I am not the only Senator who has concerns about the amendments to this energy bill that would weaken the OCS moratoria. I have been in contact with many coastal State Senators who agree that this bill must notinclude any provisions that undermine the m6ratoria. My concern is reinforced by the inventory provision already included in the underlying bill. I am strongly opposed to this provision and voted against it during committee markup. I consider this provision a step onto a slippery slope toward the eventual drilling off the New Jersey coast and other areas currently under the OCS moratoria and possibly exposing our beaches and fisheries to unnecessary risks from adjacent locals. Give the minimal benefit and significant downside of drilling off the coast of New Jersey. I do not believe it is worth threatening over 800.000 New Jersey jobs to recover what the Minerals Management Service estimated in 2000 to be 196 million barrels of oil. only enough to last the country barely 10 days and 2.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas forthe entire MidAtlantic region. This level of estimated production can in no way be justified. In comparison. areas off the Gulf of Mexico already open to drilling contain 18.9 billion barrels of oil and 258.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. ","speaker_name":"JON CORZINE","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6167,"word_count":227}
{"speech_id":1090041938,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. yester-: day. apparently. on the floor of the Senate and elsewhere. certain statements were made with regard to the American service personnel serving in Guantanamo. I am now paraphrasing what was reported in the Washington Times of June 16. when it is alleged that in this article on the floor of the Senate. this statement was made: If I read this to you and did not tell you\" that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control. you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis. Soviets in their gulags. or some mad regimePol Pot or othersthat had no concern for human beings. Sadly. that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of prisoners. Mr. President. as you can see by this shock of gray hair. I have lived now these 78plus years. and I remember these periods of history that were cited on the floor of the Senate yesterday very well\" I see the leader standing. Does he wish to be recognized?","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1000,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090041946,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my friend from Virginia for clearing up any notion anyone might have that anything the United States is involved in. in incarcerating prisoners. would be in any way related to experiences such as those carried out by the Nazis or by the Russians during the Stalin period.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":294,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090041955,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I was assured by the Secretary of DefenseI did not need the assurance because I knew it would be the casethat we will account for any wrongs that have been done under the due process of our system. The Department of Defense and others have investigated this situation and made known a series of facts at this time. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1619,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090041985,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me say this to the Senator in response. I have said clearly in the Senate. and obviously the Senator does not accept it. but I will say it again: There were horrors beyond interrogation techniques committed by those three regimes. That is clear. But I want to ask the Senator from Virginia. does he even accept the premise or possibility that this happened at Guantanamo?","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":375,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090041994,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. the use of the words \"due process\" by the Senator from Virginia was restricted to due process that is taking place with regard to allegations in that report and others according to the actions of either uniformed or civilian personnel under the clear supervision and jurisdiction of the Department of Defense at Guantanamo. That was my use of due process. It is a separate issue as to the due process of the detainees. the Senator is correct. That is a matter that should be openly discussed. is being discussed. and will be reviewed by this Chamber. I come back again. and I just concludeI see there are other Senators waiting to speakwe have to be extraordinarily careful in our remarks in the Senate as they relate to the safety of our people because this series of statements the Senator has made. factual references to chapters of history. can be manipulated by other people throughout the world to their advantage. That is my deep concern.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":962,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090041997,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I want to make sure Iunderstand this correctly: Is it my understanding that my good friend from Illinois stands by his own words. because he read them again today. and it is his view that even if this allegation from this one FBI agent were trueand as the Senator from Virginia has pointed out is being investigatedeven assuming this allegation from this one FBI agent were true. the Senator from Illinois still believes that could be correctly equated to the treatment by the Nazis. by the Soviets in the gulags. and by the Pol Pot regime? Is that an accurate description of that. even assuming this one allegdtion is provento be true?","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":636,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090042004,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. first. I have been here for most of the remarks of the senior Senator from West Virginia. who has this evening caused me to reflect on my father on this Fathers Day. I am sad to say that my father has now passed on. and that fact has caused me to think about things I probably \u00a7hould have thought a lot more about before he left. But it is good to be reminded of the qualities we look for in fathers and in our fathers. those who have led the way for us. and that as Fathers Day approaches. I join my colleague from West Virginia in suggesting that we would all do well not only to think back on our fathers and set a good example but to think about what makes a good father in everything we do. and in whatever our roles are. to try to follow those precepts. I appreciate the important words spoken by the Senator from West Virginia.","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":851,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090042006,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Dads on the front line who risk their lives for our freedom. Dads on the home front who go to work everyday to support their families. America honors you as everyday you honor us.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3039,"word_count":34}
{"speech_id":1090042009,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In just 4 days. the festival generates more than $20 million for the local economy. The CMA Festival has become a Nashville institution. joining the Grand Ole Opry and the Ryman Auditorium as symbols of our rich musical traditions. Nashvilles thriving music scene has also attracted another festival called Bonarooa 4day event that brings more than 75.000 music lovers to Manchester. TN. The event showcases a wide variety of music including rock. jazz and bluegrass. This year. more than 80 bands participated. including: the Allman Brothers. Dave Matthews. and Alison Krauss. In just 4 years. Bonaroo has become Americas premier rock festival. Tennessee is truly a musical mecca. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1955,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090042010,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I was author of the second iteration of Superfund in 1986. It was a program that needed some time to get going. But now we can look at lots of sites that have been cleaned up and are put to useful purposes that dont threaten children or families who live in the area. President Bush said no to making the polluters pay. He said yes to making the taxpayers pay for the cleanup problems the polluters created. President Bush said no to getting tough with the Saudi Arabians. so we can really bring down oil prices. The Saudis said no to us when we asked for help in keeping oil prices down. Look what has happened to oil prices. I remember so vividly in the last Presidential campaign. when Senator KERRY challenged President Bush. The thing that came out of the White Housethe statement most clearly was: If Senator KERRY becomes President. you are going to see taxes on oil prices. ","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11279,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090042011,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Americans. on those 10 intercepts. We made the request earlier on to allow the chairman and ranking member of the Intelligence Committee. as well as the chairman and ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee. to review the raw data on those 10 intercepts to determine whether there were any problems associated with Mr. Boltons desire to see those intercepts. since there has been a basis of information concerning efforts by Mr. Bolton to intimidate a number of people within the intelligence community--of both the intelligence and. research division of the State Department. as well as the CIAconcerning certain intelligence conclusions. Therefore. it is a matter of concern to many of us on the committee that we have an opportunity to review whether there has been any further intimidation. I offered initially that we have the four Senators I mentioned review the matter. That was rejected by the administration. I then suggested why not just submit the names we are interested in and hav6 the Intelligence Director inform us as to whether those names were part of the intercepts. If they were not. end of matter. If they were. we might want to proceed further to determine why those names were sought out. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8506,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090042018,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Although they were held in the years immediately following 1865. they were not popular in the Jim Crowera South. In fact. they were banned from public property. and. in order to continue the celebrations. churches throuighout the South held fundraisers to sponsor Juneteenth events. This was common until the Great Depression. when people could no longer afford the necessities of everyday life. let alone celebrations of our past. At the same time. in many public schools. teachers often focused discussion on the day of the Emancipation Proclamation. even though it had no immiediate impact for slaves in many parts of the South. Thus. there was limited recognition of the importance of Juneteenth until the Texas legislature recognized it as an official holiday on January 1. 1980. This weekend we recognize this important celebration. In so doing. we take time to reflect on the evil of slavery. This is a time to learn from the past and toredouble our efforts to ensure that the values of freedom and liberty in this country are afforded to all its citizens. Juneteenth is a day for reflection. for prayer and for hope that our country will continue to grow together in the spirit of liberty. equality and justice. I am proud to honor the 140th commemoration of the African American emancipation day. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2258,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090042021,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Griffiths nomination by three individuals for whom I have great respectJudge Abner Mikva. Gregory Craig. an~i Lanny Breuer. I served in Congress with Judge Mikva. helped shepherd his nomination to the Federal bench. and worked closely with him when he was White Counsel and I was chairman. then ranking member. of the Judiciary Committee. I have worked with all three of these individuals. and their personal assurances to me that Mr. Griffith is both a man of his word and possessed of the requisite judgment and temperament to sit on the Federal bench is a significant factor in my decision to support his nomination. Finally. I am hopeful that Mr. Griffith will also remain true to his word for the sake of his five daughters who have been direct beneficiaries of title IX. For these reasons. I have decided to support Mr. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3101,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090042027,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I rise to introduce the Generating Opportunity by Forgiving Educational Debt for Service Act of 2005. a bill that will help Federal agencies and the Armed Forces recruit talented individuals to serve in all areas of the Federal Government and the military. This legislation is a modestly expanded version of a bill I introduced in the 108th Congress. Current law authorizes Federal agencies to pay student loans up to $10.000 a year with a cumulative cap of $60.000. but the incentive is taxed. Known as GOFEDS. this bill would amend the Federal tax code and allow the Federal Governments student loan repayment programs to be offered on a taxfree basis. In recent years. many educational institutions have established programs that repay a portion of the student loan debt their graduates owe. These programs are designed to encourage students to seek jobs with government or nonprofit organizations that Cannot pay salaries commensurate with the private sector upon graduation. Under current law. the amounts these institutions offer their graduates as student loan repayment are not taxed as income. provided the recipients choose to work for the government or nonprofit organizations. Unfortunately. the Federal Tax Code does not treat the Federal Governments loan repayment programsin the same way. considering Auch loan repayment as taxable income to the employee. As a result. the net benefit of any such program is reduced by the amount of tax that the individual has to pay on the debt repaid. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE VOINOVICH","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2571,"word_count":245}
{"speech_id":1090042030,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"From organizing peaceful demonstrations. to riding in the fronts of buses. LEWIS was a key leader and played a dynamic role in the civil rights movement. From 19631966 LEWIS served as chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating. Committee. In 1963 LEWIS was named one of the Big Six Civil Rights leaders along with Martin Luther King Jr.. James Farmer. Roy Wilkins. Whitney Young. and A. Phillip Randolph. In August 1963. ","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1735,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090042031,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in case the President may be wondering. and I asked consent about this. these are 7.000 regulations. We have 6.000 atitonomous institutions of higher education in tl. United States. colleges and universities. The Presiding Officer comes from the State that has some of the finest college s and universities anywhere in America. I will not begin to name them because there are so many of them I might leave one out. Every single college or university. public or private. ifi North Carolina. Tennessee. or Colorado which has students with Federal grants or loans gets all of these boxes this year. These are the Federal regulations under title IV of the Higher Education Act that somebody at the smallest college or the biggest university must wade through in order to help students have Federal grants and Federal loans. The Federal grant and Federal loans are one of the great success stories of the United States of America. ","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4196,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090042045,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I want to close that door. In order to provide comprehensive medical care. hospitals must also provide quick access to preventive medication that helps protect victims of sexual assault from potentially fatal sexually transmitted diseases. such as HIV and hepatitis B. We have an obligation to protect sexual assault victims from these life threatening infections. We must not sit idly by while so many sexual assault survivors are deprived the medical care they need and deserve. Once these survivors seek treatment we ought to make sure that they get the treatment they need. Ideology should never stand between patients and the care they deserve. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"JON CORZINE","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2513,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090042050,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that * the Committee on Banking. Housing. and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on June 16. 2005. at 10 a.m. to conduct a hearing on \"Meeting the Housing and Service Needs of Seniors.\"","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":258,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090042082,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. along with my colleagues from California. Arizona. Tennessee and Indiana. I support this resolution recognizing Burmese democracy activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi as a symbol of the struggle for freedom in Burma. While many may know of the horrors committed in Burma by the illegitimate State Peace and- Development Council. SPDC. and the courage. dignity and determination of Suu Kyi and her compatriots in the face of this repression. some people may be unaware that June 19 marks Suu Kyis 60th birthday. I would like nothing more than to pick up the telephone and call her in Rangoon to give her best wishes on her birthday. However. I cannot. Nor can anyone else. ","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1389,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090042108,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if you do not know where you are going. you are never going to get there. Another truism is that you do not begin a war without a plan to win the peace. Is it now well past time for the legislative.branch to ask of the executive branch the very things that our constituents are demanding of us:. What is the White Houses strategy for success in Iraq? How many Iraqi troops need to be adequately trained and sufficiently equipped. to take over the military protection of that country? How many Iraqi police forces are needed to restore law and order? How many more American dollars are needed to rebuild the infrastructure so that nation can be economically viable? And what does this administration consider to be political stability? These are reasonable questions. We should have had the answers before we went to war. but we must demand them now. It is unfair. not only to the mothers and fathers of our soldiers. but to our senior military officers of our country not to know where they are headed in Iraq.","speaker_name":"JAMES MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1023,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090042115,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to honor the 25th anniversary of one of southern Nevadas first Spanishlanguage publications. the El Mundo. I would also like to recognize the dedication and perseverance of my longtime friend Eddie Escabedo. El Mundos founder and publisher. What began as a truly local community newsletter has grown to a newspaper that reaches 50.000 Nevadans and many more through radio and television affiliations. I applaud Eddie and all of those who have assisted him throughout these 25 years. The service that you provide the Spanishspeaking community in southern Nevada has benefited us all by demonstrating our common needs. despite our diversity. Eddie. it was great to see you in Washington last week. Your efforts to provide our Spanishspeaking students with information on the resources available to them to continue their education are truly an invaluable service. ","speaker_name":"JON PORTER","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1145,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090042116,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Just this week. the Chicago Tribune editorialized that the financial costs of safeguarding our airlines are well worth it. However. while we have spent billions of dollars on transportation security since 9\/11. Congress has not yet committed to providing such protection. Last week. the gentleman from New York and I introduced the Commercial Airline Missile Defense Act. authorizing the TSA to provide missile defense systems to our commercial passenger jets. Today I urge my colleagues to cosponsor H.R. 2780 and join us in protecting Americas business and family travelers.","speaker_name":"MELISSA BEAN","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1251,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090042133,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The funding for 25 planes will go a long way towards providing stability for that program and assuring that America does maintain air dominance for the foreseeable future. I also wholeheartedly agree with the committees assessment that the Department of Defense should look into the future needs for the FA22 fighter and consider both a multiyear contract and extending the procurement life of the program beyond fiscal year 2009. I am especially appreciative for the hard work of the gentleman from California (Chairman LEWIS) and the gentleman from Florida (Chairman YOUNG) in restoring the multiyear contract for the procurement of C130Js. This is an absolutely vital program. Mr. Speaker. for our militarys current and future airlift capability. and I and our Nation are grateful for their strong support. Again. Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the chairman and ranking member of the committee for their hard work on this bill.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1897,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090042151,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What does it say about our priorities when Congress appropriates $45 billion more for the unnecessary war in Iraq. without any accountability. direction. or exit strategy or even a plan to end this permanent occupation? Does the President plan to have permanent bases in Iraq? We are in an impossible situation. Taken to war under false pretenses. our troops have become the very rallying points for the insurgency they are trying to contain. This administration continues to stonewall what is a very simple question: What is the plan to bring our troops home? The purpose of this funding bill is to provide for our national defense. Yet in the same way that this war has made us less safe. the funding priorities in this bill are for weapons systems and military contractors. and billions of additional funds are unaccounted for in waste. fraud. and abuse. This only undermines our national interest. Mr. Speaker. we must get our funding priorities right. And the American people need to know what the Presidents plan is. What is his strategy? What does he consider success? The information that the Pelosi amendment is requesting is absolutely necessary to begin what the American people are demanding. and that is the withdrawal of the United States Armed Forces from Iraq. It is incredible to me that we are sacrificing our funding needs for our critical efforts here in America. such as for housing and health care and education. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA LEE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2054,"word_count":241}
{"speech_id":1090042157,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is it. Mr. Speaker. whatever ones position is on the war in Iraq. I think most of us realize that it is past time for the administration to assess the situation in Iraq and to address the matter of an eventual withdrawal from that country. I hope Members will agree to at least consider this amendment today. The House has a responsibility to ask tough questiofs and to demand straight answers. I am tired of the spin. as so many other Members are. It is time for candor. The people of this country deserve that. A \"no\" vote will not prevent us from considering the defense appropriations bill under an open rule. but a \"no\" vote will allow Members to vote on the Pelosi amendment. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1869,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090042160,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. H.R. 2863 takes many important steps forward in reforming the procurement and acquisition systems of the United States military. and increasing its end strength. and providing $45.3 billion in supplemental \"bridge funding\" for the war on terror. Mr. Speaker. it must also be noted that this legislation would not have been possible without much hard work on the part of the gentleman from Florida (Chairman YOUNG). the gentleman from California . and the members of the Subcommittee on Defense Appropriations and the members of the full committee. As evidenced by their hard work. this is a bipartisan bill that the vast majority of the House will undoubtedly agree is a good product. Mr. Speaker. no legislation is perfect. and. as I said in my opening statement. the defense appropriation bill takes important steps in an ongoing process that does not end. that is. the defense of our country. However frustrated some may be with particular aspects of H.R. 2863. it undoubtedly moves our military in the direction it needs to evolve and enhances the security of our country and the wellbeing of our men and women in uniform. Therefore. I. once again. urge my colleagues to support this rule and the underlying concurrent resolution.","speaker_name":"TOM COLE","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1664,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090042173,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. the amendment I have is very simple. and it tells us exactly what it does. so I am just going to read it. It says. \"None of the funds made available in this Act may be used to pay any United States contribution to the United Nations or any affiliated agency of the United Nations.\" So. very simply. a vote for my amendment would be a vote to defund the United Nations. and it would be a policy statement. obviously. We have. had some debate already on the United Nations. and we will be having another debate either later today or tomorrow dealing with reform of the United Nations. Yesterday we had a vote dealing with removing half of the funding from the United Nations. This would be in the same direction. but it would remove all of the funding. ","speaker_name":"RONALD PAUL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5096,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090042186,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is a difficult thing to do. I would ask for support of the amendment. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JOEL HEFLEY","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1532,"word_count":24}
{"speech_id":1090042206,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong support of this amendment. If we look at it clearly. it is only an affirmation of current law. but I think in the environment in which we are operating. with some of the revelations that are coming out about Americas policy with regard to the treatment of incarcerated persons. it is really important to affirm current law. We are identifying and pointing out and prosecuting very lowlevel people in the military with regard to certain transgressions. and I think it is particularly important to affirm to the whole chain of command. right up to the very top. that our laws with regard to incarceration are to be obeyed.","speaker_name":"ALAN MOLLOHAN","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":651,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090042221,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong opposition to the amendment. The irony of this amendment would be amusing if its implications were not so serious. On one hand. we are providing SCAAP funding to help our States and localities incarcerate criminal aliens that pose a danger to our communities. yet. on the other hand. the gentlemans amendment would make it harder for our State and local law enforcement agencies to catch criminals in the first place. Many law enforcement agencies have carefully built a relationship of trust with their immigrant communities over the years. If we were to damage .this trust by confusing a States law enforcement roles with Federal immigration enforcement roles. we would be hampering the ability of our police departments to perform their primary function: protecting communities from crime. That is why police departments in our distriqts do not want this amendment. The amendment would have a chilling effect on immigrants willingness to report crimes and cooperate with government overall. because immigrants are less likely to come forward with tips or to testify as witnesses if doing so could lead to deportation or other adverse consequences. The effects of the amendment would be devastating. ","speaker_name":"JOSE SERRANO","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2238,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090042232,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume just to say again. for the Congress bo be voting on each and every procurement issue like this. it would just never end. So I reluctantly oppose the amendment. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":263,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090042236,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise ii strong support of the amendment. and I certainly understand the reasons for the opposition of the chairman. the gentleman from Virginia . and the gentleman from Virginia -as well. If every one of these studies were challenged in this way. then it would be a lot of activity on these A76 privatization reviews in the United Stales Congress. But not every one is. and those that are particularly egregious. I think. need to be brought to the floor. The gentleman from Missouri has done that today. and I compliment him for that. The gentleman from Missouri makes the case that is being made by his constituents in Missouri. in addition to the Members from the other side of the Capitol. who are also supportive of his position. Just understand that the National Logistics Support Center is a particularly fine organization. and this review is being undertaken for only one reason. It is because management has been ordered to hit a particular numerical privatization number. ","speaker_name":"ALAN MOLLOHAN","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1301,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090042238,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In fact. Congress took those out several years ago when this administration set targeted figures in terms of the amounts of competitive sourcing they wanted to do under OMB Circular A76. So that should not be part of this. It is not legal to be doing this. and I hope that is not driving it in this case. But. again. for Congress to come back and cherrypick different segments and say. this is exempt. and this is exempt. basically destroys the whole system. And once again. although I am sympathetic with where the gentleman wants to go on this. I think there are other ways to accomplish it rather than coming to Congress. I think this will encourage everybody to offer these kinds of amendments. and we will lose one of the greatest tools we have toward government efficiency. and I would urge the amendment be defeated.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1523,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090042240,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. if the gentleman from Virginia will yield for a colloquy. I fully understand. as the gentleman knows I am a cosponsor of this amendment with the other gentleman from Missouri. and I think there are several good reasons for it and that the economics of the case would compel that this proceed and that the amendment be adopted. As I understand it. the chairman. and we also heard from the gentleman from Virginia a few moments ago. would be willing to work on this. because this is an exceptional situation. I think the gentleman from Virginia. the chairman. recognizes that. What would the chairman be willing to do to see that this gets a fair shake? Because we have 25 employees out there that are doing such a magnificent job. I just hate to see them go down the drain when. truth in fact. it just should not happen. If there was ever an amendment that ought to be adopted. but I understand the gentlemans position because you would have 15 dozen of these amendments coming up here every time this bill is brought up. but would you tell the gentleman from Missouri what you are willing to do.","speaker_name":"IKE SKELTON","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1109,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090042261,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Chairman. I will repeat the second point I made. We are currently in delicate negotiations in the World Trade Organization on market access. and one of the provisions is the question of temporary movement of legal aliens. not that it will be done. but that it is being discussed. The gentlemans amendment will pull the rug out from the United States. The amendment will have significant effects. and it should not pass.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM THOMAS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":476,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090042274,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the JacksonLee amendment. which is really based on the concept of no more Tulias. is one that I hope my colleagues will support. None of the funds made available in this act under the heading \"Office of Justice Programs\" may be used by a State authorizing agent that has not shared. with the Attorney Gengral. its improvement of criminal justice records as described in section 3759 of title 42. We remember the Tulia incident with great pain. This case arose out of Texas in which huge numbers of African Americans. 15 percent of the African American population was arrested and prosecuted and sentenced to decades in prison. This is our response to how we handle it. I urge support of our colleague from Texas. a member of the Judiciary Committee. on this amendment.","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":782,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090042287,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me thank the distinguished ranking member .for his review of the amendment and clarifying and making it a very direct and very simple proposition. Many years ofcivil rights jurisprudence law have been -ignored and thrown out the window when America permitted situations such as that in Tulia and Hearne to take place with impunity. Mr. Chairman. I am a former judge and a trained lawyer. and I have consistently worked with law enforcement across America and in my hometown and in my State. I am not here to impugn the hard work of good law enforcement officers. I just want there to be a balance between the rights of Americans and the law enforcement system and the judicial system. We cannot have a system of Federal funding that will fund antidrug task forces or other efforts that are not complying with the law. submitting cases that. in fact. have evidence. corroborating evidence. have video. have another witness. have the drugs that person is alleged to have actually had in their possession. This simply requires agencies receiving Federal funds in law enforcement instances to improve their criminal justice record and to acknowledge that it is unfair to discriminate and prosecute one race. one community. one city. one rural area. I know we can do this in a bipartisan way. and I ask my colleagues to support this amendment.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1342,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090042324,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. it is a fact. It is a fact that international delegations have visited the UNFPAs programs consistently in China. and it is a fact that they have said that the UNFPA is part of the solution in China. helping to promote voluntary family planning. \u0095 It is a fact that. since 1999. 60 delegations. 145 diplomats from around the world. have visited UNFPAs China program. and not one of them has found any evidence to suggest that the UNFPA is doing anything. other. than making the situation better. Every year the worlds poorest nations have millions of mothers dying needlessly during childbirth. Millions of infants die every year in these same countries. These deaths. most of them. can be prevented. It is the mission of UNFPA to save lives. to promote healthy women. healthy babies. and healthy families by allowing voluntary family planning.","speaker_name":"BETTY MCCOLLUM","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"F","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":858,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090042332,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In 1960. we had 3 billion people on this Earth. Today we have 6 billion people. In 40 years. without worldwide family planning services. it will rise to 9 billion people.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SHAYS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1078,"word_count":31}
{"speech_id":1090042431,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"However. reform must not be limited to rearranging the deck chairs. but instead to correcting the organizations serious institutional and systemic flaws. The U.N. has paid lip service to nominal efforts to reform itself. and the few times that those promises have been kept. it is when the United States has leveraged its financial support for the organization and its specialized agencies. For this reason. the Henry Hyde U.N. Reform Act of 2005 mandates spending cuts in specific progr ms. redirects funds to priority areas. and. yes. withholds 50 percent of U.S.-assessed dues if certifications are not made in critical areas. Those commandments must be adhered to. If we are serious about making the United Nations relevant again. and I think in a bipartisan way we are. if we are serious about restoring it to reflect its core mission. and I think in a bipartisan way we are. if we are serious about saving the United Nations from itself. then we must render our overwhelming support for the Henry Hyde U.N. Reform Act of 2005. I would just like to close by saying that it is very fitting that this bill before us should have the name of our distinguished chairman of the Committee on International Relations. the gentleman from Illinois . who has been the. conscience of the House. the voice of the people for so many years. has had. such a distinguished public service career in the House and led us through some very difficult times as chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary as well as chairman of our Committee 6n International Relations. I am so pleased that this bill before us. which will reform this wonderful peacekeeping institution. will have his name as part of its reform legislation.","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3530,"word_count":292}
{"speech_id":1090042437,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"CEDAW is a United Nations treaty that support\u00a7 international standards to discourage sexbased discrimination and enouyages equality in education. _H4612 health care. employment and all other arenas of public life for all women around the world. This treaty serves as a powerful tool for women worldwide as they fight against discrimination. It also leads to substantial improvements for womens lives across the world. The impact of CEDAW can be seen in countries like Australia where the government cited its treaty obligations in passing national legislation against sexual harassment in the workplace based on CEDAW. or in Pakistan where education for young women was introduced in primary schools after treaty ratification in Pakistan. causing sharp increases in female enrollment in their schools. To date. 170 countries have ratified CEDAW. Sadly. the United States continues to be the only industrialized nation that has not ratified. leaving us in the company of Afghanistan. North Korea. and Iran. It is time to abandon this unfavorable distinction. It is time to be a world leader and a champion of human and womens rights. We must ratify CEDAW. and we must do it now. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1914,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090042439,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Oil for Food program to its lack of action with respect to the genocide in Darfur. Sudan to the horrendous human rights abuses by U.N. peacekeeping staff during their mission in the Congo. the U.N. is rife with fraud and abuse and needs reform. I This bill includes a call for certifiable reforms including: Shifting 18 programs from the regular assessed budget to voluntary funded programs so their funding would not be automatic. all new programs started by the U.N. to include sunsetting provisions. cuts and streamlining in the funding for the 15.484 conferences and scheduled meetings that occurred in 2004 and 2005. some of which cost $78.000 per hour. creation of an ethics office to provide oversight over the U.N. budget and financial disclosure form. And two of the most important items this bill requires are to direct the U.S. Permanent Representative to aggressively pursue a definition of terrorism and to mandate that the U.N. adopt criteria for membership on any human rights body. The U.N. counts some of the worlds leading human rights violators and state sponsors of terrorism among its membership and even taps many of them to be in leadership positions on its subcommittees. This is completely outrageous and dangerously ironic. Let us empower our new ambassador to the U.N. and the administration with reforms that have some teeth and will effect change..The United Nations reputation of being a credible and effective. international peacekeeping body has been sorely tarnished. It is no wonder so many Americans question the efficacy and the very necessity of the United Nations.","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4153,"word_count":261}
{"speech_id":1090042445,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Now is the time to hold the United Nations accountable. It is important for the United States to remain engaged and a player on the worlds stage to enact these important reforms. This legislation has offered 39 important reforms with the teeth of tied to funding. which will return honor and integrity to what was once a distinguished body. I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL MCCAUL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1773,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090042448,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myseff the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker. I want to join in wholehearted endorsement in echoing of all of the words of praise that have been directed toward the distinguished chairman of the Committee on International Relations..I have known the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman HYDE) to not only be gentlemanly and eloquent. but fairminded and bipartisan in a substantial number of efforts. and I. like all of our colleagues here. deeply appreciate the work that he has done on behalf of this Nation and indeed this world throughout the course of his career. and I compliment him in that regard. I also accept the chastisement of the distinguished Chair with reference to rhetoric. but I would urge that some of the rhetoric that I may have used is rhetoric that I learned here in the House of Representatives that has been used on both sides of the aisle much too often. in my judgment. That said. I would like not to be an apologist for the United.Nations. The United Nations needs to be reformed. and I think that it could be put better by the words of Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns. whom I quoted when I began. ","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3059,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090042466,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It can and should do more. but it can never live up to its potential and its mission unless it sheds the stain of antiSemitism. For these reasons. the United Nations critically needs to be reformed. Yet. some commands for change. including several provisions in the Hyde bilf. are counterproductive and unwise. Specifically I cannot support the Hyde bill provision that mandates cutting in half U.S. payments to the U.N. unless the U.N. adopts 39 specific reforms. many of which cannot conceivably be adopted because they require unanimous consent from all 191 member states. including Syria. Iran. and North Korea. The Hyde bill Would halt funding for peacekeeping missions. endangering vital new or expanded U.N. operations in Darfur and Haiti. and ignoring the possibility of future crises that may demand international intervention is such places as Iran or Syria. The Lantos substitute recommends reforms that will make the U.N. more fair and effective. but it avoids the rigid and draconian approach that makes the Hyde bill both unreasonable and potentially dangerous. so I urge adoption of the Lantos substitute. Mr. Chairman. although I believe in the values and principles expressed in the United Nations Charter. the organization has been hijacked by some member states who have betrayed these values. The use of blood libels by representatives of member states. in official U.N. reports. and by NGOs. is unacceptable and clearly evidence that the United Nations needs to be reformed. ","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5365,"word_count":239}
{"speech_id":1090042467,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today to express my strong support for H.R. 2745. the United Nations (U.N.) Reform Act. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the distinguished gentleman from Illinois . Chairman of the International Relations Committee. for his leadership on this critically important issue. For years. Americans have watched ..with disbelief as the United Nations has put brutal dictatorships like Syria and Sudan on its Human Rights Commission. while at the same time it lectures free democracies on what it means to respect human rights. Now. we are seeing not only misplaced condescension. but also widespread corruption. The U.N. was established in order to promote international cooperation and peace between nations. However. the good intentions that led to the U.N.s founding have been followed by a long list of mismanagement. scandal and corruption. ","speaker_name":"RANDY NEUGEBAUER","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1980,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090042469,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I stand here with great pride next to my chairman. the gentleman from Illinois . and recall all the great and wonderful battles that he has fought in his career. and I am so proud to be at his side at this. not the last battle that we will fight. but. as we lead into the sunset of his career. a battle that will be meaningful and remembered. and for which the American people will be grateful -that we had his leadership. Also. I might add. we are grateful for the honorable adversarial relationship that we have on the other side of the aisle. the gentleman from. California","speaker_name":"DANA ROHRABACHER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":46.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":647,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090042475,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. as so ably demonstrated by the gentlemen from California . the U.N. is crying out for reform. But let us not forget that the only oath we as Members take is to the Constitution and votes should reflect this obligation. not pique. not ideology. not wellintentioned concern for reform. Unfortunately. the approach contained in the bill before us contravenes the United Nations charter and undercuts the rule of law. It also misreads the constitutional prerogatives of Congress. It is true that under article 1 we have been given pursestring authority. It is not true that we have been provided the power to negotiate. That authority resides with the executive branch. There has been a suggestion made that only by threatening the withholding of resources can progress be made at the U.N. This assertion at first blush sounds like commonsense realism. ","speaker_name":"JAMES LEACH","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12525,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090042511,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. On behalf of the majority we are also very happy to accept this amendment. This amendment seeks to identify overspending due to possibly rigged contracts at U.N. buildings around the world. The U.S. generally pays 22 percent of those costs. The savings could be in the millions of dollars for U.S. taxpayers if other instances of building improprieties were found and. by connection. action taken to correct those improprieties. Mr. Chairman. I want to congratulate the gentleman on his amendment. and we are accepting it again as well.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":599,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090042539,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But in my opinion. the United States will never be able to hold the United Nations accountable if we do not know where our aid. our money is going once we hand it over to the United Nations. My amendment simply would require the OMB to give a yearly report tO Congress on all the contributions. whether they be assessed. voluntary. or inkind. that the United States gives to the United Nations. The American taxpayers have the right to know how the United Nations is spending American money. So by keeping track of our contributions. the United States will be more capable of holding the United Nations accountable for the way it spends members monies and makes use of members contributions.","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1506,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090042545,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for offering this amendment. One of the difficulties we had when involved with the arrearage issue some years ago was the fact that for many Ameripans. it was a shock to learn how much of the voluntary and inkind contributions the United States did make. which were justified. but for which we got no credit. I think by getting all of the information on assessed. voluntary and inkind contributions. I think Americans will be amazed. as will international friends around the world in like manner will be amazed. how much the U.S. Government does provide. So often inkind contributions like airlift for military operations in no way gets on the ledger. so we do not have a thorough and a full accounting of the U.S. contribution and how the money is spent. I commend the gentleman for his amendment.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":834,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090042618,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Chairman. I posit Iran cannot be trusted. As Iran has repeatedly lied to the world regarding the extent and sophistication of its nuclear program. Tehran serves as the worlds capital for the export and sponsorship of terrorism. It has demonstrated a willingness to provoke its neighbors. as well as the United States and Israel. Past efforts to stop Irans pursuit of nuclear weapons have obviously failed. Mr. Chairman. this amendment makes a clear and unequivocal declaration to Iran. as well as to the nations of the world. that the United States is serious about stopping Irans development of nuclear weapons. I urge the passage of this amendment. Mr. ","speaker_name":"ERIC CANTOR","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2426,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090042637,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. by way of background. the Small Quantities Protocol frees countries from reporting the possession of up to 10 tons of uranium. up to 20 tons of depleted uranium. depending on enrichment. and up to 2.2 pounds of plutonium. Some experts suggest that 10 tons of natural uranium can be processed into sufficient material for up to two nuclear warheads. Iran has already reportedly utilized much smaller quantities of uranium or plutonium in.laboratory experiments with suspected links to nuclear arms programs. A recent IAEA internal memorandum reportedly recommended that the agencys board approve no further small quantity protocols and that it grant the IAEA chief the authority to ask that all signatories to the protocol agree to cancel them. This amendment seeks to close the loophole from the inspections regime by. number one. calling for the IAEA to rescind the Small Quantities Protocol. secondly. to require that any nati6n that has signed the Small Quantities Protocol to have implemented and be in compliance with the additional protocol providing for more stringent inspections. and. third. to prohibit any IAEA members from receiving any nuclearrelated material. technology. equipment. or assistance and be subjected to penalties if they do not adhere to the higher inspection standards. Clearly. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1876,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090042650,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 2 minutes. Mr. Chairman. in the 35 years since the Nuclear .Nonproliferation Treaty has been in force. much has changed around the world. but what has not changed is the danger inherent in the spread of nuclear weapons. My amendment says that the President of the United States shall direct the United States permanent representative to the IAEA to use their influence and their vote to secure an agreement within the IAEA requiring that any member state of the NPT that is in breach of the treaty or withdraws from the treaty must return any nuclear materials or technology acquired for peaceful purposes. Now. why is this amendment needed? Well. for the first time in the treatys history. one country has withdrawn from the treaty. In 2002. international inspectors were asked to leave North. Korea. and. in 2003. North Korea withdrew from the nonproliferation treaty. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2013,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090042654,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding -me this time. I rise in support of this amendment offered by the gentleman from Massachusetts . The global nuclear nonproliferation regime that has served the world well for many years has developed shortcomings. and the Markey amendment addresses one such shortcoming that I think we must address. This is an issue that is- especially- important to me as chairman of the Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation. We held a hearing in April on the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. and one of the key issues that we looked at was how NPT states should address the noncompliance or attempted withdrawal. of a state from the treaty. This amendment takes a step forward in solving this challenge by calling upon the President to work with other International Atomic Energy Agency member states to mandate that any State which is found to be in noncompliance with its NPT obligations. or attempts to withdraw from the NPT. will be compelled to return all the nuclear materials and technology it received as a consequence of being an NPT member. I believe such a provision would be helpful in convincing states to adhere to their NPT obligations. States such as North Korea and Iran have likely already used their status. past status in the case of North Korea. as NPT states to develop nuclear weapons programs. and I believe it is vital that the United States play a leading role in multilateral effortsto close the loophole in the NPT that allows states to receive nuclear energy assistance. but not pay any penalty if they subsequently withdraw from the treaty. as has North Korea. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD ROYCE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":40.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1804,"word_count":276}
{"speech_id":1090042670,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Pascrell Sane Pastor Sand Paul Saxtc Pearce Schal Pence Schiff Peterson (MN) Schw Peterson (PA) Schw Petri Scott Pickering Scott Pitts Sense Platte Serra Poe Shadi Pombo Shaw Pomeroy Shay Porter Shere Price (GA) Sherv Price (NC) Shim Pryce (OH) Shust Putnam Simm Radanovich Simpi Rahall Skelt Ramstad Slaug Rangel Smit Regula Smit Rehberg Smit Reichert Snyd Renzi Sodre Reynolds Soils Rogers (AL) Soud Rogers (KY) Sprat Rogers (MI) Stear Rohrabacher Stric] RosLehtinen Stops Carson Frank (MA) Hastings (FL) Honda Jackson (IL) Blumenauer Bono Buyer Cardin Conyers Cox Cuellar N( Kucir Lee McDe McGo Moor nan alAllard e rsberger (OH) (WI) (KS) ar hez. Linda hez. Loretta ers on kowsky artz (PA) arc (MI) (GA) (VA) nbrenner no egg nan ood kus or oons son on hter h (NJ) h (TX) h (WA) er I er t rns kland ak )ES14 ich rmott vern e (WI) Sullivan Sweeney Tancredo Tanner Tauscher Taylor (MS) Taylor (NC) Terry Thomas Thompson (CA) Thompson (MS) Thornberry Tiahrt Tiberi Tierney Towns Turner Udall (CO) Udall (NM) Upton Van Hollen Velazquez Visclosky Walden (OR) Walsh Wamp Wasserman Schultz Waters Watson Waxman Weiner Weldon (FL) Weldon (PA) Weller Westmoreland Wexler Whitfield Wicker Wilson (NM) Wilson (SC) Wolf Wu Wynn Young (FL) Payne Stark Watt Woolsey","speaker_name":"BARBARA LEE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3503,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090042703,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Pennsylvania. .199.000. New York. 222.000. Mississippi and Alabama. 138.000. South Carolina and North Carolina. 207.000. the gentleman from Ohios","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2718,"word_count":19}
{"speech_id":1090042724,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Thanks to the commitment made by citizens and business and elected officials. a true partnership has developed. Today I congratulate the hard work of all of those who have made this possible and look forward to even more environmental success in the Sixth District of Georgia and all across this great Nation. June. 17. 2005","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1133,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090042725,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We can choose to lead. or we can endlessly debate the privatization of Social Security. a plan the American people have already rejected. Let us not allow the Presidents privatization to stand in the way 6f progress.","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1300,"word_count":37}
{"speech_id":1090042729,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today is election day in Iran. As cochair of the Iran Study Group. with my colleague the gentleman from New Jersey . we saw 1.000 people stand for the Presidency of Iran. But the Guardian Council only allowed eight candidates to actually run. We expect that Rafsanjani will win this election today. and when we does. with less than half of the Iranian people voting. he will have a choice before him and his nation: whether to continue Irans policy of lying to the U.N. about its nuclear weapon program. of supporting terror. and continuing a policy of economic isolation and stagnation. or rejoining the international community and spurring economic growth in a new Iran as part of a worldwide community that does not support terror. Mr. Speaker. we hope. we hope. that the new Iranian Government chooses wisely.","speaker_name":"MARK KIRK","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":826,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090042747,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. let me first commend my good friend. the gentleman from California . for his extremely valuable amendment. which of course we are prepared to Accept with\u0095 the exception of the 50 percent penalty provision which applies to all of the amendments that we accept during our presentation of the LantosShay substitute in which we will deal with the penalty provisions. Without being able to single out perpetrators of human rights violations. the Human Rights Commission and its work is useless. Mr. Chairman. I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from California . the distinguished member of the Committee on International Relations.","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":710,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090042767,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. first I want to pay tribute to the leadership of the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman HYDE) on the OilforFood investigation. I also want to recognize the work of my friend. the gentleman from California","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":274,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090042768,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Wherever this investigation leads. the seriousness of this issue cannot be discounted. Some have argued that U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan is making reforms. so why push him? The fact is that the Secretary General needs help. For one. he is a lame duck due to his necessity of leaving office in 2006. He may not realize it. he may not even appreciate it. frankly. but this bill will give Secretary General Annan the leverage he needs to make reform in his limited time left. should he choose to use it. Nothing focuses a bureaucracy like a threatened budget cut. Sometimes strong medicine is what is needed. This is needed. Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD ROYCE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":40.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1784,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090042770,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. Mr. Chairman. I rise ip opposition to the underlying bill. H.R. 2745. I also believe that these two amendments are probably superfluous. But. broadly speaking. clearly the OilforFood scandal is a problem. It needs serious attention. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS ALLEN","chamber":"H","state":"ME","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2986,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090042772,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So I thought I would just make that comment.","speaker_name":"HENRY HYDE","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":518,"word_count":9}
{"speech_id":1090042775,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Chairman. I think what is particularly important about the GingrichMitchell task force report is that it does not recommend the automatic withholding of dues. Presumably they agree with those eight former United States Ambassadors to the United Nations. individuals like Jeane Kirkpatrick. who is an icon to many who are of the politically conservative persuasion. And this is what those eight former U.S. Ambassadors had to say. that the base bill would \"create resentment. build animosity and actually strengthen opponents of reform.\" Do we just simply want to ignore their warnings? Do we want to proceed in a manner that is going to defeat what is clearly a consensus in this institution about the need for reform? This is being practical. This is about an effort to secure a more effective. more transparent organization. The stars are aligned. I would suggest. Yes. as Speaker Gingrich says. this is a propitious moment for reform. and we. I would suggest. could very well derail that effort. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2622,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090042785,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What message does this send to our allies when such a nomination is made? \u0095 Mr. Chairman. it is no secret that many of my colleagues on the other side are vocal critics of the United Nations. but I think the Hyde bill turns criticism really into contempt. It ensures that we return to arrears with the United Nations by requiring withholding of our dues for any one of a number of inflexible reasons. In effect. it is my belief that the Hyde bill sets up any U.N. reform effort to. quite frankly. fail. There simply is no reason to link muchneeded U.N. reforms with the withholding of dues in such a drastic fashion. Mr. Chairman. we should work to reform the United Nations. but. at the same time. also work to support the important programs and the initiatives at the U.N. The fact is. Mr. Chairman. contrary to Under Secretary Boltons. assertions. the U.N. has made a. difference in keeping the peace and in diffusing conflicts and easing regional tension. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA LEE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3676,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090042843,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I rise today with an amendment that I believe brings fairness and common sense to the United Nations and specifically to the administration of the Security Council. The Security Council is tasked with some of the most difficult decisions in the United Nations. Of the 15 member states that serve on the council. only five have veto power. These nations are China. France. ","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3576,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090042878,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman from Iowa for offering this amendment. It is sorely needed as we examine both the plight of Palestinian refugees and the propaganda that emanates from those who prey upon the frustrations of Palestinian refugees. Mr. Chairman. UNRWA standsfor the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees. created in the wake of hostilities in 1948. This seeks first on a humanitarian basis\" to aid those who have been afflicted. and as is so often the case. the United States of America. maligned internationally by many. has stood front and center and has borne the financial burden of onequarter of the worlds expenditures for UNRWA. And others around the world. we should point out. have also stepped in. But the fact is that the United States. ","speaker_name":"JOHN HAYWORTH","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1459,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090042912,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. when the gentleman talks about responsibilities and abrogating our responsibilities. I am sure that the gentleman. my good friend. would agree that we also have an obligation to our taxpayers. those who are funding so many of their dollars to the United Nations. and we have seen so many scandals unfolding from the U.N.. and I believe that this amendment gets to accountability and transparency.","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":410,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090042921,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Just very briefly. to respond. any increase in the members where they have the veto power in the Security Council will possibly have the effect of diminishing the U.S. role there. because that means that that additional member would be able to block what is in the interests of the United States and the interests of the American taxpayers and citizens of this Nation. Likewise. any proposal to increase the size. even without the ability to veto. would diminish the ability of the United States to get important initiatives through. just as I stated before. because even if they are other democratic nations. they may have competing interests with those of the United States. and. therefore. compete with what we are trying to do in the Security Council.","speaker_name":"SCOTT GARRETT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":812,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090042947,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I do not know of anything I have done more reluctantly than object to the gentleman from Texas very good amendment. not only wellintentioned. but it makes a statement that is very hard to disagree with. But I must because I can conceive of circumstances where it is in our national interest to help support another country that does not vote with us in the U.N.. but having a stable country in certain portions of the world can be in our national interest. And I would rather leave that flexibility with the State Department and with the Defense Department so that these grants that are made support our security interests and not necessarily make us feel good because we are rewarding a country that votes with us. Egypt almost never votes with us. but it is important to have the largest Muslim country. other than Indonesia. supporting the aims that we have and goals in the Middle East.","speaker_name":"HENRY HYDE","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":947,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090042954,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding. and I support him in his opposition. I point out that the nation of Colombia. for whom we have provided billions of dollars in terms of dealing with the interdiction and eradication of drugs. would fall because they vote against us 90 percent of the time. I presume that most of that aid would be eliminated by this amendment. And I would also point out for those of you who support CAFTA that at least five of the countries I have been able to determine here vote against us. so that if we extend the logic of the gentlemans argument. I would suggest that maybe during the course of that debate. when it comes to the floor. if it should come to the floor. that that should be a precondition to approval of the CAFTA trade agreement.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":783,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090042982,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Indeed. even when the U.N. efforts fall short. and they often do. progress toward international cooperation is made. and recognition of common interests and values is encouraged. As many have said. the U.N. is the kind of organization we would have to invent if it did not already exist. A strong U.N. is good for the United States and good for the world. So enacting the Hyde bill. which is more about punishment than reform. simply does not serve. if my judgment. the best interests of this country. In requiring a mandatory 50 percent cut in the United States ddes to the U.N.. unless 32 of 39 specific reforms are achieved. the Hyde bill provides no flexibility whatever to the State Department to negotiate with other U.N. member states. Rather than providing Secretary Rice a tool to encourage ongoing U.N. reform negotiationS. it ties her hands. The Lantos substitute would call for most of the same reforms as the Hyde bill. while providing the Secretary of State with room to maneuver to get real reforms passed. fl 1230 It is a common:-sense way to achieve the changes we all agree are needed with the right balance of diplomacy and muscle. And while I support the goals of the chairman. I cannot endorse his means. and I urge my colleagues to support the Lantos substitute and defeat the underlying bill.","speaker_name":"NITA LOWEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3678,"word_count":229}
{"speech_id":1090042993,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I want to commend my good friend from Florida for an improved version of the underlying Hyde bill. I refer to the Hyde bill as a guillotine on autopilot. and I think it is in the true American spirit that the gentleman now has a more effective. fasterworking. more suicidal guillotine which he is offering to this body. I do not think this proposal deserves really any serious comment. If. in fact. 382 of the 39 Hyde commandments are fulfilled. we should not automatically chop off 75 percent of our dues to the United Nations","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":541,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090043012,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Hence. we cannot ignore scandal. but scandal does not define the United Nations. it defines a problem that must be dealt with there and elsewhere. We should do this. but we should do this with the understanding that the world would be a far worse place without the U.N. and that the activities and actions of its various organizations and agencies have made this a better world society. So improvement. not destruction. is the goal.","speaker_name":"JAMES LEACH","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1210,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090043019,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise with great respect for both the gentleman from Illinois and the gentleman from California in this. While we can all agree that our country. as the biggest contributor to the U.N.. must help the organization become more efficient and effective. the LantosShays substitute finds a compromise that I think reflects where the majority of Americans come down on this issue. The GingrichMitchell task force takes serious issue with much of the damaging policies that have occurred at the U.N.. but it refrains from calling for mandatory withholding of dues. President Bush has also signaled his opposition to many of these provisions. which may hinder our Ambassadors dealings with the organization. Under the LantosShays substitute. we can send the same message to the international community without undermining our efforts to promote democracy and protect those in need. Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of the Lantos\/Shays substitute. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CASTLE","chamber":"H","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2952,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090043081,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today to thank Mr. HYDE for his distinguished service in the House of Representatives and to support his work to bring accountability and transparency to the United Nations. Throughout his career. Mr. HYDE has been a promoter and a defender of conservative issues. including the rights of the unborn and the need for a strong national defense. While many of my colleagues are committed and dedicated to these issues. my friend from Illinois has truly led by example in how he has advocated for conservative policies and championed family values. He is well known for his consistency and tenacity in his beliefs. yet he is wellrespected within the House by Members of both sides of the aisle. He has strongly disagreed with Members about issues that evoke emotional responses. yet he has maintained his dignity and gentlemanly conduct. ","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1328,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090043094,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for that information. If I may inquire. Mr. Leader. the LaborHealth bill was marked up yesterday. and the legislative branch bill was marked up as well. What days does the gentleman expect those bills to be on the floor?","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":255,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090043095,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"First. let me repeat what I mentioned in my statement. This is rather unusual. but we will be considering the Department of Defense appropriations bill on Monday afternoon. We will roll votes until 6:30 p.m.. but Members should know that we will be having very important debate Monday afternoon. including amendments. In terms of the rest of the week. I would expect us to consider intelligence authorization. Flag amendment. and legislative branch appropriations on Tuesday and Wednesday. and LaborHHS would be reserved for Thursday and Friday.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":545,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090043103,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as far as campaign finance reform legislation. we have no plans right now to consider any legislation. As far as the Central America Free Trade Agreement. the President has not transmitted any proposed agreement so we will not make any decisions about scheduling until he does.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":290,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090043108,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Rules Committee may meet next week to grant a rule which could limit the amendment process for floor consideration of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2006. Any Member wishing to offer an amendment should submit 55 copies of the amendment and 1 copy of a brief explanation of the amendment to the Rules Committee in room H312 of the Capitol by 3 p.m. next Tuesday. June 21. 2005. Members should draft their amendments to the bill as reported by the Appropriations Committee on Thursday. June 16. 2005. which is expected to be filed with the House on Monday. June 20. 2005. Members are also advised that the text should be available for their review on the Web sites of the Appropriations and Rules Committees by Monday. June 20. 2005. Members should use the Office of Legislative Counsel to ensure that their amendments are drafted in the most appropriate format. and should check with the Office of the Parliamentarian to be certain their amendments comply with the rules of the House.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1028,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090043116,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. quoting from Roll Call. Lawmakers who are seeking to trade their votes on CAFTA should be forewarned: Such deals dont pan out. A Public Citizen report catalogs promises made to lawmakers by the Clinton and Bush administrations on trade votes from NAFTA to the 2002 TPA vote. Democraticand Republican administrations delivered on only 16 out of 92 promises. 16 out of 92 promIses. On textiles. the report highlights a promise made during consideration of the 2002 TPA vote to Representatives HAYES and MYRICK to hire 72 additional Customs inspectors. which was never fulfilled. HAYES is leaning against CAFTA. but MYRICK this week announced her support. Quoting further from Roll Call: That support is partly based on a pledge from ROB PORTMAN to seek an amendment to CAFTA to help producers of pockets and linings. proving that textile Members like Myrick seem to have learned nothing from the record of broken deals. Quoting further from Roll Call: Myrick said she has been assured by Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff that those positions would be filled by 2006. Mr. ","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1156,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090043119,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today America has the number one economy in the world. It is the envy of the world. But there are dark clouds in the West. and an economic storm is brewing. Last year our trade deficit was over $670 billion. our Federal deficit was over $300 billion. and our economy lost many highquality. highpaying jobs. Many in Congress have blamed big corporations for letting profits outweigh people. They have called the CEOs Benedict ArnoldCEOs. Mr. Speaker. I think these Members are wrong and misguided. ","speaker_name":"TODD TIAHRT","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1171,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090043127,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"All of these things are aggravating. We have been willing to put up with it as patriots if it means we can better defend ourselves against another 9\/11. But we have also seen nearly 200.000 American troops sent to war in Iraq and Afghanistan. where over 1.800 of them have given their lives. All the while we have seen the administration and the Congress turn a blind eye to the continuing hordes of millions of illegal immigrants pouring across our northern and southern borders. There is no amount of eavesdropping. searches. or overseas military actions that will protect us against another 9\/11 while we leave our borders wide open to terrorists with suitcase nuclear weapons or biological agents. We can secure our borders Within months. We can secure our borders within. months with a simple executive order or an agreement between our border State Governors and the Secretary of Defense. Congressional investigators say .somewhere between 36.000 and 48.000 troops would do the job. The Secretary of Border Control and Immigration says maybe it will take 50.000. Since we are in agreement on needing somewhere between 36.000 and 50.000. there iA no reason not to start deploying these forces soon. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES NORWOOD","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4395,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090043129,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. 13 months ago. President Bush signed the Central American Free Trade Agreement. a trade agreement among six Latin American countries with the United States. The gentleman from Texas . the most powerful Republican Member of the House. said last year when the agreement was signed in May of 2004 that Congress would soon vote on it. We did not. Then the gentleman from Texas said we would vote on it before Memorial Day. We did not. Now the gentleman from Texas says we are going to vote on it before July 4. I think he means it this time. But the reason we have not voted on the Central American Free Trade Agreement is pretty simple: A majority of Members of this House. ","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6008,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090043132,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"These villains got rich while the people of Iraq suffered. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annans own son benefited from the OilforFood program. Only after extreme international pressure did Secretary Annan appoint former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker to investigate the scandal ridden program. Volckers report found grave conflicts of interest in the program. The real question is. should the U.N. be above the law? It is blatantly obvious that the U.N. considers itself above the law of nations and answers to absolutely no one. .Secretary Annan has said that he will waive diplomatic immunity for any U.N. official who has done wrong. However. his promise carrieslittle meaning. because which government would prosecute the guilty U.N. officials? The officials are not U.S. citizens. their offenses did not take place on U.S. soil and none of the documents in question were required to follow U.S. law. There is no vote for .U.N. leaders and no international referendum on its policies. The U.N. sets its own shabby standards for conduct. These are some of the very reasons why so many of our constituents oppose U.S. membership in the U.N.. and it is why many fear U.N. efforts to have the power to tax. field an army or create a court system. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA BROWN-WAITE","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4837,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090043134,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If he was responsible. then maybe he should suffer some consequences. Well. that did not happen. but they want to blame the intelligence agencies. Now. is it all the intelligence agencies? Is it one intelligence agency? Is it because of total misinterpretation and incompetence by the administration. or was it selective use. cherrypicking of intelligence. or was it something evefn worse. deliberate manipulation? We do not know. We simply do not know. The Senate held one set of hearings on the failure -of intelligence. They promised that after the election they would hold yet another set and reveal a report on the use of the intelligence. They are now refusing to do that with an emboldened and enlarged Republican membership. So we do not know. The American people do not know. Something that is costing $1 billion a day. almost 1.800 American lives. more than 10.000 wounded. and we do. not know exactly why this administration took us to war and under what auspices they took us to war. ","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4879,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090043147,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. what has been great. really. is to watch that debate kind of evolve since early January since the President came to this Chamber and talked to the American people and basically said he had an idea for how to fix Social Security. stated that the Social Security program is in crisis. which we have refuted many times here in this Chamber through the 30something Working Group. And it has been interesting to watch the evolution of the debate and the support for the Presidents proposalin January not only among many Americans. but among young people. and as the young citizens of the country became more and more educated on exactly what the Presidents plan would do through some of the groups that you mentioned. through Rook the Vote and a variety of other groups. became educated on. you know. basically what the Presidents proposal would be. And the issue that the gentleman from Florida and I and the gentlewoman from Florida . the gentleman from Alabama . other members of the 30something Working Group here have focused on that we think is the most poignant argument to make is this issue right here. the national debt. The Presidents proposal would add $5 trillion to the national debt over the next 20 years. Now. as you can see here. and this is actually not updated. and we will have the new numbers next week. It is actually now $7.8 trillion this country is in debt that we owe. 7.8 trillion. The Presidents proposal over the next 20 years would add an additional $5 trillion to this number here and almost doubling the national debt. And if we keep going at the rate we are spending money here. we will double it in the next 20 years if we do not get our house in order. But this is the main issue. and I think young people. when they saw the Presidents proposal. when they saw that hisproposalwould add $5 trillion. increase their taxes. push the responsibility of paying the bills off on the next generation. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2215,"word_count":346}
{"speech_id":1090043152,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. is that we make sure that we have a plan. a forecast plan. because there are domestic needs also that need to be addressed. The gentleman from Ohio is right. A budget comes to this floor. We need something for our men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am a yes vote. When education comes to this floor. leave No Child Left Behind. the fully funding of that program. I am a yes vote. But guess what? It is just not happening. And our leadership. and on the Democratic Caucus side we want to prioritize our childrens future just as much as we are prioritizing the future of the Iraqi people. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3379,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090043164,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let our kids pay for it. Let someone else worry about paying for it. But as relates to the State governments. they have to. balance their budgets. and the reason why they have to balance their budget is that they have a balanced budget amendment. Many States do. They cannot deficit spend. So they cut education. tuition goes up. and in many of the States Medicaid reform. oh. my goodness. it is just a travesty what is happening in many of these programs that have helped so many people. And transportation dollars on the State level is drying up. So when we get down to the county commissioners or the cities. or the town..or what have you. municipal governments. which way are they going to turn?","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":699,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090043166,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Then guess what? The local folks start seeing the millage rate go up from the school board. They start putting these local bond referendums on the ballots. because they do not have the money. Meanwhile. we are sitting up here in Washington talking about what is the problem. we have not raised your taxes? Yes. we have. we have raised your taxes.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":346,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090043274,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today the Senate will resume consideration of the Energy bill. which we will complete this week. Chairman DOMENICI will be here to continue working through amendments. We made very good progress on the bill last week. We are on track to complete the bill later this week. As I announced at the end of last week. it may be necessary to file cloture on the bill tomorrow. If we file cloture tomorrow. the cloture vote would then occur on Thursday. which would allow us to complete the bill this week. \" I hope we do not have to file cloture. but I think it is important for people to realize we are going to finish the bill this week. People had the opportunity at the end of last week to offer amendments. They will have the same opportunity today and over the course of this week. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1518,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090043286,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I would be totally opposed to cloture being invoked if I felt the majority was- somehow stopping us from offering amendments. but that has not been the case. There has been ample opportunity for people to offer amendments. So I think we either have to have a list of finite amendments the two managers can agree on or it appears cloture would have to be invoked.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":362,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090043345,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I commend the Senator from Ohio. He has spent a long time in this session working on clean air legislation. As one Senator. I am extremely interested in that for our country. The Great Smoky Mountains2 miles from where I live. and on the other side is the Senator from North Carolina. the Presiding Officeris the most polluted National Park in America. Many of our counties are not in attainment. Our biggest problem is sulfur. But NOx is also a major problem. ","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1322,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090043360,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is not inappropriate for me to say that I had a very good conversation not only with Mr. Bolton but with Mr. Card. who indicated he was sure we could resolve the Syrian piece of this. I indicated from the beginning that was not sufficient. We had two requests for good reason: One relating to intercepts and one relating to the Syrian matter. The Syrian matter is within striking distance of being resolved. I said in good faith to him: Do not resolve that if you think that resolves the matter. unless you are ready to resolve the matter of the issue relating to Mr. Bolton and the intercepts. Absent that material being made available. I urge my colleaguesto reject cloture in the hope that the administration will finally step up to its constitutional responsibility of providing this information to us. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1524,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090043363,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He has negotiated in good faith on this issue. Unfortunately. time after time some on the other side keep moving the goalpost. I know they do not like that term. but every time there is -something answered. every time this gets ready for a vote. there is always a new allegation. a new request. something else to delay a vote on this nomination. Obstruction in this case. as in many others. has gone on for too long. It is time to vote on John Boltons nomination. The continued delaying tacticscan only be viewed as obstructionism for petty partisan reasons. This nomination has received inordinate scrutiny and review. Yet -opponents of voting up or down continue to demand even more information. This position has been vacant for 5 months. we need to have a conclusion. Mr. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD LUGAR","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1251,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090043410,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is an excellent question. If you are going to do the seismic exploration which this bill would allow in the nine areas under the moratoria. it is going to cost between $650 million and $1 billion. In a Congress that is so concerned about budget deficits to the tune of almost .half a trillion a year. where are we going to get that kind of money? The Senators point is well taken. I thank my colleague from Florida for making that point.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":442,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090043440,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Many religious and humah rights leaders. communities. 1nd institutions throughout the world have already spoken out. and called for an end to the genocide. In my own state. thousands participated in a Darfur Sabbath Weekend on May. 1415. 2005. when clergy and congregations throughout New Jersey addressed this crisis during their worship services. With my friend and colleague Representative DONALD PAYNE. I was privileged to visit a mosque. a synagogue. a Catholic rectory. an African American Baptist Church and a United Methodist Church during those two days Whatever the denomination. we spoke to each other in the same language. and committed ourselves to the same determination to act according to our words and the dictates of our universal conscience. That profound experience impels me to this broader outreach. I want to take this opportunity to urge my fellow members of Congress to join me in saying. \"never again.\" Never again. will we accept the slaughter of fellow human beings. Never again. will we stand by as systematic crimes are inflicted.upon humanity. I ask that you join me. Senator BROWNBACK and people all across the globe in supporting this unified movement to tell the world that humanity will never again allow genocide to occur.","speaker_name":"JON CORZINE","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2323,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090043458,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. earlier this month. Cam Neely of the Boston Bruins was electedto the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. Canada. and he will be formally inducted into the Hall on November 7. Cam has inspired a generation of ice hockey fans in Boston and. New England. and throughout the Nation with his extraordinary skill and brilliant accomplishments. He is truly one of hockeys immortals. and he eminently deserves this high honor. In addition. he is also wellknown to all of us in Boston for his good citizenship and impressive participation in inspiring our community. I am submitting a resolution today to honor Cam Neely for his onice accomplishments and also for his continuing commitment to charitable causes in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":750,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090043488,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I say that I agree with the chairman completely. It is the best we could do with the amount of money they gave us. It is completely bipartisan. It takes care of the troops. It has been distributed to everybody. We will go right to the 5minute rule. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MURTHA","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":356,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090043490,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"A portion of the budget resolutions total national defense funding went toward the recently passed military quality of life and energy and water bills. This bill provides the balance of $363.4 billion in new discretionary budget authority towards funding the Presidents February defense budget request. It includes $45.3 billion that has been designated pursuant to section 401(a) of the budget resolution for Overseas Contingency Operations which are thereby exempt from the 302(b) allocations. These funds will. however. be counted against the discretionary totals identified in the budget resolution. Excluding the emergency portion. the bills funding shows a 3.5percent increase from the previous year. and it builds on a 5year average annual growth rate of 10.5 percent for defense appropriations. The base amount is equal to the 302(b) allocation to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. I should note that the bill includes rescissions of prior year funds in the amount of $634 million which enable it to meet this allocation. Accordingly. the bill complies with section 302(f) of the Budget Act. which prohibits consideration of bills in excess of an appropriations subcommittees 302(b) allocation of budget authority and outlays established in the budget resolution. One factor I wish to note is that the bill reduces funding for operations and maintenance considerably from the Presidents February request. Although there is a widespread belief. that any potential operations and maintenance shortfall can simply be made up for with supplemental spending. ","speaker_name":"JAMES NUSSLE","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2929,"word_count":238}
{"speech_id":1090043491,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The committee is concerned that even after three years of encouragement from the Congress. and in an operational environrnent where the value of language training is of great importance to the nation. the Department of Defense has not fully funded the innovative language training concepts that can help sustain and significantly improve the skills of military and civilian linguists in the Department. Mr. Chairman. the Senate FY 2006 Defense Authorizatiqn. S. 1042. recommends an increase of $6.0 million in Operations MaintenanceArmy. for the Defense Language Institute. for funding of SCOLA related training activities. In light of current events. the significance of SCOLAs widespread availability to the U.S. military and other government users cannot be overstated. It is my hope that with the House and Senate appropriators will ensure that vital funding. for SCOLA is included in the final H.R. 2863Department of Defense Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2006.","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3594,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090043495,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. two long years have passed since our soldiers left for Iraq. We all have constituents serving overseas now and its these brave men and women and their families that I keep in mind these days. I wish that we had more people on their way home. than on their way to Iraq right now. Last week. soldiers from the Triple Deucea field artillery battalion headquartered in my districtleft home for final training at Camp Shelby. After that theyll be sent to Iraq for the next year. Members of the Triple Deuce include a small town mayor. a local fire chief and many ordinary citizens whowhen we are not at warmake up .the fabric of everyday life in Utah. These Americans are in the infantry. Theyre going to serve our country in a dark corner of the Middle East and Im very worried about them. But I do know that they have lots of loved ones and fellow Utahns back home thinking about them and praying for them. ","speaker_name":"JIM MATHESON","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1734,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090043514,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. as the gentleman knows. I have spoken to him about this amendment. and staff. I have reviewed what we have done in the appropriations. and I am prepared today to withdraw the amendment. I am appreciative of the fact that he is willing to work with me in conference. I think that this is a tough job. but I also know that we all believe in our personnel. So with the commitment to be able to work with the conferees or to work through this process. I know that the commitment of the gentleman from Florida and the gentleman from Pennsylvania . I am willing and would like to be able\" to work with them.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":615,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090043534,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. reclaiming my time. what I said when I went down to Austin is exactly what I am repeating now. We have to worry about nonproliferation and terrorism and not as much about missile defense. But I am saying: and the gentleman knows the bill we put together. we haveto be realistic. So I am asking the gentleman to just desist and let us see what we can work out.","speaker_name":"JOHN MURTHA","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":373,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090043540,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. as I understood the gentleman from Pennsylvania. my good friend . he is offering us a deal. namely. if we will withdraw the amendment. he will endeavor to raise nonproliferation to a level that is commensurate with the need. particularly for upgrading nuclear storage areas in the former Soviet Union. With that commitment to go to conference and try to improve the allocation within this bill for nonproliferation. with that understanding. I will withdraw my amendment. Mr. Chairman. I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment.","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":548,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090043583,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank. the gentleman for his interest and leadership. Mr. Chairman. I will close briefly by saying this is an important amendment. I appreciate the Chairs acceptance of it. We hope that the administration does listen to the voices in Congress that are basically saying if we can train. one more trainer one day earlier. we should do so. if we can provide one more piece of equipment for the Iraqi security forces one day earlier. we should do so. if we can employ one more interpreter so that these folks can be trained earlier. we should do so. This amendment will hasten that. I hope the administration will bear heed on that. and that General Patrais is successful.","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":684,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090043591,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The battlefield is a dangerous and toxic workplace. The veterans of the 1991 war. those.on the field of battle today and those we deploy in the future will benefit from this research into the diagnosis and treatment of the health consequnces of toxic exposures.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SHAYS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1993,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090043600,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We could not leave until it was over. The word \"proselytizing\" could possibly be applied to what they were doing in that battleground in Iraq. I have always thought that when I argue religion I am making reasoned judgments and the other guy is proselytizing. and the problem is with that word. With establishing that as a standard. that people in uniform have to adhere to. the average person in upiform is going to say. what does proselytizing mean? Am I proselytizing. and if they are not sure whether or not their statement is proselytizing. you know what they are going to do? They are not going to say anything. and we are going to put a chill on what we have heretofore for our entire history welcomed. and that is. expression of religious views by our uniformed personnel. I would hope that Members and the gentleman from Wisconsin in the spirit of this debate would accept this amendment.","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3787,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090043623,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I do rot. either. But 55 cadets. have said that there were efforts at the academy to scrub out their expression of religious belief. That is what we want to stop. I want to make sure that every single person who attends that academy feels free from intimidation and does not feel that they have to go along with the attitudes of those in the chain of command or their senior cadets in order to get along at the academy.","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1135,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090043627,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I may ask unanimous consent that the staffcan go outside and have their own debate rather than handing stuff to the Members in order to have that debate. I have probably offended both sides. I do not know who applauded. but I probably offended both sides. But we ought to get to the business that we came here today for and that is to provide for the security of the United States of America and to provide the troops what they need to do their job. perform their mission. and protect themselves while they do it.","speaker_name":"C. YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1387,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090043628,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I move to strikethe requisite number of words. Mr. Chairman. the long war on Christianity in America continues today on the floor of the United States House of Representatives. It continues unabated with aid and comfort to those who would eradicate any vestige of our Christian heritage being supplied by the usual suspects. the Democrats. Do not get me wrong. Democrats know they should not be doing this. The spirit of. if not the exact. language in the underlying bill added by the Democrat ranking member. the gentleman from Wisconsin was offered by a Democrat in the Armed Services Committee during consideration of the fiscal year 2006 DOD authorization bill. The author of that language in the authorizing committee. the gentleman from New York. has suggested since that time that \"extremist groups\" are behind the removal of language similar to his. ","speaker_name":"JOHN HOSTETTLER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1611,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090043642,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I can stand here today and make my statement of faith. just as any other Member of this body or any other citizen of this Nation can make their statement of faith. whatever their faith or religion may be. or they may make a statement of a lack of faith. a statement of having no belief in any religion. Mr. Chairman. we value this so much that not only is it a right that we protect. but we further protect individuals from discrimination based upon their religion or their belief in no religion. This body has many times voted to ensure that no American is discriminated against based upon their religious faith or lack of religious faith. In ensuring that our laws against discriminatioh are enforced. we do not need to pass additional laws that would undermine one of the basic tenets founding this country. which is the belief in the free practice of religion. and the freedom of speech which includes the freedom of the expression of religious faith. Our men and women in uniform serve their country by serving in our military. Their service is based upon an allegiance to our Constitution and its basic principles of freedom and liberty. We must never forget that many of our forefathers came here escaping countries that have laws and rules that restricted the practices of certain types of religion. There are countries today where citizens or members of government are restricted and cannot stand. as I just did. stating their faith and belief in God. May there never be a time when a Member of Congress or our men in uniform may not freely and openly acknowledge their God or express their faith and belief in their religion or openly acknowledge their lack of religious faith. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL TURNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2419,"word_count":296}
{"speech_id":1090043653,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I look forward to working with my colleagues in the future to ensure that the recommendations of the task force are fully implemented and that our military families get what they deserve. I would like to thank the subcommittee chairman and my good friend. the ranking member. the gentleman from Pennsylvania . for recognizing that there remains significant work to be done on this issue and for making the safety and wellbeing of military spouses and children a top priority in this bill.","speaker_name":"LORETTA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":47.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1332,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090043678,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"America is great because America is good and if America ever Ceases to .be good and not express its values. then we lose our greatness.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3553,"word_count":25}
{"speech_id":1090043682,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I would just note that even those individuals. who may be concerned more about that air base than whether hundreds of people were murdered. raped. suffocated or boiled alive. I think the point here is not just about human rights. it is about the security of American families. When we rely on a thug like Karimov. we end up with him squeezing us. just like he is doing now by not letting us have nighttime flights at the K2 base. not letting heavy cargo planes come in. His limitations are imposed not on the basis that we have criticized him. but that we have not done enough to praise him. We have a base in Kyrgyzstan. we have bases in Afghanistan. We have other ways of continuing the war on terrorism. but we make a mistake when we put the security of our families in the hands of someone who is a terrorist himself. And how ironic that we would be doing this at the same time the recent elections in Iran were criticized by the administration for not being fair enough. There is no danger that Uzbekistan will ever get to the level of Iran. ","speaker_name":"LLOYD DOGGETT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1596,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090043686,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I would just point out to my colleagues that in the 1980s we dealt with a thug by the name of Saddam Hussein because we believed we had common mutual interests. particularly during the courseof the war between Iraq and Iran. During the late 1980s and early 1990s. we allied ourselves with Osama bin Laden against the Soviets. and what did we get for it. Let us be careful.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":386,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090043696,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I know that they thought they could go before. and they did not. And so I would say to the gentleman. I would hope that he would believe that Congress would have a role and we certainly have to fund it. so at any time we could just not fund it. Our role is a big role. and I know to stop the Vietnam War. the funding was reduced substantially. I can remember the exact incident on this floor when that happened. The public was for it up to a point. The public has turned against this war. as all of us know. in Iraq. But we stilbhave some problems.","speaker_name":"JOHN MURTHA","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1341,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090043699,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He is already covered. It does not.go to Iraq. It is already covered. It does not go to a third country that is potentially threatening or any group threatening the United States. That is covered under war powers.","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":968,"word_count":38}
{"speech_id":1090043717,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If we want to get this economy back on track and create the jobs we need. then we must give small business the opportunity and tools to do so. The comp demo program is simply riot doing that. and it needs to end. I urge my colleagues to vote \"yes\" today .on this amendment for better use of the taxpayers dollars and to help our Nations small businesses compete in the Federal marketplace.","speaker_name":"NYDIA VELAZQUEZ","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3877,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090043749,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I want to assure the gentlewoman from California that I agree. we certainly should not overthrow a democratically elected government. I appreciate the gentlewomans intention in raising this issue. and I want to assure her that as this bill moves forward. we will be mindful to work with her and her staff to do everything we can to help.","speaker_name":"JOHN MURTHA","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":351,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090043757,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Yes. I do. Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman. as I indicated earlier. the purpose of this amendment is to see to it that the House stays within the deficitlevels laidout by the budget resolution passed just a few weeks ago. The Budget Committee routinely sends instructions to the Appropriations Committee about what it must do. I think this is an instance in which the Appropriations Committee ought to send a signal back that the Budget Committee ought to conform itself to reality and budgetary honesty. As I understand it. the rule under which this bill is being debated provides that if no Member does lodge a point of order. than indeed this amendment could be passed by the House. Unfortunately. the rule did not protect this amendment from a point of order. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":870,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090043794,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Chairman of the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union. reported that that Committee. having had under consideration the bill making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30. 2006. and for other purposes. had directed him to report thebill back to the House with sundry amendments. with the recommendation that the amendments be agreed to and that the bill. as amended. do pass.","speaker_name":"DAVE CAMP","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":438,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090043804,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I just want to say \"thank you.\" They are making a difference. and most of us are standing with them 100 percent of the time.","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":930,"word_count":25}
{"speech_id":1090043814,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But for the first time In 30 years. we now have hope. We now see a future. And hope is a very powerful thing. As far as education is concerned. the school attendance has increased by 80 percent. most of those are young women for the first time going to school. Health care. 97 percent of the young people have been vaccinated for the first time. We all know about the elections and how that empowered the Iraqi people. And one thing that we do not hear much about is economic activity. Iraqi income has doubled in the last year. So a great deal has been accomplished. So as far as the strategy is concerned. or is there an exit strategy. what are we talking about here? It is very clear. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS OSBORNE","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4611,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090043840,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"May they find comfort and peace in the memory of this accomplished man who leaves behind a tremendous legacy of greatness.","speaker_name":"ROBERT MENENDEZ","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4702,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090043847,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr Speaker. I thank the gentleman from New York for bringing history alive. As we have indicated before. I think this is a wonderful opportunity for America. and I hope that these tapes will be shown in law schools and around the country so students who will take the mantles of government and judiciary positions will know what a wonderful person this was. At this time I yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts . who also served on the Judiciary Committee with Chairman Rodino. who actually was a resident of New Jersey before moving to Massachusetts. .","speaker_name":"DONALD PAYNE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":557,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090043848,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But there was a toughness both in terms of integrity and in terms of commitment. to principle that informed that gentleness. And as previous Members have said. he was a great defender of the U.S. Constitution. He was a great believer that our job here was in part to take that marvelous document. the U.S. Constitution. with all of the wonderful principles it set forward. and to complete the job that had only been begun when the Constitution was adopted of extending the benefit of those principles to everybody in this society. Peter understood that the Constitution was a set of aspirations only imperfectly realized at first. And his job. more than anything else. was to help America realize those aspirations and help everybody in America realize those aspirations. And one of the things that is always striking to me is when someone shatters stereotypes. And let us be clear. Peter Rodino. when he got here. faced a number of stereotypes. ","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4926,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090043854,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to honor the extraordinary life and service to our country of former Congressman Peter Rodino. one of the nations finest public servants. I am honored to have served with such a remarkable American. and am humbled to have called him my colleague and friend. From the streets of his beloved Newark. to North Africa and Italy during World War II. to our Nations capital. Peter Rodino spent his life selflessly striving to help. protect. and serve others. all the while doing so with the utmost dignity and humility. During his twenty terms in the House of Representatives from 1949 to 1989. Peter Rodino championed his convictions on civil rights and equal opportunity. no matter what the cost. and was a key sponsor of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964. Mr. Speaker. it was his tenure as Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee presiding over the Watergate Impeachment hearings that thrust Peter Rodino into the limelight. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2008,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090043858,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank my colleague. the gentleman from New Jersey . for making the arrangements for this evening and fof everyone who has joined in this testimonial to the work of Peter Rodino. I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey . who has served on the Committee on the Judiciary.","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":285,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090043864,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman for those fine comments. There are some words running through the discussion tonight that we hear over and over again: fairness. dignity. patience. caution. incorruptibility. judiciousness. courtesy. strength. a sense of duty. Those are some of the words that I think can describe Peter Rodino who gave so much to this country over the years and from whom we can draw so much even today. Now I would like to recognize -the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. JACK-","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":478,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090043945,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. my fellow Senators. we have heard the Chair announce we will have a vbte that is set. The Senators have time to speak. so they should get down here and speak. We have Senator LANDRIEU. Senator BINGAMAN. the distinguished majority leaderalthough he can take time off his own time. For any who have remaining time agreed to. it would Serve their purpose if they would use their time because the time will run against them. I am not going to yield. I have only 72 or 8 minutes in opposition. I cannot yield. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":538,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090043951,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"President Clinton. as well as by our current President. So there has been a compact. an understanding. a reasoned understanding that Floridians do not want this taking place off their shoresjust as North Carolinians do not want it. We should have the opportunity not to interfere in our own States coastline if we do not wish to have it. Right now. we would have no such option. There would be no opportunity to opt out. and we would have only to acquiesce to inventorying off the shores of Florida which. frankly. cannot be drilled upon because of the ourrent and pending moratorium. How much time remains?","speaker_name":"MEL MARTINEZ","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1905,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090043966,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So we have farmers who are taking a pay cut. homeowners who cannot heat and cool their homes. we have bluecollar workers across this country who are going to have their jobs shifted overseas. and what we are saying is we do not even want to know how much gas we have. We can have a later debate about whether to give more States the option. as Texas does. as Louisiana does. as Alabama does. to drill for oil and gas. You c an do it today 20 miles offshore. You will never see it. It is environmentally clean. That is not the de.bate here today. The debate todayand the Presiding Officer brought it up last yearif we arein a crisis on natural gas. if we have jobs moving overseas. why dont we want to know how much natural gas we have? So I hope we will oppose this amendment and support the DomeniciBingaman legislation. which puts us on a path toward a lowcarbon production of energy plan for our future. It is an essential part of that. I hope we defeat the amendment and support the DomeniciBingaman legislation. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2254,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090044035,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Senator INHOFE from Oklahoma. has spent countless hours personally examining climate change science. He has recently given several speeches on the Senate floor. pointing out serious flaws in the four principal beliefs underlying what some call a consensus on global warming. His work points out very clearly that we are far from a consensus and many questions remain. I am hopeful today he will take the floor some time to go into more of the details on that. as he has in the past. Despite the scientific debate. the issue of global warming and proposals to address this perceived threat have received a lot of attention lately in the Senate. On one side of this debate. there are proposals to create a mandatory domestic program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. such as the amendment that will be proposed by Senator MCCAIN. to my understanding. and I strongly urge my colleagues to vote against this amendment. It is my understanding that the amendment. according to Charles Rivers Associates. which analyzed its provisions. would cause the loss of 24.000 to 47.000 Ohio jobs. in 2010. and energyintensive industries to shrink by 2.3 to 5.6 percent in 2020. We are talking about manufacturing industries. energyintensive manufacturing and chemical and many others. The McCain amendment will put coal out of business by forcing fuel switching to natural gas. This might even be why some organizations are pushing this amendment. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE VOINOVICH","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11428,"word_count":235}
{"speech_id":1090044041,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"One important area in this debate is to recognize. as I think the Senator from Idaho and the Senator from Ohio both did. that this President has done quite a bit more than science would justify in pursuing the notion. first of all. is there a warming trend that is outside of natural variances. No. 2. if that is the case. is it due to anthropogenic gassesmethane. C02. I suggest science does not show that either is true. It is not just me saying this. I dont know why people totally ignore the fact that we had the Heidelburg accords. when 4.000 scientists questioned that there is any major change. By the way. this mornings Wall Street Journal plots out the changes in the Earths surface since 1000 A.D. and what has perhaps caused these changes. They have come to the conclusion that it could not be anthropogenic gases because at that time there were not any. There were not humaninduced gases until about 1940. In 1940. what happened? In 1940. there was a cooling period that went all the way to the end of the 1970s. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6994,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090044088,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The fact is. we were basing our actions and our arguments on temperatures that were rising. But the worst effects that we were projecting were based on scientific modeling. Now the best scientific minds in the world have examined the evidence and stated that climate change is real. Its cost to our economies will be devastatingly real. Its costs to our people and the way they live will be devastatingly real if we do not act. Just a few months ago. the head of the International Panel on Climate Change. Dr. Pachauri. whose candidacy for that position that was supported by the Bush administration. said: We are already at a dangerous point when it comes to global warming..Immediate and very deep cuts in greenhouse gases are needed if humanity. as we know it. is to survive. The truth is. at this point. we do not need the scientists to tell us that the globe is warming. We can see it with our own eyes. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11719,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090044090,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Senator LIEBERMAN mentioned that in his speech. but I think this chart shows it dramatically. This line indicates the Arctic sea ice boundary in 1979. You can see how large it was. And you see more than 20 percent of the polar ice cap has already melted away. That is disastrous because the top of .the planet is more impacted than the bottom of the planet. Now. this is forcing Eskimos in Alaska to move inland. My husband just visited an Eskimo village. They were preparing to move their village because it was being inundated by the ocean. Over the last century. the global sea level has risen by 6 inches. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that by the next century. the global sea level will rise even higher to anywhere from 4 inches to 3 feet. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9281,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090044116,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Democratic leader and Senator INHOFE for this courtesy. I dont think there is a Member of this body who hasnt gone to an event. made a speech. answered a question. advocated a cause. who hasnt said: Oh. I wish I had done it differently. I dont think there are any of us who havent awoken the next morning and said: Gee. I really meant it. and I am sure it is going to be taken out of context. or they are going to think I meant this or that. I dont think there are any of us who havent sometimes written letters to correct what we have said. We know DICK DURBIN. We know heis patriotic. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1381,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090044152,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. however. already recognizes that the commercial activity of nations is not protected by sovereign immunity. And it is hard to imagine an activity that is more obviously commercial than selling oil for profitas OPEC nations do. The suffering of consumers across our country in the last year demonstrates yet again that this legislation is necessary. Our amendment will have. at a minimum. a deterrent effect on nations that seek to join fordes to fix oil prices to the detriment of consumers. It will force OPEC member nations to face substantial and real antitrust sanctions should they persist in their illegal conduct. Before yielding the floor. I want to express my gratitude to my good friend and colleague. Senator DEWINE. for all his efforts over the past 5 years on this important measure. I also wish to thank the many cosponsors who have joined us on this amendment. including the chairman and the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee. I thank the Chair. ","speaker_name":"HERBERT KOHL","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3318,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090044168,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise in support of the Voinovich amendment on diesel emissions reductions. I am an original cosponsor of the legislation which is the same as this amendment. I agree with the intent of this amendment. I believe it is helpful to provide a voluntary national and statelevel grant and loan program to promote the reduction of diesel emissions. However. I am concerned that this proposal is being rushed through the process without the benefit of consideration by the committee of jurisdiction. the Environment and Public Works Committee. which I chair. I would prefer. prior to Senate action. that the Environment and Public Works Committee conduct legislative hearings on the issue. and ensure that the program design meets its goals in a costeffective manner. I am concerned about the $1 billion cost of the program and I believe the goals might be accomplished with a smaller sum. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1121,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090044181,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we are not going to have any additional votes tonight. Thatis the first announcement I would like to make. But I also would like to suggest that. while the principal amendment. in terms of time tomorrow. is the McCainLieberman amendment on global climate change. there are now a number of amendments that are percolating up on the Democratic side predominantly. We are unable yet to come up with a list. but we are trying. It seems the distinguished Senator from New York. standing right in front of me. might have one we could go with rather quickly in the morning and perhaps the Senator from California. but I have to consult both with Senator BINGAMAN. obviously. and others. I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":729,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090044186,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am here to speak on the importance of a national energy policy and to express my staunch opposition to the inclusion of an amendment offered by my colleagues from Arizona and Connecticut that creates a -mandatory carbon cap * and trade program. Before doing so. however. I want to take a moment to thank the chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Senator DOMENICI. for his hard work on the bill. Senator DOMENi10 has worked exceedingly hard to craft truly bipartisan consensus legis\"lation. I commend him for that work. I commend everyone that has worked on this bill under his direction. It is extremely important we have an energy policy. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11858,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090044219,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am pleased today to recognize the Prince William CountyGreater Manassas Chamber of Commerce xvhich celebrates its 70th -anniversary this year. For seven decades. the Chamber has supported the community. educational and business interests of Prince William County and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park. In 1935. a small group of citizens gathered together in the Town of Manassas with an idea to form the Chamber of Commerce. These leaders founded an organization that has prevailed through times of prosperity and depression. and that continues to grow and prosper. Today. the Chamber has almost 1000 members. and it holds an accreditation from the United States Chamber of Commerce. Only 15 percent June 21..2005 of Chambers of Commerce throughout the country have earned this distinction. The Prince William CountyGreater Manassas Chamber of Commerce continues to perform outstanding work in representing and promoting its citizens and the entire Commonwealth of -Virginia. I congratulate its members on seventy successful years. and thank them for the work they are doing to make Virginia a better place to live. work and raise a family.*","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1150,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090044231,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I send. to the desk legislation to designate the U.S. Post Office located at 7172 North Tongass Highway in Ward Cove. AK after Alice R. Brusich. Alice Brusich started her career with the Postal Service in 1954 as an Assistant Postmaster. Through her hard work and efforts. she became Postmaster in 1956. During her service with the Postal Service. Alice was also one of the founders of the Tongass Community Club. ","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1046,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090044232,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Today I am introducing the Uniting American Families Act. This legislation would allow U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents to petition for their foreign samesex partners to come to the United States under our family immigration system. It is nearly identical to the Permanent Partners Immigration Act that I introduced in the last Congress. and which Congressman NADLERwho is introducing this bill in the House todayhas sponsored for the last four Congresses. I am pleased to have Senators","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":497,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090044235,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Let me. in conclusion. expand briefly on that statement by referring to two specific areas of interest: the development of a crew exploration vehicle. and the assembly and operation of the International Space Station. NASA has begun several efforts in the past -decade. to develop a replacement vehicle for human space flight. with a view to eventually retiring the space shuttle. Each of them has failed. after considerable expense. to find the technological breakthrough that was necessary for their success. They were focused on new technologies. new systems that were largely untested. and unproven. We are now out of time. and can no longer afford the luxury of attempting to develop a dramatically new and different human space flight capability. This legislation directs NASA. wherever practical. to use existing technology and industrial capacity. derived from our 24 years of experience with the space shuttle. in developing alternative means for launching crews and cargo into space. This approach promises not only to result in less cost to NASA and less risk of failure in development. but it will enable this nation to avoid an unacceptableand potentially dangeroussituation where we do not have a capability to launch humans in space. especially at a time when the number of nations who have that capability is increasing. as the entry of China into that longexclusive \"club\" has demonstrated. NASA has said it- cannot afford to continue to provide for all the research that has been planned for years to be accomplished aboard the International Space Station. It has begun the process of narrowing the scope of the use of the space station to those experiments that can contribute directly to the needs of the vision for exploration. and the support of human missions to the Moon. Mars. and beyond. ","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7702,"word_count":295}
{"speech_id":1090044237,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am proud to reintroduce the Lifespan Respite Care Act of 2005 today with my colleague Senator JOHN WARNER. Id like to express my sincere thanks to Senator WARNER for his leadership on this legislation . which would make much needed quality respite care available and accessible to families and family caregivers in need. Caregiving needs do not discriminate: they demand the time and resources of millions of American families from all socioeconomic. ethnic. and educational backgrounds. Caregivers today provide an enormous portion of our health and longterm care for older adults and individuals with disabilities. Although much of family caregiving is unpaid. it is not without cost. In fact. it is estimated that if services provided by family caregivers were provided instead by paid professionals. they would cost over $200 billion annually. In addition. food. medicines and other caregiving necessities place added strain on already tight family budgets. Because of their responsibilities at home. it is much more difficult for caregivers to find or maintain jobs. ","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4630,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090044272,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. we have been talking a lot about Iraq. and a lot of people have different ideas and different thoughts about what we are doing over there. In recent days and weeks. some have suggested we need a specific timeline or date that indicates when our troops will begin to withdraw from Iraq. of I woul one of m of last W rently se \"I know questions garding o we shoul the atta why we differenc This Speaker. 1.000 wor The so his ema days wit somethin ter place Madam drawal allow ou abandon not just the futur about a about vic CONTIN The S ant to th ary 4. 20","speaker_name":"JAMES BARRETT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":569,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090044299,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I rise and ask my colleagues in the House to support this resolution. In addition to the kind words that already have been mentioned. FarmHouse had a unique. but a humble. beginning in my home town of Columbia. Missouri. Like many social organizations at the University of Missouri campus. there were few students back in 1905 to draw from for its members. Its purpose. its objective back then was really not clearly defined or understood. And so it attracted little attention. It was not the result of any sort of a crisis among ag students. but was rather the result of a need forrecognition of a small and subordinate and specialized group in the area of higher education. The University of Missouri College of Agriculture was established back in 1870 as part of the land grant system. ","speaker_name":"KENNY HULSHOF","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4088,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090044302,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 256) expressing.. the sense of the House of Representatives in -remembrance of the brave servicemen who perished in the disastrous April 24. 1980. rescue attempt of the American hostages in Iran. as amended.","speaker_name":"H. SAXTON","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":287,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090044306,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"At that point. despite the desired and sheer ability of the Special Operations Forces on the ground. the order to abort the mission was given. As the helicopters and airplanes maneuvered to return to their respective launching points. another disaster struck. One of the helicopters collided with a parked C130 and both aircraft erupted in flames. In the chaos that followed. the soldiers on the ground acted courageously. with absolutely no regard for their personal safety. and managed to save many of their colleagues. But despite this uncanny display of bravery. 8 of Americas finest young men lost theirlives: Captain Harold L. Lewis. Jr.. Captain Lyn D. McIntosh. Captain Richard L. ","speaker_name":"H. SAXTON","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6329,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090044332,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is my hope that our efforts embodied in the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act sanctions will encourage more countries. organizations. and individuals to work for freedom. democracy. and a prosperous Burma. I urge a \"yes\" vote on H.J. Res. 52.","speaker_name":"MARK SOUDER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2942,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090044366,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution to supportinitiatives developed by the Firefighter Life Safety Summit and the mission of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and the United States Fire Administration to reduce firefighter fatalities and injuries. to encourage implementation of the new \"Everyone Goes Home\" campaign to make firefighter safety a national priority. and to support the goals of the national \"stand down\" called by fire organizations.","speaker_name":"SHERWOOD BOEHLERT","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":502,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090044384,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. in 1989. the United States Supreme Court Texas v. Johnson decision nullified the laws of 48 States banning flag desecration. Today. all 50 States have passed resolutions requesting Congress to approve a Constitution amendment for ratification that would ban flag burning. The House of Representatives has passed the same. if not similar. legislation for five consecutive Congresses. In the 104th Congress. the House of Representatives passed a proposed amendment with the necessary twothirds majority by a vote of 312 to 120. while the 105th House passed it 310 to 114. the 106th House passed it 305 to 124. the 107th House passed it 298 to 125. and in the last Congress. the 108th. the House passed it by a vote of 300 to 125. Our flag. with 50 stars and 13 stripes. represents the history. culture. and ideology of democracy for the world. Millions of Americans throughout our Nations history died defending our flag and the ideals it represents. To burn a flag is to disrespect America and disrespect democracy. For our enemies. those who embrace terrorism. communism. and totalitarianism. burning the American flag is a sign of defiance. because freedom threatens the existence of tyranny. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4755,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090044387,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And reclaiming my time. does the gentleman distinguish between flag burning and other forms of desecration when he cites the 119? I have no memory of a flag burning in recent times. And I am curious to know whether or not you do. Flag burning is what this Congress constitutional amendment is about.","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":299,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090044427,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. now the gentleman. as a Congressman in this 21st century. is saying they were all wrong. the judge in the Johnson and Eichman case was absolutely right? He was not respecting the 200 years we had and now suddenly out of thin air he has decided to change the courts?","speaker_name":"CLIFFORD STEARNS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":278,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090044472,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Perhaps the gentleman. out of his concern for torture. would read into the RECORD the similar treatments. the abuse. the torture. the behavior shown Jessica Lynch. Perhaps the gentleman would also read into the RECORD the actions of the gentlemen who boardedAmerican airplanes and crashed them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Perhaps. out of his sense of concern about torture. he would enter into the RECORD transcripts and videos of the beheadings that have been taking place in Iraq. Perhaps the gentleman. out of his sense of concern about torture. would cover those bad apples. those bad actors. and the actions that are being taken against them. Mr. Speaker. I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Florida .","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":784,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090044475,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank my colleague for yielding me time. Mr.Speaker. I rise to oppose the rule with a very simple question: What is the House Republican leadership afraid of? We say wewant to promote democracy around the world. We say we want to set a good example to others. and yet the House leadership seeks to block a vote today. That is what this argument is about. a vote today on the Waxman amendment. which would simply create an independent. bipartisan commission to investigate abuses at Abu Ghraib. Guantanamo Bay. and other places around the world. Unfortunately. the only example we seem to be setting these days is the example of the ostrich. to bury our heads in the sand. to ignore the facts. to ignore the truth. The Bush administration and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle say that the reports of human rights abuses at. these facilities have been greatly exaggerated. ","speaker_name":"CHRIS VAN HOLLEN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2126,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090044477,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I want to talk in greater length about the oversight subcommittee. because I think it is important to say that the chairman of the Intelligence Committee and the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee. at the beginning of this Congress. decided to create a special oversight subcommittee of the House Intelligence Committee. And our charge is to focus at greater depth and with greater persistency on some of the key intelligence issues which we face. And we take that job very seriously. And I think we can do the job very seriously. in part because we usually do not do our job in front of the cameras. We do not do our job for partisanship. We do not come out on the floor. in press conferences or in other places. and try to bash the administration or to protect the administration We try to be tough. but fair. And that is the way that real oversight. particularly in the area of national security. ought to be done. rather than posturing and other things that we have seen from time to time. The problem is the work you do in the Intelligence Committee cannot be talked about openly. And so there is very little one can say about the specifics. But justbecause we cannot come and detail all of our activities and some of what we found and what more we have to do. one should never take that to mean that there is not serious oversight and investigation ongoing. because there is. ","speaker_name":"MAC THORNBERRY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3078,"word_count":252}
{"speech_id":1090044487,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And to those who would try to justify what we do by saying. well. it is not as bad as those unspeakable beheadings or other things. well. I should certainly hope not. because we are not like them. We are better than them. We are the United States of America. And now. those who call on our country to uphold the rule of law and who reject becoming debased ourselves by conducting torture. they become the object of relentless criticism. Those patriots who want to stand up to our values and our belief in the rule of law. we are a proud and a great Nation blessed with immense freedom and with military personnel who proudly defend us. We should not fear the truth. we should demand it with an independent investigation.","speaker_name":"JANICE SCHAKOWSKY","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2010,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090044515,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the new news on our committee is that we have stood up an oversight subcommittee. Much discussion has been made about this already today. It is my pleasure to Yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Alabama who is ranking member of the intelligence oversight subcommittee.","speaker_name":"JANE HARMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":36.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":283,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090044522,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I thank the chairman for yielding me this time. Madam Speaker. I rise in strong support of this legislation. H.R. 2475. As the distinguished chairman so graciously recognized. I am one of the newer members of this committee. and I must say in that respect. I am enormously impressed by the bipartisan attitude that all the members bring to this very important -issue. that of national security and its interface with our intelligence communities. That is a tribute. to all of the -members. Democrat and Republican alike. but I think it is a particular tribute to the distinguished gentleman from Michigan (Chairman HOEKSTRA) and also the gentlewoman from California . ranking member. who have worked so well together and provided that leadership of bipartisanship. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MCHUGH","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3250,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090044535,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And it has to have the authority to ensure that the network agencies are reformed. coordinated. and effective. It also needs the authority to make sure that we have the appropriate budgetary and personnel powers within the DNI towork. The DNI should follow the recommendation of the blue ribbon commission to establish a Civil Liberties Board and ensure that it effectively protects the civil liberties. even as we makie sure aggressive intelligence measures are pursued. This too is essential to maintain public trust. It is as important as it is to require that we use taxpayer money wisely. and it is every bit as essential that our intelligence operate within the law.","speaker_name":"JOHN TIERNEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3220,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090044538,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I thank my gentle friend and colleague from California for yielding me this time.. I rise in strong support of the national intelligence bill. I want to thank the committee for its great work. I especially want to focus my praise on the gentlewoman from California (Ranking Member HARMAN) for her great work in leading on this issue. It was Democrats. led by the gentlewoman from California and the gentleman from Florida . that pushed the 9\/11 Commission to be started last year. as the Republicans and the White House blocked their work and opposed their mission. I believe the Republicans fear the truth that may come from that Commission. Later. when the 9\/11 Commission issued its recommendations and the Speaker said he would not implement any legislative changes without a majority of the majority. it was again Democrats and the gentlewoman from California who led the fight for a real intelligence shakeup and for the creation of a director of National Intelligence. Democrats fixed those problems and fought back changes this year to bring us back to the bad old days of intelligence turf wars. This bill reflects the new world we live in. a dangerous world that has gotten more dangerous since September 11. and we need to be involved. and more heavily involved. to protect all Americans. no matter where they are on this planet and the bill does that. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH CROWLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1772,"word_count":235}
{"speech_id":1090044546,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Allen has served the Central Intelligence Agency and the Nation with distinction since 1958. holding a variety of positions of increasing responsibility. both in analytical and managerial capacity. He served overseas in an intelligence liaison capacity from 1974 to 1977. and from 1977 to 1980 he held management positions of increasing responsibility and importance in the Directorate of Intelligence. I think that all of the Members in the House. and all of the Members and the staff on the committee who have gotten to know Mr. Allen over the last number of years. number one. we are glad that he is still working on special assignment with Mr. Goss. but we really want to extend our congratulations to him for almost slightly over 45 years of service to this country within the intelligence community. a real national asset In the intelligence business. Madam Speaker. I include for the RECORD a statement onAssistant Director Allen.","speaker_name":"PETER HOEKSTRA","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1487,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090044552,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Instead. our failure to undertake a thorough and credible investigation has caused severe resentment of the United States.\" Some of those who opposed most strongly an independent investigation of the 9\/11 attacks also oppose an independent investigation of the prisoner abuse scandal. That is unacceptable. But just as the American people would not accept the initial refusal to establish a 9\/11 Commission. so too will demands continue for an independent commission to investigate the prisoner abuses in Iraq. Guantanamo Bay. and elsewhere. Our countrys standing in the eyes of the world depends on getting to the bottom of the prisoner abuse mattera fact that will ultimately force the majority of this House to stop placing obstacles in the path of a full and independent inquiry. Unfortunately this is not the only initiative this Congress has failed to act on. Despite the unanimity with which they were adopted and the near universal acclaim they have produced. some critical recommendations made by the 9\/11 Commission have gone unfulfilled. For example. Chairman Kean pointed earlier this month to the failure to allocate more of the broadcast spectrum to first responder communications as \"almost a scandal.\" Congresswoman HARMAN has been a leader in trying to resolve this problem and I congratulate her for her efforts. Chairman Kean also emphasized what has long been known to Members of the Intelligence Committee: the greatest danger facing the United States is a terrorist attack involving weapons of mass destruction. and the best way to address that is to safeguard or destroy WMD components. especially nuclear material. at its source. ","speaker_name":"NANCY PELOSI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7601,"word_count":262}
{"speech_id":1090044576,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me time. I thank her for her very hard work and the work again of the gentleman from Michigan and the gentlewoman from California . \" I rise. obviously. in support of this amendment that we are offering. as amended. which would require the director of National Intelligence to provide Congress written explanation why the National Counter Terrorism Center. NCTC. is not fully operational since the June 17 deadline set forth in Public Law 108458. The Joint Inquiry and the 9\/11 Commission both found that the lack of informationsharing and coordination within the intelligence community led to numerous missed opportulities to detect and prevent September 11 terrorist attacks. The establishment of the NCTC was a key 9\/11 Commission recommendation and an integral part of the effort to increase informationsharing and coordination among intelligence agencies. The director will serve a critical function in our Nations intelligence capability. as he will report to the President and to the director of National Intelligence.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SHAYS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1077,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090044592,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Only a bipartisan. independent commission can get to the bottom of what happened among administration policymakers within the military chain of command and out in the field. The steady stream of revelations about Guantanamo and other facilities around the world erode our moral credibility. just as we are trying to win the hearts and minds of the Arab and Muslim world. It is vital to our national security. Mr. Speaker. that we fix this problem so that our detention and interrogation policies get us actionable intelligence without creating a whole new generation of terrorist recruits. Pretending that there is no problem is not a strategy for success. So in conclusion. Mr. Speaker. our committee. on a bipartisan basis. is looking into these issues through our Subcommittee on Oversight. I commend our progress. but in addition. ","speaker_name":"JANE HARMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":36.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1894,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090044653,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"E 1815 Mr. Speaker. on my left I have got two news articles. one from a couple of years ago in the Raleigh paper known as. the News & Observer. it says. Pillowtex Goes Bust. erasing 6.450 jobs. These were five plants in North Carolina that lost that many jobs. 6.450. Then I have got another article from a business in my county I share with the gentleman from North Carolina . the Wilson Daily Times. says VF Jeanswear Closes Plants. Last 445 Jobs Gone By Next Summer. The jobs are going down to Honduras. Mr. Speaker. a couple of more points. CAFTA means more U.S. job losses: We know what NAFTA has done. ","speaker_name":"WALTER JONES","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3923,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090044665,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Reclaiming my time. Mr. Speaker. the blue line. believe it or not. is the path the Bush administration plotted when it was trying to sell its initial budget. its tax cuts. its defense increases. to the Congress of the United States. They said even with these policies. this is the budget we foresee. This is th6 bottom line that we foresee between 2005 and 2011.","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":362,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090044667,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. I do not think. given his budget policies. it is a realistic statement of what is likely to happen. One can call it a goal if they will. but I do not think it is a goal that is likely to be achieved under the policies that are now being furthered. by this administration.","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":304,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090044671,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. I said earlier that one reason we do not have the sort of moral outrage in the country about the deficit. that people are concerned about it. but they do not quite feel and see it. this is the reason why. E 1845 Foreigners have been buying our debt in copious quantities. relieving us of. for now. the outlay that we would have to make. digging out of our own capital and our own savings. they are picking it up. for now. But what this means is that over time. debt means dependence. and we are incurring dependence to our debtors. and this has happened increasingly since the year 2000. In the year 2000. foreigners held 30 percent of our Federal debt. Today. at least at the end of the last fiscal year that had risen by 50 percent. almost 50 percent. or 44 percent. almost half of our debt is held today by foreigners. and that is a matter of some concern. It has to be one of the reasons that we do not need to be running persistent. perennial. huge deficits.","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":996,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090044678,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Their pace of buying our debt. of loaning us money. of getting us dependent on their credit is so ravenous that just a few short years from now. they will own all the foreign debt. if current trends continue. Look at another key date. By the year 2017. that will be the first honest picture of the deficit in American history. because today the true size of the deficit is being disguised by the Social Security surplus. Last year. people like to say the deficit was $412 billion. Well. the true deficit was $567 billion. because $155 billion of Social Security surplus was used to disguise the true size of the deficit. We owe that money to Social Security recipients. That is one of the most solemn obligations our country has ever made. and yet people never mention the true size of the deficit. Well. by 2017 there will not be a surplus anymore. and then the true deficit will be revealed. Look at the year 2035. A reputable group. ","speaker_name":"JIM COOPER","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5397,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090044693,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. if the gentleman will recall. in the late 1980s. we came to this conclusion that we had to have Presidential leadership as well as congressional leadership solidly behind us. And so we sponsgred resolutions several years in a r6w which called for a budget summit. We finally passed such a resolution. convened a summit. they met at Andrews Air Force Base something like 60 different days. and once again they succeeded. They capped discretionary spending. they devised the PAYGO rule. They reduced entitlements. -rates of growth. did all of the things you needed to do. The results were obscured by the fact that we had a recession: But the Clinton administration built upon the successes and upon the processes of the Bush administration. the Bush budget that moved us from a $290 billion deficit. to a $236 billion surplus. That was built on that foundation.","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":866,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090044710,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. I am certain that in the gentlemans district in Georgia. just like in my mine in Tennessee. he has many family farmers. In our district in Tennessee. small business is the number one employer. and when I meet in my district with many of our farmers. with many of our small business owners. this is one of those issues. a permanent repeal of the death tax. this is something that they want to be certain gets signed into law. They are so supportive of the President and what he is doing there. and they want to be certain we get rid of that. We look at it as a triple tax. You pay tax when you acquire an asset. you pay a tax when you earn your income. you pay a tax when you maintain that asset. and then you die and you go and you pay it again. I talk a lot about sweat equity. Being a small businessperson. when somebody goes in there and they have that bright idea and they start that business and they put years and years and years into building that business and building that customer base. they want to be able to with pride give that to their children and their grandchildren. for that to be their livelihood. to continue that legacy. I look forward to our being able to put an end to such an egregious tax. and I thank the gentleman for his leadership on that issue. and I yield to the gentleman from Georgia .","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1352,"word_count":260}
{"speech_id":1090044729,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the gentlewoman from California . not only for being here this evening. but for all of the work. all of the hours. all of the time that she has put into this effort. I now yield time to the gentlewoman from California . who too has been a leaderin opposing this war. She warned us early on that we should not just give permission to the President of. the United States to go to war without understanding what the reasons were and without having that debate. So. unfortunately. our debate is taking place a little bit late. but it is taking place. I would like .to thank the gentlewoman from northern California. the Oakland area. . for all of her work and for being here this evening.","speaker_name":"MAXINE WATERS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":35.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":719,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090044783,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"LaPehn is the daughter of Carl and Sharon Miles. a retired engineering executive and his wife a homemaker who both reside in Indianapolis. IN. Richard and Laura are the proud parents of two daughters. Samantha and Allison. Fortunately. the family is in the gallery today. Reverend Dr. LaPehn serves as pastor to the very kind and caring members of the Milton Presbyterian Church. In addition. he serves the growing city of Rittman. OH. which. of course. is in the 16th District. as a member of the city council. That is kind of unusual for a pastor of a church to also be a member of a city council. ","speaker_name":"RALPH REGULA","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1150,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090044785,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I stand here today to pay tribute and recognize Corporal Chad Maynard. Corporal Maynard was killed in the line of duty while serving his country in Iraq. Each day. men and women in -the Armed Forces face danger in the hope of bringing peace and prosperity to those in need. We must not forget the individual stories of these soldiers who have served our country with courage and honor. Chad Maynard was from Montrose. CO. All his life he wanted to follow in his fathers and brothers footsteps and serve in the Marines. He volunteered to serve in the Marines and was proud to wear our Nations uniform. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SALAZAR","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1462,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090044793,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise this morning to pay tribute to the late Congressman Jake Pickle. who will be funeralized today in Austin. TX. What a .giant. What a generous spirit. What an outstanding patriot and leader. And I am grateful that he served the people of Texas and the United States of America. Yes. he was someone who had the common touch. In- fact. many would speak of his travels from Washington to Austin where he worked the airplane aisles to shake hands with all the constituents and others who were flying back and forth with him. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1183,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090044804,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"When someone throws around offensive slurs for the purpose of political posturing. they jeopardize the very safety of the men and women who protect us and add resolve to those terrorists who wish us harm. These slurs are a horrific disservice to the American people who are counting on us to stop terrorism from once again rearing its ugly head within our borders.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1059,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090044843,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"She grabs a flag and she burns it? What is the proper punishment for this woman who is grieved. who acts out in this manner? We say. well. these are special circumstances. we will excuse her for that. or no. she has to be punished. she burned a flag because she was making a politidal statement. That is the question that has to be answered. What is the proper punishment for a woman like that? I would say it is very difficult to mete out any punishment whatsoever. We do not need a new.amendment to the Constitution to take care of a problem that does not exist. Another point: The real problem that exists rountinely on the House floor is the daily trashing of the Court by totally ignoring Act I Sec. 8. We should spend a lot more time following the Rule of Law. as defined by our oath of office. and a lot less on unnecessary constitutional amendments that expands the role of the Federal Government while undermining that eXtension of the States. Mr. Speaker. let me summarize my views on this -proposed amendment. I rise in opposition to this amendment. I have myself served 5 years in the military. and I have great respect for the symbol of our freedom. ","speaker_name":"RONALD PAUL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9934,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090044845,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to begin by commending the gentleman from California for not only his extraordinary and courageous service to our Nation in uniform. but for his ongoing service to our country in bringing this important legislation to the floor of the Congress. I also want to thank the distinguished chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary on which I have the privilege of serving. The gentleman from Wisconsin","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":417,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090044847,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He cried out he was an Englishman and did not have to get up. but the crowd would not listen to explanation. \"Boyd was beaten severely when Albert Dasburg a head waiter. succeeded in reaching his side. Other waiters closed in and the fray was stopped. The guests insisted upon the ejection of Boyd and his companions. and they were asked to leave. They refused to do so and they were escorted to the street and turned over to a policeman who took Boyd to the West 47th Street Station. charged with disorderly conduct. Before Magistrate Corrigan in night court. Boyd repeated that he did not have to rise at the playing of the National Anthem. but the court told him that while there was no legal obligation. it was neither prudent nor courteous not to do so in these tense times. Boyd was found guilty of disorderly conduct and was. released on suspended sentence.\" Another one from the New York Times. July 2. 1917. headline: \"Boston Peace Parade Mobbed. Soldiers and Sailors Break Up Socialist Demonstration and Rescue Flag. ","speaker_name":"VICTOR SNYDER","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6784,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090044883,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am a little ashamed to confess my mother is around the age of the gentleman from North Carolina . My mother used to tell me stories when she was a young woman in the segregated South that she would drive through parts of rural and western Alabama and that she would see crosses burned. My grandmother used to tell me stories that after Brown v. Board of Education. she remembers riding through parts of rural Alabama and seeing crosses burned. The interesting thing about that is the burning of those crosses did not keep a single black child out of a public school. The burning of those crosses. frankly. did nothing to slow down the march of justice in this country over the 40orso years I have been around. I think that is relevant to this debate today. Mr. ","speaker_name":"ARTUR DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2616,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090044935,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this motion is also not germane under House rule XVI. clause 7. because it is one individual proposition attempting to amend another individual proposition. The base constitutional amendment relates to flag desecration. The amendment proposed in the motion to recommit relates to the Old Age Survivors and Disability Trust Fund and is a separate proposition. fl 1400","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":379,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090044949,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. to the gentleman from Wisconsin. you have. using the power of the majority. blocked the vote on a constitutional amendment to balance the budget and - the constitutional amendment to vote to protect the Social Security trust fund. Now. I have additional motions at the desk. The next one would be a constitutional amendment to protect the Medicare trust fund. Would it be your intention to object to that as well and prevent a vote on this House floor?","speaker_name":"GENE TAYLOR","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":465,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090044953,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. I would remind the Members of this body that this bill came to the floor waiving all points of order. The Medicare prescription drug bill that is going to increase the national debt by $1.5 billion came to the floor waiving all points of order. We have acquired $2.1 billion worth of new debt in just the past 4 years. waiving all points of order. But if the gentleman is going to insist on not allowing a vote to protect the constitutional amendment to balance the budget. not.allowing a Vote to protect the Social Security trust fund. and not allowing a vote to protect the Medicare trust fund. I see no further reason other than to point out that I really thought the Republican majority meant it when they passed the Contract with America. that they said they would balance the budget. I gave you an opportunity to do just that. I hope the Speaker will give us an opportunity in the near future for you guys to live up to your promises.","speaker_name":"GENE TAYLOR","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":973,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090044961,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would like to thank the chairman and the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee for their leadership on this important issue. as well as the subcommittee. I urge my colleagues to support both the rule and the underlying legislation. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2658,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090044963,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we are here to debate the rule governing the debate for the fiscal year 2006 legislative branch appropriations measure. Through this bill. we will fund the operations for our institution and the many supporting bodies that we rely upon. such as the Library of Congress. the Government Accountability Office. and the Congressional Budget Office. While I will ultimately support the underlying bill. I woiild first like to address a few aspects of the rule about which I have serious concerns. specifically. the committees addition of legislative language providing for the continuity of Congress. One of the results of September 11. and we all agree. is that we need a mechanism to allow States to replace Members of Congress in the event of a major disaster. However. adding continuity language in the manner we are today is inappropriate. While I am pleased that the Rules Committee voted to allow debate on the Baird amendment -to remove this language from the .bill. I am disappointed that this language was included in the bill at all. Legislation that will have a major impact on the representation of the American people. as this language unquestionably will. should be completely and thoroughly debated in an atmosphere conducive to debate. ","speaker_name":"DORIS MATSUI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2315,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090044964,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. I yield such time as he may consume to the distinguished gentleman from California . chairman of the Committee on Rules.","speaker_name":"LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":924,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090044973,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"More importantly still. the average American needs to understand that this body is considering legislation which would prohibit them from having representation in the Congress and prohibit the Congress from having a check on the executive at a time of national crisis. and that is disastrous. If Members care about this body. if they believe in the principles of checks and balances. they should reject this clause. support the Baird amendment. They should insist not that we ram this through on an inappropriate appropriations bill. where it should not belong. but that we have a full and open debate with our colleagues from the other body. I have to tell the Members that when I go home and talk to my constituents. and I would ask the Members to do this: Ask their constituents if they are comfortable. knowing that three or four people could serve as the House of Representatives under the rules we passed. which I believe are blatantly unconstitutional. if they believe that three or four people should be able to elect a Speaker of the House. that that person should then become the President of the United States. could declare martial law with absolutely no checks and no representation of hundreds of millions of Americans at the time that happens. This is irresponsible. Madison and Jefferson and the rest would be spinning in their graves if they knew what you are up to here. It is not just about germaneness. but that reason alone should cause Members to support the Baird amendment. fl 1515 A matter of this importance should not be attached to an appropriations bill as a way to try to jam it through the Senate. It simply should not be. Mr. Speaker. we owe it to posterity. we owe it to this institution to solve this problem. to solve it properly. and this amendment that I have introduced would at least prevent us from doing something bad. ","speaker_name":"BRIAN BAIRD","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5267,"word_count":324}
{"speech_id":1090044974,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I will be asking Mem bers to vote \"no\" on the previous question. If the previous question is defeated. I will offer an amendment to allow the House to consider the Tierney amendment on the Trumgn Commission that got defeated in the Committee on Rules last night by a straight partyline vote. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the amendment be printed in diately prior to the vote on the previous question.","speaker_name":"DORIS MATSUI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":481,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090044990,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Then we come to the other portion of the addon. which is the portion devoted to the visitors center. Originally. that visitors center was supposed to have two media theaters so that the public could come in. see a short film about the Congress. and then be on its way. Here is the problem. We have those two small orientation theaters. but in addition to that. we have this huge congressional auditorium. which is going to seat 450plus people. I asked the Architect. and this is a vaulted theater. I asked why do we need another theater in the Capitol? What I was told by the Architect is. \"Well. you can bring in large constituency groups.\" I would like to know how many Members of the House have ever brought 500 people into the Capitol. I do not think there are going to be many people would raise their hands. The second thing the Architect told me is that. \"Well. we need a place for where the House of Representatives can meet when the House Chamber is being remodeled.\" [E 1615 That I found a might strange. because we have just redecorated the Committee on Ways and Means room in the Longworth Building. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8472,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090044992,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This is Congress opportunity to say thank you to all of the people who work around here. It includes the lawyers who make sure that we do things correctly. and all of the people who work hard day and night to keep this building open. keep Members on the right track. and make sure that the things we do are done by the book. So I pay my compliments to all of the people who make this magnificent facility that we call the United States Capitol the great place that it is. where we make the laws and have the debates and have the opportunity to represent the people from all over the country. We could not do it without this bill. without the funding in this bill. and we could not do it without the people who provide all of the services. and are very dedicated. many of whom work late hours to keep this place going. I want to take my hat off to those folks. I want to say a word about the visitors center. I want to say this: it is a done deal. The leadership decided several years we needed a visitors center. Has it been done all correctly? No. And the points that the gentleman from Wisconsin makes are correct points. ","speaker_name":"RAY LAHOOD","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7083,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090045048,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Indeed. it will be a very -highquality addition that we will all be proud of. but I think it would be a mistake for me to try to be the architect between now and then. So with that. Mr. Chairman. this has been a very interesting debate about the work of the peoples House. I am very happy to participate in this with my friend. the gentleman from Wisconsin .","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1965,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090045060,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of the time. Mr. Chairman. it is a perverse reasoning that suggests that having no representation here at all somehow provides you better representation than to have someone appointed by the person you last elected. You are trying to say that we do not have a Democratic Republic if the elected representatives from other States can have a vote equal to someone from your State. I believe the best way to have a Republic is to have representation from all of the constituents. If that means temporary appointments. so be it. Finally. we have heard so many times one distinguished scholar quoted. and he is indeed a distinguished scholar. But let me point out to the gentleman from California as he well knows. the bipartisan 9\/11 Commission. which included Newt Gingrich. ","speaker_name":"BRIAN BAIRD","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1284,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090045071,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself as much time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. my amendment is very simple. It strikes the language from the bill that prevents the Capitol Police from continuing the horse mounted unit. and it strikes language that requires the current horsemounted unit to be transferred to the Park Police. This small yet valuable unit is irreplaceable in protecting the Capitol grounds against potential threats. The benefits of mounted patrols are recognized. worldwide by law enforcement communities. Transferring the horse mounted unit to the Park Police is inadequate to meet the security needs of the Capitol complex. In the past. the Park Polices horse mounted unit has been unavailable when requested by the Capitol Police. ","speaker_name":"JO ANN DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2479,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090045083,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself.such time as I may consume. I found one other reason to love the gentlewoman from Virginia (Mrs. Jo ANN DAVIS). Her caring for horses as much as I do is a thrill to me. The problem is I have studied this material and cannot find that this is the best way to use our funding. especially when these horses will have a new home where they might be used more effectively. Mr.. Chairman. I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Illinois","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":473,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090045086,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. number one. when is the best time to eliminate a program other than before it gets fully established? So I think it is important to follow the committees recommendation. The second thing is that we know that the police have asked for stables. Once they establish stables. the costs goes up. the program is more established. We have got more investment. Now is the time to kill it. Consolidate it with the Park Police. I fully agree with the committees recommendation. I thank the gentleman for yielding to me.","speaker_name":"JAMES MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":523,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090045087,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. this is the second year that we have attempted to do this. That is pretty good time for eliminating a program. We had a big debate about this last year. We had a big debate about it this year. There is nobody who spends any time around here that does not think this place is secure. It is not going to be made any more secure by having a few people riding horses around here. Now. for the aesthetic part of it. it might be lovely. but for the security part of it. it is nonsense. It is a waste of money. They will be better used by the Park Service. certainly. than they will be around here. ","speaker_name":"RAY LAHOOD","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":643,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090045096,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Beside me I have a stack of CONGRESSIONAL RECORDS. It used to be that the Government Printing Office would print thousands and thousands and thousands of these because we did not use computers much. We did not have a searchable data base. These were very important and they still are. but by and large when these come around to congressional offices. they go straight to the waste basket. We did an informal survey in our ofWhen the printed copy comes. we called about 20 offices or so. what do you do with them? Overwhelmingly. nearly all of them said it goes straight to the wastepaper basket because we have it online now. a searchable data base. You can search anything back to 1989 immediately the following day. So our legislation would simply do this: it would save $5.4 million annually by instructing the Government Printing -Office to print 1.000 per day rather than the 6.000 per day that they are doing now. ","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1857,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090045121,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I rise today to offer an amendment for the gentleman from Texas . my good friend and fellow freshman Republican colleague. who unfortunately could not be here this afternoon to offer this amendment. One of his predecessors in the 10th District of Texas died tragically just a few days ago. Congressman Pickle. and the gentleman from Texas did attend his funeral and could not be here today to vote nor could he be here. today to offer this amendment. So I offer it in his stead. As a good conservative and someone who minds the fiscal house of the United States Government. the gentleman from Texas offered this amendment that would simply rein in the cost of printing. just much like the gentleman from Arizona","speaker_name":"PATRICK MCHENRY","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":782,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090045137,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. let me simply say that while I am opposed to this bill because I think it wastes too much money on the visitors center. I agree that an acrosstheboard cut is not a responsible way to approach budgeting. If all of this cut came out of the visitors center. I would vote for it in a flash.","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":300,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090045168,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I will only take 1 minute. This is a straight motion to recommit so that we can fix the outofcontrol visitors center. which is as out of control as the Federal deficit. It is also the last chance we will be able to have to remove the assault on constitutional government by removing the nongermane continuity provision. and it also is the last chance to establish a Trumanlike committee to investigate waste and fraud in Iraq. I urge an aye vote. And I will ask for a roll call vote.","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":496,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090045194,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Just IOUs stacked in a filing cabinet.\" All of the sudden now they want t say they have discovered there is a sur plus in Social Security. Well. to tel you the truth. we have always know: there was a surplus in Social Security In fact. the Republican Party over th last 5 years has taken $650 billion ou of the Social Security trust fund. An. now they want to act like recent con verts that we are going to keep the sur plus for Social Security. Democrats have said for well over 7 years. and as recently as 1998. save So cial Security first. Do not go waste i on tax cuts for the wealthy. Do no waste that money. It is dedicated. I has been paid with the commitment fo Social Security. and so now toda: under a new discovery. Republican have realized that there is a surplus ii Social Security. They are going t. dedicate it. they say. to Social Secu rity. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5758,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090045203,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"ida. Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the fact that the gentlewoman brought up the fact that a Realtor with an assistant is not only paying the full 12.4 percent. but also paying half of any clerical assistants or any Realtor assistants he or she may have. We often forget the small business person. and I appreciate the gentlewoman bringing that up. Now joining us. we have the gentlewoman from the great State of Tennessee .","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA BROWN-WAITE","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":419,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090045206,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"(during Special Order of Ms. GINNY BROWNWAITE of Florida). from the Committee on Rules. submitted a privileged report (Rept. No. 109148) on the resolution (H. Res. 337) providing for consideration of the bill making appropriations for the Departments of Labor. Health and Human Services. and Education. and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30. 2006. and for other purposes. which was referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed. CAFTA","speaker_name":"SHELLEY CAPITO","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":468,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090045215,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Florida. It is simply not a place that is going to buy from the United States. But what we should be doing is a trade agreement. a renegotiation of CAFTA. in a trade agreement that will lift worker standards up so that these incomes begin to rise. so that over time they can in fact buy American products. they can send their kids to school. You talk about children. particularly girls. not having any chance to go to school and get out of this situation. In this agreement. we found this in other places. this agreement just locks in that sort of exploitive sort7 of economic situation where people simply do not have the opportunity that they should have.","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1585,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090045221,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield to the stalwart in fighting for economic justice and fair trade. not these free trade deals that do not work. my good friend. the gentlewoman from Lucas County. Ohio","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":998,"word_count":33}
{"speech_id":1090045233,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There are very few details. Unless there is new information. there are very few details to this plan.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1281,"word_count":18}
{"speech_id":1090045249,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. have not addressed this issue in the proper way. Small businesses and big businesses. they are not out to screw their employees. And sometimes many workers may feel that way. but they are not out to hurt people. If they could provide health care and they had the resources to do it. they would. especially the small businesses. Especially the small businesses. So the question is. What have we done here? We cannot blame a big company for not providing health care to their workers if they are trying to compete with people coming and shipping goods in from China with low cost. with low overhead. because of all the situations that we have talked about here. The finger should be pointed at this Chamber. The finger should bepointed at the U.S. Senate and at the White House. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2634,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090045251,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding to me. and I think he is exactly right. We have got to step up and pose the vision. an alternative to what is going on here. Give us an email: 30somethingdems@mail.house.goy. Send us an email and we will possibly read it here. We have brought. in a lot of email the last few weeks. We have been swamped with email the last few weeks. So I thank the gentleman for yielding. and we will be back again next week.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":457,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090045252,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. once again I thank the gentleman from Ohio for his comments. and. like I said. everyone in the 30Something Working Group. we would like to thank not only the Democratic leader but the Democratic leadership for allowing us to be here once again. And it was an honor to address the House. Mr. Speaker.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":312,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090045261,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He has not directed his attention at all. as we should. to retirement security. United Airlines basically defaulted on their pension obligations to their employees. Delta. Northwest. other airlines. and other companies are standing by. Unless they get help from the Congress. they too will default on their obligations to their employees retirement programs. They. the White House. want the John Bolton matter resolved. It can be resolved easily and quickly in two ways. First. the President can take the advice of the distinguished Republican. the Senator from Ohio. Mr. VOINOVICH. and offer a new nominee. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5605,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090045281,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The KeySpan proposal would require the transit of a ship going up this way and then moving up around and all the way into Providence. RI. the most densely populated part of the State of Rhode Island. with a huge concentration of people and. indeed. where all of these bayside areas are being developed intensively. This project poses serious risks to the State of Rhode Island and the State of Massachusetts. Therefore. it is incumbent we provide local authorities with the ability to effectively involve themselves in the decisionmaking process. We understand there are certain Federal laws that give authority to the State to participate in these decisionsthe Clean Water Act. the Clean Air Act. Coastal Zone Management Act--but none of them give the kind of clear involvement and clear leverage that State leaders need to effectively involve themselves in this decisionmaking. Our amendment ensures that States have an authentic voice in the siting of LNG terminals by giving Governors the same authority to approve or disapprove onshore terminals that they now have over offshore terminals under the Deepwater Port Act. It seems incongruous that Covernors would have the authority to essentially veto an offshore project but they have no meaningful involvement on onshore projects placed in the heart of urban areas. Let me show you the impact this proposal will have on the city of Providence. The KeySpan proposal would be situated right here. as shown on this chart. ","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5087,"word_count":240}
{"speech_id":1090045299,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We in California are all too aware that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commissions decisions may not be in our best interests. For too long during Californias energy crisis in 20002001. FERC ignored the problem and took no action to help. Even today. four years later. we are still waiting for FERC to order refunds on theunjust and unreasonable rates charged by energy companies that were manipulating the market. We in California do not trust FERC to protect our interests. I recognize that this country has a growing need for natural gas resources. and the construction of LNG facilities will help meet that need in the years to come. I am not arguing that no LNG terminals should be constructed on or close to our shores. I am simply arguing that FERC should not be the final arbiter in determining where those facilities are located. Each State deserves to decide for itself whether the benefits of such a facility outweigh the costs. I urge my colleagues to vote for this amendment.","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2277,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090045300,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today in support of the amendment offered by Senator FEINSTEIN. This amendment is an important. commonsense tool that will provide States with the authority they need to protect their citizens safety. security. and environment. The underlying bill grants exclusive jurisdiction to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the siting of LNG facilities. - Unfortunately. this model minimizes the opportunity for important State interests regarding public safety. security. and environmental concerns to be adequately addressed within the LNG siting process. The Feinstein amendment is simpleit allows the Governor of affected States to approve. veto. or condition the siting of onshore liquefied natural","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":727,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090045338,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I will not yield. This is a closing statement. We have Senators who need to have the vote and get to their committees. I am a State rights advocate. but I also recognize the Constitution and the interstate commerce clause and what we have to do to facilitate this. I ask Senators to vote to table the Feinstein amendment.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":321,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090045413,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. as the Senator from Florida points out. this chart shows the areas in Florida subject to inundation with a 100centimeter sea level rise. This is what we see happening. The red is the area of his State that would be inundated. I thank the Senator from Florida for his commitment and his keen understanding of this dire emergency. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":364,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090045414,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. if the Senator will yield and if I may comment. all of those red portions. save for the very southern tip of Florida. which is the Everglades. sit mainly along the coast. That is where the population of Florida mainly resides. Why .cant the United States insurance industry understand this and get behind this. with the exception of the reinsurance company about which the Senator from Connecticut just spoke? Why can they not understand that it is in their economic interest because it is going to be their insureds who are going to be threatened?","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":565,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090045427,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the energy legislation that is currently being considered by this Senate is very good energy legislation. From my point of view. our vision is to get to energy independence for America. The cornerstones of our getting to energy independence in America are set forth in this legislation. They include efficiency and conservation. which is a very significant component of this bill. second. enough emphasis on renewable energy because we know that can help us get to energy independence with the right emphasis on renewables. third. technology because the technological revolution we are working on will allow us. for instance. to convert our massive resources of coal into zero emissions coal. and coal gasification has great promise. and fourth. the development. in a responsible way. of additional fuel resources. I think those cornerstones will help us get a long way down the road toward the energy independence that we require in this country so we are not held hostage to the importation of foreign oil. As important as this Energy bill is. I also strongly believe it is incomplete unless we address the challenge of global warming. which is the subject of the McCainLieberman amendment which is now before this body. I applaud both Senator HAGEL and Senator PRYOR for their efforts yesterday in the successful passage of the global warming amendment to the Energy bill. I believe it will put the spotlight on the reality of global warming before us. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7877,"word_count":242}
{"speech_id":1090045440,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"However. our opponents have held this hostage saying that they do not want to clean up NO_. SO.. and mercury by 70 percent because they want to chase the ephemeral carbon cause of global warming. Well. it is not proven. Manmade emissions are not proven. But we know we can make progress. I considered attaching the Clear Skies legislation to this bill but. unfortunately. opponents would just use that as another excuse to kill both this bill and Clear Skies. But at the end of the day. if we can reject this unwise. overreaching McCainLieberman proposal. we will be able to move forward with a measure that will work to increase our energy supply. reduce our dependence on foreign sources. and provide us cleaner energy. I urge my colleagues to oppose the McCainLieberman amendment. I ask unanimous consent that a copy of the article I mentioned be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1797,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090045443,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Not that long ago. I feared that taking meaningful action could very likely mean that we do harm to our economy. But with the passage of time. like a lot of our Republican friends and our Democrat friends. I have changed my mind. Over the past -several years. I have become a believer. Global warming is real. We do need to do something about it. I have enough faith in American technology and our ingenuity and our knowhow to believe we can do that without endangering economic growth. Two of the key people who have helped to educate me on this issue are Dr. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6700,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090045458,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my friend from Delaware for a very compelling statement. If anybody wasnt listening to what he had to say. look at the pictures. understanding that he didnt start out being in favor of this. but the science brought him in this direction. When people look at it with an open mind. they will join us. I thank him for his support. I ask unanimous consent to make a minor modification to the amendment Senator MCCAIN and I have offered and send a modification to the desk. On page 100 of our amendment. it would strike lines 16 through 20. I believe it has been cleared on both sides.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":603,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090045469,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Senate spoke yesterday. The Senate has not changed its mind. We support our President. The timing. as the Senator from Arizona knows. of this was uniquely special in light of a July 8I believe it is July 8--conference of the economic powers. So I would imply there is a lot of politics in this. I will take out of that conversation the personality of Tony Blair. although he personally lobbied me and other Senators.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1104,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090045480,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We are going to stick with this as long as Senator MCCAIN and Senator FEINGOLD have. which is to say. until it passes. I thank the Senator from Illinois for a very eloquent statement. Mr. President. I am very happy to see the Senator from Hawaii. Mr. AKAKA. is here. He has asked for up to 10 minutes.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":301,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090045503,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There are a couple of things of interest. For one thing. it is interesting when we hear about the science. I will have a chance in a minute to talk about the science and how flawed the science is. Look at the Oregon petition. Over 17.000 scientists signed a petition. I will read one paragraph from that petition: There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide or methane or other greenhouse gasses is causing. or will. in the foreseeable future. cause catastrophic heating of the Earths atmosphere and disruption of the Earths climate. Moreover. there is considerable scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon the natural plant and animal environments of the Earth. It is important that we realize CO2 is not a pollutant. CO2 is. in fact. a fertilizer. CO2 is needed. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1465,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090045529,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In. addition. studies by United for Jobs. .a group sponsored by the National Black Chamber of Commerce and the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council. cite studies that show the climate bill would cost the U.S. economy over 600.000 jobs. We cant afford this kind of hit to our GDP or the loss of jobs that could result from this proposal. Jobs lost as a result of adopting an onerous climate change proposal will be exported oversees to countries that do not cap their emissions. So not only will the jobs be exported. but the emissions will be. too. This bill purports to address \"global\" warming. The bills proponents are. correct that the problem. to the extent there is one. is. not terms of delivering what the planet regional or national but global. How- needs.\" Peter Roderick of Friends of ever. the fix we are debating would the Earth International told hamstring our economy by driving up CNSNews.com. \"Its tiny. its tiny. energy costs while doing nothing. to tiny. its tiny.\" Roderick said. \"It is limit emissions in developing coun- woefully inadequate. woefully. We need tries. huge cuts to protect the planet from Already. high natural gas prices have climate change.\" Roderick believes a cost Americas chemical sector nearly global climate emergency can only be 90.000 jobs and $50 billion in business to averted by a greenhouse gas limiting overseas operations. ","speaker_name":"JAMES TALENT","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11909,"word_count":230}
{"speech_id":1090045542,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"What role will humans play? I hope my colleagues. when they have a chance. will read that. I would like Members to look at this picture. This is Lake Powell. It was down to its lowest level since it was built. We did get some rain this winter. and there has been some change. A heatdamaged reef in the Indian Ocean offers poor habitat for passing fish. In fact. as I mentioned earlier. the Great Barrier Reef is predicted to be dying. This once was a lake. Lake Chad in Africa. The pictures go on and on. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3119,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090045543,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I dont think it is likely that we will win this vote. I dont count votes. but I have been around here long enough that I can pretty well \"take the temperature of the body.\" It is rising. That is a bad metaphor that I can probably tell what is going to happen in our vote counts. All I can do is assure my colleagues that the first time Senator LIEBERMAN and I came to the floor. there was no document from any scientific group that was as definitive as was issued 2 weeks ago by the National Academy of Sciences. The next time Senator LIEBERMAN and I are on the floorand we will be backthere will be even more definitive statements by the world scientific community. more manifestations of this terrible calamity that is besetting this great world of ours. and over time we will win. I am very confident of that because we must act. As far as Kyoto is concerned. Senator LIEBERMAN and I know India and China would have to join as a condition for the United States to be even part of it. and the treaty itself may have to be modified to some degree. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1836,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090045598,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me restate it for Senators who might not have heard it before: We recognize Senator SPECTER to speak for up to 10 minutes. We recognize Senator ALLARD to speak for up to 10 minutes. The remainder of the time. between now and 5:30. would be equally divided between the Senator from Oklahoma and myself in relation to the modified amendment that I have offered. amendment No. 866. There would be a vote at 5:30 on or in relation to amendment No. 866. as modified.","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":465,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090045605,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let me restate the request. I ask unanimous consent that Senator SPECTER be recognized to speak for up to 10 minutes. Senator ALLARD from Colorado be recognized to speak for up to 10 minutes. and following that. I be recognized to present my amendment No. 866 and a modification of that amendment. that the time between then and 5:40 be equally split between myself and the Senator from Oklahoma. and that we would then have a vote at 5:40.","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":455,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090045622,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I went ahead and allowed the clerk to complete the reading of the amendment because it is short and because it is important that Members focus on what is contained in the amendment. We just had a significant debate on the Senate floor with regard to the proposal made by Senators MCCAIN and LIEBERMAN to cap greenhouse gas emissions. Some voted for it because they believed that this was an appropriate proposal. Others voted against itsome because they did not believe the issue is a valid one: some because they did not believe the effect on the economy was one they would favor. others because of the workability of it. I have worked with Senator DOMENICI during recent weeks to see if we could come up with a proposal based on the National Commission on Energy Policy recommendations which would have done some of the same things but would have been a more modest beginning at containing and constraining carbon emissions going into the atmosphere. We were not able. frankly. to get agreement among enough Senators that the proposal. as currently drafted. is workable in all respects. Therefore. Senator DoMENICI has indicated here on the Senate floor that he will try to have hearings and that we will be able in the next several months going forward to consider this with great deliberation in our Energy and Natural Resources Committee. ","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2112,"word_count":232}
{"speech_id":1090045624,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What it basically shows is that the economy is expected to grow very dramatically between 2005 and 2025. You can see that the growth of the economy will be $312.47 trillion. That is busines.s as usual. We asked the Energy Information Agency. which is part of our own Department of Energy and the executive branch of our Government. to model this and determine what they thought the effect .of the National Commissions recommendations on greenhouse gas would be to those figures. How much would it impact the economy? They concluded that under the NCEP proposal. you would see a very slight reduction in the amount of growth in the economy. So over that 20year period. it would be $312.16 trillion instead of $312.47 trillion of economic growth in this country. You cannot have a more modest proposal than that as far as impact on the economy. .I am not here trying to persuade Members that this is the only way to proceed. I am saying this is evidence that we can. in fact. design a proposal for constraining the growth in greenhouse gases that will not adversely affect our economy. and that is exactly what we should be about. is trying to put that into place. This resolution is nothing but a senseoftheSenate resolution. But it is important that we pass it. ","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6960,"word_count":222}
{"speech_id":1090045627,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The best way to reduce the toll hurricanes would take on coastal communities is through adaptation and preparation. I think we all understand that. Rising sea levels. We talked about this today. too. They always talk about this Tuvalu. the island supposedly that is going to sink into the ocean. John Daly. in the report that came outI dont think anybody questions his credibilitysays the historical record. from 1978 through 1999. indicated a sea level rise of 0.07 millimeters per year. where IPCC claims a 1 to 2.5 millimeter sea rise for the world as a whole. indicating the IPCC claim is based on faulty modeling. The national title facility based in Adelaide. Australia. dismissed the Tuvalu claims as unfounded. It goes on and on refuting that. The next thing it says in this resolution is that the science is settled. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8654,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090045661,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of the following amendments: Senator ALEXANDERS amendment. which is at the desk and relates to wind. 30 minutes equally divided in the usual form. second. Senator KERRYS amendment. sense of the Senate on climate change. 30 minutes equally divided in the usual form. I further ask unanimous consent that there be no seconddegree amendments in order to the Alexander or Kerry amendments prior to the votes in relation to those amendments and that votes in relation to those amendments occur in a stacked fashion following the debate on both amendments. Finally. I ask unanimous consent that following those votes. Senator WARNER be recognized in order to offer an amendment relating to OCS. with his part of the agreement subject to the approval of both leaders. further. there be 15 minutes for Senator LAUTENBERG and 15 minutes for Senator DOMENICI or his designee during the aforementioned debate.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":985,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090045697,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It doesnt exist. I have tried hard to encourage the Congress of the United States to pass a regime comparable to what is taking place for other powergenerating facilities to protect our environment. protect the taxpayer. and to enable wind to go forward but only where there is a clear justification and a protection of the environment. Now. they can go offshore under the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899. They never envisioned. in 1899. the types of installations described by my colleague from Tennessee. There is nothing in there by which the States can gain any revenue for that wind generation offshore. as is now the case with oil and gas. Should not my State. having taken the risk of allowing these things to go offshore. get some revenue? I think they should. Right now. it is free and open and. should they generate a profit. all of it goes into the corporate structure. not a nickel goes into the State. Mr. President. I thank my colleague for allowing me to join with him on this amendment.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1931,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090045715,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator from New Mexico for yielding. I do not stand up and speak against the Senator from Tennessee and. the work he has done in this area lightly. I understand the process. I also understand that energy infrastructure is always sensitive. It is never quite near where you want it to be. and it is always where you do not want it to be. The Senator from New Mexico has spoken verM clearly on this issue. There will be no windmills built off Cape Cod. Why? Because it is being killed by the people of Massachusetts in the processes that are available now. ","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4479,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090045732,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In the Eastern United States. they only fit in areas where there are scenic ridges. That is the Tennessee Gorge. the Shenandoah Valley. the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. and it is being said we should use taxpayer dollars to encourage that. This says no in the most highly treasured areas we have. It is sponsored by the National Parks Conservation Association. I would think every conservation group in America would be for this. I would think every wind developer would say. of course. we are not going to put wind there. It prohibits nothing. It interferes with no private property right. It just says we. are not going to spend taxpayer dollars putting gigantic steel towers between us and our view of the Statue of Liberty and the Grand Canyon. I would think that ought to be a vote of 100 to 0.","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1823,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090045762,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let me sa 7. quickly. this resolution. I say to the Senator from New Mexico. is similar to language unanimously. acceptedunanimously acceptedby the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the 107th and 108th Congresses and language accepted -by the full Senate. which the Senate included on April 23. 2002. It was first offered by Senator BIDEN and myself as an amendment during the Foreign Relations Coinmittee markup of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act. .The fact is. it then was modified and included in the Senatepassed Energy bill with a bipartisan initiative with Senators HOL-","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":603,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090045839,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I see the Senator from New Jersey is about to speak. I thank him for his participation with us in our endeavors to keep our coastlines clear of drilling. I know the Senator shares many of the same sentiments where so many of the people of his State are committed to keeping those coastlines free of drilling so that tourists can continue to come and enjoy the beaches of New Jersey as they do the beaches of Florida. I yield the remainder of my time.","speaker_name":"MEL MARTINEZ","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3739,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090045856,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in the remaining time I have. I respond to. my dear personal friend and my chairman. the senior Senator from Virginia. to say in approaching your question. how do you perfect this for the future? You eliminate the part of your bill regarding. the establishment of seaward lateral boundaries for coastal States. In all of this area in yellow off the gulf coast of Florida that is under moratorium. that seaward lateral boundary would cause that line to come off the coast of Florida. That is what the Senator from New Jersey is concerned about. That. then. establishes drilling off of one State that clearly starts to impinge on the rights of another State for which we have tried to articulate the reasons why that is so important to us and to our people and the States we represent. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":817,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090045867,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Let me assure the Senators. from Wisconsin and Kansas that I appreciate their concerns. and I agree that utility customers should not be forced to unfairly bear the costs of business ventures by unregulated companies affiliated with their local utility. Neither should competition be undermined by unfair competition caused by shifting costs from an unregulated utilityowned business to the public utility. We can agree to disagree on whether FERC needs new authority or simply needs to exercise its existing authority. I anticipate that FERC will use its existing and new authority to address the problems described by small businesses and financial groups. but I agree that if there are problem areas. we should take a look at them.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":734,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090045870,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I commit to the Senators from Wisconsin and Kansas that I will work on this important issue in conference and ensure that the Energy Committee holds a hearing on this important consumer protection. fair competition. and financial integrity issue. In addition. I agree to request. jointly with the Senators from Wisconsin and Kansas. a GAO investigation into the potential for abusive affiliate transactions by holding companies and affiliate businesses of public utility companies.","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":481,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090045904,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"From the time I met Melissa 6 years ago. she has proven herself to be a dedicated. organized. hardworking. and caring employee. While the demands of her responsibilities would be overwhelming to some. she has always remained levelheaded. Her concern for others. her sense of humor. and her consistent optimism have made her a favorite of her coworkers and a good friend to me. She has been an integral part of our offices success. Melissa is moving home to Arkansas to practice law. where I am certain that the traits that allowed her to become one of my most indispensable staffers will allow her to be a successful and compassionate advocate for her clients. I wish her every success. Both Patrice and Melissa will be missed by my staff and me. We all wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors and look forward to the day our paths will cross again.","speaker_name":"MARK PRYOR","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3539,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090045909,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I want to take a few moments to honor one of the State of Utahs finest men and an ambassador for golf throughout the world. On May 29. 2005. Mike Reid won the 66th Senior PGA tournament at Laurel Valley Golf Club in Ligonier. PA. Mike won this event in dramatic fashion. As he strode to the 18th hole. he was three shots down to the leader. Jerry Pate. This hole was a par five that called for a long shot over water if you dared to try and hit the green in two shots. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4088,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090045912,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Last year. it raked in $10 billion in profits. up 13 percent from 2003. It is no mystery why WalMart does so wellit buys its gbods overseas and pays its 1.6 million employees next to nothing to sell them. Yet WalMart just keeps getting bigger as its wages fall farther and farther behind. We see the same effect throughout the economy. Companies are making huge profits on the backs of their employees. Since the end of the recession. profits are up more than 70 percent nationally. yet wages are stagnant. More and more of what the economy produces is going to business profits. and less to workers. than at any time since such records began in 1929. There is plenty for the Executive Suite. but it is time for a fair share for employees pay and benefits. too: We all end up footing the bill when employers refuse to pay a living wage. Many companies are making recordbreaking profits. yet they shift millions of dollars in health costs to the public. In 15 States where data are available. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2689,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090045917,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to announce for the information of the Senate and the public that an oversight hearing has been. scheduled before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on Tuesday. July 19. at 10 a.m. in Room SD366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. DC. The purpose bf the oversight hearing is to receive testimony regarding the effects of the U.S. nuclear testing program on the Marshall Islands. Because of the limited time available for the hearing. witnesses may testify by invitation only. However. those wishing to submit written testimony for the hearing record should send two","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":621,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090045938,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The roster of those who have belonged to Sigma Chi is long and impressive. I know Im in good company with my Sigma Chi brothers and Im proud to be a part of it all. I ask unanimous consent to print the following in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2706,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090045959,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Tomorrow. the Senate will resume consideration of the Energy bill. At 10 a.m. the Senate will proceed to the cloture vote on the bill. It is my hope and indeed my expectation that cloture will be invoked as we can move closer to passage. Following the cloture vote. we will continue working through amendments to the bill. Several amendments are currently pending. and a number of Senators filed amendments under the cloture deadline. I encourage Senators to show restraint in offering additional amendments. Again. we will complete action on this bill by the weeks end.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":570,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090045992,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. yesterday in the Senate we heard testimony of blatant fraud masquerading as a legitimate lobbying operation. And also yesterday. the Washington Post ran a front page story detailing -the excesses of K Street. known as Lobbyists Avenue. Mr. Speaker. it is clear that these are gold. rush times for professional lobbyists in Washington. DC. Since 2000. the number of professional lobbyists has more than doubled. to 34.000. Profes-\u00b0 sional lobbyists have become the full service \"back office\" to Congress. arranging lavish factfinding trips. writing legislation. and functioning as an employment agency for Members and staff. Just as we put distance between do-* nors and Members of Congress when they run for office. we need to do the same when it comes to professional lobbyists and Members of Congress who write the laws. Our bill. the MeehanEmanuel bill. slows the revolving door between government and lobbying. enhances disclosure and transparency. curbs privately funded congressional junkets and gives teeth to enforcement mechanisms. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1257,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090045993,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. Social Security is going broke and we need to fix it. The question is how. When the baby boomers begin to retire in 2008 and 2009. the only way to save Social Security is then to cut benefits by 30 percent or raise taxes by $600 billion a year. The Democrats believe in tax hikes. In fact. the only Democrat proposal to reform Social Security is to raise your taxes. But the best way to reform Social Security is with personal accounts. to get a better return on our investments. And there are a lot of proposals -out there. In fact. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK MCHENRY","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1047,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090045994,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this weekend marks the 150th anniversary of the Treaty with the Tribes of Middle Oregon and today I have introduced legislation to commemorate that event. There were a number of important treaties signed in 1855 which included the Cayuse. Umatilla. Walla Walla and ultimately the Warm Springs. These treaties helped guide and shape the management of land. water. wildlife and fisheries of the Pacific Northwest now and into the future. The treaties were understood by their signers to ensure the unique qual-. ity of life of native peoples in middle Oregon. Unfortunately. the United States history of honoring its commitments to Native Americans leaves much to be desired. In honor of the anniversary of these treaties. we should reaffirm and support the promises made 150 years ago between the Pacific Northwest tribes and the United States of America. Together. we have a rich legacy and a bright future to protect. and I urge my colleagues in joining me in supporting.this resolution.","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1001,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090045997,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to announce to all Americans that the SpanishAmerican War of 1898 has ended. It has been 107 years since the war was over and Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders went up San Juan Hill and we won that war. Yet 95 percent of all Americans are still paying for it and do not even know it. Introduced in 1898 was a phone tax. which established the concept of a temporary luxury tax to defray costs on the SpanishAmerican War. It started on 1.300 phones. a tax on telephones. Today more than 100 million American households across the Nation still are paying for this excise tax to the tune of $5.6 billion a year on their phone services such as land lines. cell phones. and dialup Internet connection. This tax strikes at every use of the telephone and burdens everyone. especially those in lower incomes. Initially. this tax was used to finance this 3month SpanishAmerican War. but it has been made permanent and was even raised in World War II. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1213,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090046003,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. Members of this body this past week have been told by outside groups that somatic cell nuclear transfer is not cloning. That is just not true. SCNT is the same process that created Dolly the sheep. If SCNT does not create a clone. then Dolly was not a sheep. SCNT produces an embryo. whether the procedure is done to destroy the human embryo for research or to implant it to produce a child. The fact that creating it does not involVe sperm is what makes it a clone. This is un.questioned by serious people. Bioethics commissions. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1070,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090046004,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It privatizes Social Security. raids the trust fund. and weakens Social Security because what it does is it takes money from the trust fund and puts it in private accounts. Democrats stand for a solvent Social Security. Social Security is not a policy issue. It is a personal issue. It is an umbrella. It is the wind beneath .the wings of those who work every day. Do not buy the smoke and mirrors of Social Security and support Title IX with no changes.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1132,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090046008,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. 33 years ago. Title IX. written by our dear friend. Patsy Mink. became law. Title IX recognizes that only when all Americans have opportunity to reach their potential can our country reach its potential. Recently. the Bush administration said that if a schools women students do not respond to an email from the school asking if they are interested in sports. then the school would be in compliance with Title IX. That is ridiculous. There are acceptable standards to measure compliance that are accurate and must be used. The lesson of Title IX is that interest flows from opportunity. That is why womens participation in sports has increased 800 percent in high school and 400 percent in college since 1972. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1103,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090046019,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The longterm health of our Nation is being threatened at a time when we should be investing in it. Within 15 years. Americas supply of nurses will fall almost 30 percent below the Nations needs. Filling the registered nurse pipeline with new recruits requires sustained. aggressive funding over the long term. And I am disappointed to say that level funding in the bill for nursing programs will not do enough to reverse this demographic reality. If we fail to support the backbone of this Nations health care industry and ask our. nurses to spread themselves even thinner. we risk everything that comes with it. including decreased patient safety and poor quality of care. And we are failing in this bill to meet the needs of those individuals who most need the access to health care professionals. This bill guts critical funding from title VII programs which encourage health professionals to serve in underrepresented populations. I have seen the positive effects of this funding in my hometown of Sacramento. The UC Davis Medical Center uses title VII funds to train medical students to work through significant language or economic barriers in communities that have a host of otherwise treatable medical conditions. ","speaker_name":"DORIS MATSUI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2880,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090046023,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I would like to note in this bill another program that is very important to every State across the Nation. and that is the Head Start program. The Head Start program has been funded $56 million over last years level. and this will help towards the readiness of our preschoolers to be able to be ready to handle the challenges of school. Another program highlighted in this bill is funding of $100 million for a new pilot program to develop and implement innovative ways to provide financial incentives for teachers and principals who raise student achievement and close the achievement gap. And back to community health centers. I think this is one of the best ways to cover childrens health care. ","speaker_name":"SHELLEY CAPITO","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1651,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090046031,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There are other things that other people would like. but when it comes down to it. education and the different aspects of this bill. we do work together. The House bill is only the start. We have the other body to go through and we have a conference to go through. What we are talking about -here today will not be in effect. I would also like to recognize. Mr. Speaker. that only 7 percent of education is funded by the Federal Government. 93 percent of education is funded by the State. California has had a particular problem with a $12 billion debt left by a different Governor and they are trying to pay that back. In most States. Leave No Child Behind has worked successfully. ","speaker_name":"RANDALL CUNNINGHAM","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":50.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3453,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090046033,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The bill freezes dollars in the afterschool centers. It slashes education technology dollars by $196 million. It eliminates comprehensive school reform grants to 1.000 highpoverty schools by eliminating the program. This is not the umbrella that the American people need. When we begin to talk about investment in America. this is the bill we do it in. and we have traditionally done it in a bipartisan way. I have heard my good friend from California say this is a House bill. we are not finished. but this is a bill that makes a statement to America. We have cut moneys from the most vulnerable. I would ask my colleagues to look at this closely. defeat this bill and go back to the American people and work on their behalf. Support the Obey amendment.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1903,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090046038,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The result. millions of hardworking students who have earned the right to go to college will not be able to afford to do so. thus undermining their future and our Nations future. It makes no sense. Over 43 million Americans. most of them from working families. have no health insurance. but this bill cuts services from maternal and child health along with rural health programs. It makes no sense. Parents yearning to have more commercialfree quality television programming for their small children will be deeply disappointed to learn that this bill guts funding for public broadcasting. Our labor. health and human service programs are about helping people help themselves. Yet this bill. after inflation and population growth. cuts $5.9 billion from these important programs. That is a lot of bootstraps that decent. hardworking people will not have to pull themselves up and their familys\" future up. Cutting programs that help millions of hardworking middle- and lowincome American families make a better life for themselves in order to pay for a $220.000 annual tax cut for a privileged few reflects neither. faithbased nor profamily values. The bottom line is this bill fails the American family values test of equal opportunity and fairness. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS EDWARDS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2314,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090046048,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would like to close this debate by again thanking the gentleman from Ohio (Chairman Regula). the chairman of the subcommittee. and the ranking member and for their efforts on this important piece of legislation. The debate on this rule has shown some of the difficulties that we have faced when appropriating funds for areas as important as education and health care. From community health centers to TRIO and title I. this bill addresses our Nations critical health and education funding needs. I ask my colleagues to join me in support for the rule and underlying legislation.","speaker_name":"SHELLEY CAPITO","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":636,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090046060,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. let me say at the outset here that the gentleman from Wisconsin and I have had a discussion about the possibility of trying to finish this bill today. We want to make every effort to do so. And that will depend. of course. on what kind of cooperation we can get on amendments. Also. I am going to ask unanimous consent to move the issue of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to come up as the first issue as there is a lot of interest in this. We will try to limit time on both sides and give people a chance to vote on this. . \u0095 So all of that is an effort to expedite todays proceedings.","speaker_name":"RALPH REGULA","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":665,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090046064,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I believe that no child will be left behind if he or she has a quality teacher. Almost every teacher in our Nations classrooms today is there for one reason: they care about children and want to help them reach their full potential. We applaud their hard work and dedication and support them in this bill by providing funding to encourage people to enter the field of teaching. and provide incentives for quality teachers to remain in the classrooms. This bill supports teachers and students by increasing funding for title I by $100 million. Title I provides additional resources to lowincome schools. to help principals. teachers. and students close education achievement gaps. At the school level. Title I helps provide additional staffing. ongoing training. and the latest research. computer equipment. books or new curricula. That. coupled with strong accountability measures. helps disadvantaged children meet the same high standards as their more advantaged peers. I want to say that this bill really tries to help every individual to be sensitive to the needs of all people. We. this morning. and every morning when we meet. give the Pledge of Allegiance. ","speaker_name":"RALPH REGULA","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11857,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090046068,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I very much appreciate my chgirman yielding. I rise just for a moment. As you know. over the years in the Committee on Appropriations. I have not had the chance to serve on the gentlemans great subcommittee. Since I have the job chairing the whole commfttee now. I have involved myself in the gentlemans work. and I must say to my colleagues. our Members. as well as the publicatlarge. the gentleman from Ohio and the gentleman from Wisconsin over the years have done a fabulous job. especially this year in a year of some constraint. We may have to come up with some money for a sound system for ourselves. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1416,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090046069,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for his comments. Reclaiming my time. the Job Corps provides a comprehensive and intensive array of training. career development. job placement. and support services to disadvantaged young people between the ages of 16 and 24. Many people enrolled in the \"Job Corps Center never completed their high school education and have other barriers. For fiscal year 2006. this bill provides over $1.5 billion for these programs and this is an increase. And we likewise protect the safety of workers. Mr. Chairman. in order to implement more than 400 provisions of the Medicare Modernization Act and ensure .that senior citizens receive the prescription drug benefits that we provide in MMA. we have allocated more than $1 billion over the fiscal year 2005 level to the Centers for Medicare -and Medicaid Services and Social Security Administration. While benefits that both of these agencies provide come through mandatory spending by way of the Committee on Ways and Means. this bill provides the funding for the agencies administrative costs. ","speaker_name":"RALPH REGULA","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3263,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090046070,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 10 minutes. Mr. Chairman. this bill is the clearest demonstration that I can think of of what happens when Congress puts $140.000 tax cuts for. people who make $1 million a year or more ahead of our investment needs in our children. ahead of our investment needs in our health care system. and ahead of supporting programs that will help our workers compete in. world markets. This bill. make no mistake about it. is a prescription for a secondclass economy. I know most of the discussion today will be focused on public broadcasting. I will be offering an amendment to add back $100 million that the committee cut out. Previously in the committee. I offered another amendment which added $400 million for this years funding. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7342,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090046080,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I know Chairman REGULA and his subcommittee staff did the best they could under the circumstances. but to virtually eliminate Title VII Health Professions I think is draconian and unconscionable. Since I started serving on this subcommittee almost sixandahalf years ago. I have fought to- end disparitiesdisparities in employment. disparities in education and especially disparities in health. Health disparities are real. If you are black in this country. your life expectancy is 66 years. If you are white in this country. your life expectancy is 74 years. Infant mortality is twice as high for African American babies than for white babies. Fortunately. institutions. like the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. have laid out a framework on how to end these disparities. One of the recommendations of the IOM was to increase the number of health professions. This bill does exactly the opposite. ","speaker_name":"JESSE JACKSON","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7916,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090046089,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I support this legislation because it is a monumental step forward for American public education. I also believe NCLB grants unprecedented flexibility to local school districts. demands results in public education through strict accountability measures. empowers parents and provides a safety valve for children trapped in failing schools. It is hard for me to fathom. however. that while we have increased funding for Title I by 52 percent since 2001. Bridgeport. one of the most disadvantaged school districts- in the country. has received a cut of $1.8 million. I believe the law should make sense. The spirit of the bill is to provide funding to the neediest districts. and. quite frankly. cutting Bridgeport funding does not seem to reflect that intention. While I realize it is not necessarily within the purview of this committee. I believe the formula needs to be fixed.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SHAYS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1635,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090046090,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In my home state of Connecticut. this 50% reduction in funds to CSBG will result in a serious reduction of social services to our most vulnerable communities. reduction in services assisting families moving from welfare to work. and will seriously impact our community action agencies ability to leverage other community dollars. The Thames Valley Council for Community Action in New London County. for example. generates and leverages $27 in other resources for every $1 funded under CSBG. Mr. Chairman. it is clear the CSBG dollars are a smart investment for this Congress and are essential to our nations most vulnerable citizens. While my colleagues and I intend to withdraw our amendment today. I thank the distinguished Chairman for the opportunity to debate this important issuehere today and I look forward to working with him to increase funding through the remainder of the legislative process.","speaker_name":"ROBERT SIMMONS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2203,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090046102,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Spanish and French. Our Nations language capabilities are underdeveloped because we have neglected to provide the language programs that currently exist. An increase in FLAP funding will pay large dividends in the future as new generations of Americans are exposed to foreign languages and cultures at a young age. Currently the demand for language services in the United States is greater than ever before. For reasons such as economic development. cultural growth and national security. Americans are learning that we need to have much better facility with all languages and dialects. I understand that language education is one of the most pressing national security issues facing our Nation today. While the Defense Depariment. the State Department and our intelligence agencies have recently turned their attention to the language problem. their approach remains focused on immediate needs. However. programs such as FLAP are critical in addressing the long term problem by increasing interest in. and access to. language education. The House has already gone on record this year in strong support of language education when it unanimously approved H. ","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2317,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090046112,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. asi the chairman is aware. earlier this year we did have a bipartisan letter of support from over 50 of our colleagues requesting a $20 million appropriation for NYSP. Given the importance of this program to many children throughout the country and the fact that NYSP has successfully leveraged Federal funding to secure substantial matching community investments. we would hope that if the funding is found on the Senate side that the House could be supportive. that the chairman could be supportive of the funding level coming out of the Senate in conference.","speaker_name":"RON KIND","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":575,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090046129,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I had two amendments that I was going to offer on the Corporation of Public Broadcasting. and they have to do with restricting funding for opening a new office that would monitor dissenting and ideological statements. Mr. Chairman. today I am offering an amendment that will help end the partisan attacks on public broadcasting by prohibiting the funding of the new Office of Ombudsmen at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The creation of such office is partisan. unnecessary. and contrary to the spirit of the law that created CPB. and I strongly urge my colleagues to support this amendment. Corporation of Public Broadcasting. CPB. Chairman. Kenneth Tomlinson. has inserted politics into our public media and has taken the public out. ","speaker_name":"DIANE WATSON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":33.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5960,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090046135,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think those reductions will not do serious harm to any of the administrative budgets involved. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":854,"word_count":25}
{"speech_id":1090046156,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"With respect to the Labor Department. departmental management. this essentially cuts the increase over last year for departmental management. excluding the International Labor Affairs Bureau. Large amounts of money in that department are being spent -for activities that are clearly not authorized. and some procurement practices now being exercised by the agency do not meet the standards that we will want to have to defend in public. With respect to HRSA program management. I cannot believe any objection is being made to the reduction in this account. The bill itself eliminates 11 programs in HRSA. If all of these programs are going to be eliminated. certainly there are fewer bodies that are needed to manage them. and this is simply consistent with the programmatic actions already taken by the committee. With respect to the funds for the improvement of education. this amendment merely trims the additional funding provided in the committee over the administrations request for this item. None of these items are going to have any significant impact on the accounts involved. Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1856,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090046169,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And after national security. in p6lling decided by the American people. it is the Federal program they like most after the Defense Department. But the Republicans and Ken Tomlinson today have named the former cochairwoman of the Republican National Committee to be the new head. the new President of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. So Tomlinsons answer to the absence of political balance is to name the Republican cochair of their national committee. That is all you have to know about what the Republican Party is doing here on the House floor today. Here is what public television is from 6 a.m. in the morning on. for 12 hours in a row: It is Zoom. it is Maya and Miguel. it is Arthur. it is the Berenstein Bears. Clifford the Big Red Dog. Dragon Tales. George Shrinks. Barney and Friends. Sesame Street. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1829,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090046176,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of public broadcasting. Mr. Chairman. the Corporation for Public Broadcasting provides an essential public service and we ought to pass this amendment to restore funding for a program that works. This budget cut hurts our children and the least fortunate in our community the most. PBS is especially critical for lowincome Americans who may not be able to send their children to preschool. For millions of Americans. PBS programs like Sesame Street and Reading Rainbow are the only educational resources available to their children. PBS programs produce the most popular videos used by American teachers in the classroom. ","speaker_name":"JULIA CARSON","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"F","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1873,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090046194,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today in strong support of the ObeyLoweyLeach amendment to H.R. 3010. This amendment would restore $100 million that was cut from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in subcommittee earlier this month. Public broadcasting is important for small communities across the country. even all the way out in the U.S. Territory of Guam. Small public broadcasting stations like KGTF Channel 12 in Guam are an important avenue for expression of local identity and community discussion. I am particularly concerned that the proposed cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) may. disproportionately affect the CPBs commitment to quality programming for minority communities through the National Minority Consortia. For example. Pacific Islanders in Communications (PIC). which primarily receives its funding from CPB. develops Pacific Island media content and talent that leads to a deeper understanding of Pacific Island history. culture. and contemporary issues. ","speaker_name":"MADELEINE BORDALLO","chamber":"H","state":"GU","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":1704,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090046209,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. We understand the importance of this. and originally we provided. that is. the government. the Federal Government. $175 million for this purpose. but only a limited amount of that has been spent in the last 21\/2 years. to be exact. $51 million out of the $175 million. In 2003. $44 million. in 2004. $6 million. in 2005. no money. So what we are proposing is to rescind this and urging that it be reappropriated as the needs arise to meet whatever challenges. I think there is a problem a little bit in the language in that the money cannot really address the needs that are out there. and this is why a reappropriation or reauthorization would make it possible. I think all of us are in agreement that we want to provide the money. It is just that the mechanics of it and doing that are not appropriate at this point. Mr. ","speaker_name":"RALPH REGULA","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":938,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090046237,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Centers for Disease Control is asking for more money :for lifesaving research. yet they are spending money on programs that are not authorized anymore. Mr. Chairman. would the gentleman be willing to work with me and other fiscally responsible colleagues to protect taxpayer money from wasteful spending at the NIH and the CDC. and work with us to ensure that NIH and the CDC spend the money in the way it is appropriated in fiscal year 2006?","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2467,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090046247,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I have great respect for the gentleman from Ohio and the incredibly difficult task he and his staff have had before them to write this bill. I think he did a remarkable job and I want to commend him. My amendment would simply make a modest adjustment to the bill by restoring funding for two vital rural health programs to their fiscal year 2005 levels. Specifically. my amendment allows for increases to rural outreach grants by $28.511 million and $8.825 million to rural health research. This $37 million increase is offset by a reduction to OSHA. As Members may know. rural programs across the Federal budget continue to be proposed for cuts or elimination. As cochairman of the Congressional Rural Caucus. ","speaker_name":"JOHN PETERSON","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3848,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090046304,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Republican leadership is detached from the reality on youth services. Cutting services for successful programs by 36 million young people not only undermines our efforts to help our youth and become successful in life. but it helps generate a whole cycle of hopelessness and despair. Let me just say. I think the Republican leadership is totally detached from the reality on education. Cutting funding for No Child Left Behind by $806 million only shortchanges public education. This bill fails to live up to any standard of morality. In fact. it really does take morality to a new low. If this bill is to reflect our values of compassion. Mr. Chairman. it needs to stop taking from the poor and giving to the rich. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA LEE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1984,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090046315,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise to say to my colleagues. 15 minutes. an hour and 15 minutes. 15 days would not be enough time for us to tell you how bad this bill is and how devastating it will be in opening disparities that already exist wider and wider and wider. When we rise into the full House. we intend to offer a copy of the Congressional Black Caucus agenda. the legislative agenda. and a listing of 48 programs that are zeroed out by this bill. I do not know how we think there is going to be any kind of movement toward a closing of the disparities that exist between rich and poor. black and white in this country if we continue to go down the road we are going. We have drained all of our resources off to war. to tax cuts. and left nothing to address the needs of our own country and our own people.","speaker_name":"MELVIN WATT","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":802,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090046331,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Chairman. of what works. The only problem is that we do not have more them of -them across the country -in communities of need. This bill is the means to expand the program to more people. especially those who lack health insurance. And it is my hope that we do as much as possible in this regard to save money and keep people healthy in the future. I cannot emphasize strongly enough the important role that community health centers play in providing care to the millions of Americans who lack health insurance. For some. the only medical attention they re6eive comes from the local health center. I applaud the subcommittees approval of a $100 million increase. Much of that funding. unfortunately. is already committed. leaving very few additional resources to strengthen current health centers or expand to new communities outside the Presidents new initiative for poor counties. This year HHS actually canceled the last competition for new health Centers site funding due to the lack of available funds. As the chairman is very well aware. many communities apply numerous times before they are selected. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BILIRAKIS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2686,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090046346,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman from San Diego for his bringing this item to our attention. I also thank very much the gentleman from Michigan and the gentleman from Indiana . There is no doubt that the committee is very interested in this challenge. We intend to take their message to the conference and look forward to working with them and doing everything that ii possible in the conference agreement.","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":409,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090046383,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that. during further consideration in the Committee of the Whole of H.R. 3010 pursuant to House Resolution 337. notwithstanding clause 11 of rule XVIII. no further amendment to the bill. as amended. may be offered except pro forma amendments offered at any point in the reading by the chairman or ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations or their designees for the purpose of debate. the additional amendments specified in this order. and amendments en bloc specified in this order. it shall be in order at any time for the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations or a designee. after consultation with the ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations. to offer amendments en bloc as follows: Amendments en bloc shall consist of amendments that may be offered under this order. or germane modifications of any such amendment. such amendments en bloc shall be considered as read. except that modifications shall be reported. shall be debatable for 10 minutes equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member. of the Committee on Appropriations or their designees. shall not be subject to amendment. and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question in the House or in the Committee of the Whole. all points of order against such amendments en bloc are waived. the original proponent of an amendment included in such amendments en bloc may insert a statement in the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD immediately before the disposition of the amendments en bloc. The additional amendments specified in this order are as follows: amendments printed in the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD and numbered 1. 2. 4. 5. 8. 10. 11. 14. 15. 16. 17. and 24. an amendment by the gentleman from Iowa regarding coverage of certain drugs. an amendment by the gentlewoman from Connecticut regarding enforcement of certain compliance agreements. an amendment by the gentleman from New York regarding grants under the Public Health Service Act. an amendment by the gentleman from Wisconsin regarding designations of critical access hospitals. an amendment by the gentleman from California regarding certain appointments to Federal advisory committees. an amendment by the gentleman from California regarding United Airline pension plans. an amendment by the gentleman from New York regarding the content or distribution of public telecommunications programs and services under the Communications Act of 1934. an amendment by the gentleman from California regarding military recruiters. an amendment by the gentleman from Wisconsin regarding funding levels and income tax rates. an amendment by the gentleman from Maryland regarding special allowances under the Higher Education Act. an amendment by the gentleman from Massachusetts regarding interoperable information technology. an amendment by the gentleman from Ohio regarding funding for the Medicaid Commission. amendments by the gentleman from Ohio regarding veterans programs of the Department of Labor. LIHEAP. section 503 of H.R. 3010. or a limitation on the use of certain education funds. and an anyfendment by the gentleman from Georgia regarding funding for certain education programs. Each additional amendment may be offered only by the Member named in this request or a designee. or by the Member who caused it to be printed in the RECORD or a designee. shall be considered as read. shall be debatable for 10 minutes equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent. shall not be subject to amendment except that the . chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations and the Subcommittee on Labor. Health and Hunian Services. Education. and Related Agencies each may offer one pro formaamendment for the purpose of debate. and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question in the House or in the Committee of the Whole. and an amendment shall be considered to fit the description stated in this request if it addresses in whole or in part the object described.","speaker_name":"RALPH REGULA","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4051,"word_count":644}
{"speech_id":1090046433,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Much like the Chamber in which we stand. the peoples House. these airwaves and programming supported by the CPB also belong to the individuals we have the privilege to represent in Congress. and I have heard from hundreds of my constituents who have shared personal stories of the impact of PBS and NPR on their lives and the lives of their children. KPCC. for example. in my district is just one of the many superb affiliates of NPR around the Nation. My constituents rely on KPCC. as they do. on public broadcasting generally for news. informational programming. and educational programming for their kids. and I applaud .he significant contributions they have made and others and the individual public broadcasting stations. The legislation brought before the House today would have effectively gutted this fine institution of citical funding necessary to accomplish the vision laid out by President Johnson. The base bill would have cut a staggering $100 millibn. stripping the Corporation for\" Public Broadcasting of onequarter of its funding. Critics maintain that the CPB has strayed from its mandate of independence and impartiality. In fact. polls show a large majority of Americans think that the news and information programming is more trustworthy. more independent than that of network and cable programming. A majority of viewers also think PBS is a valuable educational and cultural resource. -A poll commissioned by the board of directors confirmed that 48 percent of those surveyed believe that funding for publi\u00a7 broadcasting should be increased. not decreased. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"ADAM SCHIFF","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5128,"word_count":252}
{"speech_id":1090046453,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"JDRF is flatout wrong when they state that SCNT is a \"fundamentally different procedure from reproductive cloning. as was used by scientists in 1996 to create Dolly the sheep.\" Dr. Ian Wilmut. Dollys own creator. does not agree with the JDRF statement. Dr. Wilmut stated clearly in a peerreviewed article. \"the unique feature of Dolly was that she was the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic body cell.\" Then he goes on to say. \"The success of somatic cell nuclear transfer was used in creating Dolly.\" Cloning supporter and thenNIH Director Harold Varmus testified in 1998 stating. \"in the Dolly experiment. a lamb was produced using the technology of somatic cell nuclear transfer.\" JDRF implies that sperm is necessary to develop an embryo capable of growing into a human. This notion is completely inaccurate. as hundreds of animals have been created through SCNT using no sperm. Was Dolly not a sheep because sperm was not involved? JDRF characterizes the resulting product of SCNT as merely a cell with no chance of developing into a \"human.\" But President Clintons own Bioethics Advisory Commission disagrees with this statement. ","speaker_name":"DAVID WELDON","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4263,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090046460,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of a wonderful facility. the DFAS center in Cleveland. the Defense Finance and Accounting Services Center in the city of Cleveland. originally founded in 1942 as the Navy Bureau of Supplies and Accounts. It was renamed in 1955. and then DFAS was created in 1991. established six field sites in 1995. a reorganization in 2000. and unfortunately this year DFAS in Cleveland has become a victim of a BRAC reorganization. I am pleased to stand here today with the gentleman from Ohio from the Tenth Congressional District from Ohio. and we were joined earlier today by the gentleman from Ohio from the 14th Congressional District.. And in that process. we had an opportunity to meet with the BRAC Commissioner. He was a wonderful general by the name of \"Fig\" Newton. who came to give us a site visit on this particular issue. And I am pleased to now engage in a colloquy with the gentleman from Ohio","speaker_name":"STEPHANIE JONES","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":926,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090046461,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding to me and want to say what a pleasure and honor it is to work with her and with the gentleman from Ohio as well in our effort to save over 1.000 jobs at the Defense Finance and Accounting Service in Cleveland. Ohio. This is a center which is important for the entire Nation because this is a center which processes payroll for a total of 5.7 million Department of Defense employees. military. civilian. and retired. including 2 million Armed Forces members. Navy Active Reserve. Air Force Reserve and Guard. and Army Reserve. 2.4 million military retirees and annuitants. They also do work for the Department of Energy and the Office of Health and Human Services and for various armed service headquarters elements. I want to say that this center has been recognized and acknowledged across this country for the tremendous work which the people there do. They do the best accounting work. and now. despite the fact that they have been doing great work for decades. they are finding that the rug is being pulled out from them by a BRAC that does not even save any money.","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1119,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090046473,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise tonight to talk. sadly. about the fact that America once again is completing another month. another halfway through another year. with no energy policy. Is it important that we have an energy policy? Should we have an energy policy? Well. I happen to think we should. With oil approaching $60 a barrel and natural gas at $7.50 today. that is the highest fuel prices this country has faced. ever. Gasoline. we hear a lot about. In the last 20 years. gasoline prices have increased 86 percent. It is on the news every night. We talk about it as if it is a tragedy. ","speaker_name":"JOHN PETERSON","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4756,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090046477,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. there are 1.917 American military personnel who have given their lives in the service of our Nation in Iraq and Afghanistan. We owe these brave. men and women. and their families. a debt of gratitude that can never fully be repaid. It is our responsibility to honor the ultimate sacrifice that our men and women in uniform have made while serving our country. We often invoke their sacrifices in general. Seldom do we take the time to thank them individually. My colleagues and I would like to take this hour and recognize these individual heroes on the floor of the peoples House. their House. Over the next hour. and continuing next week until we finish. we will read the name and rank of each servicemember who has fallen in the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters of war. By reading these names into the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. we hopeto ensure that our Nation never forgets their sacrifice. and their families will know that their loved ones will be part of the As President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said. your loved one. \"stands in the unbroken line of Patriots who have dared to die that freedom might live. and grow and increase its blessings. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1384,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090046478,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":15,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Machinists Mate Fireman Apprentice Bryant L. Davis 5. Engineman First Class Vincent Parker 6. Electronics Technician Third Class Benjamin Johnson 7. CIA Johnny Michael Spann 8. Private Giovanny Maria 9. Electricians Mate Fireman Apprentice Michael Jakes. Jr. 10. Staff Sergeant Brian C. Prosser 11. ","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3468,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090046495,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":16,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Gilmore I 12. Chief Warrant Officer Kyran E. Kennedy 13. Captain Benedict J. Smith 14. Staff Sergeant Paul M. Neff II 15. Staff Sergeant Morgan DeShawn Kennon 16. Chief Warrant Officer Sharon T. Swartworth 17. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2958,"word_count":35}
{"speech_id":1090046508,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) for yielding to me. It is a rare privilege for me to be on the floor with her tonight. and itwasa privilege for me to spend the last hour listening to the names of men and women who have given their lives so that we would have the opportunity to be here tonight and to state our views and debate and pass .laws that will affect this country. But this evening I would like to commend the leadership of the Republicanled 109th Congress. which at its halfway point has been marked by major legislative achievement. The Democrats have responded to our partys ideas and vision with a lack of ideas and a lack of vision. They have continuously criticized the actions of the majority. but remain unwilling to put forward any constructive plan on Social Security. energy.. or illegal immigration. I am proud of the many initiatives already passed by House Republicans this year to strengthen this great Nation. This includes class action reform. ","speaker_name":"KENNY MARCHANT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3308,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090046515,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I was not expecting to come down here tonight. I didbecause I was very upset by some of the comments that were made by my Republican colleagues. Many of them said that they were not here tonight to attack the Democrats and the Democratic Party. In re-. ality. that is exactly what they did. And the negative comments that they were making about Democrats and what we stand for were. frankly. very offensiveto me. because I have been here as a Member of Congress for 17 years. And I have never seen the Republican Party sink to the depths in terms of their attacks on Democrats and their unwillingness to cooperate with the Democtats and their abuse.of power in this institution. One of the things that disturbs me the most is that I have always thought that Republicans were veryconcerned as a party about spending money and about deficits. I remember when I was first elected to the House of Representatives back in 1988. ","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10831,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090046536,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Frankly. the President and the White House have consulted with me about nominations to the district courts in Nei York and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. They have actually bounced names off of me and said: What do you think of this one? What do you think of that? As a result. every vacancy is filled quickly with little acrimony and with broad consensus. Most of the nominees I have supported in my area do not agree with me philosophically. But they are part of the mainstream. and I was willing. able and. in many cases. happy to support them. So it can be done and should be done. \" There is all too much divisiveness in Washington. On the issue of the courts. it is our sincere belief on this side of the aisle that the Presidents refusal to consult and willingness to nominate some who are so far out of the mainstream that they cannot be regarded as interpreters of law rather than makers of law. That is the main reason we stand at this point of great acrimony in terms of judicial nominatioris. All of that can be undone by some sincere consultation. President Bush. when he ran for office and got into office. said he wanted to change the tone and climate in Washington.. he wanted to bring people together. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES SCHUMER","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6662,"word_count":225}
{"speech_id":1090046628,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this additional spending in this amendment -would cause the underlying bill to exceed the committees section 302(a) allocation. and. therefore. I raise a point of order against the amendment pursuant to section 302(f) of the Budget Act.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1776,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090046657,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Senator from Mississippi has made such excellent points. and we appreciate his comments and support. The Senator may want to express for a moment the terror that reigned south Louisiana. Mississippi. and Florida last hurricane season with the unusual number of storms that came up through the Gulf of Mexico and how frightening it is to people on the coast when these wetlands continue to disappear. The intensity of those storms gets greater and greater. and the damage to property and the threat to life is fairly serious. As a Senator who lives on the Gulf of Mexico. maybe just a word to talk about what happened to our States last hurricane season.","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":657,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090046668,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Also. I want to compliment the Senator on seeing the value of the offshore resources of the United States. I am not suggesting that I understand each States political issues. but I do understand that there is a lot of natural gas offshore. No. 2. I do understand it can be produced with little or no harm to anybody. A lot of it can be produced if it is there. I commend the Senator for realizing that is an American asset and he would like very much for the Congress to face up to that. I yield to the Spnator.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1510,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090046675,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the Senator will yield. he has made so many excellent points. and I am not sure I heard them. Maybe if he would repeatright now we are building a pipeline from Alabama to Florida? Could the Senator explain that. again? I am not sure people understand that you are building a pipeline from Alabama and sending the gaswhere?","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":325,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090046679,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Senator is correct. There is some thought that perhaps Cuba may open drilling and Canada may open drilling. But again. this amendment that the Senator has cosponsored. along with my colleague from Louisiana. who is here on the floor as well. is not a drilling amendment. It is not touching the moratoria. It is not laying down any boundary changes whatsoever. It is a coastal inpact assistance revenue sharing for only the current producing States. So while there has been an extended debatebecause we are not able to go to. a final vote because there are some things that are being worked out and there has been an extended debate in these last hours. as my good friend from Florida knows. who is here on the floorthis amendment is a coastal impact amendment. We have already debated the moratoria issue. We have debated the drilling issue. We could not come to a compromise on that so that issue is going to be saved to another day. ","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4212,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090046688,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is my understanding the Senator wants to get this bill done quickly. I certainly support him in his desire to get that done quickly. It is also my understanding. in order to achieve that goal. the two managers of the bill are presently negotiating down the number of amendments. Is it correct. the understanding that the Senator from Florida has. that the amendments that would be agreed to take up would not include any amendments having to do with the Outer Continental Shelf drilling?","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":490,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090046701,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is not a drilling amendment. I look forward to having his support.","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1812,"word_count":13}
{"speech_id":1090046708,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Supreme Court. during his confirmation process. was described as \"almost neanderthal.\" \"biased.\" and \"inflammatory.\" One Senator actually said Souters civil rights record was \"particularly troubling\" and \"raised troubling questions about the depth of his commitment to the role of the Supreme Court and Congress in protecting individual rights and liberties under the Constitution.\" That same Senator condemned Souter for making \"reactionary arguments\" and for being \"willing to defend the indefensible\" and predicted othat. if confirmed. Souter would \"turn the clock back on the historic progress of recent decades.\" At Sefiate hearings. witnesses cried that. \"I tremble for this country if you confirm David Souter.\" warning that \"womens lives are at stake.\" and even predicting that \"women will die.\" The best apology for these ruthless and reckless attacks is for them never to be repeated again. Unfortunately. recent history is not particularly promising. Even before President Bush took office in January 2001. the nowleader of the opposition party in the Senate told Fox News Sunday that \"we have a right to look at John AShcrofts religion.\" to determine whether there is \"anything with his religious beliefs that would cause us to vote against him.\" And over the last 4 years. this Presidents judicial nominees have been labeled \"kooks.? \"Neanderthals.\" and even \"turkeys.\" Respected public servants and brilliant jurists have been called \"scary\" and \"despicable.\" Third. whoever the nominee is. the Senate should apply the same fair process that has existed for over two centuries when it comes to confirmation or rejectionby an upordown vote of the majority. Our colleagues on the other side of the aisle have recently asked to be consulted about any future Supreme Court nominationeven though the Constitution provides only for advice and consent of the Senate. not individual Senators. and only with respect to the appointment. not the nomination of any Federal judge. If Senators want an extraordinary and extraconstitutional role in the Supreme Court nomination process. the President should first consider seeking a commitment from them to subscribe to the three principles that I have talked about briefly above. After years of unprecedented obstruction and destructive politics. we must restore dignity. honesty. respect. and fairness to our Senate confirmation process. That is the only way to keep politics out of the judiciary.","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8144,"word_count":376}
{"speech_id":1090046738,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I see the distinguished Senator from Massachusetts. I know he wants to speak. I do want to explain the position I am in. I am trying very hard to get the amendment that is pending voted on. We have been waiting for a long time. Both Senator BINGAMAN and Senator DOMENIcI have to leave. Our scheduled time of departure is 3:30 to get home to go to a BRAC Commission meeting where six commissioners will be there. I need all the time between now and 3:30 to get it done. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":553,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090046780,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I understand that we will proceed to an upordown vote. Mr. President. I might say to the Senate. after this vote. I dont believe either Senator from New Mexico will be here for the remainder of the votes. Senator LARRY CRAIG will assume my role as manager of the bill. I thank everybody for their cooperation to get the bill this far. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":353,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090046804,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask the Senator: to hold for just a few moments until we work but a unanimous consent of order. We are about there. We have two or three Senators ready to go. We know of your concern and interest and the amendment to be offered. If the Senator withholds for a few moments. w6 can do that.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":290,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090046818,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I appreciate the Senators concern. He has every right to ask. The Senator is in the queue and on the list. We have worked out this tranche of amendments and we will now work to see when we can fit you in. I would hope sooner rather than later. So my advice would be to stick around.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":282,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090046831,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank you. I think what we are going to be able to agree to is that after the proponents and opponents of the Schumer amendment have .concluded their debate. we will have an upordown vote on the Schumer amendment. In either event. I believe we could at that point get a unanimous consent agreement that the study and report called for in the Kyl seconddegree amendment could be voted on by voice vote. But until Senator BOND is available to confirm that. we do not need to propound that particular request. So we should simply go ahead with the debate on the underlying Schumer amendment. Given the fact that Senator SCHUMER just spoke in favor of that. let me simply take about 2 minutes to second what Senator SCHUMER did and then turn time over to an opponent of the amendment. perhaps the Senator from North Carolina.","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":838,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090046836,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"My seconddegree amendment. if it is agreed to. simpJy requires a study and report to us about the status of the development of this technology. whether it is cost beneficial and whether it is scientifically achievable. With that. let me yield the floor to an opponent of the amendment.","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2193,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090046838,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise in opposition to the Schumer amendment. Let me compliment Senator KYL for his willingness. over the last 24 hours. to try to bring assurances. through some consensus legislation. of where we both agree we need to get to. that we had language that would do it. We do have a slight disagreement because I believe the language that is in the bill does meet the move towards lowenriched uranium. I believe that the health of the American public should be at the forefront of our consideration. Because if. in fact. we adopt a .policy that eliminates the availability of radiopharmaceuticals. then we have greatly affected the diagnostic capabilities that exist. that technology has created over the last decade and. in many cases. the treatments for cancer. An interruption that happened from even the Canadian source before meant that doctors were rationed on what they could receive in radiopharmaceuticals. We know how fragile this is because we are reliant on reactors outside this country for those radiopharmaceuticals. Senator KYL and. hopefully. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD BURR","chamber":"S","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3173,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090046858,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Alzheimers Disease. Epilepsy. Renal (kidney) Failure. and Bone Infections. I yield the floor and ask my colleagues to oppose the Schumer amendment.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3556,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090046883,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is time that we exercise just a little bit of restraint. and the amendment I offer this afternoon with Senator WYDEN would do just that in one particular area. and that is in the area of loan guarantees for building new powerplants. We need a competitive energy sector including nuclear power. coal. gas. hydroelectric. solar. and wind. And we should do everything possible to establish a competitive marketplace that avoids trying to pick winners and losers in that energy production marketplace. Unfortunately. in too many areas. this bill fails to do so. In particular. this title provides loan guaranteestaxpayer subsidized loan guaranteesfor building new privately owned powerplants. That simply is not sound economic policy. sound fiscal policy. or sound energy policy. They could be coal plants. They could be nuclear plants. They could be renewable energy plants. Over the course of the 5year authorization in this bill. the Congressional Budget Office estimates that nearly $4 billion worth of loan guarantees will be offered at a cost to the taxpayers of $400 million. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SUNUNU","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4043,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090046899,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr.- President. first I apologize -to my colleague. Senator SCHUMER of New York. It was just a slip of the tongue by the Senator from Idaho. I am sure. Senator SCHUMER may be in trouble if he is easily confused with me when he goes back home to New York. -","speaker_name":"JOHN SUNUNU","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":256,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090046907,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"With the help from the fine cancer doctors at Washington University in St. Louis. Drew underwent surgery and received doses of nuclear medicine in the form of radioactive iodine to treat his cancer. Drew. I am happy to say. is now cancer free. living a normal teenage life of basketball. skateboarding. and swimming. Having good doctors and access to medicine is a blessing too many take for granted. Drew and many others across the country are alive today because of the nuclear medicine administered after his surgery. Section 621 of the Energy bill. which Senator BURR and I authored. will ensure that cancer patients like Drew can continue to get and afford the cancer nfedicine they need. This provision is needed because the Atomic Energy Act requires industry to change the way they make nuclear medicines. The law requires a shift from highly enriched uranium. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6776,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090046914,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. again. the argument is simple: Do we want nuclear proliferation? If we do. we allow highly enriched uranium tobe floating around the world with very few checks. There is no issue of health. Let me repeat: Everyone. every single person in this country and in other countries who needs isotopes has gotten. them. Let me quote from Physicians for Social Responsibility. a group that has been involved: Contrary to its stated intent. section 621. the new section added to this bill. would do nothing to ensure the supply of medical isotopes to the United States because that supply is not currently endangered by restrictions on exports of HEU. So the bottom line. is simple: We want sick people to get these isotopes. They are all getting them. But why do we have to trade away the ability to prevent highly enriched uranium from proliferating around the world? God forbid the consequences to our country if a terrorist steals such uranium or it gets lost. No U.S. firm has any interest in this. It is one Canadian firm that does not want to pay the extra price that other firms have been paying to require foreign countries to convert from HEU. highly enriched uranium. which can be used for weapons. to lowgrade uranium. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES SCHUMER","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2740,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090046967,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the Senator for laying out so clearly the fact that we are so dependent on foreign oil. If we really want to do something about itas. the Senator has explained by the charts. it is clear that most of the oil that is consumed in America is consumed in the transportation sector and most of the oil that is consumed in the transportation sector is consumed in our personal light vehicles. So if we really want to do something about weaning ourselves from dependence on foreign oil. of which almost 60 percent of our daily consumption of oil is coming from foreign shores. this is where we can make a difference.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":617,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090046971,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the Senator for being so eloquent in laying out what is a looming crisis. The crisis is going to hit us. We may not suspect it. It may hit us in the way of radical Islamists suddenly taking over major countries where those oilfields are. such as Saudi Arabia. If that occurs. Lord forbid. Then we are going to have a crisis. and we are going to be wishing that we were not so dependent on foreign oil. as we are now.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":424,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090047042,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this is an amendment that has been accepted by unanimous consent and voice vote by the Senate in the past. It would allow municipalities to help meet their EPAct requirement by using biodiesel. I am offering it on behalf of Senators JOHNSON. BOND. DORGAN. and myself.","speaker_name":"JAMES TALENT","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":282,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090047078,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. Section 261 of the underlying bill contains provisions designed to reform the hydroelectric relicensing process. These provisions are the result of a hardwon compromise. and I thank the chairman and ranking member. along with Senators CRAIG. SMITH and FEINSTEIN for their leadership on this issue. In particular. these provisions significantly differ from previous House- and Senatepassed versions. as they will allow States. tribes and the public to propose alternative licensing conditions. and will further allow these entities to trigger the trialtype hearing process outlined in this sectioni..I believe these public participation provisions are key improvements in this legislation. I would also like to more fully explore the process by which alternative conditions proposed by these stakeholders should be considered. Before an alternative condition or prescription to a license may be approved. the Secretary must concur with the judgment of the license applicant that it will either cost significantly less to implement. or result in improved operation of the hydro project for electricity productionat the same time it provides for adequate protection of the resourceor in the case of fishway prescriptions. will be no less protective than the fishway initially proposed by the Secretary. This provision does not provide the license applicant a socalled veto power over proposed alternatives. because this judgment requires the Secretarys concurrence. In addition. it is the Senates intent that these judgments be supported by substantial evidence as required by Section 313 of the Federal Power Act. ","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1929,"word_count":242}
{"speech_id":1090047079,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Senator from Washington is correct in expressing our intent that the license applicants judgment be supported by substantial evidence. It is not our intent to provide an incentive for applicants to provide poor data in order to prompt the rejection of a condition by other stakeholders. If the Secretary of a resource agency determines that the evidence provided by the license applicant is of insufficient quality and therefore does not meet the substantial evidence test. the Secretary should not concur with the license applicants judgment in the matter.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":561,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090047089,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Senator is correct. In Louisiana. there has been a tremendous amount of controversy involving the licensing of offshore LNG terminals recently related mainly to a technology for reheating the gas called open rack vaporization. My amendment is designed to emphasize the Governors current authority under the Deepwater Port Act. Under current law. -the Deepwater Port Act allows the Governor of a state to approveor be presumed to approvethe. issuance of a license for an offshore LNG facility.","speaker_name":"DAVID VITTER","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":496,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090047103,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"\"looking beyond form to the substance of what Congress has done\". we are persuaded that the congressional authorization of limited CFTC jurisdiction over a narrow class of common law claims as an incident to the CFTCs primary. and unchallenged. adjudicative function does not create a substantial threat to the separation of powers. Thomas v. Union Carbide Agricultural Products Co.. 473 U.S. 568. 589 (1985). . Similarly. in this instance. the grant of authority to FERC to decide this matter is exceedingly narrow insofar as it relates solely to the legality of Enron collecting additional profits in the form of termination payments for power not delivered. Clearly. it is directly related to the agencys core function to ensure just and reasonable rates and guard against market manipulation. Moreover. these are public rights that are at stake in this disputethe rights of electric ratepayers across the country to just and reasonable rates. rights that have existed under federal statute since 1935and not mere private rights that should be resolved by a nonarticle III bankruptcy tribunal. Accordingly. the clarification provided by the amendment is completely consistent with Supreme Court precedent on the separation of powers principle.","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2966,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090047105,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"First. let me compliment my friend for his thoughtful discussion of this issue. The Senator from Delaware has obviously done a fair amount of homework on automotive technology. and I appreciate his insights on the benefits of clean diesel technology. Let me also congratulate the Senator on his work with Senator VOINOVIcH and others on the recently introduced legislation to clean . up heavyduty diesel engines through retrofitting. We adopted that measure as an amendment to the energy bill earlier this week. and I think it is an important addition. so I thank the Senator for his work in that regard. Now. to respond to the Senators question concerning the diesel leanburn provision from the House bill. Under the House provision. the tax credit would be available for the purchase of diesel vehicles meeting certain fuel efficiency and emissions standards. As long as a vehicle met those standards. it would be considered a \"lean burning\" vehicle and thereby merit the tax crddit to.the purchaser.","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1002,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090047111,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As my colleagues appreciate by now. my State was particularly ravaged by the .western energy crisis of 20002001. One\" of my States public utility districts. Public Utility District No. 1 of Snohomish County. had a longterm contract with Enron. to purchase power. The contract was terminated once Enron began its scandalous collapse into bankruptcy. Nonetheless. Enron has asserted before the bankruptcy court the right to collect all of the profits it would have made under the contract through socalled \"termination payments.\" Enron has made this claim even though Enron never delivered the power under the contract. even though Enron had obtained its authority to sell power fraudulently. and even though Enron was in gross violation of its legal authority to sell power at the very time the contract was entered into. This has been demonstrated by the criminal guilty pleas of the senior managers of Enrons Western power trading operation. in which it has been admitted that Enron was engaged in a massive criminal conspiracy to rig electric markets and rip off electric ratepayers. But it has been further illustrated by- the nowinfamous Enron tapes. in which Enron employeesdiscuss many unsavory topics. including specifically how they were \"weaving lies together\" in their negotiations related to the contract with Snohomish. I will tell my colleagues that there is no way under the sun that I believe my constituents owe Enron another penny. Not one single penny more. ","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12200,"word_count":236}
{"speech_id":1090047112,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"FERC has continued to drag its regulatory feet. For more than 3 years. many of us in the Northwest delegation have been urging FERC to better protect consumers. and provide relief to ratepayers affected by market manipulation. At the height of the 2001 energy crisis. FERC was urging companies to enter into longterm contracts at highlyinflated rates. advice which many Northwest companies followed. In 2003. FERC found that market manipulation occurred during. the 2001 energy crisis. but indicated it would be unlikely that Washington State ratepayers would be reimbursed for the harm caused by the manipulation. When Western utilities--including Snohomish PUD. which was hit particularly hardterminated their contracts with Enron. Enron turned around and sued them for \"termination payments.\" It was very disturbing for all of us to see FERC agree that there was manipulation. but leave Washington ratepayers holding the bagwith no relieffor the harm they experienced in 2001 and continue to experience today. I am pleased that this energy legislation addresses this important issue by giving FERC exclusive jurisdiction to determine whether termination payments are required under certain power contracts are unjust and unreasonable. This is wonderful news for Washington State ratepayers because of a March 2005 order. in which FERC found Enron in violation of its marketbased authority at the time Snohomish PUD signed its power contract. ","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2775,"word_count":220}
{"speech_id":1090047132,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. before I yield the floor. let me extend a very special thanks to all who have participated in the crafting and the final work product that we now have before us. a national energy policy for our country. A good many have contributed and most assuredly the chairman of the committee. PETE DOMENIcI. and the ranking member. Senator BINGAMAN. have done an excellent job. in a very bipartisan way. to bring us to where we are at this moment. Let me also extend a special thanks to the staff of the committee who have expended extraordinary time and hours to get us to this point. I thank my personal staff for a near 5year effort. as we have worked over a long period of time to winnow out. shape. and bring before us what I think I can say is a very fine work product. I am anxious to see its final passage. which will occur on Tuesday. and a conference with the House. I hope we can have this bill on the Presidents desk sooner. rather than later. The American people deserve a national energy policy that allows this country to get back into the production of energy of all of the types that have been addressed in this legislation. ","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1221,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090047144,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Our current strategy isnt working and the Congress and the American people know it. Secretary Rumsfeld insists today that it is false to say the -administration is painting a rosy picture. But that is exactly what he continues to do. It is time for Secretary Rumsfeld to take off his rose--colored glasses and admit to the American people and to our men and women in uniforfin who are paying the price with their lives for its failures that he had no realistic strategy for success. It is time to level with the American people instead of continuing to paint an optimistic picture that has no basis in reality because of his failed strategy. And it is time for Secretary Rumsfeld to resign. Despite the elections last January and the formation of a new transitional Iraqi government. many are increasingly concerned that the administration has no effective or realistic plan to stabilize Iraq. It continues to underestimate the strength and the deadly resilience of the Iraqi insurgency and it has failed shamefully to adequately protect our troops. More than 1.700 American service men and women have been killed in Iraq so far and over 13.000 more have been wounded. The families of these courageous soldiers know all too well that the insurgents are not desperate or deadenders or in their last throes. as administration officials have repeatedly claimed. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11840,"word_count":227}
{"speech_id":1090047145,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There are still some outstanding issues. but we have been soliciting cosponsors and have found very substantial interest in the Senate on trying to move through legislation on this important issue. There is no denial that this is a very major national problem. There is no denial that there are many victims of asbestos who are now destitute because the people who were responsible for their damages have gone into bankruptcy. There is no denial that there has been a tremendous drain on the U.S. economy and that if we could solve this issue it would be a bigger boost to the economy than a gigantic tax break or most any other remedy which might be found to stimulate our economy. .There are. obviously. risks in any bill. We have worked through the complexities of a startup procedure where the people who have exigent claimsthat is. where they may die within a yearwe have an elaborate system of offers and inducements to try to settle those cases within a brief period of time. some 9 months. Obviously. we cannot have a stay of judicial proceedings forever. so. there has to be some resort to the courts if we are unable to get the program set up. Without going into greater detail. we have worked assiduously to try to resolve this issue. We either have it solved or are very close to a solution. We have worked through complex questions on subrogation. complex questions on the Federal Employers Liability Act. and there are still ongoing decisions with a controversy as to how the $90 billion will be divided up among the manufacturers. That essentially is the question that only the manufacturers themselves can guarantee. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5933,"word_count":283}
{"speech_id":1090047151,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I strongly commend her years of work and dedication. and it is with great honor that I share her impressive accomplishments with my colleagues..","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1818,"word_count":24}
{"speech_id":1090047156,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Because of this reality. all options including telecommuting should be pursued to address this challenge. The 1999 Telework America National Telework. Survey. conductel by Joan H. Pratt Associates. found that todays 19.6 million teleworkers typically work 9 days per month at home with an average of 3 hours per week during normal business hours. Teleworkers seek a blend of jobrelated and personal benefits to enable them to better handle their work and life responsibilities. however these research findings demonstrate the impact on the bottom line for employers as well. Employers may save more than $10.000 per telework employee simply from reduced absenteeism and increased employee retention. Thus an organization with 100 employees. 20 of whom telework. could potentially realize a savings of $200.000 annually. or more. when productivity gains are added. When I introduced this legislation in the 107th Congress. it was endorsed by a number of groups including including the International Telework Association and Council*(ITAC). Covad Communications. National Town Builders Association. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5870,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090047157,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank Senators CONRAD. LOTT. SMITH and LINCOLN for joining me in sponsoring this legislation. We hope you will join us as cosponsors of this bipartisan. muchneeded legislation. By Mr. LAUTENBERG (for himself and Mr. MCCAIN):","speaker_name":"JIM BUNNING","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3179,"word_count":36}
{"speech_id":1090047158,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Opponents argued that \u0095SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. local governments didnt have the ex- This Act may be cited as the \"Community pertise to -offer something as complex Broadband Act of 2005\".","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5563,"word_count":31}
{"speech_id":1090047159,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We need to help our businesses capitalize on their ingenuity so that they can become more internationally competitive. That is why we need to do all we can to eliminate barriers to competition and create incentives for the delivery of highspeed Internet services for public suppliers of broadband services. private suppliers of broadband services. and publicprivate partnerships as well. I hope my colleagues will join us in sponsoring the Community Broadband Act of 2005. By Mr. McCAIN:","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4622,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090047237,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. my good friend from North Dakota is running a little late. I will make my opening statement this morning. we will get his remarks. and then we will start moving. We are sort of conflicted this morning. as the Chair understands. but we will work our way through in accepting for consideration the amendments that will be offered to this appropriations bill. Today we begin consideration of the Interior. Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. which was reported unanimously by the Appropriations Committee on June 9. I appreciate the efforts of the two leaders to get this bill to the floor before the recess. in the hope that we can get a few appropriations bills to the Presidents desk before the August recess. The bill before the Senate combines funding for the traditional Interior bill agencies with funding for the Environmental Protection Agency and other related agencies that were previously funded in the VAHUD bill. Having these new agencies under our jurisdiction has been a real learning experience for me. and a real challenge in some areas. The EPA is an agency with a very broad reach. ","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11961,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090047251,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We actually spent it. and the actual debt of the country rose during the time when everybody in Washington said we were in surplus.","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":686,"word_count":24}
{"speech_id":1090047253,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It counts on the chart of the Senator from Oklahoma. It counts in terms of lost opportunity for our children and grandchildren. This burden doesnt belong just to one political party. I agree. I am saying that. in my judgment. we are off track. This fiscal policy doesnt add up. And what is being requested of us by the President is to have all our soldiers sacrifice but none of us sacrifice.","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2481,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090047258,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I was thinking of asking unanimous consent so that each time I take the floor it would be assumed that I frame my comments preceded by \"dont you agree\" to satisfy the quaint rules of the Senate with respect to asking a question. I will refrain from that and when asking my colleague to yield the next time. I will say \"dont you agree\" before I give my speech. My colleague does a service. I dont disagree with him. I think we ought to be tightfisted. we spend money on things we should not spend money on. We are getting huge blocks of funding requests coming in our direction by the administration calling it \"emergency funding.\" We have had almost $200 billion worth. and another $45 billion is coming now. They say. dont pay for it. dont worry about it. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":825,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090047286,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I want to make a comment today about \"actions taken yesterday by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. I have spoken about this on the floor of the Senate previously. Let me describe just a bit of the history here. I read some while ago that Mr. Kenneth Tomlinson. who is the Chairman of the Board of the Corporation for Public Broadcastingagain. Chairman of the Board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. was making the case publicly that public broadcasting has a liberal bias. He was relentlessly making the case that public broadcasting has a liberal biaspublic television. public radio. and so on. Maybe he thinks Big Bird is a Republicanor a Democrat. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8205,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090047293,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And skyrocketing gas prices have only made the problem worse. As a result. many rural areas have no choice but to operate outdated. unsafe school buses for as long as they can pass inspection. Last year. I met with the school superintendents in my State. While each district identified their own. unique challenge. they all had an urgent need for school buses. I was astonished to learn that the school buses in some rural Nevada counties travel a combined million miles in a single school year. The superintendents asked for my help. and I want to help. And based on conversations with some of my colleagues on both sides ofthe aisle. I am pretty confident the need for newer and safer school buses is not unique to Nevadas rural school districts. I am introducing legislation today that will help rural districts transport children to school in a way that is safe. affordable. and environmentally sound. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2587,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090047323,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The theme of. the Exhibition was one word: \"Progress.\" Victoria saw exhibits representing an England that was industrially supreme. England controlled onethird of the worlds international trade. The English merchant navy handled threefifths of the worlds oceangoing tonn.age. Senator Daniel Webster called the English empire: \"A power which has dotted over the surface of the whole globe with her possessions and military posts. whose morning drumbeat. following the sun. and keeping company with the hours. circles the earth with one continuous and unbroken strain of the martial airs of England.\" Victoria had every reason to believe that Divine Providence had smiled on her and on her empire. The citizens of Periclean Athens. Habsburg Spain. and Victorian England each could feel that their nation had reached the zenith of human endeavor. From where they stood. Pericles. Charles. and Victoria were the most powerful leaders of their time. Their centuries belonged to them. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3819,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090047325,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask unanimous consent the Senate immediately proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations on todays Executive Calendar: Calendar Nos. 173. 174. 175. 176. 177. 178. 179. 180. 181. 182. 183. and 184. I further ask unanimous consent that all of the mentioned nominations be confirmed en bloc. the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. the President be immediately notified of the Senates action. and the Senate then return to legislative session.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BENNETT","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":474,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090047327,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Prior to the hearing. I met with Ms. Springer in my office and was impressed with her candor and recognition of the challenges confronting the workforce. Ms. Springers experience in the private sector and as Controller of the Office of Management and Budget has prepared her to lead this Federal agency. Mr. President. I urge my colleagues to supp6rt this nomination. Thank you.","speaker_name":"GEORGE VOINOVICH","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1886,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090047337,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to discuss the need to strengthen Social Security. - As a former president of a community college. and as a mother and grandmother. I have an obligation to ensure that our children and grandchildren are not putting their hardearned money into a system that is going broke. Social Security is sound for todays seniors and for those nearing retirement. but it needs to be improved for younger generations. This week. my colleagues on the House Ways and Means Committee. the gentleman from Florida . the gentleman from Texas . and the gentleman from Wisconsin . laid out a good first step to help ensure that Social Security will be there for our children and grandchildren.","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":697,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090047342,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. President Bush and Republicans are working hard to protect Social Security for todays -retirees and strengthen the program for future generations. This week Republicans offered several positive proposals that will help solve the problems plaguing Social Security. However. to ensure that we find a lasting solution. Democrats should join us at the negotiating table. On Wednesday. The Washington Post editorial page questioned: \"Democrats need to ask themselves. now what? Is it enough to keep sticking their fingers in their ears while saying no? Failing to act now will make the problem harder to fix down the road. Cuts or tax increases will have to be steeper the longer the problem goes unaddressed.\" President Bush has invited Democrats to share their ideas on Social Security. but unfortunately his request has been met with silence or obstruction. While inaction may be politically safe. it does not help the millions of Americans who rely on Social Security. ","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1056,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090047347,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. Members of the House. I do not know what it is about the Republicans. but despite overwhelming opposition by the American people across the board against the privatization of Social Security. they bring out yet another plan to privatize Social Security. They bring out another plan to privatize Social Security. to raid the Social Security trust fund. and to undermine the solvency of Social Security. Three points to their plan. Undermine the solvency of Social Security. raid what is left of the Social Security trust fund. and to privatize Social Security. all of which the American public overwhelmingly disagrees with and has disagreed with whether it is presented by the President or by the Republicans in Congress. A Republican got up here a few minutes ago and said we want t9 do this because these people can spend their money better than the government. I would remind that young woman that she is the government. The Republicans control the White House. the House and the Senate. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1267,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090047363,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. if the gentleman would .yield further. does that mean. and maybe we cdn discuss this again in the Transportation HUD bill. but that. since it is not a large sum of money. the President supports it. it has a lot of support here. that we can expect at some point in the process before we finish the appropriations. this program could be funded?","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":356,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090047378,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And the attempted amendment was to correct that. because I do not think for the future of our country. for the future of science and math education that we should move forward with a zero appropriation for gifted education. But I yield to my chairman on this point.","speaker_name":"MARK KIRK","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1527,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090047416,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. reclaiming my time. I would just point out that the AmeriCorps members that would be reduced and perhaps eliminated serve 2 million children and youth in educationrelated programs. as I mentioned earlier. as mentors. They tutor children of prisoners and they train over 600.000 community volunteers. So it has a very powerful ripple effect throughout the community to have these AmeriCorps. most like young \" people. volunteers. seeking other people and training them to engage in service as mentors and so on. Here you have two good programs. but. on balance. we have to at this juncture and with the limited resources we have. go with the AmeriCorps as opposed to adding more. in addition to the $100 million we already put in the program. for innovative education programs. Mr. Chairman. I urge Members to oppose this amendment if it were to come to a vote. Mr. ","speaker_name":"RALPH REGULA","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":922,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090047431,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. as the gentleman knows. he and I have discussed on several occasions now my interest in funding the NCI. National Cancer Institute. for more money to expedite finding a cure for cancer or finding- that cancer becomes a manageable disease. Twentyfive percent of the deaths in this country are caused by cancer. One out of every two men will get cancer. One out of every three women will be stricken with cancer. Research is going forward at such a fast pace. I wanted to put together an amendment that would add $50 million for additional research centers designated by NCI. I realize. picking up on what the gentleman from Wisconsin has just said. that this is a very tightly crafted bill. but I would ask the gentleman as chairman. and this is coming from one who has suffered from lung cancer. that the gentleman find that money. or look for the money in the conference. so that we can increase the funding for NCI so that we can expand those centers.","speaker_name":"E. SHAW","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":967,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090047447,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We see Delta Airlines that has frozen its pension plan. has asked to stretch out its payments so that it can protect the assets of its employees. United chose another idea: It would simply dump these liabilities onto the taxpayers of the United States of America. What United was not telling anybody was the truth. They were not telling them about their funding of their pension plans. about their liabilities of their pension plans. They simply decided they would terminate these plans in the PBGC. So this is our chance. This is our chance to try to save the retirement nest eggs of the flight attendants. of the ramp workers. of the pilots. of all of the people that have given so much to have this airline continue to fly. We held an Ehearing. Over 2.000 people participated and told us what the real impact of these cuts would be on their families. on their children. on spouses with illnesses. on their parents. People who had worked 30. 35. 40 years for this company now find out that they have been terminated with no chance to go back. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2337,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090047472,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I believe. under the traditions of the House. the Chair is the Speaker of the Whole House. and the Chair has an obligation to call the vote in the manner in which the vote was arrived at under the voice vote. It is not a question of whether the ayes or the noes will prevail on a recorded vote. The question is what happened on the floor at that particular time. In this instance. the yeas prevailed. and the Chair said the noes prevailed. A number of years ago. we had very heated debates on this floor from the Republican side. from Mr. Walker. because they felt that they were insulted. especially when cameras came into this Chamber. that the Chair would call votes against their interests when they clearly prevailed on the voice. The Chair was admonished by the Speaker of the House. and we went back to what was the traditionally fair point of view. So I would ask the Chair in the future. and future Chairs. to recognize that the Chair is calling the event that takes place in front of the Chair on the floor. not what the Chair perceives to be. and may be correctly so. the outcome of the vote later on in the day when the recorded vote is taken. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1230,"word_count":219}
{"speech_id":1090047477,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"ida. Mr. Chairman. unfortunately. in the UC agreement that we have before us. the wrong amendment is listed. It actually amends title I. so. therefore. it should be out of order. It was supposed to be on the Reading is Fundamental program. which is much more appropriate to this title. and I have asked the chairman if he would engage in a colloquy. My amendment. which could not be introduced because of the error. specified that $25.296.000 in the School Improvements program be dedicated specifically to the Reading is Fundamental program. I seek assurances from the chairman that this program will receive adequate funding when the final numbers are decided in the conference with the Senate. It is very well documented. Mr. Chairman. that a great number of children and adults struggle with reading. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA BROWN-WAITE","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1859,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090047483,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If a poor mothers child has an alarmingly high fever and she has no access to a primary care doc. she will take her to the emergency room. Who can blame her for that? If you want to do something about the increase in Medicaid spending. do something about rising health care costs. do something about inflated prescription drug costs. do something about health care infomercials and glossy drug advertising. do something about medical errors. come up with a .responsible medical malpractice reform plan. Do something that responds to the actual issue. not a symptom of it. If a commission would be useful. let us make it a health care commission. and let us ask its members to recommend measures to stabilize health care spending. and let us give the Bush administration a vote on that commission. But do not allow the Bush White House to put Medicaid on trial as if it is some twobit criminal when Medicaid is actually a lowercost health in-\" surer than any private insurer out there. Medicaid is a lowercost health insurer than any private insurer out there. Do not let the Bush administration take health care away from the poor so it cai give tax cuts to the rich. Our government has three branches. Let us make sure the executive branch does not do our jobs for us. It may be more difficult to confront health care costs directly than to make a scapegoat of the Medicaid program. but we are not in office to take the easy path. ","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2842,"word_count":256}
{"speech_id":1090047505,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. in light of the comments by the gentleman from Ohio and the comments of the gentleman from Ohio to at least make a goodfaith effort to try to increase the maximum Pell grant award during the conference process. I will not offer my amendment at this time.","speaker_name":"RIC KELLER","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":268,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090047529,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. while the men and women of our armed forces serve bravely throughout the world. the. ability of our U.S. military to recruit highly qualified candidates is being put in jeopardy. Former Commandant of the Marine Corps General Charles Krulak once remarked that our allvolunteer military is an allrecruited force. The amendment offered today by my colleague from California is a clear threat to the continued success of that force. This amendment would prohibit the Department of Education from withholding Title I dollars from school districts that do not provide prlvate student information to military recruiters. Under the guise -of \"privacy rights.\" our military recruiters would be denied the same access to our nations best young minds that is regularly provided to recruiters for colleges or businesses. Mr. Chairman. military service can be a noble and fulfilling choice for our young men and womenincluding my son. a career Army officer. Planning for the future can.be an overwhelming experience. As they consider their postsecondary options. our nations students deserve to be fully equipped with the information they need to make good decisions. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KLINE","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1920,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090047542,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise to claim the time in opposition of the amendment. Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 3 minutes. Mr. Chairman. I claim the time in opposition. not because I am necessarily opposed. but because I might be if I understood this correctly. This is not something that we have had a lot of notice to discuss. and I must confess considerable disquiet at the idea that we should overturn a report of the Department of Education Inspector General with respect to the use of taxpayers money. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":863,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090047549,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I appreciate what the gentleman has said. and obviously the committee always reserves the right in conference to make a change to something as this. and if. indeed. information came out that demonstrated that it- should be changed. I would certainly concur with that. So I do appreciate what the gentleman has just said.","speaker_name":"JAMES KOLBE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":334,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090047574,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"These health care costs are now burdened by permitting them to obtain drivers license. enroll in institutions. and luckily we stopped the drivers license part. enroll in institutions of higher education at inState rates. and obtain public services through the use of consular ID cards. So a lot of the burden. as I say. they have brought upon themselves. But nonetheless. we have gone the next step. then. and we have written regulations. We promulgated regulations and rules designed to implement section 1011. and they certainly fall short of establishing any meaningful accountability for the money. and more importantly. they do not require information sharing with homeland security. As a matter of fact. on the final page of the payment determination form. it says patients should be aware that the Department of Homeland Security will not access or use information related to medical care to initiate enforcement of United States immigration laws unrelated to an ongoing terrorism or criminal investigation. There is another part of these regulations that. frankly. I do not recall us debating it when the original amendment was proposed to the Medicare and prescription drug bill. That is one that now allows for not only people who are here illegally to be given services under this act. but people who are here with the 72hour border crossing card. In 2002. as I recall. as I have been told. there were already 5 million of SE H5123 these border crossing cards that had been issued. Five million people. mostly. in fact I think entirely. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS TANCREDO","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3567,"word_count":256}
{"speech_id":1090047580,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Our children then become the victims of what this amendment would do if it were to pass. This amendment will not have that effect. It will just be a chilling effect on all people who question their status in this country. and they will then not go and get the care that they need to protect the rest of our children.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH CROWLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1238,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090047582,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is hospitals in Phoenix. It is others. They do not have the luxury of deciding who they are going to treat. Yet this amendment would say. sorry. you have to treat them. and because of our failure to impose control at the border. you are just stuck with the bill. That is simply not right. Nobody is more convinced than the gentleman from Arizona and me of the need for immigration reform. That is why we have proffered legislation to do that. I would challenge those who have offered this amendment. please join us or offer your own legislation. We cannot continue with the status quo. It is just eating us alive in Arizona. not just health care costs but education costs. criminal justice costs. across the board. ","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2032,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090047591,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman from California for bringing this very critical issue to the ears and eyes of the Congress as well as the ears and eyes of America. In Indianapolis. Indiana. we have over 100.000 Medicare recipients. and in Indiana we have over 877.000. And as all of the Members know. the criminals devise ways at all times to break laws and to steal peoples identity. People in nursing homes die unexpectedly. and workers. not all of them of course. steal Social Security numbers and abuse them before the Social Security Administration has an opportunity to close down that particular number. So I appreciate very much this effort. I think it is very vital. And as I read the amendment. it is on new Medicare cards and not ones that exist at the present time. ","speaker_name":"JULIA CARSON","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"F","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1032,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090047593,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There are many parties involved. with a variety of information claims processing and data exchange systems. and once they get this base research done. they can move forward on reforming the use of the Social Security system. I would tell the Members that in the new drug plan they do not use the Social Security identifier. So I would urge the gentleman to maintain his interest in this subject to work with the committee as we oversee CMSs gathering of this material and evaluation of this problem. and the fact that they have managed to develop the drug plan without using a Social Security identifier indicates to us that they will take the time and invest the resources to change the base underlying system. But any radical change to that system will deny current beneficiaries coming into the system. month by month. their benefits.","speaker_name":"NANCY JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1792,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090047596,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I understand what the gentleman from Wisconsin is saying. and the gentleman from Wisconsin will be a conferee. and it is something we probably need to discuss there. But in the meantime. there are 43 million people who are on Medicare. We add 200.000 every month. and I would like to get more information from CMS as to just what impact this would have in terms of cost and their ability to manage the system. The key to this is that we want the system managed as effectively as possible. and all of us as Members hear from time to time from people who are not getting their Medicare claims taken care of or they are having problems with Medicare. So some system of keeping track of these and to identify them. we can imagine with 43 million people. it is not easy. So I would hope the gentleman would withdraw his amendment and I would work with the gentleman from Wisconsin in conference to see if there is some way we can refine this language. and I would like to discuss it with the Medicare people. with CMS. to see what the impact would be or whether a workable system that would ensure privacy could be put in place. For that reason I would oppose the amendment if there is a vote on it.","speaker_name":"RALPH REGULA","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1251,"word_count":236}
{"speech_id":1090047604,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Levitra and Cialis. It is that simple. It is something that I think we have a consensus on. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance my time.","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1481,"word_count":26}
{"speech_id":1090047608,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I just want to discuss it. I do not think anyono has asked to claim time in opposition at this juncture. As the Members know. the bill already has a provision restricting health programs from paying for impotence drugs for sex offenders. This amendment simply takes the provision a step further by prohibiting the payment for all beneficiaries. The authorizing committee has been discussing it with the Member. and apparently there has been no resolution. So perhaps this is one that Members ought to make a judgment on. I think the issue is fairly clear as it has been framed by the sponsor. ","speaker_name":"RALPH REGULA","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":810,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090047612,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I do not think that ED is a health care priority. But the larger issue is should the taxpayers be required to pay for TV advertising. much of which is inappropriate in its message. I did not have any problem. I have to say. when Bob Dqle.wa the pitch man. nobody would. except -maybe Elizabeth:for sharing more than the world necessarily needed to know about their personal lives. But the point is. these ads on TV today are offensive. and we are spending half. a billion .dollars on them. The American public does not want them saturating the airwaves. and they certainly do not want .to be paying for them. and unless this amendment passes. they will be paying for them.","speaker_name":"JAMES MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1820,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090047616,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. those who believe in privacy and not being dictated to by the U.S. Congress in their most private. intimate decisions should vote against this amendment. Two friends of mine my age recently went in for prostate treatment. When you go in for prostate cancer. they tell you you have a choice of various alternatives. Some may give you a higher chance of survival. but also a higher chance of impotency. A University of Chicago study showed that if you tell men that they have a chance of impotency that cannot be cured because you do not have access to these ED drugs. they will. 68 percent of the time. take surgery that could lessen their chances of survival. This is not recreation. These are helping men make decisions that are going to help prolong their lives. We should r6ject this amendment.","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":811,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090047617,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the remaining time. To bring this towards a close. as I listen to this debate. I think it is clear to us that this is an inappropriate investment on the part of taxpayers dollars for us to compel the taxpayers to pay for sexual impotency drugs. I take issue with some of the statements made. for example. no evidence of abuse for medically appropriate situations exist. Certainly it does. I recognize that the amendment of the gentleman from California in the bill addresses some of the abuse. and that is the abuse of these prescriptions going into the hands of sexual predators. rapists. and child molesters. Now. this amendment would not be necessary to do that. but there is other abuse that goes beyond that. There is record of abuse that existed. ","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1914,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090047628,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the gentleman calling to our attention the recent report of the Department of Veterans Affairs about the research opportunities in Gulf War illness research. NIH has conducted research in this area in the past. largely through the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. The gentleman describes opportunities in neuroscience research that might most appropriately reside in the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke. We would be pleased to ask the director of NIH to report to us what research NIH currently plans to conduct during the fiscal year 2006 that addresses the priority areas the DVA report identifies. In our hearings next year. we will conduct a line of questioning to learn more about NIHs commitment to this area of research.","speaker_name":"RALPH REGULA","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":799,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090047644,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in as strong as possible opposition to the Hinchey amendment. We have public television today. and I am very proud that we do. Public television used to say that they had a reason to exist. because if they did not exist. who would provide the public aspect of some of our television programming? That was an effective argument 30 years ago. and to some extent it is still effective today. But whereas yesterday the PBS station in the local market was maybe the third or fourth station. today it may be one of dozens of stations. and if you count cable. it may be one of hundreds. So the argument for continuing to spend taxpayer money for public television is not quite as strong as it used to be. Having said that. I think there is a role for public television in the marketplace. We are now led to believe. though. that for some reason. the current head of public television is trying to move public television. you know. to the right. ","speaker_name":"JOE BARTON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2155,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090047645,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I move to * strike the last word. Mr. Chairman. the gentleman said. for some reason we think that Mr. Tomlinson is being political. I wonder why? Mr. Tomlinson is the follow who .said that public radio stations should get in line with the Republican election victory. Mr. Tomlinson is the person who appointed a consultant in order to try to measure the number of instances when people on PBS programs were. quote. antiBush or. quote. antiDELAY. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3347,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090047689,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I was unavoidable detained on official business this morning. I was in West Virginia with Chairman Anthony Princippi. and over West Virginia delegationto discuss.1BRAC recommdndations.i I missed rollcall vote 308 through 314. Had I been present. I would have voted in the following manner: rollcall vote 308: \"nay\". rollcall vote 309: \"yea\". rollcall vote 310: \"yea\". rollcall vote 311: \"yea\". rollcall vote 312: \"yea\". rollcall vote 313: \"nay\". and rollcall vote 314: \"yea\".","speaker_name":"NICK RAHALL","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":489,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090047701,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is no accident that the remarkable results that have been obtained in developing miracle drugs and intervention approaches in so many diseases begins with research on animals and birds. Secondly. let me stress that NIH and NIMH operate in a more nonpoliticized manner than other governmental entities. All their research approaches are peerreviewed by scientists across the country. We in Congress authorize the appropriations for NIH and NIMH. but scientists rather than politicians determine which research applications should be funded. Science. in this sense. by Congressional directive. has largely been depoliticized. As for this specific grant. the pigeon has been selected to study because it has a remarkably well developed visual system with such high acuity that it can make extraordinary decisions without the mediation of language. The research. which focuses on how the pigeon discriminates between visual stimuli. could be singularly important to our understanding of how brains and mental processes operate. The knowledge garnered is designed to be of particular use in the treatment of mental illnesses and disorders like autism and schizophrenia. Knowledge of the operation of advanced cognitive processes in the absence of language can also provide important clues to possible remedial methods that could be effective with language impaired human patients. New thinking and teaching methods which may develop from research on pigeons and other life forms could better enable impaired individuals to interact with a world of complex patterns and categories. thus allowing them to be productive decisionmakers. less likely to need institutionalization. ","speaker_name":"JAMES LEACH","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4278,"word_count":250}
{"speech_id":1090047720,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 30 seconds. Mr. Chairman. quoting the words of my friend. the gentleman from Rhode Island to Indian Couptry Today Newspaper. he said he would push for a compromise bill through Congress that would support onreservation tribal sovereignty against the jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board. while accepting the boards role as arbiter of laboremployee disputes and union organizing on offreservation tribally owned business. The only workable bill is an authorizing bill. H.R. 16. As I have pointed out. we come here with this recourse because of uncertainty and because of bureaucratic fiat. Adopt this amendment. \u0095 Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"JOHN HAYWORTH","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":703,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090047722,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong opposition to the Hayworth amendment. Tribal Nations have established commercial gaming enterprises because of the economic boom it brings to their community. My hometown of Las Vegas looked to gaming many years ago. and now it has the one of the most vibrant economies in the country. One of the keys to Las Vegas success has been a strong relationship between labor and management. Because of this relationship. workers have goodpaying jobs and benefits and safe working conditions. and can take care of their families. We should give the workers at the tribal gaming facilities the same togovernment relationship. as the San chance. Manuel Band has done. already. they Last year the National Labor Rela- actually put tbgether an agreement tions Board correctly ruled that it had with greater union rights thin the jurisdiction over onreservation com- NLRA. That is precisely the point. mercial tribal enterprises such as casi- Tribes should have the sovereign abilnos. ity to decide that if they want to bring Make no mistake about it. ","speaker_name":"SHELLEY BERKLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1774,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090047728,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 45 seconds. Mr. Chairman. after the rhetorical display. I know my friends did not mean to insinuate that tribes are composed of bums and scoundrels. Yet. what we are hearing here is that somehow the very worst in human nature would come out.","speaker_name":"JOHN HAYWORTH","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":270,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090047732,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the chairman. We are making the point that we are dealing with sovereignty. Yes. this is an imperfect world. But I 4carcely imagine that a gross violation of human rights will transpire when we live up to Article I. Section 8 of the Constitution. which says: The Congress shall have the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations. and among the several States. States. and with the Indian tribes. Tribes have sovereign immunity. They have sovereignty. It is not situational. no matter what some leaders in the AFLCIO may say.","speaker_name":"JOHN HAYWORTH","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":538,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090047780,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have families who are forced to wait years upon years to be reunited with their brethren. We need comprehensive reform. This amendment would denigrate the hard work of thousands of workers who have spent theirlives working hard in this great nation. If an undocumented alien puts a dollar into the social security system this amendment would rob him of that dollar. Is this the GOPs plan to solve the social security conundrum. to rob undocumented aliens of their social security benefits. To refuse to put more boarder guards on our frontiers. only to rob those who are attempting to create a better life for themselves. This is not immigration reform. Our immigration situation is a problem that needs to be solved. I will be the first to admit that. But reforms such as this amendment are not the correct method to achieve that goal. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3015,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090047791,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Two friends of each of my sons committed suicide. So I do not think the problem in this country is that we know too much about mental health problems for young people. The problem is just the opposite. we know too little. So I agree with the concerns expressed by the gentleman from Ohio","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":913,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090047800,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 12 minutes. Let me assure Members that you are misconstruing the amendment. It is as if we are banning screening. That is not the case. I am just saying screening everybody is what I am trying to prevent. If there is one person out of 100.000 that commits suicide. why are Members compelled to have a program that may test 99.999 people? This does nothing to the individual that shows the problem. You can still test them. preferably with parental consent. Let me add that the gentleman from Ohio stated that the vote went against this amendment last year. ","speaker_name":"RONALD PAUL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1516,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090047802,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Sure. there are mental diseases. I am not excluding any of this when a person has true mental illness. but I am talking about the overuse of Ritalin and Prozac and many of these drugs that are pushed on these kids. Let me tell Members. there have been some real problems with families who will not let their kids go on drugs because the schools pressure them to. They have been charged with child abuse. and threatened with taking their children away because they will not be put on these drugs. That is the kind of abuse I am calling to Members attention. and that is why you need to vote for this amendment. It does not change anything. It does not deny anybody testing and treatment. All it does is say universal testjng of everybody of all ages in this country is not the direction that we want to go. Please vote -for my amendment.","speaker_name":"RONALD PAUL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1447,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090047818,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the last word. Mr. Chairman. all through last year on this side of the aisle. we continually insisted that we needed more money for veterans health care and were consistently told by the administration and the other side that we did not. As recently as April 5. Mr. Nicholson. the head of the VA. told the Senate in an effort to defeat a Democratic amendment. \"I can assure you that the VA does not need emergency supplemental funding in fiscal 2005 to continue to provide timely. quality service that is always our goal.\" We were again told this year when we tried to add money to the VA for veterans health care that it was not needed. that we were simply pandering to veterans. Well. now the facts are out. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1674,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090047831,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding to me. Mr. Chairman. I rise today urging the conference. when it meets. to restore funding to the Javits gifted and talented program. which was unfortunately zeroed out in this bill. Javits reaches a critical group of diverse gifted children who are not high income. In fact. they are low income. but have extraordinary abilities. In my home State of Illinois. education for gifted kids has been cut completely out of the States budget. In response I developed my own Tenth District laureates program as a way to challenge gifted students in my own district. ","speaker_name":"MARK KIRK","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1910,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090047843,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I urge my colleagues to vote against this amendment. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"RALPH REGULA","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":693,"word_count":19}
{"speech_id":1090047899,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of the proposals that seek to prohibit the use of funds in the bill to distribute the personal information of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries to private companies for marketing. purposes. The Americans who receive Medicare and Medicaid benefits already suffer from ailments that debilitate and weaken them from a health standpoint. This legislation should not be permitted to debilitate them from a fiscal standpoint either. According to data. more people were .covered by Medicare and Medicaid in 2003 than in 2002. while the percentage and number of people covered by their employers fell from 61.3 percent175.3 million people--to 60.4 percent174 million people.. Mr. Chairman. this is a lot of people whose personal information could be jeopardized by the haphazard distribution to the marketing community. The situation with Choicepoint and others should provide more than adequate proof that information can be used to harm people and that it can be done rapidly. Allowing funds to facilitate the free dissemination of personal information by the Federal Government only exacerbates the vulnerable nature of personal information databases. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1481,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090047904,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Given the fiscal constraints our nation is currently under. no good reason exists to spend additional money to give tuition discounts to illegal aliens. As public universities acrossthe country increasingly limit enrollment increasing the intake of illegal aliens into these schools will mean fewer opportunities and less aid for United States citizens and legal immigrants. This will also result in greater expense to the state taxpayers. Outofstate tuition is typically two to threeandahalf times higher than instate tuition. The revenue lost as a result of providing instate tuition to illegal aliens would have to be paid for by someone. Finally. giving special treatment to illegal aliens is fundamentally unjust to legal immigrants who have invested a great deal to comply with our immigration laws or obtain legal citizenship. We should not reward those who have broken our immigration laws with the same benefits as those who have made an effort to respect the law. This measure is a fundamentally unjust and expensive attempt to integrate illegal aliens into our state and federally funded higher education systems. Please join me in supporting this amendment to enforce existing law and avoid rewarding lawbreakers.","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2756,"word_count":191}
{"speech_id":1090047905,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the fiscal year 2006 Labor. Health and Human Services. Education. and Related Agencies appropriations bill is one of the most important bills for shaping our domestic priorities. Unfortunately the bill before this Congress imposes draconian cuts to the essential services that Americans rely on everyday. The $1.2 billion cuts spread throughout these agencies will be devastating to the future of our Nation. I am astonished to see that the Department of Education will see its smallest increase in a decade. which comes at a time when school districts across the Nation are struggling to come up with adequate funding to address the unfunded mandates of President Bushs No Child Left Behind. This is the wrong kind of message to be sending to our children and teachersThe one positive point during this debate was the passage of the amendment to restore the $100 million cut to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). This Vote signaled the bipartisan support that can be rallied to overrule the ideologically driven agenda of some in Congress. Millions of people across the country contacted Congress this week in support of CPB and the overwhelming vote in favor of the amendment to restore funding (284140. 87 Republican and every Democrat in support) is an indication of the more reasonable approach the country expects from Congress. ","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1662,"word_count":220}
{"speech_id":1090047906,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr.Chairman. I rise today to join my colleagues in urging full funding of the National Childrens Study. Two of the most important health studies ever conducted were large. ambitious epidemiological studies. The Framingham Study followed the health and risk factors of thousands of men and women for fifty years. The result has been a major change in the way we view. treat and prevent heart diseases. The Nurses Study has monitored the health of over one hundred thousand women for decades. It. too. has resulted in unprecedented leaps forward in public health. Now. we must turn our attention to one of the biggest sources of public health threats of our time: our own environment. The National Childrens study will follow 100.000 children from before birth until age 21. Similar to the Framingham study and the Nurses study. it could yield giant steps forward in our efforts to solve some of the most complex and pervasive health problems of our time: obesity. asthma. and autism are just a few. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1610,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090047907,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I worked with parents and their childrenscraping up money. grants. scholarships. whatever we could findto help them realize part of the American dreamthe opportunity to earn a college education. But for the fourth straight year. Congress has shortclianged students by cutting billions of dollars from the authorized level under law-$13.2 billion short of what is authorized for FY 06 and over $40 billion short since its enactment in 2001. Another public law we have abandoned is the IDEA Improvement Act. which has been underfunded by nearly $4 billion since its enactment. For our Nations 7 million disabled children. IDEA Part B grants alone fall short of the Presidents budget request by over $500 million. At a time when some of the Nations poorest school districts are fighting to stay open. this bill cuts Title I funding for the neediest of our elementary and secondary schools by $500 million below the Presidents request. While in the past year alone. tuition has increased an average of 10.5 percent at 4year public universities. this bill provides only a modest $50 increase in the maximum Pell granta full $1.000 short of what the President promised in 2001. And. ironically. at a time when this Administration and Republican Congress talk about morality and family values in public affairs. this bill cuts local public TV and radio funds for childrens shows like Sesame Street and Reading Rainbow. My specific concerns about the higher education shortfalls stem from my belief that a quality education is integral to the success of Americans and the nation as a whole. ","speaker_name":"TIMOTHY BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4429,"word_count":260}
{"speech_id":1090047911,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong opposition to the LaborHHSEducation appropriations bill today. This bill grossly underfunds key domestic priorities in education. health. human services. job training. public broadcasting. and the list goes on and on. Appropriations bills typically include at least a slight increase in spending from the following year to make up for inflation. if nothing else. Instead. this bill actually cuts spending below last years level by $1.6 billion. The cuts","speaker_name":"FORTNEY STARK","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":484,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090047916,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today in opposition to the proposed cuts of more than $100 million to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. This organization funds over 1.000 public television and radio stations nationwide. and the funding from Congress is essential to its functioning. CPB also funds producers. educators and technology specialists for the development of new -public television and radio programming and new media. The CPB supports educational programs. as well as. provides education resources for parents and teachers. I support the mission of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in its goal of providing the public with education and informative media sources. In a time when much furor exists over the decency of much of what is broadcast on our televisions and radios. it is only logical that Congress support an organization that has held traditional values to a7 high standard which is reflected in its programming. Childrens programs such as Sesame Street and Arthur. programs which undoubtedly educate our children and instill them with positive values. will lose the necessary funding that keeps them on television. This is simply unacceptable. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1702,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090047954,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this is. of course. what they call the bragging rights. the day after the annual congressional baseball game. Mr. Speaker. last evening at historic Robert F. Kennedy Stadium. the Republican baseball team defeated the Democrats by a score of 1910. We most appreciate everybodys participation. Mr Speaker. this was the largest crowd in the history of this vaunted contest that goes back. in the modern era. some 45 years. We had almost 6.000 spectators. The winners in this contest were not the Republicans. really. but the charities that were involved that will benefit greatly. We raised about $125.000 for the Boys and Girls Club of Washington and the Adult Literacy Council. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL OXLEY","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1978,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090047960,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. based on the kindness of the majority leader allowing for new Members to be involved in this process. the majority partys governance of the House. I would seek to outline for fellow Members what the majority intends to do next week in terms of the agenda. Normally this is what the minority whip would ask at this point. however. I certainly see him leaving the floor. Mr. Speaker. the House will convene on Monday at 12:30 p.m. for morning hour debates. At 2 p.m. We will move to legislative business. We will consider several measures under suspension of the rules. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK MCHENRY","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1496,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090047966,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"With the advice of local army officials. the students decided that the money they raised would be best used to purchase phone cards. The efforts of the fifth graders at Hillander will allow the brave men and women defending freedom abroad to spend more time in touch with their loved ones. The students at Hillander set a wonderful example of how a small unselfish effort can greatly benefit our military personnel. I am proud to have compassionate and caring youngsters in my district. and I know our soldiers abroad will greatly appreciate their efforts.","speaker_name":"K. CONAWAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1773,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090047982,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. Americans are less secure.. not more secure. as a result of the war in Iraq. This war has created a whole new *generation of terrorists whose common bond is their hatred for the United States and our aggressive militarism. We have asked the President to address Iraqs lack of security. We have asked him to come up with a plan for ending the war. He has not. so we will. And when we put our plan in place and when the troops come home. we can begin to plan for the future. Fortunately. there is a plan that would secure America for the future. That plan is the SMART Security resolution which I recently reintroduced with the support of 50 of my House colleagues. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4202,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090047988,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. in the 11 years that I have been in Congress I have been in Washington at 5:20 in the afternoon on Friday exactly twice. The first was when the Federal Government was shut down in 1995. and the second was last year in early October when we passed our omnibus bill on a Saturday morning and everybody stayed here Friday night. I go home on weekends. I am here today because my friend. the. gentleman from Tennessee . reserved this time to talk about one of my highest priorities. which is the development of alternative energy reSources. Now. he is right. I serve on the Energy and Commerce Committee. and. as such. we have jurisdiction over energy matters. shared with the Science Committee. a little bit with the Ways and Means Committee. And it is a high priority. -I voted against the energy bill last year when it came to Congress. I voted against it in the committee. And I did so because I felt that it really did not reflect a balanced approach to the development of our Nations energy resources and energy priorities. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES BASS","chamber":"H","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6486,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090048109,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It has been a tough sell because the Presidents privatization proposal is flawed in many ways. It would require deep benefit cuts. even for workers who dont choose to privatize accounts. It would require massive borrowing from countries such as China. Saudi Arabia. where we borrow about 40 percent of the money we borrow for this years deficit. which will be in the hundreds of billions of dollars. probably closer to half a trillion than not. It would turn Social Security from a guarantee into a gamble. And his privatized accounts would not strengthen Social Securitys finances at all. In fact. it would make the longterm challenge worse. not better. The President has said the privatization plan will not stabilize Social Security. It is important to remember that even if we do nothing. which no one here is advocating. Social Security will pay 100 percent- of promised benefits until about 2055 and about 80 percent thereafter. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8661,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090048161,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I dont think this is an appropriate use of Federal resources. I am pleased to offer this amendment with Senator BINGAMAN. I hope it will restore a little bit of fiscal restraint and balance to this Interior appropriations bill. It is important to recognize what this amendment does not do because. as the debate is carried forward. I want to make sure that concerns raised speak to the amendment and not to other issues. What this amendment does not do is prohibit logging in the Tongass or any other segment of our national forest. It doesnt change policy regarding logging in any substantive way. It doesnt curtail uses in the national forest. again. in the Tongass or anywhere else in the country. I come from a. State. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SUNUNU","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4486,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090048188,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It disserves American troops to allow this sort of thing to happen. When we get involved in circumstances where our country has an obligation to the troops we ask to go into harms way. we have a responsibility to make sure there is not corruption and looting and thieving going on. We had a woman testify today. Bunnatine Greenhouse. She was the highest civilian official in the Pentagon dealing with Corps of Engineer projects. She was called in at one point and told: Either you can retire or you are going to be demoted. We are not putting up with your objections anymore. She was objecting to solesource contracts being given to Halliburtonno bids. What is the result of that? Headline after headline about waste and fraud. Here is what she said today: I can unequivocally state that the abuse related to contracts awarded to KBR [a subsidiary of Halliburton] represents the most blatant and improper contract abuse I have witnessed during the course of my professional career. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8871,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090048194,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. there has been quite a controversy developing in recent weeks about the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. I have spoken on the Senate floor a couple of times about the subject. and I wish to address it now. particularly because of actions that were taken last week. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has a Board of Directors that is headed by a Mr. Kenneth Tomlinson. Mr. Tomlinson decided to take it upon himself to describe public broadcasting as having a liberal bias. Because it has a liberal bias. according to the Chairman of the Board of Directors. appointed by President Bush. he hired a consultant. a fellow who had worked for 20 years at a journalism center founded by the American Conservative Union. He hired a consultant for just over $14.000 without. the knowledge of the Board of Directors to evaluate particularly programming by the Bill Moyers show Called \"Now.\" The Inspector General at the Corpor6tion for Public Broadcasting is now investigating that expenditure of -money. It is curious to me that the American people. by a wide margin. believe that public television and public radio. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8749,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090048350,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I submit the following notice in writing: In accordance with rule V of the Standing Rules of the Senate. I hereby give notice in writing that it is my intention to move to suspend paragraph 4 of rule XVI for the purpose of proposing to the bill H.R. 2361 amendment No. 1059.","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":289,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090048376,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the pending Department of Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill fiscal year 2006. H.R. 2361. as reported by the Senate Committee on Appropriations provides $26.261 billion in budget authority and $27.421 billion in outlays in fiscal year 2006 for the Department of Interior and related agencies. Of these totals. $54 million in budget authority and $60 million in outlays are for mandatory programs in fiscal year 2006. The bill provides total discretionary budget authority in fiscal year 2006 of $26.207 billion. This amount is $532 million more than the Presidents request. equal to the 302(b) allocations adopted by the Senate. $100 million more than the Housepassed bill. and $553 million less than fiscal year 2005 enacted levels. Mr. President. I commend the distinguished chairman of the Appropriations Committee for bringing this legislation before the Senate. and I ask unanimous consent that a table displaying the Budget Committee scoring of the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1015,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090048394,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Bone Marrow and Cord Blood Therapy and Research Act of 2005 also incorporates recommendations from the Institute of Medicines recent report on cord blood. The Institute provided Congress with guidelines and recommendations to enhance the structure. function. and utility of the program. As a result. I am confident that this Nations system for obtaining adult stem cells. for transplantation purposes will improve dramatically. and that many more of our citizens will have access to the lifesaving therapies they- offer. Through transplants of this nature. we can finally cure previously incurable diseases such as sickle cell anemia. It is my hope that this legislation will help us ensure that children with this and other illnesses will be able to achieve their full potential. unhindered by poor health. My goal. which I share with the other sponsors of this bill. is to create the best possible system to provide patients. clinicians. and families with access to these lifesaving treatments. I believe the current bill does this by ensuring that the number of bone marrow donors and cord blood units available for transplant and research increases in the coming years. The integrated system will include not only the international bone marrow donor registry. but also a network of qualified cord blood banks which will collect. test. and preserve cord blood stem cells. In addition. the sys*tem will educate and recruit donors. facilitate the rapid matching of donors and recipients. and quickly make such cells available to transplant centers for stem cell transplantation. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7553,"word_count":250}
{"speech_id":1090048418,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I come to the floor today to extend condolences to the family of a dear friend of mine and a friend of all people who love culture. art. music. literature. Oscar Brown. Jr.. died a few days ago. and of course. Oscar was a noted entertainer who always stayed close to his roots. Some of his great pieces were things like Mr. Kicks and. of course. his great song about the snake. I simply say to his wife Jean Pace. to their children. especially his daughter Maggie who is a great entertainer in her own right. that we appreciated having the opportunity to know and benefit from Oscars great works and wish you all much happiness as you continue to live out his legacy. UNOCAL","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":687,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090048441,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to be here today to be in supoort of the Little Rock Central High School Desegregation 50th Anniversary Commemorative Coin Act. I would like to thank my colleague. Congressman VIc SNYDER. for introducing this important piece of legislation. In 1957. Little Rock Central High School was the site of the first major national test for the implementation of the U.S. Supreme Courts Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision and became the international symbol of the end of racially segregated public schools. The desegregation of Little Rock Central High by nine African American students was influential to the Civil Rights Movement. and recognized by Dr. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1437,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090048464,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This concurrent resolution enjoys strong bipartisan support. of course. of the CaribbeanAmerican Cultural Association and the Caribbean Diaspora Empowerment Foundation. not to mention the 81 cosponsors here in the House. I support the concurrent resolution as well. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"CHARLES DENT","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1953,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090048469,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today as an original cosponsor to H. Con. Res. 71. which expresses the sense of Congress that there should be the institution of a CaribbeanAmerican Heritage Month. Persons of Caribbean descent played a fundamental role in the establishment of our Nationthese same Diasporic communities continue to contribute to the well being of the United States today. Beginning with the emigration of indentured servants from the Caribbean to Jamestown. Virginia in 1619through the slave trade the following three centuries. it is not surprising to find people of Caribbean beritage in every State of the Union. It is upon these first individuals works and merits that a large part of this country was built. Although the countries of the Caribbean faced obstacles of slavery and colonialism. their struggles for independence prevailed. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2431,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090048488,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He also improved environmental conditions at the local sewage treatment facility and was responsible for numerous modifications to local traffic patterns. Daddona was a relentless booster for the city of Allentown. He was constantly in touch with his constituents and worked tirelessly to solve neighborhood problems. He loved to show off the city during Super Sunday and Mayfairevents. After his political career ended. he appeared on various local television and radio shows. in part to extol the virtues of the city. Daddona died after a long battle with cancer on June 5. 2004. He is survived by his wife Ann and their children. Mr. Speaker. I urge all my colleagues to join me in support of H.R. 2490 in recognition and memory of my friend. the late Mayor Joe Daddona. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES DENT","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2449,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090048522,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The passage of H.R. 481 is an important step in establishing this National Historic Site. With passage of this bill. the National Park Service would be given management responsibility over an additional 1.465 acres and would bring the total acreage of the managed site to almost 2.400 acres. Many involved in this project believe the addition of 1.4651highly important acres to the Park Services previous holdings will amount to a \"sufficient portion\" to complete the establishment of this National Historic Site. When the Secretary of Interior finally designates this site an official National Historic Site. the Northern and Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes. the State of Colorado. Kiowa County and other stakeholders can begin the planning necessary to open this massacre site to the public. I truly believe my bill will help heal the wounds of the past. I ask for the support of my colleagues on this bill.","speaker_name":"MARILYN MUSGRAVE","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"F","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3292,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090048527,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and. pass the bill to authorize the establishment at Antietam National Battlefield of a memorial to the officers and enlisted men of the Fifth. Sixth. and Ninth New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry Regiments and the First New Hampshire Light Artillery Battery who fought in the Battle of Antietam on September 17. 1862. and for other purposes. as amended.","speaker_name":"STEVAN PEARCE","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":392,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090048569,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill to direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a special resources study regarding the suitability and feasibility of designating certain historic buildings and areas in Taunton. Massachusetts. as a unit of the Natidnal Park System. and for other purposes. as amended.","speaker_name":"STEVAN PEARCE","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":331,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090048582,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. are here today in the House gallery as anc I ask unanimous consent that all Mem- we present this resolution. I want to por bers may have 5 legislative days within personally pay a word of deepest appre- IV which to revise and extend their re- ciation to the families of these heroes. my marks on H. Con. Res. 188. We can never undo the tragedy that . N","speaker_name":"JEFF MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":365,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090048584,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That does ma Memorial Day on their designated day. not surprise me. Joseph was there for fain they are a constant reminder of the his friends. That is just what he would whe sacrifice of these men. Twelve of the 19 do.\" 0: men killed were based at Eglin Air Mr. Speaker. our action on this reso- tler Force Base in my district and several. lution is a message to those who died. intr along with their families. were con- their family members. our Nation and all: stituents. It is my hope that all of - the rest of the world that we honor the M America will pause and give thanks to sacrifices of these 19 airmen and the 25th their sacrifice. families that they left behind. They ing This week in Washington. D.C.. the served with the highest and best mili- hou parents and loved ones of many of tary traditions. No one could have Ame those who sacrificed their lives are the served better or given more. dred urge all of my colleagues to join me I the 47 original cosponsors in supt of this resolution. ir. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"JEFF MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5044,"word_count":191}
{"speech_id":1090048632,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr..Speaker. due to illness I was regrettably delayed in my retufn to Washington. DC. and therefore unable to be on the House floor for rollcall votes 322 and 323. Had I been here I would have voted \"yea\" for iollcall vote 323. and \"yea\" with reservation for rollcall vote 322 on House Resolution 199. which expresses the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the massacre at Srebrenica in July 1995.","speaker_name":"DAN BURTON","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":410,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090048637,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Supreme Court acted today. but if any of us .want to know what real religious freedom and religious liberty is all about. I rise today to pay tribute to the Reverend Billy Graham. Though many have said that the series of evangelistic sermons this past weekend in New York may be his last. he is a symbol of what America stands for and appreciates in freedom of religion. He spoke to all people. I understand that in the early 1960s when it was not appropriate. he invited Dr. Martin Luther King to open one of his evangelistic meetings. He came to Nashville. Tennessee when it was not popular to do so.-In his audience of thousands and thousands over the weekend. we saw the faces of America. many colors. many different persons. many economic conditions. They came to hear the gospel said in an open and free society. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1191,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090048651,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. my arrival in Congress. it really was about what do I do to make certain that folks in Kansas. people across rural America have a quality of life. that they have the opportunity to. put food on the familys table. that they have enough money to save for their retirement and for their kids college education. But even perhaps more important than that. the goal for me as a policymaker has been what can we do to see that the communities that make up my State ar around for a while longer. Rural America faces many challenges. and among .those challenges is an often declining economy. and an economy related to agriculture. But one of the things that became clear to me early on in my time in Congress is access to health care matters. If we care about the future of our communities. we need to make certain that our citizens. the people who live there. can access a physician. can have access to a hospital. that the hospital doors remain open. that there is home health care and nursing home care. .So for much of my time in Congress. I have worked on issues related to the availability of health care. I have been an active member and chaired the Rural Health Care Coalition. And I commend my colleagues who are actively engaged in a group of Republican and Democrat. Members of this body who work time and time. again to see that good things happen in the delivery of health care in rural America. ","speaker_name":"JERRY MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5705,"word_count":259}
{"speech_id":1090048653,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The States in red are States that have lost 20 percent of their manufacturing. The State of Ohio. 216.000 just in the last 5 years. Michigan. 210.000 manufacturing jobs lost. Illinois. 224.000. Pennsylvania. 200.000. Mississippi and Alabama combined. 130.000. In the gentleman from Georgias home State. they have lost between 15 and 20 percent. These are the States in blue. 107.000. In the gentlewoman from Californias","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2709,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090048666,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would join with my colleagues about todays unanimous decision by the Supreme Court in MGM v. Grokster. for it represents a great triumph for American creativity and innovation. Filesharing companies that actively coax consumers into violating copyright laws can no longer escape legal consequences under the guise of fair use. They will no longer be able to rip off from the talent and the hard work of our Nations creators. In ruling for our Nations creative artists. the Supreme Court today struck a proper balance H5226 cC between the protection of intellectual property rights and the need to expand our technologies. As a representative of Hollywood. my district contains many movie and recording studios. which serve as the driving force behind our local economy and provide tens of thousands of jobs to many of my constituents. As Chair of the. Congressional Entertainment Industries Caucus. one of my key concerns has been the continuing erosion of our Nations copyright laws. ","speaker_name":"DIANE WATSON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":33.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2973,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090048683,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":16,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Jr. 300. Sergeant Carl Thomas 301. Lance Corporal Mathew D. Puckett 302. Corporal Adrian V. Soltau 303. Corporal Jaygee Ngirmidol Meluat 304. Sergeant Jacob H. Demand 305. Major Kevin M. ","speaker_name":"JANICE SCHAKOWSKY","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2989,"word_count":30}
{"speech_id":1090048697,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Just 1 year later that same contract ballooned to over $200 million. again without full competition. and the problems do not end there. The GSA audit also reported significant issues relating to the surveillance system itself: 60foot poles that were paid for but never installed. sensitive equipment that failed to meet electrical codes. an operations center where contractors and government employees did little or no work for over a year. and not surprisingly. -numerous cost overruns. To top it off. in September 2004. the GSA abruptly ended the maintenance contract. This left approximately 70 border sites without monitoring equipment. Mr. Speaker. the American people deserve better. What we have here. plain. and simple. is a case of gross mismanagement of a multimilliondollar contract. This agreement has violated Federal contracting rules. and it has wasted taxpayers dollars. Worst of all. it has seriously weakened our Nations border security. Before DHS spends another $2.5 billion on a replacement system known as the Americas Shield Initiative. we need to first fix the system we have got. ","speaker_name":"MIKE ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2654,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090048715,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the two of us are from a State and from a region of a State where it would be expected that there would be deep. deep concern about the potential. privatization of Social Security. Obviously. we have a disproportionately high. percentage of senior citizens in my district and the gentleman from Floridas district. But like the gentleman from Ohio said. across all demographic groups. all regions of the country. there is no group that has wide or deep support for this concept. and that is because people are uncomfortable at every level with the explosion of the deficit and this proposals potential to expand it even more. When I asked at my live town hall meetings whether people were confident enough in their own investment ability to be assured that their own investment decisions would carry them all the way through their entire retirement years. no one except for twopeople in three town hall meetings with more than 600 people in attendance. no one raised their hand. because look at the ebb and flow of the stock market. and this proposal is not backed by the full faith and credit of the United States. If people hit a bump in the road where one year the stock market is not going so well. it is whatever is left when they retire in that account with a proportionate cut in their Social Security benefits.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1330,"word_count":235}
{"speech_id":1090048717,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think. to the average American that we are still bickering about this and that we are all sharpening our elbows and digging in and going to our respective corners instead of acknowledging. like we are willing to do. that there is a problem with Social Security. -It is not a crisis like the President has been portraying. but there is a problem. a longterm problem with Social Security. and we need to come together and make some changes. But. unfortunately. the leadership in this Congress. the Republican leadership. just wants to be right. or somehow if they say it enough times. perhaps they think that they will be right when the American people are clearly telling them they are not.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1207,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090048783,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Gordon English to serve in the Department of Homeland Defense. All of these are possible for action before the recess. We are going to have a very busy final week and. I know. a productive week. We will be working through Friday. I want to announce to our colleagues once again. as I have before. that in all likelihood we will be voting on Friday. and intend to vote on Friday. In addition. I ask unanimous consent that I be recognized at 3:45 today. to be followed by Senator BUNNING. to be followed by Senator MCCONNELL.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3087,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090048790,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The majority leader suggested that perhaps CAFTA might be brought up later this week. As the majority leader knows. CAFTA is brought to us under something called fasttrack procedures. No. 1. and No. 2. an expedited procedure by which. when it is brought to the floor. it is given 20 hours of debate. Some of us feel very strongly that fast track is wrong. but. nonetheless. that is the process. I ask the majority leader if he is intending to bring up CAFTA under fast track as the last order of business because the suggestion then would be you bump fast trackup against the.Fourth of July recess. I think that would mistreat a very serious issue. My hope is that the majority leader will ]ot decide to make the CAFTA trade agreement the last order of the day in this week because. if so. that. will suggest that there is a desire to truncate the debate. to shrink the 20 hours. and not have a thoughtful and full debate on a very important trade issue at a time when we have the largest trade deficit in the history of this country. My question would be. is there consideration to bringing up the Central American FreeTrade Agreement when we return from the Fourth of July recess?","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1182,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090048791,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. as I mentioned. the Central American FreeTrade Agreement is currently being addressed by the committee. That will be done today and possibly into tomorrow. Before we make any definitive scheduling beyond that. we will let it get through the committee. I will be talking to the Democratic leader. It is an issue that we could. through a fasttrack mechanism. address before we leave for our July.recess. No final decision has been made. I will be in discussion with the Democratic leader.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":501,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090048800,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The only way we My State of Wisconsin is acutely inwill climb out of this deficit hole is to terested in and concerned about the rereturn to the fiscally responsible poli- peal of PUHCA and about ongoing cies that helped put our nation on a abuses involving the unregulated corsound fiscal footing in the 1990s. and porate affiliates of regulated utilities. I that means making sure the bills we have also heard. from contractors and pass are paid for. Otherwise we are other small businesses across the Nadigging our deficit hole even deeper tion who have been harmed by unfair and adding to the massive debt already competition by affiliates of public utilfacing our children and grandchildren. ities. In addition. this bill repeals the I am pleased this consumer protecproconsumer Public Utility Holding tion amendment was a bipartisan efCompany Act. the Federal Govern- fort. I believe we have broad support in ments most important mechanism to this body and beyond for this amendprotect electricity consumers. The bill ment. which is why I was disappointed does include language from my col- that we were not able to offer this league from Washington. Ms. CANT- amendment because of the threat of WELL. banning Enronlike energy trad- another amendment being offered that ing schemes. I also welcome the addi- would eliminate the oversight provition of new language that gives the sions currently in the bill. Federal Government more oversight of I am pleased. however. that we were utility mergers. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9566,"word_count":246}
{"speech_id":1090048801,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I start by thanking Chairman DOMENICI and Senator BINGAMAN for all of their hard work on this bill. They said they were going to work to get a bipartisan bill and they accomplished their goal. Overall. however. I believe that this Energy bill will help the country meet its energy needs in a number of important ways. This bill provides strong consumer protections. aggressive energy efficiency standards. and a focus on new technologies to meet our energy needs in a more environmentally friendly manner. Additionally. the bill takes a step in the right direction to reduce our consumption of fossil fuels. especially natural gas. This is a major improvement over past Energy bills. which have done nothing to reduce our use of fossil fuels. As we learned during the Western energy crisis. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11916,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090048809,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. H.R. 6. the Energy bill. is an effort to improve our Nations energy supply and reliability. and for that it should be praised. Like any bill of its magnitude. the Energy bill includes a variety of good and bad provisions. and it has to be weighed for the relative good and bad it will do. Ive come to the conclusion after careful study that the bad outweighs the good. particularly for the State of Arizona. And it is for that reason that I must vote no. This bill will likely raise the price of gasoline in Arizona. hurt our air quality. and raise the price of our electricity. all while increasing the Federal deficit with enormous subsidies. special projects. and tax breaks for everything from fish oil to luxury hybrid cars. I support the President in his efforts to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. and I wish this bill did more to accomplish that goal. As I have said. some important provisions of this bill have much to recommend them. Unfortunately. the ethanol \"Renewable Energy\" title is not one of them. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12240,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090048814,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And because of their efforts in this area. I applaud their efforts in increasing energy efficiencies. I am proud of all the companies in Virginia. like Afton. that are innovating to find solutions for more efficient. cleaner burning. and less toxic fuels for Americas energy needs. Whether these companies are producing MMT or biodiesel made from homegrown Virginia soybeans. innovators from the Commonwealth are creating energy solutions to strengthen our national security. create new jobs and save current ones and most importantly. increase our competitiveness in the global marketplace.","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3178,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090048816,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"For these reasons I supported a strong ethanol mandate in the bill. to help improve our energy independence and help clean the environment. This legislation. which I voted for. is not the perfect answer for solving our energy. problems in this county. Few pieces of legislation that we vote on are. but I believe this legislation takes the right steps in helping our country move toward a more selfsufficient and well balanced society for our energy needs.","speaker_name":"HERBERT KOHL","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2839,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090048823,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We cannot overlook the importance of developing our domestic oil and gas resources. Domestic production is a critical first step toward energy independence while alternative sources are more fully developed. I ask my colleague from Iowa if he would agree with me that U.S. imports of foreign energy are at unacceptable levels. and the need to develop our domestic resources is an important step toward energy independence.","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1375,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090048902,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the following amendments have been cleared by both sides. and I ask unanimous consent that they be adopted: amendment No. 1022. offered by the leadership on both sides of the aisle. amendment No. 1040. as modified. offered by Senator BOND. amendment No. 1048. offered by Senator SMITH. amendment No. 1044. as modified. offered by Senator BYRD. amendment No. 1036. offered by Senator REED. amendment No. 1032. offered by Senator DURBIN. amendment No. 1037. offered by Senator REED. and amendment No. 1045. as modified. offered by Senator CONRAD. I ask for their adoption.","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":585,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090048929,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we are setting the priority of amendments now and consulting. We will have that decision made in just a bit. We want to work on that. We have a lot of work to do this afternoon and on into the evening. There have been some changes as far as amendments that have been offered. In the meantime. I ask unanimous consent that the Senator from Georgia.","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":362,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090048951,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"On the supplemental emergency bill. I offered an amendment to add an additional $1.98 billion for veterans services. and I outlined on this floor for all of my colleagues the exact numbers we were looking at as we went out and talked to our regional veterans administrations. as we heard the stories of shortfalls in every single place across this country. about service men and women who are waiting in line. about the high number of returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who would need access to mental health care services for posttraumatic stress. syndrome. and I asked that we add emergency supplemental funding because I knew. looking at the numbers. we had a shortfall. On this floor. I was defeated on that amendment. Why? Because the Secretary of the VA. Secretary Nicholson. sent a letter to this body saying they had sufficient funds. That was less than 3 months ago. Several weeks ago in the Veterans Committee I asked the Secretary. when he was before us. if they had sufficient funding. and he told us they had adequate funding. Last Thursday. to everyones surprise. except a few of us. we were told that the VA is now over $1 billion short in funding this year. This is surprisingto some. but it should be appalling to all of us. ","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10041,"word_count":219}
{"speech_id":1090048963,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"To build on the success of these tribal casinos. some Native American tribes- are aggressively seeking to take gambling off reservations and into local communities all across the countryfrom States like California to New York. Oregon to Florida. and my home State of Ohio. In this practice. commonly referred to as \"reservation shopping.\" tribes are looking to acquire new. noncontiguous land. to open casinos near large communities or next to major roads with easy access. A loophole in the law that regulates Indian gaming. the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. allows the Department of Interior to take land into trust for a tribal casino. even at great distances from their home reservation. if it ad-. vances the economic interest of the tribe. Originally. many reservations were located in rural areas at great distances from population centers. They were unable to sustain profitable casinos. so they moved casinos to areas near cities that were part of the reservation. Now these casinos arent enoughthe tribes are looking at lands great distances from their reservations and near population centers like Cleveland. Chicago. Miami. the Bay Area of California. to name a few. In Ohio. the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma has filed a land claim in Federal court for 146 square miles throughout the State. alleging that this land was illegally taken in 19th Century treaties. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE VOINOVICH","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5515,"word_count":222}
{"speech_id":1090048966,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to take this opportunity to express my continued concerns about the proliferation of offreservation gambling by Indian tribes. I know that Senator MCCAIN is holding a. number of hearings in the Indian Affairs Committee to investigate this issue. I urge him to act quickly on this issue. It is very important to my home State -of Ohio.","speaker_name":"GEORGE VOINOVICH","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":362,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090048978,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the Chair. Senator MURRAY could not be more correct. and I thank her on behalf of veterans all across the country who understand how this game is affecting their lives. The fact is that this funding is one of the hidden costs of the war and now no longer hidden. and veterans are beginning to feel it and VA hospitals across our Nation. She has been a tireless. tenacious advocate on behalf of veterans. and we are all very grateful to her and grateful to Senator BYRD for their leadership. (The remarks of Senator KERRY are printed in todays RECORD under \"Morning Business.\")","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":584,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090048980,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"DAYTON. ROCKEFELLER. and HARKIN.","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":415,"word_count":4}
{"speech_id":1090049021,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I do not know how one signs on to all of what was just stated by my friend from Kentucky. I can also compliment him in a couple of areas and say that I would not be here had it not been for him. I do not know if I should mourn or celebrate that. Nonetheless. if anyone ever visits Kentucky and takes in the traditions of Kentucky. they will find out the formerSenator was a part of that landscape and the presentday Senator is the same way. So congratulations.","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":475,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090049089,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I urge the body to not support the amendment offered by my good friend from Okla\u0095homa. Everything is listed in earmarks either in the House bill or the Senate bill. The conference report misses some of them because they overlap. I ask the body not to support this amendment and support the committee.","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":315,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090049091,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the point I wish to make is the American people deserve to have sunshine on everything we do. The conference report would not adequately reflect the earmarks in the House. the directives in the House. or the limitations in the House. We are going to be voting on the bill without the knowledge of what those limitations or earmarks are. I would like to turn for a second to the Senator from Arizona.","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":414,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090049104,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is no wonder the Forest Service finds it difficult to efficiently manage the timber program in the Tongass. I am told we have about 2 years of the Forest Service planned timber offerings that -are either under appeal or litigation at any one time. This is four times the rate experienced by the Forest Service nationally. It is fair to say the professional foresters. in whom President Roosevelt placed his trust. no longer manage the timber in the Tongass. I can tell you these professiopal foresters are very frustrated that what we have are trial lawyers and judges who have more to say about managing our forests than they do. The proponents of this amendment will tell you this is about making the free market system work within our national forests. As long as the litigators can tie up the timber sales. tie up the forest management.in knots. this is not a free market scenario. When Congress passed the Tongass Timber Reform Act. which caused the cancellation of longterm contracts and the closure of the pulp mills in Ketchikan and Sitka. that was not the free market. It was not the free market that eliminated thousands of timber jobs in the State of Alaska. It was about timber politics. plain and simple. ","speaker_name":"LISA MURKOWSKI","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11669,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090049121,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the bill under consideration on the Senate floor is intended to provide appropriations for the Department of Interior. Unfortunately. we were forced by circumstances to shift our focus during the course of debating this bill to consideration of an emergency issue which faces our Nation that relates to funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs. This is because the Presidents budget did not provide enough funds to provide quality health care to veterans across America during the remainder of this fiscal year. Last week. the Department of Veterans Affairs admitted to Congress that its budget for the current fiscal year will be at least $1 billion short of the amount needed. Part of the reason for this is reportedly that the Department based its budget needs on faulty estimates. Reportedly. the VA thought it would see a 2.3percent increase in patient demand for services. In reality. they have experienced increases of 5.2 percent. In other words. the Bush administration miscalculated. Their estimate of veteran patient load was less than half of what actually proved to be the case. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11401,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090049145,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Sean Gallagher. Brendon Gallagher. Dan Burasinsanga. Gian Santos. Mary Kowalkowski. Ellie Terrell. Lauren Brown. Nadine Ibrahim. Annika Kolasa. . Courtney Kolbe. ","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2270,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090049147,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Her principled humanism led as well to a lifelong impassioned advocacy of peace and social justice. Her colleagues will remember her great intelligence. intensity. and wisdom. coupled with integrity. warmth. and hufnility.0","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3146,"word_count":32}
{"speech_id":1090049150,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Commissioner Klabo is also a founding member of the Aberdeen Mayors Committee for Persons with Disabilities. a body on which she has now served for more than a decade. In this position. she has ensured that people with disabilities liave a voice at the table when important decisions are made at city hall. It is my great pleasure to share a few words about Ms. Klabos accomplishments with my colleagues and to note in the public records her contributions to my home State. It will be difficult to lose such a committed civil servant. especially one who has proven to be such an asset to her community. On the behalf of all South Dakotans. I would like to wish her the very best for her retirement.*","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2845,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090049155,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"By Mr. DURBIN (for himself. Mr. LEAHY. Mr. KENNEDY. and Mr.","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3826,"word_count":11}
{"speech_id":1090049184,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday. June 28. 2005. for a committee hearing titled \"Emergency Hearing to Examine the Shortfall in VAs Medical Care Budget.\". The hearing will take place in Room 418 of the Russell Senate Office Building at 10:30 a.m.","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":356,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090049215,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. in ancient days of kingdoms and fiefdoms. those in authority would sometimes arbitrarily and sometimes capriciously order the transfer of property from one owner to another person who was in greater favor with the ruler at that particular moment. The owner from whom the property was taken had no recourse once the king or ruler had made the decision to transfer the property. To back up the transfer. the tyrannical despot would make clear that the full weight of his military or local law enforcement could be brought to bear against anyone who attempted to stand in the way of the transfer. In the recent Supreme Court case of Kelo et al. v. City of New London et al.. the elaborate 20page majority opinion of the United States Supreme Court is one of the most eloquent. articulate. intellectual efforts to ever rationalize or try to cerebrally legitimize the forced transfer from the legal. legitimate owner of nonblighted property to someone who is in greater favor with the ruler of that area. It is something that our high court can point to with pride that they almost make it sound fair that private property can be taken from one legitimate owner and forcibly transferred to one who offers greater financial rewards to the ruler of that area. What a great day for the intellectual superiority of the highest court of tha land as it gets a 10 rating in the field of mental gymnastics. even from the Russian judge. But what a very. very sad day for truth. justice and what used to be the American way.","speaker_name":"LOUIE GOHMERT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1522,"word_count":268}
{"speech_id":1090049225,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize a great American from my district who is here this morning. Dr. Ruffin Snow. who is the pastor of TriCity Baptist Church in Conover. North Carolina. gave the morning prayer here on the House floor this morning. Dr. Snow is one of the strongest men of faith that I have come to know in western North Carolina. For7 years he has headed the TriCity Baptist Church and has worked in ministry since 1963. He has both a Masters of Divinity and a Doctorate of Ministry. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK MCHENRY","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1184,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090049237,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. the seaside community of El Segundo in my congressional district. rich in -so many ways. is a great deal poorer following the death on Saturday of its longtime Mayor and State assembly representative Mike Gordon. Those of us who knew Mike well and the countless others whose lives he touched are devastated by his unexpected and untimely passing. In the course of my public career. few people have had a more profound impact on me and the policies I pursue than Mike Gordon. He was a natural politician. drawn to people. and driven to solve their problems. no matter how big or small. Mike Gordon was a big thinker. one who could see around corners. anticipating the needs of his community and forging. in a strong but sensitive way. its future. He was a mayor. an assembly member. a baseball coach. community activist. party leader. good husband. father. and friend. And when he succumbed to brain cancer in the early morning hours of June 25. he was just 47 years old. When Mike received his dire diagnosis 3 months ago. the broader world of California politics was just opening to him. Years of consensus building and goodwill and enormous potential were cut cruelly short. I grieve for his family: his devoted wife. ","speaker_name":"JANE HARMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":36.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1524,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090049243,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. today we will debate whether to keep pouring money into Egypt just to subsidize its military expansion. For the last 25 years we poured billions of dollars into Egypt. Each year we give that country about $1.3 billion just in military aid in addition to economic aid. But all the money seems to do is reinforce a regime that refuses change and excuses oppression. It oppresses religious minorities. it obstructs democratic reforms. it censors the media. I think that money can be better spent elsewhere. E 1030 Today. I will offer an amendment redirecting some of this military aid to fighting malaria in Africa. a preventable disease that kills as many as 3 million people a year. Poor nations are most at risk. some 40 million in Africa. While we have a strategic responsibility to support allies. we have a responsibility to help fight disease where we can. and reducing Egypts military funding will serve as a wakeup call to a country that votes against the United States over 91 percent of the time in the U.N. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1164,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090049245,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. a year ago today. sovereignty was returned to the country of Iraq and the Coalition Provisional Authority left. But. Madam Speaker. over the past several weeks. the negative press over our progress and polls here at home seem to have undermined a lot of the good activity that has occurred there. The goal of the attackers. the goal of the insurgents. is to discourage Iraqis from. participating in their own government. A second goai. of course. is to weaken our resolve here at home. Ironically. they seem to be failing in the first choice. but succeeding in the second. Madam Speaker. every time I have traveled to Iraq. I have been struck by the disparity between what I see on my television here at home in the United States and what is actually happening on the ground in Iraq. Our soldiers should not have to look over their shoulders to see if we support them in their mission. I urge my colleagues in this House on both sides to carefully consider their rhetoric when they use words like \"quagmire\" and \"civil war\" in respect to the conflict in Iraq.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BURGESS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1074,"word_count":191}
{"speech_id":1090049267,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. for the purpose of debate only. I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Florida . pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution. all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only.","speaker_name":"LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":261,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090049268,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker: ruling justly. investing in people. and fostering economic freedom. Economic development genuinely succeeds when it is linked to free market economic principles as well as to democracy and where governments are committed to implementing reform measures in order to achieve these goals. Two years ago in his State of the Union address. President Bush announced the Presidents emergency plan for AIDS relief. the largest international health initiative in history initiated by a single government to address one disease. This bill shows Congresss continued support of the fight against HIV\/AIDS. as it includes over $2.6 billion to continue the fight against that horrendous deadly disease. Our resolve to help all those across the globe who fight this disease is strong. it is serious. In addition to funding. the Federal Government enlists the expertise of various agencies. including the Food and Drug Administration. which assures that the medicines we send to the developing world are safe and effective to help those with HIV\/AIDS. In other foreign assistance. H.R. 3057 funds the Andean Counterdrug Initiative at the Presidents request. $734 million. $9 million more than last fiscal year. Economic growth in the area since the start of Plan Colombia is proof that the assistance we have provided Colombia has made a difference. a very important difference in that country. ","speaker_name":"LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4513,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090049269,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We must accept compromise and continue to press for change while remaining a committed participant. Mr. Speaker. typically. the foreign operations bill is one of the most bipartisan bills that this body passes every .year. While I will most likely support the underlying legislation. I am greatly concerned by the overall amount of money appropriated in this bill. Later today. we will hear from the chairman and other Republican leaders who will claim that they did the best they could with what they were given. I do not doubt that. Mr. Speaker. and I applaud the chairman and ranking member of the subcommittee for the hard and dedicated work which they do for all of us. Nevertheless. the budget constraints which the chairman and others will speak of are the creation of the Republicans fiscal mismanagement. ","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6477,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090049274,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And I wouldI like to say. Mr. Speaker. that I know of no two Members of this House who feel and have more concern for the rights of veterans than the chairman of the Committee on Veterans Affairs. the gentleman from Indiana . as well as the chairman. the gentleman from New York of the appropriations subcommittee that funds veterans affairs. So this matter brought to our attention now of a shortfall is of extreme concern to them. And as we speak. Mr. Speaker. a hearing is taking place to fully investigate the causes and the issues of this shortfall. a hearing is taking place by the appropriations subcommittee dealing with this issue. Military Quality of Life Appropriations Subcommittee. called for by the chairman. the gentleman from New York","speaker_name":"LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1426,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090049276,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In. fiscal year 2004. the VA Secretary testified that the administration had cut his own request by $1.2 billion. They now admit there is a shortfall. For 2006 the VA bill adds only 2 percent or $661 million for the Veterans Health Care Administration. Not nearly enough in light of todays revelations. I will place into the RECORD. Mr. Speaker. a listing of our efforts over the past 2 years to raise veterans health care. In short. I simply want to urge each and every Member of this House on both sides of the aisle to vote against the previous question on the rule on this bill so that we can try to respond to what is obviously an emergency situation and add to this bill the money that the gentleman from Texas tried to add on the floor last week to a previous bill so that we can clean up the shortfall in the VA health care budget for this year. and so that we do not dig the hole deeper for the following year. Even the money that the gentleman from Texas was asking for last week will not be sufficient for the 2year problem. but it is a whole lot better than hiding the problem under the rug as the administration lhas done for the past 2 years.","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4210,"word_count":221}
{"speech_id":1090049278,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. I do not think I am incorrect in stating that this discussion regarding veterans health care does not belong on a foreign operations bill. Clearly there is a venue for discussion of veterans funding. And as Members know.. we have had a full discussion of that before the .House and in committee and it was done in a proper way. I just want to make sure that everyone understands that we were provided additional information after the House had concluded its work on the Veterans and Military Quality of Life bill. That prompted us. my colleague. the distinguished gentleman from Texas . my- ranking member of the subcommittee. to jointly request an oversight hearing which was conducted just this morning for 21\/2 hours.","speaker_name":"JAMES WALSH","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":777,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090049284,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker.- I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. I rise in opposition to this rule and urge my colleagues to defeat the previous question. Iam grateful for the Committee on Rules for granting an open rule forconsideration of H.R. 3057. the FY 2006 Foreign Operations Appropriations bill. It is always my preference each year to allow as broad a debate as possible on the provisions in the bill and on United States foreign aid policy generally. I believe this rule will accomplish that.. However. I did ask the Committee on Rules to grant a waiver to one amendment during todays debate. an amendment offered by the gentleman from Texas to provide $1 billion in emergency funding for veterans health care. While I do not usually support giving waivers to amendments on the foreign operations bill that are not directly related to the bill. I wholeheartedly support the gentleman from Texas effort. ","speaker_name":"NITA LOWEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2516,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090049286,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. my friend from Florida. the distinguished gentleman. amazes me with his logic. We gave the veterans $2 billion more he said lastyear. What does that hav6 to do with. today and the fact that there is a $1 billion shortfall? This shortfall that has come to the attention of people is a mistake. When can this administration say that we were wrong about something? The veterans need $1 billion and that is that. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":550,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090049288,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"science with regard to hew we Florida. Mr. Speaker. I yield 6 minutes predict these budgets. to the distinguished gentleman from My colleagues say. Steve. what are Indiana . the chairman of you talking about? This is extremely the Committee on Veterans Affairs. important. and we are going to con-","speaker_name":"LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":297,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090049319,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Florida for yielding me time and for bringing the rule to the floor on H.R. 3058. It is a bill making appropriations for. as has been mentioned. Transportation. Treasury. Housing and Urban Development. the Judiciary. District of Columbia. and Independent Agencies. and that is why we call it TTHUD. fl 1245 This is a good rule for a really good bill. We have tried diligently to work with the many authorizing committees of jurisdiction on the various provisions of our bill. and I think we have come to a great deal of agreement on those provisions. I thank my colleagues for working with us in such good faith. and I appreciate their help in bringing this bill to the floor tomorrow. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH KNOLLENBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1831,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090049321,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"With 9.3 million passengers in California. Amtrak is extremely popular. especially in Sacramento. With the line closures and funding cuts. it will be impossible for Amtrak to continue to operate. After severance obligations and debt service pay. nothing would remain to continue running even the- lines deemed successful. Further complicating the situation.. the bill fails to even fund the minimum maintenance on tracks and trains necessary to keep the thriving lines operational. I cannot begin to estimate the negative impact this will have. Businesses which rely on the dollars commuters spend in the community and the revitalization of the city. a transformation that is not exclusive to my hometown. will be affected. Because of Amtrak. Sacramentans are rediscovering downtown. And with funding from the Community Development Block Grants. the city is able to make needed improvements to downtown and the entire city. and that is a benefit to businesses and the overall economy of our region and State. ","speaker_name":"DORIS MATSUI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3608,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090049324,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I oppose this rule for two reasons. One is because of this. a little piece of plastic called a credit card. All too often. little cards like this are issued by bloodsuckers. This bill. as it went to the Committee on Rules. contained a provision to defend average consumers from some of these credit card companies who abuse their privileges under the law and wreak havoc on peoples financial rights. Right now. there are a number of credit card companies who feel no compunction whatsoever about the idea of changing your interest rate on your credit card. even if you have never missed a payment. even if you have never been a day late with that company. They still reserve the right to jack up your interest rate to the default rate called the universal default rate if you have missed some other payment on somebody elses bill. Example: if you go on a vacation and you are a week late paying a mortgage bill. or you are a week late paying a light bill. if that gets reported on somebody elses credit report. a credit card company can make you pay 30 percent interest. no questions asked. even though you have never been late with a payment for them. As Linda Sherry of Consumer Action said. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3804,"word_count":219}
{"speech_id":1090049327,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr.- Speaker. the gentleman from Wisconsin had asked who would have th6 chutzpah to come on the House floor and to object to his provision regarding credit cards. I should tell you that last night in the Rules Committee. I offered an amendment to protect this language. the language that the gentleman from Wisconsin championed. the language that the gentleman fronX California has said he agrees with. I offered an amendment to protect this from a point of order. and every single Republican on the Rules Committee that was present last night had the chutzpah to not protect it. which I think is outrageous. Mr. Speaker. I yield 6 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts .","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":733,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090049328,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding time. 0 Mr. Speaker. once again the majority of this House shows its true priorities. The resolution that is before us. the rule that governs debate on the fiscal year 2006 Transportation. Treasury. Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies bill. does not make in order my amendment that reflects important national public priorities. My amendment would have added an additional badly needed $2.092 billibn to the bill. Of that $2 billion. $657 million was for Amtrak. bringing funding for our national passenger rail system to exactly the present years level. thereby avoiding the shutdown of 18 passenger rail routes and the termination of all passenger rail service in 23 States. But rather than funding Amtrak to keep passenger rail service available. the majority decided that tax cuts for millionaires were more important. ","speaker_name":"JOHN OLVER","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4431,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090049340,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is a remarkable achievement. And so to keep in mind and in perspective of what we have seen. Mr. Speaker. job growth. almost a record low unemployment rate. and with regard to what we are doing today. which I think is relevant to remember and -put in context. What we are doingtoday is bringing forth legislation. the appropriations bill on the funding the Treasury Department. Housing and Urban Develop Department. the Department of Transportation. that includes a 6 percent growth. 6 percent growth over and above the legislation for the current fiscal year. I think the gentleman from Michigan","speaker_name":"LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1360,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090049344,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Oregon","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":464,"word_count":12}
{"speech_id":1090049345,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We gave $15 billion in the aftermath of 911 in grant and loans. this to an industry. the air passenger industry. that in its 75year history has shown a total net profit of zero. Actually. given the performance of the last couple of years. it is less than zero. But Congress lavishes support on air traffic but it is not about to help rail passenger service. That is particularly ironic because rail passenger service is 38 percent more energy efficient than air travel. It is six to seven times cheaper to upgrade track than build new highways. And. in fact. rail passenger service provides some competition for hardtoserve communities. This competition holds down the price of airline tickets which would skyrocket. if people did not have a rail passenger alternative. I am pleased that the gentleman from Ohio of the majority and the gentleman from Minnesota are going to bring forward an amendment to par.tially restore funding. I strongly urge my colleagues to support it. Instead of dismantling and starving Amtrak. we should build on our 150year rail passenger investment. ","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1824,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090049363,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong support of this bill. the fiscal year 2006 Foreign Operations Appropriations Act. Let me begin by commending the gentleman from Arizona for his work as chairman of the Subcommittee on Foreign Operations. Export Financing and Related Programs. Every year he puts a great deal of effort into examining the issues thoroughly and giving sincere consideration to Members requests. Thanks to hi8 efforts. we have before us today an excellent bill. I also commend the gentlewoman from New York . the ranking member. She and I have worked together on a number of issues over the years. and together we have achieved some important results. I also want to thank all of the staff for their hard work and the research they have done over the weeks and months to address the many issues in this bill. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH KNOLLENBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3696,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090049387,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"UNFPA has- played an instrumental role in helping to save the lives of women in Afghanistan by providing mobile health facilities as well as rebuilding maternity hospitals. The Afghan government was so grateful for this assistance they gave UNFPA a symbolic donation of $100 to support their work. As we are all aware. for each of the last three years. President Bush has refused to release the funding that Congress has appropriated for this vital program due to this Administrations unproven assertions that UNFPA supports coercive abortion in China. It has been estimated that the loss of each years funding could prevent 2 million unintended pregnancies. nearly 800.000 abortions. 4.700 maternal deaths. nearly 60.000 cases of serious maternal illness. and more than 77.000 infant and child deaths. The Bush administrations refusal to release these funds puts at risk the very lives and health of women and children in the worlds poorest regions. It is my hope that this year. President Bush reconsiders the impact of his decision and releases the lifesaving funding that this chamber is wisely approving today.","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3716,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090049400,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding. and I am happy to respond. I want to thank the gentleman for his stalwart efforts in fighting narcoterrorism in Latin America: I share the gentlemans concerns and thank him for raising this issue here today. Since 2002. Perus budget under ACI has decreased slightly each year. but the decrease in the 2006 request was for an astounding 16 percent. Therefore. the committee included language in the House report rejecting these cuts and directing that not less than $61 million be made available for eradication and interdiction for Peru and not less than $53 million shall be available for alternative development and institutionbuilding in Peru. When the committee proceeds to conference negotiations with the Senate later this summer or fall. I commit to the gentleman that we will push for this funding in the final agreement.","speaker_name":"JAMES KOLBE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":879,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090049418,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We are getting. frankly. crossed signals from Members. Some Members want to see to it that we get out by Thursday. other Members want to see the time on their amendments extended. We cannot accomplish both goals at the same time. So I ask Members to choose for themselves what they want. whether they want to be here Friday or whether they would like to reach a reasonably congenial agreement on time limits so that we can finish this bill at a reasonable hour tonight and finish the remaining appropriation bill by Thursday. But this is really up to Members. We cannot control what Members offer on the floor. all we can do is deliver the bad news. E 1500","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1575,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090049421,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If we. as Members. or you. Mr. Chairman. if you have got a checkbook and you spend more than you are going to take in. you are going to be bankrupt. and you are going to have less in the future to spend. For us to get our arms around this budget and still fund our priorities. I think we will when we come together with the other body. A classic case of savings: the welfare reform bill passed many years ago which was lauded by President Clinton as one of the best bills to help people in this country. I also happen to agree with him. But at the same time we have gone through these increases. we have been fighting the war on terror. If you look at Kadafi. his nuclear weapons are in the United States today. And even more important. we have found the black market that supported North Korea. ","speaker_name":"RANDALL CUNNINGHAM","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":50.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4485,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090049425,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We started off below that. This year in the third year we are above it. We are not only on target to meet the $15 billion. we will be above that by the end of the fifth year. So we are moving clearly in that direction. And I believe that we are showing our commitment. We are $131 million this year above the amount requested by the President. We are $502 million above the amount that was appropriated ifi 2005. That is just in our particular appropriation bill. So I do share the gentlewomans concerns about this. and I believe. however. that we are moving very strongly in that direction. And perhaps the gentlewoman from New York would like to add something.","speaker_name":"JAMES KOLBE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1468,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090049439,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I say to the gentlewoman from Oregon that I am prepared to accept this amendment. I have concerns about a large cut in ExIm Bank expenses. but I certainly agree that the need in Mexico is very great to fight methamphetamines. and I certainly am prepared to accept this amendment.","speaker_name":"JAMES KOLBE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":293,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090049442,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Palestinians continue to live in wretched conditions in refugee camps with corrugated tin roofs and dilapidated ramshackle huts. The money is not going to schools. If it was. Palestinian children would not be rioting in the streets. They would be sitting in classrooms being trained as the next generation of doctors and engineers who will lead their people in the 21st century instead of being trained as terrorists and suicide bombers. Palestinian education is little more than antiIsrael. antiSemitic and antiAmerican rhetoric. The Palestinian Authority continues to be financially corrupt and morally bankrupt and that is why the Palestinian people turn to Hamas. the most dangerous terrorist organization on the planet. to get their basic needs met. The problem is not a lack of money. The Palestinian leadership is either unable or unwilling to provide for basic needs of its people. It is either unwilling or unable to lift them out of poverty. ","speaker_name":"SHELLEY BERKLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3347,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090049452,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. if I could just say. I would be most curious to know what the administration is clearly saying on this subject. I have just received a message which indicates that the administration is pleased with the language in the committee bill. I hope that they continue to clarify their position to make clear exactly where they stand on this amendment. If they do not. they will be the ones who have to explain the consequences.","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":434,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090049458,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Chairman of the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union. reported that that Committee. having had under consideration the bill making appropriations for foreign operations. export financing. and related programs for the fiscal year ending September 30. 2006. .and for other purposes. had come to no resolution thereon.","speaker_name":"MAC THORNBERRY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":333,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090049467,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that during further consideration of H.R. 3057 in the Committee of the Whole pursuant to House Resolution 341. notwithstanding clause 11 of rule XVIII. no further amendment to the bill may be offered except: Pro forma amendments offered at any point in the reading by the chairman or ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations or their designees for the purpose of debate. the amendment printed in the RECORD and numbered 4. the amendment printed in the RECORD and numbered 6. which shall be debatable for 60 minutes. an amendment by Mr. SANDERS regarding ExportImport Bank loans for nuclear power -plants in China. which shall be debatable for 30 minutes. an amendment by Ms. LEE regarding excess property transfers to Haiti. which shall be debatable for 20 minutes. an amendment by Ms. LEE regarding the U.S. fund to fight AIDS. tuberculosis. and malaria. an amendment by Mr. SCHIFF regarding funding for the Human Rights and Democracy Fund. an amendment by Mr. KING of Iowa regarding funding for the Global HIV\/ AIDS Initiative. an amendment by Mr. BEAUPREZ regarding assistance to countries that refuse to extradite certain individuals. an amendment by Mr. DEAL of Georgia regarding: assistance to countries that refuse to extradite certain individuals. an amendment by Mr. ","speaker_name":"JAMES KOLBE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3556,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090049469,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reserving the right to object. I certainly will not object. I simply want to take this opportunity to explain to the House that what this timetable means is that if all of these amendments are indeed offered and debated to the full extent allowed under the unanimous consent request. we will be fortunate to be out of here by midnight tonight. That is how much time it will take. assuming that we have about onethird of these amendments that proceed to roll calls. So for those Members who are asking what time we intend to get out tonight. I think it depends upon the zeal with which Members push forward with their amendments and with requiring recorded votes. Mr. Speaker. I withdraw my reservation of objection.","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":728,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090049513,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today in strong support of the McGovernMcCollumMoore amendment to H.R. 3057. the Foreign Operations bill for FY 2006. This amendment recognizes the critical problems that need to be addressed in Colombia. Six years ago. Plan Colombia was implemented with the goal of reducing the flow of cocaine into the UnitedStates and to improve respect for human. rights and the rule of law in Colombia. Based on the administrations own target indicators and data. the drug eradication effort in Colombia has been an acrosstheboard failure. Plan Colombia has not significantly deterred coca cultivation. curbed cocaine availability. forced price increases or reduced cocaine use. After. 6 years and an investment of more than $4 billion in taxpayer dollars. net coca cultivation in Colombia is only 7 percent below the 1990 level. The total area under coca cultivation is estimated to be 36 percent higher than in 2000. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL HONDA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2224,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090049517,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Therefore. Mr. Chairman. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment. and I ask my colleagues in conference to support alternative development and social programs that work and can make our policy in Colombia more balanced and thereby giving the American people a better bang for their buck in Colombia.","speaker_name":"GREGORY MEEKS","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2172,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090049523,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We are talking about the rise of narcoterror. For that reason I oppose the amendment.","speaker_name":"JOHN HAYWORTH","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":782,"word_count":15}
{"speech_id":1090049544,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Now. facts are stubborn things. In 1993. we cut 75 percent of the interdiction budget. What we saw was cocaine and heroin pour in from Colombia in that region to the point where after basically 10 years of effort. we have steadily reduced it back to where we were. It jumped 50 percent in 12 months when we cut the budget. We are now gradually working our way back down and trying to restabilize. Let me conclude with this. This is not a Colombian problem. it is our problem. It is our addictions and Europes addictions that have terrorized this 200yearold democracy. Because we have not licked drug abuse in America. they have had 30.000 police killed. President Clinton. while initially he had bad policies in his administration. he is the one who came up with the Andean Counterdrug Initiative and came up with the Colombian Initiative. working with this Congress. because he realized it did not work to cut back. ","speaker_name":"MARK SOUDER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4763,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090049558,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. This amendment seeks to direct $7 million in funding for the Small Arms\/ Light Weapons Destruction initiative that is housed within the Nonproliferation. AntiTerrorism. Demining and Related programs account. That account is called the NADR account. and the entire NADR account is reduced by approximately 1.75 percent in order to account for the increase in this Small Arms\/Light Weapons Destruction initiative. I am Very pleased here to have worked with the gentleman from Arizona (Chairman KOLBE) and with the gentlewoman from New York . ranking member. to craft an amendment that I believe is acceptableto both of them. Seven million dollars is the fiscal year 2005 enacted level for this activity. And. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD ROYCE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":40.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4188,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090049599,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. . Mr. Chairman. Ido rise in strong opposition to the gentlemans amendment that would cut off assistance for U.S. programs in Mexico. and let us make it clear that Mexico is the country we are talking about today. no other. The amendment is based on the wrong assumption that U.S. foreign assistance to Mexico is only in Mexicos national interests. I am here to say that the funding in this amendment prohibits the United States national interest. so I would urge my colleagues to vote \"no\". President Bush and his Office of National Drug Control Policy are fully supportive of the assistance we provide in this bill for the country of Mexico. The bulk of that assistance takes the form of international narcotics and law enforcement. roughly around $40 million. ","speaker_name":"JAMES KOLBE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3338,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090049621,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey .","speaker_name":"ANTHONY WEINER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1554,"word_count":13}
{"speech_id":1090049651,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the chairman for yielding me time. I appreciate the good job of leadership that he is providing on this issue. I think a question seems to be resonating here and that is. who is going.to look out for U.S. jobs? I think that is a very good question.. Here we have on one side Westinghouse. who is working as an American company. a conglomerate. with other corporations trying to build some of the product to be able to export that product in order to create jobs here in America and provide something to Chifha that they are going to get one way or another. What are the options of that? Well. we can ignore the opportunities we have for American jobs. We can say. let us give the jobs to France. France is also bidding on this. Let France have the jobs. ","speaker_name":"TODD TIAHRT","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4536,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090049653,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If U.S. taxpayers have to buy the nuclear power plant. that is what the ExportImport Bank financing is. then we give it to China. and that will not make a difference in the fundamental imbalance of trade. Unless the Sanders amendment passes. American taxpayers will be giving a gift of at least $5 billion for nuclear power plants in China. The applicant for the ExIm Bank funding is a whollyowned division Of a British conglomerate. For those watching the trade deficit. the U.S. is already in hock to Britain as well as China. In the last 4 years. the U.K. has accrued $27 billion in surpluses. The profits from the sale of the nuclear power plants to China will flow to Britain. not to the U.S. If my colleagues think the American taxpayers should not be buying nuclear power plants for China. then vote for the Sanders amendment.","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3165,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090049667,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chirman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. the amendment that I have at the desk relates to the growing problem of lack of extradition of criminals who committed violent offenses in the United States and then flee across our borders and are not able to be returned by way of extradition. This is a growing problem. It is a problem for a country such as ours that now has an estimated 11 million peopleillegally in our country. Mexico to our south has become a point of refuge. Many of the individuals who are committing these offenses are committing them and immediately fleeing to their home country of Mexico.. Some are not quite so quick. ","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2026,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090049668,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Can my colleagues imagine sitting on the parole board for Osama bin Laden and having to release hin into the streets of the United States of America because of a sanctuary policy that exists in the state of Mexico? That is the leverage that is out there now. and we are paying for these countries in foreign operations money to alter the crime and punishment policy in the United States.. That must stop. It can stop with the Deal amendment.","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1558,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090049681,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Chairman. because the people of Haiti are not safe. and they remain targets of political violence. torture. and. in many cases. murder. Unfortunately. too often the perpetrators of this violence are the Haitian National Police. There have been numerous reports in the news and firsthand accounts of human rights and faithbased groups who have traveled to Haiti and seen the hostile environment Haitians face. The Haitian National Police are intimidating. murdering. and executing the poor and political opposition with weapons transferred from the United States to the Government of Haiti. This is simply unacceptable. The Government of Haiti has access to weapons for police training and security and have paid for defense articles out of their own budget without our government and this Congress free transfer of arms and ammunition. This amendment is basically about accountability and saving Haitians lives. The United States must not be complicit in helping- to arm criminals.. and that is why I urge my colleagues to support the LeeConyersWatersKilpatrick Haiti arms limitation amendment. Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA LEE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2104,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090049682,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise to claim the time in opposition. but I will not oppose the amendment. In fact. Mr. Chairman. I want to say that I would be prepared to accept this amendment. howe rer. I think it is extremely important that we make it clear that we want to express that our congressional intent with this amendment is that this prohibition not extend to medical equipment or excess property that is used for humanitarian purposes. I do not believe that is what the gentlewoman is intending to do. I know what she is trying to get at. but I think it is very. important we make it very clear in our intent here that we are not trying to -prevent the transfer of medical equipment and other kinds of property that would be used for humanitarian purposes. ","speaker_name":"JAMES KOLBE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":803,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090049686,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So I thank my colleagues for introducing this amendment and I look forward to working closely with them so that perhaps the average family can look forward to a decent life one day soon.","speaker_name":"NITA LOWEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":964,"word_count":34}
{"speech_id":1090049692,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. First. let me begin by thanking the chairman of the committee as well as the ranking member. and the gentleman from Massachusetts for cosponsoring this amendment with me. It is not my intention to permanently withhold dollars that are appropriated under this bill from the country of Romania. It is my hope that by the time there is a committee of conference the issue that I will describe in just a moment will have been resolved. That issue involves preapproved adoptions from the country of Romania. A couple of years ago. I met a family in my home State of New Hampshire. The womans name is Allyson Schaaf. and she had already adopted a Romanian baby and had a second child that had been approved by the Romanian authorities. ","speaker_name":"JEB BRADLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2213,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090049714,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Members from either side of the aisle may disagree exactly how we got to the point we are. in general. and that is that our deficit is too high and that we spend too much money. But I think we can both agree on one thing. that we should work together to try to solve that problem. I am offering. therefore. today what I consider is a commonsense approach to deal with a spending abuse. It is an approach that this House agreed to in similar legislation in the past. In essence. it is a limitation on the number of Federal employees that may go overseas to international conferences. This has grown out of a growing tendency in the past by various administrations for sending various numbers to international conferences. spending upwards of millions of dollars. Back in 2004. for example. over 130 Federal employees attended an AIDS conference in Thailand. ","speaker_name":"SCOTT GARRETT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1508,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090049755,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I met with the Sudanese ambassador. I have met with the Sudanese ambassador. to the dismay of many here in the United States. trying to find common ground. I want to applaud the work of the gentleman from New Jersey and the Committee on International Relations and the Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations. Export Financing. and Related Programs. that has looked at this question and has fought it with great. great perseverance. The gentleman from Illinois provided additional dollars. But I want to make sure that any Darfurian refugee that is in Chad is not. forced to leave for any economic reason. Of course. we need more dollars to help Chad. more support of the United Nations Commissioner on Human Rights and Refugees. But we also need to ensure that resources here by this appropriation do not force anyone to go back to a place where they do not want to go. Some refugees may want to go back. When I met with them one on one. they talked about their cattle being destroyed. they talked about there being no place for them. their villages had been destroyed. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8157,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090049766,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I understand then what the gentlewoman from Texas is suggesting. Certainly. none of us would want to require forced repatriation of people from Chad back to Sudan. That is certainly not what any of us would want. But this amendment. as it is drafted. would be overly broad and would simply not allow us to do any kind of program that would help to resettle refugees that have fled from Darfur to return them to their homes. and I know that is not what the gentlewoman desires. So. therefore. I agree with the point she is making. and we are certainly willing to work with her when we get to conference and the statement of managers intentions in conference to work on language that will make it clear that we would oppose any kind of forcible repatriation of refugees from one country to the other. If that is acceptable. I would hope the gentlewoman would then withdraw this amendment.","speaker_name":"JAMES KOLBE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":900,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090049781,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"My sense is that if you do not have the money. you do not spend more than last year. That is the situation we are in right now. I will not go into this whole thing. I simply encourage an \"aye\" vote on behalf of the amendment. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JOEL HEFLEY","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":985,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090049795,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"One purpose of IMET funds is to provide English language instruction to the Vietnamese military. In a fundamental way. it thus serves as a tool to give the Vietnamese military exposure to U.S. instructors. to professionalism. to progressive ideas. and to the role of the military in civil society. IMET would promote mutual understanding and provide an additional context for the Vietnamese to understand how important it is for the United States to see improvements in human rights. Besides providing this context for understanding. I believe that IMET for Vietnam will help us address transnational issues such as counterterrorism and counternarcotics and contribute to greater security and regional stability in Southeast Asia. I thank the gentlewoman for raising this issue and look forward to working with her in the future on this.","speaker_name":"JAMES KOLBE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1519,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090049796,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"fornia. Mr. Chairman. reclaiming my time. I thank the gentleman for his interest in the issue. and I am glad to hear that our policy towards Vietnam will not ignore human rights objectives. I sincerely appreciate the chairman taking the time with this important matter. Mr. Chairman. I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment.","speaker_name":"LORETTA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":47.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":333,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090049851,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. earlier today I joined local community leaders from my district on behalf of Fort Bragg. Pope Air Force Base. going to the BRAC hearing in Charlotte and thereby missed a number of rollcall votes. Had I been present. I would have voted \"yes\" on rollcall votes 322. 323. and 324. and would have voted \"no\" on rollcall votes 325. 326. 327. and 328.","speaker_name":"BOB ETHERIDGE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":358,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090049856,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Constitution with a less jaundiced eye and heed the original intent of our founders","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA BROWN-WAITE","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":880,"word_count":14}
{"speech_id":1090049981,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They told me of soldiers who could not get appointments for as many as 6 months or 3 years. They told me of a looming budget crisis. When I heard that. I talked to other organizations across the country and realized that we were. indeed. facing a tremendous shortfall at the VA. That is why in the Committee on the Budget I offered an amendment to increase the funding -for VA. It was rejected by those on the majority side by an almost partyline vote. That is why. throughout the appropriations process and then on the emergency supplemental. I continued to come to the Senate to say that this is a looming crisis that we need to deal with. In the Senate. I offered an amendment for $1.98 billion for an emergency supplemental. saying this is critical. ","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10068,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090050055,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have people stationed at the borders between the United States and Mexico who are testing fruits and vegetables that come into our country. The Food and Drug Administration does this. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is involved in this testing to determine whether there is pesticide residue on apples and tomatoes. vegetables and fruits that come in. And if there is just the slightest residue of certain pesticides. we confiscate the shipment. stop the shipment from coming into the United States for fear that just the slightest residue of the pesticide or the fruits and vegetables may be a dangerto public health in America. That is why it is so difficult for many of us who listen to this debate to understand that at the same time another agency. of our Government. with the cooperation of a special interest group. the pesticide industry. is actually testing concentrations of these same pesticides on innocent people in America. I think the Senator hias gone on to say it is not just college students standing and being paid $15. The testing reaches a level where they are testing on fetuses and on neonates of uncertain viability?","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1146,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090050056,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Yes. Let me take back my time because the Senator from New York is on schedule. I want to make sure she has time to speak. But let me tell you this. The EPAs own words are that. in fact. they will consider testing on these neonates and the rest. Yes. This is immoral. I would liketo tell you. the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. on their Web site. in 2005. say this: We are v6ry concerned about using humans for the direct testing of pesticides under any conditions. particularly when they will not receive any direct or immediate health benefit but In fact may be harmed. So we are not here testing pharmaceutical products that *may help a baby. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":815,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090050076,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The fact is the attack Senator BURNS has made on my amendment is false in every way. It is the same amendment as his Republican friends supported over in the House without a dissenting voice. It is the same policy that was put in place by Republicans and Democrats. And then my friend says: Wouldnt it be a waste to throw away studies. even if they did intentionally dose human beings? Ronald Reagan was faced with that same issue. His head of the EPA said there are certain times when you dont accept studies because there is moral right and there is moral wrong. That is why the Boxer amendmentsupported by Senators SNowE and COLLINS. Senators CLINTON and OBAMA and NELSON and others--is so important. I ask unanimous consent to add Senator CORZINE as a cosponsor of my amendment.","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":782,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090050090,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will recap. Our approach is a commonsense approach. It just makes sense and logic that the information we need is only found in the work that we do on the safety of pesticides. fungicides. herbicides. all of that. It becomes very important to the agricultural producers. but also it is more important to the safety of our consuming public. It has been a good debate. I yield the remainder of my time.","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":417,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090050149,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"What we have today is an amendment that singles out the Tongass National Forest and no other national forest in the country. Lets continue with the fiscal argument and how this doesnt work as it relates to the Tongass. According to the Forest Service. in fiscal year 2004. it cost $6.05 per acre to manage the Tongass National Forest. which is very comparable. if not more efficient. than most of these other national forests for which we have the analysis. Looking to the White Mountain National Forest in the State of New Hampshire. to manage that forest on a per acre basis is $19.39. Again. the Tongass cost per acre. in terms of management. is $6.05. Why arent we looking at what is happening in the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire? The Forest Service has in place in the Tongass a program that is designed to produce 150 million board feet a year. Yet 238 million board feet is on hold because of appeals and litigation. That is about a year and a half of product that cant get to market because of litigation. Seventy five percent of the costs associated with the timber program in the Tongass are the result of NEPA appeals and litigation. It is estimated that without these costs. the Tongass timber program could produce on average of about a 13percent profit margin. ","speaker_name":"LISA MURKOWSKI","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5549,"word_count":229}
{"speech_id":1090050165,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I urge the amendments proponents to submit a plan for consideration.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1461,"word_count":11}
{"speech_id":1090050212,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the Senator from Washington again. This is something that is growing in intensity and seriousness. It has been overlooked in previous wars. Our veterans have come home with scars that are not visible but which are serious and affect their lives. I am happy to hear the amendment by the Senator from Pennsylvania. as well as the Senator from Washington. is going to address this important challenge. I thank them for their leadership on both sides of the aisle.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":468,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090050213,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I know there are a number of other Senators who would like to speak. Certainly. I would like to yield to the Senator from West Virginia. Let me say. again. that I appreciate my colleagues on the other side of the aisle for coming together with us right before the Fourth of July recess. I cant think of a better time for all of us to send anAmerican issue forward and to stand up for our vets. I thank them for working with us.","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":442,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090050215,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I compliment the distinguished Senator from Pennsylvania and the other Senators. including Senator CRAIG. for their offering of this amendment. As I indicated earlier. I want to be a cosponsor of the amendment. and I ask the distinguished Senator from Pennsylvania if he would ask that I be included as a cosponsor.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":330,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090050245,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And of course some soldiers will be returning to combat. . These soldiers had a very harsh and harrowing series of experiences serving their country. Once discharged. they still faced problems. They talked about difficulties in getting reimbursed. They all talked about VA appointments being put off for a long time. As I indicated. they were reluctant to talk at all. But when they did talk. they made you very proud when they told you what they felt. not necessarily what they had been through. which they usually decline to do. When our country called upon these brave West Virginiansand that would apply to each and every Stateto serve. they answered the call of duty without question. In the case of Guard and Reserve. of course. they are always ready to do that and have to make enormous sacrifices to do that. often not being able to hold on to their jobs and retain the benefits which they had. When they come back to West Virginia. they deserve the full care and support they have earned. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ROCKEFELLER","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9532,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090050246,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I also want to thank Senator HUTCHISON and Senator CRAIG for working hard with us to try and ensure that veterans receive the care they need.","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2670,"word_count":26}
{"speech_id":1090050271,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let me at the outset say that the problem we are trying to deal with in the Senate is a matter of great importance to our veterans. Let me also say I believe the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee has jumped on this problem to try to figure out a way that we can move forward. I think the most important response to this kind of crisis. where we are leaving so many veterans out of the fold in America. given the kind of shortfall we are seeing in health care. is that we acknowledge a problem. first of all. and. second of all. once having acknowledged the problem. that we move to fix the problem. and then. third. that we make sure that the problem does not happen again. What we are doing- with todays amendment sponsored by Senator MURRAY and Senator BYRD is fixing the problem for this year so we are able to provide the health care services to which our veterans are entitled. It is not good enough for us to support our troops in Iraq. as we all should. It is also necessarymandatoryfor us to make sure that when our troops return from Iraq or Afghanistan. we take care of them here at home. The Veterans Administration and the budgets that they have proposed have failed to do that because of the chronic underfunding. that they have put on the table. If you analyze the underfunding we are looking at today. we potentially could be looking at a cut to veterans health services of somewhere between 10 percent and 15 percent. This is a problem which we need to address as a Congress for the years ahead as well. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2313,"word_count":285}
{"speech_id":1090050275,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator from Washington again. as I did earlier. for her work. I thank her also for the tone and for the way she presented her case. I think it would express the concern and frustration on both sides of the aisle about the problems we are cQnfronting and have confronted for many years in providing adequate funding through administration after administrationat least three I am aware of. three administrations I am aware of where the administration has not properly funded veterans health care in particular. The Congress has always had to come and add more money. This is nothing new. What is new in this case is that we have had to come at a late time and add additional resources. I think it is unfortunate. As I said earlier. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3147,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090050298,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it will be unbelievable to me if the Senate buys this line that somehow waiving the rules creates chaos in the Senate. That must be confusing appealing the ruling of the Chair with waiving the rules. Waiving the rules does not create any chaos. It simply says in this circumstance. with this set of facts. this Senate says that soldier. who fought in Iraq and won a Bronze Star.-ought to have the right to see his sick kid. If this Senate cannot find that common sense. then there is something wrong. something dreadfully wrong. So we are told: Well. why dont you have the. kids come to the United States. Did you forget the word \"sick\"? We have a sick kid here. among other things. But this is not about common sense. it is about politics. It is about Florida politics. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3658,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090050307,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator from Arizona. There is a larger problem on the Arizona River. We are all aware of it. It is going to take a lot pf us working together to deal with that river because of population growth. especially in the wintertime. from Lake Mead and going south. Arizona is only a little piece of that. But. nonetheless. the Senator is very much interested in what happens all the way down. for the simple reason that with Nevada. Arizona. and California. it. will take a lot of people working together to deal with that problem. I appreciate the Senators interest in that. and I do pledge to work with the Senator on authorization. ","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":717,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090050333,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to a series of stacked votes in relation to the amendments in the order they were offered. to be followed by third reading and a vote on passage of the bill as provided under the previous order. I also ask unanimous consent that there be 2 minutes between each vote.","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":329,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090050347,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I announce that the Senator from Connecticut is absent due to death in family. RtESIDING OFFICER. Are there er Senators in the Chamber devote? esult was announcedyeas 96. .s follows: [Rollcall Vote No. 166 Leg.] YEAS96 Dodd Dole Domenici Dorgan Durbin Ensign Enzi Feingold Feinstein Frist Graham Grassley Gregg Hagel Harkin Hatch Hutchison Inhofe Inouye Isakson Jeffords Johnson Kennedy Kerry Kohl Kyl Landrieu Lautenberg Leahy Levin Lincoln .Lott Lugar McConnell Mikulski Murkowski Murray Nelson (FL) Nelson (NE) Obama Pryor Reed Reid Roberts Rockefeller Salazar Santorum Sarbanes Schumer Sessions Shelby Smith Snowe Specter Stabdnow Stevens Sununu Talent Thomas Thune Vitter Voinovich Warner Wyden","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":699,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090050349,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am not opposed to a debate about whether our current policies on CubanAmericans ability to travel to see their relatives may be too restrictive and whether they are in need of adjustments. But if we are to have such a debate. my colleagues in the Senate deserve enough time to consider fully such a major change in U.S. foreign policy. I would be willing to work with roy colleagues to try to fashion a proposal that could gain broad support and would go through the proper legislative process. But for now. for the reasons I have stated. I must vote not to suspend the rules.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1629,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090050366,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"EPA cant ensure the most qualified applicants receive grant awards. The EPA inspector general even testified that due to a lack of competition. there is an appearance of preferential treatment in grant awards. On March 31. 2005. the inspector general released an audit concluding that EPA needs to compete more grants and recommended that EPA eliminate noncompetitive justifications for national organizations that represent the interests of State. tribal. and local governments. My amendment reflects the inspector generals recommendation and would simply require open competition to ensure the value of those awards. However. the EPA inspector generals recommendation may be too broad of an approach. Perhaps the most important question that can be raised concerning EPA grants is the question. \"What is the benefit to the environment?\" The EPA has an obligation to ensure taxpayers that it is accomplishing its mission of protecting human health and the environment with the funds it awards each year. My interest is ensuring that EPA direct assistance grants demonstrate -environmental value and EPA enacts necessary measures to reach that aim. Can I get the commitment from the chairman of the Interior Appropriations subcommittee to work with me to sufficiently address this issue?","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2550,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090050373,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would like to engage the chairman in a colloquy on the facility needs at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts. The Presidents budget request includes $4.285.000 to replace the main gate facility at the Filene Center. This project also includes the replacement of three temporary trailers. The purpose of this project is to vastly improve visitor services and security at the main gate entrance. These facility improvements are seriously needed to replace outdated and inadequate space for park employees. volunteers. park police and visitors. The current facilities. which have been considered \"temporary\" for over 20 years are functionally obsolete leaving visitors to wait in long lines for restrooms. and ticketing services. I recognize that the Park Services construction budget is under significant financial constraints. but I must emphasize the financial contributions made by the Wolf Trap Foundation to begin the conception design work of this longawaited project. I respectfully request that the chairman keep these facts in mind. and ask if he could share with the Senate his views on this important project.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1132,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090050390,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my colleague. Senator LAUTENBERG. for bringing this project to the attention of the ranking member of the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee. This project is quite costly for the authority and the State of New Jersey and will lead to the tripling of sewer rates for residents in 12 communities in the area. I believe that any funding assistance that the federal government can provide would be put to very good use.","speaker_name":"JON CORZINE","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":440,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090050392,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The authority. as required by the consent order. has developed a comprehensive strategic plan to comply with the order. A critical component of the plan is the construction of a new gravity relief sewer that will convey combined sanitary sewage overflows for enhanced treatment at the upgraded plant. The authority has focused its request for Federal funding exclusively on this gravity. relief sewer facility. The gravity relief sewer facility is estimated to cost $10.9 million in its entirety. Federal funding can play an important role in financing this cost and in facilitating the early construction of this much needed project.","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":634,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090050404,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am proud to represent a State with so many natural treasures. Of particular importance to me is the Lake Mead Natural Recreation Area. which is managed by the National Park Service. Because of its amazing natural beauty and its proximity to the residents of both southern Nevada and northern Arizona. Lake Mead receives nearly 10 million visitors a year. I rise today to bring attention to a water and wastewater maintenance project at Lake Mead that is need of serious attention. Is the distinguished ranking member familiar with the beautiful Lake Mead National Recreation Area?","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":582,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090050413,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Utah or rural Arizona. I am also told that should those plans move ahead. the resulting health care delivery system will disadvantage eligible beneficiaries that reside a distance away from the Medical Center. In order to address these concerns. it is especially important to me that the IHS meet and discuss with Nevada tribes ways to improve health care services in Nevada. including facility needs and the Contract Health Services Program. In addition. I expect that these meetings will result in a report to the committe. with recommendations. to assist the committee in its ongoing efforts to improve the quality of health care for Nevadas Native Americans.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1769,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090050420,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I ask if the chair and ranking member would work withme. should funding become available. to find $178.730 in conference for SIPI. which is the amount of funds I believe is needed to correct this situation for the period that the formula should have been used according to Congressional direction. up to and including fiscal year 2006.","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":335,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090050427,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I understand the. importance of the Highlands Region. Should funding become available during conference proceedings. I will work with. my colleagues to seek funds to support land conservation partnership projects and open space purchases from willing sellers in the Highlands region.","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":283,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090050429,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Clean Watershed Needs Survey. however. has no impact on CWA SRF allocations. I believe. as I am sure do most of my fairminded colleagues. that we must work together to right this wrong. There is no reason for the Drinking Water Fund to be allocated fairly on the basis of actual need. while the CWA SRF is allocated on an arcane set of fixed percentages that were established before most of us were elected to Congress. So what does my amendment do? What my amendment would do is update the funding formula using the Drinking Water Fund formula as precedent. Under my amendment. each State would receive funds based on its share of the total 20 yearclean watershed infrastructure needs. as documented in the most recent Clean Watershed Needs Survey. with no State receiving less than 1 percent of the total appropriated for the CWA SRF. There would be up to 1.5 percent set aside for Indian Tribes and 0.25 percent for all the U.S. territories. What I am saying is. lets even out the playing field and make sure that everybody gets at least a share closer to what the EPA says they deserve to have. That is what we are trying to do. make it fair for everybody. Let me cite some examples that demonstrate the fundamental unfairness of the current formula in contrast to my amendment. There are 12 States that are receiving more funding than the minimum allocation and more than they documented in needs in the survey. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8992,"word_count":253}
{"speech_id":1090050448,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Democratic leader for those kind comments. I had hoped he would go on a little longer. But. in any event. I thank you and all of my colleagues. There are 7.000 votes. If I were asked to recite which of those I liked the best or which of those I disliked the most. I would be hard pressed to remember them. But the fact is. even though we have disagreements on some issues and agreements on others. ","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":958,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090050450,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. being the junior Senator from New Jersey. I must say that of all of the people I have watched live the American dream and then believe that it is their obligation to give backthe distinguished minority leader itemized the life of FRANK LAUTENBERGno one cares more about that American dream and making sure it is available for his children and all the children of America. I have to say as a colleague but. more importantly. as a friend. I am honored to serve with you every day. and I appreciate very much what you have done for the State of New Jersey. I know the people of the State of New Jersey care very deeply about FRANK LAUTENBERG.","speaker_name":"JON CORZINE","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":654,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090050454,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am wondering if we could have unanimous consent that these next two votes be 10 minutes each. Everybody is here10 minutes on the first one. 10 minutes on the second one. Then we can move on to the CAFTA bill at that time. I ask unanimous consent that be the case.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":265,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090050495,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"My strong hope and desire. as I rise this evening to talk about this agreement. is to be able to be supportive when the vote occurs at the end of the 20 hours of debate. I think it is important we try to do everything we can to improve the quality of the lives of the people who live in these countries. They have been through an awful lot just during my tenure here in this body. For those who were Members of this body back 25 years ago. 24 years ago. we had some long and extensive debates about the political events in Central America. Civil wars raged. In Guatemala. the civil war raged for decades. as a matter of fact. long before I arrived in the Senate. You had civil wars raging in El Salvador. the civil war that went on in Nicaragua. The economic difficulties in Honduras were tremendous. There has been political turmoil in the Dominican Republic. In fact. the year before I arrived in the Dominican Republic as a Peace Corps volunteer. there had been.a minirevolution there. which caused Lyndon Johnson to send the USS Boxer off to the coast of the Dominican Republic. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11668,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090050513,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"On October 5. 1880. three cars of lumber were delivered for the new town. At this.time the only construction on the town site was an old sod house homestead. By November 2. 1880. a store had been built from this shipment of lumber andwas being operated. During these same months a twostory station and a section house were built by the railroad. It was Budds wife. Harriett Reeve. who suggested the new town be called \"Buxton.\" for T.J. Buxton. a wealthy Minneapolis businessman and family friend. The post office was established November 8. 1880. Chester Fritz. the famous businessman. financier. and UND benefactor was born in Buxton in 1892. Even after 125 years. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1998,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090050518,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. a small town in Idaho celebrates its 100th birthday this month. Potlatch. named after the lumber company that made its home there in the early part of the 20th Century. was started by FrederickWeyerhaeuser after scouts reported that it would be a fine place to establish. a lumber company. When the mill opened. it was the largest white pine sawmill in the world and. in a very interesting .way. a social experiment. Weyerhaeuser built a \"company town\" including homes. churches. a post office. schools. commercial buildings and even an opera house and ensured the new towns connectivity to commerce by building a railroad. When you think about it. this is quite a phenomenal achievement even for a large company and showed tremendous business foresight as well as a consideration of the needs of its workers. Older residents even tell stories about the rather unique way that students were kept in line at school: if the students got into trouble. the parents were told that they would lose their job at the mill if the bad behavior continued. How times have changed! Although the population is only about half of what it was in its heyday. and no longer a \"company town.\" the notion of community that was bred over decades lives on in Potlatch residents today. I congratulate Potlatch on 100 years of community success.*","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CRAPO","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1337,"word_count":227}
{"speech_id":1090050524,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to join Senators CLINTON. MARTINEZ. REED. and DURBIN to introduce the Housing Americas Workforce Act. Across the country. low- and moderateincome families face difficulty finding affordable housing. Homebuilding has not kept pace with job growth. and the cost of housing has skyrocketed. In the last 5 years. the number of working U:S. families paying more than half their income to put a roof over their heads has jumped to 4.2 million in 2003 from 2.4 million in 1997. a 76percent increase in 5 years. Our bill tries to address the issue of affordable housing from a new perspective. one that allows the private sector to play a direct role in promoting housing aff6rdability. Specifically. our bill would create a Federal tax credit for businesses that offer housing assistance programs to their low- to moderateincome employees. ","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2728,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090050526,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As a result. personal information has become a hot commodity that is bought. sold. andas so often happens when something becomes valuablestolen. We are at a crossroads. We all know about the security breaches that have been on the front pages of newspapers all over the country for the past 6 months. They have placed the identities of hundreds of thousands of Americans at risk. But this is about much more than just information security. Until California law required ChoicePoint to notify individuals that their information was compromised afd they might be vulnerable to identity theft. many Americans had never heard of this. company. As news stories focused on the data broker business. many Americans were surprised to discover that companies are creating digital dossiers about them that contain massive amounts of information. and that these companies sell that information to commercial and government entities. The revelations about these security breaches highlighted the fact that Americans need a better understanding of what happens to their information in a digital worldand what kind of consequences they can face as a result. When I am back home in Wisconsin. I hear from people who do not understand why companies have the right to sell their sensitive personal information. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10188,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090050538,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on June 29. 2005. at 9:30 a.m.. in open session to consider the following nominations: General Peter Pace. USMC for reappointment to the grade of General and to be Chairman. Joint Chiefs of Staff. Admiral Edmund P. Giambastiani. Jr.. USN for reappointmient to the grade of Admiral and to be Vice Chairman. Joint Chiefs of Staff. ","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":824,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090050540,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on June 29. 2005. at 3:30 p.m.. to receive a classified briefing regarding detention operations and interrogation procedures at Guantanamo Bay.","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":274,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090050577,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. on Monday. oil topped at $60 a barrel. and yet the House energy bill contains more than $8 billion in taxpayer funded giveaways to oil companies. American taxpayers are being asked to subsidize big oil to do one thing: execute their business plan. So we pay twice. once at the gas pump and once on April 15. That is just business as usual here in Washington. As USA Today points out today. corpbrate donors have given more than $120 million to Republicans during the last election. and now they are receiving their reward for loyalty. Tobacco companies gave more than $40 million to Republicans. and they got a sweetheart deal from the Justice Department. Pharmaceutical companies gave over $100 million to the Republican party and got a prescription drug bill resulting in $138 billion in additional profits. To those industries. it is just good business:-Invest a little now for a bigger return from Congress. Special interests have attached themselves to Congress. and this is a parasitic relationship that is having a corrosive effect on the Peoples House. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1287,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090050582,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Most importantly. I would like to encourage the young people and leaders of the community centers who are participating in this program in Lithuania this summer. they are helping to strengthen the special friendship between Lithuania and America. They are also a vital part of the future of the special relationship that our two countries share.","speaker_name":"JOHN SHIMKUS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1404,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090050592,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. yesterday. I introduced the Private Property Protection Act. a companion bill to legislation in the Senate designed to correct the erroneous decision made by the Supreme Court on June 23. That decision redefined the Constitutions fifth amendment. That decision. Kelo v. City of New London. was a slap in the face of homeowners. small businesses. and. frankly. Americans. Ordinary private property owners stand to suffer from the corrupting influence this sweeping legislation will have because government officials. because government officials can aggressively use the powers of eminent domain purely for economic reasons. Our legislation establishes two important standards that must be met before government decides to exercise its power and take and transfer private property. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS REHBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1222,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090050610,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as I listened to the President last night. I questioned just how much longer he will milk the tragedy of 9\/11 to defend his actions in Iraq. Maybe he ddes not know yet that the Iraq situation had nothing to do with 9\/ 11. but the people of this Nation absolutely do know. and what we would want from the President and what we wanted last night was a promise to the troops. to their families. and to this country that he is putting together a plan to bring them home. But. no. He continues to *use 9\/11 for his excuse for a preemptive war. a war that has made the United States less secure. not more secure.","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":619,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090050635,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Finally. education of kids. That is a value. You want kids to have an education. You want parents to have an education. Kids follow the model of their own parents. If we do not help these people on welfare get an education. if we make it an insurmountable task. the kids do not see their own mother or own father get an education. My belief is we can do better than this. and. I hope when we pass a permanent bill we will.","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3174,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090050664,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Human Services and Education. la- Mr. KNOLLENBERG. Mr. Chairman. ments. The gentleman said he wished will the gentleman yield? he could do more for CDBG. Well. who Mr. BOEHLERT. I yield to the genis stopping him? What is stopping him tleman from Michigan. is the budget he voted for. The budget Mr. KNOLLENBERG. ","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4821,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090050670,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr: Chairman. I am aware of the accounting problem that splitfunding the Federal Transit Administration program has created. I will work on this issue in conference and trust that there will be a longterm authorization in place by the time the House Committee on Appropriations and the Senate Appropriations Committee convene a conference.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH KNOLLENBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":339,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090050688,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I. too. want to thank everyone that participated in this opening inning or two of activity. We have a long way to go. But I do think. with the work of the staff on both sides. who I think have done extraordinarily well to shape this product into what it is. I Am very. very happy with where we are in terms of .the kind of bill. I know there is going to be.more debate. and we look fQrward to that.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH KNOLLENBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":469,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090050698,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I believe we have a moral obligation to support our veterans. especially so during a time of war. This amendment is out of the regular order of business. but I could think of no better reason to waive the rules of the House. which we do on a daily basis here. than to support our veterans. that are being underfunded in their health care by over $1 billion in this fiscal year. Democrats tried during the budget resolution last year to add additional funding for VA health care because of the needs there. I tried an amendment in the Committee on the Budget this year. and we were voted down on a partisan basis. We tried an amendment in the Committee on Appropriations offered by the gentleman from Wisconsin","speaker_name":"THOMAS EDWARDS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":723,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090050702,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. if no Member of the House objected to this amendment. if we accepted this amendrent on a bipartisan basis. is there anything that would prohibit this amendment from becoming part of this appropriation bill. if no Member of the House objected. if on a bipartisan basis we accepted it?","speaker_name":"THOMAS EDWARDS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":297,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090050736,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I ask unanimous consent that debate on this amendment be limited to 40 minutes. equally divided and controlled by the proponent and myself as opponent. and that this limitation also apply to any amendments thereto. except one pro forma amendment each by the chairmen and ranking members of the Committee on Appropriations and its Subcommittee on TTHUD.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH KNOLLENBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":366,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090050751,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I would like to inquire of the gentleman from Michigan whether he has a number of speakers. or is going to continue to reserve until our side has used all of our time. I think we would like to hear from those who would like to speak against us.","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":258,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090050769,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I applaud the committee for its accomplishments in crafting H.R. 3058. including increasing funding to public transit and preserving the CDBG program. I join my colleagues in expressing my disappointment that Amtrak has not been adequately funded. By providing only $550 million for Amtrak. this bill would have the effect of pushing Amtrak into bankruptcy. Many people might think that $550 million is an enormous amount. In fact. $550 million is only 5 percent of the total amount that is provided in this bill for the air traffic control system. and it is $323 million less than Congress has appropriated to support the redevelopment of transportation infrastructure in Iraq. In addition to failing to adequately fund Amtrak. the committee inserted a provision in the bill that would have the effect of eliminating up to 18 different Amtrak routes. including six routes that travel through my district in Baltimore. Mr. Chairman. it is time we bring to close the prolonged debate about the future of Amtrak by recommitting ourselves to the value of our national intercity passenger rail service. ","speaker_name":"ELIJAH CUMMINGS","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1413,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090050771,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The amendment that is before us does not address any of these ptoblems. $900 million. or 75 percent of these moneys. in this amendment would restore operating expenses and debt service on $4.6 billion in accrued debt. No reform. no tough costcutting decisions. no recognition of the facts. This amendment simply kicks tough decisions down the track. For too long. Amtrak has deferred critical maintenance on a system it simply cannot maintain. With this amendment. we simply increase the cost and increase the likelihood of a serious system failure. The plan put forth by the chairman is a fair and equitable plan to limit the Federal contribution to routes that are simply imprudent. By capping the perpassenger subsidy at $30. Amtrak is given clear prioritization on its spending and forced to address supplyanddemand realities. We simply cannot keep going on sending empty trains clear across the country with no riders. ","speaker_name":"HAROLD ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3412,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090050791,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the last 30 seconds of my time. Mr. Chairman. what is wrong with Amtrak is that Congress has micromanaged its operation. What is wrong with Amtrak is that the United States Congress has not permitted David Gunn to implement the reform package that he sent up here in April of this year. I heard a lot of comments about the food service. I conducted that hearing with the gentlewoman from Florida","speaker_name":"STEVEN LATOURETTE","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":424,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090050812,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Without adequate funding. we run the risk of not being able to match. the rhetoric with action. This amendment reduces funding for -salaries and expenses and at the Department of Treasury. and the Department of Transportations new headquarters building. Despite the offsets. these two areas will still receive sufficient funding. with Treasury still above the fiscal year 2005 funding level. By adopting this amendment. we will protect the health and safety of children while maintaining sufficient funding levels. making this a win\/win situation. Even at m(derate to low levels of exposure. scientific evidence shows that lead can adversely impair a 6hilds performance on standardized intelligence tests. and it can affect school performance. educational attainment and. ultimately. career prospects. Voting for this amendment will help. with prevention efforts and move us closer to the goal of eradicating lead poisoning altogether. For the health and safety of children across the country and for the billions of dollars in potential savings by preventive outreach. I urge support of this amendment.","speaker_name":"NYDIA VELAZQUEZ","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2277,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090050818,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This situation can only worsen unless the amendment is approved today. I commend the gentlewoman from New York and the gentlewoman from New York (Velizquez) for championing this effort and strongly urge my colleagues to join me in voting for this commonsense amendment to help protect children from the dangers of lead poisoning.","speaker_name":"LEE TERRY","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2364,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090050844,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I make a point of order against page 12. line 12. beginning with \"provided further\" through line 17 ending with the word \"program.\" This provision also violates clause 2 of rule XXI. It changes existing law and therefore constitutes legislating on an appropriation bill in violation of the House rules.","speaker_name":"JOHN MICA","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":316,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090050867,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong opposition to this amendment. Mr. Chairman. this amendment would remove from the bill the limitation on routes that would be eligible. for Federal funding. take them all out. It would strip any semblance of reform out of the House bill. All reform goes out the window. If we want to talk about killing Amtrak. if you really want to kill it. this is the way to do it. In the FY 2006 grant request. Amtrak specifically stated that it cannot continue to operate all routes with $1.2 billion. all routes. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH KNOLLENBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1428,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090050869,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the requisite number of words. Mr. Chairman. this is an important amendment because it does do away with the reforms that this appropriation subcommittee has imposed on Amtrak. As I said earlier. I have been on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure for some 13 years. I watched for more than 4 years when they had an Amtrak reform council look at the operations of Amtrak and come up with recommendations that were made to Congress. and. sure enough. they ignored those recommendations. This is a tough business to reform Amtrak and eliminate some of these politically popular routes. But the cost of those routes. as we have heard. range from $242 subsidizing per ticket on the Sunset Limited. some $466 to run the route that we saw here. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MICA","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4071,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090050886,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"which the House considered earlier. Trains have been. and continue to be. an integral part of our Nations transportation system. Every year. millions of Americans use Amtrak and our Nations railways to travel throughout our great country. removing cars from our congested highways and travelers from our crowded airports. In my home State of Missouri. over 400.000 people used Amtrak last year. However. despite this heavy volume of travel. one of the routes that would be eliminated by this appropriations bill passes through Missouri and serves the city of St. Louis. It is vital that we stop the elimination of these routes and restore full funding to Amtrak. so that it may continue to provide the same level of service to the people of the United States for generations to come. I urge my colleagues to support this essential component of our Nations transportation infrastructure and support the BrownMenendezRahall amendment.","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":932,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090050893,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the last word. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We have finally found a Republican who cares about any kind of a poor people program. Hallelujah. What has the world come to? Let me tell you some of the things that you scuttled for poor people before you started with crocodile tears on this amendment. Let me just list some of the programs for poor people you have scuttled over the last 4 years. The earned income tax credit: You only qualify for it if you make less than $27.000 a year. but oh. you had to have a major effort on that side of the aisle to cut it. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2119,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090050898,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the requisite number of words. Mr. Chairman. I join all our colleagues in asking us to come to our senses with reference to dealing with matters pertaining to the homeless. We talk an awful lot. and correctly so here in this institution. about homeless people and veterans. The connection seems to get lost in this particular argument that a significant number of the homeless are people who are former soldiers who once protected all of us in this country. I shudder to think what is going to happen psychologically to some who are presently in Afghanistan and in Iraq when they return home. I suspect that we will see them. not all. but a lot of them. on corners. like we see some of the Vietnam veterans and we saw some of the Korean veterans and some of the Desert Storm veterans. ","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2475,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090050904,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the requisite number of words. Mr. Chairman. we cannot attribute good intentions to my good friend. I do not know his heart. And certainly there are homeless Americans. and the numbers are growing. Unemployment in America is soaring. The money spent for the war is ongoing. And when we begin to look at the landscape. more and more Americans are unemployment and underemployed. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3532,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090050910,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. from 1789 to 2002. the Federal Government got a free ride from the States in the administration of elections. We did not pay a nickel to elect any Member of Congress. any United States Senator. any President. or on running elections. If we care about the quality and credibility of our election system. we must strive in the months ahead to provide the remaining $800 million. Mr. Chairman. I hope you work with me. I intend to work with the gentleman from Illinois and the gentleman from Ohio and the gentleman from Massachusetts","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":544,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090050926,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the last word. I am opposed to increasing the budget for the fair housing programs for two reasons. The funds are not really needed. and a reduction in HUD staffing to pay for it is comopletely contrary to what HUD really needs. I do not disagree with the gentlemans interest in providing more for a worthwhile project. The increase in funds is not needed. I think I have said this before. In 2002. 2003. and 2004. HUD was awarded $7 million in additional funding to conduct a new national surveyof discrimination. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH KNOLLENBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2076,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090050927,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We do believe the modernization is useful. but not at the expense of a fairly small amount. This is. what. less than 4 percent of the amount for modernization. The fact is that housing discrimination continues to be a serious problem. and we have had recent hard evidence of that. By mandate of this Congress.. we collect something that is known as the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data. HMDA data people have heard. and the recent report from banks of the HMDA data shows a prima facie case of discrimination based on race. There may be some explanation for that. and we are going to be looking at that. People have said. well. there are other various reasons. But the fact is that the HMDA data is one indication of that. I believe this country has made a great deal of progress in doing away with housing discrimination. It was not so long ago in the lifetime of many of us here when the Federal court still enforced racially restrictive covenants which said one could not sell their home to someone who was African American. ","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5007,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090050967,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This is a tragic outcome for HUD for absolutely no benefit to families on assistance. Everyone agrees that the renewal of vouchers at $15.531 billion fully funds this program for 2006. The industry groups have said so and HUD has said so. The only reductions in the Section 8 program that this committee took","speaker_name":"JOSEPH KNOLLENBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":831,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090050970,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the requisite number of words. Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of the NadlerVelazquez amendment to restore partial funding for the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program. The underlying bill cuts some $314 million for vouchers that enables lowincome families to rent safe. affordable housing. This amendment would restore a third of that money. $100 million. and thereby save about 15.000 lowincome families from across this country from losing their homes. If you are concerned about the homeless. then this should be a definite vote in favor of this amendment. This is very much a bipartisan issue. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3637,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090050978,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding. and let me say that I also appreciate the work of the distinguished chairman from Michigan in bringing some order from the recommendation of the administration on this bill. but I have to make a couple of comments. First of all. as I said before. look at what we have done on Section 8. We have hundreds of thousands of people on waiting lists. hundreds of thousands. waiting 8. 9. 10 years for decent housing for Section 8 vouchers. As recently as 2001. we increased the number of Section 8 vouchers by 79.000. In 2002. we increased it by 18.000. Since then. in -2003. 2004. 2005. we did not increase it by one. not by one. Instead. we debated. are we funding the existing number of vouchers. and this is what we are debating again now. I wish we were debating increasing the number of vouchers. ","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3855,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090050998,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding to me. and I just want to express my support for what she is doing. As an authorizing member of the committee. I am very appreciative of what she has done on the appropriations subcommittee. along with my neighbor and ranking member. Well. not quite my neighbor. but my colleague. And I just wanted to express my support and my hope that the very important issue she is raising now will be worked out satisfactorily.","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":467,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090050999,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have to be able to do what is necessary so that the program is saved. The portability of those vouchers is something we want to maintain so that individuals. families. and children are able to create and have safe. clean. decent housing. The disparity that exists when you use the 3month window is really appalling and not equal and not fair. This prevents the displacement and the air that adds to the displacement of our elderly and disabled and other tenants who are sometimes in private development. They need these protections. and they need to make sure the distribution of the funding is fairer. I know Chairman KNOLLENBERG has raised a point of order. Would my good Michigan colleague .and chairman of the committee join me in a dialogue?","speaker_name":"CAROLYN KILPATRICK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2390,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090051007,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the response I would make to that is that it is my understanding that because the funding has been zeroed out for HOPE VI. we are entitled to raise the amendment and that we can. in effect. either reach forward or reach backward as far as capturing these funds goes. That was the information relayed to me by the Parliamentarian.","speaker_name":"ARTUR DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":343,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090051024,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I had an amendment at the desk that is a very similar amendment that I will not call up. and I would ask to be incorporated as a cosponsor of the DavisHarris amendment. to be the DavisHarrisDavis amendment. Mr. Chairman. I represent more public housing I suspect than any Member of Congress other than perhaps the gentleman from New York or the gentleman from New York","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":382,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090051066,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"On behalf of the leadership. let me try to respond. The gentlemans description of the schedule this evening is exactly on target. and it is our intention. the leaderships intention. to come to the Floor at 10 oclock in the morning. This bill will be up and the committees work will be done before we proceed to anything else. The gentleman is correct.","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":351,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090051068,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if the gentleman would yield further. The gentleman and I discussed this earlier. On behalf of the leadership. they have given me direction to publicly outline that agreement. We will be coming in at 10 oclock in the morning. Our bill will be completed before we proceed to any other matters.","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":305,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090051083,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"A majority of these individuals will face a housing crisis at some point during their illness as a result of increased medical expenses and lost wages. HOPWA is the only federal program specifically designed to meet their needs.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SHAYS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":774,"word_count":38}
{"speech_id":1090051108,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I think it is the wrong decision. Furthermore. I do not recall a single time in my tenure when this House cut funding for the Supreme Court to punish it for a ruling. And that is the part I disagree with very strongly. So I would urge a \"no\" vote. Mr. Chairman. I yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts . my ranking member for any thoughts he has on this amendment.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH KNOLLENBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1057,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090051120,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. This amendment proposes to add $6.9 million to the Judiciary to pay for class action lawsuits. And I am certainly familiar with class action lawsuits. What I am not concerned about is class action lawsuits but rather the fact that the money that is coming out of GSA is becoming a burden. a big burden. The Judiciary has received an increase of more than $325 million above last year. or more than 6 percent. Of that total. the amerqdment received a $223 million increase in the bill. That is $223 million up. While I am sympathetic to the needs of the Judiciary. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH KNOLLENBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1036,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090051121,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I appreciate the Chairmans concern about the GSA account. However. it is substantial. We know in our dealings with GSA that they can withstand certain cuts. I know other amendments throughout the day and this evening have been offered and have identified the GSA account for offsets. However. this is $6.9 million. I know that the chairman has acknowledged that the Judiciary has received an increase. but I would contend that it is nowhere near what is necessary for our coequal branch of government. Not only have we increased their jurisdiction from the Class Action Fairness Act. but other legislation passed by this body throughout this term. ","speaker_name":"STEPHANIE HERSETH SANDLIN","chamber":"H","state":"SD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1593,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090051150,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman I want to Commend my friend from Oregon for her leadership on this issue and the. gentleman from Indiana as well. This meth problem is devastating our communities. When the President comes before our Nation and talks about the war on terror. we need to support that. but terror is happening in our families and in our homes and in our communities. and it is methamphetamine. We need to fully fund HIDTA. and we need to expand HIDTA resources. I support the amendment. I encourage the gentlewoman to continue this fight that she has been so strong on in the past.","speaker_name":"BRIAN BAIRD","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":575,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090051165,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I would like to express my support for the SouderLarsen amendment to restore adequate funding to the National Youth and AntiDrug Media Campaign. . I thank and recognize the subcommittee chair and ranking member for their efforts on drafting this bill. They have done an admirable job considering the tight budgetary restraints. Unfortunately. the- funding level for the media campaign is not adequate. The media campaign is an important component in our fight against drugs. It reduces demand for all drugs. not just marijuana. Reducing demand means reducing the number of lives lost to the scourge of drugs. particularly methamphetamine. According to a leading global marketing firm. teens frequently exposed to strong antidrug messages are 38 percent less likely to have tried meth and 31 percent less likely to have tried crack and cocaine. ","speaker_name":"RICK LARSEN","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1974,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090051176,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of the time. As a member of the Committee on Government Reform. I understand the difficulty on the government buildings. They were plussed up nearly over half a billion dollars to start with. Clearly. at the very beginning of this. we transferred a lot to Amtrak. two lines of which are closing in my district. That is why we are here. It is about priorities. I believe we need to make changes in our government buildings. ","speaker_name":"MARK SOUDER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1345,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090051177,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Funding for this account is GSAs highest priority. So let me note that many of these costs are fixed. for example. like fuels. cleaning. maintenance and utilities. and for that reason. I ask for a \"no\" vote. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH KNOLLENBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1021,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090051217,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Chairman of the Coin- 25 years before. mittee of the Whole House on the State Casey Sheehan and his family were of the Union. reported that that Coni- told there were weapons of mass demittee. having had under consideration struction. They were told Saddam Husthe bill making appropria- sein was connected to the attacks on tions for the Departments of Transpor- America nearly 4 years ago. And long tation. Treasury. and Housing and after that myth had been debunked. Urban Development. the Judiciary. President Bush still had the audacity District of Columbia. and independent to go before the American people last agencies for the fiscal year ending Sep- night and raise the \"bloody flag of 9\/ tember 30. 2006. and for other purposes. 11.\" as a New York Times editorial put had come to no resolution thereon. it. I have been to Fayetteville. North REPORT 6)N RESOLUTION PRO- Carolina. where the President spoke VIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF last night. In fact. 3 months ago I MOTIONS TO SUSPEND THE spoke there at a peace rally organized RULES by a group called Iraq Veterans Against the War. Fayetteville is actu-","speaker_name":"JOHN MCHUGH","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1116,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090051224,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But this president and each one of us must never forget that Roe vs. Wade has taken more than 15.000 times the number of lives lost on that tragic day on September 11. And we now live in a time when there is a glimmer of light breaking on the road before us. But the curve just ahead. Mr. Speaker. is sharp. and to miss it may be to forever plunge into that darkness. And the voice of destiny calls to this president. to our president and to all of us in these decisive days to steel our hearts and to ask anew. is it still true in America that all men are created equal? Mr. Speaker. our legacy to future generations and the survival of human freedom in the world will depend upon our answer. May God bless America and may God bless President George W. Bush.","speaker_name":"TRENT FRANKS","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2400,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090051242,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman from Texas for his commitment to our troops. to the families in his district. and in the country as a whole. I did find some of the time during both evacuations interesting. Certainly. when we were walking out of the Capitol and moving down the hill. there were gentlemen standing next to me and a policeman came up and said run. I turned to him. along with two colleagues from the other side of the aisle. and we said no. I was asked why not. and I said the first reason why pot is to run in a situation like that is only going to create more disorder as opposed to calm. And the second thing. more importantly. is from a standpoint of leadership and the example that is set not only for people in this Nation. for the confidence they can have of their leadership. but more than that. the world is watching this country. It is important that the rhetoric in this Chamber and the way that Members act in this Chamber. their words and their actions reflect a commitment to freedom. to liberty and a resolve t6 stand firm. Somebody who has shown great resolve and steadfast leadership in dealing with the war on terror with unconventional warfare and threats emerging in this hemisphere and the other side of the world is the chairman of the House Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare who also now serves as our chief deputy whip. the gentleman from Virginia . He has become a good friend and is nationally recognized. and certainly recognized in this body as a leader and also a committed student of this issue. and also committed to bringing about all of his energies toward ultimate victory to preserve our freedom here at home and expand freedom in the world. Mr. ","speaker_name":"GEOFF DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1750,"word_count":309}
{"speech_id":1090051244,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Virginia for his remarks and thank him and his team for being willing before September 11 to engage in groundbreaking work in this body to bring to light this issue. It was important to mention that aviators comments. One of the things that is not done enough in this body or frankly in the national media is to talk about the tremendous successes our soldiers. sailors. airmen and Marines are seeing on the ground. not seeing simply where our troops are involved. but also with the Iraqis helping themselves. We have had historic events over the last 3 years that have been .constantly poohpoohed by those in the media. by pundits. by those who have never served and Without experience in that part of the whole. Always being prophets of doom and gloom. always seeking to minimize or remove every opportunity for success. It is almost as if some of the commentators. some in this own body. would rather have this country defeated and have this Islamic extremism rampant throughout the world. bringing a cloak of darkness over every area in the world where the light of freedom has begun to shine. I want to talk about some of the successes because they are significant when we look at the accomplishments of the troops and of the Iraqi people themselves. A year ago yesterday. there was a formal transfer of power. ","speaker_name":"GEOFF DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11423,"word_count":238}
{"speech_id":1090051251,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Supreme Court once again has made complex that which is clear. In their decisions regarding placement of the Ten Commandments on public property. an alleged violation of the first amendment. their rulings are inconsistent. They have said that the Ten Commandments must be removed from those courthouses in Kentucky. On the same day. the same Supreme Court said that the Ten Commandments placed on the State Capitol grounds of Texas. that is okay. The Supreme Court. the Ten Commandments police. has created confusion. chaos and calamity. What if folks in Kentucky decide to remove those forbidden Ten Commandments from inside the courtrooms and place them on the courthouse grounds. is that permitted? Well. the chief of police of the Ten Commandments police. Justice David Souter. would be the one to decide because he ruled one way in one case and the opposite way in the other case. Mr. Speaker. the Supreme Court ruling should be simple for all Americans to understand. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1296,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090051254,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Junior Achievement of Utah. the United Way. Weber School District and Weber State College. Like the good old boy scout that he is. Barney Chapman does his best to do his duty to God and his country and to help other people at all times. but I am particularly grateful for his commitment to the Air Force. A good airman lives by three principles: integrity first. service before self. excellence in all he does. These are the Air Force core values. and as a full colonel retired. they are his as well. They typify the life of Barney Chapman. and for that. I do honor and thank him today.","speaker_name":"ROB BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1273,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090051293,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the last word. Mr. Chairman. I am going to repeat some remarks that I made on the floor the other. day. I happen to have a Visa card. I have had it for years. The other day I received in the mail a notification that this Visa card had been transferred to another bank. If you take a look at the fine print on the notice that accompanies that transfer. the fine print makes clear that the following can occur. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2546,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090051302,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the practical result of the point of order lodged by the gentleman from Florida is to make the credit card companies the only people in America who can raise the price of something you bought after you bought it. If people are comfortable putting themselves in that supine position. I cannot do anything about it. But I find it interesting that the gentleman is a member of the Rules Committee. whichtcleverly left this measure exposed and then exploited that failure on the part of the Rules Committee in order to knock this language out of the bill. That is a nice sleight of hand operation.","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":607,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090051340,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume.. Mr. Chairman. some may ask why the Cuban American community overwhelmingly not only supports these measures to limit resources to the terrorist regime. but elects Members. each and every Member. Cuban American Member whether they are Republicans or Democrats. who also agree with the overwhelming majority of the Cuban American community on measures to limit resources to the terrorist regime. Among the reasons for that. obviously. it is because it is a terrorist regime. an antiAmerican terrorist -regime. that oppresses the Cuban people and has done so for 46 years. but also because Cuban Americans know that freedom never comes free. The only country in the world that has the benefit of a law here in the United States that says one reaches soil in the United States and they are treated like a political asylee are Cubans. And with those great privileges. the great privilege of the Cuban Adjustment Act. come responsibilities. If one is from any other country in the world. as the gentleman from New Jersey said. and they are a political asylee. they cannot go back once every 3 years. ","speaker_name":"LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1909,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090051344,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield 15 seconds to anyone who opposes this amendment. that wants to defend a policy that says that your family or mine or anybodys family cannot include aunts. uncles or cousins. I would be happy to yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. LINCOLN","speaker_name":"JAMES DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":264,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090051350,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. reclaiming my time. this is not a debate about the embargo. This is a debate about who is considered a member of the family. No one dares stand on the floor of the House of Representatives today and answer the question why we are going to deny to an individual the right to visit a member of their own family who may be having a child. who may be dying. I represent people who every day are facing the cruel injustice of this policy. For them it is not about a message. It is not about rhetoric. It is about the facts. The fact is we are denying Sergeant Lazo. who was good enough to represent our country and our families. including our aunts. uncles. and cousins in Iraq. the ability to visit his own sons in Cuba. including one who in the hospital. This is an unforgivable indefensible policy. ","speaker_name":"JAMES DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":884,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090051351,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The president is right. I stand with him. and I urge all my colleagues to do the same.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2023,"word_count":18}
{"speech_id":1090051360,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I reserve a point of order on Mr. FLAKES amendments. He has got. I believe. eight of them. and I am not sure if all of them are consistent with the rules of the House. So what I would like to do because I do know that some at least or at least another one is not. I reserve a point of order on Mr. FLAKES amendments.","speaker_name":"LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":330,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090051362,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 30 seconds. Mr. Chairman. I would rather respond to the questions on this. What this amendment simply does. those who are opposed to change in Cuba have said let us keep the current regulations. Let us keep the current exemptions that we have. Let us keep it all. the same. The gentleman from New Jersey just stood and said the dissidents are saying that. let us keep it exactly the same. ","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":604,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090051363,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. again. I was not aware of which of the multiple amendments that the gentleman from Arizona has filed he was going to bring up at thistime. My understanding is that this particular amendment. of the many that he has filed. is in order. So I look forward to the debate.","speaker_name":"LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":281,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090051368,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Anything else is unreligious apparently. That is where we are going. It just baffles me to see where we are going here.","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1046,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090051373,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank my friend from Florida for yielding time. Mr. Chairman. this amendment is prospective. It seeks to prohibit the use of funds on something that may or may not happen. may be looser. may be stricter. legislating on hypotheticals. And once again. U.S. law already allows individual members of religious organizations to travel to Cuba for religious purposes. The only requirement is that they have a specific license. That is a safeguard in U.S. law to ensure that travel is in fact for the stated purposes. and not for the purposes of tourism. 0l 1130 The regulations ensure that financial donations are not provided to the regime under the guise of religious activity. ","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2122,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090051384,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. First. let me comment with regard to the gentlemans presentation. and I thank the gentleman for calling to our attention the letter. But I am opposing U.S. foreign policy. And it is my contention that we should not allow letters from foreign citizens to dictate those types of foreign policy measures that the United States of America should be making in terms of our educational programs for our American students. \u0095 This is about American students and their right to participate in educational programs. It has nothing to do with any of the issues that this letter addresses.","speaker_name":"BARBARA LEE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":634,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090051404,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. and I rise in very strong opposition to the Sanders amendment. I chair the Subcommittee on Aviation. and I can say that we have been involved for a number of years. We have had a comprehensive 3year study by the Federal Aviation Administration. and in February of 2005. we awarded a contract to provide automated flight services for the next 10 years by a competent contractor. This competitive . sourcing process was supported by the aircraft owners and pilots association. They are the primary organization that represents many of the 600.000 pilots that we heard the sponsor of the amendment refer to. They are the main users of flight service stations. private pilots. Flight service stations do not control air traffic. Flight service stations receive and file flight plans and provide pilot weather briefings. en route communications. and search and rescue services to the general aviation pilots. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MICA","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2393,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090051441,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from New Jersey .","speaker_name":"LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1010,"word_count":16}
{"speech_id":1090051442,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. we have had sanctions in different parts of the world: JacksonVanik with Soviet Jewry. disinvestment in South Africa. There are those who would seek disinvestment and sanctions in the Sudan and many other parts of the world. so we understand that these are ways that we can ultimately bring the end of totalitarian regimes and democracies to those people. yet we hear no voices in opposition to that. After 2 million people visit Cuba every year. spending $2.3 billion. this regime has become more repressive. not less repressive. Let us not add to that repression.","speaker_name":"ROBERT MENENDEZ","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":579,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090051453,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 1 minute. The gentleman talked about somebody breaking into your house. What his amendment does is to legalize shotguns. rifles. Already it seems to us insane that you would have a handgun at the ready when somebody broke in. And. remember. handguns grandfathered before 1976 would be legal. But imagine somebody breaks in .and you go get a long rifle or a shotgun. This isnt about selfdefense. This is about pressing forward the gentlemans preferences on the District of Columbia where unanimously every mayor of the city of D.C.. every city council member overwhelmingly. all the residents have voted \"no.\"","speaker_name":"ELEANOR NORTON","chamber":"H","state":"DC","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":637,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090051457,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of my time. No Member of Congress has the right to encourage guns in homes where the overwhelming evidence is that they are mostly used for suicides and in domestic quarrels. and please do not do that here in the District of Columbia because that is the most likely use of such guns in homes. The most bankrupt rationale offered for this -outrageous interference in a local jurisdiction is that we already have gun violence in the District of Columbia. Let me hear the cosponsors argue with a straight face that allowing guns in peoples homes will reduce rather than increase the gun violence in the District of Columbia. The most deeply held principle of the Founders was local control. First local from England. and then because they were so deeply principled. they denied to the national government that they themselves created any control of the local jurisdiction. The Congress gave us this control in the Home Rule Act. I ask the Congress of the United States to respect the mayor. the council and the residents of the District of Columo bia by in fact defeating this amendment.","speaker_name":"ELEANOR NORTON","chamber":"H","state":"DC","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":1125,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090051497,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr.. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I will just close by addressing the comment by the chairman. and I appreciate the chairmans remarks. This decision of the Supreme Court will continue to be respected by this House and by the people of New London. Connecticut and the State of Connecticut as well. This legislation simply sees to it that the taxpayers of that community and the . axpayers and the citizens of the United States of America will not subsidize those private developers in that instance. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time. .","speaker_name":"SCOTT GARRETT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":575,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090051515,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Very quickly. the JOBS Act does not solve the existing problem that we have here today. Corporations who are paying their taxes in the U.S. to the full amount. Let us take a look at what Accenture is doing. Accenture earned $503 million in the United States in 2004. up from $243 million in 2002. They reduced their tax liability to $135.5 million from $241 million. Their tax burden is going down because they have set up very intricate and elaborate structures in order to reduce the amount of taxes owed in the United States. That is what this is about. They are free to go to tax haven. They should not get any contracts because they are lowering their tax obligation to the United States at a time of a budget crisis and a time of war.","speaker_name":"ROSA DELAURO","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1270,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090051522,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is time we tell these corporate expatriates the free ride is over.- I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this amendment.","speaker_name":"ROSA DELAURO","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1934,"word_count":24}
{"speech_id":1090051598,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We will all recall that just a year ago a Federal Medicare actuary was threatened with dismissal by a high administration official for disclosing the exact cost of the Medicare prescription drug benefit before Congress voted on the measure. And we will all remember. no doubt. former economic advisor Larry Lindsey. who wag criticized by his colleagues and eventually fired for correctly predicting an Iraq war that would cost the U.S. at least $200 billion. At the time his prediction was termed outlandish by higher officials in the government. The former Chief of Police at the National Park Service was fired for publicly discussing budget shortfalls that she argued threatened the safety of her police force and hindered their ability to protect national park lands. And former Member of Congress. Mike Parker. who once served in this very institution was fired for speaking candidly about the budget request of the Army Corps of Engineers. And I must say that I had the unpleasant experience in the 10 years that I chaired the Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee of having wellknown administration witnesses purposely mislead our subcommittee about the IranContra issue. And several of those officials who were much less than candid at the time are now serving in this administration. So unfortunately. I think there is a long track record. not just with this administration. but with many. of misleading the Congress. of telling us half truths. of telling us no truths at all. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3973,"word_count":243}
{"speech_id":1090051621,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And you want the proof? We had a very prolonged rollcall yesterday which had to be interrupted because we had a potential terrorist problem. The rollcall that was extended. because we had to evacuate and deal with the terrorist threat. took a lot legs time than the rollcall that you used to pass the prescription drug bill. You were more afraid on your side of retribution from your leadership if you did not get that bill passed than you were of a terrorist threat. I remember when the Clinton administration was new and the Democrats were in power. .I served on the Committee on the Judiciary that had a verY tough oversight hearing on Waco. called Janet Reno up and was very tough on her. I served on the Committee on Banking that had hearings on Whitewater. Oversight has disappeared. and when we do have conscious and deliberate lies and we kfiow the Health and Hulnan Services misrepresented the cost of the prescription drug bill. they knew one thing and they threatened with retribution somebody who might have told the truth. and there was not any complaint from the Republican side. As to the veterans budget. I do not think it is accidental that the underestimate came. It was not an overestimate. and it was not just an arithmetic error. There were people saying you do not have enough. you do not have enough. ","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3285,"word_count":234}
{"speech_id":1090051623,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. I think most of my colleagues know that we had a hearing 2 days ago on something that is not an easy subject. that is. Guantanamo. the treatment of the detaineeS. many of whom were picked up on terrorist battlefields around the world. including the 20th hijacker. the bodyguard for Osama bin Laden and an institution which is at the focal point of a great deal of public discussion. We had Brigadier General Hood. the commander of Guantanamo. Sergeant Major Menendez. and Lieutenant Commander Ostergaard. who runs the medical facilities. They gave us straight ahead. candid. absolutely truthful answers. and every member of the committee. Democrat and Republican. had a chance to ask them questions. crossexamine them. I would just ask my colleagues to look at the statements that came from Democrats and Republicans regarding the quality of the testimony. ","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2040,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090051655,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. is the administration manipulating information to benefit the pharmaceutical industry? Is the economic report of the President? And in that eeonomic report. the administration parrots Big Pharmaceuticals claims that drug prices need to be so high because of the costs .of continuing to develop innovative lifesaving drugs. But this assumption is directly at odds with the assumption the administration made in its cost estimate of the new Medicare drug benefit. CMS assumed that escalating drug costs would slow because drug companies will be churning out fewer innovative drugs. Which is it? If the drug industry is spending big on the next generation of innovative drugs. thlen projected costs of the Medicare drug benefit will be higher than the administration estimates. Then again. if the drug industry is not. in fact. spending big on innovative research. then the high prices charged by Big PhRMA amount to price gouging. plain and simple. I urge support for the Brown amendment.","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1000,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090051657,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I will take just a few moments to rise in opposition to this amendment which attempts to use the appropriations process to control the content of information about our economy. which I think is a wrong thing to do. I believe the committee is about learning facts. not ignoring them or being denied them. Moreover. the proposed amendment does not change the 2005 economic report of the President which discusses the average cost of developing and introducing a new prescription drug. as has been mentioned. a new drug to the market at $800 million or more. I have been informed that the administration strongly objects to the proposed Brown amendment. Preventing any discussion on the factors that contribute to pharmaceutical pricing or in fact any other topic that might be controversial would compromise the credibility of the future economic reports of the President. So I join my colleagues in opposing the Brown amendment and urge that it be defeated.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH KNOLLENBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":970,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090051666,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Chairman. it seems that the sponsors of this amendment are intent on impugning the integrity of Tufts University. and that is unfortunate. And they are also intent on censoring the White House and the Council of Economic Advisers of what they can say. Does the gentleman believe that we should apply this message to a President from his party as well? Should the President be unable to reference independent studies on global warming or international labor issues or the minimum wage. or is this really just partisan censorship? The gentleman uses rhetoric and figtires that I may not agree with. but I certainly do not disagree with his right to say it. This is a bad amendment. I urge its defeat.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL FERGUSON","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":755,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090051676,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I have no objection to this amendment. I just want to point out that we had quite a number of different places from which money was taken as a result of the amendments. During the course of the debate yesterday. very sizable money was taken from the GSA accounts. the building account. that is to say. the building fund in the GSA. and also from the Secretary of Transportations budget. as well from. as the amendment here suggests. the Working Capital Fund within HUD. There is also money taken from the Air Transportation Stabilization Fund. And if I could remember off the top of myhead. I would probably be able to come up with about six other places where money was taken from from last years. But I think what the chairman has proposed i\u00a7 to put this back in the Management and Administration Working Capital Fund of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. and this one is as difficult a spot. So I have no objection to having that done in that place.","speaker_name":"JOHN OLVER","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":980,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090051710,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I yield back the balance of my time","speaker_name":"JOSEPH KNOLLENBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":437,"word_count":8}
{"speech_id":1090051718,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Unfortunately. all too often this does not happen. It is hard enough to survive in business without the added burden of late payments affecting cash flow and growth potential. -Small businesses cannot afford to wait long periods of time to be paid after completing a job. especially a small business contracting on a government contract. A growing number of small businesses have complained to me about the threat to their survival as a result of having late payments. or having to pursue claims through litigation or administrative procedures in order to get paid. This problem has caused me to introduce prompt payment legislation in the last few Congresses. This amendment addresses the problem by providing that when a prime contractor has been found to be out of compliance with prompt payment provisions. or are the subject of administrative claims or litigation. they should be denied the ability to be awarded Federal contracts. My amendment addresses the problem of subcontractors not receiving payment for services to a prime contract in a timely manner. We need to stop paying lip service to the small business community and roll up our sleeves and address the specific problems they confront. They confront the problem of being listed in Federal contracts but never used. and they confront the problem of not being paid on time and having to pursue litigation remedies. This amendment will address both of these issues. I believe it is. in fact. germane to the bill that no money shall be used to pay contractors who violate these two provisions. accurate subcontracting and prompt payment. ","speaker_name":"ALBERT WYNN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4014,"word_count":263}
{"speech_id":1090051734,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is not my assessment. GAO has issued countless reports on contractor abuses and inadequate contract management by federal agencies. The problem is so bad that contract management at DOD. the Energy Department. and NASAthe three agencies that most heavily rely on contractorshas been on GAOs list of \"high risk\" federal programs for years. And to make matters worse. agencies. particularly DOD. have cut the number of acquisition personnel in a misguided attempt to save money. That means that there are not enough people to conduct adequate contract oversight. The Van Hollen amendment prohibits publicprivate competitions from being conducted under revised rules that give an unfair advantage to private contractors. Its passage would provide Congress and the Administration the opportunity to address several critical matters. including: creating a reliable way to keep track of the costs of service contractors. guaranteeing federal employees the right to compete fairly for their jobs before they are privatized. and ensuring a level playing field by giving federal employees the same legal rights as contractors enjoy. The Washington Monthly has written that. \"even the federal payroll can become a source of patronage. . . . And while doing so may or may not save taxpayers much money. it will divert taxpayer money out of the public sector and into private sector firms. where the GOP has a chance to steer contracts towards politically connected firms.\" We must stop the destructive and misguided effort to send federal jobs to private contractors at any cost Vote \"yes\" on the Van Hollen amendment and stop this Administrations war on federal employees.","speaker_name":"HENRY WAXMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2656,"word_count":263}
{"speech_id":1090051764,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume.. I will in a moment yield to the gentleman from Mississippi for him to respond. I just wanted to explain myself because frankly I am embarrassed by the fact that the gentleman had to call our officials. Needless to say. everyone has gone out of their way to assure the gentleman from Mississippi and to thank him frankly for bringing the matter to ogr attention. I just want to read one part of the letter on behalf of the Mayor from the city administrator. the top person under the Mayor. \"We were seeking to curb abuses. not create difficulties for disabled visitors to our city. We are especially proud to be an important tourist destination receiving 20 million visitors annually. We also take pride in our policies regarding equal treatment for disabled people. ","speaker_name":"ELEANOR NORTON","chamber":"H","state":"DC","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":1748,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090051769,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. if the gentlewoman would further yield. I want to thank the gentlewoman from the District for her very effective representation. her advocacy for her constituents. All politics is local. Nothing is more local than parking tickets. and as we go into the 4th of July. I thank the gentlewoman for her help for those who are disabled. especially our disabled veterans. to make sure that they do not face unequal or discriminatory treatment as they find their place to park on Constitution Avenue or by our monuments or wherever it may be. -Again. I thank the gentlewoman for the spirit in which we have worked together and look forward to other opportunities in the future.","speaker_name":"CHARLES PICKERING","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":683,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090051774,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I ask the chairman and ranking member if they will work with me to look into this concern with respect to the FAA funding for soundproofing.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH CROWLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1397,"word_count":26}
{"speech_id":1090051777,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for raising his concerns on this matter. If there has been a slowdown in the release of Federal soundproofing dollars from the FAA. we do need to know. We appreciate the gentleman bringing this to the floor. I thank the gentleman for his comments and pledge to work With him on this issue.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH KNOLLENBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":325,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090051791,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think we could use 1.000. Because of the budget shortfall. and because we do not have the money. we are faced with this dilemma. I happen to think the safety and security of Americans war-. rants increased dollars and an increased number of air traffic controllers. I know that the busy airport I represent. Houston Intercontinental Airport. could stand additional welltrained air traffic controllers. the opportunity to give relief to air traffic controllers who. in fact. are working very hard. I am hoping. Mr. Chairman. that we will have an opportunity to work on this issue and recognize the dire needs and the crisis that we face if we do not continue to grow air traffic controllers. to train them and provide them the kind of support services necessary to protect the Nations skies. Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1693,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090051824,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I submit the following for the RECORD: Pitts Poe Pombo Porter Price (GA) Pryce (OH) Putnam Radanovich Ramstad Regula Rehberg Reichert Renzi Reynolds Rogers (KY) Rogers (MI) Rohrabacher RosLehtinen Royce Ryan (WI) Ryun (KS) Saxton Schwarz (MI) Sensenbrenner Sessions Shadegg Shaw Shays Sherwood Shuster Simpson Smith (TX) Smith (WA) Sodrel Souder Stearns Sullivan Sweeney Tancredo Taylor (NC) Terry Thomas Thornberry Tiahrt Tiberi Turner Upton Walden (OR) Walsh Wamp Weldon (FL) Weldon (PA) Weller Wetmoreland Whitfield Wicker Wilson (NM) Wilson (SC) Wolf Young (AK) Young (FL) Schiff Waters","speaker_name":"JOSEPH KNOLLENBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":604,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090051826,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The projected average delay per operation in 2007 is 15.3 minutes under the NoAction Alternative. The EIS indicated that Alternative 1 would cost the taxpayers approximately $36 million. yet would only result in an 84second delay reduction. While this alternative purports a slightly greater reduction in the 2015 projected delays. the EIS indicated only a 6.5minute delay reduction. which is less than the 7.5minute delay reduction that was projected in the Draft EIS. DEIS. I think it would be a much better use of taxpayer funds to evaluate the potential installation of a new parallel runway rather than extending Runway 1735. it makes no sense to spend $36 million with no real ensuing benefits. The FAA still has not released the underlying data used to calculate projected delay reductions. It greatly concerns me that the FAA has indicated that it does not have data indicating what percentage of delays at the Philadelphia International Airport are a direct result of airport runway problems. as opposed to other causes. Common sense would indicate that this information is necessary in order to determine that the proposed runway extension would be effective in. increasing airport efficiency. particularly when the projected delay reduction achieved by this project was decreased by more than 13 percent between the time the DEIS was issued on October 15. 2004. and the issuance of the EIS on March 11.2005. The Record of Decision. ROD. indicates that Alternative 1 will have no significant noise impacts on the surrounding communities. which. defies logic. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT ANDREWS","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2842,"word_count":251}
{"speech_id":1090051831,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I was pleased to see that the House Report to H.R. 3058 echoes my concerns and I will continue to demand that the FAA provide Congress with a plan to address the overruns associated with the STARS program.","speaker_name":"ELLEN TAUSCHER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3262,"word_count":38}
{"speech_id":1090051847,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In recent testimony before the Senate appropriations legislative -branch subcommittee. the board of directors requested such a change for that reason. Mr. Speaker. I believe the changes make sense. I urge the House to support the bill. Mr. Speaker. I withdraw my reservation of objection.","speaker_name":"JUANITA MILLENDER-MCDONALD","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":37.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1341,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090051867,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Florida for his leadership in bringing this rule to the floor that provides for consideration of several suspension bills. including a very important one. I have heard a lot of bellyaching tonight about what happened before and why we should have done something else. and why did we not do something this way and why did we not do- it that way. I suspect that when all the bellyaching is over. that we will have a near unanimous. if not unanimous. vote. at least I hope we do. to provide these resources. We have a very logical process that we follow. It is according to our rifles and according to our traditions. In the Committee on Appropriations we hold hearings in the spring. we take testimony. we provide oversight. we then receive our allocation. and provide the resources every year to meet the needs of our Nation. Again this year. as we did last year. and the year before. and the year before. and the year before. and the year before. the Veterans Administration receives the highest increase of any budget within the entire Federal budget. Year after year after year. ","speaker_name":"JAMES WALSH","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4695,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090051889,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. the gentleman from Texas is a champion for veterans and has been for years. and I do not take anything away from him on that. But the fact of the matter is that for the last 10 years. veterans funding per veteran has doubled under Republican leadership. The funding overall has continued to grow. It has grown. as the gentleman from New York pointed out. at the highest rate of any agency in the government. As I said. earlier. the vote on this issue will not be a partisan one. Every Member is committed to move this funding to the veterans as quickly as possible. ","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":681,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090051918,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I support it. I am glad we are taking action. But more importantly. we had better wake up. We are sending too many jobs. too much money. too much economic power overseas. China is only one of them. But they are a large one. I.just wanted to use this opportunity to make sure that we know this is only the beginning. It is not the end.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CAPUANO","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1578,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090051924,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"American investment is kept in minority status. and every application. from the most innocuous widget to the fried chicken drumstick. eventually brings proceeds to the Chinese Red Army. And now we have the most graphic example. where the Chineseowned energy company. with gov-. ernment. Communist government investment. seeks to buy an American oil company. It has been said that information is power. Energy literally is power. Early in the 21st century. though we may look to new technological advantages. the fact is this: a nation that surrenders its energy concerns. its energy technology is a nation inviting vulnerability. And so I would enjoin Members of this House. Mr. Speaker. as tempting as political -debate and oneupsmanship might be. not to succumb to the temptation. not to stand as Republicans or Democrats or Independent or Libertarians or vegetarians. but to stand as Americans. Support this resolution because we dare not yield our energy future to the Communist Chinese.","speaker_name":"JOHN HAYWORTH","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2077,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090051930,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But what we have here is a Chinese government with an accelerating demand for oil and gas trying to find a way to corner a market here and to put it to their exclusive use. This is unheard of in the oil and gas commodities market. No one ever thinks that one explores for oil and then uses the oil only in the place where they have their own demand and not make it available to the rest of the World. That is the scary part of what is happening here. As China seeks more and more assets that they themselves control and they themselves corner. it makes it much more difficult for us to argue that this is a free economy. a marketbased economy. That is the real reason I have come to this microphone tonight. I think it is important to support this resolution. and I think the actions we are taking today by the Congress were appropriate to be taken. I think the warning signs that are going up from this House about the Chinese governments interest in cornering the market on a strategic asset such as petroleum today. is a dire warning indeed and one we should take heed of. So I urge the Members of the House and all who are within the sound of our voice to take heed of this warning and to support this important resolution.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM JEFFERSON","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2250,"word_count":234}
{"speech_id":1090051932,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That is not free market. And no matter how you twist or turn or try to make this sound good. that is not free market. That is free market competing against the Communistfinanced company. That raises concerns just because of that. But let us look at it a little bit more and look at the assets of the company they are trying to buy. They are trying to buy a major U.S. energy provider. That is a major concern. In the world today. in the world market today we are near an energy crisis. We are almost equal in terms of supply and demand. and that is why the price of oil has gone up dramatically. The U.S. economy is growing. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD POMBO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4369,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090051936,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This purchase should not go forward. I ask for the support of the amendment.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3102,"word_count":14}
{"speech_id":1090051939,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Never in a million years would China let us do this type of deal over there. and do not fool yourselves about that. This deal is not good for America. It is not good for American workers. As we near our birthday of this country. let us not give a gift to the Chinese Government. Let us give a gift to the American people and support this important resolution.","speaker_name":"ROBERT NEY","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":858,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090051941,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in opposition to- H. Res. 344. which blames China for our dependence on foreign oil. The Republican Majority has already sold the entire farm to foreign central banks and multinational corporations. and now theyre trying to tell the American people that theyre standing up for them by stopping China from buying a leftover chicken. Mr. Speaker. where were these patriotic Republicans when the House passed an energy bill and couldnt even muster the votes to raise fuel economy standards on automobiles? Where were they when we passed trade deals and tax laws to make it- easier for their corporate friends to ship jobs to China? Why has President Bush refused to stand up for American workers who wither against illegal dumping practices and an undervalued Chinese currency? The American people need to know: as long as the Republican Majority and their corporate. .friends get their tax breaks and boondoggle defeose contracts. they dont care who pays the bill. China. in turn. is happy to prop up the dollar and finance the debt because it gives them great leverage over the U.S. for years to come. No empty resolution like this or indignant politician can change that. So why are we talking about China now when they have been stocking oil supplies and U.S. currency for years with no change in course from this administration? Its very sim\u0095pie: cheap Chinese imports and labor enrich the pockets of the people who really matter in the Republican party. but a Chinese company owning Unocal does nothing for the base. ","speaker_name":"FORTNEY STARK","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2081,"word_count":260}
{"speech_id":1090051955,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of H. Res. 340. a resolution introduced by the gentleman from Georgia strongly condemning the Supreme Courts 54 decision in Kelo v. City of New London. In this case. handed down on June 23. the Supreme Court transformed the public use doctrine under the fifth amendments takings clause to allow the government to take property for economic development. The fifth amendment of the U.S. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3166,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090051958,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would first like to take this opportunity to thank the leadership of this House and Chairman SENSENBRENNER for so expeditiously scheduling and shepherding this Resolution to the floor for a vote. I would also like to thank the over seventyfive members who have contacted my office to become cosponsors of this Resolution. and those who are speaking in support tonight. House Resolution 340 demonstrates the commitment of this House to not stand idly by. but rather to act now in addressing this atrocious and negligent decision. By a margin of only one vote. the Supreme Court has struck down two centuries worth of precedent and Constitutional protections for property owners. It is the responsibility of this House to ensure that the American people. the owners of this great country. are never run over by a handful of judges who refuse to enforce the written laws of this land and uphold the guarantees of the Constitution. Mr. Speaker. despite the failings of the majority in the New London decision. at least there were four justices who got it right. I applaud them in their steadfast determination and commitment to uphold the Constitution and express their own dismay at the majoritys ruling. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5246,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090051960,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Ask the Mathes family about the abuse of power. The city condemned 13 acres of their land for George Bushs baseball team. and the Mathes family had to go to court to compensate them for the actual value of the land. Now. I think we would agree that was not right. and the Supreme Court now says that that is okay. We cannot allow private individuals to be enriched at the expense of their neighbors by hijacking and abusing the power of government. The Kelo decision raises a great many questions. and I want to commend my colleagues. the chairman. the gentleman from Wisconsin . and the ranking member. the gentleman from Michigan . for introducing legislation and allowing the Committee on the Judiciary to consider the full impact of the courts decision and draw the proper line between the public interest and private enrichments. We need to protect families like the Mathes family. victimized by the Texas Rangers and the town government in Texas. and we need to protect our communities from the abuse of government power to benefit private interest. Now. I am going to.reluctantly vote against the resolution because. as the gentleman from Michigan said. it says things about the decision that probably are not accurate. I do not think the decision said that you can use the power of eminent domain for the sole benefit of another private person. ","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4506,"word_count":233}
{"speech_id":1090051963,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume to thank the Supreme Court for bringing us all together here in the House tonight. It is very unusual. Mr. Speaker. I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New York . an active member for many years on the Committee on the Judiciary who is now on leave.","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":326,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090051964,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the distinguished ranking member for yielding me this time. and. like him and the ranking member of the subcommittee. I have some differences with the wording here. I was particularly struck by the second whereas. \"Whereas upon adoption. the 14th amendment extended the application of the fifth amendment to each and every State and local government.\" In fact. it did not. Not at adoption. .When the 14th amendment was adopted. it was not considered to extend it. And. in fact. it was what some would have called a liberal Supreme Court that decided to apply the Bill of Rights to the States through the 14th amendment. Now. I am glad they did. and I welcome the support in this resolution for that concept. ","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6265,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090051987,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Government is morally obliged to serve the people. namely by protecting life. liberty. and. yes. private property. The Supreme Court should honor these values. and I applaud the gentleman from Georgia","speaker_name":"BOB BEAUPREZ","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1382,"word_count":31}
{"speech_id":1090051999,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In the coming weeks. the committee will work with the Department to determine the implications for fiscal year 2006 of their recent changes in workload and utilization. This will allow us to use the most accurate information available to ensure that sufficient funding is also provided when we complete the 2006 bill later this year. To make it clear. this funding we are talking about tonight in this supplemental is just for 2005. I expect full cooperation and disclosure by the Department as we develop the final number for fiscal year 2006. I do not expect. nor will I accept. partial or vague information or misinformation. This process can only work well if we all work together. That is what I expect of everyone involved in solving this problem. For today. the bill I bring to the floor provides the necessary resources to ensure that all veterans receive the medical care promised. This funding will also allow the Department to restore funding to its capital accounts to ensure that maintenance and repairs are completed and necessary equipment procured so that future care will not be placed in jeopardy nor held in abeyance. I regret that the Congress and the committee was not informed of the very real problems at the Department earlier in the process. ","speaker_name":"JAMES WALSH","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2636,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090052010,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the chairman of the subcommittee for yielding me this time. and I thank him for bringing this supplemental to the floor this evening. I am also encouraged that I am sure all of my colleagues will vote for this today. I want to make sure that another voice is heard. I am a veteran. as there are many veterans on this floor. I have been in Navy hospitals. I have been in veterans hospitals. and I have gone through the veterans health care system. I also want to say that in the last 10 years. in my district. there have been three health care clinics for veterans built just in those 10 years that provide excellent care. We have a veterans hospital for the psychiatric problems that veterans often experience that go from Alzheimers to posttraumatic stress syndrome from Vietnam and other conflicts. to people with schizophrenia. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE GILCHREST","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1160,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090052018,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield inyself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker. we should not be in this hole. We did not have to be in this hole. I am glad we are taking a partial step to get out of this hole. a hole that we put veterans in. veterans who have served our country in combat. veterans who have been unfortunately denied care this year that they had a right to receive because of inadequate funding in the past. I am glad we are moving forward. I wish we were moving forward with a $1.5 billion emergency funding bill passed unanimously by the United States Senate. I do not know why the House leadership felt 96 Members of the Senate. including the Senate Republican leadership. were being too generous to veterans. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS EDWARDS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4032,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090052020,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from New York for his leadership in bringing this supplemental. being responsive to the administrations requests. I would also like to thank the gentleman from Texas . the ranking member. for working cooperatively with the gentleman from New York as he has done since he assumed this position. The gentlemans leadership is important and it is valuable. Yesterday. the gentleman from Texas","speaker_name":"STEPHEN BUYER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":423,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090052021,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise to express my great disappointment about the fact that the Republican majority has refused to allow Representative EDWARDS the opportunity to offer his bill to provide $1.5 billion in emergency funding for veterans health care. Instead. we are being asked tonight to vote up or down on a bill that will provide only part of the funds that are desperately needed to provide essential care to those who served our country so well. Full funding is critically needed by the Veterans Administration to overcome its massive budget. shortfall caused by the Bush Administrations war in Iraq and the Republicans shameful budget. Last Friday. the Washington Post reported that the Bush Administration finally acknowledged that it is short $1 billion for covering current needs at the Department of Veterans Affairs. despite repeated efforts by House Democrats to adequately fund VA healthcare. Even that admission is likely to be short of the mark. Earlier today. the Chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee reiterated that the Senate would quickly pass a $1.5 billion emergency supplemental if the House would first approve the measure. Unfortunately. the Republican majority has offered a bill that provides only $975 million. and then denied us the opportunity to offer an amendment to increase that level. To shortchange our veterans during a time of war is not only shocking. it is greatly disrespectful to the brave men and women who have volunteered their service to defend our country. ","speaker_name":"JANICE SCHAKOWSKY","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2603,"word_count":244}
{"speech_id":1090052032,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns on this legislative day. it adjourn to meet at 6 p.m. on the third constitutional day thereafter. unless it sooner has received a message fromthe Senate transmitting its concurrence in House Concurrent Resolution 198. in which case the House shall stand adjourned pursuant to that concurrent resolution.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":369,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090052058,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Nazr Mohammed. Brent Barry. Beno Udrih. Rasho Nesterovic. Glenn Robinson. Devin Brown. and Tony Massenburg played valiantly to bring the NBA trophy back home to the fans of San Antonio. In fact. Tim Duncan earned recognition as the finals most valuable player for the third time due to his performance. leadership and character. In life its not just whether you win. its how you play the game. America has seen how the Spurs are a true team of character. no ball hogs. no billboard tattoos. no nose rings. ","speaker_name":"HENRY BONILLA","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1153,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090052078,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr: President. this morning we will resume consideration of the pending CAFTA legislation. Last night we began debate under the 20hour time limitation. We now have 16 hours remaining and we do not expect to use the entire debate time allocated. Chairman GRASSLEY has indicated that he would not require all of the 8 hours remaining under his control. Thus. I hope we would be able to yield back some time. which would allow us to vote on this bill at a reasonable time today. As mentioned yesterday on a number of occasions. we have two additional appropriations measures to complete this week. one of which is the Legislative Branch appropriations bill. It is ready for floor consideration. That bill will require only a short debate and could be finished without a rollcall vote. Also. we expect to consider and complete the Energy and Water appropriations bill. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1597,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090052090,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"CAFTA is a straightforward win for the bulk of U.S. agricultural producers. A current oneway trading relationship will end. The CAFTA countries will dismantle their tariffs to U.S. agricultural products while the United States will provide little additional access for CAFTA commodities. This will result in increased sales for U.S. agricultural exporters. sales of up to $1.5 billion a year by the end of the agreements full implementation. Not surprisingly. CAFTA is widely supported in the U.S. agricultural community. The CAFTA is good agricultural policy and good trade policy. I urge my colleagues to support it. Mr. President. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1554,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090052092,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In fact. the region is the secondlargest world market for U.S. textile fabrics and yarns. Under CAFTA. these garments made in the region will be dutyfree and quotafree only if they use U.S. fabric and yarn. In fact. more than 90 percent of all apparel made in the region will be sewn from fabric and yarn made in the United States. thereby supporting U.S. textile exports and U.S. textile jobs. This is especially important for South Carolina -workers. In 2004. South Carolinas exports of fabric mill products to the CAFTA region were valued at $180 million. more than half of the States .total exports to the region. If we going to continue to have these exports and not lose the business to Asia. we must pass CAFTA. The American Apparel and Footwear Association made this point in a recent letter to President Bush where. it said. if CAFTA \"is not enacted soon. U.S. apparel and footwear companies will place more of their business outside this hemisphere.\" And the National Council of Textile Organizations recently endorsed CAFTA. saying. Central America \"is a very important part of the domestic industrys supply chain and we need (CAFTA) to ensure that the U.S. textile industry can -remain competitive against China.\" The elimination of quotas on Chinese textiles has eroded the partnership the U.S. has with the Central American region. ","speaker_name":"JIM DEMINT","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8643,"word_count":225}
{"speech_id":1090052098,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":15,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me tell you what we should learn today. Here. as shown on this chart. are our trade deficits. These are our trade deficitsyear after year after year. I have always wondered what \"reeducation\" means as a term-\"reeducation.\" It is quite clear to me there is no reeducation anywhere near this 50 or 60 square miles of ground because we are about. today. .in the Senate to pass another trade agreement which is exactly the same kind of trade agreement that has causeo a massive trade deficit year after year. after year. a gathering trade debt that is dangerous to this country. On these red lines on this chart there are no names. But I can give you some names. And I will today. These are the people who lost their jobs. the people who came home one night after work and said: \"Honey. I have been fired. I worked at my plant for 19 years. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10698,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090052106,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. because we have a number of Senators on the floorI am happy to defer to my senior colleagues. but if we could. establish a kind of queue? I know Senator LEAHY has a statement. I am interested.in speaking on CAFTA. I ask the distinguished Senator from Montana. could we see if we could get an order among the Senators who are on the floor?","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":355,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090052115,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I have decided to support CAFTA. Because I know I will have a lot of welts on my back for it. I want to take a few minutes to describe how I arrived at my decision. A special concern to me is that if CAFTA is rejected. China will have yet another opportunity to grow its economy and strengthen its economic base at Americas expense. Why Americans would want to do that defies logic. China is already an economic juggernaut. But as of now. they are not going to get dutyfree exports to Central America. ","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6334,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090052129,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. as the Senate debates the Central American Free Trade Agreement implementing legislation today. we know that it has been more than 13 months since the United States and its six partner countries in Central American and the Dominican Republic formally signed the agreement. So what has taken so .long? The reason I think for the long delay. obviously. is that supporters have had a hard time selling this agreement to the American people. The supposed benefits are murky. in the distance. while the flaws are all too obvious. This is a shame because we could have a much better agreement that would have won broad bipartisan support. I have evaluated CAFTA with a genuinely open mind. having supported most major trade agreements during my three decades in Congress. I have no philosophical or ideological bias for or against trade. Far from it. I take a strictly pragmatic approach. and generally I am in favor of trade. But that same pragmatism tells me that it is folly to load all of our economic and diplomatic hopes on the slender back of inadequate trade agreements. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11929,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090052142,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"When we passed the freetrade agreement. I think we should have called it the fairtrade agreement. Free trade is not always the way things are. There is a book called \"The World Is Flat.\" talking about how there is equality throughout the world. but it is changing. Well. it is changing. but it has not all changed. There is a great deal of difference between one country and another in terms of their economy. in terms of the way it works and whether one is getting paid $2 a day or $20 a day or $20 an hour. So when one talks about free trade. one has to make sure that they recognize the differences that are there. All I am saying is it is difficult. Of course. we want to work with other countries. Part of the reason for having CAFTA before us is. we are looking for relationships with the Central American countries. ","speaker_name":"CRAIG THOMAS","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10334,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090052160,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is a bad agreement for America. It is bad for the sugar industry. and I oppose it for that reason. But even taking sugar aside. it is bad for the rest of America. It is bad for American workers. American industry. It is bad. as the International Trade Commission has concluded. on the basis of the bottom linethe trade imbalance in-. - creased. trade deficit with those countries increased. imports that will exceed the increase in our exports. That means. net result. it is bad policy. bad trade for America. I oppose it. I urge my colleagues to do the same. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3028,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090052169,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let me focus. in the time I have remaining. on immigration. I heard the Senator from Illinois claim that if we pass. CAFTA. it will somehow displace Central American workers and they will be caused to immigrateillegally. perhaps-:to the United States. I could not disagree with him more. About a year ago. I traveled to Central America to five of the countries involved in .this agreement. and in each and every one of those Central American countries we were told that their new democracies future depends on ratification of these freetrade agreements. To a man. the leaders of those countries asked us to do everything we can to see that this freetrade agreement passes. While certainly we want to be a friendly neighbor if we can. I would not support this agreement if it werent in the best interests of the United SLates on anumber of bases. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9718,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090052181,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the distinguished Senator from Wisconsin on the Democratic side be the next speaker for 20 minutes. that he be followed by Senator LAUTENBERG for 10 minutes. and then Senator VOINOVICH will immediately follow Senator LAUTENBERG for at least 20 minutes.","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":296,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090052186,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Maybe that is why the soldiers didnt applaud until the White House staff urged them on. Tuesday nights staged show reminded me of another Hollywoodtype event. when President Bush declared \"mission accomplished.\" We all remember this picture very clearly. It was on an aircraft carrier. with signs uptheir authorship was denied by lots of people. The Navy personnel were standing there directly- behind the President. The speech took place on May 1. 2003. just slightly over 2 years ago. when the President said to the country at large that major combat was over in Iraq. How wrong he was. Before the \"mission accomplished\" speech on May 1. we had lost 139 people and had about 500 of our troops wounded. Since President Bushs \"mission accomplished\" declaration. we have lost 1.594 Americans in Iraqversus that 139. 2 years ago. Almost 1.600 versus 139. and 12.000 seriously wounded versus 500 at the time. in that 2 years. It has been a terrible 2 years. ","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8103,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090052201,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I do so because I recognize that many of our friends in these six countries see it as an important symbol of Americas commitment to them. It pains me that I am not able to vote for this agreement. I do so. looking back at the history of our relationship between the United States and the Central American countries. During the 1980s. this country spent $5 billion on Central America in an effort to ensure that democracy and freedom markets triumphed in that part of our troubled world. Because of the courage and strength of our Central American friends. like Archbishop Oscar Romero. we see a region today that is defined by democracy and freedom. a region about which we could only have dreamed a short 20 years ago. It is in that context that I have come to conclude -that this agreement is a missed opportunity. Twenty years ago. you could -not pick up a newspaper anywhere in the United States without a headline on. the front page talking about some event or some episode in Central America. Today those countries barely merit a mention in an occasional newspaper. Presidents in the last 100 years have pursued the good policy. the Alliance for Progress. and the Summit of the Americas. and so forth. These policies have been pursued through administrations in differing parties. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11477,"word_count":224}
{"speech_id":1090052203,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I compliment my colleague from Colorado. These have not been easy issues for him. I appreciate his position and understand it fully. I think he has represented that position well in the comments he offered today. We shareperhaps in some cases for different reasonsa feeling that this trade agreement is not a good one for our country. I yield 10 minutes to my colleague from Michigan. Senator STABENOW.","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":417,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090052205,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":14,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Our workers get paid roughly the same amount of money. Our companies can sell their products in Australia because it has a high minimum wage. sound environmental laws. and good labor standards. We can sell and trade back and forth. Unfortunately. the CAFTA agreement does exactly the opposite. This packet will ship jobs overseas and provide fewer export markets for American companies. and it is because in these countries the minimum wage is very low. In Guatemala. the minimum wage is 25 cents an hour. I dont want our workers having to compete with 25 cents an hour. You cannot live on that. Mr. President. how can we expect to export to a market and compete with an economy where workers make 25 cents an hour. and there are no basic environmental laws and labor standards? I want to compete with a country where you can drink their water. where they can live on their wage. where we are competing up. not down. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11364,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090052230,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I yield myself 8 minutes off the time on this side. I want to speak briefly about the CAFTA agreement. I start from the proposition that increased trade with the international community can advantage us. and it also can advantage those with whom we trade. Most of the trade of these countries that are covered by this CAFTADR agreement. most of their trade. over 70 percent of their trade. is. in fact. with the United States. It is very much in our interest that that circumstance remain the case. It can benefit us. and it can benefit these countries to see that trade increase. And it is Very much in our interest. not only to strengthen our own. countrys economy but to see the economies of this region strengthened. . This trade agreement comes at a time when -our trade imbalance with the world is enormous. ","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6583,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090052237,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the order of speakers be as follows: Senator OBAMA. 15 minutes from the time of Senator DORGAN. Senator BROWNBACK. 15 minutes from Senator GRASSLEYS time. Senator COLEMAN. 15 minutes from Senator GRASSLEYS time. Senator CORZINE. 10 minutes from Senator DORGANS time. and Senator BURR. for 10 minutes from Senator GRASSLEYS time.","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":372,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090052255,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I expressed opposition to DRCAFTA since a provision in the agreement violates a part of the 2002 farm bill. As chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. I have a responsibility to the agricultural community to ensure Congress fulfills the commitments that we made to farmers and ranchers back in 2002 when we negotiated the farm bill and when it was passed by the House. by the Senate. and signed into law by the President. My specific concern centered on a provision that severely impacts the implementation of the farm bill by increasing sugar imports into the United States. We grow very little sugar in my State. This is not a parochial interest to me. Senator COLEMAN is right. perhaps I should have negotiated a peach. tobacco. or cotton ethanol provision in here. My whole point in this matter is that we have to maintain the integrity of the farm bill. It could just as easily have been a corn issue. wheat issue. or a peanut issue. but it just happened to be sugar. This could potentially result in exceeding the import trigger provided for in the farm bill. ","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3384,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090052256,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Specifically. if the farm bill import trigger is exceeded and the domestic market does not need additional quantities. then the excess imported sugar. up to an amount equivalent to the DRCAFTA imports. will be purchased by the Commodity Credit Corporation and made available for conversion into ethanol. Excess sugar above the trigger in the DRCAFTA amount would be precluded entry by payment to exporters or preferably directed to other nonfood uses. suchas additional ethanol production. I think this is a very important development. since it is the first time the Department is committing itself to a sucrosetoethanol program. The Department will. also conduct a feasibility study examining the economics of sucrosebased ethanol. The study will be completed and submitted to the Congress not later than July 1. 2006. This should be enough time for us to use the information contained in the study to develop a longterm future program for the sugar industry in the next farm bill. On Tuesday of this week. we passed a very historic bill in this body. Our country has the greatest natural resources of any country in the world. but yet we have never established a longterm energy policy. For the first time in the history of the country we passed an Energy bill that will move us in the direction of becoming less dependent on foreign imports of oil for our petroleum and other fuel needs in this country. A major part of that Energy bill was a provision for alternative fuel resources like ethanol. ","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4774,"word_count":252}
{"speech_id":1090052261,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But they need to preserve and protect important labor. environmental. and security interests as well. I do not think this one does thatV. As a matter of fact. a trade agreement between the United States and Central America with the proper safeguards I think is a good thing. I just do not believe that we have embedded those in this particular agreement. American workers justifiably feel insecure in todays economy. particularly with the outsourcing or exporting of American jobs that comes from so much of our trade policy. People are concerned whether those American jobs are going to stay at home. The increasing trade deficit puts an exclamation point on \"there is something afoul\" with our trade policy. All I have to do is point to this chart. Since 1993. when we started with NAFTA to where we are today. we have seen nothing but red ink flow from the trade agreements and trade arrangements that we have. Something is not working. ","speaker_name":"JON CORZINE","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7051,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090052264,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I shall not object. but I wonder if I might add to the unanimous consent request. Senator DEWINE has asked for 10 minutes of Senator GRASSLEYS time. we ask that Senator BYRD be recognized for 20 minutes from my time following the. presentation by Senator DEWINE. following that. Senator BURR be recognized for 10 minutes fromf Senator GRASSLEYS time. following that. Senator REID will be recognized for. 10 minutes from Senator BAUCUSS time. I ask that by unanimous consent.","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":489,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090052278,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I look to the future. Simply put. Mr. President. voting no on this agreement would be the easy thing to do. However. r believe voting yes is. in fact. the right choice for the State of North Carolina and its economic future. It is only through agreements with our friends. neighbors. and allies that we will be able to compete with Asia. Many will argue that this agreement is a jobs loser. and I certainly understand that feeling and respect those opinions. After all. my home State of North Carolina is undergoing a significant economic transition which is changing the nature of our job market. However. I believe CAFTA will provide opportunities for economic growth in my State down the road. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD BURR","chamber":"S","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3535,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090052292,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is why I welcome the efforts of my colleague from New Mexico. Senator BINGAMAN. to strengthen the capacity of these nations of Central America and the Dominican Republic to effectively enforce and uphold internationally recognized labor rights. I believe the commitment by the administration to provide funds for the International Labor Organization. the ILO as it is called. in these CAFTADR countries is a step in the right direction. I commend my colleague from New Mexico. Senator BINGAMAN. for pursuing this provision. I commend Ambassador Portman for accepting the idea. But to strengthen the effectiveness of the International Labor Organization in carrying out its work in Central America. I believe there also needs to be a clear understanding. before we vote on the CAFTADR agreement. of the freedom activity that the International Labor Organization must have if its efforts are going to be effective. After all. the problem is not just about capacity building. as important as that is. which was the focus of the agreement with our colleague from New Mexico. it must also. out of necessity. be about enforcement of those rights. That is why I met yesterday. at some length. with Ambassador Portman and his staff and contacted the ambassadors of the five Central American countries and the Dominican Republic to describe what I believe is needed to make the International Labor Organization initiative of this agreement a meaningful one. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12164,"word_count":234}
{"speech_id":1090052308,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Expansion of alternative fuel programs is an urgent national priority. If we are concerned about importing 60 percent of our daily oil consumption from foreign lands. we best develop a substitute. and ethanol works in our existing gasoline engines. In conclusion. frankly I believe the administration could have done better. They could have started discussions with the industry sooner by allowing all parties to explore the available options. I believe more time could have led to further agreements and compromise. but I must look not to the interests of one very important industry in my State but also to the greater interests of Florida and especially the Nation as a whole. I will vote for CAFTA today. It is important to my. State and it is important to the Nation.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":772,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090052310,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mason. Of course. in the rearview mirror of history. the only \"us\" represents some of the greatest human talent ever assembled. They wrote a document that is the most remarkable document. It is a document called the U.S. Constitution that begins with \"we the people.\" That Constitution that begins with \"we the people\" provides mechanisms. the framework of our Government. the framework of a representative democracy. Over many years. with that document providing the fabric of the growth of this great country. we have been a country that has been divinely blessed in many ways. We have built a place unlike any other place on the face of this Earth. There is no place like it. One can spin the globe and on this little planet called Earth. with 6 billion neighbors. there is no place quite like the United States of America. We created an expanded set of opportunities for all Americans. through a lot of good decisions. for example. universal education. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10939,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090052314,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Creating .a more equitable duty system for agricultural imports and exports is important to my home State of New Mexico. which is heavily involved in the agricultural industry. This agreement is also important to New Mexico because an estimated $234 million worth of products. many of them semiconductors and electronics. were exported from New Mexico to DRCAFTA countries in 2004. This ranked New Mexico thirteenth among U.S. States exporting goods to CAFTA countries. Clearly. my home State will benefit from a free trade agreement with these Central American countries. DRCAFTA is important to our country. It is a proexport. proworker. proagriculture. proeconomy trade agreement. and I appreciate the efforts of the administration and our trade negotiators in crafting such an agreement. I am proud to vote in favor of DRCAFTA.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2529,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090052317,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The CAFTA countries are the largest consumers of U.S. apparel and yarn exports. and the second largest consumers of U.S. fabric exports. 11.000 Arizonan jobs are supported by the textile industry. and approximately 700.000 Americans are employed in the yarn and textile sectors. The yarn and fabric we create and export to Central America and the Dominican Republic support another 500.000 jobs in the apparel sector in those countries. By working together. the United States and CAFTA countries can more efficiently compete with large textile markets such as those in the Asia region. With the expiration in 2004 of global multifiber quotas in effect since the 1970s on textiles and apparel. regional producers face a new competitive challenge from Asian imports. CAFTA would provide regional garmentmakersand their U.S. or regional suppliers of fabric and yarna critical advantage in competing with Asia. Many Arizona farmers and businessmen are excited about the economic growth CAFTA will bring them. There is also just as much excitement in Central American countries. I have been to El Salvador and I can tell you that people there are looking to the United States to pass CAFTA to give them better opportunities and a higher standard of living. They have hope that their countrys economy will see dramatic growth. increasing jobs and the wages that those jobs pay. Without CAFTA. they fear- that jobs once performed by El Salvadorian workers will be moved to Asia. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5212,"word_count":238}
{"speech_id":1090052334,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Senator DOMENIcI and I have long worked on these programs. and I thank him and Senator REID and their staffs for their hard work. diligence. and support for fossil energy research in this bill. Through the Fossil Energy R&D programs. DOE supports research involving economically and environmentally sound use of our Nations- domestically produced fossil energy resources. It forges partnerships between Government and industry to accelerate the development. demonstration. and deployment of advanced technologies that show promise in helping to ensure cleaner. more reliable. and more affordable energy. now and in the future. While the subcommittee did not hold a fiscal year 2006 budget heiring on the fossil energy R&D programs this spring. I appreciate Senator DOMENICIS 6ommitment to hold annual oversight hearings on the fossil energy programs beginning next year. I look forward to participating in these hearings as our fossil energy resources will continue to be important to this Nation. I would also like to mention that the clean coal program. which falls under the fossil energy portfolio. has been critical to the development of cleaner. lowcarbon fossil energy technologies. I created the Clean Coal Technology program in 1985. and I am very proud to report that after five solicitations. 32 projects have been completed. with a combined value of $3:7 billion Government\/industry investments to develop advanced technologies that ofe resulting in cleaner. more efficient. and more costeffective power generation. The subsequent Clean Coal Power Initiative. started by President Bush in 2000. was to be a $2 billion demonstration program over 10 years. consisting of four rounds of solicitations. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5422,"word_count":261}
{"speech_id":1090052335,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to oppose CAFTA for the reasons I stated earlier. It seems logical to say that if we want to expand our export markets. we should be negotiating with countries who have a more sizable market for our goods and greater buying power to purchase our goods. However. these CAFTA countries account for only 1.5 percent of U.S. exports. Illinois is an agriculture State. I have supported prior trade agreements because of the benefit they have provided to agriculture. However. estimates that passage of CAFTA will produce sizable trade gains for U.S. farmers are overly optimistic. CAFTA countries have a combined population of approximately 31 million people who generally have limited incomes with which to purchase agriculture products. In fact. the market is only worth $1.6 billion in annual agriculture products. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1686,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090052356,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Drew Willison. and Nancy Olkewicz of the minority staff for their help on this bill.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2401,"word_count":15}
{"speech_id":1090052384,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. of all the trade agreements this body has considered since I have been here. I would like to be able to support this one. I think it is remarkable how the CAFTA countries have turned from pasts of violence and instability to hopeful democracies. The initial economic and political reforms made by thfese countries are an important sign of progress. Unfortunately. this trade agreement is seriously flawed. And. more importantly. it is symptomatic of the Bush administrations rudderless trade and economic policy.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":527,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090052400,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. Members have been asking about the schedule for tonight. We are proceeding to the Energy and Water appropriations bill. The chairman and ranking member will begin shortly. I do not believe we have many amendments to the bill. We will finish the bill tonight. I know the Senator from California will have an amendment. and it will require some debate and a vote. We can begin that amendmentor I will leave it to the chair and ranking member at this time. But the plans will be to have further rollcall votes. and we will complete the bill tonight. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":580,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090052417,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. for the benefit of the Senator from Nevada. there is a large stack of amendments my staff has just been handed. Here we are at 10:15 at night. and we have never laid eyes on them before. I say again to my colleagues. plan on rollcall votes.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":255,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090052447,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In reply to my colleague. I refer to a letter from the Secretary of State a year ago: Dear Mr. Chairmanaddressed to meI am writing to express support for the Presidents 2004 budget request to fund the feasibility and cost study for the robust nuclear earth penetrator and to repeal the legislation that prohibits the United States from conducting research and development on lowyield nuclear weapons. I do not believe that these legislative steps will complicate our ongoing efforts with North Korea. And he goes on to explain the North Koreans will not be in any way deterred by this action of the United States to have a study.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":629,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090052448,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I would expect the administration would say something like that. But common sense tells us otherwise. Common sense tells you that if you are sitting down with people. in this case the Europeans. telling them we have to try to persuade Iran. dont go down that road. with the Japanese and the Russians and the Chinese sitting down with the North Koreans. do not go down that road. each of us has some experience as human beings. It seems to me it is absolute common sense that we will be confronted by those countries saying: You are lecturing us. threatening us. when you yourself are now looking at the possibility of redesigning a weapon 70 times the size of Hiroshima so that you can more deeply penetrate into the ground. It undermines our position. It weakens our \"position. It seems to me that means it weakens our security.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":829,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090052449,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I could only say to my distinguished colleague. the Secretary of Defense Colin Powell. a man who has been held in high esteem by this body. disagrees respectfully with my good colleague from Michigan. But the effect of denying a study on this is simply saying to the world. where there are countries proceeding with nuclear programs. you can go deep. There is no deterrence on the horizon. It is -off limits. and you can do as you wish and go deep. and you can then conceal your programs from the eyes of the world and there is no deterrence for them to go deep.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":577,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090052481,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"With regard to this feasibility study. the study is really to determine the effect of the casing that we use on nuclear weaponshardened casingand how deeply that would penetrate. It is not going to be a feasibility study in which a nuclear weapon would be detonated. is that correct?","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":283,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090052496,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask my colleagues to stop and think hard about this. not just be swayed by the fact the Pentagon is asking for it. not just be swayed by the fact our great friend. the distinguished chairman of the Armed Services Committee. is arguing in favor of it. But I ask my colleagues to stop and think about this for a minute: Do we have a bunker buster with a nuclear warhead today? The answer is no. we do not. So if we are going to study thewhatever you want to call it--the -modification. creation. it is the creation of a weapon we do not have today. By any definition anywhere in the world. any leader in any country looking at us sees that as a new weapon. as a new weapon capacity. I do not remember everything from nuclear. chemical. biological warfare school. but that is one of the things the Navy did for me. I will tell you. a nuclear weapon that goes 10 or 12 feet into the ground with 70 times the capacity of Hiroshima is a weapon that is going to have unbelievable consequences to civilian populations all over the world. This is a study of the absurd. There are two outcomes to this study: Either you find it does not work and you dont use it. or you find that it does and then you have to confront the choice. would you ever use it. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4257,"word_count":243}
{"speech_id":1090052511,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I send to the desk on behalf of Senators ALLARD and SALAZAR an amendment relating to the purchase of mineral rights at Rocky Flats technical site. I note the presence of both Senators from Colorado. and I say to them that I am pleased to accept the amendment. It has been cleared on both sides. I appreciate their work. We will do everything we can to keep it in conference. .I send the amendment to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":464,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090052538,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I say to the Senator. you understand this is a difficult amendment. We have had objection from the Armed Services authorizing committee. We take it to conference willingly. with the clear understanding we are going to work on it with the Secretary of Energy. and Defense. and with you and the Armed Services Committee. and do the best we can as we complete the matter in conference. I Mr. ALLARD. That is my understanding. I thank the chairman of the Energy and Water Committee and I thank the chairman of the Armed Services Committee.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":535,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090052603,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President we realize that for the first time the administrations budget included funding for the Modified Waters Delivery Project in the Energy and Water Appropriations bill. Prior to this year. it had been funded solely through the Interior Appropriations bill. The House Energy and Water Subcommittee included funding for the Modified Waters Delivery Project. No matter which bill it receives funding through. it is imperative that it receive the funding needed to complete it.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":483,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090052610,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In the 10 years since commissioning. Jefferson Lab has made groundbreaking discoveries on several scientific fronts. An important next step to insure we maintain the pace of scientific discovery. as recommended by the Departments November 2003 report. is to upgrade the energy of the Jefferson Lab electron beam. This will enormously expand the scientific discovery potential of the lab. as well as leverage future technological advances. Senator ALLEN and I wrote td the subcommittee suggesting that language be included in the committee report urging that the Department proceed with the project engineering and design for this energy upgrade.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1761,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090052613,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"want to add my voice in thanking the chairman. Senator DOMENIcI and the ranking member. Senator REID. for their commitment to help us keep Jefferson Lab at the forefront of scientific discovery. We appreciate their continued interest and look forward to working with them.","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":272,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090052626,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I appreciate the concerns the Senator from Rhode Island has raised and assure the Senator that I will work to find a solution that does not diminish services and recognizes the concerns of State and local weatherization program managers.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":252,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090052627,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I second what the chairman has just stated and commit to work with the Senator from Rhode Island during. conference to address his concerns. I am confident we can find a way to continue to support local and State weatherization efforts and the State energy offices that have depended on the guidance provided by DOE regional offices.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":348,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090052682,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He came of age when the possibility of an economic revolution was real. when the New Deal became a salvation and a political way of life for many who believed that FDR had saved their lives. He was a teenager when the lights came on in twothirds of Nebraska thanks to rural electrification. He remembered the enactment of Social Security legislation and the hope which the WPA and the CCC gave to grown men and women who had given up. He was twenty years old when Japan invaded Pearl Harbor. In a single day the naive innocence which had propelled our twenty year disarmament came to a sudden and teirible end. The United States had steadfastly stayed out of the. war trying at all cost to avoid this conflict. Thus it was that he came of age at a time when losing our freedoms was not political rhetoric but a real possibility. He knew the terrible price of weakness and isolation. Both of these big eventsthe Depression and the Second World Wardefined Jim Exon. They explained a lot about who he was. why he took the political and economic positions that he did. and why he always seemed so grateful to be alive and an American. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7948,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090052684,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is my hope that this is a temporary delay and that one day soon. a thriving Great Basin ecosystem will- serve as the enduring legacy of Bob Abbeys public service. Although I regret that Bob Abbey is retiring. I know I speak for thousands of Nevadans when I thank him for his exemplary public service and wish him well with his future endeavors. We know Bob has made Nevada and our Nation a better place.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3619,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090052685,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He divided the county into regions. he began to address achievements and accountability. and he championed the cause of educating Nevadas young people to parents. teachers. business leaders and lawmakers. It has been my pleasure to participate in different events and discussions with Carlos. We sat around a table with the other 16 superintendents in Nevada to discuss the No Child Left Behind Act. As a result of his organization and participation. I was able to come back to Washington with a clear idea of what Nevadas school districts needed. His leadership of the superintendents was impressive. and the mutual respect was apparent. Together. Carlos and I welcomed 60 new teachers from the Teach for America program. As a result of this venture. I am a cosponsor of legislation that will ensure that recruiting. training. and supporting this teacher corps will be supported by the Congress. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2229,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090052689,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I hereby submit to the Senate the budget scorekeeping report prepared by the Congressional Budget Office under Section 308(b) and in aid of Section 311 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. as amended. This report meets the requirements for Senate scorekeeping of Section 5 of S. Con. Res. 32. the First Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for 1986. This report shows the effects of congressional action on the 2005 - budget through June 28.2005. The estimates of budget authority. outlays. and revenues are consistent with the technical and economic assumptions of the 2006 Concurrent Resolution on the Budget. H. Con. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1305,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090052691,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"and SALAZAR. in support of S. 895. the Rural Water Supply Act of 2005. The Rural Water Supply Act directs the Secretary of the Interior to develop a program that ensures that a basic needthe need for a clean. safe. affordable. and reliable water supplyis not neglected. Overall. the bill will guarantee that the Bureau of Reclamation has sufficient authority to address the unique needs of rural and small communities in the West. and it will do so in a manner that respects the States primary role in water resources management. The U.S. Census Bureau cites that 46 percent of Montanans lived in rural areas in 2000. These people and others in Western States deserve a safe. affordable. and reliable water supplyan essential component of a healthy life. I look forward to working with my Senate colleagues to pass this important piece of legislation for not only Montanans but for all rural citizens in Western States.","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":919,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090052694,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As my good friend and fellow Hall of Famer Yogi Berra once said. \"Its deja vu all over again.\" Once again. Chairman Greenspan and the Federal Open Market Committee. FOMC. are taking us down an economic path that is fraught with peril by unnecessarily raising interest rates. Surveys show that Americans are much more worried about filling their gas tank than fitting into their swimsuit this summer. which may be a first. But nonetheless. despite record high energy prices. the Chairman Greenspan continues to raise rates. He is fighting an inflationary boogeyman that does not exist. Meanwhile. there is a very good chance his policies will lead us into the third recession of his tenure and American workers will suffer from his antics. This reminds me of the summer of 2000. when all signals pointed toward a recession. but Chairman Greenspan refused to cut interest rates. Whenhe finally did cut rates on January 3. 2001. in an emergency meeting after refusing to cut at the FOMCs regularly scheduled on December 19. 2000. the damage was done. ","speaker_name":"JIM BUNNING","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2721,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090052696,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I applaud my colleagues for coming together in a bipartisan manner to fix the budget shortfall at the VA. I proudly cosponsored the amendment and believe it was the best thing and the right thing to do. The amendment will provide $1.5 billion in badly needed funds. Although the VA could limp along until fiscal year 2006. it would have to do so by raiding other accounts and cutting back on other projects. This is simply unacceptable. I am proud the Senate chose unity over division to make sure that the shortfall at the VA does not affect veterans. I applaud the Senate leadership. Republican and Democratic. for both decisive and effective action. ","speaker_name":"JOHN THUNE","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":907,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090052720,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wish to speak in memory of a distinguished public servant and a dear friend. Frank Mancuso. who passed away on June 19 at the age ot 82. Frank was born in Italy. but he grew up and lived in and around Hartford and Enfield. CT. Although he worked as a union leader and served as a decorated member of the Army Air Corps in the campaign in the Pacific during World War II. he was most well known to the citizens of Connecticut for his dedicated work in public office and the humanity with which he fulfilled his duties. In 1963. with no prior political experience. Frank was elected as the first mayor of Enfield. Four years later. he rebounded from a short political setback to lead the reform \"Eight Slate.\" They campaigned on the promise to build the schools and city infrastructure that Enfield needed not only to keep pace with its recent population explosion. but also to ensure its continued growth in the future. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2498,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090052725,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. for the Committee on Armed Services I report favorably the following nomination lists which were printed in the RECORDS on the dates indicated. and askunanimous consent. to save the expense of reprinting on the Executive Calendar that these nominations lie at the Secretarys desk for the. information of Senators.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":328,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090052730,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to introduce legislation that will help celebrate Michigans lighthouses and maritime heritage. The Great Lakes are an inseparable part of Michigans identity and cultural history. One of our symbols of that identity are the over 120 lighthouses that define our shorelinesmore lighthouses than any other state in the nation. These beautiful beacons not only serve their purpose as a navigational tool for ships. but they also draw thousands of tourists to Michigans shores. Our lakeshore communities host visitors from across the country. who travel to view the magnificence -of our coastal areas and the lighthouses that illuminate them. Our maritime museums detail the Great Lakes rich history and unique character. As the economy in Michigan faces numerous challenges. these small communities are more dependant than ever on tourism dollars. We must help them by ensuring that there are coordinated efforts to protect Michigans lighthouses and promote the Great Lakes maritime culture. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2129,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090052739,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There has been no justice for Latin Americans of European descent who were shipped to the United States and sometimes repatriated or deported to hostile. wartorn European Axis powers. often in exchange. for Americans being held in those countries. Finally. there has been no justice for the thousands of Jews. like those aboard the German vessel the St. Louis. who sought refuge from hostile Nazi treatment but were callously turned awayat Americas shores. Although the injustices to European Americans. European Latiri Americans. and Jewish refugees occurred fifty years ago. it is never too late for Americans to learn from these tragedies. We should never allow this part of our Nations history to repeat itself. And. while we should be proud of our Nations triumph in World War II. we should not let that justifiable pride blind us to the treatment of some Americans by their own government. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the Wartime Treatment Study Act. It is time for a full accounting of. this tragic chapter in our nations history. I ask that the full text of the Wartime Treatment Study Act be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5843,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090052741,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In fact. only 10 percent of hospitals are using computerized prescribing. Another 20 percent of hospitals are currently installing them. That leaves 70 percent out. The United States ranks far below other industrial countries on IT in healthcarelower than 12 out of 15 European nations. Part of the problem is the upfront cost of these systems. Doctors are not always confident that the system they invest in will be able to talk to other parts of the overall system. We need rules and standards for electronic data sharing to encourage doctors to accept them. as our bill proposes. The legislation establishes a publicprivate partnership to create national standards for health ITa common language for doctors computer systems to talk to each other. Targeted funding mechanisms will help doctors and hospitals acquire the technology they need for their patients. Grants will be available for cases of special need. such as doctors practicing in underserved areas. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5702,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090052750,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In fact. we heard testimony today in the Taxation Subcommittee that corporations with little or no taxes at the entity level really receive an additional benefit from the dividend tax break. Current law. however. allows dividends from \"qualified\" foreign corporations to benefit from these lower rates if the company is based in a U.S. possession. or based in a country with which the U.S. has a tax treaty. or has stock which is traded on a U.S.. stock bxchange. Senator JEFFORDS. Senator KERRY. and I have become concerned that the definition of qualifying foreign corporations is overly broad and may encompass companies in tax haven countries with little or no tax system. Providing this special benefit for such companies simply because its stock is traded on a U.S. exchange does not meet with the original intent of the legislative change. Our bill would shut down this loophole by modifying the \"stock exchange\" test to only allow this special rate for companies based in countries with a comprehensive income tax system. By doing this. we will address a current inequity between dividendpaying stocks and make sure that only stock of companies subject to tax at the corporate level enjoys this preferential rate. With every tax bill we enact. it is important to review the provisions from time to time to make sure the law works as intended. Here. I believe we have found a significant and unintended loophole. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2616,"word_count":237}
{"speech_id":1090052751,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The legislation also stresses the ability to integrate technology into the classroom. strategies to effectively use assessments to improve instructional practices and curriculum. and- an understanding of how to communicate with and involve parents in their childrens education. My legislation further focuses on teaching skills and learning strategies by including in the partnership grants academic departments such as psychology. human development. or one with comparable expertise in the disciplines of teaching. learning. and child and adolescent development. It also ensures that States hold institutions of higher education and entities that provide alternative routed to State certification equally accountable for preparing highly qualified teachers and highly competent early childhood education providers. The State. partnership. and recruitment grants are currently funded at only $68 million a yearfar too small of an investment for this critical enterprise. The stakes are too high. not just in terms of meeting the highly qualified requirements of No Child Left Behind. but for real students in real classrooms. My bill significantly boosts this funding. authorizing $500 million for these vital programs.","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5283,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090052753,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Bush administration also supports charitable IRA rollovers. In his FY 2006 budget submission. President Bush has proposed. once again. to allow individuals to make certain taxfree charitable IRA distributions after age 65. While the Presidents charitable IRA proposal has merit. the Public Good IRA Rollover Act is superior in one important respect: By allowing taxfree lifeincome gifts from an IRA. Lifeincome gifts involve the donation of assets to a charity. where the giver retains an income stream from those assets for a defined period. Lifeincome gifts are an important tool for charities to raise funds. and would receivea substantial boost if they could be made from IRAs. But lifeincome gifts are not part of the administrations proposal. Again. the Public Good IRA Rollover Act permits individuals to make taxfree lifeincome gifts at the age of 5912. When the Senate Finance Committee crafts charitable giving tax incentive legislation in the 109th Congress. I hope they -will adopt. once again. the IRA charitable rollover approach used in the Public Good IRA Rollover Act. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4330,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090052759,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to announce for the information of the Senate and the public that a hearing has been scheduled before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. The hearing will take place on Thursday. July 14 at 10. in room 366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. DC. The purpose of this hearing is to consider the nominations of: R. Thomas Weimer. of Colorado. to be an Assistant Secretary of the Interior. Mark A. Limbaugh. of Idaho. to be an Assistant Secretary of the Interior.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":515,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090052760,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"James A. Rispoli. of Virginia. to be Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environmental Management.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":657,"word_count":14}
{"speech_id":1090052856,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We all know lessly and wastefully driving up health them when I read them. Some even care costs. Thus it is time for us to get have the images that pop up into their more information but also address the minds. because we see them again and issue. again and again and again. We are bar- Moreover. a lot of the directtoconraged by them. sumer advertising is misleading. I I mention this as a physician. be- know. as people listen. you tend to becausS 10 years ago you would not have lieve. unfortunately. what you see on seen any of that advertising on tele- TV and that can be dangerous in cervision. We have heard them on our tel- tain cases. This directtoconsumer adevision sets. we hear them on our fa- vertising can oversell hope. and people vorite radio programs. we see them in want hope. it can oversell results. and newspapers. we see them in magazines. it can also undersell the risk. Every. Those who go to NASCAR races see drug has side effects. Every drug has a them on the cars. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11796,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090052863,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In the Arizona Senate she rose to the highest level. becoming majority leader and the first woman ever to hold such an office in the* United States. As majority leader of this body. I understand the challenges and rewards of being leader and admire Justice OConnor for her tremendous achievement. In 1975. Sandra Day OConnor was elected. judge of the Maricopa County Superior Court and served until 1979. when she was appointed to the appellate bench in Arizona. There she served. until late President Ronald Reagan appointed her Associate Justice to the Supreme Court. On September. 21. 1981. the Senate unanimously confirmed her nomination to the Supreme Court. And that day. Sandra Day OConnor made history. She became the first female Justice in the Courts history. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9628,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090052891,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And Jim Miller. an Army medic. was an integral part of that remarkable day. Having already treated three of his wounded comrades. Jim could have stayed at an aid station to wait out the dangerous Election Day. Instead. he volunteered to go back out to the streets and help safeguard Iraqis waiting at poing places. To some. Jims choice to do that might have seemed like an extraordinary act. But. with Jim. such actions were typical. Thats just the way he wasalways choosing to be brave. always choosing to be selfless. He was. indeed. a hero. Jim Miller was one of those people who left an impression on everyone he met. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5305,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090052896,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I suggest that maybe we should turn to Arizona once again for a Supreme Court nominee. considering the track records of Justices OConnor and Rehnquist. In law school. Justice OConnor also met her future husband. John Jay OConnor. a fine man and husband. Mr. President. Justice OConnor faced a difficult job market after leaving Stanford. No law firm in California wanted to hire her and only one offered her a position as a legal secretary. Later. in Arizona. she again found it difficult to obtain a position with any law firm. so she started her own firm. It ig truly remarkable to realize just how far Justice OConnor has risen during her life despite the adversity she has faced. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5343,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090052917,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the pending legislative branch appropriations bill for fiscal year 2006. H.R. 2985. as reported by the Senate Committee on Appropriations. provides $3.952 billion in budget authority and $3.947 billion in outlays in fiscal year 2006- for the legislative branch andrelated agencies. Of these totals. $118 million in budget authority and $117 million in outlays are for mandatory programs in fiscal year 2006. The bill provides total discretionary budget authority in fiscal year 2006 of $3.834 billion. This amount is $194 million less than the Presidents request. $70 million less than the 302(b) allocation adopted by the Senate. and is $118 million more than the Housepassed bill. The 2006 budget authority proviIedI in this hill is 2R9 million mne. than the fiscal year 2 I commend the dis man of the Appropri for bringing this legie Senate. I ask unanin a table displaying t mittee scoring of the the RECORD. There being no obj rial was ordered to RECORD. as follows:","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":986,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090052921,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"My bill requires that leagues provide violators with a hearing and fair appeals process upon testing positive. These results must be disclosed to the public. However. no information about an athletes health is required to be disclosed. In order to ensure that leagues are in compliance. the Federal Trade Commission is designated with oversight of the drug testing program. Leagues can be fined up to $1 million per day if they do not enforce this testing policy. This legislation also encouragesbut does not require--leagues to invalidate the records of any athlete who is caught using performance enhancing drugs. History is an important part of -any sport and records should. mean something. Yes. records are made to be broken. But it does not mean you should be able to cheat to do so. I was blessed to play 17 years in the major leagues. ","speaker_name":"JIM BUNNING","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9022,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090052924,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The editorial concluded. \"As long as Civil Rights era killers are still alive and free. justice has not yet been fully served. Hunting them down and bringing them to account for their actions is far and away the best apology any of us can make for their crimes.\" Today. we do not merely rest on words of apologywe take action. When it comes to questions of civil rights that has always been what I have tried to do. In 1962 when I was the student newspaper editor. Vanderbilt Vlniversitys undergraduate school was segregated. I could have apologized for the actions of the board of trust. instead. I helped integrate the school. As Governor and President of the University of Tennessee. instead of apologizing for my predecessors. I appointed the first African American Supreme Court Justice. and university vicepresidents. ","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4288,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090052935,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the Chair. I am glad to be here in the Chamber during the remarks of the Senator from Utah and have him explain for all of our benefit his position on important issues such as flag desecration. While I think some of us differ about the means to the end. I think the end is important. and that is protecting the symbol of our country and the symbol of our freedom. For myself. I think if we can offer protection to a symbol of our country like the bald eagle. then we should offer protection to other symbols of our country including our flag. But I always consider Senator BENNETT to be one of the wise men in the Senate. and I certainly defer to his great judgment and wisdom. I appreciate his introduction today. and I look forward to studying it more closely.","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":770,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090052938,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to announce for the information of the- Senate and the public that a hearing has been scheduled before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. The hearing will take place on Tuesday. July 12 at 10 a.m. in room 366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. DC. The purpose of this hearing is to consider the nominations of: Jill L. Sigal. of Wyoming. to be Assistant Secretary of Energy for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs. David R. Hill. of Missouri. to be General Counsel of the Department of Energy. and James A. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":660,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090052944,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that on Monday. July 11. the Senate proceed to the consideration of calendar No. 129. H.R. 2360. the Homeland Security Appropriations bill. I further ask that the committeereported amendment be agreed to and considered as original text for the purpose of further amendment. and that all firstdegree amendments be filed at the desk by 4 p.m. on Monday. July 11. with the exception of amendments to be proposed by the leaders. I further ask that firstdegree amendments be subject to relevant second degrees and no points of order be waived by this agreement.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":595,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090052955,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this resolution concerns a pro se civil action filed against the Congress. The plaintiff contends that article III. \u00a72. el. 1. of the Constitution. which extends the judicial power to all cases arising under the Constitution. \"preempts\" the later ratified llth amendment to the Constitution. which affords the States an immunity from certain suits. Plaintiff seeks a judicial order directing the Congress to rescind the l1th amendment and $30 million in damages. This suit is subject to dismissal on numerous threshold grounds. including lack of constitutional standing. sovereign and legislative immunity. and the political question doctrine. as well as on the merits. This resolution authorizes the Senate Legal Counsel. in conjunction with counsel for the House of Representatives. to represent the Congress in this suit and to move for its dismissal.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":869,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090052966,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask unanimous consent the* committee amendments. where applicable. be agreed to and considered as original text. the amendments at the desk be agreed to. the bills. as amended. be read a third time and passed. the motions to reconsider be laid on the table. en bloc. and any statements relating to the bills be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":335,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090052968,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We challenge the administration to likewise increase funding for this initiative in coming years. In Hawaii. the impacts of marine debris are more visible because of the convergence caused by the North Pacific Tropical High. Atmospheric forces cause ocean surface currents to converge on Hawaii. bringing with them the vast amount of debris floating throughout the Pacific. Since 1996. a. total of 484 tons of debris have been removed from coral reefs in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands. which is also home to many endangered marine species. In 2004 alone. the program removed over 125 tons of debris. However. because more debris arrives daily. the job is far from done. I am pleased that the coordinated approach taken to address the threats posed by marine debris in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands has provided a model for the nation. We have learned that our best path to success lies in partnering with one another to share resources. and it is my hope that others may adapt our project to their owiL shores through the partnership and funding opportunities set forth in this bill. We must also bear in mind that no matter how zealously we reform our practices. the ultimate solution lies in international cooperation. The oceans connect the coastal nations of the world. and we must work together to reduce this increasing threat to our seas and shores. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL INOUYE","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4468,"word_count":227}
{"speech_id":1090052985,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the order of April 7. 2005. with respect to S. 295 be amended so that the Senate proceed to S. 295 no later than the end of the first session ofthe 109th Congress. with all other provisions of the agreement remaining constant.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":270,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090052988,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the February 17. 2005. appointment of Senator KYL as majority cochair of the Senate National Security Working Group for the 109th Congress be vitiated with respect to his being cochair but that he remain on the commission as a member.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":278,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090053107,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Sudan. It was almost a year ago. Mr. Speaker. on July 21 that the House passed H. Con. Res. 467 that finally. at long last. called what is occurring. in Darfur. a genocide. Since that time. the United States Government has provided over $600 million in humanitarian relief to help ease the suffering of the most affected by this terrible conflict and over $150 million to support the African Union in their mission in Darfur. President Bush. the Congress. Democrats. Republicans. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5490,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090053121,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of this resolution. I thank. again. the gentleman from New Jersey for his kind words of support for this resolution as well. Mr. Speaker. on May 16. 2005. after many years of opposition. the Kuwaiti Parliament finally granted women the right to vote and to run for public office. If you and I. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH CROWLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1494,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090053146,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the tragic and reprehensible bombings in London last Thursday show the world once again just how vigilant we must be in protecting our citizens and continuing to fight terrorism wherever it leads. This is a war unlike any we have ever seen. and victory will require greater resolve than we have ever mustered. The lack of human decency shown by terrorists proves that they will stop at nothing to kill innocent people in an attempt to strike fear in the hearts of us all. However. terrorists are mistaken if they think cowardly actions will shake the resolve of those nations fighting the war on terror. and they are mistaken if they think people will see them for anything other than the evil terrorists they are. As our friends in England begin the healing process. rest assured that we in America will stand by them. We will fight. sidebyside. together. as we have done before. in this war on terror. and. as the President has said. we will not falter and we will not fail. May God bless England and continue to bless the United States of America.","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1063,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090053186,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I believe that Congress should be part of a negotiating team to negotiate these agreements and then bring them to the floor. we debate them. and we pass it. We need to do something to make these agreements fair. Up until now we have not.","speaker_name":"BILL PASCRELL","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":981,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090053187,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. both the gentleman from New Jersey and the gentlewoman from Ohio have pointed out how these agreements are not fair. They are written by a select few for a select few. and the gentlewoman from Ohio writes about how especially working people in Central America and the Dominican Republic simply cannot figure out how to get their voices heard. They ride their horses from the far end of the capital and try to tell their legislators this agreement is not working for them. But what we are seeing this week is there are a handful of Central American legislators that have come here to say this is a bad idea for our country and various different countries in Central America. We are seeing a Central American Roman Catholic cardinal join with American Catholic leaders and Lutheran and Presbyterian leaders in our country saying this is bad for the poor in all seven. countries. It is bad for the poor in the United States. It is bad for the poor in Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. in El Salvador and Guatemala. in Honduras and Nicaragua. This agreement. if we want to talk about economic justice and social justice. as all of us. and I know faith is important to the gentleman from New Jersey and the gentle-. woman from Ohio as it is to me. if we want to talk about what faith is all about. any religious faith to which one ascribes. it is clear that faith is about social and economic justice. That is why the cardinal is here talking to Members of Congress about how this hurts his flock in Central America. ","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2199,"word_count":280}
{"speech_id":1090053202,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"ida. I appreciate the gentlewoman from Illinois telling us first hand your mentoring project with some female candidates. and also some supporters who just want to make sure that women are playing an active role in both the Jordanian Government and the Iraqi Government.","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA BROWN-WAITE","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":270,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090053223,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I put her on the subway right near where one of the bombs went off. So I was among the many Americans who were frantically interested in getting word on our own relatives after the attacks. which is another indication of just how closely tied the United States and the United Kingdom are. These killers. whoever they are. have an utter disregard for human life. They indiscriminately kill innocent people. The explosions were timed to go off during the morning rush hour. to kill the maximum number of people. But we should not be surprised by the barbarity of July 7. We have seen it before. On September 11. 2001. the same impulse of evil that touched London stretched over the ocean to the United States and murdered 3.000 of our own. Ever since the terrorist attacks of September 11. America has waged a global war on terror. ","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3173,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090053225,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. just 2 weeks ago a former staffer and longtime friend. Ally Milder. and a business associate of hers came to spend the weekend at the Grassley farm in New Hartford. IA. I tried to get Ally to step out of her fancy shoes for a couple of days and learn a little about farming. I never did persuade her to feed pigs. but we had a lot of laughs. Today I stand before the Senate with great sadness because Ally Mildermy former chief counsel and a good friend to Barbara and medied suddenly last Thursday at the age of 50. Ally is gone suddenly and too young. I extend my deep sympathy to her mother Frances and sisters Julie and Kelly. and pay tribute to Ally Milder with much regard. I met Ally in 1981. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4173,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090053273,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will speak at a later point about the underlying bill. the Homeland Security appropriations bill. It is an important piece of legislation. I say to the manager that I just checked with the cloakrooms. and there is nobody coming to speak. so I wanted to speak in morning business. I will have an amendment dealing with the proposed. passport requirements between the United States and Canada. and I will address that later. (The remarks of Mr. DORGAN are printed in todays RECORD under \"Morning Business.\")","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":522,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090053294,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today with my good friend. Senator LIEBERMAN. to offer an amendment to the Homeland Security appropriations bill. Let me note at the outset my appreciation for the work that Senator LIEBERMAN has done on this issue. He and I have worked together with members of the Homeland Security Subcommittee for the past 3 years on this authorization to develop an improved homeland security funding approach based on extensive hearings we have held. much consultation. and hard work by our committee. We are pleased to be joined by several cosponsors. including Senators CARPER.","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":590,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090053315,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on the way from California to Washington this morning. my plane had engine trouble. and I had to return to California. As a result. I was not able to make the vote on the resolution condemning the terrorist bombings in London last week and expressing sympathy for the people of the United Kingdom. Had I been present. I would certainly have voted for the resolution. I hope that it serves to strengthen our resolve to go after the terrorists and to do everything we can to protect the people of the United States. particularly by doing more to secure our rail and traDsit systems.e (At the request of Mr. REID. the following statement was ordered to be printed in the RECORD.)","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":691,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090053320,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the distinguished Senator from New Hampshire. the chairman of the subcommittee. I will very shortly propose an amendment which will stand next to Senator COLLINSS amendment. The purpose of my amendment is simple. It provides that the Secretary of Homeland Security will ensure that Homeland Security grants are allocated based on the assessment of threat. vulnerability. and consequence to the maximum extent practicable. This amendment dovetails S. 1013 which Senator CORNYN and I submitted earlier. Cosponsors are Senators LAU-","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":552,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090053335,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have a great trading partner to the south. We have a great neighbor to the south. We have. a country that shares many common interests. We have a country that we enjoy being our neighbor. We also would like for them to be our partner in seeing to it that the border we share is secure so that those who are crossing are crossing legally and consistent with the laws of that nation. I thank the subcommittee chairman for his cooperation. I thank the Senate for agreeing to this amendment. I am pleased we can express this sense of the Senate that the common interest of both countries is in the best interests of America when it comes to the border security between ourselves and the country of Mexico. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JOHN ISAKSON","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2232,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090053355,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to honor a community in North Dakota that is celebrating its 125th anniversary. On August 57. the residents of Kindred. ND. will celebrate their communitys founding and history. Kindred is a small town of 614 citizens in southeastern North Dakota. Despite its size. Kindred holds an important place in North Dakotas history. Kindred can trace its history to 1879 when a U.S. Post Office named Sibley was moved two miles north of its original location to the present day site of Kindred. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1449,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090053361,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I offer my congratulations to the town of Bridgewater. located in McCook Coupty. SD. The town will celebrate the 125th anniversary of its founding this year. The town was originally named Nation City for its founders. Robert and John B. Nation. However. it was renamed Bridgewater and moved to the northern side of the railroad tracks in Once again. I congratulate Bridgewater on their anniversary and wish them the best of luck in the years to come..","speaker_name":"JOHN THUNE","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":472,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090053368,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. LAUTENBERG. * Mr. CORZINE. and Mr. SCHUMER) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill H.R. 2360. making appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for the fiscal year ending September 30. 2006. and for other purposes. which was ordered to lie on the table. as follows: On page 100. between lines 11 and 12. insert the following: SEC. 519. (a) Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act. the Secretary of Homeland Security. in consultation with the Secretary of Transportation. shall assess and report in writing to the Committee on Appropriations. the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs. and the Committee on Commerce. Science. and Transportation of the Senate on the following: (1) The vulnerability posed to high risk areas and facilities from general aviation aircraft that could be stolen or used as a weapon or armed with a weapon. (2) The security vulnerabilities existing at general aviation airports that would permit general aviation aircraft to be stolen. (3) Lowcost. highperformance technology that could be used to easily track general aviation aircraft that could otherwise fly undetected. (4) The feasibility of implementing security measures that would disable general aviation aircraft while on the ground and parked to prevent theft. (5) The feasibility of performing requisite background checks on individuals working at general aviation airports that have access to aircraft or flight line activities. (6) An assessment of the threat posed to high population areas. nuclear facilities. key infrastructure. military bases. and transportation infrastructure that stolen or hijacked general aviation aircraft pose especially if armed with weapons or explosives. . (7) An assessment of existing security precautions in place at general aviation airports to prevent breaches of the flight line and perimeter. (8) An assessment of whether unmanned air traffic control towers provide a security or alert weakness to the security of general aviation aircraft. (9) An assessment of the additional measures that should be adopted to ensure the security of general aviation aircraft. (b) The report required by subsection (a) shall include cost estimates associated with implementing each of the measures recommended in the report. SA 1107. Mrs. MURRAY submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill H.R. 2360. making appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for the fiscal year ending September 30. 2006. and for other purposes. which was ordered to lie on the table. as follows: At the appropriate place. insert the following: SEC. _. (a) From the money in the Treasury not otherwise obligated or appropriated. there are appropriated to the Department of Veterans Affairs $i.500.000.000 for the fiscal year ending September 30. 2005. for medical services provided by the Veterans Health Administration. which shall be available until expended. (b) The amount appropriated under subsection (a)(1) is designated as an emergency requirement pursuant to section 402 of H.Con.Res. 95 (109th Congress). and (2) shall remain available until expended. (c) This section shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act. SA 1108. Mr. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6462,"word_count":506}
{"speech_id":1090053448,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Thank you very much. Mr. President. Mr. President. this amendment is offered on behalf of the Senator from Texas. Mr. CORNYN. and myself. It is identical to the Homeland Security FORWARD Funding Act of 2005. That is S. 1013. I am very pleased to be joined not only by my colleague from Texas but. as well. by Senators BOXER. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":335,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090053450,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Third. the bill requires States to quickly pass on Federal funds to where they are needed. States should not hold Federal funds back from where they are most needed. This bill will ensure that States quickly and effectively move the funds through to the location. And. fourth. the bill addresses the small State minimum issue. The underlying bill requires each State to get .75 percent of the grant funding. Now. what does that mean? That means that 37.5 percent of the funds go on a formula basis to areas that might not have risk. threat. or vulnerability. For instance. under the current appropriations bill. of the $1918 billion appropriated. $548 million is taken right off the top. allocated to States regardless of whether they are vulnerable. whether they have risk. or whether they have threat. Thus. that $548 million is not available to meet risk. This legislation will significantly reduce this large setaside. It will reduce it from 37.5 percent to the .25 percent. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12447,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090053465,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that at 11:30 today the Senate resume consideration of the Reid for Murray amendment regarding veterans health. provided further. that the time until 12 noon be equally divided in the usual form. and that at noon the Senate proceed to a vote in relationship to the Murray amendment. with no second degrees in order prior to the vote. I further ask that the pending FeinsteinCornyn amendment be modified in order to become a firstdegree amendment. I further ask that the time for Senator FEINSTEINS statement until 11:30 be divided equally between Senator FEINSTEIN or her designee. and Senator COLLINS or her designee to debate the Collins and Feinstein amendments concurrently. provided further. that at 2:15. there be an additional 90 minutes divided as stated above. finally. I ask that at 5 p.m. today the Senate proceed to a vote in relation to the Collins amendment. to be followed by a vote in relation to the Feinstein amendment. with no amendments in order to either amendment prior to the votes.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1044,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090053482,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I think we see today the problems that occur when we try to write a formula not in committee. not based on careful hearings. input from all interested parties. two markups. 3 years of deliberations by the committee. but instead try to cobble together an amendment -on the Senate floor. I have heard again today the comparison that Wyoming gets more money on a per capita basis. The Senator from California. my friend and colleague. made that argument. Over and over again we hear the argument that homeland security dollars are unfairly allocated because less populous States generally get more per capita than more populous States. But the truth is. that argument does not hold water. What is the point of that argument? That homeland security dollars should be distributed on a per capita basis rather than risk and a minimum free each State? The fact is. riskbased allocations)ead to per capita disparities as well. Lets take the District of Columbia as an example. I think every single Member of this distinguished body would agree that the District of Columbia. despite its relatively small population. is an extremely highrisk area. In fact. the District of Columbia gets by far the most on a per capita basis. nearly $217 per resident. because it is a small population. highrisk area. Taken to its logical conclusion. the argument of these advocates is fewer dollars to the national capital region. ","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8404,"word_count":236}
{"speech_id":1090053491,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I will be happy to yield once I conclude my explanation. The Senator from New Jersey again ignores the amount of money in this bill that would go to the law enforcement terrorism prevention program. which would be authorized for the first time in this legislation. Prevention takes a back seat to responding to a terrorist attack. and that is why virtually every police association in this country has endorsed the CollinsLieberman bill. virtually every one. because of our emphasis on prevention as well. The National Association of Police Organizations wrote: Unlike other homeland security grant proposals. S. 21 ensures that the prevention of terrorist attacks. not just response efforts. receives a significant share of homeland security funds. I would be happy to yield to the Senator from New Jersey on his time or on the time of Senator FEINSTEIN. I yield the floor but reserve the remainder of my time.","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":911,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090053510,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As the Senator knows. I have a great deal of admiration for what a careful legislator she is.","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":882,"word_count":18}
{"speech_id":1090053512,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let me clear up a couple of misperceptions surrounding this debate. First of all. this debate is not about big States versus small States. although it certainly sounds that way. Our amendment. for example. is cosponsored by both Senators from Ohio and. in fact. was heavily influenced by and contributed to by the Senator from Michigan. Mr. LEVIN. I ask unanimous consent he be added as a cosponsor.","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":414,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090053514,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"For example. two of the terrorists were pilots and visited the flight school in Norman. OK. Norman is also where Moussaoui and another terrorist resided while attending school. Two of the terrorists stayed in Georgia. visiting such small communities as Norcross and Decatur before living in Stone Mountain. GA. Although the 9\/11 Commission found no explanation for these travels. the terrorists mobility reveals an unpredictable pattern that shows that their presence was not confined to large cities. Over and over again. if you look at the list from the 9\/11 Commission. you will see that the terrorists trained and lived in rural America. in small communities. As I have said earlier. this issue is very real to us from the Northeast. from the State of Maine in particular. because two of the terrorists started their day on 9\/11 from the Portland. ME. airport. Over and over again. we have seen. from law enforcement. warnings that we need to pay attention to prevention. and that is exactly what this bill does. ","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3837,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090053516,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The bottom line is that while we think we know where terrorists wish to attack based on past experience. the fact is we dont know for sure. They strike hard targets. they strike soft targets. Riskbased methodology is an art the Department of Homeland Security is still struggling to develop. So lets not talk about it as if it is science. It is prediction. It is a probability. If we focus all of our funding on where those probabilities lead. it will leave most of the country undefended. Terrorists have demonstrated a willingness to attack a wide variety of targets in awide variety of places. In 2001. a plot was uncovered by intelligence agencies to attack an American school in Singapore. In 2002. in Bali. terrorists","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3212,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090053529,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent to be added as a cosponsor of the Murray amendment.","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1768,"word_count":16}
{"speech_id":1090053582,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this is an important debate. I wish to give a little background to it because there is a sense in which what is said up here is a contest between the CollinsLieberman amendment and the FeinsteinCornyn amendment. Both of these amendments are amendments to the underlying bill. It is in that sense I urge my colleagues to consider the CollinsLieberman amendment first. There is some history to this amendment.. It just didnt arise up in response to this Homeland Security appropriations bill. but from our committee. Senatot COLLINS is the chair and I am the ranking Democrat on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. This is the committee from which the Department of Homeland Security emerged as an entity to be adopted by the Congress and signed and implemented by the President. We have been concerned about these homeland security grants because. if I am correct. we had some testimony that there was not another grant program of this size. over $1 billionover $2 billion. actually. last yearthat did not have an authorization. that just sort of was in the air. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11814,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090053586,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It was no accident that when the terrorists attacked our Nation on September 11. 2001. they picked powerful. highprofile. and heavily trafficked targets. Terrorists target areas where they can inflict the most damage and get the most attention. and for those reasons they focus on urban centers. areas of national importance. areas that are highly populated. But if you include the interests of a regionbe they tourist attractions. amusements parks or resorts. at anyone time there can be millions of visitors. For instance. Orange County. FL. is one of the top vacation destinations in the world. In 2003 the region played host to over 45 million visitors. On March 18. 2003. the Federal Aviation Administration imposed a nofly zone over the Walt Disney World Resort areabecause. according to an FAA spokesperson: \"The Disney parks are a potential target of symbolic value . . .\" Florida is also home to 14 deepwater ports. many of which are nationally significant and critically important parts of our countrys shipping infrastructure. For example. at the Port of Miami nearly 4 million cruise passengers passed through the Port and over 9 million tons of cargo transited through the seaport. This combination of cruise and cargo activities supported approximately 98.000 jobs. and has an economic impact in MiamiDade County of over $12 billion. ","speaker_name":"MEL MARTINEZ","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5037,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090053593,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Now. let me quickly bring to your attention the position of the administration. The position of the administration is set out in a letter of July 12 signed by Michael Chertoff to Members of the Senate. Let me just read a few parts. The administration strongly believes that Federal homeland security funds should be distributed to our first responders based on risk and need. The Administration would oppose amendments that would add new bureaucratic requirements and cap funding for high threat cities while not providing enough flexibility to distribute over 90 percent of grant funds on the basis of risk. The administrations position is 90 percent of grant .funds should be distributed on the basis of risk. The closest amendment to that is FeinsteinCornyn at 87 percent of grant funds distributed on the basis of risk. And here is the reason that DHS gives. DHS is identifying 36 capabilities that are critical to preventing another terrorist attack and. if an attack does occur. to respond and recover in a manner that minimizes loss of life and other damages. We must focus our State and local preparedness efforts on building those capabilities to the right. level and in the right places. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3971,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090053633,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Would the able chairman yield for a comment? I urge the chairman not to raise the budget point of order at this time. I wonder if perhaps I might implore the chairman to work with Chairman COCHRAN to approve using a portion of the fiscal year 2005 allocation for our firefighters so that this amendment would not be subject to a point of order. Would the very able chairman be willing to give some consideration to my request in this light?","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":440,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090053641,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask that prior to the votes which are to occur at 5 oclock on the Feinstein and Collins amendmentsI guess the Collins amendment will be firstthat 4 minutes be equally divided between the two sides with 2 minutes under the control of Senator COLLINS and 2 minutes under the control of Senator FEINSTEIN.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":319,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090053712,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Joe McCutchen is also Georgias leading advocate for lower taxes and sound fiscal policy in government. He and his friend Oscar Poole travel to Washington often to present their Taxpayer Champion Award. and there is not a credible radio or television public policy call in show in the United States on which Joe has not participated. Joe McCutchen has lived the American dream and commits his life to sharing its promise with others. Georgia Tech is to be commended for its living history program and its selection of Joe McCutchen.e","speaker_name":"JOHN ISAKSON","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1353,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090053714,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Johnson founded and became owner of the largest blackowned publishing company in the world. Johnson Publishing Company. Inc.. located in Chicago. IL. From this company. the Negro Digest. Ebony. Jet and other magazines and periodicals were created. Ebony and Jet magazines enabled Johnson to have an impact on Civil Rights in America. Entertainment. Sports and the Nations culture as a whole. ","speaker_name":"BLANCHE LINCOLN","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1990,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090053729,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Intellectual Property be authorized to meet to conduct a hearing on \"Music Licensing Reform\" on Tuesday. July 12. 2005 at 2:30 p.m. in Dirksen 226. Witness List: Panel I: Marybeth Peters. U.S. Register of Copyrights. Washington. DC. Panel H: Rob Glaser. ","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":821,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090053756,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. this trade policy is not The reason CAFTA does not work is working. These trade agreements are that it was crafted by a select few. ne- not working. This trade agreement is gotiated by a select few to benefit a se- not about lifting up workers in the delect few. The drug companies were at veloping world. It is about U.S. compathe negotiating table. They. of course. nies moving plants to Honduras. will benefit from the Central American outsourcing jobs to El Salvador and exFree Trade Agreement. but small man- ploiting cheap labor in Guatemala. not ufacturers will not. to help those workers. because those 0 Printed on recycled paper. workers living standards under past trade agreements simply have not risen. We know. Mr. Speaker. that we need a different CAFTA. and we have a different CAFTA when the worlds poorest people can buy American goods. not just make them. we will know our trade policies are finally working. We should defeat this CAFTA and renegotiate a better Central American Free Trade Agreement.","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4441,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090053771,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As President Bush said. \"America will not retreat in the face of terrorists and murderers. And neither will the free world.\" In conclusion. God bless our troops. we will never forget September 11 and Londons July 7.","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1069,"word_count":37}
{"speech_id":1090053773,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today I wish all the best for NASA and the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery and the men and women of Kennedy Space Center on attempting to launch tomorrow. Those of us who support the program understand how critically important it is for the United States to have a continuing human presence in space. After the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia in February of 2003. we have not been able to launch our astronauts into space for almost 212 years. With a successful launch tomorrow. we will once again show the world that our program and the dedicated people behind it are second to none and that our space shuttle fleet is unrivaled when it comes to technology and mission capability. This launch will be an important first step. a first step in the new vision for space exploration ar.ticulated by President Bush in January of 2004. a vision that is not only taking us back to low Earth orbit and the space station but that will lead us back to the Moon and one day on to Mars. Again. I know I speak for all Americans when we wish the crew of Discovery God speed and a safe mission.","speaker_name":"DAVID WELDON","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1100,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090053780,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. the improving economy is not empty rhetoric. What is crystal clear is that the policies of this Congress and this administration are progrowth. leading the charge. and they are succeeding.","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1034,"word_count":31}
{"speech_id":1090053781,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the single most important vote of the week and one of the most important of the year is buried in the massive Water Resources Development Act coming before Congress this week: the Upper Mississippi Lock project. This is the \"Big Dig\" of water projects. Actually. it is like five or six big digs. since 10 percent of all water resources for years to come will be spent on this single project. I urge my colleagues to look closely at the amendment that I will be offering with my colleague. the gentleman from Arizon. . which will require that before th4s project moves from planning to construction in 5 years. that the minimum justification for the demand for barge traffic. the rationale for the project. is justified. Taxpayers deserve no less for the largest water resources project in Americas history.","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":819,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090053785,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. Americas editorial boards. both liberal and conservative. were not fooled by the Congressional Republican Social Security proposal unveiled this past month. The Republican plan would create private accounts out of the money now going into the Social Security trust fund. The Baltimore Sun called the plan \"the worst plan yet.\" While the Minneapolis StarTribune said. \"It is so weird and illconceived that it wouldnt merit comment. except that prominent GOP lawmakers have rallied around it.\" USA Today examined the plan and concluded. \"for every one part substance. the plan contains nine parts gimmick.\" While the New York Times wrote that the plan abandons \"efforts to restore solvency in order to resuscitate those doomed. unwanted. unwise private accounts.\" Finally. the Roanoke Times and World News opined. \"Republicans touting the plan say it will stop the raid on the Social Security trust fund. But if they wish to identify those perpetrating that raid for the last 4 years. they need only look in a very large mirror.\" Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES MELANCON","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1158,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090053787,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. now that we know Karl Rove was one of the White House officials who leaked the identity of Valerie Plame. it is time for President Bush to hold his righthand man accountable and ask for Roves resignation. This is. after all. what members of his own administration stated would happen when the President learned the identity of those responsible for the leak. In September of 2003. White House Press Secretary Scott McClelland told reporters. \"If anyone in this administration was involved in it. they would no longer be in this administration.\" Pushed further a reporter asked him if the leaker should be fired. And he answered. \"If a source leaked information of this nature. yes.\" Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie said. I do not believe it would be hard for President Bush to ask the person to walk the plank. The fact that Karl Rove remains at the White House speaks volumes. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT MENENDEZ","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1158,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090053834,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Would the gentleman further agree that the numismatic collection would best be displayed in a separate museum here in Washington. not as a subset or subsidiary of any existing Smithsonian museum. but that such a museum could also display examples of other forms of exchange of value. from barter and wampum to coins and currency of other countries. to electronic transfers of value. along with demonstrations of how coins and currencies are produced in its own standalone museum here in Washington. D.C.?","speaker_name":"JOHN CULBERSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":504,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090053845,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am proud to serve on the Committee on Appropriations. Subcommittee \u0095 on Science. The gentleman from Virginia (Chairman WOLF) is a strong supporter. This House has supported increased funding for NASA in a vote on this floor just weeks ago. So in addition to this coin. Congress has expressed our tangible support for NASA and their mission with increased funding. As this coin is brought into production in 2008. we do not know what the future holds. but I am confident it holds immense promise. Just as the Lewis and Clark expedition brought unknown and immense benefits to the Nation. the American space program will continue to bring incredible growth in our economy as a result of technological spinoffs. The unparalleled growth we have seen in worker productivity in America is a direct result of improvements in high technology and communications and scientific and medical research. Thomas Jefferson. my hero. always said freedom is the firstborn child of science. and there is no better way for America to express our pride and our confidence in our Nations space program than by commemorating their 50th anniversary with this coin set in the year 2008.","speaker_name":"JOHN CULBERSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1987,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090053847,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. two and a half years ago we all watched in horror as the space shuttle Columbia fell apart during reentry over the Southwest. Nearly two decades ago. we all watched in horror as the Challenger blew up on launch. And before that. we remember other space tragedies. But. Mr. Speaker. despite all the sense of sorrow and loss that those events brought. we also remember the successes of NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratoriesspacewalks and moon walks. moon rocks and rocket jocks. The history of NASA and the JPL are a glorious celebration of all that is American. the right stuff. the elati6n and the tragedy. the bravery and the genius. And so today I rise in strong support of the proposal by the gentleman from Texas to honor the 50th anniversary of NASA and the JPL with commemorative coins to be issued in 3 years. Mr. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL OXLEY","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2296,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090053866,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So to gay this is a nonbinding resolution. surely it makes a statement about some of the needs that we need to work on. but at the same time this Congress is addressing all of those issues. and we ask our colleagues across the aisle to join us to pass these bills so that we can help those Americans in need and we can increase our competitiveness on the global market. I support this resolution. and I want to thank the gentleman from Texas","speaker_name":"CHARLES BOUSTANY","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2106,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090053877,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Louisiana for his leadership on the floor today and his help in these very important issues of making America more competitive tomorrow. Mr. Speaker. you know. when I listened to the debate today. I find that there are areas both Republicans and Democrats can agree on. And there are ways that we can work together to miake a more solid economy in the future po that we can retain our number one status in the future instead of falling into a second or thirdrate economy. The danger is out there. We heard talk from the gentleman from Ohio","speaker_name":"TODD TIAHRT","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":579,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090053880,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I voted for H. Res. 352 because I agree that there are barriers to keeping and creating jobs within the United States and that Federal agencies ought to review their rules and policies to improve the competitiveness of our economy. But I do not associate myself with the sense of the \"Whereas\" clauses that America must adopt foreign values and standards in order to compete economically. I also note that the \"Whereas\" clauses include partisan distortions and falsehoods that are an illconsidered disservice to the cause of American competitiveness.","speaker_name":"JAMES MARSHALL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":563,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090053905,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Whether one is a Democrat or a Republican. ending child poverty should be central to our domestic agenda. Nearly 3\/2 million children have parents who would get an immediate raise if Congress increased the minimum wage. Hard work is an American value. We teach our children the infportance of work and encourage them to do well in school to achieve a job that rewards it. Despite this. 36 million working Americans live in poverty. Poverty and wage volatility have doubled for fulltime. fullyear workers since the 1970s. Since President Bush took office. the cost of housing has gone up 33 percent. college tuition has gone up 35 percent. and health insurance has gone up 59 percent. But the working poor have not seen one thin dime. Leave No Child Behind is a cruel joke. Americas future depends- on strong families. and if Members believe in values of families. as some say they do. then they would vote this rule down. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2613,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090053914,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Reservists and National Guard. are on the front line and now they cannot get an increase in the. minimum wage because today we take away safety. but we do not provide for an increase in the minimum wage. I ask my colleagues to vote \"no\" on the previous question and also I ask them to vote \"no\" on the underlying legislation. Mr. Speaker. I rise in opposition to the rule. H. Res. 351. to provide for consideration of the four very contentious and overreaching bills that amend the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)-H.R. 739. H.R. 740. H.R. 741. and H.R. 742. I am utterly disappointed by the fact that the Committee on -Rules has issued a closed rule on the debate over all three bills. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5085,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090053922,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The bills before us undermine OSHAs ability to effectively enforce these vital safety standards. Once again. the misguided priorities of the Republicans and the Bush Administration seem more concerned about corporate profits than the safety of our workers. Even more shameful. is the message these bills send about the true Republican agenda for labor rights. For over a year. Republicans in Congress have been talking about how the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) improves working conditions in other countries. Not only is that contention blatantly false. it is clear from this legislation that Republicans dont care about working conditions in this country. let alone in Central America. We should not undermine worker health and safety for the benefit of big business. I urge my colleagues to look past the rhetoric of \"OSHA reform\" and vote against these destructive bills that erode worker protections.","speaker_name":"FORTNEY STARK","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2089,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090053973,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Again. this is one of a set of bills that would serve to gut OSHA. It puts aside. really. the seriousness of the matter here. We do not want OSHA to become just an annoyance or a minor delay or an inconvenience or just the cost of doing business. No. OSHA should have teeth. There are hundreds of thousands. if not millions. of Americans. I do not know who they are. they do not know who they are. who today have their arms. their eyes. their health. even their lives because of OSHA. and they do not know who they are. But they can thank people like Senator Pete Williams from New Jersey and others. who 35 years ago realized that it is the appropriate role of the Federal Government to be involved. I know there are those who think that it would be better if the Federal Government had never gotten involved in this. I suppose they would say. well. the employee could sit down with the employer and the employee could point out the unsafe working conditions and the employer will surely take care of it because no employer wants his employees harmed. ","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3098,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090053978,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I rise today to speak in opposition to H.R. 739. a bill to amend the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to provide for adjudication flexibility with regard to the filing of a notice of contest by an employer following the issuance of a citation or proposed assessment of a penalty by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. In essence. this bill would amend current law to authorize the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) to make exceptions to the 15day. deadline for employers to challenge OSHA citations if the employers failure to meet this deadline is due to a \"mistake. inadvertence. surprise. or excusable neglect.\" This would weaken the ability of the Occupational Safety. and Health Review Commission to enforce the current deadline and would encourage increased litigation and .disrupt OSHAs ability to address workplace hazards in a timely manner. OSHA is already \"astonishingly ineffectual\" in protecting workers lives. In the past 20 years OSHA has failed to seek criminal prosecutions in 93 percent of the cases where employers willful and flagrant safety violations ended up killing workers. (New York Times\/December 2003). Furthermore. according to a recent GAO report. since 1996. OSHA has cut resources dedicated to enforcement by 6 percent. The U.S. lags behind other western nations in protecting workers lives. A U.S. construction worker is 4 times more likely to be killed on the job than one in Denmark. (Center for Worker Rights 2004). As a New York State Supreme Court Judge observed: \"Why Congress has adopted such a spineless response to industrial malfeasance is .best left to voters to assess.\" (Newsday. 1\/15\/04). ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1815,"word_count":270}
{"speech_id":1090053992,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Two major workplace tragedies. one in Texas this year and the other in Ohio last year. underscore the need to strengthen. not weaken. the health and safety laws of this country. On March 23 of this year. a huge explosion at the BP Amoco Texas City refinery killed 15 workers and injured 170 others. Although BP initially blamed contract workers for the explosion. it now appears that faulty equipment played a major role in this catastrophiQ blast. As it turns out. the BP Amoco refinery in Texas City has been a repeat safety violator. Repeat safety violations also played a key role in the deaths of four iron workers when a massive bridge crane collapsed near Toledo. Ohio. in 2004. The. contractor FruCon failed to address urgent issues with anchoring the crane properly raised by the cranes European manufacturers. OSHA fined FruCon $280.000 and cited the contractor for willful safety violations. Rather than taking decisive action on behalf of hardworking employees. like increasing the minimum wage. stopping runaway pension terminations or expanding access to health care. these bills do nothing more than jeopardize the health and safety protections of employees on the job. H.R. 742 significantly diminishes the protections of Occupational Safety and Health by discouraging OSHA from even enforcing the Occupational Health and Safety Act and punishing taxpayers unless the agency. like Perry Mason. can win every case. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3569,"word_count":229}
{"speech_id":1090053996,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 1 minute. I would just like to mention to the gentlewoman from California that this bill is not about death. It is simply about making OSHA work. making the commission work. It is as simple as that. If you want to be against making OSHA actually work. and the review commission doing the job that the Democratic Congress wrote in the bill in 1970. then vote \"no.\" Mr. Speaker I yield 3 minutes to my good friend. the gentleman from Georgia .","speaker_name":"CHARLES NORWOOD","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":469,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090054052,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show a rise in deaths of American workers on the job. In 2002. 5.524 workers were killed due to injuries on the job. By 2003. that number had risen to 5.575. In 2003. 4.4 million. 4.4 million nonfatal workplace injuries were also reported. Let us remember what OSHA is: OSHA is the Federal cop on the workplace safety beat. H.R. 742 will discourage OSHA from enforcing the laws against dangerous workplaces. Instead. OSHA will spend its time weighing the odds of winning against the costs to its budget if it loses. H.R. 742 would require OSHAto pay attorneys fees in any case which it does not prevail. This wodld discourage settlements which save both time and money and in effect leave businesses with little or no reason to not contest charges. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3339,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090054059,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Again. the magnitude of this issue. 99.7 percent of all businesses are small businesses. 75 percent of all new jobs are in the area of small business. OSHA has a budget of $468 million. with 2.200 employees and 1.100 inspectors. The deck is stacked. Yes. it is stacked. it is stacked against those most beneficial to our economy. small business owners and their employees. H.R. 742 would allow a small businessman or -woman to recover attorneys fees if they contest and they win. they win. an allegation in a citation by OSHA. Remember OSHAs budget. $468 million? You win. OSHA was wrong. Right? OSHA was wrong. but you spent thousands of dollars to defend your business and your workers jobs. Remember. you win against a $468 million budget. So OSHA should reimburse your attorneys fees. ","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2205,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090054100,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"On H.R. 742OSHA rollback to require OSHA to pay attorneys feesI would have voted \"nay.\" I would not have supported the legislation because it requires OSHA to pay attorneys fees and costs for employers with 100 or less employees and a net worth of $7 million or less in an administrative or judicial proceeding in which OSHA does not prevail. It is a blatant attempt to chill OSHAs exercise of statutory responsibility to enforce the Occupational Safety and Health (OCS) Act. by penalizing the agency for every instance in which it attempts to do so unsuccessfully. and therefore. undermined the enforcement of workplace health and safety laws.","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3293,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090054138,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I did not just like Jake Pickle. I loved Jake Pickle. Congressman Pickle was one of the finest public servants to have ever served in this House. and he was a true Texas treasure. He was a kind. decent. caring human being who spent his entire life making life better for others: Whether it was helping a veteran receive health care. bringing research dollars. and he brought many of them. to his beloved University of Texas or saving the Social Security system in 1983. tdke IWas always dedicated to h elp ing !o th ers - -! . . ... .. I Jake Pickles faith was shown time and time again as he lived the commandment to love thy neighbor. Jake Pickle lived every day with another biblical verse. \"This is the day the Lord hath made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.\" Jake lived every day joyfully. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS EDWARDS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3005,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090054143,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I commend our leadership here in the House for continuing to work on these issues and put this focus on small businesses. whether it is through an energy bill or through the death tax repeal or class action fairness or bankruptcy or jobs training improvement. All of that affects small business. much the same way as health care affects small business and its employees. There are just a couple of other quick points that I would like to add. Looking at health care and the viability of health care for small business is not new. This is not something that is on the plate for the first time in the 109th Congress. This is an issue that our leadership has been focused on for many years. 0l 2000 One provision that was on the table for quite a while and finally was passed in the 108th Congress is health savings accounts. and for small businesses that are seeking to find an affordable way to continue or to give health choices for their employees. the health savings accounts are a wonderful alternative. And. Mr. Speaker. one of the things that has come to mind that we have seen with the past year. with the advent of health savings accounts. more than 1 million Americans have chosen this as an option because it is a way for them to save. to set aside. and a way for them to begin looking to expanding their health care dollar. being certain that they have that health care dollar where they are getting basically the most bang for their buck. And I certainly think that it is to our credit that this option was made available to the American people last year. and I commend our leadership for that. ","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5312,"word_count":294}
{"speech_id":1090054144,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. I thank the gentlewoman so much for her comments. I appreciate her leadership in this issue and so many other issues in our Congress. and I thank her for her perspective as a small business owner and somebody who has been a real advocate for increasing choices for patients and opportunities to purchase health insurance. I mentioned briefly before the tax treatment of health insurance and why we seem to be in a situation now where there is this remarkable incentive for employers to purchase health insurance. and that again is because of the tax treatment. And nobody understands that better than the next individual whom I have asked to join me today. Because of this tax incentive. solutions to our current situation must address the taxes and how they affect decisions about the purchase of health care. And one person who understands this as well as anybody and is a good friend and legislator is the gentleman from Iowa . The gentleman from Iowa is working to fight burdensome government regulation and red tape. He truly understands the challenges of starting and operating a business first hand as a successful agribusinessman. ","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1398,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090054151,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Do not assume they will not find out about it because they will. These are some good tests for all elected officials whether you are in Congress or not. If it does not pass the smell test. do not do it. A politician who expects financial privacy is in the wrong line of work. Do not arrive at events too early because they do not know what to do with you. Listen for the bell. Those of us in Congress understand that. We have to listen for the bell so we can go vote. Answer every constituents letter within 3 days of its receipt. We have that goal in our office still. 3 business days anyway.. ","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5791,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090054152,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You could have had seven Jake Pickle clones in an eightman line up with Jake Pickle and you could tell. which one was Pickle. He would be the one shaking the other seven guys hands and telling funny stories. And there was one after another out of the Pickle barrel that he would tell around here and to our colleagues. He also could be very eloquent in discussing the needs of the people of central Texas and of our country. During one very lengthy debate here in 1983 here over Social Security. he pointed to Daniel Websters quotation at the Speakers podium and read the words: \"Let us go forth to build up and protect our national resources that we too in our time may do something worthy to be remembered.\" Certainly. from his first major vote on the Civil Rights Act to his hardfought preservation of Social Security. there is no doubt among those who know of his deeds. his constituents. his colleagues and friends. that his contribution will be remembered long after in the very words that Webster spoke. I believe that of all the votes that Jake cast here and the speeches he gave at this very spot that the one that he talked about the most. that was the most significant. was among his first votes on the 1964 Civil Rights Act. That vote took place in the aftermathof the assassination of President Kennedy at a time of great strife in our country over civil rights and our future. It was a critical vote to the rebirth of our country and to trying to cope with some of the wrongs. many wrongs of the past. Congressman Pickle. representing a southern State. was a new Member. faced a difficult decision. and he describes that at some length in the book that we have referred to and will incorporate portions of as a part of this RECORD. But I have heard him personally tell. as so many have here. about casting that vote and about calling the White House to talk to the President. it being so late. and then getting the opportunity to hear from the President of how very proud he was of the fact that Congressman Pickle cast one of the only votes from the southern States in support of this very critical piece of legislation.. ","speaker_name":"LLOYD DOGGETT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5309,"word_count":391}
{"speech_id":1090054156,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. many great Americans have served in this House. men and women of conviction who represented their constituents with integrity. energy and devotion to assuring the American dream becomes a reality for all. Few Members of Congress have served with such unbridled enthusiasm. such untiring good humor and such true pleasure in the task as did my late colleague from Texas. Jake Pickle. Jakes passing last month at the age of 91 was. in many ways. the end of an era in Texas history. A longtime confidant of President Lyndon Johnson. Jake represented the 10th District of Texas for 31 years. During that long tenure. he set an enviable record for constituent service and responsiveness. No constituent concern or problem was too small for Jakes attention. Jake loved this House and took seriously his responsibility to uphold the integrity of the institution and the responsibilities of representative government. ","speaker_name":"LAMAR SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1586,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090054157,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would like to join my distinguished colleagues and pay tribute to my good friend. J.J. Pickle. Those of us who have the tremendous honor of serving in this great institution sometimes fail to see the giants that serve among us. Certainly J.J. Pickle. was one of those giants. He was a man who gave his heart. literally. to this country. He -poured hours after hours into trying to grapple with the important issues we faced as a Nation. and he did it because he loved this country. ","speaker_name":"EDDIE JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2092,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090054160,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It might be worth just a moment. Madam Speaker. to take a look at our next chart. which kind of puts this in context. We started out with the zygote. which is the fertilized egg here. and we ended up with the inner cell mass with these three germ layers. What we show here are all the stages that were omitted in that first chart. This is onehalt. as the little diagram here in the upper left shows. of the reproductive tract of a female. It shows the ovary on one side and the fallopian tube. with the funnellike opening here called the infundibulum. Then it shows the fallopian tube on down to the uterus itself. What it shows. Madam Speaker. is that fertilization takes place well up in the fallopian tube. and that begins day one. And then as the egg slowly moves down the tube. it splits first into two cells. then four cells. and then eight cells. and then the larger variety of cells. and finally where you have the inner cell mass and then to the gastrula. ","speaker_name":"ROSCOE BARTLETT","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11269,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090054166,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I wanted to mention to the gentleman that as an OB\/GYN physician. of course I have had some experience with some of the processes that can occur in reproductive endocrine laboratories and the technique dealing with infertile couples. and I have had a discussion with the gentleman from Maryland about this. But in a situation where the couple is infertile and it is because of male infertility. there is nothing wrong with the egg. but there is a very. very low sperm count in the male. and normally it takes probably 1.000 sperm to successfully fertilize an egg in the natural way. In fact. the normal sperm count in a male is about 60 million. But even a sperm count as low as 1.000. pregnancy can occur in the normal. natural way. But when it gets much lower than that. it becomes less and less possible. But they have a technique. And there is an acronym. Madam Speaker. There is an acronym for everything. it seems. even though this is not in the military. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2042,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090054226,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I will support this measure too because I support our veterans. but it is absurd and it is a crying shame that the health of veterans boils down to bitter partisan fights. As Democrats. we have repeatedly demanded full funding for our veterans needs. It is our duty to fully fund the Veterans Administration and do it right the first time. not after three or four attempts.","speaker_name":"JOHN SALAZAR","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1294,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090054237,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I can address the Chair. but I think we know who we are talking to. I am hopeful. Mr. Speaker. that the gentleman who just spoke will be very careful. because we are trying to work together to get the right number. I think it is an embarrassing moment. When we ask the administration for the number. they testify to a number. and then we find that it is not right potentially? We are trying to get the number right and to make sure that veterans are served properly on a bipartisan basis. Please. let us not erode that.","speaker_name":"STEPHEN BUYER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":519,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090054241,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As we have heard. Mr. Speaker. last week our country did receive more good economic news. The jobless rate fell to 5 percent in June. the lowest- rate since September of 2001. Economic growth has continued to average a strong and steady 4 percent. The deficit is down by over $100 billion to. its lowest point in 3 years. And tax receipts have skyr6cketed this year. That news should send a clear signal to Members of this body. it is time to give the tax cuts of 2003 the credit that they deserve. Time and again we have learned that the best way to achieve growth and create jobs is for hardworking people to keep more of their own money in their own pockets. Mr. ","speaker_name":"CHRIS CHOCOLA","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":818,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090054242,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. once again the administration is forced to admit that it failed to acknowledge the full extent of the VAs budget shortfall. In June. the administration submitted a request for $975 million to keep the VA ship afloat. This number was a joke. Democrats. myself included. protested that at least $1.3 billion would be required to meet the VAs obligation to our Nations veterans. Former VA Secretary Anthony Principi. then Chairman Chris Smith and Ranking Member EVANS. the Independent Budget. the American Legion. and countless veteranswrote Members of Congress and warned us that the VA could not operate with the budget request submitted by the administration. As usual. the administration stubbornly clung to its ridiculously low figure. Once again. the administration was wrong. Now that the administration acknowledges its billiondollar shortfall. let us make sure our veterans are provided for and that no veteran in this country goes without the best health care we can provide to these great Americans.","speaker_name":"SHELLEY BERKLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1020,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090054248,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. it is time to hear from the President of the United States.","speaker_name":"JAMES MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":851,"word_count":13}
{"speech_id":1090054250,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They just did not know. But they had a chairman on that side for a couple of years who toldus he did know. He told us we needed more money. and they fired him from that job. At least a few Republicans are standing up for what is right.","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1329,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090054251,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is outrageous. Listen to what the previous President Bush said: \"Dont let this stonewall continue on the part of the White House.\" It is time that Karl Rove come clean. It is time that the President force him to resign.","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1201,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090054252,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"These encouraging reports show once again that the tax relief for families and small businesses which President Bush and the Republican Congress passed is paying dividends: more jobs. higher incomes. and a lower deficit.","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":997,"word_count":34}
{"speech_id":1090054254,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Either way. it is time for the White House to clean up its house.","speaker_name":"ROBERT MENENDEZ","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":972,"word_count":14}
{"speech_id":1090054262,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. H.R. 1220. as amended. is one of the more important bills the committee brings to the floor each year. This bill. as amended. would authorize the costofliving adjustment effective December 1. 2005 for veterans with serviceconnected disabilities and their survivors. The projected increase is 2.3 percent. but may be higher or lower depending on changes in the consumer price index. After our ranking member. the gentleman from Illinois . speaks. the gentlewoman from Florida","speaker_name":"STEPHEN BUYER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":543,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090054263,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I want to thank the gentleman from Illinois in particular for bringing this to our attention and making sure that it was a top priority for the VA committee. The bill also contains provisions for a demonstration project to improve VAs procedure for collecting money owed by third parties such as insurance companies when VA provides medical care for veterans with nonserviceconnected conditions. H.R. 1220 will receive my full support. It deserves the full support of all Members of this House. Mr. Speaker. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois . the ranking member of the Committee on Veterans Affairs.","speaker_name":"SHELLEY BERKLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2767,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090054266,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me time and for her leadership in this effort. Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of H.R. 1220. the Veterans Compensation CostofLiving Act of 2005. I believe that this is a good bipartisan bill. Each year we pass the COLA for veterans. This ensures that veterans benefits maintain their value as the cost of living goes up. These benefits were earned by the men and women who have served our country and their families. and they should not be allowed to diminish. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL MICHAUD","chamber":"H","state":"ME","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1464,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090054268,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me time. Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H.R. 1220. the Veterans Compensation CostofLiving Adjustment Act. which authorizes the annual costofliving adjustment for disabled veterans and their survivors. Iwould like to thank the chairman. the gentleman from Indiana . and the ranking member. the gentleman from Illinois . for their leadership on the full committee and for their good work in shepherding this bill to the floor today. I would like to thank the gentleman from Florida and the ranking member. the gentlewoman from Nevada of the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs. for their hard work and bipartisan leadership. w 1100 Mr. Speaker. I support this legislation and am a proud cosponsor of the bill because it is an important way we can keep our Nations promise to the veterans who have served. ","speaker_name":"STEPHANIE HERSETH SANDLIN","chamber":"H","state":"SD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2825,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090054276,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The centers would provide the opportunity for VA clinicians to more fully understand Parkinsons Disease and collaborate on innovative treatments. The findings would be shared with facilities without research centers in order to ensure access to stateoftheart information through our VA health care system. I am especially supportive of the provision which would advance our knowledge of Parkinsons Disease and would provide new treatments to those who are suffering. So let us support H.R. 1220. but let us not get too selfcongratulatory about this bill. It is a necessary bill. It is already provided for in the appropriations process. but the amount of money we are talking about in this bill is very. very small compared to the shortfall in the health care budget of the VA that we have been informed about by our new Secretary of VA. Mr. Speaker. we are being irresponsible by not approving an adequate health care budget for our veterans. While today we approve the Disability Compensation COLA. we are still leaving our veterans health care short by billions of dollars. both in this years and next years budget. And for those who say. well. we did not know about it. or it was a bad mathematical model that was used. these are rather ridiculous statements. ","speaker_name":"BOB FILNER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":51.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5740,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090054311,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I urge all my colleagues to join me in support of H.R. 2113. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"CHARLES DENT","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1372,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090054343,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. and rise in strong support of this concurrent resolution. Mr. Speaker. in the context of this commemoration of what happened on the watery battlefields of the Pacific 60 years ago. I want to draw special attention to the actions of one of our most esteemed colleagues in this body. an esteem that is bound to grow once people know and understand the extent of his contributions to the allies success in this crucial part of World War II. Our distinguished Colleague and my dear friend. the gentleman from Illinois . now the respected chairman of the House International Relations Committee. back then was a young Naval officer facing the most important battle of his life. On January 9. 1945. he piloted a landing craft into the Lingayen Gulf as part ofa massive landing force hoping to establish a beachhead on the Philippine island of Luzon. His mission was to help liberate the people of the Philippines from Japanese control. The liberation of the Philippines and the eventual victory of allied forces in the War in the Pacific now seems to have been predetermined. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1640,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090054344,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But fate had greater things in store for this young hero. Escaping from the camp. the young man made his way to Budapest where he joined Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg in his rescue operation to save much of the Jewish community of Hungary. The young man ran operations for the underground carrying food and medicine through Nazi lines to Jews hiding throughout the city. After the war. the young man was reunited with his childhood friend. who was to become his wife. Annette. Together they immigrated to America to start a new life. Fortunately for all of us on the International Relations Committee and in Congress and in America. that brave lad from Budapest is here with us today. After a. distinguished academic career in California. the same determination which kept him alive at the bombed out railway bridge has now brought him to Congress. where he serves as the ranking Democratic member of the International Relations Committee.. For his courage in war. for his service in peace. especially here in Congress. I would like to express sincere and profound appreciation to my friend and colleague. the gentleman from California Mr. ","speaker_name":"HENRY HYDE","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1960,"word_count":191}
{"speech_id":1090054345,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. before yielding to my friend. the gentlewoman from Guam . I just want to express my most profound gratitude to my friend. the gentleman from Illinois . the distinguished chairman of our committee. Mr. Speaker. I am delighted to yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Guam .","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":301,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090054357,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Britain is different than the Britain of the Second World War. Its streets are filled with people from all over the world who are making their homes in what is like ours. a land of opportunity where newcomers are integrated into society with remarkable success. Todays Londoners showed themselves to be just as brave and determined as the Londoners of the past. President Bush made us all proud when he so forthrightly and eloquently supported Prime Minister Blair and pledged his people and government our full support. Today with this resolution. our House adds its voice to his. We and the British people are bound by ties that terror cannot loosen or fray. We will not be satisfied until we have done what we as Americans can to bring the perpetrators of this attack to justice and we have successfully pursued. disrupted. undermined. and dismantled on a worldwide basis the networks that carry out such attacks. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"HENRY HYDE","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2046,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090054360,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as chairman of the Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation. I rise in strong support of this resolution that condemns the heinous acts of terrorism that occurred in London last Thursday July 7. At 8:50 a.m. in a coordinated attack. three bombs ripped through the London Underground in central London and an hour later a fourth explosion tore apart the No. 30 bus. At present. 52 are dead and hundreds and hundreds are wounded. Authorities are still attempting to recover bodies trapped under subway cars deep under Kings Cross station. As a police official gruesomely described this morning. \"they have to literally piece people together and that takes tithe.\" The latest news reports suggest that four young British citizens carried out this latest act of Islamist terror. blowing themselves up along with their innocent victims in what would be the first suicide attacks in Western Europe. I fear we are seeing the emergence of a new generation of terrorists. kids who were in their teens on 9\/11. One of the four implicated in the London bombings was a teen. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD ROYCE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":40.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2968,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090054365,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume to reemphasize our united determination to stand with the people of the United Kingdom in their moment of sorrow and anguish and to reiterate our determination not to rest until terrorism is destroyed on the face of this planet. Mr. Speaker. I have no additional requests for time. and I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":377,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090054398,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What this safe harbor does is relieve the industry of any obligation to pay even a portion of the estimated $29 to $85 billion cost of cleaning up drinking water that has been contaminated by the product. So who pays? You pay. Not those. that are responsible for it. but you. All under the guise of we want to lower your taxes. Imagine what is going to happen in your local community. Do you think your local government has this money? Mine does not. The Congressional Budget Office calls this an unfunded mandateyou have to do it. but there is no money to do iton local and State governments. because they have to pay for the cleanups on their own. This is not just a matter of accounting. It is a matter of public health. Just last week it was reported in a new EPA draft report that MTBE is a likely carcinogen. ","speaker_name":"ANNA ESHOO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3447,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090054402,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And now the Republican leadership wants to protect these same oil companies from any liability for the damages they have caused. Instead. they want to leave it up to our State and local governments to pick up the tab. This is unconscionable. This motion to instruct is based on common sense. These companies should be held responsible for the damages they caused. Now. we all know the arguments. This is an unfunded mandate passed on to our State and local governments. Many communities have filed legitimate suits to recover the costs of MTBE cleanup estimated to exceed $29 billion. Yet this bill essentially blocks these suits and could preempt hundreds more. leaving communities with a multibillion dollar unfunded mandate at the hands of this Congress. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1984,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090054440,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The table does not show budget authority and outlays for years after fiscal year 2006 because those years are not considered for enforcement of spending aggregates. The second table compares. by authorizing committee. the current levels of budget authority and outlays for discretionary action with the \"section 302(a)\" allocations made under H. Con. Res. 95 for fiscal year 2006 and fiscal years 2006 through 2010. \"Discretionary action\" refers to legislation enacted after the adoption of the budget resolution. This comparison is needed to enforce section 302(f) of the Budget Act. which creates a point of order against measures that would breach the section 302(a) discretionary action allocation of new budget authority for the committee that reported the measure. It is also needed to implement section 311(b). which exempts committees that comply with their allocations from the point of order under section 311 (a). The third table compares the current levels of discretionary appropriations for fiscal year 2006 with the \"section 302(b)\" suballocations of discretionary budget authority and outlays among Appropriations subcommittees. The comparison is also needed to enforce section 302(f) of the Budget Act because the point of order under that section equally applies to measures that would breach the applicable section 302(b) suballocation as well as the 302(a) allocation. The fourth table gives the current level for 2007 of accounts identified for advance appropriations under section 401 of H. ","speaker_name":"JAMES NUSSLE","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2844,"word_count":230}
{"speech_id":1090054444,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is. well. like someone sending an email to the enemy with a position of our troops on the map. You do not do that at wartime. That is treasonous. Today. the members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on which I sit submitted a letter to the President. again underscoring the importance of this matter. abhorring the disclosure of identities of undercover officers. and asking that the President take the step of removing. the security clearance from anyone known to have any association with this. We certainly know that Karl Rove. as acknowledged through his attorney. that he disclosed the identity. maybe not by name. but he might as well have. the identity of an intelligence officer to a reporter of a national news magazine. Because the officer was undercover. her identity could be known only through access to classified information. There is ample precedent for suspending the security clearances of people under suspicion of leaking classified information. So we formally and soberly asked the President to suspend any and all of Mr. Roves security clearances. at least and until the Fitzgerald investigation is complete. That is just one step. ","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5259,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090054452,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to very briefly take this to another level. And it is about truth and trust. I. as a former ambassador representing the United States of America. was trained in the State Department as to confidentialities and secret missions that were taking place around this globe. The audacity of someone in the Executive Branch even making reference to a covert agent violates that confidentiality and puts us all at risk. It is not something you play with. It is not something you use for rdtaliation. When you out an agent. you are outing all of us. Our intelligence functions on us having operatives in places wlere people are plotting against our Nation. ","speaker_name":"DIANE WATSON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":33.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1183,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090054460,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They worked very hard their whole lives to earn that Social Security. and nobody has a plan that will take their Social Security away.. As their son. as a Congressman. I am dedicated to making sure that my parents and every one of that generation gets every penny of Social Security that they have earned. I have a sacred obligation to my parents. I have another sacred obligation. I have a 31\/2yearold daughter and a 22monthold son. And if we do not do something and do something today. Social Security as we know it will not be there for my children. We are rapidly approaching the point where we are going to lose the security from Social Security. My colleague from Arizona. who is a great leader on this issue. and everyone should appreciate his helping coauthor the GROW account legislation. he very ably laid out for the American people. ","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5126,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090054477,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They are very upset by that. And the question i8. why have you been spending the money? I am in the fortunate position. I have not been in Congress before. so I can say. I did not do that. although the gentleman from Texas is absolutely correct. it has been done by both Democrats and Republicans. so we have to fix this situation.","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":331,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090054478,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thiik it is a fair question for us to ask as Members of Congress today. and I think the gentleman from Texas was very fair on that point. both Republican Congresses and Democrat Congresses have used the Social Security surplus for nonSocial Security purposes. I guess the question. though. that I want to ask you and a question that I have thought about is. could I go home to my constituents and justify to them that it is appropriate for me to take their Social Security taxes and spend them on some other purpose? I think the answer for me is no. Have you given that question some thought?","speaker_name":"JOHN SHADEGG","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":594,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090054479,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I have. I agree with them. And when my constituents say that to me. again through this education process. they have learned the problems that have been created by Social Security and. again. they have understood these laws of demographics that we have explained. They want us to stop this. It is a pretty simple thing. Most of the people in my district are just downtoearth folks with a lot of common sense. There is some sort of rule. what is that law. when you are in a hole. the first law is to stop digging. They just say to me. just quit doing it.","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":552,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090054481,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That is right. So the proposal you have made I think is again a step in the right direction. Down the road we may find that we have to do other things. but the most important thing is to get people to get control of their retirement. As I said. I think that this issue has brought up the point that they cannot just depend on the Federal Government to look after them. I think we have performed a cruel hoax actually on the people of this country by letting them think that their Social Security was going to take care of them in the manner to which they have become accustomed. It is only one part of it. but it should be a secure part of their retirement. As the gentleman from Texas has said. the security part has gone away.","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":728,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090054484,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I actually am going to spend a little time now trying. hopefully. to bring anybody who maybe joined this discussion late up to speed on this particular idea. and I want to do it first graphically. In this discussion tonight. we have talked about what is happening with Social Security and the whole notion of Social Security reform. but we have tried to focus on a simple idea that has come forward recently to deal with the several problems that are confronting the Social Security program. The biggest problem. of course. is that demographics make it unsustainable over time. We have too few people working and paying in benefits for the number of retirees. We have already heard about that tonight. In the long run. we are going to run out of money. but in the short run. we have a surplus and there is an idea that I think will protect Americas taxpayers and strengthen our Social Securitt system that has just surfaced here in Washington within the last 3 or 4 weeks that I think is a brilliantly simple idea. and I want to try to explain it. It is embodied in a bill called the GROW Act. Growing Real Ownership Ji#fJXy13. 2005 for Workers Account is the name of the act. It is being introduced here on the House side by several Members of the Ways and Means Committe. led- by: the gentleman from Louisiana and on the Senate side by Senator JIM DEMINT and 11 of his colleagues. I just want to explain very simply the concept of the bill. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SHADEGG","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10624,"word_count":264}
{"speech_id":1090054546,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will speak for a few minutes and highlight some of the important provisions of this appropriations bill. specifically as they pertain to the issue of border security. The Senator from New Hampshire. the chairman of the Subcommittee on Homeland Security.. along with the entire Appropriations Committee. have done much good that should be heralded. But those steps should also be seen as just a first step toward getting us in the right direction. which is to obtain operational security of our Nations borders. something we do not have now and something which represents a clear threat to our national security. As the Senate Committee on Appropriations recognized. these resources are just a first step toward true reform of our immigration system. Additional enforcement resources along the border will be needed. In that connection. Senator KYL. the junior Senator from Arizona. and I will be filing a bill within the next couple of weeks that will authorize additional resources to secure our border. Our Nations immigration and border security system is badly broken. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11794,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090054687,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Under the authority of the need that we should have. agreement pending before the Senate. I This is a good development in the sense that we are finally beginning to send an amendment to the desk on be- realize we have not done what we half of Senator BYRD. should do. But I am troubled a little","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":294,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090054718,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this is a commonsense amendment regarding the potential threat that all of our cities and States face from the theft or misuse of general aviation aircraft by criminals or terrorists. This amendment Wvould require the Secretary of Homeland Security. in coordination with the Secretary of Transportation. to assess the dangers posed to highrisk. large population. and critical infrastructure areas should general aviation aircraft be stolen and used as a weapon by a criminal or terrorist. This study would require the two Secretaries to assess the vulnerability of general aviation airports and aircraft and study what lowcost. hightechnology devices could be available to better track general aviation aircraft. Last month. a 20yearold young man. while intoxicated and accompanied by two other individuals. breached a perimeter fence of an airA port in.Danbury. CT. He and his companions stole a small Cessna 172 aircraft. departed from the airport without detection. flew across the eastern border of New York. and eventually. thankfully. landed without incident at the Westchester County Airport in New York very near to my home. What is alarming about this is that this happened. and it happened without detection. So far as we know. no one knew the aircraft had been stolen or that the joyride was taking place. This incident occurred very close to New York City. very close to Indian Point. the nuclear facility in the county. ","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7126,"word_count":230}
{"speech_id":1090054789,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This would be beneficial to homeland security and would enhance economic development in the metro East St. Louis region. Mr. President. I ask that this amendment be set aside.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":913,"word_count":29}
{"speech_id":1090054826,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Independent of that. the amendment dramatically exceeds the budget and is therefore subject to a point of order. which I have made. and the motion to waive has been made by the S6nator from Connecticut. and we will have a vote on it. So at this time. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that at 6:30 this evening the Senate proceed to a series of votes in relation to the following amendments and the motioni where pending. further. that no seconddegree amendments be in order to any amendments prior to the vote. and that there be 2 minutes equally divided for debate prior to each vote: The first amendment will be the Dodd amendment. a motion to waive the budget point of order. and the second amendment would be Akaka amendment No. 1112. and on that amendment there will also be a point of order and I presume the vote will be on the motion to waive the point of order since that amendment also significantly exceeds the budget allocation of this committee.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4194,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090054922,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. RICK SANTORUM owes an immediate apology to the tragic and longsuffering victims of sexual abuse and their families in Boston. Massachusetts. in Pennsylvania. and around the country. His outrageous and offensive comments which he had the indecency to repeat yesterday blamed the people of Boston for the depraved behavior bf sick individuals who stole the innocence of children in the most horrible way imaginable. Senator SANTORUM has shown a deep and callous insensitivity to the victims and their suffering in an apparent attempt to score political points with some of the most extreme members of the fringe rightwing of his party. Boston bashing might be in vogue with some Republicans. but RICK SANTORUMS statements are beyond the pale. Three years ago. Senator SANTORUM said: While it is no excuse for this scandal. it is no surprise that Boston. a seat of academic. political and cultural liberalism in America. lies at the center of the storm. When given an opportunity yesterday to apologize. he refused and instead restated these outrageous statements. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1825,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090054925,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Serving his country as a Navy SEAL was Petty Officer Dietzs dream. He spent his spare time in high school swimming and building his strength to make him a better candidate for this ejite program. He spent years in training to become part of a specialized SEAL reconnaissance team. In doing so. Danny Dietz took his first step towardbecoming a hero for America. When Petty Officer Dietz left for his most recent deployment in April out of Virginia Beach. just a few hours from where we are tonight. he told his wife .that he was going to do something special for his Nation. He did for all of us. including one of his fellow soldiers who was rescued from those Afghan mountains. where Petty Officer Dietz was lost to us. Matthew 5:9 teaches us. \"Blessed are the peacemakers. for. they shall be called sons of God.\" Petty Officer Dietz brave actions overseas are the kind of heroism of which you should be extraordinarily proud and to which all aspire. Petty Officer Dietzs service to the people of the United States is a gift for which we are all profoundly grateful and will never forget. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1980,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090054926,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Barbara May. for 58 years. They had two children and five grandchildren. Gene May faithfully served his church. I knew Gene May. He built the house in which I now live. He was a charter member. treasurer. and one of the first deacons of the Church of Christ of Falls church. He supervised the building of two of the churchs facilities. and actively participated in the churchs mission. In addition. he helped to establish. then served as president of. a christian youth summer camp in Virginias bue ridge mountains. Gene Mays community involvement extended well beyond his church activities. For example. he was a member of the school board. a board member of the Arlington Trust Bank. and a founder of the Northeastern Junior College in Villanova. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3146,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090054951,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to announce for the information of the Senate and the public that the following hearing has been scheduled before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. The hearing. entitled Climate Change Science and Economics. Will be held on Thursday. .July 21 at 10 a.m: in Room SH216. The purpose of the hearing is to receive testimony regarding the current state of climate change scientific research and the economics of strategies to manage climate change. Issues to be discussed include: the relationship between energy consumption and climate change. new developments in climate change research and the potential effects on the U.S. economy of climate change and strategies to control greenhouse gas emissions. Because of the limited time available for the hearing. witnesses may testify by invitation only. However. those wishing to submit .written testimony for the hearing record should send two copies of their testimony to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. United States Senate. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1163,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090054956,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and GovernmentM Affairs be authorized to meet on Wednesday. July 13. 2005. at 9:30 a.m. for a hearing titled. \"Chemical Facility Security: What Is the Appropriate Federal Role?\"","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":256,"word_count":40}
{"speech_id":1090054968,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It was spurofthemoment. but they wanted to get married and be together. While Megan lived her life as it came to her. she was also the type of person who made plans. set goals. and did her best to fulfill them. As a member of the crosscountry team. Megan took responsibility for packing the medical bag. organizing meets. and taking care of her twinbrother. According to their mom. Megan acted as another mother to Matt. She cooked for him. cleaned his room. and packed his crosscountry bag before meets. In addition to being exceptionally organized. Megan was also a fierce competitor. In junior high school. she faced the choice between two sports: basketball and crosscountry. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6808,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090054969,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Richard made it his goal to ascend one day to that same office. His passion for politics earned him the nickname \"The Governor\" from his friends. and his mother jokingly recalls that. \"[h]e was a naturalborn politician. When you asked him a question. hed talk for a halfhour and never give you an an-. swer!\" -Richard had hopes of running either for Mayor of Dayton or the Dayton City Commission after he returned from Iraq. I remember being at calling hours and talking with people who told me about his aspirations. and how they thought he would be a great politician. a great public servant. He would have been great in either position. Richard was. like many of our service men and women. deeply affected by the terrorist attacks of September 11. 2001. Prior to the attacks. he was working on the assembly line at Behr Dayton Thermal Products. He had just purchased a house. not far from his mother. Richard was also studying political science at Sinclair Community College. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6278,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090054974,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In the realm of immigration law enforcement. the State of Alabama struggled for years to achieve effective cooperation between Federal enforcement entities and our State and local law enforcement officers. All too often I heard the same story from our Alabama sheriffs and police chiefs: We call Immigration and Naturalization Service when we arrest an illegal alien. and they say they do not have the time to pick them up. They tell us to let them go. They have told me. on occasion. that INS told local officers unless they had 15 or 18 individuals at one time. dont bother to call then. As a result. Alabama requested that additional Federal immigration agents be assigned to the State. Alabama advocated that extra immigration detention bedspace be established in the state. and Alabama requested the Immigration and Naturalization Service be responsive to requests that illegal .%liens be taken into Federal custody. Though some progress was made. most of the requests were only partially met. at best. To address the problems. I arranged for an Immigration and Customs enforcement officer to travel to the State of Alabama for 2 weeks to train all of our State troopers on cooperation with the Federal Government in the enforcement of Federal immigration laws. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11837,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090054985,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It calls for budgetary practices that would allow us to measure the effectiveness and relevance of programs. And it creates an Independent Oversight Board. an Office of Ethics. and a Chief Operating Officer to increase the accountability of the U.N. This Title also addresses the shameful antiSemitism inherent in U.N. structures by calling for Israel to have a permanent seat in one of the regional groups. with all the accompanying rights and privileges. And it requires the State Department to review U.N. agencies that focus exclusively on the .Palestinian agenda. Title II deals with the human rights mandate of the U.N. It establishes basic criteria that member states must meet to be eligible to serve on U.N. human rights bodies and requires the U.N. entity that selects members on these bodies to abide by these criteria. Title III mandates reforms of the International Atomic Energy Agency so that it can better focus on the key issues of nuclear safety and security. and nuclear verification activities. Title IV calls for a review of U.N. peacekeeping operations and requires that the U.S. deny support for new or expanded missions until procedures are in place to prevent further sexual exploitation by U.N. peacekeepers. These measures. including adopting a Code of Conduct for all personnel participating in these operations. and establishing a data base so that past abusers are not able to participate in future operations. have been specifically endorsed by the Secretary Generals special advisor on sexual exploitation and abuse and should be in place by this summer. Yet it is incumbent upon us to ensure that they are not stalled by member states that dont see this tragic situation as a serious problem. ","speaker_name":"HENRY HYDE","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4978,"word_count":281}
{"speech_id":1090054993,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to. the preamble be agreed to. the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. and that any statements relating. to the resolution be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":263,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090055041,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mn Speaker. in crafting Social Security legislation. we must offer workers the ability to own a portion of their retirement through personal accounts. President Roosevelt. the author of Social Security. was the first to suggest that. in order to provide for the countrys retirement needs. Social Security would need to be supplemented by -personal savings accounts. Personal accounts would allow workers to set aside part of their payroll taxes in a nest egg that the government cannot take away and that can be passed on to children and grandchildren. As Americans. we can choose where we work and live. what we drive. which insurance plan is best for us. so why can we not give workers a choice when it comes to their retirement? President Bush has said. \"If you own something. you have a vital stake in the future of our country. The more ownership there is in. America. the more vitality there is in America. and the more people have a vital stake in the future of this country.\" Americans take pride in what they own. Establishing personal accounts within Social Security is an important part of encouraging an ownership society.","speaker_name":"JOHN DOOLITTLE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1134,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090055044,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. Members on both sides of the aisle and Americans of all political persuasions are heaping praise on Sandra Day OConnor for her distinguished service on the Supreme Court. Finding a fairminded. evenhanded Justice to replace her. someone who will receive similar bipartisan accolades when all is said and done. should :be our goal. And I know she is out there somewhere. Will the President make it a priority to maintain womens representation on the Court at a paltry 22 percent? Or are we bound to a dismal 11 percent? We do not need a return to token representation. In the Presidents campaign. he used the slogan. W is for women. but anyone familiar with his administrations record on equal pay. child care. reproductive freedom. and enforcing discrimination laws knows that W is for woeful on womens issues.","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":822,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090055053,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Upon their arrival at the scene. they came under heavy and rapid gunfire from a nearby residence and were pinned down for nearly 30 minutes while the fire raged. In the midst of this chaos. a paramedic who also responded to the scene was shot. The team members successfully pulled her to safety and eventually extinguished the fire. Today. these five heroes will be awarded the Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor by President Bush. He will recognize their extraordinary valor above and beyond the call of duty. The medal is the highest national award for valor by a public safety officer and only 10 public safety officers will receive this award this year. I commend those firefighters for their exceptional courage and decisiveness in an extraordinary situation and know my colleagues will join me in honoring them today.","speaker_name":"EMANUEL CLEAVER","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1199,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090055070,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Rules Committee may meet the week of July 18 to grant a rule which could limit the amendment process for floor consideration of H.R. 2601. the Foreign Relations Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2006 and 2007. The Committee on International Relations ordered the bill reported on June 9. 2005. and filed its report in the House on July 13. Any Member wishing to offer an amendment should submit 55 copies of the amendment and one copy of a brief explanation of the amendment to the Rules Committee in room H312 of the Capitol by 10 a.m. on Monday. July 18. Members should draft their amendments to the text of the bill as reported by the International Relations Committee. Members should use the Office of Legislative Counsel to ensure that their amendments are drafted in the most appropriate format. Members are also advised to check with the Office of the Parliamentarian to be certain their amendments comply with the rules of the House.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":959,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090055077,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong support of this legislation. I want to thank the gentleman from Tennessee and the gentlewoman from Texas for their hard work. This is a bill that has been from very bipartisan work together. which made it. in fact. a great bill. And I urge everybody to vote against the Flake amendment. Keep that in mind. The Flake amendment is not a good amendment for this bill. If we want to relieve our congestion on our highways. we have to use our waterways.","speaker_name":"DON YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":479,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090055092,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But I think what we need to be focusing on is how we are going to deal with this massive project. Now. I am not here today to say that it should be eliminated. I again take modest exception to the notion that you must pick studies. dueling studies. The independent studies from the National Academy of Science time and time and time again have documented that the economic justification is not there. In fact. we had the Inspector General find that the corps. under intense political pressure. cooked the books. two generals and a colonel lost their job. It was a scandal. and a whistleblower had to get protection because he was going to be fired for just telling the truth. Well. what we have offered as an amendment is a safety valve that if the experts. the independent experts are wrong and barge traffic is going to go up. not decline. then the project goes ahead. because the corps cannot build this project for another 4 or 5 years anyway. It goes ahead. and we continue spending lots of money renovating the existing locks. But our amendment is a safety valve and a reality check. ","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4880,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090055100,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today in support of the Water Resources Development Act. I want to acknowledge the wonderful work. important work of the chairman and ranking member for their efforts and the gentleman from Alaska (Chairman YOUNG) and the gentleman from Minnesota for their leadership in bringing this much needed bill to the floor today. It has been 5 years since Congress has passed a water resources bill. legislation that is significant in recognizing the Federal Governments commitment to improving the navigational safety of our waterways and upgrading our local water infrastructure. My colleagues. we cannot take the safety and security of our water for granted. Many of the sewer and drinking water pipes in our Nation today were installed 50 to 100 years ago. Those pipes are showing their age. leaking. cracking. breaking. By passing this legislation. we reaffirm Congresss commitment to providing clean and safe water in communities across the Nation. The bill also contains an important provision that compliments therecently passed in the Housebill. called the Delaware River Protection Act. legislation crafted by the gentleman from New Jersey . the gentleman from New Jersey . the gentleman from New Jersey . the gentleman from Delaware and myself. to respond to the November 2004 oil spill that occurred alongside our districts in the Port of Philadelphia. ","speaker_name":"ALLYSON SCHWARTZ","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2336,"word_count":219}
{"speech_id":1090055108,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I would like to thank the gentlewoman from Texas for yielding me this time to speak on this important bill. I rise today to express my strong support for the Water Resource Development Act of 2005. As a new Member of Congress. I am also proud to be on a part of the committee that works in such a bipartisan way. I would like to recognize the gentleman from Alaska (Chairman YOUNG) and the gentleman from Minnesota the ranking member as well as the gentleman from Tennessee (Chairman DUNCAN) and the gentlewoman from Texas for their strong leadership. Today. each Member will have an opportunity to vote for a bill that is about investing in America. It is about investing in our infrastructure. And to me. it is about addressing rural Colorados water resources needs. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SALAZAR","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1734,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090055112,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today to express my support for H.R. 2864. particularly the provisions authorizing the projects in the Upper Mississippi River Basin. As many of our colleagues know. the Corps began studying the locking needs on the river nearly 12 years ago. Those locks were designed a long time ago. They need to be modernized and improved sooner rather than later. Farmers in Brazil. China and other competing countries have had the advantage of government investment in infrastructure to ship their goods. We must invest in expanding our locks so that our farmers can compete. Additionally the bill addresses the ecosystems needs for the areas of the river. ","speaker_name":"LANE EVANS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":927,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090055130,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. to my friend from Oregon I would personally invite him to come out and view these. Some of these locks. built. again. Mr. Chairman. in. the 1930s. are standing just out of habit. with bailing wire and duct tape. And the Corps of Engineers has done a magnificent job. Here is the reason. which I did not get to address earlier as far as the trigger that is in the gentlemans amendment. The trigger. the tonnage requirement the gentleman has in his amendment. does not take into account. for instance. the weather. A year ago. because of high water. the river was shut down as far as barge navigation. In lowwater years. barges can only fill halfway. for instance. ","speaker_name":"KENNY HULSHOF","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1169,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090055133,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the chairman for yielding me this time. I did not plan to come and speak before the amendment was offered. but hearing the debate on the floor now. I am wondering which amendment is being described. Surely it cannot be the one we are offering. because the one we are offering does not scrub the project and does. not say it cannot go forward.. It simply says it should go forward only if the minimum requirements that have been laid out are met in terms of it being economically viable and useful. That is all we are saying. It is a pretty darn. low bar. We are saying. let us take the bottom standard that the corps. the National Academy of Sciences. ","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2223,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090055134,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As \"Americas Wetlands\". the coast of Louisiana provides much of the seafood and shellfish. oil and natural gas. and agricultural commodities enjoyed by the rest of the country. In fact. more than 80 percent of the countrys offshore oil and gas is produced off our coast. and 25 percent of the foreign and domestic oil psed in this country comes ashore through our ports. It is estimated that more than 25 percent of the seafood consumed in the country comes through Louisiana. and that more than 75 percent of the marine species in the northern Gulf of Mexico spend a portion of their lifecycles in the wetlands of Louisiana. The land also serves as a buffer against ocean storms and protects industries and cities located further inland. Without the shelter provided by our wetlands. the damage done by a major hurricane could be catastrophic in terms of dollars and life. The loss of our coast is more than Louisianas problem. its Americas problem. I appreciate the committees recognition of this problem. and strongly support provisions in this bill that address Coastal Louisiana. This bill is good for more than just Louisiana. though. it is good for the nation. H.R. 2864 contains important reform provisions that will improve the way the Corps does business. It streamlines the approval process for projects. it encourages the Corps of Engineers to carry out projects in partnerships with its local sponsors. and it streamlines the process for entering into agreements with local sponsors. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES BOUSTANY","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2801,"word_count":248}
{"speech_id":1090055135,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Water systems are transportation routes for ships. homes for wildlife. and recreation areas for communities. By improving the environment of the Mississippi River Basin. we are investing in all three of these uses. The Corps projects will help restore -the wildlife along the Mississippi and help with water management. By restoring wildlife habitat. we will bring back nesting grounds for the bald eagle. By restoring natural features to the river. we will help mitigate some of the flooding that can devastate the surrounding area. By restoring fish passages.. we are bringing opportunities for families to come together to play and fish along the river. it The resources put in to improving the ecosystem are a necessary compliment to the lock improvements. The Corps efforts to improve the ecosystem surrounding the locks and dams will help mitigate the effects that we have on the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. We have a responsibility to take advantage of the opportunity to provide the resources for these projects. I am pleased to see that the Committee took that opportunity. There are many other vital programs that are in this legislation. ","speaker_name":"LANE EVANS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3824,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090055139,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of H.R. 2863. The Water Resources and Development Act of 2005. WRDA 05. I commend the chairman for including in this bill provisions I requested that are important to Port Canaveral and my constituents in Brevard County. Florida. This bill includes several provisions that are important to the residents of Brevard County as a whole and those living in what has been referred to as the \"MidReach\" or \"wormrock\" area in particular. First. the bill makes it clear that the Corps of Engineers is to accept the ICE report that was completed by and independent panel assessing the true impact of Canaveral inlet on the beach south of that inlet. The ICE report concluded that considerably larger share of the costs of the Brevard County Storm Damage Protection Project should have been borne by the federal government. ","speaker_name":"DAVID WELDON","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3307,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090055143,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Chairman. southern West Virginia has been ravaged by significant flooding since WRDA was last enacted. and the people of southern West Virginia have suffered. Many live in homes that were built well before flood patterns and the risks associated were known. Absent action from Congress in the form of WRDA. families have been forced to move from their homes and businesses have picked up and moved out of the area. In many cases. a simple authorization and appropriation would have mitigated many of these problems. I have worked tirelessly with the Army Corps of Engineers and the Appalachian Regional Commission to combat flood damage. seeking to prevent future flooding. WRDA will help us in that endeavor. Mr. Chairman. the House today made a strong statement by overwhelmingly passing WRDA. I urge the other body to take up and pass the Water Resources Development Act of 2005. as further inaction by Congress will continue to negatively affect our Nations communities.","speaker_name":"NICK RAHALL","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1796,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090055145,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I want to thank Chairmen YOUNG and DUNCAN. and Mr. OBERSTAR and Ms. JOHNSON for their hard work in bringing this bill to the floor. Like the TEALU bill. we have been waiting several years to pass this important legislation. These water projects are extremely important for my home state of Florida and for my District. I have port dredging project that has been funded. but can not get started because the Corps of Engineers doesnt have authorization to do it. We are also still recovering from the ecological damage created by last years hurricanes. and we can use this funding to continue to restore our states waterways. Like all transportation projects. those included in this bill will put people back to work. improve our communities. and creates economic activity. ","speaker_name":"CORRINE BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1073,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090055146,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of the Water Resources Development Act. specifically the Upper Mississippi RiverIllinois Waterway. This long overdue bill tecommits the United States Government to the enhancement of our greatest national wonderthe Mississippi River basin. This national wonder is a kaleidoscope of beauty: birds. fish. fowl. the landscape of plains and valleys rolling into creeks. small rivers and other tributaries of a river that facilitates recreation as well as commerce. Our mightiest river demands our respectfor its beauty. for its sport. and not incidentally for its commerce. It is true that man has intruded with footprints on this river system with locks and dams. It is also true that these footprints have been restrained. particularly in relation to the commercial footprints that other transportation techniques have wrought in other environments. Indeed the introduction of a manmade channel has caused the river to be more hospitable to fishlife than that which existed when parts of the upper Mississippi were prone to persistent rapids and shallows. The maintenance of a constant channel has made possible more lakelike conditions for recreation boating and fishing. ","speaker_name":"JAMES LEACH","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1868,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090055147,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Passage of H.R. 2864 with the inclusion of the Upper Mississippi and Illinois River Locks and Dams Restoration Project is also a jobs creation mechanism. According to the Army Corps of Engineers. construction of the 7 locks will provide at least 3.0006.000 jobs per year for the construction period. estimated 1220 years. I thank the Committee for their hard work on this important bill and strongly urge the Congress to join me in voting in support of WRDA 2005s final passage.","speaker_name":"GERALD WELLER","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5578,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090055171,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong support of the managers amendment. which I think demonstrates the work that has been done by our ranking member and our Chair and the staff to be able to work through some ofthese complex issues. I especially appreciate the work to incorporate planning language that will give more flexibility to the corps planning process and starts the conversation about updating the principles and guidelines that are so desperately in need of revision. I would also at this time. in addition to thanking our Chair and ranking member. acknowledge the hard work of our staff. Susan Bodine and Ken Kopocis. who have been putting long hours into producing what I think is very important legislation. I appreciate their cooperation and the progress that it represents.","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":783,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090055201,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Failure to adequately maintain harbors also creates unsafe navigation conditions. increasing the incidence of groundings and capsizing. Livelihoods are at risk since many of these smaller harbors serve an important economic role in moving cargo. commercial fishing. and recreational opportunities. Smaller harbors may not move hundreds or thousands of containers or tons of bulk cargo. but such harbors can be vital to the local community they serve. I hope that the message of the gentlemans amendment is heard by the administration. and that the budgetary priorities for fiscal year 2007 reflect this serious concern. I support the gentlemans amendment.","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1533,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090055222,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Louis area. and some of these locks are just antiques. We do not even know when they are going to break sometimes. We have to move goods up and down the river. There are some critical supplies that have to get to various cities. such as fuel oil to Chicago and other things like that. not to mention the grain that is going out of the country. That is why it is very important to rebuild these locks. We are using a gasoline tax effectively to do that.","speaker_name":"W. AKIN","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1149,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090055224,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the previous colleague who was concerned about this said it was time to rebuild the locks. It betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of what the project is. The project is not about rebuilding the locks. We have been doing that over the last 25 years. In fact. there is an $88 million project. going right now for Lock 24. This is a $1.8 billion addition. building new locks in addition to what we already have there. In that regard. the proposal that the gentleman from Arizona and I have offered up. saying we do not do a new one unless it is justified. seems reasonable. modest and important.","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":609,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090055228,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I must oppose this .amendment and urge a \"no\" vote on it. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JOHN DUNCAN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2636,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090055302,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Leader. the highway bill. we have discussed trying to reauthorize the highway bill. and both sides feel it is important to get it through. We have had the 8th extension. and that expires this coming Tuesday. Can the leader shed some light on the status of the conference?","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":275,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090055312,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is a good way to put it. I will then ask about the Social Security and\/or pension or combination thereof. There was some talk it might be before recess. Now we have read some comments it might not be until September. Can the leader shed some light on the majoritys view when that will come forward?","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":303,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090055321,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Government Reform be discharged from further consideration of the resolution (H. Res. 355) celebrating Walt Disneys contributions to our Nation. and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":257,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090055323,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"fornia. Mr. Speaker. reserving the right to object. I would first like to thank my friend from Virginia for bringing up this legislation today as well as the distinguished Republican leader for allowing it to be considered under unanimous consent. I would also like to extend my thanks to the ranking member of the Government Reform Committee and my fellow Californian for his support. and. of course. our leader. the gentlewoman from California. Mr. Speaker. Disneyland is the treasure of the 47th Congressional District of California. and it is also a national treasure. Its doors first opened 50 years ago. on July 17. 1955. This bill commemorates the anniversary. which will be celebrated this weekend in my hometown of Anaheim. ","speaker_name":"LORETTA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":47.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1652,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090055362,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Democratic Leader PELOSI. Ranking Member THOMPSON of the Committee on Homeland Security. and other Democratic leaders stood with me as I reintroduced the Secure Trains Act. an act I first introduced more than a year ago. simply to bring the country somewhere approaching where we have now. for some time. been in aviation. having gotten there for aviation after the fact. We are breaking the post9\/11 promise that we would never be caught flatfooted again. In fact. the Presidents 2006 budget eliminated dedicated mass transportation funding all together. I trust that we will put it back. or something back. before we go on August recess. Ninety percent of the funds that we have allocated have been for aviation security. Yet 9 billion passenger trips are made annually on rail and on public transportation. What are we thinking? This bill. a modest $3.8 billion for.the basics: cameras. communications systems. explosive detection. security upgrades on tracks and tunnels. Is this too much to ask? More than 4 years after 9\/11. is this too much to ask. following more than 50 dead in London. almost 200 dead in Madrid. hundreds injured when you tally them both together? Mr. Chertoff allowed as how $8.6 billion was \"available for transit operators\" under one of the homeland security programs. ","speaker_name":"ELEANOR NORTON","chamber":"H","state":"DC","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":3884,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090055367,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This Congress truly has an incredible opportunity to send to the Presidents desk a stem cell research bill that respects human life and supports scientific advancement. I would again like to thank the gentleman from Maryland for taking the lead on this issue and for finding an acceptable and moral solution. I also extend my gratitude to Senator FRIST for his efforts to advance this bill in the Senate. I encourage all of my colleagues. both Democrat and Republican. both prolife and prochoice. to take a good hard look at the Bartlett bill. I think they will see that it is the best option to fight disease and find cures in a responsible manner. This marks an opportunity for this Congress to put partisanship aside and just do the right thing. Madam Speaker. the American people expect no less of us.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3367,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090055407,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In fact. we have the poll here of the rural voters: Are President Bushs proposed changes to Social Security mainly consistent with the values of the people in your community or out of step? Mr. Speaker. 61 percent of rural voters say that the privatization scheme is out of step with their values. because we have guaranteed benefits. We have a system that works. has worked. will continue to work with minor adjustments. not a privatization scheme. That is not the right way to go. If you look at the decisions that have been made over the past few years. they have not been good for the country: losing hundreds of thousands of jobs jn Ohio alone. millions of jobs throughout the country. and the jobs replacing the jobs that are leaving are $10.000 less. $11.000 less a year. without health care benefits. WalMart is basically getting corporate welfare because so many of their employees are on Medicaid. So they think. why should we give our people health care. they could go on Medicaid. Who pays for Medicaid? We pay for Medicaid. The country. The public pays for Medicaid. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2395,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090055429,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The vast majority seek little more than better lives for their families. But some bring drugs. Some traffic in human beings. A few may even have links to terrorist groups. We dont know exactly how many come. We dont know their backgrounds. Nor do we know who might want to harm us. But we do know one thing: if drug dealers and human traffickers can operate on our borders. terrorists can as well. Our national security requires a safer. more secure border. And our standards of compassion demand it. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5140,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090055459,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Cargo is our weakest pressure point on air travel. and I urge support of the amendment.","speaker_name":"CHARLES SCHUMER","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":909,"word_count":16}
{"speech_id":1090055503,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Our primary goal as the Senate must be to make sure our families are prepared and protected. That means preparing our first responders. This amendment is an amendment to provide the first installment on fully investing in interoperability communications. $5 billion in emergency spending. which is the equivalent of 1 month spending in Iraq. in order to make sure we can talk to each otherState. Federal. local. police. fire. and emergency responders. When our cities were attacked. they were not attacking individual cities. they were attacking our country. No longer is interoperable communications just a State and local function. It must be committed to nationally to keep America safe. Finally. my distinguished friend from New Hampshire I am sure will say the Department still has funds that have not been allocated. My question is. Why not? Lets get about the business of keeping prepared and protected.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":910,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090055533,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that amendmeht No. 1117. Senator NELSON. amendment No. 1118. Senator NELSON. amendment No. 1137. Senator COLLINS. amendment No. 1108. Senator LOTT. amendment No. 1197. Senator LAUTENBERG. and amendment No. 1194. Senator NELSON. which areat the desk. be called up and agreed to en bloc.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":324,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090055550,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am told that the time has been running against the 15 minutes. and I may have less than that. But if I run out of time. I have been authorized to maybe take as much as 5 minutes off of Leader REIDS time. Hopefully. I will not get to that point.. I rise today to support the Byrd rail security amendment. I know even though the Presiding Officer is new to this.body he is aware I have been like a broken record for the past 4 years about rail security. When I.look at the clerk. she probably thinks: Here he goes again because I have been talking about this so much since 9\/11. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11165,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090055553,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the Senator will yield for a comment. the Senator. who lives in Baltimore and has commuted to Baltimore every day for the last 20some yearsmore than that. from when he was in the Househe will remember that there was a fire in an automobile tunnel going into Baltimore Inner Harbor a couple of years ago. It shut down all of Baltimore in the harbor region.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":358,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090055569,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The amendment offered by Chairman SHELBY. seeks to bring the appropriation in line with the Senateapproved authorized levelapproved by the Senate unanimously. brought out of the Banking Committee unanimously. Clearly. after the tragic attack in London last Thursday. which has now claimed 52 lives and over 700 injured. we need to fully fund transit security at the Senateauthorized level. This .body understood the problem last year. We established these authorization levels. We now need to provide the appropriations to carry through on the programs that are proposed to enhance transit security. In 20.02. GAO found that over onethird of terrorist attacks worldwide were against transit systems. Yet the funding for transit and rail security has been grossly inadequate. Those systems have not been able to implement necessary security improvements. including those that have been identified by the Department of Homeland Security. The Baltimore Sun wrote in an editorial on Friday: Since September 11. 2001. the Federal Government has spent $18 billion on aviation security. ","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3421,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090055577,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"To say what happens on the subways because it might only kill 30 people is less of a priority for this Federal Government than what might happen in the air is an appalling statement that leaves me aghast. I am asking Mr. Chertoff immediately to withdraw his statement and apologize. apologize to those who have lost loved ones and apologize to every transit user in New York and around the country. Our responsibility. I would tell the Secretary. the responsibility of the Federal Government is to prevent terrorism in the homeland wherever it occursin the air. on the rails. in the water. To simply wash the Federal Governments hands of responsibility at a time when this Government is cutting back on mass transit funding and the localities have very little money is an abdication of responsibility. I know I am speaking in strong terms. but if Mr. Chertoff professes these views. then I am not sure he should continue as the Secretary of Homeland Security. And as I said. I respect him. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES SCHUMER","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7742,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090055589,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise in support of the Shelby amendment of $1.1 billion. I come even more to express complete frustration with the statements today of Secretary Chertoff on mass transit. This is a national issue. It is one that is connected with interstate commerce. Most -importantly. protecting the American people is a primary responsibility of Government. The idea that we would turn our backs on the 228 million riders a year on mass transit in the State of New Jersey and put it at some secondclass level of consideration makes no sense at all. Tens of thousands of riders every day ride the trains in and out of New York City from New Jersey. in and out of Philadelphia.","speaker_name":"JON CORZINE","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":678,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090055598,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Thus these dollars which are being proposed today are not going to dramatically increase safety. They well may have some visual impact. and they will give people personal confidence. But as the mayor of New York said a couple days ago. a committed professional terrorist who is willing to give their life in order to kill other people is going to be able to attack that train. to attack that bus system. How do you address this? The key to addressing it is as Secretary Chertoff has made very clear. It is unfortunate that his words have been hyperbolized so much on the floor of the Senate and have been used in a political manner. This is a sincere man who is trying to do a good job. He is just getting started as Secretary. For him to be subjected to politicization in the Senate is not constructive to the process of the defense of our country from terrorists. but he has been. as so often happens around here. What he has pointed out in his review is the way we protect our transit systems is to get better intelligence. It is intelligence that is the key. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10701,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090055622,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. my amendment provides an addional $1.3 billion aboie the underlying bill for needed security funding for our transit systems. intercity rail. freight rail. and intracity buses for a total of $1.4 billion. The funding levels I am proposing in this amendment are based on two bipartisan rail security authorization bills. S. 2273 and S. 2884. which passed the Senate last October. Public transportation is used nearly 32 million times every day. 365 days a year. Thirtytwo million times a day is 16 times more than travel on domestic airlines. How about that. According to the -Government Accounting Office. nearly 6.000 agencies provide transit services through buses. subways. ferries. and light rail service to about 14 million Americans every weekday. Amtrak. while serving nearly 500 train stations in 46 States. carried an alltime record of ridership of 25 million passengers in fiscal year 2004. Freight rail consists of more than 140.000 miles of track over which nearly 28 million carloads move annually. including over 9 million trailers and containers and $1.7 million carloads of hazardous materials and hazardous waste. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3353,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090055677,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we have had substantial debate on the substance of this amendment. the fact that the $1 billion probably will not impact dramatically the security situation. It might actually misallocate funds that could otherwise be used for intelligence and for Border Patrol agents and for other activities that are so critical and that are threatoriented. But the practical bottom line is this amendment is $1 billion over the budget and will add to the deficit by $1 billion. if it is adopted. I urge that the motion to waive be defeated.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":542,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090055718,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. Newsweek magazine reported that on July 11. 2003. a correspondent for Time magazine. Matt Cooper. sent an email to his bureau chief. Michael Duffy: Subject. Rove P&C. and that means for personal and confidential. The email said: Spoke to Rove on double supersecret background for about 2 minutes before he went on vacation. According to Newsweek. Cooper wrote that Karl Rove offered him a big warning not to get too far out on Joe Wilson. Coopers email said the following: that it was. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4056,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090055751,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That is all it is. Listen to the facts. They are based on what I read in Newsweek. Instead of doing what you would think we do in this deliberative body. we wait to see what the special counsel has to say. We wait to get the facts before the Senate. If. in fact. we find this Executive order is lacking in scope. is lacking in effect. is somehow not doing the job it needs to do. we can provide some legislation to deal with it. We have none of that. What we have is \"gotcha politics\" in Washington in 2005. So we are dealing with something that is hastily crafted. poorly crafted. that does not explicitly say who it covers. that does not have a clear standard of intent. that is simply unnecessaryunnecessary when the conduct that was supposed to be concerned about. or should be concerned about is already covered by Executive order.","speaker_name":"NORM COLEMAN","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2776,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090055757,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I suggest to my friend from Alabama that is the reason. in the Executive order. we have a standard of knowing. In fact. if you do something negligently. there is a standard and you can be held accountable. But there is no such standard. whatever. in this hastily crafted political amendment and. as such. my colleagues should reject it.","speaker_name":"NORM COLEMAN","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":336,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090055766,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You have written this. So there you go. Your side wrote. cant have a security clearance. So all I can say is. one side can say you are playing politics. the other side can. Put that aside. Read this amendment. It is the right thing to do. Either you stand on the side of the brave men and women who risk their lives undercover every day or you stand on the side of politics. You make up your mind. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3357,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090055820,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. before we close. I do want to get back to perhaps some of the underlying facts that motivated this amendment. By the way. we dont know the facts. We just know what we have read. The Democratic leader cited a poll that appeared in the Wall Street Journal. I have an editorial that appeared in the Wall Street Journal yesterday. July 13. I ask unanimous consent to print it in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"NORM COLEMAN","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":403,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090055873,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I offered an amendment that would ensure the continued funding and operation of the United States Fire Administration. I offered this amendment on behalf of myself and the three other Cochairmen of the Congressional Fire Services Caucus. Senators DEWINE. BIDEN. and MCCAIN. as well as Senators MIKULSKI. MURRAY. FEINGOLD. CORZINE. and","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":349,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090055905,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to engage in a brief colloquy with the chairman and ranking member of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee. the Senators from New Hampshire and West Virginia. respectively. It is my understanding the Senate Homeland Security. Appropriations Report includes language designating $50 million for \"Next Generation\" Explosive Detection Equipment. EDS. that \"have been tested. certified and are being piloted.\"","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":440,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090055923,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the Chairman for recognizing what so many people do not. namely. that immigration problems are not limited to the border States. One of the greatest concerns we Utahns have with the immigration enforcement in our State is the fact that the field office director overseeing Utah is located in San Francisco. CA. I hope my colleague will agree with me that having the oversight for a major illegal immigration artery located over 650 miles away from the area is disconcerting. The immigration problems facing San Francisco are very different from the problems facing St. George. Blanding. Richfield. Cedar City. Provo. and Salt Lake and that is precisely why I would like to see a new field officer director located in Utah. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1660,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090055925,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"At this tragic time. all people in that great country must know that America is with them. as allies. as friends. as brothers and sisters. They are not alone. for they must know that they remain in our hearts. in our minds. and in our prayers. as we have experienced a similar sense of loss and pain on September 11. 2001. Together we will not allow terrorists to destroy the way of life that our two great nations have endeavored over centuries to build. The four bombings in London have now lead many of us to take a second look at the Homeland Security appropriations bill to ensure that we are adequately securing our Nations rail and transit systems. In addition to appropriating funds. however. we must also act on authorizing measures to promote the security of our nations transportation system. Earlier this week. I introduced the Rail Security Act of 2005. which is nearly identical to legislation passed unanimously by the Senate last year. I hope that the bombings in Madrid and London will spur this Congress to take needed action and pass this important authorizing legislation. I commend the chairman and subcommittee chairman. and the ranking members. on their efforts to produce a funding measure that best meets our Nations security objectives. For the third consecutive year. the committee has reported out a Homeland Security bill with minimal earmarks. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10390,"word_count":231}
{"speech_id":1090055960,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to recognize the achievements of the Stolar Research Corp. of Raton. NM. Stolars drill string radar was recently selected by R&D magazine as one of the 100 most technologically significant products introduced into the marketplace this year. The drill string radar attaches to systems that drill for natural resources. It can identify geological formations. locate the position of oil and gas deposits. and determine the thickness of coal seams. The use of the drill string radar will permit missed oil and gas reserves to be cost effectively and easily located. I have every expectation this capability will allow us to more efficiently utilize the resources we have. This ability will lessen our dependence upon foreign sources of energy. which is vital to our economic and strategic interest. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1216,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090055962,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Initially the activities were local. such as arranging camping trips for the children of lost soldiers and volunteering at veterans hospitals. As membership grew so did the scope of the young organizations focus. which soon incorporated organizational support for memorial projects. helping coordinate Veterans and Memorial Days programs and speaking out in public forums on behalf of widowed military wives. And the work continues today. Tiffany Petty. 25. of Inkom. ID. was widowed in December 2003 when her husband. Army PFC Jerrick M. Petty. was killed while guarding a gas station in Iraq. Along with other members of the Gold Star Wives. Tiffany appeared before the Senate and communicated in strong. heartfelt terms the need to increase death benefits for survivors and remove the bureaucratic obstacles grieving families face in accessing benefits. On July 19. the mothers. wives. sisters. and daughters that comprise the membership of the Gold Star Wives will convene in Florida. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3804,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090055964,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"From the Committee on Science. for consideration of secs. 108. 126. 205. 209. 302. 401404. 411. 416. 441. 601607. 609612. 631. 651. 652. 661. 711. 712. 721724. 731. 741744. 751. 754. 757. 759. 801811. Title IX. secs. 1002. 12251227. 1451. 1452. 1701. 1820. and Title XXIV of the House bill. and secs. 125. 126. 142. 212. 230232. 251253. 302. 318. 327. 346. 401407. 415. 503. 601607. 609. 610. 624. 631635. 706. 721. 722. 725. 731. 734. 751. 752. 757. 801. Title IX. Title X. secs. 1102. 1103. 1105. 1106. 1224. Title XIV. secs. 1601. 1602. and 1611 of the Senate amendment. and modifications committed to conference: Mr. BOEHLERT. Mrs. BIGGERT. and Mr. GORDON. Provided that Mr. ","speaker_name":"LOUISE SLAUGHTER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1698,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090055967,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And flaws in the gift rules are allowing handouts from lobbyists to rapidly increase the influence of special interests at the expense of the average citizen. I am told that it is not\" uncommon for lobbyists to perch themselves at the end of a bar and buy drinks for any congressional staffer who comes by. This is permissible under the Senates current gift rules. and it shouldnt be. Lobbyists complain about pressureif not outright blatant requestsfrom Members and congressional staff to pay for their food and drinks. Clearly. there is plenty of blame to go around. My bill addresses these concerns in four ways. First. my bill makes the lobbying process more transparent by enhancing the specificity. frequency. and accessibility of lobbying disclosire reports. The bill would require these periodic reports filed by lobbyists to identify the members of Congress with whom they met. divulge all past seniorlevel legislative or executive branch employment. and separate out and report the amount of money spent on grassroots lobbying efforts. Lobbyists would have to file these reports on a quarterly. rather than a semiannual. basis. And the bill would require the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House to make these reports available in a searchable database that would allow the public to gather information on lobbyists quickly and efficiently. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9909,"word_count":220}
{"speech_id":1090055971,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This legislation will ensure that the ongoing expansion projects of smaller airports across the country will continue in order to accommodate the growing demand for additional airfield and terminal capacity at these airports. By Mr. NELSON of Nebraska (for himself. Mr. SANTORUM. and Mr.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3223,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090055978,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking. Housing. and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on July 14. 2005. at 10 a.m.. to conduct a hearing on \"The Department of Treasurys report to Congress entitled: Assessment: The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002.\"","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":318,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090055980,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday. July 14 at 10 a.m. The purpose of the hearing is to consider the nominations of R. Thomas Weimer to be an Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Policy. Management and Budget. andMark A. Limbaugh to be an Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Water and Science.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":422,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090055994,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday. July 14. 2005. for a hearing to consider the nominations of James P. Terry to be Chairman of the Board of Veterans* Appeals. Department of Veterans Affairs and Charles S. Ciccolella to be Assistant Secretary for Veterans Employment and Training. Department of Labor. The hearing will take place in Room 418 of the Russell *enate Office Building at 10:30 a.m.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":504,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090056003,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Personnel be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on July 14. 2005. at 9:30 a.m.. in open session to receive testimony on military justice and detention policy in the Global War on Terrorism.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":270,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090056053,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We are taking action. The Homeland Security bill we passed last night reflects that appropriate both response and leadership. When we began the 109th Congress 6 months ago. America faced a number of structural problems that were threatening our safety. our security. our prosperity. and our freedom. America was drowning in lawsuit abuse. Our highways and ports were falling into disrepair. We were hitting our tenth year with no comprehensive energy plan. becoming more and more dependent. day by day. on foreign sources of oil. Partisan obstruction. in large part inherited from the last Congress. was tearing apart our judicial confirmation process. Our troops overseas needed our support and. over the Christmas holiday period. the tsunami disaster struck. Looking at that environment. we needed to take bold action. and we did. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11743,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090056078,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"From all the indications I have gotten. he does not want a big battle. nor do we. I am hopeful and confident that will be the case. However. I say directly to my friend from Kentucky. there is no reason we cant make the October 1 date if the President selects someone next week or the week after or the week after that. We can have the FBI working. We can have the Judiciary Committee staffs working. The first or second week in September. there can be hearings that last a week. Everyone can ask all the questions they want. Especially if it is a Supreme Court Justice who is one the President thinks. and he indicated he would allow us tocertainly I would like to conominate. but I know that is not our purpose in the Senate. He did indicate if there is someone who is deserving of a red flag for reasons that maybe he does not anticipate. we can maybe help in that regard. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2849,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090056088,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As I mentioned before. Congo hosts the worlds largest U.N. peacekeeping force. and the U.N. peacekeeping force in Haiti is twice as large as the contingent of United States. French. and Canadian soldiers who were very effectively able to keep the peace immediately after Aristide left. The problem then is quality. The problem is what they are doing. The problem is what they are not doing. I certainly do not want to imply all peacekeepers are doing a bad or inadequate job. There are many brave individuals who make up the peacekeeping forces. Some countries certainly have an exemplary reputation for sending competent peacekeepers. but there are far too few quality peacekeepers. It is inconsistent. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9637,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090056099,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"and ALLARD.as cosponsors of this bill. The Four Corners region in the Southwestern United States contains many of the most stunning and wellpreserved archaeological sites in our country. It also offers monuments. museums. and other attractions which draw visitors from all over the world. The rare archaeology of this part of the world combined with an awesome natural setting makes this a region like no other. With this bill we hope to lay the groundwork to give this region the attention that it so richly deserves. Six years ago. Congress voted to support a partnership among these four States and the Federal Government in order to construct an Interpretive Center at the intersection of the Four Corners. This Center has recently opened and now provides a wonderful physical locus for travel in the region. Visitors to this spot can stop. rest. learn about the area. and purchase goods produced by the local Tribes. The designation of the surrounding region as a National Heritage Areawould complement this experience at the Center and is the logical next step. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3728,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090056167,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on behalf of the majority leader. for the benefit of my colleagues. I would like to announce the Senate schedule. Leader time is reserved. There will be a period of morning business until 10 Senate (Legislative day of Monday. July 10. 1995) a.m. this morning. At 10 a.m. the Senate will resume consideration of S. 343. the regulatory reform bill. with the Glenn substitute amendment pending. The Senate will then stand in recess from 12:30 to 2:15 p.m.. to accommodate the respective party luncheons. At 2:15 . p.m.. under a previous order. there Will be two consecutive rollcall votes. The first will be a 15minute vote on the Glenn substitute amendment. followed by a vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the DoleJohnston substitute amendment. which will be 10 minutes in length. ","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1414,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090056216,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I do. because that is clearly quantifiable. I just quantified it. And that is the way the agencies read the DoleJohnston bill. and that is why the agencies have written a statement. and that is why the bill should be amended. and that is why we have discussed an amendment. one of a number of amendments to the Senators bill. Since I have just quantified it. it is not eligible for the exception. The exception only applies where it is not quantifiable. and I have just given a quantified exception. I have just said for $100 million you can save 1.000 lives. but for $110 million you can save 2.000 lives. Now. the Senator is going to say and has said. well. that is nonquantifiable and therefore it is subject to this exception. to the least cost approach because the value of a life cannot be quantified. First of all. agencies do quantify it. but. second. in my hypothetical I have quantified it precisely and that is the way the agencies read this language. So we can sit here all day and debate as to whether or not. when you have 1.000 lives as a quantified benefit. that is quantified or nonquantified since for many of us the value of a life cannot be quantified.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1172,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090056251,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. if the Senate will be guided by the two questions Senator GLENN set outfirst. will real reform occur. and. second. will environmental laws be protected or will they be underminedonly one -of the two proposals before us today passes that muster. The GlennChafee amendment contains a series of steps that will improve the quality and reduce the burden of Federal regulations. It does so without threatening to undermine our environmental and safety laws. The other bill may be described by Senator JOHNSTON as a tougher reform bill. No doubt. more rules will be blocked by that bill. Under that bill. it could well result that Federal regulatory agencies would be brought to a virtual standstill. That is what I am confident will happen if this bill should ever become law. which fortunately has a slim chance of occurring. But that is not the goal of regulatory reform. to have the whole regulatory process of our Federal Government brought to a halt. I am sure Senator JOHNSTON and proponents of his bill believe setting high standards for regulations will get better rules. ","speaker_name":"LINCOLN CHAFEE","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3268,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090056256,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I want to reform our regulatory process. No one can deny that we need to write smarter. clearer. more effective. and more flexible Federal regulations. The question before us is not whether to reform our regulations. The question is how to reform them. I believe that the most balanced answer to this question is in S. 1001. that Senators GLENN. CHAFEE. and I. along with other of our colleagues from both sides of the aisle. offer here today. And I am afraid that S. 343. the DoleJohnston bill. remains an unbalanced. costly. confrontational approach. that fails to meet its own reform. criteria. and that will fail to protect the public health and safetythe general welfare that it is our Constitutional duty to protect. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11794,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090056292,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we have 53 votes. We need 60. I understand tomorrow we will have an additional four votes on this side of the aisle to make 57. 3 short of the 60. I am trying to determine whether or not we want to go with this bill. whether we want to set it aside for a period of time. or set it aside forever. I have been talking with the distinguished Democratic leader. It is my suggestion that if nobody objects. we stand in recess until 4:15 to give the principals involved a chance to go off somewhere to see whether or not they believe any more of these major issues can be resolved. which might move the bill along. I think. rather than just sit in a quorum call for the next hour. we will stand in recess. unless the Democratic leader has some objection to that.","speaker_name":"ELIZABETH DOLE","chamber":"S","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":771,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090056347,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I further ask that the Senate resume S. 343 after the disposition of S. 21. as amended. if amended. and no call for the regular order serve to displace S. 21. except one made by the majority leader. after notification of the minority leaderand he can be assured that he would get proper notification on thatand if a call for the regular order is made. there be 1 hour for debate. to be equally divided in the usual form. to be followed by the third cloture vote on the DoleJohnston substitute. and the mandatory quorum under rule XXII be waived.","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":560,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090056350,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I want to reiterate. in view of the unanimous consent agreement that we did reach. that was the last issue of the day in terms of recorded votes. There will be no recorded votes until tomorrow when an agreement is reached on when the next vote will be scheduled. There will be no further recorded votes tonight. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":345,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090056352,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let me take this opportunity to thank the Senator from Mississippi and the Democratic leader for their help on resolving the issue. I did not want to offer the senseoftheSenate resolution during the core of the debate on the substance of the bill. I do think it is relevant to this bill. I want to thank them for their cooperation.","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":346,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090056398,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the * Subcommittee on Youth Violence of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. be authorized to meet during a session of the Senate on Tuesday. July 18. 1995. at 10:00 a.m.. in Senate Dirksen room 226. on \"Guns in Schools: A Federal Role?\"","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":288,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090056412,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As a reminder. tomorrow. at 10 oclock in the morning. there will be a joint meeting with the House of Representatives. The Prime Minister of India. Manmohan Singh. will be speaking to both Houses of Congress at that joint meeting. We have 2 weeks remaining before our next recess. We have a lot of business over the next 2 weeks to conduct. The Democratic leader and I were just talking. going through our objectives. and will be sharing that and consulting with our colleagues as to how these next 2 weeks will play out. The floor schedule is going to be very busy. It will take precedence over other schedules. so we do ask Senators to keep their schedules flexible so we can accomplish the many tasks before us.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1487,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090056420,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think it would be better if we dispose of this. I will watch the conference committee very closely. It is fbally not a place for veterans funding programs. but we will take it wherever we get it. Again. I am sorry we were not able to work it out more quickly. but I do look forward to completing it in this work period.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":792,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090056433,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. as in executive session. I ask unanimous consent that at 5:15 this evening the Senate proceed to executive session for 30 minutes of debate equally divided in relation to calendar No. 172. Lester Crawford to be Commissioner of Food and Drugs. provided further that following that time the Senate proceed to a vote on the nomination. with no intervening action or debate. I further ask that following the vote the President be immediately notified of the Senates action and the Senate resume legislative session.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":526,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090056439,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we have several cleared amendments to the State. Foreign Operations bill which I send to the desk and ask for immediate consideration en bloc. There is one on behalf of Senator MARTINEZ regarding the Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. by Senator LEAHY. a technical amendment. for myself regarding activities of OPIC in Libya. three Leahy amendments. two technicals and an amendment regarding assistance to Pakistan. a Leahy amendment regarding assistance for the North Caucus. All of these amendments have been cleared on both sides. I ask for their immediate consideration.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":595,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090056481,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There is an unprecedented number of children becoming orphaned because of this particular disease. The way this disease affects families. it takes both the father and the mother. leaving children truly orphaned. \"Double orphaned\" is the way the international community talks about a child who has lost both a mother and a father. So we have a growing number of orphans in the world because of the AIDS epidemic. But even if it werent for the AIDS epidemic moving through. for instance. Africa and India at an alarming rate. we would still have a growing number of orphans in the world. The question is: What do we do as a human family to see that each of these children has a home. a place? That is simply what my amendment does. It recognizes it is the sense of the Congress and it recognizes the principle that children should grow up in the homes to which they were born. But if they are separated by disease. or war. or death. or for good reasonbecause some children are at risk in the home. perhaps from mental or physical abuse. sometimes children. unfortunately. have to be taken from parents. according to laws and customs of some countries. When that happens. those children should be raised by a relative. a caring. responsible relative. someone right there in the extended family. ","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8495,"word_count":226}
{"speech_id":1090056507,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I congratulate my friend and chairman of the Committee on Health. Education. Labor. and Pensions for his leadership in ensuring that the Senate will have an opportunity to vote on Dr. Crawford and. hopefully. approve his nomination. During one time or another during 3 of the last 4 years we have not had a head of the Food and Drug Administration. As Chairman ENzI has pointed out. this agency has enormous power. influence. and sayso on many of the different issues that affect every family in this country. It regulates food. cosmetics. drugs. medical devices. even televisions and cell phones a full quarter of every dollar consumers spend. And FDA really sets the standard for the rest of the world in how it regulates these products. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8366,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090056525,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Isnt it true we passed the FDA revitalization bill back in 1989 to create this central campus where we could have the best stateoftheart equipment? We had 48 different locations where FDA was located all over the greater Washington area. is that true?","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":251,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090056563,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Deputy Ortiz did just that. Jerry Ortiz was an important part of the Sheriffs Department family. He was well known for his sense of humor. positive attitude. and athleticism *on the Department boxing team. Over his 15year career. he became an integral part of the fight against gang crime in the area and went above and beyond to protect the innocent citizens caught in the unfortunate gang violence in their communities. Days before his tragic murder. Deputy Ortiz received word that he was being promoted to detective. All who knew him said that he loved his job but that he was first and foremost a family man. Ortiz spent most of his free time with his two sons. Jeremy. 16. and Jacob. 6. He was a sports fan and enjoyed sharing this passion with his sons. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2202,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090056565,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Had I been present for vote on H.R. 6. the Energy Policy Act of 2005. I would have voted yes. The bill is far from perfect. indeed. it does next to .nothing to address the challenge of climate change and leaves us much work still to do in creating the kind of robust and diverse fuel mix for our cars and trucks needed to provide America with true energy security. What the bill does do. however. to stimulate the development and use of technologies that can help us address these challengesor at least to get a startjustifies supporting it. I was disappointed that when Senator MCCAIN and I offered the Climate Stewardship and Inpovation Act as an amendment to bill. the Senate turned down the opportunity to adopt a truly comprehensive program to reduce economywide greenhouse gas emissions usifng a market system. My disappointment was tempered. however. when the Senate adopted a bipartisan resolution. which Senator MCCAIN and I cosponsored with Senators DOMENIcI and BINGAMAN and several others calling for a mandatory marketbased emissions reduction program for greenhouse gases. I am hopeful that over time the Senate will come to see that the legislation that Senator MCCAIN and I have been pushing for provides just the right vehicle for producing the legislation called for in the resolution. At the same time. I believe that the bill will help nudge our energy system towards a cleaner. more efficient future. In addition to including a renewable portfolio standard for electric utilities. the bill includes a range of incentives and other support for businesses and consumers to develop and use clean .technologies and clean fuels in their businesses and homes and on our highways. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10195,"word_count":281}
{"speech_id":1090056566,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As the Senate considered this legislation. I was pleased to lend my support to several amendments that sought to raise resources for critical infrastructure protection and first responders. Among these measures were those to simplify homeland security grants. increase resources to local homeland security programs. enhance air cargo security. increase truck security. ensure greater protection of our rail and transit systems and provide first responders with advanced communication systems. I also offered an amendment that would have increased critical infrastructure security and first responder funding by $16 billion to a total of $20 billion. My amendment would have codified a recommendation made 2 years ago by a task force chaired by our former colleague. Warren Rudman. along with a distinguished panel of national security. intelligence. military and public health officials. Regrettably. none of these measures was adopted. They were largely rejected because they exceeded the budget caps placed on the bill. Members who spoke in opposition to these amendments argued that we could not afford the extra cost. Instead of finding new resources. they suggested using existing resources already in the bill to boost infrastructure protection and first responders. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7709,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090056576,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet on Monday. July 18. 2005. at 2 p.m. to consider the nominations of Richard L. Skinner to be Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Brian David Miller to be Inspector General of the General Services Administration and. immediately following the hearing. to consider the nomination of Edmund S. Hawley to be Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":523,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090056584,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that at 11 a.m. in the morning on Tuesday. the Senate proceed to the consideration of S.J. Res. 18. the Burma import restrictions bill. the joint resolution be read a third time and placed back on the Senate calendar. I further ask consent that the Senate then proceed to the immediate consideration of H.J. Res. 52. the Housepassed Burma resolution. and there then be 1 hour and 20 minutes for debate. with the following Senators in control of the time: myself. 20 minutes. Senator BAUCUS. 20 minutes. Senator FEINSTEIN. 20 minutes. Senator LAUTENBERG. 20 minutes. I further ask consent that following the use or yielding back of time. the joint resolution be read a third time and the Senate proceed to a vote on the resolution with no intervening action or debate.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":806,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090056586,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the President of the Senate be authorized to appoint a committee on the part of the Senate to join with a like committee on the part of the House of Representatives to escort his Excellency. Dr. Manmohan Singh. the Prime Minister of India. into the House Chamber for a joint meeting tomorrow.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":336,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090056594,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Jack Kilby enjoyed the admiration and respect of his colleagues and others throughout the industry. Texas Instruments Chairman Tom Engibous said of Kilby: In my opinion. there are only a handful of people whose works have truly transformed the world and the way we live in itHenry Ford. Thomas Edison. the Wright Brothers and Jack Kilby. If there was ever a seminal invention that transformed not only our industry but our world. it was Jacks invention of the first integrated circuit. Jack St. Clair Kilby was born November 8. 1923. in Jefferson City. MO. and moved as a young child to Great Bend. KS. where he was raised and which he considered his hometown. His interest in electropics. radio technology in particular. was inspired by an experience in high school when an ice storm knocked down most of the telephone and power lines in a wide area in rural Kansas. His father. who ran a small electric company. worked with amateur radio operators to locate the areas that had been hit and to coordinate the provision of electrical service. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6960,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090056622,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I urge my colleagues to unanimously support H.R. 361. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JOHN BOOZMAN","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3478,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090056630,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. House Resolution 326 is a resolution calling on the government of Azerbaijan to ensure that their upcoming parliamentary elections in November are peaceful. free and fair. In the most recent elections in Azerbaijan. the 2003 presidential elections. international election observers concluded that they fell well short of international standards. The observers found numerous instances of voting fraud. restrictions on political rallies and intimidation against political opponents. Since that election. Azerbaijan has taken a number of positive steps. such as releasing some political prisoners. opening their airwaves to opposing viewpoints and allowing greater freedom of speech and assembly. ","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2329,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090056633,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The election observers also found irregularities in campaign and election conditions. including intimidation. restrictions on political rallies by opposition candidates. and voting fraud. Many people protested the election claiming it had been rigged. As a result these protests led to numerous arrests of the \"investigators.\" After threats by international organization that Azerbaijans membership in the Council of Europe would be reevaluated. President Aliyev released 114 of the political prisoners. I applaud my colleague for introducing H. Res. 326. While calling for a free and fair election in November. this bill would also work to guarantee oppositi6n party participation. and freedom of speechsomething that this country has lacked for many years. I call upon my colleagues to pass this common sense bill and send a message to Azerbaijan to hold and free and fair elections. respecting the rights of all individuals as some of their neighbors have already done.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH CROWLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1915,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090056645,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. House Resolution 328 recognizes the 25thyear anniversary of the Solidarity movement in Poland and conveys our recognition of Solidaritys important role in setting in motion the liberation of the Eastern and Central European nations and the fall of the Soviet Union. It also honors the struggle and the sacrifice of the people of Poland who risked their lives to restore democracy to their country. Solidarity began in the shipyards. with Polish workers refusing to submit to the tyranny of the Communist regime in Poland. even after 40 years of oppression. A local electrician. Lech Walesa. coordinated the Solidarity strikes and ensured that the strikes were peaceful and orderly. ","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1838,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090056646,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We honor the struggle and sacrifice of the workers of Poland and the leaders of Solidarity who risked their lives to restore democracy to their homeland. Poland has been a member of NATO for 8 years and recently became a full member of the European Union. These actions would not have taken place without the leadership of Lech Walesa and his colleagues in the Solidarity movement. I urge all of my colleagues to support this resolution.","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4185,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090056717,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. last year this Congress was promised a vote on the Central American Free Trade Agreement by the end of 2004. December 31 came and went. Then at a White House news conference in May. President Bush. called on Congress to pass the Central American Free Trade Agreement by Memorial Day. Memorial Day came and went. In June. Congress was once again promised a vote which was supposed to have been before the July 4 recess. The July 4 recess came and went. Now we understand a vote on the Central American Free Trade Agreement could come in front of the House next week. ","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4929,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090056736,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Sergeant Manny Hornedo Specialist Robert E. Hall Jr. Signaller Paul William Didsbury Sergeant Chad M. Mercer Staff Sergeant Jeremy A. Brown Specialist Ryan J. Montgomery Private Anthony M. Mazzarella Corporal Lyle J. Cambridge Staff Sergeant Scottie L. Bright Specialist Christopher W. Dickison Sergeant Deyson K. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2165,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090056739,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It was unbelievable when we went and saw the actual uparmor facility that we had funded through the supplemental budget and. the thanks we got from the servicemen and women about the effect and benefits that this was bringing to our troops. We saw firsthand an uparmored vehicle that had been hit by an IED and the damage that it suffered. but every soldier inside of it made it. These are the things that we have got to continue to do in this Congress. is to make sure that our men and women have the best possible equipment that they can use to fight terror all across this world. We also had an opportunity to go to Iraq and to see the devastation of that country and what it is like to have 30 years of control by a dictator that was the sole justice. I am a simple thinking kind of guy. and I had thought a lot about this war before I was in Congress and since I have been in Congress. but there were a lot of things that I had never thought about. Some of those things is there is no judicial system over there. There are no prosecutors. There was no rule of law. They had a dictator that was the rule of law. We went and met with the Third ID from Fort Stewart in what was known as the torture chamber for Saddam. and they talked about the things that they sawin the basement of that building. the horrific site that they saw that just turned their stomachs. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WESTMORELAND","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6582,"word_count":265}
{"speech_id":1090056742,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The main building was destroyed in the opening days of the war. Second brigades headquarters is in an outbuilding that years ago was used for despicable. a heinous act perpetrated upon the Iraqi people in the name of raw power. Now that headquarters is commanded by a colonel named Joe DiSalvo. That name means a lot to me because I have known Joe DiSalvo for 28 years.. We stood on the plane in July of 1997 at the United States Military Academy when we were inducted into the Corps of Cadets. We attended classes together and we played intramural sports together. We socialized together. After graduation we attended our Officer Basic Course together. a maintenance course together. and even went to ranger school and became rangers together. We had some interesting memoriea being snap linked on to the side of a hill in a rainstorm many. many years ago aswe were out to earn that coveted designation and many shared experiences. After that time we went our different ways in service to the country and our service to the Nation took different forms and different paths. ","speaker_name":"GEOFF DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7044,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090056748,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This administration manipulated the intelligence to get us in the war. And right. wrong or indifferent about the war. whether we should still have gone to try to set up a democracy in the Middle East. like Iraq. is a whole other debate. but the bottom line is there were not enough people in this Chamber and in the other Chamber who asked enough hard questions. That is really why we are where we are today.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1686,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090056749,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But I get concerned when we get to the area of national security and a lot of chest beating on this floor and a lot of chest beating in committee. and a lot of great speeches back home about how I love the troops. I get concerned when they take personal relationships on what the leadership says versus what they have to do and what they should be doing on behalf of those men and women. That is not a donkey or an elephant issue. or whatever the party symbol may be. it is an American issue. And it is important we remember that and just cut out the partisan politics. We have to take them to task here for what we have to work with. That is important. too. Some people may get a little irritated and ask why are they saying this and why are they saying that? We are saying it on behalf of those individuals that are doing what they have to do right here. right now. in the present. making sure they have a voice here on this floor. making sure that individual is going to the V.A. hospital. whether they were a World War II. or Korea. or Vietnam. or you name it. I mentioned Grenada the other day. The first Gulf war. You name it. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4349,"word_count":222}
{"speech_id":1090056752,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Right. It started out at $350 billion. Then. by the time we were going to vote on this bill. it became $400 billion because many of the fiscal conservatives in this Chamber said they would not vote for a prescription drug benefit that cost more than that. The night we voted on it. we were told $400 billion. After the election. it became $700 billion. After we had already voted on it. Later it was over $1 trillion. the extended cost of this Medicare prescription drug benefit. Come to find out. the actuary that had the real numbers was told by one of his bosses not to tell the Congress what the real number was. So the 700.000 people my colleague represents. the 700.000 people I represent were not told the truth and so could not base their decision on the real facts because they were covered up so that we would pass this. Same thing happened with the war.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":864,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090056755,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I was a little bothered by seeing some officials over at the Department of Homeland Security immediately after the London transit explosions that took place not only on buses but also on rail. [ 2200 I cannot help but think about a letter I wrote to the Department. I must say. I cosigned it with the chairman and also the ranking member. the gentleman from Mississippi . and the chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security. It is important that Members know as of April 30 there was supposed to be a report sent back to this Congress. not me personally. but this Congress that was passed in the 9\/11 bill making sure that the Department shares with us their transportation strategy. That did not happen. There was another deadline when the Department said it would get that transit security strategy to Congress. They did not meet that deadline either. As I stand here on the floor tonight. we still do not have a transit homeland security strategy back to this Congress. If we want to talk about Members. if we want to talk about officials over at the Department of Homeland Security. we can do that. We can talk about the White House also. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4970,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090056768,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"You know that they have parents and grandparents and husbands and wives and they have brothers and sisters and moms and dads. and they love the Lord. and they talk about it. Some are more eloquent than others. I know I have to admit that I have not yet been the speaker. to talk about my life and why I am here and what purpose I hope to serve in this great body. I probably should not have admitted that. because the coach may have me down next week to give my testimonial. Mr. Speaker. and I may be more nervous during that than I am here participating in this Special Order tonight. But I love my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. Thursday morning at that prayer breakfast. that devotional. it gives me an opportunity to really understand why I am here. why we all are here: to do good. just to do good. to do the right thing. not to ever let political expediency get in the way of our principles. and always try to do Gods will. So for me to share a few moments talking about that tonight is a great pleasure. and I appreciate the gentleman from Nebraska bringing us together in a bipartisan fashion. You are going to hear from Members on both sides of the aisle. and because of our participation in that group. that Thursday morning prayer breakfast. they are my good friends and I am their good friend. and we respect one another and we love one another and we are going to continue to try. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3150,"word_count":266}
{"speech_id":1090056773,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman very much. and I certainly appreciate his leadership at the prayer breakfast. I was. hoping we would get through this -hour without talking about football. but it did come up and. fortunately. we do not get too involved with that and it keeps -things on a little higher plane. So at this point. I would like to recognize a gentleman who has really added a lot to the prayer breakfast through the fact that he plays guitar and can carry a tune and usually gets us started on the right note. and that is the gentleman from Missouri .","speaker_name":"THOMAS OSBORNE","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":566,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090056781,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"You have to be an elected member to attend. Some of them are Muslims. some are Jews. We have had many of our Jewish Members in the Congress who have come and shared with us. and we want to have each person who comes to understand that they are cared for. that they are accepted. and that they are loved during that hour. So we find that by being inclusive in that way that we are able to share what we are put on this earth to do. I would like to conclude by just reading a brief excerpt from a book by David Barton. Again. he was alluding to some of the Founding Fathers. And we know they had tremendous foresight and great anticipation of what was to come. \"Franklin had warned.\" and Barton says this. \"Franklin had warned forgetting God and imagining we no longer need his concurring aid would result in international disputes. the decay of the nations prestige and reputation. and a diminished national success. Washington had warned if religious principles were excluded. the nations morality and political prosperity would suffer.\" So these were some words from 200 years ago that I think resonate today. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS OSBORNE","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2960,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090056831,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. a little more than 2 years ago. thugs working for the military strongmen of Burma attacked Aung San Suu Kyi and members of the opposition party that she leads. the National League for Democracy. The Government put Suu Kyi into what they call \"protective custody.\" She remains under house arrest to this day. In response to this heinous attack. America banned imports from Burma. We in Congress believed something had to be done. In 2002. those imports were valued at $350 million. mostly in garments. In the autumn of 2003. Burmese Prime Minister Nyunt. who had opposed the attack on the opposition party. called for a sevenpoint road map to Democracy. But the road map led to nowhere. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4147,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090056850,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank Senators MCCONNELL and FEINSTEIN for their leadership in renewing the sanctions contained in the 2003 Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act. I am proud to cosponsor this legislation. As we renew the sanctions. I note with sadness that the situation inside Burma grows ever dimmer. The military junta in that country controls the population through a campaign of violence and terror. and the lack of freedom and justice there is simply appalling. The Burmese regime has murdered political opponents. used child soldiers. and forced labor. and employed rape as a weapon of war. Political activists remain in prison. including elected members of Parliament. and last month the courageous woman Aung San Suu Kyi celebrated her 60th birthday in captivity. Her resolve in the face of tyranny inspires me and I believe every individual who holds democracy dear. Because she stands for freedom. this heroic woman has endured attacks. arrest. captivity. and untold sufferings at the hands of the regime. Burmas rulers fear Aung San Suu Kyi because of what she represents: peace. freedom. .and justice for all Burmese people. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1540,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090056856,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I know my friend from Kentucky and the Senator from California and all Members will renew our assurance to the people of Burma and their brave leader that we will not rest and we will not stop until they achieve freedom and democracy. which is a Godgiven right. I thank my colleague from Kentucky.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":312,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090056857,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank. again. the Senator from Arizona for his continuous interest and outspoken involvement in this issue over the years. It has been fun to be in collaboration with him. I will say a few words on Burma before the Senate votes. and at the end of my remarks I will ask for the yeas and nays on the measure to renew sanctions for another year on Burma. These sanctions are absolutely necessary. If you do not want to take my word for it. here is what a Thai journalist wrote in a recent opinion piece in that countrys newspaper called the Nation: * whatever momentum was gained from the international calls to free Aung San Suu Kyi and to allow for democracy in Burma on the occasion of the opposition leaders recent 60th birthday must be sustained at all costs. The outpouring of support from presidents. prime ministers. intellectuals. Nobel laureates and activists demonstrated one simple truththe Lady matters. Contrary to conventional wisdom. perpetuated by junta apologists and other vested interests in the past five years. that the longsuffering opposition leader of the National League for Democracy has been the main stumbling block of progress because of her attitude toward political processes and national reconciliation. Suu Kyi is in fact loved and respected by the Burmese and other people around the world. He had it right. ","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1720,"word_count":227}
{"speech_id":1090056880,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There are filed amendments which I will designate which I will send to the desk. They have been cleared on both sides. I call up amendment No. 1264. offered by Mr. OBAMA and Mr. HAGEL. I ask its immediate consideration. I ask that Mr. GREGG and Mr. LEAHY be added as cosponsors. The amendment has been cleared on both sides of the aisle.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":337,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090056897,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. Senator LEAHY and I are aware of only a few amendments to this bill which must be disposed of prior to final passage. Let me reiterate for all of our colleagues who are interested in amending this bill. we are not interested in encouraging that sort of thing. but if we are going to do it. since both the majority leader and Democratic leader have indicated we are going to finish this bill today. I think it would be considerate of all the Members of the Senate. and helpful. if we were to dispose of these amendments while the Sun is still up rather than this evening. because Members typically have many responsibilities in the evening. We would all like to finish up in the late afternoon. If you have an amendment that you simply must offer. come over and discuss it with us. Hopefully we can take it. If not. we will look for a short time agreement. a vote. and move toward final passage this afternoon. I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":959,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090056944,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it is my understanding after discussions with the Senator from Oklahoma. the ranking member of the subcommittee and myself. we have an agreement on voting on the CoburnBoxer amendment. I ask unanimous consent that there be 60 minutes for debate in relation to the CoburnBoxer amendment No. 1242. with Senator COBURN in control of 20 minutes. Senator BOXER in control of 20 minutes. and 20 minutes under my control. provided further that following the use or yielding back of time. the Senate proceed to a vote in relation to the amendment. with no amendments in order to the amendment prior to the vote.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":618,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090056969,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I suggest that there be 15 minutes under* the control of the Senator from North Dakota. 15 minutes under. the control of the occupant of the chair or myself. 15 minutes under the control of Senator MARTINEZ. and that debate commence at the expiration of the time allocated that is about to start momentarily related to the Coburn amendment.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":340,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090056983,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Senator COBURN. The fact is. those 5.000 jobs will not last very long when the Chinese learn how to do the work. But. given that. that the 5.000 jobs will be created. we need to put that number in context. We are talking about $5 billion in loans and loan guarantees. It will create 5.000 jobs. U.S. manufacturers have estimated that Chinas undervaluation of its currency has resulted in the loss of 2. million American jobs. So why dont we do something to change this persistent unfair trade practice and create 2 million jobs--if everything was fairnot 5.000 jobs? If we cant do this through pressure by convincing the Chinese to change their practice or by pursuing a complaint wibh the WTO. surely there are easier ways to create 5.000 jobs. For example. spending $100 million2 percent of the size of this dealon transportation projects would create 5.000 jobs. According to the measurements used by the Small Business Administration. $5 billion in loans and loan guarantees to American small businesses would create. 100.000 new jobs. What is wrong with this picture? If we are so ready to give loan guarantees. lets look at giving them right here to our small businesses. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8033,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090057007,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Well. again. Westinghouse is a company based in the United States. As you know. we have multinational companies that are headquartered all around the world. But the bottom line is Westinghouse is a U.S. company. it pays U.S. taxes. it has a U.S. payroll. and that is where the AP1000 is being built. The AP1000 is something that .was designedI went and saw it in Pittsburgh. PA. These are the folks who have the technology. These are the folks who are going to be building and constructing this plant. I am sure there may be some profit. Obviously. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":825,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090057009,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Senator from Pennsylvania didnt hear the debate about the $5 billion loan guarantee. and what that would turn into if we did the same type of thing for other Americanowned corporations and invested here. As the Senator from California outlined. the difference is a $100 million investment in highways will produce 5.006 jobs. $100 million invested in small businesses will produce 5.000 jobs. I still stand by the contention that this subsidyand that is what it is. We need to make sure we talk about what this really is. This is a subsidy by the American taxpayer. and it is going to cost them money because we are going to loan money at lower than we are borrowing now so there is a net cost to the American taxpayers for doing this. Even if they do pay it back. we are still going to be losing the jobs. What we have to recognize is our fiduciary responsibility. The fastest growing cost to the Federal Government is net interest. We are going to boot it up $5 billion. times about 1.5 percbnt. and that happens to be about $50 million a year that we are going to ask our grandkids to pay to subsidize this deal. Take $50 million. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1869,"word_count":209}
{"speech_id":1090057024,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So I ask. what is the point of this amendment? Why would we want to pass legislation that would hurt American companies and try to tell China what sort of energy it can develop? I could understand if this was sensitive nuclear technology and had national security implications. But it has been vetted.. and that is simply not the case. The administrationand. in particular. the Department of Commerce and the Department of Energyhas reviewed this technology and has offered its unequivocal support for American firms bidding or subcontracting on these projects. In the first project that would involve American technology. a multinational consortium. including the -American Shaw group. is looking to design and construct four AP1000 pressurized water reactors on two sites in central and southern China. This AP1000 advanced nuclear powerplant will be the new standard for nuclear power throughout the globe and lead to thousands of hightech jobs for Americans for many years to come. In February 2005. the ExIm Bank gave a preliminary commitment to provide $5 billion of assistance to this consortium. Should this amendment pass today. it would mean the loss of at least 5.000 hightech jobs throughout the Nation and could well set a precedent that precludes any American company from bidding on nuclear powerplant projects in China. By passing this amendment. we essentially hand the contract to either the French or the Rifssians. who have the full support and backing of their respective governments. With our trade deficit with China nearing $200 billion. I simply cannot understand why we would not want to provide American firms the best opportunity to successfully bid on these projects in China. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6979,"word_count":274}
{"speech_id":1090057034,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask this question. You are aware that there is an exposure. fee that is paid by the company to the ExIm Bank. which is calculated to cover the credit risk of the transaction. so the credit cost to the taxpayer would be zeroed out through this exposure.","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":269,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090057106,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. yesterday on the floor I suggested that I might offer an amendment to this bill dealing with the CNOOC Chinese oil companys purchase of Unocal. I wanted to tell the ranking member that I decided not to offer this amendmentto this appropriations subcommittee bill. There are other avenues with which to discuss and describe that issue. It is very controversial. It is something which I believe very strongly the Congressthe Senate needs to deal with. but I have elected not to do it on this particular piece of legislation because other opportunities will exist in the days ahead.","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":594,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090057110,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have spent almost 30 years on this committee. cutting out areas where I believed we spent tax dollars frivolously. This. however. is talking about $5.000 overall throughout AID regarding hospitality for visiting dig-* nitaries. I have had disagreements with various Directors of AID over the years on particular programs. but I am not going to come on the Senate floor and seek to micromanage AID to the extent that if they have visiting dignitaries and they are trying to move through a program. they would be unable to even have recorded music for that or pay a modest honorarium to a local singer or something like that to come in and entertain. much the same way other countries do with us. We are talking about for the whole world-$5.000 in a multimillion dollar budget. Frankly. I will give the Bush administrationas I have since I have been in the Senate the Ford administration. the Reagan administration. the first Bush administration. the Clinton administration. and now the Bush administrationthe benefit of the doubt that out of this multibillion dollar budget. they can handle this $5.000. I will vote against the amendment. and I yield the remainder of my time.","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1177,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090057137,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we have now spent $198 million sending television signals to Cuba that the Cubans cannot see. It is called Television Marti. The President proposes to spend another $21 million in the coming year. including buying an airplane to send these signals. Let me say that the Chicago Tribune foreign correspondent recently reported on this and said he couldnt find anybody who had ever seen TV Marti. In all of the surveys that have been done on people who came over by raft and so on. they couldnt find anybody who saw TV Marti. Why? Because it was jammed. So we are spending another $21 million in the next year to send television signals the Cubans cant see. Meanwhile. we have now cut $25 million in this bill from the Presidents budget request for the Peace Corps. I say lets take the $21 million we now spend on television signals the Cubans cant watch and spend it on the Peace Corps which will invest in the future of this country and promote a better world. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1137,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090057152,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the managers of this bill for agreeing to accept this amendment. We have been working diligently over the last few days to make sure this amendment could become part of the bill. Senator MCCONNELL. in particular. has been exceptionally helpful in allowing this amendment to be entered into the managers package. which I am told the Senator will be offering. It is an amendment Senator DURBIN and I have been working on to add $100 million to the Global Fund for HIV\/ AIDS. It is an important $100 million in that it brings the U.S. contribution up to the level of onethird the amount that is estimated to be contributed to the Global Fund. A few years ago. we passed a piece of legislation on the floor of the Senate that the President signed into law that said that we would provide $1 for every $2 of international contributions to the Global Fund to help fight this scourge that is killing 270.000 people a montha monthon the continent of Africa. It is just remarkable. The number is almost too much for all of us to comprehend. the deVastation occurring on the continent of Africa. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4485,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090057242,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we have a lot to do in the next week and a half. DOD authorization. as the Democrat leader and as my colleagues know. is a high priority. We also are doing our very best to come to an agreement on how to bring stem cells to the floor of the Senate. to bring the native Hawaiian issue to the floor of the Senate. and gun liability issues we talked about earlier this morning. We are making progress. We did not quite finish foreign operations today but we will tomorrow. As we complete that bill and we finish with the Dorr nomination. we will hopefully be able to accomplish all of those bills. It is asking a lot.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":629,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090057285,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. tomorrow the Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan will testify before the Committee on Financial Services on the state of the economy. During his testimony. Chairman Greenspan will undoubtedly argue that ours is a healthy growing economy. But while he is explaining the flattened yield curve. I am hoping he will take the time to explain the curve balls being thrown at Americas middle class. As the Wall Street Journal reported today. \"In the past few years. overall consumer prices have risen a little over 8 percent while wages have remained flat for the middle class.\" Gasoline prices. up 55 percent. electricity. 11 percent. health care costs. 10 percent. college costs. 12 percent. and the ability to save for retirement is getting harder and harder. For public servants. like teachers. police officers. and firemen. they are being priced out of the housing market. While he expounds on Americas monetary policy. the 10year note. the housing bubble. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1338,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090057286,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. on June 30. the Department of Homeland Security and the FBIs Safe Street Gang Task Force arrested 10 members of the SUR13 gang on illegal immigration charges in my district. The largest gang bust in Alpharetta. Georgia. history serves to spotlight the ever present need to secure our borders. These illegal gang members are not only taking American jobs and tax money. they are also taking American lives. These gang members distribute dangerous drugs. they commit murders. assaults. driveby shootings and auto thefts. We must get serious about immigration reform. Mr. Speaker. 400.000 illegal aliens who have been ordered deported are still in this country because their deportation orders have not been enforced. In many cases. after being ordered deported by a judge. the illegal alien simply walks out of the courtroom without so much as someone ensuring that they leave the country. ","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1152,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090057292,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Four times in a row the amendment was actually defeated by the Democratcontrolled Senate. It was not until the Republican Party regained control of Congress in 1919 that the equal rights suffragette amendment finally passed both the House and the Senate. Republicans deserve credit for promoting the first woman to the highest court in the land and for advancing the rights of women around the world. Mr. Speaker. the Republican Party has a long and distinguished track record of championing womens issues.","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA BROWN-WAITE","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1156,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090057294,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I learned from my father. who served in India during World War II. that Indians are guided by their strong work ethic and ingenuity. They are dynamic civic leaders of Rotary and chambers of commerce with children who excel with the highest SAT scores. As their representative and friend. I am grateful the IndiaU.S. friendship has never been stronger. In conclusion. God bless our troops and we will never forget September 11.","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1348,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090057309,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This authorization measure contains important new foreign policy directives and reflects a consensus on both sides of the aisle. Together we have produced a very strong piece of legislation that protects our national interests abroad. robustly funds our public diplomacy efforts. and promotes those values that we hold dear such as the protection of human rights. support for democracy. and assistance to those in crisis or in need. H.R. 2601 fully funds the operations of the Department of State. especially its diplomatic operations abroad. and meets the Presidents budget request. It authorizes $22.3 billion over 2 years plus for the Department of State. international broadcasting activities. international assistance programs. and related agencies. Again. I hope my colleagues will support the rule and the bill when it comes to the floor.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2732,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090057332,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In technical terms. this violates section 302(f) of the Budget Act. which precludes the House from considering a bill that exceeds the 302(a) allocation of the committee that reported the bill. Now. the Rules Committee could have let this slide: The rule could simply have waived the Budget Act restriction. and let the authorizing committee fix the problem through a floor amendment. After all. many will say it wasnt really a large amount of money to worry aboutand hardly anyone would have noticed anyway. While that step might have fixed the problem with this particular bill. it would have done it the wrong way. The principle underlying the congressional budget process is that we should not consider bills on this floor until they comply with spending limits established in the budget resolution. In other words. the burden is on the committee reporting the bill to comply with the budget before the measure reaches the floor. If compliance were left to a floor amendment or a subsequent point of order. it would cost budgetary commitment to the winds of the momentwhich is no commitment at all. Chairman DREIER and the Rules Committee have shown the appropriate kind of leadership:They have upheld this important principle of fiscal discipline. Once again. I commend Chairman DREIER and the Rules Committee for enforcing the budget resolution and upholding the integrity of the budget process. ","speaker_name":"JAMES NUSSLE","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4549,"word_count":229}
{"speech_id":1090057351,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong support of H.R. 2601. the Foreign Relations Authorization Bill for Fiscal Years 2006 and 2007 as it was reported out of committee. At the outset I want to pay tribute to the chairman of the committee. my good friend. the gentleman from Illinois . for conducting the complex discussions and debates leading to this legislation with statesmanlike dignity. Mr. Chairman. today our great Nation continues to face a grave terrorist threat. Despite our many successes at disrupting al Qaeda and other violent and brutal Islamic extremists. our determination to defeat terror remains unshakable. and we know we shall prevail in this struggle. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6538,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090057378,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. will the gentleman yield?","speaker_name":"HENRY HYDE","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1320,"word_count":6}
{"speech_id":1090057390,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They promote violence against children and they call it a human right. Nowhere in their documents. including the CEDAW Convention. can that be found. Let me also point out that the Hyde amendment mandates that countries that fail to uphold the Human Declaration of Human Rights should be ineligible for membership on the Human Rights Commission or any followup. like the Human Rights Council that is being proposed. We will get rid of those items where Israel is singled out by itself at these Human Rights Commission meetings for all kinds of false charges and slander. and other countries like Sudan or the Peoples Republic of China get away unscathed. The Hyde amendment also mandates that the Economic and Social Council. or ECOSOC. abolish secret voting. which has led to all kinds of abuse. Like I said. we would no longer allow members. rogue nations with despicable human rights records. to be a part of it. The Hyde U.N. Reform Act also focuses on the area of peacekeeping. I would ask Members. look at this legislation that is pending before you. H.R. 2601. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3460,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090057408,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman for yielding. And I would just like to congratulate him for the emphasis that he has had on the education aspect of this. along with training. as a very important part of our effort here. He has helped us modify the language in the measure and he represents the Navy Postgraduate School very. very well. And we look forward to seeing the suc-. cess of this program due in large part to his efforts.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":420,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090057423,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Exposed to ongoing statesponsored violence and systematic human rights abuses. they lack protection from both the government and the international humanitarian community. The Poe amendment would provide $3 million per year to established reputable NGOs working on the ThaiBurma border to provide direct humanitarian assistance to internally displaced persons inside Burma. It will be extremely difficult work. but it is imperative that the international community get aid to these ethnic minorities in Burma as soon as possible. Again. Madam Chairman. I want to commend my friend from Texas. and I strongly urge all of my colleagues to vote for this amendment. Madam Chairman. I yield back the balance ofmy time.","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1545,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090057445,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Sadly. the Republican leadership denied us that opportunity. In light of the fact that there is no accountability. that we are having no real debate on Colombia. that the situation down there continues to be of great concern. I have no choice but to reluctantly vote \"no\" on the Burton amendment.","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3105,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090057447,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairnan. I thank the distinguished gentleman for yielding me time. I think he \"realizes that some of us who have met with leadership from Colombia recognize that there are multiple problems. and certainly the resources needed to interdict drug traffickers responds to a series of those problems. So I rise in support of the gentlemans amendment. But I hope as well in listening to my colleague and friend. the gentleman from Massachusetts . that we also emphasize the impoverishment of that area. This week I met with the governor of the region that governs AfroColombians. It is a region very small. but well populated. In addition to these resources. they are. if you will. isolated by law enforcement to protect them against the drug cartels and violence. They are lacking in educational resources and health resources. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1478,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090057530,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman from New Jersey. Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman from Illinois again. the gentleman from New Jersey . and the gentleman from California for their support on these amendments. It is important that we have a bipartisan effort to send a message. whether it is to methamphetamine traffickers. pseudoephedrine. cocaine traffickers around the world. or heroin traffickers in Afghan. The fact is we lose 20.000 to 30.000 Americans every year to drug deaths. Because they do not happen on the same day at the samopl~qe. it is not as dramatic as what happened on 9\/11. but they are still dead. I thank the leadership of the committee for their support on these important amendments so we can. in a bipartisan way. make a dent in this terrible scourge. drug use. ","speaker_name":"MARK SOUDER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":843,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090057544,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of my time. Once again I have to express my disappointment that we find ourselves here now in final passage of this bill when we had an amicable agreement in the committee and the gentleman from New Jersey and I. some$vhat working together in the committee. agreed to this initial amendment to include my language. I will just say for the record it says in the underlying text of the bill: \"Each center established pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall. to the maximum extent practicable.\" It is not mandatory. It does not say they have to do this. Shall \"carry out the following activities.\" and included in that is contraception. My question for the gentleman from New Jersey is. is. contraception included in family planning?","speaker_name":"JOSEPH CROWLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":766,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090057557,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Certain changes have been made to make it abundantly clear that its purpose and provisions relate to international transfers of armaments and associated technology to China. and not to normal commercial trade involving the civilian economy. Some Members may believe the bill could be stronger. and no doubt it could be stronger. and it may become necessary to do that in future years. But for now. I am persuaded the legislation does what is needed to reflect the profound concerns we have about European arms technology in Chinas growing arsenal. It also provides a legislative framework for managing this issue. which a majority of both parties can strongly endorse. The right outcome for our national security interests is to add the East Asia Security Act to the State bill by adopting this amendment. This will send a strong message to European companies that their arms sales to China must stop. It will let China know it must cease its unjustified and threatening military buildup. Most importantly. it will assure our Armed Forces deployed in East Asia that their security is not subordinate to any commercial interest. foreign or domestic. Mr. ","speaker_name":"HENRY HYDE","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2279,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090057565,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the gentlemans courtesy and the work going on here. Mr. Chairman. earlier we had a flurry of activity. because this is a complex and controversial area. I appreciate my other friend from Illinois helping spotlight some of the potential problems that we have potentially of overreaching in terms of what we want to do dealing with export controls and dualuse technology. This is an area that if we are not careful. if it is not carefully crafted. could potentially boomerang against American interests. It could actually undermine what we want and in fact encourage the flow of business away from the United States and actually encourage other countries to step in and accelerate their development. I think there has been a lot of hard work done to sort of try and hit the sweet spot here. to try and deal with some very real concerns about proliferation of sensitive technology. but to also be sensitive to the needs of American technologybased industries. We have had conversations in our committee in the past. ","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1722,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090057567,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong support of the HydeLantosHunterManzullo amendment and associate myself with the remarks of the gentleman from Oregon that sometimes we all are headed in the same direction. but it is extremely important to craft the legislation in order to achieve its intended purpose. The issue came up last week. It did not pass on a suspension. Mostly because of my activity on the floor. it failed at that point. Our staffs subsequently got together and came up with an amendment that makes sure that the Chinese army does not receive sensitive information from our allies and. at the same time. it does not hinder the export of our valuable manufacturing. So I want to commend the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman HYDE). the gentleman from California (Chairman HUNTER) and the gentleman from California for coming up with an excellent resolution. all aimed towards making sure that we preserve our manufacturing base. and at the same time we do not give any technology to the Peoples Liberation Army. I urge a yes vote on this amendment.","speaker_name":"DONALD MANZULLO","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1058,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090057576,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. while H.R. 2601 funds the protection of foreign missions operations account at the administrations request of $9.39 million. there are ongoing recurrent high expenses for the protection of foreign missions and officials. especially in New York. that make this amendment necessary. In addition. the Department of State agrees that the City of New York is owed $19.58 million in back payments for security work the city has done in relation to the United Nations. This amendment authorizes the necessary funds to pay what we owe to New York for protection services already provided and covers projected costs in the next two fiscal years. The majority accepts and supports the amendment. Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":804,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090057589,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman from Missouri for yielding me this time. The American people- have given the United States Congress the sole authority to levy taxes for the support of our national government. They have not given any constitutional authorization to any global organization tor tax them. either directly or indirectly. It is important that we make perfectly clear to the United Nations that any effort towards international or global taxation is entirely unacceptable. We are currently paying almost 25 percent of the U.N.s $2 billion annual budget. Many of my constituents already question whether that money is well spent. The OilForFood questions have done little to instill confidence in the U.N. on the part of the American taxpayer. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL SODREL","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":976,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090057602,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time. I","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":946,"word_count":11}
{"speech_id":1090057621,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"These illegal immigrants are hard workers and hope only for a better life. But living the life of an illegal cannot fulfill their dreams. and it can cause tremendous problems in cities like Danbury. where services are taxed. taxpayers are overburdened. public health problems develop because these workers do not have health insurance and so on and so forth. I traveled recently to Ecuador to gain a better understanding of the origins of the problems and spoke with the Ecuadorian immigration officials about the situation. They share our concerns with the sophistication of the organized criminals who are now profiting from human trafficking and capitalizing on the hopes of people who are merely seeking a better life. There is a way for our two countries to work together. not only to stop this trafficking. but to collaborate on local economic development projects to reduce the incentive to flee ones homeland. Microlending all kinds of things that we do routinely here in America and that we do in other places in the world. could provide the economic opportunity these people so desperately want right in their own country. Illegal immigration is not only dangerous and brutal for those involved but hard on American towns and cities and terrible for the little villages that are left behind in which grandparents are raising children and hopelessness forces painful. permanent separation. I commend the gentleman on taking this step forward and working to stop human trafficking. which also creates the problems associated with illegal immigration in America. We have the resources to solve these problems if we focus thoughtfully on both the causes and the effects. The gentlemans amendment will start that process of focusing and will. ","speaker_name":"NANCY JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3114,"word_count":283}
{"speech_id":1090057691,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Women have the power to make changes and affect policy. They can do so simply by going to the voting booths. However. while 60 percent of the women voted in the last election as opposed to 56 percent of men. a full 32 percent of women are still not registered to vote. A shocking 45 percent of young women ages 18 to 24 are not registered to vote. It is not enough for women to rest on our laurels given that we have and do have the right to vote. We actually have to get -out and make our voices heard. We must engage all women in the process. We must demonstrate to them that their voices matter to us. We must devote our energies to letting young women know that. like their counterparts 157 years ago. their participation can change the path of history. I want to thank these women who fought so hard 157 years ago so that women across this land could vote and can continue to vote and that I could have the opportunity to stand here today and give thanks to them.","speaker_name":"JUANITA MILLENDER-MCDONALD","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":37.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2938,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090057711,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And he took it in on a debt and he was trying to sell it. but until he did. he wanted to rent it. so he rented it to a graduate student from the University of Texas. They came by my office every first of the month and laid $200 on my desk for that house. and for a year that graduate student lived out there in that house in the country outside of Round Rock. Then along about in the November time frame of the next year. I got a phone call from my client. who happened to be in the great State of Pennsylvania. and he said. \"I think I have got a buyer. I ought to be able to close this thing. I need to get the tenant out of the house. Would you go out there and tell him we will give him a month to vacate the house.\" I took my little boy. who now is a 35yearold football and baseball coach at Round Rock High School. but at that time was about a 4yearold. and we went out in the country to the house. We knocked on the door. Nobody was home. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CARTER","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":31.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8731,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090057715,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But. hopefully. this will be the last one we have.","speaker_name":"DON YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":610,"word_count":10}
{"speech_id":1090057726,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I just want to kind of expound on that point a little bit. It is not like there were not people in the country saying we know you are going to go to Baghdad. We know you are going to win the war. We know you are going to defeat the enemy. A lot of -us were saying then what? Then what are you going to do? And there was never any hard answer on what this administration was going to do. So. you know it is not like they went in blind. You are preparing for a war. Sit down and figure out all the options. What if they do not hand us flowers and Hershey bars? You know. then what do we do? And if that does not work and something else. then what do we do. You should have four or five plans. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":824,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090057732,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The publication Inside Defense of July 6 reports. with regard to your estimations as to the cost. this was just prior to the advent of the meeting between the Iraqis and the Iranians. A group of advisors. I am now quoting from this July 6 article in Inside Defense. A group of advisors to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is preparing a report warning that the huge costs associated with prolonged bloody operations in Iraq and Afghanistan may become part of a U.S. adversarys strategy. U.S. led operations in these two countries. quote. have tapped out the ground services active and reserve components. unquote. stated June 29. briefing slides prepared for the working group of the Defense Science Board. The Defense Science Board. as my colleagues know. is the group designated to report to the Secretary of Defense. on these issues. Quote. we therefore find ourselves without resources for any other campaign at this scale. a prospect not long lost on our adversaries. unquote. The panel was part of the larger Defense Science Board which is doing a study for the Defense Department on transformation. Further quotation. the requirements U.S. forces face in the global war on terrorism to not only prevail in the traditional combat phase of the military operation and restore stability afterwards. but also to establishing a functioning free economy and robust democracy are significant and expensive. Quote. these new goals. that is to say. establishing the economy and the democracy. these new goals dwarf the complexity cost and scope of achieving victory on the battlefield. unquote. ","speaker_name":"NEIL ABERCROMBIE","chamber":"H","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1805,"word_count":259}
{"speech_id":1090057737,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I never said. of course. that we are going to get any value received for this money. We are going to spend the money. but as the gentleman well knows and I think the record shows that what we are getting for the money is corruption. thievery. failure to significantly alter the infrastructure of Iraq in any significant way. It does not surprise me in the least that there would be an accord or an attempt at an accord being undertaken between Iraq and Iran. After all. they live in the same neighborhood. We do not. What we are engaged in right now is another one of these false premises that somehow a military in an inherently insurgent situation is going to be able to provide political answers through military activity and subsequently having the military take on the task of helping to provide a civil infrastructure. It cannot be done. It will not be done. The only victims of that will be the Guard and Reserve and active duty military forces of the United States so that the numbers of wounded. grievously wounded and dead will continue to rise.","speaker_name":"NEIL ABERCROMBIE","chamber":"H","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1055,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090057748,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mexico. our neighbors to the south. 11 percent mostly positive in terms of American influence in the international community. and 57 percent mostly negative. I could go on and on and on.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3180,"word_count":32}
{"speech_id":1090057823,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There are a number of other important issues we have mentioned over the course of the last couple days. including last night. that we will continue to work toward agreements on. I will keep all of our colleagues apprised as the schedule changes.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1148,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090057830,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I join my colleagues in making brief comments about the selection of Judge John Roberts from the DC Circuit Court of Appeals to serve as Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. and I follow my colleague from Kentucky in noting how Ruth Badek Ginsburg was treatedappropriately. properly. with due diligence. and speed so that the nomination went through in an orderly process. She took the seat of Justice Byron White who was one of the dissenters in Roe. A number of my colleagues are saying we need to have somebody in this position that is exactly the same as Sandra Day OConnor in her position. Yet that wasnt the standard that was applied in the most recent case with Ruth Bader Ginsburg. the replacement for Justice Byron White. The process is as it is. The President nominates. The President campaigned vigorously about the role of the Supreme Court and the role of the courts in society today. ","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":977,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090057878,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. while Senator LANDRIEU is still on the Senate floor. Senator LEAHY and I were just discussing the following unanimousconsent request which will get her vote at 2:30 p.m. Let me say before propounding- this unanimousconsent request. Senator LEAHY and I are working on trying to get all the remaining amendments and final passage dealt with at the same time around 2:30 p.m. We are not there yet. But I will start by asking unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to a vote in relation to the Landrieu amendment No. 1245 regarding orphans at 2:30 p.m. today. with no seconddegree amendments in order to the amendment prior to the vote.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":652,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090057882,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. I am checking right now on the possibility of adding to the 2:30 p.m. vote the one amendment left on this side that might require a vote. I will know shortly. We should be able to add that to the queue at 2:30 p.m. That will give us two votes at 2:30. Senator LEAHY indicated he is working on trying to get additional votes so we can wrap this bill up later this afternoon.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":390,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090057906,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. I think President Bush has hit a home run. Because I was with the Baylor Lady Bears this morning congratulating them on winning the national NCAA womens basketball championship. I would say he hit a threepointer from midcourt. I think John Roberts is exactly what our country expects in quality and demeanor for a person to be elevated to the highest court in our land. The Supreme Court is such an important part of our Constitution. unique. really. in the world. that we have a judicial branch with such stature as the coequal branch of government along with the President and the Congress. For someone to be able to sit on the Supreme Court. you look for a John Roberts. someone who has integrity. temperament for the Court. and you have to have judicial temperament because you are an arbiter who is going to affect peoples lives. Academic achievement. We want our Supreme Court Justices to have the finest legal mind possible. and John Roberts fits that descriptionHarvard. summa cum laude graduate. Harvard Law School. graduated with honors. and respect of his peers. ","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6331,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090057920,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Also. the question is sometimes asked about another clause of our memorandum of understanding. extraordinary circumstances. I feel as follows: By way of background. I was privileged to introduce the thenlawyer John Roberts to the Senate Judiciary Committee on two occasions. The Judiciary Committee had two hearings and asked him to appear in both instances. I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the RECORD the remarks I made at those hearings. which detail extensively his biography and the like.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2428,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090057995,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"\/ Mr. President. I send to the desk a managers package on behalf of Senator BYRD. regarding the United StatesChina Economic and Security Review Commission. on behalf of Senators LEAHY. CHAFEE. MIKULSKI. and CORZINE regarding womens health. and Senator FRIST regarding the use of funds for nonproliferation purposes.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":315,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090058000,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. my colleague from New Hampshire. Congressman JEB BRADLEY. successfully offered an amendment in the House of Representatives to this years Foreign Operations appropriations bill as part of an effort to encourage the Romanian Government to act on an extremely important issue. I had originally intended to offer the same amendment here in the Senate. however. the Senator from Kentucky. the chairman of the subcommittee. has graciously offered to work with me on the issue. While the amendment would have specifically limited assistance to Romania provided under the Assistance for Eastern Europe and the Baltic States. SEED. account. the real problem we are trying to address is the plight of over 100 American families and almost 200 Romanian orphans these families have agreed to adopt. Despite the fact that the adoptions have been approved by Romania. these young orphans and their new American families have been waiting in limbofor years in some instances. After approving these adoptions. Romania changed its adoption laws in order to comply with the European Unions legal standards as a condition of admittance into the European Union. However. since changing their law. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2696,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090058004,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I also thank my colleagues for bringing the important work of the Afghan Medical Relief Foundation to the attention of the chairman. The AMRF has successfully trained 16 health care professionals to diagnose and treat diabetes. developed a uniform patient management model. and increased knowledge of diabetes among the diabetic and general population.","speaker_name":"RICHARD BURR","chamber":"S","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":367,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090058006,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator from the State of New Jersey. the Senators from the State of North Carolina. and the Senator from Nebraska. This program sounds important. Unfortunately. the subcommittee does not earmark funds for specific organizations.","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":256,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090058009,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. as my colleague. Senator. COLEMAN knows. halting the spread of HIV\/AIDS in Africa is an issue of paramount importance. The international community is at a crucial crossroads in the effort to treat and more importantly. stop the spread of this disease.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":266,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090058011,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Senator COLEMAN recently brought the University of Minnesotas program to my attention. It is of particular interest to me because it provides for training and development of nurses and HIV care practitioners. as part of a program that will be self sustaining within 5 years of implementation.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":292,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090058012,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Yes. as my colleague mentions. this program seeks to address the health care infrastructure by training nurse practitioners through the University of Minnesotas excellent distance learning program for nurse practitioners. This program will dramatically increase the capacity of Rwandan medical and nursing schools. creating new physicians and nurses with a high standard of training for a permanent. skilled. and sustainable force of health care professionals in Rwanda.","speaker_name":"NORM COLEMAN","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":470,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090058067,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wish to thank my longtime friend and committee member. the Senator from Alabama. We have worked together. We have traveled together. We have been to Iraq together. We went down last Friday to Guantanamo to inspect the detention facilities down there. He has always responded to the request of the chairman. pack a bag. will travel. take on any mission. I thank him. I also thank him for working as subcommittee chairman and getting the work done in his subcommittee.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":483,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090058090,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I send an amendment on behalf of Senators MCCONNELL. BUNNING. ALLARD. and SALAZAR. which would provide the Secretary of Defense authority to use research and development funds available for chemical weapons demilitarization activities under the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternative Program to carry out construction projects for facilities necessary to support chemical demilitarization at Pueblo Army Depot in Colorado and Bluegrass Army Depot in Kentucky. I believe it has been cleared.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":505,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090058110,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"She has always supported the local police department. allowing the Searchlight Police to have Police Officers Night Out. Verlie also provides a steak dinner annually for our firefighters and medical workers. Local children at the elementary school are treated to hamburgers at the Nugget for good grades. Anyone in need always comes to Verlie first. and she never turns them away. Verlie means a lot to me personally. After my fathers passing. Verlie was a close friend to my mother. She would take her to Las.Vegas t9..4p. and looked after her bqcause ...y ippther lived in Searchlight alone. Her thoughtfulness and compassion helped my mother make it through tough and trying times. I will never be able to repay her kindness to my mother. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2669,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090058111,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Which is why Senator BAUcus and I decided to introduce our Medicare Value Purchasing Act. S. 1356. jointly with Senators ENZI and KENNEDYs Better Healthcare Through Information Technology Act. S. 1355. The thought behind a dual.introduction was to enforce the message that Medicare can drive quality improvement through payment incentives. and that the adoption of information technology is also a necessary step not only to facilitate the reporting of quality measures but also to increase efficiency and quality in our health care delivery system. Our bill creates quality payments under Medicare for all provider groups. A considerable amount of time was devoted towards ensuring that the development of quality measures and the implementation of valuebased purchasing programs under Medicare were properly vetted with provider groups. beneficiary groups. and the administration. We did not want to reinvent the wheel. we wanted to build on the initiatives -that already exist to develop and adopt quality measures. And because Medicare Is the single largest purchaser of health care in. the Nation. adopting quality payments in Medicare influences the level of quality in all of health care. We have seen time and time again how when Medicare leads. the other public and private purchasers follow. Which is why I am troubled. that as currently drafted. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3848,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090058116,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Seth and Coach Cheek on a wonderful accomplishment.*","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1301,"word_count":8}
{"speech_id":1090058117,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Homeless and foster care youth do not have the traditional family network to encourage or assist them in planning for a college education. These youth need help to select a college. apply for admission and obtaining financial aid. In addition. their student aid must be used for so much more than just tuition and books. They face the daunting challenges of housing. transportation and other basic needs. By assisting these youth to become independent students we will increase their access to student aid for financial aid purposes. improve their changes for a smooth transition into. and completion of. higher learning. Our nations economic wellbeing depends on our ability to provide greater access to higher education for students. regardless of their family background. By passing this bill we guarantee more students than ever will be given the tools they need to attend college and succeed. Through college we provide these vulnerable students with the best hope for escaping the cycle of poverty and homelessness. I look forward to working with HELP Committee Chairman ENZI to incorporate these provisions into the Higher Education Act reauthorization bill. And again. ","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2951,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090058119,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"To break that cycle. we must keep our children in school. help them graduate from high school. and increase their access to higher education. My bill would provide grants for collaborative agreements to between local education agencies in lowincome communities and to colleges of education. These partnerships would work to provide services. such as mentoring. tutoring. and scholarships through the college of education to the students at the partnering school in order to 1. encourage those students to graduate from high school. 2. let them know of opportunities within higher education. and (3) encourage them to become teachers. which are so badly needed. Another complex issue affecting the teaching force is the high percentage of disillusioned beginning teachers who leave the field. This bill would help combat this issue. as well. Schools of education receiving these grants would be responsible for following their graduates and continuing to provide assistance after they enter the classroom. The more we invest in the education of teachersespecially once they have entered the professionthe more likely they will remain in the classroom. To further help teacher quality and retention. I am introducing a bill \"The Master Teacher Scholarship Act\"-to establish a Masters in Education Scholarship Program. The lack of promotions and salary increases are some of the most pervasive reasons for the disillusionment of teachers. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11697,"word_count":220}
{"speech_id":1090058176,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the United States tracks cattle from where they are born as calves on ranches in Wyoming. Montana. and Texas to the slaughterhouses of the Midwest. to the butcher shops of the Northeast. to our supper tables where they end up as steaks. We have even tracked a mad cow born in Canada 3 years ago to some remote barn in Washington. We have not only tracked this mad cow. but all her calves in their different locations in the United States. Mr. Speaker. we know where the cattle are. but why is it that we can track one mad cow but the Federal Government cannot seem to locate 10 to 14 million illegal people living in the United States. people who have invaded our land and disrespected our rule of Matter set in thiS typeface indicates words inserted or appended. rather than spoken. by a Member of the House on the floor. 0 Printed on recycled paper. law. Someone has suggested that we own troops than those of the terrorists. give all people illegally coming across And comical as it sounds. such reckour borders a cow. and then let the Ag- less. irresponsible. partisan rhetoric is ricultural Department keep up with invariably prefaced with. \"I support them and do the job the immigration the troops. but.\" people refuse to do. But you cannot. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1868,"word_count":225}
{"speech_id":1090058185,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. President Bush now knows Karl Rove was involved. and yet he says he wants to reserve judgment until after the investigation is completed. If the President really thought this was serious. he would call Rove into his office and demand an explanation. It is time for President Bush to hold Rove accountable for his actions.","speaker_name":"JANICE SCHAKOWSKY","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1235,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090058186,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as the conference between the House and Senate on the energy bill gets underway. it is long past due for Congress to pass a comprehensive energy bill. U.S. economic prosperity is closely tied to the availability of a reliable and affordable supply of energy. As the economy grows. so will the demand for energy. According to the Energy Information Agency. the United States. by the year 2025. is expected to need 44 percent more petroleum. 38 percent more natural gas. 43 percent more coal. 54 percent more electricity. and 54 percent more renewable energy. Record increases in the prices at the pump and in overall energy cost underscore the longterm need to enact a comprehensive national energy strategy. So. Mr. Speaker. the time is now to do so.","speaker_name":"CLIFFORD STEARNS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":763,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090058187,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we can always use a good laugh around here. but not when it is at the expense of the American people or the future of the Social Security. This is from Congressional Quarterly. It is so bizarre I couldnt make it up. The House version of the Republican Social Security surplus bill uses the Social Security surplus twice. First the government would borrow the surplus from Social Securitys trust funds in exchange for special Treasury bonds. as it does now. And -it would then direct the surplus back into individual accounts. but then borrow it back again in exchange for bonds that were put into peoples private accounts. The debt on the individuals accounts would appear in the governments budget. The debt to Social Security trust funds would remain off budget. as it is now. The surplus itself would be spent as part of the regular budget. ","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1238,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090058188,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But there is still work to do. I am hopeful that Congress will approve the highway and energy bills which will add new jobs to the economy. help improve our roadways. and decrease our dependence on foreign oil.","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1228,"word_count":38}
{"speech_id":1090058191,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I heard the remarks of the majority leader a few minutes ago. Democracy depends on free speech and dissent. Free speech is stifled when dissent is labeled treason or is derided in time of war as not supporting our troops. We all support our troops. One can point out the mistakes or the dishonesty of the administration while not stinting in supporting our troops. Pointing out that the administration misled the country about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is not \"not supporting our troops.\" Pointing out that Karl Rove appears to have participated in a conspiracy to punish Ambassador Wilson for telling the truth about this by revealing the Ambassadors wifes CIA role is not \"not supporting our troops.\" Pointing out the administrations justification for keeping our troops in harms way in Iraq flipflops by the season is not \"not supporting our troops.\" Demanding proper investigation of evidence that the administration has disgraced this country by evading our laws against torturing prisoners is not \"not supporting our troops.\" A free society requires that all these accusations see the light of day. Let the administration rebut them if they can. But do not use the mantra of supporting our troops to stifle essential free speech.","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1258,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090058193,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. todays New York Times states that a Londonbased group of academics and researchers has released a report on civilian casualties in Iraq for the first 2 years of the war. The report. based on analysis of civilian casualties reported in the news media. states that 24.865 civilians were killed and about 42.500 wounded. The report goes on to list its findings specifically. We also know that there is another *tudy which was published in October of 2004 in the Lancet. the British medical journal. according to the New York Times. that says that some of the estimates of Iraqi civilian deaths range as high as 100.000. I have stood on this floor many times and bemoaned the loss of our American troops. but I think in the name of humanity we have to start thinking about the impact that this war is having on the civilians in Iraq. Their lives are being destroyed. Their families are being wiped out. House Joint Resolution 55 sets the stage for bringing our troops home and ending this tragedy in Iraq.","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1014,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090058196,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this trade agreement builds America. In establishing an open exchange with the Central American countries. we build our foreign relations. By increasing circulation of goods. we build our economy. And in taking this step forward. we build on the future and the possibility that the entire Western hemisphere will one day be open to free trade. CAFTA looks to the future of our country. I urge my colleagues to support this agreement.","speaker_name":"DAVID REICHERT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1249,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090058198,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. this body must pass CAFTA and give the United States the same access to the markets in Sbuth America that they have to ours.","speaker_name":"JOHN LINDER","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1263,"word_count":25}
{"speech_id":1090058202,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. after 9\/11. my fellow lawmakers wanted to make sure that the PATRIOT Act would protect Americans without trampling the civil rights that we cherish in this Nation. Mr. Speaker. today. 4 years later. the verdict is in. The PATRIOT Act works and is helping defeat terrorism. Those of us who thought the threat of terrorism receded can only look at Great Britain to know that this is not the case. Complacency allows waves of terror to come crashing over free nations. The attacks on -London show that the war on terror is not over nor is it confined to a specific location. Securing our homeland is only one facet of the war. Spreading democracy in the savage lands where terrorism propagates is another.","speaker_name":"JOHN CARTER","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":31.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":715,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090058212,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. my parliamentary inquiry is that we cannot just say anything that we wish to say on the floor of the House. I cannot. no one else can. and when you invoke the integrity of Members of this House who have spoken out. regardless of what position they take. I think that is something that needs to be looked at.","speaker_name":"BILL PASCRELL","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":320,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090058226,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"America. And Constantino Brumidi was no exception. He was exceptional. I want to thank the gentleman from Ohio (Chairman NEY) and the Committee on House Administration for bringing the resolution to the House floor. I also want to thank the gentleman from Florida for managing the resolution. The gentleman from Florida has been the foremost leader in the Congress in promoting Brumidis prolific life and his extraordinary legacy. It reminds me a bit of--a sculptor. a famous ItalianAmerican sculptor. Gaetano Federici. who came from Italy. and his sculpture exists all through the metropolitan area in New Jersey and New York. Similar backgrounds. came here not to accumulate a tremendous amount of wealth but to reflect their love of America. and they showed it and communicated it in their art. So it is a personal honor for me to lead the House of Representatives in remembering Brumidi with the gentleman from Florida . ","speaker_name":"BILL PASCRELL","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5601,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090058231,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. In closing. I do thank both sides of the aisle for participating in this. the gentleman from New Jersey and the gentlewoman from California for their leadership. and others. Rarely do we get to use the very center of the Capitol building. the Rotunda. in any ceremony. The Congress requires a joint resolution and that that resolution be considered by the other body for the purpose of honoring one of our citizens. So it is very rare. We paid tribute to Ronald Reagan. We have paid tribute to great Americans. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MICA","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1307,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090058254,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. passport security is a critical issue. and we need to be sure that the administration is doing everything it can to ensure that only U.S. citizens receive U.S. passports. However. while we are prepared to accept this amendment. we hope we can make some modifications as the legislative process moves forward. Birth certificates are used by the State Department to help establish the nationality of an applicant. not their identity. and the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 establishes a Federal process to standardize U.S. birth certificates. The State Department is a full participant in that process. along with other Federal agencies. the States and the association that represents the registrars of vital statistics. That process should be allowed to run its course. and it would be counterproductive for the Department of State to establish its own criteria for evaluating birth certificates. In addition. it is unclear whether the training mandated by this provision should be the responsibility of the State Department or the U.S. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1318,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090058264,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. this amendment simply requires that the State Department submit a report to Congress that one. identifies by name all NGOs receiving funding under the Presidents emergency plan for AIDS relief. the date that the funding was provided. and the date on which the NGO filed the statement certifying its policy explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking. Number two. it describes the Department of States plans to audit the compliance by nongovernmental organizations receiving U.S. funding under the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS relief to have and adhere to an explicit policy opposing prostitution and sex trafficking and a description of the plan of the Department of State to transmit the results to the appropriate congressional committees. Mr. Chairman. I would just note for my colleagues. this is a very simple amendment. When the Hyde historic legislation on HIV\/AIDS was considered by the committee. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2101,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090058280,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Chairman. I hope the Palestinian Authority takes the antiterrorist message of this resolution to heart. Let me also say. Mr. Chairman. that. as our distinguished Secretary of State. Dr. Condoleeza Rice. leaves for the region she could not be going at a more appropriate and urgent time. and she fully understands that her prime responsibility is to make it clear to the Palestinian Authority that it must guarantee order and peace by using its military forces in Gaza to break the back of militant terrorist groups. I urge all of my colleagues to join in supporting this resolution. Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1657,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090058295,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think we should oppose this amendment.","speaker_name":"ROBERT CRAMER","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":816,"word_count":7}
{"speech_id":1090058301,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And what I am asking for is for an international treaty where all nations would agree we should not do that. But some in this Congress want to take weapons to go to outer space so the United States can control the world from outer space. Mr. Chairman. that is simply nuts. And what I am suggesting is that we ought to be talking to other nations about eliminating an arms race in outer space to protect future generations. You know. a long. long time ago in a galaxy far. far away people were not talking about killing each other. We should be talking about a treaty to ban weapons in space.","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1262,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090058324,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I commend my good friend from Florida for offering this important amendment to increase the flow of objective information about the .United States and world events into Venezuela. Recently. Reuters reported that Chavez had launched a new television station. Telesur. to counter what he considers to be proglobalization bias in European and American news networks. like CNN. Chavez has also reportedly entered into a $200 million deal with Chinas National Space Administration to launch a satellite into orbit from which he could beam his anticipated hateful media content into homes across Latin America. the Caribbean and beyond. As Chavez ramps up his information campaign. we should be prepared to present balanced news to the people of Venezuela so that they can be better able to make informed decisions about the activities of their government. I encourage all of my colleagues to support the amendment of my friend from Florida. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1040,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090058339,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. It is horribly unfortunate to see partisanship creep into this amendment. Nowhere in this amendment does it talk about oil drilling. This is about the stewardship of the Great Lakes. This recognizes current law that we passed in 2000 by over 300 votes and in 1986 by over 300 votes. This is about stewardship of the Great Lakes and recognizing the successes of those Governors and those legislatures and the progress that w6 have made. It is disappointing that we have reached this point. I urge support of this amendment. ","speaker_name":"MIKE ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":706,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090058353,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"A nuclear strike by China against the United States would trigger a nuclear exchange which would","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":912,"word_count":16}
{"speech_id":1090058356,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I wish to briefly respond to the comments by the gentleman from Iowa on efforts to promote abstinence in Africa. Americas efforts to stop the transmission of HIV\/AIDS overseas are firmly based on the ABC model: Abstinence. Being faithful. and Condoms. As we have seen in Uganda. the successful reduction in HIV\/AIDS infection rates is dependent upon using all three elements of the ABC approach. not simply one. Our committee has conducted extensive investigations into U.S. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":905,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090058384,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The potential benefits to the American economy in terms of the protectioi of intellectual property of our artists and of our inventors that could result from this amendment passing are enormous. far outweighing its modest costs. Mr. Chairman. I urge all of my colleagues to support this thoughtful measure.","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1026,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090058422,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Chairman. may I inquire as to how much time I have remaining?","speaker_name":"SHELLEY BERKLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":851,"word_count":12}
{"speech_id":1090058425,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentlewoman from Nevada for yielding me this time. and I rise in sdpport of the amendment offered by my good friend and myself. The Prime Minister of Israel and the Israeli people have taken the first bold steps through the disengagement plan. Now it is time for the Palestinian Authority to match its words with its actions and live up to its commitment to be a true partner for success and stability in the Middle East. Our amendment will tighten up language dealing with aid to the Palestinian Authority. Both the gentlewoman from Nevada and I believe that we should be doing all we can to help the Palestinian Authority. but that benchmarks need to be set in place. Over the past 10 years. Congress has had little to no accountability over the aid we have given to the Palestinian Authority. As aid from the United States begins to flow into the Palestinian Authority. we must use this aid to promote a true democratic government for the Palestinian people. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH CROWLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2232,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090058428,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong opposition to this amendment. I want to associate myself with the gentleman from Massachusetts who spoke so eloquently in opposition on the Floor. At this particular moment. it is clearly. in our national interests to strengthen the democratically elected Abbas government. This is especially true in the face of the imminent Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and because the Palestinian Authority is up against a strong challenge from Hamas in the upcoming parliamentary elections. The amendment states that the United States should promote the emergence of a Palestinian government that combats terrorism. We all agree with that. But at the same time. we must continue to urge the Israeli government to stop settlement activity and ease","speaker_name":"LOIS CAPPS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":764,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090058429,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I voted against the Berkley\/Crowley amendment to cap assistance to the Palestinian Authority. Under the new leadership of President Mahmoud Abbas. progress is being madeslowlyon the path to democracy and peace. It is ironic that these additional restrictions are proposed on Abbas. yet were never applied to Yasser Arafat. In light of Israels impending withdrawal from Gaza. I believe that we need to maintain President Bushs flexibility to use United States assistance to promote American interests in the region. Already. aid to the Palestinian Authority is the most heavily restricted. audited. and projectized assistance in the world with aid going .directly to the Palestinian Authority only when the President signs a specific waiver. This amendment is one more unnecessary restriction that ties the Presidents hands to support any movement towards peace and security.","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":888,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090058444,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Chairman. we appreciate the concern of the gentlewoman from California and the gentleman from California . and for their strong statements here. The problem of the ChaldoAssyrians has been brought to the attention of the committee. The committee has brought these concerns to the attention of the administration. I have met with people myself who have expressed concerns about this. and believe that they should not get short shrift when it comes to U.S. foreign aid and efforts being made in Iraq. The administration has prepared materials attempting to show it has been fair and inclusive in its distribution of assistance. but this amendment puts every one of us on guard that we need to watch this very carefully to -make sure that they are not shown the door or in any way denied the kind of assistance that we are capable of offering and I think we are obligated to provide to them. I appreciate the gentlewomans amendment.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":986,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090058466,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Chairman. this is both inconvenient and expensive for the average - Kosovar. who is not very wealthy. because many visa applications require multiple visits to a consulate outside of Kosova to places as far off as Skopje. Tirana. and Podgorica: three different countries and three different capitals. The State Department says the current layout of the U.S. office in Pristina makes it difficult to provide adecjuate security to handle consular and visa matters there. The authorization bill. as written and passed by a vote of 44 to nothing by the Committee on International Relations. demonstrates the importance Congress places on providing consular and visa services in Pristina and having the State Department detail its plans for the future. It mandates no changes. but merely requires the Department of State to report to Congress on the matter as part of our oversight responsibilities. Nor does it threaten to change the status of Kosova. as some proponents of this amendment may believe. In fact. the State Department affirms that there are no political or legal obstacles to opening a consulate in Kosova. I urge all of my colleagues to defeat this needless amendment. Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1800,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090058467,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Kosova to the residents of Kosova. That is all it does. It is very hard for people who live in Pristina and in Kosova to go to other countries. particularly old people. to get a visa. And as far as Kosova or Kosovo. there are 12 other provisions. and I have them here. in United States law that mention Kosova with an \"a.\" So for the gentleman from Arizona t6 say that this somehow changes existing law is just not true. This body has passed 12 and has now signed into law parts of the law where it says \"Kosova.\" So I think we should not upset the apple cart and change the unanimous wishes of the Committee on International Relations.","speaker_name":"ELIOT ENGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1476,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090058505,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. ]Lyield myself 30 seconds. Mr. Chairman. 12 of those detainees that were in Guantanamo who were released ended up going back to the battlefield in an attempt to kill Americans. Let us keep that in mind when people start complaining about holding people in Guantanamo in the middle of this conflict. Let us know that those people that are being held are professional terrorists for the most part and were trained to claim that they had been tortured. and they were trained to make outlandish charges against the people who had captured them and against the United States of America. That is part of their tactic. Let us not fall for that. Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"DANA ROHRABACHER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":46.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":769,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090058507,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. It is an interesting proposition that we have before us today. Unfortunately. what is framed in the context of this amendment is more a conclusion rather than something that is dealt with in terms of wellreasoned fact. Nobody disputes the fact that we need intelligence. Nobody disputes the fact that we are struggling in a global war against terror. The question is the way in which the facility at Guantanamo has been managed. what it represents now. and what it represents in the future. We have been engaged in this struggle against terrorism longer than the United States fought World War II. And there is no end in sight. ","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1070,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090058509,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 1 minute. Mr. Chairman. I think it is important for the American people to hold their heads up high. not only about the goals of the war on terror but the way we have conducted it. and especially the way we have handled the prisoners at Guantanamo. Let us put it this way: the prisoners in Guantanamo. our prisoners. are better off for being our prisoners. They have gained weight. They have medical attention. They have regular meals. none of which they would have had if they would not have been captured. ","speaker_name":"DANA ROHRABACHER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":46.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1522,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090058510,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There must be zero tolerance for torture or degrading or inhumane or cruel treatment. and Congress does have a moral responsibility to ensure that that is the case. And I. like many of my colleagues. have gone down to Guantanamo to see for myself. to provide oversight. to ask the tough questions and to try to get answers to those questions. I would point out to my colleagues as well that in last years defense authorization bill. Public Law 108375. this body unambiguously stated that it is the sense of Congress that. and I quote it. \"no detainee shall be subject to torture or cruel. inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment that is prohibited by the Constitution. laws or treaties of the United States.\" Moreover. that law requires the Secretary of Defense to take steps to ensure that policies are adopted to ensure the humane treatment of detainees and that all DOD commanders have adequate training regarding the law of war and Geneva Convention obligations. and that standard operating procedures regarding detainees be established. Mr. Chairman. finally. just let me say that the U.S. must continue to fight this war on terrorism on every front. We must not let complacency lead us to lower our guard. We must fight this war in a way that is consistent. however. with fundamental principles. And I think the gentleman from California has offered us a resolution that tries to make that clear.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4243,"word_count":239}
{"speech_id":1090058511,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But I am deeply. deeply concerned that there is lots of evidence that we have fallen short of the mark. and it is not just that when you torture and abuse people you get information that is suspect. The reason we reject that behavior as a country is twofold: besides being morally wrong. it puts Americans at risk. If we are going to abuse people. and recall that famous hearing in the other body when questions were put to uniform command. \"would you like American soldiers subjected to these techniques?\" Well. of course he would not. That is why we set standards to protect American soldiers and Americans overseas. Second. when there are activities where we fail to meet our high standards. whether at Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib. they have an incendiary effect. Remember. it was not just a Newsweek story that sparked the riots in Pakistan. We were told. in fact. by people there that the story about the Koran being flushed down the toilet was not why the riots occurred. But the point is that there was a perception of American behavior that made people susceptible to thinking the worst. That is why there are a wide number of Republicans. including Senator MARTINEZ. ","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4266,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090058512,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They are not perfect but no one is perfect. but they are.making us safer and that is what this is about. I think we have no hesitancy whatsoever than to proclaim that. Mr. Chairman. I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas","speaker_name":"DANA ROHRABACHER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":46.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1093,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090058514,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from New York","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":603,"word_count":10}
{"speech_id":1090058519,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I appreciate the gentlemans statements and I understand what he is saying very well. But the fact of the matter is that gur attention has been drawn away from the real circumstances here. We were attacked. yes. The Taliban was harboring the al Qaeda network and we went after them in Afghanistan and rightly so. And all but one Member of this House supported that activity on both sides of the aisle. But then for illegitimate reasons. we were forced into this unnecessary and illegal and unjust war in Iraq which has taken our attention and our. resources away from the terrorists who conducted those attacks. We need to get back on that. and we need to investigate why this is happening.","speaker_name":"MAURICE HINCHEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":689,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090058529,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They have tried gouging guards eyes out. sticking their hands in their mouths and ripping them open. One prisoner tried to braid a- rope with which he could strangle a guard. There should be no doubt these prisoners will inflict harm or death on Americans. given the chance. Mr. Chairman. our best defense against terrorism is to continue intel\u0095ligencegathering. The good news is we are treating them too well. The better news is that because we are treating them like American men and women in uniform. they are giving us the information we need. Support the Rohrabacher amendment.","speaker_name":"ROBIN HAYES","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1313,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090058547,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is outrageous that the Republican leadership has made in order only one amendment on Iraq. Two of the four amendments dealt with Iraq. which I submitted to the Committee on Rules. One amendment asked for the administration to present just basically a plan for withdrawal and the other making it a policy that the United States should not have permanent military bases in Iraq. Not surprisingly. the Republican leadership chose not to allow debate on either of them. What in the world are they afraid of? Secondly. Mr. Chairman. many of the fundamental assumptions in this amendment are just plain wrong. This amendment would have us stay the course by ignoring the realities about the war in Iraq: realities like the fact that we were misled into this war. realities like the fact that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. realities like the fact that the administration has no plans on how to end the war. realities like the fact that our brave troops have become the rallying point for the insurgency. realities like the fact that our occupation has become a recruiting tool for foreign terrorists. and realities like the fact that our Nation. our Nation. is less safe as a result of this war. An article in Sundays Boston Globe reported on two studies of foreign fighters streaming into Iraq. The studies separately concluded that a majority of the foreign fighters are not foreign terrorists. but have become radicalized by the war itself. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA LEE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2438,"word_count":249}
{"speech_id":1090058549,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me this time. and I thank her for this important amendment. Today. one way or another. we will be sending a very important message with this amendment. There. are some here who will demand that the U.S. set a deadline for withdrawal. In my view. that would be a dangerously bad idea. For one thing. it would send a terrible message to our enemy. It would tell our enemy that if they simply w ait so long to a certain date. the troops will wind down and they can take over once. again. For another. it sets an embittering message to our families who have lost loved ones. I am guessing that almost every Member here has attended the funeral of a soldier lost in Iraq. ","speaker_name":"MARK GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2091,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090058559,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The faot is the people had courage and saw the fight through till the end. Had we backed off in those battles. this world would have been a different place. This would have been a far different place to raise our children. Now is not the time for us to back down. Now is the time for us to reaffirm to our friend and our foe alike that we have the courage to stick it out. we have the courage to build a better world for tomorrow with our courage and sacrifice today. We are going to raise our children.in a better world because we are not going to live in a world where radical Islam blows up buildings anymore or beheads people. America. hold firm. Be courageous. Let us build a better world together for these things that we cherish.","speaker_name":"DANA ROHRABACHER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":46.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2047,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090058561,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Finally. this amendment is pointless because it does not address the real questions facing the United States in Iraq. When can the United States begin to reduce the size of our forces in Iraq? We have already said we are leaving. so our departure is going to have to begin at some point. We have 140.000 troops in Iraq today. Do we need to keep that many there until Iraq has been magically transformed into the peaceful. idyllic Western democracy that the authors of the resolution envision? I think not. This amendment speaks of commitment to Iraq. I would humbly suggest that 1.768 dead U.S. troops. 12.700 wounded U.S. troops. and $250 billion represents plenty of commitment. How much more commitment is this war worth? As our military leaders in Iraq and senior administration officials have said. the ultimate defeat of the insurgents in Iraq will not come about through U.S. military action. Instead. the mission we have given those commanders is to train the Iraqis so they can assume the lead in the fight to defeat the insurgents. Why bring out American troops? Because by keeping our troops in Iraq indefinitely. were asking them to resolve political and social issues that need to be resolved by the Iraqis themselves. Thats unfair to our troops. their families. and the country. ","speaker_name":"NEIL ABERCROMBIE","chamber":"H","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2873,"word_count":220}
{"speech_id":1090058573,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But. better yet. in this amendment they talk about not getting out until we train the Iraqi soldiers. How long and when? We were told they had trained over 40.000. Guess what? I say to my colleagues. only 5.000 have been trained and they do not have a plan for how to get it done. We do not even have enough people that speak the language to be able to train the Iraqi soldiers. How long is this going to go on? When peoplp get up here and say they know that there is going to be more violence. more people are going to be killed. whose children are we talking about? Whose father are we talking about? Whose mother. whose daughter are we talking about? It is all right for us to say. there will be more deaths. there will be more violence. but I say to my colleagues. Americans are getting tired of it. It is their children. and w6 should. not take that lightly.","speaker_name":"MAXINE WATERS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":35.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2398,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090058590,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Chairman. I would like to commend the outstanding Republican and Democratic staffs that have done such an incredibly good job on a very difficult and complicated piece of legislation. I want to commend all of my colleagues who have spoken. This debate has been civilized. passionate. articulate and enlightening. And I particularly want to thank my dear friend. the distinguished chairman of the Committee on International Relations. for guiding the work of the committee and for guiding this debate with his statesmanship and wisdom. Mr. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":642,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090058633,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"changed his Istook Moran (KS) Shuster vote from \"aye\" to \"no.\" JacksonLee Murphy Simmons (TX) Murtha Simpson So the motion to recommit was re- Jefferson Musgrave Skelton jected. Jenkins Myrick Smith (NJ) The result of the vote was announced Jindal Napolitano Smith (TX) Johnson (CT) Neugebauer Smith (WA) as above recorded. Johnson (IL) Ney Snyder","speaker_name":"GREG WALDEN","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":347,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090058650,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I sympathize with the concerns that have been raised by CAFTA critics. but if we look at the details I think this is an agreement that we can afford to pass.","speaker_name":"PHILIP ENGLISH","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1219,"word_count":31}
{"speech_id":1090058670,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would like to bring to your attention the illegal way to come to America. An illegal can walk to the local Mexican flea market. purchase a combination of fake documents. For $100 or $200. an illegal can purchase a fake green card as well as a fake Social Security card with the number picked at random. They can borrow someone elses Social Security number. and the next step is crossing the border. -This does not seem to be too difficult. especially since the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Relations has made available to Mexican migrants that want to come to the United States this extensive book on how to come to America. even illegally. The .cover of this book. Guide for the Mexican Migrant. Throughout this book it shows possible scenarios that could occur to the migrant. First of all. it shows how to cross the border. You run across. If you come across an American border agent. how you handle that situation. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5893,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090058690,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Admiral Stockdale was tortured because of his leadership and the communication system. the tap code that he set up for the other prisoners. He was tortured. His shoulders were ripped out of their sockets. For six months he was tortured until he was almost unable to speak. He was put in a cell then with our Member of Congress. SAM JOHNSON. who was a prisoner of war for 7 years. Admiral Stockdale through the tap code turned over the leadership of all the prisoners of war to then former Senator Jeremiah Denton. At that time. JOHN MCCAIN. SAM JOHNSON. ","speaker_name":"RANDALL CUNNINGHAM","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":50.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1617,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090058701,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Ohio. and I also am delighted to be here in a bipartisan way to do what is right for the American people. I want to take just a few minutes to talk about my State of North Carolina. We all come from Virginia. from Idaho. from Alabama. from Ohio. and many other States. and there will be others that will be coming here tonight to speak. as the gentleman from Ohio mentioned. I do not know how America can work unless we come together. and certainly one of the major issues is trying to save jobs in America. I want to go .back very briefly to NAFTA. NAFTA was passed in 1992. I was not here. It was implemented in 1993. ","speaker_name":"WALTER JONES","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3200,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090058707,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman very much. I think his point about sovereignty really strikes a chord with so many Americans. As the gentleman suggested with what happened with the Loewen case in Mississippi with the Canadian lawsuit. a company in another country can sue the U.S. government or can sue the State of Idaho. or can sue the City of Akron. Ohio. and that corporation from another country can actually overturn by a CAFTA tribunal or a NAFTA tribal. can overturn a law that was democratically obtained. the Governor and the State legislature in Idaho enacted or that the Mayor Plusquellic in the City of Akron enacted or that the U.S. Congress enacted. that a corporation from another country. a private interest can come in and undo a democratically obtained rule or regulation. whether it is an environmental law or a public health law or what the gentleman is talking about in Mississippi with the funeral homes. a whole host of issues that we in this body certainly make wrong decisions. but they are democratically attained rules and regulations that State legislatures. city council. county commissioners. Congress does and they should stand unless a court of law in ouj own country strikes them down as unconstitutional. But a company in another country should not be allowed to come in and undercut what we think are important public health laws or other laws in our Nation.","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1384,"word_count":235}
{"speech_id":1090058709,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That was very well said. An example is if in my City of Lorain. Ohio. if the city council would say that if police cars that the City of Lorain were buying. if they passed a law. had to be cars made in Lorain County. Ohio. we make cars in that county. that a CAFTA or NAFTA tribunal. a company in another country. one of the other governments could sue saying that is an unfair trade practice. You have to open it up under bid for any other government or any other country or any other company outside that county. I mean. a buy America law. a buy Idaho law. a buy Ohio law. whatever you might want to pass could easily be struck down by one of these CAFTA or NAFTA tribunals. We are joined today by the gentleman from Virginia . who has also been a long time advocate for sovereignty issues and for workers in this country and for fair trade instead of the free trade problems that this country has gotten into in the last decade or so. I thank him for joining us.","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":965,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090058725,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. I would just like to ask my friend from Indiana specifically about the concern that the people coming to his office have about any sort of risk as though current benefits are guaranteed and they are in place. As he said. they are not guaranteed. The fact is the Supreme Court has recognized that. More importantly. we hear people on the floor every day talking about everything is fine until 2042 and then there would be a 25 percent cut in benefits. as though that is perfectly okay for our children and grandchildren. But I would just like to ask the gentleman what he thinks of the 1993 tax bill that raised taxes on Social Security. both the percentage that people pay. the percentage of tax. and the baseline that caused them to have to start paying this tax. if he would not call that a reduction in benefits. If previously those Social Security dollars that people got were not taxed and the portion that was. was taxed at a lower rate. in 1993 in one day. Congress changed the law to start taxing more of peoples Social Security dollars at a higher rate. if that was not the government reducing their benefit.","speaker_name":"ANNE NORTHUP","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"F","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1150,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090058731,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. I think it is really important that we talk about not only the benefits. but some of the misinformation out there. because we know that our qonstituents are hearing it. They are eager to figure out for themselves what the best course is. and it is important that we both not only talk about the benefits. but also the misinformation and what the answer is to that. One of the things I wanted to ask my colleague. the gentleman from Indiana","speaker_name":"ANNE NORTHUP","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"F","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":472,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090058734,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if the gentlewoman would yield further. just to put this into context. between 2006 and 2015. it is estimated that the surplus will be $790 billion that we would put into personal accounts for retirement needs for Social Security benefits versus spending it on general government purposes. So this is a lot of money that can be put aside now for Social Security benefits in the future. I think it is high time we start.","speaker_name":"CHRIS CHOCOLA","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":432,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090058807,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He believes that if Americans are to live locally and compete globally. that it is as imperative to wire the country for technology access as it was to provide electricity nationwide 60 years ago. No. 3. in order to facilitate the review of $37 million in valueadded development grants. he creatively used private sector resources to expedite the process. No. 4. in order to deliver the financial grants authorized through the Delta Regional Authority. he helped develop and get signed a memorandum of understanding between Rural Development and the Delta Regional Authority. This will allow Rural Development to assist in delivering joint projects at no added cost to the Delta Regional Authority. No. 5. he facilitated the development of a memorandum of understanding. signed by Secretaries Veneman and Martinez. between the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. that is focused on better serving housing and infrastructure needs. No. 6. he has developed a series of initiatives with HUD that will allow Rural Development to more cost effectively meet the housing needs of rural America. These have allowed USDA to provide greater access for rural American housing. but especially minorities living in rural America in fulfillment of the Presidents housing initiative. No. 7. he has initiated a review of the Multifamily Housing Program. This includes the hiring of an outside contractor to conduct a comprehensive property assessment to evaluate the physical condition. market position. and operational status of the more than 17.000 properties USDA has financed. all while determining how best to meet the needs of lowincome citizens throughout rural America. No. 8. he has initiated a major outreach program to insure that USDAs Rural Development programs are more easily made available to all qualified individuals. communities. and organizations. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11383,"word_count":293}
{"speech_id":1090058817,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But critical questions remained unanswered. The materials provided late in June showed that over $70.000 in farm program payments had been received by the two trusts that were prior to that. from 1988 to 1992. So what turned up were some new questibns. If. in fact. Mr. Dorr had misrepresented his farming operations and he had been caught and the trusts had to pay back money for 3 of those years. what about the 5 years prior to that? So I wrote a letter on Jiuly 24. 2002. and asked for the record on all these other operations from 1988 through 1992. That was Wednesday. Thursday. Friday. Saturday. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1081,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090058825,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"During the time the Senator referenced. I believe the Senator was the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. It was the responsibility of the administration to perform the due diligence necessary to investigate all of the relevant factors. the background of this gentleman. Mr. Dorr. but especially it was then the responsibility of the oversight committee of the Senate. the Agriculture Committee. of which the Senator was chairman. to look into these matters. I again commend the Senator for taking on that responsibility as the chairman of the committee and doing it so forthrightly.","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":593,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090058870,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I commend the distinguished majority leader. and I associate myself with his remarks and this report. I just looked at one thing. and the staff advised me that the terms \"Boy Scouts\" and \"Girl Scouts\" embrace what is known as the Cub Scouts. I want to make sure my understanding is correct that was the intention of our distinguished leader. because a lot of .families are very active in those organizations.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":423,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090058871,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I say to the Senator. indeed it is. Mr. Chairman. The Cub Scouts badges and uniform is one I wore and. indeed. my three boys wore. Harrison. Jonathan. and Bryan. It is that introduction to Scouts that most of us first experience. Indeed. it is.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":259,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090058917,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"CFIUS has investigated only 24. And only one resulted in actually stopping the transaction. This lone disapproval. in February 1990. occurred with respect to a transaction that had already taken placeit took President George H.W. Bushi to stop the transaction and safeguard our national security. Another example of CFIUS falling short is with Magnequench International Incorporated. In 1995 Chinese corporations bought GMs Magnequench. a supplier of rare earth metals used in the guidance systems of smart bombs. Over 12 years. the company 14as been moved piecemeal to mainland China. leaving the U.S. with no domestic supplier of neodymium. a critical component of rareearth magnets. CFIUS approved this transfer. The United States now buys rare earth metals. which are essential for precisionguided munitions. from one single countryChina. Some experts believe that Chinas economic policy is a purposeful attempt to undermine the U.S. industrial base and likewise. the defense industrial base. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2372,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090058931,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the Senators amendment will be considered on the floor in due time. But I assume that at least two of the amendments involve another committee. the Banking Committee. other than the Armed Services Committee. would I be correct in that?","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":250,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090058964,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In April. we were told in a hearing that based on what they knew from their operational commanders. the Marine Corps had met all of the humvee requirements for this year. which was 398 uparmored humvees. Less than a month later. the Inspector General of the Marine Corps conducted a readiness assessment of the their ground equipment in Iraq. One of the key findings was that the requirement for additional upamored humvees would continue to grow. Based on that report and other factors. the Marine Corps reversed itself anti testified the need was almost triple the original amount. The inspector generals teams inspected many humvees in Iraq that had been damaged by mines and other explosive devices. In nearly every case. they found that the cabin was well protected despite significant damage to the engine compartment wheels. The inspector general also found that even with recommended changes. including replacing damaged vehicles. the war will continue to take a toll on the marines equipment. Nearly all of its fighting gear is ready for combat this year. they found but it would drop to less than twothirds by the middle of 2008. It has taken far too long to solve this problem. We have to make sure we solve it now. once and for all. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6244,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090058998,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it is always a pleasure to hear my old friend and colleague in the Senate of so many years. At the appropriate time I and others will put forth our case on this issue. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Lautenberg amendment be laid aside and that time be granted to our distinguished colleague and very valued member of the committee. the Senator from Rhode Island. Mr. REED.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":403,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090059008,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my colleague. If the Senator participated in many of these bills beforefor example. tonight. I am not being entirely popular with a number of individuals because I am requesting of the leadership the right to go on into the night with votes. as late as we can possibly go. and then tomorrow morning have more votes and continue tomorrow. After the votes. presumably. if they are scheduled in the morning. it may well be we will continue on the bill with some understanding among Members that the votes we desire. as a consequence of the other work on Friday. will be held on Monday some time. I assure the Senator from Rhode Island. I am working as hard as I can to get this bill passed. I thank the Senator for his cooperation.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":751,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090059014,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in concurrence with my distinguished ranking member. I advise the Senate that we will have a vote on amendment No. 1342. regarding supporting the Boy Scouts. occurring at 2:30. with no seconddegree amendments in order prior to the vote. provided further. there be 2 minutes of debate equally divided before the vote.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":331,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090059029,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. what I suggest in the parliamentary situation is that I withdraw the unanimousconsent request at this time. In the interval. until we raise the question to vote again. the Senator presumably will engage with the leaders office regarding these concerns. So I withdraw the request at this time rather than amend it.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":328,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090059033,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the amendment--we call it generically the Boy Scout amendment--offered by the distinguished majority leader is being looked at in the full expectation that it can be resolved and voted on at an appropriate time this afternoon. For the moment. I believe the distinguished Senator from South Carolina and the Senator from New York have an amendment. and I think we should proceed with that debate.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":410,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090059052,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have reduced the number of reservists eligible. We have reduced the amount of premiums the Reserve and Guard member would have to pay. We have reduced it from $7.1 billion to $3.8 billion over 5 years. We have made it more fiscally sound. But the bottom line is for me. you cannot help these families enough. and $3.8 billion over 5 years is the least we can do. What does it cost to have the Guard and Reserve not ready and not fit to go to the fight? What does it cost to have about 20 percent of your force unable to go to the fight because of health care problems? This is the best use of the money we could possibly spend. -There is all kinds of waste in the Pentagon that would more than pay for this. and our recruiting numbers for the Guard and Reserve are not going to be met this year because the Guard and Reserve is not a parttime job any longer. It is a real quick ticket to Iraq and Afghanistan. The people who are in the Guard and Reserves are helping us win this war just as much as their ActiveDuty counterparts. who are doing a tremendous job. Their families dont have to worry about health care problems. guardsmen and reservists do. I have statements from the National Governors Association. the National Guard Association of the United States. the Military Officers Association of America. the Fleet Reserve Association. the Reserve Enlisted Association. and the Air Force Sergeants Association that I would like to submit for the RECORD. saying directly to the Congress: This is a good benefit. ","speaker_name":"LINDSEY GRAHAM","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3561,"word_count":276}
{"speech_id":1090059057,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would lil4 to acknowledge what Senator CLINTON has done on behalf of this amendment. Without her. I dont think we would be as far as we are. She has been terrific. To Senator WARNER. you and your staff have been terrific to do what we did last Sear. How much time do I have remaining?","speaker_name":"LINDSEY GRAHAM","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":286,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090059067,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Everybody would acknowledge that it would be impossible to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan without the National Guard. Our military reserves are carrying out all kinds of tasks. from combat support to aerial convoy escort missions. When I talk with the commanders in the field they tell me they dont know which ones are the Guard. which ones are the regular forces. They are all doing the same thing. One difference is the National Guard has to also continue to provide a ready force in case of natural disasters or another attack here at home. In the war on terrorism. the National Guard and Reserve are a 21st century fighting force. But they are doing it with the last centurys health insurance. We want to bring it up to date. We want to make sure that those who are fighting our wars. those who are defending our Nation. are treated alike. That is all it is. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3742,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090059137,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"These sanctions prohibit U.S. citizens and U.S. corporations from doing business in Iran. a nation known as a state sponsor of terrorism. I fully support the use of these sanctions to deny terrorist states funding and investment from American companies. Currently. U.S. sanctions provisions in the International Emergency Economic Powers Act prohibit U.S. companies from conducting business with nations that are listed on the terrorist sponsor list. The law does not specifically bar foreign subsidiaries of American companies from doing business with terroristsupporting nations. as long as these subsidiaries are considered truly independent of the parent company. There have. however. been reports that some U.S. companies have exploited this exception in the law by creating foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies in order to do business with such nations. The allegations are that these foreign subsidiaries are formed and incorporated overseas for the specific purpose of bypassing U.S. sanctions laws that prohibit American corporations from doing business with terroristsponsoring nations such as Syria and Iran. There is no doubt that this practice cannot be allowed to continue. I supported Senator LAUTENBERGS amendment last year because it was the only proposal before us to deal with this very real problem. The Senator from New Jersey has been very eloquent in speaking about this exploitation of the exceptions in the current sanctions laws. ","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7624,"word_count":220}
{"speech_id":1090059144,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I would say to the chairman. that is exactly what I would like to do. I ask unanimous consent that these two pending amendments be set aside strictly for the purpose of introducing an amendment and speaking no more than. say. 10 minutes and then. at that point. I ask that we return to the pending order of business. the Lautenberg amendment and the Collins amendment.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":368,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090059182,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I would call. them Merlin the Magicians. I thank them for the leadership they have shown us. I associate myself with remarks made earlier on the TRICARE amendment for the Guard and Reserves. So often my colleagues have heard me speak with such great pride about the Florida National Guard. They were first into Iraq. They were in Iraq before the war started because they were in there with the special operations troops. For us to give them the health care through TRICARE is exceptionally important. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3856,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090059189,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the chairman would yield. there is an issue on the floor today. in addition to the pending senseoftheSenate resolution about keeping men in space. We have a pending amendment that is going to be offered by Senator LUCAR that has to do with nonproliferation. NunnLugar. trying to make it possible for us to see if we cannot reduce the threat of prdliferation of weapons of mass destruction. I think the Member of the Senate who probably pioneered in the effort to prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction was John Glenn. who happens to be on the Senate floor at this particular moment. Senator LUGAR is now here. Under our UC. he Will be offering his amendment. But the effort of Senator LUGAR to try to control weapons of mass destruction. to lock them up. to make sure that there are no loose.nukes. that Senator Nunn and so many others joined in. was actually a subject which was very close to the heart and very much on the lips of John Glenn when he was here as a Senator.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":991,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090059216,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I think gation for them to disclose their fiSenator LUGAR controls all of the time nances. But their competitors. Sturm on his side. I wonder if he might yield Ruger and Smith & Wesson. continue 4 minutes to the Senator from Rhode to assure their shareholders in SEC filIsland. I dont know how long the Sen- ings that this litigation is not having ator from Texas was going to speak. an adverse material effect on their fi-","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":438,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090059221,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am not persuaded that the burden to change the system. as it has been since 1991. has been met. and I believe that we should retain some way to monitor the progress of Russia. the recipient of these funds. on these important criteria that have been set out in the bill.. Of course. the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program has long been providing assistance to states of the former Soviet Union to help eliminate and safeguard weapons of mass destruction and related infrastructure materials. These programs helped to eliminate large Cold War stockpiles of dangerous weapons that are no longer needed. Today. of course. this is an important. element of our strategy to keep weapons of mass destruction and knowhow from falling into the hands of terrorists. That is the reason why I applaud the senior Senator from Indiana for his leadership in this important effort. When Congress first authorized the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. an important element of the authorizing legislation was the inclusion of the conditions which now this amendment seeks to eliminate. These conditions must be met before a country can receive Cooperative Threat Reduction assistance from the United States. These conditions were retained in the Cooperative Threat Reduction Act of 1993 which reauthorized the original NunnLugar program. That act included the requirement that for each recipient nation of Cooperative Threat Reduction funds. the President certify that the recipient nation is committed to the following goals: One. to making substantial investment of its resources for dismantling or destroying its weapons of mass destruction. two. forgoing any military modernization program that exceeds legitimate defense requirements and forgoing the replacement of destroyed weapons of mass destruction. three. forgoing any use in new nuclear weapons of fissionable or other components of destroyed nuclear weapons. facilitating U.S. verification of any weapons destruction carried out under the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. complying with all relevant arms control agreements. and observing internationally recognized human rights. including the protection of minorities. I would certainly agree with the distinguished senior Senator from Indiana that some of these are vague standards. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11399,"word_count":345}
{"speech_id":1090059249,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator for bringing this amendment. There are some very distinguished cosponsors. It would be my expectation to reply to the Senator in brief tonight following this vote because I think some record should be made today. The Senator made his statement on the side of the proponents. and I need time within which to evaluate since I have just received this document. but I will be prepared. following this vote. to make some reply. and I hope that my colleague would likewise.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":502,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090059259,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask unanimous consent that the vote be delayed for a few minutes because we have a series of amendments at the desk which have been cleared by myself and the distinguished Senator from Michigan. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider these amendments en bloc. that the amendments be agreed to and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table. I ask that any statements relating to any of these individual amendments be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":457,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090059275,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"ROCKEFELLER and others. Perhaps the Senator from Michigan could give us some timetable as to when the Senate could expect to have an opportunity to debate that amendment.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1034,"word_count":28}
{"speech_id":1090059303,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have all learned that bitter lesson. Let me ask the Senator. It is not a carefully guarded secret that part of the reason they want to move this bill off the Senate is so they can bring to the floor the National Rifle Association bill on gun manufacturers liability before we leave for the August recess. So it is not just a matter of cloture to move the DOD bill. the Department of Defense bill. it is to make room and time for the National Rifle Association. another special interest group. so that they have more days to deliberate their bill than we may spend on this bill.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":580,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090059305,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Another question to the Senator from Nevada. and I think I know the answer: Is there anything more important than finishing the Department of Defense authorization bill in an orderly fashion when a nation is at war and men and women are risking their lives. as the Senator from Nevada noted?","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":291,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090059324,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"These are conditions that would have to be met before the domestic BRAC recommendations wouldbe implemented.","speaker_name":"JOHN THUNE","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":778,"word_count":16}
{"speech_id":1090059337,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. one final observation. My expectation would be that if we get this. if there is a download of information as a result of QDR and some of these other conditions that we impose. that Congress would hold hearings. The public would have an opportunity. through a congressional process. through their elected representatives. to be heard on the subject that the conditions would address. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JOHN THUNE","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":416,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090059339,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I. too. oppose the amendment for the reasons which were set forth by the chairman. But. in addition. I have some other thoughts about this proces. Each one of our States has gone through a tremendous period of anxiety. As it turns out. some of that anxiety was well based because they are on the list. For those States that did better than expected or better .than their worst fears. it seems to me this amendment will throw them right back into that state of anxiety because by definition. this makes it more likely because of the uncertainty that is injected. And because of the delay in the final disposition. more States will be thrown right back into the position of being very nervous and anxious as to whether their bases and their facilities might be hit by a baseclosing round. In other words. there is no finality. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1933,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090059343,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think there is a deep illogic in that. To the extent you would want to delay something so that Congress could have information. which I think would be a mistake for the reasons given to the extent there is logic in that. the President should have the same information before making his decision as the Congress arguably should have. Again. for reasons given by Senator WARNER and myself. I think it would be a mistake to create the state of limbo which would result from the adoption of this amendment. It also has that degree of illogic in it as well. Finally. I ask the chairman. so that we can get the precise position of the administration on this. whether we could reasonably expect that at least by Monday we could have a letter from the administration relating to the specifics of this amendment. I know we have a general position of the administration.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":862,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090059348,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I think it is important that in addition to getting the general views of the administration about the importance of this BRAC process proceeding for the reasons they have set forth. the language of this amendment be forwarded to them. I will give an.example of why. As I understand it. one of the impacts of the amendment would be that it would be difficult. if not impossible. for the Army to bring back to the United States about 49.000 personnel and their families because those relocations back to the United States are dependent upon certain steps being taken as proposed in the BRAC process. We are leaving a lot of people in limbo overseas. I believethat is our conclusionbut I would like to hear from the Defense Departmefit as to the specific ramifications of this kind of delay. in addition to the reasons they have already given for opposing apy delay or cancellation of the BRAC process. So I agree with our chairman that they are very clear that they would veto this bill if this kind of amendment passes. But in terms of the argument on the amendment. there are practical problems. in addition to the ones already raised by the Defense -Department. that they may want to raise if we get them the language. I hope that over the weekend the chairman will forward the language to the Defense Department.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1329,"word_count":234}
{"speech_id":1090059368,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. onbehalf of my fellow Missourians. I extend my warmest congratulations to my good friends the Hazelbakers on Jen Jens naturalization as a U.S. citizen. As this family is aware. the freedoms we share in this country are not to be found elsewhere in the world. To maintain these freedoms. we must exercise the responsibilities that are incumbent with these liberties. As the English philosopher John Stuart Mill said. \"The worth of a state in the long run is the worth of the individuals composing it.\" Already an important figure in her community and active in this countrys political process. I am confident that Jen Jen will serve her new home well and I am proud to welcome her. We send best wishes for success in Jen Jens future endeavors. We also wish this warm family continued success. happiness. and prosperity.O","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":834,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090059369,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. for the Committee on Commerce. Science. and Transportation I report favorably the following nomination lists which were printed in the RECORDS on the dates indicated. and ask unanimous consent. to save the expense of reprinting on the Executive Calendar that these nominations lie at the Secretarys desk for the information of Senators.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":351,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090059373,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to introduce. with my colleagues Senators CHAFEE and REID. the Coordinated Environmental Health Tracking Act of 2005. There is a saying-\"what you dont know cant hurt you.\" But when it comes to chronic disease. what we dont know can hurt all of us. The bill we are introducing today will help us solve the mysteries behind the high rates of chronic diseases such as cancer. autism. and Alzheimers that afflict so many American communities. Once we are able to track diseases. and detect links to environmental or other causes. we will be able to prevent public health crises before they occur. The environmental links to the onset of diseases are not well understood. They are hidden health hazards that manifest themselves in chronic diseases. We are only beginning to understand what these hazards are and what is the scope of their effects on our health. We need more specifics on these environmental factors. ","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2572,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090059374,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There is no question that Americans are passionate about sports. We have high expectations for our teams. and demand only the best from our athletes. By expanding the P1 visa category. we will make it possible for athletes to be selected based on talent and skill. rather than nationality. In addition. we would reduce some pressure on the H2B visa category so that more of those visas can be used where they are really needed.","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6422,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090059375,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to introduce the Trade Adjustment Assistance for Industries Act. I have long been a champion for our Trade Adjustment Assistance program. what we call \"TAA.\" For more than 40 years. TAA has been providing retraining. income support. and other benefits to workers who lose their jobs due to trade. The program has a critical mission: to give tradeimpacted workers the skills they need to find new jobs and prosper in growing sectors of the economy. Maintaining a welltrained workforce is key to our Nations longterm competitiveness and economic health. And helping those few who lose out from our trade policy choices is key to maintaining public support for trade liberalization. In the Trade Act of 2002. I spearheaded the most comprehensive expansion and overhaul of the TAA program since 1974. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8781,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090059378,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"CORZINE. Mr. DEWINE.","speaker_name":"RICHARD SHELBY","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":849,"word_count":3}
{"speech_id":1090059383,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Agriculture. Nutrition and Forestry be authorized to conduct a committee business meeting during the session of the Senate on Thursday. July 21. 2005 at 10:30 a.m. in SR328A. Russell Senate Office Building. The purpose of this business meeting is to mark up an original bill regarding the reauthorization of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":410,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090059397,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to hold an offthefloor markup during the session on Thursday. July 21. 2005. to consider the nominations of Richard L. Skinner to be Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Brian David Miller to be Inspector General of the General Services Administration. and Edmund S. Hawley to be Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":488,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090059401,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Kyl. S. 1326. Notification of Risk to Personal Data Act. Sessions. S. 155. Gang Prevention and Effective Deterrence Act of 2005. Feinstein. Hatch. Grassley. Cornyn. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1042,"word_count":25}
{"speech_id":1090059442,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce. Science. and Transportation be discharged from further consideration of the bill H.R. 2385. and that the bill be referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":256,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090059455,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it stand in adjournment until 10 a.m. on Friday. July 22. I further ask that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate then resume consideration of the Defense authorization bill.","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":401,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090059465,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this morning. another set of apparently coordinated attacks took place on the London subway and bus system. So. once again. our thoughts and prayers are with the people of London. and our minds should be riveted back here in the United States: Madrid should have been our wakeup call- the bombings in Lqndon should have been our reminder. How much longer must we wait for this Congress to act to secure the over 14 million Americans who use a public transit system every day to get to work? What are the consequences in the loss of lives and the economic ripple effect upon an attack on such a system? And instead of acting on a wakeup call. the Congress seems to be hitting the snooze button. In fact. we seem to be moving backwards. Just last week. the Senate voted to cut transit security funding by onethird. How many warnings do we need before we take action? And who among us will be satisfied to say. well. we did not act fast enough. when someone we know. some constituent. some family member dies in a transit attack?","speaker_name":"ROBERT MENENDEZ","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1039,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090059467,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. our government has the solemn responsibility to protect our Nation from terrorism. as today. again. we pray for the people of London. Our ability to do that was undermined. quite frankly. 2 years ago when the identity of one of our CIA agents whose work helps keep weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of terrorists was exposed. This breach of our national security was not really an accident. This agents name was leaked in an act that an unnamed administration official described as revenge. political retribution against her husband for having dared to point out that the administration had knowingly distorted the evidence of Iraqs weapons of mass destruction. It is now clear that President Bushs close adviser. Karl Rove. was involved in this breach of our Nations security. and he should go. If the. administration wants to have any credibility at all when they say that they want to protect the American people. then they - should fire Karl Rove and anyone else who was involved in compromising our national security for petty political gain.","speaker_name":"BARBARA LEE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1071,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090059468,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"To keep from dragging bottom. ships are now being loaded with one foot less amount of energy or fuel. One foot difference costs Americans $30 million a year in gasoline prices. or 3 cents a gallon more. The channel must be dredged or our energy situation will suffer and the consumer will pay .more for gasoline. The channel must be dredged for strategic reasons so that we can get our troops the military equipment they deserve. Congress just authorized $23 billion of foreign aid. Maybe the SabineNeches Riverway Authority needs to apply for this foreign aid to get the more than $13 million it needs to maintain this American channel. Mr. Speaker. this ought not to be.","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1580,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090059469,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It will improve data collection in our respective communities with respect to race. ethnicity. and language and promote accountability through the Office of Civil Rights and the Office of Minority Health at the Department of Health and Human Services. Lastly. it would help to strengthen health care institutions that serve minority populations. We look forward to visiting our friends in Chicago. Illinois.","speaker_name":"HILDA SOLIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1288,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090059479,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of Medicare Part D. the new prescription drug benefit Congress passed as part of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. Mr. Speaker. if our seniors cannot afford their medications their health is going to suffer. That is why it is hugely important to provide our seniors with affordable drug coverage under Medicare. and CMS has projected savings of up to 75 percent off many drug prices for Medicare Part D enrollees. Seniors can begin signing up for the Part D program on. November 15. We hope to enroll 28 million seniors by May of 2006. making it the largest signup for a new program since the introduction of Medicare and Medicaid. That is why we are going to need the help of our whole community local senior centers. commissions on aging. friends. families. pastors. volunteers and community leaders. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1136,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090059482,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It waives all points of order against the amendment in the nature of a substitute printed in part A of the Committee on Rules report. It makes in order only those amendments printed in part B of the Committee on Rules report which may be offered only in the order printed in the report. may be offered only by a Member designated in the report. shall be considered as read. shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent. shall not be subject to amendment. and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question in the House or in the Committee of the Whole. It waives all points of order against the amendments printed in part B of the Committee on Rules report. and it provides one motion to recommit with or without instructions. Mr. Speaker. I rise this somber day in support of both House Resolution 369 and the underlying bill. H.R. 3199. the USA PATRIOT and Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2005. Mr. Speaker. I would first like to extend my condolences and prayers to the people of Britain who once again have fallen prey to terrorist bombs. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2779,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090059494,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I hope not. Mr. Speaker.. I hope that those terrible attacks have not served to undermine our Constitution. to weaken our respect for civil liberties. to chip away at the values that not only make this country unique but also make us a beacon of hope for the rest of the world. While the government should be provided with the necessary resources to protect the homeland. it should not be given a free pass to threaten and abuse the rights and liberties of our own citizens. Safeguards are key. and Congress in its vital function of oversight is one of governments most important safeguards. Many of the provisions in the PATRIOT Act were sunsetted back in 2001 so that Congress could evaluate and fix them if necessary. These time limits on certain provisions serve as critical checks on the executive branch. They serve as a reminder that Congress is paying attention and that if the new powers are abused. they willnot be renewed. We know from our own history that abuses of law enforcement powers are all too common. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3600,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090059498,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"These provisions are wrought with great potential for abuse. Mr. Speaker. the civil liberties of the American people are too important and the potential for abuse too great for us not to place sunsets on all of the 16 provisions. Like our Constitution. our liberties are a symbol of America. The freedoms in our country are known throughout the world. What we do today sends a message throughout the world. We here in this body have a sacred responsibility to protect what our Nation stands for. We are certainly responsible for the safety of this Nation. but we are also certainly responsible for shaping the laws that determine what it means to be an American. Mr. Speaker. all of us agree that we must do all we can to secure and protect the United States. but we must also be mindful of those rights and privileges upon which this great Nation was founded.","speaker_name":"DORIS MATSUI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2832,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090059512,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong opposition to and utter disgust with this bill. Just as a bad movie is often followed by an even worse sequel. so it is with the PATRIOT Act. PATRIOT II does nothing to correct the major flaws in the original legislation. Basic civil liberties continues to be in jeopardy. The bill expands police powers. it continues to authorize invasive violations of our medical records. our library borrowing habits and other private affairs. PATRIOT II restricts freedom. instead of expanding it. The irony is cruel. Mr. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1487,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090059514,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise to support the rule. I will tell my colleagues that over the last 8 months. we have had between 12 and 13 hearings in the Committee on the Judiciary and some 35 witnesses over an extended period of time: and 50 members of the Committee on the Judiciary have had a chance to not just question those witnesses. but to go back in the secure intelligence records. which I have done. and review all the FISA reports and the other information that is very sensitive and an important part of our oversight. We have considered some 50 different amendments as part of this extensive hearing process. Today we will be debating all day on the PATRIOT Act and into the evening. We will consider some 20 other proposed amendments. The fact of the matter is. Congress has done a very diligent job balancing civil liberties during this time of great national threat. We watch and pray for our friends in Britain as we do this. but we do it only after serious and thoughtful consideration.","speaker_name":"TOM FEENEY","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":993,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090059524,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker. I am going to ask for a \"no\" vote on the previous question so that I can amend the rule and allow the House to consider the Sanders amendment that was rejected in the Committee on Rules last night on a straight partyline vote. I might also add that the extraordinarily important Otter amendment on the egregious sneakandpeak law was voted down on a 9 to 4 vote last night. This amendment would exclude booksellers and libraries from the scope of section 215 of the PATRIOT Act. which allows law enforcement to conduct broad searches of the records of bookstores and libraries without demonstrating probable cause. and it forbids libraries and bookstore owners from even telling their patrons that their records have been searched. Mr. Speaker. an identical version of this amendment was passed in the House a month ago during consideration of the Science. ","speaker_name":"LOUISE SLAUGHTER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1818,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090059527,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The USA PATRIOT Act and Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization Act will allow us to continue to make inroads into terrorist cells and operations. The goal has been and will continue to be to prevent another attack. In 2001. the House joined together in a bipartisan way to pass the USA PATRIOT Act with 357 for. 66 against. This House must come together again to pass H.R. 3199 and continue to fight against those who would seek to destroy us. The legislative process for this bill has been both thorough and fair. Republicans. Democrats. Department of Justice. the ACLU. and various other organizations have been able to speak freely and openly during the development of this bill. -I believe. Mr. Speaker. the final product is solid and it will serve as an important framework to fight terrorism. protect civil liberties. and. ultimately. strengthen America. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1565,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090059546,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I believe our law enforcement of- give us any information on oversight ficials need to be able to talk with one on the use of these new powers was the another and connect the dots to pre- sunset provision. vent terrorist attacks. We have also learned of abuses during In some sense this is not really about our oversight that has led to us makthe PATRIOT Act. the debate that is ing modifications. Given this history. going on here. or even most of the 16 it simply makes no sense to make provisions scheduled to sunset this these provisions permanent or near year. It is about four areas that are permanent. And 10 years is not a sunsubject to abuse and need greater set. 10 years is semipermanent. checks and balances. and I would like The lessons of September 11 and Lonto suggest what they are. don. and even today in London. are First. the business records. 215. al- that if we allow law enforcement to do lows the FBI to obtain any record con- their work free of political intersidered relevant to an investigation ference. give them adequate resources This includes library books. medical and modern technologies. we can prorecords. and bookstore purchases. The tect our citizens without intruding on provision has been difficult to oversee our liberties. since targets of FBI investigations We all fight terrorism. but we need to under the law are not permitted to tell fight it the right way consistent with anybody about it. even their lawyer. our Constitution and in a manner that The Department of Justice and the serves as a model for the rest of the chairman of the Committee on the Ju- world. I believe that. the committeediciary say that this provision has passed legislation that is on the floor never been used on libraries and book- right now does not meet that test. As stores. However. the American Library such. it does not warrant passage until Association has reported that more it is corrected. than 200 requests for library records Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4646,"word_count":343}
{"speech_id":1090059551,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I reiterate. still no evidence of abuse. I think we in the Committee on the Judiciary have done a thorough job of exhausting and deliberating a very. very important act. and I believe that one reason why we have not been attacked subsequently from 9\/11 is because of the presence of the PATRIOT Act. We expanded the provisions under which law enforcement and public safety officers must 6perate and must stay within. and as a result we are better for it.","speaker_name":"HOWARD COBLE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1787,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090059553,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. war has been declared on this country by the Islamic terrorists. and we must protect the citizens of this country. The PATRIOT Act was an attempt in some respects to do this. But before commenting on the specifics of the PATRIOT Act. I would be derelict if I did not mention that the majority party in this House and the Bush administration have really been derelict by not dealing more directly with the threats that we face. The biggest threats we face are sabotage. bombings in our mass transit systems. sabotage of our chemical farms. our nuclear plants that could kill thousands of people. yet we do not see funds to deal with this. It is easy to be demagogic. The Bush administration does not want to throw money at the problem. they want to throw rhetoric at the problem. So we have the PATRIOT Act. I wish we had real measures to protect our mass transit systems. to protect our vulnerable infrastructure. to protect us against what happened in London again this morning.","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":993,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090059559,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"fornia. Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding nie this time. This is an important day for us today. not just because of the explosions that have taken place in London today or those that took place several weeks ago. but rather because of 9\/11 and our response to that wakeup call of the war on terrorism. The Preamble to the United States Constitution posits that both the provision for the common defense and the need to secure the blessings of liberty are central to the constitutional order. Freedom presumes security. The converse is equally true. In the delicate balance of these important interests. Our concern for liberty must not discount the consequences of a failure to keep Americans secure from another terrorist attack. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL LUNGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3263,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090059567,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. after 9\/11. I worked on the drafting of the PATRIOT Act in .the committee and in the weekend drafting session. and I voted for the act on the floor. I think it is important to know that most of what is in the PATRIOT Act is not actually before us today. It is only the 16 provisions that are socalled sunsetted. which means that we need to review them and renew them. that are actually before the House today. First and foremost. as the Justice Department said in their letter to me today. the most important thing in the PATRIOT. Act is to help remove the legal barriers that prevented law enforcement and intelligence officers from sharing information so they could. socalled. \"connect the dots.\" That is important. There are other important things in the act. I think it is worth noting that there are some things that disturb Americans that are happening in the United States relative to the arrest of American citizens and the holding of American citizens without charge. without access to counsel. but they have nothing whatsoever to do with the PATRIOT Act. ","speaker_name":"ZOE LOFGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3546,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090059575,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There is not a name of an individual who had their rights violated by the PATRIOT Act. We have had the hearings. and we have had serious deliberation. I hope we have a serious consideration of these amendments and final passage of a very good PATRIOT Act.","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1266,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090059602,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In section 213 it talks about sneakandpeek searches. In a letter to the gentleman from Virginia . the Department of Justice said on July 5. 2005 that that section had been used 153 times as of January 2005. Only 18 of those times were the uses for terrorism investigations. Well. what is happening with the other 80 percent is in my estimation an abuse of this provision because we passed the law so that we could make it easier for law enforcement to get to terrorists. The law is being used in Ways that. but for the events of 9\/11 and the terrorism that occurred. we would not have accepted as residents of this country. I just think we have struck the wrong balance. We need to sunset this bill again for a shorter period of time. and I hope my colleagues will take that into account and vote against it.","speaker_name":"MELVIN WATT","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2973,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090059603,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 1 minute. Mr. Chairman. I rarely disagree with my friend from North Carolina . but I want to take some time to correct the record. The delayed notification or socalled \"sneakandpeek\" warrants were authorized in the late seventies for purposes of racketeering and drugtrafficking investigations and were held constitutional by the Supreme Court in the early eighties as not violative of the fourth amendment. What the PATRIOT Act did was expand this previously existing authority to terrorism investigations. So if the PATRIOT Act never existed. the 18 instances where the delayednotification warrants were used for terrorism investigations would have been illegal. But all of the other investigations that the gentleman from North Carolina referred to would have been legal under existing practice which have been held constitutional. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":911,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090059605,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in reluctant opposition to this bill. In 2001 after an attack on the United States and the slaughter of innocent civilians. this Congress passed the PATRIOT Act. which I supported at that time. It gave our investigative agencies a wide variety of special powers to fight terrorism and to win this war on terrorism. However. these powers were not to be permanent. They were designed to help us win the war. not to change our country permanently. Now we have the PATRIOT Act being hand1ed to us again. but instead it is being handed to- us in a permanent form. You do not make policy for the United States Government protecting the rights and freedoms of our people in an extraordinary time as this. a time of war. and then mandate it soit is going to be the rule of our country once we live in peacetime. Our country was founded on the idea of limited government and individual liberty. ","speaker_name":"DANA ROHRABACHER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":46.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1235,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090059614,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 11\/2 minutes. Mr. Chairman. we have heard another attack on. delayed notification or sneakandpeek warrants. Let me tell you what has happened earlier this month. A U.S. district judge in Washington State executed or authorized a delayednotification warrant to look into a building on the U.S. side of the northern border. And what was discovered but a rather sophisticated tunnel between Canada and the United States to smuggle contraband. and perhaps terrorists. through the border and into this country without being detected by our border patrol. Using a delayednotice search warrant. the DEA and other agents entered the home on July 2 to examine the tunnel. Shortly thereafter. a U.S. district judge authorized the installation of cameras and listening devices in the home to monitor the activities in the home. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1716,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090059634,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Another provision of the PATRIOT Act. Section 215. allows investigators broad access to any record without probable cause of a crime. This means that investigators can review your deeply personal medical records and also library records without telling you about it and without any probable reason to do it. Investigators under Section 215 would be able to access all the medical records at a local hospital with only the indication that there may be potentially valuable records contained therein. In other words. most of the records searched are of innocent people. but because there is a terrorist investigation underway or a terrorists records might be somewhere in the batch. they get swept up in the search. These provisions and many others have a deep impact on the freedoms and civil liberties all Americans. Some will say we need these provisions to track down terrorist and build cases against them. But what goes unsaid is that these provisions will also be used against people who have committed no crime and who are completely innocent. It is because of this that the PATRIOT Act must be understood as affecting all of us. A small number of unnecessary intrusions can have a broadly chilling effect. ","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7571,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090059636,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have heard comments about how there is no. judicial oversight for what is going on. There is judicial oversight for almost everything involved in the PATRIOT Act with few exceptions. like national security letters. which does require a certification of relevance before they move forward. We use these tools in the PATRIOT Act so we can catch terrorists and prevent acts of violence against American citizens. We use these same tools in other parts of the law. like when we are trying to find patent infringement. when we are trying to catch organized criminals. when we are trying to stop drug trafficking. This is a good law. I hope my colleagues will support it. It does protect civil liberties. and we should pass it.","speaker_name":"TODD TIAHRT","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1523,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090059652,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I recognize that some of the provisions of the PATRIOT Act have served a useful purpose and are scheduled to end. The process of reviewing provisions and determining whether. to extend them allows the House to evaluate the effectiveness and appropriations of the provisions. Two of the provisions in this bill are now being scheduled to extend for 10 years as opposed to the 4 years in the expiring legislation. In this scenario. a flawed provision could extend 6 years beyond the normal time frame. Fourteen sections of H.R. 3199 bill will become permanent. and will have virtually no oversight. I continue to have great reservations about the use of National Security Letters. NSLs. National Security Letters are applicable within Section 505. The NSLs deny individuals due process by barring targets of investigations access to court and the right to challenge the NSLs. The NSLs allows institutions. i.e. banks. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN KILPATRICK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4301,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090059665,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"L. remains convinced that his professional reputation has been seriously damaged. and in all likelihood. he is correct. Far too many Americans of ethnic descent can relate to Mr. Ls story of being accused of wrongdoing based only upon a racial or ethnic \"profile.\" Although our U.S. Constitution protects us against unreasonable searches and seizures. we know that this guarantee has not always been uniformly assured. Sadly. the governmental intrusion into Mr. Ls life seems to be one of these cases. It was an erosion of his personal freedom clearly allowed under the PATRIOT Act. which as Americans the rest of us take lightly at our peril. Mr. Ls story is not unique. the danger his experience illustrates is not limited to Islamic Americans. and the erosion of our freedom is not confined to investigations of terrorism. Mr. ","speaker_name":"ELIJAH CUMMINGS","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7884,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090059674,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise to explain my decision to vote against this version of the PATRIOT Act. This has not been an easy decision. Some of the provisions that are being reauthorized in this bill provide law enforcement officials with important tools that may be helpful in detecting and disrupting terrorist activities. I support those provisions. Other provisions. however. fail to provide adequate safeguards to ensure that the privacy rights of innocent citizens are protected. It is very important that. in our effort to defend the liberties that Americans cherish. we not enact measures that erode the very freedoms we seek to protect. We can ensure that the government has the necessary surveillance powers without sacrificing the privacy rights of Americans. Indeed. many amendments to the PATRIOT Act were proposed in both the Judiciary Committee and the Rules Committee to address legitimate concerns. ","speaker_name":"CHRIS VAN HOLLEN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1835,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090059705,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 1 minute. I just wanted to say that the gentleman from Indiana brought up the point that the buck stops here. and that is what we are really trying to do with the FBI Director. to ensure that that person is in charge and there -is less likely to be a fishing expedition by a lowerranking official. When you combine that with what we already have in law. which is a requirement that the FBI Director report to Congress every 6 months about the use of this statute. you really have a strong provision and strong protections. Think of it: you have the FBI Director himself. or herself. saying. I want to use this authority for this specific purpose. and then having to report that every 6 months to Congress. I think we really have curtailed the possibility for abuse. Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":842,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090059712,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I just want to make the simple point that the amendment that was offered that was not made in order by myself. the gentlewoman from California . and the gentleman from California would not have allowed. under any circumstances. a safe haven anywhere for terrorists. It was a different approach. The standards were higher. I think that is an. important point to make as a matter of record.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":402,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090059733,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I want to assure the gentlewoman from California that herconcerns on electronic data and the fact that in an era of VOIP that we do have to look at that.. I serve with the gentlewoman in California on many of the caucuses that deal with that. I look forward to both in Judiciary and. quite candidly. in other committees of jurisdiction here in the Congress to continue to work on properly identifying and modernizing how that is going to be interpreted. I think it is beyond the scope of the PATRIOT Act today. but it certainly is not beyond the Congress to have to bring things up to snuff. and I look forward to working with the gentlewoman from California. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"DARRELL ISSA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":49.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":764,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090059760,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I would say in closing this has been considered in the past. It has passed. It passed on a voice vote last October. I think in view of what is happening to the mass transit systems around the world. we have heard a lot of hue and cry about helping to protect our mass transit systems in this country. And I think by making standard criminal penalties. we are going a step in the right direction to use these penalties as a deterrence to terrorism on our mass transit and rail systems. ","speaker_name":"SHELLEY CAPITO","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":588,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090059779,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is a violation of the fourth amendment. And. two. the gag order. the nondisclosure provision. was ruled as a prior restraint on speech. the first amendment. This amendment. which I am pleased to cosponsor. is an attempt to solve these problems. It goes a considerable distance towards solving these problems. I do not think it solves all the problems. It does not make section 505 acceptable or even. in my opinion. constitutional. but it goes a good distance towards doing that. It solves the first problem by saying that you can get a national security letter without going to court. but the recipient can go to court to quash it. That is a minimum standard that ought to be adheredto. This amendment does that. and I am very pleased it does that. It allows the recipient of a national security letter to ask that the gag order be set aside. and it sets limits on the gag order and says it has","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1959,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090059828,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This has raised concerns about those who exercise their first amendment rights. As a result. groups from both sides of the political spectrum have wanted to change the definition of domestic terrorism. The amendment fixes the problem by changing the reference in section 806. asset forfeiture. to the definition of a Federal crime of terrorism under section 2332b(g)(5)(B) instead. which lists specific crimes that constitute terrorism. Thus the more general definition may still be used for administrative purposes and the more narrow definition for penalties and criminal prosecutions. I believe that this is a good amendment. Mr. Chairman. I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Arizona .","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1403,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090059830,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank the chairman for his support. and I thank the gentleman from Arizona in helping draft this particular amendment. and I particularly appreciate the example that he enumerated. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":290,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090059847,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the gentlewomans courtesy in permitting me to speak on this amendment. I am pleased with the efforts that are under way here on the floor to help try to deal with the shape of the PATRIOT Act. This is a critical discussion. We have been fighting the war on terror longer than we fought World War II. and it appears to be that this is going to be in the American landscape for as far into the future as we can see. This amendment helps get a handle on the sneakandpeak provisions. Section 213. which authorizes the sneakandpeak investigation. is not restricted to terrorists or terrorism offenses. It may be used in connection with any Federal crime. including misdemeanors. The PATRIOT Act did not establish oversight standards for these investigations. ","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2186,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090059891,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure. Ways and Means. Science. and Resources be discharged from further consideration of the bill to provide an extension of highway. highway safety. motor carrier safety. transit. and other programs funded out of the Highway Trust Fund pending enactment of a law reauthorizing the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century. and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.","speaker_name":"DON YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":472,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090059907,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Reserving the right to object. Mr. Chairman. I am in strong opposition to the underlying amendment. and I also have great concerns about the unanimous consent request. Mr. Chairman. I believe the unanimous consent request is designed to make minimal changes in the underlying amendment. I also believe that the unanimous consent request is designed to make the bill less objectionable to some Members and thereby encourage them to vote for it. fl 1800 I am so opposed to the underlying amendment that I am therefore opposed to the unanimous consent request.","speaker_name":"H. SAXTON","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":557,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090059916,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But specifically what happens here. the amendment in its base form. I think. provides a potential to tip off terrorists to our intelligence activities. It undermines terrorism investigations and perhaps will disclose our intelligence sources and methods. The amendment requires every federal department or agency publicly to report about its information gathering. It requires exhaustive and detailed reporting on how information is collected from public and certain government databases and what kind of information is collected and how it will be used. In many contexts this report will be a reasonable effort to protect privacy interests. In the intelligence and terrorism context. however. this amendment threatens to seriously undermine our national security interests. I have a great degree of confidence that. as we move forward. we will be able to reach accommodation. We just could not do it this afternoon with the number of other committees that also had expressed concerns with this amendment. I look forward to working with my colleague. to working with our other chairmen to put this amendment in a proper context. ","speaker_name":"PETER HOEKSTRA","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2592,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090059926,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Chairman. as I indicated earlier. the Berman amendment would potentially undermine the intelligence communitys ability in the current form to collect information on terrorists by tipping the terrorists off to our sources and methods. The amendment would require disclosure of data mining sources and methods used to collect information on terrorists and contains no exemption for national security purposes. The House has worked to increase the use of open source and other information against foreign terrorists and others who seek to .harm the United States. The .amendment applies onerous reporting requirements that could dramatically restrict the use of such technologies to use such resources to discover and respond to terrorist activities. Finally. it would divert scarce government resources away from the mostcritical fight that we have today. the fight against terror. Join me. the gentleman from California . the gentleman from . the gentleman from Virginia . and the gentleman from Illinois in opposing this amendment. not the direction the amendment wants to go. but in the way this amendment is crafted at this time and in this bill. ","speaker_name":"PETER HOEKSTRA","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1256,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090059963,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. punishment for cargo theft is a relative slap on the wrist. Throw in the fact that cargo thieves are tough to catch. and what we have here is a lowrisk. highreward crime that. easily entices potential criminals. The sentencing enhancement proposed in this amendment will go a long way in making a career in cargo theft less attractive. So the authors of this amendment are to be commended. Last. this amendment includes a provision requiring the Attorney General to mandate the reporting of cargo thefts and to create a database containing this information. which will provide a valuable source of informatioi and will allow States and local law enforcement officials to coordinate reports of cargo theft. This information could then be used to help fight this theft in everyday law enforcement. Mr. Chairman. this is a commonsense cargo theft provision. along with efforts to strengthen our seaport security. vitally effective tools in our war on terrorism. I want to thank my colleagues. particularly my good friend. the gentleman from North Carolina","speaker_name":"CLIFFORD STEARNS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2282,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090059977,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Why should this provision be included in the PATRIOT Act. one may ask? Criminal organizations. including terrorist groups. are using contraband cigarettes to fund their organizations. The scam is relatively easy and extremely lucrative. The criminals purchase cigarettes in a State with a low excise tax and then transport them to a hightax State to sell. Many times they even counterfeit the tax stamps to ensure that the cigarettes appear legitimate. Criminals can make as much as $30 per carton for relatively little effort and risk. A scheme that was uncovered illustrates the magnitude of this problem. In 2003. a group of Hezbollah operatives were convicted of buying cigarettes in my home State of North Carolina and selling them in Michigan. They were using the proceeds of their operation to fund the activities of Hezbollah. Law enforcement authorities across the Nation believe these types of smuggling operations are A fastgrowing problem. Mr. ","speaker_name":"HOWARD COBLE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2391,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090059989,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman from Virginia for yielding. Mr. Chairman. I. will just say that I look forward to working with the chairman of the full committee and the ranking member. as well as the ranking member of the subcommittee to resolve any other issues that may remain in conference.","speaker_name":"HOWARD COBLE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":284,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090059991,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"and other Members. Mr. COBLE has modified his amendment and has incorporated language that will go a long way to protecting tribal governments and tribal sovereignty. Specifically. a provision -stipulating that enforcement against tribes or in Indian country. as defined in Title 18 Section 1151. will not be authorized by the pending bill has been incorporated. Support for tribal sovereignty is a bipartisan issue and collectively the Congress will continue to defend that fundamental principal of law. I realize that there are other sections that may need to be fixed as well because there has not been much time to refine the entirety of the Coble provision and that further refinements may be in order once we get to Conference with the Senate on this provision. I understand that the rule of law of enforcement in Indian country will fall to tribal governments and the Federal government will be protected through further amendment and I pledge to work in conference to ensure the rights of tribal governments are fully protected.","speaker_name":"TOM COLE","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1036,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090060000,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The bill is so broad that it includes offenses such as those related to protection of computers. property offenses and financial or other material support provisions. Because the bill makes attempts and conspiracies- to commit such crimes death penalty eligible. it covers those who may have only had a minor role in the offense. If a death results. even if it was not the specific intended result. anyone who is involved in committing or attempting to commit or conspiring to commit the covert offense would be eligible for the death penalty. The provisions of this bill create a death penalty liability tantamount to a Federal felony murder rule. and it presents constitutional issues as well as questions of the appropriateness of the death penalty in certain cases. The provisions of this bill will be duplicative of state jurisdiction laws in many instances and actually conflicting with others. One such conflict would be where a State has chosen not to authorize capital punishment and the Federal Government pursues the death penalty against that States wishes. Another concern we always have to consider is expansion of the death penalty when we know that there is a frequent error rate in applying the death penalty. One study showed that 68 percent of the death penalty decisions by the trial court were eventually overturned. Mr. Chairman. there is another conflict or difficulty that will arise in the efforts to further international copperation in pursuing suspected terrorists. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3257,"word_count":242}
{"speech_id":1090060004,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I can tell you of the shortfallings that we have in our protection against terrorism.","speaker_name":"ZOE LOFGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1828,"word_count":15}
{"speech_id":1090060016,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It obviously covers terrorism. but we do not know what else it covers. People who get caught up in this are looking at 20year sentences. Moneylaundering statutes are already very broadly written. and this just broadens it even further. I would hope we would defeat the amendment so we could have some time to make sure it could be limited to terrorism financing and just not every violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and other kinds of moneylaundering statutes. We also have had not an opportunity to hear from people that may be involved in this. organizations helping immigrant populations. banks or other agencies that may have an interest in this who we just have not had time to hear from to know what their reaction would be. So I would hope that we would defeat the amendment so we could have more time to consider it. Mr. Chairman. I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. ZoE","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1926,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090060021,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"LOFGRENof California. Mr. Chairman. here is my question. Section 208 of the Social Security Act apparently states it is illegal to use a false Social Security number for activities to obtain employment. If I am a 14yearold kid and I go out and make up a Social Security number so I can get a job and pretend I am 18. and I get money for it. have I violated section 208? And if so. if I deal with a bank. is the bank falling afoul of this terrorism statute?","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":456,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090060052,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As provided in my amendment. it will no longer be necessary for our overworked DEA and other law enforcement agencies abroad to be looking for a U.S. nexus to illicit drug shipments and drug traffickers who are engaging in this deadly trade which supports global terrorism. Mr. Chairman. I urge adoption of my amendment which will give the tools to our law enforcement personnel in their ongoing global fight against terrorism. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"HENRY HYDE","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1953,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090060057,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We need to stay up with how the terrorists are working. As they start to interconnect. we need laws that can address this. and I commend the chairman from the Committee on International Relations with trying to address this rapidly growing threat in all regions of the world. I urge this Congress to send a strong message that this needs to be part of the PATRIOT Act as we look at the international efforts and the international connection in the funding of terrorism.","speaker_name":"MARK SOUDER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2603,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090060060,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Hyde amendment simply creates a new Federal crime for the trafficking of controlled substances which are intended to benefit a foreign terrorist organization or any other terrorist organization and imposes a stiff mandatory minimum penalty of 20 years. It is a serious crime and one that needs to be stopped. and this amendment would do the job. I would say that those who have some question abot mandatory minimum penalties. -this is hardly the place to object to them. This is really seriously two crimes: the one of drug trafficking connected with terrorism. It seems to me this would be precisely the place we would support mandatory minimum penalties. I think we should be thanking the gentleman from Illinois for bringing this to our attention. Let us remember that since most of the Afghan heroin goes to Europe and not here to the United States. our Justice Department and hardpressed DEA are very limited in going after the drug dealers and drug lords who facilitate terrorism directed at our troops. They need some nexus to the drugs coming to the USA. Please join me in supporting the Hyde amendment. It makes sense. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL LUNGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2294,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090060093,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I support the amendment. No American should be investigated solely for membership in a nonviolent political organization or for engaging in other lawful political activity. This is important to all of us. but I wanted to note that in California we recently learned of the danger of not living up to the standard. It has been reported by several media sources that the California National Guard was spying on the Mothers of Dead Soldiers and a group called the Raging Grannies. who are average age 75 years old. who were having a peaceful demonstration on the grounds of the State Capital on Mothers Day. I requested hearihgs in the Committee on Homeland Security. I have written to the California National Guard regarding this very serious allegation of a breach of first amendment protected activity. Federal funds may have been used. ","speaker_name":"ZOE LOFGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1148,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090060111,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentlemen for their support. I thank them for accepting it. This is a very important amendment. I thank the chairman for his wisdom and for his comments. I am glad we were able to use this as a vehicle to get the job done. ","speaker_name":"NITA LOWEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":356,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090060170,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Also. there is a huge court case pending between a company called ESS. which is another company that has v6ting machines. and Diebold Corporation. That is in the courts. Our Secretary of State is saying. oh. you have to pick these machines. you have to pick the Diebold machines. they are the only machines that we have certified without giving other machines an equal chance. What is interesting about this is that Ohio has received $136.552.794 over the last 2 years to purchase these machines. so there is Federal taxpayer dollars involved. and another $44.616.967 for training of election officials. None of those training \u0095dollars* have been spent. but $136 million has gone out for hardware in a very narrow process where one company has been so very advantaged. So I just wanted to draw peoples attention to what is going on in the State of Ohio. to the ongoing court case. to the false deadlines set by our Secretary of State. now by the investigation that has been requested by our very highranking senators of the U.S. Attorney in Ohio. and I commend listeners to the toledoblade.com Web site to the developing political scandal in the State of Ohio. [From the Blade Columbus Bureau. July 19. 2005]","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4591,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090060194,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And the day that was addressed by the gentleman from Washington was a day that had all Democrat witnesses. It was a hearing that was requested by them. They all signed a document demanding the hearing. Some of them that signed the letter did not show up. but we did. and we listened to the testimony all day long. The chairman followed the rules and when the hearing was over. the gavel came down. The committee hearing was adjourned and the microphones were shut off and the lights were shut off. And I can tell you the gavel has come down on me. My microphone had been shut off. The lights have been shut off while I am standing there talking in the room. We follow the rules for Republicans and Democrats alike. ","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3738,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090060198,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I certainly am. I want to move along in this discussion and celebrate this accomplishment here today and look forward to a future where we have more confidence in our security and safety and the ability to ferret out these terrorists before they hit us. That is the key to the PATRIOT Act. Not to just put resources in place to clean up the disaster. but preempting the disaster and being there to cuts it off before it happens. One of the people. Mr. Speaker. who has worked with some of the disasters.. worked with health care and the safety of the people. and a gentleman who also handled the PATRIOT Act with regard to the Committee on Rules. a professional absolutely in his own right. the gentleman from Georgia","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":717,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090060201,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Iowa. He has done such a wonderful job on the Committee on the Judiciary. I had the opportunity to serve with him on that committee last Congress. and I appreciate his wisdom. his expertise. and just his common sense way of approaching legislation. So often he will say that he was out on his tractor thinking about this. that. or the other. and let me tell you what I think. I think there are many of my constituents in Tennessee that certainly relate to how he goes about that thinking process. and we appreciate that. Mr. Speaker. we did pass the PATRIOT Act today and reauthorize that. We did this with bipartisan support. ","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4263,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090060209,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I think it is interesting here when we look at this to note: Since the attacks of 9\/11. the number of individuals arrested by the Department of Justice as a result of international terrorism investigations. 395. That is 395 that there was probable cause to believe were trying to do us harm. trying to destroy our way of life. and some of those have been very recent. And the PATRIOT Act. as the gentleman has said. wow. what a help to find these people before they kill fine innocent Americans. The number of those individuals convicted. we are not talking about indicted and we are not talking about probable cause. We are talking about beyond a reasonable doubt. Two hundred and twelve of them have already been convicted. And the former judges here with us. they know that probably some of those that were convicted were because some of the others that were arrested and charged turned evidence and helped them out on those convictions. . So it is doing its job. ","speaker_name":"LOUIE GOHMERT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1643,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090060278,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. about half the people caught crossing our borders illegally are from some other country than Mexico. They come from places like Colombia. Nicaragua. Brazil. Egypt. Poland. the Philippines. China. Syria. Russia and even France. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1131,"word_count":36}
{"speech_id":1090060283,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. for the purpose of debate only. I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts . pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution. all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. Mr. Speaker. House Resolution 370 is a structured rule that provides 1 hour of general debate equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on Science. It waives all points of order against consideration of the bill. Further. this resolution provides that the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the Committee on Science now printed in the bill shall be considered as an original bill for the purpose of amendment. waives all points of order against the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute. makes in order only those amendments printed in the Rules Committee report accompanying the resolution. It provides that the amendments printed in the report may be considered only in the order printed in the report. may be offered only by a Member designated in the report. shall be considered as read. shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent. shall not be subject to amendment. shall not be subject to a demand for a division of the question in the House or in the Committee of Whole. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2122,"word_count":239}
{"speech_id":1090060302,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Colorado . the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics. and I thank him not only for his work on the bill in general but specifically in the aeronautics area. where he was a real leader.","speaker_name":"BARTON GORDON","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":278,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090060308,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. this is an important outstanding issue that does need to be resolved. and it is my intention to address it in the final version of the bill. As Members know. H.R. 3070 as originally introduced mandates that prize contestants keep their intellectual property. although NASA may negotiate a license. The gentlemans substitute would require that prize contestants choose one of two alternatives: Either agree to give NASA a royaltyfree license in order to accept the prize or waive the prize in exchange for the right to negotiate a royalty agreement with NASA. We have offered meritorious but quite different approaches. and we will have to figure out how to handle it in the final bill. I look forward to working with the gentleman on that.","speaker_name":"SHERWOOD BOEHLERT","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":753,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090060311,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for his kind words. and for the hdrd work he and the group have put in. Mr. Chairman. as we wait to launch Discovery on another vital mission to the International Space Station. Congress is moving forward with legislation that celebrates and supports the Space Shuttle fleet. as well as putting our country on a new vision for space exploration. When President Bush. announced the new vision for space in January 2004. I. was really excited to see that NASA had a new direction and a new focus for the future. Our ventures into space not only keep our country at the forefront of exploration and innovation. but they are also vital to our economy and very vital to our national security. This new vision sets America on a course toward the Moon and toward Mars. and we *should embrace this dream and work to make it a reality. ","speaker_name":"RALPH HALL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1330,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090060313,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I would like to share my thanks to the gentleman from New York and the gentleman from California and the ranking members. the gentleman from Tennessee and the gentleman from Colorado . and their staff for all of the work they have done in producing a bill that we all can support. I think Members sometimes Wish they could say that they sit on a committee that is working well and being productive. and I am one such Member that can say that. Our chairman. the chairman of the subcommittee. and our ranking members have pu t together a very. very good bill that all of us can be very proud of. It focuses not only on NASA. but also on the productivity of this country. I was concerned. however. along with many other members of the committee. that a singular focus on manned space exploration was going to drain resources from other parts of NASAs mission. Outstanding scientific work. such as that being done- at NASAs Ames Research Center. in fields such as astrobiology. the life sciences. and nanotechnology. was losing out in a battle for resources with shortterm acquisitions for exploration systems. In addition. air traffic management and other important aviation and aeronautic programs were being given the short shrift. I am pleased that the bill enables us to move forward in exploration. science and aviation which are critical not only to manned space exploration but also to other NASA priorities. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL HONDA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3031,"word_count":245}
{"speech_id":1090060318,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They are brave men and women and families. who every day rally around their astronauts and allow them to do tiings that others of us simply dream to do. This legislation captures that spirit. but it also is a commonsense initiative. For example. I am gratified. as the gentleman from Colorado expressed. through his leadership we have firewalls between science and human space flight so that we do have the dollars necessary to set aside for science. building up our very poor resources and engineers and physicists and chemists and biologists and at the same time we have this commitment to human space flight. For example. we are able to give a longterm commitment to this project. Funding for fiscal year 2006 Is about $6.5 billion. which is approximately $15 million more than the Presidents request. We go on to authorize it in the years to come to give us a sense of consistency. which I think is extremely important. Might I for a moment say that I will be supporting the managers amendment. and I appreciate what the gentleman from New York (Chairman BOEHLERT) had to do on the International Space Station. however. I want the space station to be able to house six persons and disappointed if Dr. Griffin will pull back on that. but I am gratified that this amendment. the managers amendment. asks for proof as to why that cannot be done. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9392,"word_count":236}
{"speech_id":1090060320,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. first of all. I would like to thank the gentleman from New York. the chairman of the Committee on Science. for yielding me this time. But I would also like to thank him for his initiative. for his leadership. and for his enthusiasm whenever it comes to space issues. Mr. Chairman. I strongly support the NASA authorization bill. as do most Americans. A recent Gallup survey shows that almost 80 percent of the American people support space exploration. As the country gathers to witness NASAs return to flight in the launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery. a new generation of young people will be inspired and older generations will honor the pioneers of the Apollo program. The launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery is historic. ","speaker_name":"LAMAR SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1759,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090060323,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Just let me say .to the gentleman from Illinois how much we value his many contributions to the committee and how much we look forward to a continuing productive working relationship. Mr. Chairman. I yield such time as she may consume to the distinguished gentlewoman from Virginia (Mrs. Jo","speaker_name":"SHERWOOD BOEHLERT","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":290,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090060324,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. . am deeply concerned that NASAs diminishing iivestment in aeronautics research and development will. in time. jeopardize the health of our aerospace industry as well as jeopardize the ability of the Pentagon to develop and field aircraft to defend our homeland and to carry troops and materiel to distant battles. NASAs investment in aeronautics research and development has shrunk by half since 1998 and the agencys proposed 5:year budget continues this downward trend. This has got to stop. Over the decades. NASA researchers and engineers have made incalculable contributions to aviation safety. efficiency. and noise and emission reductions. The current challenges facing the aerospace industry are no less daunting as we seek to transform the Nations commercial aviation system. avoid aviation gridlock. and to continue to sustain Americas preeminence in the worlds aerospace marketplace. Is it the gentleman from New Yorks intention to work for a stronger aeronautics research and development program?","speaker_name":"JO ANN DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1022,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090060345,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I applaud the call for a manned servicing mission to repair Hubble and extend its life so that future generations will be able to further understand and explore distant galaxies and the mysteries of space. I look forward to working with my colleagues to make sure that a new servicing mission is adequately funded and supported. The bill also renews focus on the significance and future of science research. While Mars\/Moon exploration also continues to be a major focus of the work at NASA. we must not lose.sight of the needs and promise of a core area of future inquiry such as science. This bill finds the right balance. Not only does the bill provide increase funding for NASA science programs. but it also directs NASA to develop a comprehensive science policy through 2016. complete with proposed missions. priorities. budget. and staff to bring muchneeded focus back onto science research. This will go a long way in bringing new focus to science in the 21st Century. Finally. the bill provides funding and brings attention to such important areas as aeronautics. education. and space operations and exploration activities that will help our nation further understand and explore distant galaxies and develop breakthrough technologies important to our health and security.. This is a big step forward in our efforts to maintain innovation and ingenuity at NASA and in space and technology industries in the years ahead. Working together. ","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2910,"word_count":236}
{"speech_id":1090060355,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise to support my amendment. which I am offering along with my partners in this endeavor. the gentleman from California (Chairman CALVERT). the gentleman from Tennessee . and the gentleman from Colorado . This amendment makes many technical and clarifying changes to the bill. some of them sought by NASA. It includes specific language sought by a number of Members. including the gentleman from Florida and the gentlewoman from Illinois . the gentleman from California . and the gentleman from California . Most importantly. this amendment fully funds the Presidents request for exploration for fiscal years 2006 and 2007. not by cutting other programs. but by adding to the bottom line of the bill. I want to thank the administration and key members of our committee. including the gentleman from Texas and the gentleman from Texas and the gentleman from Florida for working with us on this amendment. The amendment also specifically recognizes our hope for return to flight. It gives NASA flexibility on the crew size for the space station and clarifies provisions relating to cost reporting on major programs. and raises the threshold for a major program to those with a lifecycle cost of at least $150 million. The amendment. like the underlying bill. represents a bipartisan effort. and it has the full support of the administration. ","speaker_name":"SHERWOOD BOEHLERT","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1425,"word_count":222}
{"speech_id":1090060362,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chair- my thirteenth year on this committee. man. I thank the gentleman for yield- and I am never bored. We know we need ing me this time. and I rise in support to encourage more young .people. of this managers amendment. Americanborn. because most of our reI concur with the comments of the searchers are not. to go into the field gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. GOR- of research so that we can. as a Nation. DON)- and believe he has accurately continue to lead the world. summarized the strengths of the man- Mr. BOEHLERT. Mr. Chairman. it is agers amendment. my pleasure to yield such time as he I have to tell my colleagues I am par- may consume to the gentleman from ticularly heartened that the amend- Texas . the distinguished ment adds additional provisions in- majority leader. tended to improve participation by His- \u0095 Mr. ","speaker_name":"MARK UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3022,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090060370,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They issue more patents per employee than their large business counterparts. One would assume that this innovation would shine through in agencies that rely on scientific knowledge andexpertise. However. this has not been the case. NASA is an agency that relies heavily on scientific expertise while. at the same time. they control a large segment of the Federal marketplace. They are consistently ranked third out of all Federal agencies in terms of procurement volume. buying more than the Department of Health and Human Services. the Department of Agriculture. and the Department of Interior combined. Clearly. NASA has the capability to meet their small business goals. however. they do need some assistance and we have no way to evaluate whether or not their efforts in increasing small business contracts are truly yielding results. This agency has an arrayof op tions when it comes to identifying small companies. whether they work with them individually. host national conferences. or connect with the SBA to identify contracting possibilities. But whatever they are doing is not yielding an increase in small business contracts. My. amendment would guarantee that these outreach methods are examined so that we can pinpoint the best way for NASA. to reach out to small firms. ","speaker_name":"NYDIA VELAZQUEZ","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3113,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090060396,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the chairman for working with me and hoping that we can work through. conference to build these numbers up. I thank the gentleman for that. Mr. Chairman. I ask unanimous consent that my amendment be withdrawn to further work in conference.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1217,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090060412,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Reclaiming my time. there are some real problems with the drafting of this amendment because I am reading specifically language from the amendment. \"Development of physical facilities and infrastructure to be provided to NASA prime contractors.\" Maybe then the gentlewoman should withdraw the amendment and make sure we are understanding fully the clear intent of it so that we can work on it in a constructive manner in conference. But with that let me continue my statement because I have made a clear offer. The Federal Government has pretty much gotten out of the business of funding the construction of campus buildings because we simply do not have the money. and funding research and equipment is.a better use of Federal funds. But funding construction in this manner where the final user of the building would be private industry makes the notion even more questionable. And the language of the amendment. quite honestly. is so vague that it is not clear how anyone would benefit from this unusual financial handout. That is not the way we should be handling the taxpayers money. Let me once again offer to the gentlewoman in the spirit that this committee always operates. we will be glad to work with her on clearly defining the language and the intent so that as we go to conference committee. then perhaps we can come to some area of agreement. But as it now stands. I strofigly oppose it.","speaker_name":"SHERWOOD BOEHLERT","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1401,"word_count":240}
{"speech_id":1090060435,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from Texas . From the Columbia Accident Investigation Boards report. it is clear that one of the underlying causes of the Columbia tragedy was a brolien safety culture at NASA-. While I understand that many of these cultural issues are being addressed. we need to ensure that NASA employees are in an environment where they can feel comfortable airing their safety concerns. This is a constructive amendment. that is a positive step towards fixing NASAs safety culture and ensuring the safety of the brave men and women in our space program. I am sure our chairman shares our concerns for the safety of our astronauts. and I hope we can work together to include this in the final version of the bill.","speaker_name":"BARTON GORDON","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":776,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090060476,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I appreciate the gentleman yielding. It is possible it could be added to the calendar. but looking at hdw busy a week we have next week and the controversial issues that we will be bringing to the floor of the House. it is hard to say if we Could put that bill on the floor next week. . H6368","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":292,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090060477,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Because there is so much interest in that bill on our side. Mr. Leader. would it be fair to say that that decision would be made prior to the close of business on Monday so that we would have some notice of that in time to fairly consider it? I yield to my friend.","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":264,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090060479,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. we would appreciate that. The other bills that I would like to talk about. the highway bill conference report the gentleman indicated as a possibility. can the gentleman inform us of the status of that conference and where we are on this bill? I yield to my friend.","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":298,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090060481,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. I presume. am I correct. that the gentlemans effort would be to try to pass it prior to the expiration of the last temporary extension. or would the gentleman anticipate another. which I guess would be the tenth or the eleventh extension. or does the gentleman think he can perhaps get it through prior to Wednesday night? I yield to my friend.","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":377,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090060482,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the gentleman yielding. Everyone is working as hard as they can. As the gentleman knows. this bill has taken a long time to work out the differences between the House and the Senate. We get very close every time we reach the deadline of an expiration date. The expiration date is set on Wednesday. Everybody is going to be working over the weekend. and we are working as hard as we can with the goal to bring that conference report to the floor before the expiration of the shortterm funding measure.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":526,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090060486,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the gentleman yielding. We have not made any decisions yet. but obviously the gentleman knows and Members understand that the appropriations process did end with us passing our bills before the July 4 break. The Senate is working on appropriations bills. and we will be doing those conferences as they present themselves. Also. we do know that at least the first week back. we could be looking at the Coast Guard authorization bill and possibly a research bill from the Committee on Science. That is the first week back. Other bills will be considered during the August district work period. and we will be able to make a more firm announcement to the Members as to what we anticipate having the first week back and. in addition to that. the second week also.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":785,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090060494,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on International Relations be discharged from further consideration of the concurrent resolution expressing the sense of Congress that the Government of the Russian Federation should issue a clear and unambiguous statement of admission and condemnation of the illegal ocdupation and annexation by the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1991 of the Baltic countries of Estonia. Latvia. and Lithuania. and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.","speaker_name":"THADDEUS MCCOTTER","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":500,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090060514,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And the industry is not resting on its laurels. Research continues into ethanol production from feed stock such as rice straw. corn stover. and sugar cane waste. These should even further reduce fossil energy use and improve net energy balance. According to the U.S. Department of Energy. ethanol produced from these sources generates 13.2 BTUs of energy for every BTU of fossil energy consumed. Finally. I will share with my colleagues an important point that was raised yesterday in an Agriculture Committee hearing on renewable fuels. Calculating and arguing over the net energy balance of ethanol. petroleum and any other energy source is not even the most relevant inquiry. From an economic standpoint. the pertinent question really should be. what does it cost to put a gallon of fuel in my gas tank when and where I want to? Based on that inquiry. ethanol is clearly winning that contest today. Today in Sioux Falls. ","speaker_name":"STEPHANIE HERSETH SANDLIN","chamber":"H","state":"SD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3130,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090060527,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Guatemala. Nicaragua and Honduras had the region in turmoil. Stability. let alone democracy. seemed absolutely unattainable. Today the region is just as important. Mr. Speaker. to our national interests. But rather than a threat. Central America is an ally and a partner in trade. counter terrorism. drug interdiction. and migration control. Our Central American friends play a vital role in the security and wellbeing of the United States of America. Again. for those who remember the struggle of the 1980s. this transformation is no less astounding than the one taking place at this very moment in Iraq. ","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12316,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090060537,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. changing direction here a little bit. I say to Dr. Church. and others. Iwant to take up where we left off last night. I have thought about what status we are in here today. It is so disheartening to me. We took up this bill. this very important Defense authorization bill. Wednesday. very late in the day. Statements were given by the two managers. We came to do our work yesterday. and we worked hard. and we were suddenly struck with the suggestionwe thought it was just some of the rumors that happen around here in the Senate that could not be Valid. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9777,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090060551,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I commend my friend from Virginia for his temperament. his ability to withhold any suggestion of personal comment. He is to be commended: He is literally a role model for that. The Senator from Virginia is correct. He showed great care for the Members of this body yesterday. gave great consideration to the Members. and I commend him for that.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":344,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090060556,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"National Guard. let it be brought forth independently. It should not be a predicate or a basis for making a major decision as to whether to go forward on this important research program and study. So I say to my colleagues. if there is a problem with -the D.C. National Guard. bring it to the attention of the managers. We will be on this bill for a few days. We have time. We will take a look at it. I am mindful of what occurred here last night and what occurred here again this morning about how we are just grinding our wheels and not being productive. This same identical amendment was rejected by the Senate 3 weeks ago in a vote. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5611,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090060571,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Reserving the right to object. I would like to amend it to enable the distinguished Senator from Alabama. whose subcommittee has jurisdiction over at least one of the amendments of Senator ALLARD. be permitted to use such time as he desires in the colloquy between the three Senators.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":284,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090060593,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. I appreciate the fine work of the Senator from Alabama. a good friend of mine. There are a couple points I would like to make. The workers at Rocky Flats were paid by Federal dollars. They were not technically employed by the Federal Government. Their benefits were paid by the Federal Government. There is a commitment there. in my view. This amendment tries to correct any legal problems we may have there. Again. I appreciate the concern and interest the chairman of the Subcommittee on Strategic Affairs has toward this issue. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":650,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090060605,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Indeed. the contract for the cleanup of Rocky Flats had called for that contract to be completed at the end of this year. 2005. But because of the good work of the men and women at Rocky Flats. that schedule has been expedited. Indeed. when one looks back at the history of Rocky Flats over the last several years. there was a time when it was thought Rocky Flats would not be cleaned up and ready for closure until 2010. Later it was 2007. and moved back to 2006. Yet employees working with CH2M HILL at Rocky Flats have brought the conclusion of Rocky Flats to probably October of this year. which is only a few months away. For the employees who worked at Rocky Flats during this timeframe. they had an expectation that the contract would be in place through the end of December 31. 2005. The amendment which has been authored by Senator ALLARD and by myself and offered to our colleagues to consider simply recognizes the contribution of these employees so they are. in fact. made whole. Withi all due respect to my friend from Alabama. I have to say these employees were Federal employees and were brought in to continue the work that had to be done there at Rocky Flats with respect to the cleanup. The amount of money we are asking for in this amendment is a small amount relative to the billions and billions of dollars that have been spent in the Department of Energy complex and cleanups that have not been as successful as the one at Rocky Flats. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3178,"word_count":267}
{"speech_id":1090060614,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my distinguished colleague. and I assure him. in consultation with the chairman and indeed the ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. his amendment will be given every careful consideration. Mr. President. at this time I know there is another Senator.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":288,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090060657,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. if my distinguished ranking member is prepared. we are about to send a series of amendments to the desk which have been cleared on both sides. Therefore. I ask unanimous. consent that the Senate consider those amendments en bloc. the amendments be agreed to. and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table. Finally. I ask that any statements relating to any of these individual amendments be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":435,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090060666,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I wonder if I could inquire. while we are waiting. I will also withhold an amendment which is ready to go which I dont know if it has been cleared or not on the time and material contract abuses. I will withhold that until Monday. If we have a moment. if we could ask a parliamentary inquiry. how many amendments now have been laid aside and are pending for either vote by rollcall or voice vote or acceptance?","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":410,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090060689,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. as chairman of the Health. Eduation. Labor. and Pensions Committee. I would like to take the opportunity to comment on a very important piece of legislation the Senate passed this weeka managers substitute for S. 544. the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005. offered by myself. Senators","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":316,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090060692,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. last week. Senator LIEBERMAN and I offered. and the Senate adopted. Amendment #1142 to H.R. 2360. the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act. The amendment. which seeks to improve the process for providing homeland security grants to State and local governments. is nearly identical to S. 21. the Homeland Security Grant Enhancement Act of 2005. a bill which was reported out of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. S. 21 was placed on the Senates legislative calendar on May 4. 2005. and a detailed and cbmprehensive report from the Committee. Senate Report 10971. accompanied S. 21 at that time. Because of the near identity of S. 21 and the amendment. this report pertains to Amendment #1142 as well.","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":754,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090060699,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This month alone. two New England vessels have sank. during a time of year that is generally not as hazardous for the industry. On the evening of July 13. the Sirius sank 25 miles south of Matinicus Island. Maine. Sadly. the captain of the Sirius was lost. Fortunately. the two remaining crew members were rescued by fellow fishermen. Just four. short days later. another fishing vessel. Princess. sank off of Chatham. Massachusetts. Fortunately. the entire crew of this vessel was rescued. due in no small part to their safety equipment. Coast Guard regulations require all fishing vessels to carry safety equipment. ","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5225,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090060750,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today again to remind my colleagues of the importance of passing a Medical Liability Reform bill on the floor of the House this week. I would like to submit for the record and read a brief section of a news story from my district. These type of stories have become common in the media in my area over the past few years. I quote. \"One doctor who has been treating patients in Bethalto for more than 20 years is moving his practice to another state.\" \"The rate increases are forcing some doctors in Madison County to take their practices elsewhere. That is the case for Dr. Charles Sammis. who took over his fathers practice 20 years ago. \"It would be so nice if I could stay here. but the way it is it is impossible.\" Dr. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SHIMKUS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1547,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090060760,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it has been said that a quitter never wins and a winner never quits. Seventime winner of the Tour De France. Lance Armstrong. embodies these words. Raised in Plano. Texas. Lance Armstrong has become a household name synonymous with sacrifice. victory. and courage. Most agree Lances biggest victory was defeating cancer. Lance has spread his message that \"you too can help fight the disease and beat it.\" Many now where his yellow Livestrong bracelets. with countless dollars pouring into cancer research to help find a cure. He truly is a hero of hope. ","speaker_name":"SAM JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":804,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090060766,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 59) expressing the sense of Congress with respect to the establishment of an appropriate day for the commemoration of the women suffragists who fought for and won the right of women to vote in the United States. as amended.","speaker_name":"DARRELL ISSA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":49.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":305,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090060781,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from California for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker. I rise today to urge my colleagues to support House Concurrent Resolution 181. which supports the goals and ideals of National Life Insurance Awareness Month. September of I want to thank my friend and colleague. the gentleman from Pennsylvania . the Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets. Insurance. and Government Sponsored Enterprises. and a member of the Financial and Economic Literacy Caucus. for introducing this resolution with me for a second year. and for his support on this issue. I also want to thank the gentleman from Virginia for expeditiously moving this resolution through the Committee on Government Reform. In addition. ","speaker_name":"JUDY BIGGERT","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2483,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090060793,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. as someone who grew up. went to school. and still have strong family ties in the State of Arkansas. it is with great pride that I stand to celebrate and honor the life of a man who epitomizes the American dream: President William Jefferson Clinton. Born in the tiny town of Hope. Arkansas. on August- 19. 1946. President Clinton demonstrated from an early age the determination and vision that would ultimately take him to the White House and enable him to lead our country to a period of economic prosperity that has been unrivaled in American history. As a man who always fought for those who could not always fight for themselves. Bill Clinton spurned private practice after graduating from Yale Law School and began a career in public service. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3500,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090060798,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 289) supporting the goals and ideals of National Health Center Week in order to raise awareness of health services provided by community. migrant. public housing. and homeless health centers. and for other purposes. as amended.","speaker_name":"DARRELL ISSA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":49.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":305,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090060836,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Over the years. Pickens has generously invested in his alma mater. Oklahoma State University. supported a wide range of medical research initiatives. and several other scientific and social causes. Boone Pickens has contributed his time. energy. and resources to make America a better place to live and work. and for thesereasons. I support S. 775 today. and I ask my colleagues to support the bill. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time:","speaker_name":"DARRELL ISSA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":49.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1274,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090060845,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"TOWNS. as well as the Honorable Senators CHARLES SCHUMER and HILLARY CLINTON for introducing and championing this legislation into the 109th Congress. We send an important message to the Nation by paying honor to this extraordinary individual. We send the message that regardless of your race. your background. and your gender. you can be respected in this country for your determination. commitment. dedication. and hard work to justice and equality. This is a powerful message to send today to our young people in particular. Dl 1515","speaker_name":"CHARLES RANGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2496,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090060854,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker. in closing. I. too. want to join in thanking the gentleman from New York for bringing this important bill to our attention. and I urge its passage. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"DARRELL ISSA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":49.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":262,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090060877,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Marina operators and owners realize that the success of their industry relies in part on the health and beauty of their surroundings. In addition. marina owners are working closely with the United States Coast Guard to step up vigilance at their facilities to improve security on U.S. waterways. These efforts include looking out for aggressive activities. attempts to gain access to vessels without proper identification. fixtures attached to structures. unusual diving operations. and vehicles and vessels in unusual locations. Marina owners are on the water every day and when something appears unusual they are able to alert the Coast Guard. Boating is an important pastime as well as a major business activity in my congressional district. From inside Puget Sound to the Pacific coast of Washington State and the Straits of Juan de Fuca. marinas provide access for recreational sailors and motorpowered cruising boats in addition to home ports for charter boats and commercial fishermen. Mr. Speaker. it is fitting for the U.S. House of Representatives to -recognize the ongoing contribution of marina operators to our economy. our security. our environment and most of all. for providing us with a way of enjoying a day on the water. I urge adoption of the resolution.","speaker_name":"NORMAN DICKS","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2142,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090060888,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. I include for the RECORD a letter that I sent earlier this week to the Chair of i he FTC signed by more than 75 Members of Congress. the cover letter signed by the gentleman from Michigan . the gentleman from Texas . the gentleman from Massachusetts and myself. asking that the FTC take every action that they can if. in fact. the material shows that it was wrong in terms of getting the \"M\" rating.","speaker_name":"FRED UPTON","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3073,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090060889,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I -would also like to enter for the RECORD two editorials. one from the Minneapolis Star Tribune and one from the New York Times. calling on action because of this game. [From the Minneapolis Star Tribune. July 25. 2005]","speaker_name":"BETTY MCCOLLUM","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"F","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2884,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090060891,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H. Res. 376. to ask the FTC to look into the misrating of the \"Grand Theft Auto\" video game. I have been working on this issue for the last five years. since 2000. and have been working also with Representative WOLF and others to ensure that members and the public understand the importance of this issue to our children. Its good to know that other members are becoming aware of the problem and together we can work in a bipartisan effort and make a difference. Through our hard work. and that of those who are with us. the ESRB. the Voluntary Industry Rating Board. has now changed the rating of \"Grand Theft Auto\" from an M to an AO. That is not enough. because there are literally dozens of games out there that have the same type of offensive content. and the burden is now on the industry to explain why all of those games should not be rated AO. also. But we will not wait for the industry. We must take action now. ","speaker_name":"JOE BACA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":43.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4465,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090060930,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In fact. manufacturers and sellers of toy guns are more liable for their products than the makers and sellers of assault weapons and handguns. The NRA has named this issue as their number one legislative priority this year. They say this bill will end frivolous lawsuits. but not a single. not a single suit against the gun industry has ever been deemed frivolous by a court of law. This legislation is not about protecbing an honest gun dealer who legally sells a gun to someone who later commits a crime. This legislation protects cases of gross negligence which has led to the deaths of unsuspecting victims. For example. the owner of the Bulls Eye Shooter Supply Store in Washington State was sued because he could not account for 239 guns in his inventory. One of those guns was the Bushmaster used in the D.C. sniper killings. The D.C. sniper killers were allowed to get their hands on a gun because of a gun sellers negligence. But this legislation would get the Bulls Eye Shooter Supply Store off the hook from any legal action. Fortunately. a lawsuit was already filed against Bulls Eye and Bushmaster. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MCCARTHY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5341,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090060952,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"CAFTADR creates jobs. Today nearly 80 percent of the products from Central America and the Dominican Republic and 99 percent of the agricultural products already enter the United States duty free. Americas markets are already open. But Americans who wish to sell to Central America and the DR. on the other hand. face high tariffs. CAFTADR eliminates those foreign taxes. opening the regions markets to goods. services and farm products from the United States. U.S. investors have invested billions of dollars overseas. stimulating trade. U.S. investors must be treated fairly in foreign markets like Central America if the system is to work fairly. The passage of CAFTADR in my home State of Florida would have farreaching positive implications. Collectively the countries of CAFTADR are Floridas largest export destinations. Even individually CAFTADR markets are important trading partners for my home State of Florida. ","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4336,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090060962,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am here this evening to speak about the Federal Youth Coordination Act. This act was written in response to a report issued by the White House Task Force on Disadvantaged Youth in 2003. This task force report indicated that 25 percent of U.S. teens are at risk of not having productive lives. not growing up to be people who can hold a job. who are free of substance abuse. and are able to contribute to the society. The estimate is that roughly 10 million young people fall into this category. This is a very difficult time to be a young person. As almost anyone in our culture knows. we have drug and alcohol abuse. we are the most violent Nation in the world for young people in terms of homicide and suicide. and roughly onehalf of the young people growing up in our country today are going to be growing up without both biological parents. so they have undergone a significant amount of dysfunction at some point in their lives. In response. the Congress. being generous and compassionate. has devised 339 Federal. programs which serve youth and their families. There are 339 of these programs. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS OSBORNE","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4304,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090060964,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to take this opportunity to commend my colleague. the gentlewoman from California . for making tonight on the floor of this House her 100th statement concerning the war in Iraq. Over the course of the last 15 months. the gentlewoman from California has made a very substantial contribution to the debate concerning that tragic event in Iraq. the circumstances surrounding it. and also making recommendations as to what we might do in the future to correct the terrible mistakes and injustices that have been perpetrated against the Iraqi people and against our own country. I commend her for doing so. She and I were among those 143 Members of this House who voted against the resolution that was submitted by the Bush administration to authorize the war in Iraq. It has now come to my attention. and to. I think. many other Members of this House. that there are a growing number of people here. as well as around the country. that understand that this war was a deep and tragic mistake and that the rationale presented for it was based upon falsehoods. The statements which came from various people within the administration were completely false and misleading. Among those initially was the idea that Iraq had something to do with the attack on our country of September 11. 2001. ","speaker_name":"MAURICE HINCHEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4320,"word_count":224}
{"speech_id":1090060981,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"CAFTA will make this oneway road a twoway superhighway by giving our agriculture and industrial goods and services access to their markets. We will level the playing field by eliminating high tariffs. tariff rate quotas and nontariff barriers. My home State of Texas will be one of the top three -States to benefit by enacting this trade agreement. On the issue of new jobs. CAFTA countries. which include the Dominican Republic.. Costa Rica. El Salvador. Guatemala. Honduras and Nicaragua. are the United States largest market for domestic apparel and yarn exports and the second largest market for U.S. fabric exports. Trade with these countries exceeds trade with countries like Australia and Russia. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL MCCAUL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5459,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090060991,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Beautiful cattle country. Cheap sources of.power are available in that area because they have the ability to create geothermal electricity. They have a lot of potential in Central America. But when we talked - to those folks. they said. Look. it is all about CAFTA. The future of our country is all about CAFTA. Let us take Nicaragua. We had a whole bunch of trouble with the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. And as has been said before here. about 20 years ago we had a pretty good fight down there. And for a while the Sandinistas ran the country and ran it absolutely into the ground. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CARTER","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":31.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7083,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090060993,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Absolutely. Mr. Speaker. And if the gentleman will continue to yield. these are our neighbors. These are the people in the Americas. They are part of America. They are Central American. And they know the Chinese are breathing down their necks too. and they are very concerned about that. just as the gentleman pointed out. This is a win for the United States. It is a benefit to a neighbor that needs to be boosted up politically because when Chavez gets in there and spreads his money around. it could be disastrous. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CARTER","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":31.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1166,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090061002,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I notice. too. the gentleman serving on Ways and Means. all we hear about is NAFTA. but what the critics do not tell you is that there is one huge difference between the two agreements. ignoring for a minute that during NAFTA years Texas grew by 1.7 million jobs. Our economy grew by 75 percent. we doubled our sales to Mexico. ignore all of that. But the big difference is. Central America already sells most of its products in the United States today. they have for 20 years. If a company wanted to move away. they had 2 decades to do it. Now it is our turn to sell into Central America. Those are the ag sales and manufacturing sales and financial and insurance and telecommunications and chemicals from the Gulf Coast and forest products from east Texas. and ag from west Texas. and a number of products that we are looking for the new jobs and the new customers that this agreement provides us.","speaker_name":"KEVIN BRADY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":899,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090061003,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Again I thank the gentleman. You brought up the agreement of NAFTA. the North American Free Trade Agreement. with Canada and with Mexico. And again. it was so tongueincheek. it was so detrimental that we more than doubled our trade to both of these countries who are our major trading partners now. and we see our unemployment rate at one of the lowest levels in our Nations history. right at 5 percent. So if these trade agreements are so bad for our country. why are we seeing such incredibly dramatic positive results because of them?","speaker_name":"WALTER HERGER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":537,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090061009,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I learned that the mill where I worked filed bankruptcy and was shutting its doors. The mill was closed largely due to the pressure created by unfair trade agreements. years of poorly thoughtout trade deals that placed manufacturing industries at a huge disadvantage. And one would only have to look at the huge trade deficits that are continuing to grow ever since NAFTA went into effect. I know firsthand. as many Mainers do. that with these layoffs and closures. when these businesses go under because of unfair trade deals. so does the heart and souls of these communities. In Maine alone. since 1998 and to late 2004. the Federal Government had documented 11.724 workers who lost their job due to trade. Although the real undocumented number is much higher. it has been estimated that 24.000 Mainers have lost their jobs due to NAFTA alone. The number serves to demonstrate yet again what people in Maine already know through our own tough experience. The economy continues to struggle and our workers see fewer good prospects. Maine has lost 23 percent of our manufacturing base over the last 3 years alone. Now. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL MICHAUD","chamber":"H","state":"ME","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7767,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090061032,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"\"... boldly going where everyone else has already been.\" I think that young mans Tshirt sums up the ADA pretty well. The Americans with Disabilities Act does not grant people with disabilities any special status or position. To the contrary. it simply removes certain barriers that for too long had made it difficultif not impossiblefor people with disabilities to make the most of their Godgiven skills and abilities. and to participate fully in their communities and in the workplace. Before the ADA. if you needed a haircut. if you needed to see a doctor. if you just wanted to meet a friend for a cup of coffee. you probably had to rely on family. friends. or a social service agency. Very few transit systems in this country had buses or trains that were accessible to people using wheelchairs. Today. thanks to the ADA. that has changed. If you need go somewhere. you can go to a comer. catch a bus. and be on your way. Let me tell you another story about the difference the ADA has made. Ann Ford lives near my hometown. Spring-. field. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7012,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090061051,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. before my distinguished colleague leaves the floor. she had the courtesy. as she always does. to show mq the amendments. One of them relates to BRAC. The distinguished Senator from South Dakota offered a BRAC amendment the other night. I glanced at this one. It seems to be similar in form. but I have not had a chance to examine it. The purpose of my colloquy with the Senator would be to encourage Senators who are concerned about the important issues on BRAC to take note that we had an extensive colloquy between myself and the distinguished Senator from South Dakota. with the Senator from Michigan. the ranking member joining in. the other evening on the subject. I hope that other Senators who may be cosponsors or otherwise -interested in this issue will find the opportunity to examine the original amendment and this amendment and that we hopefully today can have a continuation of this important debate on the issues relating to BRAC which are of great concern to a number of colleagues.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1013,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090061063,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Because of recent developments. we have an opportunity to address the critical issue of loose nukes by transferring these funds. I would argue this is a most worthy cause. The offset will not affect the missile defense system at all. In fact. as we understand it. in the last several months the missile defense system has been reevaluating itself. looking at whether the technical issues are challenging. in fact. and have not conducted tests as they thought they could over the last several months. So I think now is the opportune time to put more resources in cooperative threat reduction. We are all aware. as I have mentioned before. that the greatest threat to us today is the possibility that terrorists will acquire nuclear weapons or nuclear material and use it with devastating effect against us. Of course. one country with enormous amounts of this nuclear material is Russia. It is estimated that Russia has approximately 16.000 nuclear weapons stored -at between 150 and 210 sites. While that is a significant reduction from the 40.000 weapons at the end of the Cold War. it is still a huge number of weapons and also a large number of storage sites. Indeed. there is some imprecision about where all the sites might be. ","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12233,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090061072,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President I express my gratitude to the distinguished chairman and other members of the Senate Committee on Armed Services for the work they do. The chairman has worked long and hard to try to bring this bill to the Senate floor and do things in the best interest of our country. and others have worked with him. I appreciate that.","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":335,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090061073,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The result is a truly remarkable aircraft. The F\/A22 has greater stealth capabilities than the F117 Nighthawk. This is a powerful attribute when one remembers that it was the Nighthawks stealth characteristics that enabled that aircraft to penetrate the integrated air defenses of Baghdad during the first night of the 1991 gulf war. The Raptor is also equipped with supercruise engines. These engines do not need to go to afterburner in order to achieve supersonic flight. This provides the F\/A22 with a strategic advantage by enabling supersonic speeds to be maintained for a far greater length of time. By comparison. all other fighters require their engines and these are foreign fighters. as wellto go to afterburner to achieve supersonic speeds. This consumes a tremendous amount of fuel and greatly limits an aircrafts range. The F\/A22 is also the most maneuverable fighter flying today. This is of particular importance when encountering newer Russianmade aircraft. which boast a highly impressive maneuver capability. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9001,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090061090,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The old Paladin technology is World War II technology. That is something we are going to correct with our future combat system. But I commend the Senator from Utah for his comments about the F\/A22. When we get the joint strike fighter and the F\/A22. we will be back in a position where we will be sending our young people out there with the best of equipment. We need to get there as rapidly as possible. I also want to make a comment about the depot funding plan amendment that is offered by Senator HATCH. It supports the important and vital work being performed by our aircraft depot facilities. Since the Bush administration came into office. we have seen a renewed interest in the Air Forces depots. To kind of fill us in where we are right now with that. I can remember when the last Secretary of the Air Force came in. his first trip was to Tinker Air Force Base to see how creative they were. to kind of personally exam-. ine the kind of work they were doing. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5965,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090061091,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I have two amendments I have already filed. The second amendment is going to require a new number. The two I am going to be discussing are the ICRC amendment. I have several cosponsors of the amendment. including Senator KYL. I ask unanimous consent that Senator ENzI be added as a cosponsor to amendment No. 1313.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":329,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090061132,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. my colleague has sought to have the yeas and nays on his amendment. Let me do the same. I have two amendments pending. Should there be cloture invoked on this underlying bill. as my colleague from Oklahoma has suggested. I would like my amendments to be considered prior to cloture. I have an amendment No. 1429. which is offered. I ask for the yeas and nays on both of my amendments. Then I will speak on the amendments ever so briefly. I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be set aside.","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":517,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090061146,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. some of my colleagues have said they would like a vote on their amendments prior to cloture. My hope is that we will not have a cloture vote. by the way. I think the best Defense authorization bills that we have had in the Congress have been those that have been debated on the Senate floor for a week or two Where we have had a substantial opportunity to think through and debate significant and difficult issues. So I would hope we will not have a cloture vote tomorrow. If in fact we do. I will join my colleague from Oklahoma and others who suggest that I would like a. vote prior to cloture because his amendments and mine would fall postcloture. That is one of the dilemmas of cloture. Clearly. my amendment deals with something that is very important. that attends to the money we are spending on defense and the money we are going to authorize to be spent on defense. but because of the way it is written and the subject. it will fall postcloture. For that reason. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1144,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090061149,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the chairman for yielding me- 10 minutes. There are three amendments that I have offered and I would like to ask for their consideration. and then I. wish to make some comments relating to one of them and then finally some comments on the Levin missile defense amendment offered earlier today.","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":301,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090061157,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"However. this memorandum of understanding was incomplete. It completely deferred the issue of the disruptive surface mining of privately owned mineral rights that is occurring on the site until later this year. This deferral did not meet the legislation requirement under the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge Act and represented a critical impediment to the closure of Rocky Flats. The Department of Interior contended that surface mining such. as that now occurring at Rocky Flats is fundamentally contrary to its refuge management goals. and makes the achievement of refuge purposes on those lands impossible. To better understand this issue. I requested that the Department of Energy hire an independent contractor to conduct an appraisal on the value of the mineral rights. The independent contractor determined the owners and provided a preliminary cost estimate as to the fair market value of those mineral rights containing sand and gravel. After the appraisal was completed. my staff personally contacted each mineral rights owner. I wanted to see if they would be interested in selling if they were offered money for the fair market value of the mineral rights. I also reassured them that the owners would not be forced to sell if they didnt want to. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3380,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090061176,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Several: I would have to take a look at that. A few: Let me get back to you. Lets think about that for a second. If at the highest level of the Pentagon they do not know what exact techniques are allowed and what arent. what is going on in the prisons? What is going on with the soldiers. the sergeant. thecorporal. those who are supposed to do the actual interrogations? What we are trying to do is make sure there are clear and exact standards set for interrogation of prisoners which have held for other wars and are now being updated to take into consideration the kind of war that we are in. Confusion results in the kind of messes that once again could give America a black eye around the world. We need a clear. simple. and consistent standard. We will have it in the Army Field Manual on interrogation. That is not my opinion but that of many more distinguished military legal minds than mine. I received a letter recently from a group of people. 11 former highranking military officers. including RADM John Hutson and RADM Don Guter. who each served as the Navys top JAG. and Claudia Kennedy. who was Deputy Chief of Staff for Army Intelligence. These and other distinguished officers believe that the abuses took place in part because our sqldiers received ambiguous instructions which. in some cases. authorized treatment that went beyond what the Field Manual allows and that had the Manual been followed across the board we could have avoided the prisoner abuse scandal. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6980,"word_count":262}
{"speech_id":1090061215,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Air Force. dated 6 February 2003. The next is from RADM Michael F. Lohr. Judge Advocate General. U.S. Navy. dated 6 February 2003. The next is Rear Adfniral Lohr. dated 13 March 2002. And tire final memo is from Major General Rives. Deputy Judge Advocate General. U.S. ","speaker_name":"LINDSEY GRAHAM","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2126,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090061265,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that Senator WARNER. Senator LINDSEY GRAHAM. and Senator COLLINS be added as cosponsors. I believe we are still scheduled for a vote at 5:30. Mr. President. this amendment would prohibit cruel. inhuman. and degrading treatment of persons in the detention of the U.S. Government. The amendment doesnt sound like anything new. That is because it isnt. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1521,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090061283,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the previous order. the Senate resume consideration of S. 207 at 5:15 tbday. with 15 minutes to debate under the control of Senator HARKIN. I further ask that following the use or yielding back of the time. the Senate proceed to a rollcall vote on the resolution as under the previous order.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":351,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090061285,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I believe that will accommodate our distinguished colleague from South Carolina to introduce his amendment beginning now. concluding at 5:10. at which time the Chair will recognize the junior Senator from Michigan for a period not to exceed 5 minutes.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":266,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090061295,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We certainly want to accommodate the Democratic leader. The Senator from South Carolina indicated that perhaps he would like to take up his amendment following the vote. giving him then such time as he requires. and giving the Senator from Michigan such time as he may require. So perhaps let us allocate the remaining time between now and 5:15 between the Senator from Alabama. the two colleagues on that side. and the distin-\" guished Democratic leader.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":455,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090061307,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"What we are trying to do is have a guide our troops can understand with s880 two partsone for lawful combatants and one for unlawful enemy combatants. We will know what the rules of the road will be. We are putting congressional approval on those rules. We have had the White House. Congress. and eventually the courts saying you can aggressively interrogate prisoners not covered by the Geneva Conventions. We have been all over the board for the last couple of years. We are trying to bring it together in symmetry where the military can write the rules. They know better than I do. I am not saying I am an expert on interrogations. They are going to write the rules the way they need to be written. and Congress is going to say you are good to go. ","speaker_name":"LINDSEY GRAHAM","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3729,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090061322,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. todays soldiers are tomorrows veterans. and America has made a promise to these brave men and women to provide them with the care they need and deserve. Senator JOHNSON and I and others are offering an amendment today to provide full funding for VA health care to ensure that the VA has the re.sources necessary to provide quality care in a timely manner to our Nations sick and disabled veterans. The StabenowJohnson amendment provides guaranteed funding for Americas veterans from two sources. First. the legislation provides an annual discretionary amount that would be locked in for future years at the 2005 funding levels and. second. in the future. the VA would receive a sum of mandatory funding that would be adjusted year to year based on the changes in demand from the VA health care system and the rate of health care inflation. This is about whether we are going to fully support our brave men and women who are fighting today and have fought in the past and will fight tomorrow. whether we are going to continue to debate year to year whether there is adequate funding for veterans health care or whether we will make a statement in this bill that part of national defense is making sure that when our men and women come home and put on the veterans cap. they will. in fact. be assured that the health care they need will be there. not dependent on the Appropriations Committee entirely. not dependent on what happens year to year. but knowing there is a full commitment that we have made to them for veterans health care. I will speak further at a later time. I understand there are other colleagues who wish to speak on other amendments. I simply ask colleagues to support this very important commitment. keeping our promises to our veterans. starting with the fact that we say very loudly and clearly that veterans health care. in the full amount needed. will be available to each and every one of our brave veterans.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1948,"word_count":342}
{"speech_id":1090061353,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wonder if I might bring to the attention of the Senate that we now have 215 amendments offered on this bill. 27 amendments have been proposed and are pending. a number desiring to have rollcall votes. I know of five rollcall votes that I think are ready to go. I ask the Senator. might we advise our leaders that we can continue tonight with rollcall votes and hopefully that can be facilitated.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":412,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090061361,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Each time we go into a movie theater and dont have to sit oi the very. front row. Each time we go to a theme park show where we dont have to sit in the very back row. Those are just a few of the many letters. I ask unanimous consent that the remainder of the letters I have be printed in the RECORD at this point.","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4259,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090061382,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. before my distinguished colleague leaves the floor. I regret to say that I just got a call from the Department of Defense in which I was advised that at the jamboree being held just a short distance down 95 in Virginia. a power line collapsed. and at the moment there is one deceased and five critically injured and an assortment of other problems associated with this. So I am delighted that you gave that speech. I am a cosponsor of the bill. I support it. I was a Scout myself. and I got a lot out of it. I think we ought to close this set of remarks out by offering oqr prayers and hearts and minds to this tragic accident that occurred an hour or so ago. I thank my colleague.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":696,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090061407,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Give them the benefit of the doubt to find out. but this is at the desk right now. This is the moving target on this BRAC. I am strongly in favor of the current BRAC law being implemented as it is written in the law. not deviating in any way. I cannot accept the delay. I say to my distinguished leader. because there are too many communities burdened by all the expenses of lobbyists. and so forth. and the uncertainty that would throw onto the business community not knowing. with the Thune amendment. for maybe another 2 years whether they are going to stay open.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":566,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090061455,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I ask the Senator from South Carolina. the amendments which you have offered and were cosponsoring with Senator MCCAIN. Senator WARNER. and others. do they make it clear that the policy of the United States is not to engage in cruel. inhuman. and degrading treatment of any prisoner in our control?","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":298,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090061466,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I also commend the Senators who are involved in these proposals. These are extremely important proposals. I hope that they would not be nongermane if. indeed. cloture is invoked tomorrow. By the way. I wonder if I could ask the Chair whether or not the pending amendment would be germane. if cloture is invoked?","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":311,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090061472,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If I can go back and make inquiry of my good friend from South Carolina. I think he has focused. along with the cosponsors. on something which is critically important. and that is reliance on the Army manual so everybody knows the roadmap. as he puts it. Is it the Senators understanding of the Army manual that abusive and degrading treatment would be prohibited?","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":364,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090061487,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask the Senator from Floridato make sure I understand exactly what he is sayinghere is a person in service to our country who was killed in combat. If that soldier had basically bought an insurance policy on his life. then the amount of money his family would receive from our Government is going to be reduced by the amount he -would have received from that insurance policy? Is that. in shorthand. the way to describe the current law?","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":453,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090061500,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Senator from Florida will ask for the yeas and nays. If the chairman of the committee. the distinguished Senator from Virginia. is persuasive in talking to the Republican majority leader not to bring the motion for cloture to cut off debate so that amendments like this to help widows and orphans might fall. maybe we can get it to a vote. It is the least we can do for Americans who have given their lives. or their best years. in defense of our country. We simply cannot allow this situation to continue. We need to restore fair benefits to these folks. I am going to continue my fight for these people who have given their all to their Nation and especially to the loved ones whom they have left behind. I ask for the yeas and nays.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":739,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090061509,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. and to the chairman and ranking member of the committee. I hope this is an amendment which will be accepted because it is noncontroversial and important to my State and to the protection of our country. The amendment authorizes the Secretary of the Air Force to enter into agreements with local county officials for the construction and lease of joint administration and operation facilities needed at Scott Air Force Base. currently operating under a joint use agreement with MidAmerica Airport. to accommodate new missions. The fiscal year 05 Defense Appropriations conference report included $259 million to procure three C40C aircraft to be based at Scott Air Force Base and flown by the 932nd Airlift Wing with the 375th Air Wing as an active associate. move three C9C aircraft from Andrews Air Force Base to Scott AFB. and to support these new and expanded missions. The expanded C9 mission and new C40 mission will strain existing TRANSCOM and TACC facilities and require additional administrative and operations space\/structures. Due to the accelerated funding schedule of the C9 and C40 missions. immediate administrative and operations space is needed. St. Clair County. IL. the appropriate local unit of Government. has. offered to enter into an agreement with the Air Force to construct the necessary facilities. saving our Department of Defense some money. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2189,"word_count":220}
{"speech_id":1090061533,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am told that those amendments would require a supermajority to consider them. and there is little or no likelihood they would ever have any chance of being even considered by this body. I do not understand that. I do not quite understand the logic .that would suggest somehow we ought to so truncate this debate that these very important amendments would not be considered or at least potentially not be considered. There are a number of amendments being offered on the Base Realignment and Closure Commission that has been formed. I know the Presiding Officer. like this Senator. has more than a passing interest in what happens with the Base Closure commission. Facilities in both of our States are listed for closure. There are those of us who have deep concerns about how this process is working. If. in fact. cloture is invoked tomorrow. I suspect. based on what I have been told. that any effort by the Presiding Officer or this Senator or others to bring up these amendments. to talk about those issues. to at least debate them here and ask our colleagues whether they are sympathetic to our proposals would fail. We would not be allowed to consider those amendments. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11522,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090061550,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The resolution follows: Whereas. the passing. at 60. of a distinguished California resident. Junko Cushman. whose good deeds earned her the respect and admiration of her colleagues and the countless individuals whose Jives she touched. brought immense sorrow and loss to people throughout the state. and Whereas. although she never sought attention. Junko Cushmans natural sense of style and handson commitment to charitable causes were impossible to overlook. and Whereas. a Japaneseborn San Diegan. she entertained with international flair. excelled at multicultural floral arrangements. and took a leadership role in the Union of Pan Asian Communities. and Whereas. Mrs. Cushman served as chairwoman of events benefiting the San Diego Museum of Art and the Arthritis Foundation and had been on the boards of the Old Globe Theatre. San Diego Foundation. and Burnham Cancer Institute. and Whereas. Mrs. Cushman dedicated her time and service to San Diego State Universitys Japanese Cultural Fair in Balboa Park. and Whereas. in 1987. Mrs. Cushman served as Chairwoman of a Union of Pan Asian Communities dinner dance on Harbor Island and. in 1989. she played a similar role for the Arthritis Foundation. and Whereas. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2820,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090061574,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. tomorrow. the Senate will resume consideration of the Defense authorization bill. Under the previous order. there will be 20 minutes of debate equally divided on the Collins and Lautenberg amendments. followed by a series of stacked votes. We will have up to five votes beginning at approximately 10:15 a.m.. and Senators should make sure they adjust their schedules accordingly.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":394,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090061709,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I urge all of my. Senate colleagues to vote for the young boys and girls who are following in the worthy Scouting tradition. A vote for this amendment is a vote for them.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2187,"word_count":33}
{"speech_id":1090061808,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I know Senator REED of Rhode Island is a strong opponent of this legislation and he will certainly have a great opportunity to express his concerns on it. That is partof what we do. I note. however. this is not the first time the words will have been spoken on this issue. This bill has been up for some years now and has come close to becoming law on several occasions. but has not yet done so. It is important that we note that this legislation has the potential to impact our economy adversely. We need to look at how these proposed novel legal theories adversely affect our economy. Someone will be making firearms in the world. People are not going to stop buying firearms. They have a constitutional right to do so. It would be the height of stupidity if we were to create laws and a legal system that put our firearm manufacturers out of business so that we have to buy imported firearms. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11797,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090061838,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. when people ask me what is the best thing about Alaska. I can talk about the mountains. I can talk about the trees. I can talk about our great salmon. They are all very wonderful. very special. But the very best thing about Alaska is its people. The spirit of voluntarism and civic engagement is what makes Alaska one of the best places in the Nation to live and to raise families. Alaskans not only invest their time and energy in their own children. they also invest it in the development of their neighbors children. This spirit of giving manifests itself in the thousands of hours that adult volunteers contribute to youth activities. such as Scouting. ","speaker_name":"LISA MURKOWSKI","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3567,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090061882,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The 1970s convinced us that greater opportunities for fuller participation in society were possible for the disabled. Congress responded with a range of steps to improve the lives of people with mental retardation. to support the right of children with disabilities to attend public schools. to guarantee the right of people with disabilities to vote in elections. and to insist on greater access to cultural and recreational programs in their communities. The 1980s brought a new realization. however. that when we talk about helping people with disabilities. we cant just rely on government programs. We need to involve private industry as well. Congress guaranteed fair housing opportunities for people with disabilities. required fair access to air travel. and made telecommunications advances available for people hard of hearing or deaf. The crowning achievement in these decades of progress was passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990 and its promise of a new and better life to every disabled citizen. in which their disabilities would no longer put an end to their dreams. As one eloquent citizen with a disability has said. \"I do not wish to be a kept citizen. humbled and dulled by having the State look after me. I want to take the calculated risk. to dream and to build. to fail and to succeed. I want to enjoy the benefits of my cre-. ations and face the world boldly. and say. this is what I have done.\" Our families. our neighbors. and our friends with disabilities have taught us in ways no books can teach. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11637,"word_count":259}
{"speech_id":1090061883,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I joined the family of Dwayne Reeves. a Newark school police officer killed in the line of duty. for the officers wake. My deepest sympathies and my prayers are with his family as they grieve this senseless and tragic loss. In the 15 years since the passage of the ADA. we have witnessed dramatic changes throughout the Nationfrom greater public accommodation at places of business and commercial establishments to the expansion of government services for disabled citizens and the stunning advances in transportation and telecommunications technology. Citizens who could not fully participate in their communities are now able to go to the park. visit a movie theater. or attend a ballgame. In my home State of New Jersey. beach communities from Sandy Hook to Cape May have installed wheelchair access ramps and provide beach wheelchairs for disabled individuals. ensuring that all citizens can join family and friends for a relaxing day at the beach. These steps have enabled many citizens to contribute to their communities. make the most of their abilities. and live their lives to the fullest. Yet we must not be content to stop here. There is still much work to be done to ensure that all Americans. especially those who were discriminated against until 15 years ago. are given an equal chance at using all of Americas tools for success. This is why I. along with my colleague Senator HARKIN and so many others. have worked to improve and expand the Ticket to Work. Workforce Investment Act. and Vocational Rehabilitation programs. ","speaker_name":"JON CORZINE","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3359,"word_count":254}
{"speech_id":1090061884,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today marks the 15th anniversary of the .Americans with Disabilities Act. a truly momentous occasion that. the Senate marked yesterday by voting 870 in support of a resolution recognizing and honoring this anniversary. Onl this anniversary. we celebrate one of the great. landmark civil rights laws of the 20th centurya long overdue emancipation proclamation for people with disabilities. We also celebrate the men and women. from all across America. whose daily acts of protest. persistence and courage moved this law forward to passage 15 years ago. We have made great progress in America in the last 15 years. and evidence of that progress can be found all around us. It has changed livesand changed our Nation. It has made the American dream possible for tens of millions of people with disabilities. But. our work is not yet complete in fulfilling the four great goals of the Americans with Disabilities Act: equal opportunity. full participation. independent living. and economic selfsufficiency for persons with disabilities. I cannot think of a better way to celebrate the anniversary of the ADA than by rededicating ourselves to these goals. I look forward to working with my fellow Senators and the disability community to .building on the progress that we have made over the past 15 years. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1919,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090061885,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"To carry on this significant legacy. we must recognize that. today. we face new challenges and new policy considerations. It is estimated that there are now in America 50 million citizens with some sort of disability. An amazing individual from Kansas -who visited D.C. last week to tell his story is 7yearold Matthew Whaley. Matthew was denied access to the local recreation departments baseball league because he happened to have cerebral palsy. However. because of the Americans with Disabilities Act. he is now showing off his AllStar baseball skills as an outfielder. When I think about what Congress needs to accomplish for people with disabilities over the next few years. to continue to achieve the dream that should have been. and that the ADA began to make possible. I consider what policies we need to change to ensure that Matthew. and others with disabilities. can continue to make a positive difference in this world. We must consider Americas aging population. According to the U.S. Census. by the year 2050. 21 percent of Americas total population will be age 65 and over. ","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7676,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090061889,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Air Force. DARPA. and National Defense Education Program. It is supported by more than 60 of the most prestigious institutions of higher education in America. Defense Departmentsponsored research has resulted in stunningly sophisticated spy satellites. precisionguided munitions. stealth equipment. and advanced radar. The research has also generated new applications in the civilian economy. The best known example is the Internet. originally a DARPA project. Advances in military technology often have their source in the work of civilian scientists in Department of Defense laboratories. Unfortunately. a large percentage of these scientists are nearing retirement. Today. nearly one in three DOD civilian science. technical. engineering. and mathematical employees is eligible to retire. In 7 years. 70 percent will be of retirement age. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5350,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090061892,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to say a few words on the impact of Special Olympics. As many of you know. individuals with intellectual disability face an array of challenges in their efforts to secure opportunities to lead quality lives. These challenges affect every aspect of their lives. including their ability to participate in a meaningful way in their communities and society at large. The Special Olympics were created to address the use of sports as a vehicle for demonstrating the dignity and capability individuals with intellectual disability can achieve. Over the 37 years of Special Olympics history. there is extensive documentation of competition waged. medals won. and barriers overcome around the world. Athletes. families. coaches. volunteers. and spectators have witnessed many small and large miracles through Special Olympics. One such miracle is Rose Marie Garrett of Baton Rouge. a threetime participant in Special Olympics World games who in 2001 was named Louisianas Special Olympian of the Year. At age 49. ","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3192,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090061893,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to take this opportunity to publicly congratulate J.J. Hamilton on his retirement as Director of Aviation at the Burlington International Airport. \"J.J. and I have been friends since our days together at St. Michaels College. and it has been a great pleasure working with him over the years on aviation. expansion. and economic development issues at the airport in Burlington. J.J. has been with the airport for 21 years. serving for the past 15 as its top manager. Under his direction. the Burlington airport has been transformed from a sleepy. onegate operation into an awardwinning. 10gate facility that is a wonderful gateway to our great State of Vermont. The airport has grown to become .an important engine in our States economy. Perhaps the best words to describe J.J.s leadership in Burlington are \"measured and responsible.\" As head of Vermonts largest airport. and one that is municipally owned. he has had to delicately balance the urge for largescale expansion with his financial responsibility to the citizens of* Burlington. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2071,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090061900,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is also home to a na-. tional wildlife refuge. which residents fought to protect from developers. It is no surprise that my home State of New Jersey is the only place with two towns in the top 10 list. Moorestown and Chatham both deserve these high honors. I applaud the local officials. enterprising business men and women. and the committed citizens of these. great towns. I am proud to *represent them in the U.S. Senate. and wish them all the best in the future.*","speaker_name":"JON CORZINE","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2490,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090061901,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it gives me great pleasure to rise today and to honor the work of the Womens Missionary Society of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. whose annual conference will be held in my home State of Kansas. As you may know. the African Methodist Episcopal Church has a magnificent and marVelous history in this country. The A.M.E. Church was the first African American Church founded in this Nation. Borne out of the struggle to worship our almighty and benevolent Father without persecution. the A.M.E. Church was founded in order that African Americans could worship freely. And unlike the churches of their time. the cofounder. Bishop Richard Allen. insured that any person regardless of race. creed. or color could worship in church. It is with that spirit and the spirit of benevolence toward one another that the Womens Missionary Society was formed.. ","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3565,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090061909,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"During the past few years. for example. health care costs have grown three to four times more quickly than wages. First. we need to reform our broken medical liability system. Under our current medical system. doctors face enormous incentives to order unnecessary tests and procedures simply to avoid the risk of lawsuits. Its expensive. its wasteful. and unnecessary. and. most of all. its dangerous. It needs to change and. under this bill. it will. Hospitals. doctors. patients. and insurers all shoulder some responsibility for rising costs. To keep costs down. we need to put the patient at the heart of health care. Thats why we propose reforms to let patients own and control privacyprotected electronic medical records.cut down on fraud in our Medicare and Medicaid programs. reduce medical errors. and reduce unnecessary regulations and mandates. Lower costsg alone will help many Americans get the care they need and deserve. But we also have to look at ways to cover more Americans who would still find themselves left behind. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5627,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090061918,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet in open Executive Session during the session on Tuesday. July 26. 2005. at 10 a.m.. to consider an original bill entitled. \"The National Employee Savings and Trust Equity Guarantee Act of 2005.\"","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":285,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090061932,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous - consent that the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management. Government Information. and International Security be authorized to meet on Tuesday. July 26. 2005. at 2:30 p.m.. for a hearing regarding \"GSAIs the Taxpayer Getting the Best Deal?\"","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":277,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090061954,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the Indian. Land Probate Reform Technical Corrections Act of 2005. was originally introduced as a component of the Native American Omnibus Act of 2005. Im pleased to be joined by the vice chairman bf the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. BYRON DORGAN. on this bill. The Indian probate reform technical corrections amendments. amends the American Indian Probate Reform Act of 2004 by correcting provisions relating to nontestamentary disposition. partition of highly fractionated Indian land. and Tribal probate codes.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":531,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090061967,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this resolution concerns a pro se civil action filed against Senators JOHN MCCAIN and JON KYL. Plaintiff complains that the Senator defendants violated their duties under the common law and the Federal Criminal Code by failing to investigate or prosecute the alleged commission of 1.6 million unspecified crimes. Plaintiff seeks $10 million in damages and an order compelling the Senator defendants to investigate or prosecute the alleged crimes. This suit is subject to dismissal on numerous grounds. including lack of constitutional standing. legislative and qualified immunity. the political question doctrine. as well as on the merits. This resolution authorizes the Senate Legal Counsel to represent the Senator defendants in this suit and to move for its dismissal.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":786,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090061984,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I think it is important to point out that last week. before we left here. we did a very important thing on Thursday night. and that is that we reauthorized the PATRIOT Act. I think it is important to remember that in 2001. when this act was first put into place. that there were no \"no\" votes. But now. 4 years later. Mr. Speaker. there is a great deal of concern among the American people that our freedoms be protected. and we often hear the expression that if we give up a little bit of freedom for a little bit of security. that we would have neither. As Americans. we value our freedoms. We value the freedom of speech. we value our freedom of privacy. we value the protections that we have against unnecessary search and seizure. But as Americans we also know that things have changed. ","speaker_name":"THELMA DRAKE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4251,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090061990,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to thank Pastor Don Young of the Heartland Worship Center in Paducah. Kentucky. for leading todays opening prayer. Pastor Young was born and raised in Childress. Texas. and following his graduation from Baptist Bible College in Springfield. Missouri. he became the founding pastor of the Bible Baptist Church in Paducah. Kentucky. where he ministered to the needs of the founding 29 members of that church. Pastor Young has been there now for 45 years. and the church has 3.000 members and is now known as the Heartland Worship Center. Average Sunday attendance is 1.700. largely because of Pastor Youngs unique preaching style and the programs he has initiated to meet the spiritual needs of people from all walks of life. ","speaker_name":"ED WHITFIELD","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1486,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090061995,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That is what we need to do in this country.","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1072,"word_count":10}
{"speech_id":1090061999,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As a member of the elite Night Stalkers. Sergeant Goare willingly took on some of the most dangerous missions presented. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star. the Purple Heart. the Meritorious Service Medal. and an Air Medal with Valor and the Combat Action Badge. It is clear that Sergeant Goare was an excellent soldier and a remarkable citizen. His devotion to his country is an inspiration to us all. His sacrifice is atestament to his devotion to our great land. and his heroic efforts must never be forgotten. I extend my deepest condolences to his parents and other family and friends. It is an honor to pay tribute to Sergeant Goares life. contributions. and dedication as an American. May God rest his soul.","speaker_name":"ROBERT NEY","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1242,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090062009,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we are going to be back here this week and try to convince the American people that we are trying to help them with their health care costs by passing yet again a medical malpractice insurance relief act. \u0095 The really sad thing about this is it does not help the cost of health care in this country. It does improve the bottom line considerably for the insurance companies. But the most egregious parts of this is the way it protects the irresponsible drug companies. We are going to provide tort protection. We are going to provide protection from lawsuits to Merck Who knowingly put a product on the market that caused 139.000 Americans to have hearts attacks unnecessarily. And they knew it would do that when they put it on the market. We are going to provide protection to an industry that cares nothing about the health of the people. It cares nothing about anything but making a few million more dollars. I urge this House to defeat that measure.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BERRY","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":966,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090062015,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. my colleagues have been saying all along that the recently introduced Social Security GROW Act does not address the future solvency of Social Security. that it will cut guaranteed Social Security benefits. and that it continues the raid on the Social Security Trust Fund. despite what its sponsors say. Well. you do not have to take our word for it. Even my friends on the other side of the aisle have begun to publicly question their partys plan. The gentleman from Arizona .said in USA Today that \"you must eat your spinach before having dessert. and this plan only offers dessert: the personal retirement accounts.\" Senator CHUCK GRASSLEY of Iowa said in the L.A. Times that he was \"disappointed that the new House Republican bill did not address Social Securitys impending insolvency.\" And the gentleman from Connecticut said to Bloomberg News. \"I do not support legislation that takes tax dollars and diverts them to private accounts.\" This legislation is not the way. to preserve Social Security. As we prepare to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Social Security. we should be straightening it rather than jeopardizing our citizens hardearned retirefnent savings.","speaker_name":"SUSAN DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":53.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1183,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090062024,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It would require the Treasury Department to define currency manipulation and clarify legal protections against China and other countries that manipulate their currency. It would increase funding for the United States trade representative to create more trade cops to improve enforcement of existing trade laws. By replacing current bonds that are used by new shippers in antidumping cases with cash deposits. we are dealing with one of the biggest loopholes. Finally. it would authorize funding for the International Trade Commission. Mr. Speaker. passage of this legislation is essential for the economic future of the next generation. for the fu7 ture of goodpaying jobs in places like northwestern Pennsylvania where we make things for a living. We need this legislation passed by a Congress willing to come together. to put aside its political differences. and certainly not vote down this legislation merely for political positioning on another trade agreement. Mr. Speaker. I urge passage of this key legislation. ","speaker_name":"PHILIP ENGLISH","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3680,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090062026,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I urge my colleagues to reject the suspension.","speaker_name":"BENJAMIN CARDIN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3337,"word_count":8}
{"speech_id":1090062032,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. perhaps it is the eternal lament of a minority within a legislative body to focus constantly on process and to share their frustrations with process. But perhaps it is better to focus on policy and what this legislation. which I support. will do. The 40th President of the United States. the late Ronald Wilson Reagan. enshrined these three words as part of American policy: trust but verify. The legislation on the floor today deals with verification. I say as one who opposed a trading agreement with China that this legislation brings the monitoring capacity necessary to understand what happens in international trade. Simply stated. Madam Speaker. if you want to get in the game. play by the rules. While we have seen all sorts of counterfeiting and theft of American intellectual property. this legislation takes steps to put that to a stop and to monitor the behavior. Trust but verify. Vote \"yes\" on this legislation.","speaker_name":"JOHN HAYWORTH","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":940,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090062042,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We are going to monitor and study. I think that if they put a study in front of this House. we all ought to take a test.on it in 2 years. Sit down and we will all pay attention to the test that they offer. Imagine in a serious issue like this. we are going to ask for studies. Safeguards. no action. Subsidies. they create more loopholes than they address. On customs duties. they have a 3year. but listen to this. temporary measure to deal with the issue. This is a sloppy bill. It is going to do more harm than good. When it is over. the professors will have their jobs. the trade lawyers will have their jobs. the editorial writers across the country will have their jobs. but the men and women of organized labor who call this for what it is. they know that their jobs are at risk and they are opposed to this legislation. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD NEAL","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2825,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090062060,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I believe it is critical that we seek out abuses in existing agreements. and reform such laws that are detrimental to U.S. producers. Such is currently the case with unfair honey imports from China. In my northern California Congressional District. honey and honeybees play a critical role in pollinating many of our important export crops. including almonds. Because Chinese \"new shippers\" are allowed to circumvent antidumping orders by posting bonds. the honey industry in California and nationwide faces serious and continuing price declines. making it difficult for honey producers to provide bees for pollination. This bill would suspend the bonding privilege for a threeyear period. Madam Speaker. I would like to thank my colleagues. Representative ENGLISH. Chairman SHAW and Chairman THOMAS for their work on this matter.","speaker_name":"WALTER HERGER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":845,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090062062,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The bill also exempts Chinese domestic subsidies when industries file both antidumping and countervailing duty cases. This provision essentially applies a more lenient standard to nonmarket economies than to market economies under U.S. antidumping and CVD law. Let me remind my colleagues that our goal here is to get tough on China. not give them a free pass while holding our friends with market economies to a tougher standard. The bill also imposes extra burdens on the U.S. that raises serious issues with regard to both sovereignty and separation of powers. The bill would direct the tommerce Department to essentially preclear the application of U.S. law to ensure consistency with the WTO. While every other U.S. law is deemed WTOcompliant unless and until the WTO rules otherwise. this bill makes our actions toward China jump through extra international hoops before it can ever be applied. Even worsefor the first time everthe bill would give the Commerce Department the power to align U.S. law with the WTO. without action from Congress. Article 1. Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution gives the Congressnot the executive branchthe sole responsibility for the regulation of foreign commerce. ","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2831,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090062087,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The committee does not believe providing a spouse such veto authority over life insurance elections is good public policy. The spousal consent requirement could also result. for example. in a servicemembers spouse excluding stepchildren as beneficiaries. The government should not interfere legally in a servicemembers highly personal choices about such family matters.[ 1145 H.R. 3200 would instead require the military service Secretary concerned to provide written notification to the spouse or the next of kin of an unmarried servicemember as to the servicemembers insurance election. The committee believes that this is the preferable way of ensuring that the spouse or beneficiary is informed about this important financial decision. while preserving the individual right of the servicemember to make decisions about life insurance coverage. Finally. Public Law 10913 also provides for a new traumatic injury program. The traumatic injury program provides financial assistance in the amounts from $25.000 to- $100.000 to servicemembers who suffer certain traumatic injuries. The traumatic injury protection under current law is mandatory for servicemembers who elect SGLI coverage withpremiums paid by the servicemember. No hearing had been held on this new program until June 16 of 2005. when the Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs held a hearing on H.R. 3200 in its draft form and on the traumatic injury protection program. H.R. 3200 would allow a servicemember to decline traumatic injury coverage. ","speaker_name":"STEPHEN BUYER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3518,"word_count":229}
{"speech_id":1090062088,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We on the subcommitted have worked together in a bipartisan way on this matter. I support the provision to eliminate the spousal consent requirement contained in Public Law 10913. I also support the provision to eliminate the requirement that notice be sent to a current spouse if a servicemember elects to name a child or children as beneficiaries of their SGLI. I believe we need to allow servicemembers to make decisions on the beneficiaries of their life insurance without any pressure to ignore their financial responsibility to their -hildren. particularly from a prior marriage. This bill is .urgently needed to provide continuous coverage to our servicemen and women. I know that the men and women from Nevada who are currently serving will benefit from this bill. I urge all Members to support H.R. Madam Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"SHELLEY BERKLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1985,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090062090,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I urge my colleagues to pass this important legislation.","speaker_name":"RICK RENZI","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2926,"word_count":9}
{"speech_id":1090062097,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is a major step in the right direction. It is one that has been done in a bipartisan fashion. And I salute the leadership on both sides of the aisle of the committee for getting the job done.","speaker_name":"JEB BRADLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1834,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090062100,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. there is no way our Nation can fully repay military widows and their children who have lost their loved ones in service to our country. However. at the very least we should see that the burden that these families bear is not made heavier by financial difficulties in the wake of. their deep personal losses. E 1200 That is what this legislation is all about. And I want to congratulate the gentleman from Arizona and the gentlewoman from Nevada for their authorship and leadership on this bill. I want to salute my colleague and leader on the Committee on Veterans Affairs. the gentleman from Indiana . for his work in bringing this together on a bipartisan basis. I salute my Democratic colleague. the gentleman from Illinois . When we work on things. important legislation. together on a bipartisan basis. the. press galleries are always empty. But that is not a reflection on the importance this legislation. because it will make a true difference in the lives of great American citizens and families who have sacrificed so much for all of us. Congress with this bill has taken the first step in the right direction by increasing the death gratuity from $12.420. a paltry amount. to a more significant $100.000 in the 2006 defense authorization bill. I want to emphasize we must absolutely pass that increase this year and make it permanent. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS EDWARDS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2527,"word_count":233}
{"speech_id":1090062107,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. my colleagues and I on the House Veterans Affairs Committee favorably passed H.R. 3200 and as a cosponsor I would urge all my colleagues to do the same on the House floor. Thank you.","speaker_name":"SILVESTRE REYES","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1161,"word_count":35}
{"speech_id":1090062126,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I hope that that has been reduced. Mr. Speaker. I want to say that I believe the other body was correct in adding this money. but this is not something that normally would be part of the Interior appropriations bill. This is not within our jurisdiction. This is just something that happenedwe were the first bill moving through. and it became a convenient vehicle in the other body to put this $1.5 billion onto. There was an effort here to put some money. I think it was. what. $975 millionor thereabouts. which the House adopted. I believe. overwhelmingly. maybe unanimously. but it is simply not enough. I think Mr. ","speaker_name":"NORMAN DICKS","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2435,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090062150,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the issue is accountability. The gentleman from New York touched on it and so did the gentleman from Tennessee . The credibility must be rebuilt. and OMB is integral to this process. I have asked Secretary Nicholson to review the leadership of the VHA bureaucracy to ensure that the right people are running it. and also its finances and some within the health network. In particular. I am greatly disappointed and have lost confidence in the leadership and management of the Deputy Under Secretary for Health. for Operations and for Management. In the meantime. Congress will ensure that veterans health care is funded. We will hold VA accountable for its use of these dollars in the performance of its mission. ","speaker_name":"STEPHEN BUYER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3550,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090062160,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speakers table the bill making appropriations for the Legislative Branch for the fiscal year ending September 30. 2006. and. for other purposes. with Senate amendments thereto. disagree to the Senate amendments. and agree to the conference asked by the Senate.","speaker_name":"CHARLES TAYLOR","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":314,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090062186,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. workers are frustrated with paying the high cost of health care. Congress needs to finish this job and pass association health plans into law. I urge my colleagues to support the rule and the underlying legislation.","speaker_name":"SHELLEY CAPITO","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1359,"word_count":38}
{"speech_id":1090062190,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This measure is supported by President Bush. the Labor Department. Republicans and Democrats. and. moreover. a poll conducted last year reveals that 93 percent of Americans support AHPs as an option for providing affordable health care for American workers. Small businesses deserve the chance to obtain highquality health insurance at an affordable price for .their workers. and AHPs are a prescription for helping the uninsured. Mr. Speaker. I think the rule before us today is a fair rule. and I urge my colleagues to support it.","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3709,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090062192,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I oppose this rule and the underlying bill because it will result in preempting State laws and in a reduction in health care. AHPs would be exempt from having to provide certain critical services. preempting State laws which require coverage. Mr. Speaker. this Nation spends millions and millions of dollars on cancer treatments. We also spend millions of dollars just on research and development. This bill would take away a tool that is used to save lives. The gentlewoman from California","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MCCARTHY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":503,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090062201,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. increasingly. one of the things I hear from small business owners back in Tennessee is they want Congress to open the way. just to open the way and set the stage for more affordable health care choices. Over 90 percent of the jobs in Tennessee are small business jobs. It is the largest employer in my district. Mr. Speaker. one of the things that we hear is that these employers want to do the best they can for their employees. They feel like they are a part of their family. The gentleman from Texas really should be applauded for introducing the Small Business Health Fairness Act of 2005. It is one of those things that will help small businesses. as we have heard from so many of the speakers. to pool together and to purchase association health plans through their national trade groups. I have joined.him as a cosponsor of the legislation. and I believe we do have that opportunity to extend affordable. quality health care to millions of Americans. ","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1340,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090062207,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The clear course of action here is to help our small businesses afford health coverage by giving them the same opportunity. Association health plans. or AHPs. do just that. Small businesses would be able to group together in bona fide trade associations. AHPs would then be able to use economies of scale to their advantage and provide more affordable health care for working families while avoiding the administrative cost of State mandates. AHPs are expected to save small business owners and their employees as much as 30 percent on their health insurance. This bipartisan bill makes sense. The time to act is now. I urge a \"yes\" vote on this rule.","speaker_name":"SAM JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1626,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090062209,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is what this is really about. Amendments that would have addressed these issues. that would have let us discuss these issues on this floor. were prohibited by the rule that we are debating right now. I would suspect that maybe one of the reasons they were prohibited is because Republican attorneys general and Republican Governors around the country would have supported such amendments because they oppose the good work that is undone by this bill. Members should oppose this rule and eventually. after debate. oppose the underlying bill.","speaker_name":"ROBERT ANDREWS","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1681,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090062213,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"When small businesspeople come to my office. they are talking repeatedly about this particular issue. They are all whistling. asking for some kind of relief. I realize I talked about my three sons who did not have insurance. My two that still do not will not have it under this bill because the provisions do not allow them to participate. But my nextdoor neighbor who Is trying to make a living in a shop down on Main Street that does not have insurance could under the provisions of this bill. Those are reallife people who need this kind of assistance and help. and they cannot get it any other way. The status quo does not offer this kind of assistance. This is one of those few rays of hope that they will have. These people are truly whistling at us. Our job as Congress is to finally listen. ","speaker_name":"ROB BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3997,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090062218,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. The gentleman from Florida has made some very good points. and that is that the work that has gone into this bill. while it has been some probably 10 years in the making. was..done through strong leadership. it was done through strong bipartisan leadership. it was done not only with the negotiation of the United States Postal Service. its management and its unions. but also so many outside groups that had an influence in impacting a bill that was done properly. A lot of that credit goes to the chairman of the Committee on Government Reform. who a long time ago decided that it was in the best interest ofthe economy of this country to make sure that a carefully crafted bill. a bipartisan bill that could be supported on this floor by members like the gentleman from Florida and the gqntleman from Virginia . who had served on the postal committee many years ago with me. would be able to bring forth to this floor a good answer. I am very proud to support this bill. Mr. Speaker. I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia .","speaker_name":"PETE SESSIONS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1093,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090062219,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This legislation reforms and sustains a vital sector of our overall economy. Standing afone. the Postal Service currently has more than 800.000 employees. But more than 9 million American jobs. $900 billion in commerce. and nearly 9 percent of the Nations gross domestic product depend on mail and package delivery. Each year the Postal Service processes and delivers 208 billion pieces of mail to more than 130 million addresses in the United States. That is 208 billion magazines. catalogs. thankyou notes. birthday cards. wedding invitations. Social Security checks. IRS refunds. letters to our Congressmen. movie rentals. all delivered in fulfillment of the Postal Services promise of universal service. .The last time that the Congress passed legislation to overhaul the Postal Service was 1970 when President Nixon signed the Postal Reorganization Act. before emails. before faxes. The world has changed. It is now time to bring the Postal Service into the 21st century. to rescue it from the structural. legal. and financial constraints that have brought it to the brink of utter breakdown. Now. our time to act is short. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4951,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090062254,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Their legislation would address the real needs of small employers. It would establish a small employer health benefits plan that would grant small business employees the same benefits as Federal employees receive. It provides prorated premium assistance for companies of varying sizes and employees of varying income. It would be much preferable to H.R.","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2486,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090062258,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. in every State and every district when we meet with small business owners. their number one concern is rising health care costs. Even as we sit here. the cost of health care continues to rise. Todays legislation will help address this problem. Association health plans will provide an employerbased solution to help the sector of the economy that is being hit the hardesj: small businesses. Critics of the bill will come forward today and tell you how association health plans are going to lead to a devastating impact on small businesses and the insurance market. Well. from where I stand. it is hard to imag-. ine that it could get any worse. We have 45 million Americans without health insurance and over half are small businesses and their employees. This includes up to 7 million children that have family members working for small firms. And for the last 5 years. small businesses have seen insurance costs increase by over 60 percent. ","speaker_name":"NYDIA VELAZQUEZ","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3003,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090062294,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in opposition to H.R. 525. the Small Business Health Fairness Act. The sponsors of this legislation have a laudable intent: To make health insurance more affordable for small businesses by allowing them to band together to increase their purchasing power and negotiate lower health insurance rates. With costs in the private health insurance growing 12.8 percent each year. no one would disagree that our small businesses are struggling to provide coverage for their employees. But this legislation is not the answer to the rising cost of health insurance in this country. Mr. Speaker. the regulation of health insurance has long rested with the States. For decades. State legislatures in each of our States have enacted State coverage mandates and consumer protections to ensure that residents of thos6 States purchase a quality health insurance policy. ","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1755,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090062312,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Medicare and Medicaid and so forth. The other 55 percent is in the insurance market. and there is no competition. There is no competition in this arena. And so if we stick to these three principles I mentioned earlier. we can create competition. It seems to me that if we are going to give subsidies. why not give subsidies to individuals to buy health savings accounts which provide those choices which will allow for an information flow to the patient. to the consumer? And so I urge colleagues on both sides of the aisle to not support this amendment and to vote for H.R. 525. which offers a good starting point to creating competition in the health care market.","speaker_name":"CHARLES BOUSTANY","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1685,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090062313,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I just recommend to the previous speaker that he should talk to any Federal employee with regard to the choices that they are offered under the Federal Employee Health Plan. Mr. Speaker. I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Ohio . a person who would rather take millions of people off the ranks of the uninsured rather than add a million people into the uninsured.","speaker_name":"RON KIND","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":382,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090062322,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is a zero sum game. If some get insurance. others get zero. But the fact of the matter is we all pay. The notion that some people are going to get away from paying. meaning some small businesses are going to get away from paying. is just hogwash. The fact of the matter is. we all know that when we pay our premiums. we are paying for someone who is uninsured. We are paying for someone who is underinsured. The way out of this problem is not to escape giving people health insurance. which this legislation does. Of course it is going to be cheaper if you do not pay for care. That should not be a surprise to any of us. That is pretty obvious. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK KENNEDY","chamber":"H","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3074,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090062344,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise to support the motion to recommit because AHPs are awful health plans. AHPs roll back State benefit standards that protect women and children. They are awful for women. they are awful for children. Our motion protects Americans who have access to mental health benefits. It protects families access to maternity care and wellbaby checks. Maternity coverage is critical for women. It should not be optional. Fortunately. many States require health plans to cover maternity care and wellbaby checks for their children. ","speaker_name":"BETTY MCCOLLUM","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"F","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":970,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090062347,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would hope that people would support this motion to recommit. This is fundamental and basic. It is about whether or not people will have coverage that works for them when they or a member of their family becomes sick. CBO has looked at this legislation three times. and three times they have determined that almost 8 million people who today have health care coverage that is good coverage. they will be stripped of that coverage and put into these AHPs. In fact. they expect that 90 percent of the new enrollees will be people who come out of better plans who will lose that coverage that people have fought hard for in almost every State in this Union. to have those kinds of health care protections that our three colleagues just spoke about in support of this motion to recommit. I would urge the House to support the motion to recommit and reject this legislation that is harmful to the health care coverage of millions of Americans and their families.","speaker_name":"GEORGE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":972,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090062350,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Support the underlying bill. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":971,"word_count":14}
{"speech_id":1090062369,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"EU 1845 Since Congress did not reach the targeted appropriations required to keep the program in place. this user fee program will cease at the end of September. and the FDA will be required to start sending out notices of termination. So this legislation is essential to keep this very successful program in place. and it will allow us to retain the medical personnel who are working and approving device applications in a much more speedy and rapid fashion than they would have been able to do without the user fee being in place. Mr. Speaker. that is the purpose of this legislation is to extend the program.","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1584,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090062414,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Jr.. at the Brentwood facility in the D.C. area. At that time. all of our postal workers. every clerk. every mail handler. was faced with a difficult choice. and that choice -was to continue to come to work every day in a very difficult environment caused by anthrax exposure. and perhaps even endangering their families. or staying away from work and thereby risking the stability of our own economy and upsetting the flow of commerce and shaking the confidence of the American people. The American postal workers. every clerk. every carrier. every mail handler chose to come to work under those conditions. They came here because they felt it was their particular patriotic duty to do so. H.R. 22 takes note of their service and regards postal employees as partners and a great asset toward affecting postal reform. Notably. this bill does not seek to curtail essential worker rights. it does not reduce worker protections with respect to collective bargaining. and it deserves our support. I ask only that we resist any amendments that would weaken this bill.","speaker_name":"STEPHEN LYNCH","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2174,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090062434,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today in support of H.R. 22. the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act. This bill will allow for the Postal Service to better serve the American People by significantly modernizing its outdated policies. The last postal reform bill was signed by President Nixon in 1971 and at that time no one could have anticipated all of the technological advances our society would create. At that time we all sent letters to keep in contact with each other and email was something that we never could have imagined. Unfortunately. while we have advanced with the times. the Postal Service has been slow to keep up with our advancing technology. H.R. 22 will allow the Postal Service to continue providing comprehensive universal service. but at a much lower cost. This bill is the product of hard work between the labor unions. the Postal Service. and the Government Reform Committee. It is a good piece of legislation that will give the Postal Service the rate modernization it needs and it will create a level playing field for the Postal Service to compete with other companies. ","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1394,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090062435,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today to speak in support of The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2005 As we move into a new phase of technological advancements. now is the time for significant reform of our postal system. With over 600thousand postal workers. the U.S Posfal Service is an essential part of todays national economic infrastructure. In my home town of Dallas. TX. the roles of postal workers are vividly seen in homes. businesses. and even churches. We must have a firm commitment to ensuring that these vital- public servants have guaranteed healthcare and retirement benefits. collective bargaining rights. and a decent pay. H.R. 22 will bring increased efficiencies to the United States Postal Service. and strengthen the longterm viability of universal postal services. We must act now to ensure that 6day a week delivery is maintained for all Americans. I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting this key piece of legislation.","speaker_name":"EDDIE JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":954,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090062463,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank the members of the committee. especially the author of this bill. for their sincerity of purpose and civility in this debate. I also thank my colleagues who have risen in support of the Pence amendment. which. again. simply removes the provision of H.R. 22 that requires that the first vacant slot on the Board of Governors be filled by an individual with unanimous backing by all labor organizations. The Pence amendment is supported by National Right to Work. by Americans For Tax Reform. We already have fairness on the board. Mr. Chairman: five members of one political party. the party in power in the White House. and four members appointed by the other political party. We do not need a tiebreaker member that is selected by the unanimous consent of all the labor unions. ","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1159,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090062471,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. with the dramatic reduction in firstclass mail volume. coupled with the inability of the Postal Service to control costs. the Postal Service and Congress must have many welltested alternatives for the future of mail delivery in the U.S. Many European countries are well ahead of the U.S. on some new innovative ideas for structuring their respective postal delivery services. The pilot program is simply a test program to provide the Postal Service and Congress with useful information to make future changes to postal services. if needed. I might add. Mr. Chairman. we know that some changes are needed. We are running into deficits. and every 4 years. we are bailing out the USPS. I do not want to be here 4 years from now doing the same thing. So let us test some alternatives. ","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2269,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090062473,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I understand this amendment is to do something on a pilot project basis with the idea that we are going to promote innovation in the delivery of the mail. Well. I support that goal. . H.R. 22 has many provisions to promote flexibility and innovation. but this amendment. maybe it was not intended this way. but it is drafted in a way that is an open invitation to abuse. It allows a local postmaster to contract out the delivery of the mail to private companies. and in the course of that amendment. it provides that any provision of Federal law that might otherwise apply to these contracts and the delivery of mail can be waived. Well. that is incredibly farreaching. It would mean a local postal official could set up his own company. He can ask his brotherinlaw to set up another company and then contract with that company to do the job of delivering the mail. ","speaker_name":"HENRY WAXMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1708,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090062476,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. beforb yielding 2 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana. let me just say that asking the Postal Service to give up what might lead to giving up their monopoly or a portion of their monopoly is unreasonable. We need to prime the pump a little. No private business would in their selfinterest do that either. That is why this amendment is important. Mr. Chairman. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana .","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":425,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090062477,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong support of the Flake amendment. There are 38.000 post offices. stations and branches in the U.S. Postal Service. The Flake amendment contemplates a pilot program that would affect 20 communities. By my bad math. that is about V2o of 1 percent of the communities that are served by 38.000 post offices. stations and branches. ","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1482,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090062481,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I played both football and tennis. and I was equally poor at both. but I remember something a tennis coach once told me: There are many ways to lose at tennis. Try them all. Well. we are losing here tonight if we are contemplating rate increases and imposing $6 billion on the taxpayers. Maybe we should try something new. Maybe we should try some pilot programs. Maybe we should get some more experimentation. some mose innovation. some more competition into the system. and maybe we can find ways to start winning at this. And because of that. I do rise in strong support of the gentlemans amendment.","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1216,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090062487,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I would just note that the universal service obligation of the post office gives it a burden in requirements that some of the other facts and figures alluded to do not have to meet. Mr. Chairman. I would yield the remaining time to my colleague. the gentleman from Illinois .","speaker_name":"THOMAS DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":289,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090062488,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. where I come from. there is an old saying: If it looks like a duck. acts like a duck. quacks like a duck. talks like a duck. then it is a duck. And it seems to me that the bottom line is this is an attempt to privatize the Postal Service. which would decimate the concept of universal service. There could be no universal service if this amendment is passed.","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":372,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090062497,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And to the extent that we can stave off stamp tax rate increases. what the gentlemans amendment would do. not stave it off but it includes it. to the extent we do that. then it counts against the budget. The other problem in terms of budget neutrality comes from the Presidents own commission on the Postal Service which recommended that the military years of service for postal employees under the CSRS retirement program. that those years be paid for by the military like they are for every other agency of government instead of having postal patrons for that. This was the Presidents commission which recommended that. What I have talked about. we save money. not take money away. But the question is why should rate payers have to pay for military service in an agency where you have veterans hiring preference? It is not fair to rate payers. It is driving up rates. Finally. let me say. it is not twothirds of the escrow funds that is funding health care. Ninety percent of the escrow funds over the next 5 years are to fund health care. That is more than any other agency in government. Not enough for some Members. ","speaker_name":"SUSAN DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":53.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2590,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090062533,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we talk a lot about families on this floor. and properly so. We talk a lot about caring on this floor. and properly so. We talk a lot about relationships on this floor. and properly so. And I am proud to rise today to say how pleased I am. and I know all Members of the House will be. the youngest Member on our side of the aisle is the gentleman from Oklahoma . and the gentleman from Oklahoma this weekend took to himself a beautiful bride from South Dakota. Andrea. Let us wish them well as they embark upon this new family.","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":540,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090062537,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of the CAFTA agreement. Goods come from CAFTA countries into America absolutely duty free. Whether they are industrial. whether they are agricultural. no matter what goods they are. they come in duty free. Our goods. when they go to their markets. suffer from the weight of heavy duties. So all this agreement does is drop the duties on our goods. drop the tariffs on American goods flowing into these markets. It is a win for America on every single front. It is the status quo for the Central American nations. Why would they agree to it? Because it makes it permanent and because there are some twoway partnerships in this bill that are an advantage to these Central American nations. and to us. ","speaker_name":"NANCY JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1271,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090062538,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Congressional Budget Office. the nonpartisan arm of Congress that provides economic projections. just released a report on the Central American Free Trade Agreement. The report shows the cost of its sugar provisions would be over $500 million over the next 10 years. They also found the loss in revenue to the U.S. Treasury would be $4.4 billion over the next 10 years. more than $400 million every year. So not only does CAFTA jump up a trade deficit that has gone from $38 billion 12 years ago to $618 billion last year. but CAFTA continues this erosion. the hemorrhaging of manufacturing jobs: 3 million lost manufacturing jobs in the last 5 years. And it is also going to blow an even bigger hole in the Federal budget: one more good. big reasonto defeat the Central American Free Trade Agreement.","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":818,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090062540,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Throughout its history. the United States has struggled to rise above the divisions among its people and instead fuse its people into a single. unified citizenry. Whether it was the struggle over civil rights for persons of color. the fight for womens rights. or most recently. the battle for access by persons with disabilities. the United States has risen above our differences and embraced them as worthy of a society that sees itself as open. free. and inclusive. The fight by persons with disabilities for nondiscrimination in matters of employment.. -transportation and building access and accommodation was landmark. Through the enactment of the ADA our country proclaimed that 43 million Americans were real people. deserving of amenities everyone else took for granted. Through the enactment of the ADA our country removed the cloak of secrecy wrapped around our disabled citizens and announced to the world that persons with disabilities were valued members of our society. The successes of ADA continue to astonish us. even 15 years later: the disabled child who now can play Little League ball. disabled veterans who can now use special equipment to play golf at military golf courses. disabled patrons who can now go to movie theaters. restaurants. and museums who before found the trip daunting. or were blocked entirely. Now we have buses that kneel for our disabled riders. earphones for opera lovers who just dont hear well enough. and talking elevators that tell blind passengers their floor stop. All of this may have been mandated by the ADA but just as consequential is that it was American ingenuity that developed it. We figured it out. We set a goal to integrate persons with disabilities into mainstream America. and by gosh. we did. ","speaker_name":"SAM FARR","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4112,"word_count":288}
{"speech_id":1090062541,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"God and the honor that they have. I know that they will draw together as a family and be united in their empathy and sympathy with the family members of their lost scout leaders. I wish for them the very best as they continue their jamboree. and my greatest sympathy to. those who lost their lives. As well. I know that the Boy Scouts will continue to serve in their communities around the Nation and continue to serve America. for they are young outstanding leaders that have come here to the United States Capital to begin to learn and recommit themselves to their values and to service. LI 2215","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1362,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090062559,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We will export more to the developing world and the standard of living in these poor countries will go up. They promised that every time there is a trade agreement. They never come true. Here. really. is fundamentally the reason that we know. that American manufacturers know. that American small business knows. that American farmers know that we will not be exporting products to Central American countries. The average wage in the United States is $38.000. The average wage in El Salvador annually is $4.800. $2.600. Honduras. $2.300. Nicaragua. The combined economic output of these Central American countries is about the same as that of Columbus. Ohio. ","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4875,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090062564,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to bring attention to a topic that I have discussed in this Chamber several times in recent months. As we enter the dog days of summer here in Washington. D.C. and the temperature continues to rise. so too does the rhetoric we hear from the other side of the aisle. Democrats continue to say Republicans are out of the mainstream. However. from where I stand. I see nothing but hollow. allegations and a complete lack of any legislative agenda for the American people from the other party. Meanwhile. Republicans continue to pursue a commonsense solutionist agenda that addresses important issues like securing our homeland. supporting our troops. growing the economy. and looking out for families and small businesses. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":856,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090062567,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise to register my continued sadness and frustration with the Nations Iraq policy. As much of Washington now focuses on a Supreme Court nomination. and as many Americans prepare for August vacations. I hope none of us forget the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform and the disastrous decisions that put them in harms way in the very first place. We are fast approaching 1.800 deaths in Iraq. Mr. Speaker. and for what? Are we any safer from terrorism? The recent attacks in London would seem to indicate that we are not. If the Iraq war has done so much to enhance American Security. why did we have to expand the PATRIOT Act last week and clamp down even further on our civil liberties? The truth is our military presence in Iraq is contributing to the chaos there. not alleviating it. The occupation has sparked more intense feelings of antiAmericanism and breathed new life into the insurgency. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4065,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090062588,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We feel .it in America. We know. Our gut tells us things are not as good today as they were back then under the Democrats. E] 2320","speaker_name":"LORETTA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":47.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2177,"word_count":27}
{"speech_id":1090062615,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today the House will vote on legislation Republicans claim will help doctors and help reduce the cost of health care. As a family doctor. I know their rhetoric could not be further from the truth. Republicans say that capping what an injured patient can receive in compensation is a cureall to our health care woes. but they ignore one essential fact. that it is the insurance indus.try. not payments to patients. that is chasing doctors out of their offices. A report released in May shows that the 15 leading malpractice insurers increased their premiums on doctors by 120 percent. No surprise there. What is surprising is that the insurance companies own documents show that payouts over this same period stayed flat. increasing by less than 6 percent. and some companies payouts went down. This just confirms what every\" reliable study has shown: There is no explosion of malpractice claims or payouts. They are not the cause of rising premiums. ","speaker_name":"DONNA CHRISTENSEN","chamber":"H","state":"VI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":1256,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090062619,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise to applaud the House for passing H.R. 525. the Small Business Health Fairness Act of 2005 yesterday. which will help provide better access to health care coverage for small businesses. Small businesses .and selfemployed citizens have long been an integral and valuable part of the American economy. We should assist in their growth and improvement in whatever ways we can. The primary achievement of this bill will be the establishment of certified Federal Association Health Plans. or AHPs. AHPs will increase small business bargaining power with health care pfoviders and allow them to offer the kind of health care coverage that big business has long been able to provide. Second. AHPs will give employers freedom from costly Statemandated benefit packages. Taken together. these features of the new AHPs will enlarge the number of insured Americans up to 8 million people. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1316,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090062622,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. CAFTA or NAFTA? Most of the American people are confused about this debate on the floor of the House. and I say to my colleagues who will engage in a very limited debate somewhere toward midnight that this may be one of the more challenging votes of this Congress. It is a vote that calls upon your conscience. and I will simply say these few words: Once we vote for CAFTA. we will reinforce the child labor standards and laws and lack of laws in Central America. You will be sending the 3yearolds. the 4yearolds. the 5yearolds into the hard labor of picking agricultural products with no supervision and no regulations whatsoever. My heart. my conscience refuses to allow me to vote for CAFTA. a free trade bill that will enslave the children of Central America. I will vote a resounding \"no.\" and I ask my corporate leaders in America to stand alongside of those of us who want the kind of trade bill that addresses the child slavery in Central America. forcing girls and boys to work without any. without any. hope and aspirations and the ability to survive. Vote \"no\" on CAFTA. E 1030","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1101,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090062623,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as insurance premiums continue to rise. doctors. hospitals and other health care providers across the country have been forced to severely limit their practices or close their doors. Until we address this issue with commonsense reforms. many doctors will be unable to afford to serve their communities. and patients will find it increasingly difficult to obtain needed health care. Today. thanks to the strong leadership of my colleague. the gentleman from Georgia . Congress has the unique opportunity to address the medical liability crisis occurring throughout our Nation.","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":588,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090062627,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Now his son refuses to find out who leaked Valerie Plames name. President Bush can continue to state that he wants to wait for the grand jury to finish its investigation. but if this was indeed a top priority for the President. he would have an answer by now. DRUAFTA","speaker_name":"DIANE WATSON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":33.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1027,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090062633,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. in todays global marketplace. it is vital that trade obligations be enforced and that our manufacturers and producers be allowed to fairly compete in our markets here at home and those abroad. I urge my colleagues to support this rule and support the underlying bill. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3680,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090062635,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. One of the items that the gentleman from Massachusetts mentioned that I agree wholeheartedly with is the rise of China is one of the most significant developments of the 21st century. and that is why it is so critically important that we make sure that the trade agreements that exist between our country and theirs are enforced and are monitored. That is what this bill does. Mr. Speaker. I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan . a man from a heavy industry and manufacturing State who understands well the challenges imposed by the lack of enforcement of these agreements.","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":640,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090062636,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This puts our jobs at risk. cheats our economy and puts Americans at risk. The FAA estimates that 2 percent of all airline parts are counterfeit. This .is the day that we stand up for America and say. We will not take it anymore. Windshields in China. a group of auto companies went together and said you cannot counterfeit these things. it puts Americans at risk. There are no safety factors in your glass. After three convictions in China. that company is still producing automobile glass. Brake pads. there was a woman killed in Saudi Arabia because they put formed grass in brake pads and sold them as a counterfeit part. and. unfortunately. took her life. This is awfully important stuff. Mr. ","speaker_name":"MIKE ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2970,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090062640,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Some people have alleged that the only reason this bill is coming up is because of CAFTA. Well. big shock. It is hard to get different bills up unless you can use your leverage at different times when the majority of Congress. of the leadership. President Clinton when he was President. President Bush when he was President. the leadership of both political parties. has not been willing to aggressively confront China. They view it as a paper dragon. This bill is not perfect. If I can move into policy for a few minutes. because it is very difficult to figure out how to deal with a country that is cheating in their curreficy manipulation. If they do not float the manipulation. is it 20. 40. 80 percent? We do not know. It is not floating. ","speaker_name":"MARK SOUDER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5727,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090062645,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume.The gentleman on the other side of the aisle. for whom I have a great deal of respect. from New Jersey represents a major industrial State. lots of manufacturers. I would just say that this is clearly a bill that is more than a fig leaf. Application of U.S. countervailing duty law to exports from nonmarket economies is more than an empty gesture: $6 million per year in additional money to USTR beyond the Presidents request. up to $45 million and earmarked for the General Counsel. Office of Monitoring and Compliance. the suspension for 3 years of bonding authority. increased teeth. increased enforcement. increased compliance to make the Chinese follow the law and agreements that we have already signed and agreed to. Mr. Speaker. I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania . the sponsor of this legislation. and someone who has worked for years very diligently on all the issues relating to China.","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":970,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090062646,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Yet yesterday. over 270 of our colleagues from the other side of the aisle voted \"no.\" Let me tell the Members what the significance was of their vote. They voted against extending countervailing duties to -China and other nonmarket economies that we. regularly apply to other market countries that we trade with. They voted against closing the bond loophole under antidumping. They voted against a comprehensive audit system for China. how they follow their trade obligations. They voted against authorizing new funds for trade cops. They also voted against clarifying Congresss opposition to efforts to water down our domestic trade law protections in the current WTO rules negotiations. And. finally. they voted against requiring the Treasury to clarify its definition of currency manipulation in the context of the very modest change that the Chinese have now put forward. This is commonsense legislation. It was intended as consensus legislation. and it certainly did not materialize out of nowhere because all of these components we have been familiar with for years. It is just that the minority in the Committee on Ways and Means never had much interest in issues like CVD before. ","speaker_name":"PHILIP ENGLISH","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3488,"word_count":191}
{"speech_id":1090062647,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from New Jersey","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":718,"word_count":11}
{"speech_id":1090062651,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. As the gentleman is aware. House rules allow for the motion to recommit and sets aside time for debate on the Democratic alternative to the legislation that we are considering here. Mr. Speaker. I yield 31\/2 minutes to the gentleman from Ft. Lauderdale. Florida . the chairman of the Trade Subcommittee of the Committee on Ways and Means.","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":394,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090062656,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming There are no assurances even that my time. I would say to the gentleman the Senate has plans to consider this that we do not waive any of those half measure. and it is surely unlikely rights in the bill that is before the to ever become law. Aggressively counHouse today. teracting Chinas unfair trade practices","speaker_name":"E. SHAW","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":335,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090062684,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank my friend from Georgia . my chairman. for yielding me time. Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of H.R. 3204. which would extend seed grant money as well as provide $50 million for the next 4 years for the creation and operation of highrisk pools. Mr. Speaker. this is a nonpartisan issue. As we all well know. the increasing cost of health care has affected millions of Americans. The number of uninsured Americans is obviously too high. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES NORWOOD","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2627,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090062685,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to thank my colleague from Georgia for taking time out on his birthday to be with us. and I congratulate him on his birthday. Mr. Speaker. I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands for the purposes of engaging in a colloquy.","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":282,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090062700,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Drug Enforcement Administration worked with us on this legislation to ensure sufficient protections for consumers and safeguards against illegal activity. I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania and his staff for their work on this bill. I am pleased to support its passage. Mr. Speaker. I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Guam .","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1174,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090062704,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This bill removes just one of the barriers that prevent their success. I urge support for this bill. And continued support for our Nations small businesses.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4788,"word_count":26}
{"speech_id":1090062708,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as America strives to adapt to a world of rapidly changing international trade. preserving and expanding U.S. manufacturing and production capabilities becomes ever more important. This is particularly true in Utah where current restrictions on exports of the medicines we produce have discouraged industry growth and threatened workers jobs. The Controlled Substances Export Reform Act currently allows U.S. pharmaceutical companies to export most controlled substances only to the exact country where their product will be used. Shipment of U.S. medicines to central sites for further crossborder distribution. even when conducted under the watchful eyes of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Department of Justice. is prohibited for U.S. exporters. This contrasts with the freedom of drug manufacturers throughout the rest of the world to readily move their products among and between international drug control treaty countries without limit or restriction. These limitations put U.S. manufacturers at a disadvantage by requiring more frequent and costly shipments to each individual country of use. We are effectively discouraging domestic manufacturing while encouraging U.S. drug exporters to move production overseas. Utah. with a small but growing pharmaceutical manufacturing industry. is committed to maintaining a strong domestic base so that U.S. businesses can compete on a level playing field with our international competitors. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER CANNON","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2367,"word_count":210}
{"speech_id":1090062723,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. and thank the gentleman from Florida CMr. BILIRAKIS) for his. leadership. and the gentleman from Texas (Chairman BARTON). who is. always evenhanded. played a big role in us finally getting this bill to the floor. I thank the ranking member. the gentleman from Ohio . for his work on this bill as well. Mr. Speaker. this is an important bill before us today. As a physician. I know that in order to improve safety. we have got to report errors. The gentleman from Georgia just pointed out how if you do not report the error. you cannot learn from the mistake and never prevent it from happening again. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BURGESS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2293,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090062724,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. S. 544 is identical to the bill passed out of the Committee on Emergency and Commerce. H.R. 3205. Therefore. the committee report we will be filing based on H.R. 3205 is directly relevant to S. 544. I wanted that part of the RECORD.","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":301,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090062737,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I thank the Speaker for allowing us to consider the Drug Addiction Treatment Expansion Act. S. 45. In 2000. Congress passed the Drug Addiction Treatment Act which has resulted in improved access to drug abuse treatment. This law has allowed qualified practitioners to prescribed addic. tion treatment medications from their office settings so long as the number of patients to whom the practitioner provides such treatment does not exceed 30 patients. ","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1172,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090062738,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This legislation clarifies that each doctor in a group practice is subject to the 30patient limit. not the group practice as a whole. This bill will expand access to effective addiction treatment. When we come together to fight addiction. we must use every means available. This bill gives doctors an improved and important tool. H.R. 869 has the support of a range of organizations. including the American Psychological Association and the Partnership for a Drug Free America. I am pleased to support its passage. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1431,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090062745,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Baltimores heroin use ranked at 195. which is much higher than the national rate of 37. Heroin abuse counted for the most drug treatment admissions to publicly funded facilities in the city from July 1. 2001. through June 30. 2002. In addition. mnortality data indicate that there were 349 heroin\/morphinerelated deaths in the Baltimore metropolitan area in 2001. more than for any other illicit drug. I .must also note that heroin abuse via injection has contributed significantly to the number of HIV cases in the Baltimore area. S. 45 would greatly reduce these numbers by increasing the availability of treatment medications such as buprenorphine or \"bupe\" in institutions -such as teacling hospitals and community health clinics. Treatment medications such as buprenorphine will allow more people to remain productive while trying to overcome their drug addiction. Experts say that buprenorphine leaves patients more clearheaded than methadone and produces less intense withdrawal symptoms. They point out that in the brain. buprenorphine behaves like heroin but works more slowly and less efficiently than other opiates. In other words. this specific- treatment reduces or eliminates withdrawal symptoms without producing euphoria. When we passed the law in 2000. our legislation limited bupes availability because we wanted to avoid the creation of prescriptionwriting mills. ","speaker_name":"ELIJAH CUMMINGS","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3431,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090062765,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time to give me an opportunity to speak on behalf of H.R. 1132. the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting Act of 2005. Mr. Speaker. the gentleman from Georgia (Chairman DEAL) referred to the study at Columbia University noting the increase in abuse of prescription drugs in this country. and I would point out that one of the most disturbing aspects of the report out of Columbia University was the finding that a 212 percent increase in the number of children between the ages of 12 and 17 are now abusing prescription drugs. So with this legislation today. we have the opportunity to combat this problem not only with children but also with adults around the country. \"I would also mention that. and I think someone has already referred to this. that 20 States are already operating these programs. and with this legislation we establish a grant program at HHS. but more important than that. we provide some Federal standards on this program with this legislation today. In doing that. we will help foster interstate communication by establishing uniform standards on information collection and privacy protections that together will make it easier for States to share information. I think it is also important to note that the Committee on Appropriations has already been appropriating money for these types of programs. So with this legislation. the Committee on Energy and Commerce. which has exclusive jurisdiction in this area. we now set the guidelines for this. and I think it will do a tremendous job of improving this program and improving our health care program and giving doctors more information to better treat their patients. ","speaker_name":"ED WHITFIELD","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1989,"word_count":283}
{"speech_id":1090062806,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is my hope that Sharm elSheikh will continue to serve as a haven for the hope of peace. irrespective of this tragic event. This is the only way to ensure that the victims of this atrocity will not have died in vain. I join my colleagues in condemning these horrific acts. expressing condolences to the families of those lost. and reaffirming the longstanding partnership between the United States and Egypt. The gentleman from California","speaker_name":"ROBERT WEXLER","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1527,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090062807,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. In this global struggle between chaos and civilization. there is no doubt in my mind that civilization will prevail. yet every time we are confronted with a tragedy. whether it. 1eLondon.. or Sharm elSheikh. in Jerusalem or elsewhere. we must express our solidarity with the victims. with the survivors. and with the governments that stand with us against global terrorism. Our support for the Egyptian people and for the government of Egypt is offered without any reservation or qualification. This House is united in expressing our sympathy and our condolences. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":669,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090062851,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania for yielding me this time. and I congratulate him oh his leadership for bringing this bill to the floor. My friend from Michigan who just left the well has been critical of this bill regarding to intellectual property rights. Well. sometimes we should go to the bill and read the bill. And I am going to read it. It says. \"Dispute settlement proceedings in World Trade Organization. If the President determines that the Peoples Republic of China has not met each of the obligations described in A through N. paragraph one.\" and that is the provision in there that talks about the trade obligations. It then goes on to say. \"or taken steps that result in significant improvements or protection of intellectual property rights in accordance with its trade obligations. then the President shall assign such resources as necessary to collect such evidence of trade agreement violations for use in dispute settlement agreements against China in the World Trade Organization.\" In other words. it says the President will proceed in accordance with the law through the World Trade Organization to obtain sanctions. ","speaker_name":"E. SHAW","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2755,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090062858,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I believe with the limited move forward that China has already evidenced. the time has come to give them an opportunity to indicate to us by action whether they are sincere or not. I think the currency language in our bill is adequate to allow that to happen. Madam Speaker. I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia . who in two terms in the House has already made clear he is a leader on trade issues and on economic issues.","speaker_name":"PHILIP ENGLISH","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1622,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090062877,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. we have a bill that contains the sense of Congress and provisions that I think most of the Members of this body would agree with. It contains some other provisions that are well intended. and I think the majority of the Members of this body would agree with. But I want to make it clear that for those who are claiming this bill is tough on China or tough on enforcing our trade rules with China. it does not do that. It does say certain things about China that most Members of this body would agree with. The main purpose of this bill was to deal with countervailing duties to nonmarket economies. and it does that in a way that probably will provide no relief. It provides authorizations for additional funds for two agencies that deal with trade. but we have alreadytaken care of that in the appropriation bill. So I come back to the point of the gentleman from Michigan . If you want to feel good and vote for this bill. go ahead and do it. But if you think you are taking action against China. if you believe that this bill will speak to the trade imbalance we currently have with China because of Chi-. nas failure to adhere to their international responsibilities under the WTO or under the accession agreement with the United States. if you believe that. this bill does not do that. This bill is a missed opportunity because we were not able to have a free and open rule. ","speaker_name":"BENJAMIN CARDIN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5367,"word_count":258}
{"speech_id":1090062894,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would argue that my bill requires that the USTR instead report to Congress every 6 months on the degree to which the new mechanism moves the currency closer to a marketbased representation of its value and requires Treasury to reconsider how it currently defines currency manipulation. The gentleman from Maryland might argue that in a sense all that this does is force the United States to bring a WTO case against China on grounds that China is manipulating its currency. However. the motion itself does not appear designed to force the United States to bring a WTO case. In fact. the motions definition of currency manipulation clearly bears no relationship to the WTO rules. Instead. this proposal from the other side of the aisle would force the United States to take unilateral action under section 301. which would potentially place us in violation of WTO rules. Section 301 mandates specific actions. including possibly trade retaliation if a foreign act or measure: one. violates or is inconsistent with a trade agreement such as the WTO agreements. or. two. is unjustifiable and burdens or restricts U.S. commerce. These are separate grounds for taking mandatory action under section 301. The recommittal defines currency manipulation using a fabricated definition as \"unjustifiable.\" Thus. it appears that this initiative is really intended to force the United States to take action under the second prong of section 301. not the prong intended to be used where there are potential WTO violations. 0l 1615 The intent thus appears to be to force the U.S. to impose sanctions without a WTO finding of a breach. thus allowing China to shift the focus from Chinas currency policies to claims of U.S. breaches of the WTO. In the current context-. in my view. that would not be helpful. Accordingly. with great regret and acknowledging that my colleague from Maryland has been serious about moving forward in the area of currency reform and challenging the Chinese. ","speaker_name":"PHILIP ENGLISH","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3311,"word_count":325}
{"speech_id":1090062921,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. this mention of greedy. gouging insurance companies. I just want to point out to my colleague that the only insurance company that still is offering medical malpractice insurance in the State of Georgia is Mag Mutual. And in 2004 they made $7 million on their rather conservative investment portfolio and still lost money because of the claims paid and defending all of these frivolous lawsuits. Mr. Speaker. I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from West Virginia . my colleague on the Committee on Rules.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":575,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090062939,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 2 minutes. Mr. Speaker. listen to these numbers: 19. the number of States in a fullblown medical liability crisis. 72 percent. the number of Americans who favor a law that guarantees full payment for lost wages and medical expenses. but limits noneconomic damages. $70- to 127 billion a year. the cost of the defense of medicine. which could be significantly reduced by medical liability reforms. $10.2 billion. the amount of money paid out by licensed commercial insurers in 2002 for medical liability claims. 100 percent or more. the increase in liability insurance premiums that onethird of the Nations hospitals saw in 2002. 48 percent. the proportion of Americas medical students in their third or fourth year of medical school who indicated that the liability crisis was a factor in their choice of specialty. threatening patients future access to critical services. 3.9 million. the increase in the number of Americans with health insurance if Congress were to pass commonsense reforms. Mr. Speaker. we are not talking about anybodys right to a redress of grievances when they have been injured because of a physician or provider of care or a facility or hospital. practicing below the standard of care in that local community. There are no limits on economic awards: As I said earlier. that could be $5 million. And as I said earlier. when you get into a courtroom and you listen to the plaintiffs attorney calculating the cost. the economic cost. a new home because of a disability access need costing $450.000. an au pair. a companion to go to the movies with the person that was injured. and on and on and on. these economic costs sometimes are astronomical. Mr. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1744,"word_count":286}
{"speech_id":1090062957,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. in concluding this debate on House Resolution 385. I would like to encourage my colleagues to not only support this rule but also the underlying bill. I want to thank all of those who spoke on behalf of the rule and applaud them for their willingness to address this problem in an honest and an open fashion. Unfortunately. some opponents Of this legislation seem content to demagogue the issue and pander to those special interests who are determined to keep the playing field tilted in their favor. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":697,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090062960,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in opposition to the closed rule on H.R. 5. the HEALTH Act. There is a need for medical malpractice reform. and the amendments offered in the Rules Committee could have made this a good bill for improving patient access and care. I am deeply disappointed that the Committee refused consideration of all the amendments. including mine that would have reduced the number of malpractice cases in court by facilitating the use of mediation. Mediation has proven to be a costeffective and timely way to settle malpractice cases. Rush Medical Center in Chicago now has onethird of its cases go to mediation instead of litigation. Other hospitals around the country have begun to implement similar programs. but have been hindered by the lack of mediators with a medical background. My amendment would have provided grants to set up mediation programs and to train medical malpractice mediators. This would have done exactly what this bill purports to do. reduce the burden of litigation. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL LIPINSKI","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1136,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090062973,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. this is not a debate over whether or not to trade with Central America. We already trade extensively. with Central American countries and the Dominican Republic. But this is a debate. Mr. Speaker. about peoples jobs. both here in the United States and in Central America. Now. maybe they do not care about jobs on the other side of the aisle. but. to the average worker. it is a big deal. I am tired of trade agreements that do not improve workers wage protections or benefits. but. rather. are a rush to the bottom that puts profits above people. Since 2000. the United States has lost 2.8 million manufacturing jobs and 1 million hightechnology jobs. We now have a $162 billion trade deficit with China. and a $42 billion deficit with Mexico. Clearly. the rules of international trade have failed the American worker. the American standard of living. and the American dream. and have made American jobs our number one export. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12219,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090062984,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is good for American farmers. It is good for American laborers. Let us get together and pass this bill.","speaker_name":"E. SHAW","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1995,"word_count":20}
{"speech_id":1090062986,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I offeredan amendment to allow 8 hours of debate. the same as for NAFTA. But the Republicans on the committee voted down the amendment. And we have a mere 2 hours to debate an agreement. which in its entirety is over 3.600 pages. the implications of which may well determine the future direction of U.S. trade policy. As a world leader. the United States has a crucial role to play on trade. We cannot step back from the global community. However. free trade must be tempered with meaningful policy which acknowledges that each trade agreement produces winners and losers. and it is our responsibility to do right by those displaced in the process. CAFTA falls far short in this regard and is thus fatally flawed. Those flaws are apparent throughout CAFTAs chapters and are most egregious on labor and environmental protections. for CAFTA offers only tokens and symbols. In contrast are the intellectual property provisions where it is obvious the United States Trade Representative used the full weight of the United States to ensure protection for business interests. This administrations handling of workers protections relative to other issues raises troubling questions about their agenda for these negotiations. ","speaker_name":"DORIS MATSUI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4269,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090062988,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That is one of my biggest concerns. If there is destabilization in those Central and South American countries. you can rest assured that there will be massive flight from those countries when wars break out. and they will be coming north. We have an immigration problem right now that we must solve. and we have talked about this time and again. But the problem is going to be exacerbated and made a lot worse if we let those countries. those fledgling democracies. starting to be destabilized by revolutionaries. There are governments down there right now that are using their resources to undermine some of these democracies. and we need to do everything we can to countermand that. This is a very important piece of legislation. It is very important. I hope my colleagues will see that and vote for it.","speaker_name":"DAN BURTON","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2651,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090062990,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It passed up an opportunity to reduce our countrys trade deficit. It passed up an opportunity to do the right thing by U.S. workers and firms. I intend to oppose this misguided agreement. and I urge the rest of the Members of this institution to do the same.","speaker_name":"RICHARD NEAL","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2545,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090062994,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Republican leadership has submitted a rule for CAFTA that makes a mockery of our Democratic process. The restrictive rule is part and parcel of a Republican leadership strategy to win passage of CAFTA at any cost. whatever the price to the taxpayer. whatever the damage to the fabric of our democracy. The Republican leadership has shownthat when it comes to CAFTA. they will cross any line and stifle any voice. CAFTA will hurt workers here at home and devastate the lives of the rural poor in Central America. a region where the inequality of income is the leading economic and political challenge. It will widen the gap between the haves and havenots. weaken labor and environmental standards. and set a dangerous precedent for future trade agreements. Carnegie Endowment points out that under NAFTA. the rural population in Mexico suffered the greatest consequences. losing 1.3 million agricultural jobs. Repeating that outcome in Central America will leave only more of the poorest in the region to migrate north. further exacerbating the challenges we face in securing our border. It is appalling and inexcusable how President Bush has sold the CAFTA deal with one hand while busily cutting aid that helps the poor throughout Central America with the other. Not only is this agreement bad for Central America. it also undermines labor policy and workers around the world. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT MENENDEZ","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2036,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090062995,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as I listen to people malign the procedure we are going under. let me just say the procedure is the procedure that is prescribed by the 1974 Trade Act. which says. \"No amendment to an -implementing bill or approval resolutioh shall be in order in either the House of Representatives or the Senate.\" Mr. Speaker. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas . a the. dear friend. a hardworking Member committed to free trade.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":438,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090062997,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would just like to point out that the little black book that the chairman of the Committee on Rules read from also said that the Rules of the House allows for up to 20 hours of debate on trade agreements. Mr. Speaker. I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman - from Maryland . who believes that a full and thorough debate is a good thing.","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":347,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090063003,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Congress is giving up more of its authority under article I. section VIII. We have done that under three Presidents in a row. Our CAFTA becomes a legallybound treaty. It will supersede any legislation passed by this Congress. And by the way. a slight detail: the CBO has told us that CAFTA will cost the American taxpayers $4.4 billion over the next 10 years. And since those in favor of CAFTA turn to this document. Mr. Speaker. this document shows that of the 14 agreements. the 14 agreements since Bush became the President of the United States. only three have been outrightly kept. He has as bad a record as President Clinton.","speaker_name":"BILL PASCRELL","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1363,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090063004,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 30 seconds to say that the democratically elected parliaments in El Salvador. Honduras. and Guatemala all have had votes on this issue. It was 49 to 30 in the democratically elected parliament of El Salvador. 126 to 12 in the democratically elected parliament of Guatemala. and 100 of 128 legislators in Honduras were supportive of the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Mr. Speaker. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Midland. Texas . my very good friend and a hardworking new Member of Congress.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":534,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090063038,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have heard my colleagues suggest that the CAFTA textile and apparel rules remain too strict to really make a difference. But the countries and the companies who invest and purchase from the region believe differently. Many of us had hoped for more flexibility. But those whose livelihoods depend on these issues believe that the new flexibilities CAFTA provides are critical to support an industry that provides some bf the bestpaying jobs in the region. Are we to substitute our judgment for theirs? CAFTA will also help these countries improve their investment climate through a more permanent relationship with the United States and many other provisions of CAFTA. including increased transparency. curbs on corruption and provisions that promote the rule of law. which could in fact be the single most important driver to improve the lives of our neighbors in Central America and the Domfnican Republic. And there are the agreements labor provisions. Both the commitments made by each country in the labor chapter to enforce domestic laves and the capacitybuilding program built into the CAFTA. which each of the six governments recently relied on in undertaking an unprecedented commitment to improve labor standards and enforcement in each of their countries in very concrete ways. But despite all of these provisions and commitments. it is argued that the CAFTAs labor provisions are a backwards step and that CAFTA should not be supported because of the CAFTA countries histories of weak labor laws and suppressing worker rights. The biggest labor issue of the CAFTA countries is in fact the inadequacy of their enforcement of existing laws. Indeed. this is where many of the 20plus labor problems the critics allege actually fall. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM JEFFERSON","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6090,"word_count":280}
{"speech_id":1090063044,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I would like to quote what the bishops have said about this because I think the previous speaker gave an eloquent speech. but he said one thing: It could be better for the Workers. I do not have any argument with that. And the bishop said. the panel urged that the agreement should contribute to sustainable human development. especially among the poorest and most vulnerable sectors. that the countries governments take as much time as necessary to provide adequate information and foster broad debates about the contact and impact of the agreement. and that the moral measure of any trade agreement should be how it affects the lives and the dignity of poor families and vulnerable workers whose voices should receive special attention in this discussion. Mr. Speaker. the following six pages are organizations representing religious leaders in Central America and the Dominican Republic. representing peasants. representing farmers. representing workers that all they are askifig is please include us.","speaker_name":"CHARLES RANGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1073,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090063048,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask you to join me in supporting the best interests of our Nation by passing DRCAFTA. I support CAFTA because it is deeply in our national interest. and it is a progrowth. projob vote. In the past I have seen the way free trade has revolutionized south Texas. bringing jobs. prosperity and growth to a part of the country that used to be economically underserved. DRCAFTA will perpetuate that growth. opening export markets to our American farmers and businesses. thereby creating jobs in farming. manufacturing and industry here at home. When NAFTA was signed in 1993. there were four Presidents. Clinton. Bush. Carter. and Ford. present at the signing. ","speaker_name":"HENRY CUELLAR","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2640,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090063058,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"President. this is not a jobs bill. Jobs come and jobs go. They go to cheaper fingers. It is a modest foreign policy agreement between two increasingly friendly .countries that share a 2.000 mile border. I actually own a plant in Mexico. You can pay them 58 cents an hour. But you pay them on Friday and they do not show up on Monday. and it gets very expensive as a businessman to rehire and retrain your workforce every Monday. So we- now pay them $5.50 or $6.00 per hour. plus health care and profit sharing. And they are buying houses. planting grass. and buying American products. This is what happens in the world. ","speaker_name":"JOHN LINDER","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1953,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090063060,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Vote \"no\" on the CAFTA!","speaker_name":"DALE KILDEE","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1617,"word_count":5}
{"speech_id":1090063068,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker. we have heard a lot about manufacturing jobs and about the trade deficit tonight. I think we will probably hear more. As one of the very few Members of this body who actually spent my entire adult life in manufacturing. I rise in strong support of DRCAFTA. The reason I support it is because during my business career. I learned a couple things. ","speaker_name":"CHRIS CHOCOLA","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1591,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090063094,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I know. I represent many of those people who escaped from that internal strife in their countries. Although many of them have traveled a long way toward democracy in their homelands. now their homelands have arrived. They have democracies. and they are flourishing. But they need our help. CAFTA will be a critical tool in maintaining this momentum towards a prosperous future. Not only will it promote expanded development and openness in the region. CAFTA will also .create new opportunities. economic opportunities. jobs and growth. by eliminating tariffs. by promoting transparency. and by opening markets to U.S. products going abroad. We have a commitment to work together to promote civil society. the rule of law. and to spread democracy throughout the world. and CAFTADR will help us achieve that commitment. (The gentlewoman from Florida spoke in Spanish.)","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1647,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090063098,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker..I had real doubts about CAFTA as it started. In particular. representing a textile district. there were three specific concerns. And the very exciting thing is that this House really went to work to fix those. I am looking at the gentleman from California (Chairman THOMAS). who has worked very hard with us. along with Rob Portman. USTR. to address those concerns. Three of them: one was pockets and linings. ","speaker_name":"BOB INGLIS","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1635,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090063104,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Michigan. adding to this trade deficit. taking 115 more jobs. and then last week from Nashville. Louisville Ladder Group. 110 more lost jobs. and then this week a Kansas radiator company leaving announced it was leaving for Mexico. These jobs go to places where working conditions are abominable. as the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Soms) has so well documented tonight. Sweatshops rule the day. CAFTA will fuel more such trade deficits as with Mexico. more illegal immigration as people. desperate. try to find some type of refuge north. We know illegal immigration has doubled just since NAFTA passed. We know CAFTA will increase drug trafficking. sexual harassment of women in the workplace. Environmental conditions will worsen. CAFTA will keep Central American workers in sweatshop conditions by rolling back enforcement provisions of the Caribean Basin Initiative. ","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2041,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090063106,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In the war on terror. they have been there with us. Four of these countries have sent troops to Iraq. All six of these countries are part of the coalition to defeat terrorism. Build the relationships with these countries who have stood with us. This is a good agreement. Let us move forward. and let us vote \"yes\" on CAFTA.","speaker_name":"PETER HOEKSTRA","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2255,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090063112,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"She is past her prime. so where does she go? Does she move to India. China. Singapore. Canada. Mexico? I doubt it. The daughter at least has a job. But the granddaughter is 11 years old. and we did not have a national strategy to teach her math. science. or any of the essentials that she needs to learn to compete in a global society. President Clinton. who supported all of these trade agreements. at least had an investment agenda that accompanied his trade policies. We have neither now. The challenge before this Congress this evening is not whether we pass this trade bill in the interests of some of my dear friends in the financial services and in the computer and IP industries and entertainment industries. the question we have tonight is. what are be doing for the 11yearold girl? Sure. we can produce movies here in town. but will we be producing it here? Sure. we can make things and have the capacity to do it. but will we be making things here? I ask my colleagues. as somebody that supported you all the time. ","speaker_name":"HAROLD FORD","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2678,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090063138,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Sell it on that we are really friends with Costa Rica and Nicaragua and Guatemala and the Dominican Republic. Say we are friends with them. and let us make sure they have a decent standard of living.","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1149,"word_count":37}
{"speech_id":1090063144,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I do not profess to know everything that CAFTA is going to do. but I do know that when I wake up in the morning. my congressional district has lost more than 150.000 goodpaying manufacturing -jobs. I know that we make candy. We make a lot of it. We used to be called the Candy Capital of the World. But my candy makers are leaving because the price of.sugar is too high. I was told and I was hoping that CAFTA would help reduce the price of sugar for my candy makers. It will not. Therefore. there is no reason for me to vote for CAFTA. andI shall not. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":584,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090063152,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to ask this body what is the rush? There is no need to adopt. There is no deadlines on this agreement. Three of the six countries have not even ratified it yet. I think when we are trying to do a trade agreement. we have got to do the best that America can do. The richest country in the world is about to enter into a trade agreement with the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere so that we can open up nontariff issues. They send us goods without tariffs. Yes. we do not grow bananas in the United States or guanabana or platano. but we want to send them our goods so that people who are earning $2 a day can buy Two Buck Chuck. Come on. ","speaker_name":"SAM FARR","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1149,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090063171,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Republic Leadership has insisted on bringing the proposed Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) before the House tonight. CAFTA tacitly. endorses labor and environmental conditions in Central America that would be illegal in the U.S. CAFTA allows goods produced under these conditions to unfairly compete with the Imperial County sugar growers. of my district. If we pass this agreement. American farmers and ranchers that comply with U.S. environmental and labor standards will be at a grave disadvantage in the global economy. My district which encompasses the border of California and Mexico. has felt the negative impact from the failure of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). My district has seen NAFTAs promises broken. translating free trade into poverty. increasing social inequality. and creating severe environmental degradation. The current CAFTA proposal would expand on NAFTAs failures. and send the wrong message: labor and environmental standards are not as important as producing cheap goods under horrible labor conditions. At the minimum CAFTA should call for basic labor standards including child labor protections. and environmental standards. ","speaker_name":"BOB FILNER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":51.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1307,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090063172,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But lowering the cost of goods and increasing their availably is not the single goal of trade. Trade done right helps lift the global standard of living and works to protect the irreplaceable environment we inherited. Trade is about values. Trade agreements are not just about goods and commodities. they are also about what constitutes acceptable behavior in environmental matters. workers rights. intellectual property. and so forth. We should make sure we export the goods we produce and not the workers who produce them. Unfortunately. the DRCAFTA before us today fails these basic tests. The DRCAFTA. does not contain the values we would require in America and that we must help spread in Central America. Even the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has come out in opposition to DRCAFTA because of its effect on the poor and most vulnerable in Central America. Each new trade agreement entered into by the U.S. should be very closely scrutinized. Each ought to include the strongest enforceable worker rights. human rights. and environmental safeguards attainable. like those included in the U.S.-Jordan agreement of 2000. ","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3727,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090063177,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Whether taking a multivitamin. herbal product. or specialty supplement. I know that people can and do live healthier lives and save money in longterm health costs by supplementing their diets. Approximately 10 years ago. seeing a need for the Federal Government to address the American consumers growing interest in dietary products and public safety. Congress overwhelmingly passed -the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act. DSHEA. to make certain that all dietary health products sold in the United States are held to the highest and safest quality standards. This legislation ensures the safety of dietary supplements by requiring manufacturers to follow standards called \"Good Manufacturing Practices.\" or GMPs. Essentially. all ingredients in supplements sold in the United States must be previously approved by the FDA and listed on the bottle label. and distributors must follow strict guidelines on any claims that are made in regard to a particular productto pro-. vide consumers with the most accurate information on supplements. Additionally. if at any time the FDA decides that a particular product or dietary ingredient is detrimental to human health. it reserves the right to have those items removed frorp the marketplace. This legislation provides the current framework for how the Federal government ensures the safety and efficacy of dietary supplements sold in the United States. and there is no provision in CAFTA that requires the United States to change DSHEA in any way. Nevertheless. ","speaker_name":"DAN BURTON","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4851,"word_count":233}
{"speech_id":1090063179,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I ask the Bush Administration and the Republican Leadership. \"If enacted. can you imagine what kind of damage CAFTA would inflict on Michigans sugar industry. which ranks fourth in the country?\" With a state sugar beet economy that spans 2.000 farms. employs thousands of people. and totals over $300 million annually. it doesnt take a genius to predict that flooding our market with sugar imports will strike a blow that may be unrecoverable. The National Farmers Union. the National Family Farm Coalition. the Institute on Agriculture and Trade Policy. Michigan Sugar Company. and the Monitor Sugar Company. they understand the impact it will have on the sugar industry. Why doesnt the House -Leadership pushing this bill get it? Or maybe they just dont care. This bill is bad for sugar beet growers and bad for Michigan. As Pope John Paul said. lets not strengthen the powerful at the expense of the less fortunate. That is what CAFTA will doadvance the financial interests of large multinational companies at the expense of the common good. I cannot support an agreement that fails to protect the livelihood of so many families. in Michigan. the United States. and abroad. That is why I will vote \"NO\" on CAFTA. ","speaker_name":"BART STUPAK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4777,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090063185,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is doublespeak for the President to say he wants to promote democracy to the south of our borders but pushes a trade agreement that consigns subsistence workers to economic bondage and forces American businesses to compete on an uneven playing field. This is the wrong trade agreement for the United States and for Central America. I urge my colleagues to vote no and send this treaty back to President Bush to be renegotiated.","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3439,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090063189,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. Congress debated the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993. I wrote an oped titled \"Not This Treaty. Not Now.\" arguing that NAFTAs time had not come. that the U.S. and Canada should require Mexico to meet certain preconditions before agreeing to the trade deal. Over the objections of those who argued NAFTA should be used to leverage reforms in Mexico. it passed without enforceable provisions to protect labor rights or the environment. Supporters of the agreement insisted The quest NAFTA would create millions of good jobs. Speaker pro help stem illegal immigration and raise living the ayes app standards \"from the Yukon to the Yucatan.\" A decade later. NAFTAs promise is largely unrealized. Environmental conditions in Mex- Mr. ","speaker_name":"JANE HARMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":36.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3841,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090063200,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"(during consideration of H.R. 3045). from the Committee on Rules. submitted a privileged report (Rept. No. 109200) on the resolution (H. Res. 394) waiving points of order against the conference report to accompany the bill to ensure jobs for our future with secure. affordable. and reliable energy. which was referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":366,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090063201,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"(during consideration of H.R. 3045). from the Committee on Rules. submitted a privileged report (Rept. No. 109201) on the resolution (H. Res. 394) providing for consideration of motions to suspend the rules. which was refetred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":275,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090063202,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"(during consideration of H.R. 3045). from the Committee on Rules. submitted a privileged report (Rept. No. 109202) on the resolution (H. Res. 396) waiving points of order against the conference report to accompany the bill making appropriations for the Legislative Branch for the fiscal year ending September 30. 2006. and for other purposes. which was referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":410,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090063230,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":14,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is a specialinterest windfall. I. for one. do not believe we should be giving the gun industry sweeping and unprecedented protection from the type of lawsuits that are available to every individual involving every other industry anywhere in America. We have to recognize that guns in America are responsible for the deaths of 30.000 Americans a year. If we remove this one avenue for enforcing responsibility. individuals will have -no recourse. Gun owners and gun victims alike will be left virtually powerless against an industry that is already immune from so many other consumer protections. So we find ourselves today on the cusp of yet another NRA victory. Simply put. we are considering legislation that would ensure that it is not in the financial interests of gun manufacturers or sellers to take reasonable care in administering their business. We are removing the incentives of the tort system to encourage responsible behavior. No longer will those incentives to responsible behavior be present. Let me be clear. if this bill is approved. it will not be a victory for lawabiding gun owners who might someday benefit from the ability to sue a manufacturer or dealer for their negligent conduct. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11986,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090063243,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. the current Congress has taken a stand against frivolous lawsuits. and we have dope so in a number of ways as we paint a portrait of the fact that frivolous lawsuits today are not in the interest of the American people. We addressed it in class action reform. We addressed it to a degree with bankruptcy reform. returning to personal responsibility. We will do it with asbestos reform. an issue that has for the last 10. 15. 20 years unfairly resulted in the trial lawyers doing very well. but the patient with cancer. mesothelioma. not being compensated. the victims not being compensated. We will be addressing medical liability at some point in time. hopefully in this Congress. and then gun liability. the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. which is being addressed today and tomorrow and possibly the next day. This bill is directed at the frivolous lawsuits that today are aimed at gun manufacturers and people who are selling firearms. The bill places responsibility on the criminal for the unlawful use of guns. and that is where that responsibility belongs. Many people believe that the whole gun manufacturing industry is a hugely profitable industry. and that is wrong. It is not. The gun industry is relatively modest. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7541,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090063252,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Abu Nidal. the secular Palestinian terrorist leader and founder of the Abu Nidal organization. lived in Iraq from 1998 until he died in 2002. Over the years. that organization carried out terrorist attacks in 20 countries. killing or injuring almost 900 people. including hijacking of Pan Am flight 373 in Karachi in 1986 and the assassination of a Jordanian diplomat. in Lebanon in 1994. Abu Nidal was arguably the worlds most ruthless terrorist until the rise of Saddam Hussein. He lived and flourished in Saddams Iraq for 4 years. In 1993. the Iraqi Intelligence Service directed and pursued an attempt to assassinate. through the use of a powerful car bomb. former President George Bush and the Emir of Kuwait. Kuwait authorities thwarted the terrorist plot and arrested 16 suspects led by two Iraqi nationals. Finally. Abdul Rahman Yasin. who was indicted in the United States for mixing the chemicals in the bomb that exploded beneath the World Trade Center in 1993. arrived in Baghdad during July of 1994. Upon his arrival. Yasin traveled freely and received both a house and a monthly stipend from the Iraqi Government during his stay. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8963,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090063260,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It happens in this country. In only nine instances were they turned down. In the months since the study ended. 12 more suspected terrorists had the green light to buy or carry guns. FBI Director Bob Muellerwhom I respect very muchsaid he was forming a group to study the problem. Why arent we talking about this instead of granting immunity for the gun dealer who sells a weapon to someone he should have known could misuse it for a crime or for terrorism? We are shielding them from civil liability for not living up to their responsibility when it comes to the sale of lethal firearms. Or we could talk about ways to solve the problem in America of guns being trafficked. many crossing State lines. and used in crimes. The ATF says 90 percent of the guns recovered in crimes were used by persons other than the original purchaser. other than \"straw men.\" people who bought them to sell them to criminals. Onethird of all crime guns cross State lines. In my State of Illinois. 47 percent of guns traced to crimes committed in Illinois originated in other States. One State. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11169,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090063280,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it is our intentionand I will be offering an amendment shortlybut we will be in discussions with the leadership and the ranking member and chairman discussing amendments and allowing them to be offered accordingly in the judgment of the chairman and ranking member and the leadership.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":299,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090063286,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President and colleagues in the Senate. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it stand in adjournment until 9:30 a.m. tomorrow. Thursday. July 28. I further ask that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate begin a period of morning business for 1 hour. with the first 30 minutes under the control of the Democratic leader or his designee and the second 30 minutes under the control of the majority leader or his designee. I further ask that following morning business. the Senate resume consideration of S. 397. the gun liability bill.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":710,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090063294,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this vote can technically ripen as early as 1 a.m.. not tomorrow but the next day. Friday morning. I am not certain at this point if we will vote then or later that morning. I wili -continue and want to continue to consult with my colleagues on the schedule. As we just discussed on the Senate floor. we have a lot of business to accomplish over the next several days. We have the energy conference report. the highway conference report. the Interior bill. the veterans health money attached. a number of nominations. Therefore. I hope that when cloture is invoked. we can find a way to bring this bill to a final vote so that we can expedite some of these other very important issues.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":700,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090063306,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Let me acknowledge my primary Democrat sponsor. Senator MAX BAUCUS of Montana. and thank him for his work on this initiative. Senator BAUCUS and I introduced this bill in February. and more than half of the Senate. both Republicans and Democrats. have now joined us since it was formally introduced in its final form. Earlier in the day. I inserted into the RECORD all of those who are now cosponsors. This range of cosponsorship reflects extraordinary. widespread support that crosses party and demographic lines and covers the spectrum of political ideologies represented in the Senate. It demonstrates a strong commitment by a majority of this body to take a stand against a trend toward predatory litigation that impugns the integrity of our courts. threatens a domestic industry that is critical to our national defense. jeopardizes hundreds of thousands of goodpaying jobs of hardworking men and women across America. and puts at risk the access Americans have to a legal product used for hundreds of years across the Nation for lawful purposes such as recreation and. most important. selfdefense. I have used the term \"junk lawsuits.\" and I wish to make very clear to everyone listening to this debate that I do not mean any disrespect in any way whatsoever to the victims of gun violence who might be involved in these actions. Although their names are sometimes used in these lawsuits. they are not the people who came up with the notion of going after the industry instead of going after the criminals responsible for the injuries or the loss of life of their loved ones. That notion originated with bureaucrats. antigun advocates and the lawyers who work with them. * Victims. including their families and communities. deserve our support and compassion. riot to mention our insistence on an aggressive law enforcement effort that puts punishment where it ought to be renderedto the criminal. ","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11624,"word_count":314}
{"speech_id":1090063310,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I think the Senator from Idaho makes it very clear what seems to be going on now. I heard a few moments ago the majority leaders response to Senator KENNEDY. saying there would be an opportunity to present amendments. to debate this bill. I would also note that prior to any other action. cloture was filed on this bill.","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":335,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090063323,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It says that negligence cases. those that you must show that. in fact. the manufacturer or the dealer had a duty and unreasonably failed to perform that duty. that is what you have to show. In fact. I think I accurately represented what was in the letter.","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1140,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090063326,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my colleague. Let me read another paragraph from that letter. which I think clearly spells out the fear that my colleague would wish to step aside from and argue that is simply not the case. He is dealing with a strict liability statute. This paragraph says: Passed in 1991. the D.C. statute had not been used until the District of Columbia recently filed a lawsuit against the firearm industry in an attempt to hold the firearm makers. importers anct distributors liable for the cost of criminal gun misuse in the District. Although the Court of Appeals (sitting en banc in the case D.C. v. Beretta U.S.A. et al.) dismissed many parts of the case. it affirmed the D.C. strict liability statute and. moreover. ruled that victims of gun violence can sue firearm manufacturers simply to determine whether that companys firearm was used in the victims shooting. Now. does that take away the costs involved in the preparation. the hundreds of millions of dollars that are now being spent? No. it does not. This was a frivolous lawsuit from the beginning. ","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1597,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090063339,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":14,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator from New Jersey and will share a little personal perspective. I have been in law enforcement for the better part of my professional career as a prosecutor. Some of my best friends are law enforcement officers. I have stood shoulder to shoulder with them in prosecuting cases. I know the risks they undertake to carry out their duties. I believe in what they do. and I believe they should be supported. These law enforcement officers are not telling me that if a criminal murders one of their brothers or sisters. that they want to sue Smith & Wesson. The thought does not cross .their mind. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11094,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090063357,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This has everything to do with frivolous lawsuits against lawabiding citizens. I am afraid we have to start dealing with the criminal element instead of the law abiding. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2253,"word_count":32}
{"speech_id":1090063365,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And millions and millions and millions of dollars spent. I appreciate the Senators mindset on this issue. He is fundamentally wrong. and that is why we have the legislation now to provide a very narrow scope of protection. but certainly not from malfunctioning. not from bad product. only from that thirdparty criminal issue. I am sorry to say the Senator would disagree with me. but a person who manufacturers a firearm is not the criminal who pulls the trigger and therefore should not be liable for that criminal act.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":520,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090063371,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I participated in a conversation I am confident the manager of the bill was in on this morning where the distinguished majority leader said he wanted to take a little bit of time. after having filled the tree. which is very unusual. and he would look at the amendments offered by the Senator from Rhode Island and make a decision as to which of those he would allow to be debated. He did say he had no problem with him offering amendcments and we would be able to debateand I do not recall him saying \"vote on them\"but at least debate specific amendments that were up. But I assumed in the tenor of the conversation there would be votes on the amendments. We have been on this bill now for 3 hours. after proceeding to it. and my friend from Rhode Island has been unable to offer any amendments. So I say to the manager of the bill. through the Chair. how much longer is it going to take before the majority makes a decision on something that should be fairly routine. as to when the Senator from Rhode Island can have some of his amendments heard before the body?","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1064,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090063372,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If the Senator will yield. Mr. President. let me address the minority leader. Certainly. all that he has said is exactly the conversation frorh my reference point that went on between him and the majority leader. There is no intent to block all amendments. That is not the intent of what the majority leader did. We have seen these amendments less than 30 minutes. in almost every instance. prior to the time they were offered. Certainly. the Senator from Nevada knows the opportunity to examine and look at these amendments. in light of similar amendments offered last year. is a reasonable request. That is the request the majority leader and I. as the floor manager. have made. Those amendments are under review now. ","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1699,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090063373,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But I want the Senate to understand. both Democrats and Republicans. who are clamoring to go placeshome or other places they have set to go during this recessthat Senator REED is not holding this up. Under the procedures of the Senate. he has a right and will keep us here until Saturday morning. unless there is a decision made that we can finish all this as quickly as possible. eliminating the 30 hours. and going forward with the other business of the Senate. Otherwise. it is going to be real tough to jam all that in. I see nothing lost. There has been some talk: Well. during the 5week period both sides will run ads and things of that nature. I have no doubt that may be true. But I cannot imagine it will change any votes. But I want everyone to understand. when people come to me and say. \"Why is Senator REED of Rhode Island being so unreasonable?\" -the Senator from Rhode Island is being totally reasonable. Some of us have spoken to him. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3301,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090063395,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The term \"gross negligence\" is defined in my amendment as the term is defined in 42 United States Code 1791(B). and the term \"reckless\" has the meaning given under section 2(A)1.4 of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. So we do define both terms very precisely as they are already defined in two laws. I appreciate the Senator withholding his objection at this time so I could make that statement. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":415,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090063453,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on Monday I offered an amendment that would prohibit cruel. inhuman. or degrading treatment or punishment of persons under the custody or control of the U.S. Government. I was pleased that Senators WARNER. GRAHAM. and COLLINS joined as original cosponsors. and Senators CHAFEE and -ALEXANDER have also joined as cosponsors. After I offered the amendment. I agreed to modify it at the managers request to include a Presidential waiversection (b) of the pending amendment. It is now clear. however. that this would be inconsistent with the overall intent of my amendment. which is to ensure that there is full compliance with our treaty obligations. including with the prohibition against cruel. inhuman. and degrading treatment included in the Convention Against Torture. which was signed by President Reagan and ratified by the Senate. For this reason. I have filed a seconddegree amendment to amendment No. 1556 that would strike the waiver. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1344,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090063461,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In contrast. Judge Pryors statements about section 5 reflect a longdiscredited view of the Voting Rights Act. Since the enactment of the. statute in 1965. every Supreme Court case to address the question has rejected the claim that section 5 is an \"affront\" to our system of federalism. Whether under Earl Warren. Warren Burger. or William Rehnquist. the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that guaranteeing all citizens the right to cast an equal vote is essential to our democracyno a \"burden\" that has \"outlived its usefulness.\" Indeed. Congressman LEwis spotisored a resolution. which is being considered on the floor of the House today. commemorating the passage of the Voting Rights Act 40 years ago this summer. The resolution recalls the struggle for the acts landmark protectionsfrom the brutal suppression of marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. AL. on \"Bloody Sunday\" in March 1965. to the passage of the bill by a bipartisan Congress months laterand reaffirms its importance. Forty years after President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1152,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090063475,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"By Mr. JEFFORDS (for himself.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3924,"word_count":5}
{"speech_id":1090063479,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is time for Congress to help make medicine more affordable. One thing we can do is to make sure that as more drugs become available without prescriptions that their costs can still be included in tax- deductible health care expenses. If we can do that. we will have done a great deal. Mr. President. I request unanimous consent that my statement be included in the RECORD. By Mr. INOUYE.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2612,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090063502,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Energy be authorized to meet during -the session of the Senate on Wednesday. July 27. 2005. at 3 p.m. The purpose of the hearing is to receive testimony on recent progress in hydrogen and fuel cell research sponsored by the Department of Energy and by private industry. Testimony will also address the remaining challenges to the development of these technologies.","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":428,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090063520,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I also want to thank my committee staff Amy Muhlberg and Stephen Northrup. Finally. I must express my deep appreciation and thanks to the ranking member. Senator KENNEDY. and his staff. David Bowen and David Dorsey. for their hard work and support during this process. We have produced a fair del. and I urge my colleagues to lend it their strong support.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3216,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090063534,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I (2) any rightsofway to the land reserved by the Secretary. ask unanimous consent that the com- (3) a covenant or restriction in.the deed to .mitteereported amendment be agreed the land described in subsection (b) requiring to. the bill. as amended. be read the thatthird time and passed. the motions to (A) the land may be used only for edureconsider be laid upon the table. and cational purposes. that any statements relating to the (B) if the land is no longer used for the purbill be printed in the RECORD. poses described in subparagraph (A). the land shall. at the discretion of the Secretary. re-","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":619,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090063744,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. it Speaker. while I am not an expert in ri time management. I do have a suggestion that would allow the House to bet. ter use its time. Last night we spent well over an hour here. a lot of very busy people. while P the leadership variously cajoled. nY bribed. browbeat. et cetera. a few Republicans who wanted to have it both a ways. who wanted to give people the U impression they were opposed to -t] CAFTA while they were ready to cave c in for sufficient inducement. P What we should have done. and I pro- g pose this for the future. is the next w time we have one of those tough votes n where they are going to have to do that u with their Members. let us schedule an S evacuation drill from the House. a The fact is at the time the plane was t flying over here and a roll call was open and we evacuated the House. it a took about the same time as it took c them to cajole and blackmail and m browbeat their people last night. d So why not do two things at once? The next time they know there is a bill v they are going to cram down peoples 1 throats that they do not want to vote t for and want to pretend .to their voters b they are against it. and it is going to TL take them an hour or 2 to find out t ways to get them to help fool people. why not schedule in advance an evacuation drill. and that way we can kill two birds with one stone? And since people might not know it is a drill. they can threaten people who do not a vote with them: They can make them d stay here in case there is a plane crash. v S","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1519,"word_count":319}
{"speech_id":1090063747,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. peaker. I rise today to salute an indiidual without whom Members on this ide of the aisle and indeed Members of he- entire House would be lost. Danielle Simonetta has been a public servant for the last 8 years. 5 of which have been spent with us here in the House. A New York native and a graduate of my alma mater. Washington Lee University in Virginia. Danielle began her Hill career with the legendary Gerry Solomon and then the gentleman from California as a Committee on Rules staffer. After 2 years with Mitch Daniels at the Office of Management and Budget. she came back to us again and has spent the last 21\/2 years as the senior floor assistant to the gentleman from Texas . majority leader. In her time with leadership. she has worked tirelessly for the members of the Republican Conference. Those who know Danielle know she is a reliable source of information to us here on the House floor and a constant advocate for us in scheduling the floor. Whether it is adding a Members lastminute suspension to the House schedule. advising Members on the merits of a particular amendment. or bragging about her beloved dog Otis. ","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1491,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090063748,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. the American people deserve answers.","speaker_name":"BARBARA LEE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1132,"word_count":6}
{"speech_id":1090063749,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to recognize SteVe Sauls. an extraordinary advocate for the students and the school of Florida International University in my hometown of Miami. As an experienced member of the administration and leadership at the university. Steve has worked incredibly hard to promote the needs and the interests necessary to make FIU the fine institution that it is today. Steve is retiring from his current position as vice president of government affairs for the university after 14 wonderful and productive years and has accepted a job as vice president of corporate relations in a private sector firm. I know that Steve will be immensely missed at the university. my alma mater. and will leave a void that will be difficult to fill. I have no doubt that Steve will continue to lead and excel in his new position. and I wish him all the best and FIU all the best in the years to come. [ 1015","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":906,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090063753,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. for the purpose of debate only. I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Florida . pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution. all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. This resolution waives all points of order against the conference report and against its consideration. Mr. Speaker. we now have before us the first appropriations conference report. The gentleman from North Carolina (Chairman TAYLOR) and those who have been working with him on the House side. as well as on the Senate side. should be applauded for taking this appropriation process and concept of prioritization and presenting the product that we have before us. The Interior conferees have produced a conference report which is fiscally responsible and does live within strict budget discipline. It recommends for the fiscal year 2006 budget $26.2 billion. which is actually below last years enacted level of $27 billion.Even though the total number is lower. it still takes into account significant and important and highpriority items. such as wildland firefighting. $2.7 billion. a $61 million increase for our National Parks. a $31 million increase in our National Forest System. and $106 million increase for the Indian Health Service. ","speaker_name":"ROB BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3427,"word_count":209}
{"speech_id":1090063754,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Democrats came to this floor with the former Republican chairman of the Committee on Veterans Affairs. the gentleman from New Jersey . arguing that the majority was shortchanging veterans health care by more than $1 billion. What did the majority do about our concerns? Absolutely nothing. Democrats got stonewalled. the gentleman from New Jersey lost his job. and Americas veterans got shafted. This spring. Mr. Speaker. our Democratic prophesy came true. The Bush administration finally admitted that it had pushed a budget which shortchanged veterans health care by some $1 billion. Democrats countered that $1 billion still was not enough. and the administration waffled. Eventually and embarrassingly. the Bush administration finally admitted that the actual shortfall was closer to $1.5 billion. the","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3833,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090063762,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time. and I urge the Members to support the rule that provides for consideration of this conference report to the accompanying H.R. 2361. and I move the previous question on the conference report. The previous question was ordered.","speaker_name":"ROB BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":275,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090063779,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I thank my colleague from Washington for the time. Mr. Speaker. I have enormous respect for the gentleman from Texas and the gentleman from Michigan . the ranking member. They have worked in a bipartisan way in this conference committee to produce this bill. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":567,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090063794,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I look forward to seeing one of the first appropriations conference reports move forward today.","speaker_name":"DORIS MATSUI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1698,"word_count":17}
{"speech_id":1090063830,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. I commend my colleagues for choosing not to include MTBE safe harbor provisions in the bill. but that alone does not guarantee that this is a good bill. The bill is a missed opportunity. I do not support this legislation. And I know we must continue this debate on cleaning up our environment and protecting our consumers.","speaker_name":"HILDA SOLIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":958,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090063866,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. look backward and does nothing to I yield myself such time as I may con- help our energy dependence and overall sume to note that although we love the energy situation. I hope we defeat it. gentleman from Massachusetts and his visuals. it is like the I yield myself such time as I may con\"I Love Lucy\" reruns. We have seen sume to make a request of the genthem before. tleman from Massachusetts (Mr. MARMr. Speaker. I yield 1 minute to the KEY). Could the gentleman yield me 1 gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. PICK- minute of his time. if possible. or do ERING). the vice chairman of the com- you have your speakers all utilized? mittee. . Mr. ","speaker_name":"JOE BARTON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":682,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090063886,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 1 minute. Mr. Speaker. in this bill there are so many preposterous provisions. it is impossible to list them all. But amongst them is a provision which after 35 years strips Governors and mayors of an ability to block an LNG. a liquefied natural gas facility. from being built in the middle of a densely populated area. This photograph shows Boston. This is my district. This is where one of the facilities has already been built. but it was built with permission. Now post9\/11 with terrorists targeting sites with the highest potential harm to Americans. this bill blocks Governors. police. and fire departments from blocking facilities from going into densely populated areas. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1017,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090063891,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of the conference report. I begin by commending my colleagues. all of them. for the work they did. I want to pay particular. tribute to the staff which worked long and hard and did a superb job. and that is the staff on both sides of the aisle and at both ends of this building: Senate. House. Republicans and Democrats. I want to pay particular tribute to my friends who served as conferees. all of them. whether they signed the conference report or not. I want to pay particular tribute to the gentleman from Texas (Chairman BARTON) for his outstanding leadership and for the fair and decent way in which he conducted the business of the conference. And I want to pay tribute to Senators DoMENICI and BINGAMAN who did such an outstanding job in making it possible for us to have the kind of negotiations which brought us here. ","speaker_name":"JOHN DINGELL","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4096,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090063892,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is not a land where we want the government to tell us what to do and how to make choices. Our country is built on the premise that men and women. given the proper information. can make intelligent choices about what is best for them. This bill before us is based on that principle. We have strong environmental protection. We have strong protections against those that misuse the authorities. but this bill is based on the premise that we believe in private free market capitalism to develop the resources of this land in a costefficient fashion which benefits all of America. All of America. And there are numerous provisions in this bill to give incentives to renewable and clean energy resources. There are numerous provisions in this bill to increase the efficient use of those resources. But. yes. there are provisions in this bill that say it is okay to use clean coal. it is okay to build a new nuclear power plant in this country if we do it in the proper way with the proper permits and the froper Inspections. And. yes. it is okay to build new LNG facilities to bring more natural gas into our great Nation if we need it and if it is done with the proper consultation with State. local. and Federal agencies. ","speaker_name":"JOE BARTON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1788,"word_count":221}
{"speech_id":1090063893,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This bill requires the adoption of strict transmission reliability standards and provides incentives for building additional transmission capacity. This bill also includes measures to update our Nations electricity laws which will attract muchneeded capital to this vital sector of our economy. However. this bill is not just about the creation of energy. it also contains several important provisions which will help conserve energy as well. This bill establishes new mandatory efficiency standards for federal buildings. And. it sets new standards and requires product labeling for battery chargers. commercial refrigerators. freezers and other household products. Mr. Speaker. I could go on and on about all the positive and important elements in this legislation. But I believe its enough to say that we should support this bill and send it to the President because its the right thing for the American people. They should expect to have an affordable. reliable. efficient. and environmentally sound supply of energy and this bill assures that they will. ","speaker_name":"J. HASTERT","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4292,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090063898,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. a grave threat to America today is our addiction to oil. and voting for the Energy Bill is like franchising drug abuse. Republicans have written a bill that favors corporate America over Main Street America. This bill does not. and will not. address any of the critical energy issues that threaten our environment. our economy and our middle class. Sixty dollars for a barrel oil that breaks the backs and the budgets of Mainstream Americans is a scandal. And this legislation serves as a full. free and absolute pardon to those who failed to put Americas interests ahead of special interests. Oil company profits have been driven obscenely high on the backs of American consumers. and this legislation paves an express lane for Big Oil to drive the American consumer into the ground. At a time when America needs energy vision. Republicans have given us their philosophy: leave no special interest behind. Big Oil--step right up and fill the tank with the hard earned money of Americas middle class. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1931,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090063901,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in objection to H.R. 6. the Energy Policy Act conference report under consideration by the full House of Representatives and the Senate this week. While the conference report removes many of the worst provisions from the original House bill. this final version does little to reduce our nations dependence on foreign oil. to decrease rising oil and gas prices. to increase our national security. to protect our environment. or to encourage investment in renewable energy sources. In addition. provisions in the report could directly impact my constituents by excluding local voices and local input during hydropower relicensing. which is what is taking place at the Niagara Power Project. just outside my district. right now. While I applaud the hard work of my colleagues in removing many of the most egregious aspects of the billreducing the giveaways to oil and gas companies. removing the MTBE provision and excluding drilling in the Great Lakes and AlaskaI am most concerned about how this bill will affect my constituents in Western New York where we are currently embattled in a fight with the New York Power Authority over its bad faith negotiations to mitigate the environmental. aesthetic and economic effects of storage and use of NYPA equipment essential to the hydropower dam on Buffalos waterfront. the Niagara River. Lake Erie and Western New Yorks economic recovery. Buried deep in the conference report is language that will make it easier for hydropower project owners to squash local concerns and secondguess federal agency licensing conditions by countering with their own favorable alternatives. Under current law. applications to operate a hydroelectric facility are reviewed by federal environmental agencies. Those agencies. with input from concerned citizens. states and local governments. can place conditions on the approval of a license. requiring the applicant to provide specified protections for water and wildlife. ","speaker_name":"BRIAN HIGGINS","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":27.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5284,"word_count":307}
{"speech_id":1090063910,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Nonetheless. like its predecessors. this energy bill is a missed opportunity. It does not address the issues that the American people care aboutlower gas prices at the pump. a healthy environment. safe water to drink. and cleaner air. This bill is still antitaxpayer. antienvironment. and afiticonsumer. It is antitaxpayer with billions of dQIlars in gifts to the oil. gas. and nuclear industries. including a new production tax credit for eight years. There are some subsidies for emerging clean energy technologies. such as renewable energy and hybrid vetlidles.butn6t nearly. enough. especially compared to the giveaway for the established energy industries. Then there is the special gift for the gentleman from Texas. the House Majority Leader. After the gavel went down on the energy bill conference. a provision was included that sets up a special $1.5 billion fund for the oil industry to conduct research on how to find oil. and a leading contender to host the consortium is Sugar Land. Texas. Consortium members. including Halliburton and Marathon Oil. can receive awards from the fund. There you have it: big oil. ","speaker_name":"NANCY PELOSI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4084,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090063913,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Finally. this conference report turns back the clock on decades of hardfought. bipartisan environmental protection. The Clean Water Act. Safe Drinking Water Act and National Environmental Protection Act are all undermined. while State *authority over siting decisions for liquefied natural gas importation terminals is preempted. Additionally. the legislation abdicates all responsibility for the most looming ecological challenge of our time: climate change. Senate language calling for carbon caps to combat global warming was stripped from the final bill. and in amendment I offered with Representatives WAYNE GILCHREST and JOHN OLVER to take the modest step of establishing a national greenhouse gas registry was quashed in April by the House Rules Committee. Mr. Speaker. this legislation goes further where it shouldntand not nearly far enough where it should. It is content to see the world through the rear view mirror of a parked SUV while the rest of the world is flying down the road in hybrids passing us by. At the dawn of the 21st century. the United States deserves an energy policy worthy of its people and of the historic leadership we have always provided on the world stage. This is not that energy policy. ","speaker_name":"CHRIS VAN HOLLEN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2769,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090063914,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise to express my support for the Energy Policy Act of 2005. H.R. 6 is a truly balanced bill that will ensure the infrastructure necessary to meet energy needs in the United States through future decades. reduce dependence on foreign sources of oil. making us safer at home. and create thousands of new jobs for American workers. This was accomplished. in large part. by the inclusion of several important energy tax incentives. Along with investments in renewable and clean energy incentives and domestic oil and gas production. H.R. 6 makes a significant commitment to coal. As my colleagues know. coal produces 51 percent of our Nations electricity and many experts estimate that number will grow in the coming years. H.R. 6 includes a 7year recovery period for new investments in pollution control facilities installed in coalfired electric generation plants. The shorter recovery period will allow companies to make it easier to comply with new EPA regulations. ","speaker_name":"RON LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1882,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090063951,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In one case the only interaction with the person suing was that he stepped in her childs hospital room and asked simply. how is your child doing? Each jury c leared him of any wrongdoing. and the total amount of time all three juries spent deliberating was less than an hour. But the doctors insurance company spent a great deal of time. effort and money in his defense. It is no surprise the American College of Emergency Physicians found that large majorities of both rural and urban hospitals had inadequate oncall specialists coverage. And there has been a 40 percent reduction in medical students entering obstetrics and gynecology. According to the chair of the OB\/ GYN department at the Yale School of Medicine. \"Within 2 years we will be faced with a very real possibility of having to shut down our highrisk obstetrical practice. a practice that cares for the sickest mothers in the State.\" As for legitimate cases of medical malpractice. nothing in the HEALTH Act prevents juries from awarding very large amounts to victims. including children. The HEALTH Act does not limit in any way an award of economic damages to injured victims. Economic damages include lost wages or home services. medical costs. the cost of painreducing drugs. therapy and lifetime rehabilitation care. In fact. in just the last few years. juries in California have awarded the following damages to medical malpractice victims: An $84 million award to a 5yearold boy. a $59 million award to a 3yearold girl. a $50 million award to a 10yearold boy. a $12 million award to a 30yearold homemaker. and a $27 million award to a 25yearold woman. Other examples include damages of $7. $22. $25. $30. and $49 million. all in just the last few years. ","speaker_name":"LAMAR SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4626,"word_count":295}
{"speech_id":1090063963,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But. really. what this bill is premised on is absolutely false.. and Americans should know that because I have heard from so many with so many tragic incidents. amputated legs. individuals at hospitals who have died not because of what they went into the hospital for but because they caught an infection in the hospital. But as it relates to insurance and low rates. let me cite a study that is the prevailing trend in America. A new study by the former insurance commissioner of Missouri. Jay Angoff. shows that insurance companies are gouging doctors. The study shows that insurance premiums are skyrocketing. while payouts have remained flat or in some cases even decreased. There is no evidence that we are making a dent with this medical malpractice oppressive legislationoppressive legislation. in insurance rates. In particular. it is a shame that when you have a tragedy in your family. someone who lost their life because of negligence. and there are three defendants. the general trend is that you go against the defendant with the deepest pockets. That defendant who is wellsituated will go against the others who contributed to that terrible tragedy. Now. this bill locks the door. closes out the bus driver. the teacher. the nurses aid. the oil refinery worker. absolutely closes them out. It also denies children who are innocent. under 18. enhanced economic damages. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8569,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090063969,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. First of all. I am for medical malpractice reform. I think it is extremely important we address this issue. However. I have a real problem with this bill. In section 7. item (c). under punitive damages. it in effect will protect the pharmaceutical industry against class action lawsuits by parents who have had their children damaged by mercury in vaccines that causes neurological problems. such as autism. We had hearings on this for about 6 years. and we had scientists from all over the world. and the mercury in vaccines is a contributing factor to autism and other neurological disorders in children. ","speaker_name":"DAN BURTON","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1710,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090063979,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The average jury award has hardly increased at all in the last decade. In the last year. claims payments have decreased. gone down. by 9 percent. according to HHS. yet insurance premiums continue to rise. So where is the crisis? Not in huge runaway juries and not in exorbitant awards. Yet we have here a spectacular assault on the rights of consumers and patients. A cap on noneconomic damages of $250.000 might have been reasonable in 1975 when it was first imposed in California. but today. and with increasing inflation. it is worth less and less. When we considered this bill in committee last year. I offered amendments to raise the cap to $1.5 million. or at least to index it to inflation so it does not get inflated down to worthlessness. Party line vote: Cannot do that. But the biggest weakness of this bill is that it will not work. Anyone who thinks insurance rates will go down as a result of this bill is being sold a bill of goods. ","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3348,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090063993,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would ask to what guidelines the gentleman refers. I know there have been guidelines about bringing a bill up at all. but I am not aware of any guidelines that govern the deliberations of a bill once it has been brought iorward. Could the Speaker enlighten us as to what guidelines he is discussing? I am not aware of guidelines that deal with the bill once it is before us. I understand they have dealt with whether or not you consider the bill. [1 1415","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":469,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090064015,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I think all of the assembled Parliamentarians. staffers. the histrionics of the other side. the apoplexy over the idea that perhaps we might actually reduce premiums is fairly instructive to this debate. We had no hearings on this. We had no chance to mark it up. We had no chance to include a reduction in premiums. The gentleman from Georgia said this is a proconsumer thing. If you really wanted it to be proconsumer. you would reduce premiums. I would ask any Member on the other side of the aisle who supports this bill to simply say. We do not really care about reducing premiums. ","speaker_name":"ANTHONY WEINER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3226,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090064024,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 10 seconds. Mr. Speaker. I want to say I appreciate the gentleman from Massachusetts . who just spoke. voting for this legislation in the last Congress. Mr. Speaker. I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania . a former member of the Committee on the Judiciary and now a member of the Committee on Ways and Means.","speaker_name":"LAMAR SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":353,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090064030,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I had a revelation during the course of the exchange about capping premiums. What I found particularly fascinating was that my good friend from Georgia. our own Dr. Phil. is an advocate for wage control. In other words. cap those fees as long as. I guess. it is lawyers. Maybe not for CEOs. but at least we know that he is a proponent of wage controls for lawyers. But when it comes to price control. it seems that the majority has a problem. So you are in favor of capping wages. but not in favor of capping prices. because really that is what it comes down to. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1493,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090064035,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 20 seconds. Mr. Speaker. regarding Vioxx. some have alleged the company knowingly misrepresented or withheld information from the FDA. If so. they would be denied the protections in the bill because the bill specifically in section 7 says and excludes any instances in which a person. before or after premarket approval. clearance. or licensure of such medical product. knowingly misrepresented to or withheld from the FDA information that is required to be submitted. If we look at the language of the bill. we can see that what the gentleman said is not relevant. Mr. Speaker. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania .","speaker_name":"LAMAR SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":661,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090064036,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That did not solve the problem. That Stateadministered program is broke. My general assembly has appropriated hundreds of millions of dollars to pay doctors medical liability premiums and hospitals premiums. That is what will happen if you mandate that premium reduction. It sounds good. but it does not fix it. The Governor of my State. Ed Rendell. a Democrat. I talked to his insurance commissioner a couple of years ago. I said. if this is an insurance problem. lets look at the numbers. For every dollar paid at that time in medical liability premiums. there was $1.27 in losses incurred. $1 in. $1.27 out. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES DENT","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4576,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090064038,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact. the opposite is occurring in Florida where the average amount insurers are paying for claims has gone down 14 percent since 1991. At the same time. however. premiums charged by insurers have increased 43 percent. In particular. overall claim payouts for Floridas largest medical insurer. FPIC. dropped 22 percent in the last 4 years. Outrageously. remarkably. this same insurer saw a 154 percent increase in profits for the first quarter in 2004. This legislation needs to be seen for what it is. It is not about helping doctors. It is not about helping patients. The only goal of this legislation is to ensure even higher profits for insurance companies while not doing a blasted thing to help the sick people in America. to help the people that provide the mdical services to our people. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT WEXLER","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1952,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090064050,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. All the public should know on this bill is that no Democrats were allowed to make any amendments to this bill. They were not allowed to debate this bill. Even the great gentleman from Michigan of the Committee on the Judiciary. no amendments allowed. None. No thought required by half of the Congress. And do the Members want to know why? Because this bill is really the pluperfect payback of the Republican Party to the insurance industry. This bill will victimize patients in the courtroom after they have already been victimized in the operating room. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2780,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090064061,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is not traditionally a Federal issue. The States can do it. One further note. Anyone reading this bill would know. for the gentlewoman from South Dakotas State and every other State. this bill would. supersede any other rate or caps they might have with the Federal law. That is wrong. I think we should abide by States rights and defeat this bill.","speaker_name":"DIANA DEGETTE","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4856,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090064066,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. this is from a prominent liberal commentator. Michael Kinsley. He wrote in the Washington Post. \"Limits on malpractice lawsuits are a good idea that Democrats are wrong and possibly foolish to oppose. Republicans are right about malpractice reform.\" Mr. Speaker. also we have a number of polls showing that the American people support the HEALTH Act. Between twothirds and threequarters of the American people support exactly what we are trying to do. Just this week a poll conducted by Harris Interactive showed that 74 percent of those surveyed support reasonable limits on the award of noneconomic damages and limiting payments to personal injury -ttorneys. A poll by the Harvard School of Public Health found the following: \"More than 6 in 10. 63 percent. say they would favor legislation that would limit the amount of money that can be awarded as damages for pain and suffering to someone suing a doctor for malpractice.\" The same poll found that 69 percent of the people surveyed say a law limiting pain and suffering awards would help either a lot or some in reducing the overall cost of health care. Finally. the results of a recent Gallup poll show that the American public strongly supports the HEALTH Act. ","speaker_name":"LAMAR SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2126,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090064078,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. Mr. Speaker. I think it is important that we make sure that all our colleagues are clear on some of the issues that have been discussed here today. I know there has been some hyperbole maybe on both sides of the issue. and I want to be very clear. This bill protects our patients. first and foremost. and gives thbm an opportunity to have access to affordable health care and to the specialist that they need and when they need them. It also helps our physicians. ouF doctors be able to stay in practice when they have an opportunity to have a stable medical malpractice insurance premium that they have to pay. Yes. there is no question. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2994,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090064080,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. there are* better ways to solve this problem than to strip Americans of the right to trial by jury. Fundamentally. this bill takes the right of trial by jury of your peers away from Americans and gives that authority to politicians who have never heard any of the evidence. Take this case about a 4yearold girl I know from Yakima. Washington. named Nichole. Several years ago. she went in with a urinary tract problem. The doctors put in a foley catheter. When you do that. there is a balloon they put in your bladder that is inflated to hold the catheter. This was traumatic to this 4yearold girl. When they went to deflate the catheter. it would not deflate. ","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2315,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090064089,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from California .","speaker_name":"DIANA DEGETTE","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":651,"word_count":13}
{"speech_id":1090064097,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Between the two approaches its clear that the narrow. partisan. and unbalanced approach is not only questionable on its merits. but is a political dead end. I see no reason to change my longstanding opposition to both the narrow solution and to the approach that created it. Given the nature of the crisis of healthcare in the United States. the problems will only get worse. politicizing them will only put off the day when real progress is achieved.","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1521,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090064103,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in opposition to H.R. 5. the Medical Malpractice bill. H.R. 5 may have been conceived with good intentions. but it is a bad bill. It is a particularly bad bill for low income Americans. If a patient is injured by a caregiver due to medical malpractice. and that patient sues. it should be up to a judge or a jurynot the U.S. Congress. to decide how much compensation should be awarded. Injured patients who dont get their fair compensation will suffer. They will suffer in two ways. First of all. its hard to put a blanket price on damages resulting in life or limb. ","speaker_name":"EDDIE JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1390,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090064105,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This postmarketing safety data. such as in cases like Vioxx. is provided to FDA on a voluntary basis by the manufacturers. I agree with the intent of the bill which is to ensure that Americans have greater access to potentially live saving pharmaceuticals. However. it is equally important that we fully examine the implications of such provisions on safety and the willingness of manufacturers to come forward with adverse information. I am also concerned that H.R. 5 offers significant liability protection for vaccine manufacturers. while failing to fix the broken -vaccine injury compensation program (VICP). It is critically important that these two not be separated. The VICP is very broken and it would be wrong to cut off access to the courts without addressing the serious deficiencies that exist in the compensation program today. As it operates today. the VICP has essentially imported the tort system into the program. That was not how the program was designed to op.erate. If both the liability problem and the VICP deficiencies are not fixed fairly. then our nations immunization program will suffer serious problems and parents could increasingly reject childhood immunizations for their children.","speaker_name":"DAVID WELDON","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2436,"word_count":191}
{"speech_id":1090064114,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The bill places a $250.000 cap on painandsuffering awards in medical malpractice lawsuits. $250.000. Is that what a lifetime of pain and suffering at the hands of malpractice is worth? Would you want your mother. grandfather or child to be in that situation? As the bills pile up. and the Republicans say. sorry. but we have sold out to the special interests? The bill makes it much harder for patients injured by medical errors to seek redress. It shortens the time for patients to prove they were hurt by malpractice. It gives legal immunity to drug makers. those same companies that have already killed and maimed people with products that were prematurely released on the market. Many of us are alarmed at the skyrocketing cost of medical care. including patients. who are the consumers. However. medical malpractice is not the reason for these increasirg costs. It is medical mismanagement and corporate greed. The Washington Post had an article this past weekend about the health care system for our seniors. The frightening truth? Some health care providers deliberately. or indifferently. provide bad medical care. so that they can increase the costs of treatment. while patients become even sicker. Wounds become infected. equipment is covered with dust. and sterile techniques are not used. ","speaker_name":"JOE BACA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":43.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2620,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090064125,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in opposition to H.R. 5. the Republican Medical Malpractice legislation. This flawed bill provides sweeping liability protections to pharmaceutical and insurance companies. provides inadequate protections for doctors. and will do nothing to lower health care costs. Doctors are rightly frustrated over the significant increases in medical liability insurance premiums and I am truly concerned that additional costs make it more difficult for physicians to stay in practice. However. I do not believe that this legislation addresses the real problem. which lies with the insurance companies. Republicans have for years claimed that the rising costs of malpractice insurance are due to a dramatic increase in malpractice lawsuits. However. a recent study of the 15 largest insurance companies shows that over the past 5 years. premiums have doubled while claims payments have been reduced or remained static. This study proves that insurance companies are simply increasing their profits onthe backs of our physicians. ","speaker_name":"BETTY MCCOLLUM","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"F","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3329,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090064141,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is not speculative. We know it works. We know that reforms which permit injured parties to recover every last dollar of economic damages. but place a modest cap on noneconomic damages. loss of society. loss of companionship. we know these reforms can help solve the medical liability crisis. It worked in California. It once worked in Wisconsin. And it can work all across America if we pass the HEALTH Act. If we defeat this motion to recommit. we can solve the medical liability crisis. This is what we must do.","speaker_name":"MARK GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1215,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090064158,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is the lowest appropriation for this item in the past 20 years. Construction funding for national parks and refuges and forests has been reduced by about 10 percent from last year. The funding for Forest Service buildings. roads. and trails has been cut from $514 million to $441 million. a reduction of 14 percent. BIA school construction is funded at a level $53 million below last year. Health facilities construction for Indian health services is funded at $38 million. a reduction of $50 million. I do not believe those numbers are numbers that we would be proud to take home. So we are stuck with a choice. We can cast a protest vote against the cuts in this bill. which many of us have already done. or we can recognize the fact that in a time of war we have an obligation to meet the health care needs of those who have risked everything for this country. and I think we. in the -end. have no real choice but to come down in favor of voting for that increased veterans funding. But I hope that the general public will understand that the cuts in this bill do the Nation no favors. We are shortchanging our countrys future. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3671,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090064161,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would gladly vote to raise veterans health care to the level it should have been to start with. but I urge that we learn a lesson from this experience and be forthright in the future about the cost of veterans health care. And in that connection. I would note that in the outyears. 2007. 2008 and onward. the official estimates of the Republican budget still grossly underfund veterans health care. they understate the deficit. and they definitely will have to do this all over again until the numbers are finally done right.","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4059,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090064174,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Yet. over five years. the Republican budget for primarily veterans health programs is funded $13.5 billion below the amount needed to maintain services at current levels. I am pleased that my Republican colleagues have finally seen the light and realized that we cannot ask our men and women in uniform to make the ultimate sacrifice only to come home and have the promise of quality and timely healthcare broken. However. I am angry as hell that they attached this much needed funding to a particularly appalling bill. You are probably saying. \"Dingell. how appalling could it be when we are finally getting this funding for our veterans?\" Well. let me tell you. EPA has estimated that there is a $388 billion shortfall between needed clean water and drinking water investments and the current level of spending. What do my Republican colleagues do to address that shortfall. Mr. Speaker? They cut the Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund by $200 million from the FY 05 enacted level! That is a 33 percent cut over the past two years. ","speaker_name":"JOHN DINGELL","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3109,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090064178,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"However. Mr. Speaker. in spite of the shortcomings for the environment. I will vote for this bill to support our troops.","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1376,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090064191,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. it is by way of suggesting to my colleagues in the body that my friend. the gentleman from Wisconsin . is raising serious questions regarding the visitor center. and because of that focus he has not spent a lot of time today talking about the fundamentals of this bill that relate to supporting the institution. the work of the legislative branch. an effort which is fundamental to our being successful as a legislative branch. The gentleman from Wisconsin and I share together great concern about making sure that work goes forward and goes forward successfully. We are partners. In connection with this. I. frankly. today would like to predict at least that somewhere out there before we leave the Congress. the gentleman from Wisconsin and I together will walk with our brides through this visitors centers and have different kinds of observations. We will enjoy much of the Taj. but in the meantime it will be a fabulous addition to the Congress. the largest addition that has been made in our lifetime at any rate. my public affairs lifetime. ","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1454,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090064198,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I just want to say this. We did have a very spirited debate on this issue of continuity. We really did. I do not know if there were 5 or 6 or 7 hours. but the gentleman from Washington had his chance to present his bill and have a vote on it. And. frankly. not very many Members voted for it. And we did have a good debate. about it. but I think ultimately the Speaker decided that we have to get on with this issue and this was the place to put it. It may not be the best place. but it is in this bill because I think the Speaker felt an obligation that we have to deal with this issue at some point. It may not be perfect. but we did have a very good debate about it. and I think that is why it is included in the bill. ","speaker_name":"RAY LAHOOD","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":788,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090064210,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. on Thursday. July 28. 2005. 1 was unavoidably detained and missed the House of Representatives vote on the adoption of the Conference Report on H.R. 2985. Legislative Branch Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2006. Had I been present I would have voted \"yea\" on H.R. 2985.","speaker_name":"RICK RENZI","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":285,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090064234,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"May I remind the gentleman. Mr. Speaker. that this was asked for by the administration. This was the length that they wanted to have it. 14 days. To in fact have this extension any longer has not been requested by the administration. and I believe this can do the job. The President has to make the decision. If he wishes to veto the bill. he can do so. But this has been a request by the administration. This is the eleventh extension we have had on this legislation. and I will be right up front with everybody that I think it is- the last one we should be doing. This is very important to the States themselves. ","speaker_name":"DON YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":994,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090064247,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I would like to try to put this in perspective. I agree with the gentleman it is egregious this is in the bill. We had a very difficult negotiation with the Senate. This was snuck in. It is not like we are reopening a base. repositioning forces and\/or equipment. We are talking about a runway. The question is. will they. in the next month. until we can have a technical correction bill. have to run out and pull the weeds and repaint the lines on the runway? This is not exactly a major part of the BRAC process. To forestall the passage of a bill which is almost 2 years overdue. which invests $286.4 billion in Americas infrastructure. because there might be some weeds pulled on a runway in the interim. I agree it is offensive. but we can fix it and challenge the Senate at a later date. But to hold up the entire bill and forestall the investment. there are States who are waiting today and who will spend money under this bill and commit money under this bill this construction season. putting thousands of people to work and making needed investments in America.","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1070,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090064261,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to express my appreciation for the kind words of the majority leader and to assure Members the issue before us is not a matter of division within the committee or between the parties of the House. but a difference or interpretation of a provision in the conference report in language that was included by a Member of the other body. Our expectation is we will be able to resolve that matter of a limited scope and pass the broader bill which is of great importance to the whole Nation. I appreciate the support. cooperation. and participation of the majority leader. and the support of the Parliamentarians Office in helping us bring this to a resolution.","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":675,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090064290,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this morning we will begin with a period of morning business for 60 minutes. Following that time. we will resume consideration of S. 397. the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms legislation. Senator KOHL has an amendment pending related to trigger locks. and there will be an hour of debate on that amendment prior to the vote. That vote should begin before noon. in the next 22 hours. The managers will continue to work through the day to see what additional amendments are ready for votes. The cloture vote could be as early as 1 a.m. Friday morning. We havent set the vote for that time. I mention that early hour only to highlight the fact that we have so much work to do. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1418,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090064301,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In trying to address those two bills. I have extended to both sides of the aisle the opportunity to have clean upordown votes on those bills. as well as a fascinating new arena of researchvery promisingthat gives an* alternative not to the Castle bill or the H.R. 810 bill. but an alternative where you dont have to destroy embryos at all. with the opportunity to develop what are called pluripotential stem cells. or embryoniclike stem cells. which also should be addressed. Thus. my proposal has been to address the cord blood bill. H.R. 810. the alternative new research. where embryos do not have to be destroyed. a cloning bill. Senator BROWNBAQKs bill. and a bone marrow bill. I have been unsuccessful in trying to bring that to the Senate floor. There are concerns on our side of the aisle about that approachhaving clean votes on these bills. I am not going to give up on the stem cell issue because the research is hugely promising. I think. although each of us has individual thoughts about the potential of stem cells and the moral and ethical issues around stem cells. it deserves our body politic addressing the issue. So with that. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2325,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090064305,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. before leaving the floor. if Ican have the attention of our minority leader. Is it the understanding of the leader in propounding this request that the measures proposed in the request had bipar.tisan support in the House of Representatives. and he believes as I believeand I see my colleague. the Senator from Iowa. who is a great leader on this. who believes as wellthat there is very strong bipartisan support for the legislation. and we could. in a reasonable period of timereally in a matter of hourspass the legislation and still not exclude the possibility of continued debate and discussion on the other measures relating to stem cells. and that this would permit us to act before August 9. which would be the fourth year since we had the limitation and restriction on stem cell research. the kind of research that 80 Nobel laureates in a letter to President said offers the greatest opportunity for progress in the areas of Parkinsons disease. juvenile diabetes. cancer. and so many other diseasesdo I understand the position of the Senator from Nevada is that he believes the progress taken in the House of Representatives in a bipartisan way should be given the opportunity for action in the Senate?","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1225,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090064308,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I have spoken with scientists. physicians. people who have diseases. and the families of those who have diseases. and there is a sparkle of hope and anticipation from the scientific community. from the people who are ill. and from their loved onesa sparkle of hope and opportunity that I have never seen before. There is the hope that these children. for example. who are stuck with nee.dles tens of thousands of times in their little lives will no longer have to have that done. the hope that someone who is beginning Parkinsons syndrome will be able to be cured. This is hope I have never seen before. We need to go forward with this as quickly as possible. That is why for us in the Senate. a couple of months is not much. For those people who are sick and the loved ones of those people. it is an eternity. I can remember Steve Rigalio. an executive at Nevada Power. the largest power company in Nevada. who got sick with this disease. I personally watched this man. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1408,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090064322,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to speak in support of the unanimous consent request offered today by Senator REID. The Senator has asked unanimous consent for the Senate to take up H.R. 810. the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. and S. 1317. the Bone Marrow and Cord Blood Therapy and Research Act. Both of these bills have been passed by the House and are sitting at the desk waiting to be passed by the Senate and sent to the President for his signature. The month of July has come and is nearly gone. Yet these two Housepassed bills. with strong bipartisan support. sit and wait at the desk. The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act has 41 sponsorsRepublicans and Democrats alike. This legislation is the result of many years of bipartisan cooperation in both the House and Senate. I am pleased to join my colleagues. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":834,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090064336,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Senator from Illinois knows that one of the most important bills that we consider at any time of the year is the Defense authorization legislation. That is the legislation which- provides basic resources and support for our armed services. not only in Iraq and Afghanistan but all over the world. It is the basic document which is the expression of our national priority in terms of national security and national defense. As one who has been here for some years. having been a member of the Armed Services Committee. we met in the day and in the evening to report that bill out in a timely way so that it could be considered before the August recess. That is what we heard. as members of the Armed Services Committee. and we were in the process of doing that at the end of last week. As a matter of fact. there was one amendment offered by the chairman of the committee to restore money for uparmoring humvees. which I welcomed the opportunity to support. The chairman of the Armed Services Committee had opposed that uparmoring at the time we had the supplemental. That is very important. making sure our men and women serving in Iraq are going to have the bodyarmor and have the best in terms of their protection. That is what is in that legislation. That is what we were considering. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3084,"word_count":233}
{"speech_id":1090064347,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I have heard a lot of arguments on the floor in my day. but some of these arguments are some of the worst ever heard. I dont know. maybe I missed something. We were moving ahead on the Defense authorization bill when all of a sudden we couldnt get cloture. We couldnt move ahead because of the very people who have been making these arguments. in a holy fashion. that they want to help our soldiers. Yet they filibuster by preventing cloture and preventing a full acceptance of the Department of Defense authorization bill. and then turn around and say we stopped them from amending the bill. If they were stopped. it is because their amendments were not germane. I have never heard arguments like this. that we are just going to give gun dealers an absolute right to violate the law. They havent read this legislation at all. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3964,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090064348,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Supreme Court for thenAssociate Justice William Rehnquist. Now Chief Justice. he too is one of the most outstanding jurists of his time. Judge Robertss career in legal practice covers both the public and private sectors. He held several positions in two administrations. including Special Assistant to the Attorney General. Associate Counsel to the President. and Principal Deputy Solicitor General. all high positions. They dont get much higher in the law. In between his stints in public service. Judge Roberts became a leading member of the prestigious law firm of Hogan and Hartson. an internationally recognized law firm. Overall. Judge Roberts became. by all accounts. one of the leading practitioners before the Supreme Court. arguing nearly 40 cases. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11840,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090064362,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the RECORD a list of human clinical trials going on now. using adult or cord blood stem cells. involving no ethical dilemmas. for 65 different human maladies.","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":937,"word_count":35}
{"speech_id":1090064421,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. under a previously proffered unanimous consent agreement. we will spend 1 hour. from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.. on the Levin amendment. with the time equally divided. We anticipate a vote at or around 3 oclock. I see the Senator from Michigan is now on the floor and ready to offer his amendment.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":302,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090064466,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we have heard some of the most fascinating arguments in relation to the Levin amendment on both sides. I think it is clear if the Levin amendment were to become part of this legislation and this legislation were to become law. it would be relatively meaningless as to where we are in relation to the kind of junk or dilatory lawsuits that are currently being filed against gun manufacturers and gun dealers who not only produce a legal product to the market but sell it in the legal context. It is important that we understand the arguments about gross negligence and reckless conduct. The idea that has been expressed by the Senator from Arizona. the Senator from Texas. and certainly the Senator from South Caro-. lina. is that once you argue that. then obviously as an attorney the process must prove you are either right or wrong. In so arguing it. and in the effort of making proof. you have in large part destroyed the intent. of the legislation.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":967,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090064493,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Hopefully. that wont happen. but I am prepared to be here and I think most Senators are. After this amount of effort. lets complete this. We can see the end in sight. I urge that the discussions going on allow us to proceed more rapidly. I hope we will have good success on that. I believe the opposition to this legislation spins out of a hostility to firearms by some. If you look at it. it is mostly in the big cities where they are nbt familiar with hunting. outdoors. and recreational shooting. The emotional fervor for radically limiting the historic American right to keep and bear arms arisesout of a fear of crime and a desire to be safe and. I think. a misunderstanding of the nature and character of decent. lawabiding citizens in this country who possess firearms and use them to hunt and for recreational purposes on a regular basis. But I understand crime is a big part of the objection to firearms. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8969,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090064497,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Billboards all over Richmond broadcast it: An illegal gun gets you 5 years in Federal prison. It resonated throughout the community. Police and criminals knew the stories of what was happening on the streets. The criminals would throw away guns when officers approached. They would confess to almost anything. but they would not confess to having a gun. and they specifically referred to Project Exile. So. we know it was having an impact. There are a number of important laws that are breadandbutter laws that allow proper focus on criminal use of firearms. What I want to say is real simple. I dont want to overstate all of this. but it is significant. The simple fact is. it is not how many laws we pass. it is not whether we pass some convoluted law about this. that. or the other in Federal laws. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11922,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090064502,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I hope the Senator is not too disturbed with me. I noticed in the New York Times today they had my picture in there and they described it as that of Senator REED. It probably will cost him 50.000 votes in his home State. But it was not my fault and if the Senator sues anybody. sue the New York Times.","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":301,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090064508,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I will ask a question through the Chair. The Senator from Rhode Island. who has been speaking about the lack of emergency. the lack of crisis in the gun industry. and the fact that this is certainly -not emergency legislationI dont believe it is even wise legislation for us to considerthe Senator from Rhode Island is a graduate of West. Point and a former officer in the U.S. Army. I would like to ask the Senator. who serves on the Armed Services Committee. as he has read these Army Times articles which raise questions about why the U.S. Senate would give up on the Department of Defense authorization bill for our troops. leave it behind and move to this bill. the special interest bill to protect the gun industry from their liability for their own wrongdoing. I would like to ask the Senator. what kind of impact can this have on the morale of the men and women who read about the Senate leaving this important legislation?","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":931,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090064516,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I would like to ask. through the Chair. if the Senator from Rhode Island would further yield for a question. We have talked about the gun manufacturer who did not do a background check on his employees and the employees stole guns without serial numbers on themthe guns went onto the street and were used to kill innocent peoplethat that gun manufacturer would escape liability under this bill that is before us. I would like to ask the Senator from Rhode Island about the example where someone who is a gun dealer. knows that under the law you cannot sell guns to felons. people convicted of a felony. sees someone who comes In with another person. we call them straw purchasers. someone else who is going to buy the guns. a girlfriend. some other person. We had a case I believe the Senator referred to. a 10yearold boy in Philadelphia on his way to school gets right to the gates to go into the schoolyard. a gang member comes up and shoots him in the face. He survived. was conscious for a few hours and ]hen lapsed into a coma and died. It turns out that the gun was traced to a store where it was sold to one of these straw purchasersthe other purchaser. the real purchaser who wasnt eligible to buy it. standing next to them. So it was pretty clear what was going on. The store clerk charges extra because there is a straw purchaser involved. acknowledging they know that this gun is being bought by one person to be given to another. So what the Senator from Rhode Island is telling us is that this bill says the family of that 10yearold boy shot in the face. who died by that gun. cannot even go to court to hold responsible the gun dealer who knowingly sold this gun to a straw purchaser to avoid the law. Is that my understanding of this as it is written?","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1766,"word_count":330}
{"speech_id":1090064517,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think the Senator is right. The only exception that could be argued would. I believe. be the exception with respect to negligent entrustment. As I pointed out. that has been defined to mean that the individual who receives the weaponyou have to have also the suspicion that that person is going to use the firearm. In the classic case of a straw purchaser. they are the conduit to someone else-","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":396,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090064525,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Senators point is extremely well taken. I think there should be at least that exception. I would argue. frankly. that the bill could be further modified to essentially allow individuals who have been harmedmove away from the issue of municipalsuits but that is exactly the political implicationto let those suits survive. In fact. as Senator LEVIN urged. increase the standard from negligence to gross negligence. so further undercutting the argument about frivolous junk lawsuits. That would be a broader remedy. but your proposal is very wise. Let me give you an example of that store in Elmwood Park. IL. which I presume is close to Chicago.","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":648,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090064536,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. when this bill was before the Senate in the last Congress. I came to the Senate to oppose it. I opposed it because it denied certain gun crime victims. certain individuals who were victims of crimes committed with guns. their day in court. It singled out a particular group of weapon victims that it treated differently than we treat any other victims in the whole country. It set them apart. Unfortunately. the bill before the Senate is no better than the one we had last year. In fact. it.is worse. Not only does it grant immunity to the gun industry. the bill also prevents Federal. State. and local government agencies from shutting down gun dealers who violate the law. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10825,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090064540,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. for my fellow Senators. let me try to bring us up to speed on where we are. We now have all of the amendments filed and are looking at them and have studied a good number of them over the last hour and a half to determine how we might dispose of them. We are hoping we can put something together. Senator WARNER from Virginia is here to talk a bit more about his legislation. I see my colleague. the floor manager from the Democrat side. also here. I do want Members to know we are working to see if we cannot bring some finality to this process in a precloture environment or resolve that *issue so we can complete our work on not only this but clear the issue of an energy conference which is privileged. a CAFTA recognition of the House bill versus the *Senate vehicle. which is privileged. and that can come before us so that we can complete our work in a timely fashion tomorrow and not spill ourselves into Saturday. as could be the case strictly under the rules of the Senate. We hope we may be able to avoid that. I hope that within a little while. we may be able to look at a package and offer it to our colleagues for their consideration.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1163,"word_count":223}
{"speech_id":1090064542,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I appreciate the cooperation and collaboration. I am pleased also that you are looking closely at these amendments. My position is simple. I believe the amendments are relevant. I hope we can have votes on all of them. I particularly think Senator WARNERS amendment is relevant. pertinent. and important. I hope he can offer that. But it is my hope that we can bring all of the pertinent amendments up. with appropriate timing. and conclude. ","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":824,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090064547,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the managers of the bill for keeping the Senate advised. I have an amendment that has been filed. I think at this point I will make the motion and ask for the reaction of the managers. Mr. President. at this time. I ask unanimous consent that we lay aside the pending amendment such that my amendment No. 1625. which is on file. could be given the status of the pending amendment.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":403,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090064549,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. reserving the right to object. Under the current environment. I will object. I do so with this concern in mind. I dont question the sincerityof the Senator from Virginia for the offering of his amendment. I will say that it is similar to but not exactly like the Levin amendment that we have just disposed of. It deals with the issue of negligence or reckless conduct. There are differences. and the Senator from Virginia may wish to point those out. But it is important for the Senate to know that in their similarities. the Senate rejected overwhelmingly. by the largest vote yet. the issue of negligence and reckless conduct. for it is clearly recognized now by a majority of the Senate that this would drive a major loophole through this legislation and deny the very legislation and its intent. ","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":998,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090064562,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to reply to my good friend. The Senator is absolutely correct about the reporting requirements. but the reality is that some dealers ignore those requirements. They are totally unscrupulous. negligent. and ignore them. The recordkeeping requirements did not prevent Bulls Eye from losing 200 guns. They went ahead and ignored it. I strongly urge that we allow my amendment. It is but really one sentence. It simply says: On page 8. line 21. before the semicolon insert the following. or an action against a seller that has an established history of qualified productsthat is the gunsbeing lost or stolen. under such criteria as shall be established by the Attorney General of the .United States by regulation for an injury or death caused by a qualified product that was in the possession of the seller but subsequently lost or stolen. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1825,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090064565,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have asked that that amendment be considered. We are waiting. We were not impatient. but there is a limit to patience. r would point out. too. that there will be an attempt this evening to move to other matters such as CAFTA and thb Energy bill which will take away time to debate a vote on the pending gun liability bill. I just think we have wasted too much time. that we should establish some rules with respect to the amendments. vote on those amendments and move forward towards a cloture vote.","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":501,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090064572,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. for the last 30 minutes or so. we have been putting together an orderly way to address several issues: the underlying bill. the gun liability bill. CAFTA. and the energy report. which we received from the House. I know a lot -of our colleagues are wondering about voting both tonightwe will have one more vote tonight. and I will go through the requestand then we will have a very busy day tomorrow. We will be here late tonight as well. Mr. President. first of all. I will be addressing the issue on gun liability.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":530,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090064610,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Democratic time be allocated as follows: Senator SCHUMER. 10 minutes. Senator KERRY. 30 minutes. Senator WYDEN. 15 minutes. Senator BINGAMAN. 20 minutes. and whatever time is left over will be allocated to Senator BINGAMAN.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":271,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090064666,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I would like to thank you for your willingness to come to a consensus on the MTBE. I know it has been a difficult couple days. and I am trying to get this thing resolved and IChairman BARTON. Well. I am not consenting. I am just admitting that I dont have the votes in the Senate.","speaker_name":"BART STUPAK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":294,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090064706,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have had to move forward. We still need a comprehensive policy. That is an important issue because now. as we read in the paper. there are questions as to why we are not going to affect the gas prices tomorrow or the day after. We are talking about down the road. We are talking about. where we will be over a period of time. This is a policy. It is very important to remember and to understand as we talk about the changes that will eventually take place in the kind of energy we will use. in terms of renewables. in terms of alternatives. We will be moving there. but we are not there. Alternative energy creates now about 3 percent of what we use. It will be much higher than that. but it wont be higher than that next year or next month. ","speaker_name":"CRAIG THOMAS","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4344,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090064712,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I particularly thank Senator BINGAMAN. who supported it and said we ought to at least. at the very minimum. not go to the American people and say. gosh. 5 miles a gallon over 5 years is too much. But even that modest advance could not make it into this legislation. So. as a result. Americans will get no relief from this terror tax brought about by our addiction to foreign oil. And at the same time. their hardearned dollars will flow out the back door straight to the entrenched energy interests. Now. even the President has said that when oil is trading at upwards of $55 a barrel. the oil companies are not in need of any more incentives. When the President says the oil companies dont need a deal from the Government. that ought to tell you somethingyou are going too far. But even soeven with the remarks of the President. who was dead rightthis bill is now stuffed with a smorgasbord of subsidies for a whole host of energy special interests. The buffet of subsidies is so generously larded that. in many cases. it will allow second and even third helpings from the energy subsidy buffet table. Loan guarantees are letting these special interests double dip and even triple dip on some energy projects. ","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9252,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090064724,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to comment on two specific provisions of the conference report. I am pleased that the provisions contained in the conference report on hydroelectric relicensing. section 241Alternative Conditions and Fishways. have been improved over the provisions contained in both the House and Senate bills. I continue to have concerns that the new process for alternative mandatory conditions and fishway prescriptions will add. complexity and delay to the process. The requirement that the resource agencies afford all parties an opportunity for an on the record trialtype hearing on material issues of fact could prolong these proceedings. However. I understand that the intent behind the provision is that these not be lengthy hearings. Rather they are to afford an opportunity for a review of narrow issues of fact. and not a review of the application of the facts or the decisions based upon them. I am pleased that the provisions allow all parties to the proceedings. including States. tribes and third parties. to participate equally. . understand the conference language ensures that the heads of the resource agencies retain discretion to employ scientific data and other information submitted by any of the parties to licensing or relicensing proceedings in determining what conditions will provide for adequate protection and use of tribal lands and what fishways are needed for the protection of fishery resources for which the United States has a legal or trust responsibility to preseive and protect on behalf of Indian tribes. ","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3436,"word_count":245}
{"speech_id":1090064729,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is my understanding that if a traditional plant were constructed several miles from its harm and other injury that results customers. the network to deliver cool- from contamination of MTBE into ing would qualify. It seems to me that groundwater and public water supplies. piping used to draw cold water from Second. nothing in the language will the ocean- is analogous to piping used alter -the substantive law that courts with respect to a traditional cooling currently apply in these cases and that system and also should qualify. they will apply to future claims. And","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":574,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090064755,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"President. it is an honor for me to share the impressive accomplishments of Dr. Bruce Halverson with my colleagues. I commend him for his tireless dedication to theatre. education. and enhancing the arts. especially in the State of South Dakota. The lives of countless people have been enormously enhanced by Dr. Halversons talent and leadership as president of Augustana College. I wish the very best for him. his wife Nancy. and their three sons Tait. Jeffry and Cole. as Dr. Halverson continues to contribute to and improve education throughout South Dakota. 0","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3403,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090064778,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As you can see. the list July 28- 2005 of problems is long and the time to address the issue of invasive species is now. before even more serious problems crop up. With 73 percent of land in the continental U.S. held privately. our Federal lands will not be adequately protected without publicprivate partnerships. My bill requires coordination between the National Invasive Species Council. the Department of the Interior. the U.S. Department of Agriculture. and State invasive species councils and plans. The bill authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to provide grants to promote the development of voluntary State assessments to establish inventories and priorities for controlling invasive species. This is a critical step in establishing an invasiv~s program. but many States do not have the resources to carry out this critical assessment. The legislation also provides additional grants to public or private entities. or Indian tribes. to carry out in partnership with a Federal agency an eradication. containment. or management project on Federal land or adjacent land. Control grants are costshared with partners. The criteria for ranking control projects include shared priorities in State and Federal plans. the severity of the invasive species impact on a State. and whether the project fosters results through publicprivate partnerships. Finally. and perhaps most importantly. the bill provides rapid response funds for States facing new outbreaks of invasive species. to eradicate serious new outbreaks. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10759,"word_count":231}
{"speech_id":1090064784,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Anderson to be Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations. Environment and Logistics. The presiding officer. Without objection. it is so ordered.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":876,"word_count":23}
{"speech_id":1090064829,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution and preamble be agreed to en bloc. the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. and that any statements relating thereto be printed in the RECORD. without further intervening action or debate.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":266,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090064839,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that at a time to be determined by the majority leader. in consultation with the Democratic leader. the Senate proceed to the consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R. 2361. the Interior appropriations bill. I further ask unanimous consent that there then be 20 minutes of debate equally divided between the majority and the minority. followed by a vote adoption of the conference report. with no intervening action or debate.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":480,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090064855,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. one of the most important issues endangering our national security is not only the free flow of illegal immigrants across our border. but the policies put into place by city and local governments that provide \"sanctuary day labor hideouts\" for illegals. These day labor hideouts or centers provide illegal people work and job training. They do so under the protection of a \"dont ask. dont tell\" policy with regard to worlkers immigration status and flirt dangerously close with breaking United States labor laws. The most alarming point is that centers are paid for by U.S. taxpayers. They operate using Federal funding and enjoy a 501(c)(3) tax exempt status. Mr. Speaker. why are we providing job training for illegals when many Americans are looking for work and job training? There are over 80 day labor centers in the United States and most of them have been open in the last 5 to 7 years. showing an alarming escalation in sanctuary hideout policies. Mr. Speaker. we will never acquire true national security until we first secure our borders. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1220,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090064856,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to say how pleased I am to hear so many Democrats are praising President Bushs highly qualified nominee to the Supreme Court. Judge John Roberts. Jr. A leading liberal Senator from California recently characterized Judge Roberts as \"very cautious\" and \"very studious\" and declared that \"in no way. shape. or form do I believe that he puts any ideology before the law. nor do I believe that he would be an activist in the law. I see none of those signs in anything he has done or said.\" Another top Senate liberal calls Judge Roberts \"legally skilled. a very bright man. He has no questions related to his honesty or ethics that Im aware of.\" And yet another Democratic Senator declared. \"they have found an individual that is brilliant. clearly capable as a jurist.\" Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1119,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090064864,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Transportation Infrastructure. the Committee on Science. the Committee on Ways and Means. and the Committee on Resources be discharged from further consideration of the bill to provide an extension of administrative expenses for highway. highway safety. motor carrier safety. transit. and other programs funded out of the Highway Trust Fund pending enactment of a law reauthorizing the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century. and ask for its immediate consideration.","speaker_name":"DON YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":533,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090064870,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Republican. Independent. We are here today gathered to makle an extraordinary investment in. the future of our country. I do not think there is anything this Congress could do more definitively to put people back to work. to stimulate our economy. to increase our efficiency. our competitiveness. both nationally and internationally than this legislation. And the wonderful thing. at this time in our Nations history. about this legislation is we are not borrowing the money to do it. .We are spending taxes paid by all Americans at the gas pump: individuals. passenger car drivers. and commercial drivers and businesses. And we are going to take that money. and we are going to invest it in ways that benefit this Nation for decades to come. We are going to help mitigate congestion. and congestion is at the top of my list. because the gentleman from Minnesota should have been here to join in this effort. but he is stuck in traffic. And hopefully by the time we finish spending the money in TEALU. the gentleman and other Americans will be able to get to work more readily in the future. in addition to benefiting business and other aspects of our country. Mr. Speaker. particularly I want to thank the gentleman from Minnesota","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1777,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090064887,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Alaska for yielding me this time. and I want. first of all. to thank him for the Herculean job he has done on this legislation. My dad told me years ago. and I do not remember what it was about. but he said everything looks easy from a distance. Well. I can tell you. this legislation did not look easy from a distance or from close up. The chairman of our full committee. the gentleman from Alaska . the ranking member. the gentleman from Minnesota . and our subcommittee chairman. the gentleman from Wisconsin","speaker_name":"JOHN DUNCAN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":551,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090064901,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of the conference report for H.R. 3. the Safe. Accountable. Flexible. and Efficient Transportation Equity Act of 2005. I want to acknowledge the work of the Transportation Committee on this complex bill and especially thank my friend and colleague from Wisconsin. Mr. PETRI. for his leadership on the legislation. the Wisconsin delegation is lucky to have such a strong advocate for our citizens. H.R. 3 is a significant economic. development and job creation bill. and now is certainly the time that we need more jobs throughout the country. I consistently hear from constituents who are searching for work. who have sent out dozens of resumes and updated their skills but remain unemployed. ","speaker_name":"RON KIND","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2622,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090064909,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I want to take just a moment to reflect on how regrettable it is that the process","speaker_name":"ELIJAH CUMMINGS","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1609,"word_count":17}
{"speech_id":1090064912,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am particularly pleased that we were able to secure authorization of the next round of expansion for the MAX light rail system. There are streetcar provisions that will help continue Portlands growing and nationally significant streetcar. so critical to the revitalization of neighborhoods. There are also elements that deal with vital freight movement and efforts for programs of statewide significance. Theres also important bike funding. including safe routes to school and work that I had done with Congressman DEFAzIO to create a bike route from The Dalles to Eugene along the scenic Columbia River highway and down the Willamette Valley. Most important. the delegations work together has enabled us to begin laying the groundwork so that we will be in a stronger position from a local level and for Federal policy when it comes time for the next reauthorization. Since the current bill has been delayed for nearly two years with eleven extensions we will be right back in this process in just a couple of years. so it is critical that we take advantage of these investments and continue an aggressive future program.","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2613,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090064929,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent to submit for publication the attached copy of the Rules of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct for the House of Representatives for the 109th Congress. The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct adopted these rules pursuant to House rule XI. clause (2)(a)(1) on","speaker_name":"DOC HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":314,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090064953,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. for the last few weeks I have been discussing the ongoing problem of illegal immigration into the United States. and have mentioned numerous ills of this lack of a policy and how it affects the United States and citizens here. how we are expending exorbitant amounts of money to fund the actions of illegals. and Americans pay for it. Besides the cost of illegal immigration. the effect of our homeland security is detrimental to the safety of our country. and we need to have a plan and a plan that makes sense. has common sense. and that works. Mr. Speaker. at this time I would like to yield to the gentleman from Texas as much time as he wishes to consume on this issile of immigration and one of the novel ideas he has come up with to help solve this problem.","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":777,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090064957,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This ought not to be. It defies common sense. These citizens or these individuals are illegally living in the United States. they are not legal residents to begin with. and they are not eligible to work in the United States after they get that education. So the United States is paying to educate these people who. upon graduation. cannot legally Work here. This defies logic. Not only that. admission spaces in public universities are limited. Legal residents are being denied entry due to the fact that illegals are taking up spaces. These spaces are being filled by other individuals. and yet. Americans pay. Americans all pay. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10153,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090064964,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In the gentlemans experience in the justice system. would you conclude that people who are in law enforcement do it for the love of it? They want to enforce the law. And those that are not today are being held back by politicians in some cities around the country that really will not even let them enforce the law. Do I have a misreading of that. or is that correct?","speaker_name":"CHARLES NORWOOD","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":367,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090064967,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is an immigration issue. It is protecting the borders and making sure that we keep our borders safe for the Americans who live in the United States. As the gentleman from Georgia has pointed out. we only have about 2.000 officials in the whole United States that are actually seeking out people illegally in the United States once they cross the border. One of the solutions maybe is to require a passport for people coming into the United States from Mexico and from Canada. Immigration officials have to look at hundreds of different types of documents to verify someones legal status or who they are. their identity. before they come into the United States. Maybe we should reevaluate that policy. A passport policy would certainly not discriminate as we seem to do now on entry into the United States. and requiring individuals to have those passports to come and go from the United States would certainly help identify the true identity of these individuals. So often people who come to the United States have already obtained a false identification. I experienced even in my time at the courthouse that individuals were sometimes using one Social Security card and there were seven or eight people using the same Social Security card to work in the United States. That Social Security card to begin with was fraudulent and a forgery. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2742,"word_count":229}
{"speech_id":1090064998,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"REC. 18 July 2001: .S7846-$7851) are as follows: (1) ban embryo oreation for research. (2) continue funding ban on derivation. (3) ban human cloning. (4) increase adult stem cell research funding. (5) providing funding for -embryonic stem cell research only from blastocysts that would otherwise be discarded. (6) require a rigorous informed consent process. (7) limit number of stem cell lines. (8) establish a strong public research oversight system. (9) require ongoing. independent scientific and ethical review. (10) strengthen and harmonize fetal tissue research restrictions. That is what I said 4 years ago. and that is what I believe today. After all. principles \"are meant to stand the test of timeeven when applied to a field changing as rapidly as stem cell research. I am a physician. My profession is healing. I have devoted my life to attending to the needs of the sick and suffering and to promoting health and well being. For the past several years I have temporarily set aside the profession of medicine to participate in public policy with a continued commitment to heal. In all forms of stem cell research. I see today. just as I saw in 2001. great promise to heal. Whether it is diabetes. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12440,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090065000,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. before the distinguished majority leader leaves the floor. I want to. through the Chair. express to him my appreciation for the courageous statement he made. It was a moral decision made by the majority leader of the Senate. His decision will bring hope to millions of Americans who face these terrible diseases. and it has even more meaning as a result of the medical background the Senator from Tennessee has. I know there is still a long way to go legislatively. but a large step has been taken by the majority leader today to give hope to the people of Nevada who suffer from these diseases. the people from Georgia. Pennsylvania. Tennessee. and all over America. I admire the majority leader for doing this.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":727,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090065002,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have had an opportunity to talk with Senator FRIST about it many times over the course of the -past 4 years. I know how he has wrestled with this issue and how conscientious he is in his judgment. One final comment. and that is. Dr. FRIST. Senator FRIST. Majority Leader FRISTS comments will reverberate far and wide. around the world. This is a speech which will be heard around the world. including at the White House. I have had the opportunity to talk with the President on this issue on a number of occasions. He was in Pennsylvania 44 times last year. and I had a good opportunity to talk with him in the car and on the plane. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2097,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090065015,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I looked forward very much to having a debate on stem cell research in the month of July. It now appears that that will not be the case. Nonetheless. I compliment the Senator from Tennessee. the majority leader. on his statement this morning. I did want to make this point and ask a question of the Senator from Illinois. Is it not the case that those unused frozen embryos at in vitro fertilization clinics can become one of a couple of things? First and foremost. at the moment when they are unused and discarded. they become hospital waste. Second. and importantly. they can. if used in stem cell research. be used in the important medical research to preserve and to save lives. I say to my colleague from Kansas. I have lost a daughter to heart diseasemany of us have lost loved ones. I will never. ever. on the floor of this Chamber. be a part of those who wish to shut down promising medical research. especially when the ability to provide that research comes from embryos that otherwise would become hospital waste. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2052,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090065018,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. first. I appreciate the comments of my colleagues and the distinguished Senator from Kansas. really all of my colleagues who have spoken. This is a very important issue that we will come back and address. and I appreciate their comments.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":252,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090065034,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator. the ranking member. and chairman of the Interior appropriations bill for their accommodation on this. The Senate has done the right thing now for American veterans. I stand in support of this bill because it does represent a step in the right direction for our veterans. Today when we pass the Interior appropriations bill. it will include my amendment to fix the VAs funding shortfall by providing $1.5 billion for fiscal year 2005. This victory is long overdue and I thank Senator CRAIG. Senator HUTCHISON.. Senator AKAKA. Senator FEINSTEIN. ","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4271,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090065038,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I think what he did was exactly the right thing to do. He is a veteran. He is a decorated veteran. And he is not ever going to sweep under the rug a deficit in the Veterans Administration. He also is going to spend the money wisely. So I thank everyone who helped bring this to the forefront. I have to say that OMB Director Josh B61ton also tried to be very helpful. giving us an amendment that would raise the limit we could spend on veterans. The total for both fiscal years will be approximately $3 billion. The total for getting through this problem we have for the fiscal year we are in is going to cost about $900 million. they estimate. to get to October 1 to finigh this fiscal yearalmost $1 billion. which we are giving them when we vote on this bill today and send it to the President. But in the 2006 budget. which we are now going to pass in the Senate. probably in Septemberthis is the committee I chairwe have what will be another $1.5 billion. depending on how much is left of what we are passing today that can go into 2006. ","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3691,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090065068,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am pleased to present to the Senate the legislative branch fiscal year 2006 appropriations conference report. This is my first year as chairman of this subcommittee and I am delighted well be able to send the bill to the President prior to the beginning of the fiscal year. I very much appreciate the support of my ranking member. Senator DURBIN. as well as the full committee chairman. Senator COCHRAN. and ranking member. Senator BYRD. In general. I believe this is a fair agreement. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4162,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090065071,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the Senator from Illinois. I have cherished our relationship in being able to work with the Senator from Illinois on this bill. I agree we have a lot of dedicated police officers out there and the Members of Congress need to appreciate all they are doing to maintain our safety. not only for us but for the visiting public. Finally. I thank our full committee chairman. Senator COCHRAN. as well as the staff who were involved: Carrie Apostolou. Lance Landry. Christen Taylor. Fred Pagan. and from Senator DURBINS staff. Nancy Olkewicz and Drew Willison. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":580,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090065105,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Oil drilling is not compatible with weapons testing and combat training. Military leaders have been fighting this for years. Yet here we go again. The encroachment this time is even more serious because we are at war. This Senator. on behalf of the people of Floridaand. I hope. on behalf of the U.S. military establishmentwill continue to oppose this. I thank the chairman and the ranking member for their holding fast in the conference committee.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":448,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090065135,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Now. yes. we have to open up our shores to liquefied natural gas because our price is going through the roof. and unless we increase supply substantially and rather quickly. that price will remain high. It will put almost every industry in this country at a very serious disadvantage for international competition. As Senator CANTWELL stated. it does give new protections for consumers from market manipulation. Senator DORGAN has led the fight with regard to hydrogen. with Senator BINGAMANS help. It has opened up new frontiers for that. We have opened up new frontiers for renewable energy sources. As a Senator from an oilandgasproducing State. we do need to get beyond petroleum and this bill is helping us to do that. Under Senator DOMENICIS leadership. we are expanding in an extraordinary way the nuclear industry. which is going to help Japan. France. and others who have been leading the way. It is time for America to get with the program. ","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3167,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090065139,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today in support of the Energy bill. I start first by congratulating my colleagues. the two Senators from New Mexico. the Land of Enchantment. Mr. DOMENICI and Mr. BINGAMAN. for their leadership in helping us get together what has been a true bipartisan effort. I commend them both for the process as well as for the end result of this legislation. As I look at this legislation. it seems to me what we are embracing today is a vision for energy independence. I think Democrats and Republicans all agree what we need to do is to get to a point where this country gets rid of its overdependence on foreign oil. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2377,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090065143,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We could have made sure there were more flexible fuel tanks in our cars. And so America has a choice. We can continue to hang on to oil as our solution. We can keep passing energy bills that nibble around the edges of the problem. We can hope that the Saudis will pump faster and that our drills will find more. And we can just sit on our hands and say that it is too hArd to change the way things are and so we might as well not even try. Or we could accept and embrace the challenge of finding a solution to one of the most pressing problems of our time. our dependence on foreign oil. It will not be easy and it will not be without sacrifice. Government cannot make it happen on its own. but it does have a role in supporting the initiative that is already out there. I vote for this bill reluctantly today. disappointed that we have missed our opportunity to do something bolder that would have put us on the path to energy independence. ","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4748,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090065163,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Despite ample protections for Washington ratepayers. it is hard to ignore that this bill. this national energy blueprint. does absolutely nothing to improve energy security or reduce dependence on foreign oil. We need a national energy policy but one that acknowledges the needs for the future. sets a plan. and moves us forward. not a bill that delivers the status quo.","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1693,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090065167,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Opportunities to take our first real steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. I urge my colleagues to consider this a beginning. and to continue in earnest our .work to reduce the dependence on oil that is so undermining of our national and economic security. to develop alternative and renewable energy sources as well as conservation techniques. and to address the problem of climate change with mandatory steps that are so clearly required. as clearly expressed in the senseoftheSenate resolution passed by this body last month.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3708,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090065171,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. as the Senate is poised to pass the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and send it to the President. Utahns should sit up and take notice. because our State is at the heart of this legislation. So many of the problems in our energy structure have solutions that can be found in Utah. whether it is the need for more clean coal. more clean geothermal energy. more natural gas. better hydroelectric. more refining capacity. or more major sources of domestic oil. Utah will play a major -part in the solution. I want to talk more about some of these solutions. but first. let me take a moment to thank Chairman DOMENICI and Senator BINGAMAN of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources for leading us to this point. The Senate Finance Committee. on which I sit. has made a major contribution to the bill with its tax incentives title. Chairman GRASSLEY and Senator BAUcuS deserve just as much praise for their outstanding coordination and hard work on that important part of this bill. As the ranking member of the Finance Committee and as a Conferee on this legislation. I was able to watch all 4 of these men work together under pressure. and I could not be more impressed with their leadership and the work their excellent staffs have provided to our nation at this critical time. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11678,"word_count":230}
{"speech_id":1090065173,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I want to thank you for your dedicated work in defending the Senatepassed Energy bill language in conference. particularly concerning the energy efficiency tax incentives. For the first time. there will be energy efficiency tax incentives for commercial buildings for each of the three energyusing systems of the buildingthe envelope. the heating. cooling and water heating system. and lighting. Each is eligible for onethird of the $1.80 per square foot tax incentive if it meets its share of the wholebuilding savings goal. This will apply to buildings that cut energy use by 50 percent. an ambitious but very important target as buildings account for 35 percent of our Nations energy usage. and commercial buildings are a large part of that percentage. My concern is that. because the eligibility period was cut back from the end of 2010 to just 2 years. this shorter window of effectiveness could undercut the program. since the time it takes to design and construct these large buildings and skyscrapers could take longer than the 2 years of eligibility. This is especially a concern as the incentives for commercial buildings is one of the fastest ways in the entire Energy bill that we can cut down the Nations energy usage in the short term.","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1264,"word_count":210}
{"speech_id":1090065177,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. Yes. the distinguished Senator is correct. The conferees understand that there are requests for private letter rulings with respect to the process the Senator from Pennsylvania has described. Moreover. these requests were submitted in Fall 2000. The conferees expect that the Internal Revenue Service would consider issuing these rulings immediately. with due diligence. and without delay.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":404,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090065191,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The two bills had very little in common. Thus. we could not include everything in both bills without busting our budget. Most of the provisions in the House bill promoted investment in traditional energy infrastructure. It favored pipelines. electricity lines. and oil and gas production. In contrast. the Senate billwhich I helped develop with my good friend Senator GRASSLEYadvanced new technologies. It encouraged conservation efforts. improved energy efficiency. and expanded use of alternative fuels. Conference negotiations were hard fought. We made some tough decisions. But overall. the process was very positive. We kept within our budget. and we worked with a spirit of compromise and cooperation. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2708,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090065192,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to support the Energy bill conference report. For many years. I have supported passage of a comprehensive national energy policy. Such a policy is necessary to reduce our increasing dependence on foreign energy sources. A comprehensive energy policy will help lower energy prices in the long run. Furthermore. any farreaching bill will move us toward newer technologies that will keep our economy growing strong while making us more energy independent. Although not perfect. this energy bill moves -us in the right direction. It will expand our electricity transmission system and make it more reliable. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2150,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090065193,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Second. the language says that the Secretary of Transportation must give \"strong consideration\" to the TransHudson Midtown Corridor project when it comes time to awarding a full funding grant agreement. since it will be a crucial link for the Northeast corridor and benefit the regions mobility. security. economy and environment. The term \"strong consideration\" indicates that the New Jersey TransHudson Midtown Corridor project is a high priority for the Secretary and encourages the Secretary to award a full funding grant agreement provided it meets the FTAs New Starts criteria. I appreciate the opportunity to clarify these important points. and I look forward to further progress on the tunnel project.","speaker_name":"JON CORZINE","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3106,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090065194,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This is double the current ethanol mandate and while it will be a boon for the ethanol producers. it will have a negligible effect on oil imports. While I fully recognize and support efforts to promote clean energy sources. the costs also need to be weighed against any presumed benefits. And at this juncture. the beneficiaries are still the producers. not the consumers and not the environment. Let me mention some of the more \"interesting\" provisions in the conference report: Section 134. Energy Efficiency Public Information Initiative. Authorizes a total of $400 million. $90 million for Fiscal Years 2006 through 2010. for the Secretary of Energy to carry out a national consumer information program to encourage energy efficiency through disseminating information to the American public addressing. among other things. the importance of proper tire maintenance. I am fully aware that it is important to rotate your tires. and to take other actions to preserve energy. but do we really need to spend almost half a billion on such a campaign? Section 138. Intermittent Escalator Study. Requires the GSA to study the advantages and disadvantages of employing intermittent escalators in the United States. I cant imagine many of my colleagues would support removing \"Senators Only\" features in the Capitol Complex and be content to wait for an elevator to intermittently show up. but maybe the rest of the American public is more patient. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12730,"word_count":232}
{"speech_id":1090065197,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Another provision of which I am particularly proud relates to the cleanup of the Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor. a decommissioned nuclear reactor near the community of Strickler. AR. in the northwest corner of my State. The site is contaminated with residual radiation. liquid sodium. lead. asbestos. mercury. PCBs. and other environmental contaminants and explosive chemicals. The Federal Government helped create these contaminants and should pay to help clean them up. This is great news for northwest Arkansas. because this site has threatened public -health and the environment there for too long. Finally. I would like to thank the staff on both the Finance and Energy Committee. majority and minority. for all of their help in crafting this bill. Elizabeth Paris and Matt Jones have been patient and helpful with any idea or request I have come to them with. Sam Fowler and Lisa Epifani have been equally accessible when I had questions or concerns on the nontax portion of the bill. ","speaker_name":"BLANCHE LINCOLN","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3063,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090065199,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will vote against this energy bill because it does not do enough to reduce our dependence on- foreign oil through the promotion of alternative forms of energy or by encouraging energy efficiency. I was very disappointed that the conference committee eliminated the Senates renewable portfolio standard. under which utilities would have provided 10 percent of their total sales from renewable resources by 2020. In addition. the conference. also eliminated the Senate provision that called on the President to find ways to reduce oil use by 1million barrels per day by 2025. as well as the provision promoting hybrids for use in Federal. State. and other vehicle fleets. I am also very concerned about an authorization for an inventory of energy resources in Americas Outer Continental Shelf. which is damaging in itself and may lead to future oil and gas development in some coastal areas. Overall. this bill is very imbalanced. The bill provides $5.7 billion in tax incentives over 10 years for the fossil fuel industry and $1.5 billion in subsidies and tax breaks for the nuclear industry. Compare this to tax incentives for renewable electricity. alternative vehicles and fuels. energy efficiency. and energy conservation. which were cut frdm $11.4 billion in the Senate bill to $5.8 billion in the final bill. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2281,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090065201,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Elizabeth Paris. Christy Mistr. Kurt Kovarik. John Good. and Nick Wyatt showed great dedication to the tasks before them. As is usually the case. the cooperation of Senator BAUCUS and his staff was imperative. I particularly want to thank Russ Sullivan. Patrick Heck. Bill Dauster. Kathy . RuffaloFarnsworth. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1818,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090065209,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"These voices were too loud to ignore. so I joined my colleagues Senator MURRAY and Senator AKAKA here on the floor of the Senate to ask for additional funding for VA health care. Those efforts were defeated. but we knew that a possible crisis was on its. way. That crisis became a reality when it was discovered that the VA was more than $1.5 billion in the hole on its health care funding. Like many of my colleagues in the Senate. I was shocked by that admission. I was pleased to join Senator MURRAY in cosponsoring both a standalone bill and an amendment to the Interior appropriations bill to get veterans the funding they need so they can get the health care that they have earned and deserve. The $1.5 billion appropriated by todays Interior appropriations conference report will help ensure that our Nations veterans get that health care. With this funding. our veterans facilities also will get the maintenance they need. and I hope the VA will be able to keep its hands out of its rainy day fund. I dont think there is sone person in this Senate who would want to tell a returning soldier who fought and bled for our country: Sorry. but when it comes to getting health care. you are on your own. I was right. ","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3702,"word_count":222}
{"speech_id":1090065218,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have been proud to serve on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and I treasure this opportunity to work on behalf of veterans in West Virginia and throughout our country. Todays passage of the $1.5 billion provision for VA health care in the Interior appropriations package is an important step to address the VA health care shortfall. But honestly. this is merely a downpayment. and much more must be done to strengthen the process and the funding for VA health care. This Senator is fully committed to finding a real solution to the chronic problems of insufficient funding for VA health care. Our dedicated veterans deserve no less.","speaker_name":"JOHN ROCKEFELLER","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4412,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090065272,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But while charm and looks and levity may woo us in the start. in the end it is brevity that will win my colleagues hearts. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"PAT ROBERTS","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2681,"word_count":29}
{"speech_id":1090065309,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Senator from Alabama is a lawyer. a Federal attorney. and has made the statement that an intervening criminal act essentially absolves someone of negligence. which I think is a fair response. but yet the statement of torts. which is recognized generally by most lawyers as the statement of basic- law in torts. says very clearly that an intervening criminal act does not absolve someone from their own negligence. Because of the standing of the Senator as an attorney. I suggest that his conclusion does not comport with what most people assume is the law of the country.","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":575,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090065310,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"All I know is I won a lawsuit on it. I defended the.Veterans Administration when a veteran went off the grounds and was murdered by a murderer. They tried to sue the VA. They said the VA was negligent in letting him get off the grounds of the VA. We alleged that one could foresee certain things and cited .abundant authority to the fact that no one should be held liable and should expect criminality. an intervening criminal act. of that kind. That is my view of it. but maybe somebody else would not have that view.","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":518,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090065316,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this FristCraig amendment ensures that nothing in the gun liability bill would limit the right of a person under 17 to recover damages authorized by law in a civilaction. A person suing on behalf of an injured person can sue under traditional tort law as always. But the underlying Lautenberg amendment would allow lawsuits even if no law is broken. no product is defective. and no person negligently sold a gun. These are the types of suits we are trying to stop. So I urge my colleagues to vote for the FristCraig amendment-","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":541,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090065320,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. very quickly. not once in my comments did I talk about taking away guns from people. We are discussing this particular issue. There are three reasons that permit penetration of the veil of immunity: negligent entrustment. negligence per se. and defective products. Those who describe negligence as a cause are mistaken. It was suggested that this would drive a truck through this bill. I want to drive that truck full of children alive and healthy. I yield back.","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":477,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090065362,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I believe all that can be said about these two amendments has been said. I hope my colleagues join in voting for the firstdegree relevant amendment I have offered that toughens up penalties and recognizes the reality that the law we have today is working to protect our law enforcement community from armorpiercing bullets. I yield back the balance of my time. Senator KENNEDY can conclude and we can move to a vote.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":431,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090065366,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is my understanding. under the unanimous consent that the Craig first degree would be the first to be voted on. Kennedy would be the second to be voted on. I ask unanimous consent the second vote be a 10minute vote. I urge my colleagues to come now. as quickly as we can. to move these votes. I call for the yeas and nays.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":325,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090065385,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. just a clarification. A lot of people will have questions. We had these time allotments and we have asked Senators not to use all of the time that has been allocated. That is the general understanding. With that we have an orderly way of very quickly completing our rollcall votes for the course of the day. But with that. we can explain itover to the side that we are in shape and have a plan in order to finish at a very reasonable hour. J4ul .2.9 2Q05","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":469,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090065396,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. no one questions Senator CORZINEs intention or his sincerity as We are all sincere and concerned about making sure that the law enforcement community of this country has the best tools available. has the greatest protection available. We want the laws with them. and we believe the laws are with. them. And the Fraternal Order of Police. the worlds largest organization. believes the same thing. Last year. this amendment was opposed by them strongly and they expressed that very clearly. The reason was they do not believe a special category is necessary in that relationship. What is happening here is an attempt to carve out that unique category because we think the law enforcement community is well protected under the current law.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":751,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090065400,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That is true. they are not taking a position this year. but I did get permission from Tim Richardson. if there is any question of verifying what I said. that as the executivehe would be happy to accept a call. The point is quite simple. This is an amendment that destroys the underlying intent of the legislation involved. I hope my colleagues would oppose the amendment as they did last year by a substantial vote. 56 in opposition. 38 for it.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":444,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090065417,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would be so inclined to with this simple statement. There are 62 Senators who are cosponsors in a bipartisan way of the underlying bill. .The Reed substitute. as the Senator from Texas has said. simply guts it. changes the whole intent of the bill very dramatically. I urge my colleagues to vote against the Reed substitute. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":363,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090065428,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The slope is going the wrong way. There is no crisis. There is no threat to procurement of military weapons. That is also conjured up out of thin air. This is not about legal principle. A fundamental legal principle in this country is if you are wronged by the negligence of another. you can go to court. This is not about legal principles. We have had talk about intervening criminal activities taking away the negligence of another. That is not what the statement of torts. which is the black letter law of the country. states. These exceptions in the bill have been carefully crafted to prevent lawsuits. not to enable appropriate lawsuits to go forward. ","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3594,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090065429,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"S. 397 will stop lawsuits that are designed not to recover damages from criminal or culpable parties. but which are designed to financially damage the industry or force regulatory changes that would restrict their legal business and strangle second amendment rights across.the Nation. We have a responsibility to protect those rights and to stop the use of the courts to usurp legislative prerogatives. I respectfully urge my colleagues to support this legislation and to oppose extraneous amendments that would weaken or delay it from passing. Please protect the rights of our constituents and the legal business that is unjustly threatened by these reckless lawsuits: and let us preserve the balance between the legislative and judicial branches of government.","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5639,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090065431,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is unfortunate. I have never accepted the proposition that the gun debate is a black and white issue. a matter of \"youre with us. or youre against us.\" Instead. I have followed what I believe is a moderate course. faithful to the*Constitution and to the realities of modern society. I believe that the second amendment was not an afterthought. that it has meaning today and must be respected. I support the right to bear arms for lawful purposesfor hunting and sport and for selfprotection. Millions of Americans own firearms legally and we should not take action that tells them that they are secondclass citizens or that their constitutional rights are under attack. At the same time. there are actions we can and should take to protect public safety that do not infringe on constitutional rights. I supported the amendment offered by the senior Senator from Wisconsin regarding. child safety locks and was pleased that the Senate approved this measure. which does not infringe on the rights of lawabiding citizens to own and use guns. I do not believe that granting special liability protection to the gun industry is necessary to protect the right to bear arms. however. There is no evidence that liability lawsuits threaten the existence of the gun industry in America. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3146,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090065454,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":16,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Some. I am sure. are very gdod projects. Many of them are interesting. Some of them are entertaining. Just glance right here: Parking facility in Peoria. IL. $800.000. A parking facility in a highway bill. The original bill as proposed by President Eisenhower and adopted by the Cohgress had two demonstration projects. Now we have a lot. No one has counted them yet. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11878,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090065479,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to support the passage of the conference report for H.R. 3. SAFETEALU. the reauthorization of our Federal surface transportation programs. During my 42 years in the Senate. it has been the rare occasion when we pass a piece of legislation that is guaranteed to save lives. But the safety provisions authored by the Senate Commerce Cornmittee in this transportation reauthorization bill will save thousands of lives. and prevent thousands of serious injuries. forgenerations. I want to thank Chairman STEVENS. Chairman LOTT. Senators PRYOR.","speaker_name":"DANIEL INOUYE","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":561,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090065481,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"John Stoody. They played an important role developing the transit title in this bill. I also thank my good friend Senator GRASSLEY. the chairman of the Finance Committee. for his commitment to the transportation program. Let me take a moment and speak about the hard work of the Finance Committee staff. Getting the Tax Title done presented many challenges. not the least of which was getting it paid for. The House bill simply did not provide enough money for our highway iflfrastructure. The Finance Committee Worked together tirelessly to find additional revenue to pay for it. I want to thank some staff members in particular. I appreciate the cooperation we received from the Republican staff. especially Kolan Davis. Mark Prater. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2748,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090065482,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Utah will also receive $30 million for its statewide bus and bus facilities for the purchase of buses. upgrading existing buses. and for improving maintenance facilities and storage yards. At my urging as a Senate conferee to the Transportation bill. Utah State University was designated as a University Transportation Center. USU will receive approximately $2 Thillion over the next 5 years and will greatly improve the statewide knowledge base and transportation research being done in Utah. Mr. President. a few months ago. executives of Wavetronix. a trafficdata collecting company based in Lindon. UT. asked for my help inamending the Intelligent Transportation Infrastructure Program. ITIP. Wavetronix sells sensors that detect speed and flow in highways for purposes of gathering information to determine realtime traffic data and would like to have access to ITIP funds. Unfortunately. since 1998. a Pennsylvaniabased company. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5791,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090065484,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I would be remiss if I did not take a moment to discuss some of the shortcomings I see in this conference reportshortcomings that. in my view. threaten to undermine the very goals this legislation tried to accomplish. . First. I do not believe that the level of investment provided in this con- ference report is fully adequate to meet the growing needs of our transportation infrastructure. When the Senate originally debated this legislation. I was pleased to support a bipartisan measure that provided $295 billion between fiscal year 2004 and fiscal year 2009.. This funding level was considerably higher than the House level of $283 billion and the Bush administrations original recommendation of $256 billion. Therefore. when the conference report was completed earlier this week. I was disappointed to learn that the conference committee provided $286.4 billiona figure only marginally higher than the House figure and significantly lower than the Senate figure. I have been told by the Connecticut Ddpartment of Transportation that this level of investment is barely adequate to keep pace with expected inflation over next 4 years and wholly inadequate to meet the growing crises facing our transportation systems both in Connecticut and across the country. Second. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10892,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090065490,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It provides the resources and planning tools to help ensure the continued development of an advanced. integrated transit systema system that will cut air pollution. conserve fuel and reduce congestion on our roadways. This measure will go a long way to meeting the growing demand for transit in cities. towns. rural areas. and suburban jurisdictions across the country. I am particularly pleased that the legislation includes two key provisions which I sponsored. the Transit in Parks Act. or TRIP. and an expansion of the commuter benefits program to encourage greater mass transit use by Federal employees in the National Capital Area. The new Federal transit grant initiative known as TRIP will support the development of alternative transportation serviceseverything from rail or clean fuel bus projects to pedestrian and bike paths. or park waterway accesswithin or adjacent to national parks and other public lands. It will give our Federal land management agencies important new tools to improve both preservation and access. Just as we have found in metropolitan areas. transit is essential to moving large numbers of people in our national parksquickly. efficiently. at low cost. and without adverse impact. The expansion of the commuter benefits program will allow thousands more federal employees to take advantage of a guaranteed taxfree financial incentive of up to $105 per month. paid by their employer. towards the costs of transit commuting. It will give employees more choice in their commuting options and provide an additional incentive to move off our congested roadways and onto public transit. In addition. Federal agencies will be permitted to offer shuttle services for their employees to a public transit facility. ","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12853,"word_count":271}
{"speech_id":1090065539,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. during the consideration of the Department of Defense authorization bill. several of our colleagues offered an amendment concerning the treatment of. prisoners. It was an important amendment. It was offered by Senator MCCAIN and Senator GRAHAM. Senator WARNER offered a related amendment. The McCain Anrendment made it clear that the United States would not engage in conduct related to detainees and prisoners which could be characterized as \"cruel. inhumane or degrading.\" I salute my colleagues for their courage in stepping forward to address this very difficult and controversial issue. I hope when we return to the Department of Defense authorization bill. we will give them a resounding vote of support. They speak for all in their dedication to make certain that we live up to the rules of law and to the standards of American values which have guided us for so many decades. I look forward to that debate. I thank them for their political courage in offering this to the Department of Defense authorization bill. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1091,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090065545,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Lastly. I urge that when we return in September. the top item be the Defense authorization bill. I was terribly disappointed that we put aside that bill this week. I dont recall. another event quite like that where we literally pulled the Defense authorization bill for special interest legislation. With men and women in harms way. when we are at war. it was stunning to me we would relilace that effort with the proposal to provide immunity. in effect. to gun manufacturers and dealers with the legislation that was enacted earlier this afternoon. Putting aside my view on that bill. which I have expressed earlier this week. I am stunned that the Senate would prematurely cease action on legislation to help our men and women in uniform would get everything they possibly neednot to mention provide support for veterans. for survivors families. and for the weapons systems that are essential to our national security.. I found it unbelievable we would s~t aside that legislation in order to provide legal immunity for gun dealers and gun manufacturers in the Unitbd States. I have never seen anything like it in my service. I recall once. last year. there was an effort to cease work on the Defense authorization bill in order to consider the class action reform bill. which I supported and was deeply involved in crafting. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2220,"word_count":225}
{"speech_id":1090065566,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on July 14 the United Nations Working Group on Internet Governance. WGIG. issued its final report. WGIG was formed following the December 2003 U.N. World Summit on Information Policy with the intention of simply developing a consensus definition for \"intent governance\" and identifying relevant public policy issues. Ultimately the task force exceeded its mandate and laid out four policy recommendations for the future of Internet governance. One unifying theme for all these options is that there should be \"a further internationalization -of Internet governance arrangements\" because of WGIGs belief that \"no single government should have a preeminent role in relation to international Internet governance\". .In other words. this U.N. task force report suggests that the historic role of the United States in overseeing the Internets growth and shepherding its development should be terminated and that Internet governance should be politicized under U.N. auspices. The most extreme of the options laid out by the WGIG would transfer the authority and functions of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. ICANN. a respected nonprofit organization which is currently overseen by the U.S. Department of Commerce. to a new body linked to and controlled by the United Nations. ","speaker_name":"NORM COLEMAN","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3816,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090065573,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"America took a critical step forward in its quest for inclusiveness. Just a year earlier. President Johnson had signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. proclaiming that in America. We believe that all men are created equal. yet many are denied equal treatment. We believe that all men have certain unalienable rights. yet many Americans do not enjoy those rights. We believe that all men are entitled to the blessings of liberty. yet millions are being deprived of those blessings. not because of their own failures. but because of color of the skin. President Johnson knew then what we still recognize today. The enactment of both of these critical pieces of legislation was only one step in our countrys journey to become an inclusive America where all its citizens enjoy the rights and protections guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. When he recalled this day. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3495,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090065574,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Bush. In signing the legislation. President Bush spoke of what he felt the law would offer Americans with disabilities. He said \"This Act ... will ensure that people with disabilities are given the basic guarantees for which they have worked so long and so hard: independence. freedom of choi ce. control of their lives. the opportunity to blend fully and equally into t e rich mosaic of the American mainstream.\" Since the passage of the ADA. we have seen significant improvements in the employment and economic wellbeing of citizens with disabilities. In 2003. the U.S. Census Bureau reported that over the previous 15 years. the employment rate for working age men with a disability had increased by more than 25 percent. Other evidence of the ADAs impact was even more readily apparent. For instance. the barriers to mobility once posed by public transportation have been largely eliminated. Here in Washington. DC. for example. 95 percent of the Metro system is accessible to persons with disabilities. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ISAKSON","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8665,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090065575,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today in honor of Alan Charles Sadoski. a loving husband. father. and friend- whose lasting memory is continually celebrated by everyone who knew and loved him. Alans life was filled with family. friends. excitement. and laughter. He was one of what quickly became seven brothers and sisters growing up in Salem. MA. Everyone who knew him will tell you that his siblings were not only his best friends but also his biggest fans. He graduated .from high school in 1967 and went on to become a standout soccer player at Salem State College. while at the same time serving in the Massachusetts National Guard. on a true wilderness adventure. They talk about his fabled flapjacks. and how everyone would watch the pancake impresario perform his tricks. They remember how much fun it was to be around Alan. how he was always at the center of the crowd. telling some of his famous stories. somehow making the gathering better just by being there. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1774,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090065579,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"However. I am concerned that after a promising beginning. corruption. organized crime. and human rights violations are getting worse. In 2004. President Berger reduced the size of the Guatemalan military by 50 percent. However. to the consternation of many civil society organizations. the Interior Ministry announced that the Guatemalan military would continue to participate in joint law enforcement operations with the National Civil Police. in violation of the Peace Accords. This is also a concern because. according to the State Department. there are credible allegations of involvement by police officers in rapes. killings and kidnappings. Rather than prosecute these officers. they are often transferred to different parts of the country. Impunity remains a serious problem. Organized crime is thriving in Guatemala. and the government faces an uncertain future if it is perceived as powerless against these wealthy criminal networks. In one day this year. 17 people were reportedly murderel in Guatemala City. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6405,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090065592,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Reading his reporting from Russia. one could tell that he was deeply troubled by the crime and corruption that plagued his ancestral homeland. His personal association with his subject. combined with an educational background in economics. his excellent command of the Russian language. and 15 years experience with the Forbes organization. made him uniquely qualified to report on the nexus of business. politics. and crime in todays Russia. Paul Klebnikovs killing epitomizes the brazen lawlessness that still plagues Russia even after the ascension to power of a putatively \"law and order\" exKGB official. For all the talk about stability in Russia today. it is sometimes a stability based on not asking the wrong questions about the wrong people.","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":750,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090065593,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Paul Klebnikovs widow Musa has explained that Paul. through his journalism. sought to foster hope in the hearts of the ordinary Russian citizen. bring corruption to light and focus attention on positive models of how a democracy ought to operate. Chairman Brownback and I have sought to keep the attention of the United States Government focused on reinforcing with Russian authorities the vital need to hold to account all those responsible for Paul Klebnikovs murder. I was pleased to join with nine of my colleagues on the Helsinki Commission in writing to President Putin and calling for an aggressive investigation into the killing. I also wrote to President Bush to ask him to raise the issue of Pauls murder with President Putin during their meeting in Bratislava. Slovakia on February 24th. That meeting with President Putin presented an opportunity to make clear that all those involved in instigating. ordering. planning and carrying out the murder should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The Helsinki Commission and my office have been assured that representatives of the State Department have expressed to the Government of Russia the United States Governments desire to see a thorough and complete investigation of this murder.","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1252,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090065597,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"These recent developments underline the fundamental importance of transparency. I hope the Russian authorities will share as much information as possible with Paul Klebnikovs family. Without a transparent process. doubt will remain that the person or persons truly responsible for ordering Pauls murder will be brought to justice.","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":330,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090065604,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In the short term. surely the President can. In the longer term. the people should. through their elected representatives. We dont want the courts to writethe rules. In summary. it is time for Congress. which represents the people. to clarify and set the rules for detention and interrogation of our enemies. During the next few weeks. I hope the White House will tell us what rules and procedures the President needs to succeed in this effort. That way we can move forward together.","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4157,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090065609,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it is with great honor that I rise today to publicly recognize the 175th anniversary of the First Christian Church in Wellton. WV. The dhurch has ministered to the Ohio Valley since West Virginia was recognized as our countrys 35th state. The Christian Church. which is also known as the Disciples of Christ. is a Protestant denomination of approximately 800.000 members in the United States and Canada. It is one of the largest faith groups founded on American soil. The founders of the Christian Church were Thomas Campbell and his son Alexander Campbell. Both of these men and other distinguished leaders of the Disciples of Christ ministered at the First Christian Church in Weirton. Members of the church have been faithful in serving their country. One of the churchs original members. in fact. received a Congressional Medal of Honor in 1898. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ROCKEFELLER","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3458,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090065617,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to take this opportunity to recognize Dr. Robert H. Bartlett. an accomplished surgeon. professor and inventor. who recently retired from seeing patients at the University of Michigan Medical Center. Dr. Bartlett. who earned his bachelors degree from Albion College and graduated cum laude from the University of Michigan Medical School. was honored by his peers during a ceremony on June 23. Dr. Bartlett is admired across Michigan for his dedicated service to his patients and his contributions to the advancement of medicine. His excellence in the practice of medicine has been demonstrated throughout his exemplary career. which spans more than 40 years. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2934,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090065623,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He assisted Rev. Ernest Smith. a local pastor. by polling the residents of Coal Branch Heights as to which Christ ian denomination they would like to belong. The residents chose the Methofist faith. and a developer donated land to the Methodist Conference for the construction of a new Methodist church. Although Mr. Wanzer helped to build St. Stephens Methodist Church. the Methodist district superintendent refused him the right to worship within the buildings walls. At that time. half of Coal Branch Heights population was Black and the other half was White. Mr. Wanzer. an African American. was not permitted to worship with St. Stephens allWhite congregation. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ROCKEFELLER","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2869,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090065630,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I am proud to introduce a bill. along with Senators LAUTENBERG and LANDRIEU. to grant a Federal Charter to the Irish American Cultural Institute. an organization that promotes appreciation and recognition of the important contributions IrishAmericans have played throughout the history of the United States. A longstanding goal of the Irish American Cultural Institute been to establish a museum of IrishAmerican history and culture in Washington. DC. and I am pleased to help lay the foundation for achieving that goal. The Irish American Cultural Institute is a national organization founded in 1962. with local chapters in 17 States. including New Jersey. The Institute has spent the last 40 years fighting to promote. preserve and educate about Irish and IrishAmerican culture. Those involved with the Institute do this. in part. by fostering strong cultural and educational ties between the United States and Irelandsending American high school students to Ireland. and bringing Irish scholars. musicians. craftspeople. actors. and artists to the Untied States. They also fund academic research projects that raise awareness about IrishAmerican history. and provide fellowships for American professors to spend a year as a visiting scholar at the National University of Ireland. In short. the Irish American Cultural Institute serves as an important educational. informational. and financial resource for key initiatives important to the Irish and the IrishAmerican community in the United States. IrishAmericans comprise more than 17 percent of the population of the United States. and have made enormous contributions to our Nation in countless ways. ","speaker_name":"JON CORZINE","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2094,"word_count":251}
{"speech_id":1090065633,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am pleased to join my colleague Senator MIKE DEWINE to introduce \"The ABCs for Childrens Health Act of 2005.\" which seeks to expand access to quality health care for all children who are eligible for Medicaid. The bill also ensures that children get the best health care at the right time. Medicaid is the single largest insurer for children. Twentyfive million children in America. one out of every four. depend on Medicaid for their health care coverage. In Arkansas. more than half of the births are financed by Medicaid. Over half of the children in Arkansas are on Medicaid or received Medicaid services in the last year. Medicaid covers half of the care. on average. that childrens hospitals provide. As a result. the availability and quality of health care for all Children relies greatly on Medicaid. ","speaker_name":"BLANCHE LINCOLN","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2074,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090065641,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I look forward to working my colleagues to pass this legislation to ensure that access to care for our seniors is preserved and enhanced. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6183,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090065642,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"New Mexico is not alone in facing nurse and nurse faculty shortages. The nationwide nursing shortage is expected to more than triple. because the -average age of the workforce is near retirement. the population is aging and has increasing healthcare needs. and the shortage is one that affects the entire nation. There is a wellknown saying. \"a problem clearly stated is a problem half solved.\" In 20042005. over 30.000 qualified nursing school applicants were not accepted into nursing baccalaureate programs. Estimates from the National League for Nursing indicate that over 123.000 qualified applications could not be accommodated in registered nurse educational programs in 2004. The primary reason students are not admitted is lack of trained faculty. funds. and program resources. The real nursing workforce problem that we need to address at the current time is lack of an adequate number of qualified nurse faculty members. The Nurse Faculty Education Act. will amend the Nurse Reinvestment Act. P.L. 107205. to help alleviate the faculty shortage by providing funds to help nursing schools increase enrollment and graduation from nursing doctoral programs. The act will increase partnering opportunities. enhance cooperative education. help support marketing outreach. and strengthen mentoring programs. ","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3487,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090065649,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I introduce legislation to reauthorize the U.S. Grain Standards Act. which expires September 30. 2005. The Secretary of Agriculture was granted authority by Congress to establish grain standards in 1916. Sixty years later. Congress authorized the Federal Grain Inspection Service in. order to ensure the development and maintenance of uniform U.S. standards. to develop inspection and weighing procedures for grain in domestic and export trade. and to facilitate grain marketing. The U.S. grain inspection system is recognized worldwide for its accuracy and reliability. On May 25. 2005. the Agriculture Committee held a hearing to review the reauthorization of the Act during which the industry expressed its desire to provide authority to the United States Department of Agriculture. USDA. to utilize thirdparty entities at export terminals. Inspections at these terminals are currently conducted by Federal inspectors or employees of State Departments of Agriculture. ","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2577,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090065664,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I have the support of many of my colleagues on the Senate Committee on Commerce. Science and Transportation to introduce legislation to help rural America transition to an age of digital television. Television is an important media outlet for local news. weather and information. Years ago. it was decided that the United States should transition to a higher standard. of television service. Digital television is much more than simply a sharper picture. it allows for an increase in the number of channels. more efficient use of spectrum and many new features for consumers. As the Senate considers broader digital television transition legislation. it is important not to leave rural America behind. The bill I introduce today is aimed to assist translator stations and low power analog stations. Translator stations are small stations that repeat a signal from full power stations so that the signal may be reached in remote areas. ","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3831,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090065685,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And it is an obligation that we. as Americans. have fulfilled time and again because it reaffirms our fundamental belief in democracy and community. As Alexis de Tocqueville wrote in Democracy in America. a record of his 19th century travels through the United States. Americas \"equality of conditions\" not only characterized the new countrys democratic political structure. but it reflected the community and mutual obligation that he saw as part and parcel of Americas revolutionary form of government. The social contract with America that was forged 40 years ago this week is no less valid or necessary today. According to the most recent Census data. nearly 24 million people with incomes below 200 percent of the poverty line were uninsured in 2003. including approximately 18 million adults under age 65 as well as 6 million children. Those numbers are expected to rise in the years ahead. Our representative democracy has a iesponsibility to do for the future what we have repeatedly done in the past: protect. preserve. and strengthen Medicaid.","speaker_name":"JOHN ROCKEFELLER","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6133,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090065703,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this procedure has now set a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the Native Hawaiians legislation. That vote will occur at 5:30 on Tuesday when we return. If cloture is invoked. we will stay on that motion until it is disposed of. If cloture is not invoked. we will proceed to a vote on the cloture motion to proceed to the death tax.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":354,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090065708,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There are 56 field offices. one in almost every major city. The head of a field office could issue an administrative subpoena to a hospital director and ask for all of the hospitals medical records simply by claiming they were relevant to an investigation. the hospital director was busy or didnt have the resources to make a challenge. No judge would ever see the subpoena. The patients would not know their records had been seized. They would be totally in the dark. Your mothers. your husbands. your own medical records could move into the Governments hands. and you would be none the wiser. Despite the very aggressive efforts in the Senate to include this power to conduct these what I believe are fishing expeditions. it is not in the version of the PATRIOT Act that is being passed tonight. since it is not in the House bill either. My view is that under rule XXVIII. it would be outside the scope of the conference to include these administrative subpoenas in any form in the PATRIOT Act. If I am informed later that it is in the conference report in some form. I will make a point of order at that time and the conference report would fall. ","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2731,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090065720,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the remaining nominations that I enumerated be confirmed en bloc. the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table. and the President be immediately notified of the Senates action. and the Senate then return to legislative session.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":275,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090065748,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the upcoming recess or adjournment of the Senate. the President of the Senate. the President pro tempore. and the majority and minority leaders be authorized to make appointments to commissions. committees. boards. conferences or interparliamentary conferences authorized by law. by concurrent action of the two Houses or by order of the Senate.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":390,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090066043,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in response to this request. the House of Representatives. I am advised. will be prepared to adopt a bill making emergency supplemental appropriations to meet immediate needs arising from the consequences of Hurricane Katrina for the fiscal year ending September 30. 2005. And the text of the bill is that it: Be enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled. that the following sums are appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated for the fiscal year ending September 30. 2005. namely the Department of Homeland Security: For an additional amount for \"Disaster Relief. $10.000.000.000. to remain available until expended... And then a provision. provided $500 million to the Department of Defense: ... for emergency hurricane expenses. to support costs of evacuation. emergency repairs. deployment of personnel. and other costs resulting from immediate relief efforts. to remain available until September 30. 2006. I ask unanimous consent that a copy of that bill. which we are advised will be adopted by the House of Representatives. be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1168,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090066045,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. at this point. I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the recess or adjournment of the Senate. the Senate may receive from the House an emergency supplemental appropriations bill for relief of the victims of Hurricane Katrina. the text of which is at the desk. and that the measure be considered read three times and passed and a motion to reconsider laid on the table. provided that the text of the House bill is identical to that which is at the desk.","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":474,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090066052,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Tens of thousands of people remained stranded and trappedthere is a critical lack of food and waterand people are dying. It is truly a desperate situation. So I am pleased to support this legislation to provide emergency funding to help the relief efforts. I doubt it will be enough. and I suspect we will need to do more. I trust that the action we are taking tonight will be just the first stepand will serve to underscore our desire to take care of the people of the Gulf States.* The bill was read the third time and passed.","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1506,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090066081,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. pursuant to the order of the House. I call up the bill making emergency supplemental appropriations to meet immediate needs arising from the consequences of Hurricane Katrina. for the fiscal year ending September 30. 2005. and for other purposes. and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":313,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090066083,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This is not a time for words or political rhetoric. It is a time for action. We need to move quickly. to save lives. and help the people of the region get back on their feet. The President has promised an unprecedented level of immediate aid. Congress is backing that promise with the funding and resources to keep the aid flowing. This is a simple 21\/2page supplemental. It contains two sections: $10 billion for FEMA within the Department of Homeland Security. and $500 million for the Operation and Maintenance. DefenseWide account within the Department of Defense. The $10.5 billion figure was determined based on what FEMA is now spending on a daily basis and how much is needed to take us out a few weeks until we get a better assessment of what the longterm funding needs will be. At the beginning of this week. ","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4762,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090066084,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 3 minutes. Mr. Speaker. by way of explanation. this bill provides $10.5 billion. $10 billion of which will go to FEMA. half a billion dollars to DOD. It provides for relief efforts for the aftermath of the Katrina hurricane. The funds to DOD will go to the operation and maintenance account with broad transfer authority. They will eventually wind up. I am certain. being used for procurement for housing and matters like that. The funds for FEMA may be used for any traditional purpose under the FEMA legislation. including public assistance. shelter. food. et cetera. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1329,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090066088,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It will take nothing less than a domestic Marshall Plan to rebuild our roads and utilities and homes and businesses. On this point. let me be very clear. Rebuild we must. Rebuild we will. The majority whip suggested that Americans themselves are already responding individually. Indeed. as we responded to the tsunami in spades. Americans are already responding. with their hearts. with their prayers and indeed with their pocketbooks to the Salvation Army. the Red Cross and otherwise. They are going to make sure that money is not the question. We are beginning that process by way of our public responsibility today with this bill. but indeed in the weeks and months and years ahead. we will demonstrate as a Congress that America does its best work when we come together as Americans and not as partisans. With the passage of this bill. this task is just beginning. ","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2533,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090066089,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have to make sure that the relief money we are appropriating today and that we will be appropriating in the weeks. months and years ahead actually gets to the victims. and is not skimmed off by fastbuck artists and unscrupulous contractors. This crisis is so enormous and so devastatingly serious that it is without precedent in our history. For these reasons. we need to get out of a \"business as usual\" frame of mind and implement some bold new approaches to helping our people in their time of dire need. First. the Speaker should immediately create a Task Force or Special Committee with the power to cut across overlapping jurisdictional lines to prevent duplication and expedite needed legislation. This Committee should draw on and coordinate the expertise of the House standing committees in the areas of public health. housing. food and nutrition. safety. social services. energy. transportation and commerce. There is precedent for this approach. In 1977. Speaker ONeil set up the Ad Hoc Committee on Energy. with legislative authority to deal with the energy crisis. I think we should use the same approach today. Second. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4100,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090066090,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It truly is heartening to see communities come together in times of great need. It is my hope that we continue this spirit of generosity as we overcome this tragedy. The passage of this Emergency Supplemental Appropriation will help continue the efforts to provide aid in a timely matter. While our communities are opening their hearts and doing whatever possible. it is our governments job to be doing everything it can with all resources to provide for the wellbeing of its own people. It is unconscionable that we are not taking care of our own. and that there are still Americans who have not been fed or sheltered or reunited with their families for five days now. It is embarrassing that this mighty nation that sends relief around the world has failed its own people so miserably. I hope that this House and this government can rebuild our own devastated areas with the same enthusiasm and resources dedicated to rebuilding governments and nations abroad.","speaker_name":"SILVESTRE REYES","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1988,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090066093,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I support this very critical legislation. and I hope that my colleagues will show their compassion by joining in this support.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3010,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090066098,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It has been 5 days since Hurricane Katrina slammed into the region and yet tens of thousands of Americans are without food and water. Lawlessness has settled in New Orleans and we have not provided the support necessary to secure the region. Tens of thousands of citizens are still stranded in shelters and we have not been able to evacuate them to safer areas. and thousands of residents of New Orleans are in need of rescue from their floodfilled homes and we have not mobilized the personnel necessary to search for them and bring them to safety. Today. as thousands of residents of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region face the possibility of death. I am outraged that the Federal Government failed to adequately plan for the hurricane as it approached this very vulnerable region. Last Friday. the hurricanes potential danger was clear. yet we did a poor job of getting resources in place. After the hurricane struck. we did not activate the full resources of the Federal Government to assist the region. Instead. we relied on local and State governments. entities that were clearly overwhelmed and did not have the resources necessary to deal with a catastrophe of this magnitude. Today. I am outraged at the failure of government to protect our citizens. ","speaker_name":"BENJAMIN CARDIN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3600,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090066105,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I ask Americans all across this great country to open their hearts and donate to the effort to help their fellow citizens in their time of need. The recovery effort demands that private business. private charities. private citizens. and the government come together to help those in their time of crisis. I applaud Leader PELOSI and Speaker HASTERT for bringing the House back into session today to pass this supplemental. It is one small way we in the Congress can ensure that the money from the federal treasury remain flowing so our first responders can do the work that needs to be done to help the survivors of this terrible disaster. Mr. Speaker. this is a time for all Americans to come together and help those in need. It is time to get the survivors to safety. provide them with food. water. and shelter. and to ensure that their basic needs for survival are taken care of. I rise in strong support of this supplemental and ask for all Americans to help their fellow. citizens in their time of need..","speaker_name":"JOHN DINGELL","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1824,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090066124,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Many Nevadans have stepped up to offer their help in this effort. We have contractors in Nevada who have donated construction material. concrete. steel to help rebuild. We have banking institutions like Wells Fargo that have offered emergency financial assistance. emergency financial support and processes by which these people can access financial assistance. Members of the National Guard in the State of Nevada have also been called up. both from the 152nd Air National Guard Medical Group based in Reno and the Army Guards Medical Detachment 5 headquartered in Reno. And Las Vegas were among the 100 alreadydeployed Nevadans assisting in the emergency response currently underway. The emergency team doctors. nurses and other medical specialists and their equipment left Reno on a C130 with less than 24 hours notice. The team will spend up to 2 weeks aiding the victims of Hurricane Katrina. As the recovery effort continues. Congress took the necessary steps today as a united body to enable these communities to begin to rebuild. Thousands of residents in Louisiana. ","speaker_name":"JAMES GIBBONS","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2842,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090066128,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"On our Web site. we have provided information on ways to donate money. food and water to the efforts. Since Katrina washed away homes. businesses. families and lives. America has grieved deeply. We all mourn those who lost their lives. and we grieve with those who have lost their loved ones and friends. While we cannot reverse Katrinas damage. we can begin to repair the region. which sustains millions of Americans and is vital to our Nation. Todays legislation will help us begin that process of rebuilding the area. providing support to law enforcement and getting Gulf Coast residents back to the business of their lives. In the days and weeks to come. there will be much more that follows.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SHAYS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3103,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090066135,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am here to express our solidarity with the people in those communities that have been hardest hit. The economic impact of Katrina also looms over us as we move forward. and as gas and other oil prices spiral out of control this natural disaster certainly has the potential to become a serious economic challenge as well. We need to take action in Congress to alleviate the shortterm crisis that has been caused by Katrina. It will likely take the next several weeks and perhaps longer before we know the full extent and the true extent of the damage and begin to repair our critical energy infrastructure. We recognize already that electricity remains sparse in some communities. limiting the capacity of refineries to operate. In addition. distribution pipelines also lack capacity. so refined products are unable to reach local gas stations. The production and delivery problem will. without a doubt. have significant impact on consumers and a ripple effect on the economy. We in Congress I think need to anticipate that and respond. I think it is essential that we act to address any fuel shortage and act decisively to blunt its nationwide consequences. While our supply chain is coming back online. ","speaker_name":"PHILIP ENGLISH","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3625,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090066155,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to extend my personal condolences. that of my family and all of the constituents I am privileged to represent. to the families and victims of this terrible natural disaster. I almost did not come down here today because I am painfully aware that nothing we can say here is going to make the kind of difference that we would like to make. The $10.5 billion will make some difference. but it is very small in comparison to the magnitude of the suffering. What I think myself and all of my colleagues would rather to be doing is being down there in New Orleans helping with the effort. We would like to be giving water to those thirsty. comfort to those who have lost loved ones. and help begin the rebuilding progress with our own hands. We are not able to be there because we are not needed as much as the rescue personnel. While we would like to be there. we have constituents calling and asking tough questions. and I think it is incumbent upon us to respond to some of those tough questions. Constituents are asking: Why was the preparation not better? Why is it taking so long to rescue people and provide basic food and shelter and clothing? Why are oil companies who are already enjoying record profits being able to take what seems to be exorbitant profit from even this catastrophe? I do not have the answer to all of those. but some things we should consider and the American people have a right to know. the American people have a right to know that for the past 5 years the administration has proposed draconian cuts to the Corps of Engineers budgets. including nearly a 50 percent cut to hurricane flood prevention in the very area now affected by this tragedy. ","speaker_name":"BRIAN BAIRD","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4528,"word_count":309}
{"speech_id":1090066165,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But. Mr. Speaker. I would be remiss as someone who spent 8 years as the chief law enforcement officer of the State of California if I did not remark on what I observed with the breakdown in order that we saw in the city of New Orleans. Quite simply. when we have a situation in which law enforcement stands by and allows looting to take place with the excuse that it is only for food and water. one should understand that if we say looting is okay for food and water. we will ensure that only the strong get the food and the water and the weak will not. It was not the weak that were breaking into those places and taking that home. it was. rather. those who were healthy and those who were able to go in and do that. and I doubt that they were running back to assist those who were far less fortunate. When you suggest that that breakdown in order is allowable. what you do is suggest to the criminal community that they can do more. and we saw the spiraling from food and water to clothes. to appliances. and finally to guns and ammunition. and we saw terrible tragedy that ensued that was manmade. not as the result of the terrible forces of the hurricane and the terrible forces of the flooding that took place thereafter. but rather those who would take advantage of that tragedy for their own purposes. My only suggestion. Mr. Speaker. is that it ought to be a lesson for all of us. all of us. that when we are confronted with tragedies of this sort. whether they are manmade or natural. we must understand the importance of order being maintained. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL LUNGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4219,"word_count":292}
{"speech_id":1090066173,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I can tell you that several military bases are willing and able to provide immediate housing for these victims. Space is available. There is substantial housing resources on our bases. and we must. use them. As a member of the Committee on Armed Services. I encourage us to use our military resources to the fullest. There are many. many communities across the South and across this country who are eager to provide housing and health care and education for these victims. In Columbia. South Carolina. for example. those great Americans want to care for these victims. and they are conferencing right now with the gentleman from South Carolina","speaker_name":"GEORGE BUTTERFIELD","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2044,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090066179,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. yes. New Orleans is worth saving and rebuilding. It is one of the most American cities. for it represents how diversity comes together in harmony and blends into our music. our foods. our culture. and our Americanism. Response to this disaster was a miserable failure. Americans died. Americans went hungry. Americans were living for days without water and without health services. You can live without food for 7 days. but you cannot live without water. Our health services were dysfunctional. ","speaker_name":"DIANE WATSON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":33.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2617,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090066185,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Why is it. why is it that it is the poor. the minority. the child. the elderly and the infirm who are most likely to suffer in times of disaster. whether they be of manmade proportions or of a natural occurrence? Mr. Speaker. we should all pray that those who are in need of assistance at this hour receive it as quickly as possible. but we should also hold those accountable who are responsible for making sure that that assistance is available in a timely manner.","speaker_name":"TED STRICKLAND","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2881,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090066202,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have the skyrocketing energy prices. gasoline prices. and oil prices. We have the ongoing war in Iraq. We have the judicial nomination which is underway. And we have the response to Katrina. The response to Katrina right now. because it is an ongoing catastrophe. an ongoing natural disaster. needs to be first and foremost. We are acting and we are going to continue to act aggressively. Last Thursday night we came in and the Democratic leader and I helped usher through. in a highly unusual emergency session. the $10.5 billion aid bill. As we said then. that was only the beginning. We have so many urgent responsibilities now that we will be working together in a bipartisanway to address these issues. Last Tuesday we sent out a note to all committee chairmen to begin bringing their legislative .proposals to us. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9990,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090066240,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. my colleagues today have spoken about the almost unbelievable disaster that has occurred in the Gulf region. Only now are we fully beginning to understand the lives lost and the complete devastation of the region. I know there will be a lot of time. perhaps. to evaluate what kind of emergency preparedness existed or why proper preparedness did not exist. This is the moment and the time for all of us to concentrate on finding the survivors. There are so many victims. We know that many of those who have died in this disaster have not yet been found. We know there are survivors who have not yet been found. We are nearly certain of that. This is an important time to marshal. the resources of this country. to effectively organize the resources to search for survivors. and then to help those who have been made victims by this devastating hurricane. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3450,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090066253,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Biloxi. Gulf Port. Pascagula. and so many others have sustained injuries almost beyond belief. America and the world have been stunned by the cruelty of the tragic effects of this storm. At the same time. we are also hearing the stories of those who have rushed to the aid of our fellow Americans in needmen and women of the National Guard and the U.S. Armed Services. paramedics. doctors. police men and women. volunteers from all walks of life. And as chair of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Fisheries and Coast Guard. I especially thank the selfless commitment of the people of the Coast Guard. -who have rescued at least 32.000 thousand individuals find have served with the greatest heroism and honor. To the people of the Gulf region: You do not stand alone in your pain and frustration. Congress has a responsibility to ensure that essential items. medical care. and shelter are provided in a timely fashion. wherever and whenever they are needed. ","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4700,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090066262,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. tomorrow the Senate will pay its respects to the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist. Senators will be able and are encouraged to -make statements tomorrow morning relating to the passing of Justice Rehnquist. We will be voting at noon tomorrow on a resolution which expresses the sense of the Senate. The Senate will recess during the funeral ceremonies as a further mark of respect. As I mentioned earlier. we will begin consideration of the Commerce. Justice and Science appropriations bill on Thursday this week.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":532,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090066271,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I join Jeremys family and friends in mourning his death. While we struggle. to bear our sorrow over this loss. we can also take pride in the example he set. bravely fighting to make the world a safer place. It is his courage and strength of character that people will remember when they think of Jeremy. a memory that will burn brightly during these continuing days of conflict and grief. Jeremy was known for his dedication to his family and his love of country. Today and always. Jeremy will be remembered by family members. friends and fellow Hoosiers as a true American hero. and we honor the sacrifice he made while dutifully serving his country. As I search for words to do justice in honoring Jeremys sacrifice. I am reminded of President Lincolns remarks as he addressed the families of the fallen soldiers in Gettysburg: We cannot dedicate. we cannot consecrate. we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men. living and dead. who struggled here. have consecrated it. far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here. but it can never forget what they did here. ","speaker_name":"EVAN BAYH","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3395,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090066275,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I wish to recognize Colman. SD. The town of Colman will celebrate the 125th\" anniversary of its founding this year. Located in Moody County. Colman was founded when the Milwaukee railroad extended its line reaching the. town in 1880. It was originally known as Sankey and then Allentown. The city eventually changed its name to Colman in honor of the Colman Lumber Company. a local business. I would like to offer my congratulations to Colman on their anniversary and I wish them continued prosperity in the years to come.e","speaker_name":"JOHN THUNE","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":544,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090066276,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I wish to recognize the centennial celebration of Indianapolis Life. I am honored to have the opportunity to offer my sincere congratulations on the companys 100 years of service and I want to express my gratitude and admiration for its many contributions to the State of Indiana. It is companies such as Indianapolis Life Insurance that make me proud to be a Hoosier. I had the honor of serving briefly on the board of directors of Indianapolis Life. giving me the chance to see the workings of this company firsthand. Not only does Indianapolis Life provide highquality insurance to hundreds of thousands of customers. but it is also a pillar Of community support in Indianapolis. through its corporate philanthropy and the volunteer activities of its staff. The financial success of the company has created economic growth across the country and has been an important part of the State economy for a century now. On behalf of.the State of Indiana. I thank all the employees. staff and directors who have made Indianapolis Life into the company it is today.e","speaker_name":"EVAN BAYH","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1081,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090066281,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday. September 6 at 2:30 p.m. The purpose of this hearing is to receive testimony regarding oil and gasoline pricing.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":269,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090066308,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. just as we are caring for our veterans who have been afflicted by this horrendous crisis. I hope this House quibkly turns to the relief of all of our. people on our Nations. gulf coast. And I would also like to thank the U.Sciservicemen and -women .and all those citizens who are helping the citizens of Louisiana. Mississippi. and Alabama survive and recover from the devastation that they are enduring. I fully support the emergency appropriations that this House passed last week. And I and the people of Kentucky stand ready to not only help the veterans but also every U.S. citizen affected by this devastating natural disaster. Mr. Speaker. we are supremely proud of our heroes of the Pacific Theatre in World War II. And I proudly support this resolution. ","speaker_name":"BEN CHANDLER","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4019,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090066310,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":14,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from New Jersey . my distinguished colleague. the former chairman of the Committee on Veterans Affairs. And like his father. the gentleman is as tough as nails. also with a gentle heart. And I think most of our people on the Committee on Veterans Affairs where he served with distinction as chairman will agree with that. I am very pleased this afternoon to bring my resolution to the floor commemorating the 60th anniversary of VJ Day and the end of World War II in the Pacific. I thank sincerely the two Chairs of the committees of jurisdiction for their consideration. First of all. the House Committee on International .Relations. the gentleman from Illinois . who himself fought for victory in Japan as mentioned by my colleague from Kentucky. and the chair of thle Committee on Armed Services. the gentleman from California . Like my father. Chairman HUNTERS father. ","speaker_name":"CLIFFORD STEARNS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11504,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090066339,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"appeared at the bar of the House and took the oath of office. as follows: Do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies. foreign and domestic. that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. that you take this obligation freely. without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter. So help you God.","speaker_name":"JEAN SCHMIDT","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":482,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090066342,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I pledge to walk in the shoes of my colleagues and refrain from namecalling or the questioning of character. It is easy to quickly sink to the lowest form of political debate. Harsh words often lead to headlines. but walking this path is not a\" victimless crime. This great House pays the price. So at this moment. I begin my tenure in this Chamber. uncertain of what history will say of my tenure here. I come here green with only a desire to make our great country even greater. We have much work to do. In that spirit. I pledge to each of you thkt any disagreements we may have are just that and no more. ","speaker_name":"JEAN SCHMIDT","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1619,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090066401,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Kuwait and those nations. We also get oil from Mexico. We also get oil from* Venezuela. Now. another factor that is going to very much affect the price of gasolinethat we pay at the pump will be that Venezuela is currently talking to the nation of China. and China is trying to talk them into a 100year contract with all of the production from Venezuela going to China for the next 100 years. Now. we as a Nation get 15 percent of our imported oil from Venezuela. So you can imagine that. if that contract goes through with7 China. taking away the production that we currently get from Venezuela. sending it to China. that we are going to see possibly a 10 or 15 percent jump in prices.. Now. we have made choices to limit the amount of drilling that we do in this Nation so that we will be more immune to price manipulation from overseas from those countries that would import or export into us. and some of those choices are. for instance. in ANWR. Back in 1995. this Congress. both House and Senate. voted to drill in ANWR. That is. an oil preserve. a wildlife preserve in Alaska. And there was a piece set aside strictly to do this drilling which has been stalled out by extremists. ","speaker_name":"STEVAN PEARCE","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10827,"word_count":220}
{"speech_id":1090066458,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. Senators should be aware that the next vote will occur at noon today. The Senate will also recess early this afternoon during the funeral for Chief Justice Rehnquist as a further mark of respect. If necessary. we will return to session later today. to consider any additional Katrinarelated legislation or tributes. This week. we also anticipate a further supplemental appropriations bill relative to the efforts in our Gulf States. We will consider that bill as expeditiously as possible to continue -the recovery and rescue efforts. Finally. I remind my colleagues that tomorrow we will begin consideration of the CommerceJusticeScience appropriations bill. The measure has important hurricanerelated issues. including small business disaster loans and Justice Department law enforcement assistance grants. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":903,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090066461,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I wish I had had that opportunity. Having heard Baker v. Carr those many years ago. I have never forgotten it. That is why it has been sopleasant for me to develop a personal relationship with some of the Supreme Court Justices. one of whom was the man whose funeral I will go to today at 2. William Rehnquist. I said earlier and I will say again. I had a tour of duty as chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee and every Thursday there is an offtherecord discussion that takes place in the Senate with Democratic Senators. and we always try to come up with things that will interest the Senators. I said to a number of my colleagues I wanted to invite William. Rehnquist to come to the Democratic Policy luncheon and they said. no. he is a dyedinthewool Republican. he is partisan. and he will not come anyway. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6247,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090066462,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What does it mean to have lost everything? That is what has happened to tens of thousands of people. They have lost everything. They are at the National Guard Armory sleeping on cots. There are hundreds of them coming from Nevada. The Senator from Arkan-","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1108,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090066476,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. I ask unanimous consent that when Senator BOXER completes her remarks. our Katrina. we are going to have to be -distinguished colleague. Senator honest about other decisions. How HATCH. the former chairman of the Judiciary Committee. be recognized for remarks on Chief Justice Rehnquists death.","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":311,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090066537,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I join with my colleague. the distinguished Senator from Florida. in expressing my personal condolences and those of my fellow Minnesotans to the family and friends of the former Chief Justice. and I share the sentiments in regard to his distinguished service to our nation.","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":289,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090066558,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Active in the Jewish community in Alabama and across the nation. George served as president of the Temple EmanuEl in Jasper. AL and the Walker County Lodge of Bnai Brith. In 2003. he was named \"Man of the Year\" by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. where he also served as a member of the executive board. George Mitnick gave of himself so selflessly to the Jasper community and the State of Alabama. We are better off for having him a part of our State and our country. and I am fortunate to have known him and called him a friend. My deepest sympathies are extended to his wife. Willine. and his daughters. Karen and Ronne. May this tribute. in a small way. honor his life and memory.*","speaker_name":"RICHARD SHELBY","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2952,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090066579,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. tomorrow the Senate will turn to the Commerce. Justice. Science appropriations bill. The managers will be ready to go through amendments and expedite consideration of this important bill. I encourage our colleagues who may have amendments to work with the managers tomorrow morning in bider to schedule consideration. In addition to that measure. we anticipate a further supplemental appropriations bill to arrive from the House. We will need to act quickly on that emergency funding to continue our efforts in our Southern Gulf States. Therefore. there will be votes during Thursdays session of the Senate. and I will announce Fridays voting schedule tomorrow once we can gauge our progress.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":707,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090066583,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Only a handful of the 180.000 members of the Supreme Court bar come close to this record. Since 2003. he has served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. District. This court is regarded as the second most influential court in the Nation. Judge Roberts was confirmed unanimously for this important position by the United States Senate. Judge Roberts is the kind of judge we need. He will apply the law as written and decide the case on its merits. regardless of his personal political views. Mr. Speaker. it is clear Judge Roberts offers all we could ask for in a Chief Justice nominee. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1372,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090066617,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. pursuant to the order of the House of today. I call up the resolution (H. Res. 425) expressing the condolences of the Nation to the. victims of Hurricane Katrina. commending the resiliency of the people of the States of Louisiana. Mississippi. and Alabama. and committing to stand by them in the relief and recovery efforts. and ask for its immediate consideration.","speaker_name":"CHARLES BOUSTANY","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":378,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090066648,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Our state has readied 600 Washington National Guard soldiers and airmen. We have offered up our States refueling aircraft. support personnel. helicopters. and satellite communications systems. among other assets. Washington States residents are giving generously to aid relief efforts and victims. It is likely that we will soon provide a temporary home to thousands of displaced hurricane victims. I would also like to extend my deepest gratitude to organizations such as the Red Cross for their significant disaster relief efforts. The Red Cross has said that this is their largest relief effort ever--larger than after September 11. 2001. and larger than all four Florida hurdcanes last year. We continue hearing heartwarming stories of American Red Cross volun*teers from across the Nation. including in my Congressional District. who have already headed down to help with relief efforts. As we respond to this tragedy. I will continue working with my colleagues to provide needed Federal assistance to the people harmed by this disaster. I know that in months ahead there will be much work to do. ","speaker_name":"RICK LARSEN","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2308,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090066659,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have also heard countless reports of price gouging at gas stations. Big oil says the pipelines and refineries are down. thus limiting supply and increasing prices. but somehow they still continue to reap record profits. Along with a number of my colleagues. I have called upon the Federal Trade Commission to investigate this profiteering. Mr. Speaker. H.R. 3650. the Federal. .Judiciary Emergency Special Sessions Act of 2005. deserves the support of every Member in this body. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3532,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090066674,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Many students lost their homes. their jobs. and they were forced to withdraw from school. In addition to -all the suffering they underwent. Pell grant recipients who withdrew. from classes were forced to repay any Pell grant funds they used to pay for school expenses beyond fees and tuition. or else were barred from enrolling in future classes. I believe that our neediest students. who would not have access to college without Pell grants. should not be further punished after enduring a natural disaster. After writing a letter to the Secretary of Education to ask for relief for these students. I discovered that students who are victims of natural disasters can receive similar help with regard to student loans. but the only way to help Pell grant recipients is by passing this legislation. My bill would allow the Secretary. in her discretion. to provide a waiver for repaying Fell grants for students who were forced to withdraw from classes due to a natural disaster as declared by the President of the United States. Language from this bill was incor.porated into the higher education bill passed by the Committee on Education and the Workforce earlier this year with unanimous. bipartisan support. I urge my colleagues to vote \"yes\" on H.R. 3169. Mr. ","speaker_name":"RIC KELLER","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1714,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090066685,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So I urge speedy consideration and passage of that bill as well as of the gentleman from Floridas bill.","speaker_name":"TIMOTHY BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2332,"word_count":19}
{"speech_id":1090066708,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We can do both. We can provide aid and assistance. and we can get at the root causes of unnecessary loss of life and unnecessary disaster. We can do that. There are a number of lessons to be learned. We need to be able to respond better today or tomorrow. Hurricane season is not over yet. We might have another. Another might follow tragically that same path. That might be an incredible disaster. And we are going to have the same people in place. the same procedures in place. ","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4776,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090066732,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Unfortunately. as part of the Homeland Security Act of 2002. the President and Congress moved FEMA from an independent. cabinetlevel rank to a subagency of the Department of Homeland Security under the authority of the Secretary of Homeland Security. It is time for us to return FEMA to its status as a cabinetlevel agency that reports directly to the President and establish it once again as an independent agency. I have signed on to legislation to do this. and I urge my colleagues to quickly and carefully review this bill. We have important questions to answer about how the Federal Government could have better handled the events that unfolded as a result of this catastrophe. These are serious questions on which we all need to work together. We need to make sure that we are responding quickly not only to those in need today. but also prepare for anything that may happen in the future. Today. we live under the specter of terrorist attacks. and we may face a situation much worse than we have faced with Katrina. We have to be ready. We have to learn from this catastrophe. from the mistakes and the lack of adequate response. and we have to quickly fix the problems. As we have all too painfully seen. the lives of millions of Americans depend on how we handle this. depend on how FEMA handles these emergencies. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL LIPINSKI","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4021,"word_count":233}
{"speech_id":1090066734,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In 2003. the number of children living in poverty. this number grew by a half a million. Since President Bush took office. the number of poor people in America has grown by 17 percent. Is this the real state of this ownership society that we keep hearing about? It is unacceptable. The Bush administration policies of tax cuts for the wealthy and cutting funding from the programs that provide for economic and domestic security in order to pay for this unnecessary war in Iraq are only making matters worse. That is why we must call for the President to develop a plan to eliminate poverty by","speaker_name":"BARBARA LEE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4705,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090066736,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise with indeed a heavy heart. as so many in America do. This is an extraordinary time in our country. My heart goes out to all of those thousands and thousands of people in the gulf area that have lost everything. This is one of our darkest hours. and let us hope some bright light can shine very. very quickly. But in order for that bright light to shine. Mr. Speaker. we must realize the importance of having an investigation quickly. Let me hurry up and say that this investigation is not a blame game. because we already know where the blame is. ","speaker_name":"DAVID SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4826,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090066742,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It took them 5 days to even get started to go down to the gulf. when it was clear that the help of the ships and the midshipmen and all the medical supplies on board were needed immediately. We need to immediately reinstitute WPA days. Work Progress Administration days. that worked so well during the Roosevelt administration and that allowed all of these unemployed people that we have now in the South to begin to rebuild their own cities. And I know that numerous of them would be more than happy to allow the government to pay them while they rebuild their own cities. It is like Charles Dickens \"Tale of Two Cities.\" the worst of times. But we could augment legislation- to make it better times for the people that were so tragically affected. And I encourage Congress to do that. Mr. Speaker. there have been so many comments made that I was going to make. and I will not replicate them. But in closing. ","speaker_name":"JULIA CARSON","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"F","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6107,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090066760,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Now we just have to find the will.. A great nation is defined by the methods it uses to defend the dignity of humanity. This hurricane has put us to the test. and it is my hope and my prayer that some good can come out of this very bad situation. People have lost their lives. Families are broken. Mothers are here. Fathers are there. Children and grandchildren are someplace else. We may never really know how many people died because of this disaster. There are people suffering from dehydration. ","speaker_name":"JOHN LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4382,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090066778,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding to me. Mr. Speaker. I join my colleagues in extending my sympathy and that of the people of the U.S. Virgin Islands to the people of Louisiana. Mississippi. and Alabama who have suffered great losses and continue to suffer from the impact of Hurricane Katrina on their lives. They are very fortunate to be represented by the gentleman from Mississippi . the gentleman from Louisiana . and the gentleman from Alabama","speaker_name":"DONNA CHRISTENSEN","chamber":"H","state":"VI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":463,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090066789,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. while there has been much devastation brought upon the Gulf Coast from Hurricane Katrina. I hope that apart from its devastation. we can say that Hurricane Katrina brought to light some of the atrocities that have been going on for years such as the poverty crisis in this country. For far too long. we as a nation have neglected the underprivileged of this country. We are quick to criticize other countries for not taking care of their own. however. we have all but forgotten the poor in our own country. A recent study by the Population Reference Bureau noted that Orleans Parish. Louisiana and Harrison County. Mississippi. the counties that are home to New Orleans and Biloxi respectively. had median household incomes of just $31.369. 44 percent below that of the national average of $44.684. Additionally. 23.2 percent of the people in Orleans Parish and 14.6 percent of the people of Harrison County are below the poverty rate. Disproportionate rates of those people are African American. ","speaker_name":"STEPHANIE JONES","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2334,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090066804,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for his comments. and I was thinking as he was speaking. and he gave an excellent presentation of the Chief Justice. but we are joined here in the Chamber today by two men who basically made their entire life a part of dealing in the justice system both as members of the bar. members of the bench. and who also built. basically from scratch. from what I know of both of them. very successful businesses. overcoming insurmountable obstacles. And then. when they had the ability to continue to go out and make those businesses thrive. they volunteered to come to Washington and become a part of the justice system. a part of the legislative branch of our government. This kind of defines the kind of man that Justice Rehnquist personally reached out to. kind of everybody. He wrote the opinions of those of us who hopor our heritage. who honor the language that our forefathers wrote into the Constitution and think that if that is what it says. that is what it says. It does not take a genius to read the paper and say that is what it says. And with all his skill and writing ability. really you can cut it down to the fact that that is the way he looked at it. He said. Wait a minute. let us read the Constitution. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CARTER","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":31.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2056,"word_count":232}
{"speech_id":1090066811,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for his comments. and let me say this. As we discuss Chief Justice Rehnquist and what he has accomplished and the -legacy he brings to the United States of America. we are doing this on the very eve of the beginning of the new selection of a Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. It is. I think. appropriate to realize that as Judge Rehnquist was serving 33 years on the highest court in this land. he also was writing history books to record history. He knew just what my colleague said. the gentleman from Arizona . that it is important that we remember the history as it was. not revise it to make it what we want it to be. So he wrote three history books about the Court so we could say. Well. what does history tell us about that event at that time? And -so the judge. the great researcher. has given us the research and a direction on the history as it pertains to the Court. something the other justices of the Court that will follow can turn to as additional information to get a picture of where the Court was coming from as it made rulings. It is very important. and I hope our colleagues in the Senate. as they look at the confirmation of Judge Roberts. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CARTER","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":31.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1327,"word_count":229}
{"speech_id":1090066817,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it is an honor to address the House once again. I am glad that we are here back in the peoples capital of the United States to represent those that sent us up here to represent them. This hour is designated by the Democratic Leader. the gentlewoman from California . and the rest of our leadership on the Democratic side. the gentleman from Maryland . also the gentleman from New Jersey . and the gentleman from South Carolina . our vice chair of our caucus. and week after week we come to the floor to share with Americans issues that are facing not only them. but also this country. I can tell you that we appreciate the fact that the leader had enough foresight and insight to know that not only those of us that are- in the 30something Working Group. but young Americans. have to have a voice in this process. As you all know. in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and a number of other issues that have faced the Nation since we recessed for the summer to go back to our districts to also take care of other congressional business. there is a lot that has happened for and to Americans. I think it is important for us to just reflect a little bit on what has happened as it relates to Hurricane Katrina. Tonight I am joined not only by the gentleman from Ohio . but also the gentlewoman from Florida","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1317,"word_count":247}
{"speech_id":1090066932,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would like us all to tone down the rhetoric and start thinking of the victims. I watched Cokie Roberts yesterday. a proud Democrat. from one of the legendary Democratic families of this Nation. on Fox News. not casting aspersions. not seeking to blame anybody. She had personal tragedy in that they had lost their homes. But she was calm and considerate and thoughtful and reasonable. asking us to come together as a Nation to help the victims of this hurricane. We have other leaders going on TV calling the President dangerous. After 9\/11. we joined hands and prayed. We were considerate. courteous. and. mostimportant. we were Americans. We had four hurricanes in Florida. so I know what it is like to be damaged by a storm. ","speaker_name":"MARK FOLEY","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":948,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090066943,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I wish to commend the two Senators from the State of Louisiana who. I was just able to read some of their joint statements. I think are demonstrating great responsibility in a spirit of bipartisanship. For example. the two Senators from Louisiana have stated. they say there will be ample time. and I agree with them. for Congress to thoroughly investigate the dvent. They say. as well. and I also agree with them. that the focus now needs to be on food. on housing. on employment. on education and on health care. not on investigations. There will be plenty of time for this Congress. in its constitutional- duty of oversight. to investigate. But I agree. as I say. with the Senators from Louisiana. The focus now. and our focus in bringing forth authorizing consideration of the four pieces of legislation this morning. is on food. housing. employment. education and health care. assistance to those and for those who. are suffering. I see the Senators from Louisiana. also made another point. In a joint bipartisan statement they say. please do not make the citizens of Louisiana victims once again by allowing our immediate needs to be delayed by part~sanship. ","speaker_name":"LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2595,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090066944,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I that fact that there are blue roofs in yield 6 minutes to the gentleman from Florida where peoples roofs are still Florida . a member of not covered. and it does not even rise the Rules Committee. to the magnitude of what is going on in","speaker_name":"LOUISE SLAUGHTER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":251,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090066945,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. is the problem big matter under suspension for more than enough now? How many people must $100 million. die in a disaster before something beUnder suspension of the rules. Mem- comes a big enough problem in this bers are afforded limited time for de- Congress? bate with zero opportunity to amend The new mantra that I hear from my the legislation. When this rule passes. colleagues in the majority is that there that is exactly what we will get. That will be time to investigate. It is almost. is just wrong. regardless of the urgency as if we cannot chew gum and walk at iju wrnegsof the the same time. We must do what we Mr. Speaker. this administration are d6ing for the Gulf Coast. but we Mr. peakr. tis dminstraionalso must do what we have to as a rethat is in charge of this Nations neg- sonst in Congre in th ature ligence in responding to Hurricane sponsibility in Congress in the nature Katrna trogly eseble theincm-\"of oversight. Katrina strongly resembles the incom- Later today I will introduce legislapetence that Florida saw in the Federal tion establishing an independent comemergency management organization mission to examine the failures of the last year. The Bush administrations Federal Government in responding to refusal to accept responsibility for its Katrina. as well as evaluate our curinaction mirrors the arrogance that we rent ability to respond to any type of 1continue to deal with today in Florida largescale disaster. natural or manas we recover from last years disas- made. trous hurricane season. ","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4744,"word_count":260}
{"speech_id":1090066946,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But today what we need to do is to get help to the people who need the help. and that is what we are doing. Mr. Speaker. That is why we have brought forth the legislation to authorize consideration of four measures to take assistance to those in need. That is what we are debating this morning. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2715,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090066950,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I support the rule and the underlying bills. I would encourage FEMA to work with the Department of Education to utilize the Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program to meet the educational needs of all students displaced by this storm. As we consider the rule and all of these bills. I think we have to remember the children. As part of the No Child Left Behind Act. the Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program requires that school districts immediately enroll homeless children. It provides children with muchneeded stability and allows for the delivery of other critical services. including such things as health care and counseling. The bill also addresses school transportation. issues. assures that eligible children participate in Federal. State and local food programs. and allows for frequent moving as evacuated families find more permanent housing. ","speaker_name":"JUDY BIGGERT","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1978,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090067019,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. First of all. I appreciate very much the very expeditious way in which the majority has approached this problem and look forward to working with them to seek an even more comprehensive way. Mr. Speaker. I have no further requests for time. and I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"DALE KILDEE","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":336,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090067052,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. America has never encountered a natural disaster as big as this. but what has been reaffirmed from coast to coast is that Americans have big hearts and Americans step up to help other Americans. That has been demonstrated by the people of the Fifth Congressional District of Arizona who have called me personally. who have called our district office. who have called our Washington office saying. How can I help? I want to step forward. And it happened also to an Arizona couple. Jeff and Marie Whiting. who had purchased a guest house. saw a need. and decided to donate this house rent free to the Smith family. This is what Marie says: \"We are actually making a difference. If we reach across America and touch each others hands. we can meet needs.\" Mr. Speaker. as representatives of Americans here in the peoples House. we stepped forward to meet the needs of those who are the neediest among us. This legislation. ","speaker_name":"JOHN HAYWORTH","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2505,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090067057,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker. this is a much needed piece of legislation. so let us pass this bill and then move on to the more pressing question of how to craft a longterm solution as part of a full recovery plan for all those affected in the gulf States. We need to do more to try. to provide flexibility to the States so they can use these funds quickly. but at the same time we have to make sure that we are not hampering these States from doing what they believe is best for all of the victims that have suffered as a result of Hurricane Katrina. I hope that we are able to work in a bipartisan fashion to move forward legislation which will address the needs of people who are unemployed today. they were unemployed before the hurricane. and now will suffer even more difficult times trying to find work. along with those who have now been displaced as a result of the hurricane. I hope that we will deal with the fact that there are many legal immigrants in this country on their way to becoming citizens who. under the current law. would be constrained from being able to be assisted by these TANF dollars unless we provide the States with flexibility to do so. Everyone is a victim regardless of their color. regardless of where they came from. If they were there. they are a victim. ","speaker_name":"XAVIER BECERRA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":31.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1439,"word_count":249}
{"speech_id":1090067062,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker. the chairman seems to think that if somebody is upset by this. they ate lemons for lunch. My belief is when we are dealing with the problems in the three States with the lowest unemployment insurance rates. the three lowest TANF rates. with a city that had 38 percent of the children living in poverty when this started. we are dealing with a problem which we should have dealt with long ago. This BandAid today is nothing more than that. There should be a comprehensive dealing with this issue. and we should be all ashamed of the fact that that situation exists in this part of the country. The next issue we are going to have to face. and I have not heard a single person meition it. is the cost of gasoline. If we can give food stampg to people in this country. we ought to begin a gas stamp program so that poor people who have to drive to work can afford to fill the tank and get there.","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":957,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090067065,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker. I will say for the third time during this debate this is the first piece of legislation 2 days after we came back. We are responding with the maximum flexibility for money available on an immediaterelief basis. Clearly over the next several weeks as weexamine the problems and are able to write legislation responsive to those problems. we will continue to bring legislation to the floor. I would urge my colleagues. as they express their concern about what has not been done. that they should urge their colleagues on the other side of the Capitol not to engage in an exchange of legislation in which. on this initial humanitarian relief provision. they want to try to outdo each other. The most important thing is to get this out of here and make it available as soon as possible. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM THOMAS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2396,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090067088,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It has cost us the lives of over 1.900 American servicemen. servicewomen. andhas cost the lives of countless Iraqis who are innocent. We need to heal our Nation. We need to come together as Americans so that we can assert our commonalities. our common interests in the general welfare of our countrymen and countrywomen. But in order to do that. we need to go back through that tunnel of 9\/11. and the only way we can do that is to be guided by truth. We still need to heal the Nation. but we will not be able to do it with arms. We can only do it by seeking the truth. And I contend that at this moment. when we stand united to pass this resolution. that we should also highly resolve that violence is not going to be the means that we use in the future to solve the differences that we have with nations. Next week. Members of this House will come together to introduce legislation to create a Cabinetlevel Department of Peace and Nonviolence. which recognizes that the path of peace can be active. can be firm. can have resolve. and can help us achieve a new world.","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2818,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090067093,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I say that we will never .forget those innocent people who were murdered in cold blood and that we honor you for your courage. your will to survive. and for the strength you have shared with our Nation.","speaker_name":"ROBERT MENENDEZ","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2574,"word_count":38}
{"speech_id":1090067109,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have some devastati6n down there and a lot of hurt people. but please. if Members would find another reason other than that.","speaker_name":"RODNEY ALEXANDER","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":866,"word_count":23}
{"speech_id":1090067136,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They are being left behind in health care. They are being left behind on Medicaid. I would hope that this Congress would have the decency to set aside its plans to provide billions of dollars in additional tax cuts for the most wealthy and the most prosperous and comfortable among us while the needs of so many are so apparent and while so maty Americans are indeed still being left behind in the affected area and in other regions of our country. Mr. Speaker. I would also hope that we could come to an agreement that in a matter this serious. the most serious disaster that has ever affected this country. this Congress would find a way to deal with these issues in a bipartisan and consultive fashion. If you want cooperation. you need to extend cooperation. This is too important for this business to be handled any other way. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1555,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090067141,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise to recognize the fact that Americans have. through their private contributions. given more in terms of responding to this disaster than any other disaster in the countrys history. well over $500 million to date. I recognize the sobering work of our committee in coming. to grips with this supplemental and putting forth tens of billions of dollars to respond to this crisis. I agree with my colleague from Louisiana that there will be a need for us to do more. and I. for one. know that our committee is prepared to stand and to respond to this crisis. It is unfortunate that our response was not as it should have been. As the President said. the results were inadequate. But I think it is appropriate that the Congress today take this action. and I want to thank the chairman and the ranking member for their ability to work together to bring this bill to the floor and to move it so expeditiously in this process. Even though imperfect. I hope it will be made more perfect as we go forward.","speaker_name":"CHAKA FATTAH","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1013,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090067147,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Just last Friday. as you know. we passed a $10.5 billion package for this immediate crisis. and today we have over a $50 billion package before us. So the Congress is attempting to focus upon this very real challenge. I am very happy that the gentlewoman recognizes that we do need to work together in terms of finding the why of all of this. but right now it is most important to respond to the challenges and needs of the American people in danger. Mr. Speaker. I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas . the majority leader of the House.","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1172,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090067183,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"On the other hand. it is hurricane season. We still have threats. as the gentleman knows. There is a tropical storm off Florida right now that is forming. so we do need to ensure that we have the best opportunity to *respond in an emergency manner. The Speaker and Mr. FRIST met yesterday and announced a committee. We believe that perhaps a commission might be more appropriate. with both parties participating equally to respond to this and to see how we can do better. Can the gentleman tell me anything about the status of either the joint committee or commission that the gentlemans side might be thinking about?","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2640,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090067192,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today. it adjourn to meet at noon on Monday next. and further. that when the House adjourns on that day. it adjourn to meet at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday. September 13. 2005. for morning hour debates.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":261,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090067198,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Committee on Rules may meet next week to grant a rule for the consideration of H.R. 889. the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2005. which may require that amendments be printed in their consideration on the floor. The Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure ordered the bill reported on May 18 and filed its report with the House on July 28. Members should draft their amendments to the text of the bill as reported by the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Members should use the Office of Legislative Counsel to ensure that their amendments are drafted in the most appropriate format. Members are also advised to check with the Office of the Parliamentarian to be certain that their amendments comply with the rules of the House.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":782,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090067200,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. since President Bush nominated John Roberts to serve on the Supreme Court in July. we have heard countless stories confirming Mr. ROBERTS character. leadership abilities. and commitment to justice. Throughout his career. he has achieved an accomplished record of government service and has demonstrated his -dedication to protecting our rights. The more Americans learn about him. the more they like him. On Sunday. President Bush. nominated Judge Roberts to follow in the footsteps of Chief Justice William Rehnquist as our Nations highest ranking judge. When the Senate begins its confirmation process next week. I am confident that they will continue to discover that Judge Roberts is well suited for this position. From serving as a law. clerk for Chief Justice Rehnquist to arguing 39 cases before the Supreme Court. he possesses a unique wealth of knowledge and experience. ","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1170,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090067201,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as we offer our sympathy and reflection today to the victims of 9\/11. we stand here again looking at another horrific and unspeakable tragedy. Hurricane Katrina. The numbers are clear that the greatest victims will be children. Some 400 children are homeless. and we know that between onethird and a quarter of them will have a traumatic experience after the end of their journey through Hurricane Katrina. We know that 35 percent of them that experienced this terrible tragedy will -have a severe melntal illness. and we also know that there are 800 missing children that are now lost or presumed dead through Hurricane Katrina. I think it is important as we look toward more legislation bills and moving quickly to address the horribleness of this tragedy that we provide for a*onetime grant assistance for the children who have been impacted by this hurricane and that legislation be drafted and passed by both bodies to secure their protection and that we provide a structure that will monitor these children through adulthood. through reaching the age of majority. We have heard from psychiatrists that say that the most vulnerable victims of this tragedy who will suffer a horrific experience will be our children. We must rally around them. It is imperative that this Congress work together to provide them with the financial. social. psychiatric. and. of course. family assistance that is necessary.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1420,"word_count":233}
{"speech_id":1090067204,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Prisoners of the State penitentiary were used in the cleanup to find the dead. buried at sea. only to resurface on the beaches. Bodies were still being found in February of the next year. Since it was not possible to bury the thousands that died. they were eventually cremated. The story of Galvestons hurricane is a story of death and devastation and ultimate determination. The survivors in Galveston were committed to protect their city in the future. They dredged the ship channel and the island was literally raised 17 feet by the dredging. It would be an engineering marvel even today. A massive sea wall was built to protect the city from future hurricanes. The economic loss. property loss. and loss of life had a serious impact on the coastal city. Although the great storm in Galveston was extraordinary. those who survived and pitched in to help rebuild Galveston were just as extraordinary in their grit and character. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5010,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090067222,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I feel compelled to come to the Floor here and make some remarks with regard to Hurricane Katrina. what we have done here from Congress. and what we need to do in the future. First. I want to say that as I look across the broad expanse of that disaster. the 90.000 square miles. roughly the size of Kansas. and I listen to the description that was delivered by Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff. that if you were going to do a military assault on a city. that storm did what a military assault would do. It went in on the wind and blew out the electricity and the communications. took the communications systems out. the power grid out. and then it cut off the transportation avenues in and out of the cities by taking out the bridges. Then. once it had isolated the city. then it attacked. and that was the flood that went in and did such devastating damage. damage that We have not quantified to date and will not quantify for at least some months to come. if not years to come. The work that was done down there. I know that the National Guard as early as a week ago Wednesday took chain saws and sawed their way into some of the communities. We have 70.000 military on the ground down there providing all of the assistance that they can. There were volunteers that came from everywhere. as the chairman of the Committee on Armed Services has said. so it is a huge human .effort on the part of our people in this country. ","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4466,"word_count":271}
{"speech_id":1090067228,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I rise today to introduce legislation with all 25 Members from the State of Florida that would assist residents of Florida who were victims of Hurricane Katrina. But before I do. I would like to say that I am proud to have supported the two emergency relief supplemental that we have passed for victims of the hurricane in an overwhelmingly bipartisan fashion. The pain of those who have lost loved ones. their homes. their pets and now find themselves in temporary housing thousands of miles from home. their pain is palpable. As a Member of Congress who represents south Florida. I can empathize with the victims of Hurricane Katrina in the gulf States because my home. south Florida. has been struck by numerous hurricanes and is threatened by them every year. Even now we have Hurricane Ophelia. which at 5 oclock was declared a hurricane approaching the coast. The scenes of the destruction throughout Alabama. Louisiana and Mississippi have reminded south Floridians of the devastation of Hurricane Andrew. a Category 5 hurricane which struck south Florida 13 years ago. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6974,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090067233,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Singapore. Japan and Australia. and they will continue to thrive. For these reasons. these nations and other world economies are poised to move ahead of the United States in the next decade.. In fact. the 2005 Index of Economic Freedom by the Heritage Foundation ranks the United States 13th in the world. For -the first time in 3 years we are not in the top 10 in the world in this measurement. This is due both to other nations progress and economic competitiveness. as well as our own barriers to a thriving economy. Without attention to these matters. the United States is headed towards a thirdrate economy. and 20 years from now we may no longer be the worlds leader. Congress needg to take these matters seriously. Last year the House began the competitiveness legislative agenda on the floor. Over a period of 8 weeks we discussed and voted on issues related to keeping and creating jobs in America. ","speaker_name":"TODD TIAHRT","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11937,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090067248,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I said that eliminating the Federal Emergency Management Agencys status as an independent agency to join this proposed Department- could seriously affect FEMAs traditional role of responding to natural disasters. At Under Secretary Michael Browns confirmation hearing to be Deputy Director of FEMA in June 2002. 5 months before the Homeland Security Act passed. I spoke about the perils of converting FEMA into a homeland security centric agency. At the time. I said: The Presidents proposal for a new Department of Homeland Security will include the Federal Emergency Management Agency. A key question is how will this new role for FEMA. in homeland security affect its traditional mission? ... Many of the agencies impacted by this proposal. including FEMA. have a number of core responsibilities unrelated to their homeland security missions. Most of what FEMA does every day. and what Americans expect from FEMA. does not fall under the category of homeland security. Because of my strong belief that the nonhomeland security functions of FEMA. the Coast Guard. and other agencies that are now part of DHS would be diminished when merged into this massive agency. I successfully offered an amendment to the Governmental Affairs Committees version of the Homeland Security Act. cosponsored by Senator CARPER. that required all nonhomeland security functions of each of the 22 legacy agencies to be identified. along with the resources needed to preserve these functions. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4594,"word_count":231}
{"speech_id":1090067261,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would certainly be looking to people such as Senator COCHRAN. Senator LOTT. Senator SHELBY. Senator SESSIONS. and the Senators from Louisiana. Ms. LANDRIEU and Mr. VITTER. for ideas about how we should set that up. We should be starting the process. I wanted to come to the. floor and say. as we move forward on this supplementalobviously. it is totally outside of the budget. It is an emergency. and that is the way it should be done.. but it is $50 billionit is important that we retain this languageand I guess we will try to move this supplemental through the Senate without amendmentretaiii this language which makes sure that the Inspector General has the resources the office needs in order to effectively monitor how these funds are managed. to make sure we are getting the best return in the most prompt way for these tax dollars which are in such dire need down there in order to pursue the reconstruction and relief effort. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5526,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090067297,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I first compliment my colleagues. Senator MIKULSKI and Senator SHELBY. for doing such a fine job and for the hard work they have done on a very important issue. I compliment my colleague and neighbor from Tennessee. Senator FRIST. for working so diligently to get the supplemental emergency appropriations bill over here so we can help our neighbors in the delta region. in the Midsouth. lower Midsouth region. And I again compliment my colleagues from the States of Mississippi and Alabama and Louisiana for their incredible passion and concern. as well as their hard work and their diligent efforts in responding to the needs of their constituency. Sitting here on the Senate floor listening to my colleague from Louisiana. Senator LANDRIEU. I thought so desperately about some lessons I had learned growing up along the Mississippi River. ","speaker_name":"BLANCHE LINCOLN","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2841,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090067303,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am pleased to present to the Senate the Commerce. Justice. Science. and Related Agencies appropriations bill for fiscal year 2006. Since August 25. our Nation has been gripped by the devastation and destruction left in the wake of Hurricane. Katrina. We have all watched in horror as this category 4 hurricane ravaged an entire region. and each of us share in the sorrow of those who have lost their lives and their livelihdods. I am confident that the strength of the American spirit will rise to this challenge and. just as we have many times before. that we can and will recover. The bill before us today provides funding for many U.S. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SHELBY","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6103,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090067309,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is not a Democrat or Republican value. but an American value. At the opening of each and every session of this Senate. we stand together and pledge our allegiance to this founding principle. Millions of schoolchildren pledge their allegiance every day to this fundamental tenet of our country. Yet today in Illinois and throughoutthe United States. we are falling far short of fulfilling our Nations promise of \"justice for all.\" A recently released study. \"The Legal Aid Safety Net: A Report on the Legal Needs of LowIncome Illinoisans.\" found that over the courseof a year. tens of thousands of less fortunate Illinois residents were unable to obtain legal assistance that was often * critical to their safety and independence. Hundreds of thousands more attempted to solve often complex legal problems on their own. Studies in other parts of the .country have reached similar conclusions. Millions of Americans are being shut out of bur civil justice system. with grave consequences for themselves personally and for our country as a whole when legal assistance is not available to them. We are a long[ way from fulfilling our Nations promise of equal justice for all. . This widespread lack of access to ju*tice can only be described as a crisis for our country. and with increases in the poverty rate compounded by the vast devastation to so many of our fellow citizens caused by Hurricane Katrina. it will only get worse if we do not act. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8325,"word_count":244}
{"speech_id":1090067327,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the distinguished ranking member for assistance in putting this together. I thank my distinguished cosponsor of this amendment. Senator -CHAMBLISS of Georgia. for his leadership and involvement in the Byrne Grants. along with Senator LIEBERMAN whose longtime involvement in the grants has been recognized nationally. It is my understanding the amendment is further cosponsored by Senator OBAMA. Senator KERRY. and Senator HARKIN. and I ask unanimous consent Senators HAGEL. CLINTOn4. CANTWELL. and SALAZAR be added as original cosponsors of the amendment.","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":563,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090067342,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I heard some discussion recently about whether we should have gone into Iraq. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the RECORD an article by Christopher Hitchens in last weeks Weekly Standard that lays out in detail. for anybody who is interested. why we had to go into Iraq. Why it is the right. war. I would incorporate that by reference because that article does a good job of outlining my own beliefs.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2028,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090067343,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But more important. we cannot just play defense against the terrorists. We have to collect more and better information: We have to get information on the location and activities of the next attack that is being planned. Unless we do a good job of that. we cannot have a good chance of stopping the next major terrorist attack on the United States. I believe one part of that vital solution is found in a robust USA PATRIOT Act that would continue to provide national security investigators with the tools needed to continue to keep our country safe.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":549,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090067357,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Federal Government should not be involved in local \u0095 law enforcement. Well. I like to point out that 60 percent of all the crimes committed in America relate to drugs. abuse of drugs. the sale of drugs. illicit drugs. Is that a State responsibility or does not that stuff come across the border? Does not that stuff come from the Andes? Does not that stuff come from Afghanistan? Does not that stuff come from abroad? We can have the best police department. the most significant--and I think we have the best law enforcement agencies in the Nation in the State of Delaware. and you cannot stop the drugs coming down from Aramingo Avenue in Philadelphia. They cross State lines. So I respectfully suggest to the devolutionofGovernment guys that Federal responsibility exists as it relates to local crime and local law enforcement. I would like to point out another thing. God forbid we have an attack. Let us assumeand it was not. but let us assume some divers were planting explosives to blow up the levees along the Mississippi as. opposed to Lake Pontchartrain. which by the way is a lot higher. Who is going to find them? Is it going to be some brave special forces officer in night vision goggles watching this happen and they are going to capture them or is it going to be my son who is now in the National Guard down in Gulfport. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11507,"word_count":240}
{"speech_id":1090067371,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wish to comment on the amendment that has been offered by the senior Senator from Maryland. the ranking member on Housing on the housing voucher program. I want very much to support his amendment because I think it is absolutely crucial that we do this. There are people who are living under three basic circumstances. No. 1. some are shelters. which is emergency housing. God bless all of the communities. the Red Cross. the people of Texas. and everywhere that have provided shelter housing. But shelter housing is for an emergency situation. and people do need to move to stable housing. Then there are those people who did evacuate. They might be of modest means. they might be of middleclass means. but they have been living in hotels and motels along the way. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA MIKULSKI","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6472,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090067409,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. if I could. on the Domocratic side the time. will be divided in the following manner: Senator BYRD. 15 minutes. Senator REID of Nevada. 10 minutes. Senator KENNEDY. 5 minutes. Senator DURBIN. 5 minutes. and Senator CLINTON. 10 minutes. That uses our 45 minutes.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":276,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090067416,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator from Texas. I also acknowledge as well Senator KYLS work in this area. It seems to me those of us from the Southwest or whose borders are in the Southwest have been beating this drum year after year. Sometimes we make a little bit of progress. but very often we do not. This is a very bad year in terms of the amount and the need. So I thank the distinguished chairman of the Military Construction Subcommittee. I always appreciate working with her. and this is one more instance of that. Mr. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":557,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090067423,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Lives were lost because the Government failed to do its job. What would have happened if this had been a terrorist attack that we did not see coming? What if a surprise attack breached the levees around Lake Pontchartrain? How slow would our response have been then. to a danger that the Government did not see coming? The Government clearly was not ready to evacuate large numbers of lowincome. disabled and elderly people. Not all people in this country have jets. helicopters and fleets of SUVs to move them around. If there were a terrorist attack. would our Government. once again. leave behind the many people in this Nation who do not have the resources to be mobile? Its time that we put America first. Its time that we refocus our energies and our resources into protecting this Nation here at home. Reinforce our critical infrastructure. Train and coordinate response and rescue efforts. Close the gaps. Fix the problems. The Governments actions in the days following the tragedy were slow and misguided at best. and inept at worst. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5505,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090067425,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Haley Barbour. has shown an enormous amount of skill. compassion. and determination to use all of the available resources of our State Government to aid the disaster victims. to get them to safety. to provide for them. to help in the debris removal. getting businesses started again and the schools going. It has been a challenge of enormous proportions. I was able to visit with him and his team that he had assembled at the Mississippi Emergency Management Offices on Riverside Drive in Jackson. MS. on my first visit to the State after the hurricane. and I was very impressed by the dedication. the willingness to work. the.voluntarism that was apparent on that occasion and to see the results that are being produced by the local leaders in my State to ensure the recovery from this disaster. So they are to be commended. We are going to continue to support them from the Federal level to the fullest extent of our capability and understanding of the needs and how we can best do it There are safeguards in this bill. Senators should know. to help protect against abuse. -There are provisions in the bill requiring the Corps of Engineers. the Federal Emergency Manage.ment Agency to make weekly reports on the obligations of their funds. These can be monitored to ensure that they are consistent with the law and the needs of the people who have been affected by this disaster. The Department of Defense is required to report within 5 days of any transfers of funds in this relief effort. In the Federal Emergency Management Agencytitle. there is $50 billion. $15 million is for the inspector general to conduct audits. as authorized by law. to ensure that the funds are being disbursed as authorized by law and in accordance with the understanding of the needs of the people who are affected by this disaster. ","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3768,"word_count":314}
{"speech_id":1090067429,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We are both here. but our hearts are in Mississippi now. We are here because we want to make sure these funds are available and that they will get to the people and we will not have the important agencies that are involved run out of money in a day or two. or three. I thank Senator BYRD for calling me last week to check on me. I called him back and talked with him yesterday. He was very kind and very generous. I want people to know we do check on each other and check on each others wives. He has been very generous with that. I thank these two men for their leadership. and I thank the Senate for their personal concerns. A lot of Senators are not just offering concerns. they are offering help. They are sending truckloads of help. ","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7287,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090067433,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They were asking questions. Perhaps the most important reason for us to convene this commission and get it working immediately is because we need these answers to ensure that whatever happens in the future will be better handled. There are lessons for all levels of government. and there are probably lessons for those of us in the Congress. We have no idea what Mother Nature has in store for us. We are not even at the peak of hurricane season yet. I remember going to Homestead. FL. in 1992 to see the impact of Hurricane Andrew. It was late August. early September. and we were only on the As. Hurricane Andrew was an A. We are already to K. and we have M and others forming out in the ocean and the gulf. ","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7476,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090067439,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"AL Havent these workers and their families suffered enough? We are providing tens of billions of dollars in relief. and we should be sure that it goes toward decent wages for workers as they work to rebuild the vital infrastructure that is so desperately needed. We have had those protections so we have had quality. One of the things the American people are very concerned about is shabby work. That is certainly true about the people whose family houses are going to be rebuilt and buildings going to be restored. They deserve the best. One of the best ways is to make sure we are going to have the skilled personnel to be able to do it. I regret the Presidents decision. On a final point. we find now that we have appropriated some $10.5 billion previously and now $51.5 billion this evening. Those funds will go through existing institutions. through FEMA. through Homeland Security. It ought to be understood by the American people that those agencies have extremely important functions to provide for our country. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6639,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090067443,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Can we afford to add $70 billion in tax cuts. primarily for the wealthiest people in America. to that astounding historic deficit? We cannot. I think most rightthinking people on both sides of the aisle now realize that. Lets be clear. The wrong way to attempt to shrink this deficit would be to cut $35 billion in domestic spending. including $10 billion in cuts in Medicaid. the health insurance program for those who are homeless now because of Katrina and the most disadvantaged in America. At a time when Louisiana. Mississippi. Alabama. and other Gulf States are struggling to help these people in -need. and other States such as my own State of Illinois and so many others are reaching out to help them. at a time when public health challenges are reaching epidemic proportions. at a time when States are struggling on their own to meet their budget responsibility. we cannot cut $10 billion in Medicaid payments to the States. Thousands of people who did not evacuate New Orleans before the storm couldnt leave the city simply because they couldnt afford to leave. As my colleague. Senator OBAMA. said so often. they couldnt fill up the SUV with $100 of gas. put in the bottled water and head out with a credit card to a hotel in some other State to wait it out. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4921,"word_count":225}
{"speech_id":1090067467,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The emergency respondersfrom the National Guard and Coast Guard to hospital workers to the local police and fire departmentshave been nothing short of heroic. They are risking their lives and deserve our deep gratitude. The American Red Cross. the Salvation Army. and many other charitable organizations and religious groups have mobilized thousands of volunteer workers to bring aid and shelter to victims of the devastation. The American people are already demonstrating their tremendous compassion and magnanimitycontribu: tions exceed $500 million. with surely much more to come. Nations from around the world have also offered to help. I thank them as well. But despite the effort and concern of all these individuals. I am shocked at what has gone terribly wrong in preparation for Hurricane Katrina. What we saw in the days following the storm has been a massive failure of government on all levels to anticipate. prepare. and respond. Days before the storm FEMA knew it was coming. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12460,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090067468,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to address the national crisis we are facing in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. It is hard to even begin estimating the extent to which this natural disaster will affect all of us and. most particularly. our fellow Americans alofig the gulf coast. I extend my deepest sympathies to the victims and loved ones of this unprecedented disaster. My thoughts and prayers are with all those in need. Katrina is likely the largest natural disaster this nation has ever faced. The storms impact is unfathomable. and an entire region has been irrevocably affected. I cannot conceive of a perfect evacuation or mitigation effort for a circumstance of this magnitude. I urge people to refrain from allocation of blame. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE VOINOVICH","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8249,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090067470,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In Pascagoula. the roof of St. Martin High blew off. The State superintendent has already requested help from Washington to find portable classrooms. Officials are considering converting an abandoned Kmart into a temporary school. Vastly more damage has occurred in Louisiana. At least 135.000 students in public schools have been displaced. 100.000 college students have been displaced for the fall semester at Tulane. the University of New Orleans. Xavier University. and Loyola University. Fortunately. America has begun to respond. The Houston school district has pledged to accommodate 90.000 displaced students in their schools. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5216,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090067473,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In addition. in 23 different States more than 5 percent of households keep firearms unlocked and loaded. The most startling statistic revealed by researchers is that 1.69 million children in the U.S. live in households where firearms are kept unlocked and loaded. Statistics like these should give us pause. especially when we consider the impact that safe gun storage practices can have on preventing accidental shootings and suicides by kids using guns. A study published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that the risk of unintentional shooting or suicide by minors using a gun is reduced by as much as 61 percent when ammunition in the home is locked up. Simply storing ammunition separately from the gun reduces such occurrences by more than 50 percent. Recently. I joined with 69 of my colleagues in voting for an amendment offered by Senator KOHL that would require licensed dealers. manufacturers. and importers to include a safe gun storage or gun safety device with every handgun they sell. Hopefully Senator KOHLs amendment will become law. We can do more to help stop- accidents involving children and guns. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting commonsense gun storage requirements so that fewer families will have to endure the pain of losing a child or loved one because of a preventable tragedy involving a firearm.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2665,"word_count":226}
{"speech_id":1090067477,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Indiana lost a great man when cancer took Jon away from us. It is my sad honor to enter the name of Jon Krahulik in the RECORD of the United States Senate for his service to Indiana and for his profound contributions to the field of law.9","speaker_name":"EVAN BAYH","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1860,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090067478,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He planted the seeds. nurtured them. and watched them blossom into a thriving organization. I admire the fact that Elliott isnt afraid to put his money where his mouth is. He has provided ongoing philanthropic support to a number of healthrelated charities. including the Vitamin. Angels. the Healthy Foundation. and other initiatives that provide health benefits to the underprivileged. As Elliott moves on to dedicate more time to his business. I want to take this opportunity to express- my gratitude for the outstanding job he has done for the Dietary Supplement Education Alliance. We wish. Elliott and his family all the best. and we salute his leadership in working toward a healthier America.*","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1915,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090067481,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As the principal author of the Americans with Disabilities Act. I am heartened to see more and more of our old. historic buildings being retrofitted to improve access for citizens with disabilities. The beauty of the Main StreetIowa program is that the ideas and initiatives come from our small towns and rural communities. I have been pleased to secure $1.5 million in funding since 2002 for Main Street Iowa Challenge Grants. The Iowa Department of economic development provides technical assistance. but. as we have seen in Charles City. success itself comes from local leadership. local teamwork. and homegrown ideas and solutions. This project is demonstrates how renovations of old buildings can serve to jumpstart broader civic improvements. When people see one of the anchors of Main Street being renovated or expanded. this can change the whole psychology of a town or community. It offers hope. It serves as a catalyst for a farreaching ripple effect of positive changes. So I congratulate the citizens of Charles City for putting together a winning proposal to secure a Main Street Challenge Grant. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3500,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090067482,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I salute them.*","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2879,"word_count":3}
{"speech_id":1090067485,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. one of the greatest challenges we facenot just in Iowa but all across Americais preserving the character and vitality of our towns. This is about economics. but it is also about our culture and identity. After all. you wont find the heart and soul of Iowa at WalMart or Home Depot out in the strip malls. No. the heart and soul of Iowa is in our family farms. and on Main Street in communities all across my State. That is why we need to be as generous as possible and creative as possible in keeping our downtowns not just alive but thriving. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. I am involved in funding many hundreds of programs every year. But the Main Street Iowa programproviding challenge grants to revitalize downtown buildings across my Stateis in a class by itself. Its smart. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3709,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090067487,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Main Street programs of the Iowa Department of Economic Development help provide technical assistance. but. as we have seen in Sigourney. success itself comes from local leadership. local teamwork. and homegrown ideas and solutions. This project is a shining example of new construction and a catalyst for future projects. When people see one of the anchors of Main Street being renovated or -expanded. this can change the whole psychology of a town or community. It offers hope. It serves as a catalyst for a farreaching ripple effect of positive changes. Both of these projects are cornerstones of community development. and serve as an inspiration to other property owners in the area. I congratulate the citizens of Sigourney for putting together a winning proposal to secure a Main Street Challenge Grant. Their efforts to reinvigorate their historic downtown are setting a terrific example for other small towns across America. and for that. I salute them.e","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2663,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090067503,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There is one area. however. where I believe even more can be done to help veterans in Louisiana and Mississippi who have been affected by this tragedy. The legislation Im introducing will extend a humanitarian hand to those middleincome veterans in the region who do not have access to VA health care because of a decision made by this administration in 2003. The bill extends hospital care and medical services to the Priority 8 veterans affected by Hurricane Katrina. who have previously been denied access to the system. Veterans residing in areas of New Orleans. LA. Biloxi. MS. or Gulfport. MS. during the hurricanewho have most likely lost everything in this disasterwill be able to find solace in knowing that VA will continue to be there for them even after the media attention fades. It would simply be wrong to exclude these men and women Who have served our country from VA services. especially now in their time of need. This bill also serves to relieve some of the financial burden placed on the veterans by waiving copayments for care and medications. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2823,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090067521,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that other than the pending amendments. the only remaining firstdegree amendments to H.R. 2862. the CommerceScienceJustice appropriations bill. be the following list that I send to the desk. provided further. that they be subject to seconddegree amendments which are relevant to. the firstdegree amendment to which they are offered.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":371,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090067633,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is growing by hundreds of thousands of dollars every dayagain. a representation of the outpouring of generosity. concern from individuals. corporations. and businesses. It is this outpouring of compassion and support that is a testament to our national character. the character of being an American. Here in the Senate. we have worked around the clock. as people have seen. with the emergency session last Thursday. and it continues today. We convened the emergency session Thursday and passed an emergency supplemental of $10.5 billion. and then the $51.8 billion last night. The committee chairmen have all been charged and are working very hard crafting legislation to meet the urgent and longterm needs of the hurricane survivors. This week. Speaker HASTERT and I announced the formation of a bicameralthat is. House and Senatebipartisan committee to conduct a toptobottom investigation. analysis. review of the emergency preparation and response to Hurricane Katrina. The committee will be made up of senior Members. It will report back to this body no later than February 15. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9489,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090067670,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"These losses stand to balloon along with the huge increases in credit card spending called for in this proposal. A massive expansion of the micropurchase threshold could overwhelm the fragile accountability mechanisms for this program. Most importantly. in addition to the high potential for waste and abuse. raising the micropurchase threshold from its current levels to $250.000 obliterates small business contracting setasides for contracts that by law and by tradition have been going to small firms. The statutory \"small business reserve\" in the Small Business Act sets aside for small business concerns all Federal contracts in the amounts below $100.000 and above the micropurchase threshold. typically. $2.500. Contracts at $100.000 or less are uniquely suitable for performance by small firms. Excluding them now makes no sense. Further. the DoD\/OMB proposal for extension of the emergency procurement authority to Hurricane Katrina improperly expands the scope of this authority to future \"relief\" contracts and to contracts with only distant relevance to Hurricane Katrina. As I already mentioned. the emergency procurement authority established a micropurchase threshold increase to $15.000. provided the purchases are \"directly related\" to military contingency operations or WMD recovery. Extension of this authority would take contracts ranging from $15.000 to $2.500 out of the statutory \"small business reserve\" under the Small Business Act. In addition. this authority would also allow large firms to exclude small businesses from subcontracts by treating all Katrinarelated contracts as purchases of commercial items. ","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6792,"word_count":238}
{"speech_id":1090067672,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to make a statement explaining the removal of the Senator from Tennessee. Majority Leader BILL FRIST. as a cosponsor of S. 1014. Supporting Our Patriotic Business Act of 2005. It was an inadvertent error my staff made when adding additional cosponsors to this bill. I apologize to Senator FRIST for any confusion and inconvenience this may have caused and want the record to reflect that it was an error on my part.","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":437,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090067686,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Normally in a disaster. the disaster occurs and people go back basically to where they were. Now they are spread all over the country. This would extend the application period from 30 to 90 days. In addition. it would expand the program to include individuals eligible for State unemployment insurance and those who suffer from the secondary economic effects of the disaster. Finally. it would extend the duration of benefits for victims who otherwise qualify from 26 to 52 weeks and create an enhanced minium benefit level. We have been reading stories that an amazing number of the people who were dislocated by Hurricane Katrina and now are in other States are already out looking for work and finding it. This is for the people who havent been able to find it. and it will give them some assistance for their families. Estimates suggest that as many as a half million workers will be left jobless by Hurricane Katrina. and that unemployment may soar to 25 percent or more in some of the regions affected as a result. The families. therefore. will desperately need this extended lifeline this amendment will provide. Six. the amendment would suspend the tax and penalties on withdrawals from qualified retirement plans so that those who have suffered losses as a result of Hurricane Katrina can use money that otherwise would be in their retirement plans and for which they would be penalized for early withdrawal. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8374,"word_count":240}
{"speech_id":1090067712,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on Monday. the Senate will resume consideration of the CommerceJusticeScience appropriations bill. There are a number of amendments pending or in order to the bill. and I encourage Members to offer and debate those amendments on Monday afternoon so we can schedule votes for Monday night and Tuesday. On Monday evening. at 5:30. we will have an hour of debate followed by a vote on the motion to proceed to S.J. Res. 20. a resolution of disapproval relating to mercury. That vote will occur at 6:30 p.m.. and additional votes are possible into the evening. Early next week. we expect to finish the CommerceJusticeScience appropriations bill. and we will continue with other appropriations measures over the course of that week. Many of these appropriations bills do have disasterrelated language. language that is important to our response to Katrina. therefore. we want to expedite their consideration. We have been working to pass several freestanding measures in response to Katrina. and we will continue to do so as they become available. As I pointed out earlier this morning and yesterday. last night. we are working very aggressively to make sure all legislation which is of benefit to the victims of this hurricane are handled expeditiously on the floor of the Senate in their consideration and passage. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2230,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090067732,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If he can meet that test. I can support him. If he doesnt. if he is not persuasive on that point. I cannot support him. The burden is on John Roberts. The Supreme Court hearings are likely to dominate the news today. but lets all remember. these hearings are about whether one man is qualified to fill one job. While we carefully weigh that important decision. I remind all my colleagues that. as we speak. there are hundreds of thousands of Americans without jobs. without homes. and they are losing hope as a result of our inaction. These are the people in the Gulf Coast region. We must get our priorities in line. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9875,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090067749,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In response to the Senator from Louisiana. I understand in circumstances such as this. we will not go out and get bids and ask for 30 days. We want people in the field working quickly. But the fact is we have a lot of great companies out there in this country with a great ability to mobilize and move quickly. My only point is. I want the victims of this hurricane to receive help now. immediately. I want the American taxpayer to find that help was delivered effectively and efficiently. I dont want it running through peoples hands into peoples pockets where it shouldnt go.","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":577,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090067838,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it is my understanding we are going to have 1hour debate on the motion to proceed and Senator LEAHY and myself are controlling that time. It is acceptable to me. if Senator JEFFORDS would like to be heard at this time. that he be recognized.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":256,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090067851,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I find these figures unacceptable. In fact. we all should. Neurotoxins are not commodities. neurotoxins are poison. I believe that these pollutants and poisons should not be traded in our society but. rather. should be significantly restricted and reduced. It is our duty to enact such a rule. I hope we will adopt the mercury resolution of disapproval. Thank you. Mr. President.","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4380,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090067880,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They really cannot take any more hits. So it goes far beyond just the chemical industry. The most effective. most flexible. and least burdensome way to achieve mercury reduction is to build on the most successful part of the Clean Air Act. the acid rain program. Many Senators resisted the acid rain program. saying there would be hot spots and compliance problems. yet there have been no hot spots and. unlike with most of the Clean Air Act. virtually no enforcement problems. As the senior Senator from Vermont said in 1999: When we were debating controls for acid rain. we heard a lot about the enormous cost of eliminating sulfur dioxide. But what we learned from the acid rain program is that when you give industry a financial incentive to clean up its act. they will find the cheapest way of doing it. I think he was correct. That is exactly what the current rule under which we are operating does. the cap and trade. similar to the successful program that was used in acid rain. Moreover. supporters of the resolution that is under consideration assume the cap and trade mercury rule would be replaced with a 90percent MACT rule. When the EPA first proposed the cap and trade approach last year. it also proposed a MACT approach. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10942,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090067898,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"All of these memories unite us as Americans. Every day. those memories strengthen our unshakable resolve to defeat the terrorist networks that wish to do us harm. and to preserve the freedoms that generations of Americans have fought to protect. As our country confronts the devastation left in the wake of hurricane Katrina. we can see some of that same national strength. that same American solidarity and resolve. emerging again. It is by nurturing and reinforcing that national strength and compassion that we pay tribute to those we lost on September 11. 2001.","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1383,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090067908,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Kids Act could be an important step forward. By Mr. CORNYN:","speaker_name":"JOHN ROCKEFELLER","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2939,"word_count":11}
{"speech_id":1090067928,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I further ask unanimous consent that at 12:10. the Senate resume consideration of S.J. Res. 20. provided further that there then be 20 minutes equally divided for debate between Senators INHOFE and LEAHY or their designees. and that following the debate. the Senate proceed to the vote on adoption of the joint resolution with no intervening action or debate. I further ask unanimous consent that following that vote. the Senate then recess until 2:15 for the weekly policy luncheons.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":499,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090067930,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. under the order just entered. our next vote will be at 12:30 tomorrow on the pending disapproval resolution. Prior to that vote. we will resume consideration of the CommerceJusticeScience appropriations bill. We will be working in the morning with the two managers to begin to see how many amendments remain and which of the pending amendments are ready for votes. Again. I encourage Members to contact the chairman and ranking member and alert them if they intend to offer an amendment from that list. Tomorrow. we hope to make good progress on the bill as we move toward final passage. We will alert Senators as we stack additional votes throughout the afternoon. I also ask my colleagues for their additional consideration during rollcall votes. We will try to provide some continuity to the committee hearings and nomination hearings over the course of this week. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":992,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090067944,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The process required enormous patience and flexibilityin other words. the tools of the democratic process--and it required great courage. In the face of constant terrorist threats and violence. the Iraqi people showed once again their determination to secure their rights and their future as a free and democratic nation. Garnering support for the new constitution is now one of President Talabanis most pressing tasks. In our meeting today. I will urge President Talabani to continue his efforts to reach out to all segments of Iraqs diverse population. It is vital that Iraqis of all walks of life participate in this referendum next month. It is also vital that the Sunni population rally behind this constitution and the framework of democracy and the governance it establishes. The unnis have raised concerns about federalism. about the role of Sharia law. and the allocation of oil revenues. These are all important issues that concern all of us as well. I look forward to hearing President Talabanis response in our discussions today. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3441,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090067954,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"A threestar General from Alabama was there. The Alabamians were there right after the Mississippians got there because it took 7 hours to get to the scene because you had to cut through the pine trees on Highway 49 to get there. It took them 7 hours to get less than 90 miles. I could go on and on. but the record needs to reveal the tremendous job that has been done. how important they are. as they work with us as we transition into different needs. I thank the Senator for his comments about my own personal situation. In life you get a lot of trials. It is very hard. But what is the hardest is to see how these people now are still suffering in heat and debris. There are so many needs. and we cant get the help there fast enough. This is the time to try mens souls. but will make you stronger and better in the end.","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2355,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090068031,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr: President. I suspect most Americans are going to be shocked to learn the administration wants to allow more poisonous mercury into the environment. But that is exactly what they are trying to do. We should not permit this vote to take place as it is. I hear the arguments that are being made that reducing toxic emissions from coalfired plants may in fact increase the cost of energy. that it would be terrible. People are being shocked by the cost of fuel and energy generally. But if you want to look at a bunch of children and say. \"No. we are going to risk these children having learning disabilities and to not be able to function properly. not be able to be an integral part of their school body as would be planned.\" as opposed to perhapsperhapsthe energy we use costing a couple more cents. there cannot be any justification for tlis resolution not to pass. I hope our colleagues in the Senate will look very closely at the decision they are making. between children and a little extra cost for energy. ExHIBIT 1 DEAR SENATOR: As leading national health organizations. we are writing to ask that you vote to protect the publics health. especially childrens health. from the threat of mercury pollution. ","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8123,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090068049,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that affects the heart. brain. and immune system. By putting forth this irresponsible rule. EPA is putting the lives of millions of people at risk. especially those of children and pregnant women. Scientists have welldocumented evidence of mercury toxicity. In the Northeast. a public health crisis is looming as there are estimates that over 84.000 newborns each year will be atrisk for irreversible neurological problems* and cardiovascular abnormalities. While mercury is prevalent in many household. medical. and industrial products. the largest U.S. source of mercury emissions are powerplants. The mercury is carried by the wind from powerplants and settles in the lakes and rivers hundreds of miles from the source of pollution. The. pollution knows no boundary and that is the problem facing Connecticut. We do have a few lessthanperfect powerplants. but the majority of our mercury pollution comes from sources outside the State and region. So prevalent is the pollution that 44 States have issued fish consumption advisories. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3806,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090068089,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is arbitrary. probably haphazard. Who knows whether that will be a decision that is tied into what the final needs are of the region. Yes. there will be needs. obviously. for assistance to law enforcement in that region. bit the original $60 billion put in thereplus. a lot of that is clearly going to flow to first responderspolice. fire. medicalbecause that is what FEMA does. So to suddenly throw this outthis is an idea we have to throw into the Katrina mixis not A good way to legislate. It is especially not a good way to legislate in the context of what we know is going to be a huge effort by us as a Congress to address Katrina and where we know under the leadership of Senator FRIST We are developing a process where the authorizing committees take a look at what should be done and could be done and they put forward those ideas- in an orderly way and prompt way. that should be enforced. and then we can get relief out to these people who have- been impacted so dramatically. But it isnt just some idea of some Senator who happens to have a project which he has always supported and which he feels is a good project. At some point. as chairman of the Budget Committee or maybe some other Senator as a member of the Appropriations Committee. a point of order will lie against this amendment because it is outside the budget and it is outside the appropriations bill. It should not be brought forward in this manner. What we need to do in addressing the issue of what police needs are in that region and law enforcement needs are in that region is do it in the context of an overall solution. which is moving through this Senate rather rapidlyalready $60 billion in the pipelinebut which is done in concert with the authorizing committee. in concert with the leadership. and in concert. obviously. with the administration. At the correct time. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6628,"word_count":337}
{"speech_id":1090068142,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Think of the situation when you have a sheriffs department in a county with maybe 6 or 10 deputies. or a bigger county with 20 or 25 deputies: With all the jobs that local law enforcement has to dosecurity for the county fair. domestic violence issues. all the typical work they have to performand then you superimpose on that 10 or 15 or 20 methamphetamine labs in the county. it is very difficult to track down those labs. It is difficult to break them down. These deputies have to get trained in environmental chemistry to break these labs down. It is an enormous burden on local budgets. One of the ways we can help our sheriffs. our local law enforcement officers in dealing with these meth labs is multijurisdictional task forces where they are able to get grants from the Federal Government. band together in regional task forces. and use that manpower efficiently to help go after labs. That is what the Dayton amendment is designed to support. and that is the big reason I am so strongly supportive of it. The amendment would move funding. for these programs back to where they were in fiscal year 2003. It is a substantial increase. but I can assure you. Mr. President. based on my experience with this issue. it certainly is no more than is needed. ","speaker_name":"JAMES TALENT","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5694,"word_count":225}
{"speech_id":1090068148,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. In accordance with rule V of the Standing Rules of the Senate. I hereby give notice in writing that it is my intention to move to suspend paragraph 4 of rule XVI for the purpose of proposing to the bill. H.R. 2862. the Science. State. Justice. Commerce appropriations bill. the following statement:","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":313,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090068162,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to. commemorate the 35th anniversary of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. commonly known as FLETC. Since its inception in 1970. FLETC has provided primary and advanced law enforcement training for at least 81 Federal agencies. It also serves as the project manager for the International Law Enforcement Academies. Over the past three andonehalf decades. FLETC has grown from a fledgling organization into the worlds premier law enforcement training center. For this. and for the countless lives that have been saved by the proud graduates of FLETC. I extend my heartfelt congratulations. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2985,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090068163,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I wish to honor an exceptional organization. The Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes provides care and support for over 5.000 children and young adults with type one diabetes. including their families. For their dedicated work and unrelenting commitment to excellence. I wish to honor the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes here today. Since 1980. The Barbara Davis Center has grown to b6come the largest facility in the Nation dedicated to pediatric diabetes and is now located on the Fitzsimmons Campus of the University of Colorado at Denver Health Sciences Center in Aurora. Colorado. The staff at the Center has worked tirelessly to meet the needs of countless children throughout Colorado and the entire world who suffer from type one. or insulindependent diabetes. The Centers clinics received worldwide recognition for their care of those affected with pe-. diatric diabetes. a chronic. lifethreatening illness. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1683,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090068165,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Carcieri as the Adjutant General of Rhode Island. he was then appointed Rhode Island Homeland Security Advisor. Major General Centracchio is the first adjutant general to hold all three positions simultaneously. During his tenure as Adjutant Gen-. eral and Commanding General of the Rhode Island National Guard. Major General Centracchios leadership and commitment were essential in ensuring the Rhode Island National Guard trained. equipped. and deployed soldiers and airmen in support of United States military missions at home and abroad. His experience and knowledge were constantly sought during numerous State emergencies in whic(Jh Rhode Island National Guard troops were employed to ensure public safety. Under his direct supervision. the Rhode Island National Guard mobilized and deployed over 3.500 troops in support of Operations Noble Eagle. Enduring Freedom. and Iraqi Freedom. This represents the largest deployment of Rhode Island NationalGuard Troops since the First World War. General Centracchio exemplifies what it means to be a \"soldier.\" He was utterly committed to accomplishing.his mission and completely dedicated to the welfare of his troops. He led by example. ","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3599,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090068166,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This New Mexico Junior College baseball team demonstrated remarkable teamwork and selflessness throughout the season. Players born in New Mexico. Venezuela. Puerto Rico. Australia. Canada. and across the United States came together to realize their dreams this season. For that. and for all their accomplishments. I commend each and every player and coach of the Thunderbird team here in this RECORD. May their success be only a prelude to future accomplishments. and may they continue to represent their school. Hobbs. and the State of New Mexico with distinction.*","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2372,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090068167,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As his colleagues. constituents. and many admirers would attest. Harry Armstrong is a truly deserving recipient of an award that honors the importance of integrity. character. ethics. consensus building. and commitment to the common good in public service. Throughout his career in government. Harry has consistently embodied the best ideals of a dedicated public servant. I congratulate Harry- Armstrong on receiving the 2005 Rose Ann Vuich Ethical Leadership Award and wish him continued success in his future endeavors.0","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2483,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090068172,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Even if a school is unable to meet the trajectory targets set by th NCLB timeline. a school would not be identified as failing to make AYP provided it demonstrates improved student achievement according to these additional models The principle here is one of more accurately assessing whether all students are continuing to make progress. Our legislation specifically outlines three additional models that -would be permitted under the statute: No. 1. a cohort growth model. which demohstrates student progress by following the same cohort of students over time. No. 2. an indexing model. which demonstrates student progress through improved performance for students below the proficient levelfor example. improvement from a below basic to a basic level. and No. 3. \"top performing schools\" model. which demonstrates improvement through progress in closing the achievement gap between the lowest performing students and. for example. student performance at the States top 20 percent of schools. The list of models in our legislation is not exclusive. and this section reflects our interest in permitting a far greater diversity in the types of State accountability systems acceptable under the statute. We would also require the Secretary to provide examples of these models to give practical assistance to States in the design of these systems. While the trajectory goals set in the statute are certainly valuable. ourlegislation seeks to clarify that States should be granted greater flexibility in the design of different accountability systems provided that they are consistent with the principle of improved student performance. Second. our legislation would modify the existing \"safeharbor\" provision- to allow more schools to take advantage of this provision. The \"safeharbor\" provision in the law is reallk another example of an improvement model already permitted under the statute. In order to qualifyfor the safeharbor provision under current law. schools must reduce the number of students scoring below the proficient level by 10 percent in a single year. ","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12894,"word_count":316}
{"speech_id":1090068180,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet on Tuesday. September 13. 2005. at 10 a.m. to consider the nominations of John R. Fisher to be Associate Judge. DC Court. of Appeals. Juliet J. McKenna to be Associate Judge. DC Superior Court. Colleen D. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":456,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090068190,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As in executive session. I ask unanimous consent that the injunction of secrecy be removed from the following treaty transmitted to the Senate on September 13. 2005. by the President of the United States: Protocol Amending Extradition Convention with Israel (Treaty Document No. 1093). I further ask that the treaty be considered as having been read the first time. that it be referred with accompanying papers to the Committee on Foreign Relations and ordered to be printed. and that the Presidents mestsage be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":534,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090068204,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. over the past couple of weeks. we have certainly seen our share of bad news. One little bit of good news. though. has come out of the State of Texas. Texans. always known for their friendliness. have opened their arms and their hearts to their neighbors to the east. Madam Speaker. this hurricane was unlike any of us have ever seen before and I pray that none of us will ever see again: 90.000 square miles of devastation along the Gulf Coast. over 1 million people displaced from. their homes. Now. a quarter of that population. 250.000. are in the State of Texas. Madam Speaker. I am proud of Texas. and I am especially proud of Texas doctors and Texas medicine. Spending time in the shelters in my district last week. I was so impressed with the doctors and the nurses who are volunteering. giving of themselves. to attend to those who are less fortunate. Texas doctors and nurses indeed stepped up to the challenge. whether itwas the residents of John Peter Smith Hospital. the faculty at the University of North Texas at Fbrt Worth. or in the city of Dallas. itself. where they received 17.000 individuals in the space of one Saturday afternoon. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BURGESS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1389,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090068226,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. I join other Members in strong support of this resolution and acknowledge the special bond that exists between the passengers from Flight 93 and not only the personnel who work in the Capitol but also the citizens of the District. those who were harmed and who died at the Pentagon and. of course. those who were victims in New York at the Twin Towers. Although we will hever know the final destination for Flight 93. we are all profoundly grateful to those heroic passengers for their collective acts of courage that may have saved the Capitol or the White House from severe damage. Senate Concurrent Resolution 26 memorializes them and their valiant efforts as well. A site will be selected here in the Capitol. The purpose of the memorial as well as the names of the crew and passengers will. of course. be inscribed on the memorial. We strongly support the resolution and urge its passage. Madam Speaker. ","speaker_name":"ELEANOR NORTON","chamber":"H","state":"DC","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":1015,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090068259,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Past Congresses recognized the value of these treasures by creating the park. our ability to enjoy them today is a- testament to their foresight. With over 28.000 acres today. the parks surface is an impressive asset as well. The Wind Cave National Park Boundary Revision act would expand this stewardship to include an additional 5.000 acres of mixed grass prairie. ponderosa pine forest. and a dramatic river canyon. Home to native wildlife such as bison. elk. pronghorn. mule deer. coyotes. and prairie dogs. the park is one of the few remaining mixedgrass ecosystems in the country. The expansion would be a natural extension of this habitat and enhance the parks holdings. This project began when the ranching family that owns the land approached the National Parks Service over 3 years ago. The Black Hills region of South Dakota is developing rapidly and. rather than allow the land to be developed into subdivisions and strip malls. they envisioned preserving it for future generations. That initial discussion expanded to the surrounding community. State government. and eventually. the United States Congress. The bills passage in the Senate and its consideration here today are the fruits of those discussions. ","speaker_name":"STEPHANIE HERSETH SANDLIN","chamber":"H","state":"SD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2854,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090068293,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that I may hereafter be considered as the first sponsor of H.R. 64. a bill otiginally introduced by Representative Cox of California. for purposes of adding cosponsors and requesting reprinting pursuant to clause 7 of rule XII.","speaker_name":"TOM FEENEY","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":264,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090068295,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I welcome the thoughts of Americans and those who advocate for children to craft an agenda. a longterm strategy to help the children of the terrible Hurricane Katrina and terrible tragedy that has occurred for them and their families.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1275,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090068308,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would like to take this opportunity to -again update my colleagues on the .effort 6f Houstons and Texas response to Hurricane Katrina evacuee relief efforts. I From attending daily morning emergency operations meetings in Houston. I can bring a firsthand account of our progress. The city of Houston. which has a Democratic mayor. Bill White. and a Republican county judge. Robert Eckels. has produced an amazingly successful relief effort. hand in hand without partisanship or jurisdictional bickering. I havealways held Texas politics up as an example of the. principle that puts people first and politics second. While we -have not always upheld that principle recently. our response to Hurricane Katrina shows the best in Texas government. a singleminded focus on getting things done. ","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6354,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090068310,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the cleanup efforts along the gulf coast are now fully underway. The flood waters of New Orleans are receding. and we are shifting our focus from saving lives to restoring lives. In the past 2 weeks. Congress has allocated a little over $60 billion in disaster relief. It is the right thing to do. yet some here in Washington have questioned whether it is money well spent. Others even question whether we should rebuild New Orleans at all. And even after witnessing the horrors of Katrinas aftermath. some say they want to proceed with the tax cut for the wealthiest 1 percent in this country. all the while cutting Medicaid. educational programs. and environmental programs. Ironically. many of these are the same individuals who have vocally and unequivocally supported aid and the funding requests for rebuilding Iraq. We should be responsible with the peoples tax dollars. but we cannot have two set of books. two sets of priorities. one for the United States and for Iraq. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5434,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090068314,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If we had moved to providing 10 percent of our fuel from ethanol. as some States like Minnesota do. we would have been able to replace more than half of this shortfall with ethanol and put the money in the pockets of our own farmers rather than dictators and kings over whom we have almost no control. As of today. there are about 5 million vehicles on the road that will run on 85 percent ethanol. but most people do not know it. and it is very difficult to find the fuel because these companies do not want to really bring it on line. We need to change this situation. The 2002 farm bill provided the firstever energy title as part of a farm bill in American history. promoting the production and usage of ethanol. biodiesel. and other renewable energy sources. But in recent years. instead of moving to aggressively . implement these provisions. the Bush administration has consistently proposed reducing funding for these energy programs. And this is after his own energy plan failed to provide a single one of its 103 recommendations directed at programs offered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. We have agriculture waiting. a lady in waiting. that this administration refuses to see to help America move toward energy independence. The recently passed energy bill makes additional moves in that direction. but fails to take America in the direction fast enough to counter these massive price increases. Think about it. ","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4519,"word_count":245}
{"speech_id":1090068317,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it is a pleasure to be here with my colleague once again and an honor to serve with him. Ijust have to commend the gentleman. I saw him when I was watching my TV coming off the plane yesterday. the gentlemans trip to tour the devastated areas and. particularly Hancock County. which I think the gentleman particularly went to with his Committee on Homeland Security colleagues to highlight that it was not just New Orleans. it was not just the ground zero area of New Orleans. Ground Zero was actually Hancock County. and the communities there that essentially. it appears. have been forgotten. or at least neglected because they are smaller and the focus does not appear to be on them. So I was so proud of the gentleman to see him doing that. Once again. the gentleman is stepping up for people who need him. This is not. we are not here for a love fest. but it did my heart some good to know that colleagues of mine were going where their help was needed.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":971,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090068321,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I mean. my goodness. that does not seem like too much to ask. I know many Americans feel like that. Even through a tragedy. and you want to go back. you should be working. Here are these people that want to go and actually work that are having their wages cut. and it just seems to me that is very shortsighted. It is. again. another bend in favor of the contractors. who. you know. have a job to do but not at the expense of everybody else. You know. from the beginning here. and I am sure you have already touched upon all of the appointments of the members of FEMA in the upper echelon of FEMA. all political appointments. and we all understand that that happens. we are not trying to play dumb here. But give the guy an appointment who is not qualified. give him the ambassadorship to a country that has got a lot of beach front property. That is where you go. You do not put him in charge of FEMA. That is criminal what happened here. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6635,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090068329,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We need the press. We should commend the press from the floor of this body for the spotlight that they have shown on these victims and their reality because. quite honestly. without that spotlight being shown by them. without their piling into the stormravaged area. see no evil. hear no evil.. they would still be saying the same thing. and we would not have had the response and reaction that. quite frankly. we should have had right from the beginning. So I want to commend the press and encourage them to continue to do it. but we have some action items that need to occur. We need to get these people health care. We need to make sure they have access to Medicaid immediately. We need to get them food stamp access. We need to make sure that they have access to education and housing and not just farflung housing all over the country. If you lived in New Orleans. you do not need to. resettle yourself permanently in Utah. That is not what we want to have a policy direct these people to. We want to bring them back. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3074,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090068332,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So it is hard to define that $3.3 billion as emergency spending when you spend the money to purchase a contract for future construction of trailer houses not available. and I say that is not emergency spending. In addition. in the $50 billion that came for the second appropriation there was another 100.000 trailer houses in there for the tune of $1.6 billion. So now FEMA -has had the authority apparently to purchase 300.000 trailer houses for the cost of $4.9 billion. $400 million of it will go for the 30.000 trailers. and that is rough numbers. Those trailers are available. but 270.000 trailers are backordered for a cost of about $4.5 billion. declared and deemed to be emergency spending. the kind of thing that is going to help save lives. recover people. and. in fact. it took resources away that could have been better used in the recovery process. In addition. in that appropriation there was $650 million that was declared to be emergency spending. dedicated to mitigation of future disasters. Mitigation of future disasters cannot be characterized as emergency spending and cannot be characterized as something that helps disaster victims today in the. gulf coast. It is money that could have gone to help people. but it is pigeonholed. It is earmarked. and it is committed to other projects. We do not know what they are. Congress was not apprised of that. and yet we have an oversight responsibility. ","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10940,"word_count":241}
{"speech_id":1090068334,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. PLATTS. and Under clause 3 of rule XII. Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. 168. The SPEAKER presented a memorial H.R. 896: Mr. MCNULTY. of the General Assembly of the State of Colo- H.R. 917: Mr. SANDERS. rado. relative to House Joint Resolution No. H.R. 920: Mr. ANDREWS and Mr. MCHUGH. 051005 expressing sympathy for the victims H.R. 921: Ms. ","speaker_name":"COLLIN PETERSON","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":669,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090068395,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as we consider tax incentives for businesses that have been affected by Hurricane Katrina and help them get up and run\"ning. we must also help the affected families get up and running. Both are essential endeavors. Americans have lost their homes and incomes through no fault of their own. In the coming days. I will introduce the Hurricane Katrina Accelerated Tax Benefits Act. This bill will fasttrack the Earned income Tax Credit. the Child Tax Credit. and educational incentives such as the Hbpe and Lifetime Learning Credits to the people in the Gulf Coast. providing these hardworking Americans with muchneeded resources. It will stimulate the economy and help rebuild the lives of affected Americans. These Americans who have lost so much should receive their tax refunds now. They have worked for it. and they have earned it. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1333,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090068396,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it is the desire to be frugal that led the Base Closure Commission to recommend the retirement of the 147th Fighter Wing from Ellington Field in Houston. Texas. The removal of these aircraft would severely weaken the militarys ability to protect the City of Houston. NASA. the Port of Houston. the Port of Beaumont. and Port Arthur. It is for that reason that I have introduced House Resolution 412 which calls for the President to work with the Secretary of Homeland Security to ensure that any base closings do not affect homeland security inadvertently. Mr. Speaker. we should reevaluate our foreign giveaway programs if we want to save money. When homeland security is at stake and the energy capital of the world is potentially without fighter protection. the penny pinchers need to reevaluate their priorities. Like every mother tells her child. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":973,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090068397,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as millions of people lost their homes and their jobs. the casino and gaming industry in the Gulf Coast region is helping them in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I applaud the American Gaming Association for setting up the Gaming Industry Katrina Relief Fund to raise money to provide disaster relief and assistance to gaming employees in Mississippi and Louisiana. Gaming companies have created programs to help their employees after the devastation of the hurricane. Among other relief efforts. Harrahs Entertainment has established a $1 million Employee Recovery Fund and is paying employee wages for 90 days. Boyd Gaming is paying employees for 8 weeks. and the MGM Mirage has established a call center and paycheck distribution center in Biloxi. The gaming industry is taking care of their employees in the areas ravaged by the hurricane. As usual. the industry has stepped up to the plate to help their employees weather the storm and their communities to rebuild. I applaud the gaming industry for all they do.","speaker_name":"SHELLEY BERKLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1034,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090068404,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. in spite of great challenges. the Afghan people continue to make tremendous progress in creating a hopeful future for their families and their country. On Sunday. Afghans will go to the polls to choose parliamentary candidates who will represent their views and reinforce their nations status as a growing democracy. Preparations are being made to ensure that the upcoming election is fair and accessible to all citizens of Afghanistan. Since many people in the country are illiterate. the ballots will list candidates names. photographs. personal symbols. and numbers to ensure that Afghans from all walks of life have the opportunity to participate in the election. After witnessing the tremendous success of Iraqs elections. I am confident that the people of Afghanistan will also turn out overwhelmingly to cast their ballots. They are committed to democracy and confident in their vision for their nation. which protects American families. In conclusion. ","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1035,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090068410,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise to praise the people of Texas who have gone to great lengths to assist those devastated by Hurricane Katrina. In my Third District alone. there are shining examples of selflessness. sacrifice and service. The City of Allen schools have enrolled over 100 evacuees. Plano has enrolled over 500. And in Wylie. a volunteer in a shelter helped a 15yearold evacuee separated from his family find them in Houston. and then more volunteers drove him down there. In McKinney. volunteers turned an old WalMart into a shelter for 300 people. and within 48 hours they added showers. decorated play areas. created medical facilities. and even made Internet connections. One sign said it best. \"Howdy. ","speaker_name":"SAM JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":921,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090068478,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That will not reduce sex crimes. All of these are good.. politically appealing sound bites that will help politicians get elected but which have no evidence that they will actually reduce the incidence of child molestation. This. bill will cost over $500 million over the next few years. We need to make sure that when we spend that kind of money that we actually do something constructive. Here we have a bill with mandatory minimums. death penalties that have been shown that have nothing to do with reducing crime. it is primarily focused on Native Americans. and I would hope that we would support amendments to eliminate such extraneous matters on the bill so we can concentrate the $500 million on effective crimereducing approaches. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7097,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090068482,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This spring. 120 death row inmates were exonerated. due to proof of their innocence. So. in the end. if we are truly serious about protecting our children from acts of sexual exploitation and violence. we have got to turn to prevention. We have got to use preventative solutions that really try to get to the root of the problem instead of afterthefact criminal penalties that do not address the issue. Do these sick people check the statutes to find out what the newest penalties are or whether they are mandatory or not or whether they can carry additional incarceration terms? I doubt it. Finally. we have people that have written. professionals. scientific researchers treatment professionals. child advocates. who have serious reservations about this measure. H.R. From the Center on Child Abuse and Neglect. the EditorinChief on Child Maltreatment. the Journal of American Professional Society of the Abuse of Children. the Director of Crimes Against Children Research Center. the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center. Dr. Friedrich of the Mayo Clinic and Mayo Medical School. from the Board of Directors Association of the Treatment of Sexual Abusers. all these letters have poured in urging that we put more prevention into this measure rather than less. Please let us turn this measure back.","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2477,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090068486,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I would like to thank my colleague for the time. Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of H.R. 3132. the Childrens Safety Act. I want to thank the gentleman from Wisconsin for advancing this legislation. It is unfortunate. but our children are not as safe as they could be. There are nearly 550.000 registered sex offenders here in the United States. one for nearly every 200 children. Worse. many of these individuals are able to slip through the cracks and become lost to law enforceme nt because many of these do not register. and when they move. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2686,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090068492,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"John Walsh has brought a scrutiny to child protection legislation unlike any other human being. Finally. and most important. I want to recognize the victims parents. It is their hard work and determination their tears and their frusttation. and their fears for their other children that has brought this bill to the floor so quickly. They took -away from their own tragedies a chance to help fellow Americans protect otherchildren. and for that we are entirely grateful. Mr. Chairman. these are not petty criminals. These are sex offenders. and they must be dealt with accordingly. *","speaker_name":"MARK FOLEY","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2880,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090068498,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We need a real system that gives parents peace of mind and enables them to be aware of the presence of pedophiles in their neighborhood. A National Sex Offender Registry. that is maintained by the United States Department of Justice is a very good idea that I support. Members of every local community would be able to access this registry online. and be able to keep tabs on those who may pose harm to our children. States would notify each other when sex offenders move between States. and reporting requirements would be uniform so that its easier to keep the lists current and accurate. This is a sensible thing that we should be doing to protect our children. I would be proud to support it and I hope it will be addressed on the floor in a .more rational way. That leads me to my overriding criticism of this bill: Its flaws are so troubling and fundamental that it compels me to oppose passage despite my support of one component part. This bill creates 36 new mandatory minimum penalties. Mandatory minimum penalties do not work. They discount mitigating factors in crimes. prevent judges from meting out punishments that are tailored to the criminal. and have been proven discriminatory to people of color. ","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4302,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090068499,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in opposition to H.R. 3132. the Childrens Safety Act of 2005. Once again. this Congress is attempting to address a very serious and complicated problem with a law that substitutes the talking points of \"tough on crime\" politicians for the wisdom of judges. prosecutors. treatment professionals and child advocates. As a father and someone who has fought for better foster care. education. and health care for children. I object to this illconceived legislation that is as much an attack on our independent judiciary as it is a bill to protect kids. Many child advocates themselves oppose this bill because kids irl grade school or junior high will be swept up alongside paroled adults in sex offender registries. Many caught in registries would be 13 and 14 year olds. In some States. children 10 and under would be -registered. This bill creates 36 new mandatory minimum sentences. which impose the judgment of Congress over every case. regardless of the circumstances. ","speaker_name":"FORTNEY STARK","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2852,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090068523,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. our Nation has a solemn responsibility to protect the most innocent among us. our children. The Childrens Safety Act of 2005. introduced by our chairman. the gentleman from Wisconsin . will help to ensure that sex offenders are registered properly and that they maintain their registration wherever they reside. I originally sought to offer an amendment to this important bill that would have required States to ensure that sex offenders are properly registered before they are issued a drivers license and in doing so mandate that their license would have to be renewed every single year. The State of Nevada passed a law earlier this year that does just that. The purpose of such a requirement is to add another layer of protection for the children and families of our communities. In short. if a sex offender refuses to keep their registration current. which is now a problem facing too many States. then he would be unable to obtain a legal drivers license. This means that the sex offender is at risk at any time of being caught driving without aiicense and arrested. I think that this threat can serve as a useful deterrent and encourage sex offenders to maintain their registrationin fact. improving the registration compliance rate of these offenders. In a State where over 30 percent of sex offenders are noncompliant and lost in the system. we took these very same steps in Nevada to ensure a greater compliance rate. ","speaker_name":"JAMES GIBBONS","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3753,"word_count":244}
{"speech_id":1090068555,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of the bill. but hopeful that we can make it even a little bit better. The thrust of the bill is clearly a good idea. We need a national registration for sex offenders. We need to make it with teeth. and that is why I support the underlying bill. There is. however. this issue of mandatory minimums in the bill. I am a member of the Committee on the Judiciary. and I have said there that I am more uncomfortable than ever with our use of mandatory minimums. We have a coherent system of sentencing called the sentencing guidelines. We have people who thought very carefully about how it would be that rape. for example. would compare with bank robbery and how that would compare with cashing bad checks. and so they came up with a system. ","speaker_name":"BOB INGLIS","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4471,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090068558,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I have to get a new registration card. I have to put down my credit card. my drivers license to rent a movie. And if I fail to . return the movie. they charge me for the movie. There are penalties for violating simple rules of video rentals. and my colleagues would have us believe. oh. let us not be too harsh on these people. Jessica Lunsford was buried in a garbage bag by a known sex offender who failed to register. Oh. let us not give him a 5year minimum mandatory. Let us not inconvenience him. John Couey. Let us not cause any unnecessary paperwork for John Couey. while Jessica Lunsford is in a plastic garbage bag. We have to have a drivers license in the State in which we live. ","speaker_name":"MARK FOLEY","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2351,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090068562,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. reclaiming my time. I wish the perpetrator would have thought about the penalties before they committed the crime. The minimum mandatory may tie the hands of judges. but it will. in fact. tie the hands of the predator. They know full well before they are released what the requirements are. and if there is confusion. it is the perpetrators fault. I do not want it to be relied upon the victim to say the victim should have known he may have been a perpetrator but we were not registered.","speaker_name":"MARK FOLEY","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":502,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090068569,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I offer this amendment to the bill to address a blight on our society. the scourge of hate violence. Because. currently. we lack sufficient data to assist in determining how to address bias crime directed toward children. This amendment would correct that oversight. For the year 2003. for example. the most recent available data. the FBI compiled reports from law enforcement agencies across the country identifying 7.489 criminal incidents that were motivated by an offenders irrational antagonism towards some personal attribute associated with the victim.","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":573,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090068636,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The primary party responsible in most communities for checking up on the status of sex offenders who have served their sentences but must register is the local police. However. the police and local law officials are swamped with the task of rescuing survivors and ensuring that every one gets out of the city. This makes it difficult to monitor the moves and whereabouts of registered sex offenders. In addition. as the citizens of New Orleans and other states wait for assistance in cities around the country. sex offenders are among innocent children who have lost their natural parents and are vulnerable. In these troubled times. let us not leave our children helpless. 1: have a feeling I could be accused of a kind of insensitivity. or at worst a sort of obsessiveness by bringing this up now. but after reading about some of the terrible things that have been said to have happened in New Orleans after the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina on August 29. 2005..this idea occurred to me in a kind of lightbulb moment. Sex crimes are part of war. War produces an anarchic mindset. So does a disaster on the scale of what we have seen in Louisiana and Southern Mississippi. Just as invading soldiers from various countries in the past have made sexual assault a part of their subjugating of a native population. so the criminals loose on the streets in New Orleans and even inside the SuperDome have made sexual assault another part of their overall orgy of violence. In the entry I wrote earlier today I wrote briefly of the horrific story coming out of the SuperDome of the rape and murder of a little girl. followed by the beating death at the hands of 10 men of the perpetrator. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8204,"word_count":297}
{"speech_id":1090068666,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. my amendment prohibits the transfer to or possession of a firearm by any individual convicted of committing a sex offense against the minor. Under current law. it is illegal to transfer or sell a gun to anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than a year in jail. It is also illegal for any individual convicted of such a crime to possess a gun. For some misdemeanor offenses that. although punishable by less than a year in jail. are of a particular serious nature. we currently prohibit all transfers of guns or possession of guns by individuals convicted of such crimes. For example. we prohibit anyone convicted of a crime of domestic violence. whether a felony or a misdemeanor. from purchasing or possessing a gun. Shockingly. we do not prohibit the sale or possession of guns to people convicted of misdemeanor sex crimes against a minor. We should not treat child sex offenders any more leniently with respect to possessing guns than wedo domestic abusers. If Congress is prepared in the underlying bill to require rigorous. severe and intrusive registration for 20 years from persons convicted of a misdemeanor sex offense against a minor. and is prepared to require States to verify this information four times a year. then the offense is indeed of such a serious nature that a convicted sex offender against a child must not be allowed possession of a firearm. A criminal convicted of indecent exposure. lewd conduct or molestation against a minor should not have access to a gun. ","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1822,"word_count":257}
{"speech_id":1090068674,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. H.R. 3132. the Childrens Safety Act. is a good. commonsense bill. It seeks to protect our children from sex offenders and increase the tools for law enforcement and help defend the innocence of our children. My amendment would strengthen this bill by adding an additional tool for our State and local child protection services and by eliminating the loophole in our local laws which allow child adjudicated abusers to find sanctqary by merely crossing a States borders. This amendment is similar to legislation I have introduced in the House. H.R. 764. which has strong bipartisan support. Child abuse and neglect is an issue that crosses jurisdictions. It is. therefore. vital for Federal and local officials to work together to ensure necessary laws and resources to fight child abusers are in place at every level of the government. Mr. ","speaker_name":"SUE KELLY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":903,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090068705,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The following week. Roderick George was shot in the forehead. Authorities have concluded that antigay animus was a motivating factor in both cases. All Americans. regardless of their race. gender. disability. or sexual orientation. have a right to feel safe in their communities. Gays and lesbians should not have to live in fear anywhere in the United States of America. For far too long this body has failed to act -to prevent or respond to hate crimes. We have the opportunity to do so today. I urge my colleagues to recognize that both the underlying bill and this amendment are about safety and. protection of our citizens. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.","speaker_name":"TAMMY BALDWIN","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3548,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090068721,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"BACA. BARTLETT of Maryland. LARSON of Connecticut. HOBSON. COOPER. and Ms. ESHOO changed their vote from \"aye\" to \"no.\" Messrs. BROWN of Ohio. SMITH of Washington. and McDERMOTT changed their vote from \"no\" to \"aye.\" So the amendment was rejected. The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.","speaker_name":"BARBARA CUBIN","chamber":"H","state":"WY","gender":"F","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":423,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090068738,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we just passed a hate crimes bill. There is no Federal nexus. not sufficient to satisfy the requirements of the Constitution. but then again we have a Supreme Court that often does not recognize the Constitution as written. It rewrites it to suit its own whims. As a former judge. I was a tough sentencer when that came about. but I am telling you. 10 years from now. when your preacher or even a Muslim leader says something about the Bible or the Koran or something saying that this sexual preference is wrong and they get arrested. then there will be people in this body that say. you know what. maybe I should have voted against that amendment.","speaker_name":"LOUIE GOHMERT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":661,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090068768,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. first. let me just remind those who are listening tonight that there have always been two Americas here in the United States. I was quite taken aback right after the very recent catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina that reporters and many individuals kept commenting that this is not America. we do not know this place. this cannot be America. But my response consistently has been. this is the America that I know and this is the America that brougbt many of us here to Congress. By race or class. there are two distinct and separate societies surviving on sheer will and determination here in our own country. It just does not make sense that the richest. most powerful Nation in the world has some of the poorest. unhealthiest. and most vulnerable people in the world. In many ways. Hurricane Katrina has brought to light the shame that the United States really. quite frankly. has tried to sweep under the rug for decades. Now. the Congressional Black Caucus has represented this hidden America for nearly 40 years in this Congress. The Congressional Black Caucus has consistently worked to eradicate poverty throughout our country. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA LEE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1304,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090068785,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the gentleman just -stated a rule that is unclear. The gentleman was questioned by the gentlewoman from Florida about the rule. The gentlewoman basically said. are you saying we cannot refer to the President of the United States or to the Vice President of the United States? I would like -clarification on the rule that you attemptedtodescribe.","speaker_name":"MAXINE WATERS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":35.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":358,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090068802,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to commend the gentlewoman from California for her bill. H. Con. Res. 234. to require the President to immediately present a plan to eradicate poverty by 20110. Her resolution is indeed timely. Hurricane Katrina has rubbed away the scar tissue from a festering national wound which is poverty and the growing economic divide that continues to afflict our great Nation. Mr. Speaker. only a few weeks ago. the U.S. ","speaker_name":"DIANE WATSON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":33.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3205,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090068807,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. it takes Dallas at 8:30 p.m. to film either my place. It takes place every day. and it wife or myself tucking our two chil- is taking place throughout the Iraqi dren into bed in a safer. more secure television network. America. No film crew has ever come Something else. In going to these to film that. various military bases that my colIn my home 6f Dallas. no film crew league. the gentleman from Indiana has ever gone to the Northpark Shop- . described. whether it be ping Mall and reported. \"Today there Camp Caldwell or Camp Liberty. it was was no suicide bomber at Northpark described to us that about 6 months -H7938 ago there might be two or three mortar attacks every day. and today it may be two or three a week. Mr. Speaker. it is still war. but it is progress. It is progress. We heard a tragic story. and we have seen it in the news before. how at one of the many recruitment stations. where the Iraqi people will volunteer to help rebuild their country and be a part of their military service or to be a part of their police force. how at one of these recruitment stations the insurgents successfully bombed and killed many of the recruits. ","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10358,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090068811,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And as we help this democracy flourish in Iraq. not only are we helping this people in this great and wonderful civilization. More importantly. we are making America safer and more secure. And that is what it is all about. Mr. Speaker.","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1865,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090068871,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"February 3. 2004: Uncle Sam Looks Into Meal Bills: Halliburton Refunds $27 Million as a Result. Houston Chronicle. February 4. 2004: Halliburton Faces Criminal Investigation: Pentagon Proving Alleged Overcharges for Iraq Fuel. Los Angeles Times. February 13. 2004: ExHalliburton Workers Allege Rampant Waste: They Say the Firm Makes No Effort to Control Costs. May 18. 2004. Houston Chronical: U.S. Questions More Halliburton Meal Charges. July 27. 2004. Houston Chronicle: Millions in U.S. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9758,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090068935,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We need to have some answers tothese questions. The resignation of FEMA Director Michael Brown is a step in the right direction. I also applaud President Bush for taking personal responsibility for the Federal Governments failure in this arena. Congress. now needs to move forward with a full bipartisan investigation into what went wrong. We did it when the 9\/11 Commission was created in this Congress and in this Senate. The results of that Commission are now being implemented. We hope the administration and the majority leadership in the Senate will change theirminds and support.legislation to create an independent Katrina commission. Over the last week. we have seen the terrible toll of the worst natural disaster in our Nations history. The images of devastation and human loss will haunt allof us. and the emerging statistics of the scope of this disaster are overwhelming and continue to date: One million people have been displaced from their homes. I sometimes think about the town that was nearest to the ranch where I grew up. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11328,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090068955,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the Advanced Technology Program. ATP. promotes the development of new. innovative products that are made and developed in the United States. helping American companies compete against their foreign competitors and contribute to the growth of the U.S. economy. We have lost nearly 2.8 million manufacturing jobs since January 2001. In the face of these losses and strong global economic competition. we should be doing all we can to promote programs that help create jobs and strengthen the technological innovation of American companies. The ATP is a very modest program which. according to the Department of Commerce. has had a resultheight times more in technologies developed than the amount of money we have put into the program. This is an eighttime return on investment in advanced technologies which is achieved when the Department of Commerce partners with industry through the ATP. During consideration of the Senate budget resolution in March. the Senate adopted a LevinDeWine amendment to restore fundipg for the Advanced Technology Program. putting the Senate on record in support of. this program. Leaders on the Commerce. Justice. and Science Subcommittee also support this important innovative program and have funded it at $140 million in their bill for fiscal year 2006. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1411,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090068992,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So the bill creates this cold case section. if you will. of the Civil Rights Division. requiring they investigate these murders and requiring they report back to the Congress. In some cases they will find the truth and be unable to prosecute anybody. but at least they will uncover the truth and be able to report back and tell us that. Or if they have not been able to uncover the truth. at least they will do their best. at least we will have done our best. even at this late date. to achieve justice in these cases. I think that is very important for two reasons. The first reason is. when you talk to the family members of those who were victimized. those who were in these cases. you realize that the fact the case was 40 or 50 years ago does not mean it has been forgotten. These family members have been unable to reach closure on these cases. They have been unable to put them behind them and move on because there is this tremendous tragedy that occurred where they lost somebody because of a vicious crime. They feel as though the rest of society has not taken an interest in bringing the criminals to justice. We have a chance to allow these family members to find out the truth. and to move on in their own lives. We owe them that. ","speaker_name":"JAMES TALENT","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7049,"word_count":235}
{"speech_id":1090069002,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Of course. it was the tidal flow of the water from the Gulf of Mexico. the tidal flow in her kitchen. Finally. one of her neighbors thought about her. came and helped her out. and the two of them crambled up to the roof. With a little help. she survived to tell the story. She told MARY LANDRIEU that in those dark hours. standing on that ladder with water up to her chin. she survived on faith. faith in God but faith in the belief that someone would come to help her. For many people in New Orleans and Mississippi and Alabama afd throughout the State of Louisiana. that someone was our Government. People knew that at the worst moments they could count on our Government to be there because our Government is our American family and we do pull together. When one part of our family is in distress. we pull together to help. And she waited and waited and waited. A doctor I met in Chicago on Friday at one of the evacuee centers happened to be in New Orleans on Monday when the hurricane and then the flood hit. He said he didnt see his first rescue worker until Thursday in the city of New Orleans. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7956,"word_count":209}
{"speech_id":1090069006,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The immediate relief package that we are announcing today will help get shortterm aid to hurricane victims by encouraging food donations and the employment of displaced individuals. for example. For those who have suffered. casualty losses. we have liberalized the tax rules to permit affected taxpayers to deduct losses from damaged property. We also want to help protect Katrina victims from undeserved IRS harassment. We expect to see prompt action by Congress on this tax relief package. We need to get these tax incentives on the books and help Katrina victims make a fresh start. After this package is completed. our focus will be on longer term tax incentives to help rebuild homes and businesses. We are looking at depreciation changes. taxexempt bond authorityarbitrage rebateand enterprisezone initiatives. Life will never be the same for our fellow citizens in gulf region. And what we have all seen over the last. 2 weeks will stay in the hearts and minds of all of us for years to come. With this first initiative from the Finance Committeeand there will be more in other areas where we have jurisdictionwe want the victims in all of the affected areas to know that they can count on us to create a set.of measures that witl help return vitality and vigor to the gulf region.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1753,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090069010,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I now ask unanimous consent that amendment No. 1688. which was submitted by Senator STABENOW. be modified with the changes that are at the desk and. further. that the amendment be considered and agreed to with the motion to reconsider laid upon the table.","speaker_name":"BARBARA MIKULSKI","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":270,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090069037,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Foreign Operations and Related Programs Subcommittee provided an additional $3 millioii above the Fiscal Year 2006 budget request for that country. a mark worthy of defending in conference. Credible elections in March demonstrated that the countrys political leaders are interested in European integration and increased political and economic reforms. I encourage that country to implement proposed reforms relating to the independence of the judiciary and media. transparency in parliamentary proceedings. participation in elections. local selfgovernment. legislative oversight of the -executive. and protection of human and civil rights. Such action will demonstrate the seriousness of Moldovas intentions and strengthen its partnerships with the United States and Europe. I look forward to continued democratic progress in Egypt and Moldova.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1634,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090069061,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Honorable Marc H. Morial. President and CEO. National Urban League. Former Mayor of New Orleans. Iain B. Logan. Operations Liaison. International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":659,"word_count":30}
{"speech_id":1090069073,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to. the preamble be agreed to. and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. with no intervening action or debate. and that any statements relating to this measure be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"RICHARD SHELBY","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":265,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090069138,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am hopeful that some of the other side of the aisle will set aside their partisan barbs and start focusing on the progress that is being made. Fingerpointing does not help the families who lost their homes or loved ones.","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1135,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090069139,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr.-Speaker. Hurricane Katrina highlights the need for disaster preparedness. Across the country. everyone is asking: Are we prepared? Every level of government is reexamining how we can make our communities more disaster resistant. In James Lee Witts FEMA. we had a tool to make that happen: Project Impact. This proven program brought together local leaders. citizens. and businesses to prepare for and protect themselves against the worst that nature could throw at them. and at the Federal level funding worked to leverage support from private sources. multiplying their effectiveness. Unfortunately. this administration unwisely tossed aside Project Impact and broke a model that had worked so well. Today. I will introduce legislation to bring Project Impact back to life. The Disaster Plan Act will reauthorize FEMAs predisaster mitigation grant program. None of us can stop natural disasters from happening. but we can and we must be prepared for what happens when a disaster occurs. ","speaker_name":"LOIS CAPPS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1089,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090069145,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. later today the House will have under consideration legislation to create a select bipartisan committee to investigate the preparation and response to Hurricane Katrina. This would be a good commission if. in fact. it was bipartisan. But it is not bipartisan in the sense that both parties do not have equal access to the information or subpoena power or equal numbers on the committee to do the investigation. Therefore. what we really need is a 9f 11type commission. The public overwhelmingly supports a 9\/11 commission. an independent commission to look at what the failures were that led to -the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. an independent commission that can look at the administration. can look at the Congress of the United States. because both bodies. both entities. made decisions. The Republican leadership in the administration. the Republican. leader.ship in the Congress made decisions about resources. about talent. about personnel. about the deployments and all of the rest of this. The idea now that they can come and investigate themselves. and they alone can hold the subpoena power. is a horrible mistake on behalf of the victims of Katrina and the American people. It should be rejected. and we should have a 9\/11type commission.","speaker_name":"GEORGE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1267,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090069154,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. House Resolution 439 is a closed rule providing for 1 hour of debate for consideration of H. Res. 437. a resolution establishing a select bipartisan committee to investigate the preparation for and response to Hurricane Katrina. The rule waives all points of order against consideration of the bill and provides one motion to recommit which may not contain instructions. Mr. Speaker. the human suffering and physical damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina is heartwrenching and overwhelming. We all know that very well. Lives have been lost and uprooted. Families are separated without homes and without jobs. ","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2866,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090069156,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am happy to yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Charleston. West Virginia . my very good friend and hardworking member of the Committee on Rules..","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":875,"word_count":27}
{"speech_id":1090069157,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. we must form this bipartisan committee quickly so that the Members from both sides of the aisle can begin the vital task of finding the problems that plagued the response to Hurricane Katrina on the local. State and Federal levels. If we fail to act expeditiously and devolve into finger pointing and bickering. we are putting other areas of our Nation at greater risk. Mother Nature will not wait for the United States Congress to act.","speaker_name":"SHELLEY CAPITO","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1394,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090069161,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I fear my friends on the other side of the aisle have lost their faith in the American people. because of the choices they have made at the ballot box in recent years. Having served as a member of a seemingly permanent minority in the Oklahoma State Senate earlier in my career. I understand the frustration on which that sentiment is based. .However. as adherents to the ideals of democracy. we should trust that over time the people will get it right and that if our views are sound. they will prevail. In the meantime. our job is to argue our point of view in the court of public opinion and accept the outcome at the polls when the verdict is rendered. The second issue at stake here is the wisdom of empowering people who are neither elected noraccountable to perform the task our Constitution assigns to the elected representatives of the American people. Frankly. I share the sentiments Winston Churchill famously voiced when he said \"democracy is the worst form of government. exceflt for all those others that have been tried.\" Mr. Speaker. it is fundamentally unsound and undemocratic to turn over the function of congressional oversight to a group of individuals who have neither been elected by the people nor accountable to the people for their actions or recommendations. Appointing a commission is the easy way out. It is a way for us. the representatives of the people. to avoid our responsibilities. ","speaker_name":"TOM COLE","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3383,"word_count":244}
{"speech_id":1090069172,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Why were we not l5reparing our responses to Katrina. near land? Where was the coordination between Federal. State. and local efforts? There are many questions that must be answered and an independent commission is a means that can provide- the answers. We saw the successful implementation following the tragedy of September 11. and following this model Congress will reassure the American people the answers that the independent commission finds and the recommendations they make are ones in which the Nation can trust. I know my constituents are closely following this. My hometown of Sacramento lies in a floodplain at the confluence of two great rivers and faces the constant threat of floods. If we find ourselves in dire circumstances. can my constituents be assured that they can count on prompt Federal Government response? This is not a blame game.* I am not interested in pointing fingers. nor are the American people. They are more interested in identifying areas of weakness and making the necessary improvements. This is about preventing another tragedy similar to what we witnessed in New Orleans and the gulf States. We must ensure that the Federal Government does its job of protecting the American people. and with an independent commission we will do SO.","speaker_name":"DORIS MATSUI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2962,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090069186,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. I ask for a \"no\" vote on the previous question so I can amend the rule an* allow the House. instead of H. Res. 437. to consider H.R. 3764. which creates an independent 9\/11like commission to investigate the events involving Hurricane Katrina. I offered this amendment in the Committee on Rules last night. but. sadly. it was rejected. I want to reiterate that 76 percent of Americans in a recent ABC\/Washington Post poll preferred that a commission of outside experts. similar in nature to the 9\/11 Commission. and. in fact. I wish for the same people. to investigate the devastating events. surrounding Hurricane Katrina. and that is not just Democrats that were asked. Sixtyfour percent of Republicans in that same poll said they. too. supported an independent commission to investigate the governments preparedness and response effort. Please vote \"no\" ou the previous question so we can authorize an independent commission that will not be influenced by partisan politics instead of a Republicancontrolled committee investigating the failings of a Republicancontrolled administratioh. ","speaker_name":"LOUISE SLAUGHTER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1516,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090069211,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That is waived under this bill. \" It increases the opportunity for people to provide more physical help by increasing the reimbursement rate for mileage for those who actually will spend their gasoline getting to places to help. ways that people can get involved personally. Also. those who have had savings. Who are going to need to tap it. who have been victims. are assisted in accessing their own money. It was mentioned earlier that people can access their IRAs without the penalty that they currently would have for accessing that money before thbir retirement. It is important for us to allow these victims access to whatever they can get. whatever assets they can get to help them get their lives back on track sooner. I think it is the least that we can do to address some very simple but very practical issues via this bill.","speaker_name":"MELISSA HART","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2003,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090069228,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. I would be remiss if I did not thank the Bush administration. the Department of Treagury and the IRS for administratively doing a great many things that they could do without legislation to make sure that the needs of the victims of Hurricane Katrina are met visavis the Tax Code. I want to thank the administration for their important work on this subject as well. I also want to reiterate my thanks to the gentleman from Louisiana for working so closely with me and my staff to craft these very important individual tax provisions that. thanks to the leadership on both sides of the aisle. we have been able to bring to the floor in such a speedy manner. Lastly. I would thank the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means for lending the full support of his staff to this effort over the past couple of weeks. That will continue for some time to come. I urge all Members to support this important legislation. and get this needed relief to individuals who were affected by Hurricane Katrina. Madam Speaker. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCCRERY","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1102,"word_count":191}
{"speech_id":1090069241,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I recently heard the gentleman who represents Hollywood speaking about how it is somehow fair that the only Member of this body that I know of who was there on Ground Zero. who rode with the National Guard to distribute food because FEMA so thoroughly screwed up. who realizes that if it were not for the United States military doing FEMAs job for them. people would have starved to death. people would have died of dehydration. hospitals would not have gotten needed medical supplies. that I will not be allowed to subpoena witnesses. So as a Member of this body who was elected by as good a margin as anyone else here. I do object that I could not ask for a witness. that I could not subpoena a witness to deliver the message that needs to be delivered about the lessons learned in Mississippi. We do not need to make the same mistakes when the next hurricane hits. The bottom line is FEMA did make horrible mistakes that came very close .to costing people their lives. FEMA could have avoided millions of dollars in unnecessary aerial replenishment of people that we could get trucks to. because they insisted on one point of delivery in a county where very few people still had cars that were running and those that had cars that ran could not get gasoline. FEMA could have sent thousands of people on their way to their families in other parts of the State. but did not bring gasoline in for them. There are a number of mistakes that we never need to make again as a Nation. And I would hope that I would have the opportunity to subpoena some of the people that need to speak on thi\u00a7. ","speaker_name":"GENE TAYLOR","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2276,"word_count":295}
{"speech_id":1090069247,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The idea of an independent commission is not the best option. It is the responsibility of Congress to look at the Federal agencies this body created to respond to disasters. It is the responsibility of Congress to identify the deficiencies and correct them. As a result of the 9\/11 Commission. Congress responded with legislation based on their recommendations. Now is the time for Congress to provide scrutiny on how the law was implemented. A separate socalled independent commission would simply be a redundant step. The American people demand prompt answers and solid solutions to the bureaucratic and legal hurdles that were impediments to the response to Hurricane Katrina. I personally experienced these. As a member of the Louisiana delegation. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES BOUSTANY","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2912,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090069258,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. coming together is what this is all about. This is a bipartisan committee that has been proposed by the Speaker. and we look forward to seeing those minority Members who are going to be part of this process. Madam Speaker. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Miami. Florida","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":292,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090069295,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong support of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2005. a bill that will provide the men and women of the Coast Guard with equipment and tools that they need to monitor and protect our coastal waters. In keeping with our efforts to improve the Federal Governments ability to prevent and respond to potential mass incidents. whether caused by terrorists. an act of nature. or human error. H.R. 889 will maintain the Coast Guards traditional mission of water safety while also improving its ability to contribute to our Homeland Security. To that end. H.R. 889 includes provisions from the Delaware River Protection Act. a bill Representatives","speaker_name":"ALLYSON SCHWARTZ","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":684,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090069309,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We. the Con-. gress and the rest of the federal government. have a responsibility to ensure the safety and security of these plants and our citizens. I am hopeful that the analysis in this report will help us as we make policy decisions about how best to safeguard these facilities. There is no doubt about the awesome power of nuclear energy. It provides 20 percent of the Nations electricity. However. if a terrorist group were successful in causing major damage to a plant or its cooling ponds. then the impact would be devastating on a scale we dare not imagine. We know that on 9\/11 one of the planes flew over Indian Point nuclear power plant in New York and that the terrorists had plans nuclear plants in their possession. While I will continue to call for Indian Point to be closed. until that day. I will work to ensure it is as safe and secure as is humanly possible. This report will be an important step toward protecting Indian Point and all nuclear power plants sitting on major waterways. Again. ","speaker_name":"ELIOT ENGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2358,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090069312,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Homeland Security Act of 2002 specifies five homeland security missions for the Coast Guard: ports. waterways. and coastal security. drug interdiction. migrant interdiction. defense readiness. and other law enforcement duties. With regard to port security. the Coast Guard is responsible for evaluating. boarding. and inspecting commercial ships approaching U.S. waters. countering terrorist threats in U.S. ports. and helping protect U.S. Navy ships in U.S. ports. The Port of Houston. which handles more foreign tonnage than any other port in the United States. is in the district I represent. and the Coast Guard provides the security necessary to protect the Port. as well as the people of Houston. Mr. Chairman. I would again like to thank the Coast Guard for its excellent work in the Katrina relief efforts. and urge my colleagues to support this bill.","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2079,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090069320,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong support of this amendment and on behalf of the ranking members. the gentleman from Minnesota and the gentleman from i California . and thank r them for working so closely with us on this amendment. One of the key provisions of this amendment is it authorizes an additional $60 million for the Coast Guards fiscal year 2005 for funds spent on responding to Hurricane Katrina which are not being reimbursed. Failure to reimburse the Service for the work it has done in New Orleans means that other Coast Guard missions will suffer. The amendment also temporarily extends existing mariner documents and vessel certificates for mariners and vessels whose paperwork was held in New Orleans and establishes a temporary center for the processing of new mariner documents. Because of the effects of the hurricane on the Coast Guard facilities and the need for new mariners to aid in reconstruction efforts. these temporary actions are necessary to ensure the smoothest possible return to normal operations of the important maritime industry in the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. Another important provision in this amendment is the Delaware River Protection Act. legislation that I introduced with a number of my colleagues to guard against another oil spill like the one that we suffered last November in the Delaware River. The bill unanimously passed the House in June. but. unfortunately. the\" other body has yet to act. The Delaware River Protection Act would require persons to notify the Coast Guard in the event that an object is released into U.S. waters that could cause an obstruction to navigation. ","speaker_name":"FRANK LOBIONDO","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2824,"word_count":271}
{"speech_id":1090069334,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. re.claiming my time. I concur in that concern. but I do want to have uniformity of application of law in the security arena. and I think the chairman agrees with that. i further do not believe. Mr. Chairman. that we would have intervention by the Homeland Security if we struck this language from the managers amendment because then it would not be subject to their jurisdiction. However. the chairman is an honorable man. He and I have had many agreements on a handshake. and we have worked things out.","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":517,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090069376,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the requisite number of words. Mr. Chairman. I rise in opposition to the Markey amendment. As the gentleman from Illinois just mentioned. we have been through several attempts in the energy bill to recognize the NIMBY. not in my back yard movement. against LNG. You cannot have it both ways. This House spoke overwhelmingly to say that we need and will support more natural gas supply within the United States by beating or not adopting the Markey amendments in the energy bill. which I think is the proper place to discuss the topic of liquefied natural gas and its safety. And. by the way. what we adopted in that energy bill is a streamlined process that does give FERC the ultimate authority on permitting and siting but also in that bill mandates to FERC that they have to take into account the safety concerns. ","speaker_name":"LEE TERRY","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":866,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090069381,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Richard Clarke in his book said on September 11. 2001 when he was asked to take over in charge of all homeland security response. his first thought was shut down the port of Boston. call the Coast Guard commandant there. That is where Abdul Meskini and the other al Qaeda agents had come in on the LNG tanker from Algeria into Boston Harbor. That is how they got here. Abdul Meskini is in prison right now for the LAX millennium bombing plot. So let us not kid ourselves. They are coming for urban.areas. They are coming for the highimpact areas. They are coming for LNG facilities. They are coming for nuclear facilities. They want to use airplanes. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":983,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090069399,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"fornia. Mr. Chairman. my amendment would have the commandant of the Coast Guard review and report on whether the currently authorized level of active duty personnel is adequate for carrying out all the Coast Guards missions. including its newly expanded homeland security missions. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina. we have seen how much our country relies on our Coast Guard. Currently. ther.e ire 2.400 Coast Guard members on the ground working on rescue and recovery efforts in the gulf coast. and to date they have saved over 33.000 lives. The Coast Guards contribution to disaster response is extremely valuable. and it is only one part of what the Coast Guards broad mission is. which includes port. waterways and coastal security. recreational boater safety. search and rescue. illegal drug and migrant interdiction. aids to navigation. and the protection of our natural resources. In the last couple of years. the Coast Guard security mission has grown exponentially as they work to secure our Nations ports. our ships. and the cargo. But despite these growing responsibilities. the Coast Guards authorized active duty personnel level is the same as it was in the early 1990s. In the \"Department of Homeland Securitys Inspector General Fiscal Year 2003 Report\" on the mission performance of the Coast Guard. the demand for experienced and trained Coast Guard personnel was cited as one of the major barriers to improving and sustaining mission performance. So we must ensure that the Coast Guard has the personnel resources to achieve their broad and their very complex security missions while maintaining high performance on all of their other missions. ","speaker_name":"LORETTA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":47.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1822,"word_count":267}
{"speech_id":1090069417,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the gentleman will further yield. that is generally what our concern is. that they should not shoulderall these additional costs. I think there should be some way that we can reach- accommodation when we go to conference with the other body on accommodating the gentlemans concern.","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":284,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090069461,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the gentleman yielding. As the gentlemen knows. the Rosh Hashanah holiday falls in the middle of that week. and while we wanted to plan the voting schedule for that week around that holiday. and we are still trying to do that. we still believe it may be necessary for the House to be in session at some point in that week.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":348,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090069463,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding. At this point we believe that we can complete the legislation we have scheduled for next week by Thursday night of next week. However. however. given the still fluid situation in the gulf coast area. we are not yet prepared to cancel the session next Friday.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":307,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090069470,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if the gentlemen from Texas does not object. let me yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts . the ranking member. because I know he has worked very hard with the gentleman from Ohio . as you well know. in a very bipartisan way. You mentioned 63 to 5. 65 to 5. and so we did not perceive there to be much opposition to the bill.","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":342,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090069475,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The gentlewoman from California . the ranking. member of the Subcommittee on Housing. has said giving assurance to the people of New Orleans. the poorer people in particular of New Orleans. and. frankly. a lot of African American people. that We will be committed to rebuilding the city so they can come back home is very important. The longer we delay on this bill. the longer we delay giving people what is very important reassurance at a critical time.","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":455,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090069481,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. one of the things I have been terribly worried about is the inability of Congress to move quickly to do something about the victims of Katrina. I am very. very worried that we are going to be seen as a body that cannot get its act together when we are confronted with this terrible disaster.. We have an opportunity to utilize resources that will not be taken from our budget. We have an opportunity to use substantial resources that could be applied toward the rebuilding of homes. to getting people started again. and if we keep fumbling and if we keep fiddling. then we are going to come under great criticism because we are not doing what we can do. So I would just simply urge all of my colleagues. do not play with this. There are people who are suffering and people who are depending on us. We have got a great way by which to provide real assistance. Let us get it done.","speaker_name":"MAXINE WATERS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":35.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":891,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090069496,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There is really no way of knowing. It is really up to the committee and how fast they can do their work. I might say that the chairman of the committees wife is having a baby today so that has created a problem. Not for him. but for our schedule. So they are working as hard and as fast as they can. and. it is incredibly important for us to deal with this issue as soon as possible.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":383,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090069499,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Reclaiming my time. the last bill I would ask you about is the subject matter that has been one of the biggest subjects that we have been considering this year. The President put .it on the agenda. the Social Security privatization. private accounts act. Can you tell me whether or not we anticipate a Social Security bill coming to create private accounts or privatize in some way Social Security coming to the floor this year.","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":428,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090069500,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Committee on Ways and Means remains focused on developing a comprehensive retirement security package. And I still hope that the House will be able to consider legislation in this area before we end this session. That is about as much as I am informed as to where the bill is. what is in it. and when it will come.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":318,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090069502,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today. it adjourn to meet at noon on Monday next. and further. when the House adjourns onthat day. it adjourn to meet at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday. September 20. 2005. for morning hour debates.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":255,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090069516,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. the news today affects all of us. and I ask my colleagues to support comprehensive airline pension reform so these employees retain a more secure future.","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1212,"word_count":27}
{"speech_id":1090069537,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In my view. which I know is shared by many of my constituents. the Valle Vidals ecological health and integrity should be restored and protected and enjoyed to the utmost by current and future generations. Mr. Speaker. I urge my colleagues both in the New Mexico delegation as well as in the entire Congress to join me in passing this legislation and protecting the Valle Vidal permanently. This ecosystem is too valuable to the people of New Mexico and the.nation. and the energy gains -too miniscule to justify the potential damage to this pristine area. We must protect it.","speaker_name":"TOM UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5659,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090069564,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I cannot believe that with all of the challenges that we have right now in this country that this President cannot go to the wealthiest Americans. his top campaign contributors. and ask them to give back just a wee little bit of their tax cut that they got over the past 4 or 5 years. just a wee. little bit to help us fund Hurricane Katrina. to help us fund the war. We are giving millionaires hundreds of thousands of dollars back. and our deficit is ballooning. Now. today. it is reporting we are going to need another $50 billion to keep the war fund going. We are already hundreds of billions of .dollars into.the war. and now we have Hurricane Katrina. Hindsight is 2020. but you do not get into elective wars that bog you down because you just never know what is going to happen. 0l 2015 We do not overextend ourselves. because we do not know when a Katrina is going to happen. when a national tragedy is going to happen. That is prudent leadership. And now we are running budget deficits as far as the eye can see. We are borrowing the money from the Chinese and the Japanese. We are giving our country away. and we have got to pay interest on it. And one would think. and I hope. as the President is talking right now. that somewhere in his speech he has the guts to ask the wealthiest people in the country to help us here because we need help. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5869,"word_count":257}
{"speech_id":1090069566,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We need to go to war. and we are going to say whatever we have to say to get it done. Now. as the gentleman mentioned earlier. talking about DavisBacon. Davis and Bacon were twb Republican Members of Congress who passed a prevailing wage law that allows for when Federal money is being spent in a certain area that the Feds will pay the prevailing wage of that area for the workers. Because if they are paying Federal money. then they should obviously be paying for whatever the going rate is in that area. So what the President did was he repealed the prevailing wage provision. basically saying that we are not going to have any oversight over the contractors. We are going tQ send them billions of dollars. Halliburton is going to get their money. We are going to pay them whatever we have got to pay them. $50 billion. $100 billion without any oversight from a bipartisan commission here. and at the same time as we are not overseeing what the contractors are doing. We are going to repeal the basic provision that allows for workers to at least make a decent wage in that area. And today in the Hill newspaper. these gentlemen from Americans for Tax Reform are saying that this repeal will make it obvious that DavisBacon is nothing but dead weight. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4025,"word_count":227}
{"speech_id":1090069576,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to recognize the monthlong celebration honoring the heritage of Hispanic Americans. That monthlong celebration begins today. Nearly 40 years ago. Congress authorized President Lyndon Johnson to proclaim National. Hispanic Heritage Week. Two decades later. George Herbert Walker Bush expanded the celebration to 4 weeks. National Hispanic Heritage Month was born. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4407,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090069595,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is not particularly contentiouS. It is certainly not partisan. The legislation has enjoyed wide bipartisan support in both bodies. Let me briefly describe it. All it does is it allows banks and credit card companies to do what most of them are already doing voluntarily. that is. simply not honoring a credit card debt for Internet gambling. When some Internet gambling site in Aruba. for example. submits the bill to Master Charge or Bank of America and says. Joe Blow here gambled away $1.000 of his money. put it on the credit card. and you now owe that to our Internet gambling site in Aruba. the bank or credit card company says. No. That was against the law. You cant do that. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5052,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090069611,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Many of these children are now homeless and have taken up residence in emergency shelters in one State or another. I am confident everyone in the Senate wants to do what is right by these children. What has happened at the State and local level is amazing to watch. the way communities have come out to assist. the way families. individuals. volunteers. nonprofit organizations have come to the assistance of these children. Continuing the education of these children needs to be a top priority. Right now. there are hundreds of thousands of children from New Orleans and Gulfport and Biloxi and Pascagoula who are sitting at desks. Some of those are in Baton Rouge. some in Houston. some in Wichita. or Albuquerque. Memphis. Olympia. or even Philadelphia. These schools have not only opened their doors to these displaced children. they have also provided these students with classrooms. with teachers. with books. with supplies. with equipment and. most importantly. with a quality education. The obvious question is. ","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7299,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090069657,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise for the purpose of making a unanimous consent request for a piece of legislation that is within my jurisdiction. and then. also. as a favor to another person. to make a unanimous consent.request. Before I make that unanimous consent request. I would like to make a short statement. and then have Senator BAUcus make a short statement before .I proceed to the unanimous consent request. May I go ahead?","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":423,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090069661,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my colleague. Senator GRASSLEY. the chairman of the Finance Committee. We believe that Congress must act quickly. We bypassed the usual committee process. Senator GRASSLEY and I sat down with our staffs and said: What can we do right away to help Katrina victims? What can we do to help the States and get something passed very quickly? Time is of the essence. clearly. We decided that people needed cash. So we have enacted several provisions in this legislation which allows people to have more cash or ways so they do not have tomake payments that otherwise they would have to make. Second. we are trying to help ease some of the dire housing conditions in the affected areas. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3205,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090069679,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I was honored to join Majority Leader FRIST in cosponsoring S. Res. 238 recognizing Hispanic Heritage Month and celebrating the vast contributions of Hispanic Americans to the strength and culture of our Nation. S. Res. 238 passed the Senate by unanimous consent. today. September 15. the kickoff of a monthlong celebration and observation of HispanicAmerican strength and culture in this country. Diversity truly represents the best of America. a nation where each of us can be proud of our ancestry. our heritage. and our native language. yet a nation where we at the same time can stand together with our neighbor. regardless of our own background. and all call ourselves Americans. Hispanic Americans have much to be proud of and much to celebrate. I have said this before. but I am so proud to have been elected the first Cuban American in the Senate. ","speaker_name":"MEL MARTINEZ","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5387,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090069699,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. first of all. once again. we are coming now to the final aspects of this bill. We have been able to- achieve this because of the wonderful bipartisan support that existed between Senator SHELBY. myself. and our staffs. We want to thank them for doing that. I will thank them as we go into wrapup. Our colleagues. we thank them again for their cooperation in moving the amendments. working on a bipartisan basis. And now as we go to the SnoweKerry amendment and the vote. we ask Senators who have those outstanding amendments to consult with the floor and leadership staff. and ourselves as well. because we think we could have a votenot promptly but expeditiouslyafter the conclusion of the SnoweKerry amendment. Again. I say to my colleagues to come. vote. stick around. lets work together. and we can finish our bill. People need this bill. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA MIKULSKI","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1093,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090069711,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let me say quickly I thank my colleagues. and I thank Senators SNOwE and LANDRIEU and VITTER for their work on this amendment. I think the Senate has made a very important statement today about what can be done and what we need to do to respond immediately to the small business needs with respect to Katrina and people impacted across the country. This amendment details virtually everything in the KerryLandrieu amendment. from disaster loan deferments to financial assistance for small businesses and farmers struggling to afford the high prices of gasoline. natural gas. and heating oil. It expands on assistance to small businesses that have SBA 504 loans for buildings or equipment. or for those who will need them. It includes agreed upon language to make sure the money is appropriated to carry out the assistance. And it retains a critical grant program to the states to get money into the hands of small businesses that need immediate access to capital to stay afloat until they get other more comprehensive loans or insurance reimbursements. For all the good this amendment will do. I am disappointed that two very important provisions were not included. I am against taking out the funding for the Federal governments largest small business loan program. the 7(a) Loan Guarantee Program. that would reduce fees on borrowers and lenders. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3473,"word_count":225}
{"speech_id":1090069745,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Last year. four hurricanes hit Florida within 5 weeks. causing billions in damage. which we are still digging out of. Many scientists Murray Nelson (FL) Obama Pryor Reed Reid Rockefeller Salazar Sarbanes Schumer Specter Stabenow Wyden McCain McConnell Murkowski Nelson (NE) Roberts Santorum Sessions Shelby Smith Snowe Stevens Sununu Talent Thomas Voinovich Warner Vitter predict that we are seeing the beginning of 20 to 30 years of storms of this magnitude. The information available through CSTARS will greatly enhance our ability to monitor storms and the conditions in which they develop by observing ocean temperatures. wind speed and air pressure. After storms. CSTARS can provide rapid assessments of urban and coastal infrastructure and coastline damage. Programs like CSTARS are vital for states that. regularly have to prepare for these storms and recover from the damage left in their wake. Additionally. CSTARS can assist our comprehension of inland water levels. pollution. vegetation growth. coastal erosion. ocean currents. volcanic activity and much more. It is a deserving program. and I hope that. this Senate is able to find the funds necessary to support it.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1910,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090069751,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to voice my strong support for the remarkable crimeprevention results from the Presidents Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative. We must ensure that adequate appropriations continue to fully support this productive crimefighting effort. I am concerned that the appropriations bill we are considering today makes no provision for the State and local grant program of Project Safe Neighborhoods. an important component of the Presidents initiative. and I am not alone. A number of our colleagues share my concern that this important program for fighting crime in cur streets and in our neighborhoods should be funded adequately. I am pleased that my friend from Alabama. Senator SESSIONS. joins me today. Does the Senator share this concern?","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":767,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090069769,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Americas STEM education is falling behind. United States international test scores in science and mathematics remain unacceptably low. At the same time. coluntries in Europe and Asia are investing crucial resources into their own research and education infrastructure to ensure future world market success. These factors combine to make American businesses look to move overseas for hightech workers. outsourcing our jobs and our competitiveness. This problem is multifaceted. We have to provide todays teachers with the skills and materials they need to teach these disciplines well. We have to attract new teachers to the fieldthe teachers of tomorrow. We have to research ways to teach science and math to find out how this material is best learned and how interest in these fields is best promoted. It is in the best interest of our Nation to address each of these issues and it will require a greater investment on the part of our Federal Government. Unfortunately. in too many ways. we seem to be pointed in exactly the wrong direction. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3666,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090069773,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to engage my colleague. Chairman SHELBY. in a colloquy on the state of our governments funding for aeronautics research and development and the importance of the discipline to our Nations national security and economic competitiveness.","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":263,"word_count":40}
{"speech_id":1090069781,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would respectfully request that Chairman SHELBY and the other Senate conferees to this bill give all due consideration to the arguments we have made today and to the possibility of adhering to the House provision on fiscal year 2006 for NASAs aeronautics programs.","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":266,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090069783,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I offer my. sincere appreciation for Chairman SHELBYS willingness to work with me on this issue which is vitally important for Americas security and leadership in aeronautics innovation. He.has been accommodating to iny concerns and creative in trying to find a way to address our countrys aeronautics needs for the coming fiscal year.","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":335,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090069803,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In closing. I want to note my disappointment that the bill fails to address problems with media concentration. I have long been concerned about concentration and vertical integration in the radio industry. which was one of the reasons I opposed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that relaxed many ownership restrictions. I feel that consolidation has the strong potential for limiting creativity. localism and diversity on our airwaves. In 1998. twice in 2001 and again in September 2002. the Federal Communications Commission. FCC. published feports on the changes in the radio industry as a result of the 1996 act. These reports showed significant consolidation nationally and in local markets. For exafmple in 1996. the largest radio group owned less than 65 stations. by 2002 the largest radio group had more than 1.200 stations. I proposed a modest amendment to require the FCC to update and provide Congress with a report on consolida-. tion in the radio industry that the FCC last produced 3 years ago. I was disappointed that I was denied even the opportunity to get a vote on my amendment. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6767,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090069809,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The budget authority allocation is There is approximately $1.1 billion $516 million more than last years for the Agricultural Research Service. level. which sounds good if one is look-- adding money for research in animal ing for more spending. Last year. we diseases. human nutrition. and food had a $406 million onetime saving that safety. Then there is $59 million to is not available this year. So when one complete funding for the National Aninets those two numbers out. this bill is mal Disease Center located in Ames. virtually identical to the previous allo- IA. This is a project that we have been cation. involved in for some years. and with Also. we should note that the admin- this appropriation it will finally be istration budget proposes $177 million completed. in user fees contingent on authoriza- For the farm assistance programs. tion. which was sent to the authorizing there is $3.7 billion for farm loans. concommittee only 3 weeks ago and has servation programs. $963 million for not been considered. So those user fees conservation and watershed activities. also reduce the total amount of the and in. the area of rural development. bill. That is why I say in general we have $454 million for water and terms. this bill is level funding of the waste water grants. $5 billion for lowprevious year. income housing. over $1 billion in loans I should point out that the previous and grants for small rural businesses. year was below the year before that. So $6.2 billion for rural electrification and at least as far as this subcommittee of telecommunications loans. and $550 the Appropriations Committee is con- million for broadband loans. cerned. we are not expanding the Fed- In the area of domestic food proeral budget or adding to the deficit by grams. WIC funding. Women and Infant increasing every year. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BENNETT","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9028,"word_count":308}
{"speech_id":1090069815,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I look forward to debating and passing this bill on the Senate floor and moving one step further toward providing USDA and FDA funds for fiscal year 2006 in the regular order. I encourage all Senators with amendments to this bill to file them early and to work - with Senator BENNETT and myself and our staffs to deal with any and all amendments that come up. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"HERBERT KOHL","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6127,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090069833,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I do not question the need to act quickly. And we have done so. But to deliver that much moneyFeddral taxpayers dollarsto the responsible agencies without any oversight. without any questions asked or answers provided about what is being done with that money. and particularly to hear the Senator from Illinois describe published reports of solesource contracting with organizations that have political connections with the Presidents former campaign manager. I find it to be shocking and appalling we have not exercised that responsibility. I would ask the leader. and others responsible for these decisions. about when we will be holding public hearings in that committee to authorize our proceeding to do so with those who are directly responsible for the recovery efforts. None of us wants to disrupt the recovery efforts in the southern part of the country. Lord knows. they have been disrupted enough already by what has failed to be done there. without any involvement by any of us. But I find it perplexing that Cabinet secretaries who have enough time to appear on Sunday -talk shows and who are also clearly not in Louisiana or Mississippi day and night. 7 days and nights a week around the clock. have. while they are here in Washington. not a single hour available to appear before our committee in a public settfng and answer the questions I have. that I know other members of the committee have.. and that the American people have. We deservemost importantly. the American people deserveanswers to these important questions. Yesterday. we had. after now 2\/2 weeks since those levees failed in New Orleans. the very first public hearing of this committee. ","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6614,"word_count":276}
{"speech_id":1090069839,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The second contains the record of the 1787 constitutional convention as pertains to the powers and responsibilities of the United States Senate. In the spirif of this first Constitution Day. I hope all my colleagues will take the time to examine both of these fundamental documents.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1302,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090069840,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to honor the work and achievements of Hispanic Americans. Every year since 1968 Americans have formally recognized the importance of Hispanic heritage and the contributions of Latino members of society. Hispanic Heritage Month allows the Nations 41 million Latinos. along with all Americans. to celebrate Latino community and culture. As the fastest growing population in America. Hispanics have the potential to significantly impact society through their hard work. commitment to faith and closelyknit families. Aida Gianchello is one of the Latina Americans who are changing the world. Aida founded the Midwest Latinb Health Research. Training and Policy Center at the University of Chicago at Illinois. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2826,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090069844,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. students.. teachers. and school personnel across Wisconsin and around the country are settling in for a new school year. Regrettably. thousands of students and teachers in the hurricaneravaged gulf coast region have no schools to which they can return. According to the Louisiana Department of Education. .schools in six parishes have been destroyed or are too damaged to reopen. and more than 240.000 students from that State alone have been displaced as a result. The Federal Department of Education estimates that a total of more than 370.000 students across the region have been displaced. and many of them will have to spend the entire school year. attending a different school. I commend the school districts around the region and around the county. including in Wisconsin. that have opened their doors to students who have been displaced as a result of Hurricane Katrina and the ongoing devastation left in her wake. While the start of the school year usually means getting new school supplies. renewing friendships that may have lapsed over the summer months. and embarking on new courses of study. for the students displaced by Katrina. starting school may be the first step in restoring a sense of routine and a small measure of normalcy. Many.of these students are separated from family members and friends and from familiar teachers. counselors. coaches. and other school personnel as they begin classes in another district or in another State. We should make every effort to assist the schools that are welcoming them with open arms as they work to make this transition as smooth as possible. For these reasons. last week I sent a letter to the Secretary of Education. which I am pleased was cosigned by the senior Senator from Illinois. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12534,"word_count":291}
{"speech_id":1090069845,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In fact. a Palestinian police officer. tasked with keeping the peace. shirked his responsibility and allowed the mobs to torch the synagogues. claiming. \"The people have a right to do what theyre doing.\" Those acts should offend all people of good -conscience. We know too well that where houses of God are desecrated. threats to mans liberty and life are soon found. As a nation founded by those seeking freedom from religious persecution. we know that governments must actively protect their citizens religious freedom. And they have a sacred obligation to protect buildings not because they are made of stone. glass and wood but out of respect for the worship of God that occurs inside them.. Houses of worship. central fixtures in any community. are places where people gather to serve and worship God. seek his counsel. and share common religious experiences. As an American who strongly values religious freedom. I am appalled by the actions of Palestinians who desecrated holy sites and I deplore the total abdication of leadership demonstrated by the Palestinian Authority. [On this day in 1963.] a bomb exploded at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. AL. And it took until 2001. almost 40 years later. but. we prosecuted and convicted a man responsible. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4168,"word_count":209}
{"speech_id":1090069850,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is clear that these young people have set high standards for themselves and put forth tremendous effort to meet them. The members of 2005 Team Inland are: Marquise Drumwright. Ejiro Ederaine. Tyler Ervin. Quinton Lilley. Jordan Mathis. Myles Pearson. Isaiah Pooler. Kameron Presley. Chandler Scott. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1514,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090069851,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"These students will go on- to compete later this year for status as a National Merit Finalist and possible college scholarships. I hope that you will join me today in both recognizing and congratulating these five high school seniors in their academic achievement. Their dedication and academic excellence serves as an example and inspiration for students throughout the Commonwealth of Kentucky. I wish them continued success throughout their academic careers.*","speaker_name":"JIM BUNNING","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1011,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090069852,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to note the retirement ofa Colorado leader: Ken Bueche. executive director of the Colorado Municipal League. On September 30. Ken Bueche is retiring as executive director of the Colorado Municipal League. a statewide association of 265 member cities and towns. Ken Bueche earned his undergraduate degree from Colorado State University and his J.D. and Masters in Public Administration from the University of Colorado. In 1963. Ken came to CML as a law clerk and by 1974 rose to become the leagues executive director. a position he has held now for more than 30 years. He has been a longtime believer that local governments are closest to the people and often produce the best solutions for local challenges. He has helped lead the way for Colorado municipalities to streamline local tax collections. shore up their pension funds for first responders. and in 1982 launched a feasibility study that led. in 1982. to the establishment of a selfinsurance pool that saves tax dollars and provides affordable insurance for cities. towns and special districts. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1856,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090069859,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to announce for the information of the Senate and the public that the following hearings have been scheduled before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. The hearing will be held on Tuesday. September 27. 2005 at 10 a.m. in room 366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. DC. The purpose of the hearing is to receive testimony on the following bills: S. 1701. a bill to amend the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 to improve the reclamation of abandoned mines. and S. 961. a bill to amend the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 to reauthorize and reform the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Program. and for other purposes. - Because of the limited time available for the hearing. witnesses may testify by invitation only. However. those wishing to submit written..estimony for the hearing record should send a copy of their testimony to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. United States Senate. SD364 Dirksen Senate Office Building. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1117,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090069868,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday. September 15. 2005. to mark up the following bills: Committee Print of S. 1182. Chairman Larry E. Craig. the \"Veterans Health Care Improvements Act of 2005.\" incorporating original provisions and provisions derived from S. 1182. as introduced. S. 1177. S. 1189. and S. 1190. and S. 716. Ranking Member DANIEL K. AKAKA. the \"Vet Center Enhancement Act of 2005. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":593,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090069870,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Luke Johnson. Phil Karsting. as well as Stacy McBride. a detailee from the Food and Drug Administration to the Committee on Appropriations. during consideration of this H.R. 2744.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BENNETT","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":391,"word_count":28}
{"speech_id":1090069872,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will be running through a lot of business which reflects a tremendous amount of work over the last several hours. the last several days. much of it in response directly to the natural disaster of Katrina and its aftermath. There are a number of other bills that I will mention as well as we close tonight..","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":323,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090069886,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am Convinced that Judge Roberts will strictly interpret the law and not legislate from the bench. As he said yesterday. he does not come to the bench or to a case with an agenda or a platform. In fact. he reminded my colleagues that he was not a politician. and he is not going to ad- vocate positions on issues to win votes. Returning to the case at hand. I call on my colleagues to support this resolution. The Pledge of Allegiance is a unifying force in this Nation. It draws all of us. regardless of race. religion. gender. or national origin. together in support of the common good. At a time when we should be uniting to support our troops in Iraq and our neighbors in the Gulf States affected by Hurricane Katrina. it is a shame that an activist court is seeking to divide based on the principle of \"I\" or \"me first.\" instead of pursuing the selfless principle of the common good. Just last Congress this body came together to support the current Pledge of Allegiance on a 940 vote. I hope that we will have the same bipartisan support again fQr this important issue. and I urge support of this resolution.","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3044,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090069907,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I appreciate the comments from my colleagues. I support the chairman. and I too assure colleagues that these welfare provisions will be fully litigated in a conference with the House on a health and welfare disaster relief package. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and passed. the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. and any statements relating to the bill be printed in the RECORD. The bill was read the third time and passed.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":462,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090070074,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is vitally important for our future and the future of the young people. for these graduates to stay in this country which I hope they do. That will continue to make this country a leader in innovation in the transformative technologies of the future. Whether it is nanotechnology. which is a multifaceted discipline or life sciences or microelectronics or energy applications to also materials engineering. I associate myself with the remarks and sentiment of Senator ALEXANDER who. of course. more important than being Secretary of Education. was also president of the University of Tennessee. Senator ALEXANDER understands how our very diverse and multifaceted higher education systems in all the different States of the Union are really crown jewels. We must work with our colleges and universities to attract more young peoplepeople of all agesinto technology. engineering. and science. and also be conducive to people coming from overseas. I recall in our formulations hearing. when Dr. Rice was before us. one of the points I talked with her about getting student visas working better. Students are too queued up overseas. Visa requirements are another impediment for students coming from countries in Europe. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3734,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090070088,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"A Louisville resident for decades. Mr. Kiser is originally a native of Charleston. WV. He began his career with the Corps of Engineers in the Huntington District. in West Virginia. upon graduation from the West Virginia University Institute of Technology. where he earned a bachelors degree in civil engineering. During his time with the Huntington District. Mr. Kisers duties included evaluating buildings for safe refuge from nuclear fallout. overseeing relocations of railroads and highways at major floodcontrol projects and navigation projects. and participating in emergency disaster recovery. In 1974. Mr. ","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3695,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090070099,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I join Senators DODD. DURBIN. COLEMAN. MURKOWSKI. and MURRAY to introduce the \"Advancing FASD Research. Prevention. and Services Act of 2005.\" I thank them for joining me in introducing this legislation that will improve the surveillance. identification. and prevention of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorders or FASD. FASD affects 1 in 100 live births or as many as 40.000 infants each year. This illness affects more people than those impacted by spina bifida. down syndrome. and cerebral palsy combined. In my home State of South Dakota. approximately 31.777 individuals are suspected of having FASD. This statistic is alarming and it is for these reasons why I believe that this bill is so critical in helping fight this disease. ","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4622,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090070101,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Senator TALENT. Senator KERRY. and Senator LANDRIEU. for cosponsoring that amendment. The amendment was approved in the Senate by a rollcall vote of 96 to 0 on September 15. 2006. and subsequently passed the Senate in the Commerce. Justice. and Science Appropriations Act on that same day. Because the Federal Disaster Loan program administered by the Small Business Administration issues Disaster Loans to businesses. homeowners. and renters. this legislation would have a significant impact on many facets of the efforts to rebuild the areas damaged by Hurricane Katrina. I will also be holding a hearing in the Small Business Committee on September 22. 2005 to address the impact that Hurricane Katrina has had on small businesses. The Small Business Administration is and must be at the forefront of this massive relief effort. playing a significant role in assisting impacted communities. This bill will strengthen the SBAs resources and will enable them to pave the pathway to recovery. I have faith that American small businesses will persevere through these difficult times and help lead the regions recovery. It is essential that we work together here in Congress. and put forth the best possible proposal to stimulate our economy and foster job growth. ","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12539,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090070131,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We need to use every day wisely. so Members should not delay with their amendments. I do thank everyone for their help and patience as we go through these appropriations bills.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1159,"word_count":31}
{"speech_id":1090070139,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Thank you. Mr. President. I will conclude by saying this: We owe it to the victims and their families and to the American people and the American taxpayers to get honest answers about what went wrong with Katrina. and to put people in charge to make certain that we dont waste the billions of dollars that are going to be spent in this reconstruction effort. Putting Karl Rove in charge makes no sense whatsoever. He has no resume and no skills other than running political campaigns. If he is being put in place to protect the President politically. that decision does not serve the best interests of the American people nor the victims of Hurricane Katiina. It is time to get to the bottom of this. If Congress Will not have an honest investigation of what happened with Hurricane Katrina. we need to have this nonpartisan. independent commission like the 9\/11 Commission to answer the questions about what went wrong and to make certain that we dont replicate those mistakes in the expenditure of these funds in the future. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1045,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090070141,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think that serves as a good role model as well as the 9\/11 Commission. which Senator DURBIN mentioned. While he was on the floor. I wanted to remind him and us of that. But I think our first response to the catastrophe is to make sure that people who need helpget help. First of all. get help in getting out of dangerous places to safe places. get help in reuniting families. get help in making certain their medical needs are met. having something to eat and drink. making sure the kids from K12th grade are getting* to the schools they need to get into. .making sure students who have been displaced in college have a chance to .get back in acollege or a university to continue their studies without losing a quarter or a semester or a year. helping to create jobs and getting the economy moving in places that have been destroyed or badly damaged. Those are the kinds of things that need to be done and are being done. While our startup was slow and disappointing. I believe. as time goes by. we are doing better. I commend allnot just in government. not. just the first responders. not just the Guard. not justFEMA. which is doing a better job today. but also a lot of folks who are giving of themselvesvolunteers from my State. and all other States vho have gone to the region. giving blood. and raising money in our home States. receiving folks who have been displaced. to give them a home. a place to live. and a job for a while. Those efforts are to be commended. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6689,"word_count":273}
{"speech_id":1090070160,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In their letter they stated: [njormalization of beef trade must be progressively pursued because it impacts the states economy and because responsible trading partners treat each other fairly and justly. The letter continues: [t]rade should not be based on politics and protectionism. I couldnt agree more. Trade must be based on fair play. Free trade must include a vision of fair trade. I am going to step back a moment to state Why this is so important to me and the hardworking cattle producers and beef. processors in my State. In the beef State. cattle outnumber people four to one and more than one of every five steaks and hamburgers in the Nation comes from my State. According* to USDA. Nebraska ranks first in commercial cattle slaughter. processing over 4 million metric tons of beef and beef products in 2004. .Nationally. the numbers are even more compelling. The U.S. beef industry is worth an estimated $175 billion. with cattle producers conducting business in all 50 States and operating 800.000 individual farms and ranches. ","speaker_name":"BEN NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3665,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090070161,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I also have a statement from NCBA in reaction to the rule that states it \"will not support finalization of this proposed. rule until Japan has completed its process and accepts beef from the United States.\" I ask unanimous consent to have the N.CBA statement. dated August 19. 2005. printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"BEN NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":305,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090070164,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am interested in the subject which is raised by the Senator from Nebraska in his amendment. There are some aspects with relationship to it about which I would like to get a little more information. I would like to set the vote for 11:25 a.m. If I may. before we lock that in. there are a few items I would like to settle. Mr.President. I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BENNETT","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":387,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090070219,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President.I know of no other amendments available to us. Unless someone wishes to speak in morning business between now and the time we routinely break for the policy lunches. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in recess until 2:15 p.m.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BENNETT","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":251,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090070282,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"These horses often suffer unnecessarily while in transit to slaughterhouses. Horses can be shipped for more than 24 hours without food. water. or rest. They can be transported with broken legs. missing eyes. or while heavily pregnant. The horses are kept in cramped conditions. in trucks with ceilings so low that they prevent the horses from holding their heads in a normal. upright position. The. cramped nature of their transport often results in trampling. with some horses arriving at the slaughterhouses seriously injured or dead. Even more cruel than the suffering these animals endure while in transit is their often injurious end. Improper use of stunning equipment at the slaughterhouse can result in the animal having to endure repeated blows to head. meaning that horses sometime remain conscious throughout the slaughter process. The market for horsemeat is not an American \u0095 market. Horsemeat is shipped abroad. The three slaughterhouses in the U.S. are foreignowned. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3112,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090070320,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This is the managers amendment that Senator KOHL and I introduced last Thursday. It makes some technical corrections in the bill regarding conservation technical assistance for DuPage County. IL. It also makes some technical corrections in the Rural Electrification Act of 1936. It has the approval of the authorizing committee. as well as the support of USDA. and there is no additional cost to the bill. Senator KOHL and I have taken the position that we will not offer any authorizing legislation on this bill that does not have the approval of the authorizing committee. And this one falls within that scope. So it has been cleared on both sides of the S10224 co: aisle. and I believe we are now prepared to pass it on a voice vote.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BENNETT","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":736,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090070341,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I have been asked throughout the vote whether that is the last vote of the evening. That obviously is not my call. It is the responsibility of the leader to make that decision. At the moment. I dont know of any amendment that would require a vote. I would hope that our colleagues- who have amendments would be aggressive in coming to the floor now and offering them. We could offer an amendment now. lay it down for a vote in the morning.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BENNETT","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":454,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090070350,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"However. the current law says that data must be used from the same commodity for which the policy is being issued. This amendment simply changes that language to allow data from agronomically similar crops to be used in providing written agreements. The amendment has been given a score of zero by the CBO. and I urge my colleagues to accept it. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"PAT ROBERTS","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1299,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090070391,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would tell the Senator that I share his concern regarding this provision in the House Report. The report on the Senate version of this legislation is silent on this matter. but this matter will certainly be preserved for consideration in conference.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BENNETT","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":251,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090070397,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In developing a new industry. I fully understand the need to be flexible and recognize that all issues cannot be anticipated during the initial phases of a project. I fully concur with the request for flexibility in the use of the funds provided by this committee.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BENNETT","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":264,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090070398,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I concur with thy colleagues from Hawaii and Utah and encourage the Agricultural Research Service to work closely with the Oceanic Institute in utilizing funds appropriated for aquaculture development to specifically address finfish hatchery technology refinement and transfer to the industry.","speaker_name":"HERBERT KOHL","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":293,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090070400,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wish to describe my amendment to the fiscal year 2006 Agriculture appropriations legislation. My amendment would extend the Milk Income Loss Contract. MILC. program for 2 years. It is imperative that we extend this crucial program for our dairy farmers that expires at the end of this month.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":308,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090070414,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. over the course of this entire month we are celebrating National Drug .and Alcohol Addiction Recovery Month. a time when we focus on the benefits of substance abuse treatment and highlight the hope of recovery for those in the grasp of drug and alcohol addiction. And today. September 20. we are focusing on the men and women who help guide people to recovery as we recognize National Addiction Counselors Day. These professionals are unsung heroes who deserve our recognition. respect. and gratitude. It is an unfortunate reality that substance abuse and addiction are pervasive in our country. Last year. over 19 million Americans used illicit drugs. 55 million had engaged in binge drinking. and over 16 million were considered heavy drinkers. These are staggering statistics. We have all known someone a family member. friend. or coworker who has or has had a drug or alcohol problem. Many of us have even spent time trying to convince a loved one to seek treatment. confident that a good treatment center and a qualified health professional would be able to restore hope to our loved one and help them into recovery. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3074,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090070417,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I strongly believe that we must also move similar legislation in the Senate. In the* months ahead I look forward to working with Senator KENNEDY as we continue our work in passing a hate crimes bill.","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":887,"word_count":36}
{"speech_id":1090070421,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Under his spiritual guidance. the Church has flourished and undergone expansion. which has included a new Christian Education Building. .the founding of an Armenian library. and the organizing of the Armenian Heritage Committee to preserve and perpetuate the Armenian Christian Heritage. Over the years. Dr. Tootikian has also provided leadership to numerous organizations. including the Armenian Evangelical Union of America. Armenian Missionary Association of America. and the Armenian Evangelical World CouncilAEWC. During his tenure with AEWC. the 1700th Anniversary of Armenian Christendom was celebrated by all Armenian Evangelical Unions in Yefevan. Armenia. and the first Armenian Evangelical Pastors Conference was held in May 2003 in Evian. France. As a scholar and lecturer. Dr. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3435,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090070426,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"DORGAN. and triggered in cases of national emerCORZINE. genciesthat makes it clear profitThis legislation would put in place a eering at the gas pump will not be tolFederal law to prohibit gasoline price- erated. gouging during national emergencies. Right now. the oil companies know and would institute new protections for we dont have a plan to..protect AmerAmerican consumers from manipula- ican consumers. Thats why we need a tion of oil and gasoline markets. Federal law thats going to prohibit Even before the devastation caused price gouging. and assess Federal penby Hurricane Katrina and its tragic alties from those who exploit national aftermath. skyrocketing oil and gaso- tragedies to maximize their profits. line prices were burdening American That is why my colleagues and I have families and our Nations economy- come together today to introduce this with the notable exception of the oil legislation. industry. which continued to rack up In the wake of Hurricane Katrina. we record profits. Already in my home have already heard gas station owners State of Washington. prices had complaining that the big oil companies reached 74 cents a gallon more than ordered them to raise prices. Inveslast year before the storm hit. After tigating those claims should be the top the stormthough our supplies were job of federal regulatorsand there not directly affectedprices topped $3 should be harsh penalties for that kind per gallon in some areas of my State. of behavior. profiteering in the midst including some of the most rural and of a national disaster. economically challenged. And fol- Today. 28 States have antigouging lowing that tragic storm. gas prices in laws on the books. Unfortunately. my some areag of this Nation reached al- own State is not among them. But in most $6 per gallon. crafting this legislation. ","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10455,"word_count":296}
{"speech_id":1090070431,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Agriculture. Nutrition and Forestry be authorized to conduct a business meeting during the session of the Senate on Tuesday. September 20. 2005 at 10 a.m. in SR328A. Russell Senate Office Building. The purpose of this meeting will be to markup S. 1582. a bill to reauthorize the U.S. Grain Standards Act.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BENNETT","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":365,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090070456,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am here this noontime to introduce a resolution of disapproval regarding the baseclosing commission which I believe is a flawed document. I believe it is flawed because I think the base closing commission ignored some very. very significant information. But most importantly I think the base closing commission and those at the Defense Department who helped them make these recommendations ignore the fact that we are at war and has ignored the fact that the 130.000 men. and Women that are in Iraq fighting the good fight. winning the freedom and hopq and opportunity for the people there. many of them come from bases anound the country. they are citizensoldmrs. they are volunteers. .they are people who have been welltrained and wellequipped and are doing a great job but they are people who come from bases. some of which have been recommended for closure by the base closing commission. I think that does fly in the face of what we believe is the idea of having a strong military. the idea of having a citizensoldier. the idea of not having a draft bedause we have these bases that provide the kind of capability when these men and women are called upon to do the hard work as they did in Afghanistan. We see now in Afghanistan millions of people have gone to the polls and voted and they do have democracy there. The same will be true of Iraq very soon. thanks to the citizensoldiers. This report is flawed because it does not take into account a Federal law on the books that says that bases cannot be closed without the Governor of the State authorizing the closure of that base. The base closing commission ignored that law. ","speaker_name":"RAY LAHOOD","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4341,"word_count":291}
{"speech_id":1090070460,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"led the Pledge of Alle- Reverend Young is joined today by giance as follows: his wife. Deborah. and several members I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the of the 12th Street Baptist Church in United States of America. and to the Repub- Gadsden. along with several. others lic for which it stands. one nation under God. from the Fourth Congressional Disindivisible. with liberty and justice for all. trict. I appreciate the prayer that Reverend Young has offered this afternoon. MESSAGE FROM THE SENATE It is an honor to have him as our guest here in the United States House of RepA message from the Senate by Ms. resentatives. Curtis. one of its clerks. announced that the Senate has passed with amendments in which the concurrence of the House is requested. bills of the TWO AMERICAN WARRIORS House of the following titles: H.R. 2862. An act making appropriations (Mr. POE asked and was given perfor Science. the Departments of State. Jus- mission to address the House for 1 tice. and Commerce. and related agencies for minute and to revise and extend his rethe fiscal year ending September 30. 2006. and marks.) for other purposes. Mr. POE. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BURGESS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2308,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090070463,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. last week President Bush spoke to the Nation from Jackson Square. New Orleans about his plans for the relief. recovery. and rebuilding of the gulf coast region \u0095 and residents. \"There is no way to imagine America without New Orleans.\" he said. And there is no way to .imagine the necessary recovery effort without the leadership and support of the Federal Government. Every dime that has been appropriated and every dime that will be appropriated from the Federal Treasury to the people of the gulf coast has come from the votes of the House of Representatives. and we are honored to have that opportunity. And with this opportunity. Madam Speaker. comes a great responsibility to make sure that the money comes from and goes to the right places. Committees are already at work developing oversight plans for the Hurricane Katrina relief money. as are inspector general offices across the Federal Government. Funds will be needed to rescue certain communities in Louisiana and Mississippi and we will have a moral and physical obligation to ensure it gets spent on the right priorities. But just as important as our duty to ensure the money goes to the right places is our duty to ensure the money comes from the right places.. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS DELAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2357,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090070464,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I want to agree with my good friend from Texas that we need to do everything we can to avoid any kind of tax hikes. However. I think all Americans would expect that the top 1 percent of the income earners in this country. who receive most of the benefit from the administrations tax cuts. should have to give up some of their tax cuts in order to relieve the burden on the people in the gulf coast. It is only fair. America can meet its responsibilities. but we are going to have to roll back those tax breaks that were given to the wealthiest Americans in order to help the least of our brethren. We can also save money by planning an exit strategy out of Iraq. Wherever I go in my district. people say. get us out of Iraq. Well. it is time for us to have an exit strategy. That is what House Joint Resolution 55 is about. a bipartisan exit strategy. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1102,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090070467,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. we will overcome this tragedy and we will do it one day at a time and one life at a time. That is truly the American way and the American spirit. E 1415","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1228,"word_count":34}
{"speech_id":1090070470,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. today I am welcoming many of my constituents who are songwriters to the Hill to perform for tonights Songwriters Caucus event. While they are with us today and tomorrow. they are taking the opportunity to call on Mombers of Congress to remind them that protecting the intellectual property of our Nations creative community is the same as protecting the private property of our citizens. These songwriters are on the frontline in building. a knowledgebased economy in our country that is recognized and acknowledged by other nations and trading partners around the world. We salute their commitment to growing and invigorating the free enterprise system and by doing it so pleasantly. always with a song.","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":719,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090070471,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I come today to say to the people of South Carglina. most especially the people of Columbia and the midlands. how much I appreciate the tremendous outpouring of love and respect they have given to the victims of Katrina. I want to say a special thank\" you to Mayor Bob Coble of Columbia. businessman Sam Tannenbaum of Columbia. and the Columbia chamber president. Ike McLeese. These three dynamic gentlemen coordinated an effort in Columbia to receive evacuees that I would like to call a practical application of the Golden Rule. They decided that they would not put anyone in shelters. Anyone coming .to Columbia would go to a home or to a private motel room. We have just been informed that we can expect more evacuees coming to Columbia tomorrow morning. . I want to say those who have volunteered to man the One Stop Center to please continue to practice the Golden Rule.","speaker_name":"JAMES CLYBURN","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":891,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090070472,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"September 20.. 2005 Afghani women no longer have to fear the terrible cruelty of their past -because they now control their own future. With our support. these women -will continue to fan the flame of democracy and build a brighter future.","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA BROWN-WAITE","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1345,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090070501,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I rise in support of this bill to extend assistance for the men and women serving in the military by continuing to provide student aid flexibility. and I want to applaud the gentleman from Minnesota for his leadership in providing flexibility and support for military personnel. I would also like to thank the gentleman from California for his continued support for higher .education and his leadership along with the gentleman from Minnesota","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":457,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090070511,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As my friend knows. I am the only one of my 11 brothers and sisters to go to college. To the extent we are providing loans. they are being paid for by taxpayers. some of whom do not get a higher education. So what is fair? I think the underlying bill. providing college loans. providing Pell grants for underserved students. is a very good thing for our country. But how much is enough? We are going to spend about $75 billion this year in Pell grants and student loans to help low- to middleincome students achieve the dream of a higher education. I think that it is an important part of our responsibility to help improve our society. But at the same time. we also have a responsibility to people who pay taxes. and people who pay taxes watching money flowing out of this institution like water over a dam. At some point I am not going to stand here and be embarrassed because we help improve access to higher education. we help improve the ability of students to pay for their loan programs. and at the same time save $9 billion over 5 years for the taxpayers. I think it is a pretty good deal for all. Madam Speaker. ","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2229,"word_count":210}
{"speech_id":1090070521,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"While the other body has not yet acted upon the Water Resources Development Act this year. I am hopeful that in the wake of Hurricane Katrina they move quickly to pass the bill providing for the water resources needs of our Nation. But because the authority .for the section 214 program is expiring. it is necessary to move this piece separately. I thank the gentleman from Washington and our colleagues from Washington State for introducing this bill. I urge all Members to vote in favor of H.R. 3765. . Madam Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"CHARLES BOUSTANY","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1537,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090070522,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The tragic events associated with Hurricane Katrina indicate how important our water infrastructure really is. However. the Senate is not likely to act on the broader legislation before the Secretarys authority to accept funds expires on September 30. just 10 days from now. By providing this extension. the program can continue uninterrupted. and I urge support of this bill. Madam Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"EDDIE JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1731,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090070532,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and concur in the Senate amendment to the bill to ensure funding for sportflshing and boating safety programs funded out of the Highway Trust Fund through the end of fiscal year 2005. and for other purposes.","speaker_name":"CHARLES BOUSTANY","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":250,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090070549,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill to direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a boundary study to evaluate the significance of the Colonel James Barrett Farm in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the suitability and feasibility of its inclusion in the National Park System as part of the Minute Man National Historical Park. and for other purposes. as amended.","speaker_name":"RICK RENZI","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":395,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090070578,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In 360 B.C.. first: Eileen M. Collins was the first fethe great philosopher Plato bemoaned male commander of the space shuttle. that \"nothing can be more absurd than Collins and her crew launched aboard the practice that prevails in our coun- Space Shuttle Columbia in July of 1999. try of men and women not following My State of Texas has a strong focus the same pursuits with. all their in space and aeronautics as the home strengths and with one mind. for thus. of the Johnson Space Center. I am esthe state instead of being whole is re- pecially proud of all the women who duced to half.\" have made significant contributions to It has been more than 2.000 years the space flight. and I honor their coursince Plato made this simple. common- age. Dr. Mary Ann Webber is another sense observation. It has not been easy. astronaut. who is now employed in my but in the intervening centuries. district at the University of Texas women have proven time and time Southwest Medical School and working again that they can excel in any field and encouraging- young ladies now to they choose. Along the way. there have -think of a career of that sort. been many trailblazers: Barbara Jor- Mr. CALVERT. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"AL GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4814,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090070600,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Discovery and its crew also returned about 7.000 pounds of Station material back to Earth. All of us are very proud of their heroism and resolve during their mission. I also congratulate the NASA team on the ground who worked day and night to ensure that this mission was a success. and as safe as possible. In Congress. I have the privilege of representing NASA employees and contractors at the Marshall Space Flight Center. I am proud of their hard work and dedication to making this Discovery flight as safe as possible. Mr. Speaker. STS114 was the first of two ReturntoFlight test flights. And NASA collected an unprecedented amount of test data from this flight. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT CRAMER","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2326,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090070603,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to honor the. brave astronauts of STS1 14. Space Shuttle Discovery. These astronauts. and the entire NASA team. should be very proud of their accomplishments. The long hours of training and preparing paid off in the nearly flawless execution of multiple spacewalks and many other critical tasks on this mission. including delivering much needed supplies to the space station and performing unprecedented inflight repairs. Americans all across this country wereriveted by the adventures of these men and women. In fact. there was so much interest that new internet records were set: more than twoandahalf million people visited NASAs website over the course of this mission. Many of those \"hits\" were children. tomorrows explorers. who have found new heroes and role models in the crew of STS1 14. By showing our children what -they can accomplish. *these astronauts inspire the next generation and encourage them to focus on science. engineering and technologyfields that are vital to our future economy and security. ","speaker_name":"BARTON GORDON","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1406,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090070616,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Tom Deal (GA) DeFazio DeGette Delahunt DeLauro DeLay Dent Dicks Dingell Doggett Doyle Drake Dreier Duncan Edwards Ehlers Emanuel Emerson Engel English (PA) Eshoo Etheridge Evans Everett Farr Fattah Feeney Ferguson Filner Fitzpatrick (PA) Flake Foley Forbes Fortenberry Fossella Foxx Frank (MA) Franks (AZ) Frelinghuysen Gallegly Garrett (NJ) Gerlach Gilchrest Gillmor Gingrey Gohmert Gonzalez Goode Goodlatte Gordon Granger Graves Green (WI) Green. Al Green. Gene Grijalva Gutierrez Gutknecht Hall Harman Harris Hart Hastings (FL) Hastings (WA) Hayes Hayworth Hefley Hensarling Herger Herseth Higgins Hinchey Hinojosa Hobson Holden Holt Honda Hooley Hostettler Hoyer Hulshof Hunter Hyde Inglis (SC) Inslee Israel Issa Istook Jackson (IL) JacksonLee (TX) Jefferson Jenkins Jindal Johnson (CT) Johnson (IL) Johnson. E. B. Johnson. Sam Jones (NC) Jones (OH) Kanjorski Kaptur Keller Kelly Kennedy (MN) Kennedy (RI) Kildee Kilpatrick (MI) King (IA) King (NY) Kingston Kirk Kline Knollenberg Kucinich Kuhl (NY) LaHood Langevin Lantos Larsen (WA) Larson (CT) Latham LaTourette Leach Lee","speaker_name":"JOE BARTON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2619,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090070621,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I was regrettably delayed in my return to Washington. DC. from a meeting with Nicaraguan President Bolahos in Managua. and therefore unable to be on the House Floor for rollcall votes 476 and 477. Had I been here I would have voted \"yea\" on rollcall vote 476. and \"yea\" on rollcall vote 477.","speaker_name":"DAN BURTON","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":304,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090070622,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I prayed about it. I knew it was going to happen. I just did not know which year.\" ..Mr. Speaker. it is my honor to congratulate. Tianna Madison on her remarkable achievement.","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":944,"word_count":32}
{"speech_id":1090070629,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am certainly a great supporter of the ethanol industry. Ethanol does a great many good things. It reduces our dependence on foreign oil. It reduces the trade deficit. which is certainly a very difficult problem for our economy. It reduces the cost of the farm bill. And it helps the economy. creates roughly 200.000 jobs. And. of course. it also produces more energy than it consumes. Mr.. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS OSBORNE","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3723,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090070631,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Both sides of the gun issue have a vested interest in reducing gun violence. In 2002 alone. guns killed over 30.000 Americans. Each year. gun violence kills more of our children than cancer. pneumonia. asthma. AIDS. and the flu combined. Studies show gun violence costs our health care system more than $100 billion a year. Mr. Speaker. we must work together to achieve commonsense solutions to violence. without infringing on the second amendment rights of lawabiding citizens.","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MCCARTHY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4403,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090070633,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. in a prior existence. I spent eight terms in the Utah legislature and 28 years as a public classroom teacher. And in both of these situations I recognized. first of all. as a legislator. the capacity of the State to fund public education. And as a teacher. I understood firsthand the need for adequate funding of education. And it seemed as if in all cases there was some gigantic blockage that made it impossible for those two needs to kind of coalesce together. Well. today I am a Member of this august body. I am a member of the Federal Government. and I have identified what I think is that blockage that made it so difficult to bring these two needs together. That blockage is we. ","speaker_name":"ROB BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6571,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090070651,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the American airline industry is struggling. absolutely struggling in the face of very high fuel prices. of pension costs. and fierce competition. Delta and Northwest Airlines have recently filed for bankruptcy protection under chapter 11. United Airlines also recently got a bankruptcy court to severely discount the value of its employee pensions. Clearly. the airline industry needs some help. and they need some leadership. But an article that I read yesterday forces me to question the leadership of certain executives in the airline industry. Gary Wilson is the chairman of Northwest Airlines. a role where he is supposed to be providing leadership to his company. Northwest Airlines is currently subject to a work stoppage by mechanics and cleaners over wage concessions and job reductions. And now Northwest has approached their pilots and their flight attendants asking them to take significant wage cuts. \"Earlier this year. ","speaker_name":"CANDICE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3989,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090070663,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"His job is to be an advocate for his client. And yet the criticisms that we hear against Judge Roberts are that he made arguments as a lawyer for a side before the Supreme Court or before other courts in favor of or against certain positions that some Members of the Senate do not agree with. therefore. he is inappropriate to be involved in any case that has to do with that. We will start off with the prolife issue. They argue that Roberts is prolife because of two arguments that he made while he was representing the United States of America as a deputy solicitor general in Rust v. Sullivan and Bray v. Alexandria Womens Health Clinic. Roberts opponents argue that Roberts unnecessarily called for the Suprerne Court to overturn Roe v. Wade in Rust. a case challenging Federal regulations which prohibit certain recipients of Federal funds from counseling patients on abortion. Critics argue that the case could have been argued solely on the basis of statutory construction of the provisions at issue. Critics also point out that Roberts coauthored the governments amicus brief in Bray. a private suit brought against Operation Rescue. which argued that Operation Rescue was not engaged in a conspiracy to deprive women of equal protection rights. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CARTER","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":31.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10718,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090070667,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I have great respect for them. In fact. I have two members of my immediate family. my brother and my daughter who are attorneys. who I am very proud of. But just to have Watched this gentleman in the hearings in the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Mr. Speaker. after a week of questioning by our counterparts in the other body. I believe that the Congress and our Nation has a good sense of what kind of a jurist John Roberts will be if confirmed as our Nations 17th Chief Justice. In fact. on one of the television news shows this past Sunday. a member of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. the gentleman from South Carolina. Senator GRAHAM. when asked how did Judge Roberts perform. he said. \"Well. let me just put it this way: If it had been a prizefight. they would have called it in the second round as a technical knockout and the person on the ropes would not have been Judge Roberts.\" Without question. it was a technical knockout heading for a knockout. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4142,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090070679,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"However. what we found in the aftermath of Katrina was that our first responders still lack the tools that they need to be most effective. Four years ago. almost to the day. evacuation orders were not heard in the towers of the World Trade Center because the police. the firefighters and other emergency personnel simply could not speak to each other. And just weeks ago. in the days following Hurricane Katrina. similar problems hampered initial searchandrescue. security. and relief efforts. Those of us who are participating in this evenings discussion. along with many of our colleagues who could not be with us this evening and Americans across the country. were alarmed by the lack of leadership coming from the Federal Government. particularly the administration. in preparation for and in response to Katrina. The American public was rightfully disappointed. if not horrified. by the Nations state of preparedness. which appeared to .be so woefully inadequate. despite our past experiences and promises from this administration to do better. Over the past 4 years. members of this body. like my colleague from Michigan. like my esteemed colleague from New York. have worked tirelessly to prod the Department of Homeland Security to provide our Nations cities with standards for interoperable communications. As a State senator in Pennsylvania. I authored and passed a resolution calling on Congress to act. yet this guidance has not yet come. So as we await leadership from the Department of Homeland Security. communities across the Nation are working to equip themselves with the technology necessary to enable various local and regional first responders -to seamlessly communicate in the event of an emergency or mass incident. and they are doing so because they cannot afford to wait. In my region. the Philadelphia Police Department. along with Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority officials. are working to address the fact -that their radio systems are not compatible. making it virtually impossible for them to communicate should a coordinated response be necessary in any of our subway tunnels. as might have happened. and did _happen in London. ","speaker_name":"ALLYSON SCHWARTZ","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4520,"word_count":342}
{"speech_id":1090070683,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The other levees. particularly the levees that are the boundaries of Lake Pontchartrain that keep Lake Pontchartrain from surging into New Orleans. those levees are managed and constructed in conjunction.with the Corps of Engineers. And then there are lateral levees that run along some of the canals that are constructed and maintained by the levee district themselves. according to the published documents. As I look at those elevations. the river elevations. Corps of Engineers. 25 feet above sea level. The hurricane levees around Lake Pontchartrain. approximately 17.5 feet above sea level. The elevations along the 17th Street Canal. there was one elevation that was 4.5 feet above sea level. That canal needed floodgates at the inlet of Lake Pontchartrain to protect the surge from spilling out and breaching the levee on the 17th Street Canal. The other two canals fell in the same category. But as it laid out this system. the system of levees designed to protect a city that is settling and a city that had as much as 16 feet of water in the city. the idea was. of course. to plan for an expected or an historical event. But one article in there laid out the scenario that was called worst case scenario. and worst case scenario was if a category 4 or category 5 hurricane came into New Orleans from the south and sat with its center near the center of the city of New Orleans. or perhaps a little to the left or west where the counterclockwise winds of the hurricane would drive the ocean water up into Lake Pontchartrain. and there would be a surge of water that actually lifts water up out of the ocean above sea level. as that water comes up it taises an elevation. ","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10903,"word_count":295}
{"speech_id":1090070702,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It took an entire year for the 9\/11 Commission families and Americans to get justice as it relates to getting a real independent review. and I am talking about the people from the White House. all the way down to the local government. and they came out and it was bipartisan and they worked with one another. These were past elected officials. some individuals that were professionals in the area of intelligence. We had governors on there. This is the kind of review that the American people deserve and the individuals that have lost their lives and the injured. We still have children now that are still missing. This is not lightweight. stuff. This is heavy. very heavy. So it is important that we do this. I want to talk about DavisBacon when we get a chance. but I just want to make sure that we share with the Members that this is nothing new. This is what the Congress does. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5066,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090070724,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It cannot be the water because I am drinking the water here in the Capitol. and I am not running around saying that we need to protect billionaires. I also want to talk about. and I do not want folks to get confused there were no reconimendations. there was a bill dropped today by the gentleman from California and the gentlewoman from California dealing with contractor fraud. making sure that the victims in the Gulf States do not become victims again. not by Hurricane Rita but Hurricane Washington. D.C. that is going to take away the opportunities that will come out of tragedy. And that is a very substantial bill. something that I can say from the Democratic side of the aisle that we have been putting out proposal after proposal. day .after day. If we were in charge. if we were the committee chairpersons. if we had a member of our caucus that was the majority leader. it would not be a letter. it would not be a proposal on an idea. the American people will see action carried out and will give another voice in this perspective. Let me mention something about DavisBacon. and let me say the Congressional Research Service. I was reading in the newspaper. some Members of Congress on the majority side were saying they are concerned about DavisBacon because of the unions. Let us do \"operation clearup\" here. We had the Congressional Research Service look at that. I did not think about Louisiana as being a union State. nor Mississippi nor Alabama nor Florida.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1473,"word_count":260}
{"speech_id":1090070816,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. our Nation has been appreciative of the tremendous outpouring of support from other nations for the survivors of Hurricane Katrina. After playing a critical role in the tsunami relief efforts earlier this year. the Republic of Singapore was one of the first countries that understood the devastation in our Nation and iimediately reached out to help those left in Katrinas wake. In the beginning of September. Singapores Air Force deployed four Chinook helicopters to Fort Polk. Louisiana. to assist in relief operations. As they worked side by side with members of the Texas Army National Guard. Singapores airmen flew more than 80 sorties to transport over 800 evacuees and security personnel. They also flew more than 540 tons of equipment. humanitarian supplies. and sand to help R8167 H8168 CO fix the breaches in the levees of New Orleans. Ambassador Chan Heng Chees leadership and support has been particularly helpful during this time of crisis. As our nations continue to work together. ","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1186,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090070827,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"One knot was .to be untied each day. and the revolt would begin on the day the last one was untied. After the Spaniards arrested two of the runners. the pueblos were quickly notified to accelerate the revolt. The attacks began on August 10. 2 days before the last knot would have been untied. The Spaniards took refuge at Santa Fe. the besieging Indians cut off their water supply. but soon permitted them to leave the area. While the Spanish ultimately returned in 1692 and restored control over New Mexico as a Spanish territory. their interest in and ability to disrupt the native cultures were severely diminished. The Pueblo Revolt helped to ensure the survival of the Pueblo culture and shaped the history of the American Southwest. Madam Speaker. as a member of the Joint Committee on the Library. which supervises the National Statuary Hall Collection. -I am pleased to participate in this significant milestone for such a piece of art to be placed in the Nations Capitol Building. Madam Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JUANITA MILLENDER-MCDONALD","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":37.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3103,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090070846,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. S. 1368. which passed the Senate by unanimous consent. is identical to H.R. 3020. which was reported out of the Committee on the Judiciary by voice vote without apparent opposition. For the reasons outlined by the chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary. the bill will reauthorize the U.S. Parole Commission for an additional 3 years. It will also give the Sentencing Commission emergency authority to promulgate sentencing guidelines which will implement sentencing policies reflective of recent changes in Federal law relating to sentencing in areas of obstruction of justice and anabolic steroids. Both provisions are necessary to continue to properly implement Federal sentencing laws. and I. therefore. urge my colleagues to support the bill. Madam Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":875,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090070852,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Additionally. this bill assists aliens. lawfully in the United States on student visas. by preventing them from falling out of status due to hurricanerelated circumstances. provided they are reenrolled in. another qualifying school by February 1. 2006. Undoubtedly. some lawful aliens lost their green cards and other federally issued work authorization documents as a result of Hurricane Katrina. In order to help these people get back on their feet as soon as possible. this bill authorizes expeditious replacement of these documents. Further. the bill allows employers to make jobs available to citizens and aliens who lost their work authorization documents in the hurricane. Employers will be required to check the documents of these workers within 90 days after the worker has received replacement documents. Individuals will be able to begin working and supporting themselves and their families while providing sufficient time for the employee to obtain replacement documents. Finally.. for individuals who resided in the. hurricaneaffected regions. this legislation allows individuals to take the oath of citizenship in any Federal court without rejard to residence. Mr. Speaker. the Immigration Relief for Hurricane Katrina Victims Act of 2005 is one more way we can help gulf coast residents rebuild their lives. I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan bill. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3967,"word_count":209}
{"speech_id":1090070854,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. hurricane Katrina may be the worst natural disaster to hit the United States in the last hundred years. As of September 15. 2005. Federal disaster declarations have been issued which cover 90.000 square miles of affected areas. More than 71.100 federal personnel have been deployed. 122.000 people are housed in shelters throughout the 50 states and the District of Columbia. and 509.000 households have received $1.1 billion in disaster assistance. As the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Immigration. Border Security. and Claims. I also am concerned about the impact the hurricane has had on the foreign nationals who were residing in the disaster area. I rise today in support of a bipartisan bill that was introduced by my colleague Congressman F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER which would provide relief to these disaster victims too. the Immigration Relief for Hurricane Katrina Victims Act pf 2005. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3995,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090070867,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. as a member of the Committee on Government Reform. I am very pleased to join my colleagues. in the consideration of H.R. 3767. which designates a postal service in St. Charles. Illinois. after the late Jacob L. Frazier. This legislation was introduced by the gentleman from Illinois on September 14 and unanimously passed out of the Committee on Government Reform on September 15. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1582,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090070877,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The first batter in the bottom of the seventh inning hit a spectacular home run over the center field wall to seal the victory for the West Oahu team. the first Little League World Series champions in the history of the State of Hawaii. The West Oahu victory in the 59th -Little League World Series championship is and likely will remain one of the most exciting finishes in the championships storied history. The hard work and dedication of West Oahu team -members and their coaches and their families and friends are reflected in this tremendous accomplishment. I hope my colleagues will join me in congratulating this team in their momentous achievement in winning the Little League World Series championship. Mr. Speaker. I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from the great State of Hawaii . the author of this resolution.","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1328,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090070880,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mahalo aloha.","speaker_name":"ED CASE","chamber":"H","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2095,"word_count":2}
{"speech_id":1090070884,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise with deep pride today to honor and congratulate the West Oahu Little League Baseball Team of Ewe Beach. Hawaii for winning the 2005 Little League World Series Championship in one of the most exciting championship games ever played. in any sport. any league! It was almost a miracle that these champions. the very best of our Hawaii and country. even made it to the championship. fighting their way through some of the toughest brackets and past great teams from throughout our nation. And in the bottom of the sixth and last inning. down 63. their great coach. Layton Aliviado. told them: \"if you guys want it. let% go get it.\" Thats exactly what the team did. scoring three runs to tie the game and send it into extra innings. Then. in the top of the first extra inning. a fiery and determined Vonn Feao shut down opposing Curacao. last years world champs. striking out the batters in order. And in the bottom of that inning. Jason Memea blasted a walkoff solo home run to win the game and world championship. To all the members of our West Oahu teamAlakai Aglipay. ","speaker_name":"ED CASE","chamber":"H","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1613,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090070891,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"A year ago I was at a special celebration in Rochester. Minnesota at our veterans memorial where they unveiled a new statue depicting a Gold Star Mother. and many of the veterans that were there and some of the leaders of that group asked if I would do all that I could to remind Americans that there is a special day for Gold Star Mothers and to do what I could to at least bring attention to the fact that. the fourth Sunday this year. September 25. is Gold Star Mothers Day. So we began that process almost a year ago of putting together this joint resolution of doing what we can to call attention to the fact. that they do have a special day and they deserve special recognition not only by Members of this House and the United States Congress but by all Americans. So we have put together this joint resolution. I am happy to say that we have well over 200 cosponsors in the House. And. frankly. I suspect if we were given enough time. we would have virtually every Member of this House in support of this joint resolution. This is not about making any political statement of any kind. These are very special. people. ","speaker_name":"GILBERT GUTKNECHT","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2629,"word_count":210}
{"speech_id":1090070908,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Fortunately. the bill before us today fully authorizes the MEP. Mr. Speaker. let me give you just one MEP success story. In my district. Chase Leather Products of Fall River. Massachusetts. has been manufacturing highquality leather and synthetic fabric products for nearly a century. Faced with a 25 percent reduction in business over the past several years. Chase turned to the Massachusetts MEP for help. After training Chases personnel in lean manufacturing techniques. such as value stream mapping and revising the plant -layout. Chase was able to deliver 100 percent ontime delivery to their customers. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4354,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090070914,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"No. I think there were probably some Republican amendments that were left out as well. If the gentleman will continue to yield. the Udall amendment is the one I particularly wanted to reference. The gentleman from Colorado has an amendment that will be thoroughly discussed here this morning. which actually increases the authorization level of the National Science Foundations Advanced Technology Education Program.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":416,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090070916,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Let me again say the gentleman. as ranking member of the Committee on Science. knows that I was not there for subcommittee markup or whole committee markup to debate these amendments that came through committee. I am not a member of that committee. as the gentleman knows. All I can say is in this rule we are giving the minority side an opportunity to bring this issue in the form of an amendment to the floor so we can have a fair and open debate and we can have an upordown vote on it. And I am not going to discuss the merits of the amendment. We will let the Member presenting the amendment. the gentleman from Colorado . do that. and then we will vote on it.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":664,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090070932,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I have asked a member of the Committee on Rules to explain why we did not have an opportunity to vote on the ATP program to bring more jobs to this country. and I did not get a satisfactory answer. I asked a very informed member of the Committee on Science to explain why we could not get a vote on the ATP program. which is so important. Now we have a member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. the gentleman from Ohio here. Before the gentleman leaves. let us give the Committee on Energy and Commerce an opportunity to explain why we should not have a vote on the ATP program to bring more and better jobs to this country. I yield to the gentleman from Ohio","speaker_name":"BARTON GORDON","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":678,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090070936,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If he does not like this. he should veto it. but at least we should have the opportunity to debate this on the floor. because we did not have that opportunity in .subcommittee. It seems to me that if we understand that small business is 70 percent of the economic machine of this country. and if the President himself has said that he adores and he embraces small business in this country. his words seem to ring very hollow if he is not willing to fund ATP. There are no problems with ATP. It is a program that has been going for years. since the first Bush administration. It has beeh supported bipartisanly. What is happening is the funding is being cut slowly over and over and over again. so that what we do is end up starving the beast. Mr. Speaker. I urge that we allow this to be heard. It is an egregious abuse of power.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL HONDA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1996,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090070939,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank my friend from Massachusetts for the time. H.R. 250 should have been a good idea. It makes sense to encourage ties between manufacturers and academic institutions. but as the gentleman from Tennessee and the gentleman from California said. the restrictive rule prevented consideration of a number of amendments that would have improved the bill. especially amendments to strengthen the Advanced Technology Program. which is especially important in manufacturingintensive States like the gentleman from Ohios and mine. which struggles with everincreasing energy costs. We also missed an opportunity today to dramatically increase funding for MEP and to target increased Federal assistance to States that have suffered especially high manufacturing jobloss rates. The story of this bill is a story of missed opportunity. This Congress has no manufacturing policy. We pass trade bill after trade bill. Our trade deficit has gone from $38 billion my first year when I ran for Congress 12 years. 13 years ago. to $617 billion. from $38 billion to $617 billion in a dozen years. ","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1814,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090070945,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I come from the State of Ohio where any debate over manufacturing technology is taken to heart because Ohio is one of those States which has had heavy job losses in manufacturing. but I look at this bill and this restrictive rule. and it really does not address some of. the underlying issues. How can we advance manufacturing technology competitiveness in this country if we really do not have a national strategy to do so? We are legislating piecemeal here and often missing the mark. We cannot have a manufacturing strategy if it does not take into account manufacturing job losses that come because of our trade practices. So what has happened here is that Congress is called upon to take action in areas that are only piecemeal. that are not going to protect existing industries. that will not surely provide opportunities for the future. We are already being overtaken by China and other countries. This bill falls short. The rule is restrictive. and Ijoin my colleagues in raising objections.","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1012,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090070948,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself the remaining time. Let me close by again urging all my colleagues to vote \"no\" on this rule. The Committee on Rules used to be a tool to manage debate. It is now used as a weapon to stifle debate. There is no excuse whatsoever why the gentleman from Californias amendment was not made in order. and no one on the other side has been able to even defend the omission of the gentleman from Californias amendment. Yesterday. when Democrats balked at at amendment to the Head Start reauthorization bill that would allow religious institutions to discriminate. the other side. the Republicans. said. no. well. let the House work its will. that is what the House of Representatives is there for. Why is it okay for the House to work its will on that amendment. but not on the gentleman from Californias amendment? The fact of the matter is this economy under Bush has performed abysmally when it has come to manufacturing. We have lost millions and millions and millions of jobs. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1403,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090070952,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in opposition of this rule. though there are some positive aspects to highlight. I am pleased that the Rules Committee made several amendments in order. specifically my own amendment increasing funding to the Advance Technological Education program and Mr. GORDONS amendment requesting a threeyear programmatic and operational plan for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership. However. I feel this rule would have been improved by making in order Mr. HONDAS amendment authorizing the Advanced Technology Program. This legislation has been described as a means to create jobs and support manufacturing. ATP does just this. ","speaker_name":"MARK UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1136,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090070974,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We want Members and local leaders to be consulted. We also want regional development authorities to be developed. And. particularly. as I was asked today. we want an inspector general or a recovery czar to make sure that. as we give tax relief. that we also give dollars for reconstruction. These dollars will be used effectively and invested not only in the large corporations. the standard bearers of Rebuild America that have gone on to Iraq and other places. but let us put those dollars that will help rebuild small businesses in the hands of small businesses. minorityowned businesses and womenowned businesses. Let us make sure that the relief that has been given impacts individuals in their properties that still exist in New Orleans. for example. although under water. The physical structure of the house may be leveled. but they will need to have the tax benefits so that they can make sure that they are able to rebuild. This legislation. for example. exempts income from forgiveness of debt from tax. It prevents loss of tax benefits such as the earned income tax credit. waives the 10 percent penalty on early distributions from retirement plans. provides the work opportunity tax credit. and many others. It also deals with the charitable incentives that will allow people to give. But I think the main point is we are still facing the forward road. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2671,"word_count":231}
{"speech_id":1090070992,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. on Wednesday. September 21. 2005. I was unable to cast my floor vote on rollcall 479. The vote I missed was a motion to suspend the rules and pass H.J. Res. 61. supporting the goals and ideals of Gold Star Mothers Day. Had I been present for the vote. I would have voted \"yea\" on rollcall 479.","speaker_name":"XAVIER BECERRA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":31.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":306,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090071000,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Long before the National Nanotechnology Initiative. with its hundreds of millions of Federal dollars to support nanotechnology research. ATP had already supported successful nanotechnology projects. An early nanotech project resulted in one of the earliest commercial successes. Currently. 10 percent of ATP projects are in the field of nanotechnology. representing a publicprivate investment of over $170 million. Time and again witnesses have appeared before the Committee on Science recommending that ATP be fully funded. Just last month. at the Committee on Science hearing on innovation. highlevel business experts recommended that ATP be fully funded. As my chairman knows. the National Governors Association supports it. the National Association of Manufacturers. and the ITAA. It makes no sense that a bill whose goal it is to bolster manufacturing competitiveness and innovation does not include ATP funding. In closing. I will vote for H.R. 250. but I am sorely disappointed that H.R. 250 does so little to rebuild the U.S. manufacturing base. ","speaker_name":"BARTON GORDON","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3591,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090071015,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He has added immeasurably to the products that we have produced in our committee. and all of us want to thank him for .his efforts. And we want to wish him. his wife Natalie. and daughter Gabriella. all the best as they go forward in this new chapter in the continuing saga of \"Eric Webster Comes to Washington.\"","speaker_name":"SHERWOOD BOEHLERT","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1250,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090071039,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. -Madam Chairman. this is a very straightforward amendment. This amendment requires the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology to submit to Congress a 3year operational and planning document for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership program. The past 4 years. the administrations MEP budget request has been much less than required to maintain the existing national network of. MEP centers. In fact. for 2 years the administration has proposed eliminating MEP funding altogether. Despite their meager budget requests. the administration has consistently maintained that it will maintain a fully operational MEP network. However. the administration has not consulted with the State partners or MEP centers to explain the rationale for its funding request or how they intend to maintain the current MEP center structure. Both States and small manufacturers have been frustrated by the administrations lack of planning and cooperation. My amendment would address this issue by requiring the administration to put together a 3year MEP operation plan that would include commitments of its State partners and the MEP National Advisory Board. ","speaker_name":"BARTON GORDON","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1427,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090071049,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank the chairman of the full committee and the\" ranking member of the full committee. and if I might add my appreciation for the cooperation of both staffs and both the gentleman from New York (Chairman BOEHLERT) and the gentleman from Tennessee (Ranking Member GORDON) for helping with this amendment. and as well the cooperation and the timeliness of. this amendment. My amendment would ensure that minorityserving institutions. including Historically Black Colleges and Universities. have access to the National Science Foundations Advanced Technological Education Program. The ATE program promotes improvement in technological education at the undergraduate and secondary school lev7 els by supporting curriculum development. the preparation and professional development of college faculty and secondary schoolteachers. internships and field experiences for faculty. teachers. and students. and. other activities. We have often. Madam Chairman. spoken in the Committee on Science about the broadness of opportunity. and here lies in this bill the opportunity to enhance that with this amendment. The Manufacturing Technology Competitiveness Act of 2005 is a perfect vehicle to emphasize the involvement of a diverse community. and the focus of science and technology in our Historically Black Colleges and Hispanicserving colleges. With an emphasis on 2year colleges. the program focuses on the education of technicians for the hightechnology fields that drive our Nations economy. It is vitally important that this highvalue program is made available to minorityserving institutions. including HBCUs. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7215,"word_count":243}
{"speech_id":1090071062,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. first of all. lit me start by associating myself with the remarks of the distinguished Democrat from Tennessee and the accolades that have been given to the gentleman from New York (Chairman BOEHLERT). the gentleman from Michigan . and the gentleman from Illinois who was on the floor earlier. for the hard work and effort that they have put forward. My amendment cuts right to the chase of a deep and abiding concern that I and a number of small manufacturers in the State of Connecticut and. I dare say. across this Nation have. We all know the statistics: 3 million Americans employed in manufacturing have lost their jobs. 110.000 in this year alone. 57.000 jobs have been lost in the State of Connecticut since 2001. The genesis of this amendment came at a Chamber of Commerce meeting when small businessmen got up and spoke out with great alarm. wondering out loud how is it that we can have a Department of Agriculture and not a department of manufacturing that focuses on these issues. Where is the ombudsman and voice for us at the national level? They prevailed upon me to introduce this legislation. ","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2039,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090071065,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Support the Larson amendment.","speaker_name":"ROSA DELAURO","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1396,"word_count":4}
{"speech_id":1090071070,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I will make one comment. I have been here 22 years. and I go home every single weekend. I take great pride in that. I have never had a constituent say to me. I want you to create a new Under Secretary within the Department. and I want you to change the title of an Assistant Secretary. ","speaker_name":"SHERWOOD BOEHLERT","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":591,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090071085,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That means 75 percent of the proposals are not funded. That number is about $68 million. So all we are trying to do is give the appropriators the flexibility to meet this important demand. Why is this demand important? Well. if you think about the jobs that are created because of this investment. and the debate we have had today about the importance of manufacturing in our future. this makes real sense. The students that are being funded based on the American Association of Community Colleges numbers. 47 percent are African American. 56 percent are Hispanic. These colleges play a crucial role in serving our minority communities. populations which my good friend. the gentleman from Michigan","speaker_name":"MARK UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1262,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090071116,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this motion to recommit with instructions would amend the bill by adding an authorization of the Advanced Technology Program within the National Institute of Standards and Technology at a level of $140 million for fiscal year The Advanced Technology Program partners with industry by providing funds for earlystage technologies that are viewed to be too technically risky or too nascent by private funding sources. It is one of the Federal Governments best means of plomoting risktaking and promoting the pursuit of new technology that go well beyond the limits of conventional practices. Experts agree that these ar6 key elements for maintaining American manufacturing competitiveness in the future. The opponents of this motion have claimed that ATP does not belong in a manufacturing bill. but .the evidence shows that it does. In 43 peer reviewed ATP competitions. 39 percent of the awards have involved development of advanced manufacturing technologies. At a June 2003 Committee on Science hearing on manufacturing R&D. the witnesses were unanimous in their belief that ATP was an important element to improving the U.S. manufacturing infrastructure and competitiveness. Supporters of H.R. 250 have mentioned that the bill is supported by the National Association of Manufacturers. But you should be aware that NAM also supports ATP. as most recently expressed in a letter to Senator SHELBY. chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce. Justice. and Science. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL HONDA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4847,"word_count":230}
{"speech_id":1090071135,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"from the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. submitted a privileged report (Rept. No. 109228) on the resolution (H. Res. 418) requesting the President to transmit td the House of Representatives not later than 14 days after the date of the adoption of this resolution documents in the possession of the President relating to the disclosure of the identity and- employment of Ms. Valerie Plame. which was referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed.","speaker_name":"PETER HOEKSTRA","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":469,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090071142,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Manufacturing Extension Program helps small manufacturers in my State of Ohio and nationwide to improve their efficiency. increase their competitiveness. and stay in business. With funding of about $111 millioii in 2003. the Manufacturing Extension Program. MEP. helped over 18.000 U.S. manufacturing firms increase sales by almost a billion dollars and cut costs by almost $700 million. In Ohio. that meant helping some 2.700 businesses to create or retain over 1.100 jobs. increase sales by $20 million. cut costs by over $47 million. and increase investments by $58 million. But despite that track record of success. President Bush. in order to pay for the tax cuts that go overwhelmingly to the 1 percent wealthiest people in this country. President Bush has repeatedly put the Manufacturing Extension Program on the chopping block. He proposed another round of MEP funding cuts for next year. The Presidents 2006 budget cuts MEP funding by 56 percent. understanding all of the manufacturing jobs lost in State after State after State. some 22 million jobs in the last 5 years. the President wants to cut one of the few programs that works for American manufacturing. ","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1504,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090071148,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Some have talked about cutting. health care. Some have talked about cutting education. Some hive talked about cutting basic infrastructure. Others are talking about repealing the estate tax and tax cuts for those who earn hundreds upon hundreds of thou.sands of dollars. the top 1 percent. -Instead. I believe what we should have is a balanced approach. There should be tax cuts on the table and spending. That is the way to fund the reconstruction of Katrinas damage to Louisiana. to Mississippi. and Alabama. Let me give you some examples in the tax area. places that I refer to as corporate welfare. When we had the corporate tax bill up last year. it was a $5 billion problem that we had to solve. This Congress passed $150 billion in tax givea*ays to solve a $5 billion problem. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5620,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090071150,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I too rise with my colleague from Minnesota and my colleague from Rhode Island to speak about \"Recovery Month\" and what it means for individuals and what it means for our country as a whole. But. Mr. Speaker. today I would like to focus my remarks on a story. a life story written by one of my constituents. Her name is Lois Davieau of East Rochester. New Hampshire. I recently met Ms. Davieu when she came to my office to tell me about her long and arduous battle with crack cocaine. ","speaker_name":"JEB BRADLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5205,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090071158,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If anyone can be described as the strong silent type. it.was the Chief. He .had the looks of Robert Redford and the coolness of Clint Eastwood. In short. he was a great role model for those of us who knew him. But as much as he loved his country and was proud of his service. he loved his family even more. He was a terrific husband. father. grandfather. brother. uncle. and friend. There was nothing he would not do for family and friends. And if there is such a thing. as I believe there is. as a lifelong soul mate. the Chief found her in his wife Rosemary. They met at an early age and their commitment blossomed into a lifelong adventure. taking them and their kids to new destinations every few years due to his military service. His greatest source of pride was his children. Randy. ","speaker_name":"RON KIND","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2136,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090071165,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. once again it is an honor to come before the House. and I want to thank the Democratic leadership for allowing us. the 30Something Working Group. to come to the floor to talk about issues that are facing not only young Amer qans but Americans in general. The 30Something Working Group. as I have stated before. time after time. is a group of 30something Members on the Democratic side of the aisle who meet every week. We come together on the issues that are facing Americans and discuss things that. A. are working or. B. things that are not working on behalf of the American people. and we try to bring that to the attention of our colleagues here in this House. previous order of the House. the gen- I think it Is important for us to not tleman from New Jersey only be very aware of what is hapis recognized for 5 minutes. pening now in the action or -inaction","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":876,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090071177,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to piggyback on what he is saying herebecause not only do the American people want an independent review so that their confidence can be restored. They want their representatives in Congress to be statespeople. They want us to step up and put partisanship aside. My colleagues are veterans of this process. and I have been here 9. almost 10 months now. and the thing thae has been the most startling to me is how partisan it is here. It does not need to be this way. I know. I have spoken to some Members even today. some Members who are leaders on the Republican side who I know if we came around the table and sat down and hashed out how we could best approach the review of what happened with Katrina and the response and our lack of preparedness. I know we could work it out. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1266,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090071191,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Maybe we need to sit down as adults and look at how we can approach this and use not only the contributions. but the wisdom of all Members of Congress into. into what? Achieving what the American people want. That is not a radical idea. That is very simple. We have one side of the aisle that is saying that we want to do that. We have one side of the aisle. if given the opportunity to be in the majority. will do that. But tomorrow. I say to my colleagues. there will be a committee meeting. a partisan committee meeting. to organize themselves to get to the bottom of what really happened and did not happen. to report to the American people the truth. I will tell my colleagues right now that that just will not fly. I am asking. as a member of the Democratic Caucus and asking as a Member of Congress period. and Leader PELOSI. the Democratic leadership. I am on the second floor of a 9floor building. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4953,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090071199,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I think I will be joined by some colleagues shortly. I hope. Congress recently returned to Washington following a busy montli of work in the district. For a majority of August. I traveled throughout North Carolinas 5th District and conducted scores of meetings with veterans. teachers. and many other constituent groups. During this time. I gained valuable insight into the needs of the people I serve andlook forward to continuing to address their concerns. The needs of my home district have always been and continue to be my number one priority. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2652,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090071200,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Chairman of the Palestinian Authority. I. along with my colleagues. stressed with him how important it was to the United States that the terrorists be disarmed and that peace be advanced within the region. Mr. Speaker. my rigorous schedule included an extensive tour of this country. Although Israel is smaller than the State of New Jersey. I was thoroughly impressed with its infrastructure and potential for growth. In just over 50 years of existence. Israel has developed a remarkable highway system and infrastructure. As we visited universities. holy sites. military bases. it was easy to tell how modern and highly accomplished Israel is today and what an incredible potential that it has with its people. Throughout the countrys history. the Israeli people have experienced violence and terror on their home soil. ","speaker_name":"KENNY MARCHANT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3904,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090071204,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This President understands the importance that Israel plays and has supported Mr. Sharon in his moves to try and move the peace process forward. Unfortunately. we just are not seeing any reciprocation on the part of the Palestinians. We now hear and read of the reports where Hamas is taking a part and intending to participate in the Palestinian elections that will occur soon. How in the world can we respect the participation of a professed terrorist group whose aim is to remove Israel from the map? How in the world does that help the Palestinian cause for peace? I am here tonight to express some serious dismay at the response by the Palestinian Authority and to reflect and congratulatethe policies of Israel and what they are trying to do to secure peace. Unfortunately. there again has been nothing in return that Israel has received. and I just encourage my colleagues to continue to monitor what is going on in that region and how it affects our security here in America and to. once again. commit ourselves to helping the security of Israel in its democratic way and to ensure its survival as our only democratic ally in the Middle East.","speaker_name":"ERIC CANTOR","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5711,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090071205,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Virginia so much. He has helped put many things that a lot of us are concerned about into perspective. and we are grateful to hinm for that. I am going to talk a little bit more about Israel and give some facts about what is happening in Israel in its short history. but let me say that we know that Israel is one of the only countries in the Middle East that the United States can truly count on. It is not a fair weather friend. When terrorists strike American targets in the Middle East.. Israel always stands by our side. We are truly fortunate to have a strong friend in Israel. During our trip. we had the opportupity to travel to the countryside. visit military bases. universities. childrens homes. holy sites. and strategic locations. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3632,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090071224,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the point that the gentleman from Connecticut made about Admiral Allen being nominated by the President and put in charge. I think. went a long way to restoring the confidence of the American people in our ability to handle from that point on this emergency. I know that I share with both the gentleman from Connecticut and with the gentleman from North Carolina tremendous confidence in Admiral Allen. . The gentleman from Connecticut","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":448,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090071241,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That is what we call a very \"appropriate\" comment. Two concluding remarks. and I thank the gentleman for this Special Order. The first is that approximately 2.200 active duty Coast Guard members and their families live and work in the area of Katrina. and many of those 2.000 families. Coast Guard families. activeduty Coast Guard families lost their homes and discovered that their families were evacuees. just as much as were citizens along the gulf coast. Yet in spite of that distress. they continue - to perform in an outstanding fashion. The Coast Guard Foundation. which is located in my hometown of Stonington. Connecticut. put out a press release that all retirees and all folks who participate in supporting the Coast Guard Foundation are invited to provide financial assistance. and they hope to raise about $1 million of financial assistance to help those active duty families to recover with incidentals and costs that may not be covered as a routine matter. So once again. it is an example of the Coast Guard family reaching out to take care of their own. to provide assistance. which is so much a part of the tradition of the Coast Guard. Finally. I am most honored as an Army officer to be here with these distinguished Coast Guard officers and \"Coasties.\" but I will share with my colleagues a personal story. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT SIMMONS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1848,"word_count":227}
{"speech_id":1090071249,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And if they cannot get their country more modernized. it is going to be significantly more difficult for them to be able to sustain the type of government that i pray will become a constitutional republic that represents the people in Iraq and the will of the people in Iraq. And so the $18.4 billion was invested. And most of it was committed to projects. and we knew that in this Congress. And we committed to the support of that. But no one had really been over there to follow and track the projects. And in fact I was not aware of a single Member of Congress that had gone -into Basra in the south. in the British region. So we put that on our schedule. And the wetland area where the swamp Arabs lived. they were over 800.000 strong. And when Saddam was finished _utting down their insurrection that began about in about 1991 or 1992. he had killed approximately 120.000 of them and run off maybe 450.000 and there remained maybe 200.000 of the 800.000 swamp Arabs that lived in an area that was a wetland twice the size of the Everglades. Saddam drained it. turned the water away from it. and forced many of them out and changed their life. ","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6517,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090071254,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the gentleman does not mind me interrupting for a second. I am from Laredo. Texas. It is one of the hottest places in the country. 104. 105. 107 degrees. but I have to say that being there at a place where it was 125 degrees. and I think that was a cool day compared to some of the days. that has to tell us that our soldiers have to go through very difficult times. but at the same time. the morale was good. They were doing their job. and.they believed in what they were doing.","speaker_name":"HENRY CUELLAR","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":482,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090071255,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That was in the green zone. but that is the hotel that Deputy Security Wolfowitz was in when it was rocketed a year or more or so ago. That is one of those little ironies. The other one that the gentleman from Texas mentioned. the odd request. and I was very curious about the judicial branch of the Iraqi government. I had. I will say. a friend and colleague from Iowa. the U.S. Attorney. Charles Larson. Senior. who served over there for more than a year. and I believe it was 15 to 16 months. trying to get the Iraqi judicial branch up to speed and trying to teach them what we know from our rule of law in the United States. He served over there intently and in a verydedicated way. along with his son. Major Chuck Larson. ","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6840,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090071325,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. we are on the Agriculture bill. but the morning has been taken up with discussion of Judge Roberts. I think that is appropriate given the decision of the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee. Senator LEAHY. to support Judge Roberts and to announce that here this morning. That was perhaps unexpected by some of the commentators and. therefore. deserved a little time. I will take the opportunity. having listened to the junior Senator from Massachusetts. to respond to some of the things he said. not with the understanding that it is going to change anything anywhere but for the satisfaction of getting- a few things off my chest. The Senator complained bitterly. as he and others have done with respect to other nominees. that the memos given to the Solicitor General are not being made public. He did not tell us that every Solicitor Generalregardless Of party. regardless of administrationwho is currently living has agreed with Judge Roberts. with Miguel Estrada. with others who worked in the Office of the Solicitor General. that those memos should. in fact. not be made public. They are. in fact. covered by the attorneyclient privilege. Some say. \"Well. the American people are the client. not the Solicitor General.\" The Solicitor General is the attorney for the American people and has a right to attorneyclient privilege within his own staff. as any attorney has for material within that attorneys own office. as if they are representing a private client. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BENNETT","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4364,"word_count":246}
{"speech_id":1090071329,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This amendment would allow a onetime use of dairy promotion and research funds to fund the research. Most dairy farmers are in favor of it. Dairy is the only program that.does not have an option for funding its own research. The research will be conducted by Purdue University. according to protocols approved by the EPA. This is not in opposition to EPA procedures. The actual research will be performed by land grant universities in the States identified by the U.S. Dairy. Environmental Task Force. If we assume approval by the board. which would happen if my amendment were adopted. the funds will flow through an oversight organization. again approved by the EPA. The Agriculture Air Research Council. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BENNETT","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4437,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090071333,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. as certainly the Senate knows. we are considering the Senate appropriations bill. There is an amendment that the chairman has brought at the request of the national dairy industry that is of great concern to me. As a result of that. I stand today in opposition to legislation that would seek to divert funds from the National Dairy Promotion Program to be used as a onetimeonly source to fund EPAs dairy air quality studies. While I am wholeheartedly in support of the need for research money to carry out air quality studies. dipping into a program that all producers. large and small. are required to pay into to promote their products does not seem to meet the test of where we want to now reallocate this resource. The Dairy Production Stabilization Act of 1983 was established to strengthen the dairy industrys position in the marketplace and to maintain and expand domestic and foreign markets and use for fluid milk and dairy products. The act does provide for research dollars to be spentbut. only on research projects related to the advertisement and promotion of the sale and the consumption of dairy products. So should this act leave the door open as a slush fund available any time a select group needs quick money for a proposed unrelated intent of the law? I would hope not. I would think not. and I am afraid the amendment takes us ili that direction. On September 9. 2005. ","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1572,"word_count":245}
{"speech_id":1090071432,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So we then need to look at the time in the 1990s when he worked in the Solicitor Generals office. But. we cannot get that information. So we go around in a circle. I have to say. if this debate were about a small matter. it would be one thing. But. we are- talking about the future of this country. The importance of a position on the U.S. Supreme Court cannot be overstated.","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1002,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090071436,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I also looked for some assurance in the decisions Judge Roberts wrote during his two years on the DC Circuit. But. again. nothing. In fact. some cases raised serious concerns about hiscommitment to protect the environment and his support of an allpowerful executive branch. Judge Roberts had three days to tell the Senate and the American people what he really believes today. He had the chance repeatedly to distance himself from the controversial positions he once advocated. He did not. Lets face it: Judge Roberts was specific only when it mattered least and evasive when it mattered mdst. Last year I ranfor the Senate. and I ran a commerdfal that ebple said was very direct. but thitis the kihd of Sn ator I am. I saIid in n y\" & n Words. right in that- commercial. I would do everything in my power to en.46re that","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1416,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090071454,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Missouri. parts of Iowa. and Minnesota. We have had the worst drought in over 100 years in some parts of my State. Every county but one in Illinois has been designated a disaster area by the Secretary of Agriculture. Corn that should be standing 10 feet tall in some of the most fertile ground in America barely measures 6 feet and. sadly. is not going to produce much. The same is true for many of my counties when it comes to soybean production. These drought conditions have reduced crop yields. Based on September USDA estimates of 2005 crop production and prices. the value of corn and soybean production in Illinois has been reduced by over $792 million. relative to what might have been expected under average growing conditions. In addition to these losses. there may be impacts on other crops and pastures as well. We also face. flooding in parts of North Dakota. red tide problems in New England that are shutting down shellfish producers who depend on the sea for their livelihoods. and an extended drought in the West and parts of the South. including Arkansas. During this uncertain time. it is important to ensure that our agricultural producers stay in business. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2969,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090071475,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the distinguished chairman. I say that the practice of the committee chairman of treating himself equally with anyone else should be noted and praised. I commend it to the rest of the committee chairmen and ranking members as well. I thank the chairman for his remarks. I apologize for the late moment and also the absence of a score. I had received -a score today on a broader amendment. which was $2 million for this coming fiscal year 2006. I was asked to restrict the amendment. I believe. quite confidently. when the score is obtained. it will be less than that $2 million. ","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":965,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090071597,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank my distinguished colleagues for yielding. In fiscal year 2005 and prior fiscal years. the subcommittee has included $250.000 for a program that provides training. business coaching. and cost share assistance to new agricultural businesses on the Island of Molokai. that have- the promise of being sustainable and beneficial to this predominantly Native Hawaiian community. In 2004. the program allowed past grantees who had demonstrated success in their businesses to apply for expansion and enhancement funding. As a result. eight businesses were able to strengthen their operations through diversification. value added treatment. and improved marketing. As a result of the program. increased quantities and percentages of local produce and value added products are available in Molokais grocery stores. farmers markets and other venues. In addition. the marketing of sweet potatoes and papayas has continued to expand to the Island of Maui and on the mainland. In the coming year. the emphasis will be on firsttime farm businesses. Mini startup grants will be instituted to prepare new applicants for possible September 21. 2005 . CO projects in the future. While this program is showing success in an economically depressed part of my State. the need for this program continues. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL INOUYE","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1827,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090071613,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Today a democratically elected President and Parliament chart a new course for that country. The turnout rate in this historic parliamentary election is estimated to exceed the typical turnout rate in our own country for our socalled offyear congressional elections. that is. when there is no Presidential election on the ballot. This follows the remarkable trend set last October when Afghanistan elected Hamid Karzai in its first Presidential election ever. also with a higher turnout rate than we had in this country a month later. I do not think Americans have to worry about terrorist threats or deadly bombing attacks on their way to the polls. but obviously the people in Afghanistan were certainly concerned that that might happen. In fact. though there was some scattered violence. the Afghan police and army did an excellent job on the whole of securing the polls and thwarting these wouldbe terrorists. For instance. the police defused a large cache of explosives in MazariSharif. In the western town of Helmand. an attack on a polling station ended with the deaths of two men suspected to be remnant Taliban members. Police even caught two terrorists attempting to smuggle explosives hidden in a pen into a polling station. Turnout among women was high as well. We do not have the official results yet. but President Karzai claims it should account for about 40 to 60 percent of the total turnout:- This is Afghanistan we are talking about. ","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3150,"word_count":241}
{"speech_id":1090071614,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There is only one way to report this story: as a victory in the war on terror. I ask all of our colleagues to join me in congratulating the Afghan people for taking this giant step toward becoming a free democratic state. justly governed under the rule of law. I ask them to join me in pledging the full support of the United States as Afghanistan continues to root out the last vestiges of its extremist terrorist element and moves forward into its democratic future. And I ask them to join me in declaring that whatever the final outcome of the elections. the true winners are the Afghan people. and the people of the region who can look to the Afghan exercise in democracy this past weekend as a model of success.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1856,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090071615,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. McDermott gained nearly 30 years of experience in publishing and media. He also served as the executive vice president and chief executive officer of the American Institute of Architects and on the board of the American Architectural Foundation. In addition to his many professional accomplishments. Mr. McDermott possesses a lifelong love of politics instilled by his family. Politics were routinely discussed around the dinner table. and Mr. McDermott worked as a volunteer on Senator Paul Douglass last campaign before he could even vote. Mr. McDermott is also. an avid hunter and fisherman and plans to spend his retirement expanding his extensive. decoy collection. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1402,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090071621,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I strongly believe that we must also move similar legislation in the Senate. In the months ahead. I look forward to working with Senator KENNEDY as we continue our work in passing a hate crimes bill.","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":862,"word_count":36}
{"speech_id":1090071622,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I. rise today to honor our former colleague Claiborne Pell. with whom I had the pleasure of serving in this body for 16 years. I have always felt a special affinity for Senator Pell. Both of our fathers served in Congress. We represented neighboring States in the Northeast. We sat together on three committees and share many of the same views and principles about our great Nation and its role in the world. And. he was one of the few Senators who served with both my father and me. So it is with great personal pleasure that I come to the floor to honor him today. Senator Pell accomplished important things during his Senate career. each one of which could have defined a successful tenure for any one Senator. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4481,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090071625,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In 1918. the town suffered a devastating fire. however. the town rebuilt and continued to grow. Today. Alexander remains a proud community with an economy bolstered by farming. ranching. and oil extraction. In the citys park. hamburgers are served every summer Saturday evening. The town is also home to the Lewis and Clark Trail Museum. which is housed in the old school house. Each room in the museuun highlights a different and unique view of the areas history. Mr. President. I ask the Senate to join me in congratulating Alexander. ND. and its residents on their first 100 years and in wishing them well through the next century. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1754,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090071629,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"A material witness must be brought before a judge \"without unnecessary delay\"-a term that has been strictly interpreted when applied to the criminally accused. The initial appearance must be in the district of arrest or an adjacent district. At the initial appearance. the judge must inform the witness of the basis for his arrest and of his right to counsel. The judge must also allow the witness a reasonable opportunity to consult with counsel. The judge must then determine whether the witness should be released or detained pending the taking of his testimony. Third. the bill establishes clear procedures for material witness detention hearings. Current law provides- that material witnesses shall be treated in accordance with 18 U.S.C. 3142. which governs the release or detention of defendants pending trial. Section 3142. however. contains many factors that are not applicable to material witnesses. For example. courts have held that a material witness may not be detained on the basis of dangerousness. (See Awadallah. 349 F.3d at 63 n.15.) The bill clarifibs that in detention hearings for material witnesses. flight risk is the only relevant factor. A court shall order a material witness detained only if no condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure the appearance of the witness as required. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11201,"word_count":210}
{"speech_id":1090071638,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"LA. $8.54 hour for truckdrivers in Mobile County. AL. And Federal spending postHurricane Katrina should be lifting workers up. not forcing them into a race to the bottom. I urge the Congress to reverse the Presidents decision and to stand with the hardworking men and women of the gulf coast as they rebuild their towns and their lives.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3290,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090071691,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. on Thursday. September 22. I further ask consent that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate then resume consideration of H.R. 2744. the Agriculture appropriations bill. provided further that the Senate proceed to a vote in relation to the Dayton amendment No. 1844. to be followed by a vote in relation to the Jeffords amendment No. 1796. with no amendments in order to the amendments prior to the vote. I further ask consent that following those votes. the bill be read a third time and the Senate.proceed to a vote on passage of the bill. with no intervening action or debate. I also ask consent that following the vote. the Senate insist on its amendment. request a conference with the House. and the Chair then be authorized to appoint conferees on the part of the Senate.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BENNETT","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1029,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090071764,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It certainly is not acceptable to me.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2224,"word_count":7}
{"speech_id":1090071772,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. I am pleased that the Senate has approved H.R. 2744. the fiscal year 2006 appropriations bill providing vital funding for the Department of Agriculture. Food and Drug Administration and related agencies. While I may not support every provision. this bill provides important funding to support our Nations farmers. rural communities. and conservation programs along with providing nutritious food for seniors. children and those in need. I am pleased that the Appropriations Committee rejected a number of administration proposals to reduce or eliminate important programs such as funds for research at our landgrant colleges and universities. conservation partnerships through resource conservation and development councils. and funds to combat Johnes disease in our dairy industry. All of these programs were funded at a minimum of last years levels instead of receiving drastic cuts. After years of delay. I was encouraged that the Senate bill included funds to implement mandatory countryoforigin labeling. COOL. for meat. vegetables and fruits. Countryoforigin labeling is vitally important to enable our farmers to show their pride in the quality of their products. from ginseng to cheese to cranberries. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1537,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090071776,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. every morning. farmers and ranchers across America wake up to do the hard work of growing crops. tending livestock. and providing food that is safe. abundant and affordable. Over 2 million American farms grow the food that feeds the world. And today we will pass. with near unanimous support. the Agriculture appropriations bill. which helps Americas farmers to be the most productive in the world. The Agriculture appropriations bill funds $100.7 billion for a wide array of Government agencies. Roughly 80 percent of the unding in this bill is for those programs referred to as \"entitlements.\" That includes farm price support programs and funding for lowincome. domestic food assistance programs such as food stamps. school lunch. and other child nutrition programs. The portion of this bill we refer to as \"discretionary\" includes such activities as rural development. rural housing. agriculture research. FDA. and most conservation programs. That portion represents $17.3 billionless than a 3 percent increase over this years funding. Later today. the Department of Agriculture will release their most current estimates on the agriculture damages caused by Hurricane Katrina. Preliminary estimates indicate that the loss of agricultural production in the area might be less than $1 billion. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4748,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090071812,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am very pleased to join my chairman. Senator HUTCHISON. in recommending the 2006 Military Construction. Veterans Affairs. and related agencies appropriations bill to the Senate. I thank Senators COCHRAN and BYRD for their leadership and assistance in guiding this bill through the committee and to the floor. I very much appreciate the support of our leaders in allowing us to take up this bill at this time before we have completed action on the Defense authorization or appropriations bills. I recognize this is not the normal order of business. Witli the clock running and a large amountof unfinished business facing the Senate. it is imperative we press on with these bills as quickly as possible. With one disastrous hurricane behind us and another bearing down on Texas. we all recognize there is no time to dawdle. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1385,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090071813,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let me say thank you for those kind words. I appreciate them. I know the Senator from California has lived through some very tough earthquakes. We appreciate the response Congress is giving to the many needs of the victims of Hurricane Katrina and possibly those who will be in a similar situation from Rita. Thank you very much.","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":344,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090071814,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Once again. Hurricane Katrina has demonstrated the vital mission of the Guard and Reserve forces to respond to disasters at home and the important backup role played by components of our ActiveDuty Forces. As any experienced military member will state. infrastructure is the key to readiness. Our troops cant train or deploy effectively without the infrastructure necessary to support their mission. This bill provides important funding for military infrastructure needs. including family housing. As the chairman mentioned in the privatization of a number of new projects. those needs will only increase as a result of the impact of Hurricane Katrina on a number of facilities and installations in Mississippi and Louisiana. We must be prepared to meet those emerging requirements and others we may yet face. without slowing down the progress we are making toward addressing the backlog of military construction requirements nationwide. I suggest that a necessary place for some of this will be the next emergency supplemental rather than. hopefully. amendments to this bill. Finally. this bill includes necessary funding to implement the 2005 base realignment and closure process and to continue the environmental cleanup from the previous BRAC rounds. This is very important to me. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6277,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090071816,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I commend. the Department. especially. for the way they have handled the emergencies that have faced them. When Katrina was threatening the New Orleans and Mississippi areas. they moved the patients out of harms way before they were threatened. Before anyone said they had to. they -were calling the families of patients. explaining the options and telling the families where the patients were being moved. Records were moved to safe locations. Emergency stockpiles of prescription drugs were routed to the areas where the patients were going. It was truly a phenomenal success. Not one veteran who was in the care of the Veterans Administration was in any way harmed because of this evacuation and this service. Every single veteran had medication- dispensed on time. Special arrangements were made to deliver benefit payments to those who did not have an address or a bank where they were. Victims who were not veterans were also helped. ","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3680,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090071842,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"These additional funds would also augment Vet Centers in underserved rural communities and would expand the capacit? for these centers to provide readjustment services to those veterans who may struggle- with obtaining access because they live in a remote area. Surviving family members of those servicemen who paid the ultimate price. will be able to find solace through the Vet Centers bereavement counseling program. Vet Centers would be able to hire more bereavement counselors to provide counseling for those who must endure the pain of losing a family member in combat. Finally. I point out that in his testimony to the Committee on Veterans Affairs this past June. VA Secretary Nicholson stated that only $8 million would be required for additional services that were already being implemented by the Vet Center program. such as providing additional outreach workers. We need to make sure that these services are secure by providing the funds necessary to implement them. The requested amount would do that and go even a bit further to support tl4s invaluable program. Mr. President. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2416,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090071955,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. Senator AKAKA is en route to the floor to make some final comments on his amendment prior to the vote. With that in mind. and that vote occurring at 3:10. I will take 5 minutes or less to debate in opposition to the Akaka amendment. I do this with great difficulty because the Senator is proposing additional funding in an area that we have already concentrated on. both in the appropriating subcommittee and in the authorizing committee. He is asking for an additional $10 million in the budget for the Veterans Readjustment Counseling Service. This would represent a $14 million increase for the service just this year and that is an increase of almost 15 percent in its budget. I agree the Veterans Readjustment Counseling Service does great work. They have taken on some additional rbles. including the Global War on Terrorism Outreach Program. but this bill already provides a generous $4 million increase for this function and more broadly provides over $3 billion for veterans health care programs. ","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3516,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090071957,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Vet centers are most likely the VA entity which will be first accessed by a returning soldier. History tell us that returning soldiers are more likely to seek treatment at a storefront vet center rather than a VA hospital or clinic. I also remind my colleagues that if we reach returning soldiers with less serious readjustment issues. we might be able to stave off the more debilitating PTSD. This is a simple choice that we make at this time. I thank my chairman for his comments. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent to add Senator JEFFORDS and Senator KERRY as cosponsors of my amendment.","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2028,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090071966,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I think it is a bill everyone can support. It certainly goes further in terms of meeting our veterans needs than any veterans bill has ever done. including the supplemental $3.2 billion. because the Secretary of Veterans Affairs came to us and said our models are wrong. we need more money. and we have supplied that money on a bipartisan basis. I recommend this to my colleagues.","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1167,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090071969,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I appreciate the chairman yielding. Let me say to the chairman and ranking member. as the chairman of the authorizing Committee of Veterans Affairs. how much we appreciate the cooperative way in which we have Worked together to get these numbers right. Both Senators have spoken very clearly to that effort and to the unprecedented amount of money that has flowed to veterans at this time. which we think is necessary and appropriate. I thank the Senator for that due diligence.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":478,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090072027,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"NV. I hope you.will join with me in honoring the outstanding achievements of Patricia Lynch and the selfless life she chose.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1897,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090072030,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to speak about the need for hate crimes legislation. Each Congress. Senator KENNEDY and I intioduce hate crimes legislation that would add new categories to current hate crimes law. sending a signal that violence of any kind is unacceptable in our society. Likewise. eaph Congress I have come to the floor to highlight a separate hate crime that has occurred in our country. On January 16. 2005. a man was attacked with broken glass bottles by two men outside his home in Manhattan. NY. The apparent motivation for the attack was the mans sexual orientation. I believe that the Governments first duty is to defend its citizens. to defend them against the harms that come out of hate. ","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":895,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090072036,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to talk about a bill I am introducing called the Social Security Guarantee Act. The reason I am introducing this piece of legislation is in an attempt to try. at a time when it looks like the Social Security issue here in Congress has ground down to almost a haltalthough I think there is still an opportunity. as we hear. the House may pass something to move the ball forwardI want to.put forth an idea I think would be helpful as something we can get done that should have. I hope. bipartisan support and would create a sense of security and certainly reduce anxiety among those at or near retirement with respect to any future changes to Social Security. The Social Security Guarantee Act is a very simple concept. It says if you were born before 1950. this law now creates a right for you to the benefits that you have been promised. Now. you may say: Why is that a new thing? Well. believe it or not. there is a Supreme Court case on this point that says Social Security recipients have no right to the benefits they have been promised under the law. This would create such a right for people born before 1950. Now. why do I pick out 1950? Because in all the legislation that has been introduced in the Congress. the statements made by the President. and even statements made by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. we have all agreed that people who are at or near retirement should not be. subject to change. for a couple of reasonis. not the least of which is there is money there to pay those benefits. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6341,"word_count":287}
{"speech_id":1090072040,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He issued a proclamation saying that those who get Federal contracts for rebuilding will not have to pay workers the prevailing wage. This is unfair to working men and women. It is not right. The tragedy of Hurricane Katrina should not be used as an excuse to take advantage of working people. Therefore. to ensure that workers in the region affected by the hurricane are paid the regions prevailing wages. I am introducing a second version of the Hurricane K@trina Reconstruction and Displaced Worker Assistance Act of 2005. It will still give priority to those companies who hire displaced workers. but it will also ensure that all workers are paid the prevailing wage. I urge my colleagues to support the bill.","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1479,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090072047,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Environment and Public Works be authorized to meet on Thursday. September 22. 2005. at 2:30 p.m.. to conduct a hearing on the following pending nominations: Environmental Protection Agency. George M. Gray. of Massachusetts. to be an assistant administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Edward McGaffigan. Jr.. of Virginia. to be a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the term of 5 years expiring June 30. 2010. Department of the Interior. ","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":953,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090072081,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I rise in support of the Indian .Fianancing Act Amendments of 2005. originally introduced as a component of the Native American Omnibus Act of 2005. Im pleased to be joined by the vice chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. BYRON D5RGAN. on this bill. The Indian financing act amendments. amends the Indian finance act of 1974 to clarify that nonprofit tribal entities are eligible for the BIA Loan Guaranty program. The amendments also raises the limit on the amount of loans to $1.5 billion from $500 million. I look forward to working with my respective colleagues on both sides of the aisle to enact this legislation.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":652,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090072086,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"John Kluge. one of the most patriotic and.generous philanthropists I have known. and looks forward to its continued success in supporting the worlds greatest library in the years ahead.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1959,"word_count":29}
{"speech_id":1090072124,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the Senate does continue to make steady progress on the business of the American people. We are hard at work funding the basic obligations of Government. Today. we passed the Military Construction Appropriations Act. The Military Construction appropriations bill funds the entire Department of Veterans Affairs along with the construction of all five branches. It provides for cancer research and funding for our VA hospitals. along with covering the cost of our treasured national monuments. I congratulate Senators HUTCHISON and FEINSTEIN for accomplishing consideration and passage of that bill in a single day. It took the cooperation of a lot of Members and proves that we can go quickly through the appropriations process. Again. I thank both of them. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3513,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090072135,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. America must begin to take care of things here at home. to protect the people from hurricanes and floods. to protect the people from the oil and gas monopolies. America must begin to take care of things at home to protect Social Security from privatization. to have the wealthy pay a fair share of the taxes. America must begin to. take care of things at home. to have an exit strategy from Iraq to bring our troops home. America must begin to take care of things at home to rebuild the gulf coast. to rebuild the American economy. to rebuild hope in the future. to end fear and uncertainty. Who will protect the American people if we do not? We will assure and must assure their education. jobs. living wages. health care. and retirement security. If we do not. who will?","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":785,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090072142,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"A Harrahs spokesman in this mornings Post is quoted as saying. \"Were actually scratching our heads. We cant ever remember an instance of being offered a tax credit. ever!\" Economists in Mississippi say it is not needed. \"The casinos dont need this. If they are eligible. that would be a complete waste of money.\" from an economist from Ole Miss in The Washington Post today. It is outrageous with budget deficits growing to historic levels. tax breaks for the gambling -industry does not make sense. The Bush administration. I will tell you. if this is in their package. this will be a disgrace and the American people Will turn against this administration. Give the money to the poor. the needy. the vulnerable. and not to the gambling interests that already have special insurance policies for this.","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1468,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090072146,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It gives systematically. economically and- socially disadvantaged children the head start that potentially allows for the navigation and negotiation of hurdles in lifes race that they may not otherwise have been able to maneuver without. It is at this very point in the lives of our children that they are introduced to varying themes and concepts that will shape them intothe individuals they will become. Several of my Democratic colleagues from the Congressional Black Caucus have designed excellent amendments designed to broaden the scope of readiness for Americas disadvantaged children. The gentleman from Illinois had an amendment and it asked for the recruitment of African American and Latino men to become Head Start teachers. This was made in order. The gentleman from Mississippis","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2729,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090072147,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. If I could just make a note of the amendments that were not made in order. of the 12. four were defeated in committee. So they did have a hearing in which they were discussed. Two were not germane. One was withdrawn in the committee. One was withdrawn before our Committee on Rules. Two dealt with issues that can be dealt with in other bills and should be dealt with in other bills. One was combined and given preference to a similar bill. and one was a policy issue that we simply said would not be there because it would take money away from the training of teachers. in contradiction with what the bill was trying to do. ","speaker_name":"ROB BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":821,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090072155,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the comments of the gentlewoman from Minnesota. I understand her feelings about not being allowed to have an amendment placed in order on the floor. I have been in that situation myself several times. I would simply point out that the particular amendm6nt to which the gentlewoman refers was offered in the committee itself.and was defeated on a bipartisan vote in that committee. It was one of the concepts that we thought was not necessary to replow all old ground over and over again. and that is probably one of the reasons why this particular amendment was not placed in order by the Committee on Rules. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"ROB BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":681,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090072168,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would hope that this is. a rule that all Members could support. We may disagree. and in fact I disagree .with a couple of the amendments. but I agree with most of them on both sides. I think there are some very good. positive suggestions. and I know sometimes we complain about closed rules. whatever. but this is certainly a rule that is not closed. that is going to allow a lot of opportunity for debate. I have listened to part of the debate here on the faithbased that is going to -go on all day. I suppose. There is disagreement with respect to that. which is unfortunate because it detracts from what is a piece of legislation that otherwise we could all support. But on the other hand. there are strong views on that and I think they have a right to be recognized. and a vote needs to be taken on that. too. I would like to say that things have changed a great deal with how we look at Head Start. In fact. in some ways it was a poverty program when it began. It was basically a social service program to a great degree. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CASTLE","chamber":"H","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2219,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090072172,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So essentially going back to my basic argument. since 1964 we have recognized this right of the religious organizations that are involved in these faithbased activities. We cannot turn back actually from what we did in 1964 by trying to impose new rules that will simply impair their capacity to handle what they are handling today in such an able way.","speaker_name":"LUIS FORTUNO","chamber":"H","state":"PR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":1579,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090072175,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I believe one of the major issues here is that faithbased organizations are al\"lowed to maintain and sustain their mission. It does not mean that the people that they hire are discriminated against on the basis of what religion they have. what their ethnicity might be. but rather simply the ability to hire people who share their common beliefs. who share their sense of mission. We certainly saw this in the recent rescue mission and aid issues down with Hurricane Katrina. where a great number of faithbased groups were the most efficient groups that we saw on the ground there. And. certainly. they should have the right to bring those people in who share their beliefs. even though they may have been receiving in some ways Federal dollars. The same thing is true with Head Start. People must be hired in a way -that they do share a common sense of mission. a common sense of purpose. Otherwise. these organizatiofls would be totally disrupted in what they are trying to get done.","speaker_name":"THOMAS OSBORNE","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1893,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090072178,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We are talking about allowing religious organizations simply to be able to provide the same services and programs as nonreligious organizations. Our children deserve the very best education. and if a religious organization is going to provide that education better. then we must not stand in the way. Are we going to deny many of the poorest and less fortunate children the opportunity to learn in these early childhood education programs simply because it is a church that is administering it? This is about our children. and denying them exemplary services just because the organization providing them happens to be a religious one is just cruel. I think we all know firsthand the impact that our churches have and how much they contribute to our communities across the Nation. And we all know how much they give back to their communities. This Nation is second to none in charitable giving and at helping others in need. This is not just a religious tenet. but an American principle. We need to support this rule.","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2173,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090072180,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In fact. former President Bill Clinton signed four laws that explicitly allow faithbased groups to staff on a religious basis when they receive Federal -funds. They should not be discriminated against. If we tell faithbased groups they cannot hire on a faith basis in order to receive Federal funds. then we will force those organizations out of providing these services. Some examples of laws that we have passed that allow for faithbased groups to continue to hire on their continued basis are the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunities Reconciliation Act. or Welfare Reform of 1996. the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Act of 1998. the Community Service Block Grant Act. which everyone has bebn very supportiveof. as well as the Community Renewal Tax Relief Act of 2000. We have had debates before regarding faithbased groups being involved in government contracting. It would be a huge error for us to exempt the most caring. conscious. and helpful organizations. especially from Head Start contracts. Those groups should not be forced to hire anybody off the street simply because they have a Federal contract. They should hire the best people and the ones who are most capable of carrying out their mission. The very reason why many of these organizations will win the contracts is because they have the best track record of service and results. What more important place is there for us to care about results than in Head Start? I think it is important for us. as Members of the United States House of Representatives. to be very careful as we move forward on this bill. ","speaker_name":"MELISSA HART","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3035,"word_count":268}
{"speech_id":1090072185,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They have to do it with their own money.","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":768,"word_count":9}
{"speech_id":1090072205,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Indian Head Start is funded at approximately 2.9 percent of the Head Start budget. H.R. 2123 would establish a 3.5 setaside for Indian Head Start. allowing programs to benefitfrom approximately $45 million in additional resources. and I want to thank particularly the gentleman from Ohio","speaker_name":"DALE KILDEE","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1263,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090072207,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Finally. we are asking early childhood providers in a State. including Head Start. preschool and child care. to come together to identify ways to integrate school readiness initiatives across the State. As I have said. I believe in the program. particularly because of how the program helps children later in their academic lives. Despite these stories. we have also heard many stories of pro. grams in which funds were being diverted away from this purpose. The GAO recently released a report that warned the financial control system in the Federal Head Start early childhood program is flawed and failing to prevent multimilliondollar financial abuses that cheat poor children. taxpayers. and lawabiding Head Start operators. The GAO made a couple of recommendations on how we can strengthen the oversight structure to prevent abuses and protect good grantees. It recommended that increased competition in the program could help weed out poorly performing grantees and ensure highquality services are available to children and families. In response to the GAOs recommendations. we are increasing the competitive nature of current program. The competition requirements in the School Readiness Act will help to alleviate these programs. but more importantly. will drive program improvement across the board. program improvements that will ultimately help thousands of children nationwide. which should always be our goal. This is an important and a very popular program. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CASTLE","chamber":"H","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6940,"word_count":225}
{"speech_id":1090072209,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It showed that caregiver education and training were among the strongest predictors of quality in programs for preschoolers. That is why it is a good thing that this bill has in it a provision that half of the Head Start teachers have to hold bachelors degrees within a few years. That is an admirable goal. We talked in committee about the fact that it is necessary for us to try to help that population of teachers be able to afford that. In Massachusetts. my State. they make less than half the salaries of kindergarten teachers. The national average is almost as bad. I congratulate the chairman for working with us on the Higher Education Act to make sure there is a loan forgiveness program. $5.000 for 5 years commitment to teach early childhood education. that will help with this particular issue. Significant improvements -have been made to this Head Start bill. That is why it was unanimous approval essentially in committee. I am afraid some of the recommendations that are being put forward in the amendments here today are spectacular efforts to drive a wedge between the parties on this. to make it a lessthanunanimous bill. ","speaker_name":"JOHN TIERNEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2596,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090072211,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the chairman for yielding me the time. I rise in strong support of H.R. 2123. the School Readiness Act of 2005. As a former Head Start volunteer. I know firsthand the tremendous befiefits this program has delivered for children. but never did I think that summer. the first year of Head Starts existence. that I would one- day be a part of the Congress in reauthorizing Head Start. During the full committee markup for this legislation. I was pleased to join with my colleagues. the gentleman from Pennsylvania and the gentleman from Maryland . in offering an amendment that will provide some commonsense flexibility for Head Start centers to use the open slots for the early Head Start program. Mr. Chairman. the Committee on Education and the Workforce learned that more Head Starteligible children ages 3 to 5 are participating in State prekindergarten programs because there are more of them. leaving some of the Head Start programs with unused slots. ","speaker_name":"JUDY BIGGERT","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2135,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090072224,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have seen it in response to Hurricane Katrina. We have seen it elsewhere. Nor is it about whether faithbased Head Start programs should receive Federal funds. They are receiving those today. The issue is very simple. The question is whether we should eliminate the protections in current law against discrimination based upon religion or whether we should preserve those protections. The Boustany amendment would give a green light to religious discrimination. Just imagine if you are a highly qualified early education teacher. who is applying for a Head Start program that is expanding to take care of children who are victims of Hurricane Katrina. You go down and they say. I am sorry. you are the wrong religion. ","speaker_name":"CHRIS VAN HOLLEN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2220,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090072252,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Head Start is a bright light for families and children who need an extra boost into the future. It is a program that demonstrates that we care about all families within our communities. I cannot support a bill that discriminates and ignores equality protections.","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1414,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090072253,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"\"If we do not provide appropriate compensation for our prekindergarten teachers. they will leave the prekindergarten classroom.\" The School Readiness Act needs to provide Head Start programs with the financial ability to recruit and retain our Nations brightest teachers to educate our Nations most disadvantaged. I am also adamantly opposed to the Boustany amendment. If a Head Start program is being administered by a faithbased institution and it is receiving federal funding for the program. it must not be permitted to discriminate on religious grounds when making employment decisions. It is as simple as that. Head Start teachers and workers not only provide cognitive development services to children. they help in the development of childrens character. Most preschoolers have a strong sense of right from wrong. This will be setting a confusing exaWple if we authorize discrimination of any kind. This amendment is opposed by every credible antidiscrimination an civil rights protection organization. and I ask my colleagues to oppose it. It was once said that \"Education is the great equalizer in a democratic society. and if people are not given access to a quality education. then what we are doing is creating an underclass of people who will ultimately challenge our very way of life.\" While I recognize the shortcomings of the School Readiness Act. it is a worthwhile effort that will help our lowincome children by working to level a very unlevel playing field. so they will be prepared and successful in school.","speaker_name":"JAMES MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4893,"word_count":245}
{"speech_id":1090072259,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Head Start has long lasting effects on those most in need. Head Start graduates are more likely to graduate from high school and less likely to need special education. repeat a grade. or commit crimes in adolescence. . This bill improves the program in several key ways: It increases funding for underserved children: for the children of migrant and seasonal workers. it will allow approximately 10.000 more children to leave the agricultural fields and enter the classroom. it expands the Native America Head Start programs. and it also works towards ensuring that parents can get information in their native language. when possible. This bill was passed unanimously out of the Committee on Education and the Workforce in May. It is important that we pass this legislation as a bipartisan effort to. help American youth. Unfortunately. the Boustany amendment would jeopardize this important bill by al.lowing for employment discrimination based on religion. That kind of partisan politics has no place in a bill that is about increasing educational opportunities for our children. Many of our Latino parents and children already face a number of barriers in accessing the Head Start program. We must not add additional barriers or sacrifice their futures. It would place tens of thousands of already atrisk children in danger of losing their Head Start teachers. ","speaker_name":"JOE BACA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":43.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2884,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090072261,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. after years of hard work on both sides of the aisle to create a Head Start reautho.rization bill that treats our Nations neediest children fairly. it is with a heavy heart that I must oppose the final passage of H.R. 2123. Head Start is designed to ensure that all childrenregardless of their familys income. race. or ethnic backgroundare able to enter kindergarten ready to learn. The Boustany amendment. which promotes discrimination on the basis of religion for faithbased organizations. destroys the principle of fairness that I believe is central and crucial to the success of Head Start. It is for this reason that I cannot support final passage of the bill. I have long been a supporter of the Head Start program because each and every year I witness the dramatic positive impact that early intervention services have on childrens lives in my congressional district. My district includes many children who are in desperate need of Head Start services. especially those Hispanic children who depend on Head Start services to learn critical early literacy skills. These skills are doubly important now to meet the rigorous requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. Latino children currently make up more than onethird of all eligible Head Start children. and the Los Angeles County Office of Education is home to the largest Head Start program in. the Nation. serving more than 24.000 children. As a member of the. ","speaker_name":"LUCILLE ROYBAL-ALLARD","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":34.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4564,"word_count":238}
{"speech_id":1090072283,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 1 minute. Mr. Chairman. there was no testimony at any hearings about this subject. The only reference in the hearings. I believe. was actually on the Senate side from the deputy mayor of Memphis who complained that he did not have decisionmaking powers to make some changes that he wanted to make. but it was not financial abuse or financial waste. I have asked the committee staff. as well as the chairman. .to come up with an example. There is not an example. There are problems in the whole system. but mostly it is the grantees and the board that have been the problems. ","speaker_name":"MARK SOUDER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1312,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090072298,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"For all the programs success. we know that even the best teachers struggle with overwhelming class Sizes. particularly with young children. and Head Starts 10 to 1 ratio ofstudents to teachers in the classroom presents clear challenges in helping Head Start children gain the cognitive skills other children have. That is why this amendment. allowing Head Start centers to recruit and train college students as mentors. reading mentors for preschool children. is so needed. We all know the benefits of mentoring. whether it is after school. on weekends. or during the school day. mentoring programs change young peoples lives. There is a proven link between mentoring and reduced substance abuse later in life and improved academic achievement. And of course the benefits of mentoring are mutual. Some of the college student mentors in this initiative will even become Head Start teachers themselves some day. That is what we have seen in one program which deploys 2.100 college students who devote 15 hours per week during the school year to mentor Head Start students. That program is also a proven success. I want to be clear. my amendment would not replace the specialized work of Head Start teachers. There is no substitute for the work of a qualified. trained teacher. nor would anything in this amendment require local Head Start centers to offer mentoring programs. ","speaker_name":"ROSA DELAURO","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2427,"word_count":224}
{"speech_id":1090072305,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Jumpstart Hartford. in partnership with the University of Hartford. facilitates oneonone instruction with students from the University and young children from lowincome families","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1665,"word_count":23}
{"speech_id":1090072342,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I suggest to my colleagues that the amendment the gentleman from Wisconsin offers. he and I have worked together on this closely over the course of this year. I think it is a good amendment and would urge my colleagues to adopt it. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":296,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090072355,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. In conclusion. I know we all saw the pictures that were quite shocking in New Orleans. and many people were stunned by the level of poverty that we saw when the dikes and the levees broke. Much more was broken in that community and our communities. and that is. the education of our poorest children. No piece of legislation will do more. I think. in advancing the interests and the educational opportunities for our children than this legislation. So I thank the gentlewoman from California . I thank the gentleman from Ohio (Chairman BOERINER). the gentleman from Delaware . and others involved in moving this important piece of legislation forward. improving the quality and also improving the management. making certain with this amendment that every dollar goes towards the betterment of those disadvantaged in our society. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MICA","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":936,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090072361,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Before entering Congress. I taught for 20 years as a history -professor at San Diego State University. and I will tell my colleagues that. even at that level. the students who had been through Head Start as children owe that program a great deal for their getting through college. and they may not even have been able to get through high school without it. I was on the -San Diego school board for 4 years. where I watched children successfully matriculate into elementary schools from Head Start programs from all around our city. It was clear then. and remains equally clear today. that the work of Head Start plays an enormously significant role within our education community. Now. as we know. in this years reauthorization. Congress is implementing the strongest requirements for teacher qualifications and development in Head Starts history. Teachers will have to have more incoming experience and face more onthejob professional development than ever before. I commend the committee and I commend this Congress for taking that action. but we have to remember that. as we add these- more stringent requirements and more accountability and more professional development. we are going to have to fund the resources necessary to achieve that. In fact. we have to answer the question: Might we be pricing Head Start right out of the teaching market? Right now. teaching is a profession that has more openings than can be filled. When we drastically increase the work requirements without increasing the salary levels. there is a risk of running many successful and experienced teachers right out of the program. ","speaker_name":"BOB FILNER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":51.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4467,"word_count":265}
{"speech_id":1090072364,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. First. let me just say that I strongly support the Filner amendment. Actually. it is interesting to hear some of these amendments. because they would apply to education in general and not just to Head Start. and I think this is one that falls into that category. It is very important to understand qualifications. retention. and what is happening in that particular area. I think. as I know the gentleman from California is aware. but I think everybody needs to be aware of the fact that the underlying bill requires that at least 50 percent of all Head Start teachers nationwide have a baccalaureate or advanced degree in early childhood education or related field by September 30. 2011. And it also requires that within 3 years all Head Start teachers hired after the date of enactment of this act must have at least an associate degree in early childhood education or related field. or be enrolled in a program of study leading to an associate degree in early childhood education or related field within 3 years. These are signifieant steps. They will enhance the educational progress as far as Head Start is concerned. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CASTLE","chamber":"H","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1747,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090072366,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I want to thank the gentleman from California for offering this amendment and the chairman. the gentleman from Delaware for supporting it. We know the base bill increases teacher quality requirements. and we also know that we are not doing nearly enough to help Head Start programs hire and keep these more qualified teachers. So I support my colleagues interests and understanding oii making this happen.","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":419,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090072390,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"To now suggest. be-","speaker_name":"GEORGE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1339,"word_count":4}
{"speech_id":1090072393,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I think the point we are trying to make here is there is a lot of innovation that is underway in terms of bringing technology and other innovation to the whole idea of learning. When it comes to early childhood programs. the chance at a profit. I believe. could bring innovation technology to this entire sector. Nobody has asked me for it. I am not suggesting there is going to be a rush to come in with innovation. but without some opportunity at getting a return on your investment. will the innovation ever come? That is where I am willing to take the chance that new ideas. new innovations in terms of developing these children. could be very beneficial to the program.","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":688,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090072415,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is time to make good on the promise of this Nation that we are all created equal. that all children are entitled to a decent education. and that no one should ever have to decide between a job helping our children and their religious faith. No child was ever helped by governmentally funded and endorsed religious discrimination. That is not what this country is about. and it is not befitting of a nation dedicated to liberty and justice for all. I urge my colleagues to reject this amendment. to stand up for our values of religious equality.","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3292,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090072429,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. you can use whatever rhetoric you want. but at the end of the day. this amendment not only legalizes religious discrimination in America. it pays for that discrimination using American taxpayer dollars. It is disappointing to me. and I think to the vast majority of Americans. that on the same- day we are pleading with Iraqis to provide religious freedom to their citizens. the Republican leadership and this House. with this amendment. is saying it is okay to force.an American citizen to choose between his or her faith and his or her job. They are saying it is okay for American citizens to have to pass someone elses private religious test to qualify for a publicly funded job. I do not think most Americans. are going to think that is okay. I think they are going to be offended by -it. I think people of faith are going to be offended by the fact that some in this House think that groups have got to be able to discriminate based on religion in order to make their programs work. The fact is. this amendment supports and allows and subsidizes racial discrimination in job hiring. and no amount of rhetoric can deny that. I do not know how the majority can stand up and say it is okay to put up a sign. paid for by tax dollars. saying no Jews nor Catholics need apply here for a federally funded job. even though they might have a Ph.D. in education and 20 years of experience helping children get a head start in life. they can still put up that sign. I wonder what the majority is going to say and people think they are going to say the first time a Christian is denied a job by a Muslim group that has received $1 million in Federal funding to run a Head Start program and say. no Christians need apply here for a job. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS EDWARDS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2029,"word_count":325}
{"speech_id":1090072431,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. since 1965. Head Start has provided 22 million children. American children. with the education and health and social services to lead productive lives. It is the most successful school readiness program in the Nation. It has always received bipartisan support. I want to commend the chairman and the committee for producing a very good bill that reauthorizes Head Start so Americas children get the same type of investment that we have been providing Iraqi children. I find myself puzzled why you would take such good legislation and play politics with it when we can make progress. The rest of the country is looking at us and asking us to please put politics aside and put progress first. Do not divide Americans along religious lines. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2344,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090072432,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 3 minutes. Mr. Chairman. the previous speaker talked about how we brought this bill out of our committee and brought it to the House. with a unanimous vote out of the committee. 48 to nothing. One of the reasons that this language was not included in the original bill was to try to create a spirit of bipartisanship in moving the process along. But the American people elected us to come here and make decisions on their behalf. We are having a free and open debate about this issue. No one should denigrate the majority because -we want to have a debate and want to have a vote. We have had this debate many times in this House. ","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1716,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090072436,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. reclaiming my time. the point is. President Bill Clinton signed these laws into law. knowing that the language that we are offering today was included. What we have been trying to do in the Work Force Investment Act. the Community Services Block Grant Act. today in the Head Start Act. is bring some consistency to the Federal rules and regulations in terms of allowing faithbased providers to offer. services without having to give up their protections under the Civil Rights Act. Now. if you want to change the 1964 Civil Rights Act and say to religious organizations. you can have your exemption on hiring. unless youtake a Federal dollar. fine. Go have that debate in the Judiciary Committee. bring it out here. and we will vote on it. But this is not the forum to deny those organizations their own rights.","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":825,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090072441,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Chairman. I ask the members of this body. think before you vote yes on this. Think before you set a precedent that has Federal funding paying for discrimination based on religion.","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":962,"word_count":31}
{"speech_id":1090072442,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 30 seconds. What we are trying to do here is preserve the rights given to religious organizations under the 1964 Civil Rights Act. And for the Members who have been paying some attention to this. we know that Members on different sides of the aisle. and frankly it is on a bipartisan basis. have deeply held convictions about this. Clearly. we are not in real agreement.. But this is an issue that the House rehlly Should decide and the House should vote on. I am glad that we are having this debate once again. because the longer we have the debate. clearly. the evidence. is coming down that the winning side continues to prevail. Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":739,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090072443,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I do not know how much clearer this can be made. We keep having this circular debate on so many issues. I will just go back to the law one more time. We have mentioned over and over. title VII. Civil Rights Act. 1964. states specifically. and this is the verbiage. \"This subchapter shall not apply to an employer with respect to the employment of aliens outside any State. or to a religious corporation. association. educational institution. or society. with respect to the employment of individuals of a particular religion to perform work connected with the carrying on by such corporation. association. educational institution. or society of its activities.\" There is no way we can change this. This is the verbiage. This is the language. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS OSBORNE","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1093,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090072446,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. I will ngt vote for a bill that repeals civil rights protections. I will not vote for federally funded discrimination. It is unconscionable that Members of Congress would try to reverse the progress that we have made on civil rights in this country. What message are we sending to the rest of the world. including the newlyestablished democracies struggling to find a balance between religious freedom and civil liberties in their own laws and constitutions? Adopting the Boustany amendment will send our country in the wrong direction. This is just another example of where the Republican Leadership wants to take our country. and I hope all our citizens are watching carefully. I urge a \"no\" vote on the Boustany amendment.","speaker_name":"ELIJAH CUMMINGS","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5986,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090072489,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that in the engrossment of the bill . the Clerk be authorized to correct section numbers. punctuation. citations. and crossreferences and to make such other technical and conforming changes as may be necessary or appropriate to reflect the actions of the House in amending the bill.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":319,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090072505,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. there was thought that we might meet tomorrow. that is obviously not happening. It is my understanding Friday is on the schedule for next week. Can the gentleman tell me how likely it would be that Friday. while there for contingencies. the likelihood of our meeting on Friday? Does the gentleman have any thought on that? I yield to my friend.","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":357,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090072540,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Obviously. an investigation into the slow response by FEMA is warranted. an accurate. unbiased. independent investigation. not one that will be led by the Presidents own domestic security advisor or a partisan committee that was formed here in this Congress. Does that make you feel confident that the inquiry into this administrations performance in response to Katrina will be fair and accurate? Only a fool would allow the very people who botched the rescue efforts to be the ones to go back and determine what went wrong. what went right. and what lessons we have learned from this tragedy. People have died because of the inaction by their government. That much we certainly know is true. Now we must move forward with an investigation that is independent and one with subpoena power so that we can avoid the mistakes of Katrina. People have died. and we need to find out why. I know that if we do an investigation in. name only. then people will die again. and they will continue to lack confidence in their governments ability to help them in their time of need. People will die in Florida. People will die in Texas. People will die in States throughout the hurricane region ifwe do not learn from the lessons of Katrina and ensure that our failures are not repeated. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4178,"word_count":222}
{"speech_id":1090072542,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I found Specialist Tussant. gathered my gear. and made my way to the flight line to board the aircraft. When I arrived everyone was as sober as I. \"I prayed over the aircraft. received our mission briefing. and then we departed. Once arriving to the location of the unit. I found the fallen soldiers unit neatly and sharply in formation","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2258,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090072621,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Last week. I announced that we would have a vote today beginning approximately 5:30. Shortly. we expect to have that vote locked in by unanimous consent. We have about 24 nominations that are pending on the -Executive Calendar. We will likely set one of those pending nominations for a vote. As always. we will alert Members when that vote is set. Also. this week we need to address the continuing resolution as we end the fiscal year. We will continue working on the appropriations process following the vote on the Roberts nomination. The appropriations bill for the Defense Department will be reported this week. and we expect to quickly turn to that bill. Having said that. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1621,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090072625,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There are people voting no and people voting yes. but it has all been very respectful. The heavy lifting of this nomination took place within the committee when 18 members of that committee spent a tremendous amount of time reading reports. and then. of course. in recent days asking questions that they had worked on for days and days before asking the questions. So I want the record to be spread here with the fact that this shows how a legislative body should work. It doesnt mean everyone has to agree on the outcome. It just means you have to work in a respectful way to get to that outcome. We will have an outcome this week. I say through the Chair to my distinguished friend. the Republican leader. from all I have been able to determine on our side. we would be certainly able to vote sometime in the morning on Thursday. if that would be appropriate. We might be pushing the envelope a little bit to try to finish on Wednesday. But I think we could finish with ease on Thursday with the schedule that people have. I say that to my friend. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2114,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090072652,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to speak to the nomination of Judge John G. Roberts. Jr. to be the next Chief Justice of the United States of America. After a careful and considered review of his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. his overall record. and a personal meeting with Judge Roberts in July. I have concluded tlRat Judge John Roberts should be confirmed as the 17th Chief Justice of the United Staes. I first want to express my deepest gratitude to my good friend and colleague. Senator SPECTER. whoas Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committeewas extraordinary in leading the nomination process to fill the first Supreme Court vacancy in 11 years. the longest such interval since the administration of President James Monroe 181 years ago. Together with Ranking Member LEAHY. ","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7469,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090072660,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I come to the Chamber today to discuss the nomination of Judge John G. Roberts to be Chief Justice of the United States. Last week. the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nomination of Judge Roberts to be the next Chief Justice of the United States by a 13to5 margin. This came after weeks of exhaustive research by the Judiciary Committee and a thorough set of hearings. While I wish the White House would have been more cooperative during the process by releasing a more comprehensive set of documents relating to Judge Roberts work in the executive branch. I do believe the committee hearings were conducted in a fair and dignified manner. and I do have some understanding of where Judge Roberts judicial views fall within the political spectrum. After careful review of Judge Roberts testimony and the information prepared by the Judiciary Committee. I have come to the conclusion that Judge Roberts should be confirmed by the Senate to be Chief Justice of the U.S. ","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3599,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090072702,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. I rise today to honor SSG Tricia Lynn Jameson of Omaha. NE. SSG Tricia Lynn Jameson was a dedicated soldier serving in the National Guard for over 11 years. Originally born in Aurora. NE. she and her family moved to Omaha where Jameson became a 1989 graduate of Millard South High School. Jameson began her military career on July 11. 1994. joining the Army National Guard as a medic. Staff Sergeant Jameson was the epitome of a selfless individual. always giving a hand to others. During a mission to the Treybul border crossing on the IraqiJordan border on July 14. 2005. an improvised explosive device off the side of the road struck the M997 ambulance that she commanded. Staff Sergeant Jameson bravely lost her life in this attack. but she died as she lived. helping others no matter the risk to herself. as she was on her way to assist injured marines who had been wounded by an earlier device. ","speaker_name":"BEN NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1660,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090072710,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In 1994. the Judicial Conference concluded that the time was not ripe to permit cameras in the Federal courts. and rejected a recommendation of the Court Administration and Case Management Committee to authorize the photographing. recording. and broadcasting of civil proceedings in Federal trial and appellate courts. The Supreme Court is often the final arbiter of constitutional questions and represents the ultimate protection of individual rights and liberties. Allowing the public greater access to its public proceedings will allow Americans to evaluate for themselves the quality of justice in this country. and deepen their understanding of the work that goes on in the Court. By Mr. ENZI (for himself. Mr.","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3147,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090072715,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"By Mr. INHOFE (for himself. Mr.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2992,"word_count":6}
{"speech_id":1090072719,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to announce that the Committee on Indian Affairs has postponed the oversight hearing scheduled for Wednesday. September 28. 2005. at 2:30 p.m. in Room 485 of the Russell Senate Office Building. Those wishing additional information may contact the Indian Affairs Committee.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":300,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090072745,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it adjourn until 9:45 a.m. on Tuesday. September 27. I further ask that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate proceed to executive session to continue consideration of Calendar No. 317. John Roberts to be Chief Justice of the United States. I further ask unanimous consent that the time from 10 to 11 be under the control of the majority leader or his designee. the time from 11 to 12 be under the control of the Democratic leader or his designee. the time from 12 to 12:30 under majority control. 2:15 to 2:45 under majority control. 2:45 to 3:45. Democratic control. 3:45 to 4:45 under majority control. 4:45 to 5:45 under Democratic control. 5:45 to 6:45 under majority control. 6:45 to 7:45 under Democratic control. I further ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in recess from 12:30 to 2:15 to accommodate the weekly party luncheons.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1072,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090072747,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I wish to give people notification on both sides of the aisle given the fact that we have so much business going on and. in such a short period of time. so much to do. We will give Members as much advance notice as possible. but I do want to notify people that we will be voting on this Friday.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1342,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090072787,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I think there are few settled facts in this contentious capital of ours. but there is one fact of which I am completely certain: BILL FRIST is a decent. honest. hardworking man who puts public service before private gain. Mr. President. I yield the floor. and I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1657,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090072795,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I understand. too. that the people may amend the Constitution to overturn a Supreme Court decision with which they disagree. but that is difficult and cumbersome and therefore rare in American history. So the Supreme Court almost always has the last word in our Government. It can be. and has been. a momentous last word. with great consequences for our national and personal lives. Why then. in constituting the .Supreme Court. did our Nations Founders vary from their system of limited government. of checks and balances? I believe one reason is that they were wise enough to know that to be orderly. to function. a system must have a final credible point where disputation and uncertainty end and from which the work of society and government proceeds. But there was a- larger reason. I am convinced. consistent with their highest value. and that was their understanding. again from their knowledge of history and humanity. that freedom can just as easily be taken by a mob of citizens as it can by a tyrannical leader. So they created a Supreme Court that was to be insulated from the political passions of the moment and that would base its decisions not only on transitory public opinion but on the eternal values of our founding documentsthe Declaration. the Constitution. the Bill of Rightsand the rule of law. They did this. these Founders and Framers. not just by giving the Court such enormous power but also by giving its individual members life tenure. The President nominates Justices. the Senate advises and decides whether to consent. and then the Justice who is confirmed serves for as long as he or she lives or chooses to serve. absent the unusual possibly of impeachment. of course. limited in that service only by the Justices own conscience. .intellect. sense of right and wrong. understanding of what the Constitution and law demand. and by the capacity of the litigants who appear before the Court and by the Justices own colleagues on the Court to convince him or her. This gets to why I have described the Senates responsibility to act on nominations to the Supreme Court as perplexing. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11699,"word_count":359}
{"speech_id":1090072829,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Ciaig amendment which .is at the desk be agreed to. the bill. as amended. be read a third time and passed. the motion to reconsider be laid upon .the table. and that any statements relating to the measure be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"JOHN ISAKSON","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":278,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090072837,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent the amendment at the desk be agreed to. the bill. as amended. be read the third time and passed. the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. and any statements relating to the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"JOHN ISAKSON","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":250,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090072857,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to speak on the nomination of Judge John Roberts to be the Chief Justice of the United States and I am delighted to indicate my support for his confirmation. First. I would like to make a couple of preliminary comments about things that others have spoken to. one of which is the question of whether additional documents from the Solicitor Generals Office. the Department of Justice. should have been provided as part of a record to consider Judge Roberts. There were something like 80.000 pages of documents produced. That does not count the scores of pages of opinions he had written as a judge. speeches. law review articles. notes for courses he taught. and a whole variety of other documents he had writtenprobably more documents than had ever been produced for any other nominee in the history of the United States. I think it is inappropriate for Members to suggest that Judge Roberts somehow withheld documents. He withheld nothing. He had no documents in his possession that were relevant that were not turned over to the committee. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2924,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090072867,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I believe the rule of law protects the rights and liberties of all Americans against the tyranny of the majority and against the tyranny of the minority. It is the rule of law. as Theodore Roosevelt once said. that was very simply stated: \"No person beneath the law. no person above the law.\" Judge Roberts testified he became a lawyer. or at least developed as a lawyer. because he believes in the rule of law. He put it best when he said. if \"you believe in civil rights. you believe in environmental protection. whatever the area might be. believe in rights for the disabled. youre not going to be able or effectively to vindicate those rights if you dont have a place that you can go where you know youre going to get a decision based on the rule of law. . . So thats why I became a lawyer. to promote and vindicate the rule of law.\" It is this commitment to the rule of law we must expect in our judiciary. I remember in particular during the hearings the answer to a question I appreciated very much. One of the members of the Judiciary Committee was trying so hard to find out how Judge Roberts would rule--even leanin a case. so he gave an example. And he said: \"Now. what I am trying to find out is. will you vote for the little guy?\" Judge Roberts said: If the law is on the side of the little guy. I will vote for the little guy. If the law is on the side of the big guy. I will vote for the big guy. ","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8793,"word_count":275}
{"speech_id":1090072884,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Judge Roberts wrote several times on the question of Executive power. and he was supportive of broadly expanding the power of the President. Yet. relative to the power of the Executive to act in violation of an act of Congress. he said in his confirmation hearing: If its an area in which Congress has legitimate authority to act. that would restrict the executive authority. In 1981. while working in the Attorney Generals Office. Judge Roberts wrote: . Affirmative action program(s) required the recruiting of inadequately prepared candidates. During his confirmation hearings. however. Judge Roberts told the Judiciary Committee something that sounded quite different with respect to affirmative action. He stated: The court permits consideration of race or ethnic background. so long as its not sort of a makeorbreak test. He also stated: If a measured effort that can withstand scrutiny is affirmative action of that sort. I think its a very positive approach. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12022,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090072890,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Do we have the will? The technology is certainly here. It has been here since the early part of the last century and one country has already employed it and employed it very successfully. Tomorrow I am g6ing to come to the Senate floor again and I am going to talk about another technology that will help us move toward energy independence and to stop this dependence that has put us in such a vulnerable L~osition with regard to the defense interests of our country and certainly our economic interests. Look what has happened to Delta Airlines already. They were in trouble economically long before the price of fuel started shooting up. but that is just one consequence. Look at the ripple effects of the thousands of people who are going to be laid off. Look at the ripple effects of what this Congress is going to have to do as we consider the protection of those employees pensions. So here it goes.. It all comes back to one thing. and that is our dependence on an economy that runs on oil when we have known for years that we were going to reach the crisis point. It happened with Katrina. but it happened back in the early 1970s when there was an oil embargo out of the Middle East. ","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5661,"word_count":220}
{"speech_id":1090072898,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I rise for the first time as a U.S. Senator to exercise my constitutional obligation to provide advice and consent to a presidential nominee. for Chief Justice to the United States Supreme Court. It is a high privilege that carries with it great responsibility. The responsibility to ensure. in so much as is possible. that the nominee is not only of the highest intellect. integrity and character. but that he or she comes to the process with no personal ideological agenda. That the nominee recognizes there is no room in the business of judging for the personal policy ideals of individual judges and that the symbolism of the judges black robe to shield both the litigants and the country from the personal idiosyncrasy must be carried out in the discharge of the heavy responsibilities of the Court. Today I add my voice to that of my colleagues speaking in support of the nomination of John Roberts to become the 17th Chief Justice of the United States of America. Before the confirmation hearings began. we knew that John Roberts had impeccable academic qualifications to serve as the chief judicial and administrative officer of the highest. court in the land. Before the hearings began we knew that John Roberts had the wholehearted support of prior Solicitors General. in both Democrat and Republican administrations. We knew that he had the overwhelming support of a majority of members of the District of Columbia bar where he practiced and we knew that he received the highest possible rating from the American Bar Association. ","speaker_name":"MEL MARTINEZ","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9333,"word_count":261}
{"speech_id":1090072907,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the RECORD a recent article from Petroleum News which is entitled \"Saudi Oil Shock Ahead.\" in which Matthew R. Simmons discusses the relative importance today of oil and gas exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and discusses the valuable role this area can play in our national energy policy.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":364,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090072908,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"On behalf of all Nevadansand indeed All AmericansI offer my deepest condolences to the Flynn and Stewart families. They have paid the ultimate price for their country. and we are forever indebted to them. It was John and Patricks mission to keep us safe. and they performed -this mission with honor. Its never easy when one of our soldiers dies. but we can seek small comfort in the fact that their sacrifice will never be forgotten. Its because of the bravery of these individuals and others\" like them that we are free today. This morning. Id like to also remember the hundreds and hundreds of brave men and women from Nevada who are serving this country in Iraq. Afghanistan. and even in devastated regions of Qur own country. My thoughts are with these soldiers. and I continue to pray for their safety.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1286,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090072919,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Lung and Blood Institute at the NIH. authorizing $250 million over five years to fund PH research. Additional funding would help researchers further understand PH and develop new treatment options for the illness. Second. the legislation would establish \"Centers of Excellence\" which would focus on PH research and education efforts for both health professionals and the general public. One of the greatest tragedies of PH is that it often goes undiagnosed. Most Americans have never heard of PH and do not know that symptoms such as shortness of breath. fatigue. and dizziness are common indicators of the illness. Lastly. the legislation establishes a data system and clearinghouse at the National Heart. Lung and Blood Institute that would disseminate information on PH to the general public in order to facilitate more accurate and timely diagnosis. Since my first days in Congress. I have been fighting to make sure women dont get left out or left behind when it comes to their health. From womens inclusion in clinical trials to quality standards for mammograms. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA MIKULSKI","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2377,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090072921,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Child care funding has remained stagnant. States have been operating their welfare programs under a cloud of uncertainty regarding what a final Federal welfare reauthorization bill would require of them. We need to make some critical reforms to build on the success of the 1996 bill and give States the ability to manage and plan for their welfare programs. I am hopeful that this represents the final shortterm extension of TANF and that the Congress will act quickly to pass a comprehensive welfare bill. Additionally. this legislation includes a provision to extend costsharing assistance to qualifying individuals. Ojis. for the Medicare Part B premium through September. 2006. This program has been helping vulnerable individuals with incomes between 120 and 135 percent of the Federal Poverty Level since 1997. It is estimated that the Part B premiums will cost a beneficiary $88.50 a month. an increase of $10.30 from the current $78.20 premium. For these lowincome individuals. that represents a significant percentage of their monthly income. The Presidents budget includes a one year extension of the QI program. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2510,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090072923,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on September 27. 2005. at 9:30 a.m.. in open session to receive testimony on needed improvements to defense acquisition processes and organizations.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":279,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090072935,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management. the Federal Workforce. and the District of Columbia be authorized to meet on Tuesday. September 27. 2005 at 10 a.m. for a hearing entitled. \"Alternative Personnel Systems: Assessing Progress in the Federal Government.\"","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":318,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090072968,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this week. just days before the end of the fiscal year. we are going to consider the Defense appropriations bill. This is an important bill for Americas national security. The chairman. ranking member. and their staffs worked long and hard on it. I appreciate their commitment and willingness to work with both sides. Before we even take up this bill. however. we could and should have voted on the Defense authorization bill. which includes critical policy matters crucial to national security importance. As hard as it may be to understand in the midst of a war in Iraq and Afghanistan.. the Republican leadership in the Senate pulled the Defense authorization bill from the calendar in July and replaced it with a bill that was requested by the National RifleAssociation. The gun lobby wanted a bill to excuse them from liability in lawsuits and the Republican leadership in the Senate felt that was more important than the Defense authorization bill. which considered massive policy questions involving hundreds of thousands of men and women in uniform and veterans. I do not understand that thinking. The appropriations bill we will hopefully take up this week includes $50 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11074,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090072988,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Americans need jobs. a decent minimum wage and affordable health care. Mr. Speaker. people living in poverty need help. We must strengthen Medicaid. Medicare. Social Security and temporary assistance programs. not cut them.","speaker_name":"EDDIE JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":914,"word_count":33}
{"speech_id":1090072992,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Rather than panic at the sight of her injured father. she acted in a calm and collected manner She and her younger- sister. Ali. tried to phone their grandparents for help but unfortunately they could not reach them. That is when Bailey sprinted to her familys garage. retrieved a car jack. and followed her fathers instructions on how to free him from beneath the bush hog. Her father sustained a broken left leg. but his injuries could have been far worse if his brave young daughter had not come to his rescue. Mr. Speaker. Bailey Goforth is to be commended for her bravery. determination and sound judgment. She is truly an inspiration for us all.","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1052,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090073005,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Alabama would lose $1.3 million. Mississippi would lose nearly $2.5 million in work sthdy. So almost $4.5 million in all the three campusbased aid programs. This clearly does not make sense. Rearranging the deck chairs on a sinking ship is not going to save that ship from going down. In higher education. we have a tremendous obligation now to have more children take advantage of college and graduate. It used to be a high school education was enough to catapult a son or daughter into the middle class. We all know today that that is not enough any longer. that we really need to encourage 2 to 4 years beyond high school. and in doing that. campusbased aid plays a very significant and important role. Redistributing the funds in such a way that you are taking them away from some campuses and then putting them on other campuses is. in fact. as the gentlewoman from California said. taking from Peter to pay Paul. The fact of the matter is we ought to increase the funding so that no student loses current assistance and new students who should be getting it do indeed receive the assistance that they need. ","speaker_name":"JOHN TIERNEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2621,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090073018,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of \"Lights on Afterschool!\". and House Joint Resolution. 66. which recognizes the goals and ideals of \"Lights on Afterschool!\" \"Lights on Afterschool!\" started in 2000. celebrating the importance of afterschool programs. and it continues to grow 6 years later. This years celebration is scheduled for October 20. and roughly 1 million Americans are expected to participate. Afterschool programs play an important role in keeping many kids safe and engaged in positive activities. The hours between 3 and 6 p.m. on school days represent the peak times for juvenile crime. During those few hours after school. kids are most likely to experimefit with drugs. alcohol and cigarettes. Today. there are currently over 6 million students. kindergarten through grade 12 participating in afterschool programs. and these children are growing and learning in a safe and healthy environment. Congress must protect this opportunity for kids. Congress must do more to give families and children who are not currently participating the chance to do so. ","speaker_name":"RICK LARSEN","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1280,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090073019,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker. this resolution fits directly into my legislation. the Balancing Act. legislation that is intended to help working families bridge their responsibilities of work and their responsibilities to their families. As this resolution notes. there are more than 14 million children in the United States who do not have a place to go after school. Yet in recent years. this President and this Congress have cut funding for afterschool programs. So by all means. let us resolve today to support these programs. but when it comes time to put our money where our mouths are. let us support them financially as well. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":718,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090073031,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Sergeant Schafer made the ultimate sacrifice for our great Nation that he loved so dearly. I sincerely appreciate leaderships willingness to schedule this legislation for consideration today. I can only hope that with the enactment of H.R. 3703.- Michaels widow. parents. and -family will be comforted by this. small token on behalf of a Nation that is eternally grateful for Michaels service. Michael Schafer. a native of the beautiful -town of Spring Hill in my district. answered the call to service by enlisting in the Army in 1998. At the age of 25. Michael had already served tours of duty in Kosovo. Iraq. and Afghanistan. He became the team leader of the Chosen Company. 2nd Battalion. 503rd Regiment. 173rd Airborne Brigade: In addition to being an excellent soldier. he was a model citizen. a dutiful son. and a very caring husband. Tragically. enemy combatants ambushed Sergeant Schafer and his squad in Oruzgan. Afghanistan. on July 25. 2005. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA BROWN-WAITE","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1999,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090073078,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"New Jersey. Womanspace provides counseling and support services. emergency services designed to assist victims immediately following the initial crisis through hotlines. Domestic Violence Victim Response Teams and a confidential and secure short term shelter. Since we passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in 1994 the number of reported incidences of domestic violence has decreased. In New Jersey the cases of reported domestic violence decreased by 2 percent.from 2004. Although these figures are encouraging. we cannot reduce our attention to this problem. We must continue to support organizations that work day in and day out to educate others on the dangers of domestic violence and counsel those who are already victims. We can do this by reauthorizing full funding for the VAWA which should come to the House floor soon. I also hope that we will have the opportunity to consider other important legislative measures that will combat this problem. For example. ","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4199,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090073079,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"An investigation later uncovered serious problems within the Tacoma Police Department which not only allowed the hiring of this individual with a history of domestic violence but continued to promote him despite serious and repeated violent acts against his wife. Crystal Judson Brame. Clearly. something was wrong here. The Tacoma Police Department lacked a strong and enforceable policy to address domestic violence committed by a member of its ownin fact the Chief. And this was not a deficiency exclusive to Tacoma. As a result. the Washington State Legislature passed a law establishing strong standards for law enforcement agencies within the state to prevent and punish future incidents of domestic violence committed by law enforcement officers. We can and we should do more to call attention to the problems. to address the deficiencies that exist. and to stop these pernicious instances of domestic violence from ever occurring. It is in this spirit that I am pleased today to join my colleagues in supporting H. Con. Res. 209. and in working later this week and this month to improve and strengthen the provisions of the Violence Against Women Act which expir6 at the end of this year.","speaker_name":"NORMAN DICKS","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3256,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090073197,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I wanted to know if he understood the responsibilities not just as a lawyer. not just as a Justice. but as a husband and as a father. and the implications of the decisions he would rule on and how they would affect not just -his family but in a real way the people of North Carolina. As Senators. we are all responsible for constituencies. I am responsible for more than 81\/2 million individuals in North Carolina. and I wanted to know. quite frankly. if Judge Roberts intends to preserve our Nations constitutional principles by interpreting law. not by making law. I am proud today to tell you. based upon the answers he gave to me in his testimony in front of the Judiciary Committee.I am confident he will do just thatinterpret the law. not write the law. Judge Roberts. as every person has heard. has the academic and the professional credentials to serve not only as a Supreme Court Justice but as Chief Justice. There is something that concerns me today. It concerns me. and it should concern the American people: This vote will not be unanipnous. This vote will be far from unanimous based upon the reports from Senators. Why? Politics. I am not sure it has ever permeated the process to the degree it has in this. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD BURR","chamber":"S","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6001,"word_count":219}
{"speech_id":1090073199,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The underlying question was always. what is your litmus test? Do you have a single issue litmus test? I promised Oregonians that I would have no litmus test and would vote for qualified Democrats and Republicans from the administration that put them forward because I truly believe we have to remember the characteristic distinctions between the roles of these different branches of Government. What I did tell them is that I would judge them by their intelligence. their integrity. and their temperament. By that standard. I am not sure we will ever have the privilege of voting for a nominee who is more intelligent than Judge John Roberts. His academic credentials are without equal. He is clearly qualified by his schooling and by his service in the legal community. His integrity is beyond reproach as well. He has conducted himself honorably. There has been no hint of any kind of scandal that would disqualify him from holding highpublic office. I like especially the fact that he and his wife late in life decided to adopt two beautiful children. ","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6618,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090073201,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I met with Judge Roberts for more than an hour in my office last week. talking one on one. What I did not find in the hearings or in Judge Roberts writings or in our meeting was a clear indication that Judge Roberts understands the critical role the courts play in protecting the civil rights of Americans and in allowing those who have suffered discrimination to be able to seek recourse and affirm their rights in Federal court. I was seeking some indication that Judge Roberts understands that the issues that come before the high Court cannot always be viewed with a cool. legal dispassion and detachment. but that the Court and its members play a critical role in protecting the powerless in our country. This is of grave concern to me because the individual who fills this Supreme Court vacancy will have the ability to enhance and strengthen or undermine and weaken the Americans With Disabilities Act. Judge Roberts nomination comes at a time when there is a very significant clash occurring between the Supreme Court and Congress over whether Congress has the authority to require the States to comply with antidiscrimination laws. Unfortunately. the law caught at the center of this clash is the Americans With Disabilities Act. As I have deliberated on this nomination. the first and foremost question in my mind has been this: What kind of Court would the Roberts Court be? Would it be a Court that serves as a refuge of last resort for the powerless in our society? Or. would it be a Court that will continue down a disturbing path seen in the later years of the Rehnquist Court. a path that limits the ability of Congress to pass legislation that provides meaningful protections to individuals. including the 54 million Americans with disabilities? Unfortunately. after carefully reviewing the record and talking with Judge Roberts. I am unable to conclude that a Roberts Court would guarantee the rights of the powerless and those with disabilities. Earlier this year we celebrated the 15th anniversary of passage -of the Americans With Disabilities Act. The ADA. as it is known. prohibits discrimination in employment against people with disabilities. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12110,"word_count":363}
{"speech_id":1090073224,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to comment with respect to the Gang of 14. I join my good friend from Nebraska and my good friend from Virginia and my good friend from Arkansas here today in again reminding ourselves as a Chamber that the 14 Members of the U.S. Senate who came together came here to do good. What they decided to do and we decided to do in the formation of that agreement was to transcend partisan politics to try to find a common purpose for the benefit of this great institution. the U.S. Senate. and for the benefit of our Nation. I commend the leadership. particulary of our senior members of that group of 14 Senators. including the great Senator from West Virginia. ROBERT BYRD. who worked closely with the Senator from Virginia. especially on the advice and consent portions. All of the members of the group were very instrumental in putting the compromise together. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3455,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090073230,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There will. of course. be no exertion of choice on the part of the Senate. They may defeat one choice of the executive and oblige him to make another. but they cannot themselves choose. They can only ratify or reject the choice of the President. We are on the eve of accepting that choice. giving our consent. Again. in my 27 years in this institution. I cannot recall a more humble and yet enjoyable group I have worked with than these 14 Senators. It had been my hope that our distinguished colleague from West Virginia could join us today. I asked him and he said he would if he possibly could. But were he here. we would all stand again and thank him for his guidance as we worked through this situation. I thank my colleague from Nebraska and yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1486,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090073261,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. having lived and studied alongside one of the greatest legal minds of my generation. I believe Judge Roberts capability and knowledge of the law is superior to any of his generation. When I was at Harvard Law School. my roommate was H. Reed Baldwin: He had abilities quite similar to those of John Roberts. He was the top of our class. No. 1. and on the Harvard Law Review. He was what I call a Renaissance man. He could handle almost any subject. Unfortunately. he suffered an untimely death. otherwise. he might have once been in the same place John Roberts is today. ","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2263,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090073317,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":16,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They are not wealthy people: only up to 100 percent of poverty. and 200 percent of poverty for mothers who have children. pregnant women and children. That is not very much. But no. we cannot pass that. Senators say that is too much. That might be wasteful. I dont get it. I dont get it. It reminds me of when I graduated from high school. This fellow sent me a congratulation card for graduating from high school. He said basically: Congratulations. and all this stuff. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11394,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090073319,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Packers and Stockyards Administration. GIPSA. The majority of official grain inspectors will be eligible for retirement over the next several years. Testimony presented explained that transitioning the delivery of services through attrition would minimize the impact on Federal employees. Since the hearing. I have extensively reviewed legislative proposals and discussed the issue of improved competitiveness with various Senators. organizations. and USDA. Chairman BOB GOODLATTE of the House Agriculture Committee and I wrote to USDA to determine if they had existing authority to use private entities at export port locations for grain inspection and weighing services. and if they did. how they would implement this authority. Accompanying this statement is a copy of the letter we received from USDA responding to our questions. The letter clearly states that the U.S. Grain Standards Act \"currently authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to contract with private persons or entities for the performance of inspection and weighing services at export port locations.\" The letter further explains that GIPSA considers the use of this authority as an option to address future attrition within the Agency and to address expanded service demand. ","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3439,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090073325,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Ralph has long been aware of the importance of water to the San Luis Valley. Under his direction. the district took a leadership role in fighting against the American Water Development Inc. water grab. in water conservation education and in proactive efforts on behalf of endangered species such as the Southwestern Willow Flycatcher. Ralphs community contributions have not gone unmarked either. He has been honored with numerous awards such as: the Wayne Aspinall Water Leader of the Year. San Luis Valley - Wetlands Stewardship Award. Friend of 4H. Distinguishel Service Award for Conservation of Natural Resources. Support of Colorado Association of Soil Conservations Districts. and he was inducted into the Honorable Order of the Water Buffalo. Ralph has always looked ahead to the next challenge. has always looked forward to the next hill. in order to see where the road will lead him. I would like to wish Ralph and his wife Gloria the very best as they walk down that new road together looking for new challenges.*","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1602,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090073330,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Southeast Missourian has been a primary source of information to those readers. They depend on the Southeast Missourian for local. statewide. national and world news. From the reports on flooding along the banks of the Mississippi River. to the birth announcements in the Sunday edition. the Southeast Missourian has a unique appeal that is difficult to match. They have set a precedent for excellence in print journalism with the underlying theme of community and public service. Its been a personal privilege over the years to be covered by the papers news department and to discuss ideas with its editorial board. The Southeast Missourian has been instrumental in collaborating with its host city of Cape Girardeau to strengthen the community through local enterprise. And year after year the newspaper continues to give back countless chartable donations. and sponsorships to the community. I express my sincerest gratitude to the entire staff. past and present. for their contribution and dedication in making the Southeast Missourian the publication it is today. I extend warm congratulations to the Rust family. which has continued to raise the bar year after year in achieving excellence for fair and objective journalism. Joe Sullivan. the editor of the paper. in particular Seserves credit for his hard work and professionalism. ","speaker_name":"JAMES TALENT","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2307,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090073343,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"These two nurses not only braved the danger of the storm. but they risked their own lives to ensure that their patients could survive. These two women fed their own water supply to their patients. and. even more incredibly. they then administered intravenous fluids to one another to stay hydrated so that they could continue to deliver care. Clearly. this was going far above and beyond the call of duty. The example set by these two courageous women must be recognized. I algo want to note that VAs success in responding to this storm was largely due to the extensive preparation by VA workers before Katrina hit the Gulf Region. This preparation ensured the successful administration of continued medical care to veterans upon relocation as well as the safe evacuation of all staff and their families. Before the storm hit. VA workers oversaw the evacuation of 166 patients in Mississippi and Louisiana. In addition. VA workers had the foresight to transfer copies of electronic medical records from the New Orleans VA Medical Center to the VA facility in Houston so that those records would be available on a national level. ","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3134,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090073347,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to announce for the information of the Senate and -the public that a hearing has been scheduled before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. The hearing will be held on Thursday. October6. 2005 at 10 a.m. in Room SD366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. The purpose of the hearing is to receive an update on Hurricanes Katrina and Ritas effects on energy infrastructure and the status of recovery efforts in the Gulf Coast region. Because of the limited time available for the hearing. witnesses may testify invitation- only. However. those wishing to submit written testimony for the hearing record should send two copies of their testimony to Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. United States Senate. Washington. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1163,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090073348,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce. Science. and Transportation be authorized to meet on Wednesday. September 28. 2005. at 10 a.m.. on S. 1114Professional Athletes Drug Testing bill and S. 1334Professional Sports Integrity and Accountability Act. in Hart 216.","speaker_name":"RICHARD BURR","chamber":"S","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":294,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090073412,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. on Thursday. September 29. I further ask that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time of the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate proceed to executive session and continue consideration of Calendar .No. 317. John Roberts to be Chief Justice of the United States. provided further that the time until 10:30 be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":574,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090073427,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Again. in Arkansas. 75.000. It would not be fair to Arkansas. even though they didnt get hit by the hurricane. to cut their State program when they are absorbing some many extra people from Louisiana:. Texas. and Mississippi. I think that makes common sense. I see the Senator from Nevada. Maybe he can shed some light on this. I will yield the floor. I have spent the time and more than I was asked for. I thank the Senators who are here who are trying to get this .important bill passed by the end of the week.","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1927,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090073430,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Although the timing and impact of an influenza pandemic is unpredictable. the occurrence is inevitable and potentially devastating. That was her word. \"inevitable.\" You do not have to be an expert to understand the dramatic toll a flu pandemic could have on our Nation and on the world. Given our capacity for rapid travel around the globe compared to 1918 and the interdependence of our economic markets compared to 1918. both of which have increased dramatically since the last flu pandemic. the potential human and economic costs of the next pandemic are unimaginable. A respected U.S. health expert has concluded that almost 2 million Americans would die in the first year alone of an outbreak. Pandemic flu outbreak in the United States could cost our economy hundreds of billions of dollars due to death. lost productivity and disruption in commerce. and to our society generally. Maybe the only thing more troubling than contemplating the possible consequences of the avian flu pandemic is. recognizing that neither this Nation nor the world are prepared to deal with it. Administration documents say it will take months to develop an effective vaccine against the avian flusome say as much as 9 monthsonce we have been able to identify the particular flu strain in circulation. Administration officials say one of the best opportunities to limit the scope and consequence of any outbreak is to rapidly detect the emergence of a new strain that is capable of sustained humantohuman contact. Yet we are not devoting enough resources to effective surveillance abroad. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9024,"word_count":255}
{"speech_id":1090073444,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I preface my remarks by saying that the first person who brought the avian flu epidemic to my attention was my colleague Senator OBAMA. who identified this issue before most other Senators. I commend the Senator for his leadership on this issue. I am glad he is here this evening to speak to it. I have had two public health briefings in my time as a Congressman and Senator which stopped me cold. The first one was about 20 years ago. It was on the global AIDS epidemic. I knew it was a problem. but I didnt know what kind of a problem. I left that briefing in the House Committee on the Budget and went home to speak in very sincere terms to my family about what I considered to be a real threat to all of us. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6574,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090073446,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Thank you very much. Mr. President. I will be brief. I know we have gone way over the time here today. Mr. President. in the* midst of so much difficulty that our Nation is facingKatrina and Rita. the ongoing challenges in Iraq and AfghanistanI recognize it is hard to get the public. the leadership in Congress. and senior administration officials to focus on yet one more challenge. But as has already been stated by the Democratic leader. HARRY REID. and my senior colleague. the minority whip. Senator DICK DURBIN. this is a crisis to which the entire country simply must awaken itself. ","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4045,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090073454,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"fornia. Mr. Speaker. today the House will vote on H.R. 3402. the Department of Justice Appropriations Authorization Act. I rise today to thank the gentleman from Michigan and the gentleman from Wisconsin for their leadership on this bill and to urge my colleagues to support it. H.R. 3402 contains language from my bill. H.R. 283. the Bullying and Gang Prevention For School Safety and Crime Reduction Act of 2005. By adding this important provision. schools will be able to use Federal dollars to establish gang and bullying prevention programs in their schools and to teach kids not to use email. instant messaging. or cell phones to make threats and insults. a disturbing new behavior known as \"cyberbullying.\" Studies show that 31 percent of junior high and high school students in urban areas and 21 percent of all students reported that street gangs were present t their schools and more than 3.2 million children are the victims of repeated bullying every year. That is one in every six students. Bullying and gangs can be eliminated from our schools and H.R. 3402 is a tremendous step in the right direction. I urge all of my colleagues to vote for the bill.","speaker_name":"LINDA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":39.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1166,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090073457,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the simple. easy answer to any problem or solution is almost always wrong. Today the simplistic. politically correct explanation for hurricanes Katrina and Rita is global warming. Yet simple. easy science is almost always wrong. CNN reported a couple of days ago that the biggest. worst decade for hurricanes was the 1940s. long before there was any thought or theory or even mention of global warming. In addition. Max Mayfield. director of the National Hurricane Center. said in news stories and television reports that hurricanes are cyclical in nature. He said it was wrong to invoke our alleged global warming without valid science or any hard science to back it up. Mr. Mayfield also noted the terrible hurricanes of the 1940s and the hurricane cycles. ","speaker_name":"JOHN DUNCAN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":952,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090073459,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. sometimes you just have to celebrate. Our Nation has seen remarkable challenges placed before it over the last few weeks. but our spirit is strong. our enthusiasm undaunted. and our optimism unwavering. and Ameri6as team has done it again. From their beginnings in Boston in 1876 to their brief tenure in Milwaukee from 1953 to 1965 and now in their rightful home in Atlanta. they are the personification of the American spirit. demonstrating the glory of diligence. persistence. loyalty and unity. Last evening the Atlanta Braves extended a record unparalleled in all of sports. capturing their 14th straight division championship. Think of the greatest accomplishments of any sports team in history and none of them compare to the length of success by these heroes of Americas pastime. Congratulations to general manager John Schuerholz and to manager Bobby Cox for their remarkable leadership through thick and thin. Congratulations to the players. from seasoned veterans to rookie contributors. All of them have given Atlanta. Georgia. and America. the thrill and privilege of witnessing their wondrous exploits. ","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1221,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090073467,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. September 30. 2005. is a significant day in American higher education. This day marks Dr. David W-. Bushmans inauguration as the 13th president of LeesMcRae College in Banner Elk. North Carolina. LeesMcRae College is an institution of which the entire Nation can be proud. For 105 years. it has prepared young men and women to take their places as productive citizens. Committed to leadership and service. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1076,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090073471,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. Katrina breaks my heart. When I consider the tragic aftermath of this extraordinary storm. now 1 month hence. I cannot help but think of that person in the Bible who speaks of how the rains came down. the winds blew and beat against the house. the floodwaters. rose. and the house fell with a great crash. Congress is now involved in a.critical debate about relief and rebuilding and how we will pay for what could be hundreds of billions of dollars in recovery and reconstruction of the gulf coast. Last week. House conservatives offered their own plan. a series of budget cuts simply known as Operation Offset. It contained many good ideas. and it seems to have engendered. Mr. ","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1163,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090073472,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. last year in the conference on the disaster supplemental. Senate conferees passed a provision extending the MILC program for 2 years. and the gentleman from Pennsylvania and I had lined up enough votes on the House side to accept that amendment. To prevent that from happening. the Republican chairman of the conference gaveled the meeting to a close. and we never met again on the subject. Despite the fact that the President had said in my hometown on that same day that he favored the extension of the MILC program. when my office called the White House asking him to intervene in order to get that conference reopened so that the MILC program could be extended. the White House declined. That program is now scheduled to expire at the end of this week. If that happens. we will have lost an important safety net for Wisconsins family dairy farmers. I urge the House agriculture authorizing committee to immediately report out to this floor an action extending the MILC program so that we do not lose that vital program. and I urge the Republican leadership of the House to see to it that the committee does just that.","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1134,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090073480,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There will be hearings. The Secretary will be -brought before the committee to discuss this plan. to finally air out the differences. The gentleman is quite right in that sometimes we move in haste around here. such as to respond to 9\/11. There is a big debate about FEMA being in Homeland Security. That was one of the recommendations of the 9\/11 Commission. to basically dilute FEMA by putting it in an agency like that. That is why we have a committee of jurisdiction. the authorizers. This is not the way to do business around here. To just have a somewhat kneejerk reaction to make a political point is not what we should be doing in this Congress. We need to represent the people. We need to represent the idea that we have to be prepared. ","speaker_name":"TOM LATHAM","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2526,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090073483,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"\"Our proposal.\" the Secretary says. \"for a preparedness organizationsupports FEMAs capacity to surge while maintaining a systematic planning and exercise regime in support of FEMAs mission and that of other DHS components. The directorate- will aggressively support FEMAs training and exercising needs.\" Continuing to read from the Secretarys letter: \"It aligns our grantmaking programs and our crucial training and exercising work in support of the Departments allhazards mission. The directorate will include increased focus on issues broader than FEMA. including infrastructure protection. cybersecurity. and a new chief medical officer.\" Those are not considered today in the present FEMA. We have got to take a look at the broader picture. So those are the comments of the Secretary. Now. who supports the Secretary in bringing a broader perspective to preparedness planning? Groups like the International Association of Fire Chiefs. If there is a first responder organization that typifies what they do. it is the fire departments and the fire chiefs. the people who know best about preparing for disasters. They say this is a critical change that is necessary. and I am quoting from their letter to that effect: \"This preparedness directorate must be a new function and must be separate and distinct from operational functions. although it must coordinate with those operational functions.\" Quoting further from the International Association of Fire Chiefs: \"Currently. the U.S. Fire Administration is located within the Emergency Preparedness and Response directorate. ","speaker_name":"HAROLD ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7040,"word_count":236}
{"speech_id":1090073484,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There was not in the authorizing committee that I know of. Maybe there was someplace. But let us have some people come and testify to us so we can ask questions. That has not happened. Mr. Speaker. I yield 4 minutes to my friend. the gentleman from North Carolina .","speaker_name":"MARTIN SABO","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":955,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090073492,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker. on this motion. there is lots of rhetoric here. but we are simply saying. let us take the time to think. Shortly after the flood with Katrina. somebody asked me what I thought we should db. I said we should do something unusual in this place. take the time to think before we jump to a conclusion. Here we have plans by an agency developed some time ago that we really have not looked at in Congress. Maybe everything that the Secretary says is true. Maybe I am wrong and he is right. we should not have an enhanced FEMA. we should have a weakened FEMA. ","speaker_name":"MARTIN SABO","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1711,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090073506,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. In regard to the amendment the gentlewoman from New York is referencing. in the jurisdiction of the Sepotember 28..2005 Comnittee on the Judiciary. it was ruled nongermane to this bill. There are other committees certainly that would have jurisdiction over that and need an opportunity to look at that very closely.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":373,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090073512,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I am dismayed that the amendment I wished to offer to this bill has been ruled out of order by the Committee on Rules. By refusing to permit this amendment to even be debated. the House Republican leadership is dismissing the concerns of Americans. not only in my hometown. but in hometowns acro*ss America who believe that we should put all options on the table to fight violent gangs. Gang violence and gang activities are just not limited to inner city areas. Today. we will find some of the most violent and wellorganized youth gangs in our Nations richest suburbs and areas right around here in Arlington and Fairfax County. two of the most affluent counties in the U.S. Local law enforcement officials are dealing with a host of gangs. and according to the FBI. northern Virginia is one of the hottest regions in the Nation for gang activities. Despite the growing threat of organized gang violence to our national welfare. I know of no Federal Government report that contains a comprehensive listing and description of gangs. as well as an assessment of the demographic characteristics of those gangs that is prepared on an annual basis. Madam Speaker. I believe that the report my legislation would have mandated could have been widely used by local. ","speaker_name":"DIANE WATSON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":33.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1737,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090073513,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Regarding the gentlewoman from California. I want to point out to her that this very issue was addressed in the gang bill that was passed earlier this year. In fact. H.R. 1279. the comprehensive gang violence prevention bill. authorized $20 million to provide assistance to State and local prosecutors to fund technology and other equipment to track gang members and maintain information about their crimes. In fact. if I recall correctly. it was the gentlewoman from Californias amendment on the floor on that very bill that was accepted and included in H.R. 1279. Madam Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":672,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090073534,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am glad to support a bill that recognizes and encourages the contributions of this population.","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1820,"word_count":16}
{"speech_id":1090073544,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Human Rights Commission should demand that the Cuban Government respect the freedom of association. expression and other international human rights norms. And the Human l4ights Commission should press the Castro regime to hold free and fair elections and otherwise not suppress the ability of Cuban citizens to exercise their fundamental political rights. Although the commission is not scheduled to meet again until early next year. much of the preparatory work that is necessary to secure a strong resolution on Cuba should be occurring now. Cuban emissaries reportedly have colluded with their likeminded brethren from Venezuela. Burma. Turkmenistan. Syria and other countries with very questionable human rights records to block proposed reforms to the commission that would give it the credibility and the institutional capability that it sorely lacks. Mr. Speaker. I am hopeful that the community of real democracies will no longer allow those countries which flagrantly break the rules to sit in judgment of their own abhorrent practices. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3628,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090073546,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to thank. first of all. the gentleman from Arkansas . who has been so .kind to bring forth this resolution today as a distinguished member of the Committee on International Relations and as a great friend and supporter of human rights throughout the world. including in that oppressed island just 90 miles from our shores. The gentleman from California . when I first arrived in this Congress in January 1993. that same month I was able to witness firsthand the man who has devoted his entire life to defending those who cannot defend .themselves. and since that very month. my admiration that I already had for him has grown ceaselessly. I thank him for. once again. coming forth here in this hall and speaking on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves. The resolution before us today. Mr. Speaker. calls for the liberation of each and every one of the thousands. really. unknown is the number. of political prisoners in Cuba. There are hundreds recognized. identified and called \"prisoners of conscience\" by international organizations such as Amnesty International. There are thousands of others who commit socalled crimes that are not crimes anywhere else. certainly in any democratic societies. crimes like trying to feed their families. crimes like trying to leave the country. something guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. ","speaker_name":"LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5816,"word_count":226}
{"speech_id":1090073578,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I support the bill before us today. As we saw with the recent experiences in the. aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. the Federal Grain Inspection Services Federal workforce is a dedicated group of individuals with many years of experience and a great deal of pride In the work that they do. The folks that work in the Port of New Orleans. for example. have continued to provide valuable public services even as the disaster affects their own families. homes. and neighborhoods. The quality of the grain produced on American farms is among the best in the world. and our export inspection system helps ensure that the integrity of those crops is maintained as it is exported to our foreign customers. I support the passage of this reauthorization. and I again want to thank my colleagues for their work on this issue. Mr. Speaker. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio . who has worked on this issue.","speaker_name":"COLLIN PETERSON","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1515,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090073579,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Such a scheme may harm U.S. exports of grains. something our farmers cannot afford. Worse yet. the benefits from privatization are almost nil. According to testimony from the National Grain and Feed Association. privatizing the inspector force will save 8 cents per ton of grain per export in the unlikely scenarios that the entire cost savings were passed along to farmers by way of better commodity prices. The average 500acre soybean farm would gain a measly $46 a year in extra income. For nothing more than pocket change. that kind of privatization could undermine the 30 years of confidence in the quality of U.S. grain. That was an enormous risk for pocket change. Thankfully. because of the gentleman from Minnesota and others. this bill before us today does not include the risky privatization scheme that was contemplated. I once again want to thank the gentleman from Minnesota and his staff for the opportunity to work with them on this legislation.","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1776,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090073590,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This body affirms its support for the Pledge of Allegiance by starting each session of the House with its recitation. When the Pledge of Allegiance has come under legal and political assault. this body has consistently and overwhelmingly defended it by passing resolutions that expressed support for its voluntary recitation. Most recently. in 2003.. the House passed H. Res. 132 affirming support for the Pledge by a Margin of 400 to 7. I urge my colleagues to continue to affirm their support for the Pledge of Allegiance by supporting the passage of this important resolution. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3634,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090073591,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I come from a State that has a long tradition in supporting religious freedom. In fact. it was Thomas Jefferson of Virginia who wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom which predates the amendment to the Constitution. Unfortunately. H. Con. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3748,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090073612,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The -bill reauthorizes some important core programs. such as \"STOP\" grants and grants to reduce campus violence. These programs have been successful in combating family and domestic violence. The reauthorization of VAWA will continue the tradition of changing attitudes towards domestic violence. and will expand its focus to change attitude toward other violent crimes. including dating violence. sexual assault and stalking. Because these crimes affect both men and women. it is important to note that this legislation specifies that programs addressing these programs should serve both male and female victims. Furthermore. the legislation specifies that the same rules apply to these funds as to other Federal grant programs. The funds devoted to these programs are not to be used for political activities or lobbying. This money is and always was intended to be used to provide services to victims and to train personnel who deal with these violent crimes. The Department of Justice is expected to enforce that provision for all its grants and to monitor grant activities to ensure compliance not only with this condition but all conditions of the grants. Mr. Chairman. prior to the enactment of the \"21st Century Department of Justice Authorization of Appropriations Act\" in 2002. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5284,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090073615,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise to engage the chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary in a colloquy. Mr. Chairman. it is my understanding that included in the Department of Justice reauthorization are measures that will ease .the administrative burdens that exist for State and local governments and provide them greater flexibility to spend the money they have been awarded from the various grant programs. Is that correct?","speaker_name":"JON PORTER","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":416,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090073626,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I want to thank him for yielding to me because the position that we have adopted that we are being set back by the managers amendment is agreed to by the women against violence organizations. the civil rights organizations. And we have numerous letters. one from the chair of the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women. which plainly go into the details of the fact that in no way are we trying to establish quotas or favoritism to any one particular group whatsoever. Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding to me.","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":569,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090073635,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the chairman for yielding me this time. Mr. Chairman. I rise today in strong support of the language contained in the Justice Department Authorization Act that reauthorizes the Violence Against Women Act. Scratch the surface of any of our Nations most challenging social problems. from crime in schools to gang violence and homelessness. and we are likely to find the root cause is domestic violence. which disproportionately affects women and girls. Law enforcement officers report that domestic violence calls are among their most frequent. Judges find that children first seen in their courts as victims of domestic violence return later as adult criminal defendants. Schools report that children with emotional problems often come from environments where violence is the norm. ","speaker_name":"JUDY BIGGERT","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2270,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090073650,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"LOFGREN.of California. Mr. Chairman. I have been on the Committee on the Judiciary for 11 years. and I have concerns that the committee is not fulfilling completely its responsibility. There have been no oversight hearings in the full committee of either the FBI or the Bureau of Prisons in the whole 11 years I served. The last general oversight hearing on the FBI was at the subcommittee level in 1997. The lack of committee oversight has created real problems in the way the FBI fails to conduct its business properly. Last February. in an appropriations subcommittee. we found out that the FBI had invested about $170 million on its Virtual Case File computer system and they admitted that $104 million of that spending was a loss to taxpayers. Then in March. the whole projects was scrapped and we learned from news reports that the new Sentinel system will cost an additional $792 million. Meanwhile. the U.S. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2762,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090073656,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today to address the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. While I am supportive of the underlying bill. the managers amendment that we will soon consider creates a serious problem for women of -color who are victims of domestic violence. The managers amendment will weaken the definition of \"underserved communities.\" so that groups that work specifically to help women of color who are victims of domestic violence would continue to be ignored by the grants process through the Department of Justice. After all the bipartisan work that we have done throughout the years to work on this to reach a balanced approach. just this morning we heard that the Republican leadership was shortchanging the women of colorand were taking out this very key language. When considering VAWA. we must recognize the conflicts and problems facing women of color. particularly immigrant women. who are victims of domestic violence. Women of color are less likely to report incidents of domestic violence. which means that studies of domestic violence among communities of color do not reflect the reality of these womens lives. Women of color who are victims of violence are at even greater risk when their spouses control their immigration status. Women of color also face institutional barriers to reporting abuse and seeking help. partly because they do not have access to individuals who understand their language. ","speaker_name":"HILDA SOLIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2269,"word_count":230}
{"speech_id":1090073667,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am also pleased that provisions in this Act will address the needs of victims from communities of color. and which aid immigrant and tribal victims have been strengthened. However. I am concerned that the managers amendment will strike the phrase \"ethnic and racial\" from several sections in the bill. which will have the effect of specific racial and ethnic communities not having their specific concerns addressed. This amendment should be rejected. thereby helping to ensure that racial and ethnic minority women will have their safety needs met through culturallyappropriate services. By leaving the language as it stands. the Violence Against Women Act will ensure that racial and ethnic minority women will have their safety needs met through culturally appropriate services. Rejecting the amendment also will ensure that culturally specific. communitybased organizations will have the opportunity to access Federal funds that address domestic violence. sexual violence and other social ills. Two years ago. I was pleased to support a Federal earmark for Communities Against Domestic Violence. a worthwhile organization in Northern Virginia which provides public awareness and education programs designed to discourage domestic violence in the Hispanic. Vietnamese and Korean communities.. Finally. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2661,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090073668,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The ruling ended a lawsuit by a Colorado woman who claimed the police did not do enough to prevent her violent husband from killing their 3 young daughters. The ruling said Jessica Gonzales did not have a constitutional right to police enforcement of the protective court order against her husband. The heartbreaking details of this case show the desperate need for legislation. Thats why I have drafted the Jessica Gonzales Victim Assistance Program. which will restore some of the effectiveness of protective orders. The Jessica Gonzales Victim Assistance Program would place special victim assistants in local law enforcement agencies to serve as liaisons between the agencies and victims of domestic violence. dating violence. sexual assault. and stalking in order to improve the enforcement of protection orders. I support the underlying bill and the renewal of the Violence Against Women Act. Mr. I1ONDA. Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4225,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090073673,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We cannot tolerate the violence. abuse. and sexual assault that pervade our communities. As a nation. we must fight this epidemic in every way possible. Today. the House reauthorized VAWA. making dranatic improvements to the existing law by establishing new rape crisis centers and increasing grants for community organizations that work to prevent and eliminate domestic violence. The reauthorization of VAWA is a critical step and a national commitment to keep future generations of women and children safe. Unfortunately. the spirit of VAWA came under attacktoday by the House Republicans. Judiciary Committee Chairman SENSENBRENNER offered an amendment that eliminated carefully crafted provisions of the bipartisan bill that recognized that racial and ethnic minorities face unique challenges in reporting and getting help for domestic violence. sexual assault. trafficking and stalking. With this change. domestic violence prevention and treatment services specifically targeting women of color and immigrant victims of domestic violence and sexual assault will continue to be shortchanged. VAWA is one of the crowning achievements of the Congressional Caucus on Womens Issues and a truly bipartisan success. I urge the Senate to reject the Sensenbrenner amendment and return the bill to its original. bipartisan version.","speaker_name":"NANCY PELOSI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2341,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090073685,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"State and local courts and communities to ensure that the State and local courts will be able to continue to operate utilizing available Federal facilities in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. I urge my colleagues to support the amendment. Mr. Chairman. I reserve thebalance of my time.","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2080,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090073687,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I urge adoption of the amendment. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1439,"word_count":16}
{"speech_id":1090073727,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The fund sends money to the U.S. Attorneys Office. the FBI. a Federal victim notification system. State victim compensation programs. and direct victim assistance service providers. Since 2000. the Appropriations Committees have been limiting how much of these funds can be used each year. The U.S. Attorneys. FBI and other bureaucratic programs are paid first. which means that direct victim assistance funding gets whatever is left over. At times. this has resulted in cuts to these critical victims assistance programs. This money pays for the salaries of victim advocates and counselors. domestic violence shelters. childrens assessment centers. hospital. and attorney fees for underprivileged victims. and other services directly impacting victims. The Poe amendment seeks to strike a reasonable balance between the needs of the victims field for stable. assured funding and the realities of the appropriations and budget processes. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2854,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090073789,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I believe that the SCAAP program is a very important program in providing reimbursements to those States that do have to incarcerate criminal illegal aliens. I am pleased to support his amendment and would urge that we promptly adopt it.","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":251,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090073820,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I rise today in support of my amendment offered with the gentlewoman from Ohio . the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. OBERSTAR. and the gentleman from Michigain .. I would like to thank the gentleman from Wisconsin","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":282,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090073851,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Our motion to recommit will outlaw the selling of crude oil. gasoline. home heating oil. or natural gas at predatory or unconscionably excessive levels during such a crisis. It will provide new Federal authority to investigate and punish those who engage in predatory pricing from oil companies on down to local gas stations with an emphasis on those who profit most. And it will impose tough maximum penalties on companies that have cheated consumers. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Americans are pulling together. donating to relief organizations. and giving their time to help the people of the gulf coast recover. That is how the American people react when they see their fellow citizens in need. Unfortunately. some have looked at Katrina not as a chance to give but an opportunity for excessive profit. Some have decided to take advantage of this terrible tragedy and line their own pockets by price gouging the American people at the pump. As eight Governors wrote in a letter to the Congress urging passage of a Federal price gouging legislation. they stated: \"To price gouge consumers under normal circumstances is dishonest enough. but to make money off the severe misfortune of others is downright immoral.\" People are rightly angry and frustrated with high gas prices. and they deserve to have someone on their side fighting to ensure that they do not get mugged at the gas pump. Sadly. the administration and the House majoritys answer has been to sit on their hands while consumers get the shakedown from the oil companies. ","speaker_name":"BART STUPAK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2931,"word_count":257}
{"speech_id":1090073875,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution recognizing the need to pursue research into the causes. a treatment. and an eventual cure for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. supporting the goals and ideals of National Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Awareness Week. and for other lpurposes. as.amended.","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":332,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090073879,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. about 7 years ago. my good friend and a good friend of many Members in - this Chamber. the gentleman from Georgia was diagnosed with a lifethreatening disease that. despite his own lifetime experience in the medical care field. he said he had never heard of before. In fact. the vast majority of Americans have never heard of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. or IPF. That is why we are here today. to raise the awareness of the American public about this debilitating and fatal disease so one day we may seek and find a cure. IPF is a serious lung disorder for which there is no known cause. and more importantly. at this time no known cure. IPF causes progressive scarring or fibrosis of the lungs. gradually interfering with a patients ability to breathe and ultimately resulting in death. Recent studies have identified that approximately 83.000 individuals suffer from IPF in the United States. and an estimated 30.000 new cases develop each year. ","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1756,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090073910,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I really do not have very many farmers in my State who earn over $100.000 and. guess what. most of the farmers in my State could not get subsidies. But those farmers in the midwest who earn over $100.000 a year in the northern Midwest get very substantial subsidies under the Freedom to Farm Act. If we limited farm subsidies to farmers and families on family farms who earn less than $100.000. a year. in 10 years. we could pay for 11\/2 Katrinas. So. instead of cutting the medicaid program. putting the burden on the States and depriving poor people of health care. instead of cutting food stamps. instead of cutting education programs that are important to average Americans. instead of stupid. acrosstheboard cuts that cut abysmally wasteful programs the same as essential programs. that is how we got in trouble with FEMA. they are cutting an essential program. we could do a few different things. But that would mean maybe a little rethinking on that side of the aisle. Ask the wealthy to carry their fair share of the burden. eliminate the redundant return to the moon. put off the mission to Mars. cancel a Cold Warera fighter designed to have air superiority versus the Soviet Union in Europe. and\/or. maybe just cut back on subsidies for farmers who earn over $100.000 a year. That would more than pay for Katrina. If we do all of those things. that would be 15 times what we need to pay for Katrina. and then we could begin to reinvest in FEMA. education and health care. and things that are essential to all Americans. and maybe even veterans benefits too.","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4986,"word_count":278}
{"speech_id":1090073931,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. on the 2nd of June our very distinguished colleague. Chris Cox. was nominated by President Bush to become the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. On July 29. the Senate voted unanimously to confirm Chris as the 28th chairman of the SEC. His nomination was widely heralded. That economic guru. Larry Kudlow. said. \"Chris Coxs keen intellect and free market view point will provide a breath of fresh air at the Securities and Exchange Commission.\" The majority leader in the Senate said. \"Chris Cox will bring an experienced and steady hand to the Securities and Exchange Commission.\" Stanford law professor. who is a former SEC commissioner. Joseph Grundfest. said. ","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6232,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090073934,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to honor our former colleague and my good friend. the Honorable Christopher Cox. For almost 20 years. Chris Cox has served his country nobly. admirably. and to the best of his ability as a public official and legislator. Now President Bush has tapped him for a new chapter in his public service career as the next Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. In making this choice. the President could not have picked a more qualified. a more determined. and a more -able candidate. Chris Cox has extensive experience as an attorney specializing in venture capital and corporate finance and a lecturer at Harvard Business School where he taught Federal income tax law. He began his service to our nation as a Senior Associate Counsel to President Reagan. advising the President on a range of issues. Now he will continue this service in a different capacity as the Chairman of the SEC. where he will have a platform to encourage corporate responsibility and raise investor confidence. ","speaker_name":"GARY MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":42.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2541,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090073935,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to thank my colleague. Chris Cox. for his service to this House. and to Orange County California. a region we both had the privilege and the responsibility to represent. I would also like to take this opportunity to wish now Commissioner Cox good luck in his new position at the Securities Exchange Commission. SEC. As a former constituent. a member of the in-. vestment banking community. I know how important Mr. Coxs new job is to the health and security to our Nations economy. The job of the SEC is to maintain investor confidence in our financial markets. ","speaker_name":"LORETTA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":47.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1395,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090073965,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me just say this. Mr. Speaker. I think it is important. very important. and my colleagues heard me earlier mention the issue about protecting the institution and making sure that we carry ourselves in the way we are supposed to carry ourselves. but I am here to say. as someone that knows that this happens when you are in political life. you have some people that are investigated. You have some people that are indicted. It happens. When it does happen. I think it is important for those that are accused. or it is said that this is what you have done and here is my evidence. then it is appropriate for one to say. well. I believe that I am innocent. I believe this is not what you think it is. and in the coming weeks. days. months. or years the truth will come out. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1308,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090074060,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He does not bind the Constitution to narrow interpretations of the past. Too many judicial activists have used this philosophy to limit our rights and freedoms. Judge Roberts believes that as society evolves. our interpretation of the Constitution must evolve with it. We choose to take Judge Roberts at his word. and believe that those words will bind him throughout his tenure on the Court. Ultimately. Judge Roberts persuaded us that he will be the Chief Justice we saw during his hearing. not the Chief Justice that his critics see in his past. Nonetheless. the decision was not an easy one. While I support moderation in judicial temperament. I do not support inaction in the face of injustice. I worry that a Court full of neutral umpires would not have decided Brown v. ","speaker_name":"HERBERT KOHL","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3482,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090074070,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Joshu Harris. Julia Franklin. Julie Katzman. Kathryn Neal. Katy Hutchison. Kristine Lucius. Kyra Harris. Lisa Anderson. Margaret Gage. Marit DeLozier. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8307,"word_count":20}
{"speech_id":1090074072,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. at the outset. I compliment and salute my distinguished colleague. Senator LEAHY. for his appropriate. really elegant. remarks in support of the nomination of Judge Roberts to be Chief Justice. I compliment him on his leadership in taking a difficult stand. being the first Democrat to announce support for Judge Roberts confirmation. It is difficult to step out against party leadership. against what may be a party position. but I believe it is precisely that kind of leadership which is so important for the Senate to discharge its constitutional responsibility in the confirmation process. I compliment as well the other committee membersSenator KOHL and Senator FEINGOLD for stepping out in support of Judge Roberts. And at last count. I know that some 18 Democrats have stated their intention to vote for Judge Roberts. As yet. there are some who are undeclared. so that number will grow beyond. I believe it is a matter of real urgency that when we come to the designation of the Chief Justice of the United States. or any Supreme Court nominee. that politics stop. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10158,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090074083,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the duty before us today to provide advice and consent on John Roberts nomination as Chief Justice of the United States is perhaps the most significant responsibility we will undertake as elected leaders. It is a duty decreed to us by the Constitution and an obligation the American people have entrusted us to fulfill. In this Chamber today. we are seated at the drafting table of history. We are prepared to write a new chapter in the history of our Nation. Our words and our actions will be judged not only by the American people today but by the eyes of history forever. As we prepare to pick up the pen to write these words that will shape the course of our highest Court. I ask that we think hard about the words we will write. I ask that we think hard about the question we must answer: Is Judge Roberts qualified to lead the highest Court in the land? I believe the answer to this question is yes. Judge Roberts possesses the qualities Americans expect in the Chief Justice of its highest Court and the qualifications that America deserves. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2801,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090074114,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":14,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the Presiding Officer. Mr. President. I come to the floor at this time to discuss a m4ter of grave national security. If recent Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita have taught us anything. it is that we have to doa dramatically better job of preparing for diseases before they strike so we are not left picking up the pieces afterward. I am very gravely concerned that the United States is totally unprepared for an outbreakand a subsequent international pandemicof avian flu. We have had two disasters in the last 4 years9\/ll and Katrina followed by Rita. And the Federal Government was totally unprepared for both. despite clear warnings. Similarly. we have been warned in no uncertain terms about avian flu. but our preparations so far have been grossly inadequate. I think I got my first briefing on this about a year ago from CDC in Atlanta. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11226,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090074121,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"S. 969 that would increase our preparedness for avian flu pandemic. Senators LUGAR and DURBIN and several others have cosponsored this act and I thank them for that. We need to move this bill as quickly as possible. In May. I and Senators LUGAR. MCCONNELL. and LEAHY included $25 million for avian flu activities as part of the Iraq supplemental. Today. this money is helping the World Health Organization to step up its international surveillance and response efforts. In July. I included an additional $10 million to combat avian flu in the Foreign Operations assistance bill. That bill is currently in conference. and I hope this funding will be retained. ","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7135,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090074123,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I want the Senate to know I welcome the attention of Senators to the problem of the avian virus. In 1997. because of information I discovered concerning what Senator OBAMA just mentionedthe intersection where wild birds come to Alaska from the Chinese mainland and other places in the world. including Russiawe began a series of funds in the Agriculture bill to study the process of this virus being transmitted. As Senator OBAMA has mentioned. so far it has always been bird to bird or animal to animal. There has been no transmutation to take it from human to human or bird to human. It is one of the dangerous problems of the world. no question about it. When I first heard of Senator HARKINS amendment. I said I mightI said I would cosponsor it. As I read it. it is not just about the virus..It is reversing the Presidents decision with regard to State and local public health agencies. ","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5397,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090074124,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I now ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 230. H.R. 2863. I further ask consent that the committeereported substitute be agreed to as original text for the purposes of further amendment. with no points of order waived by virtue of this agreement.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":318,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090074136,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The fiscal year ends tomorrow. It is imperative that we move this bill as quickly as possible. After Senate passage. the committee will still need to take this bill into conference. Because of that. I would urge my colleagues not to offer amendments to this bill which might be better suited for other legislation except to meet truly emergency requirements. I believe there will be plenty of time in the coming months to consider issues which are not relevant to this defense spending measure. This is a good bill. I strongly support it and urge all of my colleagues to do so as well.","speaker_name":"DANIEL INOUYE","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2640,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090074159,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let me try to connect the logic with the reality. that if the Senator permits me. I will sit down with him next week. I believe I can show him at least the initial language that puts this altogether in a comprehensive way and in fact addresses not only the deliberate and accidental biological. chemical. and radiological threats but also includes the natural threat that avian flu clearly emanates from. I believe there is a new structure. not an existing structure. within the framework that will work. and if the Senator will work with me next week. I think his comfort level would be as great as mine today that we can address this threat in a comprehensive way. and that is a pledge that we will do it expeditiously. this year.","speaker_name":"RICHARD BURR","chamber":"S","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":747,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090074178,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It was brought up by our colleagues that if this pandemic strikes the United States. there is not going to be a family that is not going to want to make sure that they have protections for their children and for themselves. for their spouses. for their parents. and for their grandparents. Every family is going to want to make sure they are able to afford and obtain that antiviral treatment. If one is affected by avian influenza and the antiviral treatment is taken immediately. the risk of death is diminished in a dramatic way. I think it is going to be very difficult to accept that this Nation will be satisfied with just one out of four Americans having access to this treatment. Even more so. when we already know the potential dangers of a pandemic by what we have seen in the places affected and impacted by avian flu. This legislation will only cover 50 percent of the population. It does not cover three out of four Americans. And. it does not cover the whole population. It costs $1.6 billion just to cover a quarter. We doubled that roughly to $3.2 billion. which puts us into the range suggested by experts. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11417,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090074184,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. reflect for a moment on what America went through with Hurricane Katrina. reflect on what it has meant to our country and what it has meant to our Government. That was. the greatest natural disaster of modern time. Ameri- cans were shaken to the core watching television night after night to see victims of Hurricane Katrina and what they were living through. Many of those scenes we witnessed did not look like America. It just doesnt seem like our great Nation where people would be in such a helpless and almost hopeless stateto find people struggling just to survive the floodwaters and the hurricane damage. to see Americans begging for water and food. to see what appeared to be refugeesin fact. evacueestrying to bring their children across interstate bridges to dry land. to see people thrown in many different directions. families divided and\" still not united. To see all of that occurday in and day out 247 was a startling scene. It was an indication to all of us that we needed to take astep back and take a look at America from a different angle. Perhaps tdo many of us had been lulled into the belief that this sort of thing could never happen. that leaders in America would never let us reach this terrible point. whether it is a natural disaster or a terrorist disaster. that someone somewhere in Washington or in a State capital or in a city hall had not made preparations and plans to deal with it. It is that concern that has led so many people to call for an honest appraisal of what happened with Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita and what we need to do in America to be better and stronger and better prepared. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11311,"word_count":295}
{"speech_id":1090074186,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am here for my daily speech on oil independence for this country. Before the assistant minority leader leaves the floor. as he has been such a leader in this area. and before this Senator launches into this series of conversations for the Senate about the need to have oil independence and the ways that we can be going about it. bringing to the Senate each day a new kind of technology we should be looking attoday I am going to talk about the expansion of ethanolI invite the Senior Senator from Illinois. since he has been such a leader in this area. for any comments that the Senator would like to make in a colloquy before I continue with the series of speeches on oil independence.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":704,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090074214,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I and the Senator from Hawaii join in asking the clerks in both cloakrooms that they would send out a notice that we intend to move for third reading if there is no amendment presented within an hour. I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":250,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090074220,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the Chair. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that it be in order to set aside that amendment so the distinguished Senator from Missouri and I could offer an amendment. and that upon the completion of action or the setting aside. whichever transpires first. it be in order to return to the Harkin amendment.","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":319,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090074268,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"MURRAY. Mr. LAUTENBERG. leagues for their great support at this Mr. BIDEN. Mr. NELSON of Florida. and Mr. time of obvious need. The people of BINGAMAN. proposes an amendment numLouisiana and the gulf coast are grate- bered 1908. ful. Mr. DURBIN. I ask unanimous conI yield the floor. sent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with. ","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1203,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090074291,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Hanford had grbwn due to the Federal investment in the Manhattan Project and later in support of the Cold War. At that time. Sam. a former salesman and tavern owner. found himself rubbing shoulders with the likes of Senators Jackson and Magnuson. and stories about Sam. Scoop. and Maggie are numerous and legendary. I think this picture shows that even at that time. with my predecessors. Senator Warren Magnuson and Senator Scoop Jackson. Sam Volpentest even back then was right in the thick of things. The fact that he still consulted with Senator MURRAY and me up until the last several months showed his dedication to what this country needed to be focused on. In 1956. Sam decided that Richland. ","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7682,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090074294,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":15,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Community action agencies have been actively working with faithbased organizations all across the gulf coast to provide relief services. I mentioned what the mayor of Baton Rouge said. He was up here wanting to get more money for community services block grants. What does he get hit in the face with? Not only are you not getting more. they are cutting you in half. He couldnt believe it. Nationwide. this cut would eliminate or disrupt essential services for .some 6.5 million lowincome people. including nearly 2 million children. A majority of rural outreach centers will be closed. denying entire rural communities access to services. Many of the onestop neighborhood centers in suburban and -urban areas would also be shut down. Here is a chart that gives you an idea of what this 50percent cut means. I mentioned 6.5 million people. 2 million kids. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11019,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090074300,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it is my understanding that the Senator from Iowa. Senator HARKIN. has come to the floor to offer an amendment that makes reference to the community services block grant funding and the possibility that if we pass a continuing resolution without adequately funding this program. communities all across America will be denied some basic funds they need. I have made a point. as I travel around my State of Illinois. of asking village presidents and mayors and leaders hbw this money is used. It turns out to be money that is essential for many programs. It is one of the most unusual programs in that there is such a wide variety of thinks that are done with these dollars by communities. from afterschool programs for children at risk to programs for senior citizens that are essential for their wellbeing. I am sorry I wasnt here earlier to join with Senator HARKIN. but I come to the floor in support of his effort. America can do better. We can make certain that we fund these essential programs so that the vulnerable across America are not left behind. If we focus on this. as we should have before Hurricane Katrinaand we will in the futureit is going to be a stronger nation. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1348,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090074308,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to speak about the need for hate crimes legislation. Each Congress. Senator KENNEDY and I introduce hate crimes legislation that would add new categories to current hate crimes law. sending a signal that violence of any kind is unacceptable in our society. Likewise. each Congress I have come to the floor to highlight a separate hate crime that has occurred in our country. On October 31. 2002. Patrick Vogrich a Statefunded caregiver. bludgeoned his disabled client Larry Rap to death with a hammer in an apartment outside of Chicago. IL. The apparent motivation for the attack began when Mr. ","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1044,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090074315,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today the Commerce Committee was scheduled to conduct an afternoon hearing regarding emergency communications. I regret that the hearing was postponed. and I hope and expect that the session will be quickly rescheduled. The events of September 11. 2001. uncovered a fundamental weakness in our communications system. We learned the hard way that in a time of crisiswhen communication is most importantour first responders could not communicate at a basic level. Now. some 4 years later. Katrina has showed we have not fixed the problem. One of the biggest problem facing police. fire and first responders in the gulf coast was that the communications system was knocked off line. It was remarkable to watch as the television news crews had better luck communicating than our first responders. As the disaster unfolded. emergency officials repeatedly cited communications failures as a major obstacle to the disaster response effort. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3355,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090074319,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Economics and the Arts. This years target is Education. with the Signature Program of the administration being \"The Ivy Reading AKAdemy.\" a reading initiative focused on early learning and mastery of basic reading skills by the end of third grade. All AKA chapters are required to implbment an after school reading initiative for students in kindergarten through third grade. Across the United States there are nine such federally funded demonstration sites in lowperforming. economically deprived. innercity schools. AKA has made several significant contributions to the black community and to American society over all over the past century. These efforts have included a wide range of issues. including among them election reform and health care and education initiatives: For example. in 1983 AKA launched a massive registration drive designed to increase black voter registration by 25 percent by the November 1984 elections. In 1999. AKA was awarded a $50.000 grant from the United States Department of Transportation to promote increased seatbelt use and vehicle passenger safety in the minority community. That same year. AKA established a funded partnership with the United States Department of Health and Human Services to promote womens health. ","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4260,"word_count":191}
{"speech_id":1090074330,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"For small communities. airports often provide the critical link to the national and international transportation system. Ensuring small communities have the resources they need to preserve this vital airport infrastructure in rural areas is the purpose of our bill. Under current formulae for distributing Federal funds. every airport that has more than 10.000 annual passenger boardings is guaranteed an entitlement grant from the FAAs AIP of at least $1 million per year. These are called \"primary\" airports. Airports with less than 10.000 annual boardings receive $150.000. Unfortunately. there are a handful of primary airports that have had their annual boardings drop below 10.000 as a result of the effects of 9\/11. One of these airports is the Roswell International Air Center in my State of New Mexico. For the passed two years. Congress has permitted these so called \"virtual primary\" airports to retain their full $1 million entitlement. even though their annual boardings had dropped below the 10.000 threshold as a direct result of 9\/11. This twoyear waiver was included in section 146 of the Vision 100 aviation reauthorization act. (P.L. 108176). ","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2688,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090074340,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It also will facilitate getting individuals access to their retirement savings in the form of hardship loans or distributions by allowing plan fiduciaries flexibility in making those distributions in view of these terrible disasters. I hope my colleague will join me in supporting this important bill. Mr..President. I ask unanimous consent that the text of this bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1502,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090074342,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on September 29. 2005. at 9:30 a.m.. in open session to receive testimony on United States military strategy and operations in Iraq.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":263,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090074361,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management. Government Information. and International Security be authorized to meet on Thursday. September 29. 2005. at 3 p.m. for a hearing regarding \"GSA II: The Procurement Process from Start to Finish.\"","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":289,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090074385,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. tomorrow is the last day of the fiscal year. During tomorrows session. we will need to pass the continuing resolution. which is at the desk. Tomorrow morning. we will turn to that joint resolution and we expect a rollcall vote. We hope to have that vote by 10:15 in the morning. Senators should adjust their schedules accordingly. After we complete the continuing resolution tomorrow. we will return to the Defense appropriations bill. Senators will be able to offeramendments at that time. On Friday. we will update all Members as to next weeks schedule.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":570,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090074393,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We are more dependent now on foreign oil than ever before. We must move away from foreign fuel sources and move toward a solution that maximizes alternative fuel. Mr. Speaker. energy independence is not just energy security. it is national security.","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1182,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090074414,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this bill represents a new low. Wasteful drilling in the Arctic and dismantling the Clean Air Act are bad enough. but now the Republican majority wants to weaken the Endangered Species Act. weaken it by handing out subsidies to oil and gas companies and land speculators for not killing endangered species. meaning taxpayers will be giving money to these land developers for simply following the law or for taking a risk by making a big investment in land so they can sell it at a higher price. What next? Will taxpayers be asked to foot the bill to pay companies to follow other laws of the land? Mr. Speaker. I know we can do better. Protecting our endangered species i8 never easy. but if we do not do it right. if we do not depend on sound science. if instead we yield to greed and politics. there is no second chance. I urge my colleagues to vote against the bill and protect the environment for our children and their children and vote for the bipartisan substitute.","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":985,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090074416,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have made a requirement for making a determination for what species are listed. Look at page 4 of the substitute. five specific criteria before you can list that species. We arereviewing all species every 5 years to see if the change of status is there. page 5. We repeal the critical habitat requirement in the base bill and replace it with a slightly different recovery plan. The recovery plan has a number of significant and important elements: a time frame for that recovery plan. objective measurable criteria. a description of where the site should be. and the emphasis is on Federal land and not private land. and an estimate of the cost and time it will take to recover that species. Look on page 20. There are a number of changesthat we have made here to the gentleman from California which I think improves on the bill. Support the substitute.","speaker_name":"WAYNE GILCHREST","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2911,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090074422,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"American taxpayers. und6r the underlying bill. would now have to pay entitlement funds where there is no money in this bill appropriated to do it. or even especially authorized for these highly speculative enterprises. Why should the taxpayers have to pay for this flimflam type of speculation? And. by \"the way. nowhere in American law is any taxpayer required in any jurisdiction in this country to do that right now. This is a radical change which exposes the taxpayers to millions of dollars. of loss that is not required by the U.S. Constitution and makes no common sense. And second and lastly. very importantly. the underlying bill provides no enforceable protection for the habitat of these species. Sure. it says that the agencies have to draw these maps. but what is a map if they do not have to follow the map? Five reasons. Members can vote for this with honor. go home and tell their constituents this they have relieved their frustration and protected these species and protected the taxpayers. Respect for the taxpayers and respect for Gods creatures at the ..same time.","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3017,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090074424,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In the Pacific Northwest alone. the Bonneville Power Administration accounts for 45 percent of the regions electricity sales and 75 percent of the transmission lines. Bonneville Powers rates have risen 46 percent since 2001. due in main part to the Endangered Species Acts impact on the Columbia\/Snake hydropower system. The Agency spends an average of $500 million per year on ESA compliance. To whom are these costs passed on to? Of course. the electricity ratepayers. The point of all this. Mr. Speaker. is that few Pacific Northwest consumers have a notion of the amount of money of their monthly bills that goes directly towards the Endangered Species Act compliance. nor do they or other enduser consumers of the other Power Marketing Administrations. It is estimated that as much as one third of the power bill from the BPA is devoted to salmon recovery. but no one knows for sure. I get a bill once a month from the power company that includes all sorts of information about tips on conserving energy and warnings on how to keep me from electrocuting myself. but nowhere does it detail what I am paying for. How much is for generating power and how much is for transmission costs and how much is for the ESA? I would like to thank the chairman for including language in the bill that. consolidates jurisdiction of the Endangered Species Act management of species under one agency. ","speaker_name":"C.L. OTTER","chamber":"H","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3914,"word_count":238}
{"speech_id":1090074432,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. First of all. I want to thank the major coauthor of the bill. the gentleman from California . for working with me in a bipartisan way over the last several months to craft a bipartisan solution to the problems that we have got with the Endangered Species Act. I also would like to thank the gentleman from West Virginia . the ranking member on the committee. for all of the work that he put in. and that his staff put in. particularly Jim Zoia. who did yeomans work in putting this bill together. Lori Sonken. Tod Willens. and Rob Gordon worked tirelessly to try to compromise and work out a bill that we could all be proud of. along with Hank Savage from the Office of Legislative Counsel. We have come a long way. a long way. from where we were. This debate over endangered species has been raging across this country for years. and our effort was to throw away everything that we had tried to do in the past and put it aside and try to start again and say how do we sit down as members of the Committee on Resources and come to a solution that we can all agree with. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD POMBO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4320,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090074446,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank the gentlewoman for her comments. I certainly agree that this debate about the budget and the appropriations process is always a debate about our future. and it is a debate about priorities. Clearly. we have had a shift in priorities since that budget resolution passed. As a State that was hit by four hurricanes last year and had the beginnings of Katrina come across our State this year. our hearts go out to our brothers and sisters on the gulf coast. and we recognize that this government has a commitment to help lift up those citizens on the gulf coast and. where appropriate. we have a Federal responsibility in the rebuilding and reconstruction process in Louisiana and Mississippi and Alabama. and a lot of other places. So I think that that reinforces the need for us to move ahead with this continuing resolution and allow our appropriations process to work. instead of positioning ourselves to a situation where we end up with an omnibus bill that I do not think either one of us thinks is the appropriate way to go. There is an opportunity here for us to reprioritize. using regular order. using the strength and talent that sits on our committees. and -bringing about a measured approach to doing that. It is going to require offsets. ","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2412,"word_count":231}
{"speech_id":1090074484,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. very briefly. section 1 of the motion to recommit would simply provide that wb fund the programs covered under the continuing resolution at the current rate rather than at the lower of either the current rate of the Housepassed or the Senatepassed bill. I have already explained the impact of that on program. Section 2 would simply repeal the Presidents edict that workers in the Katrinaaffected region would not be subject to the protections of DavisBacon wage protections. Section 3. would simply guarantee that the MILC program remains in forde for the same length of time as other titles of the farm bill. And section 4 would require a reduction in the size of the tax cuts for taxpayers with incomes of over $400.000. as I just described in my previous remarks.","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":780,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090074510,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. it is my understanding that the Secretary currently has in place emergency regulations that allow for expedited consultation in the event of an immediate threat to public safety. as. for example. when the floodwaters are rising and are feet or perhaps even inches away from breaking or breaching a levee. Is the chairmans understanding that the intent of the legislation is to require the development of additional regulations that would allow the Secretary to expedite the application of the act for agency actions necessary to address threats to human health or safety?","speaker_name":"WALTER HERGER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":585,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090074573,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Page 43 of the substitute. there is a national security exemption. I urge my colleagues to vote for a specific. balanced ESA bill. Vote for the substitute.","speaker_name":"WAYNE GILCHREST","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1870,"word_count":27}
{"speech_id":1090074597,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today as a cosponsor of H.R. 3824. the Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act. Alabama ranks in the top five States in the number of listed species. and passage of this legislation will move us closer to -achieving the goal of protecting and recovering the Nations threatened and endangered species by adding a layer of common sense. The Endangered Species Act. ESA. although enacted with honorable intentions. has strayed from its original purpose of conserving plants and wildlife. Currently. there are nearly 1.300 domestic species listed as threatened or endangered. Since the enactment of the ESA. only 10 species. less than 1 percent of those listed as endangered. have been recovered. This is just one of the numerous reasons why this legislation needs updating. Most importantly. the managers amendment includes a significant provision that. requires the Fish and Wildlife Service to consider the economic and national security impact of listing a species. ","speaker_name":"TERRY EVERETT","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1936,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090074599,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today to request that my name be removed as a cosponsor of H.R. 3824. the Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2005 (TESRA). Species conservation is an essential tenet in the effort to promote and maintain a healthy environment. Although I agree with Congressman POMBOS initiative in principle. after reviewing the legislation closely I came to the conclusion that this bill would jeopardize critical habitat protections that endangered plants and animals need to survive and recover their populations. and it would do little to protect the planets most threatened wildlife. As a Senior Member of the House Science Committee. 1 also have serious reservations that in its current form. H.R. 3824 attempts to substitute politics for sound science in decisions involving endangered species. letting expediency and profit motives influence what should be scientific decisions.","speaker_name":"EDDIE JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":906,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090074601,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have a solemn obligation to maintain responsible stewardship of Americas bounty. and this legislation would abandon that responsibility. I urge my colleagues to vote against H.R. 3824. and to vote in favor of the balanced. bipartisan substitute legislation for ESA reform.","speaker_name":"BOB ETHERIDGE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2946,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090074604,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Rather. the purpose of this legislation is to remove obstacles inconvenient to special interests with whom the Republican leadership is in partnership. For this majority and their supportersdevelopers. the oil and gas industrylaws protecting the air and water are not a prioritythey are a nuisance. As such. this legislation would eliminate conservation measures on tens of millions of acres of land around the country. the \"critical habitat\" of endangered species. and prevent such conservation activities in the future. It also reveals the majoritys clear disdain for sound science. Current law requires a review of all scientific and commercial data by a panel of outside scientists. This. Mr. Chairman. ensures that the peerreview processa central tenet of sound scientific researchguides the process. not ideology and politics. Instead. this bill would allow the Secretary of the Interior to make a determination about whether a species is endangered based on \"all available information\"-that is to say. information that opens the door for phony science supporting special interests.. Finally. ","speaker_name":"ROSA DELAURO","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3239,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090074652,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Chairman. these little guys deserve an- answer just like the big guys do. I understand that there is a provision in the substitute that attempts to address this issue with a similar 180 day timeline. Unfortunately. there is no enforcement behind the language other. than a report to Congress. and we all know what we do with reports to Congress. The service is under a number of other time lines under ESA such as a time line for completing political opinions which they also choose to ignore. The substitute provisions would do exactly the same thing and bring us back to square one. The second is the strong private property rights section that are good in H.R. 3824. They did not seem to make the cut in the substitute. It is not a sweeping entitlement program as some would have you believe. It is a program that will fairly compensate landowners and will provide species with conservation mitigation measures that would otherwise go unprotected. I do have to say that I am pleased that my colleagues chose to include a number of provisions from the underlying bill in the substitute. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS CARDOZA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3981,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090074668,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Chairman. but it is vital that in doing so we maintain the integrity of the act and our ability to conserve these species for future generations. The MillerBoehlert amendment will do just that. and I urge my colleagues to support the substitute.","speaker_name":"H. SAXTON","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2069,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090074689,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"An impressive achievement. Earlier in the debate. I heard the gentleman from Washington speaking. and I see he is still inthe Chamber. and I thank him for his very enlightening presentation about how many species have been saved during the life of this law. That was very inspiring and encouraging. The safety net saved our majestic national symbol. the bald eagle. and. the peregrine falcon. It saved the Florida manatee. the grizzly bear. the southern sea otter. sea turtles. and many other animals and plants. all important in the balance of nature. On the floor of the House. week after week. month after month. the Republican leadership pushes through legislation shredding the safety net for children. for veterans. for the elderly. for the poor. for the sick and the disabled. so it comes as no surprise today that they bring a bill that will shred the safety net for the endangered plants and animals. This is really unfortunate. because. again. it all relates to the balance of nature. We find these words from the psalms: \"How many are your works. 0 Lord! In wisdom you made them all. the earth is full of your creatures. There is the sea. vast and spacious. teeming with creatures beyond number. living things both large and small.\" In wisdom God has made them all \"living both things both large and small.\" and in wisdom we should preserve and protect them. ","speaker_name":"NANCY PELOSI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4298,"word_count":236}
{"speech_id":1090074695,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of the substitute amendment. It will significantly improve the species recovery which is an important part of our negotiating process that led us up to this bill on the floor today. It will assist landowners in their efforts to conserve species. The substitute will also include a statutory definition of jeopardy that will ensure that Federal agency actions do not di-. minish recovery. That is a very Important part of giving up the critical habitat designation. that we have an improved consultation process and an improved definition of what constitutes jeopardy. Mr. Chairman. I urge strong support of this bipartisan substitute and. again. opposition to the underlying bill.","speaker_name":"NICK RAHALL","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":712,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090074697,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I would respectfully disagree with the minority leader that this bill is not Republicans versus Democrats. This is largely east versus west with western Democrats supporting the underlying bill and eastern Republicans opposing. For. me. I would quote from the House Republican majority Committee on the Budget that warned that the underlying legislation \"creates a new entitlement program.\" This spring.. moderates of the Republican Tuesday Group and conservatives of the Republican Study Committee worked together to put forward budget reforms to end deficit spending. The heart of our reform was. a prohibition against new entitlement spending. Entitlement spending already makes up twothirds of all Federal spending. Our deficit. because of Hurricane Katrina and related costs. will top over $500 billion this year. and I do not believe that we can afford a new entitlement program. I would urge our chairman to reform the provisions in the bill. to keep the spending within the budget. and make it subject to appropriations. ","speaker_name":"MARK KIRK","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1372,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090074740,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the distinguished majority whip and acting leader. Mr. Leader. so that Members can be certain as to the schedule for next Thursday and Friday. on Thursday the House will begin business at 10 a.m.. I understand. with no votes to occur before 2 p.m.. and we will consider suspension bills and the conference report on the Homeland Security appropria-\" tions bill. and then the House will meet on Friday at 9 a.m. to consider the energy bill. Is that accurate?","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":478,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090074750,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I appreciate the gentleman yielding. and I appreciate the question. In fact. I serve on that committee and that committee was voting until after midnight last night. The bill is available and will be available for Members to look at during the week. In terms of the rule. we will have to defer that. I think. to the Committee on Rules. and I expect they will go through their normal evaluation of the bill and determine the rule at that time. In terms of Friday. we are really trying to move to the earliest possible conclusion on Friday. which is one of the reasons. again. to try to be sure we are getting our work done on Thursday. Another reason for Thursday. not only the 10 a.m. start but the effort for Members to return. is I know a number of chairmen are hoping to take advantage of that day in their committees as well. And our friends from the west coast would want to be and I hope are able to be part of that.","speaker_name":"ROY BLUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":922,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090074776,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It all comes under our price gouging legislation. We apply it to producers. refiners. and retailers. We take them all into consideration. We apply our price gouging to the entire Nation. This winter the Midwest is going to pay a 71 percent increase in the price of natural gas. Underneath the Republican bill. there is nothing you can do about it because it only applies to gasoline and diesel. Under the Democratic bill. we can see if there is excessive profits. then you have a right to do something about price gouging. Unfder the Democrats bill. we are going to have the FTC define what price gouging is and what factors go into it and then apply it to the facts of this case. We are after excessive profits like 255 percent in 12 months or 46 percent in 12 months. not the person who makes 5 percent in 12 months. And we want it to apply throughout the Nation. not just at the time of disaster and. in the area affected by the disaster. ","speaker_name":"BART STUPAK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4312,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090074785,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this evening I rise to express my deep disdain and disgust for comments made yesterday on his radio show by former Secretary of Education William Bennett. He said. and I quote. \"You could abort every black baby in this country and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible. ridiculous. and morally reprehensible thing to do. but your crime rate would go down.\" These are shameful words. Mr. Speaker. I am appalled to have to say them on the floor of the House of Representatives. Secretary Bennetts words reflect a narrowminded spirit that has no place within American discourse. These words do not reflect the values of hope and opportunity for the future. they do not reflect the values of the American people. ","speaker_name":"NANCY PELOSI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2703,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090074812,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am advised that the last oil spill we had in any offshore drilling for oil was 1969. I do not know if the gentleman can confirm that. but in that question could the gentleman also respond to the question of. does the gentleman know if there has ever been a spill of natural gas drilling offshore? And if it did spill. would it kind of look like the gas that is boiling up out of the water in New Orleans where it would just dissipate into the air and is there a reason to be concerned. even if we were irresponsible with regard to natural gas drilling?","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":567,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090074813,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as far as I know there has not been any major problems. We know we have had these two hurricanes and with very little environmental impact with the offshore rigs. The refineries are built very. very well. The refineries knew that the hurricanes were coming. They started burning the fuel that was in the pipe so there would not be any pipe disasters. Just to mention as a side note. onethird of the pipelines in the United States go right through my congressional district. They g6 to all parts of the United States. but onethird are through that congressional district. It is all very highly concentrated. but we can proceed with a safe energy policy. And like I said. the American public has to make that decision. and I hope they make the right decision which would be that we become more selfsufficient on energy.","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":830,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090074957,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Similarly. the Home Buyers Assistance Program. which aims to increase homeownership among lowincome families. would have to narrow the number of families served if the CR was passed without additional funding for CSBG. CSBG funding plays a similarly important role throughout my State. The West Central Wisconsin Community Action Agency. West CAP. which provides a range of supports for lowincome families and individuals. relies on this funding to provide \"hardship relief\" programs. affordable housing. food pantry services and job training. West CAP has made it clear that this cut to CSBG couldnt come at a worse time. a time when they are seeing increases in the use of food pantries. steep increases in the pricing of basic needs. and dramatic increases in the costs of gasoline and home heating fuels. which particularly impact on lowincome individuals. That is why I am a cosponsor of the Harkin amendment to restore funding to CSBG. At a time when Katrina and Rita have focused our Nations attention on the needs of lowincome families. it is unconscionable that Congress would turn its back. by cutting CSBG. With this amendment we had a chance to set it right.","speaker_name":"HERBERT KOHL","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2186,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090074960,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But those devastating storms have shone a bright new light on the unacceptable poverty that continues to plague our communities today. We all watched the heartbreaking scenes of countless lowincome residents with no cars. struggling to escape the path of the hurricane. and then struggling again to escape the flood waters. These were real people in real poverty left largely on their own. fending for themselves. American people expect their leaders to stand for fairness. freedom and opportunity. Those values are the cornerstone of the American dream. We believe that if you live right and work hard. you should be able to care for your family. afford rent in a safe neighborhood. and to send your children to college. We also believe that when life deals you a setback. you can count on your neighbors to pitch in. If you lose your job or become seriously ill. we all want to help out. If you lose your home. your belongings. and your security from a natural disaster. it is some comfort to know at least that you havent been deserted and that help is on the way. You deserve a chance to pick yourself up. dust yourself off. and start over againto reclaim the American dream for yourself and your family. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8703,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090075002,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Moreover. as Senator SALAZAR rightly emphasized. the money here is not new money but previously appropriated funds that had been withheld. There is no question that district must take pains to ensure that rules and procedures are adhered to but in this case I agree with Senator SALAZAR that the penalty here was disproportionate and that. in any case. punishing reservation schoolchildren is not a particularly welltargeted penalty. This amendment will rectify that. and I am pleased that it will be accepted.","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1798,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090075049,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in answer to the Senators request. he is asking that of perhaps 390.000 credit cards that exist in the possession of Federal workers. do we know how many have this $250.000 limit? We do not have the foggiest idea. The Senator indicated we want to help people who are dealing with the hurricane. Our interest is not in pulling the rug out from under people who are working and trying to respond to the devastation of these hurricanes. but I am not interested in paving the way for additional waste. fraud. and abuse with the misuse of Federal credit cards. Yes. there are thousands of dedicated public servants who will use these responsibly. but increasing the limit from $2.500 to $250.000. in my judgment. is fundamentally irresponsible. and we aim to take it back with this amendment and aim to offer this amendment to the next supplemental that deals with this hurricane. I will yield the floor so my colleague from Oregon can have the floor. and I would like to propound a question at some point later when he finishes his statement.","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1053,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090075123,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to pay tribute to a proud Kentuckian. community leader. and good friend. Mrs. Cornelia \"Neal\" Vaughan. Neal. like her uncle. the late Senator John Sherman Cooper. is sincerely dedicated to improving the lives. of Kentuckians. and she does so through her extensive volunteer work. Neal is a founding member of the Fayette County Drug Court and served on the National Association of Drug Court Professionals Board of Directors. She has worked with the Junior League. Gods Closet. the Governors Inauguration Committee. the Sayre School Board. and the* Hope Center for Women. Neal is also on the board for the Kentucky Governors School for the Arts. but her greatest accomplishments lie in her role as president of the board of directors for the Chrysalis Community Center in Lexington. ","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1722,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090075125,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. Judge Francis X. Hennessy is no stranger to public service. Since 1976. when he began his service on the juvenile court. to his service as an appellate trial referee today. he has distinguished the State of Connecticut with his example of integrity and honor. As remarkable as Judge Hennessys record is. with service on the Connecticut Superior Court. deputy chief court administrator of the Judicial Branch. and as judge of the Appellate Court. even more impressive is his dedication to social equity. He has been a strong. advocate for insuring equal access to the courts for women and minorities. cochairing the Connecticut Task Force on Gender Justice and the Courts. and Connecticuts Task Force on Minority Fairness. Judge Hennessys grandchildren Teddy. John and Grace and his children Maura. Margaret Mary. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1770,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090075128,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to take a moment to recognize and give thanks to the Jewish communitys tremendous relief efforts in the aftermath of the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Countless Jewish individuals and organizations have stepped up to combat this national crisis. providing the victims of Hurricane Katrina with money. supplies and volunteers. while opening the doors of their homes. schools and synagogues. I would like to highlight a few of these efforts. Millions of dollars haven been raised in the name of the Katrina victims. The United Jewish Communities. local federations throughout the United States and Canada. and their partners have raised at least $14 million. including a $500.000 donation. given by the Baltimorebased Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation Inc. The Weinberg Foundation gave another $500.000 to Catholic Relief Charities. A smaller. but no less inspiring. fund was raised by students of the Sacramento. CA Shalom School. which donated proceeds from sales of their Rosh Hashanah honey pots. ","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2549,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090075129,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"After all. it is the states closest to oii and gas production facilities that are assuming the risks that those production facilities will not have harmful environmental or economical impacts. Tourism is often the lifeblood of these regions which could be adversely affected by any environmental accidents. So it is very appropriate that they should receive a share of the revenues derived from offshore oil and gas production. While the issue of revenue sharing was addressed in the energy bill for States currently producing oil and gas off their coasts. it does -not include a comprehensive policy for offshore production opportunities.. * Specifi*cally. the bill does not allow other States to share revenues when and if they ever become producing regions. As we all know. the production of oil and natural gas has been subject to a moratorium along most of the Nations coastline. While.this moratorium has been in effect for some time. many Americans believe that it is now time to reevaluate its need. This past year in Virginia. both houses of the state legislature passed legislation asking for production to occur off the Virginia coast if the State is allowed to receive a share of the revenue. I think the rising costs of oil and gas are now leading other States to consider the same possibility. The bill I am introducing today would provide a portion of revenues to States under the current moratorium that may decide to. undertake future offshore exploration and production activities. My legislation is based. in large part. on the hard work of my colleagues who achieved a revenuesharing proposal for their States and local governments in the recently enacted energy bill. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8826,"word_count":278}
{"speech_id":1090075130,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The dam is roughly 14 miles long and encloses a reservoir containing more than 200.000 acrefeet of water. Thousands of Utahns currently rely on the water provided by the reservoir. And the Weber Basin is one of Utahs fastest growing areas. making the need to find additional water resources even more pressing. Enlarging the dam would help ensure that the area can meet its everincreasing demand for water. In my view. expanding the dam is an easy way to increase water storage capacity in an area that desperately needs it. The next bill I am introducing today. is the Juab County Ground Water Study and Development Act of 2005. This legislation would amend the Reclamation Projects Authorization and Adjustment Act of 2005 to include Juab County. It would allow Juab County to use Central Utah Project funds to complete water resource development projects. enabling the County to better utilize their existing water resources. It will ensure that farmers. ranchers. and other citizens of Juab County have a reliable water supply. Under the original plan for the Bonneville Unit of. the Qentral Utah Project. several counties in central Utah. including Juab. were to be delivered supplemental water through an irrigation and drainage delivery system. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3030,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090075131,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This statutory language change would recognize that while the actual sentence for those who commit heinous acts mayvary. the underlying action meriting those criminal sentences should be treated equally for purposes of burial prohibition. Section 2 of the legislation would deny the provision of military honors and burial at a military cemetery of a person convicted of a Federal capital crime or a State capital crime for which a life sentence or the death -penalty may be imposed. Section 3 would deny funeral honorswhere at least two members of the Armed Forces are made available at veterans funerals to fold and present the American flag. and play Tapsto those same persons. irrespective of whether burial is sought at national. state. or private cemeteries. Finally. section 4 of the legislation would require the appropriate military service and VA to each prescribe regulations to ensure that a person is neither buried. nor -provided funeral honors. before a goodfaith effort is made to determine whether such person is ineligible as a capital offender. This legislation is a necessary reform to the 1997 law. Let me be clear that while the effect of the legislation would be to take away benefits that were otherwise earned by honorable military service. the intent of it is not punitive. Rather. my intention is to preserve the dignity of Americas national cemeteries. President Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address at one of our Nations first. and most revered. national cemeteries. Then he spoke of the \"honored dead\" who gave their \"last full measure of devotion.\" My legislation will ensure that we bring no dishonor to those who belong in our national cemeteries by inappropriately -honoring those who. by their own actions. do not. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7293,"word_count":299}
{"speech_id":1090075134,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"INSTITUTE OF PATHOLOGY.-Subsection (c)(3) of section 754 of the Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001 (as enacted into lay by Public Law 106398. 114 Stat. 1654A196) is amended. by striking \"within the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology\".","speaker_name":"J. FORBES","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":272,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090075174,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this morning. following the 1hour period of morning business. we will resume debate on the Defense appropriations bill. Yesterday afternoon. we locked in an agreement which requires all firstdegree amendments to be filed at the desk no later than 10:30 this morning. Senators STEVENS and INOUYE will be here and be able to determine which amendments can be agreed to on both sides. Senators are expected to come to the Senate today and offer -their amendments to the Defense bill. I hope Members will take advantage of todayssession and not postpone and delay until later in the week. Although we will not be voting today. the Senate can debate those amendments. and stacked votes begin tomorrow evening. I expect we will have multiple votes tomorrow evening in relation to the amendments on the Defense bill. We will finish this bill -prior to adjourning for next weeks recess. We will be voting on Friday of this week. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1580,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090075193,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"To date. the administration American forces starting next year. has provided rosy assessments that In a discussion with Senator MCCAIN. conflict so clearly With the reports General Casey had the following to say: from Iraq and the images on television. Senator McCain: Are you planning on It is no surprise that the publics patroop withdrawals for next year? tience is growing thin. General Casey: I just said that. Senator. The American people can withstand Yes. This is a bipartisan goal that we all sup- adversity. What they wont stand forport. Creating a stable Iraq and bringing and rightfully sois being kept in the American men and women home safely as dark or being misled. That is why it is soon as possible consistent with success is so critical that we provide the Amersomething that we all embrace. ican people with an accurate assessThe generals also said that they had ment of our current situation. to plan developed specific guidelines to allow for our success and let our people know them to measure the success of this and let them evaluate the progress we plan. I am pleased that a plan has been are achieving toward making that sucdeveloped and measurements created cess. to gauge its success. although belat- I hope this amendment can be a biedly so. ","speaker_name":"EVAN BAYH","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8017,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090075208,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. if the Senator from Indiana would confer with us.. I find that one of the amendments he has offered is not an amendment to the Armed Services Committee amendment but is. in fact. an amendment to the bill itself. We will be happy to discuss that with the Senator. I again urge him not to pursue this at this time.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":327,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090075214,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would be delighted to discuss this matter with the Senator. The heart of my concern is that there has been a consistent pattern of underestimating our need. and the depletion of the stockpile means if they yet again underestimated the need. it would not be available for quick deployment in the theater. which would leave our troops short again. That is the basis of my concern. We would be delighted to discuss it with the Senator.","speaker_name":"EVAN BAYH","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":449,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090075228,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. letme tell you what the Uzbek Government did. They arrested some people. Here is what happened. This is Reuters: Uzbekistan: Defendants in Andijon Trial Reiterate Guilt. Blame Others. The defendants allegedly behind the May uprising in the eastern Uzbek town of Andijon are confessing to the charges and saying foreign - countries initiated the revolt. One of the defendants. Tavakkalbek Hojiyev. said yesterday that the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent financially supported the uprising. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4195,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090075266,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We hope we will find a way to come to an end of that process and not have to use emergency moneys to pay for end strength. It is a temporary increase in end strength. it is not a permanent increase. Therefore. it should be paid for out of the contingency funds that are set aside on this bill on an emergency basis.. I again want to say how much we appreciate the Senators interest in the manpower situationmanpower requirements of the services. We look forward to working with him on that. I hope he will not pursue this amendment.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4806,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090075267,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There is no disagreement. as the chairman pointed out. with respect to the need of these troops. There is no disagreement with respect to the fact that they will be on our books. if you will. for several years into the future. I am pleased that the chairman and Senator INOUYE formally increased the end strength. as Senator WARNER and Senator LEVIN have done in the Defense authorization bill. He is very right. The argument\" is how we pay for it. Do we pay for it through the emergency. or do we pay for them through the regular accounts? I argue that a day of reckoning is coming where. if we dont face up to this by including it in the regular accounts. we will be dipping into acquisitio.n and into other necessary programs of both the Army and Marine Corps. But again. I will take the Senators good advice very closely to mind. and I appreciate the fact that we agree on so much. We are trying to figure out what is most appropriatenot just for the near term but in the long termway to pay for these forces. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1863,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090075280,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Then I do so at this time. and I ask it be assigned a number. Mr. President. I have had the opportunity to consult with the distinguished manager and the ranking member. I have advised .him of steps that I would like to take at this time. I now ask that amendment No. 1955. which is the authorization bill. be called up for the purpose of sending to the desk a modification to that amendment.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":392,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090075292,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it is my understanding that the amendment that the Senator from Virginia. chairman of the Armed Services Committee. has offered is still the authorization bill from the Armed Services Committee. as modified. May I inquire of the Senator. is that correct?","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":269,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090075307,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the Senator is right. I said the Parliamentarians have advisedthat is as I have read it. in the Parliamentarians handwritingthere is sufficient language in the House bill to permit Senator WARNER to assert the defense of germaneness with respect to his amendment numbered 1955. I did just that. I have acted consistently. having been working with the Parliamentarian through much of the day as to how to develop this procedure. I followed the rules as I understood them and advised the Parliamentarian.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":517,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090075315,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in accordance with rule V of the Standing Rules of the Senate. I hereby give notice in writing of my intention to move to suspend paragraph 4 rule XVI for the purpose of proposing to the bill. H.R. 2863. the Defense Appropriations bill. the following amendment: No. 2025. (The amendment is printed in todays RECORD under \"Text of Amendments.\")","speaker_name":"BLANCHE LINCOLN","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":358,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090075320,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The educk stamp will be more cost effective and hunters will be able to forego a trip to town before heading to the field. The Electronic Duck Stamp Act requires the Secretary of the Interior conduct a 3year pilot program under which. hopefully. Montana and 14 other States may issue the electronic stamps. The price for the stamp will remain unchanged at $15. Stamps may be purchased over the phone or Internet giving sportsmen additional flexibility. Purchasers will receive immediate access to a verification number which will allow them to legally -hunt waterfowl. This number will then eventually be replaced by an actual paper stamp. This will be a very popular program and will benefit many American men and women who enjoy hunting waterfowl. I look forward to working with my Senate colleagues to pass this piece of legislation for not only my State of Montana but other States as well.","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1998,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090075322,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to introduce a bill to bring equity and fairness to the manufacturing and production activities in Puerto Rico. Earlier this Congress. my colleague from the House of Representatives. Delegate LuIs FORTUNO. introduced H.R. 2181 to extend section 199 to manufacturing and production activities in Puerto Rico. In the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004. we enacted section 199 that provides a deduction for income attributable to certain manufacturing activities. However. section 199 currently ap-. plies only to manufacturing and production activities in the U.S.. and does not extend to Puerto Rico. This bill merely places the manufacturing and production activities in Puerto Rico on even footing with those conducted within the United States. It contains the additional safeguard of assuring that the extension of this deduction is only available where the income of the company is subject to immediate U.S. tax. I have worked with my colleague in the House as he has perfected this language to narrowly meet the needs of his constituents. and I am pleased to be able to help him move this legislation forward in the Senate. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1303,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090075323,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The DavisBacon Act also prohibits the use of entrylevel workers classified as \"helpers\" on federally funded projects. and artificially raises construction costs by up to 33 percent. Furthermore. the DavisBacon Act discourages many small businesses from bidding on public projects. because contractors who are unfamiliar with the complex set of laws and regulations often choose not toparticipate in reconstruction efforts or end up being cited or sued for.naively violating laws. For these reasons. DavisBacon regulafions were suspended by Executive Order 11 days after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast. Knowing what we know now. it is unconscionable for. us to force victims of future disasters to suffer through any waiting period before we remove barriers to reconstruction. The CARE Act would automatically trigger a yearlong suspension of DavisBacon Act rules in all future disaster sites that receive an emergency declaration from the President. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"JIM DEMINT","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2004,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090075356,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am a bit offended when the Democratic leader knows last week we had defense. we had Generals Myers. Abizaid. and Casey- brief Members extensively in a bipartisan way in a tradition we have set up that is working very well. We have the Secretary of State. which he knows. coming on October 19 to have a very similar briefing. addressing issues in Iraq. in Afghanistan. And Negroponte is coming. as I said.. the following week. So we will work together. I do want to make it clear their invitation was initiated in a partisan way. with a letter I was not a part of. not asked to be apart of. in the letter itself. the initial letter. I think we need to continue to work together to continue these briefings. which are very important. as we go forward.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":766,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090075373,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. No. 1. I would like to recognize that Senator STEVENS. who has so honorably served our country. is genuinely concerned about the extent of -this amendment. For those of you who are listening. Senator STEVENS was a World War II pilot. He has gone in harms way in defending his country. We have in the Chamber his counterpart on the Appropriations Committee. Senator INOUYE. a Medal of Honor winner. and the Senator occupying the chair is a former POW. The food chain is going down when I am speaking. ","speaker_name":"LINDSEY GRAHAM","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11332,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090075381,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The prohibition on torture and other cruel treatmentis deeply rooted in the history of America. Our Founding Fathers made it clear in the Bill of Rights that torture and other forms of cruel treatment are prohibited. These principles have even guided us during the times of great national testing. During the Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln asked Francis Lieber. a military law expert. to create a set of rules to govern the conduct of U.S. soldiers in the Civil War. The result was the Lieber Code. It prohibited torture and other cruel treatment of captured enemy forces. It really was the foundation for the Geneva Conventions. After World War II. the United States took the lead in establishing a number of treaties that banned the use of torture and other cruel treatment against all persons at all times. There are no exceptions to this prohibition. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12023,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090075417,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I was under the assumption the amendment.was going to be accepted.. as you were. and now I have been told there are some concerns from the minority on the committee. I have talked extensively about these series of amendments. They all work in conjunction with each other. Senator MCCAINs amendment standardized interrogation techniques and what we as a people want to live bywe do not want to torture people. We are not going to torture people. My amendment standardizes and makes small changes to the determination of who is an enemy combatant and who is not. because you keep people at Guantanamo Bay indefinitely under this procedure. It needs to be blessed by Congress. The third thing we do. later on. is deal with military commissions. actuallyhow you try these people. So I was under the understanding. I say to the Senator. that not only was Senator WARNER a cosponsor of these two amendments. but that everybody was on board. ","speaker_name":"LINDSEY GRAHAM","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1116,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090075435,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I have a package we have- approved as managers of the bill. I ask unanimous consent that the Chair lay before the Senate amendments 1996. 1887. 1895. 2017. 1925. and 1889. It sounds as though I am reading birthdays. When the Chair is ready. I will propound a unanimous consent request when those amendments are before us.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":336,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090075550,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I would say to my colleague. I hope maybe it is 15 minutes or so. Depending upon the reaction of the chairman and the ranking member of the committee. maybe even less time than that. I will try to be brief because I know the Senator from Virginia and the Senator from Michigan are interested in having a colloquy.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":313,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090075558,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Up until today. mean literally this afternoon. had been almost no response to th quirement of law. As of todaywill get to this in a minutethey abat decided to issue some regulations. It is .tem not a coincidence that they are offerIdier ing those proposed regulations the very RE- day I am offering the amendment again irse- on the floor. There is an old expression. item \"I was born at night but not last fent night.\" and I would love to believe that nem- this was strictly a matter of timing. the but I am concerned that basically there is still a fesistance to the idea that our ding service men and women ought to be receiving the kind of equipment they Sec- need. particularly in a war zone. s. if As we. all know. and again I am stat.1 as- ing the obvious. we are at war. The fety. safety and protection of our troops in arse- the field could not be a more serious issue for every single one of us. So why d in is it that the Pentagon has repeatedly ients failed to adequately equip these men from and -women? As far back as June of lated 2003. the military was regularly reporting that up to a quarter of the troops to be deployed to Iraq were short of critical E for body armor needed to- protect them-. ibers selves from shrapnel and AK47 fire. e de- Just this last June. the Marine Corps t be Inspector General estimated that 30.000 sub- marines in Iraq needed twice as many TY.- heavy machine guns. more fully pro. Na- tected armored vehicles. and more iscal communications equipment to perform 1857) their operations successfully than they were getting. Lot me repeat: 30.000 ma3 old rines in Iraq need twice as much heavy am equipment in some areas as they are ed a getting. egis- The Army has had so many troubles ome massproducing body armor that it gues eventually lost as many as 10.000 ardopt mored plates as reported by the Army very Inspector Generals Office. well Most frustrating of all is that as cascon- ualties mounted due to roadside bombs t be- or. in DOD parlance. the improvised explosive devices. IEDs. We found that that the Pentagon had gravely underestiform mated the necessary armor needed to who protect Army anid Marine ground vehieigh- cles. nent At a Senate Armed Services Comserv- mittee hearing in March of 2004. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11344,"word_count":409}
{"speech_id":1090075568,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I commend our distinguished colleague from Connecticut. I would say. knowing him through these many years and enjoying a warm and cordial friendship. his indignation was in full control and modest in comparison to other periods. but he is absolutely right. Were I in his position. I would be indignant about the fact that you have tried assiduously to urge the Department to follow the law which I was privileged to work with you in putting into effect last year. That law was Section 351 of the Defense bill last year. It set forth. as the Senator has in this bill. much the same relief for- the men and women of the Armed Forces who. on their own initiative. have gone out. and expended. and indeed their families have contributed. sums of money. I am very much in favor of -this. I hope the managers of the bill will see fit to accept it. But I do urge upon the managers and my colleague from Connecticut that consideration be given to. a clause which was in the law last year. I will read it: The protective safety or health equipment was purchased by the member during the period beginning on September 11. 2001. and ending on July 31. 2004. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2598,"word_count":209}
{"speech_id":1090075633,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. that is correct. In the event the Senate concurs in the position of both of us with regard to the forthcoming vote and the Senate agrees as. to germaneness. it is my intention to call up my- amendment. which is the 2006 armed services bill. and at that time to put on it a managers amendment--jointly. the two of uswhich is the third pending amendment at the desk. We will discard the other two amendments because this third amendment has been carefully drawn to have those amendments. as the Senator from Michigan said. those amendments relative to part A. which constitutes the amendment at the desk at this time. It will be the subject of a vote. andnot parts B and C.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":686,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090075636,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Fine. This third amendment I have filed is simply a consolidation drawing from the first amendment of 80some amendments. and the second. I think. was 18 to 20. Only those amendments in this third filing are ones relative to part A. All amendments relative in the earlier packagesthe first and the second I filedbasically were part A. but there were some relevant to parts B and C. so I removed those. Because if there is a challenge at the time I bring it upassuming the Senate in its vote sustains the judgment of the Senator from Virginia and others that there is germaneness in our underlying amendmentthen I seek to amend that with this third package which constitutes only amendments related to part A. such as if there is another challenge on gerinaneness I will not be burdened down by sections B and C. In no way does this third filing in any way try -to restore parts B or C. To the contrary. it takes out all amendments which are related to B and C. so hopefully if I have a further challenge on germaneness. it can be sustained. that they are germane.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1062,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090075653,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If I can finish the sentence. I hope we can find a way consistent with the wonderful relationship which has existed between appropriators andauthorizers in the defense area. that we can find a way to get this authorization bill before the Senate. We have tried to get it freestanding. without success. This is an opportunity to bring this bill to the Senate. As the Senator from Virginia said. we have over 100 items which have been cleared. That is not done for any sinister reason. That is done for a very simple way to expedite this bill so that the appropriators are not- confronted with 100 amendments. The appropriators should not be confronted with an authorizationbill where there are 150 amendments pending. The Senator from Virginia and this Senator have tried very hard to accommodate Senators on both sides of the aisle so we could help the appropriators. so we could represent to the appropriators that we would not be con_ fronted with 100 or 150 amendments. but that a managers package would be able to resolve most of those amendments. That has been done. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1479,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090075665,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He did not inform me that the reason for that deletion was because the Parliamentarian had advised him that the bill would be sub-. ject to a point of order on the basis of germaneness if he did it. So he eliminated the two provisions of the bill that might be subject to germaneness. The Parliamentarian has now advised that the Senator from Virginia has a right to raise the defense of germaneness and the Senate will vote on that at 7:30. Beyond that. the concept now of bringing in 108 amendments to the bill when there are still amendments outsideI ask unanimous consent that we adopt -the amendments offered by the Senator from Virginia and that no further amendments from the authorization bill be permitted to this bill.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1704,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090075671,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I say to my two very dear and old friends. I tender any apologies. but I have acted strictly in accordance with the rules. exercising the right that any Senator has. I feel it is imperative because we are a nation at war. We have diligently tried to get up our bill. and this is an option I felt under the rules was open to me. and I havefollowed it. There was a time. as Senator STEVENS did correctly stateand he was correct in his statementsthat we had hoped there would be an agreement between the two sides on what few remaining amendments to our bill. over and above the 100plus that are in the amendment up here. could be acted upon expeditiously. I still feel there are but a few amendments out there and that we canSenator LEVIN and Iresolve them. I know parts B and C are essential to be enacted into law before this session concludes. I would assume at some point in time the leadership will enable us to bring up sections B and C. at which time such other amendments as colleagues may have can be brought forth and resolved at that point in time. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2269,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090075711,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. as we consider many important amendments to this underlying bill. I will take just a moment to speak about this amendment which I offer that will call the attention of my colleagues to the important investments that we should be making in interoperability and communications. As my colleagues know. we have had a very recent disaster along the gulf coast that has made quite apparent the lack of a communications system that - is adequate -to handle natural disasters of this magnitude and even manmade disasters that we could contemplate. So this is quite serious. I know there are many committees of the Senate and the House that are working very hard on this issue right now. Since Katrina and Rita and even before these terrible hurricanes and the subsequent flooding of . this region. which has been devastating. we have known for some time that we have to get a better system of communication. Our military has some interesting and very promising initiatives underway that could truly help us at this time. That is basically what this $30 million amendment will do. is dedicate or allocate $30 million to U.S. Northern Command for the purposes of implementing IMT2000 3G Communications Capabilities. ","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2585,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090075721,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Extreme Thermo Rush contains 200 mg of caffeine. That is the equivalent caffeine in five cans of CocaCola. In addition. this drink contains 200 mg of Citrus Aurantium. which is an ephedrasubstitute that was found by a group of University of California scientists to increase heart rate among healthy people. It is a stimulant. These scientists released -a report in April saying that dietary supplements containing Citrus Aurantium could have some of the -same adverse health effects associated with ephedra products. Lets look at just how many service members are taking supplements. As you can see from this chart. a 1999 study by the U.S. Army Research Institute for Environmental Medicine found that 85 percent of the 2.200 male soldiers surveyed reported use of dietary supplements. A similar study conducted by the Department of the Navy found that 89 percent of Marines have used supplements. When broken down by category. the survey showed that 26 percent of Marines took supplements containing stimulants. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11765,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090075801,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What a way for the Senate to operate. What a way to conduct this important business of the people. This is not the way the Senate is supposed to conduct its business. This is a forum for free. open. and unlimited debate. This is how the Senate is so different from other upper bodies throughout the world today. This is why the Senate is such an incredibly powerful and important forum of free debate. open debate. unlimited debate. the full airing of legislation. time to ask questions. time to answer questions. time to explain. explore. deliberate. and time to offer amendments. What a travesty. The Senate is an institution sui generis. one of its kind in this country. a forum where there can be free. open. unlimited debate. freedom of debate. freedom of speech. So the Senate is an institution where freedom of speech. freedom of debate. and the freedom to amend reign. Attaching such a massive bill. the Defense authorization bill. to another important bill. the Defense appropriations bill. will mean that the Senate will never have an opportunity to focus its undivided attention on the important matters of the Defense authorization bill. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4549,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090075828,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Senator TALENT. No. 2030. on the C17. as modified. I ask unanimous consent that those amendments be considered en bloc as presented to the Senate. The. PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection. the Senate will proceed to consider them en bloc.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":759,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090075848,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"What we have here is a situation where it is critical that we finish this bill this week. Let me tell you why. This bill is the supplemental appropriations bill for Defense for activities in Iraq and Afghanistan and the war on terror. We are in a continuing resolution period. There is no money in the continuing resolution for that part. I hope the Senate will understand that this authorization bill has no place in this bill as a bill to become amended by the processes of the Senate in the future.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":501,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090075878,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Secretary Rumsfeld has rarely .been more humiliated than on his visit to Iraq last December. when a soldier had the courage to ask him why the troops had to scavenge scrap metal on the streets to protect themselves. The cheer that roared out from troops when he asked question said it all. More than 400 troops have already died in military vehicles vulnerable to roadside bombs. grenades. and other. notorious improvised explosive devices. Many of us have visited soldiers at Walter Reed and Bethesda and seen the tragic consequences of inadequate armor. We want to ensure that parents grieving at Arlington National Cemetery no longer ask. \"Why werent more armored humvees available?\" Its. taken far too long to solve this problem. We have to make sure we solve it now. once and for all. We cant keep hoping the problem will somehow go away. In a letter last October 20. General Abizaid said. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5095,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090075880,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on a recent trip to Iraq. we saw the uparmoring taking place in country. They are doing it now in Specially created circumstances there. But beyond that. we have funded the total capacity of the plants in the United States to produce uparmor. We have done everytlfing we can. If we can find additional capacity. we have another supplemental coming in the spring. we Will join the Senator in urging more money. But we have used every dollar we can for uparmoring in the plants and in facilities. You should see the Oshkosh plant over there. They are uparmoring trucks and all sorts of vehicles now in country. I urge the Senate to understand this amendment is duplicative. ","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1386,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090075954,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I announce we will have a managers package. We will consider amendments that might be taken by voice yote after this last scheduled vote. I have already made the point of order against the Stabenow amendment. To be sure the record is clear. I make the point of order against the Kerry amendment and I ask it be agreed to.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":321,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090075987,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we have a managers package. which is No. 6. that I send to the desk. I ask unanimous consent that they be considered en bloc. I state for the record that this includes - a BingamanDomenici colloquy on the F117. for Senator HATCH and others. an amendment on the Air Force Depot Maintenance Program. as modified. This is amendment No. 2001. for Senator SCHUMER and Senator CLINTON. amendment No. 2038 on the arsenal program support. which is modified. for Senator HAGEL. a colloquy on supplemental security income. for Senator BOND. amendment No. 1923. for oral anthrax vaccine. for Senator SARBANES. amendment No. 1969. as modified. for the Naval Academy. for Senator MCCONNELL. amendment No. 2042. recognizing U.S. military personnel. for Senator LANDRIEU. amendment No. 1942. as modified. for Northern Command. for Senator GRAHAM. amendment No. 2004. as modified. on combatant status review tribunals. for Senator CONRAD. amendment No. 1882. as modified. on Predator aircraft.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":992,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090075994,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I agree with my colleagues assessment about the strategic .value of the F117 and note that this recommendation is further validated by the Housepassed H.R. 2863 which retains the Presidents .budget request for F117 upgrades and adds $11.1 million in operations and maintenance funding to retain the 10 aircraft scheduled for retirement. I would like to ask the distinguished chairman for his views concerning the Air Forces recommendation to retire 10 F117s in fiscal year","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":472,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090075999,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I agree with the Senator from Nebraska. The provisions of the Social Security Act need to be addressed in order to ensure Supplemental Security Income eligibility and benefits are not inadvertently taken away from those in the armed services. when they need them most.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":268,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090076003,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in accordance with rule V of the Standing Rules of the Senate. I hereby give notice in writing that it is my intention to move to suspend paragraph 4 of rule XVI for the purpose of proposing to the bill. H.R. 2863. a bill making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30. 2006. and for other purposes: amendment No. 2040. (The amendment is printed in the RECORD of Tuesday. October 4. 2005 under \"Text of Amendments.\") CROWS","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":482,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090076004,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wish to bring up an important subject involving our Soldiers irr harms way. In my State of Colorado and across the country. our fighting men and women have suffered casualties while on patrol in armored vehicles. Tkpically. the gunner sitting on top of the vehicle is at more risk from being hit both because he or she is visible to the enemy and because he or she is not as protected as those troops inside the armored vehicle. I recently received an email from a Colorado soldier serving in Iraq. This brave young man wrote me concerning the combat death of his friend. His friend was riding in the gunners seat when his Humvee was subjected to an improvised explosive device attack. He feels that his friend might still be alive if that Humvee had a Common Remotely Operated Weapons StationCROWSand he wanted me to know about it and see if anyone here in Washington could do something about it. I think we can do something about it. and with the help of my colleagues from Hawaii and Alaska. we will do something about it.","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1042,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090076017,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Title 9 of this bill goes a long way toward removing these obstacles at all levels and to enhance the ability of each agency to respond to acts of domestic violence when they occur. These critical changes to the current law will greatly curb violence against Indian women. and perhaps even save lives. Again. I thank the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee for their thoughtful consideration in drafting a bill that includes an often forgotten segment of our population. the Nations Indian tribes.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3144,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090076020,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Like the previous Blue Ribbon Schools Program. RIBBON SCHOOLS this distinction is one that never ex-","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CRAPO","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3156,"word_count":16}
{"speech_id":1090076022,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is a lot of work. but the end result is a spectacle of beauty and pageantry every year. They can be very proud of all their efforts and I officially acknowledge and honor them for their dedication..","speaker_name":"JOHN THUNE","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2327,"word_count":38}
{"speech_id":1090076025,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"After Katrina. I hope we all learned a lesson about the critical value of preparedness. I rise today to introduce. along with Senators REID. BAYH. and KENNEDY. S. 1821. legislation that dramatically enhances the ability of the United States and international community to prevent and respond to an avian flu pandemic. The bill we are introducing todaythe Pandemic Preparedness and Response Act or PPRAincorporates much of my AVIAN Act. and has a number of new and important provisions. that will protect Americans from pandemic flu.","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1488,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090076028,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to address a serious threat facing our Nationillegal immigration. Despite successful efforts by me and other Members to increase border patrol forces. add new detention facilities. and improve border monitoring. the problem of individuals entering our country illegally continues to impact communities across the country. Just last year. the number of immigrants entering our country illegally outnumbered those entering through legal means. While legal immigration contributes to the diversity and uniqueness of our sQciety. illegal immigration undermines the system and weakens the legitimate process by which people can enter our country. With the Census Bureau estimating that 10 to 11 million people reside in our country illegally. clearly our strategy in confronting this issue must change. Immigration and naturalization are constitutionally defined powers granted to the Federal Government. As such. many view the issue of immigration as strictly a Federal burden. to be addressed by Federal legislation. policies. and payment. While immigration policy is certainly initiated at the Federal level. one cannot ignore the inherent truth that the impact of illegal immigration is predominantly manifested in our State and local communities. oftenin the form of overwhelmed emergency rooms. overburdened school systems. and overcrowded prisons. ","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5443,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090076053,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Through the Chair. first of all. I appreciate the work that he has -been doing behind the scenes with the leadership in the Senate to press forward on this very important issue. But I would like to ask him what he thinks about the possibility of us going home on break for over a week before something can be determined definitively as to whether people who are without a home. without a job. without a church. without a neighborhood. without their familydoes the Senator think we should possibly make some decisions at least about their emergency health care needs before we leave?","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":582,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090076099,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He was also commissioned as an Army second lieutenant in 1958. He continued his education. gaining a masters of business administration from George Washington University. Since that time. Colin Powell has served our great Nation as a professional soldier for some 35 years. during which time he was the recipient of numerous United States and foreign military awards and decorations and soon rose to the rank of a fourstar general. He went on to serve as the 12th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. which is the highest military position in- the Department of Defense. In his time as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. he oversaw some 28 crises. including Operation Desert Storm and the victorious 1991 Persian Gulf war. His distinguished career was topped off when he. was sworn in as the 65th Secretary of State of the United States in January of 2001.. There are other things to note about this distinguished American leader. Colin Powell is also a man dedicated to his family and to the youth of America. He is married to the former Alma Vivian Johnson of Birmingham. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MICA","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2463,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090076101,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. Today it is my hofior and privilege to bring this legislation. which will recognize the leadership of an outstanding American patriot. someone who serves as a role model for all Americans. I am very proud of Colin Powell and again of his service to our Nation. I urge the support of this bill.","speaker_name":"JOHN MICA","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":347,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090076126,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Again. I urge my colleagues to pass S. 1786. This is a needed piece of legislation and an immediately needed bill. It will provide some relief to some of the Gulf States that were hit by two of our most recent and very tragic hurricanes. Airports do provide a link between communities and a gateway to the Nation and the world. It is one of our most important economic generators in this country. and it is a Federal responsibility to move forward in the repair and the replacement of the infrastructure and facilities at these transportation hubs. I might repeat that this does not require any additional funding. but it does allow flexibility. It does allow additional payments to these areas for their traditional Federal requirement share and local requirement share. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MICA","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1712,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090076139,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield back the balanca of my time.","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2525,"word_count":10}
{"speech_id":1090076146,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I.may consume. Madam Speaker. House Resolution 276. offered by -the distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania . -would increase awareness about a horrible disease. pancreatic cancer. This year. over 31.000 people will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Because of the lack of early detection methods. 99 percent of those diagnosed will lose their lives. the highest mortality rate of any form of cancer. By the time the symptoms present themselves. it is almost always too late for a positive prognosis. Diagnosed patients have an average life expectancy of only 3 to 6 months. Although pancreatic cancer is the fourth most common cancer. many Americans are not aware of the devastating statistics associated with the disease. Currently. the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. known as Pan CAN. is the only national advocacy organization available for- pancreatic cancer patients as well as their families and friends. ","speaker_name":"JOHN DUNCAN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1610,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090076161,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Not only is it a characterbuilding. competitionraising. beautiful sport. it also offers cities around the country the opportunity to participate. I would like to at this time send a shout out to the Detroit Pistons. world champions in 2003 and also in the semifinals in 2004. So as we pay homage to Earl Lloyd. a former 1950s basketball player from my district. as well as some of the others that came before him. let us remember that the NBA was started many years after the AfricanAm~rican basketball players played their sport. Together it has evolved into a wonderful sport. I urge my colleagues to adopt this resolution. It is called the resolution recognizing the contributions of African American basketball teams that.started in the 1920s. Madam Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Tennessee as well as the gentleman from Illinois. and let us continue to remember that through competition and sports. we too can build a strong America and a strong family. Madam Speaker. in less than a month the 20052006 professional basketball season will begin. and I am proud that the resolution being .considered today pays tribute to the founding AfricanAmerican basketball teams and players who made the game what it is today. In the past. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN KILPATRICK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7305,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090076179,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker.. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. I rise today in strong support of H.R. 3894. Hurricane Katrina Emergency Housing Act- of 2005. The legislation authorizes the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to waive several limitations on the rental voucher programs. These waivers will allow us to help families who have been displaced. by the hurricanes to move quickly to secure shelter they so desperately need. Having a roof over your head is olle of the most basic human needs. In the aftermath of the storms. Federal and local governments now face the monumental task of coordinating the relocation of thousandsupon thousands of individuals across the entire Nation. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD BAKER","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2488,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090076201,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. let me thank our ranking member for yielding. Also I want to thank the ranking member on the Housing Subcommittee -for her leadership and for really trying to make sure that these bills before us today have bipartisan support and have become better bills as they move through this process. People displaced by this horrible disaster deserve clean. safe and decent housing. They should be provided with the opportunity to return home as quickly and as safely as possible. Yet. I do not believe these bills accomplish this goal. HUD has not received. first of all. nearly enough authority or funding to do what is necessary to provide for the Katrina survivors. First. nowhere do we acknowledge the inadequate -response to date of the administration or the Department of Housing and Urban \" Development to the housing crisis in the gulf. Secondly. there is no additional funding in any of these bills for .the CDBG or emergency housing vouchers for families affected by Hurricane Katrina. There is not enough money at HUD. and we should not redirect funding that is already inadequate in one account. to move it to another account. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA LEE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3406,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090076214,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In particular in this case we ought to be substantially increasing the CDBG funding. Now. we are not the Committee on Appropriations. We do .have an authorizing power. Giving the people the ability to spend on more things but not more money is better than nothing. but not nearly good enough. CDBG needs the kinds of things that CDBG does. both for the larger communities of 50.000 or more. called \"entitlement cities.\" but also what we should be doing here is providing to the Governors of the affected States funding which they could use in their CDBG programming. because they get onethird of it. for those com-. munities that are in areas of less than 50.000 population. that Is. they are the Small Communities Program. and we should be increasing the.funding there. I hope at an appropriate time we will do that. because these communities are going to need a great deal of help.","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1588,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090076217,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I would like to say to my colleague on the opposite side of the aisle. the -gentleman from Louisiana . that I agree with him that there should be a mechanism by which people who have goods and services to donate to these small towns and these parishes. there should be a way by which they should be able. to do that. and I would support such an effort. Because as I traveled throughout my community. in the churches where we talked about this disaster. I had many of the parishioners say to me that they owned land in Louisiana or in Texas and they would like to donate their land for the siting of manufactured housing or even for RVs or something of that nature. They were not sure. but they knew they wanted to put the land to use for the victims of the hurricane. So I think we should find a way by which to do that. ","speaker_name":"MAXINE WATERS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":35.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1867,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090076234,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He said: \"I am someone who seeks justice. not revenge.\" He said: \"When history looks back. I want people to know the Nazis were not able to kill millions of people and get away with it. This is awarning for the murderers of tomorrow that they will never rest. When we cannot through some action warn the murderers of tomorrow. then millions of people will die for nothing. And whenwe come to the other world and meet the millions of Jews who died in the camps and they ask us what have you done. there will be many answers but I will be able to say I did not forget you.\" And. just one last thing. On the Austrian policeman who was arrested for the murder of Anne Frank because of Mr. Wiesenthals dogged determination. he said: \"My most hard work. and I am very proud of this case. was to find the man who arrested Anne Frank. The Family Frank was like 10.000 other families. but Anne Frank became a symbol of the million murdered children. And I tell it to the father of Anne Frank. the diary of his daughter had a bigger impact than the entire Nuremberg trial. Why? Because people identified with the child. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2268,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090076237,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"To prosecute the countless Nazis who had evaded the law. Wiesenthal. along with several other Holocaust survivors. founded the Jewish Documentation Center in Austria to collect and prepare evidence for future trials. Over the years. Wiesenthal honed his expertise in researching. tracking. and ultimately captuing Nazi criminals scattered throughout the world so they could face trial. Though the world community had collaborated to protect against future genocides. Wiesenthal personally strived to meet this goal. As one of the foremost speakers on the subject. he educated people around the world about the Holocaust and the prevention of genocide and intolerance. In 1977. the Simon Wiesenthal Center was established to further pursue the prosecution of hiding Nazi criminals. monitor antiSemitism. and promote religious and racial tolerance. On September 20. 2005. Simon Wiesenthal passed away of natural causes. ","speaker_name":"MARK UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3901,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090076253,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Georgia . a member of the Com.mittee on -Energy and Commerce.. which has jurisdiction over part of this legislation. and I ask unanimous consent that he control the remainder of my time.","speaker_name":"JAMES MCCRERY","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2385,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090076274,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 261) expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services should be commended for implementing the Medicare demonstration project to. assess the quality of care of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. and should extend the project. at least through 2006. subject to any appropriate modifications. as amended.","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":440,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090076278,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H. Res. 261. a resolution sponsored by the gentleman from Texas . This resoTution commends the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for implementing the Medicare oncology demonstration project. and requests that it extend this successful program. I am pleased to report that due to this important demonstration project. the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has received valuable data that will serve to better treat patients suffering from cancer. Cancer is one of the leading causes of death to Americans. and almost every American has had their life touched in some way by this horrible disease. ","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2076,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090076308,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The negative impact that this has on communities in my area is staggering. The impact of environmental degradation. the cost to hospitals. police and sheriffs departments and other public agencies. not to mention the tragic loss of life in Arizona in the desert. as many people who seek to come to the United States for better opportunities perish in the heat of the summer. I am pleased that this conference report provides necessary resources to protect our border. not only an additional $56 million for the Tucson sector for expanding Border Patrol stations. fencing. vehicles. lighting. border roads and sensors. but across our entire border. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this rule and the underlying bill.","speaker_name":"JAMES KOLBE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2247,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090076334,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have .5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the conference report to accompany the bill. H.R. 2360. and that I may include tabular material on the same.","speaker_name":"HAROLD ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":274,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090076351,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the chairman for yielding me this time and for his hard work in this Herculean task of trying to make this agency better. Thankfully. homeland security has worked. Our Nation is safer. My gripe. though. is FEMA. Four storms hit Florida. and FEMA was ill equipped. In my opinion. it is ill equipped because it resides in an agency that should be focused solely on terrorism and homeland- security. 0I 2000 FEMA should be able to respond to the needs of a natural disaster that we have experienced. - % Immigration has been mentioned repeatedly. Immigration is out of control. We recently read in the paper that .employees of the U.S. ","speaker_name":"MARK FOLEY","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2125,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090076356,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act suggests that a number of factors are considered to measure the severity. magnitude and impact of a disaster and authorizes FEMA to provide individual assistance. I would be happy to work with the gentlewoman from Florida to get this corrected within current FEMA statutory authorities and provide equitable assistance to all victims of Hurricane Katrina.","speaker_name":"MARTIN SABO","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":426,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090076365,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In fact. we need to investigate some of the failings of these entities before we begin to merge one entity into another. I am grateful that we have provided dollars for transportation security. but it is not enough. Whistleblower protection is good. but there is not enough funding. if you will. to establish an independent. stfong FEMA. That is what we need to be focusing on. and the reorganization plan .should not be accepted in the backdrop and the failures of Hurricane Katrina.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3094,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090076376,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I worry that we may be living on borrowed time. If theres one thing Katrina showed us its that emergency response plans that are not rigorously tested and retested wont work in a crisis. Even worse. public skepticism is growing over whether the Federal Government is now capable of responding effectively to another catastrophic event. A natural disaster is one thing. but terrorists can strike anytime. anywhere and use our own resources against us. I urge my colleagues to consider fully funding the needs of securing our homeland. and I challenge us as a body to meet the vital challenge of protecting our Nation.","speaker_name":"JAMES MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4143,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090076381,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In closing. Mr. Speaker. I will support this bill to provide critical resources to help make our country safer. However. fully addressing our critical national security concerns in light of recent events requires resources that the Administration simply did not support and which the Republican majority did not provide in this bill. While this bill is an improvement over the Administrations request. unfortunately critical homeland security needs will still go unmet despite the probability of disasters lurking in the not so distant future.","speaker_name":"LUCILLE ROYBAL-ALLARD","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":34.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3034,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090076395,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speake publications on Capitol Hill today been filled with information ab topic: How do we go about red spending. What a nice deliberatio us to have in this body. How wou choose to reduce spending: across board cuts or looking at specific grams. Last week I came to the. floor talked about three bills I had duced. Each of these bills would ca acrosstheboard cuts. whether 1. 2 percent reductions. I want to than Speaker and the gentleman from souri for listening t proposal. I want to thank the tleman from Virginia (Mr. CANTO -signing. and the gentlemanfrom - for his leadership work to find a way to fund the I cane Katrina disaster and as we 1o a way to prioritize spending an dress fiscal responsibility in this","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":720,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090076404,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as I travel my district in Nebraska. the number one concern is high fuel prices. and I would assume that is true for a great many Members in this Chamber. The reasons are somewhat obvious. Worldwide demand for petroleum has increased. China and India are using more oil than ever before. We are nearly 60 percent dependent on foreign oil at the present time. OPEC can. to some degree. set oil prices because of that. .And of course more recently the hurricanes have shut down some of our refineries. So we. took a gpo.first step last July in passing the enqrgy. bill: The renewable. fuel standards require 7.5 billion gallofrs of ethanol or biodiesel by 2012. which -nearly. doubles the amount of renewable -fuels.. Alsothe energy bill expedites access to 2 trillioh barrels of oil in U.S. oil shale. deposits. And also it promotes an initiative for the production of hydrogen fuel cells. which I think in 15 to 20 years can pretty much remove demand for petroleum fuel products. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS OSBORNE","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3332,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090076406,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. there is no doubt that one of the biggest concerns that we hear from our constituents is the unjustified increase in the price of fuels. Just in Ohio today. gasoline is over $3 a gallon. People cannot afford to take their families for weekend drives or vacations because the cost of gasoline prohibits it. Farmers and other small businessmen face higher fuel costs that are making it nearly impossible for them to make a profit. Individuals are concerned about the cost of home heating this year as heating oil and natural gas prices go up faster than windchill blowing across the Great Lakes. and -programs like heating assistance for those that cannot afford to pay their bills. like senior citizens. are facing flatlining by the Republican majority in this House when it is eminently clear that the need will be greater this year than ever in the past. We always seem to be able to find money to send to other countries. but we cannot take care of the people right here at home. What a shame. So what does this Congress do about all of this? Tomorrow we are supposed to be debating the Gasoline for Americas Security Act of 2005. H.R. 2360. ","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3150,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090076418,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. today I rise to bring attention to the devastating impact the epidemic of HIV\/ AIDS continues to have on the Latino community nationwide. According to the latest data and statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. although Latinos make up only 14 percent of the population of the U.S. and Puerto Rico. they account for 20 percent. that is about 164.000 of the more than 930.000 AIDS cases diagnosed since the beginning of the epidemic. This* epidemic has also affected women and young people in the Latino community. Latinas. unfortunately. represent a high 18 percent of new AIDS cases among women. Our teenagers accounted for 20 percent of the new AIDS cases among teens in the .year 2002. In my own home State of California. an estimated 15.387 Latinos are living with AIDS. representing the second highest State in terms of the number of Latinos infected with AIDS nationwide. Unfortunately. while Latinos suffer disproportionately from HIV and AIDS. many are uninsured and are unable to gain access to adequate care services due to language and cultural barriers. lack of transportation. and fear of stigmatization. I want to highlight these concerns and also bring together our Nation and community towards the commitment of creating new alliances. adopting culturally specific and appropriate interventions. and advocating for new funding and resources targeted to those communities most adversely affected by this horrible epidemic. I have also introduced legislation supporting the third annual National Latino AIDS Awareness Day. which takes place on Saturday. October 15. 2005. ","speaker_name":"HILDA SOLIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4393,"word_count":255}
{"speech_id":1090076432,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Timely Health Care Act of 2005 entitled HEALTH. This is sponsored by my colleague. the gentleman from Georgia","speaker_name":"JOHN CARTER","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":31.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3751,"word_count":18}
{"speech_id":1090076439,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So I really want to thank the leadership of this House. I want to thank the gentleman from Georgia -and the gentleman from Texas and the gentleman from Pennsylvania and the gentleman from Georgia for bringing their expertise to bear in this body and bringing attention to the medical liability crisis and to the need to move forward. complete addressing H.R. 5 and taking a lead in the medical malpractice\/medical liability issue.","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3458,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090076446,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. if the gentleman would yield. a question on that. Another question is what if the patient perhaps- needs rehabilitation costs. other medical care. would the gentleman point out what this bill does if a person has ongoing medical needs as a consequence? My understanding is it does not limit it and the patient could get that ongoing care.","speaker_name":"TIM MURPHY","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":353,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090076463,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We are not going to hold those individuals accountable. George Tenet. who was the Director of the CIA at the time of 9\/11. also who won the Medal of Freedom from the President. that he will not be held responsible or anybody under him. So the CIA Director said he will see to it that that report stays secret even though. Mr. Speaker. Americans- lost their lives. And that is the part that gets under my skin. I do not represent New York. The gentleman from New Jersey","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5093,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090076468,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I know that when we heard about Michael Brown. the head of FEMA. and everybody knows how incompetent he was and what he did in the aftermath of the hurricane. basically did nothing. made things even worse. I think people initially thought maybe he is an exception. But what we are finding every day is that this is what this Bush administration does. They are constantly appointing people who are not qualified to their positions.","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":445,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090076471,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. the gentleman is exactly right. They are not qualified. They are ideologues. And I want to share with my colleagues a couple quotes here. They are not competent to hold a position. but yet they hold an ideology that they want to implement. And I want to just share with my colleagues that a gentleman from Heritage Foundation gays that -conservatives at the Heritage Foundation and elsewhere have advocated regarding Katrina that any recovery package begin with the understanding that the liberal social welfare programs of the last century failed the poor in every imaginable way. He added that the unique circumstances created by Katrina are an unprecedented opportunity to push for radical change. They want to implement their ideology. and they want to say that the social programs that the Democrats put in over the last .40 years somehow failed. What? Social Security that lifted 50 percent of the seniors out of poverty. Medicare that provided health care for seniors a failure?","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1000,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090076488,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. if the gentleman will yield -further. I am glad the gentlewoman brought that up. I would say what we are seeing in this energy bill. and this is unfortunate thing. in the same way. that Hurricanes Katrina and .Rita became an opportunity for corruption and cronyism in the awarding of contracts by the Republicans. we are seeing it is. also becoming an excuse to basically waive all environmental regulation. affirmative action. prevailing wage and the list goes on. The waiver of environmental regulations and the effort to basically gut environmental protections is unbelievable. The gentlewoman mentioned the offshore oil drilling. But one of the other things that affects my State is the Clean Air Act provisions. In other words. in that bill. basically what the President and the Republican leadership have done is taken the opportunity to gut the Clean Air Act. E] 2330 They are essentially saying now that if an older plant that does not meet clean air restrictions under the current law wants to expand its capacity. that they can still expand the capacity using the older standards. which would allow a lot more air pollution to pollute the atmosphere. So whether it is clean water. whether it is clean air. whatever it happens to be. they are using the hurricane rather than it being an opportunity. as we have suggested. to try to rebuild and give people a new opportunity in life to rebuild their lives. it is being used as an excuse to basically run roughshod over all kinds of existing protections. whether they be affirmative action. environmental protection. whatever. Again. it is cronyism. because if I can take a power plant and I can expand it and pollute the atmosphere and save money that way. it is just another giveaway. if you will. to their friends. their special interests in the utility business.","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1838,"word_count":311}
{"speech_id":1090076500,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I rise this evening for this short Special Order to express my personal outrage regarding the treatment of some brave military personnel who simply are trying to tell the truth. Madam Speaker. over the past 3 months. I have outlined for our colleagues evidence that came from military officers that we had knowledge of Mohammed Atta and al Qaeda prior to September 11 and the attack against us in New York City. This information came about from a top secret program known as\"Able Danger\" which was a program that was developed by Special Forces Command as a planning process to deal with al Qaeda cells. The military officers involved with this program identified 5 specific cells around the world. one of which was a Brooklyn cell. and this Brooklyn cell. one year before 9\/11. in fact. in January and February of 2000. actually identified Mohammed Atta. 3 of the other terrorists that were involved in the 9\/11 attack. and identified this in a chart that was produced as a part of their planning process. Furthermore. Madam Speaker. these military officers have testified. and will testify under oath. that in September of 2000. one year before September 11. they made 3 attempts to transfer information regarding the Brooklyn cell and Mohammed Atta.to the FBI. An FBI employee has again agreed to testify under oath that she arranged the 3 meetings and agreed to set up for the FBI the opportunity to receive this data. All 3 meetings were canceled by lawyers within the previous administration. the Clinton administration. ","speaker_name":"W. WELDON","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2271,"word_count":259}
{"speech_id":1090076510,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. and yet they are still. in the aftermath of Katrina. in the aftermath of Rita. with ballooning deficits and horrific corruption and cronyism. still talking about tax cuts. making the tax cuts permanent. They are still talking about budget reconciliation. which is Washington speak for cuts. They are still talking about not providing what people in this country. in the middle. in the middle. the average hardworking American needs. You know. the gentleman from Ohio","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":481,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090076534,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"At the outset. I would like to say that I left the floor last night. about 12 hours ago. around 11. Senator LANDRIEU of Louisianawas on the floor last night. As I left. I said that she has shown such a passion. and commitment to the poor people of her State of Louisiana who have been through this hurricane. I know she has tried to work within the system. she has tried to work within the Senate. and she has tried to move things along in a peaceful. bipartisan way. I sensed in her appearance last night and her appearance on the floor now that she is reaching a level of frustration and concern that this Senate is going to go home tonight or tomorrow and be gone for 10 days having done nothing to address the important issues she is raising. What the Senator has brought to our attention is the fact that we have a bi-","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":823,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090076535,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Yes. in some way. they can go to an emergency room and wait for 3 days. But if they want to go to their doctors office to whom they have been going for their whole life. and take their child to their pediatrician and they now dont have health insurance. unless we pass this bill.. they cant go knock on the door Of their pediatrician. for example. unless they give them a credit card or caslh because there is no health insurance without the BaucusGrassley bill. People who dont have a home. d6nt have a church or dont have a school now do not even have health care because we have to go home on a 10day break and leave them wondering where they are going to get .their medicine. That is what the bill does. I say to Senator DURBIN.","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2343,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090076574,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We should own it for what we pay for it. and there shouldnt be any cost. I would be happy to modify my amendment to what would meet with the needs of the Senator from Virginia. but I dont believe we should continue to spend. in .the contracting sequence this has - gone through. the same amount of money. If we allow DTS to continue to be out there and utilize the reporting capability of it but pay it on a perticket use rather than a blank check for a contract. the taxpayer will get much more benefit from it. If it performs. the contractor will make more money. If it doesnt perform. we will save a ton of money for the country. That is the purpose of the amendment.","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2121,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090076588,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I underestimated the amount of time needed. Senator LEVIN wishes to speak. I ask unanimous consent that the vote take place at 12:15 p.m. and that the additional time be divided between the Senator from Oklahoma. Mr. COBURN. and the Senator from Michigan. Mr. LEVIN.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":266,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090076697,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Everyone understood what was requested was a mistake. It should not have been requested. The decision now is to change the law and to make it where it ought to be. a $2.500 limit on the credit cards. Yes. we have to respond in a significant way to Hurricane Katrina. Sometimes that might encourage somebody or require somebody in certain circumstances to have a larger purchase. but there are plenty of ways to accommodate that without risking the waste. fraud. and abuse that will go with having credit cards with $250.000 limits. - Our legislation is pending. I make the point I appreciate the administration deciding to do a Uturn on this policy. We will offer this legislation in the Senate as soon as we are eligible to offer it on perhaps the next piece of legislation brought to the floor. I yield the floor and I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3897,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090076708,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I have a managers package which I send to the -desk for Senator CHAMBLISS. amendment No. 1981. literacy on military installations. an aifiendment for myself on advisers for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. an amendment for Senator FRIST on certain youth organizations. and an amendment for Senator BYRD regarding Hurricane Katrina relief. I ask these items be considered en bloc.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":388,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090076743,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I understand that the distinguished Senator from Louisiana. Ms. LANDRIEU. wishes to continue her speech. I ask unanimous consent that I may speak briefly for not to exceed 10 minutes and that she then be recognized to continue her speech.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":253,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090076745,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would object -to that. The Senator from Louisiana has not asked for time. The Senator does not have to ask for time. He is entitled to an hour right now at his own request. So we do not have to have any consent. But I do not object to the Senator speaking as long as he wishes. But I do object that only the Senator from Louisiana can be recognized when he is finished. And Senator HATCH. by the way. is here. He had a very sad thing occur in his office. and he wants to speak when the Senator is finished.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":508,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090076772,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I can appreciate that. If you dont mind me pursuing that line of questioning. I can most certainly appreciate what the junior Senator is saying about the reluctance of the House. of Representatives and the administration at this point because I have yet to receive any letter or assurance. but it is right now the House of Representatives that basically would be willing to make loans to the devastated cities in the gulf coast. but would insist that those loans be paid back. when not insisting on that for other loans that have been given to Puerto Rico. and to Florida. and to Alaska. and to other places. which were waived. I understand the House of Representatives. while allowing others to borrow this money and then ask for forgiveness. would not allow Louisiana that same privilege. I understand the position of the Senator is that we be treated the same. as a firstclass State. not a secondlclass State. I know that is your position. But it does concern the senior Senator that we would have to be dictated to by the House of Representatives. that we would have to be treated in some secondclass fashion. I am also appreciating that. while the administration has given you an assurance that they do not intend to treat us as secondclass citizens. I would feel better. before we left tonight. if we had something in writing from the administration that they think Louisiana deserves the same treatment. For that reason. ","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1993,"word_count":247}
{"speech_id":1090076774,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the Senator will yield. I can most certainly appreciate that perspective. I definitely agree it is extremely important to not just give speeches but to get something that is real for our people. But because we have no written commitmentfrom the administration. and no resolution. and no letter. and no written commitment from the House. no assurance. no resolution. no promise to pass the legislation that you have presented and outlined. I am not sure even if you and I could managebecause there is not very much disagreement between the two of us. but our colleagues have some disagreementsif* we could pass this legislation in the Senate that it is actually really going to do anything for people at home other than say the Senate has come together. It would not be the first time the Senate has come together. as the Senator knows. because this Senate is ready to pass emergency health care legislation. and this Senate is ready to pass emergency education legislation. and this Senate is ready to passand already has passedhelp for small businesses. So it is not the Senate. as the junior Senator- .","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1107,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090076781,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have not yet expressed an objection. but I am considering it on the grounds--I am not yet expressing objection. but I am considering it. respectfully. having complimented the junior Senator for the great work he has done. because I am hesitant to accept terms of aid that are applied only to us and to no one else. and not because the junior Senator objects or other Senators. but because the Houie of Representatives. which is in control of the Republican leadership. has decided that the only way that they will amend the law is to force us alone. uniquely. to have to agree to pay it back. when no one else in America. in the past or the future. will be required to do so. That is a hard thing for the senior Senator to agree to. but I am considering it. if maybe that is our only option. But you can understand why I might be a little bit exercised about the House of Representatives saying to people who are desperatelike on the front page of the National Geographicwe know you are suffering. we know you need help. there is no question you have no money to pay your bills. there is no question that we have lent other people money and forgiven their loans. there is no question that this is the worst natural disaster in the history of the countrybut the only way we will compromise with you. Senator LANDRIEU and Senator VITTER and Senator FRIST and Senator REID. is if your desperate people promise to pay the loan back. And. by the way. we are only making the law for you.","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1483,"word_count":276}
{"speech_id":1090076824,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Its inclusion of the states and local communities as well as the affected publicsincluding by assuring that State and local authorities have a say in the provision of any permitare based on the best traditions of the west. And its impact is clearonlyprojects that benefit the environment will be .permitted. and the work done pursuant to that permit will be afforded clear legal protection. I am proud of this bill. It is the result of a series of meetings I held around my state earlier this year. And it is endorsed by the National Mining Association. the Colorado Mining Association. and the Great State of Colorado. It is the right thing to do. and I look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure its enactment. I ask unanimous consent that the text of my bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3829,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090076840,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Environment and Public Works be authorized to meet on October 6th. 2005 at 9:30 a.m. for a business meeting to consider the following nominations: Santanu K. Baruah. of Oregon. to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development. George M. Gray. of Massachusetts. to be an Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Lyons Gray. of North Carolina. to be Chief Financial Officer. Environmental Protection Agency. H. Dale Hall. of New Mexico. to be Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. and Edward McGaffigan. ","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":733,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090076844,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session on Thursday. October 6. 2005. at 10 a.m.. to hear testimony on \"The Future of the Gulf Coast: Using Tax Policy to Help Rebuild Businesses and Communities and Support Families After Disasters.\"","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":302,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090077024,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I -agree with the Senator from Hawaii about the significant efforts made by the committee bill to address the wellbeing of our soldiers. sailors. airmen and marines. Of particular interest to me is peerreviewed medical research that examines gulf war illnesses and their relationship to chronic multisymptom illnesses. I believe this research could provide valuable insights into diagnosed postdeployment illnesses.","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":415,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090077028,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I understand the concerns that my colleagues have regarding poorly understood illnesses that have affected military personnel in nearly every conflict since the Civil War. and most recently in Iraq and Afghanistan. As chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. I want to lend my support to this important research.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":324,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090077029,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"AM2. is among the Top Ten mission critical technology needs of the Department of Defense. AM2 is an outdated 40year old system currently used by the Air Force. Marine Corps and Army to establish temporary airport systems in the field. I have learned it may be too heavy to deploy easily and unsuitable for missions where mobility and speed are necessary. Lattice Block Structures may be an option to serve as a stronger. lighter and more portable replacement to the antiquated AM2 matting. Fiscal year 2006 funding for Lattice Block Structures could enable DOD to more rapidly establish temporary airfields in support of critical military missions.","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1731,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090077030,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I say to the distinguished Senator from Montana that I appreciate him bringing these important programs to my attention and to the attention of the Senate. I look forward to working with him on these and other important matters that affect our military and national defense in the days and weeks to come.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":304,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090077032,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I was pleased to join with the distinguished Chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee._ Senator STEVENS. in offering an amendment that has been accepted as part of the managers package in the Fiscal Year 2006 Defense appropriations bill. Specifically. this amendment would require the Office of Management and Budget. along with the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security. to conduct a study on \"improving the response of the Federal Government to disasters.\" I believe this study is essential as it is clear to me that there were breakdowns at every level in our response to Hurricane Katrina. Moreover. it is critical that the Federal Government improve its response to future disasters. The study required by this amendment would: review the Federal Governments ability to coordinate and expedite its response efforts. evaluate the role of our military in responding to disasters. consider establishing criteria for \"automatically triggering\" the militarys participation in emergency response efforts. and look at increasing -the role of the U.S. Geological Survey in preparing and responding to future disasters. In addition. the amendment requires that the Office of Management and Budget prepare a report based on the study that includes: recommendations for improving the Federal Governments response in future disasters with a focus on the military. and proposals for legislation or regulations to implement these recommendations. Lastly. I would like to express my disappointment that the amendment does not direct the study to analyze the role of the National Guard in responding to disasters. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3209,"word_count":250}
{"speech_id":1090077064,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank them. While I remain very concerned that we are not giving these men and women the tools they need to do their job- that in no way detracts from their commitment to serve the Nation. The conference agreement that is before the Senate sends a strong signal to the Department that it needs to move in a new direction. The Department needs to be nimble and responsive. not bureaucratic and slow. It needs to target limited resources on future threats. not simply the threats posed by the attacks of September 11. The conference agreement includes numerous improvements to the Presidents budget. particularly with regard to border security. air cargo security. improved screening of airline passengers for explosives. funds to hire firefighters. as well as funding to protect the allhazards Emergency Management Performance Grant Program. The conference agreement buildson the bipartisan border security initiatives I offered along with the very able Senator. Mr. CRAIG. vith Chairman GREGGS support to the 2005 emergency supplemental bill. Between the supplemental enacted in May and- this bill. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10744,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090077084,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am bewildered. I dont understand why we are turning the people of the gulf coast into secondclass citizens. After 9\/11. in addition to the normal disaster relief funds provided in the wake of that tragedy. the Federal Government designated $20 billion to assist the New York City area. This was the first time FEMA received authority of this type to reimburse the city and the State for associated costs that could not otherwise have received money under the Stafford Act. This was an unusual action taken at an unusual time. We had the strong support of thenchairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee. Senator JEFFORDS. because 9\/11 happened in that window when the Democrats were in the majority in the.Senate. Chairman Jeffords stood with us to make sure we got what we needed without discriminating against New York City. without telling New Yorkers: You are just going to have to figure out how you are going to repay it. when you are not even sure there is another attack coming or what is going to be occurring in the future. Mr. President. we are again facing an unusual time. ","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1943,"word_count":191}
{"speech_id":1090077110,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I understand that. It is a difficult situatiob in which we find ourselves based on that storm none of us anticipated. at least I did not. We are going- to have to continue to work our way through this. Even though the devastation of the storm has left the minds eye of most people momentarilyand it is only momentarilyit is so easy to conjure up in our minds the images we sawwe simply need to help those people who have been forced to leave their homes and take their children to other places. It isa terrible situation. and we need to help. This is a first step in helping. even though. as the Senator from New York so clearly opined. this is not the best solution. It is a solution. I again want the RECORD to be spread with the fact that I appreciate the work of the Senators- from Louisiana. especially my friend. Ms. LANDRIEU.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1979,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090077113,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. first. I ask unanimous consent that I be allowed to explain an amendment which I am going to ask the majority leader to accept as part of this unanimous consent request. and that I be allowed to proceed for 4 minutes to explain what this amendment does.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":268,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090077115,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Strike the word \"not\" and substitute the words \"may be canceled pursuant to the Stafford Act.\" and with an additional requirement. \"with the approval of the Congress.\" I suggest we add an additional safeguard. the safeguard of the Stafford Act. which has been applied to all other loans. but in addition to that. add a requirement that if there is forgiveness. it could only happen with the approval of the Congress. That is a double safeguard. That still would single them out as no others have been singled out. but at least it would keep the possibility explicit in the bill that under the circumstances that are provided for every other loan. that these loans might be forgiven should Congress so choose. I have been told we can always do that. we alway have that power. and we do. It is implicit. But I think we should make it explicit to give people the assurance that in additionit is bad enough to be victims of this hurricane. it is doubly bad to be victims of discriminatory language. And we are not going to walk down that road. We are going to hold our hand out to you and not insult or offend at the same time. I ask the leader whether he would amend his unanimous consent proposal to strike the word \"not\" on page 2. line 10. and substitute the words \"only with the approval of the Congress\"?","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4385,"word_count":239}
{"speech_id":1090077136,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. folks who might be. watching this debate across the country may be wondering what this is all about. Let me try to simplify it as best I can. Over the last month or so. the Congress has appropriated some $61 billion to be used to assist in the reconstruction. the aid. and the housing of a lot of people whose lives have been disrupted and in some cases destroyed. There are a number of cities. towns. and jurisdictions within that region where their revenue basethe ability to raise taxes and to provide essential servicesis gone. Of that $61 billion. FEMA is not authorized to extend or lend that money to those cities or towns or jurisdictions without our authorization. The legislation that is before us today would authorize the movement of about $750 millionfrom FEMA to be able to lend that money to some of these cities. towns. parishes. and jurisdictions so that hospitals can be helped and police. fire services. and other services can be extended even though the revenue base has dried up under all of this water. Historically. when FEMA has been given the authority to extend this money. to lend money to other communities. other cities. other States. the loans have in some cases been forgiven. It did not require an act of Congress to do that. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6219,"word_count":223}
{"speech_id":1090077151,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I believe that the FIRE and SAFER grant pro- gency first responders? this conference report continues a pat- gramsvital firefighting assistance When it comes to meeting the secutern of failure on the part of the ad- initiatives that I was pleased to author rity needs of our country. this adminisministration and the leadership of our with Senators DEWINE. WARNER. and tration and leadership in Congress are Congress to address the acute and on- LEVINwas cut by $60 million over fis- pursuing a policy that. at best. in my going needd of our.Nations homeland cal year 2005 levels. As the Governor of view. can be called benign neglect. security infrastructure. my State says. funiding cuts of this na- That has become painfully apparent ii Allow me to read a letter I received 3 ture defy rationality when one con- light of the inadequate response to days ago from the Republican Governor siders the devastation recently meeting the needs and mitigating the of my State. a good friend and someone wrought by Hurricanes Katrina and suffering of hundreds of thousands of with whom I work all the time. I think Rita. and the unprecedented burdens people along the Gulf Coast. And it has it is important to heareven after we placed on emergency first responders been reinforced by this conference readopted this measurefrom a Governor who are on the domestic frontlines in ports failure to make essential investof a State that is grappling with pro- the fight against terrorism. -ments to keep all Americans safe from viding the necessary security to pro- For the past 3 years. I have come to the risk of terrorism. tect its citizens. \/ the floor and offered legislation that EXHIBIT 1 I ask unanimous consent that this would implement the recommendations STATE OF CONNECTICUT. letter be printed in the RECORD at the made by the Rudman Commission. EXECUTIVE CHAMBERS. conclusion of my comments. As we all know. our former colleague Hartford. CT. October 4. 2005.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3397,"word_count":329}
{"speech_id":1090077153,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"When the President has been asked how he plans to pay for these ongoing efforts. he says that he plans to pay for them using additional Federal resources that are not taken out of other Federal spending priorities. And yet when it comes to providing the necessary relief to our own citizens in Louisiana. Mississippi. Alabama. and Texas. we are being told by the President that we absolutely have to use existing Federal resources to pay for recovery and relief efforts. We are being told that Federal resources cannot be provided unless we reduce other Federal spending priorities. I can understand the frustration of the Senator from Louisiana. She goes every week to community after community in her State and still sees the horrible circumstances under which thousands of people ate living. Meanwhile. the Senate is about to take another week off. As literally hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens are suffering. we. are leaving town instead of working together to provide adequate longterm disaster assistance in areas such as public health. education. housing. transportation and homeland security. The Senator from Louisiana took the floor over an extended period of time to talk about the importance of providing this relief: to care for the thousands of displaced children. to assist people who lost their homes. their businesses. their very livelihoods. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3949,"word_count":221}
{"speech_id":1090077164,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Marine LCpl Kane M. Funke. 20. who attended high school in Kalispell before moving to Vancouver. WA. He was killed Aug. 13. 2004. as a result of enemy action in Al Anbar Province. Iraq. Marine Cpl Dean P. Pratt. 22. of Stevensville. who died Aug. 2.. 2004. also as a result of enemy action in Al Anbar Province. Army PFC Owen D. Witt. 20. of Sand Springs was killed May 24. 2004. in Ad Dawr. Iraq. when his armored highmobilitymultipurposewheeled vehicle -rolled over. ","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3799,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090077173,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The reauthorization of the Ryan White CARE Act is an example of how our Nation can help. It is also critical to increase funding for the Minority AIDS Initiative. MAI. which addresses the disproportionate impact of HIV\/AIDS on people of color by allocating specific funds for programs under the Ryan White CARE Act. Programs like Ryan White provide our most vulnerable populations. such as HIV\/AIDSstricken Latinos. with a chance for quality health care and a brighter future. On October 15 and every other day of .the year. I encourage All of us to join","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2746,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090077178,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Goeller. Modesitt. Wilkinson & Drummy in Terre Haute. He has also offered distinguished public service in West Central Indiana as a member of the board bf directors and chairman of the Greater Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce. president of the Terre Haute Rotary Club. president of the United Way of the Wabash Valley. and a member of the board of directors of the Indiana State University Foundation. As chairman of the board of trustees of the National Cathedral Association. Craig will help to facilitate funding for the Cathedral and oversee its programs and activities. The association. with some 14.000 members. provides leadership and support to the Cathedral. As one who has had the opportunity to be a reader at an Indiana Day observance at the Cathedral. I am grateful for the work of the Cathedral staff and. the association. The National Cathedral was chartered by Congress in 1893. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD LUGAR","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2161,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090077180,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mexico and Chile also commemorate their independence days during the month. on September 16 and September 18. respectively. As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. we must also acknowledge the challenges faced by this community. The Latino population is extremely vulnerable to economic downturns and experience high poverty rates. particularly among working families with children. We must work to continue providing the infrastructure to assist families by strengthening job training. child care. child nutrition. and transportation. Furthermore. we must continue to lift the barriers- on education. Only 12 percent of Latinos have graduated from college. As nearly half of the Latino population is under age.25. it is crucial that we provide access to higher educational opportunities. The Latino community in the United States strives to succeed in all realms. Providing a solid educational foundation for the younger generation will ensure continued growth and accomplishments by the community. Today. there are 39.9 million Latinos in the United States. which is nearly 14 percent of the total population. ","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3294,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090077182,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to recognize National Payroll Week. which was designated by the American Payroll Association as the week of September 59. 2005. This week signified an important effort to recognize the over 156 million working Americans and the payroll professionals who support the American economy by paying wages. reporting worker earnings. and withholding Federal employment taxes. Together. this hard working group of Americans contributes. collects. reports. and deposits approximately $1.4 trillion. or 71 percent. of the annual revenue of the U.S. Treasury. Payroll professionals continue to play a key role in maintaining the economic health of the United States by carrying out such diverse tasks as paying into the unemployment insurance system. providing information for child supportenforcement. and carrying out tax withholding. reporting. and depositing. Payroll professionals also work with Federal and State tax officials to make the tax system more efficient and to improve compliance. National - Payroll Week celebrated the contributions of American workers and payroll professionals and the intricate role they play in our economy and everyday lives.*","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1182,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090077185,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Today it is my privilege to recognize some of Steves many accomplishments since he entered the military 32 years ago. and to commend him for the superb service he provided the Air Force. Congress. and our Nation. Steve Lorenz earned a bachelors degree in international affairs from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1973 and attended undergraduate pilot training at Craig Air Force Base. AL. From 1975 to 1980. he flew the EC135 as aircraft commander at Ellsworth AFB. SD. and over the course of later assignments to WrightPatterson AFB. OH. and Cattle AFB. CA. attained the qualification of K.-135 instructor pilot. General Lorenz demonstrated his skill as an aviator in the T37. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4442,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090077202,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet on Friday. October 7. 2005.. at 10 a.m. to hold a business meeting to consider pending committee business. Agenda Nomination 1. Julie L. Myers to be Assistant Secretary. U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Legislation 1. ","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":419,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090077237,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to say that. as I have often thought. justice is a curious thing. She has been poked and prodded. detained and defaced. and her piercing light is too often hidden from view. Justice had a tough time in Montgomery and Selma. and she took a sore drumming alongside Susan B. Anthony and the other fighters for womens suffrage. If you asked Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr. or Ms. Fannie Lou Hamer where justice Was during those cold nights in jail in 1963. they might have said that she was nowhere to be found. ","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3965,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090077238,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution and preamble be agreed to. en bloc. the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. with no intervening action or debate. and that any statements relatiig to the resolution be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":258,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090077266,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. what a distinct privilege and honor to come before you today to introduce our guest Chaplain. the Reverend Henry Holley. As Members of Congress we are truly blessed with the opportunity to meet and get to know many wonderful Americans from all walks of life. many of whom have dedicated their lives to the betterment of the human race. Henry Holley is one of Georgias and Americas greatest treasures and a man who has given all and then some in his work on behalf of a grateful nation followed by his glorious affiliation with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Following service in World War H in the Pacific. Reverend Holley continued on active .duty in the United States Marine Corps until 1966. He then joined the Reverend Billy Graham. ultimately becoming ordained into the gospel ministry by the Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in my district in Marietta. Georgia. He has literally given his life to further outreach and evangelism. Reverend Holley thas organized 10s of crusades worldwide. many attended by litterally millions. ","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1862,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090077291,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. there are two fundamental problems with the bill before us today: What it does and what it does not to do. The bill will not address the very real and very immediate problems millions .of Americans are facing every day. People are struggling to be able tQ afford to drive to work in the morning. and families are wondering how they are going to pay to heat their homes this winter. But the GAS Act we are considering today will not help them. This energy bill. written in the midst of what is threatening to become the worst energy crisis the country has ever experienced. does nothing to help reduce the price of gasoline. That is not me talking. the chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. the gentleman from Texas","speaker_name":"LOUISE SLAUGHTER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":745,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090077332,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to try to respond to some of the comments that have been made. One comment that has been made is that the U.S. oil companies somehow control the market. We consume 21 million barrels a day of oil in this country. We only produce 8 million barrels a day. We impbrt 1 million to .2 .million barrels a day from Saudi Arabia. We import a million barrels a day from Venezuela. We import a half a million barrels a day from Libya. We import some oil. believe it or not. from Iraq. ","speaker_name":"JOE BARTON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1645,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090077352,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we have before us today a hastily crafted minimally. reviewed bill of doubtful value and most curious circumstance. We have had no hearings on the specific measure before us. The major changes in language in the bill were revealed late last night. I believe at 11 p.m. We have not received a single response to the questions we asked of the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency. We do not know whether the provisions in the energy bill passed less than 2 months ago to expedite refinery siting are working. We do not know what these new provisions on refinery sitings are going to do. We literally have before us a bill which is composed of scraps assembled from the waste baskets at the House Legislative Counsel. crafted together by my Republican colleagues to do something which they will have great difficulty in explaining today. There can only be one explanation for this rush to the floor. and that is the desire of the Republican leadership of the House to use the hardship of the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to push various parts of their agenda. ","speaker_name":"JOHN DINGELL","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2932,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090077354,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"You have not built a refinery in three generations. We do have that opportunity by this action today. and I strongly urge the House to recognize it. This is the one chance for us to make a longterm commitment to reducing gasoline prices. I strongly urge an \"aye\" vote on this measure.","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1280,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090077360,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If we do that. we stabilize the supply. If we do that. we stabilize the price. I urge passage of this legislation.","speaker_name":"PAUL RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1947,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090077365,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. and I rise in strong opposition to this bill. It is ironic that this bill is called the Gasoline for Americas Security Act. or GAS Act. because this bill is certainly filled with a lot of hot air. This bill will do nothing to bring down the cost of gasoline. My constituents and millions of Americans want to know why they are payingS13 and more for gasoline. Just today in the newspaper it reported that Americans can expect to spend 45 to 90 percent more on home heating fuel this year than they did last winter. This is absolutely unconscionable. We saw during Hurricane Katrina looters in New Orleans. but the real looters are the big oil companies. They are looting the American people. ","speaker_name":"ELIOT ENGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2276,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090077371,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is going to help us to be able to move forward on refineries in a more expeditious manner. The other thing is establishing the Department of Energy as the. lead agency for siting refineries and eliminating some of the unnecessary requirements on waiting on multiple bureaucracies to respond to a request to build one refinery. This is not about bureaucrats and building. It is about meeting real American needs of real families for energy uses on a daily basis.","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1611,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090077389,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Hurricanes Katrina and Rita only exacerbated what has been happening to consumers in our country for the past year. Weeks before Katrina hit. consumers were paying higher and higher prices at the pump. In California. prices climbed $1 between January and August. They rose 50 cents in a months time between July and August. with prices rising to well over $3 a gallon. I paid close to $4 a gallon in my congressional district just a week ago. Consumers in other parts of the country have seen similar hikes. If we look at what the Washington Post recently reported. it is painfully evident that the oil industry and the refiners have profited handsomely. The money going to crude producers has climbed 46 percent over the last year. For refiners. revenues have increased 255 percent in one year. from September 2004 to September 2005. The last time I remember seeing revenue increases like this was when Enron. ","speaker_name":"ANNA ESHOO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2219,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090077396,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is time that the administration and the Republican leadership learn that public health and the environment and the voices of our communities are not exploitable commodities. I will support the Democratic alternative which protects public health. protects consumers. and secures our refineries in times of emergency. I will not support the underlying legislation which gives Americans a false sense of hope and security. I urge my colleagues to join me in opposition. America deserves better.-","speaker_name":"HILDA SOLIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2036,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090077402,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. this bill is one small misstep for man and one giant leap backwards for mankind. and it should be defeated. [ 1215","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":912,"word_count":23}
{"speech_id":1090077406,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in opposition to H.R. 3893. which pretends to be a response to our Nations exorbitant energy costs. but which is actually a giveaway to oil and gas companies that doesnt help Americas struggling consumers. In fact. many- of the provisions in this legislation are not new. we have seen them before. but they have prover so controversial that they were excluded from the energy bill that Congress passed earlier this year. Rhode Islanders are paying an average of $2.86 for a gallon of gasoline. and high home heating oil and natural gas prices are causing families to wonder how they will be able to afford to stay warm in the coming winter months. In recent weeks. Rhode Islanders have learned of two utility rate increases for both electricity and gas. These proposed increases come at a time when the average price of gasoline at the pump is up 51 percent. compared with last year. and home heating oil is up 57 percent in the same period. Congress must take swift action to reduce the cost of energy. but this bill benefits only the oil and gas industries. which have been reaping record profits in recent months. We have heard legitimate questions about how much of the recent increase in energy costs is the result of price fixing. yet this legislations provisions to combat price gouging are insufficient and amount to no more than a slap on the wrist. ","speaker_name":"JAMES LANGEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3129,"word_count":243}
{"speech_id":1090077408,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I ask my colleagues to embrace that vision and tooppose this bill.","speaker_name":"CHRIS VAN HOLLEN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2251,"word_count":12}
{"speech_id":1090077410,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"and others. The Stupak bill would strengthen the hands of the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department. targeting price gouging across the energy spectrum. It would also help Americans who are struggling to deal with high gas prices and bracing for record home heating bills this winter. while creating a Strategic Refinery Reserve to provide additional gas supplies during energy shortages like the one we are currently facing. I urge my colleagues to oppose the Republican bill and support the more wisely drafted alternative.","speaker_name":"BART STUPAK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":539,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090077412,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in opposition to the Gasoline for Americas Security Act and in strong support for the substitute offered by the gentleman from Michigan and the gentleman from Virginia . Our Nation is facing a real energy crisis. The people of Connecticut. and millions of Americans. are paying record amounts to fill their gas tanks. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that in the upcoming winter. homeowners in the northeast can expect to pay almost 30 percent more to heat their homes. American families will pay hundreds. if not thousands. more in extra energy costs this year. This will be a hard year for too many Americans. Yet. in the name of Hurricane Katrina the House majority leadership is pushing a bill that does nothing to reduce our dependence on oil. lower gas prices. or help Americans . get through the upcoming winter. We.cannot solve high gas prices by throwing money at oil companies. ","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3520,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090077420,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In addition. the","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2120,"word_count":3}
{"speech_id":1090077428,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I offer an amendment in the nature of a substitute. The Clerk will designate the amendment in the nature of a substitute. The text of the amendment in the nature of a substitute is as follows: Amendment in the nature of a substitute offered by Mr. STUPAK: Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the following:","speaker_name":"BART STUPAK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":331,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090077432,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. people are refinery specific provisions of our subsick and tired of the two words. do stitute. We would create a strategic renothing. And. that is- just no answer to finery reserve. In doing so. we would folks who are startled when they go to build upon the success of the Strategic gas their vehicle. 50 bucks. 60 bucks. Petroleum Reserve by creating a nat$70 to fill it up. They are startled that ural extension of that successful prowe have airlines that are flying. full grain of refinery reserve. Under our and going broke because of the cost of amendment. the Secretary of Energy energy. and we just cannot afford to do would establish refineries with capacnothing. ity equal to 5 percent of the total Let me just list a few of the areas United States demand for gasoline. here of the Stupak substitute that do home heating oil and other refined penothing It will do nothing to limit troleum products. The location of these boutique fueli that have propped up refineries would be out of harms way gasoline prices by artificially limiting at places to be designated by the Secsupply. It will do nothing to encourage retary of Energy. private industry to build new refineries During times of nonemergency. the that will increase daily supplies of gas- refineries which make up the strategic oline. ","speaker_name":"RALPH HALL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4065,"word_count":226}
{"speech_id":1090077434,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would view. or the NSR. language that would like to address my friends and col- have weakened clean air protections. leagues. But the language in the gentleman We have got a lot of good Members from. Michigans amendon the Committee on Energy and Coin- ment is clearer. and the penalties are merce. and I have great respect for my much stronger than those in the origifriends. the gentleman from Michigan nal bill. This is a critical issue that","speaker_name":"JOHN SHIMKUS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":458,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090077436,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Stupak amendment will create serious problems for consumers at a time of disaster. There is no mechanism to allow p)dces to reflect the changes in the market dynamic following a disaster other than cost. The Stupak arfiendment defines price gouging violations with very subjective terms. such as \"unconscionable\" and \"grossly exceeds\". that will prove unworkable for the FTC. Instead. the FTC possesses a history of determining what is unfair under the FTC Act and we should rely upon their expertise to define price gouging. Because the amendment only accounts for price increases related to costs increases and does not include other factorssuch as fear or panic--it will artificially restrain prices that lead to shortages in gasoline at the time consumers in a disaster area most need access to gasoline. ThisL is because the amendment does not adequately allow for actual or anticipated changes in supply to be reflected in price. The Stupak amendment includes \"petroleum distillates\" that are subject to pricegouging violations. Unfortunately. petroleum distillates are used in so many products that selling distillates to consumer products companies. such as cosmetics. could be subject to price gouging .under this amendment. While it does provide supply and demand considerations as a mitigating factor. it does so only for dollar costs actually incurred by the seller. It does not allow the*FTC to consider countervailing benefits to consumers. namely that an increase in price can discourage hording by the first consumers to arrive at the gas station. leaving no gas for those who arrive later. ","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5179,"word_count":253}
{"speech_id":1090077440,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in opposition to the Stupak substitute and in support of the underlying legislation. I want to thank the gentleman from Texas . the chairman of the committee. my friend. for his leadership. We have seen this year that we have passed comprehensive energy legislation. but that legislation did not address really the linchpin of the need in our country for greater refining capacity and greater pipeline security. redundancy and reliability. Katrina exposed that fundamental weakness in our Nations energy security and in our Nations economic security. For 30 years. we have done nothing. We have not had a new refinery come into our Nation. No one has invested. And much of that reason is that the cost of doing business. a refinery investment in this country. is so much higher than offshore. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES PICKERING","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1771,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090077442,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Michigan and the gentleman from Virginia for their leadership in offering this substitute. and I am proud to join them. I rise in strong support of this substitute for two reasons. Unlike the underlying legislation. it contains a meaningful deterrent to price gouging. and it provides an effective strategy to expand refinery capacity. We can all agree there were some good provisions in the first energy bill. but Katrina exposed its shortcomings. as well as vulnerabilities that still exist in the energy market. We can also agree that the hurricanemade it harder to meet the challenge of delivering relief to families struggling to pay their energy bills and thlat a rash of price gouging compounded this problem. Our substitute takes direct aim at these challenges by creating a strong deterrent to price gouging that keeps gas prices stable. The underlying bill sets an $11.000 fine for price gouging. That may sound like a lot to the average middle class family. but it is not much to the ExxonMobils of this world who earn record profits. ","speaker_name":"TIMOTHY BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1563,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090077444,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the chairman for the time. There are two points I would like to jnake here. First of all. with regard to the amendment. let us understand what is in there. If there is concern for giving large amounts of money to oil companies. what they propose we do is that the Federal Government gets in the business of. quote. designing and constructing refineries and then put. that into use at times in their national emergencies or sell gag to States. which this bill actually allows States and governments to have some of this gasoline now. but for the government to own and operate refineries and invest all the money in there. In the alternative. if we can provide incentives for private industries to build. whether it is something small or large refineries. that makes a lot more sense. EJ 1245 And if we are concerned at all about the budget. let us do the more efficient thing. rather than have the government run these things. have them sit mothballed until times of emergency. and then suddenly act like there is a switch one can throw and start them up. The second thing I want to point out is that I wish we could have included some important movement forward to make some changes -on new source review. What happens now with a coalfired power plant. for example. if they. want to go in and do some routine maintenance. and while they are in there maybe improve the efficiency of the plant. the EPA. comes by and says. no. you are going to do something different here. ","speaker_name":"TIM MURPHY","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2608,"word_count":270}
{"speech_id":1090077446,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want toaddress a serious problem with the underlying bill. and that is that it relies exclusively on the Federal Trade Commission and its willingness and ability and resources to enforce the price gouging remedy in the bill. I think we should all remember this is the same FTC that said. we do not have any authority to investigate price gouging in this area. we do not need any authority in this area. Everything is just fine. thank you very much. and then. when pressed further. said we do not want any authority in this aiea because we will just make a bad situation worse. Well. Mr. Speaker. relying on a sorry bunch of people that do not know their job. do not care about their job. and do not believe in their job is like going hunting and having to tote the dog. Our substitute corrects this problem by giving the States attorneys general the same authority to enforce theprice gouging remedies that we give the FTC. The attorneys. general of our States are elected by our constituents. they know the conditions in their States better than we do. they have the resources and the discretion under the substitute to decide whether or not it isin the best interest of their constituents. our constituents. for them to act when we do not. ","speaker_name":"JOHN BARROW","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1440,"word_count":225}
{"speech_id":1090077450,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Because one of the bases that would probably qualify with a deep port and a lot of land is Fort Ord. Fort Ord. California. is surrounded by the National Marine Sanctuary and is one of the most beautiful. areas in the whole United States. The last thing we should ever do is have an oil refinery there. This is a crazy bill. and I urge its defeat.","speaker_name":"SAM FARR","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1272,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090077468,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is just like the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. it is up to the Secretary to approve -it. Would the Federal Government and Federal employees operate it? No. Much like we did in the energy bill for nuclear. Let us put it up and build it. but let someone else operate it and manage it.","speaker_name":"BART STUPAK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":284,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090077477,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the distinguished gentleman from Michigan for yielding. I commend the gentleman from Michigan for his great leadership. and I thank him for his great leadership on behalf of the American consumer and the American taxpayer. The gentleman from Michigan and the gentleman from Virginia with their very wise substitute give a chance to help the consumer and declare energy independence. I also- want to commend the gentleman from Michigan . the distinguished ranking member of the full committee. for his extraordinary leadership on this and so many issues. Also. I salute the gentleman from New York . chair of the Science Committee. for his recognition that this Democratic substitute is a better way to go. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"NANCY PELOSI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6109,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090077478,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Chairman. praised on the House floor. arguing that they would \"make it more efficient to use our boutique fuels\" by reducing the number of these fuels \"so that we have greater transportability of our boutique fuels between those regions of the country that need those fuel sources.\" Now. the bill you have brought before us today has repealed that provision. Why? Has the Majority lost confidence that its earlier boutique fuels solution would work? The Republican Energy bill that we passed just 8 weeks ago dropped provisions of the House bill that would have weakened the Clean Air Act. These provisions were dropped because there was bipartisan opposition to their adoption. and Chairman. DOMENICI stated during the conference that the bill could not pass the Senate if they were included. The language that delays compliance with the Clean Air Act was resurrected. Why? Does the Majority really think that theyve picked up any more votes for dirtying our Nations air due to the terrible tragedies Katrina and Rita? Why would we allow the EPA to extend deadlines for cleaning up ozone pollution. in some cases until 2015. without imposing any of the additional cleanup requirements mandated under current law? The proponents of this bad provision are trying to justify it by saying it is for the. \"protection\" of downwind States. However. just yesterday. 9 Attorneys General. including 6 from \"downwind\" States such as Massachusetts. sent a letter to the House leadership opposing this bill. Well if the States that are the supposed beneficiaries of these relaxed regulations dont want them. then who does? The polluters. thats who! The bottom line is that these rollbacks of clean air requirements dont benefit the states that have to breathe dirty air for another 10 years. they benefit the corporations that dont want to clean up their power plants. This bill before us today also proposes to preempt the ability of state or local officials to make decisions regarding the siting of a new refinery or an oil pipeline. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5045,"word_count":335}
{"speech_id":1090077563,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. my parliamentary inquiry is: Is it not bringing dishonor to the House of Representatives for this body to act in the shameful way that it is? Is it not part of the culture of corruption of the Republican Party to dishonor the wishes of the American people?","speaker_name":"NANCY PELOSI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":269,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090077597,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I certainly appreciate the gentleman from Minnesota yielding and just wish to express appreciation for- those concerns he has noted. Certainly. the repayment obligation should be met at some point. The arbitrary deadline. in fact. may be problematic going forward. I would suggest in consultation with the other members of the Louisiana delegation. we fully intend to examine this going forward and hope to have the opportunity to bring our concerns to the attention of this body and the Senate as well. The principal concern. as the gentleman has identified. is the Senate has passed this vehicle in its current construct. If we were to amend it as suggested. it would have to return to that body for their agreement. We are very concerned with potential layoffs occurring next week in various municipalities. So this loan package is very much an emergency issue. and albeit with the nonwaiver of repayn~ent provision. we fully support it in its current form. given the constraints we face.","speaker_name":"RICHARD BAKER","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1004,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090077598,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Further reserving the right to object. I appreciate the gentlemans predicament and position. but I am also quite certain that within our committee. we will revisit this issue. I certainly intend to take the first opportunity to do so to correct what I think is an imbalance. Mr. Speaker. I am happy to yield to the gentleman from Louisiana under my reservation.","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":361,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090077603,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the courtesy. I shall be brief. I wish to express appreciation to those Members who brought to the Houses attention that the waiver of repayment has been stricken from the bill. but I would also indicate that in discussions with people and in the loan construction packages they have. great latitude as to terms and conditions of repayment. They have been quite assuring that they will work with communities in a manner which is responsible to assure relief. is provided. but that the taxpayers of the United States have some assurance that. when possible. communities will give back that which was extended during times of hardship. I would also want to point out that there literally have been billions of dollars made available to constituents in Louisiana of great scope and consequence from the FEMA checks to the provision of temporary housing. There has been a great deal of work conducted here. S1515\" I wish to express appreciation for the administration and all those who are engaged in this work and to the people of this great country. who have given voluntarily huge charitable contributions to various organizations to be of assistance to us. We are indeed appreciative. and we do not wish to leave the House floor today with the impression that .Louisianans have been ignored. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD BAKER","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1863,"word_count":221}
{"speech_id":1090077604,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. I thank the gentleman for his observation. Again. I wish other Members had been present to hear his discussion and presentation of the State of affairs of the pre- and postKatrina effects in Louisiana and throughout the gulf. The gentleman has certainly become a scholar of the issue. Mr. Speaker. I include for the record at this point a compilation of the expenditures by FEMA and insured losses for fiscal year 1980 through 2000.","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":465,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090077610,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I certainly understand the reason for the gentlemans inquiry and the illustrative list gentleman presents is very reasonable. In other circumstances. we found ourselves with the luxury of a little time with which to consider the matter. If we were to agree to that modification. I understand the matter would be referred to the Senate for further consideration and may well put in jeopardy the adoption ultimately of this loan program. which we are hoping to have in effect and available on Monday mornifig to affected communities. I have. however. conversed with the gentleman from Alaska (Chairman YOUNG). the ranking member. the gentleman from Minnesota and others on the committee who have jurisdiction over FEMA matters in which this loan program is domiciled. and have assurances from them that we will visit the gentlemans concerns and adopt a reporting regime. if not exactly. very similar to this. I would be supportive of and I am sure all members of the Louisiana delegation who are here on the floor would also support the gentlemans request. but would respectfully ask. given the concerns of time and the issues at hand. that the gentleman would withdraw his objection. We would be happy to note formally in the record our agreement to proceed with the gentleman on our return to work absent the Columbus Day recess to achieve the gentlemans interest.","speaker_name":"RICHARD BAKER","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1377,"word_count":229}
{"speech_id":1090077621,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They did so without any government bureaucracy. no red tape forms. no permission and no committee meetings. These three heroes got her done.","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1245,"word_count":23}
{"speech_id":1090077624,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. during a recent radio broadcast. conservative critic William Bennett said the following: \"If you wanted to reduce crime. you could abort every black baby in this country and your crime rate would go down.\" But Mr. Bennetts hypothesis. as absurd and racist as it is. does not tell the real story. According to the Department of Justice national crime statistics of men and women behind bars. approximately 43 percent are black. 38 percent are white. and 19 percent are Hispanic. Whites. however. makeup 70 percent of all persons arrested. and 60. percent of those are arrested for violent crime. So why the disparity between whites arrested and whites convicted? Could it have to do with the fact that poorer defendants. often people of color. are more likely to receive substandard legal representation and harsher sentences? Madam Speaker. getting justice in America seems to have a lot more to do with the color of your skin and the color of the green in your pocket. Now. that is not virtuous.","speaker_name":"DIANE WATSON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":33.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1011,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090077633,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The only other threat that remotely approaches a nuclear attack is that posed by a global flu pandemic. one which could kill tens of millions of people. We failed to prepare for 9\/11. We failed to prepare adequately for Hurricane Katrina. We must not fail to prepare for a flu pandemic.","speaker_name":"ADAM SCHIFF","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5228,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090077781,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":15,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They are proud people. and I am glad they have. shown their strength by turning out to vote. And it appears the constitutionis going to pass. We will know in a few days. We lost five soldiers yesterday in Iraq. We are very quickly approaching 2.000. We have not quite arrived at that number yet. but we are 10 -or 12 short of that number. The costs are ongoing. The war seems to be intractable. Surprisingly. the administration is still claiming. as Secretary Rice did over the weekend on a Sunday talk show. that the war is a result of 9\/11. The American people do not accept that because it is simply not true. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11140,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090077840,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will simply describe the amendments content. What this amendment does is provide that for this coming yearthe fiscal year which began this Octoberthe annual COLA for Members of Congress not go into effect. That pay increase. in effect. is estimated to be at about 1.9 percent for. Members of Congress. and it actually takes effect in January or February. The amendment is projected to save about $2 million for the Federal Treasury. Mr. President. as you know. some years the COLA has gone.into effect and other years Congress has not had the COLA go into effect for Members of Congress. The reason- for not having it go into effect this year. frankly. is symbolic. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1996,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090077852,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the Senate is going to vote in a couple of minutes on an amendment Senator BOND and I offered that addresses fraud and abuse at HUD properties. These are technical changes that are needed to provide the HUD Office of Inspector General the tools they need to continue this effort. The amendment clarifies that the Government can recover double damages from project owners. heirs. officers. and management companies that have violated their project agreements with HUD. These damages will apply. even if the violators.no longer have a mortgage or are doing business with HUD. The provision allows violations to basically be considered as a false claim. Large damage awards are a proven deterrent in minimizing fraud and abuse in these programs There is a backlog of enforcement actions. awaiting this change. including nursing homes that have been skimming equity from properties that are covered with HUD insurance. We have to put a stop to these abuses. I encourage all colleagues. when this vote occurs in a few minutes. to support this amendment. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of arquorum.","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1118,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090077875,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is a family issue. We hear a great deal in this body -about family issues. about family responsibilities. family obligations. These are men and women who are earning the minimum wage and who are trying to provide for.their families on that minimum wage. They know they cannot do it. So they have one or two or even three minimum- wage jobs. How much time do they have witi their children? They are trying to provide for their children but have no time to spend with them. I will give real stories of what families are going through. the sacrifices they have made. the lost opportunities. the conversations they were not able to have with their children. the missed birthdays that come and go. the Christmases that come and go and they do not have that gift for that child or they do not have those pairs of skates so the children can join other children. The fact is that hardworking men and women in this country have not gotten a raise in 9 years. and yet we in the Senate are adjusting our salaries to inflation effectively for the seventh time in the ninth year. So we have a womens issue. a childrens issue. a family issue. a civil rights issue. and most of all it is a fairness issue. Americans understand fairness. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10931,"word_count":224}
{"speech_id":1090077883,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":15,"republican":0,"speech_text":"America must once again lead the way to another energy era. an era that severs the worlds dependence on Middle Eastern oil. Domestic oil and gas production will remain a critical part of our energy security for some time. But to lead the world to a new era. we will have to make major investments in new innovative forms and uses of energy. Once again. we have cause to look again across the waters to Iceland. Iceland is leaving the petroleum era behind. Iceland is entering the hydrogen era. The government has announced its intention to become a hydrogenbased economy by 2030. In Iceland. icy water cascades down from massive glaciers. And in Iceland. boiling water bubbles up from just beneath the surface. Iceland already harnesses these renewable resources to generate virtually all of its electricity and heating from hydroelectric and geothermal sources. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11814,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090077887,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it is with a heavy heart that I wish to honor the life of a great man. Jim Kelley. who died Sunday. leaving behind a legacy of generosity and selflessness. He was known as a visionary businessman. a dedicated public servant. and a kindhearted humanitarian. His friends and family will miss him dearly. and I know that sentiment is shared by countless others across Indiana and the country.. Jim grew up during the Great Depression on a farni in northeast Indiana. Through hard work and study. Jim became a great business success. a position he used to support his many philanthropic efforts. There was hardly a Fort Wayne charity or nonprofit that did not benefit from Jims generosity. In addition to helping existing charities. ","speaker_name":"EVAN BAYH","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2309,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090077893,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today is Metropolitan District Commission Day in Connecticut and it is with great pleasure that I send my congratulations to the commission as it celebrates another year of impressive service to the people of Connecticut and our States riverfronts. Seven years ago. Connecticuts Metropolitan District Commission took on a groundbreaking mission. Expanding its role of providing water and sewer services to the Hartford region. the commission made a historic step to partner with the organization Riverfront Recapture to maintain Connecticut Riverfront parks and provide funding for park rangers in each of the parks. Metropolitan District Commission believed then as it believes today that creating and maintaining an attractive waterfront environment is valuable to everyone in a community. Of course. the Metropolitan District Commission is no newcomer to civic","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":878,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090077895,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This current policy makes it difficult for these two parks to pursue long term. major restoration projects. This bill makes the necessary changes to allow these parks to undertake needed substantive restoration as opposed to smaller. less significant projects allowed under the current revenue system. The bill also calls for a modest boundary -adjustment between the two adjacent parks in order to be consistent with the current -administration of San Franciscos Municipal Pier. I am introducing this bill with the hope that it will allow these two parks to retain the revenue necessary for maintenance in order to continue to attract visitors from around the world to these historic sites of California. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1882,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090077899,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"\"Payday Lenders Target the Military.\" by the Center for Responsible Lending. Payday lenders exploit people in financial need- and profit enormously from. these loans. We must act to protect vulnerable consumers from these predatory lenders. In addition. I previously introduced S. 1347. the LowCost Alternatives to Payday Loans Act. This bill would authorize award demonstration project grants for eligible entities to provide consumers with lowcost. small loan alternatives to more costly and predatory payday loans. Loan alternatives that meet the needs of consumers and are at a fair price must be developed. Today. I am also introducing the Bankruptcy Prevention Credit Counseling Act. The new bankruptcy reform law does not allow consumers to declare personal bankruptcy in either chapter 7 or chapter 13. unless they receive a briefing from an approved nonprofit credit counseling agency within 6 months of filing. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7226,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090077902,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. BIDEN. and Mr. nerable to exploitation and abuse and have LUGAR) submitted the following resolu- difficulty accessing humanitarian relief. Whereas India has begun sending a contion. which was considered and agreed signment of 25 tons of emergency relief supto. plies. including medicines. blankets. tents. S. RES. 274 and food items. to Islamabad. the first time Whereas on October 8. 2005. at 8:50 am local India has provided assistance to Pakistan in time. a devastating earthquake. measuring over 30 years. and Whereas the recovery and reconstruction of the devastated areas will require the concerted leadership of the United States working with the governments of the affected countries and with. the international community: Now. therefore. be it Resolved. That the Senate(1) expresses its sympathy and support for the people of South Asia following the devastating earthquake that struck Pakistan. India. and Afghanistan on October 8. 2005. during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. (2) conveys its most sincere condolences to the families. communities. and governments ofthe more than 39.000 people that lost their lives in this terrible natural disaster. (3) expresses its admiration and full support for the courageous rescue and relief workers. including personnel of the United States Agency for International Development and the United States military. who are saving lives and providing relief and assistance to those affected by the earthquake. (4) supports the initial pledge by President George W. Bush of $50.000.000 in humanitarian assistance. the deployment of United States military assets to the region to assist in relief and recovery efforts. and provision of additional United States assistance necessary to save lives and help the region recover from this monumental disaster. (5) commends the ongoing jnternational relief effort that includes te wor<fl.individual countries. numerouina i! orgaflizations. and vari9us. re1if..qn fnongovernmental entities. . . .:(6) commends the Governments of Pakistan and India for their cooperation in the common.cause of saving lives and providing humanitarian relief to people on both sides of the Line of Control. and (7) encourages further cooperation between India and Pakistan on relief operations and efforts to fortify and expand peace and stability in the region as they cope with the impact of the earthquake over the next several months and seek to rehabilitate the lives of those affected.","speaker_name":"MEL MARTINEZ","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2467,"word_count":374}
{"speech_id":1090077918,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today the Senate began consideration of the TransportationTreasury appropriations bill: I do urge my colleagues to come to the floor if they wish to offer . amendments as soon as possible. The bill managers are here throughout the day for that purpose. We are working to get an amendment filing deadline and complete action on this bill this week. Let me repeat. we are going to complete action on this bill this week. That means we cannot have everybody rushing over Thursday afternoon or Thursday night to have their amendment considered. Tomorrow. the first vote will occur at 12:10 and that vote will be on the Kyl amendment relating to a costofliving freeze for Members pay. We will continue with amendments throughout the afternoon. I expect multiple votes tomorrow as we continue with the -consideration of the TransportationTreasury bill.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":861,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090077931,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. Saturdays election in Iraq was a shining example of democracy in action and continued proof that the Iraqi people are bravely determining the fate of their nation. After Iraqi security forces and coalition troops worked together efficiently to provide security for the landmark event. -the day was calm and the election was conducted professionally. On Sunday. the Chicago Tribute reported that Iraqis said they felt safer in this election than they did in January. Most importantly. millions of Shiites. Sunnis. Kurds. and Turkmen cast their ballots for a constitution that will protect their Tights and serve as a blueprint for - their nat ions future. Their strong participation demonstrated that Iraqis respect the constitutional process and believe in the promise of democracy. Their success in building a civil society is a critical step of the global war on terrorism. protecting American families. ","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1141,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090077942,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I admire the work of countless chemists. engineers and materials scientists that has produced marvels for the delight of children and the benefit of society. Mr. Speaker. today I am happy to celebrate National Chemistry Week and urge my colleagues to support H. Res. 457. Mr. Speaker. I have no further requests for time. and I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"EDDIE JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1121,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090077971,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. personal reasons require my absence from legislative business today. Monday. October 17. 2005. Had I been present. I would have voted .\"yea\" on approving the Journal (rollcall No. 521). \"yea\" on H. Res. 457. recognizing the importance and positive contributions of chemistry (rollcall No. 522). \"yea\" on H. Res. 491. expressing the sense of Congress with respect to raising awareness and enhancing the state of computer security in the U.S. (rollcall No. 523).","speaker_name":"CAROLYN KILPATRICK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":473,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090077976,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. illegal immigration is a huge concern to the vast majority of Americans. Some States are welcoming illegal aliens with drivers licenses. inState college tuition. and access to social services. One has to wonder how can this be. It appears to many that we are rewarding those that break the laws. Whoever said crime does not pay must not have been talking about those who enter our country illegally. Crossing the border illegally is a criminal act. however. we give these people access to everything you can imagine. Lax enforcement of our immigration policies is making every day payday for illegal aliens. States other than Texas. Arizona. and California are now more burdened than ever picking up the tab for illegal aliens. with Georgia. my home State. ranking in the top 10 with illegal alien populations. ","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1156,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090078002,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Maryland. I am so delighted that the gentleman took this hour tonight. because this is an issue that every American is thinking about. in terms of our energy. and the gentleman has probably done more research on overall energy and energy policy. how much. good we get out of a barrel of Oil. I apologize for being a little late. but I do want to talk just for a minute. because there are so many misunderstandings about ethanol and other renewable energies. This is a chart based on numbers from the United States Department of Agriculture. and they have part of their numbers. I think. from the United- States Energy Department. but it is a chart that most Americans would be surprised to learn. Frankly. H8826 co even back in my own district of Minnesota. many people are surprised that right now. in Claremont. Minnesota at the Alcorn ethanol plant. we are producing ethanol for 95 cents a gallon. ","speaker_name":"GILBERT GUTKNECHT","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1924,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090078003,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This is the energy profit ratio. and this is contrasted with a quality. economic effectiveness in transport. how feasible is it to use over a wide range of uses. Of course. the source that tops the list is the giant oil fields. We do not have any of those. by the way. they are all in the Middle East. But the energy profit ratio is very high: if you put in $1 you get out $60. And they are very\" economically useful. because you can make a whole lot of things out of it. You can make pharmaceuticals out of it. you can heat your house with it. you can run your car with it. you can make plastics out of it. do a whole lot of things with oil. This shows the other compounds. Here is U.S. oil. We never were very *good. and now we are getting on down further. tar sands and ethanol. Ethanol is way down here at the bottom because they say there is not a big energy profit ratio. ","speaker_name":"ROSCOE BARTLETT","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2997,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090078011,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to welcome our newest 30something member joining us from New Jersey this evening. but before I get into it. I want to make an announcement. Since we left here last week. we had last week off. and since we left here. there has been an addition to the Ryan family. My brother had a baby last Friday night on his birthday. Nicholas John Ryan. So I want to welcome him into the world officially. and say hello to his first two friends. Zack and Molly Leonard. who were all over to the house the other day. and I fed the baby for the first time the other day. So here I had the bottle. and I fed him. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":629,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090078027,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I wanted to highlight that fact. This -totally puts into perspective what happens down here under their leadership. We have a prescription drug bill that we spent $700some billion over the next 10 years on. but we were told it. was $400 billion. So that. is another issue. to start a prescription drug Medicare program. and we are not doing anything to control the costs. whether it is reimportation from Canada or to allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services to buy in bulk. There would be every Medicare beneficiary behind that proposal. And you can say Merck. you want to negotiate this. we want 30 to 40 percent chopped off. and they would do it because they want the contract. We would not have to create a new bureaucracy. If people think the old Democrat Party wants to create a new buieaucracy. they are wrong. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1084,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090078042,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There was an edi: torial in the New York Times on September 26 about faking the Katrina inquiry. The last paragraph. if I could just read it. said this. It says. There is no way to whitewash a hurricane. A government dominated by one party should be disqualified from investigating itself. Just as President Bush repeatedly fought the creation of the 9\/11 Commission until public pressure forced him to yield. so should the public now demand the administration and Congress get real about Katrina. . That is what we are getting with this Republicandominated committee. It is just going to be another whitewash. and we cannot allow it. So I appreciate the opportunity.","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":667,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090078056,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am the heavy weight champion of the world. They expected you to win because you are the heavy weight champion of the world. But the bottom line is. it is okay to have offsets. Goodness gracious. we are calling for offset\u00a7. Let us call for some offsets in some other areas so we can ask some Americans who can afford to take the sacrifice of an offset. or a particular program that this Congress has put forth that has very little to do with right now but it has something to do. hopefully. dealing with the future. And if it is something that is dealing with the future. okay. and we are the superpower of the world. and there is an advanced weapons system that somebody in Congress likes. maybe we need to go to that person in Congress or that person in the other body over there and say. you know something. you know that project we passed. the $400 billion. the advanced weapons project for several million dollars that you wanted. maybe we need to try to offset that. Maybe we can try to do it verses 5 years. we can do it in 8 years. With that money we can have some offsets for the Hurricane Katrinaand Hurricane Rita package to help us as it relates to bringing about offsets. No. that conversation was not in The Washington Post. But we are going to take people. real Americans. and say we are going to make you pay because we are not big enough to stand up to the. special interests here in Washington. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3290,"word_count":267}
{"speech_id":1090078057,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We are here because the country is unraveling before our very eyes. and the Republican leadership is either doing nothing or doing something to make it worse. The Democrats have an agenda on health care. education. We are ready to reform. We are ready to take over. We just need the chance. And I know from people in my district and from the gentlemans district and from the district of the gentleman from New Jersey . people are suffering. and the government is part of the problem now. Maybe Ronald Reagan was right. government is the problem. Right now it is. But I think government can be a positive. progressive leading force in society with the proper leadership. And right now it is just not happening. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4846,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090078128,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is terrorism. through insurgents. that we fight today in Iraq. And it is terrorism that will lose. not in the end to bullets but to votes. with a people free to selfdetermine their future. The people in Iraq began that process on January 31 and reaffirmed that process this past Saturday. I am confident and looking forward to the future. that on December 15 they will reaffirm that process again by holding free elections. guardedand peacefully guardedby their own trained troops. who will be the security force that in the future replaces our men and women. and that they will secure the country of Iraq not just for one election. not just for one day. but for tlie future. It has been said that victory in Iraq is a process and not an event. I believe that is an appropriate statement. We have gone through a process that deposed an evil dictator. stabilized a violent nation. allowed free elections to take place. for a constitution to be drawn. for elections for its ratification to take place. and now we are on the doorstep of the election of those permanent representatives who will selfdetermine the future of the nation of Iraq. In this process. known as freedom. America has contributed much. Our sons and daughters have been there steadfastly fighting the insurgents. securing the Iraqi people. and giving the flame of liberty and freedom a chance to grow and glow. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ISAKSON","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5444,"word_count":240}
{"speech_id":1090078134,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this morning I would like to speak for a short time about a provision of the bill before the Senate. the Transportation bill. that was removed. by Republican leaders when the bill was taken up yesterday. I commend my colleagues. Senators FEINGOLD and MCCAIN. for their leadership in advocating to the Republican leaders to take this step. The provision should not pass quietly in the night. It wasin this bill. It should not have been. More importantly. it should not emerge in any way in the future in some type of a mustpass conference report. The leadership PAC rider would have created a giant loophole in our campaign finance laws and would have permitted unseemly money transfers among incumbents and national parties. Today. leadership PACs are bound by the same campaign finance rules as are regular campaign PACs. known as political action committees. that is. leadership PACs cant give more than $15.000 annually to the national parties. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1945,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090078182,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Congressional Budget Office. estimates. that this amendment will achieve a savings of $2 million in both budget authority and outlays for fiscal year 2006. I intend to do my part and vote for the Kyl amendment and urge my colleagues to do the same.","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1110,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090078213,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have a lot of work ahead of us in. terms of getting this to conference and working out our differences with the House. I urge my colleagues to bring their amendments to the floor. We are going to be talking about a time agreement fairly soon. If Members want their issues addressed. they need to bring them to the floor. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1181,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090078229,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank all of my colleagues. If any colleagueshave compelling statements related to this issue which may be important in their States. we are happy to have those added to the RECORD with this vote. Again. we await the arrival of others with amendments on which we can work. I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":309,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090078233,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is going to cause an extraordinary hardship on many peoplethose on fixed incomes. those on very limited incomes. and those who happen to live in old dwellings that do not have a lot of insulation. I met with families all across Illinois who are struggling with these high energy costs and their family budgets. They. want to. know what Congress is going to do. They know we spend a lot of time on the floor of the Senate talking about a lot of things. They would like to think thatl hour of 1 day Would be spent on one issue that really makes a difference in their lives. and I think if they had their choice at this moment in Illinois. it would be the energy issue. They want to know how much profit is enough for ExxonMobil and BP before the former oil executives now in the Bush administration are shamed into action. In the last 6 months. it is estimated that the top five oil companies in America colldctively had $52 billion in profits--recordbreaking profits. So when you start to fill up the tank and you watch that gas pump go out of control in terms of the cost. the money is goirg directly to the profit margins of these oil companies. Where is the voice in Washington for the consumers who -are paying these gasoline prices? Do we just shrug our shoulders and say that is what happens in a free market? The high profiteers step in. Sadly. that is the only response we have heard from this administration. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11376,"word_count":263}
{"speech_id":1090078237,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Honda and Toyota. got the jump on the United States. Are they smarter than we are? I dont think so. Many of their engineers and research scientists went to school in the -United States and went back to their countries to build the cars and trucks Americans wanted to buy. For some reason. Detroit is always a little behind the curve. and in this situation. it is dangerous because they are so far from profitability and they have such dramatic costs that they made a terrible calculation by sticking with these heavy vehicles as the price of fuel and energy went up across America. I dont think it is the heavy hand of Government. I think it is good public pQlicy for us to move forward on a policy for CAFE standards that increases fuel efficiency. The argument that that means unsafe cars I dont accept. I happen to believe that in an era of new technologies for safety and otherwise. there are ways to improve the cars and trucks we drive in terms of safety without compromising fuel efficiency. There are things we can docreative approaches already recognized by the scientific agencies in Washingtonthat could be part of cars and trucks in the future. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11250,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090078238,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So we are not into WalMart bashing. But he did say I wasnt interested in conservation or energy efficiency. Perhaps the reason he didnt vote for the BondLevin or LevinBond amendments to conserve energy and assure energy efficiency is he didnt understand that we ordered the scientists at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to find the new technologies and require that . fuel efficiency improvements be made as technological advances go forward. That is the whole idea. How about letting the scientists say what technology actually works? It is a lot more fun on the .stump making a political speech saying we are going to double the. mileageand. by the way. forget about it if the lighter cars do kill more people. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has produced those figures: the lighter cars have been killing more people. The third thing he said was we are going to waive all the environmental rules. We have had continually improving air quality in this country. We are making progress. and we are continuing to make progress. That is extremely important. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4214,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090078289,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to express my deep admiration for the indomitable George Hale. a man whose voice has danced over the airwaves of Maine television and radio over the last 50 years. George Hale has an exceptional ability of bringing unique personality and perspective to each and every broadcast. With a career in sports. George provides the listener with the personal stories of triumph that make competition enthralling. Maine can not take all the credit for George Hale. Born in Cleveland. OH. George had to decide whether to come to Bangor and work in television or accept a desk job in New York City. ","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1096,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090078296,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to introduce the Food Employment Empowerment and Development Act or FEED Act along with my colleagues Senators DOLE and LINCOLN. This important. bipartisan legislation will award grants to qualified programs that effectively combat hunger while creating opportunity through food rescue programs and job training. This legislation is inspired by some of the great -work that food rescue programs in my State of New Jersey. such as Table to Table in Englewood Cliffs. Elijahs Promise in New- Brunswick. the Food Bank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties. in Spring Lake. and the Community Food Bank of New Jersey in Hillside are doing. It is a tragedy that in the United States. a country where food is plentiful. more than 34 million people are either going hungry or living on the edge of hunger. Thirteen million of those are children. While on average New Jersey is one of the wealthiest States in the Nation. nearly 12 percent of all New Jersey households experience either hunger. food insecurity or both. Low wages. unstable employment and the high cost of living in the State leave many people in need. ","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3214,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090078297,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Several blocks from this magnificent and historic Capitol building. there is a kitchen located in the basement of a building that houses social services. In that kitchen. every day. over 4.000 meals are prepared by lowincome. recovering drug addicts or unemployed persons who are training to be chefs. The dozen men and women are in a 12week culinary arts training program and once completed. they will earn their culinary arts certification which will empower them to find a job in the culinary industry. The over 4.000 meals produced at the DC Central Kitchen each day come from a combination of donated. rescued or purchased food and are delivered to hundreds of agencies in the Washington metro area that in turn feed hungry adults and children. Americas Second Harvest has a national network of foodbanks which conduct similar programs called \"Community Kitchens\" that achieve the same goals. These types of programs are smart and responsible uses of resources and Senators LAUTENBERG and DOLE and I recognize a great model when we see one. We believe that by infusing some Federal support with private business. foundations. and faithbased and local nonprofit resources. we can grow similar programs all across the Nation. Again. we are taking rescued food. food that would otherwise be wasted. turning it into meals that are being prepared by people who are training to get a job to help support themselves and their family. and using the meals to feed hungry American adults and children. I believe that all of us that are committed to helping end hunger in America agree with the old adage: \"Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. teach a man to fish and .he eats for a lifetime:\" And it is this simple concept that is the impetus for the FEED Act. I am hopeful that this legislation will help local antihunger organizations in Arkansas and across the Nation who want to use this multipronged approach to feed the hungry. empower the unemployed and maximize food resources. ","speaker_name":"BLANCHE LINCOLN","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3057,"word_count":337}
{"speech_id":1090078301,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking. Housing. and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on October 18. 2005. at 10 a.m.. to mark up S. 1562. \"Safe and Fair Deposit Insurance Act of 2005.\" and an original bill entitled \"FRA Asset Disposition Act of 2005.\" for purposes of reporting the text of both bills to the Senate.Budget Committee as Title II for reconciliation purposes. Immediately following the markup. the Committee will conduct a hearing on \"The Future of the National Flood Insurance Program.\"","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":567,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090078303,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking. Housing. and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the sesr sion of the Senate on October 18. 2005. at 2:30 p.m.. to conduct a hearing on \"Growth and Development of the Derivatives Market.\"","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":264,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090078353,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Organizations such as the American Psychological Association fully support the ban of this technique. The possible loss of another child to this harmful therapy should be enough reason for the Senate to pass this resolution. if we can affect one child with our action. a child we have not met who might be exposed to this. we should do SO. The House of Representatives. led by my colleague. Representative SUE MYRICK. passed a similar resolution on December 17. 2002. The Davises are here today. and I thank them personally for their passion and for their commitment to have rebirthing outlawed. Their dedication to this cause is a reflection of the amount of love and loss they feel toward Candace. Mr. President. I proudly join my colleague. Senator SALAZAR. to raise awareness of this resolution and to. urge our colleagues in this body for a quick consideration.","speaker_name":"RICHARD BURR","chamber":"S","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2263,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090078366,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. at a time when working families are trying to pinch pennies to pay for skyrocketing gas. record high heating bills and everincreasing health insurance premiums. this is not the time for Washington to ignore the real needs of the American people. I But that is exactly what has happened over the last 5 years. under Republican leadership in Congress: Mr. Speaker. a culture of cronyism exists here in Washington unlike anything we have ever seen before. At the White House. we have the Presidents chief political adviser and the Vice Presidents chief of staff under investigation for illegally leaking a covert CIA operatives name to reporters. Today we learn that the Vice President himself may also be under investigation in that case. Evidently. according to todays Washington Post. the special prosecutor is assembling evidence that. and. I quote. \"Cheneys longstanding tensions with the CIA contributed to the unmasking of operative Valerie Plame.\"","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":965,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090078379,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Saturday was a great day in American history. It was a great day in international history. And for those of us that do not read Time Magazine. it was a great day for democracy. The Iraqi elections came off Saturday. The results are still coming in. We do. not know all that occurred. But there are great things that already can be gleaned from what happened. The Iraqis showed an extraordinary amount of courage. Whereas in America on election day we have people who say. I dont know if I can brave going down and standing in line for 5 or 10 minutes. ","speaker_name":"LOUIE GOHMERT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4471,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090078381,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. any day now. the United States of America will have borrowed over $8 trillion. That is not an occasion to celebrate. That is an occasion to be.very worried about the future of our country. $8 trillion is a fantastic sum of money. To see how long it is. all those numbers stretched out. just look outside the office of any Blue Dog Member of this Congress and you will see a chart like this. because it will show you that as of today. the debt is $7.989 trillion.-That means we are only $11 billion away from passing the $8 trillion threshold. How quickly are we approaching that threshold? We are borrowing almost $1 billion a day. That means within the next week. or two. we will pass the $8 trillion threshold. Of course. much of the money we are borrowing. we are borrowing from foreigners. and increasingly from the Chinese. So all Americans need to be on alert. because this is something that has never happened before in all of American history. We have had ups and downs. we have had the Depression. we have had the Civil War. but we have never been borrowing money at this rate. ","speaker_name":"JIM COOPER","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3969,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090078383,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I also learned. Mr. Speaker. that they will not be intimidated by the terrorists. The terrorists in January told the Iraqis that if they go and vote. they will be killed. They were told that if they were seen with that purple finger.. they would be killed. Yet the Iraqis voted. They willingly stuck their finger in that inkwell and stained their finger for several days. I remember here on the House floor where many of us stood when the President of the United States in his State of the Union message talked about those Iraqi people and how we stood defiant as well as those people with our finger in the air. showing that freedom will prevail and rule the day. Mr. Speaker. this has been an interesting year for the Iraqi people. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4457,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090078389,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"\"Maam. dont worry about me. I know what Im doing and I know why Im doing it. and I can tell- you that there will never be another attack on our nation if I have anything to do with it. So dont worry. Just pray for me.\" And he walked away. What an overwhelming feeling that that was from somebody probably in their very. very early twenties. That same evening as we had dinner with troops from Virginia. and I would like to take a moment and thank the Peterson Foundatilon and AT&T who provided us with telephone cards to give to our very brave men and women so that they could call home. but there was a young woman from Virginia whb looked me straight in the eye and I already knew this. I had already sensed it and felt it. but she looked at me and said. \"Why arent our elected leaders telling America what were doing?\" I had no answer for her. except to make the commitment to her thatwe would do that. Please understand that there are very huge successes that have been made in Iraq. We hear the stories. and any story is one too many. about our men and women who are injured or killed by the IEDs. ","speaker_name":"THELMA DRAKE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4766,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090078414,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. a child is orphaned by HIV\/AIDS every 14 seconds. Let me repeat this staggering statistic: every 14 seconds a child is orphaned by HIV\/ AIDS. Today. by passing this legislation. we take a step to help relieve the worlds orphans and vulnerable children of the suffering they endure at such alarming rates. As of midyear 2004. there were over 15 million children worldwide who were identified as orphans. more than 12 million of whom live in Africa. We expect by the year 2010 this figure will climb to 25 million children.. Mr. Speaker. that means that in 5 years there will be more HIV\/AIDS orphans than the combined population of 18 of our States. Alaska. Delaware. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3310,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090078416,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I also want to make special note of the work of Bono and his organization Debt. AIDS. Trade. Africa for their work in really driving the agenda of HIV and AIDS and for bringing the attention to the needs of African people. He will be here. incidentally. today in the Capitol. and I know he will appreciate the importance of passing this bill* And also. finally. I must thank my predecessor. Ron Dellums. who for many years was a lone voice in the wilderness who also developed the concept of the AIDS Marshall Plan and the Global Fund for AIDS. Quite simply. this bill. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA LEE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11365,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090078436,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"After the tsunami. the majority of Indonesians changed their view of us because they saw the soft power of the United States. It is time to show that same soft power to the people of Pakistan so that they too can have a change of heart towards the United States and our people.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH CROWLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2778,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090078438,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. let me first of all thank the leadership of the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman HYDE) and the gentleman from California (Ranking Member LANTOS) for their quick and compassionate expression that we now have on the floor of the House. I rise today to join in the support of H.J. Res. 492. and I acknowledge as the cochair of the Pakistan Caucus. newlyfounded. to have the pleasure of having both of the members of the Committee on International Relations leadership. the ranking member and chairman. being supportive of this effort. as I cochaired with my colleague. the gentleman from Indiana . I can assure my colleagues that we are very grateful for this profound statement. mourning the loss of so many. We do realize that the numbers continue to climband that the difficulties are rising beyond our understanding. Just this past Sunday. some -70 members of the South Asian community were convened- by my office in Houston. people of different views and political perspectives. but they united. as we did with the tsunami. and we have called ourselves Houstons Solution for Earthquake Relief and Rehabilitation in Pakistan. The reason I believe is because this picture is worth a thousand words. The impact on children is going to be unbelievable and without expression. So it is very important as we look to. as my colleagues have said. the relief from the United States. that we do several things. One. we are the coordinator. and I congratulate the administration for designating Afghanistan as the site of the command. and we acknowledge the loss. devastation in Afghanistan. not as much loss of life. and certainly India has been a real partner. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6248,"word_count":279}
{"speech_id":1090078486,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. in the 108th Congress the gentleman from New Mexico introduced and we passed through this House legislation almost identical to this and we reintroduced it in this Congress. It* has had a companion bill in the Senate which has now passed the Senate. And after conferring with the committee and with the gentleman from New Mexico we decided to take up the Senate version of the bill in this House rather than passing the House bill because that means that the next stop for this legislation is the Presidents desk. The bill that the gentleman and I pass today will not have the gentlemans name on it. but it certainly is a result of his leadership that was brought here to the floor of the House. and I want to commend the gentleman from New Mexico . I also wanted to commend i6hafif Polsenberg for her workbn fLJpi&\u00a7 of legislation. It has beeal rel .j .i work with her. And. my\"Vi rfirber. Colin Hunter. I think also deserves -some credit. Without the two of them. all of the little things that had to get done would have been left to others and might not have gotten done. ","speaker_name":"HEATHER WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"F","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1170,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090078525,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I. yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. I rise in strong support of this resolution to rename the U.S. Post Office in Parkdale. Arkansas the Willie Vaughn Post Office. and I want to first express my heartfelt appreciation to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Ross) for sponsoring this renaming legislation: I also want to thank the gentleman from Arkansas","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":388,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090078538,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I want to close in saying I thank the gentleman from South Carolina for being the author of the resolution. There is no doubt that the South Caroliha Farm. Bureau Insurance Corporation has had a fantastic effect on every segment of South Carolina life. I urge my colleagues to support H. Res. 300. Madam Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JAMES BARRETT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":364,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090078543,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam fications? Speaker. I thank the gentleman from The .ruling in the D.C. sniper case Georgia for yielding me forced the gun manufacturer Bushthis time. and I yield myself such time master to inform its dealers of safer as I may consume. sales practices that -will prevent other Madam Speaker. I rise today in criminals from obtaining guns. somestrong opposition to this closed rule thing that Bushmaster had never done and the underlying legislation. My \u0095 before. Other rulings have resulted in friends in the majority are again bring- major crackdowns on \"straw puring to the floor a rule that blocks de- .chases.\" where legally purchased guns bate in the body before it begins. Under are resold to individuals unable to lawthis rule not one Member of the House. fully purchase a weapon on their own. Republican or Democrat. is permitted In each of these instances. it is beyond to offer an amendment. Under this rule fair to say that they were not frivolous and under this bill. the gun lobby is re- lawsuits. Yet. if the underlying legislawarded while public safetyis thwarted. tion becomes law. when the cases are A few examples: The gentleman from heard then none of them would have Maryland and the even been filed. Perhaps my friends in the majority can help me understand what is so unreasonable in requiring an industry that produces a product with the sole purpose of killing to take the necessary precautions to protect public safety. and is it our belief that the American judicial system is incapable of properly dismissing lawsuits. that are both unreasonable and overzealous? They do it all the time. ","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2763,"word_count":274}
{"speech_id":1090078551,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the exception that he just cited would not cover the example that I just gave. The bottom line is that it was an employee who worked for Kahr Arms that stole these weapons and that sold them to criminals for drug money. As a result. a young man was killed. An it is our understanding. based on my conversations with members of the Judiciary Committee. that in fact this would not be covered. So having said that. I would urge my colleagues to vote \"no\" on this bill.","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":479,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090078557,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It has not been easy. but it has been heartening to see how much bipartisan support this bill has slowly garnered over the years. When I first introduced this bill in 2001. it had 231 cosponsors. but never received a vote. The next session we had 250 cosponsors and an overwhelming 285 to 140 vote on the floor. but then the bill just *died in the other body. Now we have 257 cosponsors on my bill. The Senate overwhelmingly passed their version. and we are poised to pass this historic piece of legislation today. But when we started debating this issue there were only a handful of States that had their own laws prohibiting these junk lawsuits. Today there are 33 States that have laws prohibiting these frivolous lawsuits. So not only is this bill bipartisan in the House. and in the Senate. it is bipartisan in thisNation with 33 States. both Democrats and Republicans in the State legislatures and Governors signing on to the bills that ultimately became laws. And just a few years ago polls showed anywhere from 61 to 70 percent of the American people believed that the gun. industry should not be held liable for damages caused by violent criminals. Today. that already solid majority has risen even more. to an astounding 75 percent of the American people. according to a March 2005 survey. ","speaker_name":"CLIFFORD STEARNS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2099,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090078558,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. just in case people think that it is only those of us who believe in our legal system that are opposed to this particular measure.- I have in hand a letter from law enforcements opposition to H.R. 800. and here is what it says: \"Dear Representative: As active and retired law enforcement officers. we are writing to urge your strong opposition to any legislation granting the gun industry special legal immunity. The bill would strip away the legal rights of gun violence victims. including law enforcement officers and their families. to seek redress against irresponsible gun dealers and manufacturers. The impact of this bill on the law enforcement community is well illustrated .by the lawsuit brought by former Orange New Jersey police officers Ken McGuire and David Lemongello.\" I gather that their lawsuit would be dismissed as frivolous. \"On January 12. 2001. Officers McGuire and Lemongello were shot in the line of duty with a trafficked gun negligently sold by a West Virginia dealer. The dealer had sold the gun. along with 11 other guns. in a cash sale to a straw buyer for a gun trafficker. ","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3645,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090078616,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak in praise of the actions of PPL Electric Utilities and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1600 for the inspiring sacrifices they made in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on behalf of citizens of the Gulf Coast. Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita were two of the most destructive natural disasters to ever strike the United States. In the wake of these catastrophic storms. utilities serving the gulf States reached out across the country for technical resources and skilled labor necessary to rebuild an electric infrastructure destroyed by the forces of nature. PPL Electric Utilities is a great corporate citizen in my district that provides electricity needs for 1.3 million customers in eastern Pennsylvania. When the people of the gulf coast needed assistance. PPL true to form answered the call for help after both hurricanes. More than 180 of the companys employees willingly agreed to leave their homes and their families to help restore an essential basic service. to assist victims of the hurricanes in getting their lives back to normal. Many of these employees were members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1600. skilled. dedicated union members whose efforts were desperately needed in the fight to restore a functioning","speaker_name":"CHARLES DENT","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1333,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090078623,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It was about communication and coordination and all these other things that we need to ensure for the American people. And we believe that an independent commission that is free of politics is the only thing that is going to give us those answers. That is what the Democratic Party is asking for. that is what the gentlewoman from California is asking for. and that is what 80 percent of the American. people are asking for.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3289,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090078636,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is how out of touch this administration is. They are that badly out of touch. and that is why the system cries out for reform. We have to make sure we reform the system so that we can restore peoples confidence and that they understand that the three Cs are incredibly important: No more corruption. no more cronyism. and we have to restore peoples confidence.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":365,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090078643,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. during this .time. they spent more time having press conferences thanking everyone and saying you are doing a wonderful job. No. you are doing a better job. No. I want to make sure you know that you were doing a good job. Meanwhile. folks are still clinging onto life. people are running out of insulin. They need medical supplies and people are drowning in nursing homes. These are Americans. These are Americans. These are individuals that live in our communities. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":984,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090078649,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So why deny the whole country from that? Someone may say. Congressman. Congresswoman. we got it covered. We are dealing with it here in the House. What are you talking about? We are all Republicans. but we got it. We will take care of it. As a matter of fact. the White House appointed someone inside the White -House. a highranking Homeland Security adviser to the President. Well. that is interesting. We are going to keep the adviser who advises the President on the part of Homeland Security to do a report to let him know what went wrong. If something went wrong. then maybe the adviser did not do what she should have done in this case. maybe some of the conversations that we know that the Presidents Chief of Staff had with the folks on the ground and the Deputy Chief of Staff that happens to be the boss of the person who is doing the inquiry. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2577,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090078656,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if the gentleman from Florida will continue to yield. I was just going to say that all of this points to this culture that the gentleman from Florida referred to earlier. this culture of corruption and cronyism. And it has created this groundswellof need for reform. We cannot go on like this anymore. I mean I am raising young children. He is raising young children. The gentleman from Ohios","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":405,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090078667,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"George W. Bush. to finally deliver on a promise that had been made by prior Congresses. prior Presidents. I will not get into naming names or saying who was in charge at what period of time. The fact is Medicare was first passed in 1965. Medicare was a very good program then. it is a very good program now. but it desperately needed modernization when we have come to realize. especially over these last few years. how important it is to have an opportunity to have that prescription drug benefit to go along with Part A and Part B. Part A of course. Mr. Speaker. you understand is a hospital part and the nursing home part. There is a pretty high deductible for that as well. today something like $850 out of pocket before there is any coverage for Part A. And Part B. if God forbid a person end up in a nursing home after 100 days. there are no benefits in any period or episode of illness. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10935,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090078670,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Again. I think you have done an excellent job of laying out the case for the prescription drug benefit. We have a saying -back in Texas when something is a really good deal. we say it does not cost. it pays. I kind of feel that way about the part B Medicare benefit. There are three ways that the Medicare part B benefit could. in fact. result in a costs savings for the Medicare program. One was by introducing competition. The second was by the more timely treatment of disease with appropriate medications. And the third way was by intervening far earlier in the disease process before it gets to the more costly endstate of the disease.. Well. guess what. we will not know about the latter two for some time. but","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BURGESS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":716,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090078672,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If we could reform our liability system. this program costs us nothing. It is the right thing to do and we should do that this year. And I yield back to the gentleman.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BURGESS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2407,"word_count":33}
{"speech_id":1090078675,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Republicans and Democrats. a chance .to say whatever they wanted. And. boy. it took forever. but he was always in control. At theend of it. I congratulated him. I told him I thought I had never seen a committee handled more masterfully. The Committee on Banking and Financial Services at that point was the largest committee of the Congress. There were 50 Members. This mans name was Henry Gonzalez. He was from San Antonio. His son now serves here. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10701,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090078740,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. the turmoil surrounding the Katrina aftermath and some. of the winds of change here in Washington. DC. obscures the fact that every 15 seconds a child dies needlessly and hundreds of millions of people worldwide are sick from waterborne diseases. But a small bright spot is emerging for the United States leadership potential on this issue. I commend Senator FRIST for his personal concern and leadership in the other body and bipartisan legislation cosponsored by Democratic leader Senator REED. In the foreign ops bill there is $200 million in the Senate version dedicated for water objectives.a significant increase given that we are currently only spending $8 million in the entire continent of Africa. We await floor action on our bill out of the House International Relations Committee. the Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act. where Congress can act to pull together the pieces for a global water strategy. It is easily within our power to meet our commitments to extend safe drinking water and sanitation to over a billion people in need.","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1059,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090078749,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. after Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. we must ensure that a great natural disaster of this generation does not turn into a great fiscal disaster for the next. To pay for Federal hurricane relief. there are only one of three places that the money can come from: Raising taxes on the American people. passing even more debt on to our children. or to actually reduce the growth of Federal spending by reforming programs aind prioritizing spending. Democrats want to raise taxes and thus destroy jobs. They want to inflate the Federal budget and thus decimate the family budget. They accuse us of being fiscally irresponsible. but every time we pass a budget. they offer a substitute that spends billions and billions more. They claim our budget policies hurt the poor. but we instead have reduced the ranks of the poor by helping create 4.1 million new jobs so families can increase spending on housing and health care. Compassion for the poor is measured by the number of jobs you create. not the number of government checks you write.","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1054,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090078777,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. This is where I think we are. Some of us are frustrated by some of the litigation that has taken place in this area. I said it when we debated this bill the last time on the floor. I am not a fan of fat litigation either. but sometimes we have to be patient enough in a legislative body to let the institutions that are supposed to Work. work. They are working. Most of the lawsuits that have been filed in this area. have been dismissed. Most of them have been dismissed. ","speaker_name":"MELVIN WATT","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1696,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090078780,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today in support of H.R. 554. the Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act. You may have heard about the overweight maintenance worker from New York. who sued McDonalds. Wendys. Burger King. and KFC for causing his two heart attacks and diabetes. Or the classaction lawsuit against McDonalds where the lawyers named children as the defendants. These stories may sound. funny. but the facts show these types -of frivolous lawsuits bankrupt businesses. deplete pensions. gouge consumers and deprive Americans with real complaints access to their day in court. American consumers actually pay $1.200 more for goods and services every year because of lawsuit abuse. Studies also found that the cost of litigation accounts for onethird of the price of an 8foot aluminum ladder. it doubles the price of a football helmet. it adds $500 to the sticker price of a new car. and increases the cost of a pacemaker by $3.000. ","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1992,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090078787,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Page 5.: line 13. insert \"and the specific facts alleged to satisfy each element of .the cause of action\" before the semicolon. Page 5. line 15. strike \"were allegedly violated.\" and insert \"allegedly create the cause of action. and\". Page 5. line 16. strike \"the specific facts\" and all that follows through the end of line 19 and insert \"the section 4(5)(B) exception being relied upon and the specific facts that allegedly satisfy the requirements of that exception.\".","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":802,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090078820,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Chairman. I urge my colleagues to defeat this amendment. There is a problem in America. There. is no question. but that there is a problem. We do not solve that problem by shifting responsibility to corporations. It would be good if corporations. did perfect things. but we live in an imperfect world where parents have the ability to turn off the television. -parents have the ability to teach their children what to eat and how to eat well. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER CANNON","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":771,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090078828,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That is .directly contrary to the purpose of this bill. It would not be right to allow States to use their consumer protection laws in ways they.cannot use themnow. namely. to sue the food industry.for obesityrelated claims. Consequently. this amendment should be defeated. In any case. section 4(5)(b) of H.R. 544 makes it clear that obesityrelated lawsuits can be brought by anyone who can prove he suffered harm as a result of a violation of State or Federal law. including laws that prohibit deceptive or misleading advertising. by showing he individually and justifiably relied on such deceptive or misleading advertising and that such reliance was theproximate cause of the injury. So the bill itself already allows lawsuits against bad actors while preserving the concept of personal responsibility. The amendment does not do that. it should be defeated. and I urge my colleagues to vote against this amendment. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER CANNON","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1973,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090078829,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. in closing let me just say that. as the gentleman from Arkansas. who is a physician. indicated. weight gain can be caused by contamination or other problems. even if that contamination was unknowing. Under this bill. the attorney general would not be able to get an injunction. We should trust our States attorneys general and consumer protection agencies to do the right thing and not prohibit them from protecting our citizens. Mr. Chairman. I would hope the amendment would be adopted. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":553,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090078839,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I know that the argument on the. other side is that we want people to take personal responsibility. but is it fair to say that there is personal responsibility when a company hides thousands of serious adverse effects. as was the case with a company that had a product with ephedra in it. or when a company does not warn about its risks. when companies know about dangers and do not market their product responsibly? We are not talking about in this situation a food product that may be heavy in fat or may have cholesterol or whatever. People should expect in eating foods generally recognized as safe that if they abuse their eating habits they are responsible for it. But with a dietary supplement. if the manufacturer withholds this information about the risks. and there is no warning whatsoever when the manufacturer knows there should be. then it seems to me we are giving up the responsibility of the manufacturer to warn and taking people who are harmed not because they did not act responsibly and then saying to them they are out of luck. I would think this is not a good argument that we have heard on the other side. and I would hope Members would make this exception. A food supplement-. a dietary supplement in the form of a pill or some other process is like a drug. and I do not think we would want people to be subjected to no lawsuit that is legitimate if the drug has never been approved and never warned about by the manufacturer. So I ask support of the amendment. Mr. ","speaker_name":"HENRY WAXMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1594,"word_count":283}
{"speech_id":1090078840,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. The gentleman is talking about various kinds of supplements. He mentioned ephedra and other supplements to help people lose weight. That is a substantial distinction here. If a person buys a supplement and there has been misleading advertising or the manufacturer knows of adverse effects and does not communicate those. and if that constitutes a violation of law. a lawsuit is not prohibited by this legislation. This legislation is going the other way and saying you cannot sue people if you get fat because you make wrong choices. as opposed to you have had some kind of injury or illness because of a misadvertised or otherwise inappropriate utilization of a supplement.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER CANNON","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":731,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090078877,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Accenture. which chose to establish its base not in America but in Bermuda so it could dodge as much of its tax responsibility as it possibly could. that this company will substitute for a facetoface evaluation. I represent the poorest county in the United States. Starr County. Texas. the poorest statistical metropolitan area. McAllenMission. and a lot of people along the way through the Mesquite trees up to Austin. Texans. who depend on food stamps* for enough nourishment to get thir kids to school. or to be able to survive as a senior. These folks are going to be directly affected. Currently. they are able to go in. and certainly along the border area if they feel more comfortable in Spanish. to talk facetoface with someone who has expertise in this area. to talk with them and have that experienced public servant assess what their needs are and ensure that taxpayers are protected. and that there is not fraud. and ensure that their needs are fully satisfied. Now those folks in Hebbronville. San Diego. ","speaker_name":"LLOYD DOGGETT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3373,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090078896,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"TMA allows for extended health care coverage when lowincome families lose traditional Medicaid benefits due to an increase in income. While four months of TMA coverage is assured under current law. the sixtotwelve month extension that families so often need falls under a legislative sunset. While our actiontoday will extend this coverage. we should. be making this extension permanent. Likewise. we should be acting today to make Medicares QI1 program permanent.. This program is critical for- Medicare beneficiaries whose income is between 120% and 135% of the federal poverty level.-as it provides these individuals with assistance. with their MedicarePart B premiums. Since Qualified Individuals are not otherwise .eligible for. Medicaid. the QI1 program is critical in ensur-. ing lowincome seniors .access- to. physician ca re. -. -\u0095- ... . :. -. Mr. Speaker. I support the efforts of the bill sponsor to swiftly enact this important legisla-. tion. ","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2368,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090078903,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You are too scared to retrieve their bodies. This just proves you are the lady boys we always believed you to be. You attack and run away like women.\" I Now. when one talks like that to an Arab. they are asking for it. That is not leading to peace. That is not done by culturally sensitive people who are bringing American democracy. That is the language of people who ran Abu Ghraib. That is the kind of thing that brings us down. not raises us up. No elections. no trials of Saddam will change that. [From the Sidney Morning Herald. Oct. 19.","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1301,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090078906,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"When the western States. those from Montana down to New Mexico that have all the blue space in there. the Federal land. when they were originally admitted as States. everyone except one had in their enabling act the idea that the land should go to the Federal Government until such time as the Federal Government shall. not might or if or may. but shall dispose of the land. and 5 percent of all of the proceeds were to go back to the States for a permanent education fund to fund their education. To be honest. actually three States did not have that. They said their 5 percent was supposed to go for infrastructure and roads. But everyone was supposed to get something back from the Federal Government. In the mid1970s. this Congress changed the rules of the game without consulting these States and passed legislation that said our official policy will now be to keep the land and not pay the 5 percent. What bill 3463 intends to do is say. okay. fine. let them keep the land. except have the States choose 5 percent- of the land that is available. and we will take some things off the table. like national parks. monuments. reservations. military installations. things that are not valuable to the States anyway. But of the remaining land that is there. let them choose 5 percent of that land for their own to put it in for the purpose of building education funds in each of those western States. If these western States could take the 5 percent of their land that is available and couple it with the school trust lands already open to them. they could create amazing economic zones. especially in rural parts of their States. which would not only build the economy. but which would also pay for the education of their kids. Since we are in an energy crisis. much of this land would be dealing with the growth and energy and potential for that growth. One of the things we have isa cavalier and sometimes a flippant attitude about these lands in the West. ","speaker_name":"ROB BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5055,"word_count":353}
{"speech_id":1090078927,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Under a Bill. president -Eisenhower at the tail previous order of the House. the genend of the Korean War built the inter- tleman from New Jersey state highway system for the United is recognized for 5 minutes.","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5424,"word_count":37}
{"speech_id":1090078932,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if this were a sermon. I would use as the text Romans 12:19 which says. and I want to remind the House that we are a Christian Nation. that says. Avenge not yourselves. for it is written. vengeance is mine. I will repay. saith the Lord. Now we are in the process of beginning a trial which is going to .be -the trial of the century. I think the United States people and the Congress should think about what it is we are setting out to do. On Wednesday. the trial of the century will begin. It will start at a secret Green Zone location by an anonymous court and under extreme U.S. militaryimposed security measures. It is a madeintheUSA affair in administrative and financial terms. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4311,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090078941,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I was brought up to believe that character is judged by how we treat the least amongst us. This budget does not pass that test. and my hope is that tomorrow we as a Congress will rise up to defeat it. Poverty is on the rise in our country. 37 million Americans are now in poverty. I A family of two in povertya single mother with her child--is living on $1.069 a month. About 14 million Americans are living on half of. poverty. A single mother with her child living at half of poverty is trying to survive on $535 a month. That is two people living on $123.37 a week. And each day in America 2.385 more babies are born into poverty. The Republicans will say that society has little obligation to help the poor because they fail to take personal responsibility for their lives. The United States has highest GDP in the world. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6320,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090078972,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Now we have got a student tax. a learning tax. Could the gentleman please talk to us about the impact of these cuts on the ability of us to prepare our young people for tomorrows jobs but also how this becomes a learning tax on young people?","speaker_name":"CYNTHIA MCKINNEY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1755,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090078976,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"However. budget reconciliation is not applicable to emergency supplemental funding. We recently passed $82 billion in emergency supplemental appropriations for Iraq. Where was. the talk of reconciling the budget then? It -is clear these budget cuts. are not aimed at offsetting the cost of the devastating. hurricanes. but rather at partially offsetting $106 billion in new tax cuts. The Republicancontrolled Congress is proposing to slash programs such as Medicaid. food stamps. student loans and other programs that would directly and adversely impact the poor. the disabled. and the elderly. And those cuts. Madam Speaker. are wrong It is about priorities. And this Republican Congress bielieves it is more important to fund tax cuts for those earning over $400.000 a year than to fund programs that benefit the poor. the disabled. and the elderly. I would like to wrapup my remarks by sharing with you a paragraph from a letter that I received just today from the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA. It is signed by a number of organizations. Some of them you will recognize. like the National Baptist Convention USA. the National Missionary Baptist Convention of America. the Presbyterian Church. and the United Methodist Church. ","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5028,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090078980,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Take my word for it. there is a little bar there to show the $25 you might get. At $200.000 to $500.000. you get $558. on average. and at $.5 million to $1 million. you get over $4.000. But if you make over $1 million. this tax cut that has not even started yet but will start next year. you will. get about a $19.000 benefit from that. To implement this tax cut. the 5year cost is $200 billion. We wonder how to pay for Katrina? How about not letting this tax cut go into effect. That would cover the entire potential cost of a Katrina right there. But instead we are going to ask Medicare and Medicaid. possibly veterans health care. certainly student loans and school lunches. food stamps. and those who are most in need. those programs that the Katrina victims would actually be using. those are the programs that will be cut and not a tax cut for millionaires. I think our priorities are wrong. and I appreciate the gentleman giving us the opportunity to bring this kind of chart to show what kind of tax cuts have not even gone into effect yet. but will go into effect beginning next year. And when we say it is a tax cut skewed to the wealthy. this chart shows exactly how that takes place.","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2108,"word_count":226}
{"speech_id":1090078985,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"When we run deficits. we add to the debt. And white we are third worst in the Nations history in terms of annual deficit. we are absolutely on unchartered ground with the kind of debt we now have. debt approaching $8 trillion. This would be I believe very alarming by any measure. but a further look shows who owns the debt. The debt held by the public is increasingly owned by central banks of Asian nations. I have heard some Members. some friends of mine from the other side of the aisle say look. I know that is a scary deficit number. but we have had. relative to the size of our economy which is now bigger. we have been worse than this before. I do not think we ought to have the very worst in our countrys history as the - benchmark against which we compare. but how about the very best in our Nations history. They try to excuse the scary state we are in by saying it has been. worse in terms of real dollar terms compared to GDP. It has never been this bad. We have never had so much debt owned by foreigners. ","speaker_name":"EARL POMEROY","chamber":"H","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4832,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090079019,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I will just give my colleagues an example in my district. We have a terrible problem with methamphetamine. It is happening everywhere. it is not just happening in rural areas. it is happening in urban areas. We have places in Le Flore County in Oklahoma where literally this is infiltrating not based on socioeconomics. the rich and the pQor. it is affecting everyone. And one of the only tools that we have to fight this scourge of methamphqtamine is the Byrne Grant Program. Under this budget. it was slashed. Once again. when we have the tools. we have the necessary. tools. it -is taken away. And I can. think of the district attorneys and the drug task forces in my district that I have met with. the first responders who say. damn. we desperately need it. ","speaker_name":"DAN BOREN","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":942,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090079021,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Investing in the student loans. I have said this a million times on this floor. We had a study in Ohio. University of Akron. For every dollar the State of Ohio invested into higher education. the State got $2 back in tax money. That is the investment the Democrats want to make. We are playing offense. We have an agenda here. We are not here just to criticize. although We could spend a lot of time making the proper criticisms. Providing health care for young kids. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1837,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090079025,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let us reiterate that point right before we go. We have about 5 minutes left. Every- cut that is being made to fund the Katrina relief is being made to a group of people who do not donate to the Republican majority. They are Medicaid recipients. They are food stamp recipients. and they are. college students and middleclass parents who do not have a big lobby group here..","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":373,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090079027,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. actually. something that. we are not talking about also. we are seeing all of these cuts. but at the same time there is a State tax increase. thefe because you have cuts at the Federal level and guess who has got to bear the brunt? \" I served in the State legislature in Oklahoma before I came to Congress. And we had all these things called unfunded mandates that the other side talked a lot about. these unfunded mandates: Guess who is sending these unfunded mandates right now? It is the other side. They are sending them back to State legislatures like my home State of Oklahoma. And they ar6 not only going to the States. They are going to the counties. they are going to the municipalities. and it is going to be a tax increase for the American people.","speaker_name":"DAN BOREN","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":771,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090079044,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That does start at home in this body. Thus. yesterday the Senate overwhelmingly voted to eliminate congressional pay raises. I believe that was an appropriate action. It shows we are serious as we look. for savings throughout the Government. and it starts at home in this body. Eight committees of the Senate are hard at work doing the exact. same thing. and that is prioritizing. I thank and commend the committees and their chairs and ranking membersthe HELP Committee. the Banking Committee. the Environment and Public Works Committeefor their success yesterday in meeting those goals set out in the budget. I thank the chairmen and the committee members for their tremendous progress to date.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1934,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090079045,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Printed on recycled paper. will be an opportunity for the Iraqi people to experience some measure of catharsis and closure on a dark and terrible chapter in their history. I commend them for their courage to restrain the desire for vengeance and to commit to the rule of law. It cannot be easy. Saddams abuse ran deep and ran wide. But by granting him a fair trialan opportunity to answer the chargesthe Iraqi people are showing that Saddams brutality was born of his nature and not theirs. Cicero once said: Let us remember that justice must be observed even to the lowest. Today. let it be said that justice will be observed even by the once mighty. Mr. President. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2168,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090079048,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We were greeted this morning with all the major news organizations showing the closedcircuit videotape and film of the trial. It is a good thing that he is standing trial because he is a vicious murderer. a thug. and a monster of a human being. However. Americans are questioning. still. whether or not we have paid too heavy a price for this day to have arrived and asking of this administration. now that he is standing trial: How much longer will we be standing trial in Iraq as we wait for the outcome each day of the bloody fighting? What has changed since May of 2003 is that the costs of the war have risen. are still climbing. the trust the American people have placed in the President has been shaken. What has also changed is. while the cost of war continues to grow. the alleged justifications for the war have multiplied. and the clarity of our purpose has diminished dramatically. This is a terrible and tragic combination. \u0095 Saddam was a monster. That is true. But we must never forget that of all the many reasons given to us by this administration to invade Iraq. the evil naturb of Saddam was the only one that has proven -true. Except for the brutality of Saddam Husseinas bad as it was.. as horrible as it wasall the other reasons for going to war the administration put forth turned out riot to be accurate. There were no weapons of mass destruction. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11509,"word_count":249}
{"speech_id":1090079050,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have all heard about the slow initial response to the storm. We have also heard about the nobid contracts that probably werent necessary. But I am going to speak for a few minutes today about a truly distressing failure that is leading* to hardship among Katrina evacuees and is also wasting a lot of Federal taxpayer dollars. As my colleagues are aware. hundreds of thousands of gulf coast residents have seen their homes severely damaged. Too many have seen them completely destroyed. Many of these people are still living far away from home. with little or no hope of returning to their communities any time soon. if ever. FEMA has Thoved swiftly in recent weeks to move katrina evacuees out of temporary Ihass shelters that we saw in places Such as the Astrodome in Houston. Th0 problem is that many evacuees are still living in hotels today. waiting for FEMA to move them to longer tertn temporary housing. There have been a number of media reports recently that FEMA is currently spending millions of dollars every day to house hundreds of thousands of these evacuees in hotels around our coun try. The total cost *of this program. according to the Washington Post this morning. will likely approach $200 million by the end of this month alone. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2410,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090079051,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Together. these two bills would better protect American taxpayers and bring some muchneeded accountability to the recovery efforts. We shouldnt settle for the stories we see in the papers every day about the lack of decent housing for Katrina victims or the lack of competition for Federal contracts. We shouldnt read stories about waste and resign ourselves to the fact that waste is just something that happens in the Federal Government. We can do better. and we must. We owe it to -the American taxpayers to do better. and we owe it to Katrinas victims to do better. Mr. President. I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5097,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090079075,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Chair. I note that my partner and comanager of the bill. the Senator from Washington. and I are here and ready to do business. -We were ready to do business yesterday. We had one rollcall vote. There were more than 40 amendments filed yesterday. I know there aremany others who have or are thinking about amendments. But we have enough work to do now if Members will. come forward and offer their amendments that are filed or talk with us to see if they can be accepted. We would like very much to move forward .on this bill today. and perhaps complete work on it by 8 oclock tonight when the baseball game is on television. But hope springs eternal. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":830,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090079090,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let me make the point that this amendment differs from one we have considered previously in that the scope of the evaluation and investigation of expenditures and contracting would include not just with respect to Iraq but also the contracting and reconstruction in the gulf in relation to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita damages.","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":341,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090079148,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the Senator from Montana will yield for a question. I would like to ask him about New York City. Isnt it a fact that after the 9\/11 disaster. within 2 weeks we expanded Medicaid coverage under a: disaster relief Medicaid assistance program so that 340.000 New Yorkers were able to start receiving Medicaid for 4 months? We spent $670 million on that assistance. We did that within 2 weeks. And now 7 weeks have passed. and this administration has not. come forward with any help for Hurricane Katrina victims when it comes to Medicaid.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":538,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090079177,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. before I yield the floor to the other Senators who wish to speak. first. let me point out that while LIHEAP is a very important subject. it has nothing to do with this bill. There will be the LaborHHS appropriations bill on the floor next week. There will also be a supplemental bill which* will deal with it. While I am a big supporter of LIHEAP. this measure should be appropriately discussed in the forum where LIHEAP is handled. Either one of those two vehicles is appropriate. Now. Madam President. I ask unanimous consent that at 4:30 today. the Senate proceed to a vote in relation to the Kennedy amendment No. 2063. to be followed by a vote in relation to the Enzi amendment No. 2115. I further ask consent that prior to those votes there be 3 hours for debate equally divided between Senators ENzI and KENNEDY to run concurrently on both the Enzi and Kennedy amendments. provided further that no seconddegree amendments be in order to either amendment prior to the votes. I further ask consent that if either amendment does not have 60 votes in the affirmative. that amendment then be automatically withdrawn or fall to the point of order. if applicable. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1262,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090079206,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":14,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We keep hearing the ageold argument. I have heard it every time in the last 30 years I have served in both the House and Senate every time the minimum wage comes up: These are teenagers flipping hamburgers. nobody else makes that.- But we know what the facts are. Facts are stubborn things. We have a lot of doubtdont trust me. trust your own Department of Labor. Trust the one that is run downtown right now. Here is what they will tell you: 35 percent of those earning the minimum wage are their familys sole breadwinner35 percent: It doesnt sound like a teenager. flipping burgers to me. Sixtyone percent are women and onethird of -those are raising children--61 percent of those are women. This is a womens issue. too. when you - think about it. Most of them are stuck. Many of them are single parents. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10321,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090079249,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The American people understand fairness. We are talking about men and women who work 40 hours a week. 52 weeks of the year. These are hardworking men and women who have a sense of pride and dignity in their work. They work hard. they try to provide for their children. they work one. two. or three jobs. We have not increased the minimum wage now for 9 years. Prior to that timethe 50 years before thisit was bipartisan. President Bush 1 signed an increase in the. minimum wage. Jerry Ford. President Nixon. Dwight Eisenhower. and now we have been 9 years without this kind of increase. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2382,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090079261,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I want to voice my strong support for an amendment offered by Senator KENNEDY to raise the Federal minimum wage from its current. astonishingly low. rate of $5.15 an hour to $6.25 an hour. An increase in the minimum wage is long ogerdue. Today. the real value of the minimum wage is more than $3.00 below what it was in 1968and at the lowest real rate in half a century. Since Congress last acted to raise the minimum wage in 1996. its value has eroded by 17. percent. This indifference is simply unacceptable. To have the same purchasing power it had in 1968. the minimum wage would have to be more than $8.50 an hour. Yet nothing has been done. and the consequences of our inaction are very real and very painful to millions of Americans. Since President Bush took office. the number of Americansliving in poverty has increased by 5.3 million. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2017,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090079285,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I announce. that the Senator from Hawaii is necessarily absent. The yeas and nays resultedyeas 42. nays 57. as follows: [Rollcall Vote No. 258 Leg.] Alexander Allen Bennett Bond Brownback Bunning Burns Cochran Coleman Collins Craig. Crapo DeWine Dole Akaka Allard Baucus Bayh Biden Bingaman Boxer Burr Byrd Cantwell Carper Chafee Chambliss Clinton Coburn Conrad Cornyn Corzine Dayton YEAS42 Domenici Murkowski Ensign Roberts Enzi Santorum Frist Sessions Graham Shelby Grassley Smith Hagel Snowe Hatch Specter Hutchison Stevens. Kyl Talent Lugar Thomas Martinez Thune McCaIn Voinovich McConnell Warner NAYS--57 DeMint Lieberman Dodd Lincoln Dorgan Lott Durbin Mikulski Feingold Murray Feinstein Nelson (FL) Gregg Nelson (NE) Harkin Obama Inhofe Pryor Isakson Reed Jeffords Reid Johnson Rockefeller Kennedy Salazar Kerry Sarbanes Kohl Schumer Landrieu Stabenow Lautenberg Sununu Leahy Vitter Levin Wyden","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":901,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090079299,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I announce that the Senator from Hawaii is necessarily absent. The yeas and nays resultedyeas 44. nays 54. as follows: Akaka Baucus Bayh Biden Bingaman Boxer Byrd Cantwell carper Clinton Conrad CorzineDaytoV Dodd Dorgan [Rollcall Vote No. 259 Leg.] YEAS--44 Durbin Mikuls Feingold Murra Feinstein Nelson Harkin Nelson Jeffords Obama Johnson Pryor Kennedy \" Reed Kerry Reid Kohl Rocke Landrieu\" c Lautenbrg Salaza Leahy Sarba .Levin Schum Lieberman Staber Lincoln Wyden ski (FL) (NE) feller_ r. es. .er Low Alexander Allard Allen Bennett Bond Brownback Bunning Burr Chafee Chambliss Coburn Cochran Coleman Collins Cornyn \"Craig Crapo DeMint NAYS54 DeWine McCain Dole McConnell Domenici Murkowski Ensign Roberts Enzi Santorum Frist Sessions Graham Shelby Grassley Smith Gregg Snowe Hagel Specter. Hatch Stevens Hutchison Sununu Inhofe Talent Isakson Thomas Kyl Thune Lott Vitter Lugar Voinovich Martinez Warner","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":908,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090079378,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This makes it a felony to raise oil or gas prices more than 15 percent during a natural disaster and other emergencies. and gives the U.S. Trade Commission. U.S. Department of Justice. and State Attorneys General the authority to prosecute violators. This creates an exception for cases in which a price increase is directly attributable to additional costs incurred by the seller. Currently. no Federal laws exist to address gasoline price gouging. Only 13 States have such laws to prosecute those who raise prices arbitrarily during times of emergency. On September 1. in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. President Bush said in response to the price gouging that was underway: There ought to be zero tolerance of people breaking the law during an emergency such as this. whether it be looting or price gouging at the gasoline pump. or taking advantage of charitable giving or insurance fraud. On September 6th of this year. ","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1641,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090079395,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The \"silent slavery of poverty\" is not so silent any more. For those in poverty. the Anrerican dream is a nightmare. Families stay awake at night worrying -how to make ends meet. Parents wonder how they will feed their children and. pay their bills. . Rising energy costs are a huge part\" of the problem. Significant numbers .of citizens live with the constant threat of power shutoffs. because they cant pay their energy bills. and theres no relief in sight. According to a recent report by the Energy Information Administration. the outlook for the coming winter is bleak. Home heating bills are likely to soar. Hurricanes Katrina and. Rita have strained alreadytight oil and natural gas production. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2648,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090079398,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in accordance with rule V of the standing rules of the Senate. I hereby give notice in writing of my intention to move to suspend Paragraph 4 of Rule XVI for .the purpose of proposing to the Bill. H.R. 3058. the Transportation. Treasury. and Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Bill. the following amendment: No. 2143. (The amendment is printed in todays RECORD under \"Text of Amendments.\")","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":414,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090079403,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Soliss wrist was broken and he was hit in the head. The police were slow to respond and ineffective. I. believe that the governments first duty is to defend its citizens. to defend them against the harms thatcome out of hate. The Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act is a symffbol that can become substance. I .believe that by -passing this legislation and -changing current law. we can change hearts and minds as well.","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1032,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090079406,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"For now. the situation is under control but still extremely volatile. It appears we may have gotten luckybut just because the waters are receding doesnt mean our work is through. Doing everything possible means the Federal Government has to give mayors and governors every tool they need to protect their communities. Today. the Army Corps of Engineers can help in Taunton only because its an emergencyand everyone who has been praying that the dam doesnt break knows just what an emergency this hias been. But according to the law. its only at that point of no return that the Corps can step in. The Army Corps of Engineers has no authority to try to prevent a situation like this. Before the water came pouring through and 2.000 people were evacuated from their hohes. the Corps was powerless to fix this dam. But its not just on the Mill Riverwe have 3.000 privatelyowned dams in Massachusetts. The Army Corps of Engineers shouldnt be handcuffed by bureaucratic red tape until we reach the point of a makeitorbreakit crisis. If Hurricane Katrina taught us anything. its that we cant let bureaucracy get in the way of preventing a pending disaster or responding to a looming threat. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2331,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090079408,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I also introduced this bill during the 108th Congress. Let me be clear. that thd legislation we are introducing today does not amend the FMLA in any way. In fact. FMLA benefits are specifically exempt-. ed from the types of leave that can be used by designated caregivers for purposes directly related to or resulting from their caregiver responsibilities. While I believe that the FMLA could serve as the. basis for providing additional leave opportunities for designated caregivers. opposition in some quarters to the original FMLA makes this a difficult proposition. I am proud to have been a cosponsor of this landmark law. and I believe that the FMLA continues to provide muchneeded as-. sistance to millions of workers around the country as they seek to care for their own serious health condition or that of a family member or as they welcome the birth or adoption of a child. I will continue to support this law and efforts to ensure that the vital benefits that it provides are not eroded. I thank the Senator from Vermont.","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4145,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090079411,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"ir. President. today my good friends Senators GRASSLEY and McCAIN and I are introducing the \"Government Settlement Transparency Act of 2005\". a bill that will put a stop to tax deductions for finei and penalties paid by companies to government agencies in connection with civil settlements. Over the past several years. we have become increasingly concerned about the approval of various settlements that allow penalty payments made to the government in settlement of a violation or potential violation of the law to be tax deductible. Our concerns were heightened this week upon the release of a Government Accountability Office Report that confirmed many companies deduct these settlements notwithstandirfg the tax codes prohibition against deducting fines and penalties. This abuse shifts the tax burden from the wrongdoer onto the backs of the -American people. This is unacceptable. Many government agencies enter into these settlement agreements after investigating cdmpanies for violations of the law. Every year thousands of violations are resolved with settlements totaling tens of billions of dollars paid to the Federal Government. Civil settlements serve to punish past wrongdoing and to deter future wrongdoing without protracted court proceedings. For example. in the past several years settlements of various SEC investigations into violations or potential violations of the securities laws have been front and center in the news.. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5278,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090079412,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I am introducing a measure with Senator DORGAN to amend P.L. 107153. which deems that certain reports prepared for the Department of the Interior relating to Indian tribal trust accounts were received by the tribes no earlier than December 31. 1999. The intent of this law was to eliminate contentions that the tribes received notice of potential claims against the United States prior to that date for purposes of the statute of limitations. This amendment changes the date set forth in P.L. 107153 to December 31. 2005. in order to facilitate discussions and negotiations between the Indian tribes and the United States regarding potential claims without pressure on the tribes to file lawsuits out of concern that the statute of limitations will run out on their claims. It is my understanding that this measure has support both among the Indian tribes and the administration. By Mr. SANTORUM:","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":917,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090079417,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Agriculture. Nutrition and Forestry be .authorized to conduct a business meeting during the session. of the Senate on Wednesday. October 19. 2005 at 10 a.m. in SR328A. Russell Senate Office Building. The purpose of this meeting will be .to consider an original bill to comply with the Committees reconciliation instructions as contained in H. Con. Res. 95. The. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":486,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090079430,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Antitrust. Competition Policy and Consumer Rights be authorized to meet on Wednesday. October 19. 2005. to conduct a hearing on \"Video Competition in 2005--More Consolidation. or New Choices for Consumers?\" at 2 p.m. in Room 226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Witness List Mr. Glenn Britt. Chairman and CEO. Time Warner Cable. Stamford. .CT. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":880,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090079511,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And up to 18.000 are trafficked into the U.S. each year. Watch this powerful movie next week. Lifetime TV. 9 p.m.. Monday and Tuesday.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1955,"word_count":24}
{"speech_id":1090079514,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this week we were to take up theRepublican leadership budget bill that would have cut student loans. rural and agricultural programs. LIHEAP low energy assistance programs. and other major programs in our Federal budget that the American people depend on. I am happy to report at this moment they have postponed that legislation just for today. We want Americans all over to speak up and to contact your Congresspeople. This is not the time to cut vital human family programs like student aid. like rural and agricultural development. -like food stamps. and like low energy assistance programs. Do we have problems in America? Yes. we do. But we hope our Republican leadership will not bring a budget resolution forward that will further decimate and hurt -families. At a time when many manufacturing jobs have been lost in America. in my own State of Michigan. the highest unemployment State in the country. this is not the time to cut vital* programs. It is time. though. not to have a $1.7 trillion cost for a tax cut for the wealthiest of Americans. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN KILPATRICK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1110,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090079515,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Let us be frank. The Democrat solution. raising taxes. is not a solution. This government does not have a revenue problem. This government has a spending problem. Mr. Speaker. we invite them to join us.","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1040,"word_count":35}
{"speech_id":1090079516,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Republicans are simply too busy helping their friends. It is time for a change all right. and Democrats are ready to lead by providing creative.solutions to our Nations needs.","speaker_name":"DIANE WATSON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":33.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1237,"word_count":29}
{"speech_id":1090079519,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This is an issue that crosses State and party lines and one that needs to be addressed immediately. Mr. Speaker. let us act today to increase this funding before Hurricane K~trina claims more victims this winter.","speaker_name":"JEB BRADLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1117,"word_count":36}
{"speech_id":1090079521,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the war on terror is slow going. In Iraq. suicide bombers and terrorists continue to spread fear across the Sunni provinces in the center of the country. Many of our soldiers have made the ultimate sacrifice. Some folks here at home wonder where the war is going. It is important to step back and look at the big picture. Just this week. millions of Iraqis have once again exercised the right to vote. a right denied them for decades. And -yesterday. the Tyrant of Baghdad was brought to trial. Two things we take for granted here at home: the right to choose our own government and the guarantee of real justice in a court of law. Saddam Hussein is at long last standing trial for his crimes against humanity. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1161,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090079530,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is important to stress at the outset what this legislation does not do. First. the legislation does not preclude lawsuits against a person who transfers a firearm or ammunition knowing it will be used to commit a crime of violence or drugtrafficking crime. Second. it does not prevent lawsuits against a seller for negligent entrustment or negligence per se. Third. the bill .includes several additional exceptions. including an exception for actions in which a manufacturer or seller of a qualified product knowingly violates any State or Federal statute applicable to sales or marketing when such violation was the proximate cause of the harm for which relief is sought. Finally. the bill contains additional exceptions for breach of contract or warranty in connection with the purchase of a firearm or ammunition. and an exception for actions for damages resulting- directly from a defect in design or manufacture of a firearm or ammunition. Recent trends -in abusive litigation have inspired lawsuits against the firearms industry on the theory of liability that would hold it financially responsible for the actions of those who use their products in a eriminal or unlawful manner. Such lawsuits threaten to rip tort law from its moorings in personal responsibility and may force firearms manufacturers into bankruptcy. While some of these lawsuits have been dismissed and some States have acted to address them. the fact remains that these lawsuits continue to be aggressively pursued. The intended consequences of these frivolous lawsuits could not be more clear: the financial ruin of the firearms industry. As one of the personal injury lawyers suing American firearms companies told the Washington Post. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6552,"word_count":271}
{"speech_id":1090079540,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I wish my colleague frpm Virginia would come meet with 10 families from the Washington area who had victims killed during the sniper attacks 3 years ago. as well as the police officers from New Jersey. and tell them that those lawsuits were frivolous lawsuits. Mr. Speaker. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California .","speaker_name":"CHRIS VAN HOLLEN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":339,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090079551,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. I rise today in support of Senate bill 397. the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. I would like to thank the gentleman from Florida and the gentleman from Wisconsin and the Committee on the Judiciary for all their hard work on this muchneeded piece of legislation. Mr. Speaker. I consider myself a strong supporter of the second amendment to our Constitution and truly believe in the rights of Americans to keep and bear arms. For a long time. I have been very dismayed at the antigun lobbys effort to litigate the gun industry to death. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SALAZAR","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1572,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090079554,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association and a lifelong shooting sports. enthusiast. I have been an outspoken supporter of second amendment rights and strongly support. the original intent of this bill. I regret the legislation we are voting on today contains the KohlReed storage device amendment. We need to pro-. tect the firearms industry. an industry I would like to remind my colleagues on the other side of the aisle is responsible for arming our troops. our law enforcement professionals. including the Capitol Police. But responsible gun owners should not have .further limits placed on their second. amendment rights. Unfortunately. it has become necessary to enact legislation to protect responsible owners. manufacturers. and sellers from frivolous liability lawsuits and criminals and others who irresponsibly handle firearms. The original legislation from the House had 257 cosponsors and the original bill in the Senate. which did not contain the KohlReed amendment. had 62 cosponsors. I do not understand why then we are about to pass a measure that is a compromise of the two bills that were overwhelmingly supported by both Chambers. ","speaker_name":"GEOFF DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1983,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090079558,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.","speaker_name":"BOB GOODLATTE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2596,"word_count":9}
{"speech_id":1090079563,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. while I sympathize with the original objective of S. 397. the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. I am forced to oppose this legislation primarily because of unconstitutional gun control amendments added tothe bill in the Senate. As a firm believer in the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution and an opponent of all Federal gun laws. I cannot support a bill that imposes new. unconstitutional gun controls on Americans.- I believe that the Second Amendment is one of the foundations of our constitutional liberties. In fact. I have introduced legislation. the Second Amendment Protection Act . which repeals misguided Federal gun control laws such as the Brady Bill. Senate amendments added- two sections to S. 397 that impose unconstitutional controls on American gun owners and sellers. First. a section was added to the bill to outlaw any licensed gun importer. manufacturer. or dealer from selling. delivering. or transferring a handgun without a \"secure gun storage or safety device.\" Each and any violation of this requirement can result in a person being fined up to $2.500 or having his license revoked. This gun lock requirement amounts to the imposition of a new Federal tax on each handgun sale because gun buyers will be forced to pay the cost of the \"secure gunstorage or safety device\" that is required with a handgun. irrespective of if that device is desired. ","speaker_name":"RONALD PAUL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4716,"word_count":232}
{"speech_id":1090079567,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. Over the last few years. trial lawyers have filed suit against firearms manufacturers across the country in the hopes of bankrupting the industry. These frivolous lawsuits are often based on the dubious premise that gun manufacturers should be held liable for the actions of others who use their products in a criminal or unlawful manner. This abuse of the legal process demands strong Congressional action. and we are responding with this legislation. This bill will protect the firearms industry from lawsuits based on the criminal or unlawful thirdparty misuse of their products. This law is necessary to prevent a few state courts from undermining our Second Amendment rights guaranteed by the Constitution. Contrary to many rumors. this bill will not prevent legitimate victims from having their day in court for cases involving defective firearms. breaches of contract. criminal behavior by a gun maker or dealer. or the negligent entrustment of a firearm to an irresponsible person. Mr. ","speaker_name":"SAM GRAVES","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1692,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090079569,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in opposition to S. 397. the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. This resolution immunizes the gun industryincluding manufacturers. distributors. dealers. or importers of firearms and ammunitionsfrom civil liability arising from the criminal and unlawful misuse of their products. Advocates of this bill believe that it is necessary to pass in orderto prevent the rise of \"frivolous\" lawsuits against companies. that manufacture and distribute firearms. Advocates say. the Second Amendment of the Constitution protects the rights of these companies to irresponsibly sell their products without any repercussions for the misuse of their product. I believe there is a delicate balance between the right to bear arms. a right provided by the Constitution. and the need to prevent gun violence. This bill. if passed into law. will unfairiy shift the balance. Through the laws vested in the Constitution. every American has been given the responsibility to keep and bear arms. but this resolution will dismantle all progress that has been made toward the fight against crime. Each year more than 30.000 gunrelated deaths occur. a third of these 30.000 deaths are committed with malicious \"intent by customers of the arms industry who exploit their Second Amendment Right. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2466,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090079575,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of S. 397. the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. As a gun owner. it troubles me that many interest groups and local municipalities have decided that the way to reduce gun violence is to put the manufacturers of firearms and firearm parts out of business through lawsuits and the fear of lawsuits. Their actions run counter to the main purpose of gun ownership: protection. The Second Amendment was not written as a mere exercise in constitutional thought. It had a practical purpose: First. to ensure that citizens would have the tools to protect their families and their homes and. second. to ensure that an armed militia could be called up to defend the country in emergencies. But these lawsuits. Mr. Speaker. have the potential of crippling the American firearms industry. in the same manner as the threat of medical liability has crippled the medical industry. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SCHWARZ","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1586,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090079604,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As the gentleman knows. the following week. November 8 is election day for a lot of people: New York City. the State of California. obviously very large jurisdictions.. Virginia. a: major election going on. there. All of us are watching that election go on. New Jersey gubernatorial. as is Virginia and Ohio. So a very large number of people in America will be confronting elections and. therefore. a large number of our Members. Has the majority considered the possibility of making sure that we do not have votes until later on in the day. Tuesday. so that we can free up our Members in those jurisdictions.. A. to vote and. B. to participate to the extent that they feel it necessary to do so? I yield to the gentleman.","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1214,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090079605,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the gentleman yielding to me. The week that is in question there has. of course. been on the calendar for a while as a workweek. We would intend at this point tohave the reconciliation items on the floor that week. It will be a very full week of Work if we hope to get out of here by Thanksgiving. by November 18. as is still our principal goal if we find cooperation in the Senate ofi that. I think it is likely that we would stay with the regular schedule. We have elections in Missouri too on that day. and while I hope to be there part of the day on Monday. .I have already voted absentee. and I assume many of our other Members have already taken that action as well.","speaker_name":"ROY BLUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":698,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090079609,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if the gentleman will continue to yield. we are continuing to do work on getting ready for that conference. I would hope that that conference would occur at any time. I am confident that we will appoint conferees and have that conference completed before the law expires. So I think tlat in itself sets a fairly short deadline but would expect to see that happen in the near future as we thought it might even happen this week.","speaker_name":"ROY BLUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":440,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090079610,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I appreciate his answer. -Reclaiming my time. on appropriations conference reports. prior to the Thanksgiving recess. can he tell us how many he anticipates might be ready. obviously realizing that the other bodys actions are difficult to determine. but does he have any thoughts on what appropriations conference reports we might be considering prior to the November 18 date?","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":389,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090079618,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Republicans misplaced budget priorities are actually shameful. They continue to be a reverse Robin Hood. slashing funds to safety net programs only to give more tax cuts to the wealthiest of Americans. The budget reconciliation that we will talk about next week or the next week. whenever you guys can get your stuff together. proposes huge cuts in important programs that the poor and the working poor depend on day in and day out. such as $15 billion in cuts in Medicaid programs. $12.5 billion for student loans. and almost $1 billi6n in cuts for food stamps. All of this while. and you would allow the richer to get even richer at the expense of helping those who need it the most. doing nothing to offset Katrina expenses or to reduce our Nations deficit. Using Hurricane Katrina as an excuse to extend tax cuts. while taking from the programs that the victims of the hurricane need most. is an embarrassment. I hope you will fix it.","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":955,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090079619,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Democrats seem to view the budget as a credit card. and when the bill gets too high. they pay for the bill by simply raising taxes on the American people. In conclusion. God bless our troops. and we will never forget September 11.","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1091,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090079620,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. there was a phrase they used to use around here during the Reagan years called \"take from the needy and give to the greedy.\" Well. we are back in session with that same thought going. These cuts in this budget amendment we just heard about. the gentleman from South Carolina said we were not willing to make the cuts. Let me tell my colleagues just what one of those cuts was so we get a feeling for what they are up to. There was a rule in many States that if you were from a poor family and you went to a rich family as a foster kid you did not get any money. If you went to a poor family. you would get some money. They went into court. and the court said it did not make any difference what kind of a family you were living in. it was what the child had access to and every child ought to receive foster child -payments in the United States. no matter where they were or what situation they were in. What the Republicans want to do in this bill is repeal a court decision. They do not like what the courts did. The same thing is true about kinship care. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1295,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090079631,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Now. while this is a step in the right direction. I believe that stronger language is definitely necessary. I worry that a new regulator. without specific congressional direction to reduce the size of portfolios of the GSEs. will face constant political pressures from the GSEs. thus puttingthe possible problems that result on the backs of American taxpayers. Now. some argue that if Fannie and Freddie portfolios are curtailed. they will not be able to meet their affordable housing goals. But this is not the case. As the former head of OFHEO noted just last week. \"The amount of time and resources that the enterprises must dedicate to managing the risks associated with their portfolios is very substantial. and it dwarfs any marginal benefit to their affordable housing mission. In addition. the recent scahdals at both companies illustrate the problems they can get themselves into as they try to manage this volatility associated with very large portfolios.\". Limiting the portfolio growth is the number one priority of the administra.tion in addressing GSE reform. Chairman Greenspan. ","speaker_name":"SCOTT GARRETT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5225,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090079654,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I stand to oppose the misguided budget amendments that are being presented to us. These amendments will not help a postKatrina plan. but would only add to the deficit. It would require spending cuts and new tax cuts that wpuld mount up to $70 billion. cuts that mostly benefit the wealthiest Americans at the expense of the poorest Americans. If these spending cuts were approved. they would probably db what I would consider to be Draconian cutting. They would cut Medicaid. food stamps. child care support. the earned income tax credit. and supplemental security income. I have a problem in my City of Los Angeles. and it is a homeless problem. There are over 80.000 homeless individuals that are on our streets. mostly in the evenings. They have problems with alcohol abuse. drug abuse. and mental illness. ","speaker_name":"DIANE WATSON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":33.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1675,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090079707,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. I rise to thank both our distinguished chairman of this subcommittee. Senator BOND. and distinguished ranking member. Senator MURRAY. for their leadership on this important bill and for their words of support for my amendment. This amendment addresses the need to make sure that we are enforcing our trade laws so that we have a level playing field for businesses and workers in America with all of our trading partners. It designates and authorizes a specific amount of money that Would allow us to do that. In my home State of Michigan. this is absolutely critical for us right now. as we see all of the challenges in the international marketplace. We need to make sure that we are giving every business. every worker. a levelplaying field. and we are doing everything we can to enforce our trade laws so that we have the opportunity to be exporting our products and not our jobs. That should be the goal of all of us. I appreciate the fact that there is a willingness to support my. amendment.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1013,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090079733,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I urge the adoption of the amendment by unanimous consent.","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1244,"word_count":10}
{"speech_id":1090079743,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. I see the Senator from Oklahoma has essentially proposed five amendments which all seek to do the same thing. amendments Nos. 2089. 2090. 2091. 2092. 2093. These essentially dre targeted at economic development initiatives. I wonder if we might have a full debate on all of them and combine them into one amendfient so we could spare our colleagues having to have rollcall votes on five? Through the Chair. I ask if the Senator from Oklahoma would voluntarily agree to that.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":491,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090079780,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The reason for these amendments is to get us to start thinking about choosing priorities. The Senator from Nebraska was not here when I gave my opening statement. I am not trying to pick on Nebraska. I am trying to pick on our process. The fact is we can change every aspect of how the grantwriting process goes if we want to and wecan make it work. The reason we do not trust bureaucrats is we do not hold them accountable because we do not do the work we need to do to create the change in the bureaucracy. So first I would offer no personal.offense to my friend from Nebraska. He does have my respect. But when a private institution is worth $66 million. has a cash working capital of $6.5 million and has $1.998 million in the bank. we are going to take a priority that says this money we are going to spend here rather than on something that has a better priority. That is all I am saying. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2110,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090079911,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am pleased to have worked with my colleague from Iowa. He offered a similar amendment to the one I offered some months ago. We have worked out a modification of that amendment. I believe it advances the right interest here. Let me describe what this does. It . deals with an independent counsel and the funding for an independent counsel and the report that should be published by that independent counsel. This independent counsel was for investigating former Secretary Cisneros where some money allegedly had been paid to someone else. lying to the FBI. et cetera. So an independent c6unsel was created. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2403,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090079920,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I wished to come and thank the chairman and ranking member of the committee. I think the fact that we have. not seen any Amtrak amendments to increase the funding shows we have worked very hard together to get a good. solid number to go into conference. with the hope that we can get good. strong support for this vitally important part of southeastern Pennsylvanias transportation network. I want to again thank the chairman and ranking member for their excellent work. I- yield the floor and I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1579,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090079927,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I can tell the number of projects. and I am going to. We have. over the past. probably 10. 20 years. so studied this bridge. so evaluated this Si1632 bridge. that the people in south central are asking. Whats wrong? Why cant we get the bridge moving? We had the Point MacKenzie Area Which Merits Special Attention Plan in 1993. the Point MacKenzie Port Master Plan in 1998. the Regional Port of Anchorage Master Plan in 1999. the Anchorage 2020 Plan in 2001. the Anchorage Metropolitan Area Transportation Solutions Freight Mobility Study in 2001. the Matanuska Susitna Borough Economic Development Plan in 2002. the Anchorage Metropolitan Area Transportation Solutions Long Range Transportation Plan Amendment in 2002. the Regional Transportation Planning Organization Resolution Supporting the Knik Arm Crossing as a Regional Transportation Priority Project in 2003. the MatanuskaSusitna Borough Assembly Resolution Adopting the Knik Arm Crossing as the Number One Regional Transportation Priority. 2003. and then the MatanuskaSusitna Borough Rail Corridor Study. June 2003. And there have been more updates since then. This is something we have been working on for a long time. To suggest this is pork. this is fluff. this is servicing 12 families or 50 homes. we need to have everyone look at the factories and understand that Alaska will never achieve its full potential as a State unless we have access. Taking away these two projects from the State of Alaska and saying this is what we are going to do to help with the reconstruction efforts in the gulf. to single out one State. we start taking it very personally. If the suggestion were made to our colleagues that everybody gives a little bit. everybody gives a little bit on your transportation projects. that is okay. As one of the 50 States. we can deal with that. ","speaker_name":"LISA MURKOWSKI","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6736,"word_count":302}
{"speech_id":1090079928,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I find myself in- a strange position. as I indicated to the Senator from Oklahoma. Earlier today.. I indicated to the Senator that I would suggest a series of seconddegree amendments. I had under consideration seconddegree amendments. It is my understanding now the amendment of the Senator from Oklahoma is filed as a - seconddegree amendment to the Bingaman amendment. am I correct?","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":384,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090079995,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that Senator STEVENS now be recognized to offer a firstdegree amendmeilt which i relevant to the Coburn amendment No. 2165. provided further. that the Coburn amendment No. 2165 be further modified to be drafted as a firstdegree amendment. I further ask. consent that there be 5 minutes equally divided in the usual form. and that following that time. the Senate proceed to a votein relation to the Coburn amendment No. 2165. to be followed by a vote in relation to the Stevens amendment. provided. that no seconddegree amendments be in order to either amendment. prior to the votes. I finally ask unanimous consent that if either of the amendments does not achieve 60 votes in the affirmative. that amendment be automatically withdrawn. provided further. that following these votes. the Bingaman amendment No. 2065 be agreed to.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":867,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090080059,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we are going to try to resolve these amendments as quickly as possible. I know everyone wants to get out of here. I suggest that perhaps Senator LANDRIEU can address her amendments very quickly. I am going to talk with Senator LEAHY and Senator COLEMAN. and see if we can resolve those. I yield the floor:","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":320,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090080070,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The question is whetherI know the chairman wants to make this happenif we could. try to break this out and pass it separately. pass it in the House. and get this immediate assistance into the hands of the small businesses. It would make an enormous difference. obviously.","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":271,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090080112,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"By enacting legislation to improve the IRSs tax collection efforts and placing those efforts on a sound commercial footing by outsourcing or privatizing the initiative. Congress certainly did not intend to curtail the national commitment to creating meaningful job opportunities for. disabled veterans and other persons with disabilities. -Indeed. the contracts which the IRS will soon execute with private sector debt collection companies provide a unique opportunity for the Federal Government to stimulate creation of well paying jobs for disabled veterans and other persons with disabilities. To realize this opportunity. however. .Congress must act to assure that existing Federal employment preferences for disabled veterans and Federal policies promoting opportunities for other disabled persons are carried forward as a part of the IRSs contracting criteria. Thelanguage in the proposed amendment would have established a preference under the debt collection contracting program for contractors who meet certain threshold criteria relating to employment of disabled veterans. and other disabled persons. Furthermore. the amendment would have required that at least a specified percentage of the individuals employed by the contractor to provide debt collection services under the Contract with the IRS qualify as disabled veterans or disabled persons. Some have expressed concern over this proposed amendment because they believe this could possibly derail the selection process currently underway. It is not my intention to stall this process. but rather to make it better. As such. I have chosen not to offertthe language at this time. But it is my intention to find the appropriate legislative vehicle for language mandating the hiring of persons with disabilities prospectively. ","speaker_name":"BEN NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3361,"word_count":262}
{"speech_id":1090080114,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. -President. I to lack of resources. This issue is one rise to engage in a colloquy with the of great importance to the citizens of chairman and ranking member of the New Mexico. TransportationHUD . Appropriations The District Courts along the United Subcommittee. There has already been StatesMexico border face particularly pressing needs as they must deal with many immigration issues in addition to the typical cases filed in federal court. For example. for the 12month period ending September 30. 2004. 364 felony cases per judge were filed in the District of New Mexico. compared to the national average of 88 cases per judge. The Las Cruces. NM division. which deals with a significant number of Spanish speakers. currently has only one staff interpreter to support five judges and magistrates. District judges from across the state travel -to Las Cruces weekly to help manage the overcrowded docket in the southern part of the State. so they need additional travel funds. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1471,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090080116,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I agree with the distinguished Senator from Missouri and request that the needs of the U.S. Court for the District of New Mexico be considered by the Administrative Office of the Courts. I have also been made aware of these concerns earlier in the year by the other Senator from New Mexico. Mr. BINGAMAN.","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":304,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090080123,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Our current economy is moving through a period of great uncertainty. It would be easy to blame this on a particularly bad business cyclea business cycle that will eventually correct itself. But. to do so would require us to overlook a very .real threat to our economy and our way of life. That threat is the lack of a level playing field for American businesses and workeys in the global marketplace. As my colleagues know. China currently exports to the United States some $160 billion more than it takes in. A significant portion of this deficit is driven by consumer demand here in the United States. but a shockingly large portion of it is due to illegal trade practices. namely currency manipulation. counterfeiting and the theft of intellectual property. Since 1995 China has pegged its currency and has not allowed it to \"float.\" The impact of this illegal action is clear. It gives a distinct advantage to Chinese companies that export into the United States and diminishes our ability to export to the Chinese markettherefore. China -is effectively giving its exportersan exchange rate subsidy. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8825,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090080124,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. as this bill now moves to conference with the House. I strongly urge our Senate conferees to reject an unfortunate amendment adopted by the House prohibiting the allocation of any funds for the District of Columbia to enforce its firearms registration law and its requirement for DC residents to keep their firearms unloaded and disassembled. or bound by a trigger lock. In effect. the House amendment would repeal the DC Governments longstanding ban on firearms and would be a disastrous blow to gun safety in the District. For almost three decades. DCs ban on handguns and assault weapons bans have helped reduce the risk of deadly handgun violence. City residents and public officials overwhelmingly support the ban. and the courts have upheld it. Representative ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON. Mayor Anthony Williams. and Police Chief Charles Ramsey all Strongly oppose the House amendment. Mayor Williams has called this effort to repeal the citys gun ban \"a slap in the face.\" Chief Ramsey has said that a repeal of DCs gun ban would have a \"scary\" impact. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3023,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090080130,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I offered a bipar- diminished by an estimated $1.75 biltisan amendment with more than 20 co- lion in 1999. I am concerned about the sponsors to.fully fund the LIHEAP pro- aggressive marketing of RALs in lowgram at $5.1 billion. The amendment income neighborhoods where EITC rehad support from across the country. It cipients often live. These l6ans take was endorsed by community groups. money away from the daytoday needs Governors. and national organizations. of lowerincome families. such as the AARP. which knows rising RALs carry little risk because the energy prices are especially tough on Debt Indicator program informs the seniors living on a fixed income. And lender whether or not an applicant the amount of funding we are seeking owes Federal. State taxes. child supis equal to the amount authorized in poft. student loans. or other governthe Energy- bill the . President has ment obligations. This service assists signed into law. That amendment got the tax preparer in ascertaining- appli50 votes. enough to win. but in the end cant ability to obtain their full refund. it was defeated on procedural grounds. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5589,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090080134,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If we fail to honor commitment now and only appropriatepartial funding. we may jeopardize the ability of the States to implement these historic and comprehensive election reforms. We will also miss an opportunity to ensure the integrity and security of Federal elections and the confidence of the American people in the final results of those elections. While I will not offer an amendment today to provide for this additional funding. I am serving notice that as the States proceed to complete implementation of the HAVA requirements. I will continue to monitor this situation and as the needs of the States become more clear. I will come back to my colleagues for prompt action to ensure that the States do not face an unfunded mandate.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":738,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090080147,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Peter Rogoff. Kate Hallahan. Diana Hamilton. Bill Simpson. Meaghan McCarthy. as well as my personal staff. especially Casey Sixkiller. I also want to thank all of the floor staff who have been diligent in working with us as we have moved this bill through and again thanks to my colleague from Missouri for his tiemendous work on this bill.","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":901,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090080175,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"State. or tribal SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. agency\". This Act may be cited as the \"Keep the (5) in paragraph (14) (as redesignatedby . Promise of Medicare Act of 2006\". paragraph (2)). by inserting \"(including a SEC. 2. STABILIZATION OF MEDICARE PART B tribal law enforcement agency operating PREMIUM. pursuant to a grant. contract. or compact Section 1839(a)(3) of the Social Security under the Indian SelfDetermination and Act (42 U.S.C. 1395r(a)(3)) is amended by add- Education Assistance Act (25 -U.S.C. 450 et )t seq.))\" aftpr \"State law enforcement agency\". (6) in paragraph (17). by striking \"and\" at the end. (7) in paragraph (18). by striking the period at the end and inserting \". and\". and (8) by adding at the end the following: \"(19) telemedicine means a telecommunications link to an end user through the use of eligible equipment that electronically links health professionals or patients and health professionals at separate sites in order to exchange health care information in audio. video. graphic. or other format for the purpose of providing improved health care diagnosig and treatment.\".","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6080,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090080183,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce. Science. and Transportation be authorized to meet on Thursday. October 20. 2005. at 2 p.m.. on pending Committee business. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens. RAlaska. and CoChairman Daniel Inouye. DHawaii. have rescheduled this weeks Full Committee markup for Thursday. October 20. 2005 at 2 p.m.. previously scheduled for Wednesday. October 19. 2005. at 2:30 p.m. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":812,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090080209,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I join my colleagues in the introduction of a bill to continue our efforts to provide relief for the school children whose lives have been uprooted by Hurricane Katrina and for the all of the schools that were affected by the stormthose along the gulf coast and those who have generously taken in displaced students across the country. I would first like to thank my colleagues. Senator ALEXANDER. Senator KENNEDY. and Senator DODD. who have joined me today to explain our intent in crafting this legislation. I am pleased that we were able to work together to develop and introduce this bipartisan compromise. The bill provides relief for displaced students in a time of crisis. without opening political or ideological battles.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":744,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090080218,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I cannot underscore enough what my colleagues have already statedthat this is a onetime. emergency aid program. All of the authors of the bill have agreed that next school year. in terms of assistance to nonpublic schools. we will go back to the way things are done today. We are reaching out to all of the students affected by Katrina here. no matter. what type of school they attend. because it makes sense under these extraordinary conditions. because it gets kids back on their feet as quickly as possible. In no way is this bill meant to undermine or amend current law or set any type of precedent for future legislation.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":641,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090080221,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would just like to echo the sentiments of the senior Senator from Connecticut. We have all agreed and have explicitly stated in the bill. that the level and type of assistance we are providing to both public and nonpublic schools is being authorized solely because of the unprecedented nature of the crisis. the massive dislocation of students. and the short duration of the assistance.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":403,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090080233,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"My top concern was to make sure that all the displaced students get back into school so that they can continue their education. Returning to school gives children a sense of routine that is important in assuring them that things will return to normal. School provides them with. access to a support system of friends and teachers. which is invaluable as they and their families continue to. come to grips with the aftereffects of the storm.. With this bill we have attempted to address the needs that have been identified by the impacted communities directly affected by the storm as well as by those communities across the country that received the displaced students. The bill provides support for all displaced students. ensures accountability. and is fiscally responsible. In addition to the support for displaced students in.both public and nonpublic schools. the bill includes provisions for supplemental services. restart services for schools in the most heavily impacted states. teacher and paraprofessional reciprocity. and assistance for homeless youth and displaced adolescent students. This bill is a bipartisan product that reflects what we heard from over 100 representatives of the education community and what we saw firsthand in the areas devastated by the storm. This is a daunting task as we have limited resources. but are faced with an almost unlimited need. We must focus our efforts on ensuring that the educational needs of the children affected by this unprecedented emergency are addressed. I believe that this legislation achieves that goal.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2773,"word_count":248}
{"speech_id":1090080236,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I cannot underscore this enonghthe provisions in this bill are a departure from Federal law but they are a temporary departure in light of extraordinary events. Next school year. in terms of assistance to nonpublic schools. we will go back to the ways things are. We are reaching out to all students here. today. because it makes sense. because it gets kids back on their feet as quickly as possible. We are not changing the generic laws. As we explicitly state in the bill. the level of assistance we are providing to nonpublic schools is being authorized solely because of the unpriecedented nature of the crisis. the massive dislocation of students. and the short duration of the assistance.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2684,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090080344,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":14,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is discouraging when you want to help and yet cant find the avenue to help. September 2. Friday: There is a light in the tunnel. Today we were contacted by Utah Transportation Management to see if we had any coaches and drivers that could go help in evacuation of New Orleans. Finally a way to head to New Orleans and provide the assistance that we have wanted to do since a hurricane hit last Monday. Since this help will fall under FEMA we will be able to use four drivers and two motorcoaches to drive straight through to New Orleans. After finding three other drivers who were willing to help in this effort I head out to New Orleans. We pack extra supplies in the coaches along with water and food for ourselves. We also take along extra paper towels and toilet paper. About 9:00 p.m. we head south from WaterlooThat is Waterloo. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10527,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090080346,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Pastor John Fuller. from the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Oceans Springs. MS. It says: Dear Pastor: I have never had the privilege of meeting youbut I know you because I have experienced the heart of your people. Mark Sherwood. Mike and Denise Goyen. Dalen Grimm. indeed the entire crew from Prairie Lakes Church manifested the heart of Mary. the hands of Martha. the hope of Jesus. My wife and I count our Iowa volunteers as among the best of the best. They worked hard. they were sensitive to the peoples broken hearts. and they were a blessing to our church. especially to my family and me. It is my desire to come to Iowa. to thank you and your people for the job well done. Mike Barnett. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1600,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090080402,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the President for recognizing me. I would like to follow on the remarks made by the Democratic leader of the Senate. The American people we represent expect us on the floor of the Senate to truly represent them and their real concernsthe needs of their families. the needs of their communities. the needs of businesses and farmers. We are elected to speak for them and to come together in common purpose on a bipartisan basis and deal with the real issues Americans face. I would certainly acknowledge that the pending appropriations bill for Labor. Health and Human Services. which includes education as well. is one of the most important appropriations bills that addresses those needs. In years gone by. there was a Congressman from Kentucky named Bill Natcher who was the chairman of the subcommittee that handles this bill. He always called this bill on the House floor the \"peoples appropriations bill.\" I think it was aptly named because it meant so much. So as we visit this bill this week. it is time well spent. time to reflect on what we can do to help education in America. time to reflect on what we can do in the area of health care for America. medical research for America. It is time to look at some of the most basic programs we count on. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4675,"word_count":226}
{"speech_id":1090080411,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I know that while he has said some good things about my chairmanship. he prefers to be chairman. I do not know why. but he has maintained that position. In the public interest. when the chairmanship is changed. we use the expression \"a seamless exchange of the gavel.\" Now I do not hand him the gavel. but I hand him the floor seamlessly.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1382,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090080418,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. if the distinguished chairman will yield to allow me to respond to that. I say to my friend from Pennsylvania that I think it may be a bit early. I think there are Senators still coming back from their travels in their home States. We want to give them time to get back here.","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":290,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090080420,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Someone told me there was a vote on a couple of judges at 5:30. I think after that we have to take a look and see how many amendments there are. if I am not mistaken. I thought the chairman was going to offer a cloture motion tomorrow. If we have third reading. the chairman cant file a cloture motion.","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":302,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090080422,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There may be a point in time when I would agree with the chairman on this. It is Monday. and I know people are working diligently in their States. and they are headed back. There may be a couple of amendments that Members want to offer. I think perhaps 4:15 might be a little early for third reading. But if the chairman will yield further. I believe the chairman is right. It is Monday. We are in business. Senator FRIST. the majority leader. said that we are going to be doing business today. If Members have amendments. they should come over and offer them. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":702,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090080427,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this is an amendment which reduces the Federal administrative costs for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services by $15 million. It is a very small reduction which will still leave in that account some $640 million. an increase of $57.570.000 over last year. The reason for this amendment. which is more in the nature of a technical amendment. is it brings this bill in conformity with the budget resolution. We anticipate savings of $15 million from a certain item in the budget. We have found that the savings noted by Finance for fiscal year 2006 amounts to only $90 million. We are $15 million short. With the astute reading of the staff. this was noted. and we would be subject to a point of order if we were out of kilter. So we are offering this amendment. I believe this would be the basis for at least one of the 5:30 votes this afternoon. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1085,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090080449,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I ask the Senator if he has received the latest numbers from the Department of Labor about the number of Americans who have actually lost their jobs because of Katrina and Rita. We know it was upwards of 450.000 people who have lost their jobs because of the hurricane. Does the Senator know that his remarks are even more compelling based on the numbers of people who must be looking for work. have some skills to offer. and yet under the system the Senator has described they are finding it difficult to work in their own city or parish with their own Federal Government contracts? Did the Senator know that?","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":610,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090080450,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We want those workers to be paid good wages. DavisBacon ought to be restored. The President ought to stand up today and say: I made a mistake by repealing DavisBacon. This Government has a responsibility to pay prevailing wages so we have good wages that pay well and decent jobs for those folks. I again thank the Senator from Louisiana. I know she wants to make some comments about this as well. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1380,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090080492,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We must work to ensure that it does not. Essential election infrastructure will need to be restored. And those who had to be evacuated as a result of Hurricane Katrina and who continue to be displaced from their homes must be afforded the full opportunity to participate in the democratic process in their home communities. I again want to thank my friend Senator DODD for his leadership on the issue of election reform and look forward to continuing to work with him on this important matter.","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4535,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090080557,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Apparently it was not. The White House and the Pentagon. convinced that no country. particularly a tiny impoverished land of rice - farmers. could withstand the military might of the United States. .never bothered to study and understand the history or culture of Vietnam. and they made tragic miscalculations. They lacked the most basic knowledge of the motivation and the capabilities and resolve of the people they were fighting. At the start of the Iraq war. those who drew some analogies to Vietnam were ridiculed by the Pentagon and the White House. Iraq is not a Vietnam. they insisted. Our troops would be greeted as liberators. Troop strength was not a concern. Our mission would be quickly accomplished. Democracy would spread throughout the Middle East. Freedom was on the march. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11931,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090080584,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the amendment offered by the Senator from Illinois is a good amendment. What has happened here is that the Housepassed version of the bill requires the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services to remove Social Security numbers immediately in order to prevent identity theft. When the Senator from Illinois outlines the problems on identity theft. he is exactly right. The Judiciary Committee. on which both Senator DURBIN and I sit. has legislation pending now to deal with identity theft in a comprehensive way. But the substance of what Senator DURBIN seeks is very sound. CMS has advised that it is impossible to administer the Housepassed amendment in its present form. which would require immediate removal. The amendment offered by the Senator from Illinois is a compromise to achieve greater protection against identity theft. It essentially calls for a study to give us an opportunity to work it out in a way that CMS can handle. I think the amendment is a good one. and it is agreeable to this side of the aisle as well. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1917,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090080605,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We may consume all the time until 12:30. but there is a possibility that we may not. So if any other Senator has an amendment to offer. I urge that Senator to come to the floor at this time so that we can utilize all of the floor time for debate on this important bill. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":288,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090080620,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is offset so it is not subject to a point of order. This bill is about setting priorities. I respect the challenges the chairman and the members of the subcommittee have to deal with in setting priorities. It is never easy. I provide a fractional acrosstheboard reduction to support this additional $200 million. but I am -certainly willing to work with the .chairman and members of the subcommittee to find another appropriate offset. I hope he and the Members of the Senate will support my amendment. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JOHN SUNUNU","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1397,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090080647,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is a carefully crafted bill. Much as I would like to increase the Pell grants. there simply are not the funds to do so. I am -constrained to ask my colleagues to support the point of order.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":876,"word_count":38}
{"speech_id":1090080677,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I believe our amendment reflects a realistic appraisal of the need for more assistance in this program. Let me briefly describe the situation that we are facing in my State of Maine. a State where snow is predicted for later today. While the official start of winter is still 2 months away. temperatures have already fallen below freezing in much of Maine. In Maine. 78 percent of all households use home heating oil to heat their homes. Currently. the cost of home heating oil is approximately $2.50 per- gallon. although I recently paid 20 cents more per gallon to fill my tank. That price. the $2.50 price. is some 60 cents above last years already high prices. These high prices greatly increase the need for assistance and at least 3.000 additional Mainers are expected to apply for LHEAP assistance this year. With more people in need of help. the benefit is expected to fall by roughly 10 percent. to about $440 per qualifying household. Unfortunately. at todays high prices. $440 is only enough to purchase approximately 173 gallons of oil. That is far below last years equivalent benefit of 251. gallons and not nearly enough.. not even close. to what will be needed by these families to get through Maines winter. ","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4272,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090080699,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I know we are going to pause at 3:40 p.m. My friend and colleague from New Jersey has an important statement. but he is letting me proceed. Winter is rapidly closing in on States across America. Yet even- after Hurricane Katrina shocked the Nation about the desperate plight of the poor. the administration and the Republican Congress continue to ignore our neediest citizens. According to the Energy Information Administration. home heating bills will soar this winter. Households heating primarily with natural gas will pay an average of $350 more this winter for heatan increase of an incredible 48 percent over last year. Those relying primarily on oil for heat will pay $378 morean increase of 32 percent. The people most in need of help on this issue are the 37 million Americans living in poverty todayincluding 13 million children. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6903,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090080706,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I know the chairman is eager to make further progress on the underlying bill. and -therefore we will be brief. A number of Senators have come to the floor over the course of today to express their thoughts or feelings or emotions or sympathies for the families of the over 2.000 military dead in Operation Iraqi Freedom. At this point. I ask the Senate now proceed to a moment of silence in honor of our fallen soldiers.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":435,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090080711,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this is a solemn occasion. to have the Senate stand in silence in respect for the sacrifices made by the fighting men and women of this country. Our thoughts go out. not only to the lives of these individuals but to their families. This is only a small token of what we can do to recognize the sacrifices they have made. leaving behind their sons and daughters. the husbands and wives and friends. We all haye been.touched by the deaths of these 2.000 in one way or the other. It is my prayer that the sacrifices made will prove to have been warranted. I am grateful to my colleagues for. being here today on both sides of the aisle. and I am grateful to Senator FRIST who has joined in this moment of silence. It is. something that I will remember. and I hope we all do.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":786,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090080714,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He was a member of the Maryland National Guards 243rd Engineer Company. in Baltimore. Sergeant Conner was one of three Army National Guardsmen killed October 14 in an accident northwest of Baghdad. A tractor trailer struck their humvee. setting it on fire and detonating ammunition aboard. Sergeant Conner was a lieutenant in Baltimore Fire Department. having joined in 1993. He had served in the Maryland National Guard since June 1989. Sergeant Conner leaves behind three daughters. ages 10. 15. and 21. and his beloved 3yearold grandson. He is survived. by his mother Hortense Connor. his brother Paul Edwards. and sister Cherice Conner Davis. He is also mourned by his brothers and sisters in the Baltimore Fire Department.- One family friend said of Sergeant Conner: \"Brian was not only a great man who accomplished many of his dreamshe was someone loved and cared for. His values will live on.\" May God bless Brian Conner. SPC Samuel M. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA MIKULSKI","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3168,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090080741,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I spent much of my time working on the investigation of the horrific murders involving many young people at Columbine High School. which remains today the. bloodiest school shooting in American history.. As we worked to learn the lessons from that terrible tragedy in Colorado. we also attempted to implement programs in our schools to create safer schools and safer school communities. As I went through the process of assembling information about how we create the safest school environments possible. it became obvious to me that though we spend literally hundreds of millions of dollars on programs intended to deal with the issue of youth violerice prevention. we do not know whether many of those programs work. Indeed. when we look at the facts and we look at what the science tells us. many of those programs actually .harm our children more than they actually help our children. So it is important we measure the effectiveness of these programs. This amendment will ask the Department of Education to do exactly that. I believe our violence prevention programs. should actually work and that we should be able to measure them with the results we intend them to have. We owe it to the next generation to ensure that these programs are as effective as possible in preventing youth violence. This amendment will do this by providing an assessment of the programs. Mr. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2137,"word_count":231}
{"speech_id":1090080751,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Servicelearning connects teaching in the classroom with communities. Nearly 1 million students participated in Learn and Serve programs last year. The resources marshaled by these service programsstudents. elders. and energized and committed people--can help unlock the door to rural development in America. It is my hope that the corporation will come up with new and innovative strategies for increasing rural participation in national service programs. This amendment will not cost additional money and has the .potential to benefit rural communities throughout the Nation. We owe it to our rural communities to make sure our national programs are serving them. We must not allow rural America to be left behind by these very important national service programs. Mr. President. amendment No. 2225 would direct the Corporation of National and Community Service. CNCS. to conduct an evaluation of the presence of their programs in rural America. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3312,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090080753,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. before the amendment is adopted. I would like to have an opportunity to speak on this side of the aisle. This amendment would use a portion of the funds for the Corporation for National and Community Service to do a study of national service programs in rural areas. I think. again. this is a good idea which the Senator from Colorado is offering. Rural areas are too often underserved and underfocused. Pennsylvania has more people living in rural areas than any other State in the Union. It might be surprising. but we do. I think it is a good amendment. and I will now defer to the -Senator from Colorado for urging its adoption.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":647,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090080782,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As a result of colder temperatures and rising energy prices. the Department of Energys Energy Information Administration is predicting that families will be faced with significantly higher heating costs than last year. Those families whose homes are heated primarily by natural gas .will pay about $350 more this winter.. families in homes heated primarily by propane will pay an average of $325 more. and families in homes heated primarily by heating oil will pay. on average. as much as $378 more than last year. With the expected increase in heating costs. there will be an increased demand for LIHEAP assistance. Already this year. 100.000 Illinois households have applied for help with their heating bills for the coming winter. a higher than average number for this point in the year. The $2.92 billion in emergency funding proposed in this amendment will supplement the $2.18 billion already contained in the LaborHHS appropriations bill to fully -fund LIHEAP at a total of $5.1 billion. Livable shelter is a basic human necessity. Without authorizing these emergency funds: we put the elderly. the disabled and the lowincome families that depend on this aid at risk. If we have learned anything from the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina. it is that we cannot afford to shortchange programs that provide assistance for the most vulnerable in our society. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important amendment.","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2351,"word_count":232}
{"speech_id":1090080817,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I dont know the voracity of all of that. All I am reporting is what I was told by someone in that unit. That is. perhaps. for another discussion. I intend to visit about this a bit more fully tomorrow. The first question I have is not just with respect to Judith Miller. but generally under what conditions were reporters approved to be embedded with military units and given opportunity to see secret or top secret material? Did they have security clearances or not? The Pentagon says not. This reporter said she did. If they had clearances. what kinds of clearances were they? The Pentagon said they have nondisclosure forms. How can you give a nondisclosure form to a reporter and then show them secret or top secret material? Take a look at the law. which I will read tomorrow in the Senate. That is not what is allowed. The classification of material that is secret or top secret dealing with intelligence or military operations is not a classification that is done lightly. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9166,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090080837,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I believe that our Governments first duty is to defend its citizens. in all circumstances. from. threats to them at home. The Local Law EnforQement Enhancement Act is a major step forward in achieving that goal. I believe that by passing this legislation and changing current law. we can change hearts and minds as well.","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1035,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090080838,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"President. we need to do much more. to do it much fasterand we need the administration to start telling us some answers: How much money will we actually spend? And where will it come from?Does the administration plan to shift funds from existing accounts for Pakistan. in which case the Presidents pledge would look like a baitandswitch? Would the funds come from existing disaster accounts. in which case every dollar sent to Kashmir would potentially be a dollar taken from Darfur. Guatemala. or Niger? With so many pressing needs here in the United States. some may ask why send any aid overseas. Lets take care of our own people. somemay say. leave other nations to take care of themselves. But this is a false choice. We can take care of our own people and fulfill our moral duty to our fellow human beings elsewhere in the world. When we were struck by the tragedy of Katrina. 90 nations offered us assistanceincluding a pledge of $1 million from Pakistan. Aiding the victims of the Kashmiri earthquake is the right thing to do. and it is also in our vital national interest. As we have seen in the aftermath of the Asian tsunami this year. disaster relief is one of the most effectiveand costeffectivetools in our diplomatic or political arsenal. Other nations recognize the twinned moral and political need for generous humanitarian response. Some 30 countries have sent relief aid to Pakistan. countries including- Russia. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12251,"word_count":243}
{"speech_id":1090080841,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on October\" 6. 2005. I introduced S. 1832. the \"Fort Reno Mineral Leasing Act\". At that time I introduced letters of support for this legislation. Since then I have received a letter from Mrs. Donna Von Tungeln that I would like to submit for the RECORD. Mrs. Von Tungeln and her late husband Henry Jo have been active supporters of preserving the historical","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":373,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090080842,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Paul knew that it is important to address the economic barriers that trap women in violent homes or relationships. That is why h4 and I worked together to introduce bills to provide economic protections for victims. I am proud to carry on the legacy of Paul and Sheila Wellstone.\" and in their honor I have introduced the Security and Financial .Empowerment. SAFE Act. which will protect and even save the lives of victims of domestic or sexual violence and their families. We are all poorer for the loss of Paul Wellstone. his wife Sheila. his daughter Marcia. the members of his staff. and the pilots who were taken from us on this day 3 years ago. But I continue to hope that each one of us who are here will take on part of Pauls legacyfor example. the spirit to speak out for the underprivileged or for the woman on welfare because of domestic violence who is trying to get back on her feet. If we can remember to fight for all Americans no matter what challenges they face. and do so with respect and dignity. then Pauls legacy will live on in the Senate. as it lives -on in our hearts and minds. In the name of Paul and Sheila Wellstone. I pledge to carry on their legacy throughout my time in the Senate.","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2786,"word_count":225}
{"speech_id":1090080877,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Supreme Court the equal protection of the laws (352 U.S. ruling prohibiting bus segregation.. 903). mass demonstrations throughout the - Whereas in 1957. Rosa Parks moved to DeSouth ensued. and Martin Luther King. troit. Michigan. Jr. becoming a national civil rights Whereas in 1965. Representative John Conleader. yers hired Rosa Parks as a member of his Mrs. Parks refusal to give up her staff. where she worked in various adminisseat on December 1. 1955. was a simple trative jobs for 23 years and retired in 1988 at but dangerous action that highlighted age 75.. the inequalities faced by millions of Whereas Rosa Parks continued her civil Americans. living under segregation. rights work by starting the Rosa and Ray.Former U.S. poet laureate. Rita Dove. mond Parks Institute for Self Development wrote. \"How she sat there. the time in 1987. a nonprofit organization that motivates young people to reach their highest poright inside a place so wrong it was tential. ready.\" America was ready for change Whereas. the Rosa and Raymond Parks Inand that change continues today. stitute for Self Development offers eduAs the world grieves. let us remem- cational programs for young people. includber her courage and work to ensure ing two signature programs: first. Pathways that her legacy continues. to Freedom. a 21day program that intro-","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2721,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090080880,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask corporations facing..fines of up to $100 unanimous consent that the . Senatecoprtnsfigneofuto$0 unanimousoconsentmthattthe.nSenate million and individuals subject to jail proceed to the inmediate consider- terms of up to 10 years for each offense. ation of Calendar No. 250. T. 443. Indeed. last year we passed legislation Tlerkwillepthe N O ie. T raising criminal penalties to these new clerk will report the bill by title. levels. Yet. despite the damage these","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":483,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090080887,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. tomorrow the Senate will resume consideration of that LaborHS appropriations bill. Just a few moments ago I filed cloture on that bill. Senators who are serious about offering germane amendments should work with the bill managers to schedule floor consideration just as quickly as possible. We are on track. the track that we set out last week. to finish the bill this week. I encourage Senators to vote for cloture in order to speed passage of this. the very last. the final appropriations bill for this year.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":525,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090080906,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Rosa Parks was a real. genuine hero. the kind of American our Nation has always produced when tough times required it. Today I am sure she is hearing the words. well done. good and faithful servant.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1099,"word_count":36}
{"speech_id":1090080909,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"A bordet agent at a port of entry in south Texas just looks into the vehicle and may or may not examine papers. and waves the passengers in. We must require the machinereadable bar code passports to enter the United States. It will add no measurable amount of time. We take the time to record letters and packages. now we must start recording foreign citizens who enter the United States. It is an issue of our national security.","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1168,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090080911,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the job loss in my State of Ohio continues. yet this Congress does nothing. no manufacturing policy. no industrial policy. bad trade policies. passing the Central American Free Trade Agreement in the middle of the night. a tax policy that benefits and gives incentives for corporations to outsource manufacturing jobs to China and New Mexico and to Central America. into other parts of the world. but does nothing to assist small manufacturers. Mr. Speaker. this countrys economic. leaders and political leaders are taking this country in the wrong direction. Itis time we passed better trade policy. It is time we passed a manufacturing policy. It is time we assisted Americas and Ohios small manufacturers. because they create the jobs and create the middle class in this country.","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":795,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090080915,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 220) recognizing Americas Blood Centers and its member organizations for their commitment to providing over half the Nation with a safe and adequate volunteer * donor blood supply. and for other purposes. as amended.","speaker_name":"CHARLES BASS","chamber":"H","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":294,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090080932,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"While our government needs to do much more to improve its preparedness and response. we will not allow the generous and caring spirit of the American public to be victimized during a national emergency. I urge my colleagues to vote in support of this bill. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JANICE SCHAKOWSKY","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2540,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090080946,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"What Red Ribbon Week does is recognize nationally the importance of keeping our youth off of drugs. and I am particularly pleased that we are commemorating this year and through this resolution Special Agent Enrique \"Kiki\" Camarena. Mr. Speaker. this is a great resolution. I urge Congress to pass it.","speaker_name":"CHARLES BASS","chamber":"H","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1227,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090080951,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I believe emphasis on prevention. education and treatment amalgamated in Red Ribbon Week has the ability to make a substantial impact in the antidrug movement. In fact. a recent study has shown that each dollar invested in prevention totals a savings of 10 dollars in treatment. For this reason. we should continue to push forward in this battle and never give up on the hope that one day. we can win this war. That is why I urge my colleagues to support H. Res. 485. I applaud my dear friend. Representative MARK SOUDER. Chairman of the Government Reform Criminal Justice. Drug Policy and Human Resources Subcommittee. of which I am the Ranking Member for sponsoring this resolution. It is my hope that increased awareness of Red Ribbon Week will aid our nation in achieving a drugfree America. ","speaker_name":"ELIJAH CUMMINGS","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4340,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090080960,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance .of my time.","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1972,"word_count":10}
{"speech_id":1090080962,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"You get to meet the most amazing people. In my class. we had the police captain from Oakland. California. we had an Indian chief from Oklahoma. we had a law professor from Utah. we had a Navy captain from the Navy. an Air Force officer from the Air Force. a tank commander. an infantry battalion commander from the Army. and you had somebody like me. JOE BARTON. from Crockett. Texas. plant manager. There have been. as I said. over 600 Americans serve in the program. Some of them are names that we now know as household words. Colin Powell. who was Secretary of State and Chairman of the JointChiefs. was a White House Fellow. Elaine Chao. Secretary of the Department of Labor. is a former White House Fellow. ","speaker_name":"JOE BARTON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5577,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090081036,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I regret that I missed three votes on October 25. 2005. Had I been present I would have voted \"yes\" on H.R. 3675 (the American Spirit Fraud Prevention Act). H. Con. Res. 269 (Recognizing the 40th anniversary of the White House Fellows Program) and H.R. 3256 (the Congressman James Grove Fulton Memorial Post Office Designation Act).","speaker_name":"ROBERT ANDREWS","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":345,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090081039,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Pentagon announced today that 2.000 American servicemen and women have been killed in Iraq. On this qame day. NOT VOTINg--36 Andrews Boswell Brady (TX) Brown. Corrine BrownWaite. Ginny Carson DiazBalart. L. DiasBalart. M. Edwards Fattah Foley Ford Gingrey Gutierrez Higgins Hulshof JacksonLee (TX) Keller Maloney Manzullo Meek (FL) Miller (FL) Murtha Payne Iraqi officials announced that Iraqs constitution was approved with nearly 80 percent of the vote. ","speaker_name":"MARTIN MEEHAN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1158,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090081041,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the spokesperson for the Pentagon in Baghdad today indicated that anyone who even comments on the fact that 2.000 fighting men and women have died on behalf of the United States in Iraq. anyone who even comments on this. is undermining morale. should not even be allowed to make a comment unless they will be designated as having a political agenda. He went on to state that anyone commenting on the fact that 2.000 fighting men and women have died in Iraq in our name. that anyone who even comments on that at this stage is not entitled to regard themselves as being truly a patriotic American by implication. He went on to say that this does not even rise to the level of a story. Well. Mr. Speaker. I bet it was a story to the parents and loved ones of the fighting man who died No. 2.000. This is a benchmark. yes. a benchmark of the failure and our failure here in the Congress to. come to. grips with what the word \"sacrifice\" really means. We are not sacrificing in this country. ","speaker_name":"NEIL ABERCROMBIE","chamber":"H","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1204,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090081048,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Iraq and Afghanistan. to please remember the families who have lost loved ones in Afghanistan and Iraq.. and I close by asking God to please bless our men and women in uniform.","speaker_name":"WALTER JONES","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1642,"word_count":32}
{"speech_id":1090081071,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It currently provides health insurance to about 58 million people. including 28 million who are children. Medicaid helps 41 percent of people who live in poverty. many of whom work full time and still do not earn enough to rise out of poverty. Over 10 million Medicaid recipients are Latinos. and Medicaid covers more than one in three Latino children. Latinos have the highest uninsured rate in America. One out of every three Latinos. or 34 percent of those Latinos. are without any form of health insurance. and as a result. Latinos depend on Medicaid as their only means of health care access. By making preventative and primary care more readily available. and by protecting against and providing care for serious diseases. Medicaid has improved the health of millions of lowincome Latinos and their families. Despite Medicaids enormous importance in providing access to health care services for millions of Latinos. Medicaid remains under assault by the Republican Congress and its administration. ","speaker_name":"HILDA SOLIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4369,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090081081,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And you get absolutely nothing for interest on the national debt. It is money down the drain. You do not get the first rifle. You do not get the first schoolbook. You do not get any health care. You do not get anything for interest on the national debt.","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":253,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090081087,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would say -if you talk about student loans and helping student loans. if you cut back on the student loan program. somebody has. to pick up that weight. The students who are affected by this will be paying thousands of dollars. $5.000 and $6.000 more. for their college education than they would have had we not gonerafter the student. loan pro*gram to pay for the tax cuts.","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":389,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090081091,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Committee on Education and the Workforce has essentially three programs they can get the money from: student loans. school lunches. and. to a small extent. job training programs. That is about it. So when you have billions of dollars coming out of those programs. obviously the students who are borrowing money. the students who eat lunches at school and possibly job training. The job training money is so small that you could wipe the whole program out and still not come up to the billion of dollars you need to reconcile the instruction from the Committee on the Budget. Basically it is student loans and school lundhes. In order to fund tax cuts. in this case as we have shown primarily for the wealthy. and as you have indicated. had we done nothing with the budget. had we not passed the budget. had we not made any changes. just let the budget go on as it usually does without the changes. the bottom line would be over $100 billion better off if we had done nothing. Instead we have cut taxes. those well over $100 billion worth coming up next year. and to make up for some of it. we are going after student loans. school lunches. and other committees and child support payments. facilitating those. We are cutting back on those support services. cutting back on Medicaid and other necessary food stamps. The kinds of services that Katrina victims would actually need. that is what we are cutting back on to fund not the cost of Katrina. the cost of the tax cuts. because the cuts We are making have not even covered the tax cuts yet. So obviously we are hot doing anything in term of the ravages of the hurricanes.","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1628,"word_count":294}
{"speech_id":1090081093,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The bottom line is you get it from the students. They will be paying more. Thousands of dollars each on average for student loans. they will have to pay. It is the only way to get it. If. you cut the subsidy. somebodys got to pick it up. and it is the students. We also try to make up for a little bit of it by attacking pensions. those who have pensions in the Pension. Guaranty *Fund. come up with a little money by adding some fees on to that. But in terms of trying to meet the requirement. of the Committee on the Budget to try to get this thing closer in terms of deficit. student loans and school lunches. it just seems to be an inappropriate priority. and we can certainly do better than that.","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":701,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090081099,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And Republicans threatened to close down the government. In fact. they closed down the government. but President Clinton refused to sign those massive tax cuts We could not afford. Year by year he held that veto pen out to make sure that we did not do anything irresponsible. and we ran up those surpluses. The first thing this President did was sign those massive tax cuts that we could not afford. and we see what happened. I think it would be helpful if the gentleman would explain what PAYGO means to know how we could maintain that fiscal discipline.","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":555,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090081102,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. in 2001. 2002. PA YGO. the multiyear spending caps and the sequestration provision. all of the budget enforcement rules that we put in specially in 1991 that served us so well in the 1990s. were allowed to expire. Why? Because the 15AYGO rule would have impeded further tax cuts when we had still big deficits.","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":325,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090081113,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We are going to spend a lot of time. as the gentleman from Texas was saying. this week talking about what the steps are going to be that we. are going to take to provide tax relief. to provide the right foundation for reducing what the Federal Government spends. to be certain that the Federal Government is prioritizing that budget. The gentleman from Tex as has a great chart. tax relief versus the 5year Federal budget. and he is right on target with this.","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3542,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090081114,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. reclaiming my time. I certainly thank the gentlewoman for her observations. Again. it is so interesting. as Deihocrat after Democrat speaks out against all the evils of tax relief and how somehow tax relief is the center of all fiscal irresponsibility. what they do not point out is that we have passed a 5 year 13.9 trillion. trillion with a \"t.\" budget. $13.9 trillion of spending versus less than $150 billion of tax relief. So say. for example. that tax relief did absolutely no good to our economy. Let us just say we took that money and just put it in a hole and buried it. It is less than 1 percent of the budget. So when we think about all these massive tax increases that are going to be necessary to pay for all of this spending that the Democrats want. howis less than 1 percent of the Federal budget responsible for this? They are ignoring over 99 percent of the challenge. The challenge is on the spending side. And. by the way. Madam Speaker. we did not take this tax relief money. and put it in a hole. ","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2395,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090081118,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. reclaiming my time. again. I thank the gentlewoman for her leadership. and I thank her for her observations. Madam Speaker. we have now been joined by one of the great leaders on budget matters in this Congress. some.one who has. coauthored the Family Budget Protection Act. to try. to enforce 6ur budget. to try to bring some accountability into the government. to try to protect the family budget from the Federal budget. and I am very happy to yield to the gentleman from Indiana ..","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":500,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090081121,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Every year all the general managers would come into my office. and we would talk about the nrext years budget. In almost every case we would find ways to save over the last year in our spending budget. * I will have to say. Madam Speaker. if I would have that meeting with general managers. and I would ask them to find 2 of 1 percent savings next year. they would frankly laugh in my face. Thpy would be very relieved. because they would have expected to hear 10 percent. Every American business and family has found ways to find substantial savings in their budget when they are faced with budget challenges. The Federal Government should be no different. There is no reason that we cannot -find these savings. that we\" cannot act more responsibly on behalf of the American people and provide a good return and sound investment. for the American taxpayer. Saying we cannot do it is simply shirking our responsibilities and not wanting to do the hard work of management. We are elected to do oversight and be good stewards of the taxpayer dollars. Again. r thank the gentleman for his leadership.","speaker_name":"CHRIS CHOCOLA","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1971,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090081122,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman.s Now. Madam Speaker. I am very happy that we have been joined by one of our colleagues. who is a great leader in our Operation Offset. to come forward and bring to the American people ideas about how we can find waste. fraud and abuse and duplication and lower priority spending in the Federal Government in order to help pay to relieve human suffering along the gulf coast. I am happy to yield to my fellow Texan. the gentleman from Texas","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":462,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090081128,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The gentleman is correct. Because what happens is when we begin to think outside the box and be creative and innovative. what we actually do is we save the taxpayers money. but we also at the same time generate more program money for those people that. really need those benefits.","speaker_name":"RANDY NEUGEBAUER","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":280,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090081134,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I mean. too often we hear from those on the other side of the aisle that any time we try to restrain the growth of spending. that somehow we are hurting the poor. Well. I am here to tell you. Mr. Speaker. compassion for the poor is not.measured by the number of government checks you send out. it is measured by the number of jobs you create so that the American people can go out and re-. alize their American dream. * And- when we have had tax relief. not only. not only. Mr. Speaker. have we received greater tax revenues. the deficit has come down. but what we have also seen is millions and millions of Americans. 4 million new jobs created from tax relief. Now. Mr. Speaker. when we look at the Federal budget and we look at this spending. sometimes many good things come from it: Kevlar vests for our brave men and women fighting in the war on terror. student loans for many needy folks who otherwise might not have an opportunity to go to college. ","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6438,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090081136,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Before I yield to the gentleman. let me first give him a formal 30something welcome. Do not let the gray hair fool you. This guy is 391\/2. I would be happy to yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts .","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3302,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090081151,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if the gentleman would yield briefly. I just want to share a thirdparty validator that we have as we continue talking about welfare in the United States and what it is being spent on. This is by Cal Thomas. who writes a column. Cal Thomas. as most of you may know. is one of the conservative columnists in the country. In his column this week. he says. \"Seventytwo percent of farm subsidy money goes to 10 percent of recipients. the richest farmers. partnerships. corporations. estates and other entities.\" Cal Thomas. thirdparty validator says too much money going to the big farmers. and this is a big welfare State. What is Cal Thomas advice to the 30somethings and the House of Representatives? Cal Thomas says. \"Heres a .suggestion: dont start with the poor. Start with the rich.\" Cal Thomas. one of the top conservatives in the country. is telling the Republican Congress. the Republican Senate and the Republican President. start cutting the welfare programs for the richest people in this country. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1296,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090081155,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is for all Americans. On the other hand in Iraq. they rehabilitated 2.717 schools. and 36.000 teachers and administrators were trained. Even the environment. everybody breathes the air and drinks the water. In the U.S.. the Republican budget has a $200 million cut in clean water State revolving funds. and opens A NWR to oil drilling. In Iraq. we spend $1 billion for safe drinking water. $4 million for marshland restoration. Everybody is drinking the water and benefiting from environmental infrastructure. It -is just really Americans versus Iraqis. and I am not saying that we should not help the Iraqis in some way. I did not support the war. and I still oppose the war. but I do not mind spending some money to help rebuild Iraq. but it is not fair to spend all of. this money on Iraq and cut money for Americans. Look at the infrastructure. In the U.S. under the Republican budget. $336 million is cut from the Army Corps of Engineers. including funding for the levee construction in Louisiana. ","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1969,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090081164,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the budget bill that they want us to vote on. the one we were supposed to vote on last week. cuts funding for levees again. not necessarily the one in New Orleans. but other levees in Louisiana. This is part of the funding cuts. They want to cut levee construction now. This is not the same one that fell in New Orleans.","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":333,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090081171,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. that is another example of. the extreme Republican majority in this House choosing their party over the country. They do not want to find out what the truth is. although that would be best for us to fix the problems that we had with Katrina and then be able to respond to the next problem that we may have. whether it is a terrorism attack or anothernatural disaster. We would then educate ourselves. But to not give the Democrats subpoena power to try to fix the problem because they hired all of their cronies in.the top 8 or 10 positions in FEMA is. again. what is best for their party. not what necessarily is best for the country. And the Democrats are providing. time and time again in committee. on the. floor. with amendments. with ideas. whether it is lend the money. whether it is reduce the cost for prescription. drugs. whether it is strip the billions of dollars in subsidies that went to the oil companies. the Democrats have always provided an alternative. a change. to take the country in another direction. And that is what the Democrats are for. Let me teal quickly give the email address here: 30somethingdems@mail.house.gov. I would like to thank our dual Member from Massachusetts and our Member and a half from New Jersey. With that. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1359,"word_count":227}
{"speech_id":1090081179,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And I think that is what we are going to find this year. because people are going to be spending a lot more to -drive to - work. drive to school. and then they are going to be spending a lot more to heat their homes. And about 70 percent of Americans spend every dollar they earn every paychbck. and when they spend twice as much to drive and twice as much to heat their homes. they are going to have a whole lot less money to spend. and the economy is going to get soft. Actually we can fall into a recession. and it will be energy costs. and most of them have been.","speaker_name":"JOHN PETERSON","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3458,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090081182,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is very difficult. The ports in the gulf and Texas. Louisiana are trying very hard to work with putting liquified natural gas into a gas -form againv. But there are many places around the country where this is simply unacceptable technology and. consequently. it means that the supply that is available around the world is still hard to get into this country. but when we do. we do face environmental challenges that we otherwise would not face. Now. the gentleman makes the point about national security. Our own government estimates that by 2020 half of our energy will be produced by unfriendly and unstable governments. Our reliance on natural gas from these countries is going to get us in the same fix we have been in for all these years with oil. And to go down the roads we are headed in a direction we know does not work for us currently does not make any sense for fuel so valuable for us in the future and where we are placing such reliance on it in the future. I think for all the reasons we pointed out. for our small businesses. for our own domestic chemical producers. for our own fertilizer producers. for our homeland security concerns. and our national security concerns. and just for the idea that the average consumer needs to have access to energy that is affordable. these just argue very strongly for our working the solution out that has us exploit our own resources and rely on ourselves to bring this vital energy source to our people.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM JEFFERSON","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1464,"word_count":262}
{"speech_id":1090081185,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So the Outer Continental Shelf. which are Federal waters. are from 3 to 200. Then you are in international waters. Now. our proposal. the new amendment we have added. would say. all right. States can control oil and they can choose to opt out of both the legislative and the Presidential moratorium. They have the right to do that. So that would mean a State legislature. house and senate. would have to pass it. Their Governor would have to sign it. They then have to petition the Department of the Interior to open it up. That is going to take some time. At best it would be several years. ","speaker_name":"JOHN PETERSON","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5987,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090081254,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Every dollar the government spends is one taken from an American. and is one less dollar in the productive. private sector economy. Every dollar the government spends to fund agencies imposes large costs on the economys productive sector. no matter how small the agency. Every dollar the government spends on programs such as welfare and unemployment insurance encourages bad behavior by providing incentives for Americans to remain unemployed and choose leisure over work. Every dollar the government spends this. way goes to making Americans passive supplicants rather than active citizens. particularly at a time when the number of those dependent on the government is growing and the number supporting it is shrinking. We have been seeing those numbers talked about over the last good number of yearswho is taxed and who is not. who is paying in to the Government versuswho is not. We are now edging toward 50 percent of the American people not paying taxes. and yet we still hear this great debate in the Senate about. well. the tax cuts are only for the wealthy. The tax cuts are for people who pay taxes versus those who do. not pay taxes. There is a very important reality check that has to occur out there. When I am home visiting with folks at our town meetings and I say a family of four making $27.000 to $30.000 a year does not pay Federal taxes anymore. that is a fact. Yet somehow we get this rich versus poor debate in this Chamber. ","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7928,"word_count":253}
{"speech_id":1090081290,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":14,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I didnt know that until I read that in the Supreme Court opinion. Somehow when you move from the columns of Congress. the Senate. lined up directly with the columns of the Supreme Court.. you lose some reasoning capacity in the interimwhich I doubt very much. Then when they interpreted the Americans with Disabilities Act. Justice Scalia said theywere tasking the Congress. getting us to do our homework. that we had not made a sufficient record. So when I listen to Senator BYRD talk about the Constitution and about our duties. it is with great interest. I recollect a few years back when Senator BYRD chaired the Committee on Appropriations and I had the audacity to challenge his mark. It was not done by any Senator. I thought I had that standing. I looked at my Commission of Elections. and I had that standing. I got 3 votes out of 29: Senator DAmato. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10091,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090081292,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"While I love ARLEN SPECTER dearly. and respect him greatly. he is not my twin. he is not my clone. so we do have different ways of approaching things once in a while. And that is the way it ought to be around here. There should not be. as he said. this big gulf between us. but there ought to be an honest airing of differences of views on how we ought to approach things. Take the Byrd amendment. for example. I stated earlier. when we first brought the bill to the floor. that Senator SPECTER had done a superb job. and he was always open with my staff and me in crafting and putting together this bill. I said when you are dealt a bad hand. you have to do the best you can. And Senator SPECTER did. So in terms of the bill itself and how it is crafted. I do not have problems. What I have problems with is our allocation. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2170,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090081299,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We turned around and voted overwhelmingly for that law. President Bush wanted it. The Department of Education wanted it. The Congress wanted it. We said: This is what we will do. Yet month after month. since enactment of that legislation. we have failed to meet that obligation. That is the great tragedy in all of this. not the No Child Left Behind law. but the failure of the Congress and. the President to say to the people of our respective States: This is what you must do. And by the- way. we will be here to see to it the funding is there to support those efforts. We have gone on record in this body. and we are now denying our own record if we turn down this amendment offered by Senator BYRD. I wish to reinforce the point made by the Senator from Iowa.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":763,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090081300,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my colleague from Connecticut. He was also on the education committee and was involved in those discussions during No Child Left Behind. The Senator from Connecticut chaired the education subcommittee there. so he knows full well the commitments that were made at that time by the White House and the Congress to fund it. Senator KENNEDY was absolutely right. we are not doing what we agreed to do in this regard. Mr. President. prior to yielding the floor. might I ask. what is the pending business before the Senate?","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":541,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090081321,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"All right. In deference to the Senator from West Virginia. we will accede to his request. It would be my hopeI talked to Senator HARKIN about thisthat to the extent we can. while we have people here ready to offer amendments--we have just worked out a time agreement with Senator DODD. 45 minutes equally divided for his amendmentwhile we have Senators in the Chamber ready to proceed. we do so to the extent we can. unless there is a circumstance which requires a different outcome. I understand Senator ALEXANDER may have a related issue. I have just been informed about that. May I suggest to the Chair that we hear from Senator ALEXANDER to see how it impacts on the vote before we move ahead with the vote?","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":711,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090081328,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Under the regular order. we will then proceed to a vote. objection having been heard. We will entertain Senator ALEXANDERS amendment at the earliest time the managers can. May I remind my colleagues that this is going to be a 15minute rollcall vote. with 5 .additional minutes. We had an 182minute vote yesterday. Lets see if we can beat that record. I know we are going to proceed. I will talk to my colleagues. and we will work out the sequence.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":447,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090081337,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that following the vote on the Byrd amendment. Senator DODD be recognized to offer his amendment. after which point there would be a vote on the Dodd amendment. after which point if there is a Republican amendment that is to be brought up and disposed of. if there is not. the Senator from New York be recognized at that point to offer her amendment. followed by a vote.","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":409,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090081338,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. reserving the right to object. and I do not intend to press this issue if we cant get agreement. but I would like to stack the Dodd amendment. say. behind the Clinton amendment so we can save time. Let me restate the understanding. There will be 10 minutes for Senator ALEXANDER. and there will be a vote on the Byrd amendment. We will then proceed to a Dodd amendment. If there is no intervening Republican seeking recognition to offer an amendment. we will proceed to the Clinton amendment. and we will discuss at a later time the sequence of votes.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":566,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090081346,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Because we are at war. because we have had three terrible hurricanes. because we have new homeland security needs. and because entitlement spendingmandatory spendingis growing out of control. we are all trying to do a good job of living better within our means. So we are working to have a deficit reduction of $35 billion. and this would add another $5 billion in the opposite direction. The second point I would like to make to put this into perspective is that. as important as this program is. the Federal Government is not the principal source of funding for K12 education. We only -spend 7 or 8 percent. States dont spend money for national defense by and large. and we dont spend much money for K12. We spend 7 or 8 percent. The State and local governments have the major responsibility for our elementary and secondary schools. The third thing I would like to mention to put things in perspective is that money isnt everything. The top five State spenders in terms of dollars. total dollars for kindergarten through the 12th grade. have the widest achievement gaps between White students and Minority students. Hispanic students and AfricanAmerican students. ","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7697,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090081390,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They have to provide the necessary services that ensure every child with special needs receives that free. appropriate public education. Throughout New York. I have. spoken with many educators. teachers. principals. and superintendents who work hard every single day to make IDEA a reality for the children in their care. But the other reality in todays difficult budget times is that it is increasingly difficult for our schools to meet the mandate of IDEA without cuttingother educational services for all the other children in the school district. I am talking about essential services such as teachers salaries. programs that enrich the curriculum. and afterschool programs. Oftentimes the cost of special education is the driving force as to why school districts seek increases in property taxes. I will give an example from my own home county. In Westchester County we just learned the Childrens Rehabilitation Center. a wonderful program that serves children with disabilities such as cerebral palsy. spina bifida. Downs syndrome. is closing. That leaves parents scrambling to find other arrangements. ","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5752,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090081392,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Last year. Senator DAYTON offered an amendment for $11 billion whicheven that draws a smile from my colleague from Connecticut. Or the amendment- offered by Senator BYRD for $5 billion. or the one yesterday for Head Start. A few years ago. after managing this bill for some time. I made a determined .effort to become chairman of the Subcommittee on Foreign Operations. It seems to me a good place to be so whdn these votes came up I would be free to cast a vote to exceed the budget limitations. since it takes 60 votes. That means if you take 44 Democrats and Senator JEFFORDS and 14 votes. possible. you can be with the good guys and still not bust the budget. That luxury is not enjoyed by the manager.. however. It is one of the footnotes in the managers book. you cannot raise a point of order and vote against- a point of order. It presents- a very difficult voting record for reelection to vote. against Head Start. against education funding. against Pell grants. and against special education. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3345,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090081429,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. all of us benefit from scientific information and advice provided by many Federal agencies. When we go to the Centers for Disease Control Web site to read about infectious disease threats or turn to the National Cancer Institute to learn about the latest in cancer treatment. we have confidence that we are being provided with honest. accurate. and objective information. We rely on scientists and medical experts serving the National Institutes of Health to make wise decisions based on real science. not politics. to ensure that our investments in medical research will improve the health of Americans for generations to come. The amendment I offer seeks to ensure that the American people will continue to benefit from the best possible scientific advice and information from -the Governments scientific advisers and from the Federal agencies themselves. First. the amendment prohibits the use of Federal funds to ask candidates for appointment to scientific advisory committees to disclose their voting history. their political affiliation. or their opinions on unrelated political topics. When the Federal Government seeks expert medical and technical advice. it should look for the very best experts. It should not limit itself to only those experts who voted for a particular political candidate or who agree with any Presidents policies or who support the death penalty. That is not how we. in our personal lives. would go about choosing a doctor. It should not be the way our Government seeks out expert scientific advice. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4553,"word_count":245}
{"speech_id":1090081441,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will becalling up a series of amendments. Before I do that. I visited with the chairman of this subcommittee. I have four amendments to offer. I ask unanimous consent that we not exceed 45 minutes on them. equally divided between myself and those opposing this amendment. I think a couple of these amendments will probably be accepted. One of them will have some significant debate. the other one probably will not.","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":432,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090081452,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. Ithink the idea offered by the Senator from Oklahoma. that all of the earmarks be specified in the conference report. is a very sound idea. The earmarks from this bill have traditionally and always have been properly identified. I am very pleased to accept the amendment.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":286,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090081474,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"My only request is. that the Senator would allow my staff to be there as they make this presentation. We have done significant research on their expenditures on these conferences. and we would love to have. the opportunity. if the Senator so allowed it. for us to participate as they make their presentation.","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":308,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090081571,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. reserving the right to object. this deals with immigration. On that immigration committee. I am sure others have had an opportunity to see it. I wonder if the Senator could just let me have a few minutes to look at it prior to making that request.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":262,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090081601,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President a few moments ago. as I understand. the President -of the United States reversed his course on -the incredibly damaging decision to suspend wage protections for workers rebuilding the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. known as the DavisBacon provisions. These are the prevailing wage provisions. the ageold policy that the Government should not drive wages below the prevailing wage in a particular community. The prevailing wage for construction is $8 in Mississippi. $9 in Alabama. and $10 in Louisiana. That would work out to $16.000. $18.000. $21.000 a year as the prevailing wage. Thats not too much for workers who are trying to rebuild their homes and rebuild their lives. I applaud the decision the President has made on that issue.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":756,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090081604,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the Chair. We are all working together to have a bipartisan proposal that we will be able to acton. If we have positive action on the Harkin amendment. and a positive resulton the EnziBurr proposal. at the- end of this session. the Senate will have made a very strong downpayment in preparing this Nation:. We eagerly await the administrations proposal. but quite frankly. I do not think we can delay any longer. Other countries have moved ahead. At this time. we have only stockpiled 1 percent of the total amount- of antivirals that we will need. This is the issue. Now is the -timefor action. I am very hopeful that this- amendment will be accepted. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":696,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090081672,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Reserving the. right to object. Mr. President. the Rosa Parks naming and the Bryant naming are very important measures. I would support both of them. But I believe as long as we have this rule in the committee. unless the committee will change the rule. I would be happy to join with my colleague from Virginia in suggesting a change in the rule to permit-","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":356,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090081723,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He continues to perform duties as a senior Federal judge at the age of 93. He began","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":810,"word_count":17}
{"speech_id":1090081741,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise in opposition to the amendment from Senator COBURN. For five years now. this President and this Republican Congress have prioritized tax cuts for the rich at the expense of urgent national priorities. It has leftus with so many unmet needs. The amendment offered by Senator COBURN asks us to choose between two vitally important national prioritiesprotecting our national security or providing increased assistance - to people living with HIV. and AIDS. We shouldnt have to do that. and a responsible Congress wouldnt force our hand. An epidemic of HIV and AIDS continues to ravage communities7especially communities of coloracross the country. Approximately 1 million individuals live with the disease and they struggle every day to make ends meet. and to afford the medical care. medicines. and other supports they need to live healthy and productive lives. The Federal AIDS Drug Assistance Program gives needy individuals the help they need. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2235,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090081824,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. there is now a series of five amendments which have been accepted on both sides. I now ask unanimous consent -that the Senate turn to a series of five amendments which have been accepted on both sides. I start with an amendment on behalf of Senator FRIST. No. 2278. and I ask for its immediate consideration.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":323,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090081871,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am pleased we were finally able to reach a consent agreement on this very important bill that we have attempted to address more fully twice in the past. the Defense authorization bill. This will allow the Senate to return to the bill and complete it in a timely manner. in an orderly manner. with the amendments that are relevant to the issue at hand. that is.the issue of providing for our armed services. We will look for an appropriate window of time to resume the bill. I believe. under the guidance of the experienced chairman and ranking member. we should be able to complete that bill within 2 or possibly 3 days. I thank everyone for working so hard to bring us to this point. for their patience and cooperatioll. and allowing us to go forward with this agreement. and I look forward to completion of that Defense authorization bill........","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":865,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090081899,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This funding will help the inspector generals office to investigate potential mismanagement at the FDA. This investigation will be separate from ongoing investigations of the former Commissioner. Lester Crawford. and it will include. but not be limited to. overthecounter application for Plan B. Let me be clear: The men and women of the FDA work very hard. They adhere to the principles of science. They do a job that all Americans can be proud of. But their hard work is being undermined and it is overshadowed by the Agencys own leadership. If the leadership at the FDA and HHS dont take steps to restore the confidence of American consumers in the FDAs ability to promotd safe and effective treatments. then Congress has a duty to step in. The health and wellbeing of the American people should -not blow with the political winds. Caring for the people we represent is an American issue. and part of that goal is reassuring that Americans have access to safe. effective medicines in a timely fashion. ","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4808,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090081918,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is a critical program. but we are also facing a critical time with our budget and increased deficit spendingboth are serious issues that require serious solutions.","speaker_name":"BEN NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2264,"word_count":27}
{"speech_id":1090081930,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The only thing that made it significant was that the masses of the people joined in. However. that one day catapulted her to a leadership role in the civil rights movement and began the great 381 day Montgomery boycott of the bus system by African Americans and others dedicated to equal rights. A young 26year old Baptist minister. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.. organized the boycott. Throughout her life. Rosa Parks remained a committed civil rights activist. In the 1980s she worked in the antiapartheid movement. and opened a career counseling center for black youth in Detroit with her husband. She served the United States as an aide to U.S. Congressinan JOHN CONYERS. a great civil rights leader in his own right. for many years. In the last years of her life. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3499,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090081934,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to speak about the need for hate crimes legislation. Each Congress. Senator KENNEDY and I introduce hate crimes legislation that would add new categories to current hate crimes law. sending a signal that violence- of any kind is unacceptable in our society. Likewise. each Congress I have come to the floor to highlight a separate hate crime that has occurred in our country. On February. 25. 2005. Thomas Stockwell was on the campus of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. when six men attacked him. Before chasing Stockwell down the street and beating him .up. the men were heard yelling sexually derogatory slurs at him. According to reports. the motivation for the attack was Stockwells sexual orientation. ","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1052,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090081935,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to express my strong concern regarding the political and economic situation in Haiti and the effect this will have on the upcoming elections in that country. The events of the last few months in Haiti have been dispiriting for those who have long sought stability and progress in that country. Due to the precarious political and security situation in Haiti. the question must be raised. can free and fair elections be carried out in Haiti on schedule? Or should they be postponed until we can guarantee a more favorable environment for legitimate elect to take place? Nearly a year and a half has passed since President Aristide was removed from power and since then the country has continued to spiral downward into worsening poverty and political violence. The interim government of Prime Minister Gerard Latortue has failed to deliver stability and econoiic progress and for the fourth time this year. has postponed the date of the elections. Presently. elections are planned for December 15 and there is widespread concern that. if held. these elections will be anything but open. inclusive or fair. Currently. the political and social climate- in Haiti is not conducive for credible elections to take place. The Haitian people are largely ignorant about the electoral system and detached from the process. Out of a total of 4.5 million eligible voters approximately 870.000 people have actually registered. with supporters of the Lavalas Partya large portion of the electoratethreatening to boycott. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3937,"word_count":246}
{"speech_id":1090081955,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Sacramento. CA.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":749,"word_count":2}
{"speech_id":1090081963,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Innovative Emergency Management. Inc.. Baton Rouge. LA. Henry Renteria. Director. California Governors Office of Emergency Services. Mather. CA. Matt Bettenhausen. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":801,"word_count":20}
{"speech_id":1090081973,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mondello was the director of communications in my office for 4 years. During that time I valued her counsel and commitment. In fact. her husband Joe Mondello. was my legislative director for several years. Prior to that. she worked for our colleague. Senator Alfonse D Amato. Additionally. Ms. Mondello has held several positions in the private sector and with grassroots organizations. These experiences have contributed to an understanding of political and public relations from two distinctive viewpoiAts. She will bring an enormous wealth of knowledge and understanding to the Department of Veterans Affairs. ","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1602,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090082000,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. we are at a financial crossroads. My Republican colleagues and I are committed to fiscal responsibility. while Democrats merely propose slogans and catch phrases to hide behind their taxandspend policies. Over the past 3 years. Democrats have offered amendments totaling tens of billions of dollars of additional spending and $392 billion in additional taxes. That is more taxes. A lot of these proposed spending increases were to be financed by raising taxes on small businesses. which means fewer jobs. Earlier this year not a single Democrat House Member supported the lean budget that passed Congress. not one. Before Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. our economy was surging. and deficits were shrinking. Fact: The budget deficit shrank last year from $412 billion to $319 billion. a decrease of nearly 25 percent. We had 25 straight months of job growth. falling unemployment. and strong growth in the economy. ","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1138,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090082015,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today we mark another sad milestone in our involvement in Iraq with the announcement that 2.000 Americans have died. It is time to end this war. This war was based on fiction: there were no weapons of mass destruction. no ties to al Qaeda. no imminent threat. We have spent hundreds of billions of dollars on this war. We are bankrupting our Nation. Great nations. Mr. Speaker. sometimes make mistakes. as I believe we have done in this case. This war was a mistake. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":571,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090082016,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"\"We could see the handwriting on the wall and just want to end this -whole thing.\" said Robert Howland. a descendant of the founder. John Tilley. Mr. Speaker. let us put an end to frivolous lawsuits that are ruining the American Dream.","speaker_name":"JOHN CARTER","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":31.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1154,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090082018,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it has been asked in some shrill tones this morning on the floor of this Congress. 2.000 American casualties in Iraq. and what do we have to show for it? Well. I would offer very humbly. what we have to show for it is a dictator behind bars. a terrorist haven vanquished. 100.000 Iraqis in uniform with another 100.000 yet being trained in the next year. millions freed from tyranny. national electionsin January. and. as the headlines today attest. a constitution ratified in a new. free. and democratic Iraq. That is what we have to show for it. Because of the ongoing sacrifices of the American soldier. those at their post and those in glory. and their families. freedom is winning. terrorism is losing in Iraq.","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":728,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090082021,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If Social Security receives every dollar which has been paid into Social Security and the interest that it is legally entitled to receive on that. it is fully funded until sometime in the 2040s. Now. having spent some of the Social Security surplus for the war in Iraq. for tax cuts for the very wealthy. the President now says. Well. those are just IOUs. We do not have the money. But here is my answer: put the money back. If you just put the money back into Social Security. we will be okay.","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1252,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090082031,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Now. ACORN is an important group. They are a first amendment group. The gentleman is right. They have every right to participate in first amendment activity. but not with money that we give them from Congress. Thomas Jefferson said that to force a man to contribute to a cause in which he does not believe is the definition of tyranny. We want to build homes. They want to buy. liberallobbyists and politicians. That is what this debate is about. ACORN had a game plan in the year 2003 in Florida. ","speaker_name":"TOM FEENEY","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3686,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090082033,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the problen is. I tell the former Speaker from the Florida legislature. you do not have the courage of your convictions on your side. You are not prepared to put your proposition to a democratic vote on your side. Mr. Speaker. once again this House majority is resorting to heavyhanded tactics that are designed to do one thing only. to achieve a preordained result by shutting down a full and fair debate in this House. Let me remind my colleagues what the chairman of the Rules Committee.","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":503,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090082042,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I agree with the gentleman. it was never discussed in committee. That is precisely the point. The restrictive language being put forward. which would say no faithbased group could participate. has never been debated in this committee and we -are not allowed to do an amendment on the floor. Yes. it is part of the managers amendment along with a number of -other things such as preference for the gulf. All we asked for was an ability to vote on some of these specific things. I agree. it was not brought up in committee. It was brought up in a private session be.tween the Republican Study Committee and the thenmajority leader. That is not an appropriate forum to be the only place Where we discuss things.","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":721,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090082043,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. my point is that the gentleman from Maryland referred to this as being a closed rule. It is not a closed rule. Mr. Speaker. I will insert in the RECORD a campaign plan from ACORN that is very much a part of this- debate today about what organizations and groups plan to do with politics and money.","speaker_name":"PETE SESSIONS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":330,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090082063,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Then the Republican Study Committee. the most conservative Members of the House who appear to be able to run the House by using their influ ence with the majority leadership. an influence which does not seem to have changed since the majority leadership changed. they were able to take this bill hostage. They tried to kill this whole thing. Members on their side now say. we are for doing this affordable housing. Well. then why did they try to kill it? There was an amendment to kill the whole affordable housing fund. not restricted. It lost 53 to 17. and so then they went to the majority leader and said we cannot win a fair fight. Hijack the bill. So now it comes to the rules situation. Here it is. Yes. we will get the vote on the managers amendment. The managers amendment includes what the gentleman from Ohio. the gentleman from Louisiana. myself. and the gentleman from Pennsylvania all agree to. along with the gentlewoman from California. to give a preference for those areas affected by the hurricane. ","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6058,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090082071,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise to lament the wrecking of a solid. bipartisan bill that. at one time. both established a tough new regulator for our Nations secondary mortgage market and created a new national housing trust to build affordable housing. Our Nations economic security and the housing opportunity of millions of Americans is being played with on the floor today. But more than this particular bill. I also lament the fact that this Congress is held hostage to the extreme right wing agenda of the majority. A small cabal of 50 or so Members who. though small in number. loud in voice. threaten this Republican Majority and hold this Congress and our country hostage. They claim they want smaller government but they are saddling our children with trillions in the notorious birth taxyes. every child bom in America today comes into this worid with a $30.000 debt to the Government thanks to the skewed economic policies of the socalled fiscally conservative Republican Party. They claim to help people but want to strip away student loans from college kids. Medicaid from the .poor. and aid to farmers. for bigger tax cuts for the richest Americans. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH CROWLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2112,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090082086,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask Cubin Culberson unanimous consent that all Members Cunningham may have 5 legislative days within Davis (KY) whibh to revise and extend their re- Davis. Jo Ann marks and include extraneous material Davis Tom Deal (GA) on H.R. 3945. DeLay","speaker_name":"RICHARD BAKER","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":255,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090082101,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"SarbanesOxley. to address these types of corporate abuses.. But all of a sudden. there seems to have leen a deafening silence when we see Fannie and Freddie engaged in activities that with respect to the financial restatements rival those that I have described. And so these people play an incredible role in our marketplace. but we have given them incredible powers as well. and there must be increased accountability. So I think that this legislation takes a very -significant step forward in bringing about a significant regulator for these enterprises. because we know that we have been warned by the Chairman of our Federal Reserve that particularly with respect to the portfolio holdings of their own mortgagebacked securities that this represents a systemic risk to our economy. This is not something that we can leave unregulated and unabated. And I think this legislation takes a very good step forward. I hope in conference with the other body that we can pame up with omething that will help address this. I am also concerned about their mission creep. Again. when we see them engaging in activities like airplane leasing and activities related to loan originations. and the list goes on. if they are going to receive governmentgranted benefits. we need to ensure that they use their charter to provide this liquidity in the secondarymortgage market Now we know that there is a debate over the affordable housing fund. Again. ","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3406,"word_count":238}
{"speech_id":1090082106,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"and the many Members who have worked so hard on this issue for years now. This is a strong bill that creates a worldclass regulator for Fannie Mae. Freddie Mac and the Federal home loan bank at a time when one is much needed. I rise today. Mr. Chairman. because I am concerned about specific provisions in the managers amendment which could have unintended consequences on members of our senior population and the ability of nonprofits to work together to serve lowincome communities. Specifically. Mr. Chairman. I would like to receive some assurance from you that you will work with me on these issues as we move toward a final bill in conference. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT NEY","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1029,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090082115,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the Committee on Financial Services has studied the need to reform the regulation of housing GovernmentSponsored Enterprises for nearly 6 years. Since convening our first government hearing on GSE reform in March 2000. wehave examined these matters extensively. As . the ranking Democratic member on the subcommittee of jurisdiction. I have also had the opportunity to participate in more than 20 hearings and to hear\" .scores of witnesses. The legislation to address these matters that the Committee on Financial Services ultimately reported earlier this year was a very. very good piece of legislation. It would. as long as I have advocated. created a strong. worldclass. independent regulatory for housing GSEs. The bill also received the overwhelming backing of my colleagues on the committee. passing by a vote of 65 to 5. While I still believe this base legislative package is a good bill. I am concerned about some of the amendments that we will debate today. ","speaker_name":"PAUL KANJORSKI","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4011,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090082121,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chairman. I am concerned about two provisions in this bill. raising the conforming loan limit and the attempt to limit the ability of American citizens to engage in our democratic process currently contained in the managers amendment offered by Mr. OXLEY. Mr. Chairman. in my district. the median price for a home in Santa Clara County is $715.000. yes I said $715.000. The current conforming loan limit is $359.650. about 50 percent of what the median home price is. ","speaker_name":"ZOE LOFGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2058,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090082123,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is why provisions of this bill are great. What I do not like about the bill is a poison pill that has been put on there. which I believe it is unconstitutional and restrictions aimed at suppressing the civil rights engaged in by poor minorities for voting. We believe that every person should have the right to vote and to participate. and we say that that does not preclude them. and you have to put a priority whether it is for. affordable housing or whether you will be involved in engaging. encouraging individuals. America has always encouraged individuals to participate in our American democracy. and that is the democracy of voting. We have our veterans who have fought for this country and are now fighting in Iraq. are fighting for the freedoms that we enjoy today. One of those freedoms is the right to get out and vote. to allow every individual to participate and vote. not to restrict individuals. but to allow them to vote. This would restrict these individuals who are getting funded for the housing to say you are not going to participate in this American democracy by registering individuals to vote. We should allow them. It is part of democracy. This is anticivil rights. especially when we just have Rosa Parks who just died and fought hard for civil rights. ","speaker_name":"JOE BACA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":43.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9054,"word_count":225}
{"speech_id":1090082125,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank Chairman BAKER for yielding me this time. and to call me a cocontributor. when one considers all the effort he has put into this. is a vast overstatement. I have never seen. during the time I have been here. which is a number of years now. a legislator work so hard on a particular issue. and I congratulate Chairman BAKER for getting it this far. And I would like to thank the ranking member. The gentleman from Massachusetts has been extremely helpful. I do not know where this is going to come out in the end because of the discussion and dispute over the affordable housing fund. But. basically. I think the underlying bill is a heck of a sound bill. I would like to credit both sides. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CASTLE","chamber":"H","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1021,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090082126,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I mayT consume. First. let me say that I am glad that the gentleman from Louisiana indicated the status of the gentleman from Delaware . because I would not have wanted him to have been an unindicated cocontributor. I.think that was very helpful. Mr. Chairman. I yield 21\/2 minutes to the gentleman from New York . a very active member of the Committee on Financial Services who is very aware of the need for housing.","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":459,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090082136,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I first of all commend the chairman and the ranking member for putting a great bipartisan bill together concerning governmentsponsored enterprises. In addition to establishing a very strong. independent regulator. the legislation will also createa sorely needed affordable housing fund. The housing fund will help people with low incomes who face the greatest difficulty in finding housing that is available and affordable. but as we put forward this new housing.fund. I do not think the managers amendment is a very good one. We should never force nonprofits to choose between providing affordable housing and encouraging full participation in the American. Dream. The housing trust fund will provide a muchneeded stimulus to our American economy. but it is not only lowincome Americans who suffer from lack of affordable housing. I would ask the gentleman to please be cognizant of what I am saying. ","speaker_name":"BILL PASCRELL","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2574,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090082142,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And I know a lot of the debate has been about one particular part of the managers amendment that I will b6 offering next. but at. the end of the day. when this bill comes up for final passage. most Members will support it because it makes good sense from a regulatory standpoint. it makes good sense from an affordable housing standpoint.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL OXLEY","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1195,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090082150,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"GSEs also benefit from an explicit grant of legal authority given to the Federal Reserve to purchase the debt of the GSEs. GSEs are the only institutions besides the United States Treasury granted explicit statutory authority to monetize their debt through the Federal Reserve. This provision gives the GSEs a source of liquidity unavailable to their competitors. This implicit promise by the government to bail out the GSEs in times of economic difficulty--helps the GSEs attract investors who are willing to settle for lower yields than they would demand in the absence of the subsidy. Thus. the line of credit distorts the allocation of capital. More importantly. the line of credit is a promise on.behalf of the government to engage in a massive unconstitutional and immoral income transfer from working Americans to holders of GSE. debt. This is why I am offering an amendment to cut off this line of credit. I hope my colleagues join me in protecting. taxpayers from having to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac when the housing bubble bursts. The connection between the GSEs and the government helps isolate the GSEs managements from market discipline. This isolation from market discipline is the root cause of the mismanagement occurring at Fannie and Freddie. ","speaker_name":"RONALD PAUL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9997,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090082319,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I optometrists. and 45 percent of ophthalyield myself such time as I may con- mologists reported diagnosing eye injusume. - ries from contact lenses sold without a Mr. Speaker. I am proud to rise in favor of S. 172. and I would like to prescription. thank the gentleman from Arkansas Since April 4. 2003. I have worked","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":331,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090082321,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I- yield myself such time as I may consume. I want to thank my colleague from Arkansas for his very kind words and join him in saluting all of the Members of the House and the Senate and our staffs who have worked on this legislation. I do not want to dwell on why the FDA decided to regulate some lenses as cosmetics rather than medical devices. Congressman DEAL referred to it as a loophole. I consider it a lapse in enforcement. Regardless. this bill is neutral on what went wrong. It just fixes the problem. and that is what we need to do. I would urge all of our colleagues to join us in supporting- the legislation. ","speaker_name":"HENRY WAXMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":684,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090082324,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I offer a concurrent resolution requesting the President to return to the House of Representatives the enrollment of H.R. 3765 so that the Clerk of the House may reenroll the bill in accordance with the action of the two Houses. and ask unanimous consent for its immediate consideration in the House.","speaker_name":"JOHN KUHL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":313,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090082334,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Montgomerys segregation laws were very complex and deeply humiliating. For example. blacks were required to pay their fare to the driver and then get off the bus and reenter through the rear door. If the white section was full. blacks were required to give up their seats altogether. no matter what their age. and no matter what their infirmity. and move to the back of the bus. Rosa Parks was very familiar with these humiliations. however. she was a selfeducated. early activist with her own local NAACP. her time at the Highland School in Tennessee. but never particularly intending at that moment to engage in an act of civil disobedience. She simply was ready when the moment of humiliation came. For her boldness. she was arrested and found guilty of disorderly conduct: This action led to the famous Montgomery bus boycott that lasted over a year and. ultimately. to the Supreme Court decision that banned segregation on the citys public transportation systems. and. Mr. Speaker. therefore. on all public transportation throughout the United States. It is impossible to overstate the impact of her act of gentle defiance. Rosa Parks story has now become legendary in American history. ","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2689,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090082356,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask for consideration of this resolution. unanimous consent that all Members It is about time that Israel be treated may have 5 legislative days within with the respect that it is due. which to revise and extend their re- Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of marks and include extraneous material my time. on H. Res. 368. Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"STEVE CHABOT","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":370,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090082379,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I took the time in opposition to point out that there could be some unintended. or maybe some intended. consequences that at that time the Congress was not admitting to. and that it could lead to war. And. of course. that was the first stepping stone to the current war that we are in. Although this particular bill is not nearly as strong as what the Iraq Liberation Act was. this nevertheless is a step as far as I am concerned in the wrong direction. The basic thing that happens here is we are expanding tremendously the power to place .sanctions- on Syria. and this comes in light of the publication of the U.N. investigation on Hariris murder. and there is a tremendous move right now to move on to the next regime change in the Middle East. To me. I believe we are overstepping our bounds and looking for more trouble. We have essentially zero right. to decide who should head foreign states. Once we decide that we know whatis best for foreign countries and we can actually pick a head of state. I think it leads to trouble. I could give Members every bit of reason why we ought to change the King of Saudi Arabia. as we should change the King of Syria. and yet Saudi Arabia gets a lot of support from us. ","speaker_name":"RONALD PAUL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4604,"word_count":227}
{"speech_id":1090082428,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I think it :is important to talk about the value for this Nation that. this lance corporal and the other hundreds of thousands of_ men and women who wear the uniform of the United States have delivered to us through their service to our country. To hear the speakerswho have criticized this mission talk. we somehow have created a terrorist enemy and an insurgent enemy that. because of our own fault. attacks America. and the way for us to hold off .these attacks. to dampen these attacks. is to be suppliant and to do nothing and to be compliant. and somehow we have agitated and upset the enemy who otherwise would not be intending to hurt Americans. I am reminded that when those planes hit the United States in 9\/11. it was following two major military operations that this country undertook. In- terestingly. we took them both on behalf of Muslim nations. protecting them from neighboring n[tions. from the attacks of neighboring nations. One good question to ask the speakers. who just finished was what did the United States do to deserve those attacks? They further said. well. we did not find any nuclear weapons. other weapons of mass destruction. in Iraq. and. Madam Speaker. let me tell you what we did find and what the world found and what historywill reflect.to the end of time. I keep in my desk drawer a picture of Iraqi Kurdish mothers holding their babie tightly against them as they lie dead where they fell on the hillsides in \u0095 northern Iraq where Saddam Hussein killed them with .weapois of mass destruction. that is. chemical weapons. that is. poison gas. the- only leader. -to my knowledge. since Adolf Hitler to kill his own people with poison gas. Every time I hear a speech about how things would have been better if the Americans did not show up. I pull that picture out to remind myself that things only get better when the Americans show up. and sometimes it is lonely. and sometimes it is tough. and sometimes we only- find a few of our really toughest. -closest allies like the Aussies and the Brits standing side by side -with us. Although we now- have lots of people from those countries that. we liberated. which Donald Rumsfeld refers to as the new Europe. people like the Polish troops. who are securing. taking part in the- multinational organization. securing the southern part of Iraq. ","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9179,"word_count":408}
{"speech_id":1090082430,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I want to thank the gentlewoman. and I want to thank her for being such a .great representative of those men and women who serve. particularly coming out of her National Guard unit and the 101st Airborne. a legendary division. I might say to the gentlewoman that a lot was made of the movie Band of Brothers. a story of the 101st in World War II. Of course. we have referred to a lot of those people as the Greatest Generation. and indeed. they were a great generation. But in reading about the exploits and meeting with the individuals of thie 101st Air Mobile Division. which today is. in fact. getting ready and going into the northern AO. a very difficult place. and having already served in Iraq. I think it can fairly be said they are the greatest generation. They are every bit as good and great and capable as the people that fought in the Battle of the Bulge and went up those cliffs at Normandy. We are very proud of them. I thank the gentlewoman. and I would like to yield to the gentleman from New Hampshire . who has been a great supporter of the troops and worked with us to put together a great defense bill this year.","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1148,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090082443,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if the gentleman will yield further. let me say one more thing. if I might. and the gentleman said it already. A free Iraq.an Iraq that is at peace with its neighbors is no longer a sanctuary for the bad guys. will make the Middle East a safer place to be. and by extension. this country will also be a much safer place. as will the world. So I agree with the gentlemans assessment. and we will finish the job.","speaker_name":"K. CONAWAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":423,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090082456,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What a beautiful remembrance of a great lady. I am sure the gentlewoman is one of the few people in. Congress that have a written communication from Mrs. Parks. I congratulate the gentlewoman. Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to recognize the gentlewoman from California","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":263,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090082457,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I also want to briefly acknowledge the passing of two other heroes in the struggle for civil and human rights. Dr. C. Delores Tucker. buried last Saturday. and the former Congressman. Ed Roybal.. C. Delores Tucker was a pioneer in the field of civil rights and politics. She counted Martin Luther King. ","speaker_name":"DIANE WATSON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":33.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3644,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090082458,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlewoman from California for .her kind remarks and remembrances of Rosa Parks. and now. Mr. Speaker. I am very pleased to yield to the gentleman from North Carolina . the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. a veteran member of the North Carolina bar and member of the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives.","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":363,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090082459,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Michigan for yielding. I was trying to decide how to approach this issue and decided that probably there were two things I need to do: number one. I want to thank the gentleman from Alabama . my good friend and colleague. and the gentleman from Michigan . my good friend and colleague. the two States with whom Rosa Parks probably had the strongest physical connections. for convening this Special Order fpr us to pay tribute to Rosa Parks. I have listened to the gentleman from Michigan and the gentleman from Alabama and the gentlewoman from California","speaker_name":"MELVIN WATT","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":594,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090082463,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it ismy privilege to pay tribute to the life and work of Rosa Lee Parks. a quiet but courageous woman who. by sitting down against injustice allowed a mass civil rights movement to stand up for justice. She was a small woman who had a large impact. Rosa Parks was more than the \"Mother of the Civil Rights Movement.\" The three civil rights workersSchwemer. Goodman and Cheneywere inspired by Rosa Parks before they set out on their journey to register people to vote in Mississippi prior to their tragic deaths. Viola Gregg Liuzzo. an Italian American Detroit housewife who was killed driving marchers back to Selma after the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march. knew of the witness of Rosa Parks. In 1966 James Meredith gained strength from Rosa Parks as he led a \"March Against Fear\" from Memphis to Jackson. Mississippiin which he was shot. Her dignified leadership inspired those abroad to engage in courageous acts--for ex. ample. the young man who stood in front of the tank in Tiananmeni Square. -Nelson Mandela knew of he L..ctions before he spent 27 years in a South African jail. She burst on thescene before Pope John Paul II was .able to use his pontifical office to oppose communism. ","speaker_name":"JESSE JACKSON","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2756,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090082467,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"She will be missed.","speaker_name":"JIM COSTA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1934,"word_count":4}
{"speech_id":1090082471,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"She was tired. and she had had enough. Through that one simple act. Rosa Parks displayed nothing short of raw courage. It was dangerousvery dangerousto defy the customs. traditions. and laws of racial discrimination and segregation in the South. The Brown v. Board of Education decision had been. issued by the Supreme Court only 18 months before.: In reaction. violence ard intimidation erupted all across the South. There was so much tension. so much hate. In August of 1955. a 14yearold African American boy. named Emmett Till had been murdered and mutilated by two white men while he was visiting his uncle in Money. Mississippi. I believe there is a force---call it God or the spirit of historythat tracks us down and selects us to participate in a cause much greater than ourselves. ","speaker_name":"JOHN LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3685,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090082485,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if the gentleman will yield further. let us not even let people believe that now that individual assistance has been granted and that it is being supplied. They do not even have the registration sites set up now. I was driving through the district with the FEMA folks yesterday. and people were coming. up with their houses crushed in saying. I have got to have some help here. I have a baby. I have a grandmother who needs medicine. When is FEMA coming? The poor guy who I was riding with. he does not know what to tell people. He said. \"This is why we are doing this assessment. maam. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":788,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090082506,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. this week we passed two milestones in Iraq: The constitution was ratified. and. tragically. the 2.000th American died. These milestones. one positive. one clearly negative. provide us with an opportunity to review our progress in Iraq. This is not a time to debate how we got into Iraq. What is important is resolving the mess. Hear what the experts are saying: Retired Arniy Lieutenant General William Odom. former head of the National Security Agency. said that the invasion of Iraq \"will turn out to be the greatest strategic disaster in U.S. history.\" Brent Scowcroft. National Security Adviser under the first President George Bush. said. \"You have to know when to stop using force. You can encourage democracy over time. with assistance. and aid. the traditional way. Not how the neoconservatives\" are trying to do it in Iraq. And Lawrence Wilkerson. a retired lieutenant colonel and former Secretary of State Colin Powells former Chief of Staff at the State Department. said President Bushs foreign policy was \"ruinous\" and said that \"we have courted disaster in Iraq. in North Korea. in Iran.\" These are not the words of partisans or the board members of MoveOn.org. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1439,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090082511,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. this week the House will begin work on reconciliation. which is a way that we begin to reform outofcontrol spending programs in order to help pay for the hurricane relief. There are only three ways that we can pay for this hurricane relief. Either. number one. we are going to raise taxes on the American people yet again. we are going to pass debt on to our children. or we are going to find a way to moderate the growth of Federal programs. The Democrats say that this is tantamount to massive cuts that will hurt the poor. Madam Speaker. next years budget is going to be greater than this years budget. which was greater than last years budget. What we call mandatory spending. which encompasses most of these welfare programs. mandatory spending is going to grow at a rate of 6.3 percent as opposed to 6.4. I believe only an accountant for Enron would call that a cut. Also. Madam Speaker. the best way to help the poor is through paychecks. not welfare checks. And under the economic policies of this administration. 4 million new jobs have been created with a future. ","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1190,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090082512,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. three generation ago Adolf Hitler threatened to destroy the Jewish people. and the appeasers and the pseudosophisticates said it was merely oratory. A few months ago. the leadership of Syria threatened to destroy the Prime Minister of Lebanon. and . the pseudosophisticates and the appeasers thought it was only_ oratory. Yesterday the President of Iran announced that it is his policy to des troy the State of Israel. and the pseudosophisticates and the appeasers again say this is only oratory. But of course. it is more than that. I call on the United Nations. and all civilized nations. to take appropriate action. in the U.N. and individually. denouncing this outrageous. statement. There is no room for the President of a nation to call for the destruction of a member state of the United Nations. the sole democracy in the Middle East and a close ally of the United States.","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":895,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090082513,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"She was the first woman to serve in the New York Senate. the first to serve as Manhattan borough president. She was the first woman. and for me perhaps the most important of her firsts. to argue a case before the United States Supreme Court. because she inspired a whole generation of young lawyers. It should astonish us that the first AfricanAmerican woman was appointed to the bench only in 1966. only 40 years ago. It should remind us that the integration of the courts of our country is and remains part and parcel of establishing equality under the law.","speaker_name":"ELEANOR NORTON","chamber":"H","state":"DC","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":1930,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090082540,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Chairman Principi is just such a person. Also. we had on our committee two former members of the Armed Services Committee who were on the BRAC Commission. Jim Bilbray and Jim Hansen. and Mr. Chairman. they have served us well as senior statesmen in again what amounted to very. very difficult roles. [l 1100 I would like to acknowledge the good work of all of the commissioners. It is not an easy job and it is. to some degree. a very thankless. job. Nonetheless. it is necessary and they put a lot of time and a lot of sweat into this process. So I want to thank them. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3069,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090082565,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I would like to thank the gentleman from Illinois for introducing this resolution. I will be voting today in favor of H.J. Res. 65 because I believe the BRAC Commissions recommendations should be overturned. I commend the commission for their thorough and diligent work. They certainly had a very difficult job. However. I believe that now is not the time to implement a BRAC round. considering the number of operations our armed services are currently engaged in around the world. I have great concern about the Pentagons ability to adequately assess our needs and assets while there are so many soldiers abroad and while the Pentagon awaits the results of the Quadrennial Review. ","speaker_name":"TOM UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1898,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090082571,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. today I rise in support of H.J. Res. 65. I totally disagree with the Base Realignment and Closure Commissions decision pertaining to Rock Island Arsenal and other key installations across the Nation. including Springfield Air Base as well.","speaker_name":"LANE EVANS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":253,"word_count":40}
{"speech_id":1090082605,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. today. the House will likely vote not to reject the recommendations of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission. moving the BRAC process one step closer to an end. This has been a very difficult BRAC round for the State of Maine. When the list came out 5 months ago. all of Maines three facilities were in great jeopardy. and few believed that we had a chance of saving any of them. But the entire delegation. the governor. and the communities came together and presented the best possible arguments in all three cases. and as a result. Maine did better than anyone thought we could. We saved Portsmouth NavalShipyard and in a victory that would have been unthinkable only a few months before. we actually grew DFAS Limestone. bringing jobs to an area that desperately needs them. These two actions represent tremendous victories for the people of Maine. I strongly disagree with the recommendation to close Naval Air Station Brunswick. It was the wrong decision and I have fought it every step of the way together with the whole Maine delegation. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL MICHAUD","chamber":"H","state":"ME","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2105,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090082614,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I stand in opposition today to H.J. Res. 65. a resolution to disapprove the recommendations of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission.. I oppose this resolution not because I support this BRAC round and the closure and realignment of these bases. but because the Department of Defense should not be authorized to execute another one anytime soon. A no vote on this Tesolution will spare the Armed Forces. our defense budget and our base communities the unnecessary stress of another BRAC round. if the current recommendations are approved. I opposed this BRAG round from the start for several reasons. First and foremost. Mr. Chairman. wereand remaina nation at war. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT SIMMONS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4234,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090082618,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong opposition to House Joint Resolution 65a resolution disapproving the recommendations of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission as approved by the President of the United States. In total. the BRAC Commission recommended. and the President endorsed. the closure of 22 major military bases and the realignment of 33 others. While I am deeply concerned about the recommendation to close the Armys Fort Monmouth. I note with pride the strong vote of confidence in the past. present. and future contributions to our warfighters of Picatinny Arsenal in Morris County. New Jersey. With the support of the President. the Department of Defense and the BRAC Commission. Picatinny Arsenal will be the joint center of excellence for guns and ammunition and the militarys unparalleled leader for producing -the latest and most advanced weaponry for our warfighters in Iraq and Afghanistan. I strongly support this recommendation. ","speaker_name":"RODNEY FRELINGHUYSEN","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2422,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090082620,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"McPherson remained on the BRAC list for closure despite the vital role they continue to play in coordinating the deployment of troops abroad and Federal response -to national disasters like this years string of devastating hurricanes. Following todays vote. the Defense Department is now charged with Carrying out the. recommended closures and realignments. Therefore. I will work with defense officials and the Local Redevelopment Authority during the upcoming transition period for Forts Gillem and McPherson.","speaker_name":"DAVID SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2258,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090082624,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Acting Chairman of the Committee. of the Whole House on the State of the Union. reported that that Committee. having had under consideration the resolution (H.J. Res. 65) disapproving the recommendations of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission. pursuant to section 2908(d) of Public Law 101510. he reported the joint resolution back to the House.","speaker_name":"ROB BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":361,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090082662,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I observe the gentleman tells us that President Bush assures us of the problem of frivolous lawsuits. President Bush assured us there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and a lot of other nonsense. So I do not give that too much credence. Mr. Chairman. I yield 5 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Texas .","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":336,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090082688,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But these changes are not enough for me to support final passage of what is still an egregious bill. Again. I would like to thank Chairman SENSENBRENNER for working together in addressing these issues. I believe the managers amendment provides some positive changes in what is otherwise an egregious bill. I urge my colleagues to vote for the managers amendment. but against the final bill. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3111,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090082697,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 30 seconds. Mr. Chairman. I want to point out to the gentleman from Wisconsin who just spoke that I could have saved him a lot of time. And I would like to remind him that he might want to take a look at the language of H.R. 420. that it applies just as much to businesses as it does individuals. despite statements to the contrary. Mr. Chairman. I yield 3 .minutes to the gentleman from Utah . the chairman of the Administtative Law Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee.","speaker_name":"LAMAR SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":503,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090082709,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The language in the substitute makes it clear that neither the sanctions approach we have taken in the substitute nor the sanctions approach taken in the base bill would apply in civil rights cases. and while there is some language of suggestion in the base bill. it is not definitive. In fact. the NAACP wrote in respect to the languagein the base bill: \"While language nominally intended to mitigate the damage that this bill will cause to civil rights cases has been added. it is vague and simply insufficient in addressing our concerns.\" So on the basis of a need not to chill civil rights legislation. which I think we have only seen the greater importance with. as Katrina ripped off the veneer of poverty and inequality in the country once again for all to see. as we consider that the base bill would implement a change that the courts themselves have rejected and found spawned a cottage industry in meritless Rule 11 litigation. and as the base bill has a stronger and I think more sensible threestrikesandyouareout provision. I would urge my colleagues to support the Democratic substitute in preference to the flawed base bill. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"ADAM SCHIFF","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2505,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090082749,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Houston Astros gave the State of Texas and the city of Houston one heck of a good ride. I just want to hold a little red card in my hand for lack of anything red this afternoon to be able to thank the Astros family. Drayton McLane. all of the players. the management. all the staff at Minute Maid Park. to be able to say a big thank you for a long. tedious season. but a hardfought season. My hat is off. October 27.. 2005 Congratulations to the Chicago White Sox. But our little team of 42 years for the first time in the history of the State of Texas took Texas to the World Series. Not only did we take Texas to the World Series. but being in my congressional district. the Minute Maid Park. the Astros are my constituents. among many others. We gave our community just a heck of a lot of joy. as you heard the buzz going around the children. the young people. the elderly. season ticket holders and others. I cannot thank the Astros enough. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1065,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090082759,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"\"I still wonder about how all of our lives would have been different if it had not been for the power of politics and. money. John E. Webb of Gainesville. Georgia.\" Mr. Speaker. if we do not wake up and realize how important private property is both to our freedom and our prosperity. we are going to destroy our Nation. Politicians love to create parks. and this sounds so good. but when we continue to take more and more private property. we have to continually raise taxes on the prQperty that remains in private hands. and we drive up prices on that remaining land. More and more young people cannot then afford homes. or they have to be jammed together in highrises. condos or homes on postagestampsized lots. In addition. the government cannot and does not take as good of care of land as private owners do. We need to put more people in office who understand how hurtful it is when government takes property and takes peoples homes and farms. and we need to put more people in office who will pledge to take better care of the land government already has and stop government land grants and give poor and lowerincome people a chance to own property and appreciatethis very important part of the American dream.","speaker_name":"JOHN DUNCAN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4522,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090082792,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. while we are on this issue here. The gentlewoman from Florida and I talked last night about the fact that we were here pushing for this commission week after week. I mentioned that. And we shared with not only the Members. but also Americans. Mr. Speaker. the fact that it could be them next. victims of a poor. short response or an inadequate response. Little did we know at that time that we would be victims of the shortcomings of the fact that we say we are ready. but we are not really ready or really prepared. and in some cases some people question are we saying we have trucks in certain locations and they are not there. do we need *to get prima facia proof that they were there? These are the questions that my constituents are asking. So I want to share with Members that this independent commission is very important. to make sure that one day it may be you and your constituents going -through this and you are going to say. Gee. you know. it is amazing that we cannot even get a truck to come in here with water. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4485,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090082810,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. .Speaker. let us just make sure that we are crystal clear so that everyone understands. Not just saying. well. let me check. let us see. Let us look at the people that And that is when it has got to stop. apply for the job. Oh. there is a Repub- You did not come to Congress to rublican. No. I want you to hire my right- berstamp this stuff. The people in my hand staffer. I want you to hire him or district did not send me here to rubberher. put them in the position. okay. stamp this stuff. They sent us here to and so I can deal directly with them so end it. because the average worker. the that we can have a line of communica- average small business person in every tions and we are not confused. because single instance. health care. energy. this person has my cell number. okay. gas prices. natural gas. pharmaand I want to make sure that that hap- ceuticals. wages. on every single count pens. they are forgotten. Now. we are not talking about some- They are forgotten because we spent thing that the House Ethics Committee so much. the Republicans spent so has not already dealt with. because of much time giving out public tax dolthe fact that this issue was brought up lars. corporate welfare so that they can and it was very public. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4428,"word_count":235}
{"speech_id":1090082818,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. well. I -certainly thank the gentlewoman for yielding. and I certainly appreciate her leadership in this body and truly being one of the great leaders in trying to reform government. bring about accountability. and to help protect the family budget from the Federal budget. Obviously. many good points were made about fiscal responsibility and the fact that somehow the Democrats. those on the other side of the aisle that we tried to work with. tell us there is no room for reform in the Federal budget. no room whatsoever. that somehow we have to spend even more and more money. Mr. Speaker. it begs the question how much is enough?","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":647,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090082822,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The proposal that we put on the table had about 7 to $9.000 per student. which is relatively consistent with the kinds of moneys being spent around the Nation. The Democrat proposal that they put on the table in our committee. and it was defeated. but the Democrat proposal was to spend over $26.000 per student. adding literally billions to the cost of government. I\" do not know anybody that believes that that is a reasonable amount to spend on something that is as needed. but certainly. we do not need to increase the size and scope of government to do so. The -record of fiscal responsibility of the Republican Caucus and this Republican government really is very. very strong. What that fiscal responsibility has done is cut the budget significantly. This year alone. the fiscal year 2005. which is already done. this is not projection. this is already done. cut the budget by nearly $100 billion. cut the deficit by nearly $100 billion. from $412 billion to $319 billion. So it is a remarkable demonstration of the resolve that we have. When we have the challenges that we have had with the hurricanes and the like. I think it is important for people to appreciate that the Republicans always return to principle. Always. and first and foremost in the area of government spending for our side. asa principle. is that the taxes that Washington collects are not government money. ","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9535,"word_count":240}
{"speech_id":1090082824,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to salute the gentleman from Texas . the gentleman from Georgia . and the gentlewoman from . Tennessee for their being here tonight and focusing on the need to reduce spending. I have heard from a number of citizens as we are discussing our budgetary situation facing this Congress. this Nation. and our country. Many have said. please. the problem is not taxes too low. the problem is spending too high. The gentleman from Texas is vice chairman of the Republican Study Committee. The Chair is the gentleman from Indiana","speaker_name":"VIRGIL GOODE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":541,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090082838,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"\"We have closed 300 refineries in America in the last 10 years.\" If he is talking about \"we.\" that is. if he identifies himself as an oil company executive. that is true. If he is talking about the government of the United States of America. the laws of the United States of America. environmental laws. tax laws. other things. no. The 300 refineries that were closed were closed because of hundreds of oil company acquisitions and mergers and. a deliberate policy. There has been uncovered a memo from Conoco to other major oil companies back in the mid nineties that said: We have a great idea. Were all only getting 27. 22 cents a gallon on refining. If we close down a bunch of refineries. we can drive up those margins. They have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. Oregonians were paying three bucks a gallon on Labor Day weekend. We are not in the east coast supply train so it is a little hard to say it had something to do with Katrina. But we were paying three bucks. $3.05 a gallon for regular. ","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3778,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090082848,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have got to stop the trade policies. tax policies. the fiscal bankruptcy policies that we are doing. I dont mean by the bankruptcy bill. that was bad enough. written by the credit card companies. but the bankrupting. the looting of America that is going on with this administration. It is just laughable when the Republicans parade down here and talk about the spending of the Democrats when they control everything and they have increased the debt by 62 percent in 5 years. How do you blame the Democrats for that when they are in charge of.every branch of government?","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":572,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090082860,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. over the last several minutes. Harriet Miers has fdrmally requested to withdraw as a nominee to serve as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. I had a conversation with Ms. Miers early this morning. and she told me that it was last evening that she spoke to the President and formally requested her nomination to be withdrawn. She stated clearly to me this morning and in a letter. which I will refer to shortly. that she felt- that withdrawal was in the best interest of the United States. She came to this decision on her own. based on what she has experienced and witnessed and with the requests that are currently being made and as she projected forward to the hearings. again. in the best interests of the country. This morning she was gracious and forthcoming. confident. expressed appreciation for all of the work that has been done to date in the Senate and asked me to express that to each of the Senators. asking me to say thank you for their individual courtesy over the past several days and weeks. As one may expect. she was disappointed but confident and upbeat. Earlier this morning. following that. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3519,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090082900,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on behalf. of :the chairman of the subcommittee. Senator SPECTER. I want to state- that this amendment restores $125 million previously appropriated to New York as part of the emergency supplemental bill under chapter 11. relief and recovery. passed by the Congress and signed into law by President Bush on January 10. 2002. The funds would be used for such purposes as mental health treatment and longterm health monitoring of rescue and recovery personhel. The amendment is fully offset. I ask for a voice vote on this amendment.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":546,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090082943,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I commend my distinguished colleague from Iowa for his leadership on this very important issue. I spoke briefly yesterday about the matter and expressed my agreement with the basic thrust of what the Senator from Iowa is seeking to accomplish. There is no doubt that we face a tremendous potential problem with the impact. which could be devastating. as Senator HARKIN has outlined. We have been awaiting a plan from the administration. because in the normal course of events. with the expertise at the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control. we would look to the administration to give us an appraisal as to what their plans are. what their evaluation has been. and how much money they think they need. Senator HARKIN has gone over a number of facts and factors. but the executive branch has more at its disposal than does the Congress. at least at this stage. Our subcommittee has scheduled a hearing on this issue. It is fair to say that we have been under a heavy workload in preparing this bill. and we have had other very heavy commitments. most notably in the confirmation proceedings which were recently concluded for Chief Justice Roberts. and the confirmation hearings which have been intense for Ms. Harriet Miers until her withdrawal this morning. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3890,"word_count":222}
{"speech_id":1090082948,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise in support of the amendment being offered by the Senator from Iowa. It might not be this winter. it might not be next winter. but it is going to happen. The virtual certainty of a pandemic flu is what public health leaders are telling us we as a country need to be prepared for. So are we prepared? The obvious answer is no. .Last week. HCD Research polled 846 doctors from across the country about their sense of how well prepared America is to face a pandemic flu. Four out of five of the doctors surveyed said America is not prepared for a public health crisis that we have been told is virtually certain to occur. When it comes to public health challenges. America can do better. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8630,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090082954,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I do thank the Senator from Wyoming for the great leadership he is providing for our Nation to start preparing us for the different types of flu viruses that might come our way. I know he has worked very hard on this in his chairmanship of the Health. Education. Labor. and PensionsCommittee. I certainly was pleased to hear his comments on this very important issue. It is one that is important for all of us to assure that our country is ready if ke have the kind of pandemic that could happen. It reminds me of Y2K when many were concerned that computers would crash all over America when we turned into the next century. and because we. were prepared. there was no crisis. That is what I hope is the result of our addressing the potential flu strains that may be making their way across the world and could affect Americans in the future.","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":857,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090082966,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"A respected U.S. health expert has concluded that 1.7 million Americans could die in the first year alone of an outbreak. Remember. in 118. the last flu pandemic. as many as 60 million people died in the world. The worlds population was onethird of what it is now. In addition to the 1.7 million Americans who could die during the first year. -according to health experts. the economic costs would be enormous. Every week. the possibility of this threat grows closer. It is now in Croatia. Anyone who watches the news knows that the bird flu is sweeping much of the globe. When we started debating a possible flu pandemic here in the Senate. the bird flu was contained in parts of Asia. Now it has moved into Turkey. and even as far west as Great Britain. Anyone who watches the news knows scientists recently determined that the last flu pandemic outbreak in 1918 started in birds. and it made its way into humans. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6664,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090082983,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"After his death. his friend. David Ellis. joined forces with the Childrens Hospital of Wisconsin to initiate Project ADAM to bring CPR training and public access defibrillation into schools. to educate communities about preventing sudden cardiac deaths. and to save lives. The ADAM Act called for the establishment of a national Project ADAM clearinghouse. Such a clearinghouse would provide schools with the \"how to\" and technical advice to set up public acess defibrillation programs. This clearinghouse responds to a growing number of schools that have the desire to set up such a defibrillation program but often do not know where to start.","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1328,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090083027,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Smoak is a wellregarded and highly qualified attorney. I. along with Senator MARTINEZ. believe he will make a great addition to the Federal bench and urge our colleagues to vote in support of his nomination.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":834,"word_count":35}
{"speech_id":1090083044,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that this vote be 10 minutes. with a 5minute extra. Corzine YEAS97 Dole McCain Domenici McConnell Dorgan Mikulskl Durbin Murkowski Ensign Murray Enzi Nelson (FL) Feingold Nelson (NE) Feinstein Obama Frist Pryor Graham Grassley Reid Gregg Ri Bagel Roberts Harkin Salazar Hatch Santorum Hutchison Sarbanes Inhofe Schumer Isakson Sessions Jeffords Shelby Johnson Sliith Kennedy Snowe Kerry Specter Kohl Stabenow Kyl Stevens Landrieu Sununu Lautenberg Talent Leahy Thomas Levin Thune Lieberman Vitter Lincoln Vintec Lott Voinovich Lugar Warner Martinez Wyden","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":593,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090083057,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. very briefly. Senator HARKIN is due great credit for this very important amendment. having taken the lead in establishing the fund. We have structured it. after consultation with a number of our colleagues. so that funds will be expended at the discretion of the President. after consultation with certain named Members of both the House and the Senate. This is in anticipation of the administration sending over a proposal in .which we should have ample time to give due consideration before the conference. This is a very significant step forward so that we do not face a crisis where the administration wants something done. but only the Congress. under the Constitution. has the author-. ity to appropriate the funds. I salute my colleague. Senator HARKIN. and all those who worked on the amendment. We jointly urge its adoption.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":848,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090083113,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I make Mr. S] a point of order under section 302(f) of to recon the Congressional Budget Act that the Mr. H. amendment provides spending in excess tion on of the subcommittees 302(b) allocation The n under the fiscal year 2005 concurrent agreed t resolution on the budget. Mr: S","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":293,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090083151,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"China is a pretty big country. There are several hundred million children there who might have an opportunity to learn English. . If our President. George W. Bush. in a meeting with the leader of China. thinks it is a good idea to bid out a $9 milli6n contract to improve the ways we help Chinese children learn English. if he believes that is in our national security. I dont think we ought to pull the plug on it a third of the way through it. There is plenty of opportunity for the private sector. in the United States to help hundreds of millions of Chinese children learn English. and I hope they will do that. I hope my colleagues Will vote against this amendment.","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":670,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090083172,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. thank my colleagues. T minute vote was 14 minu have a very brief period f4 and some agreedto amen ator HARKIN and I wante that we hadnt missed any did not do this in advanc two votes. but we will tak minutes and I anticipate start this vote before 6 o is not too bad for Labo Thursday afternoon.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":299,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090083182,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Senator SPECTER. and the ranking member. Senator HARKIN. for accommodating this increase.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2650,"word_count":12}
{"speech_id":1090083221,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I have filed an amendment at the desk which I had hoped the Senate would vote on prior to passage of this bill. Unfortunately given the current parliamentary situation. the only way for a vote to occur on the important issue of fiscal responsibility is by suspending the rules. My amendment would not be in order at this time and therefore my option is to move to suspend rules XVI and XXII. Although clearly that motion is within my rights as an individual Senator. I do not believe that is the best way for this body to proceed. Our rules and precedents govern how we operate on these appropriations. bills and I think that we should work within that framework. Therefore. I am not going to make that motion because it is not an appropriate way for the Senate to address this amendment. I will say. however. that the Senate will vote on this issue. I will be back on this floor at the first opportunity available to this Senator and the Senate will work its will on this language.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":982,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090083222,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I greatly appreciate the Senators commitment to this issue. It is imperative that this Congress exercise fiscal discipline and I concur that an important step must be to control spending. while securing our Nations defense. Next week.. the Senate will do just that as we act on the first deficit reduction package in a decade. I am certain that the Senator from Oklahoma will continue to pursue his efforts. There will be ample opportunities. including the deficit reduction bill. for him to exercise his rights to do so. in a manner that does not violate the spirit of the Senate rules. I look forward to him bringing this important issue before the Senate in the future.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":672,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090083226,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I appreciate the Senators interest in this issue and recognize that he has legislation pending in Congress to address the needs of affected Idahoans. I say to my friend and colleague that I will work with him to identify necessary improvements and to respond to findings contained in the NAS report. I also urge the administration to work diligently to help those still in need.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":378,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090083230,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am aware of this issue too. I note that thimerosal has been out of childhood vaccines since 2001. I understand that the AAP doesnt think there is a link between thimerosal and autism and that an Institute of Medicine. IOM. report indicated that the committee didnt believe thimerosal caused autism. Of course. this does not mean there isnt an association. We should recognize that few diseases have direct causes attributed to them.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":434,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090083231,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I believe that we must at least consider an association between thimerosal exposure and autism. I understand the rate of autism has risen perhaps 800 percent since 1990 and although there could be a number of reasons including better diagnostics. this coincided with an increased ex1posure to thimerosal in vaccines. which again is 50 percent mercury by weight. I have talked to Director Gerberding at the Centers for Disea se Control and Prevention. CDC. which is our Nations premier public health organization. She said that there is room for further study. I note that thimerosal is still in our influenza vaccine. And we want people to get that vaccine.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":657,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090083244,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Each household received $480. which covered the cost of 275 gallons of heating oil. The problem this winter is that the same $480 will buy only 172 gallons. which a household will use up in the first 3 to 4 Weeks. What will these people do to stay warm for the 4 or 5 months left of winter? The water pipes will freeze and then break. damaging homes. People will start using their stoves to get heat. The Mortgage Bankers Association elects that the steep energy costs could increase the number of missed payments and lost homes beginning later this winter. My State is expecting at least 48.000 applicants this winter season. so there will be less money distributed to each household unless we can obtain higher funding for the LIHEAP program.. Ms. Choate says that Maine plansto focus on the elderly. disabled. and families with small children. and is study.ing how to move others to heated shelters. This is why our efforts are so very important. And it isnt just Maine. it is going to happen in all of the Nations cold weather States. ","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5647,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090083270,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I will be happy to. This has been a confusing situation. I say through the Chair to the distinguished Senator from Virginia. After speaking with you. I spoke with the Congresswoman who was concerned about which bill would be going to the Presidents desk. So I was simply rising. not to offer a motion but just to express my concern about the dilemma that we are in at the moment.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":379,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090083289,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today in support of S. 757. the Breast Cancer and Environmental Research Act of 2005. This month marks the 21st year of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. a campaign that provides a special opportunity to offer education about the important association between early detection and survival. National Breast Cancer Awareness month also salutes the more than 2.000.000 breast cancer survivors in the United States and the efforts of victims. volunteers. and professionals who combat breast cancer each day. According to the American Cancer Society. breast cancer is the leading cause of death among women between the ages of 40 and 55. and one out of every eight women who live to the age of 85 will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. But the disease is not limited by gender. In 2005. appreximately 1.700 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed among men in the United States. In my home State of Utah. as indicated by the Utah Cancer Registry. breast cancer has the highest incidence rate of the tenleading cancer types. This disease has an impact on nearly every Americans life. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3429,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090083292,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. last Thursday. in the midst of National Safe Schools Week. a student was nearly shot to death inside a Michigan high school. This tragic incident further underscores the need to do more to combat youth violence. especially gun violence. According to published newspaper reports of the shooting. around noon last Thursday. a tenth grade student fired as many as three shots at another student in a crowded high school hallway. The 15yearold victim was struck once in the chest by a .380 caliber bullet. which missed his heart by less than an inch. Fortunately. he is expected to live. The suspect. who is also 15 years old. allegedly used a stolen .380 caliber pistol in the shooting and now faces life in prison after being charged as an adult. Reportedly. the suspect also has a previous conviction involving a firearm violation. The shooting last Thursday came less than a month after two other students were injured in a driveby shooting outside the same high school. Unfortunately. youth gun violence continues to threaten communities. destroy families. and change the lives of too many young people forever. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2558,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090083293,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and 2005 marks more- than 20 years that National Breast Cancer Awareness Month has educated women about early breast cancer detection. diagnosis. and treatment. Yet. more than three million womeIn currently live with breast cancer and the causes of this disease are still mostly unknown. While we have made significant. advances in treatment. so much more needs to be done when it comes to prevention of this often fatal disease. The Breast Cancer Environmental Research Act. S. 757. would enhance breast cancer environmental research across the country. This bill which is modeled after the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program. would over 5 years. invest $30 million through a peerreviewed grant process to establish a multidisciplinary approach. At this time. four research centers study prenataladult environmental exposures that may cause breast cancer. And while this is a good start. we need a nationally focused. collaborative and comprehensive strategy to approach this and the Breast Cancer Environmental Research Act -would. do just that. ","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1359,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090083303,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am please to join with Chairman SPECTER and Senator BIDEN today as we introduce a bill that will have a dramatic and positive effect in the lives of individuals reentering society after incarceration. The Second Chance Act: Community Safety Through Recidivism Prevention is a bill that will not only protect our Nations citizens but will more importantly help to reduce recidivism in our Nation. A hallmark of any just society lies in its ability t6 protect the interest of all its citizens and I am proud that the United States is a leader in this regard. Yet. while we continue to strive toward this lofty goal. we must realize that there are areas in which we. as a society and as government. must do more to improve. No where is that more apparent than in our Nations pension system. Today. we have challenges within the prison system that range from high recidivism rates to budgetary and safety concerns. With this bill. we will be able to address this pressing problem within our society. Already we have seen innovative and model programs within the states and the faith community. and I am proud to Say that Kansas is a leader in this regard. as well a such faith organizations as Prison Fellowship Ministries. ","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5495,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090083311,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday. October 27 at 10 a.m. The purpose of this hearing is to receive testimony from the administration on hurricane recovery efforts related to energy and to discuss energy policy.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":333,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090083335,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mother Nature can be a very devastating vixen when you dont anticipate the kind of damage you wind up with. Also. I thank the Democrats and their leadership for helping clear this legislation. I thank and acknowledge Senator VITTERS and Senator LANDRIEUS involvement in all these efforts. It is hard to get anything done in the Senate these days. It is the way our body functions. And we all question everything. legitimately. But we got it done. I would like to give credit to both sides and to all of those involved. This just has four or five important things. ","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1658,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090083362,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. yesterday. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. citing the words of the founder of Irans Islamic revolution. the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. said \"Israel must be wiped off the map.\" He then went on to call Israel a \"disgraceful blot.\" He rejected the twostate solution to the Middle East crisis as a defeat for the Islamic world. adding that the \"roadmap\" would -be shortlived. He said \"If we put it behind us successfully. God willing. .it will pave the way for the destruction and the downfall of the Zionist regime.\"","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":542,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090083371,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that all after the enacting clause be stricken and the text of S. 1280. as amended. be inserted in lieu thereof. that the bill. as amended. be read a third time and passed. the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table. the Senate insist upon its amendment. and the .Chair be authorized to appoint conferees. I further ask that S. 1280 be returned to the calendar.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":406,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090083499,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We should not put up with it.","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2517,"word_count":7}
{"speech_id":1090083515,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"How about America? Where are we? Just guess. Think. Are we more? Less? United States. 60.000. 500.000. India and China every year. We are down to 60.000. China. I just mentionedmore than 442.000 graduates every year. While the entire world is getting smarter and faster and stronger in math and science. the United States is not. We are moving in the opposite direction. Indeed. the number of engineering degrees awarded in the United States is down 20F percent from just a decade ago. 10 years ago. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9979,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090083516,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Rather. they appear to be a dilatory tool to prevent any effort to resume the purchase of American beef. There have been claims that American beef is unsafe. This is simply not true. The international science says our cattle under 30 months of age are safe and not at risk. Yet. we have agreed to not send meat from any animals under 20 months of age to Japan. Furthermore. after 20 confirmed cases of BSE in Japan. the claim that U.S. beef is not as safe as Japanese beef is simply an insult to American producers. Still the market remains closed to the U.S. In recent weeks. Japan has insisted upon an unwarranted and unjustified trade barrier by preventing the resumption of regular beef trade with the U.S. Japan has a complicated bureaucracy in place to deal with the issue of BSE. ","speaker_name":"PAT ROBERTS","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7516,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090083521,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to introduce a bill for the City of Saco. ME that concerns the towns ability to allow the mooring of boats on the Saco River. The bill changes the turning basin into an anchorage while managing a 50 foot channel within the anchorage. The town was not aware that it was in violation because of 21 moorings located in the Saco. River Federal Navigational Project. In an effort to eliminate this encroachment. city officials have requested a modification or deauthorization of the Federal Navigational. Project to resolve the issue. The U.S_. ","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1123,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090083528,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it adjourn until 2 p.m. on Monday. October 31. I further ask consent that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate proceed to a period for the transaction of morning business. with the time equally divided until 4 p.m. I further ask unanimous consent that the Senate then proceed to S. 1932. as under the previous order.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":543,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090083546,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Other Asian countries have since opened their borders to U.S. beef. and it is time for Japan to do the same. Therefore. I am asking my colleagues to support this legislation and bring an end to- Japans beef embargo.","speaker_name":"JOHN SALAZAR","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1034,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090083548,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"For half a century. we called upon unbounded invention and untiring industry to create an order of plenty for all of our people. The challenge for the next half century is whether we have the wisdom to use that wealth to enrich and elevate our national life. and to advance the quality of our American civilization. . Mr. Speaker. the challenge continues today as we wish happy birthday to St. Louis arch.","speaker_name":"RUSS CARNAHAN","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1263,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090083550,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. Chief of Staff Scooter Libby. the chief architect of the lies and deceptions about weapons of mass destruction in the rush to an unnecessary war to Vice President DICK CHENEY. is indicted for obstruction of justice and perjury in an attempt to cover up the plot to lie about weapons of mass destruction and smear those who told the truth. The Republican spin machine is in high gear. It is not a big deal: Obstruction of justice. perjury. deceiving the Nation into an unnecessary war. not a big deal. not like a President lying about sex with an intern.","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":566,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090083552,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I could not agree more. The oil companies should take their historic profits and use it to execute their business plans. and that is also why oil companies should give back the $16.5 billion in taxpayer subsidies that the Republican Congress has -given to the energy companies in the past 4 months. Mr. Speaker. right now Americans are paying twice: Once at the pumps. and then again on April 15 when they file their taxes. That is not the free market. it is corporate welfare. What Congress subsidizes big oil to the tune of $16.5 billion. yet cuts home heating assistance to the elderly? A Republican Congress. Exxon said let the free market work. Let us get rid of corporate welfare for the big oil companies.","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1286,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090083566,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. Mr. Speaker. if I can briefly address the just prior conversation. I will commend my colleague from Massachusetts in terms of trying to make some clarification on the issue of food assistance. I also will commend my colleague from Massachusetts in this regard: I know where his heart is on food assistance. it is where we all need to be. I will tell you that we can discuss the nature of the problem in terms of the distribution. but I think what was particularly important in this committee was when we first had the money presented for food assistance. it was less. less. in the Presidents budget than we hadin the prior year. and it was split between our committee and sending money to AID. thereby lowering .the dollar amount by about $265 million. We were adamant about trying to maintain a higher level of assistance. and. I tell you. without having the benefit of getting back that $265 million from AID. we were able to bring the dollar amount on food assistance up to $1.1 billion. which we are proud of. and that is part of the admonition in the conference report.","speaker_name":"ROSA DELAURO","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1131,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090083585,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"All Rafsanjani. openly boasted that Iran would win a nuclear exchange -with Israel. Mr. Speaker. when Hitler threatened to -destroy the Jews. almost nobody took him seriously. The appeasers and the pseudosophisticates said it was just rhetoric. But madmen often mean exactly what they say. as we learned only under the most tragic circumstances. and now Iran is declaring its ugly. unthinkable intent for all to hear. And the world is tested yet again. Mr. Speaker. Iran is guilty of a multitude of sins and assaults on civilization beyond its policy of attempting to delegitimatize the State of Israel. Iran is the worlds leading state sponsor of terrorism. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5134,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090083601,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the history of the 20th century aptly teaches us that when tyrants threaten genocide and mass murder. their words must be taken seriously because they have a tendency to do exactly what they said they would do. When President Ahmadinejad of Iran threatened to destroy Israel. says Israel must be wiped off the map. he joined the fellow he defeated in the election. the former President Akbar Hashenii Rafsanjani who said that Israel must be destroyed by nuclear weapons. and it does not matter. One nuclear bomb will destroy Israel. and nuclear war will merely harm. not destroy. the Islamicworld. These men must be taken seriously. The threats of genocide must not be permitted to be carried out. Iran is the enemy of peace and the enemy of order and the enemy of mankind in its behavior and its proclaimed intentions. Iran must not be permitted to have nuclear weapons. It is a shame that this country got diverted into Iraq from focusing on the real threat to peace in the world. Iran. and we should focus on Iran and make sure they do not get nuclear weapons. and make sure they return to peaceful sanity.","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1122,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090083603,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Illinois and the kind gentleman from California for bringing this resolution to the. floor today and allowing me to join them as a cosponsor. On Wednesday at a speech in front of 4.000 Iranian students. the President of Iran called for Israel to be \"wiped off the map.\" He led a group of students in chants of \"death to Israel.\" Our message to Iran and its President is firm. We condemn in the strongest terms his dangerous and reckless remarks. These comments are a wakeup call- to the international community as we deal with Irans attempt to gain access to nuclear technology. It goes without saying. Irans words are a challenge to all members of the United Nations and the integrity of the United Nations Charter and those who have signed on to it. As a member of the United Nations. the. President of Irans comments violate U.N. rules and must be dealt with decisively by the United Nations leadership and all those in the Security- Council. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1727,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090083612,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"H.R. 282. the Iran Freedom Support Act would repeal the sunset of ILSA. close some loopholes in ILSA. provide assistance to prodemocracy organizations in Iran. and require ILSA to remain in effect until the President certifies to Congress that Iran has permanently and vedfiably dismantled its weapons of mass destruction programs and has committed to combating such weapons proliferation. I am pleased that the European Union. Canada. and Russia have condemned the remarks of the Irania President. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution. and to work with our allies to promote democracy in Iran. convince Iran to. give up its pursuit of WMD. and fight antiSemitism wherever it arises. -","speaker_name":"BENJAMIN CARDIN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3294,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090083616,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Iran has stepped up its efforts to initiate terror against Israel by directly funding and providing safe haven. training and weapons to Hamas. Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad. And just hours after his speech. Islamic Jihad. benefiting from this support. killed 5 Israeli citizens in a terrorist attack in Northern Israel. Mr. Speaker. Mr. Ahmadinejad has blood on his hands and we must stand strong against this menacing threat by passing this resolution. Furthermore. I call on my colleagues to support the Iran Freedom Support Act. which would tighten and codify sanctions against Iran. and I urge the United Nations Security Council to take immediate action to thwart Irans continued pursuit of nuclear weapons. ","speaker_name":"ALLYSON SCHWARTZ","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1465,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090083617,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. on October 26. 2005. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated that \"Israel must be wiped off the map.\" It is shocking and unbelievable .that the leader of any nation would call for the complete destruction of another. These types of threats cannot stand unanswered. I join my colleagues today in condemning the president of Irans remarks in the strongest of terms. While the peace process has been moving along in the Middle East without much participation from the Bush adminlstration. Iran continues to pursue nuclear armament with little interest shown by the president. and the United States remains bogged down in Iraq. I hope these unconscionable statements will cause the Bush administration to renew its commitment to our allies in the region. Let us make no mistake. such statements present a serious threat to the world. Irans leaders are pursuing nuclear armament. and continue to call for the destruction of the state 9f Israel. one of the United States most important allies. ","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1313,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090083641,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Like many Members from rural America. I wish we could have applied higher funding levels in this bill. However. given our budget constraints. I am generally pleased with the funding levels provided. This year. the other body finally saw the light and agreed to final funding for the National Animal Disease Center Modernization Project. This funding will gjve the Department of Agriculture a worldclass facility. with a broad range of animal disease research capabilities. For renewable energyanother important sector to our part of the country and to the agriculture econorythe bill provides 23 Mil[ion dollars: This program provides small grants that help farmers and small businesses make energy efficiency improvementsultimately helping farmers hurt by high fuel prices. The measure funds important agriculture research. for both crops and livestock. Like many of my colleagues we must renew our commitment to agriculture research which holds great promie for the future of American agriculture. Over the years. we have made great strides through research. in areas such as disease prevention. food safety. crop yields and animal health. ","speaker_name":"TOM LATHAM","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2879,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090083667,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Rules Committee may meet next week to grant a rule which could limit the amendment process for floor consideration of H.R. 4128. the Private Property Rights Protection Act of 2005. Any Member wishing to offer an amendment should submit 55 copies of the amendment and one copy of a brief explanation of the amendmefit to the Rules Committee in room H312 of the Capitol by 10 a.m. on Wednesday. November 2. 2005. Members should draft their amendments to the bill as reported by the Judiciary Committee on Thursday. October 27. which is expected to be filed with the House early next week. Members are also advised that the text should be available for their review on the Web sites of the Judiciary and Rules Committees by today. October 28. Members should use the Office of Legislative Counsel to ensure that their amendments are drafted in the most appropriate format and should check with the Office of the Parliamentarian to be certain that their amendments comply with the rules of the House.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1012,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090083671,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We will be making a rule in order for that. We also anticipate that the House will consider additional appropriations conference reports as they become available.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1115,"word_count":26}
{"speech_id":1090083681,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I will just say. Mr. Speaker. that we obviously. in looking at the chance the Members will clearly have here in the Capitol to recognize the extraordinary life. we are going to have this resolution on the floor. but we still do want to do whatever we can. and the Speaker is committed to that. to address the concern of her funeral taking place on Wednesday. I thank again the gentleman from Michigan for his thoughtful remarks.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":428,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090083696,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In nominal terms it was larger. In actual terms. not in nominal. in actual terms if you made $5 in 1993 and you make $5.10 now. you are technically making more money. Nobody in the world believes you are making more money. And that misrepresentation. we should not have gotten into this debate because it is the subject of a long debate with significant disagreements between the sides. on fiscal responsibility.","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":412,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090083714,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Senator OBAMA. Senators LEvlN and STABENOW and many others in the other body. but it was in the House of Representatives that the Speaker of the House joined immediately with the Congressional Black Caucuss request for transportation and for the privilege of having this be the first woman to ever be honored by her remains being on display in the rotunda of the Capitol of the United States. I am so proud of my colleagues and all who have made what was a very difficult set of arrangements between Montgomery. Washington. DC. and Detroit possible. I am in the debt of the gentlewoman from California who has admirably brought this resolution to the floor.","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5500,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090083725,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. further reserving the right to object. I thank the gentlewoman for her insight in bringing her this Congressional Medal of Honor. Mr. Speaker. I yield to the gentleman from Georgia . who is also a drum major for justice. His name is in the history books already. He walked with her and talked with her and helped in the development of the civil rights movement.","speaker_name":"JUANITA MILLENDER-MCDONALD","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":37.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":374,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090083738,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. with the death of Rosa Parks. America has lost one of the great icons of the modem civil rights movement. No one could have known on that December day in 1955 what a great impact her simple yet courageous gesture would have on changing a perverse injustice in American society. Mrs. Parks took a seat on a bus in Montgomery. Alabama after a long day at work. A white man approached her and wanted to take her seat. As was the custom at the time. she Was expected to give up that seat. This happened countless times before in countless cities and towns all across the South. ","speaker_name":"ERIC CANTOR","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1188,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090083739,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"\"Mrs. Parks arrest was the precipitating factor rather than the cause of the pro- test.\" King wrote in his 1958 book. \"Stride ToWard Freedom.\" \"The cause lay deep in the record of similar injustices.\" Rosa Parks didnt set out to be a hero. But by taking a stand. she became the catalyst for a profound change in American society. and the walls of segregation came tumbling down. Rosa Parks is a national treasure and an inspiration for the ongoing fight for social equality. She reminds us that the pursuit for justice is an obligation for all instead of. a choice for some. She was one small woman who had a big impact and empowered individuals Her lifes work is a shining light in our Nations history. -Rosa Parks said. \"Id like people to say Im a person who always wanted to be free and wanted it not only for myself. freedom is for all human beings.\" This year marks the 50th Anniversary of Rosa Parks courageous and defiant act of civil disobedience. As we honor her life and legacy. I ask the Congress and the great.people of this Nation to work with the same courage. dignity. and determination exemplified by Rosa Parks to address and change modem day inequalities and injustices. ","speaker_name":"JANICE SCHAKOWSKY","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2155,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090083760,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to take just a few minutes to talk about the economy. We have all kinds of news rushing around here. but I think it is very important for us to talk about the economy and what we as Republicans have done on this progrowth issue. It is unfortunate that our colleagues on the other side of the aisle. when it comes to the economy. seem to offer nothing more than a coordinated chorus of contrarian criticism. I mean. they have offered no positives. just complaints. So I want to take a moment to shine some light on the recent good news concerning the economy. Because of Republican progrowth. protrade. proinnovation policies. our economy is strong by virtually every single measure. Just today. just a few hours ago. the Commerce Department announced that the economy grew at a 3.8 percent rate in the fourth quarter. Now. that is ahead of expectations. well. well ahead of the second quarter rate of growth and. ","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4959,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090083765,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There are no fewer than five Members of this House who have policy proposals to end the war. and .127. Members joined me in voting for the amendment I offered in May to this years defense authorization bill expressing the sense of Congress that we need to end this war. On the other side of the Capitol. Senators KERRY. KENNEDY. FEINGOLD and others have offered their plans for Iraq as well. I held an informal hearing last month to address how the United States can achiev6 military disengagement. Thirty other Members of Congress joined me at this hearing. listening to* military. academic and governmental experts discuss the best way- to end this devastating war. Clearly the majority of the country has started the conversation about these issues. It is necessary that the President join in. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3542,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090083788,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. I think the silence speaks for itself. . Let us quickly go through this. June 12. the Vice President tells Libby about Joe Wilsons wife. In September the Vice President is on \"Meet the Press\" with Tim Russert and he says. I do not even know who Joe Wilson is. Can one imagine? We look at him and we believe him. Here is Scott McClellan on October 3. So June the VP told Libby. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":919,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090083801,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am glad the gentleman brought up iFEMA. because obviously that is a pretty hot issue down my way right now. Let us let people know what we were talking about the other night. because Brownie. the former Mr. Michael Brown. the former Under Secretary for FEMA. most peoplethink that he is gone. Most people think he is no longer involved in FEMAs decisionmaking activities. He is still being paid $148.000 a year as an adviser. because the Secretary of Homeland Security Mr. Chertoff just extended his contract for another 30 days. They kept him on supposedly to continue to advise thtm on how to deal with the aftermath of Katrina. [I 1500","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":640,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090083805,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You are absolutely right. Mr. RYAN. In terms of cronyism. that was the ultimate. You had a guy get a job because he was the college roommate of an ally of the Presidents and put in charge of the agency that has to be the command center for every agency in the government and directing their response to the aftermath of a hurricane. or any natural disaster. What happens is. if you put an unqualified person in that position. you are going to end up having the result that we saw in the aftermath of Katrina and the result that we have now seen in the aftermath of Wilma. Now we have Secretary Paulison. Acting Secretary Paulison. who is in place now. He is a constituent of mine. he does have the qualifications. he does know what he is doing. but Brownie is still on the payroll. and FEMA is now in the Department of Homeland Security. It -is no longer an independent agency that answers directly\" to the President. that has the ability to direct things on their own. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3322,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090083812,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"These individuals would. be examined. they would be questioned. and if this person saw. after the immigrant was examined to be healthy and ready to work in America. they were allowed to come in. That process did not take a great amount of time. Now. today. if people want to come to the United States legally. there is so much bureaucratic nonsense that it takes a long time for people who wish to become citizens or people who wish to work here or go to school here if they do it the right way. the legal way. We have all heard of the excuses and the socalled explanations for why it takes so long to allow people to come to the United States the legal way. Madam Speaker. they are just excuses. they are not reasons. I am an advocate of immigration. legal immigration. [ 1515 I am proud of the fact that my ancestors came from Scotland. and the hardheaded ones came from Germany. But. you know. Madam. Speaker. we discriminate in this country against people who want to come here the legal way. the rightway. those who want to do something for America and not to America. to the benefit of the lawless illegals who disrespect our rules. the rule of law and our Nation. Madam Speaker. the battle for the border is upon us. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11094,"word_count":227}
{"speech_id":1090083885,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on Friday. the President formally withdrew from the Senate his nomination of Harriet Miers to be Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Today. he announced his intention to nominate Judge Samuel Alito to that same position. To those who are keeping count. this will be the third nomination to fill the seat vacated by the future retirement of Justice Sandra Day OConnor made by the President. Justice OConnor is still there. Three people have been nominated to fill her seat. I am concerned that the nomination may be a needlessly provocative nomination. Obviously. I will do as I have always done on nominees of both Republican and Democratic Presidents. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9015,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090083891,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That is the way it was. Although the mantra was \"separate but equal.\" the reality was separate and unequal.","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1850,"word_count":19}
{"speech_id":1090083895,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Capitol Building. the first woman to be so honored in the history of the United States of America. I was enormously moved this morning. standing with my colleagues. Senator SESSIONS and Senator LEVIN. I know most of our colleagues visited the Rotunda this morning as well. But I did want to follow on his comments about this extraordinary woman who will live forever in the history of this great country of ours.","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1691,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090083912,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. at this point we turn to what is one of the more significant pieces of legislation to come before the Senate and the Congress during this session of the Senate. We always hear that. Whatever legislation comes to the Congress. they always say. Well. it is a significant piece of legislationand it is. There is very little that he we do that cannot have that identification. But this one is a little unique because for the first time in 8 years under Republican leadership. this Congress will. if we are successful in passing this bill. conferencing it and then sending it on to the President. reduce the deficit of the United States through addressing what is the most significant item of spending in the Federal budgetmandatory programs. This is a major effort. As I said. it has not occurred in 8 years. The last time it happened was in the mid1990s. and it has not occurred because people did not want to do it. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11361,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090083919,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to honor the Ruby Jubilee of the Crisis Call Center in Reno. NV. For 40 years. volunteers have provided intervention. prevention. referral. and education services to the people of Nevada. The center has been a lifeline for countless individuals. While its volunteers know how valuable their efforts are. we will never know how much pain they have prevented or the full extent of the healing they have promoted. The Crisis Call Center was founded in 1966 at the University of Nevada. Reno to combat the high rate of suicide. However. its scope grew over time. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1559,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090083926,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to publicly commend the Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary Unit No. 60 from Humboldt. SD. for their many years of devoted service to the Humboldt community. In late November of 1929. the Humboldt VFW Auxiliary No. 60 began with only 10 members. Seventysix years later. Unit No. 60 boasts 68 devoted and patriotic members. all from the Humboldt community and surrounding areas. Each year. Unit No. 60 participates in numerous community activities. In addition to volunteering at the Sioux Falls VA hospital and donating money for personal care items. coffee. and other products on the VA wish list. the","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":629,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090083928,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The bill also would ensure that the Secretary uses the proceeds from the sale of the land to purchase other acreage for the Dixie National Forest. In my view. this legislation is the easiest and most effective way to resolve this longstanding dispute. I am aware that some concerns have been raised about this bill in the past. For example. some have expressed concerns that this legislation would restrict sportsmens access to the Dixie National Forest. prevent landowners from obtaining water. and allow for the subdivision of the land. However. since those concerns were raised. the plan has been cleared by the Washington County Commission. the State hunter interests. and the majority of landowners in the Pinto Valley. Only after receiving assurances that these groups did not oppose this legislation did I decided to move forward. Thank you. Mr. President.","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3508,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090083929,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Washington. DC. 205106150. For further information. please contact Clint Williamson 2022247556 or Steve Waskiewicz at 2022286195.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":937,"word_count":16}
{"speech_id":1090083990,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As I understand it. today. after this series of excessive tax cuts the President has pushed through. using this reconciliation processactually. I think. abusing it. not using it. because it was designed to reduce deficits. not to increase deficitsbut using this fasttrack procedure. the President and hisallies in the Congress have pushed through -a series of excessive tax cuts. So as I understand it. we are now in deficit. $317 billion for the fiscal year that just ended. and we are facing projected deficits. over the next 10 years. of $4.5 trillion. is that correct?","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":572,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090084002,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As I draw to a close. I just want to underscore what is happening. I had put a question to the Senator from North\u0095 Dakota and there wasnt an opportunity to answer. Our debt is escalating at a faster rate than the budget deficit. which compounds the situation. Who is holding this debt? Who is buying this paper and. therefore. has claims against U.S. citizens looking out into the future? -","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":390,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090084003,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That will take the total up to over $3 trillion of added debt in just the 5 years that this President has been in power. Who is holding the debt? Increasingly. it is foreigners. This President has increased foreign holdings of our debt by a trillion dollars. It took 42 Presidents 224 years to run up a trillion dollars of external debt. This President has more than doubled that amount in 4 years.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1188,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090084015,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As I look at the chart which the Senator has presented. Japan has $684 billion of it. China. $248 billionand that is rapidly escalating. moving upwards very fast--the United Kingdom. $174 billion. Caribbean banking centers are holding over $100 billion of our national debt. This is a recipe for eventual disaster if we dont get this situation under control. The budget reconciliation process ought not to be used in such a way that the ultimate result is going to be an increase in our deficit and a further runup of the debt. I thank the chairman and the ranking member for this opportunity to speak. I again commend Senator CONRAD from North Dakota for the effective and consistent leadership he has provided over the years in addressing the important question of the fiscal underpinnings of our national economy. I yield the floor. . ExHIBiT 1","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":847,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090084025,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"To say anything else. is inaccurate. Yes. the budget deficit is $314 billion. but it was supposed to be$440 billion or $420 billion. We have generated $100 billion of reduction in the deficit and almost all of it. almost all of it has been a function of new revenues coming into the Federal Government. There has also been essentially a freeze on discretionary spending. nondefense. which has been good. but essentially all that revenue has come out of this. come out of the fact that we cut taxes and we have generated more economic activity.. So when the argument is made that the tax cuts are inappropriate and that we are generating cuts for wealthy individuals at the expense of lowincome individuals. it is just not consistent with the fact. The fact is. this deficit reduction plan significantly reduces the deficit but does it in a way that does not impact lowincome individuals. In fact. the new spending initiatives in this plan. which are fully paid for by offsetting reductions. dramatically benefit lowincome individuals. especially those who are working. who are going to college. and who are trying to benefit from Medicare. Secondly. the tax provisions which will be coming in the next exercise. which is independent of this exercise. are provisions which are generally supported by most Americans. They are the deductibility of the R&D tax credit. deductibility of education credits. deductibility of savings credits. State and local taxes. sales taxes. and. of course. the- AMT fix. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4452,"word_count":248}
{"speech_id":1090084027,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":14,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I think the chairman of the Budget Committee just summed up the position of his party when he said we have to borrow the money because we have the debt. That is exactly right. Their party has put us on a fiscal course to explode the debt. And when the Senator talks about deficit reduction. which is on the cover of the book of the matter that we are discussing todayit says deficit reductionit just doesnt have any credibility because it is part of a .package. The package is the budget that was passed earlier this year. This reconciliation process we are going through now was authorized by that budget. That budget didnt reduce any deficit. it increased the deficit. Most seriously. it exploded the debt. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10988,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090084033,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So there is a significant. amount of extra savings in the health. education. labor. and pensions component of this package. title VII. which I will discuss momentarily. Now. 2 weeks ago. the HELP Committee reported a bipartisan bill that garnered support from four Democrats. in addition to all of the committee Rel publicans. We achieved this savings in several ways. One was the Higher Education Act reauthorization. It has been held up for some period of time because we are trying to identify proper funding levels. and reform programs so that more people can get more training. This will ultimately lead to students obtaining better skills. resulting in fewer jobs being outsourced. It is not just a college age situation. It is a college agetoretirement situation and it includes careers. We addressed that separately in the. Workforce Investment Act reauthorization. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6227,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090084098,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we are back in open session. and I believe shortlyin about 40 or 45 minuteswe will be back on course on a very important bill that our Nation cares about. which we are on track to complete this week. that is. the deficit reduction bill. Over the next about 30 or 35 minutes. however. we will be clarifying some of the intention. scheduling. and language with regard to the completion of the report on Iraq prewar intelligence which has been under a great deal of discussion in the past within the .Intelligence Committee. and. indeed. a subject of discussion between the chairman -and the vice chairman. both of whom will have the opportunity to express their ideas here shortly. Let me say that I think it is absolutely critical as we move forward on this important issue that we get partisanship out of these discussions of intelligenceimportant matters. important to this country. important to the Afnerican peopleand anything and everything we can do to keep these discussions above partisanship is absolutely critical. We have been in a closed session. and I want all Members to familiarize themselves with what that actually means as we have seen because we were in that session for a little over 2 hours. It is very important that people do not talk about what happened during that session. Again. we will all have to go back because it is very unusual to go into these closed sessions. and. in fact.. I think unprecedented. the way we went into this session. which we will probably talk about a little bit more later. I was very disappointed the way. we entered into this session. which was a total surprise to me. Let me also say I have absolute confidence in our Intelligence Committee and in what they are doing in terms of this important work and Senator ROBERTS as chairman. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2351,"word_count":315}
{"speech_id":1090084118,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. at this time I think we can reach unanimous consent on what at least the next three amendments will be. I ask unanimous consent that the next three people to be recoghized for amendments will be Senator LINCOLN. Senator INHOFE. and Senator NELSON. The next amendment after Senator NELSON weexpect to be offered by Senator LoTT. The other side has not had a chance to review that amendment yet.. so we reserve on Senator LOTT. I further ask unanimous consent that tomorrow morning we will begin with an amendment from Senator CANTWELL. followed by an amendment by Senator GRASSLEY.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":595,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090084131,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I appreciate that the Senator will not yield. I was going to ask the Senator for a copy of the amendment. Out of courtesy from this. side of the aisle. I decided to let her go forward. I appreciate she wont yield to us to find out what her amendment is about.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":259,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090084134,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am going to speak against the amendment b the Senator from Arkansas. but I want to make clear that I do not object to the substance of the amendment. I am in a position where I have to have a reconciliation. I want to show sympathy for what she is talking about but defending what I have in my mark and also expressand I am summarizing nowthat I hope somewhere between now and the final consideration of the reconciliation we are able to take out Katrina relief that I have in mine. do it more broadly. As Senator BAUcUS and I have tried to do. but right now I am not in a position to do that. I hope to move that along. and so today I am a little bit opposite of the Senator and a little bit opposite of Senator BAUCUS.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":737,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090084169,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Most doctors make a considerable amount of money. and most doctors live in very nice homes. They have studied.hard. and they have worked hard. Most doctors would. not be in a Government program. But just to give a sense of the displacement. there were 6.000 active patient care physicians in this region before the storm. Sixtyfive days ago. there were 6.000 active patient care physicians. Over twothirds. 4.486 have basically been displaced out of 3 central Ne~v Orleans parishes that were evacuated. Not only do~we not have hospitals or clinics. our doctors are gone and our nurses are gone. The system is literally collapsing as we speak. That is why Senator LINCOLN has been here not just today but almost every one of these 64 days trying to get this body and Congress to understand the magnitude of the disaster. the unprecedented nature of the disaster. and why it is important for us to provide a few billion dollars to help us keep the lights on. get our doctors back. our nurses back. keep what hospitals we can standing up. because an unprecedented number of people have not just lost their homes but have lost their jobs and. as a result. have lost whatever health care. whatever access to good care they needed. Let me make -one other point. ","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11115,"word_count":219}
{"speech_id":1090084183,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":15,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Governors. supported it. Did we get it passed? No. We cover evacuees below the poverty level of $9.500. Think of that. People who earn that low income need help. particularly in the circumstances faced by the people in the aftermath of this destruction of the hurricane. Our amendment also would cover pregnant women and kids at twice that income level. That is not a lot of money. That is about $19.000 a year. That is all. Pregnant women and kids with incomes above that much would not get covered by our amendment but up to that level. $19.000 a year. that is all. pregnant women who only earn $19.000 a year. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11124,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090084191,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. under the unanimous consent agreement. the understanding was that we move on to the Inhofe amendment and to the Nelson amendment. And although it wasnt agreed to. I believe it can now be agreed to that the amendment in order after the Nelson amendment will be thle Lot amendment. except if we end up going into tomorrow. the first two amendments will be Senator CANTWELLs amendment followed by Senator GRASSLEYS amendment. If Senator LOTrs amendment or Senator NELSONS amendment do not come up tonight. we follow those two amendments. Is that correct?","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":566,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090084250,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would say this: If the reverse were true. and if all of the amendments to increase the deficit came from the Republican side. I would still introduce this amendment. I am going to yield back so that my friend from Florida can take up his amendment because he is next in line. But I would say this: Even if it were done on this side of the aisle as opposed to that side of the aisle. I would still say we have t6 do something for my 12 grandkids. and that is really get a handle on this. My amendment is good. There are all kinds of people endorsing it. The National Taxpayers Union is supporting my amendment. I am going to read it one more time and then I am going to yield back the remainder of my time and there will be a vote on it. Beginning with fiscal year 2007 and thereafter. all nondefense. nontrustfund. discretionary spending shall not exceed the previous fiscal years levels . . . without a twothirds vote. of Members duly chosen and sworn. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1441,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090084256,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This Senator may be frozen out. and this Senator is going to object unless he is not frozen out. I am happy to go to Senator NELSON. Why dont we let him go and then see where we stand at the end. But I am not going to enter into an agreement that would not permit me to answer if I felt something required an answer.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":316,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090084274,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Since this Senator was disciplined in his comments as promised. would the Senator be surprised that this amendment causes no increase in the Part B premium to senior citizens by offsetting what would be the enhanced payment. to drug companies under the Medicaid increase that is going to the drug companies when they go over to HMOs from the current law that holds the drug companies to a discounted rate?","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":405,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090084286,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I have introduced legislation to reform rules that determine requirements for a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) grant program that helps many disabled veterans make their homes suitable for occupancy. Currently. a disabled veteran must at least partly own his or her residence to receive VA housing assistance grants to perform necessary residence modifications. such as installing wheelchair ramps or railings. However. many younger veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have not yet had the opportunity to become homeowners. Being ineligible for VA help to modify their homes. these veterans and their families often are compelled to either shoulder the costs of retrofitting their residences or face extended stays in VA medical facilities. My bill would establish a 5year pilot piogram to allow severely disabled veterans who live temporarily with family to receive up to $10.000 in adaptive housing assistance. less severely disabled veterans could receive a maximum of $2.000. This grant money will help ensure that all disabled veteransregardless of whether they own propertyare able to leave hospitals and return home as quickly as possible. Also. mindful that these individuals will likely purchase their own residence. the bill would allow disabled veterans .to receive two additional Specially Adaptive Housing Grants to be used for homes that they own in the future. Severely disabled veterans could receive a total of $50.000 to modify residences. less severely disabled veterans would be eligible for a total of $10.000. Only one of the three total grants could be used for a temporary residence. such as a familyowned home. Americas veterans have made enormous sacrifices to .protect our Nation and the ideals for which it stands. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SUNUNU","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4640,"word_count":272}
{"speech_id":1090084295,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce. Science. and Transportation be authorized to meet on Tuesday. November 1. at 10 a.m.. on the nominations of Shana Dale. to be Deputy Administrator. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Mark Rosenker. to be Member. National Transportation Safety Board. and Kathryn Higgins. to be Member. of the National Transportation Safety Board.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":412,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090084312,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution be agreed to. the preamble be agreed to. the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. with no intervening action or debate. and that any statements relating to this measure be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":272,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090084336,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Economists have estimated that if those events had not occurred. this economy would have grown at about 5 percent in the last quarter. The good news is that this economy continues to grow. The question that most thinking people would ask. how can this be when most of the media. financial and otherwise. keep saying how awful this economy is. how it has no staying power. how it has no energy at all? I am reminded of the old adage that says that even a broken clock is right twice a day. If people keep predicting that there will be a recession. sooner or later they are going to be right. This chart demonstrates that the past 10 quarters have been phenomenal. That is 21\/2 years. Growth during that time has been greater. than 3 percent for every single quarter and in some of those quarters it has been greater than 4 percent. Again thinking people would ask. What happened 10 quarters ago to bring this about? What began this growth cycle? Curiously. that is about the time when the tax cuts on divir dends and the tax cuts on capital gains and the tax cuts on income taxes were clear that they were going to take effect retroactive to January 1. 2003. That is all good news. ","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4585,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090084349,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. in the global war on terrorism. we continue to fight against an enemy that has no respect for the sanctity of human life. On Saturday. terrorists detonated three bombs in the busy streets of New Delhi. taking the lives of 62 innocent civilians and wounding over 200 people. -By targeting shopping centers and a city bus. terrorists cowardly murdered innocent civilians. Over 60.000 Indians have been killed by terrorists. As these horrendous attacks -continue throughout the globe. citizens of all free nations are at risk. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the serial blasts in Delhi and vowed that \"the government is determined to defeat nefarious designs of terrorist elements. The perpetrators of these heinous acts will be dealt with firmly.\" The United States stands with Prime Minister Singh. and we remain dedicated to defeating terrorists who attack our allies. Today our thoughts and prayers are with the Indian people. who are continuing to work with Pakistan for mutual benefit. -In conclusion. God bless our troops. and we will never forget September 11. * 1415","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1100,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090084359,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. -I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H.R. 3548. authored by the distinguished gentleman from New York . This bill would designate the post office in Pearl River. New York. as the Heinz Ahlmeyer. Jr. Post Office Building. All members of the New York State delegation have cosponsored this legislation. ","speaker_name":"GILBERT GUTKNECHT","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2038,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090084385,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Returning to Minnesota. he continued to serve as a member of the District 43 School. Board. the Minnesota State Senate. the U.S. House of Representatives. and as Governor of our great State. all accomplishments which have already been mentioned and probably cannot be mentioned enough for this great American. In his life. faith has always been a clear and guiding principle. As one of the founders of the bipartisan National Prayer Breakfast. Al is responsible for a meaningful tradition which continues today. Attended by every President for the past 50 years. the Iiational Prayer Breakfast unites men and women from across the political spectrum in every area of the country in a common purpose. and. Mr. Speaker. I -might add. from countries around the world as this prayer breakfast has grown in participation. . ","speaker_name":"JOHN KLINE","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3411,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090084400,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it is with sadness that I rise to inform the House of the passing on Sunday of one of our beloved former colleagues. John Erlenborn of Illinois. John Erlenborn served the people of the southwest suburbs of Chicago from 1956 to 1985. After his service in Congress. he served on the board and as president of the Legal Services Corporation from 1989 until 2001. A former president of the U.S. Association of Former Members of Congress. he was wellknown and wellloved by all of us. Our hearts and prayers go out to his wife Dorothy and his wonderful family.","speaker_name":"JUDY BIGGERT","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":567,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090084406,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I was attending events in my congressional district during todays rollcall votes on H.R. 3548. the Heinz Ahlmeyer. Jr.. Post Office Building Designation Act. and H.R. 3989. -the Albert Harold Quie Post Office Designation Act. Had I been present. I would have voted in favor of both bills.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL OXLEY","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":301,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090084409,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the President has finally discovered that there is a threat of an avian bird flu pandemic despite the fact that it was discovered about 8 yearsago. Experts -have been talking about the threat of the pandemic for a number of years. Last year the President in his budget spent $182 million on chastity education and $100 million on preparation for a pandemic. That is for all investment in flus. vaccines. and antivirals and research. I am glad that he has had a change of heart now. Now he is going to begin to adequately fund the threat. but it is getting pretty late. The U.S. does not make the vaccines. In fact. there is not a very good vaccine -available. And we do not make the antivirals. ","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":839,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090084418,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. every time you rook. the rationale for the Iraq war has shifted. It went from being about weapons of mass destruction to removing Saddam Hussein to trying to build a democratic Iraq. We were told this war would be over in a matter of weeks. and that the Iraqis would be able to finance it with oil sales. -We were promised it was not a mission of nation building. But the reality is were two years in and weve spent more than $200 billion dollars on this venture. And who is paying for all of this? The American taxpayer. The outstanding public debt as of October 3 is almost $8.000.000.000.000 (eight trillion). With a population approaching 300 million. each U.S. citizens share of this debt is about $27.000. Big government conservatives are spending trillions and wasting billions. Republicans are no longer the party of fiscal conservancy. but the party of runaway spending and corruption. ","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4581,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090084428,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Not how the neocons this administration do it.\" ieutenant Colonel Lawrence kerson. Colin Powells former chief staff in the State Department. called sident Bushs foreign policy \"ruin.\" and said that \"we- have courted aster in Iraq. in North Korea. in n.\"1 bhe people I just quoted are not exly the board of moveon.org or the mocratic Party. These are the pils and the heads ofthe national secuy apparatus of the Republican rty. These experts are saying that it time for a new direction with new orities when it comes to Iraq. le have to get it right in Iraq. but current path the President has us is not the pathto success. and it is simply. as he sayg. the choice been doing more of the same and getg the same results or merely pulling . Mr. Speaker. $400 billion and one qi battalion. Some are estimating. I said. the cost of this war will get ser to $1 trillion. is time for the President to level h the American people and show us ath to success. We need a perform:ebased Iraqi strategy. How many ice will we be reduced to this quar? How- many. police will be reduced :t quarter? How many Army mems will be produced this quarter. the :t quarter. and for the next 2 years. every quarter this administration has to have a performancbrbased policy on police training. on Army training. on civil society development. on reconstruction. and on the political front so we can finally. in the Presidents words. stand down. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4318,"word_count":255}
{"speech_id":1090084441,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thi the gentleman from Texas. the juc for sharing those thoughts with us. I wanted to assure the judge. as well knows. that we intend to do soi thing about it this week. and this whatHR. 4128 does. It protects priv property rights. and we will get. i: that in just a few minutes. Earlier we heard. Mr. Speaker. fr our colleague from Ohio. and the g tlewoman talked about her father .act who built some of these little G man homes. he being of German anc try. I am not sure that this next pos that I have got is a picture of a ho in Ohio. for that matter even in N London. Connecticut. but. boy. it si has a German look to me. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10498,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090084446,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Which is pouring more misery on top of people who have ilready been through so much. And how does Secretary Chertoff respond? He extends Michael Browns contract by 30 days. This is a personwho President Bush ultimately was forced to admit was not able to handle a job the size of Hurricane Katrima and her aftermath. so muchso that essentially he was forced out. But now. because they are so married to the cronyism. the culture of corruption and cronyism and the lack of competence runs so deep and they are so unwilling to give it up and to almit that they are incorrect that they give him an extension and continue to pay him $148.000 a year. This is what they are rewarding. They reward incompetence. They thrive on cronyism and corruption and unethical behavior. It is just unbelievable. I think this is a good time to turn to our first chart here. if the gentleman is ready to do that.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2227,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090084447,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am sorry. I was looking at the gentleman from Ohio and looking at those charts over there. They are so breathtaking. And turning over to the gentlewoman from Florida . we were working very hard over the last weeks or so dealing with Wilma. the gentleman from Washington State has joined us tonight. who has so much to add to this conversation. I will give the gentleman from Ohio","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":394,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090084458,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is very important. That is huge. Here we are. in the indictment he knows in July. In September of 2003. a couple of months after he had already known and told Libby. he denies it to the American people. He lies about it. In Washington. you know. you misrepresent. you mislead. In Ohio. you lie. We tend in the Beltway here. people who get \"Potomac fever\" tend to soften it up like it is kind of okay. In Ohio this is a lie. So Karl Rove lied to the American people. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1006,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090084460,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if the gentleman will yield further. now we have to be very careful with this next example. because although we can say that Karl Rove lied. we have to be very careful to respect t6 the Office of the Vice President here. and we intend to do that. This is the next set of facts. This is also from the obstruction count. count one. obstruction of justice in the indictment of Scooter Libby.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":401,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090084467,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if the gentleman will yield. I thank my friend. and again I want to congratulate the gentleman from Ohio and the gentlewoman from Florida and the gentleman from Florida for really doing a public. service. But I think it is important for a moment to reflect not just on this particular case. but what has characterized this administration from the onset. and that is a total lack of transparency. a total lack of genuine consultation. Secrecy. if you will. .What I find most fascinating are those members of the administration. people of good conscience. who have left the administration and are now speaking. out. These individuals are good Republicans. good conservative Republicans who embrace genuine American values. One of them is a former colonel in our military service. Larry Wilkerson. He also happened to be the Chief of Staff for the former Secretary of State. Colin Powell. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1860,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090084474,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Correct. Let me suggest this: what is at risk here is not the Republican Party. not the Democratic Party. but the viability and the health of our democracy. That is why. along with some very good Republicans. we are insistent that transparency be reintroduced into the legislative process.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":289,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090084479,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me just briefly. because the gentleman from Ohio always says that we need to point out how things would be different if the Democrats were in the majority. if the Democrats were in control. And I always like to.- because I guess I am the one who has been here the longest. take us back to another era. I remember when the Democrats were in the majority here and I told you before. the Energy and Commerce Committee that I serve -on. we would have investigation after investigation. This is when we had a Democratic President. it did not make any difference. We would have investigations of agency actions. Whether it was Health and Human Services. Department of Education. we would bring them before the committee and the Democrats were in the majority and we would ask all of these serious questions about fraud and abuse and whether or not too much money was being spent. And if a Republican wanted to bring up an issue and criticize the White House or criticize the Democrat in the White House. nobody stopped them. Nobody sought to put an end to that. -","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1061,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090084481,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I agree. not only with regard to the outing of CIA agents. but just the whole idea of going after your enemy because you do not like what he says. It is unAmerican.","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1187,"word_count":33}
{"speech_id":1090084500,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"On this march to war. as the drumbeat quickened. it was we are going to destroy anybody in our path that tries to stop us and even if you are a CIA covert agent that has served this country in the intelligence community for years. Now. earlier. my friend from Florida said. Well. how would these CIA agents feel? So I think it is nice for us to give our opinion. but I think we should actually quote a couple that have been in the news recently. One. former CIA covert agent Jim Marcinkowski on \"60 Minutes\" the other night said about exposing the Boston company. exposing that that was a CIA front. exposing Brewst6rJennings. could lead foreign intelligence agencies to other spies. There is.a possibility that there were -other agents that would use that same. kind of a cover. So they may have been using BrewsterJennings just like her. As you said. this is not just about Joe Wilsons wife. This is about everybody who she came in contact with. who she worked with. who she may have been affiliated with in a CIA front company. And then a former 14year covert CIA operative. Now. you asked. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1645,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090084511,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"D.C. sidered an even greater instance of Just as an example today. the Senate treachery. as the gentleman from Ohio used the rules to do what they had to outlined. Miss Plame. a specialist in do on behalf of the American people. nonconventional weapons who worked And guess what they were called? Hi- overseas. had nonofficial cover and jackers. They . hijacked the Senate what was what in CIA parlance was today. as though someone ran in on the called a nok. the most difficult kind of Senate floor with a gun and said shut false identity for the agency to create. the Senate down. No. they used the So we are not just talking about your rules on behalf of the American people. runofthemill covert agent. I know as And guess what came out of it from I have been following this. and we are news reports and what I hear from obviously not intimately familiar with some of our friends across the aisle? the CIAs operations. I initially The fact that they are going to do thought that Ms. Plame was a nominal what. a bipartisan. three Democrats covert agent. I know there are varying and three Republicans. who will come degrees. But apparently she had the together to bring about the report that most difficult cover to develop. -It should have been reported on long ago. makes matters that much worse. But it took an act of leadership and We have got to make sure that the courage. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3164,"word_count":251}
{"speech_id":1090084512,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The war.. the being undermined by officials in their oil for reconstruction. the greeted as own government. Well. I want to go liberators. and all the nonsense we back to what Mr. Melman said in that heard. Then the whole CIA leak invesChris Matthews interview. Not just tigation. Every single instance. Tax what he said previously. but in that cuts for billionaires. cutting poverty same interview we talked about ear- programs and raising tuition and lier. Chris Matthews asked him if he health care on the middle class. Every thought that heads should roll. essen- single instance. tially. for that conduct. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3391,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090084525,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What we want for lies that have been told to the Amerkids. for young.people. it is not that we ican people. it is difficult to keep up do not want them ever to make a mis- with what was said in the first place. If take. We want to teach them that it. was the truth. it would not be a when they do make a mistake. they problem because it is enshrined in learn and they overcome and they be- ones memory and in ones character. come better. Every one of us in our So I will leave it with that. There is own lives looks back on mistakes we nothing more that I can add to that. have made and we say it was painful. it but the reality for so many Americans. hurt. it was embarrassing. but today I so many Americans that we represent. am better because of that mistake. And so many parents and wives and fathers to have th6 leaders of the country send and mothers that were handed a fresha message out to the kids across the ly folded. crisp American flag on behalf country. one. that it is okay to lie. of their loved one and family member that it is okay to withhold information who lay down their lives for this counbecause it may be a little bit embar- try. their lives. literally. for those indirassing. that you are never able to viduals who have to be fed by tubes make a mistake. that is bad for our right now. for those individuals who kids. It is bad for our country. It is bad cannot get -up and go to the restrooms for our institution. It erodes the basic like many of us right now. for those intenets of our democracy that a lot of dividuals we have got to continue to people made a lot of great sacrifices. fight on their behalf and on behalf of sometimes their lives. to uphold this their children that are without a father concept that we have. and mother.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1765,"word_count":345}
{"speech_id":1090084576,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support for instructing conferees on this years defense appropriations bill to include the amendment by our colleague in the Senate. JOHN MCCAIN. This provision would simply provide for uniform standards for the interrogation of persons under the detention of the Defense Department and a prohibition on cruel. inhumane. or degrading treatment or punishment of persons under custody or control of the U.S. government. Mr. Speaker. in the wake of the scrutiny and embarrassment that our Nation has endured following the treatments of detainees at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. it is imperative that we proclaim to the rest of the world that this policy defined by this amendment does in fact reflect the law of the land and the conscience of our country. Providing our soldiers with clear written guidance on how to treat detainees not only protects their interests but underscores the freedoms and the val-. ues we cherish as Americans and that we claim to be the very reason we have gone to war in Iraq. Afghanistan. and other parts of the world. Today. as a Congress. we must respect and honor our Nation and those that risk their lives to serve it. and we can do that by supporting the McCain amendment in the defense appropriations bill.","speaker_name":"JAMES MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1278,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090084579,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. everyone remembers the schoolyard bully who pushed the smaller kids around and took their lunch money just because he was bigger and stronger. Bullying wasnt okay in elementary school and it isnt okay now. especially when it comes in the form of a U.S. Supreme Court decision. In Kelo v. City of New London. the Supreme Court empowered the governrient to seize private property. including someones own home or place of worship. and transfer it to another private owner as long as the transfer would provide an economic benefit to the community.. Simply put. the Supreme Court has given government the broad power to seize private property for any use. so long as it generates tax revenue. Tomorrow. the House will take up H.R. 4128. the Private Property Rights Protection Act. in an attempt to prevent the abuses the Court has allowed by its decision in the Kelo case. The bill prohibits States and localities from receiving any Federal economic development funds if these entities abuse their power of eminent domain. This action is an appropriate use of Congress spending power and will prevent homeowners. churches. and small businesses from being forced to give up their private property simply because it is not generating the maximum possible tax revenue.","speaker_name":"JOHN DOOLITTLE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1274,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090084580,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As I said before. the Supreme Court does not use eminent domain. That building across the street has not gotten one inch bigger since I. got here. What the Supreme Court did was to allow the local officials decision to stand. That is the kind of lack of activism that my Republican colleagues deplore.","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1461,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090084581,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. in October. our office attended numerous ribboncutting ceremonies at new businesses in the second district of South Carolina. These exciting events demonstrate economic growth in our community. President Bush and House Republicans are dedicated to decreasing taxes and eliminating government regulations. and we continue to witness positive results from these economic policies. Last Friday. the Commerce Department reported that the economy grew 3.8 percent in the third quarter. exceeding analysts expectations. Americans entrepreneurs have created more than 4.2 million new jobs over the last 28 months. Homeownership is the highest level in history. Todays unemployment rate is 5.1 percent. which is lower than the average rate of the last 3 decades. As American families continue to profit from the Bush tax cuts. I am confident the economy will grow larger and new small businesses will continue to pop up in communities throughout our country. ","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1039,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090084584,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the recent release of a report from the Independent Inquiry Committee into the U.N. OilforFood Program. also known as the Volcker Committee. has once again brought the issue of U.N. mismanagement to the forefront. According to the Volcker Committee. $1.8 billion in kickbacks and elicit surcharges were paid to Saddam Husseins government by nearly 2.200 different companies in widespread abuse of the OilforFood Program. As we can see. the OilforFood Program lacked proper accountability and oversight. and thus caused massive fraud and abuse. Unfortunately. this lack of accountability and oversight is nothing new at the United Nations. As the largest U.N. donor. the U.S. has the responsibility to ensure that the dollars of the American taxpayers are not being wasted. Until such accounting reforms. are made. no United States money should be sent to the U.N. Only after such reforms are enacted will the United Nations begin its return to relevancy.","speaker_name":"CLIFFORD STEARNS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":967,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090084596,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is no minor affair. This is a major unraveling of the law. As Senators MCCAIN and FEINGOLD have made clear. this is not free speech. this is paid speech. politically paid for with unlimited corporate and union contributions. It is important to note that the bill under consideration today uses the exact same language that the FEC tried and that a Federal court struck down. The judge in that case. Colleen KollarKottelly. wrote that the provisions would \"permit rampant circumvention of the campaign finance laws and foster corruption.\" She went on to say that the provision would \"severely undermine\" the campaign finance law. Her rulings have gone before the D.C. Court of Appeals twice. and they have been upheld. Just days ago. a CNN poll found that the American people believe that corruption in government is the second most important issue facing this Nation after the economy. The American people are tired of the scandals. ","speaker_name":"MARTIN MEEHAN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6805,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090084597,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 15 seconds to respond to my distinguished colleague from Massachusetts who referenced three editorial boards. I think it is important to note that these editorial boards are nothing more than paid scribes. They literally make their living by using the first. amendment. But everyone knows that the Internet has negatively affected the cash flow of the institutional print media. It is the height of hypocrisy for the print media to use their right to free speech to opine against their competition on the Internet. Mr. Speaker. I yield 6 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Texas","speaker_name":"CANDICE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":615,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090084600,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts for yielding me the time. Mr. Speaker. I have to comment on the irony that we have people here defending vigorous open debate and free speech by invoking one of the most restrictive procedures of the House of Representatives. Apparently. people here believe that James Madison thought that there should be free debate except in the Congress of the United States. Under the procedure. and people should understand who will be monitoring this debate. for many of us the key issue is not the substance. Yes. I thing we ought to legislate. ","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3474,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090084604,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I reserve. I highly esteem my colleague from the balance of my time. California with whom I disagree in this Mrs. MILLER of Michigan. Mr. case. But the notion that her impri- Speaker. I yield myself 15 seconds to matur is in itself a substantive defense respond to the gentleman. of failing to follow the regular proce- Mr. Speaker. we are actually being dure does not meet the argument. accused of abuse of power. as I under-","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1178,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090084621,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Hampshire .","speaker_name":"MARTIN MEEHAN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":366,"word_count":11}
{"speech_id":1090084628,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"H.R. 1606 is the wrong way to address the issue of bloggers and will only lead to new corrupting soft money scandals and campaigns. The Internet has increasingly and rightly been used as a powerful political tool in recent elections. but it is negligent that we would permit it to be a safe haven from our campaign finance laws. Under H.R. 1606. House members and other federal candidates would be permitted to control the spending of soft mon6yprovided by corporations. labor unions and wealthy individualsto buy Internet advertisements to support their campaigns. State political parties would also be allowed to spend soft money on Internet advertising to attack and promote federal candidates. And. these contributions would never be disclosed in campaign finance records. If the Congress is really concerned with protecting Intermet bloggers. I urge consideration of legislation introduced yesterday by my colleagues Representatives SHAYS and MEEHAN. which reaffirms that bloggers communicating on their websites are not covered by campaign finance laws without allowing Members of Congress and other federal candidates to use corrupting soft money to support their campaigns. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote no on the Online Freedom of Speech Act.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CASTLE","chamber":"H","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1853,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090084631,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I urge my colleagues to pass this bill.","speaker_name":"CANDICE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":525,"word_count":8}
{"speech_id":1090084639,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill to amend title 38. United States Code. to improve the management of information technology within the Department of Veterans Affairs by providing for the Chief Information Officer of that Department to have authority over resources. budget. and personnel related to the support function of information technology. and for other purposes.","speaker_name":"STEPHEN BUYER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":396,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090084642,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The deputy CIO will be responsible to the Department CIO for IT system alignment and related matters. but will otherwise be in control of daytoday IT operations in their respective administration. I would like to congratulate again the staffs from each side of the aisle for working out this improved IT management system for VA. and I am glad to be an original cosponsor of this bill. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"SILVESTRE REYES","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2432,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090084646,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the need for this bill has been growing for more than a decade. I . The Department of Veterans Affairs usually does a reasonable job managing programs of interest to veterans. but it does not do well in managing information technology programs. Significant funding was invested .in VA information technology programs that later failed due mostly to mismanagement. If VA had in place the sound management processes required by this bill. many of those information technology failures could have likely been avoided. This would be better for the taxpayer. and it would be better for the mission of VA. and most importantly. it would give us an opportunity to thank our veterans who served more than they anticipated in the Armed Forces.. J want to thank Chairman- BUYER for keeping our Nations commitment focused on this initiative. The bill language contains the checks and balances needed to successfully manage information technology at the VA. It will allow us in Congress to track how VA manages its information technology assets. ","speaker_name":"LANE EVANS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1134,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090084679,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank the gentleman for bringing forward this bill. and I rise in strong support of S. 1285. a bill to designate the Federal building located at 333 Mt. Elliott Street in Detroit. Michigan. as the \"Rosa Parks Federal Building.\" This bill also contains a provision to name the annex to the E. Brrett Prettyman courthouse here in the District of Columbia in honor of Federal District Court Judge William B. Bryant. Both are legendary African Americans. and the agreement that Federal buildings should be .named in their honor is both wide and deep. I thank my good friend and colleague from Michigan for her .diligent leadership on the Rosa Parks Federal building designation. ","speaker_name":"ELEANOR NORTON","chamber":"H","state":"DC","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":7679,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090084681,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"December 5. the day of Mrs. Parks trial. The Reverend Martin Luther King. Jr.. then a young preacher who was only 26 years old. organized the boycott. The boycott lasted 381 days. ending only after the Supreme Court outlawed segregation on buses. It captured the attention of the Nation and forced people to confront the inequalities that were then commonplace. The civil rights movement ultimately led to the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964. which banned racial discrimination in public accommodations. and the Voting Rights Act of Rosa Parks is an American icon. By refusing to give up her seat on that Montgomery bus. she changed the course of history. This honor is long overdue. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5328,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090084688,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. pursuant to clause 1 of rule XXII and by direction\" of the Committee on Appropriations. I move to take from the Speakers table the bill making appropriations for Science. the Departments of State. Justice. and Commerce. and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30. 2006. and for other purposes. with Senate amendments thereto. disagree to the Senate amendments. and agree to the conference asked by the Senate.","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":440,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090084700,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"supported this. So why would we want to turn our backs on successful reform? We have a stable program. I would like to submit. if I may. for the RECORD. the articles from the Business Courier and also the Chicago Tribune saying that the Small Business Administrations Federal funding is on more stable footing this year than it was last year. \"That gives lenders more confidence in making SBA loans.\" said Michael Shepherd. Fifth Third Bancorps SBA national manager. So they are up. and it has worked. Members on both sides want to deal with the deficit. I think the gentlewoman from Montgomery County has a good thing. With regard to the oil prices on the 7(a) and what we have been doing about that. I would just say. working with the minority on your side on the money that we have saved from this. we have helped you on other things. ","speaker_name":"DONALD MANZULLO","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2714,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090084743,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"More than 100 suspected terrorists have been sent by the CIA into the covert system. according to current and former U.S. intelligence officials and foreign sources. This figure. a rough estimate based on information from sources who said their knowledge of the numbers wasincomplete. does not include prisoners picked up in Iraq. The detainees break down roughly into two classes. the sources said. About 30 are considered major terrorism suspects and have been held under the highest level of secrecy at black sites financed by the CIA and managed by agency personnel. including those in Eastern Europe and elsewhere. according to current and former intelligence officers and two other U.S. government officials. Two locations in this categoryin Thailand and on the grounds of the military prison at Guantanamo Baywere closed in 2003 and 2004. respectively. A second tierwhich these sources believe includes more than 70 detaineesis a group considered less important. with less direct involvement in terrorism and having limited intelligence value. These prisoners. some of whom were originally taken to black sites. are delivered to intelligence services in Egypt. Jordan. Morocco. Afghanistan and other countries. a process sometimes known as \"rendition.\" While the firsttier black sites are run by CIA officers. the jails in these countries are operated by the host nations. with CIA financial assistance and. sometimes. direction. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9740,"word_count":220}
{"speech_id":1090084754,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. I am able to report that the Joint Committee on Taxation has scored this legislation at no cost. meaning that the actual cost of this proposal is less than $500.000 over 9 years. We owe it to our fallen military heroes to expand the options of families who receive the death gratuity. families who have paid the ultimatl cost with the loss of their loved one. H.R. 3478 has also received the endorsement of The Military Coalition. a consortium of prominent national military and veterans organizations that represent more than 5.5 million members plus their families. Mr. Speaker. 36 organizations support H.R. 3478. Let me just name a few: the Air Force Association. AMVETS. Association of the United States Army. Marine Corps Reserve Association. ","speaker_name":"WALTER JONES","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2646,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090084776,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I agree with the Congresswoman totally. and the American people know that you are right in what you said. This Congress. this Pentagon. this administration will eventually catch up to the American people who know that we should not be in Iraq in the first place and that our staying there will not solve any problems. We will lose more troops. They will come home maimed or dead. and we will injure more innocent Iraqis and destroy their communities and their neighborhoods and their lives. and when we leave. whatever isgoing to happen will happen anyway. In the meantime. our troops will be losing. What I would like to ask is. if the President really believes that we are ending terrorism by being in Iraq. why in the world has he not found Osama bin Laden? Iraq was not an Islamic ter.rorist country. untif we went in. and now they are. I asked the commanders directly. first. who is the enemy? The answer was more than once. as a matter of fact. the insurgents are fighting the very presence of the United States in Iraq because we do appear as occupiers. When I asked the question who are the insurgents. they are not coming from across the border. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1690,"word_count":210}
{"speech_id":1090084781,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"When we hear our colleagues fromacross the aisle say. well. there is nowhere to cut. We cannot find any savings. We cannot reduce these programs. My goodness. what would they do if we slowed their growth and did not let them have more money this year than they had last year? Well. I just want to highlight a few things that when we talk about we have reduced the deficit by $50 billion. an additional. additional $50 billion this year. I want to highlight a few things where we have found waste. fraud and abuse. We have only done a drop in the bucket. and we have had to fight every step of the way to get this. but just listen to some of these things that we highlight that we know are there. From 2003. the Federal Government cannot account for $24 and a half billion that it spent. We think that accountability\u00b0 is important. A White House review of just a sample of the Federal budget identified $90 billion spent *on programs deemed ineffective. marginally adequate or operating under a flawed purpose or design. $90 billion. ","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4736,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090084786,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Now. only a liberal in Washington or an Enron accountant can look at that chart and somehow call that a cut. Again. Mr. Speaker. maybe people are entitled to their own opinions. but they are not entitled to their own facts. Mr. Speaker. again let me go over even more examples that we will have about where we can find savings in this Federal budget. Because. again. Mr. Speaker. either we are going to find savings in the Federal budget or we are going to attack the family budget by raising taxes or we are going to pass debt on to our children. So it is incumbent upon us to find ways to reform government and to make it more accountable. ","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2839,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090084790,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the gentleman to go back to one point on Medicaid. I think it is so important. and many of our constituents and many members of this House. I think. would be interested in it. I would love for him to talk one more time briefly about the health opportunity accounts. because this is something that will give individualA ownership over the decisions that they make and have to make in their health care choices.","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":436,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090084810,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we will be going to ANWR here in a second. and then we will go to the GrassleyDorgan amendment. and then the Democratic leader of the bill will. I presume. compose an amendment and then we will go to the Lott amendment on Amtrak. Is that the understanding?","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":271,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090084840,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am going to yield to my colleague. Senator FEINGOLD. Before I do. I point out there is a misrepresentation that somehow drilling. in ANWR only covers a small area. Drilling in the refuge will really create a spider web of industrial activities over the entire 1.5 million acre coastal plain. so it is much larger than just a small footprint. This legislation might also open up nearly 100.000 acres of native land on the Arctic coastal plain. So it is. a much bigger impact than my colleague might have commented on. I want to make sure that point is clear. ","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1975,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090084846,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Meanwhile. 70 percent of our oil needs will be met by imports. with our national security and economy remaining every bit as vulnerable t9 the economic dynamics and geopolitics of the global oil market as it is today. If we were serious about facing up to the reality of our energy security challenge. we would be committing ourselves. to changifig the trend of everrising oil consumption. That is why I will shortly be introducingwith colleagues from both sides of the aislelegislation that will lower our national dependence on oil by reinventing our transportation system from the refinery to the tailpipe by using hybrid vehicles and homegrown biofuels and electricity to power our vehicles. Destroying perhaps one of the greatest wilderness areas in the United States under the twin but barren ban.ners of energy security and Federal revenue is unacceptable when you consider what is at stake. On February 14 of. this year. 1.000 leading U.S. and Canadian scientists called on President Bush to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling and to \"support permanent protection of the coastal plains significant wildlife and wilderness values.\" The signers categorically rejected the notion that the impacts of drilling could be confined to a limited footprint. as prodrilling forces claim. The effects of oil wells pipelines. roads. airports. housing. processing plants. gravel mines. air pollution. industrial noise. seismic exploration and . exploratory drilling would radiate across the entire coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge. Given those inevitable environmental intrusions. is it any wonder. then. that the authors of this measure included provisions that would stymie the environmental protections that would normally apply under the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Wildlife Administration Act? And because they have all but eliminated these protections. drilling will go forward with virtually none of the environmental protections that the public expects to be in place for such activity bn other federal lands. It just makes no sense to destroy the Arctic Refuge for oil that wont lower prices to our consumers or give us true energy security. The mark of greatness in a generation lies not just in what it builds -for itself. but also in what it preserves for the generations to come.. Drilling in the Arctic for some shortterm convenience in our time. will shortchange the legacy we should be building for the time of our children. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8727,"word_count":394}
{"speech_id":1090084870,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I ask my colleagues to join me in voting in favor of the amendment. Opening the Ar6tic Refuge is not a necessary component of our national energy policy. We can do better in crafting a solution to the current problems. and we need to do that. Mr. President. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1115,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090084886,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the Senator for his ingenuous unanimous consent request allowing me to go forward. and I will just take a few minutes to talk about ANWR in general. I am going to offer an amendment relating to this portion of the bill later. but right now I just want to tick this down for a minute as to what I see as the essentials of this issue. With the greatest respect to those who oppose this operation. the exploration of oil. I dont understand what coherent philosophyregardless of whether you are a liberal or a conservative. I dont understand what coherent philosophy would advocate cutting your own nation off from oil within its borders. Now. I know I have heard the argument that we need. an energy future that is not anywhere near as dependent on traditional sources of energy. and I agree with that. I am the last person in the world to argue with that. I led the fight on this side of the aisle for the renewable fuels standard. which mandates that by the year 2001. 27.5 billion gallons of ethanol and biodiesel be in the Nations fuel supply to replace oil and gasoline. I am a huge believer that within a few years we are going to be filling up with fuel that we get from corn and from soybeans and other sources. ","speaker_name":"JAMES TALENT","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4179,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090084898,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If I can finish for a second. and then I will yield to the Senator to make his request. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is a summation of what this debate is about. We have debated this for years. and the reason it has been contentious is because a lot of people have concerns about this direction and proposal. But now to do this on the budget where the environmental safeguards that are applied to other drilling. where the NEPA process and other safeguards are ignored. where we are not sure what oil revenue the United States is really going to get to recognize in this budget. when we dont know whether we are going to keep this oil for economic security reasons. I agree with the Sentinel which said: The reconciliation bill should be used to settle budget matters. not to abuse the publics trust. I will yield -now to the Senator from North Dakota for his proposal.","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":871,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090084924,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Even though Senator CANTWELL has an extra 5 minutes. is -it all right that we go and the Senator accumulate that time? I yield myself 3 minutes. and then I will yield the management \"of the time to the senior Senator from Alaska for the remainder of our time.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":259,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090084941,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What about compatibility? Why does this legislation assume that oil and gas activities cannot be undertaken in a manner compatible with the Arctic Wildlife Refuge? Transportation. The chairman has removed consideration in this underlying bill authorizing oil and gas from the coastal regions. which is unusual language considering there is a whole range of issues. including pipelines. ports. and systems. Again. NEPA. judicial review. Fish and Wildlife. Bureau of Land Management. transportation. and other compatibility issues are not being addressed because we are throwing this in the budget process. What about the leasing provisions? I have talked a lot about this and I would love it if my colleagues from Alaska would support an amendment I plan to offer that specifies this cannot go forward until we verify that it is a 5050 split or that it isnt going to go forward. This Senator would love to knoW that my colleagues from the other side of the aisle are so certain this is going to be a 5050 revenue split that they are willing to support clarifying in the language that the actual opening.up of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge cannot go forward unless it is a 5050 split. If they are so certain that is going to happen. they should be willing to support my amendment. As far as the economic issues. ","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9826,"word_count":223}
{"speech_id":1090084947,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. it is my understanding that one of my colleagues wants to offer an amendment that was part of the previous unanimous consent agreement. I would ask unanimous - consent. until they figure that out. that time during a quorum call be equally divided between both sides.","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":272,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090084951,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am happy to debate whatever amendment. Part of the previous consideration was to have a debate 6n a related amendment. I do not know where the Senator is in offering that amendment. Do we have a time period in which he mightif I can inquire through the Chair. does the Senator who is controlling the time on the other side know when the Senator might be available to offer his amendment?","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":404,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090084988,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I understand we are under time constraints. and I Will be brief. I think the Senator from Oregon has made the case very persuasively. I congratulate him for raising this important issue in committee. I was concerned that if we attached this provision in committee. it might subject the whole provision relating to the ANWR part of the bill to a budget point of order. and I did not want to imperil that part of the bill. As I said before. when I spoke on the Senate floor. I simply do not see any reason why we shQuld cut ourselves off from accessing oil in our own country. But I think the Senators amendment. and my amendment. is a natural supplement to the underlying purpose of exploring for oil in the Arctic. It is to increase our national security. ","speaker_name":"JAMES TALENT","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1730,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090085109,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This 10person commission was comprised of 3 members appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture. 3 members appointed by the Senate Agriculture Committee. 3 appointed by the House Agriculture Committee. and finally the chief economist of the Department of Agriculture. These facts alone should be enough for each of the Members of this body to take their recommendation seriously. I have taken the- time to become familiar With their backgrounds and with their report. a report that was nearly 2 years in the makingnot- something that popped up overnight but something that was thoughtfully done to recognize how important a safe. abundant. and affordable food supply is to this Nation. As a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee and someone who. has intimate knowledge of the farm operations in my State. I was pleased to discover the commissions top two recommendations support my position that no change should be made in the farm safety net until the current law expires. First. it specifically states that any substantial changes should take place with the reauthorization of the next farm bill. Some of you may be asking yourselves. What is substantial? . In strictly monetary terms. I can tdll you that conservative estimates say that further payment limitations would cost my State alone almost $80 million a year. ","speaker_name":"BLANCHE LINCOLN","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11460,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090085125,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Thank you. Mr. President. I ask that you tell me when my 4 minutes is up. if that is at all possible. Mr. President. I rise today in opposition to the Grassley amendment. It is hard for me to do that in the sense that I agree with Chairman GRASSLEY on so many things. but I disagree -with- him on this amendment. The 2000 farm bill is a contract. something the Congress entered into. and I think it is a terrible mistake to change the terms of that contract in midstream. In fact.- the USDA had a bipartisan payment limit commission. ","speaker_name":"MARK PRYOR","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3902,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090085135,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But that is all. To further make my point. in one case. a Mississippi cotton farmer set up a web of 78 corporations and partnerships that collected $11 million in subsidies. The name of one of his companies was Get Rich Farms. The farm program is not about getting rich for anybody. Tha farm program is to try to provide some protection and some help for family farmers. who are. left to the vagaries of a marketplace that whipsaws up and down with weather. natural disasters. This is not about getting rich. It is about getting through tough times. That is what Senator GRASSLEY and I wish to do. Now. Mr. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1305,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090085177,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I want to thank the distinguished Senator from Alabama for his strong statement and for his support of the ahnendment. His statement is very convincing. persutasive. and timely. I am very grateful for his coming to the floor and his joining in the support of this amendment. I hope all Senators will read his statement and learn therefrom and support the amendment. I reserve any time that I may have remaining. and I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":449,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090085184,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I obviously appreciate those generous comments coming from a man who is truly a legend in the Senate and has done an extraordinary service for this Nation over his many years in the Senate. I thank him. Those are very kind and generous comments. I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":280,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090085191,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"A similar shortage occurred in the mid1990s when demand for highskilled workers outpaced supply due to the hightech boom. Congress responded to the needs of the U.S. economy in.the 1990s by increasing the HlB cap to 115.000 for fiscal years 1999 and 2000 and then increasing it again to 195.000 for fiscal years 20012003. By allowing the \"-ecapture of up to 30.000 HlB visas for the next 5 years. Congress. will only be returning the total number of HlB visa holders allowed to come to the U.S. to the fiscal year 1999 levels. I know that many companies. in my home State of Georgia. ranging from the biggest beverage companies and airlines in the world. down to small businesses. rely on access to these H1B workers to effectively compete in the global economy. Other companies rely on the expertise of foreign specialists to perform","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3032,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090085202,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I think it is important for people to appreciate what the Senator frofn North Dakota has said. Tomorrow. we will a have a minimum of 5 hours of votes. Some of these votes are going to get fairly complicated because there will be points of order of various nature. People will have t6 be here all day and ready to vote. If our membership remembers. during the Budget Committee. the Senator from North Dakota and myself took a position that we should move quickly through the votes. and we will take the same position tomorrow. Members should be on the floor tomorrow all day.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":589,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090085211,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"States were in engineering. mathematics. and the physical sciences. which is more than a 50percent decline since 1960. Today. more than 50 percent of all engineering doctoral degrees awarded by U.S. engineering colleges ire to foreign nationals.. The United States must find a way to increase the pipeline of U.S. eigineers. I know many companies already partner with U.S. universities and colleges. and indeed this is a longterm challenge of our economyto create a sufficient number of homegrown engineers and scientists to meet the demands of our innovative economy. But in the short term. we must ensure that our. immigration policies do not unnecessarily restrict access to highly trained individuals. the kinds of employees that will create those additional jobs here in America. Once again. the demand for hightech temporary visas far exceeds the statutory cap imposed by Congress. As I mentioned a moment ago. the fiscal yehr 2006 visas were gone 2 months before the fiscal year even began. They ran out in August 2005. There is also a shortage of green cards. even for certain multinational managers and executives. That means that in addition to the years of processing delays. many immigrants must now wait several more years for a visa to be available. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7064,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090085220,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I appreciate the offer from the Senator from New Hampshire. When the distinguished Senator from New Hampshire and the Senator from North Dakota have completed the processing of the various amendments. I would like to have the opportunity to speak for up to 45 minutes. Perhaps other colleagues will want to participate on the question of holding down the cost of prescription medicine. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":404,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090085226,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I take a few moments to talk about Amtrak and the intercity passenger rail. Several years ago. during the 1990s. I worked with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to pass Am.trak reform. We got it done. It provided some improvements in Amtrak. It gave the Amtrak board some additional authorities. some of which they have used successfully and some of which they have not taken advantage of. I even said at that time I was Convinced they could become selfsufficient. that they could make enough changes. they could make enough off revenue that we would not have to continue to pass funds each year through the appropriations project for Amtrak. I now am prepared to admit that is not going to happen. If we want a national rail passenger system. we have to figure out exactly what we want. how much are we willing to pay for it. and how that will happen. I dont think we can do it with appropriations bills each year. ","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6934,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090085237,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But I thought it was clearly understood. I ask unanimous consent we have 30 minutes. except for the time used already. divided in the presentation. This is an important amendment. I ask unanimous consent we be allowed 30 minutes. minus the time the Senator from Mississippi has already used.","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":291,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090085304,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. first I thank the Senatof from Arizona for his graciousness and indicate that there are Senators who have expressed an eagerness to speak. and what we have been trying to do on both sides here is fit in Senators as they come to the floor. So this may be a good time to alert Senators there are a few moments here that would be available conceivably until 4:15 if Senators on either side want to come and have a chance to make a comment. Perhaps it is also a good time to alert Senators after this amendment we will go to the Murray amendment on dual eligibles from 4:15 to 5. -the Ensign amendment from 5 to 5:30. and the Landrieu amendment from* 5:30 to 6. With tfiat. I yield the Iloor. I thank the Chair. Again I want to thank the Senator from Arizona.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":770,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090085343,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The agency included some additional information in a question and answer format. The first question is. \"What should I do now?\" Among other things. the answer says that beneficiaries should find out which plans cover the prescriptions they take and the pharmacies they want to use. I know that folks are concerned that a beneficiary might toss aside their letterwe have all done that with mail. That is why pharmacists will have access to the beneficiaries and their assigned plan. So on January 1st. when a beneficiary goes to a pharmacy. the pharmacist can fill that prescription under that plan. Now. some people are concerned that a beneficiary will be assigned to a plan that doesnt cover a drug they need. and they wont find out until they go into the pharmacy. In its transition guidance to plans. the agency strongly recommended that plans provide for temporary \"first fill\" of 30 days to provide a transition supply to meet the immediate need- of a beneficiary. This is a common practice today. \u0095 Any plan that chooses not to do this.. had to provide the agency with sufficient detail on how it would ensure that new enrollees stabilized on a drug not on the plans formulary would continue to have access to the drugs they need. For example. a plan not using tee firstfill could have procedures in place to contact enrollees in advance of their initial effective date in order to identify. their needs. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7454,"word_count":244}
{"speech_id":1090085357,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank my colleague from Washington for her work on higher education and for her passion about this issue in particular. She has been very interested in the higher edubation bill that we approved in committee. and was among those who supported its unanimous approval. My colleague mentioned the TaxpayerTeacher Protection Act. which I support and which the committee -acted to make permanent. I would. add that the TaxpayerTeacher Protection Act has reduced holdings of these loans by more than $1.2 billion in only 6 months since its enactment. While various estimates have been given about savings attached to ending recycling. it would also put an end to an estimated $840 million in student benefits prdvlded by nonprofit lenders over the next 5 years. By some estimates. that could mean a net loss of nearly $550 million in student benefits. Because of the efforts among lenders to provide the most competitive benefits. it is likely that the net loss in student benefits would be much greater. It is also important for me to point out that the Senators amendment does not capture these savings for students. it only ends the practice of recycling. so the net loss in student benefits would likely exceed $1 billion. I would also note that Federal tax law prohibits nonprofit lenders from retaining these subsidies that the Senator has described. I ask my colleague if she agrees with my assessment. that Federal tax law prohibits nonprofit lenders from retaining the 9.5 percent subsidy. and that excess funds. must be returned to the Treasury. or be used to provide student benefits.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1591,"word_count":265}
{"speech_id":1090085360,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the Senator. We may not fully agree on this issue butI commend my colleagues efforts to develop a bipartisan Higher Education Act reauthorization and the challenges in moving such a bill through the Senate on a reconciliation bill. I thank my colleague Senator KENNEDY for his leadership on this issue. and I look forward to working with him and the chairman through conference on this issue. I appreciate the chairmans commitment to work with me through that process to make sure my .voice is heard and interests are met. I think it is critical that. as we work with the House in conference on this issue and others. that we ensure protection and improvement of student benefits. and that any savings generated on this issue be returned to studeits. We must also work to advance and protect diversity in the lending market. which leads to the competition that provides for improving student benefits in lending. I thank my colleague for his commitment to working with me and look forward to working with him and Senator KENNEDY through that process.","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1058,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090085378,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If it is $40. we have a little .bit left over. and it will automatically go to debt reduction. I personally think we have problems in the areas that were devastated by Katrina. Rita. and Wilma. The problem there is the televisions were destroyed altogether. It may well be that the cost in those areas will be substantially more than the costs of the settop boxes. We have to decide that. Someone- has to decide to what extent and where the money is coming from to help those people who are not able to buy their television sets. not able to replace them. Will FEMA do it? Are any other agencies going to do it? .We will hear arguments that some of this money should be reserved for that. I. personally. support that. This is a fund that is designed to make sure we stay connected with these people. ","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3713,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090085382,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If all of the money is not used for the settop box and there is money left over. yes. it does go to debt reduction. but isnt it also earmarked in there for first responders and spectrum? Did we not talk about them? Basically that is why we are trying to free up a lot of the 700megahertz block of spectrum. I understood that was the case. The Senator said it all goes to deficit reduction. but I thought some of it was held in reserve for emergency responders?","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":460,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090085460,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The conservation title of this bill contains funding for important watershed improvements. including soil and water erosion control. flood control. and watershed dam rehabilitation. The Natural Resources Conservation Service received an increase in this conference report of more than $12 million over last year. Nutrition programs also received increases over last year in this conference report. Child nutrition programs receive $12.6 billion. an increase of more than $870 million to provide school lunches to lowincome kids. The WIC program received $5.257 million. an increase of nearly $22 million. and language proposed by the administration to restrict eligibility and cap administrative funds was not included. The Food Stamp Program received an increase of more than $5.5 billion. and the Comhiodity Supplemental Food Program rdceived an increase over last year as well. In the rural development title. more than $700 million is provided for the Rural Community Advancement Program. The Rural Housing Service received an increase of.$105 million above last years level. bringing the total loan -authorization level of more than $5 billion to provide housing to lowincome rural Americans. The Food and Drug Administration received nearly $1.5 billion this bill. an increase of nearly $40 million over last years level. This includes increases. for medical device review. drug safety. f6od defense and BSE. ","speaker_name":"HERBERT KOHL","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3740,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090085477,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Department of Agriculture put out publications on the farm bill highlighting conservation. Yet since the farm bill as passed. in measures passed or now before the Senate $5.9 billion will be taken out of conservation programs. Again. I want to emphasize this conservation funding taken away is mandatory spending in the farm bill as to which we met all of the budget requirements when we passed the farm bill. We met all of the budget requirements. It was within the budget allocation provided to us when we passed the farm bill. In earlier debate today on the reconciliation bill. I heard a lot of talk about the importance of not reopening the farm bill. That was the debate on the amendment offered by Senator GRASSLEY and Senator DORGAN on payment limitations. I heard a lot of talk about not reopening the farm bill. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11664,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090085488,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to speak about the need for hate crimes legislation. Each Congress. Senator KENNEDY and I introduce hate crimes legislation that would add new categories to current hate crimes law. sending a signal that violence of any kind is unacceptable in our society. Likewise. each Congress I have come to the floor to highlight a separate hate crime that has occurred in our country. On November 20. 2002. in Scottsdale. AZ. a gay man was attacked while leaving a bar. According to police the man was leaving a bar when two men approached him. One man said. ","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1008,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090085501,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. its a privilege to join Senator DEWINE in introducing this bipartisan legislation to build on the promise and possibilities of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Our bill. the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Actthe CLASS Actwill help large numbers of Americans who struggle everyday to live productive lives in their communities. Too many Americans are perfectly capable of living a life in the community. but are denied the supports they need. They languish in needless circumstances with no choice about how or where to obtain these services. Too often. they have to give up the American Dream the dignity of a job. a home. and a familyso they can qualify for Medicaid. the only program that will support them. The bill we propose is a long overdue effort to offer greater dignity. greater hope. and greater opportunity. It makes a simple pact with all Americans-\"If you work hard and contribute. society will take care of you when you fall on hard times.\" The concept is cleareveryone can contribute and everyone can win. We all benefit when no one is left behind. For only $30 a month. a person who pays into the program will receive either $50 or $100 a day. based on their ability to carry out basic daily activities. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2023,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090085511,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Engineering. and Science. which was founded to further enhance research in Texas. and Whereas the legacy of Dr. Smalley will continue to grow as scientists build upon his work and reap the benefits of his discoveries: Now. therefore. be it Resolved. That the Senate honors the life and accomplishments of Dr. Richard Errett Smalley and expresses its condolences on his passing.","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2278,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090085520,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Indian Affairs be authorized to -meet on Wednesday. November 2. 2005. at 9:30 a.m. in Room 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building to conduct an oversight hearing on the In Re Tribal Lobbying Matters. Et Al..","speaker_name":"JOHN SUNUNU","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":268,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090085529,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. I ask unanimous consent that the following Senate Finance Committee interns and fellows be granted the privileges of the floor during consideration of the Deficit Reduction Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 2005: Brad Behan. Melissa Atkinson. and Catriona Johnson.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":277,"word_count":40}
{"speech_id":1090085544,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Ojibwae. who Wisconsinites know were the original inhabitants of the Apostles. had great respect for the resources. They believed in taking something only if they were giving something in return. The Ojibwae people understood their dependence on the environment long before many others began contemplating such a relationship. Unfortunately. as a society. we have not always heeded their example. We must be better stewards of our land. our air. and our water. Gaylord pushed us toward that goal every day of his life. And. what better way to mark the dedication. of the Wilderness Area named in his honor than for each of us to dedicate ourselves to actively carrying his legacy forward. That is Gaylords challenge for all of us. So many people supported the creation of the Lakeshore and the wilderness area. The support has taken many formsall of which have added to the success of our park and the wilderness designation. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6311,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090085547,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business -today. it adjourn until 9 a.m. on Thursday. November 3. I further ask that following the morning -prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings beapproved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate then proceed to a vote on adoption of the conference report to accompany the Agriculture appropriations bill. I further ask that upon disposition of the conference report. the Senate resume consideration of S. 1932. the deficit reduction bill.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BENNETT","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":584,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090085574,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr President. the fiscal year 2006 Agriculture appropriations conference report was written under some very difficult spending constraiits compared to the needs of U.S. agriculture. Because the bill contains many positive elements for North Dakota agriculture. I intend to vote for its passage. However. I am deeply concerned that the appropriators have again adopted a delay in the implementation of the mandatory countryoforigin labeling for U.S. agricultural products. This provision is broadly supported by U.S. farmers and livestock producers who wish to be able to differentiate their products in the marketplace. It is also supported by our consumers who desire to know where their food is produced. It is unfortunate the conference failed to represent those interests.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":776,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090085581,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There is no room for politics in science. yet the FDA has demonstrated an alarming indifference to scientific integrity in its unprecedented decision preventing emergency contraception. or Plan B. frombeing offered over the counter. I strongly.believe women should have access to all available contraceptive methods so that they can make choices regarding their personal health. I have supported scientific integrity in the past. and I must express my displeasure that stronger language was not included in the final conference report to prevent the FDA from allowing politics to affect its decision making. By highlighting the problems with the conference reports process and policy I dont mean to suggest that nothing good remains from the Senate bill. The conference report still rejects a number of administration proposals to reduce or eliminate important programs such as funds for research at our landgrant colleges and universities. conservation partnerships through resource conservation and development councils. and funds to combat Johnes disease in our dairy industry. I was also heartened that the conferees included critical funds to address chronic wasting disease. and an amendment I proposed with Senator ALLARD to speed USDAs development of uniform regulations governing captive deer and elk. But. on balance. I simply cannot support the detrimental changes made in conference to the Senate bill.","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4440,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090085603,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. at the end of 2 minutes. that time being expired. I intend to send a seconddegree amendment to the Enzi amendment to the desk. Let me briefly describe it. My amendment addresses the concerns of the Orthodox Union. the Catholic- Bishops. and the Council on American Private Education. My amendment clearly establishes an indirect aid program for displaced private school students that meets all the constitutional requirements without placing unworkable and unnecessary restrictions on- private schools serving these displaced families. It ensures accountability for the funds and. most important. delivers on the muchneeded relief to ensure the restart and operation of. schools at all levels in the affected areas. The 2002 Zellman decision by the Supreme Court clarified that religious schools whichaccept Government funding do not have to modify their teachings and curricula in order to receive Governmeit funding so long as the Government aid arrives at the school by virtue of an independent choice made by the student and parent. and this amendment complies with that decision and meets all of its constitutional requirements.","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1150,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090085629,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Parliamentary inquiry. Madam President: I thought we were having the 2 minutes prior to each vote just over the course of the day on these different amendments. It is my mistake because I thought we were just voting on the Ensign amendment. and then. when we disposed of that. we would have a vote up or down on the underlying amendment. But I guess that is not the way we are going to proceed.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":394,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090085652,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. I would like to talk about the EnziKennedy amendment to S. 1932. the deficit reduction bill. We all want to do the right thing and help the hundreda of thousands of students displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Just a few weeks after the tragic events surrounding Hurricane Katrina. I came to the floor of the Senate and offered an amendment to the CommerceJusticeState appropriations bill to assist students and schools impacted by Hurricane Katrina. I also cosponsored a bill with Senators ENZI and KENNEDY. S. 1715. to assist schools and students impacted by Katrina. But I have tremendous concerns about the amendment before us today. This amendment sets up an unworkable mechanism to assist displaced students attending private schools. It requires states to funnel Federal dollars to local school districts to establish private accounts to pay the tuition to private schools. ","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1504,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090085677,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. this amendment is opposed by the Finance Committee. The Finance Committee has aggressively funded this account with $1.94 billion in this bill. which will cover 1.9 million victims of the hurricane. Therefore. these additional funds.. if this amendment were to pass. would basically put the Finance Committee section of the bill out of compliance with the Deficit Reduction Act. Therefore. we oppose it. I make a point of order that the pending amendment is not germane to the measure now before the Senate. I raise that as a point of order under sectidn 305 of the Budget Act.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":594,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090085709,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam president. my amendment would prevent a hike in Medicare premiums for our 42 million senior citizens. In the bill. doctors fees are increased in their reimbursement. In my amendment. that is paid for with drug company money that would be staying the same under the existing law where the drug companies have to give discounts under the Medicaid law as they transition into Medicaid HMOs. This saves our seniors over $1 billion in increased premiums. This amendment is supported and endorsed by the AARP. I want to welcome the bipartisan support of the Senate for this amendment.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":584,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090085721,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"My amendment strikes the language. allowing for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The underlying bill is a sweetheart deal for oil companies that have made a record $30 billion in profits last quarter. The bill gives oil companies a free ride with backdoor language that allows them to circumvent environmental laws. legal standards and Federal agency oversight that every other business in America has to comply with. This wildlife area has been protected since the Eisenhower days. and for good reason. There is an average of over 500 oil spills a year on the Alaska North Slope and over 4.000 spills in the last 10 years. Lets not pollute one of thq great last refuges of America. and lets take the polluting language out of this bill. The Department of Energy says drilling in ANWR will -do nothing in the near term and very little in the long term. reducing gas prices by only on6 penny. America wants a better energy plan than putting a sw eetheart deal in the budget language. I urge my colleagues to strike this language.","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1044,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090085740,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. you cannot look the public in the eye after all the speeches about how the oil is needed here at home and pass legislation that is an invitation to export Alaskan oil to countries such as China. The history is. if you do not ban these exports. this oil is going to go to Asia. That was confirmed not long ago by oil company executives who came before the Senate Commerce Committee. Without this amendment. there is no assurance that even one drop of Alaskan oil will get to hurting Americans. I hope the Senate agrees to this amendment to. at the very least. put a BandAid on a flawed policy. I yield to my cosponsor. the Senator from Missouri.","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":661,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090085762,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. $250.000 is all one farm entity can get from the farm program. We redistribute that money so we do not have that 2.5percent cut. We restore some money for conservation and things of that nature. So I hope you will support Our amendment. The last time it was up. we got 66 votes for it.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":938,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090085807,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this amendment would close off the analog broadcasting too close to the auction of spectrum. We currently have an April 2009 date. The auction date is January of 2009. It is just too close together. The leases cannot be processed. There is no way those auction proceeds can be available until licenses are issued. This amendment would end analog broadcasts before the funds are available for the converter box fund or the translator conversion fund authorized by S. 1932. We need help in -this transition. The amendment makes spectrum available to public safety groups before they can put it to use because we are informed public safety groups must have at least 3 years to prepare for the use of spectrum. ","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":907,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090085844,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the reconciliation bill would increase immigrant work visas by 350.000 per year. about onethird of the current level. It is a massive and destabilizing increase that does not belong on the reconciliation bill. My amendment would strike the increase in immigrant work visas and impose a $1.500 immigrant application fee on multinational corporations. With my amendment. the Judiciary Committee would exceed its reconciliation savings targets and do so without increasing immigrant work visas. We authorized over half a million HlB visas in 2000. Last year. we authorized another $100.000 over 5 years. Do we really need another 150.000 visas on top of that? When is enough enough? My amendment has the support of the unions. It has the support of imqnigrant enforcement groups. It has the support of Republican and Democrat Senators. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":882,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090085861,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Last year. more than 17 million children received financial support through the Child Enforcement System. including nearly twothirds of all children in singleparent households with incomes below twice the poverty line. Child support helped to lift more than 1 million Americans out of poverty in 2002. As a result of cuts passed by the House. many of those peoplemostly childrenwould be plunged back into poverty. Not only is this cruel. it is also counterproductive. It is penny wise and pound foolish. because those families that are shoved into poverty by the Houses action will end up on food stamps. Medicaid. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. and other forms of public assistance. This chart shows the StatebyState impact of the cut in child support collection. In my State of Iowa. alone. children would lose some $239 million over the next 10 years. This is a proven program. an effective program. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4881,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090085913,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this bill already contains the first portion\u0095 of this amendment: Notwithstanding any other provision of law. the existing law applies to this aTea of. Alaska. This is a vindictive amendment. It says if my State decides to pursue a legal right that all production in ANWR would stop. There would be no further production. I dont understand this amendment because we have been a State since 1958. We have not filed that suit. That resolution passed the State legislature almost every year. and it is an act of the State legislature. but the Federal law governs this area and it says a 5050 split. which applies to all States. I yield to the Senator from New Mex-. ico what time we have left.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":704,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090086010,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise in opposition to the Reed amendment. In the Banking Committee. as part of the reconciliation process. we save. in this instance. $270 million. This proposal simply makes the FHAs use of rehab grants and belowmarket sales subject to appropriations. If these programs are. in fact. beneficialsome of them areappropriations can still be granted in the future. and using the appropriations process allows the Congress to better oversee the use of these dollars and to ensure that our resources are well spent. I urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment. This $270 million is a lot of savings that we can put forth today.","speaker_name":"RICHARD SHELBY","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":641,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090086038,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am offering this amendment on behalf of myself and Senator WYDEN. who has offered considerable leadership on this issue over the years providing affordable medications to our seniors. along with Senator MCCAIN and Senator STABENOW. So many of us in Congress have worked to make prescription drug coverage a part of the Medicare Program. but the fact remains that the costs are rising since the time we first created this program. from $523 billion to now up to $720 billion for the Part D Program. As we see in this first chart. the brandnamed prices are consistently outpacing inflation because they have no competition. As we can see with the generic drugs. where there is competition. the price is lower. We want to give the Secretary of Health and Human Services the ability to negotiate prices. particularly for those seniors who will not have access to more than two prescription drug plans or where the plans ask for negotiating authority. This is not price setting. This is price saving. In fact. we have explicit language in the legislation that says this is not about price setting. ","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1464,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090086083,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I applaud your leadership on the Medicare and Medicaid portion of this reconciliation package and am committed to working with you to achieve reductions in mandatory spendiihg programs under your jurisdiction as instructed in the congressional budget resolution. I believe that it is necessary to maintain fiscal constraint and recognize the difficult task involved in achieving that end while ensuring that the countrys health care safety net remains available for our citizens who truly need it the most. As we move forward in advancing. that goal. I understand that there are several changes included in the reconciliation package being considered today that address Medicaid pharmacy reimbursement for prescription drugs dispensed in the pharmacy setting. I know you and your staff worked very hard to craft the Medicaid provisions contained in this legislation and that we both share the common goal of ensuring that Medicaid beneficiaries continue to have access to costeffective prescription drugs reimbursed at an appropriate rate. In that light. I uaderstand that it is not your intent to inadvertently disrupt the highly efficient drug distribution system responsible for assuring access to needed drugs across the Nations pharmacies. I think we both believe that the drug distribution system can. best be preserved if promptpay discounts paid to distributors are excluded from the new Medicaid pharmacy reimbursement methodology. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE VOINOVICH","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1488,"word_count":220}
{"speech_id":1090086084,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I do recognize the valuable role drug distributors play in the delivery of prescription medication and our Nations health care and did intend to excludd prompt pay discounts from the methodology. I say to my colleague from Ohio that I will work with him to ensure that my intention to exclude the discounts is preserved through the conference and enacted into law.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":364,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090086087,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Senator LINCOLN makes a good point. While I support the Finance Committees goal .of encouraging accountability and incentivizing the collection of Medicare bad debt by skilled nursing facilities. I do see the need to differentiate between debt owed by individuals and debt owed by States. I believe this conference should consider this point as well.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CRAPO","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":350,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090086093,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the leadership for giving me an opportunity to express some concerns with the version of \"valuebased purchasing\" for physicians in the Medicare program. as presented in the Senate reconciliation legislation. While I commend the committees efforts in finding budget offsets to stop the Medicare payment cuts facing physicians next year I believe the committee. and Congress as a whole. has accepted -the idea of \"valuebased purchasing\" with little discussion. vetting and evidence that it will actually do what people say it will do. We have a big problem in the Medicare system. Our physicians. the bread and butter of the Medicare program who provide millions of services each year to Medicare beneficiaries. are facing unprecedented cuts in their reimbursement at a. time when their own costs are skyrocketing. We have known about this problem for years. have taken action to prevent previously scheduled cuts and once again we must take action this year to prevent more cuts. I commend the Senate Finance Committees efforts for at least preventing these cuts for a year and recommending that physicians receive a modest one percent increase instead of a 4.4 percent cut. I know the physician community is grateful for this effort in a time of budget deficits. hurricanes and other problems. I am concerned about another provision included in the billspecifically. .valuebased purchasing. a.k.a. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4994,"word_count":226}
{"speech_id":1090086096,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Fragile wilderness will be opened. threatened. and ultimately ruined for the sake of 6 months worth of oil. What makes America the greatest Nation in the world is our sense of community and compassion. Americans look out for each other. and our government should do the same. The budget reconciliation package reflects none of the core American values of compassion and equity. Instead. S12336 CO it harms those who are most vulnerable in order to beneit the rich and a handful of special interests. For these reasons. I cannot support the budget reconciliation spending bill. and will vote against it. \"","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2840,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090086099,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today truly alarmed about the administrations fiscal irresponsibility. In the past 5 years. the Presidents policies have turned record surpluses into record deficits. Just a few weeks ago. the Department of Treasury announced that this years budget deficit is the third largest in history at $319 billion. But. that is not where the bad story ends. By sleight of hand. the administration continues to use other resources to finance debt. including foreign lenders and Social Security. The real def-. icit is a staggering $551 billion. 4.5 percent of GDP. Administration officials are nonchalant about the fiscal disarray. I am deeply worried. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9682,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090086100,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Borne out of the need to promote financial stability during the Great Depression. deposit insurance has served depositors. well by providing stability to banks and to the economy. and it is especially critical to our Nations smaller financial institutions and community banks. While there have been differing opinions as tohow deposit insurance should be reformed. there is general agreement that the system needs to be reformed and modernized. The banking. industry is rapidly evolving and is becoming increasingly complex and sophisticated. Yet the last time any change was made to our system of deposit insurance was over 20 years ago. Reform is long overdue. The time has come for the system that was put in place to promote the stability of the banking system be appropriately reformed to keep pace with the evolution of that system. Depositors must have confidence that their hardearned money is protected. including the funds that cover their daily living expenses to the funds they. are saving for retirement and a rainy day. To that end. this legislation introduces some very key reforms. First. it merges the bank. insurance fund with the savings association insurance fund to create the deposit insurance fund. By doing so. we create a stronger and more diversified fund._ and eliminate the possibility for disparities in premiums between banks and thrifts. ","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5248,"word_count":219}
{"speech_id":1090086107,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I want to also thank my staffMary Naylor. John Righter. my counsel Lisa Konwinski. Jim Esquea. Sarah Kuehl. Mike. Jones. Cliff Isenberg. Jim Miller. Kobye Noel. Shelley- Amdur. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2167,"word_count":28}
{"speech_id":1090086108,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let me begin by thanking all my colleagues for their very constructiVe efforts today. The fact that we were able to complete the voting process today was a reflection of the willingness of people in this Chamber. especially the staff who acted in an extraordinarily professional way. Also. of course. I want to thank Senator CONRAD and his staff. Mary Naylor and her team. Senator CONRAD has been an incredfbly positive. constructive. and professional individual to work with on this bill. This bill would not have been completedeven though he may not agree with the bill. which he doesnt. obviously. and he has argued his positionhe has been more than fair in allowing us to proceed through the bill. And it is a reflection of his extraordinary professionalism. I thank everyone oii the staff. except his chart maker. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2460,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090086137,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"TX. filed suit in Federal court against eight dairies in the North Bosque River Watershed and later amended the suit to include six additional dairies. seeking $45 million in damages under Superfund. The suit alleges that orthophosphate is discharged from the dairies and has affected the water quality of Lake Waco which is located approximately 100 miles downstream from the dairies. On June 13. 2005. the attorney general of the State of Oklahoma filed suit- in Federal court against 14 major integrated poultry production firms claiming joint and several liability for damaged water quality in the Illinois River Watershed caused by poultry- litter runoff froin agricultural lands to which it has been applied as fertilizer. The suit seeks to recover past. present. and future response costs under Superfund. as well as natural resource damages that is expected to add up to several hundreds of millions of dollars. If these two cases are successful. other municipalities and States could bring similar lawsuits and every animal feeding operation and farm could be held liable under Superfund. This is another example of our judicial system overstepping its boundaries. Our judicial system is usurping the will of Congress and creating laws Congress never meant to create. Animal agriculture operations have been appropriately regulated and required to have permits for years under the Clean Water Act. the Clean Air Act. and various State laws to protect the environment. but never under Superfund. My amendment would have left these laws in place. My amendment would have only protected agricultural producers from another example of an activist judicial system. ","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4157,"word_count":262}
{"speech_id":1090086149,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Hatch. DeWine. Cornyn. Brownback. Feingold. Durbin. Kyl. S. 1095. Protecting. American Goods and Services Act of 2005. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1606,"word_count":17}
{"speech_id":1090086163,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"President John F. Kennedy. Henry was also a member of one of the first official delegations that traveled to the Peoples Republic of China following President Nixons historic visit. As Senate Sergeant atArms. he presided over the inauguration of President George H.W. Bush. and escorted numerous foreign dignitaries. including Nelson Mandela. Margaret Thatcher. and Vaclav Havel. when they visited the U.S. Capitol. Indeed. for a \"poor Hawaiian boy\" who was born in Hawaii in 1925 to Alfred Giugni and Kealoha Hookano. Henry has done much on the national stage since his days when he studied at Hanahauoli School. Iolani School. and the University of Hawaii at Manoa. and when he Worked as a Honolulu firefighter. police officer. and\" liquor inspector. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL INOUYE","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4937,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090086165,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it is with deep sadness that I learned of the death of Henry K. Giugni. who passed away this morning. He was a former Sergeant at Arms. In January 1987. it was my pleasure. as the Senate majority leader. to nominate Mr. Giugni to be the Sergeant at Arms of the Senate. When the Senate elected him to the position. Mr. Giugni became not only the thirtieth Sergeant at Arms of the Senate. he became the first PolynesianAmerican to serve in this capacity. Mr. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":801,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090086175,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In addition to being dedicated to his church family. Lonnie Mitchell is also a man devoted to his wife. Elisha. and his three children. L.J.. ChaeAnna. and Camille. Madam Speaker. I rise today to honor a man who is leading a church to reach out to those who need it most. I know Congresswoman MCMORRIS is honored to have Pastor Mitchell in her home district and to know that he will always be laboring to help and love others in their community.","speaker_name":"DAVID REICHERT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1514,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090086177,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Last night. friends and colleagues gathered to honor 30 years of outstanding journalistic accomplishments of Neal Pierce. a founder of the National Journal. editor of the CongressionalQuarterly. a prolific writer on public affairs. a syndicated columnist. and author of a dozen books. His most important contribution has been his keen observations about State and local governments. especially about Americas regions. our metropolitan areas that have been the location of the growth and cultural and economic progress that has made such an impact bn America. 0 Printed on recycled paper. He has not merely chronicled these developments. His insightful analysis has helped make communities better. That is the ultimate role of the journalist and is deeply appreciated by his many friends. admirers. and readers. to say nothing of millions of Americans who have benefited from his analysis. Wethank you. Neal.","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":907,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090086180,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I rise today to support our House Republican leadership and their pledge to control government spending through deficit reduction. We must restore fiscal discipline to the Federal Government. ensuring our children and grandchildren live in a society based on opportunity. not dependence on a bloated. Federal bureaucracy swimming in greater debt. It comes as no surprise to hear Democrats cry: raise taxes. spend more. I feel like Bill Murray in \"Ground Hog Day.\" that great movie. Regardless of the day. regardless of the problem. Democrats have no new ideas. just crying: more taxes. more spending. Higher taxes are a problem. not a solution. and always lead to larger. more intrusive governments. and larger budgets. As elected officials. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK MCHENRY","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":931,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090086183,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. the world is much smaller today thanit was. and when we particularly focus in on the Middle East. we need peace. However. I am deeply disturbed by the remarks of the new Iranian President. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. when he was addressing 4.000 students. using the language of Ayatollah Khomeini. where he says and threatens: \"Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nations fury.\" Who is this guy? We cannot allow this kind of language to stand in this day and age. We must make sure that we condemn this kind of language and those kinds of acts. Here is a guy with a questionable background. Some of our hostages say that he is the individual who was there when they were held in Iran. The international community must come together and make sure that there are no nuclear reactors there. We must make sure that it is clear that we are going to stand by our friends and allies in Israel in this regards and that we are going to be the ones that are going to force peace to be in the Middle East and we are not going to have this kind of rhetoric language continuing. We cannot allow this - H9558 man with this questionable background to continue to go unchecked.","speaker_name":"GREGORY MEEKS","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1200,"word_count":220}
{"speech_id":1090086214,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think that when a Congress does not do its oversight. in effect what they are doing is covering things up. They are not letting the American people know what its government is doing. This is not the government of the Republican Party. This is not the government of President Clinton. It is a government that belongs to the people of the United States. and our democracy. cannot work if there is no accountability and transparency. We have never heard of anyone in this administration fired for doing a poor job. In fact. if they do a poor enough job. they get elevated. They even get a Medal of Freedom award. No one was fired. no one was held accountable for the failure to have accurate intelligence before we went into the war. No one has been fired for anything that is been done improperly by this administration. ","speaker_name":"HENRY WAXMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3740,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090086220,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 1 minute. -Mr. Speaker. in keeping with the spirit of this motion to instruct. the purpose of which is to protect American troops. I want to simply say that no matter how hard we try. we are going to have a difficult time doing that unless we change some unpleasant facts on the ground in Iraq. When more than 80 percent of Iraqis tell pollsters that they want America to leave their country. when almost onehalf of Iraqis respond to pollsters by saying that they believe that terrorist attacks onU.S. troop are justified. we have a serious problem. In my view. we are not going to be able to turn that around until we make clear that our policies are consistent with our interests and our professed values. We need to get to the bottom of how we got into Iraq and how we are conducting this operation in Iraq now. We need to get to the bottom of that. We need to determine who is responsible for some of the stories that we have seen in the papers the past few days. and if we do not do that. we are going to. continue to invite the kind of negative opinion around the world that is plaguing our ability to succeed in Iraq. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1218,"word_count":219}
{"speech_id":1090086246,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thought I just heard you indicate that for the motion to be in order one of the questions that might have to be present was the question of the dignity of the House. When we are told that $100 million of taxpayers money has been slipped into an appropriation bill for an illegal purpose. is that not. in fact. a challenge to the dignity of the House?","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":365,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090086285,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Eminent domain was used to transform Times Square with the crime rate plummeting and change the face of that area. There are communities around the country where this has been done. Look at the Roxbury neighborhood in Boston or look out the door here of the Capitol at Pennsylvania Avenue. where eminent domain was used in the 1960s and 1970s to reformulate the face of it. I understand the sensitivity. We do not want it abused. But. for heavens sake. we should be careful before we rush in with a Federal solution which may have unintended consequences.","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1854,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090086294,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. while I do not have any problems with the bill at this time. there is some concern that the bill may adversely affect the transportation projects. including those constructed under public and private partnerships. There is also a concern that the bill may have unintentional effects on the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policy Act of 1970. I would like to thank the gentleman for including the language changes that we have suggested in the managers amendment to help fix these problems. These changes are meant to clarify that this bill does not have any adverse impacts on issues under the jurisdiction of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.Mr. Chairman. I ask that if we discover any additional problems with this legislation for transportation projects. you will agree to work with me in conference on a mutually agreeable solution.","speaker_name":"DON YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":893,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090086300,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As a former judge. I want to thank the chairman for leading the fight to protect private property rights. One reason We started this country was because back in the days of England. the king and the nobles owned all the land. and regular folks like us had to work the land. but we could never own the land. That is one reason this country got started. because of the desire to own private property. John Locke. the great philosopher who was influential in much of the law that came into our Constitution. said that we are all born with the right of life. liberty. and property. And Thomas Jefferson incorporated that concept in the Declaration of Independence when he said that we are given by our creator life. liberty. and the pursuit of happiness. And then we put in our Constitution in the fifth amendment that basic right. that we all have life. liberty. and property and it will not be taken Without due process of law. That simple phrase that is in that fifth amendment. that private property shall not be taken for public use without due compensation. it is the American dream to own a part of America. own a part of the land. More Americans own land and houses than ever before in our history. Then the Supreme Court came around and misinterpreted this very simple rule in our Constitution. allowink private property to be taken by local governments so they can give it to somebody else all in the name of money. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1717,"word_count":257}
{"speech_id":1090086304,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. one of .those constitutional provisions is the protection of private property. The Founders of this great Nation knew that a government that can take a citizens property on a whim is a government that can take away everything else as well. H.R. 4128 offers a reasonable solution. and I urge my colleagues to support this bill.","speaker_name":"JAMES GIBBONS","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1720,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090086307,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"New London has commenced the tyranny. It is laying siege to the idea that a mans home is his castle. While it is true that the principle of eminent domain is established in our Constitution. it exists for an extremely limited purpose. The dissenters in the Kelo case correctly note that the Court has abandoned a \"longheld basic limitation on government power. Under the banner of economic development. all private property is now vulnerable to being taken and transferred to another private owner.\" - The Court essentially now gives local governments the power to seize property to simply generate tax revenue. Under their ruling. your local city council can now take your home and give it to Starbucks so they can sell vente mocha lattes. Mr. Chairman. are we still in America? By passing the Private Property Rights Protection Act. Congress can help secure this most sacred right. H.R. 4128 will rightfully increase the penalties for States. ","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1598,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090086309,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I am proud to be a cosponsor of H.R. 4128. and .1 strongly urge my colleagues to support this bill on behalf of property owners across our Nation. This legislation clearly prohibits economic development as a public use. period. with no room for misunderstanding. Eminent domain. for the purpose of economic development. is absolutely opposite our belief as Americans of our right to own private property. Our role as Members of Congress is to protect the public..We have a responsibility to use legislative powers to clearly define private property rights. I would like to thank the sponsors of the bill. the chairman and committees that have worked on it. and I urge m colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 4128.","speaker_name":"THELMA DRAKE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":725,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090086340,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Farm and ranch land can .be taken Very easily because a golf course. a shopping mall. an amusement park can easily be classified as being more important as far as economic development than agricultural land. Nonprofits. such as churches. Salvation Arjny. Goodwill Industries. shelters. are very vulnerable. They generate little or no tax revenue. So almost any project can supersede them in this regard. Small businesses are very vulnerable. I had a farmer athlete who played for me .who had worked very hard to develop a small business in an old building. a restaurant. and a new hotel was coming into the area. The local city council was thinking about shutting him down. destroying the building. building a new hotel. which would be economic development. Ana this person was essentially very vulnerable. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS OSBORNE","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1998,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090086342,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In conclusion. Mr. Chairman. the States and- local governments that take lands for private development could not receive Federal economic development funds for those years. I am therefore very pleased that the House is voting on this important bill today.","speaker_name":"DAVID SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2149,"word_count":40}
{"speech_id":1090086351,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We hope there is a -better resolution than the one in Kelo. I want to commend Chairman SENSENBRENNER and Chairman GOODLATTE for their Kood work and their courageous effort in this most needed legislation.","speaker_name":"JEAN SCHMIDT","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1177,"word_count":34}
{"speech_id":1090086353,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of my time Mr. Chairman. I would like to start by thahking some people who do not always get thanked. and. that is the diligent. hardworking staff of the Agriculture Committee on both sides of the aisle. the Judiciary Committee on both sides of the aisle and my congressional office staff. They worked very. very hard on what I think is a comprehensive and carefully crafted piece of legislation. We are going to begin to entertain some amendments. and some of those amendments could have a devastating impact. a gutting effect on this legislation. and I urge my colleagues to follow that debate closely and help us defeat amendments that would open this back up to the same kind of court misinterpretation that has been a problem here. Finally. let me say that the United States Constitution protects private property rights as a fundamental right. and we need to make sure that we respond to a Supreme Court decision that has cast private property rights in America into question by passing this important legislation today.","speaker_name":"BOB GOODLATTE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1067,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090086358,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"State or local governments from exercising eminent domain for public facilities or other uses defined as public use. It is vital that we protect the property rights of all Americans from arbitrary application of eminent domain by passing this legislation. I urge my colleagues to support the bill.","speaker_name":"C. RUPPERSBERGER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2483,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090086361,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Hathcock. There is a lot of room for improvement in the use of eminent domain. Unfortunately. the legislation before the House is an unreasonable and unworkable solution.","speaker_name":"SANDER LEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2970,"word_count":27}
{"speech_id":1090086365,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I also noted my endorsement of its statement that \"Congress maintains the prerogative and reserves the right to address through legislation any abuses of eminent domain by State and local government.\" That is the purpose of this legislation. The bill prohibits Federal agencies from using the power of eminent domain for the kind of economic development project that was involved in the Kelo case. It also would deny Federal economic development assistance to any State or local entity that uses its eminent domain authority in that way. Specifically. the bill would penalize any State or local government that takes private property and conveysor leases it to another private entity. either for a commercial purpose or to generate additional taxes. employment. or general economic health. A State or local government found to have violated this prohibition would be ineligible for certain Federal economic development funds for 2 years. but could become eligible by returning or replacing the property. The bill also would give private property owners the right to bring legal actions seeking enforcement of these provisions and would waive States immunity to such suits. .This is strong medicine. but I think the prescription is appropriate. I found persuasive the views of Justice OConner who. dissenting in the Kelo case. warned that the decision could make more likely that eminent domain would be used in a reverse Robin Hood fashiontaking from the poor. giving to the richand that \"The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process. including large corporations and development firms.\" The bill is intended to make this less likely. It does not do so by attempting to replace State and local authority with Federal law. I do not think the Constitution gives us that power. and it would not be right to do it even if we could. Instead. it would require the States and local governments to decide whether they are prepared to sacrifice certain Federal assistance for 2 years as the price for exercising their authority in ways covered by the bill. ","speaker_name":"MARK UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5266,"word_count":344}
{"speech_id":1090086372,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I do believe this legislation can be improved. Under this bill. if a State or locality takes property in violation of this legislation they will incur a 2 year prohibition of economic development funds. That is not long enough: We need to hold States and localities to a higher standard. By withholding Federal economic development funds for a longer period of time. if not permanently. States and localities will rethink the taking of private property. or remedy their previous egregious actions. They need to know there will be consequences. By withholding these funds for an extended period of time. if not indefinitely. they will understand the seriousness of our intentions. We have a chance at real reform here and this legislation should be passed. Again. I would like to thank Chairman SENSENBRENNER for bringing this to the Floor as quickly as you did and I look forward to working with you in every step of the process to see this commendable legislation enacted. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD POMBO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4192,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090086374,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman.. as a fourth generation rancher. my life has been shaped by the traditions and values associated with proper stewardship of the land. Our Constitutional rights put property ownership of capital importance in the Fifth Amendment. The right to own property is the backbone of our freemarket system. With eminent domain becoming an expanding practice. a bipartisan approach bridging urban. suburban. and rural communities is necessary to uphold the rights of the individual. The regulatory takings that have been plaguing Americas family farmers and ranchers have now spread to suburban neighborhoods. as the decision in the Kelo v. City of New London made absolutely clear. Congress has an inherent responsibility to uphold the Constitution. and on the property rights of United States citizens. the Constitution is clear. The need for H.R. 4128 has never been greater.","speaker_name":"RICHARD POMBO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":881,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090086381,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. the managers amendment simply makes clear that private roads and those that are open to the public. free or by toll. and flood control facilities are covered under the exceptions of the bill. It also includes a savings clause making clear that nothing in the legislation shall be construed to affect the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970. which requires the Federal Government to pay the displacement costs of those adversely affected by the Federal Governments use of eminent domain. The managers amendnient also incorporates into the bills sense of congress section some language provided by the Resources Committee regarding the effect of the abuse of eminent domain on irrigation and reclamation projects and on public lands. I urge my colleagues to support the improvements made by this managers amendment. Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":977,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090086392,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr: Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman this is a gutting amendment. It is a gutting amendment because it removes the constitutional hook that this Congress and the Federal Government have to prevent the abuses that have been sanctioned by Kelo. and that is the Federal funds that have been used for economic development. . The amendment strikes out all the penalty in the bill -that would prevent the government officials from abusing eminent domain. No penalty. no tap on the wrist. We say you should not do it. but if you go ahead and do it. then you are not going to be penalized. Without these penalties in the bill. the government could take private property from one person and simply give it to a wealthy corporation. Because this amendment guts the entire bill. it ought to be opposed. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1569,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090086395,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I respectfully offer this statement against the amendment offered by the gentleman from New York. Essentially. this amendment eliminates the teeth of this bill: the denial of Federal funds for 2 fiscal years to those States and cities that have violated this act. The denial of Federal economic development funds should serve as a real deterrent for those States and cities that want to exercise eminent domain for development. that is. the taking of private property for private use. Without this provision. this bill will not be taken- seriously. and the eminent domain abuses that many in this country are complaining about will continue. I just waved before my colleagues a list of over 125 cases of the taking of private land for private use. or attempts to do that. and I think the bill that we have before us today will stop this kind of abuse of eminent domain.","speaker_name":"MAXINE WATERS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":35.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":883,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090086420,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. -Chairman. I would say very quickly to the gentleman -from Virginia. the majority that he mistrusts is about the business of protecting the minority that he values. because a private property owner facing eminent domain powers being used to take their property for private economic development purposes is very much alone. and he needs this kind of weight of authority behind him or her to protect their private property rights. If the gentlemans amendment is adopted. it will reopen exactly the kind of confusing and controversial court decisions that we are about trying to address here today. The specificity in the bill is superior to the gentlemans amendment.","speaker_name":"BOB GOODLATTE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":668,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090086446,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You cannot simply come up with every excuse that is convenient to mayors and city council members and to developers to take peoples private land. If it is private. if it is owned. whether it is residence or business or \"vacant\" land. whatever. it belongs to somebody. somebody paid for it. They have a right to it. The government does not have the right to take it. And so I would simply be opposed to yet another request for an exception to this very good bill that is put forth to protect the citizens of the States. I commend the chairman and those of us on both sides of the aisle for stepping forward in the manner that we have in a timely fashion to say no. -I have often criticized my friends on the opposite side of the aisle for accusing courts and the Supreme Court of creating law. of creating legislation. They did it on this one. They absolutely did. The Constitution simply says that you must compensate for the taking of land for public use. We are not opposed to eminent domain for public use. ","speaker_name":"MAXINE WATERS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":35.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3178,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090086464,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. is it also the gentlemans intention that this provision would not trump the other provisions of.the bill -that provide additional protections to nonprofits by prohibiting takings from private entities for other economic development. reasons to give to other private entities?","speaker_name":"BOB GOODLATTE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":289,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090086487,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. I am happy to accept this amendment that amends the sense of Congress section of the bill that says that victims of Hurricane Katrina cannot have their property condemned simply because it was damaged by the hurricane. Unless the amendment is adopted. then victims of Hurricane Katrina end up getting penalized twice. That is twice too many times. We can take away one of those times by adopting the amendment. and I urge the House to support it.","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":498,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090086488,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I cannot thank you enough. and I would ask your kind indulgence if I could reclaim my time to put these items in the RECORD. and I would like to yield a moment to the gentlewoman from California. but let me just say this. The chairman is so very right. Let me make these points. It is legislation to. in fact. make a very pronounced statement that we are -very much watching and seeking to protect the Hurricane Katrina survivors from unreasonable taking of property away from them for economic development or for private use. Let me share this paragraph: New Orleans will be the center of a reconstruction project that will have a price tag in excess of $200 billion. Eminent domain will play a major role in the local governments ability to assemble properties to carry out their plans. whether residents like it or not.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":836,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090086496,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 1 minute. First of all. I am fully aware that it is a dangerous combination to be opposing both the chairman of the full Judiciary Committee and the gentlewoman from California . but I simply think this bill is an overreaction. This amendment would strike all the provisions of the bill except the sense of Congress which I believe adequately conveys the legitimate concerns with the decision of the Supreme Court in Kelo and does what we should appropriately do. express our concern about it and any possible abuse of it but not go so overboard as this bill does in my opinion. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"MELVIN WATT","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":655,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090086497,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 15 seconds. The amendment guts the bill by striking out every provision of it except the sense of Congress and the report requirement. If we are for the bill. we ought to vote against the amendment. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":275,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090086499,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. we can all agree that Federal powers should not be used to enrich the powerful and the wealthy. but the first response to Kelo should be from responsible local and State governments. not the United States Congress. One narrow Supreme Court decision should not be the basis for an overbroad Federal amendment that will have many unintended consequences. Earlier I asked what would be the impact if this legislation had been passed for the revitalization of Times Square. where eminent domain transformed one of the most notorious places in America or the Dudley Street neighborhood initiative in the Roxbury Dorchester area in Boston or just outside our window where we have had Pennsylvania Avenue restored using eminent domain. I would strongly suggest that the gentleman from North Carolinas approach is a more reasonable and prudent one. We do not have a crisis at this point. State and local governments should be dealing With this in an appropriate fashion. We should not have overbroad legislation that could have many unintended consequences.","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1063,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090086502,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the chairman of the committee for yielding me this time. This is an unusual note to end the debate on a very important subject like this. because the last amendment from my friend from North Carolina is to strike everything in the bill except the sense of Congress provisions expressing support for property rights. Well. that is a vote on the bill. Why do we not just have a vote on final passage and skip this? Because that is what this is. And I would like to emphasize the fact that the people. the citizens. are in support of this amendment. I am proud that we have the civil rights organizations supporting me and not my friend from North Carolina. The NAACP is not known to take issues against the majority of ordinary people. That is what it was founded on. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1040,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090086505,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I just want to clarify for the gentleman that the NAACP has advised me that they are concerned about the abuse of eminent domain. as everybody else is. and the sense of Congress part of the resolution would continue to express that concern. They do not endorse the bill. however.","speaker_name":"MELVIN WATT","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":279,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090086547,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I taking away the $10 billion cushion have been told that if all you do is cut. that has been established by the Medicut. cut. cut. all that you really get is care drug law. They want to take those blood. blood. blood. blood. dollars and have it to pay for the large I am afraid that the blood of the cut of $10 or $11 billion that is coming American people. the blood of the poor. out of this budget. out of Medicaid. the blood of the homeless. the blood of Is it not ridiculous to spend $70 bilthe hungry. the blood of the children. lion on tax cuts. borrowing from Peter the blood that is cut out of Medicare. to pay Paul. and we are going to get a Medicaid. food stamps. all of that blood veto by the President of the United will be on the hands of those who had States if we try to save the $10 billion the knife. for those seniors who need the money in Medicaid? Vote against the budget reconciliRETAINING THE PROPOSED $70 ation when it comes to the floor.","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":975,"word_count":191}
{"speech_id":1090086559,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. on October 23. the KnightRider newspaper had a headline that said. \"Pentagon Program Costing Taxpayers Millions in Inflated Prices.\" I want to give a few examples. because. as we talk about budget resolution. budget cuts. or tax increases or whatever. if we just look at what is happening. and I am going to relay this to the House in just one moment. we ought to start looking at the inflated prices and what is going on at the Department of Defense. I am going to give examples. The Pentagon is paying $20 apiece for ice -cube trays that cost 85 cents. In other words. you can go. to a retail storeandyou get a plastic ice tray and pay 85 to 90 cents. yet the Department of Defense is paying $20. In addition. the Pentagon is now paying $81 apiece for coffee makers that were bought for years at just $29 from the manufacturer. So $81 now. and they were paying $29 for coffee makers. A commercial 7foot refrigerator that the general public can buy for a little more than $17.000. the Pentagon is paying nearly $33.000 for the same refrigerator. for a markup of 89 percent. Mr. ","speaker_name":"WALTER JONES","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3402,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090086562,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Exxon Mobil recently reported their profits increased by 75 percent. Their revenues: $100 billion. Shell Oil. earnings 68 percent up. Phillips. 89 percent up. B.P. Amoco. 34 percent rise in quarterly earnings. American families are struggling with massive energy bills that cut into their living expenses. their college costs. and their health care costs. while energy companies are reaping huge. huge profits. Henry Hubble. a senior vice president at Exxon Mobil said. \"You have got to let the marketplace work.\" I agree with the executive from Exxon Mobil. Let the marketplace work. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5658,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090086575,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"America has rejected this sort of bankrupt. liberal ex-. tremism at the ballot. and now the left is desperately trying to hold on to the courts to force this extremist agenda down the throats of all Americans. The liberal. secular left wants to take the words \"under God\"-out of the Pledge of Allegiance. They want to completely dismantle marriage and family. They want to end voluntary prayer. any kind of traditional voluntary religious expression in public places. They teach your children in school that it is \"mainstream\" in America to use abortion and even partialbirth abortion as a means of birth control. They are saying to the parents of America that if your underage daughter is impregnated by a man. he should be able to take her to have an abortion without your knowledgeor permission. that it is none of your business. Mr. Speaker. those attacking Judge Alito are so far to the left that they cannot even see the majority of us here in America. and it is so important that the people of this country understand what the left means when they say \"mainstream\" when they say that Judge Alito is out of the mainstream. They are talking about his rulings in cases where the overwhelming majority of Americans agree with him. That is the very definition of \"mainstream.\" Mr. ","speaker_name":"TRENT FRANKS","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3919,"word_count":222}
{"speech_id":1090086589,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"However. the Iraqi people have met their challenges and have overcome obstacles at each step along the way. I am confident that as long as Iraq and its allies continue to stand up against terrorism. I am optimistic that more successes lie ahead. The mainstream media has a habit of only reporting the bad news coming out of Iraq. So it can be tough for some Americans to remain optimistic about our efforts in Iraq. This would not be the case if everyone had the chance to talk with many of the brave men and women who are serving in Iraq. Since the War began in 2003. I have visited Iraq twice. On each trip. I have had the opportunity to talk with our troops on the ground. ","speaker_name":"RANDY NEUGEBAUER","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5909,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090086592,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Congressman. thank you for coming and being with us. I am sure on your trip that it was just like on mine. I realized immediately these are people who have chosen to be here. It is an allvolunteer force. I am sure you also saw. as I did. that many of them volunteered to go to Iraq and to go back to Iraq. and it is just so impressive. the commitment that they have given to our Nation and the words of our men and women just like Corporal. Starr. Mr. Speaker. I yield to the gentlewoman from Tennessee. 4J 1945","speaker_name":"THELMA DRAKE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":511,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090086600,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the gentlewoman. She has done a wonderful job of leading this Special Order. and I want to thank all the Members who participated. They did a great job. and I think our message to all of our troops. to everyone that wears the uniform of the United States is this: you have great value. You are our best citizens. Your cause is just. You will prevail. and we will stand behind you. I thank the gentlewoman.","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":434,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090086619,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There is no big lobby group out there for that. And there is no big lobby group out there to make sure that poor people have the proper kind of health care that they need. So as we go through this tonight. it is important for all of us to remember that it is not a coincidenc6 that ourfriends cut programs where there are not big lobby groups and big donors and then they keep the programs that have corporate welfare in them or that the lobbyists want. Then they are off to shakedown street. K Street. which is where all the lobbyists are. They go down to shakedown street. shake down the lobbyists. The lobbyists donate money to the Republican Party. and they keep the system going.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1357,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090086620,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. that was a partyline vote. A 27percent increase. which I call a tax increase. on students that want to go to school. 27 percent. a partyline vote. Democrats voted not to increase those fees on them. Republicans voted in the majority.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":266,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090086625,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am champing at the bit here because he is absolutely right. and one of the things I want to emphasize. because I think in the last few nights we have not gotten this point across to the Speaker and to the folks who might be hearing this conversation this evening. the purpose of the 30something Group. the main purpose. is for us to help get some understanding out to our generationabout the issues that we are debating in this Congress and how it affects them. And the student aid cuts that the gentleman was talking about just a few minutes ago. more than any other issue almost. is the easiest for folks in our generation to understand how it impacts them. What maybe is not so obvious is what Congressman MEEK was just talking about a minute ago. The Republican leadership. our friends on the other side of the aisle. will try. as they put forth this reconciliation act. AKA budget cuts. because reconciliation and other words that are used inside this Chamber and in this Capitol. that is Washington speak for budget cuts. the budget cuts that they are saying they are going to need to put forward to address the deficit and to address the outofcontrol spending that they have engaged in are not for Katrina relief. are not being put forward so that we can pay for Katrina and for the aftermath of Katrina. They are so that they can preserve the $70 billion in tax cuts that they have put forward. Let us boil this down to its simplest terms. They will represent and have been representing that they have to do these cuts because the impact from Katrina is so significant and we have got to do something. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1847,"word_count":296}
{"speech_id":1090086635,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if the gentleman will yield further. if I can just say one thing. first of all. it is such a pleasure to see you and have you join us tonight. The gentlewoman from Nevada has been an amazing advocate for the pe6ple who are on this floor tonight championing their cause. Those of us in the 30something generation have had an opportunity to stand on your shoulders for the years you have been in Congress and been in the legislature in the State of Nevada fighting for the people that have no voice. That is really* why we are here. We are so glad and privileged to havq you join us tonight to take up this fight.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":624,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090086651,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Yes. why do we not do that? We are going to get staff to put this on the Web site. because this stuff just does not fall out of the sky. This does not just fall out of the sky. The President cannot do it by himself. Take it from me. he cannot. He has to have his Republican majority. he has to have a majority. obviously. over in the Senate to do it: and he cannot do it by himself. So folks start talking about what is going on here. Why are these foreign countries owning our debt? Why are they owning our debt? Why are we taxing our students? This budget that was passed through the Budget Committee on a partisan vote. with the exception of one Republican. and I am going to write him a thankyou note tomorrow. the bottom line is $f4 billion and a tax on students. Not just students. but parents who have to take up the cause because the kids can no longer try to pay for their own college or the majority of college. If parents have a college fund going now. they need to go back and talk to their financial adviser and put some more money into it. because if this Republican majority continues to go out of control. there will not be any assistance for yohr child. That is not just me presenting a budget. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1258,"word_count":236}
{"speech_id":1090086652,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. could I just for a moment speak on behalf of those who have white hair and are looking towards receiving Medicare. The United States Senate is sending over a budget to this body. and there will be a socalled conference committee that will reconcile the differences. and in that Senate budget is. for the first time in my experience. and I have been here 9 years. a significant cut not in Medicaid. but in Medicare. If my colleagues remember. there .was a former Speaker of this body by the name of Newt Gingrich. He would come to this floor frequently at this hour of the night. have conversations that were noted by the American people. and he talked on one occasion about beginning to reduce Medicare and allowing it to wither on the vine. Well. every American who shares the .:olor of my hair ought to be aware of what has happened in the other branch. in the Senate. in terms of Medicare. because I do not want to say it is the beginning of the initiative or the concept of allowing Medicare to wither on the vine. but every American should be aware that there is a cut to that particular program that has saved the lives and extended the lives of millions of elderly Americans.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1195,"word_count":219}
{"speech_id":1090086653,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But let us talk about senior citizens. Let us -talk about the folks who are living on fixed incomes. And then. let us turn to the people who are in our community. in south Florida. who just got hit by a category 3 storm who. right after the storm. -were in a bad enough situation to begin with. because we got hit much worse than anyone expected. But then. 2 days ago. it started pouring rain on the houses that were already blown out by the wind and the rain.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1286,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090086663,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Recordbreaking spending. recordbreaking deficits. The party of fiscal . conservatfsm has become an absolute joke. It has become a caricature of itself. Here is a conservative that we may disagree with on many. many issues. Cal Thomas of the Washington Times. a conservative newspaper. a conservative columnist. one of the most conservative in the country who tries to provide a little advice to the Republican majority: \"Here is a suggestion on your budget cuts: -Dont start with the poor. start with the rich.\"","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":511,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090086685,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. first I want to thank the Democratic leader of California for the opportunity to spend some.time talking about the issues of concern to Americans across this country. and as a member of the 30something Democrats. and I know I will be joined by my colleagues in a few moments. we have appreciated hearing from the literally hundreds of Americans both in our generation and across the generational spectrum over the last weeks since we have been talking about those issues on the floor here. My good friend from Pennsylvania. I cannot help but spend a few moments talking about some of the matters that. he has just addressed. being that I am a Representative of the State of Florida. and I had an opportunity to engage in a very interesting and informative and timely dialogue with the gentleman from Pennsylvania just yesterday. Unfortunately. the industry organization that he just cited. which he also cited in our debate the other night. Associated Industries of Florida. that is not an organization. if the Members are familiar with Florida politics. that is at all representative of the average business organization in our State. Associated Industries of Florida is primarily made up of the most major corporations in Florida. Every major oil company is a member of Associated Industries. So it makes quite a bit of sense that the opinion of Associated Industries would reflect what Mr. PETERSON of Pennsylvania just described.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1446,"word_count":240}
{"speech_id":1090086686,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Let us talk about housing. In the previous hour. we talked a little bit about the housing cuts that this budgetcut bill would hand down. and I am joined by my good and close friend whom I had an opportunity to serve with in now three different Chambers. the gentlemanfrom Florida . His district and my district were hit badly by a category 3 storm last week. Hurricane Wilma. and we were talking in the last hour about housing and the issues related to affordable housing that our constituents were already facing. \u0095 I want to just point out this picture here. Over the weekend I had an opportunity to go door to door in my district because there are so many senior citizens trapped in their homes without power. We still have half a million people who do not have power in south Florida. And. unfortunately. whether it is because of hurricane fatigue or just the fact that there was so much damage in the gulf coast region that it may be difficult to feel the pain that we are going through in south Florida and understand it. but there is not nearly as much attention as we need focused on what happened in south Florida. When I was going to door to door in my district to try to help some of the folks who have trouble getting out of their houses. and I am talking about people who are in their 80s and 90s. one of the apartments that the building captain in the condominium brought me into included this kind of damage. This is the result of Hurricane Wilma. and this is just one example. There are hundreds and hundreds of condominium units and apartment buildings and homes and mobile homes that look just like this. ","speaker_name":"JOHN PETERSON","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7257,"word_count":300}
{"speech_id":1090086689,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So it is a condemned apartment. She cannot live in it. Not only are there only 300 FEMA inspectors of over 100.000 and counting condemned residences in Dade. Broward and Palm Beach Counties.. Even in Broward County. well over the number. We are going to send 300 people down there to inspect before we are able to assist them. That is the reason why we need an independent Katrina commission. to make sure we are able to respond to Americans in need. So when folks come to the floor and start talking about. well. you know. I do not know why they are complaining. because everything seems to be okay and the lights are on here in the Chamber and democracy is strong. we have Americans out there that are suffering and we have to give them voice.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":745,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090086697,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The only thing that they are doing here is they have a lopsided partisan committee that is supposedly reviewing the aftermath of Katrina and FEMAs response. You know. I would feel much better about any review. although I strongly believe that there should be an independent Katrina commission. as do 81 percent of Americans. but if they had learned something between storms. We have had three storms in two months. from Katrina to Rita hnd from Rita to Wilma. They have learned nothing. After my district and that of the gentleman from Florida district got hit by Wilma. and Secretary Paulison now in FEMA is a qualified professional. so at least they have that right now. but unfortunately FEMA still is not getting it right. We still 10 days after the storm do not have a disaster recovery center established in Broward County or in Miami Dade County. a permanent one. There are seven mobile units between the two counties. We have more than 136.000 people in Broward alone who have applied for assistance. and .they cannot get it yet because FEMA only has 300 inspectors in the whole state and they can do about 10 a day in terms of the inspections. I yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts..","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1198,"word_count":210}
{"speech_id":1090086705,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is the reason why the Democrats fought hard in the Budget Committee to make sure that the Medicare cuts did not take place or put an extra burden on seniors. to make sure that we replaced the burden that the majority side here in this House. the Republicans. have put on students as it relates to student aid and student loans. $14 billion in fees for students. That means $14 billion in fees and taxes for parents in America. for grandparents in America. We can do better. I am so glad that we sleep with our fists balled up here ready to fight on behalf of Americans every day. That is the reason why I feel excited every time we get the opportunity to come to this floor to offer an amendment. to come to this floor here in this special order. to be able to let not only the majority side know. the Republican majority because. I must say. and I want to remind everyone. the Republicans are in control of this House. the Senate. and the White Iouse. So anyone that has anything to say. and that includes Members. about how the Democrats said this and the Democrats said that and they are doing this. we are not doing anything as it relates. to pulling this country in reverse. I am going to tell my colleagues right now. what went down in the Budget Committee today is shameful. it is really shameful. I just Want to. as we work here as a working group. I just want to say. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2695,"word_count":262}
{"speech_id":1090086709,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Rabbi David Saperstein. director of the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism. and Eleanor Giddings Ivory. director. Washington office. Presbyterian Church. They had a press conference before the prayer and they called for a moral budget and urged Congress to stop immoral budget priorities. Let me just outline a few of the things that they said. Reverend Wallis said. \"As this moral battle for the budget unfolds. I am calling on Members of Congress. some of whom make much out of their faith. to start some Bible studies before they cast votes to cut food stamps. Medicaid. child care and more that hurt the weakest in our Nation. Reverend Edgar of the National Council of Churches said. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3095,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090086710,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We know what they are doing. We want to make sure that we illuminate what they are doing because. when it comes down to it. if theRepublican majority in this House was doing such a great job. then why do only 35 percent of the American people feel that we are doing a good job? Now if it is only 35. percent of the American people. just do the math. A super majority of Americans feel that we are not doing our. job. Why do they feel that the President. why is the President at his lowest approval rating of his entire administration at 35? Why is DICK CHENEYS approval rating at 19? So when folks start coming to the floor swelling all up and carrying on and saying. you know. we salute one flag. and anyone else that has anything to ask or say about it. .they are with the other folks. with the terrorists. with the enemy. why are they coming here? Why are not they doing certain things? But I just want to make this point on this issue. I just wanted to make sure that we understand that we live in a democracy. and that we have the very people that the majority side is cutting the programs that help them the most. Medicaid. Medicare. being able to protect our environment in a way that it should be protected. Democrats. what we did we made sure that we put forth amendments that will help everyday Americans. that we will be able to achieve the goals that we are supposed to achieve as Members of Congress. We also pushed a philosophy of making sure that we bring the budget back in balance. We made sure that for every time that someone puts forth a program that we have a way to pay for it. not just saying we are going to run over to China and say we are going to get the money. or not to say that we are going to pay for it on the backs of everyday Americans as it relates to including a budget enforcement measure to protect Social Security. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3691,"word_count":358}
{"speech_id":1090086720,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is not what democracy isabout. In fact. today I read the White House had prepared a series of talking points attacking the former National Security Advisor. Brent Scowcroft. who recently went public in saying that the policies of this Bush administration as it relates to Iraq and the Middle East are a failure. They were preparing. according to Mr. Hoaglands column. talking points to attack him. We have got to get away from this politics of destruction and ad hominem attacks and questioning individualss patriotism. That is not what we are about. -","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1795,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090086851,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. lately when Americans turn on the news at night. they do not see the government that they recognize. They hear about a war in the Middle East gone wrong. and they see suffering people left to fend for themselves in times of crisis. They learn more and more about. a White House under siege. and they are forced to recognize the ugly. truth that many of their congressional leaders are entangled in a web of corruption. While the criticism is justified and the concerns are real. the failures do not define America. It is important to remember that in difficult times. especially in difficult times. we must always keep close. in spite of the challenges at home and abroad. and that noother nation has shined the light of freedom and liberty as brightly as we have here in our country. No nation in history has given so much and asked for so little in return. That romantic and powerful notion of America as a force for good in a troubled world strikes at the very heart of what it.means to be an American. It is that spirit which drives us as a Nation to create a government as good as its people. and today we take one step in helping to restore that feeling. in America to embody the ideal of what we hold dear. It is a bill that will help Americans recognize their government once again. ","speaker_name":"LOUISE SLAUGHTER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3613,"word_count":240}
{"speech_id":1090086868,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of the rule supporting the conference report for Foreign Operations. Export Financing and Related Programs. It is an example of Congress demonstrating the ability to fund our national and international priorities in a fiscally responsibleway. andI come to this floor to extol its virtues and urge all of my colleagues to support the rule and the underlying bill. This legislation will fund the Nations priorities in a meaningful way. addressing the AIDS pandemic. bringing innovative reforms to our foreign assistance programs and. of ultimate significance. supporting the global war on terror. But specifically with regard to the internal mechanics of this legislation. ","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2504,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090086872,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me the time and permitting me to speak on this legislation. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of the rule and of the underlying legislation. I want to highlight the $200 million that has been set aside for safe drinking water. I must acknowledge not just the leadership of the gentleman from Arizona and the gentlewoman from New York . but the special interests of the Senate majority leader. BILL FRIST. with whom I have been working on efforts to increase our commitment to provide sanitation and safe drinking water around the world. a United States priority that we have undertaken together with the United Nations. but it is one where we have not yet backed that up with dollars and with an overall strategy. Mr. ","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":836,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090086878,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I just want the gentleman to know I share the concerns of the chairman. I believe that we can have far greater impact in Colombia by investing in alternative livelihoods rather than forced eradication. Mr. Speaker. I would be very reluctant to see funding for demobilization .programs come at the expense of any alternative development programs. and I look forward to working with the chairman to ensure that this just does not happen. I want to thank the gentleman from California for raising these concerns.","speaker_name":"NITA LOWEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":522,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090086903,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"LOWEY and the leadership of my friend. JIM KOLBE. making a real difference on behalf of this changing and complex circumstance that we are responsible to play a leading role in. The President should recognize just how important this tool will be as he goes forward in trying to have our voice have the impact we must have in the world.","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1812,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090086905,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"H.R. 3057 doubles funding to support aid to the Palestinians for development programs. The bill provides funding for debt restructuring for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries. HIPC. and provides $110 million for the Middle East Partnership Initiative. MEPI. and $390 million for humanitarian effbrts supported by nongovernmental organization. NGOs. in Sudan. Finally. this bill provides essential funding to two of our staunchest allies in the ongoing war against terrorism. Egypt and Jordan. both of which are countries involved in promoting economic and political reform that will lead to freer and more transparent democratic societies. Clearly. H.R. 3057 is the best bill we could fashion within very tight budget constraints. I am pleased to offer niy support to H.R. 3057 and urge my colleagues to support this bill.","speaker_name":"CAROLYN KILPATRICK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1614,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090086927,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if the gentleman will yield. I will tell my colleagues that the State I represent is nearly 3.000 miles away. and we are having a very important election in our State. I have voted by absentee ballot. I did that just this week and sent my ballot in. We have a great deal of work to do. not only on Tuesday but next week. so we will be meeting here. and we have the items that I mentioned.: the measures that will be considered under suspension. we have the very important Secure Access to Justice and Court Protection Act that needs to be considered. and we just have to proceed with our work. So let me say that we do want every Member to participate in those elections. but I suspect that. in light of the fact that we will have so much work to do here. that Members should plan to be in Washington during tfie day on Tuesday.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":841,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090086936,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the chairman. I would further like to inquire about the majority plan to extend the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act. This is an important issue that has had broad bipartisan support in the past. and action is needed because it is scheduled to expire on December 31.","speaker_name":"JOHN LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":283,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090086937,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I will say that this very important legislation. which I personally support. is at this moment being discussed by the leadership of the Financial Services Committee.They are working with the Department of the Treasury and Members in the leadership of the Banking Committee on the other side of the aisle. and we do hope very much that we will be able to put together a legislative package that can be considered before that very important December 31 date to which my friend referred.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":497,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090086959,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The most profitable industry in the world right now is the oil industry. and public tax money is going to subsidize the oil industry. Then our friends in the Republican party go down the \"shakedown street.\" K Street. where all the lobbyists are. Anyone who has been to Washington. you go to K Street. that is where the big major lobby firms are. The Republicans then. after giving the public tax money in subsidies to the oil companis. they go out to \"shakedown street\" and they shake down the lobbyists for money. So the lobbyists then give the money to the Republican party so they can spend it on their campaigns. And we have a big hole here because the only group missing in this\" equation is the American people. the American people. Mr. Speaker. I yield to the gentleman from Florida .","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3093,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090086966,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I can.tellthe gentlewoman :that. as t rel.t. es tornational security. protegction ... of j our homeland andi as it. :pertains!.to. ...this case. you havO the. question of.a CIA clandestine.: r agent whose jobW wasr charged -. with f.Iinding._ out .-more jor. tracking down possible chemical weapons that can be used. weapons of mass destruction that can be used against the United States of America. EJ 1200 Now. Mr. Speaker. we are in the minority. and that means that the majority. which is the Republican majority. has the responsibility of governance. has the responsibility because they have the committee chairmanships. They have the Speakership. They have all of the leadership. and I will say at least I am not even going to talk about the Speakership or the leadership. I am going to talk about the committee chairpersons that have the responsibility to protect and have direct oversight over the Federal Government. making sure that we keep children. women. men. everyday Americans. safe. What are we doing as Democrats? What we have done. not only have we put light on what is wrong as it relates to outing CIA agents. but also. there was a letter written today by four of our ranking members. A ranking inember. I want to make sure I explain. that is the highest ranking Democratic Member on the said committees of jurisdiction or concern over a particular issue. in this case. security clearance. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2174,"word_count":237}
{"speech_id":1090086967,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That would be unacceptable. But in the covert world. that is exactly what Karl Rove and Scooter Libby and all the minions over in the executive branch did. It was a coordinated effort to -out this woman because they did not like what her husband was saying about the war. and that is wrong. That is wrong. If you. do not believe us. because we love our thirdparty validators. this is Melissa who was a 14year covert CIA agent. She says. We are talking about lies and we are talking about capabilities. We do our work. we risk our lives. we risk lives of our agents in order to protect our country. and when something like this happens. it cuts to the very core of what we do. We are not being undermined by the North Koreans. We are not being undermined by the Russians. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4134,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090086969,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We cannot have it. unacceptable behavior. unbecoming of a White House official. Then I am going to wrap this up. I am going to go right through this so we can get everybody involved here. Then not only did Karl. Rove and Libby lie to the American people. they lied to Scott McClellan. because he came out 2 months after the indictment and said what everyone already knew. and McClellan says. Those individuals. Rove. Libby. Abrams. assured me they were not. involved with this. Another lie. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":946,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090086994,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And Asian. They are suffering. and we have to give them voice. We have to give them voice. sure. when we start outing CIA agents. when we start seeing the majority side looking the other way. Even though they know what is going. they are not going to look because their friends are there and they do not want to do that. In the Clinton administration. Democrats called the administration officials out on. things that they were doing that was wrong. IJ 1230 That is our responsibility in the Constitution of these United States. So when the gentleman from Ohio speaks of not putting party over country. I think that if we were to look at what we do now and what we have done in the past. we have always put country over party. The everyday Republican does not want his government operated by what the national GOP leadership says that it should be. that we need to do that and do this. but they are. messing with the lives of everyday Americans. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1607,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090087039,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And the money we are borrowing. this is the ultimate irony of the whole deal. and this is why we say that I did not hear our friend. the gentleman from California . when he was down here take responsibility for that. It was conspicuously absent from the argument. The most ironic piece of this whole ordeal is that that money that we are borrowing from China and Saudi Arabia and Japan is going to fund $16 billion in subsidies to the oil companies. That money that we are borrowing from China is going to subsidize the. pharmaceutical. industry -to tie tune of $100 billion. - ... So -the MOof. the Republican major.ity _is tolgp borrqow moneyj from the Chinese and take that money and give it to corporate Amprica. and then go to corporate America and shake them HOW Abember4.200 down. go out to shakedown street on K Street. shake down corporate America for campaign contributions to run the election. and the group that is absent here. the American people..","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":961,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090087041,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"These are children. It goes beyond empty tummies. It goes down to kids prepared and ready to learn regardless of their economic background. It is not their fault. It is not their fault that they are in a poor household and they are eligible. eligible because the Federal Government has found. and an education committee and all of these folks cameabout during a time here in this Congress and said. you know. kids that are coming to school hungry. we cannot actually teach them in the way that we want to. They are thinking about food. We need them thinking about preparing themselves to become the next workforce here in America. \u0095","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":632,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090087059,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I wish that","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":922,"word_count":3}
{"speech_id":1090087068,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Today we resume consideration of the Defense authorization bill. Under the agreement reached on October 26. we have a limitation of amendments and debate to Defense authorization. Chairman WARNER and Senator LEVIN are here today and are prepared for Members to come to the floor to offer their defenserelated amendments. I noted last night there will be no rollcall votes today. and we will delay votes until Monday at approximately 5:30. We will announce later on how many votes Senators can expect on Monday. Finally. I do want to thank everybody for their participation and cooperation over the course of yesterdays session. a lengthy session. I think it was 22 consecutive rollcall votes. We didnt have any scheduled breaks and things went very smoothly. Indeed. we were able to meet our goal of 6 oclock last night tb allow Senators to attend what was a wonderful event .where we had over 50 former Senatorsmen and women who had served in this body in the past--come back and join us for a bipartisan event last night. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1222,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090087085,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Lets remember that in last years Defense Authorization Act. the Senate significantly improved benefits provided under the SBP. Congress directed the elimination of the socalled \"2tier\" system which reduced the monthly SBP annuity when the survivor reached age 62. This was a significant change that works to the benefit of military retirees and their spouses. We should stop and allow an assessment by the commission of the effect of that change before we conclude that the SBP is in need of change. Here is another consideration: Senator NELSONS amendment does not take into account the great improvements in death benefits for military survivors that have been enacted this year. There has been an increase in the death gratuityfrom $12.000 to $100.000and an increase from $250.000 to $400.000 iii the Servicemembers Group Life Insurance. or SGLI. These changes clearly are substantial. andthey have improved the quality of life for many of the survivors who my friend. Senator NELSON. advocates for today. There have been various other benefits implemented for retirees and their survivors since 2001. I ask unanimous consent to have a list of these legislative improvements printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2263,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090087095,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this amendment is identical to the one that was adopted by a vote of 90 to 9 on the appropriations bill. and it does the fllowing: Establishes the Army Field Manual as the uniform standard for the interrogation of Department of Defense detainees and. two. prohibits cruel. inhumane. and degrading treatment of persons in the detention of the U.S. Government. Because of the extraordinary support for this legislation and its importance to our men and women in uniform. it is imperative that these provisions remain on the appropriations measure which is now in conference. although I understand the conferees have not been appointed on the House side. There is a rumor that with the inclusion in the authorizing bill. then an argument will be made to have it taken out of the appropriations bill. and then the authorizing bill would never reach agreement in conference. That is a bit Machiavellian. Most of all. it is very important because it thwarts the will of 90 Members of the Senate. an overwhelming majority of the House of Representatives. and an -overwhelming majority of the American people. I hope very sincerely that the inclusion of this provision on the authorization bill. which is important in the authorizing process. does not in any way * give an excuse to have it removed from the appropriations bill. I commend Congressman MURTHA for his leadership and efforts to date to offer a motion to instruct conferees to keep this amendment intact without -modification. I hope that no one seeks procedural maneuvers to thwart) the overwhelming majorities in both Chambers. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1890,"word_count":265}
{"speech_id":1090087102,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I think the RECORD should also reflect that in the course of my service as Under Secretary and Secretary of the Navy. I had -the great privilege of working with the Senators father. a naval officer without peer. distinction and -achievement. He was commander in chief of all forces Pacific during several of those critical years in Vietnam when the Senator was incarcerated.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":389,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090087118,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I see Senator REED is here. I will make a few comments on Senator ALLARDS amendment if that is all right. I ask the unanimous. consent- be modified to the extent that I be allowed to speak for a few minutes now and that Senator REED then be recognized immediately thereafter.","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":290,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090087123,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to respond briefly. if I may. First of all. I would like to state for the record. I was the chairman of the Strategic Subcommittee on Armed Services before my good friend and colleague from Alabama took over that responsibility. I congratulate him for a job well done. There are some very difficult issues relating to cleanup. Rocky Flats is the first major nuclear facility in the country that has been cleaned up. This program has not been moved forward like it should be moving forward. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2990,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090087137,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will speak in opposition to this amendment. but to accommodate a colleague who has remained on the floor. I yield such time as the distinguished Senator from Colorado. a former member of our committee. former expert on our committee on this subject. needs.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":273,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090087148,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President.. at this time I would like to grant time to our distinguished colleague from Alabama. a member of the Armed Services Committee. bearing in mind it is the desire of the manager to leave time for Monday. There are other colleagues on ourside who wish to speak in opposition. We are pleased he will take the time to join us.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":336,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090087161,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Second. we dont know what the policies and practices are of the United States regarding. the rendition of detainees to other countries. where they may be interrogated using techniques that would not be permitted at U.S. detention facilities. Third. there is insufficient information. almost total lack. on the role of contractors in U.S. detention and intelligence operations. We are using contractors to interrogate detainees. What is their role? There is total silence. a total gap on their role. with all these reports we have. Fourth. the detention and interrogation of detainees by special operation forces. that needs close examination. Fifth. and this is one of the largest gaps of all. all of the unanswered questions regarding the legality underU.S. and international law of the interrogation techniques used by Department of Defense personnel. regardless of whether they were authorized or not authorized by a higher authority. We have sought for a year or more the two key documents that set forth the standards to be usedin interrogation that were approved by the Department of Justice. We cannot get the Office of Legal Counsel documents. These issues are not going to go away. They cant be swept under the rug. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8475,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090087215,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to discuss the extremely unfortunate decision by the highest levels of the State Department to meet with Mehmet Ali Talat. the selfdeclared president of the socalled \"Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.\" For more than 30 years. it has been a tenet of U.S. foreign policy not to extend de jure or de facto recognition to this selfdeclared government. which exists only because of the forcible occupation of the northern onethird of Cyprus by more than 43.000 Turkish troops. Cyprus was divided by a Turkish invasion in 1974. With the exception of Turkey. all nations recognize that this invasion was illegal and have refused to recognize the \"Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.\" a rump state that proclaims itself the government of the occupied area. Far from honoring the invasion. the. world recognizes only the Republic of Cyprus as the legitimate sovereign government for the entire island. Both international law and U.S. statutory law support the free government of Cyprus. Several U.N. Security Council resolutions implore nations neither to recognize nor support the selfdeclared government in the occupied area. Likewise. the U.S. ","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6209,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090087264,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. later this afternoon. I have the honor of hosting Sudans First Vice President. Salva Kiir. in the U.S. Capitol. I have come to the floor many times to speak on Sudan. having gone to that country just about every year for the last 7 or 8 years. having spent most of that time in southern Sudan. I look forward to being with and hosting Salva Kiir. who is a founding member of the SPLM. the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement. In January of this year. .the SPLM and the Sudanese Government in Khartoum signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. bringing an end to 21 years of a brutal civil war. a civil war that has destroyed much of that country. especially in the south. When I first started going to Sudan. literally there was no hospital in southern Sudan. and the one hospital that was eventually reopened was a hospital that had been closed about 18 years previously. with landmines placed all around that hospital. It destroyed health care there. obviously. but it had destroyed commerce. any touch of humanity. and had driven the entire southern population out of villages. dispersing them. with 5 million people displaced and about 2 -million people who died in that civil war. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6439,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090087321,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They have begun their work and they will examine issues related to your amendment and to dther structural missions and compensation of the Guard and Reserve Forces in the coming years. I - do not believe this commission. which is underway. should be used as a deterrent for the Senate to consider at this time the Senators amendment. I point out that the subject he raised. that is intrinsic to this amendment. is under careful study by an extraordinary group of individuals appointed by myself. Senator LEVIN. our leaders. and others. That will be part of the RECORD. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":587,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090087344,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is going to pop up again. There is going to be another captain who is going to show upand my friend from Virginia met with this captain. This is a letter to Senator MCCAIN from Captain Fishback. who is in a parachute infantry regiment in the 82nd Airborne. Division at Fort Bragg. talking about the way intelligence personnel were used to give directions to soften up detainees. But we have had no investigation of intelligence. So you have an honorable member of the U.S. military. CPT Ian Fishback. I had a personal conversation with this captain where he described to me what I just said. that there were directions from the intelligence community to soften up detainees. He says:. Instead of resolving my concerns. the approach for clarification process leaves me deeply troubled. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3698,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090087351,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is all* of the Congress together. which. obviously. is in the control of the Republican majority. That is a fact. But. nonetheless. we as a Congress have not. carried out the oversight responsibility which our troops deserve. I hope I have assured my friend.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":772,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090087366,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is balanced? That is fair? That is not balanced. That is monopoly. This is propagandizing our troops. This is wrong. The amendment Senator DORGAN and I are offering. along with Senators OBAMA. DODD. MIKULSKI. LAUTENBERG. KENNEDY. and DAYTON addresses this imbalance in two simple ways. First. it will codify the American Forces Networks obligation to provide","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3854,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090087370,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I certainly do not want the Senator to feel that we are trying to control these stations in such a manner as to preclude members of the Armed Forces and their families from having an opportunity to hear opinions that differ. So in the course of the evening. I and others will look into this. We thank our friend from Iowa.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":322,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090087390,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So that is basically the amendment. I have had my say on it. I think it is pretty clear. I thank the Senator from Michigan for his support. I hope all Senators could support this amendment. As the Senator from Michigan said. it just codifies what is basically a directive right now. It just makes it more clear to DOD. from the Secretary of Defense on down. that we mean it when we say it has to be fair and balanced. We do not mean to take anyone off the air or shut anyone up. but we do mean to have it fair and balanced to represent the diversity of views of America. Not all Americans agree with Rush Limbaugh. Not all Americans agree with Ed Schultz or Jim Hightower or me or anyone else. but we do have diversity. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2706,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090087425,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. Mr. President. if the chairman will yield. that may be optimistic. but I think we are making progress. I will work overnightI know the chairman willto try to. line up speakers to complete the pending amendments so we can at least have. hopefully. one vote before the caucuses tomorrow. regardless of what hour we start. I am going to try to line up some speakers to complete at least one of these amendments before the caucuses.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":434,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090087431,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is my understanding. There may be such an amendment. a- seconddegree amendment. But I would agree with you in identifying the Harkin amendment as a good prospect for completion tomorrow morning. We do have a speaker on oursideat least oneand I am going to try to line that speakerup for the morning.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":304,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090087444,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I pay tribute to the Kentucky Community and Technical College System- of Versailles. KY for their hurricane disaster relief efforts. KCTCS has opened their doors to the displaced student victims of Hurricane Katrina through Operation Rebuilding Lives.","speaker_name":"JIM BUNNING","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":266,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090087449,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We enacted it. We were right to do so. Protecting our judges and Federal law enforcement officers should be a top priority for us. Today. in order to meet the con-. tinuing challenges of keeping our judges. our Courts. and the rest of the Federal judiciary safe. Chairman SPECTER and I are introducing the Court Security Improvement Act of 2005 (\"CSIA\"). CSIA responds to requests by the judiciary for a greater voice in working with the United States Marshals Service to determine their security needs. It strengthens and expands protections for judges and their families against the misuse of their personal information by those who intend to threaten them. It enacts new crimi\u0095nal penalties for the misuse of restricted personal information to seriously harm or threaten to seriously harm judges. their families or other individuals performing official duties. It also enacts criminal penalties for threatening judges and federal law enforcement officials by the malicious filing of false liens. provides increased protections for. witnesses. and makes available new resources for state courts tp improve security for state and local court systems. I appreciate the work of Chairman SPECTER on this important bill and. in particular. for including an extension of life insurance benefits to bankruptcy. magistrate and territorial judges. as well as health insurance for surviving spouses and families of federal judges. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3374,"word_count":221}
{"speech_id":1090087472,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"DENNIS CARDOZA. about our plan to try to stop this. This whole budget process is broken. You are going to hear a lot of stuff this week about the reconciliation of the budget. and what they are going to say is we are cutting spending. But if you look at it. the reconciliation process will actually increase the deficit. not decrease it. Until the leadership of this country. both here in Congress and the administration. levels with all of us and comes to the American people and says we have got a problem. and we have got to fix it and you have got to help. until they do that. it is just one Congressman saying A and another Congressman sayingB. and people lose sight. of what is going on here and think it is just another political argument. Well. I am here this morning to tell you it is not a political argument. It is a dire necessity that we face up to the fact that we have a structural. continuing deficit. The President of the United States himself said we hope to cut the deficit in half in 5 years. That is like saying a doctor telling you I have got good news for you. ","speaker_name":"JOHN TANNER","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3775,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090087492,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We spend en- this timd6 1ecognizing also the importirely too much time on the floor de- tant role of the Holy See in the fight crying unspeakable crimes and pre- against religious intolerance and disparing our concrete responses. . crimination. and I have appreciated the Our own shores have witnessed ter- leadership that we have seen coming rorism on a massive scale. And while from the Vatican of late in this regard. we have avoided massive destruction Mr. Speaker. I yield such time as he on the scale of the Second World War. may consume to the gentleman from or another Holocaust. just last month NewJeIsey . the author of we saw a new Holocaust called for. in todays resolution. essence. by the head of state of a mem- Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker. I thank the ber of the United Nations. gentleman from Oregon for yielding me There are certainly countervailing this time. forces of good in the world. forces that .I rise to urge support of H. Con. Res. are prepared to deal one way or an- 260. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11727,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090087504,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But for most people in the developing world. clean water is a precious commodity not to be wasted. In SubSaharan Africa alone. the average person uses 35 gallons of water per day. Thats why this bill is so important. As a cosponsor of H.R. 1973. I am a strong believer in providing clean water and sanitation systems for developing countries to protect public health and reduce the spread of water borne diseases. According to a recent report by the United Nations Childrens Fund and the World Health Organization. 1.1 billion people worldwide still lack safe water and 2.6 billion have no sanitation. In Africa. only 58 percent of Africans live within 30 minutes walk of an improved water source and only 36.percent have access to a basic toilet. In rural Africa. 19 percent of women spend more than one hour on each trip to fetch water. a back breaking and exhausting chore that often puts them at risk of abduction or rape. and robs them of other opportunities to work and leam. Unsafe water. inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene habits play a major role in Africas high child mortality rate. Each year. diarrhea kills over 700.000 children throughout the continent. and cortributes to the problem of chronic malnutrition. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA LEE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2539,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090087506,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In the interest of stability worldwide and in keeping with our core humanitarian values. the United States must do all within our power to ensure that people everywhere have access to safe water and sanitation. I urge all my colleagues to support this critical legislation.","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2383,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090087508,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"At the 2002 World Summii on Sustainable Development iA Johannesburg. the United States and 185 other countries agreed to the goal of cutting in half the percentage of people without access to safe water and basic sanitation in the world by 2015. The- United States should lead in meeting and exceeding that goal. The Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act is the best first step in that direction. I. again. thank and commend my colleague and all of the cosponsors of this important legislation. And I urge all of my -colleagues to support H.R. 1973.","speaker_name":"JANICE SCHAKOWSKY","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3416,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090087526,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I think some of the statistics that have been spoken here on the floor do bear repeating because they are not widely known either in the medical community or among the citizenry of our country. Ovarian cancer is more common than many believe. One out of 57 women will have- an occurrence. It is expected that 22.200 will be diagnosed with the disease this year. again. something that is not widely known. near epidemic proportions here. It is. as those speakers who preceded me have said. difficult to diagnose because of subtle symptoms. and they can be confused with other diseases. It is key that we better inform the medical community. key that we begin to invest more money in research toward a test which could more reliably detect the cancer. and if we are.successful there. -we will dramatically increase survival rates. Early detection causes a dramatic chance in a womans minimum 5year survival possibility. ","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2722,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090087548,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I regret that I missed three votes on November 7th. 2005. Had I been present. I would have voted \"yea\" on H. Con. Res. 260 (Recognizing the 40th anniversary of the Second Vatican Councils Declaration on the Relation of the Church to NonChristian Religions. Nostra Aetate. and the continuing need for mutual interreligious respect and dialogue). \"yea\" on H.R. 1973 (Water for the Poor Act of 2005). and \"yea\" on H. Res. 444 (Gynecological Resolution for Advancement of Ovarian Cancer Education).","speaker_name":"ROBERT ANDREWS","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":507,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090087556,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Two a.m. Sunday morning in Newburgh. Indiana. the rains came down. the winds blew and beat against the homes of that community. and it fell with a great crash. It was the worst loss of life for a tornado in the State of Indiana since April Nancy Grimes said to me today in an email of the experience. \"It had to be the scariest thing I have ever been through. The noise .and the debris hitting our house was incredible. I think I screamed for 5 to 10 minutes during the duration. and then there was total calm. And the next morning I cried when I walked out onto our front porch and saw the destruction.\" She spoke of finding a needlepoint Christmas ornament with the word \"Hope\" stitched into it. She wrote. \"It will certainly find a6 place on our Christmas tree this year.\" I urge my fellow Hoosiers and all Americans who have Watched the grim reports from southern Indiana and northern Kentucky to be generous in prayer. to take every opportunity to come to the material aid of the families and communities affected by this horrendous tornado.","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1046,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090087562,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Do you think anything is going to come out of it? The first thing they can do is give back the $14 billion. The second thing they can do is give back the $2 billion. all of which were assessed on the taxpayers to subsidize these companies. So. Madam Speaker. it is wrong to hand out money to energy companies who are making massive profits. and then cut home heating assistance for our most vulnerable. citizens. our senior citizens. And it is wrong to claim to be doing something when you are not. nor do you have any intention. And when you had a chance to do it. rather than help the consumers. what did you do? You actually produced a bill that actually increased the price of gas at the pump and gave $14 billion that you did not have to big oil companies to support them to execute their business plan. Those are not the values of this country. and thank God they are not the values of the American people. We need a change of priorities. We need a new set of priorities. And we can do better. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5704,"word_count":191}
{"speech_id":1090087571,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In a state of effective war for most of the last quarter century. Afghanistan was allowed to fester for most of the 1990s. ultimately hosting al Qaeda and enduring the extremist Taliban regime. In liberating the Afghan people. we brought an end to the deplorable human rights violations under the Taliban regime. which included the barbaric practices of beatings. tortures. rapes. executions that were carried out by Talibans Department of Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. U 2000 Today. the Afghan people are determined to take steps to ensure Afghanistans survival as a free and democratic nation. We are on the road to victory. and the selfless dedication of our men and women in uniform should. always be congratulated.","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4574,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090087573,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. somebody ought to call the cops. Today I am not talking about collusion. corruption and cronyism and the leaking of sensitive classified information that has irreparably damaged the national security of the United States. No. I am not talking about Scooter Libby or Karl Rove. though their. involvement in outing a -female CIA agent to silence her husbands criticisms of the Presidents Iraq policy deserves closer scrutiny. No. I am talking about another shadowy character and administration ally. someone whose deception played a large role in leading the United States into war in Iraq. I am talking about Ahmad Chalabi. Mr. Chalabi is the Deputy Prime Minister of Iraqs newly constituted government. But Mr. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4920,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090087585,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I thank the gentleman for bringing this topic to the floor tonight and for including me in the discussion. In the Spanish flu outbreak in 1918. one of the observations was. instead of the very young. the very old and the infirm who were the victims of this illness. It was. in fact. young people age 28 to 45 who appeared to be the primary victims of this illness. Undoubtedly. part of that is related to the fact that we do not have any underlying immunity to this disease and people who are. as a general rule. exposed to a lot of other people. that is. people in school. people in the workplace. in other words. your 20- to 45yearold age group. would have a greater chance to come down to exposure to this virus. which was very virulent. had a high ineffectivity rate. and simply a cough in the room was enough to expose someone to the virus. and. again. with no native immunity. it could overwhelm their system fairly quickly. There is no question it is still a deadly virus to the very young. It is still a deadly virus to the very old. but I think one of the striking epidemiological features of the 1918 flu was that people who were generally regarded as being in good health also seemed to fall victim to this illness. Also bear in mind. we were in the last months of the First World War so there were a lot of recruits who were stationed together in barracks and tents. and the virus seemed to be particularly virulent in its outbreaks in those types of situations. So some differences from 1918 to now and certainly ouf ability to know about an outbreak. Syndromic surveillance will be an important part of the pandemic plan that the Secretary has unveiled. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BURGESS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4299,"word_count":309}
{"speech_id":1090087592,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. if the gentleman will yield. one of the things that is in this Medicare bill we passed a while ago now. that many people are forgetting. has to do with the entry physical that people get. but there are also elements in there that have to do with some patient management. the pharmacist is working more monitoring the medication. and communication. I would ask my colleague to speak on that. because that may be a thing that we really are not quite used to. physicians and pharmacists working more closely together as part of that Medicare bill so that there is less hospitalization. I know one hospital in my district. Washington Hospital. really found that by doing careful patient management of those with heart disease. they reduced rehospitalizations by 50 percent. That is a massiv6 savings in costs and certainly much better for the patients. in many cases saving some lives. I wonder if the gentleman could comment about that.","speaker_name":"TIM MURPHY","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":948,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090087594,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Well. Madam Speaker. I think it is one of those areas that. again. I think that when one just looks at the numbers of costs up front. and we have some of those frightening numbers. I do not know how many hundreds of billions it may be. And I understand the concern of our colleagues who may have opposed the Medicare bill for Part D because they were concerned about the cost. But I believe this has some innovative aspects in it and some that we have to pay attention to. Oftentimes. people say that one of the definitions of insane behavior is doing the same thing over and over again. expecting the same results. but this patient management aspect and the integration of care between physicians and pharmacists is vitally important. I am hoping that as people review their Medicare Part D options that they also ask questions about that. when they call 1800Medicare or go to medicare.gov. or particularly when they call 1800Medicare. feel free to ask about that. or ask Members offices to talk about that. It is something that. is so very. very important. ","speaker_name":"TIM MURPHY","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1132,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090087596,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I thank the gentleman for his time tonight and also the indulgence of our colleagues in listening to this. We will continue to push these health care issues so vitally important for the health of our constituents and of all Americans: On my own Web site at murphy.house.gov I have further information on health care. FYIs. as I call them and sent to my colleagues every week. I hope people will look at that. and I hope my colleagues will continue to work with us. but really all Members of Congress. not only those with a health care background. but together. we will see some major changes in not only saving lives. but saving money.","speaker_name":"TIM MURPHY","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":650,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090087604,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That means we build the most expensive ships. we build very -controversial ports to bring the gas back. because you chill it. you put it in ships. bring it back here. regasify it and put it in these ports. and many people look at those in a very negative fashion. plus it is very costly. But I am even more concerned about where we get it. We get it from countries like Algeria. Nigeria. Libya. and Russia. Do we want to be further energy dependent on Third World countries that are unfriendly. with unstable governments. when we have such an ample supply here? There are many who feel that the Outer Continental Shelf has more than twice as much gas as the gentleman mentioned. 400 trillion cubic feet. but one of the reasons we do not know is we have not really measured it. The law has prevented us from having modern seismographic measurements of what is on the Outer Continental Shelf for either gas or oil. I want to share something I have here. Osram Sylvania has three plants in my district and 14 plants in the Northeast. and here is what they said in a letter that I received from them. dated October 26: \"In the past 5 years. we have seen natural gas prices escalate from $3 per Mcf to well over $10 on the spot market. As compared to natural gas costs in 2000. our bills in 2005 will be $24 million higher. ","speaker_name":"JOHN PETERSON","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4568,"word_count":247}
{"speech_id":1090087606,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. as someone who has been in the business. the gentleman can speak to this. but I often describe a gas well as a 6inch hole drilled in the ground. A steel pipe is placed in that hole. it is cemented at the bottom. it is cemented at the top. and then we hook it to a pipeline system and we let gas out. Is that a fair description?","speaker_name":"JOHN PETERSON","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":342,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090087623,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the gentleman will yield. I think we should expand this conversation beyond just what this budget reconciliation. budget cut proposal that we will consider this week means. Because what was initially rolled out by the Republican Study Committee after Katrina was this chart that you have right here. I think it would be helpful for us to gp through just exactly what the true intentions are of the Republican Caucus. How many Republican members are there in the caucus?","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":472,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090087625,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Often I know when people think of Medicaid. they think of it as really just purely a health. care system that provides health care access to th6 poor. But if one in four children are getting their health care from Medicaid. that means you have that many children living in poverty in the United States of America. What this proposal would do by increasing the copays is requiring poor childrens families to come more out of. pocket to pay for their health care.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1490,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090087627,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If that were not bad enough. if making poor childrens families pull more money out of their pocket to pay -for their health care were not bad enough. the Republican Study Committee. in fact. more than that. this budget cut proposal that we are going to consider this week would allow increases in premiums for the first time and it would also let health care providers. physicians and other health care providers that are Medicaid providers. refuse care if a beneficiary cannot afford the copayment. Right now they are not able to refuse that care. There is a change in this proposal that would allow people who provide health care to Medicaid recipients to refuse care if they do not have the money to pull out of their pocket. Often we hear the argument made about the skyrocketing costs of Medicaid. the greater percentage that Medicaid has taken of the","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":856,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090087639,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And it is very interesting because Members are going to be trying to run out of here and catch planes and falling over each other to go march in a parade with those that have laid down. literally put their lives on the line. lost limbs. Some will be pushed in wheelchairs. Some will be remembering the fallen mem.bers of our country that went and fought in all of the past conflicts. And just before Friday. there is a vote scheduled to .set them back and what we told them we would do for them and provide them for health care. I yield back. I just wanted to talk about the gall of this whole thing at this particular time.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":624,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090087642,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. one of the decisions that is being made down here as we cut the vets budget. there is. a chart that explains where some of the tax cuts are going and you will see of all the tax cuts down here. $34.000 to $54.000. $840. And people who make $440.000 a year and up. $87.600. Now. to put this into \"middle America speak.\" the Democrats are for reducing a small little portion of this. not even the whole thing. but asking these people who make a million dollars a year or more to just give up a wee little bit of that up there. just a small little tiny part of that so that we can fund some of these other priorities that we have agreed as a country are important. like making sure our veterans have the proper amount of health care. And if. as a country. the leadership in this Chamber and the leadership in the White House. especially in the executive branch. if they do not have the guts to ask this person who makes a half a million dollars a yearto give up just a small amount. a few thousand dollars of their tax cut to pay for veterans health care or to pay for Medicare. if the President of the United States cannot find it in his Constitution to ask this person. then I believe he is failing his responsibility and his oath of office. And I really believe that because that is about leadership. To go to the person who does not have a lobby group on K Street to come over here and lobby us. okay. that is a major problem. And at the same time as these tax cuts are going on. we are cutting student loans. we are increasing the burden on our kids who go to college. And if the Republican majorityas the gentleman from Massachusetts pointed out.-the gentlewoman from Florida is a freshmen. The gentleman from Florida and I are in our second term. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1796,"word_count":337}
{"speech_id":1090087643,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. those are the same constituents and my constituents that are going to get hit by the Medicaid cuts. the same veterans that will be paying more on their copayments. waiting longer for their services.\" Those are the same individuals that the gentleman is describing. And the gentleman is 110 percent right. and I am glad that he is warning the majority that this stuff is. not going to be quiet.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":406,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090087646,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"For far less. far less. the House of Representatives have called out. Travelgate. Whitewater. all these kind of individual decisions that were made and had some possible ethic issues going along with it. but not the outing of a CIA agent. not saying. hey. you know something. she is a CIA agent and there are a number of people that are working with her. and we want you to know about it. Not a mumbling word out of this House. not one floor speech calling for resignations. not one committee cranking up a committee meeting and calling people from the White House down here before the peoples House to question how could this happen. not one. Not one. Guess what. If the Democrats were in the majority. I would tell you right now Democrat House. Republican White House. there will be hearings. and not a mumbling word. just crickets on that side of the aisle as it relates to outing a CIA agent. So what you are saying is not alarming. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2272,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090087647,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Can I just tell you. it gets worse. It is not just the fact that they are responding to this entire fiasco. ethical conflict. with ethics classes for the White House staff. Do you know who is giving the classes? The White House counsels office. Harriet Miers office. That is part of their pattern. It is not like they decided they should go somewhere outside the White House. because clearly the White House has not been emblematic of an ethical place where you could actually learn ethics from someone inside the White House. You would think they would have gone outside the White House. but they do not believe in independence. We asked them to establish an independent Katrina commission. No. Their\" answer was to do it internally and create a special committee here that is lopsided. 11 Republicans and right now no Democrats because we refuse to serve on a committee that is not going to be fair and objective and really get to the bottom of it. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1246,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090087686,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"His success has earned him many awards. Reverend Lotson was voted 2005 Citizen of the Year by the Rotary Club of McIntosh County and was a national award winner of the 2005 Rural Leader of America. just to name a few. Reverend Lotson has been blessed in his personal life as well as in his ministry. He and his beautiful wife of 28 years. Carolyn. have three children. all of whom have bravely served this country as members of the Navy and the United. States Air Force. Mr. Speaker. through his hard work and dedication. and through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Griffin Lotson has earned the respect and admiration of .the members of his church. his community and his State. It is an hohor to have him with us today.","speaker_name":"JACK KINGSTON","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1601,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090087687,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The students at Sam Bundy School are wonderful examples of Americanism and volunteerism. Now they have a whole crew of new penpals in southeast Texas that will forever be grateful. These Sam Bundy students remind me of the song \"Thank God for Kids.\" another example of children being our greatest natural resource. Thats just the way it is.","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1282,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090087689,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to welcome Smiths Aerospace to the Fifth Congressional District of North Carolina. After looking at more than 50 potential sites. the company recently announced it will open a $44 million facility in Ashe County. The new facility is expected to hire 100 employees immediately and employ. 305 workers within 5 years. As a major supplier to Boeing and Airbus. Smiths Aerospace will provide equipment for civilian and military aircraft and build many engine components as turbines for jets. The company expects to have the plant running by midNovember -nd has its first shipments planned for February of next year. I would like to commend Smiths Aerospace for choosing to do business in the Fifth District. Northwest North Carolina has a great deal to offer including -friendly people. a hardworking and highly skilled workforce. excellent institutions of higher education. and a beautiful landscape. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":990,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090087691,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. -like millions of parents across the country. we were shocked last week by the ruling of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. This ruling denies parents their right to have a say in the content their children are taught in school. In its decision. the Ninth Circuit said. \"We. hold that parents have no due process or privacy right to override the determinations of public schools as to the information to which their children will be exposed while enrolled as students. \u0095 Mr. Speaker. parents. not schools and certainly not the courts. hold the primary responsibility for educating -their children. especially when it comes to more sensitive subject matters like sexual. moral. or religious instruction. But the Ninth Circuit. the same court that ruled the phrase \"under God\" in the Pledge of Allegiance to be unconstitutional. would strip parents of this fundamental role in their own childrens lives. Last week we addressed an errant court ruling on eminent domain and private property rights. Should this ruling stand. we will need to correct this wayward court yet again.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1088,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090087694,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to quote an article that appeared last Friday in the Chicago SunTimes by religion writer Kathleen Falsani under the headline \"Bush Administrations Moral Compass Is Lost.\" She wrote. \" . . . this week. as Republican leaders try to force a monstrous $50 billion budget cut designed allegedly to offset the mounting costs ... of hurricanerelated aid through Congress. it is clear that the Bush administrations moral compass . . . has been lost. The proposed budget cuts. part of the socalled budget reconciliation. would have devastating effects on the poorest. most vulnerable Americans. while allowing tax relief for the rich.\" She goes on to say. \"Maybe Republican leaders should consider proposing an open season on the homeless or the resurrection of debtors prisons while theyre at it. Is this the kind of leadership the majority of voters that. according to the pollsters at the time. cast their ballots in 2004 based on moral values had in mind? Is this what faithbased compassionate conservatism looks like? Is our Nation more moral. more secure. or spiritually healthier than it was a year ago? And to address my fellow Christian voters.\" she said. \"has the Good News been advanced in any way?. No. absolutely not.\" America can do better.","speaker_name":"JANICE SCHAKOWSKY","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1265,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090087696,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. next week. on November 15. senior citizens across America will have the opportunity to sign up for a benefit that is long overdue. and that is prescription drug coverage. The initial signup date for Medicare - part D runs from November 15. 2005. through May 15. 2006. Coverage starts January 1. 2006. so the sooner seniors sign up. the sooner they can start saving. Here is what seniors should know about Medicare part D. It is available to all Medicare beneficiaries. The benefit is voluntary. so seniors will need to choose to sign up. They will have a choice of plans with a low monthly premium. and all Medicareapproved plans will cover both generic and brandname prescription drugs and will be accepted at pharmacies close to home. There are several ways seniors -can sign up for Medicare part D. Watch the mail .for information from Social Security and Medicare. call 1800Medicare. where trained staff can answer questions and help you sign up 7 days a week. 24 hours a day. or.visit the Web site www.medicare.gov. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1168,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090087702,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Republicans hope to jam through a reconciliation the day before Veterans Day. including $54 billion in cuts. He talked about a helping hand? Doubling the origination fee for student loans. cutting $14 billion in student loans is a helping hand for the next generation of Americahs? Cutting foster care. school lunches. Medicaid. not to reduce the budget deficit but to make room for $70 billion of tax cuts for people who earn over $300.000 a year. That is what they are doing. We should reconcile a few things around here. Let us reconcile their hypocrisy. Let us reconcile their purported support for the troops and our vets with the fact that the budget is inadequate to provide promised benefits. and they are doing nothing about that in the budget reconciliation. Lets have some reconciliation and do things that are right for America.","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":840,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090087737,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of this resolution and commend my colleagues from Texas and California for offering the resolution today. Mr. Speaker. I am sure there is not one of us in the House of Representatives that has not been impacted by one of our Guard and Reserve units being called up and mobilized in regards to the operations ongoing in Iraq and Afghanistan. All of us are terribly proud of the tremendous sacrifice and courage and service that has been exhibited by our Guard and Reserve units throughout the country. ","speaker_name":"RON KIND","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4101,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090087767,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Green had the distinction of being the longest serving postal carrier in Knox history. He worked for the Post Office Department from 1920 until 1970. His route ran through the center of Knox and in rural areas. working for 50 years. Mr. Greens neighbors and friends remember him as dedicated. hardworking. and passionate about his job. Nothing kept Mr. Green from delivering the mail. He was a dependable and friendly letter carrier. Mr. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1365,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090087769,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today. the House will consider H.R. 3770. legislation to designate the newly opened post office in Knox. Indiaha. as the \"Grant W. Green Post Office Building.\" Grant Green worked as a postal carrier in Knox. Indiana from 1920 to 1970. making him the longestserving postal employee in the communitys history. For 23 years. he delivered mail to all houses located North of the Nickel Plate Railroad tracks. which ran through the center of Knox. He spent the remaining 27 years of his career delivering mail on rural routes at a time most rural homes were located on dirt or gravel roads. A native of North Judson. Indiana. Grant moved to Knox as a young boy and attended Knox High School. ","speaker_name":"CHRIS CHOCOLA","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1784,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090087789,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"California. and within 2 weeks she was accepted. By the sumrSE . H9981 mer of 1943. she was in England pulling wounded and frostbitten soldiers nut 6f Bl7s returning from bombing raids over Europe. Keil made 250 evacuation flights. including one to collect the wounded after the invasion of Normandy. Twentythree of these missions were transatlantic. moving from one man to another. stopping. blood flow. bandaging wounds. and giving medicine and comfort. After World War II ended. Keil returned to the United Airways as. an assistant chief stewardess. but her career was interrupted again by the dawn of the Korean War. In 1950. she returned to her duties as an Air Force flight nurse. Duringthe next 16 months. Keil flew 175 air evacuations out of Korea. logging 1.400 hours of flight time. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WESTMORELAND","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2004,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090087791,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Captain Keil flew on 425 combat air evacuation missions in World War II and the Korean War. She helped .load wounded soldiers onto airplanes and took part in 11 major campaigns. including the Battle of the Bulge in Normandy during World War II and the Inchon Invasion in Korea. She tended to about 10.000 soldiers while they were being flown to military hospitals. She endured hazardous conditions. sometimes sleeping on a keg of gunpowder or among medical supplies the planes were delivering to battlefields. To a wounded soldier. Captain Keil represented hope and home. She won the hearts and touched the lives of countless service members and their families. Her life and service to our country serves as an inspiration to all Americans. particularly women serving in the U.S. military. Captain Keil was awarded 19 medals and ribbons. including: 4 Air Medals. 2 Presidential.Unit Citations. 1 World War II Victory Medal. 4 battle stars in World War II. and 1 Korean Service Medal with seven battle stars. In 1954. the Hollywiood movie. ","speaker_name":"HILDA SOLIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2734,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090087797,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their support of todays legislation.I urge all Members to support this bill. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"WALTER HERGER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2123,"word_count":33}
{"speech_id":1090087798,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But 6 weeks later. the Governor is still waiting for an answer to that letter. Children remain vulnerable. without fair access. in fact. without any access. As bad as this is. the Republican leaders want their Members to make things even worse. Sometime soon. in fact. the notice on my BlackBerry says on Thursday. the House will consider what is known as the Budget Reconciliation Act. As it stands now. Republican leaders intend to cut resources dedicated to children in foster care. Cut. let me say it again so the Members can remember it: Cut the resources for children. They intend to reduce the number of children in lowincome families eligible for Federal foster care. They intend to reduce the reimbursement for the oversight of foster care for children who live with relatives. And the Republican leaders intend to cut case management and rehabilitative services provided to foster children through the Medicaid program. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5030,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090087799,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank the gentleman from Washington for his support Sor this legislation. I . appreciate the concern expressed across the aisle. but the concern is not valid. It is important that we accurately explain the policy included in the spending reform bill. what it will do. This legislative fix would not alter Federal eligibility for foster care and adoptive assistance. Instead. it would ensure that every State uses the same eligibility criteria for receipt of Federal payments. Promoting child safety and wellbeing must remain the goal of these programs. And Federal law must be applied evenly in all States. ","speaker_name":"WALTER HERGER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":813,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090087800,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr: Speaker. I rise today in support of S. 1894. the Fair Access Foster Care Act of 2005. This -legislation makes a technical change to current law. which will allow foster care maintenance payments to any. public or private agency that assists families who care for foster children. This will allow forprofit agencies to operate on the same footing as all other such agencies. but States will continue to decide which agencies to use based on their best judgment about what is in the interest of the children and the families they serve. The Fair Access Foster Care Act will ease the administrative costs to States that already elect to work with nonprofit agencies. allowing the focus and the money to be concentrated on what really matters. Speaking for my own State. in Oklahoma there are 15 agencies that provide therapeutic foster care. Five of these agencies operate under a forprofit business model. % Mr. Speaker. I will again note that this legislation doesnot require any State to contract with forprofit agencies. Individual State agencies charged with the oversight of custody children will continue to create their own rules for licensing childplacing agencies within the State. ","speaker_name":"TOM COLE","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2196,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090087805,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You are not going to.give it on Thursday in the reconciliation bill. There is simply no concern about foster children in this Republican leadership. When they send people like the gentleman from California . a good. solid citizen. out here to defend this as \"fair access to foster care.\" people will say. well. I voted for the Fair Access to Foster Care bill. as though voting for a title meant something. Mr. Speaker. this administration is 6 weeks without picking up a pen and signing a letter to help the kids in Louisiana. That is a President who is leaving people behind. That is a Congress who is leaving children behind. You are not going to get away from it with the Fair Access to Foster Care Act. I urge all of my colleagues to vote for this bill. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1762,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090087864,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. though I was absent on Tuesday. November 8. 2005 for medical reasons. Iwish to have my intended for the following votes: Rolicall vote 573 on the Motion to Table the Appeal of the Ruling of the Chair on Motion to Instruct Conferees on H.R. 3010-\"yea\". rollcall vote 574 on H. Res. 38-\"yea.\" Rollcall vote 575 on H. Res. 302-\"yea.\" Rolicall vote 576 on H.R. 3770-\"yea.\"","speaker_name":"CHARLES NORWOOD","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":381,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090087907,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have heard that this bill will decrease the budget. Watch the numbers on this bill. .This bill does not decrease the budget deficit. This bill worsens the deficit. worsens it substantially. This bill is really about credibility. It is a matter of credibility. of who has the best overall plan to balance our Nations books and restore fiscal stability. Is it the same people who over the last couple of years told us that \"deficits do not matter\"? I do not think so. Is it the same people who are presiding over the most rapid increase in Federal spending in 40 years? I do not think so. Is it the same people who keep raiding the Social Security trust fund for nonSocial Security purposes. and then turning around and saying it is okay. saying do not worry about it. but also introducing a bill to radically reduce benefits in order to make up for the stolen amounts? I do not think so. Is it the same people who pretend that a 1year deficit of over $300 billion. almost $500 billion if you are counting the Social Security trust fund monies that were raided to boost up the revenues. is it those people? I.do not think so. Is it the same people that increased your debt. your total debt. from $6 trillion when I joined Congress just 3 years ako to $8 trillion today and now another almost $1 trillion in this bill itself? I do not think so. ","speaker_name":"ED CASE","chamber":"H","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2765,"word_count":249}
{"speech_id":1090087919,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Democrats are not going to vote for this bill. and that means that coastal Republicans will decide whether or not we have new drilling off our coasts. These are Republicans in Florida. Georgia. South and North Carolina. Virginia. Maryland. Delaware. New Jersey. New York. Connecticut and New Hampshire on the East Coast. ","speaker_name":"LOIS CAPPS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5519,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090087929,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And the third example: instead of fully equipping our public safety officers. our police officers. firefighters. and transit personnel with the needed communication equipment. the Republicans would continue to underfund important homeland security initiatives. The Republicans. through the reconciliation process. have made clear that they prioritize tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans and to very few large corporations at the expense of creating opportunities for hardwork-. ing Americans and helping Americans meet their responsibilities. Moreover. they have chosen political rhetoric over honest budgeting by failing to consider both aspects of their proposals. the spending cuts and the tax breaks. at the same- time in the same bill. Mr. Speaker. I want to urge Members on both sides of the aisle who believe in fiscal .responsibility. who believe *in sound budgetary principles to oppose this reconciliation measure that we will be considering in the coming days and weeks.","speaker_name":"ALLYSON SCHWARTZ","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2990,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090087932,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You hear from the Members of this body on the other side of the aisle about supplyside economics. I do not know any primary supplyside economists left who are acceptedin the academy. Nobody buys that argument any more based upon the budget deficits the Nation is running. We were on a sterling course of fiscal responsibility in this body. Just when people said it could not be done. we got it done. We balanced the budget. projected largeterm surpluses. and we had this grand opportunity to take on some of the issues we would all like to address. But what has happened now? Is there anybody here who believes that we are not going to need a lot more money for Iraq? A lot more money for Afghanistan? Those dollars are going to be necessary. The same institution that- votedto send us there. this Congress. I hope will not dare to cut back on what these men and women need. But I can tell you this: the budget they have put in front of us takes us precisely there. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD NEAL","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3338,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090087948,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. since the gentleman serves on the Agriculture Committee. which has jurisdiction over the food stamp program. we just heard folks on the other side of the aisle. the Democrats. talk about massive cuts in the food stamp budget. But is it not true that even after we reform these programs. we will spend more on food stamps next year than we did last year?","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":386,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090087951,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Yes. The irony is that under President Clintons signed welfare reform plan. originally you had to be in the United States of America 10 years before you were eligible to receive food stamps. That was later reduced to 5 years. And what we are saying is. you know what? That got real expensive. Let us just change it to 7 years. Yet. people are screaming bloody murder. and it is the same folks who say we have to do something about our illegal immigration and our immigration laws in general. But remember. when you come to the United States of America and you become a citizen. noncitizens. you actually have to sign a waiver saying that you would not get public assistance benefits. you would not become a wardof .the State. We are saying okay. listen. at least keep your word for 7 years. Yet. there again. we hear all the hysteria and rhetoric. which makes people just feel less belief in the government. As the gentleman said. people just pick and choose their own facts here. ","speaker_name":"JACK KINGSTON","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1019,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090087952,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the gentlemans comments to help illustrate the point again that almost every single budget for these programs will increase next year over last year. That is just a simple fact. It is hard for me to believe that there are people in America who are going to find it highly controversial. that those who supposedly signed a contract not to be wards of the State. those who came here for jobs and for freedom and for opportunity. that somehow it is a draconian. cut to ask them to wait for 7 years instead of 5 years to be on food stamps. Dollars have alternative uses. So the millions you save by this simple reform are millions of dollars that instead now can go to help relieve human suffering along the gulf coast. It could go to increase the number of mammograms for indigent women in the Medicaid pro. H10007 gram. It is dollars that could be used to help fund more college scholarships. ","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1068,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090087960,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"More taxes on our children. more debt on our children. or finding a plan to reform government to achieve these savings. And with that. I would love to yield to the chairman of the Republican Study Committee. my dear friend. the gentleman from Indiana","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1884,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090087966,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"When I was on the Interior Appropriations bill. we spent money to help react to fight the forest fires. And the next year. no fires. so we tried to take the money out of the budget. No fires. no fire money. But guess what? That was called a cut because people decided. oh. no. You are not going to go back to zero base on us. I think we should look at a Gracetype commission. an outside. a BRACtype commission that could look atthe Federal agencies and figure out which ones of them can be eliminated. where are the duplications and so forth. I think we should talk seriously about ending earmarks or at least reducing earmarks for the coming year to offset the cost of Katrina and Iraq. And then after we pass this. I believe we should go back and look at a half percent or a 1 percent or a 2 percent acrosstheboard decrease. because all of this has to be done year after year. Because that Federal budget. when all the good taxpayers are home sleeping at night. it continues to grow and it gets -out of hand. ","speaker_name":"JACK KINGSTON","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2350,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090087980,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the gentleman points out that this raid is taking place on. pensions. .The President. in the middle of the Enron debacle said what is good from the captain is good for the crew. and then we have heard nothing. from the President again. The President has done nothing to shore up the existing system that is under threat. And in the middle of that. what does the President do? He attacks the Social Security .plan. which is the single largest source of pension benefits for these very same people. So while he lets the corporations dump pension\" benefits into bankruptcy. lets corporations dump them into the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. which co~ts the pensioners billions and billions in dollars of pension benefits. then at the same time he conducts a raid on Social Security by trying to cieate some private accounts that adds trillions of dollars in new debt to Social Security. So.now what you have is the poor American worker. whether it is their private savings. whether it is their employer pension plan or Social Security. it is all under threat. It is all under threat. The tragedy is that. given what is going on in the private sector with the manipulation of pension plans. with the uncertainty about the future of pension plans.- with corporations fully prepared to just throw them into bankruptcy. Social Security is emerging as the most secure retireiient system in the Nation. There is not a single corporation. not Delphi. not General Motors. not AT&T. -not Lucent. not Kodak. not Microsoft. that can look you in the eye and tell you. 75 years from now 85 percent of your benefits will be there and they will be there like clockwork. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3963,"word_count":288}
{"speech_id":1090087992,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let us demonstrate that while we are still providing $70 billion to tax cuts for the wealthy we are cutting the following things: for the sake of more tax cuts in this budget reconciliation bill. students can expect to pay as much as $5.800 more for college. For the sake of more tax cuts. 300.000 of Americas neediest will be - left without food stamps. For the sake of more tax cuts. we will fail in our obligation to bring hurricane victims lasting relief. For the sake of more tax cuts. $10 billion. $10 billion with a B. will be slashed from Medicaid. One in four children in America get their health care from Medicaid. For the sake of more tax cuts. we will ensure that the deficit remains high and the burden of creating .more debt and paying that debt by our selfishness in choosing to help the wealthy at the expense of the people who are the most in need and the people who .are just working every day to make ends meet. that is the debt we are passing on to our children and our childrens\" children. And it is just mindboggling to me. I know I am a freshman. The two gentlemen have been here longer than me. Maybe I am naive. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3262,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090087994,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this is the moral argument of our generation. I agree with you 100 percent. but I think there is an economic component of this. too. If we are going to be a great nation economically. we need to have healthy children. who are going to be able to go to school and learn so that they can become scientists and engineers. so that we can drive this economy through the 21st century. ! fi As much as it is a moral imperaiie. it is an economic imperative that will continue to make the United States of America a strong country economically and militarily.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":563,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090088002,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Absolutely. And if we look at the number of engineers and scientists that a lot of these other countries are graduating. last year alone China graduated .600.000 engineers. We graduated 70.000. with most of them foreign born. So to put additiona. barriers up. an additional burden or tvo on someone who is trying to construct financially a way to go to school. it makes absolutely zero sense economically for our country. Lopk at what the GI Bill did for this country. because we had educated people going out into the work force as doctors and lawyers and scientists and engineers. Look- what the space program did. The goal of sending people to the Moon was to motivate and organize a country in math and science and physics and a -variety of other areas that led to tremendous developments and discoveries that otherwise would not have been. and that led to great economic growth. So the gentleman is exactlyright.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":917,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090088022,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. all of what we are saying here tonight has caused me to look at the view of our generation and how we feel about the future and the direction that this leadership. this Republican leadership. is taking this country. We did a little research in my office. President John F. Kennedy once implored Americans to ask not what their country could do for them. but what they could do fdr their country. Another important question that all of these issues raises is how all of this budget cutting and pulling the rug out from under college students future leaves them feeling in terms of public service and what their government can do for people and whether they would want to be a.part of that. So we found some research that showed just exactly how our generation feels about this. A 2004 Hart Research Study for the Council of Excellence in Government found that 34 percent of young Americans said the idea of a government service career did not appeal to them. What does that say about the confidence that this leadership is inspiring in our generation? Mr. Speaker. that is 34 percent. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3870,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090088024,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The bottom line is we can do better. Together we can lock arms. Our generation can say to the generation in front of us that has been leading this country. give us the baton. It is our turn. We are not going there any more. We want to turn this country around. We want to make sure our children have health care. that mothers and fathers when their kids get sick do not have to wait until their kid is so sick they have to take them to the emergency room for theirhealth care. We do not want to cut the budget for abused and neglected children. We are going to continue to pursue deadbeat dads. State legislators have fought tooth and nail to ensure that we can continue. to go after deadbeat dads. yet in this budget we will consider this week. that opportunity would be lost. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1175,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090088025,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we are ready. and we have a game plan. to find the money. Why can we not go to the oil companies that we just gave $16 billion in corporate welfare to. why can we not have the courage. why can the Republican leadership here not have the courage to ask the oil companies to give back their $16 billion in corporate subsidies to help pay for some of these priorities? Why can the President of the United States and the Republican leadership in the Senate and the Republican leadership in the House. why can they not go to the pharmaceutical companies and ask for reimportation for the Medicare program to help save our country billions of dollars? Why can they not allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate down drug prices with Merck and Pfizer on behalf of the Medicare recipients who are going to now be eligible for Medicare part B? The Democratic Party has a plan to get that money back from the corporations instead of giving it to corporate welfare. and investing it in the United States of America so we can have more scientists. more engineers. more investment in research and development. Mr. Speaker. the average taxpayer gives us money and they trust us with it. They work hard. We see the top number at the top of the check and you see the number that you actually get to take home. There is a big difference whether you are on the bottom or top scale. You give us your money. and we need to honor that by making sure that when we spend it. we give that taxpayer the best value they could ever get. We need to assure them we are running an efficient. effective government here. not just wasting money and giving toour political friends. like the oil companies. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1809,"word_count":312}
{"speech_id":1090088026,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"To me that is just contrary to everything in our American values. We always want our kids and the next generation to be better off. So I think it is amatter of priorities. It is a matter of attitude. inspiration. and I think people are hungry for that. I think what you all are doing here in getting the word out is really important to give people hope that they can make a difference and that there are leaders here in Washington fighting for them.","speaker_name":"RUSS CARNAHAN","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1454,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090088031,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for giving out that Web site. That has been very useful. and we want to thank Democrats. Republicans. Independents. and even some Members for letting us know some of their thoughts. With that. Mr. Speaker. we would like the Democratic leadership for allowing us to have this honor.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":316,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090088048,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I will tell my colleague right now. higher copayments. higher premiums. and benefits are going to be reduced. That is the bottom line. It does not. get better for the seniors. it gets worse. It gets better for those who are on the side of the Republican majority. because I am going to tell you right now. if you are a special interest group. you do not even have to grab the mike and come to committee. Do not worry. The leadership on the opposite side of the aisle. they have your back. Do not worry. do not say anything. oil industry. Billionaires. do not say anything. we have you. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1218,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090088057,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Over 10 years. I wonder why they would not go to the oil companies and ask them to give back their billions and billions and billions in subsidies. r wonder why they would not go and ask the pharmaceutical companies. But what really strikes me as odd as you talked about the premium going up and the copay going up. I wonder if the health care we have given to Iraqis. I wonder if they are asking them for a copay. I wonder if they are asking the Iraqi citizens who are getting free universal health care in Iraq for a copay. Does anyone know? Because I do not know.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":566,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090088066,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They are saying. No one is paying attention to what we are doing. And I said. Yes. there are some people that are paying attention to what you are doing. and you are doing a fine job.. One thing I can say about the military. they do what they are told. If their country tells them to do something. they do it. It is not. well. you know. I do not know. Maybe I will do it. No. that is not the case. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8024,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090088067,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. there are when they say when they filed for some things that we do know. We know FEMA assistance? They do not get a this. that there was a debate on this check back immediately. They get an floor several years ago where billions application from the Small Business of dollars were appropriated to rebuild Administration to fill out for a loan Iraq. And those of us on the Demo- when they are on their knees. You fill cratic side supported that funding. if. if out that loan application first. And if. it were going to be provided in the and this is a big if. if you do not qualform of a. loan because we were con- ify for that Small Business Adminiscerned about American taxpayers being tration loan. then FEMA comes and repaid their money. But the Repub- they actually try to figure out how lican leadership. at the insistence of much money they can grantyou what the White House. said. No way. we are they call \"mitigation\"-to put your going to give this money to Iraq. house back together. So what we have done. and I think So for billions of dollars. 87 billionthere is an irony here. we have pro- plus continuing to give and there will be another supplemental soon for not only the troops but also to pay for other operations in Iraq with companies like Halliburton and other companies that are under investigation that are enjoying\" Katrina contracts right now. we are asking Americans when they are on their knees to fill out a loan application.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1458,"word_count":264}
{"speech_id":1090088074,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Right. This Republican leadership is so out of touch with the American people. When we all go h6me and talk to our. constituents. we get an earful. They want to see people connected with the people back home. and that is our job. especially in this body that is the closest representative body in the Federal Government. That is our job. We work for the people back home. And if we are not speaking out and speaking up to implement that here in these programs. whether it is Iraq. whether it is rebuilding the gulf. whether it is this budget reconciliation. it is about priorities and expressing those peoples beliefs here. but that is not getting through with this leadership.","speaker_name":"RUSS CARNAHAN","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":677,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090088075,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am almost afraid to have this outfit that we have in charge here. Republican majority and the Republican running the executive branch. I am almost afraid to -have them go out into the international community to try to rehab our relationship because their solution is to just throw money at the country and just give them grant money. taxpayer money. That is their only solution. A stronger America begins right here at home. We need to do this together because it is only together that America can do better.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":523,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090088079,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Half a million dollars and up. So you get corporate welfare from the public taxpayer. Then you get tax cuts for people making more than half a million dollars. And then the money that does get sent here. we give it to Iraq and create a welfare state. And then we do not even have the money to give away. we go and borrow it from a foreign country. We have borrowed more money in the last 4 years from a foreign country than we have in the last 224 years.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":454,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090088082,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I. as ranking. member. the senior Democrat on the subcommittee in the Committee on International Relations dealing with oversight and investigations. have asked repeatedly. let us investigate. let us conduct oversight hearings into what has happened to that money. And you know what I hear?","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3471,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090088085,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Are you a patriot. Are you with .them or are you with us. It is to assault individuals from asking the questions constitutionally we. are supposed to ask. To say that on the expiration date we have is a carton of milk is really it is not a question of the expiration date. It is a question of since we have a coalition of other countries and single digits. as they may be. of those individuals that have pulled out. since we have those individuals there. what is our strategy of being able to exit? Is it to train Iraqi troops? Okay. We have been doing that now for just under 2 years now. We are still under the numbers and they are not ready yet. and we still have a lot of work to do.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":687,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090088098,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is why we want the independent Katrina commission. so we could make sure we figure out what we are doing. but we fear that when we start pulling off the onion piece by piece by piece. that we are going to end up finding out what is going on in Iraq. and it will be a tremendous \" waste of the taxpayers money.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":314,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090088101,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. let me just on another note that I know we all share. Our hearts and prayers go out to those tornado victims in the Knight Township in Indiana and other victims of that tornado. Mr. Speaker I know that the whole House. we are in solidarity with hopefully their fast recovery from this natural disaster. and with that. I know that the gentleman from Ohio has the honors of the Web site and closing us out.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":417,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090088102,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Yes. sir. 30somethingdems@mail.house.gov. Send us your ideas. your comments. your thoughts. We appreciate them. We do read what you send in. We are going to be introducing. some new methodology in the next week or so. 30somethingdems@mail.house.gov. We thank our good friend from Missouri for joining us tonight.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":312,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090088120,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This. Mr. President. is progress toward democracy. Have we forgotten that under Saddam. the Iraqi people had no vote. no opportunity to express themselves? I am not discouraged. as the critics say we should be. that there was not near universal agreement on the referendum in Iraq. We have had a hard enough time in our own country. the worlds model. for democracy. in achieving overwhelming agreement on anything. And certainly this body with its recent record of activity shows that democracies often generate strong disagreements. The only time a national vote purports to show universal agreement is when the election is held under the tight control and dictation of a dictator such as Saddam Hussein. So how do the critics explain this massive increase in voter turnout and still maintain that democracy is dead in the water in Iraq. when the people of Iraq for the first time in centuries now have a voice and a common marketplace of ideas in which to express themselves? And why isnt more attention given to the progress in Iraq for which our sons and daughters overseas are fighting? As for the media. it is my belief that the greatest threat to our efforts in Iraq today is the enemys ability to manipulate press coverage of the conflict in order to influence U.S. public opinion to force a premature with drawal of our forces. Last month. I spoke on the floor of the Senate about the acquisition of a letter written by Osama bin Ladens principal deputy. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11278,"word_count":254}
{"speech_id":1090088138,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this is a little bit of a complex situation. We are anxious to get started on the bill. We want to honor the 9 minutes on the other side of the aisle. I am wondering if the Senator from Oklahoma could proceed as in morning business until such time as there is recognition sought on the other side to utilize the remaining 9 minutes.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":347,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090088150,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I say to the distinguished Senator. let me read section 2 of his proposed amendment: The American Forces Radio and Television American Forces Network provide a \"touch of home\" to members of the armed forces. civilian employees of the Department of Defense and their families stationed in bases. embassies. and consulates in more than 179 countries. as well as the Navy. Coast Guard. and Military Sealitt Command ships at sea. So it reaches an entire family. and it is a very important function. This Senator wants to make sure that audience. irrespective of whether they are conservatives or liberals. whatever the case may beI am not sure that is the right criteria we should be usingdoes get a touch of horie. which is a very wonderful expression that you have included here. by providing the same typereading onand quality of radio and television programming. including news. information. sports. and entertainment. that would be available in the continental United States. To me. if you impose a certain market criteria. even though they may not hit a certain -number of listeners. you are not getting the full spectrum that this amendnent calls for. In other words. I would prefer to havejust this amendment that you have here be the decision by the Senate and then leave it up to the 33 stations to ensure that is done. Maybe we shouldnt condone a marketing policy that just cuts off a whole lot of programs at.the bottom because they dont have enough listeners.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1468,"word_count":249}
{"speech_id":1090088156,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I dont know that we condone a marketing tool by which a certain categoryand it so happens that category perhaps has the preponderance -of things which people would consider liberal. I am not sure we can escape totallythe use of that word. It is better that we let the 33 stations themselves decide what it is. If a. program hasnt hit a million. well. there may be some audience within the family of people you discuss here. all of the various listeners and families andembassfes and consulates. maybe they would like to hear something even though it hasnt hit the 1 million mark.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":579,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090088171,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Fine. So that clarifies the sole technical distinction. which is an important one. between your second degree and the underlying first degree. Therefore. it is up to the Secretary. but once an ombudsman is selected. assuming the Secretary opts to do so. in no way is that individual chartered or directed to do his work or her work different than what the Senator from Iowa desires?","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":382,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090088207,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Absolved. This is the Bybee memorandum that was the basis for much of the torture activity that took place. A substantial part of it was included in the military working document which was released to the members of the military in all parts of the world. I havent had a chance to mention this particular item. and there are many different items in the whole torture issue. but if the Senator wanted to respond later on. I would certainly welcome it. One of the most troublesome aspects of the whole issue on torture is that we still have no way of knowing who put this in. who guided this. who got in touch with the Office of Legal Counsel. what were those phone calls. who was asking for this. and why it was put.into effect for 2 years.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":739,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090088248,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It seems to me it is a question of content. and it seems to me NPR is a veryI would use the woras \"reasonably balanced\" but a little bit on the left side of the equation -more than on .the right side of the equation. I find it somewhat misleading that the Senator puts a zero up there. which applies to the NPR.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":899,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090088280,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the Senator. One last question. I am still troubled by the chart you put up showing zero. My understanding is that the Department of Defense has added the following three programs to the body of programs that each of the 33 individual stations can select from. I am not that familiar with the details of each. Perhaps the Senator from I6wa can help me. The \"Ed Shultz Show.\" that is new this month. the .\"Al Franken Show.\" which is new this month. and the \"Sean Hannity Show.\" which is new thiis month. where would they fall in the context ofthe zero which is on this chart which you have shown to the Senate?","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":617,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090088290,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank our distinguished colleague and member of the committee. the Senator from Maine. The Senator. has fought hard on behalf of her interests in that State. Indeed. the BRAC process. in some respects due to your efforts. was modified in the end to the interests of the State. While I am not going to be able to support the SnoweCollins amendment. nevertheless. in other areas the Senator made some progress. I thank the Senator for her work on the committee given her work on the Government Operations Committee. Nevertheless. the Senator finds time to attend our meetings and be an active participant. I thank my colleague. I ask unanimous consent at the hour of 2:45 the Senate proceed to a vote in relation to the Inhofe amendment No. 2439. followed by a vote in relation to the Harkin amendment numbered 2438. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1247,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090088310,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Well. I am prepared to yield back time on that if we. can get some indication from Senator REED as to his desire. I am hopeful we will have that vote up. Then there is an amendment by the distinguished Senator from Maine. Ms. SNOWE. amendment No. 2436. Will the Chair advise the Senate as to the time remaining on that amendment?","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":329,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090088337,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I believe this policy has been adhered toon his own time. if the Senator from Iowa knows of any time it has not been adhered to. I would be glad to listenthe criteria of having to be syndicated and. No. 2. at least 1 million listeners. which has been the policy all along. If he questions that this should be the policy or believes it should be in the future.. I would be glad to change my amendment just to. say that it should be based on those two criteria. That is not a problem at all. It is not necessary because it has used that criteria in the past. To clearly demonstrate that 1 million listeners is one of the criteria. when the time came that Franken and Ed Schultz reached 1 million. all of a sudden they were programmed. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":872,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090088341,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we are trying to find out something specific that Howard Stern has said or promoted on his programs. The problem is. there is nothing I can say on the Senate floor because it is so basically lewd. It is the type of thing that if the Muslim world were to listen to. it would be something very bad. There is not a Senator on this floor who would want that type of language used. profanity. I said this in my opening remarks. There are some cases where programming could be so extreme. whether it is liberal or conservative. it would not be acceptable. As far as Al Franken and EdSchultz. the liberal programming. it was published on the Web site of American Forces that states which ones meet the two criteria. It was not on their Web site in 2004. It is on their Web site currently. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":939,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090088347,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I carry on a dialog with these people. I know they tell me the type of programming they want. the complaints they have. We have yet -to receive any complaints saying they think the current system of programming is wrong in any way. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1248,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090088454,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President.-I talked to the manager. the chairman of the committee. about this. I ask unanimous consent there be 6 minutes allotted on our side in support of the amendment and that 3 minutes be allotted to the Senator from Virginia and that we then vote by no later than 25 to 6.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":282,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090088472,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I rise in strong support of this amendment. and I am honored to be an original cosponsor. We owe this to our troops. Anyone who came to the Chamber and .heard the speech given by Senator JOHN McCAIN about an.amendment which he offered to the Defense appropriations bill will understand it was a historic statement. Senator MCCAIN. a prisoner of war in Vietnam and a person who was the victim of torture. said it was imperative that we make it clear to our troops what the standard of conduct would be. What Senator LEVIN has done is to call together an inquiry as to whether we have violated this standard in the past and what the standard will be for the future. When we receive correspondence from our troops. who are risking their lives for America today. begging us to not only stand up for American values but to do it with clarity. we owe them that responsibility. When the President announces in South America that we are opposed to torture while the Vice President is carving out exceptions for torture in legislation before Congress. there is no clarity. Senator LEVIN and his leadership will bring us to clarity and to honesty. consistent with the American values which our troops are fighting to defend. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1233,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090088510,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We are going after the terrorists. We have to also aggressively go after nuclear materials. We can do this. This is a very modest transfer of fundsfor a program that is vitally important to fulfill the pledge that the Piesident made with President Putin. and it will not .in any way impair the funding available for missile defense.. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3309,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090088538,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Subject to the concurrence of the ranking member. I ask the Senate to turn its attention to the Senator from Nevada. who has an amendment which I personally strongly endorse and so recommend to other colleagues. It could well be the subject of a rollcall vote sometime tomorrow. I thank him for his consideration of laying down the amendment tonight such that colleagues have the time within which to study it.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":410,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090088547,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I say to the Senator from Virginia that he has stated it exactly right. We are trying to restate the position that the Senate took in 1997. in the Executive Order 11850. It has been the policy of the United States. based on this Executive order. based on what the Senate did with the Chemical Weapons Treaty in 1997. But the problem is there have been lawyers down at the State Department who have interpreted it differently and therefore have put the military in a very difficult position. that if they used it consistent with former U.S. policy. they could be accused of violating the Chemical Weap.ons Treaty and be subject to prosecution as individual soldiers.","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":680,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090088554,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wish to clarify a question the chairman of the committee asked. I think I heard the answer. but I was not 100 percent sure.. Is the amendmbnt intended to state the current policy of the United States? When it says on line 1 of page 1. \"It is the policy of the United States.\" is that intended to reflect the current policy of the United States?","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":361,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090088560,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So -this restatement of policy is not intended to modify this in any way. But as I understand it. what the good Senator from Nevada is saying is that some people in the Government have interpreted Executive Order 11850 differently from the way the policy is stated in section 1073?","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":281,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090088561,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I think the policy is very clear in this Executive order. as well as what the Senate stated. But it appears that certain people down at the State Department have interpreted it a different way and believe there is a higher threshold that our warriors must come under before they can use these riot control agents out on the battlefield. that they must seek Presidential authority. That is what we are trying to clarify here. is to get back to what this Executive order said. as well as what the Senate stated in 1997.","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":517,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090088563,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. subject to the order by the majority and Democratic leader as to the sequence of events tomorrow. the Ensign amendment would remain the pending business at such time as the leadership directs the Senate return to this bill. am I correct in that?","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":260,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090088598,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They thought we were too farremoved from the lower 48.- too different. Those who participated in the drafting of our constitution changed this. .Our constitutioA affirmed our commitment to the democratic ideals upon which this Union was founded. The 55 convention delegates were devoted public servants who became Alaskas founding mothers and fathers. Today. five of those delegates are meeting in Anchorage. They are: George Sundborg. Sr.. a newspaperman who served as chair of the conventions committee on style and drafting. George later served as Senator Ernest Gruenings top aide in Washington. DC. Dr. Victor Fischer. who served as chair of the conventions committee on the- Executive Branch. ","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5953,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090088601,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"ShayeMaleigh. 3. and GaryDean. 1. He is also survived by his mother and stepfather. JoDee and Greg Klaus of Beatrice. father and stepmother. Steve and Beau Howe of Emporia. KS. brother Brandon Howe and stepbrother Alex Klaus. Our thoughts and prayers are with them at this difficult time. America is proud of Specialist Howes heroic service and mourns his loss. I ask my colleagues to join me dnd all Americans in honoring Specialist Darren Howe.","speaker_name":"CHARLES HAGEL","chamber":"S","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1497,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090088603,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"His noble service to the United States of America is to be respected and remembered by all. Every American and all Nebraskans should be proud of the service of brave military personnel such as SPC Darren Howe.","speaker_name":"BEN NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1122,"word_count":37}
{"speech_id":1090088608,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"At the age of 12. Cliffords father arranged for him to study with esteemed local music teacher Robert Lowery. also from Wilmington. Under Roberts tutelage. Clifford began to display the promise of his ability and develop his own style of playing. After studying with Mr. Lowery for 3 years. during which Clifford playedin his teachers dance band. Clifford moved his music education to Howard High School where he met Harry Andrews. the schools band and choral director. Mr. Andrews taught Clifford. how to blend the freeflowing harmonies of jazz with the classical lines of more traditional music. This experience allowed Clifford to develop his own sound. which would be the starting point for his journey to greatness within the jazz community. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3695,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090088610,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"On Sunday. -November 13. 2005. the section of trail along Nebraska Highway Two where the entire system began in the mid 1970s thanks to Helen Boosalis vision as mayor will .be named inher honor. A tree will also be planted as living testimony for decades of Nebraskans to come that they owe the tremendous system of trails that those in Lincoln continue to enjoy to the leadership of Mayor Helen Boosalis. In closing. I would like to quote from the invitation for this Sundays event: . It was once said that Helen Boosalis has governed this city with graciousness. with tenacity. with determination. with understanding. with ability. with hope. with vision. with fairness. and with many other valued attributes. Now its time to honor her with the naming of Helen Boosalis Trail.*","speaker_name":"BEN NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3258,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090088611,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to introduce the Energy Tax Rebate Act of 2005 and I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD. Michigan families and families across America are being delivered a onetwo punch when it comes to energy prices. First they continue to be hit hard by high gasoline prices. Now they are facing home heating costs this winter that are expected to rise dramatically compared to last year. . We can do better than this for our families. So today I am introducing a bill thatwill provide families with an immediate $500 tax rebate to help them pay for rising energy costs. My legislation also includes important consumer protections to make sure Americans are not the victims of unfair market practices and consumer price gouging. Finally. my bill includes a Sense ofthe Senate that the LowIncome Home Energy Assistance Program. known as LIHEAP. should be fully funded to its authorized level of $5.1 billion. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1361,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090088623,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Senator. RTX. Panel II: Carol E. Dinkins to be Chairman of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. Alan Charles Raul to be Vice Chairman of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":542,"word_count":33}
{"speech_id":1090088641,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the amendment at the desk be agreed to. the bill. as amended. be read a third time and passed. the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. and any statements relating to the bill beprinted in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"GEORGE VOINOVICH","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":252,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090088658,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it stand in S12552 CO adjournment until 9:30 a.m. I further ask that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate proceed to a period of morning business for up to an hour with the first 30 minutes under the control of the Democratic leader or his designee and the final 30 minutes under the control of the majority leader or his designee. further. that the Senate resume consideration of S. 1042. the Defense authorization bill.","speaker_name":"GEORGE VOINOVICH","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":633,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090088718,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today we are going to begin with a 1hour period for morning business. and then we will resume consideration bf the Deparfment of Defense authorization bill. We made good progress on that measure yesterday by disposing of a very large number of amendments. Today. we hope to work through the remaining amendments. and it is possible that we could finish the bill this evening. The chairman and ranking member are expected to line up additional rollcall votes throughout today. and we will alert Senators as those votes are scheduled. The majority leader has mentioned several appropriations conference reports that are available or soon will be available. We expect to consider the foreign operations conference report today or tomorrow and will vote on the remaining bills as we can clear them for action in the Senate. Having said that. Mr. President. we look forward to further progress on the Defense authorization bill during the day. ","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":972,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090088762,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This is a simple parental notification bill which we brought up last time on the Department of Defense authorization bill and agreed to take it on last year because -of desires to move the bill forward. We have worked on it a great deal. What it is about is if a child. a dependent of military personnel. seeks an abortion. they have toget parental notification. which most Americans support. Most Americans believe if their child is seeking a medical procedure of any type. they should have parental notification take place.","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":525,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090088767,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I engaged my colleague to set forth my concerns to other Members who are trying to evaluate their positions on this amendment. should it come forward. and I anticipate at the appropriate time the Senator will be introducing it. I question is there any precedent in Federal law for requiring parental notification. for example. in Medicare. Medicaid. or Federal employee health programs? I have to move on to this amendment. but it is a series of very important fundamental questions that.has to be addressed in the context of the Senators amendment. despite my own personal view that I associate myself with the Senator about the parental consent. Consistently I have voted for that here. but I have an overriding responsibility for the men and women in the military. and this is very unique. So I put this aside at this time. Mr. President. and return to the Inhofe amendment. I thank my colleague.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":914,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090088773,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I appreciate the chairmans comment. I do hope and believe that Senator REED will.in about half an hour be able to address the. issue. I cant commit to a vote. however. as indicated by the chairman. I believe there is some scheduling issue on this side which may preclude a vote at the time hoped for by the chairman. But let me work that issue the best I can as to when the vote would come on this amendment. I believe Senator CRAIG may have an amendment-","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":470,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090088787,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have a prohibition now against those with a Federal capital offense lying at rest in our military cemeteries. We found this summer that an individual who had been convicted of murder in two instances in Maryland. sbrving his life sentence in a Maryland prison. died and was buried in Arlington. We want to correct that by saying that Federal or State law. where the final decisionhe is found guilty even under appealit has to be a final decision in that instance. and that under extraordinary circumstances. even though he might be convicted. a Governor or a President would commute the sentence. That would be the exception. I would be willing to agree to those two items to be included in the amendment if that is acceptable to all parties. and we would so craft it that way.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1352,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090088789,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the *Senator from Idaho. The two changes we have proposed to the amendment make it clear that the conviction of a capital offense. as referred to. could either be State or Federal. would have to be a final conviction so there is no appeal pending or a pending court challenge. And it provides for the possibility of a commutation of that sentence by a Governor or the President. With those two changes. it will be acceptable to us. and we can agree it will be part of a managers package. There was no intent that this be 1 of the 12.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":556,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090088794,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. that is correct. Full disclosure here: There is always concern when you restrict access for purposes of burial. but because we have already established that in Federal law and this appeared to be a loophole. which it was. aud an individual. as I so stated. who was convicted of murder in two instances in Maryland was buried this summer in Arlington Cemetery. they understand that clearly. they appreciate that coirection. And I am very specific in my discussions with the Senator from Michigan that we are talking about capital offensesnot all felonies. capital offenses of this kind. I thank both of my colleagues for helping us work out this issue. I hope this could be included in the managers amendment.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":723,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090088818,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"For more than 30 years. the United States and India have disagreed over Indias decision not to sign the Nuclear NonProliferation Treaty. As such. the United States has not cooperated with India on the issue of civilian nuclear power. In short. we have been at a stalemate. which has neither served our nonproliferation goals nor helped Indias need for energy resources. Fortunately. a civil nuclear cooperation agreement will allow us to move forward in a way. that serves both the interests of the United States and the interests of India. In order to implement this agreement. Congress will need to approve. The fundamental question before Congress will be why should we allow civilian nuclear cooperation with India when they refuse to sign the Nuclear NonProliferation Treaty? And will we not be somehow undermining our own nonproliferation efforts? The fact is. this agreement will enhance our nonproliferation efforts. It is correct that India is not a signatory to the NPT. They have decided. for their own national security reasons. that they will not become a party to the treaty. and no ampunt of international pressure. persuasion. or cajoling will convince. them to do otherwise. This is a reality which we face. but the status quo for another 30 years is not acceptable either. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6748,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090088839,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"My preference would be to go ahead and have this as a firstdegree amendment. offering the amendment of the Senator from Rhode Island as a firstdegree amendment. and if he desires to have a vote on his first. I would have no objection. Would that satisfy the Senator from Rhode Island?","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":284,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090088840,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think the moat efficient course is simply to allow my seconddegree amendment. allowing Members to vote essentially on my amendment first. then voice -vote the amendment of the Senator from Oklahomaif it succeeds. then the underlying amendment. That was my preference.","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":269,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090088892,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I have spoken to the manager of the bill. and he would like to accommodate the ability of the Senator to have the secondary amendment offered before all time is yielded back. Wkeq the Senator is readyI have spoken to the chairman and he is willing to work on that.","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":264,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090088902,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. I ask unanimous consent that Senator DORGAN be allowed to proceed as in morning business for 5 minutes. and that then Senator DORGAN be recognized to offer an \" amendment relative toI think he is calling it a Trumanlike commission. I have talked to Senator ENSIGN. and that is agreeable with the majority.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":322,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090088960,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The standard you have The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there is \"could have a significant adverse in- any other Senators in the Chamber depact.\" Do you have any criteria for siring to vote? \"significant\"? As you and I both know. The result was announcedyeas 99. having dealt in these areas for. many nays 0. as follows: Novemhber 9. 2005 [Rollcall Vote No. 312 Leg.] Akaka Alexander Allard Allen Baucus Bayh Bennett Biden Bingaman Bond Boxer Brownback Bunning Burns Burr. Byrd Cantwell Carper Chafee Chambliss Clinton Coburn Cochran Coleman Collins Conrad Cornyn Craig Crapo Dayton DeMint DeWine Dodd YEAS99 Dole Domenici Dorgan Durbin Ensign Enzi Feingold Feinstein Frist Graham Grassley Gregg Hagel Harkin Hatch Hutchison Inhofe Inouye Isakson Jeffords Johnson Kennedy Kerry Kohl Kyl Landrieu Lautenberg Leahy Levin Lieberman Lincoln Lott Lugar Martinez McCain McConnell Mikulski Murkowski Murray Nelson (FL) Nelson (NE) Obama Pryor Reed Reid Roberts Rockefeller Salazar Santorum Sarbanes Schumer Sessions Shelby Smith Snows Specter Stabenow Stevens Sununu Talent Thomas Thune Vitter Volnovich Warner Wyden","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1102,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090088969,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the Senator from Nevada has assured the Senate that this amendment does not seek. in any way. to change current policy. including Executive Order 11850. relative to the use of riot control agents. I note that the President has provided the Presidential approval required by that Executive order for use of riot control agents in Iraq. We look forward to consulting with the administration. The- amendment of the Senator from Nevada is an appropriate amendment. It could be very helpful. and we support the amendment.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":531,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090088970,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. as I stated on the floor yesterday. I am able to support Senator ENSIGNS amendment because it now includes several important modifications that were requested by the administration. As a result of those modifications. the amendment more accurately reflects current U.S. policy and law regarding the use of riot control agents by members of the Armed Forces. I thank Senator ENSIGN for agreeing to those modifications. I will take into account the views and recommendations of the administration as we continue our work on this issue and the bill in conference. The resolution of ratification for the Chemical Weapons Convention. CWC. passed by this body contained a condition requiring the President to certify that the United States is not restricted by the CWC in its use of riot control agents in certain specified circumstances. In addition. the condition required the President not to eliminate or alter Executive Order 11850. which prohibits the use of riot control agents in war \"except in defensive military modes to save lives.\" In response to questions from myself and Senator LEVIN on the floor yesterday and today. Senator ENSIGN confirmed that he does not seek through this amendment to amend. expand or reinterpret Executive Order 11850 in any way. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2458,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090088972,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will vote in favor of the Ensign amendment to this bill. rdlating to the use of riot control agents. and I want to make clear to my colleagues why a steadfast supporter of the Chemical Weapons Convention can do so in good conscience. Senator ENSIGN is concerned that current interpretation of U.S. policy and of U.S: obligations under international law might be hampering U.S. forces in Iraq. I gather that not everybody shares that belief. but I do not doubt that some people have this concern. and I appreciate Senator ENSIGNs desire to make sure that people in the S12578 coi military fully understand what they can and cannot do when it comes to using riot control agents in Iraq. What is important about the Ensign amendment. in my view. is that it will in no way modify either U.S. policy or U.S. international obligations regarding the use of riot control agents. The statement. in subsection (a) of the amendment that \"riot control agents are not chemical weapons\" is fully consistent with the Chemical Weapons Convention. in which \"riot control agent\" is defined as a chemical. not listed in any of the Conventions three lists of chemical weapons or their precursors. \"which can produce rapidly in humans sensory irritation or disabling physical effects which disappear within a shorttime following termination of exposure.\" Thatdefinition is quite different from the definition of a \"toxic .chemical\" in a chemical weapon. \"which through its chemical action on life processes can cause death. temporary incapacitation or permanent harm to humans or animals.\" So the Ensijn amendment is correct in that a riot control agent. as defined in the Chemical Weapons Convention. would not be a chemical weapon as defined in that convention. Similarly. the Ensign amendment -now before this body accurately reflects U.S. policy as established by President Gerald Ford in Executive Order 11850 of April 8. 1975. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3391,"word_count":316}
{"speech_id":1090089008,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I know the Senator is wrapping up his remarks. but I would like to ask the Senator. is he aware that- a complementary amendment we have worked on for a couple of years. giving a tax credit to employers who are filling that pay gap. is- the Senator aware that has still not passed this Congress?","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":294,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090089025,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"May I ask the Senator. in this colloquy through the Chair. consider this whole question about retention. That is a big issue now. We need these men and women in the Guard and Reserve. even active duty. who have developed the skills. understand the mission. can be combat ready in an instant. We need them to stick around. We need them to reup. If they have been through a bitter experiencepersonal experience. financial experience. separated from their familywe know it lessens that likelihood. If we want the very best to continue serving. I think this is an incentive for that to happen.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":589,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090089057,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"One of the last amendments we were dealing with was on personnel issues. Anyway. the Senator from Louisiana found time to be here. given the tremendous burdens that she has in connection with the tragic suffering in her State. past. present. and possibly the future. I point out to my colleagues a provision comparable to this is in the House bill now in conference. therefore. that we go to.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":392,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090089068,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It seems to me. the fact that there is a provision in both bills does increase the opportunity and the likelihood this time around that we will come out of conference with something. All we can do i continue to try. but I am a little more optimistic now that this amendment passed. Again. we thank the Senators from Indiana. Illinois. and Louisiana for their leadership.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":370,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090089076,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"With his arm around you shaking you like a tree. But we are not saying that. I just thought maybe that little bit of color might remind Louisianans of his proud record in the Senate. Mr. President. this is another example of how the managers. in the course of colloquies. can work out amendments. I strongly urge- colleagues to come forward because we are getting down to the few amendments that are remaining in the hopes that this bill can be acted on for final passage tomorrow. as early as possible in the day. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":533,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090089088,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the distinguished Senator. from Indiana has had a lot on his mind here recently with the tragic natural disaster in his State. and I thank him for finding the time to come to the Chamber andoffer this amendment. I recall. during the markup of the Armed Services bill. he. being a very valued member of the committee. had this general concept in mind. The Senator advised the*committee as a whole in the markup session that at the time this bill reached the floor. he would have formulated his thoughts and done his research and gathered his colleagues and would present this bill. That he has done. and in that he has succeeded. This is a matter we will take up in conference with careful consideration. I thank our colleague.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":741,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090089098,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. if we are going to call on these brave volunteers. we need to incentivize them. and my amendment does that. It seeks to call on the individual from a volunteer standpoint. It doesnt seek to protect the top level. the officers and the uppercrust. the enlisted personnel. It seeks to protect all members of the Guard and Reserve from the enlisted standpoint and give them an opportunity to reduce their retirement age from 60 down to 55. I think it is fair. I think it is reasonable. And I think it is supportable. I ask my colleagues to support my amendment and to vote against the Durbin amendment. I ask unanimous consent that Senator HAGEL be added as a cosponsor of my amendment.","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":697,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090089188,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to bring my colleagues attention to a provision in sections 231235 in the Defense authorization bill titled \"High Performance Defense Manufacturing Technology Research and \u0095 Development. \" I introduced this legislation with m colleague Senator COLLINS to address erosion in our defense manufacturing base that threatens our national security and ultimately our economy overall. We are running major deficits with China in defense critical manufacturing areas. such as computer hardware25 billionand electronics machinery and parts-$23 billionas U.S. production drifts offshore. We are transferring major portions of our circuit board. - semiconductor. machine tool. and weapon system metal casting manufacturing to China and other nations because of lower wage and lower production costs. Without productivity breakthroughs. the U.S. defense manufacturing base will continue to erode. In the hightech sector. manufacturing needs and research and development needs are highly correlated. As a result. research and development. R&D. centers are often located near manufacturing facilities. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11573,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090089189,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Congress will be more explicit this year in its request and will once again await the Departments findings. The study on multiyear contracting is necessary because many inthe satellite industry and the Government question whether the Department of Defenses general policy of procuring leased satellite capacity on a yeartoyear basis is resulting in the best price for the Government and the taxpayers. In contrast to the Government. other entities purchasing leased satellite capacity. for communications gervices. such as CNN and FOX. negotiate multiyear contracts and are receiving lower prices for the same services. The Federal Government. with the Department of Defense as the main buyer. is the worlds. largest consumer of leased satellite capacity and. as such. the Government should be able to negotiate the lowest price and the most flexible terms for leased satellite eapacity. Last year. the Government Accountability Office studied the Departments procurement process for leased satellite capacity and found that the Departments procedures were uncoordinated. frustrating for military commanders. and overly expensive to U.S. taxpayers. Using the results of the GAO study. along with the Departments study completed this year and the findings on the multiyear contract issue. I hope Congress will finally have the necessary information to consider wholesale satellite procurement reforms during next years authorization process.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2440,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090089195,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. we have come from a ComrierceEnergy Committee joint hearing with the CEOs of the major energy companies. They .came to talk to us about the price of energy. I made the point this morningI know the Presiding Officer was also there and made the points she wished to makeas we go into the winter season. those who are trying to figure out how they afford home heating fuel. natural gas. propane. and so on. take a look at the newspapers and see the highest profits in history for the oil companies. They are the ones. the consumers. who will have to bear the pain. Heat your home in the winter or try to figure out how you are going to pay the fuel bill in the spring if you are a farmer or a rancher. These prices are going to eat away all the profit that existed. and then some. with respect to family farmers in my State. That is according to estimates that come from the farm organization and from economists who have looked at it. The question for family farmers who are being ripped by these energy prices or people who drive to the gas pumps or people who are figuring out how to heat their homes is. Is anybody going to do anything about it? You have all the gain on this side and all the pain on this side. All the gain with the big energy companies. the big oil companies. the major integrated oil companies. bigger. stronger. with more raw muscle power in the marketplace because of block buster mergers. and all the pain on the other side. the consumers. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1668,"word_count":277}
{"speech_id":1090089200,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I ask unanimous consent that the relevant portion of the transcript of that meeting be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":815,"word_count":19}
{"speech_id":1090089237,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the U.S. Conference of Mayors recognizes the importance of preserving records of gun purchases by known terrorists and the important role they could potentially play in uncovering a terrorist attack before it is carried out. We owe it to all Americans in this era of heightened risk of terrorist attack to do all we can to protect their safety.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":359,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090089247,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"STEVENS!) TO THE BILL S. 1042 SUPRA. SA 2500. Mr. WARNER proposed an amendment to the bill S. 1042. supra. SA 2501. Mr. WARNER (for Mr. NEI:SON. OF FLORIDA) proposed an amendment to the bill 5. 1042. supra. SA 2502. ","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1407,"word_count":40}
{"speech_id":1090089249,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I -ask unanimous consent that the Committee on -Agriculture. Nutrition and Forestry be authorized to conduct a hearing during the session of the Senate on Wednesday November 9. 2005. at 10:30 a.m. in SH216. Senate Hart Office Building: The purpose of this committee hearing will be to discuss agricultural transportation and energy issues.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":354,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090089251,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the ComS12627* mittee on Energy and Natural Resources and the Committee on Commerce. Science and Transportation be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday. November 9 at 9:30 a.m. The purpose of this joint hearing is to receive testimony regarding energy pricing and profits.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":344,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090089263,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Washington. DC. Brian Lamb. Founder & Chairman. CSPAN Washington. DC. Henry Schleiff. Chairman and CEO. Court TV Networks. New York. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1059,"word_count":20}
{"speech_id":1090089288,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We are all very grateful. Madam Speaker. for these wonderful ministries and for the faith. hope. and love brought to so many by Pastors Mac and Lynne Hammond. As you heard in his moving prayer. Pastor Hammond is a tremendously gifted speaker and a true man of God. I knew Mac would offer a truly inspirational prayer this morning. and God knows we needed it. Many thanks. Pastor Hammond. for your moving and thoughtful prayer and for serving the House of Representatives as our guest chaplain.","speaker_name":"JAMES RAMSTAD","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1951,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090089293,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. the outoftouch notorious Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has struck again. They have created their own version of restrictions on parenting: These wayward judges rule that parents do not have a constitutional right to prevent a public school from teaching students whatever it wishes. including sexual information.. Instead. they say that the State has ultimate power over the education of our children. This ruling stems from a case filed by parents whose children. ages 7 through 10. were given a survey that asks questions lertaining to sex that are even too expressive to repeat on this House floor. According to the education police judges. when parents decide to send their child to a public school. the parents lose authority and control over what the child is taught. The State decides. This ruling violates the Constitution. The Supreme Court long ago ruled that parents do have the fundamental right to make decisions about the care. custody. education. and control of their children. This is just another example of elite judges trying to replace parents with bureaucrats. Outofcontrol judges are taking away property rights. -our pledge rights. and now they. are after our parenting. rights. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1239,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090089294,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. for the first time in about 50 years. the Republicans control the White House. the House. and the Senate. So let us look at the real state of the union and what they have given us: $8 trillion in debt. In fact. this Nation is borrowing $907 million a day. $188 million a day going to Iraq. $33 million a day going to Afghanistan. In fact. this President and this Republican Congress have borrowed more money from foreigners in the past 5 years than the previous 42 Presidents combined. And all this before the hurricane season. Now they are proposing in tomorrows budget reconciliation cutting Medicaid $12 billion. *cutting food stamps and farm programs $3.7 billion. cutting studentloans $14.3 billion. And for what? To pay for another $70 billion in tax cuts for those earning over $400.000 a year. Madam Speaker. these are not my priorities. These are not Americas priorities. These are not the kinds of conservative. smalltown values that I was raised on and still believe in.","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":996,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090089296,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"These loans made my education dreams a reality. I am the only member of the California congressional delegation still paying off her student loans. Each month I proudly write that check because I know* the best investment I and my seven brothers and sisters could have made was our investment in our own .education. Can you imagine where we will be in 20 years when we lack the professionals that we need in this country? Make no mistake. these proposed cuts to student aid programs will negatively impact the future of our workforce and our economy.","speaker_name":"LINDA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":39.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1295,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090089302,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. tomorrow House Republicans will show America their misguided priorities.. In order to once again provide the wealthiest few in our Nation with tax breaks adding up to $70 billion. House Republicans .will cut $54 billion from\" needed programs. including $12 billion to Medicaid. America can do better than slashing health care for lowincome children. seniors. and people with disabilities to pay for additional tax breaks for millionaires. America can do better than slashing a program that provides insurance to one of every seven Americans. at a time when the number of the uninsured has risen by 6 million under this President. America can do better than increasing costs for essential health care services for the poorest Americans. including for the first time ever even the poorest children. which will reduce their access to needed health care. America can dobetter than a budget package where $3 out every $4 in Medicaid cuts are borne- directly by individuals who are poor or disabled. When are the House Republicans going to realize a stronger America is one where we all work together? Together. America can do better.","speaker_name":"BART STUPAK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1143,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090089304,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. just 2 weeks ago. the national debt passed the $8 trillion mark. This unfortunate milestone was the direct result of policies put in place by the leadership of this Congress and the Bush White House. Now our friends on the other side of the aisle want the Members of the Blue Dog Coalition to endorse their latest push to run the debt even higher. This budget package should be called the \"Deficit Expansion Act.\" Itwould continue drowning America in red ink in order to finance new tax cuts for the wealthy and privileged. It is time for a real strategy for fiscal responsibility. not more of the same. The Blue Dog Coalition has put forward a comprehensive. 12step plan that would dig America out of this fiscal mess. Our proposal includes commonsense reforms such as reinstating PAYGO rules and discretionary spending caps. I strongly urge my cblleagues in Congress to take immediate action .on the debt by embracing real bipartisan reform.","speaker_name":"DENNIS CARDOZA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":958,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090089314,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I do not believe there is anything that is unAmerican more than this.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH CROWLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1340,"word_count":13}
{"speech_id":1090089320,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Republican reconciliation bill. pretending to finally bring a sense of fiscal responsibility to that side of the aisle. having increased our debt by 62 percent in 5 years. actually is bleeding middleincome families. kids who want to get a higher education. $14 billion out of student loans. - Those youngsters in the elementary schools are eating too much. Cut student lunches for those kids. Foster care. the family values side. longterm care for seniors. Why are they cuttink all that? So they can bleed the poor and the middle class in this country. And then as they create this giant sea of red ink. they will float the yachts of the wealthy on it by giving them $70 billion in tax breaks. actually increasing the deficit. having already.stuck it to the middle class and struggling families. They are going to increase the deficit in order to finance tax cuts for people who earn over $300.000 a year so their yachts can be a little bigger and float a little higher. They should be ashamed of what they are doing to America and what they are doing to niddieincome and struggling families.","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1096,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090089333,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this conference report includes $456 billion for the Small Business Administration. $290 million for the Federal Communications Commission. $888 million for the Securities and Exchange Commission. and $331 million for the Legal Services Corporation. While this conference report is not perfect. all in all it adds up to better protection for our communities. stronger law enforcement at home. more vigorous diplomacy abroad. and improved scientific research and technology. This is the kind of fundamental Nov~nber 9. 2005 support that Americans expect from this Congress. These are true national priorities. balanced with our budgetary restrictions and with fiscal responsibility in mind. Therefore. Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask my colleagues support of the rule and the underlying conference report. Mr. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4887,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090089339,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And. again. the unfortunate occurrence at. Abu Ghraib at Cellblook 1 on the night shift by a -few miscreant R~servists is deplorable and intolerable. and it will not be tolerated. I know that our military responded and responded in the correct way. So. certainly. I just want to say I agree with the gentleman on his comment that we cannot tolerate that.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1941,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090089357,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I look forward to the discussion of H.R. 1751 and the numerous amendments this rule has made in order. As always. I urge my colleagues to support the rule and the underlying bill. Mr. Speaker. I have. no further requests for time. I yield back the balance of my time. and I move the previous question on the resolution. The previous question was ordered.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1555,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090089386,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I want to continue to see that this project moves forward and I look forward to when the Energy and Commerce Committee holds oversight hearings to ascertain the projects recent progress as well as DOEs plan for moving ahead at Yucca Mountain. I urgeall of my colleagues to vote for this very important legislation.","speaker_name":"PAUL GILLMOR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1249,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090089388,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the gentleman from Ohio for his hard work and the gentleman from Indiana as well. The current energy crisis has caused us to refocus on future energy needs. how we can become more efficient and produce more energy from the same resources with less pollution. Funds have been correctly appropriated in this bill to research initiatives that will speed up the deployment of hydrogen fuel cells. coal gasification technologies. advanced turbine. research. next generation fuels. and environmental controls. In this bill. you will see Future Gen. Future Gen is a Department of Energy collaboration with private industry to develop a nearzero emissions power plant. Unlike traditional coalfueled generation facilities. sulfur and mercury will be removed before combustion. and the carbon dioxide will be safely sequestered underground. making Future Gen the most environmentally friendly coalfired generation facility in the world. The success of this yenture requires government support to costshare substantial private investments. This conference report sends a powerful message that the United States is prepared to move forward and construct such a facility. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS REHBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1365,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090089391,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I was one of 416 Members of this body who voted back in May for a different and better energy and water appropriations bill. But then a funny thing happened on the way to the conference committee. Although the House- and Senatepassed bills both funded one of this Nations most important analytical research projects. the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. which is operated by the Department of Energys vorldclass Brookhaven National Laboratory. which I am very proud to represent. somehow this breakthrough research was cut dramatically in conference. As a result. the RHIC. as it is known. could lay dormant. unused. for 47 weeks out of the year. Why is this project so important? It is designed to recreate conditions of the Big Bang from which the universe was born -and life created. The Federal Government has already invested more than $1 billion. that is $1 billion. in the construction of this facility. and it simply makes no sense to let such an investment go unused. I do not know about my colleagues. but this is like buying a Porsche and letting it sit in your driveway because you will not buy the gas. I ask. is there a more important basic research project in progress anywhere else in the country? How did we justify disinvesting in this project. as well as BNLs research into translational neuroimaging and functional nanomaterials? Could this be an example of the kind of cuts we are beginning to witness as a result of the misguided priority of the. budget reconciliation legislation? That said. ","speaker_name":"TIMOTHY BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2160,"word_count":260}
{"speech_id":1090089400,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it is my view. My visit to Hanford last kear gave me a real appreciation for the need to treat the tank wastes at Hanford and protect the Columbia River from the groundwater contamination. The Department must be more forthcoming with information on its plans for the waste treatment plant. and this conference agreement requires a report on their actions to date by December 1 and quarterly reports beginning on So the gentleman hs my assurance that we are on this. and. frankly. had I not visited and seen the problem firsthand. I might not have been as activeand as strong on this. but I want to assure the gentleman and his State that we are going to be on top of this.","speaker_name":"DAVID HOBSON","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":685,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090089401,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. this reporting requirement. in my mind. is fully justified and delivers a strong message that the Department must be more direct. open. and prompt in sharing details on its path forward for the waste treatment plant. I want to thank the gentleman for his continued commitment to the environmental management program within the Department of Energy.","speaker_name":"DOC HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":381,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090089412,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. pursuant to House Resolution 538. I call up the conference report on the bill making appropriations for Science. the Departments of State. Justice. and Commerce. and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30. 2006. and for other purposes.","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":268,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090089418,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I want to acknowledge the committees work to restore cuts endured by several programs within the Education Directorate at NSF. The Math and Science Partnership Program budget has been greatly diminished since 2002. when it was funded at $160 million. I am grateful. that the conferees have signaled their recognition of the importance of this program by funding this program at $64 million. $4 million above the requested level. We know that other countries are investing and outperforming the United States in the area of math and science education. We will not be able to compete successfully with the rest of the world if our workforce is not on the cutting edge of these fields. and we need to maintain these important programs that support math and science education. Also within this bill. I want to briefly mention my appreciation that the Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program. MEP. at the National Institute for Standards and Technology has been funded at $106 million. These funds will allow MEP centers across the country to continue their vital services for small- and mediumsized manufacturers that are not replicated by any other private or public organization. Balancing many pressing national priorities within this tight budget climate is certainly a challenge. ","speaker_name":"VERNON EHLERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3781,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090089423,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am happy that the National Science Foundations funding will allow for the continuation of their education programs. which benefit so many of our students. I am also pleased that the State Department funding was provided so that there would be worldwide security improvements. We must always be vigilant in guarding the safety of those who so ably represent us both here and abroad. The FBI is the biggest winner in this bill. receiving an increase of $547 million. and as the chairman knows and the ranking member knows. I have always felt that the FBI should get whatever resources it needs. But I would be remiss. Madam Speaker. if I did not briefly mention that I have been troubled by\"many of the bureaus practices of late. including its handling of the Filiberto OjedaRios incident in Puerto Rico. which should not have resulted in his killing. I am also concerned about the FBIs. everincreasing use of national security letters. As the FBI continues to adjust to its new powers and responsibilities. I hope that we in this country will continue to scrutinize the FBIs activities to ensure that we do not witness repeats of the abuses that have tainted the organization in the past. ","speaker_name":"JOSE SERRANO","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2981,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090089433,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. Madam Speaker. I rise today in support of the conference *report on H.R. 2862. the Science. State. Justice. Commerce and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. I think the conferees did an incredibly good job. considering the tight allocations they had. And I want to thank the subcommittee chairman. the gentleman from Virginia . and the gentleman from West Virginia (Ranking Member MOLLOHAN) and their highly competent staff. Despite the good job. ","speaker_name":"SAM FARR","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7057,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090089448,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. Mexico. I think if they see that we are moving to raise the levees on the American side. they will be caused to take action on the Mexican side. This is simply. the cost that I have talked about is only the U.S. side of the levees. It is not the Mexican side of the levees. That is their responsibility to act on that.","speaker_name":"LLOYD DOGGETT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":324,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090089451,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Walk it. Do everything you possibly can. ibecause you certainly do not want something to happen .whereby people die in a flood.","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":492,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090089457,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The funding will also allow the City of Houston to purchase land along Brays Bayou. beginning at the confluence of Brays Bayou and Buffalo Bayou and stretching to Mason Park. less than a mile away. This area is a prime location for a greenbelt park. the development of which would further the Citys plan for parks connected by and along the citys bayous. I would like to thank appropriators in both the House and the Senate for recognizing the value of these projects and positive impact they will make on the quality of life for my constituents. With that. Madam Speaker. I encourage my colleagues to support this legislation.","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4235,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090089459,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I look forward to working with the Chairman and the Ranking Member on implementing the recommendations of the Ocean Commissions and investing appropriately in our coasts and oceans in the FY 2007 budget.","speaker_name":"THOMAS ALLEN","chamber":"H","state":"ME","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3000,"word_count":33}
{"speech_id":1090089465,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill to amend title 38. United States Code. to authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide adaptive housing assistance to disabled veterans residing temporarily in housing owned by a family member and to make direct housing loans to Native American veterans. and for other purposes. as amended.","speaker_name":"JOHN BOOZMAN","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":361,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090089471,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Hawaii and Alaska. We have thousands of veterans on Guam. many suffering from militaryrelated illnesses. Currently. Madam Speaker. five veterans* from my district of Guam have loan applications under this program. pending review by the Department. These loans are for the purchase. renovation. or construction of new homes. And. as you know. home ownership is also a primary driver for economic growth of local communities. Affordable housing is important. very important. for our veterans. Furthermore. home ownership is part of the American dream. Permanent authorization will ensure this important lending program remains an option for veterans who seek to purchase homes. Permanent authorization of this program will contribute to the growth of our local community. ","speaker_name":"SHELLEY BERKLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1914,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090089478,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speakf.8I have no further requests for time\/and J ild back thebalance of my time. - -Mr.BOOZMAN. Madam- Speaker. firstT I wouldfl~ike to thank \"thechairmaif of.the Committee on Veterans Affairs. the gentleman from Indiana . and the committees ranking member. the gentleman from Illinois","speaker_name":"SHELLEY BERKLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":292,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090089479,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I rise today in strong support of H.R. 3665. as amended. the Veterans Housing and Employment Improvement Act of 2005. This bill incorporates a number of important measures .aimed at improving the quality of life of our servicemembers. veterans and military families. I would like to thank Chairman BUYER and Ranking Member EVANS for their leadership on the full committee and for their assistance in movi ng this bill to the floor today. I also want to express my appreciation to the Chairman of the Economic Opportunity SubcommitteeMr. BOOZMAN. for all -his hard work and bipartisan leadership on the subcommittee this legislative session. I look forward to continue working with my friend from Arkansas as we begin discussions with the Senate to ensure pasage of a bipartisan. bicameral veterans benefits package for this year. I know that the veterans of my home state of South Dakota and all veterans of this nation will appreciate the important benefits and program improvements we have included in this legislative measure. Madam Speaker. H.R. 3665. as amended. incorpo rates important provisions that would rovidereater flexibilityto the VAs adaptive giilranf program. ","speaker_name":"STEPHANIE HERSETH SANDLIN","chamber":"H","state":"SD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3302,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090089504,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speakers table the bill to extend and -modify authorities needed to combat terrorism. and for other purposes. with a Senate amendment thereto. disagree to the Senate amendment. and agree to the conference asked by the Senate.","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":280,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090089548,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"GOHdERT) and the. gentlOfarirnfrom New York -. It Will help address the problem. of violencein and around our Nations courthouses. Statistics show that aggravated assaults against police officers are a serious national problem. According to the Bureau ofJustice Statistics. 52 law enforcement officers were- killed in the United States in 2002 and 56 were killed in 2001. From 1994 through 2003 a total of 616 law enforcement officers were feloniously killed in the line -of duty. Approximately 100 of these -officers were murdered after being entrapped or am-. bushed by their killers- These attacks -are simply unacceptable: The lives of judicial personnel are also at great risk. According to the Administrative Office. of the United States Courts. Federal judges receive nearly 700 threats a year and several Federal judges require security personnel to protect them and their families from terrorist associates. violent gangs. drug- organizations and disgruntled litigants. The intimidation of judges directly assaults the impartial administration of justice our Constitution demands. Court witnesses are also at risk. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5225,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090089551,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It prevents future attacks. it protects the entire courthouse family. and it punishes those who threaten the safety and security of our Nations courthouses. The time has come to re- store some sanity and security. and it is the responsibility of the government to assure our citizens have a safe courtroom. The legislation will .work to prevent future attacks in our Nations courthouses such as what happened at my former courthouse in east Texas. That tragic day in February. we lost a brave man. Mark Wilson. who stepped up to attempt to save the lives of innocent citizens at the courthouse and was killed the same day. Also. Deputy Sherman Dollison was badly -injured while he attempted to protect those at the courthouse. With passage of the Secure Access to Justice and Court Protection Act. we are taking an important step toward prevention of similar events happening again. This. bill- has garnered a lot of support across the country since its introduction in April. and I want to take a moment to thank some of those who have supported H.R. 1751. First of all. ","speaker_name":"LOUIE GOHMERT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5652,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090089555,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. Irise in opposition to H.R. 1751. With several sensational incidents in recent years involving the murders of judges. family members of judges. court personnel. witnesses and other victims. we have seen the consequences of insufficient security for our court operations and personnel associated with the courts. All. are agreed that enhancement of security for our courts and all persons associated with them is imperative. However. the main focus of this bill is not the things that the courts have asked for to enhance their security. but on extraneous death penalties and mandatory minimum sentences which will do nothing to improve the security of our courts or personnel associated with them. Mr. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4024,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090089557,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. this episode highlights the merits of this bill not just because of the security failures that allowed it to happen. This much is selfevident. In the aftermath of the security failures at the Fulton County Courthouse. the entire Attanta metropolitan area. an area of more than 4 million people. was on edge. Schools were put on lock down in several counties. If we had proper security measures in place onthat fateful Friday mroming. we. could have. avoided the hysteria and disruptions of normal life that followed. My constituents. the residents of the Atlanta area. and the lawabiding citizens of this great nation deserve the right to go al5out their daily lives knowing that our court rooms are secure. Therefore. I urge the passing of this bill.","speaker_name":"DAVID SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1708,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090089558,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Hale was not behind the murders. but another disgruntled individual with a history in front of Judge Lefkow was. Bart Ross. a plaintiff in a medical malpractice case Judge Lefkow dismissed. wrote a letter to a Chicago television station admitting he killed Michael Lefkow and Donna Humphrey and that his target had been the Judge. Included in the note was a \"hit list\" of others he felt had wronged him. many of whom were involved in his medical malpractice case. One of the individuals on the \"hit list\" is a constituent of mine and while we are thankful he and his family are safe. it is a chilling reminder that the security of judicial officials cannot be taken for granted. This tragic case is just one example of the danger prosecutors and judges can face simply for doing their jobs. Even though Matthew Hale and his ivhite supremacist group were not responsible for the Letkow murders. they were vocal in their praise for the killings on the Intemet. The fact remains that judges. prosecutors. and their families are often targeted and they can be in danger wherever they go. even in their own homes. Mr. Chairman. I support this legislation and I believe the Congress should do all it can to protect judges and their families and enhance courthouse security.","speaker_name":"MARK KIRK","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2034,"word_count":220}
{"speech_id":1090089575,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I rise in opposition- to the Scott amendment. It strips all of the mandatory minimum penalties out of the bill. The amendment seeks to strip the core provisions of the bill. Let me remind everyone of the nature of the problem we face -today. More than 57.000 law enforcement officers were assaulted in 2003. or one in every 10 officers serving in the United States. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4709,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090089610,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank Chairman SENSENBRENNER and the Rules Committee for allowing this amendment to proceed. There is a very good section of the bill talking about grants for young witness assistance. and I think when we talk about that. as the bill does. very importantly. we also must explicitly talk about gangs because we know that youth witness intimidation generally comes at the hands of criminal gangs. So my amendment adds language to this section that provides for this bill to allow the use of witness protection grants by youths who are trying to leave a criminal gang or to prevent initial gang recruitment.","speaker_name":"BOB FILNER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":51.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":663,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090089665,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I have no idea as to what the objection was raised to. The .House was not in order when the gentleman was speaking.-The House has no way to know.as to what objection he raised. Is it possible for the Chair to edify the House as to why the objection was made to dispensing with the reading?","speaker_name":"CHARLES RANGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":302,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090089678,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"CA have all passed resolutions expressing their concerns with the antiprivacy and antiliberty nature of the PATRIOT Act. I also would like to note my disappointment that the fiscal year 2006 StateScienceJusticeCommerce Appropriations bill included one of the most invasive provisions of the PATRIOT Act that permits sweeping searches and seizures of library and bookstore patron records. despite this bodys condemnation of the provision earlier thig year. Voices in the Congress echo voices of people across America. I utge a \"yea\" vote on the motion to instruct.","speaker_name":"SAM FARR","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1561,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090089689,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I was detained this afternoon. Had I been present. I would have voted in the following manner Rolicall 581 (On passageH.R. 2862)--\"aye\". rolicall 582 (On passage7S. 1894)-\"aye\". rollcall 583 (On Agreeing to the Scott #9 Amendment)-\"nay\". rollcall 584 (On Motion to Recommit with Instructions--H.R. 1751)-\"nay\". and rollcall 585 (On PassageH.R. 1751)\"aye.\"","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":368,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090089710,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Democrats or Republicans. in the spirit of the moment. in the -emotion of the moment. and we -say something that we regret saying. and it is at that time when all eyes turn to a nonpartisan. objective third party who can say everybody sit down. a little calmness here. let us get through this maze of parliamentary mystery and then get back on the course of civil discussion. I want to say. Muftiah. thank you for being part of that team and thank you for everything that you are doing. Your job is a profound one. and it is one that should be studied in every civics class in every school at every level of education in America. And I want to say to my friend from the west coast who does not always vote green when I vote red and vice versa. we always agree that this is the place where we can come and have good. open debate thanks to people like Muftiah and the Parliamentarians.","speaker_name":"JACK KINGSTON","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2214,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090089719,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":17,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Kimmell. Sergeant Donald D. Furman. Specialist James T. Grijalva. Master Sergeant Kenneth E. Hunt. Jr.. Sergeant Lorenzo Ponce Ruiz. Petty Officer 1st Class Howard E. -Babcock IV. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4165,"word_count":27}
{"speech_id":1090089724,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So tonight I want to give credit to the chairman and the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee. It was a very informative hearing today that will lead to additional hearings next week. And what I am hoping will come from this is that the taxpayers will know that we do care about abuses and we do care about inflated prices. We are going to get to the bottom of this. thanks to the leadership of Chairman HUNTER and Ranking Member SKELTON and the committee members. both Republican and Democrat. We are going to get to the bottom of this and we are going to be able to say to the taxpayers and to the reporters for Knight Ridder that wrote this article that we are going to see that wrongs are made right and we are going to do exactly what is in the best interests of the taxpayers. Mr. Speaker. before I close. I know that my friend from Texas and my friend from Illinois talked about those who serve in this Nation and who have given their lives. As I close this way all -over my district. I will close this way tonight. ","speaker_name":"WALTER JONES","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3421,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090089738,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So we are going to provide more services. And maybe we are going to deliver a little greater value. And. Mr. Speaker. if. that means that a few dollars are saved in the process. well. I am all for that. But consider the numbers involved here.. Medicaid. with no reform. is going to grow at a rate of 7.3 percent over the next 5 years. With the reforms we put in place. Medicaid is going to grow at a rate of 7 percent over the .next 5 years. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BURGESS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5418,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090089759,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for his comments. and he is exactly right. Medicaid needed reforms that would address some of the waste. fraud .and abuse. reforms that would deal with the processes and procedures of the delivery of the program. Once we go through achieving these efficiencies. there will be individuals who truly need it. who will see a better delivery of service. These are flexibilities that the governors. the nonpartisan National Governors Association. have asked us to make. They are things we have worked with them on. and we are pleased to bring forward the type of reforms that will yield the efficiencies that are needed. Mr. Speaker. another colleague who is joining us this evening is the gentleman from Tennessee . another member of my delegation who is a member of the Appropriations Committee. He has brought wisdom and expertise to the appropriations process and being certain that we are wise stewards of the taxpayers dollars. ","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1268,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090089760,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But I come as a member of the Appropriations Committee to say that this majority is doing it. We are doing it like we were when we got here. again with vigor and commitment. I am excited. We have just been joined by another member of my class. and he was shaking his head as he walked across the floor. because he can feel it. He knows it. We are focused on being responsible and reforming this government so that it works better and so that people can see us acting .on what they would like to see us do. So I thank all of my colleagues that have come to the floor tonight. and the gentlewoman for hosting this hour. It is important that we unite and we bring people to this most impor tant cause at this critical time. And I yield back to her.","speaker_name":"ZACH WAMP","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5437,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090089761,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman from Tennessee for his wise words and for joining us in this debate and reminding us we do hear a lot of rhetoric. as he mentioned. We have the .Blue Dogs from the Democrat side. who have been coming to the floor demanding spending increases. Suddenly they are not so fiscally conservative.. Well. it is like the story I used to read to my children. the Three Little Bears.- It is almost as if you have to have it just right. Just right. And they are going to let the perfect be the -enemy of the good. because these are good. solid reductions and a good. solid plan for moving forward. a great first step. As we. have worked through this process. we have heard from the gentlewoman fron Virginia several times in regard to military issues and veterans issues. She has such a heart for this and works so diligently on these issues. so at this time I yield to the gentlewoman from Virginia to set the record straight about the appropriations and the funding for our veterans programs.","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1005,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090089765,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"spoke about how we will * cut waste. fraud and abuse. We did that in the food stamp program. and we did not do it randomly. We realized there are States that grant food stamps to people who do not qualify for any other benefit. That is a pretty good sign it is a fraud. We conditioned it if they need another benefit. like TANF. it will qualify them for food stamps. Unless they do. we are not going to give them a bunch of food stamps because. likely. they are not qualified. Most of the States are that way. Iowa is that way. It works for us. We do not hear complaints because it is a responsible way to manage. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2247,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090089767,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Here we have the year 2005. and look at the tax -increases on the average American family as the years go by. Again. what does that mean? It means in just one generation we are going to end up doubling taxes on the American people. And. Mr. Speaker. I just believe that that is absolutely unconscionable. particularly for a party that continues to want to preach compassion to us. Right now. right now. they want to cut the child tax credit in half. And that is their idea of compassion? That is what they are telling us. That is what their tax plan is. They want to reinstitute the death tax so that people have to visit the undertaker and the IRS on the same day. ","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4926,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090089772,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. I thank the gentlewoman for her comments. At this time I yield to the gentlemian from Minnesota . who is going to talk with us about the food stamp program and address some of the myths that we have been hearing about this program. This gentleman has done so much work in theagriculture programs. looking to be certain that we address the stewardship requirements that our constituents and citizens have for us. 0l 2045","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":452,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090089777,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This gentleman says. \"The absolute folly and moral bankruptcy of this plan is apparent to the United States Senate. who voted to bar funding for it from the appropriations bill now in conference. \"The VFW.\" I say to my friends. \"urges the Congress to put a stop to the wartime assault on past and present warriors who have fought for and continue to defend our country.\"","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1037,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090089783,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Sincerely.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":919,"word_count":1}
{"speech_id":1090089794,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we may be a little more intense tonight thani normal. and the reason is that tomorrow this budget may come before this House. and all the rhetoric over the past few weeks may become reality tomorrow on this floor. And we are not going to sit up in our offices and watch CSPAN and watch. this happen. We are not going to sit in our office and turn on Chris Matthews or some MTV. VII1 show and just relax tonight. The American people will be hurt if this budget passes this Congress tomorrow. People who are oh Medicaid will be hurt tomorrow. People who are trying to bite. scratch. and pinch to send their kids to college will be hurt tomorrow. And veterans who fought for this country will be hurt tomorrow. And if they think we are going to stand up. or lay down. in our offices and turn H10126 CO the TV on or go back home to our apartments and watch this happen without a fight. they have got another think coming. because they have taken this country. and in the last 4 years borrowed over $1 trillion from foreign countries. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1120,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090089824,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is Mr. RAY LAHOOD. a very solid Member and someone respected on both sides of the aisle. These are his words. not mine. This is RAY LAHOOD. whom the Speaker and every Member in this body knows and respects.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1338,"word_count":40}
{"speech_id":1090089838,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We should go up there and drill. God put the oil there. I could not think of a better place. I cannot improve upon that. Where would you have the oil if you cannot have it up there where nobody goes. or we cannot have it up there where nobody goes. where we can do that with almost no impact on the environment. and if we can do so with .04 percent. 4 hundredths of 1 percent of a footprint on that region. Yet. where is our help over here from the other side of the aisle? Mr. Speaker. 406 trillion cubic feet of natural gas offshore in the United States. There has never been a natural gas spill that has impacted anybodys environment. It is just scientifically and physiologically impossible. The gas dissipates. ","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10570,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090089852,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You know. let us just give them the benefit of doubt. Let us say we did not think the President should fire him. We do. but let us say. why has the President not suspended him at least until he called upon even the White House council to do an internal investigation? They are really good at copping to internal investigations and not allowing independent investigations of wrongdoing or potential wrongdoing. But he has not even suggested that his duties should be suspended so that you can clear the cloud away. fl 2300","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":521,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090089856,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Not only will I not talk about it. I will not even have a hearing on it. As a matter of fact. I will not even allow a hearing on it. We would come to .the floor and we would -say. it is just the Democrats once again being negative. not being productive. All they can do is- talk about things that are not of any consequence to national security. Now. that is what they are doing. That is what they are doing. If you ask the majority about oversight. you heard in the last hour we had a couple of hours ago. I read the record under the Clinton administration. 1.089 subpoenas of the Clinton administration for far less. for far less.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1634,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090089858,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"At that particular time only 11 subpoenas for Re. publicans. Under this administration. we are still getting that information. Far less. The Republicancontrolled Congress. thousands upon thousands of hours of staff interviews of Clinton administration officials.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":262,"word_count":36}
{"speech_id":1090089865,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Almost 60 percent of the American people believe that Karl Rove needs to resign. 60 percent. This is not me or my colleagues or the gentleman from Massachusetts . who failed a little bit on us tonight:. We tried to squeeze him into the 30sorething Group. We tried to help him out. then he faded on us. got a little -sleepy. started yawning. We had to dismiss him. But here it is. There is a poll. This is a Washington Post poll in November of 2004. Fiftynine percent of people in this country believe Karl Rove needs to resign.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":527,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090089872,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"One of the things. among others. what we would try to do. as we try to reconcile the budget. is not give $70 billion in tax cuts that go primarily to the people who make more than half a million dollars a year. The whole idea of this whole thing was to somehow find in the budget $50 billion to pay for Katrina. and instead. they found the $50 -billion to pay for Katrina supposedly. but they also gave $70. billion in tax cuts.- which means their deficit. this is what is great about Washington. their deficit reduction package actually increases the- deficit by $20 billion because they just cannot resist giving people who make more than $500.000 i.e.. their campaign contributors. a tax cut.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":695,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090089875,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think it is always helpful for us to provide information to pQople who do not really know much about this process here. It is kind of arcane. Maybe you could help describe for people who are wondering about the process. we have to name. each piece of legislation. so that it is descriptive for the membership.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":311,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090089879,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Yes. of course. The name of this legislation is the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. I am a freshman and I do not know the rules in that book as well as the two of you or -as well as some of my senior colleagues. So I wonder if there is anything in the book. the rules book. that says you cannot be inaccurate or misleading.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":322,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090089909,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to read Point No. 4. This paper is still a little warm because they just carried .out this act. It states: \"Provide that the amendment -printed in the Rules Committee report accompanying the resolution shall be considered as adopted.\" Why come to the floor tomorrow? We cannot offer an amendment.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":316,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090089911,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to give the Web site out. but I wanted to make that point so people remember what happened this November. They came to the floor and came willing to vote for a budget that was unjust.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1354,"word_count":40}
{"speech_id":1090089912,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Web site is 30SomethingDems@mail.house.gov. \u0095 Send an email recommendation to the Members of this body tomorrow. And bring your PJ pants. We may be here into the wee hours of the morning. We want to apologize in advance to the veterans organizations we are supposed to be at Friday morning for speaking engagements because we may be here voting on this budget.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":377,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090089956,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Hon. Gordon \"Butch\" Stewart. Renowned Jamaican and Caribbean Business leader and Entrepreneur by placing in the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD the text of a proclamation to be awarded at the conference:","speaker_name":"CHARLES RANGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1164,"word_count":29}
{"speech_id":1090089968,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the American veteran has fought in these conflicts: French and Indian war. War for Independence. the First Barbary War. the War of i812. the Second Barbary War. War for Texas Independence. the War Between the States. the Indian Wars. the SpanishAmerican War. the PhilippineAmerican War. the Boxer Rebellion. First World War. Russian Revolu.tion. Spanish Civil War. the Great World War II. the Cold War. Korean War. Vietnam War. Tehran hostage rescue. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1061,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090089969,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this socalled Deficit Reduction Act is an intellectually dishonest. cruel hoax. The Republican leadership claims they are reducing the deficit. but in reality they are actually hurting the poorest and most vulnerable in this country: Health care for poor people. slashed by $9.5. billion. food for poor people. decreased by over $840 million. student loans for college students. a $14.3 billion cut. Mr. Speaker. Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita reopened the eyes of Americans to the staggering poverty that still exists in this country. yet the Republican leadership wants to slash over $50 billion from programs that will help our most vulnerable citizens across America. If that were not bad enough. there is a tax cut worth at least $70 billion on its way. Combined with this upcoming tax cut. the socalled Deficit Reduction Act will actually increase the deficit by $20 billion. We are a much better country than this bill puts forth. If this bill passes @ Printed on recycied paper. today. the Republicans will have succeeded in creating a government without a conscience. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1259,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090089974,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. tomorrow is Veterans Day. On this holiday. it is certainly appropriate that we recognize the sacrifice of our brave veterans that have fought to protect our freedom in years past. But Veterans Day also provides a good opportunity to note the progress our military is making today. Today. we are atwar. Our troops are fighting in the cause of freedom. Just 3 years ago. Saddam Hussein wielded a brutal totalitarian regime over an oppressed people. Today. Saddam is in jail and Iraqis have adopted a constitution upholding the rule of law. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1158,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090089979,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"America can do better. It is time for a change.","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1176,"word_count":10}
{"speech_id":1090089981,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. having served in the California State legislature for 24 years. half of which was spent in a leadership role. I know how to engage in a bipartisan process. This budget reconciliation bill is not bipartisan. Rather than provide the House with an opportunity to engage in a serious andmeaningful budget discussion. we are left with this takeitorleaveit package that. if passed. will increase our budget deficit nearly $20 billion. Rather than accept an offer by the Blue Dogs to discuss our.12point deficit reduction alternative. we are left with this plan as our only option. It is a Hobsons choice. which is no choice at all. Rather than do what our constituents expect us to do. which is discuss. debate. and have meaningful oversight and make tough policy choices. we are left with a budget reconciliation package that is nothing more than a fig leaf to cover up a host of fiscal shortcomings. I may be new to Congress and the process. but I know this budget reconciliation package is wrongheaded and sadly lacking in transparency. I urge a \"no\" vote.","speaker_name":"JIM COSTA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1066,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090090002,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank my friend for yielding to me. I do not know exactly when in the week we would get to that. but I am hopeful that enough staff work and other progress has been made on that bill that it could be on the floor next week. If it is on the floor next week. we obviously would have to go to the official conference sometime midweek.","speaker_name":"ROY BLUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":346,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090090006,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank my friend again for yielding. and we are continuing to work on that bill. We have asked our budget chairman to take one final look at it. We have not had a mandatory review of the mandatory programs in terms of looking at their budget for almost a decade now. Frankly. what we are learning is when you haVe not done. anything in almost 10 years. it takes a little longer to do it than you thought it would. We hoped to have that bill on the floor today. The appropriate eagerness of Members to want to be sure and be home tomorrow for Veterans Day events and. frankly. the challenge of the last few details did not allow us to have that happen. So we have asked the budget chairman to look at those details again. and we hope to have that bill on the floor next week.","speaker_name":"ROY BLUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":775,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090090024,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"For all the reasons I have mentioned today. it is time to bring our troops home from Iraq. We need to focus on healing the wounds incurred over the last 22 years of war and administering to Americas domestic priorities. If we want to truly honor our veterans on Veterans Day. the best thing we can do is prevent more veterans from being created. We could do this tomorrow. if we wanted to. by ending the war in Iraq and bringing our troops home. That would be the best gift of all.","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3954,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090090044,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today. following the 1 hour for morning business. we will resume work on the Department of Defense authorization bill. Under the agreement reached last night. we have two rollcall votes to begin at 11:30 this morning. The first vote is on Senator TALENTS amendment relating to C17s. and the second vote is in relation to the Dorgan amendment on a special committee. Yesterday. we made good progress on the bill. -and we will finish the bill today. In addition to a couple amendments already pending. there are only a few remaining amendments in order to be offered. Senators should be prepared to offer those amendments this morning. I hope we can finish this bill at a reasonable time today. I encourage the two managers to move forwardl with the bill if Senators do not show up to offer their amendments. We must finish the Defense bill today. along with three appropriations conference reports that are now at the desk. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1221,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090090048,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"You see. we have a system within our military that it is not just the active soldier who serves so well. but it is that citizen soldier. our friends and neighbors in our communities across the country. such as the 116th of Idaho. who continue to serve and. in a. time of war. serve with honor and dignity. As we celebrate Veterans Day tomorrow and this weekend. recognizing those who have stood in harms way and in many instances have given their lives so our lives could be freer. lets remember those currently serving in Iraq. be it the active soldier or be it the Guard or Reserve. for they are all one and their missions are all the same. The 116th of Idaho Brigade Combat Team has made Idaho extremely proud. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6633,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090090070,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They are selecting their field of battle. They are assisted by the Iraqi forces. And they are taking a toll on the terrorists. I ask my colleague. do you disagree with that analysis?","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1837,"word_count":33}
{"speech_id":1090090109,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I say to my good friend and colleague. if there is an award to be made for determination. he has it on this particular issue. It is interesting that the Senator from North Dakota invoked a good deal of history as to the Truman committee. I think colleagues should know. however. that the Senate has already addressed this -amendment on two previous occasions: first on September 14. 2005. on the CommerceStateJustice appropriations bill. The vote was 53 to 44. defeated. and then again on October 19. 2005. on the DOD appropriations bill. Again. the Senate rejected it 54 to 44. Those matters should be before Senators.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":634,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090090110,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. if the Senator will yield. since Senator DORGAN does have another minute left. I believe. and I want to give him an opportunity to respond. I will use 30 seconds of that time simply to say that Senator DORGAN has. indeed. been tenacious. There has been an absence of oversight in this area which has been glaring. He has almost by himself filled in some of those gaps as he described it. He should not need to do that. -We should either have the committees doing that or else we need this special Trumantype committee. I commend him for his tenacity. I am glad he is bringing this to a vote. and maybe one of these dayshopefully todayhe will prevail.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":665,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090090130,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Senator from Virginia is quite right that we have twice before voted on this amendment and I believe ignored the value of the amendment. In almost all cases. there is virtue in being consistent. but being consistently wrong is hardly virtuous. My hope is the Senate will understand the value of this amendment this morning as we vote on it for the third time.","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":363,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090090193,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That obviously comes from statements by people at the caucus made publicly. If. as has been reported by Senator LOTT. members of the Republican caucus can hear about these facilities from the Vice President of the United States. then the Senate AFmed Services Committee and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence ought to be able to receive.a full accounting. So the amendment I offer today seeks to simply assert. appropriately. congressional oversight in this matter by requiring two classified reportsL one by the Secretary of Defense and one by the Director of National Intelligenceto the appropriate committees. detailing the involvement of the Department of Defense and the intelligence community in these activities if. indeed. there is any. Not later than 60 days after enactment. the Secretary of Defense will provide a classified report to the House and Senate Armed -Services Committees of any knowledge or participation in the operation of clandestine facilities by the Departrpent of Defense. including support provided by the Department of Defense to any other part of the U.S. Government or foreign government. The Secretary of Defense must also report on whether the Department has transported any individuals to or from such a facility. and whether detainees insuch facilities are to be tried by military commission. Finally. this report will include details about detainees held at DOD facilities for other Government agencies. The second classified report required by this amendment is from the Direc-. tor of National Intelligence to the Intelligence Committees of both the House and the Senate. In it. the Director will provide a detailed accounting of the nature. cost. and operation of any clandestine prison or detention facility operated by the U.S. Government. regardless of location. where detainees from the global war on terror are being or have been held. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7227,"word_count":296}
{"speech_id":1090090233,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I want to mention one other item in the Foreign Operations conference report. It does not earmark Foreign Military Financing funds for TimorLeste. formerly East Timor. the worlds newest democracy and a friend of the United States. However. we do not earmark funding for many of the countries for which FMF was requested. but we provide $241.7 million in FMF assistance to cover these needs. including for TimorLeste. The administrations budget request included $1.5 million in FMF for East Timor. The factthat we did not earmark these funds for TimorLeste should not be misinterpreted as an indication of any disagreement on the part of the conferees with the administrations request.","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":699,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090090366,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I appreciate the patience of all of our colleagues. wherever they may be. We are continuing to make considerable progress. That progress will hopefully lead to final passage tonight. Consistent with those objectives. I ask unanimous consent that the Roberts amendment now be modified with the changes that are at the desk. provided further that the amendment be agreed to. I further ask consent that no later than the hour of 4:45. the Senate proceed to votes in relation to the following amendments: the Kerry amendment. as amended. Lautenberg No. 2478. as modified with the changes at the desk. Graham amendment 2516. the Bingaman motion to strike is under the previous order. conference report to accompany the foreign operations bill. further. that no second degrees be in order to the Kerry or Lautenberg amendments prior to the vote. and that there be 2 minutes equally divided before the votes. with the Lautenberg amendment getting 8 minutes equally divided before the vote. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1074,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090090414,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"No. sir. That is not accurate. This says that no illegal. no foreign alien who is being detained as an enemy combatant can file a writ of habeas corpus. The reason for that being said is because that has been the law for 200 years. We didnt let German prisoners file writs. Under the Roosevelt administration. these six .people were captured. They were tried. Four were executed. A writ of habeas corpus was not available to them. It should not have been available to them. ","speaker_name":"LINDSEY GRAHAM","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":985,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090090418,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In the Hamdan case. the Supreme Court. a few days ago. agreed to determine the legality of the military commissions established by the President to try enemy combatants and about whether detainees at Guantanamo are entitled to protections under the Geneva Conventions. That case would be wiped out under the language which is retroactive in the Senators amendment. The Supreme Court. although they have agreed to hear the case. would be stymied in hearing a case they have agreed to hear. This goes way beyond the question of whether we are substituting. I have no great problem in substituting the court review for habeas corpus relative to those determinations of status. Ithink that is a fair substitute because at least then there is a court review. But this goes way beyond that. because this amendment eliminates habeas corpus for all issues which might be raised by detainees. including a conviction which leads to a death sentence that violates -Quirin. It is inconsistent with what the Supreme Court did in the case which I already referred to. It would eliminate the jurisdiction already accepted by the Supreme Court in Hamdan. I urge that we not adopt this amendment. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1536,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090090535,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the Senator will yield. Mr. President. I agree with the description which my dear friend from Virginia has provided. that I did provide him with our amendment. Even though our amendment has a later number. it was the amendment which was first provided. The Senator from Virginia. after consultation with his leader and others. has made some modifications in our amendment and that amendment. under the unanimous consent agreement which will bevoted on first. is the amendment basically that we drafted over here with the modifications made by the Senator from Virginia and others. So that is the chronology. that is the history. and that is the order we will be voting on and will be debating these on Monday under the unanimous consent agreement. There are some differences. I would not describe them as major differences but. nonetheless. there are some. differences that now exist between the two versions. and we can debate which is the preferable version. But in any event. under either version. it strikes me that there is clearly a call here for some changes in course in policy in Iraq.- But that again is something we can debate further on Monday.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1159,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090090563,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I want to commend my colleagues on the Armed Services Committee for taking a step forward to help our soldiers who are wounded. and removed from the combat zone for medical treatment. Under current law. when soldiers are removed~from a combat zone. even if it is for a severe wound. they lose all of their special duty pay. which for some enlisted soldiers can reduce their pay by half. It does not seem right tolcut a soldiers pay at the time of an injury when that soldier and his- family will face personal and financial hardships. For example. if a young soldier is sent to Walter Reed Hospital to recover. it is often important to have family nearby to assist in recovery. But that often means a young wife or husband must leave their home and job to help the S12676 cor wounded soldier. They may face new temporary housing costs or added expenses just to live nearby and support in the soldiers recovery. Thanks to action in our Armed Services Committee. there is a provision to continue some of the specialty pays for imminent danger for our wounded soldiers as long as they are in the hospital. The House Defense. authorization includes a similar provision that creates a new pay provision specifically for rehabilitation from combatrelated injuries. I support such provisions. and in fact. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ROCKEFELLER","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2705,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090090573,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I. too. have been informed of the State Departments jurisdictional concern. Given that this issue is more appropriate to the Foreign Operations bill. I wonder if my friend from Kentucky will work with me and the State Department to ensure that this provision is fulfilled. specifically that within 180 days of enactment of the foreign aid bill the Department provide the relevant congressional committees with a report detailing this strategic plan. in consultation with the Departments of Education. Commerce. Homeland Security. and Energy. as well as institutions and organizations involved in international education. The strategy should seek to use innovative media like the Internet to develop a marketing strategy. It should also include policy recommendations for streamlining the procedures related to international student access.","speaker_name":"NORM COLEMAN","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":839,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090090589,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Now that Im away from all that. I actually see a future for myself and see what Im capable of and what I can do with my life. Research on 900 YouthBuild graduates several years after program completion showed that 75 percent were employed at an average wage of $10\/ hour or in college. They were voting and paying taxes. Of those who had committed felonies. the recidivism rate was a strikingly low. 15 percent. The legislation I am introducing today responds to the Bush administrations attempt to move YouthBuild from HUD to DoL in its FY 2006 budget request. I did not agree with the Administration attempt to transfer YouthBuild in the budget. it.was simply the wrong approach. However. my staff has met with Administration officials. with YouthBuild and with YouthBuilds strong supporters. And I believe that we can find a way to do this. and I appreciate that the Administration has shown a willingness to work with us so far. If done properly. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5749,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090090596,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking. Housing. and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on November 10. 2005. at 9:30 a.m.. to conduct a hearing on \"The Development of New Basel Capital Accords.\"","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":259,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090090608,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"University of Richmond School of Law. Richmond. VA. Jill Manning. Social Science Fellow. .Heritage Foundation. Washington. DC. Sociologist. Brigham Young University. Provo. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":859,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090090631,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Whether protecting Iraqi citizens in their historic eff6rt to form a free and democratic state or helping evacuate victims of Hurricane Katrina in the gulf coast region. their continued commitment to our Nation inspiresus all. Throughout our proud history. the United States has courageously met the challenges posed by enemies of freedom. In the last 100 years. we have lost some 700.000 men and women in defense of our. country. As we recall their noble sacrifices it is also important to honor the relatives and loved ones who help shoulder the burden of service. America now faces new challenges from enemies that did not exist when our Nations veterans fought in previous wars. Those who fought tyranny and paid the ultimate price did so for an honorable and enduring cause. Generations of free and democratic people around the world join us in thanking the brave Americans who helped them achieve and protect their liberty. Today. we honor the legacy of the fallen and the courage of our veterans and salute the values that have made the United States the greatest Nation in the world. I have the highest respect for those who serve. and I appreciate and honor all of the men and women who continue to defend freedom at home and abroad. These American heroes and their families are at the fore-. front of. our thoughts and prayers on this special day.","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2235,"word_count":233}
{"speech_id":1090090659,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise_ to -strongly encourage my colleagues in the Senate to support this resolution recognizing the 40th anniversary of the Second Vatican Councils Declaration on the Relation of the Church to NonChristian Religions. Nostra Aetate. and the continuing need for mutualinterreligious respect and dialogue. October 28. 2005 marked the 40th anniversary of Nostra Aetate. which means \"in our time.\" On- October 28. 1965. Nostra Aetate affirmed the respect of the Roman Catholic Church for Hinduism. Buddhism. Islam. and Judaism. and called upon all Catholics to engage in dialogue and cooperatioli with the followers of other religions. Nostra Aetate states that the Roman Catholic Church. moved by the Gospels spiritual love. decries hatred. per-. secution. and displays of antiSemitism directed at Jews at any time and by anyone. As stated in the resolution. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE VOINOVICH","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2891,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090090679,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent thatthe committee substitute be agreed to. the bill. as amended. be read a third time and passed. the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table. with no intervening action or debate. and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":295,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090090685,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is also my understanding that the U.S. Sentencing Commission recently promulgated -new Federal sentencing guidelines to count for the changes in how intellectual property crimes are committed. Could-* the Senator from Pennsylvania clarify for the RECORD why we have authorized the U.S. Sentencing Commission to further amend the Federal sentencing guidelines and policy statements for crimes committed in violation of Title 18. section 2318 or 2320. of the United States Code?","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2055,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090090691,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the committee amendment be agreed to. the bill. as amended. be read a third time and passed. the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table. with no. intervening action or debate. and that\" any statements relating to the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":297,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090090779,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I was just asked by a news reporter about the Presidents trip to Asia. The President is now going to Japan. Korea. and China and will be talking. presumably. about a wide range of issues. including trade. My hope certainly is that he will talk about trade. Last month. we had a trade deficit of $66 billionin 1 monthonethird of it from China. When the President goes to China. he could visit a lot of American jobs because the jobs that used to be here in America exist now in Chinajobs that made bicycles. Radio Flyers Little Red Wagon. Tony Lama boots. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7049,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090090783,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I should bring over just the first 6 months of this year. the Department of Labors report which is 33 pages. on both sides. singlespaced. of the names of companies that have sourced jobs off our shores. It is 33 pages. singlespaced. the names of companiesnot people. companies. It is unbelievable what is happening. They are selling this country piece by piece. When today we import $2 billion more than we export. the financial transaction is we put in the hands of foreigners the currency or securities by which they own part of America. Each day they buy $2 billion more of this country. It doesnt seem to mean a whit to anybody. Last week was the announcement of the $66 billion monthly trade deficit. Did you hear any outcry from this Chamber? I came over and gave a little speechbut nothing. It is almost like everybody pulls their sombrero down and takes a big siesta and sleeps forever on this subject. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10440,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090090793,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Secondly. I thank him for his service on the Armed Services Committee. We have a wonderful committee. It is a bipartisan committee. The Senator from Florida. Mr. NELSON. makes an important contribution to it. He is there all the time with very perceptive questions that are intended to support the men and women in our military. I thank him for his participation. Mr. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1606,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090090825,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that in the absence of a speaker on the Republican side. the time between now and 4:30 p.m. be divided as follows: the Senator from Massachusetts be recognized for 30 minutes. then the Senator from Connecticut be recognized for 10 minutes. If. during that period. the floor manager on the Republican side indicates time is required on the Republican side. we would then do our best to make arrangements for that to happen. perhaps delaying the 4:30 p.m. timetable. We are trying to accommodate two Senators. the Senator from Massachusetts. who needs a half hour. and the Senator from Connecticut. who needs 10 minutes.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":657,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090090850,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I agree with that assessment. but that is not a strategy for success. It is a statement of discrete events that have thus far occurred in Iraq. albeit positive events. Our troops and the American people deserve more than that. in my view. They certainly deserve more than simply being told that the strategy is: When they stand up. we will stand down. What our troops are looking for. what I believe the American people are looking for. what Iraq and Iraqs neighbors are looking for. is a clearly articulated strategy. a timetable which culminates in the election of a sovereign. inclusive Iraqi government with the expertise and experience to govern effectively. Thus far. the administration has failed to articulate such a strategy or such a timetable. Before success can be a reality. however. competent Iraqi security and police forces. respectful of the civilian authority. must be at the ready to secure Iraqs borders and provide security within its territory. And fundamental to achieving success. in my view. is ensuring that the vast majority of Iraqi Kurds. Sunnis. and Shias have bought into whatever political architecture emerges from the upcoming elections. At the moment. that is not a given. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9730,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090090897,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"NPCC. to transfer the functions of the Fish Passage Center in a way that ensures \"seamless continuity of activities\" without giving direction about how this transfer should take place. The Northwest Power Act called for the NPCC to establish a fish and wildlife program. That program has called for BPA to fund the Fish Passage Center for the past 20 years. The data and analyses the center has provided has been invaluable to the States and tribal fishery managers of the Columbia Basin. Can the distinguished chairman of the Energy and Water Subcommittee tell me if this language was in any way intended to supersede the NW Power Act or the specific provisions in the NPCCs present fish and wildlife program calling for a number of key functions to be performed and whether the state and tribal fishery managers will have input into how the center is reconstituted?","speaker_name":"DANIEL INOUYE","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1860,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090090898,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The premise of the longtime member of the Indian Affairs Committee is correct. We do not intend this language to supersede the Northwest Power Act or the Councils fish and wildlife program. Certainly both the Bonneville Power Administration and the NPCC are expected to work closely with the State and tribal fishery managers in determining a suitable entity that could take over these functions so that the fishery managers. including the tribes. continue to receive independent analyses as they have in the past.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":514,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090090905,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I recognize the importance of that language. The appropriations bill includes a 3year delay in the penalty payment language to reflect the delays caused by the Russians in negotiating a liability agreement. This delay does not allow DOE to withdraw support for the program. Any effort to eliminate funding for this project will likely foreclose a disposal pathway for plutonium stored at Savannah River causing the Department to pay the State of South Carolina up to $100.000.000 per year in fines starting in 2014.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":515,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090090907,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I understand the concerns of the Senator from South Carolina. I will work with the Senator to find a fair solution that does not impact existing Department of Energy programs. and in the event that the Department is unable to meet the statutory requirements for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Conversion facility. the solution ensures that South Carolina does not become the permanent storage site for defense plutonium.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":410,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090090922,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to address a provision in the Energy and Water appropriations conference report. which requires the Bureau of Reclamation to produce a special report analyzing costs and benefits associated with constructing an Auburn Dam. As part of that report. I believe it is critical that the Secretary of the Interior should utilize the expertise of U.S. Geological Survey to produce an uptodate assessment of the seismic hazards associated with Auburn Dam. I would also like to make it clear that this Auburn study cannot become a distraction from the vital work that needs to be done right away to protect Sacramento from a tragic flood. I am deeply concerned with the lack of adequate flood protection for Sacramento. Sacramento is the only major United States city without 100year flood protection. The Army Corps of Engineers has reviewed six other major floodprone cities: New Orleans. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5023,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090090923,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I understand the 1996 U.S. Geological Survey report called for a reevaluation of the dam design based on seismic data. A reevaluation should be performed using the best available science and the U.S. Geological Survey should produce an analysis integrating new data.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":266,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090090932,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Senator. I agree that the administration needs to provide more adequate funding to the fossil energy research. development. and demonstration accounts. I also agree with you that there should be no assumption by the administration. Members of Congress. State governments. or any other parties that there is a guarantee that any funding. including the administrations future budget request for FutureGen will be provided by the Congress. given the austere budget environment that we are in. It is my understanding that $237 million is deferred and is available in fiscal year 2007 and beyond for a number of pressing fossil energy funding needs. The FutureGen program will only be given consideration for such deferred amounts if and only if all other critical fossil energy programs are fully funded. especially the Clean Coal Power Initiative.e","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":845,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090090935,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Remarkably. the President has proposed a rescission of an additional $100 million in previously appropriated vitrification plant construction funds to address hurricane recovery efforts. In his letter to the Congress. the President labeled plant construction as a lower priority Federal program. This cut comes at the same time that the administration has noted that the cost of the vitrification plant has increased by at least 25 percent. And language in the underlying report estimates that the cost of the plant may rise to $9.3 billion. Yet this administration continues to cut funding. jeopardizing longterm cleanup milestones. I urge the administration to drop its proposed $100 million rescission. set forth a clear cost and schedule for the completion of the vitrification plant. and fund the vitrification plant in a way that does not jeopardize the health and safety of our region. I do not support the funding levels for Hanford cleanup in this year conference report and.hope that the administration will make a clear commitment with its fiscal year 2007 request. The Federal Government must keep its commitment. I hope the current administration will back its words with clear action.","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4808,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090090944,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I announce that the Senator from Indiana . the Senator from Delaware . the Senator from California . the Senator from West Virginia . the Senator from New York . the Senator from New Jersey . and the Senator from Massachusetts are necessarily absent.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":250,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090090955,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We should again put our colleagues on notice that there is very limited time tomorrow morning under the unanimous consent agreement. There was an effort made to extend that time. The effort did not succeed. So there will literally be 30 minutes tomorrow morning equally divided between both Iraq amendments and the habeas corpus matter. which is a very small window of time tomorrow morning. We would urge. I think my good friend from Virginia would agree. that the Senators who wish to speak on either of those matters should make a real effort to get here tonight.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":566,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090090989,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Senator is correct. On the report section. there is a change from 30 days to 90 days. which I will not spend time on. I think it is a fairly technical change. that there is not a particular difference or problem. After that first report. whether it is 30 days or 90 days30 days in our version. 90 days in Senator WARNERS versionevery 3 months thereafter. until all U.S. combat brigades have been redeployed from Iraq. the President shall submit to Congress an unclassified report on U.S. policy and military operations in Iraq. In our version we say: Each report shall include the following: What the Warner version adds is \"to the extent practicable. unclassified information.\" And by the way. it is clear that there is classified information that cannot be in a report. and we dont suggest to the contrary. We just want an unclassified report to the extent you can have an unclassified report on each of the following items: ... The current military mission and the diplomatic. political. economic. and military measures. if any. that are being or have been undertaken to successfully complete that mission. So far. no difference on that one. Efforts to convince Iraqs main communities to make the compromises necessary for a broadbased and sustainable political settlement. That is what I referred to before. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5385,"word_count":222}
{"speech_id":1090090990,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. if the Senator will yield. for those following. we covered first the sense of the Senate. The Senator has now covered very carefully all the other provisions. It seems to me that there has been no disagreement whatsoever between the two sides. You pointed out. yes. I asked for 90 days. you have 30. But I dont think that was particularly troublesome. And I pointed out that one little change in language. \"to the extent practicable.\" so that the President could include classified. So in essence there is absolutely no difference between the two amendments up to the point you are now addressing. which is the last paragraph. is that correct?","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":658,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090090997,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I say that few words can be interpreted by all as being the timetable. and we do not in this 120 days. in my judgment. want to have any hint whatsoever of a timetable. It is so critical. with all the progress thus far by the Iraqi peopleelections and a series of transitional governments. then acceptance of the constitution by referendum. then the election of a new legislative body. and then they have to stand up and begin to strengthen the ministries and take hold in such a way that it is clear to the Iraqi people and the world that that government is in control. To put any language such as this in there. to suggest any timetable by which we begin to withdraw forces. would undermine entirely and make highly risky the next 120 days. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1605,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090091003,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"My amendment is exactly the same as Senator WARNERS amendment in that regard. Senator WARNER has adopted my amendment with two minor changes. He has not made any change in terms of the progress that has been made or the reference to the great work of our troops. I thought I heard the Senator from Connecticutand I have no dearer friend in the Senatesuggest that he had wished that my amendment would be more fulsome relative to progress. I just wanted to assure the Senator that there is no change in that language in the version which was subsequently filed by the Senator from Virginia.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":589,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090091016,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to speak about the need for hate crimes legislation. Each Congress. Senator KENNEDY and I introduce hate crimes legislation that would add new categories to current hate crimes law. sending a signal that violence of any kind is unacceptable in our society. Likewise. each Congress I have come to the floor to highlight a separate hate crime that has occurred in our country. On November. 7. 2005. in New York City. NY. Kyle Spidle was attacked near the Monster Bar where he worked. The attack began when two men began yelling from a vehicle at Mr. ","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1122,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090091018,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President: I would like to pay special tribute today to a remarkable man who has dedicated the past 36 years of his life to the citizens of Chubbuck. ID. Mayor John 0. Cotant entered the Chubbuck mayoral race the night before the elections in 1969. He won and has been mayor ever since. Through his dedication to youth and community improvement. Chubbuck has become the thriving town of 10.000 it is today. Under his exemplary leadership. Chubbuck increased the number of city parks from 1 to 14. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CRAPO","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1774,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090091021,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Department of Agriculture. USDA. officials announced that a Texas cow had tested positive for BSE. It is troubling that the USDA and Food and Drug Administration. FDA. investigation could not pin down how the cow became infected. Reports compiled for the Texas Animal Health Commission and obtained by The Dallas Morning News showed that 85 percent of the cattle traced in the investigation had already been sent for slaughter. We should not settle for halfmeasures in BSE control. Yet nearly two years after USDA and FDA announced efforts to strengthen our nations firewalls against BSE. critical gaps remain in our defenses. Just last week. the Government Accountability Office released a study that found that testing of cattle feed is at times too slow to prevent cattle from eating feed that might be contaminated. Poultry litter. plate waste. and pet food can still be fed to cattle. creating loopholes in the ruminant feed ban. In addition. the USDA Office of the Inspector General has raised concerns about the design of USDAs surveillance program. including whether the Agency is appropriately selecting animals for testing and testing an adequate number of older cattle. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2436,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090091027,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet in open Executive Session on Monday. November 14. 2005. at 6 p.m.. to consider an original bill that will include the Committees budget reconciliation instructions pertaining to expiring tax provisions and also additional incentives for hurricane affected areas.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":353,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090091071,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The amendment of the Senator from Virginia strikes that last paragraph. I will go into further detail momentarily as to exactly why. We made the effort to. have a bipartisan amendment. It is forwardlooking. Again. it is my intention to have the amendment on this side of the aisle not contain any language that could be misconstrued as a timetable which could establish and set up a fragile situation. particularly on the eve of another election on December 15. I thank mydistinguished colleague from Michigan. I commend him for much of the language he included in the amendment. I was privileged to draw on it. However. it sends that message on which we have absolute unity to the Iraqi people: We mean business. We have done our share. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3399,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090091074,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They are dered. not. - The amendments were agreed to. as Last February. Generdl Abizaid said follows: what makes it hard for the United whatmaks ithar fortheUnitd .AMENDMENT NO. 1345 States is that an overbearing presence \u0095AEDETN.14 or a larger than acceptable footprint in (Purpose: To provide for expedited action in bid protests conducted under OMB Circular the region works against you. No one A76) accused him of cut and run. On page 292. between lines 15 and 16. insert Last July. GEN George Casey. com- the following: manding general of the MultiNational SEC. 1106. BID PROTESTS BY FEDERAL EMPLOYForce in Iraq. talked about fairly sib- EES IN ACTIONS UNDER OFFICE OF stantial reduction of troops in 2006. No MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET CIRone hs accused him of cut and run. CULAR A76. Just last month. Americas Ambas- (a) ELIGIBILITY TO PROTEST.-(I) Section sador to Iraq said it is possible we can 35.51(2) of title 31. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7025,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090091081,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"President. what tion and the Pentagon for a plan. for is the plan? It is the first time this has measurements. for the beginning of a happened. more open and complete dialog with The purpose of the amendment is as Congress. clear as it is critical: to require the He put something in there that I Bush administration to .lay out what dont agree with that will lead me re- we need to do to succeed in Iraq. For the first time. our Republican colleagues have joined Democrats in insisting on a cleai Iraqi strategy from this administration. a schedule to achieve it. and real accountability. Let me be clear about what the amendment does not do. It does require the administration to explain in detail. in public. its plan for successit has not been public. and that is why the .American people have left this outfitand do it with specific goalss a realistic schedule for.achieving those goals. and the relationship between achieving the goals and redeploying U.S. forces. It does not set a deadline for withdrawal. In providing the plan. both Democrats and Republicans are saying: I hope the administration- will start by being realistic and state specifically what the mission is. Is the mission to protect every Iraqi. or is the mission different? As the military will tell. and no one knows better than my friends on the Committee on Armed Services. the mission dictates the force structure. and the more realistic mission calls for less force. We have to refocus our mission on preserving Americas fundamental interests in Iraq. What are they? First. we have to ensure that Iraq does not become what it was nof before the war: a haven for jihadist terrorists. Second. we have to do what we can to prevent a fullblown civil war that turns into regional war. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8151,"word_count":306}
{"speech_id":1090091124,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the majority leader has railed against language which does not exist in our amendrhent. Repeating over and over again a cutandrun strategy .is wrong. he tries to create the impression that that is what paragraph 7 proposes. It does not by its own terms. By repeating cutting and running enough I guess the hope is that people who dont read this language will believe that that is the language in paragraph 7. It is not. What we propose in paragraph 7 is that there be estimated dates. estimated dates if the conditions on the ground are met as the Republican and Democratic amendment both propose occur. Then give us estimated -dates for a phased redeploymentestimated datesif those conditions are met and with the understanding that unexpected contingencies may arise. That cannot be fairly characterized the way the majority leader repeatedly characterized it.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":877,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090091149,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. last week we had a debate and vote on whether an enemy combatant terrorist alQaida member should be able to have access to our Federal courts Under habeas like an American citizen. Senator BINGAMAN is trying to strip that part of the amendment: He is consolidating the habeas petitions into the DC Court of Appeals. but habeas still lies with a standard you can drive a truck through. The court would look at the lawfulness of the detention which would allow. in my opinion. the ability of a terrorist to go into the DC Circuit Court of Appeals and start asking for Internet access under the right of counsel. It is a neverending process that should never have begun anyway. I urge a \"no\" vote to make sure the right of appeal is consistent with the law of armed conflict and we do not have unfettered right of court access by enemy combatants to sue us over everything to undermine the war effort. I ask a \"no\" vote consistent with the last vote.","speaker_name":"LINDSEY GRAHAM","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":962,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090091153,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. last year the Supreme Court said that Federal courts have authority to consider petitions for a writ of habeas corpus. This would apply to prisoners at Guantanamo. People should not be imprisoned without having the ability to challenge the legality of that imprisonment. That is the history of our common law system and our Constitution as well. -I will yield the remainder of my time to the Senator from Pennsylvania.","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":433,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090091166,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"No. It means what it says. I cant yield having only 2 minutes. but I would be glad to hear the Senator. afterwards. It means what it saysthe Supreme Court has no jurisdiction. The great difficulty - with the GrahamLevin amendment is that it was worked out yesterdaysort of an affront to the Judiciary Committee. if I may say sothat there is no time for the Judiciary Committee to have a hearing on the matter to consider it. We are dealing with very fundamental rights. habeas corpus. Another provision of the GrahamLevin amendment says there shall be no habeas corpus jurisdiction. There have been repeated efforts in the. history \"of our country to take away the jurisdiction of the courts. Court stripping was a big issue in the confirmation process of Chief Justice Roberts. He ran from it like the plague. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1319,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090091195,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am sure that he would agree that the best way we can safeguard the safety and security of our troops is to ensure that U.S. forces can complete their mission and return. home as soon as possible. Doing so will require wellequipped as well as welltrained Iraqi forces to take over from U.S. forces the responsibilities for maintaining peace and order through Iraq.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2933,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090091196,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the Senator from Connecticut. He has raised a significant concern that we both. and many others in this body. share. There is no question we fiust continue to provide our magnificent soldiers. sailors. airmen. and marines with the finest equipment available to meet the mission requirements in Iraq and elsewhere around the world. In Iraq. there is no doubt that efforts to train and equip Iraqi Security Forces are decisive to Iraqs future and a major element in the policy of the United States. Lieutenant General Petraeus performed masterfully as Commander of the MultiNational Security Transition Command in Iraq that was charged with training tle Iraqi Security Forces and now Lieutenant General Dempsey has the. reins on this mission. During the most recent elections in Iraq. the performance of Iraqi Security Forces was an important contributor to that success. The Iraqi Security Forces provided protection to more than 6.000 polling sites. That was a very positive step in the right direction. but we still have some way to go in training and equipping the Iraqi_ Security Forces. As chairman of the SenateArmed Services Committee. I am monitoring the readiness of these Iraqi units. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2342,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090091214,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I now ask further unanimous consent that the Senate proceed immediately to the consideration en bloc of S. 1043 through S. 1045. Calendar Orders Nos. 103. 104. and 105. that all after the enacting clause of those bills be stricken. and the ippropriate portions of S. 1042. as amended. be inserted in lieu thereof according to the schedule which I am sendipg to the desk. that these bills be advanced to third reading and passed. that the motions to reconsider en bloc be laid upon the table. and that the above actions occur without intervening action or debate.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":577,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090091221,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr.- President. time is short. We are about to go to our respective caucuses. but I say to my colleagues that I wish to express my profound appreciation first and foremost to my distinguished friend and colleague of 27 years. we have been together in this Chamber. working \"toward the passage of authorization bills in each and every one of those 27 years. I thank my friend. I thank the distinguished members of our staff. and I do use the word \"distinguished\": Charlie Abell. who left the","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":490,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090091235,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"State. Justice and Commerce appropriations bill. Overall. this is a very good bill. Make no mistake. this was a lean year. a very lean year. The subcommittees 302(b) allocation did not account for several sizeable programs which were proposed for termination in the administrations -budget. which this subcommittee restored. In the Senate. the subcommittee that I chair is called the Commerce. Justice. Science and Related Agencies. CJS. Appropriations Subcommittee. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SHELBY","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3127,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090091243,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the ranking member for that observation. I simply point out. as further stories are heard about the inability to get people back up on their feet and address their needs. it should be remembered that there were provisions in the Senatepassed bill which. if included in this conference report and therefore enacted into law. would have .provided very important measures of assistance in a very timely fashion. I. too. regret very much that has not taken place. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":486,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090091245,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The word \"discernible\" implies measurable or detectable. and depending on how the question was asked. only 319 percent -of American scientists concurred. That is the very best scenarioless than 20 percent. In 2001. the third assessment report was published. Compared with the flaws in the third assessment. those in the second assessment appear modest. The most famous is the graph produced by Dr. Michael Mann and others. Their study concluded that the 20th century was the warmest on record in the last 1.000 years. showing flat temperatures until 1900 and then spiking upwardin short. it looked like a hockey stick. It achieved instant fame as iiroof of mans causation of global warming because it was featured prominently in the summary report read by the media. Let us take a look at this chart. This is the blade of the hockey stick. and this is what Michael Mann tried to show. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6478,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090091270,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Now my Democrat colleagues accuse President Bush of using poor intelligence to do what they said needed to be done before he was even elected President. In 1998. with President Clintons leadership. we supported regime change in Iraq. This was something that was determined as a national policy years before President Bush took office. There are some reasons we did this. Saddam Hussein had demonstrated that he was a danger to civilization years before 9\/11. He not only attackedKuwait and tried to assassinate an American President. he committed mass murder all over his country using weapons of mass destruction. He was a deadly killer.","speaker_name":"JIM DEMINT","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2697,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090091313,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I have had people back home. when we are talking about saving Social Security and putting it in personal accounts. tell me that is what they thought was already happening. They thought we were saving their money because we talk about a trust fund. But the more people find out about the truth. when we say there is not any money in the trust fund. first people smile and think I am not telling them the truth. We need to tell Americans the truth.","speaker_name":"JIM DEMINT","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":446,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090091315,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But we can from real money if we start saving it. There is nothing risky about saving this money in Treasury notes so it cannot bespent on other things. But you asked an important question. Right now. the Government owns the Social Security benefit and politicians control it. If we start saving Social Security in personal accountswe are not talking about taking it out of the Social Security system. It is still just asmuch a part of the Social Security system as what we have today. only it is real money and people own it. which means they have a legal right to it. which they -do .not today. In the future. politicians cannot build their whole election campaign around frightening seniors that we are going to take their Social Security.","speaker_name":"JIM DEMINT","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1413,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090091318,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would just ask the Senator from South Carolina. this bill has something to do with something else I hear a lot about. which is honest accounting. One of the things I hear a lot of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle talk about is that the def. icit is really much bigger than the deficits reported because the Social Security surplus hides the deficit. Will your bill cure that problem?","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":397,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090091325,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Exactly right. We will also be honest about telling the American people we have not been saving the money. but we are going to start saving their money and we are going to figure out a way to go back and get what has been borrowed from Social Security and put it back so that Social Security will be there for your children and mine and our grandchildren.","speaker_name":"JIM DEMINT","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":355,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090091352,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Too many. of our seniors suffer needlessly. Each year. anywhere between 500.000 and 5 million seniors in our country are abused. neglected. or exploited. And. sadly. most abuse goes unreported. This historical problem will only. get worse as 77 million baby boomers age. The Elder Justice Act confronts elder abuse in the same ways we combat child abuse and violence against women: through law enforcement. public health programs. and social services at all levels of government. It also establishes research projects to assist in the development of future legislation. -The Elder Justice Act will take steps to make older Americans afer in their homes. nursing home facilities. and neighborhoods. It enhances .detection of elder abuse and helps seniors recover from abuse after it starts. It increases collaboration between federal agencies and between Federal. State. local. and private entities.. law enforcement. longterm care facilities. consumer advocates. and families to prevent and treat elder abuse. Each of us will grow older. and if were lucky. we will live for a very long time. ","speaker_name":"BLANCHE LINCOLN","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3938,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090091359,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to announce that the Committee on Indian Affairs will meet on Wednesday. November 16. 2005. at 10 a.m. in room 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building to conduct an oversight hearing on- the In Re Tribal Lobbying Matters. Et Al. Those wishing additional information may contact the Indian Affairs Committee at 2242251.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":345,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090091374,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I -ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management. Government Information. and International Security be authorized to meet on Tuesday. November 15. 2005. at 3 p.m. for a hearing regarding \"Iran: Teherans Nuclear Recklessness and the U.S. ResponseThe Experts Perspective.\"","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":372,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090091422,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to mark the passing of an incredible individual. He was a teacher and a friend of mine. and he was known to the world as the father of modern management. I am referring. of course. to Professor Peter Drucker. who passed away last Friday at his home in Claremont at the age of 95. When I spoke to his wonderful wife. Doris. early -Saturday morning. the first thing she said. of course. was that Peter led an incredibly full life. which we all know that he did. I was able to. as an undergraduate. because of this great structure at the Claremont colleges. that allows for cross registration among the six different colleges. to begin taking classes as an undergraduate with Professor Drucker. Then. of course. going on to the graduate university there. I did the same. ","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2654,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090091454,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I want to congratulate both sponsors. including the cosponsor on this side. Congressman LINCOLN DAVIS. for their leadership in getting this bill to the floor today. The majority has already explained this legislation. I would only .add that we on this side of the aisle -also support it. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"DONNA CHRISTENSEN","chamber":"H","state":"VI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":390,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090091467,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. we on this side on the aisle again have no objection to the passage of this bill for the Pechanga Tribe of California. Resources Committee Ranking Member NICK RAHALL worked hard last Congress with the gentleman from California to have land put into trust for this tribe so they could preserve an area vital to their ceremonies and culture. We expect the tribe to manage this land in a similar manner and do not object to its consideration today.","speaker_name":"DONNA CHRISTENSEN","chamber":"H","state":"VI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":514,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090091469,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H.R. 3507. the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians Land Transfer Act of The Pechanga Tribe has sought for years to acquire this land because of its importance as an ancestral burial site. This bill demonstrates respect for the sovereignty of the tribe and recognizes the importance of preserving Americas rich Native American Heritage. It demonstrates respect for the sovereignty of tribes by ensuring that these lands are not arbitrarily separated from their tribal community. In 2002 I cosponsored H.R. 3476 to protect the ancestral land of Great Oak Ranch because I understand the significance of these sites to both the tribe and the sutrounding community. In preserving these lands we show that we are aware of our Congressional responsibility to ensure that archaeological. historical. and cultural sites from Americas Native American heritage are not taken from future gener&tions. We must continue the work begun today to restore and stfengthen our awareness of Americas rich Native American history.","speaker_name":"JOE BACA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":43.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1053,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090091473,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill to amend the Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act of 1996 to allow certain commercial vehicles to continue to use Route 209 within Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and to allow the National Park Service to continueto collect fees from those vehicles. and for other purposes. as amended.","speaker_name":"MARILYN MUSGRAVE","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"F","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":365,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090091483,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out certain land exchanges involving small parcels of National Forest System land in the Tahoe National Forest in the State of California. and for other purposes.","speaker_name":"MARILYN MUSGRAVE","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"F","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":272,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090091487,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. H.R. 3981. authored by the gentleman from California . would facilitate the exchange of two small tracts of land under the Small Tracts Act in the Tahoe National Forest in California. The first would exchange 3 acres of mineral rights from the Forest Service to the owner of the surface in exchange for 7 acres of land adjacent to a Forest Service campground. The second would provide for the exchange of less than 1 acre owned by the Forest Service and located in the backyard of the property owner with a parcel of less than 1 acre near a Forest Service trailhead. The Forest Service has indicated its interest and support for these exchanges in correspondence to the landowners. I urge you to support this important measure. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"MARILYN MUSGRAVE","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"F","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":830,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090091505,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. H.R. 318 is supported by the majority and minority of the Resources Committee and the administration. Additionally. identical legislation was passed by the House in the 108th Congress. I urge adoption of the bill. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"MARILYN MUSGRAVE","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"F","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":831,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090091514,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield such time as he may consume to our colleague from New York . the sponsor of. the bill.","speaker_name":"DONNA CHRISTENSEN","chamber":"H","state":"VI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":913,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090091538,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"With input from the community. this council would be tasked with ensuring communication across Federal agencies serving youth and developing a plan and set of recommendations to improve Federal services to youth. I think that we can all agree that coordination is sorely needed. Todays population of adolescents and young adults is the largest in our Nations history. High schools and colleges are seeing record enrollments. Tragically. the White House Task Force on Disadvantaged Youth reported that onequarter of our young people are at serious risk of not achieving productive adulthood. We know from numerous reports that nearly onethird of our high school students fail to earn a diploma with their peers. For African American and Hispanic students. the number is even worse with only 50 percent graduating. Furthermore. many of our young people are -not leaving high school ready for college or for work. It is incumbent upon all of us to build communities with the- educational opportunitiesand support system in place to help ouryouth become successful adults. Our record number of teenagers must become a record number of high school and college graduates. and a record number of teachers. scientists. doctors. lawyers. and unskilled professionals. ","speaker_name":"RUBEN HINOJOSA","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3850,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090091557,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But coming from an area that has a great rural community in Texas that I represent. I have met with many parents who have children who need this type of education. Their children are disabled. and they talk about the frustration that they have. They wish that the State government would invest much more. together with. our public schools. Unfortunately. throughout the country. States find themselves lacking the wherewithal and the financial ability to put more money into many of our public schools. So it is up to the Federal Government. who has a $2.5 trillion budget. to be able to find the money to increase that investment as we promised 30 years ago and to get to that full funding as we promised then. because I.see a lot of potential in those disabled children who. but for the money that the Federal Government could invest. they are not getting the besteducation possible. Mr. Speaker. I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois-.","speaker_name":"RUBEN HINOJOSA","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1485,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090091558,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to join with Chairman BOEHNER. with Subcommittee Chairman CASTLE. with Mr. MILLER. who is not here. and certainly with Ms. WOOLSEY and the ranking member. Mr. HINOJOSA. in strong support of H. Con. Res. 288. which recognizes the 30th anniversary of the enactment of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 and reaffirms support for individuals with disabilities education. * This program currently serves 7 million children. and without it many of those children would live in State in- their testimony here today. at heart. stitutions. would not have been able to and I think everybody over here does complete high school and would have as well. no possibility of enjoying the quality I do get a little frustrated I guess at of life to which now they have the po- some of the economic arguments here. tential to enjoy. The gentleman from Qhio (Mr. [3 1530 BOEHNER) pointed out that over the last 10 years we have increased the I have al*ays been led to believe that funding for IDEA by 360 percent. from the greatness of society can be meas- $2.3 billion to $10.6 billion. and comured by how well it treats its old. how parably. before that. the increases had well it treats its young. and how well it never. ever gotten above 10 percent. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5557,"word_count":225}
{"speech_id":1090091560,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. just brief- Four years ago. during conference on the ly. first of all. both of the speakers on No Child Left Behind Act. we could have inthe other side of the aisle are men with cluded a bipartisan provision that would have. whom I have worked extensively on fully funded IDEA. but House Republican leadthis program as well as others. and ers refused to agree to that. they have the tremendous interests I Today. I believe that the best way for Conthink of the students. as we heard from gress and the President to commemorate IDEAs 30th anniversary would be to fund IDEA at the levels authorized in the 2004 reauthorization. which passed the House and Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support. Those levels would fully fund IDEA by 2011. Unfortunately. less than a year later. the Republicancontrolled House has passed an appropriations bill that falls nearly $4 billion short of the funding promised for this fiscal year. At the rate of increase proposed by the Republican House for this fiscal year. we would neverneverreach full funding. I hope that my colleagues will join me in supporting both this resolution and full funding for IDEA. so that the Federal Government finally will keep its promise to all students. their parents. and their teachers.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CASTLE","chamber":"H","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1271,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090091600,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And for that all Americans should be grateful. We should honor and celebrate a life wellserved. a life welldedicated and a life wellspent.","speaker_name":"RAUL GRIJALVA","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1334,"word_count":23}
{"speech_id":1090091604,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He helped me in my own campaign when I was running for reelection in my district back in the mid1980s when there was an effort made to distort votes on Social Security and. Medicare. and Ed Roybal came to set the record straight. I would like to extend to his daughter. who I know he is smiling on today as she serves here in this Congress. and to his entire family the greatest sympathy from the people of Ohio who thank him for the efforts toward which he dedicated his life. I know that the senior citizens who continued .to receive Social Security and Medicare during the decades of the 1980s and 1990s and now into the 21st century have Ed Roybal to thank for that. Condolences to the entire RoybalAllard family on the passing of this great American gentleman and lawmaker.","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1615,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090091612,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am here this evening to honor a legend at Kansas State University. its football- program coach Bill Snyder. At a press conference earlier today. Coach Snyder announced his retirement as the head coach of the Kansas State Wildcats after 17 seasons. Coach Snyder leaves behind a legacy of success for a football program. a school. and a community that is stronger and better because of his tremendous leadership. Football is a great American tradition. and this tradition is alive and well in Manhattan. Kansas. This is Wildcat country. where during football season Powercat flags are proudly flown and where Saturdays are spent at Wagner Field cheering KState to: victories. But times were different when Coach Snyder took over the Kansas State f6otball program in 1988. ","speaker_name":"JERRY MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1424,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090091619,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have a bill that we introduced today that will open up the Outer Continental Shelf.. We increase States rights from three miles to 20 miles so it will be all out of sight. There has never been a gas production well that has ever in any way soiled a beach. We need to unlock our natural gas supplies. Canada. Belgium. Great Britain. Norway. Denmark. Sweden. ","speaker_name":"JOHN PETERSON","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3759,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090091649,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It was not the previous administration. nor was it the Presidents opponents in last years election who launched a preemptive war and put American credibility on the line in selling it. It was not some other Vice President that leaned on analysts at Langley to reach ..certain conclusions. It was not some other White House that was fixing the intelligence and the facts around the policy. as the Downing Street Memo put it. There is only one CommanderinChief. and the buck must stop with him. Besides. there were plenty of us who were deeply skeptical about the case for war. and for raising our concerns. many of us had our patriotism called into question. Ambassador Joe Wilson was among those who raised the red flag. and look what they did to him and to his family. But of course. as the President is now implicitly admitting. we who questioned the intelligence were right. The very fact that they are trying to rewrite the history of the runup to war is evidence that the war has been a disastrous mistake. If all were going well in Iraq. thePresident would not be in this defensive posture. casting about for scapegoats. There is a way to make it right. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3313,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090091653,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Congressman Roybals vision and passion for social justice issues transcended color lines. age groups and district and State boundaries. He worked tirelessly to extend the civil rights and push the Democratic Party to become more attuned to the needs of immigrants and minorities. In addition to all the legislation he fought for and all the programs he sponsored. Congressman Roybal will also be remembered because of the legion of public servants he inspired. One .of those. a man who fought for equal rights for farm workers of California. was a young man in San Jose named Cesar Chavez. In 1947. Mr. Roybal first ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Los Angeles City Council. Reacting to his defeat he founded the Los Angeles Community Services Organization. CSO. with a goal of mobilizing L.A.s Mexican Americans against discrimination in housing. employment and education. ","speaker_name":"ZOE LOFGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3619,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090091658,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"LUOiLLE ROYBALALLARD. She always told us about her experiences coming to Washington and working in and around theCapitol with her mom and her dad and about the things that her dad stood for and about the things that he wanted to. change and the things that he did change. L 2045 She told us about the optimism that some day in this great country and in this. the peoples House. there would be many more Latinos and Latinas that would represent communities all around the country. And guess what? Today. that is reality. Today. we have not only Latinos and Latinas here but many other minorities that carry on the work and the legacy of Congressman Roybal. What a giant he is among all of us. What a giant he is for us tolook up to. As a grandfather. -I want to be able to tell my grandkids that they should be proud of their heritage because of leaders like Congressman Roybal and the many things that he has left for us. There is a lot of work left to be done. but certainly many of us are here tonight and many of us are able to. be here in these elected positions because of the- work that he and a few others did back then when it must have been much harder than it is today. The challenge may be different. ","speaker_name":"SILVESTRE REYES","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2747,"word_count":232}
{"speech_id":1090091664,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am hoping that tonight it is a celebration. I think my colleague. Congressman REYES. has aptly pointed that out. On the personal sidb. I ventured a guess that my colleague. LUCILLE ROYBALALLARD. did not see much of her father after 1962. that he was way over here on the east coast and the family was way over there on the west coast for the most part. and I know that feeling. There was tremendous sacrifice on the part of the Roybal family. Tonight I know that my colleagues join me in saying thank you to your mother. to your brother. to your sister and to you. for sharing your father. because he gave much more to us than he probably did individually to you as far as the time that was allowed him to spend with the family. That was- a great sacrifice. which then leads you to the eventual question. and one that we all ask ourselves. and that is the careers that we choose. have we made a difference to sacrifice for our families. because there is no doubt that your father could have been very successful at other enterprises that materially and financially would have been much more rewarding. and he would have been right there at home. but he chose to do something for so many others. and that is a very special calling. Your mother. your brother. your sister. yourself will probably ask but was it worth it. was it worth that sacrifice. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GONZALEZ","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4245,"word_count":249}
{"speech_id":1090091666,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I will be brief. because all that I can say has been said and will be said more eloquently by others on this floor. I wanted to be here for this sad and happy occasion as we celebrate the life and mourn the death of a great American and a great Los Angelino. Ed Roybal was a pioneer. He started the community service organization and formed a partnership of Mexican Americans. the Jewish community. the Asian community and then was the first in the century. in over a century. member of the Los Angeles City Council. then the first Hispanic in over a century to represent our State here in the House of Representatives. where he served for three decades fighting for the rights of minorities. the elderly. and the physically challenged. He was a founding member. as has been said before. and the first chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and was a pioneer in fighting for funding for HIV and AIDS. Edward Roybal leaves a legacy. not just all the awards named after him. not just the program at Cal State Los Angeles that he helped found. not just all of the legislation that he influenced in this House. He leaves a legacy of his children and grandchildren. and our own LUCILLE ROYBALALLARD. I know you far better than I know your brother and sister. but if you are any indicatioh. he. left quite a legacy. ","speaker_name":"BRAD SHERMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":27.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1396,"word_count":240}
{"speech_id":1090091671,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we ha#e heard many things today about Congressman Edward Roybal. what a giant he was. what a leader he was. how he stood up for people who had too little. how he changed our world. I am mindful all of us who lost a dad know how very hard it is in a very personal way. Leader or no. it is still your dad. I also know that the best way maybe to know a person. to know someone like Congressman Roybal. is to look at his daughter. who is the same kind of tenacious. dignified person who will stand up for those who have nothing and make a difference. as she is making a difference. just as her father did in the Congress for those in need. EJ 2115 I would like to yield to our beloved colleague. the gentlewoman from California .","speaker_name":"ZOE LOFGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":738,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090091698,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But the rest is covered. That is part of the confusion that takes place. We need to make sure that our colleagues and America understands this is a matter of looking at the overall cost of medications for your year. and that is why it is important the person writes down all those numbers. and have those annual costs ready. or even.your monthly costs. so you can compare. 0J 2215 But it is. I think. the most valuable way that seniors can look at the overall cost of the Medicare plan.","speaker_name":"TIM MURPHY","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":486,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090091730,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have got a lot of questions that people ask.-what are we still doing there? What is the plan for getting out? A lot of these. We have got 400 or 500 of these now. A lot of People are asking us. Mr. Speaker. what are we doing? If we try to say to the President. Mr. President. what are we doing. we are unpatriotic now?","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":774,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090091731,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is factually inaccurate.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1385,"word_count":4}
{"speech_id":1090091750,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You referenced earlier about veterans. It is easy for the President to wish the troops well as they. march into war. and yet it was this Whit6 House. this administration. that submitted a budget for the Veterans Administration that was $2.5 billion less than hopefully the budget that this Congress will pass. Let me suggest to the White House that that demonstrates callousness and turning your back on those young men and women in Iraq. and it is absolutely a stain on our national honor.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1670,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090091755,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. there is no doubt that we know that he did have weapons of mass destruction because we provided. during the 1980s. the means for the development of those weapons to Saddam Hussein. Members of this administration. former Secretary of State Colin Powell. the Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld. they clearly. knew because they were involved in assuring that the means to develop weapons of mass destruction were provided to the Saddam Hussein regime.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":456,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090091808,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Again. thfngs are coming along nicely to be out at a reasonable time. but a lot depends on how efficiently we can work together. I am pleased with the progress that has been made over the last 48 hours.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2233,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090091830,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator from Illinois. ByrneJAG funding is cut in this bill. If there is anything we know that our sheriffs. our police departments. our drug courts. our drug rehabilitation programs need. it is help in terms of fighting the battle on drugs. I am very disappointed. The Senate passed $900 million for ByrneJAG grants. It was paid for. It was offset when we passed it through the Senate. It came with full offsets to prioritize. to meet the needs of those people who are presently caught up in drugs. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1077,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090091834,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The third issue is one which everyone is aware of. that is. the fact that for the first time in over a century. some highlevel staffer in the White House has been -indicted. Lewis \"Scooter Libby was indicted a few weeks ago. charged with perjury and obstruction of justice related to the Valerie Plame affair. Everyone is aware of it now. Joe Wilson. former Ambassador. sent to Africa to determine whether assertions by the admin.istration about yellow cake uranium coming from Africa to Iraq were true. reached the conclusion they were not. When he published that conclusion. he was attacked in the press by Robert Novak in a column where Mr. Novak said two White House sources had told him that Joseph Wilsons wife Valerie Plame was a CIA agent. In fact. she was an undercover agent whose identity- was being protected. But the White House. in an effort to discredit its critics and to silence them. attacked Joe Wilsons wife Valerie Plame and. in the process. disclosed the identity of a CIA agent. There is a question raised as to Whether that violates the law. The fact that people work in covert activities and risk their lives for America is something we should never take for granted. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1573,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090091848,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I think it is a tribute to all of the people who have worked on it that we have limited debate on S. 1783. Only two amendments are being offered. and then we will have a final vote. That is a lot of agreement for this body of 100 people who usually have a lot of disagreement. I have some other comments. but I will make them later and allow people to get on with describing the actual workings of this bill to the point where we can do a final vote. I yield to my neighbor from Montana.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4842,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090091863,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We cap the liability of the PBGC. and we ensure that one of the most important elements of the U.S. economy. the aviation industry. is not forced by laws that are out of sync to unfund. defund. or jettison their pension plans for the employees who have made those airlines fly throughout their careers and throughout their history. We have some time remaining on our allocation for the amendment. to which Senator LOTT was to speak but was called away. I reserve the remainder of our time on the amendment for Senator LoTT upon his return.","speaker_name":"JOHN ISAKSON","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3226,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090091877,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And the PBGC and ultimately. perhaps someday the taxpayersgets stuck with a bill for the portion of the pensions that is guaranteed but not funded. I am very appreciative of the cooperation that we have had from *the bipartisan leadership of both the Finance Committee and the HELP Committee..The legislation we are consid-. ering today would allow struggling airlines to pay off old pension debts over. a 14year period using reasonable interest rate assumptions: Unfortunately. given the rising fuel costs and the need to attract bankruptcy financing. the relief provided in this bill. is insufficient to help Delta Airlines. That is why the IsaksonRockefellerLott amendment. which extends the repayment period to 20 years is so important. The amendment would also allow airlines. such as American and Continental. to benefit from relief without terminating their pension plans. as long as any new obligations were fully funded. I am very pleased that this amendment has the support of Delta. Northwest. Continental. and American airlines. This amendment does not pick winners or losers within the airline industry. Rather. it focuses on maintaining defined benefit pension promises. and any airline that offers defined benefit plans would be able to benefit from this relief. I understand the skepticism of Senators who are concerned that in spite of any relief Congress provides. airlines may still terminate their pension plans. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ROCKEFELLER","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3795,"word_count":223}
{"speech_id":1090091878,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today in support of Senate amendment No. 2582 offered by my good friend Senator ISAicSON to S. 1783. the PLnsion Security and Transparency AdVtOf 2005. 1The retirement security of millions of Americans participating in single employer defined benefit pension plans depends on employers keeping their pension promises. Unfortunately. in recent years those promises have not been kept. Defaults of pension plans in the airline. steel and autoparts industries have raised concerns about the health of existing plans and the possibility of a taxpayer bailout of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. PBGC. The current system does not ensure that pension plans are adequately funded. When underfunded plans terminate. as several have done recently. they place an increasing strain on the pension insurance system. As of September 30. 2005 the PBGC showed a deficit of $22.8 billion for pension plans sponsored by a single employer. While the PBGC will be able to pay benefits for years to come. the solvency of the pension insurance system is in jeopardy. ","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2901,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090091887,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. I see that the ranking member of the HELP Committee is now on the floor and also the Senator from Hawaii. Mr. AKAKA. I wonder if the Senator might allow the ranking member to speak. and then we could be at a point to bring up the amendment of the Senator from Hawaii. Under the unanimous consent agreement. I believe we have about 30some minutes remaining. I yield as much time as the Senator from Massachusetts desires. When the Senator finishes. I urge the Presiding Officer to recognize the Senator from Hawaii for an amendment which he has to offer.","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":570,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090091897,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. I rise today to offer my amendmhent to the pension bill to correct an injustice. I want to thank my cosponsors. Senators SPECTER. FEINSTEIN. SALAZAR. and INOUYE. for working with me on this amendment. I also want to. thank the cosponsors of my standalone bill S. 685. which include Senators ISAKSON.","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":316,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090091900,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As I understand it. it has been the request of our leaders we give notification to our colleagues when we are likely to have a vote. It is agreeable with the Senator from Hawaii that we have this vote just prior to the time we have the final passage. I certainly yield to my friend and colleague.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":296,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090091906,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. I thank the Senator from Massachusetts for his comments and the outstanding way he summarized the principles we have been working on. It is a very good job. considering that this is a 730page bill. He got into significant details. It has been the details that have been holding it up for literally years You notice that nobody is speaking in opposition to this bill. so that means the bipartisan effort has paid off. - I yield 10 minutes to the Senator from Pennsylvania.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":488,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090091911,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. I thank the Senator from Pennsylvania for his diligent effort. particularly in the multiemployer area.. He checked with us and gave suggestions several times a month during the process when we were putting together the HELP bill. That was extremely helpful. particularly since he was also on the Finance Committee which had some jurisdiction in this area. His coordination between the two committees was invaluable. His tenaciousness and base of knowledge on that issue were particularly helpful. I thank him for his efforts.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":542,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090091937,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my colleague from Alaska. I will wrap this up. I wish to serve notice to my colleagues in the Senate that my good friend from Colorado and I will be back again and again and again. as we were with the 9\/11 Commission. He was not in the Senate at that time. He was serving his people in Colorado from a position of trust and responsibility as attorney general. but he watched from afar. understood the tragedy that befell us. and. like so many of us who are given the public trust of public office. wanted answers. He came to this body to help find those answers. When Katrina struck and it became so apparent that we were not yet prepared. the Senator from Colorado was among the very first to say we need those answers and we need them yesterday because no place is prepared. no place is ready if the Federal Government is not in a position to provide the assistance and the assets- and the support that is needed in the face of a large manmade or natural disaster. We will be back again and again. as we were with the 9\/11 Commission. until this commission is established. ","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1444,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090091949,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. first. I thank my friend from Alaska for his courtesy in working out this accommodation. I rise to speak on the CommerceJusticeScience appropriations bill conference report that might be coming before us later on this day for a vote. I must say I am outraged. This bill makes further cuts to critical programs that help local law enforcement fight methamphetamine nationwide. These cutsand they are dramatichave a particularly damaging impact on my State of Montana. Why? Because we are a rural State. We have very limited resources. When I ask Montanalaw enforcement officers what is the No. 1 law enforcement problem they are facing. an openended question. they all come back with the same .answer: methamphetamine. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9863,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090091958,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There isnt any physical -line that is drawn. but in everybodys mind there is a tremendous mental barrier of crossing a State line 56nd being in unfamiliar territory. That happened in this instance. and States are saying those are residents of another State that we are supposed to take care of. people from another State .are saying. I am not real comfortable being here. but I am here. What can you do to help me? It was even hard to locate people. The size of the disaster was tremendous. I think I am in a position to complain about anybddy complaining about how it all went because I am from the committee that proposed legislation and actually moved it through the Senate floor. I think the only legislation that has dealt with the Katrina disaster is student displacement. which we had in the deficit reduction bill. We have a health package we are working on. and we hope to be able to move it as well. There are unprecedented problems with this. We have the opportunity for some unprecedented solutions. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10880,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090091960,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank him and I thank the chairman of the Committee on Finance. Senator GRASSLEY. and my friend. Senator BAUCUS. as well. We have been able to work together. It is difficult enough around here to get people in your own party to agree on something. I find. and then to get both parties to agree and then two committees to agree oh something is remarkable. All Members understood the importance to American families in this country. They are being challenged about their retirement security. It brought out the best in the membership. I strongly support this legislation. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3557,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090091965,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. my amendment corrects a wrong. Pilots have their promised pensions significantly reduced when the PBGC takes it over. The FAA mandates that the commercial pilots retire at 60. We must take the steps necessary to ensure that the PBGC will have resources to be able to help pilots whose retirement security has been threatened due to the pension takeover and prevented from continuing their careers. This penalty combined with the FAA mandate produce an overly harsh result that It is too harsh to suggest that they in hurts pilots and their families when- any way assumed the risk that their they lose their pension plans. plans would fail. but it is well known My legislation only affects pilots. that pilots are some of the most cauPilot plans have been some of the larg- tious and savvy investors. Risk is est pension plan terminations in his- something they always anticipate. tory. Again. the FAA mandates that On the merits. therefore. the Akaka they retire at 60 and the PBGCs early amendment is unfair to other similarly retirement penalty occurs because they situated workers and overlooks the cannot continue to fly past age 60 com- fact that they have been before the mercially. My amendment will bring parties fof many years. about much needed relief for United But. more important. this amendAirlines. US Airways. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2065,"word_count":224}
{"speech_id":1090091974,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. do you agree that the provision is intended to allow Treasury to consider for purposes of the regulatory safe harbor cash balance plan conversions that are announced 5 or more years in advance. allow employees to continue to accrue benefits under the old formula until the conversion date and thereafter provide full protection for previously accrued benefits as well as the opportunity to \"grow into\" early retirement subsidies under the old formula. and that provide full cash balance plan accruals after conversion without wear away?","speaker_name":"RICHARD BURR","chamber":"S","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":550,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090091981,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Twenty years ago. most workers with a pension plan could expect to receive a defined benefit based on years of service and salary. Today. defined contribution plans--which shift most of the investment risk and responsibility onto workershave become the dominant form of pension coverage.. As a result of this increased risk and responsibility. average workers may end up with inadequate retirement savings. Despite the shift away from traditional pensions. defined benefit plans remain a critical source of retirement support. with 44 million workers and retirees relying on such plans as a source of stable retirement income. However. as we have seen by the recent pension terminations in the airline industry. the real risk of defined benefit plan defaults further exacerbates workers uncertainty and concern about their retirement prospects. The Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation estimates that total underfunding in PBGCinsured pension plans is about $450 billion. more than $100 billion of which is in plans sponsored by financially weak companies and at reasonable risk of default. And what of the status of PBGC itself. which serves as a backstop to the defined benefit pension system? At the end of 2005. the PBGC reported a cumulative deficit of $22.8 billion in its singleemployer program. That figure is a slight improvement from a year earlier. when the shortfall was $23.3 billion which is the largest deficit in the programs 30year history. and a sharp deterioration from only a few years ago when the singleemployer program was in surplus. The deficit is expected to get worse in 2006. as PBGC will account for additional liabilities that it has taken over for the new fiscal year resulting from a number of major airlines \u0095 and manufacturing companies who have defaulted on their pension. obligations. While the PBGC has sufficient assets to pay benefit obligations for a number of years. without changes in funding. the agency will eventually run out of S1290&8: money. ","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7083,"word_count":317}
{"speech_id":1090091993,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today in support of the pension reform bill we are now considering. This bill is the product of a great deal of work by members of both the Committee on Finance and the Committee on -Health. Education. Labor. and Pensions. As a member of both of these committees. I congratulate the chairmen and ranking Democratic members for their leadership and hard work. It is not often that Senate committees share jurisdiction of an issue the way that the Finance and HELP Committees share the jurisdiction of pensions. Bringing the bill to this point required an unusual procedure where the separate bills approved by the two committees. which were quite different in many respects. were combined into one bill for floor consideration. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12332,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090092004,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"For more than 30 years. Byrne grants have paid for State and local drug task forces. community crime prevention programs. substance abuse treatment programs. prosecution initiatives. and many other local crime control programs. Talk to any police chief or sheriff back. in your home State and they will tell you that the Byrne program is the backbone of Fed-. eral aid for local law enforcement. We should not walk away from a program with more than 30 years of success supporting our local police chiefs. sheriffs. and district attorneys. Sadly. this conference report takes a step in that direction by providing a little more than $416 million for the Byrne grant program. That number represents a cut of more than $200 million from last years level. Slashing the Byrne program in this manner will have a. real and negative impact on local police departments. district attorneys. and community crime prevention programs.","speaker_name":"HERBERT KOHL","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1722,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090092016,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. before Senator BAUCTIS and I give our opening statements. I yield 5 minutes to the Senator from South Carolina for a statement on another subject. and then I presume the Senator from New York wants to follow him for 5 minutes. So there will be 10 minutes before we start \"this bill. but the 10 minutes is off the 20 hours allotted to this bill.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":359,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090092098,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":19,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And Hungarianborn Andy Grove founded Intel. America remains a nation of immi-. grants. More than 33 million people living in America were born abroad. More than 9 million came to our shores just between 1990 and 2000. Since colonial times. immigrants have been vital to the American economy. Their skills and their labor have made our companies. our industries. and our economy more competitive. Some immigrants come with little more than their strength and ambition. They become our economys machine operators. factory workers. farm laborers. and service workers. But many come with masters and doctorate degrees. They work in research laboratories and universities. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":13004,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090092155,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking. Housing. and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday. November 16. 2005. -at 10:30 a.m. to mark up S. 467. \"Terrorism Risk Insurance Extension Act of 2005.\" and an original bill entitled \"Public Transportation Terrorism Prevention Act of 2005\".","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":356,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090092165,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet on Wednesday. November -16. 2005. at 10 a.m. for a hearing titled. \"Hurricane Katrina: What Can Government Learn from the Private Sectors Response?\".","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":275,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090092203,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and passed. the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. and that statements related to the measure be printed in the REcORD. The bill was read a third time. and passed. as follows: S. 695 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":378,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090092226,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The paper trail is too thick for the Republicans to hide their cozy relationship with Big Oil. The record is finally cleared up. Big Oil. Vice President CHENEY. the Republican Congress. what a team. It gives a whole new meaning to family. Mr. Speaker. it is time for a change and time for new priorities.","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1403,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090092233,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Whatever George Bush asks for. MEDICARE HISTORY wnetner it maikes sense or not. that is the responsibility of the Republican","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":905,"word_count":20}
{"speech_id":1090092258,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of H.R. 3975. the Hurricane Regulatory Relief Act of 2005. This bill will provide muchneeded flexibility and reghlatory relief to help the students. schools. workers. families and corhmunities affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. While the recovery effort on the gulf coast is well underway. there is still a significant amount of work yet to be done. In my home State of Louisiana. educational services at all levels have been severely impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. UIfortunately. we are finding the bureaucratic inefficiencies and red tape have a tendency to slow the efforts of individuals and communities working to rebuild. Entire communities have been uprooted by these unprecedented natural disasters. and we must workto ensure that bureaucratic red tape does not hamper efforts to restore the region. Accordingly. ","speaker_name":"BOBBY JINDAL","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7014,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090092262,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I cannot in good conscienCe support the Occupational Safety and Health provisions in H.R. 3975. the Hurricane Regulatory Relief Act of 2005. More than 2 months after Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf region. thousands of recovery and reconstruction workers remain in serious harms way there because the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA. is not enforcing established Federal safety and health standards. The bill before us does not address the serious health and safety problems of these workers. The bill also does not address the \"right of return\" concerns of the Congressional Black Caucus. Residents need work under safe conditions. Employment of residents should not be undermined by an expanded volunteer project. To date. ","speaker_name":"MAJOR OWENS","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4412,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090092263,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the managers of the bill jointly submit this statement to explain and clarify the intent of certain provisions contained within the legislation. With respect to amendments made to the Occupational Safety and Health. OSH. Act in section 311 of the legislation. the managers recognize the historic and unique nature of this disaster inflicted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. and is taking the extraordinary step of authorizing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA. to use volunteers in light of the historic scope of that devastation. Section 311 of the bill is intended to allow OSHA to utilize qualified safety professionals as volunteers to assist in a variety of projects targeting health and safety identified by OSHA. It is the managers expectation and intent that these volunteers would be qualified by virtue of experience. and would need little additional training based on their professional work experience or other recognized safety training prior to being deployed in needed areas. With respect to section 312s providing authority to the Secretary to purchase and distribute equipment and supplies to public or private entities engaged in projects related to worker safety. it is the intent of the managers that these funds be used to assist in relief and recovery efforts. and not be used to pay private entities to comply with preexisting requirements or obligations under the OSH Act. Finally. with respect to title Ill. subtitle A. the Pension Flexibility for Displaced Workers Act of 2005. it is the managers expectation and intention that the Secretary will exercise the authority .provided under that section judiciously and upon careful consideration of the appropriateness of any waiver. suspension. or exemption authorized thereunder.","speaker_name":"GEORGE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1787,"word_count":277}
{"speech_id":1090092265,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Managers of the bill jointly submit this statement to explain and clarify the intent of certain provisions contained within the legislation. With respect to amendments made to the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act in Section 311 of the legislation. the Managers recognize the historic and unique nature of this disaster inflicted. by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. and is taking the extraordinary step of authorizing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to use volunteers in light of the historic scope of that devastation. Section 311 of the bill is intended to allow OSHA toutilize qualified safety professionals as volunteers to assist in a variety of projects targeting health and safety identified by OSHA. It is the Managers expectation and intent that these volunteers would be qualified by virtue of experience. and would need little additional training based on their professional work experience or other recognized safety training prior to being deployed in needed areas. With respect to Section 312s providing authority to the Secretary to purchase and distribute equipment and supplies to public or private entities engaged in projects related to worker safety. it is the intent of the Managers that these funds be use to assist in relief and recovery efforts. and not be used to pay private entities to comply with preexisting requirements or obligations under the OSH Act. Finally. with respect to Title Ill. Subtitle A. the \"Pension Flexibility for Displaced Workers Act of 2005.\" it is the Managers expectation and intention that the Secretary will exercise the authority provided under that section judiciously and upon careful consideration of the appropriateness of any waiver. suspension. or exemption authorized thereunder.","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1787,"word_count":276}
{"speech_id":1090092290,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. I rise in support of H.R. 1442. a bill to complete the codification of title 46 of the U.S. Code. the \"Shipping\" title. It will enhance understanding of and compliance with important shipping and maritime laws. This makes no substantive change in the law. It simply provides clarity and reorganization. .1 urge its passage. Madam Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"HOWARD BERMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":448,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090092295,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The letter failed to inform the parbnts that some of the questions expressly involved sexual topics. Seven parents. including one set of parents that did not return the consent form for their child. were still given the questionnaire. filed suit in Federal court against the school district upon learning from their children of the sexual nature of some of the questions. A threejudge panel of the Ninth Circuit ruled against the parents concluding that \"once parents make the choice as to which school their children will attend. their fundamental right to control the education of their children is. at the least. substantially diminished.\" This decision presupposes that the school attended by the children is always a matter of parental choice. As .#we all know. many parents do not have such a choice. and they should not be forced to forfeit their tarental rights when their children enter the schoolhouse gate. Moreover. the flawed logic of this decision has a disproportionate impact on parents who. for financial and other reasons. cannot send their children to schools more responsive to parental rights. Parents should not be required to involuntarily relinquish their right to direct the upbringing and control of their children. The Ninth Circuit decision compels this outcome by divesting parents of their right to object to their children being exposed to sexual or other information in a school setting. This holding is inconsistent with constitutional precedent and established parental rights. The Supreme Court recognized in Meyer v. Nebraska that the liberty guaranteed by the 14th amendment encompasses \"the power of parents to control the education of their children.\" The court reaffirmed this fundamental right in Pierce v. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3923,"word_count":276}
{"speech_id":1090092298,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Here is what comes out of this case. that indeed. what may have occurred is this was not an informed consent letter given to parents. and even for parents who did not sign. for whatever reason. this lack of informed consent letter. their children were still administered this questionnaire. This is not how psychological research is to be conducted. Madam Speaker. The standard of ethics for psychologists and for research is a letter of informed consent given to parents must clearly inform parents what is happening. The School District involved should have been clearly told what was happening in this case. too. And then what occurred here is neither. But what is amazing here where this case in the courts could have reaffirmed parents rights to informed consent before their children were used in psychological research. instead. the Ninth Circuit Court pulled out an overreaching conclusion out of the stratosphere that declared parenting is unconstitutional. They declared parents have no right to protect their childrens privacy when they- said. \"we hold that there is no freestanding fundamental right of parents to control the upbringing of their children by introduc.ing them to matters of and relating to sex in accordance with their personal and religious values and beliefs.\" They go on to say that we do not quarrel with parents rights to inform and advise their children about the subject of sex as they see fit. But that is not what this case was about. ","speaker_name":"TIM MURPHY","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5543,"word_count":244}
{"speech_id":1090092330,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of this legislation and to pay particular honor to our colleague from Arizona . The gentleman from Arizona has worked tirelessly over the past several months to bring before us a bill that he introduced as H.R. 327 to assist the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. I am pleased he was able to have this bill rolled into the one before .us today.","speaker_name":"NICK RAHALL","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":380,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090092361,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from West Virginia for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker. history plays a significint role inthis country. Not only does it influence and inform our decisions today. but it clearly shows the successes and failures of this Nation to ensure every citizen is protected under the Constitution. Sixty years ago. Executive Order 9066 permitted the Federal Government to uproot 120.000 American citizens of Japanese ancestry from their homes and their communities. forcibly interning them in one of several camps across the western United States. This included my husband. Bob. who was at that time just an infant. and his family. ","speaker_name":"DORIS MATSUI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2734,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090092377,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to from Florida . suspend the rules and agree to thecon- Mr. SHAW. Mr. Speaker. I yield mycurrent resolution ex- self such time as I may consume. pressing the sense of the Congress that Today I rise in strong support for H. the Russian Federation must protect Con. Res. 230. I commend the genintellectual property rights. tleman from California for","speaker_name":"E. SHAW","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":368,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090092382,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We understand that to curb the proliferation of IPR violations in Russia. it is not enough to focus on how many laws are passed by the Duma and how many raidsqn optical disk plants are being conducted each year. We have to generate a sense of urgency and motivate the political will of the Russian government. Simply put. a healthy and vibrant global trade market should not tolerate the ongoing systemic piracy of intellectual assets. and the Russian political establishment must understand that. I am pleased to note that over 100 Members of Congress have cosponsored this resolution. It will send a clear and convincing message that the United States Congress is looking at the issue closely and that real reform must happen now. Once again. I want to thank the congressman for his leadership on this issue. I urge my colleagues to support this critical resolution.","speaker_name":"DIANE WATSON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":33.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3073,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090092402,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"James Jor- so we can provide answers and closure to the dan. Robert Cameron. Wiley Cargill. families of the airmen who were lost. I comDonald Peterson. Their memories are mend the fascinating and haunting tale. of lodged in the hearts of their loved ones Flight 19 to anyone interested in the mystery who might survive them today. of the Bermuda Triangle. and I join CongressI too would join with the ranking man SHAW in urging my colleagues to support member on this particular bill to say H. Res. 500. that I do hope this mystery will finally Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Mr. Speaker. I be solved. because in south Florida this have no further requests for time. and is still one of the great mysteries. what I yield back the balance of my time. went on on December 5. 1945. and the Mrs. ","speaker_name":"E. SHAW","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2834,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090092403,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in question is on the motion offered by support of H. Res. 500. .a resolution to corn- the gentlewoman from Virginia (Mrs. memorate the 60th anniversary of the dis- Jo ANN DAVIS) that the House suspend .appearance of the Navys Flight 19 in the Ber- the rules and agree to the resolution. muda Triangle on December 5. 1945. Every H. Res. 500. as amended. schoolkid in America knows the Bermuda Tri- The question was taken. angle as a place of ghost stories and mys- The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the terya place where whole ships and airplanes opinion of the Chair. twothirds of literally disappear without a trace. Rumors those present have voted in the affirmabound about the.cause of these disappear- ative. ances. ranging from mechanical failures to ir- Mrs. JO ANN DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. regular magnetic field activity to extraterrestrial Speaker. on that I demand the yeas abduction. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2834,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090092442,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. it is indeed a pleasure to be here and to be here with my good friend from Ohio on this very. very important and timely subject. \u0095 Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of this bill. H.R. 4133. which is the National Flood Insurance Program Further Enhanced Borrowing Authority Act of 2005. which would temporarily increase the borrowing authority of the Federal Emergency Management Agency for carrying out the National Flood Insurance Program. This bill increases the borrowing authority by $5 billion to $8.5 billion. While this is a dramatic and unprecedented increase. it still will not be enough. ","speaker_name":"DAVID SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2470,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090092444,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the chairman for his leadership and the leadership of the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. ScoTT) with regard to the National Flood Insurance Pr6gram and the willingness of assistance to flood victims throughout the United States. 0l1415 Mr. Speaker. no one could have anticipated the sheer amount of devastation that was brought upon this Nation in the wake of Hurricanes Rita and Katrina. Cities. towns. entire communities along the gulf coast were practicallywiped out and off the map due to high flooding. pounding wind and constant driving rain. Although Congress took immediate action to pass a supplemental relief package to assist the impacted communities along the gulf. one important program in particular remains in need of our attention and of our support. the National Flood Insurance Program. I am pleased to bring to the floor today H.R. 4133. the National Flood Insurance Program Further Enhanced Borrowing Act of 2005. This important piece of legislation will empower residents of the gulf coast by increasing the National Flood Insurance Programs ability to borrow funds from the U.S. Treasury to cover claims resulting from these recent and devastating hurricanes. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL FITZPATRICK","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4304,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090092472,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Spea present earlier today. I would favor of H.R. 1790. the Child M ty Act of 2005. H. Res. 547. E Sense of the House of Repre. the United States Court of A Ninth Circuit Deplorably Infringe Rights in Fields v. Palmdale and for the Adoption of the 1065. the United States Boxin Act.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL FERGUSON","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":286,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090092475,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He cautions against democracys seduction as it drives Muslims to refuse to take part in jihad. I would like to commend the government and the people of Jordan for their courage and their commitment to true democratic reforms. Congress thanks the Jordanian people for their support in the cooperation and the aftermath of our 9\/11 attacks. and we stand by Jordan as it tries to give- face to this Islamic extremist movement that seeks to pervert Islam and to glve Muslims worldwide a bad name. We render our support in your efforts to bring to justice those Islamic extremist operatives. and we will continue to work together to pursue. to disrupt. to undermine and to dismantle the al Qaeda and other Islamic radical networks that have made possible the attacks like the ones in Amman on Novem ber 9. \" \u0095 . Mr. Speaker. I ask my colleagues to support this resolution. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3457,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090092480,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"People cant sit in the middle.\" The fact is. the savage bombings last week in Amman were perpetrated by Muslims. who directed their hatred at Muslims. The fact is. the entire civilized worldbe they Christian. Muslim or Jewmust recognize our common interest in uniting and defeating this mortal threat to our way of life. to the democratic form of govemment. to basic human decency and to the rule of law. None of us. as the King said. can be complacent. Mr. Speaker. the people and the Government of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan have been a stalwart ally in the war on terror. And. I believe it is important today that this Congress condemn these cowardly attacks. express its condolences to the families and friends bf those killed. and its sympathies to those injured. express its solidarity and support of the people and Government of Jordan. and express its readiness to assist Jordanian authorities in bringing those responsible for these outrageous attacks to justice. I urge my colleagues to support this Resolution.","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1948,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090092496,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Why should we care? Mr. Chairman. I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Nebraska . the former head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers.","speaker_name":"CLIFFORD STEARNS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":965,"word_count":28}
{"speech_id":1090092509,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I -am offering today a managers amendment that will perfect the underlying bill to ensure that H.R. 1065 is a fiscally sound piece of legislation that uses a selffunding mechanism for the United States Boxing Commission established under the act. Let me be crystal clear to my colleagues. taxpayers are not being forced to pay for the USBC. Boxers. boxing personnel and the sanctioning organization. such as the World Boxing Association. WBA. the International Boxing Federation. IBF. and so on. will provide the funds. through payment of license and other fees. which will be collected by the USBC. Specifically. my amendment will do the following: Section 5 of the bill will be amended to clarify that fees authorized and collected shall be available to fund the operation of the United States Boxing Commission and administration of this act. Section 14 of the bll will be amended to clarify that offsetting collections are available to the USBC subject to appropriation. ","speaker_name":"CLIFFORD STEARNS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1554,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090092512,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is the least they can do for the sport they love. and I urge my colleagues to support this amendment. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JANICE SCHAKOWSKY","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":915,"word_count":31}
{"speech_id":1090092555,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would also like to thank Ranking Member EVANS for his work and cooperation on this legislation. I would also commend .the gentleman from Florida and the gentlewoman from Nevada . the chairman and ranking member of the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs. for their work to ensure that disabled veterans\" and their survivors receive acostofliving increase. as well as the subcommittee staff on both sides of the aisle: Paige McManus. Chris McNamee. and Mary Ellen McCarthy. I also want to thank my colleagues in the Senate. Mr. Speaker. I hbpe that all Members will support this bill.","speaker_name":"STEPHEN BUYER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1257,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090092587,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It did not work then. and it will not work in Iraq. If anything. this latest tactic will only deepen American resentment to this war because the American people know they are only being told part of the story. The Rumsfeld command is happy to announce the number of insurgents killed or captured. but they do not talk much about the innocent Iraqi civilians killed or wounded. They are not announcing those numbers every day. Why not? If they killed or captured 80 insurgents. how many civilians were injured. or wounded in the process? Why do they not tell us the whole story? Iraq is an urban guerilla warfare. and our brave soldiers should n6t be fighting a housetohouse war that puts them in maximum danger all the time. There is no front line in Iraq because every road is the front. every house is the front. and every footstep is along the front line. There is no safe haven for o~ur soldiers. Danger is everywhere no matter where they sleep. no matter what they eat. no matter how much they try to forget this war for even a moment. And the administration calls this progress. The American people see it as a paralysis of leadership. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4864,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090092635,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I yield to the gentleman from Indiana .","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3507,"word_count":8}
{"speech_id":1090092642,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. in the legislation that hop6fully will be before us tomorrow. Congresswoman HOOLEY and Congressman KENNEDY and others were dealing with international. with drug kingpins. We have had many Members dealing with how to control the pseudoephedrine and some of that. but we still have some bills that we need to look at. Congressman .GORDON and Congressman BOEHLERT have a bill on EPA because one of the things is this collective impact on water systems. and when we think of it. it is in the forests and it is up high and it is going down. the cumulative impact of all these little labs is fairly damaging from an environmental standpoint and yet they are not the Superfund sites that we deal with. But the workplace question. I believe. is the one that we are going to have to address next year. And I be-. lieve the gentleman from Iowa and Congressman PETERSON have also been huge advocates of drug testing. and we have to understand that drug testing is the best deterrent in the workplace. This is where the meth battle is going to be won or lost. because if employees take meth at the workplace thinking they can produce more. the only real way to do this is targeted education at the workplace and. in effect. a check of responsibility. A number of Congresses ago when I was on the Small Business Committee and nowSenator TALENT was chairman of the committee. we moved the drugfree workplace bill through that gave guidelines to small business and what kind of testing they needed to do. including testing the managers. ","speaker_name":"MARK SOUDER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2238,"word_count":270}
{"speech_id":1090092657,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the gentlemanraises such a great point .on the interest. and I think the American people need to know that just on the money .that we are paying these other countries. just on the interest. it amounts to more than what we are paying for our own homeland security.","speaker_name":"DAVID SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":276,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090092662,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"According to the Government Accounting Office. not some political party group. aQcording to the Government Accounting Office. 16 of 23 major Federal agencies cannot issue a simple audit of their -books. Worse. the Federal Government cannot account for $24.5 billion it spent in 2003. The Blue Dog proposal is simple. put a budget freeze for any Federal agency that cannot properly balance its books. Number five. make Congress tell taxpayers how much they are spending. Number six. set aside a rainy day fund. Number seven. do not .hide votes to raise the debt limit. If the gentleman would continue with a list. I think you have number 8 through 12 of the Blue Dog plan for a meaningful budget reform.","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1936,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090092714,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Although I am sad to announce that Laurin is leaving the Hill. I am happy to recognize her opportunity as a consultant with the American Business Development Group. In conclusion. God bless our troops. and we will never forget September 11.","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1085,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090092721,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mary has been part of much of this Nations history. living through the Industrial Revolution. the Roaring Twenties. World War I. the Great Depression. World War II. and her brother was born on the Fourth of July. Mary is the proud mother of six sons. six grandchildren and five greatgrandchildren. Marys spirit is high. and her will to live every moment in life is great as she makes new friends each and every day. Mr. Speaker. on behalf of three generations. I ask my colleagues in the House to join me in wishing Mary Dexter Scanron a very happy 100th birthday.","speaker_name":"E. SHAW","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1217,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090092728,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. House Resolution 558 is a rule that provides for consideration of House Joint Resolution 72.. making further continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2006. As we approach the end of the week and the time that we will be taking in our districts to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. this particular rule and the CR probably are among the least controversial things that the gentleman from Florida and I will discuss today. I look forward to an abbreviated debate on this. The rule provides for 1 hour of debate in the House equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations. The rule waives all points of order against consideration of the joint resolution and provides one motion to recommit. I want to commend Chairman LEWIS. Ranking Member OBEY. and the entire Appropriations Committee in the House for the determined effort this year to avoid an omnibus spending bill. This is something that unfortunately has become a routine part of our endoftheyear appropriations process and Chairman LEWIS under tremendous leadership with a great committee behind him has managed to avoid that this year. in fact. setting almost a record by completing all of the Houses work on the appropriations process before July 4. [] 1030 The committee has practiced due diligence and is working to pass each of these bills individually rather than having them attached as a train at the end of the year. ","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3595,"word_count":242}
{"speech_id":1090092730,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Perhaps I misspoke earlier saying that this would be the least controversial item we would deal with this morning. I recognize that we all had to get up early to be at Rules this morning. and apparently it is affecting some of our temperaments. I would just point out that we finished all of the Houses work. and I gave equal credit. to both our chairman. the gentleman from California.","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":442,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090092740,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the gentleman clearly has come to the floor a little bit early. because all of these things are going to be eligible for debate here in another several hours when we move forward on our deficit reduction package. and the gentleman will have an opportunity to exercise through his vote that savings process. that deficit reduction process. But I am just curious. in all the gentlemans rhetoric. what would you do differently about the continuing resolution that funds government through December 17 until we finish our regular appropriations process?","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":562,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090092764,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlewoman for. yielding me this time. I want to compliment both speakers from the Rules Committee. I think they have described in many ways the strength of this bill. This bill illustrates the compassion of America. And as has been pointed out by both speakers. it- touches the lives of 280 million Americans in so many different ways. their education. health research to improve the quality of their lives. perhaps illustrated by the fact. as Dr. Zerhouni testified- in front of our committee. that every 5 years. life expectancy goes up 1 year in the United States. That is a tremendous gain and a tremendous promise for the future. And. likewise. we recognize the importance of education. ","speaker_name":"RALPH REGULA","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1106,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090092766,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I hear daily from Members of Congress that we will never forget 9\/11. but when we turn a cold shoulder to the men and women who were there for us in our greatest hour of need. I cannot in good conscience vote for this bill. The 9\/11 responders are not asking for much. All they are asking for is to be treated with respect and dignity. They rushed to Ground Zero with no concern for their own safety. We were under attack. and America needed help. They responded. and as a result. many of them are very sick now. The governments response has been to fight these heroes every step of the way. Many have had their claims denied or wrapped up in red tape for months or years.. Then when not all of the money was spent in New York State. we are told this is justification for taking it back. even though the need is still great. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1993,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090092768,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The chairman spoke about how the world is flat. Well. if we do not have math and science education at the elementary and high school level. we are not going to be able to compete in the global market. So I am proud of the $184 million that is going to help with training teachers. Special education is something that I think touches many. many families throughout the United States. We hear a lot about that in our office. and I am certain every Members office. In special ed. this bill is funding over last years budget $100 million. Will that meet every need for every special ed student? No. unfortunately it will not.. and it cannot. But it will go towards helping those families and that student become a productive person in their adult life. Reading- programs and improving teacher quality programs. Certainly the key to success in school is reading. but the key to success in school is a good teacher. ","speaker_name":"SHELLEY CAPITO","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1955,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090092769,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker. this country is at a critical crossroads in terms of .deciding what it stands for. what its priorities are. Our priorities should be to make decisions based on shared sacrifice and a longterm view that seeks to fight for the least powerful among us. Unfortunately. this rule would allow legislation with a shortsighted approach to come to the floor. All of us. Democrats and Republicans. hope that medical science will provide the breakthrough to provide relief from a disease which will ease a family members suffering. We all worry about whether rising energy costs will force seniors to make lifeanddeath decisions about where to spend their limited resources. ","speaker_name":"DORIS MATSUI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":999,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090092770,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker. I urge all of my colleagues to support this fair rule and the bipartisan underlying legislation which funds critical dollars to our Nations educational system. health care delivery system. and as the gentlewoman from California spoke so eloquently about. our health research areas. With this funding. lowincome Americans will be better prepared for a potentially long winter. It got a little colder here today. and we know it is going to continue to be cold as we move through the winter. and this bill provides $2 billion in LIHEAP funding. Our seniors will greatly benefit from the money appropriated. allowing CMS to conduct outreach to all Medicare beneficiaries who are now able to sign up for the new Medicare prescription drug plan. These are all important programs. and there are others too numerous to mention. ","speaker_name":"SHELLEY CAPITO","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1088,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090092791,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We provided unanimous consent so that the scheduling of legislation could be accelerated on numerous occasions. And despite that fact. today some 6 weeks into the fiscal year. we .have four bills which are still not finished. Those bills are the Treasury. Transportation.hIUD bill. the military quality of life bill. the Lalbor. Health. Education and Social Services bill. and the defense appropriations bill. Together. those four bills. which we have yet to complete. represent 78 percent of appropriated financing for the coming Why are we still not finished? It is certainly not because of any failure on the part of the Appropriations Committee. The Appropriations Committee kept to its schedule and every bill was passed earlier than almost any year that I can recall. And yet we are here with so much unfinished business on the appropriations side of the ledger. The reason I think is very clear. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5101,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090092810,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 15 seconds. Mr. Speaker. the gentlewoman claimed there is a $115 million increase in here for low income heating assistance. There is not.. The formula grant has been increased by $115 million. but the contingency portion of the program has been reduced by $115 million. The net result: no help in the teeth of huge energy increases. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":427,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090092811,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We see teacher quality grants cut. Those are absolutely essential to improve the quality of our teachers .in our classroom so they can engage in that kind of professionalism. What is most startling is that these cuts in education come at a time when. I am not saying put more money in education Mr. OBEY is not telling you that. but the American business community is telling you this is the most crucial thing you can do. The American Electronics Association. made up of some of the most successful companies in the history of this country. their number one priority was to fully fund No Child Left Behind. The Semiconductor Association: fully fund No Child Left Behind. put money into graduate school education. put. money into highly qualified teachers. And this budget goes in exactly the other direction. We do not have the confidence that is necessary and demanded of this country in the future and the confidence in these young people and the necessary investments to be made in them. It is so discouraging to see the lack of confidence in our young people that this budget demonstrates.","speaker_name":"GEORGE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2521,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090092837,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the budget and appropriation bills that we pass here in the House are reflective of our values as leaders in this country. HR. 3010 reflects very poorly on this Congress. Four years ago. when We passed the No Child Left Behind Act. we told schools that we wanted them to be accountable for results and that we would provide. them with the resources necessary to achieve these results. Today. we know that the President and the Republican Congress have utterly failed to keep the bipartisan promise to students. to parents. to teachers. to provide schools with the resources called for by No Child Left Behind. If we pass this bill. We will have shortchanged our Nations children by more than $40 billion over the past 4 years. This is only one of the. many. many. many ways that this bill fails to invest in the American people and their children. And I urge my colleagues to oppose it. -","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":901,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090092848,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"A program for which I have consistently advocated is Mathematics & Science Partnerships. Under this program. grants are first made to states. which. in turn. make grants to partnerships that must include a state agency. an erigineering. math or science department of a college or university. and a highneed School district. Grantees use these funds to establish rigorous math and science programs. recruit math. science and engineering majors into teaching. and improve the teaching skills of math and science teachers. Without significant investment in math and science education. we will not be competitive with countries like China who are graduating nine times the number of engineering students that we are producing in America. Unfortunately. this conference report appropriates $6 million less than the House passed earlier this year and $85 million (32 percent) less than the Presidents request. Also important for long term economic competitiveness is the Educational Technology State Grants Program. Like math and science partnerships this program received $25 million less than the House bill. $150 million (35 percent) less than the Senate bill. and $221 mHlion (45 percent) less than the current appropriation. This is exactly the wrong direction to be taking the country. We can not stay globally competitive if we are not teaching our children the skills and knowledge they will need to be the innovators of tomorrow. Education for the disabled is also slashed. ","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3071,"word_count":230}
{"speech_id":1090092851,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in opposition to H.R. 3010. the Fiscal. Year 2006 Appropriations Act for the Departments of Labor. Health and Human Services and Education. H.R. 3010 severely cuts education. health care. and human services that are crucial to North Carolina and to the country. As the only former state schools chief serving in. Congress. I know firsthand the devastating effects that these education cuts will have. At a time when we are asking. our schools to do more than ever. ","speaker_name":"BOB ETHERIDGE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2063,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090092888,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of the point of order from the gentleman from Washington. I am here to speak to my colleagues. but especially the 235 of you who. like me. served in legislatures throughout the country prior to coming to Congress. The fiscal sleight of hand that we are undertaking here today is simply that of a financial shell game. and the loser is already clear. it is our States. You dont have to take my word for it. The Congressional Budget Office has spoken and they have identified that the reduction in child support without a change in the requirements is a violation of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 that many of you were here that supported on a bipartisanbasis. It is a violation of the law. We can play this ridiculous game of pretend and safely ensconce ourselves in these walls but do you truly believe that the actions today will go unnoticed and that State legislatures are not watching what we do? I know that the National Conference of State Legislatures is watching. I hope that ALEC is watching. too. and I suspect that the National Governors Association is taking notes. ","speaker_name":"JIM COSTA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1681,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090092903,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But those expectations. whatever they may be. they all are rooted in the common need. the common expectation that whatever government does. that it be done wisely. prudently. efficiently. without waste or abuse of their hardearned tax dollars. The congressional budget process is a chance to ensure that our government behaves in a fiscally responsible and responsive manner to provide -opportunity and security for today and for future generations. In my first term in Congress I was appointed to the Budget Committee. -I was pleased that this assignment would afford me the opportunity to receive the full scope of all the programs that exist. all the agencies. all the departments that fall under the umbrella of the Federal Government. But I was shockedwhen I got on that committee to learn how little control Congress actually exerts over spending in many of these agencies and programs. Discretionary spending. that portion of the budget that consumes all the sound and fury that a Congress can manufacture. makes up less than half of total spending. half of the total budget. l 2115 Mandatory spending. entitlement spending. that spending that is on autopilot. accounts for 54 percent of the total budget and. if left unchecked. in a decade will consume nearly twothirds. or 62 percent. of total Federal spending. I have been dismayed at how Congress has allowed its voice to become fainter and fainter when it comes to spending taxpayer dollars on entitlement programs. It is time that this Congress take responsibility for the entire spending picture. We cannot avoid the tough decisions. It is our job to set the priorities of government and then fund them appropriately. It is our job to practice thorough oversight of the programs and agencies that consume our tax dollars. ","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4456,"word_count":293}
{"speech_id":1090092907,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Budget Committee. as a result of work that has been done by other committees. oneeighth of the bills which we bring tonight simply talk about ways that we can make sure that the spending that is done tonight is done more efficiently and more effectively. but done in a way that will create better services to the American public. What we find now. as we come to the floor to do the things that literally Governors all across this country have asked for. the flexibility to run their programs without just giving them waivers. but to let them run their own programs. we are told we are -cutting services to poor people and how mean we are. The truth could not be further from that which is said. Mr. Speaker. The fact of the matter is that we are going to put more money than eiver in Medicaid that will allow States the opportunity to take care of their problems. I am proud of this bill tonight. I support it. and I hope that the American people see it for what it is. agreat opportunity to save money.","speaker_name":"PETE SESSIONS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2050,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090092911,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In fact. the reform program includes a 7 percent increase in spending for Medicaid. Programs like Medicaid simply cannot sustain themselves without any reforrni. No one can argue that Medicaid is a completely 100 percent efficient program. Reforms are necessary to protect the program and protect the services that are provided to the people who receive them. Right now. around 53 million Americans receive the benefits of this program. It is a StateFederal partnership. And unless reform is done now. we will see that program become disabled and cripple the States and eventually lead to bankruptcy. One area we see this is in prescription drugs. Time and time again. the Federal Government overpays for prescription drug benefits. And unless reform is made in this program. we will see. that program crash as well. ","speaker_name":"SCOTT GARRETT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2097,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090092919,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the gentleman for yielding me this. time tonight. I have spent 30plus years as a CPA. professional background. I know a little bit about budgets. and we work them from two sides. Oneis the revenue side. the other is the spending side. Tonight. we are talking about spending. To put the spending in perspective. it is a 5year plan that reduces that spending by some $50 billion. which is a lot of money under any circumstance. But spending over that 5year period in mandatory spending will be $8.5 trillion. If we do the math. that is not quite a rounding error. ","speaker_name":"K. CONAWAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2198,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090092945,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. actudoes it add $20 billion in new debt. but ally I am going to come to the well of it also has nothing to do with paying this House tonight to celebrate. not befor disaster relief. It is about cutting smirch the gentlemans youth nor cerprograms that matter to our children. tainly his wisdom. The gentleman from our working families and our seniors to Florida and the gentleman from Texas. the tune of $50 billion. It is about ap- it is you. of anybody in this Chamber proving $70 billion in new tax cuts. I tonight. it is you andthe millions of was not real good in math back in high your generation that you represent in school. but Ithink anybody can figure this Chamber. in this peoples House that one out. $50 billion in cuts. $70 bil- that we ought to be concerned about. lion in new tax cuts equals $20 billion You are the ones that should be pasin new debt. And what is being cut? sionate because you are going to get Student aid. $14.3 billion. As the father stuck with the bill. of a 17yearold that is approaching col- I thank both the. gentlemen. And lege. like so many parents across this there has been a lot of heated rhetoric country. I am concerned about being in here tonight. ","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2225,"word_count":225}
{"speech_id":1090092952,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank my distinguished colleague for yielding. Mr. Speaker. some people want to scare others that this budget cuts services -for needy Americans. Medicaid is one of those areas where facts are distorted. This bill increases Medicaid spending by $9.7 billion the first year alone. It continues to increase Medicaid benefits for people who need them. Savings come from reducing Medicaid fraud like New York where there is $18 billion in fraud. It prevents wealthy families with more than $750.000 in home equity from earning Medicaid benefits they dont need. We incorporated many of the changes that the National Governors Association has asked for with unprecedented flexibility. We have to keep the Medicaid system from driving itself into fiscal oblivion. ","speaker_name":"TIM MURPHY","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1001,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090092954,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. earlier the gentleman from Indiana said that budgets are about choices. Unfortunately. here is what they mean when they say choices. They are asking the wealthiest Americans to choose between realizing their investment profits through dividends or capital gains while they are asking the poorest Americans to choose between health care or heating their home. That is the kind of choice that is being imposed by this budget. That is not a profile in courage. It is a profile in cowardice.","speaker_name":"BRIAN BAIRD","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":500,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090092961,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. theamendment addresses two issues. food stamps and Medicaid transformation grants. On the issue of food stamps. it ensures that recipients of noncash TANF benefits will continue to be categorically eligible for food stamps and it addresses high growth States with regard to Medicaid transformation.","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":311,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090092986,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. How is this working? I mean. we have made some serious accusations about what these people are doing to the poor. and we have not heard from them. and three of us have spoken. I mean. is the public not entitled to hear something in response to what we say they are doing to the country? I am asking. if they do not want to speak. then I would like to yield the remainder of the time to the gentleman from California who might share our concerns about the poor and believe that those who God has blessed should be sharing some of those blessings with -the rest of our citizens. Mr. Speaker. I yield the rest of the time remaining to the gentleman from California .","speaker_name":"CHARLES RANGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":719,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090093004,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. what we have going on here tonight is a huge con game. That is what the Republicans are playing on the American public. A reconoiliation game. What they do. these Republicans. is they cut the money from Medicaid. Sixty percent of all seniors are on Medicaid in nursing homes. One third of all babies .born in the United States are born on Medicaid. They are cutting student loans. They are cutting money. from food stamps for poor people. They tell us they want to reduce the deficit. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1780,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090093023,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am proud to be a Republican. I am proud to be a Member of the party of Lincoln. who knew and understood that you cannot build up the poor by tearing down the rich. The class warfare being waged by the other side belittles a onceproud party. What we are trying to do here is to renew our commitment to hardworking American taxpayers. reforming the process. cutting red tape. and setting priorities. This is smart spending. and it is what we should be doing in every area of government. And contrary to what our colleagues say. there is more money for education. We know and understand how difficult it is for some to get funding for college. I. myself. was the recipient of student loans during my education. and this bill gets more money to students. ","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1506,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090093038,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"and. I said we would be happy to work with the Governors to try to come up with a bipartisan package. Ranking Member DINGELL. at that conference. .1 cannot remember his exact quote. but it was something to the effect that it would be over his and the other Democrats on the committees dead political bodies that they tried to do anything to reform Medicaid. And they have been true to their word. I do not believe any Denfocrat on my committee. the Energy and Commerce Committee. voted at any level to help reform and improve and maintain the integrity of our Medicaid program. which is .one of the most important health care programs in this country fo lowincome and senior citizens. lowincome Americans. and senior citizens. Today. the House will make important reforms in telecommunications and Medicaid in the title provided by the committee I chair. the Energy and Commerce Committee. By going to conference with the Senate. we also keep hope alive for a critical energy policysafe and limited crude oil production from the Alaskan north slope. The legislation before us effectively sets Thursday. January 1. 2009. as the day America goes all digital. The analog television signals that have come into our homes over the air since the birth of TV will end the night before. and a great technical revolution that has been in the making for years will finally be complete. ","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5351,"word_count":236}
{"speech_id":1090093041,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me observe that. first of all. the gentleman is dead wrong. I said that that particular package of reforms was not something which was acceptable.-I encouraged the Governors to reject it and I urge you to reject it. I have never supported it. But I have never. said that reform of Medicaid would pass over my dead body.","speaker_name":"JOHN DINGELL","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":323,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090093042,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Reclaiming my time. I have the utmost respect for the gentleman from Michigan. But at that first conference with the Governors there was not any package on the table. We were talking concepts. There was no package on the table. It was just the concept. Mr. Speaker. I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Georgia .","speaker_name":"JOE BARTON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":314,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090093043,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That is the message that they have sent to us on a unanimous basis. All Governors. both Democrat and Republican across this country have said. please reform the program. It is in dire need of reforms in order to be sustainable.","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":929,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090093062,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker. I would like to enter into a colloquy with the gentleman from Texas. the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee. regarding the Digital Television Transition Act of 2005 which is included in title III of H.R. 4241. Section 3406 of this bill directs the NTIA toestablish a new $500 million interoperability grant program for first responders. Chairman BARTON. I strongly believe the Department of Homeland Security should be given. at the very least. a strong consultative role in the administration of these grant funds. Given the Departments expertise in administering first responder grant programs and its responsibility for establishing and implementing the national policy on interoperable communications. I would ask the chairman to ensure that this new grant program uses standards. grant guidance and technical assistance established by the Offices for Domestic Preparedness and Interoperability and Compatibility. I would ask the chairman to seek such a resolution in conference.","speaker_name":"PETER KING","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1043,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090093068,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the bill we consider today cuts over $50 billion from essential programs that help Americans struggling just to get by. Over a quarter of these cuts. a staggering $14.3 billion. will be slashed from student aid programs. the largest cut in the history of these programs. According to a. new CBO estimate. much of these socalled savings are generated by forcing students and parents to pay nearly $8 billion in new fees and increased interest rates. These cuts will force individual students and their families to pay as much as $5.800 more for college. Why would Congress want to force students to pay more for college? The harsh truth. Mr. Speaker. is that the underlying intent of this bill is to balance the massive deficit and pay for additional tax cuts on the backs of students already struggling to pay for college. Instead of reinvesting the socalled savings into making -college more accessible and affordable. -we will vote later to hand out an additional $70 billion in tax cuts. These additional tax cuts. ","speaker_name":"DALE KILDEE","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1379,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090093080,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am trying to find where we are taking away picnics now. I am looking for picnics in here. I may not vote for this now. I did not realize we were taking away picnics. of all things. My goodness. How could we do that. my friend. I would now like to yield to the very distinguished gentlewoman from Florida for 2\/2 minutes.","speaker_name":"JAMES NUSSLE","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":335,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090093089,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this Congress is set to vote on a budget that will cut education and health care investments in order to make room for $70 billion in tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. If you are asking yourself what kind of Congress passes a budget that cuts $9.5 billion from Medicaid adversely affecting 6 million children while overpaying HMOs by $10 billion. look no further. A Republican Congress. What kind of Congress hands out $14.5 billion in tax subsidies to oil and gas companies. and yet cuts $14.5 bil lion in college tuition assistance? Look no further than a Republican Congress. What kind of Congress cuts child care assistance to 330.000 children while giving special tax breaks to bow and arrow manufacturers and logging companies. Look no further than a Republican Congress. Child care. child support. childrens health care. college tuitionassistance. You guys give a whole new meaning to women and children first. When George Bush in 2000 declared he was opposed to nation building. who knew it was America he was talking about. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1651,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090093104,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It violates all the fundamental Christian principles of loving thy -neighbor. caring. for the poor. and showingmercy. As religious leaders. this is a violation that is unacceptable to us. \"How.is it that we show mercy for oil millionaires and not hurricane survivors? We urge you to change this destructive course of action for the sake of our Nation and for generations to come.\" I submit this for the RECORD. But first I want to read a list of those who signed the letter so that they perhaps will be labeled by our colleagues on the Republican side as hypocrites and demagogues. The National Council of Churches USA. the Alliance of Baptists. the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America. the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Friends Upited. Philadelphia Religious Society of Friends. Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. International Council of Community Churches. Moravian Church in America. National Baptist Convention USA. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES RANGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4460,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090093109,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Estimates indicate that these deficits will only get worse over the next. ten years. and it will be hurricane victims and the poor who will pay for it. Because I serve in Congress for those Who need the helping hand of the government dur\"ing national emergencies. or who struggle to pay for college. or who are sick and poor and rely on Medicaid. or who live in the rural communities of my district. I cannot support the Deficit Reduction Act and I will vote against its enactment in its present form.","speaker_name":"LANE EVANS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2782,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090093111,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The reconciliation package will cut food stamps. student aid and Medicaidall are programs which largely benefit the most vulnerable members of our society. The current conflict in Iraq has been entirely funded by the deficit. During times of war. past presidents haye found ways to curb the deficit through increased revenue. closing tax loopholes and budgetary enforcement rules such as PAYGO. President Reagan realized that his tax act was causing large deficits. and so in 1982 he supported a repeal of the parts of his tax bill that had not been.enacted. President George H.W. Bush also realized that the deficit was getting too large and increased taxes in 1990. It may not have been politically popular. but it was the right thing to do. Shocking as it may seem to Republicans. President Bushs tax increase. along with President Clintons balanced budget. led us into an unprecedented period of surplus and economic wellbeing. This Administration and this Congress have chosen to ignore the obvious. opting instead to keep the blinders on and (narch forward with their reckless tax policies. ","speaker_name":"JOHN DINGELL","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3634,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090093118,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. those Republicans ought to be of children covered by Medicaidmore than 5 scared and I want to offer them some friendly million children overall. advice. Remember. I warned them that sen- This Republican budget reconciliation bill iors would be very unhappy with the Medicare also calls for $14.3 billion in cuts to student prescription drug bill they insisted on passing. loan programs. The State of California has the and I was right. So now Im warning you .that. highest number of student borrowers at no matter how sarcastic or selfrighteous your 496.822. Tuition at public universities has skyleaders get tonight. your constituents get it: rocketed by 57 percent over the last five cuts in health care and education for them. tax years. and yet the GOP proposes the largest cuts for millionaires. and unprecedented in- cut in the history of student aidresulting in creases in deficits. Dont kid yourself. The the typical student borrower having to pay as American people see it. much as $5.800 more for his or her college. - loans. Ultimately. cutting the student loan program compromises Americas global competitiveness and the economic vitality of Silicon Valley. H.R. 4241 also requires $4.9 billion in cuts to child support enforcement. dramatically impairing states ability to enforce child support orders. ","speaker_name":"JANICE SCHAKOWSKY","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4166,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090093142,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. further reserving the right to object. I rise to join the chairman in support of this resolution which would allow a statue of the late Rosa Louise Parks to be placed in the U.S. Capitol. I would first like to congratulate my colleague from Illinois. JESSE JACKSON. Jr.. and his partner. MIKE ROGERS. for their hard work in building the ground swell of support which this bill has as well as thanks to the chairman of the Committee on House Administration. my colleague. Mr. NEY. the Speaker. and- the distinguished Democratic lead-","speaker_name":"JUANITA MILLENDER-MCDONALD","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":37.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":545,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090093149,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlewoman very much for yielding. What a special time and a moment. I know that our preference would be to be able to sing praises aid to salute Rosa Parks for a very long time on this floor. I think it is important that we have the opportunity to hear from the author of this legislation. I might share just a few moments of appreciation to. you. Madam Ranking Member. for steadfastness and perseverance and the swift hand and the partnership you have with the chairman of this committee. who has. through his own love of history. managed to create more history in this Congress over the last sessions of his tenure as chairman with the hanging of a number of paintings. Now he joins in the celebratory announcement of the placing of the statue of Rosa Parks in the National Statuary Hall of the United States Congress. Just as a reminder for those of us who grew up just a few short years ago. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1983,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090093152,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I yield to the gentleman from Ohio.","speaker_name":"JUANITA MILLENDER-MCDONALD","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":37.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":757,"word_count":7}
{"speech_id":1090093161,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak about the recent 7.6 magnitude earthquake that struck Pakistan. India. and Afghanistan on October 8. 2005. and the Bush administrations response to that crisis. Mr. Speaker. the devastation wrought by the natural disaster. has -caused an unimaginable humanitarian crisis. especially in Pakistan where approximately 90.000 people have lost their lives so far. and that number is expected to rise. In addition. over 3. million people have been left homeless. Given the magnitude. one would expect the Bush administration to have a response with a pledge of aid that matched the severity of the situation. especially given our current efforts to win the hearts and minds of that region of the world. What have we done so far? A little over $50 million. That is not an adequate response. especially since we spend almost $6 billion a month on the war on Iraq. ","speaker_name":"DONALD PAYNE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1267,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090093173,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have spoken to our manager of the bill. Senator BAUCUS. He would agree to have the time that is used for the votes to be counted against the time. That has not been entered yet. I do not think Senator GRASSLEY would have any objection to that. Maybe we should enter into that agreement at this time.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":301,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090093226,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That is what is creating ihe deficit. Nevertheless. as a share of our GDP. the 2005 deficit was 2.6 percent. down. from a 3.6percent share in 2004. In fact. before Hurricane Katrina we were well on the way toward achieving the Presidents objective of cutting thedeficit in half in the next 2 years. In fiscal year 2005. taxpayers sent Washington $274 billion more in revenue than the year before. and $100 billion more than we predicted back in January. How could we be so far -off? This economy is so strong. it is growing so rapidly that even at the lower tax rates we are producing more revenue to the Federal Treasury. This is not a path from which we should deviate. We should continue this path - and not adopt the principle of the substitute amendment offered by the Senator from North Dakota. What his amendment presumes is something very strange in economics. and that is that somehow we have reached a magic Minerva. an equilibrium where the Federal Government .is taking a tax in the right amount from American citizens never to be changed one iota. notwithstanding the fact we will continue to -spend more and more and more. and we will have to have the taxes to pay for that spending or go deeper in debt. The paygo amendment that is the -centerpiece of the amendment proposed as a practical matter does not affect the most significant aspects of our continued spending. namely the mandatory increases in our mandatory spending. our socalled entitlements--Medicare. Medicaid. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9716,"word_count":257}
{"speech_id":1090093282,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this amendment would strike a tax incentive from the books for the oil and gas companies that allows them to expense their exploration and development costs. This tax credit is unnecessary. not because I say that it is. but because the oil companies have said they do not need it. The President of the United States has said the oil companies do not need it. and the Joint Committee on Taxation. estimates this tax credit costs the Federal Treasury $2.4 billion over 5 years. I wish to make clear that this amendment only repeals the credit for the major integrated oil companiesExxonMobil. Shell. BP. Chevron. and ConocoPhillips. This tax credit allows major oil companies. such as the ones I have just mentioned. to deduct 70 percent of their drilling costs up front-. then the next 30 percent over the course of 5 years. Costs that can be deducted include workers wages. fuel costs. drilling equipment. materials. and supplies. et cetera. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2902,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090093292,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He is right. The deceiving. dividing. and distorting must end. Of course. this is the same move we have seen from Karl Rove and DICK CHENEY time and time -again. Whenever their poll numbers sink. they go back on the attack. This time. though. the stakes are too high to let them get away with it. There is more than poll numbers or votes at stake. The lives of our brave soldiers in Iraq depend on this President coming clean and comihg forward with a plan for Iraq. President Bush. Vice President CHENEY. and Karl Rove must stop the orchestrated attack campaign they launched on Veterans Day. It is a weak. spineless display of politics at a time of war. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2999,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090093310,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. here we are again. faced with another opportunity to make it more difficult for us to meet our needs in energy. Interestingly enough. people on the west coast who need the energy more than anyone seem to be pushing for this. There is a misunderstanding here as to what has been done. But these tax opportunities are particularly the cost of conducting oil and gas exploration and production. particularly offshore. the difficult ones. the highcost offshore drilling. the kinds of things we are going to have to get into to con- tinue to have it. We have about ex.panded all the regular drilling we can. Here -is an opportunity to do something unusual. By the way. I think there has been a little misunderstanding on the question that was asked. The question that was asked. as I understand it. was on geology. ","speaker_name":"CRAIG THOMAS","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":924,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090093320,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It was all about the fact that some environmental laws prevented us from building enough supply. After 31\/2 years of investigation. we found out there was a lot of manipulation going on that terms such as Fat Boy. Get Shorty. and Ricochet were schemes perpetrated on the consumers of the western energy market just to manipulate supply. So you can bet we want to know whether supply is being manipulated in a similar fashion in oil markets today. and we want answers. The only way to get answers is to put a new Federal statute on the books that says price gouging is a Federal crime and to give the Federal agencies the tools to prosecute -that crime. I feel very strongly that this body needs to act on this legislation before we adjourn. We need to get this to the Presidents desk and get it signed. I know my colleagues are going to offer amendments about various tax proposals and tax. incentives. whether the oil industry wants those or doesnt. But I care about what is happening to the consumer. to the American farmer who is really getting squeezed out of his family farm. to those flight attendants and pilots who are losing their pensions because we have seen a 293percent increase in jet fuel costs over 5 years. and to the small businesses in my State that cant exist on low profit margins when they see a 50percent increase in home heating and fuel costs. So I want to protect consumers. not just now. but if this crisis happens again in the future. ","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6013,"word_count":265}
{"speech_id":1090093376,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Because these provisions were not indexed to inflation. over time more and more people are finding they have to pay this stealth tax.. this alternative minimum tax. Frankly. if it is not changed by the end of this decade. that tax will ensnare about 30 million Americans. a majority of who will have adjusted gross incomes below $100.000. The Internal Revenue Service National Taxpayer Advocate has identified this alternative minimum tax as the most serious problem facing individual taxpayers. By the end of the decade. the majority of filers with incomes between $75.000 and $100.000 will be paying this additional tax. that is. the majority of Americans with incomes between $75.000 and $100.000 will be paying this. unless it is fixed. In addition. virtually all married couples in that income group-$75.000 to $100.000--with two children will be paying the AMT by the end of the decade. Now. I have filed legislation to repeal the AMT altogether. I am joined in that effort by the chairman. Senator GRASSLEY. and. 20 other Senators who have the same view as me. I think we should do it. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5584,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090093383,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today is the anniversary of the hearing on the worldwide withdrawal of Vioxx. the blockbuster drug that became a blockbuster disaster. As chairman of the Committee on Finance. I called for this hearing a year ago. The Vioxx hearing turned the spotlight on a troubled agency in denial. The type of problems exposed during the hearings have proven to be not isolated but systemic. Over the past year. my committee staff has investigated allegations coming from within and outside the Food and DrugAdministration. Brave whistleblowers. such as Drs. Andrew Mosholder. David Graham. and others. have come forward to expose the too cozy relationship between the agency and the drug industry. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8242,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090093403,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. if. my colleague will yield a second. I ask unanimous consent that after the Coburn amendment is debated or set aside. Senator SANTORUM be recognized to speak for 15 minutes. Mr. BYRD be recognized to speak for 30 minutes. and Senator FEINGOLD be recognized to offer his amendment on paygo with 30 minutes of debate equally divided.","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":347,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090093465,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the committee held a hearing on this and some of the items we are pursuing. some of the -concepts. might be involved with this amendment. But this is not germane to this bill. nor the place for the Senate to consider this action. The FTC mayneed some jurisdiction here. but the jurisdiction that would follow with the Cantwell amendment is much too broad. Twentyseven States have this authority now. The question is whether we should at some time give the FTC jurisdiction over multiple State problems. This is no way to go about it. It is not germane to the bill. I raise a point of order that the amendment is not germane to the underlying bill.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":662,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090093474,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is my hope.that we could finish this in 1 hour. and I will do everything I can to do that. I do not want to limit my ability to answer questions in this case. The Senator has my word that I will limit the amount of debate so that we can try to finish in an hour. But I would object to limiting it formally. and I will do everything I can to finish it in an hour.","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":365,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090093486,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this is the amendment dealing with the resolution of the Senator from Oklahoma. and I just want to clarify that because it will be referred to as the Coburn amendment. I want to make sure everybody understands that. is what we are talking about. Before I get into my remarks. I would like to yield. as a convenience to him. the first 2 minutes to Senator HATCH. or for additional time if he needs it.","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":415,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090093514,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. a vote for this amendment is a vote to restore the original purpose of an ethics rule. It was a rule developed to keep special interests from unduly influencing Members of the Senate by forbidding us from receiving outside income while serving here. on either side of the Congress. But. as the Government often does. we seem to have forgotten the original purpose of this rule and are now focusing on a technical interpretation. We are asking for some common sense. The patients of a doctor delivering babies. many times a poor Medicaid mother. are not going to influen6e the votes of Members of the Senate. Senator Lorr has mentioned a number of exceptions that already occur. The House. acting on the same rule. decided to allow Dr. COBURN to continue to deliver babies because of the benefit to this institution as well as the benefit to his patients. Senator LOTT mentioned other exceptions we already make for each other. ","speaker_name":"JIM DEMINT","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2373,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090093532,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Their job is very difficult. In the past few weekscertainly. I will not disclose any names. Icould not do that. it would be unethical to do sothey have resolved some very big cases in the Ethics Committee. These six Senators deserve our support. If we are going to overrule the Ethics Committee. we might just as well get rid of the Ethics Committee. That would be a terrible disaster for this institution. When I first came here from the House of Representatives I had a law practice at home. I went home and had the ability to practice law. I dont think that was good for the institution. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2891,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090093611,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"CHAFEE. the Senator from Illinois. Mr. OBAMA. and in particular I am pleased to. of course. have the Senator from North Dakota.","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":666,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090093618,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have even had some amendments that take away tax benefits from oil companies. Some of those amendments I have supported. There -have been other amendments that actually impose special taxes on oil companies. Given the concern people seem to have with high levels of profits at oil firms in recent months. I think people should embrace the idea of getting rid of this tax loophole. imposing the same kind of legitimate State and local taxes on the GSEs as we see anywhere else. It might be one thing if the levels of profit at these entities had been plowed back into the community. But that isnt the case. The lions share of these profits have gone to shareholders or in some cases - to exorbitant executive pay-$5 million for some of the executives at these corporations. $10 million a year in one case. Clearly. these profits are being used to put back intohomeownership. -These are companies that can afford to pay State and local taxes.- They ought to pay State and local taxes. I certainly encourage my colleagues to support the amendment.","speaker_name":"JOHN SUNUNU","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2002,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090093643,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am offering ar amendment to try to help our senior citizens from the state of confusion that many of them are now experiencing since the prescription drug benefit started 2 days ago and being signed up. If other Senators are hearing from their senior citizens as I amand I met with a group on Monday in West Palm Beachthey will find that many of them are confused. bewildered. and in some cases even -frightened because they are afraid of making a choice and then making a mistake. and under the current lawand we need to clean up some of this current law anywaythey could not rectify that mistake for a whole year. And now in trying to make an intelligent decision on something that is as important to a senior citizen as prescription drugs. they are being confronted with a multiplicity of plans. I had one senior in West Palm Beach tell me they were actually. looking at 103 plans. In other parts of the State. you are looking at 18 companies offering 43 standalone prescription plans and. in addition. another 37 companies will offer a total of 257 different Medicare Advantage prescription drug plans. And each of these has differing premiums costsharing requirements. different drugs. and pharmacy access. What about the senior citizen who has one or two pharmacies in their small community and then they have to worry about finding the plan that fits with that pharmacy? Or what about the senior citizen who has a prescription and depends on it. goes and finds the plan that covers that prescription and then what happens if the doctor in the course . of the year changes that prescription and then that prescription is not contained on that particular plans formula? Sorting through these plans is complicated and timeconsuming. and that is what has led our seniors to be confused. in some cases bewildered. and. very sadly in cases that I saw. even frightened. We can rectify that with this amendment. ","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2537,"word_count":334}
{"speech_id":1090093673,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Even at the low end. this income level is too high to qualify for supplemental security\u0095 incomedisability insurance benefits. Thus. individuals in these programs who take these jobs will no longer require government benefit subsidies from SSI or DI. even if otherwise qualified. Over a 5year period. the SSI\/DI savings are estimated to be $69-$75 million. To qualify under this amendment. a company must hire 50 PWDs. If 10 companies do this. the net result is employment of 500 PWDs who currently do not have jobs. If 20 companies participate. 1.000 PWDs would be gainfully employed. The savings realized with 1.000 PWDs no longer needing SSI\/DI benefits could be as high as $344 million. The IRS debt collection program is already established. The provisions in this amendment offer the added benefit of more jobs for disabled veterans and the reduction of Federal benefit program costs. We owe it to our service men and women to improve their futures in any way we can. ","speaker_name":"BEN NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5176,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090093701,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Senator GRASSLEYS amendment doesnt provide any resources or any funds to insure the children. What it says is if we give enough money to the wealthiest people in America. surely out of the charity of their hearts they will take care of the kids. We know better. There are more and more uninsured every single year. I urge you to defeat the Grassley amendment and consider voting for the Durbin amendment. I raise a point of order that the amendment violates the Byrd rule. section 313(b)(1)(a) of the Budget Act.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1138,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090093712,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. life and the Senate are about choices. Here are your choices with this amendment. You can give a capital gains and dividends tax cut that goes primarily to the wealthiest Americans. In fact. 75 percent of the capital gains tax cuts goes to people making over $200.000 a year. 1.5 million taxpayers will benefit from that new tax cut. people who are doing pretty well in life. Or you can take the same -amount of money and provide health insurance for 9 million uninsured children in America. The cost? The same thing: $10 billion each year. There is the choicegive tax cuts to the wealthiest people in America or provide health insurance for 9 million kids who dont have it. children of families who go to work every single day and dont have health insurance. The choice is pretty clear. A lot of people talk about moral values and family values. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":984,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090093753,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I have a list of amendments on.which I wish to propound a unanimous consent request. I ask unanimous consent that following the disposition of the Sununu amendment. that Senator LINCOLN be recognized to offer an amendment and speak for 2 minutes. after which the amendment will be withdrawn. further. that the Senate then proceed to votes in relation to the following amendments in sequence order. lrovided that there be 2 minutes equally divided between the votes and that no seconddegree amendments be in order to the amendment prior to the vote: Schumer amendment No. 2635. Reid amendment No. 2653. Nelson amendment No. 2601. Bingaman amendment No. 2642. Durbin amendment No. 2623. and Nelson amendment No. 2625.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":730,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090093780,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"When you break that finding down by race. it is even more disheartening. About half of all AfricanAmerican children and half of all Latino children are left out of the full tax credit. child tax credit. because their familys earnings are too low to qualify. We are talking about working families. To qualify. for this tax credit. you. have to be working and you have to have children.","speaker_name":"BLANCHE LINCOLN","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1701,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090093795,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this is a bipartisan amendment. It. is very simple. direct. and to the point. We need more electricity that does not rely on increasingly expensive natural gas. The quickest way to get more electricity without using more natural gas is through the increased use of renewables with greater efficiency. -Unfortunately. the deadlines for the renewable energy and efficiency tax incentives that we now have in law cut off much too soon to be really effective. So this amendment extends those deadlines through 2010 to match the current tax incentives for conventional and fossil energy projects.. I urge Members to support this amendment. It is fair. it is paid for. and it will make a quick and significant dent in the Nations enormously expensive natural gas consumption. Nevadans and all Americans rely heavily on natural gas for electricity and heating. This Congress needs to take action to address the insanely high prices of natural gas as soon as possible. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1129,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090093869,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to speak in favor of the amendment I am offering with Senator KERRY to make two simple yet critical improvements to the earned income credit and to reduce the Federal deficit. Our amendment provides relief from the marriage penalty and from the military service penalty faced by many lowincome taxpayers. The EITC is one of the most effective programs to lift working Americans out of poverty. It rewards work. reduces tax *burdens. and supplement wages that help a family to be selfsufficient. It is an idea that Republicans and Democrats can agree on because it works. Study after study has demonstrated that the EITC increases employment among single mothers and reduces reliance on cash welfare assistance. The EITC lifts millions of children and families out of poverty each year. Census data show that in 2003. the poverty rate among -children would have been nearly 25 percent higher without the EITC. ","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4379,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090093893,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this is another way of cutting back on the mortgage deduction. the charitable deduction. and the State and local tax deduction. When these provisions of phaseout of deductions were put in years ago. it was subterfuge for raising the marginal tax rate without raising the marginal tax rate. From Iowa. we are very transparen.t. If one wants to raise the marginal tax rate. raise the marginal tax rate but do not do it by subterfuge. Besides. this amendment is not germane. I raise a point of germaneness.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":518,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090093941,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"With winter fast approaching and energy prices soaring. home heating bills are set to pound family budgets meicilessly. For low income families. LIHEAP funds can be the factor that prevents families from having to choose between turning off the heat or putting food on the table. I call on my colleagues to support this amendment expressing the sense of the Senate that we should fully fund the LIHEAP program.","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4134,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090093961,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I engage Mr. GRASSLEY in a colloquy concerning income averaglng to recipients of punitive damages awards in the Exxon Valdez oil spill case. Case Number A89095CV (HRH). Specifically. I would like to address how this will affect those who engage in commercial fishing in Alaskaas their occupation.","speaker_name":"LISA MURKOWSKI","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":311,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090093963,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As all of us know. the Exxon Valdez ran aground in March of 1989. spilling 11 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound in Alaska. A class action jury trial was held in federal court in Anchorage. AK. in 1994. The plaintiffs included 32.000 fishermen among others whose livelihoods were gravely affected by this disaster. The jury awarded $5 billion in punitive damages to the plaintiff class. The punitive damage. award has been on repeated appeal by the Exxon Corporation since 1994. Many of the original","speaker_name":"LISA MURKOWSKI","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":513,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090093965,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As the Democratic alternative demonstrates. it is possible to enact the popular tax cuts proposed here without adding $60 billion to the debt we pass down to our children and grandchildren. In an age of record deficits. Congress must choose its priorities. We could close tax loopholes. We could make it more difficult for companies to avoid taxation by moving their headquarters offshore. We could require oil companies to pay their fair share of taxes. We could close the tax gap by more aggressively enforcing our existing tax code. These reasonable policies are included in the Democratic alternative. and I hope that all of my colleagues will support them to restore fiscal discipline in this Congress. And to anyone who believes the fallacy that \"deficits dont matter.\" I would point out. that this year we will spend more money paying interest on our debt than providing health care to our most vulnerable citizens through Medicaid. The budget reconciliation process. which allows for expedited consider-","speaker_name":"JOHN ROCKEFELLER","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1976,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090093972,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I once described votearamas as pandemonium. which was the Palace of Satan designated by Miltoi in Paradise Lost. But that term almost fails to describe the ignominy of the Senate when it becomes engulfed in these budget carnivals. Its embarrassing to the institution. It is no way to legislate. We cannot claim to serve the interests of our constituents if we dont have time even to read the amendments on which we are casting our votes. Read The Federalist Paper No. 62 by Madison: \"It will be of little avail to the people. that the laws are made by men of their own choice. if the laws be so voluminous that.they cannot be read. or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.\" Votearama means Senators are flying blind. I have pleaded with the Senate to avoid using this reconciliation process because I abhor what it does to this institution. It is not a necessary exercise. The Budget Act does not require it. nor does the Budget Act require. or even mention. the use of votearamas. We are doing this to ourselves- This is","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6381,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090093984,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They stayed up many a sleepless night. and I applaud them for their expert counsel. I want to thank some staff members in particular. I appreciate the cooperation we received from the Republican staff. especially Kolan Davis. Mark Prater. Cathy Barre. Elizabeth Paris. Christy Mistr. Dean Zerbe. Chris Javens. John ONeill. and Nick Wyatt. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2250,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090093992,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it stand in adjournment until 9 a.m. on Friday. November 18. I further ask unanimous consent that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. and the time for the two leaders be reserved.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":335,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090093997,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Judge Silberman is a Republican. served on the DC Circuit. They gave a report about Presidential daily -briefings versus what is in the National Intelligence Estimate. There is no significant difference between the two reports. the Presidential daily briefing and the National Intelligence Estimate. Quoting from the report: It was not that the intelligence was markedly different. Rather. it was that the PDBs and the SEIBs. with their attentiongrabbing headlines and drumbeat of repetition. left an impression of many corroborating reports where in fact there were very few sources. And in other instances. intelligence suggesting the existence of weapons programs was conveyed to senior policymakers. but later information casting doubt upon the validity of that intelligence was not. That is shortcomings of our intelligence community. the same shortcomings that President Clinton probably experienced during his time in office. when he was making estimates of the threat of Saddam Hussein. thesame way that President Bush was making those estimates. The \u0095 RobbSilberman commissioh found Presidential daily briefings to contain similar intelligence in \"more alarmist\" and \"less nuanced\" language. Continuing to quote: As problematic as the October 2002 [National Intelligence Estimate] was. it was not the Communitys biggest analytic failure on Iraq. Even more misleading was the river of intelligence that flowed from the CIA to top policymakers over long periods of timein the Presidents Daily Brief and in its more widely distributed companion. the Senior Executive Intelligence Brief. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5307,"word_count":237}
{"speech_id":1090094004,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise in support of the Colon Cancer Screen for Life Act. S. 1010. Some of its provisions were included in an amendment included in the reconciliation package. This legislation.will increase the likelihood that Medicare beneficiaries will receive a colonoscopy screening examination which is proven to be the most effective way to detect and treat colorectal cancer. Colorectal cancer is the No. 2 cancer killer in the United States today. This year. according to the American Cancer Society. approximately 145.000 new cases will be diagnosed and 56.000 Americans will die from colon cander. We have the power to change tlhese sobering statistics by increasing access to this lifesaving procedure. Although Congress passed a colonoscopy screening benefit for Medicare beneficiaries back in 1997. the percentage of seniors receiving a colonoscopy reportedly has increased by only an estimated 1 percent. ","speaker_name":"BEN NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2999,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090094006,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr.- President. I want to take a few moments of this bodys time to remember a true fallen -hero. a .Coloradan that has been lost to us in defense of our freedoms. Last week. on Veterans Day. the family of PFC Tyler R. Mackenzie buried him back home in Weld County. A .native of Evans. CO. Private. First Class Mackenzie was killed in early November near Baghdad when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee. He was only 20 years old. taken from his family and friends just a few days shy of his 21st birthday.. Tyler was a tower of a young man. a sixfootseveninch high school football player at Greeley West High School. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2729,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090094010,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to congratulate Daniel Pack for receiving Colorados Professor of the Year Award in 2005. Daniel J. Pack. Ph.D.. P.E. currently serves as a professor in the Deiiartment of Electrical Engineering at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Colorado Springs. CO. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1118,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090094014,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to pay tribute to Michigan State University as they continue their 150th anniversary celebration. Throughout its history. Michigan State has made a tremendous contribution to the State of Michigan and to our Nation as a whole. Michigan State University. or the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan as it was originally known. was created in 1855 by an act of the Michigan Legislature authorizing the creation of a school of higher education for agriculture. Two years later. Michigan State welcomed its first class of 63 students. Nearly 100 years ago. President Teddy Roosevelt visited Michigan State and delivered a commencement speech to more than 20.000 students. faculty. and family of the graduates. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3916,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090094015,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to celebrate the sesquicentennial. the 150th anniversary. of my alma mater. Michigan State University. MSU. Located on the banks of the Red Cedar River. Michigan State University was the first agricultural college in the Nation and the prototype for landgrant institutions later- established under the Morrill Act of 1862. In fact. in the mid 1950s. the U.S. Postal Service honored Michigan State University with a postage stamp commemorating it as the original landgrant university. The landgrant philosophy is rooted in the principle to extend the values of education to all who seek it. and the Morrill Act grew out of a movement to bring benefits of education to rural areas. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3366,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090094018,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to introduce the Prosecutors and Defenders Incentive Act of 2005. I am honored to have the support and cosponsorship of Senator DEWINE with whom I have enjoyed working on similar measures in previous Congresses. I am further pleased that Senators SPEC-","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":280,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090094028,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Unauthorized aliens also cause a significant burden on our courts. For example. for the 12month period ending September 30. 2004. 364 felony cases per judge were filed in the. New Mexico District. It is apparent how burdensome this number is for my border States court when you consider. that the national average of felony cases filed per judge is 88. To help with these high caseload levels. oui bill increases the number of DHS immigration attorneys. federal defenders. Office ofImmigration Litigation attorneys. assistant US Attorneys. and immigration judges. Increased personnel is only one aspect of our effort to secure the border. Any border security effort must provide DHS personnel with necessary technologies and assets. To that end. our bill authorizes funds for the Department to acquire new technologies. construct roads. fences. and barriers. purchase air assets. vehicles. and other equipment. maintain temporary and permanent border checkpoints. and construct the appropriate facilities to support the increased number of DHS personnel being hired. Such assets are invaluable tools for our CBP and ICE employees. and we must make sure those men and women have what they need. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6932,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090094029,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It used to be that we had ports of entry at the Northern border where. at night. the only barrier was an orange rubber cone in the middle of the road. The polite people crossing at night actually stopped and removed the cone before they came across the border. Those -who were not so polite would run over it at 60 miles an hour. In 2001.-before the September 11 attacks. I proposed something called the Northern Border Initiative. That bill added hundreds of Customs officers to the Northern border. and it became law. I also worked to replace the orange cones with hardened gates. But we clearly have to do much more. The legislation we are introducing today. which Senator DOMENICI has described in detail. would devote significant new. resources to our border security. Among other things. this legislation would authorize the hiring of an additional 1.000 Customs and Border Protection inspectors and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers a year for the next five years. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2499,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090094031,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Agency for International Development (USAID) have taken the lead in making good on that pledge. USAID has provided more than $50.1. million. itn assistance .to. Pakistan and more than $600.000 to India. The Defeiase Department has so farspent about $56 million on relief efforts. including sending more than 1.000 troops into Pakistan to provide urgent medical care. delivering muchneeded supplies and .clearing roads and opening. routes for ground transportation so more help can. reach those most in need. The American private sector has also pitched in. U.S. charities have raised more than $21 million to support earthquake relief efforts. Nongovernment organizations like Catholic Relief Services. Mercy. Corps and Save the. Children all have a presence in Pakistan and are providing aid and relief. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA MIKULSKI","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4453,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090094036,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to announce that the. Committee on Indian Affairs will meet on Thursday. November 17. 2005. at 10 a.m. in Room 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building to conduct an oversight hearing on the In Re Tribal Lobbying Matters. Et Al. Those wishing additional information may contact the Indian Affairs Committee at 2242251.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":344,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090094045,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask .unanimous consent that the Committee on Environment and Public Works be authorized to hold a hearing on November 17. 2005 at 9:35 a.m. to evaluate the degree to which the preliminary findings on the failure of the levees are being incorporated into the restoration of hurricane protection.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":311,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090094047,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet on Thursday. November 17. 2005. at 10 a.m. for a hearing titled. \"From Proposed to Final: Evaluating Regulations for the National Security Personnel System.\"","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":283,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090094066,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Interagency Council on the Housing and Service Needs of Seniors will increase coordination and will serve as a permanent national platform to address the needs and issues of our aging population. -The Interagency Council will help to improve collaboration and coordination among the Federal agencies and our State and local partners. to ensure that seniors are better able to access housing and services. This Council will work to find new ways to link housing programs and needed supportive services to increase their efficiency. to make them more accessible. and to strengthen their capacity. The decisions that our seniors and their families must make are difficult enough. They should not be made more painful and burdensome by having to negotiate a confusing maze of programs and services and a multiplicity of administrative procedures. I am hopeful that the Interagency Council on Meeting the Housing and Service Needs of Seniors will be able to focus attention on this problem. while working towards solutions. This bill has wide support from a diverse array of groups. ranging from senior advocates to faithbased organizations and direct service providers. The diversity of groups that have worked together in support of this legislation is indicative of the great need for such coordination. If we are to successfully address the growing needs of seniors. it is clear that much work must be done. The establishment of an Interagency Council on Meeting the Housing and Service Needs of Seniors is a critical first step in this endeavor. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this important legislation. ","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4490,"word_count":261}
{"speech_id":1090094085,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But amidst the artificial heart assist devices. lasers. CT Scan machines. endoscopic deviceg. digital XRays. and digital thermometers. doctors today keep patient records the same way I did and the way my father did 50 years ago: on paper. in manila folders in. file cabinets. in the basements of clinics and hospitals. Yet computers. and computer technology. is everywhere. both inside and outside the hospitals and clinics. From bedside monitors to massive MRI machines. computers power almost all of the diagnostic devices we rely on. S. 1418 represents an important and crucial first step towards recognizing the importance of computers and the electronic medical record in contemporary health care. Establishing interoperability of the electronic medical record. an essential hurdle towards effective use of health information technology. is a priority. Proposals for providing Federal financial incentives for physicians. community health centers. community mental health centers. hospitals and skilled nursing facilities like that introduced by Senator SNOWE and Senator STABENOW need to be considered. Assuring proper funding of health IT is an issue of major importance for the Senate to consider in the coming congressional session. I will work with the chairman and ranking member of the Finance Committee and the chairman and ranking member of the HELP committee as well as Senators SNOWE and STABENOW to encourage these committees to schedule. at the earliest opportunity. consideration of legislative proposals to ensure creative and reasonable Federal funding for such an important and relevant mission. I will also work with relevant committees to encourage - consideration of legislation that would enable providers to connect to a secure. interoperable network for the electronic exchange of health information.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2353,"word_count":273}
{"speech_id":1090094093,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr President. I rise to lend my strong support for S. 467. the Terrorism Risk Insurance Extension Act- of 2005. -which I originally in duced with Senator BENNETT and 34 sponsors earlier this year. Our legi tion- was alnended in committee the hard work and leadership of.B ing Committee Chairman SHELBY Ranking Member SARBANES to dev the product before the Senate today I would like to commend the m bers on the Banking Committee: .1 ators JOHNSON. REED. SCHUMER. B.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":465,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090094096,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask unanimous consent that the amendment at the desk be agreed to. the committee reported amendment. as amended. be agreed to. the bill. as amended. be read *a third time and passed. the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the RECORD. _The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection. it is so ordered.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1000,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090094171,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As long as the House was out and if we changed the continuing resolution. that meant the entire House of Representatives would have\" to come back to Washington. DC. and do something about this. I said at the time on the floor. big deal. They came back for a lot of other things. they could come back for this. too. Obviously. my arguments did not prevail. The amendment was defeated. whereupon. however. the chairman of the Appropriations. Defense Subcommittee. the Senator from Alaska.","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2049,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090094202,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. -in a few moments. I will propound a unanimous consent request. In essence. what we will be doing in about an hour is having another vote on going to conference on the HHS appropriations bill. We will ask unanimous consent for that shortly and divide up the time accordingly. It will be approximately an hour from now that we will have another rollcall vote. As soon as we have the word on the unanimous consent request. I will be propounding that. I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":498,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090094206,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask that the Chair lay before the Senate a message from the House to accompany H. R. 3010. the LaborHHS appropriations bill. provided further. that the Senate request a conference with the House. and that the Chair be authorized to ap-\" point conferees. I further ask that prior to the Chair appointing the conferees. Senator SPECTER be recognized in order to make a motion to instruct the conferees on the issue of LIHEAP. provided further. that there be debate divided with Senators as follows: 10 minutes for Senator REED. 7 minutes for Senator HARKIN. 5 minutes for Senator SPECTER. 5 minutes for Senator COCHRAN. I further ask that following that time. the motion be temporarily set aside and Senator DURBIN be recognized to make a motion to instruct relating to NIH. and there be 15 minutes for debate for Senator DURBIN on that motion. and that following the use or yielding back of debate time. the Senate vote on the motions to instruct in the order offered. and following those votes. the Chair then immediately appoint conferees on the part of the Senate.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1083,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090094234,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Unfortunately. this bill would result in our funding the National Institutes of Health at a level inconsistent with the pattern of growth that we have seen over the last several years. Let me be as specific as I can. I have heard from people across Illinois about how important medical research is to them and their families. My family knows that. and the families of everyone watching know it. too. Eightyearold Claire Livingston. who is living with type II diabetes. came by my office. More and more children are affected by diabetes. Claire checks her blood glucose level several times a day and adjusts her medication. her diet. her activity levels. She is bright and happy. Her mother wakes her up in the middle of the night to make sure she is- going to be alive in the morning. That is the reality. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7198,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090094279,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I say that is exactly right. In fact. the National Intelligence Estimate itself specifically characterized the dissenting as well as the majority views with respect to what those tubes were for. The majority view was that they were for centrifuge. for weapons material production. The minority view was they might .be for artillery shells. or some other kind of projectile. There were two agencies within our government that held that latter view. The majority of the intelligence community held the former view. But. yes. I remember as a member of the committee being briefed on that and hearing testimony on it numerous times.","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":643,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090094291,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous cohsent that there be 1 hour of debate equally divided between the two managers in relation to the conference report to accompany H.R. 2528. the Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs appropriations bill. I further ask consent that following the use or yielding back of time. and when the Senate then receives the conference report. it be immediately considered. and the conference report be adopted. with the motion to reconsider laid upon the table.","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":489,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090094327,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I appreciate the indulgence of my corleagues this afternoon. I rise today to talk about a bill thAt I introduced last week that will have a profound effect on the retention of .teachers. administrators. and other school staff in remote and rural areas* of Alaska. This bill is the Rural Teacher Housing Act of 2005. In rural areas of Alaska. we have school districts that face enormous challenges of recruiting and retaining teachers. administrators. and other school staff. The challenges lie primarily in the lack of housing. In one particular year. in the Lower Kuskokwim School District in western Alaska. they hired one teacher for every six who decided not to accept job * offers. Half of those applicants who .did not accept a teaching position in that district indicated that their decision was related to the lack of housing. When we talk about lack of housing. it is not they cannot find an apartment that is to their suiting or to their liking. the fact of the matter is there is no housing available. ","speaker_name":"LISA MURKOWSKI","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4489,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090094329,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Even on the floor there is an awful lot of polarization that has occurred. I do not say this in any real accusatory sense. It is true. In spite of that. in his own way. the majority leader has very quietly and with very mature feelings and inordinate ability grasped details of legislation and has contributed immensely to a success story. I would like to start by talking about matters that this Senator has particularly been involved in. We were able to pass in this body an Energy Policy Act. We have been working at that for almost a decade. but for the last 3 years we have tried each year and failed. This year. we got it done. Obviously. something was done differently. That is. we attempted to create a bipartisan bill in the committee under my chairmanship. with the help of Senator BINGAMAN. and the majority leader. as leader in the Senate. should take great pride in that accomplishment. and we should as a Senate. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9467,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090094337,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Safeguards need to be put in place to ensure that their disabilities do not get in the way of their education. Past experience tells us that such children are vulnerable to being exploited in the workplace. In closing. we have an important mission hereto come to the aid of the Pakistani people in their moment of maximum need. I have many good friends in the PakistaniAmerican communities. I have many good friends in Pakistan. I was privileged to visit there this September. the third time I have been to Pakistan. I traveled quite extensively in the country.- The Pakistani people are wonderful. They are highly educated and skilled. The Pakistanis in America. who have come to make a better life for themselves. are doctors. surgeons. engineers. and so on. Many of them have called me. eager to get involved in the relief in Pakistan. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4818,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090094349,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"A joint Afghan and United Nations election commission has declared the winners in races for 249 seats in the lower parliamentary house. as well as members of 34 provincial councils around the country. Afghanistans continued progress toward democracy is obviously a victory in the war on terror. Four years ago. the ruthless Taliban regime ruled Afghanistan with an unyielding. murderous itolerance. and they laid down that countrys welcome mat to kll the terrorists to \"come on in.\" I would like to remind my colleagues that 4 short years ago Afghanistan was ruled by a regime so intolerant that as part of an effort to erase any trace of Afghanistans history before the rise of Islam in the seventh century. the Taliban destroyed two priceless Buddhist statues. These statues had been carved into the face of a cliff outside the Afghan city of Bamiyan. These ancient wonders that had endured for centuries were instantly turned into dust. The Taliban was literally trying to erasehistory. But now the Taliban itself is history. Americas quick defeat of the Taliban. the rescue of the Afghan people out from under their wicked thumb and the quick transformation of Afghanistan into a burgeoning democracy in just 4 years is nothing short of amazing. Today. a democratically elected parliament and a democratically elected. President Hamid Karzai. are charting a new course for their country. ","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3513,"word_count":227}
{"speech_id":1090094366,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the Senator twice honors me. I do thank the Senator very much. Those of us who have had the privilege of serving here more than a short time develop relationships that I think the rest of the body and perhaps the country dont understand. Very clearly my commitment in terms of friendship and devotion to my friend from West Virginia is equal to his for me. I am very pleased and proud to have that relationship with him. I thank the Chair.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":454,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090094378,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. at this time. under the regular order and a unanimous consent request. the distinguished Senator from Ohio was to be recognized. He has acquiesced in my behalf that I may be recognized for 15 minutes. I ask unanimous consent that I may speak as in morning business for 15 minutes. to be followed by the Senator from Ohio. and that the Senator from Colorado will be recognized after the Senator from Ohio.","speaker_name":"PAT ROBERTS","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":419,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090094383,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. while deployed in Iraq. Marine Corporal Nathan \"Nate\" Anderson- made sure to write his family back home in Howard. OH. as often as he could. After witnessing the death of a good friend. Nate wrote that \"the service of freedom demands sacrifice.\" H6 tried to calm his familys fears as he continued. \"No worries. I will be fine wherever I end up. I have the Lord on my side and guardian angels on both shoulders. I. am good to go.\" I rise today on the floor of the United States Senate to pay tribute to this brave Marine. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5488,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090094387,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to discuss the situation in Iraq. Critics of the Bush administration have recently gone out of their way to try to convince the American people that the President misled our nation about Iraq. Some are arguing most vociferously that President Bush purposely withheld intelligence information from Congress. Others accuse the President of deliberately fashioning U.S. intelligence to fit his own agenda. A few even suggest that the President had some kind of personal vendetta against Saddam Hussein and was willing to do whatever it took to remove him from power. I can accept criticism leveled at our intelligence agencies for providing inaccurate intelligence. I can accept criticism lodged against the Department of Defense for not sufficiently preparing for an Iraqi insurgency. I can even accept criticism that the Bush administration did not appropriately prepare the American people for the cost of the war in Iraq. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6217,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090094392,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We are working closely with our friends and allies to secure stockpiles of WMDrelated materials and technology and to make sure our allies have the ability to protect these sensitive materials.. The Foreign Operations appropriations bill provides over $410 million toward our nonproliferation. antiterrorism. and demining efforts. One of the gravest threats we face is the threat of WMD falling into our enemys hands. We cannot.. we must not. let this happen. Ultimately. the goal of each and every one of our foreign operations programs must be. to. promote Americas security and Americas vales. And as the last*century taught us. our security and our values must go hand in hand. Whether for humanitarian. diplomatic or security purposes. effective foreign assistance advances our vital interests and protects the homeland. The United States remains committed to eliminating poverty. expanding prosperity. and strengthening domestic institutions abroad. And by doing so. we advance oulr security and prosperity right here at home.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4400,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090094393,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to pay tribute to a dedicated steward of our national forests. Mr. Ben Worthington. Last month. Ben retired from the National Forest Service after 32 years of service. For the last 10 of these years. my home State of Kentucky was fortunate to have him serve as forest supervisor of the Daniel Boone National Forest. Ben began his forestry. career at Washington State University. where he earned a degree in forest management. After graduating. he joined the Peace Corps and was relocated to Costa Rica for 2 years. ","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2262,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090094407,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In addition. 16 percent were rejected because of domestic violence convictions or a related restraining order. According to the Department of Justice statistics. almost 80 percent of the rejected. applicants in 2004 had a serious criminal history. had been involved in domestic vjolence. or were identified as a fugitive. This means that nearly 100.000 times last year. criminals and known domestic abusers were denied access to dangerous firearms because of background checks required by the 1994 Brady Act. Unfortunately. not all firearms transactions are subject to a background check. The law requires background checks only for those transactions that involve a federally licensed firearms dealer. According to the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence \"two out of every five guns acquired in the United States. including guns bought at gun shows. through classified ads. and between individuals. change hands without a background check.\" The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence also estimates that \"extending criminal background checks to all gun transactions in the United States could prevent nearly 120.000 additional illegal gun sales every year.\" It is important that we do not infringe on the rights of lawabiding citizens. However. with those rights in mind and protected. we should not allow those with a violent or serious criminal record to acquire dangerous firearms. I urge my colleagues to join me in support of commonsense gun safety legislation. such as the 1994 Brady Act. that will make our nation safer.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3154,"word_count":237}
{"speech_id":1090094409,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"While they .do not have the strength to defeat the army. neither can they be defeated militarily. The only feasible solution is through a democratic political process that has the broad support of the Nepalese people. Perhaps seeking to placate his critics. -the king. without consulting the political opposition parties. announced municipal elections for February 8. 2006. Not surprisingly. the parties say they will not participate in an electoral process dictated by the palace and when the arrfiy and the kings handpicked representatives have taken control of local affairs and are unlikely to relinquish power. The U.S. Embassy is skeptical of the Maoists intentions and has publicly .discouraged the political parties from forging an agreement with the Maoists. This is understandable. . since the Maoists have used barbaric tactics that should be universally condemned. But this conflict cannot be won militarily and the king has rejected a political accommodation with the countrys democratic forces. He is imposing new restrictions on the media and civil society. and he has spumed offers by the international community to m6diate. Nepals younger generation. who see no role for the monarchy in Nepals future. are taking to the streets. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7318,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090094412,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Eisenhower. who was then president of Colombia University. The Stearns Board quickly agreed that the U.S. Air Force needed an academic institution 6f excellence and that such an Academy should be established without delay. Congress authorized the creation of the Air Force Academy in 1954. To determine a site for the new institution. thenSecretary of the Air Force Harold E. Talbott. appointed a team of individuals to assist him. The Air Force Academy Site Selection Board. as it was called. reviewed more than580 locations in 34 States. and narrowed the field down to 7. 1 of which was CoIorad \" Springs. CO. A year later. the majestic 14.000 acre area in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains near Colorado Springs was chosen by Secretary Talbott to be the site for the new U.S. Air Force Academy. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6029,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090094415,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And since Hurricane Katrina. the price difference has soared even higher to 68 percent. Further evidence of price gouging can be found in what happened on the west coast immediately following Hurricane Katrina. when prices surged 15 cents .per gallon overnight. For years. oil industry officials. the Federal Trade Commission and other government agencies have maintained thatthe west coast is an isolated gasoline market from the rest of the country. West coast supplies were not affected by the hurricane. The west coast gets almost none of its gasoline from the gulf. If the west coast is an isolated market as the oil industry has claimed for years. then Katrina is no justification for jacking up gas prices on the west coast immediately after the hurricane hit. The FTC is the principal consumer protection agency in the Federal Government. It is the Federal agency that can and should take action when gasoline markets are going haywire as they have both before and since Hurricane Katrina. But instead of action we have excuses. In the past. the FTC often claimed that it was studying the problem or monitoring gasoline markets as an excuse for its inaction on gas pricing. ","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11656,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090094416,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to mark the loss of one of my staff members and to make a stateabout the good work of this individual for the people of Iowa. Earl Lee Monholland died at home on October 31. 2005. due to heart illness. at the age of 37. Earl worked on my staff for 12 years as a constituent services specialist in Davenport. Cedar Rapids.. and Washington. DC. He was a dedicated public servant who thoroughly enjoyed helping Iowans. He was committed to providing assistance in a responsive and timely manner and to making sure that whatever could be done got done behalf of a constituent having problems with the Federal bureaucracy. Earl also was an outstanding colleague to his fellow staff members. going out of his way to make things work for the entire team. especially with the computer systems. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1048,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090094420,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I want to express. my disappointment in the cuts that the conference report for H.R. 2862. the Departments of Commerce and Justice. Science. and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2006. made to important grant programs that assist State and lbcal. law enforcement agencies. I voted in favor of H.R. 2862 because of the other important programs that it funds. but I have grave concerns about these particular grant funding cuts. I believe that Congress. in partnership with States and local communities. has an obligation to provide the tools. technology. and training that our Nations law enforcement officers need in order to protect our communities. I have consistently supported a number of Federal grant programs. including the Community Oriented Policing Services. COPS. Program. which is instrumental in providing funding to train new officers and provide crimefighting technologies. .I also have long supported funding for the Byrne Grant Program. which provides funding to help fight violent and drugrelated crime. including support to multijurisdictional drug task forces. drug courts. drug education and prevention programs. and many other efforts to reduce drug abuse and prosecute drug offenders. I know how important tbese programs have been to Wisconsin law enforcement efforts. in particular with regard to fighting the spread of methamphetamine abuse. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3299,"word_count":209}
{"speech_id":1090094425,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. although the Senates passage ofthe Terrorism Risk Insurance Extension Act of 2005 is a good start to ensuring continuity within our financial markets in the event they are impacted by another terrorist attack. I am disappointed the Act failed to include group life insurance. Over 160 million working Americans have coverage through a group life policy. For many. this coverage is their only form of life insurance. Loss of this benefit would threaten their families financial stability. Group life insurance poses unique risks to the carriers that provide it. Much like workers cormpensation * insurance. the high level..of risk concentration by employer and worksite makes group life. insurance particularly vulnerable to -largescale losses from events such as terrorist attacks. Before the September 11 tragedy. group life insurers protected against largescale losses through the purchase of catastrophe reinsurance. Since that time. group life insurers have experienced a decreased availability of catastrophe reinsurance coverage. ","speaker_name":"BEN NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2643,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090094430,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in the spring of this year. I had the remarkable experience of hosting a recording of a history for the Library of Congress Veterans History Project. A distinguished. elderly Idahoan recounted his experiences as a supply officer during World War II. notably in one of the units that liberated the Nazi concentration camp. Dachau. Ralph Leseburg is 86 years old and lives in St. Anthony. ID with his beloved wife of 66 years. Wanda. Before Visiting my office. he returned to Dachau. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CRAPO","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2758,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090094434,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I rise to congratulate Saint Agnes Parish School of Louisville. KY. Saint Agnes Parish School is recognized as a 2005 No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon School. The Blue Ribbon Schools Program has been celebrating high achieving schools for over 20 years. Established in 1982 by the U.S. Department of Education. the program has recognized more than 3.000 schools since its inception. This year. six Kentucky schools. join* this distinguished list. and I am proud to say that Saint Agnes Parish School is one of the worthy recipients. By demanding excellence from each and every student. Saint Agnes Parish School truly celebrates the blue ribbon standard of excellence that the No Child Left Behind Program strives to achieve. ","speaker_name":"JIM BUNNING","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1165,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090094437,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I rise to congratulate Southern Elementary School of Beaver Dam. KY. Southern Elementary School is recognized as a 2005 No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon School. The Blue Ribbon Schools Program has been celebrating high achieving schools for over 20 years. Established in 1982 by the U.S. Department of Education. the program has recognized more than 3.000 schools since its inception. This year. six Kentucky schools join this distinguished list. and I am proud to say that Southern Elementary ScJrool is one of the worthy recipients. By demanding excellence from each and every. student. Southern Elementary School truly celebrates the blue ribbon standard of excellence that the No Child Left Behind Program strives to achieve. ","speaker_name":"JIM BUNNING","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1208,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090094440,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I rise in support of Senator CLINTONS bill which would provide tax credits of $1.000 to $3.000 to property owners who eliminate or contain leadbased paint hazards in homes where lowincome young children or women of childbearing age live. Children who eat lead paint chips ingest a -highly toxic substance that can produce a range of health effects including reduced IQ. reading and learning disabilities. reduced attention spans. kidney damage. and hyperactivity. The sad fact is that there are still over 400.000 children suffering from lead poiponing in this country. many of them poor and many. of them minorities. My home State. Illinois. is the State with the highest number of these children. The loss of IQ and ability to learn affects these children and their. families for the rest of their lives and imposes an economic burden on the rest of us because of their reduced productivity. I urge my colleagues to join Senators CLINTON. SMITH. DEWINE. and me in preventing future lead poisonings by giving property owners a tax incentive to eliminate this problem. ","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1103,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090094441,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I introduce a bill requiring that the Congressional Medal of Honor be made out of 90 percent gold instead of goldplated brass as is currently the case. \u0095 The Congressional Medal of.Honor is the highest award our couritry bestows for valor in action against an enemy force. Its recipients are ordinary Americans who perform extraordinary deeds in battle. often giving their lives. This is the medal awarded piosthumously to Sergeant First Class Paul R. Smith. Under attack at Baghdad International Airport. Sergeant Smith quickly organized the defense of his position. engaging a companysized enemy force. He showed no concern for his own personal safety when in the face of hostilefire he mounted an armored personnel carrier and manned a .50 caliber machine gun. As the citations accompanying his award put it. \"In total disregard for his own life. he maintained his exposed position in order to engage the attacking enemy force. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4028,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090094442,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The fourth pillar is the rule of law. Protection of the rule of law runs throughout the Constitution. most notably in the Sixth Amendment which guarantees the right to a speedy trial and the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments which require dueprocess of law. Looking at the remaining amendments one can trace the evolution of the Constitution and the United States from the Thirteenth Amendment prohibiting slavery. to the Fifteenth Amendment providing for the right to vote regardless of race. the Nineteenth Amendment granting women the right to vote and the Twenty Fourth Amendment prohibiting the poll tax. Throughout our history. hundreds of thousands of brave men and women have laid down their lives protecting the freedoms granted to us in the constitution. Having it been Veterans Day a few days ago. I feel. it is high time that we do all we can to publicize what these freedom are that we hold so dearly. Before I yield the floor I would like to recognize the contributions of one of my constituents. Mr. Randy Wright who teaches at Liberty Middle School in Hanover. VA. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4065,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090094445,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Moreover. District high school graduating. seniors have seen a 28 percent increase in college attendance. Seventy five percent of District students said that D.C. TAG made a difference in their decision to continue their education beyond high school. Sixty five percent of District students have indicated that D.C. TAG has enabled them to choose a college that best suits their educational needs. Because of the great success and positive impact of this program. I propose to- expand the program to private schools nationwide. thereby creating greater equity between all private colleges. while establishing a cap on program funding at the current appropriation of $33.2 million annually. In addition. this legislation will require the Mayor of the District. of Columbia to submit an annual report to Congress on the programs status. As Chairman of the Ditrict of Columbia authorizing subcommittee. leveling the playing field for high school graduates in the District and enhancing their educational opportunities continues to be a top priority. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE VOINOVICH","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2334,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090094448,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to introduce the Community and Rural Medical Residency Preservation Act of 2005. which- will serve to ensure the continued viability of medical residency training programs in our local communities. I am particularly pleased to introduce this bill with several of my colleagues. Senators BINGAMAN. COLLINS. DORGAN. and ROCKEFELLER. who share my concerns about the need to clarify congressional intent so that teaching hospitals will be able to offer these essential residency training programs in the community and so that medical residents. as well as many who live in these communities. will be able to continue to benefit from these programs. Many medical residency training programs have traditionally. operated in sites located outside the hospital setting for their educational programs. These nonhospital settings are. in fact. where most of this type of physician training occurs. The community and rural sites which operate these programs include physician offices. nursing homes. and community health centers--cornerstones of ambulatory training for graduate medical education. ","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4850,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090094449,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The documents by which many of these people claim possession of the properties date back many years. In fact. some of the deeds are historic documents themselves. Yet because many of these documents do not satisfy modern requirements for demonstrating land title. they have been deemed invalid. In other words. the Bureau of Land Management has determined that some of the residents of Ione and Gold Point are trespassing on Federal land. This unfortunate situation puts the BLM at odds with the local residents and. county governments and is hampering efforts to improve basic community services such as fire protection. and water supply and treatment facilities. Nye County. Esmeralda County. and the BLM have worked together for nearly a decade to solve this problem. All of these parties support. the legislation that we offer today as a solution to these land ownerships conflicts. and November 18. 2005. CO as a means of promoting responsible resource management. All of the land included in this bill has been identified by the BLM for disposal. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3418,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090094455,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am introducing today a bill to amend regulatory provisions of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). The bill clarifies that the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) has authority to promulgate and enforce Minimum Internal Control Standards as to Class III gaming. grants the NIGC Chairman authority to approve contracts. and expands contract approval to include contracts not only for management contracts but also for gaming operation development contracts and consulting services. as well as for any contract the fees for which are to be paid as a percentage of gaming revenue. tightens restrictions on offreservation gaming. gives the NIGC authority to issue complaints against any individual or entity. not just against tribes or management contractors. that violate IGRA or federal regulations. and requires all tribes to pay fees to the NIGC. When IGRA was enacted in 1988. Indian gaming was a $200 million dollar industry. Today. the industry earns $19 billion a year and is spread thxoughout the nation. The amendments reflect the need to reevaluate what constitutes appropriate regulation of this vastly changed enterprise. I have always been and continue to be a supporter of the rights of Indian tribes to conduct gaming. a right guaranteed by the Supreme Court in the California v. Cabazon decision and codified in IGRA. but I also continue to believe that effective regulation of these enterprises are critical to tribes continued success. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6416,"word_count":232}
{"speech_id":1090094515,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent the Homeland Security and Governmental . Affairs Committee be discharged from further consideration. and the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 1989. H.R. 2062. H.R. 2183. and H.R. 3853. all en bloc.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":255,"word_count":40}
{"speech_id":1090094519,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I The message is clear: the AUs failure ask unanimous consent the Committee will be ours. An:. as the genocide conon Foreign Relations be discharged tinues to unfold. there will be only one from further consideration of S. 1462 question. Were all available resources and the Senate proceed to its imme- expended to stop it? diate consideration. Second. the bill insists that the","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":393,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090094536,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Pryor amendment at the desk be agreed to. the bill. as amended. be read a third time and passed. the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. and any statements relating to the measure be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":262,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090094567,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Nothing could be farther from the truth. Dissent in the face of policies that you disagree with is patriotism. To remain silent as you see this country going down the wrong path is not patriotism. it is moral cowardice. I praise Congressman JACK MURTHA for having the courage of his convictions and standing up and leading the way to get us out of this war in Iraq.","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1154,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090094581,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. pursuant to House Resolution 564. I call up the conference report on the bill making appropriations for military quality of life functionb of the Department of Defense. military construction. the Department of Veterans Affairs. and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30. 2006. and for other purposes.","speaker_name":"JAMES WALSH","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":332,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090094587,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"House Republicans voted for. a budget resolution that called for cutting veterans health care by $14 billion over 10 years. . In July 2003. after agreeing to reduce some of those budget cuts in the House. the GOP reneged on its promise to increase funding for VA health care and passed an appropriation bill providing $1.8 billion less than what was called for in their fiscal 2004 budget. Mr. EDWARDS tried to offer an amendment to that bill to add $2.2 billion for veterans .health care. but he was blocked. In October 2003. I offered a motion to recommit on the Iraqi supplemental that called for an additional $1.3 billion forr veterans health care. The majority rejected it. We continued to push for veterans in fiscal 2005. For 20_05. the administration requested $18.3 billion for veterans medical services. In subcommittee. the House recommended $19.5 billion. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS EDWARDS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2427,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090094592,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"the leadership of the full Committee on Appropriations. Mr. LEwIS and Mr. OBEY. for asking the question of what is right for Americas veterans. I think this bill is a great step in the right direction. and I urge my colleagues on a bipartisan basis to support this legislation. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JAMES WALSH","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":324,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090094607,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. pursuant to House Resolution 565. I call up the conference report on the bill making appropriations for the Departments of Transportation. Treasury. and Housing and Urban Development. the Judiciary. District of Columbia. and independent agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30. 2006. and for other purposes.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH KNOLLENBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":329,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090094617,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. Chairman KNOLLENBERG. my colleague from Massachusetts I rise siniply to express my deepest appreciation for the work that you have been about on this newly organized subcommittee that has a variety. a mix. of complex issues that can conflict with each other. issues that if taken the wrong way. can cause bills to be stymied and no progress made. You have done. a very. very fine job of establishing a tone that says that we can work together.. And where Appropriations does its best work is when- we reach across the aisle and recognize that while we do not have to agree 100 percent of the time. there is little doubt that a real solution comes when we do think about these alternatives. talking to one another as human beings and people who represent citizens across the country as well. The bill is a very fine bill. a great job. I want to congratulate the staff. especially. as we have gone through this transition. They have done wonderful work. I congratulate the entire subcommittee.","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1004,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090094626,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if the gentleman will yield. I do indeed. There is language in the bill addressing the Free File Alliance stating that \"the conferees are aware that the IRS and the FFA have signed a new 4year agreement -under which the IRS continues to agree. not to enter the tax preparation market.\" The conferees direct IRS to abide by the terms and conditions of the agreement. We believe that this will ensure that the IRS adheres to the agreement and will not enter the tax preparation market.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH KNOLLENBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":496,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090094638,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Fraud in the household goods moving industry affects thousands of victims each year. as documented in hearings of the Surface Transportation Subcommittee. Unscrupulous movers offer low estimates. then later inflate the price of the move and hold the customers goods hostage until they pay the inflated price. The frequency of such scams increased after federal authority over these companies was transferred from the Interstate Commerce Commission to the Department of Transportation (DOT) in 1995. These responsibilities fell to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and later to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). FMCSAs primary mission is safety. and the agency has few resources to focus on consumer protection. Corrupt movers increasingly exploited this regulatory gap. In March of 2001. the General Accounting Office (GAO) repprted that complaints of consumer fraud in the household goods moving industry rose dramatically from 1996 to 1999. Complaints to DOT rose 107 percent and the number of requests for arbitration to the American Moving and Storage Association went up 750 percent. In response. and after much discussion in the Conference Committee. we included language in SAFETEALU that provided greater protection against unscrupulous \"rogue\" movers. The law authorized state attorneys general and state consumer protection\" agencies to enforce federal regulations governing the interstate movement of household goods.. ","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10572,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090094675,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. with all due respect to the gentlewoman who just spoke. I have to tell you. I am tired. I think we are all tired. of the rhetoric. You want to discuss this issue seriously. let us have a real debate. not an hour in which we will debate this resolution that cannot be amended. That is ridiculous. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":827,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090094697,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for the time. I believe it is imperative in this body that we have an open and frank dialogue on issues that are of concern to us. I am disturbed and disappointed. frankly. by some of the rhetoric I have heard. because we are judged and we are acquitted and\/or we are found guilty by those words. but the luxury we have isthey are simply words here. The impact of those words. though. on the other side of the ocean. in the AOR. in Iraq and Afghanistan. is that in this small world. not only do our friends but also our enemies watch. and they do not understand our concept of openness. of tolerance. of free speech and spirited .dialogue. Indeed. sometimes remarks that have been made in this Chamber have been used for the recruiting of suicide bombers. Ithink that one thing. and I would have to say quite candidly. is in our oversight. It is also important that we have oversight on our own words. The comments that were made yesterday by a man with a distinguished military record. who I do not fault one bit. fly in the face of the comments of hundreds of soldiers. -ranging from junior enlisted personnel across the AOR to my West Point classmates who are commanding brigades on the ground and disagree categorically. based on the phone. calls that I got last night. including one from the commander of Americas premier counterterrorism organization. who asked what in the world was happening here to make those kind of comments to encourage our enemies. ","speaker_name":"GEOFF DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2353,"word_count":267}
{"speech_id":1090094699,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Theirs not to reason why. Theirs but to do and die: Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. Every day our men and women are riding convoys into that valley of death. Shame on us for this resolution. Vote against it.","speaker_name":"SILVESTRE REYES","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1839,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090094723,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I do not understand it to ever be the habit of this institution for a Member on one side taking it upon himself to interpret the meaning of a resolution of a Member on the other side without giving that Member the courtesy and the respect of allowing them to put forward what the meaning and intention of their own resolution is. I think. 4ir. you are playing games.","speaker_name":"JOHN TIERNEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":379,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090094725,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. let me just reiterate to myfriend. he said this should not be about Mr. MURTHA. and it is not about Mr. MURTHA. It is about the message that has been sent around the world. as evidenced by emails coming back in from our troops now who think that the Congress is pulling the rug out from under the.mission.","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":318,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090094745,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Reserving the right to object. Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the gentlewomans words. And I accept. as one Member. her offer to have her words withdrawn. But I encourage all of us here tonight to recognize the seriousness of what we are about and to choose our words carefully. Our side is greatly offended by this process. I suspect that you have a fair number of Members that are not very satisfied with it. either. My suggestion would be that the resolution be withdrawn and we come back and discuss it another day. However. ","speaker_name":"VICTOR SNYDER","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":556,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090094752,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"To vote for this rule is to politicize a war and that is a mistake. All of us whether we are for this war or against this war. whether Republican or Democrat or liberal or conservative. we should not want to politicize this war. To do so is tragic. Mr. Speaker. by moving ahead with this resolution. we demean the service of our soldiers. We demean the families who have lost loved ones in this war. We demean this institution. We need to do our job. This is not about a game of political gotcha. This is about doing the right thing. making sure we are on the right course. that we can disagree about that.. but we can respect each others opinion without trying to smear one another. \u0095 And so I would urge all my colleagues for the sake of collegiality. for the sake of civility in ..this House. for the sake of doing the right thing for the people of this country and especially for our troops overseas vote down this rule. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2866,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090094754,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The challenge America faces in the Islamic and Arab world is being made worse every day by the Bush Administrations miscalculations and misreading of the enemy. Every day. we see the Bush Administration wins us fewer friends. *America will win when the people we are trying to liberate believe we are their friends. not their enemies. 80% of Iraqis are strongly opposed to the presence of coalition troops and nearly half of the Iraqi population believe attacks against American. troops are justified. This is not a prescription for victory. The time for. the Murtha Plan to begin is now. Thank you JACK MURTHA for placing your life in the line of fire for our troops and for freedom. Your resolution has a right to be heard and debated as a way forward to freedom.","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2689,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090094781,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speakers table the Senate bill to authorize appropriations for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for science. aeronautics. exploration. exploration capabilities. and the Inspector General. and for other purposes. for fiscal years 2006. 2007. 2008. 2009. and 2010. and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.","speaker_name":"SHERWOOD BOEHLERT","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":387,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090094798,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield my- flood insurance program and made it self such time as I may consume. very difficult for people to recover othMr. Speaker. I just want to thank my erwise. good friend and ranking member. the I urge the House to adopt this begentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. cause we need it so much in our area. FRANK). for his support on this. This is Mr. OXLEY. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL OXLEY","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":517,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090094799,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"pensated under their insurance pro- Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman gram that they paid premiums -into from Ohio for his leaderFEMA for. This is an obligation by the ship on issues regarding the National Federal Government to make sure that shpon Isue rgr t i Flood Insurance Program. those people are paid. FEMA is out of Mr. Speaker. on Wednesday of this money as I speak. We need to get this week. the House passed by voice vote -done. I would ask the Houses coopera- H.R. 4133. the NationalFlood Insurance .tion in this effort. Program Further Enhanced Borrowing Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL FITZPATRICK","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":694,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090094804,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would say to. the gentleman I agree with him this is a lost opportunity. but like the book \"I Lost It At The Movies.\" we lost it at the Senate. So we are doing the best we can. Mr. Speaker. I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. TAY\"LOR). who has worked harder in the aftermath of this than I have ever seen -any. Member work in trying to deal with the desperate situation imposed on the people he represents.","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":442,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090094813,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. gi. that the subject of this issue deals w the olemn subject of war. my quest is. would I be in order to ask for uns mous consent that each Member of House be allowed up to 5 minutes speak his or her conscience on t warrelated resolution? 0l 2000","speaker_name":"THOMAS EDWARDS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":259,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090094816,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"redeployment plan comes from an experienced statesman andsoldier who has and will continue to do whatever he thinks is best for this Nation. I implore my colleagues across thi\u00a7 aisle to realize that continued Republican attacks which seek to dismiss and to discredit the valuable critiques of knowledgeable legislators. as well as the heartfelt will of the American people. will succeed in silencing neither. Nor will they change the reality on the ground in Iraq. More Republican assaults will not hide the gross management and corruption which has plagued the administrations attempt to prosecute the war. and they will not mollify Americas growing concerns over flawed intelligence. broken trust. subverted values. and shameful acts of torture. all forced by the hand of an administration that answers in halftruths and obfuscations. These cynical and alltootypical Republican attempts to silence dissension. stifle debate. and discredit those who would dare to hold them accountable will only serve to elevate the power of the message that Mr. MURTHA is delivering to this government and to the American people and to our troops. The Republicans today by attacking him succeed only in betraying themselves. The dramatic nature of their panicked response has clearly demonstrated how incredibly valued Mr. MURTHAs judgement is to military experts at the Pentagon. to Members of Congress. and to the American intelligence community. And the strangest thing that I shall ever see is the people who believed that they were rewriting Mr. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MURTHA","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1909,"word_count":241}
{"speech_id":1090094818,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"How dare some of my. colleagues on the left misrepresent our mission in Iraq. They call our troops occupiers rather than liberators. and it seems theyre more interested in demonizing Bush than defeating terrorists and defending freedom. History has some lessons to teach us. One is written in words on the mall. It says \"freedom is not free.\" While we respect those who disagree with us and who may even protest. we shouldalways remember that our freedoms were not won with poster paint. They were won by the blood of patriots. Winning and protecting freedom is costly. Thats what our troops are doing in Iraq. As a combat veteran who served in an unpopular conflict during another painful time in our history. I can tell you that our troops will always remember which politicians supported them. and which undermined their efforts. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3578,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090094842,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"My fourth son has indicated that next year he will be enlisting in the marines. My four sons understand September 11 was the beginning of a war.. a global war against terrorism. I am very proud of their participation. We understand that we must face the enemy overseas. or we will be facing them here on the streets of America.","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":881,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090094851,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I want them home. I want them home as soon as that mission is completed. the mission we sent them on. and a mission that I do not want extended by 1 hour or 1 minute because of what we may do here.. Now. Mr. Speaker. I will tell you. it is not a secret to anybody in this body. I am not on the best terms with the President and the White House. CertainlyI do not get invited over there any more than my colleagues on tlre other side of the aisle because I have been in opposition to many of his plans and proposals. However. I ask my friends on the other side of the aisle to do. this. and I beg them to do this: Please do not let your hatred for the President of the United States get in the way of what I know is your basic love for this country.","speaker_name":"THOMAS TANCREDO","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2514,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090094856,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas . .. Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker. JACK MURTHA is a decorated Vietnam war veteran. He is a United States Marine. retired colonel. This de0 bate is not about the Iraq war. it is about silencing the opinion of a respected veteran marine and Member of Congress. ","speaker_name":"LOUISE SLAUGHTER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1080,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090094927,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Repub_licans in this House have done a heinous thing: they have insulted one of the deans of this House in an unthinkable and unconscionable way. They took his words and contorted them. they took his heartfelt sentiments and spun them. They took his resolution and deformed it: in a cheap effort to silence dissent in the House of Representatives. The Republicans should be roundly criticized for this reprehensible act. They have perpetrated a fraud on the House of Representatives just as they have defrauded the American people. By twisting the issue around. the Republicans are trying to set a trap for the Democrats. A \"no\" vote for this Resolution will obscure the fact that there is strong support for withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. I am voting \"yes\" on this Resolution for an orderly withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq despite the convoluted motives behind the Republican Resolution. I am voting to support our troops by bringing them home now in an orderly withdrawal. ","speaker_name":"CYNTHIA MCKINNEY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1730,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090094932,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Pulling our troops put now is akin to surrender and would be a fateful blunder.","speaker_name":"PAUL RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1503,"word_count":15}
{"speech_id":1090094940,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Only $9 billion appropriated for reconstruction has been spent. Unemployment remains at about 60 percent. Clean water is scarce. Only $500 million of the $2.2 billion dppropriated forwater projects has been spent. And most importantly. insurgent incidents have increased from about. 150 per week to over 700 per week in the last year.\" Congressman MURTHA pointed out that the American people do not want us in Iraq. A British poll found that 80 percent of Iraqis do not want us occupying their country. Of the 80 percent of the Iraqis who dont want us in Iraq. 44 percent felt attacks on Americans were justified. Drawing on his experience in Vietnam. Congressman MURTHA said there is no way to win a war with insurgents when the people tell the insurgents what moves you are going to take. Congressman MURTHA repeated what he has been saying. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES RANGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4454,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090094944,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have opposed this war fronm the beginning. I wasnt convinced of the need for it and deeply concerned about the potential fallout that it could precipitate. Sadly. many of my concerns have been borne out. as nearly 2.100 brave Americans have lost their lives and many thousands more have been wounded. Today. the insurgency continues unabated and now Iraq is a hotbed of terrorist activity. We are less secure today than before we invaded. As a result. Americas position and influence in the world have suffered greatly in the process. I believe it is long past time that the administration produce an exit strategy for Iraq and am deeply disappointed that all we have seen is more of the same arrogance and incompetence that got us here in the first place. I am not surprised by RepresentativeMURTHAS statement yesterday.","speaker_name":"LOIS CAPPS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1471,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090094953,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. too often. so many of my colleagues are reluctant to challenge this Administrations policies in Iraq for fear that anything other than staying the course will somehow appear weak. But the Presidents course is misguided. and it is doing grave damage to our extraordinarily professional and globally admired allvolunteer United States Army. To stand by while this damage is done is not patriotic. It is not supportive. It is not tough on terrorism. or strong on national security. Because I am proud of our men and women in uniform. and because I am committed to working with all of my colleagues to make this country more secure. I am convinced that we must change our course and -I commend Mr. MURTHA for standing up for what is right.","speaker_name":"EDDIE JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1766,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090094986,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I come to the well tonight after a long day of debate on whether or not we should redeploy our troops from Iraq. A careful reading of the gentleman from Pennsylvanias resolution. had we debated it. would have pointed out that the fourth point that he raised was that we have to diplomatically pursue security and stability in Iraq. It is that issue I want to talk about because the question is always raised. If we leave.","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":434,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090095061,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Truly a gateway church. Hickory First Assembly demonstrates a positive influence on the community by consistently communicating and living out biblical values. E2416","speaker_name":"PATRICK MCHENRY","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1514,"word_count":23}
{"speech_id":1090095128,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Stand for freedom. Because we over here support you over there. And come home victorious for freedom when its over over there. Thats just the way it is.","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1132,"word_count":28}
{"speech_id":1090095131,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to address the Democrats plan for Iraq. Last week. following the Thanksgiving holiday. I spent a considerable amount of my time with constituents listening to their concerns and discussing a whole array of issues from gas prices. to the new prescription drug benefit. to the war in Iraq. However. Mr. Speaker. some on the other side of the aisle used their time parading on comedy shows decrying the current operation in Iraq and scoring big laughs at the expense of our troops. I believe this further undermines the argument of those who would claim that an immediate withdrawal from Iraq is a noble course of action. During her big debut on \"Comedy Central.\" the minority leader bragged that \"60 percent of the House Democrats voted against the war to begin with.\" and compared to other Democrats. were \"way ahead of the issue.\" I imagine that statement probably does not sit well with our troops in the field. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1129,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090095132,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. during August of 2003. I was with a bipartisan CODEL in Iraq. We were in one of Saddam Husseins old bunkers and had a briefing from members of the Coalition Provisional Authority. United States State Department. General Sanchez. was there. They outlined their plan for reconstituting the Government of Iraq and civil society in Iraq. This plan involved selecting Iraqi citizens to form an interim constitution leading to the institution of a provisional government. which would then set the stage for selecting representatives to the Transitional National Assembly. who would write the final Iraqi constitution which. after ratification. would culminate with the election of the new Iraqi government. All but the last step have now been accomplished. basically adhering to the time line set up by the administration. the only deviation being a somewhat condensing of the timeline at the request of cleric alSistani. There is no question that there are those in the country of Iraq who feel. they would be better served by continued chaos in the region. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BURGESS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1475,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090095172,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Considering its importance to the local community. Beaver County indicated its desire to own the park and. with title to the park. would have the flexibility to manage it in an economically feasible manner. The State of Utah. the Bureau of Land Management. and Beaver County all strongly support this bill. and I urge passage of this noncontroversial measure. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"GEORGE RADANOVICH","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":972,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090095232,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of. H. Con. Res. 273. which recognizes and honors the 50th anniversary of the Montgomery. Alabama. bus boycott and the historical significance of the boycott to the United States. On December 1. 1955. Rosa Parks. a seamstress and wife. boarded a Montgomery bus to begin her usual journey home. Nothing was particularly different about this day. except that she wanted to sit after a long days work. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SHAYS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1171,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090095242,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I might consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of this legislation. Mr. Speaker. the legislation before us accomplishes a simple and straightforward task. It gives the Navy the authority to transfer excess U.S. Naval vessels to India. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1052,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090095265,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H.R. 2017. \"The Torture Victims Relief Reauthorization Act of 2005.\" Torture can have devastating physical and psychological consequences for its victims. It is a worldwide health and human rights concem. The need for assistance for torture. victims living in the United States is enormous. It is estimated that more than half a million survivors of torture. who fled persecution in their native countries. now live in the United States. Survivors of torture arriving in this country include students. academicians. religious leaders and political activists. Programs funded through the Torture Victims Relief Act help torture victims heal and rebuild their lives. Because of this legislation. more than 30 organizations in more than 20 States are caring for refugees and asylum seekers who have been brutally tortured and traumatized in their countries of origin. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3570,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090095274,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"When Jews are murdered in shopping malls in Netanya or in pizza parlors in Jerusalem. the General Assembly is silent. When Jews stand up against terrorism and defend themselves. that is when the General Assembly erupts into condemnation. There is now a chilling double standard at the United Nations that roots itself in the very ideology we defeated in Europe 50 years ago. It is rooted in a new 21st century antiSemitism that targets the political manifestation of the Jewish people. Mr. Speaker. the people of Israel once again face a threat of genocide and annihilation. they call it the existential threat. from the President of Iran who outlined his vision of a world without a State of Israel and highlighted his pursuit of nuclear power until that vision is realized. The United Nations cannot sit by and allow that to happen. Now is the time to fulfill our promise. never again. We need to wake up now and see the United Nations for what it is. not what it was. What it is now. in part. is a corrupt and antiSemitism organization. ","speaker_name":"MARK KIRK","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2390,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090095299,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I urge my colleagues to honor the distinguished life and legacy of Yitzhak Rabin by voting for this legislation. A decade has passed since Yitzhak Rabin was murdered. I pray another decade need not pass before his lifelong goal of peace in the Middle East is realized.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2554,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090095300,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat signed the Declaration of Principles in Washington. DC. outlining the proposed interim selfgovernment arrangements. The \"GazaJericho First\" agreement. signed in Cairo on May 4. 1994. addressed the implementation of the first stage of the Declaration of Principles. Following the progress in the negotiations with the Palestinians. Mr. Rabin received the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize for his work. I had the opportunity to meet Prime Minister Rabin and value his memory. Mr. Rabin was an extraordinary man. and not enough can be said about his commitment to the Israeli people. his country. and regional peace. Mr. ","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2570,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090095325,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would just like to conclude by again commending my good friend from California for his leadership and his passion on this resolution. and join with him in urging our colleagues to support the resolution. Mr. Speaker. I have no further speakers and would yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"ELTON GALLEGLY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":303,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090095363,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We are close to having sufficient Iraqi forces trained and equipped to participate in their own security operations. Our soldiers are very close to having completed their mission. Congress should not desert them now.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BURGESS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5705,"word_count":34}
{"speech_id":1090095371,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. I ask my colleagues to look at the situation in Iraq. look at the threat posed by Iraq under the regime of Saddam Hussein. then look at Iraq today. There is no question that we are succeeding.","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4526,"word_count":38}
{"speech_id":1090095377,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. PICKERING and others have asked to try to do something to help those people. After all. every aid package the President talks about talks about tax breaks for the fat cats. Well. the fat cats are going to do just fine after the storm. They always do. They have got the money. they know how to invest it. they know how to make more money. They do not need tax breaks. The people who need help in south Mississippi are the averageJoe homeowners: the kid who coaches the Little League team. the guy or lady who sings in the choir. who find themselves now at the end of 90 days that their mortgage is due. they have lost their job. their house has been either destroyed or horribly damaged and they are looking for help from their Nation. This is an extremely patriotic part of the country. and an extremely high percentage of those people have served in the Armed Forces or are presently serving. and all they are asking from you. Mr. ","speaker_name":"GENE TAYLOR","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4696,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090095386,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And as Blue Dog members. the Blue Dog Coalition has a 12point plan for budget reform. 12 points. We will be discussing some of them tonight. We will be discussing them every Tuesday night. Twelve points that we believe have to be implemented by this Congress before we can have meaningful and truthful budget reform. . So we are not here as conservative Democrats to simply say Republicans are bad. We are here to offer up two things: we are here to demand accountability. to put our fiscal house back in order. restore some common sense to our Nations government. and we are also here to offer a plan. We have a plan of action. and we are calling on this Republican Congress and this Republican President to embrace our 12 points for budget reform. Let us come together and let us fix this problem for the American people before this number. this $8.121 trillion debt. gets any bigger.","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2146,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090095391,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think we all will agree. that our country deserves better. The American people deserve better than what this is. and all we are doing as Democrats. and as our Blue Dog Coalition. is proving our heritage. proving our purpose. our mission. our goal. is to bring about a balanced budget. We are the group in this Congress that has been at the leadership of this issue. It is time to lead. We have been leading. We think we are getting the ear of the American people. Once we get the ear of the American people to help put pressure on this Congress. which unfortunately or fortunately. depending upon what party you belong to. is run by Republicans. And I think Republican and Democrats can work together. And there are many on the other side of the aisle who want to bring this deficit down","speaker_name":"DAVID SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1829,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090095403,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And talk about wrong priorities. Hurting home folks so we can benefit rich foreigners? That is completely out of hand. But that is what happens when we not only have giant deficits but we have to borrow so much money from foreigners.","speaker_name":"JIM COOPER","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1303,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090095406,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I want to thank the gentleman from Georgia. This is exactly why the 37memberstrong fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition will take to the floor every Tuesday night to discuss with the Members the debt. the deflcit. and to hold this administration and this Republican Congress accountable and also offer up our 12 point reform plan for curing our Nations addiction to deficit spending. Point number one. require a balanced budget. We will be talking more about that and the other 11 points next Tuesday night as members of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition. a group of 37 conservative to moderate Democrats. take to the floor to hold this administration and this Congress accountable for these record deficits and to offer up a solution. including requiring a balanced budget. The Blue Dog Coalition. the poster here. today the U.S. national debt. this morning. when we started this hour. it was $8.121 trillion. In the past 60 minutes. while we have been standing here discussing the crisis at hand in America. the national debt has risen another $41 million. Another $41 million in debt has accumulated in this Nation since we began this discussion here on the floor of the U.S. House 60 minutes ago. That is eight more elementary schools that cannot be built tonight in America simply because that money is going to pay interest on the national debt. This discussion will continue with my colleague and other members of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition next Tuesday night. and I want to thank you for coming and joining me in this debate about accountability and common sense and fiscal responsibility.","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1630,"word_count":272}
{"speech_id":1090095411,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Now. Congressman CONAWAY mentioned the increased tax revenue. and I think it is important to say that when you decrease taxes. what happens. What happens when you decrease taxes? The other side would. have you believe that revenue plummets. that revenue to the Federal Government plummets. Well. if you look at the facts. the facts are that when you decrease taxes. what happens is that you increase revenue. as the gentleman said. This chart is from. the CBO and it shows clearly. as my colleague mentioned. in 2003. tax revenue to the Federal Government. $1.78 trillion. That is when the most recent tax decreases. tax cuts. took effect at that point. In 2004. $1.88 trillion. In 2005. $2.14 trillion.","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3045,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090095422,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"\"Well. in Sunday school. they told us all about this great general named Moses and how he led his army out of Egypt with the Egyptians in hot pursuit. And when they got down to the Red Sea.\" he said. \"Moses dispatched his engineersand had them build a pontoon bridge and all of his soldiers went across. And then when the Egyptians got on the bridge. he dispatched his demolition experts. and they dynamited the bridge. and all of the Egyptians fell into the water and drowned. Johnnys mother said. \"Now. Johnny. are you sure that is what they told you?\" He said. \"Well. no. maam.\" But I figured you would believe this more than you would what they did tell us.\" And listening to what some of my colleagues have been saying this evening. I figure that the American people have got to believe something other than that. I mean. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5827,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090095425,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Most are in the hundreds. England. 142 per 100.000. Australia. 117. Canada. 116. Germany. 91. France. 95 per 100.000. The United States. 700andsome per 100.000. When you go into the inner cities. it is not 700andsome. it is 3.000 per 100.000. Five thousand in the inner cities. 116 in Canada. 5.000 in our inner cities. No matter how tough we get in sentencing. the fact is that 95 percent of inmates will be released at some point. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8401,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090095426,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman from Virginia. I know that you are on Judiciary and there are people in our country whenever you start talking about doing something that relates to corrections or trying to assist individuals who have been convicted of crimes. people accuse or charge you with being soft on crime. How do you respond to people who suggest that this kind of legislation. this kind of activity. this kind of effort is being soft on crime?","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":442,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090095428,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But as importantly as we all talk about the importance of family. the importance of having a mother or father in your life. in many of these programs we are able to bring these exoffenders back to understanding the need to be a good mother or a good father in order to create better families. and having stronger families in communities creates better communities. Having taxpaying. working citizens in our communities provides a stronger tax base. There are all kinds of reasons that we need to be in support of community reentry.","speaker_name":"STEPHANIE JONES","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1909,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090095438,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We had the opportunity to meet with several Iraqi women leaders who told us of the improving characteristics of the Iraqi security forces in April. There have been many news reports about the difficulty of training the Iraqi security forces. but to hear it from actual Iraqi women leaders. a couple members of parliament. an ambassador. ministers in the interim government that the Iraqi people were beginning to trust and work with the Iraqi security forces. was very compelling to us. We also heard the same information from General Patreas. who was responsible for the training. the arming and equipping of the Iraqi security forces. What he told us is that they were starting to be able to develop a command and control structure. They were beginning to be able to operate independently without being embedded with American forces. having American forces as backup. and that process was continuing. It is learly a work in progress. Today. there are over 210.000 Iraqi security forces. and the process is not done. The point I am making is that starting in November of 2003. when I first was there. to April of 2005. and then today. those Iraqi security forces are making tremendous progress. Yes. it is not perfect. There are continuing issues that have to be dealt with. but the progress is measurable and quantifiable and is receiving the trust and the support of the Iraqi people. real people that we talked to. people who had had their lives threatened. who had had their lives disordered by the regime of Saddam Hussein. ","speaker_name":"JEB BRADLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8760,"word_count":261}
{"speech_id":1090095439,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That did not deter the Iraqis. They went on without interruption. No one has challenged the legitimacy of the election. It was a legitimate election. That was January. On October 15 when the Constitution that was drafted by that interim parliament. and it was hard fought and there were many tough decisions to be made. and to reconcile the differences between the regions in the country. the resources in the country and the differences between the religious factions that were there and the tribal factions that were there was a very difficult thing. How do you divide up the resources of a country so all of the people benefit from those resources when you have that proprietary notion that because the oil is underneath the soil in one region. it should not be shared with people of another region that does not have oil underneath their soil? They came to an agreement on that. and the known and developed reserves are distributed equally around the country with exceptions to put extra resources in those regions where they have been at a greater disadvantage. and it is going to take greater resources to get them up to speed. But. essentially. the language in the Constitution calls for taking existing resources and providing kind of a parity so the Iraqis can benefit almost equally. But that Constitution that was so hard fought. the one that down to the last minute they were changing some language in it so they had the best chance of getting it ratified in the referendum. on October 15 of this year they ratified their Constitution. Now. one might say. so Iraq has gone through these milestones and the milestones of liberation in March and April of 2003. and the milestone of martial law converting into the Coalition Provisional Authority under Paul Bremer. and then handing it over to the Civilian Provisional Authority. and then having the elections that elected the Iraqi interim parliament and then having the referendum that ratified the Constitution on October 15. one might say what is all of that about. ","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11107,"word_count":347}
{"speech_id":1090095519,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we heeded the call to action during World War II as the greatest generation battled oppression and led the effort to help Europe rebuild. Today. we are faced with a similar mission in Iraq. one that will help focus momentum in the region toward the causes of freedom and democracy. . Our men and women serving in Iraq are part of another great generation of patriots committed to a mission that became clear on September 11. 2001. another day that will live in infamy in our Nations history. Freedom is not free. but it is always worth fighting for. As John F. Kennedy once stated. the cost of freedom is always high. but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose is the path of surrender or submission. We have the mission for victory in Iraq. Let us honor that pledge.","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":807,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090095524,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it is astonishing how badly this administration and the Republican Congress has veered off course. Bribery. Perjury. Allegations of insider trading and money laundering. The majority leaders in both Chambers of the Congress. one under indictment. the other being investigated by the SEC. The American people understand full well the consequences of this culture of corruption. They saw it in New Orleans. The administrations incompetence was more devastating than the storm itself. They see a President all too willing to cover up waste and profiteering here and abroad where. again. incompetence has contributed to the loss of American lives. more than 2.000 and climbing. ","speaker_name":"ROSA DELAURO","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1410,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090095528,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I listened to my Republican colleague who just spoke. and he talked about how the first job of this Congress is to protect the jobs of the American. people. I do not see that happening here. We are back now for a 2week period here in the House and what do I hear is on the agenda? First of all. tomorrow is the Tax Reconciliation Ac. This is the tax cut. if you will. for special interests. for wealthy people paid for with the budget cuts that we adopted. the Republican leadership adopted 2 weeks ago. cuts in student loans. cuts in Medicaid. cuts in housing. cuts in programs that help the average American. And they are doing that in order to pay for a tax cut they are going to vote on this week by the Republican leadership that would essentially help only the very wealthy and the special interests. the corporations. What else is on the agenda today? The Bahrain Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act. another free trade agreement that is going to mean loss of American jobs. outsourcing of American jobs to other countries. How many more of these are we going to have? How many more times am I going to come down to the floor and have the Republican leadership post bills that do not help the average American?","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1234,"word_count":226}
{"speech_id":1090095535,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. did you see the great economic news? Last month. November. 215.000 new jobs were created. Just another sign that the positive. productive policies of tax relief are working. In the past 21\/2 years. 4.4 million new jobs. an unemployment rate of 5 percent. lower than the average for the 70s. the 80s and the 90s. Look at the economic growth that has occurred over the last 10 quarters. more than 3 percent growth each quarter. 10 straight quarters. Mr. Speaker. this is very good news. The American people expect us to do the responsible hard work that respects their hard work. I call on all Members of Congress to put aside politics and vote in favor of the extension of tax relief for all Americans and not to raise taxes at this pivotal time.","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":758,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090095538,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"No equipment shortages. From tissue to toilet paper. our troops are well equipped. We found that they were very engaged in the mission and that the Iraqi security forces each day were getting more and more of the territory under their control. We found enthusiasm for the December 15 election. 228 different political parties already offering candidates. A lot of progress is being made. Everything is completely different than the pessimism and the continuous criticism and the Vietnamera radicalism expressed by Mr. KERRY and Mr. Dean. I would invite those two to go over there and see for themselves before they send such discouraging signals to our troops in action.","speaker_name":"JACK KINGSTON","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1377,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090095557,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of the gentleman from Floridas legislation. H. Con. Res. 196. This bill recognizes airline pilots who have courageously volunteered to participate in the Federal Flight Deck Officer program. Following the tragic events of 9\/11 in my home State of New York. the Federal Flight Deck Officer program was created by Congress as a part of the Homeland Security Act to select. train. equip. and supervise volunteer pilots to defend the flight decks of passenger aircraft against acts of criminal violence and air piracy. These volunteers have dedicated their time and money to the extensive flight deck officer program. They are selected for training only after meeting very strict qualification standards. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KUHL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1761,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090095574,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"To improve the publics confidence in the quality of our Nations coastal waters and to protect public health and safety. Congress passed the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act of 2000. commonly called the BEACH Act. in the 106th Congress. Under the BEACH Act. the EPA has been developing new water quality criteria to protect human health from diseasecausing pathogens. and States are updating their water quality standards for recreational coastal waters to incorporate these more protective critical. The EPA also has been making grants to States to help them implement programs to monitor beach water quality and to notify the public if water quality standards are not being met. H.R. 1721 reauthorizes the current level of funding for these programs. This includes $30 million annually through fiscal year 2011 for the EPA to make grants to help them implement their coastal waters monitoring and public notification programs. H.R. 1721 will help protect public health and safety and continue to improve the quality of our Nations recreational coastal waters that are so very important to the economies of our coastal communities. I certainly want to congratulate our colleague. Mr. BISHOP. on sponsoring this bill. and I urge all Members to support this very worthwhile legislation. ","speaker_name":"JOHN DUNCAN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2099,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090095600,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In the early 1900s. the Sounds population of terrapins was near the point of extinction due to overfarming to feed the nations appetite for turtle soup. During Prohibition. however. sherrya key ingredient in turtle soupwas forbidden to be sold. The farming for the terrapins waned and the population was able to rebound to its natural state. even after sherry became legal once more. Similar progress to restore and protect the populations and quality of the Sound are still necessary. this time in a more direct manner. The Long Island Program contributes this support that is so direly needed. I support this bill and urge my colleagues to take swift action for its passage.","speaker_name":"ROBERT SIMMONS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1736,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090095612,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of this bill to make permanent an expiring provision in the current law that ensures protection for judges and for their families when they are threatened and they may be in danger. This is a muchneeded revision of the 1978 Ethics in Government Act. But. in addition. this House would do well to pass a 2005 Ethics in Government Act of its own. Indeed. we have seen in recent months how broken the ethics process in this body is. Had the majority shown as much initiative in fixing that process as it has in bringing this bill to the floor. perhaps we would not have seen Members of that majority indicted or pleading guilty to charges of bribery. money laundering. and tax evasion. As it stands. the Washington Post says investigators are now looking into the actions of at least a half dozen Members of Congress. senior congressional staff. one former Deputy Secretary of the Interior. and several lobbyists. In the wake of the tragic murder of a Chicago judge last summer. the underlying legislation we consider takes steps to protect that judiciary. But in the wake of countless scandals that continue to bring shame to this institution and the majorityj. ","speaker_name":"ROSA DELAURO","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1866,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090095637,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"David Lockman and Jamila Thompson of my staff. who have worked together for over a year now on this very. very important effort. Let me also express my appreciation to the 13th Amendment Foundation. located actually in my district. They have worked diligently to honor and to recognize this momentous occasion. And as the gentleman from Wisconsin said. it is very important that our young people. especially. are reminded of the importance of this 13th amendment and read and understand why what happened 140 years ago is very. very important to today in 2005. I hope that everyone will support this effort to honor the 140th anniversary of the ratification of the 13th amendment. On December 6. 1865. slavery ended and the deep roots of the modern civil rights movement were planted. The 13th amendment was a response to the Dred Scott decision of 1856. a ruling that actually declared that Congress lacked the power to prohibit slavery in our country. If the Dred Scott ruling were still in effect today. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA LEE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8005,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090095638,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. one hundred and forty years ago. this Nation established the foundation with which it could advance freedom and equality for all of its people. On December 6. 1865. the required 27 of the then 36 states ratified the 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution. The 13th Amend)ent states that \"neither slavery nor involuntary servitude . . . shall exist within the United States.\" This profound declaration completed the abolition -of slavery which had begun with President Abraham Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. The 13th Amendment marked the official end of the institution of slavery and signified a turning point in Ameri c a . The 13th Amendment is the very bedrock on which all of our civil rights laws and protections stand. The 13th Amendment led to the 14th Amendment of 1868 which provides equal protection under the .law to all citizens","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":876,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090095647,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the ranking member of the subcommittee. the gentleman from Pennsylvania . is on his way over. He has taken the lead for us on this bill. I would just ask at this point unanimous consent for me to turn over to him the management of our time when he arrives.","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":269,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090095653,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for the time. Mr. Speaker. I want to thank Chairman OXLEY and Ranking Member FRANK for their hard work in getting this important legislation to the floor. This is an example of the kind of bipartisan cooperation that we have in the Financial Services Committee. Mr. Speaker. just over a year and a half ago. the committee held its first hearing in the 108th Congress on the extension of terrorism risk insurance. At that time. ","speaker_name":"STEVE ISRAEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2454,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090095675,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this has been a difficult time. because so many of us over the last year have desired to move this legislation along. But I would be remiss if I did not take this occasion to perhaps illuminate an example for this entire Congress as represented by the financial services industry. I would have to say. without doing an indepth study. that the Financial Services Committee of the House of Representatives has proven that even in the 109th Congress we can have bipartisan activity of an extraordinary amount. and that to a large extent is due to the incredibly good leadership of our gentleman friend. the chairman from Ohio. and the ranking member. the gentleman from Massachusetts","speaker_name":"PAUL KANJORSKI","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":693,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090095721,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. many of us here t6day on both sides of the aisle would likely support AMT relief that goes far beyond what is included in this bill. But the legislation before us today is a crucial first step. I urge my colleagues to come together on a strong bipartisan basis to protect the middle class against stealth tax increases from the AMT.","speaker_name":"THOMAS REYNOLDS","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":929,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090095748,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself suci time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. H.R. 327 was introduced by Representative GRIJALVA. my colleague from Arizona. and I join him as an original cosponsor. This bill is to allow binding arbitration clauses to be included in all contracts. including leases affecting lands within the Gila River Indian Community in the State of Arizona. Without such binding arbitration clauses. many investors would not be interested in doing business with the tribe because there would be no means of enforcing contracts. Unfortunately. an amendment to a related provision of law has made it unclear whether the tribe may put the binding arbitration clauses into all of its contracts and leases. This bill clarifies that the tribe may include binding arbitration clauses in all contracts for business developments on its reservation. ","speaker_name":"JOHN HAYWORTH","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1028,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090095758,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Also. an extension of the transfer of the rum excise taxes to the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico is included in this bill. Also. Mr. Speaker. there is a provision in current law that expires at the end of this year which gives the IRS the authority to use income generated by an undercover operation to pay ongoing expenses on that operation. Again. that authority would be extended by 1 year in this bill. Also there is authQrity in the bill for the IRS to disclose certain tax information to other Federal and State authorities. Finally. Mr. Speaker. a provision in this bill would allow Puerto Rico and businesses in Puerto Rico to claim the manufacturing deduction that was part of legislation previously passed by this House. That summarizes the provisions of this bill. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCCRERY","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1504,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090095764,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker.I rise in strong support of this legislation and welcome the bipartisan support we will see for its passage. I especially applaud the efforts of the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) for dealing with the key provision of treating combat pay as earned income under the earned income credit. It has been stated before on the floor but it deserves amplification again. especially in the wake of this House voting 4033 in strong support of our men and women in uniform in the combat zone in Iraq. Under current law. combat pay is ignored for the purpose of calculating the combat credit. Ignoring combat pay can reduce the EIC in some cases. but a special rule gives military personnel the option to include combat pay in their earned income calculation. This would extend the special rule by 1 year. The criticism to the extent we have heard today is not based totally on partisan posturing. No. the criticism is inherent at times in dealing in an institution that is a deliberative body. ","speaker_name":"JOHN HAYWORTH","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2296,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090095765,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. in closing. the gentleman from Louisiana is a hardworking member of the Committee on Ways and Means. and while we may have differences on legislation and policy. that we all have to protect the integrity of that committee. That is the only committee outlined in the Constitution to provide the ways and means to run this great republic. and I just do not like to see the Rules Committee making decisions on what has fiscal implications not only for the Congress and the Members here. but for the entire country. I do not have any objections to this. and I encourage Members on both sides of the aisle to support this suspension.","speaker_name":"CHARLES RANGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1574,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090095788,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the goal of passing todays legislation is to help businesses in the gulf coast region reopen their doors and get people back to work. However. this legislation excludes perhaps the most important industry in the region that employs over 50.000 people in Mississippi and Louisiana and pays over $800 million in State and local tax revenue. that is. the gaming industry. The gaming industry has made substantial contribution to the regional economy of the gulf coast and will invest billions of dollars as it rebuilds. making it an essential part of restoring employment. economic growth. and tax revenue to the area. I am dismayed that the biased view of one congressman has resulted in this bill excluding a group of employers that provide good jobs and tax revenue to the hurricaneravaged region. I am astounded that one Member who has a longheld contempt for the gaming industry can insert language in this legislation. which is supposed to be helping the victims of Katrina. that will prevent thousands of our fellow citizens from going back to work. going back to their homes. reuniting with their families. and begin to live a normal life again. I am angry that we are carving out an exception for one business in this legislation. a legitimate business. a wellregulated business. a business whose companies are traded on the New York Stock Exchange. a business that employs thousands of people in the region and generates millions of dollars in tax revenue. This makes no sense. And I am outraged. if I may say so. Mr.. ","speaker_name":"SHELLEY BERKLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3064,"word_count":261}
{"speech_id":1090095797,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"spoke of. all of those are simply tools to allow the people in these devastated areas to help pick themselves up and restart their communities. The refinancing provision. for example. allowing States to basically refinance existing bonded obligations. that is a way that we are going to allow States to help themselves. So. Mr. Speaker. I hope that this House will today take the first step to getting this necessary help to these devastated areas and then. before we leave here for the Christmas holidays. pass a final version that we can send to the President for his signature. It is critical.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM JEFFERSON","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":596,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090095829,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"You may not like free trade. but the world is going free trade. And if we are going to compete in the global economy. we need to move towards free trade. and we need to be careful in negotiating these agreements one after the other. Mr. Speaker. I now happily yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California . the chairman of the Rules Committee.","speaker_name":"E. SHAW","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1022,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090095830,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The middleclass population in Mexico is larger than the entire Canadian population. And so focusing on these issues is very important if we are going to deal with questions like the one we are going to address next week. illegal immigration. to try to enhance the economies of these developing nations. We want people who are struggling to get on to thefirst rung of the economic ladder. and that is what these trade agreements are about when it comes to their relationship. Now. let us look at what these trade agreements mean to U.S. workers. As my friend from Florida just said. last month 215.000 new jobs were created. If we look at the last few years. at the last 4 years. we have seen 4.5 million new jobs created. In fact. Mr. Speaker. I will say that there are more people working in the United States of America today than we have ever seen working.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2092,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090095842,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This is a continuation of what we have seen of the DRCAFTA agreement. the NAFTA agreement. and others that are creating great opportunity for U.S. workers and consumers alike. And I want to say in conclusion that I am very. very grateful that through this agreement we are getting us back to this notion of bipartisanship. because it is not a Republican or Democratic issue. Trade is an issue that should see the support of Republicans and Democrats. We are happy to provide the lead. but every Democrat who wants to jump on board ip support of the cause of free trade is more than welcome. and I am happy the Democrats are understanding the critical importance of this effort.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1419,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090095853,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Many people think the administration is lying to us about torturing. and here we are talking about what is supposedly a democracy. Is this any more of a democracy than Saudi Arabia? It has a king. It votes. maybe. I think that the real issue is if we do not get it in writing. if we do not have enforceable rules. can we trust the administration or will the administration continue to sell out to the pharmaceutical industry. which will harm the people of Bahrain. in repayment for campaign contributions? These are the kinds of things that are at issue here. Do you.trust this administration? Do you trust them to help anybody but the very rich? Do you trust them to keep their word about what they are doing? And if you do not. as many of us do not. you will voice that protest and vote against this bill. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"FORTNEY STARK","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1644,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090095872,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. pursuant to clause 1 of rule XXII and by direction of the Committee on Appropriations. I move to take from the Speakers table the bill making appropriations for the Departments of Labor. Health and Human Services. and Education. and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30. 2006. and for other purposes. with the Senate amendment thereto. disagree to the Senate amendment. and agree to the further conference asked by the Senate.","speaker_name":"RALPH REGULA","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":459,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090095908,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In fact. today. Medicare prices are 61 percent higher than the average price in Canada for the same medication. and 84 percent higher than the federallynegotiated prices that we do under the Veterans Administration. There is no price system. no competition in this bill as it relates to reimportation and as it relates to negotiation of price. Third. it puts more barriers in place to getting generics into the market to compete against namebrand drugs. If we followed those three principles: Reimportation to allow competition and choice. negotiation between the government and the prescription drug companies just like the VA does. just like Sams Club does. just like Target does. just like any company that negotiates with its sources and suppliers to get the best price. and third. allow generics into the market quicker. the taxpayers would have saved money and we would have delivered a better product to our senior citizens. and we would have had price control. Right now. the only beneficiary out of this are the pharmaceutical companies and the insurance companies. The senior citizens and the taxpayers are being left behind. This bill never had the number one person in mind. the customer. the taxpayer and the senior citizen in mind. when drafting this bill. It also failed at having a discount card. So few seniors signed up because there was no discount. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4949,"word_count":227}
{"speech_id":1090095967,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Well. I thank the gentleman from Georgia for his insight. and I certainly appreciate his bringing the chart because it dramatically illustrates this phenomena: that if you will simply allow the American people to keep more of what they earn. allow small businesses to keep more of what they earn. they will roll up their sleeves and expand. They are going to go out and create a new transmission repair shop on one street corner or a new barbecue stand on another corner. Somebody will have the capital to finally go out and maybe create the new generation of some revolutionary new software.","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":592,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090095968,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This is the reason we are seeing growth. The gentleman mentioned the policies. the robust economy and what are some of the benefits that come from this. What happens with small business when there is more money left at the end of the month and they can get in there and say. you know. we want to do some things. Business investment. Reinvestment in thb business that you own. That is up over 10 percent. It is up over 10 percent. That is men and women that believe in what they are doing.","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1308,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090095973,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If the gexltlewoman will yield. I want to get this straight. because I think it is incredibly important for the American people to understand what is going to happen this week in the House. As I heard the gentlewoman say. if an individual in this Chamber votes \"no\" on H.R. 4297. that means that they want to see the American people not be able to deduct sales tax. State and local sales tax?","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":392,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090095974,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If the gentleman will yield. yes. for those of us in nonincome tax States that means that you are voting to take that deduction away from them. Another one that you would be voting to take away is the abovetheline deduction for outofpocket teacherclassroom expenses. Extending that deduction for our Nations teachers is included in this bill. I have so many of my friends that I went through college with who are teachers. and many of them have been teaching for about 30 years now. This is something that is important to them. because they spend a lot of their outofpocket money buying little things. buying little things that are going to enrich the classroom day. The abovetheline deduction for higher education expenses. as I was saying earlier. the research and development tax credit. now that is something that is so important to our companies in this country. When you talk about the BioShield projects. biotech developments in agricultural products. in pharmaceuticals. when you talk about technology and the needs that we have there for our Nations first responders. for our military. all of that comes in research and development. When you talk about looking at what businesses are investing in as they are working. our small business manufacturers. whose output is up for the first time in a conpie of decades. they are investing in this research and development to build a better mousetrap. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1473,"word_count":237}
{"speech_id":1090095984,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Before we passed tax relief. his company had two fulltime employees. That is a small business. But thanks to tax relief. his business expanded and he went out and hired two more. He hired a gentleman by the name of Dan and another gentleman by the name of David. They were unemployed. But thanks to the tax relief package. they got jobs in a business that was growing. But yet this week. the Democrats want to increase taxes on Hugh Dublin and East Texas Right of Way. They want to take away the paychecks of Dan and David and replace them with welfare checks. and they call that compassion. Let me tell you another example. There is a gentleman in my congressional district named Eddie Alexander. ","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2193,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090095995,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. can the gentleman say that again because I just want to make sure that the American people and not only the American people. but the Members who represent them on both sides of the aisle understand what is going on. This is unprecedented. This is not something that happened 4 or 5 years ago. This is not something that happened 20 years ago. This is not something that happened 40 years ago. This is not something that happened 200 years ago. This is something that is happening now to this country. the first time in the history of the Republic. So when folks say. well. we have to do this. that we have a war going on and we gave unprecedented tax cuts to millionaires and we had 9\/11. you know something? Fortytwo Presidents had World War I. World War II. had Vietnam. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1224,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090096013,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The problem with this whole situation. this whole scenario. is that as we are spending $1.5 billion a week in Iraq. and we are borrowing money from the Chinese. over $1 trillion in the last 4 years. not investing in the United States. not investing in education. not. investing in research and development. not fixing our health care issue. we are weakening ourselves as a country. Now we all as Americans want to say we want to be good to other countries. We want to be helpful to other countries. But if you are not strong at home. what good really are you to the rest of the world? We need a strong America. because if America is not strong. you are going to see a communist China rear its ugly head. And talk about having a debate about an issue. It was in todays paper and on the news last night and today. Osama bin Laden. There is a name we have not heard for a while. Osama bin Laden is still alive leading the jihad. Why are we not having the discussion about where is Osama bin Laden? This is the man who coordinated and organized the attack against the United States on 9\/11. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1230,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090096037,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think we are coming back for another hour. so we will get him on the other side here. I will just make this statement and ask for his comment. We have been at war for almost 3 years. It will be 3 years this March. We have not had a single oversight hearing on Iraq in the committees that I serve on. including the House International Relations Committee. Not one. 0l 2100 There are so many questions that the American people have. There are so many questions that we all have. and yet. I would submit that we are not exercising our constitutional mandate to serve as a check and balance on the executive branch. I mean. we do have these allegations of an order of magnitude of corruption that is ongoing in Iraq today. Let me just quote you from the Washington Times. not d liberal journal. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":824,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090096040,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if the gentleman would yield. I thank my friend and the gentleman from Massachusetts and colleague on the Judiciary Committee. I have been to Iraq for the express purposes of oversight of those construction projects. about $12.5 billion administered by the Army and the balance of that $18.5 billion by other entities. the sea bees. Yes. I actually faced a number of questions from the people in Iraq. I did not get to the bottom of that. I do not know that they are in a position to actually have oversight on this. in that fashion. but your point that you have made is one that is somewhat new and fresh to me. I have done due diligence. I think. to an extent to see where that moneys been spent there. ","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":821,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090096041,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. but the American people have a right of transparency and watching and hearing from these people. You make that effort and I understand that you do and you ask questions. but we need to do this in the light of day. There is pervasive corruption ongoing in the rebuilding of Iraq. It is offensive. and this comes from conservative.columnists as well as our own military personnel and from multiple. different sources. Yet. the leadership in this House is denying the American people the right to hear.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":512,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090096068,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But think about the sort of Christmas analogy. We all talk about religion. and certainly Christianity. I am a Christian. preaches about how you are supposed to help the poor and help the downtrodden. and here we are in the holiday season cutting programs to the poorest people. the victims of Katrina. their health care under Medicaid. their housing. their ability to get food stamps or food programs. Then I also think- about the manger in the story of Jesus and his birth. there is the idea that the family went around and they couldnt find a place that would take them. they couldnt find housing and so they ended up staying in the manger because there was no place else to go. That is how I feel. You read about these housing cuts and I feel like this is like Mary and Joseph and Jesus walking around. they cant find a place to sleep and they have to end up on the street. What happened to this whole idea of Christian alues or religious values? It is like thrown out the window at the very time when most people are thinking about it.","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1039,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090096079,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. how are we supposed to invest in the country?","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2087,"word_count":11}
{"speech_id":1090096080,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Yet several weeks ago. he is meeting with the Vice President in this country and is going around here in Washington. Please. will someone tell us what happened? Was there any validity to those allegations?","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1344,"word_count":35}
{"speech_id":1090096089,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That we have been talking about. then I do not know what that is. Did that contract have to be no bid? What made the wife of the nephew of the Governor. who is a former RNC chairman. who just also happens to have been a Republican Party activist. what made her the most qualified? Coincidentally? Coincidentally? Oh. gee. she just happens to be related to the Governor of Mississippi. who is the former RNC chairman and who happened to get a nobid contract. 10 nobid contracts for services that I would not deem emergency. that needed to not take the time we would like to require in terms of accountability for reviewing contracts and making sure it goes to the responsible bidder. the person who is going to provide that service in the most economical way. I know we are coming in on our last few minutes.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":807,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090096179,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Yesterday. the President gave his progress in Iraq speech. However. in Najaf. security is not being provided by the U.S.-trained Iraqi troops. but by the militia of radical Shiite Muslim Muqtada AlSadr. In Mosul. the President said 50 percent of the people voted. But 56 percent of those who voted. voted against the constitution that the Bush administration was promoting. On May 1 of 2003. the President stood on the deck of an aircraft carrier and gave his \"mission accomplished\" speech. Last week he gave his \"secret plan for victory\" speech. Yesterday. he gave his \"making progress\" speech. I think I know the problem here. Whoever has been writing the Presidents speeches owes him an apology. They badly mixed up the sequence over the last few years. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":966,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090096184,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean has taken his partys irresponsible rhetoric about our involvement in Iraq to a new low. In an interview earlier this week Mr. Dean said. \"The idea that we are going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong.\" Deans take on Iraq makes even less sense than his scream in Iowa. What does Mr. Dean think it does for the morale of our troops on the ground in Iraq when they hear the leader of one of their Nations two major political parties .say that he does not believe that they can get the job done. Mr. Dean may not believe that our troops are up to the task in Iraq. but I and the overwhelming majority of my colleagues do. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1115,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090096192,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"States. and Nation. Upon graduation. Mr. DeGarmo plans to enter the U.S. Air Force and continue his commitment to protecting our values and our freedoms. We owe a great deal of debt to young men such as he who will protect and preserve the United States of America. At his young age. he is already becoming a role model for future generations. and I come here today to commend him for his exceptional career.","speaker_name":"SCOTT GARRETT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1059,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090096201,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. in April Congress passed a responsible budget that called for spending restraint. reduction of the deficit. and by slowing the unsustainable and automatic growth of mandatory spending programs and extending tax relief to families and small businesses. we have successfully accomplished the first two. Now. this rule will provide for consideration of our final commitment to American taxpayers. extending numerous important tax relief provisions. In 2001. 2003 and 2004. Congress enacted responsible tax relief to help create new jobs. grow Americas economy. and put more money in the hands of workers. families. small businesses. farms. and ranches. Following this tax relief. unemployment dropped a full percentage point to 5 percent. and we have experienced 10 uninterrupted quarters of real growth in our economy. above 3 percent. the longest stretch since the 1980s. As was proven by the tax cuts during the Kennedy and Reagan administrations. Federal revenues actually increase after taxes are lowered. Our expanding economy is led by consumer spending. job growth. and business investment. This is a result of allowing workers to keep more of their hardearned money. decreasing the tax burden on small businesses so they can expand and hire more workers. and providing incentives for families to save and invest. ","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7830,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090096205,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank my friend and colleague on the Rules Committee for allowing me this opportunity to speak on behalf of this rule and the underlying bill. H.R. 4297. the Tax Relief Extension Reconciliation Act. Today. each and every Member of this House is taking a test before the American people. This test has one question. and simply enough. it is even multiple choice. The question is: Who do you trust more to spend your hardearned money? Is it. A. the Federal Government and its bloated bureaucracy. or is it. B. the American people? Well. Mr. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2941,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090096207,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You are not cutting the loans. you are just jacking up the interest rate. charging them twice as much to take out a loan. and charging them a special new fee to get a very high fixed interest rate. something they can get now for free at a lower rate. But they are not whacking the students too hard. only $14 billion. And what do we get for that $14 billion? An extension of the dividend tax cut. That is great. So now the wealthy will be able to buy more yachts to float on the sea of red ink that the Republicans have created. They will be able to hire more help around the mansion. That is trickle down economics. They talk about how great the economy is doing. Here is a few facts. Unemployment rate. yes. it is recently down. but it is up eighttenths of a percent over when the Republican administration took charge. ","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3992,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090096211,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The holy season. It is unreal. This season. of all seasons. you would think they would not have the audacity. the gall to pass such a disgraceful and shameful piece of legislation. Oh. but they do. Where is our compassion? All of the great religions of the world speak to the issue of taking care of basic human needs. During this season. the question must be asked: What would the great teacher do? What would Jesus do? We are saying we are people of faith. and yet during this most holy season we do this? Have we lost our way? How long. but oh. how long will we continue to take care of those at the very top and not those in the middle and those at the very bottom? How long. but oh. how long? This bill is not fair. It is not right. It is not just. As a Nation and as a people. as a Congress. we can do better. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JOHN LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2155,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090096220,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would remind the gentleman that AMT relief is not in our package because it passed yesterday in the House by a vote of 4144. That is why it is not in this package. because it passed yesterday. We all talk about what we do here in Washington as it relates to the economy. The bottom line is that the economy is doing quite well because Americans are out there working hard every day. A lot of them are getting up before the sun comes up and not getting home until the sun goes down. bringing in food and fiber from our fields. manufacturing the devices that we take for granted each and every day in our manufacturing facilities. and working hard in an expanding and robust services economy. going into classrooms. going into hospitals. building houses that are part of the American Dream for more and more Americans. In fact. a record number of Americans now have achieved that piece of the American Dream through homeownership. So it is ordinary Americans doing every day what they do best that is allowing this economy to move forward. and our role in that is to create the climate that allows them to maximize that opportunity. to put in place policies that keep inflation in check. keep interest rates low. and reduce the tax burden in their lives. ","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3026,"word_count":237}
{"speech_id":1090096227,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is certainly something that we are proud of our record on with Teddy Roosevelt and our conservation effort. We believe that you can use the Tax Code to encourage businesses to go into areas that formerly were environmentally damaged sites and clean them up and create jobs and opportunity in otherwise blighted areas. This is an issue that impacts disproportionately urban areas. Why would we leave them out? The Democratic substitute is silent on these points. It is important that we move forward together with sound economic policies that encourage people to invest and save and be a part of this ever complicated globalized economy. not pick and choose the winners and single out individual cases of success to be punished. which is what their bill seeks to do. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2941,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090096242,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I do not want to get technical about this. I just want to get the record straight. and that is that we all agree that the alternative minimum tax is an unfair tax on people because it was not planned by the Ways and Means Committee and by the Congress. So. of course. we thought yesterday and we think today that these people. who through inflation were thrown into this category. should be protected. And that is why we were so disappointed that the Republicans. by party line. rejected the Democrats when we were doing the bill in the committee from not being included in the reconciliation bill. Now. we all know that the bill that we passed yesterday on the suspension calendar is not protected like this $56 billion is protected today. As a matter of fact. people should know that it may appear to be a technicality. but the only way that this alternative minimum release bill that we passed yesterday in the suspension calendar is that not one bf the 100 Senators over there objects. We need the consent of every Senator to provide the AMT bill with protection. That is not so. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES RANGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2234,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090096249,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this is a bill that does not deserve the kind of rhetoric that is being delivered so far. at least that which I have heard on the rule. This bill consists of extending current tax provisions. It virtually breaks no new ground. It merely retains those structures supported in committee. for example. in a bipartisan way. to allow people to continue to utilize current tax privileges. I have a hard time when I listen to the rhetoric associated with the description of this bill when one of the provisions. for example. is the authority to issue qualified zone academy bonds for school modernization. equipment in highpoverty areas. I cannot believe my colleagues on the other side of the line are opposed to that Abovetheline deduction for higher education expenses. in opposing this bill. I guess they are opposed to that. Continue the deduction for State and local sales taxes due to expire. I guess they are opposed to that. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM THOMAS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1991,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090096293,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"See. they lived outside the flood plain. They had wind insurance. and a storm of magnitude that has not occurred in 300 years either destroyed or flooded their homes. Now they have no home. They have a mortgage to pay. and their insurance .company. which contributes heavily to the folks over there. says you are not getting a dime because that was water and not wind. but they will use any excuse they can. I have introduced legislation to try to help those folks. and it is expensive. It is going to cost about $5 billion to help those folks hang on to their homes and hang on to their mortgage. and in 102 days we have not had a hearing or a vote on it. But if you are a member of the political contributor class. the guys who write the big checks to the RNC. guys who write a big check to a Congressman here. Senator there. we have got a vote on your tax cut that does not even expire for 3 years. You want to know what this Houses priorities are? It is not with the average Joes. It is with the political contributor class. ","speaker_name":"GENE TAYLOR","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2217,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090096313,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I include my remarks on deliberations on this bill. Mr. Speaker. as a matter of public record. I wish to thank the Honorable WILLIAM THOMAS. Chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means. for his unwavering support in saving the jobs of more than 5.000 tuna cannery workers and the economy of American Samoa for future generations. Chairman THOMAS is a true friend of our people. He stood with us during the Andean Trade debate and he is standing with us again on an extension of 936 tax credits for American Samoa until such time as a more longterm solution can be put in place once the GAO and Joint Committee on Taxation complete their reports regarding the impact of Federal tax policy in the insular possessions. I also thank the Honorable CHARLES RANGEL. ","speaker_name":"ENI FALEOMAVAEGA","chamber":"H","state":"AS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":2826,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090096315,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This bill is a positive piece of legislation across the board. It helps small and lowincome businesses and working families. as well as helps our manufacturers to rebound. and also our hightech community to stay competitive in a global economy. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation and vote \"yes\" on the bill.","speaker_name":"DAVE CAMP","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2491,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090096317,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Or. if they wanted to. they could pay the monthly health insurance premiums for four families. If the Republicans want to cut taxes. they should pay for it. We could save billions by pulling our troops out of Iraq. That could pay for Katrina relief and stop cuts to important programs for working families. Instead of handing out holiday tax breaks to rich Republican campaign donors. we should be rolling back Bushs tax breaks for rgillionaires to better fund important programs like Medicaid and student loans. Also. Republicans need to drop the \"fiscal conservative\" moniker. These tax breaks combined with last months cuts on programs for those in need will rack up $44 billion in new debt. The fiscal disciplines of the Republican party apparently means we drive our nation into debt and send the bill to our children and grandchildren. The numbers dont lie. ","speaker_name":"FORTNEY STARK","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2419,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090096319,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. Mr. Speaker. this bill is easy to describetax cuts for millionaires and tax increases for the middle class. This bill misses the biggest tax cut priority of this Congressthe alternative minimum tax. or AMT. The AMT was designed to prevent the wealthy from avoiding Federal taxes by taking too many exemptions. but it was never adjusted for inflation. Therefore. many middleclass American fanilies are being affected and penalized. Yet. instead of solving the problem of the AMT and helping middle class families. this bill only focuses on helping the rich get richer by extending capital gains and dividend tax cuts that dont expire until 2009! This tax cut means that taxpayers with incomes below $40.000--the majority of taxpayerswill get about one percent of those cuts. an average of $3 a year. Those with incomes above $1 million--one in 500 households will get 53 percent of the cuts. an average of $38.000 per year. ","speaker_name":"JOE BACA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":43.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1957,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090096321,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I urge my colleagues to reject this bill and support the fiscally responsible Democratic substitute.","speaker_name":"CHRIS VAN HOLLEN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2526,"word_count":15}
{"speech_id":1090096335,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So when they have this $40 billion tax increase. that is really on small businesses and the families that those small businesses support. According to the Treasury Department. 80 percent of the people affected by the $40 billion tax increase in their substitute are small and entrepreneurial businesses. That is the engine of job creation in America. and that is why our economy has recovered. because we have helped those small businesses. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"DAVE CAMP","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":994,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090096347,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Fiftynine percent of the people that benefit from that tax make under $100.000. Those are the same people that on this floor yesterday we talked about how important it was they not be negatively affected by the alternative minimum tax. I agree with that. So did everybody but four people on the floor of the House that voted yesterday. I agree that we ought to continue these tax policies that are working for America. That means we need to reject the substitute. even a substitute from my good friend . and.move to the underlying bill and keep this economy growing.","speaker_name":"ROY BLUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3922,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090096349,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It isirresponsible to take $5 billion out of a child support system that says to deadbeat dads that we are going to take money from them. we need to enforce that. to take $5 billion. make it into cuts. and therefore make it more impossible for us to get those deadbeat dads to help the mothers who are taking care of their sons and daughters in this country. It is irresponsible. Mr. Speaker. it is responsible when we have a Democratic substitute. as","speaker_name":"XAVIER BECERRA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":31.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2999,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090096405,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In 1994. a couple of 100.000 people paid alternative minimum tax in America. On January 1. that number kicks up. next year. to 19 million peo-\" ple who will begin to pay alternative minimum tax. Mr. RANGELS proposal addresses this issue. and we pay forit. as I indicated at the outset of my remarks. honestly. The dividends and capital gains proposal does not even expire until the year 2008. And yet. we are doing that instead of doing alternative minimum tax. Now. this Congress had time. in the last 5 years. to repeal a series of taxes on the American people. all. by the way. for upper income groups. We certainly had plenty of time to repeal the estate tax. We had time to address dividends and capital gains. But we did not have time to address alternative minimum tax other than with BandAid approaches. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD NEAL","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2635,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090096441,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have not contemplated that because we do expect to pass both of those bills next week before we leave. I think we are absolutely committed to do that and expect to see both of those on the floor individually. and we will then have brought all of our appropriations work to the floor individually. though certainly one of those bills. probably the Department of Defense bill. will include whatever additional appropriations have to be handled before we leave this year. But we would expect to handle those under regular order and would only contemplate a CR if that became the absolute only resort left to us. I would not anticipate that.","speaker_name":"ROY BLUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":640,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090096468,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the three words from the official seal of the United States Army states: \"This well defend.\" Sergeant Bill Meeuwsen was a member of the Army and he died carrying out this motto. defending the United States of America. Mr. Speaker. I rise today to pay tribute to Sergeant Bill Meeuwsen. He was truly a remarkable person. Bill was born in Mount Vernon. Washington. on February 10. 1981. and when he was 10 years old.he and his family found their way to southeast Texas and moved to Kingwood. Texas. He attended Kingwood High School. one of the finest high schools in this country. and he graduated in 1999. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5438,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090096480,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"However. the turnover rate for the .automobile fleet is 10 to 15 years. therefore. we must start immediately. The buildings in which we work and live are terribly inefficient. We could easily reduce their energy consumption by onehalf. We must immediately weatherize and make more energyefficient tens of millions of buildings. Our bold new initiative must instill these ideas into the American consciousness. The sooner we start. the smaller our sacrifices will be.","speaker_name":"TOM UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4254,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090096539,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is just very narrow thinking.It occurred to me that the very two things. in addition to not creating enough engineers. but the very two things that give us our competitive advantage around the globe are the first two things that we usually cut in our schools. the arts programs and the team programs. the paytoplay. where kids get boxed out. It is basketball season now for high schools. 12 varsity kids. 12 junior varsity kids and a freshman team. and that is it. No one else gets to play. We need to have an agenda that promotes teamwork. the arts. these things that create our advantage.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1566,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090096564,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I hope and I wish and my prayer is that there can be a paradigm shift here in the House of Representatives. a paradigm shift in a way that we can all work together in a bipartisan way on a number of issues. I think the issues that we are facing now. there is a health care crisis in this country. could be addressed in a bipartisan way. I think some of the issues that some Members of the House brought up as it relates to Social Security. we are definitely concerned about some of the issues that are facing Social Security. But the majority side tried to ram it down the throats of the American people to privatize Social Security versus fixing Social Security in a way that it will be here for generations beyond the 50 years that it is already set to provide the services at todays levels to the recipients of Social Security. need it be disability or retirement or survivor benefits. In a bipartisan way. we can move in that direction. That is what the American people want. As it relates to making sure that we can keep U.S. jobs on U.S. soil. we can do that in a bipartisan way. And I must say bipartisan. because when the Democrats were in the majority. we did do things in a bipartisan way. Right now we are under an environment. we are as partisan as we can be. not because we have the control to make ourselves partisan. it is the fact that we cannot have input in making sure here in this House on the Democratic side. we are not allowed to have the kind of input. because the majority believes so shall it be written. so shall it be done. Just watch what we do. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10657,"word_count":301}
{"speech_id":1090096568,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I hate to break in when you have a stream of thoughts that are there. but I wanted to just share just one moment. and I think it is important for us to realize. when you start talking about what is happening and how we got to where we are. Mr. Speaker. once again my famous chart we know we have to put more on to it.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":330,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090096571,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Some people say what does that have to do with the 30 Somethings. are we not supposed to talk about the interests of college education and child tax credits and that stuff? No. The future of our country is being placed in another . countrys hands. which gives up control. of our own destiny because we are going to have to make payments. It is just like when you go to a bank. You borrow money. you have to pay interest on that money. and we are borrowing it from the Chinese. We are going to have to pay interest on it. and the Chinese are taking that interest. They have a lot of Stateowned companies that they are going to pump our money back into. It is bad enough that General Motors and Delphi and a lot of these other corporations are investing money into China. Now they are getting it from the American taxpayer. and the Chinese Government will invest that money into their economy. whether it is in the auto industry or some other industry. They will have that money invested into their economy. long term. This is a dangerous proposition to not balance your budget in the United States of America. and we are Democrats. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1347,"word_count":209}
{"speech_id":1090096572,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You know something. if somebody gets upset about that. anybody gets upset about that. that is a personal problem because it is going on. This is not the Kendrick Meek\/Tim Ryan Report. It is not the 30.Something Report. This is reality. You pick up the paper. You watch the news. We have got investigations going on over in the White House. We have got investigations going on here in the Congress. and at an unprecedented rate. national security breaches. This is by the majority that says trust us. we are the folks that you can trust. So I think it is important that we point that out. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4865,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090096574,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If they ask to see the books and they ask to take part and are trying to help with the problem. trying to get out of the hole that you are in a financial way and they are called. well. you must be a mole from another company. no. you are not really with us. name calling. attacks. That will not happen because the bottom line is that they will not allow it. 0I 1930 So here in the Congress. we have to make sure as it relates to this culture of corruption and cronyism and incompetence that we should not allow it to happen. That is the reason why the hour before. I mean some folks say. why would you give the Speaker credit? I give the Speaker credit by saying there should be some ethics courses here in this House. That is a start. okay? If we have a problem. first we have to say we have a problem and then we can be on the road to recovery. But if we deny that we have a problem. if we look at the front page of the paper and say. oh. I just do not want to read it today because it is talking about what is happening in the workplace. well. that may be okay if you are in a private company somewhere and you do not have stockholders and it is your money. that is your deal. but when you have the American people and you are using their money and you are making decisions on behalf of a country and you are not willing to look at the issues that are facing us right now as relates to governance. then you are making your problem the American peoples problem and the taxpayers problem.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1489,"word_count":298}
{"speech_id":1090096582,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have people living in their cars still. over the holiday season.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":813,"word_count":12}
{"speech_id":1090096674,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as we enter what may be the last week of this session of Congress. I rise to once again state the need for this Congress not to adjourn until we have addressed some of the pressing needs of the American people. Three of them loom large. One is as we go into this holiday season. Americas families across the country are receiving high bills for their home heating oil. I believe that this Congress should not adjourn until we reverse some of the huge subsidies that this Congress gave to oil companies at a time when they are receiving record and historic profits. These bills will hit home at a time when families can least afford it. Congress should act before we leave. Secondly. as seniors are bewildered and befuddled by the prescription drug bill that has been foisted upon them by this Congress. ","speaker_name":"NANCY PELOSI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2365,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090096691,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He can do things I cannot do with a knife. He has saved many lives. I am sure. And I praise him for that. I know he goes out and serves the people. Even as a Senator. he goes out there and uses that fine brain of his in helping people. But for Gods sake. this is the Senate. I have been here 47 years. I did not come here to see freedom of speech curtailed in this Senate. And when there is an effort to curtail it. they have ROBERT C. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2708,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090096723,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I have listened with great interest to the exchange on the television monitor back in my office and thought I might come down and join you both. Let me suggest that it could be argued that you are both right. What I believe. I say to my good friend from West Virginia. the majority leader is talking about is what is precedent in the Senate. There is a lot of discussion about \"stare decisis.\" Lawyers use that term to refer to respect for the precedent.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":469,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090096730,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have not been filibustering judges during this first session of Congress. and we have been giving judges an upordown vote as a direct result of the Senates collective decision to sort of step back from the brink and honor the traditions of the Senate. Has that not been the case. I ask my friend. the majority leader?","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":320,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090096731,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. that is my understanding. This is exactly where we were about a year ago. after this long period of 214or 218 years. as my colleague from West Virginia was saying on the side. When we are talking about filibusteringthis is important to say for the people watching. not so much for colleaguesit is a very important tool for this body to use. for the minority to use. and it has been used really all the time for legislative issues. As we design legislation. which can be shaped. manipulated. defeated. and approved. these nominees who come from the executive branch. the President. are different. Ultimately. you cannot cut a person in half. You can operate on them. but you cannot cut them in half. You cannot move them aside. Ultimately. the only way to give that advice and consentand the way it has been done for those 218 yearsis that once they come to the floor. having gone through committee. they get the courtesy. the dignity. consistent with the principles of this body. of an upordown vote.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1015,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090096743,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He teaches me all the time. I listen. and he knows I listen as we go through. We disagree on certain principles. I know one is not freedom of speech. or respect for the Constitution. or respect for this institution. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2630,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090096763,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There are others. Republicans in the House propose a $5 billion tax break for financial services companies doing business in foreign countries. This provision actually creates a tax incentive for these huge corporations to invest abroad instead of in the United States. The spirit of Christmas should compel us to take another path. We should start investing in the health and wellbeing of all families. The average family is being squeezed unmercifully by stagnant wages and everincreasing costs for the basic necessities of life. The cost of health insurance has risen 59 percent in the last five years. Gasoline is up 74 percent. College tuition is up 46 percent. Housing is up 44 percent. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11742,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090096784,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am proud to say that CrittendenMount Zion School is one of the worthy recipients of the Silver Award. Sadly. the State of Kentucky is suffering from a health epidemic. Over twothirds of adults in our State suffer from obesity. And this epidemic is not only hurting our waistlines. but also our pocketbooks. In 2003. over $1.1 billion was spent by Kentuckians on health problems caused by obesity. That is why programs which promote healthy living. such as FFLAG. are so important for the future of our Commonwealth. CrittendenMount Zion Elementary School is a shining example of how our Kentucky schools can help Kentuckians lead better. healthier lives. I congratulate CrittendenMount Zion Elementary School on this achievement. The administrators. teachers. parents. and students of this school are an inspiration to the citizens of Kentucky. I look forward to all that CrittendenMount Zion Elementary School accomplishes in the future.0","speaker_name":"JIM BUNNING","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1766,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090096789,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wish to congratulate the Massachusetts Latino Chamber of Commerce. La Cimara de Comercio. on the opening of their new Business Center in Springfield. MA. The Business Center will be the home of a number of Latinoowned businesses as well as providing owners with workshops and trainings for members to gain knowledge in their perspective business area. In addition. the center will establish a computer lab to assist members with business research and planning. The new center will serve as a resource able to provide support. referral. and advocacy services to small business owners. La C.mara de Comercio will establish a computer center to assist members with business research and planning. as well as business language seminars. Latino businesses across the Commonwealth from Springfield to Boston are helping us to better compete in the global market. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":953,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090096811,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that at a time to be determined by the majority leader. in consultation with the Democratic leader. the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 4340. the Bahrain Free Trade Agreement. I ask unanimous consent that there be 60 minutes of debate. with 20 minutes under the control of Senator DORGAN and 40 minutes equally divided between the majority and the minority. and that following the use or yielding back of time. the bill be read a third time and the Senate proceed to a vote on passage at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the Democratic leader.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":639,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090096813,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask that the Chair lay before the Senate a House message to accompany S. The Chair laid before the Senate a message from the House of Representatives insisting upon its amendment to the bill entitled \"An Act to authorize appropriations for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for science. aeronautics. exploration. exploration capabilities. and the Inspector General. and for other purposes. for fiscal years 2006. 2007. 2008. 2009. and 2010\". and asking a conference with the Senate on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses thereon.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":566,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090096823,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Tomorrow the Senate will debate the Bahrain Free Trade Agreement under the previous order. The Senate will also begin debate on the motions to instruct conferees with respect to the deficit reduction bill. Members are reminded that we will have stacked votes on Wednesday morning and they should plan their schedules accordingly. We have a lot of work to finish this week and we will need the cooperation and patience of all Members to complete our work before Christmas.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":471,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090096857,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As a result. the records of many innocent Americans. or the burden placed on businesses to continually produce records under this provision is going to be far too onerous. There is also associated with this provision. this business records subpoena power. a permanent automatic gag order that prevents you from discussing the fact that this order has been issued to you as an individual or your business. and there is no judicial review of that gag order. I think this is a fundamental flaw in this conference report. the idea that you have been served with a permanent gag order to restrict your free speech. to restrict you from talking about that gag order. and it is permanent and you have no ability to appeal it in a court of law. I would argue that taking your case. your appeal before a judge is fundamental to our system of justice in the United States of America. I would further argue that it in no way undermines law enforcements ability to conduct an investigation to give the business or the individual the opportunity to appeal that gag order in a court of law. The argument that it might cost a little bit extra is ridiculous in the face of the need to protect individual civil liberties. The system of judicial review for these section 215 subpoenas simply is not acceptable. Similarly. the system of judicial review on national security letters fails to meet the important test of balancing individual civil liberties. There is a very low threshold for getting a national security letter. It is not approved by a judge. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SUNUNU","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7994,"word_count":269}
{"speech_id":1090096859,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Those key provisions set an expiration date of December 31. 2005. on certain Government powers that had great potential to affect the civil liberties of the American people. We are just weeks away from that date now. Some may wonder how these sunset provisions worked their way into the PATRIOT Act. They were put there by the Republiqan leader of the House. Dick Armey of Texas. and myself. We have entirely different political philosophies. but we agreed on one thing: If you are giving great powers to our Government. you want to make sure there are some strings attached. It makes no difference whether it is a Republican administration or a Democratic administration. you want to make sure there are strings attached. Leader Armey and I insisted on these sunsets to ensure that Congress would revisit the PATRIOT Act within a few years and consider refinements to protect the rights -and liberties of all Americans more effectively. and we prevailed on that point. Sadly. the administration and some in the leadership in the House and Senate have squandered key opportunities to improve the PATRIOT Act. The HouseSenate conference report filed last week by Republican lawmakers falls short of what the American people expect and deserve from us. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6282,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090096863,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Dr. Steven Chu. an American who was the cowinner of the 1997 Nobel prize in physics. pointed out to me that 60 percent of Americans who have won the Nobel Prize in physics are immigrants or the children of immigrants. That is a second pointa lawful status for workers. and a lawful status for students and researchers. whom we want to come here. We want them here because their being here helps raise our standard of living.. The third part that is essential to comprehensive immigration reform is an examination of how we help new immigrants to this country become American. In short. we need to have a discussion about fulfilling the promise to the national motto. that is right above the head of the Presiding Officer: E pluribus unum. froi many. one. How do we do that? We do that by reminding ourselves that while we have all of this magnificent diversity in this country. that -is not our greatest accomplishment. Our greater accomplishment is that we have turned that magnificent diversity into one nation. that while we are proud of where we came from. we are prouder of where we are. We are united by principles. not race. We are united by a common language. ","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7798,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090096877,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. before the Senator from Wisconsin leaves the floor. I request that he be available to discuss some of the provisions of the PATRIOT Act. I see him remaining on the floor. so permit me at this time to take up a couple of the issues which the Senator from Wisconsin has raised. appropriately putting my question to the Chair as our rules require. and then asking for responses.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":390,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090096879,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Senator from Wisconsin has raised an issue on the national security letters with respect to the presumption which arises when a highranking governmental official. such as the Attorney General. Deputy Attorney General. Assistant Attorney General. head of the FBI. or head of the departments making the request. certifies that there is a national security interest or an issue of diplomatic relations. This is an issue which. as I understand it. the ranking member. the Senator from Vermont. Mr. LEARY. raised earlier. The question I have for the Senator from Wisconsin is whether he is aware of the fact that the conclusive presumption. which is present in the conference report. is not as tight as the conclusive presumption which was present in the Senate bill which passed unanimously from the Judiciary Committee. of which the Senator from Wisconsin is a member. and by unanimous consent on the floor of the Senate. without objection by the Senator from Wisconsin. I refer specifically to the provision in the Senate bill which says: In reviewing a nondisclosure requirement. the certification by the Government that the disclosure may endanger the national security of the United States or interfere with diplomatic relations shall be treated as conclusive unless the court finds that the certification was made in bad faith. That language is substantially repeated in the conference report. except that the conference report makes it tougher on the governmental certification by requiring the highlevel official to make the certification. Quoting from the conference report. it says: If at the time of the petition the Attorney General. the Deputy Attorney General and Assistant Attorney General or the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation or. in the case of a request bya department. agency. or instrumentality of the Federal Government other than the Department of Justice. the head or deputy head of such department. agency. or instrumentalityand now we come to the crucial language. continuingcertifies that disclosure may endanger the national security of the United States or interfere. with diplomatic relations. such certification shall be treated as conclusive unless the court finds that the certification was made in bad faith. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2572,"word_count":354}
{"speech_id":1090096880,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The point is that I. was not happy with this portion. but in light of some of the other changes in the Senate bill. I did work. as the Chairman knows. cooperatively with him to create a document that at least had some balance. What has happened now is we have lost the positive changes we gained in the Senate bill. and we continue to have a very inadequate provision\" relating to the national security letter authority.","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2178,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090096881,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am coming to that. too. But focusing for just a minute one at a time so there can be some understandingthis is a very complicated bill. I spoke on it at some length yesterday afternoon in order to acquaint my colleagues with it. I have made quite a number of calls to my colleagues. as faras I can go. to acquaint people with what is in this bill so we can understand it and vote on it with an understanding. Coming back to the conclusive presumption in the national security letter. the question I posed to the Senator from Wisconsin was whetherwell. maybe three questions. Does not he agree that the conference report is even more protective of civil liberties than the Senate bill? The second question: Did he know about it? And if on this provision alone. putting aside the others he referred to. 215. sneak and peak. and wiretap. and we want to come to sunset. too. which is a gigantic improvementit was not mentioned by the Senator from Wisconsin. I think when we get to that he will concede. that was a big improvement and maybe he overlooked it in commenting or at least any comment that I heard him make. But coming back to the national security letter. what about my three questions. if I may pose them through the Chair to the Senator from Wisconsin?","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2181,"word_count":231}
{"speech_id":1090096897,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"On the national security letters. we will have to agree to disagree and continue to debate this and come to a similar conclusion with regard to what the conference report did visavis the Senate bill. Perhaps we could agree on how valuable it would be in light of how serious these concerns are about the national security letters. for that provision at least to be part of the group of provisions subject to a sunset. I want to point out to my colleagues with regard to these national security letters that there may have been 30.000 issued. according to the Washington Post. per year. That power is not sunsetted. That is troubling. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":652,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090096912,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. as I have said. I have sought recognition to express my opposition to section 8701 of H.R. 4241. the Housepassed budget reconciliation bill. which seeks to repeal the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act. CDSOA. or Byrd amendment. and to express my support for the DeWine motion to instruct conferees to not include this provision in the conference report. CDSOA was enacted in 2000 to enable U.S. businesses and workers to survive the face of continued unfair .trade. The program allows the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection to distribute duties collected on unfairly traded imports to those U.S. businesses and their workers who have been injured by dumped and unfairly subsidized imports. Over 700 companies in almost every State of the Nation. including many small- and mediumsized companies. have received distributions under CDSOA. which benefits procedures of lumber. crawfish. shrimp. honey. garlic. cement. mushrooms. steel. bearings. raspberries. furniture. semiconductor chips and a broad range of other industries across the Nation hurt by continued unfair trade. In Pennsylvania. companies in a variety of industries. including steels. cement. agriculture. and food products have benefitted from these distributions by investing in research and development. infrastructure improvements. anM improvements to pension programs. In doing so. companies have been able to .continue operations and. in some situations. increasedcapacity. Overall. disbursements have totaled $1.261 billion since its inception in 2000. $226 million in fiscal year 2005. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2847,"word_count":233}
{"speech_id":1090096921,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"A few weeks ago. I visited with Mr. Aram Ohanian. an 88yearold veteran of the U.S. Army in World War II. living on a $779amonth Social Security check. Money is so tight that he sometimes has to eat with his children or go to a local soup kitchen. He also gets assistance from our Rhode Island food bank. These heating price increases to Mr. Ohanian will be very difficult. He received LIHEAP assistance last year. but that assistance will be relatively less this year because of rising prices and greater demand. Last month. the Social Security Administration announced that costofliving adjustments for 2006. on average. are about $65. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4410,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090096927,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":17,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The mills ventilation stack spewed the dust into the air. The ventilation stack released 5.000 pounds of asbestos every day. When the wind blew from the east. a deadly white dust would cover the town. For decades. 24 hours a day. the dust fell all over Libby. Dust fell on Libbys gardens. Dust fell on Libbys homes. Dust fell on Libbys high school track. Dust fell on Libbys playgrounds. Some of the vermiculite went downtown to a plant. right next to the baseball diamonds. The plant popped the vermiculite into Zonolite. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10078,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090096933,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I also take this opportunity to speak on a motion to instruct conferees on the Byrd amendment. Yesterday. a Senator sent a letter to the majority leader saying he would oppose the reconciliation bill if we used repeal of the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act to achieve billions in budget savings. While disappointed. I was not surprised. In fact. I say. join the club. Already. one Senator told me he would opposq reconciliation unless specific provisions on specialty hospitals were not included. Several other Senators threatened to vote against the reconciliation bill unless the MLLC Program was not extended. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6959,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090096949,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think Senator McCarthy would be very impressed with the extemporaneous eloquence of the Senator from Iowa and very appreciative of his kind words. Of course. Iowa has the first Presidential contest. Back in those days. I would have seen a lot more of Senator McCarthy.","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":270,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090096956,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":15,"republican":0,"speech_text":"These are significant numbers. That any American should live in the shadow of. hunger at the dawn of the 21st century is shocking and embarrassing. That the number has increased dramatically in the past 5 years is unacceptable. We have also been reminded of another reason we shouldnt have food stamp cuts. We have been reminded by the numerous hurricanes and disasters this fall of the tremendous role that the Food Stamp Program plays in times of emergency. The Food Stamp Program rapidly provided emergency food assistance to approximately 2.2 million individuals affected by Hurricanes Katrina Rita. and Wilma. allowing victims to obtain food assistance within days. Finally. the Senate Agriculture Committee chose not to cut the Food Stamp Program because there is not much to cut. It operates efficiently and effectively. For 5 years in a row. the error rate in the Food Stamp Program has declined to consecutive alltime lows. Frankly. if there were fraud. waste. and abuse to go after. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11429,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090096982,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce. Science. and Transportation be authorized to meet on Tuesday. December 13. 2005. at 10:30 a.m... on the nominations of Deborah Taylor Tate and Michael Joseph Copps to be Federal Communications Commissioners.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":278,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090096990,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the Bahrain freetrade agreement is a very important agreement that reflects in this post9\/11 environment the recommendation that had been made in terms of facilitating trade to nations such as Bahrain. I am delighted we were able to both debate it earlier today and ultimately pass this important freetrade agreement.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":332,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090096991,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"When it comes to enforcing our current agreements. the Bush administration has been asleep at the wheel. While the Clinton administration brought on average 11 WTO cases per year to knock down foreign barriers to U.S. exports. the Bush administration has filed fewer than three cases per year. Instead. they have focused their energies on negotiating an FTA which is so small that the independent ITC has stated. \"the effect of the FTA on total U.S. exports is likely to be minimal.\" Meanwhile. the WTO - negotiations have delayed and floundered. Ironic may not be the right word. but it is a fitting testament to this administrations skewed priorities that Senators are stack in Washington debating the Bahrain FTA this week. and so were not able to travel to Hong Kong to provide oversight on the WTO negotiationswhich could have an impact thousands of times larger than a trade agreement with Bahrain. Looking at the merits of the Bahrain FTA in isolation. let me note that I applaud the Government of Bahrain. It has been a good U.S. ally and is an important moderate Arab and Islamic country. I wish the people of Bahrain well and hope that the U.S. and Bahrain will continue to enjoy good relations. including trading relations. I also note that there are many good provisions in this agreement to ensure protection for U.S. intellectual property rights. to prevent expropriations of U.S. investments. to reduce barriers to U.S. exports. and to expand the access of U.S. service providers to Bahrains market. It is regrettable. though. that. the Bush administration followed its flawed model in this FTA. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10097,"word_count":270}
{"speech_id":1090097019,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. with great fanfare last week and very belatedly. the President unveiled a document called A Plan For Victory in Iraq. and he said that this was a declassified version of the longstanding military strategy in Iraq. Now. help to review that strategy: The initial strategy based on unrealistic assumptions by Mr. Wolfowitz. Mr. Rumsfeld. and others was that our troops would be welcomed as liberators. we would be drawn down to of Representatives 40.000 troops within a few months. and way it has been presented. they just that the Iraqis would be able to pay for made another grievous mistake for the their rebuilding themselves. Of course. American people. In fact. the general all these things were horribly. horribly in charge in Iraq. Lieutenant General wrong. A number of us have called to Martin Dempsey. top military official remove Mr. ","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4221,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090097022,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We know how to do this. We have specific ways to act now. We Ave the technology. One hundred fifty-\u00a7even coux.riea re already imposing mandatbr lAs on CO2 while the Bush admini tetion stonewalls any mandatm -scheme. We can take steps now to- reduce. greenhouse gas emissions but we- must do so in a way that would minimizg the impact to our econom\u00a7 We must implement an economywide. upstream. all greenhouse gas capandtrade emissions reduction program that provides some flexibility and a measure of certainty to those industries and businesses affected. The National Commission on Energy Policy. a bipartisan group of top experts. recommends such an approach. One of the key components of their proposal is the concept of a safety valve for the capandtrade program. The safety valve essentially puts a price on carbon but provides for an unlimited number of allowances to be sold by the government. Since no one would pay more than what the government charges for allowances. this mechanism effectively controls the price of allowances. When set at the right price. the safety valve would start the country down the path of slowing the growth of greenhouse gas emissions without causing .serious economic disruption.","speaker_name":"TOM UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2657,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090097032,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am proud to -represent a district that will not forget those who serve. and we are all blessed to live in a Nation of heroes like the men and women in our military who fight every single day.","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1197,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090097040,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H.R. 487. which supports the goals and ideals of a Korean American Day and recognizes the 103rd anniversary ofthe arrival of the first Korean immigrants to the United States. Korean Americans have played an important part in American society since January 13. 1903. when over 100 pioneer Korean immigrants arrived in America. I am proud to say this last century is. chockfull of significant. creative KoreanAmerican accomplishments from Jam Kim. the first KoreanAmerican to serve in the United States House of Representatives. to Eugene Chung. first KoreanAmerican to be selected in the first round of the NFL draft. To commemorate this remarkable period. the Centennial Committees of Korean Immigration and KoreanAmericans designated January 13 of each year as KoreanAmerican Day. The KoreanAmerican community has created a successful community at large and has .established a deep sense of culture and heritage for the upcoming -generations. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER CANNON","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2283,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090097047,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I obviously strongly support this -resolution. and I appreciate the opportunity to say so on the floor. Mr. Speaker. I thank my friends. the gentleman from Utah. and the gentleman from Illinois for offering it and certainly my goodfriend and colleague from Virginia .","speaker_name":"JAMES MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2324,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090097050,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of House Resolution 487. which recognizes the goals and ideals of a Korean American Day and which honors the contributions that Korean Americans have made in the United States. On January 13. 1903. 102 Korean immigrants arrived in the United States. They arrived on the SS Gaelic in Honolulu in the U.S. Territory of Hawaii where they established residence and labored on Hawaiian sugar plantations. These immigrants pioneered the migration of Koreans to America. Today this movement continues and remains strong. The island of Guam is home to many Korean immigrants and Korean Americans alike. In the 1960s. ","speaker_name":"MADELEINE BORDALLO","chamber":"H","state":"GU","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":2646,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090097065,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Monts brother. Mark Stevenson. also served in the military. He joined the U.S. Air Force and served in Vietnam. While on his 94th combat mission. Lieutenant Colonel Stevenson was shot * down. captured as a prisoner of war and reported MIA\/KIA. or missing in action. killed in action. On April 29. 1967. .he was declared dead. and in 1988. 21 years later. his remains were found. and he too was buried in Riverton with full military honors. Mr. Speaker. it is indeed a great honor to recognize the enormous sacrifice of the Stevenson family. Two brothers. one who served in World War II. the other in the Vietnam war. both died while defending our Nation. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1884,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090097088,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I -rise today in support of House Concurrent Resolution 218. which recognizes the centennial of sustained immigration from the Philippines to the United States and acknowledges the contributions of our FilipinoAmerican community to our country over the last century. What started out as a few hundred migrant farm workers in California and Hawaii has grown into the second largest Asia Pacific American ethnic group in the United States today. and a cornerstone of the foundation of our nation. Since they first set foot in the United States in 1587. Filipinos have made extraordinary contributions to our nations economy. history. politics. and culture. Larry Itliong and the often overlooked Filipino farm workers worked handinhand with Cesar Chavez to form the United Farm Workers. Together. they were responsible for the movement that improved working conditions for farm workers in California. and. indeed throughout our nation. Former Los Angeles Rams Quarterback. Roman Gabriel. actor Rob Schneider. and Allan Pineda Lindo. better known as Ap of the Black Eyed Peas. are just some of the FilipinoAmericans who continue to raise the profile of FilipinoAmericans in the fields of athletics. arts and entertainment. ","speaker_name":"MADELEINE BORDALLO","chamber":"H","state":"GU","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":3124,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090097099,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. on November 13. 2005. the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer became only the third team in Major League Soccer history to win the MLS cup more than once. The storied history of the Galaxy has included an impressive five appearances in the MLS cup. championship and two victories. The Galaxy is one of the premier teams in Major League Soccer and has made the playoffs in all nine seasons of MLS history. The Galaxy is beloved by their fans and boasts one of the strongest fan bases in the league. Over 88.000 fans jammed the stadium and hills around the stadium to watch their team in an exhibition match with Mexican League team Chivas USA in what is being dubbed as the Super Classico. The Galaxy not only came away victorious but showed the crowd that professional soccer has come into its own in the United States. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1557,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090097104,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask back the balance of my time. unanimous consent that. all Members The SPEAKER pro tempore. The may have 5 legislative days to revise question is on the motion offered by and extend their remarks and include the gentlewoman from Virginia (Mrs. extraneous material on the bill under DRAKE) that the House suspend the consideration. rules and pass the bill. H.R. 125. as","speaker_name":"THELMA DRAKE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":385,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090097110,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"THELMA DRAKE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":750,"word_count":18}
{"speech_id":1090097112,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak on and offer my strong support for HR 953. legislation Iintroduced earlier this year to remove restrictions on 25 acres of land patented to the Mammoth County Water District. Prior to 1987. the District occupied this land through a special use permit with the Forest Service. Of these 25 acres. 12 acres were used for the storage of materials. and prior to 1987. for oxidation ponds. which had become obsolete by that year. After that time. Congress passed Public Law 97465 that allowed these lands to be transferred directly to the District. While the law allowed for acquisition of these lands. it also directed that they- could only be used for those purposes prior to the time of the conveyance. Today. however. these 12 acres are no longer needed for the storage of materials and the community would like to utilize this land in a more economically viable manner. This area is a popular ski destination for many tourists during the winter months and. every year. the town experiences more and more visitors. ","speaker_name":"HOWARD MCKEON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1607,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090097139,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. H.R. 452 would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to study the suitability and feasibility of designating a military memorial in St. Louis as a unit of the National Park System. In 1923. the City of St. Louis voted to spend $6 million to purchase a memorial plaza and building dedicated to citizens of St. Louis who lost their lives in World War I. ","speaker_name":"THELMA DRAKE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1179,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090097143,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is time for the Federal Government to consider acquiring the St. Louis Soldiers Memorial Military Museum in its inventory of national monuments. I believe that a study of this monument would show that it is an historically important structure with a national significance. H.R. 452 is strongly supported by veterans groups and other civic organizations. I hope the Members of this body will endorse this important effort to help create a Federal monument to honor our Nations veterans. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.","speaker_name":"WM. CLAY","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3792,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090097150,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The legislation we are considering. authored by the gentleman from Delaware. holds every chance of solving what has .become a real problem in modern commerce. how to get a $1 coin circulating in the sections of the economy that would benefit from having one. We can all remember the old cartwheel silver dollars. or at least some of us can. that were great to have when we were kids. but which were too big and bulky to carry a pocketful. and we can all remember the Treasurys mis.take in 1979 when it went to replace the bigger dollars with one that many people thought was indistinguishable from the quarter. Mr. Speaker. we have all had the experience of trying to buy a fare card in the Metro system here in Washington and having the machine reject our worn dollar time after time or trying to buy something from a vending machine and having it jam with our paper. money. That is an inconvenience to the consumer. but it is often a big loss to the operator of the vending machine. not just of that sale. but of all the others who cannot use the machine until it is repaired. Who actually pays for the losses in the end. of course. is the consumer. Mr. Speaker. doubtless a fully circulating dollar coin will not be as useful or popular in a rural community without public transit as it is in an urban environment. But in cities. it will be a big hit. and in any event. it is th6 obligation of Congress to provide for the * production of coins and currency that allows businesses to operate efficiently. So the gentleman from Delaware . who is the author of the 50 State quarter program. a most successful \"program. and I applaud the gentleman for his leadership and vision. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL OXLEY","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3945,"word_count":307}
{"speech_id":1090097156,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We will still enjoy it. I would also like to thank particularly Joe Pinder. who -knows more about coins probably than anybodyin the United States of America. as far as I can ascertain. He talked to me first about the other quarter bill. which I did not think was a particularly sound idea at the time. This was some 10 years ago now. I think. He talked to me about it again. Then he told me Delaware would be first because it was the first State to ratify the Constitution. and then he pointed out it would actually make some money for the Federal Government. By that time. I became convinced after several months of this. and we actually had to convince Secretary Rubin and Deputy Secretary Summers at that time. They thought the same thing I did. it was not a great idea. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CASTLE","chamber":"H","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1787,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090097172,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Typically the average streamlined PHA plan is 47 pages with extensive attachments. For a small PHA with limited staff. compiling such a report is both time consuming and labor intensive. The regulatory relief provided in this legislation will give small public housing authorities more time to focus on the needs of their tenants. This exemption of smaller PHAs from filing plans will not affect the ability of tenant organizations to continue to have input with the managers of their developments. Language incorporated into the legislation ensures tenant participation and requires smaller PHAs to provide advanced planning required under the 5year plans. Similar legislation sponsored by our good friend. retired Representative Doug Bereuter. was considered by the Financial Services Committee on March 17. 2004. and passed the House under suspension of the rules on May 5. 2004. in the 108th Congress. Mr. Speaker. H.R. 3422 deserves our support. I urge its adoption. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL OXLEY","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2112,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090097201,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of H.R. 280. The Brownfields Redevelopment Enhancement Act. I would like to thank Committee Chairman OXLEY. Subcommittee Chairman NEY. and Ranking Member FRANK for their leadership and assistance in ensuring this important legislation be considered by the full House prior to adjoumment.","speaker_name":"GARY MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":42.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":331,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090097220,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I urge my colleagues to support this legislation. It prevents abuse of power. It adlieres to the rules of the House of Representatives. and it also does a couple of very important things. and that is it honors two of the greatest women in my contemporary time: Rosa Parks. who stood tall and sat down 50 years ago. who inspired generations of Americans and actually was a key player in renovating this concept of segregation that still remain. And 10 years later. we saw the passage of the Voting Rights Act and piece after piece of the civil rights legislation that came about that same period of time was inspired. And I saw a time when it was a glorious time for the civil rights movement. a glorious time when there were peaceful demonstrations throughout the South. And I watched on a black and white television from up in Iowa wondering really what was going on down there. Now I understand it. At this stage of my life I appreciate it a great deal. I thought I understood it then. but appreciate it far more today. the movement that was begun in significant part by Rosa Parks. who was honored and lay in state here in this Capitol Building. the first woman ever to be given that honor. And Mother Teresa. a fine Catholic nun. a sister that through prayer and work and sacrifice and devotion and the power of her personality and her character and self sacrifice. moved millions of people. and her legacy remains today. ","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4017,"word_count":257}
{"speech_id":1090097239,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But then what? What happens to the property? The owner of the.jppoperty. .totally unaware of what wastaking place on their property. I understand it. we can all understand that. and then the owner probably says. well. we will clean it up. we will vacuum the floor and paint the walls and it will be okay.. Wrong. Not okay. We have got to do more studies. because the residue is there. and we have got to be concerned about that. That is what this is all about. a modest amount of Federal dollars to deal with a very real and meaningful problem.","speaker_name":"SHERWOOD BOEHLERT","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2029,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090097262,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"JOHN has walked the Halls of this Capitol doing the business of the people of southeast Michigan. And I must say the Congress is a better place because we have men like JOHN DINGELL. I first met JOHN when I came to the House in 1986. and he had already been here three decades at that time. We really got to know each other better when I started my third term when I was named to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. I knew him as Mr. Chairman. In fact. I think I only started to call him JoH. after.I became Speaker.","speaker_name":"J. HASTERT","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1173,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090097299,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am so glad to be here with my colleagues. JOHN DINGELL is being lionized here tonight and for good reason. as was true on previous occasions. And I think \"lion\" is a good term to describe JOHN DINGELL. Ferociousness. There is a ferocity about JOHN. about his beliefs. a belief in the common man and woman and their aspirations and their needs. 0l 2030 A ferociousness about the need for health for everybody in this country. He has devoted his life to this. A ferociousness. and I am not on the committee. but Members who have been there tell me that is so true when he investigates. And also for the automotive industry. it is in his blood. ","speaker_name":"SANDER LEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3684,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090097301,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank all here for honoring this gentleman tonight. And I thank the gentleman from Michigan for holding this Special Order.","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3318,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090097314,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He told us all at his magnificent 50th anniversary celebration that he has no intention of leaving the House anytime soon and that he intends to be chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee once again. and I fully believe it will happen. and very soon. When it does. I will do all I can to support him as he works to win his goal of securing health care for every American. Some have used the word \"feared\" when talking about John Dingell. and it certainly is true that you want to have him on your side and not against him. But the JOHN DINGELL I have personally experienced is a gentleman to all. a loving husband to his spectacular wife and partner. Debbie. a man who is respectful and generous to his staff. who in turn work tirelessly and effectively and are ever loyal to him. He is patient with newer Members. always willing to share his experiences and. when asked. offer solid advice. I feel privileged to serve with JOHN DINGELL. a patriot. a role model. mentor. and friend. -I thank him for his 50 years of service to our country and wish him many. many more.","speaker_name":"JANICE SCHAKOWSKY","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1992,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090097323,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Largely because of that work ethic. most of the Members here have their own personal stories about the help or advice they have received from JOHN on issues of importance in their own districts. Since I was elected to Congress in 1976. and certainly during his tenure as Chairman and now Ranking Member of the Commeice Committee. JOHN DINGELL has helped me and has .worked with me on a variety of issues that are important to me and to my constituents in the State of Washington. He fought hard for the creation of the Superfund and to sustain it so that harmful contamination at toxic sites in and around Puget Sound can be identified and cleaned up. He has demanded accountability from the Department of Energy. which is responsible for eliminating the waste that still remains from decades of nuclear production work on the Hanford Reservation. Through his leadership of the investigations subcommittee over many years. he exposed abuses and set a new standard for Pentagon procurement and contracting that helps us expand the purchasing power of our defense dollars today. And as an sportsman and wildlife advocate. he has strongly supported our efforts in the House to increase funding for critical habitat protection and for acquisition of public lands for recreational purposes. I have appreciated his support and his leadership on these issues. and I have appreciated his friendship. So as the House today recognizes Congressman JOHN DINGELL today for the chronological length of his tenure in this institution. I also want to remark that it is recognizing one of the legislative giants who has made his indelible mark on this chamber not just by his tenure but by the breadth and depth of his influence and his accomplishments here. ","speaker_name":"NORMAN DICKS","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3151,"word_count":291}
{"speech_id":1090097324,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Board of Education decision should be carried out with \"all deliberate speed.\" It was no accident that in that same year. Congressman JOHN DINGELL took the place of his father in the House of Representatives. And when he did. he took this oath: He said. \"... I will support and defend the constitution \u0095 . . against all enemies. foreign and domestic \u0095 . . and I will faithfully discharge the duties of this office. . . so help me God.\" He has used the power of his office to fight for the cause of -justice. to protect what is good. what is honorable. what is great about America. He used all his power to defend the integrity of this great Nation. I said this about the late Rosa Parks. and I think it also applies to JOHN DINGELL. There is a force that I like to call the spirit of history that can track you down and select you to help right the wrongs of this world. JOHN DINGELL is one among a chosen few in the U.S. House of Representatives who helped chart a new ethical and legislative future for these United States. ","speaker_name":"JOHN LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3048,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090097329,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"JOHN DINGELL has been steadfast in fighting for the rights and interests of ordinary Americans. He has been unrelenting in his willingness to take on any interestno matter how powerful--as he has stood up for all who needed such a gifted and forceful champion. I hope JOHN DINGELL will celebrate many more anniversaries of distinguished service in the House as his tenure continues. He is a national treasure and we need him House of Representatives since 1932. he told I now more than ever. his new colleagues \"if I can be half the man ser Best wishes JOHN DINGELL. I am proud to be my father was. I shall feel I am a great suc- my your colleagueprouder yet to be your friend. cess.\". the God bless you.. As the new ranking Democrat on the Over- my","speaker_name":"EARL POMEROY","chamber":"H","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1434,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090097334,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I just totally agree. I think we are talking about some basic principles here of which the government that currently rules is not reflective of what is going on in Ohio. in Florida. in the Gulf States. in Massachusetts. We are clearly not addressing the main issues. I know my friend from Massachusetts has some comments to make. so I am going to kick it over to him. But I think as we make our presentation tonight. this is not personal with the Republicans. because I think we have all agreed. we have got some good friends on the other side of the aisle. We are just disagreeing with their philosophy of governing. When you see here tonight. with some great charts that Tom Manatos from our staff has put together for us. the kind of spending that our country is doing in Iraq and the kind of cuts that we have here in the United States. when you see the tax cuts. the amount and who they are going to and the cuts in the budget in specific programs that are geared towards the middle class. Medicare. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1539,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090097348,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Can I amend that chart and say Hurricane Republican Majority. because we represent Republicans .that believe in what we are talking about here tonight. Goodness gracious. the average Republicans stomach would turn if they even knew half of what is happening in this House. You can have a convention or you can have a pep talk or you can go on a radio show and give one side. but these are facts. not fiction. There are thirdparty validators behind all of these numbers. They can go on the U.S. Treasury Web site and find that we are borrowing more in the history than any of the other 42 Presidents before this President from foreign countries. The deficit is higher than it has ever been before. The Republican majority is saying we are not going to leave until we pass this budget on the backs of the American people. I added \"backs of the American people.\" We are not going to leave until we pass this tax cut for millionaires and billionaires and special interests. We are not going to leave until they get what they want or what we want them to have. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6597,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090097349,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Sometimes incompetence is benign. We all interact with people who make mistakes. who maybe are not up to the par that we would like them to be. But not when the stakes are\" this high. not when you are talking about the people who are running the Government of the United States of America. I mean. not when incompetence results in debts. The thousands of people that are harmed or died as a result of Katrina. incompetence hurt them or killed them. Governor Blanco today. thank God for technology. we talked about that last week a little bit. Email technology allows us to know now as opposed to what goes in a paper shredder. that the White House. Homeland Security. and FEMA all knew what was going on down in. New Orleans immediately following Katrina and as she was approaching. and they either did nothing or did not know what to do. That kind of incompetence is dangerous. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1135,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090097351,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. can I make a comment? We have the poster here from Newsweek that has our esteemed leader in a bubble and it is called the \"Isolated President.\" And I think this goes to exactly what the gentleman was just saying and what Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ was just saying and what Mr. MEEK of Florida was just saying. The comments that Secretary Wolfowitz made and Secretary Rumsfeld just were not true. The comments about the tax cuts and what they would do for average people just did not turn out to be true. And about the war and how we would progress just did not come to be true. And the bubble here symbolizes all these people like Mr. Lindsey who are saying. no. it is going to cost us $200 billion and they fire him. And the general who said we are going. to need a couple hundred thousand troops in order to do this properly. and they dismissed him too. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2307,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090097354,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. let me just insert one more thing because the Newsweek cover just says it all. In Bushs world. in the Presidents world. you do not have to have accountability. You do not have to put numbers on anything you do. You do not have to say what percentage prepared the troops have to be. and you are never wrong. I have had to teach my kids. and they love to insist that they do not make mistakes. That Is the orientation. of a juvenile. My young children do not understand that sometimes -they are wrong and this is okay and that you should learnhow to change course. But in Bushs world. in the Presidents world. that does not happen. Because he is the President. he apparently has surrounded himself with people who either cannot convince him that he is wrong or he has surrounded himself with people that insist on agreeing with him all the time.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":856,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090097365,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It used to be $2. and the other day it went to $15. That is my point. So that is a piece of it. But what I am hearing.. and my issue really from what I have heard out of your discussibn tonight that I do take issue with is that adding $1 billion to LIHEAP and talking about corporate welfare does not increase the supply of energy in this country. Whit I. am about is increasing the .supply of energy. because there is a law of supply and demand. The more energy we have. the lower the cost. We cannot sit here and turn up the heat in our homes and turn down the development of energy and expect that we are going to have a viable economy. In fact. it is economic suicide for a country with an energy component of our economy like we have to not develop our energy in this country. It puts a price on everything that we do. ANWR is part of the aspect of that. too. ","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10531,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090097415,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this morning the Senate will begin a 30minute period of morning business. When that time has expired. we will begin consideration of the House message to accompany the deficit reduction bill. Last night the agreement we entered allows for up to 7 motions to instruct conferees. Several Members spoke to these motions. debating their motions yesterday. Today we will vote on those. prior to lunch.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":411,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090097431,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The vast majority of that is in the health care area. where there is about $24 trillion of unfunded liability between the Medicare and the Medicaid systems. Those numbers were not numbers I thought up or even that CBO thought up or OMB thought up. the inhouse accounting groups we turn to for advice. Those numbers came from the independent. totally objective source of the Comptrollers office. So we confront this huge cost. and the issue for us as policymakers and as S13522 co shepherds of hopefully a better America for our children is how do we address that so we dont pass on to them this massive debt. In the last 8 years. we have done nothing about the entitlements. This section of the Federal spending apparatus has basically been ignored. except that new programs have been added. In the last 4 years. we have seen the largest increase in the history of the country added to entitlements in the prbscription drug program. an $8 trillion unfunded liability in that program. So this year in the budget process. the Republican majority. with the exception of a few Members. decided that we would try. for the first time in 8 years. to actually do something about the entitlement accounts. and we -passed something called reconciliation instructions. which essentially is a program by which we say as a Congress to the committees of jurisdiction. look at your entitlement spending programs. look at the health care programs. the farm programs. the various education programs and see if there is not some way. without significantly impacting the quality of those programs or the economic integrity of those programs or the benefit of those programs to the peopleisnt there some way we can rein in their rate of growth so they will be more affordable for our childrens generation to pay for it. It is the first time we have tried this in 8 years. We didnt pick a big number to hit. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11318,"word_count":329}
{"speech_id":1090097549,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If you look at the last 5 years. we have gone from a peridd of recession. -which began in 1999. peaked probably in 20002001. and since. we have continued to climb and improve. Why have we done so? We have done so because we empowered the American business person and the American employer and the American employee by allowing them to keep a little bit more of their business and ipvest it in this great country. spend it in discretionary spending. buy a new home. Economic enterprise breeds economic enterprise which breeds more economic enterprise. We know from the standpoint of our side of that philosophical issue. if you empower business to do more business. the American Government will prosper. Our revenues have gone up in this country. They have not gone down because of tax cuts. June 15. 2005--this yearwas the largest single take in tax revenue in the history of the United States of America. It was because our country is running on all cylinders. or almost all cylinders. When I went to college. 95 percent employment was full employment. We have that today. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ISAKSON","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11317,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090097553,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"With rising prices and falling benefits. we have a real problem. Just to purchase the same amount of oil this year as last year. the State of Maine would need an additional $10 million in LIHEAP funds. Just a few months ago. we passed and the President signed into law the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This law passed the Senate overwhelmingly. and it authorizes $5.1 billion for the LIHEAP program for fiscal year 2006. The chairman of the appropriations subcommittee. Senator SPECTER. worked very hard to find some fuhding to increase LIHEAP. He increased it to $2.2 billion. I commend him for his efforts and hard work. but $2.2 billion is not nearly enough. Our Nation has been struck by three extremely powerful hurricanes. These hurricanes have been devastating to the people of Florida and the gulf coast. but we need to remember that they have had a major impact on the rest of the Nation as well. ","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4765,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090097561,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. - if I might inquire of my friend and colleague from Louisiana. I know she is preparing to speak. Might I.ask about how long she may speak? I have a speech. I ask unanimous consent. after the Senator from Louisiana finishes speaking. that I be recognized for up to .half an hour.","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":294,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090097572,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I begin as my leader is in the Senate to say the bill they most certainly have presented for our. consideration is one that needs attention and needs deliberation. The PATRIOT Act is a very important part of the security of our Nation. We can debate the inside and pieces of it. but I strongly suggest to the leadership that protecting America is more. than just the chapters and statutes related to the PATRIOT Act. Protecting America is about protecting patriots in the gulf coast. in Louisiana. in Mississippinot just citizens who are patriots. taxpayer citizens. hardworking citizens who have come to believe the notion that in America they are safe. or should be safe. and if disaster does strike. the government. with the private sector and with their own effort. will be there to help. What about the patriots on the gulf coast who are veterans themselves. the 400.000 veterans in Louisiana. the 250.000plus veterans in Mississippijust for two States that *ere affectedmen and women who have put on the uniform. served their time. true patriots. What are we doing to secure their homes. their schools. their churches? I suggest to the leadership that while the PATRIOT Act itself has many pieces of what helps make America secure. it is one piece but not the only piece. We should most certainly not be comfortable leaving here without securing thd homes and businesses and dreams of average Americans. patriots. on the. gulf coast. As I speak for just a few minutes this afternoon. it has been over 100 days since two of the deadliest storms hit the coast of America: Katrina and Rita. ","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2274,"word_count":275}
{"speech_id":1090097590,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Bob was a proud New Yorker and greatly assisted in enhancing New Yorks position as an international business center. He held- a number of civic posts. including chairman of the New York City Convention and Visitors Bureau. founding chairman of the New York City Convention and Exhibition Center Corporation. chairman of the New York City Partnership and the New York Chamber of Commerce and Industry. \u0095 Bob believed that along with success comes great responsibility and exemplified this by giving back to his country and community. He served as chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Democratic National Conventions held in New York City in 1976 and 1980. From 1986 to 1988. he served as U.S. Postmaster General. In May 1990. Mayor David Dinkins appointed him New York Citys Ambassador to Washington. DC. . He also served chairman of New York City Public Private Initiatives. a publicprivate partnership that funds vital community programs. and was a founding director of New York City MealsonWheels. A graduate of New York City public schools. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2115,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090097596,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. because of. a severe head cold I decided. after a telephone discussion with the minority leader. not to attempt to travel on a socalled redeye flight last night from the west coast to arrive this morning back in Washington to vote on 3 motions to instructconferees. Had I been present. I would like the record to indicate that I would have voted for the motions by Senators HARKIN. CARPER. and BAUCUS. I note that on none of these votes would my vote have affected the outcome. all passed by substantial margins. I want to inform my colleagues that I plan to return by another redeye flight leaving tonight for votes Thursday.*","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":642,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090097598,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He has been awarded Indianas highest housing award. the John C. Hart Presidential Award. and is a recipient of the Seldon Hale Award for Excellence in Association Management from the Natiofial Association of Home Builders. Bill has been recognized by three different Governors as a Sagamore of the Wabash. Indianas highest honor. From my days as mayor of Indianapolis through today. Bill has been a trusted friend. I look forward to his .continued work across Indiana. even as he attempts retirement.e","speaker_name":"RICHARD LUGAR","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1566,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090097606,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The authority was then revoked because Congress did not agree with all of the decisions made by Treasury. The authority provided in this legislation addresses this previous problem by requiring Treasury to consult with Congress 60 days prior to publishing any proposed regulations. In addition. the Congressional Review Act would apply to any regulation proposed by Treasury and each class life prescribed by Treasury would be considered a separate rule. . Providing Treasury with the authority to modify. class lives would allow the process to move more efficiently than allowing Congress to make pi~cemeal changes to the current d ep.iation system. Congress wouldpvijde guidelines. and Treasury would have the role of administering the guidelines. Under the legislation. Treasury would monitor and analyze the actual experience of depreciable assets and report their findings to Congress. We expect Treasury to establish guidelines that will take into consideration the fact that some assets lose a significant percentage of their original value in the early part of their lives. This legislation specifically provides consultation with Congress in order for Congress to continue to have a role in this important tax policy issue. We do not expect Treasury within the first year or two to review all classes of assets. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8745,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090097609,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Coinmittee on Environment and Public Works be authorized to hold a hearing on Wednesday. December 14 regarding EPAs Spill Prevention Control and .Countermeasure program. specifically the issues addressed by proposed rule and guidance document issued Friday.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":305,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090097652,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. 3.124 innocent civilians died in the 9\/11 attacks at the World Trade Center. on the airliners and at the Pentagop. 2.151 U.S. soldiers have been killed in action. 15.881 U.S. soldiers have been wounded. 30.000 Iraqi civilian noncombatants. according to the White House. have been killed in Iraq. 500.000 tons of bombs have been dropped on Iraq by just one U.S. air wing. That is equivalent to 1 billion bounds of explosives. 2 million 500pound bombs. nearly 400 pounds of explosives for every Iraqi man. woman. and child. Zero is the number of weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq. Iraq had nothing to do with 9\/11.","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":633,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090097657,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He deserves an upordown vote in the Senate.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":827,"word_count":8}
{"speech_id":1090097670,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this House should not adjourn for the year before we extend the enrollment period for seniors to sign up for the Republican Medicare prescription drug plan. I did not support the law. because I favored a benefit within the actual Medicare program. Instead. Republicans chose a plan that forced seniors to choose from multiple plans. 1 President Bush and congressional Republicans say it is necessary to have multiple drug plans competing in order to help drive down costs. but a report from the Government Reform Committee says the complicated drug benefit has failed to lower drug prices. The prices available to seniors are over 80 percent higher than those negotiated by the Federal Government for veterans and 60 percent higher than the prices available to consumers in Canada. Instead of lowering drug prices. the new prescription drug plan has resulted in mass confusion for seniors. Seniors should have the time to make the best choice for themselves rather than be penalized if they do not make a decision by May 15. We should extend the deadline by 6 months before we leave for the year and support the StarkSchakowsky bill. H.R. 3861.","speaker_name":"JANICE SCHAKOWSKY","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1157,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090097673,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as elected officials. we hold ourselves to the highest standards. As Members of Congress. we pledge to defend the Constitution and uphold the laws of the United States. We are elected to serve the public trust. A breach of law by a Member of Congress is a serious offense that should have very serious consequences. Taxpayers should not pay for the retirement benefits of a Member of Congress convicted of a felony. That is why I am introducing the Congressional Integrity Act of 2005. to restore trust in the Congress. It is joined by 12 other majority Members. moderates and conservatives for reform. This important ethics legislation will lead us back to integrity in public life. The Congressional Integrity Act of 2005 would deny a congressional pension to any Member convicted and denied final appeal on a range of crimes directly related to their public duties. including bribery. including illegal compensation. including fraud. solicitation and tax evasion. ","speaker_name":"MARK KIRK","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1107,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090097676,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. over the last 31\/2 months. this Republican Congress has failed to act to meet the critical needs of Hurricane Katrina survivors. The few proposals the Republican leadership has put forward fail to go far enough in meeting the challenges of restoring the gulf coast region. The Congress has yet to enact a clear housing plan for the survivors still living in tents. and waiting for promised trailers that have not appeared. Many families may lose their rental assistance at the end of December. And economic revitalization is moving at a -snails pace. with only about 5 percent of small business disaster loan applications approved so far. Even Republicans have begun to criticize the delay by the administration and the Republican Congress in getting assistance to the gulf coast region. Last week. Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour. a former Chairman of the Republican National Committee. said his States abilityto recover has been severely hampered by Congresss delay in approving more money. This Congress must not adjourn for the year until we enact measures to address this critical need.","speaker_name":"DIANE WATSON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":33.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1107,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090097681,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today we consider House -Resolution 596. the rule allowing consideration of the conference report accompanying the fiscal year 2006 LaborHHS and Education appropriations bill. If the debate looks familiar to our constituents watching from home. it should. Just before Thanksgiving. the House considered\" a conference agreement almost exactly like the one before the House this morning. The House voted to reject that shortsighted agreement. It was a striking rebuke of a majority out of touch with concerns of average Americans. and yet here we are again with an agreement that is almost word for word the exact agreement from 3 weeks ago. This new version simply moves around a small amount of money. robbing Peter to pay Paul. What seems to have been skipped was a discussion of the fundamentally flawed priorities. and there was no discussion of what the American people need. merely what it would take for a few more votes. This -means that No Child Left Behind funding is still cut by $779 million. a maximum Pell grant award is still frozen for the fourth straight year. and there is still no new funding for student financial aid and support programs. The bill still provides $4 billion less than Republicans promised for special education through IDEA. ","speaker_name":"DORIS MATSUI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2780,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090097697,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. back in 2001. when the PATRIOT Act was enacted. 16 piovisions were sunsetted or authorized for a certain period of time because of their controversial nature and also due to the hurried manner in which they were drafted. 14 of these 16 provisions are made permanent by this conference report. And while three of the most contentious provisions have been sunsetted for 4 years. even that is too long. Section 215. commonly referred to as the ibrary Records Provision. grossly expailds theFederal governments ability to seize records and investigate citizens reading habits without any notifidation. December 14j 2005 Section 206. dubbed the Roving Wiretaps Provision. grants the government the power tb perform socalled John Doe wiretaps in which they do not have to disclose the phones that will be. tapped or even the names of the suspected person. Section 6001. known as the Lone Wolf Provision. broadly redefines the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Acts. FISA. standard for the agent of foreign power. The new definition is so expansive that the Government can now define any individual nonU.S. person as a terrorist suspect. even if the individual has no clear ties td a foreign government. 0l 1115 Mr. Speaker. it is more than apparent that these three provisions pose a threat to American citizens civil liberties. And while I would rather see these provisions removed from the legislation. I am encouraged that a shdrter sunset has been placed upon them. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7726,"word_count":239}
{"speech_id":1090097699,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as we moved ahead. we said we should have these sunset provisions. and we put them into place. and they were very important and December.14. 2005 CO helpful. One of the reasons we did it is we wanted. to see what kinds of civil liberties were being violated as we focused on our number one priority that being our national security. And I am very happy to report that. as we look at what has transpired since implementation of the USA PATRIOT Act. it is the following: we have provided every opportunity for any American to raise concern. talk about violations of their civil liberties by going on the Worldwide Web. filing any kind of complaint. And there has not been one instance. not one complaint has been leveled. against the provisions in -the USA PATRIOT Act as evidence of violating civil liberties. I consider myself a small \"l\" libertarian Republican. I want to do everything in my power to ensure that we recognize the rights of our individuals. But we have to remember that this measure is exactly.what Mr. MCGovERN said it should. be. It is a delicate balancing act between our goal of recognizing the importance of our national security and at the same time focusing on civil liberties. ","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3890,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090097723,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They want this. It is bad legislation. It threatens the civil liberties of Americans. and I believe it will impinge on our investigation and finding of terrorists. These national security letters. 30.000 national security letters. gathering huge amounts of data about the lives of innocent Americans. In the past. that would have to be discarded. Now they say. well. were going to keep it. but dont worry. all the information were going to accumulate about people. innocent Americans. is going to go into a databank. but it will only be available to the Federal Government. State government. - local governments. tribal governments and appropriate private entities. I guess there is one person in America who might not be able to tap into this databank. This is going to create such a huge haystack of irrelevant information about the lives of innocent Americans that the FBI. who had one terrorist in hand. Musawi. and had an agent in Arizona pointing at the plot. could not even see their hand in front of their face. ","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3508,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090097730,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I want to thank the gentleman for yielding and for his leadership. Madam Speaker. I rise in total opposition to this rule and to the reauthorization of this. unpatriotic act. We shouldbe repealing these undemocratic provisions. not expanding -.governments reach into the private lives of the American people. Since 2001. the PATRIOT Act -has been used more than 150 times to secretly search private homes. and nearly 90 percent of those cases had nothing to do with terrorism. Americans have rejected provisions in this legislation like sneakandpeek searches. national security letters. and roving John Doe wiretaps. Under this renewal. we will see more of the same. Private residences. libraries. businesses. medical records. not even your DNA. are safe from the PATRIOT Act. I now understand why many have called this bill yet another Big Brother attack. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA LEE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1341,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090097746,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And even worse has been the abuse of unilateral powers by the administration where since September 11 our government has detained and abused physically thousands of immigrants without time limits for unknown and unspecified reasons and targeted tens of thousands of Arab Americans for intensive interrogations. All this serves to accomplish. of course. is to alienate .many of those Muslim and Arab Americans that would be working with us.. So. Madam Speaker. there are two pictures of what happened in the Committee on the Judiciary. One is that the bill was made clearly worse. and we have some 92 pages of dissent about the bill itself. and much of it is still of course valid in terms of the conference report that we are examining today. I urge Members. we have been tricked once. the first time when the bill was substituted. and now we are about to be fooled again if Members do not read our dissents and the reservations that we have about the PATRIOT Act. It can be made better. and we would propose that that is exactly what happen today. Madam Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2912,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090097750,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You cannot move in court to quash it. Section 505. national security letters which have been held unconstitutional by two courts so far do not even require a FISA court. It is an administrative proceeding. It is not even a proceeding. the FBI simlly says they want it. and they can get it. This is like the writ of assistance the British granted. in 1761 which this is very similar to. That started the American Revolution. But after the FBI gets the information. you can protest the gag order. You can say I want to be able to tell somebody about it. but you can only say that if you can show that revealing that information is not harmful to the national security or diplomatic relations. but the governments statement that it is conclusive. so the court is a cipher. The court cannot make any judgments. There is no evidence. ","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4486,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090097762,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I thank the gen-: tleman from Michigan for the time. Madam Speaker. I am opposed to the reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act. First..I do not believe many of the socalled law enforcement tools will make us any safer. I am probably one of a few Members of Congress who -has been spied on by his own government. During the civil rights movement. an agency in the Mississippi State Government called the State Sovereignty Commission kept files on me and countless other people working for change. I might add that none of us did anything illegal other than just convene and talk about how we would change our State. From this experience. I have known that. when government has the authority to spy on its own people. it is almost always and will misuse that power. ","speaker_name":"BENNIE THOMPSON","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1852,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090097764,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I thank the chairman for yielding and for the incredible hard work he has done to bring this bill to the floor. both to help create this legislation 4 years ago. to review it time aftertime after time for the last 4 years and to extend it into the future with the safeguards that have been discussed here on the floor today. In terms of the review process. I think the Attorney General today in some information he put out suggested that there were at least 23 separate hearings last year of oversight. this is last yearalone. of oversight on this act. witness after witness after witness called to testify about what was happening with the act. This oversight work that the chairman has been largely responsible for has made a difference in the way the law was implementd. has made a difference in the way we offer it to be extended today and has made a difference. frankly. in the safetyand security of America. There is nothing in this law. nothing in the law the last 4 years. nothing in the law as we look to the future that was not available to law enforcement for organized crime. What crime could be more organized than terrorism? No one has come up with a single instance where someones rights were impacted by the PATRIOT Act. becaus6 of the 15ATRIOT Act. There is no evidence that there are problems. and we all could easily be aware of a number of instances. where there is no concern about the fact that the PATRIOT Act made a difference in the safety and security of America. Another thing that the chairman worked hard to put in this act is some legislation that I originally introduced that deals with the problem. of methamphetamine. and methamphetamine does become a security issue. It particularly becomes a bigger issue as our borders become more secure. ","speaker_name":"ROY BLUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2719,"word_count":319}
{"speech_id":1090097766,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Congress must engage in vigilant oversight of the PATRIOT Act. national security letters. and other authorities granted to law enforcement and intelligence agencies. I am committed to doing my part as a member of the House Select Intelligence Committee to ensure proper oversight occurs. -","speaker_name":"C. RUPPERSBERGER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1368,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090097768,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I thank the chairman for yielding me this time. 1 want to comniernd him for a great process here. Often we do not. have . deliberative process when we pass major pieces of legislation. That is not the case here. We had 12 hearings over a year on these provisions. and I want to point out what the chairman has already said. that we are not just dealing with thosesections that are sunsetted but we are dealing with those that are not as well. We had some substantive reforms to the NSL process. After the passage of the first PATRIOT Act. I and others formed the PATRIOT Act Reform Caucus because we felt we needed additional protections. That process yielded about a half dozen amendments which we offered during the House version of the bill. and each of those amendments was accepted and remains part of the legislation. One amendment that we dealt with during consideration of the House bill clarified that a recipient of an NSL. or national security letter. may discuss the NSL with his or her attorney and may disclose that request to an individual whose help is necessary for compliance with the NSL. ","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2267,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090097778,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Some 143 of the 216 pages of this bill have absolutely nothing to do with the PATRIOT Act. The chairman repeatedly admonished committee Democrats that we were not permitted to consider matters falling* outside of the 16 expiring provisions of the PATRIOT Act. but on the floor and in conference. this bill became a Christmas tree for random drug laws. Presidential succession amendments and Federal employee benefit changes. Some have argued that we must pass this bill now because it is the end of the session and it is so urgent. The House Republican leadership waited 3 months to appoint conferees. Where was the urgency then?","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1615,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090097782,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I rise today to address the many troubling issues associated with the reauthorization of the Patriot Act. Following the 9\/11 terrorist attacks. this Congress was faced with the difficult task of revamping our intelligence system. However. the PATRIbT Act is flawed with overreaching provisions that lack the- safeguards to prevent abuse. Americans deserve a bill that successfully prevents attacks against our country. while Hi1533 H11534 CO protecting our Constitutional rights. We must - address\"the authority this bill gives. and how it may negatively impact Americans. . \" Most of the prbvisidisithinth6 PATRIOT Act are positive i~asures that successfully protect American citizens. H6wever. We cannot ignore the provisions that create serious privacy and civil liberty abuses. These include: Permitting largescale investigation of Americans for \"intelligence purposes.\" Having minimal judicial supervision on wiretaps. ","speaker_name":"EDDIE JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1383,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090097795,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I rise in opposition to the conference report to H.R. 3199. the USA PATRIOT andTerrorism Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2005. Unfortunately. this. bill does not do enough to protect the civil liberties of innocent Americans. Clearly. preventing another terrorist attack should be our highest priority. However. it should not be done at the expense of the basic rights guaranteed by the Constitution. and that is what I fear we are doing today. Like the version of this legislation I voted against in July. this conference report would make permanent 14 of 16 provisions included in the original PATRIOT Act passed in 2001. I continue to have serious concerns about how this administration and future administratiQns could apply the provisions included in this bill. I simply do not believe that this body should relinquish its oversight duties. Many of these provisions should still have sunset clauses. and Congress should not be abrogating its responsibilities to review how these laws are being implemented. By agreeing to this conference report today. the House will effectively give up its oversight over sneakandpeek searches. secret search orders. and surveillance authority provided by this bill given how little oversight we have had on these issues. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2870,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090097805,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am confident that if we work\"together. we can develop laws which would allow us to combat terrorism without mdkingit tbd easy for government to intrude int6 the prirate llves95f Ahe+ach. a.","speaker_name":"DIANA DEGETTE","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3528,"word_count":32}
{"speech_id":1090097831,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. pursuant to House Resolution 596. I call up the further conference report on the bill making appropriations for the Departments of Labor. Health and Human Services. and Education. and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30. 2006. and for other purposes.","speaker_name":"RALPH REGULA","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":284,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090097834,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We went money. and I think we all understand through the whole list of programs. the that in this time of tight budgets and 500. and said. Does this work? Is this a tight resources. we have to set prior- productive program? ities. In so doing. we set the priorities The bill that left the House had I just outlined rather than to go into about 48 programs terminated. The earmarks. other body decided to put back some of I want to say at the outset that this those. but we still have 20 programs program is $1.4 billlion under 2005. and that have been discontinued or will be discontinued because. again. we recognize that we have to manage the resources as carefully as possible to do the important things: education. research at NIH. the effort in CDC to deal with the avian flu issue. So we tried to manage the funds available as carefully as possible. I think the results of that are reflected in the increases I mentioned. I might say between this and the bill we had previously. we added $90 million for rural health programs. very important programs. obviously. and we did this by reducing the avian flu number because we are going to deal with that in another bill that will be coming along shortly. So all in all. I want to say again this is a very -positive bill. -it is a very responsible bill in terms of using the resources that are available. It is something that every Meinber can support. every Member can go home and say with a measure of confidence and satisfaction. ","speaker_name":"RALPH REGULA","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7879,"word_count":272}
{"speech_id":1090097847,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the ranking member for yielding me this time. This is not Mr. REGULAS bill. I do not really believe it is Mr. LEWIS bill. It is the bill that is the result of the fiscal policies we have been pursuing for the last 5 years. however. And let us be clear. The socalled new and improved LaborHHS bill is virtually identical to the conference report that the House rejectedon November 17 in abipartisan way. ","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1781,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090097855,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to oppose the second FY 2006 Labor. Health Human Services and Education Conference Report. I opposed the first conference report last month because it inadequately funded virtually every area of need and slashed $1.5 billion from our countrys critical health. human services. education and labor programs. This new. but definitely not improved conference report slashes $1.6 billion from these programs actually increasing the total cuts to these agencies by $90 million. While I was pleased to see increases in the Title VII programs and Dther important health programs. this bill did not provide new funds for these programs. it simply robbed Peter to pay Paul. In this case. the Republican leadership has apparently decided that its more important to provide federal funding for Viagra and other erectile dysfunction drugs than it is to fully prepare ourselves for the threat of a pandemic flu. such as the Asian bird flu. The new conference report eliminates $120 million for pandemic flu preparedness in order to fund these increases with the promise that they will make up for it in other bills. However. you cant cram for a panderpic. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4430,"word_count":191}
{"speech_id":1090097859,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am not willing to tell hard working kids who are using education as a vehicle to better their situations and their futures that I did not hold up my end of the deal. Mr. Speaker. I am obviously disheartened by the disastrous cuts to education programs that are included in H.R. 3010. However. as a physician who knowsfirst handhow important health care access is to health and well being. and how beneficial health professions training programs are to diversifying the rising pipeline of health care providers. I am horrified at the extensive cuts to health care programs. which include the following: Cutting $153 million from Title VII health professions training programs. Putting an essential end to the Presidents community health center initiative. Freezing most Ryan White CARE Act programs that provide medical and dental care. and extend often lifesaving support service programs to people living with HIV\/AIDS and the families who care for them. Eliminating the Healthy Communities Access Program. a program that was designed to meet the health care needs of this nations evergrowing uninsured citizens. and Cutting the Maternal and Child Health Block Grantwhich helps states provide mothers with important prenatal care and offer preventive health care and medical treatment to children. including those with disabilities and special needs--by $24 million. Mr. ","speaker_name":"DONNA CHRISTENSEN","chamber":"H","state":"VI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":4303,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090097860,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I regrettably rise in opposition to the LaborHHSEducation Appropriations Conference Report. because it grossly under funds the essential programs in education. health and human services that help improve the quality of life of the American people. Chairman REGULA has done his best to meet the needs of the most vulnerable in our society with the very limited resources he was given. Ironically. these inadequate resources are a direct result of his own Republican leadership putting tax cuts for the wealthiest in our country before the needs of working and middleclass Americans. This is the second time that the LaborHHS Conference Report is before this House. Three weeks ago. Republicans and Democrats defeated the original conference report in a rare sh ow of bipartisanship. Members on both sides of the aisle voted against the injustices of this bill. and refused to allow this 109th Congress to be defined by a LaborHHSEducation bill that turned its back on the American people. This revised Conference Report continues the policy of shortchanging the needs and priorities of the majority of Americans. ","speaker_name":"LUCILLE ROYBAL-ALLARD","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":34.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4011,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090097867,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill to reauthorize and amend the Commodity Exchange. Act to promote legal certainty. enhance competition. and reduce systemic risk in markets for futures and overthecounter derivatives. and for other purposes.","speaker_name":"BOB GOODLATTE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":264,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090097871,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would also like to thank the gentleman from Minnesota for the cooperation from him and a number of others on his side of the aisle. and also the gentleman from North Carolina as well as my subcommittee chairman. the gentleman from Kansas . Mr. Speaker. I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio . chairman of the Financial Services Committee. another individual who has played a critical part in bringing this legislation to the floor and thank him for his cooperation as well.","speaker_name":"BOB GOODLATTE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":495,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090097876,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Virginia and the gentleman from Minnesota for their efforts in regards to this piece of legislation. and especially thank Mr. ETHERIDGE. my ranking member. The Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management has jurisdiction over the Commodities Futures Trading Commission. and our work product. together with the full committee. is here before the House today for its consideration. I would assure my colleagues in the House that our committee has taken extraordinary steps to make certain that we provide oversight. review. and understanding of what is transpiring at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission since the passage of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act in Mr. Speaker. I actually believe that the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 .was one of the most successful pieces of legislation that has been passed by Congress in my time here. What we learned in the hearings and oversight in the reauthorization effort was that it is working well. With only a couple of changes. a couple of additions to this legislation. we bring this modernization act back to the floor for approval again today. ","speaker_name":"JERRY MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2147,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090097878,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to rise today in support of H.R. 4473. the CFTC Reauthorization Act of 2005. As a resident of a farm State and a member of the Committee on Agriculture. I understand the critical role that futures exchanges play in the marketing of agricultural commodities. They are indispensable in providing price discovery and market transparency for producers and commodity users alike. That said. futures markets cannot perform these functions if they are being manipulated. Futures markets must be effectively regulated in order to ensure their integrity and protect the wellbeing of small investors. This bill strikes that balance. Five years ago. ","speaker_name":"STEPHANIE HERSETH SANDLIN","chamber":"H","state":"SD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1806,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090097884,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Todays bill includes a provision that can provide some shortterm relief by ensuring Americans.- consumers. that market manipulation is not going to.continue and will not be a contributing factor in the price of natural gas. It is the farmers. it is the senior citizens. manufactureg. and consumers that I had in mind when I introduced this. measure last spring. The price of natural gas is almost double what it was when I first brought this issue to my colleagues attention. It is my hope that H.R. 4473 will bring some stability to the natural gas market and limit losses associated with extreme natural gas prices and price spikes. Mr. Speaker. I encourage my colleagues to support this important measure and pass it on the floor.","speaker_name":"SAM GRAVES","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1725,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090097888,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Unfortunately. many of these manufacturers are already being squeezed by other issues. and the high cost of natural gas is just a contributing factor to their financial problems. I recently met with many glass manufacturers in Western Pennsylvania. and they explained to me some of the challenges they are facing. Kopp Glass in Pittsburgh. for example. has seen their natural gas cost rise by 83 percent over the last year. eating into the companys profits by 50 percent and also eating into their opportunities to. grow their business. General Shale Products. a brickmanufacturer. has announced they are going to close after .40 years of operation because of high natural gas prices. A steel manufacturer has recently asked us to do something about it. This bill will ensure that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has the tools it needs to find and prosecute market manipulators.","speaker_name":"MELISSA HART","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2007,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090097892,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The bill requirements are unobtrusive. contain no burdensome new costs and will be used sparingly. We have seen over the years. over the course of the last half year. an energy sector that is under great stress. And the price response to that stress has been of great coicern to all of us. This bill does nothing to add to that stress. and it should be adopted today. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.","speaker_name":"BOB GOODLATTE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1586,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090097893,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to contribute to the debate on H.R. 4473 which is currently under consideration. Title II of the bill creates new regulatory authority for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to investigate suspected manipulation of the natural gas futures markets. Currently. the price of natural gas in the United States is floating at a high near $14 MMBtu. When compared .to most nations around the world. this amount is four. five. even fourteen times higher than some developing countries! I am encouraged by the attempt of some of my colleagues to correct this serious problem. but I have serious concerns with the manner by which we address this issue in legislation. As Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has made very clear in a recent letter to Chairman MIKE OXLEY. the fundamental problem of natural gas price spikes is a shortage of supply. The only way this can be solved. and Chairman Greenspan appears to agree. is through increased production domestically and less barriers to liquefied natural gas imports. Whenthe supply increases. natural gas prices will most certainly fall. While I will support passage of H.R. 4473. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD POMBO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1609,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090097924,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In 6 months. June 30. this bipartisan task force. made up as a reflection of the ratio of Democrats and Republicans in the House. which is standard practice for all committees. will issue its comprehensive report. legislative recommendations. so that each one of the fragmented committees will not have to deal with these issues that they have very little expertise with in any way. This is a bipartisan task force that is funded with its own staff separate from any other committee or influences from any other committee to deal with the issue of oceans. which determine the climate. determine the weather. determine the air we breathe. the food source for billions of people. This is an issue that we can get together on. have a bipartisan working relationship and put aside our partisan bickering. because the oceans are priceless. We have some work to do. and we can accomplish that by June 30.","speaker_name":"WAYNE GILCHREST","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1569,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090097928,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 30 seconds. \\ Mr. Speaker. as one point of clarification regarding the claim made by the gentleman. our chairman. that no select committee was formed to consider the Stratton Commission* recommendations. I believe that the gentleman from- Maryland was in fact wrong on that. The Senate specifically established a National Ocean Policy Study in the Commerce Committee for that purpose. Mr. Speaker. I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":478,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090097934,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise to express my opposition to this resolution. This Ocean Policy Task Force resolution. while well intentioned by its sponsor. is misguided. Its effect would be to deceive the American public into believing that the House of Representatives is actually working to advance the recommendations3 of two comprehensive ocean policy reports when the opposite is true. As the Ranking Democratic Member on the Committee on Resources. I staunchly support efforts to restore our ocean and coastal environment. But what we have before us today smells fishy and I urge Members to oppose this illadvised resolution. Last September. the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy sent up to the Congress a comprehensive report that included over twohundred specific recommendations to guide the development of a new national ocean policy for the 21st Century. ","speaker_name":"NICK RAHALL","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2952,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090097940,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill to commend the outstanding efforts in response to Hurricane Katrina by members and employees of the Coast Guard. to provide temporary relief to certain persons affected by such hurricane with respect to certain laws administered by the Coast Guard. and for other purposes.","speaker_name":"FRANK LOBIONDO","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":331,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090097943,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And we saw their work. We saw that being prepared to respond to a disaster is not just a paper exercise to sit on the shelf when the big one occurs. Being prepared is something they do every day. They develop relationships with State and local government officials. They know who in the private sector can help provide re-. sources to respond. They make decisions quickly so that they can implement an effective response. And as the chairman said. they saved over 33.000 lives during their response to the hurricanes. So this bill addresses a number of Coast Guard related issues that need to be addressed very quickly. They were in H.R. 889. the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2005. when we passed the bill in the House in September. However. the conferees on this bill have been unable so far to come to a resolution on all the issues. and there are a few timesensitive provisions that cannot wait. ","speaker_name":"BOB FILNER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":51.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4297,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090097959,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of this resolution. and I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. once again. this House is considering a measure that will demonstrate leadership in the fight to end the heinous act of trafficking in human beings. another manifestation of the dark side of globalization that has locked thousands of women. children and men into sexual and labor bondage. This fight has not been without its victories. Over the past 5 years. since our House first approved the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. thousands of victims of modernday slavery have been freed. a number of countries have adopted new comprehensive -antitrafficking legislation. and countries across the globe have woken up to the ravages of this heinous crime. The international community. Mr. Speaker. continues to ratchet up the pressure on the traffickers. as more and more countries join the International Protocol Against Trafficking negotiated at the United Nations. with the United States ratifying this critical document earlier this month after bipartisan urging by our International Relations Committee. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11090,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090097969,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Even worse. they are not making a significant effort to be able to change the course of events. So I hope that this legislation will have our own hemisphere focused on what they must do to stop the hurting and trafficking of their own people. Finally. I would remind my colleagues of article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. which states: \"No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel. inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.\" This legislation takes those words and turns them into action. I urge all Members to support this important legislation.","speaker_name":"ROBERT MENENDEZ","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4007,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090097974,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Finally. I would just say we have in this legislation a provisiona studythat seeks to find whether or not there is a nexus between terrorism and trafficking. With that kind of money flowing into trafficking enterprises. these horrific enterprises. we tend to think that there probably is a link with terrorism. We do not know. We want to find out.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1563,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090097985,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. pursuant to clause 1 of rule XXII and by direction of the Committee on Appropriations. I move to take from the Speakers table the bill making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30. 2006. and for other purposes. with a Senate amendment thereto. disagree to the Senate amendment. and agree to the conference asked by the Senate.","speaker_name":"C. YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":386,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090097992,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"motion would ensure that the final version of the defense bill contains vital language offered by Senator JOHN MCCAIN and by Congresswoman JANE HARMAN and myself here in the House. The McCain amendment would prohibit the Defense Department from using any interrogation practices other than those listed in the Army Field Manual on Intelligence and Interrogation. and would reinforce the longstanding ban on the Federal Government engaging in cruel. inhuman. and degrading treatment throughout the world. Such clarity in treatment of detainees is vitally needed as continuing revelations of abuse of prisoners in our custody damages the reputation of our Armed Forces abroad. undermines the tfust of our allies. and threatens the lives of U. S. service men and women who might be captured by the enemy. In addition to providing guidance to our troops. this language. by forbidding abuse wherever it may occur. gets at the heart of the issue of ghost detainees. prisoners kept and interrogated by the CIA in countries that have not signed on to the Geneva Conventions. Major General Taguba called the CIAs practice of holding ghost detainees \"deceptive. contrary to Army doctrine and in violation of Army law.\" The recent effort led by VicePresident Cheney to eliminate language in the bill to constrain interrogations wherever they may occur is misguided and will endanger our troops. I agree that our post9\/11 world will never be what it was previously. but thats no justification for turning our back on international commitments and undercutting our international credibility. If our goal is. as I believe it should be. obtaining the best possible actionable intelligence from suspects. then torture is not the best tool in our arsenal. Torture is immoral.. illegal. and rarely yields necessarily credible intelligence. Were all too familiar with the misleading testimony of a high. level Al Qaeda member. who was rendered to Egypt. where he stated under duress that Saddam Hussein had offered to train Al Qaeda operatives in the use of \"chemical or biological weapons.\" Following his transfer to Guantanamo. this witness recanted and the 9\/11 Commission confirmed that there was no working relationship between Saddam and Al Qaeda. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MURTHA","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3221,"word_count":355}
{"speech_id":1090098005,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. pursuant to clause 12 of rule XXII. I move that meetings of the conference between the House and the Senate on H.R. 2863 be closed to the public at such times as classified national security information may be broached. providing that any sitting Member of the Congress shall be entitled to attend any meeting of the conference.","speaker_name":"C. YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":341,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090098041,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. and I thank my friend from Nevada for sitting in for our good friend. the chair of the committee. Mr. DAVIS. who has worked so closely with me on the 2005 District of Columbia Omnibus Authorization Act on a home rule basis. I thank Chairman DAVIS also for getting this important bill to the floor. before we adjourn this month and for his leadership on the bill. The D.C. Omnibus Authorization Act is a -welcome committee innovation designed to achieve greater efficiency in considering District of Columbia matters. most of which are of little importance or concern to Congress but must come here only because they. or similar issues. appear in the D.C. City Charter and cannot become D.C. law until sanctioned by congressional action. It is very wasteful. but that is the way it operates. All of the provisions in this bill have been passed or approved by the District of Columbia. ","speaker_name":"ELEANOR NORTON","chamber":"H","state":"DC","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":5252,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090098079,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. nobody enjoys Christmas more than I. But today we have roughly 160.000 men and women in Iraq putting their lives on the line for an immoral. senseless war. Here .at home many of our vulnerable citizens will face a cold. bitter winter because they do not have home energy assistance from the Federal Government. Many others will not get the health care or education they need because of harsh cuts in Medicaid and student loans. Naturally. the majority does not want to talk about this. and one can always tell when the right wing is in political trouble. They invariably cook up some divisive culture war that has nothing to do with our real challenges in this country. What American families really want is the ability to afford more gifts for their children this season regardless of whether there is a wreath in the local department store. Meanwhile. how many casualties have there been in the socalled \"war on Christmas\"? Here is a hint: several thousand less than in the war on Iraq.","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1003,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090098091,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. I am really very saddened by the fact that when given the opportunity to expand this resolution that the sponsor demurred. I am not sure why. If you do not know and you are saying that you want this to be what this is because yours is the religion that has its symbols under attack. when was the last time you walked into WalMart and saw it saying \"Happy Chanukah\"? When did you walk into Toys R Us and see it saying \"Happy Kwanzaa\"? Does that give me the right to say that my religion is under. attack. the symbols of my faith or the holiday I wish to celebrate are under attack. It is not. and I am not going to be a crybaby and say that it is. To tell the truth. it -is slightly offensive to see people trying to create a war and claiming they are attacked just so that they go on the offense instead of the defense. This is a prefabricated issue that has no merit. Nobody is attacking the symbols of Christmas. Are you objecting to our wanting to be included because the symbols of your religion are more important than the symbols of anybody. elses religion in America? Or is it because you think that the symbols of your religion are moe official? And that is the danger in what we are doing. ","speaker_name":"GARY ACKERMAN","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1304,"word_count":241}
{"speech_id":1090098092,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. We have had a tremendous discussion. The United States of America is a seriously diverse country. I did a bit of research about Christmas and found 32 pages about how we sort ofevolved to the point of Christmas in this country. I think the. season is a season to spread goodwill. I would hope that there would not be a political debate necessarily around the yuletide. a political debate. because I was taught. and maybe some of what I was taught is different. that Christ was born. 4nd out of that evolved Christmastime. and we spread good cheer. and we give hope. and we say. happy holidays. we say merry Christmas. happy Ramadan. happy. productive Kwanzaa. I just could not imagine. though. what it would be like if I could not hear Mahalia Jackson sing \"Silent night. holy night. all is calm. all is bright. round young virgin. mother and child. holy infant. so tender and mild.\" from which I got the impression that the origin of this period came. So. I would hope that all of us would have a happy Kwanzaa. a happy Cha-. nukah. a happy Ramadan. a merry Christmas and happy holidays to everybody. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1207,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090098113,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. In conclusion. I want to thank again Speaker HASTERT and Mr. CANTOR from Virginia for their efforts to help us bring this resolution to the floor. I also want to thank Leader PELOSI and the rest of my colleagues for their assistance. I do want to recognize Speaker HASTERT in particular. because he has committed to personally contact the . President to urge him to take this resolution and to go ahead and create the executive order. So I look forward to working with him towards that end. Madam Speaker. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":641,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090098129,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I do not believe that I am going to have any other requests for time. and so I am prepared to simply close and yield back. I want to commend the gentleman from Indiana. I come from Chicago where we have the Chicago White Sox and I represent them. and so I know what it feels like to have a champion. I commend him for introducing this resolution. I also want to take this opportunity. Mr. Speaker. to simply say to the gentleman from Nevada . the chairman of our subcommittee and his staff. that it has indeed been a pleasure working with you and your staff this entire year. and we look forward to coming back at the end of January. \u0095 As we go and take all of this time off and be that much away from each other. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":971,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090098149,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I encourage my fellow colleagues to reauthorize this outstanding program.","speaker_name":"ROGER WICKER","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1924,"word_count":10}
{"speech_id":1090098157,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. to conclude. before yielding. back. I do want to thank Chairman DAVIS from the Government Reform Committee for his cooperation because there were some issues of jurisdiction. and he acted in a very cooperative and collegial way to help make this legislation possible. I. would also like to thank Kristen Gilley for her fine work in working on this legislation. and to my good friend and colleague Mr. LANTOS as well. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":479,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090098181,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 458) remembering and commemorating the lives and work of Maryknoll Sisters Maura Clarke and Ita Ford. Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel. and Cleveland Lay Mission Team Member Jean Donovan. who were executed by members of the armed forces of El Salvador on December 2. 1980. as amended.","speaker_name":"DAN BURTON","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":359,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090098186,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"According to the World Bank. fewer infants are dying at birth. more children are attending primary school. and more families have access to safe drinking water today than they did 10 years ago. El Salvador has also become one of our most trusted and unwavering allies and has taken principled and brave stances on such issues as Iraq and the defense ofIsrael. Mr. Speaker. despite these extraordinary accomplishments. El Salvador. like many postconflict countries. still struggles with a host of social. economic and environmental problems. Public investments in health. education. sanitation and other social programs are low. As a consequence. the health of the population is generally poorer than that of most of El Salvadors regional neighbors. Also. violence. much of it gang related. iscrippling El Saliadoran society. And El Salvadors preparedness to respond and mitigate natural disasters remains lacking. Todays resolution reminds us to draw strength and inspiration from the lives of four admirable women who were killed for dedicating their lives to trying to bring hope to those who are desperately poor in El Salvador. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2382,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090098189,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Over the course of the past year. the Ombudswoman has been the target of ongoing intimidation and harassment. The United States has the responsibility not only to recognize the work of the four churchwomen who we memorialize today but also to support those who are continuing to defend human rights in El Salvador. The murders of the churchwomen and countless others were executed by members of the armed forces of El Salvador. Three of the five officers involved in the 1980 rape and murder of four churchwomen were graduates of the School of the Americas. Other notorious graduates involved in human rights offenses in El Salvador have included: El Salvador death squad leader Roberto DAbuisson. 19 Salvadoran soldiers linked to the 1989 murder of six Jesuit priests. their housekeeper and her daughter. two of the three killers of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador. and 10 of the 12 officers responsible for the murder of 900 civilians in the Salvadoran village. El Mozote. In supporting the resolution honoring the 4 churchwomen. I would like to urge for floor consideration of another bill offered by Congressman MCGOVERN. H.R. 1217. the Latin America Military Training Review Act of 2005. which closes the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. Additionally. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4434,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090098204,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume to respond to Mr. KUCINICIi. Mr. Speaker. while I am not aware of the specific details that Mr. KUCINICH outlined. I want to make it very clear I do appreciate his comment about Croatia and his feeling about its accession to NATO. I would like to say. while I am not familiar with that specific incident. I firmly believe that Croatias overall record has significantly improved in human rights over the past decade. ","speaker_name":"ELTON GALLEGLY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":975,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090098207,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"First of all. I want to thank my friend for reviewing the history of commitment. I want to thank my friend for pointing out that Croatia has worked toward fulfillment of commitments on human rights. I would agree with that. At the same time. I would ask my friend to assist me in helping Croatia continue that commitment in an area that is really important. and that is freedom of expression. I would like to at some point after the debate share with the gentleman the specific concerns that I had that caused me to bring this up during debate. But I want to thank the gentleman for his sponsorship. for his commitment. and I join him in it.","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":641,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090098223,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support and as a cosponsor of H. Con. Res. 312. to urge the Russian Government to alter or withdraw the proposed legislation affecting nongovernmental organizations. NGOs. operating in Russia. The Russian legislation would severely restrict foreign assistance to NGOs in Russia and would also force existing Russian NGOs to reregister with the government. The draft Russian bill raises a number of serious concerns. and may violate Russias commitments to the OSCE. Several hundred thousand nongovernmental organizations currently operate in Russia. representing all sections of society. By forcing all NGOs to reregister. the Russian Government will have the power to subjectively deny registration to some organizations and limit the activities of others. ","speaker_name":"BENJAMIN CARDIN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3122,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090098231,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution calling on the international community to condemn the Laogai. the system of forced labor prison camps in the Peoples Republic of China. as a tool for suppression maintained by the Chinese Government. as amended.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":291,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090098235,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank my good friend the gentleman from California for his very eloquent statement. This is an issue that very few Americans. very few lawmakers are really aware of. and it is about time the gross cruelty of the Laogai become much more wellknown and action needs to be taken.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":333,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090098250,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the gentleman from New Jersey . the chairman. for his dedication and commitment to this issue. along with my friend the gentleman from California . the ranking member. for his ongoing support of this piece of legislation. and Mr. Speaker. I thank you for the opportunity to address this issue. that is incredibly important to all Cambodian Americans. The tragic history of over 1.7 million Cambodian men. women and children who died during the Khmer Rouge rule in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 is unconscionable. The inhumanity of the Khmer. Rouge regime and the harrowing events of the killing fields there still touch every Cambodian American family. They live each day with the indelible scars of lost mothers and fathers. brothers and sisters. and other loved ones. While the tragedy can never be reversed. ","speaker_name":"JUANITA MILLENDER-MCDONALD","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":37.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3159,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090098284,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But Hamas has refused to accept that policy. Hamas leaders have even vowed to turn the Palestinian Authority forces into a \"resistance force\" against Israel. That is why I am deeply concerned that President Abbas is allowing Hamas to participate in elections. Perhaps he is hoping that. by buying time now. he will be able to disarm them later. But a policy of hoping will not work. Look at Hezbollah. Hezboll.ah. a terrorist group funded by Iran and waiting right across Israels northern border. took part in elections in Lebanon. Now they are armed with political power. as well as guns. and they have used their seats in parliament to avoid disarming. I can think of no clearer example of the danger of a state run by those who support terrorism and espouse violence and antiSemitism than the country of Iran. The Iranian president has spewed antiSemitism and hatred in his calls for the destruction of the state of Israel and his denial of the Holocaust. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT WEXLER","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4405,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090098289,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Under the road map peace plan. backed by the quartetthe United States. Russia. the European Union and the United Nationsthe PA is required to launch \"sustained. targeted. and effective operations aimed at confronting all those engaged in terror\" and to begin the \"dismantlement of terrorist capabilities and infrastructure.\" Instead of taking such action. the PA has invited Hamas to participate in the elections with no requirement to disarm. This poses a direct threat to establishing a stable Palestinian state and a peaceful Middle East. Mr. Speaker. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said \"Hamas is a terror organization and it has to be disbanded. both for the sake of peace and security in the Middle East .and for the sake of the proper functioning of the Palestinian Authority.\" I oppose Hamass participation in the upcoming election as it would legitimize a known terror network. The PA leadership. needs to disarm and gain control of Hamas and other terror networks. A party running on a platform calling for Israels destruction is innately an advocate of violence. Further. a party that would use force for political leverage is a threat to the democratic process. That is why. ","speaker_name":"BRIAN HIGGINS","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":27.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3282,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090098357,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Toby Woodmore is Trousdale County High Schools principal. I congratulate all the talented members of the 2005 1A State Champion Yellow Jackets: Dustin Dillehay. Marco Wright. Jared White. Blake Satterfield. Nelson Harper. Sammuel Dunn. Terrian Luster. Cal Welch. Creigh Hall. ichael Ring. ","speaker_name":"BARTON GORDON","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1775,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090098442,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. while this discussion is going on. if I could also make a parliamentary inquiry. Once we begin on the PATRIOT Act. is it my understanding the distinguished senior Senator from Pennsylvania is in control of an hour and the Senator from Vermont is in control of an hour?","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":285,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090098510,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. without getting into methamphetamine. where we have accommodated the interests of the Senator from Oregon and other Senators by putting them on this bill because it is a measure which ought to proceed. let me ask the Senator from Oregon. when he complains about the national security letters. I ask whether the conference report is not a big step over existing law? National security letters have been in existence for decades.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":442,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090098534,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Rocky Mountain News said last month that we in the Senate should hang tough because fundamental. freedoms of America are at stake. The Colorado Springs Gazette. a very conservative newspaper. said those insisting on added protections for civil liberties and stricter sunset provisions are doing the right thing by holding their ground. - The Denver Post editorial said: We support a bipartisan effort to block final passage unless safeguards are reinstated. I believethe Senate can do better in helping us move forward in the fight against terror. giving law enforcement the tools they need in that ongoing battle. and at the same time assuring that we are protecting the cherished freedoms of our democracy enshrined in our Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":784,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090098536,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. with all due respect. I think we do not need any newspaper editorials to tell the Senate to hang tough or to tell Senators to hang tough or to tell this Senator to hang tough. I. think we have hung tough. mighty tough. Dnbar .15..1200f Let me take up the specifics about what the Senator from Colorado has had to say.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":332,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090098587,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wish to spend a few minutes of my time talking about the LaborHHS bill and a lot of the comments we have heard in the Chamber over the last couple days as to what we are and are not doing. I thought the American public should have a good perspective about what has . happenedin terms of the growth of this department since the fiscal year 1998 started. This is a tight budget. I commend those who are in charge of it. It is a vast improvement over what we have done in other years. There is no question there are some unmet needs that can be claimed out of this appropriations bill. That is the time we fac6 in our country. The Federal Government cannot meet every need. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4565,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090098612,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The WTO incorrectly read into international agreements a prohibition against our law that was never agreed to by any U.S. trade negotiator. The WTO has no legal basis to request that the United States repeal this law. Nearly 800 American companies and workers in nearly every State of the Nation receive distributions under its provisions. It is critical to familyowned businesses. like Warwood Tools in Wheeling. WV. and to WheelingPittsburgh Steel. and to Mittal Steels facilities in Weirton. WV. It is equally important to the thousands of steelworkers in Ohio. Pennsylvania. and elsewhere across the Nation. They. and all hardworking Americans. deserve to continue to receive these funds so long as foreign traders keep dumping. If our trading partners dont like this trade law. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6959,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090098621,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask that the RECORD show that I would have voted \"aye\" on rollcall vote 354. the DeWine motion to instruct conferees on S. 1932. I continue to support the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act. and I agree that its repeal should not be included in the conference report..","speaker_name":"DAVID VITTER","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":291,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090098631,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The motion of the Senator from Wisconsin is not binding so I am sure they will vote as they please. It is wellintentioned and I agree with the concept. However. there are issues within the child support questions which should be subject to conference and which. if you read the motion literally and which if it had any binding effect. would undermine our capacity to have flexibility in conference. Specifically. for example. under the law today. you can use Federal money and make the State match. so what is happening is States are taking Federal money. and instead of using their State dollars to match. they are using Federal money to get more Federal money. That makes no sense at all. The House has corrected this program. This language would undermine that. I hope we do not support the motion to instruct. The conference will do a good job on this. It does not ne6d this instruction.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":891,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090098637,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will just take 30 seconds because. the other 30 seconds will be taken by the chairman of the HELP Committee. All this. motion does is insist that the student aid programwhich provides $8 billion more for Pell eligible studentsthat passed out of our committee. virtually unanimously. will be affirmed in the conference. Effectively. we are taking what was the bipartisan agreement in_ our committee under the leadership of Senator ENzI and instructing the .conferees to support that position. Many of our colleagues have voiced their public support for this motion. including Senators DURBIN. HARKIN.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":616,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090098652,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr.-President. I urge my colleagues to support this motion to instruct the conferees to add $2.9 billion for the LIHEAP program. The time is growing late. In northern Maine. the high temperature earlier this weekthe high temperaturewas 12 degrees. Lets act now to avert a real crisis for lowincome families across this country.","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":327,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090098674,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It has a contentious debate on it. I have objections. as a number of my colleagues do. to the use of young human life for research purposes. The reason that we should go forward with this type of proposal the leader is putting forward is there is nobody opposed to cord blood research in the entire 100 Members here. Everybody supports cord blood research. It is real cures today. I have two pictures of people who are being treated right now. have been treated. This is Keone. sickle cell anemia. cord blood cured. Another one. the next one. Krabbes disease. 3yearold. cured. cord blood. The problem is. we dont have a big registry of it around the country. ","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2339,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090098687,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today in strong support of the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act. This bill gives our national security and law enforcement communities. including the FBI. the tools they need to fight the war against terrorism. while at the same time adding new provisions to protect the civil liberties and privacy that all Americans rightfully expect and cherish. The first responsibility of our national government is to protect the citizens of our country from foreign threats. My fellow citizens of Utah and all of my fellow Americans expect that the Federal Goveinment will help protect them against terrorist attacks but to do so in a fashion that does not open the lives of ordinary. lawabiding Americans to unjustified government intrusion. The PATRIOT Act protects our citizens by helping to keep us physically safe andprotects our essential civil liberties.","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":888,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090098694,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to speak briefly about the progress on the war in Iraq and. importantly. the wellbeing and morale of our troops in the field. Last week. the State of South Dakota lost two of its sons in Iraq. SSG Daniel Cuka. 27. from Yankton. SD. and SFC Richard Shield. 40. from Tabor. SD. Both served in the 147th Field Artillery of the South Dakota National Guard and were killed by improvised explosive devices while riding in their humvees. They were assigned the mission of assisting in the training of Iraqi police. Three other members of their battery were also wounded. ","speaker_name":"JOHN THUNE","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10377,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090098702,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in my tion. and running against the Presid book. \"Child of the Appalachian Coal for the Democratic presidential no: Fields.\" I discussed the Senate class of nation. \"The Administration.\" he s 1958. That class. which included 15. \"seems to have set no limit to Democrats and 3 Republicans. con- price which it is willing to pay fo stituted the largest turnover- over in military victory.\" Senate history. and from that class of No one expected much fr Senators came a number of Senate McCarthys challenge. He was a lit leaders and Presidential candidates. known Senator taking on Presid Most important. I pointed out. while Johnson. who at the time. seemed elected during the Eisenhower adminis- powerful. tration. the class of 1958 \"tackled some But. as most of us know. in the of the greatest foreign and domestic New Hampshire Democratic prime problems ever to face the Nation. and Senator McCarthy stunned the Nat they played critical roles in enacting and shocked the political world. the Great Society programs and ending near victory helped to drive Presid the war in Vietnam.\" Johnson out of the Presidential rr One of the most remarkable members That contest showed how unpopt of that remarkable class was Senator the war was. It focused attention Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota. who despite the administrations claims passed away this weekend.. He played the contrary. just how disastrous critical roles both in enacting the policies were in Southeast Asia. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4745,"word_count":242}
{"speech_id":1090098704,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"DOD. and other agencies for excluding contracts from the calculations of small business contracting achievements toward the statutory goals established in the Small Business Act based on tenuous rationales. On its face. the Small Business Actapplies to all Federal procurements. including all overseas contracts. However. * recently there has been some resistance to implementing the Small Business Act as written. Some agencies. like the Department of Defense. go as far as to exempt all overseasrelated contracts from the act. Others. such as the Department of State. exempt contracts for performance abroad if they are also awarded abroad but not if they awarded domestically. As a result. prime contracting and subcontracting requirements of the Small Business Act are rendered unenforceable with regard to many military and reconstruction projects. and fair access for small businessesis seriously diminished. Based on fiscal year 2000 dollars. the GAO found that approximately $8.4 billion in overseas defense contracts were excluded from counting toward the Federal -Governments small business performance. Under the Small Business Act. $1.93 billion of these contracts should have been awarded to small businesses. The SBAs and the DODs rationale for excluding overseas contracts was that small firms have little chance of competing. for these contractsin the first place. The excuse given by the SBA and other agencies to the GAO in 2001 did not hold then. and it surely does not hold now. ","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":13630,"word_count":230}
{"speech_id":1090098712,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Lynn has been an invaluable voice of education on domestic violence issues for Members of Congress. She speaks for those who cannot speak for themselves. those \u0095imprisoned in their homes. victims of cruelty with no way out and no hope. Her work on the Violence Against Women Act has kept it a powerful policy tool to address the injustices that so many women. children. and men face in their own homes. I am honored to have had the opportunity to work with such an incredible woman. and I wish her the very best as she goes to work oft economic justice issues back in Florida.9","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CRAPO","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1711,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090098717,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am hopeful that Aimees Law will finally and effectively be implemented in the very near future so other families do not suffer the same fate as the Williards.e","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2373,"word_count":29}
{"speech_id":1090098719,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He has inspired teamwork and efficiency in many venues. and he has trained the next generation of acquisition managers to continue his legacy. For these and his many other contributions. Americans owe Mr. Little a debt of gratitude for a lifetime of selfless service and for his profound contributions to our Nation and our security. Those of us in the Senate will miss his leadership and contributions. We wish him and his family all the best in the years ahead.*","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2047,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090098723,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Edison. Fulton. Morse. Ford. Colt. the WrightsI dont even have to say their first names and you know who they are and what they did. Now we face a new century with new challenges--a global age where competition can come as easily from across an ocean as from across the street. We got a wake up call earlier this week about how tough the challenge is when it was announced that China had overtaken the United States as the worlds largest exporter of hightech products. According to statistics released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). China shipped $180 billion worth of such goods worldwide last year. exceeding U.S. exports valued at $149 billion. Even more significant. however. is the fact that the historical paradigm. one that has fueled much of our economic growth in the technology sector in this country. is quickly changing. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":13137,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090098729,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Stateoftheart clinical programs are provided at Henry Ford Hospital. the Henry Ford Medical Center in West Bloomfield. and the Allen Park Neurology Center. I ask unanimous consent that the text the bill and the support letters be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2583,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090098784,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This should be a positive action. It should be one respectful of history and all Americans. I urge my colleagues to be respectful of the institution. to be respectful of the wonder of the deliberative process. to be respectful of motive. to be respectful of each other. Madam Speaker. it is time we take the honorable steps necessary to ensure that our borders and our Nation are secure.","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":995,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090098786,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. today is a historic day for democracy and freedom. Iraqis go to the polls to democratically elect the 275 seats of th& new Iraqi Council of Representatives. The. newly elected Council will then select a Prime Minister. a Presidency Council. and a Cabinet of Ministers. By any measure. todays elections are remarkable. In just under 3 years. 26 million Iraqis have gone from brutal tyranny to representative democracy. A ruthless and dangerous dictator has been removed. and the stabilizing influence of democracy is taking root in a region desperately in need of it. This progress is a fitting tribute to the brave men and women in uniform who have sacrificed so much to see this day realized. There is more work to be done and there will be more setbacks to overcome. but this is tremendous progress. I salute them.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":831,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090098798,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. millions of Americans who work in the private sector are relying on having an employersponsored pension plan when they retire. An important part of the American dream is to have a nest egg that people can tap into during their golden years so that they are not forced to literally work until they die. American workers have fought for and earned the right to pay into a pension system that will provide an income once they retire. Unfortunately. there are serious problems with Americas private pension system. Madam Speaker. pension security is an important issue. one indeed which should be addressed by this Congress. but pension security must be addressed in the right way and it deserves to be addressed in a democraticway. Bankruptcies in the airlines. steel. and the auto parts industries. for example. are straining the abilities of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. or the PBGC. to guarantee the private pensions of workers in these industries. The PBGC was created as an insurance system for Americas private pension plans. It exists to make sure that Americas workers will receive a pension when they retire. even if the company they work for cannot pay that pension. Now. while there are real problems in some industries. like the steel industry. there are also serious cases of pension dumping. where a corporation claims it cannot fulfill its obligations and dumps its pension onto the PBGC. The net effect is a real strain on the PBGC and ultimately a crisis in the pension system. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2176,"word_count":254}
{"speech_id":1090098799,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"one of the authors of this bill. told the Rules Committee yesterday that this bill is tough medicine. What he did not say is that it is tough medicine for Americas workers. Madam Speaker. -this bill will have a real effect on millions of Americans lives and on the quality of their lives as they grow older. The fact is that this bill that Chairman THOMAS and Chairman BOEHNER have brought before us will make the problem worse. not better. This is the wrong prescription for what ails Americas pension system. Both the Congressional Bpdget Office and the PBGC estimate that the Pension Protection Act will actually lead to an increase in pension plan terminations and an increase in the PBGCs liabilities by billions of dollars. Clearly. that simply cannot be what anyone in this Chamber really wants. The goal should be to enact legislation that guarantees workers their full pensions. Instead. passage of this bill will allow corporations to turn their backs on their loyal employees and shirk the responsibilities they face to provide a real pension to their employees. There exists in this country a culture of corporate corruption. where companies like Enron and WorldCom squander billions of dollars in retirement funds. and this legislation does not do anything. nothing. to fix that. ","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2459,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090098821,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Let me just again say to the gentleman from South Carolina who just spoke. what we are asking for here is an opportunity to offer what we think is best. We disagree with you. We disagree with your approach. Not only do we disagree with your approach. the AARP disagrees with your approach. AARP. DEAR REPRESENTATIVE: AARP is writing to express its opposition to a number of critical elements of H.R. 2830. the Pension Protection Act of 2005. scheduled for House consideration this week. We share the goal of enacting new pension funding rules that will require employers to fully fund their pension plans and provide new revenue for the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5527,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090098825,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in strongsupport of this rule and the Pension Protection Act. Over the past several years. we have all witnessed some disturbing occurrences as we have seen far too many hardworking Americans contribute money into a pension plan. only to find their benefits dwindle or depleted entirely. We must find ways to ensure that employers keep their promises to their retiring workers. I believe we have done so in this bill. Chairman BOEHNER and THOMAS are to be applauded for their determination to make this happen. They have spent countless hours in negotiations with employers. employees. unions. and all other parties who have a dog in this fight. The resulting bill we consider here today does exactly what its title says: It further protects the pensions of Americas workers. As I see it. the two most important parts of the Pension Protection Act are provisions to require more accountability and provisions that ensure fiscal responsibility. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2327,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090098845,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That means that they may be here. taxpayers. children in school. recognizing that they may have come to this particular place undocumented. But it criminalizes them by their very presence. That means they have to be mandatorily put in jail. Whether you are an elderly person. whether you are a child. you have to be mandatorily put in jail. The socalled \"emplojer verification program\" was a pilot program. There is no guarantee in this bill for full funding for that. nor is there a guarantee that the data base is secure enough that the employers can rely upon it. I believe employers should verify who they are employing. but they cannot do it with a system that is fractured and is not funded the way it should be funded. This bill requires a lot of work and the work is that we must combine comprehensive immigration reform. We must also address the question very quickly. Mr. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3819,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090098935,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But I do not believe they go to the point of driving companies out of the defined benefit system. My good friend from California believes we are going to drive up the deficit. Now. if the rules were not strong enough. I would not have had virtually every employer in America who has a defined benefit plan beating on my office door complaining about the rules we were proposing. I would not have had every labor organization talking to me about how do we get this right. The fact is. if you look at the chart that we have here. plans must meet a 100 percent funding target. That is not the law today. If they are in the 8090 percent range. it is good enough. But then as soon as the market turns down or the industry has a bump in the road. it is not long before they are under 60 and in deep trouble. So requiring plans to .be 100 percent funded. ","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3392,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090098940,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Various people have scrambled to try to reduce the potential undermining of defined benefit plans through this provision on credit balances. but I want everybody to know that that is not likely to work out in the main because this Republican bill would discourage companies from doing the responsible and sensible thing. advance funding their pension plhns to free up resources in years when they needed to make big expenditures. like rolling out a big product line. and penalize those who woilld do it any way. who would advance funds. Look. there are some transition rules. but they are not going to basically resolve this issue of whether we are going to maintain. strengthen defined benefit plans. Now. it is said. look to the conference committee. All I can say is. look at the history of conference committees in this institution in recent years. What is likely to come out is a bill that would make this bill even worse. and even if i t did not. what we face with this bill is this basic question: Do we want to strengthen defined guaranteed pension plans and payments. or are we going to move to everybody on their own? I think this House should stand up and say. let us stand up for a defined benefit system in this country.","speaker_name":"SANDER LEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2702,"word_count":220}
{"speech_id":1090098943,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. first let me yield myself 30 seconds to point out that I wish we did have provisions in this bill to deal with the airline industry. because I think we should. The problem is that we do not. and we go to conference with a situation where those who have wellfunded plans are now likely to be asked to pay because of the costs of the airline ifidustry. And let me also point out from Mr. BOEHNERS comment about making the PBGC better funded. if we have a lot of terminated plans. it is not going to be better funded. And the gentleman brags about a permanent yield curve which is unpredictable to business. It would be better to have a corporate bond rate. and I am. sorry that is not in the legislation. Mr. Speaker. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts . a senior members of the Ways and Means Committee and one of the leading experts on retirement issues.","speaker_name":"BENJAMIN CARDIN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":886,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090098951,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it is because of todays outdated pension rules workers. retirees and taxpayers all stand to lose unless we act now to reform our pension system. Under current law. employers have been allowed to underestimate their future pension liabilities and to make promises they simlply cannot keep. The recent example of United Airlines underscores the need for reform. United Pilots Plan was severely underfunded. yet the company was not required to make cash contributions to that plan in 8 years prior to its termination. The legislation before us today strikes a careful balance between preserving the defined benefit pension system for workers and ensuring that employers properly fund their plans. This bill provides workers with meaningful disclosure about the status of their pensions. and it pr6tects taxpayers from a possible multibillion dollar bailout of the PBGC. which insures the pensions of some 44 million workers. But H.R. 2830 contains other important provisions aimed at improving the economic security of retired Americans. For example. it provides. retired firefighters and police officers. who often retire early without Medicare coverage. with a tax break on pension withdrawals to pay for health insurance premiums. This provision enjoys strong bipartisan support and offers a small -measure to protect against exorbitant health care costs that follow a career spent responding to emergencies. ","speaker_name":"CHRIS CHOCOLA","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1600,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090098967,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the subcommittee chairman. Mr. CAMP. and my colleagues for working so hard on this bill. along with our chairman and chairman of the Education and the Workforce Committee. Without their urging. this bill would not be on the floor today. and this bill is so extremely important. especially to constituents in my district. Over the last year. I have met with employees. union members. covered by both multiemployer and singleemployer plans. also.With the employers to discuss their concerns regarding pensions. Pension protection continues to be their top issue. Many of my constituents have faced challenges to their pensions with companies like U.S. ","speaker_name":"MELISSA HART","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2505,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090098981,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"H.R. 2830 makes significant changes to the rules for defined benefit pension plans. increases the premiums that companies pay into the PBGC. and does nothing to prevent com-: panies from dumping their pension obligations on American taxpayers. According to the Chief Investment Officers of over sixty percent of our Nations largest pension plans. these likely will lead to cuts. or terminations of existing plans. According to the Congressional Budget Office. this legislation would add over $70 billion to the federal deficit and fails to improve the PBGCs financial condition by increasing the agencys financial shortfall by $2.5 billion. Rather than allowing an open debate on this important issue. the majority leadership has chosen to close this bill from amendments or even allow consideration of a Democratic substitute. The Miller\/Cardin motion to recommit protects American pension benefits by making it harder for companies to declare bankruptcy .and abandon workers pensions. protects workers retirement security by providing employers with pension funding stability and gives the airlines the tools they need to shore up their employee pension plans. This alternative would provide American workers with real pension protection. rather than continued retirement insecurity. Mr. Speaker. todays legislation is the latest in a series of attempts to privatize profits and socialize losses. It is my sincere hope that as we move into conference. we can produce legislation that will protect the hard earned pension benefits of our Nations workers.","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2462,"word_count":235}
{"speech_id":1090098987,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of H.R. 2830. The Pension Protection Act of 2005. This bill addresses a serious issue facing our Nation. The ultimate enactment of pension reform must be a priority to this House and the Congress. I congratulate and thank Chairman BOEHNER and Chairman THOMAS for crafting a comprehensive pension reform bill with so much support from the business and the labor communities. This legislation represents a sucbessful compromise that will help protect workers in the auto industry and also protect the major U.S. auto manufacturers against loss of promised benefits \"or plan terminations. One area that remains to be addressed in conference is the issue of airline pension plans. The Cincinnati\/Northern Kentucky Airport is one of the Nations busiest. ","speaker_name":"GEOFF DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2138,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090098989,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I was hoping to vote on an amendment protecting United Airline retirees from having their pension benefits reduced or terminated even though United expects to make $1 billion in profit within 1 year of being discharged from bankruptcy. The Senate version of the bill does address same problems of the airline industry. However it fails to protect United Airlines retirees. The Federal Government should not facilitate a large companies getting out of its contractual obligations to their retired workers. I. therefore. urge my colleagues to protect the pensions of retired United Airline employees by rejecting this rule and voting for a rule that allows us to consider adding. language helping the United Airline retirees to the bill. If this rule does pass. I urge my colleagues to move the process foreword by voting for the bill and working to add language protecting the United Airline pilots to. the bill when it goes to conference with the Senate.","speaker_name":"RONALD PAUL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1720,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090099004,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the distinguished chairman for yielding. I oppose the motion to recommit. This motion to recommit leaves current pension funding rules in place which ends up weakening the funding rules in the underlying bill. This means that businesses would not be fulfilling their promises to working people. The motion to recommit also has a $53 billion surtax contained in it on small business. That surtax is bad for workers. bad for small business. bad for America. So I would urge a \"no\" vote on the motion to recommit. a \"yes\" vote on the underlying bill. which would ensure that pension plans would be appropriately funded. but not so strict as to cause employers to terminate their pension plans. I urge a \"yes\" vote on the underlying bill.","speaker_name":"DAVE CAMP","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":755,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090099030,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the American people know the difference between legal immigration. which has made our country great. and illegal immigration. which threatens our homeland security. This legislation represents a crucial step forward in securing our borders and protecting the lives and property of the American people. Sponsored by Chairman SENSENBRENNER and Chairman KING. the Border Protection. Antiterterrorism. and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 achieves four essential goals. Hi1801 It combats illegal immigrant smuggling and makes it -easier to deport illegal aliens. 20 percent of all Federal prisoners. who have committed crimes. This will make our communities much safer. This legislation makes it easier to apprehend. convict and deport potential terrorists. It allows employers to determine whether a job applicant is legally in the United States. Last year. not a single employer w~s fined for illegally hiring someone. ","speaker_name":"LAMAR SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2392,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090099047,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"fornia. Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman from Michiganfor yielding me time. Mr. Chairman. I rise today in strong opposition to H.R. 4437. Americans are right to demand better border security and better enforcement of our immigration laws. but this bill is just a false sense of security. It does not secure our borders. it leaves our ports of entry exposed. and does nothing to reform our broken immigration system. What is needed is enforcement of laws that work. and we cannot have this without comprehensive immigration - reform. ","speaker_name":"LINDA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":39.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1796,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090099077,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Chairman. You can scream to the high moon. but this is not your idea. and even if you put your name on this. I know it is not for sure. We didnt pass this out of the Homeland Security Committee. And by the way. how many folks are we going to have to hire to do all of this? Who is paying for this? You have lost your background. and I mean that in a complimentary way. I do not mean that to be a wise guy. What you did just several years ago with the Irish immigrants who came here. when our British friends wanted to pluck them up and throw them out of the country. it was courageous. You cannot deny this in a bill. You cannot deny your heritage. I call on you to look at your heritage. ","speaker_name":"BILL PASCRELL","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2653,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090099080,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"For all of the foregoing reasons. I ask that the body pass this important leg-. islation. I commend Chairman KING and Chairman. SENSENBRENNER for their leadership on this issue.","speaker_name":"CHARLES DENT","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2105,"word_count":29}
{"speech_id":1090099084,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the chairman for yielding this time. and I want to commend both Chairman KING and Chairman SENSENBRENNER for being able to work together and bring this legislation to the floor. This is not a perfect bill. but it is a very. very good start. Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of H.R. 4437 and urge my colleagues to join me. While much of our Nations attention is rightfully focused .on hostilities abroad. I am pleased that the House is working to uphold the other half of its responsibility to protect the American people. namely. the prevention of dangers here at home. It iS widely acknowledged that issue one of illegal immigration must be addressed on two major fronts. the first of which being the prevention of illegal entry into the United States. and the second. concentrating on finding. documenting and in most cases deporting illegals already within our bdrders. ","speaker_name":"JOHN LINDER","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2661,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090099090,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I too want to commend Chairman KING and Ranking Member THOMPSON for their work on legislation which passed on a voice vote out of our Homeland Security Committee and which is included in this bill before us today. Mr. Chairman. securing our Nations air. land. and sea borders is. a difficult. yet critical. task. While H.R. 4437 takes some good steps in addressing this problem. such as authorizing more Border Patrol agents and creating a new Border Patrol unit in my district. it also includes a number of harsh and contentious provisions which makes it impossible for it to receive the same kind of bipartisan support that was achieved in the Homeland Security Committee. So while I am pleased that the passage of this bill would mean that over 175 miles of unprotected and open borders in the U.S. Virgin Islands. a gateway of choice for smugglers into the United States. would finally receive protection from a newly established Border Patrol unit. I remain deeply concerned that H.R. 4437 would be excessively harmful to immigrants. families. businesses. and communities. It was a much better bill when it left out of the Homeland Security Committee. ","speaker_name":"DONNA CHRISTENSEN","chamber":"H","state":"VI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":1450,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090099109,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And is that not what it is all about. accountability? Those who break our immigration laws should be held accountable. Those who hire illegal aliens should be held accountable. And those who turn the other way and claim that there is no problem should be held accountable. Mr. Chairman. we have a large and a growing crises in our country. and it is our responsibility to act on behalf of our constituents and our Nation. Simply put. if our borders are not secure. our Nation is not secure. The time to act is now.","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1254,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090099113,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It used to be our first and only line of defense. but in this age of technology. more is possible. In our caucus. we have a true expert on the issue of border security. the gentleman from Texas. Mr. REYES. who just recently spoke on the floor. He is ready to further these efforts. Over and over. Democratic initiatives to make our borders more secure have been soundly rejected by the majority of the Republicans and the Republican leadership. Democrats also support enforcing laws. current laws. against those who came here illegally and those who hire illegal immigrants. yet the Bush administration has refused to do just this. There is all of this talk about illegal immigration to the United States and going after those workers who are working here illegally. and we should. but we also must have employer sanctions. Where are these people working? Why are we not enforcing the law against employers who hire illegal. undocumented people here? The Bush administration has prosecuted only three employer sanctioned cases in the last fiscal year. only three cases. ","speaker_name":"BENNIE THOMPSON","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6324,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090099117,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We would have added provisions about recruitment and retention problems so that we would have an experienced Border Patrol agency. Mr. Chairman. my friend. Mr. REYES. indicated the importance of a secure homeland with the right kind of personnel. We would have raised the base pay for a journey level Border Patrol agent to a GS13. We leave out the very men and women on the front lines. and I would hope we will go back and fix this legislation to do that.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1258,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090099120,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Chairman. remember at the height of Katrina. that tragedy. and we heard the words. \"Good job. Brownie.\" Well. we have someone equally qualified now in charge of the immigration function in the Homeland Security Department. and I think it is that level of competence that has led us to the problem that we face today. and that is that we have basically dropped the ball. the administration has dropped the ball at the border. They have permitted thousands. tens of thousands. of individuals to promise to. appear and then simply to escape into the country. This bill does not direct the administration to go find them and deport them or have their matter be heard. We used to. on a regular basis during the first Bush administration. the father Bush and the Clinton administration. persistently go and grab criminals after their sentences were served out in State and local incarceration facilities and deport them. ","speaker_name":"ZOE LOFGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2857,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090099126,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Such a provision risks criminalizing the work of nonprofits and religious organizations. whose sole purpose is to help human beings in need. Many organizations work on behalf of refugees and asylum seekers. helping them navigate their way through the Byzantine immigration process. Because our immigration system is so complicated. it is possible that asylum seekers are in the United States illegally for a short time. Any citizen who helps people who have fled their home country because they feared for their lives could be prosecuted under the wording of this bill. This is totally unacceptable and runs counter to the values that have made our country great. The United States is a beacon for democracy and has always been a refuge for people seeking freedom. From the first settlers who were escaping religious persecution. to Europeans escaping Communist regimes. accepting the huddled masses yearning to be free has been a part of our Nations genetic code. Mr. Chairman. President Kennedy once stated. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3877,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090099133,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I had a conversation with the gentleman from Nevada about going down with a load of provisions to help folks down there. When he arrived at the town. I do not remember the name of the town. he ask if they had talked to FEMA and they said. yes. they gave us a phone number- to call. but. unfortunately. our cell phones do not work. and our land lines are down so there is no telephone in this town.","speaker_name":"JOHN CARTER","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":31.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1466,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090099149,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of this amendment. The Department of Homeland Security IG has exposed. improper conduct or wrongdoing of contractors who maintain Federal contracts with the department. and I think this amendment is along the lines of trying to make sure that the American taxpayers are not going to get ripped off like they have been in the past. Take a look at the level of fraud in contracting that has occurred in the Middle East. in Iraq. I mean. hundreds of thousand of dollars of stolen money and the stories that are coming out of the taxpayers being ripped off by contractors in the gulf region after Hurricane Katrina. We know that the record is not a good one in terms of this administration choosing contractors who will not cheat us. So I do think it is important to have this amendment. and I commend the Congressman for bringing this forward. In June. the Homeland Security Committee heard testimony from Joel Gallay who is the acting Inspector General of GSA. ","speaker_name":"ZOE LOFGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2397,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090099169,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would simply note that this amendment will not really cure the problems in this bill. It will not get the resources. It will not make the administration do its job. It will not cure the incompetence and lack of performance that we have seen at the borders. both borders. southern and northern. as well as our ports of entry. It a good idea to enforce the laws. Unfortunately. the administration is not doing so. Nothing in this bill is going to help them do so. ","speaker_name":"ZOE LOFGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":602,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090099207,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I include for the RECORD a letter from the 9\/11 Families for a Secure America in full support of this amendment.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2804,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090099217,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I appreciate -the comments from the gentlewoman from Texas. but let me make it clear what this bill does and does not do. what this amendment does and does not do. It does not require local governments to do anything. All it does is tell them they should not prohibit. they should not actively prohibit their law enforcement officials from giving this information to the Department of Homeland Security. It does not require them to give the information. It says you may not prohibit or you lose Federal funds. Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CAMPBELL","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":48.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":627,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090099220,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This. is the way law enforcement does their business. And with your amendment. I see that the Attorney General has now to determine whether that city or county receives any formula funds of any amount. and that they cannot receive those amounts in the future. What are you going to do about Katrina? What are you going to do about all those cities that you are trying to bail out with the floods? I think this amendment is fixing something that is not even broken. I oppose it.","speaker_name":"SAM FARR","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1268,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090099240,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It does not say what the outcome has got to be. but just that we do not put children in prison with adults. Civilized nations do not do that. And I commend the gentlewoman for her amendment. It would also increase the ability to hold those who are not currently able to be held since. for reasons we cannot understand. the Bush administration has 700 fewer beds today than we did on September 11. 2001.","speaker_name":"ZOE LOFGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1329,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090099291,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The first piece of this fence. 361 miles from Calexico to Douglas. Arizona. is the area through which most of the people come who have represented those 400 deaths a year by dehydration in the deserts of Arizona. If we had 400 college kids or high school kids or neighborhood kids a year dying in a lake in a city. we would immediately fence it. By fencing that area we are going to prevent those deaths. We cannot fence it by the next hot season. which will start in the end of May this coming year. but we have in this legislation directed interlocking cameras so we can see people when they come across the border while we are building the fence and we can respond. We can both deport them. and we can also* save their lives. Mr. Chairman. The second piece that is mandatory here is the 15 miles on each side of Laredo. Across the river from Laredo is Nuevo Laredo where the drug lords reign. where they kill the local law enforcement officers within. some cases. a few hours of their taking office. ","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3230,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090099298,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I agree with my friend from California . We look forward to when we can tear this down. We want to be able to tear this down when we see an end to illegal drug trafficking. when we see an end to illegal crossings of our border. when we see economies of scale because of trade. But until that time. because of the success that we have seen with the 14mile border fence from the Pacific Ocean to the Otay Mesa. it is absolutely essential that we build on that success. We are in the midst of completing that 31\/2 mile gap. and Mr. HUNTER has just referred to the diminution that we have seen in cars running across the border and people running across the border at that fence. This is a humanitarian issue as well. It -is humanitarian because when we look at the 1.500 people. fellow human beings. who have died in the desert because of the fact that they have crossed illegally into our country. the existence of these fences at the most dangerous spots along our. 2.000mile border will go a long way toward saving the lives of our fellow human beings. ","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1544,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090099349,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I yield 7 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan . who chairs the appropriate committee. the Intelligence Committee.","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":733,"word_count":18}
{"speech_id":1090099350,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank my colleague from the House Armed Services Committee for yielding me this time and for acknowledging that the item under discussion tonight is an item that falls under the jurisdiction of the Intelligence Committee. And as much as my colleague and I wrestled last year at almost exactly the same time. as we arm wrestled together to work out the responsibilities and the shape of the new director of National Intelligence. we worked through that process. Mr.\" ABERCROMBIE. Mr. Speaker. will the gentleman yield?","speaker_name":"PETER HOEKSTRA","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":546,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090099359,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Maryland and the chairman of the Armed Services Committee. Mr. Speaker. as I think the only Member in the House tonight who is both a member of the Armed Services Committee and the Intelligence Committee. I listened to what the gentleman said. The gentleman said that he felt the information should be known to the Intelligence Committee. and I agree with the gentleman. and also to the House. Would the gentleman help me understand. because based on the language of the instruction. I see no requirement that the information reported to the Intel Committee be reported to the full House. is that his understanding. that somehow that very clandestine. very important information. very secretive information. should be shared to the whole House? Because that is not contained in the instruction.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCHUGH","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":834,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090099377,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. it was William Shakespeare who once said. Me thinkest thou protest too Tmuch. Why are those speaking against this motion doing so? Are not they anxious to learn the truth? That is what this is. an informational inquiry. We have been hearing discussions from our friends on the other side. particularly my friend from Kansas. about something else. He did not address this particular motion. Mr. ","speaker_name":"IKE SKELTON","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":523,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090099378,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have not conducted that oversight. On the committee. as a committee. the House Permanent Select Com mittee on Intelligence has not collected information about purported possible or former detention facilities currently or formerly operated by the United States Government. regardless of location. where the detainees in the global war on terrorism are or were being held. Perhaps the chairman has had some briefings. because there are very many things that the chairman of the committee gets to hear that the rest of the committee does not. but we havp not. The ranking minority member has told me that she has not. This motion would be worthwhile to be undertaken.","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1149,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090099385,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the gentleman has spoken very eloquently about the Defense authorization bill and instruction. Will the gentleman tell me how this motion to instruct has anything to do with the defense authorization bill? If the gentleman will answer the question I just posed. because I am confused. which happens often.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCHUGH","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":318,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090099389,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would say I appreciate the gentlemans comments. My ques tion was predicated upon the gentlemans assertion that this motion to instruct was related to this Defense bill when. in fact. it is not. The gentleman may wish to interject arguments about whether or not it is important or is not. My single point was this has nothing. with a capital N. to do with the Defense authorization bill. It is a motion to instruct auother committee to do something that this committee does not have jurisdiction over.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCHUGH","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":558,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090099400,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as Imay consume. My good friend from New York failed to read the part of the Senate bill that makes this all correctly before us. In section 1047. subsection A. the President shall ensure that the U.S. government continues to comply with the authorization reporting notification requirements of Title V of the National Security Act of 1947. The National Security Act of 1947 deals. with this subject matter before us. Mr. Speaker. I -yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Arkansas .","speaker_name":"IKE SKELTON","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":520,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090099461,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. with the holidays upon us. some Members of this body have been working really hard to divert attention from much of the pressing issues that we should be working on in this Congress. They have been doing this by complaining about some kind of war on Christmas. You can always tell whentheir poll numbers are down. That is when they reach into their bag of culture war tricks and gin up a divisive controversy that has nothing to do with Americans real challenges and Americans real aspirations. It is really interesting. my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are very interested in preserving the symbols of Christmas. But the war they are supporting and the budgets they are passing. more Scrooge than Santa. demonstrate that they have forgotten the true meaning of Christmas. particularly the part about peace on Earth and goodwill towards all. Besides. how many casualties have there been in this socalled war on Christmas? Here is a hint. Several thousand less than the war on Iraq. Today. without a doubt. we should congratulate the Iraqi people for what appears to be a successful. high turnout election. For the third time this year. courageous Iraqi citizens have enthusiastically exercised their democratic rights.. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4385,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090099476,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In fact. the trade deficit is so huge. it is now threequarters of $1 trillion and rising and. with it. our foreign indebtedness. This widening gap is likely to reduce our overall growth as a country. Now. our thirst for imported petroleum as a part of this increase rose 13 percent. And the Secretary of Treasury is living in another world when he says the reason that we are going into hock is because other nations are not growing fast enough. when. in fact. other nations are the very countries that are lending us money to make up this gap. The New York Times says a growing number of economists worry that the United States has become locked into becoming the worlds consumer of last .resort. a role that is leading to ever higher levels of foreign indebtedness financed in large part by central banks of China. Japan and other Asian countries. And not just Asian. As this chart illustrates. the amount of debt being held by foreigners is going up. Japan. over $100 billion over last year to a level of $681 billion. They are literally owning us. owning our debt. ","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4907,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090099485,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I feel honored this evening as we approach the midnight hour here in Washington to realize that it is the dawn of a new day in Iraq. The sun iscoming up almost as we speak. and I raise my hand and my index finger in symbolic fashion to salute the 10.5 million people who went to the polls in that historic election on December 15. Madam Speaker. listen to what some of the Iraqi people have had to say about how they feel about the vote that was cast yesterday. \"This day is revenge for Saddam.\" Kurdish voter Chiman Saleh. whose two brothers were killed by Saddams forces. The inkstained finger after he voted. \"The time has come to build. Iraq with our own hands and to use the great wealth that God has granted to Iraq. to rebuild Iraq so that we can turn our poverty into wealth and our misery into happiness.\" Prime minister alJaafari. linally. from the Associated Press. some good news: \"So many Sunni Arabs voted that ballots ran out in some places. The strong participation by Sunnis.\" the backbone of the insurgency. Madam Speaker. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3906,"word_count":191}
{"speech_id":1090099488,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Monday through Friday.. between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. through Thursday. December 29. The final issue will be dated Friday.. December 30. 2005. and will be delivered on Tuesday. January 3. 2006. Both offices will be closed Monday. December 26. 2005. None of the material printed in the final issue of the Congressional Record may contain subject matter. or relate to any event that occurred after the sine die date. Senators statements should also be submitted electronically. either on a disk to accompany the signed statement. or by email to the Official Reporters of Debates at \"Record@Sec.Senate.gov\". Members of the House of Representatives statements may also be submitted electronically by email. to accompany the signed statement. and formatted according to the instructions for the Extensions of Remarks template at http:\/\/ clerk.house.gov\/forms. ","speaker_name":"TOM COLE","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2682,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090099561,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this morning. after 30 minutes of morning business. the Senate will resume consideration of the PATRIOT Act conference report. At approximately 11 a.m. the Senate will vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the PATRIOT Act. It is my hope cloture will be invoked and that we could then adopt the conference report during todays session. Senators should anticipate additional votes on legislative and executive items we must complete action on before breaking for the holidays. including a number of judges and other nominations. As all of our colleagues know. we have a lot of work to do and a lot to accomplish over the next several days before we break for the holidays. I thank our colleagues for their patience and their hard work. We are working in a bicameral way. As our colleagues know. much of this legislation has to originate now and pass through the House before coming to us. We are working with the House to get that legislation appropriately.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":972,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090099566,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I. frankly. dont think we took enough time at that time to do it the right way. That is why a number of us demanded the sunset provisions. Now. more than 4 years later. we are presented with the opportunity to do it right. While the conference report before us makes certain improvements over the original PATRIOT Act. it still does not strike the right balance. We can provide the Government with the powers it needs to investigate potential terrorists and terrorist activity and at the same time protect the freedom of innocent Americans. Liberty and security are not contradictory. Additional congressional and judicial oversight of the Governments surveillance and investigative authorities need not hamper the Governments ability to fight terrorism. I say to the Presiding Officer. someone whose heritage is from the island of Cuba. where there is very little liberty and very little security. we are in the United States of America. We are not a dictatorship like Cuba. We can have liberty and we can have security. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12137,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090099573,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will continue to work to reauthorize the PATRIOT Act in a way that gives the Government needed tools to protect national security while placing sensible checks on those expanded powers. I apologize to all my colleagues. I am sorry I took more time than I should have. I know there is a lot todo. I appreciate everyones courtesy.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":345,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090099595,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the 15 minutes which was to go to the majority for morning business be expanded a little bit and that 7 minutes be yielded to the Senator from Florida. then 5 minutes to the Senator from New Hampshire. and then 7 minutes to the Senator from Oklahoma.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":294,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090099615,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I cant figure out where they get their information because as we have been approaching these elections over the last few months. we have noticed the IED incidents have been down 30 percent and suicide bombs have been down 70 percent. There is a road that goes from where we get off the C130s to go into the Green Zone. Mr.. President. you have been there. We were averaging about 10 terrorist incidents on that road each week up until June. We havent had one since June. So we see all these good things are happening. and then the unexpected quality of the training we are getting for the Iraqi security forces. These guys right nowand I think this is significant because people keep asking. What is the exit strategy? I can tell you what I believe. One Senator believes we are going to be out. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8737,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090099617,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I have a unanimous consent request that we have been working on. and I think we are ready to go with. We would like to get that done before we go to the hour of debate on the PATRIOT Act. I wish to see if we can confirm that with the minority.","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":258,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090099644,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this amendment 2680 acts on our commitment to provide rebuilding assistande to areas of the country devastated by this years relentless hurricane season. It will benefit residents of the gulf region. as well as more recently impacted areas of Texas and Florida. and provides much needed relief and resources for economic rebuilding to those areas. As promised. we have made our best effort to marry up our compassion for displaced persons and damaged communities with attention to fiscal discipline and the best use of taxpayer dollars. This bill represents aneffort to most efficiently and effectively use the tax code to assist in the rebuilding and revitalization of those regions. I will reiterate the guiding principles of our hurricane relief legislation. First. because market forces will be the driver in getting these regions back on their feet. our bill includes only provisions that encourage and incentivize redevelopment. Second. our package provides resources only to those who incurred uninsured losses and does not provide for a bailout of those who assumed risk as an insurer in our capitalist. freemarket system. Third. we have focused our limited Federal resources on those most in needlike the many devastated small business employers who were the backbones of these economies and who will be the engines of their future growth and prosperity. The amendment provides frontloaded incentives on a timely basis to encourage people and businesses to return to the region as quickly as possible. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3892,"word_count":241}
{"speech_id":1090099665,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it will only take 90 seconds to thank Senator LOTT for his leadership and the. two managers. Senator GRASSLEY and Senator BAUCUS. who have literally worked tirelessly on this piece of legislation to help the people along the gulf coast. This is part of a relief package that will help us to help ourselves. get our people back home. our businesses back to work. and the gulf coast on its feet. so we can continue to support the needs of this Nation through energy and commerce and trade. I thank Senator LOTT particularly for the extra effort he has put into this bill. I thank the leadership for passing it this morning.","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":636,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090099668,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I -thank the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee for yielding. Let. me also thank the chairman of the Judiciary Committee. I thought he gave a thoughtful overview .of the progression of time and thought that has gone into the conference report that is before the Senate at this moment. Of all that we do this year that is lasting beyond tomorrow. clearly the PATRIOT Act is one of those pieces of legislation. I say that because it deals with fundamental constitutional rights in this country. At the same time. it deals with our right to protect. ourselves against foreign interests that might intrude upon our shores. The chairman has said so well. it is a very precarious balancing act between the right of the free citizen and a civil society that is protected by law. That is what we as Senators are about at this moment. ","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2403,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090099676,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to speak in opposition to closing off debate on the PATRIOT Act conference report as it has come back to the Senate. The events of September 11 demonstrated various deficiencies in our understanding of the terrorist threat and our capabilities in terms of combating terrorism. In response. Congress acted decisively and passed the PATRIOT Act to ensure that our Government has all the tools necessary to protect the American people. I supported that legislation.","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":490,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090099682,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And I can tell you that this will be a matter for oversight by the Judiciary Committee as soon as We can get to it in the new yeara very high priority item. I might add. by way of addendum. that on a morning when we come to have a vote on the PATRIOT Act. it is a little disconcerting to see these headlines. It is not verygood publicity with a broad brush as to what the Government is doing. The editorials are frequently published on the day the Senate is to vote. Somebody suggested that the news story. which had been held back by more than a year. was timed as well. I certainly would not want to suggest that. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1984,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090099700,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. once again I thank the distinguished Senator from Vermont and the distin-. guished Senator from Pennsylvania for their leadership on this effort. I wish to take this opportunity to once again express my serious concerns about the PATRIOT Act conference report that is currently before the Senate. As I stated yesterday. as a former attorney general. I am very familiar with the needs of the more than 800.000 men and women working in law enforcement throughout our country. including those engaged in the fight against terrorism. For that reason. I support extending all the expiring powers of the USA PATRIOT Act. I firmly believe we can extend those powers while at the same time providing sufficient checks on those powers to protect Americas fundamental civil liberties. That is what the bipartisan SAFE Act did. That is what the bipartisan. unanimously supported Senate bill did. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2482,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090099706,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. before the Senator from Arizona sits down. I wish to ask him a question to further elaborate upon a point he has made. The President has said that he is not going to sign an extension of 3 months or. by implication. any extension of time. So if the conference report is not adopted so the President can sign it. there will be no PATRIOT Act in effect after December 31. The Senator from Arizona has talked about the wall. The Senator was on the Intelligence Committee the. day he came to the Senate. He was elected in 1994. I chaired the Intelligence Committee of the 104th Congress. He has been on it. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1030,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090099707,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The other agency knew that they had tried to come into the United States and decided that maybe we should try to find them but had no idea how important it was to try to find them. And had we been able to be on their tail at this time and find out that they were verifying airline reservations on September 11. knowing that they were connected to alQaida and were up to no good. history might well be. different than it is today. How on Earth we could allow the corrections in the law that we put in place as a result of our investigation to lapse is beyond me. The terrorists have not stopped their efforts to attack us. and largely we have been free from attack because of things such as the PATRIOT Act. So the chairman is exactly right. We corrected the errors that were brought to our attention that prevented us from doing what needed to be done before September 11. That is what this PATRIOT Act conference report is all about. The act needs to be reauthorized. Our people need that tool .to protect us. Why would we allow it to lapse. especially on a partisan basis? We need to think very carefully about what we are about to do. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2179,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090099712,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We put in a standard. probable cause. and neither the prosecutor cfommunity nor the defense community has complained. So then why. with the flick of a wrist. did this administration ignore those laws and listen in on conversations of hundreds of people when it would have been so easy to obey the law? Todays revelation makes it crys.tal clear that we have to be very careful. and Senator LEAHYs suggestion that we renew the present law for 3 months and come to an agreement like we did in the Senate that all can live with is eminentlysensible. _ . ...\" . One final point. My good friend from Arizona and I respect the sincerity on this issue. We have written parts of this law together. particularly the lone wolf provision. But he shys that we will have no law if we do not vote for cloture. I ask unanimous consent for an additional 30 seconds.","speaker_name":"CHARLES SCHUMER","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2452,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090099723,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"An individual who receives a Section 215 order or a National Security Letter is bound by a gag order so he cannot speak out. even if he believes his rights have been violated. Now todays headlines suggest this administration went beyond the pale in authorizing hundreds and perhaps thousands of warrantless wiretaps on Americans in the United States. This violates the longstanding legal requirement that the government must obtain a warrant from a court in order to eavesdrop on Americans in the United States. If these stories are true. it makes the PATRIOT Act reforms we have suggested even more urgent. and additional reforms may be necessary. But it. is certainly premature to approve this flawed conference report before we learn more about these allegations. The obvious question is this: Whether or not we pass the PATRIOT Act. will the administration argue they have the authority to go forward. anyway? What we need to do is to defeat cloture. pass a 3month extension of this PATRIOT Act. and move on to make changes to the law that are needed to protect our freedom while giving law enforcement the authority they need to fight terrorism. We can be both safe and free in America.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3911,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090099747,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We accept that. But the debate will continue on this very important bill. Again. we will not see a shortterm extension. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":677,"word_count":25}
{"speech_id":1090099748,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They do not have the power to make an individualized determination about whether a gag order should accompany it. So the recipient of a Section 215 order is automatically silenced forever. How is that fair? How is that consistent with our democratic principles? The conference report doesnt provide judicial review of .National Security Letters either. The Senate bill did. Judicial review is one of our best checks -on unnecessary Government intrusion into individual privacy. Why deny it to our citizens? Lastly. I would like to mention the problem with the . conference reports provisions on the socalled sneakandpeek search warrants. Unlike the Senate bill. the conference report does not include any protections against these warrants. Rather than requiring that the government notify the target of these warrants within 7 days. as the Senate bill did. the conference report requires notification within 30 days of the search. Thirty days. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4069,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090099754,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"When it came to the floor of the Senate. we discussed it. and it was cleared by this Senate unanimously. It went to conference. The House had a bill. We discussed it in conference. Senator SPECTER led our conferees. For those who wanted the Senate bill to win in toto. they were not perfectly happy. But as Senator SPECTER has said. 80 percent of the bill was the Senate bill. Only a few things were given to the House Members out of the differences in the two pieces of legislation. It comes back here to be voted on. It is blocked from an upordown vote so it could be passed and made law before it expires at the end of this year. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4647,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090099771,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And. mostly. I thank JON CORZINE for his generosity of heart and for his willingness to invest in so many ways to better the community with his own. resources. This is someone who has been incredibly generous and caring and smart and compassionate and dedicated to the right values that we all care about deeply. I know he is going to do an outstanding job as Governor and that we will all be better off for his public service. . With that. I yield the floor. . words about my colleague and friend.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5330,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090099777,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He is going to be an exceptional Governor. He is going to continue to have -an impact on what Congress chooses to do because of those priorities that he sets in the State. There is no question in my mind that our caucus. which has looked to him regularly as sort of the resident expert on issues of fiscal. trade. Wall Street matters. is going to miss that expertise enormously. I thank this Senator for his service to us. to the country. and we look forward to the service he will provide as Governor of New Jersey.","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5544,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090099786,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He decided to enter public service and was elected to the Senate in 2000 where he has worked tirelessly on behalf of the people of New Jersey. In November. Senator CORZINE was elected to be Governor of New Jersey and I am confident he will continue his outstanding public service work in this new position. I am very pleased that while he served in the Senate. Senator CORZINE had the opportunity to visit my home State of South Dakota in 2002 during my reelection campaign. The trip gave him the opportunity to experience the beauty and friendliness of South Dakota. and I know that those who met Senator CORZINE were very impressed with him and pleased that he had visited the State. Once again. I would like to thank Senator CORZINE for his extraordinary service in the Senate and wish. him the very best on his new challenges and opportunities as Governor of New Jersey.","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1684,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090099787,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I was struck. as Iwatched him deal with that airline -legislation. how in this individual a combination of compassion. fairness. and intelligence worked in a very quiet and dignified way to bring together different parties. different Senators who had widely diverse views. and tackled. an issue of great importance. I think that is exactly what he is going to do when he assumes the Governorship of New Jersey. He is going to bring exactly that combination of fairness. compassion. and. brains. always done in a kind of lowkey. understated way. I believe the people of New Jersey will benefit as they have in his service here in the U.S. Senate. We hope Governor CORZINE will come to Oregon because he has expressed an interest in looking at some of our innQvative approaches. particularly in the area of health care and the environment. We wish him well and know he is going to have a very distinguished career as the new Governor of New Jersey. I yield the floofr.","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2399,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090099789,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to pay tribute to a great Senator and the Governorelect of New- Jersey. JON CORZINE. While Senator CORZINE has only been in the Senate for 5 short years. he has made an indelible mark on our Nation and on his Senate colleagues. myself included. I have had the opportunity and pleasure of serving with Senator CORZINE on the Senate Intelligence Committee. seeing firsthand his patriotism. his dedication to our Nation. and his work ethic. Senator CORZINE has been an invaluable resource here in the Senate. especially as we confronted the corporate scandals of recent years. With his expertise as the former CEO and chairman of Goldman Sachs. we looked to Senator CORZINE during the reform process. He stepped up to the challenge. helping push through sweeping changes in our Nations corporate governance. I know that he is proud of this accomplishment. and our Nation is better for his efforts. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA MIKULSKI","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1611,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090099790,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to join my colleagues in thanking the gentleman from New Jersey. Senator JON CORZINE. for his service to the people of the Garden State and the rest of our country..My colleague and friend brought his extensive experience from corporate America to bear on the business that we conduct here. and our country greatly. benefitted from his expertise. I enjoyed working with. Senator CORZINE during the time when I served on the Banking Committee. Under the leadership of Ranking Member SARBANES. we shored up corporate governance through the enactment of SarbanesOxleythe influence of which has been felt in corporate boardrooms. and even nonprofit boardrooms. across America. The Senate and the Congress will especially miss the dedication of our colleague in the effort to promote economic and financial literacy. Senator CORZINE has been a stalwart in working with me. and Senators SARBANES. STABENOW. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3012,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090099798,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I believe I am to be recognized by unanimous consent directly following the tributes to Senator CORZINE. I would like to give my heartfelt thanks to the Senator from New Jersey. He has been indeed a good Senator. His tenure here has distinguished him. That is clearly recognized by people of New Jersey. I believe he is going to be a great Governor for that great State.","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":385,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090099860,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. yesterday afternoon. the majority leader offered a unanimous consent request to take up and pass. without any amendments or any further action. H.R. 2520. a bill to collect cord blood for use. in therapies for various kinds of blood diseases. I objected to that unanimous consent request after quite a bit of talk on the floor. As I explained yesterday. I support this bill. I am a cosponsor of this bill. In fact. I joined with Senator SPECTER 2 years ago to create the National Cord Blood Stem Cell Banking Program by including $10 million for that purpose in the fiscal year 2004 Labor. Health and Human Services. and Education appropriations bill. of which I am ranking member. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9706,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090099876,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to comment on the Senates passage of H.R. 3402. the Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005. My comments are directed at Title X of the bill. the \"DNA Fingerprint Act of 2005.\" This provision is nearly identical to S. 1606. a bill of the same name that Senator Cornyn and I introduced earlier this year. The DNA Fingerprint Act was added to the Senate version of VAWA reauthorization. S. 1197. in the Senate Judiciary Committee on a Kyl\/Cornyn amendment that was accepted by voice vote. I am pleased to see that this provision has been maintained in the final bill. The DNA Fingerprint Act will allow State and Federal law enforcement to catch rapists. murderers. and other violent criminals whom it otherwise would be impossible to identify and arrest. The principal provisions of the bill make it easier to include and keep the DNA profiles of criminal arrestees in the National DNA Index System. where that profile can be compared to crimescene evidence. By removing current barriers to maintaining data from criminal arrestees. the Act will allow the creation of a comprehensive. robust database that will make it possible to catch serial rapists and murderers before they commit more crimes. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11950,"word_count":210}
{"speech_id":1090099879,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 336. a resolution to condemn the recent destructive and antiSemitic statements of the President of Iran which I submitted earlier today. I ask that the resolution be agreed to. the preamble be agreed to. and the motion to reconsider be laid upon tae table.","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1152,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090099886,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator from Oregon. I know he personally believes in the original resolution. Before I get into the disparities between the two resolutions and some of the difficulty we have had over the last several days in trying to pass this resolution. it is important to understand how reprehensible these statements are and how dangerous they are in light of not only the conflicts within the Middle East but the frightening perspective of Iran having nuclear capabilities. We hear mixed reports. We have heard reports from the overseas press in the last few weeks about fears that Iran is actually within months. potentially. of having nuclear weapons capability. The idea that a country with a President who says that Israel should be wiped off the map and then amends the statement. if you can call it that. to say. Well. maybe they could move it to Europe. Germany or Austria. as Charles Krauthammer recently noted: ... perhaps near the site of an old concentration camp. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11467,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090099899,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I risq today for the purpose of honoring a fallen American. I learned this week that AW2 John N. Kaye III. from Traer. IA. died while in service to his country during counter narcotics operations off the coast of Colombia. I would like to take this opportunity to salute his patriotism and his sacrifice. We can often tell a lot about the character of an individual by how they help the people around them. Petty Officer Kaye was a man who would willingly extend a helping hand to those around him and this week even extended his mission to help out a fellow sailor. Just before leaving the Navy. though. he extended his stay aboard the USS DeWert for one final mission so that another sailor could be with his family to mourn the loss of a brother. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2261,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090099916,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Carl was a truly special. invigorating friend and remarkable. insightful leader who was always a lap ahead of everyone else. I will always appreciate his discreet advice. his impressive perspective and his strong support. And I will be forever grateful for his trusted friendship that helped me win elections to become a Delekate and. later. Governor of Virginia. Like me. Carl attended the University of Virginia. when he played football. After graduating. he served in the U.S. Army and worked as an investment banker. Just last year. Carl retired as head of AMVEST Corporation. a diversified energy and finance corporation based in Charlottesville that he founded in 1961. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1863,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090099919,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The hospital became a national leader in treating heart disease. performing the first openheart surgery in the Southeast. the first angioplasty as an alternative to bypass surgery. and operated the first comprehensive cardiac catheterization laboratory. And. Saint Josephs became one of only six medical centers in the world to perform percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty. In 1978. the hospital moved to north Atlanta in order to continue its growing mission of service and changed the name to Saint Josephs Hospital. To maintain close ties with those it served downtown. Saint Josephs Mercy Care Services began. Starting as a simple signup sheet for -volunteers to visit womens and homeless shelters. teams used their own vehicles and worked out of tackle boxes filled with medical supplies donated by physician offices. Today. Saint Josephs Mercy Care Services is truly an integral part of the community. They now provide comprehensive services to the chronically homeless of Atlanta. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ISAKSON","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4153,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090099920,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"South National Technical Center associate director. also based in Fort Worth. from 1992 to 1993. and water quality coordinator at the center from 1990 to 1992. Before that Charles served as NRCSs State Conservationist for Arizona. based in Phoenix. from 1988 to 1990. after having been the State Conservationist for Nevada. based in Reno. from. 1986 to 1988. He was the Deputy State Conservationist in New Mexico. based in Albuquerque. from 1985 to 1986. after having been the Assistant State Conservationist for Operations at that location from 1984 to 1985. Charles worked as an area conservationist in Rio Rancho. NM. from 1983 to 1984. after working as an area conservationist in Flagstaff. AZ. from 1981 to 1982. From 1978 to 1981 he served as a district conservationist in Edinburg. TX. following service from 1976 to 1978 as a district conservationist in Eastland. TX. He was a soil conservationist for the agency in Abilene. ","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3854,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090099923,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I aim proud to be a part -of a collaborative. bipartisan effort with some of the Senates leading voices on AfricaSenators BROWNBACK. DURBIN and DEWINE. This bill establishes 14 core principles of U.S. policy across a range of issues. authorizes a 25 percent increase in U.S. assistance for the Democratic Republic of the Congo. calls for a Special Envoy to resolve the situation in Eastern Congo. and urges the Administration to use its voice and vote at the United Nations Security Council to strengthen the U.N. peacekeeping force that is providing security in parts of the Congo. The legislation has been endorsed by a number of faithbased and humanitarian nongovernmental organizations. including some with extensive field operations in Congo: CARE. Catholic Relief Services. Global Witness. International Crisis Group. International Rescue Committee. and Oxfam America. I ask unanimous consent that these letters of support be printed in the RECORD. I want to stress something before closing. ","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3830,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090099928,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Chair. Mr. President. I came to the floor to thank my friend from Arizona not just for the legislation he has just introduced but for his characteristically courageous investigation of the events surrounding a particular lobbyist. Jack Abramoff. and the way in which they demonstrate the extent to which the system has gone out of control. The direct victims here. of course. are those whose money was essentially taken without cause. who were cheated. But the indirect. yet very real. victims of these abuses are the Members of Congress. and the extent to which there has been abuse of a classic and very critical function of our Governmentlobbyingthe extent to which there has been abuse of that role breaks the public trust in Congress itself. Disclosures. investigations such as Senator MCCAIN and his committee have been involved in. fearlessly. are critically important. but.these disclosures and revelations and abuses cry outto us now to take some legislative action. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2333,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090099934,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the massive devastation inflicted upon our southern States by hurricanes Katrina. Rita. and Wilma reminded all Americans how important it is that the Federal Government be able to respond quickly and effectively when disaster strikes. We also learned from those tragedies that we must assist in ways few of us had imaginedfok example. to meet the needs of evacuees who were dispersed far from the disaster. Other events of the past few years. both here at home and abroad. have taught us that we must prepare for more than just natural disasters. Accidents. acts of terrorism. and pandemic illnesses also threaten us with death. injury. and destruction. And while we work to minimize the threats. we must assume that such disasters will really happen. I have concluded that the Presidents current statuary authority to respond to disasters is not sufficient to meet the threats that we all now recognize as real. though once they were uninaginable. Today. I am introducing the Disaster Relief Act- 2005 to hodernize our disaster response capability for the 21st century. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ROCKEFELLER","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5722,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090099939,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I am pleased to introduce the Earned Income Tax Credit Simplification Act. This legislation will greatly improve one of our Nations most important antipoverty programs and streamline one of the most complicated sections of our income tax code. And I am extremely pleased that my good friend from Maine. Senator OLYMPIA SNOWE. has agreed to be an original cosponsor of this bill. I look forward to working with her. as members of the Senate Finance Committee. to enact this important tax simplification proposal. In 2003. almost 21 million hardworking Americans benefited from the earned income tax credit. including 141.707 in my own State of West Virginia. Many of those serving in our Armed Forces benefit from the EITC.","speaker_name":"JOHN ROCKEFELLER","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":743,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090099943,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The idea of Global Family Day originates from young supporters. In 1999. ninety nine children from Hine Middle School in the District of Columbia visited Capitol Hill. asking Congress to dedicate one day each year to a day of peace and sharing. In the following year. the footsteps of these intrepid young thinkers were followed by children from Brent Elementary S(.hool. also from the District of Columbia. Children from StuartHobson Middle School also visited members of Congress on Capitol Hill. The 106th Congress agreed with them. and in the year 2000. adopted a resolution similar to the one I am submitting today. However. with the onrush of events after the tragedy of September 11. 2001. a proclamation was not issued. Thus. there was little public knowledge that we have this important tool for peace. despite the international support from the United Nations General Assembly. We can remedy that today by showing our support for Global Family Day. Many Americans are troubled by our deteriorating image in the world. by the dangers of terrorism and by the suffering of others. both at home and abroad. Yet they feel helpless to do anything about it. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL INOUYE","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2314,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090099961,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask unanimous consent the Chair now lay before the Senate the House message to accompany S. 467. a bill to extend the applicability of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of The Presiding Officer laid before the Senate the following message from the House of Representatives: Resblved that the bill from the Senate S. 467 entitled \" An Act to extend the applicability of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002.\" do pass with an amendment.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":439,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090100028,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"JOHN WARNER has to be near the top of that list. if not at the top. He is a man who is a gentleman. I have served with him now for 23 years. He is a man who believes in this institution and has the record to prove it. He is a person who is a good member of his political party. but he is also a patriot. As important as the twoparty system is to our country. to the Senator from Virginia. party comes second. country comes first. As I said. I dont have the ability to express my conviction about this man. But the statement he just made. his offthecuff statement. is what the Senate is all about. It is about protecting this country. the individual rights of Members of the Senate. and that is why JOHN WARNER is a great Senator.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1276,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090100036,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. Republican fiscal policies continue to spread tidings of economic joy to families throughout our coun.try. Yesterday. the U.S. Labor Department reported that consumer prices plummeted last month by 0.6 per cent. the largest decrease since 1949. Energy prices alone have dropped by 8 percent. Thesestrong economic indicators are only a sample of gifts created by low taxes and decreased government regulations. Additionally. 4.5 million new jobs have been created. More Americans are working than ever before in our Nations history. The unemployment rate is lower than the average of the past three decades. ","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1085,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090100049,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Private Shawn Pahnke. Specialist Chad Keith. Staff Sergeant Frederick Miller. Jr. Sergeant Robert Colvill. Jr. Specialist Raymond White. Lance Corporal Scott Zubowski. These seven men didnt leave their post. and this Congressman wont. either. It is them and to their creditand to their grieving families that I rise in support of this resolution today. ","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2815,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090100052,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There isnt a Member in this body who could not subscribe to this. This is not the time for an ugly and divisive debate. And with its rigidity and total unwillingness to listen to half of this body. the majority has chosen to give us an ugly and divisive debate.","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":261,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090100053,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume to respond to my very good friend from California by saying. first and foremost. there is nothing ugly and divisive about the debate that we are.about to undertake. that we are in the midst of. right now. number one. Number two. I think it is important to note that while all of the recommendations that were made by the minority were rejected. I have just been given by the staff of the International Relations Committee an outline of those two recommendations that were made. They were to entirely delete the resolved No. 6 clause in the resolution. which was the language that I read which says that we cannot establish an artificial timetable for withdrawal. which is exactly what President Talabani said in his piece. number one. And. number two. it underscored the fact that there was a desire from the minority to change the goal of achieving victory to establishing stability in Iraq. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1674,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090100069,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume to respond to my friend. First of all. let me say .that as a member of the Rules Committee. I am very proud of this democratic. small \"d.\" institution. and I am very proud of the work of the Rules Committee. I would like to say that in this session of Congress more amendments offered by Democrats have been made in order than amendments offered by Republicans. Mr. Speaker. I would also lik6 to say that as my friend talks about ideas Hi1889 being shut out. that is a mischaracterization of what has happened here. We have come forward with a sense of the Congress resolution. a simple resolution is what it is. ","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2632,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090100073,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I believe it is the right thing to do and I look forward to a strong and overwhelming bipartisan vote in support of this resolution. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":674,"word_count":34}
{"speech_id":1090100087,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 30 seconds. and I do so to simply focus on the issue that is constantly raised here. and that is. the notion that we somehow impose closed rules on every piece of legislation. There have been 113 rules considered on the House floor in the first session of the 109th Congress. With the exception of those rules which by statute or simple resolutions or appropriation continuing resolutions. 10 percent of those 113 rules have been closed rules. We allow for a free floor in debate. More Democratic amendments than Republican amendments have been made in order. So we are enjoying democracy right here in the peoples House. and the people of Iraq are enjoying the same. Mr. Speaker.-I reserve the balance of. my time.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":743,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090100096,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. regardless of how Members of this House feel about the war in Iraq. I think all of us want to congratulate the people of Iraq for holding these historic elections and for getting out to vote despite the significant risks. We all want to congratulate our troops. but quite frankly. there is language in this bill that some of us consider inflammatory. that some of us strongly disagree with. and I would urge my colleagues to vote \"no\" on the previous question so that we can have a unified message and not a divisive message here in the House. Mr. Speaker. we have been in Iraq now for over 1.000 days. and I believe we must begin the transition to putting the Iraqis in charge. President Bushs unwillingness to announce a plan to remoye U.S. troops within a clear time frame and his refusal to renounce the use of permanent U.S. military bases I think undermines his rhetoric and I think endangers the chance for democracy to succeed. Our occupation in Iraq complicates the transition to democracy. People can disagree with me on this. but the fact of the matter is we should be debating this issue of how we deal with Iraq not in an H. Res. form. but in a binding resolution here onthe House floor. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2410,"word_count":220}
{"speech_id":1090100106,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"\"Give me your tired. your poor. your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these. the homeless. tempesttossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door.\" Emma Lazarus understood the dynamics of America. as did those who went through Ellis Island and those of us that visit there to draw our strength in the diversity of this Nation. Today.. we come to put a cover over that torch and a blindfold on that lady and toss all of those magnificent notions of diversity and this great golden door right out into the Hudson. Or maybe it is the Potomac River that we do so today. I rise to express my strong opposition to this restrictive rule. the second in as many days. for a xenophobic bill masked in catchy phrases. such as \"border control\" and \"homeland security.\" This restrictive rule blocks all but a select few from offering amendments to the underlying legislation. The chairman of the Rules Committee was in here a minute ago and said that they have made more Democratic measures. speaking of the entirety of the session. in order than Republican measures. Well. that does not hold for this particular party in part B. a very confusing process. I might add. which even the majority leader recognized. Republicans are again allowing important and critical debates to happen behind the closed doors of the Republican Conference rather than on the House floor in the eye of the public. ","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9275,"word_count":250}
{"speech_id":1090100121,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is wrong. And the people coming from Mexico and other countries are good people. Do not get me wrong. They are here just to better their life. I am not arguing that a bit. That is not the issue here. The issue is what responsibility do we have to the people of the United States of America. what responsibility we have to the workers of the United States of America who have lost their jobs or. instead of being paid $22 an hour are now having to work for $11 an hour? Tell that to that carpenter. I go to job sites in this country. and the guys are pouring concrete. they are framing. and nobody on the job site. except the foreman. speaks English. Now. you tell that to the carpenter who lost his job or had his wage cut in half. You tell that to the electrician or the plumber or the framer or the roofer who have had their wages cut in half and lost many benefits because somebody is willing to come here to better themselves. and. ","speaker_name":"GARY MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":42.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4431,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090100130,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding to me. and I thank my chairman for allowing me to respond. The gentleman made the statement that this is not a border enforcement bill. and I would disagree and say that it is a border enforcement bill. It is not a comprehensive immigration reform bill.","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":301,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090100131,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. just to clarify. there are provisions about border enforcement in this bill. but when you implement. as this bill pretends to do. a massive comprehensive verification system. that has nothing to do with border protection. That is abotit ensuring that no one gets hired who is here without status. We cannot do that with 11 million people in this country. many of whom are working now. I am sorry for cutting the gentleman short.","speaker_name":"HOWARD BERMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":461,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090100132,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 15 seconds. The gentleman from California did not ask me to respond. but he suggested the bill is one of two things. but I suggest to him that. rather. it is a third thing. This bill. indeed. is a response to the American people who are demanding we secure our borders first. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":350,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090100185,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"These factors bode extremely poorly for the establishment of a stable. free unified Iraq and the constitution will surely have to be greatly modified. Given those problems it is at the very least premature to be trumpeting victory in Iraq whatever that victory may ultimately look like. Over a 15 year period America has engaged in two wars in Iraq. President Herbert Walker Bush. with the full support of the United Nations and a broad coalition of participating nations. followed his military commanders advice by deploying 500.000 troops to liberate Kuwait from the Iraqi invasion. Saddam Hussein was driven out of Kuwait with only 19 American soldiers losing their lives. In contrast. President George W. Bush. without U.N. support and only a small coalition of the so called \"willing.\" rejected his highest military commanders advice and deployed only 140.000 troops to overthrow Saddam Hussein. occupy Iraq. and establish a free and stable Iraq. Establishing a free and stable Iraq is a noble goal. Yet after two and a half years of war. occupation. and insurgency. our casualties in this illconceived and incompetently managed war in Iraq have now passed 2.155 American soldiers killed. ","speaker_name":"JOHN OLVER","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2936,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090100202,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in opposition to this resolution: in honor and support of our troops in Iraq. in opposition to our policy on the war in Iraq. and in urging the Republican leadership of the House to grant this an open and adequate debate on the entire question of our policy on Iraq on the floor of this House.","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":313,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090100207,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We should not leave before they are fully capable of protecting their own nation. their people. and their incipient democracy from those who seek to destroy what they have been creating because they wish to turn Iraq into a safe haven for Islamic militants and extremist elements like Iran and Syria. * This is not in our nature. Mr. Speaker. This is not what our troops want. and it is not what the Iraqi people want. References have been made to calls for U.S. withdrawal. but let us review some of those. Iraqi officials have not made such requests to the U.S. Government. The Arab League. for example. their statement says that it was the result of undue political pressure by rogue regimes. particularly Syria and Iran. whose foreign minister was involved in the drafting of the final communique. We are fully aware that these pariah states .have a vested interest in seeing Iraq fail and assisting the foreign fighters who are launching attacks against Iraqis and our U.S. and coalitionforces in Iraq. We have achieved significant progress thus far in Iraq. ","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8820,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090100232,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have entered that phase of this war that we must ask how much more can we do for the Iraqi people as an occupying force. We must ask whether our presence in Iraq is undermining the stability we hope to provide. At some point. we all have to stop the politics on this issue. I agree with the gentleman from Ohio. it is not good for America. It is not good for the best Americans. those men and women who ate in uniform in Iraq and for their families who are carrying the heaviest burden for all of us.","speaker_name":"STEPHEN LYNCH","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2435,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090100236,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise to commend the gentleman from California . our ranking Democrat on the International Relations Committee. for his leadership to make our country safer. our military stronger. and to bring stability to the region. While we may not always agree on the approach to take. Mr. LANTOS strove very hard for a bipartisan resolution. and I want to just read from the resolution that he would put forth in the spirit of congratulating the people of Iraq. He said: \"Resolved. That the House of Representatives congratulates the people of Iraq on the three national elections conducted in Iraq in 2005.\" Imagine. in January. in October. and now in December. three times courageously they went to the polls. and his resolution spells that out. His resolution would encourage \"all Americans to express support for the people of. Iraq in their efforts to achieve a free. open. and democratic society.\" and again. throughout his resolution he makes that point. ","speaker_name":"NANCY PELOSI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5129,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090100259,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The President should submit a plan to Congress and the American people that carries out these objectives. As we pass yet another resolution that expresses support for our troops and our desire to achieve \"victory\" in Iraq. I must remind my colleagues that our soldiers have paid the heaviest price in Iraq. Thousands are dead. and tens of thousands are wounded. The American taxpayer has already invested hundreds of billions of dollars. Mr. Speaker. our soldiers deserve better than the resolution we are considering today with 1 hour of debate. The American people deserve serious consideration of how we can safely bring our soldiers home.","speaker_name":"BENJAMIN CARDIN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1561,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090100264,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"How do we move towards a more stable. functional. Iraq? It is worth discussing. for a moment. the meaning of victory. I would have hoped that the President and Majority would have learned 3 years ago that saying \"Mission Accomplished\" does not make it so. Giving wishful speeches in front of signs that says \"Victory\" does not make it so. And using the word \"victory\" in the titles of counterproductive resolutions like this brings us no closer to a stable and functional Iraq. Now that the Iraqi people have a framework for a constitution and have elected a parliament. it is time for the United States to bring our troops home. This will do more to erode support for the insurgency than a continued U.S. military occupation can ever hope to accomplish. As my colleges know. Congressman JOHN MURTHA. a respected defense expert and a decorated Marine veteran. recently introduced H.J. Res. 73. which would bring our troops home from Iraq and bring an end to an occupation that does not serve the interests of the Iraqis or America. ","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4047,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090100265,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It raises the strawman of \"achieving victory in Iraq\" and it is critical of \"setting an artificial timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. Armed Forces from Iraq. or immediately terminating their deployment in Iraq.\" policies that House Democrats have not proposed. Nor does this resolution define what is meant by \"victory in Iraq.\" I want to express my support for the Iraqi people and this further step toward democracy. but I will oppose this resolution because I find it offensive that the majority has advanced a resolution that pretends to celebrate democracy by adding divisive and partisan language that is clearly designed for use in a domestic political campaign.","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1987,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090100281,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"His wife made it early this morning. He is expected to make a full recovery. In fact. he may be here later in the weekend to cast a vote or two if it is required. He very much appreciates all the Members on both sides of the aisle inquiring about his health and wanted us to assure everyone that in fact he is the same JoE BARTON that he was before. he is expected to make a full recovery. and we may see him again later on this weekend.","speaker_name":"FRED UPTON","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1072,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090100323,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. certainly there is a better way to engender diversity. We could perhaps reallocate these visas to the families of those who have won the lottery previously who have become good citizens. But the point is. does America want to have a lottery to get the best. the most skilled people from around the world or the most diverse people from around the world? And I think not. It has been subject to fraud. My office every day deals with people whose families have been waiting 5. 6. 7. 8 years patiently in line around the world to come here from the Philippines. from Mexico. from India and other countries. Should they get bumped to the back while some random person comes first? I think not.","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":705,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090100371,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of the amendment. and I think we ought to talk about what operational control means. Under the amendment. it means the prevention of all unlawful entries into the United States. including by terrorists and illegal aliens. and including all narcotics shipments. The amendment also provides that. within 90 days of enactment. the Department of Homeland Security provides the Congress a comprehensive plan for border surveillance and. within 180 days. DHS provides to Congress a national strategy for border security and a report on progress made. Now these goals are obviously ambitious and the Department of Homeland Security has not been ambitious on anything. in my opinion. but it seems to me by setting deadlines. and then the two committees in their oversight functions can be on the back -of the Department of Homeland Security. and we might shame them into doing the right thing.","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":917,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090100428,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. There is an interesting juxtaposition going on between the gentlemans amendment and the base bill. The gentleman says something that I think is very important: we have got to prioritize. The priority in a country where there are 10. 11 million people who are here without status and under this bill and would. therefore. becoming guilty of a criminal offense. he says let us get the 500.000. whatever number it is. wlio have committed crimes of violence and economic crimes and murder and drug dealing and all these things. And he is right. No one can disagree. That should be the most urgent priority. But in a universe where you have criminalized all 11 million. you have lost our ability to do that. ","speaker_name":"HOWARD BERMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1058,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090100433,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I think the author 6f the amendment will rest more comfortably tonight when he finds that not only do the people that he described that do not want this amendment are joined by numerous State and local police departments across the Nation. but also scores of groups that work with victims of domestic violence. The proponents of this amendment must understand that there is nothing in this bill to ensure that ICE or SCAT in Homeland Security will be able to respond to the millions of requests from local police to pick up lowpriority civil law violators. Remember what the gentleman from California said: you cannot dump millions of people into this database and think it is going to work. It will not. Turn down the amendment.","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":800,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090100441,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I believe it has become a comprehensive bill. Not totally comprehensive. There are certainly things I would like to see in it. Congressman DEALS issue of birthright citizenship. I wish that were in there. and a couple of other things. that we will continue to work on. But to a great extent. it begins. for the first time. to actually deal with a problem in what I think is a comprehensive way. and I mean it in this form. We have a supply and a demand problem. The supply problem is coming across the border. We are in this bill doing something very specific about that with the inclusion of the amendment. with the passage of the amendment. to build some barrier along at lease 700 miles of our southern border. I hope we continue with that. by the way. along the entire border. to the extent it is feasible. and the northern border we could start next. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS TANCREDO","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3536,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090100448,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the gentleman knows that I have often approached this particular issue with a certain degree of cynicism. perhaps the same amount as he is expressing right now in terms of its prospects. All I know is this: this is what I have before me today. This is what this House is being asked to address and to accomplish. That one thing. if nothing else happens. I am happy to have been able to get it to this point. I am truly hopeful. and I recognize full .well the gentleman is right that there are major obstacles to getting this beyond this point. but that is a fight to fight tomorrow. Today we are here. it is a good bill. and I certainly hope that we can pass it.","speaker_name":"THOMAS TANCREDO","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":676,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090100464,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Well. we have an opportunity. and it is an opportunity to reform. It is a plan that we have put out very carefully throughout this year. Today is not the first time we rush to the floor with a piece of paper about what we are going to do. All year long we have been working to try and make .sure that food stamps were working better. that the services to the poor and the indigent were effective in getting the results that they truly need. Instead. what we have today is the opportunity to vote for this symbolic motion to instruct conferees to basically rip out all those savings. to not do anything about reforming those programs but just spend more money. Spend more money. Let me tell you that. as colleagues. the answer to the most vexing problems in our country today will not be solved by just spending more money. They will be solved when we take responsibility for the job that we have been given to ensure that these programs that people work hard. that people pay taxes to us in order to invent and implement. that they are truly working. that they are helping the people who deserve it the most. and that they ensure that we get results. Not just the rhetoric of reform. but results from reform. We have the opportunity today to go to conference to work out our differences on a whole host of very important issues. ","speaker_name":"JAMES NUSSLE","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6407,"word_count":246}
{"speech_id":1090100480,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to. take the language we have heard from the Republicans in the last few minutes and apply it to child support. CBO says this budget. will result in $24 billion less in child support over the next 10 years. That is the Congressional Budget Office. All right. one of you said Washington spends too much. too unwisely. Cutting child support payments by $24 billion? You also said not how much. but how it is spent. Yes. it iS spent in administrative expenditures to collect money for children. Oh. and one of you said it is the family budget that is at stake. Absolutely. families with kids who are entitled to child support. and you are going to reduce what is collected by $24 billion over the next 10 years. ","speaker_name":"SANDER LEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1197,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090100482,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We are proposing to increase spending 6.3 percent instead of 6.4 percent. and that sounds like a draconian cut. I have also heard speakers say that we are proposing deep tax cuts. Mr. Speaker. here is their definition of deep tax cuts: we are not raising taxes. What we are proposing to do in this budget is to not raise taxes. We are proposing simply to keep taxes where we are today. When we had a recession 2 years ago. when the Dotcoin bubble burst. people lost their savings when the market went down. We lost hundreds of thousands of jobs. we had 2 years of economic growth no higher than 1.3 percent. and we cut taxes. What happened after we cut taxes. 4.5 million jobs were created. The stock market came back. ","speaker_name":"PAUL RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2928,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090100497,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. before I make the comments I rose to make. I do want to comment for those watching this debate. that when you hear the words \"tax cut.\" the great majority of that money. outside of the new tax provisions to encourage rebuilding in New Orleans and the Mississippi coast and those areas so hard hit by Katrina and other storms. pretty much the rest of all of those. quote. \"tax cuts\" are simply tax extensions. In other words. we avoid increasing taxes. If we did nothing. we would increase taxes. We do not want to increase taxes. because the current tax policy has created a remarkable rate of growth in our economy. And when your economy is growing. not only doyour revenues come in well if you are the government. but jobs are created if you are the people. and current jobs are maintained. So what are now loosely referred to as tax cuts. they appear in our vocabulary and our work as cuts. are not cuts. they are just maintaining current tax policy and avoiding tax increases that would harm our economy. cost jobs. cost taxpayers money they desperately need. as we go into a season of high heating oil costs and so on. But .I want to mention something else about this motion. which I appreciate is presented as Dart of the process here. ","speaker_name":"NANCY JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3370,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090100510,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 15 seconds. Mr. Speaker. that is why we say this is the best opportunity we have got to send the conferees to conference. to sit down with the Senators to come up with a solution to this problem. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":270,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090100559,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The bill I introduced that we are considering today requires the deportation of aliens convicted of three or more drunk driving offenses. The bill establishes a policy of three strikes and you are out for all noncitizens who are convicted of drunk drivingremoval without exception. Representative MYRICKs amendment provides for the mandatory detention and removal of illegal aliens who are convicted of drunk driving. Second. the amendment mandates the detention of any deportable alien who is apprehended for drunk driving. Third. the amendment makes a conviction of drunk driving a deportable offense for any alien. but still leaves open the availability of cancellation of removal by an immigration judge. Fourth. if a local law enforcement officer apprehends an illegal alien for drunk driving. DHS shall reimburse the local agency for the costs of transporting the alien to Federal custody. Finally. State motor vehicle administrators shall share with DHS and other States and the national criminal information center database information about aliens who have been convicted of drunk driving.","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2048,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090100576,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I cite to the gentleman from Arizona that I do not think there would be a divide on your legislation. because all of us believe that criminals should have a fast track to a point where they are not doing others any harm. But I do have problems with this legislation. It poses a number of problems. It creates three new mandatoryminimum criminal penalties and one new death penalty. But I think the biggest concern that I have is the fact that they are in the country and the fact that they have been able to get in the country because we failed as a Federal Government to do the job that we are supposed to do. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1713,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090100577,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the gentlewomans argument. but I believe it misses thetmark. Quite frankly. the current law has resulted in the circumstance where the penalty imposed for document fraud on average in this country is 8 months. An American prosecutor is not going to go to trial and pursue a criminal offense where someone fraudulently creates a document and then gets. on average. 8 months. Indeed. it probably takes longer than 8 months to get to trial on a crime of this nature. If the penalty is insufficient. we simply encourage this conduct. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SHADEGG","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2407,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090100602,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Finally this amendment provides a safe harbor for contractors whose subcontractors employ illegal aliens. This provision clarifies current law. Under section 274A(a)(4) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. an employer may be held liable for the actions of a subcontractor if the employer knows that the subcontractor is hiring illegal aliens. In other words. employers who have no knowledge as to whether the- subcontractors employees are workauthorized cannot be held liable or penalized. This amendment makes that protection clearer. and should help to put employers at ease that they will not be held responsible for the misdeeds of subcontractors. This amendment improves the bill and I urge my colleagues to support it.","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1856,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090100609,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I want to thank the distinguished chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary. Mr. SENSENBRENNER. for his hard work on this and the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee. Mr. KING. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WESTMORELAND","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":613,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090100621,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. this amendment increases civil penalties against employers who do not comply with the Employment Eligibility Verification System to such fantastically high levels that they could easily bankrupt companies for first offenses. When companies are bankrupted. everybody who works at that company loses their job. The amendment would raise penalties to not less than $50.000 for each violation for each alien. Penalties of this magnitude are not merely a -deterrent. they would make almost every violation into a capital offense. And I thought the Democrats were against the death penalty. Let me say first that the underlying legislation already dramatically increases the civil penalties for employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens or who fail to comply with the Employment Eligibility Verification System. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2224,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090100622,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let us get the wrongdoer on both sides of this illegal transaction. the worker and the employer. If you cut off demand. you will not have supply.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GONZALEZ","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1420,"word_count":27}
{"speech_id":1090100631,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of this amendment. which requires the Department of Homeland Security to report to Congress on the implementation of the employment eligibility verification system which this bill expands economywide. One of the key components of this bill is a mandatory. national employment eligibility verification system. By checking the work authorization status of each person working in the U.S.. we will finally be able to flush out the those working illegal. We are expanding the Basic Pilot Program. which has worked extremely successfully as a voluntary program for 10 years. Employers who use the Basic Pilot to conduct employment eligibility checks clearly like the system and that it is easy to use. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1911,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090100648,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in opposition to the amendment. Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I reluctantly oppose this amendment for a couple of reasons. I do not think it is workable. and it will cause huge problems on the northern border that will result in a lot of jobs being lost both in the United States and Canada. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3327,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090100649,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. my simple point is to suggest to the distinguished author of the amendment that even aliens have a form of due process. What he simply is trying to do is to get the young man who is the painter who has a wife and family at home and then he is immediately arrested with no rights of due process. In addition. the distin$shed chairman of the Judiciary Committee has made a very good point: we do not have an exit program right now in the USVISIT program. We do not have the resources. we do not have the space for the lanes. I would simply say we are unable to do such.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":581,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090100651,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of the time. Mr. Chairman. I described that this amendment is unworkable. We will have a reallocation of resources. I would not want this bill to cost thousands of people in the northern border communities. legitimate. honest. hardworking American citizens as well as their counterparts on the Canadian side of the border to lose their jobs simply because goods cannot get across the border. I appreciate the thought behind the gentlemans amendment. but it really is not a workable one. and it should be rejected as a result of that. Mr. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":625,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090100668,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I just want to remind my colleagues that we are a Nation of immigrants and a Nation of laws. I think it is important when we pass legislation that we have a basis. a purpose. I do not think the gentleman can document that anyone who has taken this oath and because they have a dual citizenship that they have been any less a citizen. John F. Kennedy said everywhere immigrants have enriched and strengthened the fabric of American life. I think this oath stands on its own merits. and. frankly. I believe that we jeopardize our friends. those who have come to this country with good intentions. when we cause them to have to be reported to their embassy and jeopardize their families lives. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":936,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090100674,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of the amendment. The amendment acknowledges that immigration fraud has become endemic and. even more seriously. that internal corruption at U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Seryices threatens the national security and erodes the integrity of our immigration system. The extent and seriousness of the problem was brought to light in a closed bipartisan session of the Subcommittee on Immigration. Border Security and Claims of the Judiciary Committee earlier this year. Although the serious allegations and investigations discussed there cannot be discussed in the open. l urge my colleagues in the strongest terms to pass this important amendment. The ease with which unscrupulous immigration officials can be tempted to issue visas or benefits in return for money. goods. or favors was brought to light a month ago with the issuance of a Government Accountability Office report on consular malfeasance. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2090,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090100705,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"First. this bill harshly penalizes families. in particular family unity. For instance. under Title VI of the bill. millions of immigrants would be barred from gaining lawful resident status. even those whose spouses or children are U.S. citizens. Without lawful resident status. those immigrants would be sent to their country of origin. forced to leave their loved ones behind. This bill goes too far. Next. good Samaritans would be harshly penalized. If a person finds an illegal immigrant injured. and takes that person to a hospital. the law would label the Samaritan a felon. This bill goes too far. Mr. Speaker. asylum seekers would be .unduly penalized. This bill redefines the status of many asylum seekers. making them felons under the law. and would disallow -many from having a hearing before they are deported back to the country from which they are seeking asylum. ","speaker_name":"JOHN DINGELL","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2475,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090100709,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the Border Security Act of 2005 will not mend our broken immigration system. This legislation is narrowly focused on interior security and enforcement while it falls far short of providing F.l1992 the workable solution that we desperately need. With more than 11 million undocumented immigrants living and working in our country. simply increasing the -already harsh .penalties for immigration violations and placing a larger burden on employers is an inadequate approach to our immigration crisis. By not containing a guest worker program. this legislation fails to address the presence of the sizable undocumented community in the UnitedStates. Its widely recognized that agribusiness. manufacturing. hospitality and restaurant industries depend on millions of undocumented workers. Without a practical approach to this issue. real reform remains out of reach. American taxpayers have invested billions of dollars to secure our borders and end illegal immigration.. yet the number of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. has increased more in the past five years than ever before in our Nations history. In order to secure our borders. legalize our workforce. and advance our economy we must develop true comprehensive immigration reform.","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1253,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090100711,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They are experiencing labor shortages despite the fact thatthey pay between 10 to 12 dollars an hour and provide housing to their workers. They couldnt find workers anywhere. As Congress proceeds with immigration reform. Eastern Washingtons agriculture and service related industries need to address the impact of these policy changes on their workforce. We need to keep our economy and workforce competitive in the 21st century by establishing a legal workforce. A comprehensive immigration bill must take into account potential impacts on our workers. their families and the overall economy. Immigration is a complex problem. with no easy solution or quick fix. Controlling our borders is an important first step. but we cannot stop there. ImMigration reform will not be complete until we can adequately resolve the labor needs of our agriculture community. As we continue to update and improve our immigration laws. it is important that we retain our compassionate and welcoming system that defines who we are as Americans.","speaker_name":"CATHY MCMORRIS RODGERS","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3198,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090100715,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But we remain convinced that reasonand the partys traditional values--will prevail in the end. Instead of trying punitively to enforce unrealistic law. the majority of the GOP will eventually come together around an immigration policy worthy of the label Republicanone that encourages the American Dream and rewards work. even as it restores the rule of law and enhances national security.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER CANNON","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3603,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090100732,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The bill that came out of the Homeland Security .Committee by unanimous vote. unfortunately. the motion to recommit dramatically weakens that.","speaker_name":"PETER KING","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":701,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090100757,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it is my great pleasure to introduce to this body Major General David Tanzi. the Vice Commander of the. United States Air Force Reserve. and to honor him on his forthcoming retirement. which will be January 11. 2006. at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia. In his duties as Vice Commander. General Tanzi is responsible for the daily operations of the Command.. which consists of 76.000 Citizen Airmen. 400 aircraft. guiding 36 wings. three flying groups. one space group. 620 mission support units and two draft choices to be named later. He manages $20 billion in assets. a $3.9 billion annual budget and has successfully led this command through major transformational changes in force structure and in organization. General Tanzi is a command pilot with over 4.055 hours in various types of planes. He has been honored with numerous awards and decorations. including two Distinguished Service Medals. two Legion of Merit Awards. the Meritorious Service Medal. and the Air Medal. General Tanzi is a. native of New Hampshire and a graduate of Ohio State University. And although he has been stationed throughout the United States in his tenure in the military. we in Utah claim him and his family as our own. ","speaker_name":"ROB BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1798,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090100764,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This stands in marked contrast to the January election when voters in polling stations were hit by more than 300 insurgent attacks. Yesterdays relative calm was due to the men and women of our Armed Forces. Our troops and their commanders did a magnificent job over the past months to prepare the country for this crucial election. Even as we celebrate the success of the voting. we cannot overlook the incredible sacrifice of our military men and women. They have performed magnificently. but at an enormous cost. While the election itself was a remarkable achievement. we. our coalition partners and the international community. must move quickly to ensure that Iraqs fragile. nascent democracy is able to flourish. Two days ago I was invited to the White House. along with a number of my Democratic colleagues. to meet with the President and senior administration officials on preparations for the elections and next steps in Iraq. I appreciated the Presidents efforts to reach across the aisle for unity. and we had a farreaching discussion on how best to move forward in Iraq. I hope that the Presidents recent willingness to engage with Members of Congress. and especially Democrats. augers more consultations with the Hill on Iraq and the broader array of national security challenges that confront us. Counting the votes will take days and perhaps weeks. given the sheer number of ballots cast for the more than 300 political parties that registered to compete in the election. as well as the bifurcated nature.of allocating seats by province and nationwide. ","speaker_name":"ADAM SCHIFF","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5136,"word_count":257}
{"speech_id":1090100766,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we have just witnessed one of the freest elections ever held in the Middle East. It is important to recognize that independent multinational election monitors have confirmed that yesterdays Iraqi elections. in which a remarkably large number of Sunnis turned out to vote. met international standards. It is estimated that 10 to 12 million Iraqis renounced fear and defied those who seek to demoralize them and to undermined U.S. and international support for their noble commitment to rebuilding a civil society. As we seek to encourage our friends in the Middle East on their journey of selfdetermination. let us take a moment to recall with an appropriate level of humility that our own democratic journey was neither quick nor easy and no less worthwhile for the difficulties endured. Mr. Speaker. this historic moment inspires me to highlight an outstanding bipartisan initiative here in the House which is making a significant impact to strengthen fledgling democratic institutions throughout the world. I want to commend Speaker HASTERT for his foresight in launching the House Democracy Assistance Commission on which I serve along with 15 of my colleagues. I wish to thank my colleague. Congressman DAVID DREIER. for his leadership on this initiative and his -dedication to see it through to fruition. ","speaker_name":"JEFF FORTENBERRY","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4814,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090100790,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I think that is a perfect goal and that we mutually share that. that we could start voting as early as Monday morning. Since we will be in tomorrow. if we can update that because most of ourmany of our Senators are out around the country. we will do just that.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":260,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090100791,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The worst of the three pandemics in the last 100 years was in 1918. the socalled Spanish flualthough it was called the Spanish flu. it probably started actually in Kansasbut that flu went through our. population in a period of weeks and killed about half a million people. worldwide it killed somewhere around 40 million people. The Secretary of Health and Human Services. Secretary Leavitt. warns if past is prologue. the world is overdue for another flu pandemic. I agree with that assessment. The pandemic will occur. We do not know exactly when. But we know we are drastically underprepared. not unprepared but underprepared. If we act with action now. we will be prepared. Preparation means much less destruction or potential destruction by such a pandemic. The avian flu over the last couple of years has spread from East Asia. to Romania. to Turkey. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7647,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090100795,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It provided that these 16 provisions would expire at the end of this year. The vote to enact this legislation was 98 to 1 in the Senate. after 6 weeks of debate. In the House. the vote was 365 to 66. again not quite as overwhelming as in the Senate. but it was a lopsided vote in favor of passing the PATRIOT Act. And it was signed into law on October 26. 2001. Now. I have been surprised at how much misunderstanding there is surrounding the PATRIOT Act. how much outright mythology and disinformation there has been by those who are not just concerned about civil liberties. but those who are actually engaging in almost paranoid delusions about what it is that the PATRIOT Act provides in terms of the authorities to combat and to break up terrorist activities. The fact is. anyone who has been involved with or even remotely acquainted with our criminal justice system knows and will recognize that the provisions of the PATRIOT Act merely extended to national security cases many of the tools that are used every day in dourts all across the Nation and throughout the States. So this breathlessness. this sense of the existence of conspiracy theories. about the Federal Government deciding to suspend the civil liberties of the American people in pursuit of terrorists. is pure fantasy. I want to talk about the provisions that are being discussed so I think at least those who are listening can understand there has been careful thought and careful negotiations between the House and the Senate and there has been an awful lot of effort put into trying to strike the right balance. But what the critics are asking us to do is engage in a willing suspension of disbelief. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11471,"word_count":295}
{"speech_id":1090100802,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"CORNYN\" The Senator from Alabama is absolutely correct. He serves with great distinction on the Senate Judiciary Committee. as does the current occupant of the Chair. We all know that it is not the most cohesive committee in the Senate. As a matter of fact. we have some pretty serious disagreements about important policy issues. But on the PATRIOT Act. under Senator SPECTERS guidance. with the ranking member. Senator LEAHY. we were able to reach unanimity and pass the PATRIOT Act out of the Judiciary Committee. That would not happen. given the legal minds and the great advocates we have on the Judiciary Committee. if it were not a good bill. To now suggest. as some have. that this has not been well thought through. that it is not carefully done. flies in the face of the facts. If I may. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2518,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090100804,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I say to the Senator from Alabama he is precisely correct. One of the things that has been carefully taken into consideration in this legislation is to make sure whoever the individual is or whoevers rights are at issue. that there is an opportunity to go to a judgein this case. the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance -Court. a specialized court with jurisdiction over national security casesand to ask an impartial judge to intervene. But some of our colleagues. it seems. have these fantasies about rogue law enforcement personnel with nothing better to do than running roughshod over the rights of American citizens. These are serious professionals. I know my colleague from Alabama. being a former U.S. attorney. has worked closely with the FBI and other Federal law enforcement officials. I ask himand then I will certainly yield the floor to him for any other remarks he cares to makeis there any basis to this idea that Federal law enforcement agencies. such as the FBI and the intelligence agencies. have nothing better to do or have so little disregard for our laws and Constitution that they look for opportunities to trample on the rights of innocent American citizens?","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1195,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090100815,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my friend from Alabama. I have. indeed. studied the version that has come back from conference. The differences are significant. indeed. They are very significant. so much so that some of the more conservative Members of this body have joined in a decision that we should have an opportunity to debate the PATRIOT Act conference report before it is enacted. We all want to extend it to give us that opportunity. But this is not a Democratic or Republican opposition. it is a bipartisan group of Senators who have studied the conference report and have significant differences with it. and I am one of those Senators.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":639,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090100837,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the Senator will yield. my understanding is there is an effort being made to insert material. It has * not yet been inserted because Senator WARNER and I. through our staff. asked our staffs to go over to the House and withdraw our signatures before the material could be inserted. It was the effort to insert it. the threat to insert it which was transmitted to Senator WARNER and transmitted to me through him and through Congressman SKELTON. This is not an effort on the part of Chairman HUNTER. by the way. As I understand it. it is the Republican leadership in the House that is determined to find a way to insert material into the conference report after- the signature sheets have been signed. That is what I know about it. Senator WARNER was so disturbed about it. I was so disturbed about it. we decided we were not going to take a chance. We cannot risk this.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":872,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090100842,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to echo what Senator SESSIONS just said. I have tried to be involved with this detainee issue in as balanced a way as I can. I dont want my country to go down the road of adopting the tactics of our enemy. That has never been the issue. We have had some people who- have done some bad things. and they have been prosecuted. But when you get editorials from major papers such as the New York Times saying our troops routinely abuse people. that is ludicrous. There have been thousands of people detained in this war. Some have been mistreated. ","speaker_name":"LINDSEY GRAHAM","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3367,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090100863,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Congratulations as well to Coach Mike Van Diest and his staff as well as to Dr. Thomas Trebon. president of Carroll college. What an impressive team. What an impressive run of seasons..","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1556,"word_count":32}
{"speech_id":1090100868,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask unanimous consent that the Senate immediately proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations on todays Executive Calendar: Calendar No. 213. 365. 374. 383. 425. 426. 442. 465. 466. 467. 468. 470. 473. 474. 475. 476. 477. 478. 479. 480. 481. 482. provided further that the Commerce Committee be discharged from further consideration of the following nominations and the Senate proceed to these en bloc: PN1119. PN1120. PN1121. PN1122. I further ask unanimous consent that the nominations be confirmed en bloc. the motions to reconsider be laid on the table. the President be immediately notified of the Senates action and the Senate then return to legislative session.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":693,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090100899,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"While I will not oppose this rule and intend to support the nine bills to which the rule applies. and I say that advisedly. taking into consideration the gentleman from Wisconsin . my distinguished colleague. who will explain in detail the circumstances regarding LaborHHS and the drastic implications for the finances of certain agencies. I am deeply concerned that the House is again operating outside the boundaries of regular order. ] 1430 For the last year. my friends in the Republican leadership have consistently convened the House a mere 3 days a week. occasionally 4. They have regularly sent Members home earlier than anyone else in this country gets off work. Sure. I certainly. and I believe all of us. appreciate going home a few hours earlier during the week. But forgive me. Mr. Speaker. if I am not the most sympathetic Member when the leadership cries legislative crisis time and time again over situations that it created. There is a better way to run this body. and the Republicans continue to show that they are incapable of leading the House in an efficient and regular manner. Mr. ","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1784,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090100902,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Unfortunately. the right wingers who dominate this administration and much of the congressional leadership in both Houses do not agree. They tried to kill this thing. until finally. at the overwhelming insistence of people who are involved in the economy of this country said that that would be irresponsible. they did the next best thing. They have forced us to deal with it in a constricted and inappropriate way. We did take it up in the House. and we had a full markup in our committee. and we voted on it on the floor. In the Senate. and let us praise the rule change that now allows us to tell the truth about what goes on in the Senate. the Senate passed a very restricted version of this. The Senate chairman of the banking committee then refused to appoint conferees. Interestingly. we are going to have to amend this rule. because the rule. reasonably. said let us take up on suspension the conference report on TRIA. And then the Rules Committee had to be reminded that there is no conference report on TRIA. because the Republican Senate chairman. knowing that he would have been outvoted in the conference. refused to allow one and. instead. individually dictated what would be in it. So we are going to have to amend it. because if we had a vote on a conference report on TRIA. we would have no TRIA. They would not have a conference. ","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4105,"word_count":243}
{"speech_id":1090100907,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Education and Social Services appropriations bill. Together that equals about 65 percent of allthe discretionary spending in the budget. We still have not passed those bills almost 3 months into the fiscal year. Now. this resolution will allow the continuing resolution. which expires today. to continue until February 15. Now. it also says that we will not be able to amend the CR. However. there is nothing to prevent the Senate from amending the- CR when it goes over there. and I fully expect them to try because they have a different set of priorities than the Republican House leadership. If you do not believe that. just ask Mr. STEVENS. There is another problem with the CR. and that is that it funds both the Defense bill and the Labor. Health. and Education bill at a very much lower level and on a very much more restricted basis than I think is healthy. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3365,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090100909,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I hope that the general body heard and understood Mr. OBEYs explanation. the fact remains that it would devastate programs in this country that people are totally relying upon. and. more importantly. my friends who espouse their support of the military. put the military in a position of not being able to do advanced procurement and to live at restrictive levels. That is not right. Therefore. we need to pay particular attention to the continuing resolution. I would urge Members to be prepared to come back for this particular measure. in light of the explanations offered by my colleagues Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts and Mr. OBEY. ","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":739,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090100923,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Joining my friend from Georgia. Mr. DEAL. I rise in support of H.R. 4568. the Proficiency Testing Improvement Act. It makes perfect sense to take steps .to ensure that women are receiving accurate results after they have had a Pap test. But it makes no sense to take false steps in that direction. Proficiency testing can be extremely useful. or it can make a bad situation worse. ","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2872,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090100936,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 15 seconds just to respond to the gentleman and assure him that we understand his concerns with the whistleblower. but this is a situation in which government does have a role. but we are trying to make sure that government does not impose outdated regulatious that are 13 years old and do not associate themselves with the current realities ofthe practice. Mr. Speaker. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":451,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090100957,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"SAM","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2077,"word_count":1}
{"speech_id":1090100963,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am proud that we are acting to advance the possibility that this type of treatment will provide. A national cord blood bank will facilitate the expanded use of proven treatment to improve the health of so many Americans inflicted with these horrible diseases. This is a great Christmas gift of health to the American people.","speaker_name":"DANIEL LIPINSKI","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1401,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090100979,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But I would say to my friends on both sides of the aisle. let us not stop there. In the second session of this Congress. let us take the bold scientific step necessary to provide cures for diseases that affect tens of millions of Americans and citizens around the world. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"DIANA DEGETTE","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2330,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090100981,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H.R. 2520. the Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act of 2005. \" Long before my days as the Ranking Member on the Research Subcommittee. I have been a strong advocate of all types of research. Stem cell research holds the potential to help paralyzed people walk. help blind people see. andregenerate organ tissue without immune rejection.","speaker_name":"EDDIE JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":378,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090101002,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Additionally. I want to thank the gentleman from Texas. Mr. BARTON. and the gentleman from Michigan. Mr. DINGELL. the chairman and the ranking .Democratic member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. respectively. and their staffs. for their attention to this issue. I thank all of these gentlemen for their cooperation and assistance on this important issue. Together. with my colleagues from the Virgin Islands. Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. ","speaker_name":"MADELEINE BORDALLO","chamber":"H","state":"GU","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":3716,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090101022,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"These are the real statistics. Recently. the American Bar Association issued their findings after conducting extensive research and hearings surrounding todays sentencing guidelines. In Federal prison alone we have over 179.000 men and women incarcerated. of whom 85 percent are firsttime. nonviolent offenders. Lengthy periods of incarceration should be reserved for offenders who pose the greatest danger to the community and who commit the most serious offenses. We have the opportunity to study this issue and. do it right. There are a number of legislative initiatives. such as Second Chance. But the idea of providing an opportunity for prisoners who are nonviolent who have been on good time in the prison to be able to go out to their families. to take their families off public assistance and regain their dignity and invest in this United States by their work and taxes. I think. is a very positive step on behalf of this legislative initiative. I hope my colleagues will join me. along with the Senate. on this long overdue idea that there are people languishing in our prisons. I hope we will support this legislation. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12780,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090101039,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker. I want to thank my colleague from Rhode Island for his moving testimony today on the issue of mental health. I would be the first to agree that the mental health parity bill that we have will now. as Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California says. and has for the last 10 years been an important step in the right direction. Is it enough for most people? Probably not. And I think that all of us are aware that Congress and the American people have been in this debate for a long time. ","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1359,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090101083,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. let me first inform my friend from Massachusetts that I have no NASA facility in or near my district. so I try to be an honest broker in this authorization. I will also point out. in this 2year authorization. more than 99 plus percent of the authorization goes to nonMars related issues. So I think we have tried to put a balance in here. As the chairman has pointed out and I have.pointed out. we very much think that NASA needs to be a multimission agency with aviation. education and so many other things -that are so important to this agency. For that reason. we put firewalls into this bill so that they cannot be poached for things that we think might be a lesser priority. So. hopefully. we will be able to reach that balance. ","speaker_name":"BARTON GORDON","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1328,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090101084,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the distinguished gentleman from Tennessee for yielding. This is a bill that also focuses on science. and science has. over the years. been the economic engine of our Nation. The more we are at the cutting edge of science and the inventions that provide new opportunities for work. new opportunities for industry. we are advancing the economic opportunities of Americans. That is what is within this bill in many. many instances. beyond where the NASA centers are located. I want to thank. again. the chairman and the ranking member for working together and having the focus of this bill really be on science and all that we can produce through scientific research.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":673,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090101085,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I will just close by saying that a purpose for having an authorization is a portion of oversight. And I think Mr. FRANK really has been beneficial for us in making us justify ourselves. making us have part of this oversight. It is a better bill. a healthier bill for that. I think it can live up to the scrutiny. With that. I would like to yield to my friend from Missouri for some remarks.","speaker_name":"BARTON GORDON","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":403,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090101088,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as a House Republican who. I believe my fiscal conservative ratings are typically among the top ten most conservative in the House. I have no NASA facilities in my district. and I am a passionate advocate for NASA. a strong supporter of this legislation. because I recognize the importance of investing in our Nations future -through investments and the scientific and technological innovations that only NASA and the space program have been able to produce for us. From the Blackberry on our belts. the microcomputers. the computer chips on our office desks. to satellite technology. and cell phone technology to medical technology. NASA has touched every one of our lives. I applaud the chairman and the leadership for bringing this bill to the floor. and it is very important that we get behind President Bushs vision. because only by investing in NASA and strengthening our investment in scientific and medical research will we maintain Americas leadership role in the world.","speaker_name":"JOHN CULBERSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":992,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090101091,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the staff who have worked so diligently on this bill all year and who have been really on constant alert since the loss of the space shuttle Columbia. That staff includes David Goldston. John Mimikakis.. Bill Adkins. Roselee Roberts. Tom Hammond. Ken Monroe. Johannes Loschnigg. ","speaker_name":"SHERWOOD BOEHLERT","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1262,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090101107,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to urge my colleagues to vote for this bill. although I do so with a great deal of disappointment. This bill does reauthorize TRIA for the next 2 years. and failure to reauthorize the program would lead to gaps in insurance coverage that could kill economic growth and recovery nationwide. Unfortunately. this bill contains none of the improvements to the TRIA program that the House passed earlier. The bill before us today lacks group life coverage. It lacks coverage for domestic terrorism. It lacks a commission to study the availability of terrorism insurance for the World Trade Center. and other sites after this current extension ends. The other bodys refusal to negotiate with this House on ways to make TRIA work better for the taxpayers. policy holders. and regulators is beyond seriously disappointing. As Chairman OXLEY said. and you have heard from other Members. this legislation simply kicks the can downthe road. ","speaker_name":"SUE KELLY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1395,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090101109,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. is that group life was not included in this product despite the best efforts on both sides of the aisle. It seems to me common sense and certainly compassion that if we are going to insure bricks and steel and glass and mortar. then surely we should insure the lives of people who work inside the bricks and the steel and the glass and the mortar. that surely their lives are just as valuable as property. So it is with a measure of profound disappointment that group life was excluded from this final product. This is. in fact. an imperfect bill. and certainly it is drastically less perfect than the language that was reported on a bipartisan basis from the House Financial Services Committee. But we ought not let an imperfect bill stop an adequate bill. And so because this is a good start and because we do have an opportunity to still get this right. I will support this extension and urge all of our colleagues to continue to work together to pass something that makes the most sense for our Nation and its economy.","speaker_name":"STEVE ISRAEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2644,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090101116,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker. the infinite risks associated with terrorism demonstrated their potential to destabilize our Nations markets after the attacks of September 11. which- is why I will support the final version of TRIA before the House today. However. I. too. do so with strong reservations and some disappointment in what could have and should have been. In spite of the tremendous leadership. hardwork and.cooperative efforts put forth by House Financial Services Committee Chairman MICHAEL OXLEY and Ranking Member BARNEY FRANK. the other body chose to forego a fair and democratic conference process and needlessly tossed away an opportunity to truly strengthen our markets and protect consumers. I commend Chairman OXLEY. Ranking Member FRANK. Mr. KANJORSKI and","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":768,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090101137,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Reclaiming my time. would it be safe. therefore. for Members to conclude that they need not be here before 5? If we went in at 1. you gave 2 hours notice. the first vote would be 3. but am I correct that the Defense appropriations conference has not convened because. the chairman sadly lost his mother. and it is my understanding he is coming back sometime. maybe he came back this afternoon. but would I be reasonably correct in saying that the chances of the Defense appropriati6ns bill being ready to report prior to 5 would be very slim? I yield to my friend.","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":564,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090101138,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We would give 2 hours notice before that. So the barliest I would expect Members to get a notice that we would have votes in 2 hours would be around 3 oclock.","speaker_name":"ROY BLUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":754,"word_count":32}
{"speech_id":1090101166,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. that the sheriffs in Laredo will not even approach the river at night without turning off all their lights. And. in fact. when I went down to the river in midOctober with a group of sheriffs. the.sheriff sent a marked sheriffs deputy vehicle ahead of me down to the river with the lights out. I asked. why are you sending him ahead of me with the lights out? And the response was. Congressman. we want him to get shot at instead of you. Which really alarmed me. And I asked the sheriff. please tell that young man to turn on the strobe lights on top of his vehicle. They sort of laughed at me and said. Congressman. you do not undeistand. The violence is so bad down here on the riyer. that if that deputy sheriff turns on his strobe lights. it will make him a better target and he is very likely to be machine gunned immediately. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CULBERSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5540,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090101172,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This will be the anchor for the Katrina survivors. And anyone who has interacted with them knows that they are not deadbeats. They are Americans who are simply looking not for a handout but for a helping hand. Thousands live in the 18th Congressional District in the city of Houston. and I applaud the miayor and the council members and other elected officials. and I applaud Americans in general for the outpouring of their generosity. and particular Houstonians. But we need your help. We need your help in helping FEMA continue its funding of apartment contracts that. were supposed to be for 12 months and 18 months. otherwise we will see Katrina victims. their families and children dumped into the streets. We need the funding to continue to provide hotel compensation until February 7 or longer. or we will see Katrina survivors dumped into the streets. When I use the word\"Katrina.\" I really mean Americans. for the American Federal Government should be the safety net for all Americans in time of trouble. If we do not have the funding that we should have. we will see Katrina survivors stranded throughout America. 44 different States where they are located. with a oneway ticket to those States and no return ticket home. FEMA will provide that ticket with the continuing funding for them to return home to their States. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4955,"word_count":227}
{"speech_id":1090101174,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"These students now are facing many years in prison. Imagine that: prison terms for emailing political cartoons. As cochairman of the House Baltic Caucus. it is my sincere hope that the United States will continue to remember those fighting daily for democracy in Belarus and do all that we can to support this movement. the movement for change in this region. I am encouraged by the change in the international community in support of democracy for Belarus. I encourage all of us to work together to keep up the great work and keep a watchful eye on the nation of Belarus and its dictator. Alexander Lukashenko. in the upcoming elections in 2006. The opposition is united. the people are motivated for change. and we just ask for free and fair elections.","speaker_name":"JOHN SHIMKUS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2723,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090101190,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have been on the committee 3 years now. Mr. SPRATT has been on the committee a few more years than we have. but when you first get on the committee. I think the leadership on our side has always .told the younger Members who come on. you know. this is a bipartisan committee. This is one of the committees in Congress where we try to do what is best for the men and women in uniform. to do what is best to protect the security of the United States of America. And I think this tradition we have had has really been damaged throughout this whole process. I am sure Mr. SPRATT knows a lot better than I do.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":607,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090101192,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We talk a lot on the 30something group here about how the Republican leadership in this Chamber and the Senate and in the White House right now consistently over the past few years have put their partys interests above the countrys interests. We know on Energy and Commerce. you know. you are talking about telecommunications and there are a lot of business interests and labor. There are fights. there are scraps. and it gets very partisan. For this kind of attitude I think to permeate into the Armed Services Committee during a time of war is outrageous. It really is. And Mr. SPRATT. I cannot thank you enough. because we come down every night. and to have someone of your caliber. your experience. your understanding of the issues to come down and share with us means a great deal. But for campaign finance issues to work their way into the Defense bill is just crazy.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":873,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090101197,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I will guarantee you the people do not know what is going on. Until I got back this afternoon. I had to go home and make a speech and started reading some of these dailies that we get over our fax machines and got some phone calls from others who had found out. pieced it tbgether. I did not know about it. so I am sure the American people do not know about it. Let me just take a second. if I can. maybe a minute or two. and read from the memo that was given to us as conferees just as to what the personnel provisions of this bill are. For the most part. these will not be backstopped by overlapping provisions in the appropriations bill. It simply will not be done unless and until this bill for 2006 is enacted. I already mentioned a pay raise of 3.1 percent to all servicemembers. I.mentioned. the increase in end strength needed for our stretchedout ground forces. The death gratuity is raised substantially to $100.000. but. even more important. provided for retroactively to October 7. 2001. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3194,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090101202,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I always say. I do not fault the special interests for fighting for what they want. That is their job. That is what they are supposed to do. We are sent here to represent the people of the United States of America. and if we allow it. then shame on us. I can tell you. fighting against this. any Member can come and can file a piece of legislation. and in some cases we have seen legislation filed early one day and passed later. on the same day. In this case. for this to tome in on the back of national security and Defense is just beyond me. I think the American people need to know about it. and the Members need to pay close attention to it. When you have a majority that feels that they can do exactly what they want to do it when they want to do it. that is okay when it is a personal decision. We talk about that. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2789,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090101205,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me say. just to back up what you were saying and be a thirdparty validator on that. I have the facts here. You want to talk about abuse of power? It was printed just this afternoon a story that was posted around 7 p.m. tonight about what is going on in the back Halls of Congress. I mean. we have leaders in the Senate sayifig that we have an agreement with a said Senator. but I do not want to go into details. That is what our leadership says here in the House. At the appropriate time when I find the cover sheet to this one story. I will enter that into the RECORD because I think that needs to go into the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD so that when folks start backtracking on what happened in the 109th Congress at the closing of the first session of the 109th Congress. I want them to clearly know what the thinking was on behalf of the majority. These are two majority leaders that are talking about this kind of \"we have a deal worked out. but we do not want to go into details.\" meanwhile holding up the Defense authorization bill. Not only that. holding up the Defense appropriations bill. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1166,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090101237,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. CARDOZA.","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":928,"word_count":2}
{"speech_id":1090101253,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It does not work if we got to go into the markets every year and borrow $350 billion or $400 billion or $500 million to run the government. You are borrowing much of that from overseas so it will not work. What do we do to get back to a balanced budget and to reduce the deficit spending? One of the really key things is spending caps. and that is the third point of our 12 point plan. Put a lid on spending. We know that you cannot fix it all in one year. but you put in a longterm plan. a longterm budget. Most of our small business people are used to doing that. a 5 or 3 or 10 year budget. -or whatever it might be. That is what we did in 1997. and you cap your spending at certain levels and live within that. and then economically you can grow your revenue to a point where you get back into a balanced situation. Let me just give you one example of what happened when we did this earlier during the nineties. The nondiscretionary defense spending increases were 2.5 percent. the annual increase. during the Clinton years. During the nineties. 2.5 percent. nondefense. discretionary spending. ","speaker_name":"ALLEN BOYD","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2154,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090101255,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is straightforward. it is commonsensical. People understand it. And. by gosh. when the Congress appropriates money to the administration. whatever administration it may be. and they cannot tell us what they did with it. then they ought not to get it next year. I will tell you one other thing. Not only do we withhold money under our plan. which makes perfectly good sense. but there ought to be some accountability. What we have seen is I think a derivative of the gerrymandered districts that come here in this party allegiance first and the country second. We now have a oneparty- government here in Washington. The Republicans have the White House. Senate and House. The people elected them. ","speaker_name":"JOHN TANNER","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2181,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090101257,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Education is a priority. Fighting the war effort is a priority. But what happens here in Congress is we pass these bills on voice votes. And today. just today: in this House. on a voice vote they passed a continuing resolution for 30 days. until December 31. well. two weeks. And we are spending billions and billions of dollars on a voice vote. I got to tell you. I know that if the American people knew all the money that is being spent in that continuing resolution. they would not be happy about it. So the Blue Dogs have decided that we need to tell the American people what the priorities are. We need to tell the American people what we are spending their money on. We have proposed that no bill should pass Congress above the threshold of $50 million. which is a significant amount of money in anybodys book. without a vote of Congress. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS CARDOZA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1805,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090101265,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The work we have done here the last 2 or 3 days. we are 8 days before Christmas. we are working really hard to try to get out of here and doing some work that has been put off that should have been done earlier in the fall. even- earlier in the summer. But the work that has been done here in the last 2 or 3 days. all of it has been done under what we call a marshal law rule which allows bills to be brought to the floor without even 24 hours notice. It really exacerbates this problem of having stuff going into the statutes that Members really do not have a chance. the American people do not have a chance to read and understand. I think this solves that problem.","speaker_name":"ALLEN BOYD","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":668,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090101272,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I would say that we see time and again the rule resolution that comes to the floor and is passed basically on the party line. what you see is that in the rule. all points of order are waived. which means that the budget rules that we try to put in place are meaningless. Because if you are going to waive them on virtually every bill now that comes to the floor. we really do not have any enforceable mechanism. and this will change that. And we think that is a commonsense idea.","speaker_name":"JOHN TANNER","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":479,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090101381,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I encourage the Romanians to examine these cases with alacrity and transparency. Such a priority could mean this Christmas would be filled with renewed hope for hundreds of children and the prospects of a permanent home in the New Year.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2623,"word_count":40}
{"speech_id":1090101416,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But I have continued to admire JOHNs work. now as ranking member. He is totally dedicated to this institution as the keystone of American democracy. .and he fully understands the importance of active. assertive committees to the institutions capacity for deliberation and sound lawmaking. JOHN richly deserves the fulsome tributes we have heard from senior and junior colleagues. of every partisan and political stripe. upon this fiftieth anniversary of his winning the seat vacated by his fathers death in 1955. Many have also mentioned Debbie Dingell. JOHNs wife and partner in service. Debbie has been an invaluable resource to the House Democratic Caucus in planning issues conferences and other activities. and I recently was privileged to serve with her on our na- tional partys Commission on Presidential Nomination Timing and Scheduling. Mr. Speaker. I am proud to join in tribute to JOHN and Debbie DINGELLto thank them for their dedication and perseverance. for their effectiveness as advocates and public servants. and for what they have meant to each of us and to our country as champions of this institution.","speaker_name":"DAVID PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2041,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090101421,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I will be discussing this shortly with the Democratic leader. Again. we will be doing our best to get word to the Senators shortly as to the schedule for this evening and tomorrow. People have worked through last night and throughout today on these conference reports and there has been a lot of activity in the last hour or hour and a half. Shortly. I will come back to the floor with something more certain in terms of the schedule for later tonight as well as tomorrow.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1415,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090101423,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I have said on previous occasions how much I care about this institution. but I have trouble expressing how disappointed I am as to what is going on. The arrogance of power of the Republicans in the House and the Senate is beyond my ability to comprehend. The Republican leadership now is attempting to impose the most cynical and I believe abusive practice in this pending conference report that. if successful. has the potential of changing the way this body operates forever. We will become another House of Representatives. Any conference report can set the tone of debate. the hours of debate. the parameters of debate. If the Senate does that. it will no longer be the Senate that. was led by some of the greats such as Mansfield and Dirksen. I say this respectfully. I do not know how anyone would allow this to happen. those who have the ability to do it. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4582,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090101434,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. we all know the valiant heroics of our military and the sacrifices they have made to ensure our safety. They have fought bravely and served honorably. No one can ever dispute the character of our Armed Forces. I salute the Iraqis for taking the next step toward a free nation and our Armed Forces for helping them.","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1051,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090101439,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. we read news reports that drilling in the Arctic will be in the bill. but we do not know if ANWR is included because we have not yet seen it. And what drilling in Alaskas wilderness has to do with the Pentagon is beyond my comprehension. but there are some in the Republican leadership who do not care about the regular process and want to tuck this in the Defense bill because they know it cannot be enacted on its own. We also do not know exactly what else is attached to the Defense appropriations bill. Is there funding for Hurricanes Katrina. Rita. and Wilma? And 1SE H12173 if so. what are the details? Will there be funding for the prevention of a possible avian flu pandemic? Are there campaign finance reform provisions included in any of these bills? And if so. who approved them? And then there is the Defense authorization bill. which has been held up for much time because the White House did not want language in it that banned torture. This is the United States of America. Mr. Speaker. If we stand for anything. it is out loud and foursquare for human rights. And torture is something that we. as a civilized society and as a decent people. should reject. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5724,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090101443,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"DREIER has given. Yes. we will even talk about years of service for Helen Sewell. who for over 70 years came to work almost every day for the benefit of Americas future. This is simply an experiment that we are engaged in. Mr. Speaker. There is no blueprint. There is no direction to say how we will handle things in the future. for we know not. any of us. what lies ahead of us. But I have the confidence that the Republican Party and the things which we have done and will do will lead this great Nation. and the people will understand a vision. and we shall not perish. In God we trust. Mr. ","speaker_name":"PETE SESSIONS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4179,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090101457,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today we consider H. Res. 632. a martiallaw rule allowing the House to bring bills to the floor on the same day that the Rules Committee meets to report that bill. But significantly. the martiallaw rule does not specify which bills may be brought up. Instead. it is a blank check for the majority party to bring up virtually any bill in Congress up until the speaker gavels this legislative day to a close. Mr. Speaker. this is a highly unusual procedure. I would like to take a moment to explain to the American people exactly how out of the ordinary it is. This is the first time that a totally openended blanket martiallaw rule has been brought to the House floor. Every other rare use of this procedure has specified at least a category of legislation. ","speaker_name":"DORIS MATSUI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2425,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090101480,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in strong support of House Concurrent Resolution 284. as amended. Prior to this years election in Egypt. that countrys leader. Hosni Mubarak. promised to undertake a series of steps toward a slow but steady transition to a free and democratic society. However. in the wake of the parliamentary elections it is explicitly clear that those commitments remain unfulfilled. This concurrent resolution. initially drafted amid an atmosphere of hope. had to be updated from the version passed by the House Committee on International Relations in order to reflect the grave developments that have taken place and to express congressional disappointment with the behavior of the Egyptian government and security forces during the parliamentary elections. Election monitors complained that polling and counting stations were blocked and that widescale arrests were also used as a means of manipulating the electoral process. There were reports of excessive force by Egyptian security services resulting in the deaths of several demonstrators and the wounding of dozens more. ","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2298,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090101508,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I am very pleased to support the suspension of the rules to bring Representative KIRKs bill. the Terrorist Rewards Enhancement Act. House Resolution 2329. to the floor. and I strongly support its passage. The bill has Chairman HYDEs full and vigorous support. and is much needed in the hunt for Osama bin Laden and other terrorists around the globe. The International Relations Committee has long worked with Congressman KmnK. a member of the Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee. in promoting needed reform and practical changes to the State Departments Justice Rewards program. This program has in the past helped to lead to the capture of key global terrorists like Ramzi Yousef and Amil Kanzi. the fugitive killer of the CIAs several employees. and others. ","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2214,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090101509,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"By giving our Secretary of State the authority to offer a significant cash reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of terrorists. we recruit additional agents in the fight against global terrorism. ordinary people who may obtain extraordinary information that would allow the United States or a foreign country to apprehend terrorists. Mr. Speaker. over 4 years after 9\/11. Osama bin Laden is still at large. and apparently no closer to being in our custody today than he was on September 12. 2001. The United States obviously must do more to bring this monstrous man to justice. Our bill would take another small. but potentially important step in that direction. It would allow our Secretary of State in extraordinary circumstances to authorize a cash reward to a foreign government official who may have provided critical information resulting in the arrest and conviction of such a terrorist. I stress to all of my colleagues that this authority is to be used only where the information is critical to the capture of a key terrorist figure at severe risk or of severe harm to the informant. Will this authority provide additional incentive for a foreign government official to provide us with this information perhaps with regard to Osama bin Laden? We cannot know that today. Mr. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2014,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090101511,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Uday and Qusay Hussein. the murderous sons of Saddam Hussein. were found and cornered by a tip from this program. Today. we are hunting down Osama bin Laden. Ayman Zawahiri. and Mullah Omar. the leaders of al Qaeda and the Taliban dictatorship. I have conducted two official missions to the AfghanPakistan border where conventional wisdom has located the probable sites of the al Qaeda core leadership. I assessed this rewards program and proposed improvements to change its effectiveness. We found that the radio. newspaper. and TV ads in Pakistan are working. Under Richard Griffin. the Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security. Ryan Crocker. our very able Ambassador to Pakistan. and David Noordelas. a very able diplomatic security professional. we executed a $200.000 TV and radio campaign that led to dozens of new tips against leaders of the al Qaeda core. We are about to relaunch this program. and it will be even more successful. But there is one problem. ","speaker_name":"MARK KIRK","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2704,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090101518,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of House Resolution 456. which expresses- our support for the memorandum of understanding signed by the government of the Republic of Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement on For three decades. the province of Aceh in southern Sumatra. Indonesia. was the site of armed conflict between the Indonesian military and the separatist Free Aceh Movement. That seemingly intractable conflict claimed approximately 15.000 lives. including those of many innocent civilians. The dynamics there changed in an even more tragic way on December 26 of last year when a massive tsunami devastated the region. killing more than 160.000 people in Aceh alone. Overshadowed by the horror of that natural disaster. the parties recognized that reconstruction would require an end to the civil conflict. ","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1880,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090101519,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield as much time as he might consume to the gentleman from New York . the distinguished author of this legislation.","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2270,"word_count":24}
{"speech_id":1090101552,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and concur in the Senate amendment to the bill to require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the desegregation of the Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock. Arkansas. and for other purposes.","speaker_name":"RICK RENZI","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":293,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090101562,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the gentlewoman from New York for yielding time. I also want to commend the gentleman from Arkansas for introducing this legislation. I never miss an opportunity to comment on anything that was taking place in Arkansas at that time because at that time I was a young contemporary of the Little Rock Nine. As they went into high school. and some were seniors. I was a freshman in college a few miles away down at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. Of course at that time it was Arkansas AM&N College. And I remember vividly Daisy Bates. the outstanding head of the NAACP. who actually grew up down in the little part of Arkansas. in rural Arkansas where I came from. Wiley Branton was the outstanding attorney. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1658,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090101564,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlewoman from New York . the esteemed and honorable and great leader. not only for her distinguished support of this legislation but for the work that we have been doing regarding Sojourner Truth. I thank the gentlewoman so very much for her leadership. along with a number of friends here on the floor. We are not debating that bill right now. but I do want to mention the wonderful members of the House Administration Committee. the gentleman from Ohio . and the gentlewoman from California","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":520,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090101565,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I do not have any further speakers. I congratulate Mr. SNYDER for his leadership on this legislation and Mr. RENZI. and their leadership on many other issues. I yield back the balance of my time. and I urge the unanimous support of this important bill.","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":265,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090101575,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Members meet and talk on many issues in our respective Cloakrooms. and we travel back and forth between the Cloakrooms. And I had the opportunity to meet Ms. Sewell and to watch her hold court. if you will. and preside. We may be presiding here. Mr. Speaker. The Speaker may be in the Speakers chair. but I can tell my colleagues. as I watched Helen Sewell work she was presiding. She knew all the Members. She knew what they liked and disliked. And I would say from her actions. she showed us that she truly loved and respected this institution. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3141,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090101576,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. let me again thank Representative CURT WELDON for a great tribute to this outstanding woman. What a great Representative you are in bringing this to the floor today and to display all of the beautiful pictures that you have shown to us today in honor of this great lady. Mr. Speaker. the House of Representatives honors Ms. Sewell on the occasion of her retirement and expresses its gratitude for her many years of service. We thank you. ","speaker_name":"JUANITA MILLENDER-MCDONALD","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":37.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":568,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090101581,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am particularly pleased to join my colleagues in honoring Helen Sewell as she retires from the House of Representatives. Helen Sewell has honored our city as a longtime resident and the House by devoting extraordinary service under the particularly difficult hours and circumstances of service in the cloak room. Ms. Sewells devotion to the House. to the people of the United States. and to the District. whom we service. has been so great that she was still serving at 80 years old. Her loyalty to the House and its work has given vital support to Members of Congress and to the important business of the country. As the House honors Ms. Sewell and wish her well. the residents of the District of Columbia join me in thanking Helen Sewell for dedicated service to the House of Representatives.","speaker_name":"ELEANOR NORTON","chamber":"H","state":"DC","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":809,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090101604,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. pursuant to the order of the House of today. I call up the conference report on the bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2006 for military activities of the Department of Defense. for military construction. and for defense activities of the Department of Energy. to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year. and for other purposes.","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":375,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090101609,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. that we could not have done this. especially in such a short period of time. if we did not have such extraordinary members on the House Armed Services Committee. Democrat and Aepublican. of whom I am very proud. and a wonderful staff which has worked in some cases 16- and 18hour days to bring this bill to fruition and to work this conference report with a very. very short time schedule. I. want to point out. first. my friend. the gentleman from Missouri . who is a wonderful friend and partner in this endeavor to serve our people in uniform. He has just done a great job working with me and working with his members. Our ranking members. our chairmen of the subcommittees all have done a wonderful job. as have all of our members right down through the entire ranks of the members of the Armed Services Committee. -So this is a good bill. Mr. Speaker. It provides the tools for our men and women to do the job. I also want to point out the fact that we have increased 10.000 Army and 1.000 Marine activeduty personnel in this bill. That is a very important point. ","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2883,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090101611,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I first wanted to ask the chairman a question. because I am not sure I heard him a moment ago. Does the chairman confirm that this conference report is the report of the conferees as signed and intended to come to the floor as it was on 3 p.m. Friday?","speaker_name":"IKE SKELTON","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":264,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090101615,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman. and I rise in strong support of this conference report. Once again. I am proud to be part of the process that delivers our troops the support they need. Let me take this moment to commend our chairman. Mr. HUNTER. for his work on this bill. This is important work. and I applaud all the members of the Armed Services Committee on both sides of the aisle. Mr. ","speaker_name":"IKE SKELTON","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":540,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090101631,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Benefit after benefit. It is important that we have a broad range of military programs. the best equipment. the most modern technology. but at the end of the day as in the beginning of Jthe day. the key to the success of the American military are the men and women that put that uniform on and today as we speak are serving so bravely. This is a terrific bill for them. I want to thank the chairman for his great leadership and I certainly urge all the Members of the House to strongly support it. It is the right thing to do for some absolutely amazing people. Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of the conference report on H. R. 1815. the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year The military personnel provisions of H.R. 1815 address many. problems and issues that the men and women in uniform have brought to us. Additionally. the conference report will help to relieve the tremendous pressure being placed on the military servicesactive. guard. and reserve. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MCHUGH","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3276,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090101639,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. is it your understanding that the bills language referencing the Senates 1994 reservation to the United Nations Convention Against Torture is intended to prohibit conduct that shocks the conscience. the standard adopted by the United States Supreme Court in Rochin v. California?","speaker_name":"JAMES MARSHALL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":293,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090101654,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am also very concerned about what is happening to the defense appropriations bill. and I do not want to see it happen to our defense authorization bill. We do not want our bill to become a mustpass piece of legislation to which other bills. other wholly unrelated legislation. gets attached because ours is mustpass legislation. a moving vehicle. That could have happened to this very bill. and it is the reason we are standing here at .12:30 at night instead of dealing with it yesterday afternoon with much more leisure than we are giving to the bill right now because it was almost hijacked by something totally extraneous. And I would say to the chairman I am glad that this did not happen. glad that we have got a clean bill. and glad that we can vote on it without having these extraneous matters to consider and weigh. Once again. congratulations on a job well done.","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2489,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090101657,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have not seen the whole bill. Could the gentleman tell me if there is a provision in this bill that permits drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge?","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":979,"word_count":29}
{"speech_id":1090101679,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I went over a book that we were going to get him and I found out he was already reading that book. I wanted to dedicate to him and to give to him a book from the committee signed by all the members of the committee. and the ones that have not come to the floor yet will have their opportunity. It is the \"Battle of Vicksburg.\" And for a gentleman who knows every battle that was fought in America and knows it very well. I thought that this would be an interesting tribute to us for a gentleman who really guides us. Democrats and Republicans. in this very important area of military education.. E 0045 So to the great gentleman from Missouri . I hope you have good reading. and let me know the high points.","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2760,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090101693,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am indeed flattered. and I do thank the gentleman from Georgia for this unexpected tribute. and a special thanks to Senatof IsAKsoN. the fellow Georgian. for his efforts in this. I am indeed flattered. and \"I will do my best to merit the confidence both of the chairman for his presentation and the presentation","speaker_name":"IKE SKELTON","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":326,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090101695,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This authority is needed -to allow expansion of the program to all drilling Selected Reservists. and enhances the current TRICARE Reserve Select program. H.R. 1815 also extends TRICARE coverage for children of service members killed in the line of duty until 21 years of age. or 23 years. if a fulltime student. Under the bill the Department of Defense is required to report back on its plans to respond to an international and\/or domestic outbreak of avian flu. This is very important as our nation combats the potential outbreak of this flu. Lastly Requires the establishment of a Mental Health Task Force that will look at how the Department and the Services can better identify. treat. and support the mental health needs. including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. for service members and their families. An effort to provide a comprehensive examination of the mental health programs and policies of the Department of Defense and other federal programs. this effort will not be initiated without a defense authorization bill. Title 3 of the bill allows the Department of Defense to accept gifts on behalf of wounded service members. Department of Defense civilians or their families. Soldiers are currently .restricted from accepting more than $20 in gifts. This makes it impossible for well meaning people to give gifts to wounded troops or their families without violating ethics laws. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4852,"word_count":225}
{"speech_id":1090101696,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Hispanic contractors reported that they are treated differently and experience more pressure to get the work done. Clearly. efforts to encourage minority participation in government -contracting are still necessary. The Department of Defenses 1207 program helps to counter discrimination without imposing an undue burden on whiteowned businesses. Small businesses owned by white contractors are eligible to receive the benefits of the program if they are socially and economically disadvantaged. I strongly support the reauthorization of the Department of Defenses 1207 program.","speaker_name":"MELVIN WATT","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1702,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090101697,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Unfortunately. in recent years almost every single highprofile defense acquisition program has experienced cost overruns. performance shortfalls. or testing problems. I believe that one reason for these problems is that Congress hasnt done everything it could to make sure that these important programs stay on track and that the companies building the systems deliver what they promise to deliver. At the end of the day. this is about getting our troops in the field what they need. when they need it. Making sure this happens is one of Congress primary Constitutional duties. I am pleased then that this year. the defense authorization bill puts measures in place that win improve Congress visibility of several major programs.that are facing challenges. including the Future Combat System. the Joint Tactical Radio System. and the new Presidential helicopter. In each case. both myself and my subcommittee chairman Congressman CURT WELDON. are committed to making sure that these programs deliver the capability our military needs at a price we can afford. I am also encouraged that for the first time. this bill requires the Department of Defense and the military services to report back to us on options for moving to a capital budgeting approach for defense acquisition. which I have advocated. Today. the DOD is one of the few government entities in the United States that continues to cashfinance the purchase of multimillibn dollar capital items such as ships and aircraft. As Ive pointed out many times during committee discussions. this cashfinancing and budgeting system is .leading the Department to make poor decisions on major capital acquisition programs. In effect. the way we budget for new equipment is determining what we end up buying. ","speaker_name":"NEIL ABERCROMBIE","chamber":"H","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6719,"word_count":280}
{"speech_id":1090101700,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There is no room for sweetheart deals or backdoor no bid contracts which is the prac-. tice of the Abraham Lincoln Airport Commission. which is composed of communities in Cook County Who seek to control the Will County site. This point has also been reinforced by the recent opinion by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. -In her opinion. issued last Friday evening. the process that the Abraham Lincoln Airport Commission used to pick two airport developers violated state procurement laws. I also realize that some of my constituents. especially near the airport site. do not support the construction of a suburban third airport. With this understood. should an airport be built. I think they would agree that those that have to live with the airport should control the operation of the airport. I would like to deeply thank Speaker HASTERT and Chairman HUNTER for their support of this amendment. I would also like to thank Will County Executive Larry Walsh. Will County Board Chairman Jim Moustis. Illinois State Senator Debbie Halvorson and all of the public officials in Will and Kankakee counties for their support.","speaker_name":"GERALD WELLER","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3415,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090101703,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And I have concerns about the provision related to the ability of detainees at Guantanamo Bay to seek judicial review of their situations. My understanding is that this could have the effect of allowing use of evidence obtained by coercive interrogations. At least one lawyer who represents detainees at Guantanamo has described the. combination of the McCain ameidment and this provision as one step forward and two steps back. I think we must carefully monitor implementation of this provision and be prepared to consider revisions in the near future. Further. Mr. Speaker. as a new Member of the Armed Services Committee. I want to express my appreciation to Chairman HUNTER and for working with me on a number of provisions in the report that are important to me andmy state of Colorado. In particular. I am pleased that the report includes favorable language. on the Pueblo Chemical Depot. a former chemical weapons site located in southeastern Colorado. ","speaker_name":"MARK UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7766,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090101705,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I will vote in favor of this bill. but I do not support all of the provisions in it. I am especially concerned about the McCain language related to treatment of detainees in the War on Terrorism and about the consequences of that language on our ability to prevent attacks against Americans. A recent editorial in the December 14. 2005 issue of USA Today expresses my views very well. and I include it at this point in the RECORD: [From USA Today. Dec. 15. 2005]","speaker_name":"MAC THORNBERRY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":475,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090101716,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unani-. mous consent that the Committee on Government Reform be discharged from further consideration of the bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 8135 Forest Lane in Dallas. Texas. as the \"Dr. Robert E. Price Post Office Building.\" and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.","speaker_name":"DARRELL ISSA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":49.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":345,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090101718,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee -on Government Reform be discharged from further consideration of the bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 3000 Homewood Avenue in Baltimore. Maryland. as the \"State Senator Verda Welcome and Dr. Henry Welcome Post Office Building.\" and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.","speaker_name":"DARRELL ISSA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":49.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":383,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090101720,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Government Reform be discharged from further consideration of the bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 6101 Liberty Road in Baltimore. Maryland. as the \"United States Representative Parren J. Mitchell Post Office.\" and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.","speaker_name":"DARRELL ISSA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":49.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":368,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090101741,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speakers table. the Senatebill to amend the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993 to p~bvide for the conduct of projects that protect forests. and for other purposes. and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.","speaker_name":"RICHARD POMBO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":267,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090101764,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Reserving the right to object. Mr. Speaker. for the last 8 hours. we have been dealing with a majority leadership that has stripped out of the appropriations process and out of the conference virtually every major understanding we have had on those bills. We have had the United States Senate ram down our throats an ANWR provision. And then after we were assured in conference that there would be no language with respect to drug company indemnification. 3 hours after the conference report we get 45 pages of language which Senator FRIST and the Speaker of the House demanded be included in the conference report after the conference was specifically told it would not be in there. Now. I want to know how do we have assurancet on any bill brought to this floor under Unanimous consent that that same kind of nonsense is not occurring in these instances? I have a responsibility as the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee to try to defend the integrity of this House. and I will use any opportunity I can to point out how the majority leadership in this House is destroying the principle that this is supposed to be the greatest deliberative body in the world. Hbw long is the bill? Because. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1310,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090101771,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The bills that we are doing by UC right now are bills that have been before the committee for a long time. The particular bill youare objecting to is a bill that the gentleman from Texas has been working on for years. It is something that means a lot to him. He was sitting right behind you just a ninute ago. and I am sure he would be happy to explain it to you. We are not adding anything new into the bill of the gentleman from Texas .","speaker_name":"RICHARD POMBO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":438,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090101773,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If the gentleman will yield. these bills have been worked out. They have been cleared by the gentleman from West Virginia and myself. Most of these bills are from your side of the aisle. and they are bills that have been worked on for a number of years. There is nothing in here that has changed. I understand your frustration. It happens every year when we get to the end of the session that stupid stuff happens.","speaker_name":"RICHARD POMBO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":414,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090101778,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on R6sources be discharged from further consideration of the bill to reauthorize and amend the Junior Duck Stamp Conservation and Design Program Act of 1994. and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.","speaker_name":"RICHARD POMBO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":267,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090101801,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Good people of good intention on both sides can make their arguments. but they should be made in the authorizing committee. not at 2:00 a.m. in the morning. not slipped into an appropriations bill when we are sitting in conference at the last minute just because the chairman can do it. He figures he can force Members to have to choose between supporting the troops and protecting the environment. That is a false choice. I 1do not believe that the policy is right. To save a penny a gallon. we are going to establish this precedent. we are going to drill in what is really the Serengeti of the Arctic meaning that our future generations will not be able to enjoy this wilderness in the same way because we have jeopardized the ecology of this pristine wilderness. Beyond the fact that the policy is wrong is thatthe piocess stinks. It is indefensible to be doing this at this time on this bill. forcing Members into this kind of a false choice. This policy of protecting our wildlife refuges has been upheld through four Republican Presidents. three Democratic Presidents. It should. It is a very important environmental priority. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2533,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090101811,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Oklahoma. who also grew up in an area where they knew about drilling for oil and gas. You know. it is important that this be part of the defense budget. It is a matter of national security. It would have been better to be part of the energy. It should have been. but by maneuvering that did not happen. But it is a matter of national security that we can provide oil and gas. Go back through history. Why did the Germans fail in the Battle of the Bulge? Because they ran out of gasoline. ","speaker_name":"LOUIE GOHMERT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1460,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090101841,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. but if we do not act to reform these programs now while we have time. the problem will only grow worse as the national debt Wvill only grow larger. Today. by passing the Deficit Reduction Act. those of us who believe in limited government are taking the first step to reverse a culture of spending. Today. we are standing behind our belief that bigger government is not better government. Today. we are makfng commonsense reforms that will result in less waste. fraud. and abuse. The Deficit Reduction Act is a small step to rein in Federal spending. but I think it is an important step. As we all return home for the Christmas season. let us give Americans some good news. Let us tell them Congress acted responsibly to control Federal spending. Let us. pass this rule and pass the Deficit Reduction Act.","speaker_name":"JIM RYUN","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1710,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090101857,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. I just want to say. if we look at what our budget has done in terms of Federal student aid. for student grants it has nearly doubled i4 10 years. For Federal loans. it has gone up about 30 or 40 percent.There are more tax benefits than ever before for education. For the Medicaid that we are getting accused of slashing to death. we are debating here a difference in growth of 7.7 percent versus 7.5 percent. The spending growth in SSI has been increasing at an annual rate of about 4.4 percent. and it has gone from $29 billion to $36 billion in the last 5 years. The speiding growth in foster care in 2000 was $5.7 billion. and today it is $6.8 billion. The spending growth in child support has gone from about $1 billion in 2000 to $4 billion today. We keep hearing about tax cuts for the rich. ","speaker_name":"JACK KINGSTON","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2936,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090101859,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We agree vith you on spending. It is just that you lavish your spending on the oil companies and the pharmaceutical companies and only ask of the least amongst us to provide for the sacrifice that this Nation and you are going to place upon their backs. Roosevelt had it right: You are frozen in the ice of your own indifference.","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1318,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090101877,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"calls this Scroogenomics. Scroogenomics. But. really. associating Scrooge with this Republican budget gives Scrooge a bad name. He saw the evil of his ways. Scrooge did. These Republicans are so blinded by the greed of their special interest friends that they are stuck in their cruel ways. That is why leaders of every religious donomination have prayed in this rotunda. have prayed in churches across America. and as recently as a couple of days ago were arrested. over 100 of them and their representatives on the. steps of the Cannon Building. to protest this budget. Religious denominations prayed and lobbied Congress that Congress would do the right thing. They said that they were drawing a moral line in the sand against this budget. Democrats joined them in drawing that line in the sand between a Republican government of the privileged few instead of the government of the many. which is the American way. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1824,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090101898,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. but because of other delays. we are just now getting to vote on this final package. This is a good bill. and I do not think there is any controversy associated with the defense part of this conference report. Mr. Speaker. I include the following tabular material for the RECORD.. J (Amounts In thousanlds) FY 2005 FT 2006 Conferonce Enacted Request Ous. S\/ Senate Conference v. Enacted TITLE I","speaker_name":"C. YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2216,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090101910,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Because of the billions of dollars in tax cuts contained in earlier budget reconciliation legislation. these budget cuts will not even pay down the deficit or cover the costs of rebuilding in the aftermath of Katrina. Instead. this bHl will make unconscionable cuts in critical domestic services. in a bill that is supposed to provide funding for our military in a time of war. These one percent cuts will have real impact: for example. with an additional one percent acrosstheboard cut. No Child Left Behind funding will be. cut by $1 billion this year. This bili cuts funding for the FBI by $57 million. at a time when we need to make additional investments in homeland security. Homeland security programs face a $300 million cut from this bill. In a winter when home heating costs are projected to soar by 44 percent for natural gas and 24 percent for home heating oil. this bill will cut vital LIHEAP funding by $21 million. The House also rejected an effort to add $2 billion in additional funds for LIHEAP. While 7.6 million Americans are out of work. this bill will bring the total cuts to adult and youth job training and help for dislocated workers to $529 million. affecting 2 million Americans who would lose critical adult and youth job training. as well as assistance for dislocated workers. This legislation also omits critical funds needed to meet Americas commitment to protect human rights. ","speaker_name":"BENJAMIN CARDIN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5282,"word_count":241}
{"speech_id":1090101923,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And our enemies in Iraq are \"thinking\" enemies. They are adaptable and would like nothing better than to see us \"cut and run.\" set arbitrary dates for withdrawal and then come back after our departure to reinstall a new version of Saddam Hussein or a regime even more oppressive. more fanatical. more horrendous AND more dangerous than the last. We should never forget that the soldiers we support through this appropriations bill have freed nearly 50 million people in Iraq and Afghanistan from killer regimes where protest and dissent were answered by killing fields and genocide. where women were denied basic freedoms. education. health care and the vote. Of course. the loss of any young soldier from our ranks is heartbreaking. So are. the deaths of innocent civilians killed by roadside bombs. But we are dealing with Saddam loyalists. jihadists. imported terrorists and domestic criminals who play by no rules and do not hesitate to bomb Iraqi weddings. funetals and gatherings of school children as a common tactic. Since we are engaged in a Global War on Terrorism. with Iraq and Afghanistan being countriesof conflict and violence. our soldiers and Marines need every possible advantage. This legislation provides our fighting men and women with the resources they need to be more deployable. more agile. more flexible. more interoperable. and more lethal in the execution of their missions. It provides for better training. better equipment. better weapon\u00a7. paychecks and support for their families at home. But this Conference Report also provides funding for new equipment. additional trucks. radios. electronic jammers. and uparmored Humvees. attack helicopters. warships and fighter aircraft. ","speaker_name":"RODNEY FRELINGHUYSEN","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6440,"word_count":268}
{"speech_id":1090101948,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You cut $50 billion. you say. in this bill. but you then cut $56 billion in revenue. You dont have to be much of a math expert to know that that is a $6 billion addition to the deficit. Ladies and gentlemen. America expects better of us. America expects honest leadership. America deserves honest policies. The absence of honest policies has led to us incurring $1.5 trillion of deficits in less than 60 months. We can do better. We ought to do better. We must do better. ","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2393,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090101958,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Secondly. $3.6 billion is scored as a revenue to offset these spending increases. $3.6 billion in PBGC premiums. Now why is that not allowable? In my good accounting book. if you book all of the liabilities that PBGC is faced with over the foreseeable future. there is no net balance in that account. even after you add this $3.6 billion. That money is entrusted. It is encumbered and it cannot fairly be said to be available in the general fund to offset other spending. In truth. it will be spent hnuch. much too soon anyway. and we will have to replenish it. Third. child support enforcement. You have moderated that. You have brought it down from $4.9 billion. which was absurd. to $1.5 billion. which still hurts. You either shift that expense to the States that are responsible for child support enforcement\" or parents who are looking to delinquent parents to pay their child support will have less assistance. and they will collect less in the way of child support. It is a false economy. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6562,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090101960,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Most of the billions of dollars of savings over 5 years is passed directly on to you. the constituents. This bill decimates health care funding for children. the elderly. and people with disabilities and making it even hard6r for families to afford nursing home care. December -18. 2005 The conference report includes provisions that will reduce spending on Medicare by a net total of $6.4 billion over 5 years. As founder and cochair. of the Congressional Childrens caucus. as aperson who understands the value of our Nations youth. and as a mother of two children. I really want to bring focus on the effect this bill will have on our Nations children. If you have children who are in. or who are considering going to college. I want you to listen to this: this Republican spending cut will place an added burden of $12.7 billion directly on our students over the next 5 years. This is accomplished through added fees on students. and increases of interest rates. .Students borrowing money for college will pay thousands of dollars more on their students loans! This is in the face of college costs up over 7 percent this past year alone. Further. this bill targets child support funds as a wasteful government program. cutting $1.5 billion from collections programs for deadbeat dads. It accomplishes this by ending the Federal match on child support spending that States finance with incentive payments. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4901,"word_count":237}
{"speech_id":1090101981,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"When they insist that we do that. without paying some attention to the needs of the lowestincome people in this society. they make a great mistake. They are making that mistake here. there is nothing that we can correct. Mr. Speaker. I withdraw my reservation of objection.","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1634,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090102001,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that Members may have until publication of the last edithorized for the First Session of the 109th Congress by the Joint Committee on Printing to revise and extend their remarks and to include brief. related extraneous material on any matter occurring before theadjournment of the First Session sine die.","speaker_name":"RICHARD POMBO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":341,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090102005,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the sun is now rising. and I am very grateful that the sun has risen on the history of this House. Just a few minutes ago. this House passed unanimously H.R. 4510. a bill that I authored and introduced with 232 cosponsors. Let me thank my colleagues for allowing a speaker of truth to be placed by way of a bust in the United States Capitol. Isabella Baumfree. now Sojourner Truth. was one of the earliest and most passionate of the female abolitionists and a fighter for womens rights and the rightto vote. Her cause was championed by Dr. C. DeLores Tucker. one of the most prominent civil rights leaders in the past 40 years and the first African Americai woman to serve as Secretary of State in the State of Pennsylvania. Allow me to thank Chairman NEY as well as Ranking Member MILLENDERMCDONALDfor their great leadership of the House Administration Committee and DIANE WATSON for her championing of the cause in working with me. the Speaker of the House. the leader of the House. and all of my colleagues who can go home thinking.that we are a Nation and a Capitol that respects the history of all Americans. Congratulations to Sojourner Truth in her death for now being placed in the United States Capitol.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1225,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090102035,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. yesterday I had the pleasure of hosting Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts here in the Nations Capitol in celebration with an event that looked at a. bill thatwill be included in the Department of Defense appropriations bill. and this bill is the Support our Troops Act of 2005. We had an event to celebrate. We had a little press conference. and with the hot lights actually one of the Scouts got a little faint. which many of us do. and it was remarkable to see the Scouts reaction. They knew exactly what to do and how to handle it as we stood before those cameras. The event yesterday highlighted the tremendous contributions of Scouting. a much beloved tradition in this country under congressional charter in 1910 and since that point in time has served over 110 million Americans as participants in Scouting. Our efforts here in the Senate have been to protect that tradition for generations to come. I have w6rked very closely with Roy Williams. the chief Scout executive for the Boy Scouts of America. and John Cushman. the national president of the Boy Scouts of America. in fashioning this legislation. Both were there at that event yesterday. as well as Troop 1100 from Burke. VA. I have worked closely with Roy and John to craft what is commonsense legislatiofi. the Support our Troops Act of 2005. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4768,"word_count":230}
{"speech_id":1090102056,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. let me say this. Clearly what is being attempted by the distinguished Senator from Alaska is wrong. As the Senator will recall. we had another Parliamentarian who was fired over a niatter similar to this. This is absolutely wrong what is being attempted here. This is the Defense appropriations bill. and to wave the flag of national defense. even at the very best. if ANWR goes forward. it will be 10 years before any oil is produced. Oil companies made. as I indicated last night. $100 billion last year. This is a speck of oil if. in fact. it goes forward. I know how strongly the Senator from Alaska feels about it. Why not do it the right way? Even though I voted against this being inserted in the reconciliation. which I think was wrong. it was done according to the rules. and the Senator from Alaska and what he wanted prevailed. To do it this way is absolutely wrong. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2445,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090102098,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to express great concern about the process. about what has been happening as it relates to the Defense appropriations bill. I have supported every appropriations bill for our troops since coming here to the Senate. and before in the House. I am deeply concerned about what I see in terms of abuse of the process. abuse of power involved inthis debate on a bill that is critical for our troops. a bill that without the controversial provisions I believe would have overwhelming. positive. if not unanimous. support from this Chamber. I want to start by reading a portion of a letter from five distinguished retired generals from the Marines. the Army. and the Navy. that speaks to this in a way that I think we should all be listening t6. This is a letter to our leaders in the Senate: We are very concerned that the FY2006 Defens Appropriations Bill may be further delayed by attaching a controversial nondefense legislative provision to the defense appropriations conference report. We know that you share our overarching concern for the welfare and needs of our troops. With 160.000 troops fighting in Iraq. another 18.000 in Afghanistan. and tens of thousands more around the world defending thiscountry. Congress must finish its work and provide them theresources they need to do their job. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1767,"word_count":223}
{"speech_id":1090102136,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I will explain why I ask the question. It was reported to me that in the remarks the distinguished Senator made. he said. \"Lets be clear about who is killing the PATRIOT Act.\" I just wanted it to be clear that the action taken to prevent us from getting a vote on the PATRIOT Act was an action. a filibuster. or not invoking cloture. and that action has prevented us from completing action on the PATRIOT Act.. which means we were not able to take a final vote on it and therefore to reauthorize it.","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":499,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090102141,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Reclaiming my time. the example given by my friend. the distinguished Senator from New Hampshire. about killing a parent and claiming to be an orphan. and my friend from Arizona talking about our having killed the PATRIOT Actlook. everyone knows Senate procedure. The conference report was defeated. The ability to extend the conference report was made minutes after that. sayingin fact. it is no secret. I told the majority leader on the morning before that vote: You dont have enough votes to invoke cloture. Why doit you extend it for 3 months? That wasnt done then. We offered to do that immediately after cloture was defeated. We offered it again today. Not only did we offer to extend it for 3 months. we offered to take up the bill that passed the Judiciary Committee and the Senate unanimously and pass it in the Senate unanimously. I think the appropriate thing to do would be to have the 3month extension. Obviously. this business doesnt mean as much to the President as he said to the American public in his statement because it is up to him.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1053,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090102155,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It seems to me that were there to be additional concessions made. we would no longer have a PATRIOT Act that could easily be used by. our law enforcement and intelligence people to protect us. It would make it more and more difficult. As a result. you do have to draw the line somewhere and say: Look. if you try to change this any more. it is not going to protect the American people. in fact. it is .going to prevent law enforcement and intelligence people from doing their job of protecting the American people. There does come a point in time when you have to say this is it. Either you are going to be for extending this or not. and that is the position we were. in last week when the minoritya majority favored moving forward. I think it was 52. 53 votes. A minority said no. but that minority under our rules had the ability to prevent us from moving forwar-. I will be happy to yield for a question.","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":907,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090102160,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let me answer the question this way: Since it is not at all clear. given the holidays and the fact the Senate is only in session at the very end of January. that we could resolve heretofore unresolvable issues in .90 days. how about a 1year extension? That way. we would make sure the PATRIOT Act did not expire. we would have it in force. and whatever time it took for. us to try to reach agreement. there would at least not be uncertainty. we would know what the law was. If we were able to reach agreement in the meantime. then. of course. we could pass the bill and whatever changes that would be made were made. Let me answer the question that way and perhaps not pose a specific unanimous consent request but see what the response of the Senator from Illinois would be were I to do that.","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":808,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090102175,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It certainly is in my State of Illinois and I suspect nationwide. It is interesting to me. the passions that many of our colleagues bring.. to the fight of protecting a persons moneywhich is an important part of our jobbut when it comes to protecting our freedoms. I dont see the same level of passionate commitment. I hope we will see that change during the course of this debate. But I think Americans value their freedoms very much. I always recall. as a practicing attorney. how many people would be dismissive of criminal procedures to protect defendants until it was their teenage son or daughter who was arrested and then they came to their attorney and said. What can we do? What does the law provide to protect us? I think we should all be sensitive to that fact. Mr. President. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":806,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090102264,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We owe China almost $250 billion. And my favorite is the Caribbean Banking Centers. We owe them over $100 billion. One would think. in the midst of all this. Congress would want to actually do something to reduce the deficit.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2201,"word_count":40}
{"speech_id":1090102281,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In light of what we previously looked at as to how this debt is being financed from outside the country. in effect what is happening is that in order to give tax cuts to very wealthy people. we are borrowing from Japan. China. Korea.. and the Caribbean mofiey centers. and so forth and so on. That is where we are finding the money to fund this debt that is being created and run up in order to give tax cuts to wealthy people. is it not?","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":438,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090102282,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I was speaking to people in my State. and one person in my audience said: You know. the President says that it is the peoples money and we ought to give it back to the people. Well. that is absolutely true. This person in the audience said: But it is turning out that it is the Chinese peoples money. the Japanese peoples money. That is whose money we are giving back. We are having to borrow from them to give it back. This is a bizarre situation that we are in. but that is what is happening. Some say. well. if you borrow the money. somehow it will pay off. Lets make sure that Chairman Greenspan doesnt believe that. He said this before the Joint Economic Committee: We should not be cutting taxes by borrowing. We are borrowing in huge amounts. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2193,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090102288,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The first year it is only $5 billion of savings in a $2.5 trillion budget. That is one fivehundredth of the budget. and then they cut the taxes. especially for the wealthiest among us. much more. -So. when you put the two together. they have increased the deficit. not reduced it. they have increased the debt. not reduced it at the very time the debt is exploding before the baby boomers even retire. which will put even more pressure on our budget. This is a budget that makes no sense. It makes no sense. I have never seen this town more disconnected from reality than we are with this budget. This bill hurts companies. farmers. and workers. repeals the antidumping","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1579,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090102302,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I reserve the right to object for another 30 seconds. On the Byrd antidumping proposal. the Senator is correct that the repeal is not immediate but the repeal is still in the bill. It is postponed by 2 years. So I say on these issues we have a difference of position. I think this goes in the wrong direction. I think it expresses the wrong priorities for the country. Most seriously to me the whole reconciliation package increases the deficit and increases the debt. We ought to be doing precisely the opposite.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":513,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090102309,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise in tribute to COL Norm Vaughan who accompanied ADM Richard Byrd to Antarctica. He celebrates his 100th birthday today. The Anchorage Daily News has printed an article by Carol Phillips talking about Vaughan as a great man and good friend. I ask unanimous consent to print the article in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":320,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090102310,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"At the same time. the spring runoff will come about one month earlier in the year.\" (San Francisco Chronicle. November 17. 2005Global warming study forecasts more water shortages: Climate change already affecting Sierra snowpack.) The National Weather Service ominously reported that \"in a year of record highs across northern Nevada. conditions are on pace for this October (2005) to be the hottest on record. said Gary Barbato of the National Weather Service. During 2003. average .temperatures for the months of January. June and July were all the hottest since records began in 1888. with September 2003 and September 2001 tied for the warmest average.\" (Reno Gazette.Journal. October 21. 2003Climate experts study global warmings impact on water supplies.) Nevada has been blessed with a rich natural heritage. \"Nevada is home to an incredible diversity of native wildlife species. including 299 birds. 123 mammals. 48 fish. 52 reptiles and 13 amphibians. Rising temperatures in the state though will likely change the makeup of entire ecosystems. forcing wildlife to shift their ranges or adapt. Loss of wildlife and habitat could mean a loss of tourism dollars. In 2001 alone. more than 657.000 people spent more than $680 million on hunting. fishing and wildlife viewing in Nevada. which in -turn created more than 9.400 jobs in the state.\" (ESPN Outdoors. March 15. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10995,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090102317,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"A2H has helped shed the light on the severity of the situation that still exists for thousands of families throughout the gulf coast region. I hope that my colleagues in both the Senate and House will take a close look at these findings to reinforce the need for congressional support for our local grassroots antihunger organizations and for continued support of our vital Federal food assistance programs like Food Stamps. WIC. School Breakfast and Lunch. and Child and Adult Care Food Program. All of these important programs and activities are essential ingredients in our Nations battle to end hunger in America. whether it comes from natural disasters or the everyday struggles of lowincome Americans to make ends meet. Thank you to Americas Second Harvest and to the many antihunger volunteers and advocates throughout Arkansas and across our Nation who are making a difference. ANWR","speaker_name":"BLANCHE LINCOLN","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5387,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090102318,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to register. in the strongest possible terms. my objection to the inclusion of provisions authorizing oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National S14028. co] Wildlife Reserve in the Department of Defense Appropriations cofiference report. I find it outrageousand unacceptablethat after failing in their. budget reconciliation ploy to open the Arctic wilderness to oil drilling. drilling proponents would now try to tamper with the Defense spending bill it a time when we have troops in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is bad policy and dragging this controversy into the Senates conscientious efforts to ensure that our military effort is adequately funded at a time of war does not do right by our fighting men and women. It is equally outrageous that drilling proponents are attempting to exploit the Katrinarelief package included in the bill. Congress has an obligation to care for the victims of that devastating natural disaster and our fellow citizens deserve better than to have congressional efforts to provide for their needs undercut by such a desperate procedural scheme.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1153,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090102319,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Put differently. when the","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1725,"word_count":4}
{"speech_id":1090102335,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This legislation is strong medicine. and I do not prescribe it lightly. But the potential devastation that an attack on a chemical facility could cause. the sheer number of these facilities and the current widespread lack of security. as well as the clearly stated intent of terrorists to cause maximum harm to the American people and to our economy make these measures necessary. The Honeland Security Committee has invested substantial effort in examining this threat and in deciding how best to respond to it. Our investigation included four hearings on this topic earlier this year. From the- horrifying chemical attacks of the First World War. and the tragic accident at Bhopal. India. in 1984. to the numerous and more recent accidental releases of hazardous chemicals in this country. we were reminded by expert after expert of the potential for useful productive chemicals to kill. if released accidentally or intentionally. We also know that alQaida has a keen interest in the American chemical industry. Indeed. at our first hearing. Steven Flynn of the Council on Foreign Relations testified that the chemical industry is \"at the top of the list\" of alQaida and other -terrorist groups. The chemical industry. said - Commander Flynn. absolutely screams at you as essentially a weapon of mass destruction. ","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":13127,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090102341,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Tomorrow. the Senate will resume consideration of the deficit reduction bill. Today we filed cloture on the Defense appropriations conference report and the Defense authorization conference report. Senators should expect a vote on the DOD appropriations cloture motion very early in the day on Wednesday. Votes can be expected on Tuesday and for the rest of the week as we finish the deficit reduction conference. report. the Defense appropriations conference report. the Defense authorization conference report. the LaborHHS conference report. and any other necessary business before we finish for the holidays.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":612,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090102387,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"One of the things that could be done to make sure everyone is here. when we move to the Defense appropriations bill we could have that cloture and point of order. I am thinking at this time. even though the leader has filed cloture on the Defense authorization. I dont think we would have to have cloture on that. We could have final passage. One of the things the leader should think about is maybe doing them all at once. We could start fairly early in the morning and try to get them all done. If that were the case. I assume we could speed through them fairly quickly tomorrow if things. turned out the way we think.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":620,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090102391,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The other thing I mention is. in a meeting I had this morning. I think it is fairly clear it will not be necessary. even though we do not like the conference report on HHS. I dont think there will be a necessity for cloture on that. The leader should anticipate having a straight upordown vote on that at some time.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":315,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090102395,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I dont see any reason why we cant finish all our voting tomorrow. We all know what the issues are. We all know what the votes are. I dont see any reason to delay. We ought to vote. There are so many families here. so many spouses. so many children. families. want to get together. This is. after all. Christmas. I dont know why in the world we dont schedule all of our votes by tomorrow so at the very least by tomorrow we can start to head home with our loved ones. Cant the leader work that out?","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":497,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090102422,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And they have a title of \"deficit reduction\"? No. That is not going to pass any test. It is not deficit reduction we are talking about in this budget plan we are now in the final steps of considering. Mr. President. I notice Senator CHAMBLISS is on the floor. He is supposed to be having this time. I will alert colleaguesis Senator CHAMBLISS prepared to proceed?","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1946,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090102443,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I didnt insist on staying at this loan rate. I think that came from the other side of the aisle. Did it not? I believe it did. I think the Senator from Massachusetts is the person who basically has locked us into this fixed rate when it should be a variable rate. The variable rate would save our students a lot more money. Unfortunately. my idea of going to the variable rate was rejected in committee by. I believe. the Senator from Massachusetts. who wanted to stay at the fixed rate. That costs how many billions? Over $5 billion. according to my staff. Now. that- is a backoftheenvelope guess. but that is probably in the ballpark. As to rates. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1658,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090102452,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Reserving the right to 3 months or something more than 3 object. is it the Senators position that months. That is the point that I think if the unanimous consent request was is salient. I would hope my colleague amended to be a 1year extension. the would support 3 months. as his colSenator would support that unanimous league from New Hampshirehe and consent request? his colleague from New Hampshire gen-","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":406,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090102509,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I suppose we can stay here all day and debate the PATRIOT Act. but actually this is a deficit reduction act and I hope we will get back to it. At this point. do you have any speakers?","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1596,"word_count":38}
{"speech_id":1090102526,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He says this in the final paragraph: Having visited the Arctic on nine occasions over the past 13 years (including a -recent camping trip to Alaskas North Slope). I dont think I can be accused of being insensitive to the charms of the Arctic qua Arctic. I just dont see any threat to the values I cherish. He changed his mind. He said. do your best to get it drilled. I ask unanimous consent to have his letter printed in the RECORD at the conclusion of my remarks.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2995,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090102536,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Thank you. Mr. President. Mr. President. Iwish to acknowledge the comments of my colleague and my friend. the senior Senator from Alaska. giving us some of the historical.perspective about some of the process we have seen in the Senate. As we take up the issue of the Defense appropriations bill and as it contains within- it the issue of energy exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. it is fair to say there has been a hue and cry of \"This cant be done. We cant have this included in it.\" and almost a sense of outrage that such a controversial issue would be inserted in a bill that truly our troops. our national security depends on. We know this is not a new issue in the Senate. This is not a new issue in the Congress. ","speaker_name":"LISA MURKOWSKI","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11461,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090102563,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"No. I only have a minute and a half. Several hundred companies have benefited. not just a few. If one wants to run Americas trade policy exclusively through the sieve of the World Trade Organization. I will say get a big armchair. sit back. have a good time. and say: Whatever you want. WTO. That is not my belief. My belief is we ought to invest in this countrys strength. When American companies are victimized by unfair trade. we ought to in my judgment have the good sense. as we have in this legislation we call the Byrd law. to use the tariff to recompense them.","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":568,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090102570,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it is estimated that -the fraud in New York State is $14 billion a year in Medicaid alone. of which the Federal Government pays twothirds. In 5 years. solving the Medicaid fraud in New York would pay for every savings we have claimed in this whole bill for the next 5 years. Examples: St. Barnabas Health Care System agreed to settle $3.9 million in claims it overcharged Medicare. the Premium Health Care Group. $1.6 million for fraudulent woundcare claims. Michael Clemens.. FBI special agent-$1 billion in Medicare fraud in south Floridaalone. If you add up what is going on in Medicare and Medicaid. $37.5 billion a year at a minimum is fraud and yet we are trying to save a measly twotenths of 1 percent in terms of slowing the growth. We havent gone far enough. For somebody to reject this bill on the fact that we might not meet our obligations on Medicare and Medicaidthe obligation isnt -being met in terms of the oversight of these programs. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7013,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090102573,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I applaud the Senator from Oklahoma for not only his statement but also for his continued commitment to fiscal discipline here and in trying to identify much of the wasteful and unnecessary spending. I wonder if the Senator from Oklahoma has had a chance to look at the Defense appropriations bill we are going to consider tomorrow and see some examples of the interesting earmarks out of a conference report. Is the Senator aware of $500.000 to teach science to grade school students in Pennsylvania or $3.85 million for the Intrepid SeaAirSpace Foundation or $4.4 million for a Technology Center in Missouri .or $1 million to a Civil War Center in Richmond. VA. or $850.0.00 for an education center and public park in Des Moines. Iowa. or $2 million for a public park in San Francisco or $500.000 for the Arctic Winter Games. an international athletic competition held this year in Alaska? Museums are popular this year. including $1.5 million for an aviation museum in Seattle. $1.35 million for an aviation museum in Hawaii. $1 million for a museum\"in Pennsylvania. $3 million for a museum in Fort Belvoir. There are more. I say to my friend from Oklahoma. and we are at war. I wonder how many MREs. flak vests. or bullets we could buy with all this money. I appreciate the Senators support for this budgetary measure. but how do we tell people we are going to cut food stamps and reduce eligibility for welfare while we are taking the money that is for defense. in the tens of millions of dollars on this Defense appropriations bill. put in a conference report that none of us ever saw or read until right now. I ask the Senator from Oklahoma.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1648,"word_count":290}
{"speech_id":1090102579,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Here we are again. I say to my colleague from Oklahoma. when everybody wants to get out of town examining bils that have all kinds of things in them that we never saw or heard of. In the Statement of Managers. there is $1.6 million for the Lewis and Clark bicentennial activities. The list goes on. There is $7 million for the Alaska Land Mobile Radio. I ask my friend from Oklahoma. dont you think the American people ara fed up with this kind of stuff? And dont you think it is time a group of us. who have been meeting and talking about eliminating some of these practices. .get together and make things tough on the floor of this Senate next year to reign in this outofcontrol. disgraceful. obscene conduct that goes on on these appropriation bills?","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":753,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090102591,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I have brought it up. I say to my friend from New Hampshire. because you cannot take away with one hand and give with the other. What we are doing in this very vital Defense appropriations bill. again. is larded down with unnecessary. unwanted. unessential. disgraceful spending that I find unacceptable. As the Senator from Oklahoma said. we are going to start doing something about it. and the sooner the better. I thank my friend from Colorado.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":462,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090102593,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I believe that the political games surrounding the debate over the last several weeks are not worthy of this body. not worthy of America. Instead of a reasonable debate between patriots on how best to reauthorize the PATRIOT Act. We get political threats and our patriotism is questioned. The President of the United States says that Senators wanting to protect the Constitution are acting irresponsibly. These assertions. in my view. are wrong. The Constitution still matters today. Our liberties still matter. If someone does not believe these things. I believe they are wrong. There can be no greater patriot than the Republicans and Democrats who come together to fight for upholding principles of our Constitution and giving law enforcement the tools they need to protect our homeland. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5592,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090102600,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let me say. reserving the right to object. we had made a commitment to other Senators in terms of an order here. The next Senator to be recognized is Senator BYRD on our side. I am informed that he is on his way here. I would be constrained to object. I would be happy to work with the leader on that side to work out an order.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":342,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090102622,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Lets try to get our arms around a little bit of a number. I always like to talk about $1 trillion with high school kids so they can understand it. I always ask them: Do you think a million dollars is a lot of money? And of course a lot. of us think a million dollars is a lot of money. I ask them: If you spent a million dollars a day. do you think you would be spending a lot of money? And the unanimous answer of high school kids is: Of course that is a lot of money. I tell them that to get to $1 trillion. not $13.76 trillion but just $1 trillion. you would have to start. spending a million dollars a day. start at the time Jesus was born. go until today and you still Would not be at $1 trillion. What we are trying to do is to shave and slow the rate of growth of spending a tiny bit. It is almost insignificant. But what is significant in the bill is that we are starting to take on entitlement spending. Entitlement spending now is twothirds of the Federal budget. and it is slated to grow into an everincreasing share of the Federal budget in the future. We all know that. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3560,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090102624,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. for the information of.my colleagues. Senator WYDEN is next. We have been told he is on his way. We hope he will appear shortly. Then we will have Senator GRASSLEY at approximately 4 oclock. He will go for 20 or 30 minutes. or something like that. At this point. maybe it is an appropriate time to try to sum up some of the arguments we have tried to make with respect to this budget. The matter before us reduces spending by $40 billion over a 5year period. During that period. we will be spending $14.3 trillion. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1111,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090102628,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the distinguished Senator from New Hampshire is correct in a technical sense. But I am going to discuss something that will have. in my view. great ramifications for the Federal budget generally. and I am going to outline that briefly this afternoon. We have heard a lot during the past few days about the rights of Alaskans as an argument to justify drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. But yesterday. the Alaska Gasline Port Authority. an Alaska statechartered agency. charged two of the companies that have drilling rights in the Arctic Refuge with conspiring to manipulate the State of Alaskas energy market. The Alaska Gasline lawsuit charges that ExxonMobil and BP withheld supplies of natural gas to gain market power over supply. This is a very significant development with. in my view. great implications for Arctic oil drilling. If these allegations are correct--that ExxonMobil and BP withheld Alaskan gas supplies from the market--what would stop these companies from withholding oil from Arctic drilling from the market? If Alaskan oil supplies are withheld from the market. that does nothing to reduce our Nations dependence on foreign oil. It also produces no revenue to the Federal Treasury that supporters of Arctic oil drilling claim fund hurricane relief and other programs. These serious charges about oil company manipulation of Alaskas energy supplies are not made by some leftwing group but by an agency chartered by the State of Alaska. ","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1836,"word_count":241}
{"speech_id":1090102751,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But most important. this provides $50 billion to support our troops in the war on terror. We have heard remarks recently on the floor about what our troops want. I can tell you one thing our troops want is to have the bullets. the supplies. the reinforcements. and the assistance they need to conduct the war. Our troops. by and large. are very enthusiastic about continuing to finish the job. What bothers them is to hear people in this body and in the media say that the President has failed and we ought to impeach him. Their Commander in Chief. they believe. has done the right thing in helping us clean out the murderous tyrant Saddam Hussein and carry the war on terror to the hotbed of terrorism -that was and would be Iraq if we left. They are concerned that if we try to pull out the troops before they finish the job. it is going to be a disaster. I am going to talk more about that later on. but the people who claim to be supporting the troops should not be filibustering the Defense appropriations bill. Speaking of the related subject. let me turn now to electronic surveillance of suspected terrorists conversations with alQaida abroad. That is a vitally important area that has been substantially mischaracterized by recent remarks on the floor. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4198,"word_count":225}
{"speech_id":1090102772,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We can see from the editorials there are many people paying attention to what is in this Department of Defense appropriations bill. I should say. because my colleagues all have a copy of the legislation on their desk but they may not have dug deep into these many pages to see. that they should pay special attention to language starting on page 434 about a liability provision exempting drug manufacturers. It was alarming enough to me to have the ANWR language. but certainly to :have additional language that is thrown into this bill as these various editorials have said. at a time without the review and the complexity of the legislation being discussed is wrong. I hope my colleagues tomorrow will think about their votes on this process and to say that the Defense bill and appropriations should be about the troops. It should be about protecting our country. It is about giving them resources. It should not be about backdoor attempts or legislative blackmail to say force Members to vote for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or this drug liability provision. I hope my colleagues will read* this legislation carefully. I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1177,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090102795,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to raise an issue of clarification regarding section 5107. Revisions to Payments for Therapy Services. It is my understanding that this provision retains the therapy limitation of $1.740 for outpatient physical therapy and speechlanguage pathology and $1.740 for outpatient occupation therapy but provides an exception process for services that are needed by a beneficiary over this amount. This exception process is expressly to permit services above the cap that are medically necessary. Mr. President. I ask the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee whether this interpretation is correct.","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":623,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090102826,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I do want to thank several of my colleagues for their hard work on this bill. including Senators LEAHY. SPECTER. BIDEN. HATCH. and KENNEDY. The original Violence Against Women Act. VAWA. created a national strategy for dealing with domestic violence. And that strategy has been very successful. VAWA brought together victims advocates. social service providers. and law enforcement professionals to meet the immediate challenges of domestic violence. This bill reauthorizes and strengthens those core programs. This bill also creates new programs that represent important steps forward in areas such as health care. housing and officerinvolved abuse. ","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9360,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090102831,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"America has been the shining city on a hillan ally to all men and womenon every continent. in every countrywho yearn to breathe free. In addition to Iraq. we have extended our hand of friendship to the people of Pakistan. A little more than 2 months ago. a devastating earthquake ripped through northern Pakistan. The toll from this tragedy is almost impossible to comprehend: 79.000 men and women lost their lives. an additional 72.000 were injured. and a total of 2.9 million people are now homeless. Last month. my wife Susan cochaired a charity event near our home in Virginia to raise money for the earthquake victims. She then joined me .when I traveled to Pakistan to visit some of the victims. and the 1.200 U.S. troops who are now stationed in Pakistan to assist in the recovery. We presented a check to the Citizens Foundations charity. which will use the money to rebuild the Bagh School for Girls and other schools. When we visited a Pakistani classroom for children needing medical treatment. we saw children on the floor. singing in English. learning new words. and painting artwork as well. On the wall behind the teacher was a drawing of a green Chinook helicopter and on the side of the helicopter was a big painted smile across the length of the helicopter. That is the way these young people look at the United States. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3968,"word_count":234}
{"speech_id":1090102836,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mineta serve on the Maritime Transportation System National Advisory Council. His principal efforts oi that panel involve coastwise shipping. intermodal freight transportation. and waterway issues. Mr. Beas experience in Washington dates back to 1970. when he arrived to work on the staff of the late Congressman Edward J: Pattenfrom New Jersey. He was responsible for Federal budget. appropriations. energy. environment. transportation and other issue areas. In 1978. Mr. Bea went to work as a Washington representative for New Jersey Governor Brendan T. Byrne on environmental and energy concerns. which were a focus of President Carters administration at the time. I am very grateful for Mr. ","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2920,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090102837,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. right after Katrina hit the financial services industry responded with compassion to their customers in Louisiana. Every bank. credit union. mortgage broker. and other mortgage holders instituted a 90 day forbearance period during which they did not collect mortgage payments. They deserve to be commended for this policy. They gave peace of mind to the thousands of families who lost their homes to Katrina and Rita. or whose homes were damaged by the storms. Many of these forbearance periods have now ended. most effective December 1st. I have heard from -homeowners throughout the state who are now being told by their lenders that in addition to making Decembers mortgage payment. they now also have to come up with a lump sum payment for the payments they missed. A lot of these people were under the impression that their loans would be restructured to add the three months on to the end of the loan term. Instead. they are getting a bill for thousands of dollars. Can you imagine what it must be like for a person in New Orleans or St. ","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3058,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090102838,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to introduce a billthe \"STEP UP Act\"-to establish grants for summer school enrichment programs to increase the academic skills of students in need. According to the 2005 Nations Report Card of Educational Progress. the gap in reading scores between fourth grade children in poverty and their more affluent peers did not decrease between 1998 and 2005. Fewer than half of the fourth graders eligible for free or reduced priced lunch are able to read at even the basic levela level attained by more than threequarters of wealthier students. This data confirms that too many of our children are not attaining skills at levels that will lead to success. and too often. it is the children most in need who are left behind by the educational system. Teachers understand that students -return. to school in the fall at levels below their performance of the previous spring. Educators know this as summer learning loss. Research has shown that students. on average. lose more than one month of reading skills and two months of math skills over the summer. That is the average. ","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1713,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090102841,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"However. most importantly. the Agreement removes the liability for collection errors from the retailer and places it with the State. This historic Agreement was approved by 34 States and the District of Columbia on The States have made tremendous progress in changing their State tax laws to become. compliant with the Agreement. Already. 19 States have enacted legislation to change their tax laws and implement the requirements of the Agreement. On October 3. 2005. the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement became effective. This bill requires States to implement and maintain these simplification measures before they can require any seller to collect and remit sales tax. The Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement includes dramatic simplification in almost every aspect of sales.and use tax collection and administration. especially for the sellers who .sell their products in more than one State. Areas of simplification include exemption processing. uniform definitions. State level administration of local taxes. a reduced number of sales tax rates. determining the appropriate tax rate. and reduced audit burdens for sellers using the Statecertified technology. While the States have made great progress. the Quill decision held that allowing States to require collection is an issue that. \"Congress may be better qualified to resolve. and one that it has the ultimate power to resolve.\" The States have acted. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8017,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090102869,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in a few moments we will begin the final 10 minutes of debate before proceeding to the final votes with respect to the deficit reduction conference report. Two points of order are possible under the agreement and we will vote on the respective motions to waive. Senators. therefore. can expect us to begin voting in 15 to 20 minutes. Following those two votesit may be one vote but one or two voteson the motions to waive. we will proceed to a vote on final passage on the deficit reduction measure. After that vote. we will have 1 hour before the cloture vote on the Defense appropriations conference report. Additional votes will occur following that vote. I hope we are able to get cloture on the Defense bill and wrap up the remaining business during todays session. As we mentioned yesterday. it is likely to be a long session. It could be short. but it could be a long session over the course of the morning and early afternoon with a number of votes. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1178,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090102871,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I was in my office early this morning. and Gary Myrick. who works for me. came in and said. Is there anything you need? I said yes. patience. I mentioned that to the distinguished Republican leader a few minutes ago. I think everyone needs that today. It is going to be a difficult day. I hope we will all have patience and understanding. recognizing that these are tense timesnot only because of the legislation we are dealing with but also the holidays. We are all anxious to get back to our families. but we have work to do. I hope we all have patience.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":571,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090102892,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I now raise these three points of order: One. striking the Medicaid medical liability provision. which allows hospitals to deny treatment to lowincome individuals who are unable to pay. Not only is the majority raising copayments on lowincome Medicaid beneficiaries. but they are shielding hospitals from medical liability if they refuse to treat those lowincome people who are unable to pay. That is wrong. Two. striking the foster care provision that would prohibit grandparents from receiving foster care payments. The conference report includes a provision to overturn a Ninth Circuit Court case that allowed grandparents with limited incomes to receive foster care payments when parenting vulnerable children. That is as mean spirited as it is illconceived. We know that placing foster kids with their grandparents puts them in the most stable and healthy environment. Prohibiting support for grandparents who take in foster children is wrong. Three. I am also raising points of order against reports focusing on policy matters that do not belong in a reconciliation bill. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2183,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090102897,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the Senator from North Dakota has been cooperative and very fair. as he always has been when proceeding on these bills. He is a true professional. I know the Chair has been advised as to what the four points of order are. I have a parliamentary inquiry: Does the Chair deem the foster care point of order to be well taken if that question is put to the Chair?","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":374,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090102946,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. across the country. more than 6 million children live with relatives. and of those. 4.5 million live with grandparents. A majority of relatives providing care for children are not part of the child welfare system. In fact. only a quarter of all relatives caring for a child receive either a foster care payment or another source of payment. Most relatives do not receive any Federal financial support. and sadly. nearly 20 percent of all grandparents raising their grandchildren live in poverty. Unfortunately. the conference agreement on the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 severely cuts Federal assistance to foster care funding and makes it significantly harder for relatives to provide care for a child. I believe this is a step in the wrong direction. and I oppose these cuts. Kinship care is an important option for permanency for children in the child welfare system and often appropriate when adoption is not possible. Subsidized guardianship makes it possible for a relative to step in and care for a child. In my State of New Mexico. subsidized guardianship is available. and nearly 10 percent of children live with nonparent relatives. ","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1903,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090102956,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. for most Americans. the holiday season is a time for giving. But for the Congress. it seems. the holiday season is also a time for taking. at least judging by the budget reconciliation legislation before this body. Americans around the country. are concerned about their economic security. Whether they work in a factory or behind a desk. they are feeling increasingly vulnerable to the volatilities of the global economy. While American families are concerned about economic security. this budget reconciliation legislation would cut the safety net that protects them. The burden would fall most heavily on working Americans. in particular. on lowincome parents and children. the elderly. and people with disabilities. Moreover. while supporters of this bill cite fiscal discipline as the rationale for making harmful cuts. when this bill is considered in combination with its companion tax reconciliation legislation. the total package would increase the deficit rather than reduce it. For these reasons I cannot support this funding cut reconciliation bill. I have been a strong proponent of fiscal responsibility throughout my service in this body. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9318,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090102957,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"To do this. we must realize that innovation starts with a welleducated population. Unfortunately. this bill makes the biggest cuts to student loan programs in history. For the fourth year in a row. the maximum Pell grant will remain the same. And while Pell grants stagnate. interest rates for student loans will increase. Republicans have also made it more difficult for students to consolidate their loans so that they will end up paying more for college. So not only is there less student aid available but this bill actually makes it tougher to qualify for needbased aid so that it will only go to a small group of students. decreasing the number of lowincome people who are eligible to receive aid. It also gives private lenders and banks an unfair advantage over more cost efficient Federal loan programs. which increases costs for taxpayers. These cuts couldnt come at a worse time. College tuition is on the rise and financial aid isnt keeping up. Pell grants cover only 40 percent of average costs at a 4year public college. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA MIKULSKI","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6684,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090102974,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. if this Senate is going to operate and function. it has to follow its own rules. It is very obvious that including drilling in a wildlife refuge in a military bill is not following our own rules. It is no wonder the people in the country are cynical. It is wrong to do this. Members should stand on line. do it the right way. If Members want a bill passed. do it the right way. This is not a Senate where one person can dictate how things get done. I hope the Senate would understand when you are discussing a wildlife refuge. which was first set aside by President Eisenhower. that we would do better than putting it into a military bill that is a mustpass piece of legislation. I am very pleased that Senator STEVENS said if he does not get his way on this. and the Senate decides not to include it here. that we will be able to strip that provision and get those funds where they need to go. to our troops. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1057,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090102988,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. if the Senator from Washington will yield. I think what we would like is maybe to have some backandforth debate here. I am wondering if there is someone on the majority side who wishes to speak at this time and can use their time. There is somebody here who could yield that time. I am sure.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":306,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090103031,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I know we might -not have designed this bill this way in a different time or a different set of circumstances. I do not begrudge anybody for what they have done. but I cannot let this day go without pleading that we get this done and get it done now. I am scheduled to go home tonight to make a speech in the morning to the Biloxi. MS. Chamber of Commerce. an area that was devastated by this hurricane. I have done this for 32 years in a row. If we do not get this bill done. I cannot go home and face those people. Please help us. and I will help my colleagues as long as I can avoid this sort of situation in the future. I thank my colleagues for their time and for the support they have already given us. ","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3893,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090103058,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the Chair. I will consume another minute. I hope the Senate will turn down this language. that we will make sure we do not give an exemption to oil companies from all these laws. and that we certainly do not do so on the backs of our military men and women. I yield the floor and yield 3 minutes to the Senator from Connecticut.","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":336,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090103127,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let me ask this question. The question is whether I can have such a commitment from the majority leader. since these are both bills that have passed this body unanimously and have also been conferenced by the House. if we could consider them when we come back in January to be the first order of business?","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":320,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090103140,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"SununuLeahy et al. Thank you. I thank the Chair. I thank the two distinguished leaders. If I might note for a moment. both the distinguished Republican leader and the Democratic leader have worked extremely hard on this. as has the Senator from New Hampshire. Mr. SUNUNU. and Mr. GREGG and others. and. of course. the distinguished chairman of the committee. Senator SPECTER. I think this is a reasonable conclusion that will allow the Judiciary Committee to look at some of the questions which have legitimately been raised and would not have been heard had this gone through otherwise.","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":587,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090103168,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to take this opportunity to object to insertion of a provision in the Department of Defense appropriations bill that would provide sweeping immunity protections to pharmaceutical manufacturers. I know that this provision is being billed as a simple liability protection to help those who would manufacture avian flu vaccine. but it is nothing of the sort. I support limited liability protections for manufacturers to help cover their risks in developing products that our Nation will need in case of emergency. However. this provision would grant immunity to all claims of loss. including death and disability. for a broad range of products. including any drug that the Secretary designated as one that would limit the harm caused by a pandemica definition so broad as to encompass nearly any drug. This immunity is not subject to judicial review. It preempts any State laws that provide different liability protections or that may provide stronger consumer safety protections for pharmaceutical products. In fact. the only exception to this immunity is for actions of \"willful misconduct.\" which is so narrowly defined that it would only apply to cases where a company intentionally set out \"to achieve a wrongful purpose . . .. in disregard of a known or obvious risk that is so great as to make it highly probable that the harm will outweigh the benefit.\" The provision requires the Secretary and the Attorney General to narrow the scope of willful misconduct even further and states that for any FDAapproved product. willful misconduct will not apply unless the Government is already taking action against the manufacturer for such misconduct. If the Government is providing complete immunity to manufacturers. how are those who may be injured to seek compensation in case of injury? This provision sets up a \"Covered Countermeasure Process Fund.\" but fails to provide any money for this fund. ","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3055,"word_count":311}
{"speech_id":1090103178,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Any U.S. official or employee who receives legal advice to the contrary should think twice before defying the will of the Congress on this issue. The McCain antitorture amendment will make the rules for the treatment of detainees clear to our troops and will send a signal to the world about our Nations commitment to the humane treatment of detainees. I want to express again my opposition to the GrahlmLevin amendment. The amendment would essentially eliminate habeas corpus for detainees at Guantanamo Bay. In so doing. it would apparently overturn the Supreme Courts landmark decision in Rasul v. Bush. No one questions the fact that the United States has the power to hold battlefield combatants for the duration of an armed conflict. That is a fundamental premise of the law of war. However. over the objections of thenSecretary of State Colin Powell and military lawyers. the Bush administration has created a new detention policy that goes far beyond the traditional law of war. The administration claims the right to seize anyone. including an American citizen. anywhere in the world. including in the United States. and to hold him until the end of the war on terrorism. whenever that may be. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10306,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090103188,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank our respective leaders. the majority leader and the distinguished Senator from Nevada. and my good friend and partner. our dear Senator LEVIN. and all members of the Armed Services Committee. and particularly our staff that made this bill possible. It has had a long journey. But we are here.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":300,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090103194,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This conference report contains provisions that provide welldeserved support for our military personnel and their families. In particular. the conference report will: Increase basic pay by 3.1 percent. a half percent higher than inflation. Increase the death gratuity for all active duty deaths from $12.400 to $100.000. retroactive to the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom. Authorize a new special pay of $430 a month during hospitalization for service members while rehabilitating from an injury or disease incurred in a combat zone. *Authorize a new leave of -up to -21 days when adopting a child. Provide $30 million in impact aid to local school districts. including a new $10 million authorization for schools that have a large increase or decrease in students due to rebasing. activation of new military units. or base realignment and closure. Increase funding for military childcare services by $50 -million. and for family assistance services by $10 million. and Create a mental health task force to help military members and families deal with an increasing number of mental health issues. The bill also contains several provisions especially designed to benefit our National Guard and Reserve personnel and their families: Every member of the Selected Reserve will have access to governmentsubsidized health care under the military TRICARE Standard medical program for themselves and their families. Tier 1 is the TRICARE Reserve Select program that we authorized last year. National Guard and Reserve personnel who are mobilized can use this benefit for a year for each period of mobilized service. as long as they remain in the Selected Reserve. The Government pays 72 percent of their health care premiumthey pay only 28 percent. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12049,"word_count":274}
{"speech_id":1090103205,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Right. It may not be quite right to characterize this bills provisions as transferring jurisdiction. Rather. they extinguish one type of actionall of the actions now in the courtsand create in their place a very limited judicial review of certain military administrative decisions.","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":281,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090103223,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am pleased that the conference report contains the full text of the McCain amendment on torture. without change. This language firmly establishes in law that the United States will not subject any individual in our custody. regardless of nationality or physical location. to cruel. inhuman. or degrading treatment or punishment. The amendment provides a single standardfor \"cruel. inhuman. or degrading treatment or punishment\"-without regard to what agency holds a detainee. what the nationality of the detainee is. or where the detainee is held. It has never been my understanding that the McCain amendment would. by itself. create a private right of action. I do not believe that the amendment was intended either to create such a private right of action. or to eliminateor undercut any private right of action such as a claim under the Alien Tort Statutethat i -otherwise available to an alien detainee. Rather. the McCain amendment would establish a legal standard applicable to any criminal prosecution or any private right of action that is otherwise available under law. That would not be changed in any way by the affirmative defense added in the new section.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1170,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090103229,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I express my concern regarding the adoption of the McCain amendment as part of the National Defense Authorization Act. Although I am pleased the legislation now includes important protections for the brave men and women who are interrogating terrorists around the world. I am nevertheless concerned that this legislation may hinder our intelligence collection activities. Many supporters of the amendment. including the mainstream media. claim that the legislation \"bans\" tortureleaving the impression that torture was somehow legal under our current laws. This is incorrect. Torture is prohibited under current U.S. law and treaty obligations. and President Bush has unequivocally stated that the United States will. not engage in torture. and we will treat all detainees in a humane fashion. In fact. this legislation will likely prohibit current legal interrogation techniques that stop well short of torture and are providing valuable intelligence information. .We all agree that in order to achieve victory in the war on terror. the United States must have the very best intelligence we can acquire through technical means and the interrogation of captured terrorists. Many of these terrorists are highly trained to resist U.S. interrogation techniques. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4181,"word_count":191}
{"speech_id":1090103240,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the court isnt consulted. where is the check on executive power? The President has said that he consults with executive branch lawyers and has briefed Congressional leaders about the domestic spying program. But to suggest that consulting with executive branch lawyers is a check on Executive Branch authority demonstrates a fundamental .misunderstanding of the concept of checks and balances. And notifying a few members of Congressif that is in fact what the administration didis not the check provided by law. That check is the court. In the conference report that accompanied the FISA law. Congress made the Supreme Court the only body that could authorize electronic surveillance by the executive branch not explicitly authorized by the FISA law. The conference report said: The conferees agree that the establishment by this act of exclusive means by which the President may conduct electronic surveillance does not foreclose a different decision by the Supreme Court... Executive Order 12333. issued by President Reagan in 1981. recognizes FISA as the governing law for foreign intelligence wiretaps. It provides that: Electronic surveillance. as defined in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. shall be conducted in accordance with that Act. as well as this Order. And. under FISA itself. a -person is actually guilty of a crime. if he engages in electronic surveillance except as authorized by statute. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7822,"word_count":223}
{"speech_id":1090103246,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to call attention to a provision contained in the conference report to H.R. 3010. the fiscal year 2006 appropriations bill for Departments of Labor. HHS. and Education. I am pleased to see that House and Senate conferees were able to provide $100 million for the Teacher Incentive Fund. The Teacher Incentive Fund was first proposed in the Presidents fiscal year 2006 budget. and will offer an appropriate incentive to States and local education agencies to advance the goals of. the No Child Left Behind Act. The No Child. Left Behind Act. enacted 4 years ago. raised expectations for students and teachers. Students are expected to raise their achievement level. and teachers are accountable for reaching the specific goals. The Teacher Incentive Fund is an appropriate follow up to the No Child Left Behind Act. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2133,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090103250,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What is driving these cuts is a tax reconciliation that benefits corporations and the wealthiest among us. Those benefits come at the expense of basic guarantees for working American familiesthat they can have decent public schools. that they can see a doctor. that they have a chance to getting back into the workforce when they are out. and that if a killer flu pandemic breaks out in this country we will have the capacity. the drugs. and the organization to beat it back. As a member of the conference committee. I did not sign the conference report and strongly oppose it. Together. America can do better.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2673,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090103251,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Republican conferees provided health care programs $466million below last years level. including a $137 million in cuts to rural health programs and a $185 million cut to the Bureau of Health Professions. Cutting these programs will make it even harder to recruit qualified professionals in many parts of the country.. Moreover. Republican conferees eliminated nine vital health care programs altogether. including trauma care. rural emergency medical services. the geriatric education centers. health education training centers. and the healthy community access program. As a result of these cuts. not one new community health center will be created next year. \u0095 At a time when we are the verge of major new breakthroughs in disease prevention and treatment. the conference agreement also includes the smallest percentage increase for the National Institutes of Health. NIH. since 1970. which will hinder promising medical research and disease prevention initiatives. These are just a few examples of the unconscionable cuts to crucial programs in this bill. Unfortunately. these cuts will be even deeper because the Republicans imposed an acrosstheboard cut against all nondefense and homeland security programs in the Defense appropriations bill. In summary. Mr. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2458,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090103263,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I ask the Senator from Texas if she would amend her request instead to seek consent for an AMT relief amendment that I believe the majority would be supportive of. since it shows the Senates provision. so that no AMT taxpayers are created next year. Further. while we are seeking to do these tax cuts outside of reconciliation. we would have them count against the total allowed under reconciliation. That would be part of the amendment. S14290 coz The text of that Senate amendment is pending at the desk. and -I am asking. Will the Senator from Texas accept this amendment?","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1531,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090103266,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I ask the Senator. will she object to an amendment I suggested that the whole AMT be held harmless and that it count under paygo in terms of the tax. the budget provisions which provide for $70 billion over the next 5 years? Those are the two conditions.","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":254,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090103271,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I do hope the Senator from Montana. working with the chairman of the Committee on Finance. will make it a priority early next year to have the tax reconciliation package go through with AMT and with the other tax cuts that would be extended to show the American people they can rely on the tax cuts that have been passed and have helped the economy in its recovery. It is very important we not leave any question in anyones mind that the tax cuts that started the economic upturn 2 years ago will be extended. The American people will get to keep the money in their pocketbooks. spend it. and fuel the jobs our economy has produced.","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":647,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090103276,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I he was a young aide to a Member of object. Congress. He later joined my legislative staff. where he performed superbly before leaving to attend law school. EXECUTIVE SESSION Greg distinguished himself in law school by being chosen as an Articles Editor of the Kentucky Law Journal EXECUTIVE CALENDAR and receiving a citation for Excellence","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":356,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090103279,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"She has been the- lead prosecutor in cases involving the sale of weapons over the Internet to minors. Ms. Kendall has also been extremely I do want to thank my colleagues. paractive in pro bono work. She has cre- ticularly Chairman COCHRAN and Senated programs in which Federal pros- ator BYRD. for shepherding through a ecutors go into Chicago high schools tremendous direct relief bill. That and educate students about the dangers would not have happened without these of gun violence and the workings of the two leaders. It Was initially sent to us criminal justice system. One of her at $17 billion. with an anemic -funding programs received an award from the level for our levees. It was basically a Department of Justice as the most out- bill that fixed Federal buildings and standing volunteer program in the sent money to Federal bureaucracies country. Ms. Kendall and her husband and didnt reach the people directly or have worked closely with students our cities or counties or parishes or from the Cristo Rey Jesuit High churches- orschools or hospitals. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6828,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090103298,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Conference of Catholic Bishops recently launched a campaign to end the use of the death penalty. In New York earlier this year. the States highest court struck down the States capital punishment statute. which had passed only 10 years earlier in 1995. The legislature then declined to reinstate the law. making New York the first state to abandon capital punishment since 1976. That is a remarkable sign of progress. . Meanwhile. just over the river in Virginia. the death penalty was a key issue in the last gubernatorial election. Tim Kaine. the current Lieutenant Governor. has long been personally opposed to the death penalty. although he pledged to enforce the law in Virginia. In the final weeks before the election. his opponent Jerry Kilgore began an ad campaign that heavily criticized Kaines opposition to the death penalty. Kilgore strongly supports capital punishment and during the campaign he said he would push to expand its use in Virginia. But when Kilgore went after Kaine on the death penalty. Virginians did not take the bait. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8460,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090103327,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Robert Ferguson served as Postmaster in Collinsville. Illinois. In recognition of his hard work and dedication. Mr. Ferguson received five Outstanding Superior Accomplishment Awards and qualified as a Postmaster Trainer on October 1. 1976. He worked tirelessly on behalf of postal workers and traveled throughout Southern Illinois training newly appointed Postmasters. He was well liked by his colleagues who knew they had a leader they could trust. In addition to his active professional life. Robert Ferguson found time to serve his community. As President of the Clay County Shrine Club in 1992. he organized events to raise thousands of dollars for the Shriners Hospital for Children. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2084,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090103335,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This legislation. the Armed Forces Education Benefits Improvement Act. would increase GI Bill educational benefits to cover the average price of a 4year secondary education. According to the most recent report by the U.S. Department of Education. an average public 4year education cost $14.260 in 200405. compared with the $9.036 provided under the current GI Bill for the same time period. The Armed Forces Education Benefits Improvement Act would also provide for real growth in future benefits that keep paces with the ever increasing cost of education. The bill would index the increased benefit to the \"college tuition and fees\" component of the Consumer Price Index. Currently. the increasing cost of education is outpacing growth in GI Bill benefits. which are indexed to the less rapidly growing overall inflation. This legislation would also increase the base amount provided for members of the Selected Reserve by approximately 59 percent. And it maintains the same ratio in the FY05 Defense Authorization Act for those members of the Selected Reserve called up to active duty for at least 9() days. Finally. the Armed Forces Education Benefits Improvement Act would open enrollment for updated Montgomery GI bill benefits to certain active duty service members who declined to accept the Veterans Education Assistance Program. VEAP. offered between January 1. 1977 and June 30. 1985. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5693,"word_count":219}
{"speech_id":1090103343,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask every American to offer their prayers. to offer their thanks to these brave young men and women who are risking their lives in far away lands to protect us and to provide us security. I am gratified by the passage of the Defense appropriations bill tonight. This important legislation helps ensure that our armed services will receive the resources and authorities they need to protect America. From delivering advanced technologies to improving personnel protection. this bill delivers crucial support for our courageous men and women in uniform. While our troops are protecting us abroad. the PATRIOT Act is protecting us here at home. Tonight we passed a 6month extension to this critical legislation. By unanimously and in a bipartisan way agreeing to a 6month extension. the Senate reaffirmed that the PATRIOT Act is one of our most important tools in the war on terror both now and into the future. Yes. we need to improve that act and. yes. no longer can we tolerate obstruction to that improvement of the act. but in a bipartisan way we came together tonight to say that despite a lot of passions and statements that we could rise above it. put forth a 6month extension. and then hopefully be able to address and improve the PATRIOT Act. It has been an intense and productive year for the Senate. We were able to meet many of our goals to deliver meaningful solutions to the needs. wants. and desires of the American people. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11621,"word_count":249}
{"speech_id":1090103373,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to. the preamble be agreed to. and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. and that any statements relating thereto be printed in the RECORD. without intervening action or debate.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":257,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090103387,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I urge passage by unanimous consent of the 2005 NASA Authorization Act and managers package that has been agreed to by conferees from the House and Sen_ ate. I express my thanks for the work that my fellow conferees. the committees. subcommittees. and our staffs have done on this bill. I am confident that it will help Administrator Griffin to lead NASA to accomplish its many missions. America is a nation of explorers. NASA explores the frontiers of aviation by atmospheric flight. the frontiers of space by going where others have never been. and the frontiers of science by conducting scientific endeavors that broaden our understanding of life. our home planet. and the heavens. NASA has not been authorized by Congress for some time. In fact. the last two times NASA was authorized was 1993 and 2000. This is the first authorization of NASA in 6 years. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1271,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090103389,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wish to thank Senators HUTCHISON. NELSON. and STEVENS. for their leadership in bringing together the different bills from the Senate and the House. The final product is the result of hard work and- compromise. It provides the National Aeronantics and Space Administration. NASA. and the country clear congressional direction on how to proceed with human space exploration. and it emphasizes NASAs invaluable work in science and education. Human space exploration is a key component of this bill. I am confident that space discovery will continue to excite young minds and. hopefully. inspire them. to pursue an education in math and science. The skills and talents they develop will not only help them reach the stars. they will propel American innovation and define our countrys. future. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL INOUYE","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2017,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090103390,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. my fellow Senators. I am pleased to join Senators HUTCHISON. STEVENS. INOUYE. and LOTT today in presenting the 2005 NASA Authorization Act and managers package that has been agreed to by conferees from the House and Senate. I express my thanks for the work that my fellow conferees. the committees. subcommittees. and our staffs have done on this bill. I am confident that it will help Administrator Griffin to lead NASA to accomplish its many missions. America is a nation of explorers. NASA explores the frontiers of aviation by atmospheric flight. the frontiers of space by going where others have never been. and the frontiers of science by conducting scientific endeavors that broaden our understanding of life. our home planet. and the heavens. NASA has not been authorized by Congress for some time. ","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1282,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090103457,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Although reliable statistics are difficult to find. we know that 800.000 individualsthe vast majority of whom * are women and childrenare trafficked from one country to another every year. with 15.000 being trafficked to the United States. The FBI estimates that trafficking generates $9.5 billion annually for organized crime syndicates around the world. I am deeply concerned about the growing domestic commercial sex trade. and I believe that we need to increase funding and target efforts to end all forms of exploitation. Any expansion of our focus must not dilute our commitment to eradicating human trafficking in all its forms in the United States. nor detract from the progress we have made in increasing prosecutions and working with law en.forcement agencies. We must ensure that our G6vernment has all the resources it needs to make inroads against these awful acts on our own soil. In the fight against trafficking in persons. patience simply is not an option. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues to end this barbaric practice in both the- United States and around the world. because this is not about politics. but about what we all share: universal freedom and universal human rights.","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4367,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090103475,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. as we bring this first session of the 109th Congress to a close. I once again thank my colleagues. the staff. the pages. and everyone who contributes so much to our work in this Chamber. I want to give a special thanks to the few pages we have remaining this evening. Most of them have gone back home to their families. and we have a few volunteers who stayed behind. They are instrumental in allowing us to carry out our work each day. It is very rare that we actually say thank you. I want to take this opportunity to say thank you for volunteering to be with us over what has been a pretty long last couple of days. So I thank Rafi Bortnick. Katie Rember. and Dan Tinsley. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":997,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090103492,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speakers table the Senate bill to amend the USA PATRIOT ACT to extend the sunset of certain provisions of that Act and the lone wolf provision of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to July 1. 2006. and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":331,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090103494,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I reserve the right to object in order to simply ask at the proper time that I may be allowed to insert a statement from Mr. CONYERS in the RECORD with respect to the PATRIOT Act. And I have been asked by the distinguished minority leader. Ms. PELOSI. to read the following statement: \"Mr. Speaker. I do not intend to object to this 1month extension of the PATRIOT Act provision contained in this legislation. We would have preferred a 3- or 6month extension to allow the American people a longer time to discuss the very serious impacts of these provisions on the civil liberties of the American people. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1719,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090103499,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. in the wake of the September 11. 2001 attacks. Congress recognized that our Nations intelligence and law enforcement communities lacked the statutory -tools necessary to meet and defeat the international terrorist threat. Large majorities in .both Houses passed the PATRIOT Act to lower the wall of separation between the intelligence and law enforcement communities that prevented the sharing of threat information that might have averted these attacks. I supported the inclusion of sunsets in the PATRIOT Act because I recognized that the enlargement of federal law 6nforcement authority and the attendant risk to civil liberties required comprehensive examination and affirmative congressional reauthorization. \u0095 Since passage of the PATRIOT Act in October of 2001. I have led aggressive congressional oversight of the implementation of. the PATRIOT Act before the House Committee on the Judiciary. and the legislation has been exhaustively examined by the House Committee on Intelligence. as well as companion committees in the other body. The PATRIOT Act conference report is more protective of civil liberties than current law in dozens of areas. and is. the product of extensive and bipartisan legislative and oversight. as well as intensive bipartisan and bicameral negotiations. On December 14. the House passed the PATRIOT Act conference report by a bipartisan vote of 251174. Last night. the other body ignored the will of the House. a majority of PATRIOT Act HouseSenate conferees. and a clear majority of Senators by passing a sixmonth extension of the PATRIOT Act that contained none of the important civil liberties provisions carefully negotiated by House and Senate conferees. The security of the American people should not be subordinated to the partisan brinksmanship of a minority of obstructionist Senators. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6171,"word_count":280}
{"speech_id":1090103507,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The article reported that the military informally indicated to the House Armed Services Committee that. they would need an additional 80 to $100 billion to fund operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. This request is made in addition to the $50 billion appropriated through the Defense bill. This request is still being drafted by the Department of Defense and will most likely come to the floor as an additional spending package after we return next year. I call on my colleagues to support this additional funding when it arrives in the House. We cannot afford to leave our military unprotected and underfunded. especially at this important time in our Nations history. Next week. Mr. Speaker. I will travel to Iraq to see the progress the Iraqi security forces are making to take the fight to the insurgents and to take their nations future into their own hands. I will also visit our troops to give them our thanks from a grateful Nation for the work that they are doing to fight the terrorists. to secure the nation and pave the way for a new and vibraftt democracy in Iraq. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL FITZPATRICK","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5427,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090103671,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I thank the gentleman. the former chairman of the Rules Committee. my colleague from California. and also congratulate the new chairman of the Rules Committee. our friend from New York . I just want to point out to the gentleman from Massachusetts. the gentleman that just spoke. this ethics reform package. which we are not opposed to in the totality of it. but many. if not most of these provisions. Madam Speaker. were a part of H.R. 4975. the Republican ethics reform package which we passed in this House in May of this past year with only eight. count them. Madam Speaker. eight votes from the other side. There was total opposition to everything that we wanted to do in regard to ethics reform. I will remind my colleagues in regard to the socalled K Street Project. that very provision. that is. Members not being able to put pressure on companies in regard to hiring practices. in regard to granting of any legislatie. favors. was part of that package. But yet our colleagues in the majority party now want to come forward and say \"the K Street Project.\" Now. where is the sense of fairness and fair play and bipartisanship in sticking it in the eye of the new minority. when we tried to change that very thing that they voted against? I would say furthermore in regard to this overall package of rules. what is this business about not holding a vote open for the sole purpose of changing a vote? If that is in fact a good policy. not being able to do that. and I tend to agree with the new majority that we shouldnt be able to break peoples arms with favors for earmarks or special committee assignments which may not be appropriate. then why use the word \"sole?\" Putting in \"sole purpose\" would allow them or anybody to lock a Member in the bathroom and say we are holding the vote open because they are stuck in traffic. So I would suggest lets eliminate \"sole\" and say for the purpose of pressuring a Member to change their vote against their will. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2262,"word_count":358}
{"speech_id":1090103675,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So if we defeat the previous question. we in the House will be allowed to bring up what has been called the minority bill of rights. and this again was the recipe for change that then minority Leader PELOSI saw fit that was the right prescription for the ills that affected this institution or allegedly affected this institution. So it just doesnt make sense for us to be here today and somehow in spirit of bipartisanship. transparency. civility. to be going back on that pledge to honor the rights of all Americans so that we can have an open debate in this House. It doesnt make sense to follow the adage. \"Do as I say. not as I do.\" So I would urge my colleagues to defeat the previous question. allow there to be light. allow there to be transparency. not just after we pass the first 100 hours of this Congress.","speaker_name":"ERIC CANTOR","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1980,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090103693,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself the balance of the time. Madam Speaker. I am actually very enthused and excited about the great new opportunity that lies ahead for every single one of us. We have heard speeches today from our distinguished Republican leader. and we are all very proud that my fellow Californian has become the first woman to preside over the greatest deliberative body known to man. And. as I said earlier. I am particularly proud of the fact that I am being succeeded by the distinguished chairwoman from New York . as the first woman to chair the Rules Committee. I am enthused about the challenges that lie ahead. and I am very encouraged by the words that we heard from our new Speaker about the need for civility. about the need for us to make sure that we recognize that we are first and foremost Americans. and that the message from last Novembers election was a very clear one. It was a message that we should come together. work together. Democrats and Republicans","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":988,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090103725,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And so again I would say in response to the brilliant words of President John F. Kennedy. as outlined by our distinguished majority leader. Mr. HOYER. that we do seek the right answer. and I believethat the best way to seek the right answer is through enhanced deliberation. and we have a chance to do that. Now. I will when it comes to this vote urge my colleagues to vote in favor of title I. Title I. as you know. Mr. Speaker. simply provides a chance to use the opening rules package of the 109th Congress. and I think that that is a c6rrect thing for us to do. and I hope the Democrats and Republicans alike. and the majority leader has just called for support of title I and I will urge the colleagues on our side of the aisle to join so that again we will be coming together and I think having the right answer on that. With that. ","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3910,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090103746,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the simple point that I am trying to make is that we all know what the rules for the 109th Congress were. We have lived under those rules for the last 2 years. Yes. I was proud to have crafted those. working with my colleagues on this side of the aisle. and we passed those at the beginning of the Congress and we are going to have a chance in just a few minutes to vote on those again. The point is. it is not the rules of the 109th Congress that we didnt have a draft of. We did not have a draft until January 3 at 5:45 p.m.. which.clearly did not comply with that 24hour requirement that has been put forward. And that is the only point that I am trying to make.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":678,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090103768,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am in the middle of my statement. I would also say to the gentleman that his party has been in control for 12 years. and there has been ample opportunity to change the status quo. The gentlemans party not only embraced the status quo. but we saw a proliferation of the culture of corruption. and that is what this is a response to. In answer to the gentlemans question as to this March 1 deadline. that is to give the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct ample time to put the rules and regulations and the disclosure requirements into place so that this can be an effective change. So this is real historic change. We are going to end the culture of corruption in this Congress today. I am glad that the gentleman has said that he is going to support it. I hope that this is a bipartisan vote. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":890,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090103774,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. let me. again. say that we look forward to supporting this package. much of which. the items that the gentlewoman just outlined. were included in H.R. 4975. which passed this House last May with strong bipartisan support. Mr. Speaker. with that. I yield 2 minutes to my very good friend from Highland Park. Illinois .","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":330,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090103778,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. let me just. before yielding to the gentleman from Marietta. say very quickly again. the legislation that passed the House. H.R. 4975. specifically banned the K Street Project. Look at the language. It is virtually identical. We focused on the issue of lobbyist travel and gifts. And I believe that we can come together in a bipartisan way. We want to work in a civil tone. as was outlined by Speaker PELOSI today. Mr. Speaker. with that I am happy to yield 3 minutes to my very good friend. former member of the Rules Committee. the gentleman from Marietta.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":571,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090103783,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Take away their pensions and do it now.","speaker_name":"JOHN SHADEGG","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2354,"word_count":8}
{"speech_id":1090103821,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. your committee appointed on the part of the House to join a like committee on the part of the Senate to notify the President of the United States that a quorum of each House has been assembled and is ready to receive any communication that he may be pleased to make has performed that duty.","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":303,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090103823,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And he brought peace. His name was President Gerald Ford. and we thank him. And thats just the way it is.","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1124,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090103839,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We want to turn to the things that can be done. because one of the messages of the new Apollo Project is that we have a clear path to use technology to solve this problem. But before we launch into a discussion now. I just wanted to note three conversations on this issue about global warming I have had in the last two weeks. that I want to note about why this is so compelling to have new energy. The first conversation I had last week was with a woman who was a leader in the first city in the United States that is being -relocated as a result of global warming. That is the village of Shishmaref in Alaska. it is on the Arctic coast of Alaska. This woman told me that last week the city voted to move their city. I think it is about 13 miles off of a coastal barrier island. that is disappearing because sea levels are rising. the tundra is melting. and the ice that serves as a barrier protecting their village is melting. and their island is disappearing. right literally underneath them. They are haviag to move their whole city at a cost of $150 million. onto an inland area. that is Shishmaref. Alaska. When we have to start moving cities in this country to start dealing with global warming. it is time to have a new energy policy. ","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2803,"word_count":236}
{"speech_id":1090103842,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Chinese will be buying technology. There is no question. They would prefer not to pollute their skies. They are trying to clean up for the Olympics. but they are growing fast. they need the power. they would welcome cleaner power. As evidence of that. I would say that their auto fleet is already more efficient than ours. Because the technology is available. that is what they are buying. It would apply across the board in energy technologies. China. Southeast Asia. ","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":979,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090103843,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You mentioned transportation. I just want to note what I consider to be a very exciting development in the last 7 days in this country in transportation. I want to yield to a real leader in there. Mr. BLUMENAUER. But when it comes to cars. we have not improved the efficiency of our cars in 25 years. We get less mileage today in our cars than we did 25 years ago. But in the last 30 days something very dramatic happened in the auto industry. General Motors announced that they were going to start developing a plugin vehicle in the next 5 years where you can go home at night. plug in your car. charge your batteries off your electrical grid from one to two cents. effectively. a mile. you are now spending ten to fifteen. For one to two cents a mile off the grid. you can run your car for. we hope. for the first 20 miles. ","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2558,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090103853,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They want us to do something. They want us to help transform the country. And I thank all my dear colleagues for allowing me these few minutes on the floor this evening. I was not intending to come here. but you have hit sort of the bulls eye of what this Member of Congress has been involved in for several years. and you could not be on a more important job creation. environmentally right set of initiatives for this country. and it will be a joy to be here working with you on this.","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1731,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090103854,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What do we do? We take the cash and send it to Saudi Arabia. Let us cut out the middleman. Let us grow our own. This is time to grow our own. We are sending it all over the world and then sending the cash to Ridya and Saudi Arabia. Let us keep it right here. Let us grow our own fuel. By the way. this is no pie in the sky. The Department of Agriculture has concluded we could have 30 percent of our fuel easily in the next 20 years. easily. using very conservative efforts. This is a very achievable goal. ","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3999,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090103855,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But I really appreciate what you are talking about here. I was in over a dozen States this last fall working on behalf of a number of our new colleagues. including in Ohio. I am intrigued that they to a person are concerned about global warming. to a person they undefstand before they become Members of this body what you are talking about here. and it makes me think that we have a real opportunity to tap some creative energy in this body to finally. as I say. stop talking about it and actually do something.","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2370,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090103862,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We just have a few seconds. I would like to just make a closing comment. First. I would thank my colleagues and say that I really do believe this is a historic moment for the industrial base and agricultural base of America. which is todays date. to start to move to a new base away from just a dirty fossil fuelbased system toa clean energy system. We are starting to do this starting today. We are going to join Republicans. hopefully. in finding a bipartisan way to do it. We can tell people that the genius of Americans is in these new wind sources. wind turbines. solar cells. transit. flexfuel vehicles. plugin vehicles. cellulosic ethanol. wave power. geothermal. fuel efficient appliances. energy efficient homes. this job is going to get done by a new Congress and it is a bright day for the country.","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":809,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090103871,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I think we came back here. though. with a very positive spirit and we all came in today knowing it was going to be a very historic diy. but we were going to celebrate the very positive day that we have here. All of us are very grateful for the wonderful opportunity to serve in the Congress of the United States. and we came here with the idea that we were going to solve problems that all Americans face. We see that happening in our communities every day. We see Democrats and Republicans working together side by side in many different ways. I marvel every time I go to a parade or to some fair or some event that is put on by a community and how the people have worked together to do that. very often without any support from any government body because they put aside political differences for the good of the community. That is obviously what we Republicans want to be happening in the 110th Congress. We believe that the American people are united in their desire for peace and national security. They want solutions to problems. not partisan bickering that only creates deadlocks and no solutions. Again. the people in our communities do that every day. and so we looked forward to the goal and the promise of the new majority to restore the House to civility. to restore open debate so that ideas can be examined. always reviewed and respected. And as Leader BOEHNER said today in his speech. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5838,"word_count":255}
{"speech_id":1090103874,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. I wanted to highlight the new rule for the Rules Committee. which says that votes dont have to be recorded. and I appreciate so much your bringing that up because nobody at home. none of my constituents. believe that any Member of Congress ought to be able to come here and vote and not have their constituents be able to look and see what they have done. And. in fact. part of this rules package that I think breaks a number of promises that were made by our friends in the majority as they ran up to the election. part of this package says that those votes dont have to be recorded. And I would be happy to yield to you. but for the life of me. I cant think of a reason that one would want to do that.","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":736,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090103876,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman from Georgia for yielding and giving me an opportunity to talk about that a little bit because at the beginning of my remarks. I talked about the powerful Rules Committee. And. Mr. Speaker. it is a powerful Rules Committee in that you decide how long you can talk on an issue. That is. you limit the time of debate. You have the power to make amendments in order to give a Member on either side of the aisle. majority or minority. an opportunity to come and talk about their amendment on the floor. They may get beat 4341. but they have that opportunity. As an all powerful member of the Rules Committee. as Representative PRICE was just saying. all of a sudden. in this rules package. they are saying that one of these all powerful members can make these votes. can set this time of debate. can deny the amendment opportunity for Members on either side of the aisle and then not take a public vote. not take a roll call vote. and not go home and face their constituents. these all powerful members of the Rules Committee. not answer to their constituents for why they denied maybe a Member of their own party a good idea to debate on the House floor. their body. And I am going to tell you the rhetorical question Dr. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2045,"word_count":230}
{"speech_id":1090103879,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And before that. the votes were not recorded and it was the process. That is why I say we are returning to the way we were. the way they were. And it is different from the way business was conducted from 1995 until now. And I think that is an important distinction for our constituents who have stopped us on the campaign trail and stopped us as we have prepared to come in and take our solemn oath of office today and have said we want to be certain that this Congress is going to function in an open. accountable manner. We want to know what is happening in the peoples House. and it is your charge to keep with us to keep us informed.","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":637,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090103892,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask consent following the pro forma session on Tuesday. the Senate stand in adjournment until 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday. January 25. I further ask that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate then proceed to a period of morning business with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes.","speaker_name":"LISA MURKOWSKI","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":439,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090103897,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I have received calls from a significant number of Senators. Senator FRIST is right. we will have a dignified debate. It will be organized. We will do whatever is appropriate according to who wants to speak. Most all Democratic Senators will want an opportunity to speak in regard to the nomination of Samuel Alito. We look forward to that sometime next week. I also ask that following the swearing in of Congressman MENENDEZ. the only two speakers allowed in the Senate on this day are Senator MENENDEZ and Senator LAUTENBERG. the two Senators from New Jersey. This is in keeping with the agreement I have with Senator FRIST. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":673,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090103925,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. consistent with my practice of announcing publicly my intent to object to unanimous consent requests. I am asking to have printed in the RECORD a letter to Senator REID dated January 18. 2006. It explains that I will use every legislative and procedural tool at my disposal as a U.S. Senator to block any attempt to affect in any way Oregons Death With Dignity Act. which the Supreme Court upheld yesterday. The letter follows.","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":442,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090103927,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I wish to honor Pilot Knob Elementary School in Eagan. MN. which recently earned an Award for Excellence in Education for its exceptional and innovative achievements in educating children. Pilot Knob Elementary School. which serves a diverse population of 375 children in kindergarten through grade four. is truly a model of educational success. The school boasts a 96 percent attendance rate. test scores are well above average for most students. and many of the teachers are leaders in their fields. Pilot Knob Elementary has also devised an innovative approach to address bullying in school. Through its \"Take Time To Be Kind\" program. nine fourth graders donate their recess time to spread goodwill in the hallways. creating a safe and kind learning environment for all students. In addition to its students. Pilot Knob Elementary is also committed to its community. Recently. students raised $1.700 for UNICEF. to help victims of the tsunami in South Asia. and a similarly successful fundraising effort benefited a local shelter for homeless families. ","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2125,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090103931,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I applaud Congress for including $1.8 million for Tourette Syndrome research in H.R. 3010. the Departments of Labor. Health and Human Services. and Education. and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2006. Tourette Syndrome is an inherited neurobiological disorder that manifests itself in rapid. repeated. and involuntary movements and sounds. The disorder affects approximately 200.000 adults and children across America. While there is no cure for Tourette Syndrome. some individuals benefit from education and other clinical treatment. To further develop educational outreach and research programs. Congress established the Tourette Syndrome Education and Research Program within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2000. Today. this program provides education about Tourette Syndrome for the public. physicians. allied healthcare workers and teachers. ","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1972,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090103938,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am privileged to place into the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD the inaugural address given by Governor Timothy Kaine. Virginias 70th Governor on January 14. 2006. Due to the extensive renovation of Virginias Capitol in Richmond. Saturdays inauguration was held at the Colonial Capital of Williamsburg for only the third time in the Commonwealths history and the first since that of Thomas Jefferson in 1779. Williamsburg. Virginia was home to the first Capitol building in America and served as the home of the House of Burgesses. It is fitting that this inauguration took place in Williamsburg as Virginia and Nation prepares to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the founding of the Jamestown settlement in 2007. We in Virginia are proud of our longstanding spirit of cooperation and bipartisanship among the various branches of government in the Commonwealth and with the members of our congressional delegation serving in Washington. I look forward to working with Governor Kaine as he is the eighth Governor to serve Virginia during my service in the United States Senate. It is in this spirit of bipartisanship that I ask unanimous consent that Governor Kaines inaugural address to the Commonwealth of Virginia be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1986,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090103943,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"DEWINE. FEINSTEIN. COLLINS. JEFFORDS and many more have joined us in this bipartisan effort to support the States in the vital role they have played in countering a deficit of action by the Federal bureaucracy. The introduction of the prescription drug benefit is a landmark step in the progress of Medicare. This benefit will save the average senior about $1.000 per year. This is the relief that millions have needed for so long. It must eliminate the terrible choices so many have had to make between vital medications and the other essentials of lifenot create new dilemmas. As we worked to ensure a prescription drug benefit. many of us worked hard to assure special help to those with the most limited resources. We enacted a benefit which provided additional help for those on limited incomes. including millions who rely on both Medicare and Medicaidour \"dual eligibles\". ","speaker_name":"CHARLES SCHUMER","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4515,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090103973,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is where we stand at the present time. I know there are discussions underway to try to get some additional changes made. My own view is those prospects are somewhere between bleak and nonexistent.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1193,"word_count":35}
{"speech_id":1090103981,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my distinguished colleague for those comments. There is no doubt about the suffering of those who are afflicted with mesothelioma and asbestosis and other ailments. There is also no doubt about the tremendous impact it has on the economy of the United States. It has been estimated that there could be a bigger boost than any kind of tax cuts you could have or any sort of economic recovery program you could have to be able to deal with the more than 75 companies that have gone into bankruptcy and others where bankruptcy is threatened. The amount of work that the Senator from Vermont has specified has been gigantic. It has been 3 years in process. Senator HATCH took the lead with the trust fund concept where the manufacturers and the insurers have agreed to put up some $140 billion into the trust fund with no government payments and not coming out of the pockets of the taxpayers. The meetings which have been held and the efforts and the momentum which we have had cant be recaptured. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1310,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090103982,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is on the basis of that voluminous record that it is my personal view that Judge Alito ought to be confirmed. He has a background from a father who was an immigrant from Italy. not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. came up the hard way. had the extraordinary academic record at Princeton and the Yale Law School. worked -as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. then was U.S. Attorney and worked in the Department of Justice. and for 15 years has been on the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. I think he answered questions put to him more extensively than any other nominee in recent times. I ask unanimous consent that the full text of the prepared statement be printed in the RECORD at the conclusion of my remarks. which specifies the details of the questions asked and provides analysis of many of his cases.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1738,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090103986,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":1,"speech_text":"What is his legal philosophy? The core of his beliefs as a judge is that a judge should be careful. fair. restrained. and honest in analyzing the facts of the case and applying the relevant law to those facts. For what purpose? To decide that dispute. that discrete issue that is before the Court at that time and not to indulge. as he indicated. in great theories. That is not what a judge is about. So this is what American judges must do for our entire legal system to work. That is why I am so proud that President Bush has given us two nomi-. nees who can explain. articulate that role of a judge in a way every American can understand. relate to. and affirm. My colleagues. I am afraid. lack a proper understanding of this concept. It goes to the core of our differences over judges. They want judges. I am afraid. who will impose their own views. their personal views. on political issues in the guise of deciding discrete cases before them. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11361,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090104002,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"With John Roberts to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. we allowed a lot of commentary and a vote. I hope the same will occur for Judge Alito. There have been indications from those on the other side of the aisle that they are reserving the right to filibuster. or require a 60vote majority to have a vote on the confirmation of Judge Alito. My reaction is if they move forward with such a filibuster. \"make my day.\" We will enjoy pulling the constitutional trigger to allow Judge Alito a fair or upordown vote. I dont think it is too much to ask Senators to come here when the nomination is called forth to get off these cushy seats. stand up straight. and vote yes or vote no. That is a matter of fairness. It is also our constitutional responsibility in advise and consent. When analyzing or determining whether I am going to support a particular judicial nominee. what matters most to me for these lifetime appointments is trying to discern that nominees judicial philosophy. Trying to determine whether they believe what they are saying as to what they think the proper role of a judge will be. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11789,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090104017,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I have spent time with Judge Alito and I have studied his background and record. I closely followed his confirmation hearings in the Judiciary Committee. I can say without question that he should be confirmed. I dont find myself agreeing with the Washington Post or the Louisville CourierJournal newspapers very often. But even those papers agree that Judge Alito should be confirmed. I first met Judge Alito this past fall. I did not know much about him when his nomination was announced by President Bush. I reserved judgment about his nomination until I had a chance to meet with him. From that meeting it became clear that I could support his nomination. And his performance at his confirmation hearing further solidified my support for his nomination. ","speaker_name":"JIM BUNNING","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6743,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090104029,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to pick up where Senator MCCAIN left off about the Alito nomination and what has changed between the Clinton administration and the President Bush 2 administration regarding judges. The question I ask the body and really the country is. have the qualifications changed or are the people President Bush has chosen to nominate for the Supreme Court more inferior in terms of qualifications. temperament. and character than the jjeople President Clinton nominated? As individuals. is there a major difference in their legal experience? Are there any character flaws with these two nominees that did not exist with President Clintons nominees? If you can find an answer to the question other than no. I would like to hear about it. I would like someone to come to the floor and talk about how Justice Roberts and Judge Alito are not in the ball park as to qualifications. character. and disposition with Justice Breyer and Justice Ginsburg. It is clear to me that President Bush picked two very well qualified people to serve on the Supreme Court when it came his time to choose a Supreme Court nominee. You dont have to take my word for it. Seven judges testified before the committee who served on the Third Circuit with Judge Alito. They were nominated by Lyndon Johnson. ","speaker_name":"LINDSEY GRAHAM","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1688,"word_count":221}
{"speech_id":1090104038,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I associate myself with the eloquent remarks of the Senator from Maryland. Once again. she evidences the rare combination of high intellect. quick wit. and a savvy understanding of what is important to the people she represents. The nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito. Jr.. to the Supreme Court of the United States is a matter of great. even monumental. importance to allto our children and to future generations of Americans. I have spent a lot of time in my State over the last 2 weeks. I have traveled from one end of it to the other. from Long Island to Buffalo. I have to say. ","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11752,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090104051,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We are electing someone whose job it is to play it right down the middle. whose job it is to be blind justice. who is going to weigh the facts in the law and do what it dictates. not do what they believe. in their ideological viewpoint. is right. I am disturbed by the criticism. but I am very encouraged by Judge Alito and the way he has conducted himself and the way he answered the questions and how he has. in fact. laid out a very concise and wellreasoned approach to his making decisions on the Court in the past. He obviously has impeccable credentials. The Senator from Utah is in the Chamber right now. and I heard him say over and over that no one has the credentials this man has and the experience he brings to the Supreme Court. No one. in my view. has been more personally decent. humble. and modest dealing with a rather rancorous hearing process. He came off. at least from my view. as exactly the kind of temperament we would want of a Supreme Court Justiceof any judge. He is obviously highly intelligent. battling wits with some of the best minds in the Senate. During this process. both privately and publicly. he has been gracious. He is. again. someone I am very proud to support. If I can. for a moment. talk again about where we are in the context of the role of the judiciary in our democratic process. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10831,"word_count":248}
{"speech_id":1090104060,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am concerned about his rulings in other cases pitting the Government against individuals. in the area of the environment. workers rights. and racial discrimination. In Public Interest Research Group of New Jersey v. Magnesium Elektron. he. Judge Alito. established high barriers to prevent individuals from being able to sue polluters for violations of the Clean Water Act. The U.S. Supreme Court later rejected this reasoning by a vote of 7 to 2. In Chittister v. Department of Community and Economic Development. he ruled that State employees could not sue for damages to enforce their rights under the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act. The Supreme Court later reversed this ruling by a vote of 6 to 3. I might say that both of those acts under consideration by the Court I had the privilege of voting for when I was a Member of the House of Representatives. ","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4523,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090104062,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. before I comment on the nomination. I would like to recognize and thank several people who have been very helpful in preparing my comments: Kara Stein. Justin Florence. and Sharon Rapport. Mr. President. I also ask unanimous consent to have printed in the RECORD a series of letters from national organizations with respect to issues of church and state separation and the nomination of Judge Alito.","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":414,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090104065,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am voting to protect their interests. I recognize the significance of a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. The Constitution directs Senators to provide advice and consent on all judicial nominees. and the people of my home State of Washington have trusted me to be their advocate to safeguard their rights as I vote on judicial nominees. I take that responsibility very seriously. That is why I have reviewed Judge Alitos past writings. studied his answers to the Senate Judiciary Committee. and asked to meet with him in my office. A lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court is a tremendous grant of unchecked power. If the Supreme Court","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2123,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090104098,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"One of his teachers told a local news Cutlet. \"Matt was very excited about being part of the military. It was what he wanted to do. He was just a young man -that wanted to serve his country.\" Matthew had been in the military for nearly 2 years. but this was his first deployment to Iraq. He arrived there only 4 months ago as a counterintelligence specialist. Matthew was killed while serving his country in Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was a member of the 1st Special Troops Battalion in the 101st Airborne Division based at Fort Campbell. KT. This brave young soldier leaves behind his father and mother. James and Marilyn Frantz. his brothers. ","speaker_name":"EVAN BAYH","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3414,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090104106,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He has always greatly valued cohesive working relationships with Federal. State. and local law enforcement personnMl. I believe that without exception. he has become a highly respected and trusted prosecutor and able administrator. While serving in the Bush Adminis-% tration. Paul was appointed the Chairman of U.S. Attorney General John Ashcrofts Advisory Committee of U.S. Attorneys. He also previously chaired the Subcommittee on Terrorism for this Committee. and continues as an exofficio member of the Committee to this day. Pauls legal career began when he graduated with the first class of the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young UniversityBYUin 1976. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5261,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090104108,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"However. the leadership of Communication SystemsWests 2.300 employees. includhig 1.000 engineers. is not limited to the battlefield. It is also found in their dedication to their community. Communication SystemsWest partners with Utahs universities to assistin placing new gfaduates in promising and creative careers. The company is an active member of the Mathematics. Engineering. and Science Achievement. or MESA. consortium. MESA. of course. provides resources to aid minority and female students entering technological fields of. study. As a contributor to the Ames and Challenger advanced education progtams for high school students interested in technology sciences. Communication SystemsWest continues to bring a bright future. to the niext generation of students. Finally. Communication SystemsWest also supports it hometown National Guardsmen and Reservists by .fully paying the salaries of its employees who have been activated to fight the War on Terrorism. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2956,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090104110,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Dog and Pigrepresent a cyclical concept of time. He told each animal that the people born in their year would inherit some of the personality traits of that animal. It is said that those born in the Year Of the Dog tend to be loyal. kind. and generous. America is rich with the cultural traditions of many countries. In California. the ChineseAmerican community plays a vibrant and important part of our States history. Celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year allows us to embrace this significant and most important cultural festival of the Chinese calendar. I hope that the Chinese Lunar New Year brings good health. happiness. peace and prosperity to all. I give my very best wishes for an auspicious New Year.*","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1674,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090104112,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I rise to honor an outstanding group of young choir members who have brought joy and musical harmony to countless people in Delaware and around the world. The Cathedral Choir School of Delaware has been chosen to perform on January 25. 2006. for an audience at the White House that will include First Lady Laura Bush. They will also be presented with the Coming Up Taller Award. This award is the Nations highest honor for afterschool and outofschool programs that use arts and humanities to enrich the lives of children. Created in 1998. this awards program is a project of the Presidents Committee on the Arts and the Humanities in partnership with Institute of Museum and Library Services. the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Cathedral Choir School has had an enormous positive impact on the. lives of the students who pass through its halls. The fnore than 50 students. ranging in age from 7 to 17. who attend the school are encouraged to learn the enduring values of discipline. responsibility. leadership and teamwork. With more than 800 alumni since its inception in 1883. the Cathedral choir school has had a positive impact on both the lives of the students who have had the privilege of participating in this choir school and the lives of those around them. By training Delawares young people in life skills and community involvement. the Cathedral Choir School has consistently enhanced the lives of all that it touches. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2843,"word_count":252}
{"speech_id":1090104113,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He was especially close to his fellow Basque friends. Maurice had a soul of generosity. gentleness. and wisdom and knew the value of hard. honest work. This legacy is his gift and it lives on in his family and friends. My prayers are with them during this difficult time.*","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CRAPO","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1318,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090104122,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"CLINTON. Mr. under Medicare Part D. but were imCHAFEE. and Mr. DODD): properly denied Federal coverage.","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":299,"word_count":16}
{"speech_id":1090104124,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am pleased to join with Senator LAUTENBERG today to introduce urgent legislation to assist the many States which have stepped forward to provide an essential safety net to our Medicare Part D beneficiaries. Our States have acted as \"payers of last resort\"-as beneficiaries faced unaffordable costs when errors in implementing their coverage denied them access to vital medications. The Medicare State Reimbursement Act will reimburse our States for their cogts in assuring that. millions receive their medications. So many of our colleagues have recognized the crisis which was avertedSenators COLE-","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":616,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090104131,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President.* today I am submitting this resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that the Authorization for Use of Military Force. which Congress passed to authorize military action against those responsible for the attacks on September 11. 2001. did not authorize warrantless eavesdropping on American citizens. As Justice OConnor underscored recently. even war \"is not a blank check for the President when it comes to the rights of the Nations citizens.\" Now that the illegal spying of Americans has become public and the President has acknowledged the 4yearold program. the Bush administrations lawyers are contending that Congress authorized it. The September 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force did no such thing. Republican Senators. also know it and a few have said so publicly. We all know it. The liberties and rights that define us as Americans and the system of checks and balances that serve to preserve them should not be sacrificed to threats of terrorism or to the expanding power of the government. In the days immediately following those attacks. I said. and I continue to believe. that the terrorists win if they frighten us into sacrificing our freedoms and what defines us as Americans. I well remember the days immediately after the 9\/11 atacks. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9411,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090104132,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Court. We got no reclusive means by which electronic sur- sponse. The Senate Judiciary Comveillance could be conducted in the mittee is scheduled to begin separate United States for national security hearings on February 6 on the Presipurposes. One of the principal goals of dents actions. Instead of providing us the legislation was to ensure that in- with the documents the Administraformation obtained from illegal wire- tion relied upon. the Justice Departtaps could not be tfsed to obtain a war- ment continues to circulate summaries rant from the Foreign Intelligence Sir- and \"white papers\" on the legal auveillance Court. We. even made sure thorities it purports to have to ignore that there would be criminal penalties the law. It now appears that the Presifor anyone who failed to comply with deht did so on at least thirty occasions these rules. after September 11. There is no legiti-","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3204,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090104165,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent when the Senate completes its business today. it stand in adjournment until 9:45 p.m. on Thursday. January 26. I further ask that following. the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate then proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the nomination of Samuel Alito to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court .of the United States as under the previous order.","speaker_name":"JOHN THUNE","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":535,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090104186,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Former Third Circuit Judge Gibbons explained his faith in Judge Alitos ability to fairly judge cases in which the government is asserting its executive power. He said: \"The committee members should not think for a moment that I support Judge Alitos nomination because I am .a dedicated defender of that administration. On the contrary. I and my firm have been litigating with that administration for a number of years over its treatment of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. Cuba. and elsewhere. and we are certainly chagrined at the position that is being taken by the administration with respect to those detainees. I am confident. however. that as an able legal scholar and a fairminded justice. he will give the arguments. -legal and factual. that -may be presented on behalf of our clients careful and thoughtful consideration without any predisposition in favor of the position of the exeoutive branch.\" Defense lawyers who litigated against Judge Alito confirm that when Judge Alito was part of the executive branch. he had a modest View of its power. The New York Times reported that one defense attorney. Dan Ruhnke. said that Judge Alito lacked the \"cop mentality\" of many career prosecutors and was \"never a cheerleader for law enforcemext.\" Another defense attorney. Drew Barry. said that Judge Alito was \"not a bloodthirsty United States attorney.\" and that he was \"a vigorous prosecutor who went after a wide variety of bad guys. but his reputation was not someone who would ask for the heaviest sentences.\" As a member of the Judiciary Committee and in my time in the Senate. this is. a sorrowful time for me. The politics of personal destruction were all too evident in the Senate hearing and -continue on the floor of this body. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9895,"word_count":292}
{"speech_id":1090104226,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I think that would work out. Perhaps the intervening hour will be such that we wont need that additional 5 minutes because I think the managers and leadership have tried to carefully manage the time. I am just able to get started now because my colleagues gave very good speeches. and we all enjoyed it.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":318,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090104236,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Supreme Court. decided. by onevote margins. two cases involving the question of whether certain groups of workers were protected under the National Labor Relations Act. Millions of state employees Were deprived of their ability to seek relief in court under the Fair Labor Standards Act. the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. and the Americans with. Disabilities Act because of decisions decided by a onevote margin. The Court issued .a decision restricting States in their ability to adopt their own workplace safety laws. again by a onevote margin. By a onevote margin. the Supreme Court excused employers from having to pay backpay when they are found to have discriminated against union supporters who happen to be undocumented workers. The importance of this nomination to the rights and protections of working families is clear. There is an excellent letter I received from AFSME. It points out: As a judge on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. Liltss extreme views can be seen in his rulings where he consistently limits Congress authority to enact laws that protect the rights of workers and individuals.... Then it says: In one such case.Alito denied a female police officers sexual harassment claims despite overwhelming evidence thatshe had indeed been victimized. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5096,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090104260,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I -appreciate the Senator from Pennsylvania. I enjoy my relationship with him. But the only thing I would do is defend the Senate a little bit. I know he was being facetious. Senators are here in Washington. There are a few Senators attending a very important economic conference in Switzerland. but that is a handful of Senators. three or four. as I understand it. I am glad they are there. I am confident that if any votes are required in the near futurethey have been advised and have agreed to come back in a few hours notice. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":671,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090104261,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"When the debate is over. we vote. If the debate continues. we do not vote. If the debate continues. we may have to go to cloture. We have rules to accommodate us there. There have been counts made that when you have the number .of Senators who have stated their intention to vote for cloture. plus the number of Senators who have stated their intention to vote for Judge Alito. you come to 60 or more. We are ready to do the business of the Senate. I know Senator FRIST is watching these proceedings because our conference. at a little after *3 oclock in the afternoon. reaches a little low point. .a little low on blood sugar. things get a little sleepy. So I am sure they turned on the television to watch this. It would be my hope that the Republican leader and the Democratic leader will be on the floor today. and we will come to some sort of a schedule so we all know what to do.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1276,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090104267,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. at the outset. I thank Mike Quiello and Nick Pearson of my staff for the research and preparation they gave me in my deliberation and consideration of Samuel Alito. Jr.. and his appointment to the Supreme Court. Further. as a second generation American. the grandson of a Swedish immigrant who came to this country about 11 years prior to Samuel Alito. Sr.s coming to this country from Italy. I am pleased that in the next few days I will have the chance to cast my vote to confirm Judge Alito as a Justice of the Supreme Court and reaffirm the promise that is the American dream of those who have come here from backgrounds that are diverseand far away to be a part of a great nation and have pledged their allegiance to all it stands for. I have thought a lot about what I would say in confirming my vote on behalf of Judge Alito. and I decided. after listening to the speeches over the last couple of days. that I would try to draw a distinction that. to me. has been ap.parent in this debate but also is clearly the reason that I support Judge Alito. As we have heard today from a number of my colleagues. he has been criticized for being narrow and restrictive. It is important that we understand what the opposite of narrow and restrictive is to understand where those who oppose him are coming from. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ISAKSON","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8587,"word_count":244}
{"speech_id":1090104276,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I rise today not fully convinced that Judge Samuel Alito is the right person to replace Justice OConnor on the Supreme Court.. Unlike a few months ago. when I rose to support the nomination of John Roberts. I will not be supporting Judge Alitos nomination to the Supreme Court. In sharing that decision today. though. let me be clear on several points. I will not be voting against his confirmation because I dont believe he has the legal qualifications. the intellect. or the experience necessary to sit on the Supreme Court. I do. He is clearly very bright and demonstrates an excellent grasp of the law. I will not be voting against him because I dont like him or respect him. I do. He is described by a number of his colleagues as collegial. as hard working. an4 as a devoted father and husband. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11827,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090104310,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The facts. as we have demonstrated. speak for themselves. Samuel Alito is not a racist. not a rightwing extremist who believes in an executive branch with sole. authority and rules only in favor of the powerful but a thoughtful. mainstream. fair. experienced interpreter of the Constitution. He- is a good guy. I have heard many people say that he is probably one of the most qualified persons ever to be nominated for this High Court. Those liberal Senators who are desperately grasping at any straw to find justification to vote against Judge Alito. they have their litmus test. In order to be confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court. a judge must embrace all of the leftwings extremist agenda. an agenda that is so unpopular in America that the American people reject it. and it must be legislated from the bench. That is the problem they have. When my service in the Senate is over. one of the greatest honors I will have had. for the sake of America and for the sake of my 20 kids and grandkids. is to vote to confirm Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1077,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090104314,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Now this Democratic leader. Mr. REID. has urged his colleagues to vote \"no\" in the party conference. Some have tried to say that is not so. But when the Democratic leader goes before his colleagues and urges them to vote \"no.\" it has an impact. It sets this as a political vote rather than allowing and encouraging each individual Member to vote their own conscience. It is going to reduce the number of votes that Judge Alito will receive because people try to follow their leaders when they can. But it is not right. This is a fabulous nomination. Judge Sam Alito is one of the finest nominees to ever come down the pike. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5247,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090104322,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the 2005 Teen Gun Survey conducted by the Uhlich Childrens Advantage Network. also known as UCAN. produced some very interesting and troubling results. UCAN conducts this survey each year as a way of measuring teens attitudes about gun violence. For 2005. the sample included nearly 1.000 teenagers from around the country who responded to a variety of questions about their exposure to gun violence and its impact on their lives.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":445,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090104324,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Many of Major Andersons colleagues define him as a trusted and humble leader. LTC Thomas Nielsen wrote that \"Major Anderson was one of the finest officers I have known in my 28year\" career.\" Major Andersons father said that \"he was very proud of being in the military - . . he just loved it.\" He was known to sprinkle in humor with his training and with his annual Christmas cards. His humor will be missed by all who knew him. I ask my colleagues in the Senate and every American to remember the sacrifice that Major Anderson gave for our freedomi.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1688,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090104325,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Australia continues to be one of Americas strongest allies. Our greatest gift is the friendship born of shared values. I thank the UniCapitol Program and these Australian interns for their hard work. and I wish the program continued success.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2909,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090104326,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on January 11 of this year. at the Moscow Headquarters and Synagogue of Agudas Chasidei Chabad Olf the Former Soviet Union. a socalled \"skinhead\" attacked worshippers with a knife and wounded eight persons. I know that all Members of this body deplore this terrible crime .and send our prayers and best wishes to all those injured during the assault. The victims of this senseless violence include Rabbi Isaac Kogan. who testified before an April 6 Helsinki Commission hearing I convened last year concerning Chabads ongoing efforts to retrieve the Schneerson Collection of sacred Jewish texts from Moscow. The Rabbi is a noted refusenik who was appointed by the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson. to be part of Agudas Chasidei Chabad of the Former Soviet Union. In addition to nurturing Judaism throughout the former USSR. that organization has fought tirelessly to win the return of the Schneerson Collection to its rightful owners in the United States. The entire U.S. Senate has twice petitioned the Russian leadership to release those holy texts. ","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2739,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090104332,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. MAR- Act of 2006\" or the \"PACE\" Act. This TINEZ. Mr. INOUYE. Mr. STE- legislation ensures that the United VENS. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JAMES TALENT","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":374,"word_count":24}
{"speech_id":1090104344,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to introduce the Protecting Americas Competitive Edge (PACE) Act that will enable us to build on our existing strengths to help secure Americas continued economic prosperity in the twentyfirst century. I want to gratefully acknowledge at the outset that I am. introducing this legislation with Senator DOMENICI. Senator ALEXANDER. Senator MIKULSKI. and others. This measure is the product of our combined best efforts from both sides of the aisle. and our sole focus has been only on what is in the best interests of the Nation as a whole. For the last 200 years. our investments in science and technology. both public and private. have driven our economic growth and improved the quality of life in America. They have generated new knowledge and new industries. created new jobs. ensured economic and national security. reduced pollution and increased energy efficiency. provided better and safer transportation. improved medical care. and increased living standards for the American people. Americas scientists and engineers through their unmatched vitality. creativity. and curiosity have helped us not only imagine but invent the future. ","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12820,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090104348,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Poland also .cooperates closely with the United States on such issues as.democratization. human rights. regional cooperation in Eastern Europe. and reform of the United Nations. As a member of the Nortj Atlantic Treaty Organization. NATO. and the Eurdpean Union. EU. Poland has demonstrated its commitment to democratic values and is a role model in its region. I believe that it is important to invest in the youth of the United States and Poland in order to strengthen longlasting ties between both societies. After receiving for many years international and U.S. financial assistance. Poland is now determined to invest its own resources toward funding a U.S.Poland exchange program. To this end. the Polish Foreign Minister unambigBy Mr. OBAMA (for himself. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD LUGAR","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3063,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090104352,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Branches snapped under the weight of more than a foot of leavy. wet snow and ice. The resulting power outages left 125.000 Nebraskans without electricity for days and even weeks. As governor of Nebraska then. it was the responsibility of my office to declare a state of emergency which activated the National Guard to help in clean up and rescue operations. The Guard responded with troops and equipment that made the effort proceed smoothly and efficiently. The Guard handles State missions like this every year and every season while experiencing critical equipment shortages. especially vehicle and radio shortages. Congress added $1 billion dollars for new equipment for the Guard last December. but thats only a small portion of what is needed to fully fund the equipment needs of the Guard. And deployments. especially to Iraq. -and Afghanistan. have stretched the Guard thin. Its in this environment that the Department of Defense will release the Quadrennial Defense Review next month. The QDR review could impact the future of the Guard. The Army and the Air Force may recommend changes in the force structure which will impact Army National Guard armories and Air National Guard wings throughout the country. ","speaker_name":"BEN NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5351,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090104354,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask President Clintons nominees. con- unanimous consent that the Select -.When Judge Alito Was nominated on Committee on Intelligence be author- October 31. or shortly after thatized to meet during the session of the maybe even that dayChairman SPECSenate on January 26. 2005 at 2:30 p.m. TER and I worked in good faith vith t.I to hold a closed briefing.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4841,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090104377,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I first want to comment about the chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Senator ARLEN SPECTER. Knowing the health challenges he has faced in the past. witnessing this Senators strenuous schedule in the last few months has been something to watch. to have the opportunity to witness his commitment to the Senate and to his role as chairman of the Judiciary Committee. I commend him very much for his dedication to his job and to his function as chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He has come through some very serious medical periods in his life. but he has distinguished himself in recent months in demonstrating his total commitment to the work of the Senate. I honor him for the job he has done in conducting these hearings.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":742,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090104391,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to honor the life of MG John W. Kiely. Major General Kiely was a man of exemplary service to our State and country. A veteran of three wars. he ascended to the rank of colonel. Regular Army as well as serving as brigadier general. National Guard of Rhode Island. adjutant general of Rhode Island. and also was promoted to the grade of major general and commanding general. General Kiely was a model soldier. receiving a Purple Heart. 2 Bronze Stars. Valor. and 3 Legions of Merit. along with 22 other Federal Government awards and decorations. as well as the Rhode Island Cross and the Rhode Island Star. ","speaker_name":"LINCOLN CHAFEE","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":808,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090104427,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I was here in the Chamber in the role of Presiding Officer during the presentation of the senior Senator from Massachusetts in which he referred to a story in this mornings New York Times with respect to public relations activity aimed at supporting Judge Alito. He was quite outraged at what he had read in the New York Times and talked about how improper it was for a public relations firm or any group of lawyers to gather together and mount a campaign on behalf of this nominee. that that should be left to the Senate and that there should be no outside interference in this process. The New York Times had focused on the activities that hadbeen in favor of the nominee. and the Senator from Massachusetts found that objectionable. As I listened to him. I could not help but think of thie actions that went forward in opposition to this nominee by groups of lawyers who gathered together to get their ammunition ready in the public arena. by public relations firms that were hired to oppose the nominee. I remember the story in the Washington Post when John Roberts was proposed where they described those groups that were opposed to the President gathering with their press releases to attack the nominee. who were forced to strip out the name of the person they thought the nominee would be and put in John Roberts name so that they could issue the press releases as soon as the name was made public. They had prepared their ammunition to attack the Presidents nominee before they knew who he was. and they were embarrassed by the fact that they had guessed wrong. But they did not change a single word of their attack once they knew that the actual nominee was someone different than they had anticipated. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BENNETT","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5198,"word_count":307}
{"speech_id":1090104461,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"She showed respect for precedent. She put the law above her personal beliefs. In my view. it is critical that we replace Justice OConnor with someone who shares her openminded approach of looking at the law and the facts with no political agenda. Even the mere threat of legal activism on this Supreme Court threatens the future of this country and the rights of our children. our grandchildren. and other generations. Many legal expertsjudges. lawyers. professorshave contacted me regarding this nomination. Some supported him. some opposed him. Many of these experts tried to convince me one way or the other. But when I listened to Judge Alitos hearings in the Judiciary Committee. I listened with the faces of my grandchildren in my mind. with the thoughts of ordinary people who depend on the fairness of our society. I was applying Judge Alitos philosophy to the real problems of everyday peoplein New Jersey and across the Nation. ","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10519,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090104463,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But she has shown throughout her tenure a respect for law over ideology and a commitment to deciding each case not on the personal views she brought to the bench. but on the facts before her. When some on the court sought to inject an activist political philosophy into judicial decisionmaking and to turn back the clock on the liberties afforded the American people under the Constitution. it was Justice OConnor who blocked their path. I had hoped Judge Alito would clearly demonstrate that he shares the commitment to protecting the individual rights and freedoms that Justice OConnor so often cast the deciding vote to defend. Decades of progress in protecting basic rights. including privacy. womens rights. and civil rights. are at stake with this nomination. The burden was on Judge Alito to be forthright and unambiguous in his answers. Unfortunately. his testimony was not reassuring and his record makes clear what kind of justice Judge Alito would be. A justice who would vote to overturn a womans right to choose. a justice who has time and time again sided with corporations and against average Americans. a justice who would allow this administration to continue to stretch and potentially violate its legal and constitutional authority. Especially with the challenges our Nation faces today and will face tomorrow. America cannot afford that kind of justice. We live in extraordinary times today. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT MENENDEZ","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12165,"word_count":230}
{"speech_id":1090104473,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Those raising this lastminute call for a filibuster have had a full and fair opportunity to air their views about this nomination. Let us not forget that debate over a nomination. especially to the Supreme Court. begins as soon as the President announces his intention to nominate. The Judiciary Committee chairman. Senator SPECTER. accommodated Democrats and waited to hold the hearing on the Alito nomination until January. In fact. the 70 days between announcement and hearing exceeded the average time for all of the current Supreme Court Justices by more than 60 percent. Nonetheless. committee Democrats insisted on delaying the nomination for an extra week. The nomination has now been on the floor for nearly a week. While the Senator from Massachusetts. Mr. KENNEDY. says that Senators need still more time to debate. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11995,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090104476,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the votes we take today and tomorrow give us an important opportunity. The Los Angeles Times editorial of January 15. 2006. got it right. saying that trying to derail this nomination by filibuster rather than on the merits is wrong. I urge my colleagues to preserve this bodys tradition by rejecting this desperate filibuster attempt. and then in a vote tomorrow. I urge my colleagues to honor the judiciarys important but limited role in our system of government by confirming this qualified and honorable man to the Supreme Court of the United States of America. Mr. President. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":613,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090104488,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"These are things that are on the line in this vote this afternoon. And these are the things that I believe most Americans want us to consider. We have to consider whether a judge we confirm to a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court will undermine the laws that we have already passed that benefit millions of Americans. like the Family Medical Leave Act. We have to consider whether Judge Alito will place barriers in the way of addressing discrimination. whether he will serve as an effective check on the abuse of executive power. whether he will roll back womens privacy rights or whether he will enforce the rights and liberties that generations of Americans have fought and bled and even died to protect. Nbne of the rights we are talking about came easily in this country. There were always those in positions of power who fought back and resisted. What we need in a Justice is somebody who is sensitive to that history. Senator after Senator has described specific cases and the way in which Judge Alito has had a negative impact in these areasoften standing alone. in dissent against mainstream beliefs. This long record is a record that gave the extreme right wing cause for public celebration with his nomination. That just about tells you what you need to know. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6214,"word_count":222}
{"speech_id":1090104491,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I will yield myself 7 minutes. First of all. I thank my friend. Senator KERRY. for his strong commitment on this issue and his eloquence. passion. and support of this position. This is a time in the Senate that a battle needs to be fought. This vote that we are casting with regard to Judge Alito is going to have echoes for years and years to come. It is going to be a defining vote about the Constitution of the United States. about our protections of our rights and our liberties in the Constitution of the United States. People in my State at this particular time are concerned about the difficulties they are having with prescription drugs. They are concerned about the problems they are having in paying their oil bills. They are concerned about their problems in paying for the education of their children. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5712,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090104492,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I began the hearing on this nomination by putting forward what for me was the ultimate question during the consideration of a successor to Justice Sandra Day OConnor: Would Judge Alito. if confirmed by the Senate to the Supreme Court. protect the rights and liberties of all Americans and serve as an effective check on government overreaching? Since this debate began last Wednesday. I have posed the fundamental question that this nomination raises for this body: whether the Senate will serve its constitutional role as a check on Executive power by preserving the Supreme Court as a constitutional check on the expansion of Presidential power. This is a nomination that I fear threatens the fundamental rights and liberties of all Americans now and for generations to come. As astonishing as the facts may seem. it does not overstate them to point out that the President is in the midst of a radical realignment of the powers of the government and of its intrusiveness into the private lives of Americans. This nomination is part and parcel of that plan. I am concerned that if confirmed. this nominee will further erode the checks and balances that have protected our constitutional rights for more than 200 years. This is a critical nomination. one that can tip the balance on the Supreme Court radically away from constitutional checks and balances and the protection of Americans fundamental rights. The procedural vote just taken was in large measure symbolic. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3774,"word_count":245}
{"speech_id":1090104494,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Judge Alito has repeatedly sided against people with few or no resources. The average person up against a big corporation. an employer. or even the government itself. all too often comes out on the short end of the stick in front of Judge Alito. I am particularly troubled by one case. RNS Services v. Secretary of Labor. In RNS Services. Judge Alito argued. in a lone dissent. against protecting workers in a Pennsylvania coal plant by not enforcing the jurisdiction of the Mine Safety and Health Administration. MSHA. Judge Alito claimed that the coal processing plant was closer to a factory than a mine. and therefore should be governed by the more lenient Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA. standards. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ROCKEFELLER","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7170,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090104504,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Judge Becker has sat with Judge Alito on more than 1.000 cases. He is well known as a centrist and is a highly respected judge. He testified that Judge Alito and he had disagreed on a very small number of cases. about 25. The second was Judge Timothy Lewis. an African American who identifies himself as being very strongly prochoice. very strong for civil rights. He was seated on the lefthand side of the panelhe made a reference to that reflecting his position on the philosophical spectrumand testified very strongly on Judge Alitos behalf. saying that if he did not have every confidence in Judge Alito he would not have appeared as a witness in the proceeding. The prepared statement which I filed in the record last week details a great many cases where Judge Alito has decided in favor of the socalled little guy. In the context of the hundreds of decisions that Judge Alito has written and the thousands of cases where he has sat. you could pick out a few and put him with any position on the philosophical spectrum of the court. Candidly. it is a heavy responsibility to cast a vote on a Supreme Court nominee. especially one who is taking the place of Justice OConnor. a swing vote. But when we look at the traditional standard as to intellect. this man is an A plus. When we look at the traditional standard of character. again he is an A plus. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5544,"word_count":246}
{"speech_id":1090104508,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The bags inflated. and I am sure saved him great bodily pain. I talked to him. He was under some medication. He said he is sore but he is going to be fine. With all the travel we do. we all live on the edge of something happening. I am so happy Senator ENSIGN is fine. He is a wonderful man. He has great faith. He is a good friend of mine and to all of the Senate. I know all of our thoughts and prayers will be with him. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":902,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090104526,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me be clear: I do not deny Judge Alitos judicial qualifications. He is experienced. intelligent. and capable. His family should be proud of him. and all Americans should be proud that the American dream was there for him and for the Alito family. But these facts do not outweigh my deep conviction that Judge Alitos extreme views of the law make him the wrong person for this job. As a Senator. I have no more solemn duty than to vote on a nomination for the Supreme Court of the United States. These are lifetime appointments. with extraordinary power to shape the law of the land. and to affect the lives of Americans. not just those living now. but for generations to come. In the 218 years since our Constitution was adopted. our Nation has made great strides toward achieving the more perfect Union that the Founding Fathers dreamed of Women were given the right to vote. AfricanAmericans were given civil rights. A right to personal privacy has been recognized for women and families. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11522,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090104535,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So. Mr. President. for the reasons I have stated. I will oppose this nomination. I say this with regret because it will only be the fourth occasion in 25 years I will have voted against a nominee for the Supreme Court. I will do so tomorrow at 11 a.m. I deeply regret that I didnt have the opportunity to engage in a fuller discussion. It is somewhat disturbing. that I was only allocated 20 minutes. Because of the constraints on time. this is all this Senator can say about a lifetime appointment to a coequal branch of Government. a nominee that will have a huge impact on the course of America in the 21st century. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":637,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090104540,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Let me share with you. not all 10 times but a little anecdotal experience on 3 of those times. First. in January. January is the first vote. I remember one ladyI had an interpreter and we were interviewingand she said I couldnt see the ballot because of the tears in my eyes. Then it occurred to me. this is not the first time in the 30 years of the butcher Saddam Hussein. this is the first time in 7.000 years we have had an opportunity at selfdetermination. A few days later I decide to spend my time in the Sunni triangle because that is where they are supposed to hate us the most. There is a general in Fallujah by the name of Mahdi. the brigade commander for Saddam Hussein. the brigade commander for the Iraqi security forces in Fallujah. At that time he hated Americans. until they started training with the Marines in Fallujah. called embedded training. They became so fond of the Marines. when they rotated the Marines out we all got together and we cried. He renamed Fallujah Iraqi security force the Fallujah marines. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8783,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090104567,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. before the majority leader leaves the floor. we have an hour of time divided before the 11 oclock vote. I know the short amount of time we have is allocated to the very second. I am wondering if it would be appropriate to have a full hour prior to the vote. I guess my question is. How much time do you need on your side?","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":336,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090104568,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. a small number of provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act are due to expire. Senate Democrats stand read)V to provide law enforeement with all necessary tools to keep Americans safe from terrorism. -Democrats supported the original PATRIOT Act that was passed in 2001. We supported the reauthorization bill that passed the Senate unanimously this past summer. And we support reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act now with modest improvements. Printed on recycled paper. A reauthorization bill should continue to provide the Government with the tools it needs to fight terrorism but must also include sufficient checks to protect against potential governmental abuse of these expansive powers. There is widespread bipartisan support for a reauthorization bill that will protect both national security and the rights of innocent Americans. I applaud Senators SUNUNU. CRAIG. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1480,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090104596,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But at the same time. he refused to definitively say that he did not personally believe his previous assertion. It is also useful to note that we are curretly in midst of a potentially endless war. The war on terror is almost 5 years old. and. unfortunately. shows no signs of abating. Will these expansive Presidential powers become a permanent fixture? What kind of powers do we want our President to have in dealing with a war that may go on for decades? Should our courts have no role? In 1986. Alito drafted a proposal to make full use of presidential signing statements in order to \"increase the power of the Executive to shape the law.\" It was yet another way to increase the power of the executive at the. expense of the other branches. Senator LEAHY asked Judge Alito at the hearing. \"wouldnt it be constitutional for the Congress to outlaw Americans from using torture?\" This is exactly what the Senate attempted to do in voting overwhelmingly on a bipartisan basis to support the socalled McCain antitorture amendment. But when this legislation was signed into law by President Bush on December 30. 2005. he issued a \"Presidential signing statement\" stating basically that no matter what me legislation says on its face. he could still order torture in certain circumstances. Specifically. the statement read that the \"executive branch shall construe this [prohibition] in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President to supervise the unitary executive branch .. \" That is what is at stake with \"Presidential signing statements.\" As my colleague Senator LEAHY has pointed out. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12320,"word_count":269}
{"speech_id":1090104598,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I do not believe Judge Alito will be able to fairly apply the principles embodied in the U.S. Constitution. Our Constitution sets forth important civil rights and privacy protections that are fundamental to our way of life today. In recent years. these freedoms have been precariously protected by a delicate balance on the Supreme Court. with Justice OConnor frequently tipping the scales in favor of the civil rights and privacy protections that so many Americans depend upon. I am disheartened by the reality that so many of these freedoms will likely be eroded when Judge Alito joins the Court. Judge Alitos approach to the law is not merely conservative. it is extreme. Judge Alitos opinions in race and gender employment discrimination cases have crafted a restrictive interpretation of civil rights laws that would make it much more difficult for women and minorities to prevail or even receive a jury trial. I am also troubled by Judge Alitos statement in his infamous 1985 job application that he was \"particularly proud\". of his work in the Reagan administration. where he counseled the administration to restrict affirmative action and limit remedies for racial discrimination. I cherish our system of checks and balances in Government. where each branch of the Government is coequal with the other. I believe that it is critical that this balance. which our forefathers so wisely and carefully created. is protected and maintained. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3639,"word_count":233}
{"speech_id":1090104603,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let us never S344 Co squander or take for granted all that has been achieved. Let us keep their dream alive. That is why. since this debate began last Wednesday. I posed the fundamental question this nomination raises: *\u00a2hether the Senate is going to serve its constitutional role as a check on the President by preserving the Supreme Courtas a constitutional check on the expansion of Presidential power. This nomination now before us is an unacceptable threat to the fundamental rights and liberties for all Americans now and for generations to come. This President is in the midst of a radical realignment of the powers of the Government and its intrusiveness into the private lives of Americans. I. am concerned that if confirmed. this nominee is going to further erode the checks and balances that have protected our constitutional rights for more than 200 years. This is a crucial nomination. one that can tip the balance of the Supreme Court radically away from constitutional checks and balances. and from the protection of Americans fundamental rights. The vote that the Senate is about to take has real consequences. not just for the 100 of us in this body but for 295 million Americans. We stand in their shoes. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3539,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090104609,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"When you take a look at the values of an individual. who knows him better than the judges with whom he worked? Seven judges cams before the Committee to testify and they all authenticated the -conclusion that he does not have a predetermined set of values that he is going to try to force upon the country. All factors considered. I think he -is worthy of confirmation by this body. \" I thank the Chair. andI yield the - floor.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":427,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090104610,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is clear that Judge Alitos educational background is quite impressive. The son of public school teachers. Judge Alito grew up in a family in which the importance of education and hard work were firmly rooted. His father. who arrived in the United States as an. infant. knew firsthand the struggles of growing up in poverty. His ability to pull himself up by his bootstraps and emphasizing education as the window to a better life laid a firm foundation for his family. It is no surprise that Judge Alitos exceptional educational background boasts of two formidable Ivy League universitiesa notable accomplishment resulting from hard work and a keen mind. However. during his testimony. his statements demonstrated that he fully recognized what an opportunity it was to attend these renowned universities and took full advantage. He said: It was a time of turmoil at colleges and universities. And I saw some very smart people and very privileged people behaving irresponsibly. And I couldnt help making a contrast between some of the worst of what I saw on the campus and the good sense and the decency of the people back in my own community. ","speaker_name":"PAT ROBERTS","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4919,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090104623,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I now ask that the Senate proceed to the nominations of Ben Bernanke. as under the previous order. For the information of colleagues. we will begin debate on the Bernanke nominations now and will conclude the remaining debate after the policy lunches.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":266,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090104668,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":15,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I rarely. if ever. witnessed or heard any of the Fed Governors publicly challenging or disagreeing with Chairman Alan Greenspan. Chairman Greenspan has done an admirable job during- his tenure at the Federal Reserve. He had a difficult task. Part of his job was to predict the future. However. I believe Chairman Greenspan has always erred on the side of raising interest rates. I am not alone with this opinion. History has shown he has made many mistakes in raising rates for too long. My problem is when he did that. not one Governor raised their voice. Instead. they either bit their tongue out of fear they would be viewed as not a team player or perhaps what might be worse is that they all agreed with each other and simply reinforced bad ideas. ","speaker_name":"JIM BUNNING","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9714,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090104688,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have shown that you -can have a onepage 1040 form. The Presidents advisory committee report that came out in the fall had a similar formI do not happen to agree with all they did. but their onepage form isnt that much longer than mine. For purposes of Government work. we could put the two of them together and really do something meaningful on a bipartisan basis to simplify the Tax Code. to use that $140 billion now spent on compliance on something I know the Presiding Officer has a great interest ineducation and infrastructure and other areas that are of great importance to our country. But on top of simplifying the Tax Code. there is more that has to be done to help the middle class. I suspect we are not going to hear about it tonight. but Warren Buffett. the second wealthiest man in America. pays a lQt lower tax rate than his receptionist. That is because there is a double standard. We hit people a lot harder when they work for wages than when they make their money off investments. I am not interested in soaking anybody. I believe in markets. I believe in creating wealth. ","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10758,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090104711,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today marks the end of one of the most outstanding public service careers in this countrys history. Today. Dr. Alan Greenspan steps down as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. These last 18 years many accolades have been showered on Chairman Greenspans leadership in steering monetary. policya period that included some very difficult waters. But I think the true strength of his leadership can be measured by the numbers. The Chairman. I understand. devours statistics in helping to make sound decisions. And the measurable results have been impressive. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4322,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090104714,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. those of us working constructively and in a bipartisan way to extend the USA PATRIOT Act with improvements have repeatedly offered to meet to work out the remaining differences. Sadly. the Senate leadership has not made the effort to work through the remaining concerns or brought us together. I have continued meeting and talking with interested Republican and Democratic Senators. Senate staff has finally gotten together thig week in a bipartisan meeting. I urge the majority leader to bring together key interested Senators. to work out a bipartisan compromise that improves the failed conference report. A majority of SenatorsRepublicans and Democrats. those who voted against cloture on the conference report that failed to pass the Senate and those who voted for it urged the Republican leader to act on a shortterm. 3month extension before the end of the last session. Instead.-he chose to proceed with a 6month extension that Republicans in the House found objectionable. That led to the -short extension that is about to expire this week. The President had said that he would not approve a shortterm extension. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6413,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090104715,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Congress can also take steps to help stop or slow Irans acquisition of nuclear and other WMDrelated technology. including adding teeth to export control legislation such as the Iran and Syria Nonproliferation Act. The Iran Nonproliferation Enhancement Act. S.1976. that Senator KYL and I introduced late last year would do just that. It would toughen the ISNA by requiring rather than merely authorizing sanctions on proliferators. extending sanctions to the parent companies. and increasing the types of sanctions that apply to proliferators. By adopting this legislation. we would be sending a crystal clear message. to wouldbe proliferators: if you choose to assist Iran in developing nuclear or other WMDrelated capabilities. you are also choosing to forgo doing business with the United States. History teaches us that we cannot ignore the stated intent of those who seek to destroy nations. A nucleararmed Iran would pose a grave threat to the region. -to Israel. and to the entire international community. A concerted international effort is needed to prevent Iran from. procuring the technology and materiel needed to develop a nuclear weapon. This effort must begin now. and it must be comprehensive.","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2831,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090104716,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Dr. Esterly took the initiative to get the necessary training so she could fill this void in the departments nleonatal intensive care unit. She went on to become the director of the neonatology division in 1975. Throughout the 1980s. Dr. Esterly expanded the division and added additional fulltime neonatologists to her staff. resulting in a worldclass practice where even the sickest of newborns could be cared for. Dr. Esterly also advanced the cause of nurses by working with colleagues and government officials to highlight and promote the qualifications of professional nurses. Her actions led to nurse practitioners being able to treat patients and write prescriptions. which greatly reduces the workload of prac* ticing physicians and allows for greater responsibility on behalf of nurses. In addition. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4866,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090104719,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In 1970. when President Richard Nixon created the Presidents Commission on Campus Unrest. he chose William Byrne as its executive director. Byrne became the youngest judge ever appointed to the Federal bench when he was confirmed in 1971 at age 40. and he served as the Central Districts chief judge -from 1994 to 1998. In more than 30 years of service on the Federal bench..Judge Byrne had the opportunity to handle many cases. He is. however. best known for presiding over the Pentagon Papers.case. which was assigned to him just 2 years after his confirmation as a Federal judge. The Pentagon Papers case involved military analyst Daniel Ellsberg and codefendant Anthony J. Russo. Jr. who were indicted on 12 Federal counts. including conspiracy. theft of Government property. and espionage after an unauthorized release of a secret study of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Judge Byrne dismissed the case in 1973 after ruling that it was the Government that was guilty of misconduct. I invite all of my colleagues to join me in recognizing and honoring Judge William Matthew Byrne. Jr.. for his long and distinguished service to our country.e","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1726,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090104734,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The American School Counseling Association. the American Medical Association. and the American Psychological Association recommend the ratio of students to school counselors be 250 students to 1 school counselor. I want to share just a few examples of how school counselors throughout America are helping students. In a middle school in southern California. school counselors realized that 257 students were in danger of not.passing on to the next grade. They discovered that only 15 percent of the students understood the promotion and retention requirements. The school counselors presented. a series of individual and smallgroup lessons on promotion and retention criteria. After the lessons. 100 percent of the students understood the requirements. As a result. 72 of the 257 students. about 28 percent. avoided retention that year. In a high school in Racine. WI. a 4nath teacher realized that 100 of his students failed algebra in the first quarter of the year. He asked a school counselor for help. ","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3731,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090104755,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. toaay I rise to pay- tribute to the life of Mrs. Coretta Scott King. She was a steady force in the civil rights movement who ably supported the work of her late husband. the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Her legacy. like that of Dr. King. is steeped in the American principles we all hold dear: those of equality and justice.. patriotism. faith. and family values. As a young woman. Coretta Scott. a native of Marion. AL. experienced the racism and prejudice that characterized the South at that time. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3124,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090104756,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mrs. King excelled academically and demonstrated a great talent for music. She attended Antioch College in Yellow Springs. OH. where 2 years earlier her older sister. Edythe. had become the first black to enroll. At Antioch. she studied education and music. In 1953. the young Coretta Scott was preparing -for a career in music at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. when she met a young graduate student in philosophy. A year later she and Dr. King. then a young minister from a prominent Atlanta family. were married. Ddring Dr. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6998,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090104799,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Kings father. but probably to no surprise of anyone who knew her. she asked that the phrase \"obey thy husband\" section be removed from their marriage vows. Of their work together. Dr. King would later say. \"I wish I could say that I led her down this path. But I must say. we went down this path together because she is as actively involved and concerned when we met as she is now.\" A year after theywere married. Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King had to decide where to move after Dr. King completed his studies in Boston. whether to stay in the North or move back to the South. The year was 1954 and the South was deeply divided by the issue of race. The newlywed couple had both grown up in the segregated South. ","speaker_name":"NANCY PELOSI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4368,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090104809,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank my friend for yielding me the time. And I. thank the chairman and the ranking member for bringing this resolution to the floor. Iwas honored to stand many a time on the west wing of the Capitol of the United States as Mr. CONYERS led the .effort to ensure that America recognized the extraordinary contributions of one of Americas greatest sons. Martin Luther King. Jr.. and that we set a day aside to recognize not only. his contributions but to recommit ourselves to the objectives that he lived for and died for. And I want to congratulate","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":563,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090104816,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"A woman who took care of the children. raised them in her husbands absence because Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr.. was out fighting for civil rights. He was out putting himself on the line so that this country could be a better place for us all. So Coretta Scott King had to be -mother and father. and she did a wonderful job of it. She raised her children. and they are wonderful children. Yolanda King is a wonderful woman who lives in Los Angeles who isan actress and who has devoted her time to putting on plays that will help further the cause of civil rights. equality. and justice. Martin Luther King III was an elected official and headed SCLC. did a fine job of it. and I traveled to Georgia to give him support at some of the dark hours ofthe organization. And. of course. there is Dexter. a fine young man who has a responsibility for making big decisions as it relates to the King Center and all of the intellectual property that is associated with it. And even when it is very difficult. they are going to get through whatever they 4eed to get through in order to make sure that Dr. ","speaker_name":"MAXINE WATERS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":35.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4593,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090104824,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the distinguished ranking member of the Committee on the Judiciary. I thank the leader of the House. Leader PELOSI. and the Speaker of the House for giving us this opportunity to take a moment in history to be able to simply say thank you. to be able to. for a moment. honor a woman who did not pause and mourn as they buried her husband in April of 1968. as many of us would have thought. I start from that moment. because many have already recounted what a beautiful person Coretta Scott King was and for me continues to be. We already know of her beautiful voice. of the partnership. where she stood alongside of Martin Luther King. of the beautiful children. Martin. Dexter and her beautiful girls. So we know that she has been all that you would want a woman to be. particularly in the contextof our history. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1157,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090104826,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Martin Luther King. Jr. She will truly be an unspeakable loss. It is our duty in her honor to never waver in the face of injustice and degradation. As a member of the House Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees. my thoughts cant help but turn to todays confirmation of Justice Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court. I have had concerns about Justice Alitos past judicial record. I am still apprehensive. and I would like to take this opportunity to point out what I believe is a test of civil liberties presented today. The tragic passing of Coretta Scott King. a formidable human rights and civil liberties activist. and the concurrent confirmation of Justice Alito. may foreshadow difficult times ahead for American freedoms. Much of what Coretta Scott King fought for is now threatened by Justice Alitos confirmation to the U.S. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2862,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090104830,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for his kindness in yielding. My condolences first td Yolanda and Martin the Third. and Dexter and Bernice. I come to the floor to speak of Coretta Scott King. the woman. and of Coretta. my friend. Mr. Speaker. I hope that we will remember Coretta as I am sure she wanted to be remembered. as a movement woman. fully engaged from the outset in the work of her husband. except it was their work. King himself said. \"I did not bring Coretta to this work. she was there.\" These two people found each other. these southerners who went north for education. precisely because. alone and in the North With few blacks and whites who believed that they did. they were fully at one with each other. ","speaker_name":"ELEANOR NORTON","chamber":"H","state":"DC","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":1690,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090104846,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today we celebrate the life and mourn the passing of Coretta Scott King. Following the assassination of her husband. Dr. Martin Luther King in H14 co: 1968. Coretta Scott King Worked tirelessly to keep the ideology of equality for all people alive. A civil rights leader in her own right. she created the King Center for NonViolent Social Change in Atlanta. Georgia. in order to continue her husbands work. She fought with dignity and a quiet strength to end hunger. unemployment. voting rights violations and racism. We must continue to follow in the footsteps of Coretta Scott King and work to achieve equality though Oeaceful protests in order to im-. prove our country for future generations.","speaker_name":"HILDA SOLIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":709,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090104871,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Always maintain credibility with your colleagues.\" For 15 years. that advice has stayed with me. helping me serve my constituents and the American people more effectively. In whatever capacity he has served his countryfrom his 4 years as a page in this institution as a boy. to his time in the Army when he rose to the ranks of second lieutenant to his halfcentury in CongressJOHN DINGELL has served with dignity. with distinction and with historic consequences.","speaker_name":"ROSA DELAURO","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1421,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090104991,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to recognize and commend the valiant efforts of our men and women who are serving overseas. Almost 41\/2 years after the dreadful events of September 11 seized our Nation. brave Americans continue to serve overseas in our response to those attacks. During the past 2 months. I have visited with our troops. agency operators. and aid workers in two areas I believe are the two fronts of the war on terrorism. the Near East and Southeast Asia. Those I met with in the Philippines. Indonesia. Thailand. Iraq. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11042,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090105009,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":15,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank -Chairman GRASSLEY for his speech this morning. I thought it was extraordinarily good. I thought there was a little bit too much emphasis .on Iowawe need a little more mention of Mississippi in the processbut it was very good. My colleague touched on every important issue I had actually thought I might mention. but I will not belabor those points. He made it very clear that this is tax legislation that has broad support: 64 Senatorsvoted for it back in December and there were at least 2 who missed it who would have supported it. so 66 at least are for this. This is a classic case where there are some people. I guess. who are opposed to moving on to conference because of something they think may be in conference or some other things which I suspect. which I will talk about in a moment. But there has been good leadership. ","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10487,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090105022,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I again alert my colleagues what concerns me the most. even though the deficit gets all the attention in the press. the far more serious threat is the exponential growth of the debt. Last year. the deficit was some roughly $320 billion. but the growth of the debt was $550 billion. \"For this year. when we put back things that have been excluded. we see a deficit in the $360 billion range. but the growth of the debt we noW estimate is more than $630 billion. every penny of which has to be repaid. The budget that we. are still working on from last year will increase the debt of this countryby the estimates of the authors of the budgetwill increase the debt more than $600 billion a year each and every year of the 5 years of its life. That is a $3 trillion increase in the debt. The first 5 years of this administration the debt has already increased more than $3 trillion. Looking ahead to the next 5 years. there is another $3 trillion increase. We are now headed. we believe. for a $12 trillion debt by the end of this 5year period. a doubling of the debt in a 102earperiod. Foreign holdings of our debt have doubled in 5 years. It took 42 Presidents 224 years to run. up $1 trillion of debt held abroad. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3676,"word_count":229}
{"speech_id":1090105025,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. our personal savings rates are negative. We consume more than we save in America today. Oiir national savings rate is low today because our fiscal deficit is so high. Corporate and private debt is high. We have a great country. no doubt about that. a wonderful country I am saying as clearly as I can say it. we run a great risk as. a country of squandering what we now have as Americans if we do not. sooner rather than later. get our act together and get the deficits down. I am not being partisan: It was not too many years ago we had projected surpluses. President Clinton bit the bullet. It was tbugh. very tough. He sent a budget to the Congress which included spending cuts and included some revenue increases onlyon the most wealthy. It was 5050. 50 percen t revenue cuts and 50 percent revenue raises on only the top 2 percent income earners in America. and it got through the Congress. one vote in each body. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3561,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090105044,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wish to respond directly to my friend from North Dakota on a couple of points which he made in the context of the discussion of the legislation before us. I wish to begin by quoting what the President said last night in his State of the Union Speech. and then I think we will see how it fits into comments just made. * Last night. the President reported in his. State of the Union Speech in terms of our economy. He said: Our economy is healthy. and vigorous. and growing faster than other major industrialized nations. In the last twoandahalf years. America has created 4.6 million new jobsmore than Japan and the Europeans Union combined. Even in the face of higher energy prices and. natural disasters. the American people have turned inan economic performance that is the envy of the world. Then he went on to say: Keeping America competitive begins with keeping our economy growing. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11130,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090105052,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In this GAO report. it refers to a study that was done after Hurricane Andrew in southern Florida. There were a series of recommendations made. The Clinton White House followed the recommendations. People were put in charge. There was a chain of command. Information went up. Decisions were made. FEMA. on the Clinton administrations watch. functioned. It was filled with ekperts. not cronies. In 5 short years. all that work was undone. ","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6227,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090105061,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. my good friend makes a very good point. I had a chuckle to myself because. I say to my friend. I am not even aware of all of the amendments. The Senators dont come to me. frankly. as I would like them to. It makes it difficult to decide some of these issues. The Senator makes a good point. Over the next hour and a half or so. lets sit down and see what we can do to work out a list the best we can to get a sense of things so that we can proceed more expeditiously.","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":482,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090105067,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I yield private college tuition has gone up the year 2010. It now affects families 15 minutes to the Senator from Massa- something like 32 percent. Families are with incomes well below $200.000 a chusetts. paying higher health oare costs. year.","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":259,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090105084,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You pay the greater of the two calculations. AMT. when it was passed years ago. was supposed to hit the very wealthy. That was the intention. But it has not worked out that way. The actual effect of the AMT is to hit essentially middleincome Americans. It comes down to the question. what db you mean by middle income? That is the question. This chart -shows that for a family earning about $80.000that is becoming more and more the middleincome taxpayer. If you have a family making $80.000. they have expenses: kids going to school80.000 these days is not an awful lot of money. Unfortunately. most Amdricans earn less than that. but an awful lot of Americans earn $80.000. The point being. if you earn $80.000 roughly. then you probably donthave to pay the alternative minimum tax if you have no children. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11081,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090105110,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So it is entirely wrong to say that tax cuts bring about the AMT problem or that we dont care about that problem or that we didnt do anything about that problem because we did in each of those tax bills. We have to continue to uphold the promise that we made that we were not going to tax any more people with the alternative minimum tax. This is a very important part of this reconciliation bill that we passed back in November that we are now making a rerun of this year. This bill includes $30 billion of alternative minimum tax relief to ensure that Senator HARKINS argument is. in fact. untrue. and it is also untrue as far as the 2001 tax bill and the 2003 tax bill is concerned. I wish to give some figures so people. know what this is. It is not just in the State of New Jersey. as we heard from the junior Senator from New Jersey. It is not just a problem in Illinois. where we heard from the junior Senator from Illinois. It is not just a problem in Massachusetts. as we heard from the Senator from Massachusetts. The. alternative minimum tax problem is a problem in Iowa as well. Another point that my colleague brought upI dont think anybody else has talked about the arcane issues of what we call PEPS and Pease. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10391,"word_count":233}
{"speech_id":1090105117,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Argentina. and Paraguay. or vicious terrorist attacks against Israeli and Jewish interests in Buenos Aires in the 1990s. Given the unequivocal support for indigenous coca growers by Bolivias new President. Evo Morales. I encourage the State Department to further strengthen cooperation on security matters with these countries in the months and years ahead. Brazil. Argentina and Chile also deserve recognition for their participation in United Nations peacekeeping missions. particularly in Haiti. While not always popular -with domestic constituencies. their respective contribitions provide critical support for international efforts to secure stability in the region. Peacekeeping -is not without risks. and I condemn attacks against peacekeepers in Haiti. including the recent incident in the Cite Soleil district of PortauPrince .that killed two Jordanian nationals. Brazil. Argentina and Chile should be recognized for their support of democracy and human rights throughout the region. ","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4437,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090105126,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Law enforcement officials. NASA. and FEMA faced such a difficult time in the aftermathand they handled the stress with grace.","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1462,"word_count":20}
{"speech_id":1090105128,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Denmark. said it best when she described her as truly a- \"one of a kind lady.\" Ednas remarks are right on target. she is a true pioneer. After being the third woman to graduate from Georgia Medical College. she became .Egleston Hospitals first intern. as well as Georgias first pediatrician. She quickly gained expertise and respect. joining with her colleagues to develop the D.P.T. shot which immunizes against whooping cough and tetanus. This breakthrough has saved countless lives all over the world. Dr. Denmarks kindness and compassion as a human being along with her brilliance and talent as a doctor have earned her considerable praise and recognition. She has been commended by both Georgias Senate and House legislative bodiesDr. Denmark has even had a highway intersectionnamed in her honor. In 1998. she was named as one of Atlanta Business Chronicles Health Care Heroes. She also published her book. ","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2496,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090105130,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I like coming to a clean school everyday.\" And. finally. Kallie Konklin captures the overall success of Riverside by writing. \"If you are wondering why Riverside is a school of excellence. I think you came to the right person to ask. . . . Our teachers are very kind. caring and patient with our needs and different personalities. . . Last. but not least. we have Mrs. Engler. our principal. She is the one who keeps everything running smoothly. and deals with all of the politics associated with running a large grade school.\" As Kallie and several other pupils noted. much of the credit for Riverside Elementary Schools success belongs to its principal. Cathy Engler. and her dedicated teachers. The students- and staff at Riverside Elementary understand that. in order to be successful. a school must go beyond achieving academic success. it must also provide a nurturing environment where students develop the knowledge. skills. and attitudes for success in life. ","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4046,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090105133,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Martha spent thirty six years as a full time teacher in the Freemah area only to serve another twelve years as a substitute teacher at Freeman Elementary. Martha is a shining reminder to us all that life does not end at 65. She has. never stopped giving of herself to help those in need. Today. I am glad to rise with Marthas friends and family in congratulating her on her continual service to her community..","speaker_name":"JOHN THUNE","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":950,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090105201,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I rise today to urge my colleagues to work more collectively and comprehensively in Congress during the legislative year ahead to help our local small businesses. The President stressed last night that the tax. and economic policies to help small businesses lead to continued economic growth and new jobs. Now is the time to .put those words into action. During the past month. I have held town hall forums with small business owners and employees in New Yorks Hudson Valley. We agreed that there are five areas that we should focus our efforts to help our small businesses: One. lower health insurance costs for small businesses. Two. stop excessive and redundant Federal regulations on small business. Three. level the playing field for small businesses and give them the same advantages as larger companies. Four. permanently end the death tax that is a direct hit on familyowned small businesses and family farms. - Five. extend tax relief for small businesses to help them grow and create jobs. ","speaker_name":"SUE KELLY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1220,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090105247,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am happy to hear- all of that. but the crux of the issue here is that there is no way that not allowing former Members. for example. to be in the gym and to be on the floor would have undone wl~at was done in the energy bill. for example. There is no way that that would stop the $8 billion of tax credits for the oil industry. There is no way that we would not have passed a Medicare prescription drug bill that actually makes it illegal to buy prescriptions in bulk if somehow former Members were not allowed to come to the floor. All I am saying is. while I recognize the fact that this is one of the ideas that is out there. we really need to. and I am willing to sit down. I would love to work with the majority on this. but we need to have comprehensive reform. Mr. Speaker. I am worried that by taking little pieces here that sound like could be. might be some kind of reform. we miss the crux of the issue. which is changing. that system that al-. lows legislation at 3 oclock in the morning and a vote is left open.","speaker_name":"MARTIN MEEHAN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1039,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090105253,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank my friend for yielding. Mr. Speaker.. letme just state that the process of suspension of rules is a. time honored structure that has existed here which requires a super majority. This measure will not pass unless twothirds of the Members. a bipartisan coalition of Members. vote in support of it.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":317,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090105276,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. based on that comment. I am going to vote for the gentlemans bill today. I am very disappointed if we come to the end of this year and I do not have an opportunity to present these ideas- on. the floor of the House for debate. I have an alternative I filed yesterday. and I encourage Members to take a look at. H. Res. 663. and it says if you register as a former Member to be a registered lobbyist. you do not get the former Members privileges. Once you no longer are a registered lobbyist you get them back. It seems to be very. very clear. and we do not have to get into this mumbojumbo.about the gym versus not the gym and all those kinds of things. There is also a section of the bill being proposed today that I think may be a weakening of current law. ","speaker_name":"VICTOR SNYDER","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":995,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090105283,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. under the rules of the House. this is a proposal to change the rules. when a provision says the Speaker may promulgate regulations. under the rules of the House. will there or will there not be a vote of approval of those promulgated regulations by the Speaker on the definition -of educational functions?","speaker_name":"VICTOR SNYDER","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":318,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090105318,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. -we are dealing with the Deficit Reduction Act yet again to address some technical amendments that were made by the Senate. House Resolution 653provides that the House agree with the Senate amendments to the House passed version of S. 1932. S. 1932 provides for reconciliation as described in the Congressional budget resolution of 2006. As a member of both the Rules Coin-. mittee and the Budget Committee and. a- conferee on this legislation. I am pleased to bring this legislation to the floor for what we hope will be its final. final. consideration. For the first time since 1997. the Congressional budget resolution included deficit reduction instructions to authorizing committees to find and achieve mandatory program savings for a more accountable government. It does. this by finding smarter ways to spend and by slowing the rate of the growth of government. especially on the mandatory side of the ledger. \" The Deficit Reduction Act seeks to curb the unsustainable growth rate of mandatory programs that are set to consume 62 percent.of our total budget in the next decade if -left unchecked. The agreement will stimulate reform of these entitlement. programs. many. of which are outdated. inefficient and - excessively costly. ","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2194,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090105320,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we have heard a great deal from the Republican Party recently about its commitment to reforming the way the House does business. Again today- the Republicans have told us that they have learned from their mistakes. and they will never again allow. special interests to distract them from doing the work of the American people. Actions speak louder than words. and this budget bill before us today is proof that despite all the talk of reform nothing has changed with its leadership. This is a bill that cuts .Medicare spending by $6.4 billion. It cuts child support enforcement by $1.5 billion. It cuts $343 million from foster care programs. Last year. we knew what was behind this bill. It was tax cuts for the very rich. In order to offset the administrations unprecedented giveaway to the countrys richest citizens. they are willing to cut the services to the neediest Americans. ","speaker_name":"LOUISE SLAUGHTER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3817,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090105322,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Some of these reforms include allowing States to charge some basic copays to higherincome beneficiaries. reducing Medicaid overpayments for drugs. and providing the States with the flexibility to. tailor their benefit package to meet the specific health care needs of the beneficiaries. We would also make it more difficult to hide assets So that wealthy clients can pretend to be poor to qualify for longterm Medicaid coverage in nursing homes. We were tasked in the budget resolution to reduce the growth of Federal spending in this program. Overall. the net savings over a 5year period are a little over $4.5 billion. It is the right thing to do. regardless of the budget implication. but the budget implication is positive. I recognize that some of my critics will say that even a.modest reform will hurt the poor. I would subruit to you that Medicaid in its current form is hurting the poor.","speaker_name":"JOE BARTON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4675,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090105332,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Our Republican colleagues heard the concerns of these special interests and instead chose to raise costs and to cut services to working families. to .the poor. the elderly. the disabled. and children covered by Medicaid. Now. here are the specifics. and you can see them on this chaf right here. The Senate cut $36 billion in overpayments to HMOs and Medicare. That included $26 billion in savings by more accurately calculating their payments. The negotiators. without any help from anybody but the lobbyists. rewrote the provision to save just $4 bil.lion. providing a $22 billion windfall to the HMOs. The Senate also eliminated a $10 billion slush fund designed to induce HMOs to participate in the prescription drug program by overpayments. The Republican conferees dropped this provision. providing another $10 billion gift to HMOs. for a total of $32 billion. Finall. the Senate included a provision designed to get the best prices for Medicaid by increasing rebates from drug companies for a nearly $10 billion saving. My good Repubjican colleagues dropped that provision too. Instead. our colleagues on the Republican side went after the people who could not ble represented in the room and who could not afford tb have cuts. ","speaker_name":"JOHN DINGELL","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5017,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090105358,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have seen a 58 percent increase in health care premiums. $3.600 to the average family in America. So what do you do? You cut 6 million children from health care and give the HMOs a $22 billion additional hit for. their slush fund and give pharmaceutical companies everything they need. This budket maintains the status quo. It says of the last 6 years. if you like the economy you have. if you like the ifivestments you have. we will give .ou two more years to sign on for that. It is time for a change. It is time for a new direction. It is time to put the American people first by investing in their education. their health care. and child support collection. It is not just the poor that are being affected. This budget and these cuts affect the middle class. As my colleague from Alabama said. we have heard the word toughness. but we have not heard the word fairness from you. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2782,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090105387,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"To improve quality. the legislation includes provisions to encourage hospitals to follow evidencebased guidelines that can reduce the incidence of preventable hospitalacquired infections. To explore ways to improve cooperation between health -care providers and achieve sayings in the health care system. the legislation provides for six gain sharing demonstration projects. As a conferee. I intend that these projects be tested broadly in order to produce valid results and policy recommendations. Also. I intend that these projects not be limited to six individual hospitals and that hospital chains and associations are eligible to apply and participate. To ensure accurate payment for Medicare Advantage plans. the legislation codifies the phaseout of the budget neutrality factor for risk adjustments for those plans. This change will ensure that traditional feeforservice and Medicare Advantage plans are being compared and paid accurately. This provision requires adjustments for differences in coding patterns. and the intent of that section is to include adjustments for coding that is iriaccurate or incomplete for the purpose of establishing risk scores that are consistent across both feeforservice and Medicare Advantage settings. even if such coding is accurate or complete for other purposes. Other commonsense reforms in the Medicare program will add up to billions of dollars ih savings. while improving quality and service for beneficiaries. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM THOMAS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4426,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090105390,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this is the third time the -House has voted on this budget package and there is good reason this legislation is having such a difficult time receiving final approval from Congress. While we all agree that this Nation cannot continue to spend beyond its means at the expense of future generations. this budget package will do nothing to right our precarious fiscal situation. If you take even a cursory glance at this legislation. it is readily apparent that the Republican method of deficit reduction is to disproportionately pass the burden on to hardworking Americans and the poorest among us. It ignores the idea of shared sacrifice the American people expect and deserve. My constituents in Sacramento are outragedI have received hundreds of phone calls and I have stacks of letters. they are astounded that this bill would cut funding for Medicaid. student loans and child support enforcement in order to finance up to $70 billion in tax cuts. Clearly. they have good reason to be outraged. In fact. I completely agree with .them. For instance. according to the Congressional Budget Office. the budget package will cut Medicaid funding by $28 billion over the next decade and impose new copayments on participants. ","speaker_name":"DORIS MATSUI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2543,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090105392,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today. we have the opportunity to make significant improvements in our Federal Deposit Insurance system. We do this from a position of strength. as both the insurance fund and the banking industry are extremely healthy. What bett6r time than to fine tune the system and establish a strong footing going forward.","speaker_name":"SPENCER BACHUS","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":324,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090105393,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I appreciate the adden placed on our neediest families. dition of this money into the conference report. but am concerned that this will not be suffiMEDICAID cient. Especially around the gulf coast and in In the United States. there are 45 million my district of HouSton. we are experiencing Americans living today without any health in- .abnormally high energy casts after the damsurance at all. We have one of the worst age caused by Katrina and Rita. and many of records of all of the developed nations when the infrastructures of homes in the area has it comes to providing health care to our citi- been damaged. I hope we can consider subzens. This conference agreement cuts $6.9 sidizing this LIHEAP program further in. this billion over 5 years from Medicaid and State upcoming session. Childrens Health Insurance Program. .SCHIP. JUDICIARY A large portion of the \"savings\" in Medicaid As a member of the House Judiciary Coincomes from language that will allow States to mittee. I would also like to briefly comment on reduce the number of beneficiaries eligible for the increased costs to citizens for access to Medicaid. and increase the costs for others. our court system. The cost for filing in Federal The purported \"savings\" in the Medicaid pro. appeals court will increase by 80 percent. and gram found in this conference agreement will the cost for filing in Federal district court will be paid fol directly out of the constituents increase by 40 percent. Fees for bankruptcy pocketbooks. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6073,"word_count":251}
{"speech_id":1090105425,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong opposition to this legislation. because it should become crystal clear that the administration is currently and will continue to abuse. attack and outright deny the civil liberties of American citizens in defiance of our Constitution. This administration is illegally wiretapping American citizens. illegally collecting information on peace groups and illegally using signing statements to ignore the torture ban recently enacted by the Congress. The administration is violating the laws Congress has passed. and they are violating the U.S. Constitution. I will not vote to give this administration any police powers until I am assured that their attack on our democracy Is reined in. This Congress is walking away from the checks and balances of our democracy. I do not believe that this Congress was zealous in oversight investigation prior to 2001. I am not a partisan. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1885,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090105467,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California . a distinguished member of the Judiciary Committee. And I would like to thank the chairman of the Judiciary Committee for accommodating us with the extra time that we have here this evening for the Coretta Scott King resolution:","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":307,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090105480,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In all of the years I have had the privilege of getting to understand and appreciate the tremendous contributions that our African American community has made to the greatness of our Nation. I think we cannot deny the fact that Martin Luther King. Jr.. and all of. the accomplishments and all of the things that he has done. and in my humble opinion when times are really bad and depressing and all the things the great leader has done. I can actually say that Coretta Scott King was the healer. the soother. the one that gave Martin Luther King. Jr.. all the moral support that he needed in the afflictions he had to face in bringing down so many evils and the problems affecting the civil rights of our fellow Americans who just happened to be of African descent. \u0095 I once read somewhere that it was Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi who advocated the principle of nonviolence. and it was from those writings that Martin Luther King. Jr.. took the matter in the same way that Mahatma. Gandhi did in India. How important it is that we conquer obstacles by usage of nonxiolence and. use pure love. I really. really appreciate the fact that we have this resolution to honor Mrs. King. and I urge my colleagues to pass this resolution. ","speaker_name":"ENI FALEOMAVAEGA","chamber":"H","state":"AS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":1765,"word_count":222}
{"speech_id":1090105499,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise. today to honor the life of the courageous Coretta Scott King. Mrs. King first came.to the public eye as the wife of the great civil rights leader Martin Luther King. Jr. Aside from being Mr. Kings wife. Coretta Scott King became an international symbol for the civil rights movement and a prominent advocate of the womens rights movement. As a civil rights leader. ","speaker_name":"JAMES WALSH","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1517,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090105501,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Coretta Scott King was a woman of great influence. wisdom. compassion. and determination. She was a woman who devoted her life to making our world a better place. I leave you with a quote from Coretta Scott King. \"Struggle is a never ending process. Freedom is never really won. you earn it and win it in every generation.\"","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2268,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090105530,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We must win the battle for American sovereignty. We must win the battle against the lawlessness that has invaded our country before Americans pay for this lawless behavior of others. That is just the way it is.","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4173,"word_count":37}
{"speech_id":1090105539,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It was done years ago. as a matter of fact. They tried to do that with embryonic stem cells and it failed. And what is very significant is this article just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. they had some 50 patients. almost. enrolled in a study. and they used adult stem cell treatments for what we call refractory or basically untreatable systemic lupus erythematosus. -. Systemic lupus is a terrible disease. It affects 1.5 million Americans. Ninety percent of them are women. It is also a disease that is very common in minorities. two to three times more prevalent in minorities. The traditional treatment has not changed for 40 years. We have not had a new drug for this. and it is typically the use of what we call glucocorticords or steroids and other immunosuppressive drugs. some of the drugs that we use for cancer. Very significant side effects. ","speaker_name":"DAVID WELDON","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4257,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090105545,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But instead of sending troops. let us send small business loans. let us send agricultural experts. let us send doctors. teachers. scientists and constitutional scholars. Let us engage. not invade. This has been the core philosophy of my SMART Security Plan that I have discussed here many. many times. less brawn. more brains. less belligerence. more benevolence. It is interesting that a President who -has disparaged allies. rejected multilateralism. and ignored global commitments now talks about the dangers of isolation. The only way to promote peace and security to combat terrorism. to stop the spread of deadly weapons is to embrace a vision of global partnership. cooperation and diplomacy. and that is exactly what the President has failed to do. He could start by abandoning his vision of conquest and bring our troops home. Only then can we begin the hard. .work of defeating tyranny and ensuring freedom and ensuring peace around the world.","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3852,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090105560,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. last night we heard the President deliver \u0095 his State of the Union message from this Hall. By the light of day. today. we know that the glow was artificial and the highlights were inaccurate at best. I will enter into the RECORD at this point a Story from todays Los Angeles Times. [From the Los Angeles Times. Feb. 1. 2006]","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":337,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090105569,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the time and the work of the gentleman on numerous issues. the first of course. being the overriding issue of our Constitution. a document you keep in your pocket every diy in case gomeone wants to question y6u on what it says and what it doesnt say. I commend you for your strong stand on the Constitution. And on the issue of border security being a national security issue. because it is a national security problem. It is unfortunate that so many Americans are oblivious or refuse to believe the problem that has been discussed tonight by our friend from Florida and yourself. And then there is the issue. of course. of offshore drilling. We have heard even tonight in this Chamber a discussion about the importance of having our country not be dependent on other countries for our energy. We are held hostage to some extent to Third World countries that really determine how we are to obtain much of our oil and natural gas. And there were some concerns mentioned tonight that folks in the Northeast are needing home heating oil and we cant depend on foreign countries. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8617,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090105576,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But the wealth of the United States of America is being spent in purchasing expensive energy resources from overseas. expensive supplies of energy. and we are enriching people who do not have our best interests in mind in the Middle East as well as in Venezuela and other parts around the world. What kind of a nation would sit on all of that oil that We have up in ANWR. and I have been up there and looked at that? The gentleman from Texas spoke about the environmental friendliness and the safety we have with our oil drilling offshore. I would point out the re cord of developing the North Slope oil that started in about 1972. Up there when you look at the hundreds and perhaps thousands of wells that have been drilled in that area and the millions and millions ofbarrels of oil that have been pumped down the Alaskan pipeline. and you fly over from the air and you look for that environmental wasteland that supposedly is up there. all I s ee is green .tundra. And I see a white 50inch pipeline that goes across the country. across the Yukon River and on down to Valdez. We flew over at about 1.500 feet in altitude. They told me we wereover the North Slope oil fields. and I looked out the windows and cast my eyes below and said. Where are the wells? I have worked in the oil fields and have been..up on the derrick and I know what it looks like. I expected to see pump jacks. like you see in Texas or Oklahoma. I saw none of that in Alaska. ","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9115,"word_count":276}
{"speech_id":1090105579,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"and.m~self. in particular. are in the middle of the Corn Belt. And everything you raise takes nitrogen to produce it. And we purchase nitrogen fertilizer. It takes more nitrogen for corn than any. other crop that I know of. And 90 percent of the cost of that nitrogen fertilizer is the cost of the natural gas that is converted into that nitrogen fertilizer. We have nearlylost the fertilizer industry in America because we have not developed our naturalgas in America. And that fertilizer industry is going offshore in places like Trinidad and Tobago. and those are American interests. and I am gratefulfor that. Bdt they are also going to Venezuela and Russia. And we are sitting here paying $15 for natural gas. and they are paying 95 cents in Russia so they car ship fertilizer to us. It will not be long. if we keep down this path. before the entire fertilizer industry is gone and we will see a fertilizer cartel pop up in Venezuela and Russia. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SHIMKUS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4481,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090105603,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. it is interesting. Mr. RYAN. that when you started talking about health care. I think it is important that we have plans to cut health care costs. We also want to reduce the number of the uninsured and provide taX credits for health insurance for small businesses.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":270,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090105608,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And then when he did that. then all of a sudden the K Street Project. it is not good. We need. to do away with it. We have been saying that on the Democratic side for a long time. It was not only working toward the demise of bipartisanship here .in this House of Representative. it was working toward the demise of the American spirit. And making sure democracy rings. ahd making sure that every individual received -the justdue representation that they voted for. not the justdue representation of the special interests. the justdue. representation of what they voted foit. Yes. Members. it is painful. Iti very painful. Mr. Speaker. to come to the floor and speak truths. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8206,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090105610,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me just translate for the President. What he is talking about. and the majority of the House of Representatives is talkingabout. the extension of capital gains and dividend tax breaks were provided to the top 1 percent tax cuts. up to $14.361 in 2010. Meanwhile. using the same timeline. middle class. lowincome families would only get $41. I can tell you. either everyone in America has to be part ofthe top 1 percent to enjoy the majoritys vision on the Republican side or -else. That is it. Either you pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Republicans. Democrats. Independents. Green Party and Reform Party members. or you get the $41. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5585,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090105612,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Even if they are Republicans. even if they are Independents. even if they are part of the Reform Party. they are Americans. We have been federalized to represent them. and they will receive their representation.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1657,"word_count":35}
{"speech_id":1090105764,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I. ask so that I might thank her again for delaying her speech until I could make these few remarks. I thank her from the bottom of my heart. She is so considerate always. so courteous: \"And what is so rare as a day in June?\" The beauty of the Senator from California.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":268,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090105772,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"His contacts with the White House and his friends are still very much a mystery. Imagine thatcontacts with the President of the United States hidden from the public. It is incomprehensible. President Bush refuses to disclose his contacts with Mr. Abramoff for reasons that are unclear. If there is no wrongdoing. there should be nothing to hide. I .wish to quote President Bush from a statement he made when running for President in 2000. He said. and I quote. him: Americans are tired of investigations. scandals. and the best way to get rid of them is to elect a new PresidentWe are talking about 2000. -who will bring a new administration. who will restore honor and dignity to the White House. What an empty statement that has proven to be. President Bush pledged to run an ethical White House. ","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8492,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090105797,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. if it is helpful to all Senators. especially the Senator -from Tennessee and the Senator from Nevada. we have a total of about 20 amendments on this side. I dont know how many are on the other side. but I guess maybe we could finish by around 7 oclock or 8 oclock tonight. That is a roughl estimate. Maybe earlier.","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":329,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090105799,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It may be necessary to alert Senators that there may be work tomorrow. The distinguished majority leader is in the Senate. but it is very likely we may not be able to finish all these voteswell. maybe not \"very likely\"-but it is certainly possible we may not be able to finish the votes tonight.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":963,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090105815,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today. in recognition of the beginning of Black History Month. in support of a bill to posthumously award a congressional gold medal to Constance Baker Motley. an American hero who. sadly. passed away on September 28. 2005. after having lived an extraordinar.y and exemplary life: I am pleased to introdude this bill along with my colleague from New York. Senator CLINTON. Constance Baker Motley was the first AfricanAmerican woman.-and only the fifth woman. to serve on the Federal judiciary. Before becoming a judge. she was a renowned civil rights lawyer. public servant. and trailblazer. Her remarkable career reads like a civil rights history book. After earning her bachelor of arts degree in Economics. from New York University and her law degree from Columbia University. Judge Motley joined Thurgood Marshall at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. For two decades. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES SCHUMER","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4211,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090105826,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise for a moment to speak in favor of amendment No. 2711. which is at the desk. It is my amendment regarding the child taxcredit offbred by the majority leader. I will discuss briefly that amendment. I originally hoped I could offer an amendment making the child tax bredit permanent. which would help millions of workers and families around the country. I wanted to offer a straightout extension. The Senate rules preclude that from being offered today. Instead. I will put the Senate on record that this Senator supports a .permanent extension of the child tax credit. ","speaker_name":"JAMES TALENT","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1565,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090105828,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we had a meeting and thought the votes would start immediately. and Members were advised that. It is my understanding. Senator BAucus. the voting will not start for at least a half hour. Everyone should understand the votes will not. start now but within the next half hour. 45 minutes probably.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":310,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090105837,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr President. I will speak up to 5 minutes on an amendment that is not in the first package of amendments we will vote on. but since we will have no opportunity in the second and third package of amendments. I will speak to it now. I have an amendment that is fashioned to deal with the 9\/11 Commission Report that came out less than 2 months ago. on December 5. 2005. It was the socalled report card where this prestigious bipartisan Commission. led by former Republican Governor Tom Kean and former Democratic Congressman Lee Hamilton. took a look at what we have done based on what they recommended in the 9\/11 Report. It tells how little we have learned and how little we have done to actually make the homeland safer. Most Americans. at least in my State. believe at least the most obvious steps have been taken to close the gaps in our homeland defense. They believe. at the very least. we have a plan.. that we have set priorities. and we know what the next step will be. Let me quote from the Commissions report. which is only 6 or 7 weeks old. on what we have done to assess the risks and vulnerabilities of our critical infrastructuretransportation. communications. industrial assets. Here is what they say: No risk and vulnerability assessments actually made. no national priorities established. no recommendations have been made on allocation of scarce resources. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4872,"word_count":240}
{"speech_id":1090105839,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It- is very unfortunate that after 9\/11because we did not connect all of the radios to be able to work to communicate- with each otherthat we saw the same kinds of failings that had firefighters and police officers running into buildings in New York instead of running out. as they should have been. because they did not know what was happeningthat the same kinds of things. then.-happened in the gulf. in New Orleans. I will never forget. going down right after the hurricanes with the bipartisan leadership. sitting outside of the New Orleans Convention Center with * someone from Michigan who was with the Army National Guard. someone from the Michigan Coast Guard. talking with these folks who had not slept for several days. who were down doing their part. trying to save lives. getting people off of rooftops. doing what was necessary. I asked the gentleman from the Army National Guard: \"Do you have radios?\" \"Yeah.. I asked the individual from the Coast Guard: \"Do you have","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1919,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090105842,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we are here at a moment that people have to think very soberly about what the possible consequences of our actions might be. The Senator from Montana has outlined one possible scenario. Far be it for me to judge which amendments would be in order and which would not. Let me just say what consequences could flow from a failure to reach agreement. I have just had a consultation with the Parliamentarian. He informs me that if we were to waive on any one of the amendments that have been talked about on the other side. if we were to waive all budget points of order through conference committee. that would open up to the conference committee the opportunity to come back with legislation that would cost far in excess of the $70 billion limit we currently face as a result of the budget resolution. I know this is complicated. but I urge my colleagues to think very carefully about the potential consequences. Let me give four. If all points of order were waived through conference committee on thechild credit. that could open up the conference committee to $185 billion of additional tax cuts. not offset. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2351,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090105869,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the chairman and ranking member have done an excellent job in putting together this package that is in the interest of the American people. I have all of the same tax relief provisibns that are in their package. The only difference is .that I have paid for it over the 10 years. I have done it by adopting the same offsets as in the managers package: closing the tax gap by shutting down abusive tax shelters and other reforms. raising some $34 billion. including revoking tax benefits for leasing foreign subway and sewer systems. second. ending a loophole. for big oil that lets them avoid taxes on foreign operations. raising $9 billion. tequiring tax withholding on Government payments to contractors such as Halliburton. raising$7 billion. renewing the Superfund tax so that polluting companies pay for cleaning up toxic waste sites. raising $17 billion. and closing additional loopholes. raising $22 billion. This is the package that has all of the tax relief in the managers package. It just has additional payfors. so we cover the costs. We have exploding deficits. exploding debt. Lets pay for these tax cuts we are offering. I thank the Chair.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1168,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090105880,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"All I can say in my 30 seconds on my point is that the Senator may be entirely correct but that is one of the things that happens when we have 2 days of debate and these amendments are not put before the Senate to study until the last minute. The second concern I have about the proposal is the inclusion of offsets which we have not had an opportunity to fully consider or with respect to which we have some policy concerns. An example of that is the revival of th6 environmental excise tax offered. referred to as the \"Superfund tax.\" As you might expect. I believe the bill passed by a bipartisan majority with 64 votes in. the Senate in November. which we are hot going through again. represents a more balanced bill. one that provides longerterm benefits. including increased certainty and reduced complexity for planning. In addition. I raise a point of order that the budget does not meet rec6nciliation instructions to the Senate. It is an issue of germaneness. Mr. President.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":984,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090105960,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I dont like offering this amendment on this bill. I understand the problems associated with it. But if we dont finally do something. these veterans will lose the support they deserve. That is why the American Legion is so strongly supporting this amendment. I urge my colleagues to join me in seeing to it we have the resources to pay for this. If we dont pay for it. this amendmentwill not make it past the Ohio Clock. It will be dropped. and. once again. -veterans will suffer. I urge -adoption of the.amendment.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1266,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090105975,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The same arguments that I made on the previous amendments apply here as well. My amendment will do the same as the Reed amendment but doesnt raise taxes to pay for it. so it will provide more equipment for our troops without increasing taxes. I urge support of my amendment.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":274,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090105998,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have great respect for the procedures and rules of the Senate. but we have come too many times to issuesI can recall back when we were talking about armored humvees when the objection was made this is not the right legislative vehicle to do this. I think we have an obligation to our soldiers and marines to help them now and pay for it now. This might be the only occasion we can do both. I urge passage.","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":407,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090106010,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Maryland. Virginia. Minnesota. Ohio. Maine. Georgia. North Carolina. and Pennsylvania. It is a problem of national importance. This is a question of whether the Senate values work and the work of honest and hardworking families who are going to be subjected to a tax not because they made more income but simply because of the way the tax is structured. Ultimately. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT MENENDEZ","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1154,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090106027,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. for the information of colleagues. we do have two remaining votes this evening. The next vote will be on passage of the Tax Relief Act. And following that vote. we will have 10 minutes of debate and a vote on passage of the PATRIOT Act extension. That will be the last vote. So. Mr. President. two more votes. We will be in session tomorrow. but there will be no votes tomorrow. The next piece of legislation we will be considering is the asbestos legislation. and it will be necessary to file cloture on the motion to proceed to that bill.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":555,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090106036,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I appreciate the Senator bringing this matter to my attention. and regret that it is too late to amend the bill today on the floor. I will agree with the Senator. however. to review this proposal further with the intent of taking it up in conference.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":265,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090106056,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. she dedicated herself to providing local. na-. tional. and international programs that have trained tens of thousands of people in Dr. Kings philosophy and methods. In 1983. she led an effort that brought more than a half million demonstrators to Washington. DC. to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. where King delivered his famous \"I Have a Dream\" speech. Mrs. King was also an instrumental part in establishing Dr. Kings birthday. January 15. as a national holiday in the United States. By an act of Congress. the first national observance of the holiday took place in 1986. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2961,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090106064,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to offer a few words in observance of the passing of U.S. District Judge William Matthew Byrne. Jr.. a great legal rnind and ambassador of justice who nobly served. our country for over 30 years on the Federal bench. I extend my deepest sympathy to the family of Judge Byrne. his many friends and colleagues. and the members- of the legal community everywhere who had come to know his talent and charm. A giant in his field. Judge Byrne tirelessly traveled the globe teaching and promoting the rule of law. His eff6rts touched countless individuals and left an immeasurable impact on legal systems on an international scale. After honorably serving our Nation in the U.S. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1425,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090106079,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President..I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental affairs be authorized to meet on Thursday. February 2. 2006. at 10 a.m. for a hearing titled. \"Hurricane Katrina: The Role of the Governors in Managing the Catastrophe.\"","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":265,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090106081,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a hearing on \"Executive Nominations\" on Thursday. February 2. 2006 at 10 a.m. in Hart Senate Office Building. Room 226. Panel I: Members of Congress TBA Panel II: Paul J. McNulty to be Deputy Attorney General","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":316,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090106105,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it has been a very long day. but a very productive day with the ultimate passage of the Tax Relief Act by a vote of 66 to 31. In addition. just a short time ago. we passed the temporary extension of a very important bill. the PATRIOT Act. We will start debate on the motion. to proceed to the asbestos legislation on Monday. A cloture vote on the motion to proceed will occur on Tuesday at 6 .p.m. We do have Members who will be attending the funeral of Coretta Scott King on Tuesday. therefore. we are postponing that vote until 6 p.m.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":551,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090106122,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I commend my friend and colleague from West Virginia for once again giving focus to this issue of national proportion and importance. I know he recognizes that those extraordinary mine tragedies at Sago struck the heart and soul of all Americans. I had the opportunity to visit with the families from that community. I want him to know that as a member of the HELP Committee. which has some jurisdiction over the measure he introduced. we are going to work closely with him to ensure. to the greatest extent possible. safety for miners. We have seen an example of what has been done in Canada with the 36 or 37 miners who were locked in the bowels of a mine for several days and they walked out because they had oxygen available. We have seen other miners who have been saved in other parts of the world. such as Australia. because they had communications which permitted them to be warned about the dangers of mines. He raises an issue that is of central importance. not just to the people of West Virginia but to all who care about those families who make such a difference not only to their communities but to our country and to our energy needs. I thank him and look forward to working with him.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1214,"word_count":221}
{"speech_id":1090106124,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. at the present time. the Judiciary Committee is meeting with the Attorney General. I am necessarily absent from that meeting so I can make comments on the asbestos legislation which is now pending. I will return. As I understand it. Senators SPECTER and LEAHY and others involved will have a chance to speak. I ask unanimous consent to speak in morning business for 25 minutes. if there is no objection.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":418,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090106147,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. very briefly. my feelings are not hurt. My feelings are an irrelevancy. If they were relevant. they still have not been hurt. My concern is for the feelings of the people who have been victimized by asbestos and have no one from which to collect. I dont make any point about having done a lot of work on this bill. I dont do piecework around here. I do work on a lot of bills. I do not personalize it at all. My thrust is strictly on the merits. on a way to fairly compensate victims. on a way to stop more companies from going into bankruptcy. on a way to stop the hemorrhaging -of job losses. and a way to stimulate the economy. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1287,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090106162,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am pleased to join Senator SPECTER. who is chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Senator FEINSTEIN. and others in urging my colleagues to move to this bipartisan bill. Speaking of asbestosrelated diseases. it is time for us to solve this dire situation. Victims have been waiting long enough for a comprehensive national solution. We have looked at this. The Senator from Nevada spoke of those who have suffered from silicosis. If we are going to talk about families. my grandfather. Patrick J. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6220,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090106164,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It was stated earlier that over 150.000 people have lost their jobs because of this broken system. that over 77 companies have gone bankrupt. which means. yes. loss of those jobs but also loss of pensions for all the other employees of those companies. But I have to say that in part because I have had that opportunity to take care of mesothelioma patients as a physician and to operate on mesothelioma patients. It is a tough operation because you know you cannot cure mesothelioma. you can only treat it and make someones life better. The sad thing is. although those victims deserve to be compensated and compensated in a timely waynobody argues thatjustice is not being realized today. It is worth stepping back. We had a wonderful exchange. I believe. through the Democratic leaderwho is opposed to allowing that bill to come to the floor to be fully debated and amended to address this significant. critical problem facing people today and one which will face them in the futureand the chairman of the Judiciary Committee. joined by the ranking member. the Democratic ranking member. who believe strongly there is time to address this bill and address it now. If we do not address it nowand it is important for our colleagues to understandit will not be addressed in this Congress. This is a fairly short period running up to the elections. and we have a lot of work to do. It is either now or never. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10147,"word_count":247}
{"speech_id":1090106179,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Family Opportunity Act. which I have pushed for year after year with Senator KENNEDY. was inspired by an Iowa family struggling to access health care services for a disabled child. Melissa Arnold. the mother. didnt give up. and todays legislative victory is a tribute to her kind of determination. The measure will let States create options for families that have children with multiple medical needs to buy into Medicaid while continuing to work. It is a prowork initiative because it lets parents work without losing their childrens health coverage. It is profamily because it encourages parents to work and build a better life for their children. rather than being forced to impoverish themselves to access health care. And it is protaxpayer because it means more parents continue to earn money. pay taxes and pay their own way for Medicaid coverage for their children. In addition to this expansion of the Medicaid program. the comprehensive legislation includes $400 million in childsupport payments that will go directly to welfare families. along with grants to promote healthy marriages and responsible fatherhood. $100 million to improve the handling of court cases involving foster care. a $200 million increase for a Safe and Stable Families program to help keep troubled families together and support adoption. and $1 billion to help parents pay for child care when they leave welfare and join the workforce. On Medicaid. some partisan critics and their allies will probably continue to distort the bills intent and effect. I am repeating thisthe provisions on benefit flexibility and cost sharing are clear and unambiguous. The Congressional Budget Office and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services agree. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3071,"word_count":275}
{"speech_id":1090106182,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to introduce legislation which would deal in a small but. I hope. meaningful way. with the crisis of youth suicide in Indian Country. On the reservations of the Northern Great Plains. the rate of Indian youth suicide is 10 times higher than it is anywhere else in the country. This needless loss of young boys and girls whose whole lives lay ahead of them is a very serious problem. I am pleased that last year. the Senate Indian Affairs Committee held two hearings on the tragic issue of teen suicide and the urgent need for prevention. intervention and treatment services. We heard the testimony of youth and family members. representatives of the Indian Health Service and other agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services. and Indian professionals who work with young people. We continue to sift through their recommendations to find possible solutions that could be proposed in legislation. I believe it is urgent that solutions be put forward now to deal with this troubling problem. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4338,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090106184,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Washington. DC 205106150. For further information. please contact Lisa Epifani 2022245269 or Shannon Ewan at 2022247555.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":961,"word_count":16}
{"speech_id":1090106192,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it adjourn until 9:45 a.m. on Tuesday. February 7. I further ask that following the prayer and the pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate proceed to a period of morning business for up to 60 minutes. with the first 30 minutes under the control of the Democratic leader or his designee and the second 30 minutes under the control of the majority leader or his designee. and that the Senate then resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 852. the asbestos bill. I further ask that the Senate stand in recess from 12:30 until 2:15 p.m. to accommodate the weekly party luncheon.","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":784,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090106217,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. a week ago we all listened as the President laid out his priorities in the State of the Union. At the time. I noted that what he says in his speech is a lot less important than what he does in his budget. Yesterday. he sent us his budget. and I am deeply concerned about what it means for our country. our people and our future. Later today. I will raise some of my concerns directly with the budget director. and I will come back here to the floor time and again to talk about what we should be doing. But this morning. I want to step back and take a broad look at the significance of the budget and the choices before us. I want to remind my colleagues that what we do now will affect us. and the American people. months from now. ","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11784,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090106226,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to salute the life and legacy of Coretta Scott King. She earned a place not just in our history but in our hearts. She was a true trailblazer for women. for the AfricanAmerican community. She was an inspiration for all Americans. I feel privileged to have known Mrs. King throughout much of my political career. Her family is in my thoughts and prayers. Mrs. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA MIKULSKI","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2778,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090106232,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And if you are not torn on this issue. both sides of it. the statement of Eva Thomson from up there I will just read her statement. That is why I am giving my statement with regard to Libby. because it is an isolated case. Eva Thomson said: I have two sons. both them and I have asbestosrelated disease. But they are not eligible by the standards in the existing bill as it is today. If the bill cannot be done right to protect us victims. please dont pass it at all. We place 225 crosses in the cemetery this Memorial Day in remembrance of asbestos victims. There are more than 20 new crosses this year. We need help. real help. and she thanks me. Yet I have another one from Charlotte Wade. who says: Please dont forget us. I watched my Dad Jack die in 2002 and my mother Margaret die and suffocate from asbestos in 2004. ","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6929,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090106235,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In the absence of any other Senator in the Chamber. let me say I again invite any Senator or any constituent who has a problem with this bill to come see me. I know Senator LEAHY feels the same way. With all the outstanding work he has done. and our staffs. we want to do what we can to answer all of the problems. As we get ready for the vote on the motion to proceed this afternoon. we have certainly outlined the seriousness of the issue. Since I spoke earlier. I have been reviewing the testimony or the argument yesterday of Senator DURBIN who spoke about the problem. No doubt there is a problem that has to be addressed. That is the issue on the motion to proceed. Senator DURBIN made a comment that he didnt know how the $140 billion was arrived at. It was arrived at by his leader. thenSenator Daschle. in collaboration with Senator FRIST. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1191,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090106254,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. later this afternoon. in fact about 31\/2 hours. we will gather in the Senate to vote on a motion to proceed to take up and begin debate on legislation that is designedimperfect legislation but well intendedto ensure that people who have been exposed to asbestos who become sick. whose breathing is impaired from that sickness. will have an opportunity to be compensated for their impairment. As their impairment worsens. if it does. they would be in a position to be compensated further. The legislation also is intended to try to ensure that more money that is paidif you go by defendants and insurance companiesends up in the pockets of those victims and of their families. The question is. Why are we taking this up now? One of the reasons we are taking this up now is because the Supreme Court has been saying. at least since 1997. with Justices including. I believe. Justice Ginsburg and maybe more recently Justice Souter. that the issue of asbestos litigation is one that needs to be resolved by Congress. not by the Court. It is appropriate that finally we are taking this on. My own experience and involvement with asbestos litigation reform goes back to 2001. when I was called upon by an old friend who had ended up becoming a CEO of a company I had never heard of called FederalMogul. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11021,"word_count":230}
{"speech_id":1090106266,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Senator SESSIONS. is on the floor. He. too. has been a major contributor. First. I wish to thank Senator CARPER for his speech in support of the motion to proceed earlier. I think there is Democratic support. Senator LEAHY. of course. is a cosponsor. Senator KOHL is a cosponsor. Senator FEINSTEIN has spoken. Senator CARPER has spoken. and others have stated their intention to move to take up and consider the bill. Senator HATCHS comments were very important. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3353,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090106270,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in order to make other documents available. I ask unanimous consent that a series of letters be printed in the RECORD. I think it important that these be available in the RECORD for Senators and their staffs and for the public to see the kind of support this bill has. Yesterday. Senator REID and I had a few words about a number of groups who are for the bill and who are against the bill. This letter is from many veterans groups urging Senator REID not to filibuster the bill. They say: we urge you not to stand in the way of full Senate consideration of this vital legislation. And the number of veterans groups is enormously impressive. including the Veterans of Foreign Wars. the Paralyzed Veterans of America. The Retired Enlisted Association. the Blinded American Veterans Foundation. the Jewish War Veterans of the USA. and quite a number of veterans organizations which will appear in the RECORD. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1274,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090106288,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Rosa Parks was arrested and the Montgomery bus boycott ensued. sparking a movement to ensure that all citizens were treated equally under the law. Dr. and Mrs. King and Rosa Parks truly changed a system that could not be defended. It was a system that treated people. because of the color of their skin. as secondclass citizens and not equal. It was not a defensible system morally or legally. Judge Frank Johnson got the bus boycott case. and he ruled that the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution said people should be treated equally. Requiring someone to go to the back of the bus. despite a State statute to the contrary. did not represent equality. It was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court agreed. and that gave a real boost to the civil rights movement. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2689,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090106303,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. will the distinguished Democratic leader allow me 20 seconds to refer to what the distinguished Senator from Pennsylvania just said? Mr. President. the distinguished Senator from Pennsylvania is my frienda friend from the days when we were prosecutors together. I am very touched by what he said. The Judiciary Committee handles some of the most difficult issues there are. I enjoy working with him because of his own ability and because of that friendship.","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":472,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090106333,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. although I voted to proceed to the bill I have strong concerns with this legislation. I am concerned that this bill will take away the rights of asbestos victims to have their day in court while providing no guarantees that they will. receive fair and prompt compensation. This bill and its payment structure could bankrupt small businesses. with many of them shouldering a larger financial burden under the bill then they currently do in the court system. Many of these small businesses are not the evildoers here. but due to the payment structure of the bill. they will find themselves shouldering a large portion of the liability. I support the concept of a nonadversarial process to provide compensation to victims but a process that is fair to all the parties involved. I believe that this bill falls short. and while I voted for cloture I intend to vote against final passage of this bill unless significant changes are made.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":946,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090106345,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to congratulate Mr. Craig Williams. recipient of the Richmond Chamber of Commerce 2006 Community Service Award. Mr. Williams. the executive director of the Kentucky Environmental Foundation and the Chemical Weapons Working Group. has dedicated over two decades of service to the chemical demilitarization project at Kentuckys Bluegrass Army Depot. The continued progress of this project reflects Mr. Williams tremendous commitment to protecting the health and safety of the public. the depot workers. and the local environment. Mr. Williams has engineered a program which benefits the entire community by fostering public\/private partnerships between environmental and business interests in order to create jobs and clean up the environment. ","speaker_name":"JIM BUNNING","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1106,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090106354,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to announce for the information of the Senate and the public that a hearing has been rescheduled before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources to consider the Presidents Proposed Budget for FY 2007 for the Department of Energy. The hearing originally scheduled for Thursday. February 9 at 10 a.m. in Room SD366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building will now be held at 9:30 a.m. on the same day. in the same room. Because of the limited time available for the hearing. witnesses may testify by invitation only. However. those wishing to submit written testimony for the hearing record should send two copies of their testimony to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. United States Senate. SD364 Dirksen Senate Office Building. Washington. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":869,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090106366,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Sr. to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of Georgia. Thomas E. Johnston to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of West Virginia. Leo Maury Gordon to be a Judge of the United States Court of the International Trade. Aida M. Delgado Colon to be United States District Judge for the District of Puerto Rico.","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":716,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090106374,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I urge my colleagues and the majority leader to ensure that this resolution be passed today. We cannot wait any longer. We must assure the Department of Defense. that Congress has spoken. and that we will be heard on this issue.","speaker_name":"BEN NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2231,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090106384,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Bill Cowher is the coach. I know him. to some extent. It is a great tribute. I have taken these few moments to comment about the great victory and to offer congratulations. I am sorry that I couldnt be in Pittsburgh today to attend the parade. But we have a parade on the Senate floor which takes my attention. I dont think I will be missed in that crowd.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2535,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090106393,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it adjourn until 9:45 a.m. on Wednesday. February 8. I further ask that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired and the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate then begin a period of morning business for up to 1 hour. with the first 30 minutes under the control of the majority leader or his designee and the second 30 minutes under the control of the Democratic leader or his designee. I further ask the Senate begin consideration of S. 852 for debate only during Wednesdays session. further. that the Senate recess from 12:30 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. -for the Democratic Party luncheon.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":763,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090106426,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"H162 cc and women in uniform eliminated key al Qaeda figures. and we eliminated or cut some duplicative and wasteful government~programs. We have a lot more to do. And.we also passed legislation to work on our illegal immigration problem. Mr. Speaker.- this is going to be a great year. We are going to build on the successes of 2005. and we are going to act on the issues that matter to our constituents. Lets get to work.","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1011,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090106448,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In doing so. the Steelers beat the top three teams in the AFC: the Cincinnati Bengals. the Indianapolis Colts. and finally the Denver Broncos. However. these contests seemed far in the past .on February 5 as they geared up to tackle the Seattle Seahawks for the NFL title. In a fight to the end. the Steelers claimed the victory of 2110 and clinched. surprisingly. the first Super Bowl win for each and every. member of the team. I urge all Members to come together to honor the Pittsburgh Steelers in overcoming the odds to become the champions of the National Football League. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time. .","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1387,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090106458,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I also want to congratulate the entire Rooney family. They are a great football family. and today they carry that tradition not just as one of the founding families of the National Football League. but as one of the leading families in western Pennsylvania who continue to give back to their community.* I would also like to take this opportunity to highlight the hard work and dedication and aahievement of one of the unsung heroes of the Pittsburgh Steelers. and that is Coach Dick Hoak. Dick Hoaks name is not a household name. but he is one of the keys to the success of the Steelers over the years. Dick Hoak is the longesttenured coach in NFL history. I might add. For the last 35 years. he has been a fixture on the Steelers sidelines and on the practice fields. In 1992. Bill Cowher named him the running backs coach. and he was the only coach retained from the previous staff. Over his 13 seasons under Cowher. Hoaks backfield has been able to compile over 28.000 rushing yards. which is the most in the NFL.. and puts the Steelers alone at the top again as the only team to surpass the 28.000 rushing yard threshold. ","speaker_name":"BILL SHUSTER","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2955,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090106477,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think this is a very fitting tribute to Senator Caraway. She has. been a ..tremendous role model for women in America. and I appreciate- the gentleman -from Arkansas for sponsoring this legislation.","speaker_name":"VICTOR SNYDER","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1960,"word_count":33}
{"speech_id":1090106479,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I. along with my colleague. find that one of the. great benefits of serving in the House is learning a lot of history. and I. too. have learned a lot today. I want to urge all Members to support the passage of H.R. 4456. as amended. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":295,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090106513,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as an important complement to our public schools and other private institutions. Catholic schools contribute a great deal to America. They have made a big difference in my life and a big difference in the lives of countless others. They deserve our praise and our support. and I urge my colleagues to pass this resolution. the Kennedy resolution. honoring Catholic schools during this Catholic Schools Week.","speaker_name":"DANIEL LIPINSKI","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3900,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090106522,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I join my colleagues in supporting the resolution expressing our sincere appreciation for Americas Catholic schools. In conclusion. God bless our troops. We will never forget September 11.","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2146,"word_count":28}
{"speech_id":1090106530,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise to recognize the importance of Americas Catholic schools -and share my support for House Resolution As a product of Sacred Heart School in Lake Worth. Catholic parochial education was a major part of my life and that of my family. My father first attended Sacred Heart himself as a teacher and then moved on to Cardinal Newman High School to work as coach and science teacher. At Sacred Heart. I was taught how to be a better citizen because of their focus on discipline and moral values. I often fall back on lessons learned during my formative yearsespecially in the case of November 22. 1963. I was in 4th grade and our teachers asked us to pray for our Nation and for our assassinated President. Though the shock of the tragedy could have easily given way to anger among the faculty at Sacred Heart. it instead encouraged us to focus on a compassionate tone by praying for our country and the Kennedy family. ","speaker_name":"MARK FOLEY","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2043,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090106534,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I was taught the valuable lessons of good works toward others and societys special obligation to consider first the needs of the poor. The Catholic teachings have given me a valuable framework for life. and have enabled me to achieve personal and professional goals. Again. I am proud to support H. Res. 657. As we celebrate Catholic Schools Week. we must honor the role these schools play in promoting and ensuring a brighter. stronger future for this Nation. I am proud that these schools continue to nurture students dedicated to their faith. to their values. to their communities and to their families. These schools develop the leaders of tomorrow with effective leadership and character.","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2090,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090106535,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"At Cathedral Carmel School in Lafayette. Louisiana. I developed a lifelong love of learning and reading. Through college and medical school. the lessons I learned in high school helped me to work through classes and assignments. Even throughout my professional career as a heart surgeon and now in Congress. I find myself relying on the personal development and classroom lessons from high school. The Seventh District of Louisiana contains a strong Catholic school system. and I have met with many students. parents. and educators who believe these schools are helping to create students and young adults who will stay in Louisiana and become productive members of our community. As we recover from the devastating effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Louisiana Catholic schools have played an integral role in our relief and ?ecovery. taking in thousands of displaced students. Keeping our students in Louisiana is a big part of restoring our states economy. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES BOUSTANY","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1851,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090106536,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. President John F. Kennedy said.in his Inaugural Address: \"With a good conscience our only sure reward. with history the final judge of our deeds. let us go forth to lead the land we love. asking His blessing and His help. but knowing that here on earth. Gods work must truly be our own.\" I rise today to thank our Catholic schools for doing Gods work here on earth for generation after generation. More than 163.000 educators teach .in nearly 8.000 Catholic schools in America. and they educate nearly 2.5 million students every year. My husband and I and our five children have attended over 100 years of Catholic school education. Needless to say. we support our Nations Catholic educational system. I can tell you firsthand that Catholic schools provide exceptional education. They contribute to a students intellectual. ethical and spiritual development. ","speaker_name":"NANCY PELOSI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2312,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090106547,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution . honoring the sacrifice and courage of the 12 coal miners killed and the stamina and courage of the one who survived the mine disaster in Sago. West Virginia. and the sacrifice and courage of the two coal miners ki lled in the Aracoma Alma mine disaster. and recognizing the rescue crews for their outstanding efforts in the aftermath of the tragedies. as amended.","speaker_name":"THELMA DRAKE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":445,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090106554,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Sixteen sons gone in the span of a month. 16 souls that too soon slipped the bonds of Earth. These were good * and decent men. Godfearing men. brave citizens. caring fathers. lo.ving husbands. loyal friends. and generous neighbors who worked hard to earn an \u0095 honest wage. They walked in the wake of risk to provide for their families. These were tough men. made strong not merely by the labor of digging coal. but also by the work of building a Nation. Coal has long been the iifeblood of Americas industrial engine. It has fueled our economic growth. It has reinforced our military might. But none of this would be possible without the labor of coal miners. who have served our Nation quietly and faithfully for generations. but with precious litt*le thanks. To these men. we owe so much. ","speaker_name":"NICK RAHALL","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4968,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090106555,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This important change will allow mineis and their families better and quicker access to information regarding citations and inspectors notes. Only a -thorough investigation. will pinpoint the cause. of these tragic events. Congress must ensure the investigation proceeds as efficiently as possible. and then consider any proposed changes to our. Federal mine safety laws and regulations that will help ensurethat tragedies of this kind do not happen again in the future. Mr. Speaker. along with the rest of the Nation. we extend our condolences to the impacted families in West Virginia. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"THELMA DRAKE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2268,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090106561,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What was the margin of safety? Was there a change in that margin of safety. and did they have impact on the overall mine safety in the mine? We know that some of those regulations that were withdrawn at that time are now seen as urgently needed. as I just recited. from the response to the West Virginia delegation by the mining agency. safety standards for oxygen and breathing devices. standards for flameresistant conveyor belts that Mr. RAHALL has raised. and that their withdrawal may have undermined the safe-. ty -at Sago and Aracoma Alma- mines. We want -to know what is the relationship between the drop in maximum fines and the usage of fines. Are- fines helpful? -Do they deter bad behavior? Do they. in fact. make- for improvements to take place? . What is the relationship between the. mines and those who are repeat offenders of serious violations of the current mine safety regulations and the protections that are put in place for those miners? Should they be dealt with in a different fashion? Do we fully understand the voluntary compliance assistance program that is currently in place? Should that continue to be extended to those mine owners that. again. repeatedly violate the law? What is the relationship between the voluntary nature of the program and the compliance and the margins of safety that we expect for these miners? Does the administration have the right people in the right place for the running of this Agency? Are their qualifications commensurate with the duties that they have t6 .the miners in the field. and are we sure that we have the best people to continue the downward trend of mine fatalities in the mine. but also the general safety environment within the mines? And we want to make sure that. in. fact. the Department of Labor has kept pace with existing mine safety technologies. such. as electronic tracking and communications devices and reserve oxygen chambers. technologies. used in other countries. in some cases in other mines in this country. but clearly are not mandated. But we now see. as we start to do the forensics of .what took place here. that maybe these things. had they been in place. these miners would have had the opportunity to walk out of that mine. These miners may have had a chance to shelter in place until rescuers could have gotten to them if they did not understand their ability to work their way around the danger that presented itself. I So these are the questions that the miners and their families will address in the forum. These are the questions that must be addressed by the administration. and these are the questions that must be .addressed by this Congress. and must be addressed by this Congress in an independent fashion. I am pot sure I entirely agree with my colleagues on the other side that we must. await the administrations doing .its own investigation and hearings prior to our embarking upon that effort. ","speaker_name":"NICK RAHALL","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5676,"word_count":502}
{"speech_id":1090106563,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. last month. America witnessed the tragedy of the Sago and Aracoma Alma mine deaths. We saw terrible things happen to good people. and the Nation was saddened by the events that unfolded. I join with my colleagues in honoring these hardworking Americans who died or were injured while laboring to support their families. We also recognize the individuals who worked so hard to save them. Our thoughts and prayers are with the friends. family. and neighbors of each of the. miners affected.","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":501,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090106576,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In terms of the number of votes necessary to pass legislation. the House always passes legislation by a majority vote. and it is always permanent. What we did with the minimum alternative tax vote. which with the help of the gentleman from New York passed by 414 votes. is exactly the same thing as far as the House is concerned that we did with the dividends and cap gains under tax reconciliation. It is the Senate that utilizes reconciliation to pass measures by only 51 votes. albeit not permanently. for only a decade. and it is the Senate that needs 60 votes to make things permanent. So far as the institution of the House and the rules of the House and the votes that were cast. both on tax reconciliation and on the alternative minimum tax vote. the effective result of the House vote is absolutely the same. All I am pointing out about the strangeness of this motion to instruct is that it is a request for the House to reverse itself. albeit nonbinding. from the very vote that we took. and that is. that the gentleman from New York and others who were on the losing ide on the vote for tax reconciliation want to be on the winning side by offering a motion to instruct. I guess it is okay. I will trade substance for appearance any. day of. the week. But -Members needt to know what they are voting on. and what they are voting on is to reverse themselves from the substantive decision they made. earlier. I have never seen a motion to instruct that completely flips the legislation that had been presented. That is what I meant by strangeness. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM THOMAS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2911,"word_count":285}
{"speech_id":1090106583,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Thank you. Mr. Chairman. for yielding to me. and I just want to point out that I represent seven counties. and I have people that are going to get caught in this AMT tax just like you do and just like every one of our colleagues across the country. This was a tax. as you point out. to make sure people did not get out of their tax liability. But it was never indexed. and now it has crept up to catch all those good. hardworking people in the middle. And. Mr. Chairman. you know that our State pays 25 percent of the AMT that comes to the Federal Government.","speaker_name":"MIKE THOMPSON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":559,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090106590,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You think you are sending a mar-. ket -message. You are sending a message to the market with the kind of debt this country is in. If you take the credit card debt and.the amount people have borrowed against their homes to","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1841,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090106593,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. *A budget is indeed about choices about picking winners and losers. And there is a certain consistency in the approach that we have seen in this Republican Congress. . Each year this administration targets the same losers and rewards the same winners. Each year it offers more tax breaks for those at the top. -the wealthiest few. and it insists that the deficits that are thereby created be paid for in part by cutting aid to working families. to students and. to our seniors. Each year it sacrifices longterm fiscal -responsibility at the altar of shortterm political gratification. escalating the national debt to sub-. sidize private fortunes. The administrations budget does not just crunch numbers. however. it crunches people. Only last week the same folks that are here today demanding more and more tax breaks for those at the very top were here saying they had billions in what they called \"savings\" to help finance these tax cuts. But if you *ere a family caring for an abused and neglected child. that savings meant no support. ","speaker_name":"LLOYD DOGGETT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3173,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090106597,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would just say for the RECORD. the will of the House byt a vast majority extended both kinds of AMT relief we have been discussing today without raising taxes as the Senate did. \u0095 I just want to say that one in five taxpayers. or 20 percent with capital gains. and one in four taxpayers. 25 percent of ithe taxpayers with dividends. have incomes below $50.000. so this clearly is an - opportunity for Americans to begin to become part of -the American dream by investing and growing that income. Tp not. extend the tax relief would be to raise taxes. which would be the wrong thing to do. Mr. Speaker. I yield such- time as he may consume to the gentleman from Texas . a distinguished member of the Ways and Means Committee. 0.1800","speaker_name":"DAVE CAMP","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":789,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090106600,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Stand up now and tell us. How are you going to pay for both?","speaker_name":"WILLIAM THOMAS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":614,"word_count":14}
{"speech_id":1090106611,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the distinguished chairman arguing the other side has voted to raise the debt limit three times. You know. all of this new revenue is coming in. You have got to wonder how come we have to keep borrowing more because of our deficit and national debt getting deeper and deeper and deeper. With this motion we say we ought to address first things first. What is the threat that American taxpayers will pay higher taxes in 2006 and 2007? Well. millions will pay higher income taxes through application of the alternative minimum tax in 2006 and 2007. Under existing law. no one. not one American will pay a higher capital gains rate or higher corporate dividends rate than they do now. That is established in present law. So if we have got a problem with the alternative minimum tax and we do not have a problem with the capital gains and corporate dividends tax. it seems to me you ought to address the 2006 and 2007 problem. And it is a big problem. ","speaker_name":"EARL POMEROY","chamber":"H","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1707,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090106636,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Let me thank my. colleagues for their support and for this big job. and it is a big job. I think all of the Members who I have worked with over the years know how\" I operate. I am a Republican. I believe in Republican. principles. But this is the peoples House. It is to represent all of the people. And while I want my party to win every day. I want us to win fairly and honestly. And so I will say to *all of you. I am going to do my best for the peoples House. ","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":960,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090106655,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Sri Lankas Foreign Minister was brutally assassinated by a sniper. and it has been widely acknowledged that the LTTE members had targeted him for some time. Though LTTE has denied any involvement. past history demonstrates that the group never claims responsibility for their crimes. There is now clear evidence. for example. that the Tamil Tigers ordered assassinations of Indias Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. President R. Premadasa. and others. These patterns indicate that the Tamil Tigers were likely involved in Mr. Kadirgamars assassination. In addition to the death of Sri Lankas Foreign Minister. the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission has recorded over 3.000 violations of the ceasefire agreement by the Tamil Tigers. These violations include assassinations and abductions. particularly","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1814,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090106687,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This Congress and this President are going to the Chinese Government to get it. I would be happy to yield to the gentlewoman from Florida . my friend.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4410,"word_count":28}
{"speech_id":1090106688,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Fiscal responsibility.. yet five in-. creases in the debt limit in the debt ceiling. It is really tough for me to understand. . We are borrowing away our childrens future. and it is a concept that I have not been able to get my mind around. We want to make sure that we reduce the deficit. but the President talks about it in his State of the Union address. You constantly hear Republican Members of Congress profess that they have an interestin cutting the deficit in half or eliminating the deficit. Yet. the budget that the President submitted does no such thing. In fact. over the next 10 years it ensures that the deficit continues to stay significantly high. does not even come close to cutting it in half. and. actually. he presented us a budget on Monday that includes no assumption that we would spend no money on the war in Iraq after next year. I mean. to me. I analogize -the reality of the budget the President gave us on Monday to one that my first graders might sit down and write because they have about the same similarity in terms of likelihood of success here in this Chamber. the same similarity that my first graders would write to the ability to actually meet the needs of the people in the country. E0 2215 You know what it really boils down to? It boils down to hypocrisy. because the same people who accuse Democrats of being tax and spend liberals. you know. and I am loathe to repeat that misnomer because it is so insulting. but if we are tax and spend liberals. they are borrow and spend. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3646,"word_count":280}
{"speech_id":1090106689,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We supported tax cuts and credits for college tuition. But I. am not ashamed to say that we are going to ask Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to pay their fair share in taxed. because right now they are getting a free ride. And I am not afraid to say. and the 30something Working Group is notafraid to say. that we do not- want to give public tax dollars to the tune of $16 billion to the energy companies. You gotto be kidding me. I mean. you know. Mr. Speaker. people who may be watching this in the -Chamber or Members in their offices should be startled that we are going to go out and collect tax dollars from the public. Average people making minimum wage. or .10 bucks or 15 bucks an hour..send money down here to us. and the Republican majority is taking that money and giving it to the energy companies when. you know. ExxonMobil is making $39 billion in a quarter. and all of the other oil companies are doing extremely well. Or we are going to take that money.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2125,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090106708,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And as you stated with the budget and the deficits. lets just look at what this President has done. We saw the numbers hefe. that he has borrowed more than the previous 200 years. He has run up the four largest deficits in the history of the United States of America. an annual deficit of $378 billion in 2003. a deficit of $413 billion in 2004. a deficit of $318 billion in 2005. and a projected deficit this year of $423 billion. We are going to be spending more than we are taking in. and we are borrowing the money from the Chinese Government. Now. we are putting ourselves in a very difficult position. not only because we are borrowing money and we have to pay interest on it. which is reckless as could be. but strategically trying to deal with the Chinese Government. how can you be firm in your foreign policy when the Chinese Government is your bank? You cant go to your banker and negotiate from a position of weakness. If you have a lot of money and then you want to borrow some. you are in a good position.. But if you go and you owe and you owe and you owe the bank. eventually the bank has the knife at your throat and you have got to deal on their terms. not on your terms. If you really need the mohey. well. then. the rate is going to go up because. hey. youre a little risky here. It is a risky loan to make. My point is that although we may have good credit. the more we borrow from the Chinese Government. then the weaker our positioning is when we need to deal with the nuclear situation in North Korea or we need help in Iraq or we need to deal with the Russians or we need to work on the human rights violations that are going on in China. as they are totally suppressing freedom of speech and they are arresting journalists. with Google and a lot of our American companies helping them. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2809,"word_count":349}
{"speech_id":1090106711,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This comes at a time when only 36 percent of fourth graders and 30 percent of eighth graders tested proficient in math. but our twelfth graders scored at or near the bottom of math and-. science compared to other countries. 0] 2300 We could listen to the President say it until he is blue in the face. but until the Republican leadership here ind the Members of Congress match what the President is saying with their votes. until he proposes a budget that actually reflects what his words said in the State of the Union. why should people believe them? They should not. They should not believe them because this is another example of how a pervasive culture of corruption and cronyism permeates itself all the way through the process and results in the reality on the ground in a budget that does the exact opposite in. terms of producing the competitive talent that. the President talked about in the State of the Union. because that cannot happen if you are slashing and burning the programs that accomplish that. The American people are not stupid. They understand the difference between saying it and doing it. When I have -traveled across the country. I hear from people that want to believe the things that their politicians tell them. They want to believe in us. and their confidence in this body. in Congress. in the government is so badly shaken by everything that has gone on through the culture of corruption that has gone on here. It has shaken the confidence that people have in this institution to its foundation. We have to do something about it. We have an opportunity to do something about it later this year. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3283,"word_count":287}
{"speech_id":1090106712,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If you look at what the Democrats are offering. they say the Democrats do not haveany ideas.. That may sound good. but we are the party of ideas. We are beginning to communicate them. I think.. in a way that is effective. If you look at Ms. PELOSIS innovation agenda that we came up with in our caucus by meeting. with hightech companies and asking Pebudry 8. 2006 CO them what they Want. if you look at our competitiveness agenda that we have. investments in research and development. R&D funding has stayed flat under the Presidents watch. and it is way below what it was 20 years ago. If we are going to be competitive. we have to make some investments in research and development. We are blowing money by giving subsidies to the energy companies when we should invest it in basic research. I was in Israel in November. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2856,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090106715,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we again want to thank Leader NANCY PELOSI for the opportunity to talk about the things that are important to the American people. Again we have laid out our vision. for Americas competitiveness into the future and how we can keep America number one and actually match rhetoric with what the President laid out in his State of the Union with action and deeds. You can get a- copy of this. you can peruse a copy of our innovation agenda. which was developed not in Washington. not sitting around a conference table in a hearing room in the Nations Capital. butout in the country. in the hightech centers around this country. with bipartisan input. with the leaders and CEOs of. some of the major technologically advanced corporations across this country that can be viewed at HouseDemocrats.gov. That is our Web site where you can get a copy of this. Again. in addition to broadband access. we are the ones that laid out our commitment to growing a new generation of innovators. We committed in this document to educate 100.000 new scientists. engineers and mathematicians in the next 4 years by proposing a new initiative by working with States. businesses. and universities to provide scholarships to qualified students who commit to working in the fields of innovation. But the Republicans could not say that they were going to do that because in every successive budget. they have cut student financial aid. You cannot make sure that you expand access to higher education in the math and sciences and in areas that are significantly underrepresented now unless you provide the aid that these students are going to need. It is ndt that we do not have the students in these programs because there is a bumper crop of wealthy kids that are just not going into the math and sciences. it is to make sure that we go into the communities across this country and encourage and nurture the desire from the smallest children and the youngest ages and across the cultural and ethnic spectrum to ensure that people of all colors. o? all economic walks of life choose to pursue math and science and engineering. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2720,"word_count":366}
{"speech_id":1090106735,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I had placed in the RECORD yesterday one of the petitions. We have 150.000 signatures on that150.000 signatures here in the Capitol in boxes. We debate this bill. There is a lot of technical talk about startups. sunsets. and payment tiers. But lets not lose sight of what this debate is about. It is about whether the Senate will keep faith with the victims of a disease which they had no opportunity to avoid. The problem in America today. as it relates to what is going on on the Seriate floor. is not a crisis created by the legal system. it is a crisis created by the people who expose these people to asbestos. If there were ever a cry for fairness and equity and justice. it is this. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":800,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090106767,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. with all due respect. the issue isnt whether it has been made public. the issue is whether it is in existence. and the issue beyond being in existence is whether it is available to Members who have to vote on the bill. So when the Senator from Illinois asserts that you dont know who is making contrilutions. it is simply not so. The issue of confidentiality is true. It has been raised by the companies because they are concerned that if it is disclosed how much they have contributed or are proposing to contribute that they may be targets for more litigation. I dont wish to interrupt the Senator \u0095from Illinois further. I simply wish to make the point that he is wrong when he says we dont know who is going to contribute the money. and his own staffer has taken a look at the list.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":801,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090106768,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me respond. if I may. Why is this cloaked in secrecy? Why is this a secret conversation? How can we have confidence that the. $140 billion figure has any validity? How can we have confidence that the businesses that will be called on are going to be able to contribute to this fund if this is cloaked in secrecy and confidentiality? Most of -these lawsuits are open. public record. It is hard for me to imagine that a business is going to be sued because someone has identified them as a potential contributor to this trust fund. Nevertheless. if we are expected to replace the court system in America with this new trust fund system. how can we do it with any confidence if all the information is not on the table? Why the secrecy? What are we concealing?. What we are concealing. frankly. is the most controversial elements of this bill: a question of whether $140 billion will actually pay the victims--and I doubt that it willa question of whether companies are going to be asked to pay into this trust fund who shouldnt be asked to pay into the trust fund and. subsequently. may be forced into bankruptcy. closing their doors because of it. These are questions of great moment. To say a staff person can have access to secret files in an office hardly gives any comfort in the midst of a public debate about an issue of this magnitude.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1344,"word_count":244}
{"speech_id":1090106779,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think that is reasonable. with the agreement of the staffer and the Senator that if we decide to retain the confidentiality. they will respect that. I trust Senator DURBIN and I trust his staff to honor confidentiality if we stick with it. As I say. I will review that as well. But Senator DURBIN has to make a decision. I am sure Senator DURBIN has an open mind on this question. Now that I reflect on it. I am not so sure he does have an open mind on this question. and he doesnt have to have an open mind on this question. I think he raises a good point when he says we ought to know who contributes the money. I raised hell to get the information and finally had to raise a subpoena to get the information. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1469,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090106783,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"When he says I havent responded to his letter. I have responded to his letter by getting him the information. The Senator from Illinois is diligent. resourceful. and raises lots of questions. I would challenge him to say I havent responded to all of them.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":255,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090106829,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. that the case. You will never have to drill bill was introduced yesterday. I dont there. but. that didnt happen. There have the number. but the clerk has it. are many other things that are going Senator SESSIONS is not on that bill. to happen because of that bill. but we","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":286,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090106830,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I didnt do this one. the offshore. because would be pleased to be part of it and we were told there would be a filibuster sign onto it. I thank the Senator from on the bill. the big bill. and we had to New Mexico for his leadership in con- make a decision. It was open and made stantly pressing to make sure this Na- right here. Everybody heard it. So now tion does not make a mistake. We have we have to take our one shot at a time. made a lot of them in our energy p01- This is one. icy. We have been blessed to have the My last observation would be just in Senator there. advanceI know the floor is a valuable We are now talking in Mobile about a tool for every Senator. They can offer new LNG terminal. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2704,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090106844,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I shall quote Alexander Pope in saying to my distinguished friend. Senator SPECTER: Thou art my guide. philosopher. and friend. I thank the distinguished Senator. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent to proceed for not to exceed 3 minutes as in morning business for the purpose of submitting a resolution.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":322,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090107038,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. a little later this morning. after we conclude our 30 minutes of morning business. we will return to the consideration of S. 852. the asbestos legislation. When that bill is laid before us this morning. amendments will be in order. Chairman SPECTER will be ready to consider those amendments related to the underlying asbestos issue. and we expect rollcall votes during todays session. We have had good debate up to this* point. but it is finally time to begin working on the underlying issues of the asbestos bill. Therefore. we will be here -ready and available into the evening to debate and voteon the amendments. I remind everybody that last night I filed a cloture motion in relation to a Defense Department nomination on the Executive Calendar that has been held up. That vote will be tomorrow morning. and we hope we can get cloture and vote on the nomination early Friday. We have 2 days remaining this week. and Senators should have ample time to offer and debate amendments on the asbestos legislation.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1028,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090107080,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"You cannot allow it to happen. If this bill happens. we will go out of business. That is not a minor gulf between the proponents and the opponents. I have tried to figure out why business men and women examining this as dispassionately as they can have c6me to such diametrically opposite positions. I have found. for me. what is an explanation. I have prepared two charts that will demonstrate this. Both of these are based on assumptions. We must understand that this entire debate. is based on assumptions. No one really knows. There are those who say the $140 billion called for in the trust fund will be more than enough to take care of all of the claims. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BENNETT","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11155,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090107097,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"After countless hours of reviewing and studying the options and hours of working with my colleagues to achieve reform. I unfortunately conclude that in its current form and with its current significant weaknesses. it is not. Rather. I believe the likelihood is far greater that the trust fund will sooner. rather than later. prove unsustainable and return us to the same broken tort system. then leaving thousands of Americans in the wake of a failed Government program. wondering where to go and why they must now go back to court. This simply cannot be the outcome. I offer an alternative solution. a simple solution that has been tested in States around the country and a solution that would target the key causes of the asbestos liability crisis. I am pleased to offer this amendment on behalf of 14 cosponsors: Senators COBURN.","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2217,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090107103,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator for bfinging this important amendment to debate. I will ask him a question or two about his amendment. I think the Senator is on the right track in noting that several States have made significant progress in dealing with the \"asbestos litigation. In some States. there .has been an agreement between what are usually warring and opposing parties as to how the system can be improved. I wish to ask the Senator from Texas whether the approach he has suggested to the Senate today would preempt existing State laws and standards in this area?","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":576,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090107147,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"While I fully support efforts by the Postal Service to rationalize its processing operations. I also believe that the Postal Service can engage in consolidation decisions that are rational and justified and can withstand public scrutiny. I believe that this language will improve the consolidation process. and I was pleased to work with my colleague from Iowa in drafting it. I believe that the language strikes the appropriate balance by not stopping the Postal Service from studying proposed consolidations of particular facilities. while at the same time requiring the Postal Service to meet some basic obligations to its customer and affected communities before a consolidation can be implemented.","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":702,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090107165,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we have been trying to set a vote here on the amendment offered by Senator CORNYN since about 2. 2:15. I had hoped to vote at 3. and then I had hoped to vote at 3:30. The Senator from Illinois advised me a few moments ago that his preference would be to vote at 4:15. We .are willing to accommodate that preference unless there is some inclination to vote sooner than 4:15. Therefore. I ask unanimous consent that we set the vote on the Cornyn amendment for 4:15. With the time equally divided between now and then.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":530,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090107182,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It should be because it is changing the basic system of justice in America. But this morning. this bill has become a dead letter. We are no longer considering that bill. We have a new bill. We were handed this bill this morning. It is 392 pages. It includes some 40 significant changes to the bill we had on our desks when we came to work this morning. We knew it was coming. we knew there would be a change. but these changes are significant. Many Members believe that before we start enacting laws that are going to impact millions of victims across America. before we. close down the courtrooms of America and say to people. what you used to assume was your right as an American citizen is no longer your right. we ought to be careful and we ought to take the time to get it right. Some of the things that have been filed with this bill reflect the fact that even those preparing it really do not have it quite clear in their minds how it is going to work. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10289,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090107193,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Congress must act. But what is the best solution? Should we create yet another entitlement trust fund or should we reform the tort system by imposing reasonable medical criteria standards in the courts? We need to find a solution that protects both the economy and the legal rights of those truly injured by asbestos or who will develop asbestosrelated injuries in the future. It is my belief that it would be a mistake to establish an asbestos trust fund. I know this fund relies on private financing. Unfortunately. this may turn out to be only the seed money and unable. over time. to sustain the fund for very long. creating a high risk that Congress. at some point in the future may have to step in to keep it operating. The last thing we need is another uncapped Government entitlement. especially with our existing deficits. The major problem with the trust fund. is that the private funding is capped but the potential liability- is not. We have to face reality. This fund will go insolvent. I dont believe it is a question of if. it is a question of when. ","speaker_name":"JOHN THUNE","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5532,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090107211,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I know the distinguished majority leader filed cloture on Eric S. Edelman to be Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. Senator LEVIN has indicated he is agreeable to letting that go forward on a voice vote. We are ready to do that as soon as necessary when the majority leader believes it is appropriate.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":319,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090107230,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Under the amendment. no defendant participant. other than a Tier I participant. with 2002 revenues of less than $1 billioii is required to contribute more than the greater of 1.67percent of its revenues as of December 31. 2002. or 1.67 percent of its revenues for the most recent 12month fiscal year. The revenue cap employed by this amendment matches the 1.67 percent of gross revenues that is the measure of Tier I contributions. Also. only companies that elect to report on a consolidated basis may take advantage of this revenue cap. This amendments revenue cap is only a rough measure of ability to pay. It is. however. easy to administer. and it is less subject to manipulation than other measures. such as net income. As for the a.nendments changes to the hardship adjustment. first. there currently are two. hardship provisions in the billsection 204(d)(2). which provides relief generally for severe financial hardship and which is subject to the $300 million hardship and inequity cap. and section 204(d)(5). which allows the cap to be exceeded if.otherwise a company would be forced into insolvency. My amendment would rewrite (d)(2) to\" provide clearer standards. eliminate (d)(5). and make clear that there is no cap on hardship relief. The result is a simpler proposal more attuned to the needs of potential hardshipadjustment applicants. Under the amendment. any defendant participant can apply for hardship relief. whether it is in Tier I or not. and whether or not it reports on a consolidated basis. However. in the case of defendant participants that do not file on a consolidated basis. the administrator must -examine the real financial situation of the defendant participant by taking into consideration the financial positionof the affiliated group. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8854,"word_count":285}
{"speech_id":1090107257,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me say to my colleague. the problem with that is. it doesnt include debt service. It doesnt include aniy additional amount for dormant claims. It doesnt inclhde any additiofial -amount for exceptional medical claims. It doesnt include any additional amount for claims of family members. CBOs estimate of the number of future cancer cases. we believe. is likely to be fartoo low. And CBOs estimate of the percent of nonmalignant claims that will receive a. cash award is likely far too low. I will go further in answering my colleague and say. when you reality. test all of these things against what has happened in other funds like this. what we see is a consistent pattern. a very consistent pattern. that the initial estimates of how many claims there will be have been vastly understated.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":795,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090107261,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Because first. I say to my colleagues. those are his words and his conclusions. I have great respect. for the Congressional Budget Office. I think the Senator knows that is the case. I say this in seriousness. They have been very clear with \"us. They have said there are areas that are extremely difficult to predict. I accept that. It is vexy difficult to know how many dor mant claims will come out of the woodwork. But to suggest there are not going to be any is unrealistic. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2235,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090107272,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Sure. it is an important issue. But my guess is most families across America would probably step back and say: I sure wish they would talk about thecost of health insurance for families. businesses. and individuals or maybe the cost of this heating bill I havein my. hand. where the .cost of heating this home has doubled since last year or maybe they ought to talk once in a while about this Medicare prescription Part D Program which has become a mess for seniors across America. Why arent they talking about pension security when our neighbors next door worked a lifetime at that plant. and then the plant went into bankruptcy and dumped the pension. and now this man and his wife. who thought they had done everything right in life. dont have retiree benefits and dont have health benefits? Why arent. they talking about those things? No. the Senate is engaged in a debate on the asbestos bill which I have characterized as a clash of the special interest titanshuge companies on both sides. for and against asbestos. insurance companies for and against this bill. trial lawyers opposing the bill. others supporting the bill. labor unions -by and large opposing the bill with two or three exceptions. Why are we on this bill today? Because what drives this debate is what is at stake. What is at stake is not just recovery for hundreds of thousands of asbestos victims but a .lot of money. Earlier today. a Republican Senator.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2649,"word_count":250}
{"speech_id":1090107283,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this afternoon. I rise to extend the thoughts and prayers of the entire Senate to Senator KEN SALAZAR who left the Capitol last night to be with his mother. Emma. Mrs. Salazar is suffering from very delicate health. She was taken early this morning from her home in Alamosa. CO. to Denver for hospitalization. The entire Salazar family is together in Denver as we speak comforting her and each other during this very difficult time. I want them to know that the thoughts of everyone in this Chamber are with them. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":873,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090107289,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr.. President. I rise today to put into the RECORDa letter that Senator GRAHAM and I recently sent to the Attorney General. and to respond to misrepresentations that have been made in the press and by others regarding the circumstances of the enactment of the Graham amendment to last years Defense Authorization bill. The letter responds to similar misleading attacks that were made against the Justice Department at the beginning of this year. My office has received several inquiries about this letter. which wassent to the Attorney Geneial on January 18. So that anyone interested in this matter might review the letter. I will ask to have it printed in the RECORD. I ordinarily would not comment on the meaning of legislation that already has been enacted into law. In this case. \u0095 however. there has been a considerable amount of postenactment commentary by others on the meaning of the Graham amendment. Much of this commentary insinuates that the Administration and the backers of the amendment are violating in agreement with members of the minority by characterizing the amendment as governing pending litigation. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12298,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090107290,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Reintroducing recycling into. this countrys strategy for managing spent fuel is a major change in policy. and one that deserves serious discussion. That discussion should be based on fact and not emotion. should address current technologies. not those froin more than a generation ago. and should consider reasonable alternatives to maintaining nuclear energy as a viable part of our Nations energy supply. And what reasonable alternatives are there? Total electricity consumption in the U.S. is prdjected to increase by about 40 percent by 2025. Wind and solar energy cannot provide largescale. baseload electricity. because they are intermittent energy sources. Hydro provides about 10 percent of our electricity right now. but building new dams to fully accommodate the increased demand is not possible. Relying solely on fossil fuels to make up the difference is environmentally irresponsible. and with the price of natural gas increasing dramatically. less economically appealing. Nuclear energy is the most environmentally sound technology capable of adequately meeting such increased demand. But even simply maintaining the current share of electricity generation provided by nuclear energy will require constructing many new nuclear powerplants in this country. So should we continue to push for opening Yucca Mountain to begin accepting waste as soon as possible? The answer is clearly yes. Electric utilities demand confidence that spent fuel will be managed responsibly if they are going to continue to build new nuclearpower plants in the U.S. ","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8199,"word_count":234}
{"speech_id":1090107300,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In. the schools 54 to 20 state final win. Mitch connected on 17 passes for 5 touchdowns. I also take this opportunity to say how proud and excitedI am that Mitch Mustain has signed with my alma mater. the University of Arkansas. I foresee great things ahead for the Razorbacks. Mr. President. I ask my colleagues to join me today in \"Calling the Hogs\" in recognition of this future Razorbacks outstanding accomplishments. We all look forward to following Mitchs career and anticipate that he will make lasting contributions to his team and to the University of Arkansas..","speaker_name":"MARK PRYOR","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1334,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090107308,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But thats just the beginning of the problem. Even families who are fortunate enough to have health insurance. are struggling to pay the premiums. which in New Jersey. have increased at four times the rate of earnings. Since 2000. the employee share of health care premiums in New Jersey increased almost 43 percent or almost $400 a year. When family earnings increase by only 10 percent over the same period. it becomes clear just how challenging it is for our hard working families to get by. The Health Care COSTS Act does not address the entiie problem. but it will help some workers afford to keep their health insurance when theyre between jobs. Currently. many workers who receive health coverage. through their employer are entitled to keep that coverage for up to 18 months after they leave their jobs. This coverage is known as COBRA coverage. However. many dont take advantage of COBRA coverage because its simply too expensive. The employee. who has just lost their job. has to pay the full cost of the coverage. making it prohibitively expensive for most families. The Health Care COSTS Act helps moderateincome families with the cost of COBRA by providing an \"advanceable\" tax credit .for half the cost of these health care premiums. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT MENENDEZ","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3096,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090107330,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session. I ask unanimous consent that the cloture .vote with respect to Executive Calendar No. 309 be vitiated. the Senate proceed to its consideration. the nomination be confirmed. the motion to reconsider be laid on the table. the President be immediately notified of the Senates action. and the Senate then resume legislative session.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":413,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090107352,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But as I conferred with the Parliamentarian yesterday. he confirmed the fact that the practice here is not to have the Parliamentarian rule but to have the Budget Committee rule and really to have the chairman make the decision. After working intensively on this issue for the 25 years I have been here. and intensely for the past 3 years. it seems to me as a matter of basic equity that we ought not to have this bill pulled from the floor by a single vote when we are in the midst of adding amendments which may cure all of the problems people see. Senator CORNYN. for example. who proposed the medical criteria bill yesterday. has told me that he does not favor upholding the point of order. that he thinks the bill ought to go forward. Senator CORNYN has said he may have as many as four more amendments. Senator KYL has an amendment on the floor now which will protect the smaller companies. Senator COBURN may have an amendment on tightening up the medical criteria. When we have worked for 3 years intently. why not let this bill stand for 3 more days next week to see if we can work out the problems? I submit to all of my colleagues. and especially my colleagues on the Budget Committee. this is not where it ought to be decided by a supermajority. This body had very intensive debate on when a filibuster ought to be allowed. and we came to the conclusion that it should be extraordinary circumstances. I think the analogy right on all fours. as we say in the lawon all fours. To defeat this bill by a supermajority. there ought to be some extraordinary circumstance. which there is not. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5826,"word_count":293}
{"speech_id":1090107372,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The litigation did not create these costs. Exposure to asbestos created them. They are the cost of medical care. the cost of lost wages. incapacitated workers. the cost of providing for the families of workers who died years before their time. Those costs are real. No legislative proposal can make them disappear. All legislation can do is shift those costs from one party to another. Unfortunately. S. 852 would shift more of the financial burden onto the backs of injured workers. That is unacceptable. Lets look at what this legislation would really do to victims. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11963,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090107373,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Do you think they would do that? No. They would not bring a program back here that was built on the Medicare system. They would not permit the seniors in my State to be able to make a choice. But they will say: We trust Medicare. It provides for our doctors bills. It provides for our hospitalization.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2730,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090107390,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to begin my remarks today speaking about a topic that I have been involved with. along with many of my colleagues for months now. That is LIHEAP funding. If you look at a weather map. you will see that temperatures across much of the United States are only expected to be in the thirties and forties today. Winter has finally arrived. In Providence. the high is only projected to be 19 degrees. A noreaster is on its way up the east coast. they forecast snow that will hit here in the DC area tomorrow. all the way up to New England. and so winter has arrived. I wanted to mention the weather forecast because we are at the end of the second week of February. and there is no new funding for the LowIncome Home Energy Assistance Program. and ag far as I know. there are no plans by the majority to bring to the Senate a vote on a $2 billion LIHEAP funding proposal. This funding proposal was removed from the Department of Defense Appropriations bill conference report. ","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2199,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090107413,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"FLETC is already planning to increase its language training capabilities and construct new language arts facilities in Artesia to accommodate the increased number of border patrol trainees being sent there. so it makes sense for other DHS employees and Federal agents to utilize this facility as well. Mr. President. the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center has prepared our soldiers for World War II. the Cold War. the Korean War. and the Vietman conflict. It continues to provide such training today. I believe that similar training is necessary for the men and women securing our homeland. and the Foreign Language Training Act of 2006 provides for such education. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2014,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090107414,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In 2003. both President Bush and Chief Justice Rehnquist agreed that a pay adjustment of at least 16.5 percent was needed. Finally. the act would provide Federal judges with annual costofliving adjustments based on the employee cost Index. an index already used by the Federal Government to help Federal salaries keep up with inflation. The cost of this salary increase would be only $41.3 million. a relatively small sum to safeguard the quality and independence of our judiciary. Our Federal judges make many sacrifices in serving our Nation and a cut in pay is one of these sacrifices. However. the disparity between judicial salaries and salaries in the rest of the legal profession has grown so wide that the quality of our judicial system may be endangered. It is time to provide these critical public servants with a fair salary that will guarantee the future health of the judiciary. I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6367,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090107428,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it adjourn until 12 noon on Monday. February 13. I further ask following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Chair then lay before the Senate the House message to accompany H.R. 4297. the tax relief bill. I further ask that the Senate then insist upon its amendment and agree to the request of the House for a conference.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":532,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090107464,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Statements that we will provide AMT relief to working families separately and later in the year undermine this Senate position. It is statements such as those that have led us to this Groundhog Day. It is statements such as that that call into question the Senates votes and cause the Senate to have to vote once again to deliver that same message. Today. we will debate several motions to instruct. and the first one will be Groundhog Day for AMT. For 17 million American families. 2006 came with an unwelcome surprisea stealth tax. The temporary protection from alternative minimum tax. or AMT. expired December 31. That means that 17 million more American families will be subject to it this year. That is an increase from 3 million to 20 million taxpayers in one year alone. Once again. the Senate will debate whether to support our position. where AMT relief is a priority. In contrast. the House position was to prefer extending capital gains and dividends cuts. which expire in 2009. that is. over AMT protection. which expired 6 weeks ago. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11357,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090107481,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"When they come home. they need the kind of support that the fund Senator DODD identified would give them. But there is even a more immediate concern to our Armed Forces today: $50 billion in equipment that has to be rehabilitated. refurbished. brought up to operating conditions. so these men and women can continue their operations on behalf of America. I can tell you. as someone who had the privilege of commanding a company of paratroopers. the most disconcerting concept. the most disconcerting and troubling aspect. is when your equipment is poorly maintained. will not operate. is inefficient. out of date. That drives morale down as rapidly as anything. We havenot unexpectedly because of the conflict in which we are engagedseen our equipment stocks become overused. both aviation equipment and ground equipment: trucks. vehicles. humveesall of them have taken a terrible beating in combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Just 2 weeks ago. this body agreed with my proposal to spend $50 billion to refurbish this equipment. But as Senator DODD pointed out. they did not agree with the way we would pay for it. In fact. the proposal was really just oratory. It says: Lets spend $50 billion which we do not have to help the military refurbish their equipment. We have to do better than that because. as the Senator pointed out. without funding. that is all wellwishes without real results. ","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11649,"word_count":233}
{"speech_id":1090107482,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me explain. The IRA rollover provision allows older. financially secure donors to seamlessly transfer amounts in their IRA to their favorite charity. without first recognizing the IRA into income. Under current law. taxpayers who want to donate their IRAs to charity must first take the amount into income. This can cause a huge disincentive to give if the amount of the IRA exceeds the donors adjusted gross income limitation. for example. In some cases. donors are forced to incur income for tax purposes for amounts the donor has given to charity. This makes no sense. The law should encourage taxpayers to give to charity. For example. a taxpayer with an adjusted gross income of $40.000 and an IRA worth about $100.000. is forced to take that full $100.000 into income prior to making a gift to charity. As a result. this taxpayer is considered to have $140.000 in income. for tax purposeseven though the taxpayer is giving $100.000 away. Because taxpayers are subject to adjusted gross income limitations. even if the donor gives the entire $100.000 in the IRA away to charity. the taxpayer can only deduct up to half of adjusted gross incomein this example. $70.000. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10616,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090107490,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"At the lower rates. the tax penalty imposed on the additional investment earnings. the reward for taking on additional risk. is smaller than before. and it makes the risk more attractive. When investors get to keep more of their reward. they are encouraged to invest more. With more investment. businesses have an easier time attracting the capital they need to expand. create new goods and services. and also create new jobs. It is all part of this additional economic activity that creates this economic growth. Americans support the extension of these tax rates. A recent poll by the Pew Research Center. released on January 24. found that \"half of Americans support extending reductions in taxes on investment income such as capital gains and profits from stock dividends. while 35 percent believe these tax cuts should not be extended.\" I intend. by the way. to support extending the tax cuts by 34 percent. 35 percent. The reason is very apparentSill1 because it benefits millions of taxpayers. These lower rates have helped millions more taxpayers than other popular tax provisions. for example. the alternative minimum tax relief that we want to enact as well. Let me do a comparison between the AMT. which both Senator BAucus and I would like to see repealed. how many people would benefit from our relief from the alternative minimum tax versus how many would gain relief from an extension of current rates on capital gains and dividends. It turns out. of all taxpayers that pay the AMTthese are figures from the 2003 tax year. which is the last year9.7 percent had adjusted gross incomes under $100.000. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7494,"word_count":270}
{"speech_id":1090107498,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"ConocoPhillips reported its profits shot up 66 percent to $13.5 billion. while ChevronTexacos profits jumped to more than $14 billion. The five largest oil companies in the country had combined profits of more than $110 billion. So I would only say to the Senate today. it is one thing to talk about new tax breaks to the oil companies and to look at them. as we are doing today. and to particularly say: Do the oil companies need these tax breaks in order to promote exploration and secure the energy our country needs? What we now have is the situation where the oil companies themselves. have come to the Congress and have said. publicly. before the Congress. they do not need these kinds of tax breaks. At a time when they make record profits and consumers have recently paid recordhigh prices. the Federal Government simply should not record recordhigh subsidies to these companies. The Senate tax reconciliation bill includes an amendment I had the opportunity to work with Chairman GRASSLEY and Senator BAUCUS on to eliminate one of the new tax breaks for the oil companies to explore. This is exactly the type of incentive the major oil company CEOs and President Bush have said they do not need. The specialinterest tax break I was able to see eliminated from the Finance Committee bill would cost taxpayers about $300 million over 10 years. The taxpayers. in effect. would have to pay higher taxes to provide this big break for major oil companies. when the price of oil is over $60 per barrel. That is $7 per barrel higher than the price at which the President said they do not need incentives. At these high prices. it is my view we ought to take back this unnecessary tax break and save our citizens hardearned tax dollars. ","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8646,"word_count":305}
{"speech_id":1090107503,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Senator is correct. I am asking that we insist on what we did in the Finance Committee and what Chairman GRASSLEY and Senator BAucus have worked closely with me on. It is our feeling that we do need to have. a broader and more comprehensive discussion about this down the road. but we took a modest step in the right direction in the Finance Committee. That is what I wish to preserve with this motion.","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":406,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090107506,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Let me just say to the Senator from Oregon that regardless of whether Senators agree or disagree. this is an appropriate motion to instruct. This relates to the bill at hand. Obviously. it is not going to buy any conferees. I hope I will be a conferee. Certainly. it wont buy me. But at least it speaks to the substance of the bill before us. The Senator has his right to do this. and it certainly is appropriate. Most of these other motions to instruct we are going to be dealing with dont really deal with the bill. they are purely partisan hit amendments or motions to instruct. And what we are going to do on this side is respond in kind. It is the kind of partisan political \"gotcha\" which has caused this institution to deteriorate to the nadir where we are. ","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1131,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090107517,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Most of the motions to instruct by Members on this side are asking the conferees to defend the Senatepassed provisions. I point that out because. as I said. it is curious and disconcerting. and I hope all Members recognize what is going on here. namely. what I just outlined. I hope this is an aberration and that it doesnt continue. Otherwise. this is another example of the chaos. the virtual freeforall around here. and disrespect for procedure. for rules. for civility. and for both sides working together. I hope maybe that is an oversight by the other side of the aisle with all the motions that are going to be coming up. Nevertheless. I have them before me. That is what they seem to say. I point that out for Members. it is an observation before we vote to take into consideration. Most of the instructions I see are with respect to capital gains treatment. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2647,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090107569,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is what we should be voting on now. How to save and strengthen our middle class. our way of life. One answer that would be extremely positive would be to make the R&D tax credit permanent. to help continue to spur innovation into the future. As we all know. the way to profitability for struggling manufacturers is through innovation and education. The House bill only budgets a 1year extension of the R&D tax credit. leaving businesses to worry about whether longer term projects will be terminated. A 1year extension undermines our commitment to innovation and economic prosperity. Instead. the House bill provides $50 billion in tax breaks for the wealthy few who do not have to worry about losing their jobs or pensions tomorrow or struggling to pay their bills. We need to be investing in our manufacturers and our workers to prepare for the future by planting seeds for the next innovative idea. I am very proud that in Michigan we have been the heart of so much innovation. We create ideas. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10875,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090107574,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Basically. if you support the principles of providing more health care for veterans. the supposed purpose of the Dodd amendment. and. secondly. assisting our troops with body armor. the supposed purpose of the Reed amendment. then vote for the Grassley motion. If you support these two principles but dont support a tax increase on Americas seniors. at a higher cost of capital for American business. support the Grassley motion. If you just want an increase. then vote for the Dodd motion. I will summarize it this way: I appreciate Senator DODDS attention to the issue of our veterans health care needs. This issue is of utmost importance to the Members of the Senate. as evidenced by the fact that we appropriated a massive amount of extra money last fall for the fiscal year we are in now to meet the needs of veterans. particularly those who were not recognized. people returning wounded from Iraq. But my colleagues suggest that in order to provide this support. we should give up the important economic tax policy of reduced capital gains and dividends tax. the present tax policy. just continue it for 2 more years so that people have a longterm view of what the tax policy is so that they know what they are going to invest. The Dodd motion claims to be paid for by capital gains. but capital gains offsets dont even come into play until the year 2009. I have offered a motion that supports military health care facilities. but we dont tie it up with an offset that is 3 long years down the road. You will remember that the Senate debated this issue on Groundhog Day and voted to accept my amendment that provides the same benefits but does not raise taxes to pay for it. I urge my colleagues to vote against Senator DODDS motion and to support my motion to instruct the conferees on the amendment we have already passed. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5140,"word_count":325}
{"speech_id":1090107587,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is not available to taxpayers with income above $80.000$160.000 in the case of joint returns. In 2003the last year for which official data are availablemore than 3 1\/2 million Americans benefited from the tuition deduction. with nearly $7 billion in college tuition costs covered by the deductionan increase of nearly 9 percent from the previous year. Tax incentives for college tuition helped nearly 11 million Americans realize the dream of a college degree. This represents more than twothirds of all college students. In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. over 150.000 families and students took advantage of this deduction. The tuition deduction is a crucial part of our education tax incentives and must be made permanent. We should send the message to parents of high school students that this deduction will be there when their students begin college. I urge my colleagues to support this motion and support these families and students striving for a college education.","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2085,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090107590,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I offer this motion instructing conferees that in the years 2009 and 2010. the international competitiveness of the United States in attracting capital investment. and therefore job creation. is not weakened further by higher combined corporate and individual increased tax rates on corporate and capital income as a result of the higher dividend rate.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":367,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090107655,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Section 2(b)(1)(B) authorizes U.S. attorneys to pursue civil in rem forfeiture proceedings against \"any property used. in any manner or part. to commit or to facilitate the commission of a violation of subsection (a).\" The intent of this language is to provide attorneys and prosecutors with the authority to bring a civil forfeiture action against the property of bad actors who are facilitating trafficking or attempts to traffic in counterfeit marks. The forfeiture authority in section 2(b)(1)(B) cannot be used to pursue forfeiture and seizure proceedings against the computer equipment. Web site. or network of responsible Internet marketplace companies. which serve solely as a thirdparty to transactions and do not tailor their services or their facilities to the furtherance of trafficking or attempts to traffic in counterfeit marks. However. these Internet marketplace companies must make demonstrable good faith efforts to combat the use of their systems and services to traffic in counterfeit marks. Companies must establish and implement procedures to take down postings that contain or offer to sell goods. services. labels. and the like in violation of this act upon being made aware of the illegal nature of these items or services. It is the irresponsible culprits that must be held accountable. Those who profit from anothers innovation have proved their creativity only at escaping responsibility for their actions. As legislators. it is important that we provide law enforcement with the tools needed to capture these thieves. Senator SPECTER. it is also my understanding that the U.S. Sentencing Commission recently promulgated new Federal sentencing guidelines to account for the changes in how intellectual property crimes are committed. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2017,"word_count":268}
{"speech_id":1090107656,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As Senator LEAHY is aware. periodically the Sentencing Commission has sought to update the Federal sentencing guidelines upon the periodic directive of Congress to reflect and account for changes in the manner in which intellectual property offenses are committed. The recent amendments to which you refer were promulgated by the Sentencing Commission pursuant to the authorization in the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005. also known as FECA. These amendments to the Federal sentencing guidelines. which took effect on October 24. 2005. address changes in penalties and definitions for intellectual property rights crimes. particularly those involving copyrighted prerelease works and issues surrounding \"uploading.\" For example. these guidelines provide for a 25 percent increase in sentences for offenses involving prerelease works. In addition. the Commission revised its definition of \"uploading\" to ensure that the guidelines are keeping up with technological advances in this area. I would like to make it clear for the record that the directive to the Sentencing Commission in section 3 of H.R. 32 is not meant as disapproval of the Commissions recent actions in response to FECA. Rather. section 3 covers other intellectual property rights crimes that Congress believes it is time for the Commission to revisit. Specifically. section 3 directs the Commission to review the guidelines. and particularly the definition of \"infringement amount.\" to ensure that offenses involving lowcost items like labels. patches. medallions. or packaging that are used to make counterfeit goods that are much more expensive are properly punished. It also directs the Commission to ensure that the penalty provisions for offenses involving all counterfeit goods or services or devices used to facilitate counterfeiting are properly addressed by the guidelines. As it did in response to the No Electronic Theft Act of 1997 and FECA. I am confident that the Commission will ensure that the Federal sentencing guidelines provide adequate punishment and deterrence for these very serious offenses. and I look forward to the Commissions response to this directive.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2163,"word_count":326}
{"speech_id":1090107657,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Senator SPECTER. thank you for that clarification. As you are aware. there has been overwhelming support for this legislation. It has been very heartening to see such overwhelming support for this important bill. Counterfeiting is a threat to America. It wreaks real harm on our economy. our workers. and our consumers. This bill is a tough bill that will give law enforcement improved tools to fight this form of theft. The bill is short and straightforward. but its impact should be profound and farreaching.","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":510,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090107658,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"At this point. I would like to take this opportunity to thank like to thank Representative JIM SENSENBRENNER. Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. and Representative JOE KNOLLENBERG for their leadership in the House with regard to H.R. 32. In January of 2005. Representative KNOLLENBERG introduced H.R. 32 in the House. When the bill was in Committee. he fostered negotiations between the Department of Justice. the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. and the International Trademark Association to ensure that it passed the House. I would also like to thank my colleague Senator LEAHY. ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. and Senators ALEXANDER. BAYH. BROWNBACK.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":673,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090107660,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We also must ensure that everyoneregardless of where they livebenefits from modernization of our telecom laws. I believe we must act now to protect our place in the world as a leader in communications. and I look forward to the debate on this very important issue.","speaker_name":"BEN NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3507,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090107662,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Past recipients include leaders in our Nations cuttingedge science and hightech communitiescompanies such as Dow. Dupont. and Corning or individuals such as those who have performed the first human heart transplant and invented the first wholebody CT scanner. The National Medal serves to honor the legacy of innovation that has made our Nation a technological leader for more than two centuries. And it seeks also to inspire the future generations of innovators who will keep our Nation strong for years to come. This year. PACCAR. a Bellevue. WA company has earned this special recognition. But what. you may ask. do a lot of big rigs have to do with science and innovation? Well. PACCAR has time and again led the industry in the design and manufacture of fuel efficient and lightweight trucks. They were the first to use a diesel engine in a heavyduty truck. ","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3950,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090107690,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today I rise to salute the bravery of Border Patrol agents working along the Mexicean border. I recently returned from a weeklong trip to the MexicanCalifornia border. where I had the. opportunity to ride along with our Border Patrol agents. I was impressed by the bravery of the Border Patrol agents who escorted me. We personally saw a Border Patrol supervisor pull an illegal alien off a 10foot wall and arrest him despite his violent attempts to resist arrest. I witnessed another Border Patrol agent scale a 5.000foot mountain at 2 in the morning in freezing 30degree weather and singlehandedly arrest. and handcuff eight illegal aliens. The Border Patrol agent I rode with told me that he had been shot at on several occasions. Twentythree of his colleagues have been killed in the line of duty since 1990. For example. Border Patrol agents Susan Rodriguez and Ricardo Salinas were gunned down by a murder suspect. ","speaker_name":"RIC KELLER","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1140,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090107696,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to share the heartbreaking story of a 13yearold girl in my district and to call for tougher penalties for child pornography. I have introduced. along with Representative .TIERNEY. H.R. 4703. called Mashas law after 13yearold Masha Allen._ whose adoptive father posted pornographic images of her at age 5 on the Internet. Thankfully. law enforcement officials tracked and convicted her father. Masha now lives in Douglasville. Georgia. with a new and loving adoptive parent. However. hundreds of her images are still on the Internet. and her photographs are some of the most widely downloaded pictures in the world. Mr. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1257,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090107749,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As one of few women at her post. she also traveled into Fallujah to perform searches of female Iraqis. a task that men were prohibited from doing. It was returning from one such trip that Hollys convoy was attacked by insurgents. Three men and three women were killed that day. and 13 men and women were wounded. This sacrifice remindg us of the courage of our men and women in uniform who are faced with ongoing dangers in Iraq. It also underscores how important it is that we as Members of Congress do everything in our power to protect those who defend our Nation. Designating a post office in memory of Lance Corporal Holly Ann Charette is a fitting tribute to a woman who touched the lives of so many. When her friend and family visit the facility at 57 Rolfe Square in Cranston. they will be reminded of her smile. her cheerful personality. and her dedication to helping others. It will also remind future generations of the sacrifice of one exceptional person who gave so much to her Nation. I ask my colleagues to honor Holly Charette. a truly amazing woman by supporting this legislation today.","speaker_name":"JAMES LANGEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2604,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090107766,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. personal reasons require my absence from legislative business scheduled for today. Tuesday. February 14. 2006. Had I been present. I would have voted \"yea\" on H. Con. Res. 322. a resolution expressing the s6nse of Congress regarding the contribution of Ihe USO to our service men and women of our armed forces (rollcall No. 8) and \"yea\" on S. 1989. the Holly A. Charette Post Office Building Designation Act (rollcall No. 9).","speaker_name":"CAROLYN KILPATRICK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":438,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090107769,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Meth is sweeping across the country. and we certainly urge the Congress to restore these funds as rapidly as we can. fl 1915","speaker_name":"THOMAS OSBORNE","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1092,"word_count":23}
{"speech_id":1090107798,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Florida and California that have large lowincome populations vulnerable to hot weather get almost no funding. Lowincome people in New York. Ohio and Pennsylvania receive eight or nine times as much LIHEAP per lowincome resident. In Texas. we have 3.7 million people who are eligible for LIHEAP due to income. but only 4.5 percent receive any assistance. The State of Texas canceled. its Low Income Energy Assistance Program as electric bills were on their way up. and our constituents have nowhere to turn. The cold weather bias is unacceptable. because hot weather kills just as many or more people than cold.. According to the National Weather Service. which uses media reports and local government information. from 1985 to 2000 there were 2.596 fatalities caused by heat. an average of 235 per year. and 462 fatalities caused by cold. an average of only 24 a year. It is scandalous that LIHEAP provides 3 percent of the funding for cooling. and hot weather kills 19 times more people than cold weather. However. a peerreviewed study dt the University of Delaware shows that over 1.000 people die from heat in the 15 biggest cities alone in the average summer. well over either government estimate. So neither National Weather Service nor the CDC data tells the full picture.","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3172,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090107813,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I appreciate those comments from my Blue Dog colleague. Mr. TANNER. He is one of the leaders of the Blue Dogs. and he has been a real voice of reason in Congress. I appreciate him taking the time tonight. Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize my Blue Dog colleague from the State of Georgia. Mr. BARROW.","speaker_name":"JIM MATHESON","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":304,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090107816,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And the notion that we have a budget presented to Congress that zeros that out is something that is not going to be received well here. I would think. But. again. it is a reflection of the pressures that these increasing deficits are putting on the situation. and that is why it is just another example of why it is so important we try to get a handle on this program. I now recognize my colleague from Florida. Mr. BOYD.","speaker_name":"JIM MATHESON","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1041,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090107826,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We do not have the drug task forces. If there is anything on Earth we need to do in this country it is to try to alert the young people to the dangers of that. and the gentleman from Nebraska spoke. I thought. very eloquently about that. It is zeroed out. We are eating the seed corn. so to speak. with regard to our investing in the future. I go back to three things every American family does: live within your means. pay your debts. and invest in the future. whether it is for your retirement. kids college education or something. Leave the place better than when you found it. This is the first time I can rememberwhen people who are in power of this government are knowingly. willfully. and deliberately leaving. this country worse off than they found it financially.","speaker_name":"JOHN TANNER","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1881,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090107828,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Because as I said earlier. in the short term. it is a lot easier to govern if you do not have to make the tough decisions and you would rather deficit spend. But if we put those rules back in place. it is going to force people to make the tough decisions.As an aside. I might add. Alan Greenspan who just retired after 18 years as head of the Federal Reserve. and he has such a great reputation in terms of his economic model. he made a rather prophetic statement back in 2001. This is just when we finished a couple of years of surplus. He was testifying before Congress. He said. \"With todays.euphoria surrounding the surpluses. it is not difficult to imagine the hardearned fiscal restraint developed in recent years rapidly dissipating. We need to resist those policies that would readily resurrect the deficits of the past and the fiscal imbalances that followed* in their wake.\" He sure was right. because by November of 2005 he came back before Congress. and in testimony he said. \"Our budget position is unlikely to improve substantially further until we restore constraints similar to the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990. which were allowed to lapse in 2002.\" That was the payasyougo provision that existed before. ","speaker_name":"JIM MATHESON","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6041,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090107830,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I iappreoiate my Blae Dogi colleagues joining me to. night. This is an issue we.feel strongly about. and we are sincere when we ask our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to work with us on this because The taxpayers are overtaxed. They we think it so important to the future are paying too much. They want Uncle of this country. Sam to get his fingers out of their pocket. off their paycheck. and leave that paycheck to them. NATIONAL SECURITY I will remind my colleagues -across","speaker_name":"JIM MATHESON","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":483,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090107841,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The QDR seeks to achieve the following objectives: Defeating the terrorist network. defending the homeland. shaping the choices of countries who are at a strategic crossroad. and preventing hostile states and nonstate actors from acquiring or using weapons of mass destruction. Our goal is to develop a military that is more effective. more able to strike quickly. In the coming weeks. members of the House Armed Services Committee will be reviewing and assessing how to reshape our military to meet these present and emerging threats. Our military and the people of Iraq have accomplished great successes. In less than 3 years. they toppled Saddam. they created their government. and they passed their own constitution. I think that is quite a feat. It took us 13 years to develop our Constitution. We amended it 27 times. It took us 120 years to give women the right to vote. I think we should be very. very proud of their successes. ","speaker_name":"THELMA DRAKE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4918,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090107852,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And we are going to talk a little bit about that tonight. But we are also going to talk about the ongoing costs of corruption and cronyism and incompetence in this institution that has brought about bad policies for the American people and affects the very lives of the American people that we are trying to serve. As we work to try to better ourselves here in this Congress. we continue to point out the fact that we are not working in a bipartisan way to be able to get the best results for Americans. And we are going to talk about that also. Mr. Speaker. I think it is important to point out the fact that we want to wish everyone here. fiot. only in the U.S.. House of Representatives but throughout our Nation. a happy Valentines Day. And Mr. DELAHUNT is here. one of our esteemed colleagues. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1697,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090107888,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They. presented it the next dayand they got awarded about a $15 million contract.\" They were supposed to provide security for commercial aviation at the Baghdad airport. but the airport never reopened for commercial traffic. Now. do you think that they canceled or voided the contract? No. they got another contract after that. It was for a bombsniffing canine team.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2557,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090107889,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I just want to make a point. and then kick it to my friend. that all of that money that is wasted. KENDRICK. is going to this. Okay? There was $100 millionhere. $100 million there. No oversight. No oversight at all on behalf of this Republican Congress.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":253,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090107897,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We would like to thank years when we had high interest and the Democratic leader. Mr. Speaker. high inflation. So this is a real growth and. with that. it was an honor ad- in a very low inflation environment dressing the U.S. House of Representa- with a low unemployment environment tives. with unemployment rates below 5 percent. It is a very. very good economic ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE SPEAKER time. Mr. Speaker. and it is as good a PRO TEMPORE time as one could ask for. It is the best","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":484,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090107910,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I understand that in the order that has been printed. the first instruction is by the Senator from Iowa. Mr. GRASSLEY. which includes both the alternative minimum tax relief and the tax cuts for dividends and capital gains. I understand that he has 2 minutes to speak in favor of that and there are 2 minutes in opposition to it. I. at this time. will use part of the 2 minutes in opposition. I see the ranking member and I would suggest a brief quorum .call so he may speak in opposition to the Grassley motion. I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":562,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090107922,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. 16 million additional American families could find themselves subject to the alternative minimum tax if we do not act quickly. Failure to pass a minimum level of alternative minimum tax relief. as was provided in the Senatepassed reconciliation bill. is not an option. In fact. I support full AMT repeal. Some of my colleagues are creating a false choice when they suggest that in order to provide AMT relief we need to remove incentives that encourage economic growth. We can design a tax package which will incTude dividends. capital gains. AMT. and a 1year extension for all expiring tax relief. all within that $70 billion limit. I encourage my colleagues to vote for this motion which provides relief for alternative minimum tax and capital gains and dividends as well. I yield.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":798,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090107939,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I have spoken to the majority leader. In fact. he and I spoke last night and again today. S1138 coi I am going to. in a minute or so. suggest the absence of a quorum. . I would ask Democratic Senators to stay around the. floor. We are going to see. if working with our manager and. Senator CONRAD and others. we can maybe jointly agree on not having as many votes as are scheduled now. So I would note the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":441,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090107943,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I now ask unanimous consent that we proceed to immediate votes on the DeWine motion. the Wyden motion. and the TalentSnoweLincoln motionI would state for the record that these motions will be voice votesprovided further that following those votes. the Senate proceed to votes in relation to the Reed motion. the Hutchison motion. and the Lautenberg motionand. again. we expect rollcall votes on these three. finally. I ask unanimous consent that following those votes the remaining motions be withdrawn and the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":567,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090107953,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I appreciate Senator REEDS attention to the issue of funding for our military. Proper funding for those serving our country should not be controversial. The method of providing this funding should not be made into a controversial issue. and that is where the controversy is. My colleague suggests that in order to provide funding for our military. we need to eliminate a tax benefit that doesnt even arise until 2009. Look at how ridiculous this motion is. How can you provide funds that are so badly needed today to ensure that we meet the operational needs of our courageous military service personnel when it wont be funded until 2009? I remind you that last night all of us voted for my amendment to support the operational needs of our military that provides the same benefits but doesnt raise taxes. I urge my colleagues to vote against the Reed motion. In addition. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1033,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090107981,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You have a chaotic situation today where litigation costs on asbestos claims eat up 58 cents on the dollar. so that claimants only get 42 cents on the dollar. This has resulted- in some 77 companies going bankrupt. Some $70 billion hasbeen expended. The courts are overburdened. leading the Supreme Court of the United States to ask the Congress. on several occasions. to deal with this problem. This legislation has been drafted and analyzed and amended and modified. I think. more than any bill in the history of legislative action. I know that is a grandiose statement. I made it last week. and I repeat it today. I would challenge anybody who .knows of any bill which is as complicated to step forward. Shortly after the bill was reported out of the Judiciary Committee in July of 2003. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4901,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090107985,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is the critical paragraph in which CBO concludes definitively that the FAIR Act is deficit neutral: CBO also estimates that. so long as the funds administrator does not borrow amounts beyond the means of the fund to repay (as the bill would require). the governments general funds would not be used to pay asbestos claims. Furthermore. section 406 of the bill states that the legislation would not obligate the federal government to pay any part of an award under the bill if the amounts in the asbestos fund are inadequate. Thus. CBO concludes that the legislation would be deficitneutral over the life of the fund. The line in red is the conclusion. which is the most emphatic: \"Thus. CBO concludes that the legislation would be deficitneutral over the life of the fund.\" So what you have here is a private trust fund taking care of people who have asbestosrelated injuries. where the companies have gone bankrupt aid they have no one to collect from. where you would be stopping the tremendous clogging of the Federal courts. where the Supreme Court has asked Congress to act. and where you have a situation where people can collect for their damages. I note the Senator from California is on the floor of theSenate. So at this time. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2160,"word_count":219}
{"speech_id":1090107989,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Now. clearly. this is complicated legislation and there aie. difficult and technical issues involved. But a lot of misinformation has plagued the asbestos debate. and it continues to be repeated. I cannot say we have a perfect bill. but we have tried. and tried very hard. This has not been a takeitorleaveit bill. The chairman and the ranking member have been open to suggestions. They have been open to requests for amendments. There will be a substitute amendment that further refines the bill. Today. I want to discuss the concerns raised by those who oppose the bill and provide what I hope are important points. On Thursday. one Senator argued: It really comes down to a very basic questionthe question of whether or not this bill has been carefully crafted. whether or not it contains enough money in the trust fund to compensate the hundreds of thousands of asbestos victims that will have to count on it. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4450,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090107995,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Thankfully. the CBOs estimate takes the FAIR Acts specific medical criteria into account when it considered its claims projections. The CBO considered all relevant estimates and met with scores of stakeholders. financial experts. economists and auditors in determining -whether the compensation provided for victims under S. 852 would be adequate. After years of analysis. they found that while victim compensation could range from $120 to $150 billion. its middle range estimate using its chosen claims. projections would yield approximately $130 billion in claimant compensation. and that $140 billion. plus investment income. would be sufficient to cover all claims payments. administrative costs. and borrowing costs. Of course opponents can seize upon worst case scenarios in an 11th hour attempt to scuttle this bipartisan legislation. but $130 billion in expected claims is the :CBOs middle range and is provided for under our legislation. Finally. opponents ofthis legislation contend that the fund will not actually receive $140 billion from the private companies obligated to contribute based on their previous asbestos expenditures. In his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last Fall. thenCBO Director Douglas HoltzEakin clearly stated that: \"CBO projects that total receipts to the fund over its lifetime would amount to about $140 billion. including a small amount of interest earnings on its balances.\"","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3107,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090108022,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Then again. at least it represents an attempt to solve this cfisis. For the past decade. there has been a thundering silence from too many on the other side of the aisle. They are quick to criticize what has been suggested. but not once in more than a decade have they proposed their own solution. Not once have they come up with one idea that might possibly help solve this crisis. for a very good reason: their top hardmoney contributOrs happen to be the people who bing these suits. This year. they have raised the canard of lost days in court. They are like people who. when they find a man dying of thirst in the desert. give him an empty glass. Now. if by some miracle you find water. they proclaim. you can quench your thirst with the dignity and decorum you deserve. As the man slowly dies from dehydration. they marvel .at their own benevolence. They know that a day in court is meaningless to a veteran who cannot sue his government or an employee who cannot sue a bankrupt company. They know a day in court is worthless to those who currently are being paid only pennies for every dollar of their settlements. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11580,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090108034,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am going to support the budget point of order on S. 852. I want to explain why I am doing this. First. I want to say if anybody has listened to Senator KENT CONRAD talk about what is going to happen in the outyears with this bill. the trust fund. if anyone listened to him. it seems very difficult to me to vote against this budget point of order. We are on the edge of passing a bill that is masquerading as a solution to a deadly problem. and asbestos victims need to know the truth. Frankly. they were lied to once when companies exposed their workers to asbestos without telling them of the danger. and I dont want to lie to these victims again. The simpletruth is there are not sufficient funds in the trust fund to compensate allthe current and future asbestos victims. We should not compound the problem of the past by offering false promises and cutting victims off from help. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8868,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090108036,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have gone through the ways that it is not. I have shown my colleagues the faces of those who would be harmed or would have been harmed if this trust fund were in place. We can fix this. We can make the trust fund bigger. that is one solution. or we can say in the 22 States that are dealing with this. let them deal with it. Lets grandfather in the cases that are already in the system. I am very fearfulvery fearfulthat a lot of people who are going to depend on this trust fund are going to find out that it isnt what it is cracked up to be. The bill promises the Moon. and I dont even know if it will deliver a sliver of the Moon. I just want to say to those who are following this debate who are suffering. I honestly believe that everybody thinks. everybody thinks they are working for you. but what I say is this: If the system is already working for you. let it work for you. Lets not promise you the Moon and not be able to deliver it. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3259,"word_count":191}
{"speech_id":1090108056,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Three weeks ago. U.S. Gypsum. a. major company. announced if they were to pay off all the asbestos claims against their company they would be paying out somewhere in the range of $4 billion. However. under this bill. U.S. Gypsum will pay into the trust fund somewhere in the range of $800 million. maybe $900 million at the most. So for this company. this is a windfall. They will escape some $3.1 billion in exposure and liability and others will step in to pay the difference. Companies will step in to make up the difference and ultimately. it is my belief. when the trust fund fails. as it is likely to fail. then it will fall on the shoulders of the American taxpayers to make up the difference. If this bill passes. you can expect the stock of many of these companies that are on the line for asbestos claims to go up dramatically. declare dividends. pay more to their CEOs. make sure that their profits are larger and shared by more. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7924,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090108062,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator from Delaware. I wish to add. we brought up this whole issue of this secret list last week. and Senator SPECTER .came to the floor and he said he believes for a variety of reasons he cannot tell us. cannot disclose to the public. the contributors. the businesses that will contribute to this fund and how much they are going to be asked to give. So we are dealing with an amount. $140 billion. that many people question. Serious groups have analyzed it and said it is not nearly enough. And when it comes to the contributions from businesses to create the fund. we are dealing with a secret list. This may be the first time in the history of the Senate we have spoken on the floor openly about how things are determined. Apparently this one company that has been mentioned on the floor created a list of businesses and decided how much. under the criteria. they would be paying in.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":916,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090108075,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And when I asked the Senator from Pennsylvania if he would make this list part of the RECORD. SO we could see it right here in the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. published for America to see. he said he would take it under advisement. He came back the next day and said for a variety of reasons. he could not do it. The fact remains-","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":324,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090108087,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Senator from Illinois would be bound by the denomination on the list. which is law and Senate rules. It is not something ARLEN SPECTER has made up. But this is a list which you can have in your hand. It is not a secret list. but there are rules of confidentiality established by law and by Senate rule.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":306,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090108092,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"No. I would accept my characterization as challenging the Senator from Pennsylvania to accept the obvious. If this list has been created by some private company and cannot be shared with the people of America in the midst of the debate. on this important bill. there is a serious flaw in this legislation. a flaw that cannot be overcome. even with the good feelings I have for the chairman of this committee. Z reserve the remainder of my time.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":444,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090108112,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. first. I want to acknowledge the extraordinary amount of work that the chairman of the committee and the ranking member have put into this bill.. and how much I admire the diligence they have brought to the task. I rise today on the question of a budget point of order that has been raised by. the Senator from Nevada. That budget point of order is clearly well taken. A number of months ago. my technical staff on the Budget Committee came to me and said they had been reviewing this legislation and they wanted to alert me that they believed this legislation was underwater. that it was underfunded. that it would lead to severe consequences not only for taxpayers but also for those who were the victims. it might also lead to severe consequences to companies that thought they were escaping the court system. Why is that? Well. it is true because the analysis that has been done demonstrates it is much more likely this fund will go insolvent than not. Why? First. because claims and administrative expenses are likely to exceed the contributions to the asbestos trust fund. Second. upfront claims will far exceed contributions. so the trust fund will have to borrow substantial amounts. and that borrowing will come from the Federal Treasury. increasing the ultimate cost. Third. small adjustments in the amount and timing of the assumptions quickly bankrupt the trust fund. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11045,"word_count":237}
{"speech_id":1090108116,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am prepared to yield the remainder of my time to the Senator from Pennsylvania. but I would like to make just a couple of points. if he doesnt mind. before I do that. Mr. President. with all of the talk. let us not lose sight of a couple of things. This bill does not violate 407(b). no matter what anybody says. because we specifically. say. the taxpayer funds will not be spent to compensate victims of asbestos exposure. That has been our position from day one. and that is what the bill says today: not a single dollar is spent. In fact. the CBO states that over the life of the fund. whether or not it sunsets. we would not expect the legislation to add to the aggregate Federal debt. It just doesnt add to debt. The Federal Government is involved only because it acts as a conduit for the private funding of $140 billion. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2103,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090108151,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. moments I will have a very br ment about what went on with on the asbedtos bill. but for leagues. I wish to outline whe going tonight and over the nex days. Calendar No. 360. S. 2271. is PATRIOT Act Additional B izing Amendments Act. This dresses~some of the concerns bers on both sides of the aisle lates to the PATRIOT Act. that we strongly support it an prepared to consider this meas Therefore. I now ask unanin sent that the Senate procee consideration of S. 2271. the 1 TRIOT Act Additional Reau Amendments Act of 2006.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":540,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090108166,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Doctors and other healthcare providers first and foremost need to know .that heart disease is a major problem in women. so that they treat it accordingly. The bill would also require that health information that is . alreadk being reported to the federal government be genderspecific. and would require annual recommendations to Congress for improving the treatment of heart disease in women. Doctors need to know what medical treatments are safe and effective for their women patients. Finally. the bill would also expand a current program run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC called WISEWOMAN. WellIntegrated Screening and Evaluation for Women Across the Nation.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4206,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090108170,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The .stories highlight. for example. -the plight of the good folks on May. Street inChicago. who saw a blocks worth of homes go boarded up in the -span of a justfew years. as swindlers racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in bad loans. and left shells of houses behind. The Tribune stories highlighted the plight of 75yearold Ruth Williams. who had to spend her personal funds to clear the title to her home after fraudsters secured $400.000 in loans on three buildings they didnt own. And two doors down from Ms. Williams. Corey Latimer cant sell his building or borrow against it. because a lending company hasnt released a phony mortgage that Corey didnt authorize. Law enforcement. consumer groups and many in the mortgage industry are doing what they can to combat fraud. and I applaud their good work. Now. Congress needs to come to the table and do its part. I. along- with Senator DURBIN and Senator MENENDEZ. am introducing the STOP FRAUD Act today to address the critical problem of mortgage fraud. *STOP FRAUD (Stopping Transactions which Operate to Promote Fraud. ","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3336,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090108298,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today we will have a 30minute period of morning business which will be equally divided between the aisles. After that time we will begin debate on the motion to proceed to the USA PATRIOT Act. Last night there was an objection from the Democratic side to my unanimous consent request to begin consideration of that bill and. because of that objection froin the other side of the aisle and expected filibuster. I was forced to file cloture on thle motion to proceed. That motion is debatable. and I will alert my colleagues on the other side of the aisle that they will need to remain on the floor during this motion. We only have a few days remaining before the Presidents Day recess. and we need to get to the substance of the underlying bill. the PATRIOT Act. Members have a right to filibuster proceeding to that measure. but I believe we will be able to invoke cloture by a wide margin. again. showing wide support for this important piece of legislation. I will announce the exact timing of the cloture vote when we have that locked in. but it could be as early as 1 oclock in the morning when we could hold that vote. We will be in discussions with the Democratic leader in terms of the time of that vote and we will be able to announce that later today. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1325,"word_count":235}
{"speech_id":1090108303,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"By then. too many investors and businesses will have made their decisions not to grow. not to build. and not to hire. It will be too late. We are part of a global economy that is constantly moving and changing. If we -dont allow invesment to fuel our competitiveness and innovation. we will pay the price. and so will future generations. It. is not just one business in: California deciding whether to inove to Nevada. and it is not just the 200 employees- who could have found work there. it is about investors and companies across our Nation and it is about working families throughout this country. and it is about the future of our economy. There arent many factors that Congress controls when it comes to capital and business investment. This is one of them. and we must join together to ensure continued economic growth. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3534,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090108361,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Patriots all. mental liberties. It is not so. An account of a preSeptember 11 inLet me point out I had the privilege. .vestigation of Midhar is provided in the for over 15.years. to be a Federal pros- 9\/11 Commission Staff Statement No. ecutor and work on a daily basis with 10. The 9\/11 Commission looked at what FBI agents. DEA agents. and customs information we did have prior to these agents. These are men and women who events. and this is what the staff statelove their country. They believe in our ment notes: During the summer of 2001. a CIA agent asked an FBI official [a CIA agent responsible for foreign intelligence talked with an FBI official responsible for the security and law enforcement international] to review all of the materials from a Al Qaeda meeting in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia one more time. The FBI official began her work on July 24th prior to September 11. 2001. That day she found the cable reporting that Khalid Al Mihdhar had a visa to the United States. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11647,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090108364,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If- the Senator will yield. I have talked about the details of this bill and individual complaints the Senator has about this or that provision in some detail. I will do so again. At this point. what we. are facing is a filibuster of the motion to proceed that impacts the entire legislation. I would ask the Senator if the Senator remembers that when the bill came out of the Senate. it said there would be a 7day notice if there were a sneakandpeek search warrant. The House bill had 180 days before notice would be given. The conferees moved far to the side of the Senate and made it a 30day notice. Is that the basis of the Senators desire to filibuster this entire bill. the difference between 7 and 30 days. recognizing in this body we seldom get anything exactly as we want it?","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":784,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090108367,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I spoke at some length this morning about this issue which I call the numbers game on the sneak and peek. Of course. the sneakandpeek provision is not my only concern. There are four or five areas. But I am very concerned about the length of time that somebody does not get notice that the FBI has come into their home without their being aware of it and the idea that somehow. after very careful court decisions said there will be exceptions to the requirements of the fourth amendment for perhaps 7 daysthat was the standard in the court decisions upon which these unusual sneakandpeek provisions were basedthen to somehow have it become reasonable to have a whole month. a 30day period. strikes me as extreme. The 7day standard was not picked out of the air. The 7day standard was based on those court decisions which made the unusual law. in terms of our history as a country in the prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizuresthe 7 days was basedon those court decisions. So. yes. 30 days. four times more. is unreasonable. After the Government has come into somebodys home and they have had 7 days. why is it that they should not have to come back and get permission to do that for a longer period of time? What is the need for the Government to have 30 days to not tell somebody to do that. when you remember thatthe Senate version you and I both voted for had the 7day period?","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1394,"word_count":253}
{"speech_id":1090108423,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will spend a few minutes talking about energy. There was a letter to the editor in the Wall Street Journal. I believe. this morning or yesterday morning. responding to an editorial where I had given a response to an editorial. The writer to the Wall Street Journal was taking me to task for saying there is not a \"free market\" in energy or in oil. My point -was there is no free market in oil. He said he doesnt know what I have been drinking or where I got these thoughts. He said there is a free mars ket in oil. Let ine describe all of this in the context of President Bushs State of the Union Address. in which he suggested that we are \"addicted\" to oil and we need to move toward greater independence with respect to oil. especially coming from off our shores. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11050,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090108425,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Rita. agreed that the Army had a positive impact on her son. \"He was just a good kid.\" she said. \"Really quiet. but very directed since hes been in the service. He was a good son.\" Patricks family and friends are in my thoughts and prayers during this trying time. Coming to terms with the loss of any soldier who gives their life in defense of freedom is difficult. While we are awed by Patricks selfless sacrifice. we are reminded that his life ended much too soon. It is my sincere hope that Patricks family may take some small measure of comfort knowing our Nation is eternally grateful for his dedicated service to our country.","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1430,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090108429,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I today pay tribute to David Lee Evans. who had been a member of the staff of the Committee on Foreign Relations. He was a much loved Senate employee who was universally respected for his professionalism. patience. and generosity. Dave passed away last week at age 65. Dave wasborn on October 23. 1940. in Baltimore. MD. He graduated from Kenwood High School. and attended Howard Community College. Dave served the Government as a journeyman printer and as a member of the Foreign Relations Committee staff for nearly 23 years. In addition to his service as a printer with the Government Printing Office. he had been Chief Clerk and Assistant Chief Clerk to the committee during the 1970s. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD LUGAR","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2408,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090108432,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This great company and its topnotch employees deserve special recognition. They have contributed millions of dollars and hours to improve the communities in which they work and live. Atlanta Gas Light and its Georgia parent. AGL Resources. cQntinue. to provide exemplary service to their customers and remain a vital part of the economic development of the State of Georgia. I am pleased to take this opportunity to commemorate the contributions and services rendered by Atlanta Gas Light in its 150 years of operation and look forward to its continued service for the next 150 years.*","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1733,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090108434,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to extend my congratulations to Mr. William A. Cooper for long standing service as CEO at TCF Financial. Corporation. a financial holding company based in Minnesota: Bill Cooper came to TCF Financial in 1985 with an impressive financial leadership record which included serving as a senior auditor for Touche. Ross and company. a Detroit firm. and as President of Huntington Bank of Ohio. But based on my personal relationship with Bill. I would say his high school graddating class might have voted him \"least likely to become a banker.\" The bankers stereotype is reserved. cautious. and circumspect. Bill Cooper is bold. innovative. and refreshingly outspoken. ","speaker_name":"NORM COLEMAN","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2355,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090108435,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it is with great pride that I rise to recognize the Bill Tallmn Memorial Women in Science Conference. which is taking place in fivecommunities across South Dakota from March 6th through April 28th. Since 2002. the Women in Science Conference has -helped to increase interest in science and technological careers among young women in my State. This years conference is named in honor of the events distinguished founder. Bill Tallman. who unexpectedly passed away last October while helping with recovery efforts for victims of the devastating hurricanes that hit the gulf coast region. The cover of a recent Time magazine features a ratlier amusing photo of a child wearing a lab coat and oversized safety goggles. accompanied by the question. \"Is America . Flunking Science?\" Though the Image is meant to provoke a laugh. its associated question is anything but humorous. By a number of measures.. our country is losing the competitive edge in scientific and technological fields that has for decades been a key driver of our economy. At a national level. one of the factors that undoubtedly contributes tothis unfortunate trend is a failure to adequately engage young women in scientific pursuits. ","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3200,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090108444,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am privileged to rise with the distinguished Senator from Arkansas to introduce a bill today entitled the Reliable and Affordable Natural Gas Energy Reform Act of 2006 In September of 2005. at the time the Senate was examining a number of energy proposals under the distinguished chairmanship of Senator DOMENICI. I introduced a bill at that time quite similar to this one. although it included oil. This measure sticks to gas. and gas only. to enable the several States across our Nation to take such steps under State law. in combination with the Governors and the respective legislatures of the several States that desire to explore and the desire to drill for energy off their shores. That bill as yet is still on the docket. Since that time I have had the great pleasure of joining my colleague from Arkansas to put this bill in. I am delighted that he indicated he would like to step forward and take the lead. I readily accede to that request. So much of the concern about drilling offshore is understandably inand I am not here to criticizethe environmental community. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1910,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090108453,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The third part of my plan is a pro.posal I offered last week. which I know wont be all that popular in this Chamber. but I think it will bemuch appreciated and understood by real people in the real world. I have proposed legislation that provides a powerful incentive for Senators and Congressmen to perform their jobs on time. as people do in the private sector. We have a fulltime legislature here and wego into session on January 3. One of our prime responsibilities is to pass appropriations bills before the next fiscal year. which is October 1. But it is. to me. deplorable that fulltime legislators canjiot get their job done on time by October 1. Then. of course. we end up with continuing reso-.. lutions. and several months later. some time after Thanksgiving but before Christmas. all kinds of unknown. unscrutinized spending occurs. It gets passed in the dead of night. thinking nobody will notice what is in all these appropriations billsand actually a lot of people dont know what is in those appropriations bills. That is why I want to impose.on Congress what I call the \"paycheck penalty.\" The paycheck penalty says to Members of Congress. if you fail to pass all your appropriations measures by the start ofthe fiscal year. October 1. which is your job. what you are paid to do. your paychecka will be withheld until you complete your job. Now. taken together. these three measures will eliminate the need to raise taxes to eliminate the deficit. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11902,"word_count":253}
{"speech_id":1090108454,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"DC 205106150. For further informatib. please Contact Frank Gladfds (202224t2878). Elizabdth Abrams (2022240537) or Sara Zecher (202224tL8276) of the Committee staff. I \"","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":859,"word_count":23}
{"speech_id":1090108471,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet on Wednesday. February 15. 2006. at 11:15 a.m. for a hearing titled. \"Hurricane Katrina: The Homeland Security Departments Preparation and Response.","speaker_name":"JOHN SUNUNU","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":274,"word_count":40}
{"speech_id":1090108486,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I say to Senator LEAHY. as the Senator is. aware. periodically Congress directs the Sentencing Commission to update the Fed.eral sentencing guidelines upon the periodic directive of Congress to reflect and account for changes in the manner in which intellectual property offenses are committed. The recent amendments to which ybu refer were promulgated by the Sentencing Commission pursuant to the authorization in the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005. also known as FECA. These amendments to the Federal sentencing guidelines. which took effect. on October 24. 2005. address changes in penalties and definitions for intellectual property rights crimes. particularly those involving copyrighted prerelease works and issues surrounding \"uploading.\" For example. these guidelines provide for a 25 percent increase in sentences for offenses involving prerelease works. In addition. the Commission revised its definition of \"uploading\" to ensure that th6 guidelines are keeping up with technological advances in this area. I would like to make it clear for the record that the directive to the Sentencing Commission in section 3 of H.R. 32 is not meant as disapproval of the Commissions recent actions in response to FECA. Rather. section 3 covers other intellectual property rights crimes that Congress believes it is time for the Commission to revisit. Specifically. section 3 directs the Commission to review the guidelines. and particularly the- definition of \"infringement amount.\" to ensure that offenses involving lowcost items like labels. patches. medallions. or packaging that are used to make counterfeit goods that are much more expensive. are properly punished. It also directs the Commission to ensure that the penalty provisions for offenses involving all counterfeit goods or services. or devices used to facilitate counterfeiting. are properly addressed by the guidelines. As it did in response to the No Electronic Theft Act of 1997 and FECA. I am confident that the Commission will ensure that the Federal sentencing guidelines provide adequate punishment and deterrence for these very serious offenses and I look forward to the Commissions response to this directive.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2197,"word_count":331}
{"speech_id":1090108512,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. since 2003. the United States Agency for International \"Development has supported efforts to revitalize Iraqs economy. improve education. develop a vibrant civil society. and assist Iraqis in the development of their new democracy which protects American families by denying terrorists training camps. Thanks to USAID. 10 sewage treatments plants in Iraq have been refurbished. 97 percent of Iraqi children 0l This symbol represents the time of day during the House pr6ceedings. e.g.. is 2:07 p.m. 0 Printed on recycled paper. have been immunized against polio. 8.6 million new textbooks have been supplied to Iraqi schools* 790.000 Iraqis participated in town meetings on democracy during their historic elections. five cities in Iraq have 19 refurbished or expanded water treatment plants. nearly 3.000 Iraqi schools have been rehabbed. 2.500 Iraqis have been trained to provide primary health care. 1.200 megawatts of new\/rehabilitation generation capacity have been added to Iraqis electricity grid. Today. the Victory in Iraq Caucus will host USAID Iraq director Dawn Liberi to learn more about progress taking place throughout Iraq. I urge my colleagues to join me for this important event. In conclusion. God bless our troops and we will never forget September 11.","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1284,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090108513,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. yesterday Press Secretary Scott McClellan said. \"We are moving on to the priorities of the American people. That is our focus.\" Well. Scott. here are the headlines . my constituents care about: \"ExCIA Official Says Iraq Data Was Distorted. White House Knew of Levee Failure. Brown Faults White House and Agency for Poor Response. Doctors. Pharmacists. Say Medicare Benefit .Limits Drugs For Seniors. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":939,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090108515,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Miami Herald got it right when it described the Republican Medicare prescription drug plan as an \"unmitigated disaster.\" For years. American seniors have been looking for help in paying for their prescription drugs. Republicans chose to pass a confusing law that forces seniors to go outside of their trusted Medicare to receive drug coverage from one of many private insur.ance plans. We have all heard stories of seniors leaving pharmacies without their drugs after being told their name could not be found in the -system. Talk about incompetence. But then again. this prescription drug plan is another sorry example of how congressional Republicans have turned this House over to the special interests. Republicans chose to help the pharmaceutical and insurance companies rather than help the seniors who desperately need assistance with skyrocketing drug prices. Democrats have a plan to take this House back from the special interests so we do not have another prescription drug debacle in the future.","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1023,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090108521,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Yesterday. Representative CUBIN and I introduced the Women & HEART Disease Act. This legislation will increase awareness. education. data collection. and the detection of heart disease in women so that we can improve the prevention. diagnosis. and treatment of women with cardiovascular disease. I urge each of my colleagues to support this bill and other efforts to address the costly scourge of this disease.","speaker_name":"LOIS CAPPS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1207,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090108522,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. leave it to Washington Republicans to create a chaotic and confusing system that has left a large majority of seniors just saying no. The Republican prescription drug plan shows the everyday cost congressional corruption has on the American people. Republicans promised American seniors they would have access to prescription drugs through private plans beginning January 1. but to date it has been an utter failure. In many instances. beneficiaries who tried to have their prescriptions filled under the new system were either told that their enrollment could not be verified or that their drugs were not covered. As a result. many beneficiaries. particularly those that are called dually eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid. were at risk for receiving no coverage at all. Rather than choosing to work to alleviate drug costs for seniors. Republicans were more interested in coming up with a bill that benefited their friends in the pharmaceutical and insurance industries. friends who have been very loyal to them over the years. America must do better. we can do better and put special interests aside so that we can help those people who truly need our assistance. Lets start thinking about our senior citizens.","speaker_name":"HILDA SOLIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1232,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090108524,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it appears that the Bush administration refuses to learn anything from 9\/11 or Hurricane Katrina. Once again this year. President Bushs budget shortchanges Americas security. failing to make it the number one priority. Here are some startling examples of how the President refuses to make Americans as safe as they should be: First. the budget underfunds key programs that provide local communities with the resources to protect our borders. our ports. mass transit. and critical infrastructure. Second. the budget continhes the trend of cutting grants for our first responders. cutting overall fuiding for three key first responder grant programs by 35 percent below 2 years ago. Third. the budget zeros out funding for interoperability grants. grants that woula allow Federal. State. and local governments the ability to communicate during a major disaster. or terrorist attack. President Bush claims he is protecting the homeland. but he refuses to back it up with the funding necessary to prepare agencies at all levels for the worst case scenarios. Hasnt he learned anything from Katrina? Pull FEMA out from under Homeland Security.","speaker_name":"DIANE WATSON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":33.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1150,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090108532,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Very briefly in response. I would like to say that I am taken by the arguments of Mr. ACKERMAN. I think he has a message. a point of view. that is legitimate and worthy of attention. I do not agree with him. I think that having Hamas. with all its flaws. participate in the democratic process. something alien to their spirit. is a sign of strength on our part. not weakness. And I think the effort. a legitimate effort. to help bring into -the democratic process all of the dissident elements is worth it because. unless this situation gets solved. staring at each other with muscles flexed and weapons cocked gets us nowhere. ","speaker_name":"HENRY HYDE","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":780,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090108535,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Destruction of children. familiet. of a nation. Mr. Speaker. the Palestinian people voted in January in what appears to be a free and fair election. and.the democratic expression of the people will and should always be encouraged. It is clear. however. that this victory by Hamas is. in significant part. a reaction by Palestinian voters to the rampant corruption in the Fatah movement that began and continued under Yaser Arafat. However. the Palestinian side must recognize that the election of Hamas to a parliamentary majority will not change or alter the absolute. irrevocable precondition for peace the dismantlement of the Palestinian terrorist infrastructure. In fact. I believe that the international community must now exert its collective will upon Hamas and insist that it renounce the tactics of terror and proactively dismantle that terrorist infrastructure. Finally. Mr. Speaker. let me say to our friends in Israel that the United StatesIsrael relationship today is stronger than ever and we are fully committed to our allys security. sovereignty. and success. ","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2407,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090108540,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this House has already gone on record on the issue of assistance to the Palestinian Government should Hamas become part of the government. On December 14. 2005. the House passed H.. Res. 575. which I cosponsored. which in part calls upon the United States to reassess its financial assistance to. and its diplomatic relations with. the Palestinians should Hamas join the government. I am pleased that the Quartet issued a statement on January 30. 2006. which \"concluded that it was inevitable that future assistance to any new government would be reviewed by donors against that governments commitment to the principles of nonviolence. recognition of Israel. and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations. including the Roadmap.\" I also agree with the Quartet that the Pal~stinian Authority must move quickly to ensure law and order. prevent terrorist attacks. and dismantle the infrastructure of terror. Finally. the new government must also take concrete steps to establish the rule of law. tolerance. reform and sound fiscal management in the Palestinian territories. The foundation of the Road Map peace process hinges on Palestinian recognition of the right of Israel to exist and a pledge by the Palestinians to end violence and terrorism. Just as the United States will not negotiate with terrorists. neither will Israel. We cannot allow American taxpayer dollars to fall into the hands of terrorists who have no intention of renouncing Violence.","speaker_name":"BENJAMIN CARDIN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2239,"word_count":232}
{"speech_id":1090108597,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This legislation is. also budget neutralit simply redirects $712 million previously appropriated to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the SBAs disaster loan account. This bill does not create any new spending. However. HR 4745 will enable the SBA to support about $4.8 billion in disaster loans to homeowners. renters. and businesses through May 1 when the next Katrinarelated supplemental is expected to be completed. This legislation is needed because SBA is. in a sense. a victim of its own success. Despite all of the huge hurdles and unfair attacks the SBA has received in recent weeks. the SBA has approved over $4.3 billion in disaster loans to more than 60.000 residents and business owners in the Gulf States region in five and a half months--despite not being able to get into the region until after the first month after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast. In comparison. it took the SBA more than 12 months to approve a similar amount of disaster loans to the victims of the Northridge Earthquake in California in 1994. The SBA disaster loan program offers lowinterest loans up to $200.000 for homeowners and $1.5 million for small business owners in a disaster area for those items not covered by insurance for the purpose of longterm recovery. Most of the victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita did not have flood insurance because they werent in a designated flood plain. Thus. the average size of a typical SBA disaster loan has doubled for this event. ","speaker_name":"DONALD MANZULLO","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2706,"word_count":249}
{"speech_id":1090108600,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today concerned that H.R. 4745. legislation making a supplemental appropriation for the Small Business Administration disaster loan program. is another example of the continued mismanagement of the Gult Coast recovery effort. This $712 million supplemental comes before us today as we discover that the SBA will completely run out of funding for disaster loans sometime in the next week. It is clear that the $441 million previously appropriated to this program was far from adequate to meet demand for the loans. As a result. the SBA has approved only 37 percent of the 280.000 disaster loan applications the agency has received and is facing a backlog of over 105.000 applications. Of the loans approved. only 10 percent have been actually paid to the homeowners and small businesses that are relying on this critical funding to rebuild their livelihoods in the wake of this unprecedented natural disaster. How this administration could so grossly underestimate the. need for these loans is beyond me. From the very beginning. the response by our Government to this disaster has been wholly inadequateand this shortfall is just another sad example of the consequences of tlhe poor planning. lack of leadership and incompetence demonstrated in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Rebuilding the Gulf Coast is going to take a long term commitment of will and resources by the Federal Government. ","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1909,"word_count":227}
{"speech_id":1090108616,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I was unable to vote on S. Con. Res. 79 today because I was traveling on official business to a Middle East regional security conference in Athens. Greece. andrthen on to Egypt and Israel for meetings with top government officials. Had I been present. I would have voted \"yea.\"","speaker_name":"HOWARD BERMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":290,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090108632,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What they are doing is. first off. you have to buy into a plan. They can change the benefits weekly. Even if you took that plan because it offers the drugs you need on a weekly basis. the insurance industry can change it. Then even if they keep those drugs available. they are going to require that your doctor and you jump through incredible hoops to get prior approval. Even seniors in nursing homes who have been on drugs for 10 and 15 years with a very wellknown and documented condition. their doctors are being required to order expensive tests. to .jqstify continuing prescriptions for those seniors. and in some cases prescriptions have been interrupted. jeopardizing the patients. This is a plan that wasnt set up to be convenient or easy for seniors to use to provide a meaningful benefit. It was set up first to benefit the pharmaceutical industry. then the insurance industry. The plausible excuse for that is to provide some coverage for seniors. coverage which. by the way. is going to cost taxpayers $800 billion. Because. guess what. the bill. as written by the pharmaceutical industry. and passed bythe Republican Congress and signed by the President. says that the Federal Government is outlawed. outlawed. from negotiating lower drug prices for seniors. That is prohibited by Federal law. despite the fact that the VA does it. and recent studies show that th6 VA is acquiring drugs between 40 and 80 percent cheaper than are being offered under these plans to our seniors. ","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4997,"word_count":254}
{"speech_id":1090108642,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"To launch an overhaul of our job surveys. I introduced H. Res. 14. which called on the Bureau of Labor Statistics to review and modernize the way we collect our jobs data. BLS conducted a report that analyzed the two surveys and evaluated options for change. While the report stopped far short of proposing a complete reform of the surveys. it did acknowledge that a growing discrepancy exists between the two numbers and determined that further analysis is necessary. Mr. Speaker. I am pleased that BLS has taken this very important first step. But it is only a first step. We must continue to push for reform so that our job surveys effectively track job creation. ","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5198,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090108649,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it seems that tonight is health care night. We just heard from two of our colleagues from Texas. one of whom I agree with and one of whom on a lot of points I do not necessarily agree with. But. Mr. Speaker. I do rise tonight to express my deep concern over the high cost of health care and the toll it has taken on our families and our businesses and our economy. I was very encouraged to hear President Bush discuss the important issue of health care reform during a speech in Ohio today. A recent NBC news poll showed 76 percent of Americans believe health care reform is a top priority for our Nation and we absolutely must act to create a more transparent accessible and affordable system. as the gentleman from Texas just said. Before coming to Congress. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5161,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090108651,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I would like to just take a moment to name the indi* vidual students that allowed- Morgan Park High School to soar to these unprecedented heights. These students are: Jorge Anguiano. Jenele Anderson. Desney Avery. Nicole Banks. Brian Belcher. Aryelle Berry. Evan Beverly. Jasmine Bomer. Justin Booz. ","speaker_name":"BOBBY RUSH","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2634,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090108668,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That is why we are joining you tonight as the Official Truth Squad. to bring some real facts. some truth to the issue of the economy. I wanted to expand a little bit on what I hear at home when people talk about the kind of news that they see on television or the kind of things that they most often read in the paper. . E 2015 They want to know why are they not hearing these good things about America. To highlight once again some of the statistics about our economy. 17 straight quarters of growth. 17 straight quarters of growth. The home ownership rate in our Nation now is at an alltime high. Nearly 70 percent of Ameri.cans own their own home. 70 percent. What an incredible story that is. and it cuts across all demographic lines and all sectors of our society. And that is positive. That is a positive thing. that is a good thing. and it is the result of the economic policies that.have been put in place here in this Congress. Unemployment rate: 4.7 percent. ","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11022,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090108672,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the gentleman will yield on that point. the gentleman was part of this and we traveled to North Carolina and to New Jersey and to Boston and to California and Seattle talking to people about this innovation agenda. and when we put the innovation agenda together. so many CEOs and venture capitalists and others said this is it. you are exactly on th right track. this is what America needs. It was interesting to see the President come forward in the State of the Union as you mentioned and embrace the innovation agenda. many components of this effort. Then it was so disappointing to see the budget that was published afterwards. and even more disappointing When the Republican leadership slammed this innovation agenda as just simply more spending. when in fact the President mirrored what was in our agenda right down to switch fuels.","speaker_name":"GEORGE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":841,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090108697,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I appreciate you mentioning this little small business that has had a little success. it is called Microsoft. in my district that has been one area that has recognized the power of innovation. There are many others in my district. I will just tell you. I want to mention a couple of my favorite constituents. about why they believe this Democratic Innovation Agenda makes sense. that we should seize the creative powers of Americans and put It in harness. One of my favorite constituents. my mother. I talked to her today. and she was brimming with laughter. We had a great talk. and it was great to hear her laughing because she went through atough patch with some health problems about 6 months ago. and it was a tough time for her. Since then. she has got on a medical technology that was developed in Seattle by some brilliant doctors doing research in basic and applied research. and because of their work now done over a decade ago. my mother was ladghing today and probably is alive today. ","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1839,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090108698,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if the gentleman would yield. just on that subject very quickly. the budget that the administration that President Bush presented to us a week- or so ago cuts the funding in 18 out of. 19 institutes at the National Institutes of Health. including the National Cancer Ingtitute by $40 million and the National. Heart. Lung and Blood Institute by $21 million.","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":370,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090108713,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"My colleague from Florida mentioned George Lucas. the writer. director. producer of Star Wars. who was here yesterday to talk about this Democratic innovation agenda. The point I wanted to emphasize is we are not just talking about government spending. we are talking about investing so that innovators like George Lucas. and you might say that is just entertainment. Well. that is innovation. It Makes money for the United States. In fact. he probably has done more for our balance of trade than any other single individual you can name. But he was asking us to train the bright kids. the scientists and engineers that he needs. He was asking us. as we lay out in our innovation pro.posal. to reward risk takers and entrepreneurs. to protect intellectual property. to do those things that make it possible for innovators to succeed in the United States. So it is not just about spending. The innovation creates the agenda. it creates the atmosphere as well as the pipeline for that innovative economy that we are talking about. That is what George Lucas was saying when he was here yesterday.","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1093,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090108721,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the gentleman would yield. I want to make a point that we have kind of left out when talking about technology. We talk about the $682 billion from Japan and the $249 billion from China that we are borrowing. Earlier in the evening. we talked about the 600.000 engineers that are going to graduate in China. They are taking. they are basically lending us. money. we are paying them back with interest. and they are investing that\" money right here to train engineers to the tune of 600000 a year. Do you think these engineers are working just in private industry in a communist country? No. they are working for the Chinese military. They are working on the nextbest technology that the Chinese military. their communist government. could maybe put up possibly in the international community. We are funding our own enemys military because we are fiscally reckless here at home.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":880,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090108722,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think it is important. I want to make sure that staff gets a picture of the Republican conference because I think it is important. I think we need to put the pressure on not only on individual decisions but on decisions that the majority has made that has put this country in the back seat as it relates to innovation and as it relates to many other areas that we should be leading in.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1747,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090108723,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"A little earlier this evening folks on the other side were saying that revenues have continued to grow because of the tax cuts. No. what has grown because of the tax cuts is this deficit. this borrowing. So much of it from China. Japan. even OPEC. as my friend from Massachusetts has pointed out.","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":296,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090108737,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Titfortat. taxpayer pays for it. Corporate welfare to the oil industries. nothing to lower gas prices. .citizens pay that corruption tax.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1307,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090108740,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"These will be the very Members that if the American peoplE allow us to lead. that what you are talking about. would be a bad chapter in American history. Well. we can put this country on the right track that will partner with xis in a bipartisan spirit. and all it takes. and you","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":279,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090108742,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"With interest I must add. and I will tell you that it is very. very unfortunate when we tell children who want free and reduced lunch that we cannot do what they need us to do. I think also what is wrong is when we tell veterans that they have to pay higher copayments because we do not have the money to be able to assist them in their health care. I think another thing that is wrong. when we tell individuals that pay taxes every day. that we cannot assist them as it relates to innovation and finding other opportunities to be able to find alternative fuel to fuel their vehicles or home. I think it is also a travesty when we have nobid contracts. Time after time again. reports are released -here in Washington. D.C.. on how we failed the American people domestically and how we *failed the American people as it relates to their U.S. tax dollars overseas as its relates to the war. There are billions of dollars that are unaccounted for and that cannot be attached to what its purpose was supposed to be in Iraq. This is not fiction. This is fact. and tomorrow nighi and I want to say this to the itaff and make sure that the rest of the 30 Sornethings hear. we want to talk a little bit about what happened to the other $9 billion U.S. tax dollars in Iraq. We both serve on the Committee on Armed Services and I think it is important that the American people know. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2414,"word_count":261}
{"speech_id":1090108743,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Can I say something? There has been this whole discussion over the last 10 or 15 years. and H326 CC it started with President Reagans goveminent. you know. government is the problem. I think it is fair to just on balance say- that we understand government cannot solve all the problems nor should it. and we understand the private sector can solve a lot of these problems. but there are areas where the two need to work together. That is what we are talking about with The Innovation Agenda. A lot of the recommendations that we have here are coming from CEOs. Republicans. who are saying this is what we do. and if you look at the history of the country. railroads. the space program. the interstate highway. National Institutes of Health research and development that has been going on for years and years. National Science Foundation. they are critical. Universities are government. They are publicly funded. publicly subsidized. and they are doing all kinds of research for all kinds of really good causes. So we have a responsibility here. and our responsibility is to take the publics tax dollars here that they give us and spend it wisely and spend it in a way that there is accountability. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2731,"word_count":209}
{"speech_id":1090108752,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"May 5. 2004. Republicans voted by a vote of 208215 to reject a similar motion by Representative DENNIS MOORE. Democrat from Kansas. That is 2004. vote number 145. And then again. November 18. 2004. Republicans voted to block consideration of the Charlie Stenholm amendment to the debt limit increase bill which would have restored payasyougo require-","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1839,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090108782,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina. Final Report of the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for Februa ry 15. 206 and Response to Hurricane Katrina (Rept. 109377). Referred to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":320,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090108854,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I urge the Senate to act now in the name of national security.","speaker_name":"RIC KELLER","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1074,"word_count":13}
{"speech_id":1090108859,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. in the Presidents budget he asks for a few hundred million dollars over the next few years for the cost of privatizing Social Security. When he was here at the State of the Union address. he commented that Congress rejected his proposals to privatize Social Security. All the Democrats to his surprise got up and cheered. because we think it is a terrible idea to privatize Social Security To do to Social Security what they are doing to the pension system. eliminating private pensions and making people depend only on 401(k)s. we think is a terrible idea. What the President telegraphed. by putting in his budget the money to pay for the cost of privatizing Social Security. is that if the Republicans retain control of Congress in this election. they are going to try it again. They will privatize Social Security if the Republicans control Congress again next year. If anybody thinks that privatizing Social Security is a bad idea. that we should not destroy Social Security. you better vote Democratic this year.","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1032,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090108874,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. the situation in Iran is a critical matter that demands serious attention and serious action from this administration as well as from Congress. It threatens the security of our Nation. the future of the nonproliferation regime and stability. in the Middle East. International support for referring Iran to the United Nations Security Council is very encouraging. but it is not enough to address the complexity of the nuclear situation or broader longerterm problems posed by Iran. including its involvement in Iraq. which evidently is quite substantial. Direct American leadership is long overdue. There must be a comprehensive interagency effort to develop and implement the necessary plan. and Congress must do its part. This must be a top bipartisan priority. And yet while the U.S. must act expeditiously. it must also act effectively. We must sufficiently consider all tools at our disposal. and we must take care not to inadvertently make matters worse by our rhetoric or by our actions. For example. we should consider \"smart sanctions\" that would target Irans leadership. avoid harming the Iranian population and have strong international support. There are no easy answers or simple solutions. but as I have emphasized numerous times now. there are many tools at our disposal. many more than this administration has used to date. ","speaker_name":"IKE SKELTON","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2033,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090108882,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This is a violation of the spirit if not the letter of the NPT. My subcommittee will soon take a close look at this issue. This notion of rights has to be challenged. because if we dont. the world will be a very. very dangerous place. Mr. Speaker. there are no easy answers. We need to think long andhard about what types of sanctions are constructive in reaching the goal of preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons. This challenge will require careful and marked consideration by the administration. Congress. and our partners as we move forward. It is too serious for anything else.","speaker_name":"EDWARD ROYCE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":40.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3457,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090108886,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. before yielding back our time. may I just say fanaticism in the field of international affairs is always dangerous. But fanaticism armed with nuclear weapons is not just dangerous. it is unacceptable. Iran is determined to move in the direction of developing nuclear weapons. The civilized world cannot stand by. I urge all of my colleagues to support this resolution. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":431,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090108888,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has drawn considerable attention for his heinous calls for the United States greatest ally. Israel. to be \"wiped off the map\" and his bold denial of the Holocaust. When offered a number of reasonable solutions to avert an international standoff. the Ahmadinejad regime has unwisely refused. It is a positive sign that Russia and Iran are continuing discussions on a proposal the U.S. and others have endorsed. This plan would have Russia enrich Irans uranium and remove it once its spent. thereby maintaining safeguards on the nuclear fuel. I[am hopeful an agreement wil be reached. but have no .qualms about this body sending a resolute message to Iran that its breaches and failures to comply with its nuclear nonproliferation obligations will be met with strong resistance.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SHAYS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1288,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090108891,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of this resolution. Iran must be condemned for following the path of nuclear proliferation. This past Tuesday. February 14. 2006. Iran announced that it has resumed uranium enrichment efforts. sending a signal to thd world that it is taking steps to arm itself with nuclear weapons. Iran said it will no longer allow international inspectors to access its nuclear facilities. Therefore we must work to ensure that Iran is unsuccessful in the path that it has chosen. Nuclear weapons are the most dangerous and most horrible weapons man has ever invented. ","speaker_name":"JOHN LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1373,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090108935,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That is equivalent to the population of South Carolina or Oregon. Think about that. We are being asked to add a 51st state populated entirely by lowincome illegal aliens. Mr. Speaker. I cannot find an excuse for this. We know right now how to bring this flood of illegal immigration to a virtual halt. and I think within the next 2 weeks. We need somewhere bdtween 36 and 48.000 troops immediately deployed to the southern border. Now. the Minuteman Project in April showed that with between 18 and 24 additional enforcement personnel per mile. we can effectively secure our border for the first time. And it was not just the Minuteman Project that revealed these statistics. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES NORWOOD","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3564,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090108976,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Physically. they are in good shape. Mentally. they are gone. There are thousands and thousands of these cases. and more and more are coming in all the time. Another step is necessary in this fight to smash the war racket. To summarize. three steps must be taken to smash the war racket. One. we must take the profit out of war. Two. we must permit the youth of the land who would bear arms to decide whether or not there should be war. And three. we must limit our military forces to defense purposes. He says home defense purposes. This is an excerpt from Smedley Butlers War is a Racket. - Now. juxtapose what this man of war said to the drumbeats of war that we hear in our media now. that are emanating from high places within this administration. people who have not borne the rifle. who have not been iq war. ","speaker_name":"CYNTHIA MCKINNEY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5660,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090108988,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There are a couple of other ways to show that. to demonstrate that with certainty. and it is even more vivid. This chart. this graph. shows the Department of Defense military discretionary budget in billions of dollars from 2000 to projected 2007. That asterisk there is because we have not adopted the 2007 budget yet. will not do so until later this year. But the Presidents proposal is listed. What you see here are the levels of expenditures. Federal expenditures for the Department of Defense. Now remember the allegation is that there are cuts in the military: 2000. $287 billion. 2001. $303 billion. 2002. $328 billion. You notice that we are going in a direction that looks like it is increasing. Only in Washington can a cut be an increase. Only in Washington can a cut be an increase: 2003. $365. 2004. $376. 2005. $400 billion. and last year. $411 billion. ","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4644,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090109023,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We are in the business of government. If you were in a business. you would not run yourself into debt and run annual deficits as far as the eye can see. You would not stop funding education or pull back or not make that kind of investment. You would not cut funding to research and development. That is your lifeline. that is how you keep yourself competitive. and that is all we want to do and try to give every kid an opportunity to get up in there.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1031,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090109033,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is the Inspector General that said nearly $9 billion of money spent on Iraq reconstruction is unaccounted for because of inefficiencies and bad management. according to a watchdog report published Sunday. And the IG says the same thing. Unable to account for the funds. $8.8 billion was reported to have been spent on salaries. operating and capital expenditures - and reconstruction projects between October of 2003 and 2004. The CPA. Coalition Provisional Authorities. have left auditors with no guarantee the money was properly used. Severe inefficiencies and poor management. What is going on over there? Haliburton is inflating their numbers to increase their profits at the expense of the United States taxpayer. Back home with Katrina. we have-","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1405,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090109043,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If anybody in America that watched what was going on during Katrina thinks that FEMAs response was adequate. then we have a total communication problem here. and we maybe need to come up with a couple new words..because the performance there was not adequate. Brownies performance was not adequate. The Secretary of Homeland Securitys performance was not adequate. Appointing an attorney to an equestrian society is not adequate. That is inadequate. and this country deserves better. Government. you cannot. and this is the problem. what I really disagree with our friends on the other side. I do not believe that government i\u00a7 the answer. We cannot create jobs. and I do not believe that. The private sector creates jobs. We create a good environment. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2335,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090109070,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"G Printed on recycled paper. S1376.. Today. terror is our enemy. and it uses . threat to them but an insurance policy\" the civil liberties that we cherish to at- to protect them. As we go to a vote in tempt to do us harm. in fact. to de- less than an hour. I encourage every stroy us. In fact. the freedom of access Member of the Senate to vote to proto communication. to employment. to ceed and then debate. as we will. the travel. even to our borders. are the issues and the concerns. But in the end. tools and the weapons of those who we should leave this Chamber. today or would do our civil liberties harm and in tomorrow. sending a message to those fact take them away. Because of this. who would do us harm and sending a do we give up our civil liberties? Abso- message to those whom we stand here lutely not. But because of this. we today to preserve and protect. that we must watch. listen. and pursue our en- will not let any encumbrance stop our emies with the technologies of the 21st pursuit of those who would destroy or century. The PATRIOT Act does not injure us. our children or our grandthreaten our civil liberties. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ISAKSON","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11169,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090109104,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"One more Democrat is all we are asking for. In exchange for that. of course. you get another Republican. So I hope the ratiothe majority will have two extra Republicans on the conferenceis something to which the distinguished majority leader will agree.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3073,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090109107,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Reserving the right to object to that. Mr. President. I hesitate to tread into these Waters because I know how difficult it isaac be in the position that these two leaders are in. They have to make tough choices. They have to take into consideration what happens once you get into conference. You have to look at personalities. But frankly. I think seven and fi~e is too big. That is. to me. a pretty large number of Senators to be going to conference. ","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3148,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090109109,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"One reason it is complicated is that there are issues dealing with finance and the HELP Committee. So I object to the distinguished majority leaders request.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":972,"word_count":26}
{"speech_id":1090109127,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It can cause permanent health problems. I had a St. Louis Cpunty firefighting officer tell me that half of the vehicle fires they were fighting were methamphetamine related. Those are chemical fires. It has strained local budgets to the breaking point because our counties. in addition to all of the other law enforcement activity. have had to try to knock down. in some cases. hundreds of labs in rural counties. In many cases. there are more rural counties where they have 5. 6. 8. 10 or 12 deputies trying to patrol the whole county. It is the \"perfect storm\" of drugs. The only silver lining in the cloud is the fact that in order to make methamphetamine. you must have pseudoephedrine. There are lots of ways to make it. but you need pseudoephedrine for making it. For local cooks. the only way to get pseudoephedrine is through cold medicines. antihistamines. ","speaker_name":"JAMES TALENT","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9371,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090109159,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We established hardtime limits on sneakandpeak searches and limits on roving wiretaps. We protected most libraries from being subject to national security letters. We preserved an individuals right to seek counsel and hire an attorney without fearing the FBIs wrath. And we allowed judicial review of the gag orders that accompany Section 215 searches. The compromise is far from perfect. I would have liked to see stronger Judicial review of national security letters and shorter time limits on sneak and peak searches. among other things. Senator FEINGOLD has proposed several sensible amendmentsthat I supportto address these issues. Unfortunately. the Majority Leader is preventing Senator FEINGOLD from offering these amendments through procedural tactics. That is regrettable because it flies in the face of.the bipartisan cooperation that allowed the Senate to pass unanimously its version of the Patriot Acta version that balanced security and civil liberty. partisanship and patriotism. The Majority Leaders tactics are even more troubling because we will need to work on a bipartisan basis to address national security challenges in the weeks and months to. come. ","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4099,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090109160,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This was unnecessary and inappropriate. and it has been changed. The revised conference report clarifies that a gag order will be reviewed by a Federal court and ensures that this review will include an inquiry into whether the Government is acting in bad faith. The compromise also eliminates the onerous requirement of prior notification to the FBI about legal counsel. On the other hand. the revised conference report does not go as far as I would have preferred. It does not adopt the original Senate language with respect to the standard to be applied for granting a Foreign Intelligence Sur.veillance Act warrant for physical items. including business records. This issue. usually referred to by its PATRIOT Act section number. 215. remains very tontroversial. and I believe the language could permit inappropriate fishing expeditions if not carefully monitored. However. the agreedupon language does make clear that libraries performing traditional functions are largely exempt from the more intrusive aspects of the law. Importantly. the conference report retains and extends sunset provisions on the most controversial provisions. including section 215. This is critical. as these sunset provisions. which expire in 2009. are art important element of the continued vigorous -oversight necessary to ensure this law is carried out in an appropriate manner. The second concern I had was that it appeared that efforts to forge a compromise bill had fallen apart. with acrimony and rancor marking the progress of negotiations. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5235,"word_count":237}
{"speech_id":1090109162,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This bill pays lip service to judicial review of gag orders placed bn recipients of section 215 business records and the national seeurity letters. However. the bill goes on to set a nearly insurmountable barrier to Americans who wish to challenge the gag order or the seizure of their records: The bill requires that the recipient prove that the Government acted in bad faith in obtaining the information. An individual .may not challenge a gag order for a year. infringing on that individuals right to seek redress in their own defense. Under the current \"improvement\". the Government may conduct \"sneak and peek\" searches. without notifying individuals for 30 days. This is more than a threefold increase in the time Period for notification that the Senate bill allowed. Safety. the American people are told. involves a trade. They are told they must surrender their liberty in order to preserve their safety. This Orwellian compact is an insult to the constitutional liberties guaranteed to American citizens. Let me be clear. No one in this Chamber discounts the responsibility of government to keep the American people safe in their homes. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4562,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090109164,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Committees agreed on a bipartisan basis to a compromise bill that merged the two approaches at the end of September. The actual legislative work on this was relatively short. certainly. for something as complex as this. The bill passed the full Senate on November 16. At that time. I commended Members on both sides for the diligent work in hammering out a consensus. bill. and again questioned why the Senate waited until November to address this important issue. In fact. I worked with the \u0095distinguished majority leader in making sure there were not a lot of extraneous amendments. and we could move forward. There is no reason the Senate cannot move forward on this. We need to agree on 6 reasonable number of conferees. This is a bill. a very complex bill. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8125,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090109193,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on August 29. 2005. Hurricane Katrina tore through the gulf coast States leaving in its wake death and destruction that none of us will soon forget. In the immediate aftermath. graphic images of people struggling to escape the flooding in New Orleans and digging through the rubble of their homes in Mississippi and Alabama filled our television sets. and newspapers. People were outraged at the Governments response. They volunteered their time to aid in rescues. They donated their money to help the victims. But many soon moved on. The problems faced by the residents of the gulf coast. however. have not gone away. Rebuilding is underway. but it will take years. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2401,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090109199,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Despite years of bipartisan support for the moratoria on new offshore drilling in Federal waters. recent efforts are threatening our coasts. Some recent proposals would immediately lift the moratoria and allow for drilling within 20 miles off our coasts. Last years energy bill included provisions to conduct an inventory of oil and gas resources on the outer Continental Shelf (OCS). This inventory would be performed with seismic guns that could have devastating impacts onmarine life. Because of these threats. I am introducing legislation to provide permanent protection for Californias coast from future drilling. It would also prohibit the harmful inventory of OCS resources from being conducted off Californias coast. The people of California agree that we must do everything we can to protect our coasts. This bill will finally provide the permanent protection against future drilling that Californians have demanded for a generation.","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2128,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090109207,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Our national security. however. is compromised on the homefront. Our States do not have the ability to respond with sufficient combat structure to domestic security missions. natural emergencies. and disasters. Former Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird noted last week: When you call out Guard and Reserve units. you call out America. Our ActiveDuty Forces have fought bravely on our behalf. and the Guard has fought with them. Montana is just one of the States with- an infantry battalion that is facing major changes due to the Armys proposal to reduce 34 combat brigades to 28. We have based much of our States military strategy on the capabilities and equipment our infantry battalion provides. The combat brigades provide a balance of combat force structure to the combat service support units already in the State. This balance is essential to ensure that we have the full spectrum of capabilities within Montana for homeland defense and national security. I am introducing a bill today which will ensure that each adjutant general will have the resources of 50 percent of their National Guard troops available to them at all times in the State. Deployments overseas will not be allowed to exceed that number. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7331,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090109227,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"A recent analysis by the American Automobile Associations Foundation for Traffic Safety concluded that teenage drivers comprise slightly more than onethird of all fatalities in motor vehicle crashes in which they are involved. whereas nearly twothirds of all fatalities in those crashes are other drivers. passengers. and pedestrians. Finally. the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety concludes that the chance of a crash by a driver either 16 or 17 years of age is doubled if there are two peers in the motor vehicle and quadrupled with three or more peers in the vehicle. Crashes inf5lving teenage injuries or fatalities are often highprofile tragedies in the area where they occur. However. when taken together. these individual tragedies speak to a national problem clearly illustrated by the staggering statistics I just mentioned. It is a problem that adversely affects teenage drivers. their passengers. and literally everyone else who operates or rides in a motor vehicle. Clearly. more work must be done to design and implement innovative methods that educate our young drivers on the awesome responsibilities that are associated with operating a motor vehicle safely. One such method involves implementing and enforcing a graduated drivers license system. or a GDL system. Undera typical GDL system. a teenage driver passes through several sequential learning stages before earning the full privileges associated with an unrestricted drivers license. Each learning stage is designed to teach a teenage driver fundamental lessons on driver operations.. responsibilities. and safety. Each stage also imposes certain restrictions. such as curfews on nighttime driving and limitations on passengers. that further ensurethe safety of the teenage driver. his or her passengers. and other motorists. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10627,"word_count":272}
{"speech_id":1090109251,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Croix. .Virgin Islands. as a unit of the National Park System. and for other purposes.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1648,"word_count":15}
{"speech_id":1090109264,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He believed in the team approach. of relying on the technician running the heartlung machine. relying on the nurses who. with him. made rounds each morning and each evening to see his patients. His teachings were filled with turns of phrases and catchy oneliners and. in my own mind. as I stand here and recall listening to him. he would say things such as: Never be afraid to double dribble. I think about it a lot because what he was saying was if that first stitch you are about ready to put in isnt perfect. put in another stitch. dont be so bold. dont be so confident. dont be so cocky. where if you have a question you dont make absolutely sure that something is perfect. Never be afraid to double dribble. Dr. Shumway looked for somebody who had the passion for healing. and he would encourage their active pursuits. It is almost as if he had a sixth sense. both for inspiration but also in recognizing in others an ability or a desire to be innovative. to create. to think outside of the box in order to benefit humanity. He considered it part of his mission to nurture and cultivate his trainees ambition and their drive and their desire. It didnt matter what your age was. It didnt matter what schools you had gone to. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9526,"word_count":226}
{"speech_id":1090109317,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. our country needs additional funding for LIHEAP. Temperatures in rural Alaska have reached 62 below zero. These temperatures have frozen heating systems and water and sewer lines in many of our villages. Alaskans are struggling this winter and paying over $5 per gallon to heat their homes. In fact. the mayor of a North Slope community told me that at one point. a village paid $8 per gallon. While the home heating picture is not as bleak in other parts of our country. all Americans are feeling the effects of high energy prices. In December. I tried to address this situation by including emergency LIHEAP funding in the Defense Appropriations Bill. Our bill created a new revenue stream by authorizing oil and gas development in the Coastal Plain of ANWRand used this revenue to provide funding for several emergencies. ","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":949,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090109326,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The WISH Act creates such a visa. which is valid for up to 9 years if the guest worker remains employed. After the applicant has worked in the United States for 6 of those years. he or she may apply for permanent resident status. An applicants spouse and unmarried minor children may be admitted to the United States with the guest worker. To ensure that such visas are issued only to legitimate guest workers. my bill requires applicants to provide information on his or her criminal history. gang membership. immigration history. and involvement with groups that have engaged in terrorist acts. genocide. persecution. or plans to overthrow the United States. It also provides for the completion of all necessary background checks. Fourth. we must account for the millions of undocumented aliens residing in the United States. I believe that the vast majority of these aliens are honest. hardworking individuals who are contributing to our country in positive ways. so the WISH Act allows them to obtain the guest worker visa I just mentioned without leaving the United States if he or she pays a fine. This will allow for these aliens. and their immediate families. to remain in the country doing the work they already do. In order to provide for their timely and orderly transition into legal guests. my bill requires undocumented aliens to apply for this visa or leave the United States. Failure to take one of those actions means they will be removed from the United States and will be unable to return. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5645,"word_count":256}
{"speech_id":1090109329,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today. with my friend from Kansas. Senator BROWNBACK. I am submitting a resolution urging the President to help stop genocide in Sudan. The killing in Darfur has gone on way too long. In July of 2004. Congress declared the actions that were taking place in Darfur. Sudan genocide. Two months later. the administration issued a report which reached the same conclusion. In the 17 months since then. little has changed for the people of Darfur. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4523,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090109334,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session. provided further that the Commerce Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee be discharged from further consideration of the following nominations: from the Commerce Committee. Coast Guard nominations PN 1299. and from the Foreign Relations Committee. Richard Boucher. PN 1167. further that the Senate proceed to their consideration en bloc. Finally. I ask unanimous consent that the nominations be confirmed. with the motions to reconsider laid upon the table. the President be immediately notified of the Senates action. and the Senate then resume legislative session.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":659,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090109357,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Congress strives to strike a careful and wise balance between national security and civil liberties. While this is not always easy. I believe we do so with the best interests of our Nation in mindand do so in an honest and good faith manner. Ms. Dinkins is the right person for this important position. as she has proven throughout her distinguished career to share these values. Her vast public service and privatesector experience will allow Carol Dinkins to offer unique perspectives to the privacy board. As Deputy Attorney General under President Reaganthe secondhighest ranking position in the Department of JusticeMs. Dinkins was responsible for the daytoday management of the Justice Departments more than 60.000 employees. Moreover. she played a significant role in the development of the Reagan administrations criminal justice and antiterrorism policies. Ms. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2389,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090109361,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it stand in adjournment under the provisions of H. Con. Res. 345 until 2 p.m. on Monday. February 27. I further ask that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and that the Senate then conduct a period for the transaction of morning business until 3 p.m.. with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. I further ask that following morning business. the Senate resume consideration of S. 2271. the PATRIOT Act amendments bill. as under the previous order.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":678,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090109460,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would close the door. but I cant seem to find one on the sidewalk. the path at Great Falls. in line at Hechts. or at table 4 by the window. It is not like Im eavesdropping. As titillating as it sounds. I am not drawn into your conversation about yoga class. tonights dinner. or Fluffys oozing skin rash. Although cell phones have been around for a while. we still associate one with privacy. Put one to your ear. and you will think you are in your kitchen. office. or. what was called a phone booth. But take a moment to look around. You are in public. On June 21. Robert McMillan wrote in The Washington Post about some of the comments to the FCC. and he quoted Steven Brown who described the perfect trajectory of what he called hell: Just imagine that ring conversation being mere inches from your head and on both sides of you while occupying the middle seat for a fivehour flight from L.A. to New York. ","speaker_name":"JOHN DUNCAN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4088,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090109462,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Yeah. No. we are in this thing. Yeah. No. it will be. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. ","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":405,"word_count":18}
{"speech_id":1090109468,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. before he leaves the Chamber. I wish to thank my colleague from Virginia. I am not sure we see exactly eye to eye on this proposal. but no one doubts the sincerity. the integrity. and the intelligence and fervor with which our chairman of the Armed Services Committee seeks to do good for following through on what he believes is necessary for this country. I hope we can work together and come to an amiable arrangement. Obviously. because of his work. our two sides are closer together today than we were a week ago.","speaker_name":"CHARLES SCHUMER","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":533,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090109475,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":14,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In the last 3 years of the Clinton administration. less money was being spent than we were taking in. We retired the debt by about a half trillion dollars. That certainly has not been the case during the Bush years. Whether we like it or not. President George W. Bush will be President for the next 21\/2 years. We need him to govern competently. We cannot afford more of what we have seen since 2001. So today I offer three issues: The port security issue. Iraq. and Katrinathese are only threewhere President Bush can work with us in order to turn his record into a record of progress and competence. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11579,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090109484,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"When we introduced the SAFE Act last Aprilthat is the legislation which was sponsored by Senators CRAIG and DURBIN and cosponsored by many of usthe SAFE Act did not contain any sunsets. We were prepared to make permanent each of the 16 provisions in question today. What we were seeking. instead. was language that would create a level of judicial review and public disclosure that would head off any potential abuse and unnecessary infringement on individual freedoms. Now. it has been said by some that those seeking changes to the PATRIOT Act have not been able to point to any case of abuse to support their cause. And that may be the case. But do we have to wait for that abuse to happen? I would prefer we put safeguards in place now. not afterwards. safeguards that continue to allow our law enforcement and intelligence officers to obtain the information they need for the security of our Nation. Now. in particular. I was. and I remain. concerned about the presumed relevance standard under a section 215 order. With the increased power under the PATRIOT Act to obtain \"any tangible item\" from any entity. it would also seem appropriate that the government have a greater responsibility to demonstrate its rationale for seeking those terms. While the conference report improves upon the current statute py requiring in most cases some connection or contact with a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power. ","speaker_name":"LISA MURKOWSKI","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7614,"word_count":242}
{"speech_id":1090109520,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It isnt. especially when Hamas wins in Palestine. But democracy isnt supposed to be perfect or easy or smooth. It was not such as we set up our Government. But what is the alternative to promoting democracy. no matter how great the challenges become? I submit there is no viable alternative. It is democracy. and only democracy. that will offer -these countries the possibility of greater civic freedoms. greater economic freedoms. and the hope for a politically moderate future. It is only because of American leadership. our brave soldiers. our brave civilians. and the hopeful leadership. the enlightened leadership of people such as Hamid Karzai. Jalal Talabani. and Saad Hariri that these countries and their people stand a chance of a better life and the world stands a chance to be a safer place. Along with it. America stands a chance of having important friends in a part of the world that in the past has been no friend to America. Some of my colleagues have said we need to get out of Iraq. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8507,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090109543,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Senator there were barriers that seriously hinSPECTER made it clear to me that he dered information sharing among law would try to seek consensus but that enforcement agencies and intelligence my demands would not be met in all re- agencies. and those barriers imperiled gards. our Nation. This was described by PatWhile I did not get everything I rick Fitzgerald in his testimony before wanted and while I believe- what I the Senate Judiciary Committee. I wanted was in the best interests of my quote: country. I support this bill. I am sim- I was on a prosecution team in New York ply unwilling to return the American that began a criminal investigation of people to the pre9\/11 law enforcement Osama bin Laden in early 1996. The teamtools which so poorly served our na- prosecutors and FBI agents assigned to the tional interests at that time. And criminal casehad access. to a number of while this legislation is not perfect in sources. We could talk to citizens. We could talk to local police officers. We could talk to every regard. it represents what I be- foreign police officers. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7229,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090109558,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am more than willing to recognize we did not get everything asked for. even as we significantly improved the conference report. One is the standard of conclusive presumption which is a standard he does not support. I do not support imposing this standard of inclusive presumption for overturning the 215 and NSL gag orders. but the fact remains. as was pointed out by Chairman SPECTER duriixg our original debate at the end of last year. that this is a standard that was in the Senate bill that was passed unanimously last summer. It is quite challenging tactically to try to negotiate out a provision that all Senators supported and voted for in the original Senate bill. The second issue is the most problematic. the one where I would like to have made more progress. That is in changing the standard forgetting a 215 subpoena from one of mere relevance to terrorism investigation. as is the current law and the standard in the conference report. to having a clear connection to a suspected or known terrorist or foreign power. We did not succeed in getting an improvement to the standard itself. However. through the course of negotiations. because of the work done by me and Senator FEINGOLD and others. we were able to get other requirements and criteria to be met by the government before a 215 subpoena can be issued which I will speak to in a moment. These three provisions. again. are significant steps forward from the delayed conference report. They are a step forward in the very areas that were raised as concerns at the end of -the session. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SUNUNU","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10986,"word_count":272}
{"speech_id":1090109584,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. when you reflect back to that many votes. that many thousands of votes. very quickly you could go back and look at various issues PAT LEAHY has been involved with. I think that is important to do. It. reflects a great legacy for our country. what he has stood for. the values and principles. I wish to add to the accolades what I have found. and that is. as I have gone around the world over the last several years in humanitarian causes. part of which is done as official CODELs as a Senator but even more than that as a volunteer physician. going on the ground into communities. into villages all over the world. what is interesting to mepeople dont care about the majority leader. they dont care about the typical names you hear from the Senate floor. but PAT LEAHYS name comes up again and again from the underserved. from the people who have suffered the tragedy of landmine injuries. It is remarkable. It is something we dont talk about on the floor a lot. But to have real people thousands of miles away coming forward with his name reflects the great legacy he leaves. that he continues to leave. and I am sure there will be another 12.000 votes as we come forward. I do want to express both to him and to Marcelle. a nurse. who greatly influenced his life and for whom he has so much love that he expresses so directly to so many of us in casual conversations or the sorts of occasions that people dont seethat is the PAT LEAHY I want to recognize todaycongratulations.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1493,"word_count":275}
{"speech_id":1090109586,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it has been my distinct pleasure to. be either the ranking member of the Foreign Operations Subcommittee or the chairman with my good friend PAT LEAHY. Part of what Senate etiquette tells us is we are supposed to refer to each otheras \"my good friend.\" but in the case of PAT LEAHY. it is not only Senate etiquette but it is the case that he has become a good friend. Twelve thousand votes is quite an accomplishment. but beyond that. I have enjoyed the spirit of bipartisanship with which we have pursued each Foreign Operations Appropriations bill for each of the last 14 years. whether he was chairman or I was chairman. We tried to develop the expenditures of the Federal Government in a way that made sense for America and also had an impact on the rest of the world. The majority leader has mentioned the landmine crusade Senator LEAHY has led for a long time. He is indeed known around the world for that. It has been an extraordinary crusade. He d.eserves enormous credit for leading it and is widely known around the world for that. ","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1270,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090109618,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"She was a student at the New England Conservatory of Music with plans for a musical career when she met her future husband. but she was from the beginning his steadfast partner in the arduous fight for civil rights and a more decent and humane society. After Dr. Kings death she continued the fight with the quiet dignity- and determination that were her hallmarks. It was a privilege to work with Mrs. King on the legislation establishing Martin Luther King day as a national holiday. I deeply regret that she could not live long enough to see the memorial to her husband built as well. Last month we honored Dr: Martin Luther King and his legacy. If he were with us today. Dr. King would be deeply gratified by the national tributes paid to Ms. ","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4297,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090109622,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. every year. members of the Hawaii Credit Union League meet with me during their trip to Washington. DC. They keep me abreast of their work in Hawaii by providing affordable financial services to their members. I would like to recognize credit unions and other mainstream financial services organizations that provide access to financial","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":351,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090109635,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Over the next 3 years. Mr.. Tatsuno secretly filmed life in the camp with an 8millimeter Bell & Howell camera that Walter Honderick. his supervisor at the internment camps coop store. helped smuggle in. Because the camera was forbidden. Mr. Tatsuno kept it hidden in a shoe box. taking it out only when guards were not looking. These images of daily life in Topazof church services. of people gardening. of birthday celebrationshave left viewers with a stark image of what life was like during those hard years. After the Tatsuno family was released from the internment camp. Mr. Tatsunos footage of life in Topaz was turned into a 48minute silent film. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3307,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090109636,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"WCILi Advocacy Action Group works with the disabled community and elected officials to modernize existing disability legislation. The group collects the ideas and complaints of disabled people and transforms them into substantive legislation. Through true grassroots campaigning and issue advocacy. the group ensures that elected officials stay abreast of current accessibility issues in their community. Recognizing the necessity for information regarding accessibility throughout Los Angeles. the WCIL. in partnership with UCLA. \"has established Living Independently in Los Angeles. LILA. LILA provides a host of useful information regarding the accessibility of public and private places. community organizations working for the betterment of those with disabilities. and advocacy groups. Thanks to LILA. numerous disabled persons are better equipped to navigate Los Angeles. The center provides invaluable educational services. including public awareness aboht the Americans with Disabilities Act. Countless businesses. community organizations. and local community members credit WCIL for helping them to ensure that buildings and offices are accessible for Americans with disabilities. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2804,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090109653,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask -unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking. Housing. and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on February 28. 2006. at 10:30 a.m.. to conduct a hearing on the evaluation of the administrations FY 07 Budget for the Federal Transmit Administration.","speaker_name":"JIM BUNNING","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":305,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090109659,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday. February 28 at 10 a.m. The purpose of this hearing is to review the proposed FY 2007 Forest Service Budget.","speaker_name":"JIM BUNNING","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":264,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090109663,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Indian Affairs be authorized to meet on Tuesday. February 28. 2006. at 9:30 a.m.. in room 485 of the Russell Senate Office Building to conduct an oversight hearing on OffReservation Gaming: Land into Trust and the TwoPart Determination.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":297,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090109665,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"DC. Robert F. Turner. Associate Director. Center for National Security Law. .University of Virginia. Charlottesville. VA. Robert Levy. Senior Fellow in Constitutional Studies. CATO Institute. ","speaker_name":"JIM BUNNING","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":921,"word_count":25}
{"speech_id":1090109671,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management. the Federal Workforce. and the District of Columbia be authorized to meet on Tuesday. February 28. 2006. at 10 a.m. for a hearing entitled. \"Enhancing Educational and Economic Opportunity in the District of Columbia.\"","speaker_name":"JIM BUNNING","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":317,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090109691,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"led the Pledge of Alle- international community chose consensus over substance. There was a I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the race to the lowest commofi denomiUnited States of America. and to the Repub- nator. And the result? A flawed prolic for which it stands. one nation under God indivisible. with liberty and justice for all. posal which empowers dictatorships while weakening democratic countries such as the United States and Israel. COMMUNICATION FROM THE Much more work needs to be done. CLERK OF THE HOUSE Mr. Speaker. We must ensure that the new council is not mere cosmetic","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":590,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090109719,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to ical Park\". suspend the rules and pass the bill SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. to establish the Thomas There is authorized to be appropriated such Edison National Historical Park in the sums as may be necessary to carry out this Act. State of NewJersey as the successor to The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuthe Edison National Historic Site. as ant to the.rule. the gentleman from Aramended. izona and the gefitleman from West Virginia each will control 20 minutes. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Arizona.","speaker_name":"RICK RENZI","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":543,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090109767,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman. Mr. DAVIS. for yielding the time. I am honored to be an original cosponsor with my friend. Congressman ROGERS from Alabama. of this legislation. Some people probably are wondering why this kind of interesting coalition has com6 together. Well. for me. it is about having the Lowes Motor Speedway in Charlotte. North Carolina. not inside my congressional district. it is actually in an adjoining -congressional district represented by one of my other North Carolina colleagues. ","speaker_name":"MELVIN WATT","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4179,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090109786,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to thank Congressman SILVESTRE REYES for offering House Resolution 668. a resolution which celebrates this years 40th anniversary of. Texas Westerns 1966 NCAA Basketball Championship. The year of 1966 marked a number of .\"firsts\" by African Americans. The Honorable Robert C. Weaver became the first African American Cabinet member with his appointment as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Edward Brooke became the first popularly elected African American to the United States Senate. and it also marked the first time a collegiate basketball team. the Texas Western Miners. sporting an all African American lineup won the NCAA Mens Division I Basketball Championship. What made this victory important. and what we are commemorating here today. is not the fact that a team starting all African American student athletes beat a team of all White student athletes. We commemorate rather. the closing of one more chapter of segregation and bigotry to a new chapter where we judge an individual on the content of their character and qualifications and not on the color of their skin. \u0095 The Texas Western Miners- in their victory over the University of Kentucky Wildcats. opened up numerous opportunities for student athletes of all races and creeds to attend college. participate in sports. and become eligible for athletic scholarships. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2022,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090109796,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Braille demonstrated an understanding of blindness that was extraordinarily enlightened and positive for the times in which he lived. Blind people today would be far less likely to achieve the goals of independenceland productive living without the positive. contributions Louis Braille made and the example he set through: out his life. Today. blind members of society are teachers. doctors. lawyers. scientists. mathematicians and much. much more because of Louis Braille. A means of achieving literacy is vital for everyone. including. of course. people who are blind. Therefore. effective use of Braille is one of the most essential skills for blind people to achieve success. Research shows that more than 90 percent of employed persons who are blind use Braille. Effective use- of Braille is as important to the blind as independent mobility. knowledge in the use of adaptive technology. and the core belief that equality. opportunity and security are truly possible for all people who are blind. The Louis Braille Commemorative Coin will feature representation of the image of Louis Braille on one side and will include the word for Braille in actual Braille code on the other side. The inclusion of Braille code on the commemorative coin is a significant and historic aspect of this bill. In addition. all sales of the Braille Commemorative Coin will include a surcharge of $10 per coin. which will be distributed to the National Federation of the Blind to promote Braille literacy. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT NEY","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6378,"word_count":239}
{"speech_id":1090109809,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. .Mr. Speaker. I am a proud cosponsor of this bill. but that is not why I am here. I am here because of the protocols of the House. The protocols of the House say that a bill goes through a committee and somebody on that committee should be controlling time. But the protocols of the House sometimes put you in a poition that you know you are inadequate to effectively do. and that is my position today. because the real person who should be being honored by controlling time is the person who was the original cosponsor of this. my good friend and colleague. Representative RANGEL. So I want to proudly say that I am a strong supporter of this bill. but I want to yield immediately to my colleague from New York. ","speaker_name":"MELVIN WATT","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":824,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090109812,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Thirtytwo were Febr:uary 28. 2006 downed or became prisoners of war. And amongthe outfit they received 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses. 744 Air Medals. eight Purple Hearts and 14 Bronze Stars. My colleagues. in all of the time that they were protecting American bombers on their missions from. the United States to Europe. in all of that time. no matter how many times that they were shot down. they never lost a bomber. never lost a United States bomber throughout World War II. They set an example for all of us somehow to try to follow. and that is that the vestiges of slavery were not over then and they are not over now. And certainly. when we take a look at those brave young men and women that are fighting in Iraq. we cannot tell whether they are Republican or Democrats. and we do not care whether they are Black. White. or Brown. They are sharing the sacrifices that this great Nation is involved in. I am so proud that because of my age. my community and my friendship. that the spirit of the Tuskegee Airmen is not involved with history books with me because one of those great airmen happens to be one of my very. very best friends. and that is Percy Sutton. Percy not only flew the planes but he was involved in. intelligence and he provided the leadership. not just in the service. but became a leader in the civil rights movement and became a friend and advocate in support of Malcolm X. became the borough president of Manhattan. ran for mayor. and then when that did not work out. started out in business to become one of the most successful people in communication that we have had in the city and in the country. And so. what did that mean to a CHARLIE RANGEL. who came from a depressed community? We had one symbol of hope. ","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5005,"word_count":321}
{"speech_id":1090109830,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I wish to commend particularly Chairman MICHAEL OXLEY and Ranking Member BARNEY FRANK. of the authorizing Committee on Financial Services as well as Chairman DUNCAN HUNTER and Ranking Member IKE SKEITON of the Armed Services Committee who made a bipartisan appeal to the entire House in support of this bill. I would be remiss not to mention Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld who commended this bill to the Members of the House.","speaker_name":"CHARLES RANGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1233,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090109833,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In total. the Tuskegee Airmen were awarded 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses. 8 Purple Hearts. 14 Bronze Stars. 744 Air Medals and Clusters and 3 Distinguished Unit Citations. This record is a soaring achievement that speaks to the depth of talent. heart and courage that they all exemplified. There .were also huge human costs for their sacrifice as the Airmen suffered 66 combat deaths. and 33 were captured as prisoners of war. The sacrifice and contributions of the Tuskegee Airmen were the catalyst for President Truman issuing Executive Order 9981. which as of July 26. 1948. desegregated the United States Armed Forces. The Tuskegee Airmens contribution to this country is immeasurable. Their display of heroism and perseverance deserves our eternal gratitude. The Tuskegee Airmen are indeed justified of receiving Congresss highest honor. the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor.","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3198,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090109878,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. on February 16. while police officers representing law enforcement organizations with over 100.000 members from every congressional district in the country were on Capitol Hill lobbying to save ByrneJAG formula grants. police officers just outside the town of Monticello in my district in Minnesota were proving why the shortsighted elimination of the ByrneJAG program must be rejected. During a midafternoon traffic stop involving several individuals from Washington State in a vehicle likely stolen in California. a Minnesota State trooper noticed the smell of meth coming from a car. . After a brief search of the car with a trained drug dog. an elaborate trunklatch device wired to the cars air conditioning knob was discovered and eight sealed packages and one large ziploc bag of meth were located in the cars passengerside air bag compartment. In all. more than 11.5 pounds of meth worth over $1 million was taken off our streets. along with several traffickers who profit from dealing this poison. Mr. Speaker. 11.5 pounds of meth is the equivalent of over 45.000 hits. One hit of meth is enough to form an addiction more difficult to break than even heroin. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"MARK KENNEDY","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2243,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090109879,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We must fight this elicit drug head on. Just as we need to give our soldiers serving in Afghanistan and Iraq the tools and resources needed for success. so too must we give our local law enforcement officials the tools they need to fight the war on drugs. This program is a tool our local law enforcement officers desperately need. Congress must restore the funding. The risk in not doing so is simply too scary and the threat to our childrens future is too great. I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.","speaker_name":"LINCOLN DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2482,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090109900,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"When they cease doing that. then the laboratory must either dispose of the embryos or bear the expense of keeping them frozen. So each year a number of these embryos are discarded. and there has been an appeal. which has been bought into by some of my very good friends in the Congress. that \u00b0from a ethical perspective. why should we not get some medical use from these embryos that are going to be discarded anyhow. That is a tough position to put prolife people in. and the reason that most. but not all. prolife advocates are opposed to this is because they view this as the beginning of a slippery slope. Today. you are permitting the use of surplus embryos that are going to be discarded anyhow. tomorrow. you might be producing embryos. They maybe stronger. younger. You may be producing embryos just so you can discard them so you could use them for medical research. I remembered the juvenile diabetes groups that come through. the children and their parents when. in 2000. I went to the National Institutes of Health when they had a briefing for Members of Congress. and staff on embryonic stem cell research. the potentials and. the challenge. There were a number of staff there. I think that I was the only Member of Congress who was there. ","speaker_name":"ROSCOE BARTLETT","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10659,"word_count":223}
{"speech_id":1090109902,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Dr. GINGREY. thank you very much. There is another consequence of this understandable emotional reaction on the part of the prolife community. and that is the statement that is made over and over again that we have. I think it is up to. 70some now. treatments or cures from adult stem cells and none from embryonic stem cells. therefore. why would you want to bother looking at embryonic stem cells? The reason we have 70some treatments from adult stem cells is we have been working with them for about 3 decades -and we have been working with embryonic stem cells for just a little over 6 years. A newborn baby cannot run a marathon. and there just has not been time for the medical community to develop the potential from embryonic stem cells. I will be the first to tell you that this research may be very disappointing. I hope that it will not be. because these cells really want to divide. and like an obstreperous teenager. they may be very difficult to control. But the hope is that since embryonic stem cells can certainly make any and every tissue and. potentially. organ in the body. they ought to have the greatest potential. And I wonder what we need to do so that the statement is not repeated that it is really silly to talk about embryonic stem cell research because we have 70some treatments or cures from adult stem cells and none yet from embryonic stem cells. That is. of course. a true statement. but you need to put it in context. ","speaker_name":"ROSCOE BARTLETT","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1706,"word_count":263}
{"speech_id":1090109908,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I appreciate the gentleman from California for his leadership as cochair of the Blue Dog Coalition for joining us this evening for this discussion of the budget. the debt. and the deficit. I appreciate your traveling to my district and witnessing something that is absolutely reprehensible. To have 10.777 brandnew manufactured homes. fully furnished. sitting in a cow pasture in . Hope. Arkansas. when FEMA is getting ready to evict 12.000 people from hotel rooms in this country and their only response is. well. we are not going to put them in flood zones and everybody that needs them lives in a flood zone so we will spend 6 to $8 million putting gravel on the cow pasture so we can *store themfor a future natural disaster. That is the craziest thing I have ever heard of. and that is the kind of example of how we must require agencies to put their fiscal house in order and to get their act together. That is part of the 12point plan for meaningful budget reform that is being offered up by the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition. I recognize the gentleman from Georgia . a fellow Blue Dog. my friend.","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1115,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090109910,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"OPEC. $67.8 billion. Korea. $66.5 billion. Germany. $65.7 billion. Canada $53.8 billion. To put it another way. if China decides. as my friend and founding member of the Blue Dog Coalition says so eloquently. we are in such a mess right now that if China which is loaning us money. if China decides to invade Taiwan. -we will have to borrow even more money from China to defend Taiwan. That is the situation our Nation is in today as we continue to borrow about half the debt. which is running about a billion a day which means we are bor-. rowing about a half a billion dollars a day from foreign central banks and from foreign investors to fund tax cuts in this country for those who earn over $400.000 a year.","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1554,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090109915,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Absolutely. and just responding to your very eloquent description of the status quo. of the situation and the landscape that the American people are fa6ed with today with a budget that is squarely not responsive nor responsible to the needs of the American people. with an administration that. quite frankly. on so many important issues. has demonstrated that they are completely out to lunch and out of touch. The point is that the American people deserve better. There is a day of reckoning coming. and I assure. you that that reckoning is coming this year. in the year 2006. I think this is going to be one of the most important elections that we have had in a long. long time. because all of the facts that you have just pointed out. in terms of FEMA. in terms of what is happening. in the Middle East and here lately in terms of those who were asleep at the switch when the deal was cut. in terms of the port security. all show a considerable lack of judgment and a lack of responsibility to the American people. That has been a characteristic within this administration. especially in the area dealing with one of the most precious responsibilities we have. which is determining and being responsible for how we spend the taxpayers money. For this administration in the last 5 years to have squandered a surplus. the facts are there. They are plain as one can see. When the Clinton administration left office. there was a surplus. of billions and billions of dollars. and now in this last year the deficit has been shot up over $4 trillion. There is a reckoning for that. and I am here to tell you that as a Member of Congress. the American people are looking for Members of Congress to stand up for them and to do what it is we need to do. that we were elected to do. It is Congress that is charged with the responsibility of oversight. ","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3874,"word_count":336}
{"speech_id":1090109931,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It continues to grow. In fact. just in this last hour our Nations debt has increased by $41.666 million. So. obviously. you see when we started an hour ago it was $8.251.355.000.000. and. unfortunately. it has increased to $8.293 trillion. Just another example of how our- Nation must get its fiscal house in order. I think it is very appropriate that we spend a little bit of time changing these numbers. and letting people see that in the hour that we have stood here talking about our Nations debt and deficit and getting our fiscal house in order. we have seen the Nations debt go up by $41.666 million. The debt now in our Nation $8.251.293.000.000.","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1395,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090109934,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There were 84 of the 85 officers that had been shot off their horses. Only one remained. That was George Washington. Finally. after a couple of hours. the remaining British and Americans retreated from the woods. and when they got a good distance away. they reformed and retreated. I believe it was back to Maryland. There was a letter that Washington wrote back to his mother and brother accounting what happened. There are other accounts that seem to all tell the same story. But Washington wrote that when he took off his hat and shook his head. bullet fragments fell out of his hair. but there wasnt a scratch on him. He said when he took off his vest. there were bullet holes in his investigate. but not a scratch on him. As he wrote to his mother and brother. he said. ","speaker_name":"LOUIE GOHMERT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8039,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090109938,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Thank you. Congressman PRICE. It is a real pleasure to be here tonight. I am grateful for the words of our colleagues earlier. Congressman GOHMERT and Congresswoman SCHMIDT. I appreciate what they have said. and you. I am really proud to be a part of the Official Truth Squad. And. while I did not hear all of the comments that were made just prior to our beginning our session here. I did want to respond to one thing that you said. That is that we all are entitled to .our opinions. but the facts are the facts. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7477,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090109944,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"For example. one of the longstanding programs sponsored by Alpha Phi Alpha is \"Go to high school. go to college.\" Another is \"A voteless people is a hopeless people.\" They encouraged education and voter registration. More recent projects for Alpha Phi Alpha is Project Alpha. promoting responsibility among African American males in all aspects of health care. Before the formation of college fraternities. the very first African American fraternity. Sigma Pi Phi. was formed in 1904 in Philadelphia by a group of physicians and dentists. This organization was created for college and professionally educated African Americans including college presidents. Congressmen. cabinet members. and nationally prominent figures such as W.E.B. DuBois and Martin Luther King. Jr. I am also a member of Sigma Pi Phi. There are countless other organizations that have existed for the purpose of improving economic status. spiritual wellbeing. and civil rights of all Americans. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4003,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090109945,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Delta Sigma Theta. the Zetas. The whole list of sororities. they go on and on. Most of them sprang out of a need for service. a recognition that there were notsocial responsibilities. but civic and important unfinished business that needed to be attended to. Organizations of various kinds. headed by powerful women in our country. the Council of Negro Women. I mean we could go on and on and on with the list of organizations. social and civic organizations. that have grown out of a need to emphasize and uplift the community so that perhaps what was previously referred to in the prior Special Order here. about the Preamble to the Constitution. really would be made a living. viable document. equality and justice for all. Many of these organiza-. tions sprang out of that. We could spend a week. a month or two talking about the churches. the religious denominations. the AMEs. the AME. African Methodist Episcopal Zion denomination or the African Methodist Episcopal denomination. which formed because African American people either were not welcome in the white religious institutions or because those religious institutions were not providing the kind of freedom of expression or the level of equality. Even though they were talking the talk. they were not necessarily walking the walk throughout our history. So all of these things are extremely important. ","speaker_name":"MELVIN WATT","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3410,"word_count":224}
{"speech_id":1090110071,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. I ask .unanimous consent that following the passage vote. the Senate vote on the motion to proceed to the motion to reconsider the vote by which cloture was not invoked on the conference report to accompany tIJ.R. 3199. I further ask consent that if the motion to proceed is agreed to. the Senate vote immediately on the motioh to reconsider and. if agreed to. then the Senate vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the Nelson (FL) conference report. March 1. -2006","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":483,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090110073,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"S. 2271 pretends to fix it but I dont think anyone is fooled. least of all our constituents. They are watching and they will want to know how a bill that is so trivial on its face protects their civil liberties. It doesnt. It should be rejected. And the Senate should get down to the serious business of legislating real fixes to the PATRIOT Act. I urge my colleagues to oppose the bill.","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2665,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090110074,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"SUNUNU. CRAIG. and others in introducing a bill to improve the PATRIOT Act and reauthorization legislation in several important respects. While we have made some progress. much is left to be done.","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3991,"word_count":32}
{"speech_id":1090110117,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Before I turn to those voices. I want to start with the basic principle. Our Nations strenigth comes not only from our mighty and our unmatched military might but from our constitutional system and our reverence for the rule\" of law. -That is what has kept us free for over 21\/4 quarter centuries in our history as a nation. Millions of patriotic Americans love this country and support our military men and women in their difficult missions abroad but worry about the fate of our Constitution here at home. Our constitutional freedoms. our American values are what make our country worth fighting for as we strive to defeat the terrorists. who threaten us. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights are documents we often talk about and less often actually pick up and reread. In light of their central importance to the debate about the PATRIOT Act. I thought it would be worth reading them today. The United States Constitution: we the People of the United States. in Order to form a more perfect Union. establish. Justice. insure domestic Tranquility. provide for the common defence. promote the general Welfare. and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity. do ordain and establish the Constitution for the United States of America.","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4538,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090110135,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So I am glad we are making progress. However. I have to admit to being disappointed at the missed opportunity to get it right.","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":769,"word_count":24}
{"speech_id":1090110137,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"CRAIG. and others in introducing a bill to improve the PATRIOT Act and reauthorization legislation in several important. respects. While we have. made some progress.. much is left to be done. Let me be very clear about this. There are good parts of this bill. but there are also serious bad parts. The serious bad parts are worse if you have an administration that does not believe in checks and balances and prefers to do everything in secret. We now see the administratidn seeking to twist the Authorization for Use of Military Force against alQaida into a justification for its secret. illegal wiretapping of Americans emails and telephone calls. We see the administration claiming that it need not fulfill its constitutional responsibility to faithfully execute the laws and .that it can pick and choose among the laws it will recognize. And we see an administration that continues to attack anyone that gets in their way and insists on the rule of law. Confronted with the administrations claims of unchecked power. I do not believe that the restraints we have been able to include in this reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act are sufficient. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SUNUNU","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1864,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090110145,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Certain provisions of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act. also known as the USA PATRIOT Act. allow the government greater authority to detain and investigate persons and to engage in surveillance activities that may violate or offend the rights and liberties guaranteed by our Federal and State Constitutions. including rights of due process. the right to privacy. the right to counsel. protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. and basic First Amendment freedoms. and WHEREAS. The people of California are concerned that many provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act pose significant threats to constitutional protections. now. therefore. be it Resolved by the Senate and Assembly of the State of California jointly. That the State of California supports appropriate and effective measures by the Government of the United States of America and the State of California to combat terrorism and affirms its commitment that the campaign not be waged at the expense of essential civil rights and liberties of citizens of this country contained in the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. and be it further Resolved. That the State of California also urges its congressional delegation to work to repeal any provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act .that limit or impinge on rights and liberties protected equally by the United States Constitution and the California Constitution and to oppose any pending and future Fed: eral -legislation to the extent that it would infringe on Americans civil rights and liberties. and be it further Resolved. that the State of California will ensure that no State resources be provided for any action that would violate the United States Constitution or the Constitution of the State of California. including but not limited to. all of the following: (1) Collecting or maintaining information about the political. religious. or social views. associatiOns. or activities of any individual group. association. organization. corpora-. tion. business or partnership. unless the information directly relates to an investigation of criminal activities. and there are.reasonable grounds to suspect the subject of the information is or may be involved in criminal conduct. (2) Recording. filing. or sharing intelligence information concerning a person or organization. including library lending and research records. book and video sales and rental records. medical records. financial records. student records and other personal data. even if authorized under the USA PATRIOT Act. (3) Demanding nonconsensual releases of student and faculty recordS from public schools and institutions of higher learning. (4) Eavesdropping on confidential communicationsbetween lawyers and their clients. (5) Engaging in racial profiling that enables law enforcement agencies to use race. religion. ethnicity or national origin as factors in selecting individuals to be subject to investigational activities. except when seeking to apprehend a specific suspect whose race. religion. ethnicity or national origin is part of the description of the suspect. and be it further Resolved. That the Secretary of State shall transmit copies of this resolution to the President and the Vice President of the United States and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. to the majority leader of the Senate. and to each Senatfor and Representative from California in the Congress. the Attorney General of the United States. and to all Federal and State law enforcement agencies. Mr. President.* that is the second resolution. The third one is from Colorado. Senate Joint Resolution 05044 concerning the States commitment to Uphold Constitutional Rights in the Fight Against Terrorism. approved by the Colorado General Assembly. . WHEREAS. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12908,"word_count":579}
{"speech_id":1090110154,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wish to take a brief moment to acknowledge an iiportant feat of one of our Members. At approximately 5 oclock today. the distinguished Senator from Oklahoma. Mr. COBURN. reached his 100th hour of presiding. Senator COBURN will be the second Senator in the 109th.Congress to receive the Golden. Gavel Award. Most Members will agree that the best way to learn about Senate procedure is to preside over the Senate Chamber.. Senator COBURN has done so with distinction. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":895,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090110190,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Airland be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on March 1. 2006. at 2:30 p.m.. in open session to receive testimony on Army transformation and the future combat systems acquisition strategy in review of the Defense authorization request for fiscal year 2007 and the future years Defense program.","speaker_name":"JAMES TALENT","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":375,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090110198,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent. that the Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday. March 1 at 2:30 p.m. The purpose of the hearing is to review the roll of the Forest Service and other Federal agencies in protection.the Health and Welfare of foreign guest workers cartying out treeplanting and other service contracts on National Forest System Lands. and to consider related Forest Service guidance and contract modifications issued in recent weeks.","speaker_name":"JAMES TALENT","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":525,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090110209,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it stand ini adjournment until 9:30 a.m. on Thursday. March 2. I further ask that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate then proceed to a period of morning business for up to 30 minutes. with the first 15 minutes under the control of the Democratic leader or his designee. the final 15 minutes under the control of the majority leader or his designee. and the Senate then resume consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R. 3199. the PATRIOT Act. I further ask that the debate until the final passage vote be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":806,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090110229,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We need to keep those small businesses and the people working.","speaker_name":"SUE KELLY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1330,"word_count":11}
{"speech_id":1090110234,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They deserve it.","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1198,"word_count":3}
{"speech_id":1090110238,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"A very profound statement from a warrior. I ask those persons in the United States who want to help sustain -the peace in this world to join the Peace Corps. It will be the greatest job. hardest job you have ever enjoyed. I did it when I\"was a young college student. I invite others at any age to join today. Americans have served as a testament to this country. I hope they will continue for many years.","speaker_name":"SAM FARR","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1197,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090110242,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. millions of Americans are troubled by recent revelations concerning privately funded travel. and Congress. in my judgment. should ban privately funded travel until a system of prior approval can be established within- the framework of the House Ethics Committee. While private travel permits Members of Congress to expand their knowledge of issues affecting the Nation and the world without burdening taxpayers. recent revelations have served to undermine public confidence about this practice. and I believe it should be suspended until new safeguards can be put in place to ensure accountability and transparency. Congress must take bold action to restore the confidence of the American people in the integrity of our national legislature. I commend Speaker HASTERT and Chairman DAVID DREIER for offering a bold vision of ethics reform and urge my colleagues to join me in supporting their efforts today.","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":921,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090110277,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Moore founded the Brevard County NAACP. chapter. In 1937. by working with the Black Florida State Teachers Association and. NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall. he catalyzed a movement to equalize the salaries of Black and White teachers. Although he lost the court battle. he would ultimately win the war. Make no mistake. his actions inspired many. others and ultimately. Mr. Moore helped achieve pay parity among teachers of color and their.White counterparts. In 1941. he organized the Florida State Conference of the NAACP and worked as an executive secretary without compensation. His platform also broadened as he began to add his voice to issues such as Black voting disenfranchisement. segregated education. and later in 1943. lynchings and police brutality. ","speaker_name":"ELIJAH CUMMINGS","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3246,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090110279,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In the 21st Century. the NAACP is needed as much as ever to make a differenceat all levelsNational. State and local. Despite victories won long ago we are still facing challenges. In its 97th year. the NAACP needs to continue its great legacy of contribution and commitment to. ensure that these hardwon civil rights will always be protected. Congratulations on your 97th anniversary.","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3063,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090110280,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In its fight for equality for racial minorities. the NAACP lobbied tirelessly for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. These two laws served to enshrine for -all the cherished constitutional rights that too many had been depriyed of for too long. by redressing serious shortcomings in the morality of our nation.","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1909,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090110297,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. yesterday the Pentagon announced that it is returning $288 out of $300 million it was holding while investigating Halliburton for overcharging. even thoukh Halliburton was previously caught overcharging the Pentagon by $27 million for meals for our troops. Mr. Speaker. even as tens of thousands of Hurricane Katrina survivors face eviction due to FEMA. the United States Government is handing hundreds of millions of dollars to a company which has been plagued by allegations and admissions of fraud. waste. abuse. bribery and kickbacks. The Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq was itself unable to account for $9 billion. with over a billion of this reportedly having been lost to Halliburton. Today. I urge Congress to establish a permanent war profiteering committee modeled after the Truman Commission after the Second World War. Before this Congress writes the President another blank check. we need to investigate the gross incompetence and even corruption that exists with this administration.","speaker_name":"CYNTHIA MCKINNEY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1018,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090110340,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today I want to share material prepared by former Ambassador William B. Jones to the nation of Haiti. He is currently the Johns Professor of Political Science at HampdenSydney College. which is located in the Fifth District of Virginia. It is the opinion of Ambassador Jones and of myself that citizens of foreign countries illegally in the United States should not be counted to determine congressional representation nor for the Electoral College. The Framers of our. Constitution would not have sanctioned illegality as a basis for determining congressional representation and certainly not in fixing the numbers of Presidential electors. The extensive debates on congressional representation were focused on slavery resulting in the threefifths of a person rationale. It is ridiculous to assume that any of the Framers. given the tenor of their debate and their dedication to establishing a rule of law. would ever have considered allowing citizens of foreign countries illegally in the United States to play a role in determining control in the Congress and the election of the President. To assume otherwise would construe the Constitution as protecting and sanctioning illegality. ","speaker_name":"VIRGIL GOODE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5222,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090110351,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am disappointed this week that Buck ONeil of Kansas City was not inducted into the Hall of Fame of baseball. Buck ONeil was in the Negro Baseball League as a player and a manager for more than 17 years. Buck taught the people of the Kansas City metropolitan region about the importance of determination and resolve. sometimes in the face of hostility. Buck taugh. us about baseball. but more importantly. Buck taught us about life. He is a wonderful role model. and I thank him for his contributions to baseball. to the Kansas City metropolitan region. and to the United States of America. Buck ONeil. you are a great American and a gentle man. You will always be a charter member of the Kansas City Hall of Fame.","speaker_name":"DENNIS MOORE","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":728,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090110360,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. that has really been theprbblem here. And I thank the gentleman. and I want to congratulate you. as your partner down here at the 30somethings. for your recent election to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation as their chairman. and I want to congratulate you. only in your second term to receive that distinguished honor. But I agree with you 100 percent:","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":366,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090110363,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I just also want to concur and extend my congratulations to the gentleman from Florida . That is a high honor and one that the gentleman is very worthy of. and those of us who belong to the 30something group want to express our pride. Great .job. We expect big things.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":268,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090110369,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. let me just say this. because I do not want you to get too far off on that. I want to thank the board members of the foundation for seeing fit to allow me to do it. And we are going to continue to do the good things we have been doing. We provide internship opportunities for African American kids to come to Capitol Hill. be exposed to something that. for generations. they were not exposed to. We provide fellowships to many of the folks in research. desperately needed research on health and a number of other issues. So there will be things that we will continue to do as we move on. But thank you so much. gentlemen. I appreciate it. And I thank the board members and also the Members. Thank you.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":707,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090110370,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That means you do not know how to administer government. When you start a $700 billion ptescription drug program and you do not allow for any kind of negotiation down of the drug prices. that means you do not know how to execute government. When you lose $9 billion in Iraq and you get a Three Stooges routine that. you got it. I mean you got it. I mean Curly got it. no one knows where $9 billion is. it is just example after example after example that this outfit does not know how to execute government. And when you have spent. as the Republican majority has. the last 10 or 15 or quite frankly. since President Reagan. running down government. it does not work. Government is the problem. And then you actually need it. and the outfit who hates government doesnt know how to execute it in a way that is meaningful.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1993,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090110404,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have the Republican Congress. the Republican majority We have the rubber stamp Republican Congress. The staff is trying to find. some red ink for me. They brought some black ink. but I need some red ink. We need to stamp this bigger. So I think we will get that by the end of the week. 0i 1745 But I think it is important. Mr. RYAN. that we point out to the American people and also to the majority that enough is enough. It is not their country. it is our country. it is all of our country.. And the bottom line is we cannot sit idly by and let historians say some Members of Congress did not participate in trying to stop what is happening right now.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":655,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090110429,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They lose $9 billion in Iraq. They waste $300 billion on 11.000 trailers sitting in the mud in Hope. Arkanss. and meanwhile Pell grants are going up. veterans are asked to pay more. and we cannot take care of our own pprts. We will be back in an hour. But if you want to get a hold of us. Members who are watching this in our offices. www.housedemocrats.gov\/30something","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1365,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090110433,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But what has changed is that our ability to thwart attacks has dramatically increased. The. latest in database technology. coupled with surveillance technologies. is proving to be a powerful force in identifying those potential attackers who want to kill us. We owe a great deal of gratitude to these men and women on the front lines of our defense. Just this past week the media reported that some 200.000 people across the globe are on our watchlist. persons that we have reason to believe wish to do us harm. but most importantly. 200.000 people we have already identified as potential threats. And when you know who your enemy is. you have got a better chance at seeing them come at you. When we wake up each morning and turn on our television sets and there is no news of an attack. we do not even think that there might have been one. That. in itself. is a tribute to the hard work of our national security team. We go about our lives without fear of another attack because of the job they are doing each and every minute of each ind every day for us. And that means we must give them every tool needed to complete their mission. Their mission is not only important. it is a matter of life and death. ","speaker_name":"JEAN SCHMIDT","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5469,"word_count":223}
{"speech_id":1090110435,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They are the ones that are getting the most. influence here. Yet our friends seem to forget that they are a special interest group and they are causing great outcomes in legislation. So I appreciate the gentlemans efforts to bring truth to the floor of the House of Representatives and especially as it regards our -troops because our troops are doing magnificent things as they are in harms way every day. We as a grateful Nation should always take the time to say thank you. not only to the troops but also to families of the troops. for being willing to be the last wedge between tyranny that originates in the Middle East and freedoms that we are trying to export from this country. I think that we owe all of our families and all of our troops a good round of thanks from a grateful Nation. I salute the gentleman for his efforts.","speaker_name":"STEVAN PEARCE","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3460,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090110442,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Without a doubt. I am so glad you joined us to talk about this. because that is what the Official Truth Squad is all about. bringing to light the truth of issues. but also understanding and appreciating and articulating what our constituents know. and that is that these challenges are not Republican challenges or Democrat challenges. they are American challenges. They are challenges we all have to face together. I know the gentleman joins me in just calling on our colleagues to step up. to recognize that the Iraqi people need our support now more than ever before. and to recognize that we have a lot of hurdles. a lot of challenges. but together we can overcome them. .as can they. I appreciate the gentlemans participation tonight and his expertise and perspective to the Official Truth Squad.","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":801,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090110464,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I appreciate my friend from. Florida yielding. We get into Washington. we get up here around the Capitol. we all have our committees and subcommittees. all these things we are trying to oversee and do. I was not aware that it was as easy as apparently it is for a foreign company to manage. own. lease terminals in our ports. Were you aware of that?","speaker_name":"LOUIE GOHMERT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":362,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090110469,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Now. that doesnt really sound very democratic. It appears to me that this President cares a lot about exporting democracy and not a lot about practicing it. So I just think that is an important piece of information that our citizens in this country should understand: who is concerned about looking out for our national security interests. It doesnt appear that the administration is. I would be happy to yield to either of the gentlemen.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2191,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090110471,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. is that we are here to oversee what this President is doing. and if we feel that this President and this Congress. Republican Congress. is not doing what they need to be doing to strengthen the United States of America. then our job is to call you out on it. not because we want to. but because that is our obligation here. Not because we like it. This is our second hour tonight. We could be doing a lot of other. different things. But this is important to the country because this President and this Republican Congress is selling this country off piece by piece by piece. I say this to our friends in Congress. Mr. Speaker. who.may be watching in their offices. that if you are a business person. you cant just keep going out and borrowing money and borrowing money and borrowing money. and if business isnt going so well. borrow money. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1221,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090110485,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that it be in order at any time to consider in the House Senate bill to provide relief for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. that the bill be considered as read. that the amendment that I have placed at the desk be considered as adopted. and that the previous question be considered as ordered on the bill. as amended. to final passage without intervening motion except 1 hour debate equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and one motion to recommit which may not contain instructions.","speaker_name":"MARK SOUDER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":612,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090110603,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would say to my colleague from Missouri that physicians should not be forced to change what are common and appropriate prescribing patterns in an effort to stop the manufacturing and trafficking of methamphetamine. The Senator from Missouri is correct. The Combat Methamphetamine Act provisions in the PATRIOT Act are intended to address overthecounter sales. not pseudoephedrine products provided under a valid prescription. It is my expectation that these new restrictions apply only to pseudoephedrine products provided to consumers without a prescription.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":576,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090110607,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We also need a report on the Governments use of computerized searches from all Federal agencies. and we will continue to seek such a requirement as part of efforts toward other reforms. We have not yet achieved the 9\/11 Commissions goal to maintain govern-. mental powers that enhance our national security while ensuring adequate oversight over their use. With so much at stake. the administrations refusal to work with Congress can only weaken our national security and further undermine the publics trust in their Government. So this battle will go on. and I regret we could not accomplish more in this needed legislation.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2319,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090110611,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I voted for the conference report because on balance I believe it is necessary legislation to give our law enforcement officials the tools they need to protect the American people from terrorist attacks. Before the Patriot Act. various law enforcement agencies did not have the ability to share information and work together. and. this was a vulnerability that needed to be fixed after 9\/11. But this was a difficult decision. The bill had flaws. and two in particular concern me the most the socalled \"sneak and peek\" and library search provisions. Given my concerns about these provisions. I voted for every opportunity to make further improvements to the bill. - But ultimately I believe that by voting for the conference report I will be in a stronger position to help improve the Patriot Act in the future. working. with Judiciary Committee Chairman SPECTER. Ranking Member LEAHY and Senators FEINGOLD and SUNUNU. % I also wanted to show my support for Senator DIANNE FEINSTEINs antimethamphetamine bill. ivhich was included in the conference report. Meth has become a terrible scourge across our country and Senator FEINSTEINS bill w4ll go a long way to combat the spread of the drug by restricting access to the ingredients used to make meth.","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1264,"word_count":209}
{"speech_id":1090110618,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is one of the most significant pieces of legislation shaping our ability to resist and eliminate terrorist activity on our home front. Our actions today will have tremendous consequences in the lives of all Americans in months. years. and decades ahead. I am proud that in the rush and passions surrounding this bill. I have worked with my colleagues to insist on a serious. patient. and transparent debate in the Senate as we strive to find the right balance between protecting our civil liberties and fighting terrorism. Despite my reservations and after great deliberation. I support reauthorization today. I believe that ke must not allow the PATRIOT Act to expire. With new provisions and improved meaningful oversight secured at last. empower our national leaders and policy makers with the accountability. wisdom. and prudence to use this legislations powers in a way that does not undermine the freedoms we seek to protect. Under provisions of this conference report. the Federal Government must now provide public information on its use of intelligence gathering tools like national security letters and FISA warrants. What is more. this legislation provides for formal audits of these programs. ","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7872,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090110645,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in a few moments. we will be passing the PATRIOT Act. By passing it. we will make America safer. while safeguarding our civil liberties and privacy. America will be safer because law enforcement will have the tools to track suspected terrorists and break up terrorist cells before harm is done to innocent Americans. America will be safer because the conference report goes beyond the original PATRIOT Act to combat terrorist financing and money laundering. protect our masstransportation systems and the railways. secure our seaports. and fight methamphetamine drug abusewhat has grown to become the No. 1 drug problem in America-.and it does so by restricting access to the ingredients that make that poisonous drug. Today we are making a statement that we cannot return to a pre9\/11 structure that could cost innocent Americans their lives. We will not return to the days of the pre9\/11 bureaucratic wall that blocked infotmation sharing between law enforcement and intelligence. We cannot go back. We must go forward. Due to persistent delays and obstruction by some of my friends on the other side of the aisle. it has taken far too long to get to todays vote. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1462,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090110680,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There has been no oversight on how the money has been spent. We have not done our job in terms of oversight to make sure the money that goes for -LIHEAP is spent in the proper way. I believe it very noble that the Senators from Maine want to help their constituency. Let us help you help your constituency but let us not steal it from the next generation. I reserve the remainder of our time.","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3703,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090110699,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the budget point of order is not a technical budget point of order. It was a technical point of order with regard to the asbestos bill. This bill would provide $1 billion more in 2006 than the budget authorized. If we are going to spend $1 billion more than the budget authorized. how can that not be in violation of the budget? There are two aspects: first. you say it is paid for in the future. That is irrelevant to whether the Budget Act is violated. even if it were paid for. Second. we have been around here long enough to know we are not going to cut LIHEAP next year by. $1 billion. We know that. As much as we would like to accommodate this spendingI can understand the desire of the Senators to do sowe should not do it because it violates the budget in a very fundamental way. It clearly is an unfair allocation of funds compared to my State. which receives $17 million less if it were distributed according to the discretionary plan. as opposed to the fundamental formula. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1031,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090110736,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"According to what his comrades have said. Sergeant Gourleys service surpassed the motto of his battalion: \"Above the Rest.\" Not surprisiigly. he had previously been decorated for meritorious service. I believe that his grandmother. Adena Gourley. said it best. when reflecting on the sergeants life: He was a very gentle person. He has a great desire to be an outstanding soldier and an outstanding man. Mrs. Gourley. I can say that. by all accounts. he achieved those goals. Sergeant Gourleys passing is a further tragedy because he leaves behind a wife. three sons under the age of 10. and a newborn daughter. To his boys. and especially little Alexa. over the years you will learn more about your father and that he was a remarkable man. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1799,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090110752,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on March 2. 2006. at 9:30 a.m.. in open session to receive testimony on the Defense authorization request for fiscal year 2007 and: the future years Defense program.","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":296,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090110754,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking. Housing. and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on March 2. 2006. at 10 a.m. toconduct a hearing on \"Continued Examination of Implementation of the ExonFlorio Amendment: Focus on Dubai Ports Worlds Acquisition of P&O.\"I","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":323,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090110758,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that. the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the segsion of the Senate on Thursday. March 2. at 10 a.m. The purpose of this hearing is to review the proposed fiscal year 2007 Department of Interior budget.","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":280,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090110789,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to express my strong support for the extension we are passing tonight of the Education Flexibility Partnership Act. I authored the original legislation to create EdFlex. as it is more commonly known. back in 1999 after learning through my chairmanship of the Senate Budget Committee Task Force on Education about the excessive red tape attached to Federal education funding. I listened to school administrators and education leaders who told me again and again about the bureaucratic challenges they faced when trying to improve education. After seeing how a demonstration project involving 12 States achieved such impressive results in improving student performance. I wrote legislatiom to expand the program to all 50 States. The EdFlex program gives greater flexibility to States in using Federal funds in exchange for greater accountability for student achievement. The program does not change the amount of funding availablebut it eliminates some of the strings attached. Schools must still use the Federal funds for the purposes for which they were designed. and health. safety. civil rights. and disabled requirements cannot be waived. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2086,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090110813,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"New Jersey. Rhode Island. Vermont and Maine. Lowtax States are where the job growth is. Governors and businesses and residents want jobs to flow to their States. Low taxes will do that. So low taxes in America will also keep jobs here. So. Mr. Speaker. there is a cautionary tale from this report. reminding us that we are truly competing in a global -economy. and we cannot ignore the fact that low taxes indeed create new jobs.","speaker_name":"CLIFFORD STEARNS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":873,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090110814,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Tomorrow. Amber will depart the halls of Congress to work at the Moore Van Allen law firm in Charlotte. North Carolina. I am proud of her success and pleased to congratulate Amber on this wonderful opportunity. In conclusion. God bless our troops. and we will never forget September 11.","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":968,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090110831,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. responding to the gentleman. we are not a day late and a dollar short. We are responding in a timely fashion. We certainly would have liked to have done this a couple of weeks earlier. but we are here on the floor today. We are going to respond to this situation in time. I think it is important. As we move legislation forward in a situation like this. ","speaker_name":"BILL SHUSTER","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":901,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090110833,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is what we are doing with this legislation today. That .is why I support it. We know that so much of the Federal response to the economic security of the Katrina victims has been lacking. According to the Economic Policy Institute. unemployment is a serious problem for hurricane victims. But the evacuees who are still not back in their homes. and they number 500.000 people. to them unemployment is epidemic. onequarter of Whites. onehalf of African American evacuees are still out of work. The cause. Mr. Speaker. is not a lack of jobs. At the current time there is a labor shortage in New Orleans. The cause is a lack of housing near the job sites. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3469,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090110842,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker. I am very pleased at the way the press has not closed up shop and. gone home after Katrina. Story after story continues to tell us what is happening in the gulf region. We have just seen Mardi Gras stories over and over again. I was pleased to see Mardi Gras celebrated in the region. The region is doing for itself what it can do. ","speaker_name":"ELEANOR NORTON","chamber":"H","state":"DC","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":1013,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090110858,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I appreciate what the gentlewoman from California just mentioned. And certainly as a physician. and we have health care providers on both sides of the aisle. we may be hearing from a physician Member. a friend and colleague on their side of the aisle in just a few minutes in regard to similar issues. so I do. I do understand. Mr. Speaker. that there are concerns about consumption of fish. the concern for","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":463,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090110861,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In 2001. States acted in 45.000 separate instances to keep unsafe food from entering our food supply. This bill simply says that the United States Congress believes uniformity is more important than food safety or the consumers right to know. This bill ought to be defeated. We need to listen to what the people in the States are saying about their desire to have food that is safe to .eat. and this bill absolutely vitiates any effort that States make to protect their own people. This is a bad bill. Large corporations are pushing for it. just like years ago they pushed to try to stop this Con.gress from investigating cigarettes that caused cancer. We need to defeat this bill. It is a rotten idea.","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3584,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090110862,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. -Speaker. gynecologic oncologists. medical cancer specialists. would tell you almost to a person that this is a very poor test for screening for that particular disease. Yet in the State of Georgia. that is mandated. And that drives up the cost of health insurance. and it also drives up the number of people in Georgia who cannot afford- a basic policy of health care. That is really what we. are talking about here. We are not talking about taking away the States rights. And after all. the FDA scientific body. they study these issues very carefully. All of these State mandates will be looked at extremely carefully. and those that need to be in the national guidelines will be there. Those that are not. the States can petition to have them included. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2562,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090110867,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Talk about food safety. Why shouldnt the State of Washington. that deals with seafood products. what the heck does anybody in here know from Kansas or Nebraska or anything else.. about what is going on in the coasts of Washington. Oregon and California? And even if you did know something about it. you do not allow a hearing process. That is an insult to the American people. and it has got to be about some kind of fundraiser or something related to that. I do not know what it is. Maybe the press will follow it up and see why we have a bill rifled through here. One hour or 30 minutes before we are going to get out and go down to Katrina and look at the Katrina catastrophe. we rifle this bill through here. There is something bad about this bill. It stinks. It is a bad bill. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3752,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090110875,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. myself such time as I may consume. I will be asking Members to vote Getting back to the subject at hand. \"no\" on the previous question. so I can H.R. 4167. I will draw this debate to a amend the rule and allow the House to close so that we can move forward with approve a plan that lets Congress vote consideration of H.R. 4167. ","speaker_name":"DORIS MATSUI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2396,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090110881,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. due to illness I was regrettably unable to be on the House Floor for rollcall vote No. 18. providing for the consideration of H.R. 4167. the \"National Uniformity for Food Act.\" Had I been here I would have voted \"yea\" on rollcall vote No. 18.","speaker_name":"DAN BURTON","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":255,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090110887,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank my colleague for yielding. Next week. Mr. Speaker. the House will convene on Tuesday at 12:30 for morning hour. and at 2 oclock for legislative business. We will take up several measures under suspension of the rules. A final list of those bills will be sent to Members offices by the end of the week. Any votes that are called on those measures will be rolled until 6:30. On Wednesday and Thursday. the House will finish consideration of H.R. 4167. the National Uniformity for Food Act of 2005. Finally. we will consider H.R..2829. the Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 2005. The committees are continuing their excellent and hard work to develop this bill to reauthorize laws td combat drug trafficking. ","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":869,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090110892,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We thought that we would have the bill up yesterday because the Senate was contemplating action yesterday morning. The expiration date of the temporary extension of the PATRIOT Act is soonto expire. We expect that the Senate will take this bill up tomorrow. If. in fact. that is the case. it will be brought up on Tuesday under the suspension calendar. .","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":354,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090110902,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In discussions with Chairman LEWIS of the Appropriations Committee. there is a lot of work being done. hearings scheduled. Again. I do not think we have a firm timetable for moving the supplemental. but over the next week. or so I think we will have a much better idea. And I will be glad to inform you as soon as I know.","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":321,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090110914,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Jurisdiction for food safety activities has long resided with the States. which conduct 80 percent of all food safety inspections. This bill also has serious implications to national security. The National Association of State Departments of Agriculturewhich opposes this billhas highlighted the role that the current food safety system plays in national security. saying that it \"forms the first line of defense against the growing threat of a terrorist attack against our nations food supply.\" According to the State Agriculture Departments. the preemption provisions of this bill \"would leave a critical gap in the safety net that protects consumers.\" I encourage my colleagues to protect consumers. stand up for States rights. and ensure the security of our Nation. Oppose this misguided bill.","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2615,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090110931,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. I thank the gentleman for that comprehensive and reassuring response. I agree there is a lot of confusion about the bill. and we do not clearly .understand the effects on State law and authority. I am satisfied. however. that the bill properly preserves the ability of States to take action to protect consumers. while ensuring that food safety policies will be uniform and scientifically based. and I thank the gentleman for his time.","speaker_name":"ALLEN BOYD","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":451,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090110934,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Which meat do you think is older. the red meat on the top or the brown meat on the bottom? It is a trick question. They are both the same age. Both have been sitting in a refrigerator sidebyside for 5 months. You can see the date of the labels. October 2005. The meat on the top. which is bright red and looks very. very healthy. has actually been treated with carbon monoxide. which causes the meat to look red and fresh long into the future. The meat on the bottom here. the brown. is actually brown and slimy. Like I said. the. meat on the top is 5 months old and looks as good as new. but what happens if you eat this? You will probably become very ill and possibly die from a foodborne pathogen like E. coli. The FDA. in all of its wisdom. or lack thereof. has no objection to allowing carbon monoxide meat to be packaged. Color is the most important factor people look at when they determine which type of meat to buy. according to numerous studies. ","speaker_name":"BART STUPAK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5314,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090110938,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Reclaiming my time. the gentleman is absolutely correct. What we are saying. basically. is let the consumer be aware of what they are buying. Let the buyer beware. \" I should know if the meat I am buying here. the hamburger. has been treated with carbon monoxide to make it look fresh and healthy. but it has been sitting for 5 months and really contains a deadly pathdgen. with E. coli. that can kill me.","speaker_name":"BART STUPAK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":405,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090110956,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I will close the debate on our side. Madam Chairman and my colleagues. let me just go through the kinds of laws we are talking about. There are 50 State laws regulating the safety of milk. They are not identical. And I dont know if there will be one uniform law for the safety of milk at the Federal level. and I am not sure that it would make sense to have it. There may be differences that are justified. But that debate could go on. and it could be resolved by itself. But meanwhile. we shouldnt jeopardize 50 laws on the subject when there is no Federal .law to take its place. ","speaker_name":"HENRY WAXMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3043,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090110957,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. First of all. this has been a good debate. and I appreciate the interest and concern. And to my good friend. Mr. WAXMAN. who has handled it on the other side. I am glad he has now become converted to being a States righter. Back in 1990 when he was the author of the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990. we heard exactly the opposite arguments. I was not here. but I am told those were the opposite arguments because as far as nutrition labeling. it does require uniformity across the country. Now. if labeling on nutrition requires consistency. why should not there be consistency in warning labels of the foods that people eat? -","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":699,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090110970,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 4167. the National Uniformity for Food Act of 2005. I am opposed to this legislation for two reasons. First. and foremost.. this legislation would completely eliminate any State or local food safety law that is not identical to requirements established by the FDA. Even laws that go beyond the federal requirements to protect their citizens would be preempted. For example. in my home state of New Jersey. a number of labeling requirements for milk. restaurant food safety and many other State laws would be completely negated. thereby placing the health and wellbeing of our citizens at increased risk. How is that good public policy? I also have to oppose this legislation for the way it has completely violated the legislative process. This bill has escaped any real. scrutiny from the Energy and Commerce Committee. which has jurisdiction over such food safety matters. No hearings were held. no witnesses were called to testify. and no effort was made to determine the actual impact this bill will have on the safety of our nations food supply. It is clear that this bill was insufficiently reviewed and I fear that Congress is acting far too quickly to enact legislation that will have such sweeping affects. ","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1500,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090110971,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. I rise in support of H.R. 4167. the National Uniformity for Food Act. This is common sense legislation that will benefit both consumers and businessesand particularly small businesses. Consumers will benefit from being able to rely on scientificdllybased national food safety and warning standards. just as they now rely on national standards for nutrition labeling. When we think of the food manufacturing industry. we may not realize that small manufacturers account for the bulk of the industry. Specifically. nearly 73 percent of food manufacturers have fewer than 20 employees. These smaller firms are especially burdened by having to comply with up to 50 different food safety and warning regimens if they are in or wish to enter interstate commerce. I know many of us have heard from our governors about important state food safety and warning requirements that could be preempted by a national standard. But it is important to underscore that this bill provides for a 180day period after enactment for states to petition the FDA and make their cases for either permitting a state requirement to remain in place or to make a state requirement a national standard. Further. the state requirements will remain in place until the FDA makes a determination on the states petition.","speaker_name":"FRED UPTON","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1299,"word_count":210}
{"speech_id":1090110974,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Acting Chairman of the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union. reported that that Committee. having had under consideration the bill to amend the Federal Food. Drug. and Cosmetic Act to provide for uniform food safety warning notification requirements. -and for other purposes. had come to no resolution thereon.","speaker_name":"THELMA DRAKE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":328,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090111009,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Ronald Reagan had -something to say about that as well. I think we as Americans remember the quote very. very well. and it is that \"The governments view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves. tax it. If it keeps moving. regulate it. And if it stops .moving. subsidize it.\" In economic terms. we will all remember the 21st century began slowly. The telecom bubble burst. We were attacked in the heart of our financial sector. Certain industries lagged. and we had entered a recession. It is during these difficult periods that we require leadership- more than ever. We needed to pursue positive economic policies that would put the American people back in the drivers seat. I know you and I share the belief that our tax policies should be one that supports our economy. that it increases our revenue. and so that is why I wanted to talk today about what changes have come about in the past 5 years. these changes that support our American families and support American businesses. ","speaker_name":"THELMA DRAKE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6433,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090111025,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Virginia for yielding. and I thank both gentlemen from Virginia and Mr. SPRATT and all of our colleagues on the Budget Committee for their leadership and diligence in making the case against the Republicans failed economic strategy and misguided budget priorities. H552 co These shortcomings are conspicuous in the Presidents fiscal 2007 budget. If the last few years have taught us anything. the emerging Republican budget resolution to be considered by this House in the coming weeks will mirror the problems and missteps called for in the Presidents proposal. On one hand. we are hopeful. even op-\" timistic. that the promise of his competitiveness agenda represents a down payment on the longterm priority investments we need to make in order to maintain our competitive edge in the global economy. Yet. on the other hand. this budget is perhaps the single most. disappointing. counterintuitive. and hypocritical proposal of his six requests thus far. Calling for deep cuts in education and health care. for example. while advocating a competitive workforce. represents a fundamentally incompatible strategy. Americans shouldnt be surprised. though. given this administrations history of cutting taxes for the wealthiest individuals and corporations at the expense of middleclass priorities. ","speaker_name":"TIMOTHY BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3130,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090111034,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They are at the edge of what we have authorized them to borrow. Now. we have already increased this debt limit by votes of Congress on three different occasions under this President. I feel like the loan officer as a Member of Congress. They keep coming back for more and more and more. And now even while they proclaim how wonderful things are. they are presiding over the deepest deficit in the history of the country and an increase in the national debt limit authority down to $3.3 trillion of debt. This is going exactly the opposite of the values of the families I represent. Household after household in North Dakota and across the country. you have got moms and dads at the kitchen table working hard to make ends meet and sharing a conviction that. no matter what. things are going to be better for their children. no matter what. they are going to make sure that their children have more opportunity. Do you know what? A recent survey shows that more than half of the people in this country believe that it is going to be worse for our children than we ourselves have had it. Now. I ask you. why should Congress run this \"live for today economy.\" racking up debt for our children. doing exactly the opposite. living for today. reducing the prospects for tomorrow for our kids when individually the families of America would do anything to leave things better for their children than they themselves had it? In my opinion. that is the heart of this budget debate. ","speaker_name":"EARL POMEROY","chamber":"H","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4363,"word_count":264}
{"speech_id":1090111039,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So we have to continue to come to the floor and share not only with the Members but with the American people about what we can do and what we want to do. We do not want to sell off our country. and. that is what it is all about. The work that you all do in the Budget Committee is so very. very important to us all.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1038,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090111046,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. let me follow up on what my friend from Ohio just said. This PAYGO rule you talk about. we call it PAYGO for various reasons. Really. it is the beliketheAmericanfamily rule. Every family I know. yours. mine. every other one. hasto decide. if we are going to go out and buy some new things. we better make some more money or we better pull into our savings. All this rule says is if you are going to.have new spending. you have got to pay for it. You can do it one of two ways. with spending cuts by making changes in the marginal rate or changes in revenue. That is the honesty stuff. that is the candor stuff. The reality is. why would anybody not want to do that? If you are a fiscal conservative. why would you not want to go to a world that says let us just be no better or worse than the American family? So this is an argument. once again. about whether we follow the same rules and the same principles that people follow all around the country.","speaker_name":"ARTUR DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":966,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090111049,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. Mr. DAVIS. the bottom line is. and Mr. RYAN said it last night and I will say it again. the American public is very coachable. The bottom line is: So shall it be written. so shall it be done out of the White House. and we have got to protect the President. Let me tell you something. The President has Secret Service. all that good stuff. and about 100 staffers. or more than that.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":387,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090111096,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. RYAN. the bottom line is that you really started to paint a picture here. What has happened over the last 4 to 5 years of this Republican Congress rubber stamping what the President has proposed has driven- this country almost to the point of the 50 percent mark of foreign countries owning the United States of America financially. We owe them. Countries that dont even recognize. folks want to talk about an effort against terrorism. Right now there is something major going on in the Middle East. You have the countries that are a part of this port deal that dont even recognize Israel. I mean. they are like. well. we dont even want to do business with them. Okay? As a matter of fact. Iran wants to blow Israel off the map. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1241,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090111099,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Yesterday the amazing thing about this whole port deal that you are alluding to. in the Financial Services Committee we had an opportunity to question the representatives of the administration. Do you know that they testified that six different entities within the White House were aware of the proposal to close this Dubai Ports World deal. and the President still did not know about it. with six of his offices in the White House knowing about it? No explanation in committee for why that happened. Really. this picture says it all. We are essentially outsourcing Americas security to a foreigngovernmentowned company. We are not talking about just a foreign company. I think I can tell you that I recognize that we are not going to shut down foreign companies from owning and operating facilities in our Nations ports. We are a global economy now. But is it appropriate to allow foreign governments to have intimate knowledge about Americas security in our ports and run the terminal operations inside those ports? Overwhelmingly. I think Republicans and Democrats in Congress are saying \"no.\" Why is the President saying \"yes\"? This is a person who supposedly thinks that Americas national security .hould be a priority. It has left Americans scratching their heads.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1270,"word_count":209}
{"speech_id":1090111184,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this morning we will be returning briefly to the LIHEAP bill sponsored by Senator SNOWE. No rollcall votes will occur today. although Senators may come to the floor to address the LIHEAP issue. In. a moment I will file cloture on the bill. That cloture vote will occur on Tuesday under the provisions of rule XXII. I remind everyone that last night I scheduled votes on three district judges to occur at 5:30 on Monday. We will also begin debate on the lobbying reform bill early next week. The Rules Committee and the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee have completed their work on lobbying reform and therefore we will be ready next -week for full Senate consideration. I believe we can finish the LIHEAP measure and the lobbying reform bill next week. This will take full days of session and a lot of co- -operation on both sides of the aisle. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1013,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090111197,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I know we will not be in very long today. As a matter of fact. I am going to Wyoming in a little bit. There are some things I have wanted to talk about for some time. and since we have some time this morning. I thought I might take a few minutes to talk a bit about energy. We. of course. have been on a number of other things. and unfortunately taking a long time to do them. But I hope we get back to those things that are really vital to us in terms of the economy. in terms of jobs. in terms of health care. and terrorism. But one of the most important questions. of course. that we face is thequestion of energy. ","speaker_name":"CRAIG THOMAS","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5755,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090111203,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. so we can make it clearly understoodand I apologize for not being on the floorthe Democratic leader understands and has agreed to the fact that we are going to address stem cells as early as we possibly can this year. that that is a commitment that was made after the unanimous consent request was not accepted from the other side to address it last July. that that commitment is there in working together to address this important issue.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":453,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090111204,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We agreed to pass the cord blood bill with the understanding that the majority leader would schedule time early this year to consider the Housepassed stem cell bill.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":845,"word_count":28}
{"speech_id":1090111215,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We are going. to systematically go through and address them. but we need cooperation. working together. Let me ask the Senator. I wasnt hereagain. I apologizebut protections to the drug industry. something Was said about that. What does that mean?","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1304,"word_count":40}
{"speech_id":1090111216,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. I could have gone into more detail. but I talked quite a long time anyway. What I was complaining about is the inordinate amount of time that we spent dealing with certain issuesand I did mention specifically the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. And the pharmaceuticals. I thought they got a sweetheart deal with the provision that was inserted in the DoD Conference report in the middle of the night without any debate. I think I have a right to complain about how that bill was handled. I thought the Appropriations Committee. had they not been burdened with the ANWR thing. we could have been out of here weeks earlier than what we were. but that held things up for a long time. I have a right to complain about that.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":726,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090111220,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I hate to get into this. but having been there before. I cannot help myself because I care about the substance here. I am pleading with our leaders to find a way to deal with it. The Senator from Nevada knows that the majority leader has to lead on these issues. He has to find a way to get us into conference. but it takes cooperation. The majority leader says 7 to 5. I think it is a little high. The last time we had a pension reform conference. we had 8 total. not 12 Senators. But the Senator from Nevada says: No. no. no. it has to be 8 to 6. That troubles me because the majority leader came up with a reasonable number. but the minority leader said it has to be. 8 to 6 or we are not going to conference. ","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2268,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090111250,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"An estimated 2 million civilians are now living in camps. These civilians depend on humanitarian aid for their survival. and aidworkers report that their convoys would not. be able to navigate key areas without the invaluable escorts supplied by AMIS. As security has deteriorated in Darfur over the last 4 months. lightly armed AMIS troops are increasingly the targets of assault. kidnapping. and murder. Mr. President. has AMIS been a perfect mission? No. Is there room for improvement? Yes. But. I know that those of us in the Senate who follow this -issue closely support what the AU is doing and want the AU to do more of it. In July. I traveled to the United. ","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4453,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090111251,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to express my deep sorrow. over the passing of a great American leader and one of my personal heroes. BG Robert L. Scott. Jr. I first met General Scott in 1993. I became an instant fan of this amazing man. We became good friends shaiing many hours of stories about his life and his love for America. It was only 2 weeks ago that I spoke at the General Robert L. ","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6645,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090111252,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Antonin Scalia and Murray Weidenbaum. Under her guidance. Regulation became an influential publication in policy debates concerning government regulation of the energy. transportation. and communications industries. In 1985. President Reagan. appointed Anne to the International Trade Commission where she served from 1986 to 1994. including a term as chairman from 1989 to 1990. She retired in 1994. Anne was a much loved member of a group of friends made up mostly of political scientists. and public intellectuals that were notable for being both highpowered and bipartisan. . Annes survivors include a sister. 9 nieces and nephews. 17 greatnieces and nephews and 5 greatgreat nieces and nephews. Mr. President. ","speaker_name":"NORM COLEMAN","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1682,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090111296,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in recent months. the public has been shocked and outraged over stories dealing with abusive and. I believe. criminal practicesand so do various prosecutorsby lobbyists. senior administration officials. Members of Congress. and even congressional staff. A number of these participants in these schemes that breached the public trust have pled guiltyRepublican lobbyist Jack Abramoff. former staffer for the recent House Republican Majority Leader Michael Scanlon. Republican Member of Congress Duke Cunningham. and one of his coconspirators. Michael Wade. Others are under indictment. including President Bushs political appointee David Safavian. The guilty pleas. indictments. and documents released to date suggest wrongdoing or improper behavior by many others. including a former Deputy Secretary of the Interior. other former aides to the recent House Republican majority leader. former aides to Republican Senators. Grover Norquist. a close ally of the Bush White House. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10444,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090111328,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If you do. you may. of necessityit may happen accidentally. but if you do. you ought to at least disclose it. Lobbying by members of the Senators family. has been in question and an issue in recent years. The committee adopted a rule that directly impacts family members who are registered lobbyists. The rule bars a Members spouse or any immediate member of the family from lobbying the Members staff. and we have a definition of what \"immediate family member\" is. We also have a provision with regard to unlawfully using public office to influence hiring decisions. The committee voted to amend the standing rules to prohibit a Member from threatening to take or withhold any official act in an effort to influence a private sector hiring decision. The committee approved this amendment. knowing full well that in current law. 18 U.S.C. section 201. it makes it a felony punishable by as long as 15 years in jail for a Member to try to influence such a hiring decision by threatening to take or withhold an official act. But the committee believed that even though it might be covered by law. that the Rules should be very clear in this particular area. I questioned. and others commented on the fact that if you recommend a former staff member to an entity as a highly qualified. capable young man or woman. certainly you can continue to do that. It is where you infer or suggest that you are going to withhold or do something as punishment if certain hiring actions are not taken. ","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4163,"word_count":262}
{"speech_id":1090111360,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Senator LEAHY.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1153,"word_count":2}
{"speech_id":1090111388,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":15,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Fitzgeralds first name is Arthur. most of us know him fondly under the name of Ernie. Ernie is probably the most famous whistleblower of all time. and I think of him as the father of all whistleblowers. the chief whistleblower. He set an example for all of the whistleblowers who have followed in his footsteps. Ernie is a man of great courage and integrity. I dreamed for a long time that someday some duly certified whistleblower would be honored by a President even this President. at a Rose Garden ceremony. Ernie is a perfect candidate for such a Rose Garden ceremony. but I dont think that he is going to get that honor. It may never happen. At least it may not happen in my lifetime. But of course I believe it should happen because that would be the right thing to do. to send a signal from the highest levels of Government all the way to the bowels of the bureaucracy that patriotic people who are willing to blow the whistle on something that is wrong in Government would be honored for being that patriotic person. Courageous souls such as Ernie Fitzgerald make our Nation and our Government stronger and better. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10500,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090111392,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate resume consideration of S. 2349. the lobbying reform legislation. provided further that the substitute amendment be agreed to. and that it be considered as original text for the purpose of further amendment.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":262,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090111398,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to pay tribute to a fellow Ohioanan honorable young man who lost his life while protecting the freedom of others. Marine CPL Andre L. Williams died on July 28. 2005. when his convoy came under attack with small arms fire from enemy forces in Western Iraq. He was 23 years old. Mr. President. Corporal Williams was a brave Marine from the Columbusbased Reserves Lima Company. 3rd Battalion. 25th Regiment unit. Born on August 9. 1981. in Galloway. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4764,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090111414,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"A key part of democratic governance is that elected officials are responsible for the actions they take. If Hamas takes power and persists in sponsoring terror. rejecting Israels right to exist and refusing to accept prior commitments made to Israel. then they should be held accountable for their actions and for the foreign aid investments in the West Bank and Gaza paid for by American taxpayers. The PAs budget is supported in large part by foreign assistance. and Hamas has been put on notice by the United States and many in the donor community about the steps it must take in order to receive assistance in the future. Along these same lines. I must say I am somewhat mystified at the recent diplomatic efforts undertaken by Russia. Russia broke from the Middle East Quartet and hosted representatives from Hamas in Moscow. In so doing. the Russians granted Hamas a measure of international legitimacy Hamas had hitherto lacked. while the Russians appear to have received no meaningful concessions in return. I am afraid I fail to see the benefit in Russias actions other than emboldening other nations to follow a similar course of dealing with a terrorist organization. I suspect the Russians would be less than elated if Israel hosted Chechen separatists in Jerusalem. Foreign aid is not an entitlement. ","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5310,"word_count":219}
{"speech_id":1090111437,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today the Senate began debate on the lobbying reform package which we will continue to consider over this week. Tomorrow morning. shortly before 11. we will have a cloture vote on the LIHEAP bill. We expect to invoke cloture. and I hope that if cloture is invoked. we can work out an agreement to finish that bill in short order. That will allow us to return to the lobbying reform measure tomorrow and hopefully make good progress on that measure. I anticipate the Senate will stand in recess to accommodate the weekly policy luncheons tomorrow. and we will lock in that order tomorrow. Members are reminded that we have a full week ahead and to plan their schedules accordingly.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":695,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090111448,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Congress decidedincluding the Senate. and it became law just a month agothat the President would continue to have the emergency funding capability in order to disburse that part of the funding. 75 percent to those States that needed it at that moment in time because there was an emergency. Emergencies are just thatemergencies. What the critics are saying about my approach is they now want to change it for the first time ever and take away the capability of having emergency funding under the lowincome fuel assistance. It doesnt make sense. Because the States are facing an emergency. they ought to be able to have their funding. That would be taken away by the Kyl amendment. and it would be distributed to States irrespectiveof whether they need it. irrespective of the fact that no emergency occurred in their State.. I understand that under the lowincome fuel assistance program. you have part emergency and part formula. That is what it is all about. All my underlying bill says is advance the funding from 2007 to 2006 for $1 billion. So we are not increasing the net level of funding for lowincome fuel assistance. ","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11470,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090111464,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We need to fix this problem. There is already appropriated for fiscal year 2006 $2.183 billion-$2 billion pursuant to the existing formula. almost all of which goes to the cold States in the Northeast and elsewhere. and $183 million for contingency. So to the extent that there are contingency requirements. as the Senator from Maine has spoken to. there is funding currently available for that. What we are trying to do is ensure that the next billion dollars not only provides for that contingency funding and some additional contingency funding but that about threefourths of it be distributed pursuant to a formula which is much fairer to those States that have not gotten the money in the past to assist their lowincome folks to provide primarily for air conditioning. That is what the debate is all about. The pending amendment is my amendment that would provide for a formula distribution of the next billion dollars. There is still contingency money available but not as much as there would be under the proposal of the Senator from Maine. There is probably somewhere between zero and 100 an opportunity to try to work things out. It is my hope that in the.time between now and the time we begin debating my amendment. we will be able to do so. I am certainly open to discussion about it. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4903,"word_count":225}
{"speech_id":1090111478,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. my preference would have been that this bill not go forward simply because.I believe this legislation is not paid for. It would be different if the proponents of this legislation had truly. paid for it. in other words. offset this spending. Instead of offsetting this spending. they take in the money from next year. bring it into this year and then will try next year to restore the money. If they would have said: This is the priority. lets reset our priorities and lets cut some other type of spending to pay for this. the legislation would have been a lot more acceptable. That is the reason we raised the budget point of order last week against this legislation. We lost on that budget point of order. So now it looks as though the legislation has a chance of moving forward. and we have to determine how the money is spent. Is it fair to spend it across the country. or should it benefit some States at the expense of other States?","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":952,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090111487,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I have been on the floor numerous times to talk -about priorities. We are on an unsustainable course in our country. The GAO says that. Anybody who looks at our books. our budgets. and our deficits would realize that. We have before us a $1 billion expenditure that I am sure we are going to do. I have done everything I can to keep us from doing it. Without paying for it. we will transfer that money to our children. I think it is important for the American public to know how awry we are in this body. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4682,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090111548,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"For years now. some on the other side of the aisle have openly bragged about stocking K Street lobbying firms with former staffers to increase their power in Washingtona practice that should stop today and never happen again. But what is truly offensive to the American people about all of this goes far beyond people such as Jack Abramoff. It is bigger than how much time he will spend in jail or how many Members of Congress he ends up turning in. It is bigger even than the K Street project and golf junkets to Scotland and lavish gifts for lawmakers. What is truly offensive about these scandals is they do not just lead to morally offensive condict on the part of politicians. they lead to morally offensive legislation that hurts hardworking Americans. When big oil companies are invited into the White House for secret energy meetings. it is no wonder they end up with billions in tax breaks while most working people struggle to fill- up their gas tanks and heat their homes. When a committee chairman negotiates a Medicare bill one day. and after the bill is passed is negotiating for a job with the drug industry it is hardly a surprise that industry gets taxpayerfunded giveaways in the same bill that forbids seniors from bargaining for butter drug prices. When the people running Washington are accountable only to the special interests that fund their campaigns. it is not shocking that the American people find their tax dollars being spent with reckless abandon. I have to point out that since the current administration took office. we have seen the number of registered lobbyists in Washington double. In 2004. over $2.1 billion was spent lobbying Congress. ","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11409,"word_count":287}
{"speech_id":1090111565,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And so when the warm States need it for airconditioning in the summertimeand by the way. they need that airconditioning. and. in many cases it isa lifeordeath situation because people can die from heat prostration and that is the real issuethe money is gone because it has been spent out of the contingency fund. That is why the only fair way to do it is to put it through the regular formula. divvy it out through the States. And then lowincome people who need either heating or cooling assistance can receive that fairly. I reserve the remainder of my. time.","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2681,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090111595,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As a Senate. we need to address this growing national problem. Each winter. our Government is faced with distributing emergency LIHEAP funds. while millions of Americans are stuck out in the cold. This past year. we tried. in a bipartisan fashion. to appropriate additional funding for LIHEAP. Unfortunately. we were notable to garner enough support for those provisions to pass. This year we find ourselves in a worse situation than we did last year. When I travel throughout Pennsylvania. I continually hear from my constituents their concerns about rising energy costs and what we. the Congress. are doing to help. Now we have our chance to provide additional assistance that will benefit millions of Americans in the short term. However. while we need to pass this additional LIHEAP funding. we also need to look toward longterm solutions for our Nations energy needs. As we are all aware. there is no one solution to our Nations energy problems. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5157,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090111596,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Families are paying a steep price for this neglect. The average LIHEAP grant has decreased by almost 10 percent since 2002 and is now only $288. In Massachusetts. the State government has provided $20 million in additional funds for LIHEAP this year. Lowincome families are more fortunate in our State than in most other States on this issue. but we have exhausted all Federal funds. and need is still great. Even the poorest households with the highest -bills will get no more than $840less than half what is needed to get through the winter. As Self Help. a community action program in Avon. MA. \"Many of our clients have exhausted their benefits . . . The bottom line is that we need some kind of relief. as quickly as possible.\" ABCD. a community action agency in Boston. reports that as of January 17. the number of applicants applying for fuel assistance for the first time increased by 26 percent. Its clients are currently exhausting all of their fuel assistance benefits. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3474,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090111610,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am concerned that the Presidents Department of Veterans Affairs fiscal year 2007 budget request does not include adequate funding for VA health care. Specifically. this budget request would require certain veterans to pay a $250 enrollment fee in order to access the health care system each year. In addition. the budget proposes to more than double prescription copayments from $7 to $15. further burdening the limited resources of those who have served our country. The VA estimates that these measures will save the Department an estimated $795 million in 2007. This savings estimate is based not only on collections but on increasing the number of veterans who will optout of the service due to the higher fees. The VA estimates they will force over 1 million veterans. almost half of the Priority 7 and Priority 8 veterans. to drop out of the VA health care system. Do we really want our veterans to be faced with the difficult choice of either dropping out of the VA health care system or bearing these additional costs? Those who do not drop out of the VA health care system will be forced to pay hundreds more for their health care. Veterans who receive prescription drugs from the VA and who fill a typical number of prescriptions a year could face new fees amounting to nearly $600. ","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2004,"word_count":226}
{"speech_id":1090111613,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like the record to reflect that I was necessarily absent for rollcall vote No. 31. the confirmation of Timothy C. Batten. Sr.. of Georgia. to be U.S. District Judge on Monday. March 6. 2006. Had I been present for this vote. I would have voted in favor of the nomination.","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":294,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090111620,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Additionally. the power has been given to Governors in 43 of the 50 States. I am pleased that the proposed legislation would require the President to send recision proposals back to Congress for final passage. Not only does this make the legislation consistent with the Constitution. it also limits the scope of any Presidents veto authority. as proposed changes will need congressional approval. I am heartened to see this call for fiscal responsibility from President Bush. I have joined as a cosponsor of this legislation because it will be impossible for us to reduce our national debt and balance the Federal budget unless we curb wasteful spending. I have been an advocate for the payasyougo budget rule. which would require Congress to pay for any new spending or tax cuts. and will continue to press for its adoption. Since chronic deficits add to the burden of debt we are bequeathing to future generations. congressional spending must be reigned in. and I am pleased to support this proposal which is one tool that can improve spending discipline in Washington. By Mr. DURBIN (for himself.","speaker_name":"LINCOLN CHAFEE","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1925,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090111669,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in honor of Womens History Month. As we remember the great women of past generations. we must- also salute those women who are serving as role models and leaders today. One such woman is Tammy Cohen of Marietta. Georgia. my district. Tammy is cofounder and president of InfoMart. and under her guidance. InfoMart has grown from a small startup business to the* largest femaleowned background checking company in the world. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1238,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090111671,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"For that reason. I urge my colleagues. with gratitude to our leadership. to move this PATRIOT Act to the President today. E 1415","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1262,"word_count":23}
{"speech_id":1090111679,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. I commend my colleague for seeking to honor the legacy of Postmaster. Gerard Fiorenza and urge swift passage of this bill.","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1403,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090111691,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As Governor. the results of his hard work helped to produce a record $148.4 million in new industries or improvements on existing facilities and create an additional 7.500 jobs for Oklahomans: From 1972 to 1978. Bartlett served as a Member. of the United States Senate. During his tenure. this proud Oklahoman maintained a strong and consistent stance of limiting government bureaucracy. reducing burdensome taxes. and maintaining fiscal responsibility. I am proud to share Dewey Battletts vision of conservatism. and work daily towards the goal of promoting commonsense Oklahoma values in Congress. I encourage my colleagues to join me in support of this legislation. By designating the Dewey F. Bartlett Post Office in Tulsa. we are commemorating an exceptional citizen who embodied the Oklahoma spirit.","speaker_name":"JOHN SULLIVAN","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1968,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090111703,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That was an innocent time. Senator Fong was always gracious. Senator Fong was always able to reach out. As has been noted. he was elected Mdch. 7. 2006 as a Republican in a very Democratic State. He was supported in great measure and elected in great measure with the support of labor in Hawaii. Most particularly. the ILWU. the International Longshoremen Workers Union. testifying in favor of the establishment of a commission in 2005. after he passed away. to honor and recognize him as a political. business and community leader testified. \"The Senator was a successful businessman and a Republican who never forgot his humble beginnings. He was a strong Eupporter of civil rights and often crossed the aisle to cooperate on issues important to Hawaiis unions and workers.\" Senator -Hiram Fong came to the United States Senate with the arrival of Hawaii as the last State of the Union. Probably nothing could be more fitting than to recognize him today through this legislation and the pioneer effort that he made. Yes. the last State to enter the Union had as its first Senator the son of an immigrant family who came from China looking for opportunity. looking for justice. and found it in the person of their son. and a true son of Hawaii. ","speaker_name":"NEIL ABERCROMBIE","chamber":"H","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2678,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090111710,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Dana used her personal experience to improve the quality of life for all people living with. paralysis. This was typical of Dana. to see beyond her own circumstances and find a way to ease the suffering and confusion of others. After her husbands passing. she moved forward with his message of hope and healing. Today. it is up to all of us to continue their legacy. As Chris and Dana would say. let us go forward. My thoughts and prayers go out to Dana Reeves family. friends and all those who mourn her. May God bless her.","speaker_name":"JAMES LANGEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1356,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090111711,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill to clarify that individuals who receive FISA orders can challenge nondisclosure requirements. that individuals who receive national security letters are not required to disclose the name of their attorney. that libraries are not wire or electronic communication service providers unless they provide specific services. and for other purposes.","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":408,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090111717,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I dont think there has new been a subcommittee. other than the ists Subcommittee on Crime. Terrorism ists. and Homeland Security.. that has For worked .any more diligently than have port we. de- Now. the chairman used the words vulnerable and vulnerability in his e as opening statement. We are indeed. we need were on 9\/11. we are today. But as the rties. chairman furthermore pointed out. Sep- much misleading and inaccurate inforainst mation has been associated and dieas- rected to the PATRIOT Act. I used this example on the floor earlier. Mr. first Speaker. A constituent of mine came \/orld to me all upset. concerned about the ailed PATRIOT Act. civil We must get rid of the PATRIOT Act.. t. in- he said to me. I said to him. give me an U.S. example how it has adversely affected gain. you. He said. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2716,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090111719,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This Congress must not walk away from its role in providing a check and balance to the administrations exercise of executive power. This Congress was not zealous in oversight prior to 2001. but since that time. this Congress has ignored its constitutional duty. and 200 years of American democracy have suffered. The complacency of this. Congress is clearly viewed by the administration as a license to ignore the laws it disagrees with. and then it demands Congress pass expanded police powers. In the name of the Constitution of the United States of America. I reject this complacency. I will not vote to give a single new police power to this administration. I voted against the PATRIOT Act when it first passed. and I remain even more opposed to this legislation today. The bill before us today enables the FBI to investigate any American for any reason without the checks and balances of the judicial system. History tells us that unchecked police powers with little or no oversight will be abused and the citizens will be harmed. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2893,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090111733,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. at this moment. I wish to address the bill pending before the Senate. and that is S. 2271. I commend Senator John Sununu of New Hampshire. who is here in the Chamber. Were it not for his hard work. we would not be here today. For weeks. while many of us were doing other things back home. Senator Sununu was working assiduously with the White House to find a way to address some very vexing and challenging issues when it came to modifying the PATRIOT Act. He has done an excellent job. I commend him and tell him that I have enjoyed working with him over the last 2 years. where We have crossed party lines and tried to find ways to keep the PATRIOT Act as a tool to make America safe but also at the same time to protect our basic liberties. Every step of the way. as we considered changes to the PATRIOT Act. we have been supported by our Nations librarians. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1525,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090111734,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There is no National Security Letter statute existing in current law that permits the FBI explicitly to obtain library records. But. as was indicated by the Senator from Illinois. librarians have been concerned that existing National Security Letter authority is vague enough so that it could beused to allow the Government to treat libraries as they do communication service providers such as a telephone company or a traditional Internet service provider from whom consumers would go out and get their access to the Internet and send and receive email. Section 5 clarifies. as I indicated. that a ibrary providing basic Internet accesswould not be subject to a national security letter. simply by virtue of making that access available to the public.","speaker_name":"JOHN SUNUNU","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1965,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090111744,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I would just say to this side. this bill has gone through so many iterations. and so many times we have looked at this. It includes 30 additional civil liberties safeguards. And. you know. I admit that your fighting against this bill has probably improved it a little bit. But at this point. we have done so much to help it. I think it is a very good bill. I commend the author. Mr. SENSENBRENNER. for his patience all during this process. ","speaker_name":"CLIFFORD STEARNS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3300,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090111750,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker.. I yield myself the remainder of the time. Madam Speaker. it has been said that there have been no abuses of the PATRIOT Act. Let me just run down what has already been reported. and probably there have been more. since we filed our report. It was used against Brandon Mayfield. a Muslim American. to tap his phone. seize his property. copy his computer files. spy on his children. take his DNA. all without his knowledge. It has been used to deny on account of his political beliefs. the admission to the United States of a Swiss citizen and prominent Muslim scholar to teach at Notre Dame University. It has been used to unconstitutionally coerce an Internet service provider to divulge information about email activity and Web surfing on its system. and then gag that provider from even disclosing the abuse to the public. Because of gag restrictions. we will never know how many times it has March:7. 2006 been used to obtain reading records from libraries and book stores. but we do know that libraries have been solicited by the Department of Justice. voluntarily or under threat of the PATRIOT Act. for reading information on more. than 200 occasions \u00a7ince September 11. Finally. it \\has been used to charge and detain and prosebute Muslim students in Idaho for posting Internet Web site links to objectionable material. Let us not support this PATRIOT Act today.","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1385,"word_count":237}
{"speech_id":1090111757,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Congress should fold additional checks and balances into the NSL process to protect business and other records in the same way this bill protects libraries. Checks and balancessuch as those contained in legislation sponsored by the Intelligence Committee Demo- crats and senior Judiciary Committee Democratswould subject NSLs tojudicial oversight and enhanced congressional scrutiny. The specter of a terrorist attack on U.S. soil is very real. It is a prospect that keeps me up at night. Clearly. we need modem tools to track 21st century threats. but not at the expense of our precious liberties. which are the essential foundation of American democracy. Todays bill to amend the PATRIOT Act is a step in the right direction.","speaker_name":"JANE HARMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":36.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2247,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090111780,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. thank you very much for allowing me to speak on my bill. H.R. 32. the Stop Counterfeiting in Manufactured Goods Act. I sincerely want to salute the chairman. Mr. SENSENBRENNER. for the effort he has made. And I also wanted to thank the ranking member.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH KNOLLENBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":266,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090111781,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker\" I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. I rise proudly in support of this legislation and thank the chairman of the committee and his staff and others for working with us to ensure that this -bill does not overreach. The measure was designed to target illegitimate actors who trade in counterfeit trademarks. ranging from auto parts to fake labels for handbags or cologne. We all agree that manufacturers have a right to ensure that fake goods are not marketed in their names and that their own goods are not marketed under fake names. The bill as originally written. however. went further than that. It was vague on the issue of whether someone other than the manufacturer could affix marks to goods that correctly identify the source of the goods. This struck at the very heart of the parallel market in which third parties lawfully obtain genuine goods and make them available in discount stores without deception. Not only has this practice been upheld by the Suprente Court. but it also saves consumers billions of dollars each year. Through negotiation with the majority and affected parties. we have been able to revise the legislation to protect manufacturers. target illegitimate actors. and leave a legitimate industry unscathed. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3626,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090111804,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"changed their vote from \"yea\" to \"nay.\" So (twothirds of those voting having responded in the affirmative) the rules were suspended and the Senate bill was passed. The result of the vote was announced as above recorded. A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.","speaker_name":"SUSAN DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":53.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":265,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090111815,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Restricts Internet sales of precursor chemicals. So if we look at this. Mr. Speaker. we see that in 1990 there were only two. States that had 20 clandestine meth labs each. California had 20 or more and Texas had 20 or more. Then you see the spread of this epidemic. By 2004. practically the whole Nation was blanketed by small meth labs. The only exception would be in the New England States in the Northeast. and that is rapidly being taken over as well. So this is something that is spreading rapidly. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS OSBORNE","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3956,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090111817,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We must also fund new ballistic technologies that can provide matches on portions or fragments of bullets found at crime scenes. Mr. Speaker. since 9\/11 our law enforcement officers have accepted new responsibilities in the war on terror. But this current budget wants to cut -programs that staff local police forces and provides them with bulletproof vests. Let us work together to make their jobs easier. not more difficult. Let us fully fund the ATFs National Integrated Ballistic Information Network. This will catch repeated offenders before they commit another crime and make sure our law enforcement agencies are on the same page when it comes to investigating crimes that -have been related.","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MCCARTHY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3595,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090111820,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. there- is something else that we fail to realize. With that $200 billion trade deficit. in The Wall Street Journal this week it said: \"China defends outlay to increase by 17.4 percent. the most in 4 years.\" The Chinese are making money off the American people. and they are taking that money .and. in many cases. they are putting it into their military. Now. I am not so concerned about China and America going towar. but I do know this: China is trying to build one of the strongest militaries we have ever seen in this world. and what they want to do is to dominate Southeast Asia. What Mr. KILDEE and I are asking for is just a simple matter of fairness. If we are going to sell their cars. let us charge them the same tariff they are going to charge us to sell our cars in China. I would hope that my colleagues. both Republican and Democrat. would join us in this effort. This. * again. is nothing but an issue of fairness. ","speaker_name":"WALTER JONES","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3346,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090111834,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This n shocking and incomprehensible personnel decision has prompted my friend and colleague. Barney Frank. to relabel the Pentagon policy: \"Dont ask. dont tell. dont translate.\" How is that for a forwardlooking nak tional defense strategy? At just the If moment when we need to understand Mideastern culture and win over hearts e and minds of its people. the military I- dismisses the people who speak their language. The 9\/11 Commission cited a shortage of Arabic speakers. and. thus. an inability to translate key intelligence as a handicap in our ability to predict the September 11 attacks. Mr. Speaker. I have been outspoken a in my opposition of the Iraq war and e my belief that now is the time to bring r our troops home. But I am antiwar. not s antisoldier. not antimilitary. I want us Y to have the strongest possible national defense. a goal that is in no way incomo patible with rooting out intolerance e and protecting equal rights. s There is no tradeoff. no balance of g competing interests in this case. If \"dont ask. dont tell\" fails the social a justice test and detracts from national security. what possible use could it t have? - I would have thought that a 3year - $250 billion war that is stretching the t military to its breaking point would a compel the Congress and the Pentagon g to reexamine this blockheaded policy. e Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3577,"word_count":240}
{"speech_id":1090111836,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This deal should become a \"no deal\" before it becomes an ordeal. Mr. Speaker. just last week we introduced the Port Security Act of 2006. This is the House version of legislation already introduced in the Senate. This bipartisan legislation will prohibit foreign stateowned companies from controlling operations at U.S. ports and stop the UAE deal by mandating a congressional review of existing foreign stateowned companies that are operating in American ports. There is an innate and inherit problem. not to mention a serious national security risk. with letting stateowned foreign companies buy interests in American ports. I am not opposed to foreign privately owned companies operating in our country. I understand we live in a global economy. Foreign ownership of a hotel or car company is one thing. but foreign government ownership in port operations. especially those that handle military cargo. is absurd. There are entirely too many issues that need to be ironed out before we start offering our ports and our national security up to foreign governments for sale or for lease. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4964,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090111841,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today I am introducing. and I have just introduced a bill. to amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to limit the provisions of the United States military assistance and the sale. transfer or licensing of United States military equipment or technology to Ethiopia. The bill requires that before the United States provides military equipment to the regime in Addis Ababa that our President certifies that the Government of Ethiopia is not using our equipment or assistance against prodemocracy advocates or peaceful civilian protesters in Ethiopia. Is that too much to ask? It is an outrage that in Ethiopia that over 80 opposition leaders and human rights activists and journalists have been recently charged with treason. violent conspiracy and genocide. These prisoners of conscience face brutal captivity and the possibility of death sentences. They include 10 newly elected members of the Parliament and other officials of the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party. that is the CUD. These brave souls face charges filed against them by a corrupt and repressive government. This same government blatantly stalled the last election. making a sham out of the democratic process. Five of those being charged with criminal behavior work for the Vgice of America. One of those being held is Dr. ","speaker_name":"DANA ROHRABACHER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":46.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3151,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090111855,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We are not just sitting back and accepting the same old. same old. And your bill. and I was not aware of the specifics of it. but that allowance for someone who does not itemize to actually get a deduction for the purchase of longterm care. insurance I think is a great idea. I commend the gentlewoman for that.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1717,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090111856,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And. you know. he said to himself. you know. he did not have insurance. When he told me the cost of that rehabilitation. it was astronomical. So. you know. we all want to believe that we are going to be as healthy tomorrow as we are today. But. that is not always the case. And I remember when I reviewed the policy with Arne. because I was a little skeptical. he was 75 when he first started looking at it. and I was amazed what it did cover and how reasonable the cost was. And. you know. I looked on every line. looking for a loophole. And it ended up being something that I did recommend to him. never realizing that a few years later he would need to have this. So I commend the gentleman for promoting the health savings accounts and any other way that we can help seniors to better prepare for their future. D 2045","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA BROWN-WAITE","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1232,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090111867,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. I do not know we have been on the floor this evening about you. but I am sick and tired of trying to talk about accountability all the partisan bickering that goes on and fiscal responsibility. at our Nations Capitol. It does not The numbers I have presented to you matter to me if it is a Republican idea are bad enough. Lord knows we dont or Democrat idea. My people back need to make them any worse. They home want a commonsense idea. the are already the largest budget deficits kind of ideas that make sense for them in our Nations history that this Rein their everyday lives. publican leadership has given us. but what we have recently learned is. actually. when you look at America. the way that America requires corporations to look at accounting. the deficit is even worse than what we thought. At this time I would call on the gentleman from Tennessee . the cochair for policy in the Blue Dog Coalition. who has helped discover this littleknown publication. which is very. very disturbing.","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1890,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090111871,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. every business in this country is required to use the accrual method if the business has inventory. if the business is a C corporation. or if gross annual sales exceed $5 million. So for any corporation. any business that meets one of these .criteria. our government says you must use the accrual method of accounting. Our own government. however. though requiring businesses to use the accrual method of accounting or you go to jail and get in a lot of trouble with the IRS. that is what the government says to businesses. but the government says. well. that makes us look like we are being even more fiscally irresponsible than we want. so we will not use this accrual business. We will go back and trick the. taxpayers by using the cash basis of accounting. At this time. I want to recognize.a real leader within the Blue Dog Coalition. my friend and colleague from Georgia .","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":884,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090111873,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. ScoTT) for his knowledgeable input about this debt and deficit and budget process. I might add. in defense of the President. the President. during his tenure in office. it is true that he has borrowed more money from foreign central banks and foreign investors than the previous 42 Presidents combined. But in fairness to the President. he could not do that alone. It took this Republican majority in this Congress to give him a budget to allow him to continue to raise the debt limit to allow him to borrow more money in the last 5 years than the previous 42 Presidents combined. I think the American people are starting to get it at the youngest of ages. My teenage daughter was reading the paper today and she sent me an email. and I will just read to you what my teenage daughter said after reading the paper this morning. Shewrote. \"I read that they are wanting to increase the limit of the debt. Please do not let them do this. ","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1978,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090111874,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Even most State legislatures have rules like the ones I am describing. Most Americans would be outraged to learn we do not have these rules here. We are going to try a similar approach on Thursday. I hope we prevail. and I hope Americans will tune in to see what happens. because we do try to work on abipartisan basis. The Blue Dogs are .Democrats and we are proud of that. but we reach across the aisle. In fact. tonight. most of the Special Order is devoted to revealing the Republicans Treasury report. because they did not want it to get the publicity that it deserves. This is one of the most important documents of government. and I have yet to meet another Member of Congress who knew about the existence of this document. It has been required by law to be published for. over a decade now. Senator John Glenn of Ohio was the first person to author a bill to get this done. The former Secretary of Treasury. ","speaker_name":"JIM COOPER","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3613,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090111884,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is an unimaginable figure. $46 trillion. That is an unimaginable sum of money. But get this: every Americans share. every man woman and child in this country. the share isnt $27.000 like you have on your sign. the share is $156.000 apiece. For every fulltime workers family. the share is $375.000 apiece.","speaker_name":"JIM COOPER","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1218,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090111894,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Now we have about 6 or 7 minutes left this evening to .talk about being good stewards of our tax money. about being good stewards of the public trust. But as I promised at the beginning of this hour. our national debt. about an hour ago. was $8.270.909.436.190. In the last 60 minutes. our national- debt has gone up approximately $41.666.000.","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":343,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090111905,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And part of our attempt to be accountable is to explain to people what the problems were with Social Security. The Democrats just want to hide their head in the sand about it. They want to put *the problem off and off and off. They do not want to deal with that. But it is a program that has developed an entitlement mentality in this country. and we have got to change that. They talk about lack of accountability. and they talk about that in terms of FEMA. And I wonder. all of these people are talking about that and criticizing FEMA tonight for not having a plan and not being accountable. all of them voted for the Katrina money. all of them voted to give that money out with no plan and with no sense of accountability. Just a very small numberof us voted against that because we wanted a plan and We wanted accountability. . Again. the hypocrisy is simply unbelievable when it comes to these folks. They talked last week about how local communities have become dependent on the Federal Government. the COPS program. education funding. all of these programs that are being funded at the State level and at the local level. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4671,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090111906,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"who is our chairperson. Also. we would like to come to the floor once again. Mr. Speaker. to share not only with the Members but with the American people the priorities not only of the Democratic Party. but of this side of the aisle on the Democratic side. and also the priorities of all Americans. Our vice chair. Mr. JOHN LARSON. communicates in the best way to many. many Democrats. Republicans. and tndependents about our plan on this side of the aisle. It would not be a plan. it would actually be action if we were in the majority. I think it *is important to come up with a comprehensive approach. ","speaker_name":"JAMES CLYBURN","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4324,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090111927,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This sheet goes from 2001. 2003. 2003. 2003. 2003. 2004. 2004. Time and time again the Democratic Party has tried to get amendments on spending bills that would increase funding for port security by $100 million. by $500 million. by more if we could try to plug this gap.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1465,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090111935,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"March 6 sent a letter to John Spratt who is our rank.ing\" Democrat on the Budget Committee. Today. it was reported in the Associated Press the Secretary told Congress yesterday in this letter. the administration is taking. quote. all prudent and legal actions. end quote. including tapping certain government retirement funds. Now they are tapping retirement funds to keep from reaching the $8.2 trillion national debt limit. and in the letter to Congress he said that we need to raise the debt ceiling immediately to avoid the first government default on its obligations in U.S. history. If this outfit hasnt gotten us into a real predicament. I dont know what a","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":663,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090111936,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There is a very simple solution: we return to PAYGO rules. We return to the days when we spent what we had. like people in American households try to do every single day andstruggle to do. But we have the ability to establish a rule. We. have the ability to follow a rule that says we will only spend what we have. We have advocated. as Democrats. restoring the PAYGO rule. and we have been repeatedly rejected by the Republican leadership because they just want to continue to borrow and spend. borrow and spend.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":513,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090111937,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Spbaker. And in. each instance. Mr. MEEK. Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ.*it was the Republican majority whosaid we will not accept fiscal discipline. we will not accept increased funding for our ports. and the Democrats were the party offering -the ideas and offering the amendments time and time and time and time again to prevent this from happening. where we owe Japan $682 billion. we owe China $250 billion. and we owe OPEC countries. Mr. MEEK. $67.8 billion. Now. that is a shame. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1603,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090112020,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They are projected to use about 40 percent less energy than a comparable new building in Fort Collins. They estimate that this will save nearly $12.000 in annual operatioin costs. The library will be able to use these savings to increase stock and provide additional library services. Renewable and efficient technologies are an important part of a balanced domestic energy portfolio. and our energy future and national security will be enriched by the technologies being developed and perfected today. We must maintain our commitment to funding the research and development that will bring those technologies to the market. The future of our security. and prosperity depends on the commitments we make today. \u0095 I would also like to remind my colleagues of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus within the Senate. The caucus works to keep Members informed about issues important to the renewables and efficiency communities.. We currently have 36 members. but we would like to have more. I also want to thank the President again for his sincere interest in solar and biofuels. The visit to NREL by President Bush and his staff is appreciated by those of us who have been advocating a role in our energy policy for renewable energy. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4135,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090112041,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wish to spend a couple of minutes this morning commenting on the provisions offered by the Democratic leader. Senator REID of Nevada. which is a comprehensive amendment that covers a lot of the waterfront related to the matter before us. and that is greater transparency and accountability by Members of this institution as well as those. who lobby us. who come to us and petition us as paid representatives of various public. private. and nonprofit entities. so we have a better opportunity to restore a lot of the confidence that has been eroded in how this institution ierforms its public function. My colleague from Nevada. the chairman of the Democratic team here. has put together a very good proposal. It has been endorsed and supported by over 40 of our. colleagues as part of the larger Reid bill. It is called the Honest Leadership Act. It covers a lot of ground. I want to identify theprovisions in this bill. I know my colleague from Nevada has done that already. but it deserves repetition. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11026,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090112046,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Those who would like to be heard. we want to make sure they can be heard. I would be glad to yield my own floor time so they can comment. I do have some comments I would like to make. and I will ask unanimous consentI will do it thenthat we set aside the Reid amendment so that we can have one offered by Senator SANTORUM. and we can begin debate on that. The emphasis will be on the Reid amendment. if you want to check that and make sure you are OK with that. I see one potential speaker. In order to try to keep things moving. we are going to try to get another amendment offered. and we will alternate back and forth.","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":621,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090112080,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. my thanks to Senator DODD and Senator LOTT. My thanks to Senator LIEBERMAN and Senator COLLINS as well. By working together. they have speeded along reforms that I think most of us agree are badly needed. I am hopeful that the bipartisan approach that they have taken on this issue Will rub off on the rest of us. not only with respect to this particular subject but with respect to others that are before US. I am sure all of us have gone home and heard about how disappointed people are with what they see going on in parts of Washington these days. I think most Delawareans realize we are not all taking bribes and not all lobbyists are crooks. I certainly agree with them. I have met many more good people here during my time in the Senate than bad. and I am sure those sentiments are -shared by my colleagues. But similar to those I have spoken to in recent months. news of the Abramoff scandal and of the bribing of Congressmen and their staffs have hit the pa\u0095pers and television news outside the beltway. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1548,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090112155,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They dont expect me to come up here and not go to a luncheon or a ffeal with school teachers or labor union members or executives from Northrop Grumman or lobbyists. somebody who represents a group. cable television. First of all. they are a source of information. I benefit from it. But I dont just go to lunch to meet with lobbyists from cable television. I also talk to telephone people. You talk to everybody. That is what our republican form of Government is all about. People are here to try to find out the details of issues and then try to cast an intelligent vote. The very idea that if I sit down with them or go to lunch with them or go to a dinner. which I generally dont. that is somehow questionableno Senators are running up tabs of hundreds of thousands of dollars at the expense of lobbyists. By the way. the rules now say that the maximum value of a meal we can receive from a lobbyist is less than $50. ","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4574,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090112171,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. I thank Senator INHOFE for being cooperative and bearingwith us. I am glad we were able to get this -amendment on the record. I voted for this before. I think Senator Pat Moynihan one time rose up in indignation and suggested an amendment of this type. and I voted forit. I think it is well intentioned. something that we will need to think about. and work on the exact language. I would propose. if Senator DODD wants to be heard on it. OK. but if we can accept it after that. I recommend that we do that.","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":523,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090112191,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We are not trying to complicate or make life difficult for peQple. but we are trying to make sure we have some very clear understandings as to what is permissible or not permissible in the conduct of our official business. So I thank my colleagues for their support.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":759,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090112192,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that before we move to the amendment at hand. Senator FE.INGOLD have his amendment in order following the SantorumMcCain amendment. and we will put it in the queue at that point. If it turns out not to be. w6 will work with the Senator at a later time.","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":291,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090112194,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. if I could modify my request. since I understand we had not gotten an agreement formally locked in. But after we dispose of the DoddSantorum amendment and the WydenGrassley amendment. the next amendment to be in order is the SantorumMcCain amendment. to be followed by the Feingold amendment.","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":307,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090112210,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The bill that is now being held up as a result of a secret hold. the Intelligence reauthorization bill. has been reviewed by a number of Senate committees. It was reported by the Intelligence Committee late last September. by the Armed Services Committee last October. and by the Homeland and Governmental Affairs Committee last November. I particularly commend Chairman ROBERTS who worked with me on a number of amendments. -amendments that I felt strongly about. because this legislation does ensure that there will be accountability and oversight in the Intelligence Committee by establishing a strong inspector general. by requiring that the committees get the documents they need to perform effective oversight over the inatelligence community. and by making the heads of the key agencies subject to Senate confirmation. I think the Senate would particularly want to know if this legislation. the Intelligence reauthorization bill that is held up by a secret hold. does not move forward. it will be the first time since the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence was established in 1978 that the Senate has failed to act on an Intelligence reauthorization bill. What we have is- a situation where a single. anonymous Senator has invoked a practice that cannot be found anywhere in the Senate rules and has lodged an objection to a piece of legislation that is critically important to the wellbeing of America. Senators hale often asked Senator GRASSLEY and myself and Senator INHOFE: Where are the examples of these secret holds? Exactly why do you believe your legislation is important? We now have a textbook case of a secret hold that is injurious to America. For all the talk about earmarkswe have been discussing that here on the Senate floor. as well as the sbope of conference. lineitem vetoes and the likeI would wager that no weapon is more important and more powerfulto each Senator than the ability to stop amendments. legislation. and nominal tions through secret holds. I believe as U.S. Sen tors we occupy a. position of public trust and that the exercise of the power that has been vested in each of us should be accompanied by public accountability. I have no quarrel with the use of a hold. ","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6044,"word_count":368}
{"speech_id":1090112215,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"LIEBERMAN. Mr. President. I objection. rise to support this amendment offered Obviously. putting a temporary stay by the Senator from Oregon. the Senon the consideration of a discharged ator from Iowa. and the Senator from bill in order to allow a few hours for re- Oklahoma. I thank them very much for view or even a day fdr review iscom- doing it. pletely different from the practice of I must say. as I listened to the debate secretly killing a bill by putting an in- I thought back to the winter of 1988 definite anonymous hold. after I was elected to the Senate. I wonder if. through the Chair. I Incidentally. a distinguished member could inquire of the sponsor if it is his of that cast was the honorable Senator intention to distinguish between those from Mississippi. and we attended the two situations. I would call one a \"con- orientation session together that winsult hold\" perhaps. and one a \"killer ter for new Senators. I remember then hold.\" Senator Wendell Ford from Kentucky","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1975,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090112216,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Honestly. it has become increasingly outrageous when you think about itthat this body can be stopped by an action that is secret. and the source of the action is not known on a measure that is on the Senate floor because it came out of a committee. It is really outrageous. I congratulate Senators WYDEN. GRASSLEY. and INHOFE for seizing this moment of reform brought about by the reports from the Rules Committee and our own Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to take this opportunity to get ridof this outdated but really outrageous part of Senate procedure. If somebody cares enough to hold up a measure and hold up the rest of us from considering it on the floor. the least they can do is have the guts to reveal their identity. That is all this change would bring about. I thank my colleagues. I look forward to supporting this amendment. I thank the Chair.","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1710,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090112224,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Sept. 20. 1993]","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1191,"word_count":3}
{"speech_id":1090112226,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"You can see from rollcalls reporting that no matter what I achieved in my committee. an anonymous hold could always be placed on the Presidents nomination. and thusa halt could be brought to operations of the Senate and in turn the administration. The American people do not want obstruction. they want progress from us. Obstruction was certainly practiced by Senator Daschle. and the people showed their lack of appreciation at the ballot box. I ask that Members join me in this effort and do what our constituents want for the sake of transparency and honesty. We ought to have the courage to stand up for our convictions. not hide in the shadows of darkness and anonymity.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":675,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090112230,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There would be a problem having the vote at this time. just out of convenience for .a number of Senators on both sides who have other commitments. We would like to perhaps stack votes a little later in the afternoon. I want to collaborate with the chairman of Homeland Security and Senator DODD and Senator LIEBERMAN about exactly what time we would do that. We could get more work done without interfering with Senators schedules. So. yes. there would be an objection to it right now. But it has already been locked in and we will have a recorded vote. It will be first in the sequence whenever we set it up.","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":609,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090112272,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I share concerns over earmarking and welcome the opportunity to work togethe&on this issue so that we can look the public iri the face and say that their tax d6llars are being spent on the most meritorious projects. Increasing LIHEAP funding is not about earmarksit is about helping our citizens with immediate and urgent needs.","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1368,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090112277,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I take this time to draw to the attention of my colleagues a significant report. released on February 9. 2006 in Washington. DC. by the Committee for Economic Development. CED. a group of some 200 business leaders and several university presidents. The CED statement. \"Education for Global Leadership: The Importance of International Studies and Foreign Language Education for U.S. Economic and National Security\". asserts that the United States will be less competitive in the global ebonomy because of a shortage of strong foreign language and international studies programs in our colleges and high schools and warns. too. that the lack of Americans educated in foreign languages and cultures is hampering efforts to counter terrorist threats. The cochairs of the CED subcommittee that produced the report. are Charles E.M. Kolb. ","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2408,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090112279,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Eleanor was. respected by her colleagues on both sides of the aisle for her determined leadership. She served on several key House committees. including the Appropriations Committee. the Health and Ecology Committee and the State Planning and Community Affairs Committee. where she served as chair of the local legislation subcommittee. After retiring from public office. Eleanor was appointed to the newly founded Georgia Commission on Women in 1992 and served as its first vice chair. She remained a tireless servant to her community and to the State through her work on countless other boards and advocacy organizations. For over 45 years. she was a faithful andbeloved member of Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church. highly active both in the local church and in her denomination. Eleanor leaves behind a loving and devoted family.. including her husband. Merlyn Eldon Richardson. her daughter. Merlyn Richardson Nolan. her two grandsdns. Gaillard Ravenel Nolan. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ISAKSON","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2694,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090112281,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to honor in the RECORD of the Senate my friend Ron Francis. who is a great Georgian. a gfeat American. and a great citizen of Cobb County. I honor Ron upon his retirement from the Bank of North Georgia after 37 remarkable years in the banking industry and for his many contributions to the quality of life in Cobb County. Georgia. Ron received a bachelor of arts degree in sociology from Eckerd College and an MBA in finance from Georgia State University. He entered the field of banking in 1969 with Trust Company bank of Atlanta. now SunTrust. Following 5 years at SunTrust. he joined the former First Bank & Trust Co. as executive vice president. where he served for 9 years. In 1983. Ron was an organizing director. president and CEO of The Chattahoochee Bank. serving there for 6 years. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ISAKSON","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2343,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090112285,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It also specifically prohibits the practice commonly referred to as \"pretexting.\" where individuals obtain records by fraudulently mistepresenting that they have the authorization to obtain the records. Fully combating this problem requires a team effort. That is why our legislation requires telephone companies to comply with minimum security requiremeifts.. Similar to those required of financial institutions. Companies must do their part to protect their customers records. In order to deter this bad behavior. our legislation increases the penalties for violators. Should someone fraudulently solicit. obtain or sell an individuals phone records. they will be subject to an $11.000 penalty for each record. up to $11 million. Phone companies are subject to a $30.000 benalty. up to $3 million if they do not sufficiently protect their customers phone records. Finally. the Protecting Consumers Phone Records Act recognizes the importance of enforcement. The legislation provides the Federal Communications Commission. the Federal Trade Commission and State Attorneys General with strengthened enforcement authority. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2890,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090112289,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The law also requires the Administration to support programs that protect the inheritance rights of orphans and widows with children. and to support programs that assist villagebased organizations. the main infrastructure for the care of orphans and the millions of women taking care of thein. International Womens Day is a day for each of us to reflect upon the remarkable progress that women around the world have made. and to remember that much remains to be done. I am hopeful that Senators will join me in recognizing this important day..","speaker_name":"RICHARD LUGAR","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4266,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090112290,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Lora Jo Foo was a garment worker in San Francisco. California. She is now an accomplished civil rights and labor activist. Having. dedicated her life to improving sweatshop conditions. she represents and advocates for low wage industry workers throughout the world. Many garment industry workers are denied public benefits because they do not speak English and government agencies fail to provide them with interpreters or translated documents. A large number of Asian women are pushed into deadend workfare jobs where they learn no skills and are denied the option of Englishlanguage training. The result. has been an increase in hunger and illness among Asian immigrant women and their families. Lora Jo Foo represents those women. giving them a voice to advocate for change. Women like these are why we ocelebrate International Womens Day. commemorating their selfless achievements in advocating for equal rights and educating others. This past year. the global community has taken significant strides forward towards gender equality and the pursuit of human rights. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5195,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090112293,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Agenda Item 15: S. 2197To improve the global competitiveness -of the United States in science and energy technology. to strengthen basic reseatch programs at the Department of Energy. and to provide support fot mathematics and science education at all levels through the resources available through the Department of Energy. including at the National Laboratories. Agenda Item 16: S. 2253To require the Secretary of the Interior to offer the 181 Area of the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas leasing. Agenda Item 17: S. Con. Res. 60Designating the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. MO. as Americas National Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. Agenda Item 18: S.J. Res. 28--Approving the location of the commemorative work in the District of Columbia honoring former President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Agenda Item 19: H.R. 318--To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to study the suitability and feasibility of designating Castle Nugent Farms located on St. ","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3745,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090112299,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the.Committee on Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere. Peace Corps. and N arcotics Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday. March 8. 2006. at 2:30 p.m. to hold a hearing on The Impact. on Latin America of the American Servicemembers Protection Act.","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":344,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090112312,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on International Trade and Finance be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on March 8. 2006. at 10 a.m.. to conduct a hearing on\"Reauthorization of the ExportImport Bank of the United States.\"","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":268,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090112326,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I rise today in strong support of the. Childrens Safety and Violent Crime Reduction Act. because it is a commonsense way to protect our schoolchildren from pedophiles. Isnt it a matter of common sense to allow a local school district in Orlando. Florida. to do criminal background checks on coaches. janitors and teachers who work with our children to make sure they are not convicted pedophiles from Georgia or some other State? Isnt it common sense to protect young schoolchildren in the first place by keeping these pedophiles locked up with lengthy prison sentences? Isnt it common sense that coddling repeated sex offenders with selfesteem courses and rehabilitation doesnt work. and that locking them up works? It is high time that we crack down on molesters by implementing these commonsense reforms. I urge my colleagues to vote \"yes\" on H:R. 4472 today.","speaker_name":"RIC KELLER","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":877,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090112333,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is a serious gap in our homeland security. and it could have been prevented. For 4 years my Democratic colleagues and I have tried to increase funding for port security to shore up this serious security gap. And every single year the Republican majority has opposed our efforts. What are they waiting for? Are House Republicans waiting for biological or chemical agents to come through our ports to be used against Americans before they finally choose to act? We simply cannot afford to wait any longer. Its time for House Republicans to join Democrats in supporting the funding *necessary to secure our ports.","speaker_name":"STEPHANIE JONES","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1372,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090112334,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Republicans and Democrats. Members of the House and Senate. to listen to their constituents. lis-. ten to the American people. listen to the law enforcement agents and the Border Patrol agents. We are all on the front lines of this issue. and we all share the responsibility. Every day of inaction is a day we cant afford.","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1108,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090112337,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This administration. the worst since Herbert Hoover. We need to get our economy straight. We need to get our budget straight. and we can do it if we take the same kind of initiatives we took in the 1990s.","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1069,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090112339,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. if we want to maintain our edge in the global.economy. we should fully fund the Presidents competitiveness agenda proposed in his 2007 budget. Regrettably. however. the promise of a more competitive American workforce is simultaneously undermined by his other budget -proposals to freeze Pell grants for the fifth year in a row and recall the Federal portion of the Perkins loan revolving fund. This hypocrisy builds on the Republican record on student aid: $12 billion in cuts to loan programs. failure to extend the tuition deduction. and. a 3yearlong impasse over renewing the Higher Education Act. Madam Speaker. calling for -deep cuts in access to higher education while advocating a competitive workforce is a fundamentally incompatible strategy. Where Congress dropped the ball. colleges are taking the lead in providing tuition assistance to disadvantaged students through matching grants and needbased discounts. We should be encouraging more universitiesto follow suit. instead of discouraging colleges and aspiring students through misguided cutbacks. Madam Speaker. I urge my colleagues to keep this in mind as we take up the budget resolution in the weeks ahead.","speaker_name":"TIMOTHY BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1190,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090112375,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I speak today in support of the Upper Colorado River and San Juan River Basin Endangered Fish Recovery Programs Reauthorization Act of 2005. These important programs are helping us to recover four endangered fish species along the Colorado and San Juan Rivers. It is essential to these western Colorado water communities that Congress reauthorize the program so we can continue with recovery efforts. I would also like to -emphasize that both the Upper Colorado River and the Sari Juan River are vital water supplies to western Colorado. Over 1.000 water projects are reliant upon the waters in these rivers and tributaries. You can imagine the difficulty of trying to coordinate species recovery with the needs of so many water projects. But that is exactly what we have been able to do and I am proud of their work. This program can serve as a national model for public and private partnerships for endangered species recovery. It allows water development in accordance to the State and Federal laws to continue while the partners work to recover the endangered fish species. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SALAZAR","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1588,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090112406,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And you just need to tour the Clinton library to see the -respect he received throughout the globe by the tributes housed at the library. I believe every Presidential birthplace should be preserved and protected as part of our Nations history regardless of political party. I would like to also recognize that Speaker HASTERT and Chairman POMBO have brought this bill to the floor. And I want to commend them* for doing so in a nonpartisan manner. not treating this issue as a political football. but one of worthy legislation that deserves our support. I urge my colleagues to support H.R.","speaker_name":"DENNIS CARDOZA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1654,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090112409,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker.- it is starting to be a pattern here of the Arkansans lining up here in support of this bill. both Republican and Democrat. but it is the kind of bill that in any State we would all do the same thing. Republican or Democrat. to preserve this kind of a historic place. Obviously. we are all very much aware that during his time in office President Clinton was a contr6versial figure. Any President is these days. but what we are talking about is preserving the childhood home. the birthplace home. of this President. As a person who is the child of a singleparent household. I think it is important that we enrich those sites that have been preserved so this story can be told also. that no longer are our Presidents. like Abraham Lincoln. reading by firelight because there was no electricity in those days. but in this modern era that any child in America. regardless of background. can rise. above that background. take those values that he learns and. regardless of party affiliation. go on to achieve great things in this country. So I think this is very important. I am very much appreciative of Mr. HASTERT and Mr. PoMBo for allowing this bill to come to the floor. ","speaker_name":"VICTOR SNYDER","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1515,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090112443,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Our failure to pass this valuable legislation should not be one of them. Who has the right to decide that Madam Speaker. sexual predators what the majority of the House voted live in darkness but.their victims live is a poison pill and not give this House in vibrant colors of all our memories. the right to vote on whether it agrees In pinks and blues. And in purple. with them or not? Prior to her abduction and murder- at If the gentleman brought forth this the hands of a sexual predator in Feb- bill under the regular calendar and said ruary of 2004. that was the favorite should we remove these two provisions color of 11yearold Carlie Brucia. It because we cannot pass them in the still is. Senate. let the House debate that.","speaker_name":"KATHERINE HARRIS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2636,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090112449,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I want to thank Mike Volkov. Bradley Schreiber and others who helped craft this important legislation. and I urge passage of this bill.","speaker_name":"MARK FOLEY","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1649,"word_count":23}
{"speech_id":1090112450,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. what are we here for. to let the other body off the hook? Anything they do not like. we have to take out? I do not follow that reasoning at all. Mr. Speaker. I yield 5 seconds to the gentleman from Massachusetts .","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":282,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090112461,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I may want to see the Federal judges that are included and protected in this legislation protected. but have we vetted the question of allowing judges to carry guns in the courtroom? Should we not provide more resources to the U.S. marshals who are there to protect bbth the families of the judges and the people who are in the courtroom? Are we particularly studied on the issue dealing with juvenile crime? Time after time after time it has shown that the trying of a juvenile as an adult does not work. I believe more studied consideration of these legislative initiatives would represent the work of a studied body who cares about getting legislation that is going to withstand judicial scrutiny. This legislation. which I am still in dilemma as to its merits for voting on. raises severe questions. Why didnt the gun legislation get in that eliminates sex offenders from being able to reck-. lessly carry guns? We want to protect -our children. We want to pay tribute to the legacy and the work of John Walsh and the legacy of his lost child and the many lost children that we dont want to see happen -again. But for Gods sake. can we do legislation that embraces all of us who believe in the necessity of protecting our children? There is a frustration of wanting to do what is right and yet haiing legislation that doesnt allow the vetting. the amending and the responsible consideration. This bill that seeks to protect children has very many merits. I would just beg my colleagues to understand that this process must be one that can last and survive. I can assure you that this will still have trouble in the Senate. because you have left off the hate crimes legislation which was a bipartisan effort. I ask my colleagues for consideration of this bill in the context in which I have discussed this legislation.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2926,"word_count":322}
{"speech_id":1090112471,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The proposed notification would. include home addresses and places of employment. Neighborhood notification is currently reserved only for New Jerseys approximately 160 high risk offenders. but as proposed under H.R. 4472 would apply to thousands of registrants. Based bn our firsthand experience this form of notification will predictably lead to large numbers of offenders becoming homeless and unemployed. Because this form of notification will undermine the ability of many registrants to maintain stable housing. steady employment and ongoing treatment. it will have a marked impact on registrants risk levels and opportunities to remain offense free. and thus will negatively affect public safety. Third. by impacting on registrants abilities to provide for their most basic needs. H.R. 4472 will severely impede the implementation of sex offender monitoring programs like New Jerseys Community Supervision for Life and Parole for Life programs. which are designed to prevent future reoffending by registrants. See N.J.S.A. 2C:436.3. As discussed below. due to the form of neighborhood notification proposed by H.R. 4472 parole officers will be unable to keep registrants in jobs. maintain their stable home environments and continue registrants treatments as those monitoring programs require. In this way. H.R. 4472 Will frustrate New Jerseys longstanding efforts to monitor sex offenders and will compromise. not further. community safety. .Fourth.the bill subjects all registrants. including many juveniles. to the identical","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3177,"word_count":222}
{"speech_id":1090112473,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I even argued before Mexican Supreme Court justices on the intolerable nature of their extradition rulings. Last year. my friend from Pasadena. Mr. SCHIFF. and I introduced H.R. 3900. the Justice for Peace Officers Act. with the strong support of Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca. The bill makes it a federal crime to kill a peace officer and flee the country. it provides for the possibility of federal prosecution. and it allows for punishment by the death penalty or life imprisonment. I am especially pleased that Chairman SENSENBRENNER and","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3779,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090112475,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H.R. 4472. the Childrens Safety Violent Crime Reduction Act. Every day it seems the American people are confronted by another heinous case of child abduction and assault. These crimes are some of the most jarring to our society and more must be done to reduce their occurrence. Last year. I voted in favor of the Child Safety Act and I am proud to support this bill today.- H.R. 4472 will strengthen sex offender registration. community notification arid publication requirements. Many of the violent crimes against children are preventable if communities know that possibly dangerous offenders live amongst their neighbors. That is why I am pleased to see that this bill includes the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Websitea resource for families to identify sex offenders in their community. Also Mr. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL FITZPATRICK","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2471,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090112481,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this is really an exciting time in which we recognize the continuing maturation and involvement of a new nation. yet a nation of people who have deserved better over many decades and are now beginning to see the fruit of their struggle manifest itself. We are asking today in this legislation to recognize that the.country of Ukraine that has entered into a series of agreements with the United States and other countries. and I include an exchange of letters between the United States Trade Representative Rob Portman and myself as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. indicating some certainties as to that agreement. and .to anxiously await the comments by my colleagues as we recognize that the Ukraine. through very difficult economic and political transformations. has reached the point of integrating itself into the world economy.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM THOMAS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":856,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090112485,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the gentleman from California. Chairman THOMAS. and his staff for their cooperation in bringing H.R. 1053 to the floor today. Also I would like to thank my colleague from Pennsylvania. Mr. WELDON. and the other cochairs of the Ukrainian Caucus. Mr. BARTLETT. Ms. ","speaker_name":"JIM GERLACH","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2996,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090112495,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. Mr. Speaker. as has been discussed here today certainly. the JacksonVanik restrictions were made as an amendment to a 1974 trade bill actually to punish the Soviet bloc nations for their despicable human rights record. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union. JacksonVanik restrictions were placed on all of the former Soviet Republics. including the Ukraine. In recent years. the world has watched as the Ukraine has embraced democracy and freedom through their Orange Revolution. The Ukraine has been a great ally in the war on terror. The Ukraine has clearly taken appropriate steps to open their sodiety and economy and becoming an important member of the community of free nations. ","speaker_name":"CANDICE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":871,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090112496,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield 3 us to achieve what manythought was minutes to the gentleman from Penn- impossible in Libya. sylvania who is a very It has been Ukraine and the diaspora active Member of the Congress with re- in this country that has constantly regard to our relationship with the minded us of the economic bonds beUkraine. tween our two nations. Today we stand","speaker_name":"E. SHAW","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":366,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090112530,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I urge my colleagues to -support this bill. I look forward to the passage in this House. and hopefully in the other body also.","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3300,"word_count":26}
{"speech_id":1090112539,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So I think if this bill reaches the Presidents desk. which I hope it will. we have helped ensure that our depository institutions remain the most efficient in the world.","speaker_name":"PAUL GILLMOR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1117,"word_count":30}
{"speech_id":1090112547,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speakers table the bill to amend the Employee Retirement Income Sectfrity Act of 1974 and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to reform the pension funding rules. and for other purposes. with a Senate amendment thereto. disagree to the Senate amendment. and agree to the conferpnce asked by the Senate.","speaker_name":"HOWARD MCKEON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":354,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090112553,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Northwest. Delta. Sears Roebuck Company. Alcoa. Hewlett Packard. Lockheed Martin freeze their plans. We just read that General Motors will close its defined benefit plan to new management hires and give them a 401(k) instead. Theseare devastating developments that need urgent action by this Congress. Unfortunately. this House bill makes none of these provisions better. In fact. it may make some of them worse. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2575,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090112556,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. let me thank Mr. MILLER for yielding this .time. Mr. Speaker. we do need pension legislation. We need pension legislation that will protect the worker. that will reform the PBGC. the guaranty fund. and will encourage companies to maintain and strengthen their pension plans. The Miller motion to instruct encourages us to be able to accomplish those goals. Mr. MILLER has already talked about the provisions related to the airline industry that is very. very important. He mentioned the fact that we have to help younger workers and lowerwage workers by the refundability. by the savers credit. making permanent. and by dealing with split refunds of taxes. ","speaker_name":"BENJAMIN CARDIN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":705,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090112566,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the chairman for yielding. and I rise to oppose this Democrat motion. This motion takes some parts of our tax agenda and says they are important. like the savers credit. the direct payments of tax refunds to IRAs. but ignores so many other parts of our bill that are critical. like the permanency of the pension and IRA provisions. many of which were in the PortmanCardin legislation which this House has debated long before. I noticed Mr. CARDIN was here earlier. and longterm care insurance. which is a critical issue. and FSA rollover. which many of my friends on the other -side are vitally interested in as well. So.this motirn to instruct is really incomplete. and I would urge all Members to vote against it. With regard to airlines. I am vitally interested in the viability of our airline industry and certainly their ability to provide pensions for their employees. But I think to simply accept the Senate language would not allow us to go to conference and deal with. the airline issues in a comprehensive and thorough way in conference. ","speaker_name":"DAVE CAMP","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1186,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090112590,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is perfectly safe.. There is an herbal food company that has some other process that they use to do the same thing. to make food products. in particular. meat. maintain their redness and fresh appearance for a longer period of time. There is absolutely. absolutely no evidence whatsoever that the process that has been in place and approved by the FDA for more than 4 years in any way. shape or form is harmful. So that is the reason why that particular amendment was not made in order. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1202,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090112592,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It makes sense to me. But I am not for a coverup. and that is exactly what you get when you have no hearings on legislation. This body needs to do its job. So I would urge my colleagues and staff who are watching on television. recon-. sider. even if your boss has cosponsored this bill. Because What are we afraid of? We need hearings on this bill.","speaker_name":"JIM COOPER","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1027,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090112597,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. last week it was brouight up about the number of organizations that were opposed to this bill. I want to submit for the RECORD at this point a list of 119 from all 50 States across the Nation that support this. small businessmen and women. large businesses. including the H.J. Heinz Company and many. many others.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":382,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090112629,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It gives 180 days for the FDA to act. They do not have the resources to do it. but they can simply say this is a burden on interstate commerce. the State law is gone. It does not mean that the State law stays in effect until the Federal Government establishes a national standard. It could strike the State law and have no national. standard to replace it.","speaker_name":"HENRY WAXMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":356,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090112630,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. it is a 180day appeal process. but if the Federal Government does not -respond. it is my understanding. and I will be glad to talk to the gentleman later if he still thinks I am in error in my interpretation of this bill. but I think the point that I made was an accurate statement with regard to that. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":382,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090112634,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker. I will draw this debate to a close so we can move forward with consideration of the amendments to H.R. 4167. \u0095 This bill should receive wide and bipartisan support because it does ensure everyone has access to t he same food labeling information. Why would we want to deprive anyone of life- or healthsaving information while driving down the cost -of products for all consumers? Mr. Speaker. as I have previously mentioned. there is no reason. nor is there any excuse to allow regulatory inconsistency to drive up cost and keep some consumers in the dark on matters that may affect their health. As a physician Member of Congress. I have been and will remain committed to supporting legislation that will prevent illness and save lives. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1697,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090112663,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 4167. the National Uniformity for Food Act. H.R. 4167 is intended to provide uniform food safety warnings and notifications. As written. however. it would hinder my state of Illinois ability to protect the food supply and to respond quickly to local food safety concerns. The National Uniformityfor Food Act would weaken Illinois ability to protect its residents from contaminated food .by adding a layer ofbureaucracy before such food could be. removed from the shelves. Eighty percent of the countrys food safety inspections are completed at the state and local levels. The bill preempts state food safety rules. which are often more stringent than federal standards and threatens the states capacity to respond without delay to food safety issues.For example. in 2002. 40 Illinois school children became sick after eating what appeared to be ammoniacontaminated chicken. Our Department of Public Health .issued the necessary embargoes and the product was immediately removed from schools so no other children Pecame ill. H.R. 4167 would prevent our state health department from taking immediate action in a similar situation. ","speaker_name":"JANICE SCHAKOWSKY","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4465,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090112673,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. My amendment provides clarification on the scope of the bill in two important areas. First. the amendment clarifies that uniformity in notification requirements for warnings does not apply to dietary supplements. Additionally. during committee consideration of H.R. 4167. some Members expressed some confusion regarding the scope of subsection (f) of the bill. Todays amendment is designed to clear up that confusion and ensure. that States can set tolerance levels for substances in food when the Federal Government has not. Section 2 of the bill extends national uniformity to all aspects of food adulteration. I support the premise of food adulteration and tolerance levels should be uniform throughout the country. If a substance in food is injurious to one States consumers. it would be injurious to the people of all 50 States. ","speaker_name":"JOE BARTON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2120,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090112674,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. it is claimed that the Barton amendment preserves State and local authorities to act when the Federal Government has not. Unfortunately. the extent of the amendment does not support this statement. The amendment merely provides that States may enforce identical requirements to Federal requirements. This -is a terrible policy. Sixteen years ago. the Food and Drug Administration learned that there were cancercausing chemicals in soft drinks way above levels that would be permitted in drinking water. Once the soft drink industry promised to address the problem. the FDA did nothing. ","speaker_name":"HENRY WAXMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2133,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090112686,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman for this explanation. and I have a furtherinquiry. I understand that if a State lawis identical to the Federal. that State regulators can apply State law to particular. circumstances where FDA has not. Suppose a State enacts a law that applies to States basic adulteration requirement to a particular substance or circumstance. So the law would say. for example. that the State has determined that any food that contains more than X amount of Y poisonous or deleterious substance adulterates the food within the meaning of that States food adulteration law. would that be permissible?","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":606,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090112701,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Imagine that. Republicans who are sponsoring this bill. and Democrats who have joined with them. who I dont think both sides of the aisle understood the consequences of this bill. that it takes away the States rights to enact legislation in areas of carcinogens and reproductive toxins and other areas where they think the public health and safety. may be -at stake. it takes away the States rights to give it to a Federal bureaucracy. and it enhances that Federal bureaucracy with additional burdens but creates no more funding to do that job. Is this what we have always expected out of Congress. creating a new bureaucracy to act in place of State duly elected governments? I just think this bill. if people will examine it carefully. cant stand the light of day. And I guess that is why we have never had a hearing on it. No one has ever been able to get the pros and the cons. We have no record to substantiate that legislation to start with. And this amendment. although it is hard to oppose an amendment that says we are going to have an expedited review. although the bill provides for a 180day review. nobody who has looked at it carefully. especially the Congressional Budget Office. thinks it will make a difference because they are never going to get around to it. I guess the way to handle it is the Food and Drug Administration can say. very quickly. no. that State law will not be allowed. We wont let them have those warnings for their people. We will just overturn the State law. ","speaker_name":"HENRY WAXMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3463,"word_count":270}
{"speech_id":1090112712,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time..","speaker_name":"DENNIS CARDOZA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":813,"word_count":9}
{"speech_id":1090112752,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Florida stated this legislation would make it more difficult to mitigate the effects of an intentional bioterrorist agent food adulteration. I think those who are imposing this amendment are very much misguided. Listen to what the Statet have had to say about this. These are the ones that are going to have to deal with any bioterrorist attack at the front lines. Especially after what we saw with Hurricane Katrina. let us empower the local people to act and not make them have to go hat in hand to seek a bureaucratic solution. which may take time from the Federal Government to allow them to act. My amendment would allow the States to act. especially if it is an imminent problem. That should not be taken away. which would happen if.we dont pass this amendment. I ask for an \"aye\" vote.","speaker_name":"HENRY WAXMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1531,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090112760,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This process would be burdensome and costly. The CBO estimates it could cost taxpayers as much as $100 million in the first years for States to apply for waivers for their State laws and for the FDA to process these appeals. Our amendment would dramatically reduce those costs by keeping intact some of the most critical State laws already on the books which do ensure consumer protections. It would protect State laws that mandate consumer notifications for products that we know can cause cancer. can cause birth defects and may cause allergic reactions associated with sulfiting agents. Mr. Chairman. we are fortunate to have made great advancements in recognizing potential health risks posed by certain substances. We want to ensure that this knowledge reaches the public. where the forces of the market can determine the need for arsenic in bottled water or of potassium bromate in bread. Let us not keep consumers in the dark about what is in the foods they eat. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment. Mr. ","speaker_name":"LOIS CAPPS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3041,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090112768,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And our Founding fathers decided that one of the reasons the articles did not work was because you could not have a Nation that allowed these barriers to be erected at the State lines. Now. if the issue is the safety of the people of this country. how do you justify not wanting those same protections for everybody? Now. I think there has been a misstatement that has been repeated here. If a State has a warning. and that warning is in place now. a label. and they petition the Federal Government and the FDA. and they say. we wish you to consider this. and the Federal Government just does not take a position on it. then their State regulation remains in effect. If. however. the Federal Government looks at the issue. and the FDA decides that the science does not justify impediment. then under those circumstances. there would not be uniformity. and. therefore. the State requirement would not be allowed to pertain. So if the States are so sure of their -position. I see no reason why they would not want to share that information with the FDA so that th6 other States can have equal protection. and not just reerect some of the very barriers that created the impediments under the Articles of Confederation and led to the right of this body. under this type of deliberation. to consider under the interstate commerce jurisdiction the right of uniformity in things that do have an effect about articles moving in our interstate commerce. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2785,"word_count":264}
{"speech_id":1090112769,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I would submit to my chairman that I do not know any State that would not be willing to share its information with the Federal Government. On the other hand. the Food and Drug Administration has had top scientists quit of recent time over political pressures. And the truth is that this bill would conceal information from consumers about known risks for cancer. birth defects and allergic reactions due to sulfiting agents. This bill guts important existing warning laws. How are we going to live with this on our conscience. that today help consumers make informed choices. have encouraged manufacturers to remove harmful substances from their products? I urge my colleagues to support this amendment. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"LOIS CAPPS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":768,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090112777,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the gentlewomans intention here. But. again. the facts of the case are this: The toxicity level of those fish. if. it is higher or lower in any particular place. the threshold that makes it toxic is the same. It is the same for people in California. It is the same for people in Texas. It is -the same for people in Michigan. So what we are saying is. yes. this is a very important issue. and we need to make sure that we understand what that toxicity level is. And if there are unique challenges to any\" particular State. that State can apply through the FDA for that particular area. We have even built provisions into the bill to take into consideration.","speaker_name":"MIKE ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":684,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090112786,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But the State could issue whatever warnings it saw fit to do so. I think. as Mr. ROGERS related earlier. the Tufts Health and Nutrition Letter. indicating that you have to be careful that you do not do more harm than good sometimes by issuing warnings that are blanket in nature. I think that clearly. indicates we could .go in the wrong direction. We believe the bill strikes a careful balance. It does allow States that have peculiar situations to ask that they be allowed to put additional warnings on products in their State if they think that is justified. We b~lieve that the current Federal policy on mercury... however. in fish is an appropriate and adequate one. and I would urge the defeat of this amendment.","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1650,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090112839,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. our porous southwestern border is getting worse by the day and the number of illegal entries into the United States continues to grow at a ridiculously. rapid rate. Just yesterday. a study released by the Pew Hispanic Center said that the population of illegals is growing by 500.000 a -year. This is because of the lack of border security in this country. Our governments failure to slow this illegal action is fueling financial crisis to American taxpayers. especially those in the 24 counties along the 2.000mile border between the United States and Mexico. The costs that come along with this are draining local communities as they struggle to find money for health care. education. and. other social service costs associated with caring for illegal individuals. Unfortunately. the people that pay for this illegal activity are American citizens. not illegals. Americans pay the price for illegal immigration. Americans always pay. Unrestricted illegal immigration throughout Texas and the entire United States drains local cities of money that should be used elsewhere. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5346,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090112850,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. First Lieutenant Garrison Avery died Wednesday. February 1. from injuries he sustained while serving in Iraq. The personnel carrier in which he was traveling hit a roadside bomb. killing him and two fellow soldiers. He was 23 years old. He leaves behind his wife Kayla. his bride of just 8 months. - Garrison was the son of Gary and Susan Avery of Lincoln. Nebraska. He graduated from Lincoln High School in 2000 and from the U.S. Military Academy in West Point. ","speaker_name":"JEFF FORTENBERRY","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1825,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090112869,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the gentlewoman would yield. back to the point that Ms. SANCHEZ made about Head Start. Mr. Speaker. I think this is so important as it relates to Womens History Month and the importance of the Head Start Program. the women that have been a core part of this program. I represent nine sovereign Native Tribes in the State of South Dakota. and tribal women are among the strongest advocates for Head Start. in both the inhome program as well as the traditional Head Start Program. So I could not agree more that any budget. whether it comes from the administration or the majority in this House. that would slash or freeze or not adequately fund Head Start programs to meet school readiness is inexcusable. as well as what had you both mentioned. and Ms. SANCHEZ.I too am paying off those student loans. how important it is to have access to ways to finance ones higher education to become that productive citizen. a taxpayer in ones community. giving back and finding good opportunities. But when you look at the impact of the egregious budget reconciliation bill that this House passed by two votes earlier this year. that found a third of its savings from Federal student loan programs. it is also inexcusable. And when you- tack that on to what is happening as I mentioned with Head Start in Indian country. we have very high up employment rates. so you can imagine what Native women are faced with. ","speaker_name":"STEPHANIE HERSETH SANDLIN","chamber":"H","state":"SD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2565,"word_count":248}
{"speech_id":1090112873,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This leadership is not taking us forward. They are not taking us forward by any measure.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1457,"word_count":16}
{"speech_id":1090112875,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"fornia. If I could just add. you have mentioned some of the great benefits to girls and women participating in sports. It leads to better physical health. It leads to better mental health. lower levels of depression in women who engage until regular physical activity. For girls. it promotes selfesteem and confidence that comes from gaining competence in something that they enjoy doing. There are studies that even show that\" girls who engage in sports when they become women are more likely to leave abusive relationships than women who dont engage in sports.","speaker_name":"LINDA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":39.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":562,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090112885,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I appreciate you pointing that out. I am sorry. I had this a little bit later. but this is the chart that you refer to. It really is amazing when people hear this because it is kind of counterintuitive. If you decrease taxes then people say. well. surely you decrease money coming into the government. But it does not work that way. does it? And what we see here is exactly What you described. You decrease this line right here. This is the.years down here. 2000. 2001. 2002. 2003. This line is when the tax decreases. the tax cuts. went into effect. and the red line is the revenue into the United States Treasury.","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":615,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090112895,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It really does. A picture really is worth 1.000 or a million words. certainly. and this one certainly is. In fact. it is worth 4.73 million words. because eyery one of those 4.73 million new jobs is demonstrated on this picture here. on this graph here. from January 2002 all the way to January 2006. You see the trend that happened during this administration. during the Republican leadership and what happened when it crossed the line with tax decreases. the tax cuts you talked about.","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":487,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090112896,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So many of these jobs. sometimes I have people say. tell me where these are being created. tell me where these jobs are being created. What we have seen happen is that we are into the knowledge economy. We are into a technologybased economy. and we are seeing this jobs growth in different areas. and it is so wonderful because so many of the individuals that live in our districts are jumping in there. They are getting jobs retraining. they are. getting computer skills retraining. and they are working in a million different careers that they never. ever thought would be available to them. And as we are watching. the technology growth in our districts. all. across this country. it is small business manufacturing industries that are growing. Their numbers are better -than they have been in 10 years. I think that is such a sign of encouragement. Or whether they are working in service industryrelated jobs. what we are seeing is new jobs. in new industries. which tell us that an economic renaissance is on that horizon. It is imperative that we make certain we do not see tax increases and that we do not see regulation increases and we keep an eye on having that right environ.ment take place. I thank the gentleman for yielding.","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1238,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090112898,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If you look at the top 10 needs within our communities. nine of those needs would have been positively Tmpacted by a job. The needs were family needs and needs for child care. The. needs were health care. Every single one of them except one. and I probably ought to remember what that one was that was not directly associated with the solution being a job. because when\" a family gets a job. those 4.73 million jobs. I suspect. are associated with probably half that number or better. families. moms. dads. children whose lives are better every single day because someone in that family now has a job. someones. bringing in a paycheck. someone is creating an environment within that family so. that the children see mom and dad working. the children understand responsibility. the children understand how families work. The families are so much better off when they have got a job. So we have 4.73 million jobs. and the number of families that are affected by that cannot be understated. In a body on the floor where hyperbole and overstating and overreaching and puffing is an art form. I probably ought to be able to come up with some flowery lan guage that would help communicate how important job growth is. but I am burdened. though. by being a CPA. and we just do not puff and brag and all those kinds of things very well. and other folks it do it much better than us. What I really want to talk about tonightis what I see as the single biggest threat to our way ol life that we face. ","speaker_name":"K. CONAWAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10929,"word_count":272}
{"speech_id":1090112925,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Because the thirdparty validators that we use on this floor is for the purpose -f showing that others who have factchecked. experts who have factchecked what is going on internally in this institution report on what they see. And so if we are going to talk about accuracy and clarity. \"It is the thirdparty validators who. the American people are going to listen to. You know. quitehonestly. although I really feel privileged to be able to come and join you on this floor every night. a lot of people would just chalk up what they say and what we say on the floor as noise. you know. as partisan noise. And so thirdparty validators are important. And so let us talk about what USA Today said about who is in charge and what they are responsible for and what they could have done about it. This is just last week. February 21. about 10 days ago. USA Today editorial. The title of the editorial was Who is Spending Big Now: The Party of Small Government. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1409,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090112931,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The welfare kings and the health care industry. If you look at where it is not gbing. this is the Federal Governments commitment to education. Again. as Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ said. this is a thirdparty validator. This is called the Committee for Education Funding in February 2006. In 2002 there wa\u00a7 an 18.2 percent increase. And as you can see. it.dramatically is reduced to where in the 2007 budget President Bushs proposed budget. Mr. DELAHUNT. there is going to be a negative 3.8 percent decrease in education funding. So as we are competing in a global economy with 1.3 billion Chinese workers. with 1 billion workers in India. with the country of Ireland that is called now the Celtic Tiger because of its increase. and part of what the Celtic Tiger has done is make *education free for everybody. college education. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1057,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090112939,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Most credit card companies would say. no. we are going to stop you. at a certain point and not let you raise your debt limit.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1395,"word_count":25}
{"speech_id":1090112940,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. if I can. that is the problem that the Secretary of Treasury has. He is representing an administration and a rubberstamp Congress that can only be described as irresponsible when it comes to fiscal policy. I mean. maybe we ought to write back. now. this is a letter dated March 6. 2006. and say. you know. we are sorry. but we are not going to raise the debt limit anymore. we are done. we are finished. we are closing you down. Why should we be voting to raise the debt limit? With all of the fraud and the mismanagement and the abuse of the taxpayers. why do we not say go back to that conference committee and tell them to reconsider their closed deal that cost the American taxpayers $22 billion? Why do we not do that instead? Or why do we not recommend that the Bush administration stop spending $1.6 billion on advertising and public relations contracts. why do we not do that? Why do we not tell them to stop the nobid contracts that are leaving resources sinking in mud somewhere in Arkansas to the tune of $300 billion? Why do we not tell them that they ought to go find the $9 billion that they cannot find that is somewhere in Iraq that is unaccounted for? You know what? I am \"not going to vote simply because the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States is representing an administration that is in accord. if you will. with a Congress that cannot handle the budget in an appropriate way.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1423,"word_count":264}
{"speech_id":1090112948,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Many of our female. colleagues on the Democratic side participated. and you talked about the role of government. particularly as it impacts women.. You know. the truth is. and we have seen it just recently in South Dakota. that if the Republican majority has their way. they will see to it that the womans right to choose will be ended in this country. They will - do everything that they can to effectively repeal Roe v. Wade.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":427,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090113033,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. President Bush is now touting the line item veto as the magic formula to get our deficit under control. Then why does the President not begin by actually sending Congress a balanced budget? For 5 years now. one of the Presidents main priorities has been to provide billions in tax breaks to his friends in the pharmaceutical and insurance industry. the oil and gas industry. and Americas wealthiest elite. When the President provides these tax breaks to his friends. he increases the deficit and prevents the Federal Government from being able to properly address the concerns of hardworking Americans. There is no doubt the President has lost control of the deficit. piling mountains of debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren. Under President Bush. a projected 10year $5.6 trillion surplus has turned into a $3.3 trillion deficit. This year the deficit is expected to reach $423 billion. the largest deficit in history. And yet the President suggests making his tax breaks to his friends permanent.","speaker_name":"DIANE WATSON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":33.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1025,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090113037,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. when future generations of Americans look back at this time in our Nations history. they will have to conclude that this Republican Congress and White House has been the most fiscally irresponsible in our Nations history. In 5 years we have turned a projected $5.6 trillion surplus into a projected $3.5 trillion of deficit. a $9 trillion fiscal reversal. Seventyseven percent of it is attributable to tax cuts. most of which benefit the wealthy. and to the socalled war on terrorism. And why do I say the socalled \"war on terrorism\"? Because in this budget. this Presidents budget. he would provide tax cuts for the top 1 percent of Americans. greater than the entire amount of money he wants to spend on homeland security. And when you consider the fact that half of Americas students do not even graduate from high school today. you have to ask why the amount of money he gives to the top 1 percent of Americans is almost twice as much as the entire amount of money he wants to spend on the education budget. and it is almost three times what he would spend on veterans health care. This is misplaced priorities and fiscal mismanagement.","speaker_name":"JAMES MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1153,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090113038,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This bill does that. It puts in law guarantees that will protect our kids. It is high time we passed this measure. I thank Senator FRIST. John Walsh. among others. who have brought this to the forefront of the national conscience. and I urge we get that bill to the Presidents desk before we lose another child.","speaker_name":"MARK FOLEY","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1128,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090113039,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has released a report that details what most. of us already knew. that health care costs are rising and they are rising at an increasing rate. The bureaucrats and the Members of Congress talk about SGR. they talk about payforperformance. and they talk about CPT codes. What is left out of the discussion is that which is most important. and that is the patient. As a physician for over 25 years. I know that the current health care road we are on continues to move us in the wrong direction. A patientcentered system is necessary if we are to increase access to quality care. I ask my colleagues here in this Chamber to take a bipartisan approach to solving this issue: look at the numbers. read the reports. and. above all. listen to the American people. They are the families and the small businesses and the employers who are trying to provide health care coverage. America has the ingenuity. but we must also have the will to make the decisions necessary to get us on the right road in health care.","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1062,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090113042,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently reported that 61 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries in South Carolina have prescription drug coverage. and that almost 50 percent of the beneficiaries of the Second Congressional District where Orangeburg Prep is located have prescription drug coverage. Since November 15. more than 25 million people have chosen to participate in this new program and are now enjoying substantial savings on the cost of their prescription drugs compared to what they used to have to pay or did not pay with no coverage. The Sun News recently reported that Mary Simms of Lexington registered for the new benefit with her plan that now just costs her $15 a month. where she used to spend $80 on her prior plan. As the enrollment process continues. I encourage seniors throughout my State to join the millions of other Americans who are now benefiting from this valuable program which will enable them to live healthier. happier and longer lives. In conclusion. God bless our troops and we will never forget September 11.","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1074,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090113043,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. in Nevada we faced one of our worst nightmares a few weeks ago. One of our heroes. a law enforcement officer. a Metropolitan Police Department officer. Sergeant Henryr Prendes. was shot down and brutally killed. He responded to a domestic violence call as a law enforcement officer. and as he appeared on the scene. a gentleman was waiting for him with an automatic weapon. and with over 50 rounds. brutally murdered Mr. Prendes. Yesterday. in the Childrens Safety and Violent Crime Reduction Act. in the act there was a provision that would memorialize Mr. Prendes for his efforts as a great American hero. a loving father and a loving husband. In the bill. it provides for a mandatory 30year sentence for anyone that brutally murders a law enforcement or public safety officer or who conspires or attempts to kill. This is an example of getting tough on crime. ","speaker_name":"JON PORTER","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1169,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090113047,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Finally. this rule waives all points of order against the amendments printed in the report. and provides one motion to recommit with or without instructions. Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of this rule and its underlying important legislation reauthorizing the Office of National Drug Control Policy. which was created in 1998 to be the primary shaper. coordinator and proponent of Federal efforts to end drug abuse in our communities across America. By supporting this legislation to reauthorize the ONDCPs activities for the next 5 years. Congress will reaffirm its support for national programs to combat the consequences of drug abuse in the National Youth AntiDrug Media Campaign and the HighIntensity Drug Trafficking Area Program known as HIDTA. It also makes the development and implementation of Federal drug policy more streamlined. efficient and accountable. H.R. 2829 accomplishes this goal by implementing a number of meaningful reforms to ONDCP and to our national drug control strategy. It provides the director of the ONDCP with a rank equal to Cabinet secretaries. While not affecting the Presidents ability to undermine the makeup of his Cabinet. it will ensure that the director will be able to interact with other department heads as an equal peer as this person coordinates our national drug policies. ","speaker_name":"PETE SESSIONS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7137,"word_count":210}
{"speech_id":1090113074,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Department of Health and Human Services must deal with breaking addiction. ONDCPs mandate is to coordinate all of these efforts in a comprehensive strategy. coordinating with State. local. and international governments and institutions. The bill before us today ensures that there is one place in the Federal Government that combats all aspects of the drug problem through drug prevention. treatment. enforcement. interdiction. and supply reduction. ONDCP has a vital role to play in our efforts to reduce the use of illegal drugs. I urge my colleagues to vote \"yes\" on passage of this legislation.","speaker_name":"HENRY WAXMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1906,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090113078,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The fact is that when we backed off in the early 1990s and saw the Federal intervention dollars go down in the Andean region and the interdiction dollars go down. and the joke was even in prominent officials as \"I didnt inhale.\" we saw drug use go up so much that we have to reduce it 50 percent from 1993 until now to get back to where we were in 1992. That dramatic rise and falling. again. is somewhat typical of what has happened in American history in drug abuse. We have had some steady progress in key indicators. There is not meth abuse if you can get at marijuana use because all meth users use marijuana. Marijuana is the gateway drug. along with tobacco and alcohol in high school. of all other narcotics abuse. Right now we are facing a meth epidemic in the United States that clearly. I believe. this administration has not responded to nearly aggressively enough. We also have prescription drug abuse. Oxycontin and other prescription drugs are actually causing the most deaths from any drug abuse in the United States. We have to be eternally vigilant. ","speaker_name":"MARK SOUDER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8918,"word_count":191}
{"speech_id":1090113083,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"we have seen the crack epidemic. We saw the heroin epidemic that ravaged Baltimore and other cities. great cities across the Nation. We have seen designer drugs. Now we see the meth scourge. So we have to have a flexible and adaptable policy. Hopefully this plan and the 5year reauthorization provides that. It is not always how much we spend. it is how we spend it. I think this administration has also focused attention on High Intensity Drug Trafficking. Area designations. HIDTA. which we have done over the years. and we have set some of those in stone. and we keep funding them year after year. ","speaker_name":"ELIJAH CUMMINGS","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1893,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090113106,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. the managers amendment makes technical and conforming changes to account for changes in the law within the jurisdiction of those committees that waived formal business meetings on H.R. 2829. the Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 2005. On page 145. the managers amendment strikes the mandatory restrictions on certification of budgets related to enforcement in certain contexts of section 484(r)(1) of the Higher Education Act. more popularly known as the DrugFree Student Loan provision. The provision made students convicted of drug offenses temporarily not eligible to receive student loans. However. a significant problem had arisen in the Department of Education. beginning during the Clinton administration and continuing during the current administration. because they have misinterpreted the clear language of that statute to improperly. deny loans to students whose drug convictions predated their enrollment in school. Section 8021 of the Deficit Reduction Act. Public Law 109171. signed into law on February 8. 2006. contained language that altered the interpretation of a provision included in the Higher Education Act. and therefore obviated March 9. 2006 . ","speaker_name":"MARK SOUDER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1834,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090113146,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I just want to thank the gentleman for this amendment. It is a very important amendment. and I have no doubt that it makes the bill a better bill. One of the things we have seen in my district and all over the country is that there are these cycles of drug addiction. and I think one of the saddest things. and I saw this as a lawyer. too. when I practiced. is to represent a parent and then a few years later see a child come in. They both have been drug users. So the cycle of drug addiction keeps going around and around. So I think that is a very. very important piece to look at. how the children are affected. As far as the nontraditional places with regard to drug courts is concerned. ","speaker_name":"ELIJAH CUMMINGS","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1206,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090113192,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They allow drugs and people to come through. These are busy times for the Border Patrol. the customs agents. immigration folks. but if we are going to send these agencies to fight a war on drugs. to fight a war against illegal behavior. we have to send them the proper tools. I believe this amendment will do it. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"BOB FILNER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":51.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2706,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090113203,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In 2003. Missouri had the highest number of meth lab seizures in the country. Missouri is not alone. Meth abuse impacts every community. there is no State where meth cannot be found. In 2005 alone. approximately 5.000 meth labs were seized by law enforcement officials. This serious epidemic requires a serious response. and I believe we have to ensure that all agencies are vigorously fighting the meth epidemic. This includes agencies such as Department of Health and Human Services. HHS sponsored and participated in a conference promoting the ideology of reducing the negative impact of drugs. or the safe use of drugs. rather than stopping the use of illegal drugs. We need to take seriously the meth epidemic sweeping our Nation. Now is not the time to be lax on drug enforcement. ","speaker_name":"SAM GRAVES","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2018,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090113207,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would like an explanation for what took place. Again. it is a very simple amendment. and I do not think it is asking too. much.","speaker_name":"SAM GRAVES","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":583,"word_count":26}
{"speech_id":1090113221,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have had to do meth hot spots to try to address that at the grassroo.ts. That was opposed by the administration. We have now authorized that as part of the terrorism bill in the Combat Meth Act. An amazing individual in the State of Montana has put together a private sector program that is more effective in fighting meth than we have been able to come up with in the public sector. . This amendment will help direct and force the Department of ONDCP. the drug czars office. to address in a coordinated way meth strategy \u0095 I commend the gentlewoman from Oregon. The Portland Oregonian has been a champion nationally and internationally in identifying this. She has championed this issue in Oregon. as well Congressman WALDEN in the eastern side of Oregon that has been hit so hard. and we really appreciate all the efforts of those in the Northwest as this drug rips through the rest of the country. into Congressman PETERSON *of Pennsylvanias district. Titusville. Pennsylvania is the capital of meth in Pennsylvania. ripping into North Carolina. We are doing a hearing with Congressman MCHENRY inthe next few weeks. ","speaker_name":"MARK SOUDER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2275,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090113222,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman.. I too stand in support of Ms. HOOLEYS amendment. We have spent a tremendous amount of time in our subcommittee on methamphetamine. We see it as a problem that is spreading .n many instances like wildfire. And I want to thank Ms. HOOLEY for her leadership and for the amendment. We have expressed on numerous occasions to the drug czar the fact that we see methamphetamine and addressing the methamphetamine problem should be a major. major priority. And I think that this just helps us along the way with regard to addressing this very significant problem. and again I congratulate the gentlewoman and support this amendment.","speaker_name":"ELIJAH CUMMINGS","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":640,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090113240,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We need clearer model State drug laws. We need to establish laws that are effective. I appreciate his leadership in this effort in multiple committees. on the Judiciary and Homeland Security. Mr. Chairman. I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Maryland .","speaker_name":"MARK SOUDER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":805,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090113251,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But the bottom line is that we have an epidemic of abuse occurring with this and other prescription drugs. We do not need to hear how not to regulate it. What we need to work with these industries is how best to regulate it. and part of that is getting a study on accuracy of how this addiction works. I appreciate the gentlemans leadership with this. I will support this amendment. Mr. Chairman. I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Maryland .","speaker_name":"MARK SOUDER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2423,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090113261,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I might consume. On the surface it looks fairly mild. but it is actually an attempt to eliminate the drug czars office. The gentleman from Texas is certainly the most principled Libertarian that we have in the Congress -and prob: ably one of the most principled Libertarians in the country. I presume he would favor sunsetting most Departments in the Federal Government. The question is. why would we single out the drug czars office? We have many programs that are unauthorized. That is an unfortunate thing. I believe all programs should. in fact. be authorized. and that is why we are going through this authorization. It got lost at the end of the last session in the Senate side. and we are proceeding again with Senate support. ","speaker_name":"MARK SOUDER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5670,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090113269,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The keen attitudes towards marriage have consistently declined. The cocaine in the United States has shown some movement based on what has happened in Columbia. Right now we have a problem that we cannot control the heroin out of Afghdnistan. We are tackling the meth question. In fact. we have seen a broad move across the United States that has reduced drug abuse. It is important that we have a director there. We just want to see the director being more effective. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"MARK SOUDER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2485,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090113291,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman from Maryland for the time. I want to add that I. too. believe it should be more than 10 percent. Of course. the ONDCP director has that flexibility. I would also like to additionally comment a little bit more on the statement of administration policy and the bill in general that shows our frustration. I mentioned in the State Department on the certification process that the State Department has certification. but there are many other variables. In fact. that clause has been weakened to say \"demonstrably failing.\" What this says is the drug czar has to show whether thesA nations. such as Mexico. whether the pseudoephedrine producers such as India and China are fully cooperating. because we need to have the drug czar say what is happening on narcbtics. and the State Department can make their own rulings. Furthermore. we have a big debate about how the budget should be counted. We believe that the administration has been misrepresenting what we are actually spending on narcotics in multiple ways. ","speaker_name":"MARK SOUDER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2837,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090113308,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of my time. and I want to again compliment the gentleman from.Arizona. The Navajo nation is in northern Arizona and spills over into New Mexico and is a huge dominant entity. and he has worked aggressively to defend their interests and to make sure they are included in efforts like this. where sometimes they are forgotten. Oklahoma. which has been ravaged by narcotics. and as we see it go into the mountains of North Carolina. clearly the Cherokee nation and other nations are at risk with this. too. The gentlemans amendment will help in many of these areas as we try to tackle meth and other narcotics. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"MARK SOUDER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":699,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090113383,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They advocate public torture. false imprisonment. mistreatment of women. and promotion of worldwide anarchy. Those are not accomplishments to be proud of. Yale would do well to admit students who are devoted to promoting peace and democracy. not those who so flagrantly advocate injustice. evil. and terror. That is just the way it is.","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1312,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090113391,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. just as real as it would be had the production involved actual sexual contact. Therefore. my bill require\u00a7 these records be kept for simulated sex. Because by doing so. certain bad actors in the entertainment industry will be deterred from using children. Also. my bill goes a step further by requiring that records be kept even in the case of what is known as lascivious exhibition-. Once again. no child should be used in either nude pictures or sexually explicit materials or even in activities that have a prurient interest. This is. again. the type of images that fuel the flames of the wicked.hearts of child predators and should be stopped. Finally. the legislation expands the ability of investigators and prosecutors to pursue the people who are used to distribute child pornography. These distributors also will be required to follow these new recordkeeping provisions. and this will provide law enforcement with a powerful tool against them as well. Providing law enforcement with the tools to combat child pornography contained in my legislation is a muchneeded and overdue step that must be taken to protect our children from those in society who have no decency and no shame. ","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5154,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090113393,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Huge amounts of our debt washing around overseas in countries that might or might not have our best interests in mind long term. and might or might not want to continue to lend us money to help finance this profligacy. So now the President is saying that he is really serious. This time around he is really serious about it. He says we are going to address -this. We are going. to cut the debt in half in the next 4 years. What he does not tell people is that most of that socalled reduction of the debt is by borrowing all of the surplus that is supposed to flow into the Social Security trust fund and spending it and not counting it as part of the debt. So. as the. Social Security surplus grows. he says that he is moving us toward a balanced budget. Of course someday we are going to have to honor those bonds to pay future Social Security benefits. It is time for fiscal sanity here in Washington. ","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4639,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090113400,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In acknowledging the challenges faced and overcome by women. I want to commend the sacrifices of Americas brave women serving overseas. especially in Iraq. Women have served in every U.S. military conflict since the Revolution and have played an official role in the U.S. military for over 100 years. Today. women make up almost 15 percent of ActiveDuty personnel. One in every seven .U.S. soldiers in Iraq is a woman. and they are engaged in the conflict on a far greater scale than ever before. piloting helicopters. accompanying infantry on raids against insurgents. searching Iraqi women suspects for pistols and suicide belts. The contribution of American women has come at a high price. To date. 48 service women have been killed in Iraq and more than 300 have been wounded. but their service has inspired their compatriots on the front lines and here at home. as well as millions of women in Iraq. Afghanistan. and around the world. as symbols of womens. courage and capacity. And today. we salute them and all women for their contributions.","speaker_name":"ADAM SCHIFF","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5144,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090113433,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is the war intelligence that no one here has asked any questions on. It is what is going on with the ports. It is the amount of borrowing that we are doing. this $3 trillion in newdebt this Republican Congress and the Republican Senate and House and White House has incurred on the American people and. just like in our own houses. we have to pay interest on that debt. that money that we borrow. What we are having happen now. because oT the reckless and fiscally irresponsible behavior of the Republican majority. it is impossible for us to make the kind of investments that we need to make here. Mr. Speaker. Every single family fundamentally understands the importance of education. yet here is what we have to fund because of all this borrowing. We pay this much on our interest on the debt. not even buying the debt down. but just paying the interest on it. Mr. MEEK. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1122,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090113438,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Yes. these are our priorities as a country. And we can. stand here and talk about port security. and we can talk about education all we want. and we ban talk about what investments we need to make in alternative energy sources. and we can talk about the Democratic plan for innovation. research and development tax credits. broadband in every household. Mr. Speaker. in 5 years.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":378,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090113446,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And OPEC and other countries. Because to subsidize these substantial. very large tax cuts for just a small segment of the American people. we have to go into the financial markets and borrow money so that we can reduce taxes. and then that tax relief ends up not benefiting the vast majority of Americans. But we are borrowing it. We are borrowing it from overseas. We are borrowing it from nations. many of whom could be potential adversaries. yet we are sending dollars over there of interest payments so that they can invest in roads. in health. and particularly in education. while we are slipping behind. We are slipping behind. You know. there is a lot of talk in Washington about how this economy is growing. But what you never hear about is that the average American family is losing every year in terms of its income. It is going down. The most recent statistic was that in this past year it went down 2.7 percent. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3204,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090113450,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if the gentleman would yield. this means that we already are not meeting. our obligations. That already means that the financial constraints that the Republican majority has put upon us already is forcing the Secretary of the Treasury to not put money in to meet the obligations bf the .Federal employment retiree program","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":334,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090113453,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me say this. Mr. RYAN. He says. starting today. February 16. Now that is when you have waited as long as you can. When you write a letter. talking about an action that you are going to take on that day. the same day. not that we cannot do it a week from now. Not that we cant do it on the 18th. I cannot do it the day I sign this letter.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":341,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090113470,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"All of this money that we are borrowing. we have got to pay interest on it. And if we pay the interest -on it. that means that we cannot spend -that money .in other areas or give it back. in fact. to the taxpayer maybe in the form of a tax cut so there may be some middle class people.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":285,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090113473,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Kind DiazBalart. M. King (IA) Dicks King (NY) Dingell Kingston Doggett Kirk Doyle Kline Drake Knollenberg Dreler Kolbe Duncan Kucinich Edwards Kuhl (NY) Ehlers -LaHood Emanuel Langevin Emerson Lantos Engel Larsen (WA) English (PA) Larson (CT) Eshoo Latham Etheridge LaTourette Everett Leach Farr Lee Fattah Levin Feeney Lewis (CA) Ferguson Lewis (GA) Filner Lewis (KY) Fitzpatrick (PA) Linder Flake Lipinski Foley LoBiondo Forbes Lofgren. Zoe Ford Lowey Fortenberry Lucas Fossella Lungren. Daniel Frank (MA) E. Franks (AZ) Lynch Frelinghuysen - Mack Gallegly Maloney Garrett (NJ) Manzullo Gerlach Marchant Gibbons Markey Gilchrest Marshall Gillmor Matheson Gingrey Matsui Gohmert McCarthy Goodlatte McCaul (TX) Gordon McCollum (MN) Granger McCotter Graves McCrery Greed (WI) McDermott Green. Al McGovern Green. Gene McHugh Grijalva McIntyre Gutierrez McKeon Gutknecht McKinney Hall McMorris Harman McNulty Harris Meehan Hart . Meek (FL) Hastings (FL) Meeks (NY) Hastings (WA) Melancon Hayes Mica Hayworth Michaud Hefley - MillenderHensarling McDonald Herger Miller (FL) Herseth Miller (MI) Higgins Miller (NC) Miller. Gary Miller. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3664,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090113492,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is extremely unfortunate to hear the Democrat leader say we should get it done sometime but everyone should vote against cloture. That leads me to question whether there really is a commitment to strengthening our lobbying laws. There is no reason we cannot proceed to the many amendments that have been filed. to debate them fully. let the Senate work its will on each of the amendments. and then clear this legislation so we can go to conference with the House and send the bill to the Presidents desk. Public confidence in Congress is very low right now. maybe at record low levels. This legislation helps to promote public confidence in the work we do and the decisions we make. This should not be a partisan issue. and it has not been until the Democrat leader came to the Senate to urge his colleagues to oppose cloture. Why cant we proceed with the measure before the Senate? It is a bipartisan measure. My colleague. Senator LIEBERMAN. has worked hand in hand with me on the Committee on Homeland Security to produce this bill. Senator MCCAIN. ","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3711,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090113494,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator from Maine for her very eloquent remarks. I thank the Senator from Connecticut for his hard work on behalf of shaping legislation and bringing to the Senate amendments that we can help bring about a restoration of confidence on the part of the American people in the way we do business. I also congratulate the Senator from Conneoticut. Mr. LIEBERMAN. .who has worked so closely with Senator COLLINS. as Senator -DODD has worked closely with Senator LOTT. There are a group of Senators from both sides of the aisleSenator OBAMA. myself. Senators LIEBERMAN. COLLINS. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10866,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090113501,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"My colleague has offered an amendment on a controversial issue. I understand. The issue of whether a United Arab Emirates company called Dubai Ports World should be managing Americas seaports. Should they manage some of Americas largest seaports? Is this issue controversial? I suppose it is. Is it urgent that the. Congress address this? Of course. it is urgent. The House Appropriations Committee. controlled by the Presidents own political party. yesterday by a vote of 62 to 2 slapped an amendment on an emergency supplemental appropriations bill designed to provide money for the Department. of Defense and for Hurricane Katrina recovery. They slapped an amendment on there to stop this ports deal. Good for them. So there has been offered in the Senate an amendment. to stop the ports deal. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11165,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090113517,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Thatmeans you have to step up to the plate. If you believe this deal presents a danger to our security. you have to step up to the plate. you have to use every legislative prerogative at your disposal. and you have to say to your colleagues: I am sorry. we are going to take 5 minutes out. we are going to take 10 minutes out. we are going to take 15 minutes out of this bill. and we are going to vote on this. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle. God bless themI know they must have a reason for this--they have stopped us from voting. They have stopped us from voting to stop this Dubai ports deal. Why is it important? There are so many reasons. This deal involves a port operator that is fully owned and controlled by a foreign country. Do we. in a post9\/11 world. want to have our very important infrastructure controlled by another country? I say no. Pre9\/11 we didnt think this way so much. We had a situation. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5651,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090113538,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Chair. I rise to speak about the motion to invoke cloture. which \"will be voted on in about. an hour and 20 minutes. I must say that as the ranking Democrat on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. from which a significant part .of the lobbying reform legislation before the Senate now came. I am deeply disappointed that we* have reached this point in the debate on that critically important legislation. We have a onceinageneration opportunity to reform our lobbying laws and. in fact. touch other parts of the ethical standards by which we govern ourselves in the Senate. The Abramoff scandal and others have created this moment. The Rules Committee has come forward with a constructive package of reforms. Our committee. on a bipartisan basis. brought out a significant series of amendments. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10102,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090113548,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. first. let me thank my colleague from Virginia for his unfailing efforts to try to find a solution here that would solve the many different goals and needs of the situation of the purchase by Dubai Ports World of British P&O. I believe the words that were mentioned in Mr. Bilkeys letterI tried to write them down herewere that DP World will \"transfer fully\" to a U.S. entity. Could I ask my colleague to yield for a question? Did I get the words exactly right? I would be happy to yield for a question. I just want to make sure I got the words right in the letter which my friend from Virginia just readthat DP World will \"transfer fully.\"","speaker_name":"CHARLES SCHUMER","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":655,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090113553,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We need tough and smart national security policies. not more of the same as we saw with Katrina and in Iraq. It is a vision of. the Democrats that the Senate can and should complete action on lobbying reform and also protect Americans by addressing port security. - Do we Senate Democrats want a country. not a company. running our seaports? No. especially a country that was one of only three countries in the entire world to recognize the Taliban government in Afghanistan. Do we want a country that has a trade boycott against Israel running our ports. a country that has not even recognized the State of Israel. which was formed in 1948? Do we want a country that was a staging ground for the September 11 terrorists running our ports? Do we want a country owning one of our seaports that wag instrumental in allowing nuclear devices to make nuclear -weapons go through its seaports to other parts of the world? The answer is no. we do not want that. Just a year or so ago. it was exposed that Dubai was the center oft the worlds largest nuclear proliferation as the AQ Khan network used Dubai to traffic nuclear weapons technology to the highest bidders. Osama bin Ladens operatives are said to have used Dubai as a local hub after September 11. Terrorism. money has been laundered through the United Arab Emirates. Several of the hijackers flew from Dubai to the United States in preparation for the attacks. the 9\/11 Commission found that the United Arab Emirates represented a persistent counterterrorism problem for the United States. -We do not want such a country running our ports. We believe there should be a vote today. There wont be one today on this issue. I understand that. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4019,"word_count":298}
{"speech_id":1090113578,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That is underway. We dont need to disrupt the bill. I think the distinguished manager and I are on the exact same page. Within several days. I think we Will be able to work this out. I encourage the managers to work together so that when we bring it back. we can finish expeditiously. Next week. we have the budget and the debt ceiling and lobbying reform.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1495,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090113592,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in a few weeks in my home county of Cobb County. GA. a pretty normal occurrence is going to take place for someone who is anything other than a normal Person. It is going to be the 65th birthday of a man named Robert Moultrie. Now. 65th birthdays are becoming pretty common. I am pretty happy they are. because I am about to have one in a couple of years. But Robert- is an extraordinary individual. I hope he is not watching CSPAN right. now because they are going to give a big surprise party for him. and if he is watching I am going to be in big trouble. but I doubt he is because he is a busy entrepreneur of unbelievable accomplishment. He started a company in 1986 known as The Facility Group. and it was six individuals. Their revenues were about $10 million. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ISAKSON","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2333,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090113617,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in Montana. we are as proud of Montana as Texans are of being from Texas. we just arent as loud about it. Until today. I rise today to congratulate the University of Montana Grizzlies mens basketball team. For my colleagues who didnt stay awake last night. Montanas own Grizzlies. led by tournament MVP Virgil Matthews. upset the topseeded Northern Arizona Lumberjacks 73 to 60 to win the Big Sky Conference tournament and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. This marks the second straight year that the Griz will join the \"big dance\" and could be the start of a dynasty for our very own Coach K. In only his second year. Coach Larry Krystkowiak has led his teams to conference titles in both years. and this marks the- first time that the Griz have had. backtoback NCAA tournament appearances since 19911992. Coach Ks achievpments b6th on the court and off are phenomenal. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1959,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090113621,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Back in April of1999. when observers and commentators were only beginning to glimpse the rich potential of the Internet. Rick Levine. Christopher Locke. Doc Searls and David Weinberger posted the \"Cluetrain Manifesto.\" In it they said that. \"A powerful global conversation has begun Through the Internet. people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed.\" Since then. the conversation has only grown. While authoritarian regimes like Communist China- struggle to control the information crossing theirborders. millions of private citizens. typing away on.their home computers. are engaged in millions of discreet and overlapping conversations. exchanging information. and circulating ideas. As Americans. we should be on the side of this dazzling development. As citizens of the 21st century. we should recognize we have no power to stop it. Brian Anderson of the Manhattan Institute points out that the Supreme Court has extended free speech to include nude dancing. online pornography. and cross burning. It seems only reasonable that free speech should include the humble act of posting a blog.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4403,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090113625,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Soon thereafter in 1982. Kirby Puckett was a first round draft pick of the Minnesota Twins. As I said before. Kirby Puckett was not gifted with the greatest baseball talent. He did not physically dominate the game. but he did dominate it mentally. Ever since Kirby. little league coaches have always had to tell their kids that they could only swing like Kirby if they made the major leagues. The problem is that in order to make the Majors. those same coaches had to tell the kids they had to work and play as hard as Kirby did and have fun doing it. That is his legacy to baseball. he put the fun into baseball. It is nowall of our responsibility to carry on that legacy. If Kirby were alive he would want all of us to honor him with his trademark signofthe cross and promise to mike the most out of life as he did. ","speaker_name":"NORM COLEMAN","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4389,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090113630,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We owe it to our children and grandchildren to protect the ocean. one of our greatest natural resources. The National Marine Sanctuary Program. established in 1972. plays a critical role in preserving our precious marine resources and protecting our coasts from offshore oil and gas development. I applaud everyone who has worked to protect the marine ecosystem of the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. I .wish sanctuary staff and volunteers many years of ongoing success in protecting the California coastal environment. Please join me in celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary.*","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3161,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090113661,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that. the Subcommittee on Constitution. Civil Rights and Property Rights be authorized to meet to conduct a markup to consider S.J. Res. 12. The Flag Desecra- United States to win an Olympic medal in tion Resolution on Thursday. March 9. \u0095 the parallel giant slalom. 2006 at 1:30 p.m. in Dirksen Senate Of- Whereas Rosey Fletcher won a bronze medal for her performance at the 2006 Torino fice Building Room 226: W Olympic Winter Games.","speaker_name":"NORM COLEMAN","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":474,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090113764,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This week we will also complete the extension of the debt limit. The Democratic leader and I are working on an agreement for the consideration of that bill. I hope we can reach a reasonable period for the debate on that mustdo legislation. Needless to say. there is a lot of work to be done prior to the adjournment. We will stay in session as necessary to give the managers the best opportunity to complete our business. This week we will complete action on the budget. And we will complete action on the debt limit. On Wednesday of this week. we will have a joint meeting with the House to hear an address by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia. That address will begin at 2 p.m.. therefore. Senators should gather in the Senate Chamber at 1:30 so we can proceed at 1:40 to the Hall of the House of Representatives. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1917,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090113776,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. just to briefly respond because obviously the Senator has made numerous points here. I agree with some. and with some I disagree. But I think this focus on the debt is an interesting approach and one which I can certainly be sympathetic to. and I would be more sympathetic to it if during the markup on this bill we had amendments offered from the other side that would have significantly reduced the debt. That is not what we had. We had amendments which would increase the spending of the Federal Government by about $150 billion in entitlement accounts. about $16 billion approximately on discretionary accounts for this coming year. and then they raise taxes or proposed raising taxes in order to meet those new spending initiatives. If you are going to reduce the debt. you can do it. of course. by raising taxes. The last group of charts the Senator highlighted would be one way. and maybe the alternative they could seek on their side of the aisle would be where they would raise taxes by $41 billion on one segment of Americans. or they can raise taxes across the board. or they can raise taxes on specific groups. All of that is possible to reduce the debt. but that is not what they offered in committee. What they offered in committee was to increase spending on all sorts of initiatives and then raise taxes to cover the spending. which does nothing significant to reduce the debt. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4163,"word_count":249}
{"speech_id":1090113832,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the Senator from New Hampshire has very ably used the oldest debate tactic known to man. which is the straw man argument. He suggested I have said that the economy is terrible. Those are not my words. I have not described the economy as terrible. I have described the economy as not performing as well as it has in other recoveries since World War II. Let me repeat: Real median household income has declined 4 straight years. That is not a sign of economic strength. that is a sign of economic weakness. The economic growth in this recovery has substantially lagged the economic growth we saw in the other nine recoveries since World War II. In the other recoveries since World War II. economic growth averaged 3.2 percent. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1964,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090113846,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Upward Bound. or Talent Search Programs. Yes. a budget is a statement of priorities. and we have seen where this administrations priorities are on health. The Medicaid Program is key to promoting a real culture of life in America. Medicaid provides care to a third of all mothers giving birth. including the prenatal. pediatric care their children need to be healthy. Mere hours after the President declared in the State of the Union Address that the Government would meet its responsibility to provide health care for the poor and elderly. the President signed a bill to impose draconian cuts on the Medicaid Program. According to the Congressional Budget Office. that bill will cause 45.000 poor Americans to lose coverage over the next 5 years. and 65.000 will lose coverage within 10 years. and 60 percent of those losing coverage will be children. In Maryland. a quarter of families subject to increased premiums disenrolled. In Oregon. higher costs caused disenrollment. and 67 percent of those who disenrolled became uninsured. Because of these Medicaid cuts. 13 million Medicaid beneficiaries will have to pay more for their prescriptions over the next 5 years. and 20 million will have to pay more over the next 10 years. When copayments rise for the poorest patients. health declines. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11685,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090113864,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Now. because this budget represents a set of priorities and values. it is important to take a look at the first step in the budget process. and that is the budget sent to us by President. I recall. in the year 2001. the debate on the floor of the Senate about the Presidents fiscal policy. This President came to town at the time when we had a very large budget surplus for the first time in many decades. and were predicting surpluses in future years. This President said: Lets give away this future surplus. This money doesnt belong to the Government. it belongs to the taxpayers. Some of us said: Well. we dont have that surplus yet. Yes. the year that we are in is a surplus. but we dont have the next 10 years as a surplus. What if something should happen? Maybe we should be a little conservative. The President said: No. dont worry about being conservative. Lets give back money we dont have but are expected to have because experts tell us we will have a big surplus during the next 10 years. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10876,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090113866,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my colleague. the Senator from North Dakota. for his comments and for his insights. I especially like his picture of the building in the Cayman Islands that is the home to more than 12.700 companies. Why is it their home? Because they are engaged in a giant tax dodge. that is why. What they are doing is acting as though they are doing business in the Cayman Islands so they can show their profits in the Cayman Islands. because the Cayman Islands do not have any taxes. What these companies are doing. many of them are operating in the United States where they earn their money. but they dont show their profits here. They have a series of subsidiaries and they show the profits of the subsidiaries in the Cayman Islands so they avoid their taxes here. That is what is going on. It is a giant scam. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3937,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090113869,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We not only saw the taxpayers short shrifted by the highest prices in the world. but now we see the drug companies getting $75 billion of their income being taxed at 54 percent. If I might make one additional point. we also have a provision in tax law which says to companies: Shut down your plant in America. fire your workers. move it to China. and we will give you a tax cut. And by the way. the Joint Tax Committee says that is worth $1.2 billion a year or $12 billion in 10 years. So we will spend $12 billion in the next 10 years giving tax cuts to companies that shut their American plants. fire their American workers. and move their jobs overseas. If there is any perversity in this Congress. it is those who refuse to be willing to shut down that kind of a tax break. We have had four votes on it. I have offered it four times. We have lost all four times. And on four occasions. people stood up here in the Senate and supported a tax break to companies that would ship their jobs overseas. It is almost unbelievable. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3900,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090113878,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Unfortunately. budget pressure has forced the CWSRF down to $900 million in the current fiscal year. and the President has proposed to reduce that to $688 million for the next year. While the DWSRF is proposed at only an $8 million reduction. a fateful and disturbing trend is developing. As the past chairman of the Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Fisheries. Wildlife. and Water. I led efforts in two successive Congresses to update and increase the authorization for the CWSRF and DWSRF. Although those legislative initiatives never made it to the Senate floor. I remain committed to helping communities in Idaho and throughout the country address their water and wastewater needs. During the debate on this budget resolution in the Budget Committee. an amendment was offered to condemn the Presidents call for reductions in those important accounts. I opposed that amendment because I want to focus effort where it counts. by working with my distinguished chairman and the Appropriations Committee to restore funding for the two SRFs to the best of our abilities. Mr. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CRAPO","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4100,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090113879,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I will continue to work with you on these issues. Additionally. in my role as a member of the Appropriations Committee. I will certainly be cognizant of the funding needs for SRF Programs.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":962,"word_count":33}
{"speech_id":1090113902,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will be very brief. I am obviously disturbedI know what the Senator from Wisconsin will be presenting shortly. I expect him to offer a resolution to censure the President of the United Stateshe made those intentions clear yesterday. and I expect him to do that shortlya censure of the President for defending the United States of America and protecting our homeland security. As I implied in some statements I made publicly yesterday. I do believe this is a political stunt. a political stunt that is addressed at attacking the President of the United States of America when we are at war. when the President is leading us with a program that is lawful. that is constitutional. and that is vital to the safety and security of the American people. It is being offered at a timewith really an attack on what the President is doingat the same time we have terrorists right now intending to attack Western civilization and. indeed. the people of our homeland. With that being my feeling and the intention being so apparent to me. I do want to make it clear that if that is the case. and if this resolution is offered tonight. we will be ready to vote on that censure resolution tonight. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1525,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090113935,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. what we need here in the Senate is more debate. not less debate. I certainly have no problem with the Senator from Wisconsin speaking for as long as he wishes. and if the managers of the bill wish to yield time off the resolution to him. it is fine with me. I do want to say this. however: For the majority leaderand he has the right. I dont dispute that at allto come to the floor without notice to his counterpart and offer a unanimous consent request is something that I never tried to do. I always tried to give him the benefit of my telling him what I plan to do. and I think that is the right thing to do. I am sure there was nothing willful in what he did. I am sure it was just an oversight. To try to limit debate on this most important matter that Senator FEINGOLD is going to put before the Senate is not appropriate. I have no problem with arranging a time to finish debate on the Feingold proposal. but it seems to me what is happening in the Senate is there is no time to debate much. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3202,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090114031,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Chu Lin would listen to the radio at night. emulating the voices of the top broadcasters. His practice paid off in 1956. when he convinced his hometown radio station in Greenville. MS. that he could find sponsors and host a show of his own. Mr. Chu Lin later attended Michigan State University. where he received degrees in journalism and communications. In the 1960s. Mr. Chu Lin began his career as a journalist. working as a reporter and anchor at television and radio stations. including KRONTV in the San Francisco Bay area. and KTLA Channel 5 and KFWB radio. both in Los Angeles. In the 1970s. he became one of the first AsianAmerican journalists to rise from local to network news. working for CBS News in New York. While at CBS. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3391,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090114038,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on March 13. 2006. at 3 p.m. in closed session to receive a briefing from the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":263,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090114042,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate immediately proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations on todays Executive Calendar: Calendar Nos. 549. 551. 552. 554. 555. 557. 558. 559. 560. 562. 563. 564. 565. and all nominations on the Secretarys desk. I further ask unanimous consent that the nominations be confirmed en bloc. the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table. the President be immediately notified of the Senates action. and the Senate then return to legislative session.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":523,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090114044,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And I am proud to support his nomination.","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1982,"word_count":8}
{"speech_id":1090114045,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Thapar has been recognized by the Department of Justice. which honored him with a special achievement award. by the Postal Inspection Service. for his many successful investigations of violent and whitecollar crimes. by the Secret Service for his efforts to fight counterfeiting. and the FBI for his campaigns against bank fraud and election fraud. Mr. Thapar is an accomplished attorney in private practice as well. He has worked as an associate at both the prestigious Squire. Sanders & Dempsey law firm of Cincinnati and the Williams & Connolly law firm of Washington. DC. In both of those jobs. he managed and litigated complex cases on behalf of major corporations in both Federal and State courts. Mr. Thapar has served as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center. and until recently served as an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. where he taught Federal criminal practice. ","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3966,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090114085,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In January of 2001. the Congressional Budget Office projected. in the 10 years thereafter. the Government would run a unified budget surplus of more than $5 trillion. But little more than 5 years later. we face immense deficits and backbreaking debt. This must stop. Running deficits causes the Government to use the surpluses of the Social Security trust fund for other Government purposes. -rather than to pay down the debt and help our Nation prepare for the coming retirement of the baby boom generation.. Every dollar we add to the Federal debt is another dollar that we are forcing our children to pay back in higher taxes or fewer Government benefits. When we choose to spend on current coinsumptionthrough appropriated accounts or mandatory spending or tax cutswithout paying for that spending. we are robbing our children of the opportunity to have their own choices. When we spend on our wants. by cutting taxes or through Government programs. without paying for those decisions. we are saddling our children and even our grandQhildren with debts they must pay from their tax dollars and their hard work. That is not right. That is why I am joining Senator CONRAD in his amendment to fully reinstate the paygo rule. We need a strong budget process. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4912,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090114111,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"CBO uses capital gains as a rev- subje to p apprac ud enue loser. It does not score capital subject to the perverse approach under gains for the dynamic effect it has on the CBO scoring rules of having to pay the economy. When we cut capital twice if you have paygo in place. gains ratesit has been proven every First. it would pay because it would time we have done itwe generate rev- generate the revenue to cover the cost enue. Why is that? It is called human of the cut. which CBO claims is a nature. and human nature usually costit is not a cost. it is actually a overwhelms accountants. They just revenue winnerand then it would sometimes- cannot handle the concept have to pay on the presumption it was of human nature. but human nature going to cost money. when. in fact. it goes to work when you cut the capital is not going to cost money. and then gains rates because when somebody you have to find revenues to cover it. owns an asset and has owned it for a There is a perverse accounting mechwhile. it isan asset which they know if anism working here if we put paygo in they sell they are going to have to pay place relative to items such as capital 30 percent taxes on. Then we cut the gains reductions. That. is a technical tax rate on that asset to 15 percent if reason this proposal does not work. they sell it. and there is an incentive The bottom line of this proposal is for them to sell that asset and to rein- simple: It is a tax increase. The basic vest those dollars in something that is engine of this proposal. the basic effect probably more productive. But if the of this proposal would be the engine to tax rate stays at 30 percent. there is no drive tax increases. incentive for them to go out and make There is a fundamental disagreement that sale because they recognize they between the two parties as to whether are going to pay a very high level of we should have tax increases driven by taxes on it. So assets get locked up. an accounting mechanism or whether Stocks that might be sold get locked we should have them driven by policy. up. investments in real estate that It may be we should do some tax inmight be converted get locked up. creases around here in certain areas. small businesses that might be con- The Senator from North Dakota has verted get locked up. and farms that pointed out some loopholes that should might be sold get locked up because be closed. and I am for that. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9392,"word_count":457}
{"speech_id":1090114113,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The chairman is just wrong. it doesnt say that. It doesnt require that. It does say if you want new mandatory programs. such as the new prescription drug benefit that was passedif*we had paygo in effect at the time the new prescription drug program was offered. we would have had to pay for it either through increased revenue or from cuts elsewhere. That is what paygo says. It doesnt say there has to be a tax increase. That is just a red herring argument. Frankly. I am surprised the chairman makes it. Here is what the chairman used to say about paygo not so very long ago. In 2002. the chairman. who now argues against paygo. said this: The second budget discipline. which is paygo. essentially says if you are going to add a new entitlement program or you are going to cut taxes during a period. especially of deficits. you must offset that event so that it becomes a budgetneutral event that also lapses. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2831,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090114119,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So there is a different standard. The point is obvious. This language. as it is presently structured. because of the facts that We have befofe us. which is a 5year budget which has no new entitlements in it. and because CBO scores entitlements as going on forever and therefore they are never impacted by this paygo lahguage. this paygo language will not affect the spending side of the ledger at all. But it will affect the tax side of the ledger. And when the death tax needs to be extended. this paygo language will require a tax increase. When rates.need to be extended. this paygo language will require a tax increase. When dividends and interest. dividends and capital gains. should they not be extended in this reconciliation agreement need to be extended. this paygo will require a tax increase. and that is the purpose of this. This concept that CBO writes us back and says: Well. we cant really figure out that the capital gains cut generated capital gains income. that is one of the problems here. The CBO is taking a very strict greeneyeshade approach to budgeting. The way they build their baseline. they use four or five different major assumption groups. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4512,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090114121,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Do you want to stay on this reckless course of running up the debt? And the chairman says. not only with his speech here today and his position on paygo here today. but with his budget. that he wants to run up the debt. He wants to take no responsibility to either reduce spending or to pay for more tax cuts. Instead. he prefers to send the bill. to our kids and our grandkids. Let the foreigners continue to loan us the money so they can buy up U.S. assets. That is his position. I think that is a reckless position: I think that is a position that weakens America. I think that is a position that makes us more vulnerable. I take the chairman back to the position he took March 14. 2006 . Cor previously on paygo. At that point he was right. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2891,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090114138,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The chairman has endorsed it in the past. It is the right course.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":810,"word_count":13}
{"speech_id":1090114167,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We do not control that. That is controlled in the appropriations process. as the Senator knows. The unintended consequence might be that actually this increase in defense be paid for by reducing homeland security. law enforcement. -veterans. and defense itself. Those are decisions which will be made by the appropriators. That is why I wish that instead of paying for it in this way. we paid for it in some other way that assured that it was not just taking out of one pocket and putting it in the other. With that said. we need to restore this funding. We have a very serious problem going forward. Because of the burgeoning debt of the country and the deficits. defense is going to face very difficult challenges in the future when we try to rebuild these aging systems which are critically important to our national defense. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1958,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090114205,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. there is an inconsistency in the argument coming from the other side of the aisle. The Senator from New Jersey and the Senator from Massachusetts argue that we need a significant infusion of funds into higher education funding to assist students going on to college. Yet they both votedI believe the Senator from New Jersey. in the House at the time. and the Senator from Massachusetts. in the Senateagainst the deficit reduction bill which included a $9 billion infusion into higher education. That was a big number. The argument that Pell grants havent been increased flies in the face of the fact that we have created a new account which actually allows up to $8.000 of the cost for a lowincome individual to go to college. to be reimbursed on the basis of the Pell structure. and as a result those funds which werent available prior to the deficit reduction bill are available today. That is $8.000 for lowincome students who pursue certain types of disciplines that they can get. In addition. our commitment as a Federal Government since President Bush took office has been dramatic in the area of title I. These are the numhbers. They have gone up exponentiallyexponentiallyunder President Bush. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2557,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090114206,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But let us get to mandatory. IDEA is kind of my special passion. Children with disabilities is something I have worked on all my life. I married a special education teacher. I married a special education teacher 10 years before Public Law 94142 was passed. which was the Special Education Act that :really put in the mandates that today are IDEA. And for years. this Congress and this Nation mandated on our local governments that they spend 40 percent more per FTE. fulltime equivalent. on a special needs child than they did on an average child or a nonspecial needs child. Yet we funded none of it. For years we funded none of it. Under this administration. we have gone from funding what was about 10 percent when the President was elected. to where now we are almost to half of that 40 percent mandate or 20 percent in total of the FTE the Federal Government is funding. In this budget resolution. as a mandatory item. there is inclusion from now through 2011 for that commitment to IDEA and to children with disabilities to increase so that we meet the Federal promise made over 30 years ago. or almost 30 years ago. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ISAKSON","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5875,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090114261,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have to do everything we can to make sure they have the ability to recover. I am a veteran. I know how important VA health care programs. are to those who served this Nation. We have invested a great deal in health care services for veterans. Because of these investments. the quality of care offered at VA facilities has surpassea the care at regular health care facilities. In fact. our satisfaction rate with the veterans today is much better than it was just 5 or 6 years ago. The VA hospital and our 10 outpatient clinics in Montana are some of the best in the Nation. We must eisure that our veterans can afford the care offered in these great facilities. We did not used to have outpatient clinics in the VA. We all had to go to the hospitals that were in each State or in each region. ","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5708,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090114312,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I cant recall a year when We havent given substantial increases to veterans. But we also need to have some accountability in this process. and I think we restore that through the Burns amendment. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3839,"word_count":38}
{"speech_id":1090114316,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the Chair. Mr. President. I rise to support Senator AKAKA and the amendment he has offered today that will truly and in reality help make sure we keep the promises we made to the men and women who serve this country overseas and who fought for us in the past and are fighting for us today and will be asked to fight for us in the future. These are people who have served our country. They have kept us safe. They have sacrificed for each and every one of us. and now they need our help. They need the support and the health care that was promised to them when they joined the service. and they need the health care and support in coming home and making sure that we have the services availableto them.. Unfortunately. the budget that is now before us is going to leave many of those veterans who have served this country so honorably without health care. without job assistance. and without the support they need to rebuild their lives on the homefront. Any of my colleagues who have gone out to their State and talked to these. men and women. particularly the ones coming home today. you know they are having a hard time with getting jobs. dealing with health care issues. dealing with posttraumatic stress syndrome. facing lines at our veterans facilities. and not being adequately served. much less those veterans who are facing the same long linesand who are being ultimately denied care. ","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6720,"word_count":252}
{"speech_id":1090114319,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Now they count on us. I urge my colleagues to join in supporting the -AkakaMurray.amendment. It is the real amendment to help our veterans. Mr. President. I reserve the remainder of our time.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3803,"word_count":33}
{"speech_id":1090114372,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The production and abuse of methamphetamine. more commonly known as \"meth.\" has become rampant in recent years. especially in rural areasincluding many counties in Nevada. In 2005..50 meth labs were busted in Nevada alone. This drug affects the health of those who consume it. destroys families. and harms the future of our communities. This drug is especially dangerous because it is extremely addictive. inexpensive to manufacture. and created from common household products. There is no doubt meth is sweeping the Nation. and we must work together to stop it. Despite the fact that many of our Nations communities. especially those in rural areas. are fighting valiantly against the devastating effects of this drug. the Presidents fiscal year 2007 budget provides only $40 million for the Meth Hot Spots program. nearly a 24 percent decrease from fiscal year 2006. Meth is insidious. it literally robs its victims of their lives. We must aid local enforcement. as well as fund treatment and -prevention efforts. if we are to emerge victorious. I applaud the Senate for accepting this amendment in light of the Presidents decision to try to slash funding for this important program. I urge my colleagues to maintain this funding in the final version of the budget resolution.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1912,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090114400,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"No. 3028. Chafee. No. 3014. Burns. No. 2999. and Akaka. No. 3007. I further ask consent that immediately following the votes. the Senate proceed to a vote in relation to the Bingaman amendment No. 3039. with the same 2 minutes of debate time. and no second degrees in order to the amendment prior to that vote. I further ask consent that the votes now start at 3:05. and that the time between now and 3:05 be divided as follows: 5 minutes to Senator BINGAMAN. 15 minutes to Senator DOMENICI. and then. at 3 oclock. 5 minutes to the Senator from Illinois. Mr. DURBIN.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":954,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090114404,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is interesting. when he spoke about that. he then turned to issues and matters within the Energy Policy Act. which was passed by 74 Senatorsbipartisanwhen he said: Let us move ahead to substitute in the tanks of our automobilesinstead of gasoline. let us substitute ethanol and a related product that eventually will come from cellulose that will be produced. that grows. And we are about to the point where we know exactly how to convert that to something that can beused in the tanks of our cars. The President asked for that. That is a very large item. That is funded. Senator BINGAMAN has no argument with that. Obviously. he is for that. In addition. the President said: We should move ahead with a technology toward batteries so a hybrid automobile will come onboard more quickly. That is another $31 million addon. I am sure the proponent. my friend. my colleague. supportsthat also. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4649,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090114429,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Trees were pulled up by their roots. utility polls were snapped in half. traffic signs and signals were toppled. forcing the closure of major roads into the city of Springfield. Twentyfour people in central Illinois were injured in the storms. including 19 in my hometown of Springfield. We are very grateful no one died. That is due partly to luck but also to the excellent storm warning system operated by the city of Springfield and Sangamon County. I salute the Sangamon County government. as well as the city of Springfield. Andy Van Meter. chairman of the board.\"and Mayor Tim Davlin for their great cooperation during~this disaster. The early warning gave people a chance to save their lives. Governor Blagojevich has already declared a State disaster in Sangamon County and in six neighboting countiesFord. Greene. Logan. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6370,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090114444,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the practical effect of this is to raise taxes: That is the only effect it has. If you take the paygo language and put it on top of the 5year budget we offer today. the only thing it will impact is the fact that taxes will have to be increased to pay for extending the rate cuts. for extending the repeal of the death tax. and capital gains and dividends. It is not paygo. it is taxgo. For all practical matters. this is a vote on whether you want to raise taxes. I yield back the remainder of my time.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":517,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090114484,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I have a letter in support of my -amendment from the Veterans of Foreign Wars. I ask unanimous consent that the letter in support of this amendment be printed in the RECORD. There being no- objection. the material was ordered to be printed in the RECORD. as follows:","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":281,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090114486,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I want my colleagues to know that this amendment fails to raise the top line of VA funding and would not fully fund mental health. I will tell you. we are going to have an opportunity. in a moment. to do better with our AkakaMurray amendment. I yield back my time.","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":279,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090114505,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. last year 74 of us voted to pass the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The amendment I have offered is to provide the funds to implement that act. If Members want to be able to tell their constituents that they actually were serious about those provisions and wish to see them implemented before 2012. they need to support this amendment. The budget resolution before us through 2011 does not provide the.funding that was called for in that legislation either for clean energy production or for energy conservation and energy efficiency. If my colleagues want to be able to say that we are taking serious action in Washington to provide secure and affordable and clean energy for this country in the future. support this amendment. This amendment provides the actual funds. This is the beef. if you are interested in where the beef is in this energy debate.","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":865,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090114511,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that after we conclude the vote on the Bingaman amendment. the next amendment in order will be the SpecterHarkin amendment for half an hour. fdllowed by the Stabenow amendment for half an hour. We are working. on a unanimous consent request to line upa whole series of amendments. which unanimous consent request we hopefully will be able to offer at the end of this amendment.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":416,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090114520,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am advised there will be\" two Senators absent at that time who are in favor of this amendment. If I may have the indulgence of the chairman for one moment to find out when they will be here. may I inquire of the chairmanwhen the last vote is scheduled in his unanimous consent request.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":302,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090114535,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I have one more unanimous consent request which is that during the time we are in joint session with the House and hear the message from the President of Liberia. for Wchich I guess we would be in recess. that time be counted against the bill equally divided.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":274,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090114582,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Actually. Mr. President. I think the confusion is that I am speaking for a moment about what was just accepted and wanted to say thank you to the chairman and the ranking member for accepting our restoration of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program funding. There was a 60percent cut proposed by the President. This. in fact. restored it. And I want to say thank you. and then also indicate that the chairman ofthe committee. while there are not always amendments or policies or approaches we agree on. has been extraordinary as a leader of the Budget Committee. I want to say thank you to him and to our ranking member. Senator CONRAD. who have worked so well together.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":680,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090114673,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is even more unacceptable that the administration has zero funded the program in its 2007 budget request. Justice assistance grants fund a number of local drug education and drug law enforcement programs. These include the crucial multijurisdictional task forces which are especially important in combating the rising rates of methamphetamine production and distribution in communities- across the country. Over the past 5 years. funding for Byrne grants and the local law enforcement block grants. which again are JAG predecessors. have been cut significantly despite the fact that State and local law enforcement have not only been saddled with the additional burden of homeland security but also with fighting the methamphetamine scourge that has grown in rural and urban communities across the Nation. These grants are an essential component of statewide efforts to address violent crime and drugs in my State of Missouri. They funded vital projects in the State. including a multijurisdictional task force program that worked to integrate Federal. State. and local law enforcement agencies.and prosecutors for the purpose of enhancing interagency coordination and intel ligence. To cut this funding would severely damage law enforcements ability to address the methamphetamine crisis in Missouri and would place communities at risk across the country. That is why major law enforcement organizations. including the National Sheriffs Association. the National Police and Peace Officers. and the National Narcotics Coalition have all endorsed the amendment. In short.. the funding is crucial in fighting the Nations war against methamphetamine and other drugs and necessary for keeping Americas neighborhoods safe. ","speaker_name":"JAMES TALENT","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2710,"word_count":255}
{"speech_id":1090114691,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I made the difficult choice to ask the legislature to increase taxes at the margins. After keeping spending to its lowest growth in 30 years. we were able to reduce taxes my last 3 years in office. But we did take care of the needs of the people of the State of Ohio. \u0095 I am not calling for raising revenues at this time. However. I am calling attention to what I view as a lackadaisical attitude toward what I believe is a freight train bearing down on our fiscal house. I voted for tax cuts in 2001. 2002. and 2003. In 2001. we were projecting surpluses beyond the horizon. I think a $5.4 trillion surplus in 10 years. We believed those surplus funds were better utilized in what I called the threelegged stool of fiscal responsibilitypay down the debt. spending restraint. and returning excess funds to households so as not to be unwisely spent. In 2002. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE VOINOVICH","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11727,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090114697,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I came to the floor today to talk about our budget deficit and a couple things we ought to be doing to turn it around to begin reducing it. Before I do that. I want to extend my sympathy and the sympathy of the people of Delaware to Senator INOUYE and his family on the death of Maggie Inouye yesterday. For those who have lost loved ones recently. those who have lost parents. those who have lost spouses. they may have just the beginning of a feeling for the tough time that our colleague is going through. To those of us who were privileged to know his wife. she was a wonderful. vibrant. and valiant woman and a great partner for him right to the end. So to DAN INOUYE. our deepest sympathy. It was a privilege to know your wife.","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":748,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090114698,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Garcia received cuts. bruises. and a severe concussion during the attack. According to reports. Garcia claims he was verbally and then physically assaulted because he was walking with his arm around another man. I believe that the Governments first duty is to defend its citizens. to defend them against the harms that are born out of hate. The Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act is a symbol that can become substance. I believe .that by passing this legislation and changing current law. we can change - hearts and minds as well.","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1178,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090114699,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like the RECORD to reflect that I was necessarily absent on Monday March 13. 2006. for rollcall vote No. 37. the confirmation of the nomination of Leo Maury Gordon. of New Jersey. to be a Judge of the United States Court of International Trade. Unfortunately. my flight from South Dakota to Washington. DC was delayed due to bad weather. Had I been present for this vote. I would have voted in favor of the nomination.","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":441,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090114715,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This bill makes it easier to stop them and it helps reduce the amount of Federal tax dollars that the IRS fails to collect each year. Brokerage firms and mutual fund companies will be re.quired to keep track of a. taxpayers cost basis and to report that information to the IRS. This will make it easier for honest taxpayers to calculate their tiaxable capital gain. and harder for dishonest ones to lie about it. Based on information from the Taxpayer Advocate. reporting to the IRS can improve compliance of capital gains reporting from an estimated 50 percent today to 90 percent. Fortunately. this new reporting requirement will not pose an undue burden to the financial firms affected. First. the firms will have plenty of time to put the necessary systems in place since the reporting requirement will not take effect until 2009. and then will only apply to securities acquired starting in 2008. Second. technology has made tracking by financial firms simple and efficient. More than 80 percent of all retail accounts already subscribe to a national reporting service for transferring basis information at a nominal cost per account. Finally. in cases where it is impossible to track basis. the Treasury Secretary may develop regulations to require alte&native information. It is estimated that $345 billion of Federal taxes goes uncollected each year. ","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3524,"word_count":222}
{"speech_id":1090114719,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to announce that the Committee on Indian Affairs will meet on Wednesday. March 15. 2006. at 9:30 a.m. in Room 485 of the Russell Senate Office Building to conduct a hearing on S. 1899. the Indian Child Protection and Family Violence Prevention Act Amendments of 2005. Those wishing additional information may contact the Indian Affairs Committee.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":374,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090114720,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"For further information. please contact Nate Gentry or Steve Waskiewicz.","speaker_name":"LISA MURKOWSKI","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2303,"word_count":10}
{"speech_id":1090114728,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. -I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking. Housing. and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on March 14. 2006. at 10 a.m.. to conduct a hearing on the nomination of Mr. James S. Simpson. of New York. tobe Federal Transit Administrator of the Department of Transportation. and Mr. Robert M. Couch. bf Alabama. to be president of the Government National Mortgage Association.","speaker_name":"JAMES TALENT","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":434,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090114748,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Personnel be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on March 14. 2006. at 2:30 p.m.. in open session to receive testimony on health benefits and programs in review of the defense authorization request for fiscal year 2007.","speaker_name":"JAMES TALENT","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":299,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090114758,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it stand in adjournment until 9 a.m.. Wednesday. March 15. I furthqr ask that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate resume. cbnsideration of S. Con. Res. 83. the budget resolution. as under the previous order.","speaker_name":"GEORGE VOINOVICH","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":435,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090114767,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. we are not questioning the Democrats patriotism. as they so often charge. We are. however. questioning their poor judgment. They are unwise in opposing what is clearly a vital tbol against terrorist organizations and in allowing the censure. resolution to the Senate floor which could damage the President as he fights this war on terror.","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1311,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090114769,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"FEMAs got trailers. lets match them up together. Thats just the way it is.","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1245,"word_count":14}
{"speech_id":1090114772,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. last month. February. was Black History Month. but indeed every month it is appropriate to honor the Black Aniericans who have contributed so much to the rich history and tapestry of our country. For that purpose. I want to rise and acknowledge one of my constituents today: Mr. Rebv Cary. Mr. Cary is an African American from Fort Worth. Texas. He served on the school board back in the 1970s. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BURGESS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1157,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090114784,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That is what Mac did for those who knew him in Francesville. Indiana. I thank both gentlemen for bringing this bill to the floor and ask Members to support it. Special thanks to the chairman. TOM DAVIS. and the ranking member. HENRY WAXMAN. for reporting this legislation from the Government Reform Committee by unanimous consent on the first of February. Congressman CHOCOLA and I introduced H.R. 4346 in November of last year to honor Malcolm Lawrence with the naming of a post office in Francesville.. IN. Today we consider S. 2064. companion legislation to our bill. which was introduced in the Senate by Senator RICHARD LUGAR. Like many Post Office naming bills. we have the opportunity to honor a local hero by placing his name on an important community meeting place. ","speaker_name":"STEPHEN BUYER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5695,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090114803,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I encourage my colleagues to support the bill before us today and work with us in the coming weeks and months to complete a fundamental reform package so we can better serve American students pursuing the dream of a college education.","speaker_name":"HOWARD MCKEON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3564,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090114805,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. - let me start by congratulating our new chairman. the distinguished gentleman from California . I am confident that he will be an excellent chairman and he will preside over our committee with fairness and bipartisanship and with the best interest of Americas students and our workforce at the forefront. And let me also congratulate Mr. KELLER on his appointment as the chair of the 21st Century Competitive Subcommittee. I look forward to working with him as well. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H.R. 4911 with the hope that this third extension of the Higher Education Act may be the last shortterm measure we need to pass before we produce an improved bipartisan and long overdue reauthorization bill that also reflects the best interests of Americas college students. As many of these students continue receiving their college acceptance letters. their families are now calculating how they can squeeze rising tuition and expenses into their budget. ","speaker_name":"TIMOTHY BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1642,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090114821,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. this past weekend. the Theodore Roosevelt came home to Norfolk. which I proudly represent. at the end of its 6month deployment .to the Middle East. where it launched over 5.000 sorties in support of the global war on terror. This resolution is for those brave sailors. as well as all the brave men and women who have time and time again answered the call and proudly served this Nation when its principles and values have come under attack. They have never wavered in their defense of freedom and their sacrifice should never be forgotten. least of all by us here in Washington. I would like to thank Mr. KNOLLENBERG for introducing this very important resolution and for his commitment and dedication to our fighting men and women. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"THELMA DRAKE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2653,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090114822,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Today we have thousands of soldiers. sailors. marines. airmen. and Coast Guardsmen who serve in harms way. I urge our communities throughout this Nation to reach out to those brave and honorable Americans and recognize their contributions by adopting a servicemember or unit or a family that is left behind. While we should take a moment to reflect upon these sacrifices these individuals are making. there are also tangible efforts that Americans can take to show their love and appreciation to our Armed Forces. I urge all Americans to continue their strong support for our troops and to express their support in appropriate venues. Mr. Speaker. I urge my colleagues to join me in support of this great resolution. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time. -","speaker_name":"GEORGE BUTTERFIELD","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2313,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090114844,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. my support for this resolution is reluctant because. while I believe that allowing military recruiters equal access to institutions of higher education is beneficial to both the military and the students. I am also strongly opposed to policies that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. such \"Dont Ask. Dont Tell.\" This policy has deprived the military of over 10.000 .highly trained soldiers during a time of war and continues to cost the government millions of dollars in wasted training and enforcement costs. If we want to bridge the divide between the military and universities. we should. instead of passing resolutions like H. Con. Res. 354. pass H.R. 1059. the \"Military Readiness Enhancement Act.\".which. by repealing \"Dont Ask. Dont Tell.\" would end the dispute over equal access for military recruiters. At the end of the day. our security is best served by giving all qualified- Americans the freedom to serve our country.","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":958,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090114852,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill to waive the passport fees for a relative of a deceased member of the Armed Forces proceeding abroad to visit the grave of such member or to attend a funeral or memorial service for such member.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":260,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090114857,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Hundreds of thousands of Americans from both our regular forces and from the National Guard and Reserves have been deployed in Afghanistan. -Iraq. and other countries around the globe. Our forces have been subject to more stress than any time since the Vietnam War when the United States had the draft. The men and women who have performed so magnificently for their country deserve all the support we can give them. and their families deserve every possible relief we can give them as well. The legislation before us today affords those families some relief at a time of unimaginable loss. Many members of our Armed Forces have developed ties and families abroad. and a few of them are being buried at private cemeteries in foreign lands after. making the ultimate sacrifice. At present. our law requires grieving parents. grandparents. and other relatives to pay nearly $100 in firsttime passport fees when all they want to do is to attend their family members final honor. For a large family these costs can add up and for no good reason. The legislation before us remedies this problem. It authorizes the Department of State to waive the passport fees in this situation. just as the Department is currently allowed to do when the family member is being buried in a U.S. military cemetery. It also extends the waiver to allow grandparents to be eligible for it. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2192,"word_count":233}
{"speech_id":1090114861,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution expressing the sense of the Congress that the Russian Federation Should fully protect the freedoms of all religious communities without distinction. whether registered and unregistered. as stipulated by the Russian Constitution and international standards.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":336,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090114863,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Petersburg in July. Considering all of these positions. they should be expected to uphold basic. internationally recognized and accepted standards to protect peaceful religious practice. That is what this resolution is all about.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5144,"word_count":33}
{"speech_id":1090114865,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"LANTOS for his wonderful statement and leadership. I would also like to thank John Finerty from the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. who is our Russian expert. John has been on the commission since 1981. When I got elected 26 years ago. John Finerty was there. a Russian speaker. a Russian expert. who has provided valuable insight to both Democrats and Republicans on the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. His wisdom. his council. his clarity has aided us while we travelled to Russia. when we met with lawmakers in bilateral discussions. with members of the Duma and other officials from Russia. and has always provided us the insight that we needed. and like I said. that sense of perspective and .timeliness as well as what our next steps ought to be. John has been to Russia and to the Soviet Union at least 27 times over the years. I will never forget when he accompanied FRANK WOLF and I. when we went to Moscow on a very I think historic trip where we visited Perm Camp 35 where Nathan Sharansky had spent so many years of his life. John was with us on an historic trip\/meeting with the Duma. Four days of talksand did we ever need Johns incredible knowledge and insight. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2237,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090114869,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H. Con. Res. 190. urging the Russian Federation to protect and ensure religious freedom for all people in Russia. Last year witnesses at a Helsinki Commission hearing on unregistered religious groups in Russia. provided alarming reports about the actions of local authorities towards unregistered or minority religious communities. Recurring reports of police harassment and criminal violence (that is rarely vigorously investigated) against these groups is jeopardizing the status of religious liberties in Russia. Adding to the concerns are recent reports that the Duma is preparing legislation to regulate the activities of missionaries. Reportedly. the bill would create administrative and criminal penalties for \"unlawful missionary work connected with provoking religious extremism.\" There was.also speculation in the Russian media that the Justice Ministry was looking to tighten the rules for granting visas to foreign missionaries. Furthermore. there are also reports that the Duma is considering an amendment to existing legislation that would require reregistration\" of registered religious organizations. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2259,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090114890,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of H.R. 4826. to authorize an extension of the Army Corps of Engineers section 214 program. Section 214 of the Water Resources Development Act of 2000 allows the Army Corps of Engineers to accept and expend funds provided by nonFederal public entities to hire additional personnel to process regulatory permits. Mr. Speaker. H.R. 4826 is urgently needed since authority for this program expires on March 31 of this calendar year. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES BOUSTANY","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1529,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090114903,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this is generally known as the miscellaneous trade bill. We do this virtually every year. It consists primarily of those bills that. on their own. dont have any opposition. but. standing alone. would have a difficult time in the legislative process. They are important in terms of their particularities. but taken as a whole. it represents an opportunity to put together. in a bipartisan way. those requests by Members in bill form to do what is absolutely the right thing to do. and. that is. those products not available in the United States and which are primarily materials used in making goods in the U.S. that do produce value added are subject to a tariff. So all it does is add costs. It is not in competition with anything in the United States. and so to help reduce costs we put together every year this lst of trade bills. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM THOMAS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":893,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090114905,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I agree with the chairman of the committee. I think he has described this legislation accurately. that is. it contains provisions that are technical and miscellaneous in nature. but taken collectively they are very important changes in our trade laws that will help U.S. businesses. farmers. workers and consumers. Most of the provisions in the bill suspend or reduce import duties on items that are not produced in the United States. and correct instances where Customs has overcharged for import duties. These provisions improve the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers and provide a benefit to consumers by reducing the price of final products. I am pleased about the process that was again used in putting together the Miscellaneous Tariff and Trade Act. Beginning in March of 2005. Chairman SHAW invited Members to introduce bills for inclusion in the miscellaneous trade package. In July. ","speaker_name":"BENJAMIN CARDIN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1536,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090114933,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am proud to announce that not one but two talented individuals from the Eighth Congressional District of North Carolina have made it to the final 12 on the hit show \"American Idol.\" Stanly Countys Kellie Pickler and Richmond Countys Bucky Covington are using their Godgiven talents to compete and make their dreams come true. Both Kellie and Buckys communities are. pulling for them. watching every week and dialing and texting as many votes as possible to keep them in the competition. Their local newspapers keep everyone infoimed of their progress on the show and their thoughts when the cameras are turned off. Mr. Speaker. I wish Kelly and Bucky all the best. Even ju~lge Simon Cowell cannot deny their talent and drive to compete.","speaker_name":"ROBIN HAYES","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":751,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090114949,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Customs. no easy undertaking. and fly from Amman to New York. The stories they shared when they visited the Halls of Congress were both strikingly sad and extremely valuable. But you wouldnt know it unless you had met with them personally. because the American media has hardly reported a single word they said. Too often in this Chamber we have heard that the media isnt doing a good enough job of covering the war in Iraq. Well. you know what? They are right. The media isnt doing a good enough job. The media isnt reporting about the destroyed hospitals. roads and schools. not to mention the shattered lives. shattered lives throughout Iraq. The media isnt talking about the tens of thousands. maybe hundreds of thousands. of Iraqi civilians who have been killed over the last 3 years of war and occupation. And they are not telling us that some 50 percent of those killed have been women and children. or that thousands of Iraqis have been unnecessarily detained or have gone missing. But the women who flew from Amman to New York talked about what is really happening in Iraq. about some of the burdens they bear every day as a result of our politics there. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3860,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090114959,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am transmitting a revised table for the current level status reon February 1. 2006. As published. the table .that compares the current levels of discretionary appropriations for fiscal year 2006 with the \"section 302(b)\" suballocations of discretionary budget authority and outlays among Appropriations subcommittees distributes the supplemental appropriations contained in the Defense appropriations act to the subcommittees that have jurisdiction over those matters. As revised. the table applies all supplemental appropriations to the subcommittee on Defense because they were contained in the regular Defense appropriations act rather than in a freestanding measure.","speaker_name":"JAMES NUSSLE","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":685,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090114965,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"C02 increased by about 10 points. 280 parts per million. to 290 parts per million. If you look at the third generation of the Industrial Revolution.\" which ends with us. about 100 years from 1890. the latest calculation in 2003 was 370 parts per million. That is increasing. Look at the last 100 years of increasing C02. which is 100 parts per million increase.","speaker_name":"WAYNE GILCHREST","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":935,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090114976,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. MELANCON. appreciate you bringing us here to. if you will. vocalize or. more importantly. galvanize our efforts. and our promise to those of you in the gulf region is certainly to continue to work. And as a Texan who will be addressing the supplemental. as we all will. to ensure that there is fair compensation for much of the work that we are doing in education and security in Texas. we are. not going to stand against you. We are going to stand alongside of you. and we are going to make sure that our efforts are a unified voice because the relief of the gulf coast is unified not divided. and we can do this together. We can do better. We -can do it for Americans. our fellow brothers and sisters.","speaker_name":"BARBARA LEE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3435,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090114981,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman for yielding. I think it is important to make a point here that often gets lost in these discussions. We did suffer a tremendous natural disaster in our region. But so much of what happened to our people. and what really drowned our city was not the storm itself. but the deluge that came from the breakage of our levees. Our levees gave way because they werent designed. constructed or maintained properly. This was a Federal responsibility. This was the responsibility of the Corps of Engineers. And therefore. when we talk about the responsibility of our government now to make an appropriate addressing of these issues. it is important to understand that we are asking a government that. in large part. caused the loss and devastation there to step forward now and help us to fix it. And so our position isnt just that we are victims of a natural disaster alone. but that we are also victims of a manmade disaster made by the men and women who were responsible for building. designing and maintaining our heavy system. And so there is an additional responsibility for this government to come to our aid. not just because we are victims of a storm. but because they had a hand in bringing about the devastation and destruction that occasioned us. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM JEFFERSON","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2718,"word_count":223}
{"speech_id":1090114985,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me if I might. join and just reaffirm. Mr. JEFFERSON. what you said one of the reasons. because I come from the gulf coast region. And I really think that as we work in this caucus. Mr. MELANCON. we really should focus on the educating of our Congress on the problems or the distinctiveness of the gulf region. which I think America should be proud of its regional diversity. Tragically. this past weekend we had a number of tornados. I believe. or windstorms throughout the Midwest. loss of life. a loss of property. These are regional climatic issues that come about. And so I suffered too. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2520,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090114988,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If you make the trip. if you see the areas that were hit. and if you do not feel differently about trying to help these Americans. then there is nothing more that I can do. I want to thank the leadership for allowingus the time. My job I feel is to keep this issue in front of the American public. because the gulf coast area is not back up on its feet and still needs quite a bit of help. Thank\" you. Madam Speaker.","speaker_name":"CHARLES MELANCON","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3394,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090114994,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Because the Blue Dogs have promoted what they call theit 12point plan .that will lead us back to fiscal responsibility. One of the points has to do with accountability. See the example Mr. Ross gave where you have money being wasted and you wonder what is going on. that is indicative of a broader problem within the Federal Government. So many agencies within this Government are unable to offer a clean March 14. 2006 . CC audit of. their books. it is pretty remarkable when you think about it. Businesses would be out of business if they ran this way. And so under the Blue Dog 12point plan. we think you have to put a structure in place that will force fiscal responsibility. one of the planks of the 12point plan says that if there is a Government agency that cannot give you a clean audit of their books. their funding is frozen at the previous years leveL No increase for inflation or anything else. In other words. we are going to create a strong incentive for the people working in that Government agency to make sure that they can at least give you a clean accounting of their books. That is what we should all want. ","speaker_name":"JIM MATHESON","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3882,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090115011,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As we wind down this hour that we do every Tuesday night. as members of the 37member strong fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog coalition. I would like to remind you. Madam Speaker. the reason why deficits matter. deficits reduce economic growth. They burden our children and grandchildrens liabilities. They increase our reliance on foreign lenders who now own some 46 percent of our publicly held debt. It matters because as a Nation. at a time when we are spending half a billion dollars a day simply paying interest. not prihcipal. just interest on the national debt. we are also increasing that debt. We are increasing it to the tune of about a billion dollars a day. $260 million every day going to Iraq. $33 million every day going to Afghanistan. but do not dare ask how a single dime o f your tax money. $260 million a day going to Iraq. $33 million a day goifag to Afghanistan. do not dare ask this administration how it is being spent. Do not dare ask them because they will say you are unpatriotic. As .taxpayers. I think this administration has a duty and an obligation to let the taxpayers understand that he has. that this President has a plan on how this $260 million a day is being spent of your tax money. ","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1594,"word_count":221}
{"speech_id":1090115076,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But while the American people were given an amnesty program. legalizing roughly 3 million individuals. the Federal Government did not provide the means for employers to determine whether that prospective employee could legally work in the United States. The Senator from Arizona mentioned the basic pilot program which was supposed to be the means to that end. but it was a purely voluntary program. and thus employers were left with a conundrum. They needed the workforce. but they did not necessarily have access to a means to determine the legal status of prospective employees. So what they relied upon were oftentimes what turned out to be fake identification. whether drivers licenses. Social Security cards. passports. or the like. We do not expect the employers in this country to try to be FBI agents or to conduct an independent investigation as to the legal status of prospective employees. What this amendment will do is two important things. No. 1. it will begin to cause the Federal Government to step up to finally begin to provide the resources necessary to have a bona fide electronic verification system. But perhaps more importantly. it will demonstrate the seriousness of the Federal Government to finally live up to its responsibilities. The people across America. the U.S. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3796,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090115098,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We were esti.mating that there would be all sorts of savings from competition because we were. patterning this program after what the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan had been for 4 years. It worked so well for Federal employees. we felt it would work very well for seniors. and it is working very well in this respect for seniors. But we estimated there would be certain savings. Quite frankly. we were nervous about whether these savings would materialize. But they did materializeto the point of adding up to that $8 billion that I have referred to. But with specific drugswe have drugs and pharmacists coming in under these plansbrandname drugs are coming in on an average of 18 percent less than other-. wise in a pharmacy. If it is mail order. it is about 26 percent less. In the case of generics bought at a pharmacy. it is 55 percent less. and for mail order it is 66 percent less. So I suggest to the Senator from Florida that enrollment has nothing to do with it. The savings are coming because competition is working. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10103,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090115162,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So this is all a sham. It is creating funding that does notexist. The Senator is correct. The amendment that she offered really did offer new funds. additional funds to buttress the community development block grant.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1195,"word_count":36}
{"speech_id":1090115166,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it is regrettable. and it is frustrating. that once again we find ourselves having to speak out on the shortfalls in the budget resolution for key community and economic development programs. The budget before us slashes Federal assistance to distressed and underserved communities. These cuts are shoisighted. they are illadvised. and they represent a significant retreat from our longstanding commitment to invest in our Nations communities. In just a few weeks. the Senate will again be asked to appropriate -tens of billions more to help Iraq. Though the Presidents request for Iraq funds is once. again off the budget so that it avoids our normal budget rules. the Iraq supplemental funding request once again is for real taxpayers dollarsno less real than the domestic cuts that the BushCheney budget proposes for the priorities of the American people here at home. That is why I am proud to join Senators MURRAYand SARBANES. as well as 14 more of our colleagues17 of us in allin offering an amendment to the fiscal year 07 budget resolution to provide for an increase of $1.3 billion to restore the community development block grants. or CDBG. to the fiscal year 04 level of $4.3 billion. We fully pay for the increase in funds by closing egregious tax loopholes that more than 90 Members of this Chamber have already gone on record in support of closing. Our amendment is supported by those who know best how- effective and important this program is to Americas communities. The list of endorsements includes the National Association of Counties. the National League of Cities. the National Conference. of Black Mayors. the National Association of Local Housing Finance Agencies. the National Association for County Community and Economic Deyelopment. the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials. the Council of State Community Development Agencies. and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2049,"word_count":309}
{"speech_id":1090115195,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We happen to think we are doing it the right way by sdtting the priorities under the cap. They think they are doing it the right way by growing the size of Qovernment beyond the spending cap and then paying for it with tax increases on working Americans. It is a difference of opinion. I yield the remainder of our time on the Santorum amendment and we can move on to the Conrad amendment.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4534,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090115229,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"No. I am not going to yield. Your side did not yield to me when you were talking.. . What our people are saying is we have priorities. too. We recognize that some things need more money than other things. We are willing to do it within a controlled atmosphere of a spending cap that is $873 billion. Within that cap. we are going to offer amendments to spend money on this item or that item. and in exchange for that we are going to cut across the board under 920. That is what it does. That is the difference. We are willing to set priorities and limit spending. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1629,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090115234,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am not going to ask a question. I will respond to your question and just say. I think this is a healthy thing. Debate has broken out here. which is a rare occurrence. You have done an excellent job of presenting your view. I have tried to represent our view. I would like to respond briefly to some of the points you have made. Perhaps you would then like to respond briefly to some of mine.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":393,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090115246,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Revenues are not down. they are proceeding to go up. They continue to grow. At least their chart shows they are back to a historic level. That level that they are at is essentially the level they should be at. which is the historic level that we pay taxes as. a percentage of gross domestic product. The Federal Government should not be taking more than 18.4 percent of GDP out of the economy for tax purposes. We are growing at a dramatic rate. These bars go up significantly. and they are going to continue to go up significantly because of the fact that we have in place tax policy that encourages economic activity. risk taking. and job creating. which is so critical to the generation of revenue to the Federal Government. So we get back to what is the essehce of the debate because I think it.needs to be restated. The essence is this chartthey have their chart. and it is basically the same chart. but we look at them differently. We agree that the chart is the same. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8946,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090115270,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. I yield off of our time 2 minutes to the Senator from Iowa to respond. Before I do that. however. I understand that there is an order in place that the next amendment will be -the Conrad amendment. followed by the Byrd amendment. We would like to ask unanimous consent to reverse that order. so that following the SnoweWyden amendment. we would move to the Byrd amendment next. rather than the Conrad amendment. So I ask unanimous consent for that change in the order of the amendment process.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CRAPO","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":510,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090115286,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask them. There are none of them identified. Will it be taken from the $30 billion reconciliation already accounted for in that bill or is there a new issue we havent seen? If you have a secret revenue loophole closer out there. I want to know about it. A loophole closer actually has to raise money. Members need to know that some of the leftover items from last year may not raise any money in -the current year when they want to spend it. You cant rely on raisers that were done in the past. We also need to remember that many of these leftover offsets were rejected by the House. It is not enough to call for \"more loophole closers.\" The amendments sponsor needs to tell us where the money is coming from. otherwise the call for offsets is just a call for \"funny money.\" in a sense. Members need to know that the till is empty. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2138,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090115288,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He is correct. there is not -money there. but there will be a very strong message sent by passing this amendmqnt. if it is successful. to the appropriators of the importance of this program. Again. I think we have seen that without raising the cap or without raising taxes.. the Senate has been able to come up with a robust number for Amtrak which I will support within the context of a responsible budget. We have done it year after year. and we will continue to do that.","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2253,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090115312,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Pennsylvania has over 4.9 million riders a year on Amtrak. It is not just Philadelphia and New York. it is not just Philadelphia and Washington. it is places such as Harrisburg and other communities within the State of Pennsylvania that require service. Instead. what they are getting here today is a sleight of hand. saying. Well. we want to put more money in Amtrak. more money than has been proposed in the budget by some $500 million. The fact is there is no money there. There is a colloquialism that has developed in America which says \"show me the money.\" There is no \"show\" and there is no \"dough.\" That is where we are. Our amendment accounts for the funding necessary by taking it from corporate loopholes and tax shelters. I hope people here will understand how valuable Amtrak is to our country. how necessary it is. and vote for the ByrdLautenberg amendment and not the alternative that has been proposed.","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2829,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090115323,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The following Sen- MENT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2007ator was necessarily absent: the Sen- Continued ator from Minnesota . AMENDMENT NO. 3050 Further. if present and voting. the The PRESIDING OFFICER. There is Senator from Minnesota now 2 minutes of debate equally diwould have voted \"yea.\" vided on the Santorum amendment.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":314,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090115332,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I hope my colleagues will join me in beginning to fix the issue of connecting our radios. radio interoperability. Last December. the 9\/11 Commission gave us failing grades in this area. as well as other areas. Back in November of 2003. the White House Office of Management and Budget said there were insufficient funds to do what needs to be done in terms of communications interoperability. They said it would take at least $16 billion to do this right. My amendment would provide $5 billion to. jumpstart what is happening now. Our esteemed chairman of the Budget Committee has spoken. about the fact that there is $1 billion or $2 billion available now. but that simply is not enough. That is not enough to do it as quickly as we need to do this. Right now. homeland security grants also in this budget are being cut. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1074,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090115363,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We are going to be here a long time if we keep doing 10minute votes for 16 minutes. I have spoken with Senator CONRAD. It is my sense that we should start cutting these votes off. We have a whole series of votes. The next one will take 10 minutes. We are going to start to enforce that timeframe.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":296,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090115390,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the question is. do you want to help the program or do you want to help the people? Members have all heard from their senior citizens. They are confused. they are bewildered. and in some cases frightened about this deadline coming up. They want some additional time. They are confused with .this multiplicity of plans. Senator GRASSLEYS amendment would only give discretion to the Secretary of HHS. They have already testified they do not want to extend the program. Members are going to have an opportunity to vote on the amendment that f6llows that will actually extend the deadline for the rest of the year. 2006.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":631,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090115411,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"For example. if 29 million beneficiaries enroll in Part D. and 1 in 4 used a single source \"blockbuster\" drug such as a lipidlowering drug costing $250 per month. the annual cost for that single product would exceed $21 billion. If the Secretary could help plans raise the discount on such a drug by just 10 percent. the annual savings would amount to $2.18 billion. This illustrates how in this special situation. -the role of the Secretary could be vital. Let me be clearthis amendment does not allow pricesetting. The language is clear: \"the Secretary may not require a particular formulary or institute a price structure for the reimbursement of Part D drugs.\" The AMA. the AARP. and many other are advocating for this authority. because they want to protect our seniors access to drugs as much as we do. I urge my colleagues to join us in assuring wekeep our promise to our seniors.","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2107,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090115431,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this amendment does what the Byrd amendment does. except it doesnt raises taxes. It offsets the money from the 920 account. I would encourage Members to let their voices. be heard in support of Amtrak funding to make sure that the Appropriations Committee understands that this is a continuing priority for the United States. and I ask for a \"yea\" vote.","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":368,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090115433,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we are talking about a proposal that has no funding for it. You reach into the 920 barrel and there is nothing there. you cant come up with any money. But in the process. the Senator from Pennsylvania did acknowledge that the Presidents budget is way off line because now we are talking about $1.5 billion. whereas. otherwise. it is $500 millioh less. So while this bill is imperfect we do want to see Amtrak supported. and I hope that we will be able to resolve it in the appropriations process to get it to where it needs to be. But this amendment is not going to do it. It is half a loaf and. at this point. we have little choice.","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":648,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090115457,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Democratic leader. the Senator from Nevada. for his leadership on this issue. We havo come together to present this Prevention First amendment because we believe deeply that we can do better than we are doing in our country when it comes to preventing unintended pregnancy and helping to support mothers and children. The United States has one of the highest rates of unintended pregnancies in the industrialized world. Half of all pregnancies in our country are unintended. Nearly half of those end in abortion. In order to decrease the number of unintended pregnancies. and to decrease the number of abortions. we must make contraception Ma h 15. 2006 more accessible and more affordable. The Prevention First amendment ensures that we dedicate adequate funding for these programs. while at the same time the amendment provides for dedicating funding to mothers and children so children will be as healthy as possible. Thig amendment sends a clear message: Women who need access to contraception to prevent unintended pregnancies will have that help. ","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4785,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090115461,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. during consideration of the Menendez amendment. No. 3054. I was unavoidably detained in a meeting off the Senate floor and missed the vote. As a cosponsor of the amendment to provide funding for port security. I would have voted \"aye...","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":251,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090115475,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":15,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If we adopt the budget that is before us. we will pile on another more than $3 tillion of debt over the next 5 years. winding up with a debt of $11.8 trillion. Now. here is what has happened already during this administration. From 1998 to 2001. we added no debt. In fact. we were paying down debt. Those were the ending years of the Clinton administrations time. In 2002. under the Presidents policies. we added $450 billion to the debt limit. In 2003. we added $984 billion to the debt limit. In 2004. we added $800 billion to the debt limit. In 2006. now they are out here wanting to add another almost $800 billion to the debt limit. These are not just numbers on a page. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10666,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090115483,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I.offered an amendment for $5 billion to make sure that the radios in this country are connected. interoperable. so they can communicate in case of a terrorist attack or a national disaster or other emergency. This was turned down by the body as being too much. Yet we spent $21 billion last month in interest alone on the national debt. The legislation before us allows this administration to continue to rack up another $800 billion on the Nations credit card. That means we are allowing the debt to exceed $8.9 trillion. That is unbelievable. That is trillion with a capital \"T.\" Tragically. 5 years ago. we were sitting on top of the largest surplus in the Nations history. The year I came into the Senate as a member of the Budget Committee. we were debating whit to do with the largest surplus in the Nations history. $5.6 trillion. At that time. the Senator from North Dakota suggestedand I supported ita strategy that would divide that surplus into thirds: onethird for strategic tax cuts in order to grow the economy. onethird for investment in our people. education. health care. science. research. law enforcement. those kinds of things. and onethird to go to paying down the liability we know is coming with Social Security. We would not be debating that gap in Social Security funding on down the road if we had in fact used that strategy. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6966,"word_count":235}
{"speech_id":1090115490,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the issue of the increase in the debt limit has come before the Senate as an agreement between the two leaders. and as the committee of jurisdiction. as chairman of the Finance Committee. I speak in support of House Joint Resolution 47. a bill that increases the Federal debt limit. I support this increase because it is necessary to preserve the full faith and credit of the Government. Without an increase in the debt limit. our Government will face a choice that we should not make and we would not want to make: a choicebetween breaking the law by exceeding the statutory debt limit or breaking faith with the public by defaulting on our debt. I hope everyone would agree that neither choice is acceptable. To understand why we are here today seeking to increase the debt limit. it is necessary to explain a few points about the Federal debt. Under current law. there is a statutory limit on the amount of debt that can be issued by the Federal Government. This limit. whi6h now stands at $8.184 trillion. applies to virtually all the debt issued by the Government. There is only one debt limit. but there are. in fact. two types of debt within that figure: debt held by the publicmeaning you and I as private citizens buying Government bonds. owning Treasury billsand then. of course. on the other hand. the debt held by various Government trust funds. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7526,"word_count":241}
{"speech_id":1090115497,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I yield myself as much time as I consume. Thomas Jefferson once wrote: It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debt as it goes. That is what todays debate is about. Will this generation pay its own debt as it goes or will this generation choose to shift the burden of paying for our consumption to our children and our grandchildren? Will this generation take responsibility for its own appetites or will this generation rob from the mouths of our children and our .grandchildren? This question defines the very line between responsibility and irresponsibility. Today we debate legislation to memorialize the shifting of that burden to our children. Today we debate raising the Governments borrowing by $781 billion. That is more than threequarters of a trillion dollars for 1 year. This follows on the heels of an increase of $800 billion in November of 2004. less than 12 years ago. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9365,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090115505,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. nearly 50 years ago I. like the rest of the world. was mesmerized by a small metal sphere. no bigger than a basketball. no heavier than I or most of us. Hurtling through space at the speed of soundI dont think it was faster than that. it goes about 18.000 miles an hourthis steel ball was Sputnik. the worlds first satellite to circle the earthin 98 minutes flat. It was a technological feat of the Soviet Union. Nikita Krushchev. the Soviet leader. had been intent on proving the Soviet Unions scientific superiority. He proved it that day in October 1957. News of Sputnik caught Americans off guard. We had been convinced of our own superiority. but here was undeniable evidence that others were leading the way. And of all people. it was the Soviet Union. Now we could only follow. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6325,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090115512,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In his remarkable career. Commissioner Douglas has brought national recognition to West Virginia. He has served as the national president of Future Farmers of America. the first president of the national FFA Alumni Association. the president of the Natfonal Association of State Departments of Agriculture. and chairman of the Southern Regional Committee for Food and Agriculture. as well as numerous other positions. Meanwhile. Gus and his lovely wife. Anna Lee. have maintained their own family farm at Grimms Landing in Mason County. WV. Along with their four children. and their families. they have done their part to continue the tradition upon which this great Nation was founded. The Gus R. Douglass Institute at West Virginia State University will be a lasting legacy to the outstanding and unwavering commitment of Commissioner Douglass to public service. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2039,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090115522,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"A second bill that I introduced with Senator CORNYN last year. the Faster FOIA Act. S.589. would specifically address the issue of agency delay in processing FOIA requests. We.propose to establish a comnission to review the persistent issue of delay and to make recommendations for reducing impediments to the efficient processing of requests. This bill was reported by the Judiciary Committee and awaits floor action. Our free press and the consciences of whistleblowers also serve the publics right to know. We would not know of the domestic spying program conducted in secret by the National Security Agency. with the full approval of the White House. unless the press had revealed it last December. The Department of Justice is stonewalling Congresss efforts to obtain facts on this program while threatening to prosecute reporters who disclosed the illegal program to the public. The Bush administration has kept vital facts secret by silencing scientists and experts. We saw it with the gagging of NASA scientist James Hansen. whose conclusions about the dangers of greenhouse gas emissions and global warming differed with administration policy. This administration also secretly let lobbyists from polluting industries write rules on mercury emissions. overriding the advice of the EPAs scientists and even drawing a harsh rebuke from EPAs inspector general. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6093,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090115540,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. ENZI. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health. Education. Labor and Pensions be authorized to meet on Wednesday. March 15. 2006. at 9 a:m. on legislative items. - * The. PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection. it is so ordered.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":257,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090115563,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it stand in recess until 9 a.m. on Thursday. March 16. I further ask consent that following the prayer and pledge. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate resume consideration of S. Con. Res. 83. the budget resolution. as under the previous order.","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":402,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090115576,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. since the new Medicare prescription drug plan took effect at the beginning of this year. Members of this body have heard from thousands of frustrated seniors struggling with the confusing and poorly written plan. Now they are dealt a new blow: seniors who dont register in .time will be forced to pay a penalty for the rest of their lives. Most seniors have yet to choose a prescription drug plan. many because they are unable to navigate the complex system. others because they are currently not taking any medication. For every month after May 15. seniors who have not enrolled will be charged an extra 1 percent of the payment of any plan they eventually do choose. for the rest of their lives. This new tax on prescription drugs is yet another example of how this Re15ublican plan was written to benefit large drug companies. not the Medicare recipients who need the help. Democrats are fighting to extend this deadline. Our seniors should not be penalized with a lifetime surcharge for doing their research on these plans.","speaker_name":"RUSS CARNAHAN","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1040,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090115581,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to applaud. the Supreme Court for upholding the Solomon amendment. which permits the withholding of Federal funds from colleges that close their doors to military recruiters. This case is a glaring indictment of our liberal influence within our colleges and institutions of higher learning. these spineless liberals who speak of the concept of allowing differing points of view. but in reality they oppose it. Look no further than one of our Nations most liberal colleges. Yale University. Last year. it admitted a Taliban spokesman as a special student. even as Yale Law School was suing in Federal Court to ban U.S. military recruiters from its campus. As Americans. we should be appalled with this seditious behavior and hold these liberals accountable for their actions. Mr. Speaker. the Supreme Courts verdict last week is a victory for common sense and for the protectibn of our country against liberal lunacy.","speaker_name":"PATRICK MCHENRY","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":942,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090115587,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Sleaker. for the purpose of debate only. I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York . pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration. of this resolution. all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. Mr. Speaker. on March 14 the Rules Committee met and granted an open rule on House Resolution 725. with 1 hour of debate equally divided between the chairman and ranking member of the Appropriations Committee. The bill shall be considered for amendment under the 5minute rule and waives all points of order against the bill. Additionally. when the reading for the amendment reaches title II. such title shall be considered as read. This rule accords priority of recognition to Members who have preprinted their amendments in the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD and provides one motion to recommit with or without instructions. Mr. ","speaker_name":"TOM COLE","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5792,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090115590,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana .","speaker_name":"TOM COLE","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":783,"word_count":11}
{"speech_id":1090115595,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"tried- to get that amendment adopted in committee. It failed. In my view. if you are going the pass the Lewis amendment. which all but two members of the Appropriations Committee supported. it ought to also contain the Sabo amendment so that we do. in fact. establish a rational process so that we are not just looking like a flock of chickens every time something happens that panics the Congress. In that way. we would at least have a systematic way for the administration to review each and every one of these potential sales or transactions. and we would have a way for Congress to do the same. So. unless those two amendments can be considered by this House. I see no reason why I should support the previous question or the rule. for that matter.","speaker_name":"MARTIN SABO","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":752,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090115598,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"HINOJOSA and myself. working together. to seek the $7.8 million requested here which represents the difference between the little bit that was appropriated last year and what the IBWC says it needs to prevent a flooding disaster. A few million in flood prevention today could save billions of dollars in flood relief. The Federal Government shouldnot shirk its responsibility. its sole responsibility. to protect the lives and livelihood of the good Americans who live and work in the Texas Rio Grande Valley.","speaker_name":"LLOYD DOGGETT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1924,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090115603,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Worse than 400.000 Iraqis killed in the decade before the liberation of Iraq?. Again. I think not. I think that we sometimes. on this floor. act as if we are doing a favor to the people of Iraq by leaving. I think that is dangerously misguided logic. I do not think it is a favor. Ido not think that it is a favor to the people in Iraq. That is not what their duly elected representatives have asked us to do. They. by the way. are running enormous risks for their own freedom. They rose up to try to get their own freedom in 1991. ","speaker_name":"TOM COLE","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1951,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090115613,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Thank you. Well. first of all. I was here when we voted on the Iraq thing. and believe me. there was plenty of information for people that wanted to look at it to know which way things were going. And certainly our White House should have known which way things were going. and they made representations that turned out not to be accurate. So people can be responsible for their acts. Secondly. the mass graves you are talking about are mass graves of the late 1980s. early 1990s. when members of our present administration were over there being friendly with the Iraqis and with Saddam Hussein. It is never not germane for this body to do its oversight duty. It is always germane.","speaker_name":"JOHN TIERNEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":681,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090115699,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I dont feel like I am a sacrificial lamb. and I am not doing this for any other purpose other than to give our strongest ally in the Middle East. the United Arab Emirates. the dignity that they deserve. There are Americans that feel they can do this in a most positive fashion. Mr. Chairman. I yield 21\/2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia .","speaker_name":"WAYNE GILCHREST","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":416,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090115713,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I will go ahead and complete. I do apologize for that. I was not aware of that. But I think it is important. in conclusion. that we work towardrebuilding and restoring normalcy for those who are affected by Katrina. However. we should do so in a standalone bill to ensure that we have proper oversight.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":316,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090115729,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise to make a point of order. Mr. Chairman. I make a point of order against the amendment because it proposes to change existing law and constitutes legislation on an appropriations bill and. therefore. violates clause 2 of rule XXI.","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":250,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090115738,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Acting Chairnian of the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union. reported that that Committee. having had under consideration the bill making emergency supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30. 2006. and for other purposes. had come to no resolution thereon.","speaker_name":"JOHN BOOZMAN","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":300,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090115742,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. though I was absent on Wednesday. March 15. 2006. for personal reasons. I wish to have my intended for the following series: Rollcall vote 40 on Ordering the Previous Question on H.R. 4939-\"aye.\" Rollcall vote 41 for the Adoption of the Rules for H.R. 4939--\"aye.\" Rolicall vote 42 on Approving H. Con. Res. 190-\"aye.\" Rollcall vote 43 on the Gilchrest Amendment to H.R. 4939--\"nay.\" Rollcall vote 44 to pass H.R. 4944---yea.\"","speaker_name":"CHARLES NORWOOD","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":439,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090115760,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the last word. Mr. Chairman. I am being asked every two seconds by Members. what is the story about tonight Let me simply suggest. and ask the gentleman from California if he concurs. It is my understanding that what we are trying to do is to put together a unanimous consent agreement under which we would be able to complete dur business of debating all of the pending amendments within about another 11 hours. That assumes that we can get that UC agreement. If we cant. -the debate could go on far longer. We dont quite have that UC agreement worked out yet. but we are trying to. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":989,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090115776,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. my intention is to withdraw this amendment. But I want to express my frustration at actually a combination of issues but particularly related to Colombia. that I have been a strong advocate that the military has been slow in responding in Afghanistan to the interrelationship to the heroin problem in Afghanistan into the military efforts. and will be there again next week to meet on the ground to see how we are progressing. And I have grave concerns that the DOD money that is being spent in Afghanistan is not being spent as wisely as I would like. Nevertheless. I am happy that the Defense Department is starting to understand the link between what is being done in narcotics and the heroin funding the attacks on our troops and men and women in ourarmed services there. We have a grave problem down in the eastern Pacific. and. that is. we have spent this money in the Andean Initiative and in Plan Colombia. What we have seen. as naval resources. which are very limited. have been transferred outof that zone. and the DOD has not made additional investments in. that my amendment would address the problem of an oiler. When our Coast Guard vessels go out to interdict in drug interdiction through the Department of Homeland Security. they have always been dependent. just like many intelligence assets are. on DOD. DOD has not given them an oiler with which. to refuel. ","speaker_name":"MARK SOUDER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2684,"word_count":242}
{"speech_id":1090115785,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in opposition t6 the amendment. Mr. Chairman. I understand the gentleman from New York is going to withdraw his amendment. and I will not take more than a few sebonds here. I want to make only one point to other Members here. What the gentleman is proposing is certainly something that is humanitarian. and we certainly agree with his efforts to try to do everything we can to restore order to the very troubled nation of Haiti. But I think it is important to understand that knowing these elections were coming in the 2006 appropriations bill. the foreign assistance amount included in there is $194 million. In addition. the President is requesting in FY 2007 $163 million. ","speaker_name":"JAMES KOLBE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1121,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090115793,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. this amendment would designate $10 million of economic support funds for the Community Action Program. alsd known as CAP. in Iraq. That is what this amendment does. I would like to say. Mr. Chairman. that a real hero in this House is Mr. KOLBE who has made sure that these programs have flourished. In my 11 trips to Iraq. I am absolutely convinced the best thing we have done in all of our expenditures on the economic side of the table has been to support these CAP agencies. There were five NGOs. nongovernment organizations. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SHAYS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3235,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090115796,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I strongly support the Shays amendment because this continues the CAP program led by groups like Mercy Corps in Iraq who are able to operate with very low levels of security because they are so heavily supported by the local community. This is a phenomenally successful program. The gentleman -is exactly right.","speaker_name":"MARK KIRK","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":325,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090115797,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. if I can just add. reclaiming my time. evidently not one of these projects done by these organizations have had to deal with assaults by Iraqis. have had a building or something which was then destroyed by insurgents. They have all surVived. I thank Mr. KOLBE from the bottom of my heart for his help in this effort.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SHAYS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":330,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090115863,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in opposition to the amendment. I am kind of surprised the amendment.came up. to a certain extent. The gentleman from Texas. not this gentleman. but the gentleman he referred to. just came into town. and I have not had an opportunity to talk to him. I thought I was going to get to talk to him. and we felt that we were going out of our way to help. The President has been requesting funding for the Lower Rio Grande Flood Control project for years and has again requested funding. in the Presidents budget for 2007. \" There are other areas of the country * that have this problem. and so to do it here and not there. and there are gang problems around the Nation. Let us forget the full bills and put everything into the supplemental and so we can just have one big supplemental and not have to pass any other bills. But to go through the normal process. the gentleman from Texas brought the issue of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Flood Control project to my attention last year. ","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1452,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090115873,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I plan to withdraw my amendment after I give a summary of the serious condition of the floodway levee system near the Rio Grande River in Texas. My friend and colleague. Mr. LLOYD DOGGETT. has brought some charts and shown what he understands to be the problem. I was born and raised there.. I remember 1967 when six brothers were told by my dad that we were going to stop and shut down our business to go and help control what was happening on our levees that just could not stand the over 28 feet of wgter that was coming down the Rio Grande River and that our levee system was unable to stand up to that pressure. So I am here tosay that we today are appropriating billions of dollars to help New Orleans recover because we did not spend the millions necessary to maintain our levee system. Because of our shortsightedness. the residents of New Orleans are displaced and many died trying to escape the. flood Waters. ","speaker_name":"RUBEN HINOJOSA","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2543,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090115884,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker the right to object. and I ce not. I simply want to poi right now we are at page 35 There are some 83 pages in t after we dispose of the ame those pages. we still have amendments that come at the bill. which means tha have considerable Member c we are going to be here de night and deep into tomorro I would invite Members to what the situation is with the number of amendments us. With that. I withdraw r tion.","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":423,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090115894,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise to simply agree with every word the gentleman from Virginia just spoke. I cannot think of a more mindless. shortsighted or ridiculous amendment to be offered that affects a serious problem than this amendment. It is absolutely backwards. It is ludicrous. It is absolutely against the interest of the United States. What we are in effect saying is we have such great relations with this country that we dont want to do whatever we can. to improve them by going directly to people through exchange programs. I find that to be ridiculous.","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":556,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090115917,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Jefferson Parish. St. Bernard Parish. Terrebonne Parish. and Lafourche Parish. These areas need to be taken care of. particularly since these areas are the first areas that will take the brunt of a storm in the Gulf. of Mexico and southern Louisiana. This is a working coast. This is the Louisiana coast. Oil and gas from Louisiana accounts for 30 percent of the energy consumed in this country. Thirty percent of the fish that come from the oceans that this country consumes come from Louisianas coastal areas and the Gulf of Mexico. Fortytwo percent of the commodities exported from this country come through New Orleans and the - river bounded by Plaquemines and St. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES MELANCON","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2190,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090115934,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This will cost over $100.000 billion to get this whole matter straightened out. along with other project losses back home. What we are saying here is that we have a plan which we submitted to the White House. and we have had this plan looked at very closely. The agreement is that Louisiana has submitted a very solid plan for $4.2 billion for unmet needs in its housing reconstruction: Without housing. our city cannot rebuild. Without housing. there is no chance to bring- our city back. And so we are saying today. Mr. Chairman. that without full. funding we cannot meet the crucial needs to help our citizens rebuild their lives. There is a move being made now to take the money out of the $4.2 billion to apply to Texas and perhaps some other places. and we say we need all of the $4.2 billion. We also have the $2 billion for Texas. We do notargue they do not need more help. but we do not need to have our money raided to take care of Texas or any other place. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM JEFFERSON","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3259,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090115938,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I appreciate what the gentleman has said. but he recognizes in his comments that there is $3.7 billion left unobligated of the money we have already authorized for FEMA. Everyone knows here that FEMA has not been a very good steward so far of the money we have provided to it. This is a way for FEMA to tighten its belt and to provide the folks the housing support they need back home. take care of Louisiana and Texas at the same time. and not hurt the FEMA programs. because everyone knows. as we have documented throughout our hearings and the rest. that FEMA has done a horrible job of managing the money. And even if it needs more. as the gentleman has said. there is $3.7 billion of the money we have already authorized. which is unobligated. which FEMA can have access to if they can prove a need for it. So I would move adoption of the amendment. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM JEFFERSON","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":919,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090115995,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Again. his words are accurate. We would do it over And over again. but we have already done the necessary facilities and staffing without asking. We are simply asking now to help us as we continue the burden that we willingly accept. E 2130","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1285,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090116039,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Chairman. let me suggest that I respect the good intentions of this waiver language. I understand that it addresses the question of flexibility. but. frankly. I believe that it should be the other way around. That. in fact. if the Secretary believes that there needs to be more dollars to be utilized for other income levels other than low and moderate. then the Secretary needs to. make a compelling need request. These moneys were designated for low and moderate in come. That is the bulk of the impact in the gulf coast region where the dollars are needed. My. fear is. with the ability to waive utilization of these funds for low and mbderate income. we will find these funds being utilized for economic development projects. putting in various extraneous matters that do not address the question of human needs. This amendment simply says. let us get ourselves focused. let us get back on the point. let us realize that the devastating impact is impacting mostly people who have lost everything and fall into the category of low and moderate. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2422,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090116040,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But what we need to do is to let the States use these funds in the way that will best rebuild the devastated areas. Madam Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH KNOLLENBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":902,"word_count":34}
{"speech_id":1090116052,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Long Beach. Mississippi. Pass Christian. Mississippi. those stores are no longer there. So for all of those reasons. I would encourage my colleagues to put back the money that the President has asked for. Madam Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"GENE TAYLOR","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1861,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090116078,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. let me say how much I appreciate the cooperation of Mr. CONAWAY this evening. He has been helpful at every end of our business. But in the meantime. I have this responsibility that causes me to make a rSE H1047 point of order against the amendment. because it proposes to change existing law and constitutes legislation on appropriations bill and. therefore. violates clause 2 of rule XXI. The rule states in pertinent part an amendment to a general appropriations bill shall not be in order if it changes existing law. In this case. this amendment imposes additional duties. So. Madam Chairman. I ask for a ruling.","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":631,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090116082,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Acting Chairman of the Committee of the Whole House on the State. of the Union. reported that that Committee. having had under consideration the bill making emergency supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30. 2006. and for other purposes. had come to no resolution thereon.","speaker_name":"THELMA DRAKE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":300,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090116103,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"According to the National Energy Assistance. Directors Association. since the winter of 20012002. yearly natural gas bills have soared from $465 to $1000. while annual heating oil bills have gone from $465 to $1000. . In my home state of Michigan. these national trends have translated to an average energy cost increase of nearly 37 percent. As a result. the state has anticipated a 6 percent increase in LIHEAP applications. Without additional funding. our state could experience as much as a $60 million shortfall in LIHEAP money. This bill. while falling far short of providing the money necessary or authorized by EPACT. provideat least a few million dollars more to help my state address this projected shortfall. Of course. much of the new funds will also go to warmer climates. where families will be facing unprecedented cooling bills this summer. so this is not just a regional bill. It is unfortunate that funding for LIHEAP has remained constant over the years while heating costs have soared. Even with these ndw funds. many families will have a hard time paying their heating bills this winter. Many of us would like to see LIHEAP funded at its authorized level of $5 billion. but certainly this bill will be of immediate assistance and I urge its passage.","speaker_name":"JOHN DINGELL","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2308,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090116213,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam .Speaker. the confusing and complicated Republican prescription drug plan will penalize seniors forever if they do not pick a plan by May 15. Unless the administration or Congress acts. 2 months from today. seniors will face a Bush prescription drug tax that will be added to their prescription drug premiums. We simply cannot allow this tax to take effect. President Bush was in New York this week conceding a lot of problems with the drug plan so far. However. the President refuses to extend the deadline for seniors to sign up. If he doesnt change his mind. Congress must act. Seniors are only looking for help for these skyrocketing prescription drug prices. They didnt ask for this confusing drug plan. nor is it to help them. But they need the help. ","speaker_name":"EDDIE JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1128,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090116225,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. the lives and livelihood of tens of thousands of Texans in a major hurricane zone are at risk because of defective federal levees that only the federal government can repair. I am here to ask that on the third vote this morning. our colleagues support an amendment offered on behalf of myself. Congressman ORTIZ. and Congress REYES to prevent another Hurricane Katrinalike disaster. This map shows the area of McAllen. Mission. Hidalgo. and Pharr. Texas--a booming community of hardworking Americans. small businesses. schools. hospitals. and nursing homes. Thatis -how it looks today. This is how it will look if those federal levees fail. covered not in blue plastic. but in water. Because the. federal levees are up to 9 feet deficient in height according to a report of the U.S. ","speaker_name":"LLOYD DOGGETT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1129,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090116226,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I rise today to congratulate the Rome Area History Museum on their 10th anniversary of collecting. preserving. and presenting the history of northwest Georgia. In 1995. five men. C.J. Wyatt. Bobby McElwee.. John Carruth. David Oswalt. and Ed Byars. recognized the need to create an institution dedicated to the history of Rome and the surrounding. communities. These founders gathered a group of dedicated volunteers and opened what has become one of the finest museums in the State of Georgia. The founders renovated a building on historic Broad Street to serve as their headquarters. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1074,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090116243,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I want the Members to know that after this series of votes. it is my intention to ask unanimous consent that for the next series of votes that we have the first vote at 15 minutes. followed by succeeding 2minute votes to help speed the process today. I did not want anybody to be surprised. I do not know whether the unanimous consent will go through. but I hope that it does. Members are all on notice.","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":417,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090116264,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. during rollcall vote No. 52 on the Jefferson amendment H. Amdt. 718 to H.R. 4939. to increase funding for Community Planning and Development by $2.000.000.000 and reducing funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency by the same amount. I was on a leave of absence due to illness. Had I been present. I would have voted \"aye.\"","speaker_name":"SUSAN DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":53.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":346,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090116288,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise to support this amendment because it would help thousands of children in the State of Texas. This amendment directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to give priority to states affected by Hurricane Katrina when redistributing unobligated federal matching funds from the Child Care Development Fund. Texas is now serving 6.000 children of Katrina evacuees with childcare services. There are currently 34.000 Texas children on a wait list for child. care services. Texas will soon be in a position where our only option will be to serve the children of evacuees at the expense of children in Texas. Congress authorized $200. million in additional Child Care Development Funds for FY 06. However. these funds were made available in the middle of the fiscal year making it difficult for some states to determine the necessary matching funds for this program. This amendment asks that any balances in Child Care Development Funds be made available to states where child care caseloads have increased due to thehurricanes. ","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1095,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090116297,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I make a point of order against the amendment because it proposes to change existing law and constitutes legislation on an appropriations bill and. therefore. violateg clause 2 of rule XXI. The rule states in pertinent part. \"An amendment to a general appropriations bill shall not be in order if it changes existing law.\" The amendment includes an emergency designation and as such constitutes legislation in violation . of clause 2 of rule XXI.I ask for the.Chairs ruling.","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":488,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090116302,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Therefore. this emergency bill is the time to address our most critical port security gaps. I understand the Senate Budget Committee chairman also believes that critical security gaps should be addressed in this bill. Protecting our seaports is a lot like protecting our airports. We need multiple security layers. With international traffic. the first security check should be overseas. The container security in this initiative. by which containers judged to be high risk are opened and inspected and all container manifests are reviewed. is operating today in only 43 of the 140 foreign ports that ship directly to the U.S. Since 2002. former Customs Commissioner Robert Bonner has been talking about the value of CSI and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has endorsed it. However. the Bush administration and the Republican Congress have been slow to fund and implement the program. This amendment would expand CSI to all overseas ports that ship directly to the U.S. and allow U.S. custom agentsto review 100 percent of all container manifests. ","speaker_name":"MARTIN SABO","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5052,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090116305,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the Dubai Ports World deba7 cle. like Hurricane Katrina. laid bare preexisting problems which some of us. especially on the Democratic side of the aisle. have been struggling for years to bring to public notice. * The ports episode starkly reveals the pitfalls of the Bush administrations peremptory decisionmaking style. without serious deliberation or consultation. And it lays bare the dangers of 4 years of administration laxity on port security. The Sabo amendment offers us the chance to begin to remedy that neglect. First. it would expand overseas container inspections to all overseas ports that ship to the U.S. The Container Security Initiative. responsible for reviewing manifests and opening and in-. specting highrisk containers. is currently operating in only 43 of the -140 overseas ports that ship directly to this country. This amendment would expand the program to all overseas ports shipping to the U.S. Secondly. the amendment would increase port security inspections and surveillance by the Coast Guard and would eliminate the Coast Guards current $70 million energy shortfall. Thirdly. the amendment would place radiation portal monitors at all ports of entry. Fewer than half of the ports of entry are equipped with those monitors now. and Homeland Security does not plan to have them all equipped until 2011. ","speaker_name":"DAVID PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2010,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090116329,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Army Corps of Engineers all do their job at 100 percent. there is still not a solution. We need to have a plan. an ordered plan. that provides for levee construction for protection of. in particular. New Orleans. at some level. whether it is a 3. a 3.5. a 4. or something above. The people that are reconstructing their homes need to know where they can put their dollars. But this. does not do it. Mr. Chairman. This is something that injects Katrina funding into DOD supplemental appropriations emergency spending. It is not emergency spending. It needs to be dealt with under the normal process of our appropriations process. ","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2226,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090116333,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And $13.5 million for the Inspector General would be cut. almost ensuring fraud. waste and abuse of the $35 billion in supplemental funds we have appropriated so far for the Gulf Coast. So I would urge a \"no\" vote. Although I understand the gentlemans motivation to try to separate out the disaster funding from the military funding. that would ruin the disaster assistance for the Gulf Coast. I urge a \"no\" vote.","speaker_name":"HAROLD ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":959,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090116341,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"My heart goes out to these people. But the answer to the human tragedy is not an unlimited check drawn uponthe checkbook of the Federal taxpayer. Many speakers act like nothing has been done already to help the gulf coast. but $100 billion in tax incentives and in other direct relief has gone to the gulf coast. That. ladies and gentlemen.is a lot of money.. And let us. also not ignore the fact that although there was a great trag.edy that occurred. on the gulf coast. there are many other tragedies that occur in this Nation every day. but CNN is not there to capture them on a daytoday basis. Mr. Chairman. 38.000 Americans die eachyear in a car crash. and we are asking their families to be taxed to send more money to the gulf coast. 1.4 million Americans are going to be diagnosed with cancer this year. and yet we want to tax them to send more money to the gulf coast. There are almost a half a million homes that burn each year. and we want to tax those families to send more money to the gulf coast. Perhaps more money is. justified. but until we see the plan. until we see more accountability where we do not have trailers rotting in the Arkansas mud and Gucci purses being bought on debit cards. until we figure out the precise Federal role versus the State role versus the local role versus the role of ablebodied individuals under the age of 65. until we come up with reforms. and most importantly. until we come up with offsets. it is time that we prioritize our spending. And maybe we shouldnt be funding the citrus canker program and RadioFree Europe if money is needed at. the gulf coast. ","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2277,"word_count":297}
{"speech_id":1090116374,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I want to thank my colleague and thank the committee. With this agreement. I am willing to withdraw this amendment. My understanding was there was some confusion in the initial estimates about the actual cost of constructing a parking garage that might have caused an inflated estimate. I do thank my colleagues for being willing to work.with me to makesure this facility is reconstructed as quickly as possible so the veterans can get the health care they deserve. I thank my colleagues. I thank the Chairman. Mr. Chairman. I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment.","speaker_name":"BOBBY JINDAL","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":574,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090116382,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding. and I appreciate his great concern for the National Guard facilities in the City of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana. We will continue to work on this issue as we move towards conference. and I am convinced we can resolve all the questions as we complete the work in the conference.","speaker_name":"JAMES WALSH","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":338,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090116383,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I want to thank the gentleman and my colleagues. Based on their commitment to work with me to make sure we do provide the funding to rebuild the facilities. my understanding is there are some questions that need to be answered and some additional information that needs to be obtained. but once that information is obtained. that we are confident we can do that before conference. Based on that. I will seek unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment. Before I do that. I want to thank my colleagues on the committee for working with me on each of my three amendments. Mr. Chairman. I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment.","speaker_name":"BOBBY JINDAL","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":632,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090116392,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I oppose the amendment for three reasons. First of all. some $9.5 billion of the $35 billion that has been appropriated will go to food. housing and other critical needs. So we have met those criteria as much as possible. Secondly. as the gentleman said. this is required by section 106 of the National Historical Preservation Act. We dont want to get into amending and trying to put that in the middle of this supplemental. I would suggest if the gentleman wants to take that up at a later time. we could do that. Thirdly. it is needed because an $18 billion tourist industry is involved here. and getting the assessment of these national historical .preserved sites is going to be the first step iii trying to get back that $18 billion. Those are three reasons I would oppose this amendment. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES TAYLOR","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":878,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090116399,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Not wanting to duplicate the ANWR funds. the reconciliation conferees shifted their addition to fiscal 2007. Subsequent to that. however. the entire ANWR package. including the $2 billion appropriated for LIHEAP. was dropped out of the defense appropriations conference report. The end result was no additional funds for LIHEAP in 2006. despite escalating heating oil and natural gas prices. The committee amendment simply tries to move the money back to where it was originally supposed to go. which was in this fiscal year. The problem. however. is that the language. even in the committee amendment. does not guarantee that that money will be spent this year. it only allows it to be. Let me point out the gentleman says he does not think this is an emergency. The gentleman makes $160.000 a year. So does. everybody in. this Chamber. It is not an emergency to us. We do not have to worry about heating our houses. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3304,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090116429,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is the least that we physicians. can do for our senior citizens. I wanted one prescription drug card. offered I cannot imagine that any Member directly through Medicare. for seniors to use to has not gone home and found hundreds cover all their drugs at pharmacies of their and thousands of seniors who cannot choosing. Congress could have passed a bill figure this out. Only a small fraction with both a real and simple benefit for Mediare computer literate. and they are care beneficiaries. and for less money. Drug trying to figure it out. prices could have been negotiated and adminLet us give these seniors a little istrative costs could have been reduced more time to try and figure this out. In through a plan directly under Medicare. In fact. the meantime. maybe we can. fix this the Center for Economic and Policy Research plan so that it can be serving them recently released a study showing that if Medirather than the pharmaceutical compa- care negotiated drug prices. we would save so nies and the insurance industry. much money that we would be able to cover This is a very. very sensible amend- every single beneficiary with no copayments. ment. I know that there are people on no deductibles. and no premiums. . . and still both sides of the aisle who are feeling have $40 billion dollars left. Now. we have a the pressure just to give a bit more program where the coverage is too little. the cost is too high. and complexity is preventing seniors from getting the drugs they need.","speaker_name":"JANICE SCHAKOWSKY","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2628,"word_count":265}
{"speech_id":1090116430,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Americas seniors need and deserve a Medicare drug benefit that is userfriendly. affordable. and stable. Vote for the Berry Amendment to do just that.","speaker_name":"FORTNEY STARK","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1679,"word_count":24}
{"speech_id":1090116487,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Special ejected. Court. Yesterday. Liberias new Presias announced dent addressed this Congress. She had an inspiring message. But what many TION human rights and civil society groups Chairman. on were hoping to hear was a loud and oidably absent clear call for Taylor to be turned over 559. For the to the court now before it is too late. I would have While Taylor is in Nigeria. Nigerias 56-\"nay\". No. president has said he would honor an -\"nay.\" extradition request made by Liberias N. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD ROYCE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":40.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2172,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090116488,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We believe and she has rles Taylor. said that he needs to be brought to juswarlords. He tice in an appropriate court. .t by the U.S. So the request to the President of Lir his crimes beria has been made. She went on to t he is living tell us that President Olusegun is now consulting with African leaders from veral counts. the African Union and the Economic or the killing Communiti of West African Countries. engineered. ECOWAS. to make sure that the extraal Court will dition will not in any way. destabilize the very fragile peace that now exists there. Once that is done. we would expect to see this accomplished. The request for extradition has been done. and we will continue to remain engaged and watch this very. very closely. as this process of the supplemental unfolds.","speaker_name":"JAMES KOLBE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2209,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090116516,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"addresses part of the problem. rampant waste. fraud and abuse in Federal contracting under the Bush administration. The largest contractor operating in Iraq is Halliburton. Government auditors have repeatedly caught Halliburton redhanded. They have found over a billion dollars in unreasonable and unsupported charges. Let me repeat this. Federal auditors have found Halliburtons unreasonable and unsupported bills exceed $1 billion. Yet over and over again. this administration has ignored its own auditors. The Pentagons auditors have found over $260 million in unreasonable and unsupported costs when they examine Halliburtons nobid contract to restore Iraqs oil field. Independent industry experts call Halliburtons charges \"highway robbery.\" But as this chart shows. the Bush administration ignored these findings and paid Halliburton for 97 percent of its overcharges and then gave Halliburton millions in additional bonuses. These same Pentagon auditors rejected $200 million in dining hall expenses because Halliburton charged for meals it never served to the troops. ","speaker_name":"JOHN DINGELL","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2605,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090116521,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Reclaiming my time. I thank the gentleman for his comments. but it is important that the defense committees know for a fact as opposed to the debate on the floor. So we have got to oppose the amendment at this time. Mr. Chairman. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California . the very distinguished chairman of the Committee on Armed Services.","speaker_name":"C. YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":350,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090116524,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. that is just absolutely untrue. So I continue to urge support for the amendment. .Mr. Chairman. I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman frofit Illinois","speaker_name":"HENRY WAXMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1108,"word_count":26}
{"speech_id":1090116545,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Yet last month. the Corps of Engineers ignored their auditors and reimbursed Halliburton for $254 millionall but $9 million of the questioned costs. This follows a pattern with Halliburton. The -Defense auditors had previously questioned $200 million in costs for meal services provided by the company. which again was overruled by the Army. which gave the company $145 million. This amendment to deny new contracts to companies that have a history of billing the government for questionable costs is hardly novel. In January. 2004. the Defense Contract Audit Agency itself recommended that the Corps not enter into new contracts with Haliburton. but 3 three days later the Army awarded Halliburton a new $1.2 billion contract. The amendment before us will ensure that taxpayer money will go to support the troops and help rebuild infrastructure and not fatten the pockets of contractors that have a history of questionable billing practices. I emphasize this amendment will not take any funds away from troop support. but will help support the troops. It is an embarrassment that there have been virtually no Congressional hearings on the matter. Instead. we must act legislatively. -The best course of action to ensure that our moneyis going where it is needed in support of the troops is to put an end to future contracts with companies that are serial overchargers. Vote for this amendment. ","speaker_name":"JOHN DINGELL","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2358,"word_count":226}
{"speech_id":1090116554,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 1 minute. Let me just say that SBA. before we start talking -about deadlines. we need to get SBA to process the 60.000 applications that are in backlog. They need to do a better job in educating people so that we can get more than 19 percent of the applications back. They need to fix the system where they have been declining 60 percent of all the loans that have been submitted to SBA. They need to dp the job before they pull out. and that is an excuse for them not to do the job. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"NYDIA VELAZQUEZ","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":560,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090116558,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. let me just say this. Isnt it true that there are 60.000 applications in backlog? Isnt it true that 19 percent. only 19 percent have been processed? Isnt it true that there is 65 percent declined on loans approval? This is not about partisanship. this is about victims who are suffering. who are losing their businesses. who are losing their jobs. This is what this amendment is. all about. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"NYDIA VELAZQUEZ","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":444,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090116576,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 1 minute. Let me just say that this is a cornerstone of the Presidents budget for SBA. and I think it is important that Congress go on record on this issue. particularly for us Democrats. And what we are saying today is. it is a bad idea. and we need to make it clear from the beginning. from the start. that we want to balance the budget but not at the expense of disaster victims. And that is exactly what we are doing with this amendment today. We must prevent any of these funds from being used for higher interest loans in disaster loans for victims. We have to make sure that if money is carried over. that it will not be used for higher interest loans that will impact disaster victims. Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"NYDIA VELAZQUEZ","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":769,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090116580,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I yield myself the balairce of my time. Mr. Chairman. this amendment would ensure that the disaster loan program remains an affordable source of capital for those affected by future disasters. When the program works. it has served to create the publicprivate partnership that balances the needs of fiscal constraint and compassion for our fellow Americans. The administrations proposal to raise interest rates on disaster loans will simply leave the victims to fend for themselves. 0l 1630 In the end. it is in our best economic interest to get these communities back up and running and creating the jobs they have proven they can create. By voting \"yes.\" we are telling the administration that raising interest rates on disaster loans is a bad idea and Congress will not support it. I urge a \"yes\" vote. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"NYDIA VELAZQUEZ","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":855,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090116597,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Chairman. it is not true that the time is up. Eligible Hurricane Katrina victims with no other housing means may be eligible for 3 months worth of housing assistance. And the deadline application for individual assistance has been extended until April 11. So I would urge defeat of this amendment. Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"HAROLD ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":405,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090116617,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. this is an important statement that we are making. And again I am sure that we will experience ridicule because I will stand here and say that I believe that the troops have done their job. their patriotic job. the job of defending America. They have won the victory. and it is time for them to come home. We must redeploy our troops. And for wells in Iraq would pay for the rebuildall of those who say that many of us do ing of Iraq. They are pumping less oil not have a plan. we do. And that plan now than they were before the war. incorporates the gentlewomang You claimed that you were training amendment. and I thank her for her soldiers to take over the security of leadership. and that is that we want to the country. But we are finding bodies redeploy and we want to vest in Iraq every day. In the last 2 days. there and the Iraqi people and soldiers the were 85 bodies found. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2105,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090116625,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank my good friend from the Appropriations Committee and my good friend from California. I want my colleagues to consider some facts. One is with this amendment that we will have now spent as much as we did in the entire Vietnam War. Does anybody think that that $400 billion was well spent in retrospect? Consider the fact that 82 percent of the Sunnis and 69 percent of the Shia want us to withdraw immediately. In fact. the majority say that our presence is hurting rather than helping Iraqs future. Consider what happened when the British concluded their occupation. The first people the Iraqis went after were those who cooperated with the British. considering them collaborators. Then they went after -the foreigners that were trying to exploit the situation. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1066,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090116627,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. in the time I have spent in and around Iraq I have seen a fabulous facility at Camp Doha that is meeting most of our challenges in the region. I see it developing significantly in the future. I dont see a need for a permanent facility in Iraq. I doubt there will even be a suggestion of that. On the other hand. I think the discussion.was very healthy.","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":366,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090116628,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the price for continuing this war is too high. not only in. budgetary terms. but in American lives. Iraqi civilian casualties blamed on America and in the steady increase in the terrorist ranks that this war is provoking around the globe. The American taxpayers should not have to send. one more penny on the Administrations Iraq misadventure. Lets give our troops the supplies they need to get out of Iraq safely. Lets bring our troops home.","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4346,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090116647,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. during rollcall vote No. 61 on the Velizquez amendment to H.R. 4939. to prohibit the use of funds from being made available to enforce deadlines regarding economic injury disaster loan applications and physical loan applications. I was on a leave of absence due to illness. Had I been present. I would have voted \"aye.\"","speaker_name":"SUSAN DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":53.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":333,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090116659,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. also believe. however. that the President has during rollcall vote No. 63 on the Lee amend- failed to provide the American people with a ment to H.R. 4939. to prohibit the use of funds viable plan for success in Iraq. This bill fails to from being available to implement. administer. include benchmarks to hold the Administration or enforce the termination of the hotel and accountable. The bill also fails to include ademotel emergency sheltering program estab- quate safeguards to ensure that the funds are lished by FEMA for families displaced by Hur- spent responsibly. ricane Katrina and other hurricanes of the Millions of dollars have already been lost or 2005 season. I was on a leave of absence wasted in Iraq due to poor oversight: Every efdue to illness. Had I been present. I would fort must be made to prevent another Hallihave voted \"aye.\" burton from growing fat at the expense of the","speaker_name":"SUSAN DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":53.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":913,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090116662,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Months after .those storms battered our Gulf Coast. many Americans are still displaced. and basic services are not available in places like New Orleans. Given the federal governments insufficient efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. it is our responsibility to provide the affected residents and businesses with the resources and assistance they need to rebuild. This -measure will also greatly assist those facing exorbitant heating bills this winter. After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita damaged domestic energy sources. all Americans experienced higher energy costs. but the burden was particularly heavy for lowincome residents in cold climates. H.R. 4939 will allow states to access $1 billion in Low Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) funding more quickly. which will be welcome news to states such as Rhode Island that are struggling to help families in need. I greatly appreciate the Committees inclusion of assistance to the victims of genocidal violence in Darfur and to train and equip the African Union peacekeeping troops. To date. at least one hundred thousand people have been killed. with millions more displaced. It is impossible to view the images from Sudan without being outraged at the cruelty and injustice of the situation. Our nation must do more to prevent further violence. Last year. ","speaker_name":"JAMES LANGEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3422,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090116739,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. we also need them Madam Speaker. today I rise to ac- to ask for parity for mental health coyknowledge Brain Awareness Week. -erage. which means equal insurance which reminds us that neuroscience re- coverage for mental illness as every search is critical to the health of U.S. other physical illness. You cannot look global competitiveness and much of at these poster boards and not tell me this research is done by the National that mental illness is physical illness. Institutes of Health. It is not a sign of a character defect As Members of Congress. many of us if they are depressed. if they are suffrom both sides of the .aisle make a commitment to doubling the NIH budg- fering from mental illness. It is a sign et. and many of us now wonder what do that they need the kind of attention to we get for what we paid for. the organ. which is their brain. the Some are asking this and I have organ which is their brain that too asked them to look at www.SFN.org. often has been associated with stigma which stands for the Society of Neuro- and stereotype that has guided our polscience which has produced 24 separate icymaking too much of the time. and brain research success stories. Behind as a result we spend less than four of me here you see some of the incredible every 100 of your dollars at NIH studytechnology that is giving rise to re- ing brain diseases even though they search in the brain by helping us comprise the second leading cause of through PET scans and FMRIs. looking lost days in this country. into the brain as we have never been Madam Speakei. I ask that my colable to do before. leagues join me in recognizing Brain These discoveries have allowed us to Awareness W~ek and join me in helping develop treatments that reduce the se- to continue the research. the .very verity of symptoms for those suffering promising work that is going on in our from Parkinsons. those suffering from institutes of health that help us find affective disorders. We have seen a the discoveries that we need in order to whole new class of antidepressants relieve the suffering of millions of that produce fewer sides effects than Americans. their predecessors. We have also seen great breakthroughs in the identification of new stroke treatment and prevention methods. and we have seen the - By unanimous consent. leave of abcreation of ways to help prevent epilep- sence wasgranted to: tic seizures. as well as expansion of Mrs. DAVIS of California (at the retreatments for psychotic symptoms quest of Ms. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK KENNEDY","chamber":"H","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4571,"word_count":444}
{"speech_id":1090116756,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Finally. the Senator from North Carolina. Mr. BURR. will have an amendment that will be considered at the same time as mine. His amendment is an empty vessel. Mr.. President. let me send my amendment to the desk. I am sensing. they do not have a copy there.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":257,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090116842,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It has been cut by nearly 50 percent from the 2004 level because there has been a steady decline. and. of course. this impacts every States and every communitys ability to upgrade their waste water infrastructure and meet Clean Water Act requirements. The National Park Service is being cut. Our National Parks have a desperate need for funding in order to carry out their activities.","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1875,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090116891,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my colleagues for their very gracious remarks and all of my colleagues for their expressions of respect and affection. My colleague. Senator MIKULSKI. said I was the longest serving Senator in Marylands history. I want you to know. it is a little bit like being like Cal Ripken. every day you go to work. you set a new recordone more day than the day before. It has been. obviously. one of the great focuses and joys of my life to be able to work here in the Senate with all my colleagues. I am extremely grateful to all of you. I will just close with this story. because I am still here until the 3rd of January 2007. So there isstill time to go. ","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1070,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090116893,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. if I could just briefly say to our good friend from Maryland that Republican Senators. too. join in wishing him well on this extraordinary accomplishment. And if he would like to resign any time before January. that would be all right. too. But in the meantime. we are glad to have you around. Congratulations. Senator SARBANES.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":343,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090116896,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Lets look at that amount of spending another way. If the Federal Government spent $2.5 trillion last y7ear. that means that on average. $6.8 billion was spent each day. or $78.418 was spent per second by the Federal Government. I believe that it is absolutely necessary to have an open and honest debate about our spending *priorities. We are getting ready to increase this countrys debt limit to almost $9 trillion. Over the past 5 years. our national debt has increasedby $3 trillion. or nearly $9.000 per American. That is a lot of money. In 1990. our total national debt was about $3 trillion. That means that it took our country more than 200 years to accumulate that amount of debt200 years to increase our debt by $3 trillion. We just added that much new debt in only 5 years. In 2001. the share of Federal debt per person in this country was a little over $20.000. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10045,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090116978,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And this budget resolution. which largely reflects the Presidents budget proposal. does nothing to indicate otherwise. We know our first responders lack the training. equipment. and frequently the manpower they need to do their jobs. Most dont even have the basic capability to communicate with one another across jurisdictional and service lines. and Hurricane Katrina demonstrated that sometimes during a major catastrophe they cant communicate at all. Yet. the Presidents fiscal year. 2007 budget proposal eliminates a number of first responder programs and cuts others. leaving those on the frontlines of the war against terror or on the frontlines of a hurricane. struggling to make due. with less. Our amendment would add $860 million to restore. and expand first responder programs. . We would restore $400 million for the Law Enforcement Terrorist Prevention Program. which the administration would totally eliminate. $251 million for the FIRE grants. which provide training and equipment to firefighters. $110 million to restore the SAFER Act. which helps recruit. hire and train local firefighters and which the administration would eliminate. $30 million for the MetrQpolitan Medical Response System which helps prepare local health officials for mass casualties. and $15 million for emergency preparedness grants. We would also. add $67 million to the priniary homeland security grants for States. After first responders. port security would get the second highest amount of funding under our amendmentfor a total of $427 million for port security. Perhaps one of the unintended consequences of the Dubai Ports World fracas was that it underscored the need for better port security. Ninetyfive percent of all our trade flows through our ports. and a terrorist event at one could cause economic havoc. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5538,"word_count":278}
{"speech_id":1090116979,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There are so many needs. but we Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President. I canhave worked very hard to keep the cost not imagine that the rest of my colof our amendment down. It is fully off- leagues in this body are not hearing set. I hope our colleagues will support the same thing I hear. as I travel back this proposal. It also provides funding each week to Arkansas. from. my confor a number of other critical infra- stituents. Always in the top three structure needs. such as our Nations issues they bring up -in the most pasrail and transtt systems. sionate of ways happens to be how in I urge my colleagues to support this the world are we in this Nation going amendment and send a message to our to deal with the number of uninsured first responders that they are a top pri- in this country. particularly in the ority. The additional funding provided small business arena? by the CollinsLieberman amendment Those Americans who are working is an investment we simply must make hard. those trying to provide for their to strengthen our ability to prevent. families. those keeping the framework detect. and if necessary respond to at- and the foundation of our small comtacks on our homeland. munities together. those working in I urge support for the amendment. small businesses. how are we going to and I yield the remainder of my time. do a better job in this body in helping","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5867,"word_count":245}
{"speech_id":1090117102,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. my amendment is now being cohsidered. The vote is simple: If you vote yes. you support my amendment to strike this unfair tax increase from the budget. However. if. you vote no on this. you are saying to the average family that they should pay more taxes. So the vote is yes. We want to strike this unfair tax increase from the budget. The average family of four traveling roundtrip on nonstop flights will pay $40 in security taxes under the Presidents budget proposal. The traveling public is already overtaxed. They pay nearly 20 percent in total Federal taxes on every airline ticket. To make matters worse. this tax increase will hit families the hardestfamilies and loved ones traveling to be together. whether during holidays or emergencies. ","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":922,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090117117,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. can I alert colleagues again? We have colleagues who are missing votes. They are missing votes because of the time deadline. We have had Democrats missing votes and we have had Republicans missing votes. We dont want you to miss votes. We want you to make votes but at the same time we have to stay on schedule.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":326,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090117162,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this is kind of a litmus test amendment. We have had it up a couple times before. We do intend to pick up votes each time. It is an amendment to get into some of the big spending we do around here. With the exception of trust votes and national defense. it says that any vote on appropriations that exceeds the previous year has to have a twothirds majority. This amendment is endorsed by a number of groups. including the American Conservative Union. Christian Coalition. and other groups. It will be a scored vote. It is a very significant vote. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":717,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090117164,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this is truly a sweeping amendment. I hope .colleagues are listening. This amendment seeks to lock in the current level of discretionary spending. not just for this year but permanently. I hope colleagues are listening. This seeks to lock in the current level of spending for homeland security. for veterans health. for NIH. not just for 1 year but permanently because it would take 67 votes to increase it. I hope my colleagues will reject this amendment. This is an amendment which goes against every democratic impulse of this body.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":550,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090117189,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator from Massachusetts for highlighting an issue that is important to the Armed Services Committee. the authorizing committee. A lot of work is already going on to deal with this problem. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Peter Pace. said rising health care costs are the No. 1 issue when he spoke to our committee. This amendment would cost $10.4 billion over 5 years and result in an increase in taxes by that amount. The authorizing committee does need to focus on it and is focusing on this issue. I ask the amendment be defeated.","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":565,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090117196,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Senator SANTORUM. amendment No. 3052. as modified. Senator LEAHY. amendment No. 3154. and Senator BAUCUS. amendment No. 3059.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":616,"word_count":18}
{"speech_id":1090117209,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the amendment I have sent to the desk adds a reserve fund to the budget resolution for Social Security that would allow Congress to begin saving Social Security surpluses for future Social Security recipients. If the Finance Committee does not report back. then nothing happens. The amendment does nothing to change Social Securityno privatization. no","speaker_name":"JIM DEMINT","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":366,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090117297,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. my amendment would 1provide nonserviceconnected pensions to Filipino veterans of World War H. In 1941. President Roosevelt issued an Executive order which called into the order of the Armed Forces of the United States all organized military forces of the Commonwealth of the Philippines. These veterans fought alongside American troops and were commanded by General MacArthur. There was no question when they were fighting that they would be treated the same as American troops. Congress betrayed these veterans by enacting the Rescission Act which deemed the service of soldiers of the Commonwealth Army of the Philippines not to be service in the United States military. This was after they already served with the U.S. military. These veterans have been waiting for 60 years to have their benefits reinstated. It is time that the United States fulfill its responsibility to these veterans. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":929,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090117321,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to discuss S.A. 3111 to the fiscal year 2007 budget resolution which I sponsored with my colleague. Senator DEWINE. This amendment. which helps.our Nations firefighters perform their critical duties more safely. was adopted by unanimous consent. I thank the Chairman of the Budget Committee. Senator GREGG. and the committees ranking member. Senator CONRAD. both for their work on the budget resolution and for their consideration of this important issue. . I would imagine that this amendment. which creates a special reserve fund to pay for the assistance to firefighters grants. is not the way that everyone w6uld choose first to provide critical resources to the FIRE Act and SAFER Act grants. However. this amendment does demonstratethe commitment of the Senate to increase conditionally funding for our firefighters in a manner consistent with the need to be fiscally responsible. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5328,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090117322,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We can and must do better.","speaker_name":"HERBERT KOHL","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3993,"word_count":6}
{"speech_id":1090117332,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I know Senator VITTER wants to be heard on his amendment and Senator DOMENICI wants to be heard on his amendment. There was a prior order that said Senator DOMENICI would occur after Sen.ator SANTORUMnot an order but sort of a collegial understandingso we will go to Senator DoMENICI. then Senator VITTER.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":320,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090117370,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we are very close to being able to move to-. ward final passage. but we still have a number of amendments to dispose of. If we can just have the patience of the body for a few more minutes. we can dispose of these final amendments and move toward final passage. First of all. I think it is important to thank colleaguesdozens of colleagueswho have given their amendments in the last hourwe appreciate it very muchand others who were able .to work with us to get their amendments agreed to as the chairman has just reviewed. The next amendment is Senator ENSIGN. We ask colleagues to give the Senator from Nevada their attention.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":643,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090117395,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Fufther. under the current administration.. the share of that debt held by foreign creditors has more than doubled. And its not just the Federal Government thats borrowing. but the economy as a whole. Our personal savings rate in January was negative 0.7 percent. the 10th consecutive month for which it was effectively zero or below. Our current account deficit continues to set new records. it was an unprecedented $805 billion in 2005. This dramatic runup in the debt has real costs for Americas familiesboth today and for future generations. It puts upward pressure on interest rates for things like student loans. home mortgages. and automobile loans. It raises the cost of capital for business investment. Rising interest rates. caused by Americas growing indebtedness. represent a de facto tax increase on American families and businesses. This administrations fiscal recklessl ness has also hurt our ability to address our nations most important priorities. like education and health care. that strengthen our economic competitiveness and allow more Americans to sharp in greater prosperity. This budget provides a clear illustration of this failure. with the drastic cuts it would make in these areas. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12087,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090117401,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"These increases now total $3 trillion. The service on the debt alone for this year is $220 billion. This money could be put to better use. With the approaching retirement of the baby boomers. we should not be increasing the debt. The budget being debated today is not based in reality. It leaves out the full 10 year numbers. Without these numbers. the budget hides the full cost of making the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent. The budget does not include funding for the ongoing war costs beyond 2007. Relief from the individual alternative minimum tax. AMT. is only addressed for 2006: It does not include the Presidents Social Security privatization proposal. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8117,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090117428,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In the other 45 months. 134 judges have been confirmed. Ironically. under Democratic leadership. the Senate was almost twice as productive as under Republican leadership. It is most regrettable that this President has not fulfilled his promise to the American people to be a uniter. Nor has he fulfilled his pledge to complete his work in advance of vacancies and to make nominations promptly. Judicial. vacancies have grown to more than 50 and the White House has failed to send nominees for more than half of those. Some of those vacancies have been sitting empty for more than a year. Over and over the White House has missed the deadline the President established for himself. and today. more than half of the judicial vacancies. 27. are without nominations. Onethird of those vacancies are already more than 180 days old and onethird of the judicial emergency vacancies are without nominees. If the White House would eliminate its partisan political and ideological litmus tests from the judicial nominations process and its emphasis on rewarding cronies and focus only on qualifications and consensus. the job of selecting nominees and our job of considering them for confirmation would be much easier. Jack Zouhary. the nominee from Ohio. has the support of his Republican homeState Senators and Stephen G. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6326,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090117432,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Judge Larson attended college here in Washington. at the Georgetown University School of Fbreign Service. from which he received a bachelors of science in 1986. Judge Larson returned to California for law school. graduating from. the Uniyersity of Southern California Law School in 1989. The American Bar Association has unanimously declared Judge Larson to be \"well qualified.\" the ABAs highest rating. Judge Larson has the strong support of Californias Inland Empire. I have received endorsements of Judge Larsons nomination from a diverse crosssection of the Inland Empires legal community: from judges and law professors. from government attorneys and private practitioners. and from Democrats and Republicans. In these letters. Judge Larson is praised for his \"legal knowledge.\" \"fairness.\" \"integrity.\" \"hard work.\" \"temperament.\" \"intelligence.\" \"patience.\" and \"sense of social justice.\" Judge Larson was nominated through the bipartisan judicial selection process that we developed in California. a process which I believe is a model for the Nation. Under this system. a.committee of lawyers including Democrats and Republicans recommends qualified. npnideological applicants to the President. Judge Larsons nomination through this process. along with his impressive record of public service. gives me confidence that he comes to the bench without an agenda and that he will serve the people of California and the Nation with wisdom. integrity. .and humility.","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2148,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090117455,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Officer Koe charged the gunman to prevent him from further harming any of the other wounded officers. Despite his own critical injuries. he exchanged fire with the attacker and effectively subdued him. When medical personnel responded to the scene. Officer Koe urged them to assist the other officers. selflessly deflecting attention from his own serious wounds. Throughout this encounter. Officer Koe displayed remarkable valor and composure under fire. For this. I commend him and offer my sincere gratitude on behalf of Indiana for his outstanding service to the citizens of our state. While the events of August 18 demonstrated Officer Koes abilities. I also want to thank him for his daytoday work that may not generate the same headlines as a shootout or enjoy the glamour of an award but is equally crucial to the safety of Indianapolis residents. ","speaker_name":"EVAN BAYH","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2736,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090117473,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today on behalf of myself. and Senator ROBERT MENENDEZ of New Jersey. to introduce a bill to create an Office of Consumer Advocacy and Outreach within the Federal Trade Commission. Pyramid schemes. toogoodtobetrue business opportunities. miracle weight loss productsthese are all examples of how average Americans are taken advantage of on a daily basis. These schemes have the potential to deplete an innocent persons bank accounts and ruin their finances and credit record for years to come. Some even damage peoples health permanentlyall for sake a. making a few bucks. Unfortunately. Hispanics are twice as likely as other Americans to become victims of consumer fraud. In fact. 14.3 percent of Hispanics will fall prey to this type of crime. Its hard to know exactly why this is affecting Hispanicsdisproportionately. ","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2931,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090117475,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Because of these problems. Nevada Test Site workers have been denied compensation under the Act. some of which have waited for decades for their government to acknowledge the sacrifices they made for their country and compensate them. Unfortunately. 6 years since the passage of EEOICPA and in some cases decades after their service to their country. very few of those Nevada Test Site Cold War veterans who have cancer have received compensation. In fact. Nevada Test Site workers are receiving compensation at a rate lower than the national. average and many who have waiteddecades are being told that they have to wait longer. And many have already died while waiting for their compensation. Last November. I sent a letter to President Bush asking him to initiate this process himself. He still has not responded. However. his Administration is trying to rewrite the law via regulation and cut funding to this program in order to delay compensation further and halt it for some workers altogether. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12732,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090117476,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to introduce .the Oil Pollution Prevention and Response Act of 2006 with my colleagues Senators LAUTENBERG. KERRY. and WYDEN. The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90) was passed shortly after the Exxon Valdez ran aground in 1989. spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil in Alaskas pristine Prince William Soundthe largest spill in US. history. OPA 90 revolutionized oil spill risk management and we have OPA 90 to thank for improving oil spill prevention. preparedness. and response. However. in a report and testimony recently provided to Congress. the U.S. Coast Guard identified serious shortcomings in our oil spill management system. First. in a report transmitted to Congress on May 12. 2005. the Coast Guard noted that the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund was in danger of being depleted. And they noted that every state or U.S. territory has received money from the Fund for oil spills. ","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7733,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090117484,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"To address these issues our bill would: encourage public private. partnerships to improve science and math curricula. upgrade laboratory facilities. provide scholarships for students to study math. science. or engineering at the university level. and establish internship and mentoring opportunities for students in grades Kthrough 12. develop cultural awareness and immersion programs in colleges and universities that combine science. technology. and engineering instruction with foreign language to expand international understanding and scientific collaboration. land create language learning pathways to facilitate proficiency in critical foreign languages from Kindergarten through graduate school. However. no amount of funding or new programs will address the problem if there are not enough teachers trained in these subjects. To address the shortage of STEM and foreign lan-","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3638,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090117517,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"To have two cool heads calmly manage this bill is a real tribute to both of them. I thank them for their leadership. The budget itself is a tough budget. It is a disciplined budget. It restrains spending and tackles the deficit. It reflects our commitment to Americas future and to making America stronger and safer and more economically sound. Like so many of the issues we tackled this year. it is not an easy process. It has not been a very easy process. With determination and with focus. a Ipt of energy by leading on principle. we are delivering meaningful solutions for the American people. We have demonstrated this Senate can and does govern. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6785,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090117531,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the chair now lay before the Senate the House message to accompany S. 2275. The Presiding Officer laid before the Senate the following message: S. 2275 Resolved. That the bill from the Senate entitled \"An Act to temporarily increase the borrowing authority of the Federal Emergency Management Agency for carrying out the national flood insurance program\". do pass with the following amendment: Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert:","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":490,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090117677,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They probably washed your dishes and cleaned your hotel room. They are watching your children at daycare and they are changing your aging mothers soiled bed in the nursing home. They make sure your putting green is perfect. and they stand for hours every day in a damp and cold place. watching a production line of chicken carcasses come by. so you can invite friends for a barbecue this weekend. They often live in crowded homes. They deny themselves many things. They sacrifice for their children and in the hopes that. at the end of the week. they might be able to send a small check home to their families in other countries. Their children are in our militarythousands of them. wearing the uniform of the United States of America. Some have been killed serving our country. At their funerals. people in uniform come forward and present to the grieving parents a flag as a token of their heroism and bravery and their commitment to America. Now from this Republicancontrolled House of Representatives. we learn the way to treat these people is to declare them criminalscriminals. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7260,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090117692,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the Chair again for his leadership. not only on this one trip but for his leadership in the Senate on so many matters of national security. including the ongoing effort that all of us are participating in to find a positive outcome in Iraq and Afghanistan. I yield the floor. Mr. President. I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":333,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090117724,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Hopefully. during the 2week period we are going to be discussing this bill on the floor. we will have a lot of discussion and we will get a final product that we can agree on that strengthens the immigration system. Currently. our system is not working. It has not worked for some period of time. It has not worked for the country. It has not worked for the people wanting to come into the country. It needs to be changed. There is no question about it. One specific item I wish to talk about is the need for comprehensive reform. The reason we need it is because of our past experience. when we have had just pieces of comprehensive reform. A quick bit of history: In 1986. we had 3 million undocumented individuals in the United States. and Ronald Reagan put forward an amnesty program. ","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8117,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090117741,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to announce that the Committee on Indian Affairs will meet on Tuesday. March 28. 2006. at 9:30 a.m. in room 485 of the Russell Senate Office Building to conduct a hearing on S. 1439. the Indian Trust Reform Act of 2005. Titles II through VI. Those wishing additional information may contact the Indian Affairs Committee at (202) 2242251.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":365,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090117783,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have this kind of cruel wrinkle in the law that if you die in service to America. we wifl make you a citizen after you die. Their grieving parents receive folded American flags in gratitude from a nation that is so thankful for their heroism. Now they have come forward out of the shadows. hundreds of thousands of them across America. protesting a bill that passed the House of Representatives which would make a criminal out of every single one of them. not just ordinary criminals but aggravated felons. The House bill. the SENSENBRENNER bill which passed. says that the 11 or 12 million in America who are undocumented would be branded as aggravated felons. the same type of criminal penalty which we save for the worstarmed robbers and rapists. Thpt is what the House bill would do. That is -what they would brand these people. the same people who sit next to us in church. whose kids go to school with our kids. the same people we see every day though we may not speak to them. That bill is cruel. That bill is wrong. Yesterday. the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate on a bipartisan basis decided that there was a better Way. By a 12to6 vote. the Senate Judiciary Committee said the following: First. if we are going to be a secure America. we need to know who lives here. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10929,"word_count":234}
{"speech_id":1090117787,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This is a struggle for our time. It is one that I believe history will look back upon and suggest that we met the threat that would have fundamentally changed the future of the world. andwe met it before it did so. We met it with strength. with determination. and we overcame the doubters. overcame those who would have rather cut and run. I am not for cutting and funning when it comes to the future security of this country. I have patience because things that are difficult and meaningful take time. We have to give that time. I suggest there are some things that we are finding out now. Another effort I have been working on in Iraq is the intelligence information we have been able to gather from the former regimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. This has been a project that Congressman PETER HOEKSTRA. chairman -of the House Intelligence Committee. has been working onand I have worked with himto make sure these 48.000 boxes. containing roughly 2 million documents. are released to the American public and the world to determine what was the intelligence assessment and the activity level and. in particular. in Iraq with Saddam. and with his interaction with elements of alQaida or other terrorist organizations. What we are finding is that some of the statements that have been made on the floor and statements that were made just as recently as March 19. 2006 by my colleague from Pennsylvania. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9507,"word_count":244}
{"speech_id":1090117812,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is done without any public accountability at all. There has been a bit of irony in the last couple of days about this legislation. I thought it was going to come up already. given the fact that we had come back from the recess. I was under\u0095 the impression that would be the first order of business. But we could not get to the bipartisan measure to abolish secret holds because. 1o and behold. there. was a secret hold on an amendment to try to get the Senate to do its business in public. That pretty much says it all. Not only do we have secret holds on national security legislation. legislation that would make a real difference in terms of striking a balance between fighting terrorism ferociously and protecting civil liberties. not only do we have national security legislation being held up. but even efforts to bring about basic reforms such as openness and -sunshine for the Senate are being held up as a result of this secret procedure. I emphasize what the change will mean for the Senate. No longer if this change is put in- place will staff be able to keep secret from Members an objection. no longer will leadership be the only one to know about an objection. no longer will it be possible for a Senator to be kept in the dark about something they have worked on for. years and years. The fact is. ","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7847,"word_count":242}
{"speech_id":1090117823,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let me add to what the distinguished Senator from New York -just said. First of all. I thank him. through the Chair. for his cooperation on an issue which is constantly evolving. but it looks as if it is well underway to satisfy everybodys concerns. But the understanding is we will come back and address the issues in his amendment at some point in some way on the floor if that glidepath to satisfactory conclusion is not reached.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":447,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090117829,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that there now be 2 hours equally divided between Senator COLLINS and Senator VOINOVICH or his designee. I further ask unanimous consent that there be 20 minutes equally for debate between Senator WYDEN and Senator SESSIONS or his designee. I further ask unanimous consent that following the use or yielding back of time the Senate proceed to a vote on the Collins amendment. to be followed immediately by a vote on the Wyden amendment. with no further intervening action or debate.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":521,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090117837,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. very briefly to review. after our break today for lunch. our policy lunches. we will be on lobbying reform. We have two amendments which will be debated. We set up to 2 hours. I would think that time could be condensed. Further discussions will take place over our lunches on lobbying reform. At a point in time. we would expect after we finish with lobbying reform. we Till go to the border security bill. and we will have more to say about how that will all be handled at a later date. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":521,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090117877,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Director would be appointed by the President pro tempore of the Senate. upon the joint recommendation of the. majority and minority leaders of the Senate. The selection and appointment of the Director would be made without regard to political affiliation and solely on the basis of fitness to perform the duties of the office. I have every confidence that. as called for by our proposalthis amendmentthe Director will be a person of integrity. independence. and public credibility who will have experience in law enforcement. the judiciary. civil or criminal litigation. br has served as a member of a Federal. State. or local ethics enforcement agency. Our proposal will provide an important element of independence to the initial stages of ah ethics complaint. while still retaining the full authority of the Ethics Committee. Let me walk through the process that we propose.. Under our proposal. an ethics complaint may be filed with the office by a Member or an outside complainant. or may be initiated by the office on its owh initiative. Within 30 days of the filing of the complaint. the Director of the Office will make an initial determination as to whether the complaint should bd dismissed or whether there are sufficient grounds to conduct an investigation. The subject of the complaint is provided the opportunity during that period to respond to the complaint. The Director may dismiss a complaint if he or she determines that the complaint fails to state a violation. lacks credible evidence of a violation. or is inadvertent. technical. or otherwise de minimis in nature. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11632,"word_count":261}
{"speech_id":1090117900,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I want to express my concerns regarding the creation of the Office of Public Integrity. We discussed this proposal in committee. and I joined a bipartisan group of Senators in defeating it. and rightly so. The proposed Office of Public Integrity would duplicate the efforts of the Senate Ethics Committee. Our Ethics Committee was established pursuant to the Constitution. which states each body of Congress must make its own rules. This office would. in effect. replaceor duplicatethe current rule of the Senate. The implication the sponsors here make is that in order to restore public confidence. we have to create something new. I do not think we should replace the Senate Ethics Committee. nor do I think we should imply that our current system is not working. I happen to have been the target of complaints to the Ethics Committee. and I can tell you it has a qualified staff headed by a very capable chairman and ranking member who have\" the publics trust. ","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11215,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090117924,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The best way to deal with it. in my judgment. is to pass strong. comprehensive legislation which will help repair the frayed bonds between the public and those who serve the public. The Office of Public Integrity is an integral part of achieving that goal. There is a lot of opposition to this amendment. I dont delude myself to the contrary. I have learned organizational change in Washington is the hardest kind of change to accomplish. I learned that when Senator LIEBERMAN and I led the legislation restructuring and reforming our intelligence community. the most sweeping reforms in 50 years. I have learned trying to change the organization of Congress or the way Congress works makes that reorganization of our intelligence community look easy. I recognize this is an uphill fight. but I believe it is the right thing to do. I hope our colleagues. before casting their vote today. will take the time to read the actual language of the amendment and to think about what we need to do to repair the breach between those who are elected and the people we serve. to promote and strengthen public confidence in the political process. I believe it our colleagues do that and if they care about restoring public confidence in Congress. they will support the. amendment we have offered. ","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3673,"word_count":220}
{"speech_id":1090117926,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. first. I again compliment the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee for the good job she and the committee have done in proposing legislation that will make a difference in the Senate and in the Congress. I respect everything the Senator has done. Some of the amendments making mandatory some of the things we are doing voluntarily I welcome. I thank the Senator. One thing I have tried to do is to inform Members about what the rules are so they do not get in trouble. I point out that even though the amendment is well motivated and meant to help the Ethics Committee. all six members of the Ethics Committee on a bipartisan basis oppose it. The Ethics Committee is the investigative arm of the Senate. It is a nonpartisan investigator of all matters brought before the Ethics Committee and. something some Members are not happy about. matters that are not brought before us. on the complaint of some. that we recognize. through the media. there is a problem with one of the Members. and we get involved in it. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE VOINOVICH","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3611,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090117950,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I have said that many times. But let me share with you an experience I had in the other body. When I was first elected in 1986 to the House of Representatives. I found there was a process used to keep the signatures of a discharge petition from being open to the public. So there could be something very popular. For example. a gun control bill might not be popular in West Texas. but there might be a West Texas Democrat whose party tells him for the national scene. \"We want lots of gun controls. and I know it is not popular in the State. but there is a way you can go home and say you opposed gun controls and at the same time you can get by with appeasing the leadership.\" That is what they did. They would put the discharge petition in the drawer of the Speakers desk. and you could not get. it out unless a majority of people signed the discharge petition. Consequently. they would go ahead and tell people they had signed it when. in fact. they had not. I had a onesentence bill that totally reformed that. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3050,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090117968,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Let me say a few final words about the amendment Senators MCCAIN. LIEBERMAN. and I have proposed to create an office of public integrity. We are about to vote on that amendment. and then we will proceed to vote on Senator WYDENS amendment. I believe our proposal has struck the right balance. I draw this conclusion. in part. because my colleagues who are opposed to the amendment are arguing two conflicting extremes. and both obviously cannot be right. On the one hand. some of my colleagues are disparaging the Office of Public Integrity by calling it an independent counsel. by implying that it would be a too powerful. outofcontrol entity that would conduct unfair investigations and put Members in peril. On the other hand. we have also heard colleagues during this debate say that the Office of Public Integrity would not have enough power because it can be overruled by the Ethics Committee. These two conflicting and inconsistent positions suggest- that. in fact. we have struck the right balance. We have respected the role and the authority of the Ethics Committee. but we have strengthened the credibility of the investigative part of an inquiry into allegations of wrongdoing. At the end of the day. the debate and vote on our proposal comes down to a simple question. ","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2005,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090118014,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Apparently. to prevent debate on this very important issue. a Republican Senator is willing to let the whole intelligence bill fail. Thats an outrage. Its important for the Senate to approve the intelligence authorization bill. and its important for the Senate to get to the bottom of the abuse of intelligence the administration used to justify war.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1434,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090118016,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Bill Myers was not one of those nominees. despite the fact that he has the support of a bipartisan majority of this Senate. On July 20. 2004. Bill Myers received 53 votes to end the filibuster on his nomination. The time has come to give Bill Myers his longoverdue up or down vote on the Senate floor. His nomination has been pending on the Senate calendar for a full year now and I urge the Senate leadership to bring this nomination up for a vote. Bill Myers is a highly respected attorney who was approved unanimously by this Senate in 2001 to serve as Solicitor of the Department of Interior. Former Democratic Governor of Idaho Cecil Andrus. who also served as Interior Secretary in the Carter administration. says that Bill Myers possesses \"the necessary personal integrity. judicial temperament and legal experierice\" as well as \"the ability to act fairly on matters of law that will come before him on the court.\" As a nominee to fill an Idaho seat on the 9th Circuit. Bill Myers has the full support of the entire Idaho congressional delegation. Bill Myers is a qualified nominee and there is no justification for continuing to filibuster or delay his nomination. My fellow Idahoans and all residents in the 9th Circuit deserve to. have their appeals heard in a timely manner. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CRAPO","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2223,"word_count":224}
{"speech_id":1090118030,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Tuberculosis kills nearly 2 million people per yearone person every 15 seconds. Onethird of the world is infected with the germ that causes TB and an esti-","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":931,"word_count":27}
{"speech_id":1090118037,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"For further information. please contact Tom Lillie. David Szymanski. or Sara Zecher.","speaker_name":"CRAIG THOMAS","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2228,"word_count":12}
{"speech_id":1090118042,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Indian Affairs be authorized to meet on Tuesday. March 28. 2006. at 9:30 a.m. in Room 485 of the Russell Senate Office Building to conduct a hearing on S. 1439. the Indian. Trust Reform Act of 2005. Titles II through VI.","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":281,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090118058,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate immediately proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination on todays Executive Calendarn No. 596. I further ask unanimous consent that the nomination be confirmed. the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. the President be immediately notified of the Senates action. and the Senate then return to legislative session.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":398,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090118077,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it stand in adjournment until 9:30 a.m. tomorrow. Wednesday. March 29. I further ask that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leadersbe reserved and the Senate proceed to a period of morning business for up to 1 hour with the first 30 minutes finder the control of the majority leader .or his designee and the final 30 minutes under the control of the Democratic leader or his designee. further. that following morning business the Senate resume consideration of S. 2349. the lobbying reform bill. I further ask that at 10:50. Senator DODD or his designee be recognized to call up amendments on behalf of himself or others and at 10:55 Senator LOTT or his designee be recognized to call up amendments on behalf of himself or other Members.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":931,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090118086,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We need to maintain our perspective. At its core immigration is a sign of a confident and successful Nation.\" Our Nation needs laws that protect our borders. embrace ou\"r families. and provide earned legalization for lawabiding immigrants. Immigrant families are an important part of our social fabric and economy. Our Nation should not turn its back and ignore their needs.","speaker_name":"HILDA SOLIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1186,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090118087,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I suppose every once in a blue moon the mainstream media gets something right. Perhaps now is the time for Democrats: to tike time off from their demagoguery and actually listen to seniors. It is amazing what you can learn. Just look at the New York Times. a","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1197,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090118088,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to share my thoughts on \u00b0our Nations need for passing the comprehensive Water Resources Development Act by this Congress. Off July 14 of last year. H.R. 2864. the Water Resources Development Act. passed here in this House by a resounding 40614. The measures authorized major flood control. navigation. envfronmental restoration. and other water resource projects. Yet once again. similar to years past. this vital legislation has become bogged down by. our colleagues in the other body. It is critical that we return to a 2year cycle to provide continuity for vital waterrelated infrastructure. Infrastructure investment has been and will continue to be the bedrock -foundation of our economic growth and public safety. A water resource bill is critical to the protection of our environment and the public safety. and the Nation needs this one right now.","speaker_name":"EDDIE JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":880,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090118097,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If they want to protect women. then they should add their support to H.R. 1079. Hollys Law. offered by my colleague from Maryland. Mr. BARTLETT. This commonsense bill would withdraw FDA approval of RU486 and subject it to a thorough review to measure its healthrisk. Mr. Speaker. we should act in the best interest of womens health. Let us pass Hollys Law.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":971,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090118112,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of H.R. 4882. the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Visitor Center Deadline Enforcement Act. I want to thank the chairman of the Committee on Resources. the gentleman from California . and also our ranking member. the gentleman from West Virginia","speaker_name":"DENNIS CARDOZA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":282,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090118125,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"After his marriage to Dorothy Parker in 1943. he was elected to the Bethlehem City Council in November* of 1951. It was not long after that he was elected as mayor and named the first \"strong mayor\" toemerge from the mayorcouncil form of government first authorized in 1957. At his inauguration in 1962. Mayor Payrow declared: \"Today marks the end of the North Side. South Side. and West Side. From here on we will only think of Bethlehem.\" thus bringing together a melting pot of cultures and proclaiming a new unity for. the city. Payrow .was extremely popular with both Democrats and Republicans. which led him to hold office for three consecutive terms. During his tenure. Mayor Payrow never retreated from tackling controversial issues. Under. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES DENT","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2228,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090118126,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I think it is altogether fitting and properthat we honor his life and his work by naming.the postal facility after him. and I urge swift passage ofthis legislation. Mr. Speaker. I do. not think I am going to have any additional requests. -and I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1260,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090118133,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He formed the prostatehood Puerto Rican Republican. Party on July 4. 1899. as an aftermath of the SpanishAmerican War in which Puerto Rico became a territory of the United States. In 1900. Barbosa became a member of the executive cabinet up until 1917 and a member of the Senate from 19171921. In 1907. he established the newspaper El Tiempo. the first bilingual newspaper on the island. His daughter. Pilar Barbosa would one day become a renowned historian and a political activist who would carry on her fathers work. Jose Celso Barbosa died in San Juan in December of 1921. I urge all Members to come together to honor the perseverance and courage of Dr. Barbosa by passing H.R. 3440. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES DENT","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2082,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090118140,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Jack Smily. Ken Menke. Art Mathison. and Vance formed one of the Nations premier teams in the early 1940s. Their fastbreak style and ability to run the floor assured them 25 of 27 wins in the Big Ten Conference from 19411943. rightly earning them two Big Ten titles. After the 1943 season. Vance and the rest of the \"Whiz Kids\" were called to military duty for World War II. Following the final regular season game. the entire team entered the war effort. After the war. they picked up right where they left off in 1947 and led the Illini to a second place finish. After graduation. Vance was. drafted by the Chicago Stags of the Basketball Association of America. which eventually became known as the National Basketball Association. or the NBA. as we know it today. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES DENT","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1789,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090118150,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise today in recognition of National MPS Day. MPS disorders affect primarily children and reduce their ability to produce certain enzymes that clear the body of toxins. The resulting effect of this enzyme deficiency manifests itself in a number of ways: mental retardation. physical malformations. small stature. corneal damage. chronic physical pain. and a shortened and difficult life span. This disease affects our Nations children and has a dramatic ripple effect that impacts all who know and love them. MPS disorders are hereditary and there is no cure. but significant .advancements have been made or are on the horizon. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1425,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090118162,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That was when Fordham had a proud team. a team that went on to great heights: the seven blocks of granite. Vince Lombardi. He befriended Vince Lombardi. Upon graduation. Mara joined the New York Giants as a fulltime member of the ttam. With his brother in charge of the business. Wellington soon took control of all player personnel decisions. That is why even though there have been many problems in the NFL. like many sports. there is something very different about the National Football League. It is a family operation and the more it becomes that. the more we avoid the problems and pitfalls we have seen in organized sports. Hi143 He integrated the Giants at a time when much of the league remained all white. ","speaker_name":"BILL PASCRELL","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4501,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090118174,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I dont believe that I am going to have any additional requests for time. and I would yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1617,"word_count":24}
{"speech_id":1090118214,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I * may consume. Mr. Speaker. today I rise in support of the bill before us. and I would like to thank Chairman GOODLATTE and the other members of the comnittee for their hard work. and cooperation. I would also like to acknowledge the gentlemen from California. Mt. NUNES.","speaker_name":"COLLIN PETERSON","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":314,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090118225,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of S. 2120 and ask for your support of this bill. I too want to thank Chairman GOODLATTE and Congressman NUNES and Congressman CARDOZA for their efforts on this important piece of legislation that eventually. I think. will lead to an important part where we need to focus on comprehensive dairy policy as we look toward the 2007 farm bill. But I rise to speak very simply about something that is complicated. that. as most of you know. is dairy .policy. f 1615 Your support of this bill does not require the detailed knowledge of the myriad pacts that govern the dairy industry. and demand a historical analysis of what.is going on throughout the country and individual States. S. 2120. though. is about fairness. Is it fair today in California some of the worlds most productive dairymen and women are being undercut bya legal loophole between the Federal and State dairy programs that permits. some dairies to skirt all the rules? Is it fair that by exporting these programs. some dairies avoid all regulations. enabling them to sell to retailers at well below wellregulated dairies? Is it fair that this bill. which has passed the United States Senate with unanimous consent with overwhelming. obviously bipartisan support. has had to wait 3 years to be considered by the House? Is it fair that one of the few dairies in this country that opposes this legislation claims he is simply using the free market system. while accepting nearly $1 million a year in Federal dairy support payments? No. it is not fair. Your support of S. 2120 will bring fairness back to dairy farms. If we are going to ultimately craft an evenhanded dairy policy throughout the country. and we have competition abroad. we need to first take this first step. ","speaker_name":"JIM COSTA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1810,"word_count":307}
{"speech_id":1090118244,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in opposition to S. 2120. the Milk Regulatory Equity Act. I think there well may be- a need for Congress to consider legislation dealing with Federal Milk Marketing Orders (FMMOs). But the subject is too important to be handled the way this bill has been. The suspension calendar is supposed to be reserved for bills that the relevant committees have reviewed and that are not controversial. which is why debate is limited and no amendments are allowed. . I .However. there has been no hearing on this bill and it has. neVer been. approved by any Committeein either the House or Senateso there has been no opportunity to consider the testimony of anyone who might be affected. including at least one Colorado company that has told me of their objections to the bill as it now stands. Before we make a change in Federal dairy policy that has been in place for 70 years I think it is appropriate to hear all sides of the debate. Because that has not happened. I cannot support the bill. ","speaker_name":"MARK UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1188,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090118258,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They set aside on a geographic preference consistent with the.Stafford Act contracts for debris removal. And let me say this: In Mississippi alone-. we have had more .debris. as you can see fromthese pictures. more debris than any disaster in American history. Over 50 percent -more has already been cleaned up than ever occurred in any disaster anyplace in America. What the Corps did in December was to say. in the future. going forward. we are going to let local companies lead the recovery and comply with the congressional intent and stated objectives of the Stafford Act. Unfortunately. the incumbent contractor from out of State protested that action. They gamed the system to delay the- implementation of those contracts. Three months later. the GAO rejects the protest. finds in favor of the Corps. finds in favor of the congressional intent of the Stafford Act. and says. in essence-. the protest is baseless. It is time. and-* this act urges the Corps. to immediately. to promptly move forward in the implementation of local contracts for local debris removal. PreSident Bush. when he addressed the Nation in Jackson Square in downtown New Orleans stated: \"In the work of rebuilding. as many jobs as possible should go to the men and women who live in Louisiana. Mississippi. and Alabama.\" What we are doing in this act is clarifying and reaffirming the original intent to make it possible that no one can litigate this or game this or delay this to keep local firms from leading the way. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES PICKERING","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5957,"word_count":254}
{"speech_id":1090118275,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Res. 353. which praises the people of Haiti for their recent elections and congratulates Rene Preval on his victory. I commend my friend and colleague. as I mentioned. Congresswoman MAXINE WATERS. for introducing this resolution. and I am pleased to be an original cosponsor. I am pleased that ny district. the 17th District in New York. has a very large Haitian community in. Spring Valley. New York. and I know they are all eagerly anticipating better things for Haiti and U.S.-Haiti relationships. After a history of instability. poverty and democratic setbacks. Haitians poured onto the streets last month to cast their votes. demonstrating their desire for a better future. And after a contested vote counting period. the front runner in the presidential election. Rene Preval. was declared the winner with nearly 52 percent of the official vote. compared to less than 12 percent for his closest contender. ","speaker_name":"ELIOT ENGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3433,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090118286,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it is my privilege and certainly an honor for me to give the rest of my time to our distinguished ranking member of our Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. the gentleman from New York . to summarize the various aspects of this important legislation. And certainly I want to again thank my good friend. the gentlewoman from Florida. as the manager of this legislation.","speaker_name":"ENI FALEOMAVAEGA","chamber":"H","state":"AS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":384,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090118291,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in favor of H. Con. Res. 353. I think it is important for this Houseto recognize the Republic of Haiti for recently holding successful. democratic elections. \"and to congratulate Presidentelect Ren6 Garcia Pr6val on his electoral victory. Haiti is the worlds oldest Black republic and the secondoldest republic in the Western Hemisphere. after the United States. While street violence. kidnappings. and political instability have plagued Haiti in recent years. and are still threats. the democratic will of the people persevered and elections were embraced by the nation. The presidential and legislative elections on February 7. 2006 saw unprecedented voter turnout. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2063,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090118302,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Bakersfield .will not be the same without Buck Owens. He was the heart of the town and will truly be missed.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM THOMAS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3620,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090118333,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"By refusing to prepare for the possibility that we would be considered occupiers rather than liberators. these architects of this war never afforded an opportunity to truly win the peace. Hospitals and medical services were ignored. Iraqi organizations open to the West were never - consulted. Western media was not culturally appropriate inside that region. The seeds for unrest were sown before U.S. troops even entered Iraq. Achieving military success without winning the hearts and minds of the public is a hollow victory. and now the President tells us troops will remain in Iraq until he- leaves office in 2009. who. knows when. May I remind the body this President held a theatrically staged press event on a U.S. aircraft carrier on May 1. 2003. with a \"Mission Accomplished\" banner flying in the .background. Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. he announced. Two weeks ago. the United States launched the largest aerial assault in Iraq since 2003. More than 1.500 of our soldiers were deploy in the Samarra region to root out insurgent strongholds and seize weapons caches and the like. ","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4581,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090118335,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. please join me in honoring the life of Sergeant Anton Hiett.","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1482,"word_count":12}
{"speech_id":1090118352,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We are in a very. very delicate situation financially and a very insecure position financially. particularly as the world is -lopking at us. But the most important point that I. want to make. as I turn it back over to one of my other colleagues. is this. In my office today I had a visit from a group of my constituents who run a program called TRIO. -","speaker_name":"DAVID SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":352,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090118356,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is going to require that we deal. very frankly. with some of the different budget priorities that we havent been willing to deal with. But by ignoring the impending AMT problem. by ignoring the ongoing costs of the war in Iraq. by narrowing the budget window that we are looking at from 10 years to 5 years. by engaging in these kinds of smoke and mirrors. by taking certain costs off the books. we can present to the country a budget picture which is not reflective of reality. It doesnt show what dire fiscal straits we are really in. It is one of the reasons why I am so grateful for the work you are doing. Mr. Ross. to point out to the country just how bad it has got in terms of our fiscal picture to promote the Blue Dogs 12point plan. part of which is very simple. that is. when you are in a hole the way we are. stop digging. That is part of 6ur PAYGO proposal that says that we want to stop the hemorrhaging. that when we agree to new spending on this House floor. we should find a way to offset that cost so that we do it in a revenueneutral way. When we agree on new tax cuts. we should find a way to do that in a revenueneutral way. either by cutting spending or raising revenues somewhere else. PAYGO. payasyougo. basically says there is no free lunch. and. indeed. there isnt. as you can see by the fact that every man. woman and child in this country now owes $28.000. From 2001 to 2003. just a coupleyear period. the total government spending soared by 16 percent. ","speaker_name":"ADAM SCHIFF","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9311,"word_count":285}
{"speech_id":1090118368,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. it is a privilege to be here once again with the 30Something Working Group. and I want to thank the Dbmocratic leader. the gentlewoman from California . for giving us the opportunity to spend some time talking toiight about the priorities of the American people. I am thrilled this evening to be joined. as we. come to the end of Womens History Month. to be joined by my fellow freshman colleague and also my roommate while here in Washington. D.C.. the gentlewoman from Illinois","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":494,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090118372,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I mentioned it on the floor briefly that I had been with some kids several weeks back. More recently I mentioned to my colleague we were talking about Internet safety. I am the parent of teenagers. my daughters are 13 and 15. so the issue of Internet safet7y has been an important issue. I have been visiting middle schools to talk about some of the challenges that they face. So we went to talk about Internet safety with the middle schoolers. and whenever I talk with middle schoolers. we also have a little bit of a civics lesson. \u0095 Many seventh graders I know in Illinois. as well as around the Nation. are studying the Constitution. I was pretty impressed with the quality of education our children are receiving because they had not expected me to ask them about it. They thought we were just going to talk about Internet safdty. and I asked them about the Constitution and the Preamble. and if any of them had the Preamble to the Constitution memorized. and they- did. And they did. And I asked them to come on up. All the hands went up to be part of our little civics class. ","speaker_name":"MELISSA BEAN","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2304,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090118382,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Tough to love is something that unfortunately 10. the word \"no\" gets thrown arounaI a lot in- more than I would like. than my kids ro- would like to hear. \"No\" -doesnt seem ose to exist in this body. at least under les. this leadership in the Congress. ave Ms. BEAN. Well. that is why PAYGO ard is an important thing. because it cresus ates an environment that forces those side kind of tough decisions and forces a ave more honest dialogue with the public to about what is affordable and what is me not. Absolutely. t a -Ms. WASSERMAN. SCHULTZ. I want ich to go back if you dont mind. I want to of go back to the chart that I was referit ring to earlier. get One of the things that we do try to ere do. and -I am pleased to see: that our we colleagues from Florida and Ohio have ely. joined us now. gut when we talk about lef- $8 trillion. and when we talk about what a billion means. we have come up an. with a chart that kind of tries to boil ced that down. This chart will help people. .ter it has helped people understand the nosty tion of how much a billion is. . to A billion hours ago. humans were n a making the first tools in the Stone hat Age. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1948,"word_count":231}
{"speech_id":1090118396,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That we infoim families how to protect themselves and. their communities. So I know we are not the only ones doing forums. I know many communities and schools on their own are beginning to roll out those kinds of educational awareness programs. and we want to continue to support that. absolutely. We should talk briefly about. since it is the end of Womens History Month. whom we just had dinner with.","speaker_name":"MELISSA BEAN","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":402,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090118397,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You are absolutely right. One of the most amazing things about having the privilege that we have to represent our communities in Washington is the people that wO get to meet and interact with. And you and I. along with the other members of the bipartisan Womens Caucus. had an opportunity tonight to have dinner with former Justice Sandra Day OConnor. the first woman ever to serve on the United States Supreme Court.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":417,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090118405,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It shows you that we have really come a long way. but it really demonstra tes why we need to continue to have Womens History Month and how it is so important to show young girls who are coming up behind us that they have the opportunity: They have to reach out and grab it. And it is our responsibility to pull other young women up on the platform with us now that we have been able to have an opportunity like this. not to be discriminatory against our male colleagues whom we are sharing the Chamber with this evening. And actually the gentleman from Florida is the dad of a young girl who is a wonderful young woman and works hard in school. and I know that especially since you are the son of one of the House of Representatives most revered women. former Congresswoman Carrie Meek. that surely you have something to add at the end of Womens History Month.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":860,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090118408,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. hopefully. that we can help Liberia. one of the true allies of the United States of America. and has been so for a very long time. As you know. Liberia is one of the countries where slaves. once they were freed. went back to Liberia. and many of them have American last names because they brought them back from slavery. So we do have a connection with that country.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1684,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090118413,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And that the port deal that was recently proposed. and. seemingly. not had. an interest in even a 45day security review with a country that had been implicated in some way. in the 9\/11 attacks. that is the kind of thing I heard about when I went home. I heard about how they are really deeply concerned about the lack of port security. I mean. we have invested now. we have thirdparty validators that we talk about here on this floor.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":434,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090118442,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If I can. there is a second report in addition to the one that we were just discussing. This second report. again. commissioned by the Republican chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Investigations. its conclusions were this: The Homeland Security Department has placed 670 monitors at ports around the country. At the current pace the department -will fail. let me repeat that. fail to meet its goal for installing 3.034 devices by September 2009. To reach the goal the department would need toinstall 52 monitors a month for the next four years. though its current installation rate is 22 a month. the report said. Now. this is to determine whether radioactive material that could be used in a dirty bomb is being detected. Now. by the way. if you happen to live in Miami or if you are from Georgia. you should know that the ports of Miami and Savannah. Georgia are among those without the devices that they need. So if you should be Iliving in those particular States. be aware that you are vulnerable to have from the sea. through the ports.. material that could be used in a dirty bomb come into your neighbothoods.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1122,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090118446,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You cannot convince me that the United States could- not do that. What we are saying here. and we are not here to pick on. anybody. we do not want -to hurt anybodys feelings but it seems that the end result can be tragic. Shays said. In one of the excerpts And you know what. there may be a. Chertoff was chided for executing critsituation where we do do all we can ical responsibilities late. ineffectively and it may not be enough. But to sit ornot at all. according to the report here and see this haphazard garbage. and to Mr. SHAYS. lack of focus. this administration has 0 2310 the worst case of political A.D.D. we have seen in a long time and it is hurt- Yet. when I turn on any of the sta ing the country. tions and the issue is homeland secu-","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":752,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090118447,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Just put the facts rity. the spokesman for the Homeland out on the table. I just find it so amus- Security Department is often . Secing when I hear that national security retary Chertoff. So let us just continue and homeland defense is something along that road. and you know what is that this side of the aisle. the Repub- going to happeii? We are going to conlican side of this aisle. the majority tinue to find a failure of lealership in that runs this House in conjunction every instance that this administrawith the administration that is headed tion is implicated in. by a Republican President and a Sen- Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Madam Speak~er. ate that has a majority of Republicans last week. we had an opportunity. Mr. are suggesting that national security SABO from MinneapolisSt. Paul offeredand homeland defense are a priority. an amendment in this House to add and yet study after study. committee over $1 billion to port security. homeafter committee reports that we are ill land security. in the supplemental. and prepared. it got shot down on pretty much a","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1066,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090118454,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If I can just make an observation. Madam Speaker. I asked my staff to count the number of hearings that the International Relations Committee has conducted in terms of the United Nations and the need to reform the United Nations. and also hearings that had a focus on the socalled OilforFood program. Throughout Congress there were dozens of those hearings. Do you know how many hearings we -have had in the International Relations Committee on the. issue of corruption that we. know is going on in Iraq. Madam Speaker? Would you think maybe there have been 20 or 15 or five? No. there are none. despite repeated requests from Members of this House. Not a single hearing into the corruption that many different sources have acknowledged is rampant in Iraq in the past 3 years. Not a single one. Because this Congress is afraid. This Congress is protecting the administration and is abrogating its responsibility.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":912,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090118456,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Not a single hearing. Not a single hearing. Madam Speaker. Not one. Can anybbdy. can any Member. Republican or Democratic. please respond and provide an explanation. when there. have been reports after reports after reports. indictments. reports from the special Inspector General for Iraq* reconstruction. It cries .out for ifivestigation. It cries out for oversight. Madam Speaker. You know. when. the CPA. the Coalition Provisional Authority. came in. and in the immediate aftermath ofthe fall of Saddam Hussein. and began to administer as a viceroy. if you will. for the nation of Iraq. there was $8.1 billion left over from the United Nations OilforFood program. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1068,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090118462,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. there is Saudi Arabia. The gentleman remembers Saudi Arabia because 15 of the 19 hijackers were citizens of Saudi Arabia. Those are the 19 hijackers that were responsible for the deaths of in excess of 3.000 Americans. Saudi Arabia is. part of OPEC. and how much money do we owe OPEC?","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":290,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090118472,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You know what I also find disturbing and it \"really provokes a certain. let me use the word \"disgust.\" When the administration is criticized. particularly some individuals. rather than speak of the policy. they speak in a language that refers to \"them\" or \"those\" or \"some.\" never identifying \"them\" or \"those\" or \"some.\" It is a particular trait of Secretary Rumsfeld. Actually. in todays Washingtbn Times. there is a story about a speech that the Secretary gave to military officers at the Army War College. Let me just quote from the story. . \"Defense Secretary Rumsfeld delivered harsh words to war critics yesterday saying. Some view al Qaeda operatives as victims.\" That is really unfortunate. because I would call on the Secretary to have the courage to stand up and identify who- those \"some\" are. I dare say there is not a single Member in this House. Madam Speaker. that would view an al Qaeda operative as a victim. That is just simply disingenuous and certainly I would suggest demeans the office of the Secretary of Defense. Who. are \"some.\" Madam Speaker? Not any American that I know. Madam Speaker. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1354,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090118593,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. my colleague from Iowa has come to the floor and wants 15 minutes to speak. I ask unanimous consent for 5 minutes and my colleague from Iowa 15 minutes and that morning business be extended the necessary time for that to occur. and an equal amount offered to the other side. if they care to use it.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":313,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090118602,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I sug- section shall be punished as provided in secgest the absence of a quorum. tion 216.\". (Purpose: To expand the prohibition on lob- bying in the year after leaving service to the Senate to include a prohibition on paid coordination activities) At the appropriate place insert the following:","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":310,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090118653,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I will have him respond on my time. The situation is that you are raising situations with personal friends. and in those situations I dont disagree. I dont think there would be a problem. I think the exception would be properly interpreted. I am asking the Senator to at least perhaps consider whether we really want the kind of scenario that the Senator posits. where a company basically lines up people to come in and act as the person that uses the company credit card. It seems to me we have an opportunity to fix something here. not go as far as I want to go but at least prevent the use of company resources and at the same time avoid the possibility of the true personal friendship situation from being affected.","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":719,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090118655,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I retain the remainder of my time.","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1179,"word_count":7}
{"speech_id":1090118707,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The amendment is simply too broadly drawn. and that is why I opposed it.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1037,"word_count":14}
{"speech_id":1090118710,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We had the chance to give the American people what. they want and deservea strong brew of tough lobbying and ethics reforms. Instead. all we gave them is weak tea. The lobbying and ethics reform bill before us today includes a number of significant provisions. such as improvements in lobbying disclosure. But the Senate missed a onceinadecade opportunity to address the most serious ethical problems plaguing Congress. It left open a major loophole in the lobbyist gift ban. it retreated from earlier promises to get rid of privately funded travel. it allowed Members to continue getting around revolving door restrictions by simply avoiding direct conversations with their former colleagues while accepting millions of dollars to run a lobbying office. and it refused to even vote on a proposal to make Senators pay the charter rate if they want to fly on corporate jets. Perhaps most important. the Senate rejected a thoughtful proposal to establish an independent ethics enforcement office. The. American people want to have confidence that their elected officials are held to the highest ethical standards. My judgment is that this bill doesnt meet that test.","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1983,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090118715,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have been honored to serve as the floor manager. along with the majority floor manager who is here. the distinguished Senator from Mississippi. Mr. LOTT. and I commend my colleague for his diligence in bringing this legislation to the floor. He advised me very early in the session that he intended to craft a lobbying reform bill. to have a full and open markup in the Rules Committee. and offer jl1 members of that committee the opportunity to offer amendments. That is what he did. and that is why I think we ended up with as strong a bill as we did. Because we had the opportunity to fully debate and amend the chairmans mark in tile committee. we were able to produce an original bipartisan bill that was reported to the Senate unanimously. That beginning boded well for this legislation. I also want to commend. of course. our comanagers of the billI have mentioned already Senator COLLINS of Maineand my colleague from Connecticut. Senator LIEBERMAN. for their Very similar bipartisan approaches to this legislation. As I noted earlier. it is unusual to have a bill that is reported from two different committees. merge together on -a single measure on the Senate floor. but even more unusual. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12019,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090118716,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"M. President. I commend and respond in the same sense and vein of the distinguished Senator from Connecticut. Before I do that. and talk further about our relationship and how the Rules Committee package came together. I would like to call on my colleague. the distinguished Senator from Maine. to go over the specifics of what is included in the bill out of her committee work. and with Senator LIEBERMAN. I have never worked with a floor manager who has been more enjoyable than working with the Senator from Maine. her attitude and her help. her tenacity. and also. of course.. Senator DODD. But I thought before I respond further to Senator DODD. I would like for us to understand the details of what was in the legislation that came out of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":802,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090118719,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But this legislation upends that perception. I believe. and the status quo. There are many people to thank. I begin as I have with Senator COLLINS for her usual outstanding leadership. After a hearing in late January. she was ready to mark up legislation a month later. despite a large workload our committee had in conducting the ongoing Katrina investigation. The legislation we passed out of our committee contained significant reforms that will not only change the way lobbyists and Members of Congress interact but again. I believe. provide the American people with additional information that they have not had before. and that the media has not had access to before. about where billions of dollars for lobbying are being spent and for what purpose. The measure approved by our Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee requires lobbyists to report more details. significantly more details. and to report more frequently about their activities. including lobbyists campaign contributions to Members of Congress. lobbyists contributions to political action committees. and lobbyists fundraising events hosted or sponsored by lobbyists or for their benefit for Members of Congress. They would also be required to disclose travel they arrange for Members of Congress or executive branch officials. All lobbyists disclosures would have to be made quarterly rather than semiannually. and they would have to be made online so that anyone who wished to monitor lobbyists activities would be able to do so online and do so. obviously. on a public. searchable database. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10679,"word_count":247}
{"speech_id":1090118731,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"According to our discussions with the Parliamentarian. that definition Would not allow a point of order to be raised because there could be no way for the Parliamentarian to. interpret the new rule. This point of order would basically be nullandvoid. Our amendment was attempting to clarify the bill by providing a definition. That way we will ensure that we have openness in the process of conference reports. That certainly is the purpose of our bill and of our amendment. Without losing my right to the floor. I ask the chairman if he would submit to a question through the Chair. I ask the chairman of the Rules Committee if he would commit to working on this definition in conference so that it will meet with the .criteria stated by the Parliamentarian to give effect to the rule. That way the provisions of this bill will meet with the in~ent of what the Chairman said in his previous statement.","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2231,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090118736,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is an outrageous abuse of the rights of the Members of this Senate who are not members of the Appropriations Committee. is that correct?","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1248,"word_count":25}
{"speech_id":1090118745,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I agree with the Senator from Arizona. I appreciate the manager of the bill when he said he would work with us. I wanted it on the record that the managers have committed to working with us to ensure that the. intent of the bill is clear. Which is exactly what our amendment seeks to do. The bill managers have put it on the record that it is their intent. We hope in this process. as this bill moves forward. that the language that is ultimately adopted will include some * kind of a definition. as we have tried to do. so that the intent of the Senate is clear. It needs to be done. We need to clean up the appropriations process we have going on in the Senate. I dont see any reason to raise a point of order. I think it would be easier to ask unanimous consent to withdraw the amendment.","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":791,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090118749,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the Senator for his approach on this. Let me make a couple of points. Again. in a way. there is not as big a problem here as indicated. For instance. I have been assured the example that was used about ANWR. this. in fact. would apply to that and a point of order would be in order against the ANWR amendment being added in conference that had not been in the other body. We will work through this. The second point is and one of the reasons why I was prepared to make a point of order. Senator DODD and I. postcloture. have been very meticulous. even when there were amendments he or I or both of us supported. if they were not germane. we have not included them in the managers package. We have held the line because once you start allowing exceptions. there is no end to it. We were trying to get through with as strong a package as possible. ","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":883,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090118756,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would say to the Senator from Mississippi. if one Senator were to raise a point of order against the item you have described. the process laid out in this bill would be to have the entire Senate decide the matter. If the rest of the Senate believes that -the additional helicopters are justifiable. then the-","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":310,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090118812,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They have to earn the right to move toward a citizenship track. If there is a better way to bring these 11 million people forward so that we can identify them. we are open to any suggestions which anyone may have. The Judiciary Committee has worked on this issue for months. We have had hearings. We have had analysis in the committee on markups. We faced the leaders requirement that the bill be finished before yesterday. before Tuesday. or the Senate would proceed on the leaders bill as opposed to the committee bill. The Judiciary Committee prides itself on getting its work done. We got our work done. It was not easy. but we did it. In an unusual session. people returned early. from the recess. came back on a Sunday. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11311,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090118832,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Ultimately. when he did travel abroad. he served as a lone. unofficial emissary of what was by then an almost forgotten country. He established contact with politicians and journalists. recounting the story of Estonia to whoever would listen. When the collapse of the Soviet empire finally freed his country. Lennart was able to continue representing his newly independent homeland as an Ambassador and Foreign Minister. Ultimately. Lennart served two terms as President of the country he had loved and championed for so long. Lennarts accomplishments were myriad. he helped build Estonias Foreign Service from the ground up. eftab-. lished strong ties with the West. and reached an historic agreement with Boris Yeltsin to end Russias military presence -in Estonia. Beyond these remarkable achievements. though. Lennart left behind a bequest of liberty that will endure along with the free nation of Estonia. I hope each of us will appreciate that legacy and continue working to advance the cause of freedom.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2720,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090118841,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Much of the credit for the Virginia School Districts success belongs to its superintendent. Phil Johnson. the dedicated principals. Michael Krebsbach. Willie Spelts. and Kraig Konietzko. and all the districts teachers. The students and staff at the Virginia Public Schools understand that. in order to be successful. a school must go beyond achieving academic success. it must also provide a nurturing environment where students can develop the knowledge. skills. and attitudes for a lifetime of success. All of the faculty. staff. and students at the Virginia Public School District should be very proud of their accomplishments. I congratulate the Virginia Public Schools in Virginia for winning the Award for Excellence in Education and for exceptional contributions to education in Minnesota.e","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3292,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090118843,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In 1909. the Silver Tip well broke loose in the greatest gusher recorded in California at that time. spraying 36.000 barrels of oil in a 72hour period. The emergence of Coalinga as an oil boomtown caused enough excitement that the Los Angeles Stodk Exchange was shut down for a day so. that the financiers of California could go witness and experience the boom for themselves. At its peak. the Silver Tip well produced 10.000 barrels of oil a day. Coalingas thriving oil fields of that time were to produce personalities and companies that- were to become the giants of the industry. R.C. Baker. the founder of Baker Oil Tools. first honed his trade in Coalinga. Republic Oil Field Supply can also trace its beginnings to the city. The formula for world famous A&W root beer was first concocted in downtown Coalinga. Perhaps most famously. Coalingas oilfield workers fought and won the industrys first 8hour workday. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2851,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090118844,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"His many years of servicefor the city of Los Angeles. for the State ofCalifornia and for the Nation will not be forgotten. Judge Wong is survived by his wife Dolores. his children Kent. Shelley. Duane. and Marshall. and his three grandchildren. I extend my deepest sympathies to his family. Whether he was fighting for our country or fighting for integrity and equality under the law. Judge Delbert Wong was undeterred in his efforts to make America a better place to live. He will be missed by all who knew him. We take comfort in knowing that future generations will benefit from his passion and dedication to justice.*","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3537,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090118850,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking. Housing. and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on March 29. 2006. at 10 a.m.. to conduct a hearing on \"Economic Impact Issues in ExportImport Bank Reauthorization.\"","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":269,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090118854,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session on Wednesday. March 29. 2006. at 10 a.m.. in 215 Dirksen Senate Office Building. to hear testimony on \"U.S.-China Economic Relations Revisited.\"","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":254,"word_count":40}
{"speech_id":1090118914,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on behalf of the majority leader. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it stand in adjournment until 9:30 a.m. on Thursday. March 30. I further ask that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate proceed to a period of morning business for up to 1 hour with the first 30 minutes under","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":468,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090118916,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Today. by an overwhelming vote. we passed the lobbying bill. We now have. turned to another important piece of legislation. the border control bill. We will be workingon this bill for the remainder of the week and into next week. Under an agreement we entered this afternoon. tomorrow we will have more debate on the bill and Senator SPECTER will offer his substitute amendment at noon. Votes are expected tomorrow. and we will alert everyone when a vote is locked in for a certain time.","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":487,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090118927,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker.. we used to do the peoples business in the peoples House when the Democrats were in charge. Now the majority party rubberstamps every bad policy that the administration serves up. House Republican leaders go even further with a little help from their friends. Indentured servitude to financial institutions is called bankruptcy reform. Rubber stamp. Increasing drug company profits is sold as a medical benefit. Rubber stamp. Increasing tax holidays for the superrich. with poverty increasing among children in this country. Rubber stamp. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":839,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090118936,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"A news conference to announce Democrat leaders are tough on national security. that certainly is big news.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1087,"word_count":17}
{"speech_id":1090118937,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. gasoline prices are once again on the. rise. Over the last 2- weeks. prices are up by 14 cents. 40 cents higher than at this same time last year. Americans are looking to Washington for relief. but no relief has occurred. That is because House Republicans rubberstamped an energy plan that was written in secret by a Cheney energy task force. whose participants are still not known to the American people. Based on the final law. one can only assume that the American consumer was not represented at those closeddoor meetings. The Bush administration. Mr. Speaker. has admitted that this energy law will do absolutely nothing to reduce the pain Americans feel when they fill up at the pump. In fact. according to the Presidents own administration. the final energy law will actually lead to higher gasoline prices. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE BUTTERFIELD","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1005,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090118939,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is what happens when we try to WalMart America. Think of it the next time you buy something off their shelves.","speaker_name":"BILL PASCRELL","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1227,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090118953,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Providing for two separate rules in this manner will allow the Rules Committee some additional time it needs to adequately review the large number of amendments that were submitted. guard against potential. duplicative amendments. violation of House rules. ensure germaneness and also eliminate those that would violate budgetary rules. I hope that in this process we will ensure an orderly debate on the -key issues of this particular bill with the proposed two structured rules coming to us. This twostep process will also allow many of the sponsors of those amendments some additional time to perhaps redraft their language. with closer consultation with the Parliamentarian and the relevant committees of jurisdiction. The Rules. Committee did work hard to listen to the Member testimony and consider the amendments that were proposed. What is filed in this particular rule are 15 amendments. seven of which are Democrat or bipartisan amendments which provide for a wide range of debate on many key aspects of the higher education program and policy. I think it is indeed a fairrule. In 1965. the original Higher Education Act was proposed in order to provide assistance to a high number of students to fulfill a dream of a college education. Since that time. this bill and reauthorizations of this bill have been usedfor some other purposes. One of the things that is positive about the bill before us is an effort to refocus on the primary purpose and the primary goal of this bill as it was originally applied. and that is public assistance to more students. period. ","speaker_name":"ROB BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8304,"word_count":260}
{"speech_id":1090118959,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to congratulate my friend. the great history professor. who understands the importance of education and for his stellar service on theRules Committee and his commitment to ensuring that we have a good piece of legislation. At the outset. let me say that we obviously have seen Chairman MCKEON work in a bipartisan way reaching out to my fellow Californian. Mr. MILLER. from Martinez. California. who has also a passionate commitment to dealing with the issue of education. I have to say when I sat in the Rules Committee yesterday. listening to this debate. I was struck by the fact that my friend. Mr. ","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":679,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090118966,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They didnt have to go beg for a loan. They didnthave to think about working during the summer or on Easter vacation or student break. No. they concentrated on the science and the engineering. and America met its goal. And we have been living off that legacy now for 30 years. But everybody in that field. betting their money. their companys money. their venture capitalist money has told us the time has come to reinvest. That -is not what this bill does. That is not what this bill does. This bill just passes on as if nothing has changed in America. And yet. members of this committee. Members of this House have traveled to the Pacific Rim. ","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5335,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090118979,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that during consideration of H.R. 609 pursuant to House Resolution 741. the following amendments be permitted to be offered out of the specified order: Amendment No. 9 by Mr. FOSSELLA. Amendment No. 12 by Mr. PORTER. Amendment No. 14 by Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico. Amendment No. 15 by Miss","speaker_name":"HOWARD MCKEON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":325,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090118987,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"H.R. 609 does little to -help make college more affordable for students and families already struggling to pay increasing tuition costs. H.R. 609 does not increase student aid. does not lower interest rates to make loans more manageable. does not promote greater State investment in higher education. It freezes the authorized level of the maximum Pell Grant scholarship. at just $200 above current levels. through 2013 and it does not include any mandatory increase in Pell. H.R. 609 establishes a troublesome standard for transfer of credit. creating an unprecedented Federal role in college curriculum standards which discourages schools from setting high academic standards. At a time when Americas workforce is facing fierce global competition. the Federal Government shouldnot be encouraging our colleges to reduce their academic standards. H1212 : H.R. 609 many puts forth a drastic plan to. allow States to act as accreditors. Colleges currently have to meet three independent standards: one set for eligibility for Federal aid. the second one for State licensing. and another for regional or national accreditation. A classic example of consolidation of power. H.R. 609 would allow States too much control over accreditation. The current trinity of independent standards\" is key to maintaining Americas high. quality higher education. ","speaker_name":"DALE KILDEE","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3247,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090118991,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. America is number one in the global economy. and we can stay number one if we make aggressive investments in education. innovation. and future generations At a time when education is at a premium and we need to be growing the economy. we should be making it easier. not harder. for students to attendcollege.","speaker_name":"RON KIND","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3961,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090119010,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I should also mention a concern about State accreditation. Again. the institutions in Michigan are concerned about that. and we have to clarify the bill to make certain that the accreditation language applies .only to those States that are already doing it. I strdngly support this bill and urge my colleagues to support it as well.","speaker_name":"VERNON EHLERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2231,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090119014,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And what they tell you is that year after year after year we are increasing student aid. What does this bill do? It strengthens Pell Grants. strengthens student aid. reduces red tape for students and graduates. removes barriers for nontraditional students. empowers consumers through sunshine and transparency in college costs. Also. it safeguards the privacy of students. eases college access for members and veterans of the armed services. It repeals duplicative and expired or unnecessary programs. and it promotes meritbased pay for teachers through the Teacher Incentive Fund. which is something I have a particular interest in. The Teacher Incentive Fund specifically targets highpoverty schools. and it provides some extra compensation for .teachers who achieve. The initiative rewards those who have delivered on student achievement. It was a recommendation of the bipartisan National Governors Association. which called for the creation of the Teacher Incentive Fund. and we responded. Mr. Chairman. thi bill is a positive move in the right direction. and I urge all Members. Republicans and Democrats. to put politics aside and vote for education for our young people. ","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2000,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090119016,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"At the same time. changes to the sanctions of the 9010 rule will leave students at *risk. allowing forprofit colleges to remain out of compliance for 3 consecutive years before losing eligibility to participate in Federal student aid programs. The purpose of the 9010 rule was to ensure that schools were not relying on student aid programs for the entirety of their funding. Easing requirements previously placed on forprofit schools places student aid programs at greater risk of misuse. They will be Vulnerable to subsidizing shortterm forprofit ventures. These changes in the 9010 rule will benefit forprofit colleges. but they will not help students. The Higher Education Act was intended to provide help for all Americans. regardless of their income level. with greater educational opportunities. The act recognizes the shared benefits by both society and the individual of a higher educatioi. H.R. 609 will not help students and will not expand access to college. I urge my colleagues to join me in voting \"io.\"","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2113,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090119022,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the chairman. Majority Leader BOEHNER and the Education and Workforce Committee staff for their hard work on and dedication to the College Access and Opportunity Act. For many reasons the United States must have a highly educated workforce. This legislation does just that by -strengthening math. science -and foreign language instruction. It includes incentives to recruit and better prepare more teachers in these critical areas. Most importantly. to adhere to the initial purpose of the Higher Education Act of 1965. this bill further offers lowincome and middleincome youth the opportunity to better themselves and their socioeconomic status through a variety of important reforms. This bill repeals duplicative and unnecessary \"programs and removes bar-. riers for a greater number of potential. not to mention current. students. Two additional parts of the bill about which I am particularly excited are.","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":932,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090119028,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I just want to take this time to highlight a proprietary school in my home county of Bronx. New York. I am delighted that proprietary schools are mentioned in the district and I just want to highlight this degreegranting proprietary school called Monroe College. Bronx. New York. my district. Mr. SERRANOS district. Last June. they graduated 2.000 students. and I have seen firsthand the wonderful.job that they do. ","speaker_name":"ELIOT ENGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":962,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090119064,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This is an opportunity for Congress to make an existing Federal program more useful by providing an incentive for students to enter the fields of public service. It is a fiscally responsible solution that will support individuals who choose to enter areas of public service without imposing costly new mandates that will eat into our ability to provide other student benefits through higher education. Mr. Chairman. I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Arizona .","speaker_name":"JON PORTER","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2533,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090119110,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They did well. and they have now become ma competitors of us. If we do not get the ball and once again get to the I in competing with them on math a science education. so that we are p ducing scientists. engineers. tech 6ians. and mathematicians who c compete worldwide. then we will h the competitiveness battle. I am absolutely delighted the Pre dent had proposed the American Co petitiveness Initiative. This amej ment will be an important compont of the Presidents initiative. along w: the other things wd have done in t\" bill and in other bills to improve mE and science education in this count So thank you again to the gentlem from New Jersey for yielding me tin I commend him and the gentlewom from Washington for initiating t] amendment.","speaker_name":"VERNON EHLERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1355,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090119111,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield n self the balance of my time. . I thank the gentlewoman from Washington for working with me on this amendment. It does address an important need that you have heard over and over again. It hardly bears repeating that we have a need in the schools for content specialists in science. in mathematics. in foreign languages. This will go part way toward addressing this need. And I think it will be an important test of the K16 Language Pipeline Program and I think it will be an important exercise in seeing how we can bring this expertise into the schools without disrupting the schools. without displacing the trained teachers. We will do it in a way so that the specialists will learn the pedagogy and will be drawn into the full system so that the students will benefit. not just in the subject matter but in the pedagogy. Mr. ","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":905,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090119123,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"All this amendment does is. it says very clearly that if money comes in from Middle Eastern interests or other interests around the world. the colleges and universities need to put it on a reporting form. This reporting form is also required once a year so we are not adding any additional workload to the colleges and universities. All we are saying is. if you are getting money from Middle Eastern interests . or other interests around the world. you have to report it. That gives our government the. ability to watch what is going on and where the money is coming from. and if it is coming from proterrprist organizations. we can track it. We think it is extremely important for the protection of the United States and the security of the United States. It does not cost any money. This amendment costs no money. It imposes no additional workload. and it does not violate the first amendment rights of the people of this country. What it does do is it says -we are going to find out where the money is coming from.","speaker_name":"DAN BURTON","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2396,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090119172,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This has been a tremendously successful program. and I am very pleased that the chairman and other members of the committee have chosen to offer this amendment. I also appreciate Mr. REGULAS support. That is also very important.","speaker_name":"THOMAS OSBORNE","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1004,"word_count":38}
{"speech_id":1090119183,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Simplifying the financial aid process and applying for Pell Grants is such a worthy objective. something we have been working. on very closely. and we have made a lot of progress in this underlying legislation to simplify the process. This amendment makes it an even better bill. and I wholeheartedly support the amendment and urge my colleagues to do so as well. * I Madam Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"RIC KELLER","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":479,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090119188,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"MILLER also. Madam Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"HENRY CUELLAR","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1876,"word_count":12}
{"speech_id":1090119196,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of the amendment and ask that my colleagues support it as well. because this amendment would encourage institutions of higher education to establish and operate pregnant and parenting student services offices for pregnant students. parenting students. prospective parenting students who are anticipating a birth or adoption. and also students who are placing or who have placed their children up for adoption. The student servicing center will help students with locating and utilizing child care. family housing. flexible academic scheduling such as telecommuting programs. parenting classes. and programs in postpartum counseling and support groups. This language will be added as an additional authority under the Fund for the Improvement of PostSecondary Education. the FIPSE. which was established to improve postsecondary education activities. Madam Chair. 27 pepeent of all undergraduates are parents. 34 percent of all graduate students are parents. onehalf of undergraduate students are single parents. and about a third of graduate students are single parents. This means that approximately 4.5 million undergraduate and graduate students are parents. Fortyfive percent of the women who have abortions are collegeage women. Many. unfortunately. have them because they fear that they cannot complete their study. They fear they cannot support the child. and there are no resources to help them continue their education while having their child. ","speaker_name":"MELISSA HART","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4097,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090119232,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I strongly urge all of my colleagues in both political parties to support this resolution. Madam. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3333,"word_count":25}
{"speech_id":1090119233,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I had the honor of meeting privately- with President Hamid Karzai. He is an affable. approachable. and humble man whom I came to view. as many others have. as the indispensable man of this new. democratic Afghanistan. President Karzai proved his worth again when. as a direct result of his intervention. justice was brought to the case about which we gather today. when Abdul Rahman was released from prison. But while I am relieved that by virtue of President Karzais personal engagement Abdul Rahman has been freed. religious freedom in Afghanistan is still behind bars. The American people today have the luxury of looking upon recent events in Afghanistan through the eyes of people far removed from the volatile days of the beginning of our own Republic. and we must be careful what prism we look through when we seek to remove the speck from our neighbors eye. We are far removed from the events unfolding over 3 years following ratification of the U.S. Constitution. the establishment of protections under our own Bill of Rights. * Unlike. the American people today. President Karzai and the people of Afghanistan find themselves at the very beginning of a long and arduous journey of democracy. a democracy within which I fear the value of religious freedom is still suspect by many and the protections of religious freedom are still vague. And I want to acknowledge that and acknowledge that about which we speak today. we speak with charity to a fledgling democracy that. we are anxious to support. But. ","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5926,"word_count":256}
{"speech_id":1090119243,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaket. this administration and congressional leaders have hit bottom. It is -irresponsible and it is immoral to direct current deficit spending to tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the wealthiest 1 percent of the country. yet this is the trajectory that has been pursued by many of the Republican conferees. Further. these Republican conferees would be willing to mortgage the cost of this gift to the wealthiest taxpayers on the back of every man. woman and child in this country. and it is evident that most of the Republicans have these misplaced priorities. Beyond the sheer irresponsibility of enacting these skewed tax cuts. the Republican leadership has underscored its time to the gentleman from California stubborn- and steadfast commitment to .. a member of the Ways cutting taxes on investment income and Means Committee. and handing the bill to middleclass The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. families that are more and more falling MILLER of Michigan). Is there objection prey to the growing reach of the alter- to the request of the gentleman from native minimum tax. - New York? Madam Speaker. I think it is very There was no objection. important that we take stock in what Mr. BECERRA. Madam Speaker. I reis going on here and what the ramifica- serve the balance of our time. tions are of any law coming out of this Mr. CAMP of Michigan. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES RANGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8332,"word_count":229}
{"speech_id":1090119245,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. you know. the question is straightforward. Why would anybody favor a tax cut. about half of which goes to people making $1 million a year over preventing a tax increase for 17 million Americans. most of whom are middle class? Why would anybody do this? Well. my friend from Michigan says that it is broadbased. the capital gains and dividend provision. more so than AMT. But most of that broad base receives very little. while a small minority of that broad base receives very much. So the broad base is really poor rhetoric. I guess the second answer is. we will do it later. the AMT. We will do it later. I wish you would get up and tell us how you pay for that right here and now. right here and now. I will yield to you if you want to say.","speaker_name":"SANDER LEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":758,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090119262,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Together we sent a strong. unmistakable signal to our colleagues across the Capitol .that extending this temporary middleclass AMT relief is a crucial priority that cannot be ignored. Madam Speaker. we passed the AMT relief as a standalone measure outside of reconciliation. We did that so we could comply with the budget rules of the other body without raising taxes. At the same time. we recognized that extending the lower rates for capital gains and dividends is important. not. just to the evergrowing investor class that now includes millions of seniors and other middleclass Americans. but to our economy as a whole. Thanks in large part to these lower rates on investments. tax revenues have been streaming into the Federal Treasury at a record pace. These lower rates. which are particularly important to the economy of my home State of New York. have helped our Nation in keeping this economy strong and our domestic job base growing. That is why the House tax reconciliation bill included an extension of these lower tax rates on investments. But what does todays motion to instruct do? Yes. it urges relief from the AMT. but it does so by crowding out the other important progrowth tax policies that have helped keep our economy strong. Even worse. by insisting that we provide AMT relief within the reconciliation process. the Democrat motion would force conferees to raise taxes somewhere else. I would remind my collqagues that AMT was never intended to hit the middle class. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS REYNOLDS","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2791,"word_count":249}
{"speech_id":1090119313,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"ida. Mr. Speaker. back in November. Homeland Security officials found and deported 85 illegal aliens from Mexico. 63 of the 85 had previously committed such crimes as burglary.. drug possession. sexual assault and murder. In September. 99 illegal aliens were arrested in a sting operation in. my home State of Florida. All of them had violent criminal backgrounds. Back in July. officials arrested 29 illegal aliens from South Korea who were operating a sex trafficking business. If these violent criminals could break through our borders. how do we know that terrorist groups have not also? I call on my colleagues in the Senate to pass the bill that We have passed. H.R. 4437. the Border Protection. Antiterrorism. and Illegal Immigration Control Act. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA BROWN-WAITE","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":815,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090119324,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Today I proudly rise to celebrate Greek Independence Day and the strong ties that bind the nations of Greece and the United States. One hundred and eightyfive years ago. the people of Greece began a journey that would mark the symbolic birth of democracy in a land where those principles to human dignity were first espoused. This past Saturday. March 25. marked the 185th anniversary of the Greek struggle for independence. It was an historic day for all people who treasure freedom. In 1821. after four centuries of Ottoman rule. Greeks rose up in arms. fought valiantly and finally achieved a dream centuries old. freedom from Turkish oppression. In setting their blood for. liberty and winning their freedom. Greeks showed the world their deep and abiding commitment to democracy. This celebration also marks the beginning of one of Americas most valued and rewarding friendships. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BILIRAKIS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5036,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090119336,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise this evening to express my extreme disappointment with the Public Broadcasting Systems decision to give a forum to Armenian genocide denialists following the April 17 broadcast of Andrew Goldbergs documentary. \"The Armenian Genocide.\" PBS should be commended for deciding to run Goldbergs documentary. However. the documentary should stand on its own. I am troubled by the networks decision to conduct a panel discussion immediately after the documentary that focuses on Turkeys role in the death of Armenians during and after World War I. The 25minute panel discussion has generated an outcry because the panel will include two scholars who deny that 1.5 million Armenian civilians were killed in eastern Turkey from 1915 to i923. I urge PBS to reconsider the inclusion of the panel discussion. Despite the Turkish Governments continued concerted effort to deny and alter history. there is no serious academic historian willing to dispute the genocide. or extermination. of 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923. There are literally thousands of pages of documents in our national archive confirming the Armenian genocide. ","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3247,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090119359,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But we are talking about Americans. people who are tied -together. If we do. not consider that American citizenship or legal residency in our country means anything. we are degrading that very issue of citizenship and legal procedures that one goes through with respect to the law by giving benefits to millions of people who have come here in total disregard for Americas law. What we need to do -is make sure that any law that passes is a strong antiillegal immigration law and not just a border control law. And do not let anyone tell you. oh. we need these people because there is work that Americans wont do. Americans will do any job as long as the price is high enough. and they have been bidding down the amount paid. to laborers by having millions of illegals coming into this country willing to work for less money. Do not let the agricultural business or any other business tell you that they cannot find people to do that work. Yes. we would have to be creative. For example. there is no reason why the millions of young Americans who are in their 20s and early 30s. who occupy our prisons throughout the United States. should not earn some money. earning their own way. perhaps giving restitution to their victims and perhaps having some money when they get out of prison to start a.new life by picking fruits and vegetables. This can and should be done. Everybody is brushing that argument off. ","speaker_name":"DANA ROHRABACHER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":46.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6458,"word_count":252}
{"speech_id":1090119373,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If the gentleman would yield. I think that is an excellent point. We sometimes forget that when we passed that bill. the .one we have been discussing which was debated with some spirit. it was designed. it was designed to help seniors who are low income first. and I think that the implementation of this part D is showing that to be true. When we have lowincome seniors come to one of our workshops and they are taking sometimes a passel of prescription drugs. they are saving thousands of dollars. That is what the bill was designed to do. I remember a lot of the debate and discussion. and we talked about seniors Who were -forced into the terrible position of choosing whether to take a prescription drug or having the next meal or paying rent or perhaps arbitrarily choosing to cut their tablets in half. This part D for lowincome seniors removes that. There is no lowincome senior who should not be getting their prescription drugs with tremendous savings. virtually free in some cases. but saving lots and lots. of money. What we are finding very interesting is that there are thousands of middleincome seniors who. when they come to our workshop and look at the choices and they sit in front of that computer terminal where you can very quickly rate the different choices. they are seeing that they can save an awful lot of money and it is to their benefit. If it is not to their benefit. certainly they can choose some other form. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KLINE","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2885,"word_count":258}
{"speech_id":1090119375,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I am sure my colleagues have pointed out tonight we have less than 60 days left on the open enrollment period for the Medicare prescription drug enrollment plan. and we were informed this morning that they have currently signed up 28 million people on the Medicare prescription drug plans. When this started last November 15. the target signup was 30 million. So. Mr. Speaker. it seems pretty likely that CMS is going to meet that target or likely exceed that target. Just to carry on with numbers a little bit more. there are 42 million senior Americans enrolled in Medicare. Six million of those have coverage from other sources such as the VA or a private retiree plan. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BURGESS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4271,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090119379,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Know the drugs that you are taking. This is very important. Before anyone calls any of the Medicare hotlines orgoes online to try to decide what drug coverage they need. they need to know what drugs they are on and the dosage and the dosage schedule. It doesnt do any good to purchase a Medicare prescription drug plan that doesnt cover the medicines that you are taking. My colleague and I heard this morning from another Member that for a husband and wife who are both on prescription drugs. but not necessarily on the same prescription drugs. what is a good plan for the one spouse may not be a good plan for the other spouse. Each spouse needs to look at that individually. In this situation. it is not necessary nor sometimes even desirable for both to buy the same plan.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BURGESS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4587,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090119475,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. last week a disturbing report was released showing evidence of a security breach at U.S. Central Command in Doha. Qatar. According to the report. Iraqi docu-\" ments now in our possession show that Russian officials provided Saddam Hussein with intelligence on U.S. strategic planning during the leadup to the war in Iraq. The documents say Russians provided the intelligence through \"their sources inside the American Central Command in Doha.\" specific details 2 weeks before our troops entered Iraq. Mr. Speaker. this is not a small mat-","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":551,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090119481,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the issue is not hard to understand. The American people understand this issue and we are getting lots of calls into our offices We have the immigration debate. As we talk about illegal immigration. as we discuss the problem of illegal entry into this country. we all know that you have to begin with the very first step. It has to be a priority and that priority is seal our borders. We all learned in kindergarten that. the beginning is a very good place to start. As we have this debate on illegal immigratio4 and illegal entry into this country. lets begin at the very beginning by sealing the borders to this great Nation.","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":640,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090119498,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. Mr. Speaker and Members of the House. later today this House will have an opportunity to reverse one of the more egregious things that we have done. or those who voted for it have .done. against the interest of Americas economy. of Americas institutions of higher education. for the students who are attending them. and the families that are supporting them. And that was when earlier this year in the budget reconciliation bill. this Congress. under Republican leadership. cut $12 billion out of the student aid accounts and foisted ahigher cost onto students and their families at the exact time when the increased cost of college education is outstripping the ability of those families to afford that education. We are starting to see an increasing number of young people who are fully qualified. who would fully beoefit from a college education who are now deciding maybe they cant do it because they cant afford it. The exact purpose of the Federal Gcvernments involvement in helping to finance higher education for Americas students is to make sure that no qi!alified student is turned away from that opportunity because of cost. So today. in our substitute. we will have the opportunity to make a down payment on reversing those costs for those families and those students most in need. And what we will do is we will cut the new interest rate .that is going to go into place in uly at 6.8 percent on these loans. We would reduce that to 3.4 percent. and this would be a down payment for 1 year. We obviously hope that the Congress would follow on and continue that effort so that these students can afford that education. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3764,"word_count":289}
{"speech_id":1090119531,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I urge support of the amendment. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JUDY BIGGERT","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":609,"word_count":16}
{"speech_id":1090119536,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Cutting down on some red tape will allow these schools to focus on educating their students first. This amendment also strikes section 495(a)(1) that would allow States to apply to the Secretary of Education to become recognized accreditors. It just looked like that created more Federal bureaucracy. more State bureaucracy. and we have the best university system in the world. It is too expensive. It has gotten expensive so fast. and with two kids in college. I certainly am very sensitive -to that. So I applaud the chairmans efforts in his bill to assist in bringing those down. but I have concerns about some of these other provisions. Mr. Chairman. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania . my friend.","speaker_name":"LOUIE GOHMERT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1573,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090119609,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Additionally. it will expand college partici.pation rates for minority students by establishing a graduate Hispanicserving institution program and a predominantly black institution program and by providing additional assistance fortribal colleges. - Instead of supporting the Missed College Opportunity Act. I ask my colleagues to seize this opportunity to act in the interest of students and families. Americas students and families .de: serve better. Vote \"no\" on H.R. 609. Vote \"yes\" on the Democratic substitute.","speaker_name":"DALE KILDEE","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1287,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090119624,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The in the fields of math. science. and engineering Democratic substitute would also create a pilot to maintain our economic preeminence. H.R. program for year round Pell Grants. simplify 609 fails to address this National crisis in any the student loan application process. and procomprehensive manner. vide loan forgiveness for nurses. highlyquailThe Democratic Substitute would correct fled teachers in bilingual and lowincome these inadequacies. cutting in half interest communities. librarians. first responders and rates on loans for low- and middleincome stu- other public servants. dents most in need of helpfrom 6.8 percent As a nation. we must invest in higher eduto 3.4 percentstarting in July 2006. The cation if we are going to boost Americas ecoSubstitute also establishes a Predominantly nomic competitiveness and continued prosBlack Institution program. a graduate Hispanic perity. Hardworking families and students deServing Institution program. and. provides ad- serve better. I urge my colleagues to join me ditional assistance for tribal colleges. in rejecting the ui)derlying bill and supporting On balance. there are some features in the the Democratic alternative that would truly base bill that I support. I am encouraged by: make college more accessible and affordable (1) the inclusion of Coppin State University as to more Americans. a qualified graduate program. in -my district. Mr. McKEON. Mr. Chairman.. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6641,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090119629,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Chairman. is it the intention of the committee that this bill will allow .funding forthis type of program?","speaker_name":"DEBORAH PRYCE","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":677,"word_count":18}
{"speech_id":1090119653,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Attempts to make this lege participation- rates of lowincome blackleft the committee. misguided bill better have been stifled. students. Creating a new Graduate Hispanic Serving Institutions program. and Creating a pilot program for year round Pell grants. Traditionally. higher education legislation has enjoyed widespread bipartisan participation and support but today I will vote against this higher education bill. American students and families are struggling to pay for college. Congress should pass legislation to control tuition costs and increase student aid and not miss this opportunity to help American families. I strongly support the Democraic substitute. I will vote against the underlying bill. H.R. 609. because it does not make college more affordable for American students and families.","speaker_name":"HOWARD MCKEON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4485,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090119658,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. at a time when the global economy demands a highly trained. educated workforce. Congress is making it more difficult for our students. to succeed. The Higher Education. Reauthorization Act represents a missed opportunity at a critical time for improving education. All across America. communities are struggling to deal with education funding for preschools through high schools. Many of these communities are recovering from difficult economic times and have financially stressed the local education systems: Many states have responded to budget crunches by reducing their support for postsecondary education at a time when we need to be deslierately training students for their own as well as the countrys future. It is expected by 2020. the U.S. will experience a shortage of up to 12 million collegeeducated workers. We are providing less support as a percentage of overall educational costs than ever before. In part. it is because of a tragic decision of the Republican majority to sacrifice education for $70 billion in tax benefits for Americas","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1066,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090119695,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would like to offer a personal explanation of the reasons I missed rollcall votes Nos. 7581 on March 30. 2006. I was down in my. district on official business and unfortunately could not make it back in time for votes. \u0095 If present. I would have voted: Rollcall vote No. 75. A motion to .adopt the rule for H.R. 609. the College Access and Opportunity Act. \"aye\". Rollcall vote No. 76. A motion to table the Pelosi Privileged Resolution. \"aye\". ","speaker_name":"JEFF MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1981,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090119713,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Reclaiming my time. I apprediate the sentiments of the majority.leader. I know the majority leader has a history in dealing with his bills of pursuing them in that fashion. and we have appreciated it. as the gentleman knows. I have expressed that to him. in the -ast. It has not always been our experience. Clearly. these bills are of exttaordinarytonsequence to working men and women in this country. particularly as it relates to the pension bill as well as the tax reconciliation. Without trying to catch you up on your words. but if I could just somewhat. perhaps humorously. I hope. but you said that you are not moving ahead rapidly.- but you. will let us know. and you will not do so until the Democrats are in. the room. Frankly. Mr. ","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1025,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090119716,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that when thE House adjourns today. it adjourn tc meet at 2 p.m. on Monday next. and further. when the House adjourns on that day. it adjourn to meet at 12:3C p.m. on Tuesday. April 4. 2006 for morning hour debate.","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":251,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090119733,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And this is the first time I have seen people who are going to be penalized for the rest of their lives if they do not sign up by a certain date. May 15. Not only having them to set a ridiculous short time to sign up for this complicated plan. but the next time seniors \u0095can sign up will be November 15 through December 31. that includes both Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. So it is very complicated for seniors. The Republican leadership wrote a bill that prevents the Secretary of Health and Human Services from negotiating the price of the drug. even though both the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the Secretary of DOT are negotiating these prices right now. \u0095 Can you imagine what would happen if WalMart. if we told WalMart they could not get a reduotioh price on bulk buying? Every Republican in this House would be on this floor screaming bloody murder. But when it is the needs of our seniors. there is a deaf ear. you do not hear them. This bill allows the private plans to take drugs off of their approved lists and even charge .more for drugs during that year. They can charge more. while seniors are locked- in and cannot change plans until the next year. It also turns seniors into criminals. Yes. criminals. ","speaker_name":"CORRINE BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3262,"word_count":224}
{"speech_id":1090119737,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Iraqis have made progress. and I do not know what more we can ask of our troops. But overall this visit solidified my belief that it is time for the Iraqi people to step forward and take control of the situation in their country. Our troops are caught in the middle of religious *and ethnic disputes. .Sectarian violence is rampant in many areas. Iraqis must step up to the plate and rqsolve these disputes themselves. As President Kennedy said of South Vietnam in the summer of 1961. \"In the end. it is their country. jnd they are going to have to fight for it.\" Therefore. we need a change of course in our foreign policy. Staying the course is no longer acceptable. We need to take two actions: One is announce a phasedredeployment of our troops outside of Iraq. This redeployment should be complete by the end of this year. by2006. Number two. we need to put the Iraqis on notice that they must assume responsibility. ","speaker_name":"TOM UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2325,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090119758,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They are not coming up to me and saying. hey. I am a Republican and I have got to stick with. Republicans because I am Republican. No. they are saying I am an American and I am concernbd about what is happening in Washington. D.C.. I am. concerned about the fact that I am going to have to pay more for my grandchilds education because we have not done what we are supposed to do in the fiscal way to make sure that we are there. we do not cut student opportunities so they can train themselves for the next generation. I am concerned. Congressman. that the Congress is not investing in innovation so that we can have. engineers. we can have scientists. so that we do not have to raise the visa rate to be able to bring folks in from another country to take U.S. jobs because we have CEOs that are begging us for the opportunity to have an educated and readytogo- workforce. andwe cannot provide it because these kids cannot get into schools. but meanwhile. we- are standing up for .the billionaires in this country. and we are standing up for bad policy in this country. No one is questioning the whole issue as it relates to Iraq. You heard one of our Members just got back. said this is what we need on the ground in Iraq. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2732,"word_count":232}
{"speech_id":1090119782,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. I am a physician. Before. I came to Congress. I was a medical doctor. And when I would see a patient. I could not get to the right diagnosis unless I was given the true information. either in a lab test or talking with the patient or whatever it was. And the same is true in public policy. Unless you get the truth. unless you get real honest information. you just cannot get to the right solution because you do not have all of the information that you need. So everyone is entitled to their own opinion. and there are a lot of opinions here in Washington. ","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10930,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090119783,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He wanted to root out the corrupting influence of very large donors. That is what he was quoted .as .saying. to root out issue advocacy phone calls. TV ads. radio ads. This last election cycle. he spent$27 million. wrote a check for $27 million to different 527 groups to do exactly what he wanted to ban through campaign finance reform.. Liberal lunacy. hypocrisy. It is a culture of hypocrisy that we are fighting on the left. Lets look at the facts and figures. $370 million flowed through 527 groups. $370 million. That. is more than President Bush and Senator KERRY spent on the presidential election. This flowed through - unregulated. undisclosed means. So voters didnt have the opportunity to know who these 527 groups are. who their donors are. what their true agenda is. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK MCHENRY","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2625,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090119784,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"You mentioned one person. George Soros. I just happen to have prepared a poster here. because you talk about big money in politics. and the stated goal by some was to get big money out of politics. In fact. that is exactly what has not occurred. The problem with what we have right how. as you well know. is that there is no way for folks to get.this information easily or to know what this money is being spent on. George Soros spent $27 million. as you have said. And then there are others here as well that I would love to have you highlight. I know that you have. got information about that.","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":595,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090119803,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I appreciate your comments. and I think it is so important to focus on the issue of fixing and reforming the system because that is what our constituents send us here to do. to fix and to reform the system. This system is broken. allowing more individuals. some individuals to have a greater influence than they otherwisemight be able to have. and it is not fair. It is not a level playing field. . I just have a few more moments left. but I wonder if the gentlewoman from Tennessee might have some closing comments.","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":529,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090119826,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the Senator. He has explained the underlying bill accurately and correctly. The Senator understands that any of those individuals attempting to adjuqt their status over an 11year period. if they get in trouble with the law. they are subject to deportation. They have to play by the rules. pay their taxes. work in the community. and be good citizens. learning English. I am always impressed by the fact that under the Pew poll.\"it says that 98 percent of undocumented males are working today in the United States. These are workers making our economy stronger and providing for their families. If they in any way violate the law. they are subject to all of the legal interpretations and their opportunity for citizenship is eliminated. This is a tough provision. I believe.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":781,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090119845,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. as I pointed out. border security is national security. I see the chairman of the Subcommittee for Homeland Security of the Appropriations Committee on the floor. and he has been a great champion of getting more money allocated for this important effort. But we are a far cry from where we need to be. We can do this ifwe have the national will and commitment. But our national security depends on border security. and we have to make a credible effortindeed. more than an effortwe need to be successful in providing security to our borders in order to keep the American people safe. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":619,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090119869,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I too rise to strongly support the general thrust of the Presidents border security bill. As the essential first step in this great challenge. we must take strong. meanifigful actionnot just talk but action to prove that we can and will secure our borders and return to the rule of law with regard to our immigration system. I too rise .as a descendent of immigrants .to this country. and I am very proudof that. Both sets of my grandparents--on my moms side and on my dads sidecame from France. They came first into New York but very soon thereafter to Louisiana where there are many other French immigrants. and they settled. What is so unique about this debate is that here in the Senate. every Senator. rises and begins with a similar sort of story. Weare all the descendants of immigrants. That is what makes America so magical and so unique. ","speaker_name":"DAVID VITTER","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10946,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090119871,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The second is how you deal with the fact there is a large number of people in this country who are here illegally today and that there. is a large number of people who wish to come to this country for the purposes qf 6arning a living. and that they will come into this country however they canand if it is illegal. they will come here illegallyand how we would change that atmosphere. On the first issue. which has been discussed and which is the purpose of the bill before the Senate. the bill filed by theSenate majority leader. this is very resolvable. We can secure our borders. That has been said by everyone.. And we should. We must. We cannot as a culture survive if wedo not have borders which are secure. if we do not know who is coming into the country. if we do not know who is coming here. If we have large numbers of people who are coming into this Nation illegally. it undermines us as a nation of laws. There is no question but this can be resolved. It does not take a lot of new law to do that. to be very honest. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10844,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090119876,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Criminalizing those who are here. charging those who help them with felonies for simply providing humanitariah assistance is wrong. It is far better for us to take the more constructive and comprehensive approach of the Specter bill that was reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee. I reserve the remainder of my time.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1898,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090119880,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Last year. when Senators KENNEDY.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2114,"word_count":5}
{"speech_id":1090119884,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. yesterday Senator FRiST spoke about his bill and I spoke about the committee bill. We said that today. after there had been speeches. at approximately noon. I would propose an amendment that would be the committee bill. I send an amendment to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":307,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090119890,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That can be done only if we have cooperation from Members. I ask Members who have amendments to consider at the outset time agreements so we can move ahead. I give notice to my colleagues that in order to complete this. business. we are going to have to hold the voting time to 15 minutes. plus the 5minute leeway. but we are not going to allow the votes to run 25 minutes. 30 minutes. 21 minutes. We are going to move ahead under the rules of the Senate. As I say. it is a prodigious job to get finished by next Thursday night or on Friday. The temper of the Senate is to try to finish on a Thursday late before a recess. but to do that we are going to have to have a lot of cooperation to avoid a Fridaysession or. depending on the will of the leader. a session beyond Friday into the weekend. if necessary. to complete this bill. I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1636,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090119896,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So we are glad they are here. and we should make it easier for such people to come. Craig Barrett. the head of Intel. estimates if we were to adopt this provision.- that would mean perhaps 12.000 to 15.000 additional doctoral students in math. engineering. technology. or physical sciences. once they earn their degree. can stay in the United States. The other provision was at one point in the Judiciary Committee mark. It may still be there. But it takes the cap off some categories of highly advanced people who have earned an advanced degree in science. technology. engineering. and math. It is simply in our own interestto do that. It continues a long tradition and is one more example of why we already have a tradition of welcoming workers and students who temporarily work here. So we have at least four principles at play that I have talked about: The rule of law. equal opportunity. laissez faire. and we have the characteristic of our country being a nation of immigrants. But there is another principle that I believe is the single most important principle we have in this debate and it. is the one that is engraved above the chair of the- Presiding Officer. It is the motto of this country: E pluribus unum. ","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11554,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090119905,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the time before the vote be allocated as follows: the next 30 minutes beginning at 1:20 be under the control of the Democratic leader or his designee. the following 30 minutes be under the majority control. the next 30 minutes be under the control of the Democratic side. and finally that the remaining time before the vote be equally divided between the two sides.","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":409,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090119920,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. ders for all the reasons I have indi- shortly the Senate is going to be concared fronted with a vote on two bills. one of I look forward to discussing some of them being the leaders bill which the other significant issues relative to deals with enforcement on the border. this entire issue. I hope we can agree and the other the Judiciary Committee that border security and enforcement bill -which essentially incorporates proof the law at the workplace are critical visions of the McCainKennedy bill elements of any legislation we adopt. into a broad and comprehensive bill Mr. President. I suggest the absence which will. I believe. be before the Senof a quorum. ate for discussion and amendment.","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4589,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090119926,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Through the Chair. I know the Senator from California is a member of the committee. and I certainly dont want to interrupt her statement. I have a statement to give. and I need to do that sometime. I am wondering how much longer the Senator is going to speak?","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":259,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090119992,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I believe the thrust of the amendment is a goodone. I want to take a look to see what is meant by \"voluntary departure\" under 240B. But it looks to me when you want to exclude the criminal class from being on the path for working in this country. the citizenship path. that is desirable. It is my hope we can move ahead and transact some business and hear some amendments and hopefully move to votes at the earliest possible time.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":430,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090119994,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"COCHRAN. and SANTORUM. I ask unanimous consent that Senators MCCONNELL and MCCAIN be added as cosponsors.","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":484,"word_count":16}
{"speech_id":1090120033,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the bottom line is that many things we have authorizedadditional Border Patrol agents. additional equipment. additional aircraft. radar. UMVs. camerasneither the President nor the Congress over the years has seen fit toprovide. We have gotten a lot more in recent years than we have in the past. But the bottom line is merely because we authorize something doesnt necessarily mean it is going to be appropriated. It is not just a matter of money. Sometimes it is a matter of enforcing laws that we have on the books--such as the employers who find it very difficult to differentiate fraudulent documents and. therefore. they end up hiring illegal immigrants. But we dont enforce that law. It is hard to blame the employer. but the -Government isnt trying to enforce it. either. Simply authorizing something doesnt necessarily mean it will happen.","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":861,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090120034,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask the Senator. isnt that in fact what happened in 1986? We passed the amnesty. bill. and the American people were told this would be a onetime thing. it would solve this problem. and we are going to have enforcement on the border. That was promised. But. in fact. it never occurred. The monies were never appropriated. The President never aggressively asked for the resources necessary to make this occur. and we ended up not enforcing the law.","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":463,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090120043,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Kendell Frederick was an Army soldier from Maryland killed in Iraq on October 19. 2005. He was 21 years old. Kendell was killed by a roadside bomb on his way to be fingerprinted to become a U.S. citizen. But he was also killed by the botched bureaucracy of the U.S. Government: by their incompetence. by their indifference. by their ineptitude. This is inexcusable. Every military death in Iraq is a tragedy. but this one did not need to happen. Kendell died in Iraq. fighting for America. Yet he wasnt born in America. he was born in Trinidad. He came to this country when he was 15 years old. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA MIKULSKI","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2800,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090120063,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In January of 1969. General Lord was introduced to the Air Force through Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. ICBM. operational readiness and combat crew missile training. This training led to his first assignment to North Dakota as .a Minuteman II combat crewmember. Generhl Lords Air Force journey would take him and Beccy through a series of Air Staff and Department of Defense assignments relating to space and strategic and tactical missile systems. He was assigned as the military assistant to the director of Net Assessment and directed the GroundLaunched Cruise Missile Program -in Europe. He served as the commander of the 10th Strategic Missile Squadron in Montana. vice commander of the 351st Strategic Missile Wing in Missouri.. and later commanded two ICBM wings in Wyoming and North Dakota. In California. General Lord commanded the 30th Space Wing responsible for satellite launch and ballistic missile test launch operations. Leading professional development and educational programs was a hallmark of General Lords career. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2850,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090120066,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Unfortunately. not enough is being done to ensure this participation. Just last week. I sent a letter to FEMA about their failure to award approximately $1.5 billion in relief. recovery. and rebuilding contracts to small businesses. They told Senator LANDRIEU and me. and the other members of the Small Business Committee in November that they would award those contracts by February 1. We were disappointed that it would be another four months to get those funds to small businesses that desperately needed the work. but we were even more appalled when the deadline tame and went. with no action from FEMA. Thus. this legislation has a number of provisions to help small businesses in the disaster areas compete for Federal contracts in the short term and in any future disaster recovery effort. This bill would make the declared disaster areas an Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone). This would give a preference to small businesses in the disaster zone when they bid on Federal contracts. To help jumpstart the local economies affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and Wilma. the bill requires the Federal Government to award 30 percent of prime contracts and 40 perceft of subcontract dollars spent on disaster relief. recovery or reconstruction in the four affected States to be awarded to small businesses. Small businesses performing work in the area are more likely to turn over Federal dollars in the local economy. reinvigorating the local economy. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7629,"word_count":238}
{"speech_id":1090120098,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this week. the National Medical Association sponsored American Diabetes Alert Day. with the purpose of bringing \"-the publics attention to this distressingly prevalent disease. Approximately 20.8 million people in the United States have diabetes. 6.2 million. or about a third of that number. are unaware that they suffer from the disease. although they have it. Among African Americans. approximately 3.2 million people. age 20 or older. have diabetes. with as many as onethird of that number remaining undiagnosed. Yet the ravages of that disease. which can be quite silent at first. continue. These disparities also mean higher rates of heart disease. amputations. loss of eyesight. and a host of other serious complications caused by diabetes. African Americans are over two times as likely as nonHispanic Whites to die from the disease. Today. nobody knows exactly why. and it needs to be explored and it needs to be eliminated. I strongly believe that the troubling persistence of health disparities. these gaps and differences that are based on race. and even where you live at times. based on socioeconomic statusdiabetes being one exampleis a- national issue that almost by definition affects us all. . I congratulate the National Medical Association. a very active organization. a tremendous organization. for their outreach. which they have explored through conferences and through email and direct mail. for raising this awareness. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4478,"word_count":226}
{"speech_id":1090120185,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I. and I think the whole body. accept that out of deep respect for the committee process and the great work the committee has done thus far and the right for the committees voice to be heard. I am optimistic about where we are going with this bill. It is interesting. in our caucus. and I know in the Democratic caucus as well. there is a lot of discussion going on. You cant help but to pick up the papers now and listen to the radio and watch television and not see this discussion of these very real problems being put first and foremost in the headlines and in the stories. I think that is healthy because we have problems which we have failed to address as a people. problems we absolutely must address. the problems of people crossing these borders illegally. at a rate that about 2.8 million people came across our Southwest border last year. That number is increasing every year by about 25 percent. These are illegal people coming across the borders. It is a problem that is there. It is a problem that is growing. It is a problem we have to address. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7288,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090120192,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I return to the floor to speak about the pending amendment to the border security and immigration bill that was voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. on which I am proud to serve. I want to explain to my colleagues and anyone else who may be listening why I oppose this amendment. I believe that. while there are many good things in the bill. or amendment. one of the bad things it contains is that it provides amnesty to those who have violated our immigration laws. As I have said before and I will say again. I cannot accept amnesty as part of any comprehensive solution to our immigration crisis. But more important. it is not a question of whether I can accept this as part of the solution. I dont believe the American people will accept amnesty as part of the solution either. Unfortunately. at its core the committee product includes an amnesty. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7913,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090120197,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Then we get to day four. We did not have a single vote on any amendment during those first four days of hearings. On the fifth day. we once again in committee talked about how best to proceed. No amendments were offered. and none were voted on. During the 5 days. we did not vote on a single amendment. All the controversial issues got pushed off to Monday. We are not normally here on Monday. but we showed up on Monday because the leader said we had to have a bill out Monday night or he would bring up his own bill. During the morning session on Monday. we spent 31\/2 hours talking about amendments on the enforcement provisions of the bill. We spent a good bit of time on the enforcement provisions and made some progress. I got optimistic to the point that I have said if we did just a few more things. we could create an enforcement system that would work. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11124,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090120222,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to recognize the work of a good friend of mine and a distinguished public servant. Secretary of Interior Gale Norton. Today is her final day as Secretary of Interior. I am certain that her presence in that position will be missed. Secretary Norton hails from my home State of Colorado where she built a reputation as a hardworking conservationist and public servant. In Colorado she served as the States attorney general where she represented the State before the Supreme Court on several occasions. But arguing cases before the Supreme Court wasnt challenging enough for Gale. so when asked by President Bush to be the first female to head the Department of Interior she wholeheartedly agreed. Throughout her time at Interior she employed a commonsense approach and an understanding of Western issues which has proven to be an asset to the agency and the Nation. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3219,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090120249,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The NASVH has been vitally important in developing new methods for caring for elderly veterans. such as hospice care. respite care. Alzheimers care. and adult day health care. The State veterans home program has been remarkably successful. This resolution recognizes the importance of this FederalState partnership and honors the dedicated men and women of the National Association of State Veterans Homes for caring for our Nations aging and disabled military heroes. I served in the Army Signal Corps during World War II. Consequently. I am well aware of the sacrifices brave young men and women make on behalf of our country. Its important that our Nation honors its commitment to look after our veterans. Thats where organizations like the NASVH come in and do their part. So its appropriate to honor this group for its commitment to serving our veterans. ","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1751,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090120256,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it adjourn until 2 p.m. on Monday. April 3. I further ask unanimous consent that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate resume consideration of S. 2454. the border security bill. with the time until 5:30 p.m. being equally divided between the chairman and ranking member or their designees.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":515,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090120258,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We are right where I thought we would be in terms of finishing this bill. but it does mean that we are going to have to work together. come together and address substantive amendments in a substantive way and vote on those. In closingand I will close in a few secondsif we dont come together. it means that we are not going to fulfill our responsibility to address these very important issues of border security. of the 11 million to 12 million people who are in this country under the temporary worker program that is being considered. We absolutely must have substantive debate and discussion that respects that we are a nation of the rule of law and a proud nation of immigrants. legal immigrants who have come to this country to work and contribute so much to our society. So I hope that we will get back on track on Monday. We will be voting Monday afternoon at approximately 5:30. We will try to get a unanimous consent for votes on the pending amendments. and Members should expect at least two votes Monday evening.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2031,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090120324,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"My good friend and cosponsor from Virginia is absolutely right. This is a model program. It does not stir up resentment because of three reasons. No. 1. it does protect our borders. No. 2. the local communities are enthusiastic about it because it has kept businesses open on our mutual eastern shore. the Chesapeake Bay. that have been running for over 100 years. The ladies go back home and then return again under appropriate legal authority. It is a model program. If all immigration policy worked this well. we wouldnt be in such turbulent times.","speaker_name":"BARBARA MIKULSKI","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":551,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090120327,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am delighted that my colleague had experiences similar to mine. I bring up one single aspect. I happen to be one who really enjoys crabmeat. I know that when so many of our crab houses came to us. they explained that if we lose what little market we have today. we are gone. because Venezuela has entered the marketI even saw crabmeat in the market this week. and I have been constantly studying it ever since I have been involved in this issue. But all of the crabmeat is coming from way beyond our shores. That is understandable now because the bay. which is the principal source of our crabmeat. is not quite ready for the harvesting. I would hate to see the famous blue crab disappear from our tables. It was about to disappear had we not gotten this program through last time. am I not correct on that?","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":824,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090120365,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Vermont ski. hotel. and conference industries rely on hiring foreign workers when they cannot find Americans to fill seasonal jobs. Over the past several years. the demand for these workers across the country has far exceeded the caps and has led to a severe shortage of workers which threatened the hospitality industry which is such an important part of Vermonts economy. Senator MIKULSKIs amendment will simply extend the sunset date and give businesses in Vermont. Maryland. and other States the resources they need to compete and succeed. We need this relief in Vermont. The broad range of bipartisan support for this amendment shows how badly it is needed. I thank the Senator for her persistent efforts. I thank my good friends on the other side of the aisle for the courtesy they showed a late arrival. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1439,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090120371,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Dr. Donald Huddle. a Rice University economics professor. published a systematic analysis of those costs as of 1996 and concluded the estimated net cost to the American taxpayer was about $20 billion each year. The population in our country that has stayed here in violation of our immigration laws has doubled since that study was done. So the financial impact picked up not by the Federal Government but by local school districts and local hospital districts and State and other local governments may be as high as $40 billion to $50 billion. Last week. we heard a lot of debate about whether immigration reform needs to address the 12 million aliens already here who have come here or stayed here in violation of our laws and to create a new visa category that would allow future workers to enter our country legally. As I said then. and I will say again now. I support comprehensive immigration reform and I believe our national security requires us to know who is in our country and what their intentions are once here. But I fear that a critical distinction in the debate is being glossed over. and that is whether work visas should be truly temporary or whether we should allow all migrant workers to remain here permanently. First. let me say that there is obviously an important role for permanent immigrants. and I support legal immigration. I noted. as so many others have. that we are a nation of immigrants. and we are the better for it. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11542,"word_count":255}
{"speech_id":1090120374,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The language was stripped out. There is nothing in this bill before us that would deal with this problem. It is an example of some of the gaping holes that remain in this legislation. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2467,"word_count":38}
{"speech_id":1090120389,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my colleagues for their courtesy. When the time comes. I will call up my amendment No. 3210. I gather there is a modification of that amendment at the desk. I ask unanimous consent that it be modified. if that is appropriate at this time.","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":261,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090120394,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have a big job ahead of us on this bill this week. I urge my colleagues to come within the 20minute timeframe. I ask unanimous consent that the second vote be a 10minute vote.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1015,"word_count":35}
{"speech_id":1090120404,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I was glad to hear that President Bush was speaking recently about the need for a path to citizenship and the need for a comprehensive bill. Of course. as we proceed through their sixth year in office. the BushCheney administration has still not sent a legislative proposal to the Congress on these matters. Instead of waiting. we have done the hard work and are writing a tough. smart. comprehensive bill.","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4659,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090120409,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I announce that the Senator from Delaware . the Senator from New York . the Senator from Florida . the Senator from West Virginia . the Senator from Colorado . and the Senator from Oregon are necessarily absent. I further announce that. if present and voting. the Senator from Delaware","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":285,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090120423,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I announce that the Senator from Delaware . the Senator from Florida . the Senator from West Virginia . the Senator from Colorado . and the Senator from Oregon are necessarily absent. I further announce that. if present and voting. the Senator from Colorado","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":257,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090120430,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The bill the Judiciary Committee passed clearly strengthens enforcement. To begin with. the agencies charged with border security would receive new technology. new facilities. and more people to stop. process. and deport illegal immigrants. But while security might start at our borders. it doesnt end there. Millions of undocumented immigrants live and work here without our knowing their identity or their background. We need to strike a workable bargain with them. They have to acknowledge that breaking our immigration laws was wrong. They must pay a penalty. and abide by all of our laws going forward. They must earn the right to stay over a 6year period. and then they must wait another 5 years as legal permanent residents before they become citizens. But in exchange for accepting those penalties. we must allow undocumented immigrants to come out of the shadows and step on a path toward full participation in our society. In fact. ","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8990,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090120434,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We simply have to take down the \"come on in\" sign that is there. that \"come on in illegally and sooner or later we are going to make you legal\" sign. We need to create enforcement on the border and create good enforcement at the workplace. and then we can reach that tipping point where people find that it is better to get that biometric card and come to the right border crossing and go there and present it and go right in. And you can go right back home when you want to go home. It would work. It can be made to work. Let me tell you the challenges that are in existence and why I think we havent met those challenges. We have 1.1 million arrests. I think it is possible that if we get serious and send that clear message to the world that you have to come lawfully. we might see a lot fewer people attempt to come illegally. As a matter of fact. I am confident of that. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10787,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090120443,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. last night. severe tornadoes and strong storms swept through west Tennessee. Dyer and Gibson Counties were the hardest hit. According to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. at least 23 individuals lost their lives in just those two counties. One of those killed was Jane King of Newbern. TN. She was a relative of Congressman JOHN TANNER. and our thoughts are with JOHN and Betty Ann Tanner and all of Jane Kings family. At least 70 people have been injured as a result of the storms. TEMA expects that number to rise. There is damage to at least 11 other counties in west Tennessee. ","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1436,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090120444,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. tomorrow Governor Bredesen and Congressman TANNER will be on the site. We will continue to be in touch with Governor Bredesen and provide whatever assistance we can. We will work closely with State and local officials. My prayers are with the families who have suffered tremendous loss as a result of these storms. and I know we will see shining examples of the Tennessee volunteer spirit and neighbor helping neighbor as west Tennesseans rebuild their homes. their businesses. and their lives.","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":509,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090120445,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Alaska is the only State in the Nation that you have to pass through a foreign country to get to by land. I have a lot of concerns about how this initiative will affect travel. Each year. a large number of people travel to Alaska from the lower 48 on the AlaskaCanada Highway. also known as the AlCan. Each summer. we routinely see large numbers of RVs on the road with license plates from New York. Pennsylvania. Florida. California. everywhere. They are now going to need this card or a passport to get to another State. I worry about how that will affect our tourism. as well as the opportunity for Americans to visit one of the most beautiful places in this country. These are just some of the situations which need to be considered before implementing this plan. ","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3686,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090120449,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to honor Century Elementary School. in Park Rapids. MN. which recently earned an Award for Excellence in Education for its exceptional and innovative achievements in educating children. Century Elementary School is truly a model of educational success. The school. which enrols a large percentage of children from lowincome families. has achieved significant academic success. Test scores in 2005 qualified the school for four stars in reading and five stars in mathematics from the Minnesota Department of Education. In addition to receiving three stars in both reading and mathematics for having made adequate yearly progress. the school received an additional star in reading and math for outstanding performance compared to schools with similar percentages of lowincome pupils. It received another star in math for having more than 30 percent of its students scoring at Level 5 on their Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments. the highest possible level on these statewide tests. The year 2005 was the second successive year in which Century School received four or five stars. ","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2590,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090120454,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to introduce legislation to help provide more affordable health coverage to millions of Americans. This legislation makes commonsense changes that will create tax parity between employersponsored insurance and insurance purchased in the individual market. As we are well aware. the Federal tax codes treatment of medical care has shaped the development of the private thirdparty system of financing health care in the United States. The tax code treats the selfemployed. unemployed. and workers at companies that do not offer health insurance. most of which are small businesses. less generously than it treats workers at companies that do offer health insurance. Employersponsored insurance receives a tax subsidy that individuallypurchased insurance does not. and as a result twothirds of nonelderly Americans receive health insurance through their own or a family members employer. Of equal concern. the percent of employersponsored insurance has dropped from 69 percent in 2000 to 60 percent in 2005 due mainly to the rapid rise in health insurance premiums. which have increased more than 60 percent in real terms over the past 5 years alone. The percent of the nonelderly population with employersponsored insurance has correspondingly dropped. from 68 percent in 2000 to 63 percent in 2004. Consequently. more Americans must look to the nongroup market for their health insurance needs. ","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3642,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090120485,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on Sunday evening. severe storms and tornadoes struck the western part of Tennessee. leaving a damage trail 25 miles long and a quarter to a half mile wide throughout Dyer County. It really struck two counties. Dyer and Gibson. The assessment is underway. About 2.000 homes and businesses have been destroyed or suffered substantial damage. a devastating blow to these small rural communities which have suffered the greatest impact from the storm. There have been reported 23 fatalities that have been confirmed as a result of the tragedy. A number of other Tennesseans--right now.. the count is roughly 82have been injured. 17 critically. This morning. I offer my deepest sympathy to the loved ones. the families that have been affected. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1395,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090120492,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this morning. the Senate will confirm Mib chael Chagares to a lifetime appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. This qonfirmation will bring the total number of judicial appointments since January 2001. to 235. including the confirmations of 2 Supreme Court Justices and 44 cifcuit court judges. Of course. 100 judges were confirmed during the 17 months when there was a Democratic majority in the Senate. In the other 45 months. under Republican control. only 135 judges have been confirmed. Ironically. the Senate was almost twice as productive under Democratic leadership as under Republican leadership. Recently. President Bush withdrew the nominations of Judge Henry Saad to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and Judge Daniel P. Ryan to the Eastern District .of Michigan. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6443,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090120505,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"President. we are Wednesday afternoon and we spoke all only going to move ahead if we come to day Thursday. and there werent too an understanding. I recognize that. If many speakers around on Friday. but the. Senator from Vermont wants to there was an opportunity to speak. And. have a speaking sequence. I will not obwe were here yesterday afternoon. and ject. and we can retreat from here into not too many speakers pursued an op- his cloakroom to try to figure -out portunity to speak. when we are going to move the bill. We So the question that Ihaveand per- are giving up almost 2 hours. perhaps haps I. can better talk to Senator we can work this evening to make up LEAHY about it privatelywhen are we that time. going to move to amendments? We -The ACTING PRESIDENT pro ternneed to finish this bill this week. and I pore. Is there objection? . would like to move to amendments. Mr. ALLARD. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1485,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090120523,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I join my colleague from Florida in congratulating the University of Florida. the Florida Gators. Jeremy Foley. the athletic director. Billy Donovan. the brilliant head coach. and all the members of that irery distinguished team in. their first historic national championship in basketball for a Florida school. As a dyedinthewool Florida State Seminole. I must say I take my hat off eo the Gators. Today is a day for all Floridians to rejoice in this accomplishment and this victory. In this accomplishment we have seen not only the magnificent leadership of the coachand I think he ought to be recognized nationally for that--but also this team that worked and performed in such an unselfish way. We hear the phrase. ","speaker_name":"MEL MARTINEZ","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2107,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090120535,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We want to continue that tradi- a bill. We worked with Democrats and tion. It is our strength. But in doing so. Republicans. House and Senate. We you control your borders. you control worked with Hispanic groups. we the inmigration. and you do so in an worked with labor unions. we worked orderly fashion. with the farm organizations. and we If we control our borders. if we are produced a bill known as AgJOBS. We successful in shutting thegin down and looked at all of the compromises that only allowing to move -through that had to be made. We tried to recognize which is legal. in an orderly fashion. those who had been here illegally but what do we do then? With the unknown had been here \"for a long while. and number of some 8 or 10 million foreign those who were just coming and nationals who are here illegally. what goingthe day laborers on the Mexido we do with them? Mr. President. 99 canArizonaCalifornia border who percent of them are hard workers. come across to work for the day and go Many have been here for years. ","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10735,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090120542,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the Senator from Florida is correct. I am told that amendments will be offer6d on the side. It would be either the Democrat side or the Republican side. There would be objection but Senators agree to speak about amendments . and are encouraged to speak about amendments they intend to offer.","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":306,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090120551,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But the simple fact is that we have never proven ourselves on the issues of enforcement and border security. Talk is cheap. When we talk about authorization language. we all know authorization language is one thing. but approliriating the money to have true border security and true enforcement is quite a different and more challenging step. So lets not just talk. Lets act and lets prove ourselves. Let:s do that before we run headlong into other provisions that are being debated. such as provisions that would be tantamount to amnesty. I will offer two amendmentsone a broad. global amendment and one a much more focused amendmentthat are both consistent with this general philosophy that talk is cheap and that we need to act and prove ourselves with regard to border security and enforcement before we run headlong into these other issues. My first amendment is No. 3264. It does several essential things with regard to the Specter substitute No* 3192 currently before the Senate. It would strike what is often called the temporary worker program in the Specter substitute. ","speaker_name":"DAVID VITTER","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8023,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090120555,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"These officers will help double the number of law enforcement offi-. cials we have working on the borders to make sure we have secure borders. Itcreates additional border fences in places that are vulnerable. where we see significant crossings in some of the major cities between the North and the South. but we know with these additional fences in vulnerable areas that we can increase border security. It provides new criminal penalties for a whole range of activities. including the construction of tunnels which have been found in California and other places so that those who are involved in the construction of the tunnels will be subject to some very heavy criminal penalties. It adds new checkpoints and points of entry so we can make sure the flow of people from one country to another is.. in fact. being checked and that we can. in fact. make sure they are legal entrants into our country. It expands the security system at all land borders as well as our kirports. One of the law and order legs of this stool is the fact that we will have much more strengthened border security if we are able to get this immigration reform package through the Senate. The second aspect of this legislation. which I think stands tall for law and order. is the enforcement of our immigration laws. For far too long we have turned and looked the other way when our immigration laws have been broken. This immigration bill produced by the Judiciary Committee will have us look in the right direction. It will have . us stand tall and say: We are going to enforce our immigration laws. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10008,"word_count":278}
{"speech_id":1090120604,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We are in the process of lookiig at those. As you have to do on any bill. you have to decide. when you have a: bill that is as large as this. what amendments are going to be decided to be voted upon. It cant be decided on* one side. it has to be decided by both sides. The only way we are going to get votes on amendments on this most important bill is tohave both sides agree on them. and we are in the process of doing that right now. I indicatedas the distinguished Senator from Pennsylvania indicatedin my caucus today. I said that staff would be working just as I outlined. It cant be done in 5 minutes or 10 minutes. it will take a little bit of time. But this is an important bill. It deals with our national security. -it deals with a guest worker program. and it deals with a path to legalization for 11 million or so people. I will say to my friend. the distinguished chairman of the Judiciary Committee. that I think the work the Judiciary Committee did on this piece of legislation is extraordinary. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1462,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090120607,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I think I misspoke a while ago and talked about the amendment that I introduced last Fridayactually. it was last Thursdaythat Senator CORNYN and I. and I believe Senator GEORGE ALLEN is a cosponsorintroduced. amendment No. My question to the chairman is this: In the bill. there is a variety of benefits that are provided to illegal immigrants who are in the United States today in that they are allowed to gain a legal status which can lead to legal permanent residency. sometimes called a green card. from which one can apply for citizenship. There are some conditions attached to that. Is it not correct that the amendment enator CORNYN and I offered simply adds to those requirements. or those benefits. the additional requirement that the individual seeking the benefit not have been convicted of a felony or three misdemeanors. or have violated a judges order of departure from the United States?","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":917,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090120611,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr.-President. if I could ask another question. As you know. there have been some competing bils filed. perhaps the two mostcomprehensive being the bill that was worked on in the committee and that came out of the committee in an amended form. and a bill Senator CORNYN and I introduced which. when introduced. was far more comprehensive. but some of the provisions of our bill were added to the bill that came out of the Judiciary Committee. Would it be your view it would be entirely appropriate for the Members of the Senate to have an op.portunity to vote on the bill Senator CORNYN and I introduced and. therefore. that we ought to be given an opportunity to lay down our bill. an opportunity which would be denied if we continue this exercise of having objections to unanimous consent requests to lay down amendments?","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":823,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090120628,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I would further say I simply dont accept the explanation of the amendment the distinguished junior Senator from Arizona has offered on this bill. First. the Kyl amendment. as amended by Senator CORNYN. would make classesvarious individuals who would become part of a class of undocumented immigrantsineligible for conditional nonimmigrant status and to earn their legalization. for example. immigrants who came through the visa program who overstayed their visas. Is that what we want to do? I dont want to do it: Make immigrants subject to expedited removal at the point of arrival. And did you know one of the defini.tions of aggravated felon that is in this legislation is somebody who has twice overstayed their visa? So I like the bill we have before the Senate. I dont accept this amendmentthe Kyl amendment--as one that improves the bill. It hurts the bill. It hurts the very foundation and what I believe is the spirit of this legislation. I do not accept the fact that this good legislation which is now before the Senate will be improved by the Kyl amendment as modified by the amendment of the distinguished Presiding Officer. I believe the bill before us is a good bill and we should stick with it. That is what I want to do.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2151,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090120633,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Your analysis states that you had enough time to analyze it. review it. and you are opposed to it. When you mention stem cells. you are right.- We should have voted on stem cells some time ago. I think I have complained more than you have about that. And you are right about the minimum wage. It ought to be raised. And I think you voted forit every time. but no more often than I have. But we are now faced with the immigration bill.-When you say that the Kyl amendment will not improve the immigration bill. my question to you is. isnt the way you express that by voting against it. by leading the charge against it. as opposed to preventing a vote on it? Isnt that the way the Senate functions?","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":697,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090120635,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. with all due respect to the distinguished chairman of the Judiciary Committee. he has been in this body a lot longer than I have. but I still understand the rules of the Senate. At this stage. as a Senator from the State of Nevada. I am not ready to move forward on the Kyl amendment. I do not have to explain in any more detail than I have why I do not want to move forward on it. I do not akree with the amendment. I dont think it is going to benefit this legislation pending before the Senate. I am going to do what I can to prevent. a vote on it. I cant be more direct than that to the distinguished chairman of the Judiciary Committee.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":655,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090120666,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I feel complimented that the distinguished Senator from Illinois has only disagreed with one thing I have said. because I have said quite a few things. If that impl*ies that he agrees with the other things I have said. then he agrees with quite a lot of what I have said. With respect to the specific. yes. I dont believe that the KylCornyn amendment would destroy the billas characterized by the Senator from Illinois. Let me add that the Senator Trom Illinois is a member of the committee and has been a very active and contributory member of the committee. and the committee has accomplished quite a lot because of the cooperation of Senator DURBIN. Senator LEAHY. and other Democrats and Republicans. It has been a vbry hardworking committee. It is my hopeto expedite the process of working on the bill. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":921,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090120673,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I re- Judiciary Committee bill would allow spond to the Senators question by say- criminals to become residents. This ing I think he has articulated sound simply is not true. The Judiciary Coinpublic policy. and I support his amend- mittee bill. like the McCainKennedy ment. bill upon which it is based. already deAMENDMENT NO. 326 nies earned legalization to broad catI now call for the regular order with egories of aiens who have committed respect to Kyl amendment No. 3206. crimes or are a security risk to our-","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":530,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090120677,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It sets a very strict standard to protect our national security. Our borders will be protected better than they have ever been protected. It will allow places such as Las Vegas. NVand Las Vegas is not the only place. They are going to build within the next few years. 4to 5 years. 50.000 new hotel rooms. They Will need a minimum of 100.000 new workers. This legislation will allow that to happen. There are places all over America that are faced not with numbers that are as huge as that but with big numbers. Finally. what this legislation that is now before the Senate does is it allows 11 millionplus people not to have to live in the shadows of America. It is a path to earned legalizationnot like. the old amnesty that was done when I. served in the House of Representativesbut a path toward legalization. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3477,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090120703,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Sunday. Monday. Tuesday6 days. 7 days it is pending. and they will not give us a vote. an upordown vote on the Kyl amendment. It is as simple as that. The signal is that we are not going to consider any amendments. In fact. the statement is that we are not going to consider any amendments. Let us go straight and see if this underlying bill has a 60vote cloture. is that correct?","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1123,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090120723,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the use of words of the distinguished chairman of the Judiciary Committee-\"travesty. unprecedented. unthinkable -whatever those were. those are words I am going to remember. I should have come up with those before on all the many times that we were unable to offer amendments on legislation that was pending before the Senate. But I think. as usual. the distinguished chairman of the Judiciary Committee did an outstanding job of describing what happens when people are not allowed to offer amendments. We are experts at recognizing when we are not able to offer amendments. As I say. again. we have a number of amendments we would be happy to vote on. My friend. the majority leader. said he wanted to add in those that are pending. and we could not agree to that.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":780,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090120724,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Could I ask the distinguished Democratic leader if we can establish a procedure where the distinguished ranking member and Iwe are the managers of the billgo through the list of amendments and decide a sequencing of votes on these amendmentsthere must be more than those identified by the Senator from Nevadaand try to get the bill rolling with the votes. as you say. starting sometime tomorrow morning?","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":403,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090120751,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to take a moment and acknowledge the dedicated service of Tim Petty. director of information resources for the U.S. Senate Republican Conference. which I chair. Tim is moving on to become a Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Interior. and today is his last day serving the Senate. Since 1999. Tim has served as an integral team leader in the creation and development of the Internet technology department established by the Senate Republican Conference. This department was created to help the Conference implement a comprehensive technology strategy to help the Republican leadership efficiently and effectively use evolving Internet communication capabilities. Over the course of the past 7 years. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3052,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090120778,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on International Operations and Terrorism be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday. April 4. 2006. at 10 a.m.. hold a closed briefing on Counterterrorism Priorities.","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":251,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090120792,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in the past week. the world has witnessed the arrest. the imprisonment. the threatened execution. and eventually the release of a man in Afghanistan named Abdul Rahman. His socalled crime? Apostasy. He was threatened with capital punishment because 16 years ago. while working on a humanitarian mission in Pakistan. he converted to Christianity. Abdul Rahman has thankfully been released. and charges against him have been dropped. However. religious freedom remains in jeopardy in Afghanistan as do those who might choose to practice it. I have great respect for Preside nt Karzai and the state he is trying to build. I respect the right of Afghanistan to its own Jaws and legal system. But it will be a great tragedy if the overthrow of the Taliban government results in its replacement by a state that professes democracy but falls so far short of such an essential democratic standard: the freedom of belief. We have over 22.000 troops in Afghanistan. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3631,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090120802,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"For the sake of these individuals and for the benefit of sufferers in your own State and around the Nation. I ask my colleagues to join me in this effort to raise awareness of Cushings Syndrome.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5015,"word_count":36}
{"speech_id":1090120815,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday. April 5. I further ask that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings beapproved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and that the Senate then resume consideration of S. 2454. the border control bill.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BENNETT","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":399,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090120822,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is requested that funding for both programs be increased in fiscal 2007 to $32 million for Ready to Learn and $15 million for Ready to Teach. Last year we had to come to the floor with a strong bipartisan vote where 87 Republicans joined with every single Democrat to restore Draconian cuts to public broadcasting. This year it is more important than ever for .education. for the Public Broadcasting Service. and for national security that we not have to go through that effort. I urge my colleagues to look carefullyat the requests that have been made for public broadcasting and join with us this year in assuring a strong funding base that will leverage hundreds of millions of dollars across America and provide the services Americans deserve.","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4553,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090120826,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is time. in fact it is long overdue. for the United States House of Representatives to join the debate. In my home State of New Mexico. we may already be seeing the dramatic effects of global warming. In the drought seasons of 2002 and 2003. we had major dieoffs of our State tree. the pinon. Scientists predict that this major dieoff is only the prelude to life in a warmer future. Also. as seen in this picture. dramatic melting has already been seen in icecaps. glaciers and sea ice on both poles and in high mountain regions across the globe. Scientists are in almost unanimous agreement that these events are directly related to the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels. Mr. Speaker. last week the Honorable TOM PETRI and I introduced H.R. 5049. the Keep America Competitive Global Warming Policy Act. Our bill will help America curb our emissions and spur innovation to keep us in the global technological lead. The bill is an economywide. upstream. capandtrade policy that covers all greenhouse gas emissions. ","speaker_name":"TOM UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4379,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090120833,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I rise today to give the American people some straight talk on .why we need to make the tax cuts permanent. As tax day rapidly approaches. President Bush urged Congress to make the tax cuts permanent. and with good reason. If Congress does not make the tax cuts permanent. a family of four in central Florida making $50.000 would see their taxes go up by nearly 50 percent. It is no accident that we have a strong and vibrant economy today. During President Bushs first term. Congress acted to lower income tax rates across the board. cut taxes on capital gains and dividends. and eliminate the marriage penalty. Now. what have we seen as a result? We have seen 5 million new jobs created in the last 21\/2 years. We have seen an unemployment rate that is lower than the average unemployment rate in the 1970s. 1980s. and 1990s. ","speaker_name":"RIC KELLER","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1109,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090120838,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. as supporters of freedom confront terrorism worldwide. it is. appropriate to recognize the Republic of Indonesias extraordinary efforts to advance democracy. Newly appointed Ambassador Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat recently made a convincing presentation in the Washington Diplomat regarding the significance of his country. which is the worlds third largest democracy of over 220 million and the worlds largest Muslim population which spreads across 17.000 islands. Despite al Qaeda terrorist attacks and economic collapse. and the catastrophic tsunami. Indonesia has rebounded with fair and free elections and an economic growth rate from 5.5 to 6 percent annually. America is fortunate to be a friend.and partner of Indonesia. a dynamic nation which joins us in working for regional peace and winning the war on terrorism. In conclusion. God bless our troops. and we will never forget September 11.","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":913,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090120842,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Among his many accomplishments. Dr. Frost was named the 2001 National Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young. A native of Philadelphia. Dr. Frost attended the University of Paris from 1955 to 1956. He received his Bachelors Degree from the University of Pennsylvania and his medical. degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York in 1961. Dr. Frost and his wife Patricia. who currently serves as Chair of the Smith-: sonian National Board. have displayed a genuine commitment to the arts through personal leadership and philanthropy. In 1986. they gave their entire 113piece. collection of American abstract art to the Smithsonian American Art Museum. ","speaker_name":"VERNON EHLERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1956,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090120843,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I .too rise in support of House Joint Resolution 81 to appoint Dr. Phillip Frost of Florida for a 6year term as a citizen regent of the Smithsonian Institution. Dr. Frost. who is a medical doctor. is a noted collector of American abstract art and a philanthropist. who. since 1987. as was mentioned. has served as the chairman of the board and CEO of the IVAX Corporation. which develops and markets pharmaceutical products. Dr. Frost and his wife. Patricia. gave their 113piece collection of American abstract art to the Smithsonian American Art Museum in 1986. In another major philanthropic donation. they previously gave a $33 million gift to the University of Miami for its school of music. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1582,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090120844,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I rise in support of House Joint Resolution 81. which appoints Dr. Phillip Frost as a Citizen Regent of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Dr. Frost and his wife Patricia have long been ardent supporters of the arts. especially in my Congressional District of South Florida. Dr. Frost grew up living above his fathers shoe store as a child in Philadelphia. While in college at the University of Pennsylvania. he traveled to Paris for a year to study French Literature. While in Paris. his life long commitment to the arts began. Dr. ","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1926,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090120867,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of this resolution. April 2006. marks the 20th anniversary of the catastrophic accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. At the time of this disaster. Ukraine was still under the iron domination of the Soviet Union. When the accident occurred. we saw the stock Soviet response to all major disasters: cover it up. regardless of the consequences to the innocent civilians living in the region. It was not until radioactive particles were being detected in Finland that the Soviets were forced to admit that the Chernobyl reactor No. 4 was burning. While the authorities were engaged in a political coverup. scores of brave rescue and emergency workers were attempting to douse the burning reactor and hastily construct a concrete cover over the reactor. the socalled sarcophagus that is now in danger of collapse. According to a United Nations study. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2528,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090120870,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. 20 years ago the world witnessed one of the last crimes of the Soviet communist regime against its own people. The biggest nuclear catastrophe in human history was kept secret from Soviet civilians. who were exposed to massive amounts of radiation that exceeded the medically tolerable norm by 100 times. On April 2526. 1986. many firefighters sacrificed their lives to put out the huge fire caused by the explosion. Thirtyone died. Their heroism prevented a European Hiroshima. In 1986. the Soviet Government let millions of people in Ukraine. Belarus and Russia conduct their daily lives as usualcompletely unprepared. unwarned. and unprotected. On May 1. 4 days after the catastrophe. citizens of Kiev. Minsk. Gomel. and dozens of other cities went outdoors celebrating Labor Day. an official holiday in the Soviet Union. ","speaker_name":"W. WELDON","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2113,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090120871,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The scope of devastation that followed was truly unprecedented. More than 600.000 emergency workers. liquidators. risked their lives putting out the reactors inferno that raged for 10 days while exposing themselves to extremely high and deadly doses of radiation. Hundreds of thousands of people were forced to leave their homes because of radioactive contamination. More than 5 million people in Ukraine. Belarus and western Russia found themselves coping with life in towns and villages contaminated by iodine and cesium. Thousands of square miles of agricultural land and forests had to be removed from use because of contamination. Twenty years after the initial fallout. Chernobyl has not been relegated to history books. Twenty years later. it continues to cause human suffering. environmental and economic hardship. The disaster at Chernobyl has triggered a well documented epidemic of thyroid cancer. particularly among those who were infants and teenagers at the time of the explosion. ","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8759,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090120887,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"WIP is helping to ensure a lasting peace throughout the Emerald Isle. I congratulate its officials. staff. and volunteers. and hope that my colleagues will join me in supporting its efforts in the years to come.","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1523,"word_count":36}
{"speech_id":1090120908,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Today we can find Marshallese serving in the United States Armed Forces around the world. Some are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan as we speak and many others are contributing to the well being of the United States in other new and unique ways throughout the Global War on Terror. The Republic of the Marshall Islands stands today with America as one of the Freely Associated States in the Pacific. and our strong bonds of friendship are a testament to our mutual commitment to freedom and democracy. To my friends and neighbors. the Marshallese. I extend the thanks of a grateful Nation. To borrow from your beautiful language. \"kommol tata.\" or thank you very much.","speaker_name":"MADELEINE BORDALLO","chamber":"H","state":"GU","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":1470,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090120909,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H. Res. 692. commending the people of the Republic of the Marshall Islands for their contributions and sacrifices to the United States nuclear testing program. Mr. Speaker. as fellow islander. I feel a kinship to the people of the Marshall Islands and sympathize with them for the suffering they endured for our benefit. Between June 30. 1946 and August 18. 1958. our government. after evacuating the residents. conducted an intensive program of nuclear testing on Bikini and Enewetak atolls in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. I These tests. which were the equivalent of more that 7.200 Hiroshima bombs. caused significant damage to the health of the people of the Marshall Islands. as well as. to the lands. vegetation. lagoons and surrounding ecosystems. In addition to rendering all of Bikini and most of Enewetak uninhabitable. radioactive fallout from nuclear testing on Bikini and Enewetak accidentally spread to other populated areas of the RMI. ","speaker_name":"DONNA CHRISTENSEN","chamber":"H","state":"VI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":3443,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090120928,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Booker T. Washington is so successful due to the presence of outstanding teachers and rigorous curriculum that provides students with a well rounded education. In addition. Booker T. Washington has brought technology to the forefront. of music education and development. These students use computers for everything from ear trainingto recording and sound production. Dedication. enthusiasm. and proper resources has made Booker T. Washington one of the most successful arts schools in the country.","speaker_name":"EDDIE JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1762,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090120949,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to congratulate my University of Florida basketball team for winning the first NCAA basketball championship for any college or university in the State of FlorSADDAM HUSSEIN CHARGED WITH iua. Go Gators. GENOCIDE Last night the Gators finished their run of winning six games in the tour-","speaker_name":"CORRINE BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":311,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090120954,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as the world prepares to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. I rise in support of House Resolution 703 recognizing the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and supporting continued efforts to control radiation and mitigate the adverse health consequences related to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The scope of the devastation that followed that explosion was truly unprecedented. More than 600.000 emergency workers. liquidators. risked their lives putting out the reactors inferno that raged for 10 days while exposing themselves to extremely high and deadly doses of radiation. Hundreds of thousands of people were forced to leave their homes because of radioactive contamination. More than 5 million people in Ukraine. Belarus. and Western Russia found themselves coping with life in towns and villages contaminated by iodine and cesium. In the RECORD I will place a full statement regarding this resolution as well as support from the Children of Chernobyl Relief Fund and the Chernobyl Childrens Project International for the incredible work that they continue to do two decades later in dealing with the devastation that still lives.","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1202,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090120955,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Through trial and error. Dr. Borlaugs successful efforts led to the development of varieties of wheat that completely altered production agriculture as it was known then in places like Pakistan and India and Mexico. The dwarf wheat variety he developed allowed farmers to produce far more grain per acre than apiyone could have predicted. This newfound bounty gave the worlds poorest people access to food. ensuring that children. who would have been victims of malnutrition. could thrive. His landmark discoveries in agriculture led to what is called today the \"Green Revolution.\" Dr. Borlaug is a legendary figure within the agricultural community. and his name is held in high regard around the world. However. this Cresco. Iowa. native is a very modest man who once said that his accomplishments were \"a temporary success in mans war against hunger and deprivation.\" Almost 40 years since receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. he continues at age 92 to work for improvement of mankind. For this reason I introduced H.R. 4924. which is a bill to award Dr. ","speaker_name":"TOM LATHAM","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2049,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090120960,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He did not really respond when I asked if that meant our ports have become sacrifice zones. *They are so uncertain of the faithbased honor system. the CTPAT system. and what is going on overseas that they want to put in place technology at taxpayer expense. technology to check 100 percent of those containers for nuclear weapons before they go from U.S. ports to inland U.S. cities. When I asked him If maybe we might extend that perimeter overseas and require that all containers be inspected overseas for nuclear weapons. he was saying that would be very difficult. but he actually admitted it might be possible given the technology recently modeled in Hong Kong. But the Republican majority on the committee said no way. we are not going to allow the inspection of those containers overseas. It would slow down those Chinese goods flooding into the United States of America and other things manufactured overseas. It would hurt commerce. There would be trucks lined up for miles back into mainland China with goods on them waiting to come to WalMart here. This is fairly extraordinary to me. The Republican majority and the Republican administration are admitting that there are potential threats in these containers. They have put in place a faithbased honor system. but they are working hard to see that we will check those containers after they have arrived at an American port before they go to another American city. Those of us who live a little bit inland will be thankful for that. but I really do not agree with the philosophy that turns our ports into sacrifice zones. ","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4262,"word_count":271}
{"speech_id":1090120992,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. to cut the perceived corrupting link between office holders. the formation and adoption of Federal policies. and soft money. and yet the majority is bringing us a bill that is so broad in its application that it stands to severely hamper voter registration and getoutthevote activities for civicminded. nonpartisan organizations. It casts such a wide net that it will ensnare groups whose activities Congress should be promoting. not impeding. This is America. We should be promoting democracy. not impeding it. By failing to distinguish between groups whose activities are designed to influence the election of clearly identified Federal candidates and those whose sole purpose it is to enhance participation. this legislation imposes too high of a price on election activities. Now we have heard that the 527s do not have to report. So wrong. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"JUANITA MILLENDER-MCDONALD","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":37.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6469,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090121001,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. that that is a dangerous road to go down. and one in which America has no business going down. This is just one example of many of what is wrong With this budget. There are ways to balance the budget. and we are going to talk tonight about an alternative that I believe makes sense. that reinstates a thing called PAYGO. Pay as you go rules mean if you want to fund a new program. you have to cut something else. If you want to pass a tax cut. you have to cut a program. You just dont go borrow more money from China to fund it. It also balances the budget within. I believe. 10 years. Yes. in 10 years we would have a balanced budget again. and that is an alternative that will be presented on the floor this week that many of us will be - supporting. We will be talking a lot tonight about the debt. the budget. and the deficit and these things. and I am very honored to be joined tonight by a number of my Blue Dog friends. and DENNIS CARDOZA is the cochair of the Blue Dog Coalition. ","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6028,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090121005,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Evidence by the National Council of State Legislatures shows that this gap will continue over the next decade and could grow as high as $50 billion annually. and we* offload our financial responsibilities to States and let them be on their own. The evidence is clear. It does not take into accoulit inflation and other changes in discretionary spending over the next decade. I ask my colleagues to recall recent history. In the 1980s and in the. 1990s. President Reagan. a former State Governor. understood the necessity of a bipartisan effort to protect the States. President Clinton. another State Governor. codified that recognition of States by signing the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act in which the Congress pledged to no longer continue this practice of passing laws and then telling the States it is your .job to figure out how to pay for it. But this White House. also currently occupied by another former State Governor and. many of my colleagues who serve in Congress. over half who come from State legislatures. I believe. have forgotten where they come from. Do you think we are solving problems when we are just passing them on to our States? I will continue to question the sincerity of those who lead this budget effort to actually achieve responsible fiscal management. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS CARDOZA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3428,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090121008,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentlemanfrom Oklahoma for being a part of this special order on the: budget. the debt and the deficit. And I appreciate the work he is- doing with me to try and save all these agricultural research centers from closure that are so important. not only to rural America and to the communities where they are located like Booneville. Arkansas. but also so important to our farm families. all over this great country. Mr. Speaker. if you have any comments. questions for the Blue Dog.Coalition. there are 37 of us. We are a group of fiscally conservative Democrats that come together here on Capitol Hill to try and restore some common sense and fiscal discipline to our Nations government. And Mr. Speaker. if you have any comments or concerns of our group. I would encourage you - to email us at bluedog@mail.house.gov. That is bluedog@mail.house.gov. ","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1697,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090121014,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And his concern and my concern is that America does not seem to be nearly as alarmed about it as they should be. The way we address this is by investing in education. If we will get to these young people at age 3. 4. and 5. we can spend pennies on the dollar compared to what we are spending warehousing them in their adult life in prison. It is about priorities.","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1247,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090121025,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. I thank the gentleman from Georgia and the gentlewoman from Illinois for joining me this evening. At the beginning of this special order. this was the national debt. $8.378.143.406.405 and some change. Just in the hour that we have spent here on the floor in this special order discussing the Nations debt and the deficit. the debt has gone up approximately $41.666.000. So the new number is $8.378.185.072.405 and some change. Just in the hour we have been here. we have seen the national debt go up that much. $41.666.000. approximately. So. until our government gets its fiscal house in order. as Members of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition. we are going to continue to come this to this floor every Tuesday night and talk about restoring some common sense and fiscal discipline to our Nations government. We will be talking more about the Blue Dlog 12 point plan for curing our Nations addiction to deficit spending and will be talking about our plan. our vision for a better America. a vision that includes a balanced budget and so many other provisions that just make good oldfashioned sense.","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1143,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090121059,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am kind of a McDonalds. fanatic. And since it is quick and easy and when you have got your kids in the back of the minivan. believe me. the quickest thing sometimes is to go through- the drivethrough. The number one is just about $5.15 at this.point. By the time you get the meal and whatever else you need. to make sure that you have got your soda and your drink and 7our fries. can you imagine that the minimum wage just barely pays for one Big Mac meal? I mean are the American people not worth more than a Big Mac meal? That is really what it boils down to. I think they are. I want to make sure .that my constituents can afford to feed more than just themselves or more than just one kid. Which kid are they going to pick? Which kid do they pick? Okay. who wants to eat today?","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":783,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090121079,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I feel privileged to hold it. although I dont want to hold it too long. lest it rub off. But we got today more than 100 of these \"Rubber Stamp Republican Congress\" stamps from bloggers and people in the communities all over the country who are fed up and frustrated and who want us to continue to talk about what is going on here. Because it appears as though. and I mean this respectfully. that when people on the other side of the aisle come in this room. that they are checking. and .I dont know whether they are checking their brains at the door or their opinions at the door or their conviqtions at the door. but we bave watched. all of us. the board light up here with yesses and noes. and I know I have had conversations with Republican Members on the other side who say. \"I know I JSE - April 4. 2006 am going in there and I am voting this way.\" Then you watch it. the board. the light next to their name goes from red to green or green to red. and you watch their arm being wrenched behind their back. and out comes the rubber stamp.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1042,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090121082,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have plans for innovation. plans for job creation. plans for health care. We have an agenda ready to implement for this country. including balancing the budget. But. time and time again. everything is rubber stamped. The bobblehead Congress. \"Yes. Mr. President. Yes. Mr. President. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1509,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090121095,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What do the Iraqi people say? Americans have made a promise. What- do the taxpayers say? You want to pay all this money for foreign aid and defense and you give us nothing. Then we get bad diplomacy because our allies or who we are trying to help looks and says we are masquerading. Let me just finish by saying I have spoken to contractors and to the independent contractors who say they are living large in Iraq. while sadly our soldiers are looking for water. are looking for body armor. and some of the contractors are living large. Let me say this. there are many who are over there sacrificing in danger. I am not condemning the workers who are on the front lines. who are civilians. who are in those.places where our soldiers are. We thank them. But some of those who they work .for are layering the contracts. and therefore. by layering the contracts. American people are expending dollars. and no one is turning on the light like the International Relations Committee has asked for. to have oversight to answer the question of what is going on. I believe we owe the American people more than this. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1943,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090121100,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There is no oversight. There is no outrage. There is no conscience. There is no heart. There is no ability of the leadership on the other side to recognize that the country has to move in a new direction and that we have to do something to restore the American peoples confidence in their government. When will that happen?","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":323,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090121107,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. KING. the discussion about immigration. Immigration has been a lifeblood to this country. and that does not need to stop. But as we have gotten wise in our own eyes. as you can find reference in the old Testament. \"wise in our own eyes.\" we quit using the melting pot metaphor and gone to using. something that some people today like to say is even better: We arenow a tossed salad. where each ingredient retains its individuality and just mixes together. A tossed salad. That was never the strength of America. The America that became strong. the America that we studied. the America that made it through world wars. the America that is responsible for France not speaking anything but French now and Germany speaking German. the great America that has allowed England to speak the language that it was accustomed to. the America that has not been imperialist. as some French people would say. Some French people say. You are imperialist. ","speaker_name":"LOUIE GOHMERT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3428,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090121110,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That American flag is what is going to be the most inportant flag tome in my heart and soul. That is what in that oath means. American flag.","speaker_name":"LOUIE GOHMERT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":897,"word_count":28}
{"speech_id":1090121113,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I asked them. why did you do that? Where did you get that inspiration? They said. well. we saw the success the United States had with assimilation. so we wanted to adopt a similar policy. They resurrected a language that wasnt used functionally other than in prayer for 2.000 years and put it in the workplace. and everyone that comes to Israel learns Hebrew. and that is how they tie themselves together as a nation. But I would like to point out another statement that gets repeated that is not challenged often. and that is we cant replace all these workers. the ones that are here illegally. If we shut -off the jobs magnet and they go home. we cant replace them. Here are some numbers that one might work with to give us an idea on whether we can replace them or not. The Pew Foundation put out some numbers. this is a year ago. so they have raised them a little bit. but at that time they were working with 11 million illegals in America. 6.3 million of them were working. About the same proportion if you want to go to 12 million. but I dont have that factor figured in. If you are were going to replace the 6.3 million working illegals in -the United States. the first place we would go would be the unemployment rolls. That is 17.5 million on unemployment. We are paying them not to work. ","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4590,"word_count":243}
{"speech_id":1090121172,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. the opening prayer was given by the Reverend Clyde Pickney Thomas. Jr. Reverend Thomas has served in the ministry of the Southern Baptist Church since 1974 and is: now the pastor of Cherokee- Avenue Baptist Church in Gaffney. South Carolina. a pulpit that he has -filled with distinction since 1979. Reverend Thomas is not only a prominent preacher of the gospel. but a pastor who has developed courses of study for adults. youth. and children. conducted an extensive sports ministry. and taken at least 10 mission trips to places as far away as the Amazon. He is married to Joanne Cash Thomas. and they have two sons. Clyde Preston Thomas and James Grady Thomas. I have had the privilege of attending Sunday services at Cherokee Avenue and. afterwards. having lunch -in the fellowship hall. I can attest to the fact that the preaching and the cooking were both first rate. I want to thank Reverend Thomas and thank also the Speaker and Father Coughlin for allowing Reverend Thom-","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":995,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090121177,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is time for new priorities here in Washington.","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1405,"word_count":9}
{"speech_id":1090121192,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In World War II. he traveled with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby on the USO tour entertaining our troops overseas. He has given over $88 million from his Salesmanship Club Youth and Family Services. He -and his wife. Louise. have created an endowment fund at Abilene Christian University totaling over $15 million. He is the head of the Metroport MealsonWheels. delivering services to shutin seniors back in my district. His career as an athlete is worthy of recognition. but his service to community is indeed exemplary. For these reasons. I ask my colleagues to join me in support of H.R. 4902. the Congressional Gold Medal honoring Byron Nelson.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BURGESS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1420,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090121199,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is time for the Democrats to take charge of this House.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":994,"word_count":12}
{"speech_id":1090121202,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. last night former majority leader TOM DELAY blamed Democrats for his fall from power. He said Democrats were upset because Republicans changed the culture of Washington. Well. Republicans changed the culture around here all right. Two of Congressman DELAYs former aides. Deputy Chief of Staff Tony Rudy and Press Secretary Michael Scanlon have already pleaded guilty as part of the ongoing Jack Abramoff scandal. Then there are the revelations that the Presidents chief domestic adviser. Claude Allen. was forced to resign from his position at the White House after he was caught repeatedly shoplifting from Target stores in Maryland. And just last night. a deputy press secretary at the Department of Homeland Security was arrested on charges that he used the Interfiet to seduce what he thought was a 14yearold girl. Fortunately. an undercover deputy sheriff detective was on the other end of the computer and Brian Doyle. a Bush political appointee. has now been arrested. ","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1092,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090121209,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"our distinguished ranking member on the International Relations Committee. also a cochair of the Human Rights Caucus. Thank you for your great leadership on fighting for human rights throughout the world. You have a long .history of that. You have personal experience in terms of being the only Member of Congress who escaped the Holocaust. and you have brought that conviction. your ideas. your courage to this fight once again in helping the people of Darfur. And I want to commend Mr. CHRIS SMITH. He and FRANK WOLF have been such leaders on this issue for so very many years. and all of us who are concerned about Sudan. in particular now. Darfur are deeply in.your debt. I join the gentleman in commending HENRY HYDE. as well as Mr. LANTOS and DONALD PAYNE. our colleague. who have brought this issue to the forefront in the Congress of the United States. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8290,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090121215,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am disappointed that my provision for capital market sanctions. which our subcommittee approved unanimously. did not stay i1d the bill as it moved forward. but my provision to support statesponsored divestment campaigns throughout our Nation is in there. I want to thank our Chairs for making sure that that is there. because efforts to divest from companies that support the Khartoum regime should be applauded and the growing divestment movement must be supported. The University of California is getting ready to divest. Harvard University has divested. Stanford has divested. as well as the States of Illinois. New Jersey and Oregon. These provisions with regard to divestment are very important. Mr. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA LEE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4347,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090121233,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"H.R. 3127. also includes this declaration. We need to get our priorities straight. Lets stop this war and end this human suffering. We can start by passing and implementing the provisions of this important measure. the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL MCNULTY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2111,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090121235,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It also provides strong support for the expansion of humanitarian and peacekeeping efforts in the region. and calls for the suspension of Sudans membership in the United Nations. While this legislation alone will not end the atrocities in Darfur. it will send a strong message to Sudan and the world community that the U.S. is serious about bringing an end to the violence. Many grassroots groups around the country. such as the Connecticut Coalition to Save Darfur. have been working to educate policymakers and the public on the urgent need for action in this troubled region of the world. Their efforts have ensured that the crisis in Darfur stays in the public mind and todays consideration of the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act is a testament to their tireless work. I am proud to support this legislation. and strongly urge its quick approval in conference so that we can get this important bill to the Presidents desk without delay.","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3525,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090121237,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support and as a cosponsor of H.R. 3127. the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act of 2006. Since February. 2003. the Sudanese governmentthrough its proxy. the Janjaweed Arab militiahas carried out a campaign to loot and burn African villages in the Darfur region of western Sudan. Hundreds of thousands 6f people have been killed. and over 2 millionpeople have been displaced. This systematic pattern\" of attacks against civilians includes arbitrary killings. abductions. looting. torture. and rape. and such attacks are supported by air and land strikes by Sudanese government forces. Congress declared in the summer of 2004 that genocide was occurring in Darfur. and the administration followed suit in the fall of 2004. This bill strengthens the Sudan Peace Act of 2004 by expanding sanctions. authorizing funding for humanitarian and peacekeeping efforts. and by taking additional steps to bring international attention to this conflict. First. this bill specifically targets individuals in the .government as opposed to punishing the coalition government as a whole. It holds Sudanese government officials and Janjaweed officers accountable for genocidal acts. ","speaker_name":"BENJAMIN CARDIN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2677,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090121241,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Our. commitment to end this conflict and to the people of the region must not begin and end today. We must remain focused and dedicated to ending the genocide *and healing the wounds of a prolonged civil war. Justice must be served on those who perpetrated thsee heinous immoral crimes and we must help rebuild and restore the lives of the people who. through the grace of God. survive this hellish civil war. We. here in Congress. have worked to end this civil war before. We went on record in September of 2004. declaring Darfur a genocide. Just recently. the House approved over $550 million to pay for additional peacekeepers. increased humanitarian assistance and resettlement of refugees. This money is essential to maintaining the current peacekeeping mission and ease the suffering of those who are displaced. It is long past time for the United Nations to become involved in Sudan. The UN needs to deploy a robust and sizable international mission to eng the genocide and then work to bring peace to the Sudan. After the systematic genocide of the Holocaust.we said never again. ","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3664,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090121247,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Yesterday. in the New York Times. Jan Egeland. the U.N. undersecretarygeneral for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief. stated. \"Many believe the problems are over in Darfur. They are getting worse.\" The United States government must continue to work in conjunction with the United Nations and other allies. to put pressure on the Sudanese government to allow U.N. peacekeeping forces into the country. I have introduced legislation expressing disapproval of the Arab Leagues decision to hold its 2006 summit in Khartoum. Sudan. The world community needs to- join us as one in condemning the tragedy in Darfur and pressing the Sudanese government to end it.* Mr. Speaker. the Darfur Pealce and Accountability Act is a crucial step towards ending the violence. We need to remember. however. that we have more to do to end this humanitarian crisis. With nearly two million people displaced from their homes and hundreds of thousands dead. resolving this conflict should be a priority for Congress and the Administration. ","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2215,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090121257,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. tion. which prohibits intercountry adoption Speaker. I move tosuspend the rules except by a childs biological grandparent or and agree to theresolution (H. Res. grandparents. 578) concerning the Government of Ro- Whereas there is no European Union law or manias ban on intercountry adoptions regulation restricting intercountry adopand the welfare of orphaned or aban- tions to biological grandparents or requiring that restrictive laws be passed as a predoned children in Romania. requisite for accession to the European","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":525,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090121298,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Their Foreign Minister repeated this pledge to our Secretary of State. Israel is our strongest ally in the Middle East. This boycott has hurt Israels economy since its founding in 1948. The Israeli Chamber of Commerce estimates- that Israeli exports are 10 percent less than they would be Without the boycott. investment in Israel. 10 percent lower. It is no surprise to me that the Saudis have not honored their commitment to end the boycott. The reasons to me are painfully apparent:. antiSemitism and a hatred for Israel. Saudi Arabia continues to be one of the few nations to participate in the boycott when many of its neighbors have given up. In 1990. Egypt was the first nation to abandon the boycott. Jordan followed in 1995. ","speaker_name":"SHELLEY BERKLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3705,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090121319,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. based. and private sector- organizations I move to suspend the rules and agree thr6ughout the United States are working to to the resolution (H. Res. 737) sup- increase financial -literacy rates for Ameriporting the goals and ideals of Finan- cans of all ages and walks of life through a cial Literacy Month. and for other pur- range of outreach efforts. including media po ery Mcampaigns. websites. and oneonone counThse. Clr d seling for individuals.","speaker_name":"LYNN WESTMORELAND","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":465,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090121324,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Financial Planning As*ociation (FPA) would like to voice its support for House Resolution 737. which you are cosponsoring and which was introduced on March 28. 2006. in support of the goals and ideals of Financial Literacy Month. Our 28.000 members are well situated to understand the vital importance of personal financial education for all Americans. We believe that qualitative individual financial security must be built on a foundation of education and financial literacy. In the context of rising personal debt and lower individual savings. there has seldom been a time of greater need for financial literacy. It is against that backdrop that we heartily support the introduction of H.R. 737. and hope your congressional colleagues and the President will share your enthusiastic support of financial literacy for all people. Sincerely.","speaker_name":"RUBEN HINOJOSA","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":845,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090121361,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"You would think in a business that is so keyed to winning that you would frequently mention the word winning. but he never did. He always talked about process. He always talked about how you went about achieving excellence. starting with the way you put your socks on. the way you shot free -throws. the way you passed the ball. He was a tremendous detail person. a great emphasis on fundamentals.. One quote that he had in one of his books that I thought was significant was he talked about Cervantes. Cervantes mentioned that the journey is more important than the end. What he was saying was that it is not the final destination but it ishow you get there. .Of course. we are in a business here that is very end. very goaloriented. and sometimes -the end justifies the means. And so I have always *appreciated that about John. It was simply what he taught his players and What he taught people. in coaching in general alout how to approach the game. So there could not have been a finer person chosen for this honor. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS OSBORNE","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1838,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090121385,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H. Res. 556. a resolution expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that a National Methamphetamine Prevention Week should be established to increase awareness about methamphetamine and to educate the public on waysto help prevent the use of this damaging narcotic. Methamphetamine. or meth. has become the most dangerous drug problem of smalltown America. Meth is a highlyaddictive and treatmentresistant drug produced from readilyaccessible materials found in every local hardware or drug store in -America. The explosion of this very destructive synthetic drug has already taken a brutal toll on children. families and the environment in my district in Minnesota and across the Nation. Dealing with the enormous economic and social effects of methwhether it is diverting tax dollars from alreadystrapped county budgets. or devoting manpower hours to locate and clean upremote meth labs. or treating meth addicts at the local hospitals and clinics--consumes our societys resources at an astounding rate. A daunting challenge of the meth epidemic lies in the very nature of this drug. it isa highly addictive substance that is considered to be the most treatmentresistant of all illegal drugs. Many people get hooked after only one use. and some recent studies have demonstrated that meth causes more damage to the brain than heroin. alcohol. or cocaine. ","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3492,"word_count":219}
{"speech_id":1090121386,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Guam is no exception to the alarming trends in methamphetamine use. The trafficking and use of methamphetamine on Guam has risen in recent years and directly affected the youth of our island. Today methamphetaminerelated arrests on average constitute three quarters of the adult d.rugrelated arrests on Guam each year. The Guam Department of Customs and Quarantine has seized more grams of amphetamines than any other illegal narcotic over the past several years. Additionally. more than half of the individuals admitted for substance abuse treatment on Guam are methamphetamine users. The increase in the abuse of the drug spans all ethnic. cultural. and age groups. There are currently no national observances or coordinated programs dedicated to the fight against methamphetamin6 despite the alarming national and local trends. A \"National Meth Prevention Week\" would be the first of its kind. I strongly support H. Res. 556 for this reason and know that such an undertaking would facilitate a national dialogue for communities to share information on what programs. methods and initiatives work best for combating methamphetamine use. ","speaker_name":"MADELEINE BORDALLO","chamber":"H","state":"GU","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":2322,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090121409,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I asked them. what is your best and your worst experience here in Iraq? One of them said to me that his best experience was listening to the Iraqis complain to him. I said. you should be in Congress. He told me that you knew that they knew that the Iraqis would never have dreamed of complaining to one of Saddams soldiers. But even though he stood there with a rifle over his shoulder. clearly having power over them. they felt comfortable complaining to him. confirming that he and his colleagues had given them a gift of incomparable value. the gift of freedom. the gift of freedom of speech. the gift of protest. That is what 2.600 members of the Minnesota National Guard now staging in Kuwait as part of the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 34th Red Bull Division..the highest rated brigade in the whole Guard. are bringing to the Middle East. That is why my nephew interrupted his college studies to recently serve a tour of duty with the Minnesota Guard. At the same time. while they are bringing safety and security to America by battling terrorists abroad. the Guard is also helping to bring relief to families in need at home. As we speak here today. members of the Minnesota National Guard are responding to destructive flooding in northwestern Minnesota where their experience. professionalism and planning are saving property and lives. These selfless deeds. at home and abroad. show the sacrifice and heartfelt dedication of every member of the Minnesota National Guard. That is why. ","speaker_name":"MARK KENNEDY","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3817,"word_count":259}
{"speech_id":1090121415,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Our Guard unit from my district. from Duluth. put in endless and wearying hours. We could hear those aircraft in the wee hours of the morning. protecting us against the foe unknown or terrorist attack that we could not imagine. and they did it without complaint but with enormous professionalism. This coming Saturday Cloquet E Battery. the 216th Air Defense Artillery Unit. will return safely from their duty in Saudi Arabia and in Iraq. Over 11.000 of our\" Minnesota Guardsmen have served some two and three tours of duty in the gulf. We salute them. congratulate them for their extraordinary service. I have been. as many of my colleagues have already attested in their own experience. to.both sendoff and return ceremonies. The nost impressive is the open arms. the love with which our citizen soldiers are received on their return. the grateful hearts. the admiration of friends and family for the service that they have performed so selflessly. the tears that are shed. the joy of relief at coming home. but also the anxiety about returning to their job. their place of employment. After two or three displacements. some have had concerrfs. Fortunately. employers in most cases have been responsive to their duty to our National Guard. and as they return home and continue their citizen soldier service to America. as we provide for those in the field the necessary body armor. equipment. support services to carry out their.duties in the field. we mustprovide for them as they eventually become veterans and assure that they are treated with the respect of our World War II vets. our Korea vets. And we have learned a great deal from the Vietnam veterans. ","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3267,"word_count":280}
{"speech_id":1090121420,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume just to take a few seconds to extend my thanks to the gentleman from North Carolina and my colleagues from Minnesota for their support today of the Minnesota National Guard and their very kind remarks. I would urge all of my colleagues to support H. Con. Res. 371 and say happy birthday to the Minnesota National Guard.","speaker_name":"JOHN KLINE","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":374,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090121446,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Political parties were outsourced. The 527s ran TV ads. they operated Web sites. they ran phone banks. they mobilized the getoutthevote efforts. all with money not regulated by the FEC. In fact. the 527s proved so significant that MoveOn.org actually sent an email to all of their supporters after the 2004 election and said this about the Democratic Party. This \" is what MoveOn.org said: \"Now its our party. We bought it. We own it. and were going to take it back.\" So. somuch for eliminating the big dollars and big money. Often I hear my Democratic colleagues complaining about the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth. another 527. Well. today. my Democratic colleagues have an opportunity to strike back. All of this activity was conducted with less oversight- than when the political parties were able to .accept soft money. And it is abundantly clear that something must be done. ","speaker_name":"CANDICE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3730,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090121459,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Common Cause. Democracy 21. and a wide range of other groups. they are strongly supportive of this..measure. I believe we should support this.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":861,"word_count":23}
{"speech_id":1090121488,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I say. you want the same rhetoric. you want .527s to report. well. I suggest 501(c)6s report. That amendment was not allowed. Why? Because it would actually have leveled the playing field. It would have applied to both parties. not one party. So in the name of reform. once again. we have partisan tactics. Now. all the while. you are going to go home and wonder why the American people have such low esteem for the Congress. It is quite obvious why they have such low esteem: College costs at a record high. 38 percent and going up. health care costs are up 58 percent. $3.600 in 4 years. energy costs are up 70 percent. medium incomes are down. All that Congress hasnt paid attention to. So as we have scandals swirling around this institution. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3477,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090121494,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I look forward to the day when. in our Ethics Committee. the Democrats will give the tools to a bipartisan fivefive Ethics Committee to begin reviewing both Democrats and Republicans who need to go before that committee to have resolution of stuff that has been stalled for the entire 2005 year by the Democratic leadership.","speaker_name":"THOMAS REYNOLDS","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":337,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090121496,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"My good friend from Buffalo. you may not get health care legislation done this year. you may not get. educational reform this year. and for sure. you wont balance the budget. But this Congress will be remembered as the Congress that Jack and Tom built. Because the scandals continue to swirl around thisinstitution. Until you do serious lobbying reform and close the loopholes. close the revolving door. have real transparency. real enforcement. this Congress. when that gavel comes down. which is intended to open the peoples House. not the auction House. and you have allowed it to become an auction house. then this is the House that Jack built.","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":648,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090121526,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the resolution to congratulate the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on the 25th anniversary of the first flight of the Space Transportation System. to honor Commander John Young and the Pilot Robert Crippen. who flew Space Shuttle Columbia on April 1214. 1981. on its first orbital test flight. and to commend the men and women of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and all those supporting Americas space program for their accomplishments and their role in inspiring the American people.","speaker_name":"KEN CALVERT","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":44.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":566,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090121533,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Crippen. It is hard to believe now. but 25 years have passed since the Space Shuttle Columbia took off on its maiden voyage onApril 12. 1981. The space shuttle was the first and remains the only reusable crewed orbital spacecraft in the world. and its design rCresented a dramatic step towards human space flight. Parenthetically. I might say I was talking to some of my younger staff today. and we who have been around for a while remember that flight well. But when you try to explain to young people. or to anybody for that matter. that these -people were landing in this enormous and weighty bird that had never been tested. and it had no power. never been tested in this kind of conditions and- it had no power. you understand the undertaking that these courageous crew members had set themselves up for. . This vehicle. of course. had the capacity to carry twice the crew members of its predecessors. to launch large scientific instruments such as the Hubble Space Telescope. the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. as well as interplanetary probes like Galileo and Ulysses. On that same subject. I must say that. personally. I believe the deep space image of Hubble is something that struck me as powerful as the first images we saw. of Earth in the early Apollo days. ","speaker_name":"BRIAN BAIRD","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3158,"word_count":223}
{"speech_id":1090121557,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"the observation of how important this research is. Our Nation. as a whole. just celebrated the mens and womens Final Four. and I am sure many Americans. could list the names of who hit the final jump shot and who the star players were. That is fitting and appropriate. But on a daily basis. our lives are affected far more by the basic research conducted by the individuals we are honoring today. as Dr. EHLERS so eloquently put it. When the GPS system helps keep an aircraft on track. when radar works more efficiently. when medical devices work more successfully. when environmental applications are more efficient. all of that derives from the kinds of basic research that we are acknowledging and recognizing today. And while I think it is unrealistic to expect most Members of this Chamber. or certainly the general public. to know the names or the accomplishments of these individuals. itis absolutely fitting that this body recognize these individuals. and I think especially because some of them are Federal Government employees who well deserve our recognition and our honor. And so I join Chairman EHLERS in celebrating them. and I thank him for his support on this and for his leadership in the committee. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"VERNON EHLERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1266,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090121579,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. a number of Members of Congress from the Democratic side have come tbgether in a process known as an ehearing where we have solicited from people across the country their concerns in particular about the auto industry. trade law. labor law and Delphi Corporation filing for bankruptcy. This evening. a number of us will come before this House to make a presentation on behalf of people who participated in the ehearing and to make clear the direction this country must go in with respect to our trade law. labor law and with respect to the Delphi case. I want to begin by thanking the gentleman from California who is the ranking member on our committee for his work in helping to organize this hearing. and hopefully he will be here himself to participate. but you will be hearing shortly from the gentleman from Ohio and the gentleman from New Jersey","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":865,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090121595,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to recognize and celebrate the 75th anniversary of the town of Gladewater. Texas. Gladewater was incorporated on April 18. 1931. That was 11 days after oil was discovered 1 mile outside of town. With the discovery of oil. the town quickly experienced tremendous prosperity. During the 1930s people began to flock to the small East Texas town with the population swelling from 500 to 8.000 strong. With the depletion of petroleum reserves in the 1980s. the town was forced to attract and develop alternative forms of commerce. Gladewater. once known for its oil production. is now regarded as the antique capitol. with over 250 antique dealers and 16 antique malls. ","speaker_name":"LOUIE GOHMERT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1528,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090121616,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlewoman from Tennessee. It is really an honor to be part of this hour discussion tonight with some of the most fiscally responsible Members of this body. My Republican colleagues on the Republican Study Committee. that you just heard from the gentleman from Texas. you will be hearing from others. the gentleman from New Jersey. the gentleman from North Carolina. the gentlewoman from Ohio. These are Members. Mr. Speaker. that get it. As Mr. HENSARLING just said. this is really not green eye shade stuff. this is about people and values. as he so well pointed out. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1125,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090121617,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We are beyond our goal. Seniors are saying. members of my own family. my mom. my brother. constituents in my district saying. \"Thank you. Congressman. We are saving money.\" I have had people spending $900 a month who found out they qualified for the low income supplement and now are spending $27 a month. they are saving $900 a month. We wanted to do Social Security reform to give individuals an opportunity to have an individual personal account. What does the other side do? They fight that. They are the party of no. of negative. But these are the things that this majority and particularly the Members here tonight. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5227,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090121623,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from North Carolina. and as he said. it is so important that we keep the attention on both sides of this ledger. that we hone that focus and just target it. what we are taking in and what we are spending. When we go back and we look at the 2003 tax cuts. we know that 91 million Americans saw a tax reduction of about $1.100. That is real money. We also know that when government takes more of that paycheck. that the individuals are not making choices. that the government is making choices. and that is where we see a decrease in our freedom. The gentleman is so correct. It is the debate of ideas and putting new ideas on the table that is so very important. and we are joined. as you mentioned. by the gentlewoman from Ohio . who has a few thoughts to offer on the line item veto and some of the ideas that are being offered for our budget process. and I yield to the gentlewoman.","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":919,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090121629,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If the gentleman will yield. earlier we talked about our colleagues across the aisle and this morning how they were bemoaning the fact that we were going to freeze spending or reduce spending. or if they werent going to get everything they wanted. then it is considered a cut. Now that is government speak. as the gentleman from Texas said. That is government speak. Itis not really a cut. But we have to realize that every single time. every single time we start to make reductions in what the Federal Government spends. there are some who try to keep us from doing that. And their answer is always. we need more money. Government cant afford tlat cut. Government cant afford that tax reduction. AAd as you said. it is so important that we differentiate between this.","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":768,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090121633,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Normally. the press and the media would say that if you had unemployment under 6 percent that you are doing good. We have seen because of the actions of this Republican Congress in cutting the taxes and returning the money to the family budget. as opposed to keeping it here in Washington for the Federal budget. we now see unemployment in this Nation around 4.7 percent. Normally. the press and the national media would say if you have growth in the economy of around 2 percent that you would be doing good. Well. we. of course. know that because of those tax cuts that you referenced just a moment ago. we have seen the growth in the economy of over 3 percent for the last 11 straight quarters. So it is because of this progrowth economic policy you just set forth that we are seeing the economy grow. And by having a strong national economy. obviously it is helping the revenue stream on this side and obviously it also affects the family budget.","speaker_name":"SCOTT GARRETT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":949,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090121636,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This is one of the great discussions of the day. If you cut taxes does government get less in income or taxation? Whatwe have seen through the tax cuts is it is a progrowth policy. We allow people to keep more of what they earn. therefore they can actually provide for their child. They can go out this time of year and buy shorts. and Tshirts and tennis shoes for the kids.","speaker_name":"PATRICK MCHENRY","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":374,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090121639,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I want to yield to the gentleman from Texas. because I think it is important for us to bring the deficit back into this. We are allowing the taxpayer to keep more of their paycheck. and the tax reductions in 2001 and 2003 certainly have done that. The gentleman from Texas can talk for a moment about the deficit and how we are speeding along and reducing that deficit faster than we had originally thotight that we were because of the growth in taxes and because of the changes we have made in budgeting.","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":505,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090121643,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Just for a quick point. I dont normally do this. but I would reference you to The New York Times and todays edition. because they verify that too. You cant go by what their headlines say. because their headline is a little misleading. But they did an article in the business section in The New York Times today saying who benefitted from the tax cuts that this Republicanled GOP Congress and this administration passed. And if you get beyond the headlines and you dig down into the weeds. even The New York Times admits that the benefits to them are to the middle class and the lower class. as opposed to the higher incomes. as the other side would argue.","speaker_name":"SCOTT GARRETT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":655,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090121657,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have to talk to this guy. I just want to make a point because I am for tax cuts if they go to the right people. if they go to the middle class. I couldnt believe we had other people citing this. but today in the New York Times an analysis finally came out that talked about the 2003 tax cut. What this says is that among taxpayers with incomes greater than $10 million annually. their investment tax bill. just for the investments that they made. was reduced by $500.000 so they got $500.000 back. less in taxes. and total savings for someone who made $10 milli6n a year was $1 million from the Bush tax cuts and the Republican bobblehead Congress who said yes. Mr. President. deficits do not matter. We can borrow from foreign countries to foot the bill for this. We dont have money to give.a guy or woman who makes $10 million a year. we do not have the money to give them a million dollars back. We had to go out and borrow that million dollars.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":951,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090121659,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I just want to point this out. This is -publicly held debt. Tax cuts are given to a fellow. a woman who makes $10 million a year giving a million dollars back in taxes. We do not have it so what do we do. we go out and borrow it. This is the publicly held debt by China. It had quadrupled under President Bush. In 2000 it was $62 billion. In 2005 it was $257 billion. We are borrowing money from the Chinese to give a person in America Who makes $10 million a year $1 million in a tax cut. Now somebody come down here and explain how that is a good thing for our country because the money that they get. that $1 million. they are not investing it in Delphi stock. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":807,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090121684,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We owe them $71.33 billion that they have bought of our debt. Canada. just north of us. We owe them $53.8 billion of our debt. We will take them off there. Korea. $66.5 billion we owe Korea because this Congress has said that we have to give subsidies to industry because they wanted it and that is something that we need to get back to. I do not blame industry. I blame the Republican Congress. Germany. $65.7 billion we owe Germany. OPEC nations. Saudi Arabia.. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5552,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090121697,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"May I just remind the Speaker that today Secretary of the Treasury John Snow said in his testimony before our subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee that the tax cuts of this majority and President Bush account for onethird of the deficit. and that every dollar that is cut for the wealthiest folks in tax cuts. we dont get back more than a dollar in revenue. We lose. For every tax dollar we cut. we only get back 30 to 40 cents. We lose 60 to 70 cents for every tax dollar we cut. Whether that is a good thing or bad thing. the American people can decide. But in a time of war. the biggest deficits in our history. is that what we want to be doing with our money. and should we be making those tax cuts permanent.?","speaker_name":"STEVEN ROTHMAN","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":728,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090121761,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am glad the Senator from Illinois asked the question.. That was the secofhd point I was going to get to. The first had to do with crimes. but I will be happy to leave that conversation and move to the absconders. as I said. \"Absconders\" is the word that is used to describe those people who have been ordered by a judge to leave the country because of something they have donemore than simply overstaying a visaand -have refused to do that. In other words. they have already demonstrated an unwillingness to comply with an order to leave the country. Obviously. part of the enforcement of all of this legislation depends upon our ability to enforce the law for people who are unwilling to comply with the laws terms. If someone has already demonstrated an unwillingness do that. it seems to me they should not be eligible. And let me go on to. say that the suggestion that a simple visa overstayer is caught up in this is not truenot true.","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":956,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090121771,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let me reclaim my time. The reason I said \"keep reading\" is because I just read to you under each of those sections. 217. 235. 238. and 240. the specific circumstances under which someone would be precluded frdm participating in the benefits of the bill. It is not. with due respect. as the Senator from Illinois said. overstaying a visa.. You have to have been subject to one of these four specific sections. As I said. the first one is a visa waiver. There were 900 people last year who were removed under that. It wouldnt even include a person such as Mohamed Atta. as I said. I need to go back and try to fix the amendment with regard to that. Sections 235 and 238 are the expedited removal of aggravated felons and I am sure the Senator doesnt want to allow those people to remain. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1231,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090121776,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. if the Senator will yield for a question. I understand the Senators explanation. and I have to go back to a point that I think if he would clarify his language in his amendment. it would allay some of the fears we have. Let me give an example of why we are concerned. In the original CornynKyl bill that was introduced. it Was a question about the ineligibility of aliens. or deferred mandatory departure. or a similar circumstance where they would not be recognized and given this opportunity. Your language in that instance said it would be an alien who would be \"ordered. excluded. deported. removed or to depart voluntarily from the United States.\" There was specificity there. The decision had been made. I think that is a lot clearer and more consistent with the explanation you have given us than the words \"subject to a final order\" which I think is much more general in scope and perhaps too broad. maybe leading to my conclusion that may not be consistent with your intent. I ask you if you would consider tightening your language here as you did in the original bill with Senator CORNYN so we know exactly what we are dealirg with.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1157,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090121777,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I appreciate the suggestion. I would be happy to visit with the Senator from. Illinois who. as I said before. is a good lawyer and who understafids the details of this to make sure we are denying the privileges of the underlying legislation only to those people whom we intend to deny those privileges to. I think we have a rough meeting of the mind as to who those people are. I will say. however. it does get difficult because when the Senator from Illinois says. for example. we dont just want visa overstayers to be caught up. in this. as a general proposition. I agree with that. What that means is. of course. Mohamed Atta and many of hi& cohorts would not have been denied the benefits of this legislation because they simply overstayed a visa. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1025,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090121794,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"With all due respect. I think that is a bit of spin to say I am stopping the amendment process. On Thursday. Friday. Monday. and Tuesday. I asked unanimous consent to proceed to amendments. Democrats objected. The amendment following mine is the amendment of the Senator from Georgia. That is not on the list. either. What is happening is that the Democratic side wants to vote on certain amendmentsmost of which do not go to the heart of the billand does not want to vote on other amendments. .What we are saying is. we have a right to lay down amendments and vote on those amendments. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1129,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090121801,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The fact is. there are other amendments following his that would equally be objected to by the distinguished minority whip. So we are frozen at this time because there is a lack of spirit of cooperation in order to consider issues that are important to the people of the United States of America on what I consider to be the most important domestic issue in the United States of America. So singular blame on any one individual such as Mr. KYL is not only inappropriate. it is not right. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JOHN ISAKSON","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1317,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090121803,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But the irony is. as we continue to control our border. we create an impenetrable line. as we should. and those who have moved back and forth across that border historically no longer can do that. Well. it is an interesting thing. It is an interesting issue. The House tried to deal with it in one wayI do not think appropriately. I do not think responsibly. I am not suggesting it is not responsible to control the border. We are doing that in this bill. But I believe we are doing it in a much more sensitive and humane way. The border has to be secured or what we do here will not work. You cannot try to control and identify and direct employment traffic. if you will. in this country if you cannot control the flow of the traffic. ","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5996,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090121820,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. as we have seen in so many situations. and where I have been willing to concede error on both sides of the aisle. I am not going to seek to defend preventing votes on relevant. germane amendments. whether they are offered by Senator FEINGOLD or Senator KYL. or anybody else. That is just not the way the Senate ought to be run. I am glad to note that the Senator from Illinois didnt hear my answer. He was talking. which hehas a right to do.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":447,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090121826,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Reclaiming my time. my response to the Senator would be that I am not an attorney. but I spent 33 years in the real estate business. I saw the term \"reasonable attorneys fees\" on more documents than the law would allow. I never met an attorney who could not describe what reasonable attorneys fees meant. I think we can find a lot of people in the Senate who understand that. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JOHN ISAKSON","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":394,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090121835,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Satchel Paige was dehied the right to fully participate in American baseball until the very end of his career. That was a tragedy. It was really a tragedy. It is something our Nation cannot take pride in and should feel great sadness over. A number of other Negro Leagues players came from Mobile. which is a great bastion of baseball excellence. including Willie McCovey and Hank Aaron. among others. who developed out of that history of excellent baseball. I thank the Senator from Missouri for his leadership. I think it will be an fmportant addition to our national heritage to have this museum.","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":599,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090121839,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The legislation also addresses a very important issue that is critical to* State and local governments. State and local governments have been dealing with the influx of undocumented workers and illegal aliens in our country for a very long time. Yet there has been no system providing them compensation for what they are doing to try to enforce the laws at the State and local level. essentially on behalf of the Federal Government because this is a Federal issue. after all. What this legislation will do is provide reimbursement for the States for the detention and imprisonment of criminal aliens. The legislation also requires a faster deportation process. I go back to the old adage of justice delayed is sometimes justice denied. We have people who are sometimes waiting in the system. for months and months and years and years without coming to any kind of resolution. This legislation will require a faster deportation process. There are significant provisions in this legislation that will make additional criminal activity for gang members. money laundering. and for human traffickers. We know human trafficking across the borders creates tremendous hardship on people. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9874,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090121865,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This bill is too important and their antics are going to prevent us from having a bill that actually means something and isnt just a repeat of the past. Georgians and the American people deserve more than politics as usualthey -deserve a thoughtful and thorough debate. Even though I am not allowed to .offer my amendment at this time. I would like to take a few moments to speak about it. And at this point I would like to ask unanimous consent that Senator BROWNBACK be added as a cosponsor to amendment No. 3232.","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2605,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090121878,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I come to the floor. and I am broadly supported by our caucus. because we come to a moment in time where people are looking at the Senate. America is looking at the Senate. and asking: Why? Why are we at a point where we are addressed with a problem that is not insurmountableseemingly insurmountable at times but a problem which can be addressed. which addresses the issues that are so fundamental to our countryissues of national security. issues of fairness. issues of compassionchallenges that if not addressed will continue to grow. thereby threatening the security of the American people. who are watching. Republicans are herewe see it right here on the floor right nowand we have been here since last Wednesday on a bill doing what the American people expect. that is. identifying a problem. -discussing a problem. putting together amendments in order to take a bill to the floor and. therefore. improve a bill. And yet we are being denied that basic opportunity. Right this very moment. we are here to address a national problem. a problem that is pressing. It impacts every American listening. I mentioned the word \"fairness\" because it is basically a matter of fairnessof fairness to a group of people. the 12 million undocumented people here in this country today. who. yes. came here illegally. but who are listening and watching right now and asking that question. Will my plight be addressed and addressed appropriately? It has to do with fairness to the Senate. where each of us came here probably for different reasons. but to participate in governing and moving America forward to a future that we know will. be safer. that will be healthier. that will be more prosperous. and fairness for our constituents. who are scratching their heads right now. at first maybe saying. well. there it is. the Senate. once again. not able to address problems. but then. after a moment. saying that is wrong. those are the people who are sent to Washington to represent us. to address the toughest. most fundamental problems that are out there today. and that is our secureness. our security. to address issues that-. affect -internal enforcement of the laws of the land. a nation of laws. and. yes. a nation that has captured the richness of our immigrants. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6635,"word_count":387}
{"speech_id":1090121899,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Two or three times that amount were not apprehended. If you lived in Yuma. in California. that number was about 140.000 approximately. and in McAllen. TX. there were 135.000 in just 1 year. Of the 1.2 million who were apprehended who came across illegallyI am not talking about the ones who came across and were not apprehended165.000 were persons coming from countries other than Mexico. Where did they come from? We are talking about the Middle East. We are talking about Southeast Asia. We are talking about Eastern Europe. We know because we have apprehended people from Afghanistan. Pakistan. Iraq. and Iran. ","speaker_name":"PAT ROBERTS","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3143,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090121911,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As the Senator notes. is because they dont want to vote on the House bill had the criminalization. themperiod. It is not that there are The Frist bill had the criminalization so many they cant figure out which issues. The CornynKyl does not have ones to allow a vote. They dont want that particular provision. I do think to vote on them. when we voted on that issue. on the Why? There are two reasons. The Durbin amendment. I think the Sen- first is they like the bill as it is. That ator voted against the Durbin amend- is a perfectly legitimate point. But ment. if I am correct. which was to de- that is always the case with one side or criminalize. So I dont quite know the other. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":983,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090121917,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator from Colorado for his leadership on this issue. I do not know if he saw the program \"Frontline\" recently. but it talked about the methamphetamine scourge that is affecting the United States and the fact that now more of this illicit drug is coming in from Mexico. It is a serious. serious problem. I congratulate him for addressing this problem. I hope he understands that when we offered to call his amendment. asked for unanimous consent to call his amendment and adopt his amendment. there was objection on his side of the aisle. We stand ready at this moment to call your amendment for a vote and to adopt it immediately. I think it is a very important amendment. and it is one of those that was on the agreed list and. unfortunately. a Member on your side objected to it. So I hope we can get to it soon. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":902,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090121941,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I appreciate the contribution the distinguished Senator from Illinois has made to the Judiciary Committee. When he says we have had a rocky time. he is a master of understatement. Again. he didnt hear my comment. like earlier today in responding to one of his questions. He was conversing. So I will repeat this one. When the distinguished Senator from Illinois says we have had a rocky time on the amendments. he is a. master of understatement. I share his hope. although not much expectation. that we will be able to complete action on this bill before we adjourn for the recess. The Senate is a phenomenal institution. smarter than any of its Members or the composite of all of its Membersnot that that would necessarily take a whole lot. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1217,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090122008,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"OPEC has America over a barrel. and we should fight back. If OPEC were simply a foreign business engaged in this type of behavior. it would already be subject to American antitrust law. It is wrong to let OPEC producers off the hook just because their anticompetitive practices come with the seal of approval of this cartels member nations. It is time for the President to join the bipartisan majority in the Senate which -already said \"NO\" to OPEC by passing NOPEC and by sending it to the other body. where it was killed. The Senate has already passed .this bill. which would rnake OPEC subject to our antitrust laws. In fact. the Judiciary Committee has approved the NOPEC bill three times. Regrettably. even though President Bush promised in 2000 that he would \"jawbone OPEC.\" the Bush administration and its friends in the House have scuttled the NOPEC bill and the direct and daily relief it would bring to millions of Americans. In addition. this bill makes it unlawful to divert petroleum or natural gas products from their local market to a distant market with the primary intention of increasing prices or creating a shortage in a market. This solves a real problem where products are being shipped for sale in that market but are later diverted and sold for less in another market. We have an obligation to address these and other issues caused by oil cartels and by greedy companies who have moneythat they have extracted from the American peopleto burn. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3745,"word_count":253}
{"speech_id":1090122010,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the University of Tennessee. Belmont University. and the University of Memphis mens basketball teams all deserve congratulations for qualifying for the mens NCAA tournament this year. The Lady Vols made it to the Sweet Sixteen in womens basketball for the 25th consecutive time. None of those teams made it all the way to the championship. but two Tennesseans who play for the University of Florida did. I want to congratulate them. especially since one is from my hometown. Maryville. Lee Humphrey was Tennessees Class AAA Mr. Basketball when he attended Maryville High School. He is the schools alltime leader in points and steals. ","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2298,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090122033,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session on Wednesday. April 5. 2006. at 10 a.m.. in 215 Dirksen Senate Office Building. to consider the nomination of Mr. W. Ralph Basham. of Virginia. to be Commissioner of Customs. Department of Homeland Security.","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":317,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090122053,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests be authorized to meet during the session of -the Senate on Wednesday. April 5 at 2:30 p.m. The purpose of the hearings is to review the 2005 Wildfire Season and the Federal Management Agencies preparations for the 2006 Wildfire Season.","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":324,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090122059,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I offer this resolution on behalf of Senator SARBANES and myself. I Yes. the womens basketball team of the University of Maryland did win the womens basketball championship. I am here today to offer this resolution and to state I am so proud of the young women of this championship basketball team. Led by Coach B. Brenda Frese. the Terps finished the season with a record .of 34 wins and 4 losses. a fine record for any basketball team. It was especially sweet because those Terps defied all expert predictions. Last night was a game for the history books. It went into overtime and. at the same time. was in overdrive. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA MIKULSKI","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3555,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090122060,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it is with a profound sense of Maryland pride and pleasure that I rise in joining my Maryland colleague. Senator BARBARA MIKULSKI. in introducing a resolution congratulating the University of Maryland Terrapins for winning the 2006 NCAA Womens National Basketball Championship. Joining us in this effort is the Maryland House delegation. spearheaded by University of Maryland alum. Congressman STENY HOYER. As our resolution highlights. this has been a terrific run for the womens basketball team. The team notched 33 wins. the most for any Division I mens or womens basketball team this season. Maryland was also the only team in the Nation to score more than 3.000 points. With this championship. the team became only the fourth school to secure championships in both mens and womens basketball. joining Stan.ford University. the University of Connecticut and the University of North Carolina. Maryland. after its stellar regular season. was surprisingly selected as a No. 2 seed. ","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2763,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090122067,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This is changing with the- increase in fuel efficiency. highlighted by fuelcell vehicles coming just over the horizon. and improved technology allows for improvements in how to collect the user fee. It is important to look forward to how we fund the highway program in the future because when the next .highway bill is drafted. there will be no cushion of a cash balance left in the trust fund. The current challenges facing the highway trust fundand hence the highway programwill be very difficult to resolve and not unlike the challenges faced by the authors of the 1956 act: It will be up to policymakers to be as visionary as they were 50 years ago. A new vision is needed in what the highway programwill stand for in the next 50 years and how to pay for it. The resolution (S. Res. 427) was agreed to. The preamble was agreed to. The resolution. with its preamble. reads as follows:","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3948,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090122097,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Parks won an Emmy in 1968 for the documentary. Diary of a Harlem Family. He received the National Medal of Arts from President Reagan in 1988. and was inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame in 2002. Mr. Speaker. Gordon Parks passed away. on March 6.. 2006. leaving behind an expansive legacy. I come to the floor today to honor his life and to thank him for significant breakthroughs that occurred. because of his life.","speaker_name":"JIM RYUN","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1009,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090122106,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"God bless our troops. and we will never forget. September 11.","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1007,"word_count":11}
{"speech_id":1090122109,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Germany. $65.7 billion of our debt. Korea. $66.5 billion of our debt. and Canada. $53.8 billion of our debt. Republicans are going to sell this country away to other countries. and I -think it is important that we take on fiscal responsibility.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1043,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090122117,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The fault in his quote there. Mr. Speaker. is that we are not cutting education. We are not cutting Medicare. We are not cutting Medicaid. These things are absolutely off base. What our budget does say to the American people. these are our moral choices so Congressman SPRATT should be commended for saying that a budget is a moral choice. and I agree with that. But what we do with this budget is say boldly that we will set out the fences around which government spending should be held within. That is a positive thing. I ask my colleagues on the left wing of this body. the Democrats and the liberals here. to come and support this budget because what we are saying is our children should not be left with a legacy of debt. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK MCHENRY","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2362,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090122127,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And on a. per capita basis. veterans health care funding increases average only 0.1 percent per year. a level well below inflation for medical care. So .we are not meeting the current\" needs of our veterans. and in this budget there is no way we are going tc meet the future needs of our veterans when we are creating more veterans because of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Our policies in Iraq and Afghanistan are creating thousands of new veterans. That is an undeniable fact. Thousands of these men and women have been severely injured. and most will need medical services and benefits for the rest of their lives. And even without the influx of this new generation of veterans. the fiscal year 2006 and fiscal year 2007 spending for thle VA doesnt\" even meet the health care heeds of our current number of -veterans and military retirees. According. to every major veterans organization in the country. .we are still about $1 billion short each year. But the Republican budget before us actually decreases the discretionary funding for VA benefits and services each and every year over the next 5 years. So FY 2011. just 5 years away. is actually $4 billion less than FY 2006. That is their budget. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2274,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090122129,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And I would urge my colleagues if you want to support veterans. this is not the way to do it. This is the place you -take a stand. You say no to this budget. send them back.- and let them do what is right by our veterans. There is no way we should. be shortchanging our veterans. and this budget does that. Mr. Speaker. I would at this time like to submit into the RECORD a letter fromthe Interreligous Working Group on Domestic Human Needs. representing the major Protestant and Catholic churches and faith organizations. They state that \"as communities of faith ... we are called upon to hold ourselves and our communities accountable to the moral standard of our Biblical tradition. We speak together now to express our concern about our national priorities.\" The letter is called a \"Faith Reflection on the Federal Budget.\" and it opposes what fs * before us today.","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1960,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090122131,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman. my friend from Florida andthe Rules Committee. Mr. PUIPNAM. the chairman of our policy committee here in the House Republican Conference. Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of the rule for this budget resolution. which strikes a delicate balance between fully funding our priorities and exercising restraint of spending. Mr. Speaker. already we have Ileard the debate and the dialogue here. ","speaker_name":"PETE SESSIONS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4136,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090122132,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I cant help but think of your energy bill. which provides these incredible tax breaks and subsidies to oil companies that have never made more profits than they are right now. that are gouging American taxpayers at the pump. and you are giving them billions of dollars. Talk about insatiable appetite. Or the drug companies that cant provide our senior citizens a decent cost for prescription drugs and you are sending more and more subsidies and tax breaks and liability protections to these industries that. quite frankly. need to respect our citizens more. So that isg the kind of insatiable appetite that has gotten us into this mess. and we have had enough of it. We need new priorities. and I hope that my colleagues. again. will turn down this budget. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2651,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090122138,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We -have doubled spending On veterans medical care. These are issues that are hugely important. I am proud of the way this debate has been conducted. because this budget lays out the competing visions for America. one that inspires economic growth through sensible tax policies. and one that wants to spend. spend. and spend some more based on the myth of the tax gap collections that would miraculously appear tomorrow under the Democrats proposal. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time. I move the previous 4uestion on the resolution and urge the adoption of this rule.","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1175,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090122159,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"When you look at what l1as been happening in the last 2 years. you find that wages and salaries have actually been in decline. People are seeing their wages and salaries. when you take into effect inflation. actually going down. So if you are a wealthy person. the Republicans are taking.very good care of you. If you are an average American working for wages and salaries. you are finding your situation in desperate shape. So this budget resolution is another failure on the part of the majority party in America. They are creating deeper deficits for us. They are putting us into deeper and deeper debt. Their approach to taxation has been for the rich and against the working class. and in an economy which is based upon demand. it is forcing that economy down. and we are seeing it broadly all across the American economy. losing manufacturing jobs at record rates. All of that is as a result of the economic policies that have been put forth by the majority party here in the House of Representatives. So the point we are making right here now is once again we have a budget resolution on the floor of this House which is incompetent and irrespon= sible. which is going to mean higher taxation in the future for the average working families in our country while it cuts taxes for the wealthiest and most privileged and while it increases the national debt. ","speaker_name":"MAURICE HINCHEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5241,"word_count":242}
{"speech_id":1090122162,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the administration has devoted a lot of energy to touting the successes of the economy. particularly with respect to the job statistics. as justification for the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. But lets look at the record. When President Clinton took office in January 1993. there were 109.7 million jobs in the national economy in the work force. When he left office in January of 2001. there were 132.5 million.jobs. That means that during the 8 years of the Clinton administration. there was a gain of 22.8 million jobs. These were the jobs created during the Clinton administration at a time when we brought the budget to balance. making the bottom line of the budget every year better and better and better to the point where we had a surplus in Now. compare that job gain. 22.8 billion to what has happened during the Bush administration. When President Bush took office in January 2001 there were 132.5 million jobs in the economy. according to the BLS. By January of 2006. 2 monthsago. the economy had a total of 134.6 million jobs. That is an increase of 2.1 million jobs. versus 22 million jobs created during the Clinton administration. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2814,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090122167,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This budget breaks our commitment to military retirees by increasingand in some cases triplingtheir outofpocket health care fees. It abandons our quest for health care research and discovery by cutting the budgets of 18 out of 19 institutes within the National Institutes of Health. It cuts programs aimed at preventing illness and disease while also slashing programs that train health professionals to treat these diseases. As a country at war. there is no doubt that we have to make sacrifices to successfully implement the war on terror and equip our troops. But the funding cut from domestic programs in this budget does not go for war costs. In fact. war costs arent even included after 2007. The funding cuts also arent being used to balance the budget. With this budget. this country will post a deficit of $348 billion for 2007one of the largest deficits in our Nations history. Instead of funding war costs or paying down the deficit. the cuts in this budget are used for tax cuts. $228 billion in tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans when families are in need here at home. and troops are putting their lives on the line far from home. Mr. ","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3381,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090122185,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What a difference a few years makes once you get in power and you have all of that ability to spend money. Everything from pork spending. and I thank Mr. COOPER for his efforts on the committee for not embarrassing my friends on the right by forcing them to vote on that late in the evening about forcing us to- include all of the pork projects. Mr. Chairman. before we voted on them and not allowing people to slid6 them into pieces of legislation late into the evening. We have 16 agencies that you cant audit. or several agencies within our government thdt are not auditable. We have yet to ask. and there was a time when the Republicans would ask these things. Here we are in 2006 and things have changed. The terne \"flipflop\" was used a lot 2 years ago. The flipflop is here. ","speaker_name":"HAROLD FORD","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3542,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090122190,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 2 minutes. I said earlier that this is an excellent opportunity to show the difference between Democrats and Republicans. This document does that. but with respect to national defense. function 050. there is no difference. because to the dollar we have provided the same amount of funding as the Republican resolution. There is no difference.. On the other hand. with respect to education. there is an enormous difference because the Republican budget resolution cuts education by $45 billion over 5 years below what we call the level of current service. staying where we are. Last year. for the first time in 17 years. the President requested less for education in 2006 than was appropriated in 2005. and this year. he asked for an even larger reduction. $2.2 billion less in 2007 than appropriated for 2006. and these cuts come on top of big cuts. crippling cuts in federally guaranteed student loans. To discuss further the impact and consequences of these enormous cuts in education. which our resolution does not provide forwe fully restore education to current services. fully restore the cuts they would makeis RON KIND of Wisconsin. a member of the Education Committee. and I yield him 6 minutes for that purpose.","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1250,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090122213,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Now angel food cake tastes good. it sounds good. but it is squishy in the middle. just like their budget proposal.","speaker_name":"JO BONNER","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2525,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090122218,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I would like to thank the gentleman for yielding me this time and thank him for his leadership and service here in Congress in bringing this budget to the floor. I rise in support of the budget. I would like to point out. really. a historic aspect to this budget. For the first time I am aware of. we are actually budgeting for emergencies. Most families understand that it is important and prudent to set aside money for a rainy day. Even some States budget for emergencies in their annual budgets. Congress. however. rarely if ever budgets for emergencies. despite the fact that we spend taxpayer dollars on emergencies every single year. I am afraid this is not just an oversight. it is a back door means to exceed our resolution every year because after allocating all of the available resources. somehow Members can find unforeseen emergency needs that require us to break the budget many times without justification. ","speaker_name":"CHRIS CHOCOLA","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1927,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090122219,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 1 minute. Mr. Chairman. in the area of health care. there is a major difference between us. Some 6 or 7 years ago We got together on a bipartisan basis ajd agreed that every year we would try to increase the budget of the NIH such that over 5 years it would be doubled. We achieved that goal. and.now every year the Bush administration is march-","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":374,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090122221,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank my good friend and distin.guished colleague who has done such a fine job on the Budget Committee. We are talking about the Republican budget. and it does not address two pressing health care problems of peculiar and special importance to our people. amongst the other things that it does wrong. First. thanks to this Republican Congress. new part D of the Medicare program is complicated. impossible to navigate. and the benefits confusing. indeed. And they vary from plan. to plan. Plans can even change the drugs they cover after seniors have signed up. bait and switch. if you please. Bu seniors cannot change plans for a year. while the HMO can do so. All too often. this confusion has -resulted in seniors leaving pharmacies without their medication or paying more than they should for their medications. Pharmacists are going broke because of nonpayment or late payment by Medicare. ","speaker_name":"JOHN DINGELL","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1700,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090122241,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 1 minute. Mr. Chairman. the President sent us a budget that was woefully deficient when it came to homeland security. which is a pressing concern for all of us. The Republican budget. I will give them credit. to some extent corr6cts that woeful deficiency by $11 billion. But over 5 years that funding level for homeland security. a pressing. critical domestic need. is still $6 billion below current services. We restore homeland security at least to the level of current services. Thus we would be -funding programs that are critically needed to deal with what most. of this House recognizes is a tremendous deficiency. namely. seaport security. which pales in comparison to what we have done for airport security. and it is one of the reasons fot the outcry over the Dubai ports deal. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1057,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090122242,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"State and local transit agencies. which have already spent $2 billion to~enhance security and emergency preparedness since 9\/11 attacks. continue -to be left largely to fend for themselves. -We are shortchanging the Coast Guard in this budget. That agency. which did the right thing in Hurricane Katrina. is using ships from the Vietnam era. In using these Vietnamera ships. we put our Coast Guard at risk. This budget will ensure one thing that the Coast Guard with need a lot of bubblegum. bailing wire. and buckets to stay.afloat if it is approved. Speaking of maritime security. .this budget does little to ensure that ports can make the physical security improvements they need for highrisk containers coming to America. I I call on my colleagues to reject this budget for these reasons. Congress should no longer ignore the fact that homeland security begins at home. in our communities. towns. and in our cities. Let us do the right thing by the American people. Let us put a budget together that protects our Nation.","speaker_name":"BENNIE THOMPSON","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5050,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090122278,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Donald Trump is taxed less on all of his investments than Barry the accountant is taxed on his middle income wages. I am a member -of Homeland Security. Mr. Chairman. and let me tell you something. I just -heard this budget defended in terms of port.security when we know that CBO says that all three major programs are underfunded and. the goods that are coming into this country are not screened or examined properly. We had a meeting on it yesterday in case you missed the news. The reckless tax policies of this budget will only continue to balloon our national debt. which currently stands at over $8 trillion. And they stand and defend this. these austere conservatives. This budget scheme will add an additional $2.3 trillion in debt over 5 years. And by the way. there is no scientific evidence. none whatsoever. that documents any essential relationship between the tax cuts you have defended to those making over $200.000 and the improvement in the economy. ","speaker_name":"BILL PASCRELL","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3020,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090122303,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the answer to balancing our budget is eliminating this tax gap and not increasing the taxes on hardworking Americans. Does the Federal Government spend too much? In many ways we do. Do we always get value for our dollar? Sadly. no. we dont always. But again. I thank Chairman NusSLE for putting together a budget that holds the line on discretionary spending growth. But instead of increasing taxes on hardworking Americans or adding new taxes to hardworking Americans. we should concentrate on collecting taxes already owed under the current tax system. 0l 1615 Mr. Chairman. one final note. The mere tripling of the tax gap between 1988 and today shows that the Tax Code has become much too complex and susceptible to tax evasion. This shows a need for simplifying the Tax Code and for fundamental tax reforms.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BURGESS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1630,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090122347,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Our experience with raising capital gains rates over the years is that the revenue that was supposed to occur rarely does. and that suggests to us that perhaps the 15 percent rate might be an ideal place to generate the most revenue. not that there is ever really a compelling argument for setting a rate at the revenuemaximizing rate. I think there are also some things that we ought to consider about some of the figures that were thrown out here. I. in my initial remarks. pointed out some of the clear benefits to the middle class that have accrued from the current tax policies. and the gentleman on the other side of the aisle challenged that and trotted out some figures. .I should simply point out for the record that the joint committee has given us different figures. and the other gentlemans argument I found to be a saturnalia of static analysis. So I think that those who are following this debate can listen and make up their own minds. I think that clearly the current tax policies are justified on the facts. and the other side has not really offered a coherent position for adopting a new tax policy. My feeling is that workers who have taxable assets. who have seen the value of those taxable assets which they are holding toward retirement increase because of the growth. increase because the market hasgone up. may I suggest that they have seen a real benefit from our tax policies. one that is not captured in the static analysis used on the other side. but one which is important and is a real measure of wealth and is a real measure of their satisfaction. I was intrigued by some of the rhetoric on the other side in which. on one hand. a speaker called for us to use civility and then accused us of siding with millionaires. That is an uiusual approach to civility. but I would suggest to the speaker that by supporting the current tax policies and supporting the growth that so clearly is their result. we are siding with entrepreneurs. We are siding with workers who depend on small businesses and the people who run them to create the jobs that they need. We are siding with the capitalist economy that has created more wealth and more opportunity in this country than anywhere else in the world. ","speaker_name":"PHILIP ENGLISH","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7720,"word_count":400}
{"speech_id":1090122348,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me also just say to my friend from Pennsylvania. words have consequences. so please be careful obviously the words we use in this body. We have a\" responsibility. It is wrong to say that this motion increases taxes. You are using that because we dont extend in our motion a tax provision that will expire in 2008. Well. Mr. ENGLISH. I could say that you are -raising taxes by voting against it because you are only extending the R&D credit to 2007. where that is even shorter than 2008. And I would acknowledge to you that would be a wrong thing for me to say. So please be careful with the language you use. ","speaker_name":"BENJAMIN CARDIN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4506,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090122355,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Companies promised these benefits to these workers. These workers earned these benefits. Then with some paperwork and a little fancy accounting footwork. companies slashed the benefits of these workers. How did the companies do it? First. the benefits of the traditional pension plan are based upon the workers pay at the end of their careers and when they are earning the most. Cash balance plans. on the other hand. are based on workers average pay over the course of their career. With just a simple change on how benefits are calculated. companies can devastate the retirement nest eggs of hardworking employees. workers who gave up wages. who gave up vacation days. who gave up all kinds of benefits as they balanced out their pension plans. Yet we now see companies unilaterally essentially destroying the pension benefits that those workers are entitled to. Older workers under these conversions can lose up to half. half of their expected retirement benefits. Dont take my word for it. That is according to the Government Accountability Office. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4693,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090122362,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker. in all of the days and weeks and months that we in the committee were debating the state of pensions. defined benefit pensions. it was clear to all of us that we are losing more and more of those plans. More and more employers are going out of business. going into bankruptcy. terminating their plans or simply not starting them. As has been pointed out. we passed in the House. and I think the gentleman from California called it a Republican. but I think it was a bipartisan bill with 70 Democrats joining us in that vote. including provisions for these hybrid and cash balance plans. My fear is that as we put more and more mandates on employers. we will lose more and more plans. Without some legal certainty from Congress. employers will stop offering these benefits. and cash balance plans will simply fall by the wayside like so many other pension options. This Democrat motion and the Senate bill mandate particular pension benefits which could have a devastating effect of accelerating the demise of the defined benefit pension system. and I do not think any of us want that. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KLINE","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2447,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090122366,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Any change in plans must protect the accrued benefits of employees. and the conference report should reflect thatreality. It is a myth to belieye that cash balance plans are innocuous. For older workers especially. these plans are hazardous. A pension plan is worth nothing if it does not provide security for employees. and these plans translate into increased vulnerability for workers as they retire. Hard working erhployees should not be rewarded for their service with a denial of pension benefits. I urge my colleagues to help ensure that workers pensions are protected by supporting the Miller motion to instruct conferees. Lets stand up for people who work a lifetime and were told at the beginning of their work experience the money was going to be there to enjoy their golden years. Support the Miller amendment and put some teeth behind that guarantee.","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1599,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090122376,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. let me start by suggesting that I know all of us in this room are concerned about thb viability of pensions. We want people who have worked their entire life to get the benefit of those investments. What we are also. though. trying to do is ensure that employers. corporations find a way in which to bring about the new realities of the marketplace. providing options. For years people who worked in America relied on -the standard fixed pension provided by. say. General Motors or another corporation. Over the years evolved opportunities to create hybrid plans. plans personally that I enjoy. an IRA account. a 401(k) offered through Congress. Thrift Savings. Keogh plans. and you can go on with all of the acronyms. RothJRA. all designed to give people options in a marketplace. to give them some degree of certainty and some opportunity to provide these benefits. ","speaker_name":"MARK FOLEY","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4659,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090122415,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I just would add that I want to give my thanks once again to Mr. WELDON for bringing this to our attention today and to Mr. HOYER for his continued leadership on this issue. We are happy to expedite this and move it through the House. and I urge its adoption. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":322,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090122418,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I wish to announce to all Members of the House that the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence has ordered the bill. H.R. 5020. the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007. reported favorably to the House with an amendment. The committees report will be filed today. Mr. Speaker. the classified schedule of authorizations and the classified annex accompanying the bill will be available for review by Members at the offices of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in room H405 of the Capitol beginning anytime after the report is filed. The committee office will open during regular business hours for the convenience of any Member who wishes to review this material* prior to its consideration by the House. I antfcipate that H.R. 5020 will be considered on the floor of the House after the. recess. as early as the week of I recommend that Members wishing to review the classified annex contact the committees director of security to arrange a time and date for that viewing. This will assure the availability of committee staff to assist Members who desire assistance during their review of these classified materials. ","speaker_name":"PETER HOEKSTRA","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2476,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090122421,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today the Attorney General appeared in the hearing of the Judiciary Committee for an oversight hearing. and we raised the question again about the protection of those displaced voters in New Orleans who have now the responsibility of casting their vote for a local election. Ordinarily. Mr. Speaker. we would ask the involvement of the Federal Government. but the Voting Rights Act. section 2 in particular. guarantees protection of certain States and persons of the right to vote. Therefore. we cannot understand why the Justice Department precleared a system that will not work. Today I have introduced with 42 cosponsors legislation to express the sense of Congress that the State of Louisiana and the Department of Justice must- create outside satellite voting for the more than hundreds of thousands of displaced. disheartened Louisianans who have no way of going. back to their home State at this time to be able to cast their vote for their city. They are. in essence. trying to come home. But with the little resources they have. today they cannot. head home to cast a vote. I hope the Attorney General and the State of Louisiana understand the Voting Rights Act and create outside sat: ellite voting so that we can have the constitutional right to vote.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1275,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090122432,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to honor Colonel Joseph Mazurek as he approaches his July 1. 2006. retirement from the United States Army Reserve. Mr. Mazurek joined the Western Michigan University ROTC program in the fall of 1972. He graduated from the ROTC Advanced Camp and the Army Paratrooper School in 1975. He served 2 years of active duty and became an Assistant Adjutant before being assigned to the U.S. Army Reserve. Since 1978. he has served in a wide variety of Reserve assigrnents at locations throughout the United States. Colonel Mazurek continued to be promoted. and in 1992 he achieved the rank of Full Colonel. ","speaker_name":"PETER HOEKSTRA","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1419,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090122460,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise tqday to recognize the efforts of Georgiana Coles. a resident in my district who will be honored on April 20 for her work not only as a successful business leader but also as a dedicated. land preservationist. She will be honored by the Heritage Conservancy. a nonprofit land and historic preservation society. for her significant contributions to preserving yast swaths of pristine open space in Bucks County. Pennsylvania. My district. Mr. Speaker. is renowned for its landsqape as well as its his.tory. It is rumored that Oscar Hammerstein composed the lyrics to \"Oh What A Beautiful Morning\" for his musical \"Oklahoma\" while looking over the bucolic acreage of his farm in Bucks County. However. today. continued development threatens to uproot those same pastures and fields that inspired Hammersteins lyrics. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL FITZPATRICK","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1523,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090122465,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Kellogg. Brown&Root and others with friends in high places. Despite record high fuel prices. our country remains heavily dependent on foreign oil because of an energy policy that benefits the big oil interests. The Real Security plan rests on five pillars that my colleagues and I will introduce to you tonight. They are the creation of a 21stcentury military. a smart strategy to win the war on terror. a plan to secure the homeland. a plan to move forward in Iraq. and a proposal for achieving energy independence for America by 2020. Under Real Security. a Democratic Congress will rebuild a stateoftheart military by making needed investments in equipment and manpower so that we can project power to protect America wherever and whenever necessary. We have all heard thc stories of parents using their own money to purchase body armor for their own children serving in Iraq. I personally asked Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld about the shortage of body armor. about tTie lack of adequately armored vehicles. and the holdups in development of equipment to counter roadside bombs that have killed and maimed so many of our troops. Despite his assurances.. there are still problems and young Americans are still paying the price. Under Real Security. ","speaker_name":"ADAM SCHIFF","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11996,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090122468,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And Democrats stood strong ahd said we have to go based upon our information. But once our troops were in harms way. once they were sent and it was found out that they did not have the body armor and their Humvees did not- have the equipment to sustained theunderbellies for the improvised explosive devices. it was Democrats who provided the leadership. For example. because of Democratic efforts. the 2003 Iraqi supplemental budget included more funds for Humvees. body armor. and jammers to prevent the detonation of explosive devices. It was Democrats who offered amendments to shift $322 million from reconstruction for safety equipment for U.S. troops in Iraqi. It was Democratic Senator CHRIS DODD of Connecticut who led that fight. and to shift $4.6 million from Iraqi reconstruction for support and safety of our troops. including critical funding for repairing and replacing the critical equipment for combat in Iraq. That was Mr. OBEY. our ranking member on the Appropriations Committee that led that fight. Although both of those efforts were at the need. when they needed that armor. that is when Democrats stepped forward. It was Republicans who rejected those amendments. But we Democrats did succeed in requiring the Department of Defense to at least reimburse those servicemembers for the cost of their protective safety and health equipment that had to be purchased by them and their families. ","speaker_name":"ADAM SCHIFF","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6669,"word_count":229}
{"speech_id":1090122470,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Absolutely not. Our President. it brings chills to me when I remember what President Roosevelt said: \"We have nothing to fear but fear itself.\" to raise people. our people. to that level. Or President Kennedy saying: \"Ask not what your country can do for you. ask what you can do for your country.\"","speaker_name":"DAVID SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":298,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090122478,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman very much. for all his leadership in improving our Homeland Security. I would now like to turn to my colleague. DENNIS MOORE from Kansas. who does a tremendous job. He is one of the true leaders on a variety of issues. including energy selfsufficiency and energy independence. It is one of the pillars of our national security plan.","speaker_name":"ADAM SCHIFF","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":354,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090122480,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Port Everglades and the Port of Miami. and they both serve as a gateway to millions of tons of cargo and people every year. In 2005. in fact. almost 5.8 million tons of goods came into the United States through the Port of Miami. Nationally. though. only 6 percent of cargo is screened. That is a shocking statistic. That means that just in the Port of Miami alone. over 5.4 tons of goods were left uninspected before they entered our supply chain. That is just an unbelievably alarming statistic. The administration claims to have cargo security programs. such as the automated targeting system. that mitigate any threat. according to them. that the remaining 94 percent of cargo entering our country without physical inspection may pose. However. the Government Accountability Office. a third party validator. recently released a report showing shortfalls in these systems. Multiple deadlines have been missed. and key controls are still not in place to ensure the adequate implementation of such programs. These facts were true when the Bush administration approved the sale of operations at six major U.S. ports. including the Port of Miami. to the United Arab Emirates. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4750,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090122485,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to thank my colleagues this evening for all their comments -and their leadership. Over the next several weeks. we will be unveiling in greater detail each of the pillars of security: how we intend. as Democrats. to rebuild the 21stcentury military. how we intend to take the war on terror to Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. how we intend to beef up our homeland security and repair a lot of the broken pieces of our homeland security policy that make us continue to be vulnerable. how we will make 1Ihaq in 2006 a year of transition to full Iraqi sovereignty. and how. as","speaker_name":"ADAM SCHIFF","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":589,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090122492,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But Virginia that offer 42 programs. And I hopefully maybe over the next couple think that was one of the concerns in of weeks. maybe during this 2week re- 2003. was would companies step up. cess they will get religion. It is cer- would they offer this? And what we tainly a time for religion. And they have seen overwhelmingly is yes. comwill understand that it is time to stop panies have stood up. Companies have playing footsie with our seniors and created competition. They have remisleading them and trying to be part duced the price on the programs. of the solution and not part. of the Our seniors have not only a volproblem. Mr. Speaker. it is a pleasure at this untary program in this Medicare proAli Spake. i is a leaureat hisgram. if they choose to do exactly what time to introduce my colleague for her they oose t do eat hat remaksthegenlewoan romthethey are doing and do not want the proremarks. the gentlewoman from the Second District of Virginia (Mrs. gram that is entirely up. to them as Second. Dhisict reshVirginia yors.long. in my mind. that they know DRAKE). She is a freshman but you ~there are other options out there for would not know that. ","speaker_name":"TIM MURPHY","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4110,"word_count":209}
{"speech_id":1090122495,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Seniors are saving as a result. I encourage my colleagues. and I thank Dr. GINGREY for his leadership on this. to continue to educate seniors in their districts before this May 15 deadline so every senior has access to affordable drug coverage. and I would turn it back over to the distinguished doctor from Georgia to continue to talk about what kind of benefit seniors are getting and why it is important that we take the time to make sure they understand before the May 15 deadline.","speaker_name":"MARK KENNEDY","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3810,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090122496,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In other words. they had no coverage. and they had no bargaining power. Mr. Speaker. They simply went to the drugstore and they paid sticker price. youknow. like buying an automobile and not getting any discount because you did not know to ask for one. They had no clout. one individual and elderly. frail senior. and so they were paying sticker price. and that was the problem. That is why we knew that we had to do something. especially for the neediest. especially for those who literally were breaking pills. running out of medication. not going to the drugstore because they are embarrassed that they could not pay. It is an act of compassion on our part. really. for the neediest seniors especially. and pf course. now. the good news is that. and this next slide shows. a total of 27 million seniors now have coverage under Medicare Part D. I see that the gentlewoman from Virginia has been kind enough to stay with us. despite the lateness of the hour. and I want to yield a little time to her and maybe we can get engaged in a little bit of a colloquy in talking about the some of the things that we both notice in our district.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5213,"word_count":209}
{"speech_id":1090122499,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That is what is so important is that our seniors have choices. and you mentioned our veterans. I just wanted to finish up with them and let you finish up this evening and to remind our veterans that they are the only group of people that keep their veterans benefits and can purchase into Medicare Part D as well. So that.gives them the ability. if there are medications they need that are not covered by the VA. that they can be covered by Medicare Part D. So I want to make sure that they understand that since they are the only group that can have both. So certainly thank you again for letting me be here. Thank you for letting me talk about your mom and talking ApXFril 6. 2?006 about our veterans. and there are so My colleagues on the other side of many things to talk about with the the aisle came down to the well. Memprogram. I would like to encourage ev- ber after Member after Member. telling eryone. ifthere is a workshop in their members of AARP to tear up their area. to please attend because it is cards and throw them out the window. amazing the questions and the answers Thank God for AARP. and the much.better understanding and In fact. we had a press conference that you realize this is a good product today. Mr. Speaker. talking about the for seniors. ","speaker_name":"THELMA DRAKE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1411,"word_count":237}
{"speech_id":1090122506,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You asked why we were unable to vote on the budget. It is simple. Finally. finally. it obviously became clear to many of our Republican colleagues because we were all unified on the Democratic side. there was not going to be a single Democratic vote for this budget because we are not going to put a vote up for increasing the deficit or maintaining the deficit or increasing our national debt. We are not going to put a vote up on that board that makes drastic cuts in education or cuts in veterans health care. We are not going to put a vote up on that board that fails to protect the environment. This Republican budget would have done all of those things. I have been here 15 months. I am a freshmen. TlIs is my first year. I just completed my first year in Congress. and finally someone found a conscience on the other side of the aisle. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1030,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090122507,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think it is important that we continue to share this information. When we talk about thirdparty validators. this is not just something that we talk about over lunch and say that sounds good. No. this is from government offices and former Members of this Chamber and generals that are out there that are retired and some are still serving.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1272,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090122509,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This was letter one. December 29th of 2005. the Secretary came into the office days before the New Year and said please raise the debt limit because we are about to run out of mopey. February 16. he got a little nervous and said. Listen. the Federal retirement program. we are not going to be able to make the payments. This went to Mr. SPRATT. our ranking member. Again on the 6th of March. 2006. it is almost like we are having problems and we may not be able to pay the light bill. in so many words. Those were written by Secretary Snow. appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":596,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090122513,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think that we are starting to see. every single day in the news. and we dont need to bring up all the different topics. but every single day over the course of the last couple of years. we have seen the dismantling of the credibility of the Republican majority. The party that came in saying they were going to balance the budget. gone. Theparty that bame in and said they were in charge of real security in the United States. gone. Smuggling in nuclear material. The party that said that they were going to get the economy up and moving hasnt happened. All of the promises prewar. none have happened. None. The party that said America first. well. Mr. MEEK. yOU have the beautiful poster. beautiful in the sense that it illustrates the point of where this Republican Congress is borrowing their money from. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1704,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090122514,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. what I am going is do is just pepper in.. Mr. Speaker. the difference from what the Republican majority is proposing and ran out of town without voting on because it is a budget of shame versus what we have put forth as our budgets. And then Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ is going to share with us what the former Speaker. the first Republican Speaker in a number of years. when the Republicans took over the House. what he has to say about the Republican majority. But let me just. once again. you know. more of the same versus change. Okay? And the bottom line is. is this budget that we were supposed to vote on. either tomorrow or today. you let the majority tell it. is it fiscally responsible? Number 1. we have a chart. and this chart. Mr. Spehker. for the majority Members and also for the American people. will be on housedemocrats.gov website starting tomorrow. Is it fiscally respbnsible? No. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1483,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090122541,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It has already bedn suggested by the Republican leader that our time would follow the hour time that is allotted under the rule. a half hour on each side. and then I would speak. and then the distinguished Re.publican leader would end the debate. Is that appropriate?","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":267,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090122582,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. this is a historic moment in the Senate. These who are witnessing this debate may think it is just another debate on another bill. but it is not. This is a debate that has been in the brewingat least in the making. I should sayfor decades. Senator KENNEDY of Massachusetts has been speaking out about meaningful immigration reform for decades. It has eluded us. There are times when we have done temporary things of some value. but we have never come to grips with the fact that the immigration laws in America have broken down. We are in virtual chaos. Borders are out of control. employers are hiring people without adequate enforcement. and there are 11 million or 12 million amongst us who are in undocumented or illegal status. uncertain of their future. This is controversial. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5580,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090122608,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. over the past few weeks. the Senate has engaged in an important debate that is long overdue. Our current immigration system is broken and has been broken for many years. Although this problem is complex. the need for reform is clear. and I am pleased that the Senate is moving forward on the issue. We need to make comprehensive. responsible. and commonsense reforms that will stem the tide of illegal immigrants. will be fair to those who are here legally. and will deal realistically with the millions of illegal immigrants already here. I believe U.S. immigration policy should establish clear procedures for determining who can enter this country legally. And it must provide the tools for apprehending those who enter the United States illegally and to punish those who hire them at the same time. We must honor our traditions as both a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. enriched by the diversity of newcomers. The Senate Judiciary Committee worked hard to create a bipartisan package that would accomplish many of those goals. The bill before us today would strengthen security at our borders through advanced technology. increased border patrol. and heavier fines. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1742,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090122634,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is essential to our. national $ecurity that we make it our No. 1 priority. We need to keep a close eye on who the people are who are entering this country and the purpose they have for coming here. The only way to do thatr is to make sure our Border Patrol agents and other law enforcement officials responsible for stopping illegal immigrants have the resources they need. to protect our borders. Right now. our Border Patrol agents do not have enough funds to secure our borders effectively. Often. people have the ability to just walk across the unguarded border vitlout question. We need to provide the Border Patrol agents with the best resources. the most uptodate technology. and. most importantly. the manpower they need to successfully do their job. Just this past week. the FBI busted a smuggling ring organized by the terrorist group Hezbollah. They had some of their members cross the Mexican border to carry out possible terrorist attacks inside the United States. Securing our borders is no longer an option. it is a necessity. It is essential to securing our national safety. the safety of our citizens. and the safety of future American citizens. ","speaker_name":"JIM BUNNING","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4464,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090122650,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. -a little while agoI was not here. I was at a hearing of the Finance CommitteeI am inforred that the Senator from Colorado. Mr. ALLARD. came to the floor to attack my position on Iraq. which is fine by me. but also I think somewhat questionible with respect to the rules and the ethics of the Senate to attack me. personally about my motives with respect to a position I have taken. The Senator from Colorado stiggested that \"we see an individual who is being spun in thepolitical winds.\" Let me make it clear to the Senator from Colorado. and anybody else who wants to debate Iraq. that when it comes to issues of .war and peace and of young Americans dying. nobody spins me. period. I am not going to listen to the Senator from Colorado or anyone else question my \" motives when young Americans are dying on a daily basis or losing their limbs because Iraqi politicians wont form a government from an election that they held in December. That is inexcusable. Let me ask the Senator from Colorado: Is it OK by him that young Americans are dying right now while politicians in Baghdad are frittering away their time and squandering the opportunity our soldiers fought to give them? Does he think that is a plan that is working? Does he think that is serving the needs of the American military? Indeed. a year and a half ago or 2 years ako. I suggested. as did many. other people. that it would be inappropriate to set a timetable for American troops to withdraw because we had not had elections and because most people assumed what we were fightiig then was alQaida ana terrorists who were foreign terrorists. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10283,"word_count":293}
{"speech_id":1090122674,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So I object to the Senators request and suggest instead that we work with the inspector general to review this report and determine what can be appropriately released to the public. The4 PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.","speaker_name":"PAT ROBERTS","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1261,"word_count":37}
{"speech_id":1090122678,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. because we are going to work together cooperatively to turn this around in the next 30 days. I withadraw my unanimous consent request. at this time and express my appreciation to chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Sen-. ator ROBERTS.","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":260,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090122699,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. if I may echo the comments of the Senator from Arizona. had we followed a normal procedure in the Senate over the last week or 10 days. we would have probably had way more votes than Senators on this side of the aisle are requesting. A modest number of amendments. as Senator MCCAIN indicated. roughly 20 amendments. is an incredibly small number of amendments when you consider the magnitude of the bill that is before us and the length of time that it has been before us. We could have been to the end of the process if we had had the kind of procedure that is typically followed in this body. I am hoping that we can get to that point. I am optimistic that the meeting between the two leaders may produce an agreement to get started. We have a group of amendments that are the logical place to start. I hope before the evening is over. we will have an opportunity to lock those in and to move forward. as we do on every other piece of legislation that we handle in this body. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1012,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090122738,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Reserving the right to object. of course. Mr. President. until we have an agreement. as has been indicated. on what is going to happen postcloture. and we have talked about this. and a conferencethese things sound very procedural in nature. but they are important to what this body does. So I object.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":300,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090122742,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":20,"republican":0,"speech_text":"WA. He was from Long Beach. CA. PFC Javier Chavez. 19. died February 9 from wounds received as a result of an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations near Fallujah. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion. 5th Marine Regiment. 1st Marine Division. Camp Pendleton. CA. During Operation Iraqi Freedom. his unit was attached to the 2nd Marine Division.. He was from Cutler. CA. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8901,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090122753,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This victory represents several firsts: the first National Championship won by the Badger womens hockey team. the first NCAA Championship for any UW womens team since 1985. and the first Division I womens hockey title won by a school. outside the State of Minnesota. This accomplishment for the UW Madison Womens Hockey Team follows a record setting season in which the team recorded 36 wins. I am proud to recognize these studentathletes and coaching staffs for all of their. hard work and dedication. and I am pleased to have these two very deserving athletic teams represent our great state of Wisconsin.9","speaker_name":"HERBERT KOHL","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1527,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090122756,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As Ranking Member on the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee. I believe that this bill is an important step to reforming our antitrust laws and restoring competition to the oil and gas industry. All of us can agree that anticompetitive conduct leading to higher prices for gasoline and other energy products simply cannot be tolerated. It is essential that we -give our government the necessary tools to do.the job. and I am certain our bill is a long overdue measure to do just that. I urge my colleagues to support the Oil and Gas Industry Antitrust Act of","speaker_name":"HERBERT KOHL","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7125,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090122759,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. I further introduce the reauthorization for the Office of National Drug Control Policy Act of 2006. Senators HATCH. BIDEN. and GRASSLEY have worked with me on this issue. This is the office to establish our drug policy. Since 2001. according to the ONDCPthe Office of. National Drug Control Policythe combined use of illicit drugs by 8th. 10th. and 12th graders has decreased by some 19 percent. We have seen a serious problem with methamphetamine. This agency is very important to carry out the administrations policy to try to reduce drug usage. I ask unanimous consent that the full text of my prepared statement be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":658,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090122760,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I fully anticipate that the drought will interrupt municipal water service. Although early in the year. the Village of Ruidoso. New Mexico has contacted my office .seeking emergency Federal assistance to address looming water shortages. In addition. numerous New Mexico communities are under severe water restrictions. The current drought illustrates how perilously close we are coming to having serious and widespread water shortages and the need to make more efficient use of the water we do have. The competing demands of agriculture. industry. munibipalities and environmental needs have placed an enormous strain on available supplies of water. This is particularly true with respect to our interstate rivers that are governed by compacts. These interstate agreements require that a certain amount of water be delivered to downstream States. Meanwhile. enormous amounts of witer are lost because of antiquated water infrastructure. In many instances. relatively cheap water infrastructure upgrades can minimize water losses. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4820,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090122762,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. The Medicare prescription drug plan is a tremendous success with more than 27 million Medicare beneficiaries now enrolled in the program. Seniors are realizing significant decreases in the cost of their prescription drugs and the savings are even greater than expected. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and health care providers worked together to plan and implement this program. In particular. community pharmacists played an important role in making this benefit successful. Prior to the January 1 start of the program. pharmacists assisted their Medicare patients in the selection and enrollment process. This process was new and challenging. but pharmacists were diligent in serving their patients and providing muchneeded medications while the program became functional. We are introducing a bill today to assist pharmacists as they continue to serve their patients and as they help to continue the success of the Medicare drug benefit. This bill will allow pharmacists to achieve efficiencies in reimbursement for the products they have provided to new beneficiaries. ","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1619,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090122768,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"SARBANES (for himself.","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2239,"word_count":3}
{"speech_id":1090122772,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Thirty years ago Brazil was 80 percent dependent on foreign energy. They have reducedthat dependence to less than 10 percent. At the same time. our country has gone from 35percent dependence to now 60percent dependence. We have been going the wrong way. Brazil has demonstrated what can be done to dramatically reduce ones energy dependence. How did they do it? They did it by aggressive promotion of biodiesel. by aggressive promotion of ethanol. and by creating a fleet of flexible fuel vehicles. We could do that here. Brazilian officials are now jredicting they will be completely energy independent this yearthis year. We can use our abundant . domestic reserve of coal. to produce clean. clear fuel as part of a plan to reduce our dependence. in addition to the use of those renewables. * Coaltoliquid fuel technology has tremendous potential. Converting Americas 273 billion tons of coal into transportation fuel would result in the equivalent of over 500 billion barrels of oil. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8901,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090122774,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am delighted today to be presenting this BOLD Energy Act. I believe it is the direction we should take. I again ask my colleagues to give it their close consideration.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":800,"word_count":31}
{"speech_id":1090122779,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In. the unfortunate cirand cumstance that an air carrier disconme tinues service. those families should t in not have to foot an outrageous bill to ally get back home. a 10 In these times of unease and uncerhat tainty in the airline industry. we need .hat to make sure hardearned family vacathe tions dont -turn into unnecessarily costly expenditures. I look forward to eign working with my colleagues on a timeand ly passage of this important extension. air )art - By Mr. DURBIN: we S. 2573. A bill to amend the Higher not Education Act of 1965 to provide interWe est rate reductions. to authorize and appropriate amounts for the Federal chu- Pell Grant program. to allow for inschool consolidation. to provide the adant ministrative account for the Federal ssa- Direct Loan Program as a .mandatory rgy program. to strike the single holder rule. and for other purposes. to the ator Committee on Health. Education. 1. It Labor. and Pensions. is Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the .on- bill be printed in the RECORD. fore There being no objection. the text of on a the bill was ordered to be printed in zed. the RECORD. as follows: only S. 2573 re- Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Repuilt resentatives of the United States of America in aar- Congress assembled.","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2441,"word_count":229}
{"speech_id":1090122780,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We must also pass bark beetle legislation that gives communities and land managers the tools they need to protect property and lives. We must take action right now. As I am reminded by the reports of fires in Colorado just this past week: this summers fire season is already upon us. By Mr. SMITH (for himself and Mr. KERRY):","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5285,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090122800,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a markup on Thursday. April 6. 2006. at 10 a.m. in the Dirksen Senate Office Building Room L. Nominations Norman Randy Smith. to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit. Steven G. Bradbury. to be an Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel. Timothy Anthony Junker. to be United States Marshal for the Northern District of Iowa. II. ","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":682,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090122833,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution be agreed to. the. preamble be agreed to. the motion to reconsider be laid tipon the table. and that any statements relating to the concurrent resolution be printed in .the RECORD.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":250,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090122842,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Federal funding of museums through Museums help us connect to the past competitive grants administered bythe and envision the future. Today. we cel- Institute for Museum and Library ebrate their contribution to the vital- Services and the. National Science ity of our communities and our culture Foundation which are peer reviewed over the past 100 years. and grantees are held accountable and I urge my colleagues to support this must meet financial management reresolution. . quirements as well as other conditions.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1696,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090123016,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The negotiations got down to allowing 20 amendments20 amendmentson one of the most complicated bills that we will take up this year. We take up appropriations bills that have 70 amendments. We take up authorization bills that have 40 amendments. The negotiation was down to allowing 20 amendments. and we were not able to get the consent of the minority to take up 20 amendments to try to refine a bill that would allow the Senate to speak with an overwhelming majority. or at least to have all the voices heard so that we could start beginning to craft a bill that would help with an issue in our country of security and economics. Mr. President. I am very disappointed. I think we have missed an opportunity. I hope very much that. as we go home for a 2week break. we will think about how we can come together. come back here and not give up on having an immigration reform bill that secures our borders. that creates a guest worker program that will be productive for the participants and for the economy of our country. that will not displace American jobs but will welcome the immigrants who seek to come here. as we have done for over 200 years in our country on a regularized basis. I thank the chairman of the Armed Services Committee. ","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2896,"word_count":226}
{"speech_id":1090123018,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In addition. Mr. Smith was asked to overhaul certain aspects of the Iraqi media network. which he did. He was quite successful. such that they had a television channel that was launched on satellite. For those efforts. he was awarded by the Secretary of Defense a medal for exceptional public service. I have met with Mr. Smith on several occasions. I believe him to be highly qualified. and I fully support his nomination. At a full Armed Services Committee hearing on October 25. 2005. and later. at an Executive Session on December 13th. at which Mr. Smith was present. he was questioned about an Op Ed article he wrote that appeared in the Wall Street Journal on April 25. 2005. which I also attach. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2285,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090123028,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The other point is that Mr. Smith later went on to say: AlJazeera continues to broadcast because it reportedly receives $100 million a year from the government of Qatar. Without this subsidy it would be off the air. off the Internet and out of business. So. does Qatars funding of alJazeera constitute state sponsorship of terrorism? As long as alJazeera continues to practice in cahoots with terrorists while we are at war. should the U.S. Government maintain normal relations with Qatar? .... Should the U.S. not adopt a hardline position about doing business with Qatar as long as alJazeera is doing business with terrorists? All of these quotes are from the Wall Street Journal article. I think what he fails to recognize is that Qatar is a major base of American military operations in the region. I asked at the hearing if he seriously thinks we ought to break diplomatic relations to Qatar. The answer was rather unsatisfactory. sort of: I was just posing a question. But these are the kinds of provocative questions that suggest he doesnt have the judgment to do the job. ","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4401,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090123038,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What we do know is that his name appears in a number of relevant documents we have been able to obtain so far. Before the Senate proceeds to his nomination. the Defense Department should provide the documents they have previously denied. or resolve the matter in a satisfactory manner. and the inspector generals office should be allowed to complete its investigation of the activities of Under Secretary Feiths office. That investigation may shed additional light on Mr. Florys activities. It may show absolutely nothing about Mr. Florys activities. but we will have to await its conclusion to know. This is not a case of blocking Mr. Flory from occupying the office to which he has been nominated. I want to emphasize this for our colleagues: Mr. Flory has received a recess appointment. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11897,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090123062,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As Senator LEVIN pointed out. he was part of this team that developed this alternate intelligence viewalternate in the sense that it was inaccurate. grossly inaccurate. Now we propose to promote him. There are millions of Americans who are wondering who planned this operation in Iraq so poorly. And if they find out. it is not to give these individuals a promotion. There is real responsibility here and that is the other point I find very difficult to accept. No one seems to be accountable for palpable mistakes that have been made by the Department of Defense in the conduct of these operationsnot the Secretary of Defense. not the new Secretary of State. who was the National Security Advisorand now we are promoting someone who is deeply involved in the Feith operation that created the alternate intelligence view that was at dramatic odds with the intelligence community. with the suggestion that there were serious links between Saddam Hussein. alQaida. and other terrorist groups. I think on both these points we should not proceed to this nomination. We have to have the information necessary to do our jobs. If we do not. we are not doing our jobs. We are not doing our duty. ","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3232,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090123087,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. yesterday the American people received the shocking news that the Vice Presidents former chief of staff. Scooter Libby. may have acted on direct orders from President Bush when he leaked classified intelligence information to reporters. It is an understatement to say that this is a serious allegation with national security consequences. It directly contradicts previous statements made by the President. It continues a pattern of misleading America by this Bush White House. It raises somber and troubling questions about the Bush administrations candor with Congress and the American people. Today. I come to the floor to request answers on behalf of our troops. their families. and the American people. For years President Bush has denied knowing about conversations between his top aides and Washington reporters. conversations where his aides. like Scooter Libby. sought to justify the war in Iraq and discredit the White Houses critics by leaking national security secrets. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2124,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090123093,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the distinguished Senator from Oregon. who has just spoken. for what he has said. I shall read his speech carefully tonight. the Lord willing. the general theme of which I am in accordance with. His was a speech that had to be said and ought to be said. It was in his words. I might have made it with a change or two. But we are together. as we were when the Senator and I joined the immortal spirits of the 23 who on that day cast the most important vote that I have ever cast in my 48 years now in the U.S. Senate.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":539,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090123117,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to correct the record regarding conservation funding I secured last year under the Forest Legacy Program. During debate on the fiscal year 2006 Interior Appropriations Act. I worked with Senator OLYMPIA SNOWE to obtain $4.5 million to protect 37.000 acres of forested land in my home state of Maine. I was very pleased that these crucial resources were allocated for this section of the 100mile wilderness. which in addition to its natural beauty provides critical habitat to a variety of species. providing vital breeding. feeding. and resting grounds. The site of a longdeserted factory. Katahdin Ironworks. marks the gateway to this treasured expanse of wooded land. It was from this notable Piscataquis County landmark that project supporters generated the name \"Katahdin Ironworks Forest Legacy Program\" to refer to this effort to protect and preserve this stretch of forest. As the old adage goes. so much is in a name. ","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3143,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090123121,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I wish to take this opportunity to recognize the city of Eureka as it prepares to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the citys formation. The city of Eureka has a long history and often parallels Californias past. Founded during the time of the gold rush. it became an important port city for northern Californias logging and commercial fishing industries because of its proximity to a rich supply of natural resources. Eureka was incorporated on April 18. 1856. and was designated by the State legislature as the county seat for Humboldt County. On a more personal note. Eureka is an important part of my familys history. My mothers family left St. Petersburg during the Russian Revolution and traveled by cart through Siberia and boarded a boat finally landing in Eureka. Today. with a population of over 25.000. Eureka is a city on the move and the cultural center of the Californias north coast region. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1625,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090123122,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the American Society of International Law. ASIL. on its 100th anniversary celebrated on January 12. The ASIL was founded in 1906 as a nonprofit. nonpartisan association to advance the study of international law and encourage the establishment and maintenance of international relations on the basis of law and justice. A century later this organization continues to promote these goals by the publication of scholarly works in conjunction with providing policymakers and the public with outreach programs and research resources. The membership of the ASIL is derived from nearly 100 nations and includes attorneys. academics. judges. and representatives from foreign governments and nongovernmental organizations. Four thousand strong. the society strives to contribute to the understanding of international law and its role in foreign affairs. I would like to commend the ASIL for its 100 years of work in the field of international law and encourage the continuation of this course of thoughtful study..","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1074,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090123133,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But the problem under current law is that seniors cant continue using health savings accounts after turning 65 because they are penalized if they dont join Medicare. The first penalty is that once you join Medicare. you can no longer make taxfree contributions into HSAs. The second penalty is that if you dont join Medicare. you cant collect your Social Security benefits. The third penalty is that if you delay enrollment in Medicare to a later age. you have to pay more. So. of course. almost everyone joins Medicare when they turn 65 instead of using an HSA for their health care needs. At a time when health care costs are rising sharply. we need to move in the direction of giving Americans more options for getting health coverage at an affordable cost. Rather than forcing people into Medicare at age 65. the legislation that I am introducing today would make it easier for seniors to delay joining Medicare and to continue using health savings accounts. First. you could delay joining Medicare without losing the ability to make taxfree contributions into your HSA. Those who delay enrollment in Medicare would be eligible for a monthly voucher of up to $200 for an HSA. Second. you could delay joining Medicare without losing your Social Security benefits. ","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3277,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090123134,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"COBURN):","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3457,"word_count":1}
{"speech_id":1090123140,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am pleased to join my distinguished colleague from South Dakota. Mr. THUNE. in introducing the Alternative Energy Refueling System Act of 2006. I applaud his work in crafting this bill and I hope my colleagues will provide their full support and work towards its swift enactment. As members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. the Senator from South Dakota and I have worked to promote the expansion of alternative fuels production capacity in the United Statesmost notably with the enactment of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) included in last years Energy Policy Act of 2005. The RFS states that 7.5 billion gallons of ethanol must be phased into the 140billiongallon annual national gasoline pool during the next 6 years. Thats a bold step in reducing our reliance on foreign oil. but we cant just rely on greater production of alternative fuels if we also dont make sure those fuels are available at gas stations. We need to make sure that when American drivers want to \"fill er up\" with something other than petroleum. they can. Last year. I introduced S. 918. a bill to provide a tax credit for the cost of installing alternative fuel pumps. ","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4460,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090123143,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. Americans spend $30 billion annually on unconventional therapies. That is one of the reasons we established the National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine. NCCAM. at NIH in 1998. As more Americans look for alternative courses of treatment. we needed to provide a way to see what works and what does not. This bill is another step in that diredtion. This legislation simply provides patients the freedom to usewith strong consumer protectionsthe complementary and alternative therapies and treatments that have the potential to relieve pain and cure disease. And it provides a means to see what works and what does not. I thank Senator GRASSLEY for his continued leadership on this issue. and urge my colleagues to consider this bill. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5041,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090123238,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today we return to our legislative business following the Easter\/Passover adjournment. This afternoon. we will be in a period of morning business so that Senators can come to the floor to make statements. There will be no rollcall votes during todays session. Tomorrow we will begin work on the supplemental appropriations bill. Chairman COCHRAN will be managing that bill. and we encourage Senators who have amendments to contact Senator COCHRAN and the ranking member. We are now in a 5week legislative period. which we anticipate will be a busy stretch of work. We have a lot of important issues to address during this time. The majority leader will have more to say on the schedule tomorrow. Having said that. ","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":813,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090123246,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I spent the recess traveling in NevadaLas Vegas. North Las Vegas. Boulder City. Henderson. my hometown of Searchlight. and I also traveled to Pahrump. Reno. Fernley. Yerington. Fallon. and Hawthorne. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11247,"word_count":32}
{"speech_id":1090123252,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the same Bush administration that so tragically bungled the response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita has now bungled its way to $3 per gallon gasoline. Unless you were a hermit living in a cave last summer. you couldnt have missed how miserably the administration has failed in its approach to natural disasters. Now it is clear to anyone who fills up at a gas pump that this administration is also failing in its approach to energy. In both cases the administration had advanced notice that a major problem was imminent and in both cases the administration failed to take action to head off the problem before it became a major crisis for the American people. For Hurricane Katrina. disaster experts had testing that predicted in the spring what could happen. but the administration ignored the warnings of its own experts as major hurricanes were heading toward the gulf coast. If anything. the administrations failure to take action to prevent gas shortages and price spikes is even more indefensible because they had more advanced warning and greater certainty that the problem was coming. The Bush administration knew last summeralmost 9 months agothat gasoline shortages and price spikes would hit hard this spring. If ever there was a time to be watchful about oil markets. it has been during the past months as markets have gyrated virtually nonstop with one international crisis after another. Nigeria has lost a quarter of its output. ","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11834,"word_count":242}
{"speech_id":1090123264,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In the House of Representatives. the Republican whip. RoY BLUNT. is the principal sponsor. JIM COOPER. a Democrat from Nashville. is the principal Democratic sponsor. Representative COOPER says this bill is about keeping democracy fresh. It has had hearings in the Senate. It is scheduled for markup. It is a good. reasonable bill. It is making progress in the House. We are going to have to bring the growth of Medicaid spending under control over the next several years. We cannot ask State governments to do that unless we give them more authority over their own decisions. ","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2517,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090123269,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But as we have seen. it was not the last. As we know. if we ignore injustice. we are likely to see it repeated. In his justification for the Holocaust. Adolf Hitler said. \"Who. after all. speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?\" And today. we see ongoing atrocities in the Darfur region of Sudan. with innocent civilians being murdered. In the 108th Congress. I cosponsored a resolution declaring that the atrocities in Darfur constitute genocide. I am currently a cosponsor of a resolution calling the President to ensure that the foreign policy of the United States reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning issues related to human rights. ethnic cleansing. and genocide documented in the record of the United States relating to the Armenian genocide and the consequences of the failure to realize a just resolution. And I have signed onto a letter urging President Bush to honor the historic leadership of the United States in defending human rights and to properly characterize the atrocities against the Armenian people as genocide in his April 24th statement. Every year. we move closer to recognition of the Armenian genocide. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2798,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090123270,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"French. Russian. German. and Austrian Governments. both foes and allies of the Ottoman Empire. Today. as a cosponsor of S. Res. 320. I call on the President to ensure that the foreign policy of the United States reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning issues related to human rights. ethnic cleansing. and genocide documented in the record of the United States relating to the Armenian genocide. Armenian soldiers have supported Operation Iraqi Freedom as part of the Polishled multinational division in southcentral Iraq. Working as truck drivers. bomb detonators. and doctors. Armenia has not allowed others to be left helpless as they were nearly a century ago. The United States is proud to have Armenia as an ally in the rebuilding and reconstruction of Iraq. ","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2292,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090123271,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on behalf of my fellow Rhode Islanders. I wish to recognize the 2550th anniversary of the Buddha. the Khmer New Year. This cultural celebration highlights the rich heritage of Cambodian Americans. while recognizing contemporary Khmerian accomplishments. Ancient dance. music. and religious traditions of the Cambodian community are the focus of the holiday. The festivity. celebrated in the reprieve between the harvest and the weeks referred to as the \"rainy season.\" is an occasion for Cambodian Americans to pass their customs to future generations while simultaneously allowing all Cambodians to share their culture with other Americans. Traditionally. the anniversary of the Buddha affords Cambodians a chance to give thanks. reflect. and welcome the spirit Tevada Chhnam Thmey. Also. in accordance with tradition. scores of Cambodian Americans will gather with family and friends to visit the wat. the local spiritual center. to offer food to their clergymen. pray for ancestors. give charity to the less fortunate. forgive the misdeeds of others. and thank elders for their knowledge and care. The Khmerian New Year ceremonies and activities demonstrate that each year brings new opportunities for charity. peace. and happiness. As we commemorate this important time. let us reflect on our Nations continued efforts to promote universal human rights and democratic principles. ","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1687,"word_count":210}
{"speech_id":1090123284,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the chair would like to inform the Members of the Committee that the Committee will hold a hearing on Wednesday. April 26. 2006 at 10:30 a.m. in Russell 428A to address the reauthorization of Finance and Entrepreneurial Development programs administered by the Small Business Administration.","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":306,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090123313,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Republicans are supporting it. the Alaskans are supporting it. the Democrats are opposing it. We are not able to go offshore and take advantage of the tremendous reserves that are there. It is right down party lines. Right down party lines they stopped us from being able to have tax incentives to go after marginal production. I am from a State that has marginal production. There is a statistic that if we had all the marginal production flowing today that has been plugged in the last 10 years. it would be more than we are currently importing from Saudi Arabia. Lastly. in the area of nuclear energy. it goes right down party lines. I had a refinery bill that would have coupled with some of the closed military bases and said cities can use EDA grants to go in there and set up refineries and employ people and increase our refining capacity. and it was blocked right down party lines. So the Democrats are clearly responsible for these problems we have in trying to increase the productivity. increase the production that is potentially out there today. With that. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3755,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090123332,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That means drilling for oil in our country and trying to make sure we have conservation and alternative sources of energy. which is exactly what Congress has been trying to do. We have been held up in doing it. I. appreciate very much this opportunity. I am very pleased to work with my colleague. Senator CORNYN.","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":937,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090123375,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"After the State audit of the Central Iowa Employment and Training Consortium was released on March 31. I urged the U.S. Department of Labor inspector general to launch a thorough investigation. and that investigation is now in progress. In addition. Iowas State government is conducting a parallel investigation. I asked both the Federal and State investigators to report back to me with recommendations for preventing a repeat of the abuse that has occurred at CIETC. However. we can and should act now to fix the glaring problem here. which is the absence of any fixed ceiling on executive compensation in Workforce Investment Act programs. Again. my preference. and the way the amendment is structured. would be for each State to set their compensation level. In cases where States fail to act. my amendment would set a maximum executive salary level across the Nation at executive level 2. which would be $165.000 a year maximum. that is salary and bonuses. total compensation. As I said. that is equivalent to the Federal level 2 compensation. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7010,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090123468,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I rise to pay tribute to SSG Kevin P. Jessen of Paragould. AR. To those who knew him best. he was a loving husband and proud father whose life was filled with love and laughter. To his fellow soldiers serving on the battlefields of Iraq. he was a hero who. in the course of saving countless American and Iraqi lives. sacrificed his own. His lifelong interest in military history and explosives led him to a career as an explosive ordnance disposal technician. It came as no surprise to friends and family that the young Arkansan. who spent countless hours as a child playing with G.I. Joe toys and bottle rockets. would become a soldier. He joined the ROTC while in high school and upon graduation enlisted in the National Guard before ultimately joining the U.S. ","speaker_name":"BLANCHE LINCOLN","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3097,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090123477,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Joyce helped this committee run its investigation of the demise of the Enron Corporation. establish the 9\/11 Commission. and write legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security and the reorganization of our intelligence systemsamong the most significant reorganizations of Government in half a century. And in her final mission for the committee and the American people. Joyce helped shepherd our bipartisan investigation and report on the Governments failed response to Hurricane Katrina. Leading by example. Joyce helped assemble and retain a loyal staff whose work ethic and dedication have been tested time and time again with late nights on tight deadlines handling mighty challenges for the American people. They are the envy of the Senate. But this is all in Joyces nature. Shaking things up was just part of Joyces nature. To Joyce. the status quo was often a barrier to progress that must fall as the constant casualty of time as we advance the cause of making our Nation safer. fairer. and more just for each and every American. I am sorry to lose Joyces vast knowledge and expertise. and I will miss her sound advice. strict attention to every aspect of an issue. and most of all her faithful service to me through 17 years. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4476,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090123479,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Victor. Jr.. who is now a retired military officer. and a daughter. Edith. who currently lives in Platte City and works with Support Our Troops & Vets. He is the proud. grandfather of six grandchildren and greatgrandfather of four. and counts a military chaplain. two Army soldiers. a Guardsman. an attorney. and a social worker in his lineage. Nearing 90 years of age. Victor Fontanez is a proud member and example of our \"greatest generation.\" and - should be commended for his bravery in helping secure the freedoms we all enjoy. On this day. I encourage my colleagues to stand with me in praising the service of this true hero. Victor Fontanez.e","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3692,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090123485,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In addition. a company may not provide a recording device to. a customer that would allow him or her to create their own personalized music library that can be manipulated and maintained without paying a reproduction royalty. This does not mean such devices cannot be made or distributed. It simply means that the business must negotiate the payment for the music through the market rather than under the statutory license. The bill also contains language to make sure that consumers current recording habits are not inhibited. Therefore. any recording the consumer chooses to do manually will still be allowed. In addition. if the device allows the consumer to manipulate music by program. channel. or time period that would still be allowable under the statutory license. For example. if a listener chooses to automatically record a news station every morning at 9:00. a jazz station every afternoon at 2:00. a blues station every Friday at 3:00. and a. talk radio show every Saturday at 4:00. that would be allowable. In addition. that listener could then use their recording device to move these programs so that all programs of the same genre are back to bac]S. What a listener cannot do is set a recording device to find all the Frank Sinatra songs being played on the radioservice and only record those songs. By making these distinctions this bill supports new business models and technologies without harming the songwriters and performers in the process. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12291,"word_count":242}
{"speech_id":1090123488,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. as Congress comes back in session for a fiveweek work period. it is high time we put partisan bickering aside and take up real issues that will improve the lives of Americas hardworking families. Today. I rise to address one such problemthe growing shortage of quality child care for our countrys future generations. Over the past 50 years. the United States has witnessed a 43 percent increase in the number of dual-","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":432,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090123502,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management. Government Information. and International Security be authorized to meet on Tuesday. April 25. 2006. at 2:30 p.m.. for a field hearing regarding \"North Korea: Illicit Activity Funding the Regime.\"","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":290,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090123506,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent Mr. Les Spivey. Mr. B.G. Wright. Ms. Rachel Taylor. and Ms. Mary Catherine Fitzpatrick of the Committee on Appropriations be granted full floor access during the consideration of H.R. 4939. the fiscal year 2006 emergency supplemental appropriations bill.","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":293,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090123528,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. earlier today. this body voiced its support for a resolution commemorating the Holocaustthe ShoahNazi Germanys systematic effort to exterminate the Jewish people. For anybody who questions the existence of evil. the Nazi regimes deliberate murder of 6 million Jewish men. women. and children should settle all doubts. Today. people all over the world will mark Yom HaShoah. Holocaust Remembrance Day. At 10 oclock local time today in Israel. a loud siren sounded throughout the country. Motorists pulled thetr cars aside and office workers stepped away from their computers. Everyone in the nation paused for a moment of silence in commemoration of the Holocaust. Beginning with the Kristallnach Pogram on November 8 and 9. 1938. the Nazi government embarked on a systematic. deliberate campaign of coldblooded murder. Families were stripped of their. possessions and killing squads roamed the countryside. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2780,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090123530,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it stand in adjournment until 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday. April 26. I further ask that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate then proceed to a period for the transaction of morning business for up to 30 minutes. With the first 15 minutes under control of the Democratic leader or his designee. and the final 15 minutes under the control of the majority leader or his designee. further. following morning business. the Senate resume consideration of H.R. 4939. the emergency supplefMlental appropriations bill. and that with respect to the consent agreement regarding the rollcall votes at noon tomorrow. there be no intervening action or debate.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":867,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090123541,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. the countdown continues. If neither the Bush administration nor this Congress act within the next 20 days. seniors who have yet to sign up for the new prescription drug plan will be penalized with a Bush prescription drug tax that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. It is bad enough that the new prescription drug plan is so confusing and complicated that a vast majority of seniors have yet to sign up. but now. if seniors choose a drug plan after May 15. they will be penalized with a tax that will only make their prescription drug costs higher. The Bush administration refuses to extend the deadline. even though they have heard recent reports of seniors waiting on the phone as long as 30 minutes to get more information on these private drug plans. - If House Republicans do not join us in extending this unfair deadline. seniors will encounter at least a 7 percent Bush prescription drug tax that they will be forced to pay every month for the rest of their lives. As we check off another day on the calendar. House Republicans now only have another 20 more days to stand up and support Americas seniors. It is time Republicans do the right thing.","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1183,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090123548,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. anyone following the news knows that tension is growing in our relations with Iran. But as we consider our response to this situation. let us be clear about where the problem lies. The problem is with the radical new leadership of Iran. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. and his extremist regime. It is not with the good people of Iran. who have shown openness to freedom and moderation. Historically. Iran has been a center of culture and civilization. Millions of Iranians still value these things and seek a future with greater freedom and individual liberty. We must be reaching out to these people through diplomacy. persontoperson diplomacy and other ways to encourage their desire for freedom. The idea of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of a leader who calls the Holocaust a myth and openly says Israel should be wiped off the map is unthinkable and must be addressed. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1066,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090123549,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"My message to seniors is this: with Medicare part D. the D stands for delivers. The President and this Republicanled Congress have done just that. Take advantage of it.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1325,"word_count":29}
{"speech_id":1090123570,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Congress must formally approve the placement of memorials located in \"Area 1\" of the District of Columbia within 150 days of notification by the Secretary of the Interior. Area I comprises the central monument core along the National Mall. The Secretary of the Interior notified Congress on January 31. 2006. that the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission should be granted the authority to consider sites within Area 1 for the Eisenhower Memorial after concluding that former President Eisenhower is of \"preeminent historical and lasting significance to this Nation.\" Congress must approve this recommendationby July 2. 2006. for the planning and approval process to proceed. Senate Joint Resolution 28 does just that. I urge adoption of the resolution. Madam Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"RICK RENZI","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1334,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090123580,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I move .to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill to amend theIrrigation Project Contract Extension Act of 1998 to extend certain contracts between the Bureau of Reclamation and certain irrigation water contractors in the States of Wyoming and Nebraska.","speaker_name":"RICK RENZI","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":272,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090123606,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I -yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise with great pleasure and enthusiasm as one of the supporters of this legislation. Telephone Records and Privacy Protection Act of 2006. H.R. 4709. and I am pleased to acknowledge Mr. LAMAR SMITH and JOHN CONYERS as the original sponsors of this legislation. I thank the chairman for yielding me this time. and I add my applause to legislation that makes several important and noteworthy changes to current law. First and foremost. it establishes a new criminal offense against anyone who knowingly and intentionally obtains or attempts to obtain the confidential phone records of a third party through any one of the bills several enumerated schemes or devices to defraud. Penalties for violating this prohibition include a fine or a term of imprisonment of not more than 20 years. or both. Second. the bill establishes a new set of criminal penalties for anyone who knowingly and intentionally sells or purchases the confidential phone records of a third party without proper authorization or knowing that such records were obtained through fraud. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5958,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090123608,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It establishes a new section. 1039. in title 18 of the United States Code. that will provide explicit penalties for those who use fraud to obtain confidential phone records. Madam Speaker. the bill imposes a prison sentence of up to 10 years and a fine of up to $500.000 on any person who. in interstate commerce. sells. transfers. purchases or receives confidential phone records of a telephone company without the prior consent of the consumer. The bill includes enhanced penalties for cases where the information is used in furtherance of crimes of domestic violence or a threat to law enforcement officials or their families. We need to- pass. this bill to demonstrate that we take seriously the obligation to protect the confidentiality of consumer telephone records and to make clear to data thieves that their conduct will result in a felony conviction. This legislation supports crime victims. prosecutors. and companies and individuals who have been the targets of this fraud. A companion measure is expected to be introduced soon in the Senate. Madam Speaker. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.","speaker_name":"LAMAR SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2332,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090123627,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"People with CF produce abnormally thick. sticky mucus. which makes breathing very difficult. They find. as a result. they cough and they wheeze constantly and are at constant risk for lifethreatening lung infections. Approximately 30.000 children and adults in the United States have cystic fibrosis. but it affects far more than those 30.000 people. It affects all of the families and the loved ones of those people who are struggling with this horrible disease. It affects the moms who have to wake up at 5 a.m. so that they can pound on their childs chest before they go to work. It affects their siblings who have to wait with their sister while she goes to yet another doctors appointment. And it affects the dads who worry that their child will never grow up to have a normal life. This resolution is about supporting these families and providing therPi with the hope for a better future. Significant improvements have been made in the treatment of cystic fibrosis. A few decades ago many children with CF did not live past 10 years of age. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3520,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090123642,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. there are -many things in America that are purely American. It is my understanding that the Soap Box Derby races that we have is purely an American phenomenon that started here. Other countries may have adopted it. but it is wonderful to be a part of this legislation that makes it possible for young men and young women to broaden their minds and their scientific knowledge as they develop the skills of building the eventual vehicle that they will ride. hopefully to victory. Madam Speaker. I am delighted to support. along with Mr. HOYER. Mr. WOLF. ","speaker_name":"LINCOLN DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":677,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090123651,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill to authorize United States participation in. and appropriations for. the United States contribution to the first replenishment of the resources of the Enterprise for the Americas Multilateral Investment Fund.","speaker_name":"DEBORAH PRYCE","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":269,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090123690,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"When I said before the Iraq war that I believed the President would be willing to mislead us into the war if he believed misleading us was necessary to fulfill his plans. I was excoriated. but I was right. I do not characterize the Presidents motives. I assume he took us into war in Iraq because he sincerely believed it was the right thing to do. We know now that he was wrong about that. The world is less safe. The Iraqis are in turmoil. More Americans have died in the Presidents plan in Iraq than died in New York City and at the Pentagon. What the President did with our Iraq policy is being replicated with our Iran","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1524,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090123691,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So saying there were no weapons of mass destruction. when we have actually found 800 canisters in just the last few days. proves that that is not correct.","speaker_name":"DAN BURTON","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1132,"word_count":28}
{"speech_id":1090123700,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I just want to say that we are drilling for oil in Texas. California. Oklahoma. and Nebraska. How did the gentleman vote when we wanted to drill in the ANWR. which is 3.5 times the size of Texas? We could have gotten almost 2 million barrels of oil a day. and it would have helped these prices.","speaker_name":"DAN BURTON","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":307,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090123708,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There is so much for the American people to understand. Though it was 20 years ago. Chernobyl lives as it will for thousands of years to come.","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4505,"word_count":27}
{"speech_id":1090123737,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The table does not show budget authority dnd outlays for years after fiscal year 2006 because those years are not considered for enforcement of spending aggregates. The second table compares. by authorizing committee. the current levels of budget authority and outlays for discretionary action with the \"section 302(a)\" allocations made under H. Con. Res. 95 for fiscal year 2006 and fiscal years 2006 through 2010. \"Discretionary action\" refers to legislation enacted after the adoption of the budget resolution. This comparison is needed to enforce section 302( of the Budget Act. which creates a point of order against measures that would breach the section 302(a) discretionary action allocation of new budget authority for the committee that reported the measure. It is also needed to implement section 311(b). which exempts committees that comply with their allocations from the point of order under section 311(a). The third table compares the current levels of discretionary appropriations for fiscal year 2006 with the \"section 302(b)\" suballocations of discretionary budget authority and outlays among Appropriations subcommittees. The comparison is also needed to enforce section 302(f) of the Budget Act because the point of order under that section equally applies to measures that would breach the applicable section 302(b) suballocation as well as the 302(a) allocation. The fourth table gives the current level for 2007 of accounts identified for advance appropriations under section 401 of H. ","speaker_name":"JAMES NUSSLE","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2845,"word_count":229}
{"speech_id":1090123740,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But unless we work together. we really wont be able to get to the right solutions. As I mentioned. we have all been home for the past 2 weeks on our district work period. I have had an opportunity to meet with so many constituents across the Sixth District of Georgia. and I know that my colleagues have talked with their constituents and their friends and neighbors at home. Mr. Speaker. I will tell you that one of the most important issues that is now confronting us as a Nation is the issue of energy prices. gas prices at the pump. We have seen a significant increase over the past number of weeks and months. and I think it is important when we talk about this issue. especially to talk about truth. I thought I would begin just by sharing. everybody knows what the gas price is in their community. They range from. in my hometown it was $2.89 when I drove to the airport this morning for a gallon of gasoline. It goes down in some areas of the Nation to $2.40. $2.50. ","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6354,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090123741,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"who has been an incredible leader in our conference about so many areas. including the economy. She participated in small business. and just brings a wealth of experience and information to the table. I know that she has some thoughts to share with us tonight on the issue of energy and gas prices. I welcomeyou this evening.","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":325,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090123758,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank my good friend from Arkansas for yielding and my friend from Georgia for his remarks. If the gentleman from Arkansas would not mind. I might take that podium because of the easel next to it. because I brought a chart with me tonight.","speaker_name":"JIM COOPER","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":254,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090123760,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It was $494 billion. because I do not know anybody back home who supports our borrowing from Social Security in order to reduce the appearance of the size of the deficit. But here is the number that my colleague from Arkansas mentioned as well: This is using real accounting. accrual accounting. like all businesses of any size in America have to use by law. If you apply that to the U.S. Government. you get a shocking result. The budget deficit jumps $441 billion to $760 billion using modern accounting. And guess what. This deficit is not shrinking. as OMB claims. This one seems to be growing rapidly. And that number equals almost all domestic discretionary spending in America. defense and nondefense. That is a huge number. ","speaker_name":"JIM COOPER","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7264,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090123762,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I would say to the gentleman from Georgia. I could not agree with you more. The point we are making I believe this evening. I hope this evening. is as long as we have got this massive debt. which is costing us half a billion dollars a day in interest payments alone. as long as we continue to borrow $1 billion a day. increasing the $8.3 trillion debt by $1 billion a day. then Americas priorities will continue to go unmet. We talk about investing in alternative and renewable fuels. The Potlatch Corporation with their plant in Cypress Bend. Arkansas. in my congressional district. has been recognized for their efforts in publications including the Wall Street Journal. I believe. They have a plan. They have the ability to take the wood. if you will. the timber. if you will. that is left in the woods that is not used in a manufacturing process. combine that with what is left on the sawmill floor. and they can power at least five towns the size of my hometown of Preston. ","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3493,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090123776,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Democrat and Republican. Im sorry. Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":516,"word_count":8}
{"speech_id":1090123781,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"in 2002. if you went to your local gas station. you paid $1.39. The majority. in 2002. in this House of Representatives. Madam Speaker. was Republican. In 2003. Madam Speaker. the majority in this House was Republican. And if you examine that chart. there was about another 20cent plusup for a gallon of gas..","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":309,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090123803,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That was only the tip of the iceberg. because if you continue down the road. and remember. I just got here. and so we will get to 2005 in a minute. But it was 2005 that the $16 billion was granted that we have been talking about. But you go to 2003: $59 billion in profits. Also the same oil companies.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":302,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090123829,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But stop for a minute and just see what the values are. We hear a lot about values. Here we are providing a wealthy program for big oil. and at the same time we are not adequately funding the socalled LIHEAP program. which provides assistance to lowincome families. working families. so that they can get through the winter. so that they are not forced to make a decision between having food on the table and staying warm.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":422,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090123831,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The LIHEAP program has been around for some time now. and it has been a program that was introduced in a Democratic Congress. supported by Democratic presidents and adequately funded. Today. only 20 percent of those who are eligible based on income. who would qualify if the funding were available. only 20 percent of those receive that assistance.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":348,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090123835,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker? This is more than just public policy. I would suggest to you that doing that amounts to a violation of our moral code and moral responsibility as leaders in this country. That is what it is.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":853,"word_count":38}
{"speech_id":1090123841,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think it is important for us to understand. Madam Speaker. that time after time again. and I know we have another example. Republicans killed the amendment. Which one did I not share? Those are the two that were there. But they are continuing to kill these amendments. So. Madam Speaker. it is kind of mindboggling when we look up. open the local hometown paper. whatever it may be. it could be the one in Florida where I represent or it can be right here in the Beltway. to read that Republican leaders are thinking about going after folks as it relates to price gouging. Now. I am just going to give the Republican majority a little. They will say okay. that is not true. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3607,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090123982,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They want to blame the oil commodities traders for bidding up theprice of crude. They want to blame the Congress for allowing and perhaps encouraging these prices. Quite frankly. it is hard for us not to accept some of the blame. But what Americans dont want to accept is that these prices we are seeing are the result of nearly 20 years of incoherent energy policy. The reasons for the price increases are many. and we have heard the chairman discuss many of them. But the biggest goes back to the lessons we learned in high school economics about the law of supply and demand. Today the world consumes 80 million barrels of oil a day. The U.S. is responsible for a quarter of that. Right now. our oil producers collectively around the world have the ability to produce at most 81 million barrels daily. So the demand is bumping dangerously close to maximum current supply. and that demand for the oil is booming. ","speaker_name":"LISA MURKOWSKI","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4641,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090124011,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So as it stands today. the Gregg amendment is the responsible amendment. And the Senator. 1 am sure. will speak. as I have spoken earlier. on exactly what it does to help maintain our current infrastructure. The Reid amendment is the identical amendment. except it is a smokescreen. There is no way to pay for it. So as to the list of those on the Reid amendment. those votes will be a handy list of big spenders. which can be taken to your blog. which can be taken to your dinner table. And when somebody says: Who is it in Washington who keeps coming up with these good ideas but then never pays for it with real dollars. and so as a result we have runaway spending. then you will have a list of people who do that. This is not about the last 5 years. It is not about the next 5 years. It is about todays vote: the Gregg amendment. which is the border security paid for amendment. or the Reid amend ment. which is the same amendment not paid for. Thank you. ","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3566,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090124015,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There is some talk about a brazen smokescreen on the other side. I suggest the brazen smokescreen might be to first stand up and say we are going to have more border security but we are not going to pay for it. and then turn around 30 seconds later and claim to be the guardians of fiscal responsibility. You cant do that. That is a smokescreen. Another way to have a brazen smokescreen might be to stand up and make an impassioned speech and say: Lets spend $2 billion for border security without paying for it. knowing full well that many amendments that are not paid for then get lost somewhere in the process and never are passed. And then the American will people say: What happened over there in the Senate? I saw them say they were for border security. but the money never came through. The American people want us to maintain the border. pay for it. and do it. The Gregg amendment does it. The amendment offered by the distinguished Democratic leader does not.","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":968,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090124032,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I would never consider supporting any measure that threatened their safety. This is supposed to be an emergency funding bill. but there are billions of dollars of nonemergency items in the bloated defense portion of this bill that have nothing to do with protecting our troops and have no business in this supplementalitems that can be cut to pay for the real border security needs funded in both amendments. Some examples include the unrequested funding for V22 Ospreys and C17s and the clearly nonemergency Army modularity program. Our spending on our national security is also completely imbalanced. with almost all resources going to the Department of Defense and very little to other important national security priorities- such as border security and the U.S. Coast Guard. The Gregg amendment brings back some balance to our spending.","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1767,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090124066,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. earlier today. the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. Senator CHAMBLISS. and the ranking member.. Senator HARKIN of Iowa. held a very important hearing on the biofuels industry. I hope it will be the first and not the last because biofuels. specifically ethanol and biodiesel. are real. viable. hereandnow alternatives to. the everincreasing cost of gasoline and diesel fuels. We are in the midst of another price crisis for the gasoline. diesel. and oil upon which our citizens. our industries. and our lifestyles and our entire national economy depend. Most Americans want their fuel prices to be lower. but they do not want to change their fuels in order to make them so. People say. understandably: Solve our energy problems right now. but dont make us do anything differently. That is why I respectfully disagree with people who say: We do not have a national energy policy. We do. ","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9904,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090124080,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The American people. certainly the people of my great State. deserve better than inaction.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1035,"word_count":14}
{"speech_id":1090124113,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Yes. sir. In there is the area that is restricted because it is the largest training and testing area for\" the U.S. military in the world. It is. as declarel by the Pentagon. incompatible to have rigs where we are doing the testing and training of our U.S. military. I ask the Senator. who is a great supporter of the military. why did all pilot training for the FA22 come to Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City. and why. in the realignment. did all pilot training for the new F35 Joint Strike Fighter come to Eglin Air Force Base. and why did all of the U.S. Navy Atlantic fleet training come to northwest Florida after it was shut down?","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":640,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090124116,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the Senator for his comments. Before I yield the floor. whether it is the Senator from Florida or Idaho. the American people are saying to us: A foreign policy that allows China. to drill in our backyard is not a very good policy. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":257,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090124195,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I announce that the Senator from Delaware . the Senator from New Mexico . and the Senator from West Virginia are necessarily absent. I also announce that the Senator from Massachusetts is absent due to family illness. I further announce that. if present and voting. the Senator from Massachusetts would vote \"yea.\"","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":314,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090124251,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The appropriations and the money are already in the bill. This is very? important for the hardest hit communities. such as St. Bernard Parish. such as the city of New Orleans. because they have virtually no revenue for the foreseeable future. This is absolutely. necessary to help them get through these very difficult times for the next several months.","speaker_name":"DAVID VITTER","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1341,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090124270,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Louis Cardinals. I thank him for his service and wish him all the best.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2363,"word_count":14}
{"speech_id":1090124276,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. for the Committee on Armed Services I report favorably the - following nomination lists which were printed in the RECORDS on the dates indicated. and ask unanimous consent. to save the expense of reprinting on the Executive Calendar that these nominations lie at the Secretarys desk for the information of Senators.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":330,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090124283,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This Command is charged with planning for the active militarys response to federal emergencies. as well as coordinating the response with other federal agencies and civilian authorities. Any military response in the domestic United States will surely include the National Guard. in many cases with the State governor overseeing the effort. Currently. there are few if any senior Guard officers at the highest reaches of the Command. and the legislation would ensure expertise on the force exists there. There has been a lot of discussion already about this legislation after Senator BOND and I last month expressed our intention to pursue it. To clear up any confusion. let me say what this legislation does not do. This legislation does not affect the National Guards role as one of the primary military reserves to the Air Force and the Army. which we believe is beneficial for the country. It also does not inflate the size of Na* tional Guard headquarters here in Washington. We put a firm cap on the size of the Guard Bureau in this legislation. The legislation further does not create any new general office positions beyond the fourstar Joint Chiefs position. It only ensures that the adequate seats of representation is in place in key positions. in fact. the legislation actually removes a less influential Major General officer slot on the Joint Staff. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7028,"word_count":226}
{"speech_id":1090124287,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I submit the following notice in writing: In accordance with Rule V of the Standing Rules of the Senate. I hereby give notice in writing that it is my intention to move to suspend paragraph 4 of rule XVI for- the purpose of proposing to the bill H.R. 4939 the attached amendment. as follows: On page 253. between lines 19 and 20. insert the following: Subtitle AFuel Tax Holiday Rebate","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":400,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090124299,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Warner Music Group. New York. NY. Gary -Parsois. Chairman of the Board. XM Satellite Radio. Washington. DC. Mr. Bruce T. ","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":797,"word_count":20}
{"speech_id":1090124315,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate immediately proceed to executive session to censider the following nomination on todays Executive Calendar: Calendar No. 601. Patrick Schiltz. to be U.S. District Judge for the District of Minnesota: I further ask unanimous consent that the nomination be confirmed. the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. the President be immediately notified of the Senates action. and the Senate then return to legislative session.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":481,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090124339,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Now the General Accountability Office estimates that at a minimum. the Federal Government is going to .be out $20 billion. This is the biggest subsidy of them all. and given all of the litigation that has taken place. this subsidy could go up and up. Under the Energy bill signed into law last summer. the oil companies were given new subsidies in the form of reduced royalty fees for the oil and gas they extract from Federal land. including offshore drilling in th6 Gulf of Mexico. This particular new subsidy was signed into law when the companies were already reporting these extraordinary profits. We were already seeing the consumer taking a shellacking at the gas pump. It would have been the ideal time for the U.S. Congress to do what colleagues such as Congressman PoMBo in the other body are talking about. lawyers for the Shell Oil companies tell the newspapers. what I and others and a bipartisan group who have been interested in this have said for a long time: It doesnt pass the smell test to be dispensing billions and billions of dollars of royalty relief to the oil companies on top of everything else they already receive from the taxpayers wallet. So what I hope we will be able to do here is roll back this new subsidy. By the way. the program was useful back when prices were low. For example. it significantly helped in the Gulf of Mexico at a time when prices were low. ","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10430,"word_count":250}
{"speech_id":1090124351,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. this week the House Democracy Assistance Commission. led by Chairman David Dreier. is hosting . parliamentarians and staff from five emerging democracies. Last week. I welcomed the delegation from the Republic of Georgia. led by M.P. Nino Nakashidze. vice chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. The delegation toured the Midlands of South Carolina. visiting the State House. the University of South Carolina. top international businesses. Fort Jackson. the Lexington Rotary Club and the BatesburgLeesville Chamber of Commerce. coordinated by special assistants Walt Cartin and Jonathan Black. It is inspiring to meet fellow colleagues such as Georgias. whose country has evolved from a repressed Soviet Republic to a vibrant democracy. promoting freedom with troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Republic of Georgia is an appreciated new ally of America. participating in the greatest spread of democracy in the history of the world. In conclusion. God bless our troops. and we will never forget September 11.","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1029,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090124357,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I would like to take this opportunity to recognize Crime Victims Rights Week with my colleagues from the Congressional Victims Rights Caucus. Recently. the Judiciary Crime Subcommittee examined the issue of crime victims where we discovered that one violent crime occurs every 6 seconds in this country. one rape or sexual assault occurs every 2Y2 minutes. The issue of how crime victims are treated within the criminal justice system has been of paramount importance to myself and many of us throughout our tenure in Congress. I was the sponsor of the Crime Victims Rights constitutional amendment back in the 106th. 107th and 108th Congresses. That legislation would have given crime victims the right to be reasonably protected from the accused. to be heard at all court proceedings. to receive full and just compensation in the form of restitution and. most importantly. to be treated with fairness and dignity and respect. Unfortunately. despite numerous hearings and attempts by Senators KYL and FEINSTEIN. it was bipartisan. myself and others. we did not have the votes to pass a constitutional amendment. However. the Crime Victims Rights Act was included as title I of the Justice for All Act. We need to recognize and support all crime victims in this country. 0l 1015","speaker_name":"STEVE CHABOT","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1293,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090124360,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. back in 1948. President Truman dubbed the Republicanled House the \"DoNothing Congress.\" He came up with the name because the House barely ever met. Would you believe that as bad as the 1948 Congress was. the Republicanled Congress of 2006 is worse? So far this year we have only been in session 22 days. and we are only scheduled to hold votes on a total of 97. which is 11 days less than the \"DoNothing Congress\" of There is so much to do. gas prices and all the rest. but here in Washington the House Republicans seem content just to ignore our Nations problems. Maybe they are satisfied with the work they have already done on behalf of their special interests for the election. There is another thing this group has in common with the 1948 Republican \"Do Nothing Congress.\" Consider this comment from President Truman in 1948: \"Something happens to Republican leaders when they get control of the government. They have a hard time hearing what the ordinary people of the country are saying. but they have no trouble at all hearing what Wall Street wants.\" It is time for the 2006 Congress to do something about the problems of the people in this country.","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1173,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090124370,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. after months of scandal and years of deficit spending. millions of Americans fear that this Congress is fiscally and ethically bankrupt. This week. thanks to the bold lead6rship of Speaker DENNIS HASTERT. Congress will consider historic lobbying reform legislation that will bring new transparency to the relationship between lobbyists and lawmakers. and I applaud it. But as important as these changes are. we must also change the way we spend the peoples money here on the floor of this Chamber. And this legislation also includes commonsense reforms in earmark spending that will end an era of unaccountable porkbarrel spending in Congress. It is said that righteousness exalts a nation. and meaningful lobbying reform and earmark reform will lift the spirits of the American people demoralized by years of disappointment from Washington. D.C. I urge my colleagues to come together in the spirit of that high standard and this privileged service and support lobbying reform legislation.","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1004,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090124371,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. it is hard to believe that when President Bush took office in 2001. the average price of gasoline was $1.65. Since that time. on both the President and Congressional Republicans watch. gas prices have doubled. leaving everyday families squeezed to afford other necessities. Washington Republicans have had 5 years to develop a comprehensive energy proposal that would not only free America from reliance on Middle East oil. but would also crack down on price gouging and market manipulation. Instead. almost immediately after taking office. the Vice President began holding secret meetings with oil and gas company executives to create a specialinterest energy plan. The secret Bush administration energy plan was finally rubberstamped by the Republican Congress last year. Under this energy plan. oil companies got at least $20 billion in both tax breaks and royaltyfree drilling rights. while hardworking Americans got stuck with the bill. It is no wonder that their initials are GOP: Gas. Oil and Petroleum. Democrats refuse to do the dirty work of the special interests and are demanding that this Congress crack down on price gouging. It is time House Republicans join us in providing some real relief to the American consumer.","speaker_name":"BOB FILNER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":51.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1247,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090124372,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. in 1995 President Clinton. led by his environmental hardcore leftwing friends. vetoed drilling for oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve. Now. had he signed that bill in 1995. which had passed the Senate and the House. we would have A 20 percent higher supply in domestic oil. 1 million barrels of gas each day more than what we have in our current supply. How big is the wildlife reserve? It is the size of South Carolina. How big is the exploration area? About 2.000 acres. How many of the environmentalists and how many of the Democrats drove to town today in an SUV that makes 15 miles a gallon? We could use that supply. It is not the total answer. but it is part of the answer. And the Democrats always conveniently overlook that 10 years ago their President vetoed a bill that would have increased domestic gas supply today 20 percent. There are other solutions that we are continuing to work on. and I hope that we can get them to join us on them.","speaker_name":"JACK KINGSTON","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":976,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090124405,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I see the way we are dealing with Iran as just spreading a problem that we contributed to in the Middle East. Too many innocent lives are lost. innocent American lives. GIs that go over and are killed so needlessly. especially since we dont achieve the goal of bringing freedom and liberty and democracy to these countries. Interventionism endorses the principle that we have this authority to change regimes. We have been doing it for more than 50 years through activities of the CIA in a secret manner. and now. we are doing it in a much more open manner where we literally invade countries. We initiate the force. We start the war because we believe that we have a monopoly on goodness that we can spread and teach other people to understand and live with. There are too many unintended consequences. too much blowback. It comes back to harm us in the long run. At one time we were an ally of Saddam Hussein. ","speaker_name":"RONALD PAUL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4435,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090124439,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But this country. we are talking about Iran. is bent on the destruction of our ally Israel. bent on the destruction of our ally Israel and the interests of the United States in that region. This is a peaceful way to help resolve this issue. It will restrict access to reserves by the mullahs in Iran to pursue development of weapons of mass de\u0095struction and nuclear weapons. So. Madam Speaker. once again. I rise in strong support of this legislation. I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle see the wisdom of this legislation that is seen as well in the Senate. and the President understands the wisdom of this legislation and signs it into law. I yield the balance of my time to my friend. Mr. PENCE.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH CROWLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1127,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090124456,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I rise today in reluctant opposition to H.R. 282. the Iran sanction bill. If this bill was only about impost ing targeted sanctions against the Iranian regime. or companies and countries who invest in Iran. I could support it. In fact. I voted in favor of the original Iran sanctions bill when it was approved in 1996. and I voted to extend the bill when it came up for renewal in 2001. Unfortunately. the bill on the floor today does not just extend or expand sanctions against Iran and those doing business with that country. it also establishes a U.S. policy in favor of regime change in Iran. Therefore. I am extremely concerned that H.R. 282 is the first step in taking our country down the same misguided path that was taken with Iraq. The Iranian exile groups that would likely benefit from the provisions in this bill to support groups seeking regime change in Iran eerily echo Ahmad Ch.alabis Iraqi National Congress. ","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1746,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090124469,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. I am glad that the gentleman acknowledged in the beginning of his remarks that this is a bipartisan bill that enjoyed unanimous support coming out of committee. As we move forward on the other issues of contention. we certainly look forward to that debate. Madam Speaker. I am pleased to yield 5 minutes to one of this institutions experts on national security. a member of the Intelligence Committee. the distinguished gentlewoman from New Mexico . a graduate of one of Americas fine service academies.","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":576,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090124498,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Reclaiming my time. I think the gentleman. by his answer. has answered the question that clearly we have an Intelligence Committee specifically for the purpose of being our eyes and ears. because we do not empower every single Senator and every single House Member with every single detail of every activity going on in the intelligence community. and there are very strong reasons for that. So. clearly. that would not be the proper course of action. Under longstanding committee tradition. the chair and the ranking member of both Houses were brought into a different level of awareness on certain activities that were going on. Under Democratic and Republican control. that was the case. As a result of the terrorist surveillance program. the Senate created an entire new subcommittee to deal with the issue. and the House expanded access to that information to 11 Members. an unprecedented number of Members going beyond the historical. under the Democratic model. four Members who had been given access to those types of programs and activities.","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1050,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090124503,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. setting aside the fact that the amendment the gentlewoman refers to is not germane to this bill. I point out to the gentleWoman that the amendment that she refers to creates a commission that. A. already exists. and. B. the chair and vice chair have already been confirmed by the Senate. and the menbers have been appointed. Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to yield 22 minutes to another member of the House Intelligence Committee. the gentleman from Arizona .","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":467,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090124506,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank my friend on the Rules Committee. ranking member. for allowing me to interject in this discussion at this point. because I am stunned to hear now that there are people still defending the Presidents right to have illegal spying on Americans when actually we didnt know about it until the leaks occurred. He wasnt telling everybody regularly about it. What weare dealing with now is some spurious claims. And I 4m interested that the authorization for the use of military .force was supposed to allow domestic wiretapping on Americans. Ladies and gentlemen. we already have a couple of systems dealing with terrorism surveillance. One is called the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. There is plenty of room here for us to survey spying. If we want to take care of spying. let us do that. but we are talking about spying on Americans where there is no connection with foreign intelligence. No question about it at all. And so Sandra Day OConnor declared to that kind of an argument that in the case of combatants captured in the battlefield. it is clear that a state of war is not a blank check for the President when it comes to the rights of the Nations citizenS. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1351,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090124517,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may conMESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT sume. A message in writing from the Presi- Mr. Chairman. I first wish to andent of the United States was commu- nounce that. subsequent to reporting nicated to the House by Ms. Wanda the bill. the committee has modified cEvans. one of his secretaries. the classified annex to the bill with respect to the authorized level of funding for certain programs with bipartisan ELECTION OF MEMBER TO CER- agreement between myself and the TAIN STANDING COMMITTEE OF ranking member. THE HOUSE The classified annex containing the modified schedule. of authorizations is","speaker_name":"PETER HOEKSTRA","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":636,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090124525,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That means we are not to follow the headlines of the day. but the distinguished gentlemen from Alabama and I have worked very well together. I think. to try to find those strategic issues. focusing on them. That really make a difference in the long run. As the chairman mentioned. one of our areas of focus is to make sure that this new DNI office gets started on the right foot. isnot just another bureaucracy. but truly brings the intelligence community together so there is not the* duplication. not the stovepipes. not the gaps that we have seen in the past. And it is important for folks to know that we did not just pass a bill. the intelligence reform bill. and walk away from it. We are engaged day after day in trying to work with the administration and with the agencies to make sure that it is a success. This bill includes a requirement for a strategic planning process that is a part of that effort to make it a success. In addition to that. the oversight subcommittee has focusedon reducing unnecessary paperwork burdens. reports and studies that often require many manhours. many dollars to prepare. but then come to nothing. where no one up here reads them. Rather. we are trying to focus on information exchanges that matter. and particularly in the area of metrics. so that. for example. when we talk about Iran. we can quantify the quality differences. the quantity differences that come from sustained efforts in human and technical intelligence. I think this bill does help make the country safer. and I suggest that Members support it.","speaker_name":"MAC THORNBERRY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2393,"word_count":273}
{"speech_id":1090124533,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In the area of broad missions like ballistic missile technical collection. we require agencies to work together to come up with a comprehensive plan to gather the information needed and not duplicate programs. We require agencies to plan not only for a technical program. but for the life cycle of that program: the tasking. the processing. the exploitation and dissemination. the training- of personnel. and those kinds of efforts that have to be put in place. Thirdly. we know we have serious deficiencies insome technical programs in our technical architecture. There is one essential program that has not been successful. and the way forward is fraught with risk. We put the resources and authorize them in this bill to develop longterm comprehensive solutions to the technical architectures we need to keep this country safe. I ask my colleagues to support this legislation.","speaker_name":"HEATHER WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"F","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1645,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090124544,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Classified information should never be misused as a political weapon through selective declassification and leaking to attack opponents a particular point of view. No. I am not flogging a dead horse. I am talking about the principles that we are supposed to protect. Mr. Chairman. the bill also provides no meaningful protections for national security whistleblowers. Members of the national intelligence community can sometimes be discouraged or even intimidated from raising concerns within their agencies. Mr. Chairman. I recommend that we vote against this bill.","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3493,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090124548,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The administration appears to be on a path to dismantle this critical budgetary authority. piece by piece. The 2007 budget request of the resident moves significant resources and personnel permanently out of the management and control of the Director of National Intelligence. Most of those transfers move intelligence assets to the control of the Secretary of Defense and the Attorney General. We should keep in mind over the last 2 years the military intelligence program has grown by 25 percent while the national intelligence program has actually shrunk by almost 1 percent. Both press reports and the Quadrennial Defense Review evidence the Pentagons intention to expand special operations activities worldwide to engage in operations traditionally reserved for the Central Intelligence Agency and the State Department. In the committee I proposed an amendment that would protect the authorities of the Director of National Intelligence. at least pending a Federal review and some answers from the administration with respect to its intentions in this regard. That failed. but I understand that the Senate is believed to have this issue in its sights. under consideration. and I should hope it is for the purposes of being in line with my amendment. Allowing the Department of Defense to creep into the intelligence areas. especially when the result would be to avoid oversight. is problematical in the least. I have strong reservations about this bill. and I ask Members to consider these before they vote on this measure.","speaker_name":"JOHN TIERNEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3412,"word_count":243}
{"speech_id":1090124550,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The number of intelligence reports that our intelligence community was able to produce was cut in half. If you remember back during the Reagan administration when President Reagan had to rebuild our military. this is very much like how our history stands right now in trying to restore and rebuild our intelligence capability. There was a. time when our intelligence officers were hamstrung by the Deutsch guidelines. when poor management and a lack of urgency at the top did not allow our intelligence agents to function properly in the field. That has changed. This intelligence authorization bill allows us to gather more information globally at more locations than we had in the recent past. When famine strikes in Africa. when the saberrattling in Venezuela is conducted. when the narcoterrorists along the Mexican border begin control. this intelligence bill acts. I want to once again thank the chairman. As a Member from Arizona. we need the kind of increases that our agents are asking for. particularly on our Mexican border.","speaker_name":"RICK RENZI","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2108,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090124570,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. First. let me thank the chairman and the ranking member for allowing me to bring this amendment forward in the Rules Committee. One of the essential elements of government responsibility is to communicate effectively to the American people. especially in time of a potential terrorist attack or a natural disaster.","speaker_name":"VITO FOSSELLA","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":371,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090124571,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the last word. and rise insupport of the Fossella amendment. I think it is an excellent amendment. and I think the explanation by Mr. FOSSELLA was excellent. We had meltdowns. as he well describes. both in New York and Baltimore recently. I think local officials acted responsibly. The information they had showed direct threats to their municipalities. so they had no choice. We can improve this. We not only need to share information better horizontally. a point we have been making in this committee and one of the reasons we set up the Director of National Intelligence. but we need to share it better vert ically. ","speaker_name":"JANE HARMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":36.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1376,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090124603,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the chairman and once again assure him that we indeed do stand ready to work on refining this language so we get the information we need in the Congress but that we do not impose undue reporting requirements. Mr. Chairman. I yield 1 fninute to the gentlewoman from California . ranking member.","speaker_name":"DAVID PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":315,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090124611,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"For those who would call for an expeditious withdrawal. for those who would call for staying the course. for all those in between. this would be factbased information that I think would enrich our debate and further advance our constitutional responsibility of oversight. Mr. Chairman. I would respectfully urge adoption of the amendment. and I thank you for this opportunity to explain it. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"ROBERT ANDREWS","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3332,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090124646,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"FISA is working just fine. The more truthful answer would have been. no. because we dont feel bound by FISA. We feel we can do what -we choose to. what we feel we must. without consulting with Congress. So this bill says. importantly. that if the administration feels that existing law is not enough. it should come to us and ask for amendment. And. finally. it asks the administration to report to Congress on the extent to which Americans have been surveilled on American soil so we can do our job as a coequal branch of government. Mr. Speaker. I yield to my colleague. the ranking member from California.","speaker_name":"ADAM SCHIFF","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3944,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090124700,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I rise in support of the motion to instruct conferees. I wish to thank my colleague from Washington for yielding. and. more importantly. for his leadership on this important issue. Madam Speaker. President Bush reminded the American people last week that he is a decider. His decisions affecting our economy. gas prices in particular. decidedly favor the wealthiest of his base. Thanks to terribly misguided economic priorities. oil and gas CEOs get two tax breaks for the price of one. Subsidies worth $16.5 billion in the energy bill make it possible for oil and gas companies to lavish obscene compensation on their CEOs. who then. in turn. get to claim another break on capital gains and dividends. This belies both the need for permanent rate cuts and the industrys argument that market forces instead of price fixing are responsible for gas approaching $4 a gallon. Do not take my word for it. ","speaker_name":"TIMOTHY BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1704,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090124707,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Yes. we should pursue research into fuels that we can use other than oil and gas. but that is going to take time. We all know that. So in the meantime. we ought to be doing those things. but also encouraging an increase in the supply here in this country of oil and gas. We have tried to do that. This bill. as I stated earlier. would exacerbate the problem of supply. It would\" exacerbate the pressure on prices at the pump. A $4.3 billion tax increase on oil is not going to lower the price at the pump. If anything. it is going to increase prices at the pump when you raise taxes. on the supply. That is what this motion to instruct would have us do. $4.3 billion retroactive tax increase. This accounting provision that is the subject of this provision of the opposing party is used by every corporation that has inventory. not just the oil and gas industry. every corporation that has inventory in any industry uses this accounting system. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCCRERY","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6056,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090124725,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. today the Speaker of the House. Mr. HASTERT. announced that he will be bringing an energy package to the floor as soon as next week. As a member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. I must express my concerns that this legislation has not been reviewed. had a hearing. or even been seen by members of the committee with the proper jurisdiction. In fact. the contents of this legislation are not available to be reviewed by the American people. let alone my colleagues who will be required to vote on the bill. All that anyone knows about this bill that is supposed to be on the floor next week is a onepage press release the Speaker put out. Yet we will be forced to vote on this bill as soon as we get back next week. This sounds like the Vice Presidents secret energy task force. And what have we seen since then? The price of gas has almost doubled and the profits of the oil companies have almost tripled since those secret meetings in the White House that no one seems to know anything about. ","speaker_name":"BART STUPAK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2998,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090124734,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. when you become President and Vice President of the United States. but you have spent your life in the oil industry I &dkhSINA REfOs1 io&Als~suppog it isnt surprising that decisions that you might make when you are President and Vice President would result in your enriching yourself more from the industry in which you had spent your life. It may not be surprising that gasoline now in this country is well over $3 a gallon. and imported oil over $70 a barrel. twothirds of what we consume in making that gasoline coming from the most undemocratic places in the world. Saudi Arabia. Kuwait. Venezuela. Colombia. Nigeria. It is interesting. if you look at the President and the Vice President. the President spent his life in Midland. Texas. really drilling that community dry. and then he and his family founded the Zapata Oil Company and made relationships with oil companies in Mexico. The President that we have now had investments in Bahrain prior to his becoming President of the United States. ","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5951,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090124750,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And you sort of scratch your head and wonder who is it that he is listening to? Who is it that he is hearing? Because it is certainly not the average American. I am a mini van mom. as you heard me say here on this floor. I drive a mini van and I am schlepping my kids all over the place. soccer and baseball and dance class and all that stuff. and let me tell you it is no less than $50 to fill up my minivan every single time I need to fill up. And fuel economy is one thing and one could argue. okay. DEBBIE. you should drive a smaller car. you should do what you can. take some ownership and some accountability and try to consume less gas. But when you have three kids. I have twin almost 7yearolds and a 2-\/27yearold. There is only so small a vehicle that you can drive with all the stuff and getting your kids around and having to carpool and throw other kids in the car with you. I mean some of the external advice is just not doable. So when you need to drive a vehicle of a certain size. out of necessity. it is going to cost you $50.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1043,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090124753,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I have a suggestion. Now. let me share some Information with our colleagues here. We have heard a lot about this too. When they were trying to decide what they were going to do for the energy bills years ago in 2001. the Vice President was having meetings that no one knew about. and he was having them with the oil executives. which should not surprise anybody. figuring out that the President and the Vice President both came out of the oil industry. So what has recently happened is that a White House document came out that showed that executives. and this is a thirdparty validator. this is the Washingtonpost.com. a great newspaper here in town. The White House document shows that executives from big oil companies met with the Vice Presidents energy task force in 2001. something long suspected by environmentalists but denied as recently as last week by industry officials. Now. here is what the document says. \"just so we can get into it. Because this sounds just like Katrina. this sounds just like the war. this sounds just like the Medicare bill. this sounds just like every piece of legislation that has come out of this Congress that the President has pushed. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4182,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090124785,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have all heard that to a faretheewell. Hopefully. our colleagues will now get on board with us and realize that this is a good bill that is saving money. as MELISSA HART indicated. It is not averaging $40 a month. it is averaging $25 a month. or. in some cases. even less. And there are options. of course. the first option being you do not have to sign up for it if you do not want to or if you have: something better. But it has been a godsend for so many. And I thank you so much for being with us tonight. Representative HART.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3587,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090124796,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. Contract on America. because that is what it turned out to be. And that we would have Republican and Democratic Statessuing. And I am talking about Republican and Democratic Governors suing the Federal Government because Leave No Child Left Behind is so underfunded. and that we would have individuals running around here saying. what* do you mean we do not have a plan? What do you mean you do not want to talk about how we should take the training wheels off the Iraqi Government and share with them that we cannot be there forever?","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":540,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090124798,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"House. calling his former colleagues and the. people that he worked with. and his office is right down the hall. they. Because if Newt Gingrich is saying that this Republican Congress cannot function. cannot run the country like it is supposed to be run. cannot oversee the finances. cannot make sure that Americans have health care and small businesses are able to provide health care. cannot give guidance and oversight to the Department of Defense and Secretary Rumsfeld. cannot make sure that we let oil companies know that we are here to represent the American people and not their special interests. not their profits. and not their CEOs that will retire to a pension making .$150.000 a day. not because they are that great. it is because we have taken the taxpayers money and we have given it to them. And now we have Republican leaders saying. well. maybe we need to take the tax cuts back you just gave them. And then you read something else. No. we should not take that tax cuts back because. guess what. the oil companies have representation in the Republican majority. period. As I said last night. a black man with a conspiracy theory. But. Mr. RYAN. I believe. and I know. and it is documented that the Vide President and others sat down vith these oil companies and put this in motion long ago. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8573,"word_count":232}
{"speech_id":1090124803,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I would say. wow. do you mean to tell me not only do we have to work with the fact that Americans do not have health care. small businesses cannot afford to buy health care. we owe foreign countries money that we have never owed them before in the history of the country? We dont have a plan in Iraq as it relates to aleavealone coalition in Iraq? We have troops dying every day. Do you mean States that are red States and blue States are suing us at the same time for the underfunding and the mandates that we put on them of Leave No Child Left Behind Act. You mean White House individuals are outing CIA agents that might. some of this outing might have gone as high as the highest office of the land maybe? Do you mean to tell me that individuals. contractors. have nobid contracts in war and in natural disasters. without accountability. and American taxpayer dollars are being spent without anyone having any real concern on the Republican side?","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1394,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090124814,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They cant focus. Get this country on the right track. Lets focus and lets get the country moving in the right direction.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":829,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090124823,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We will leave quality and access discussions to other days. And I might add that I trust the American medical system to provide us with the quality that we have come to expect.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BURGESS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5568,"word_count":33}
{"speech_id":1090124919,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I think it may have been the last time they met. but the fact is they came together to form this commission which is designed to build on the fact that there are so many emerging democracies all over the world. We right now are hosting delegations from Macedonia. the Republic of Georgia. Indonesia and the newbst country on the face of the Earth that was established in 1999. East Timor. The idea behind this. of course. as so many of you know. was to create over and above the National Endowment for Democracy and the Democratic Institute and the Republican institute. it was to build direct parliamenttoparliament relationships with these new democracies. Now. I often quip that after they see us in operation. they may want to go back to totalitarianism in their countries. but frankly many have been able to benefit greatly from having spent last week in the States. in congressional districts. in congressional offices. meeting with chambers of commerce. the media. a wide range of other groups and this week here in Washington. At noon today. we are having our farewell gathering for these parliamentarians and we are also going to beexpanding this into a number of other countries. I am going to be going to Kenya and Liberia and Lebanon. Obviously. we are going to focus on Afghanistan and Iraq. ","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2543,"word_count":225}
{"speech_id":1090124940,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But remember. in December. once we get past November. The travel ban expires. and Ill meet you at the tees. Yours forever. cause I cant quit you. The Republican Congress. _ SIMPLE QUESTION taxpayer be given full value for the bil-","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":776,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090124942,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. there is no small amount of irony that Republicans are now rushing to investigate high gas prices and professing themselves to be on the side of the consumer. What is important is not what they have said in the last couple of days. but what they have done for the entire time they have been in power here in Washington. D.C. It is outrageous that the same people who are .now decrying high gas prices were lavishing billions of. dollars in subsidies on the same oil industry a few months ago. despite already bloated profits. In the 1990s the Republicans even passed legislation that forbade the Department of Transportation to even study higher fuel efficiency. something that would significantly reduce demand today. And they have expressed no outrage that the American taxpayer is being cheated out of fair payment for the oil and gas that is being taken from public lands by these same large companies. There are real solutions. Invest in conservation. the only way to reduce immediate dependence on expensive foreign oil now. Shift the billions of dollars in oil and gas companies to renewable and alternative energy sources. and insist that the American simply hand Texas back to Mexico. ","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1430,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090124943,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Republicans only have 18 days to make the right decision:","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1122,"word_count":10}
{"speech_id":1090124946,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to urge our government to start enforcing our immigration laws dealing with alien smuggling. It is a felony. punishable by a minimum of 3 years in prison. to bring an alien into the United States for financial gain. These alien smugglers. also called \"coyotes.\" get approximately $1.500 per illegal immigrant smuggled into the U.S. On my recent trip to the Mexico border. Border Patrol agents in California told me they have arrested the same coyotes 20 times. but they are not prosecuted. The pathetic failure of the U.S. attorney in San Diego to prosecute alien snougglprs who have been arrested 20 times is a demoralizing slap in the face to Border Patrol agents who risk their lives every day. This U.S. attorney has. however. recently prosecuted someone for selling a Mark McGwire baseball card with a forged signature. Here is a tip: Stop worrying about baseball cards and start worrying about our national security and enforcing our immigration laws.","speaker_name":"RIC KELLER","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":983,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090125006,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Reclaiming my time. I woufd like to say. Mr. Speaker. that it is all well and good to talk about we are going to work very hard to fix the Ethics Committee. but we are in the 16th month of this term. and I dont see much action taking place over there. I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Connecticut .","speaker_name":"LOUISE SLAUGHTER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":305,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090125007,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I happen to believe we are losing our moral authority to lead this place. It has been over a decade since my party took over the majority. and I feel like we have forgotten how we got here. Republicans were united on three common issues. and one of them was reformingCongress. It was amazing after the 2004 election we considered repealing the rule requiring a Republican leader to step down if indicted. Next we proceeded to .remove the members of our Ethics Committee who had voted to hold- our former majority leader accountable for his actions. Then we proceeded to make it more difficult to initiate an Ethics Committee investigation. I think there is a tendency for power to corrupt. and absolute power to corrupt absolutely. We need bold action. and we need bold reform. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SHAYS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2845,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090125011,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Congressional Research Service in a memorandum cited these as bad because they furnish the strongest incentive to the exertion of corrupting and sinister influences to the end that the desired legislation may be secured.and there is a long line of cases in which it April 27. 2.006 is utterly void against public policy. The CRS memo cites Oliver Wendell Holmes in 1906. saying that it is the tendency in such contracts to provide incentives towards corruption. An 1853 Supreme Court case said that it is an undoubted principle of the common law. that it will not lend its aid to enforce a contract such as this to do an act which is inconsistent with sound morals or public policy or which tends to corrupt or contaminate. Mr. Speaker. these kinds of contracts are illegal in 39 States because of their corrupting influence. If we are going to have a bill that suggests it is going to do something about corruption. what is wrong with at least studying the prevalence of these contracts which do not appear to beillegal in the Federal Government but everybody knows have a corrupting influence? I would hope that we would defeat the rule so that my amendment. which was adopted in the Judiciary Committee. can be reinserted back into the bill.","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1932,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090125015,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I will be blunt. Washington is mired in corruption. In this last year alone. the Vice Presidents Chief of Staff was indicted for obstructing justice. Two of the former majority leaders top aides have pled guilty to bribery and conspiracy. And a senior Republican Member of Congress was convicted of accepting over $1 million in bribes from military contractors. Yet this socalled reform legislation. this incrementalism that we should accept. is a complete and utter sham. In my committee. the Committee on Governmen.t Reform. we worked hard to pass true reform legislation of the executive branch. and on a unanimous bipartisan vote of 320. we reported legislation that would have closed the revolving door between K Street and the Federal Government. Our bill would stop lobbyists like the former Deputy Interior Secretary from using a highranking government position to benefit energy industry clients. ","speaker_name":"HENRY WAXMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2164,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090125026,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this bill does include many important provisions. and I am thankful for that. but I feel that we have not gone quite far enough in terms of stopping the revolving door from public service to K Street. It does not extend the current 1year ban on Members becoming registered lobbyists. To fix the problems caused by competing public and personal interests. we must close the revolving door between Congress and lobbying. That is why I introduced H.R. 4685. to permanently ban Members from taking jobs as registered lobbyists: We must make sure there is not the temptation for Members of Congress. Mr. Speaker. I applaud the things that are in the bill. I hope that we can continue to work on this further in the future.","speaker_name":"MARK KENNEDY","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":730,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090125041,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This bill is a missed opportunity. a missed opportunity. As House Democratic Leader. I would have hoped that we could have worked together with the leadership of this House of Representatives to put forth something that truly threw up the windows and pulled back the shades to let in the fresh air. But that didnt happen becauseof this ruse.","speaker_name":"NANCY PELOSI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1654,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090125051,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Democratic Substitute. which was also denied a fair hearing last night. recognized the need to take a comprehensive approach to lobbying and ethics reform. At each step in the process. our attempts at genuine. bipartisan reform vere turned away. So what did we get instead? Its no surprise: a bill that could serve as a case study in everything that is broken in our legislative processof everything we should be \"reforming.\" We get a socalled \"Lobbying Accountability and Transparency Act\" that offers neither accountability nor real transparency. We get a minority partyand many Members of the majority--completely shut out of the process once again. their amendments denied. .their advice and concems unheeded. We get a restrictive rule that makes in order just nine out of the 74 amendments offeredand only one sponsored by a Democrat without a Republican cosponsorand allows for only one hour of debate on what should be one of the most significant bills we consider all year. This leadership had a real chance to enact real reform. not for the sake of an aggrieved minority . . . not forthe sake of electionyear politics . . . but for the sake of our institution. for its integrity and its capacity to govern. Instead. they seem to think they can convince the American people thattheyre cleaning up our House. when all theyre doing is sweeping our problems under the rug. Well Mr. Speaker. the American people. will not be so easily fooled. And I assure you that those of us in this body who want real. comprehensive reform will not rest until we have successfully enacted such a measure. ","speaker_name":"DAVID PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3582,"word_count":272}
{"speech_id":1090125083,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I appreciate my friend yielding. The gentleman has been involved in a number of conferences himself over his long and distinguished career..here in the House. And you realize that at some point. getting the basic framework or at least some beginning framework together amongst the principals. the committee Chairs. is essential before bringing other Members into this. The chairman of the conference. Senator ENzI. and I have talked about this on several occasions. and -I am very confident that you. all Members will have an opportunity to participate because it has been clear. as it isin all conferences that I am in. that nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to. And so the gentleman should have no fears.","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":720,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090125144,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise tonight to. first of all. commend the work of a gentleman from whom we will be hearing shortly. the gentleman from Utah. for his efforts to come to thd floor on a regular basis to lead the charge of the Constitutional Caucus to return the focus of this House and also the American public on what our Founding Fathers intended. and that is the basis of this country. the U.S. Constitution. and also to rise to commend the work of a Member from Texas who \"has just previously spoken on his efforts. toward that goal and his aim on his legislation that he spoke to previously just a few moments ago on setting up a S unset Commission in order to try to rein in this evergrowing government that we have today. We know thisgovernment has been growing over recent years. If we can go back to 1925 when thenPresident Calvin Coolidge said then. when the government was as small as it was at that point in time. he said. quote. government is growing. quote. to encumber the national government beyond its wisdom to comprehend or its ability to reach alternatives and to adv5cate for the people. end quote. Even then in 1925. Calvin Coolidge realized the government had far exceeded the merits the Founding Fathers intended for this country. Today we see it as well. Today. of course. we have official reports to confirm the same thing. ","speaker_name":"SCOTT GARRETT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5740,"word_count":242}
{"speech_id":1090125160,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have got to start sending them to Middle Western farmers rather -than Middle Eastern sheiks. in this regard. Because of that $3plus. one of my staffers paid $3.35 this morning. that $3.35 gallon. a good part of that goes to the CEO of Exxon. who just walked away with $400 million in a bonus package. and the rest. a lot. goes to the Middle East to arm our enemies. And we know that many of those regimes have been playing footsie with al Qaeda and various other groups. We know that our money we are spending is going to arm our enemfies. and so we believe what we need in this country is an energy independence program that is not just rhetorical. but is real. And I was pleased to have the President give us some rhetoric during his State of the Union speech. He said. we have an addiction to oil: Well. welcome to the land of recognition. Mr. President. We have been waiting 6 years. but. nevertheless. it is good to hear the rhetoric. But the problem is we are not seeing the reality. ","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5893,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090125161,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We are so much farther along on this goal technologically. A lot of these technologies are already in existence. It is a question of making sure that they are made better and that they are made much more .use of. would be a large part of the solution. It is not that we can imagine these technologies. they are out there. many of them. It is just the lack of will and the lack of leadership. and it is having a crippling effect on our economy now with gas prices at the pump. on our foreign policy. and I just want to thank you againfor your tremendous leadership on this issue.","speaker_name":"ADAM SCHIFF","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3990,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090125168,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If I can add one thing. before you do. and that is one of the things* that really concerns me. and here again is the failure of us in this body to do the oversight we should. to have the majority support that oversight. and that is have we moved as quickly as we can. as quickly as this .great Nation can to provide the techfnology to defend against these improvised explosive devices that have taken so many Americans lives? I think the answer is. no. we have not done all we can. We have not moved as fast as we could. I know certainly in Congress. when these questions. have come up. we havent gotten thQ answers. I think. to go home to our constituents and say every rock is being turned over. every effort is being made. every resource is being expended to make sure we are protected against the IEDs. I think there is more we could be doing. And the L.A. Times had an analysis recently of a promising new technology and the frustration of those that have been working on this program. about how difficult it is to get that technology actually out into the field. That is inexcusable. If there is promising technology. it needs to be fasttracked. and it needs to be put to immediate use. The fact that we would lose a single life because of the failure of the richest Nation on Earth to provide the body armor. the uparmored vehicles. or the technology to defeat the IEDs is just inexcusable.","speaker_name":"ADAM SCHIFF","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1397,"word_count":260}
{"speech_id":1090125186,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"What a privilege for Dr. Wade and me this morning to have a few moments with our highly esteemed colleague. the senior Senator from West Virginia. Mr. BYRD. I thank my colleagues and I thank Senator LAUTENBERG and Mr. Maxwell of his staff. who worked to make this memorable occasion for so many possible today. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1493,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090125207,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. I ask unanimous consent to speak on my amendment. which is the pending business. after the Senator from- Pennsylvania Offers his amendment. which I am told is going to take around 5 minutes or thereabouts. I propound a unanimous consent request we go back to my pending amendment and I be recognized next to speak on it.after the Senator from Pennsylvania has had a chance to offer his amendment and speak for about 5 minutes.","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":443,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090125211,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. this is an amendment to add $25 million to the money. that the President requested for prodemocracy efforts for Iran within the IraqAfghanistan supplemental. It is vitally important to understand how important this effort is in the face of what we are dealing with in Iran today. We have heard lots of talk in the press about military options. given the potential nuclear threat from Iran. This is not a military option. this is a diplomatic option. It is a vitally important option. It is an option that says we in the United States are going to step for.ward and provide funding. a robust level of funding. for efforts through telecommunications as well as by seeding prodemocracy movements within Iran to effect change within the country of Iran so they do not move forward with this technology. do not move forward and continue to support terrorism. do not move forward and continue to be a disruptive force in Iraq. do not move forward and cbntinue to be a disruptive force in the world. by having a more prodemocratic regime in this country. What this amendment does is add $12.5 million for the Broadcasting Board of Governorsagain. for public diplomacy in Iranas well as $12.5 million for the Iran Democracy Fund. It is a total of $25 million in additionto the 75 iij the bill. We also authorize using the language from the Iran freedom and support bill. This is a bill that has strong bipartisan support. close to 60 cosponsors. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3437,"word_count":252}
{"speech_id":1090125233,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is what happened during the energy legislation where in the dead of night. not only wis the program preserved. the program was sweetened at a time when the President says you cannot make the case for these kinds of subsidies. We will continue with this discussion. My door. as always. remains open to colleagues. I would like to think I was bipartisan before it became fashionable to be bipartisan. I note that Senator KYL is a cosponsor of the legislation. Senator LIEBERMAN has joined on as a cosponsor of the legislation. I remain anxious to work with Senators to get this worked out. We have been talking a lot about lobbyists. We have had a lobbying reform bill and the Senate has acted. It was not. all I wished it were. but at least it was a beginning. ","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6597,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090125236,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my friend from Oregon for yielding for this question. I appreciate what my friend brings to this issue in trying to make sure we are dealihg with the budgetary situation that faces our Nation in a straightforward manner. I appreciate his advocacy here this morning. My question to my friend from Oregon is whether he would be willing to yield time for me to simply offer an amendment that I could do at this .point in time.","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":446,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090125240,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. to my friend fromOregon. I ask if he would object to a unanimous consent request on my part to offer an amendment concerning a fire emergency disaster we are facing across our Nation in the Westsomething that also affects the State of Oregonand to agree not to object to my unanimous consent request to offer this amendment and to speak to this amendment for a period of no more than 3 minutes.","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":409,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090125241,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let me propound this to the Chair. My understanding is if I yield to the distinguished Senator from Colorado for purposes of these unanimous consent requests. I would lose the Opportunity to be considered. after he discussed this. automatically. My understanding is I cannot yield to the Senator from Colorado without losing my place. Is that correct?","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":366,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090125258,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I wonder if the Senator from Oregon would agree. I have heard the comment that the normal process is for a Senator to. offer an amendment and to have an opportunity to get a guarantee of a vote. I am aure. would the Senator agree. that the Senators amendment is subject to an amendment?","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":286,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090125295,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And then what happened was in the Energy bill we adopted. we thought. well. if it was a good enough idea then. even though these m~ndatory provisions of the act expired in 2001. it would be a good idea to continue them. but the administration at that time. observing the fact that oil prices were going up now. came to the conclusion that the extension of this royalty relief was not necessary and. in fact. issued its statement of policy on the Energy bill on June 14. 2005. saying the President believes that additional taxpayer subsidies for oil and gas exploration are unwarranted in todays price environment and urges the Senate to eliminate the Federal oil and gas subsidy and other exploration incentives contained in the bill. So when the President made his statement about whether we should extend this mandatory royalty relief. he .was saying at that timethis was in June of 2005. not quite a year ago. the prices were up but not nearly where they are nowbut even at that level he was saying this provision is not necessary to encourage more exploration. Is that the Senators understanding?","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1100,"word_count":191}
{"speech_id":1090125349,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I do. And in response specifically to the Senator. nothing in the amendment says that threshold couldnt be lower. Of course. the threshold should be addressed in a responsible way. All we are saying- is that we are not going to shovel taxpayer money out when it is over $55 a barrel. But nothing in my amendment says the threshold couldnt be lower. and that is why it better targets the resources and would do something about it. Again. the General Accounting. Office is not some group with a political ax to grind. it is the Government Accountability Office. the people we hire as our auditors who have been talking about all the waste in this program. As the -distinguished chair of the committee knows because he has seen the letter from the Senators. this program is so riddledso riddledwith questionable issues. the companies dont even give the same facts to the government. They say one thing to the Securities and Exchange Commission and say another thing to the Department of the Interior. and the Department of the Interior people say: Well. we dont know what to make of it. So I am very glad the Senator is on the floor. ","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1618,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090125375,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. my understanding is that puts us in exactly the same position as we had with Senator SALAZAR. I would like to make the same offer to the distinguished chair of -the committee. because I would very much like to respond positively to his request. if we can work with the staffs to propound a parliamentary request to deal with what the chairman. the Senator from New Mexico. has asked. I would very much like to d6 it. Perhaps we can get our staffs together and perhaps work it out.","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":495,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090125398,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think we are close to being able to move. ahead in the Senate. I want to have some discussion with the floor manager. the distinguished Senator from Washington. But what we have seen in the last few minutes as a result of the unanimous consent request propounded by the Senator from Nevada is that this Senate will not be allowed to vote at any time on the .granddaddy of all of the subsidies. We have tried to work out arrangements to have a vote that would be fair to both sides. I have propounded a variety of requests through the Chair in an effort to do it. But somehow for some reason continuing this outrageous use of taxpayer money seems to be the big priority around here. I am staggered. I cant understand. I cannot understand why the Senate would say at a time of record profits. at a time of record prices. it would want to continue to dispense record royalty relief. The President of the United States said. to his credit. that we dont need all of these incentives when the price of oil is over $50 a barrel. ","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2314,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090125403,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the Senator will further yield for a question. so that I understand it. if I own an oil company and I want to drill on somebody elses land. in this case the land of the Federal Government. I was required to pay the Federal Government for drilling oil that belonged to somebody else that I was going to sell. and if the price of oil was so low that it did not justify drilling. they would appeal. .the oil companies would appeal to the Federal Government. saying. we will pay less for what we are drilling because the price of oil is so low. thus this royalty payment for drilling oil on Federal Government landNow the tables have turned and the price of every barrel of oil brought out of Federal land is worth $70 to $75 and the Senator from Oregon is arguing why in the world would you give them relief from their royalty payments when they are making so much money on oil that comes out of Federal lands that we all own. It would seem to me the Senators argument is that the oil companies. which are doing quite well. thank you. are going to experience a windfall if the price of oil goes up and the amount they have to pay to the Federal Government continuesto be discounted or .lowered. So they want it both ways. They want the consumer to pay more at the pump and they want the taxpayeis to receive less for the oil they are taking from land they do not even own. Am I missing something in this analysis?","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1413,"word_count":270}
{"speech_id":1090125406,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Senator asks a very good CluestiQn. This is the granddaddy. this is the biggest subsidy the Government.givesto the oil sector. The General Accounting Office. which did a review of this. indicates that a minimal projection is $20 billion for the cost of the program. If the litigation is successful. it is up to $80 billion. What we haveis. at a time when middleclass folks. the people who are living paycheck to .paycheck and being squeezed as hard as they are. at a time when our Government ought to be looking at trying to give them a break. give them a bit of help. what we are seeing is the middleclass folks have their tax dollars flow into the Federal Government and go out in terms of royalty relief at a time when the price of oil is vastly above the amount the President has indicated. It is for that reason I felt so strongly about this. I also point out this is a program that grew under Secretary Norton. After the initial mistakes with the previous administration. it was added to by the energy conference legislation between the House and the Senate which sweetened the sweetheart deal even more. I am saying this is enough. We do not need record royalty payments on top of record profits and on top of record prices. ","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1727,"word_count":224}
{"speech_id":1090125408,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is exactly what I have been seeking. since last night when I called the distinguished chairman of the committee. and what I indicated. contrary to what has been said in the Senate. I am not seeking any special treatment. I have not been seeking to be put first in the line. What I have been seeking is what I have seen virtually every week since I have been in the Senate. The distinguished Senator friom Illinois is an expert in the rules. and it is my understanding that what we customarily do. we debate a variety of amendments. then we cluster them into a group. five. six. eightsometimes the number will varyand at some point the Senate goes on a vote. I offered to the chairman of the committee to be put in the second or third cluster. I dont have to go first if colleagues feel strongly about this. but at some point it seems to me we ought to say the Senate is accountable. at a time with record profits and record prices. for a program that is the biggest of them all. That is the Royalty Relief Program. I am happy to yield further.","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1048,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090125409,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I ask a procedural point for those following this debate. I ask the Senator from Oregon. it is my understanding that what the Senator is dqing is consistent with the Senate rules which allows a Senator to take the floor and offer an amendment. As long as he can stand and offer his amendment and speak to it. he controls the floor. which ii what the Senator from Oregon s doing. Many people have seen this depicted in movies and otherwise. but this is the classic ele: ment of the Senate procedure. that a Senator can insist on his right to have an amendment voted on. Clearly there is a disagreement in the Senate. Until that. disagreement is resolved. as long as the Senator from Oregon can stand. if I am not mistakenhe can correct me if I am wronghe is asserting his right as a Senator to do so.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":799,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090125439,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I say to my friend from tus is. we have over 20 amendments Oregonan athlete. went to college on that have been filed and are peiding a basketball scholarship. certainly he before the Senate. A number of those has the stamina to stand as Iona as have been offered by the Senator from necessarythat the point has. been Oklahoma. Mr. COBURN. who divided nia t. I. therefore. ask at the end of his amendment No. 3641 into 19 divisions. spealring for another 3 minutes that we As I understand the parliamentary sitgo ilto a quorum call and when the uation. each one of these divisions is quorum call is called off. Senator COCH- considered under our procedures as a RANtten would be recognized. separate amendment and a separate","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":723,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090125448,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I believe the local communities are very right to be alarmed and. concerned that the ingredients are here for catastrophic fires in the coming fire season. Just this week. an article in USA Today noted that Federal forecasters predict the wildfire potential this spring and summer is \"significantly higher than normal\" and that the areas at risk. from Alaska to the.east coast. \"are so farflung that the Federal Governments more than 20.000 firefighters and fleets of ground and air support could be spread thin if fire danger lingers long in any area.\" The Forest Service annually conducts hazardous fuels and forest health projects. However. the funding available to the Forest Service is not living up to the commitments made by Congress in the Healthy Forests Restoration Act. Healthy Forests authorizes $760 million a year for hazardous fuels projects. and Congress has appropriated less than $500 million of those funds per year. The funding is simply not keeping up with the increasing needs that today have been estimated at over $1 billion per year. My amendment will provide the U.S. Forest Service with an additional $30 million to conduct critical hazardous fuels and forest health projects to reduce the risk of catastrophic fires and to mitigate the effects of widespread insect infestations. Private land owners and local governments are doing all they can to icombat this problem. They are using chainsaws to protect their homes. they are spraying trees. and they are devising protection plans. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3752,"word_count":244}
{"speech_id":1090125459,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The President has said he is going to veto this bill on the items that are not emergencies and have nothing to do with national security. defense. or with the emergency Katrina. We already have enough signatures on a letter saying we will sustain that veto. So we are going to end up doing this. I think a lot of this is an exercise in futility. People cannot resist the opportunity to come forward where they can be seen offering more and more of the taxpayers money for something that is not an emergency. I only wanted to say I applaud him for doing this. I think he is being overworked. Hopefully. we will have this solution with the Presidents. veto. We should not be in a position where we are having to do that. I applaud the Senator for what he is doing. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1550,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090125462,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The exact number of shrimp vessels damaged or destroyed by the 2005 l4urricanes is still largely unknown. However. one only needs to visit coastal. communities such as Bayou La Batre. GulfportBiloxi. and EmpireVenice to see the overwhelming- effects these hurricanes had on the entire fishingbased communities along the gulf coast. With their boats gone and shoreside facilities destroyed. many businesses are having to rebuild literally from the ground up. It is logical to presume that the damage from last years hurricanes. coupled with the rise of diesel fuel costs. could result in the increase in the percentage of fishermen filing for bankruptcy. This bill will stabilize the number of vessels in the fishery and rebuild fishing facilities. allowing fishermen the opportunity to harvest a greater proportion of the annual fish crop and increase their economic returns. Finally. I want to touch on the funding that has been included in this bill for seafood marketing efforts because it has been the target of much criticism on the floor. I believe this funding is extremely important to the overall effort to restore this industry. We cannot deny the fact that many consumers became increasingly wary of gulf coast seafood following Hurricane Katrina. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SHELBY","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3733,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090125472,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it is the responsibility of the National Marine Fisheries Service to assure Americans of the safety and availability of the seafood from U.S. oceans. The service has done extensive environmental testing in the gulf. and it has shown no increase in toxicity. The gulf seafood is just as safe as the seafood from Washington State or New England. This amendment strikes the fundingthat could be used for seafood marketing programs that get that information to the consuming public. The Senate should defeat the amendment. Mr. President. I was going to move to table the amendment. but I understand it is OK to have the vote on a voice vote or show of hands. So Ithink we are ready to vote.","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":701,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090125486,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I said it was wrong. There has been no earnest debate about hoW wartime spending is to fit into the overall budget picture. Instead. the administration has relied overwhelmingly on emergency supplemental appropriations requests to fund the costs of the ongoing wars. These requests are not part of the regular budget debate in Congress. and they are often foisted upon the legislative branch with little in the way of justification. which Congress is then pressed into passing with a minimum of scrutiny. The reliance on supplemental appropriations bills is one symptom of a disease that has struck Washington. and S3674 CO that is the scourge of fiscal irresponsibility. According to data from the Congressional Budget Office. since 2001. the White House has requested a total of $515 billion in emergency supplemental appropriations. That is more than half a trillion dollars that simply does- not appear in any of the budget plans passed by Congress. This dependencethis dependence. I sayon supplemental appropriations dwarfs the requests of prior administrations. In fact. the $515 billion of supplemental funding requests in the last 5 years is more than 31\/2 timesmore than 3V2 timesgreater than all the supplemental spending requests from the 10 years previous to the current administration. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7122,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090125488,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am getting young again. I am told. The Senate ought to go on the record once again in favor of fiscal responsibility. With the cost of the war in Iraq escalating beyond $320 billion. it is time to bring some sanity to the budget process. So I urge my colleagues to support this amendment to tell the President to budget for the cost of the wars. Mr. President. I send the amendment to the desk.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":396,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090125514,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I announce that the Senator from West Virginia is necessarily absent. I also announce that the Senator from Massachusetts is absent due to family illness. I further announce that. if present and voting. the Senator from Massachusetts would vote \"yea.\"","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":251,"word_count":40}
{"speech_id":1090125560,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Due to several factors. Sergeant Saylors body reached an advanced state of decomposition before it was returned to the United States. and the Saylor family was unable to view Sergeant Saylors remains at his funeral. I think we can all understand the extent to which .this added to the grief of the Saylor family and can sympathize with them and any other family in this situation and commit ourselves to doing our absolute best to ensure that this does not happen again. The process and policies related to how we treat the remains of our fallen heroes and how we communicate and interact with their survivors deserves the absolute highest priority that we can give. It is extremely unfortunate that survivors are ever unable to view the remains of their family members and. therefore. unable to say their final goodbye and obtain the sense of closure that we all know is so important in these situations. It is also- the case that on occasion. survivors have been given incomplete or inaccurate information relative to what happened to their family members and how their remains were\" handled after they died. This is also extremely unfortunate and adds grief to an already grieving family. The amendment that Senator ISAKSON and I have proposed calls on the Department of Defense to improve their current policy related to mortuary affairs. how the remains of servicemembers are handled. and how the military communicates with survivors relative to their deceased family members. This amendment will ensure that we are doing. absolutely everything we can to ensure the remains of our fallen heroes receive the respect and care they deserye. and that their family receives the best treatment. as well as the most timely. accurate information possible. * Specifically. this amendment calls on the Department of Defense to improve policies related to refrigeration of remains in theater. the specific time standards for movement of remains. as well as examine the feasibility of forward locating autopsy and embalming operations from the continental United States to theater. and modify any other factors .that could possibly shorten the time line for returning soldiers in a nondecomposed state. This amendment also calls on the Department to improve their policies for communicating with family members to ensure family members are briefed by fully qualified Department of Defense -personnel. that any partial or unverified information that families are provided is identified as such. and ensures that the Department provides updates to the family whenever new information becomes available. ","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5626,"word_count":415}
{"speech_id":1090125570,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I offer this amendment which would eliminate the requirement for the naval combat forces of the Navy to include not less than 12 operational aircraft carriers. I spoke to this amendment 2 days ago. Several colleagues. I know. have an interest in it. But here is the situation. John F. Kennedy bears one of the most famous names in naval history. That ship has sailed for 38 years in harms way to defend the interests of this country. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6996,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090125588,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I was appalled that this problem was identified by the Office of Compliance in a citation 6 years ago. and hasnt been put on a fast track for addressing the health and safety problems until Senator DURBIN and I asked for a plan. These are serious problems and high levels of asbestos have been found. The amendment I am offering today includes funds to remediate asbestos. remove loose concrete. replace the roof of a section of one of the tunnels. add escape hatches. and improve the communications system. We have reviewed the funding estimates with the Government Accountability Office. Notwithstanding the fact that some of the estimates are preliminary. they are warranted. I had hoped that we could reprogram funds from within the Architects budget but the magnitude of the need is far beyond what could be found within the Architects budget. I urge the Senate to agree to the amendment. I ask that it be agreed to by a voice vote.-","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2482,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090125590,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The response I received was that the Architect needs additional funds in order tomake the necessary repairs. This amendment would provide the money needed to make sure that these brave men working in tunnels are safe. The tunnel workers should not have to wait another day to be assured of a safe and secure working environment. They already have waited too long.","speaker_name":"BARBARA MIKULSKI","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2972,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090125606,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this amendment is proposed on behalf of. Senator COLLINS. Senator REED of Rhode Island. and myself. which relates to Iraq. It would require certain reports be filed by the President and the administration relative to political developments that exist in Iraq. We have a new prime minister who has been designated in Iraq. It is an important step. It is a useful step toward hopefully achieving a government of national unity. However. there are some very critical steps that lie ahead. including the completion of that government of national unity so that the Prime Ministerdesignate can then form a government and have that government approved by the assembly. It is an important step. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3551,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090125621,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this amendment No. 3716 provides $96 million for American nongovernmental organizations helping Iraqis to create the essential building blocks of democracy. It also requires the Secretary of State to provide Congress with its short and longterm plans to strengthen democracy at the regional. provincial. and national levels in Iraq. Last year. Iraq passed several important milestones on the long road to democracy. However. as important as the two elections and the referendum on the constitution were. they were not decisive. and it is far from clear that democracy is being firmly established in Iraq. The process of building democratic institutions is different and requires patience in developing effective governmental structures. a genuine rule of law.. political parties committed to peaceful means. an active civil -society. and a free press. Constructive international engagement is essential as well in the case of Iraq. For a country as heavily repressed as long as Iraq. democracy will take even longer to take root. it is far from clear. however. that the Bush administration has a longterrh strategyor even a shortterm strategyto solidify and continue the democratic gains that have been made so far. American nongovernmental organizations such as the National Democratic Institute. the International Republican Institute. the National Endowment for Democracy. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9609,"word_count":209}
{"speech_id":1090125670,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mississippi. and Washington. According to published reports. students in at least two of these small towns had already acquired the guns and ammunition necessary to carry out such an attack. Were it not for the courage of the students who stepped forward to report violent threats from their fellow students and the investigative work by law enforcement officials that followed. another community might well have had to face the horror that the residents Of Littleton. CO. faced 7 years ago. Congress must take up and pass common sense gun safety legislation to help prevent such tragedies from occurring in the future. I ask unanimous consent that the beforementioned editorial be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4452,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090125677,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I believe the U.S. must lead urgent international efforts to stop the killing in Darfur. We must act immediately. working with the United Nations. NATO. and the African Union to stop the ongoing violence. We must remain focused and never waver in our fight to bring an end to the genocide.","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1909,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090125686,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This legislation repeals the 2004 manufacturing deduction for oil and gas companies because these industries suffered no detriment from the repeal of exportrelated tax benefits. At a time when oil companies are reporting record profits. there is no valid reason to reward them with a tax deduction. Many Members of Congress including myself support a windfall profits tax and providing this deduction to oil and gas companies -operates as a reverse windfall profits tax. This deduction lowers the tax rate on the windfall profits they are currently enjoying. Without Congressional action. this benefit will increase. The domestic manufacturing deduction is currently three percent and is schedule to increase to six percent in 2007 and nine percent in 2010. This means that next year oil companies that are benefiting from this deduction will see their benefits double and triple in 2010. I urge my colleagues to support both the Energy Fairness for America Act and the Restore a Rational Tax Rate on Petroleum Production .Act of 2006. We owe it to the American people to eliminate tax benefits to the oil industry at a time of record profits. record gas prices. and a projected record deficit. I ask unanimous consent that the text of these bills be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4041,"word_count":210}
{"speech_id":1090125687,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Tim Evans. San Bernardino County Schools Superintendent Herb Fischer. Rialto Schools Superintendent Edna Herring. Sheriff Rod Hoops. Syeda Jafri. Walter Jarman. Rev. David Kalke. CSU President Al Karnig. William Leonard. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5839,"word_count":30}
{"speech_id":1090125688,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Today. there are approximately 155 Native languages that remain and 87 percent of those languages have been classified as deteriorating or nearing extinction. Native communities across the country are being significantly impacted as individuals fluent in a Native language are passing away. These speakers are not only important in perpetuating the language itself. but also serve as repositories of invaluable knowledge pertaining to customs and traditions. as well as resource use and management. The Native American Languages Act Amendments Act of 2006 would amend NALA to authorize the Secretary of Education to provide funds to establish Native American language nest and survival school programs. Nest and survival school programs are sitebased education programs conducted through a Native American language. These programs have played an integral role in bringing together elders and youth to cultivate and perpetuate Native American languages. My bill would establish at least four demonstration programs in geographically diverse locations to provide assistance to nest and survival schools and participate in a national study on the linguistic. cultural. and academic effects of Native American language nest and survival schools. Demonstration programs would be authorized to establish endowments for furthering activities related to the study and preservation of Native American languages and to use funds to provide for the rental. lease. purchase. construction. maintenance. and repair of facilities. As Americans. it is our responsibility to perpetuate our .Natfve languages that have shaped our collective identity and contributed to our history. For example. during World War H. the United States employed Native American code talkers who developed secret means of communication based on Native languages. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3058,"word_count":265}
{"speech_id":1090125689,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to introduce a bill that will increase the fuel economy for our Nations Federal fleet. Americans are facing record high gasoline prices at over $3 per gallon. In some places in my State of California. people are paying over $4 per gallon. Oil is selling for over $75 per barrel. We need to say \"enough is enough.\" We need to reduce our dependence on oil and gasoline. We can do this without changing our quality of life by investing in fuelefficieht cars. The Federal Government must set an example to the American public by improving the Nations fleet. Each year. the Federal Government purchases 58.000 passenger vehicles. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2119,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090125719,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider -the following nominations on odays Executive Calendar: Calendar Nos. 605 through 612. and all nominations on the Secretarys desk. I further ask unanimous consent that the nominations be confirmed. en bloc. the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table. the President be immediately notified of the Senates action. and the Senate then return to legislative session.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":464,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090125740,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this Senyou enjoy fresh produce or baked goods from your local grocery store. thank ate resolution we just agreed to thanks frmen innroation foery bor themk Terrance Gainer. former Chief of the U.S. Capitol Police. Although I dont to market more quickly. Containerg have a formal statement. I have had an ization surely has made the world a smaller place by allowing goods from opportunity to work with Chief Gainer sallover plae wory alowing gooirom d very closely over the last several years. all over the world arrive at their des- Although many of those interactions tinations more cheaply and more tinaionsmor cheplyand orewere in routine business. what we requickly. and our standard of living in gard as routine business. at every moAmerica has improved markedly in. the ment he stood ready with the Capitol process. Police fod rny withete Caitol Before I was elected to the Senate. I Police for any unexpected event. And served as commissioner of the Port Au- those unexpected. tragic events that I thority of New York and New Jersey was able to work with him on. led mefrom 1978 until 1982. I had the oppor- seeing the way he addressed these tunity to get to know Malcom McLean. issues. with dignity. with discipline. with a real understanding of what was a singularly focused man. who was suc- at a a v ang of recessful in nearly all of his pursuits be- at staketo have a great deal of recause of his strong work ethic and un- spect for him his approach. his charmatched talent for innovation. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2420,"word_count":264}
{"speech_id":1090125881,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It also gives Secretary Mineta the authority to issue a rule looking at fuel economy standards for passenger cars. These two measures address the demand side of the equation. but we also must address the supply side. If President Clinton had not vetoed ANWR a decade ago. ANWR today would be producing a million barrels of oil each and every day right now. A million barrels of supply each day would be coming to the continent. That is about threefourths of what we currently import from all of Saudi Arabia. We .need to open a portion of the Reserve to environmentally sensitive exploration and get that oil to the market. There is no question that tapping into this domestic resource will bring down oil prices. We also need to expand our refinery capacity. It is amazing. we have not built a new refinery in the United States in over 30 years. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4525,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090125902,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And following that. Senator KENNEDY be recognized for 30 minutes. So Senator INOUYE and Senator STEVENS for 10 minutes each. So after 15 minutes. I will speak. and then it will beSenator INOUYE and Senator STEVENS. and then following that it will be Senator KENNEDY.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":266,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090125904,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Democratic leader for his courtesy. This will permit me to chair a hearing at 2:30 on time. I thank the chairman of the Energy Committee and the Senator from Louisiana.May I ask the Chair to inform me when there is 30 seconds remaining of my 5 minutes.","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":279,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090125928,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is my understanding that the amendment has been filed. is that not the case? Madam President. if I could suggest that I move on and speak about the amendment. and then perhaps we can formally call it up when it arrives at the desk. if thatwould be appropriate.","speaker_name":"DAVID VITTER","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":263,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090125935,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the Chair. I thank my colleague from Louisiana because I know that there are many important amendments that we have to consider relative to this major piece of legislation. which of course. is the supplemental for not just Katrina. Rita. and the gulf coast but also for our troops overseas and the situation in Iraq. I thank. again. Senator COCHRAN and also Senator BYRD for their leadership in moving this supplemental forward on such a critical issue. I thank Senator DOMENICI and Senator REID. as chairman and ranking member. respectively. of the Energy and Water Committee. because in working with the administration. they have fashioned an amendment that will provide for Louisiana an additional $2 billion for critical levee infrastructure. As we rebuild New Orleans. the greater New Orleans area. south Louisiana and the gulf coast. getting additional funding for restructuring. rebuilding. and strengthening of the levee system around New Orleans. and south Louisiana is essential. This $2 billion amendment will. in fact. do that. I thank Senator COCHRAN for his willingness to add this $2 billion to the supplemental. to help us to secure the critical funds necessary to finish a project. which. of course. was promised on the heels of Katrina and the great flood that levied 20 feet of water in some areas into the city of New Orleans. and it continues our ongoing efforts. Madam President. to secure not just the city but the metropolitan area of Plaquemines. ","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1928,"word_count":244}
{"speech_id":1090125953,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. reserving the right to object. is it correct to say that in order to call up an amendment for consideration. at this timd unanimous consent has to be obtained to set aside all of the other pending amendments that are before the Senate?","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":250,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090125967,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We also need to conserve more. That is very important. We need to provide inew and different kinds of energy in the form of renewable energy. Most especially. in addition to conservation. we need what is called efficiency for all of the things we use every single day. Let me talk a little about what has happened in this country. This chart shows the expressibn of concern that a lot of people have these days. This shows the largest oil companiesthere are only four up here. but this shows the increase in profitsI guess there are actually fivethe increase in profits year by year: a 17percent increase in profit. a 43percent increase in profit. ExxonMobil Went from $21 billion in net profits to $36 billion in net profits in 2 years. Shell had a 47percent increase in profit. We see another 37 percent increase in profit. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10749,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090126000,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":14,"republican":0,"speech_text":"On April 7th. that mental health task force was supposed to be in place. and we still do not have the people assigned to it. while our veterans are coming back in very bad shape. I dont understand it. I call on Secretary Rumsfeld to do his job and follow the law and appoint the people to this commission. Frankly. we are not doing right by our veterans. The Senator from Washington is here. I know how much she cares about this issue. I know how hard she fought to expose the fact that the veterans health care budget was underfunded. And with her hard work and reaching across the aisle. we were able to add funding to the veterans health care system. But the needs of our soldiers are still not being met. The horror they\" face is having a big impact on them when they return home. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10764,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090126003,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In fact. the nomination of such consensus nominees is an indication of what should be done in States. and would lead to the confirmation of more judges. In January 2001. we were following a shutdown of judges going through. As the distinguished Presiding Officer knows. the Republicans were determined to block virtually all of President Clintons judges for a long period of time. I became chairman and for 17 months moved a record number of judges for President Bush. 10. Actually. since 2001. while the Republican majority has not moved President Bushs judicial nominees anywhere near as fast as I did. we have still moved 238. That includes two Supreme Court Justices. and 43 circuit court judges. However. we do have some that create problems. Unfortunately. as demonstrated by the recent withdrawals of several nominees. all too often this White House seems more interested in rewarding cronies and- picking political fights than in selecting lifetime appointments after thorough vetting. Sadly. the Republican Senate has proceeded to rubber stamp these important nominations and failed in its role as a constitutional check on the President. The controversial nominations of Judge Terrence Boyle and Brett Kavanaugh are contemporary cases in point. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8697,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090126005,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Barrett served the State of Ohio as an administrative hearing officer for over a year. handling issues as a new attorney that usually are reserved for lawyers with far more experience. He then moved to the Hamilton County Prosecutors Office. where he served first as an assistant prosecutor. and then as chief assistant prosecuting attorney of the Felony Trial Division. During this time. Mr. Barrett also served as chief of the Special County Arson Task Force. supervising the investigation and prosecution of arson cases. After 6 years in the Hamilton County prosecutors office. Michael Barrett moved into private practice with the firm of Graydon. Head & Ritchey. where he remained for 10 years as an associate and then as a partner. He was listed several times in the- Best .Lawyers in America for his domestic relations practice. He then joined the Cincinnati law firm of Barrett & Weber. where he continues to practice today in the area of general litigation. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4786,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090126071,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Asian and Pacific American communities have contributed significantly to the cultural vibrancy of Washington State. However. we can only live up to the promise of our diversity if we recognize the mistakes of our past and give all groups a voice in public discourse. During World War II. 227 Japanese Americans from Bainbridge Island became the first of more than 120.000 people to be placed in internment camps. They departed from Bainbridge Islands Eagledale Ferry Dock which. just last month. became the site of a moving tribute to all affected by this dark period. The name of this memorial is Nidoto Nai Yoni. meaning let it not happen again.\" During this years Asian Pacific American Heritage month. we celebrate a history rich with culture and tradition. In our Asian and Pacific American communities. we must preserve the lessons of the past and recognize the great promise of the future.","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3618,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090126079,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"On August 20. 1948. as Paige pitched the Indians to a 10 victory over the White Sox. the night games attendance. 78.382. set a record that still stands today. The Cleveland Indians went on to win the.American League Championship and the World Series in in his career. Paige threw an estimated 300 career shutouts. In 1971. he became the first Negro League player ifnducted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. As one of the greatest players of the 20th century. he was nominated to the All Century Team by Major League Baseball. and was selected by the Postal Service as one of the 50 Legends of Baseball. Satchel Paige passed away on June 8. 1982. but his talent and electric style of play are still remembered by baseball fans today.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1735,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090126091,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Armed Services Committee be discharged from further consideration and- the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. Government. the Community Management 415. Account. and the Central Intelligence Agen-","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":255,"word_count":37}
{"speech_id":1090126093,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senunanimous consent that the resolution ate completes its business today. it be agreed to. the preamble be agreed stand in adjournment until 9:45 a.m. on to. and the motion to reconsider laid Tuesday. May 2. I further ask that folupon the table. lowing the prayer and the pledge. the","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":337,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090126109,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. Senators should expect a busy couple of days as we vote on the remaining appropriations amendments today and tomorrow. Finally. I also remind my colleagues that Senators have until 10:30 this morning to file their seconddegree amendments to the pending appropriations bill.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":288,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090126112,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Both of them have been tremendous leaders op the issue of immigration. We all agreed that it is of utmost importance for Congress to move forward with the iminigration reform bill this year as soon as possible. Last week. I also had the opportunity to meet with a number of other Senators at the White House with President Bush. As I said after that meeting. I am not in the habit of patting the President on the back. but he deserved creditand I said so publiclyfor calling us together and for hosting a good bipartisan meeting. My hope is that this will continue. I made clear to the President that Senators on this side of the aisle are committed to comprehensive immigration reform. I pledged to work with the President and the majority leader. as I have in the past. in a bipartisan way on this very important issue. Every day we fail to fix the immigration system. it gets worse. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9846,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090126116,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this morning across America. people got up to go to work. Some of them had a very unsettling moment because they had to fill up their gas tanks. So people heading off to work pulled into a gas station across Americain Chicago. in Springfield. and all across our Nationand saw again a reminder of the failure of our energy policy. They watched as those numbers rolled in front of them and saw a new. almost recordbreaking total. just for the gasoline for their trucks and their cars going to work. Businesses face the same thing. businesses that are trying to .keep their heads above water and that may be forced to lay off people. The farmers I represent across the State of Illinois. farmers who are out trying to plow for their corn crop this year. are paying more for their diesel fuel. paying more for the fertilizer they are going to ultimately need. All of these are part of the cumulative impact of the increase in energy prices across America. The pain is being felt in every family of modest means in America. Money they have spent they know is going directly from their pockets and their credit cards to the biggest oil companies in America. the biggest oil companies in America. which have recorded record profitsrecord profits. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11140,"word_count":221}
{"speech_id":1090126120,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. last evening. as most of us had departed with the understanding that the floor was about to close. our colleague from Illinois. Senator DURB!N. the distinguished whip of the Democratic Party. came over and proceeded to give what I felt was a very strong critique of all of those things in Iraq -which in his judgment and. to some extent. the judgment of others sharing it went wrong. There was little or no reference to what went right and the progress that has been made in Iraq. He concluded again with his own personal views with regard to Secretary Rumsfeld and what should be done with respect to his services in the future. It is interesting. Yesterday. Senator BIDEN also spoke out with regard to his concept of this very difficult ililemma. facing not only the Iraqis but all those nations working to help the Iraqis form their government. as to how certain modifications should be taken with regard to the new government. namely three secretaries having their own say in this matter with an overall arching government on top. Senator BIDENS commentary. in my judgment. was constructive. and was maybe a little too late to back up from where we are at this moment. But it was nevertheless a positive contribution to the debate and constructive. in sharp contrast to the comments of Senator DURBIN. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4955,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090126125,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I commend the distinguished Senator from Oregon for his comments and his leadership dn these issues that are so important to our forestry owners and people throughout the States who depend on incomes from those jobs. I ask unanimous consent I be permitted to call up amendments at this point.","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":307,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090126138,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we are at a point in the proceedings at the hour of 11 oclock to vote on cloture on the bill. I urge Senators to support this motion to bring to a close debate on the provisionS of the supplemental appropriations bill so that we may proceed to consider other amendments that are pending and dispose of that measure. It is an urgent supplemental. It contains emergency funding for the Department of Defenise. the Department of State. as well as disaster assistance for the gulf State regions and elsewhere for natural disaster damages and destruction.","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":565,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090126151,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And the same -can be said for the island of Maui. The yield losses alone for the two companies will far exceed the amount we are requesting for assistance. Losses have occurred because of this damage. In summary. heavy rainscaused tremendous infrastructure damages. The actual repair or reconstruction costs are much higher than the amount we are seeking. I hope my colleagues will show some compassion and understanding. It is an emergency. I thank the Chair.","speaker_name":"DANIEL INOUYE","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2157,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090126153,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this provision was included in the committee bill in the agricultural disaster title of the supplemental because of severe weatherrelated damage to Hawaiis sugarcane crop this year. . Hawaii sustained heavy rains and flooding from. February 20 through April 2. devastating and destroying public and private property. The funds were considered by the committee to be necessary to assist sugarcane farmers through their cooperatives with cane crop losses. They also sustained damage to their irrigation canal systems. and there were public roads that were washed out resulting from the heavy rains. I support the position of the Senator from Hawaii on this amendment and urge the amendment be defeated.","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":715,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090126157,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program. Disaster Debt SetAside Program. and the Emergency Loan Program.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":976,"word_count":14}
{"speech_id":1090126168,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"While everyone seems to agree on the need to get more flex fuel and alternativefuel vehicles on the road. and the urgency of producing cellulosic ethanol. the administration simply does not make the real financial commitment. But this amendment does. It provides $150 million for vehicle research programs. $350 million for the clean cities program. $200 million for biomass research and development and $250 million in production incentives for cellulosic fuels. There are also provisions in this amendment to increase the reliability of our electricity grid. encourage the Federal Government to purchase alternative fuel vehicles. help improve the efficiency of aircraft. and much more. It is a large amendment because this is a large problem. Our economy. our environment. and our national security are all too important to be left to the best interests of OPEC and the giant oil companies. Skyrocketing gas prices have been a wakeup call for everyone. but even if we succeed in providing relief for American consumers. as my amendment last week would have done. we can not afford to go back to sleep on this issue. The American people expect us to get serious about our energy future. and they expect us to do it immediately. If we dont act now. when do we act? So even though I fully recognize the rules of the Senate and -understand thenature of the debate we are having today. I do believe we are in an emergent process as it relates to our energy independence. to our energy security. to giving consumers an opportunity for a break. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT MENENDEZ","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6409,"word_count":260}
{"speech_id":1090126221,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I find no objection. I know that our managers have cleared it. I. therefore. urge my colleagues to accept it. The amendment is certainly very worthwhile. It is needed. and it is needed right away in order to prepare for elections this fall. I yield the floor so my colleague. Senator DODD. can further elucidate.","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":900,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090126256,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wish I would have thought of that amendment. It is a great amendment. The Senator from South Dakota makes the point. we have to make decisions about priorities. When we have an unproven volunteer program that is more expensive than any other volunteer program. and we are putting an extra $20 million on the basis of emergency versus fulfilling the obligations to those people who have made the ultimate sacrifice and paid the price and served this country and put their lives in danger doing so. it is a nobrainer that we ought to be spending the money on the veterans rather than a program that has not proven to be effective. not proven to match a performance goal. and not proven even to be measuring itself in the 13 years of its existence. \u0095 I support the Senators amendment.","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":798,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090126273,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unan- they can do and that is a successful miimous consent to set the pending gratory bird surveillance program. amendment aside and call up amend- I ask my colleagues to support the ment No. 3713. amendment. Without it. we have no","speaker_name":"RICHARD BURR","chamber":"S","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":252,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090126285,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I want to see this facility replaced. too. but I have some serious questions. The Senator was not here for the debate. I want him to hear those questions because what he is proposing is cheaper than several of what the retirement board suggested. I agree. Call me cheap. What he is proposing is $370.000 per resident. That is twice what I can build a brandnew hospital for with the latest everything. I guess my point is. for $221 million. what are our grandchildren going to get because we are doing this under an emergency. and we know we can build a brandnew facility up to code. nice as can be. with the rooms the size the Senator wants. for $150 million total. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1646,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090126294,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. would the Senator from Colorado yield for a question? If the Senator would allow me. it is my understanding we would be able to voice vote my amendment that is pending right .now. If the Senator would allow me to do that. we could dispose of this amendment in 30I have been told I am incorrect.","speaker_name":"RICHARD BURR","chamber":"S","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":309,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090126296,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. through the Chair. I think it would be appropriate for my friend from North Carolina to have 7conversation about how to move forward with his amendment. At this point I ask unanimous consent that the pending business be set aside so I may offer an amendment.","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":273,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090126308,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am willing to urge the Senate to accept the amendment. There isclearly a need for funding. and we will have an opportunity to monitor this carefully to be sure that money is not wasted. But clearly. the devastation to timberland and forestry resources is immense. It is indescribable. You have to see it. You can drive along hundreds of miles of forestlands in the region. and -it is staggering. the amount of destruction that has occurred. I compliment the Senator and thank him for offering the amendment and assure him of my support and recommendation that we accept it.","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":590,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090126357,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wish to say to Senator FEINSTEIN how much I appreciate her leadership on this in the Appropriations Committee. I wish to say to the chairman of the committee how much I appreciate his understanding of what we are going through in our State with historic rains. historic flooding. I thank the Appropriations Committee for listening to Senator FEINSTEIN when she transmitted a request from the two of us and also from our Governor. This is a bipartisan request. I ask unanimous consent to have* printed in the RECORD a letter written to Senator COBURN from Governor Schwarzenegger. I also ask unanimous consent to have printed in the RECORD information regarding the Sacramento region.","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":700,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090126377,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Reserving the right to object. I support the Senator from New Jersey. I support the intent of his amendment and realize there is a severe emergency in Darfur about which many of us feel strongly. and we need to do something there. During consideration of this bill. we have been trying to hold the line on spending. to reprioritize. If there is something else the Senator can offer as an offset for this increase in spending. I would be more than happy to let the amendment be debated and voted on. But without an offset. I object.","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":531,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090126400,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Reserving the right to object. what I understand is that the Senator from New Jersey is going to send an amendment to the desk that has an offset for the funding for Darfur. and with that as a modification to the unanimous consent request. I will not object.","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":258,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090126404,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am not alone. In my home State of New Jersey. high school students started a nonprofit organization called Help Darfur Now which raises awareness and funds for the refugees in the Sudan. Newark. NJ. is the headquarters of the Darfur Rehabilitation Project. a national group started by the Sudanese people living in the United States who lobby for humanitarian aid. intervention. and conflict resolution in the Sudan. And across the country. Americans are signing petitions. participating in marches. holding townhall events and contacting their elected officials to demand that the dire needs of the Darfurian people be addressed. It seems to me as representatives of the people. it is our job to act. Here in Congress. many of our felldw colleagues in the Senate and in the House of Representatives have. led the fight for real action to address the genocide in Darfur. and I certainly salute them for their hard work. When we talk about genocide. it seems to me it is almost impossible for any of us to take the intellectual understanding of what that means: the number of people killed. over what period of time. and for what reason. and to comprehend the dimensions of such atrocities. The truth is that each of the estimated 200.000 to 400.000 people murdered in Darfur was a father. a mother. a sister. a daughter. or son slaughtered by their\u0095 own countrymen whose ethnic -makeup and religion was similar to their own. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT MENENDEZ","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6611,"word_count":242}
{"speech_id":1090126407,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Since the conflict began in February of 2003. recent estimates are that there are as many as 400.000400.000--Sudanese people who have died. and more than 2 million who have been displaced. By some estimates. 500 people perish every day in Darfur. Five hundred.people perished today. if those estimates are correct. 500 more will die tomorrow. and 500 more will die the next day. If this is not genocide. I dont know what is. and we must act to stop it as soon as possible. The United States has taken the lead in the international community to provide humanitarian aid and to support the African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur. However. we must do more. Clearly we have not done what we should and we have not done it fast enough if 500 people are dying every day. We must ensure that our contribution to the United Nations Contributions for International Peacekeeping Activities account is paid in full so that we are credible when we support a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Darfur. This amendment helps make that possible. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3246,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090126408,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the committee report accompanyifig the fiscal year 2006 Iraq\/Katrina supplemental appropriations bill includes the following provision: \"The Committee is aware that the Defense Science Board is studying the management of the Department of Defenses biometrics program and will make recommendations on whether or not the current structure is meeting the needs of the warfighters dependent on the system in Iraq and in the Global War on Terror. The Committee directs no management changes be made until the Defense Science Board completes its study and informs the Congress of its recommendation.\" Would it be the understanding of the Senator from Hawaii that any new or ongoing organization. personnel. or management changes within the Army. -to include the Biometrics Fusion Center. be ceased until the Defense Science Board report is complete and briefed to Congress?","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":882,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090126418,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Instead. these programs must work together. GAINS is a sensible approach to gather scientific data for the public domain in as close to real time as possible to combat a looming public health emergency.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2700,"word_count":34}
{"speech_id":1090126426,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Santos and Peewees for boys. and the Knightetts. These recreational groups have become fundamental vehicles for social mobility. encouraging positive selfimage and motivation in both an extracurricular and academic capacity. It is with great pleasure that I commend Manuel Portillo for his passionate commitment to helping others and tireless efforts to improve the broader San Diego community. I wish him great success fn the future.*","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2485,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090126430,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. over the tle. and for his widow. and his orphan.\" last few months. we have discussed at In keeping with that charge. the Fedlength the problem of illegal immigra- eral Government provides a wide array tion. What many may not realize is of benefits to veterans and their dethat illegal immigration affects our pendents. through an administrative system of representation as well. system that is intended to be informal. . After the 1990 Census. my State of claimantfriendly. and nonadx]ersarial. Montana lost one of its two seats in During recent years. however. vetthe House of Representatives. Ten erans organizations. VA. and others years later. our great State had grown have observed that this system has beto more than 900.000 residents. but still come increasingly complex. Enhanced did not gain a seat. legal requirements and layers of proceMeanwhile. we have an estimated 12 dural steps intended to protect the million illegal aliens in this country rights of veterans have increased both today. and all of them will be a factor the complexity of the system and how to determine which States gain or lose long it takes to process a claim. At the a seat in the House of Representatives same time. with the Nation at war and after the Census in 2010. This is because servicemembers deployed around the current policy tells us to count every- world. the disability claims filed by reone in this country. illegal or not. turning veterans have become more complex. ","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7884,"word_count":247}
{"speech_id":1090126432,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. America has the safest. most abundant. best tasting. and least expensive food supply not only in the world. but in the history of the world. There are a lot of good people in the food and fiber production industry who deserve credit for that. But the heart of food production in the United States and the world and the center of the rural communities that produce our food and fiber. is none other than the American family farmer and rancher. I want to assure everyone here of this. There are a lot of us in Congress and in the country that believe in agriculture. we intend to continue supporting policies that help farmers. and were not going to apologize to anyone for doing it. especially foreign countries that are not negotiating in good faith with the United States through the WTO. When I am in Missouri. I hear strong support for the current farm bill. Producers all over the State tell me that they like the programs created in the farm bill and they want to see it extended. especially when we have the uncertainty of the current WTO negotiations hanging over the head of our domestic agriculture industry. ","speaker_name":"JAMES TALENT","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3518,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090126433,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Most importantly. I view it as a contract between the farmers in my State of Arkansas and their government. It is meant to offer what little certainty can exist for those who choose to make a living providing the safe and affordable food supply which we as Americans depend on. Unfortunately. certainty is something thats -hard to come by in farm country these days. This Administration has repeatedly asked Congress to cut funding or make structural changes to the 2002 Farm Bill. regardless of the fact that CBO estimates it has come in approximately $13 billion cheaper than anticipated. This Administration has also refused to provide. emergency assistance to agriculture producers. despite the fact that farmers across the Nation faced weatherrelated disasters of all kinds and record high fuel and fertilizer costs in 2005. A wet spring. followed by extreme drought and rising fuel prices. cost farmers in my State $923 million last year. In Arkansas. where one in five jobs is tied to agriculture. this impacts.the entire State economy. All the while. producers wait and watch as U.S. negotiators offer proposals in the WTO that would require drastic reductions and changes in Our farm support. while our trading partners continue to protect their markets with tariffs and subsidies far higher than we have in the U.S. I am tired of waiting. and so are my farmers. ","speaker_name":"BLANCHE LINCOLN","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5204,"word_count":227}
{"speech_id":1090126435,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Camp Amache was named after Amache Ochinee Prowers. the wife of John Prowers. the founder of the county in which Granada. presides. It became its own little city with 30 blocks of barracks. school rooms. and mess. tents. It also included its own post office. fire station. police. and hospital. - While this was a dark moment in American history. it is still an important part of it. By preserving -this site. we are preserving our own history. By Mr. BROWNBACK (for himself and Mr. LIEBERMAN):","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1581,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090126437,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"and intended to be proposed to the bill H.R. 4939. making emergency supplemental appropriations for the fiscal. year ending September 30. 2006. and for other purposes. which was ordered to lie on the table. as follows: In lieu of the matter proposed to be added. add the following: CHAPTER","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":289,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090126442,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Department of Justice. Washington. DC. Panel I: The Honorable Glenn A. Fine. Inspector General. U.S. Department of Justice. Washington. DC. ","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":752,"word_count":20}
{"speech_id":1090126478,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it stand in adjournment until 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday. May 3. I further ask unanimous consent that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. that there then be a period of morning business for up to 30 minutes with the majority in control of the first 15 minutes to be followed by 15 minutes under the control of the minority. provided further that the Senate then resume consideration of H.R. 4939. I further ask unanimous consent that there be 1 hour of debate with Senator COBURN controlling 30 minutes. Senator FEINSTEIN 15 minutes. and Senator BOxEIR 15 minutes. and that the vote occur in relation to Division XIX of the pending amendment with no amendment in order to the division prior to the vote.","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":912,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090126505,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today. the average cost of a gallon of unregulated gasoline in Columbia. South Carolina. is 72 cents higher than the price of May 2005. Yesterday. I met with dozens of constituents at the West Metro Chamber of Commerce building who expressed their serious concerns about the rising gas prices and Americas energy crisis. Fortunately. Republican leaders have announced a series of realistic. shortterm steps to reduce the cost of gasoline. By opening up ANWR. banning price gouging. streamlining boutique fuels. and encouraging innovation for advancements in hydrogen technology. we are supporting realistic measures that will immediately help American families. As we continue to actively address Americas energy needs. Minority Leader PELOsI and House Democrats should support this critical mission. ","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1034,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090126535,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Congressman Hammerschmidt served as ranking member of the Public Works. now known as the Transportation and Infrastructure. Committee from 1986 through 1993. During his tenure in office. Arkansas completed many of the infrastructure improvements. including highways and airports. that have allowed northwest Arkansas to become one of the major financial engines of our Nation. Congressman Hammerschmidt is also. remembered for his work on behalf of our Nations veterans. Particularly in Arkansas. our veterans hospitals and facilities still benefit from Congressman Hammerschmidts service. Congressman Hammerschmidt served as ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee from 1975 through 1986. and all of our Nations veterans had a tremendous advocate in this good man. As a combat pilot in World War II. Congressman Hammerschmidt flew 217 missions with .the Third Combat Cargo Group over \"the Hump\" in the ChinaBurmaIndia theatre. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with three oak leaf clusters. the Air Medal with four oak leaf clusters. three Battle Stars. the China War Memorial Medal by the Republic of China. and the Meritorious Service Award. ","speaker_name":"JOHN BOOZMAN","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2738,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090126537,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise to actually close. and I have no further requests for time. But. in closing. let me just say. first of all. that I appreciate the kind comments and remarks made by my colleagues from Arkansas. As you can see. there is a tremendous amount of affinity for those of us who grew upin the land of opportunity. But. also..I note that Representative BoOZMANS wife came from the town where my -family lived. and her uncle was actually the postmaster. and my father used to visit in the post office. along with many other people. and that was kind of like a neighborhood gathering place. That is one of the reasons that we hope that many of the small post offices will be able to remain intact. because they are more than just letterdispensing areas in many of these communities. So I commend Representative BOOZMAN for seeking to honor this outstanding American.","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":874,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090126548,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Governor John Anderson of Kansas.","speaker_name":"DENNIS MOORE","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2159,"word_count":5}
{"speech_id":1090126583,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill to further the purposes of the Reclamation Projects Authorization and Adjustment Act of 1992 by directing the Secretary of the Interior. acting through the Commissioner of Reclamation. to carry out an assessment and demonstration program to control salt cedar and Russian olive. and for other purposes.","speaker_name":"STEVAN PEARCE","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":361,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090126596,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. Imove to suspend the rules and pass the bill to amend the Water Desalination Act of 1996 to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to assist in research and development. environmental and feasibility studies. and preliminary engineering for the Municipal Water District of Orange County. California. Dana Point Desalination Project located at Dana Point. California. as. amended.","speaker_name":"STEVAN PEARCE","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":393,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090126609,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill to amend the Reclamation Wastewater and Groundwater Study and Facilities Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to participate in the Central Texas Water Recycling and Reuse Project. and for other purposes. as amended.","speaker_name":"STEVAN PEARCE","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":285,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090126613,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. H.R. 3418. introduced by Congressman CHET EDWARDS. authorizes Federal participation in a water reuse project in McLennan County. Texas. As central Texas cities experience rapid population growth and increased water demand. these communities are being proactive to better utilize their existing water supplies. This legislation is part of the effort to create new water supplies. I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan bill. ","speaker_name":"STEVAN PEARCE","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":548,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090126621,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 697) congratulating the people and Government of Italy. the Torino Olympic Organizing Committee. the International Olympic Committee. the United States Olympic Committee. the 2006 United States Olympic Team. and all international athletes upon the successful completion of the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin. Italy. as amended.","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":409,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090126638,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to thank my colleagues for offering this important bipartisan resolution recognizing the 58th anniversary of the independence of the State of Israel. And I urge my colleagues on both sides of the\" aisle to support it. Throughout the last 58 years. Israel--an oasis of freedom in a sea of despair--has been vilified. threatened and attacked by those who seek her destruction. And yet. she has prevailed and prosperedjust as she will prevail and prosper today. tomorrow and in the future. Harry Truman made the United States the first nation to recognize the new State of Israel in 1948. just 11 minutes after its creation. \"I had faith in Israel before it was established. I have faith in it now.\" said President Truman. ","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2655,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090126640,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I look forward to many great years of thoughtful exchange and the promotion of our common.interests of world peace and prosperity. Congratulations to the people of Israel as they celebrate the 58th anniversary of their statehood.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SHAYS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1340,"word_count":36}
{"speech_id":1090126656,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of this- resolution and yield myself such time as I might consume. Mr.. Speaker. the resolution before the House introduced by my distinguished California colleague and good friend. Congresswoman HILDA SOLIS. shines the spotlight on the murders .of impoverished young women in Mexico. I applaud .my friend and colleague. Chairman HYDE. for recognizing* the importance of this resolution and facilitating its consideration both by our These killings. Mr. Speaker. must committee and the full House. stop. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11750,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090126661,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Already. as a result of international pressure. the federal Mexican government has appointed a special commissioner to prevent violence against women in Juarez. as well as appointing a special prosecutor to find out what went wrong with the previous murder investigations. But Mexican federal and state authorities have made too many promises. and still there is too little progress in any of these investigations. Mr. Speaker. H. Con. Res. 90 will clearly tell the families of these women that their voices and their pleas for justice have not gone unheard. They have our sympathy. and they have our support. But passage of this bill will also send a clear message to the Mexican authorities that the United States Congress -is concemed about these murders. willing tohave our government assist in their investigation. and that we want the perpetrators of these heinous acts arrested and put behind bars. The lives of all these young women had meaning and promise. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3958,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090126689,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. under rule XXII. clause 7(c). I hereby announce my intention to offer a motion to instruct on H.R. 2830. the pension conference report. The form of the motion is as follows: I move that the managers on the part of the House at the conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate amendment -to the bill H.R. 2830 be instructed to recede to the provisions contained in the Senate amendment regarding restrictions on funding of nQnqualified deferred compensation plans. except that(1) to the maximum extent possible .within the scope of the conference. the managers on the part of the House shall insist that the restrictions under the bill as reported from conference regarding executive compensation. including under nonqualified plans. be the same as restrictions under the bill regarding benefits for workers and retirees under qualified pension plans. (2) the managers on the part of the House shall insist that the definition of \"covered employee\" for purposes of such provisions contained in the Senate amendment include the chief executive officer of the plan sponsor. any other employee of the plan sponsor who is a \"covered employee\" within the meaning of such term specified in the provisions contained in the Senate amendment (applied by disregarding the chief executive officer). and any other individual who is. with respect to the plan sponsor. an officer or employee within the meaning of section 16.(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. and (3) in lieu of the effective date specified in such provisions contained in the Senate amendment. the managers on the part of the House shall insist on the effective date specified in the provisions of the bill as passed the House reldting to treatment of nonqualified deferred compensation plans when the employers defined benefit plan is in atrisk status.","speaker_name":"GEORGE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1851,"word_count":302}
{"speech_id":1090126692,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the price of gasoline is $3 a gallon. Americans want answers. and they want solutions. According to the American Petroleum Institute. the nationwide average of tax - on gasoline is 45 cents a gallon. This is split between State and Federal governments. The oil companies make about 9 cents a gallon on gasoline. so Washington. D.C.. makes more off a gallon of gasoline than the oil companies. Congress should consider suspending part of the gasoline tax for a period of time to lower gasoline prices. Gasoline prices are going up because OPEC controls 50 percent of the worlds crude and is driving up the price of gasoline. The U.S. needs to be drilling offshore. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1088,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090126693,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today I rise to thank the hardworking law enforcement that have captured an escaped child sexual predator. Michael Benson. making our family safer. I commend John Walsh and his program. Americas Most Wanted. on their 888th criminal apprehension out there making sure that we are . putting these predators behind bars. But 8 months ago. we passed the Child Safety Act. and in the Child Safety Act we have provisions that keeps our families. our children safer. Yet it is being obstructed in the Senate. It is time for us to move forward. .pass this legislation that is so vital to our childrens protection. I call for action and call on my colleagues to join me. E 1930","speaker_name":"MARK KENNEDY","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":681,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090126698,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Kansas. he grew up in that town. His. life goal was to return to St. Francis as a community pharmacist. He has given us until July 1 and then he will make a decision whether he can continue as the s6le pharmacist in that town. His three kids are in the school system in St. Francis. Kansas. It would be a terrible thing to lose that community pharmacist. to lose his family. and to lose that mans hope for a career in his hometown. That does not happen enough in rural America .here a young son or young daughter actually is returning home to the family community. There is no pharmacist in the St. ","speaker_name":"JERRY MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5348,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090126711,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have a duty to respond. Lets stop the politics and get to work.","speaker_name":"MARK KENNEDY","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4006,"word_count":14}
{"speech_id":1090126728,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding and thank him for his leadership on budget process reform. spending and many other very important issues. I appreciate you bringing us to the floor tonight to talk about what I think is the most important challenge we face as a Nation. because if we dont solve our fiscal challenges. really nothing else matters. Since I was elected a few years ago. one of the probably most knowledgeable. honest. straightforward people I have talked to about fiscal issues in Congress is a guy named David Walker. He is the head of the- GAO. the Comptroller General of the United States. What I would like to do is just share with you part of an oped that he put in an Atlanta newspaper recently. I will share here. \"News flash: The largest. most complex and -arguably the most important entity on the face of the Earth recently failed an external audit for the ninth straight year.\" Let me repeat that. Mr. ","speaker_name":"CHRIS CHOCOLA","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5640,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090126731,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Republicans want families to. do the spending. And we know the difference. Now. the Democrats will say that the Republicans are cutting the budget. Well. I have yet to see any single budget submitted that- actually cuts Federal spending. Frankly. we can probably use one. What we do. though. is the Republicans will moderate the growth of government. and the Democrats will not. I have looked up \"cut\" in Websters Dictionary. and it actually means to reduce. What the Democrats call a cut is that some government program under the Republican budget will grow 3 percent next year and they want it to grow 6. And they call that a cut. ","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4333,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090126739,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker.. I appreciate the gentlemans friendship and leadership of the Blue. Dog Coalition because we are perhaps the leading voice in Congress for fiscal restraint and fiscal responsibility. The chart the gentleman has been re.ferring to showing our national debt and each individuals share of the national debt is a truly scary document. But as the gentleman knows. I. am afraid there are even scarier numbers in Washington than that because the debt figures that the gentleman is holding shows what the debt is according to a cash basis. and that is. unfortunately. a very weak form of accounting that is illegal for most businesses in America. certainly businesses of any size. I want to put that in context for folks both in this Congress and back home because the numbers the gentleman referred to come from this document here. which is thePresidents budget. Every Congressman gets a handdelivered copy of this. It is widely publicized in the media. It has a lot of good information in it. but it is the budget of the United States on a cash basis. counting dollars when they c~me in and go out. ","speaker_name":"JIM COOPER","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2214,"word_count":191}
{"speech_id":1090126743,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And. quite frankly. we take a look at our position visavis the rest of the countries of the world. In other Words. how are we going to hold on to our financial status. our quality of- life. our way of life as we know it? And I believe. every night when I go to sleep. I believe that this is the biggest issue that is facing us here in Washington. D.C.. and as Americans. Earlier. Mr. COOPER showed a chart that qaid that we are telling the American people. this Congress. this Republicanled Congress is telling the American people that. in this coming year. our. shortfall or what we are overspending by for the year will be $319 billion. And it says it right there. But the reality is. take aside our responsibilities that we have told people we are going to do for Medicare and Social Security for the future. the reality is that we spend much more than $319 billion this year. Without that Medicare and Social Security responsibility. we really spend $760 billion more than the money we take in. ","speaker_name":"LORETTA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":47.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4914,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090126750,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. the gentlewoman makes a good point. In the past when we had to run up debt. for instance. during World War II and at other times in a national emergency. that debt in large part was .bought by Americans. That financing was provided by Americans. That is not the case today. Of this over almost $3 trillion that has been borrowed since January 2001. the great bulk of it. the majority of it. has been lent to us by China and Japan. So in most cases. foreign countries. some not necessarily that are friendly to our cause. are lend.ing us this money.","speaker_name":"ALLEN BOYD","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":563,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090126756,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. reclaiming my time. .I appreciate the gentleman. He brings a lot of common sense and wisdom. I know our time has expired. Madam Speaker. I just want to conclude by saying that I hope that you understand that the Blue Dogs are a group of men and women who are ready to work together across the aisle in a bipartisan way to solve these problems. We have some very. very tough problems. and we have a group of folks who are ready and willing to roll up our sleeves and go to work. and lets solve some of these problems.","speaker_name":"ALLEN BOYD","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":531,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090126843,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I had planned on withdrawing that amendment. but I wish to make one last point. California received $753 million in earmarks last year. This amendment was to eliminate almost $11 million on levee reconstruction. Seventy times that amount went to California in earmarks. That is the problem. I ask unanimous consent to withdraw this- amendment.","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":343,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090126943,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this amendment that I offer tries to move forward a very difficult situation that we are faced with in Louisiana bout how to protect not just the New Orleans city proper but the greater metropolitan area and parts of south Louisiana from flooding in the future. As you know. Mr. President. because you have been gracious enough to be one of the Senators to go walk through the neighborhoods and see the flooding. being a firsthand witness. it wasnt just the hurricanes. Katrina and Rita. but it was the breaking of levee systems. Some of those levees were long industrial canals that served this great port which. together with the South Louisiana Port. is the largest port system in America. Some of these levees were along the lake. Some of them were along what we call the London Avenue Canal. There was a project that was designed and structured by the Corps of Engineers back in the 1930s and 1940s called the Mississippi River gulf outlet. ","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3861,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090126969,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I understand that each organization will need to submit a proposal to justify the use of funds before they can be -made available. Does the Senator from Kentucky_ agree with this allocation of funds?","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1522,"word_count":34}
{"speech_id":1090126973,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The process of building democratic institutions is different and requires patience in developing effective governmental structures. a genuine rule of law. political parties committed to peaceful means. an active civil society. and a free press. Constructive international engagement is essential as well in the case of Iraq. For a country as heavilyrepressed as long as Iraq. democracy will take even longer to take root. It is far from clear. however. that the Bush adininistration has a longterm strategyor even a shortterm strategyto solidify and continue the democratic gains that have been made so far. American nongovernmental organizations such. as the National Democratic Institute. the International Republi6an Institute. the National Endowment for Democracy. IFES. formerly known. as the International Foundation for Election Systems. the International Research and Exchanges Board and Americas Development Foundation are well respected in Iraq and throughout the world. Each has substantial operations in Iraq. and their work is essential to the administrations goal of building a stable democracy in Iraq. Yet. despite their sucbess so far in helping to promote democracy and the enormous risks their employees take by working in the war zone. the administration has made no longterm commitment to provide funding for their work in Iraq. Each organization operates on pins and needles. never knowing when their funding for Iraq operations will dry up. The American nongovernmental organization IFES has been in Iraq since October 2003. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7685,"word_count":232}
{"speech_id":1090127061,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We are talking about subsistence production in many cases which will qualify for the benefits under this title. If this amendment is approved. they wont get anything. These funds are going to the States so that at the local level a determination can be made as to the amount of compensation and support those who are disaster victims in these areas of agriculture are entitled to receive. I am hopeful the Senate will reject this amendment. I just spoke to two parts of itorchards and the pecan treesbecause from my personal experience I know a little bit about that. But driving through my State after these disasters. I can testify to the widespread damage to orchards. to pine forests on which people depend for their livelihood. In that part of the State where the storms destruction was the greatest. there is very little of the traditional large cotton plantation areas. That is not that part of the State. That would be up in the mid to northern part of the State along the Mississippi Delta. ","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3877,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090127224,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"A June 2004 U.S. Conference of Mayors survey found that 94 1fercent of cities do not have interoperable capability between police. fire. and emergency medical services. and 60 percent of cities do not have interoperable capability with the State emergency operations center. Almost half of the cities that responded to the survey said that a lack of interoperable communications had made response to an incident within the last year difficult. In November 2003. OMB testified before Congress that there is insufficient funding in place to solve the Nations interoperability problem. and it would cost more than $15 billion to begin to fix the problem. I appreciate Senator STABENOWS work on this issue and her cosponsorship of -this important amendment. This is such an important issue for firefighters in Illinois and across the country that when. there is another opportunity. I intend to bring this amendment before the Senate. and I hope -that my colleagues will consider supporting it.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6143,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090127248,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday. May 3. 2006 at 3:30 p.m. in closed session to mark up the national defense authorization act for fiscal year 2007.","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":259,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090127290,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. for the information of our colleagues. all postcloture time has been consumed on the supplemental appropriations bill. The only action remaining on the bill will be the two amendments pending. and then a vote on passage. I understand that we may not need a vote on both of the amendinents. and therefore we will have two or three votes in the morning to conclude action on the supplemental. Other votes could occur on Thursdays session as we try to clear some executive nominations. including two district court judges.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":534,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090127298,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"For a forceful response to the energy challenge. the U.S. must make much greater use of its unrivaled coal reserves.","speaker_name":"JOHN SHIMKUS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":984,"word_count":20}
{"speech_id":1090127300,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. in country line dancing there is a dance called the twostep. When it comes to energy policy. the Democrats have come up with their own dance. the fourstep. Here is how it goes: First. Democrats do not acknowledge the supply component in the- supply and demand principle of economics. When confronted with solutions to the supply problem. Democrats always vote \"no\" and drive up prices. Step two for Democrats is to screamabout the evil of SUVs. even though they may be driven around in one. Step three for Democrats is to call for investigations. point fingers. call for investment in R&D that already exists. and say that if it werent for those darn Republicans. we could get off oil tomorrow. Finally. step four for Democrats is repeating steps one. two and three until voters and the media stop paying attention. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1169,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090127305,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today I rise in support of the goals of Cover the Uninsured Week. Nearly 46 million Americans. including more than 8 million children. are living without health insurance. More than onethird are Latinos. 20 percent are African Americans. and about 19 percent are Asian Pacific Islanders who lack any form of health care insurance. In California. one out of five uninsured is a child under the age of 18. Many current health proposals offered by Republicans will do more harm than help people living in districts like mine. Association health plans which ignore our State regulations are not working for families. Health saving accounts will do nothing to improve the wellbeing of our families in districts like mine. Instead. Congress should be taking action to ensure that no child has to skip needed health care examinations. ","speaker_name":"HILDA SOLIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1301,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090127306,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today is Asthma Awareness Day 2006. On Asthma Awareness Day. May 7. 2003. there were only 20 asthmafriendly States in the United States. Even more limiting. of those 20. only nine extended protection even further to anaphylaxis medication. like epinephrine autoinjectors. Today. historically. 47 States protect for asthma and 38 for asthma plus anaphylaxis. and the final three States have legislation pending to allow students to carry their medication. Mr. Speaker. this is a tremendous positive turna~round in just a few years for our children. I am pleased with the momentous progress we have made in our Nations capital and statehouses. I encourage all of us who work here or visit the Capitol today to stop by the Cannon Caucus Room from 11:30 to 4:00 and learn more about asthma. ","speaker_name":"CLIFFORD STEARNS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":886,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090127315,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today. as a Member of Congress and a parent. to thank the many law enforcement officers whose hard work resulted in yesterdays capture of escaped child sexual predator Michael Benson. I would also commend John Walsh and the viewers of \"Americas Most Wanted.\" who helped make Bensonthe 888th criminal apprehended after being featured on the show. However. I stand here today deeply frustrated that obstructionists in the other body are using procedural gimmicks to block passage of the Child Safety Act. which the House first passed overwhelmingly more than 8 months ago. Mr. Speaker. this act will help our children keep safe from predators like Michael Benson. and I urge the other body to quit obstructing and pass this vital bill.","speaker_name":"MARK KENNEDY","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":753,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090127316,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to thank the Department of Defense for its recognition of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island as a model military inftallation for the country. Base Commander Captain Syd Abernethy and the Island County community will accept the Annual CommanderinChiefs Award for Installation Excellence on Friday. This award recognizes the hard work and exceptional efforts of the people who operate NAS Whidbey. and I praise that team effort. from the men and women on the ground tothose in the sky. They make this installation run. The community and the residents of Oak Harbor and Island County play an integral role in protecting and promoting NAS Whidbey. It is their support year after year that makes NAS Whidbey great. NAS Whidbey has emerged as a national center of electronic warfare and antisubmarine warfare operations. These missions will be pivotal to creating the type of military the Department of Defense wants to build in the upcoming years. ","speaker_name":"RICK LARSEN","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1126,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090127319,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today President Bush is expected to announce his appointment of Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff to lead the administrations efforts to combat a potential avian flu epidemic. Didnt the President learn anything from Hurricane Katrina? Michael Chertoff is the same man responsible for the incompetent. inept afid tragically unacceptable response to Hurricane Katrina. If Secretary Chertoff couldnt properly oversee the administrations response to a hurricane along the gulf coast that we knew about days in advance. how is he supposed to lead the response to a flu pandemic that could hit at any time? The Bush administration is already woefully unprepared to fight an avian flu pandemic. The Presidents own administration has warned that a worstcase scenario here in the U.S. would entail an 18monthlong crisis in which as many as 1.9 million Americans could be killed. An avian flu crisis needs a serious and competent administrator to oversee our response. The Bush administration is once again showing it will take a crony over a competent administrator every time. It is time for the administration to show that it actually can lead. It is time they turn away from the cronies. and find someone competent for a change so the avian flu pandemic doesnt surprise us the way the expected Hurricane Katrina overwhelmed us.","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1341,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090127331,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The more we can encourage charter schools across the Nation to encourage parents. teachers. administrators. business leaders and community leaders to get involved. the better we are going to help our children. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JON PORTER","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1834,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090127347,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. H. Con. Res. 359 authorizes the use of the Capitol Grounds for the District of Columbia Special Olympics Law Enforcement Torch Run to be held on June 9. 2006. The Special Olympics is an international organization dedicated to enriching the lives of children and adults with disabilities through athletics. The Torch Run has historically been the largest and most successful Special Olympics fundraiser. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KUHL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1315,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090127348,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield nhyself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. this event needs really little introduction. Eunice Kennedy Shriver started the concept of the Special Olympics in the early 1960s when she established and opened a.summer day camp for people with intellectual disabilities. 2006 marks the 35th anniversary of the D.C. Special Olympics. The torch relay event is a traditional part of the opening ceremonies for the Special Olympics. which will take place at Catholic University. The torch relay event has become a highlight onCapitol Hill and is an integral part of the Special Olympics. Each year. approximately 2.500 Special Olympians compete in over a dozen events. and more than 1 million children and adults with special needs participate in Special Olympics programs worldwide. ","speaker_name":"RICK LARSEN","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1429,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090127367,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I will say that this new bill was immediately put on the suspension calendar without any hearings. without any meaningful debate. Several of my colleagues may not appreciate the differences. between the bill before us today and the Democratic legislation. the FREE Act. Although these differences should not delay price gouging legislation any longer than it already has been. it is my hope that the Republicans will be willing to address these issues of true price gouging as this piece of legislation moves forward. Our bill. the FREE Act. would specifically set out guidelines for the FTC to use to define price gouging. including provisions that make unconscionable pricing. providing false pricing information. and market manipulation illegal. all of which is lacking in the bill before us today.","speaker_name":"BART STUPAK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2475,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090127372,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If there is collusion between two companies on setting the price of gasoline. then they have the authority to investigate. but they have no authority to investigate when it comes to unreasonable and unfair trade practices. This legislation we are offering today would give them that new authority at the Federal level. I think this is a good piece of legislation. and I would ask my colleagues to support it. H.R. 5253 would prohibit price gouging at any time. It is not limited to emergencies or in the wake of natural disasters. I will be very honest. the thing that Qaused me to introduce pricegouging legislation last September was what we all saw in the wake of Katrina: opportunists taking advantage of a terrible situation and a natural disaster to pump up the price of gasoline for people who were trying to flee for their lives. That is not -right. and it is what spurred me to introduce the pricegouging legislation. The modification in the bill that is before us today is that the pricegouging authority for the Federal Trade Commission would not require a disasters trigger. but they could look at unfair trade practices at any time. not limited to emergencies. It also covers gasoline. diesel. crude oil. home heating oil and biofuels. So it goes across a wide variety of full types. ","speaker_name":"HEATHER WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"F","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4343,"word_count":224}
{"speech_id":1090127380,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"These are real penalties. and this will. with the proper rulemaking process. lead to a deterrent that will result. in my opinion. in energy prices reflecting true costs. It is important to emphasize that this legislation does not upset State laws. It is enforceable by State attorneys general and. as I said a minute ago. does provide vigorous civil and criminal penalties. There is no excuse for price gouging in energy. and with the passage of this legislation. that will be more fully assured. I want to thank my friend from New Mexico for her leadership in this area. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.","speaker_name":"CHARLES BASS","chamber":"H","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1962,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090127386,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Now. the FTC has approved the oil companies monopolies. and they set the stage for the increased prices. This same FTC is going to define price gouging. as if they dont know what it already is? I suspect. under the FTC. the excessive profits are unlikely to be illegal unless the FTC can show manipulations occurred. Since manipulation is well disguised by the industry. the FTC will be easily able to brush aside excessive profits as nothing more than a market signal. Any definition drafted by the current FTC will also likely establish that the price of crude oil set by the world market and therefore any profits relative to that price are not price gouging. This bill will enable the Federal Government to cut off aggressive State actions by intervening and then settling with minimum penalties. Mr. Speaker. the American people want something done now. We need a windfall profits tax. 100 percent on windfall profits. That will give the oil companies a signal that they wont forget.","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2059,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090127402,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Fortunately for consumers. a mild winter sheltered them from the full effects of high prices during the winter heating season. but last month gasoline prices shot up. As we approach the summer driving season. there is no relief in sight. In a perfect world. I would support Representative STUPAKs bill over the legislation now under consideration. In fact. since last December House Republicans could have signed the discharge petition pending on the Stupak bill and passed it on the suspension calendar. That would have empowered the Federal Trade Commission to go after price gougersor better yetthe enactment of antigouging authority might have deterred gasoline price gougers from taking advantage of U.S. consumers. Nonetheless. the bill before us today is much improved from the version the Majority offered in the fall. The American energy consumer is hurting and action is needed. I will. with some misgivings. support the bill before the House.","speaker_name":"JOHN DINGELL","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1763,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090127418,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The five largest oil companies reported a record $110 billion in profits in 2005. and three of the largest petroleum companies made more than $16 billion in the first quarter of 2006. Existing law already provides for new permitting assistance. 1 year ago. in fact. this body passed the Energy Policy Act. Title 3. subsection H. of the Energy Policy Act allowed States to seek additional assistance from the Federal Government for permitting when it was needed. Yet the legislation before us today repeals this provision and replaces it with less effective language. Last year Democrats brought a plan to this floor that would have set our Nation on the right course. It would have created a Strategic Refinery Reserve. giving the U.S. Government the ability to refine its own oil for use by military and first responders. The Strategic Refinery Reserve would have made that difference. But rather than solve the problem. we are here with a plan that will not increase refinery. capacity. will not bring down the price of gas and will not ensure any ability of the United States to refine its own gasoline. I urge my colleagues to reject and give us the opportunity to take this action that will really make a difference for our constituents. \u0095 And I would also like to make reference to letters that we will be submitting later from the State Air Quality Program administrators and various environmental organizations.","speaker_name":"HILDA SOLIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2157,"word_count":240}
{"speech_id":1090127424,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong opposition to this bill. It is being rushed to the floor under expedited consideration with limited debate. no opportunity for amendments. no hearings. no markup. In fact. as of yesterday. the bill hadnt even been introduced. This is yet another example of the \"ready. fire. aim\" approach that passes for legislating in the Republicancontrolled House. Unfortunately. some communities in this country that are suffering the most right now are caught in the. crossfire. They are the communities that are coping with a military base closed through the BRAC process. This bill resurrects the bad idea that communities with closed military bases become dumping grounds for refineries. There is nothing. absolutely nothing in existing statutes or regulations that prohibits a local redevelopment authority from developing a closed base into a refinery complex. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS ALLEN","chamber":"H","state":"ME","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1736,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090127432,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank my colleague for yielding to .me. I rise in strong opposition to this illconceived legislation. nothing more than a shameless attempt to blame public health and environmental protections for the shortage of refinery capacity and high gas prices. First of all. public health and environmental laws are not impeding construction or expansion of refineries. My colleague. Mr. BOUCHER. already quoted the CEO for Shell saying on record that he is \"not aware of any environmental regulations preventing us from expanding refinery capacity or siting a new refinery. Also. this bill will do nothing to lower gas prices in the short term or the long term. What it will do. however. is lead to increased pollution at the expense of public hbalth. and that is why both State and local officials. air pollution control officials. oppose this bill. ","speaker_name":"LOIS CAPPS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1352,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090127440,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of this bill because it addresses one key problem. that the United States has not built a new refinery in America since the 1976 bicentennial. 30 years ago. Over 50 million Americans have moved to our country since then but no new refineries. We can expand gas supplies and lower prices at the pump while strengthening our environmental law through this legislation. and who doubts that we cannot make new refineries be cleaner than old refineries? This bill stands for the principle that we should simply coordinate our laws. written in different decades by different Congresses. to yield environmental protection and more gasoline at the pumps. The population of the United States is expanding. So should our ability to provide gasoline to Americans We should do so. though. not at the expense of the environment. and this bill does not modify those statutes. It simply says the various Federal bureaucracies should all be coordinated in one place. It makes common sense and helps us reduce pressure at the pump.","speaker_name":"MARK KIRK","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1045,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090127443,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 30 seconds. This is a very odd debate. One of the previous speakers said that this bill would do nothing to lower gasoline prices. If you increase refinery production. you are going to have more supply. and obviously more supply is going to lead to lower prices. Another speaker said that this bill would somehow create more environmental pollution. It does absolutely nothing to change any existing environmental rule or- regulation. It just increases the time. So if you want less supply. higher prices and the. only reason you are against that is because you think that an additional refinery would create more pollution. then you should vote \"no\" on the bill. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES BASS","chamber":"H","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":779,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090127444,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker. this bill is not an effective way to address the gasoline refinery shortage. It tramples on State environmental laws without solving the fundamental problem. The CEOs of the refining companies have testified to the Congress that the permitting process is not burdensome. It has not prevented the construction of needed new. refineries. and yet this bill addresses the permitting process. For our part. Democrats are more than willing to work with our Republican colleagues and to do so on a bipartisan basis. to write a law that will make a difference. a law that will get the needed new refineries built. ","speaker_name":"FREDERICK BOUCHER","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1197,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090127448,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The geopolitical problems in the Middle East that have been exacerbated by the actions of this administration over the last six years. Those are the issues we should be dealing with today. Instead of gutting our Nations environmental and public health laws and providing another giveaway to the energy industry we need to implement a strategy of energy independence. We need to make immediate investments to expand energy efficiency and the use of renewable fuels. and we need to adopt a foreign policy that does not hold our constituents hostage to the latest political crisis in the Middle East. I urge my colleagues to oppose this wrongheaded bill.","speaker_name":"BARBARA LEE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1813,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090127495,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The recent scandals transcend political affiliation and ideology. and it is incumbent upon all Representatives to come together and restore the integrity of the House. This is not the time for catchy phrases and rhetoric. Rather. it is the time for each of us to step up and adhere to the duties as a Member of Congress. I am especially pleased that this legislation includes language that I sponsored in the Rules Committee to strengthen and irnprove ethics training for staff and Members of Congress. This section would require all staff to attend an ethics training course or face severe penalty. It also requires that the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct will set up a similar program for Members and strongly encourages them to participate. I certainly plan to. I realize that this may seem harsh to some. but my staff. who I require to have ethics training. now have benefited greatly from these training sessions. and I firmly believe that all staff should share in this experience. This measure ensures that all staff will receive this training. This legislation also instructs the Standards Committee to report to the Rules Committee by no later than December 15 on the adequacy of the rules. ","speaker_name":"SHELLEY CAPITO","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1980,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090127501,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The socalled Lobbying Accountability and Transparency Act is neither accountable nor transparent. It does nothing to address the problems in the current lobbying system. This bill is not going to fool the public.","speaker_name":"MARTIN MEEHAN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2043,"word_count":33}
{"speech_id":1090127503,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. corruption is rampant in Washington. and we are now in the fifth month of this congressional session. About the only action these Republicans have taken is to enact a harsh punishment. Yes. they have enacted a punishment on all of the fat cats. They have said that lawmakersturnedlobbyists can no longer use the House gym. Apparently. the thinking here is that fat cats will no longer be entitled to skinny lobbyists. Where the real sweating has actually taken place in these five months. where the real heavy lifting has occurred. is by Republicans who have been in a continual workout to create the impression they were doing something while actually changing nothing about the way this House operates. It was as if the idea was to have a press conference and give a few speeches and not expect anything to happen because that press conference announcing their legislation was the highwater mark. After that. as to each provision of the bill it was the weak getting weaker at every stage of this process. How do you measure the cost of corruption to the American people that is occurring here? The cost is reflected in the experience that our seniors (and those who are helping them) are having right now with the prescription drug bill written for pharmaceutical manufacturers instead of the people that needed the help. ","speaker_name":"LLOYD DOGGETT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2061,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090127505,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The chairman of the Rules Committee was quoted as saying that the adoption of the reform package \"would. get this.\" meaning the repeated instances of rules violations and criminal conduct. \"behind us.\" The adoption of this bill or any bill will not do that Only honest. ethical. principled behavior over a period of time will do that. But a strong reform package would have been a start. Sadly. that has not been an option before us today. It does not diminish our moral responsibility. however. to demand and ensure ethical and honest behavior by all of us. not an endless political game of cross claims and allegations. but by an Ethics Committee that does not shun its responsibilities and sit moribund in the face of scandal after scandal. The people expect more of us. We should give it to them. It may be fitting that this dolessthanthedonothing. Congress of 1948 Republican Congress is forcing Members to vote on this doalmostnothing bill. The American people see right through this ruse. ","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3293,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090127507,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I commend the leadership for bringing this bill forward. We can beat up on lobbyists all day long. It is an easy thing to do. There has been a lot of it going on. and. .in the end. it is neither here nor there. in my view. What is important is what we do to reform this institution and our own behavior. Part of our behavior that needs reforming is earmarks. Over the past 10 years. we have seen earmarks explode from some 2.000 in all appropriations bills to more than 15.000 today. That is simply. simply unacceptable. ","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1156,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090127515,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The fundamental issue for the American people is what it is costing them every day because we dont have better rules to shine the light on 4obbyists. And we should look at the current gas prices right now. This institution and the President has signed now two bills in the last several years on en-. ergy. Both were said to be a big provision to reduce the price of gas. Well. we all know what a sham those bills were. What one of those bills did was create billions of dollars of subsidies to the oil and gas industry at a time that industry has experienced record profits and people are seeing high prices at the pump. We heard the other day this BandAid proposal from the Republican Senate. $100 rebate. What the American people are looking for is not chump change. They are looking for real change in the process in Washington so that we can change this country and take it in the right direction.","speaker_name":"CHRIS VAN HOLLEN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2745,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090127526,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Confident that the ring was indeed magical. he contrived to be chosen as a messenger sent to the court. Once there. he used his invisibility power to seduce the queen. kill the king and take the kingdom. Glaucons story suggests that when individuals are invisible---i.e.. in a democracy out of sight of their constituentsit is difficult to resist enticement and act virtuously. The current Congressional scandals suggest that some actors may have thought they had gotten hold of Gyges ring. That is why it is so important that new rules be applied to the political process. Transparency matters. but so do the rules that apply to conflicts of interest. many of which in. the current system are quite legal. What this body is considering today is a bandaid when surgery is required. We need to end political action committees and go to a system of small donations matched by federal funds. The public wants less expensive. less conflicted. less divisive politics. Public service. not political partisanship should be the goal. ","speaker_name":"JAMES LEACH","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5483,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090127544,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the public outrage over the Jack Abramoff scandal presented Congress with an opportunity to support real reform by addressing the root cause of the corruption: the amount of money and power located in Washington. D.C. A true reform agenda would focus on ending federal funding for unconstitutional programs. beginning with those programs that benefit wealthy corporations and powerful special interests. Congress should also change the way we do business in the House by passing the Sunlight Rule (H. Res. 709). The Sunlight Rule ensures that members of the House of Representatives and the American public have adequate time to read and study legislation before it is voted upon. Ending the practice of rushing major legislation to the House floor before members have had a chance to find out the details of bills will do more to improve the legislative process and restore public confidence in this institution than will imposing new registration requirements on lobbyists or making staffers waste their timeat an \"ethics class.\" I am disappointed. but not surprised. to see that Congress is failing to go after the root cause of corruption. Instead. we are considering placing further burdens on the peoples exercise of their free speech rights. H.R. 4975 will not deter corrupt lobbyists. staffers. or members. ","speaker_name":"RONALD PAUL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4894,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090127568,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The first violation would be up to $100.000. second up to $250.000. third up to $500.000. and thefourth up to $1 million. That gives all the incentive anybody needs to make sure they file prbperly. Those are extremely high fines. the highest I have ever heard of. but I put them there to give people a degree of comfort that there would be sufficient penalty for failing to comply with the requirements. Now. what has come into play here is pure politics. On one side. people want to feel like. gee. we want to show that we are being tough. even though innocent people down the road will be hurt. and when that happens. \"I told you so\" will not be adequate to me because my heart will go out to people that are hurt unnecessarily. I understand the Democrats are going to stand up and oppose this. And when their Members are taken out in handcuffs because of this bill. if it passes with criminal sanctions. when their people are carried out in handcuffs. they will look to them and say. You know what. we probably should not have criminalized that because that gave a prosecutor what they wanted. I am just asking for a bipartisan way to handle this. ","speaker_name":"LOUIE GOHMERT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2397,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090127571,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think that is the due process protection that we generally rely on in our great country. I would just note in concluding that recently a Roll Call editorial described this bill as. \"This bill all but shouts to voters that the GOP is not serious about reform and that it values its ties to K Street more than the publics trust.\" I would say that the gentlemans amendment is an elevation of that concern for K Street that this House should reject rather soundly. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"ZOE LOFGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1586,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090127585,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank my friend for yielding. and I would like to. as I said a moment ago. support the amendment and say that I think this amendment is evidence of a strong bipartisan commitment to our dealing with the issue of reform. Accountability is what this measure is all about. and MIKE CASTLE is someone who has demonstrated a very strong commitment to increased accountability. transparency and disclosure. And when we look at the issue of gifts. heretofore the responsibility has simply fallen on the shoulders of Members of Congress. We believe that when those who are out there are trying to shower gifts onto Members. that they in fact should have some responsibility. That is exactly what the CastleGerlach amendment is getting at. I think it is a very good and very helpful addition to the legislation. and I would also like to join in congratulating Mr. GERLACH. who also is a very strongly committed reformer for this institution.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":948,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090127591,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"fornia. Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. This is one of those bipartisan moments in our consideration of a lobbying reform bill. Congressman GEORGE MILLER. Congressman HOWARD BERMAN. TOM COLE. Doc HASTINGS have joined me as cosponsors of this amendment. and Congressman JEFF FLAKE worked with us in crafting this proposal. Mr. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL LUNGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":465,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090127593,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Members of this body. and I ask for support of this amendment.","speaker_name":"DANIEL LUNGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1155,"word_count":12}
{"speech_id":1090127621,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank my friend for yielding. and I rise in strong support of this amendment. Once again. we are demonstrating a very strong bipartisan commitment to dealing with the issue of institutional reform. Mr. SODREL has come forward with a very creative and thoughtful idea to enhance our goal of accountability. and he is doing it in a bipartisan way by getting our Rules Committee colleague. the gentleman from Massachusetts . to join as a cosponsor. as well as the gentleman from Kentucky . I think that fs a brilliant move on his part. and I think it will strengthen this piece of legislation as we aspire to the goals of once again creating a higher. level of respect by the American people and is necessary for this great institution. I congratulate the gentleman from Indiana","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":791,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090127623,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Chairman. let me close quickly by saying that we were elected to this body to serve our constituents to the best of our ability. The voters believe we had the character to represent them. and we take that trust seriously. I think this amendment. demonstrates our commitment. I urge the adoption of this amendment. Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL SODREL","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":421,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090127636,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I will support this amendment. I dont. frankly. know that this has ever been an issue that I have heard of or seen in the press that someone has converted a leadership PAC to personal use. It shouldnt happen and. therefore. I dont have a problem supporting the amendment. To the extent that it is difficult for the FEC to make a judgment call on what is personal use and what is not. this doesnt compound it because they already have to make that judgment when it comes to reelection PACs. I would just note that. like the rest of the bill before us. this is okay. but it really doesnt accomplish the real problem solving that the country is crying out for. I dont think that any of our Members on this side of the aisle oppose. but even approving this will not clean up the ethics swamp that the country is so very concerned about. ","speaker_name":"ZOE LOFGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":937,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090127722,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida . a member of the Rules Committee.","speaker_name":"PETE SESSIONS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":891,"word_count":16}
{"speech_id":1090127730,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this rule does not make in order an amendment that was defeated 1816 on a practically partyline vote and is the key difference. and it is why this rule ought to be defeated. The gentleman from New York says a riskbased strategy. Why should we risk the lives of millions of people by assuming that we know which container will contain the atomic bomb or the radiological bomb? We dont know that. We cant know that. The only safety we can have is to inspect 100 percent of the containers. not in New York but in Hong Kong. before they are put on a ship bound for the United States. That is the essence of the amendment. the NadlerMarkey amendment that the Republicans wont accept and wont permit us to debate on the floor. They say the technology doesnt exist. The technology most certainly exists. It is done in Hong Kong today.","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":840,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090127731,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"spoke about a company in his district that wants to sell the tamperproof seals that will tell us if the container. once scanned. is tampered with. But the Department of Homeland Security is not interested. This bill contains a study. an amendment by Ms. GINNY BROWNWAITE that the Department of Homeland Security should study whether it is feasible to have 100 percent scanning. We passed that amendment on this floor 2 years ago. It was the. Nadler amendment. It is in the law. It said they should report back in 90 days. 90 days from 2 years ago. They havent bothered reporting back. because they are not interested in this. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2034,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090127734,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"to try and respond to a true challenge that we have before us. and that is the challenge of terrorists attempting to do harm to our country by going through our ports. The very nature of our ports. the very genius of our ports. which is the justintime delivery. the inventory that is basically carried on ships these days. instead of stationary in large buildings on land. the very easy transfer of them from ships to trucks to be able to get into the middle of our country within the shortest period of time. times that would have been unimaginable just years ago. that very ingenuity. that creativity. also creates the vulnerability. It is true that. following 9\/11. we focused. not exclusively but more than any other area. on our aviation system. Now we have an opportunity to try and put a greater emphasis on security for our ports. I was gone from this place for 16 years. 9\/11 was the event that compelled me to return. I grew up in the shadows of one of the great harbors of this country. Long Beach. I worked there one summer when I was in college. [] 1815 I have been able to see the tremendous growth and the change in the way our ports operate. I am proud of our ports. I would do nothing. ","speaker_name":"LORETTA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":47.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3506,"word_count":224}
{"speech_id":1090127749,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would like to advise the gentleman from Florida that the majority does not have any additional speakers at this time and that I would welcome any opportunity that he would have to utilize his time up with the knowledge that I then would close as appropriate.","speaker_name":"PETE SESSIONS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":273,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090127761,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Also. this bill requires the Department of Homeland Security Secretary to employ standards for sealing all containers entering the Unites States within two years of enactment. It also requires the Secretary to deploy nuclear and radiological detection systems at 22 U.S. seaports by the end of fiscal year 2007. These are good ways to ensure port security. and there are many more included in the bill. I thank Chairman KING of Iowa. Chairman DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. and ranking member HARMAN for their work on muchneeded legislation. and urge my colleagues to support the Rule.","speaker_name":"LAMAR SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1437,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090127779,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Demoto finance our Federal deficit and.: crats believe it is time to govern for charge the American people more at the 99 percent of Americans that the the pumps. Republicans have simply forgotten. It Now. for Big Oil. too much is not is time to stop Big Oil from cooking its enough. That is all fine and good with books and frying the American people this Republican- leadership in the in the process. It is time we supersize renewable resources like wind -and s6ar. It is time energy independence -became a national policy. not a national advertising campaign by Big Oil paid for by the American people. We can *start now. We can pass this motion to instruct. We need to restore rational fiscal policy. The $5 billion would give us some money to do some of that and not endorse reckless financial tax holidays for Big Oil. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3626,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090127782,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Moreover. U.S. drivers are now paying about 14 percent more to fill their tanks than a year ago. The energy bill passed by this Congress last year was a multibillion dollar giveaway to big oil companies. It picked the pockets of the American people and helped line the pockets of Big Oil. Those taxpayer funded special breaks for Big Oil could have much better been used for funding alternative fuels and getting us weaned off our dependence on foreign fossil fuels. Despite the failure of this policy. the Republican tax bill gives even more to the big oil companies. It is time we stopped subsidizing the big oil companies who have made not just record profits but the biggest profits in the history of the world. This is why I rise in strong support of the motion to instruct. and I commend my colleague.","speaker_name":"RUSS CARNAHAN","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1592,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090127790,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Augie & Rays is a little diner in my hometown of East Hartford. I go there frequently. and I have an opportunity to meet with people that are baffled by what is going on here in the United States Congress but surely astounded by the greed that exists in corporate America. especially as it relates to energy prices. These are people. regular people. in the Northeast who have seen their moneys cut for low energy assistance to heat their homes. These are people that are paying huge prices at the gas pump that is chewing up all of the profits that a small businessman makes. and they are wondering aloud what the United States Congress is going to do about it. So the President of the United States. a Republican. and the Republicancontrolled Senate call for this rollback that is modest at best. and yet our colleagues on the other side of the aisle persist in saying. oh. no. this is muchneeded relief for oil companies that receive tax cuts on top of recordbreaking profits. while we cut assistance to the poor. People that have to make a decision between the food that they eat. heating and cooling their homes. and the prescription drugs that their doctors tell them to take want relief from their government. We have already made them refugees from their own health care system by sending them to Canada to get the kind of prices on their prescription drugs that they can afford. and now we are squeezing the middle class throughout the Northeast and senior citizens who have nowhere else to turn. This is a modest. modest proposal that Mr. McDERMOTT submitted last week and I submit this week. that the Republicancontrolled Senate has already passed. We implore you to embrace this straightforward rollback in a time when -oil companies and their executives have made unprecedented profits so that we can provide basic relief to American citizens. ","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2794,"word_count":322}
{"speech_id":1090127802,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Pension Protection Act applies executive compensation limitations to a wider scope of executives who may currently have access to these golden parachutes. executives who are directly responsible for the wellbeing of both the company and the plan. while the Democrat motion would place restrictions on only a chosen few in each corpany. So if we are truly looking for good policy and not just politics. this motion to instruct represents a significant step backward. Here is what the Pension Protection Act will do: it establishes strong. new protections that restrict the funding of executive compensation arrangements. either directly or indirectly. if an employer has a severely underfunded plan funded at 60 percent or less. Moreover. the bill requires plans that become subject to these limitations to notify affected workers and retirees. In addition to letting workers know about the limits. this notice must alert workers when funding levels deteriorate and benefits already earned are ineopardy. So beyond simply tightening the grip on excessive executive compensation. the Pension Protection Act will require that workers\" are provided more information than ever before about the status of their hardearned pensions. Mr. Speaker. simply put. when the risk of losing pension benefits is imminent for rankandfile workers. the Pension Protection Act requires executives to also experience the same risk. contains strong. new protections for workers. retirees and taxpayers. and it includes limitations on antiworker executive compensation arrangemients. I urge my colleagues to vote \"no\" on the motion to instruct and reject this attempt to obscure progress on the pension reform. Mr. ","speaker_name":"HOWARD MCKEON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5211,"word_count":258}
{"speech_id":1090127870,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I have always respected your Tecord and valued your opinion. Dont let the country be sold out to whining liberals who are afraid of what illegal aliens may think of them. Who cares what they think? Go after companies that employ them illegally. enforce the law. preserve the American way of life.\" Robert Arnold in Atascocita. Texas. writes: \"It is amazing to see so many people mock our government while breaking the American law. As a citizen. as a veteran. I would like to know what plan is on the drawing board to stop the inflow of illegal activities at the borders. At the very least. make those people pay taxes. I dont even care about the $3 a gallon gasoline. but work to get this immigration issue under control.\" Zine Strong of Humble. Texas. writes: \"I am appalled at what is happening in our country where it appears that illegal immigrants have more rights than American citizens. I see daily on television the plight of those who live at the border. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10100,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090127874,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. and they are identical to those in CAFTA. The administration has changed nothing. absolutely nothing at all. I So. Mr. Speaker. again I need to say that there is a message we need to send to the President. The message is very simple: No on the CAFTA model. no to inadequate labor protections. and no to the Oman and Peru agreements. If you want to protect workers rights. if you stand for labor protection. if you want to halt job losses in this country. then say no to the CAFTA model. say no to inadequate labor protection. and say no to the Oman and Peru agreements.","speaker_name":"LINDA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":39.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1200,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090127904,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"DELAHUNT at this time.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3459,"word_count":4}
{"speech_id":1090127907,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But. Mr. RYAN. they are in charge here. They have to muster up the votes. Where were they? With all due respect to my friend from Ohio. they are in charge of the border. They are in charge of immigration. They are in charge. period. And what have they done? They have failed.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":275,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090127923,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So we go and we borrow the money from foreign central banks. from foreign investors. to buy off the American voter at $100 per. because the American people are angry as a result of the Republican energy policy that has created a potential disaster for our economy. E 2345","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":271,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090127937,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me just add another illustration. What it comes down to is that let me go back to the Medicare reform issue. the socalled prescription drug. just to remind our colleagues and the American people that there was no consultation with Democrats about the prescription drug benefit. In fact. there was a socalled conference committee that should have brought Democrats and Republicans together to discuss the proposal. but Republicans in this House chose not to even inform the Democrats on that committee where the conference committee was meeting. They were shut out. They were shut out on that. They are shut out on energy. They are shut out on consultations in terms of the war. what led up to the war. I mean. this is a problem of our institutions being eroded because of the proclivity of this administration and this Republican Congress to operate behind closed doors and keep out the bad news from the American people and other important policymakers in our government in our democracy.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":993,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090128042,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Protect me. my family and the good people of Texas by strengthening the Border Patrol. Also. be more stringent on the INS to be vigilant in maintaining order in the influx of outsiders that are coming to this country.\" Madam Speaker. this high school senior has it right. Secure theborders or America will suffer. And thats just the way it is.","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1525,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090128049,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We also increase the number of inspectors by 1.200. All of these are part of the layered response and the layered system of defense that we needto significantly and dramatically upgrade the level of protection in our ports. This is a bill which I believe warrants the support of the entire House. It passed out of the subcommittee unanimously. and it passed out of the full committee by a vote of 290. and I will be urging its adoption today. Madam Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"LORETTA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":47.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2597,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090128051,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"for their hard work on this bill and on port security in general. Many provisions in this bill came from legislation they have introduced over the last 2 years. and for that I thank them. They have been leaders on this issue. and we need to give them credit before -we discuss the full ramifications of this bill. Madam Chairman. this bill represents an important step toward improving our port security. but it is only a step. We need to do more to get it right. I could talk about the good things in the bill: but with this limited time. I would like to focus on what is not in the bill. These are the things that are going to keep us up at night after todays votes are over. Yesterday during Rules. it was said by folks on the other side that we need to look at where threats exist and do something that makes us a little safer. \"A little safer\" is simply not good enough after 9\/11. and the threats left undone by this bill are significant. . ","speaker_name":"JANE HARMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":36.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2891,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090128057,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"fornia. Madam Chairman. I thank Mr. THOMPSON for yielding me the time. and I would like to thank Chairman KING and you and also Chairman LUNGREN for working with me and the other members of the Committee on Homeland Security to develop this SAFE Port Act. to move it through the committee. and to bring it to the floor in a very bipartisan manner. It shows that we can accomplish many things when we work together. I am an original cosponsor of H.R. 4954. the SAFE Port Act. a product of years of work on the issue of port security. and I am proud that many of the important reforms that were originally in the SECURE Coast Act that I introduced in the 108th Congress are in this legislation that we are considering today.","speaker_name":"LORETTA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":47.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":722,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090128066,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The bill also contains provisions which would help track and protect containers on the way to our shores. The bill also establishes a new Directorate for Policy. Planning and International Affairs at DHS. This provision. which is a product of my subcommittee. implements one of the findings of Secretary Chertoffs toptobottom review. In particular. the new Directorate would. A. review all departmental cargo. security programs. policies and initiatives. B. develop departmentwide cargo security policies. and. C. coordinate departmental cargo security programs with other Federal departments and agencies. H2111 Madam Chairman. port security is especially critical in my home State of Alabama. where the Port of Mobile has an economic impact of at least $3 billion per year on my State. It is the 12th busiest port in the U.S. and employs more than 118.000 Alabamians. ","speaker_name":"MIKE ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1786,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090128077,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. I thank my friend for yielding. I rise in support of H.R. 4954. the Security and Accountability for Every Port Act.Let me commend the sponsors for their hard work: Representative HARMAN. Representative DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. Representative LORETTA SANCHEZ. ranking member. and the chairman for their foresight in the drafting of this piece of bipartisan port security legislation. Although it is a good start. this bill -does not go nearly far enough to protect our ports. I am very disappointed that the leadership has denied the American people the opportunity to debate and vote on an amendment that requires the scanning of 100 percent of the containers entering this country. This outrageous highhandedness by the Republican leadership endangers Americans by continuing the winkandnod approach of container inspection. I will vote for H.R. 4954 because it makes modest progress toward safer ports in America. ","speaker_name":"BOB ETHERIDGE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1330,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090128080,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. I thank the chairman for yielding. Madam Chairman. as a member of the Homeland Security Committee and cosponsor of H.R. 4954. the SAFE Port Act. I am pleased to rise in support of this bipartisan legislation. My district is home to two of our Nations most critical seaports. the ports of Seattle and Tacoma. Ensuring their security is one of my highest priorities.","speaker_name":"DAVID REICHERT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":380,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090128098,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I guarantee it will happen in the very near future. But what we have done here under this bill is try to make the- right step forward. a good step forward. and to accomplish I believe what is correct. that is. eventually total security for our ports. I have some concern in the bill. and I have expressed to Mr. LUNGREN and","speaker_name":"DON YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1906,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090128120,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. as a cosponsor of H.R. 4954. I rise today to express my support for the security improvements that -this measure would require. In particular. this bill would require the Department of Homeland Security to develop a strategic plan toresume trade in the event of some type of terrorist attack that disrupted international shipping to the United States. In addition to providing for national planning. this measure would also strengthen the Coast Guards oversight of port facility security plans by requiring the Coast Guard to verify the effectiveness of each ports plan at least twice each year. Further. this measure would significantly increase funding for the federal grantsthat ports use to meet federal requirements for physical security on terminals. including perimeter security. Since 9\/11. more than $20 billion in federal funding has been directed to aviation security while just over $630 million has been directed to pQrt security. I am therefore pleased that H.R. 4954 would also increase the funding for port security grants by $200 million per year. Unfortunately. despite the improvements it would make. H.R. 4954 does not do all that could or should be done at this point to increase security at our ports. ","speaker_name":"ELIJAH CUMMINGS","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2567,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090128121,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As trade with Asia continues to grow. west coast ports. like the Port of Tacoma. are playing an ever larger role. I am proud to have the Port of Tacoma located in my district. It is the nations sixth largest port by cargo container volume. it handled over 2.1 million containers last year and continues to be a major economic engine in the South Sound region. In addition to its growing capacity. the Port of Tacoma is also one of the nations strategic military ports. helping to transport Fort Lewisrelated cargo overseas in support of our troops. .1 commend the Port of Tacoma for taking the necessary steps to tighten facility security and continue to serve the vital role in the national homeland security efforts. With the -Port of Seattle to the north and the Port of Olympia to the south. the Port of Tacoma works collaboratively with its sister ports and takes a regional approach to improve the security in and around the facilities. In fact. the Port of Tacoma and Port of Seattle worked together in Operation Safe Commerce. a federal program designed to- create the knowledge base required for international standards for containerized shipping. Both ports are actively working with private and public entities to identify supply chain vulnerabilities and develop improved methods and technologies to ensure the security of cargo entering and leaving the United States. Many lessons were learned in working with manufacturing and shipping partners and this knowledge will help us improve our efficiency while protecting our citizens and critical infrastructure. I am pleased to see that additional funds are available in this legislation to continue this important program.","speaker_name":"ADAM SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2619,"word_count":275}
{"speech_id":1090128124,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today to address the ongoing debate of whether our port system can accommodate 100 percent screening of shipping containers headed through United States ports. The case for 100 percent screening is not hard to make. Approximately 95 percent of our nations trade. worth nearly $1 trillion. enters or leaves through our seaports. Foreign vessels carry the bulk of the approximately 800 million tons of goods that come into our country. In fiscal year 2005 alone. more than 11 million containers arrived on American soil by sea. and this number is growing at a rate of over 10 percent a year. Given this enormous amount of traffic the need to ensure our nations security is considerable. Any assertion that technology does not exist to screen 100 percent of the cargo coming to the United States is simply incorrect. For several years. innovative small businesses have been busy improving upon existing technology. ","speaker_name":"TOM UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2783,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090128125,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. as a member of the House Armed Services Committee and a representative of a coastal district in South Texas. I rise in support of the SAFE Port Act. I also want to make a particular point today. This Congress has promised all manner of border security and p~rt security to the tune of billions of dollars . . . yet we haveto datefunded our promises for port security at only $900 million. Thats quite a distance between what we say and what we actually do. Im for the bill before us today. but more than that. I am for actually spending the bills $7.4 billion for port and cargo security programs. Many members. including myself. are disappointed that the bill did not contain language to have 100% of port cargo screened. I will support the amendment to add the requirement to screen 100% of port cargo. ","speaker_name":"SOLOMON ORTIZ","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":27.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2995,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090128130,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I have discussed this issue with the ranking member. Mr. THOMIPSON. and it is important to note today. as we consider the SAFE Port Act. that the Committee on Homeland Security is concerned that the list of criminal offenses that will initially disqualify a worker from holding a maritime transportation security card includes vague and overly broad crimes. The proposed list of disqualifying offenses appears to go significantly beyond the already existing mandate of exclusion and we hope that TSA and the Coast Guard. as it finalizes its rules. will narrow and limit the list of disqualifying criminal offenses to more accurately identify individuals that pose a terrorism security risk and who are therefore unworthy to hold a maritime transportation security card.","speaker_name":"PETER KING","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":783,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090128145,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman from Mississippi. the ranking member. for yielding. and I rise in support.of H.R. 4954 but to raise some concerns about this amendment. I also want to thank him and the chairman of the Homeland Security Cornmittee. Chairman King. for their support of two amendments that I proposed during consideration of this bill in the committee: One. the establishment of a border patrol unit for the Virgin Islands. and the other.-a study for the impact of the Advanced Passenger Information System on the owners and operators of small charter boats in the Virgin Islands. which are very important to my constituents and to me. While I am pleased that these two amendments continue to be in the base bill. I am very disappointed that the third amendment that I offered was *removed from it by the Rules Committee and not in the managers amendment. even though it was approved by the Homeland Security Committee by a voice vote. L] 1145 This amendment to authorize an additional $1.8 billion to accelerate funding for the Coast Guards integrated Deepwater program was unfortunately not made in order under the rule. This program was designed to replace the Coast Guards aging fleet of cutters and aircraft and enable them to operate with the speed and agility required to protect our ports from terrorist attacks as well as better perform their other missions. Accelerating Deepwater would also strengthen the Coast Guards Homeland Security mission by giving those cutters and aircrafters the surveillance capability needed to detect and intercept suspicious vessels before they reach our shores and harm us. ","speaker_name":"DONNA CHRISTENSEN","chamber":"H","state":"VI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":2910,"word_count":268}
{"speech_id":1090128179,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Project Seahawk has proven to be a tremendous success. and has helped eliminate the turf wars between the many Federal. State. and local officials that have jurisdiction over port security. I strongly encourage my fellow colleagues to vote in favor of this amendment sponsored by the gentleman from Maryland. I believe that by incorporating security command centers as part of a broader port security policy. we will have a strong plan for the future of how we secure our Nations ports.","speaker_name":"HENRY BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1182,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090128197,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"To my knowledge. the Department of Homeland Security has focused on detection devices that are large. expensive. use a large amount of energy. and cannot easily be placed in or on a shipping container. These technologies may work. but it may not be easy for them to be used. and it may not be possible to procure enough of these types of devices to examine shipping containers headed into our ports. That is why we need to review emerging technology. including portable devices. I know this type of technology exists because Kansas State University in my district is doing some exciting research in this area. In fact. they have developed nuclear detection devices that are the size of a dime which they believe they cah produce for about $20 each. These types of devices are easily placed in shipping containers. and can be used to detect nuclear material before it enters any port. For this reason. it is prudent to ask the Secretary to thoroughly review this type of technology. We all know that rogue nations and terrorist cells may try at some point in the future to send nuclear materials to our shores. In fact. Irans pursuit of nuclear materials makes the need to secure our shipping containers even more urgent. ","speaker_name":"JIM RYUN","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2206,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090128225,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Chairman. I support this amendment. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"BENNIE THOMPSON","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1067,"word_count":15}
{"speech_id":1090128230,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank both the subcommittee Chair and ranking member for taking care of this matter for me as I was trying to get here from a committee as we are dealing with high fuel prices. energy prices. gas prices. I just did not make it in time. but I appreciate the assistance of the ranking member and chairman. Mr. Chairman. I rise to offer an amendment that would add to the Congresss efforts to strengthen communications interoperability.","speaker_name":"BART STUPAK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":449,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090128240,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the chairman for yielding. Mr. Chairman. I thank Mr. SHAYS for offering his amendment. and I support his efforts to enhance our Nations ability to detect the movement of illicit nuclear material at foreign ports before it reaches the United States. Also. like the gentleman. I believe in testing and validating a detection systems performance before we fund a largescale deployment. as a great deal of money can be wasted on systems that do not work as advertised. I believe the gentlemans amendment could be improved if we. stipulate that the technology tested in the pilot program goes beyond that which has been used in the ICIS program in Hong Kong. ","speaker_name":"JOHN LINDER","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1292,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090128246,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"amendment. This at least moves .us forward. It is unfortunate that we have to take baby steps rather than giant steps. But for the sake of moving forward. we support the amendment. and I compliment the gentleman from Connecticut for offering the amendment.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SHAYS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":256,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090128247,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I know that this technology is said to have limitations. but a thorough operational test by independent evaluators will enable us to look at it much more objectively. So with that. I strongly urge the adoption of the gentlemans amendment. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"PETER KING","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":932,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090128279,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"While I generally support this amendment and am willing to accept it. I do have a few reservations. I have concerns that this amendment could potentially divert funds and training away from ports in favor of establishing an ad hoc citizen corps. No determination has been made that developing a citizen- corps would be a more effective use of resources. Moreover. unlike the port personnel. a proposed citizen corps would not be a fulltime service but only a usedasnecessary service. The amendment lends no guidance as to the level of training that would be necessary. the function of the citizens corps or the circumstances under which a citizens corps would be necessary. While I believe port authorities should undoubtedly perform outreach to affected neighborhoods. where appropriate. I am concerned about the amendment that requires the training of citizens at the expense of most crucial training for port personnel. In addition. local law enforcement are currently responsible for conducting outreach plans and for training and educating local businesses and communities around our Nations ports. While local law enforcement currently work in coordination with our ports. this amendment would take some authority away. ","speaker_name":"DAVID REICHERT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2545,"word_count":191}
{"speech_id":1090128283,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I look forward to working with the gentlewoman. and certainly agree we need a seamless operation when it comes to protecting this Nations borders and ports. I think the training and exercises in and around our port areas. including our communities. is essential to the protection and the safety of the citizens that live there. and again look forward to working with you and appreciate you offering this amendment.","speaker_name":"DAVID REICHERT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":428,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090128303,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. in response to that. the Long Beach Port received $24.2 million. I believe. the following year from the Federal Government. This is in addition to the moneys that they receive by charging a fee on shipping. The money that the Federal Government pays is minuscule compared to that amount that comes charged. by fee. What this amendment is about is saying that as the President has said. as the White House has said. let us target our homeland security money where it is actually needed. When we continue to dole out money. these kinds of grants. the kind of formula grants that we have. we continue to see the money spent in ways like buying fitness facilities for fire departments or whatever else. We simply have higher priorities. And heaven knows. we have got a tight budget and we ought to prioritize here. ED 1315 Madam Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":884,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090128316,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"fornia. Madam Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Aside from the risk reduction score that CTPAT companies get without us verifying what they do and what they said they would do. there are a whole lot of a series of other positives they get. They do not sit in line for secondary inspections. That means they are not idling and wasting their gas. et cetera. They get a lot. but the risk reduction to the score I believe is too much. Yes. we have a layered approach. We do not have a 100 percent look at what is in those containers. So we should make sure that each layer .is done to the best of our ability. and we can do that by making this small change. ","speaker_name":"LORETTA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":47.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1251,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090128332,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is not a partisan issue. unless you choose to make it so by voting \"no.\" They say the technology doesnt exist. The technology most certainly does exist. It is installed right now in Hong Kong. The technology is installed in Hong Kong now. except that the results of those scans are stored on disks because no one at the Department of Homeland Security can be bothered to read them. The people who say we cant do this are the same people that told us 2 years ago that we couldnt get a bill of lading for every container 24 hours in advance. the same people who told us that if we searched every passenger. the airports would be gridlocked. the planes would never take off. Scanning every container is feasible. it is relatively cheap. and it will not delay global commerce. If we continue to rely solely on socalled riskbased strategy. the terrorists will simply put the atomic bomb in a lowrisk container from WalMart. The real risk is that a good company will have a container with sneakers on a truck in Ipdonesia. On the way to a port. the driver will stop for lunch. and while he is at lunch terrorists will take out some sneakers and put in a bomb. And the bill of lading will be fine. ","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2641,"word_count":222}
{"speech_id":1090128337,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It said. nice idea. but not very feasible with current technology. Eleven million containers are shipped to the U.S. ports each year. Of those. U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel physically screen. that means inspect. only about 6 percent. or 660.000. It is a noble impulse. but. as a practical matter. it cant be accomplished right now. said Jack Riley. Homeland Security expert with Rand. The key to being able to carry this out in the future is better equipment that scans faster. That is what our bill does. It asks us to accelerate our investigation into new technology. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL LUNGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1807,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090128356,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. when a Member of the minority party offers a motion to recommit on a bill and the Speaker asks the Member if they are opposed to the bill and the Member announces to the House that they are opposed to the bill and then votes for the bill oh final passage. is that a violation of the rules?","speaker_name":"RAY LAHOOD","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":302,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090128388,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman. I am glad. I did not know that the principals had met. I know you and I had had a discussion previously about the conference meeting with all of the conferees present. or at least both sides present. both the Democratic side and the Republican side. the majority side present as well. We hope that occurs. The leader said that would occur. We appreciate that. Clearly you and I in particular. and I know you in particular. are very concerned about the pension conference. You have spent a lot of time working on that piece of legislation. know it well. Clearly many. many people in America. many businesses. many individuals are very focused on that. are very concerned about the status of their pensions. ","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":812,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090128394,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I believe we should follow the rules. I have no doubt that the gentleman from Maryland. who is a man of the House and understands the rules. would want us to abide by the rules. I will be happy to yield.","speaker_name":"RAY LAHOOD","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1479,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090128396,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. my final point is this: when I raise this point of order. in no way do I impugn the motives of any Member. I have respect for every Member here. and I think Members know that. And I do. They are freely elected. They can come to the floor. My point is. we have rules. We should abide by them. When we dont. I am going to raise a point. ","speaker_name":"RAY LAHOOD","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":366,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090128425,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. from the beginning of this country. there has always been some confusion or at least debate over what is the role of the Federal Government visavis the State government. It was President Andrew Jackson who actually derailed the Mayes Bill Road. claiming that it was wrong for the Federal Government to actually spend Federal dollars on road projects. In the postCivil War time is when the Federal Government started giving more and more grants to States. especially for land grant colleges. which is why so many schools have Aggies. especially in the West. But it was in the 1960s when the Federal Government significantly increased the kinds of programs and the amount of money that was given to cashstarved States. and we ramped up ever since that time with more and more funds and more and more money that have been given to States. Now. I was a State legislator and I understand the problems with the process if you are trying to establish a budget by the State with a four- or five- or sixtoone match. so the States can put a dollar in. and they will get $4 or $5 or $6. even in some cases $10. of Federal money back. States could easily provide services without having to raise State tax money at the same time. It is an easy thing to do. However. once that situation took place and the States accepted the Federal money. then the requirements came in. ","speaker_name":"ROB BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4934,"word_count":246}
{"speech_id":1090128431,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"When we the people of Texas created the Republic of Texas. we only agreed in the creation of the Republic of Texas in our constitution to give the Republic of Texas maybe that much power and reserve the rest to we the people. When the Republic of Texas became a State at midnight December 29. 1845. and this is true of every other State in the Union. when Texas joined the Union in 1845. the State of Texas only agreed to give the Federal Government maybe about that much power. Very limited and specific. But as a result of the war between -the States. the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. the Radical Reconstruction Congress. the concentration of power in Washington. Congressmen who love to pass bills that are tough on crime and who want to protect the schools and the little children. and FDR and the New Deal. and judges like William Wayne Justice in Texas. who took over our\" prison system. all power today is concentrated in Washington. There is really very little. if anything. left in the States. and certainly we wonder how much individual freedom we have left. However. what Congress can take away by statute we can restore by statute. And there is so much Federal law governing the way our public schools work that these two books. Mr. Speaker. represent the two public education titles. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CULBERSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5110,"word_count":229}
{"speech_id":1090128470,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we have set aside the first hour for a period of morning business. After that time. there will be 20 minutes allocated to the chairman and the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee for their closing remarks on the emer*gency supplemental. We will then vote on the Thune amendment on VA medical facilities. to be followed by a vote on passage of the bill. $enators can expect those -votes to begin sometime around 11 oclock this morning. We are also working to clear some nominations that are on the Executive Calendar. including two district judges that will require rollcall votes this afternoon. I will have more to say on the schedule for this afternoon and tomorrow after discussions with the Democratic leader over the course of the morning.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":770,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090128487,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have an alternative. I salute him for coming to the Senate floor and pushing this forward. Why cant we get the same leadership from the Republican leader of the Senate when it comes to stem cell research? How can we have a National Health Care Week and not deal with medical research after we promised over a year to do so? I take a look at the people who came to that meeting in Chicago and remember so well a young man. a very young man in a wheelchair suffering from Lou Gehrigs disease. a handsome fellow with a beautiful young wife. He broke down in tears because he could barely speak. He was losing control of his body even as he sat there. telling me how critically important medical research was. Anyone who has seen a victim of Lou Gehrigs disease. whether it was the late Senator Jacob Javits of New York or. of course. the late Lou Gehrig himself. as we saw his baseball career come to an end. understands how devastating this can be. The only thing that keeps many going is the hope. the chance that a cure will be found. Where is that hope? Where is that cure? It is buried in the calendar of t~e Senate. It is buried in the dalendar of the Senate because the leadership will not call up stem cell research for a vote. Instead. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11087,"word_count":236}
{"speech_id":1090128491,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I come to the Senate floor to speak briefly about stem cell research and the hope it holds for millions of Americans in the years ahead. Hope is one of the qualities of spirit that make us human. Hope allows us to dream of a better life for our children. our community. and our world. especially for loved ones now suffering or in pain. Hope is what stem bell research holds for the parents of children with diabetes. who dream of a day when their constant fears for their childrens wellbeing are things of the past.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":537,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090128522,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I first thank very sincerely the distinguished Senator from West Virginia for his good help and assistance. his guidance and his leadership in the development and passage of this bill. We have been called upon. as he points out.. to provide emergency -supplemental funding for war costs. providing the Department of Defense and the Department of State with funding in -accounts that have been devoted to thatcause and that effort. It is very important to the protection of the security interests of the people of the United States. So this is an important measure we are taking up today and moving to final passage. Under the order that was entered last evening. there would be 10 minutes allocated to the Senator from West Virginia and to this Senator. and then there would be consecutive votes on or in relation to two amendments. one which is being offered by the Senator from South Dakota. Mr. THUNE. the other by the Senator from Louisiana.","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":960,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090128611,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. as we gather this morning. our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan need our support. families on the gulf coast need help rebuilding their lives. and communities all across this country need help moving forward. And now it is down to us. Will we provide that support? Will we provide that critical help? Or will we leave our troops unfunded. our gulf coast in ruins. and our communities stalled? This is the bill that determines whether we move forward as a country or whether we make it harder for our troops. for hurricane victims. and for American families to make progress. That is the choice before us. I am on the floor this morningas I have been all weeksaying we need to move our country forward by passing this emergency supplemental bill. I do Vant to address some of the concerns that have been raised about this bill. For years. this White House has been playing games to hide the cost of war. We know we have tremendous expenses in Iraq and Afghanistan. Everyone knows that. ","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7755,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090128663,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. last week I proposed an amendment to the supplemental appropriations bill that would provide relief to individuals facing an unfolding economic crisis along the Oregon and California coast. For the third consecutive year. the number of naturally spawning Klamath River Chinook salmon is expected to fall below the conservation floor called for in the fishery management plan. As a result. the Pacific Fishery Management Council undertook a careful review of the stock status as well as the economic needs of local communities. After conducting its review. the Council voted to recommend to the Secretary of Commerce the use of an emergency rule to allow for a severely restricted salmon season along 700 miles of the Oregon and California coast. Last week. Secretary Gutierrez approved the councils recommendation for an emergency rule. While this limited season is helpful. it will not be enough to sustain Oregons rural. fisherydependent economies. It is estimated that the impact to Oregon and California coastal communities could exceed $100 million. Many of the communities affected by these fishery restrictions are still recovering from the devastation caused by the collapse of the timber economy in 1990s. ","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1958,"word_count":191}
{"speech_id":1090128670,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am confident that the Smithsonians domestic efforts will be fully compatible with GAINS.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1575,"word_count":14}
{"speech_id":1090128671,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Smithsonian has agreed to provide the samples and the data it collects to United States agency partners without delay. In turn. we will count on the DOI. USDA. HHS. and any other agencies to negotiate the full coordination and integration of the Smithsonian domestic component. the GAINS network. and any other ongoing effort into a public database. This way we know samples will be stored and shared between governmental and nongovernmental organizations and that data will work with additional efforts in the future.","speaker_name":"RICHARD BURR","chamber":"S","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":522,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090128672,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am glad we agree that we should all work together. We cannot have efforts that are not collaborative and coordinated domestically and internationally. We will build on the GAINS infrastructure by boosting our domestic capacity through the Smithsonian Institute and ensuring all partners work together and share data in a compatible manner using the GAINS system.","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":364,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090128676,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Senator BROWNBACK and I thank the Senator from North Carolina for this. I personally thank you Senator BURR for working with us on this important issue. which I always say is the big bird in the room that few people are looking at. It always feels better to wrap our arms around problems on a bipartisan basis. The leadership of the Senator from North Carolina on this issue and in general is noticed and laudable.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":414,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090128685,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Senator from Utah is correct in that I was not able to offset the costs of the amendment as the funding in that title is very tight. I would ask my friend though if he is aware that there is a need in my State alone of over $30 million to combat and contain this invasive species that has destroyed virtually all of Southeast Michigans ash stock? -","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":352,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090128706,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Since last fall. my Committee held three oversight hearings on the Gulf Coast hurricane response and reconstruction efforts. Testimony at these hearings clearly established that small businesses have often been the victims of nobid reconstruction contracting. We received strong commitments from the Army Corps of Engineers. the Department of Homeland Security. and the Small Business Administration to work hard to remedy this problem. In response to the efforts of my committee and our counterpart committee in the House. positive results are already starting to show for -small contractors. As recently as March 31. 2006. the SBA and FEMA jointly announced 36 contracts valued at $3.6 billion which will be set aside for small and small disadvantaged businesses. aimed at maintenance and deactivation of roughly 150.000 housing units. Priority for award of these contracts would go to local businesses. Federal agencies are also beginning to award disaster relief contracts to small businesses located in Historically Underutilized Business Zones. HUBZones. as called for by the Office of Management and Budget Guidelines for Using Emergency Procurement Flexibilities. The Senate fully supported these efforts by unanimously passing amendment No. 3627 cosponsored by myself and Senators VIrrER. KERRY. ","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2442,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090128725,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that at 2:15 today. the Senate proceed to executive session for consideration en bloc of the following nominations: No. 617. Brian Cogan. to be U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of New York. No. 618. Thomas Golden. to be U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. I further asl consent that the following Senators then be recognized to speak: Senator SPECTER for 5 minutes. Senator LEAHY for 5 minutes. Senator SANTORUM for 5 minutes. Further. following the use or yielding back of time. the Senate proceed to votes on the confirmation of the nominations in the order listed above. provided that following the votes. the President be immediately notified of -the Senates action and the Senate resume legislative session.","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":789,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090128752,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Cogan possesses the qualifications to be an outstanding Federal judge. He had a hearing before the Judiciary Committee. which I chair. and we voted him out unanimously. Based on his record. I urge my colleagues to support his confirmation today. I thank the Chair and yield the floor.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":813,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090128788,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. first of all. I thank my colleague and friend from Vermont for his excellent statement and comments. I look forward to joining with him on the debate of that issue when we have a chance on Monday and Tuesday next. I share the disappointment of the Senator from Vermont that we will not have an opportunity to address the stem cell issue on the floor of the Senate. which can offer such extraordinary hope to so many families in this country. We are in the life science century. We have seen this enormous progress that has been made with the mapping of the human genome. with imaging. nanotechnologybreathtaking advancesand stem cell research offers a very similar kind of opportunity. We have legislation that is on the calendar that was approved in a bipartisan way in the House of Representatives. and it has been on the calendar now for about a year. I think most of us were heartened when we heard our majority leader indicate his general supporta change in positionhis general support for the items which are in the House bill that is on the calendar now before the Senate. Evidently. though. we will not have an opportunity next week to consider that stem cell bill. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1813,"word_count":209}
{"speech_id":1090128804,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Consider the following: All major physician liability carriers in Texas have cut their rates since the passage of the reforms. most by double digits. Texas physicians have seen their liability rates cut. on average. 13.5 percent. Roughly half of Texas doctors have seen their rates slashed a quarter. producing roughly $49 million in annualized premium savings for Texas physicians. Let me make clear. this is not just about saving doctors money. That is not what this is about. This is about patient access because when the costs of doing business go so high. doctors who have practiced a long time. who are nearing retirement. say: Do you know what.% I think I am going to retire early. Or when young. smart men and women are deciding what careers to pursueif they look at a career where the overhead costs of practicing their chosen profession are so high that the rate of return on this investment they have made will be so lowthey will decide to do something else. That is why we have had a lack of access to health care in my State and in this country and why this issue of liability insurance rates coming down is so important to the ultimate goal of increased access to good quality health care. In my $tate. since the reforms were passed. five carriers have announced doubledigit rate cuts. and recently Medical Protective. a company that writes medical liability insurance coverage. announced a 13percent rate cut in Februarytheir third announced rate cut within a span of 11 months. The largest underwriter. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11770,"word_count":260}
{"speech_id":1090128806,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am a frequent rider of the Acela Express between New Jersey and Washington. and I appreciate the service for the same reasons that many others do: it is efficient. it is comfortable. it is costeffective. and it is convenient. Most tellingly. the Acela Expresss operations do not require a subsidy. and I expect its ridership to continue to grow as others discover the advantages of this remarkable train. Mr. President. it is unfortunate that despite the great successes of Amtrak. it is necessary for the many defenders of the system myself included to fight for its survival at every turn. There are many within the Bush administrationand within the House and Senatewho would like nothing better than to see Amtrak wither and die. stranding millions of travelers in the process. We cannot let this happen. and as long as I am a member of the Senate.- I will not let this happen. I will continue to work with a diverse set of colleagues on both sides of the aisle who realize the advantages of providing options for.travelers and having a balanced national transportation system. In short. Mr. President. ","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3704,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090128812,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Hal has always expanded that love with his magnificent songs that -have enriched all of our lives. I con-. gratulate him on this special birthday. and I wish him many more beautiful years. As my mother would have said. \"Tell that nice young Hal David not to worry about.turning 85--he wont slow down for another 10 or 15 years.\" May the raindrops keep falling on your head. Hal. and keep nourishing your special genius.*","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2148,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090128815,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the American taxpayers are fed up. They are tired of the pork projects and the billions of dollars being spent on unaccountable. unnecessary. and wasteful Federal spending. Whether spending is a result of earmarks. or the often unsupervised process of Federal agencies awarding grants. spending is out of control. Americans work hard every day. and they struggle to meet the heavy tax burden that Washington imposes on them. Despite their struggle and sacrifice. Washington has failed to ensure that Americans tax dollars are being spent wisely. The American public believes. and they are right. that Congress has lost sight of the fact that every dollar we spend here in Washington belongs to them. These are dollars that could have been spent by the people who earned them to care for their own families. The American taxpayers have had enough. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3643,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090128822,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Just the other day. my Committee held a hearing on VAs research program. At that meeting. I had the opportunity to speak with a VA clinician who. along with many of his colleagues. has created a prototype prosthetic for someone who had lost part of a hand. but still had wrist control. In just a few moments time. I was able to wire the equipment to my own arm and with a little practice pick up a glass of water. hold it in the prosthetic hand. and then return it to the table and remove the hand from it without spilling a drop. It was nothing short of amazing. It was also a small glimpse of where we can go. Of course. discoveries and inventions. like that hand. do not just remain in the VA vacuum. Once created. tested and approved. the R&D will leave the VA world and almost immediately benefit the civiliqn population of amputees. By combining the resources of our government and the needs of our veterans. we can improve the American medical system for all of our citizens. ","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4232,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090128828,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to join Senator NELSON of Nebraska to introduce the National Integrated Drought Information System Act of 2006. I would like to thank Senator BEN NELSON. his strong leadership and hard work on this bill has been key in bringing us forward on this important issue. Drought is a unique emergency situation. it creeps in unlike other abrupt weather disasters. Without a national drought policy we constantly live not knowing what the next year will bring. Unfortunately. when we find ourselves facing a drought. towns often scramble to drill new water wells. fires often sweep across bone dry forests and farmers and ranchers are forced to watch their way of life blow away with the dust. This year. my home State of New Mexico is facing a very real threat of devastating drought. as our snow pack was far below average. We must be vigilant and prepare ourselves for quick action as this next drought cycle begins. Better planning on our part could limit some of the damage felt by drought. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3681,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090128832,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to announce for the information of the Senate and the public that an oversight hearing has been scheduled before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. The hearing will be held on Thursday. May 11. 2006 at 10 a.m. in room SD366 of the Dirksen Building. The purpose of the hearing is to receive testimony regarding the status of the Yucca Mountain Repository Project within the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management at the Department of Energy. Because of the limited time available for the hearing. witnesses may testify by invitation only. However. those wishing to submit written testimony for the hearing record should send two copies of their testimony to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. United States Senate. Washington. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":912,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090128862,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Each year a stroke occurs in 20 out of every 100.000 newborns. Almost 3 out of every 106.000 children experience a stroke before the day they are born. Of these children who experience a stroke. 12 percent will lose their lives as a result. Over half of the children who have a pediatric stroke will have serious. longterm neurological disabilities. including seizures. speech and vision problems. and learning disabilities. The result of a pediatric stroke may require ongoing physical therapy and surgeries for years and into their young adulthood. The permanent health concerns and treatments resulting from childhood stroke can result in a heavy financial and emotional burden on both the child and the family. It is my hope that greater awareness of the symptoms of childhood stroke. I introduce legislation to designate May 6. 2006. as Childhood Stroke Awareness Day. I urge the people of the United States to support efforts. programs. services. and advocacy of the American Heart Association to enhance public awareness of childhood stroke.","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2576,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090128868,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to. the preamble be agreed to. the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. and that any statements relating thereto be printed in the RECORD without intervening action or debate.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":252,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090128938,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I hope we will be allowed to proceed and debate on those two. We will be voting on both of those. or at least one of those but up to two on Monday night. with no votes after those two votes on Monday night. Depending on the outcome but following whatever that outcome is. we will turn to the small business health reform plans. The small business health plans. as we know. have the potential for addressing many of the issues I talked to earlierthe cost issue. the access issue. and the quality issue as wellbecause what they do is allow small businessesand most businesses in this country are small businesses. they create about threequarters of the jobs in this countrythey allow small businesses to group together so that they will have that purchasing clout which we know comes with numbers. When we add that purchasing clout. you can go and bargain for better prices. negotiate for better prices. and with that comes a lower cost of health care to all people who work in small businesses that participate. With that. people who dont have health care today who work for small businesses will be able to get a plan that is within reach. instead of the hugely expensive plans that are out there today. So I am very excited about addressing the skyrocketing costs of health care headon: choice. consumerism. patientcentered health care. all of which will be centered on the medical liability issue we will be debating and the small business health plans. Mr. President. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2883,"word_count":261}
{"speech_id":1090128945,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. over the course of the morning we will have various speakers coming in to talk about a number of issues focusing on the issues I have spoken to on health care and the cost of health care and how it affects people in their everyday lives.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":252,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090128976,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it stand in adjournment until 1 p.m. on Monday. May 8. I further ask that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 22. as under the previous order.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":422,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090128978,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"On Monday. the Senate will continue to debate issues that I spoke to earlier this morning. issues that are critically needed. very important to slow down the incessant rise in the cost of health care. that will improve the quality of health care. will improve access to health care. will keep my colleagues in medicine from having to desert or leave a State that they want to practice in or leave a profession. a specialty they want to continue. because of exorbitant. high medical premiums that result in frivolous lawsuits. At 5:15 on Monday. we will have two cloture votes on motions to proceed to a comprehensive medical malpractice bill and a tailored bill designed to give women access to health care. I hope that cloture will be invoked on the motions to proceed so the Senate could begin to debate the merits of those bills. They are very important bills. We have spoken to the substance of those bills today and will continue to do so Monday. I encourage my colleagues to allow us to continue that debate on those bills and bring them to resolution. If we are unsuccessful. if cloture fails on both of those measures. then we would vote on Tuesday morning on a cloture motion on the motion to proceed to the small business health plans bill. All three of these issues are very important pieces of legislation. We have set them up in order that we can deal with them one at a time. We are trying to get on them to debate them. and so far there has been indication that there is going to be attempts to obstruct and stop and not let us get on those. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1608,"word_count":285}
{"speech_id":1090129045,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have been advocating for some period of time providing seniors with a meaningful prescription drug coverage. not one that is overly confusing and one that fails to address the escalating costs of prescription drugs. The plan has passed. It passed several years ago. and it is being implemented. Our job now is to help the seniors who are going to choose to enroll in the program. to help them pick the plan that is right for them. The stakes are very high. We must provide them with the time and resources they need to make an informed decision. I have spoken with Medicare beneficiaries all across my State of Florida. They are understandably confused. They are concerned about this new prescription drug benefit. They are facing a number of private plan options. ","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5393,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090129095,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am prepared to proceed with the caveat that there is much work to be done before the Senate would be ready. in my opinion. for consideration of final passage.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7069,"word_count":30}
{"speech_id":1090129110,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Wisconsin law would be overturned in several other areas. For example. Wisconsin law grants children the right to sue. better ensures that victims fully recover their damages from defendants. and does not limit attorney fees as much as the Federal proposal. I will not support a Federal solution that undoes Wisconsins law. To be sure. the larger issue of medical liability reform deserves a serious debate instead of the resurfacing of a onesided solution. We might want to look to Wisconsin as a model.","speaker_name":"HERBERT KOHL","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2500,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090129111,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I voted in favor of invoking cloture on S. 22. the Medical Care Access Protection Act of 2006. and S. 23. the Healthy Mothers and Healthy Babies Access to Care Act. I have concerns about various aspects of the legislation including the specific levels of the proposed damage caps. However. I do believe that reform of the medical malpractice system should be considered by the Senate to discourage frivolous lawsuits and to ensure that individuals are able to access affordable health care. For these reasons. I voted to invoke cloture on both of these bills in an effort to move this important debate forward.","speaker_name":"LINCOLN CHAFEE","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":631,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090129118,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Commission never contacted its Hawaii advisory committee. which includes members who are experts in Hawaiis history and Indian law. Not once was the advisory committee informed of the briefing or allowed to contribute to the Commissions report. Further. despite the fact that the Commission was provided with the substitute amendment which reflects negotiations with the executive branch. the Commission chose to issue its report based on the bill as reported out of committee. The substitute amendment to S. 147 will be offered when we consider the bill and reflects negotiations with the officials from the Department of Justice. Office of Management and Budget. and the White House. The substitute amendment satisfactorily addresses the concerns expressed by the Bush administration regarding the liability of the U.S. Government. military readiness. civil and criminal jurisdiction. and gaming. The amendment has been publicly available since September 2005 and has been widely distributed. I applaud the efforts of Commissioners Arlen Melendez and Michael Yaki who voted in opposition to the report and tried to inject objectivity and fairness into this process. It really saddens me when an independent commission begins to act in a politically motivated manner. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3024,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090129122,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it is with a heavy heart that I rise today to honor the memory of Marine LCpl Stephen Bixler. of Suffield. CT. who was killed last week while serving our Nation in Iraq. He was 20 years old. Tragically. Corporal Bixlers life was cut short when an improvised explosive device detonated while he was on patrol in Iraqs Al Anbar province. He was on his third tour of duty with the Marine Corps. having served previous tours in Haiti and Iraq. His heroic service is remembered today by a grateful nation. Service and leadership. These are the traits that best defined Stephen Bixleras a talented runner on his high sehool crosscountry team and as senior patrol leader in Boy Scout Troop 260. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1611,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090129124,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Countless improvements to municipalities in northern Iraq are directly attributable to the 1163rd. Today I wish to especially commend two members of the 1163rd who did not return home but instead gave their lives in service to this great Nation. SGT Travis Arndt. 23. from Great Falls. MT. was killed in action near Kirkuk. Iraq. on September 21. 2005. MSG Robbie McNary. 42. died in combat in Hawijah. Iraq. on March 31. 2005. leaving behind his wife and three children in Lewistown. MT. Let us remember them for their honorable service and ultimate sacrifice. As a Montanan. an American. and a Senator. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3271,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090129129,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I believe providing additional resources for outreach and educational services and correcting the LIS enrollment issue are two such problems that Congress should address immediatelybefore the May 15 deadline passes. The SSA has estimated that 80.000 beneficiaries might not have been notified of their LIS eligibility by the close of the first regular enrollment period. It would be entirely unfair to assess even one of these beneficiaries a late enrollment penalty. when by their understanding. they were playing by the rules CMS and SSA set forth regarding the lowincome subsidy. I ask the Majority Leader and my colleagues to support my call for the Outreach and Enrollment Enhancement Act to be treated as an emergency measure and provide it quick passage in the Senate. By taking up this very targeted measure. Congress can demonstrate to Americas seniors that we are committed to the continued success of the Medicare prescription drug program. By Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself.","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7443,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090129133,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"For further information. please contact Kellie Donnelly at (202) 2249360 or Shannon Ewan at (202) 2247555.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":835,"word_count":16}
{"speech_id":1090129134,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to announce for the information of the Senate and the public that a hearing has been rescheduled before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. The hearing originally scheduled for Thursday. May 11. 2006 at 10 a.m. in Room SD366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building will now be held on Tuesday. May 16. 2006 at 10 a.m. in the same room. The purpose of the hearing is to receive testimony regarding the status of the Yucca Mountain Repository Project within the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management at the Department of Energy. Because of the limited time available for the hearing. witnesses may testify by invitation only. However. those wishing to submit written testimony for the hearing record should send two copies of their testimony to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. United States Senate. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":996,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090129149,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. tomorrow morning at 10 oclock. we will have a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to S. 1955. the small business health plans bill. I do expect we will be able to proceed to this bill. and I hope we can expedite the 30 hours of debate postcloture and get on with the bill tomorrow.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":298,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090129177,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the postcloture de1 bate on the motion to proceed be divided as follows: From now until 11 a.m. will be under majority control. from 11 to 11:30 will be under minority control. 11:30 to 12 will be under majority control. and noon to 12:30 will be under minority control. The Senate will stand in recess from 12:30 to 2:15 p.m. I ask that time count under the provisions of rule XXII. The time from 2:15 to 2:30 will be equally divided between the majority and minority. from 2:30 to 3 we begin majority control. with the next 30 minutes under minority control. and each 30 minutes rotating in this format until the hour of 5:30 p.m. Before the Chair rules. we would like to make out a time certain to begin consideration of the bill. In the interim. this unanimous consent allows the Senate to have an orderly debate for speakers.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":874,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090129180,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Jim Henderson is the president of Dynamic Sales in St. Louis. It is a thirdgeneration family business that sells welding accessories and other products. It is a small business. He has eight employees. Health insurance has been a problem for 16 years for Jim. He spoke with his insurance agent. who -suggested raising the deductible to keep the premium the same. so he has raised the deductible. It has gone from zero to a $1.000 deductible in the last 10 years. So despite that huge increase in the deductible. to this day. he experiences huge increases each time he tries to renew the policy. When he asked his carrier about the enormous increases and why they are raising his premiums so much. the carrier responded: Well. because we can. ","speaker_name":"JAMES TALENT","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11226,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090129188,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is not true in Massachusetts. In Massachusetts. no matter how sick or young you are. you are still within a 3point or 3 times rating increase. That has worked very effectively. That is something that every older worker. every family that has had some kind of health challenges ought to recognizethat they. under the Enzi bill. could well be priced out of the market. This is what the attorneys general have said: The Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization And Affordability Act should be more appropriately labeled the Health Insurance Cost Escalation Act. That was the attorney general from Minnesota. The attorney general of New York said: This legislation is not the answer here. It eliminates many of the protections that consumers enjoy. without addressing the underlying problem of cost containment. They are also eliminating protections. as we have mentioned. for breast cancer and diabetes. Another one by the attorneys general: There are no legitimate grounds for exempting the type of insurance plan for State laws that provide essential safeguards for persons covered by insurance. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7193,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090129204,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am sure my colleagues have received as many calls as I have received. thousands of calls and letters from people all across Michigan about the trouble they are having related to this Medicare prescription drug programcalls from pharmacists trying to help people figure what to do. spending hours on the phone. being put on hold. unfortunately. receiving inaccurate information too much of the time. We know there are serious issues that have come about because the Government has not gotten its act together. as we should. to be able to present them to people in a way they can understand and make sure it works for seniors and disabled. We know choosing a plan is extremely challenging and confusing. We have an obligation on our end to do something about that. not wait 6 days and penalize people because they have not signed up for a plan that they may not be able to figure out. This is not because people are not bright. In Michigan alone there are at least 79 different plans to choose from. Each plan has a different premium. a different copay. covers different medicines. Under the current law. as I indicated before. anyone who does not go through these 79 plans. or whatever number they have in their State. by next Monday will find themselves paying a lifetime penalty. more for prescription drugs than they would if they signed up before then. A decision about something that is so fundamental to a persons health ag their medicine should not be rushed. We should not be scaring seniors into picking a plan that may not work for them because of a penalty they will receive after next Monday. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10963,"word_count":283}
{"speech_id":1090129222,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I dont care whether it is a Democratic idea or Republican idea. It is actually an opportunity to take the best from what the Government. the public sector. can bring and to take maybe the best the private sector can bring. One of the common values that are shared by the EnziNelson legislation and the LincolnDurbin legislation is the notion that we have a lot of smaller employers. they have a lot of employees. and together is there some way we could pool their purchasing power? Maybe we could increase the number of health insurance options available to them and maybe ve could bring down the cost of those options. They propose to do it in one particular way which. as Senator LINCOLN pointed out. has a number of problems. one of which affects us negatively in Delaware. We have had a very high rate of cancer mortality. Finally. we have brought it down over the last 10 years or so. in tart by having mandatory cancer screeningmammography. for cervical cancer. prostate screening. for colorectal cancersand that has helped to bring down our cancer mortality rate. From the top in the country. we have finally now dropped to the top five. We are moving in the right direction. I will talk about that tomorrow. and I will even bring some charts to rival the chart of my colleague. I hope. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4754,"word_count":230}
{"speech_id":1090129227,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is why we want to make sureas I said in the beginningthat whatever we do is right. that we dont move forward on something that is going to be less productive and in the long run. unfortunately. put more people at risk. My goal is to help small businesses while not jeopardizing the quality of health care for the 68 million Americans in Stateregulated group plans that are already out there. We dont want to do harm there. The fact is if we move forward on what Senator ENZI wants to do. which is preempting those State regulations and State mandates. we could do tremendous harm for those who are currently insured and the 16.5 million Americans with individual health insurance coverage who would probably lose some quality of coverage which they have. If it is good enough for Federal employees. and if it good enough for Members of Congress. I think it should be good enough for millions of small business employees who are the economic backbone of communities throughout this Nation. I applaud my colleagues for coming to the floor for this debate. and I hope we will have a serious debate so we can I S4184 move forward and actually do what is right for the American people.","speaker_name":"BLANCHE LINCOLN","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2011,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090129257,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Only a handful of those are even healthy enough and. readily available. More importantly. all of the 22 lines that are available have been contaminated by mouse cells. They have been grown in a mouse feeder cell environment. It is unlikely they will ever be used for any -kind of human intervention. which is supposed to be the whole point of the research anyway. Dozens more stem cell lines have been created since August 9. 2001. They are healthier. Many have never been contaminated with mouse cells. But thanks to President Bush. they are off limits to our best scientists. Yet opponents of H.R. 810 sometimes argue that embryonic stem cell research has no potential. Last week. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7445,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090129263,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is clearly one. And I have met with juvenile diabetics. I have met with the children. the parents and the families. They are counting on us. Here we arein Health Week. as my friend points out. We have the votes. Yet what do they bring up? A bill that is actually going to take away health care from people. the Enzi bill.","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":326,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090129283,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. my understanding is that Senator DORGAN had time at. 5 oclock set aside. so if he wishes to take it now. then I will wait until his conclusion. I ask unanimous consent that at the conclusion of Senator DORGANS remarks I be permitted to speak at that time. Since it is controlled by the Democrats. I can make that request by myself.","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":346,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090129287,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I have listened to some of the debate today. It has been very interesting. The last speaker - spoke about choice and choices. I want to talk about choices in health care a bit. This is Health Week. we are told. It is an opportunity. for a change. at long last to talk about some health care issues on the floor of the Senate. The intent. I believe. of the chairman who brings this bill to the floor is that we should speak only about and address only the issues dealing with small business health plans. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2731,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090129316,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This bill is based on the Federal policies toward indigenous peoples. Those who characterize this bill as race based fail to understand the Federal policies toward indigenous peoples. Those who characterize this bill as race based fail to understand the legal and political relationship the United States had with the indigenous peoples and their .governments preexisting the United States. Finally. those who characterize this bill as race based are saying that Native Hawaiians are not native enough. I find this offensive. And I ask that my colleagues join me in my efforts to bring parity to Native Hawaiians by enacting my bill. This effort will continue from daytoday here. We will continue to bring forward the history of Hawaii and the reasons why we are trying to enact this bill. not only for the benefit of the indigenous people of Hawaii but for the benefit of the United States as well. Mr. President. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5609,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090129329,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Those men have gone on to serve in positions of trust and great responsibility today as CEOs of companies like GM and General Mills. as Governor of New Mexico. as U.S. Representatives. and as U.S. Senators of South Dakota * and Delaware.","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1365,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090129333,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on Commerce Science and Transportations Subcommittee on Aviation be authorized to meet on Tuesday. May 9. 2006. at 2:30 p.m. on the Department of Transportations Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":257,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090129335,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health. Education. Labor. and Pensions. Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety. be authorized to hold a hearing during the session of the Senate on Tuesday. May 9. 2006 at 10 a.m. in SD430.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":259,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090129341,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Coinmittee on Commerce. Science. and Transportations Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine be authorized to meet on Tuesday. May 9. 2006. at 10 a.m. on Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFEt) Standards.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":277,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090129365,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And so I urge the administration to do exactly what Teddy Roosevelt would have done. bring all the parties together to hammer this out. look at all of the. trading to- show and demonstrate we are doing everything we can to get to the bottom of this to begin to reduce these prices.","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4690,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090129377,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We owe it to all beneficiaries so that we can continue fixing the many flaws of the Medicare prescription drug plan.","speaker_name":"LOIS CAPPS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1150,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090129378,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of H.R. 1499. the Heroes Earned Retirement Opportunities Act. I introduced this bill after learning our current Tax Code prohibits many of our men and women serving in combat zones from taking advantage of individual retirement accounts. Most of our troops serving in these combat zones are paid in wages designated as military hazard pay. These wages are not taxed. nor should they be. However. since this compensation is nontaxable. the wages are not eligible for IRA contributions. IRAs are an excellent tool for responsible retirement savings. Our troops defending America in harms way should not be excluded from full participation in this important investment opportunity because of a glitch in our Tax Code.","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":758,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090129388,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker.. today I rise to draw to the attention of the House H.R. 5037. This is the Respect For Americas Fallen Heroes Act. and I would like to encourage each Member of this body to join me and my colleagues in this act. What it is going to do is to put in place criteria that will prohibit a person from carrying out demonstrations at the funeral of one of our fallen heroes. We are going to have a press conference. Mr. Speaker. at 2:30 today to talk more about this. and I want to commend my colleagues. Representative ROGERS from Michigan. our Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman.","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":588,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090129395,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Before transfer can take place. congressional authorization is needed. and this legislation achieves that objective. I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense bill. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"GEORGE RADANOVICH","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":941,"word_count":33}
{"speech_id":1090129405,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The majority has described the variety. of historic and natural resources that will be preserved and interpreted in the proposed National Heritage Area. and we do not oppose -this legislation. We would note. however. that the majoritys approach to heritage area legislation has been widely inconsistent. The Republican leadership has gone -from opposing heritage areas to approving them in large packages to now approving some of the same ones over again as standalone bills. This inconsistency is particularly frustrating to those of us. like myself. with heritage area proposals of our own which have been caught up in this needless legislative red tape and sometimes for several years and several Congresses. It is my hope that once we have approved H.R. 5311. the majority will provide all remaining meritorious heritage area proposals similar consideration. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"DONNA CHRISTENSEN","chamber":"H","state":"VI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":912,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090129407,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from California for recognizing me on this bill to designate the Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area. This area encompasses 29 towns in the hilly terrain of western Massachusetts and northwestern Connecticut which is a singular and important geographic and cultural area. And my colleague. Mr. OLVER. while he may be here before we finish debate. has worked closely with nme on this as it links our two districts together. Its residents. over hundreds of years. have made significant national contributions to American literature. art. music and architecture. founded the iron industry in America. and host unique minerals and environmental treasures. This area has been awaiting designation for several years. and I am thrilled to have it on the floor today. I would like to thank Chairman POMBO and the Resources -Committee for recognizing that through -this locally led initiative. the States of Connecticut and Massachusetts will be able to make real progress in protecting the river and the river valley. its heritage and also collaborating regionally to develop the economy in harmony with its history. environmental resources. and unique cultural heritage. ","speaker_name":"NANCY JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2560,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090129425,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This change would indeed ensura that our service men and women can make eligible contributions for previous tax years. 2004 and 2005. for which the deadline has passed. but years for which they were eligible to make these contributions. We acknowledge fully the work of our military personnel who continue to perform so ably for our Nation. We honor their bravery and their sacrifice. Therefore. it goes without saying that we endorse this effort by the Congress to make it possible for these men and women to take advantage of every tax benefit that is available to them. including saving for their retirement. H.R. 1499. as my colleague and friend. the gentleman from Texas. Mr. JOHNSON. has said. would allow our service men and women to treat their compensation received while serving in combat as taxable income in order to help them meet the income eligibility requirement for making contributions to an individual retirement account. At a recent hearing of our committee. two of our five witnesses highlighted the large shortfall in retirement savings many of our workers in this country face. I am sure that many members of the military fall within this group. This bill is a small step in the right direction of closing that gap. ","speaker_name":"SANDER LEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3314,"word_count":209}
{"speech_id":1090129434,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Critical access hospitals are facilities certified to receive costbased reimbursement for Medicare. This costbased reimbursement is intended to improve their financial performance and thereby reduce hospital closures. Despite the efforts of FHA. some challenges have remained for these rural hospitals to gain access to the critical access program. One of these was a statutory requirement in section 242 that at least 50 percent of the hospitals adjusted net patient days must be used for acute medical care. While this requirement may be useful in urban areas. rural isolated communities such as those served by critical access hospitals often cannot sustain separate independent hospitals which provide acute care and nursing facilities. It is common for rural hospitals and nursing homes to operate as a single unit in order to take advantage of savings related to costsharing of some services and staff. To deny criticalaccess hospitals access to FHA mortgage insurance on these grounds unfairly disadvantages these facilities that are desperately in need of capital improvements. H.R. 659. the Hospital Mortgage Insurance Act of 2003 amended section 242 of the National Housing Act and included an exemption that eliminated the socalled Patient Day Test for criticalaccess hospitals. which allowed these rural hospitals to be eligible for FHA mortgage insurance. The exemption expires on July 31. 2006. H.R. 4912 would simply extend this vital exemption for 5 years. which would give FHA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development time to review the exemptions impact and recommend to the Congress whether it should be made permanefit. ","speaker_name":"RICK RENZI","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3310,"word_count":254}
{"speech_id":1090129435,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mt. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I might consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise today to exjlress my strong support for H.R: 4912. the Rural Health Care Capital Access Act of 2006. along with Mr. FRANK who is one of the cosponsors of this important legislation. This bill extends and exempts under the Hospital Mortgage Insurance Act of 2003 small. rural criticalaccess hospitals. This allows them to qualify for the Department of Housing and Urban Dbvelopment section 242 mortgage insurance program. This section 242 program is an important program which provides mortgage insurance for loans made for construction. renovation and equipment of acutecare hospitals. ","speaker_name":"JOE BACA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":43.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2227,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090129438,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I have no additional speakers. I appreciate the gentleman from Arizonas leadership in taking up this legislation along with the cosponsor. Mr. FRANK. who feels this is important for a lot of the hospitals in rural communities. and I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JOE BACA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":43.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":280,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090129444,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But most of all. he brought integrity to the game of golf. For those of us that play the game. we aspire to be like him. Some of us would love to shoot the rounds that he has. And some of us will probably never do that. But at least we have those dreams and the hopes that one day we can achieve what he has achieved. I know that for many youth he has been a positive role model and he has set a good example. In addition. he has given back to the community by supporting nonprofit agencies in the greater Dallas area. Byron Nelson was also a top player in the sport of golf during the World War II era. He grew up near Ft. Worth. ","speaker_name":"JOE BACA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":43.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5933,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090129450,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to honor a man who is a living legend to golf. Byron Nelson. Throughout his career. this Native Texan has exhibited sportsmanship and a competitive drive unparalleled by most athletes. In 1945. Byron Nelson achieved 11 simultaneous winsa record that stands today. He has won the Masters twice. the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship. He was also the first winner of the Shell Houston Open in 1946. ","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1283,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090129467,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank Congressman MIKE ROGERS specifically for his leadership in introducing H.R. 5037. the Respect for Americas Fallen May 9.. 2006 CC Heroes Act. I would also like to thank House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman BUYER and Ranking Member LANE EVANS for their strong support and for helping bring this legislation to the House floor. Today. I was scheduled. to be in my congressional district in El Paso. Texas. to participate in a Medicare prescription drug conference. which I helped to organize. so that our seniors. would be provided the latest information on Medicare partD. ","speaker_name":"SILVESTRE REYES","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3009,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090129468,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would like to inform the body that the Congressional Budget Office has determined that implementing H.R. 5037 would have no significant cost to the Federal Government. and it has no intergovernmental mandate as defined by Federal law. Mr. Speaker. I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan . a former captain in the United States Army and former FBI agent. who has worked closely with this legislation.","speaker_name":"STEPHEN BUYER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":424,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090129482,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. when the unbridled expression of one right infringes on another. we appropriately limit that right. and that is what we do today. On March 3 of this year. 20yearold Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder of Westminster. Maryland. was killed when his Humvee overturned on assignment in Iraq. Before his deployment. Matthew explained that he volunteered for convoy escort security because. \"There was a position that needs to be filled. and I am a Marine.\" Outside the church where Matthews family and friends gathered for his funeral. a group of six outofState protesters loudly chanted and carried signs. including. \"Thank God for Dead Soldiers.\" I stand today joined in spirit by members of the American Legion and the For Our Troops Club of Hereford High School in support ofthis bill that will honor Americas fallen soldiers and respect the privacy of their families by protecting the dignity of their funerals.","speaker_name":"ROSCOE BARTLETT","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":918,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090129485,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank Chairman BUYER. Chairman CHABOT. Chairman MILLER. Mr. REYES. and all of the Members that have brought forth this bill. the Respect for Americas Fallen Heroes Act. Mr. Speaker. it is unbelievable that we would need this kind of a bill. but we do know what is going on. You have heard that from the other Members that have spoken. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1017,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090129488,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have seen their skill and their courage in the armored charges and midnight raids and in their lonely hours of faithful watch. We have seen the joy when they return home and felt the pain when one is lost. No matter what ones position may be on U.S. policy matters. we should all agree that demonstrating at the funeral of one of our fallen heroes is disgraceful and unacceptable. We must stand behind our Nations military families. especially on the day when caskets draped with the American flag are carried that last mile. The Minnesota State legislature passed a bill on Monday. May 1. to ban all protests at military funerals. burials. and memorial services. I encourage other States to follow Minnesotas lead. and I urge the House of Representatives to pass the Respect For Americas Fallen Heroes Act today. Our Nations heroes deserve no less.","speaker_name":"GILBERT GUTKNECHT","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1853,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090129493,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Thank you. Mr. Chairman. I really equally appreciate the opportunity to work with you because we know. as veterans. the sacrifices that men and women make on behalf of this country and their families. and so it has been a privilege to be able to work with you and my colleague. MIKE ROGERS. who also has been a leader on this very important issue for our country and for our countrys military.","speaker_name":"SILVESTRE REYES","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":393,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090129510,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of H.R. 5037. offered by my colleague from Michigan. We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude not only to the fallen soldier. sailor. airman. or Marine. but to their families as well. At their darkest hour. their grief does not need to be exploited by those trying to make a political point. This intentional disruption of a brief period of timemeant to honor a fallen hero goes against the very fiber of American decency. Free speech and public protests are a right. however. taunting and tormenting families at the very moment they bury heir dead is not a right. it is abhorrent. This bill gives the family members of our fallen heroes the respect that they are owed. and the peace that they deserve as they bury their loved ones. I Urge my colleagues to vote yes on this. bill. and I hope it is then acted on quickly by the Senate and signed into law by the President.","speaker_name":"ROBERT ADERHOLT","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":912,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090129527,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it is appropriate that we in Congress recognize the heroism of the men and women who have served our Nation in the Armed Forces. It is an important and enduring symbolic tribute to name a VA medical center in honor of this World War II hero. As we near Memorial Day and our thoughts turn to those who made the ultimate sacrifice. we in Congress must .continue to pay tribute to our living veterans with both symbols and tangible benefits and services. We have much work to do. and veterans and their families are counting on us to act. I know that we are united in this commitment to honor our veterans. I appreciate the hard work and look forward. as I have over the last 32 years. to work with Chairman BUYER to make sure that we do all we can to help our veterans and continue to look forward to working with Chairman BUYER. Chairman BROWN and Ranking Member EVANS and other Veterans Affairs Committee members to pass needed health care and benefit legislation to meet this obligation. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL MICHAUD","chamber":"H","state":"ME","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1051,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090129581,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We made our own sausages. our own meatloafs. our own pickles. Dad had to do everything himself. He had to figure out how to finance his business. We have a President who inherited his wealth. Everything that he did. he had this soft landing pad. He faileda number of times in businesses that he inherited from his own family. but he never really paid the consequences. because someone was always there to catch him and to refinance him. even in the purchase of the baseball team that he owned. which then he e ventually sold and used those dollars to get elected Pr esident of the United States. MKost American families dont have that kind of landing pad. In our family. we had to earn our way to go to college. and we had to get good grades. because there was nobody there that was going to save you. Nobody in our family had ever gone to college before. I had to keep good grades to keep a scholarship up for the scholarship I did receive. ","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5293,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090129588,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Korematsu. appealed his conviction which a Federal court overturned. acknowledging that the governments case at the time had been based on misleading and racially biased information. President Bill Clinton awarded Mr. Korematsu the Presidential Medal -of Freedom in 1998. honoring Mr. Korematsu for fighting for human rights and ensuring the very liberties that created this great Nation. Today. the legacy of Asian Pacific American leaders such as Ms. Tan and Mr. Korematsu. Congressman Matsui. Congresswoman Patsy Mink is apparent in the numerous and remarkable programs and initiatives in our communities and especially throughout my district. There are several that I would like to recognize. including Oaklands Asian Students Educational Services. also known as OASES. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA LEE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4446,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090129590,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have the pleasure of. representing the Los Angeles communities of Little Tokyo and parts of Chinatown. and Filipinotown. As is true for all Angelenos. my life has bEen enriched by the magnificent culture of Asian Pacific Islanders and their \"positive impact on our city and on our Nation. Asian Pacific Islanders contribute to our economy in many ways. They are leaders. for example. in our international trade. They are pioneers in our fashion industry. They are nonprofit community leaders. restaurateurs and small business owners. They are patriots who continue to defend our Nation and our American way of life through the distinguished service in our Armed Forces. The API community also enhances our lives throughout the year with its many cultural celebrations. In my own district of downtown Los Angeles. I look forward to riding in the annual Nisei parade in Little Tokyo and the Chinese New Years parade in Chinatown. ","speaker_name":"LUCILLE ROYBAL-ALLARD","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":34.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2707,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090129592,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We see a growing wave. a disappearance of green and open space that need to be protected. And there is a general fear held by threequarters of the American public that it may be more difficult for their kids to enter the middle class than it was for them. Five dozen Members of Congress have gathered together to put together a suburban agenda to address these needs. And one of those Members is representing the Atlanta suburbs. Congressman TOM PRICE. and a member of. Suburban Agenda Caucus. and. I y ield to him.","speaker_name":"MARK KIRK","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1446,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090129595,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Technology is one of the key concerns I have as a parent. specifically the Internet and the sites my kids visit. register with. and use on a daily basis. The Internet is a wonderful invention. It has opened a window to the world right in our homes. However. with the limitless possibilities that window offers. we must be mindful of what we view and let into our homes. One of the most interest and worrying development of late has been the growth in what are called \"social networking sites.\" We have all heard of them in one way or another. Sites like MySpace. Friendster. and Face Book have literally exploded in popularity in just a few short years. MySpace alone has just over 76 million users and ranks as the sixth most popular English language Web site and the eighth most popular site in the world. Everyone can use these sites. Companies and colleges. teachers and students. young and old all make use of networking sites to connect with people electronically. to share pictures. information. course work. and common interests. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL FITZPATRICK","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6393,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090129596,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman who has become the leader on protecting kids from these new powerful tools online. Suburban families have told us consistently that they want congressional action on education. health care. conservation and the economy. and one of our big reforms in the area of health care is accelerating health care information technology. I yield to my colleague from Georgia to talk about that major piece of legislation.","speaker_name":"MARK KIRK","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":431,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090129606,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"One of the critical problems we have. we have heard of gangs like the Latin Kings and the Vice Lords and the Gangster Disciples. but we have a new gang emerging called MS13 that may have reported. we dont know. links to international terror groups coming out of drug activity south of the border that seem to have no compunction with killing police officers. both on the West and East coasts. This is not just a threat to kids in school. it is a homeland defense issue.","speaker_name":"MARK KIRK","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":469,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090129609,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"ida. I thank the gentleman for yielding. CLAY SHAW has introduced a bill called 401kids. What it does is it gives young families the opportunity to save for college for the education expenses of their children taxfree. It is an awfully good idea and one that many. many people are looking forward to taking advantage of. You know. when children are first born. you tend to think. Oh. its going to be so long. but as those of us whose children have grown now. the time does -fly by. So the best way to save. certainly whether it is a parent or a grandparent. is by using a system similar to that which many working people use. a 401(k) program. Mr. Shaws bill is one that allows you to set aside money taxfree soit can grow. so it can help to pay for the education of our children. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA BROWN-WAITE","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2241,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090129612,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would say that we welcome Republicans. Democrats. everyone. to join this agenda. because while this is popular. while people want this to happen. it hasnt happened yet. This is an incomplete agenda. where we have not set a national strategy to eliminate gangs. we have not established 401kids programs. we have not interlinked the Federal databases on sexual predators. we have not taken sufficient action on social networking sites like myspace.com to protect kids. All of this. then. builds up to a set of unfinished work which the Congress should now finish in order to protect the lives of Americans. One of the other issues that we hear about very often from suburban families is that we need to take greater action for conservation. that we support the national park system. we want it to be healthy and we want it to grow. but we also want to protect green and open space right near home. Without action by the Federal and State governments. there might come a day when we would drive to work or school and see an unending series of strip malls and no green or open space taken to protect the environment in our local communities. The suburban agenda also contains two pieces of legislation. one by JIM GERLACH and the other by MIKE FITZPATRICK. both of Pennsylvania. that encourages donations of open space for conservation purposes and also protects farmland from being gobbled up in suburban communities. I think it is critical that we embrace a future in this country of rapidly expanding suburban communities in which families 10 and 20 years from now also see green and open space and that they do not let inaction by the government or a climate which does not encourage the donation of these areas. to let these key properties go. I yield to my colleague from Georgia.","speaker_name":"MARK KIRK","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1784,"word_count":311}
{"speech_id":1090129614,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"bill. and increase tax easements to encourage charitable contributions of real property for conservation and open space purposes. which is Mr. FITZPATRICKS bill. These are commonsense solutions. They are not mandates. They arent requirements. They arent the heavy hand of the law. But what they are are conservative principles being used for conservation. I am so pleased to be able to stand with my colleagues and support these positive steps forward.","speaker_name":"JIM GERLACH","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":452,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090129638,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And Mr. Le and his family have given back to the community as well. raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for victims of the 9\/11 attacks and the South Asia tsunami. But Mr. Le and his family are only one example. Dr. NguyenLam Kim Oanh of the Garden Grove Unified School District is the first VietnameseAmerican woman elected to a school board in Orange County. Or actress Kieu Chinh. who has appeared in numerous movies and TV shows including E.R. and The Joy Luck Club. and was the subject of the Emmyaward winning 1996 documentary \"Kieu Chinh: A Journey Home.\" And groups such as the Union of Vietnamese Student Associationsa nonprofit. volunteerrun organization that puts together the annual Tet Festival in Orange County. which draws twenty to thirty thousand attendees. Or the Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliancethe largest PanAsian Pacific Islander organization in Orange County. Their health outreach programs. afterschool programs. and policy advocacy. programs make a real difference in the lives of Orange County residents. Through their hard work and dedication. ","speaker_name":"LORETTA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":47.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2746,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090129639,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to honor Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and to pay tribute to the struggles and enormous contributions of Asian Pacific Americans to our Nations culture. It is an honor to pay tribute to the many achievements and honor the countless unique contributions to the United States made by Asian Pacific Americans across our Nation. May commemorates the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants in 1843. Therefore. it is appropriate that during the month of May we recognize the contributions made by Asian Pacific Americans to our communities. May 10. 1869 marks the completion of the transcontinental railroad and its completion is greatly credited to the labor of the Chinese immigrants. Today. there are over 14 million Asian Pacific Americans living in the United States and this represents 5 percent of the population. The rich history associated with the Asian Pacific American population has been a great contribution to the culture of the United States. Over the years. the Asian Pacific American communities have made significant contributions to Texass diverse culture.. ","speaker_name":"EDDIE JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2167,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090129643,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise on behalf of the 37member strong. fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition. There are 37 of us that are Democrats. We are fiscal conservatives and we are concerned about the debt and the deficit that plagues this great Nation ours. In fact. you can see here. the Blue Dog coalition today. the United States national debt is $8.361.683.340.530 and some change. Now. for every man. woman and child. including those born today. their share of this enormous national debt is about $28.000. It is what we call the debt tax. debt. That is one tax that cannot go away until we get our Nations fiscal house in order. It is hard now to believe that from 1998 to 2001 we had a balanced budget in this country. ","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5461,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090129651,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me tell you. as a Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. I can tell you that these are the facts. The Republican leadership talks a lot about alternative and renewable fuels. Biomass refineries. grants to create biomass refineries for all of America for the next 365 days totals $100 million. We will send nearly three times that much money to Iraq in the next 24 hours. It is about priorities. This President has announced already that if this supplemental appropriations bill includes funding for disaster payments for our farm families here in America who have suffered through one of the worst droughts in this Nations history that he will veto it. the first veto of this administration after 6 years. Again. it is about Americas priorities. and Americas priorities are found all over this Republican budget for fiscal year 2007. A budget that should reflect the priorities and values of our Nation. a budget that may very well be debated and voted on on the floor of this chamber sometime this week. Well. ","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6199,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090129685,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In my home State of Tennessee. 97 percent of all businesses are small businesses. This aspect of affordable health care is their No. 1 concern. It makes sense that if we want to expand health care coverage. if we want to diminish the number of uninsured. we need to start to at least make a major advance in an area where we know we can make a difference. and that is where the jobs are. That is why the EnziNelsonBurns small business health insurance bill that we bring to the floor and will formally open debate on here in about an hour is so important. I want to applaud Chairman ENZI for his tremendous work to pull people together on both sides of the aisle to address these issues. This bill represents the first real. major. solid step to end the small business health plan stalemate that has characterized this body in over a decade. Its purpose is to -deliver meaningful reform for millions of Americans employed in the small business sector. Under this plan. small business firms would be able to combine their negotiating power and to group that negotiating power in a way that purchasing clout can be used to purchase more affordable plans. By allowing. that -to happen. they could reduce the cost of health insurance by as much as $1.000 per employee. while reducing the number of uninsured. people who are uninsured today. by more than 1 million. The CBO recently estimated the EnziNelsonBurns plan would increase Federal revenue by $3.3 billion between 2007 and 2016. while saving States an estimated $600 million in Medicaid spending during the same period. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6604,"word_count":274}
{"speech_id":1090129705,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I have known this fine officer for some time. I worked with him. and Im very pleased that the President of the United States has asked the Senate for its advice and consent on this important nomination. Mr. President. our Nation is at war on two main battlefieldsIraq and Afghanistan. The national security apparatus of our country centers around the White House. the National. Security Council there. the Secretary of State. the Secretary of Defense. the Secretary of Homeland Security and. most importantly. the new organization headed by John Negroponte. our national intelligence community. It is imperative that this Nation receive as early as possible the replacement for Porter Goss to take over his position with the Central Intelligence Agency. and I hope that the hearings. which I believe will be scheduled. subject to Chairman Roberts views. early next week. Early next week there will be a very thorough investigation of this officer. and we. the Senate as a body. can conform General Hayden and move forward. This Senator. the Senator from Virginia. will give him the strongest support and as an ex officio member of the Intelligence Committee. I will participate in those hearings. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6691,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090129719,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You can let it be private enterprise with the individual insurance companies competing for that business. And you give the consumer the choice: do they want a \"Cadillac? policy with a lot of bells and whistles or do they want a \"Chevrolet\" policy. which is much more pared down? Now. that is the ideal we ought to achieve. and that is what the Enzi bill is trying to achieve. The problem is that the Enzi bill has a fatal flaw. that is. there is no regulation of the insurance companies. That is the fatal flaw. Now. I can inform the Senate. this Senator from Florida. prior to coming to the Senate. had the privilegeand I might say the toughest job in my.entire adult life of public serviceto be the elected insurance commissioner of the State of Florida. And through one crisis and another. you kind of. in that crucible. start to learn something about insurance. One of the things I learned is. if insurance companies are not regulated. then. guess what. insurance companies will want to insure the lower riskin other words. the healthier people. the younger people who are- not going to get sickand if they do insure the sicker and the older. the price is going to go up through the roof. You need a regulator to regulate the business of insurance. to protect the inte rest of th public. That is why. in the 1930s. the McCarranFerguson Act. passed by the U.S. ","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6833,"word_count":245}
{"speech_id":1090129728,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I ask the Senator from Florida. does he believe. as I do. that if we would have allowed the Medicare Program to bargain with the drug companies to get. by bulk discount. the lowest prices for seniors. just the way the Veterans Administration does. that the end result would have been at least one kind of standard program. Medicare Program. with lower prices which other private companies could have competed with. if they chose? Wouldnt that have offered the lowest price to the seniors and one simple standard program to turn to if they had any doubts about the right choice?","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":577,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090129753,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We are getting ready to spend a argue with the fact that the real key to providing good. quality. lowcost. coisistent health insurance is in the volume of the pool because we all want to make sure that competition in the marketplace is- what is driving the issue here. When you have a larger pool to negotiate with private industry. you are going to be able to negotiate a better deal. It is a better deal for everybody. Fortysix million Americans are not getting health insurance now. Disproportionately. the largest percentage of those 46 million are working- in small businesses. They are not getting health insurance. Health insurance companies should love the idea of being able to increase -their market share with those numbers of people. In fact. we have worked hard over the last 2 or 3 years with the insurance industry to make sure that what we were creating was improvement on what was already in existence other than the Federal plan.","speaker_name":"BLANCHE LINCOLN","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7804,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090129759,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"ThQy were very difficult people to cover in the spot market. As a legislator during those 33 years. while I ran a small business. I did a ton of work on health care. In fact. I was the author of one of the State mandates in -Georgia for direct access for dermatological coverage. I did so for a passionate reason: I am the shrvivor of a melanoma. My- doctor caught it in time. and it was removed in time. and I am here today. I have great respect for that mandate for direct access. As some of the people who have spokenin fact. many on the other side have talked about the horrible thing this bill does by not including all of the mandates required of all of the States in this country. And the ads we see in some of the periodicals we read portend we are removing the possibility of people to have coverages that are mandated in their States Let me address that and make the record straight. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ISAKSON","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6982,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090129780,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I will get into that in greater detail. But we permit States to opt out. That was defeated. We ought to have an opportunity to vote on that in the Senate. All this can be done. I know the proponents of the amendments would be willing to agree to very reasonable time limitations on this. However. we effectively are being told that is not going to be possible. We are going to have a takeitorleaveit approach. That is not the wise way to proceed. I certainly hope we are not going to have to be required to take it. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9525,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090129786,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is unfortunate for. most importantly. the people across this country who do not have health insurance coverage.","speaker_name":"JOHN THUNE","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1164,"word_count":18}
{"speech_id":1090129840,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We want lots of amendments on that. but we refuse to have amendments on this. I daresay that the Senate rules permit debate on different amendments. We have a set of rules out there. You can have an amendment in the first or second degree. and you can have ultimate judgments and decisions. I just want to mention at this time that the action that has been taken now by the leader is effectively going to foreclose an opportunity at this time. when we are having our health care debate. to debate either stem cell research or relief for our senior citizens. who will be paying the penalty because of the requirements of the prescription* drug program. We will be denied an opportunity to consider reimportation or negotiation for lower prices. Those are effectively issues that I think most Americans can understand. Certainly these are issues which Members of this body are -familiar with and not new issues. We have not been able to get an opportunity. I certainly regret that is the case because I think. with all respect. as the CBO talks about. there are 48 million Americans without health insurance. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3351,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090129876,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the Senator. Mr. President. as an accountant I have to remind people that this bill is not a case of subtraction. This insurance plan is an addition. It will bring additional insurance to people. There are 27 million people out there who are uninsured. This will bring a number of them into the market. It will also allow people who are already insured to increase the amount of insurance which they have because they will be able to save some dollars. I am sure they will put that back into insurance and into more benefits for people. So it is an addition. not a subtraction. and it will bring in newly insured people. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3388,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090129880,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Opponents say that some people are going to be without coverage for mammograms. cancer treatments. and other services. These same people today have no health insurance coverage whatsoeverisnt basic coverage better than no coverage at all? We would love to offer and be able to afford to offer everyone every type of service possible. But the reality is that a lot of people cannot afford health insurance plans today because insurance coverage has become too expensive. One of the reasons for this is that small businesses cannot pool together across state lines. Another reason has to do with mandates. We talk about a lot of different proposals that can lower the cost of health care for hardworking Americans. Everybody campaigns and tells their constituents: We have to do something about the high cost of health care. We must do something. Lets act. We have an opportunity to act now in the Senate. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4060,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090129891,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You are more likely to have ac- place. This bill would make it worse. In cess to preventive care so that chronic short order. insurers would offer disease can be prevented in the first strippeddown policies that do not place. Without health care coverage. cover preventive services. The result minor illnesses turn into major ones would be the elimination. as I said. of and small incidents turn into chronic wo elni on. as i sa. cancer screenings. *well child care. conditions. Once this happens. it be- mental health services. access to cercomes almost impossible to afford tain physicians or nurses or other proquality health insurance without re- viders such as chiropractors. for examstrictions on benefits. That is why this debate is so impor- ple. who might give you good cae and tant. This week we are considering a keep you from getting a chronic condimajor overhaul of the insurance sys- tion. something that might cause yoe tern in an effort to help provide health to have an operation in the first place. care coverage to small business owners So importantly. this would mean and their employees. I applaud the elimination of benefits for everyone. goal. but this particular legislation be- not just small business. fore us now is sorely lacking and will Americans should have access to not provide access to quality health quality. affordable health- care coycare at affordable prices. erage. Coverage that is stripped down I oppose the billbefore us for the fol- is not sufficient. and we shouiduL setlowing reasons: tle for it. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11650,"word_count":256}
{"speech_id":1090129895,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He is a gentleman. and a good friend. I know he is serious about this because he is a small business owner himself. As I said earlierand I want to make sure we are clearthat under this gobbledygook. the filling of the treeno one understands what we are talking about out therebecause of the way the bill is laid down. the majority leader. under the rules of the Senate. today offered amendments to the bill so that we cant offer amendments. There is no way we can now offer amendments. If cloture is invoked tomorrow. then we have 30 hours on the bill.. and that tree could stay filled. So we can never offer an amendment to this bill. We wopld then have a final vote on S. 1955 without being able to offer any amendments. Is that not so?","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":738,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090129900,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Many of the things people talked about would be germane. What wouldnt be germane are some of the longterm debates and things people would like to do. namely the stem cell debate which we are going to have a debate on. They promised a vote on it. We dont know how much debate there would be with that. prescription drugs. Part D. and those would not be germane to the bill. Each of those would take about 3 weeks to debate.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":997,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090129915,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wish to speak today about the Medicare Prescription Drug Program. I opposed the final version of the legislation that created the Part D drug benefit. the Medicare Modernization Act. because I believed that it would not provide adequate relief for Medicare beneficiaries. I was concerned about the structure of the program. and worried that it would negatively affect Wisconsinites and other Americans who must quickly and affordably access prescription drugs. I have been trying to fix some of these problems since the program was enacted. but supporters of the program have been unwilling to consider these reforms. Instead. they have allowed these problems to remain. and the results. since the benefit was implemented in January. have been disastrous. I have heard from a number of Wisconsinites who found the prescription drug plan enrollment process exceedingly confusing. Many people had difficulty finding a plan that would cover their prescriptions. while others could not get through to Medicare representatives to ask questions about the enrollment. process. There have been breakdowns in the entire information process. and these failures by the insurance companies and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have sometimes completely blocked beneficiaries from accessing essential medications such as insulin. antipsychotics. and even immunosuppressants. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4542,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090129917,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This week. the Senate has already refused to proceed to legislation that would have abridged our citizens access to justice when they are injured by medical errors. Those bills purported to lower medical malpractice insurance costs when. in fact. it is not payouts that have led to rising insurance premiums. The Senate has done the right thing by rejecting these bills once again. The debate that preceded the votes demonstrated that capping medical malpractice awards is not the way to lower insurance premiums. which we all agree are unfair to the men and women who devote their lives to the care of others. There can be no disagreement that exorbitant insurance costs make it harder for medical professionals to do their jobs. Health care providers. like all Americans. deserve fair treatment in the marketplace. We also know that the insurance marketplace is unique. becaus6 unlike other business interests. insurers are not subject to some of the most important Federal antitrust laws. High malpractice insurance premiums are not the result of malpractice lawsuit verdicts. This myth has been repeatedly discredited. They are the result of investment decisions by the insurance companies and of business models geared toward everincreasing profits. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5562,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090129929,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If I might ask the majority leader through the Chair. I asked earlier today if we would be allowed to bring up the stem cell research issue. which the majority leader has expressed his support of. and whether we could bring that up for a vote this week while we are on Health Care Week so we could address this issue of medical research. I would ike to ask the majority leader through the Chair if we could bring it up before cloture or after cloture?","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":451,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090129970,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"No. 108182: which allows survivors of public safety officers who suffer fatal heart attacks or strokes while participating in nonroutine stressful or strenuous physical activities to qualify for Federal survivor benefits. We also enacted the CampbellLeahy Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act. P.L. No. 108372. which extends through FY 2007 the authorization of appropriations for the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Program. This program helps State. tribal. and local jurisdictions purchase armor vests for use by law enforcement officers. Incredibly. President Bpsh has proposed significant cuts to the bulletproof vest program in his fiscal year 2007 budget proposal. but I will work with other Senators to make sure the program is fully funded. Bulletproof vests have saved the lives of thousands of officers and are a fundamental line of defense that no officer should be without. I know I am not alone in calling for the Senate to fully fund the bulletproof vest program and I truly hope Senators will agree that it is critical that we provide the funding authorized for this program. Hundreds of thousands of police officers are counting on US. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4710,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090129999,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Political maneuvers are not an energy policy. Looking forward by passing this bipartisan legislation is the correct approach to implementing the iitiatives we need to tackle the Nations energy problems. Let us commit ourselves to the American consumer and not to politics.","speaker_name":"SUE KELLY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1298,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090130003,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. last week. street protests revealed a lot about the hypocrisy of Mexico. With a great deal of bluster and selfrighteousness. the protestors objected to the Houseapproved border security bill. They said it was \"too harsh.\" They said it was \"draconian.\" They said we shouldnt criminalize 11 million illegal immigrants. They said we should. instead. give them amnesty and citizenship. They waved their Mexican flags with great pride. Well. a new study just released by the Law Library of Congress. reveals that Mexico itself is far harsher on illegal immigrants than the United States. For example. in Mexico. it is a felony punishable by 2 years in prison merely to be an illegal immigrant. In contrast to giving them citizenship. Mexico actually deported 250.000 illegal immigrants last year. ","speaker_name":"RIC KELLER","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1030,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090130010,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. middleclass Americans deserve much better.","speaker_name":"TIMOTHY BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1305,"word_count":6}
{"speech_id":1090130012,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. how high do gas prices have to go before this administration is willing to break its ties with theoil and gas company CEOs? For 5 years now. the major oil companies have been bringing in record profits. while the pain at the pump has grown worse for average Americans. Today. consumers are paying $3 a gallon. If you are making minimum wage. that means your first hour at work is used to buy 1 gallons of gasoline for your car. Major oil companies just reported $16 billion in profits for the first quarter alone. and the national response has been moral outrage. Yet last year they pushed through an energy bill that gave oil and gas companies an additional $20 billion in tax breaks and subsidies. The problem is. those in charge here are not willing to have the courage to stand up and make things right.","speaker_name":"EMANUEL CLEAVER","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":820,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090130019,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The average senior who signs up for a plan will save more than $1.100 on their prescription drugs this year and low income seniors projected to save about $3.700. the average premium. only $25. Some in my State are paying just over $10. Mr. Speaker. with so little time left to enroll. I encourage my colleagues help seniors enroll. not scare them.","speaker_name":"MELISSA HART","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1366,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090130032,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is the right way to help see if we can radically change our energy future. Our dependence on foreign oil is a national security threat. We have ways to use every wpapon in our arsenal. and we need to use them to counter it.","speaker_name":"SHERWOOD BOEHLERT","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4596,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090130053,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. House Resolution 805 waives. all points of order against the conference report and against its consideration. The resolution also provides that the conference report shall be considered as read. Mr. Speaker. in 2001. 2003 and 2004. Congress enacted responsible tax relief to help create jobs. grow Americas economy and allow workers. families and small businesses to keep more of their hardearned money to save. invest and spend for their future. I believe individuals and families are best able to make these decisions. not the Federal Government. These tax relief policies are clearly working. Mr. ","speaker_name":"DOC HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5313,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090130070,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Again. I would harken back to the arguments that were made in the early part of this decade when President Bush came forward and this Republican supported the notion of reducing taxes to increase economic growth. and the argument that was made was it would ruin us. We know we have tremendous costs out there. We have costs like dealing with the war. and thank God we are seeing this week under Mr. Malickis government a new cabinet go into place in Iraq. We are seeing progress there. Similarly. if you look at the fact that we have tremendous costs related to Hurricane Katrina. unanticipated. We do have responsibilities there. And yes. as my friend from Fort Lauderdale said. it is essential that we do all we can to provide assistance to those who are truly in need and to help them get onto the economic ladder. That is why when you have a 4.7 percent unemployment rate. virtually full employment in this country. we are doing all that we can to find more opportunities. and that is what this measure is all about. and generating the kind of growth that will allow us to have the resources to meet these very pressing needs is essential as well. ","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2583,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090130072,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It described what has truly befallen this majority: a \"bankruptcy of ideas.\" With Republicans. it is the same. story again and again no matter the results. What they have given us. Mr. Speaker. is a commitment to a legacy of failure. The only difference is today the American peoples eyes are wide open.","speaker_name":"LOUISE SLAUGHTER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4323,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090130088,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Then we need to look at what happened in the 1990s. A year after the largest tax increase was put into place by President Clinton. what happened? For the first time in four decades the body that. according to article I. section 7. of the U.S. Constitution has the responsibility for taxing and -spending changed hands. And what happened? In 1994. we won our majority. 12 years ago. And we immediately began our quest to cut taxes.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1406,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090130116,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the gentlewoman for yielding. also for her leadership on the Rules Committee and on so many issues that we are addressing in this body. Mr. Speaker. let me just say once again I rise in opposition to this misguided $513 billion defense authorization bill. I askyou. Mr. Speaker. what does it say really about our national security priorities when this bill authorizes -a $9.1 billion missile defense program that has consistently failed. will never protect us from terrorists. and continues to siphon funds from other critical security priorities that keep nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists and protect our ports from terrorist attacks? What does it say about our priorities when billions of taxpayer dollars are channeled to military contractors with little accountability or oversight for combating waste. fraud and abuse? What does it say when we have another bill that authorizes Cold War era weapons systems? Mr. Speaker. what does it say about our priorities when Congress once again authorizes nearly $50 billion more for the unnecessary war in Iraq without any accountability. direction or a way out? Every additional day our troops remain in Iraq is an extra day that they feel the insurgency in terms of the attacks. That is why I joined with my friend and colleague. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA LEE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2181,"word_count":219}
{"speech_id":1090130117,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. i want to point out simply for the record that this bill was reported out of committee by a 601 margin. a very strong bipartisan indication of support and appreciation for the main points in the bill. As to the point on missile defense. I think the activities in Iran and certainly North Korea indicate that we would be prudent to think about developing missile defense. So I am very pleased with the bipartisan nature of this legislation. Frankly. I suspect most Members will vote for it in the end. ","speaker_name":"TOM COLE","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":635,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090130125,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"ISRAELS correction to the guidelines for military chaplains. Other amendments not yet allowed on the floor concern our Nations Iraq policy. abuses of military contracting. and boosts to our critical nonproliferation initiatives. It is my hope that when the Rules Committee reports out the second and final rule today these amendments will be made in order. Allowing these amendments to be debated on the floor will continue the committees bipartisan precedent. something this body would benefit from. as well as show the issues addressed in this legislation. so critical to our Nations wellbeing. the respect they deserve. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"DORIS MATSUI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1362,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090130126,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. In closing. I want to take this opportunity to remind our Members that this rule and the underlying legislation is not about us or our interests. It is fundamentally about the longterm interests of our Nation. the security and stability of our military. and the welfare of our deployed servicemen and women. Mr. Speaker. no generation undertakes a war lightly. Certainly. the World War I and World War II generations and the Cold War generations did not do so. and it is clear that historically there is always dissent. That is good and it is American. ","speaker_name":"TOM COLE","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1802,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090130160,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have not done that same kind of thing on a comparable basis for the Reserve component. We also have a very unfair situation now where a person who is in the Reserve component is activated. serves overseas in a war for 12 months or longer. comes back and their enlistment contract ends. If they do not reenlist and stay in the Guard or Reserve forces. they get no GI bill benefits. That is just terribly unfair. I say that as someone who many years ago. when I was a young man. enlisted in Marine Corps for 2 years. spent 12 months and 20 days in Vietnam. came back. was discharged.from the military and actually received. for my 211 months of total Marine Corps service 45 months in the GI bill. Now. we just do not treat our Reserve component forces fairly. They could have spent 18 months in a war zone. get out of the Reserve and get no GI bill benefit. We need to work on that. Chairman McHUGH has committed himself to holding hearings on this issue. I know that Chairman BUYER on the Veterans Committee is very interested in this issue. ","speaker_name":"VICTOR SNYDER","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2837,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090130161,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the Strategic Forces Subcommittee is extremely important to our country. and the gentleman from Alabama does a wonderful job of overseeing this very important dimension of national security. Mr. Chairman. I yield 6 minutes to the gentleman from Alabama","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":266,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090130162,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The bill also includes a provision that requires the Secretary of Energy and the Secretary of Defense to submit to Congress a plan for the transformation of the nuclear weapons complex and authorizes funds for infrastructure upgrades. . In addition. Mr. Chairman. this is a problem that I frankly had gotten tired of seeing come before the subcommittee. and that is the Mixed Oxide. or MOX. fuel fabrication facilities and the agreements that we- were trying to have with the Russians. The mark includes information that would uphold the nonproliferation objectives of the committee to begin disposition of weapons grade plutonium in the U.S. The problem is that we do not see any movement among the Russians. For a couple of years now we have been faced with this. I have become frankly a little tired of seeing it come before the Congress when we have seen no movement from the Russians to do away with their plutonium nor to reach any agreement with us to do so. So an amendment was offered by Mr. WILSON. ","speaker_name":"TERRY EVERETT","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4557,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090130183,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank Chairman HUNTER and I thank the minority member. Mr. SKELTON. for a -truly outstanding piece of bipartisan work. This is all about the men and women in uniform. It reflects the commitment. the dedication. the timing and the absolute perseverance of two fine leaders in our committee in wholeheartedly supporting the incredible effort that our men and women in uniform are putting forward in winning the war on terrorism. I thank them for their hard work and support and their .unanimous approval of this bill. I am very proud to have Fort Bragg. the epicenter of the universe. home of Joint Special Operations Command. in my home district. As we are all aware. ","speaker_name":"ROBIN HAYES","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2852,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090130192,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think this is a very positive foundation for the enactment of this bill. I will say that I hope that the Rules Committee finds it within its purview to permit the full House to debate some other measures about shaping the environment in which we live. with specific reference to the question of limiting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. There is an amendment presently before the Rules Committee which speaks to that issue. which I would urge the Rules Committee to adopt so that we can have an argument about the best way to shape the future in which we find ourselves. But I will say this. There is unanimity that the best way to shape that future is to recruit. retain. reward. equip and take care of the brave Americans who step forward to serve this country and their families. I amvery pleased that this has not become a partisan issue. that Members on both sides of the aisle have worked very hard to try to a achieve that promise. the recognition of that promise for the people who serve. So I am proud to support this bill because of what it does for the anonymous young. Americans whose names we do not know usually. until something terrible happens to them. I hope that we never learn their names if that is the reason that we would hear them. But what they will learn from us is that their compensation. the care for their families will improve as a result of this bill that we support today.","speaker_name":"ROBERT ANDREWS","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3277,"word_count":261}
{"speech_id":1090130235,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I want to thank the gentlewoman for yielding and for her leadership. I rise in strong support of this amendment. It would lift the ban on privately funded abortion care at overseas military bases where abortion is legal. Currently servicewomen or women military dependents are forbidden from using their oxen personal funds to obtain an abortion if they are stationed overseas. Enacting this amendment will put an end to this discriminatory policy against the 350.000 women in our military who are serving our country each and every day. We must ensure that servicewomen overseas are guaranteed their legal right to access comprehensive health care services. We must demand that servicewomen overseas can obtain the same quality and range of medical care available to them in the United States. We must protect those who risk their lives each and every day to protect their country. Let us reject this administrations ongoing politically motivated war on women and lets start by adopting this important commonsense amendment. I urge my colleagues to vote \"yes\" on the DavisHarmanSanchez amendment and provide our servicewomen with access to their constitutionally protected right to choose.","speaker_name":"BARBARA LEE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1190,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090130271,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This amendment recognizes the fact that Reservists have been repeatedly mobilized and that as long as they remain members of the Reserve components they will be subject to future mobilizations. The decision to involuntarily mobilize members of the Selected Reserves should never be takenlightly. and the commitment and dedication of these men and women should never be unfairly tasked. This amendment recognizes these ideals. I commend the gentlewoman from Texas for offering it. Mr. Chairman. I support this amendment and ask my colleagues to do the same. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"THELMA DRAKE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1426,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090130272,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The bill specifies that this provision is to share any exposure to harmful materials in order to stay within the reasonable limits of national security and military standards. Therefore. the frequency of assignment is also an important question. and the fact that we are clarifying it today and instilling -and including that in the bill is going to give Reservists and National Guard families a great deal of celebration. Let me tell you a very pointed story. One constituent from Houston who was born in Texas. has lived his whole life in Texas. called because he was confused and concerned. not because he did not love his country. not because he did not enjoy serving. but he wanted to try and understand the fact that he was redeployed three times in a 4year period. a man who has a family. had a job. and of course we know it was mentally and emotionally draining and of course heartbreaking to leave his family. Therefore. this amendment will help the many Reservists and families and the National Guard families all over America. Serving your country is noble. honorable and generates pride in ones self and ones country. Reserving your country is no less noble. That is the constituency we serve today. Yet it can damage morale. particularly if the individual is not career military. if we do not take into consideration the frequency of their service. I thank my colleagues. and I ask my colleagues to support this amendment on behalf of the military families all over America. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6594,"word_count":256}
{"speech_id":1090130310,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me just finish. Look. another point. we have voted. we Democrats. two or three times on the AMT. We voted two or three times. You are JohnnieComeLatelys. So now what you say is. vote for a bill that has that in it. but has these provisions on dividend and capital gains. As Mr. STARK said. essentially you are bringing a tax bill here that has caviar for the very wealthy and mostly crumbs for most everybody else. That is what you are doing. and the chart shows it: a household. 50- to 75.000. $110. a household from $500.000 to $1 million. $5.500. and more than $1 million. $41.000. fl 1645 I read in an editorial a few days ago in the Post. \"While the income of the families in the middle fifth of society has grown 12 percent since 1980. the income of the top 10 percent has grown 67 percent. and the income of the top 1 percent has more than doubled. In short. the rich have grown a whole lot richer.\" So what you are doing here is giving this immense tax break to a relatively few very wealthy peoplq. and you are combining it tomorrow with a budget bill. according to your own language. and I quote. ","speaker_name":"SANDER LEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1524,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090130314,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. let me speak on behalf of our children and our grandchildren. Mr. LEVIN pointed out our national debt. the actual debt now is $8.3 trillion. $28.000 per person in this country. What we have is a birth tax. and we are adding to that birth tax. This bill. as advertised. adds another $70 billion or $69 billion to the debt. but when you look at it. it is much higher because we are using gimmicks again. We remove the income ceiling on Roth IRAs. and we count that as a revenue gain of $6 billion when we know. in fact. it will lose revenue for the Treasury to the tune of $1.3 trillion a year. So we are using gimmicks and we are going deeper and deeper into debt. We are doing this for what? Why do we not have offsets? You look at the extension of dividend exclusion. the dividend exclusion does not end until 2008. Why do we not work out a program to pay for these extensions? We tell our students they have got to pay more for their college education. and that we are not going to provide the relief because we do not have the money. ","speaker_name":"BENJAMIN CARDIN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1998,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090130319,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I heard my colleague say a tax is a tax is a tax. Everyone knows a consumption tax buys you a fish for a day. an investment buys a fishing pole and bait. and you eat for a lifetime. A tax is not a tax is not a tax. Capital gains. dividends are a fishing pole and bait. The kind of taxes they go for is a fish. Eat for a day or eat for a lifetime. Our taxes provide a lifetime of benefits. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM THOMAS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":576,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090130324,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this legislation is all about jobs. Two years ago. -almost 3 years ago in 2003. this Congress worked with the President. We lowered taxes for Americans. We lowered taxes for small business. We knew it was time to encourage investment and creation of jobs. Frankly. it worked. Over 5 million new jobs were created. Unemployment today is at 4.7 percent. lower than the average of the 1970s. lower than the average of the 1980s. and lowerthan the average of the 1990s. This economy is growing. ","speaker_name":"GERALD WELLER","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1540,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090130326,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They are giving it back to the investors. and where I live $42.000 is annual income for thousands of families. They are giving it back to millionaires with their tax cuts. And $42.000 is what we pay an enlisted soldier with 3 years of experience. and they are giving the $42.000 back to millionaires. $42.000 as they cut Medicaid. $42.000 as they argue that it is okay to trim Medicare. It is $20 for those of you who go to work every day in America. You know what that means with this -administration and this Congress. that is 6 gallons of gasoline. Where does it all end with their tax cuts?","speaker_name":"RICHARD NEAL","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1721,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090130330,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If youare struggling to make ends meet. earning between $10.000$20.000. you get $2 a year. If you are firmly in the middle with household incomes between $75.000-$100.000. you get about $400 a year. or $4.75 per week. enough to purchase about 3 gallons of gasoline. Yesterday Republican Senator OLYMPIA SNOWE of Maine stated. \"The preponderance of these revenues will go to upper income people. people who make a million dollars or more. It is a question of priorities.\" Priorities. indeed. Four months ago congressional Republicans slashed $39 billion from student loans. Medicaid and Medicare and child support enforcement. And today. 5.4 million more Americans live in poverty than when President Bush took office. and 6 million more are without health insurance. Real median household incomes are down $1.670. and still. Republicans want to give millionaires a new Lexus. ","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1945,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090130332,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Now you are showing that same skepticism with regard to what is going to happen if you let people keep more of their own money.. Nearly 60 percent- of those who are going to benefit by the capital gains rate being at 15 percent and also the dividend. tax on dividends at 15 percent. almost 60. percent earn incomes under $100.000. And what are these people doing. what is happening? They are reinvesting it in American business because they believe in the capitalistic system. It is working. We have one of the -lowest unemployment rates in the entire world. The rate of 4.7 percent is lower than it was throughout the 1970s. 1980s and 1990s. When I first came to Congress 26 years ago. we thought between 5 and 6 percent was a target for full employment. We have shattered that myth. Now -it is 4.7. Why? Because we have faith in the system of capitalism which we embra6e through this bill. ","speaker_name":"E. SHAW","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2047,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090130355,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker. for those who say that we will not have an opportunity to vote for a fair alternative minimum tax. I would like to share with you that on the motion to recommit that we give instructions that we will have an opportunity -to do that. Why are the Republicans so excited about enacting the cuts and interest rates and capital gains taxes for something that does not expire when 17 million. 18 million people need help? I dont know. but they want to give this $50 billion tax cut to. people who are not screaming for it. Where are they going to get the money? They are going to borrow the money in order to give the tax cuts. so that on our motion to recommit we set aside these tax cuts for the rich and concentrate on the middle class. This is really where your vote should be counted. Do you want to deal where 50 percent of this tax cut is going to the top 1 percent of the country. or are you really concerned with the alternative minimum tax that we Democrats have been advocating for the last few years that these people were not supposed to be caught up in this. and.so we dont want them caught up in this. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES RANGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4442,"word_count":226}
{"speech_id":1090130359,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Under this Republican Congress. the national debt per person is currently $28.000. And this bill would give my constituents $16. Instead of adopting a bill that would increase the burden on our children and grandchildren. we need a commonsense solution that would return fairness to our tax system. Under Republican rule in Washington. we have witnessed the most dramatic fiscal reversal in our nations history. Our budget surpluses have been wasted. and our nation suffers under evergrowing budget deficits and increasing federal debt. This debt crisis is the direct result of the irresponsible tax schemes the Republican Congress have enacted. The people of North Carolinas Second District elected me to help chart a commonsense. prudent course for the country. I pledged to represent my constituents by paying down the national debt. saving Social Security and Medicare funds for older Americans. and investing our countrys resources into education. health care and other initiatives that enable people to improve their lives. H.R. 4297 is inconsistent with these goals. therefore. I oppose the bill.","speaker_name":"BOB ETHERIDGE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1967,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090130362,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am voting against this tax package because it is another example of the party of the few ignoring the majority of Americans and taking care of only the wealthiest taxpayers. I am not opposed to tax cuts. In fact. Ive voted 6 times to expand tax relief and protect middleclass families from the growing reach of the AMT in the 109th Congress. The American people deserve better. Instead of helping more Americans help themselves and ensure that as a country. we move forward together. this bill will continue the Republicans record in the House to benefit the wealthiest among us and leave the majority of Americans behind.","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3569,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090130396,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He worked handinhand with our troops every day. putting his own life at risk. And then. one night. he turned to his American advisers and said. \"My son is dying of leukemia and the road to Baghdad is too unsafe for me to drive him to a good hospital.\" Within 24 hours. the child and his mother were helicoptered to Baghdad. The child was treated there by U.S. Army medics in the International Zone and airlifted to Jordan. In Jordan. very sadly. Mr. Chairman. the child passed away. but with tears in his eyes. the chief of police turned to his American friends only days later and said. \"I will never forget what you have done for me.\" That. Mr. ","speaker_name":"STEVE ISRAEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2558,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090130403,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I am not sure what else I can add to this except to just simply express that we are not only changing the lives of children in the profoundest sense. but we are letting our soldiers in different parts of the world demonstrate their own compassion to these children as they are a part of the logistical process of making this real. I would just suggest to you that the bottom line is that this is a diplomatic effort. a medical diplomacy. that is in the best interests of America. It saves Americans lives. and it transform the lives of all the children. Mr. Chairman. I yield back my time.","speaker_name":"TRENT FRANKS","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":646,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090130458,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would be happy to respond. Actuaries estimate things differently. The CMS actuaries estimate that 1.1 million wont sitn up if we move thedeadline. In other words. they will lose the pressure they have today to sign up by May 15 and the total will be lower. not higher.","speaker_name":"NANCY JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":270,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090130459,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlewoman for her response. I would like to note that the gentlewoman. Mrs. JOHNSON from the Fifth District of Connecticut. having the clear opportunity to afford millions of Americans the extra time to sign up for this marvelous program has declined to do it. In doing so. she has condemned probably 7 million people to paying an extra 7 to 10 percent on their premiums for the rest of their lives. If this plan is so good. then my question would be why the gentlewoman from Connecticut. who is refusing to extend the time for these seniors. why they are doing that. It just amazes me. Mr. ","speaker_name":"FORTNEY STARK","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1288,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090130464,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Now they are wrong when they say they want to help seniors. An artificial deadline wont help seniors. A real prescription drug benefit will.","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3628,"word_count":24}
{"speech_id":1090130467,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I recognize myself for 11\/2 minutes. I do find it really quite remarkable that my colleagues from the other side of the aisle. who spent literally months scaring seniors away from signing up for this benefit. claiming it was too complex. claiming it was this and that. I cant tell you how many seniors I had call my office saying oh. I cannot do this. it is too hard. Then when we show them they say. oh. it is notso hard. Fiftyfour percent of the people who signed up signed up themselves. The tools provided made it not so hard. Yet colleague after colleague. and I read it in the paper and I saw it. spent their entire time and effort scaring seniors. shameful behavior for elected officials. ","speaker_name":"NANCY JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1573,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090130468,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the difference may have been.our legislation was written by senior advocates while theirs was written by the drug companies and the HMOs. I yield 2 minutes to my friend from Maine . who has fought to make this program work way better than the drug companies and the insurance companies designed it to.","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":314,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090130470,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. let me clarify a statement that Mr. MCDERMOTT attributed to me about keeping the pressure on senior citizens. I did not say that. The New York Times said that. He said he had a. 96yearold mother who is confused. I have a 99yearold mother. ","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":818,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090130484,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Surely as our ranking- member on the the Health Subcommittee. you know on dual eligibles they are signed up under the program. as the law provides. So dual eligibles are included. Mr. Speaker. I will reclaim my time. The gentleman has more time remaining than I do. I will be glad to debate him on his time. Mr. Speaker. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas .","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":368,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090130485,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"You can go through with their Plan Finder tool on the Web site. www.medicare.gov. or again 1800 Medicare. hate your prescriptions ready so you know what you are taking and the dosage you are taking. and they will help you with that.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BURGESS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1467,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090130545,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if the gentleman would yield. I asked this today in a hearing in the International Relations Committee of Secretary Zoellick. and he indicated that now the debt is $262 billion that is owed by the United States Government to the Chinese.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":250,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090130546,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And so if you are sitting in a community in Ohio or in the industrial Midwest or in New England or somewhere across this country where the jobs you have are being lost to China. and then you know that your government at the same time is borrowing money from China. and the Chinese government is using that money to undermine American business in the United States of America and we continue to borrow it. and that is just in the past year or so. another $5 billion has been borrowed from the Chinese. This is going on again and again. The reason I bring this up is today we expanded this. We increased this even more. The $42.000 that we are going to give a millionaire. we do not have it.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":689,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090130553,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think it is very important. I think that Number 9 explains the reason why the majority whip is perplexed. because what is clear to me is that the economy. if you were a student of economics and took a look at the macro view and saw growth. why the people arent responding appropriately. The reality is that the economy. Mr. Speaker. is superb. It is outstanding. It is phenomenal. if you are in the top 1 percent of the American population. Mr. Speaker.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":455,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090130563,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. DELAHUNT. I guess they follow the philosophy and the idea that if you say it enough times. people will believe it. Maybe if you say it enough times. actually our governor. it must be in the genes. also subscribes to that theory in Florida. and really believes that if you say something enough times. then it will come true.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":327,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090130582,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Is that in addition to the $113 billion in profit. and three times. triple what it was 4 years ago? The American taxpayers. those that would be overhearing our conversation tonight. are subsidizing those same oil companies to the tune of about $16.3 billion. So let us be clear. Out of the 100. not only is this outfit here. these oil companies getting $113 billion. our friend is saying. corporate welfare from this Republicanled institution. gave these guys $16.3 billion of taxpayer money.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":492,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090130584,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. DELAHUNT. that is the reason why we know it made number 6 on this chart. We want to make sure that we know it went to number 5. I want to make sure we believe in thirdparty validators here. I just pulled this out of my notebook here because I want to make sure while we are talking about this. Mr. Speaker-. . Washington Post. November 16. 2005. page 1. White House documents showed that executives from big oil companies met with Vice President DICK CHENEY. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":970,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090130598,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Everybody benefits from our economic policy. not this stuff. How is this good for society? The guy in the pickup truck is paying $57 to fill up gas tanks and the oil companies are making $113 billion in profits. 5.4 million are following into poverty. tuition costs triple. Health care is up how many percent above the rate of increase in wages? All of these things say that this Republican Congress and Republican administration is about a very small group of people. All we are making the argument more here is we are America. We are a family. Where is the American family. Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ? Let us start worrying about all of us. Because if we lose a couple. it is bad for everybody. I yield to my friend.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":713,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090130601,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The economy is growing so well that we have number 3. in which the Bush administration. it has become clear. has the slowest job growth of any administration in over 70 years. Since January of 2001. 2.9 million manufacturing jobs have been lost. That is entire towns in","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":269,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090130626,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And the astronomical increase we have had in gas prices. which affects everyday Americans every single day. has just been unbelievable. Actually. Mr. CARNAHAN. we have a chart that illustrates those drastic increases. that is being brought over right now. that I think would be helpful. because I am a visual person. and graphically depicting some of these significant problems is really helpful.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":396,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090130632,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And so when I go home and tell people. they say. well. why do you not introduce a bill to do such and such? And I said. you do not understand. I can introduce 1.000 bills.. If I introduced a bill that would cure cancer. it wouldnever get a hearing. And it is always a surprise for the public to hear that because they do not understand that you cannot introduce legislation no matter how great the merit. if you are not with the majority party.","speaker_name":"EMANUEL CLEAVER","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4245,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090130637,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"On March 17 of last year. Mr. SPRATT. our ranking member on the Budget Committee. offered a substitute amendment to the 2006 budget resolution that failed 165 to 264. no Republicans supporting payasyougo legislation. And we have the rollcall indicating that we were supportive. Again. Mr. SPRATT offered another amendment dealing with PAYGO that* would have reestablished PAYGO. 224 Republicans voting \"no.\".none voting \"yes.\" and it failed. to 232. So we have certainly tried. It is not for our lack of trying to make sure that we restore some fiscal discipline here. The thing that has been the most frustrating for me as a new Member of Congress. and I am sure it is a frustration you have faced. is that the Republicans try to .lead people to believe that they are the party of fiscal responsibility. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2015,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090130639,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"May I inquire of the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania. Congressm an CARNAHAN and I are from Missouri. We are in the middle of the country and we are not prone to extremes. so we believe you are supposed to balance the budget. Congressman CARNAHANS father was the Governor twice in the State of Missouri. he balanced the budget. I had to do the same as Mayor of Kansas City. In fact. there is a State law in Missouri that you must balance your budgets. There is no such thing as you did not do it this year. You must balance the budget.","speaker_name":"EMANUEL CLEAVER","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":532,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090130653,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we have been talking about energy supplies and the cost of a tank of gas and how difficult it has been for Americans to deal with those increases. and another equally important issue is how people are going to continue to be able to educate their children from their youngest age all the way through higher education. One of the things I think it is important for us to highlight tonight is the devastating budget cuts that this Republican budget puts forward in terms of the public education needs that we have. Literally. the Republican House budget resolution would make the biggest cut. and I think I am right. correct me if I am wrong. the biggest cuts to the Department of Education in 23 years. I guess the only thing that would be worse would be when they proposed to completely eliminate the Department of Education. but they are not doing that. They simply have the biggest cut in 23 years. The budget resolution cuts next years Department of Education budget by $2.2 billion. with a B. below this years funding level. It matches the Presidents budget cuts in his budget proposal dollar for dollar. Rather than increase education funding. both of the budgets. the Republican leaderships budget and the Presidents. grossly underfund education. social services and training programs. They cut those programs $4.6 billion below the amount needed to maintain current services. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1841,"word_count":236}
{"speech_id":1090130661,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"(during the Special Order of Mr. GINGREY). from the Committee on Rules. submitted a privileged report (Rept. No. 109460) on the resolution (H. Res. 810) waiving a requirement of clause 6(a) of rule XIII with respect to consideration of certain resolutions reported from the Committee on Rules. which was referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed.","speaker_name":"TOM COLE","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":361,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090130781,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Thanks to business investment. job training programs and open markets. McAllen. Edinburg. and Pharr are models of achievement for the test of the country. The successes experienced in this region are the results of a collaborative effort by community leaders and a tremendous amount of hard work. I congratulate all those involved in so many of the projects. conversations and planning that we had along the way. We must continue our collaborative efforts to improve the quality of life in South Texas.","speaker_name":"RUBEN HINOJOSA","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1440,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090130786,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. since 2003. the Bush tax cuts have helped all Americans by creating over 5.2 million jobs. reducing the unemployment rate to the lowest average in three decades. and growing the economy at a record pace. Thanks to the Home Builders Association. there is record homeownership. Although Democrats have seen American families benefit from lower taxes. they continue to obstruct opportunities. Yesterday. House Democrats stuck to their taxandspend strategy. When the House considered the tax reductions yesterday. 185 Democrats voted against this critical legislation. By voting against this bill. they clearly signaled their support for raising taxes on American families. American small businesses. and American investors. \u0095 Fortunately. House Republicans voted for this legislation so that Americans. not the Federal Government. have control over their hardearned incomes. ","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1075,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090130799,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am particularly proud about the way the rules for the fiscal year 2007 National Defense Authorization Act have been structured. Lets have a minute to review the facts here. The underlying legislation had broad bipartisan agreement. passing the committee by a vote of 601. Between the subcommittee and the full committee. the Armed Services Committee passed 75 amendments. 36 of those by Republican authors. 38 by Democrats. and one bipartisan amendment. Out of the 100 amendments submitted to the Rules Committee. we made 31 in order. 15 Republican. 13 Democrats and two bipartisan. In addition. six amendments were incorporated into the managers amendment. Today. we may well hear that the amendment process was arbitrary and unfair. but the facts do not support the claims. This legislation proceeded through regular order. We will have a vigorous discussion today. and the amendments in order will allow either side to improve and perfect the defense authorization further. As usual. minority rights are protected by allowing a motion to recommit with or without instructions. ","speaker_name":"TOM COLE","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4605,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090130802,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"if he will grant me a unanimous consent request so that 1 can amend H. Res. 811 and add several important Democratic amendments not allowed under this restrictive rule. Mr. Speaker. as you know. when Speaker HASTERT Was in the chair. he said by unanimous consent that we can easily do this. The amendments we want to add back are: A Skelton amendment that helps military families with prescription drug costs. an Israel amendment that calls for religious sensitivity by our military chaplains. an important Hoyer amendment on alternative energy. a Capps amendment to be able to defend her district against i nongermane provision in the bill. and a McGovern amendment to close down the School of the Americas.","speaker_name":"TOM COLE","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":708,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090130822,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I win and the consumers win. If you takes you fO years to get a permit for your bakery. you never get into the competition and the price of bread never comes down. And if it takes you 10 years to permit a refinery because of environmental restrictions that the Democratic Party will not let go of. you never see that oil coming on line and you never see that competition from another refinery. It is a debate. But on the point of funding. the idea that you can just harvest a third of a billion dollars out of missile defense and that is not going to have any effect on the program because you think that\" money is not needed right now. we will have other parts of the program. the missile defense program. that needs more money. As the gentleman knows. when you have hundreds of programs. some of them need money. some of them can give up money at any given time. The idea that this missile defense. which is necessary to protect both our troops in theater. who have been fired upon and killed in some cases by lowend ballistic missiles. like the Scuds that were used against us in the first Gulf War. and countries like Israel that need to have defense that see their neighbors right now developing ballistic missiles that will come in high and fast into those countries. the idea of forcing our Members to choose between defending their troops and having a new technological program on petroleum innovations. in. my estimation. this is something that is a subject for judgment. We have exercised our judgment. I think we have done a good job in the committee. I think we have put together a good bill in the committee. ","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2907,"word_count":297}
{"speech_id":1090130828,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And. finally. something which maybe many Members may not be aware of because they dont serve on that committee. active duty family members actually get most of their prescriptions free from military hospitals. Only 11 percent of prescriptions are obtained through a TRICARE retail pharmacy. So we are really not talking about a great deal of money. And we have a study authorized in this legislation under way to look at what the appropriate distribution of the cost of these types of items should be. I actually think the House Armed Services Committee has gone a very long way in trying to address this very. very important issue. and I -have no doubt we will revisit it next year. Mr: Speaker. I yield 1 minute to my good friend. the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Mr. HUNTER.","speaker_name":"TOM COLE","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1257,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090130847,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The reality is. we have had a very bipartisan process. We agree on 98 or 99 percent of the issues that will be incorporated. I Suspect. on the final vote. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"TOM COLE","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":968,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090130854,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman. I will remind my colleagues that every faith talks about the importance of respect and tolerance for one another. Unfortunately. this Congress has chosen to reject those values by not -even allowing us to discuss them when it comes to our own military.","speaker_name":"STEVE ISRAEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":275,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090130856,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding. No one has more respect for the gentleman from New York than I. I just want to remind my colleagues that we had a vote on the gentlemans amendment in committee. and we did put it in. and it was an amendment to a provision that we put into the bill that was. I thought. an excellent provision. .I think. most members of the committee agreed. I think that is reflected by the 601 vote. that ultimately discharged the bill. agreed with. that was what it said. that chaplains of all faiths. all faiths. would be allowed to pray according to the dictates of their own conscience. Now. I know you can add a word or two or a comma or a change of phrase. and the effect of a small group of words can have 60 different interpretations by various members of the committee. But- the provision that we left with. because I think there has been a concern that we havd commanders. ","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1538,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090130877,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the amendment seeks to reduce proposed increases in copayments for military families back to current cost shares. As the war in Iraq drags on and on. we continue to ask more and more of the brave men and women who serve in our military. They are asked to sacrifice everything. from their own lives to the health and livelihoods of their families. These families are already struggling paycheck to paycheck just to make ends meet. Maybe the increase in the copayments dont seem like much to the wealthy Americans who were rewarded by Republicans yesterday with a hefty fivefigure tax break but. they sure make a significant break in the budgets of low- and moderateincome families with children. Mr. Speaker. not only is Ranking Member SKELTON one of the most distinguished and respected Members of the House. he is also an expert on military personnel. To deny him the opportunity to even offer this responsible amendment is simply outrageous. Even those who dont support his amendment ought to have the courage to vote whether or not to help our soldiers and their families pay for medicine. ","speaker_name":"LOUISE SLAUGHTER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1432,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090130937,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. as a veteian of 26\/2 years of working with the Border Patrol. I understand and appreciate the necessity of Mr. DENTS amendment that requires close cooperation between the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. More than ever today. post9\/11 and with the many different challenges that we face with the potential of another strike against our country. it is critical. it is- imperative that we continue to urge both the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security to do as much as possible to cooperate. share information. and provide a unified front and protection for our country. This is a way of ensuring that we codify that cooperation by expressly putting it into the legislation that this cooperation take place. It is critical. ","speaker_name":"SILVESTRE REYES","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1187,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090130939,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. it is especially appropriate to be able to follow the gentleman from El Paso. Mr. REYES. who was in my estimation the -greatest Border Patrol chief in the history of our country. He did a tremendous job under very challenging odds. I remember working with him long before he became a Representative in the most southern areas of Texas and then ultimately up in the El Paso area. One thing that challenged him and challenged us in San Diego in more recent times was tunneling. Of course. detection of tunnels is something that the military engages in every now and then. and that is a good example -of Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the opcandidate technologies for sharing of portunity to support Mr. ","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2048,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090130943,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This is an amendment that we have addressed in the past. This amendment would authorize but not mandate the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. working with the Secretary of the Department of Defense. to utilize troops. if necessary. to protect our borders in :peace time in a nonemergency situation. The gentleman from Texas. who had a long and distinguished career with the Border Patrol. indicates that we dont need troops on the border now. I would certainly say that the massive invasion from Mexico into this country . on a daily basis that reaches thousands upon thousands in numbers day after day and month after month and year after year. we need something. And just having this authority. in my opinion. would enhance our border security so that it could be utilized in peace time in a nonemergency situation to supplement the Border Patrol- and other efforts to secure our borders. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"VIRGIL GOODE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":940,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090130961,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Now translated into laymans terms. this means one cannot effectively allocate resources to achieve a given capability. in this case airlift resources. without first knowing what the requirement is. In 2001. our airlift fleet requirements were at 54.5 million tonmiles per day. The question that this study asks and seeks to have answered is. what is the quantitative yardstick that describes the required airlift needs. Is 54.5 million tonmiles per day enough airlift? Do we need more? The mobility capability study alone does not give us this needed information. As we are all aware. there have been significantly more requirements pressed upon our airlift fleet over the past 5 years. The world we live in has changed a great deal. -For example. we know our Nation has been attacked by terrorists. We are engaged in an ongoing global war on terrorism. Hurricane Katrina had ravaged the gulf coast region. and we have repeatedly been summoned to help with glottal humanitarian efforts. particularly natural disasters such as the tsunami and earthquakes. All of these occurrences have called upon our Nations airlift resources. Furthermore. what concerns me the most is that there does not appear to be a comprehensive approach to addressing our Nations future airlift demands. ","speaker_name":"JUANITA MILLENDER-MCDONALD","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":37.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4476,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090130964,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Therefore. Mr. Chairman. I fully support this amendment. and I urge all of my colleagues to do the same. I would yield to the gentleman from California .","speaker_name":"H. SAXTON","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1715,"word_count":28}
{"speech_id":1090130965,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. I certainly want to support the gentlewomans amendment also. Representative MILLENDERMCDONALDS amendment- is certainly one on which we should all agree. This is something that needs to be clearly defined and stated. that airlift and sealift require-","speaker_name":"KEN CALVERT","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":44.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":307,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090131012,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Chairman. the moneys are important. 6f course. but having a false sense of security is dangerous. And not investing these moneys in needed security 7systems. systems to protect our space and domestic assets and for homeland security risk is criminally negligent. The General Accountability reports note that if the Pentagon does not move away from its spiral development or acquisition policy where a systems progress is never held to any sort of accountability. has no defined parameters. the Department of Defense will continue to start more programs for more money and create the next set of case studies for future defense reform reviews. Fielding systems that still are in early developmental cycles. rushing them into the field where they have very serious problems with every component. that is a recipe for disaster. Immature technologies are not perfected. integration of the systems is not happening. testing in reallife scenarios is lacking. information assurance controls that were built to the network are sadly out of date. This report shows poor quality control. unreasonable. in fact outrageous. cost growth. and schedule slips and inferior performance.","speaker_name":"JOHN TIERNEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3635,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090131015,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the Missile Defense Agency has before it really an impossible task. Our current missile system programs have not worked. and wishing will not help it to overcome the physics. The tests have failed repeatedly. It has been confused by decoys. faced numerous testing troubles. and despite spending over $100 billion over the years. we have failed to develop a working system.","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":386,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090131017,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. before I yield to my friends on the other side. let me say that the gentleman is probably not aware of a missile which was deployed before it was finally finished. which the Israelis used. Mr. Chairman. I yield 45 seconds to the gentleman from Texas who is on the Intel Committee and also on the Strategic Forces Committee that handles missile defense.","speaker_name":"TERRY EVERETT","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":366,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090131050,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They were. indeed. victims of torture and injustice and unfairness. This amendment is important for Congress to recognize .the unbelievable sacrifices of our soldiers who defended our Nation and fought in the Philippines. Very few survivors of the Bataan Death March are still alive today. In fact. one reason I got involved in this is because of a local veteran by the name of Sam Moody. and Sam passed away since I undertook his request. There are only about 900 survivors and widows. So it is not really the money. It is also the policy that we set here today.","speaker_name":"JOHN MICA","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1723,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090131105,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think this information will further underscore HAATS critical mission and the reason it needs more aircraft. Second. I worked with committee chairman Representative DUNCAN HUNTER (RCA) to include language in the bill to name a housing facility at Fort Carson in honor of my friend Representative JOEL HEFLE?. who is retiring at the end of the year. In his 20 years representing Colorados 5th Congressional district. JOEL has served with integrity and honor and has been a fair and effective lawmaker. I have leamed a great deal from JOEL in my years in Congress. and I will miss his good company and collegiality. I also supported an amendment offered by Representative HEFLEY that requires the Defense Department to report to Congress that it has made every effort to acquire property from willing sellers before using eminent domain to expend Fort Carsons maneuvering site in Pinyon Canyon. Along with other members of the Colorado delegation. I will be watching these developments carefully. Finally. ","speaker_name":"MARK UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7613,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090131126,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentlemen from Mississippi. I am going to miss Sonny Montgomery. with that great smile that illuminated this House and all of our lives. Ladies and gentlemen. this defense bill passed the committee by a vote of 601. It did that because we listened. My great partner on the committee. IKE SKELTON. and I and all of our subcommittee chairmen and ranking members listened to all of the members. worked all of the issues that connect your constituents with you. with all of our troops around the world. This is our connection. this defense bill. that provides for the policies that run their lives while they are in the military. that provide for the quality of life for their families back home. that provides for the tools that they need to undertake this dangerous mission in this war against terror. This is your connection. And let me tell you. the theme of the bill this year was troop protection. And to those ends. we moved over $100 million into new jammer capability for IEDs. lots of money. lots of additional money for armored platforms. lots of new technology for body armor for our soldiers. our sailors. our airmen. our Marines. ","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2129,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090131168,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Committee on Rules may meet the week of May 15 to grant a rule which could limit the amendment process for floor consideration of H.R. 4200. the Forest Emergency Recovery and Research Act. The bill was ordered reported by both the Committee on Resources and the Committee on Agriculture. Any Member wishing to offer an amendment should submit 55 copies of the amendment and one copy of a brief explanation to the Committee on Rules in room H312 of the Capitol by 2 p.m. on Tuesday. May 16. 2006. Members should draft their amendments to the H2554 co amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 4200 which will be printavailable on the Web sites of both the Committee on Resources and the Committee on Rules by tomorrow. The amendment in the nature of a substitute consists of the text of the bill ordered reported by the Committee on Agriculture with additional language for section 404 of the bill negotiated between the Committee on Agriculture and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Members should use the Office of Legislative Counsel to ensure that their amendments. are drafted in the most appropriate format and should check with the Office of the Parliamentarian to be certain their amendments comply with the rules of the House.","speaker_name":"ROB BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1275,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090131183,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this Congress had a great opportunity today to pass i.defense authorization bill that is good for the American people. a bill that reflects the very best of American values. Foremost among those values is our desire for peace. our capacity for global leadership. and our compassion for the people of the world. We could have reflected those values by utilizing the defense bill as a means of voicing our opposition to prolong the war in Iraq. The Rules Committee. however. prevented me from offering just such an amendment to the defense authorization bill. My amendment expressed the sense of the Congress regarding the war in Iraq in two parts. First. it instructs the President. the Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces. to develop a plan to bring the members of the U.S. Armed Forces home from Iraq and to bring the plan to the congressional defense committees. It is clear that we need to begin the process of bringing our troops home because. among many other reasons. the presence of nearly 150.000 American troops in Iraq is an obvious rallying point for dissatisfied people in the Arab world. making the situation in Iraq worse and not making the U.S . any more secure. The second part of my amendment describes how the United States should support Iraq once our troops have come home. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4429,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090131204,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But May 15 is the deadline. We will hold. a massive citywide Medicare enrollment day in the city of Houston in the Communication Workers Hall on Jefferson. We are asking all of the. citywide groups and organizations and .adult children and others to bring their seniors to this place. because we will have almost an allday registration. Eleven computers willbe there for you starting at 11 a.m.. and we will keep it open as long. as necessary so that we can enroll those lowincome seniors. some 55 percent who do not know that May 15 is the deadline. To those of you who may be listening. lets make Mothers Day just a little bit sweeter and ask that senior citizen whether or not they have been enrolled over 65 in Medicare part D. Remember. if it is not extended by the President. and I am going to ask the President by letter today to extend it by executive order. if it is not extended. you will have a lifetime penalty of 1 percent. 1 percent. which is a lot of money. for your lifetime. if you do not enroll by May 15. 2006. I hope. as I started out. that we will wish a happy Mothers Day to Americas mothers and others around the world. and I hope that we will not only give them wishes. but we will also give them action. I believe the amendment that has clarified when you go back into duty based upon a consideration of how many times you have gone is a gift to our mothers and the families of Reservists all over America. But we can give a further gift by making the kinds of tax laws that benefit hardworking Americans and increasing the minimum wage. Then finally we can do something that is important. cease the divisive debate on immigration and recognize that immigration is a part of Americas fabric. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4806,"word_count":319}
{"speech_id":1090131216,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We welcome having those additional troops there. but given the intensifying Taliban insurgency. we should consider whether or not those new forces should augment and supjilement the forces we have there and not replace them. Replacing them could send exactly the wrong signal to the people of Afghanistan and to Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. Now. it is hard to ignore the fact that the Taliban has stepped up its operations recently. Last year. attacks by the Taliban and other antigovernment troops jumped by 20 percent. according to the Defense Intelligence Agency. Suicide bombings increased almost fourfold. and strikes with improvised explosive devices. which is a tactic imported from Iraq. doubled last year. The main battlegrounds in this insurgency are in the provinces of Qandahar. Oruzgan. Helmand and Zabol. the Pashtun areas that form the Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan. And as recently as January 10 of this year. Mullah Mohamumad Omar. who. was the Taliban leader. who was born in southern Afghanistan and forged a very close tie with Bin Laden. rejected a call to reconcile with the new government of President Hamid Karzai and publicly exhorted his followers to fight. ","speaker_name":"ADAM SCHIFF","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11804,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090131235,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"RYAN. Well. it is nothing like the printed word. This is not my stationery. this is the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Let me put up my Treasury Secretarys picture here. Mr. Snow. who I think is a decent man. He* is just doing his job. He is the accountant for the United States of America. He lets us know pretty much when we are headed down a dark path. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4496,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090131239,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As you are going into that. it is.very important. just a day ago. we passed. the Republican Congress. passed another tax cut that will give a millionaire $42.000 back. okay? Money that we dont have we are going to go out and we are going to borrow it and you will tell us from who. to pay for the tax cut. And in 2003.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":318,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090131240,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"if you made $10 million a year. you got $1 million back in taxes. You made $10 million. you got $1 million back. We dont have it to give you. We are political people. I mean. we are Members of Congress and we are public servants. okay? I would love to go to my constituents and say. I am going to give all of you a tax cut. And the really rich ones who may donate to my campaign. I am going to give you a big tax cut. real big. You made $10 million last year. I am going to give you $1 million back. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1008,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090131241,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You can pick up the paper and find out what is happening up here. Taiwan. $71.3 billion of the American apple pie that has been sold away because of irresponsible policies. Canada. $53.8 billion. Korea. again. my veterans. $66.5 billion. Meanwhile. under the Republican budget. Mr. RYAN. veterans are going to be paying a higher copayment. thank you. a la the Republican majority. that is saying that we are for you. Germany. $65.7 billion. Again. our veterans. OPEC nations. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6346,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090131264,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. that was set forth by the Republican Congress. Many Democrats on this side. the super majority. voted against that measure. Furthermore. this Government agency has found that even during this 5month period that seniors were given the wrong information from the White House. the recommendation to go on those websites and call these numbers. the wrong information was given on the plan. But better yet. they are still held responsible to this date. That is going to happen on Monday. And they will be penalized from this point on.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":535,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090131267,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Res. 401. Concurrent resolution supporting the goals and ideals of Mental Health Month. and for other purposes. to the Committee on Energy and Commerce. By Ms. WATERS:","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":610,"word_count":27}
{"speech_id":1090131301,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The richest income group pays the largest share of tax burden than at any time in the last 30 years. with the exception of the late 1990s. The record is clear. The record is also clear that this tax package and economic growth package is not for the rich. It is for the people who need jobs in this country. It is for the little guys. the 5 million people who have gotten jobs because of our economic growth. Those who say this tax cut is increasing the deficit n~ed to look at the expanded tax revenues last month alone. the second highest tax revenue in history because of this economic boom. Those who are focusing on this tax rescission package and saying we should not be keeping the tax rate the same low rate for capital gains and dividends need to know that half of Americans now own stocks. They are savers and investors. Our goal as a nation should be to try to make every American a saver and investor. In fact. if some of the Democrats had voted with us just a few weeks ago. we could have stopped spending the Social Security retirement funds of Americans and made every American a saver and investor. ","speaker_name":"JIM DEMINT","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2357,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090131311,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"BIDEN. SMITH. BAYH. and DURBiNbipartisanallowed middleclass families to aeduct $3.000 from their tax return and that deduction was raised to $4.000 a year in 2004. Last year. single filers who made up to $65.000 and joint filers with income up to $130.000 qualified for the full deduction. and there was also a smaller $2.000 deduction for those with higher incomes. For the first time. the middle class would get some relief. You know. we help the poor go to college. We help the working poor go to college with Federal grants. That is a great thing. But in every one of our States. middleclass people came to us and said: What about us? I may make $70.000 or $80.000 or $90.000 a year. but I cant afford tuition. We finally came to their aid. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES SCHUMER","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9794,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090131353,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is common sense that income tax cuts can only go to people who pay income tax. Let me repeat that because I think the other side wants to ignore that: Income tax cuts can only go to people who pay income taxes. The value of the tax cut should be measured then not only in absolute dollar terms but also in relationship to the total income tax liability. This conference agreement before us has two centerpieces. the alternative minimum tax hold harmless. which passed the Senate with 66 votes. The extension of lower tax rates on dividends and capital gains is the second provision. If we applied the logic of including all tax returns in the various income groups and compare the AMT and dividend and capital gains tax savings to the total income liability borne by those groups in the aggregate. we can see that all of these groups receive meaningful benefits. That is what the chart before us says. This chart was prepared by my Finance Committee staff. but it is based upon analysis of data provided by the Joint Committee on Taxation. not some liberal think tank that has its own ax to grind. The Joint Committee on Taxation is not Republican or Democraticthey are professional tax people who just study taxes up and down. and their economic impact. As the statistics from the Joint Committee on Taxation show. all of these income groups receive meaningful benefits from this conference agreement. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10676,"word_count":245}
{"speech_id":1090131357,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They cannot afford to do so because they lack insurance. We have a moral obligation to find ways to help families gain access to lifesaving medical care. Millions without health care insurance go through life hoping. praying that they will not get sick or will not face a catastrophic medical complication. Living a life free from worries about health care coverage should not be a privilege. Itought to be a guarantee in this country. While Senator SNOWEs and my amendment could vastly improve vital coverage currently left out of the Enzi proposal. unfortunately. it looks as though the Senate will not have the opportunity to even vote on the amendment. Our bipartisan amendment. offered tQ better the bill before us. will never be allowedevera vote in this Chamber. This is not the way the Senate should conduct its business. Purposefully blocking and disregarding amendments on an issue as vital as affordable health care does a disserviceI say again. a disserviceto our people and to this institution. The SnoweByrd amendment would make an important improvement to the bill before us. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7979,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090131368,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I have this response to what was said. I heard my friend on the other side try to argue that the provisions in the conference report that will allow taxpayers to make Roth IRA conversions is a budget gimmick. Was it a gimmick when Senator Bentsen introduced it? It is not a gimmick. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Roth IRA conversion provision generates real Federal revenue. In fact. the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that the provision will generate $6.4 billion in Federal revenues over the next 10 years. This is a provision with longstanding bipartisan support in the Senate. The Democrats have also tried to argue that the Roth IRA conversion provision will actually make the Federal deficit worse in the long term. That. too. is not true. Roth IRA- conversions merely change the timing of when individuals must pay tax on their retirement savings. accelerating tax payments in the case of those who convert. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3113,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090131386,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This could drive up the costs in these traditional health care plans. potentially . making insurance unaffordable for their policyholders. Supporters of this bill are right about one thing. small businesses are facing enormous challenges in offering health insurance to employees. Health care costs have skyrocketed along with health insurance premiums. and it is difficult for small businesses to stay competitive without being able to afford insurance for employees. I have been hearing about this problem firsthand for years from small businessowners who attend my listening sessions and tell me that they want to provide insurance for their employees. but they are getting squeezed financially. They are looking for help from the Federal Government. and I regret that they are instead being offered a badly flawed bill. Small businesses owners and their employees should have access to highquality health insurance. and I introduced legislation with Senator COLLINS that would help provide this for small bisinesses. Our legislation would avoid the problems of S. 1955 while still allowing associations and small businesses to pool their members so as to negotiate lower insurance premiums. This bill. the Promoting Health Care Purchasing Cooperative Act. would establish grant programs to help both large and small businesses form group purchasing cooperatives within the framework of existing State regulation. This legislation provides an alternative to the legislation we are debating that would not preempt State mandates and that works within the existing framework in the States. But this legislation certainly isnt the magic bullet that can address the entirety of the problems within the health care system. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9358,"word_count":261}
{"speech_id":1090131403,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And the third issue on which the Senator says we have to have a vote is the importation of drugs. Have we not debated that issue repeatedly in the Senate. and the position the Senator from Illinois has taken has repeatedly failed. is that not the case?","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":252,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090131425,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to speak on the reconciliation bill that is before the Senate. There are three reasons we should oppose the tax cuts that\" are currently before the Senate. as well as tax cuts that may come before the Senate in the near future: No. 1. we do not need these tax cuts. No. 2. we cannot afford these tax cuts. and No. 3. we should be working on tax reform rather than enacting tax cuts in a piecemeal fashion. Mr. President. we do not need these tax cuts how. In short. the economy is already growing. The Nations gross domestic product grew by over 4 percent in both 2003 and 2004 and 3.5 percent in 2005. In the first quarter of 2006. it was reported that the economy grew at 4.8 percent. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE VOINOVICH","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11512,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090131431,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we must come to grips with the exploding deficits. We cant keep cutting taxes. increasing spending and pretend there are no consequences. There are. And it will be our children who will face the reckoning. And on that day they will look back at us in anger and cry: What were they thinking! I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3014,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090131464,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask our chairman approximately how much time we would need. What we want to do is try to get the time down as far as we can. We have a number of people who have plans that they need to make. and we would like to vote as quickly as we can. but we want adequate time to speak. Mr. President. through the Chair. I ask the Democratic leader. would it be agreeable that we have a unanimous consent request propounded that we vote at 10 minutes after 6. the time equally divided between now and then?","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":511,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090131476,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The third bill is S. 1955. and I would like to take this opportunity to explain my reservations about the bill. The concept of S. 1955 is to allow small business or trade associations to pool together in an effort to purchase health insurance at affordable costs. These new health plans would cross state lines and therefore be eligible to bypass the state coverage and solvency mandates that apply to health plans offered by larger employers. S. 1955 is a well intentioned bill. Senators ENzI and NELSON and their staffs have spent many hours meeting with all sides involved in this important debate. This effort to bring everyone to the table resulted in a bill that improved upon previous small business health plan bills referred to as \"association health plans.\" However. S. 1955 still falls short. I hav6 several concerns about S. 1955. First. I am concerned that this bill could reduce access to critical benefits. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6280,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090131478,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"California has one of the most comprehensive set of required insurance benefits in the country. A partial list includes: Coverage of routine patient care costs of cancer clinical trials. coverage of breast. prostate.. cervical. colorectal and other cancer screening. coverage of breast cancer screening. diagnosis and treatment. including prosthetic devices and reconstructive surgery. the right to a second opinion when requested by insured individual or health professional treating an insured individual. minimum maternity hospital stay. coverage of equipment. supplies. including prescriptions. and management of diabetes. coverage of alcoholism and drug abuse treatment. coverage of blood lead screening. coverage of contraceptives approved by the FDA. coverage of services related to diagnosis. treatment and appropriate management of osteoporosis. coverage of domestic partners and coverage of infertility treatment. The legislation before us sets a ceiling. not a floor for insurance coverage of vital services. Amendments that have been discussed such as creating a 26State benefit mandate threshold are a ceiling. not a floor. The reality is that any attempt to \"harmonize\" State benefit mandates will likely result in harm to Californians. Just like legislation passed by the House last March called the National Uniformity for Food Act which I strongly oppose. this legislation preempts States rights. California voters and elected officials have determined what they think is best for the State and this legislation override the will of Californians whether they work for a small business or large one. I am also concerned about the impact this bill will have on premiums for small business employees. California has rules to protect premium adjustments from increasing year to year beyond 10 percent. And in California. insurance companies may set premium rates for employees based on only three risk factors: age. family composition. and geographic region. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7993,"word_count":291}
{"speech_id":1090131480,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This bill means so much more than ending restrictions placed on stem cell research. This bill means hope for the individuals challenged and fighting to live a life with dignity. Stem cell research has vast potential for curing diseases. alleviating suffering. and saving lives. I know my colleagues recognize the enormous potential of this research too. and it is time to clear the way for discovering new cures and therapies and bring this bill to a vote. Another thing we cannot ignore is the fast approaching deadline for seniors to enroll in a Medicare prescription drug benefit without being penalized. We need to stand up for our seniors and extend the deadline so that our seniors have time to choose the plan that is right for them. When the Federal Government rolled out the new benefit. and it did not go as planned. States such as New Jersey stepped up to the plate and provided emergency drug coverage to seniors and people with disabilities in need. Now the Federal Government has a responsibility to recognize its shortcomings and give our seniors a chance to enroll without having to pay the price for the Federal Governments mistakes. And the concerns go beyond just seniors drug benefits. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT MENENDEZ","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11329,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090131481,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In 2003 CMS spent $600.000 to promote Medicare with a blimp at football games. And other funding went to Ketchum Communications. which produced simulated news reports on the drug program. In 2004. the GAO found that these videos violated the government ban on publicity and propaganda. We can do better. We can promote the drug benefit in more costeffective ways by appropriately funding SHIPs. Recent findings from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission underscore this assertion. A recent study by MedPAC suggests that only 1 in 5 people used the Medicare hotline and only 1 in 10 used the Medicare Web site to make decisions about their Medicare drug coverage. And even though this years enrollment deadline is almost upon us. the hard work is not over. Enrollment in the Medicare drug benefit is still too low in -many States. In Montana. 40 percent of people with Medicare still dont have any form of drug coverage. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4862,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090131502,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Both letters said the same thing. It was truly a disappointment to me. I know some opposition was built for this bill. The insurance companies said they would be neutral. I noticed there Was a little unneutrality there. But the small businessmen will be coming to town. They will be talking to people and \"expecting us to do something. I hope we can continue to do so. There are a whole list of people I need to thank. but I will defer for the moment for some others to speak and comeback and do that later. I appreciate the fact that we were able to have a cloture vote.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3335,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090131526,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to speak about the need for hate crimes legislation. Each Congress. Senator KENNEDY and I introduce hate crimes legislation that would add new categories to current hate crimes law. human rights. invited a small group of sending a signal that violence of any human rights activists to join in a pubkind is unacceptable in our society. lic group committed to monitoring theLikewise. each Congress I have come to implementation of the Helsinki Acthe floor to highlight a separate hate cords in the USSR. Others responded to crime that has occurred in our coun- this invitation. and on May 12 creation try. \" of the Public Group to Assist the ImOn March 10. 2006. in Holland. MI. plementation of the Helsinki Accords Jason Burns. a student at Hope Col- in the USSR was announced at a Moslege. was attacked leaving the campus cow press conference organized by fulibrary. Burns. a wellknown gay rights ture Noble Peace Prize winner Acadadvocate. frequently held lectures on emician Andrei Sakharov. Among the homophobia after his freshman room- founding members of the Moscow Helmate moved out because of Burns sex- sinki Group. as it became known. were uality. ","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2317,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090131537,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"My state of New Hampshire. to respond to public health emer- along with Maine and Vermont. have gencies. whether it is.a terrorist at- established memo of understanding to tack. such as the anthrax. or a natural share resources. such as medical perevent. sonnel and hospital beds. during an The Bioterrorism and Public Health sonne an h edui a Emerenc PrearenessActof 202.emergency in the region. Emergency Preparedness Act of 2002. Finally. we must establish coordinawhich I coauthored. provided a num- tion among all levels of governmentber of critical provisions to strengthenfrmteFdalgvnetalth our Nations public health infrastruc- from the Federal government all the ture after we were attacked on 9\/11. way down to the city and town leaders. The act has authorized almost $8 bil- The Federal response during a national lion for state and local public health emergency is managed by the Departand hospital preparedness to increase ment of Homeland Security and guided medical surge capacity and surveil- by the National Response Plan (NRP). lance capabilities. The act created the The NRP directs the Department of lane cpablites.TheactcretedtheHealth and Human Services (IS) to Office of Public Health and Emergency lead the Federal public health and Preparedness at HHS to coordinate edical re ean uppor th ate Federal public health and medical medical response and support the state ederalncy pbliarheal and mes e l and local firstresponders. It is essenemergency preparedness and response.- tial that clear and robust lines of comsuch as significant increases of vac- munication are developed between fedcines. antivirals. and medical supplies. muncio efevel y bewe fod such as gloves. masks and firstaid eral agencies to effectively prepare for and respond to national emergencies. equipment for rapid deployment anywhere in the U.S. through the Stra- Our Nation has certainly had its tegic National Stockpile. The act also share of very difficult circumstances to strengthened border protection au- overcome in recent years. I believe thorities. including quarantine and iso- these incidents have given us a real lation. and food importation and our wakeup call that we must prepare at water supply. all levels of government to provide a While the Bioterrorism and Emer- rapid and robust response. I believe the gency Preparedness Act of 2002 im- bill I am introducing today will focus proved our Nations public health and on all levels of government to be acmedical response infrastructure. much countable and prepared to better rework remain. We still cannot say with spond to national public health and any certainty that states are more pre- medical emergencies. pared than before 9\/11 because we still do not have meaningful standards to By Mr. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7751,"word_count":432}
{"speech_id":1090131639,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my distinguished and able friend from Alabama. I thank him for his reference to Mothers Day. I do indeed have some remarks that I want to make in reference to Mothers Day. Mr. President. the irises are blooming. their beauty as refined as a Japanese print. Roses are spilling their sweet perfume into the air. A bountiful harvest of sweet. red strawberries is making its way into pies and shortcakes. The phones are busy at the florists around the country. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9577,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090131653,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This year. the Kentucky State Senate had a productive and beneficial session under his helm. I ask unanimous consent to print in the RECORD an article that appeared in the Lexington HeraldLeader on May 8. 2006. that details his recent accomplishments. I ask my fellow Senators to join me in thanking David Williams for his service to the people of Kentucky.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1138,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090131654,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It has everything to do with enriching the trial bar. I have experienced that personally as a physician who has delivered over 4.000 children into this world. We have a problem with out of control medical liabilitythe cost of defensive medicine alone is up to $126 billion per year. We can fix those problems. But we cant fix them by protecting special interest groups that have been protected for yearsspecial interest groups that claim they want to do something great for people but who most of the time are motivated to do something great for themselves. The Medical Care Access Protection Act of 2006 is based on the successful Texas model of medical liability reform. Its a solution to the problem that is already getting results.","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1612,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090131659,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Alaskans who by reason of having lived or worked in or near public lands in Alaska. have special knowledge or expertise concerning the natural or cultural resources of public lands and the management thereof. Tom OHara possessed this knowledge and offered it freely to the National Park Service. But because he was hired under this special authority. his opportunities for transfer and promotion within the Park Service were limited. even though his service was exemplary. As a lasting memorial to Tom OHaras exemplary career. I am introducing legislation today that will grant competitive status to ANILCA local hire employees who hold permanent appointments with the Federal land management agencies after the completion of 2 years of satisfactory service. In Toms honor. the short title of this legislation is the Thomas P. OHara Public Land Career Opportunity Act of 2006. It is my sincere hope that the enactment of this legislation will encourage other Alaskans. particularly Alaska Natives. to follow in Tom OHaras footsteps and seek lifelong careers with the Federal land management agencies. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"LISA MURKOWSKI","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2858,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090131673,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it stand in adjournment until 2 p.m. on Monday. May 15. I further ask that following the prayer and the pledge. the morning hour be deemed to have expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate proceed to S. 2611. the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act. as under the previous order.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":441,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090131755,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. as I speak. on the west front of the Capitol Building we are observing the 25th National Peace Officers Memorial Service. Tribute is being paid to the 155 peace officers who lost their lives in the line of duty last year. The President spoke there moments ago. and is still there expressing his sympathy to the families who have lost loved ones. It is always. each year. a solemn occasion. It is a sacred occasion. It reminds us of the huge sacrifices our law enforcement makes day in and day out on our behalf in our communities all across the country. Every day around the clock Americas peace officers are on the front lines. protecting our lives. our homes. and our freedoms. On the front line. when we need someone to investigate a dark alley or quell a domestic dispute or subdue a criminal. it is these dedicated professionals who answer that call. who answer that need. Each time they take a risk. and they never know if that risk will be the last call they will make. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4237,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090131767,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Once again the administration turns to the fine men and women of the National Guard in a crisis. After our intervention turned sour in Iraq. the Pentagon turned to the Guard. After the governmentalwide failure in responding to Katrina. we turned to the Guard. Now. the administrations continual unwillingness to focus on our porous border and develop a comprehensive immigration policy. the administration turns once again to the Guard. Yet I am continually puzzled that this administration. which seems so ready to take advantage of the Guard. fights so vigorously against providing this essential force with adequate. equipment. a seat at the table in policy debateseven adequate health insurance for the men and women of the Guard. As long as these Guard units operate under the authority of State Governors. I believe this action is appropriate. In addition. the Federal Government should pick up the full costs of such a deployment and be clear about the length of this service. Those costs should not be foisted onto the States and their already taxed Guard units. Their families have been called upon to sacrifice more than any other group of Americans. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8316,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090131782,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I welcome the start of this week and the prospect of a good and fair debate on the whole issue of our borders and how we are going to deal with immigration reform. There are some exceedingly important public policy issues and questions that have to be decided. But it certainly appears that the Senate itself is prepared to take votes on these measures. I believe that is certainly the way we ought to proceed. I hope as we start the debate we understand there are a lot of misstatements about the different positions which have been outlined in the course of this debate. It is going to be important for the American people to listen to those of us who are putting forward proposalsI will outline briefly the proposal of Senator MCCAIN and myselfand then to listen to those who are supportive of those proposals. In this debate. not unlike other debates. we will find those who misrepresent our proposal. distort our proposal. and then differ with it. That is a rather tried. true. tested process around here. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1582,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090131805,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"One occurred a very long time ago. and the two others just last year. Officer Michael R. King and Officer Richard W. Smith. Jr.. both of the Albuquerque Police Department. are two of the three officers being honored this year. Their deaths occurred on a day that has become ingrained in the hearts of most New Mexicans as one of the bloodiest and most tragic in recent times. Officers King and Smith. longtime veterans of the Albuquerque Police Department. were responding to a call on August 20. 2005 ordering the pickup of a mental health patient from Kaseman Hospital. When they arrived at the scene. Officers King and Smith had no way of knowing that the subject of their call. John Hyde would be implicated in the shooting deaths of three people earlier that day. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4099,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090131810,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Owosso Masonic Lodge on its 150th anniversary. This is a significant milestone. and it is with pleasure that I thank the lodge for its many years of dedicated service to greater Owosso community. Tomorrow. a celebration will be held to commemorate this special occasion. Service organizations play an important role in American society. These organizations play a key role in building stronger communities. often providing assistance to those most in need. The Owosso Masonic Lodge. which was chartered in January 1856 by the Grand Lodge of Michigan. has served the community well and has much of which to be proud. This lodge has worked to bring groups together over the years and has helped members work to achieve strong ethical standards. I would also like to join the lodge in showing appreciation for the efforts of the 40- 50- and 80year lodge members. who will be recognized at the celebration tomorrow. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1515,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090131829,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This breakthrough technology was crucial to advancing digital imaging technology and can be found in most imaging devices. including digital cameras and video recorders. spacebased telescopes and satellites. and medical imaging devices. A CCD contains a lightsensitive chip that is able to store small amounts of charges in capacitors. A group of these capacitors create a pixel. which can be combined with other pixels to generate an image. The first CCD had just six pixels while the average camera now contains four to six million pixels. It is a credit to Dr. Boyle and Dr. Smiths innovation that this technology has been developed into the high resolution images we use in our every day lives. Each year. the National Academy of Engineering honors an engineer or engineers whose accomplishments have significantly bettered society by improving our quality of life. providing the ability to live freely and comfortably. and\/or easing access to information. This year. the Academy has chosen to honor Dr. Boyle and Dr. ","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2078,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090131846,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am glad we are returning to the immigration bill. as Senator FRIST has alluded. I am concerned. as he is. there will be so many amendments offered we may not be able to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion soon. We tried to get a limitation on amendments on the Democratic side and were unsuccessful and decided. finally. in desperation really. to go forward and to have amendments offered on the floor in the hopes that Members who offer them would accept reasonable limitations on their debate time. It was unusual that when we debated health insurance for small businesses last week. the Republican majority used a procedure called \"filling the tree.\" and then. of course. the cloture motion to cut off amendments. to limit amendments. When it comes to immigration. there has been no effort by the majority to do that. So we are going to face quite a few amendments. and I hope we can handle them in a reasonable and expeditious way. This is an important bill. Comprehensive immigration reform is necessary in America. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1303,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090131870,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I move to suspend the -rules and pass the bill to preserve the use and access of pack and saddle stock animals on public lands. including wilderness areas. national monuments. and other specifically designated areas. administered by the National Park Service. the Bureau of Land Management. the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. or the Forest Service where there is a historical tradition of such use. and for other purposes.","speaker_name":"GEORGE RADANOVICH","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":447,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090131894,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. This legislation. which was introduced by the distinguished chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. would extend the authorization of appropriations for the Coastal Barrier Resources Act until This law. first enacted in 1982. governs the John H. Chafee Coastal Barrier Resources System. which is made up of coastal barrier units delineated on maps adopted by Congress. Today this system is comprised of 856 units and more than 3 million acres of fastland and associated aquatic habitat. In addition to allowing the Fish and Wildlife Service to continue to administer this vital program. the bill authorizes the digital mapping of the entire coastal barrier system. After more than 20 years of using outdated and many times inaccurate paper maps. it is time we provided this agency with the money to utilize modern technology. According to the Department of the Interior. the.Coastal Barrier Resources Act has saved the taxpayers in excess of $1.2 billion. Inclusion of this property within the Coastal Barrier Resources System does not prevent private development of the land. and the Fish and Wildlife Service is responsible for advising landowners whether their coastal property is within the boundaries of the system. Due to the nature of the existing maps. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE RADANOVICH","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1669,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090131912,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield. myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. I am pleased to urge the adoption of S. 1165. introduced by Senator DANIEL INOUYE. This bill is virtually identical to H.R. 2866. sponsored by our distinguished Resources Committee colleague. Congressman NEIL","speaker_name":"GEORGE RADANOVICH","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":282,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090131925,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. we have no objection to this legislation that would rename the Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge to honor the late Elizabeth Hartwell. a local conservationist who dedicated much of her life to protecting this refuge located along the Potomac River. I encourage my colleagues to support the name change. Madam Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"RON KIND","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":426,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090131959,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 740) calling on the Government of the United Kingdom to immediately establish a full. independent. public judicial inquiry into the murder of Northern Ireland defense attorney Pat Finucane. as recommended by international Judge Peter Cory as part of the Weston Park agreement and a way forward for the Northern Ireland Peace Process. as amended.","speaker_name":"THADDEUS MCCOTTER","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":425,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090131978,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself as much time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of House Resolution 795. With this resolution. the House reflects on the recent bombings in the Sinai which cut short dozens of lives. We take this opportunity to share with our friends. the people of Egypt. our sorrow. our sympathy. and our determination to help Egypt defend itself against such attacks. The Egyptian people have been subject to terrorist attacks for many years. they have responded strongly and generally effectively. While there were several successful attacks during 2005. there were also antiterrorism successes. ","speaker_name":"THADDEUS MCCOTTER","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2300,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090131979,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"From Taba to Dahab to Sharm alShaykh. the terrorist attacks perpetrated by Islamic extremists in Egypt are deplorable and should be condemned by every nation .that shares a commitment to security and peace. It is in this regard that I call on leaders of the international community and especially the Arab world to join the United States in decrying these horrific acts. these action by terrorists. and exhaust ever measure to work with Egypt in combating extremism and terror. Today. Congress expresses its solidarity with the people of Egypt who have suffered greatly at the hands of terror. As allies in the war on terror. the United States and Egypt share a common commitment to security in the Middle East. As such. the people of America stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Egypt and renew our commitment to eradicating terror throughout the world. Mr. Speaker. I strongly urge our colleagues to support this resolution. Mr. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT WEXLER","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1626,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090131982,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. let us stand as one with the Egyptian people and government in opposing and rejecting the violent ideology of hate. of which Egypt has been but the latest victim. Mr. Speaker. I strongly support this resolution. and I urge all my colleagues to join me in doing likewise.","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2654,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090131983,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of House Resolution 795. condemning the terrorist bombings in Egypt on April 24 and 26. 2006. The deplorable and cowardly acts of violence perpetrated against civilians on those two days of terror are worthy of our condemnation. and illustrate the depths to which terrorists will sink to spread their hatred and violence. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution on its own merits. but also out of respect for four good people from. my hometown of Casper. Wyoming. all of whom were severely injured in the April 24 blast in Dahab. On the evening of April 24. 2006. Betsy Lamberson. Tom South. Bruce Lamberson and Cindy Parrish were attempting to enjoy anice dinner together at this resort town on the Gulf of Aqaba. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA CUBIN","chamber":"H","state":"WY","gender":"F","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2064,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090131990,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 499) condemning the murder of American journalist Paul Klebnikov on July 9. 2004. in Moscow and. the murders of other members of the media in the Russian Federation. as amended.","speaker_name":"THADDEUS MCCOTTER","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":255,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090131995,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in strong support of H. Res. 499. and I want to thank Congressman MCCOTTER for introducing this important resolution that is being considered on the floor today. Mr. Speaker. American journalist Paul Klebnikov devoted his career to exposing corruption within Russia. He was committed to seeing Russia become a free and wholly democratic society. I think I can speak for everyone in this room today that we all share his dream. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT WEXLER","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1327,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090131998,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I do support the use of military presence on the border as an emergency measure. Mr. Speaker. it is time for action. The time has passed. It is time for us to be certain that this Nation is secure. It is an issue of national security.","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1007,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090132025,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":14,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I dont want to be a Member of Congress with a conspiracy theory. and so that is the reason why. Mr. Speaker. the 30something Working Group. we have gone back to looking for the facts of how do we get to where we are now. where did we fall short as a Congress on behalf of the American people. Now. when I say fall short. I want to make sure that the Members dont get confused. I think here on the Democratic side of the aisle that we have done a very good job. if not an outstanding job. of trying to represent the people that wake up every day and want to provide. want to put forth their best role. their best foot in this great democracy of ours. I think on the majority side that it has been well documented that there has been access into energy policy here in this country in governmentfunded buildings where special interest was top shelf. That is a heavy charge. but let me just back it up here. 2001 on this day. not yesterday. not tomorrow. but on this day. Vice President DICK CHENEY and his energy task force had a secret meeting bringing together big oil companies. energy lobbyists. CEOs. and other special interests to craft the administrations energy agenda. an agenda to deliver Big Oil big dividends. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10937,"word_count":227}
{"speech_id":1090132034,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Under their leadership. we have developed. building on the work of othersnamely. Senator MCCAIN. and Senator KENNEDYa fair. workable plan to help deal with each of the four components of the comprehensive immigration proposal. but most specifically to address the 12 million people who currently live in the United States illegally. The overall approach deals with the * diversity of this population. We know that 40 percent of these 12 million people have been here longer than 10 years. Many are fully assimilated into our society today. We know we cant give people who have broken the law a leg up in applying for American citizenship. but they must be treated fairly. must be treated compassionately. and that is what this bill intends to do. And it may be modified in making it even a little better over the next several days. Law breakers should not be able to cut in line. as the President mentioned last night. People in this category need to be put at the end of the line. I am confident that as we proceed with the debate. as long as we consider these amendments in a fair and open way. and we have that well underway today. we will have a comprehensive bill. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5561,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090132037,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"A am very committed to addressing that particular issue ... The interest in stem cells will be debated in the future. at a time that is mutually set by the Democratic leadership working with the Republican leadership. The oneyear anniversary of the date the House of Representatives passed H.R. 810. the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. is May 24. exactly 1 week from tomorrow. The bill would offer hope to millions of Americans and their families. Why are we waiting so long to simply vote? If the distinguished majority leader agreed that this is \"a very important issue.\" then I hope he will keep this issue moving forward and vote on it immediately and schedule a vote on the Housepassed bill.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1802,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090132112,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Lets make sure this will actually work. Last night the President talked about sending 6.000 National Guard troops to help the Border Patrol secure the border. recognizing that it takes time to train Border Patrol agents. We now train them at the rate of 1.500 a year. and we cant all of a sudden secure the border because we cant all of a sudden train enough Border Patrol agents. We cant all of a sudden. with the wave of a magic wand. build the infrastructure that is necessary. We cant. with the wave of a magic wand. issue the request for proposals to actually let the contracts that will allow the construction of the computer systems and the databases that will actually make this work. We cant. with the wave of a magic wand. say we are going to create a secure identification card which will allow emplbyers to verify the eligibility of prospective employees. It is going to take a little bit of time. But that is not the same thing as saying. as the Senator from Colorado has said. that somehow we are going with an enforcementonly approach. I support a comprehensive immigration reform plan that is built on a foundation of border security. that says we need to have worksite verification. that we need to have a secure identification card so that employers can determine whether in fact a person is eligible to work. I believe we ought to have sanctions against employers who cheat. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4754,"word_count":248}
{"speech_id":1090132121,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. if I might just continue. there are three important pieces in this bill. They are certainly not new to us. I appreciate we are in the middle of another important discussion. but we have had an ongoing discussion with seniors all across America who are concerned about this issue. If not this entire bill. I ask unanimous consent to pass a bill that would at least extend the enrollment until the end of the year.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":427,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090132136,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Upholding the rule of law on our border is as important as defending our freedom in Iraq. A nation that loses control of its own borders is a nation that will not likely exist for long. Last year. more than half a million new citizens became Americans. They had waited 5 years. learned English. pledged allegiance to our country. had foresworn allegiance to the country from which they came. and learned about our Constitution and laws. They know the principles that unite us as Americansnot our race. not our ancestry. but principles. Among those principles are equal opportunity and laissezfaire. We thrive on immigration in this country. But among those principles. too. is our unity. And first among those principlesat least none is more importantis the principle of the rule of law. Those halfmillion new citizens know that they are free to drive here across the country but not to run stop lights. that they are free to make contracts in this economy but not to break them. that they are free to own a gun under the second amendment but not to shoot someone. ","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3175,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090132163,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to speak in support of that amendment this morning. This approach is a very sound concept. In fact. as we get to the debate about immigration. clearly the first and most important issue to deal with is the issue of border security. and the people across this country are asking us to deal with it. Frankly. until we deal with that issue. we cant move on to the next issue of dealing with the 12 million people who are here already. Until we give the American people the confidence that we are serious about enforcing the border. that becomes an irrelevant conversation. This is a very simple concept. I have supported the Isakson amendment since he first introduced- it. We discussed this issue several weeks ago when he had his amendment filed and pending. ","speaker_name":"JOHN THUNE","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1369,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090132168,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Facts are stubborn figures. Senator KENNEDY said we should learn from history. He served in 1986. when we passed a bill that promised border security that did not deliver and granted amnesty that did not deliver. and we ended up quadrupling the number of illegal aliens in the United States. Facts are also stubborn because every word lie said about the Isakson amendment is inaccurate. He did not discuss a single word of the 614 pages. except to say before you grant legal status to people here illegally. we must have border security so we do not repeat the tragedy of 1986. In Deep South Georgia. we have an old saying: If you want to get the mud out of the spring. you have to get the hog out of the water. The hog in the water in this debate is those who have been trying to obfuscate everything we are trying to say. Simply. we want the same thing. We want comprehensive reform. That begins with what the President said last. night: Border security first. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ISAKSON","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1912,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090132172,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"CARL LEVIN was in town. He worked on this. as many will recall. during the recess. We went back and looked at it some more. CARL LEVIN was changing parts of this. Changes were agreed upon by the Senate. and when this matter went to the Eleventh Circuit. the reason they decided the way they did is because of what LEVIN did to this matter before the Senate. These are only two examples I came up with as I walked into the Senate. Tle instances are too numerous to mention. but it is not difficult to mention what a difference he has made in the Senate and in our country. Here is a man who has an exemplary family. His wife Barbara is one of the loveliest. kindest. finest people. with one of the best smiles I have ever seen on a person I have ever known. He has three daughters. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3698,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090132188,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I voted to support the Isakson amendment which would. have delayed the implementation of the amnesty provisions of this bill until the Secretary of Homeland Security had certified that the bills security measures are fully operational. I oppose amnesty for illegal aliensabsolutely and unequivocally. Therefore. I support those measures. such as the Isakson amendment. that would prevent the amnesty provisions of this bill from taking effect.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":458,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090132220,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let me say quickly. and I appreciate the Senators courtesy for yielding. my amendment does nothing with respect to agricultural workers. We still have the provisions in underlying law allowing for temporary workers to come in and support the agricultural needs of this country.","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":292,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090132221,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If we do not provide for guest workers who can fill the needs of the American economy. then we are going to create a vacuum and a situation where illegal immigrants will come in to fill those needs. But if we calibrate the number of guest workers which can be accommodated by our economy. which are needed by our economy. then we will discourage illegal immigrants from coming in and taking jobs. finding jobs. which would otherwise be filled by the guest workers who come to this country legally. This title has been crafted very carefully by the Judiciary Committee. There is substantial support for it. as I understand it. on the other side of the aisle. even as there is some opposition on this side of the aisle. But if there are other Senators who wish to come and debate on this side of the aisle. I invite colleagues to debate and move ahead. and perhaps yield back time if that time is not to be used. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2286,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090132240,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am delighted to yield 10 minutes to the Senator from Massachusetts. But before doing so. I urge other Senators to come to the floor to offer amendments. It is thought that if we focus on the guest worker provisions. we can finish them up this afternoon. Senator KYL and- Senator CORNYN actually have. precedence. but if they would be willing to yield to the other Senators on guest worker. I think we would finish this entire category. And perhaps we can find a way to work out KylCornyn in the interim. We will be looking for an amendment from Senator BINGAMAN who wants to reduce the number of guest workers. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1131,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090132269,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise in opposition to this amendment and support Senator SPECTER and Senator KENNEDYS and Senator MCCAINS position. I think. relative to the effort in this Congress and in the Senate. nobody has put more time into theissue of how we secure our borders relative to the actual physical activity on our borders than I have because I find myself in the jurisdiction of the Appropriations Committee that covers the border security issues. I have come to this conclusion: We can secure our borders. But you cannot do it with just people and money on the border. There has to be a policy in place that creates an atmosphere that lessens the pressure for people to come across the border illegally. The essence of doing that is this guest worker concept. Yes. you have to do everything we can to tighten up the borders in the area of boots on the ground. technology being used. and making sure we have a strong Coast Guard. a strong immigration force. and strong border security force. That type of commitment has been a primary effort of the Senate and myself. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3153,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090132271,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the Senator from Pennsylvania is not on the floor of the Senate. My understanding was when his side was finished. he was going to yield back his time. I will proceed on the assumption that his time is done. and I have the right to close. How much time remains?","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":275,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090132364,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I appreciate the comments of my colleague and thank him. Senator GRAHAM. and Senator KENNEDY for their work in helping us to negotiate provisions of this amendment. I join my colleague from Arizona in expressing the view that we should not take very long tomorrow to conclude the debate. and I hope we will receive substantial support for the amendment.","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":368,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090132391,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. Libyas decision to abandon its illegal weapons programs. and todays news that the verification process has been successfully completed. and the fact that Libya is cooperating in international counterterrorism efforts. are tremendously positive developments that make our world safer. Libyas experience demonstrates that countries have more to gain by acting responsibly and abiding by international norms than by seeking weapons of mass destruction. However. the establishment of diplomatic relations between our countries does not mean that Libyas progress on all fronts has been satisfactory. According to the State Departments 2005 human rights report. Libyas human rights record remained poor last year. with Libyan citizens unable to change their government and subject to severe restrictions of their civil liberties. As we begin developing a new relationship with Libya. we must continue to press Libya to improve its human rights record and governance problems. and to address the cases pending in U.S. courts with regard to its terrorist activities of the 1980s.","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1086,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090132396,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Following the accident at the Sago mine. Senators ISAKSON. KENNEDY. ROCKEFELLER. and I traveled to West Virginia to meet with the families of those miners whose lives were lost. We were all deeply moved by that experience. and committed to do our best to ensure that such tragedies will not be repeated. To further that commitment. we have sought the views of experts and stakeholders on a wide range of mine safety issues and have conducted hearings and roundtables on such issues as mine safety technology. In the MINER Act. we have done much to reach our common goal -of safeguarding the lives of all those who work in our Nations mines. The legislation we introduce today addresses the issue of mine safety in a variety of ways. First. the MINER Act would require the development of minespecific emergency response *plans that incorporate safety and technology provisions designed to enhance miner safety. In the area of technology. in particular. the MINER Act recognizes that as safety technology evolves. so. too. must our approach. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6269,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090132401,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Walter Pineda. is currently answering charges on 29 counts of professional incompetence and 5 counts of moral turpitude for mishandling immigration cases and appears on his way to being disbarred. I am offering legislation on Claudias behalf because I believe that. without it. this family would endure an immense and unfair hardship. Indeed. without this legislation. this family will not remain a family for much longer. Despite the adversity they encountered. Claudia and Jos6 finished school and now work together in a pet grooming store in Redwood City. where Claudia is the store manager. They support themselves. rand they are dedicated to their community and devoted to their family. In fact. last year Claudia became the legal guardian of her 14yearold sister Maribel. who lives with her and Jos6 at their home in Redwood City. Omar. now 17 years old. continues to live with the Alcalas so as not to interrupt his studies at Aragon High School in San Mateo. Again. Maribel is a U.S. citizen. and Omar is eligible for a green card. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3747,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090132405,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. KYL.. Mr: CORNYN. and Mrs. HUTCHISON) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 2611. to provide for comprehensive immigration reform and for other purposes. which was ordered to lie on the table. as follows: . On page 8. between lines 20 and 21. insert the following:","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":299,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090132406,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking. Housing. and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on May 16. 2006. at 10 a.m.. to conduct a hearing on the nominations of Mr. James Lambright. of Missouri. to be President. ExportImport Bank of the United States. Mr. Armando J. Bucelo. Jr.. of Florida. to be a member of the Board of Directors of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. ","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":898,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090132422,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health. Education. Labor. and Pensions. Subcommittee on Retirement Security and Aging. be authorized to hold a hearing during the session of the Senate on Tuesday. May 16. 2006 at 10 a.m. in SD430.","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":258,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090132450,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today we have made some progress on the immigration bill. Tomorrow we will continue to work through this complex bill. starting with the KylCornyn amendment. which is the pending amendment. Senators can expect a vote on this amendment in the morning. I remind everyone again that we still have many amendments to consider and. therefore. I hope Senators will be reasonable and agree to short time agreements. As a reminder. Senators who have amendments to offer should be working with the bill managers in order to have their amendments debated and considered. Senators can expect a full day tomorrow. with votes throughout the day. I would also say it will be necessary to schedule sessions into the night to consider additional amendments. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1185,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090132518,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Those who can benefit the United States ought to be able to remain. This is what we were attempting to do with this particular language. That is more complicated than it might seem. Effectively. the KylCornyn amendment would make the various classes of aliens ineligible for the earned legalization program: Any person who is issued a removal order. failed to deport. or deported and subsequently returned. any person who was ordered to leave the country under the visa waiver program is subject to expedited removal. any person who fails to depart under a voluntary departure agreement. any person convicted of a serious crime inside or outside the United States. any person who has been convicted of a felony. or three misdemeanors. That is the operative aspect of the amendment. The compromise reached yesterday strengthens the waiver so that aliens under the final orders of removal will still be eligible for earned -legalization if they did not receive a notice of their immigration hearing. obviously. through no fault of their ownwe know what the agency itself has missed. as the GAO report indicatedor it is established they failed to appear at their hearing because of exceptional circumstances. which are certainly understandable. or.- three. that they can establish extreme hardship to their spouse or child or parent who was a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident. Senator DURBIN gave the excellent examples of that provision. Those are the kinds of examples we are all familiar with in the Senate. The waivers are available to immigrants who entered without inspection or those who fell out of status or who used false documents but not to criminal aliens or aggregated felons. We believe the waiver will cover many of the current undocumented who otherwise would be excluded under the original KylCornyn amendment. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2941,"word_count":299}
{"speech_id":1090132538,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. under our sequencing. we are about to go to the amendment of the distinguished Senator from Alabama. Mr. SESSIONS. We are trying to get time agreements. Senator SESSIONS believes this is a very complex and important matter. which I agree that it is. so I propound a unanimous consent request for 3 hours equally divided.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":335,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090132543,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I hope our colleagues will do that. The vote last night on the Bingaman amendment was a very important one. It took the maximum number of people who could enter our country under the socalled guest worker provisions from around 130 million over 20 years. at a maximum. down far below that to probably 9 million. That is in only one provision of the bill. However. I remind my colleagues that while that was one of the most egregious provisions in this entire legislation. thfs legislation still calls for massive increases of legal immigration into our country. even with that change we effected last night. My staff worked hard on this. and I dont think anybody has even considered the numbers until the last week or the last few days. That. analysis concludes that as the bill is now written-","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1556,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090132573,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I must say I agree with the Senatorwe will have a chance. when I have my own time. to talk about Secretary Chertoffthat there are appropriate areas. I agree with the Senator as well. But just extending a fence all along the border does not make sense. I think his response is certainly one with which I agree. and I thank him for his comments.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":343,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090132608,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. I have not yielded back my time. I may yield back my time. I will have to get a short quorum call if we are going to ask consent on establishingunless our leaders have agreed to have the series. I would have a short quorum call until we can clear that.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":269,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090132620,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That is what I would characterize what tens of millions of Americans characterize as amnesty provisions in this bill. In introducing this amendment. let .me thank the many coauthors I have who are in strong support of it: Senators GRASSLEY. CHAMBLISS. and SANTORUM. Also. I ask unanimous consent that Senator COBURN be added to this list of original cosponsors.","speaker_name":"DAVID VITTER","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1202,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090132625,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. we have now worked out that we will conclude Senator VITTERs amendment. then we will go to Senator QEAMAS amendment. which I believe we can accept. I ask unanimous consent that between now and 2 oclock. the time will be equally divided between Senator VITTER on one side and Senator KENNEDY and myself on the other.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":332,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090132675,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the essence of the argumeit from the Senator from Louisiana is when he says \"automatic guaranteed path to citizenship.\" Well. it simply is not so. There is nothing automatic when you have to fulfill the requirements of paying a fine and learning English and paying back taxes and working for a protracted period of time. There is nothing guaranteed about it. It is earned. And that is the hallmark of American values: to earn it. That concludes my argument. Mr. President.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":487,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090132684,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on the Vitter amendment. I thank Senator VITTER for his amendment. Yesterday. Senator DORGAN offered an amendment to remove the guest worker program in its entirety. and I supported that because I believed it was flawed. Eventually. last night. we came back with an amendment that pretty much fixed it. that whole guest worker program. which I thought was good. I think Senator VrTERs amendment points out and allows us to focus on the fact that this amnesty provision in the bill or regularization provision in the billwhatever the fair way to describe it isalso has serious flaws. By supporting this amendment. it would be my intention to say lets make it better because I do believe we are not going to reject the people who are here and try to eject all of those people who have come illegally. We need to treat them in a decent and fair and caring way. But also the rule of law is important. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1132,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090132774,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I congratulate my cosponsor. Senator MIKULSKI. for the excellent work we did as a team on this amendment. It took a long time to work this through the process. but we are very pleased today this amendment will be accepted. Mr. President. when a country is a staunch defense ally and partner in the war on terror. they should have the opportunity to participate in the Visa Waiver Program on a probationary basis while they work to come into full compliance. I previously introduced and called up a similar amendment. No. 3214. cosponsored by Senator MiKijLSxI. After consultation with the Judiciary Committee and the Department of State. this modified version seeks to address some of the concerns that have been raised. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3066,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090132787,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am talking about changing the order. When the Senator from Oklahoma and I last talked. Senator KYL had asked for more time and there were discussions. It is my understanding that we were trying to work through to simplify the action once it got to the floor. My interest is finding an amendment which I can bring to the floor and debate and vote. I am prepared to go any direction practicable to achieve that. We now have Senator VITTER on the floor who has another amendment. But may we hear from the Senator from Oklahoma as to what his concerns are?","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":569,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090132789,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We were trying to work out a time agreement for consideration of a sidebyside. There has been a good deal of discussion and desire to try to work out a relatively limited amount of time. We are not interested in prolonging that discussion and debate. I think people would like some time to try to figure that out. I think when they have that. we could have a relatively short period of time for the consideration of it. I am familiar with the Ensign amendment. Senator VITTER and Senator .CORNYN have amendments. We are prepared to have a short time agreement. Our concern is that we have a whole series of Republican amendments. and we are not having Democratic amendments. We want to try to work this thing through. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1536,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090132851,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I believe the Senator from Texas. before he went to a necessary meeting at the White House. indicated he was prepared to yield back his time if I yielded back my time. I am prepared to yield back my time. Mr. President. I withhold my request. I yield 5 minutes to. the Senator from Nebraska. if I have it.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":320,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090132854,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the time has been yielded back by Senator CORNYN and Senator KENNEDY on the Cornyn amendment. We are now readyr to proceed with the LiebermanBrownback amendment. If they will come to the floor. we can move ahead. In the absence of any Senator seeking recognition. Mr. President. I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":328,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090132924,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise this afternoon to pay tribute to a former friend and colleague. one who contributed mightily to this great Nation over many years. Yesterday. in Meridian. MS. the former chairman of the House Veterans Committee. Congressman Sonny Montgomery. was laid to rest. Two of our colleagues in this body. Senators COCHRAN and LOTT. were in attendance and spoke at Chairman Montgomerys funeral. Senators COCHRAN and LOTT were very close to Congressman Montgomery. They were Members in the House together for many years. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES HAGEL","chamber":"S","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3964,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090132925,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am pleased to rise today to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the founding of Toyota Motor Manufacturing. Indiana. TMD]fl. and their operation of the stateoftheart production facility in Princeton. IN. The continuing success of TMMI and the nearly 5.000 team members at the facility demonstrate the remarkable capabilities of many Hoosiers as they work together as innovators and leaders of the automotive industry in Indiana. the United States. and abroad. In addition to TMMI important leadership in the automotive industry. the companys more than $2.6 billion investment in Princeton and surrounding communities has been an important engine of economic growth and development in southwestern Indiana. A study by the University of Evansville concluded that TMMIs production in Princeton has created 8.865 jobs in Gibson. County. 12.990 in the Evansville metropolitan area. and 31.385 across the State of Indiana. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD LUGAR","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1763,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090132929,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I regret that rehabilitation following back surgery prevented me from being on the floor to cast my vote against the tax reconciliation package which the Senate narrowly approved on May 11. Today President Bush will sign that bill into law. and I would like to take this opportunity to share my thoughts with my constituents and my colleagues. I am extremely disturbed by the Nations fiscal mismanagement over the past several years. and this new tax cut bill was another disappointing step in the wrong direction. On February 2. I voted for the Senates version of the tax reconciliation bill. That legislation protected middleclass taxpayers from the alternative minimum tax and extended some widely supported tax provisions that recently expired. The Senate bill also included urgently needed incentives for investment in mine safety equipment and technology. I was pleased to support that bill. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ROCKEFELLER","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4007,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090132935,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to recognize in the RECORD American Legion Post 51 of East Point. GA. for its unselfish efforts on behalf of our brave soldiers serving in Iraq. The Post 51 family has adopted Charlie Company 324th Signal Battalion from East Point. GA. This Reserve unit made up of 144 service men and women is. in the process of deploying in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The post held a barbeque for the soldiers families. planned a Christmas party for the soldiers. and Post 51 members attended the deployment ceremony for nine members of Charlie Company. Post 51 has also dedicated countless hours supporting the families of deployed members by helping with home repairs and offering financial advice. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ISAKSON","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":949,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090132936,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"While his charm helped him make friends throughout his life. it was his loyalty that made him a lifelong friend. I will miss Chic. He was the first to step up when I was being criticized. and he believed in me when very few others did. In politics. you learn quickly who your real friends are. and Chic was a real friend. He left the Senate more than a decade before I took office.-but I am well aware of the impact he made. Chic was a great role model. and I hope to carry on his legacy and the lessons he taught me: to be fiercely loyal. unwavering in principles. and an allaround decent human being. Chic will be missed. but he has set an example for us all to follow. God bless him.","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2197,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090132939,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to introduce legislation that would temporarily reduce the duty on automatic shower cleaners on behalf of S.C. Johnson. a company headquartered in Racine. WI. I understand the importance of manufacturing and the role it plays in our everyday lives. It is no secret that the Bush administration has enfeebled the manufacturing sector. cutting needed funding that helps manufacturers stay competitive. Since 2000. Wisconsin has been hit hard. losing 90.000 manufacturing jobs. A healthy manufacturing sector is key to better jobs. rising productivity. and higher standards of living. ","speaker_name":"HERBERT KOHL","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1640,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090132950,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to announce for the information of the Senate apd the public that a hearing has been scheduled before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. The hearing will be held on Thursday. May 25. 2006. at 10 a.m. in room SD366 of the Dirksen Building. The purpose of the hearing is to receive testimony regarding the outlook for growth of coal fired electric generation and whether sufficient supplies of coal will be available to supply electric generators on a timely basis both in the near term and in the future. Because of the limited time available for the hearing. witnesses may testify by invitation only. However. those wishing to submit written testimony for the hearing record should send two copies of their testimony to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. United. States Senate. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":943,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090132951,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Washington. DC 205106150. For further information. please contact Frank Gladics. Dick Bouts. or Sara Zecher.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":844,"word_count":15}
{"speech_id":1090132993,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And they are being insulted daily by the rhetoric that somehow they cant figure out how prescription drugs work. I am embarrassed by the conduct of others. But I am proud that Palm Beach County and people in the 16th District of Florida knew enough to be able to sign up and now are receiving valuable needed coverage on prescription drugs.","speaker_name":"MARK FOLEY","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1092,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090133000,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this morning I rise to highlight how the Republican budget resolution will harm millions of women and children around the country. This budget makes it more difficult for young women to earn college degrees by cutting their financial aid. This budget continues to shortchange hundreds of thousands of children by freezing for the 5th year. the 5th year. the Child Care Development Block Grant. During the Presidents tenure. the number of children living in poverty has actually increased and not decreased. In addition. the Republican budget resolution cuts key health programs. veterans programs. and environmental programs. These cuts. as you know. will hurt our American families when they are feeling the pain the most. when they have to pay higher gas prices. All their bills are going up. Health care costs are out of bounds. H. ","speaker_name":"HILDA SOLIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1124,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090133007,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I wish to remind my colleagues today that May is Stroke Awareness Month. Throughout this month we recognize the millions of Americans struggling with the effects of stroke. and we recommit ourselves to helping them. We also acknowledge the efforts of organizations. like the American Stroke Association. which provide leadership. helping all of us to prevent and treat stroke. On average every 45 seconds. someone in the United States has a stroke. and someone dies from stroke every 3 minutes. Representative PICKERING and I have introduced the Stroke Treatment and Ongoing Prevention Stroke Act. H.R. 898. the STOP Stroke Act. which now has the support of 132 of our colleagues. This legislation will increase awareness. provide critical resources to implement stroke care systems. The legislation will help ensure that patients recognize the symptoms of stroke and treat it as a medical emergency. ","speaker_name":"LOIS CAPPS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1189,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090133029,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. The Ouachita National Forest. part of which is in my district. covers 1.8 million acres in central Arkansas and southeastern Oklahoma. It is about 70. degrees right now in Oklahoma. but in December of 2000. it was not so pleasant. as you can see by the photo. A major ice storm hit approximately 340.000 acres in the Ouachita Mountains. closing State highways and county roads. In recovering from the storm. the Forest Service obtained the approval of alternative arrangements under the National Environmental Policy Act. Alternative arrangements must be approved by the White House and have only been used a handful of times to allow a quick response to catastrophic events such as the Ouachita ice storm. These arrangements allowed action on roughly 66.000 acres to reduce fuels and the risk of wildfire in the areas posing the greatest threat to public safety and private property. The area within the alternative arrangements zone included 1.862 homes and 23 churches in my district. ","speaker_name":"DAN BOREN","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1776,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090133038,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We care about our forests in Washington State. The Kettle roadless area in eastern Washington. the Eajle Cap roadless area in western Washington. We want to insist that our Federal agencies use science. This bill Iemoves one of the fundamental pillars of making these decisions. It removes science. So it does something to make sure that we do something the wrong way. But it also does something in the wrong place. and I will get to that when my amendment comes to preserve the roadless areas of our forests.","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2904,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090133067,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. are there problems with the current process? Yes. For the most part. they are political. In the case of the Biscuit fire. the professional managers developed a plan that would have yielded somewhere around 175 million boardfeet of salvage. The administration. in an election year. said that is not enough. we want a lot more. They pulled that plan. They came back with another plan. much bigger numbers. but they havent even harvested half of the original proposal. which was virtually noncontroversial. So in response. unfortunately. instead of prescribing a professional management in the future that is site specific. that mandatds things. we are providing even more discretion to political appointees with this legislation. As I said to some folks from the timber industry in my district. you may think it is a great bill with Mark. Ray down there and George Bush at the White House. But what if the Clintons come back? They said. ","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1504,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090133073,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"said. People who dont represent forest districts may say\" what is in it for me. why should I care? Here is why you should care. Because when you build your house. if you had a builder come to you and say here is your choice. we can either build this house with perfectly solid wood that came from dead trees that were killed in a fire. or we.can build your house by cutting down live- trees that are standing today. which would you prefer? Most Americans would say. you know. I would rather use the dead wood. if it is good structurally. to build my house. and indeed it is good structurally. but only if you harvest it promptly. Let me go right back to basics. We use wood. It has got to come from somewhere. If you can get it from burned forests and do so responsibly and protect the environment. as this bill requires. that is where you ought to get the wood from. But if you delay that harvest unnecessarily. you will diminish the value of the wood and you will increase the adverse environmental impact. Finally. let me say this: We make decisions in our society and we make tradeoffs . and balance things. ","speaker_name":"BOB GOODLATTE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1528,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090133077,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Hugo destroyed some $250 million worth of timber. South Carolina suffered similar damage from that storrf. The 2000 outbreak of southern pine beetle spread rapidly to over 130.000 acres of nonFederal land. and additional private land in and around Pisgah National Forest and the Biltmore Estate. known as the Cradle of Forestry in America. If the beetle is not controlled quickly. it will easily spread to adjacent lands. Most of this outbreak is on Federal lands. making it extremely important the Forest Service respond quickly to avoid spreading infestations to adjacent healthy nonFederal forests. \"We do not have a year or 2 years\" stated Jim Hefley. a retired forestry professional charged with heading up the committee to address the outbreak. \"We have 120 days to accomplish our work and remove the infested trees.\" This statement was made in November of 2000 as the beetles entered their period of winter dormancy. The Forest Service did not issue their decision to implement treatments until April 16. 2002. This is unconscionably slow.. With the authority available under H.R. -4200. the Forest Service could substantially shorten the time frame to move forward with the recovery project down to as little as 60 days if the Forest Service develops an appropriate preapproved practice to deal with southern pine beetles. ","speaker_name":"ROBIN HAYES","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2228,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090133079,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. I thank the gentleman from Minnesota. Madam Chairman. just briefly. I mentioned earlier the amazement with which I have watched some of the misrepresentation that has occurred on the floor today. I just saw it again a second ago from my good friend from Washington State. BLM did not. for the record. cancel the contract of the researcher. they suspended it following a review to make sure procedures had been followed. I also want to talk about this criticism of planning ahead. You know. folks on my side have been in high dudgeon and great outrage at the lack of planning by FEMA prior to Hurricane Katrina. Here we are with a bill that would allow us to plan ahead. so that when disaster strikes we can respond responsibly and promptly with the best available science to protect the environment and to save the taxpayers money. and we are being criticized for advance planning. It is a good bit paradoxical. my friends. ","speaker_name":"BRIAN BAIRD","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2220,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090133083,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. I want to add one other environmental consideration on this. the issue of greenhouse gases. When you talk- about billions of boardfeet of timber down postKatrina. and you think about what happens if there is a secondary burn and how much carbon is put into the air. that is not good if you want to contain greenhouse gases. Those who are concerned about global warming. as am I. and as are many of my friends who have spoken today. seriously ought to consider. you can entrap the carbon in those trees by building a home with the wood. or you can leave the carbon in those trees to burn a second time and to fill the atmosphere with smoke. I would submit that it is better from an environmental perspective to make sure that those forests do not reburn if you can do so responsibly. and we have testimony from wildland forest fighters that by removing these trees postfire you can actually reduce the risk of subsequent fires if you reharvest.","speaker_name":"BRIAN BAIRD","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":959,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090133091,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have also heard today. erroneously. no site evaluation. We would wipe that out. Nobody would ever have to go on the ground. That is not true. Go to page 32 of the managers amendment that we are debating today: We require the agencies to show rationale for their decision. economic analysis and justification. an analysis of the environmental effects of the project. and how such effects will be minimized or mitigated consistent with applicable land and resource management plan. And it goes on through. And let me say. we continually heard this nonsense that somehow you can do this without ever following the Clean Water Act or Safe Drinking Water Act or the Endangered Species. and that is simply not the case. because Americans act. and that is simply not the case. because Americans under our law would have the same right they have under existing law in the Healthy Forest Restoration Act to appeal. and to appeal to a court of law who would immediately shut down a project with a temporary restraining order. stop them in their tracks if they didnt follow existing Federal law. The safeguards are in this bill to do what is needed to be done to improve Americas forests. to get them back into restored status. to move quickly after a catastrophe. after a disaster. as we expect the government to do after a lot of different events that occur in our country. We just want to be able to do that in our forests as well. like every other forestland manager has the authority to do. Madam Chairman. ","speaker_name":"GREG WALDEN","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3933,"word_count":266}
{"speech_id":1090133094,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. I am pleased that the gentleman from Washington. who is a really good Member and a good friend of mine. that he mentioned the small logging companies. I remember in 1978. we had 157 small coal companies in east Tennessee. and then they opened up a Federal mining office and now there are none of those small companies left. When you overregulate anything. it helps the big giants. but it first runs the small companies out and then even the mediumsized companies. And I am told that is what is happening all over the country to our small logging companies. And I remember. I was told years ago that in the mideighties that Congress passed a bill that the environmentalists wanted that would not allow cutting of more than 80 percent of the new growth in our national forests. Today. we are cutting less than oneseventh of the new growth in our national forests. and we have two or three or four times as much dead and dying trees. and under the present rules we cant even go in there and get some of these dead and dying trees out. Like he said earlier. I said this bill is just another of many things that we are trying to not only help the environment but -to .help the poor and the lower income and the working people by not driving up prices and not destroying jobs in the way that we have been doing. ","speaker_name":"JOHN DUNCAN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2362,"word_count":246}
{"speech_id":1090133111,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Although the NEPA process had been complete on these original sales. Mr. Fisher had to wait an additional 6 months for expanded sales to recover the salvage. Unfortunately. the process to salvage the timber had taken its toll on his crews. It was no longer worth the return. Had H.R. 4200 been in place in 1999. some 30.00040.000 cords of wood could have been salvaged in the Superior National Forest. Instead. Harrys crew was only able to recover 20.000 cords of woodLess than half. The current process makes for bad forest management. It increases the risk for forest fire and insect infestation. and puts homes. businesses and human lives in danger. ","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8246,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090133118,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It would allow the Forest Service to then amend their plan so in the future they could apply with certainty preapproved practices. not with discretion. and greatly expedite future salvage under those conditions. In the meantime they could use regular procedures. and I pointed out earlier. on the Biscuit fire. that could hive yielded 175 million boardfeet. but. because of political intervention. yielded about 75 million boardfeet of harvest. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2783,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090133122,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Forest Service and Bureau of Land* Management already have many existing authorities for timber salvage. including the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003. In 2005. 35 percent of the logging volume on our National Forests came from timber salvageall completed with existing authorities. The Forest Service is quickly completing one of the largest timber salvage projects in history. 676 -million board feet. for those -National Forests on the gulf coast impacted by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. For situations involving threats to life and property. the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management may request alternative arrangements with the Council on Environmental Quality. and to date not one Forest Service request has been denied. If Congress approves H.R. 4200. roads. will be built in inventoried roadless areas. even though the existing road maintenance backlog is large and growing. Ironically. H.R. 4200 will also divert resources from wildfire prevention. Over 11.000 communities around the country are at high risk for wildfire. Theres an urgent need to treat the neighboring forests to reduce the danger. And. there are similar conditions across the Country. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2580,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090133125,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But we also have to relate back to the forests themselves. As the experts said in their testimony. and I asked them. how could you establish a list of peerreviewed. preapproved practices? They said. you cant unless you were considering sitespecific. classspecific application. You cant possibly do that. There is no generic way of doing that. So my amendment would. I believe. further the objectives of the authors of the bill and remove some uncertainty. because it is not clear from their testimony how you are ever going to g1et together this list. And if the alternative to the list is to go to the CEQ. the Chief of the Forest Service said he didnt want to go there. He used HFRA instead. which is another proposal I put forward. which is why not just use. since we are all familiar with. there is still some controversy. but I think very little. attached to HFRA and its application. why not apply HFRA procedures to the problems in postcatastrophic events? But that was not deemed to be adequate for some reason. and now we have an entirely new construct which I believe has some need for perfecting amendments. And that is why I am offering my amendment. and I would recommend it to my colleagues. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1802,"word_count":222}
{"speech_id":1090133133,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And we essentially are going to stop. by this amendment. stop subsidizing logging roads in some of our steeper areas. These roadless areas are commonly found in our steeper. higher elevations. They are at the tops of our mountains. and they are- the most expensive places to build logging roads. They are the places where the taxpayers get soaked the most in our subsidization programs. We would. say essentially that\" you cannot use this legislation. in our amendment. to continue that log roadbuilding program which ends up putting the tab on the American taxpayer. This is a fiscal reason. The second fiscal reason is it makes no sense now. it makes no sense to make a misprioritization from. instead of doing the $10 billion of backlog we already have to repair and maintain our existing mileage. enough to. I think it is 336.000 miles of existing roads. with a $10 billion backlog already. Uncle Sam already has a $10 billion commitment to get those roads and keep them from washing out. Eighty percent of these roads are not even fit. ","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3409,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090133135,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. there are two problems. One. although I respect the drafters of this bill. the bill does not respect the clearly expressed sentiment of the American people. because 96 percent of the American people said dont build roads. temporary. permanent. transitory. big. small. little. Ninetysix percent of the Americans who expressed their opinion on this issue said dont do what this bill does. which allows building roads in these designated roadless areas. This ignores the clearly expressed intention of the people. and that ought to be enough in itself to endorse this particular amendment. Now. I come back to when you look at these roadless areas. they have value that is not in this accounting. which is to keep the silt out of our streams. I respect that we might put a line in a book somewhere that will be over in the Library of Congress that says. presto changeo. these are all going to be \"temporary.\" There is also a line in a book over in the Library of Congress that says 60.000 miles that have been out there for decades are \"temporary.\" In real life. -this guts roadless area rules. We need this amendment if this bill is going to pass. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1207,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090133146,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The vast majority of peerreviewed science on salvage logging to date demonstrates that salvage logging is contrary to the goal of improving forest health. In fact. 169 scientists from around the country submitted a letter to Congress expressing their opposition to H.R. 4200. Disappointingly. H.R. 4200 ignores this body of science on the harmful impacts of salvage logging. including its potential to increase forestfire risk and decrease forest regeneration. This amendment attempts to incorporate some of the science into the underlying bill. In the Southwest. we are facing what is predicted to be a record fire season. Even firefighters are opposed to H.R. 4200 because it could greatly increase fire risk to our communities. The group Firefighters United for Safety. Ethics and Ecology. an organization of current. former. and retired firefighters. opposes H.R. 4200. The practices authorized under H.R. 4200 should not increase the risk of fire to our national forests .and nearby communities. ","speaker_name":"TOM UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1999,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090133150,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Well. let me give you an example of what happens in the real world. Imagine the following scenario: Logging creates logging slash. Under contractual agreements it must be cleaned up. often within 30 days. The agency could get sued because of the increased fire risk that exists during that 30day period. To do a recovery after a hurricane. the Forest Service proposes a salvage sale to capture value. remove hazardous fuels and plant a mix of willow species and riparian areas and mixed conifers on the drier sites. A lawsuit could be filed saying the agency hasnt proven that one seedling that survived that fire or that hurricane would be affected. So otherwise they can get you coming and going. You cant prove that an action in the forest will not have any effect. If you go hiking in the forest. you could step on a seedling. And I am going to tell you. if you do a project in the forest you are going to have an effect. ","speaker_name":"GREG WALDEN","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2029,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090133153,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And even Mr. Donato said. dont overinterpret my findings. I yield 2 minutes to my colleague from Washington .","speaker_name":"GREG WALDEN","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":655,"word_count":19}
{"speech_id":1090133173,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I want to thank my friend from Florida for his comments. And we should be the greatest deliberative body in the world. We should be the greatest legislative body in the world. But to be the greatest legislative body in the world. I think. requires some deliberation. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2700,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090133175,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume: Mr. Speaker. I thank my friend from Vermont for raising the points that he did. They are very timely in that almost as we speak. the White House signing ceremony will be occurring. where the President. along with the. congressional leadership. will be celebrating the fact that we have prevented taxes from automatically increasing. something that the other side would have advocated by virtue of opposing the tax plan. Now. lets talk a little bit about this tax issue.","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":525,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090133182,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I yield 8 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina .","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2668,"word_count":11}
{"speech_id":1090133239,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"While working to give Americans back some of their hardearned dollars. we also enact a responsible spending plan that exercises control and restraint. I am proud that once again this House has delivered a budget that practices conscientious spending. Our goal is to stem the everexpanding outflow of Federal dollars. We hold nonsecurity discretionary spending to a near freeze and create mandatory savings. mandatory being that portion of the budget which now makes up over 55 percent of Federal spending. It is essentially on automatic pilot. and if it is not brought under control. it will consume twothirds of Federal spending within the decade. We bring about mandatory savings of nearly $7 billion over 5 years. Together these policies. the policies of economic stimulation and fiscal restraint. will reduce the deficit by more than half. from the $521 billion projected in 2004 to under $200 billion in 2009. House Concurrent Resolution 376 has an overall discretionary spending level that is equal to the Presidents budget at $873 billion. As is the case with our bifurcated budgeting and appropriations process. the discretion lies with the House Appropriations Committee to determine the final allocation of these funds. This budget essentially freezes nonsecurity discretionary spending with only a .1 percent increase over last years level. and as an additional savings method. this budget caps the advance appropriations. ","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5667,"word_count":224}
{"speech_id":1090133247,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It was buried on the bottom of page 121 of their budget. It is a mere 2 months since they last raised it. They raised the national debt in March. they pass the tax cut. they have a fundraiser. and they come back to the floor of the House to raise the national debt again. In fact. it is the fifth time under this President that they have raised the national debt: June 2002. May 2003. November 2004. March 2006. May 2006. And do you know what? They are planning to raise it again once the election is over. FJ 1815 If there is any further clearer evidence that we have a totally irresponsible majority running this country into a fiscal ditch. that is requiring unending borrowing which will saddle our children with a legacy of debt. ","speaker_name":"EARL POMEROY","chamber":"H","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1871,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090133274,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Blue Dogs are all bark and no bite. No budget substitute was offered. Apparently. putting together a budget that met their own internal divisions proved too difficult in the end. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":961,"word_count":40}
{"speech_id":1090133276,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise and urge the defeat of this previous question. It should come as no surprise to anyone in this country that Democrats and Republicans differ in their priorities for America. With the White House set to vote on the budget tonight. I as a Blue Dog oppose the majority partys misguided plan which will result in a staggering $10 trillion deficit by the year 2010. The Blue Dog 12step reform plan is a comprehensive. responsible alternative to the meager attempt to reform and contain the Republican budget. The Blue Dog plan is based on a commitment to resolving the fiscal problems facing our country that includes a call for a balanced budget. strict spending plan. and a payasyougo rule. especially establishing a rainy day justification. The budget resolution debated tonight will cut critical programs in order to pay for millionaire tax cuts. cuts to food stamps. the WIC program. the school lunch program. the breakfastprogram. student financial assistance. Community Development Block Grants. veterans health care. and funding to help local law enforcement. to name a few. ","speaker_name":"JOE BACA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":43.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1262,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090133283,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There have been three references to a Blue Dog substitute that is mythical: It is as mythical as the $727 billion tax gap. Wizard of Oz smoke and mirrors that is in one of the other substitutes. It is as mythical as the numbers that they use to pay for their increased spending. There is no such thing. There is not a substitute amendment.","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":339,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090133296,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have great respect for the distinguished majority leader. but I have to take exception when he says if we hold the line on spending and let revenues continue. we will balance the budget in 5 years. The deficit this year without offsetting Social Security per this resolution for next year will be .$545 billion. In 5 years. according to this resolution. it will be $428 billion. During that same period of time between 2002 and 2011. the debt of the United States will grow to $11.3 trillion. That is twice its level when President Bush came to office. I dont think we are making the progress that we must make if we are really to get this problem under control.","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":664,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090133304,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this bill will do two very important things. First. it will reinstate the payasyougo requirement that was in the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act that expired in 2002. The bill will restore the PAYGO piovision and extend it through the year 2011. Mr. Speaker. the budget process may be complicated. but one thing is clear: We should be required to pay for new spending and tax breaks instead of running the highest deficits in the history of our country. The message is simple: If you want more tax breaks for millionaires. then pay for them. Our constituents have to take responsibility for their personal spending and theii personal debt. So should we. In addition. this bill will repeal rule XXVII. the House rule that blocks a di. rect vote on increasing the Federal debt limit. thereby shielding Members of this House from any responsibilit3 for the massive rise in the debt ceiling Under this rule. simply passing thi budget effectively triggers an auto matic increase in the debt ceiling Members never have to get their handi dirty or explain to their constituent why our national debt continues t( skyrocket to numbers that are so mas sive that they are almost impossible t4 comprehend. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1954,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090133313,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. ] thank my friend for yielding. and I thank my friend from Massachusetts a. well. I have to say I just got in on the tai. - end of this. but I wanted to come dowr and say I think that allowing thes( s budgets to be discussed tonight is s good thing. The Democrats will hav( ) two budgets that they are offering. Th( - Republicans will have one. and we hac o the other one. so I guess it is two t( two. I know we would have 435 individual budgets if everybody could have something that they fully believed in. But. unfortunately. in a large body of 435 people where you have to have 218 votes or at least a plurality to get something done. you have got to leave behind some budgets. And I think this is going to give us a night of some good debates. We will be able to discuss priorities. both priorities in spending and priorities in cutting and reducing and changing the face of government. I want to point out that last year. and Mr. ","speaker_name":"JACK KINGSTON","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1849,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090133361,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Now. the gentlemen across the aisle have indicated that it is their intention to raise taxes on those making $200.000 or more.","speaker_name":"JOHN CAMPBELL","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":48.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":543,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090133364,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I made no such intention. You characterized it that way. I have never characterized it as raising taxes. We are rescinding the tax cuts on income over $200.000. I really appreciate you all continuing to point out to the American people how much that represents when you look at it and to say that we dont have enough rich people in the country to do that.","speaker_name":"MELVIN WATT","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":355,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090133369,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chairman. not only does the Black Caucus budget restore fiscal discipline and fund important programs. of personal significance to me and to my constituents and the millions of Americans along the gulf coast whose lives are turned upside down by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. the CBC budget acknowledges a reality that the Republican budget ignores.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM JEFFERSON","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":402,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090133372,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"ida. Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 30 seconds. We keep hearing from the gentlemen on the other side that they only want to raise taxes on those making over $200.000. Well. the numbers just dont add up. In order to raise the amount of taxes they are talking about. which is. again. larger than the budgets for 1 year for just about all the countries in the Western Hemisphere. they would have to let all the tax cuts expire. including the child tax credit. et cetera. et cetera. et cetera.- and they would still have to find another $63 billion in tax increases for everybody else as well. So that is what the numbers are. Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"MARIO DIAZ-BALART","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":668,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090133388,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"ida. Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 30 seconds. Mr. Chairman. this is very simple. If you think that we should eliminate the child tax credit and raise those taxes on child credit. support this amendment. If you believe that we should eliminate the 10 percent bracket. support this amendment. If you believe that the marriage penalty should be increased. that the tax on marriage should be increased. vote for this amendment. If you do not believe in the education tax relief. vote for this amendment. ","speaker_name":"MARIO DIAZ-BALART","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":880,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090133422,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. the future prosperity and security of our Nation is clearly dependent on our human resources. our brain power. and that brain power. large parts of it are in our inner cities communities. and they need more funding for education. I urge all Members to vote for this CBC budget as the budget that deals with the priority of education.","speaker_name":"MAJOR OWENS","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1186,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090133440,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Community Development and Social Services Block grants. It cuts veterans health care. the homeland security function. mandatory student loan spending and programs that help teed lowincome elderiy. mothers and children. The sad truth is that all of these cuts are the sacrificial lamb for tax cuts for the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans. While many Americans are struggling under mounting debt and our country faces record deficits. this Budget funds another shameless $228 billion in tax cuts over 5 years. The CBC Alternative Budget offers a real budget for all Americans. It would balance the budget. restore payasyougo principles and restore funding to critical programs. not by creating deficits. but by rescinding the tax cuts for those making over $200.000. eliminating corporate tax incentives and closing corporate loopholesall while eliminating waste. fraud and abuse. I urge my colleagues to support the CBC Alternative Budget. which represents a return to fiscal discipline and responsibility and focuses our spending priorities on ALL Americans.","speaker_name":"ELIJAH CUMMINGS","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1558,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090133451,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But let me just touch on some things that I think are important as you consider not only the underlying bill. but also what the Republican Study Committee has done. First of all. the members of the Republican Study Committee clearly have learned the lessons of the 1990s and the effort that we made to balance the budget. and there were three of them. And let me suggest that those three lessons that we learned. that I certainly learned as a member of the Budget Committee. as a Member of Congress looking at the challenges that we faced. the first lesson was that we needed to grow the economy. That was clear. And we did so. The economy grew by leaps and bounds. and it brought revenue into the Treasury like never before. We cut the capital gains tax. and -it created opportunities. it created jobs. and it created new businesses. As a result. it created new revenue to the Treasury. Second. the lesson was if you control spending. if you slow things down. even to a freeze level. that that can help you gain the traction to get back to fiscal responsibility. But the most important lesson. ","speaker_name":"JAMES NUSSLE","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4680,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090133459,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This budget does the responsible thing by engaging in tough management and putting us on a path of sustainable fiscal future and not passing a debt along to our children that they simply will cannot afford. This budget achieves better government at a lower cost. and I encourage all of my colleagues to support it.","speaker_name":"CHRIS CHOCOLA","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1107,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090133461,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I want to thank the gentleman from Texas for his work on our RSC budget. He has done an outstanding job. And you know. this really is a time when we can renew the Contract With America and those goals that we focused on and the principles that were laid forth in that period of time. and this is a budget that helps move us again toward those goals and towards those principles. Mr. Chairman. I find it so interesting that we are hearing people say. well. you can make an argument for this. you can make an argument for that. You can try to disprove this. you can try to disprove that. And you can make arguments all day long. but it doesnt make it true. ","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1150,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090133469,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. there are two clearly defined philosophies at work in Washington. On one side are conservatives. such as my RSC colleagues and I. who want to cut government spending and rein in the Federal deficit. .On the other side are liberals. who believe that more government spending is the answer to all our problems. and these liberals willraise your taxes to pay for it. I am pleased to be a part of this group of conservatives who today are proving that Republicans are indeed the party of fiscal discipline. reform. and accountability. Our budget proposal provides a general framework on how we can hold the line on spending. balance our budget within 5 years. pay down our national debt. and maintain tax relief for American families all at the same time. Like every family across America. we need to make tough budget decisions and cut back on wasteful spending. That is not easy. but it is the right thing to do. After all. if your family was far into debt and was spending out of control. you would have to cut wasteful or unnecessary purchases. With this budget we have a unique opportunity to streamline our government. reform ineffective and outdated Federal programs. cut spending. and provide greater accountability for the American people. Let us get to work.","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1278,"word_count":219}
{"speech_id":1090133474,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I also want to thank Mr. HENSARLING for his leadership on budget reform. It is a pleasure to be a coauthor of the Family Budget Protection Act with him. Mr. Chairman. budgets are about values. Budgets are about priorities. governing philosophies. Wiat this Republican Study Committee budget does. what this Contract with America budget. renewed. does is express our values that the nucleus of the American economy and the American society is the individual. ","speaker_name":"PAUL RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1140,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090133476,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I .rise today in support of this. the RSC budget. simply because I care. I care about my constituents. the family budget. I care about American taxpayers everywhere. I care about the fact that they send their money to an overly bloated Federal Government. I care about growing our economy. I care also about the fact that we are growing deficits instead. Over the last several hours now. we have heard Members from both sides of the aisle agree on one thing. and that is that we need to reduce Federal spending. lower our deficits. balance the budget. This budget plan will do that. ","speaker_name":"SCOTT GARRETT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1267,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090133492,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Chairman. back in 1995 as a brand new member of the Budget Committee. we did go through the exercise of balancing the budget and putting a plan together that actually .accomplished that. We thought it was going to take. I think at the time. 7 years. We got it done in 5 years as a result of a number of advantages and opportunities that were happening at the time. Certainly the budget in 1995 was not written during a recession. it was not written during a war. it was not written during an attack on our homeland. it was not written during one of the greatest natural disasters that our country has ever witnessed in Hurricane Katrina. Certainly the challenges we face today are different than 1995. and the opportunities that we have today are certainly different than they were in 1995. ","speaker_name":"JAMES NUSSLE","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":990,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090133502,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. we offer a budget substitute which offers a difference. because. you see. our budget will return the budget to balance by the year 2012. In the interim. it will run smaller deficits and rack up less debt. Our resolution will hold nondefense discretionary spending to the level of current services over the next 5 years. showing that we can exercise discipline and control without making devastating cuts in the essential services. The Republican budget. the base bill. never reaches balance. and. in my opinion. presents no plan or prospect of wiping out the debt or reducing the deficit. I just outlined a few minutes ago some of the draconian cuts that are made over time. They may not seem that to start with. but they are relentless over a 5year period of time. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1325,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090133512,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Chairman. the overwhelming majority of Americans now believe that our great Nation is headed in the wrong direction. Not difficult to understand why they think that. The Republican Partys incompetence over the past 512 years is undeniable. from the miscalculations in Iraq to the inept response to Hurricane Katrina. to failure to secure our ports and borders. to the historic turnaround in our fiscal health from the $5.6 trillion surplus that they inherited. which they have turned into a $4 trillion deficit. a $9.6 trillion turnaround in 64 months. 5.4 million more Americans live in poverty. 6 million more are uninsured. Real median household income has dropped nearly $1.700. Thus. today it is stunning that our Republican colleagues have brought a budget resolution to this floor that so badly betrays our values and fails to meet our Nations priorities. This shamefully shortsighted budget resolution cuts crucial investment in our Nation and our people. The difference. I tell my. friend from Wisconsin. is we want to pay for what we buy. You are buying a lot. You are buying more than we bought when we were in charge. ","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4584,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090133514,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That is the only way. So I would say to the gentleman that he has certainly laid out a fine argument. but his own Web site demonstrates that I think he has a lot of credit that he can take for the challenges that this budget and this deficit and this fiscal situation have caused.","speaker_name":"JAMES NUSSLE","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2697,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090133532,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"patriotism and his com-. mitment to our national security. they are reflected in this budget that he has proposed. He has helped create a Democratic budget that makes us all proud. and he does it in a fiscally sound way. I urge our colleagues to support the Spratt substitute and to reject the unpatriotic. irresponsible and. as the religious community says. immoral budget that the Republicans are proposing tonight.","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":417,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090133536,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I regret that I could not be present today because of a family medical emergency. I am in strong opposition to the Republicans budget plan and in support of the Democratic alternative. This budget bill represents how out of touch the Republican Majority is with the needs of the American public. The budget is a moral document and this budget highlights the priorities of the Republican leadershipcufting more taxes for the wealthy while making harmful cuts to critical programs for working familiesincluding health. education. veterans services and environmental protection. Most concerning about this budget is that it continues the Republican record of huge deficits and irresponsible debt accumulation. This budget plan writes a check that Congress cannot cash without increasing the debt limit to $9.618 trillionhidden on page 121 of the report accompanying the budget resolution is a provision that will automatically increase the debt limit by $653 billion. In contrast. the Democratic budget alternative would balance the federal budget by 2012 and immediately stop the Majoritys record of increasing the national debt. again and again. Among other things. the Democratic alternative would reinstate the effective payasyougo (PAYGO) budget rules to eliminate deficit spending and give the American people a budget that is fair and responsible. ","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2395,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090133558,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Unfortunately. that alternative was not adopted. and so I am left with no choice but to vote against the Republican leaderships budget resolution.","speaker_name":"MARK UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5115,"word_count":23}
{"speech_id":1090133562,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I commend our colleague from South Carolina for crafting an alternative to this budget that will restore these devastating cuts while still balancing the federal budget by 2012. The Spratt Substitute will also protect Americas families by enacting PAYGO rules. I urge my colleagues to oppose H. Con. Res. 376 and support the Spratt Substitute.","speaker_name":"JAMES DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1242,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090133563,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Meanwhile. since President Bush has been in office. 6 million more Americans lack health insurance. 1.4 million more children live in poverty. 1.2 million more are unemployed and longterm unemployment is two times larger at. 1.4 million. The impact of these numbers intensifies by almost double in minority communities. The CBC Aliernative Budget offers a real budget for all Americans. It would balance the budget. restore payasyougo budget principles. and in fact generate a surplus by 2011. It would restore funding to critical programs. not by creating deficits. but by rescinding the tax cuts for those making over $200.000. eliminating the corporate tax incentives for offshoring jobs. closing corporate loopholes. and reducing ballistic missile defense spendingall while getting rid of waste. fraud and abuse. I urge my colleagues to support the CBC and Spratt Altemative Budgetsto vote to return to fiscal* discipline and responsibilityto vote to focus our spending priorities on all Americans.","speaker_name":"ELIJAH CUMMINGS","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2877,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090133570,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Res. 817the rule providing for consideration for H. Con. Res. 376Fiscal Year 2007 Budget Resolution. \"Yea\" on rollcall vote No. 155 on an amendment in the nature of a substitute to H. Con. Res. 376 offered by Representative WATT. \"No\" on rollcall vote No. 156 on an amendment in the nature of a substitute to H. Con. Res. 376 offered by Representative","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1970,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090133701,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. - President. the amendment Senator KENNEDY is proposing guts the worker protection amendment agreed to by the Senate yesterday. It would do so by allowing workers to selfpetition for legal permanent residency if they produce some documents which might indicate they are currently employed. but they will be necessarily retrospective in nature. In other words. you do not have a document necessarily that shows you are employed today or will be employed tomorrow. You may have a pay stub from the last week or the last month. So there is no way to determine whether the individuals who are selfpetitioning. under this proposal by the Senator from Massachusetts. are actually going to be working.. No. 2. if they are working. there is no protection for American workersfirst. that the Secretary of Labor certify that there were no sufficient U.S. workers willing. able. and qualified to perform those jobs. If the proponents of this bill are serious when they say that certain provisions are needed because immigrants will do work that Americans wont do. then they should support the amendment agreed to yesterday and vote against the amendment that has been proposed this morning. President Bush. again. has said the concept of a temporary worker program is to provide additional legal workforce for jobs that there are not enough Americans to perform. Yet this proposed amendment simply sidesteps that requirement entirely. It further represents a shell game insofar as it would only require those workers in this country during an initial 4year period to work about 6 days a year in order to obtain a green card. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2097,"word_count":267}
{"speech_id":1090133725,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. following this vote. the next scheduled amendment is by the Senator from Oklahoma. Mr. INHOFE. There are negotiations in trying to work it out. They are supposedly very close. So we are not sure whether we will have Senator INHOFEs amendment and a sidebyside laid down. We will try to determine that while the vote is on. If they are table to work it outor immediately following that. we will go to the amendment by Senator AKAKA. We are going to try to work out time agreements so we can move the bill along on all of them. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1120,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090133732,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. we are trying to move along. I see my colleague and friend behind me. the Senator from West Virginia. Mr. BYRD. who has been here patiently waiting to address the Senate on this issue generally. That might work. as we are just trying to reaffirm the language on this Inhofe amendment.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":301,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090133736,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. the Inhofe amendment is enormously important. It is complicated. Members on both sides. including the author of the amendment. are working in good faith to try to work this out. To my knowledge. it has not been worked out. Hopefully. after 25 minutes we will be able to tell the Senate whether it is worked out. whether we will have to have sidebyside amendments. But at this time. we will not enter into a short time agreement. Hopefully. as we have been making progress in other areas. we will have a chance to do that in this area as well.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":559,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090133754,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the Senator from Oklahoma for his good work because we are now a Nation of people of different faiths. different skill sets. different backgrounds. different colors of skin. and different nationalities. Where we once were apart. now we have become Americans. The thing that makes this country effective is being able to communicate with one another in a common language. I think that is an ideal of America that is important. I think any Nation. historically. that has divisions based on language. begins to have .a lot of complications and problems. So I am pleased that Senator ALEXANDER and Senator INHOFE have worked hard on this. that they have come up with language that also includes more extensive -training and learning on behalf of new citizens about what it means to be an American. No one has been more articulate over the years on this than Senator","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":869,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090133762,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I yield to him whatever time he desires.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1087,"word_count":8}
{"speech_id":1090133781,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will give the Senator my answer and then yield to anyone. I know we need to wrap this up. In my opinion. the phrase. \"unless otherwise authorized or provided by law.\" we would preserve that service. Simply stated. that language to me is intended to make sure that whatever service is provided in a language other than English. our Federal Government is not disturbed. Ifyou want to disturb it. you would have to come back and do something else.","speaker_name":"LINDSEY GRAHAM","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":461,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090133783,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That is why it is important to me. That is why I will vote for it.","speaker_name":"LINDSEY GRAHAM","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1600,"word_count":16}
{"speech_id":1090133813,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we have tried to move along this position of the Ensign amendment. looking for a time agreement. Senator SESSIONS has asked for 5 minutes. If other Senators want to debate this amendment. I ask them to come to the floor. If there is no time agreement and there are no people to debate. I will move to table the amendment so we can get the bill moving. I now yield to Senator SESSIONS.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":399,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090133817,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If this amendment is enacted. the nest egg that these immigrants have worked hard for would be taken from them and their families. It pains me to disagree with my good friend from Nevada on this matter. but I believe the amendment is wrong. It is fundamentally unfair to collect taxes from these workers and then disqualify the taxes paid once the workers achieve legal taxes. I believe instead of supporting the amendment. we should stand for the principle that people who worked and paid into the Social Security system for years should be able to depend on their retirement income to which they contributed. The amendment compounds the unfairness by ignoring the underlying legislation that already calls for payment of all back taxes and a $2.000 fine. So what we are asking the immigrants to do is pay all back taiies and. at the same time. forgo the taxes they already paid into the Social Security trust fund. It is fundamentally unfair.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2186,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090133819,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Please go ahead..","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2139,"word_count":3}
{"speech_id":1090133858,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we have come to an agreement on sequence. I ask unanimous consent we proceed next to Senator AKAKA. thereafter. we proceed to Senator VITTER under a time agreement for 45 minutes. aind the time from 2:40 to 4 oclock be set aside for the Inhofe amendment. where the expectation is there will be sidebyside amendments. sidebyside for the Inhofe amendment. until 4 oclock. Mr:. KENNEDY. Mr. President. if the Senator will yield. if there is offered sidebyside. that would be voted on after the Inhofe amendment at 4 oclock. So there is an hour and a half allocated time for debate on the Inhofe amendment. and as I understand. there would be approximately 45 minutes evenly divided. I thought Senator AKAKAs amendment was agreeable or acceptable.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":758,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090133906,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Maybe that makes sense. But it is important to understand what proof an illegal immigrant needs to offer to be put in -one category versus another. One might assume--anU certainly the American public watching the debate might assumewith the significance of these three categories. how they color the entire picture of the pathway for that illegal immigrant--clear. objective documentary evidence is going to be required to go into the best category versus the second best versus the worst. That would be a pretty good assumption because these categories are important and lead to different consequences. Unfortunately. that is not the case. In the underlying bill. the illegal immigrant can present all sorts of things to be put in the best category. And one of the things he can present. if he says he doesnt have any of the others. is a simple statement that he himself signs. . So at the end of the day. we are making all of these very important distinctions between has the person been in the country over 5 years or between 2 and 5 years or under 2 years. but when it comes down to the actual workings of how this will operate in the real world. all that person has to do is write out a fairly simple statement--\"I have been here for over 5 years\"-sign his name to it. and under the details of the bill that is good enough. To me. that makes a mockery of the entire system that is being proposed. That makes an open invitation for fraud. ","speaker_name":"DAVID VITTER","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8665,"word_count":259}
{"speech_id":1090133922,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we have concluded the Vitter amendment a little earlier than expected. It would be appropriate now to proceed with the debate on the Inhofe amendment. with the prospect of later having a sidebyside. I urge my colleagues who wish to be heard on that subject to come to the floor so we can proceed. Mr. President. while we are awaiting speakers to arrive on the Inhofe amendment and since we have concluded the Vitter amendment early. I suggest the absence of a quorum and ask .unanimous consent that the time be charged equally.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":542,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090133928,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we are now going to the Inhofe amendment No. 4064. It is my understanding that we have between now and 4:15. with the time equally divided on my amendment and an alternative amendment that is proposed by Senator SALAZAR. and I would ask if that is correct.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":271,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090133933,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"First. I thank the Senator for his cooperation. I think we have had a very valuable dialogue. and the Senator from Oklahoma has made some important concessions. But I would like to make sure that. for the RECORD. I understand the intent and language of the amendment which he currently offers. Has the Senator changed the version which referenced section 161: \"Declaration of official language.\" which shows on page 2 of the amendment?","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":435,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090133936,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I think it is very appropriate the Senator asks that question. We have had a chance to discuss that at some length with a large number of people. and I have stood pretty fast to my belief. Now. keep in mind I am one of the few people around here who is not a lawyer. and therefore sometimes that puts me in a better position to understand the law than some of my lawyer friends. But I would say that when we write down. \"unless otherwise authorized or provided by law. no person has a right. entitlement. claim.\" et cetera. in the bill. which is the form of the bill that you have seen and that we have all been working on. so my feeling is that language takes care of any problem within the existing law that is on the books.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":741,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090133944,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let me first of all say no. it is not my intent. nor is it the intent of this amendment. to do that. This amendment is pretty straightforward. It does say \"unless otherwise authorized or provided by law.\" What that says to me is if there are some of these privileges out there that you believe are not in the law. then I would not be addressing those. I think what you are talking about is a matter of law. but I dont know that. I would rather say if it is a matter of law. we are providing an exception. And I guess I would ask you the question. since I now have the floor. do you believe that some of these rights are entitlements?","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":648,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090133972,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I. therefore. was discouraged from speaking the language and practicing Hawaiian. customs and traditions. I remember as a young child sneaking to listen to my parents so that I could maintain my ability to understand the Hawaiian language. My experience mirrors that of my generation of Hawaiians. This is the same problem facing bilingual education. There is a push to stop the learning of other languages when individuals are young. when it is much easier to learn another language. but then we tell those same people that it is essential that they learn another language to preserve our national security. This is contradictory. Third. the amendment sends the wrong message to our heritage communities. After the terrorist attacks of 9\/11. we sought out these individuals to help with our translation efforts. however. now we are telling them that we do not value their language enough to provide them with essential services in their languages. The ability to speak a foreign language is critical to our national security. and we should not discourage that in any way. Fourth. the Inhofe amendment could prohibit the Government from providing emergency services in other languages or providing critical health and safety materials to nonEnglish speakers since such programs may not be required by law. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4153,"word_count":210}
{"speech_id":1090133973,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise in support of an amendment introduced by my colleague from Oklahoma. Senator INHOFE. I firmly believe a common language promotes unity among citizens and fosters greater communication. Establishing a \"national language would save the Government the expensive and timeconsuming task of preparing documents in many languages. A recent Zogby poll showed 84 percent of our population believes that English should be the official language of our Government. Twentyseven U.S. States have already made English the official language. including Louisiana which agreed to it as a condition of statehood. My home State of Wyoming made English the official language of the State in 1996. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2182,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090134004,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"You mentioned several things. I believe the last one you mentioned was covered in the Court Interpreters Act of 1978. It does allow you to have that. and it is actually written into law. I would also suggest that these are already in law. This is not something that has to be done.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":281,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090134007,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let me reclaim my time and indicate I said that very thing. I am not disagreeing with the Senator from Oklahoma. He has pointed out there are legal provisions that make an exception to his general rule. and the exception in this case is that you are entitled to have the Government provide interpretation when you are accused of a crime and you are trying to defend yourself in court. All I am saying is. why are we writing into law a general rule that you are not entitled to communicate with your Government or have your Government communicate with you in any language other than English. except where we provide for it? I think that is a mistake. It is directly contrary to what my own State constitution does. It is directly contrary to the sentiment behind my State constitution. We have the Native American Languages Act where Congress specifically found that there is convincing evidence that student achievement and performance and community and school pride and educational opportunity are tied to respect for the first language of the child or the student..And we talk there about that Native American languages shall not be restricted in any public proceeding. Well. you can say: OK. now. *e have already written a law that protects the rights of Native American languages to be used in public proceedings. So that is not a problem. ","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4509,"word_count":234}
{"speech_id":1090134039,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank him for his hard work. I yield the remainder of my time to the Senator from Massachusetts.","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2719,"word_count":19}
{"speech_id":1090134041,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I yield to the Senator from South Carolina 8 minutes.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":669,"word_count":10}
{"speech_id":1090134044,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Senator SALAZAR. who characterizes Englisli as \"our common and unifying language.\" It is that. it is our common and unifying language. Senator INHOFE uses the words \"our national language.\" But when you get down to it. there is no argument here about the basic premise. We agree on the basic premise. It is not as if it is just in America. We know that the language of aviation around the world is English. We know that the common universal language in most places on the Internet is English. That is a fact. So when it comes to the first part of Senator INHOFEs amendment and that first part of Senator SALAZARS amendment. there is no dispute. If the debate ended there. we would have voted a long time ago. But that is not where the debate ends. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5745,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090134052,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am sorry. I say to the Senator from Oklahoma. but it is my time. I will conclude by saying that in this situation. I urge my colleagues to take a close look at these amendments. I hope they will consider that the Salazar amendment is really the more positive statement that protects the rights of all Americans. It respects our cultures. but it also makes it clear that we have one common and unifying language in this country. and that is English.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":450,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090134071,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will take 1 minute. Patriotism doesnt belong to a political party or any individual. The Salazar language is very clear. English is the common unifying language of the United States. It helps provide unity for the American people. preserving and enhancing the role of the English language. It couldnt be clearer. Let us not distort and misrepresent the amendment that is before us. I ask unanimous consent that it be in order to ask for the yeas and nays on the Salazar amendment and the Inhofe amendment.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":522,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090134121,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So you are giving additional kinds of burdens on the worker. those who are in line to become citizens. I think the Clinton proposal is far superior and more fair. I yield the remainder of my time.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":905,"word_count":37}
{"speech_id":1090134152,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That certainly is appropriate. Mr. President. as you know. we dont run this place. I dont know why we need to wait an hour and 45 minutes to vote. We are going to have votes in the morning anyway. I talked to Senator KENNEDY. It is all right to go ahead for 90 minutes prior to a motion to table tonight on Kyl. we have no objection. Following that. we can decide what we will do for tomorrow.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":393,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090134159,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I was about to come to that. Let me include in the unanimous consent request that we lay down the Ensign amendment and give him 10 minutes. and then we will move to the Nelson amendment. There would be 5 minutes for Senator NELSON. I anticipate it will be accepted.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":265,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090134169,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is my understanding we are going to have 90 minutes of debate on Kyl60 for the majority. 30 for the minorityprior to a motion to table the Kyl amendment. no seconddegree amendments would be in order. and following that there would be 10 minutes for Senator ENSIGN and then Senator BILL NELSON 10 minutes after that.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":318,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090134176,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we would be glad to respond after we see the amendments. We may need more time. We havent seen the amendments. That has been a problem continuously. not having seen the amendments. I repeat to the Senator from Louisiana. if we can -see the amendments. we can answer the question.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":294,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090134192,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But lets have no doubt about what this amendment would do. It would destroy the entire carefully crafted compromise. Now. the Senator from Texas has an interesting theory about people who would want to come here and only work and then go back. or maybe not go back. but not have any opportunity for citizenship. We have examples today in Europe of the situation that the Senator from Texas and my colleague from Arizona would want to create. which is having people living in your country with no hope to ever be a part of that society. I would remind my colleagues of what happened not long ago in France. There were thousands of young Muslims who were burning cars everywhere and rioting and demonstrating because they had no hope and no opportunity. Why is it that all over Europe you find these enclaves of foreign workers who are totally and completely separate from society? Because they are in the situation which this amendment would dictate: No hope. no job. no opportunity. no future. but we will let you work. This is not what we do with highly skilled workers. That is not what we do under various other programs. and especially for those who have already been here between 2 and 5 years under this very carefully crafted compromise. the HagelMartinez compromise. as it is called. embodied. I understand why the Senator from -Texas or the Senator from Arizona would oppose that. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5400,"word_count":243}
{"speech_id":1090134212,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Why is that necessary?.The second point is it creates a problem when economic conditions change. Why would it be necessary? There are many visas in our system today that are temporary. In fact. there are skilled labor visas that are temporary. They can be renewed. They are based upon an economic need. When there is a job here that is going unfulfilled by an American worker. we have the ability to issue visas to foreigners who can then come here and work for a temporary period of time. Then they return home. As long as there are jobs here. those visas ordinarily continue. but when the work is not here. the visas stop. That is a good thing. I support a temporary worker program under this legislation. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8051,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090134216,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That does not sound like part of the debate that would tie itself to the KylCornyn amendment. but I suggest it does. I suggest it behooves this country to create a legal transparent immigration system with a secured border that allows Americas employers to train and sustain a permanent workforce. a constantly growing permanent workforce. because the American. by birth. is no longer going to do that. It is the nature of our country. It is the maturity of our country. It is. in fact. the -wealth of our country. That is. in part. what all of this debate is about. Americans said: Get your borders secured and get the illegal flow under control. identify them. control them. That is what we are trying to do. I do not believe that a constant temporary environment is a stable environment. For those who work for long periods of time and get a green card. does it mean they will become a citizen? No. it does not. ","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3936,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090134217,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The National Restaurant Association has stated that the restaurant industry is expected to create almost 2 million new jobs by 2016. It expects this growth to outpace available labor. For reasons such as these. the business community. including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and members of the Essential Worker Coalition support the bill. and strongly oppose this amendment. Striking the path to citizenship measures in the guest worker program is also the wrong decision for national security reasons. One of the driving forces behind enacting a comprehensive reform program is to ensure that we know who is living and working within our borders. If there is no path available to those who seek it and can meet the tough requirements in the bill. then some guest workers will overstay their visas and continue to live and work in the U.S. out of status. That would put us back in the position we are in right nowthe position that we all agree must be reformed. In fact. the reason that guest worker programs have failed inthe past is precisely because they did not contain an option for guest workers to apply to remain in the U.S. legally. if that is what they hope to do. Many guest workers will return home. but not all. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4424,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090134233,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will make a brief comment. Mr. President. we started out on this with the decision that we were going to try to do some legislation on this very difficult bill. This is from our perspective. We wanted to move through this an amendment at a time. I think it worked out well. We are at a point now. I think. as we have done earlier in the day. that we dont have to live by that. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1712,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090134243,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we have spent a great deal of time talking about how to proceed with tonights debate. We have been trying to work out whether we would have a vote on my amendment No. 4076. I send a modified version of my amendment to the desk which has been seen by both Senator BYRD and Senator GREGG who had previously expressed problems- with the text of the amendment. The modification strikes a particular paragraph which had dealt with the questions of which agency would fund the program if the cost exceeded a certain dollar amount. I would ask for immediate consideration of the modified amendment.","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":606,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090134261,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. since I seem to be the only thing in between now and the Senate adjourning. I will not take the 10 minutes . and will make it very short at the request of the chairman. I call up amendment No. 3998. with a modification which is at the desk.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":255,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090134281,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"President. I ask unanimous consent that at 5:30 on Monday. May 22. the Senate proceed to a vote in relation to the Chambliss amendment No. 4009. provided further that the time from 5 to 5:30 be equally divided between Senator CHAMBLISS and the Democratic manager or his designee. I further ask consent that following that vote. the Senate proceed immediately to a vote in relation to the Ensign amendment No. 4076. as modified. Finally. I ask consent that no second degrees be in order to either amendment prior to the votes.","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2540,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090134293,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Still 20 years after reaching this peak around 1985. the fuel economy of the Nations passenger car fleet has stagnated. Some have even argued the fleet of vehicles entering the marketplace today gets less fuel economy than those models in 1985. While fuel efficient technology has improved over the years. the fuel economy of the Nations passenger fleet has not. Also today. our dependence on oil is greater than ever before. This dependence has *complicated decisions we make as a country. such as foreign policy decisions. and as individuals. such as whether or not to fill up your gas tank- or buy groceries. I believe we must do better for families in Arkansas and around the Nation. We must protect our national security by reducing our dependence on foreign oil and uncomplicating our foreign policy decisionmaking in oilrich regions. We must protect the environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We must reduce the cost of transportation for consumers. We must begin implementing more stringent CAFE standards now before these problems worsen. ","speaker_name":"MARK PRYOR","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4912,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090134302,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I believe the reason that the legislation my colleagues from Indiana and Connecticut put in didnt get as much support is that it failed to distinguish that difference. We need to protect the press. especially with a large Government that keeps things secret more and more. But we also have to have some respect for the fact that there are certain things that should not be made public by statute in open debate. As I said. this legislation cuts the Gordian knot. It protects those matters that should not be made public and doesnt put them under the shield of law but strengthens the protections for whistleblowers and others who might want to expose Government wrongdoing when there is no other way to expose it. This is a large step forward. It is legislation I am proud to cosponsor. I am very glad that the deadlock has been broken by this thoughtful legislation. which I now believe will garner enough support to become law. Whereas. the previous legislation. as sweeping as it was. would not. I compliment my colleagues from Indiana. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES SCHUMER","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2057,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090134305,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee qn Banking. Housing. and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on May -18. 2006. at 9:30 a.m. to conduct a hearing on \"The Report of the Congress on International Economic and Exchange Rate Policies.\"","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":289,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090134319,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on May 18. 2006 at 9:30 a.m. to hold a confirmation hearing on General Michael V. Hayden to be Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":275,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090134338,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This youth had witnessed the murder of both parents and the razing of his village and had endured abduction into forced labor. He hauntingly pleaded to Rogers [pllease tell the world not to forget us. The Senate has not forgotten Burma and it is my profound hope that the U.N. will not either.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1871,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090134357,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. after almost 9 months. I suppose it doesnt surprise anyone to hear that FEMA is failing the citizens of the gulf coast. In the wake of the storms. FEMA expressly advised the survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita that they could expect 1 year of assistance. Moreover. section 408 of the Stafford Act provides for 18 months of assistance to victims of natural disasters. Yet just 9 months after these devastating storms. FEMA is working feverishly. not to house the victims of the hurricanes but to terminate their housing assistance. to kick them out into the street without any assurance that the survivors will be able to find housing for themselves or their families. Why? Because FEMA says its time to move on. May 31 is the deadline. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM JEFFERSON","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1587,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090134359,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They still can. I call on them to do so. Bring the Congressional Black Caucus bill to the floor and pass it.","speaker_name":"DONNA CHRISTENSEN","chamber":"H","state":"VI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":1264,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090134363,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. at 1 oclock this morning. the Republicans in the House of Representatives passed a budget that is fiscally irresponsible. increases the national debt. cuts veterans health care. cuts student loans. and at the same time. President Bush passed a $70 billion tax cut bill for the wealthiest of America. What is just as bad is that the debt limit for our Nation has been increased five times since 2001 under President Bush and the.Republicans. This is more than any Presidents that preceded him. Is this the kind of America that you want? American people. please speak out. Please speak up. We can do better. This is the best Nation in the world. We must change the way we do business in Congress. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN KILPATRICK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":865,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090134364,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. agriculture is a billion dollar industry in Eastern Washington. And for those of us from Eastern Washington. as well as all across America. we must be promoting policies and projects that are going to help our farmers and ranchers. Over the past several months. I have heard from our farmers about high energy costs that are hurting their ability to do business. At a time when their profit margins are slim. unexpected increases in energy costs are having a devastating effect. I recently received a letter from a third generation farmer who prides himself on being a good steward of the land. He has never seen circumstances as severe and depressed. He mentions that the reason we are losing good family farms is because our agriculture economy is unable to absorb the energy costs for fuel and fertilizer. His costs alone are up 66 percent. and fertilizer costs are up 46 percent. ","speaker_name":"CATHY MCMORRIS RODGERS","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1309,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090134367,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is incumbent upon all of us to step up and invest in these programs. It is one sure way to help control the cost of our growing entitlement programs. It is the right thing to do. [] 1030","speaker_name":"RUBEN HINOJOSA","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1085,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090134371,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Rules Committee Republicans. along a straight party line vote. blocked Representative OBEY from offering his amendment. I am also troubled by language in the bill which overrules longstanding Presidential and Congressional moratoria for drilling for natural gas on the Outer Continental Shelf. This provision will permit drilling to occur as close as 3 miles to the shores of coastal States. including my home State of Florida. In doing so. the health of Floridas beaches and- tourism industry. the largest industry in our State. will be in direct danger. Let there be no mistake about it. Mr. Speaker: Drilling for natural gas on the Outer Continental Shelf will have zero impact at the gas pumps. It will not under any circumstances reduce the cost of a gallon of gasoline. E] 1045 I say if supporters of lifting those moratoria are serious about reducing our dependence on foreign energy supplies then they should join me and others in calling for increased fuel conservation and investment in mass transit and alternative energy sources. Mr. ","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6979,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090134380,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the gentleman from Florida for yielding me time. Mr. Speaker. I rise in opposition to this rule for the consideration of H.R. 5386. the fiscal year 2007 Interior and Environmental appropriations bill. Mr. Speaker. while I appreciate that this is an open rule. I am deeply disappointed that the Rules Committee did not protect a provision for which I specifically asked for such protection. I also strongly oppose the selfenacting clause which puts into place the cuts contained in the budget resolution passed on a strictly partisan basis last night. ","speaker_name":"NORMAN DICKS","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2671,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090134382,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I intend to vote \"no.\"","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2873,"word_count":5}
{"speech_id":1090134394,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his outstanding work on this issue and so many others. I rise in strong opposition to this rule. In this rule. the Rules Committee failed to report out important amendments that were approved by the Appropriations Committee. including the important DicksObey language expressing the need to address global climate change. Why in the world can you not include that important issue in this bill? This bill is woefully underfunded at $800 million below the level needed to maintain current services. and I must say that a very important amendment that would save taxpayers money. the Hinchey amendment. was not included.. although the committee supported it. His amendment would suspend the royalty relief program and authorize the Secretary of the Interior to renegotiate existing leases. This would save taxpayers dollars. It would save dollars in our Treasury. Right now. in New York and L.A. and across this country. a gallon of gas costs more than $3. while the oil and gas companies continue to make record profits. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2184,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090134398,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And if appropriators wish to be authorizers and authorizers wish to be appropriators. maybe they should look at trying to rearrange their committee schedules to accommodate that process. This rule is a good rule because it follows the rules. it defends the process that we have. and it moves us forward in the debate. I feel comfortable with that. I feel comfortable with much of the actual appropriations in this particular bill. I did have times when I was given a kind of start. As an old teacher. every time they said the word education my ears perked up. because I was wondering where education fits into this bill. And then I realized we are debating a whole lot of other issues not necessarily related to this appropriations process. I do want to say something that is extremely personal to me as it deals with potential taxes. The last time my party did not control the House and the Senate and the Presidency. the solution to our budget situation was the largest tax increase in the history of this country. and it started out with the concept of taxing the rich. I was a school teacher. ","speaker_name":"ROB BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6182,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090134414,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I wont go through all the numbers today. but I think it is important that Members are aware of some of the most troubling recommendations. Despite facility maintenance backlogs of at least $15 billion in our parks. refuges and national forests. funding for construction projects throughout the bill are cut by $216 million below last year and more than $400 million below the level in 2001. There is no funding at all for new schools on Indian reservations. Park Service construction is cut by $100 million. In most cases. this bill has only been able to fund 70 percent of the increases mandated by. law for Federal pay and for other fixed costs. As our recent GAO report on the parks made clear. this inevitably will mean cutbacks in staff and cutbacks in visitor services for people who visit our parks. refuges and other Federal facilities. Staffing in our wildlife refuges has been cut by more than 700 FTEs over the past 5 years. Funding for the Clean Water Revolving Fund is cut by another $200 million below the 2006 level. Over the Jast 3 years. the Clean Water Program. which EPA cites as one of its most effective. has been reduced by $662 million. or nearly 50 percent. This means either that essential infrastructure repairs for this countrys aging water infrastructure wont occur. or that local water and sewer rates will increase as communities pick up the Federal share of these costs. ","speaker_name":"NORMAN DICKS","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5703,"word_count":243}
{"speech_id":1090134418,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the majority party believes that if we just keep drilling for more gas and oil then our energy crisis will be over. Unfortunately. they are not looking for a solution to our energy crisis and a solution to our rising gas prices. They are just looking short term for false security solutions that ultimately line the pockets of big oil companies Mr. Chairman. that is why we are here today discussing offshore oil drilling instead of promoting efficient and renewable energy policies. The people that I am fortunate to represent in Marin and Sonoma Counties north of San Francisco. across.the Golden Gate Bridge. do understand. They get it. The coast of my district is one of the most biologically productive regions in the entire world. and it would be threatened. threatened by oil and gas exploration if this bill passes as is. For this reason. I have introduced a bill to extend the Gulf of the Farallonesand Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries along the entire coast of Sonoma to protect it from offshore drilling threats. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1674,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090134420,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We depend on that environment being pristine. There is a consensus in Florida. among the people in Florida and just about all of the elected officials of Florida. that this could be devastating for the State of Florida. There will be an amendment by Mr. PUTNAM and others to try to remedy that. I will support that. I want to thank the chairman and staff again for always listening to us. and we hope that this great bill could be improved by taking out that part that can be very devastating to Florida.","speaker_name":"MARIO DIAZ-BALART","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1283,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090134425,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I also want to point out that this restriction. which has been in the law since 1981. was also in the Presidents budget. This was part of the Presidents budget. . So we are not only overturning this congressional restriction. but we are also doing it in the face of the Bush administrations budget.","speaker_name":"NORMAN DICKS","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":312,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090134430,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. it is clear that the principal issue that is going to be before us as we deal with the overall bill is going to be the lifting of the moratorium. the congressional moratorium with respect to drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf. As a supporter of a bill that Mr. PETERSON and I hoped to have heard in the Resources Committee that will deal with the issue in a much broader scope. I hope I can bring some level of reality here to what this is all about. Mr. Chairman. it is the quite true. as has been mentioned by previous speakers who want to see this amendment taken out of the overall bill. that 25 y~ars ago the question of drilling 3 miles off of Florida or California or anywhere was an issue. and the reason that the moratorium was put in was to prevent that from happening. But that was 25 years ago. and now the issue is up for reconsideration. not to drill 3 miles. but whether there is going to be any drilling at all and whether it should take place and under what circumstances. given what has happened over the past 25 years. LI 1245 The reason the Peterson amendment is in ttke overall bill is to give us the .opportunity to start that discussion. There will be no drilling off of Florida or anyplace else if we pass this bill. ","speaker_name":"NEIL ABERCROMBIE","chamber":"H","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3338,"word_count":238}
{"speech_id":1090134437,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman for yielding. and I want -to thank the chairman of the Appropriations Committee for his work and the staff on the hard work they have done on this bill. Based on the limited allocation that they have received. I think they did a pretty good job. Mr. Chairman. I want to speak specifically to a provision in the bill that I support. and I want to thank Mr. DICKS for putting the provision in the bill. and I want to thank the chairman for allowing it to stay in the bill. Basically. the provision I would like to speak to is the sense of Congress in this bill that deals with the fact that this Congress should pay attention to. work with. and try to understand the increasing amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. and what does that mean. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. while it represents a tiny fraction of 1 percent of the whole atmosphere. is the chief gas that determines the heat balance. it determines the climate. And there is a scientific consensus that within the last 100 years. especially within the last 50 years. human activity burning fossil fuel has put huge amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. thus debilitating or changing that heat balance that we have known for a lbng ti6. . ","speaker_name":"WAYNE GILCHREST","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2210,"word_count":224}
{"speech_id":1090134450,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It might be easier if it was. but we need to do more for todays energy problems. We will need continued American energy production for some time. If we allow domestic production to die out. conservation and research will not save us. and we will have. to pay a terrible economic price. I urge my colleagues to support oil and gas production in the Outer Continental Shelf. and oppose this amendment..","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3417,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090134457,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. later today. we will debate a natural gas exploration provision in this bill over which I have grave concerns. Thus. Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of the bipartisan PutnamCapps amendment. We are all acutely aware of the financial strain that higher gas prices place on average Americans. We imperil our national and economic security if we do not identify alternative energy sources to meet our Nations ever increasing demand for energy. The answer. however. is not in this provision. It will end the 25year bipartisan Outer Continental Shelf. ","speaker_name":"KATHERINE HARRIS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":860,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090134480,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the northern portion of my district in Washington State is contiguous with the United States border with Canada: One of the Indian tribes in my district. the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. has for the last several months been experiencing an epidemic of crossborder drug smuggling activity from Canada onto its reservation. I mention this. Mr. Chairman. because since 1990 Congress has funded s very important program that as of late has had a direct impact in fighting this smuggling activity. and I am hopeful that the Congress can again restore the funds in this bill. This program. identified as Lake Roosevelt Management\/Enforcement funds in the Bureau of Indian Affairs budget. enables both the Colville Tribe and the Spokane Tribe to employ law enforcement officers to patrol Lake Roosevelt and its shoreline to enforce Federal laws and tribal health and safety laws. Lake Roosevelt is the 151mile reservoir of the Grand Coulee Dam. the largest hydroelectriG power plant in the United States and the third largest in the world. A portion of the dam lies within the boundaries of the Colville Reservation. Currently. the Colville Tribes law enforcement officials are under increasing strain due to crossborder smuggling activity that is on the rise. In recent months. numerous sightings of unmarked fixedwinged aircraft capable of landing on water have been reported on the lakes and waterways within and near the Colville Reservation. ","speaker_name":"CATHY MCMORRIS RODGERS","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3974,"word_count":234}
{"speech_id":1090134486,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This indefensible legislation not only harms our environment but places Americans health at risk by cutting the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to its lowest funding level in a decade. According to the EPA. close to $20 billionnearly 30 times the appropriated amountis necessary to maintain our current water quality. I am not willing to endanger the health of milliohs of Americans by exposing them to dirtier water. I dont believe something as important as our natural resources should be left in the hands of Republican members of the flatearth society who dont even b~lieye in global warming. There is scientific consensus that the earth is warming because of manmade greenhouse gases and the threat posed by global warming is real and immediate. Recent polls show that 85 percent of Americans believe that global warming is probably happening and 76 percent. including 63 percent of conservatives. think the Federal government is not doing enough to address the problem. Yet Republicans are so reluctant to acknowledge global warming. they wont even allow the House to consider the issue. If Republicans want to preach conservative values. perhaps they should start with actually conserving our most precious resources. I simply cannot vote for this mockery of environmental legislation and I encourage my colleagues to join me in -opposing this bill.","speaker_name":"FORTNEY STARK","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2542,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090134496,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And last year. Chairman TAYLOR accepted this amendment without the need for a rollcall vote. Although we offer this amendment each year. it is important that we again discuss the importance of how this rather modest Federal support can have such large impact on our home districts. Most importantly. this seed money spurs private donations to the arts and humanities. I still wish that we could restore the funding levels for the NEA and NEH back to their level 12 years ago but this amendment will get us closer. I urge your support on this important amendment.","speaker_name":"NORMAN DICKS","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1356,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090134508,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong support of the bipartisan Arts Caucus amendment that would fully fund the National Endowment for the Arts. NEA. and the National Endowment for the Humanities. NEH. I Would like to especially thank cochairs 67 the Arts Caucus and the authors of the amendmentthe gentlewoman from New York","speaker_name":"BARBARA LEE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":317,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090134519,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. reclaiming my time. certainly I recognize the difficult position that Mr. DICKs and Mr. TAYLOR are in in crafting an appropriate spending bill for this area. I appreciate the gentlemans expression of concern about this problem. Obviously being from the South. he understands the issues we are dealing with. and I hope that we will be able to work something out in conference toward that end.","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":405,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090134531,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the comments of the gentleman from Michigan and the gentleman from Illinois. I recognize the importance of the Great Lakes as a natural resource and an issue of national importance. I commend those involved in the Regional Collaboration for their work. which will provide research managers and policymakers with a helpful guide in setting priorities and implementing critical resource and protection programs. The committee allocation did not allow us to provide a sizable increase in the funding for the Great Lakes Legacy Act. Indeed. many programs in the bill are funded substantially below the 2006 level while the Great Lakes program received an increase. albeit a small one. I would be happy to work with my colleagues to see if we might increase funding for this program should additional funds be available when we go to conference with the Senate.","speaker_name":"CHARLES TAYLOR","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":883,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090134567,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. this amendment will strike language added during the committee markup that prevents the U.S. Geological Survey from consolidating its older and obsolete mapping centers into a single consolidated national geospatial technical operations center. According to the agency. the consolidation is critical to the USGSs ability to lead the Nation in facilitating and leveraging geospatial information services. The centers USGS is attempting to consolidate were established many years ago to support a large fieldbased workforce spread out across the country when map production involved exhaustive field survey and was more manually intensive. That was fine back then. but it makes no sense now. USGS. by their own admission. no longer manually collects and plots this kind of information. nor do they print a large volume of maps. Advanced technologies like remote sensing. we have all seen Google Earth. along with consumer demand for easy access to digital products have the USGS role. The language in my amendment would strike needlessly imposing a 20th century paradigm on an agency that is desperately trying to make its way into the 21st century. This consolidation is not only saving taxpayers money. but it will create a more effective. efficient and modern USGS that is better prepared to work with partners in the State. local and private sectors. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS TANCREDO","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2336,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090134568,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In a letter to the appropriations committee. the Interior Department describes their plans as being \"a sound business decision\" that is lair to the taxpayers.\" I think that description is accurate. showing that even this Administration sometimes gets things right. So. I think that on this matter we should do what they suggest. I urge adoption of the amendment.","speaker_name":"MARK UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1277,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090134576,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In January of this year. the bureaucracy questioned the Ramey study. and in February the agency pushed back a decision on. the delisting petition for another 6 months. Mr. Chairman. I feel the agency is falling back into the all too familiar analysis paralysis that has become the hallmark of the Federal resources agency. Quick action on this petition is extremely important to the people of my congressional district. I hope we can work together to ensure the agencys bureaucrats do not successfully subject this delisting petition to death by delay.","speaker_name":"THOMAS TANCREDO","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2016,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090134583,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Clarke. and hundreds of others who served in the Florida War. Following the initial series of engagements. most of which the Seminoles won. U.S. forces withdrew from the interior of Florida abandoning Fort King in May 1836. The Seminoles stood victorious. and. burned the hated Fort King to the ground. But it would be a short lived victory. when the Army returned a year later and rebuilt Fort King. When it finally ended in 1842. most of the Seminoles had been killed or captured and relocated to Indian Territory in Oklahoma. These native Americans constitute the Seminole Nation of today. An unconquered and defiant few withdrew to the vastness of the Florida Everglades and survived to the present as the Seminole Tribe of Florida. In March 1843. Fort King was abandoned by the U.S. ","speaker_name":"CLIFFORD STEARNS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4431,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090134603,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the last word.Mr. Chairman. I rise to engage the chairman in a colloquy regarding the Klamath River Basin recovery in northern California. Mr. Chairman. as you know. salmon fishing off the coast bf California and Oregon has been shut down this year due to poor returns of Chinook salmon to the Klamath River. In 2001. farmers in the Klamath Basin were similarly shut down due to the resource problems in this watershed. I know the chairman would agree with me that these two occurrences demonstrate the urgent need to combine peerreviewed science with local stakeholder cooperation in order to help fish in the Klamath Basin recover so that fishing and farming in the area can continue. Mr. ","speaker_name":"MIKE THOMPSON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":837,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090134620,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I want to thank the gentleman from Utah for yielding me the time. and Mr. Chairman. I am grateful to stand here in support of this bipartisan amendment. grateful not just as a Member of Congress from Nevada. but as member of the Western Caucus as well. Mr. Chairman. as you can see. in Nevada. the Federal Government owns more than 60 million acres of land. which equates to nearly 87 percent of the State. More often than not. for those of us in the West. the Federal Government is not just our neighbor. it is the neighborhood. With such a large Federal presence comes significant challenges. especially in our rural communities.","speaker_name":"JAMES GIBBONS","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":645,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090134623,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the other maps were in green and red. Mine is in blue. and my chart is to show in the blue the total amount of each States land that is now combined and controlled by the Federal Government. You can see an obvious change in States here that in the West who. when they were admitted to the States. were admitted with certain conditions for the yielding of that State land. It was unilaterally changed by the Federal Government in the 1950s. and in the 1970s when the PILT program came into effect. it was somehow *to try and offset the impact of those particular changes. The Department of the Interior said 2 years ago when they took over the funding of the PILT issue they would ensure appropriate emphasis. It has not happened to this date. This amendment would actually do that by putting PILT up to what was appropriated last year and- to where the Senate purports to be at the end of this years session. Let me just say that in the short time I have to finish. the Washington Post has endorsed this amendment. You may not have known that because they do not know it either. but last year. they wrote the Federal Government is the largest landowner in Washington. ","speaker_name":"ROB BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1712,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090134650,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. Members. I want to thank my colleague for yielding me a minute. I support his amendment. Obviously. I think that would be the ideal provision we need to do to eliminate that moratorium. The committee. I think. has struck a compromise on natural gas. although Congressman POE and I know the difficulties of just drilling for one substance over the other. But obviously I support the amendment and I think the committee. though. came up with a compromise. and we will fight that battle later.","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":504,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090134672,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. on behalf of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. I raise a point of order against the provision beginning on page 73. line 3 and ending on line 8. This. provision violates clause 2 of rule XXI. It changes existing law and therefore constitutes legislating. on an appropriation bill in violation of House rules.","speaker_name":"JOHN DUNCAN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":337,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090134675,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Since the program started overall toxic releases are down 59 percent around the country. In fact. the chemical industrythemselves thinks this is a good program. Earlier this year the Washington Post quoted Michael Walls\" manager of Regulatory and Technical Affairs for the American Chemistry Council. saying. \"Its one of the most successful regulatory programs we have been involved in.. Unfortunately. Mr. Chairman. the EPA does not seem to agree. Last year they proposed a set of changes that would seriously undermine the intent of the program. First. they are proposing to eliminate reporting for more than 22.000 facilities that release up to 5.000 pounds of toxic chemicals every year. These facilities would switch to a simple form merely indicating what chemicals they have on site. not how they are released and in what quantities. ","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3892,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090134682,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Acting Chairman of the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union. reported that that Committee. having had under consideration the bill making appropriations for the Department of the Interior. environment. and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30. 2007. and for other purposes. had come to no resolution thereon.","speaker_name":"MARK FOLEY","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":346,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090134693,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We should support the NEA. The reforms which this committee put in place are working. The new chairman of the NEA is doing an excellent job of ensuring that important works are supported and that funding is well distributed. The bill makes a very strong contribution to the National Fire Plan. It is something that Members can be proud of. The bill increases overall wildfire funding $80 million over last year. That includes a large $70 million increase for Forest Service fuel reduction. and this is $34 million above. the 2005 level. I agree with the gentleman that this work is essential. but the agencies can only ramp up so fast. So extra funding is not necessarily needed this year. Mr. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES TAYLOR","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2097,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090134710,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I raise a point of order that the language contained in section 425 beginning with \"the Congress finds that.\" on page 125. line 3. through \"contributors of global emissions\" on page 125. line 25. violates clause 2 of rule XXI of the rules of the House representing prohibited legislation in appropriation bills. The language that I have cited contains congressional findings and a sense of Congress on global warming. This language clearly constitutes legislation in appropriations bill. and such violates clause 2 of rule XXI.","speaker_name":"DON YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":541,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090134712,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I would like to be heard on the point of order. This is my amendment. and I want the. gentleman to understand that this doesnt have anything to do with authorizing language either for Interior or for Agriculture and that this amendment is a sense of the Congress. Now. I dont see. and it wodild seem to me that the gentleman from Alaska would be more concerned about the global warming issue because of the consequences forhis State. So I am very surprised that he is offering this point of order against my amendment. and I would hope he would reconsider.","speaker_name":"NORMAN DICKS","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":570,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090134724,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The rules dont allow me to say who I was referring to. The gentleman says we should have studies. we should have hearings. Your party has controlled this Congress for 14 years. The time for studying is over. The time for studying is past. There is a huge scientific consensus that human beings are driving global warming. And James Hansen from NASA has told us that in his view we may have less than 10 yeare to deal with this problem before we hit a critical tipping point beyond which we will be facing catastrophe. He may be right. and you may be right. If you are right. then moving to deal with this problem costs us very little. If he is right. not moving costs us everything. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1145,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090134737,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I have no idea. Because someone told you that.","speaker_name":"DON YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":466,"word_count":9}
{"speech_id":1090134760,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"At best. the amendment is an invitation to litigation. which the government will likely lose at a high cost to the taxpayer. A more dire impact will be the lack of development of energy resources that America badly needs. The amendment would disqualify many companies from bidding on new leases. Remember. these leases were valid leases signed by the government. legally binding. They are contracts. So what we are going to do is penalize these companies because they are abiding by their legal contracts. Sure. we want them to negotiate. We want them to renegotiate. We would like them to pay the royalties. But the Clinton\/Gore administration at that time put these contracts in place. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL SIMPSON","chamber":"H","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2576,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090134764,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Thank you. Mr. Chairman. I appreciate what the gentleman from California was saying. but he was wrong. Just dead wrong. These leases were signed by the government. They were legal leases. They were valid leases. All we are saying is that the government ought to keep its word. When they sign a contract. they ought to honor the contract. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL SIMPSON","chamber":"H","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1292,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090134781,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the sponsors of this amendment suggest that it will fix an error made by the Interior Department in failing to include price thresholds for royalty relief in leases issued in 1998 and 1999. The fact is. most companies pay their royalty obligations as they are required. A very small number have disputed their obligations. and that matter is under litigation. Congress should let the legal system do its work and not meddle. The oil and gas industry spends billions of dollars in this country every year. providing goodpaying jobs for Americans and providing energy to fuel this massive economy. The Gulf of Mexico is one of the most attractive investment opportunities in the world right now. and it is in our best interest to keep it that way. If we adopt this amendment. we will send a signal that the United States does not abide by its contracts and obligations. In this time of high prices and unrest in oil markets. the last thing we should do is limit our access to our domestic resources. If companies holding 1998 and 1999 leases are. in effect. precluded from participating in the 2007 sale. it will impair the domestic oil and gas supply chain. ","speaker_name":"DAN BOREN","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1467,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090134813,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I offer an. amendment. The CHA]MRMAN. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: Amendment offered by Mr. CHABOT: At the end of the bill (before the short title). insert the following: SEC. . None of the funds made available in this Act may be used to plan. design. study. or construct. for the purpose of harvesting timber by private entities or individuals. a forest development road in the Tongass National Forest.","speaker_name":"STEVE CHABOT","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":469,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090134817,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Yes. I guess if you run up enough lawsuits. if you appeal all of those lawsuits. if you continue to badger the Forest Service. you can run up the cost to make this program unprofitable. But this is a long debate we have had in this House. and trying to couch this as a fiscal debate. I believe. is just a smokescreen over what the true intention of most of these outside groups is. and that is just to try to eliminate the timber program completely. So I urge a \"no\" vote on the ChabotAndrews amendment.","speaker_name":"RICHARD POMBO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1897,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090134819,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In fiscal year 2005 alone. the taxpayer cost was nearly $49 million. and the taxpayer revenue was about $500.000. I dont know any of my constituents who would make an investment of $49 -million in a business that is only going to return $500.000 on the investment. Finally. building more roads in the Tongass National Forest is an unnecessary idea when it comes to the jobs that are involved. I think that we always should be involved and concerned about the jobs of any of our fellow citizens. no matter where they are. in what region. But the fact of the matter is. the roads that already exist in the Tongass National Forest open up an area of that forest that would permit the harvesting of those trees for years and years and years to come. A substantial amount of the trees that could be harvested in that section of the forest already open to roads have not yet been harvested. So I would urge our colleagues in both political parties to vote \"yes\"in order to preserve an important national environmental treasure. in order to continue with the jobs that are presently going on there. and. most importantly. to protect the wallets of our taxpayers. For every $100 that we spend to run the Federal Government. we only bring in $75 worth of revenue. We need to start to reduce what we spend. This is a great place to do that. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT ANDREWS","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2094,"word_count":241}
{"speech_id":1090134822,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I might consume. Mr. Chairman. just a couple of points I would make.- First of all. it certainly is not an attack on any Member of this body nor an attack on any State. I would just note that those jobs that are being paid for and the $48 million paid out last year alone. those tax dollars come from New Jersey and they come from Ohio and they come from Pennsylvania.","speaker_name":"STEVE CHABOT","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":410,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090134871,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We also have excessive litigation costs. The one thing that we do have in excess in this country is lawsuits. We should be exporting our lawsuits through our trade policies. holding other countries accountable when they violate our trade agreements. But litigation costs have driven up the expenses for small businesses and large businesses alike. When expenses -go up. we are less competitive and we lose jobs. Our energy policy has failed to meet the demands of our economy. That is why we have $3 gas. That is why our natural gas costs are the highest in the world because of policies created by this Congress. And our education policy has failed to meet the needs of our hightech society these days. Our math scores. our science scores. those students pursuing engineering degrees and science degrees are diminishing. and so are their test scores. ","speaker_name":"TODD TIAHRT","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3636,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090134881,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Service did indeed extend the Circle Line contract from March 31. 2004. to March 2007 due to a number of factors stemming from the events of September 11. including the fact. as my colleague knows. that the statue was closed to the public from 9\/ 11 through August 2004. During this time. Liberty Island underwent an extensive security and safety assessment that focused on a number of vulnerabilities such as the statues 3\/32 of an inch thick skin. and local park officials spent much more time focusing on those issues than preparing for a new contract prospectus. Obviously. they dropped the ball.","speaker_name":"STEVAN PEARCE","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":604,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090134937,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I want to introduce you to Gene. who is a thirdgeneration sugar beet farmer. That is a root crop that cant grow in wetlands. Nonetheless. his sugar beet farm was ruled by the Federal Government as a wetland: The reason it was a wetland was because the creek was connected to his farm by way of an irrigation ditch with a pipe in it. The water to his wetland went through an irrigation pipe which he allowed to pool so the higher end of his farm could actually be irrigated the same way. In our district. 8 days of irrigation is one of the criteria for a wetland. I dont believe that those who actually wrote the Clean Water Act intended an irrigation pipe to be considered one of the navigable waterways of the United States. but the act is written so loosely and the interpretation by bureaucrats on the administrative side has been so perverse that indeed those kinds of decisions have been made in reality.","speaker_name":"ROB BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":923,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090134948,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. that just does not make sense. Now. all of those who have said the Clean Water Act meant this and meant that. I was on the staff at the time of the Clean Water Act passage in the House. In fact. I was involved in drafting the language that is at stake here. The issues that the gentleman. the chairman of the subcommittee raised. have to do with nonpointsource discharges. We have many farms across this country. including some in my district. where cattle. dairy cows go right up to the waters edge and do what cows do in the water. and that pollutes the water for the guy downstream. You do not want that to happen. Well. habitat. increased severity of flooding are issues related to this matter that we are discussing here. ","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2356,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090134976,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Of course. everyone knows what this has done to home heating and cooling. 400. 500 percent increases. which has hit every American in every corner of the Nation. And so we have a crisis in this area that we need to address. The United States has large reserves of natural gas. It has been pointed out that we have maybe 3 percent of the worlds petroleum reserves. but we have huge amounts of natural gas reserves. and we are handicapping ourselves in a way that is pretty much unprecedented in this area. At the present time. only 15 percent of available Outer Continental Shelf acres are not under a moratorium. Another way to put this is that roughly 85 percent of Outer Continental Shelf acres are off limits to exploration. And. of course. this is again handicapping what we are trying to accomplish here in reducing this shortage. I am sure that these moratoria are due to fear of spills and pollution. and yet we have had numerous hurricanes in the last few years that havent caused oil rigs to malfunction or lines to rupture. We have not seen any massive pollution even though we have had huge damage from these hurricanes. Canada has natural gas wells in the Great Lakes with no pollution. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS OSBORNE","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3480,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090134980,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We are a State that is a working State with a working coast. Our State is a vital part of the domestic energy production and consumption. which keeps our entire economy humming. As others refrain from similar production. natural gas supplies tighten and the prices rise. jeopardizing tens of thousands of wellpaying jobs that are being shipped overseas. many of these from my own State and district. The energy support Louisiana and other coastal States provide for our Nation is not without cost. We are happy to provide what others would rather not. However. this supply also impacts our eoastal communities and wetlands conservation. and we bear the costs of onshore infrastructure required to support this production activity. Every debate on OCS production should also include an equity discussion. Coastal producing States should receive a fair share of revenues off their coasts. just as inland States receive from onshore production. I appreciate the leadership Mr. PETERSON has taken on this issue. and I respectfully oppose Mr. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES MELANCON","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2580,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090134987,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We talk about the law of supply and demand of the 1990s. Ninety percent of new electric energy plants use natural gas. World demand have gone up. It is expected about a 90 percent increase in natural gas demands in the next 10 years. but since 1982 this Nation had a selfimposed moratorium on offshore natural gas and oil drilling. Here is the real law of supply and demand we need to look at now. Americans are demanding that lawmakers increase the supply. We cannot afford to continue to have these high gas prices and send jobs to Saudi Arabia. Qatar. .Oman. Iran and Russia or let other countries do with natural gas prices like they did with Ukraine and double the prices on them. We cannot compete as a nation for jobs with this. ","speaker_name":"TIM MURPHY","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2020,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090134989,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In New Jersey. tourism is 500.000 jobs. $16.6 billion in wages. and $5.5 billion in State tax revenue. You shut that down. the way it was closed in the late 1980s in New Jersey because of a different type of pollution. and you basically shut down a significant portion of our State. We are talking about real things here. When you talk about the fact that you can drill for natural gas and you are not going to hit oil. every indication is the opposite. The American Pestroleum Institute has said the opposite and the Minerals Management Service has said the opposite. And we are talking 3 miles from shore. You could actually see these rigs. We could actually have oil rigs right up to 3 miles from the shore if this legislation passes and we dont have this amendment. Pass this amendment.","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2223,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090135000,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 10 seconds. Mr. Chairman. the sponsor of this. and now one of his supporters. have both said 3 miles is not their ultimate goal. That is what is in the language. If that is not your ultimate goal. lets withdraw this amendment and have a real debate on a separate basis about a comprehensive solution to this problem. Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Jacksonville. ","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":436,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090135038,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Air Force also uses the Gulf of Mexico water ranges to do live fire tests and evaluations of many of its new weapons systems. For example. the F35 Joint Strike Fighter Initial Training is being located at Eglin Air Force Base. The projected AirtoSurface live fire weapons training requirements of the F35 will. according to the Air Armament Center. \"significantly increase the amount or airspace needed over the Eastern Gulf.\" In a letter to the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld wrote that \"Prior analysis and existing agreements recognize that areas east of the 86* 41 line in the Gulf of Mexico commonly known as the military mission line are especially critical to DoD due to the number and diversity of military testing and training activities conducted there now. and those planned for the future. In those areas east of the military mission line drilling structures and associated development would be incompatible with military activities. uch as missile flights. lowflying drone aircraft. weapons testing. and training.\" The current language in H.R. 5386 could open the entire eastern Gulf of Mexico. including areas east of the military mission line. to natural gas exploration and activities. This is in direct conflict with the statement from Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and a direct threat to the readiness of the United States military. I urge my colleagues to support the PutnamCapps amendment.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BILIRAKIS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3621,"word_count":233}
{"speech_id":1090135051,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In the past 30 years alone. we have -lost 30 percent of all of our urban trees. a loss of over 600 million trees. Eighty percent of the American population live in dense quarters of a city. This amendment simply emphasizes the importance of urban reforestation. and allows me tO salute the City of Houston Parks Department. the Pleasantville community that invested in the reforestation of their neighborhood. and it also provides the umbrella of trees that cleans the air. clearsthe air of toxic entities. and provides the quality of life that all of us would like. So I appreciate the opportunity to present this amendment to reemphasize the importance in the Interior Department to as well affirm the value of reforestation. I ask my colleagues to support the amendment. Mr. Chairman. I rise today to offer an amendment that emphasizes the importance of urban forests. and preserves our ability to retum urban areas to healthy and safe living environments for our children. Surveys indicate that some urban forests are in serious danger. In the past 3 years alone. we have lost 30 percent of all our urban treesa loss of over 600 million trees. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4157,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090135065,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I will try to be very brief because. first of all. it is wonderful to be here with my amendment at a time when the chairman is in the mood to accept amendments. I am sure he will probably accept this one as well. This is one that I have offered for the last 3 years. and it is identical to them. It is an amendment which trims outlays for H.R. 5386 by 1 percent under the Holman rule. which means that if the amendment passes. it will be up to the administration to determine where the cuts will fall. I think Mr. ","speaker_name":"JOEL HEFLEY","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1339,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090135121,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And do you know what that budget did? Unfortunately. it had zero votes from the opposition on the other side of this body. but what it did was eliminate our budget deficit over the next 5 years and bring us to balance. That is what we need to have a debate on. How do we bring our budget back to balance? We on this side of the aisle want to cut excessive government spending. put some bureaucrats out of work. and let the American people keep more of what they earn. The Democrats alternative is to raise your taxes. And I say that to every taxpaying American. Mr. Speaker. But let me tell you this Republican Congress is getting ahold of the fiscal excesses of the past here in Washington. DC. For 40 years. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK MCHENRY","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4088,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090135129,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"David Timmons. Sr.. his stepmother. Cynthia Timmons. and his sister. Shalante Timmons. May God bless them and comfort them during this very difficult time. We owe this brave soldier and his family a tremendous debt of gratitude for his selfless service and sacrifice. Our country could not maintain its freedom and security without heroes like Specialist Timmons who make the ultimate sacrifice. Americans. as well as Afghanis. owe their liberty to Specialist Timmons and his fallen comrades who came before him. Mr. Speaker. please join me in honoring the life of Army Specialist David N. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1256,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090135149,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The hijacking of TWA 847. the Rome and Vienna airport massacres. the La Belle discotheque bombing. the seizure of the Achille Lauro and the bombing of Pan Am 103 resulted in hundreds of American casualties. but they all took place overseas. This reinforced the deeply held belief that terrorists would not strike in this country. As a result. our Government at all levels was not configured to deal with terrorism. nor was the phrase \"homeland security\" part of our national lexicon. During the 1990s terrorism came to America. The 1993 truck bombing of the World Trade Center began to rouse us from our complacency. and the Oklahoma City bombing 2 years later shocked Americans into the realization that mass casualty terrorism could happen here. The fact that the Oklahoma City bombing was an act of homegrown terrorists. however. mitigated the sense of urgency that should have spurred Congress and the executive branch to take serious action to prepare for an act of international terrorism on our shores. So. Mr. Speaker. our Nation did not see the gathering clouds for what they were. and America remained complacent. The September 11. 2001 attacks shattered that sense of security. ","speaker_name":"ADAM SCHIFF","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10113,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090135153,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlemen. -and these issues and the others we will continue to explore in the coming weeks as we further amplify Real Security. Let me just end on this note. I had lunch with one of the Guardsmen from my district who served in the war in Iraq. He described to me how they had to put sheets of plywood .and sandbags in to fill the doorways in their humvees because they did not have uparmored vehicles for their runs. The fact that our Guard have to go to those lengths. part of the Real Security plan that I outlined earlier was making sure our -troops have the best equipment possible. We have not lived up to that standard. That is going to change under Real Security.","speaker_name":"ADAM SCHIFF","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":696,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090135197,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today we return to the comprehensive immigration bill. We had a very constructive day and evening yesterday. I appreciate everyones patience and participation in moving the debate along. We worked late last night. up to about 11 oclock. and we had votes over the course of the day and the night. Because of that. and our agreement for multiple votes on Monday afternoon. we were able to announce no rollcall votes for today. I do encourage Members to take advantage of the session today if they desire to speak on the immigration legislation. to look over amendments that are likely to be proposed. and to spend time getting ready for those amendments once they reach the floor. Today would be a great opportunity to come to speak on some of those amendments in advance as well. It is my intention to complete action on the bill next week. and it would expedite the process if Members would use the time productively today and Monday.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":949,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090135198,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"When they know kids are watching on free TV. broadcasters should not be able to shrug their shoulders. to look the other way. to disobey the rules. I hope to see the decency bill we passed last night become actual law S4820 co and toughen those penalties. I hope TV becomes smarter. becomes more engaging. That is a task not for us but for the people who make TV. Our job as legislators is to protect those basic standards of decency.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3084,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090135207,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Sometimes I do. But the fact is that we are having votes and we are letting the process move forward. Hopefully we will have a comprehensive reform bill passed by the Senate. -a bill we can be proud of and will then be sent to the Presidents desk for consideration and possible signature. My hope is we will continue to have this process move forward and have an opportunity to call up additional amendments. I wanted to speak briefly about an amendment I intend to offer not today but at a later time. I have previously spoken about this issue. The compromise bill that is currently in the Chamber contains language that prohibits information sharing and restricts how the Department of Hbmeland Security may use information submitted in applications. The text in the underlying bill is exactly the same as that contained in the 1986 amnesty legislation. Twenty years ago now. we know from hindsight and experience. those provisions led to hundreds of thousands of ineligible aliens receiving green cards. The amendment I intend to offer does not eliminate the confidentiality provisions. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5348,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090135239,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. I yielded the floor to Senator WYDEN a few moments ago. and I wish to complete some thoughts. I documented without any real dispute that the provisions in the bill before the Senate today will increase legal immigration into our country by an extraordinary amount. by four to five times the current levels. That is a huge increase. At the same time. we have done the research on it. and I will not go into the details. but the programs that allow most of- the people to come into our country favor lowskilled workers. We think from 70 to 90. maybe 92 percent of the workers who will come in under the provisions of the bill in the Senate today will come in as lowskilled workers. That is very significant because it is quite clear from every professional. independent. proimmigration economist who has analyzed it that lowskilled workers do not tend to pay as much in taxes- as they take out. They become a net drain on the Treasury of the United States. That is an important issue. If we are going to do comprehensive reform. why havent we discussed this issue? I ask my colleagues and those who promoted the legislation before the Senate today. has that been discussed with the American people? Have we had extensive hearings in committees on this question? The answer is no. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11248,"word_count":230}
{"speech_id":1090135246,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Died November 18. 1973 Chief Benjamin Lewis Carpenter of Newaygo. Died July 23. 1963 Night Watchman William A. Daniels of Cassopolis. Died January 26. 1903 reason is the ongoing consolidation in the oil industry. And. as our energy needs increase and as oil gets harder and more expensive to find and produce. it seems likely that this conOIL INDUSTRY MERGER ANTI- soliaauoin will conUiue. 1nereore. we TRUST ENFORCEMENT ACT OF need to continue our efforts to main2006 tain competition in this industry. and by making it more difficult for oil","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5004,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090135250,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today. Senator BAUCUS and I are introducing legislation that will update and clarify the tax rules for business clients and that use professional employer organizations. PEOs. This legislation will improve the efficiency of small businesses by eliminating any uncertainty about the ability of qualifying PEOs to assume liability for paying wages and collecting and remitting Federal employment taxes. Business owners are overwhelmed with the challenges of meeting Federal and State employment and tax responsibilities. Many businesses. particularly small to midsized businesses are turning to professional employer organizations for assistance with these employment obligations. A PEO works with its business clients to provide comprehensive employment services. The PEO assumes responsibility for the management of humain resources. employee benefits. payroll. and workers compensation. allowing their business clients .W~focus on their core competenciesto maintain and grow their bottom line. In short. this legislation is about improving the efficiency of Americas small businesses. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3397,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090135252,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"First. the bill bars network operators from blocking. degrading or impairing Internet traffic. Second. the bill ensures that network operators are not allowed to create a twotiered Internetan Internet that treats those who can afford to do business with large nationwide broadband providers more favorably than those who do not. Virtually everyone has called for more widespread deployment of broadband facilities: this bill ensures that those highspeed networks are available for all users of the Internet. This legislation already enjoys support from a broad spectrum of groups who care about Internet freedom. such as the Consumers Union. the Parents Television Council. the Gun Owners of America. the American Library Asso.ciation. and the Christian Coalition. Altogether over 140 organizations have backed our efforts to prevent discrimination the Internet. If we allow companies to set up tollbooths along the Information Superhighway. we will fundamentally alter every Internet users experience and stifle the entrepreneurship that flourishes on the worlds last remaining frontier. Network operators should not have the power to decide which Web .ages load faster. which content their customers can access. and whose data has the highest priority. Network operators already enjoy nearmonopolistic privileges in many markets across the country. Should this market power now be extended to messaging services. streaming video. or online. shopping. just to name a few? Consumers should decide which businesses succeed and which fail. not network providers. What has made the Internet such a remarkable success is the ability of consumers everywhere to use the connection they pay for to experience a world of their own choosing on their own terms. ","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6416,"word_count":264}
{"speech_id":1090135263,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it stand in adjournment until 1 p.m. on Monday. May 22. I further ask that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate resume consideration of S. 2611. the comprehensive immigration reform bill. as under the previous order.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":445,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090135269,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And thats just the way it is. led the Pledge of Allegiance as follows: I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America. .and to the Repub- IGNORING FISCAL CRISIS lic for which it stands. one nation under God. (Mr. PALLONE asked and was given indivisible. with liberty and justice for all. permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his reANNOUNCEMENT BY THE SPEAKER marks.) PRO TEMPORE Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker. yesterday in the House we started the appro-","speaker_name":"GARY MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":42.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":499,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090135273,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. sometimes it takes a heated exchange to reveal the truth. People say things they would not normally say. or reflect their true thinking. For instance. while debating the budget the other night. a member of the Republican leadership said. \"If you earn $40.000 a year and have a family of two. you dont pay any taxes.\" Well. that would be news to that middleclass family. According to the Center of Budget and Policy Priorities. middleclass families paid an average of 13.6 percent of their income in Federal taxes in 2003. Additionally. these hardworking families pay State income taxes. property taxes. gasoline taxes. and sales taxes. If anything. middleclass families are paying too much in taxes. But the truth serum clearly did not wear off. because the next day the same member of the Republican leadership sent out a press release titled \"Fiscal Responsibility is Not an Option in This House.\" After 5 years of record budget deficits of $3 trillion in new debt. for a total of $9.6 trillion of debt. never were truer words spoken in that press release. Mr. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1510,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090135281,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the rule before us will allow the House to .consider the fiscal year 2007 Military Quality of Life and Veterans Administration Appropriations bill. All Members know that the support in this bill for military housing. for veterans health care. and for retiree benefits is part of the promise we made to the men and women when they joined our Armed Forces. As we consider this bill. there should be little disagreement over the tremenr dous demands being placed on the Veterans Administration and on the military construction accounts. In 1995. the VA treated 2.6 million veterans and their families. By the end of this year. that number will have more than doubled to an estimated 5.4 million people. This places additional stress on the many hospitals and the VA network. These World War 1era buildings are badly in need of upgrades at the cost of billions over the next 5 to 10 years. It was for this reason. increased strain in time of war. that the Democrats have consistently criticized the administrations lessthanadequate funding for veterans and veterans health care. Last year. the administration admitted to accounting errors which underestimated the demand for veterans services by $3 billion in fiscal years 2005 and 2006. ","speaker_name":"DORIS MATSUI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3864,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090135291,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Those fee increases would put a 200 percent health insurance premium on men and women who have served our military for 20 and 30 years. But as a consequence of Congress not having made the decision and. in fact. the Armed Services Committee having passed a bill recently saying that we will not increase those fees. in effect. this bill will fund defense health care this year by $735 million less than President Bush said was needed to maintain our quality health care system for our troops and for our military retirees. That is why I had hoped the Rules Committee in all of its wisdom would have been willing to do what it does on a regular basis. to protect my $735 million amendment to get defense health care spending back where President Bush says it needs to be. to protect my amendment from a technical budget point of order. Unfortunately. the Rules Committee chose to weigh in on the side of budget technicalities that it ignores on a regular basis and didnt weigh in on the side of protecting our present quality of defense health care for our troops.","speaker_name":"THOMAS EDWARDS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1970,"word_count":191}
{"speech_id":1090135292,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the gentleman from Texas. the minority member of the subcommittee. I very much respect. I very much respect the work that he has done. I mentioned that trip last summer. Of course. Representative EDWARDS was a part of that. Representative CARTER. my good friend from Texas. was also a part of that trip when we visited those military cemeteries and looked at MILCON construction in Europe and the importance of all these things we do. I agree with what the gentleman said in regard to the administration proposing to increase fees for our military retirees under age 65. certain categories of veterans in copays and deductibles. to be able to raise. I think he mentioned the figure of 700 and something million dollars. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1197,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090135313,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. earlier today.. I was unavoidably detained and missed two rollcall votes. Had I been present. I would have voted \"yea\" on rollcall vote No. 173. On Ordering the Previous Question on H. Res. 821. the Rule for H.R. 5385. and \"aye\" on rolcall vote No. 174. On Adoption of the Rule for H.R.","speaker_name":"JEAN SCHMIDT","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":299,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090135319,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Had we had a better budget resolution. a bipartisan budget resolution. I do not think we would have had to cut $824 million from the Presidents request for the important responsibilities under the jurisdiction of this subcommittee. But the reality is that the budget resolution has passed the House. and the House leadership intends to implement those budget rules and numbers. at least for now. and our subcommittee had to deal with those numbers. I think the subcommittee dealt with the limited budget. in my opinion an inadequate budget. in a responsible way. a bipartisan way. and tried to put the limited dollars in the highest priority needs._ I want to talk about what is good in this bill. given that we had so many fewer dollars than the President had asked for in this area. One. the VA health care increase for about $3 billion. I think that is important. It is a huge turnaround from a year or 2 ago. where I. many Democrats. veterans organizations. were pleading with the Republican leadership and the administration to more adequately fund VA health care. because we felt the administration budget request. particularly last year. would have caused significant and serious cuts in VA health care during a time of war. This is a great turnaround from that and is supported on a bipartisan basis to increase VA health care spending by $3 billion. I am glad. frankly. that the OMB in particular and the administration have heard the voices of Congress and our Nations veterans that we are going to adequately fund and significantly increase funding for VA health care. I do want to point out this is a not a Cadillac budget. .if anyone wants to suggest that. for our veterans health care system. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS EDWARDS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9159,"word_count":295}
{"speech_id":1090135324,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"experience with Fort Ord over. I dont know. over 15 years now. has demonstrated the scope and scale of the promise. if we do it right. there are tremendous opportunities. Many of these bases are jewels that can be returned to productive use. His experience has also shown how complicated they can be. that if we dont have the right plan. we dont invest the resources. it can drag on and on and on. Sadly. we have over 3.000 .sites around the country that still are a part of this toxic legacy. I do appreciate what the subcommittee has done. You have a difficult job. I wouldnt want to have to balance those equities. But I am here today arguing for more attention and more resources to deal with accelerating the problem in the past and the promises of the past. I am going to offer an amendment in a few minutes that would transfer from the 2005 BRAC account money that will be used to deal with the first four rounds and those communities that are waiting. ","speaker_name":"SAM FARR","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3543,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090135342,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. as you know. many veterans live hours from major hospitals. making it very difficult for them to get the care they need. and oftentimes. for those who have to travel there two or three times a week. they have a terrible quality of life. That is why our local veterans health care clinics. known as CommunityBased Outpatient Clinics. are just so important to deliver quality care for veterans. These have been stalled in recent years. yet. my understanding is that in this bill there is a strong commitment of $25 million to build the highest priority CommunityBased Outpatient Clinics in the country. Is that the case?","speaker_name":"KEVIN BRADY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":632,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090135349,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The 1998 Defense Authorization Act included explicit direction to the Defense Department to include an assessment of mental health in its medical tracking system for troops deployed overseas. However. the Departments predeployment health assessment form has only one question on mental health. Mr. Chairman. I believe this is a disservice to our troops. and I understand that there is additional money for the military services to begin to integrate mandatory mental health services into the standard operating procedures for our soldiers. I support the chairman in that effort. and I look forward to working with him on the initial assessment of mental health for troops being deployed and to ensure that the intent of the 1998 law is fully implemented.","speaker_name":"BARBARA LEE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1909,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090135358,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today to support the Military Quality of Life Appropriations Bill . This is an improvement. albeit a small one. over the Presidents budget request for the Department of Veterans Affairs. In total. the Committee provided an additional $635 illion above the Presidents budget. Everyone on my side ofthe aisleand all of the veteran service organizationsviewed that figure as inadequate. Several of my colleaguesincluding Mr. ED WARDS. Mr. FARR. and Mr. ","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4058,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090135367,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I had the Clerk go ahead to read the numbers. because I think that we want to get one point clear from the outset. It looks like there is a big cut of $440 million in order to be able to spend $77.500.000. The point is. it is the same number. There is a vast increase in the amount of money that has been set aside. a $3.6 billion increase. for the 2005 base closure account. But we are not going to spend that money. The payout rate is only 5 percent. That is why you have to reduce it. under our arcane budget rules. by over $400 million to get $77 million back. The point is the tax dollars are exactly the same. and. additionally. the point. is where are we going to spend it? I appreciate the opportunity to offer this amendment with my colleague Ms. ","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4049,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090135368,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"FARR. Mr. BLUMENAUER. to their credit. have raised this issue. We are all concerned about it and we are moving on it. But. this is a bad way to go about it. and here is the reason. The gentlemans amendment would cut funds for the implementation of new BRAC rounds by $440 million to get $77 million. And the problem is the rate at which these funds are outlaid. Clearly. if we took the $440 million out of the 2005 BRAC. that would further delay implementation of the BRAC. which would lead to problems just like this in the out years. If we use the $440 million. it gets us $77 million for these FUD sites. but it leaves $363 million on the table that cannot. will not. wont be used by the Department.","speaker_name":"JAMES WALSH","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1261,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090135373,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"ida. Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the last word. Mr. Chairman. I certainly support this amendment. As the map showed. there are so many areas in this country where we have very. very dangerous sites. And let me tell you what the Army Corps of Engineers is doing about it. It not only is distributing coloring books. but it is also distributing. and it has U.S. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA BROWN-WAITE","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2723,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090135375,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So not enough attention is being paid to sort out these messes left behind by the services. In fact. in our hearing. I am a member of the committee. in our hearing on April 5. the Assistant Secretary of the Army. Keith Easton. testified that it would take approximately $350 million just to clean up the former military base. Fort Ord in California. a base in my district. which was closed in 1991. Yet. the Army has only requested $45 million for clean up activities covered by the 1990 BRAC account. of which $6.6 million would be allocated for Fort Ord. That means $6.6 million out of what is needed is $350 million. We are going to have to adjust some monies around here. And the priority in his amendment is lets do what we know has been caused by former base closures before we try to clean up all of the new ones. those that just closed this year. So clearly. there is a disconnect between what our cleanup obligations are. and what are services budget has been made. ","speaker_name":"SAM FARR","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3658,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090135408,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Our progressive tax system is becoming less progressive. Time and again the majority has prioritized the needs of people making more than $1 million a year ahead of the key investments uch as health care for our veterans. As a result. our veterans will continue to wait too long for care. Many will not get the mental health assistance they need. Prosthetic research and services will be underfunded. and socalled \"wealthy\" lower priority veterans. those making as little as $27.000 a year. will continue to be denied access. This is going to be ruled out of order. and I hope the Members will insist that we get this funding.","speaker_name":"SAM FARR","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4518,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090135445,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I must concede the point of order.","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1126,"word_count":7}
{"speech_id":1090135467,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I do want the gentleman to know that I have great respect for the work that you and your staff have been about. but also the work that Mr. EDWARDS and others on the other side of the aisle have been about regarding this very important responsibility that we have here. and I appreciate very .much your work.","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":321,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090135469,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"VA programs and defense health care. had to accept an $824 million cut below what President Bush said was needed to adequately fund these key national defense programs during a time of war. $824 million cut. What happened? First. we had to accept that $316 million cut in military construction projects that were requested by the administration to implement the base closing process. That means barracks not built. training ranges not built. military facilities not built. Well. then what was the second result in our subcommittee based on the budget resolution that Mr. Raymond is still smiling about. but our military people ought to be crying about at this moment? We had to fund military defense programs by $735 million below what President Bush said we needed. What does that mean? That is not just a budget number. That means we potentially put at risk health care for our troops fighting in Iraq today while we are debating budget points of order here. it puts at risk military health care for our retirees. men and women who have already served in Iraq. already served in Afghanistan. already served in Korea. Vietnam. and World War II. It puts that health care system at risk. So that is a $735 million cut below what the administration said we needed. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS EDWARDS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4428,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090135475,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That is an emergency apparently. Second. $8.7 million for replacing a troop facility training facility in Savannah. Georgia. that is not an emergency. Tell me where the difference is. Let me go on: $102 million for a brigade complex in Fort Lewis. Washington. That is an emergency. There is another $18 million for a maintenance hangar in Fort Hood. Texas. That is not an emergency.","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1689,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090135486,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentlewoman. I am sorry the gentleman wouldnt yield to me. but if he had. I would have asked them this question: He said \"we\" are engaging in sleight of hand. I just wanted to ask him who that \"we\" was. Because this report was put together by his own party. It was brought to the House floor by his own party. We on this side of the aisle tried to correct that faulty accounting and Wve were not allowed to do that by the majority party either. So I just want to make certain that people understand that in this case the \"we\" is \"thee.\"","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":548,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090135505,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I raise a point of Order under clause 2 of Rule XXI against the proviso beginning with \"Provided\" on page 59. line 22. through page 60. line 2. This language carries a designation for special budgetary treatment for contingency operations. This language constitutes legislation on an- appropriations bill in violation of clause 2 of Rule XXI. and I ask for a ruling of the Chair.","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":393,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090135512,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I find it interesting that we have Members of this House objecting on bookkeeping fine points to what the committee has been trying to do to provide these facilities and services to our military. and they stand in high dudgeon about the fact that the budget resolution is being exceeded. Yet I do not recall them objecting when the President has submitted to the Congress almost $400 billion in expenditures for Iraq. none of which has been submitted in the regular appropriations order. All of those requests have come in the form of supplemental appropriations. off budget. if you will. So I find it interesting that we can fight an entire war. spend $400 billion in an off budget. hidethecostfromthepublic fashion. and yet when it comes to meeting these small construction needs. and as the gentleman points out. this is not in the United States. this is in the Middle East itself. My understanding is that one of the:items affects the special ops unit. and yet the gentlemen feel that their ideological commitment to their precious budget resolution. which they cannot even sell to their compatriots in the United States Senate. ought to be the be all and end all above every other economic or social or moral consideration. I find that. indeed. very interesting and very revealing.","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1837,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090135567,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"For many of us. we pleaded genuinely for this House not to vote for a budget resolution that we felt would result in what has just happened today. We predicted it would happen. that we would end up underfunding key vital priorities for our country. We pleaded at the Appropriations Committee in good faith to not adopt a 302(b) appropriation allocation that for our subcommittee for this bill cut $824 million out of the Presidents request. I think to talk about the price being paid because of the budget resolution passed earlier this week. it isnt about politics. it is about an honest difference of where our country should go and where we should place our priorities. Having said that. where I have agreed with the chairman at every step of the way is in his effort to put together a budget for a subcommittee that didnt have enough money in a way that funded the highest possible priorities given those budget constraints. That was a good process. nd that was a bipartisan process. and had the technical amendments and debate not been brought up by several colleagues on the chairmans side of the aisle. we wouldnt have had this fight today. We were going to vote for this on a bipartisan basis. EJ 1415 Having said that. I still hope we support this bill. But I think it is time for us to level with the American people. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS EDWARDS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3830,"word_count":239}
{"speech_id":1090135614,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to recognize and honor a group of true American patriots from Georgia. This past Monday. I had the ultimate privilege to welcome home from Iraq members of the BCompany First Battalion. 108th Armor Regiment of the 48th Mechanized Infantry Brigade. These brave men and women. known as the Rough Riders. have just returned home after a yearlong tour of duty in south Baghdad. The BCompany First Battalion patrolled the streets gathering intelligence. looking for weapon .caches. and keeping the peace in a hostile area. Each of these patriots made remarkably selfless sacrifices for us. for their country. leaving behind family. friends. and careers to protect the liberty and freedoms we cherish in this Nation. It is only because of the brave men and women like the 108th that we are able to enjoy these freedoms. Our level of respect and appreciation for these soldiers should truly know no bounds. ","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1189,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090135633,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Missouri. As I listen to the subject matter. I am interested in all of them. I point out first the subject matter that you brought up. what we call birthright citizenship. It says in the Constitution that any person born in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof shall be a United States citizen. I have not done a thorough. scholarly analysis of that. but rudimentary analysis boils down to this: The language was written.into the. Constitution with the idea in mind that Native Americans would not necessarily be citizens because they are not necessarily subject to the jurisdiction of the United Statesbeing a separate nation. That is an issue that Native Americans can answer more succinctly than I can answer. ","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1503,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090135642,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":15,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Of course. in this same area lived those people that we call American Indians. mainly the Apaches and the Comanches. Now. they didnt really have towns. they just roamed that entire area that is in beige. So you have the American Indians and you have Mexico claiming this territory. And. of course. Texas was a part of Mexico at the time because it was settled under Spanish rule. Texas decided to gain independence from Mexico. because Mexico went from a democracy to a dictatorship. Sounds familiar. does it not? That dictator was by the name of Santa Ana. And when Santa Ana became the dictator of Mexico. he abolished what we enjoy as humail rights. civil liberties. And that is why Texas gained independence and fought for independence. \"to have those basic rights that now all Americans have. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11113,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090135786,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Ms. Salazar was shopping in a mall. and that afternoon her sons picture kept falling out of her purse. She was so troubled she went home. and during the day she went to sleep. which was unusual. The time was assessed thereafter. She slept from the time he was injured until the time he died. The same thing happened to Helena Lukac. She was at work. She described her feeling as \"a nut with nothing inside it.\" She felt empty. I expressed to them my sorrow and sympathy and the appreciation of a grateful nation for these two young men having given their lives. It was a very emotional experience to hear the mothers talk about PFC John Lukac killed in Anbar Province and CPL William Salazar in Karabilah. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1878,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090135787,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. like most Americans. I welcomed the news over the .weekend that the Iraqi political leaders had created parts of a new government. It is certainly a useful step toward the kind of Iraq we all want to see. Like most Americans. I hope this new government will be able to bring security and order to a country wracked by insurgency. extremist attacks. and sectarian strife. We know more work needs to be done. both with forming this government and with fashioning a secure and stable Iraq. Three of the most important security ffMinisters are still unnamed. That is hard to comprehend. We have been waiting and waiting for a cabinet to be formed. but is it really a cabinet? As unbelievable as it may seem to many. there is even talk of disgraced Ahmed Chalabi filling one of those security posts. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6271,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090135795,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the distinguished Senator from New Mexico for his thoughtful comments on the bill. I have the privilege of serving as a member of the Energy Committee. of which he is chairman. It has been a pleasure for me to serve under his chairmanship. I thank him for those comments. I come to the floor to discuss an amendment. SA 4087. which I filed this morning. It is entitled \"To modify the Conditions Under Which Aliens Who Are Unlawfully Present in the United States Are Granted Legal Status.\" I ask unanimous consent that Senator HARKIN be added as a cosponsor of the amendment.","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":597,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090135818,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is without a permanent Director at a very important time in the life and safety of our Nations coal miners.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":556,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090135822,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me first describe the big picture as I see it. as far as people becoming legal permanent residents under our laws. First. let me preface this entire discussion by saying that none of what I am talking about relates to the people who are here on an undocumented basis today. There are other provisions of the law that apply to them and that give them rights under this proposed legislation to adjiist their status and become legal permanent residents at some stage down the road. So that is separate. I am not in any way talking about that. I know that has been a subject of great controversy in the Senate and in the Congress in general. but that is not the purpose of my proposed amendment. When you talk about people who are not here illegally today. there are basically two major ways that a person can become a legal permanent resident under our immigration laws. The two ways are through the familybased visa program or through the employmentbased visa program. This chart shows the numbers that have been admitted into the country up until the end of 2004 through the familybased and employmentbased programs combined. under both of those. You can see that those two togetherit comes out to somewhere around 800.000. ","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11379,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090135842,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is exactly what I am saying because. if we have a prevailing wage. American. workers are going to be more inclined to take those jobs rather than blue card workers coming in and being willing to take $5.15 an hour. That is exactly what is going to happen if we set the prevailing wage. which is where it ought to be. rather than utilizing your blue card program. which is going to wind up in millions. or hundreds of thousands of agricultural workers being hired at minimum wage. Let me close by saying. here is the reason that the adverse effect wage rate is so skewed. This is the chart that shows which States are used in calculating the adverse effect wage rate. In my case we use the southeast region: Alabama. Georgia. South Carolina. A farm worker job. or a worker at the State farmers market in Atlanta. GA. is compared to the same agricultural worker at the farmers market in Thomasville. ","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2742,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090135849,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Frankly. the adverse wage issue was one of the more contentious. for a variety of reasonsfirst of all. because producers saw it as being complicated with a lot of requirements other than just a wage. and obviously employment saw it as an advantage but limited. As a result. we were able to agree to shove it back. As I say. that rarely happens in American history. to actually by law push the wage scale back but to do so with the understanding that we would get equity and fairness through the approach that the Senator has outlined. That was the approach we used. A coalition of well over 500. including agriculture. a lot of agricultural producers.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":651,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090135870,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"What happens is these wage earners in the fields in Georgia and all over the country go out and they take a bucket out into the field. They cut squash. cucumbers. or they cut whatever the crop may be. they put it in that bucket. they dump that bucket in a bin. and they are given a chip. At the end of the day. those chips add up to dollars. They are required to be paid the minimum of either the minimum wage or. in this case. the adverse effect wage rate.","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":457,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090135871,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I understand I may be wrong. and Iwish the Senator from Georgia would correct me. the State minimum wage does not apply to agricultural workers. That is my understanding. If I am wrong. I hope the Senator will correct me. My understanding is the State minimum wage does not apply to agricultural workers. I withhold the remainder of my time.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":341,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090135921,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous cbnsent that when the Senate resumes the bill tomorrow morning. there be 60 minutes for the Feinstein amendment. with Senator FEINSTEIN in control of 30 minuteg. 20 minutes to the chairman. and 10 minutes for the ranking member. provided further that on the expiration of that debate. the Senate proceed to a vote on the Feinstein amendment No. 4087. with no intervening action or debate or seconddegree amendments. We will vote on the Feinstein amendment at 10:45 a.m. tomorrow. since the Senate will be coming in at 9:45 a.m.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":558,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090135932,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It would create a more precise registration that would allow this to proceed electronically. That is a major keyproceed electronically so that DHS would have time to do the necessary processing and vet the application in an orderly manner. Then they would submit a full application for their orange card. Once they have passed the security background check. they have paid their back taxes. they have paid the $2.000 fine. then they would be issued the orange card. The orange cardwould have biometric.identifiers. wouldhave the history of the individual. and would have a number. and this number would be designed so that those who have been here the longest would be first in the line for the green card at the end of the work period. As everyone recalls. there are 3.3 million people back in their own countries waiting for green cards. None of this goes into play until that green card list is expunged. It is estimated that could take anywhere from 6 to 11 years. So during that period of time. individuals in this country would have an identifier: the orange card. This would be their identification. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9143,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090135958,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will be closing shortly. but I do want to comment briefly on the immigration bill today. I wagt to make a few remarks on where we are and then where we will be going. Mr. President. we began debate on the comprehensive immigration.reform before the Easter recess. The majority was at that time set to strengthen the underlying bill by having debate and amendment on the underlying bill to be able to toughen the border security aspect. but at the llth hour. the other side said: No. we are not going to allow that open debate and amendment process. So what had come to the floor under the leadership of Chairman SPECTER was a bipartisan bill that did need continued work. and that bipartisan effort was scuttled for a period of time. The Democratic leader and I agreed to a process whereby we could bring that bill back to the floor. which was the beginning of last week. where we. in a bipartisan way. would have that opportunity to offer amendments and attempt to improve or adjust or modify that bill. That is the process we are in the middle of right now. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4716,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090135964,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to express my sympathy over the loss of Army SGT. Lonnie Calvin Allen. Jr.. from Nebraska. Sergeant Allen died when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle while on patrol northwest of Baghdad on May 18. He was 26 years old. Sergeant Allen grew up in Bellevue. NE. and graduated from Bellevue East High School in 1998. After 2 years at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES HAGEL","chamber":"S","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1147,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090135969,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to congratulate Munster High Schools We the People class on being awarded the Central States Region Award at the We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution national competition held April 29May 1 in Washington. DC. I am pleased that the members of the Munster High School We the People class were among the 1.200 students from across the country that participated in this important event specifically designed to educate young people about the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. I join family. friends. and the entire Munster High School community in recognizing the hard work and dedication of the following members of the Munster High School We the People class: Sara Brown. Sara Farooq. Scott Goodwin. Lauren Hudak. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD LUGAR","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1988,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090135972,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I believe that this approach will allow us to use federal funds responsibly while reducing risk to our citizens. Once the transition is complete. the. facility will be required to track all costsavings related to the switch. such as decreased security costs. costs savings by eliminating administrative requirements under the EPA risk management plan. lower insurance premiums. and others. If savings are ultimately realized by the facility. it will be required to return one half of these saving. not to exceed the grant amount. back to the EPA. In turn. the EPA will utilize any returned savings to help facilitate the transition of more water facilities. A 2005 report by the Government Accountability Office found that providing grants to assist water facilities to transition to safer technologies was an appropriate use of federal funds. The costs for an individual facility to transition will vary. but the cost is very cheap when you consider the security benefit. For example. the Wilmington facility invested approximately $160.000 to transition and eliminated the risk to nearly 600.000 people. Similarly. the Blue Plains facility spent $500.000 to transition after 9\/11 and eliminated the risk to 1.2 million citizens immediately. This. in my view. is a sound use of funds. And. this legislation will provide sufficient funding to transition all of our highpriority facilities throughout the Nation. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5945,"word_count":221}
{"speech_id":1090135973,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Monday. May 22 at 2:30 p.m. The purpose of this hearing is to receive testimony regarding nuclear power provisions contained in the Energy Policy Act of 2005.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":306,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090135979,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet on Monday. May 22. 2006. at 2 p.m. to consider the nomination of Lurita Alexis Doan to be Administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":274,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090136023,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of H.R. 5354. the Hurricane Relief Extension Act. and thank Mr.. BOUSTANY for introducing this very important measure. Mr. Speaker. in March of this year. Democrats from the House Committee on Education and the Workforce traveled to New Orleans and surrounding areas to survey and see firsthand the damage left by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2786,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090136035,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am prepared to close at this time. We have no further speakers. Again. I thank my colleague from New York for her support and the support of all Members across the aisle for this resolution. Let me just close by saying that in the aftermath of Hurricanes Rita and Katrina. I personally visited some of these onestop shops in my district and was really impressed with the work that they were doing. They were very successful in matching up those in need of jobs with available jobs. And so this is a worthy resolution. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES BOUSTANY","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":566,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090136042,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of S. 1235. as amended. the Veterans Housing Opportunity and Benefits Improvement Act of 2006. S. 1235. as amended. the Veterans Housing Opportunity and Benefits Improvement Act of 2006. reflects a compromise agreement that has been reached by the Senate and House Committees on Vdterans Affairs on the following bills: S. 1235. as amended. which passed the Senate on September 28. 2005. H.R. 1220. as amended. which passed the House on July 13. 2005. H.R. 2046. as amended. which passed the House on May 23. 2005. and H.R. 3665. as amended. which passed the House on November 10. 2005. Mr. Speaker. I will insert at this point in the RECORD for the benefit of my colleagues a joint explanatory statement describing the compromise agreement we have reached with the other body.","speaker_name":"JEFF MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":808,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090136086,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"His career as a jurist began in 1964 when he became a Fayette Circuit Court judge. Five years later. he was elected to the Kentucky Court of Appeals. where he sat for over 7 years. During the mid1970s. Kentuckys judicial system experienced a significant reorganization with the creation of the new Kentucky Supreme Court Judge Reed played an instrumental role in the reorganization and was elected to serve as the first chief justice of Kentucky in 1976. He was considered a strict interpreter of Kentuckys constitution and a staunch advocate of the separation of the judiciary from the other branches of government. In 1979. he was named U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of Kentucky. He served as a U.S. district judge until he retired in 1990. His opinions from the Supreme Court of Kentucky have received national acclaim for their scholarly content. and he has been recognized by many in a comparable light to Brandeis. Holmes. and Marshall. ] 1515 I support this measure and urge my colleagues to do the same. Mr. ","speaker_name":"BILL SHUSTER","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1662,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090136088,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the gentleman working on this. and just to let the gentleman know. I have a Henry Clay Township in Pennsylvania. which happens to be in Fayette County. Pennsylvania. so Pennsylvania and Kentucky have more in common than one would think.","speaker_name":"BILL SHUSTER","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":262,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090136107,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H.R. 3858. the Pets and Evacuation and Transportation Standards (PETS) Act of 2005. This is a sample. focused piece of legislation that will require local and state emergency preparedness authorities to include in their evacuation plans how they will accommodate household pets and\/or service animals in case of a disaster. It deserves our support. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita revealed gaping holes in our capacity to effectively manage the aftermath of largescale disasters. Our failures in emergency response and evacuation were numerous. and they varied in both size and importance. One problem with our response was a blind spot in our disaster planning regarding the evacuation of pets and service animals. For too many caring animal owners. the opportunity to escape danger means separation from a beloved pet. More grievous. the evacuation of many residents of the Gulf Region who are dependent on service animals was complicated by inflexible regulations that did not take their special needs into account.. ","speaker_name":"SILVESTRE REYES","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1448,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090136161,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am saddened tonight by the story of Daniel whose familys loss will be remembered. not just as it was poignantly this evening by Congressman CANTOR on this floor as he spoke of his own flesh and blood. but will be remembered later this week as the Prime Minister of Israel comes with some of Daniels family at his side. The gentleman from California reminded usof the human cost about which we debate tonight. and the policies and the messages that we will send from this well to a waiting world will speak to real human loss. a loss of opportunity. a loss of promise. to the loss of Daniel. It has been said many times tonight. and I take my colleagues at their word. that the State Department has said that this legislation is \"unnecessary.\" But let me say. as one of 435 Representatives in the United States House of Representatives. that the world waits for the leadership of this Congress and this Nation. and they wait for moral leadership that is clarion. and this serious debate tonight about which there are serious differences that I deeply respect. this debate tonight about the future of American financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority is such a debate. Let us say plainly. Hamas is a terrorist organization that advocates for its political ideology the murder of innocent civilians. This Congress. this President. his administration and the American people have been clear. the United States does not support. negotiate or fund terrorist organizations. even those that have won a majority of a legislature. Tonight we will say clearly in this Palestinian AntiTerrorism Act: Not one penny for Hamas. The Palestinian AntiTerrorism Act promotes. however. a democratic Palestinian Authority that denounces and combats terrorism. dearms and dismantles terrorist agencies. networks and facilities. and works to eliminate antiIsrael and antiSemitic incitement and the commemoration of terrorists. one that agrees to respect the sovereignty of its neighbors and acknowledges. respects and upholds the human rights. and one at its very core that has agreed to recognize our cherished ally. the State of Israel. as an independent. sovereign. Jewish. democratic state. Now. there are criticisms tonight well spoken and no doubt well intentioned that say that the administration and our country will lack the flexibility to meet the humanitarian needs on the ground. ","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5227,"word_count":387}
{"speech_id":1090136171,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That is why. If you are going after Hamas. go after them. but dont restrict the funding that helps people. The reason that Hamas won the election is the Palestinians didnt have the right people on the ballot and didnt work the ballot in order to do it. And Hamas has gone out into those communities and provided services. and they have endeared themselves to the Palestinian people while the leadership of Palestine has been pocketing a lot of money. Thats the reason they won the elections. They ran better elections. But why fault the people for that? And why take this kind of funding away from common ordinary citizens? Now. for all of you that come out on this floor all the time and talk about what we should be doing and what we are cutting and what we are not cutting. this is an opportunity to say to common ordinary citizens in Palestine: We care about you. We care about your health care. We care about education. We care about your opportunity for jobs and to really be able to do the things you want to do. ","speaker_name":"RAY LAHOOD","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3582,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090136179,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I appreciate my good friend yielding. and allow me to point out the fatal flaw in your logic. We are not discussing the fact that some of us occasionally support the administration. and you just expressed great delight that on this issue you find yourself on the side of the administration. The issue logically is flexibility. The people who have criticized this administration most vigorously over the years have claimed that the administration is riding roughshod over the Congress. not asking for more flexibility. This is a spurious argument. This is a phony argument. This administration. as do all administrations. wants flexibility. They do not want congressional restraints. Our legislation provides for restraints because we are a coequal branch of government. and we wish to express the policies that we want to see our government pursue. To claim that on this issue the administration should have total flexibility is contrary to the interests of the Congress as a body.","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":981,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090136183,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Despite the best intentions of those who wrote this legislation. I do not believe this legislation will advance peace between the Palestinian and the Israeli people. . There are people in this Congress of goodwill and good intention who want to see both the Palestinian people and the Israeli people survive. Let us continue to work towards that end.","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2426,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090136185,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"For someone to say \u0095that the Prime Minister of Israel is going to walk down this aisle. and if he had a voting card would vote for Hamas is an absurdity. It defies the imagination. It is one of the many things that opponents of this legislation carefully. carefully constructed. have been saying mischaracterizing this bill. If you think that the Prime Minister of Israel would vote to give aid to Hamas. then you must be on another planet. and you should vote \"no.\" A \"no\" vote will do only one thing. It will give hope to the terrorist Hamas. It will give them hope that the wall of opposition in the West is cracking. It will give them hope that their embrace of terrorism will not have to be abandoned in order to govern. It will give them hope that support for Israel is not as strong as it seems. It will give them hope that with tenacity and will their terrorist objectives will succeed. No Member of this House wants to send that message. ","speaker_name":"GARY ACKERMAN","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7588,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090136186,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. as I yield the gentleman from New York 4 minutes. I would give myself 30 seconds to make two observations. One. there will be no aid to Hamas. whether this bill passes or not. It is against United States law to give assistance to a terrorist organization. Second. I would reference the exact language of the word where the exemption is assistance to meet basic human health needs. not broad humanitarian. The language of the bill is actually quite clear. Madam Speaker. I yield to my friend.","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":506,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090136193,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"a staunch supporter of human rights. for coauthoring this legislation with our dear. dear and respected colleague from the State of California. Congressman TOM LANTOS. who is the once and future chair of this committee. I am sure. some day. and to say. as many others have stated this evening. we respect your life. Many of us love you and love your family. Perhaps some of us have a deeper understanding of some of the tribulation that you have faced in your own life because our families have faced the same. We had relatives in what is now the nation of Ukraine. but in the Soviet Union. our uncles. who were sent to the gulag for over 20 years by Joseph Stalin. One died and one survived. miraculously. after 20 bitter years. So I think our family shares a deep personal understanding of what despotism and terror is. I rise this evening because I have to say that this act. the Palestinian AntiTerrorism.Act. I fear will result not in less terrorism. but in more. ","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4459,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090136203,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. before yielding the balance of our time to my good friend from Texas. let me express my deepest appreciation to my friend from Florida. who has done her usual extraordinary job. for her principled statement and impeccable logic. We are all in her debt. I want to express my deep appreciation to my very good friend from Oregon for his unduly gracious comments which I deeply appreciate. And I want to thank all of my colleagues who have spoken on all sides of this issue. This has been an excellent debate. and it is appropriate that it should be wound up by one of our best debaters. my friend from Texas. SHEILA JACKSONLEE. I yield her the balance of our time.","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":677,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090136205,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The gentleman is very kind. Before I start. may I ask for additional time from the distinguished gentlelady from Florida. 11\/2 minutes. I thank the distinguished gentlelady very much. Madam Speaker. let me thank Mr. LANTOS for his extreme kindness to yield to. in essence. a nonmember of this great committee this time. Let me acknowledge my good friend from Florida for her leadership. and also I might add my appreciation to the distinguished gentleman from Oregon for bringing his vast perspective to this debate. I believe this is what democracy is all about. Certainly I could not stand here tonight and not add my appreciation for Chairman HYDE who I believe has worked over the years to seek a level and a plateau and a place of. if you will. harmony and bipartisanship. . Tonight is a very difficult time for many of us. And. in fact. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9425,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090136207,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Yes. there were communist factions that the United States deplored. but we knew the need was real. and punishing the whole for the acts of the few was wrongheaded in the extreme. Today. our actions must be motivated only by our intense desire to achieve a just and lasting peace. The compassion and charity of the American people should be reflected in this legislation. though sadly. they are silenced. Madam Speaker. make no mistake. a vote cast in favor of H.R. 4681 is not a vote for peace. itis not a vote for America and it is not a vote that I will cast. I urge my colleagues to cast their votes against this unwise and unproductive resolution.","speaker_name":"NICK RAHALL","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3045,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090136221,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Republicans have worked hard to address Americas energy needs. And the Democrats? They vote \"no\" on every solution.","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1353,"word_count":18}
{"speech_id":1090136263,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this morning we will resume debate on the pending amendment related to the orange card visa program offered by Senator FEINSTEIN. We have an agreement of 60 minutes of debate prior to the vote. Senators should be on notice that a vote will occur sometime between 10:45 and 11 oclock this morning. We expect additional votes throughout the day and perhaps into the evening. Last night. the majority leader filed cloture. The order now provides that all firstdegree amendments must be filed by 2:30 today in order to qualify under rule XXII. Senators should also be reminded that the Senate will take its customary Tuesday recess from 12:30 until 2:15 for the party caucus meetings.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":695,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090136264,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Some could have gone either way without destroying the delicate coalition. and others would have perhaps been killer amendments which would have fractured the bill. which has not happened. For those who are opposed to the bill or want to limit immigrants. the Bingaman. amendment reduced the number of future guest workers from 350.000 to 200.000. We had a very spirited and contentious debate on an amendment by Senators CORNYN and KYL which would have precluded H2C guest workers to selfpetition. Then Senator KENNEDY came back with a modification which -opened up selfpetitions which. in my view. is indispensable if we are not to put the immigrants at the mercy of the employer and provide the background for unfair treatment by employers to hang the sword of Damocles over the heads of the undocumented immigrants. We had a very spirited debate on what to do about English. whether it is the national language or the common and unifying language or how to categorize it. In my view. there was not a great deal of difference between the amendments offered by Senator INHOFE and Senator SALAZAR. We do know that we are looking for English to be a unifying factor. There is in the law today a series of procedures where other languages are printed for balance in a variety of contexts. but I think ultimately we will work that through on a satisfactory basis. There was an amendment by Senator KYL to strike the provisions that the green card by H2C workers would be a path to citizenship. That was a very important amendment not to adopt but to keep that path open consistent with the remainder of the bill. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6661,"word_count":280}
{"speech_id":1090136267,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the President. I also want to thank the chairman of the committee. He has befn a very good chairman. I want him to know that the only reason I offer this amendment is because when we read the bill language of HagelMartinez. which has not been voted on by this body. I believe it to be unworkable. I believe it will create another class of illegal immigrants in this country. I believe it is impossible to carry out the deportation requirements of the HagelMartinez amendment.","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":483,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090136273,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I commend and compliment my distinguished colleague from California for presenting this amendment. I wonder if I might engage in a little colloquy with the author of this amendment. I am proud to join her as a cosponsor because this is the way we have to go. I was interested in the pie chart that showed the 4.4 million. if I added it correctly. the people here less than 2 years and those here 2 years to 5 years. All of those people have to leave the country?","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":462,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090136282,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Senator is exactly right. The dynamic to add to that is. you create a work differential because these people will continue to be clandestine. embedded in the cultures of our country. and find ways to work. and employers. as they have in the past. will hire them. Then we will be faced with carrying out a program that has never worked and that is employersanctioned.","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":370,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090136294,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is a workable solution to a difficult problem.","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2355,"word_count":9}
{"speech_id":1090136309,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is administratively more complicated and difficult and puts additional burdens on Homeland Security. One of the basic concepts behind the legislation was to try to move people out of the shadows. This is going to move us back into creating a situation where a number of people will be back in the shadows. It does move us in a direction that I would not have hoped we would move. But frankly. this is the legislative process. The legislative process has brought us to where we are today. The underlying legislation is a good product and an important product which will mean a significant and important change in the opening of opportunity for people who are here. who want to work hard and pay a fine. pay their back taxes. play by the rules and become a part of the American dream. I am enthusiastic for the underlying legislation which includes the HagelMartinez amendment. I will say that the Feinstein amendment is basically. in fact. what Senator MCCAIN and I had originally hoped for. It is difficult for someone like myself to argue against it. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2558,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090136461,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we are looking for stacked votes at 5:30. as mentioned during the discussion with Senator LEAHY. If we cannot get another debate completed on another amendment before 5:30. we will only have the two votes. But if it is possible to have Senator LIEBERMAN come -to the floor or Senator DURBIN. it would be appreciated by the managers to try to move the bill along. We now have 5 minutes for Senator KENNEDY. 5 minutes for Senator OBAMA. and 5 minutes for Senator KYL. Mr. President. I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":530,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090136601,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I understand from the chairman we will not do any further work on the bill this evening. I would. therefore. ask unanimous consent that Senator SHELBY be allowed to speak for up to 8 minutes. immediately following this statement. and that I then be allowed to speak for up to 5 minutes following that.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":316,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090136627,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me assure my colleagues that this is not my intention. I simply believe that for future disasters. the Federal Cabinet Agency with the expertise in housing should run disaster housing assistance. HUD has housing expertise. FEMA does not. HUD oversees 1.2 million public housing units. It administers the section 8 rental assistance program for 2.1 million families. They provide supportive housing for 320.000 senior citizens and people with disabilities. HUD also has a network of more than 3.000 public housing agencies in cities and counties across the country. so it has the infrastructure already in place to meet emergency housing needs. In all. HUD provides housing assistance to over 3.3 million households nationwide. ","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4242,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090136628,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Towns such as Chester. Elizabethtown. Cairo. Metropolis. and Golconda were created during the steamboat era. The legislation I am introducing today. would call for Southern Illinois University Carbondale to be designated as the management entity for the Land Between the Rivers National Heritage \u0095 Area. The unique natural history of southern Illinois combined with its historical and cultural features are making it an important contribution to tourism in Illinois. Creating the Land Between the Rivers National Heritage Area will provide the ability to connect the entire region into one cohesive historic unit in which the place and events of the past can be united to provide the full story of southern Illinoiss influence in the shaping of our Nation.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3738,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090136630,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Washington. DC 205106150. For further information. please contact Dick Bouts at 2022247545 or Sara Zecher at 2022248276.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":889,"word_count":17}
{"speech_id":1090136663,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Today. the chorus of their voices reminds us. Texas State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn said: \"Sen. Lloyd Bentsen was a true Texas icon and a friend. He put Texans above politics. He lifted all Texans.\" His former aide. and State Representative Richard Raymond said: \"He didnt pass the buck. Thats one of the things that stuck with me.\" We should all be fortunate as to be remembered so fondly. and so well. It is clear that Lloyd Bentsen lived a life of purpose. he certainly wasted no time making his mark on our country. Born in Mission. TX. on February 11. 1921. Bentsen received his law degree from University of Texas Law School at Austin. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2693,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090136670,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to. the preamble be agreed to. and the motion to reconsider be laid upon.the table. The resolution (S. Res. 490) was agreed to. The preamble was agreed to. The resolution. with its preamble. reads as follows:","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":277,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090136675,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. tomorrow morning we will be debating Senator MCCONNELLS amendment related to ballots. That vote will occur at approximately 9:30 a.m.. and that will be the first vote of the day. That will be followed by the cloture vote on the immigration bill. We have an agreement in place that will allow other amendments to be offered. and therefore everyone can expect another lengthy day of votes. I do thank everyone for allowing us to line up amendments as agreed to over the course of the day. I expect that cloture will be invoked tomorrow morning and that we will then finish this bill later on Wednesday or Thursday at the latest.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":641,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090136697,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the historic significance of this event cannot be overestimated. From this day forward. we must always look at Iraq as a nation of independence. a nation of freedom and a nation of democracy. May it always be.","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1113,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090136701,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I commend the great work of Mrs. Beasley and the tireless. selfless investment she has made to the future of my district and to the future of North Carolina.","speaker_name":"PATRICK MCHENRY","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":913,"word_count":31}
{"speech_id":1090136704,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I urge all my colleagues in the House to encourage our friends in the Senate to act swiftly to pass the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act.","speaker_name":"JAMES LANGEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1349,"word_count":26}
{"speech_id":1090136706,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise to recognize it has been 1 year since this House passed H.R. 810. the Stem Cell Research and Enhancement Act. and still there is no action by the Senate. Stem cell research holds the promise of cures for many diseases. Removing the Bush administrations limits will expand research and support the hopes of millions of Americans who work every day to survive under the burden of a lifealtering diagnosis. Science. not politics. should determine the future of this vital research. The House passed H.R. 810 with extraordinary bipartisan effort. and most believe there is a bipartisan group in the Senate of well over 60 votes to pass this bill. And still there is no action in the Senate. We stand here with the tools in our hands to ease the pain of so many across this country and around the world. If we dont tap into this potential. we will never know what it can yield. ","speaker_name":"RUSS CARNAHAN","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1004,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090136725,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. Mr. Speaker. I had originally intended to vote for this bill and for this rule. but the action of the Rules Committee on one item last night has changed all of that. at least for me. and I would like to alert Members of the House as to the reasons why. In the farm bill that passed several years ago. the expiration date for various programs wound up not being identical. and that meant that the dairy program was hugely at a disadvantage after the expiration of the dairy title of the farm bill. Last year the Congress renewed the dairy section of the bill that related to the milk program. but it contained a budget gimmick which ended the dairy program one month before the end of the fiscal year and one month before the other farm programs in that bill. As a result. when the next farm program is put together next year. dairy will be at a huge disadvantage because there will be nothing included in the budget baseline for dairy. That will not only be a problem for dairy farmers. that will be a problem for all other farmers. because if in the end the Congress decides under those circumstances to extend the milk program. the funding for that will come out of the hide of each and every other farm program. all because of this 1month gimmick that we tried to correct in the Appropriations Committee. . ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4505,"word_count":252}
{"speech_id":1090136736,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am going to urge my colleagues to vote for the previous question and for the resolution. I want to make two points. The gentleman says that one reason to vote against the previous question is to have a chance to have a say on the DeLauro amendment. I would advise my colleagues that the DeLauro amendment was offered in the full committee. notwithstanding the fact that it is legislating on an appropriations bill. and even the members of the Appropriations Committee rejected the DeLauro amendment. As I mentioned earlier in my remarks. there is a longstanding tradition that when an authorizing committee has an objection to a provision in an appropriations bill. that provision is not waived. With that. Mr. Speaker. this is a good rule. ","speaker_name":"DOC HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":869,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090136753,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I missed three. rollcall votes this morning. Tuesday. May 23. On roll No. 179 regarding the Previous Question for the Agricultural. Rural Development. FDA and related agencies Appropriations Act. I would have voted \"no.\" On roll No. 180 regarding the Rule for the consideration of H.R. 5384Agricultural. Rural Development. ","speaker_name":"BRIAN HIGGINS","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":27.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":513,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090136754,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"On March 9. 2006 I joined 295 of my colleagues in the House in support of H.R. 4681.","speaker_name":"RICHARD POMBO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":567,"word_count":18}
{"speech_id":1090136772,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have. as Mr. OEY knows well. milk. And there used to be milk shortages all over the country. And yet we do not have those kinds of shortages anymore. We do have a very complex. hardtoexplain agriculture system in America. and yet the product on the shelf in the grocery stores across America beats all in the world. We need to all support this bill. It is a bipartisan bill. It is well thought out. well debated. There are going to be things I am going to comment on later on.","speaker_name":"JACK KINGSTON","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3020,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090136782,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I honor the Chair and the ranking member for not letting that happen. I am proud to have led a bipartisan effort in opposition to those proposals. and I thank the committee again for rejecting them. Finally. Mr. Chairman. -I thank the committee for its promise to continue to monitor the WIC caseload to ensure that funding remains sufficient to meet the needs. I ask the committee to also monitor. as I will. USDAs implementation of its cost containment regulations.","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1447,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090136787,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me time. Mr. Chairman. I rise today to I guess reluctantly support the bill. I have been looking over the provisions. and I think that while I commend Chairman BONILLA and Ranking Member DELAURO for their work. given the constraints that they have been placed under. but I do have some concerns that I would like to raise.. You know. in the last farm bill. 2002 Farm Bill. we made a significant shift in the biggest increases that we placed in the 2002 Farm Bill were in the conservation programs. And we have some limitations that have been put in the bill that have been protected against a point of order. that I have some concerns about and other people across the country have concerns about. Our Wetlands Reserve Program. which I think has been one of the most successful programs that we have implemented and was part of the 2002 farm bill. we are going to be further limiting the level to 144.000 acres. ","speaker_name":"COLLIN PETERSON","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1255,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090136803,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman for yielding. Let me simply say that I appreciate his comments. especially in light of the -fact that last year in the conference. on this bill after the conference was gaveled to a close. the conference committee then made arbitrary and anonymous changes in the definition of organic foods without a vote of the conference. So it seems to me that the gentleman is correct that we need to be vigilant in terms of who is trying to manipulate their definition of what represents a high organic standard.I thank the gentleman for yielding.","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":558,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090136804,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Reclaiming my time. the comments of the gentleman from Wisconsin make it very clear that Congress has a role here in affirming the position of consumer representatives on the National Organic Standards Board. It was Congress that created this board. It was Congress that wanted to ensure the integrity of the organic label. So I am asking my colleagues to vote \"yes\" to protect the integrity of the organic food label. I would once again say that the Consumers Union -has taken this position that they believe that the integrity of the consumer public interest positions have been compromised by the appointment.","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":612,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090136822,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in opposition to the amendment. Mr. Chairman. the gentleman raises a very good issue that deserves attention. but we have done our absolute best to fund eradication and control of plant pests in the bill before you today that we are presenting. The overall total for plant pests is $115 million. which is $16 million over last years level. The Asian longhorned beetle is at the Presidents request of $20 million. the glassy winged sharpshooter is at $24 million. emerald ash borer. $20 million. more than doubling last years level of $8 million. citrus response is $39 million. sudden oak death. doubled from last year to $6 million. and the list goes on and on. Eradication and control of these pests is also supported by emergency funding from the Commodity Credit Corporation at the discretion of the Secretary. The emerald ash borer control just received $7.5 million from CCC last month. As for the offset of this amendment. it is completely irresponsible to cut funding to farmers. rural areas and conservation programs for this gentlemans purpose. ","speaker_name":"HENRY BONILLA","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2637,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090136837,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I would like to offer this amendment today on behalf of the 23 rural counties \"that I represent in eastern North Carolina. and I might say that we are also the 15th poorest district in the Nation. I offer this amendment on behalf of the small and lowincome and underserved rural communities all across America. Mr. Chairman. before I continue with offering this amendment. I would like to say what a fine job that you and your staff have done on this bill. You were very courteous to me when I discussed this amendment with you a few minutes ago. and I thank you so very much. .I also would like to thank the chairman and the ranking member for their spirit of bipartisanship on this committee. Mr. Chairman. it is my intention to support the underlying bill. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE BUTTERFIELD","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2658,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090136853,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"an amendment to increase the funding of the organic transitions program from $1.8 million to $5 million. I am very much aware of the hard work that the chairman and the committee have put into squeezing every dollar out of their bill to get the best effect. However. I must say I was startled to find that the funding for this important program was not increased a bit even though this sector of agriculture in the United States is growing at 20 percent a year. and the demand for this very program is growing very rapidly. So this amendment has the enthusiastic support of the National Organic Coalition. the Organic Trade Association. the northeast and other chapters of the Organic Farming Association. and many in the farming community. And without this additional organic research funding. the farming community simply will not be able to keep pace with the evergrowing demand for pesticidefree and chemicalfree organic agricultural products. I hope my colleagues will join me in favor of this amendment. I ask for its approval.","speaker_name":"RON KIND","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1033,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090136858,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The gentleman from Wisconsin. I am sure. is fully aware of the fact that the Department of Agricultures Cooperative State Research and Extension Service has been one of the things that has made agriculture in America great and has made it successful. What we are talking about is a highly competitive grant program under that service. This is not any giveaway. This is something that advances the understanding and advances the agricultural science. The chairman makes it sounds~.like we are talking about a whooping amount of money. $5 million. We are talking about agricultural services all over the country. every State is involved in organic agriculture now. This is an important increase. but this is not a whooping. prohibitive increase.","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":743,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090136859,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. reclaiming my time. the organic industry has never come before the Congress asking for a heck of a lot. That has been the history of them. God bless them for doing so. This is one small program in the overall agriculture appropriations bill that they have come to us asking for greater assistance. because their need has grown exponentially. We believe that with the appropriate offset we have identified. moving from roughly $1.8 million in these competitive grants up to $5 million will help relieve a little pent up pressure in that need that exists today. Because the organic industry has the potential of growing much faster and much larger than it is. even in recent years. I encourage my colleagues to support the amendment.","speaker_name":"RON KIND","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":745,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090136896,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I first would like to express my appreciation tq Chairman BONILLA and our senior ranking member. Ms. DELAURO. for allowing me this ojpportunity to introduce this amendment on behalf of my colleagues. the gentleman from Puerto Rico (Mr. FORTU&O). the gentlewoman from Guam . and the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands .","speaker_name":"ENI FALEOMAVAEGA","chamber":"H","state":"AS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":333,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090136928,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the purpose of the amendment is to remove $810.000 in salaries and expenses from the Office of the Under Secretary For the Natural Resources and the Environment. Mr. Chairman. I have had the privilege since and during the 2002 farm bill of chairing the subcommittee with jurisdiction over the conservation programs. In the 2002 farm bill we did an outstanding job of bringing new and substantial resources to conservation. Since then I have had the privilege of working with Chairman BONILLA and the subcommittee on appropriations in making sure those resources are effectively put in the hands of producers out there to protect our environment. our soil. our water. our wildlife. But after a number of years. I have worked diligently to address problems in the technical assistance programs. how these problems are paid for. the implementation. I- must say after much frustration with working with the national office of the NRCS today I have to take action. ","speaker_name":"FRANK LUCAS","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1632,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090136965,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that during further consideration of H.R. 5384 in the Committee of the Whole pursuant to House Resolution 830. notwithstanding clause 11 of rule XVIIL. no further amendment to the bill may be offered except: Pro forma amendments offered at any point in the reading by the chairman or ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations or their designees for the purpose of debate. An amendment by Mr. BLUMENAUER regarding funding limitations for sugar loan rates. which shall be debatable for 20 minutes. An amendment by Ms. SLAUGHTER regarding funding for Center For Veterinary Medicine. An amendment or amendments by","speaker_name":"HENRY BONILLA","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":663,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090136966,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"An amendment by Mr. KING of Iowa regarding the Livestock Identification and Marketing Act. An amendment by Mr. BOREN regarding funding limitation on the transfer of activities from Oklahoma. An amendment by Mr. GORDON regarding energy standards for Federal buildings. An amendment by Mr. FLAKE regarding funding limitation on dairy education in Iowa. An amendment by Mr. FLAKE regarding funding limitation on fruit and vegetable market analysis in Arizona and Missouri. ","speaker_name":"HENRY BONILLA","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4250,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090136990,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Appropriations Committee has included language in their bill that holds funding until the Secretary of Agriculture publishes an advance notice of proposed rulemaking outlining how USDAs animal ID system will work. This informal process will provide the details necessary to have a full and thoughtful debate about animal ID and allow us to find our way forward with this important public policy initiative. For those who worry an ANPR might slow down an animal ID implementation. I offer this observation. if USDA is not prepared to quickly answer these fundamental questions about its plans. then USDA is in no position to be moving forward in any case.","speaker_name":"BOB GOODLATTE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1802,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090136993,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I introduced a bill some time ago to make a mandatory system. But the fact of the matter is. if you dont think we need a national ID system in this country. you have got your head in the sand. because we are going to have a problem. It is going to be foot and mouth. or it will be something else. If we dont have a system. we are in big trouble. We are never going to get back in the Japanese market. some of these other markets. if we dont have an ID system in this country that works. So this is not the right way to go. and I urge rejection of this amendment.","speaker_name":"COLLIN PETERSON","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1044,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090137008,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. my amendment would allow the scientists and support staff at the Agriculture Research Lab in Lane. Oklahoma. to continue their valuable work at the facility. The lab is important not only to my district and the State of Oklahoma. but also makes significant contributions to agriculture in the region. Nation. and across the globe. When the center was established in 1985. it was in response to the need for new and. improved innovations in agriculture for the south central region of this country. I believe that need still exists. ","speaker_name":"DAN BOREN","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1534,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090137038,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"MAP is specifically targeted to help small businesses. farmer cooperatives and trade associations to meet this subsidized foreign competition. It is not a subsidy to big business as some would want you to believe. in fact. it represents a successful publicprivate partnership. MAP is administered on a costshare basis by the U.S. Department of Agriculture with farmers. ranchers and other participants required to contribute up to 50 percent toward the program. In fact. since 1992. for every dollar contributed by Federal funding. MAP participants have increased their contributions from 30 percent to 166 percent. According to the USDA. every Federal dollar invested has resulted in $16 in additional U.S. agricultural exports. Mr. Chairman. in closing. I urge my colleagues to vote against this misguided amendment. ","speaker_name":"BOB GOODLATTE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2612,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090137063,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the chairman for his support and also Mr. GOODLATTE. the chairfrian of the committee. has expressed his support of this program also. It is the future of looking at how we do government. and I am excited to be able to be going forward on this. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JOHN CARTER","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":31.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":302,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090137107,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would like to mention this: Ten African Nations. and many others around the world. receive the U.S. premium price. and so the U.S. sugar program benefits many developing countries. This certainly is something that we need to consider. So I urge defeat of the amendment.","speaker_name":"THOMAS OSBORNE","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1036,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090137114,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I the Blumenauer Amendment to H.R. 5384 is a wh yield myself 30 seconds. vote against 146.000 hardworking farmers one - Two very brief points. One is. because and workers in 19 States. T of the nature of this lavish subsidy. it In light of this information and in the spirit of am has concentrated activity so that 1 per- fairness. I ask my House colleagues to op- ego cent of the sugar producers get 42 per- pose this amendment. I cent of the benefit. A massive amount Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. ","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1131,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090137119,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. of the problems here is this is not. h all due respect. some sort of jor massive pruning. We are talking ut a 6 percent reduction on how the erican consumer and taxpayer is on hook. That is not unilaterally disning. That is not a massive over.1. We need this modest step. look forward to working with the irman of the Ag Committee. alugh I hope he is not the chairman of Ag Committee next session. but in whatever capacity I look forward to working with him to have that honest debate. The last time it went through the legislative process. the sugar provisions got worse. not better. It was more egregious. There were more things that were added to it to make it work against the consumer and the taxpayer. Only in Washington. ","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1385,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090137141,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And I would work with you on that. but I would like to have this amendment adopted. even if it is not perfect in your eyes.","speaker_name":"GILBERT GUTKNECHT","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":797,"word_count":26}
{"speech_id":1090137147,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I wonder where they are. on my side as well as on the minoritys side. If we cant get Members here. perhaps we should seek a remedy to move through this bill and finish it.","speaker_name":"HENRY BONILLA","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":462,"word_count":35}
{"speech_id":1090137150,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I think the gentleman makes a good point. I know we have called those on our side to come down. and I do not know the disposition on your side. It looks to me like we have on our side three amendments. and I was just trying to tally up on your side. There are about five or six. is that correct?","speaker_name":"ROSA DELAURO","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":309,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090137151,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Reclaiming my time. Mr. Chairman. I know the gentlewoman would agree on her side that she is not a babysitter. nor am I. If I had an amendment to offer. I would be in a threepoint stance ready to go on something that was of great importance to my constituents. So I would throw out for thought that perhaps after another 5 minutes passes. if nobody is here. we might look for a unanimous consent to shut it down and move to final passage.","speaker_name":"HENRY BONILLA","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":438,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090137169,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that during further consideration of H.R. 5384. pursuant to House Resolution 830. the Chair may reduce to 2 minutes the minimum time for electronic voting under clause 6 of rule XVIII and clause 9 of rule XX. Mr. Speaker. I further ask unanimous consent that the intervention of these proceedings in the House not affect the continuation of 5minute voting on the pending series of votes in the Committee of the Whole.","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":454,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090137219,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. There is some irony in the chairman of the committee raising a point of order against this bill. because the purpose of this amendment is to point out how badly out of order one part of our budget is. What my amendment does is it requires that each and every State in the Union get a minimum amount of agriculture programs for cotton and rice. whether they- have cotton or rice or not. New York. for example. has no cotton production and has no rice production. This amendment would guarantee that New York gets a minimum amount. .75 percent. of the budget for cotton and rice should go to New York. It guarantees that all States. and there are about 25 or 30 of them that have no cotton or rice subsidies. get a minimum guarantee of cotton and rice funding. Now. why would I offer such a thing? Why would you propose such an absurd notion. that any program designed for a specific constituency. those that make cotton and rice. would get a minimum guarantee? Well. that is exactly the question those of us in highthreat urban areas ask about homeland security funding all the time. Yet. believe it or not. a minimum amount. .75 percent. of homeland security funds go to every single State in the Union. ","speaker_name":"ANTHONY WEINER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4428,"word_count":230}
{"speech_id":1090137245,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I offer an amendment. The Acting- CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: Amendment offered by Mr. FLAKE: At the end of the bill. before the short title. insert the following: SEC. . None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to fund dairy education in Iowa.","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":337,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090137268,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Once again. the gentleman who is proposing this amendment somehow thinks that this is going to save money in the bill. Let me point out also. in addition to the remarks I made earlier about cutting discretionary spending and cutting this bill back this year. there have also been cuts in this bill where funding for the Member priorities are down $35 million or 8 percent from last year. So the effort to deal with fiscal conservatism is ongoing and continues from last year when we started cutting discretionary spending. We also terminate eight Federal programs for a savings of more than $4 million. So anyone who thinks that we are not concerned about fiscal conservatism can look at the facts and figures before them. And we understand that the media likes to talk about Member priorities. but I would suggest that anyone who is truly serious and is not looking for recognition would work on entitlement reform. which is where the vast majority of our government funds go to. and that would really make a big mark on cutting back on spending. not amendments such as this one that do not cut one penny out of this bill. And I hope our colleagues and the constituents that are watching this are not somehow fooled into thinking that this amendment cuts one penny out of this bill. ","speaker_name":"HENRY BONILLA","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1388,"word_count":238}
{"speech_id":1090137306,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I would simply point out that one of the amendments I offered is actually to cut funding that goes to my State. I would simply point out again. last year there were more than 10.000 earmark worth $29 billion. I would say. again. to the average American. that may not seem like much to us. but it seems like a lot to them. It is a lot to all of us. And as mentioned before. earmarks are the gateway drug to spending addiction. ","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2462,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090137326,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. historically when Members target projectsifi this body. everybody understands the game. When you talk about tomatoes. and aquaculture and programs that have names that do not immediately jump out to people with a true purpose. the press releases go out. the media circles when you walk out of the House Chamber. and there you have your name in the paper as a great slayer of funding programs. But again. the hard work when you talk about fiscal conservatism as we have again last year cutting spending. trimming this bill down almost $100 million. cutting back on the Member requests. all of those things. that is the work that is done in the trenches day in and day out. So. again. we all realize in this body what makes a headline. So if you make fun of the tomato and you make fun of the research project that is in a particular State. more power to you. But I think for the most part we are going to find that the Members of this body understand that again there is not a single dime that is going to be cut out of this amendment. True reform comes from the kind of work in the trenches that I have been suggesting. entitlement reform. budget reform. those are the processes that really\" matter. Or again. in the end. amendments that actually make a difference in terms of spending or cutting the budget. Mr. ","speaker_name":"HENRY BONILLA","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1370,"word_count":242}
{"speech_id":1090137330,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. To the gentlewomans points. we do in Arizona get subsidies. We should not. particularly with cotton. Cotton is very water intensive. We receive subsidies in cotton in many ways. particularly through the farm bill. I would ask you. please join me in opposing the farm bill next year. We will have an extension of the farm bill perhaps this year. Please join me in opposing it for subsidizing far too much as well. ","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":707,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090137363,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman-. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Again. this is another example of the Federal Government funding a program that can and is funded by the private sector. I should note here the vision of the initiative says: \"By 2020. the American grape and wine industry will triple its economic impact and become the undisputed world leader in consumer value and sustainability. The target is an economic impact of $150 billion within 16 years. This is based on a conservative estimate of current annual impact of approximately $50 billion a year.\" I would submit that if an industry outthere has a $50 billionayear impact on the economy. $50 billion. then the Congress need not spend $250.000 for strategic research and a plan to enhance the grape industrys competitivemess and contribution to the U.S. economy. I can tell you what the contribution is to the U.S. economy. We have been told. It is about $50 billion a year. ","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1229,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090137368,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Let me say again. when we are spending money like this. then w e seem to have money to throw around. and I would submit that the average taxpayer in California or Oregon or Arizona or anywhere would look at this and say. why are we taking my hardearned money and spending- it to give $250.000 to the grape and wine industry that means about $50 billion to the U.S. economy? That is not a prudent use of taxpayer resources. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1150,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090137417,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would just like to make some comments also that I appreciate Chairman HOBSON and Ranking Member VISCLOSKY for working with me on my project in Sacramento. That is much appreciated. Mr. Speaker. I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin .","speaker_name":"DORIS MATSUI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":260,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090137425,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Visclosky amendment would provide $250 million for a number of ongoing flood projects that are not funded in the bill. It also adds $750 million for research into alternative sources of energy. such as coal. ethanol. and biodiesel. that would reduce or eliminate our dependence on foreign oil. The spending increase in the Visclosky amendment is offset by reducing by 2.4 percent the tax cut received by people earning more than $1 million a year. Mr. Speaker. this amendment deals with two urgent national priorities. It puts our money where our mouth is when we say our country needs to diversify our energy supply. increase energy efficiency. and reduce our addiction to foreign oil. With the hurricane season approaching. it puts more resources into the major flood control projects that would protect our property and our lives. Mr. Speaker. it is important for Members to know that a \"no\" vote will not prevent us from considering the energy and water appropriation bill under an open rule. ","speaker_name":"DORIS MATSUI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1170,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090137476,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. as I close. and then I am going to be quiet. because I just want to make this last little point. It is unfortunate that it is not nat\"ural for the Republican majority to do the right thing. I dont care if you are a Republican or an Independent or a Democrat. or you are thinking about voting and you are 171\/2 years old and you can register and vote in November. you have to have a problem. Or 17 and about to vote in November. because you have to be 18. You have to have a problem the way the Republican majority has put this country in a bad posture for the future and the present. If I dont say anything else tonight. I just want to make sure that the Members understand what they are doing to the country. Not to Democrats. We are all in this. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1929,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090137478,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentlewoman because not only did you have thirdparty validators. I think we have some of the most important thirdparty validators to what we are saying here. The next five posters are strong. conservative Republicans with credentials in the conservative community well beyond anything we will ever have. This is Pat Toomey. former Member of Congress. president of Club for Growth. He says in the Philadelphia Inquirer on May 8: Republicans have abanoned the principles of limited government and fiscal discipline. He went on to say: There is a very high level of frustration and disappointment among rankandfile Republicans when they see a Republicancontrolled Congress engaging in an obscene level of wasteful spending. This next quote is from a guy who gave birth to the Republican revolution in 1994. He said. at the end of March. a congressional watchdog agency recently smuggled a truck carrying nuclear material into the country to test security. he said: Why isnt the President pounding on the table? Why isnt he sending in 16 reform- bills? Mr. Gingrich went on to cite a series of blunders under Republican rule. from failures in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to mismanagement of the war in Iraq. He said the government has squandered billions of dollars in Iraq. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2526,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090137548,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr: President. this is an important coal mine safety bill which has been cleared on both sides of the aisle. I commend Senator KENNEDY and Senator ENZI for their extraordinary effort in putting this measure together on a broad bipartisan basis. As I indicated. it has been cleared on both sides of the aisle. It is time to pass this measure and hope that the House will act in short order. Therefore. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 439. S. 2803.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":509,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090137557,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I welcome the fact that the Senator from Kentucky has advanced this issue this morning and ensured that the legislation was going to be passed. I wish to pay tribute to my chairman. Senator ENZI. Within hours of the Sago mine disaster. he notified our committee that we would go as a committee down to visit the Sago mine. We spent hours with the families of Sago. came back immediately. had an informal hearing to get early reactions and responses about things that could be done immediately. and then structured a whole series of hearings. We had very extensive markups on those hearings. This legislation has the strong support of the families and the strong support of the mine workers. I think it is a very clear indication that this Senate gives the highest possible priority to the workers and their families and safety and security. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2111,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090137579,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"President. I see our friend from Connecticut. who was the floor manager of the earlier legislation. and my colleague from Illinois. who also wishes to speak. The most sacred right guaranteed in our democracy is the right to vote. We want to promote people voting. We. want our elections safe and secure. But this issue deserves more than 45 minutes on the floor of the U.S. Senate on an immigration bill. Mr. President. how much time do we have remaining?","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1409,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090137595,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. elections are the heart of democracy. They are the instrument for the people to choose leaders and hold them accountable. At the -same time. elections are a core public function upon which all other Government responsibilities depend. If elections are defective. the entire democratic system is at risk. Americans are losing confidence in the fairness of elections. We need to address the problems of our electoral system. Those are the words of the cochairmen of the Commission on Federal Election Reform. former Secretary of State Jim Baker and former President Jimmy Carter. Most people know Jimmy Carter. the former President. I happen to know him as a Governor. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3611,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090137598,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. Senator MCCONNELL has proposed an amendment to the immigration bill to modify the Help America Vote Act of 2002. \"HAVA\". by mandating that all States require governmentissued photo identification from voters at polling places. Senator MCCONNELLS amendment raises serious concerns by putting the policy ahead of the groundwork necessary to determine how and whether such a step should be taken. I do not see his justification for attaching that proposal to this measure or to get ahead of the implementation of the REAL ID Act or recommenda.tions by the CarterBaker commission.","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":591,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090137645,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Of course. But if we could enter into a time agreement. I would suggest 1 hour equally divided. We are trying to work throughno one knows better than Senator BYRD. who was the distinguished majority leader for many. many years. and the President pro tempore. what is involved in trying to work through time agreements. I do not know that we will need all that time. but it would be my suggestion. if it is acceptable to you. I say to Senator BYRD and Senator GREGG. that we have a 1hour time agreement equally divided.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":518,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090137656,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We know it will cost approxi\"mately $2 billion. in addition to the $2 billion I just mentioned. to do a fully integrated communications system on the border. And we are talking just the southern border. We know that in order to upgrade the air fleet. which is extremely agedthe P3s being almost 40 years over their useful life and the helicopters being 20 years over their useful lifeit will cost $2.4 billion. So there is a great need for funds to adequately secure the border. I think we have all agreed in this Senateand I think it is the consensus of the American peoplethat the first effort in the area of controlling illegal immigration should be the securing of our borders. and especially our southern border. which has been the point of most concern relative to illegal immigrants coming across the border. So this amendment says. if you are going to obtain citizenship in what has been described as earned citizenship. an element of that earning of citizenshipsince you- are already here illegally. according to the 12 million people who would be qualified for this and be subject to this additional feeran element of earning that citizenship is to pay a fee. much as you would pay a fine for violating the law. which is what happened here. In addition. of course. they go to the back of the line. and they have to show so many years of having worked here in the United States in a constructive way. and they cannot have violated American laws. But part of the element of earning that citizenship is to pay a fine. What we are suggesting is that in addition to the base finewhich is presently now. I believe. at $2.750. after all the amendments on the floorwe would add an additional $500. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7209,"word_count":302}
{"speech_id":1090137695,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we would be glad to accommodate the Senator from Washington. As we know. we have a general order that we are going to vote on a number of these amendments at a certain time. but we will give the assuranceI willthat we will let her have her time prior to the vote. We can work that out.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":300,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090137703,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is wrong for a lot of reasons. I -hope it will not be accepted. I believe diversity is one of our greatest sources of strength. one of the truly unique things about this country. In earlier times. as I mentioned. we discriminated against major areas in the world. In 1965 we reformed our immigration laws to get rid of those discriminatory quotas. In 1990 we acted again to ensure greater equality of immigration by creating the diversity Visa program. The Gregg amendment would be a major step backward. and I urge my colleagues to reject it. Mr. President. how much time do I have? Ibelieve the Senator from Illinois is on his way.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3391,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090137735,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Our schedule is as soon as we conclude this we turn to the Senator from Texas. Mrs. HuTCHiSON. for 30 minutes equally divided. She will finish at about 2:45. Then we would go to Senator SESSIONS point of order under a time agreement of 2 hours. which would be 4:45. But my sense is that there will be some time yielded. It wont go all the way to 4:45. That is the approximate timeframe.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":386,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090137740,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. if the chairman will yield. I thank the chairman and the ranking member for handling this amendment in this fashion. It is an important amendment. We have moved it before. We are doing so very well in the area of adoption. both domestically and internationally. at this moment. This is a great facilitator. We thank the chairman for its consideration in this fashion.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":382,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090137820,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The next thing we would want to do is to figure out some way to treat the people who are here illegally in a fair way. Most of them would want to stay here. Most of them have been here for over 5 years. We need to develop a system to allow people to stay here in a legal way. to come out from the shadows. I think that is a worthwhile goal. and I support that goal. But they do not need to be given every single benefit that we provide to people who come to our country legally. people who have waited in line to have their shot to come to our country. We should not give them every single benefit that a person gets who comes here legally. So we have to worry about that. . What happens when we give them a complete amnesty package is they are put on a guaranteed path to citizenship and then they automatically become eligible for these programs. with huge costs. They didnt ask for that when they came to our country. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4561,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090137824,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He referred to S. 2611 as a \"fiscal catastrophe.\" This is a man who. I submit. knows more about welfare and health care benefits in America than probably anybody. he is certainly one of the top few in this country. Mr. President. I see the distinguished Senator from Nebraska. I will yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1280,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090137832,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. there is ah old saying that I imagine every parent has told their child: When you are in a hole. the first thing you have to do is stop digging. We have to stop digging. We must secure our border first. and we must shut down illegal immigration. and only then--only thencan we move forward in a financially responsible way that secures our border and. at the same time. gives us an opportunity to put an end to illegal immigration and deal in a comprehensive manner with the illegal immigration that we already have. We must. in fact. stop the problem from getting bigger in terms of the number of illegal immigrants before we can deal with the problem of what we do with illegal immigrants already here. It is not meanspirited to want to protect our borders. -to want to close the back door on illegal immigration and look at opening the front door to legal immigration. There is nothing irresponsible about wanting to secure the borders with appropriate barriers. fences. and walls to make sure that we are secure against not simply illegal immigration for people who want to come to work. but also against the drug dealers. the smugglers. as well as the gang members from Central America who continue to come over the border at an alarming rate. We have a security issue. I stand today to support the budget point of order. I thank my colleagues. and I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"BEN NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3762,"word_count":248}
{"speech_id":1090137835,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I yield back the remainder of my time.","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4136,"word_count":10}
{"speech_id":1090137846,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am talking about the discretionary costs associated with the implementation. There are 11 million people here today. In fact. if the Senator will yield for just a moment. they do not consider that. That is just one of the flaws in the CBOs report. I thank the Senator for allowing me to ask a question.","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":304,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090137849,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Our bill requires proof that an American has not been put out of a job. a native American citizen hasnt been put out of a job because of someone coming out of this pool of undocumented workers. The truth is. colleagues. we need these workers. A few years ago. Japan crossed a demographic line of having more older people than younger people. We are getting there. It is going to be impossible. because of the demographic changes in our country. to fill all of the jobs we need to keep this economy humming without assimilating more people. How do you do that? That is what this bill is about. The economics of assimilating hardworking people. who believe in hard work. who want to play by the rules. raise families. and join the military. is a net positive. You will never convince economists that the people we are talking about are a drain on our society. They have jobs that do not pay a lot right now. but they have a heart and a mindset that makes America a wonderful place to live. ","speaker_name":"LINDSEY GRAHAM","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8008,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090137863,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank my friend from Pennsylvania for his leadership. along with that of my friend from Massachusetts. on this issue. They have done a great job in the last few days. Hopefully we are winding down. I pay special attention and appreciation to my colleague from the State of Florida who is the embodiment of the American dream. as is my colleague on other side of the aisle. Senator SALAZAR. from Colorado. They have provided the experience. the knowledge. the background and the motivation to continue our efforts to see this bill passed. Lets be clear. It is not a practice of mine to waive budget points of order. I believe the circumstances surrounding the validity of the point of order and the actual intent of its sponsors warrants my support to the waiver. First. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3941,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090137865,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They have to be employed. contributing to the economy. contributing to the tax base. That is in addition to passing a criminal check and paying their back taxes and the very. very substantial fees which are collected. So there is no doubt. no doubt at all. in the aggregate. the immigrants play a vital part in making our economy expand and thrive. If you take it in the macro sense. where would this country be in the year 2006 without immigrants? For one thingand perhaps a minor matterARLEN SPECTER would not be here because both of my parents were immigrants. and perhaps most of the Senators would not be here. maybe even Senator SESSIONS. His ancestry goes back to 1850. I know because I made a trip to the Amazon with him. and we traced the path taken by an uncle. He is quoted in todays newspaper as still being angry that Abraham Lincoln killed one of his ancestors. But immigrants produced Senator SESSIONS. Immigrants produced everybody in this room. and virtually everybody in the country. Now. where would we be if the immigrants had not come to make this a thriving capitalistic country? Where would we be? The same thing applies to the future. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4601,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090137893,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I want to quickly summarize by saying this is about longterm spending. The Congressional Budget Office. a week ago. brought out a cost estimate that explicitly states: Enacting S. 2611 would cause an increase in direct spending greater than $5 billion in each of the 10year periods between 2016 and 2055. This is a big spending bill in the outlying years. That is what the point of order is all about. It is not difficult. It is straightforward. These are figures that we were presented with from the Congressional Budget Office a little over a week ago. I urge my colleagues to join me in voting no to grant a waiver. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":655,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090137925,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me point out the opposition: the Chamber of Commerce. National Association of Manufacturers. Business Roundtable. et cetera.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1027,"word_count":18}
{"speech_id":1090137977,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we are awaiting clearance on the modifications as to Senator SESSIONS amendment No. 4108. so I will restate the unanimous consent request in a more limited form. I ask unanimous consent that we may proceed to four amendments to debate them this evening: Senator BOXER. amendment No. 4144. with 24 minutes equally divided. Senator BURNS. amendment No. 4124. with 10 minutes equally divided. Senator CHAMBLISS. amendment No. 4084. with 40 minutes equally divided. Senator DORGAN. amendment No. 4095. with 30 minutes equally divided. that the first vote on the Boxer amendment be 15 minutes. in accordance with our usual practice. and the following votes be 10 minutes. provided further that there be no seconddegree amendments in order to the above amendments.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":773,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090137996,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this is not what we do. Before a guest worker is hired. we ask the employer to do two things during the 90day period. the same period. We. ask him. like the bill says. to make a good faith effort. And part of that we define as posting the job in the workplace and calling the local State employment department. And then if they cant find an American worker. then they can hire a guest worker. We dont say it is after the guest worker is hired. I felt compelled to tell my friend.\" Please. if you could reread the amendment. because what we say is during that 90day period that you have. we are only adding a requirement of simply posting that position and notifying the department of employment.","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":710,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090137999,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I read the section of the bill several times. What you have in the bill is very good. It says the employer must make a good faith effort before hiring a guest worker. a~d he or she has to take 90 day.s. All we do is say. in that 90day period. the employer must post a job notice in the plant and notify the department of employment. That is all we are doing. We dont change anything in the bill. We just say during the 90day period. post the job and let the State Department of Employment know. I dont understand why we have a problem with this.","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":545,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090138014,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this is a pretty straightforward amendment. Throughout this debate on immigration. we have heard how illegal immigration affects practically every aspect of our life. What many may not realize is that illegal immigration also affects the very foundation of this countryour system of representation. especially in the House of Representatives. Currently. the policy of this Government is to count illegal aliens in the U.S. census and to use those numbers for reapportioning seats in the House of Representatives. Studies and census data also show that most illegal immigrants reside in just a few areas of the country. And just by being there. illegal aliens have a great deal of influence on how the seats of the House of Representatives are.distributed among the States. I ask the manager of the bill how he wants to proceed on this amendment?","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":860,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090138068,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We believe. if we establish an orderly process and procedure for people to come here with the tamperproof. card. and if we have effective implementation and enforcement against employers. that is the best way to assure that we are going to have fairness.-both in treatment for these workers and also for American workers. I stand with those who feel that this is not the right amendment. This isnt the right time. This whole construct of the immigration legislation isnt a 2year. isnt a 3year. isnt a 4year. isnt a 5yearwe are trying to establish something that will servethis country and also serve the countries of Mexico and Central America in the future. That is the construct. To try to say we are going to terminate an aspect of this after a few years really is a deathblow to the construct of this legislation. I hope that it will not be accepted. I reserve the remainderof our time. The . PRESIDING OFFICER. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3294,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090138083,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We are about to get there. We need new people now like we did in the 19th and 20th centuriesgood. honest. hardworking peopleto keep our economy humming. If you sunset this provision of the bill. you are bringing sunset to a problem that is overdue to be solved. Lets not let the sun go down on the 15roblem of immigration any longer. I know what the Senator is trying to do. I respect it. but this would kill this bill. We should have done this many sunsets ago. We have been derelict in our duty to control immigration. and we are about there. We need those workers. I yield.","speaker_name":"LINDSEY GRAHAM","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1934,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090138092,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I say to my friend from Pennsylvania. thank you very much. Your staff was extremely helpful. Now we have with this bill more protections for American workers. We have stated in this amendment very clearly that an employer is going to make every effort to offer a job to an American worker before he or she hires a guest worker by simply doing two things: posting the available job. posting that information on the premises. and. second. notifying the department of employment in tle State in which the business is located so they can advertise the slot. I thank. again. Senator SPECTER. Senator KENNEDY. and both their staffs. for all their hard work. I ask this amendment be agreed to by voice vote.","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":700,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090138110,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr.. President. I ask unanimous consent that following the sequence of votes. the Senate begin a period of morning business. provided further that when the Senate resumes the bill on Thursday. we proceed to the following first degree amendments in the order listed below. further. that these be the only remaining amendments in order other than the managers amendment: Cornyn No. 4097. 60 minutes equally divided. Bingaman No. 4131. 40 minutes equally divided. Sessions No. 4108. 1 hour equally divided. Feingold No. 4083. 1 hour equally divided. Ensign No. 4136. 30 minutes equally divided. provided further that there be noseconddegree amendments in order to the above amendments. Finally. I ask unanimous consent that all time while in morning business and during the adjournment of the Senate count against the time limit under rule XXII.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":842,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090138132,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"According to the Office of Travel and Tourism Industries. all but 1 of the top 10 ten tourismgenerating countries to the United States are visa waiver program nations. For states such as California. Florida. and my own home State of Hawaii which depend heavily on the tourist industry. the visa waiver program is integral to the strength of our economy. Clarifying the mechanism for countries to enter the program would strengthen the program and. in doing so. strengthen the economy on both a local and national level. Given the considerable benefits that the visa waiver program affords the United States. itis imperative that nations who are interested in engaging in the lengthy and complicated process to become a visa waiver program feel confident that. if they strive to meet our strict security standards. they will be allowed to participate in the program. I urge my colleagues in the Senate to support this amendment which will update current legislation to more accurately reflect the post9\/11 administration of the program and perhaps. more important. confirm our commitment to those nations which would like to participate in the program that as soon as they have fulfilled our requirements. we will fulfill our promise. -","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5519,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090138133,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In addition. it adds an escalation clause so that in future years. if that new cap of 115.000 is met. the cap will be raised by 120 percent the following year. I think that this is a significant increase in high skilled worker visas. We can always revisit the issue in future years if the new levels do not provide an adequate number of visas for immigrants who bring science and technological skills to our Nation. We need not and should not undercut the Diversity Visa Program. The diversity visa program honors the hopes and aspirations of hard w4rking and industrious individuals who want a chance to achieve the American dream.","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2950,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090138146,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Ask any clerk or former clerk of Judge Boggs. and he or she will tell you: They are liable to be asked a question any time. on anything. One of his former clerks. who now works in my Washington office. recalls a time when Judge Boggs called in to the office while on a business trip to find out the population of Montana not the presentday State but the Montana territory. Judge Boggs delights in hiring clerks of any and all political persuasions. as long as they have a keen mind and are always ready for debate. Of course. these poor clerks know that Judge Boggs will almost always win. But his interest is not winning or losing. It is in ensuring that the final productthe legal briefis as rigorous as it can be. Judge Boggs is infamous for giving a trivia quiz to his clerkship applicants although perhaps \"trivia\" is not the right word for it. He prefers the term \"general knowledge\" test. But I dont think there is anything general about the scope of Judge Boggss knowledge. Just listen to one question from a recent test of his: \"If the moon were made of green cheese. and if green cheese floats in water. what is the most that the moon could weigh (within a factor of 10)?\" Believe it or not. most of Judge Boggss clerks actually enjoy running this intellectual gauntletso much so that three of them appeared as contestants on the popular television game show \"Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.\" Two of them picked Judge Boggs to be their \"phone a friend\" lifeline a superior mind to turn to for a particularly diffic~ult question. ","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4472,"word_count":279}
{"speech_id":1090138147,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Of the many groups from Nevada that I have met with. I have rarely been asked Auch intelligent and thoughtful questions. I was impressed with their interest and knowledge of complex constitutional issues. These young students are an example of the future of America. and they should be commended for their hard work. Mr. President. the names of these outstanding students from Incline High School are as follows: Kent Bergantz. Roxanne Casselberry. Dan Driver. Julie Gregory. Amy Hanna. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2233,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090138150,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to address the administrations decision to restore full diplomatic relations with Libya and remove it from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. I agree with the President that Libya has made progress in renouncing and fighting terrorism. but we must\" not overlook that the families of the victims of the Pan Am bombing continue to wait for the remaining compensation from Libya that was agreed to in 2003. We also must not overlook the victims and their families affected by the La Belle bombing in Germany in 1996. when two American servicemembers were killed and many others were severely injured. I urge the administration to work toward a solution that ensures that the victims families are fully compensated. At the same time. the Government of Libya should know that as we review this diplomatic proposal over the next several weeks. we will be looking for Libya to continue their forward progress in rejoining the international community. We urge them to make good on their promises to the families who have suffered so much.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1064,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090138168,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet on Wednesday. May 24. 2006. at 9:30 a.m.. to consider the nomination of R. David Paulison to be Under Secretary for Federal Emergency Management of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":315,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090138170,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a hearing on \"Judicial Nominations\" on Wednesday. May 24. 2006. at 2 p.m. in Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226. Witness list Panel I: TBA. Panel II: Andrew J. Guilford to be United States District Judge for the Central District of California. Frank D. Whitney to be United States District Judge for the Western District of North Carolina","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":458,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090138174,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on Commerce. Science. and Transportations Disaster Prevention and Prediction Subcommittee be authorized to meet on Wednesday. May 24. 2006. at 2:30 p.m.. on the 2006 Hurricane Forecast and AtRisk Cities.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":268,"word_count":40}
{"speech_id":1090138204,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There is no consensus in the sense that everyone has gotten exactly what they wanted. but I will be absolutely satisfied with this bill as a reflection of the will of 100 Senators. the will of this Senate after this very long time in the Senate but very good and productive time where so many amendments have been considered. . We will complete the bill tomorrow. I expect the bill to pass tomorrow. I cant predict what the final outcome will be. but I think it will reflect this very open. free. deliberate process we have seen over the last several weeks.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3230,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090138219,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today on behalf of Amon Brock. Jimmy D. Lee. George Petra. Paris Thomas. Jr.. Roy Middleton and Steve Bryant. These are the names of Kentucky miners who have died in the last week. ","speaker_name":"BEN CHANDLER","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":669,"word_count":37}
{"speech_id":1090138224,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That is why I will not be able to support H.R. 5427 when it comes to a vote later today. 0 ]1300","speaker_name":"JAMES BARRETT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1109,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090138237,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise to congratulate the Republican leadership on passing a budget resolution for fiscal year 2007. However. I must point out that the resolution we passed last week provides for a $27 billion increase in nonemergency discretionary spending over fiscal year 2006. when we spent more than we did in fiscal year 2005. when we spent more than we did in fiscal year 2004. and so on. The Federal Government has a long track record of spending more money than it takes in. Our fiscal irresponsibility has to stop somewhere. That is why I am introducing today a bill titled the Zero Baseline Budget Act of 2006. This bill will amend the misnamed socalled Balanced Budget Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985. which instructs Congress to continue spending more money than it takes in every year by creating a budget baseline that automatically increases over the previous years.spending. The. ","speaker_name":"LOUIE GOHMERT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1353,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090138243,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of H.R. 5403. the Safe and Timely Interstate Placement of Foster Children Act of 2006. I am pleased to be an original cosponsor of this bipartisan legislation sponsored by the distinguished gentleman from Texas . Throughout his career. the gentleman from Texas has been an outstanding advocate for children and foster care. As chairman of the Human Resources Subcommittee. as a longtime colleague in this body. and as someone who shares his passion for helping children. I would like to personally commend him and thank him for his dedication to helping atrisk children across this country. Mr. Speaker. the subcommittee I chair has conducted numerous hearings examining the Nations child protection system. ","speaker_name":"WALTER HERGER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2703,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090138257,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The average now for children who are going into foster adoptive families across State lines is an extra year. This legislation tries to eliminate that year. This legislation tries to make it more possible for children -to be placed with families as soon as possible. rather than longer than absolutely necessary. This legislation is on the floor today. as many before it have been. because of","speaker_name":"ROY BLUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1240,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090138268,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have supported it before. and I am proud to do that again today. As the ranking member of the Human Resources Subcommittee. I believe children come first. and there is no such thing as a political divide if we can better protect and nurture vulnerable children in America. I stand here to support my Republican colleague. Mr. DELAY. and urge the House to unanimously pass this legislation. Specifically. this bill strives to safely speed the placement of children in foster care or adoptive homes across State lines when this is considered an appropriate thing to do. This is very important. because today there are a number of barriers that prevent the timely placement of children in homes across State lines. We are a very mobile population. and laws that used to seem to make sense really do not today. and that is why we need this bill. They include an overly long time to conduct home studies to ensure the safety of children. obtaining criminal background checks on prospective foster care and adoptive parents. inadequate State resources and often a low priority assigned to interstate placement of foster and adoptive children. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2761,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090138271,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. we have no more speakers. I would just like to reiterate my thanks to all the people. I would like to mention Sean McCluskie. who has been my -staff member on the Subcommittee for Human Resources for over 7 years and. unfortunately. is leaving us for greener pastures. I want to thank all of the staff on both sides of the aisle who worked so hard on these bills that come before our subcommittee which get little attention outside of the professionals in the social work field. Again. I thank our Chair and thank","speaker_name":"FORTNEY STARK","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":582,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090138309,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman..I rise in strong support of this bill. Since coming to Congress. I have been advocating for increased resources for research in the physical sciences and for the Department of Energy Office of Science in particular. I just really am most gratified that the chairman and the ranking member of the Energy and Water Subcommittee fully supported the Presidents request. for funding for the DOE Office of Science. As the Nations primary supporter of research in the physical sciences. the DOE Office of Science led the way in .creating a unique system of largescale. specialized. often oneofakind facilities for scientific discovery. I also want to express my appreciation for the funding provided for the Energy Supply Account. This bill before us contains vital work in fossil energy. nuclear energy. renewable energy and conservation. Such a diverse port.folio of technologies is necessary to secure our energy future. These technologies represent wise investments and deserve broad support. ","speaker_name":"JUDY BIGGERT","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1380,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090138317,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I want to thank Chairman HOBSON for the great work that he has done and the ranking member. Mr. VISCLOSKY. just a great friend. You two guys fighting over who is going to give me a minute shows me how bipartisan we are here and all the great fellow committee members. This is really a subcommittee that works and works in a lot of different ways. We work well together on a very bipartisan basis. but also doing the oversight work. really working through some very difficult issues. We would not be able to do that without the extraordinarily talented professional staff that we have on both sides. and I want to thank them. This is a very important bill for Iowa. for the country. ","speaker_name":"TOM LATHAM","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1181,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090138323,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to express my support for H.R. 5427. the Fiscal Year.2007 Energy and Water Appropriations bill and I urge my colleagues to vote for it. I would like to begin by commending the distinguished gentleman from Ohio . the chairman of the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee. and the distinguished gentleman from Indiana (Mr. VisCLOSKY). the ranking member of the subcommittee. for their outstanding work in bringing this bill to the Floor. I recognize that extremely tight budgetary constraints this year made the job of the subcommittee much more difficult. Therefore. I believe the subcommittee should be commended for its diligence in creating this fiscally responsible measure. * In light of these fiscal constraints. I am very pleased that the bill includes $7.5 million for the Antelope Creek Flood Damage Reduction Project. an integral component of a flood control. transportation and community revitalization project known as the Antelope Valley Project in Lincoln. Nebraska. ","speaker_name":"JEFF FORTENBERRY","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3245,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090138325,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I want to briefly recognize the work the subcommittee has done in providing $2.3 million for the San Antonio Channel Improvements Project. This money will provide the first installment of a multiyear construction effort to expand the economic development of the San Antonio River while addressing potential flood control problems. As many know. the San Antonio Riverwalk which is the central segment of the San Antonio River park system is one of the premier tourist sites in our country. Conceived in the 1930s. the Riverwalk has been an example of everything the Federal government and the Army Corps of Engineers can do right with its water construction efforts. The San Antonio Channel Improvements Project has fully met the federal technical requirements for project development and fully fits with the Corps strategic plan for the Nation. This project will significantly enhance flood protection in the San Antonio metropolitan effort while at the same time restore the river ecosystem and connect the San Antonio River park system with the San Antonio Mis: sions National Historical Park. The significant economic development impact of this project will primarily be felt by the most disadvantaged sections of the San Antonio community. The City of San Antonio and Bexar County have also committed more than $46 million in local funding to match the Army Corps of Engineers investment in this project. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GONZALEZ","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1987,"word_count":227}
{"speech_id":1090138346,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I make a point of order against the amendment because it proposes a change to existing law and constitutes legislation in an appropriations bill. and therefore violates clause 2 of rule XXI. The rule states in pertinent part: An amendment to a general appropriations bill shall not be in order if changing existing law. The amendment does change the existing law. Therefore. I ask for a ruling from the Chair.","speaker_name":"DAVID HOBSON","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":423,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090138386,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"With all due respect to","speaker_name":"ROBERT ADERHOLT","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":981,"word_count":5}
{"speech_id":1090138400,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. we need to pass the Deal amendment. We need to strike section 110 of. this bill that has been put in the bill at the last minute. That section is very. very simple that needs to be stricken. It prohibits the Corps of Engineers from updating the amount of water that counties in Georgia. Alabama and Florida can draw from the Corps of Engineers lakes. Now. the Corps of Engineers is simply doing what the Federal courts have told them. Someone says this is in court now. No. this is not in court now. It is very clear. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES NORWOOD","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1047,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090138404,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I think that the best thing for us to do is to let the Corps of Engineers continue to work the process as it has been set up and as it is intended to do SO.","speaker_name":"JACK KINGSTON","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1026,"word_count":36}
{"speech_id":1090138408,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the remaining time. I would share the respect that I have for my colleagues from Georgia and Florida. This is just one of those issues we have a disagreement on. Let us set the record straight. Yes. there is ongoing litigation. It all started in modern times in 1990 when Alabama sued the Corps of Engineers in the Northern District of Alabama. certainly a favorable venue. and has proven to be favorable for them over the years. At a later point in time. about 13 ears later. a suit was instituted in the District of Columbia court. It is that court that has now resolved some of the issues and that court has issued an order. even though Florida and Alabama attempted to intervene to prevent that court order from going in effect. ","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1728,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090138415,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I understand the gentlemans concern and realize the importance of the Corps of Engineers recreation sites to local communities. In a time of static budgets and aging infrastructure. we must work together to make our limited funding go further. I commit to working with the gentleman from Virginia to review existing corps policies and funding to address this issue.","speaker_name":"DAVID HOBSON","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":365,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090138430,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There are no answers at all that you are providing. except that you want to stick your hand into the pockets of the American taxpayers. and it is just wrong.","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":979,"word_count":30}
{"speech_id":1090138453,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. this is a crazy budget. It really is. It authorizes $50 million to help the oil companies to drill in deep water even though they reported $113 billion in profits. It allows for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. That is where they are going to be heading tomorrow on the House floor. And this shows you the hypocrisy coefficient on energy policy. Last year. they trumpeted on the House floor and the President with a flourish signed the bill that put in $100 million for State energy plans for conservation at the State level. $100 million. Then. in January. the President sends up his budget. $49.5 million. And today. out on the House floor. the true agenda of the -Republican Party once again reveals itself: zero. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1459,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090138461,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Utah and Washington State have the greatest potential for quick development of geothermal resources. In fact. the study. Mr. Chairman. listed nine \"top pick\" sites inCalifornia and ten in Nevada. As we work on improving our affordable energy options. we must support the Geothermal Technology Program. It isalso a job creation program. It will ultimately mean about 150 to 200 jobs in a community. The minimal $5 million that I am asking for will be taken from the Hydrogen Technology Program to be placed in the Geothermal Technology Program. and all of this can be attainable. We must not turn our backs on this important source of environmentally friendly energy. I ask my colleagues to support this amendment and to support geothermal technology and. more importantly. to support lower prices for energy. ","speaker_name":"JUANITA MILLENDER-MCDONALD","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":37.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2756,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090138477,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. The gentlemans amendment proposes to increase funding for nuclear nonproliferation activities that were already significantly increased in this bill. The Nonproliferation and Verification Research and Development program budget was increased by $39 million. an increase of 15 percent over the request. This program develops better technologies for satellite detection of nuclear activities. The MPC&A program was increased by $170 million. an increase of 41 percent over the request. This program secures nuclear weapons and nuclear material in Russia and installs radiation detection monitors at border crossings around the former Soviet Union and at foreign seaports. The MegaPorts program was increased by $65 million. an increase of 162 percent over the request. The committee recognized the need to protect the countrys seaports against nuclear smuggling and increased the funding to scan cargo containers. ","speaker_name":"DAVID HOBSON","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1592,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090138504,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I would probably not be as upset with Joe Camel. excuse me. Yucca Mountain Johnny. if there was a more balanced approach on this Web site. It doesnt talk about the risks of transporting nuclear waste through 43 States. It doesnt talk about the potential of accidents or being an inviting target for terrorists. It doesnt talk about the fact that Yucca Mountain is in a volcanic and seismic zone area. ","speaker_name":"SHELLEY BERKLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1535,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090138505,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But I assunie that we will probably have to do some things. certainly with the Naval reactor stuff. But I think education is one of the most important things we can do. I think one of the things we ought to work on is maybe we need to look at this Web site and have some other types of things and some more balance to it. I happen to think that the best cure for fear is knowledge. and I dont happen to agree with some of the things that you are causing fear about what is going on at Yucca Mountain. and we may disagree about that. But if we could have a more balanced approach. I still think Yucca Mountain Johnny may have a place in teaching kids. We may differ on where that place is. But I think. in the long run. education. good education is a way to go. So I would encourage the gentlelady to try to work with us and maybe with the Department to get a better and -less cutesy sort of thing going and educating people. especially young people. about Yucca Mountain and the responsible use of green fuel in this country.","speaker_name":"DAVID HOBSON","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1543,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090138506,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The last time I looked. this is the United States of America. If you will let me redesign this Web site. I might be a little bit more interested in Yucca Mountain Johnny. Right now. just his name is an offense tothe people of the State of Nevada.","speaker_name":"SHELLEY BERKLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":710,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090138519,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Massachusetts. in consortium with our national laboratories and the smaller independent oil and gas companies to develop technology in an environmentally safe fashion to develop those necessary resources for our energy future. Mr. Chairman. I oppose the Markey amendment.","speaker_name":"JOE BARTON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1134,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090138533,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"President Bush and DICK CHENEY want this amendment to pass. Vote \"aye\" on the Markey amendment. Mr. Chairman. I yield .back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":665,"word_count":26}
{"speech_id":1090138553,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. This amendment reduces the funding for the 0 and M account. This account is already a backlog of critical activities to ensure the safety and operation of existing programs. The amendment places our water resources infrastructure at further risk. and I oppose the amendment and encourage my colleagues to vote \"no\" on this amendment. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"DAVID HOBSON","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":438,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090138574,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Like my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. I believe that it is in the best interest of our Nation to develop new and innovative technologies. expand refining capacity and increase the supply of natural gas. However. we must strike a responsible balance between expanding the supply of energy and protecting the environment. Long Island Sound has benefited from hundreds of millions of dollars invested by the Federal Government. the States of New York and Connecticut. as well as local towns and municipalities fighting to curb hypoxia. brown tide and other destructive pollutants which decimated our fishing and shell fishing industries and set back the regional economies. Today. Long Island Sound generates $5 billion annually for the regional economy from commercial and pleasure boating. commercial and sport fishing and other forms of tourism. It should be easy to understand why it is imperative to preserve this flourishing economy and the splendor of its environment for the benefit of over 10 million people who live within the Long Island Sound watershed alone. Placing a floating terminal in this location threatens to jeopardize its precious ecosystem. the regional economy and the delicate balance between environmental preservation and energy independence that we have worked so hard to achieve. Mr. Chairman. my amendment is not intended to weaken the case for expanding our supply of natural gas. ","speaker_name":"TIMOTHY BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3136,"word_count":224}
{"speech_id":1090138584,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank te gentleman and applaud his leadership. Remote areas. 11 miles off the coast of Connecticut. 9 miles off the coast of New York. The LNG Broadwater facility. actually. the proposal. is a vessel roughly the size of the Queen Mary. One week after passing the interior bill which dedicated $1.8 million to cleaning up the Long Island Sound. we are now going to place this vessel in the Long Island Sound. Also. a 25mile pipeline through the middle of what is prime ground for lobstering and for fishing. Further. the entrance to the sound might need to be temporarily closed when the LNG shipments arrive every few days. disrupting all other commerce that uses that passage. We are going to ask the Coast Guard to enforce the zone. They are already stretched thin. but they are going to have to patrol the LNG site. which will pose a new security risk. I will conclude by saying to you that we voted to protect the Long Island Sound and. without this amendment. who knows what other estuaries of national significance will be at risk of becoming our next industrial zone. Support the Bishop amendment.","speaker_name":"ROSA DELAURO","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1106,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090138588,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But I think that is what we have this system for. is to allow the system to be fairly looked at and make a determination if they agree. Frankly. all FERC authorizations are still subject to judicial review. I understand the concerns that people have here. There is always the NIMB effect in everything as we look around. and I understand that. But I think the best course of action is allow FERC to consider the application and consider public comments. issue the orders that are best in the public interest. and if people disagree with that. there are still courses open to them. But to start this sort of process in this bill. I think. is inappropriate. I would have to oppose the amendment at this time. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"DAVID HOBSON","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1627,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090138652,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman and look forward to working with him to find additional funding for this critical dam safety issue. If the corps has rated this their top dam safety concern. their behavior should reflect that in expressed concern. And I look forward to working with the chairman in conference to produce that. and I thank the gentleman for yielding.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM THOMAS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":355,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090138656,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Corrine Buyer Crenshaw Evans Fitzpatrick (PA) my opinion. projects that provide economic development and jobs to economically distressed areas should be expedited and take priority over other permits.","speaker_name":"PATRICK MCHENRY","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":981,"word_count":28}
{"speech_id":1090138683,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I wish to quickly say thank you to the chairman of the subcommittee for agreeing to accept the amendment. There is a great amount of frustration in Washington State. all over Washington State. I represent an area that is the largest public utilitydistrict. I represent an area that has the only aluminum plant still standing because all the other aluminum plants had to go out of business because of some manipulation that took place on the market with Enron. -We just want some time. some space for the parties to work this out. and this amendment will do that. and I appreciate the chairmans willingness to let us move forward.","speaker_name":"RICK LARSEN","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":643,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090138700,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If the Intercoastal Waterway was closed up. then that marina will be gone. Those five to twelve jobs that they have will be gone. The money -that his clients bring into the area. buying parts for their boats and related recreational equipment in skis and fishing poles and so forth. that will be gone as well. We need to get the Office of Management and Budget to change their funding formula so that they will consider the economic impact of the recreational boater just as high or along the same line or with the same yardstick as they do commercial boaters. I had an amendment to that effect. I have not offered the amendment because this committee has worked so closely with us on a lot of issues. I know that the staff was not exactly appreciative if we were going to try to authorize something on an appropriation bill. It was not appropriate. So I am not offering that amendment. but I know the staff has been very sympathetic to this issue. as have you. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JACK KINGSTON","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3208,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090138751,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong opposition to the Flake amendment. The project that he is targeting. the gas engine driven air conditioning heat pump development program. is a multiyear partnership between the Oak Ridge National Laboratories and private industry. including. but not exclusively. Southwest Gas in my State of Nevada. to develop a rooftop heating and cooling system for residential and small commercial buildings using natural gas. Mr. FLAKE is misinformed. The funding goes to the Oak Ridge National Research Laboratory. not to Southwest Gas. Rather than relying on electricity generated at a power plant to run heating and air conditioning. this technology would use natural gas to produce heating and air conditioning directly. saving precious energy and water. which is particularly important in the droughtstricken Southwest. This project. in its second year. is an example of what government. working with private industry to find new and more efficient ways to generate power. can do. ","speaker_name":"SHELLEY BERKLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1475,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090138758,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I do get some good positives. and if we find out one that is bad we will go after them. We try to monitor them. There are project officers. I oppose the amendment. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"DAVID HOBSON","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":776,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090138785,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. this is $750.000 for the Missouri Forest Foundation. This foundation has been funded for at least 3 years. and is funded through the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Program earmark section of the bill. The section of the bill includes more than $50 million in congressionally directed research earmarks. According to CRS. earmarks in the appropriations for the Renewable Energy program have tripled in the f5ast 3 years. According to the Office of the President and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. this level of earmarking hampers the program from being able .to achieve its research goals. Let me say that again: According to the Office of the President and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. this level of earmarking hampers the program from being able to achieve its research goals. ","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1941,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090138792,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. before yielding 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas. let me just say that we are again faced with a false choice here. The notion is. should we spend it. or should the administration spend it? Perhaps it shouldnt be spent at all. I would submit. if we are spending $700.000 or so for the endoflife electronics project in West Virginia. we are spending too much. money. the. governMnent is as a whole. whether it is us or whether it is the administration. So the choice isnt. should we spend it or should they? Maybe we should just have a smaller budget. Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":687,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090138795,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Chairman. again. I thank the gentleman from Texas for his comments. It couldnt be more true. At what point. where do we say. lets stop? We have grown earmarks in the past decade 872 percent. When is it enough? Do we earmark every account in the Federal Government? Do we look at those agencies and say. we know better than you do? What about the maintenance accounts that they have? What about other things that they come back to us the next year and say. you shorted us? You earmarked this account. Now we still have to maintain this runway or this tower or perform this maintenance. and then we have to up the funding again. ","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1283,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090138821,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the gentleman yielding. Mr. Chairman. the reason I am standing here is to engage the chairman of the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee in a colloquy. First of all. I want to just take a second to commend Chairman HOBSON and the ranking member and the Appropriations Subcommittee staff for their outstanding work in the difficulty in bringing some of these measures before the floor. for their hard work. Mr. Chairman. my Florida district includes the coastline along Flagler County. which has been dramatioally devastated by recent hurricanes and damaging storms. The beach has steadily eroded. and sections of our historic and scenic national highway AlA have been washed away by the storms. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MICA","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1870,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090138844,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Too often. we forget. As we look at the flag right behind you. Mr. Speaker. it is a flag that we honor. It is a flag that many individuals have stood for. It is our veterans who have done that. and when they receive that flag. and many of them receive that flag. it should be done with honor and dignity. without any disruption of anyone picketing. and too often we forget that. Mr. Speaker. I stand in support of this important legislation on behalf of all veterans who are willing to serve now and will serve us in the future. We owe it to them. and I appreciate what Mr. ","speaker_name":"JOE BACA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":43.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2595,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090138847,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"that the Founders created this bicameral legislature to make things very difficult and challenging. When you look back. the Committee on Veterans Affairs. we conducted our hearing back on April 6. We brought this legislation. after careful consideration. to the floor on May 9. It was sent over to the Senate. They worked their magic. They improved the bill. We bring it back and adopt it. and. hopefully. the President signs this into law Memorial Day. That is good work. That is the bipartisan cooperation that we have. and it is necessary to move veterans legislation. I also want to take this moment to thank the National Commander Jeff Brown of the Patriot Guard Riders. ","speaker_name":"MIKE ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1728,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090138897,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"the committee passed legislation that included $100 million in new funding to improve our foster care system. These funds have been allocated to improve juvenile and family courts. help track and analyze caseloads. train judges and other court personnel and bolster collaboration between State courts and State child welfare agencies. While this is a critical first step. it is time we implement the rest of the courtrelated provisions recommended by the Pew Commission. and this legislation we introduced will do exactly that. Our State foster care system struggled to retain qualified dependency attorneys who are often burdened by substantial debt. A recent survey found that onethird of practicing dependency attorneys graduated with over $75.000 in outstanding loans. and 44 percent of them currently owe more than $50.000. High turnover among dependency attorneys has led to a dearth of experienced lawyers who have a comprehensive understanding of the system and maintain valuable relationships with their young clients. The Fostering Our Future Act that we. are introducing responds to these shortcomings. It encourages Statewide interagency collaboration and data sharing. It ensures effective representation is available to children and families. It establishes a loan forgiveness program to attract and retain qualified child welfare attorneys. ","speaker_name":"WALTER HERGER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2043,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090138905,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have had 224 years. Mr. Speaker. of leadership that has only has been able to borrow $1.01 trillion from foreign nations. The Republican majority along with the President has in 4 years. from 2001 to 2005. has been able to borrow $1.05 trillion in just 4 years. Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. since we do not have our chart. I just wanted to give those facts.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":354,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090138910,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I think you make a great point and we have all these issues and Chinas rising and Chinas making investments and Chinas building their infrastructure and Chinas doing a lot of things that they have to do. Okay. That is their world and they can do what they have to do to be competitive. and you know what. God bless them.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":333,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090138914,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And I understand that and I think that that is true. China has their world. We are feeding them. we are feeding them. and we are not taking care of what we need to take care of here in the United States of America. We have only certain controls over what they do in China. and if they want to focus on manufacturing and this. that and the other. hey. that is their business. God bless them. But when we are aiding them by paying interest on money that they loaned us. then we are contributing to the downfall of the middle class of the United States of America and. at the same time. not making the investments in what we need to invest in in the United States of America. For example. the Democratic proposal. the Innovation Agenda for the Democrats is to make sure that we have research and development tax credits. making sure that we have broadband access for every single house in the United States of America in the next 5 years. We have a plan on becoming energy independent. There it is. becoming energy independent. getting off of the addiction to foreign oil. We need to stop and move in another direction. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1668,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090138919,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Republican agenda today is to say the Democrats do not have an agenda. That is their agenda. That is all theyhave got. They have got no plan on energy. no plan on health care. no plan on education. no plan on reducing college tuition costs. They have got no plan on immigration. They have got no plans.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":306,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090138923,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We could do something crazy like collect the royalties from the oil industry and invest it on alternative energy sources like those. We could fund this plan backwards and forwards with the money we did not make them pay us. That is what is so outrageous","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":253,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090138937,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is a situation that demands thoughtful and deliberate action in pursuit of peace. Despite the best intentions of those who wrote this legislation. I do not believe this legislation will advance peace between the Palestinian and the Israeli people. There are people in this Congress of goodwill and good intention who want to see both the Palestinian people and the Israeli people survive. Let us continue to work towards that end.","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2424,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090139034,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They already have come forward. If we are going to have any criteria at all for taking 12 million people and moving them from an illegal status to some sort of legal status. we ought to be willing to enforce that criteria. That requires access to information and facts that will inform whether or not an individual satisfies the criteria that Congress has put in place. I suggest to my colleagues that the American people are profoundly skeptical of taking 12 million people from undocumented or illegal status and all of a sudden putting them on a path to legalization and citizenship. That skepticism comes from many different directions. One of those is because they saw the tremendous fraud associated with the 1986 amnesty. The language here is precisely the same as was contained in that legislation. What we are saying by refusing to adopt this amendment is. we havent learned any lessons. either from the mistakes that were made in the 1986 amnesty and the fraud that occurred in connection with that.or from the terrible tragedies of 9\/11. There is not a lot more that can be said about it that we havent already said. I hope my colleagues are listening. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3277,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090139069,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We can argue about exactly what the right limit ought to be. but I dont think we should give up on having any cap at all. and that. unfortunately. is what the present bill provides. How much time remains. Mr. President?","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2134,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090139116,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Thank you. Mr. President. Let me respond to that point which was just made by the chairman of the Judiciary Committee. There is nothing in my amendment that limits the ability of families to accompany workers. All my amendment does is to say there should be a cap on the total number of workers with accompanying family. just as there is today. just as there was under the McCainKennedy proposal. We are saying there should be some limit. It should not be openended. as the current bill pending on the Senate floor provides. We are saying this limit should be 650.000. Now. why did we choose that? Because that is what the Congressional Research Service says they estimated would actually be happening under Chairman SPECTERS proposed mark to the Judiciary Committee when they started. ","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2012,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090139138,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"After the Krotovas fled Russia. skinheads beat a close family friend to death and also beat the Krotovas relative so brutally that they broke his hip. After entering the U.S.. Ms. Krotova applied for asylum. An immigration judge denied her application. and the [Board of Immigration Appeals] affirmed the judges decision. Ms. Krotova then appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals and obtained a temporary stay of removal. The U.S. Court of Appeals eventually reversed the BIA decision and concluded that the harassment. discrimination and violence experienced by Ms. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3644,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090139148,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. months ago in the Judiciary Committee markup I offered an amendment that codified the process of expedited removal and extended it to include criminal aliens. We have to remember. this is about criminal aliens. What we do know from one of the Judiciary Committee hearings is somewhere between 6 and 8 percent of the people coming across our southern border have a criminal history. There are valid points to the questions that have been raised by the Senator from Wisconsin. who I have the utmost respect for. but I think this is a question about what could happen versus what is getting ready to happen. What is getting ready to happen is instead of 28 percent of our Federal prisons today being filled with illegal aliens. it is going to become 45 and 50 percent. because they are going to stay here. We are going to give them 27 months. They are going to use stays to .stay here. and what we are trying to do is have a balance. Is it possible that somebody could be denied entry into this country and have a negative consequence? Yes. But it is far more likely there is going to be a tremendous negative consequence to us in costs and to our children as we allow this system to continue to go on and be perpetuated the way that it is. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5979,"word_count":231}
{"speech_id":1090139160,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I dont believe that is impacted because that refers to the actual proceeding. It does not. according to the interpretation of the circuits. apply to the standard for stays. That is what the circuits have all said. except for one. That language. of course. applies to the main cases but does not apply in the case of stays. There is nothing in the legislative history that supports the notion that it would apply to stays. and that is how the circuits have come down.","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":466,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090139161,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in view of that answer. which is greatly confusing to me. it is clear that the effort is not simply to eliminate the stay language that Senator COBURN was successful in inserting in the Judiciary Committee. but also the injunction language that is in the existing statute. I dont know that you can read it any other way. If the Senator from Wisconsin would like to clarify. I will certainly stand to be corrected.","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":428,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090139162,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There is no intention to remove the language. or the requirement of the injunction standard. I said repeatedly here that I believe. on the stays. the.person who is trying to avoid removal and trying to get the stay has to meet the standard for injunction. That is not the intent of the amendment.","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":296,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090139167,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I applaud Senators FEINGOLD and BROWNBACK for proposing an amendment to correct a seriously flawed provision that remains in the immigration bill that we are likely to pass. Under section 227(c) of the bill. Federal courts of appeals would be prohibited from granting an asylum seeker a temporary stay of deportation unless the alien could prove by clear and convincing evidence that the order of deportation is unlawful. In many cases. this is the same or an even a higher standard than an alien would be required to meet in order to win his or her case on the merits. This result has been described by one Federal court as \"Kafkaesque.\" It is also fundamentally unfair. Judicial review is the failsafe that guarantees the rights of men and women when the law is interpreted incorrectly or when human emotion or bias overcomes impartiality. Judicial review helps define our constitutional democracy and is a value that is deeply embedded in our system of government. It would be a grave mistake for us to accept the provision in section 227(c) and to ignore the wisdom of the distinguished Federal judges who oppose this curtailment of their authority to decide these difficult cases with care and bonsistent with the traditional practices of the Federal judiciary. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3205,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090139210,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If they have children. they dont pay. Most of the people that get the earned income tax credit dont pay any federal income taxes. At the end of the year when they file a tax return they get. on average. $1.700 per person. Some get as much as $4.700. It is not just families that are eligible for this .credit Single people get it. too. though not as much. It is an income tax credit. It is a payment to them. I suggest that this is an important issue and that we think about our responsibility..We could pay for the entire enforcement mechanism for the border of the U.S. by simply not rewarding those who have come here illegally. who never expected to receive this benefit. with $40 billion in transfer payments. That is not punishing them. They are free. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4774,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090139249,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In the polls that I have seen. most of the people coming to this country to work do not want to give up allegiance to their home countries. and they still love America. They dont have hostility toward America because they are not citizens. The arguments that I have heard indicating that we want every temporary worker to be a citizen so that they will be loyal to our country. I believe does not hold water. You can be friendly to our country. appreciate and respect our country but not have to go into the citizenship track to do that. People have been doing it for a long time. We do not have the capability in this bill that I tried to put in it yesterday with my amendment that would allow another chdic--a choice for people who do want to work in our country. go home. and who do not want the citizenship track. Mr. President. I will not be able to vote for the bill before us today. but I do hope I can vote for a bill that comes out of conference committee. one that will be balanced and one that represents the interests of the American people. as well as treating fairly the foreign workers who come to our country. ","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4129,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090139258,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"My amendment is designed to accomplish two purposes: one. deny the earned income credit. EIC. to undocumented workers. and two. to ensure that applicants under section 601 are not manipulating their tax attributes to generate refunds that would not otherwise be due.","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":266,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090139278,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That wouldnt count under the Chambliss amendment. Market demandsworkers can only pick what growers ask of them. and if the market only demands x number of oranges in 1 day and that only takes 6 hours. then that is all the work they will have in that day. That wouldnt count under the Chambliss amendment. Sicknessa worker may have a cold or other ailment that might keep them from working for a few days. In agriculture. given the seasonal nature of work. a few days lost are precious to a worker. Labor shortagesone condition that growers tell me about are labor shortages and how they impact how many hours workers put in. For instance. a crew of workers might be in such demand that they only put in 7 hours each per day. That wouldnt count under the Chambliss amendment. All of these are reasons why workers may not put in 8hour workdays. And if they dont. then that doesnt count toward their eligibility and they remain here illegally. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5689,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090139282,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It also gives border State Governors the ability to request up to 1.000 more border patrol agents from the Secretary of Homeland Security in times of international border emergencies. We need more agents on the border. and we need to make sure they have the tools to get the job done. That is why my amendment provides more helicopters. power boats. patrol vehicles. GPS devices. encrypted 2way radios. night vision equipment. highquality border armor. and reliable and effective weapons. The bill also includes my amendment to the performing artist visa. which will ensure that international artists will have their visa petitions processed in a timely manner. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS. delays are making it increasingly difficult for international artists to appear in the United States. Currently nonprofit arts organizations confront uncertainty in gaining approval for visa petitions for foreign guest artists and inconsistent policies in processing artist visa petitions which result in delays. expense. and unwarranted re.quests for further evidence. USCIS practice compounds the growing risk that foreign guest artists will be unable to enter the U.S. in time for their engagements. causing financial burdens on nonprofit arts organizations. and potentially denying the American public the opportunity to experience international artistry due to delays and cancellations. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5174,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090139295,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"OBAMA and DEWINE for their shared commitment to this issue. in working to ensure this bill moves successfully intact through the legislative process. Throughout this debate we were reminded that immigration is a national security issue. and it is. It is also a matter of life and death for many living along the border. We have hundreds of people flowing across our borders every day. coming here only in search of better lives for themselves and their families. They come to fill the vacant jobs at businesses and farms that struggle with real labor shortages that impact our economy negatively. This Nation is calling for our borders to be secure. for an overhaul of our immigration system. and that it be done in a humane and comprehensive fashion. Vote after vote after vote taken in this body reaffirms that fact. The new policies as provided for in this legislation. will increase border security and provide for a new temporary worker program to enable foreign workers to work legally in this country when there are jobs that Americans will not fill. and will acknowledge and address in a humanitarian and compassionate way the current undocumented population. As many have noted. there are over 11 million people in America today who came here illegally. They live in our cities and towns and rural communities. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6248,"word_count":222}
{"speech_id":1090139298,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the U.S. Senate is on the verge of passing landmark legislation. It has had a long. tortuous path. The McCainKennedy bill was the core proposition and went through very substantial hearings in the Judiciary Committee and a complex markup. It came to the floor at a moment when it was foundering. and we added to it HagelMartinez and their ideas to break a very complex logjam at that time. We have labored under the competing principles of rule of law and concern for immigrants who have come to the United States without complying with the law. On the other side. the rich tradition of the formation and development of the greatest country in the history of the world. the United States of America. made up of immigrants. Some came here illegally and some did not. But we are the melting pot. and the immigrants have contributed enormously and have made this the great country which it is today. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5470,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090139331,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. justso people understand the difference between this amendment and the amendment we just voted on. when folks were here illegally. a lot of them used fraudulent Social Security numbers. some of them had stolen IDs and ruined lives with these stolen identifications. This amendment says that even though that is a felony and this bill gives them amnesty for that felony. we think that is enough. We dont think one of these illegal immigrants should be able to come back. instead of paying back taxes and qualify for EITC and all the other tax credits available to them. Uncle Sam is saying: We are going to give you citizenship. permanent residency. we are going to forgive the felony of using a Social Security number fraudulently. and also. now you qualify for tax credits. and so the American taxpayers are going to have to write you a check. I think that is wrong. That is why my colleagues should support this amendment.","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":939,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090139349,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I have an inquiry through the Chair. I thought it was possible. though I would not need. 10 minutes. not having spoken on the bill. to ask for 10 minutes simply to point out a couple of things in the managers package. including the fact that the U.S. Government would be required to consult with the Mexican Government before building any fences on the border. Would I be able to ask for time to discuss anything in the managers package at this time?","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":465,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090139363,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The persecuted religious minorities are defined as someone who is or was a national or resident of Iraq. is a member of a religious minority in Iraq. and shares common characteristics with other minorities in Iraq who have been targets of persecution on account of race. religion. nationality. membership in a particular social group. or political opinion. My amendment would make these individuals eligible for legal permanent residency status and would supersede all previous judicial action on their cases. I am pleased that we are able to provide relief to these individuals who deserve legal permanent residency on the merits of their cases but were unfairly denied it because of bureaucratic delays that were beyond their control.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2168,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090139365,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on rollcall vote No. 131. I voted yea. It was my intention to vote nay. Given this does not change the outcome of the vote. I ask unanimous consent that I be permitted to change my vote. This will in no way change the outcome of the vote.","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":253,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090139373,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The WHTI will play an important role in securing our borders. but it must be implemented in a reasonable. fair. and well thought out manner that minimizes negative impacts on trade. travel. and tourism. By voting to extend the deadline. we are giving the Departments of State and Homeland Security additional time to study and correct the various implementation issues related to the WHTI. I am also pleased that the immigration bill addresses another key border issue: the security problem that is posed by trash trucks entering this country. My amendment. which was accepted by the bill managdrs. would stop the importation of Canadian waste if the Department of Homeland Security can not show that the m9thodologies and technologies used to screen these trash trucks for the presence of chemical. nuclear. biological. and radiological weapons are as effective as those used to screen for such materials in other items of commerce entering the United States by commercial vehicle. Finally. I want to thank the managers -of this bill for accepting my amendment that would protect thousands of individuals wh6 fled religious persecution in Iraq under Saddam Hussein. Due to delays in the immigration bureaucracy. many of these individuals have not yet had their day in court. and. of those who have. many have been denied asylum based on changed country conditions since the war. My amendment would make these individuals eligible for legal permanent residency if they would have received that status but for the bureaucratic delays. The comprehensive immigration bill before us will make our borders more secure while creating a workable temporary worker program that protects U.S. jobs. I will support this bill and hope that the conference committee will return a final bill similar to it.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4403,"word_count":289}
{"speech_id":1090139396,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that before I am recognizedthe Senator from Texas still has the floorbefore I am recognized and the Senator from Texas is recognized and then the Senator from Illinois is recognized and then the Senator from Idaho is recognized. that 10 minutes be divided between the Senator from Mississippi and the Senator from Minnesota. Will that give Senator LOTT and Senator DAYTON enough time?","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":423,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090139410,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"\"You name it. well do it.\" to defeat the Alito nomination. Sadly. that statement captured the tone of the Alito confirmation debatewhere we saw a distinguished public servant subjected to unwarranted. baseless attacks. Fortunately. a bipartisan Senate rejected the attempt to filibuster Samuel Alito. Any attempt to filibuster Brett Kavanaugh would surely meet the same fate. I dont think that I am going out on a limb when I say that neither the Alito nor the Kavanaugh confirmation debates could be considered the Senates \"finest hour.\" Taken together with many others. these confirmation battles have the potential to paint for the public a distorted picture of our Federal judiciaryand -further erode the confidence in our legal system. The U.S. Senate should take the lead and give the public a more accurate understanding of the judges role in our constitutional democracy. To achieve that. the judicial confirmation process must be more civil. respectful. and free of partisan politics. There are many reasons I supporft this fine nominee. k Brett Kavanaugh is. by any reasonable measure. superbly qualified to join the Federal bench. His legal resume is as impressive as they comeone with a demonstrated commitment to public service. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6343,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090139414,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That is the law of the land today. Knowing the West. as I said earlier. is critically important to the Secretary of the Interior because he is the landlord for much of the western landscape of our Nation. let alone our crown jewels. our national parks and all that they bring for the citizens of our country. When he was nominated and we had our first visit. he said: Larry. what should some of our priorities be? And I said: You come at a unique time to the Department of Interior. Because there is no question. in my mind. at least. this Senatorand in looking at the new energy policy we passed a year ago and all that we have done to get this Nation to producing energy once againthe Governor is the landlord of one of the largest storehouses of energy in this Nation. The kind of drilling for gas in the Overthrust Belt in the West today that we are now reengaging in. with new environmental standards. to bring billions of cubic feet of gas on line in \"the upper Rocky Mountain States. is presided over by the Secretary of the Interior. A debate that has gone on here. somewhat quietly. on the floor of the Senate but will take shape in the very near future dealing with the drilling of gas down in the Gulf of Mexico. off the coast of Florida. in lease sale 181. once again. dealing with offshore resources. is in part if not in whole the responsibility of the Secretary of the Interior. The oil shales of Colorado that we are working to develop nowa lot of it on our public lands Westis the responsibility of the Bureau of Land Management and the Secretary of Interior. I believe in the next 2V2 years Dirk Kempthorne presides over the Department of Interior as the second Secretary of the Interior of this Bush administration. he will. by his presence and the efforts currently underway. actually produce more energy for this Nation and our Nations energy consumers than will the Secretary of Energy. It is that kind of uniqueness and the domain over which he presides that makes this position tremendously important.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6940,"word_count":366}
{"speech_id":1090139417,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":14,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Having excelled there. he went on to Yale Law School. where he was editor of the \"Law Review.\" That is no small achievement. It shows that he was an excellent student. one of the best. He went on to not one but two circuit court clerkships. You dont get those clerkships unless you are one of the best. A judge really gets to know his clerks. They work in close quarters together. The judge has a true opportunity to get the measure of the man. Brett Kavanaughs former employers. these judges. his mentors. thought so much of Brett that they came to Washington to testify at his confirmation hearing earlier this month. That is the second confirmation hearing. They did not mince their words. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11363,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090139422,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am going to try to be pertinent on a matter that is of real importance. and that is. in fact. the nomination and hopefully what we expect to be the confirmation of GEN Michael V. Hayden to serve as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. As chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence. I rise tonight and associate myself with the remarks made by Senator HATCH. who is another very valued member of the committee. in strong support of .the nomination of General Hayden to be the next Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. -He is eminently qualified for this position. He is a distinguished public servant. as has been noted. who has given more than 35 years of service to his country. Senator HATCH referred to our hearings both open and closed that we held last week. It was my goal as chairman to ensure that every Senator had enough time to ask any question they wanted or to express any concern they had on their mind in regards to this nomination and the qualifications of this man. I think we accomplished that. We gave every Senator 20 minutes and then another 20 minutes. and then in a regular order. additional time. I might add. ","speaker_name":"PAT ROBERTS","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6110,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090139430,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Despite the scores of talented. dedicated. patriotic people working at Langley today. the failings of the Agencys recent leadership have left the Agencys credibility diminished. The Agency is now lookiilg at the prospect of its fourth Director since 9\/11. The last Director brought partisanship and lost talented professional staff as a result. The Agencys No. 3 man. who resigned this month. is being investigated by the FBI for links to the bribing of a former Congressman. It is .long past time to get it right at the CIA. This will be the second time I have voted on a Hayden nomination. The first time around. when he was nominated to serve as Deputy National Intelligence Director. I voted for the General. In my view. General Haydens technical knowledge is not in question. ","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12063,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090139435,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"While participating in the Italian campaign of the Second World War. new Mexicans of the 104th Tank Destroyer battalion were awarded 8 Silver Stars. 60 Bronze Stars. and 135 Purple Hearts. Of course no one will forget the contribution Navajos from my home state made as \"code talkers\" or the bravery of the \"New Mexico Brigade\" in the Philippines during World War II. During the Vietnam War. the 188th Tactical Fighter Squadron of the New Mexico Air National Guard flew over 6.000 combat sorties and amassed over 630 medals and decorations before its release from Federal active duty in June 1969. These are just a few examples of the distinction with which New Mexicans have served our Nation. From the swamps of Cuba to the jungles of Vietnam and the deserts of Iraq. many New Mexicans have given their lives on behalf of America. and for these reasons on Memorial Day we honor these brave men and women. We must never forget the sacrifices of our solders. sailors. airmen and marines. I encourage New Mexicans and all Americans on this Memorial Day to take a moment to remember and honor the brave men and women who have fallen in our defense. I ask that New Mexicans think of them and their families. and give thanks that we are blessed with such heroic men and women. On this Memorial Day. let us not overlook the men and women of our armed forces who since September 11. 2001 have been called away from home to fight the Global War on Terror. Many of these individuals are National Guardsmen like the members of Task Force Phoenix serving in Afghanistan. the 1116th Transportation Company serving in Iraq and Task Force Cobra serving in Kuwait. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3212,"word_count":290}
{"speech_id":1090139438,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Oftentimes. raiders slaughter livestock. causing scarcity bf meat. In addition. efforts to increase the food supply have been thwarted by a widespread lack of basic education. job opportunities. and weak local implementing partners. We cannot continue to ignore the current situation in the DRC while nearly 1.000 people die each day from * warrelated hunger and disease. Seventyone percent of the Congolese population is undernourished and the mortality rate has climbed to more than 50 percent due to starvation. In addition to the crisis in the DRC. Ethiopia is on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe. Ethiopia has the poorest human development indicators in the world. More than threequarters of Ethiopians live on less than $1 per day. and almost half the population is undernourished. Drought has plagued Ethiopia for decades. leaving the country stripped of the natural resources required to feed its citizens. During the past 20 years. five major droughts have destroyed crops and livestock. and have left many people with few personal belongings. ","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9536,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090139443,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am submitting for inclusion in the RECORD a letter from the Congressional Budget Office providing cost estimates for two bills ordered reported from the Committee on Environment and Public Works on May 23. 2006 and reported without written report to the full Senate on May 24. 2006. S. 801 and S. 2650. I ask unanimous consent that the letter be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":385,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090139454,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Montgomery continued his service to our Nation by beginning work with the Veterans Administration in Muskogee where he remained for most of his life. Mr. Montgomery is survived by his wife Joyce. and I am hopeful the President can sign this bill into law in swift fashion. In conclusion. as we do pause this Memorial Day to remember those who sacrificed so that we may remain free. I can think of no veteran more worthy of our gratitude than Jack C. Montgomery.","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1990,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090139457,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As an elected official. parent. and former student of the New Hampshire public school system. I have had the opportunity to meet and learn from many educators across the Granite State. including some of this years award recipients. Their dedication to providing students with the tools they need to become productive and engaged citizens is commendable and the basis for the superior achievement of New Hampshires schools. I am personally grateful to the teachers at every level of my own education who provided me with the guidance necessary to succeed. The EDies provide us with an opportunity to acknowledge the tremendous contributions of our States educational community. I am pleased to recognize them here today and tQ convey the gratitude of my. State for the role each of this years recipients have played in the lives of New Hampshires children. Mr. President. I ask that the list of the 2006 New Hampshire Excellence in Education Award winners and school finalists be printed in the RECORD. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SUNUNU","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2215,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090139458,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Taylors remarkable career as a selfless and committed servant of the public trust culminated in his appointment in 1997 as Senior Deputy General Counsel. the Departments senior career civilian attorney. Mr. Taylor has long been the foundation of strategic leadership. vision. and continuity for the Army legal community. Over the course of his distinguished career. he has provided sage policy and legal advice to six Secretaries of the Army. seven Army General Counsel. and numerous other senior officers in the Army Secretariat. and Headquarters. Department of the Army. on a wide variety of operational issues. including military support to civilian authorities: during special events of national significance. such as the Olympic Games and Presidential Inaugurals. in responding- to domestic disasters and civil disturbances. and in fighting drugs and weapons of mass destruction. His personnel law portfolio covered the full range of military and civilian personnel law: mobilization. recruitment. promotions. discharges. medical care issues. sexual harassment. and equal employment opportunity. Other practice areas included select aspects of criminal law. implementation of the GoldwaterNichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act as applied to the Army. Secretarial and command authority. and application of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act. as well as policies governing the release of information under the Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts in response to public. Congressional. and media requests for information about Army activities and investigations. Further. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6125,"word_count":227}
{"speech_id":1090139463,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Senate to join me in congratulating Hillsboro. ND. and its residents on their first 125 years and in wishing them well. through the next century. By honoring Hillsboro and all the other historic small towns of North Dakota.-we keep the great pioneering frontier spirit alive for future generations. It is places such as Hillsboro that have helped to shape this country into what it is today. which is why this fine community is deserving of our recognition. Hillsboro has a proud past and a bright future..","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1871,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090139479,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If you really take a look at it. you will find that this is not covered. that is not covered. this is not covered. and the next thing you know. you havent got much coverage. but your premium still goes forward. The standard policies. f6r instance. dont cover earthquakes and floods. and depending on where you live. hurricanes may not even be covered. That is going to be determined in legal actions. Sometimes they say: Well. unless the policy specifically says the hurricane was covered. then it is not covered. Well. that is an ingenious argument. too. So we have found that there are lots of problems here. and it breaks my heart. what I have seen happen to thousands of my constituents and people in the neighboring States of Louisiana. Texas. and Alabama. They are being told: No. you didnt read the small print in your policy. you are not covered. or because it didnt say you were covered. then you are not covered. That is why I have joined in sponsoring this bill. Surely we should have honesty in everything. including insurance coverage. ","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4907,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090139481,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday. May 25. 2006. at 11:30 a.m.. to receive a briefing on the status of ongoing investigations into an incident involving Iraqi civilians on November 19. 2005. near Haditha. I","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":315,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090139485,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on Commerce Science and Transportation be authorized to meet on Thursday. May 25. 2006. at 10 a.m. on S. 2686. the Communications. Consumers Choice. and Broadband Deployment Act of 2006. This is the second hearing on this act.","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":291,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090139487,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous. consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday. May 25 at 10 a.m. The purpose of this hearing is to receive testimony regarding the outlook for growth of coal fired electric generation and whether sufficient supplies of coal will be available * to supply electric generators on a timely basis both in the near term and in the future.","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":444,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090139493,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet on Thursday. May 25. 2006. at 10 a.m. for a joint hearing with the Committee on Veterans Affairs titled. \"VA Data Privacy Breach: TwentySix Million People Deserve Answers.\"","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":298,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090139501,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday. May 25. 2006. for a joint hearing with the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs to hold a hearing titled \"VA Data Privacy Breach: TwentySix Million People Deserve Answers\". The meeting will take place in room 342 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building at 10 a.m. .. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection. it is so ordeted.","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":496,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090139536,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"VA. grant program that helps many disabled veterans make their homes suitable for occupancy. Currently. a disabled veteran must at least partly own his or her residence to receive VA housing assistance grants to perform necessary residence modifications. such as installing wheelchair ramps or railings. However. many younger veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have not yet had the opportunity to become homeowners. Being ineligible for VA funding assibtance to modify their homes. these veterans and their families often are compelled to either shoulder the costs of retrofitting their residences or face extended stays in VA medical facilities. Section 101 of S. 1235 will establish a 5year pilot program to allow severely disabled veterans who live temporarily with family to receive up to $10.000 in adaptive housing assistance. less severely disabled veterans could receive a maximum of $2.000. This grant money will help ensure that all disabled veteransregardless of whether they own propertyare able to leave hospitals and return home as quickly as possible. Also. mindful that these individuals will likely purchase their own residence. the bill will allow disabled veterans to receive two additional specially adaptive housing grants to be used for homes that they own in the future. Severely disabled\" veterans could receive a total of $50.000 to modify residences. less severely disabled veterans would be eligible for a total of $10.000. Only one of the three total grants could be used for a temporary residence. such as a familyowned home. Americas veterans have made enormous sacriffces to protect our Nation and the ideals for which it stands. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SUNUNU","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4451,"word_count":260}
{"speech_id":1090139547,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. if there is no further business to come before the Senate. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in adjournment under the previous order. following the remarks of Senator OBAMA for 10 minutes. Senator LEVIN for 30 minutes. and then Senator SCHUMER.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":271,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090139549,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As a nation. we have had to find the right balance between privacy and security. between executive authority to face threats and uncpntrolled power. What protects us. and what distinguishes us. are the procedures we put in place to protect that balance. namely. judicial warrants and congressional review. These are not arbitrary ideas. They are not new ideas. These are the safeguards that make sure surveillance has not gone too far. that somebody is watching the watchers. The exact details of these safeguards are not etched in stone. They can be reevaluated. and should be reevaluated. from time to time. The last time we had a major overhaul of the intelligence apparatus was 30 years ago in the aftermath of Watergate. After those dark days. the White House worked in a collaborative way with Congress through the Church Committee to study the issue. revise intelligence laws. and set up a system of checks and balances. It worked then. and it could work now. ","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5719,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090139564,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. as a journalism student at the University of Alabama in the late 1970s and early 1980s. I was a member of Sigma Delta Chi. the Society of Professional Journalists. Sigma Delta Chi is the gold standard upon which the journalism profession is based. Among other ideals. Sigma Delta Chi. in its mission statement. encourages excellence among journalists and the need to stimulate high standards and ethical behavior in the practice of journalism. Sadly. Madam Speaker. ABC News. both last night and again this morning. is guilty of throwing high standards and ethical behavior out the window. Their report that our Speaker. DENNY HASTERT of Illinois. is being investigated by the Justice Department lacks one essential element to a good news story: the facts. ","speaker_name":"JO BONNER","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1338,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090139570,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am honored to serve with you.","speaker_name":"JOHN SHIMKUS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":604,"word_count":7}
{"speech_id":1090139571,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. this may sound strange coming from a Democrat. but I am here to applaud the Wall Street Journal for its work in uncovering a major corporate scandal. After Enron and WorldCom. we enacted SarbanesOxley to usher in a new era of corporate responsibility. But now a new scandal is brewing. this time involving the backdating of stock options. When a company backdates stock options. it deliberately moves option grants back to dates when the stock price was lower. ensuring the options will make money for executives while hiding its real cost from shareholders and the IRS. It is free and cheap money for the CEO. and securities fraud for everyone else. plain and simple. So far. United Healthcare appears to be the biggest perpetrator. but the problem now is spreading to 15 other public companies that are under investigation at this point. Madam Speaker. the American people dont deserve another Enron or WorldCom. They deserve an era of corporate responsibility that they were promised from this institution. As the SEC and the Justice Department pursue these cases. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1203,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090139573,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. rural America is anxiously awaiting the deliberations taking place regarding the relief for those who experienced 2005 crop failure. Farmers across the country have just completed the most expensive spring planting in the history of U.S. agriculture. and for those carrying the debtfrom last year due to -disaster losses in reaping their crop. it has pushed them to the brink of bankruptcy. The Senate has committed on a bipartisan basis meaningful disaster assistance. when the House Appropriations Committee voted it down on a party line vote with Republicans opposing. Now in conference committee. we have learned that House Republicans are doing their dead level best to strip this assistance our farmers need so badly out of the legislation. Farmers of this country need to know if disaster assistance efforts fall short. it was the majority. the House Republicans. that stood in the way and prevented us from getting the disaster assistance they so desperately need.","speaker_name":"EARL POMEROY","chamber":"H","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":987,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090139574,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We place our trust in Speaker HASTERT. and he has not let us down. He is our coach. Congratulations. Speaker HASTERT. for this historic milestone.","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":985,"word_count":25}
{"speech_id":1090139595,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I rise to address the House for 1 minute regarding DENNY HASTERT. the Speaker of the House. As many people have previously observed. the Speaker is not under any investigation at the present time. I have been part of a group that meets with DENNY on a weekly basis for the last 2 years and have found this person to be a person of unimpeachable character. He is one that you .can take his word to the bank. and so if there is any Member of the House who does not deserve this. it would be DENNY HASTERT. Sometimes we are all painted with a very broad brush here. and I am very sorry that DENNY has been painted in such a way. I simply wanted to come to the House floor today to register my support. my regard of the Speaker. and the fact that it is very unfortunate that someone of his character would be attacked in this way. And I am sure this applies to others on both sides of the aisle.","speaker_name":"THOMAS OSBORNE","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":906,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090139596,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. as we approach Memorial Day many of my constituents face the same dilemma as other Americans around the country. With gas prices out of control. many can hardly afford to drive to work. let alone drive on a vacation in their cars. For 5 years now. House Republicans have refused to offer a real solution to the rising gas prices. choosing instead to rubberstamp CHENEYS energy task force meetings that boosted the profits of big oil while hurting working Americans. The only plan that Republicans are offering consumers this Memorial Day is to allow drilling in the National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. a temporary solution which would damage a natural treasure while providing no long term supply of oil. This makes no sense from a practical or environmental standpoint. Democrats have a better plan. We have an innovative agenda that would help our Nation achieve energy independence within 10 years through clean. sustainable energy alternatives. We will provide tax incentives to encourage increased production of homegrown fuels. Madam Speaker. lets protect the American consumers so they can once again afford to drive to work and take vacations with their families.","speaker_name":"DONALD PAYNE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1186,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090139604,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I urge my colleagues to support the rule and to support the underlying legislation so that we can move towards energy selfsufficiency.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2314,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090139608,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I support H.R. 5429 and the underlying rule. Energy and exploration and production in ANWR will take place under the most stringent environmental protection requirements ever applied. It will be limited to just 2.000 acres of ANWRs 1002 area. which equals one tenthousandths of the ANWR area. the size of a midsized U.S. airport. The average estimate of recoverable oil from 2.000 acres of ANWR is 10.4 billion barrels. That is more than double the proven reserves of Texas and could increase Americas total proven reserves. which is 21 billion barrels. by nearly 50 percent. Energy development on ANWRs northern coastal plain could deliver an additional 1.5 million barrels of oil per day. nearly equal to the amount we import from Saudi Arabia on a daily basis. Experts have estimated that safe energy exploration and production in ANWR would create between 250.000 and 1 million new jobs in the United States. Energy exploration and production in ANWRs northern coastal plain would raise $111 billion to $173 billion in Federal royalties and tax revenues. And given our current tax situation. we think that would certainly be somewhat notable. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS OSBORNE","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2073,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090139621,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So with a couple of actions here on the floor. we could save people a buck a gallon. They are saying. 10 years from today. maybe under wild estimates we might save you a nickel. But they are not going to take on Big Oil because Big Oil is very generous at campaign time. and this is all about the elections. They want to pretend that they are doing something meaningful. Now they want to say it is environmentally sound. How do we get to that conclusion? It is deemed.-Does anyone know what \"deeming\" means? Congress ignores reality and says we are creating a new reality. The reality is I came to Congress in 1987. We held weeks of hearings on this socalled environmental analysis. It was laughable at the time when produced by Mr. Watt and the Reagan administration. ","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2687,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090139624,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"fornia. Madam Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Florida for yielding me this time. I am dismayed to see the issue of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge come to the floor again. especially under a rule that is narrowly limited. It limits our debate on what is such a volatile fssue. and it has the power to turn our Nation far off track in our road to increasing the use of alternative fuels. Drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is the easy way out. Heading off to one of our last bastions of wildlands to fuel what the President has called an \"addiction to oil\" is shameful. This Congress can do better. This Congress can be creative. As a Californian. ","speaker_name":"LORETTA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":47.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1479,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090139628,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I dont want to try and change any kind of factual data. especially from my good friends from the Pacific Northwest. but actually this is the 12th. not the 13th time we have voted on this issue. And. unfortunately. the Dulles Airport is actually five times bigger than the area we are talking about drilling. That is 11.000 acres. This is only 2.000 acres. Madam Speaker. I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman also from the. Pacific Northwest from the State of Washington .","speaker_name":"ROB BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":486,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090139648,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield back my time. and I move the previous question on the resolution. The previous question was ordered.","speaker_name":"ROB BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":680,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090139659,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Alaskans think it is necessary for this Nation. It is ironic. I heard the gentleman from Massachusetts mention the fact that it will not relieve the high gas prices for 10 years. 10 years ago he said the same thing. I have been trying to do this for 15 years. actually 25 years. Passed it 12 times. President Clinton. by the way. vetoed it. President Clinton vetoed the same piece of legislation. We would have had a million barrels a day now flowing to the American consumer. Your gas prices would not be $3.25 today. That would not have occurred. ","speaker_name":"DON YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4706,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090139676,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Drilling in the refuge will not solve Americas energy problem. The Energy Departments own figures show that drilling would not change gas prices by more than a penny a gallon. and this would be 20 years from now. With 3 percent of the worlds resources and 25 percent of the worlds demand. it is pretty obvious this country cannot drill its way to energy security. What we need to do is really improve energy efficiency standards. develop in full scale renewable and alternative energy and use the one resource we have in abundance. our creativity. This bill is just a continuation of the backward thinking energy policies that have gotten us here in the first place. Americans deserve cheaper. quicker. safer. cleaner energy policies that also safeguard the wild places we care so deeply about. This desperate obsession with drilling off our coastlines and in the arctic refuge has distracted us long enough. It is time for Congress to stop wasting energy and start working on real and clean energy solutions.","speaker_name":"LOIS CAPPS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1658,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090139678,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his leadership on this issue. We have. as many have said. been through this issue before. but we have never been here in this situation. The suggestion is by those individuals that somehow. if we just drill ANWR. that we will have lower gasoline prices in the United States. Maybe they do not know it. but they should know it. that there is only now one price of oil. It is the world price of oil. The last time we had lower prices in the United States. the oil companieg drilling in ANWR sought to export that oil to Japan rather than sell it into the United States. So these are not benevolent societies. These are profitmaking organizations. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5242,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090139689,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank my friend for yielding to me. Mr. Speaker. just a few moments ago. Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling were convicted on all counts for cooking the books at Enron. yet that is exactly what is going on with this legislation today by perpetrating this fraud on the American taxpayer that they can expect a 5050 split on the royalties received up in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. hhen we know today that is not true and it is not going to happen. In fact. the State of Alaska. the legislature. last year. passed a resolution saying 5050 is not acceptable. and under the Alaska Statehood Act. they demand a 9010 share. Our own friend and colleague from Alaska. Mr. YOUNG. was recently quoted in the Anchorage Daily News. and I quote. ","speaker_name":"RON KIND","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1275,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090139705,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. .here we are again debating a bill that has been rejected by Congress and the American people too many times to count. So how many times do we have to go through this obsessive exercise? How many times will we waste our time debunking the myth that drilling in the Arctic will solve our energy problems and make us energy independent? How many times do we have to reject the notion that drilling will not harm the native peoples or the environment of the Arctic? How many times will the sponsors of this measure try to hide the fact that it will do nothing to reduce gas prices? Mr. Speaker. our country needs real solutions to our energy problems. namely. one that is affordable. stable and reduces the impact on the environment. Instead of wasting our time with this stale proposal that has been rejected so many times. let us spend time on incentives for clean air technologies and- stop this headinthesand approach to energy policy. This is a great country. Let us start acting like we have the will and the ability to face the challenges of the future. and we can begin by rejecting H.R. 5429.","speaker_name":"RAUL GRIJALVA","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1111,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090139713,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. war is not an acceptable energy policy. This bill is an attempt to dupe the American public into thinking that drilling in ANWR will lower gas prices. It is a disservice to the American people. This bill is really about serving ANWR to the oil industry lobby. something they have coveted for a very long time. Just by making cars modestly more efficient. Americans could save $25 billion a year and 1 million barrels of oil per day. Republicans should really deal with our energy problems and not this handout to the oil lobby.","speaker_name":"CYNTHIA MCKINNEY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":540,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090139718,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. in the last year. two major studies were done at the expense of our U.S. Government. one by the Department of Energy. the other by the U.S. Army. both indicating that we are at or will shortly be at peak oil with potentially devastating consequences for our country. But drilling ANWR now is not an appropriate response to that. We have only about 2 percent of the worlds reserves of the oil. We use 25 percent of the worlds oil. We import about twothirds of what we use. Mr. Speaker. with those statistics. ","speaker_name":"ROSCOE BARTLETT","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":988,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090139725,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the chairman for engaging in this debate. More so. I want to thank him for taking us to Alaska. a whole group of us. Several weeks ago. many of us went up to the village of Kaktovik and had a chance to sit with the Inupiat people and talk to them about what it is they really wanted on their lands. I represent more Native Americans than anyone else in .Congress. While I was there. they talked about a sovereignty issue. We had 400 people in the gym. We asked them. how many people dont want us using the newest technologies to go after this resource? Two people stood up. ","speaker_name":"RICK RENZI","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1350,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090139755,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I visited San Angelo. Texas. to witness firsthand how our air assets were being used to secure our southern borders and to prevent illegal drugs from entering this country. Since then. I have strongly supported the balanced multimission AMO strategy of pushing out the border to combat illegal immigration. narcotics trafficking and smuggling of other illegal cargoes. I believe that a vigorous coordinated Department of Homeland Security air program is essential to our fiational security. and I continue to work closely with our Members. including MARCIA BLACKBURN. Chairman ROGERS. Chairman PETER KING. Chairman MARK SOUDER. JOHN SWEENEY and others to ensure that multimission strategy be maintained. It is interesting to note that this agency has taken the plan that they have initiated and are bringing it forward at this time to make sure that this Congress is aware of what their new strategy is as a result of this realignment. ","speaker_name":"PETE SESSIONS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6129,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090139764,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I do appreciate and respect the gentleman who will be retiring this year. Mr. SABO. who appeared in the Rules Committee yesterday to provide not only feedback related to this bill and his thoughts and ideas but also to recommend additional points of consideration. The gentleman has once again appeared on the floor of the House. The gentleman is aware that this would. be the equivalent of legislating on appropriations. And thus the gentleman. Mr. KING. chairman of the Homeland Security Committee. has sent a letter to Chairman DREIER. the chairman of the Rules Committee. indicating that he preferred that this section 536 not be included within the rule or protected as a result of the committee deciding that it will have comprehensive hearings on this matter to develop legislation rather than what Mr. SABOS legislation tends to do. but rather comprehensive. overall way to look at these highsecurity risks as it relates to these facilities.","speaker_name":"PETE SESSIONS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":964,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090139771,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I will say that there are parts of this bill that I feel good about. One of the things that I have been working very hard on deals with efforts to contend with prevention measures to reduce the damage done by floods and other natural disasters. This bill deals with funding critical elements for the safety and security of the American public. We think often of things like terrorism and border security. but in fact more peoples lives are lost. more damage is incurred by natural disaster. I would like to thank the committee for fully funding the mitigation program for repetitively flooded properties authorized by our Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2004. That wasnt the case in previous years. but this year people have recognized the National Flood Insurance Program is in a severe crisis. It is $20 billion in debt.. This funding will help put it back on the right track. The repetitively flooded properties. which make up just 1 percent of the insured properties. account for 25 percent of the repetitive flood loss. Mitigating these properties will not only keep people out of harms way but it will save other flood insurance policyholders thousands of dollars in premiums over the years. ","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4057,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090139776,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I want to thank them: Candi Wolfe. for his professionalism and grace and balance. Brian Conklin. for the star of the White House legislative team. Elan Liang. Chris Frech and Peter Rowan. because they have been an equal part of the success of this important bill as it moves forward. I am proud of what we have done. I ask for all the Members support not only on this rule but the important legislation which makes sure that we have a balanced policy effort and funding effort to make sure this country is protected. I thank God every day that America rises to its feet. has an economy that works the way it does and the strength and power to lead this world economy. and for strength and peace. The material previously referred to by Ms. SLAUGHTER is as follows:","speaker_name":"PETE SESSIONS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2070,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090139808,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Purple is the favorite color of Michelle Mrdeza. who as we all know is retiring after this year from her labors. And so we are paying tribute to Michelle with purple. We wish Michelle well in her next life as well. E 1600 She has rendered tremendous service to her country. In trying to stand up this brandnew Department. the biggest reorganization in the government at least since 1948. in standing up this Department it has been real labor. toils and snares all along the way and they continue until this today. But Michelle and the staff of\" the subcommittee on both sides have just been marvelous in this labor of love of trying to stand up this huge agency. that we owe them more than we can ever tell them about. But that goes for the ranking member. too. He has been a marvelous helpmate as we struggled along trying to find our way through a thicket to try to stand up this brandnew Department. I thank the gentlenMn for yielding.","speaker_name":"HAROLD ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1471,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090139825,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Thank you. Mr. Chairman. I believe that the best method to secure our borders is through more law enforcement on the ground. more technology. which is cameras. sensors and air surveillance. and niore detention beds. Again. this bill takes huge strides to address these needs. Mr. Chairman. I thank you for the time. And thank you to Mr. SABO for the great work you have been doing.","speaker_name":"HENRY CUELLAR","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":381,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090139850,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the gentleman makes an awfully good case. The firefighters. of course. are extremely important in our Nations efforts to defend itself. and this funding is vital. The gentleman and all the gentlemen make a good point. and I am prepared to accept the amendment. I would hope that we could conserve some time by doing that. but I thank the gentleman for yielding.","speaker_name":"HAROLD ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":375,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090139854,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I rise in strong support the Sabo\/Hoyer\/Weldon\/Tubbs Jones amendment. This amendment restores $41 million dollars to the Assistance to Firefighter Grant (AFG) Program and funds the Staffing for Adequate Firefighters and Emergency Response (SAFER) program at $70 million. which was zeroed out of the FY07 budget. Adopting this amendment sends a clear message to our first responders that we appreciate the work that they do in serving emergency needs of our communities and nation. The AFG program awards grants directly to state fire departments to enhance their ability to protect the -health and safety of the public and firefighting personnel. particularly with respect to fire and firerelated hazards. In the State of Ohio. 251 fire departments received over $27 million during the 2005 fiscal year. The AFG program effectively meets the needs of firefighters around the country. It is especially necessary in the wake of 9\/11 and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. as firefighters are our first line of defense when dealing with national disasters.","speaker_name":"STEPHANIE JONES","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1047,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090139859,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I would like to commend Chairman ROGERS and Ranking Member SABO for all the hard work they have put into bringing this bill to the floor. Homeland Security is a relatively new discipline for this body and in a short- amount of time my friends from Kentucky and Minnesota have proven to be experts in this field. Likewise. I want to publicly acknowledge Congressman WELDON. Congressman HOYER and Congressman ANDREWS for the leadership they have displayed in enhancing our nations security. This amendment is another example of all our work to increase our emergency preparedness and response capabilitiesand I ask all Members for their support.","speaker_name":"BILL PASCRELL","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":657,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090139882,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the word. I just wanted to rise and agree with the chairman. This is an amendment that should not be adopted. We have already spent additional significant resources on the border. We are also starting the SDI program. the Secure Borders Initiative. I happen to think it is not well planned. but my assumption is that programs like this would be part of whatever this grand scheme is that is being developed.","speaker_name":"MARTIN SABO","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":438,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090139885,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We made some modest cuts in the Office of Under Secretary in our first amendment as related to fire grants which was adopted which I thought was okay to do. but I notice a whole host of amendments are funded by additional cuts to that same office. I.am curious if we roll votes and eventually there are more cuts than money exists. what happens? I understand this amendment takes an additional $60 billion out of the office. There are others coming with several million. There is a whole array of amendments. all of which take money from this particular office.","speaker_name":"MARTIN SABO","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":561,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090139891,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Do not let the National Council of Fire Volunteers down. This is their source of funding. I ask my colleagues to support this amendment.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1199,"word_count":24}
{"speech_id":1090139911,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We will take the risk. We will go into the flaming buildings. We will try to stop the flood. We will put our own health on the line in the event of an avian flu hitting a community. But give us the planning. give us the capacity now to put in place the response mechanism. That is what this amendment does. And all it does is respond to what all these experts have told us the number has to be. $30 million is clearly inadequate. given what we have learned since last year withavian flu and what happened in New Orleans and across the whole gulf coast. I urge an \"aye\" vote.in order to ensure that this funding is made available to these local heroes.","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3520,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090139912,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I make apoint of order. The amendment proposes to amend portions of the bill not yet read. The amendment may not be considered en bloc under clause 2(f) of rule XXI because the amendment proposes to increase the level of outlays in the bill by $3.5 million. I ask for a ruling from the Chair.","speaker_name":"HAROLD ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":306,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090139925,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This flies in the face of experience. As you look around the world today. the pattern of terrorist activity has been markedly against rail systems. If you go back to 1995. the Tokyo rail system was attacked by sarin gas. The Algerian rebels attacked the Paris subways. Going further. the Chechnyan rebels attacking the Moscbw subways. the attacks in Madrid against their commuter rail system. many. many attacks on bus systems in Israel and. most recently. the London attacks against their subway system. So there is a definite repeated pattern of conduct of these terrorists to attack rail systems. We need to be aware that they are looking at attacking our rail system. You would think that we would take appropriate steps to address that. given the fact that five times as many people travel by rail as travel by air. Rather than addressing that woeful state of rail transit security funding. the current administration has actually sought to further shortchange these critical transportation systems. Most recently. the Presidents FY 2007 budget request allocated only $37 million to the Transportation Security Administration for nonaviation transportation security. ","speaker_name":"STEPHEN LYNCH","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2782,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090139927,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I realize it is offset from the same Office of the Under Secretary of Management that concerns Mr. ROGERS and Mr. SABO. but I am sure there are other oppositions because they were trying to protect the money for us in this particular amendment. and they will speak to that. hopefully. shortly to come later. It would boost funding to add more police officers. K9 teams. security cameras. fences and chemical detection systems at train stations and on subways and commuter systems across the country. We are very lucky that an attack has not taken place in the United States. And we now have a great opportunity to be proactive and begin adequately funding rail and transit security in this country. This amendment sets forth the course for achieving this goal. and I ask my colleagues to support this critical provision to protect American travelers.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CASTLE","chamber":"H","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3342,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090139930,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Chairman. has also provided funding for rail and transit security. averaging about $40 to $50 million per year. That funding. coupled with the funding that we. provide. equals the total amount contained in the amendment of the gentleman. We are giving you the money from two different places. So I think we have satisfied the gentlemans financial request. and I would hope that we would oppose and vote against this amendment.","speaker_name":"HAROLD ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3581,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090139931,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Maryland. and Washington. DC. The American Public Transit Association. which represents transit agencies and commuter railroads. has welldocumented transit security needs that exceed $6 billion (including more than $5.2 billion of capital investment security needs). This billfor the third year in a rowprovides a meager $150 million to be split up among our Nations passenger railroad. transit agencies. seven Class I railroads. and more than 500 short line and regional railroads. The Lynch amendment will provide an additional $50 million for rail and transit security. While I believe that even more funding should be provided for security improvements. such as interoperable communication systems. cameras. improved lighting. fencing and secured gates. chemical\/biological\/radiological detection sensors. bomb sniffing dogs. and many other needed rail security improvements. it is more than we have done in the past. and it is at least on par for what we have provided for port security. We have got to act now to protect the safety and security of our Nations railroads. and transit systems. We owe it to the service providers. passengers. workers. and communities. We must pass this amendment.","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2425,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090139957,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in opposition. The amendment would increase funding for the emergency management performance grants by $40 million and $10.3 million for SAFECOM. and the offset would be. guess what. the poor old Under Secretary for Management. We have tried to dip into that well today 15 times. and every time we have said no because it would stop the Departments operations. The committee already has in the bill $186 million for these grants. That is $16 million more than the President asked of us. and it is $2.8 million more than what we have in it right now. So. you know. we have done well by this grant program. I cannot imagine somebody complaining about it. Then you are taking the money out of the Under Secretary for Management. and that would either zero out or substantially decrease funding for absolutely critical programs that are designed to bring these 22 agencies into a single program. and so I would strongly oppose this amendment.","speaker_name":"HAROLD ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":959,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090139958,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We are not prepared to effectively respond to any emergency unless our first responders on the ground are able to communicate with one another. I ask my colleagues to let us move this amendment. let us support this amendment.","speaker_name":"NITA LOWEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":968,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090140021,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in opposition to the amendment. The committee bill already provides $96 million plus for the Inspector General. That is an increase of $14 million over the current level. And of that increase. $11 million is to continue and expand audits and investigations related to the gulf coast hurricanes. So we have already increased funding for the inspector general by 17 percent over current levels. And again. this money would come out of the Under Secretary of Managements Office. We have already cut $70 million from that office. We are going to shut it down. and the Department will not be able to operate. ","speaker_name":"HAROLD ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":645,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090140047,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the last word. Mr. Chairman. I rise in opposition to the Poe amendment. Although I have some concerns about the intended use of the $41 million that is the subject of this amendment. I want to focus tonight on the offset. My colleague from Texas proposes to offset the cost of his amendment with an equivalent reduction to the Office of Chief Information Officer. specifically targeting funds that the committee has included to cover the establishment of a mirror. or backup. data center. It has been 4 years now since the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. and we are still at least months away from consolidating and securing data that is essential to protecting the homeland. ","speaker_name":"DAVID PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1505,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090140063,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the chairman and I am grateful for his work on all of our security in this Nation. and I am hopeful that as we go forward to conference we could have a better look at the finances required to keep the Shadow Wolves as vital as we can. With that. I encourage support of the amendment. the KingSouderShadegg amendment. and I thank the chairman.","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":364,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090140073,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I believe that we are long overdue in taking the proper action to fund our United States Border Patrol. I have heard a number of my colleagues come on this floor and criticize them. because they get erroneous information. I might add. from members of the Minutemen project. The Minutemen project came about because of the frustration that the general population was feeling at our inability to control this Nations borders. If. in fact. this amendment is ruled out of order. and in fact we cannot come up with the $1.9 billion that are necessary to fund the Border Patrol so they can control the border. then why is it that we spend so much time talking tough about border enforcement. talking tough about stopping an invasion. talking tough about securing the border at a time when we are at war with terrorists? All of the talk in the world does not translate to resources for the United States Border Patrol. All the talk in the world does not stop terrorists from coming into this country. but what we do need to do is recognize that the Border Patrol needs additional staffing. They need additional equipment. They need additional technology. ","speaker_name":"SILVESTRE REYES","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1215,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090140168,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"fornia. Mr. Chairman. I raise a point of order against section 536. page 62. lines 1 through 17. This provision violates House rule XXI. clause 2. which prohibits legislation in a general appropriations bill. Section 536 requires the Department of Homeland Security to issue security requirements for chemical facilities that the Department deems highest risk within 6 months of enactment of the bill. This constitutes legislation on an appropriations bill and is therefore in violation of clause 2. rule XXI. The Committee on Homeland Security is actively engaged in developing comprehensive legislation to address the issue of chemical site security. and section 536 would undermine the committees efforts to provide commonsense riskbased solutions to the problem.","speaker_name":"DANIEL LUNGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":766,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090140179,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman. I appreciate his -staff and the subcommittee working with us. I think this will make us run better. more costeffective. put more people online and less people in the TSA bureaucracy that has been created. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JOHN MICA","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":289,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090140196,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"TPS status was granted to Honduran and Nicaraguan nationals at the end of 1998 following Hurricane Mitch. The administration recently extended TPS for the sixth time. Temporary dislocations caused by Hurricane Mitch have long since ended. TPS status for Salvadoran nationals was granted early in 2001 as a result of earthquakes hitting the region. The administration has extended TPS now four times. again. long after any temporary dislocations caused by earthquakes have ended. These extensions cover approximately 225.000 Salvadorians. 75.000 Hondurans and 4.000 Nicaraguans. Last December. several Members including Chairman SENSENBRENNER urged the administration to reject Guatemalas request for yet another extension of TPS for its nationals present in the United States. The administration ignored this reasonable request. To be clear. I am not opposed to having the ability to grant TPS. but I hope you will support my amendment to defund these specific abuses of this important designation tool. which is meant to serve important legitimate temporary needs. not act as a rolling amnesty. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS TANCREDO","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2071,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090140223,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There are a total of 16 proposals that could be built along the northeast area. Those are all pending. 0] 2115 Some people just say that the marketplace will sort it out. but in fact it is the responsibility of public policy officials to provide for a much more rational approach. Past energy construction situations that operated on the premises that the market would sort it out. for instance. that some applicants would eventually blink and not continue with their building. have proved. out not to be true. Overcapacity and the attendant problems resulted from that. We can prevent an arbitrary intrusion into some of our Nations most productive fishing grounds if we can prevent the unnecessary degradation of valuable ocean treasures.. We can present the potential navigational problems and the possible excessive security costs if we plan. if we get it right. if we forego this ad hoc approach. In the end if we follow a rational and regional siting process. it will expedite the introduction of new energy in the area. Public support will be much more likely. Litigation will be less likely. And legislative intervention or administrative interruption may be obviated. ","speaker_name":"JOHN TIERNEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3305,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090140228,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Expansion of expedited removal has resulted in significant declines in the amount of apprehensions of other nationalities. However. due to the special treatment afforded to Salvadorans. their apprehensions have continued to rise. This injunction is no longer warranted. El Salvador has been a country at peace since 1992. Under current expedited removal process. aliens are not automatically entitled to such a hearing and are immediately placed in the removal proceedings. In 2005. over 39.000 Salvadorans were apprehended. and current estimates suggest out of every one caught. four to five Salvadoran illegals penetrate our borders.","speaker_name":"JOHN DOOLITTLE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1447,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090140267,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that it may be in order at any time on Wednesday. June 7. 2006. for the Speaker to declare a recess. subject to the call of the Chair. for the purpose of receiving in joint meeting Her Excellency Vaira VikeFreiberga. President of Latvia.","speaker_name":"MIKE ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":274,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090140303,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we have an old saying around the courthouse. the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expect different results. We have tried a bill just like the one that the Senate sent over to us. It is headed our way that they just passed back in 1986. And President Reagan. a man who never lacked in the courage to speak the truth. called it what it was. an amnesty bill. That amnesty bill resulted in 15 million additional illegal immigrants coming into the United States. It was a plum that said. come on up here. boys. the water is fine. Now. why in the world would we ever think that the same exact program would bring any different results? I join my colleagues. both of my colleagues here in totally opposing amnesty. Amnesty is not a solution to this problem. It is the problem. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CARTER","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":31.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3940,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090140304,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Texas. and we always have such interesting conversations because within my 7th District of Tennessee I have Williamson County. Tennessee. and it is so interesting because my constituents. whether they are in Shelby County or Chester County or Henderson County or Montgomery County or Williamson County. they are saying secure the border first. secure the border. no amnesty at all whatsoever in any way. shape or form.","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":458,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090140319,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Kavanaugh is the right choice for this vacancy. He is a very bright young lawyer and he has some impressive credentials. He may well be ready for appointment to a district court judgeship. But his record does not give me confidence that he is ready to serve on the District of Columbia Circuit. widely seen as the second highest court in the land. Mr. Kavanaugh has written * almost nothing that we can look to for a sense of his judicial philosophy. of his judgment. of his temperament. In addition. so much of his career after clerking has been spent in partisan political positions that it is certainly legitimate to wonder whether he can be fair and impartial in a judicial role. Partisan political work does not necessarily disqualify someone from taking the bench. As has been pointed out. many very good appellate or Supreme Court judges held political posts. But most held other positions as well that demonstrated the capacity for independence. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5959,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090140325,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As a result. DC Circuit judges sit in a unique position to judge Government actions that affect our lives in fundamental ways. Mr. Kavanaughs slim. partisan record gives me no confidence he is the right person to assume this awesome responsibility. In the 113 years since the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit was established in 1893. 54 judges have sat on the court. Only three of those judges came to the court with less experience than Kavanaugh. DC Circuit judges have averaged over 26 years of legal ecperience at the time of their appointment to the DC Circuit. Mr. Kavanaugh. in contrast. graduated from law school a mere 16 years ago. It is not just Mr. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11908,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090140334,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But recent revelations about the warrantless surveillance program have raised serious questions: questions about the\" integrity of surveillance programs that may have sidestepped the law. questions about a decision at the highest level to keep most members of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee in the dark about these programs. and questions about whether a candid reformer has become a cheerleader for this administration. I discussed my concerns with Hayden during the confirmation hearing. and he promised to \"speak truth to power.\" I take him at his word. but the proof will be in his deeds. I have no question about General Haydens commitment to the mission of the intelligence community. He has worked in almost every aspect of collecting and analyzing intelligence. But his expertise is technical intelligence. known as signals intelligence. SIGINT. and the CIA is our Nations lead agency for human intelligence. HUMINT. These two disciplines have very different challenges. different technology. and different cultures. Many have asked if a SIGINT expert is the right choice to lead a HUMINT agency. General Hayden addressed this question in our hearing. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA MIKULSKI","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6738,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090140341,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He also brings with him the experience of leading an organization in transformation when he was at the National Security Agency. Today the CIA is in transformation to position itself from the preeminent intelligence organization during the Cold War to becoming an intelligence organization focused on new threats and national security issues such as countering terrorism. preventing countrieq such as Iran and North Korea from obtaining nuclear weapons. and protecting Americas interests in Asia. Latin America. and elsewhere. General Hayden will face challenges as he continues this transformation to ensure that the CIA continues to be the world class organization it must be to address these threats. This means continuing efforts to replace the old. risk adverse system that was not positioned to address the threats we are facing now and may face in the future. It also means ensuring the Agency does not reverse course by infusing ideas that previously opposed change. information sharing. or oversight. Throughout his career. General Hayden has proven his management and leadership abilities. He will provide the enthusiastic and dedicated officers at CIA the \"top cover\" necessary for them to undertake the. innovative approaches to intelligence gathering that is required to penetrate the hard targets of today. and I am confident he .will be able to keep the CIA moving on the right course. Finally. ","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3460,"word_count":221}
{"speech_id":1090140346,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in several crucial respects. the CIA today is in disarray. and fixing our premier intelligence agency must be a top priority. The CIA must become as effective as we need it to be in- combating terrorism and in serving all of our national security interests. The keys to a strong and competent CIA are the independence and proficiency of its leadership. I had a lengthy private discussion with General Hayden in deciding how I would vote on his confirmation. Our discussion confirmed the confidence that I have long had in General Haydens professionalism and competence. I remain outraged about the controversial domestic surveillance initiatives that the NSA has overseen at the White Houses. direction. but the fact remains that President Bush and Vice President CHENEYnot General Haydenwere the \"deciders\" in ordering this surveillance of Americans. with thenWhite House Counsel Gonzales acting in his capacity to validate a program that was structured and operated outside the checks and balances of existing law. The CIA right now is in desperate need of professionalism after the debacle of the Agencys outgoing leadership. and my discussions with General Hayden have led me to conclude that he has the competence. the experience. and the independence to serve capably in helping to repair the damage that has been done to the Agency. I will vote for his confirmation.","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1388,"word_count":224}
{"speech_id":1090140367,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He understands that Idahos diversifying economy and unique resources require a dynamic mix of natural resource protection. appropriate rural economic development. and smooth integration of scientific advancements. educational research. and business knowhow. Following the wildfires of 2000. Dirk worked with his fellow Governors and Federal officials to help bring a new approach to forest health and wildfire management. Under his leadership. Idaho has established effective and wellreceived wolf and grizzly -bear management plans aimed at enhancing the States responsibilities as Federal management is removed. There is no question in my mind that Dirk Kempthorne will make a superlative Secretary and establish a proud and esteemed legacy. and I congratulate him on this remarkable achievement and high honor. -","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CRAPO","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3986,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090140390,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. thank you. and I thank my good friend from West Virginia. I know what he is going to speak on. The person he is going to speak about was a great person. a person I very much admired. as I admire the Senator from West Virginiaa wonderful relationship. wonderful. wonderful. It is a model for so many of us in the Senate and the country. I thank my very good friend. . I","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":383,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090140393,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the distinguished Senator from Montana. Mr. BAUCUS. for that lovely thought to which he refers by the great poet Longfellow. in his alluding to our former fellow colleague. Lloyd Bentsen. I thank the Senator from Montana for speaking as he has about our late former colleague. Lloyd Bentsen. Lloyd and I served in the House together. too. We had a great admiration for him there. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":647,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090140402,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I appreciate from my heart the kind words of my dear friend. Senator MITCH MCCONNELL. from our neighboring State of Kentucky. I am not sure that I was means to have all these blessings. but I am sure of one thing: Erma was the perfect woman. the greatest woman I have ever met. And today I have no doubt that she is in Heaven. I also have no doubt that I can meet her. Let me thankagain my friend. MITCH MCCONNELL. How lovely were his words. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":504,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090140407,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wish to add one comment to Senator MCCONNELL about Senator BYRDs comments about his holy marriage. a marriage which has inspired every person and every couple who is familiar with Robert and Erma Byrd. My wife Barbara and I have been here now for 28 years. When we came here. we noted right away this wonderful love affair between Robert and his beloved wife Erma. Many things that Senator BYRD does inspires every one of us in the Senatehis love of this institution. his passionate commitment to this institution. and all the unique features of it. his love affair with the constitution of the United States. But I guess as powerful and potent as those two commitments are and remain and always will in his heart and in our hearts. hopefully. his relationship with his wonderful. extraordinary wife Erma tops them all. I thank him for that inspiration and thank him for all those other things that he does which help to keep this body. this unique body in the history of the world. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1018,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090140423,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The bill has 26 Senate cosponsors. In February. the administration proposed reauthorizing the law for only 5 years while cutting funding by 60 percent and funding that reduced portion with a controversial Federal land sale scheme. In response. Senator BAUCUS proposed a sensible. alternative funding source for county payments. a proposal which I was pleased to cosponsor. Our legislation fully funds county payments by ensuring that a portion of Federal taxes are withheld from payments by the Federal Government to government contractors. The Federal Government currently does not withhold taxes when it pays government contractors. Recently. however. over my objections. Congress approved a major tax bill that uses the Baucus proposal to instead provide tax cuts for this countrys most fortunate few. This lack of regard for the historic obligations of the Federal Government to rural counties severs a vitally important funding lifeline to communities throughout the country. I will hold this nomineeand many nominees coming after him. if need beuntil the administration finds an acceptable way to fund county payments.","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2066,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090140429,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As a former educator and principal. I know firsthand of the countless hours that go into creating curricula. and it makes me proud to see outstanding teachers receive recognition for their hard work. Gregg. who received both his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. my alma mater. has also been recognized as the Nike Teacher of the Year. Hawaii Middle School Physical Education Teacher of the Year. and the recipient of the Ola Pono. which is Hawaiis Drug Free Award. I would also like to recognize Kay Bicoy of Pearl City High School. who was named the Southwest District High School Physical Educator of the Year by NASPE. This was the first time that a public school teacher from the state of Hawaii was selected as a district award recipient. and it is with immense pride that I recognize not only one. but two teachers from my home State for such an accomplishment. The dedication of Gregg and Kay to their field and to the children of Hawaii are undeniable. I congratulate them both not only for these outstanding recognitions. but especially for their dedication to educating the youth from the state of Hawaii. and I wish them the very best in their future endeavors.*","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2096,"word_count":210}
{"speech_id":1090140440,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. NELSON of Nebraska. Mr. CRAIG.","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3148,"word_count":6}
{"speech_id":1090140446,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today once again with my friend and colleague Senator MCCONNELL to introduce legislation to renew the ban on all imports from Burma for another year. Our legislation also amends the original Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003 to allow the sanctions to be renewed. one year at a time. for up to 6 years. It is critical that the Congress and the administration send a strong signal to the military junta. the State Peace and Development Council. that our resolve has not weakened and we are still committed to a free and democratic Burma. Unless the SPDC makes \"substantial and measurable progress\" towards a true national dialogue on national reconciliation and recognition of the results of the 1990 electionsdecisively won by the National League for Democracythe import ban must remain in place. Let us review the facts. Aung San Suu Kyi. Nobel Peace Prize recipient and leader of the National League for Democracy. remains under house arrest. She has spent the better part of the past 16 years imprisoned or under house arrest. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5439,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090140447,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"DC 205106150. For further information. please contact Clint Williamson at (202) 2247556 or Steve Waskiewicz at (202) 2286195.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":920,"word_count":18}
{"speech_id":1090140664,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I find it simply astonishing that with the very limited time we have remaining in this congressional session this Senate finds itself failing to spend its time debating education. affordable health care. veterans. gas and energy prices. job creation. or the exploding Federal budget deficit and instead. as part of what can only be viewed as an extraordinarily cynical political charade. we will devote our time to debate the marriage protection amendment. an amendment to our national Constitution that has been overwhelmingly defeated in the past and which continues to be opposed from groups ranging from liberal to the far right libertarian. as well as by religious organizations. including my own ELCA Lutheran Church. Could it be that there are those who do not want to talk about the real issues facing American families because their inaction has resulted in collapsing poll numbers and declining public support and they now feel a desperate need to change the subject? The lengths that some people will go to pander on this issue is. frankly. shameful. There are ads currently running in my State claiming that I must not care about children having a mother and a father. How foolish. How sad. My wife Barbara. a social worker. and I will celebrate our 37th wedding anniversary tomorrow. We have three wonderful children and three beloved young grandchildren. Barbara and I are both former Sunday school teachers. and we have each in our own way devoted our careers to public service which advances the interests of families and particularly of childrenand decent wages and farm incomes. affordable health care. affordable housing. high quality and affordable education. a truly profamily Tax Code. opposition to budget deficits which will have to be paid by our children and our grandchildren. advancing the cause of adoptions. advancing the programs which serve the needs of lowincome expectant mothers and their early childhood needs. ","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4490,"word_count":316}
{"speech_id":1090140672,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The next generation after that is brought forth and the generation preceding them is cared for or nurtured. That has been our fundamental structure. It hasnt been a structure of Government where we say we will have a whole bunch of Government out here to take care of people. Basically. what we say is: We will have a whole bunch of families out here to take care of people. And when that doesnt work. we will have Government support the structure and support the people who fall through the cracks. We will try to help as much as we can. We will try to help families as much as we can. and that is why we try to offer help for marriages. That is why we try to give advantages to marriages. so that that is the best structure that we know of that has been created to raise children. the next generation. The problem we have in front of us is the institution of marriage has been weakened. and the effort to redefine it on this vast social experiment that we have going on. redefining marriage differently than it has ever been defined before. this effort of this vast social experiment. the early data that we see from other places. harms the institution of the family. the raising of the next generation. And it is harmful to the future of the Republic. ","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10790,"word_count":233}
{"speech_id":1090140675,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the Senator from Kansas for his remarks. During several hearings we both participated in. we have heard about how a healthy marriage benefits children. how it benefits a community and the foundation of society. Dont you feel that if we dont preserve the definition of marriage. somehow or other we make marriage less relevant. and when you make it less relevant. then I think it is easier to have higher divorce rates and easier to have a dysfunctional family because the real importance of a family is lost.","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":516,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090140688,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I want to address a couple other issues on this marriage amendment and at the same time urge my colleagues who want to speak on this particular amendment to come to the Senate so we can have as fulsome debate as possible. If any Member comes to the floor. I will yield to them so they can get a chance to put their information forward. There has been a developing body of thought. and I think this is a very important one to look at. the issue of religious freedom that develops from redefining marriage. I have entered into the RECORD already an article by Maggie Gallagher catching quite a bit of interest because it is of particular concern. I will develop this more fully. It is becoming increasingly apparent that samesex marriage poses a significant threat to religious liberties. Scholars on both the left and the right agree that samesex marriage has raised the specter of the massive and protracted battle over religious freedom. ","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6552,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090140702,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He believed in what he was doing and knew that the Lord was going to be with him.\" In an email to the pastor. Lance Corporal Leusink had written. \"I know where I am going. I enlisted for a reason. and that was to make a difference.\" We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Lance Corporal Leusink for his sacrifice. I am greatly saddened by his passing but deeply proud and grateful for what he gave for America. His loss remains tragic but he died a true patriot.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1903,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090140707,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He became publisher in 1948 and stayed in that job for 38 years. There was much more to his career there than the events of 1957. and to fill in those details I ask that his obituary from the DemocratGazette be printed after my remarks. Arkansas is much the better for his voice in a time of crisis and his many other contributions at the helm of the Gazette for so many years. The material follows. [From the Arkansas DemocratGazette. May 30. 2006]","speaker_name":"MARK PRYOR","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2512,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090140718,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I further ask unanimous consent that following the vote. the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S.J. Res. 1. with the time controlled as follows: 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. under the control of the majority. 12 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. under the control of the minority. 2:15 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. equally divided between the majority and the minority. 2:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.. minority control. 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.. majority control. 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.. minority control. 5 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.. majority control. 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.. minority control. I further ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in recess from 12:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. to accommodate the weekly policy luncheons.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":696,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090140725,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this morning we have set aside some debate time in executive session for the consideration of Renee Bumb to be U.S. district judge for New Jersey. Following those statements. we will vote at around 10:20 a.m. on the confirmation of that nomination. Immediately after the vote. we will resume debate on the motion to proceed to the Marriage Protection Amendment. We reserved blocks of time throughout the session for Members to come to the Senate to give their remarks on the marriage amendment. The Senate will recess. as usual on Tuesdays. from 12:30 to 2:15 for our weekly policy luncheons. I remind our colleagues. I filed a cloture motion on the motion to proceed to the Marriage Protection Amendment. That vote will occur on Wednesday. Later today. we will alert all Members as to the precise timing of that cloture vote on the marriage amendment which. as I indicated. will occur Wednesday.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":911,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090140736,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Judge Wigenton graduated from Norfolk State University and the MarshallWythe School of Law from the College of William and Mary. She has spent the last 8 years doing an exceptional job as a U.S. magistrate judge for the district ofNew.Jersey. and she will do an exceptional job in the district court. I look forward to working with Senator LAUTENBERG. the chair and ranking member of the Judiciary Committee. and the leadership in bringing the nominations of the other two nominees. Noel Hillman and Peter Sheridan. to the Senate floor for confirmation votes. This entire fournominee package is one that every New Jerseyan can and should be proud of. There truly is no higher calling than the calling of public- service. That is why I am pleased to see people of this quality who are willing to serve our Nation in the administration of justice. The confirmation of a judge to a lifetime appointment is a vital responsibility given to this body by the Constitution and one I take very seriously. I join my colleague. Senator LAUTENBERG. in support of Ms. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT MENENDEZ","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3121,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090140774,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank and congratulate the Senator from Colorado for his terrific work on this issue. as well as the Senator from Kansas. Mr. BROWNBACK. for his great work in the committee in moving this constitutional amendment forward. This is a Very difficult debate f6r a lot of people. It is very hard. sort of sad in some respects. that we are here talking about the issue of marriage. that talking about marriage is somehow a difficult debate. But it is for a lot of people. I know in many meetings of our colleagues when the issue of marriage comes up. heads drop. It is an issue that people feel uncomfortable talking about. something that maybe in some respects they feel like. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11561,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090140785,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Reserving the right to object. and I will object. this issue is going to come up in front of the body on the overall energy situation. The Republican leadership is working on that. as well as on a stem cell compromise. as well as on the supplemental bill. which will be considered and brought forth in due order. This is not agreed to by the Republican leadership to come up. therefore. I do object.","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":399,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090140788,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Through the Chair. I ask if the Senator from Nevada is aware that the Gallup organization. which does polling across America. did a poll of 1.000 Americans in April which asked them the following question: What do you think is the most important problem facing America today? I would like to ask the Senator from Nevada if he knows where the issue of gay marriage came in oh this poll of Americans about the most important issues facing America today?","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":451,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090140812,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If I might ask through the Chair the Senator from Nevada. the Democratic leader. did we not attend the State of the Union Address just a few months ago when the President said. America was addicted to oil? It was the lead in all the stories the next day: America is addicted to oil. Then we saw the gasoline prices skyrocket causing all these hardships. I ask the Senator from Nevada: Have we received a proposal from this White House. from this administration since that famous State of the Union Address suggesting how we can change Americas energy policies to make us less dependent on foreign oil. to protect American consumers and businesses. to punish profiteering. to promote the kind of energy innovation which will lead to conservation. efficiency. less pollution. and less dependence on foreign oil? Have we heard that kind of leadership from the White House to contrast with what the Presih dent called for that we spend this week on a constitutional amendment which has no chance of passing?","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1003,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090140813,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is a matter of priorities. I say to my friend. a matter of priorities. what is important to this administration. Obviously. it is not gas prices. Obviously. it is not college tax deduction. Obviously. it is not this debt. I say to my friend. even in our conversation this morning. we havent -talked about the stagnant debt. And remember. in the last 3 years of the Clinton administration. the national debt was paid down by half a trillion dollars approximately. What do we have here? Red ink as far as you can see. Have we heard anything from the President to lower this debt?","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":580,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090140842,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I stand in strong support of this proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution to uphold and affirm traditional marriage. Several years ago. when folks who were focused on the health of marriage and the upbringing of children from around the country gathered to begin to attack this problem. they came to the Congress with the idea of proposing a constitutional amendment. They went to certain Members of both the House and Senate. Republicans and Democrats. I was in the House at the time. and I was honored that I was one of the four House Republicansthere were eight House Members in all. four Republicans and four Democratswhom these leaders approached to be original coauthors of this constitutional amendment. I immediately agreed and have been very involved in the debate and the fight ever since then. I am very happy to bring this work to the Senate with so many other leaders such as Senator ALLARD. who has been leading the effort for some time. ","speaker_name":"DAVID VITTER","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5138,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090140844,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I was proud to join the majority of my fellow citizens in supporting the adoption of Utahs measure to protect traditional marriage. Seven more States will vote on their amendments this year. Yet. for those opposed to this amendment. these constituent concerns are not worth our time. I disagree. Yesterday the distinguished Democratic leader came to the floora dear friend of minewith a laundry list of issues thatwe could be addressing instead of this amendment. Along with the Democratic whip. he did so again today. Ultimately. I think we are capable of chewing gum and walking at the same time. In 2 days. we will be taking up floor time to debate a bill to create a racebased government for the State of Hawaii. I will not hold my breath waiting for these same folks to argue then that we should be discussing more pressing issues. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12128,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090140858,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Lets be clear about what this debate is really about. It is a blatant effort to deny some members of our society the right to receive the same benefits and protections that married couples now have. Like this Senates intrusion into the Terry Schiavo case. it is a cynical attempt to score political points by overriding state courts and intruding into individuals private lives and most personal decisions. Its the politics of prejudice and division at its worst. Make no mistakea vote in support of this amendment has nothing to do with the \"protection of marriage.\" A vote for it is a vote against civil unions. against domestic partnerships. and against all other efforts by States to treat gays and lesbians fairly under the law. Its a vote to impose discrimination on all 50 Statds. and to deny them their right to write and interpret their own State constitutions and State laws. Its a vote to deny States the right to define what marriage equality means. Marriage is a solemn commitment to plan a future together. to share in lifes celebrations. to be there as a source of comfort to ease lifes burdens and pains. This impacts real families with reallife struggles. When the citizens of a State have decided to recognize those familiesthrough their State constitution or State lawsthe Senate has no business undermining their personal. private decisions. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10070,"word_count":229}
{"speech_id":1090140872,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"She says. \"waiting lists render that care virtually inaccessible.\" Our soldiers who are serving in a 24\/ 7 war in Iraq deserve to have mental health care when they come home. They are not getting it today. and the Senate is not dealing with that issue. I think we can do a lot better. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":303,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090140893,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Many legal experts believe this amendment would do just that. The language in the second sentence of the amendment is ambiguous. It is ambiguous. at best. stating that: Neither this Constitution. nor the constitution of any State. shall be. construed to require that marriage or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon any union other than the union of a man and a woman. Now. some on the other side have argued that the amendment would still allow for legal unions passed by State legislatures. not just those instituted by the courts. However. when similar amendments were passed in States such as Michigan. Ohio. and Utah. domestic violence law and health care plans for couples. both gay and straight. were taken away. So we know it has an effect. I believe to put this on the Constitution. if it were to prevai. if it were to be ratified by threequarters of the States. it is very likely all domestic partnerships and domestic unions of any civil kind would be wiped out. as well. That does not make any sense at all. States are well able to handle the issue of marriage on their own without the heavy hand of the Federal Government intervening. in peoples private lives. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8194,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090140899,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"New York. and Washington have overturned laws or amendments protecting marriage. and a Federal judge in Nebraska invalidated a State amendment prohibiting samesex marriage. I have long thought that it was the role of the judiciary to \"interpret the law. not make the law. However. these activist judges across the country have taken it upon themselves to make laws that. in many cases. redefine the definition of marriage. These judges have taken it upon themselves to make decisions reserved for State legislatures who have worked to be responsive to their constituencies and to define marriage in the traditional sense. The difference is that these activist judges do not have to be responsive to anyone and are accountable to no one. Abraham Lincoln reminded us in the Gettysburg Address that we have a government of the people. by the people. and for the people. Activist judges. accountable to no one. should not be allowed to govern this country. The basic foundation of our Constitution does not invest total control in the judiciary. It is not government by the judiciary. rather. it is a government by the people. On this issue. the people have spoken and will speak again. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SHELBY","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4390,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090140907,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There has been no support in the Senate. no support in the House of Representatives or the Statelegislatures for such actions. This new marriage concept has been rejected bylegislative branches all over the Nation and has been rejected in. I think. 19 statewide votes. averaging about 70 percent each time. These social activists have always known they have no chance to get elected officials to adopt their concept of marriage. It will not be voted in. So they have looked through the Constitution and decided their goal could only be achieved by arguing before activist judges that denying samesex couples the right to marry is a denial of the constitutional guarantee of due process or equal protection or ideas such as that. The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts flatly agreed with those lawyers. This court declared that the constitution of Massachusetts. adopted in 1780. requires that samesex unions be given the same recognition as a union of a man and a woman. They found that a constitutional requirement. This is activism. pure and simple. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11682,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090140922,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. among the beautiful. rollinggreen hills of northern West Virginia is a little town with a big history. I am speaking of the town of West Union. the county seat of Doddridge County. Once a center for railroading and other forms of transportation. as well as oil drilling. coal mining. and and other forms 7of businesses and manufacturing. West Union was an important and thriving commercial center in the late nineteenth century. Unfortunately. like too many small towns in West Virginia and across the country. West Union has fallen into some hard times. Nevertheless. West Union retains its rich and colorful history. Indeed. the entire downtown district of West Union has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4045,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090140923,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He once said. \"the experience of those years taught me the most valuable lessons of my life: that I would never achieve any real success without an education.\" He enlisted in the U.S. Navy at the age of 17. earning a GED. certificate. After his discharge. Dick realized his dream of an education by graduating from Bradley University in Peoria through the GI bill. receiving a B.S. in speech education in 1962. Dick remained in Peoria to work on TV and radio programs before getting his big break as the news director of WFRVTV in Green Bay. WI. After 3 years in the \"Dairy State.\" he relocated to Chicago in 1968 as a producer and writer for WMAQNBC 5. He was tested immediately. as one of his first assignments was the tumultuous 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Within 2 years. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3149,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090140924,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And the breadth of his experiences will be an important asset as lie assumes his new responsibilities. The Commissioner of Customs serves in a critical and demanding role. The Commissioner of Customs must ensure that the dual demands of securing our borders and facilitating the smooth flow of international trade are each fully met. As part of his confirmation process Mr. Basham appeared before the Finance Committee. which I chair. During his hearing. I was impressed with Mr. Bashams appreciation of the importance of maintaining an appropriate balance in meeting those dual demands. More broadly. the Commissioner of Customs head6 a bureau of over 40.000 employees. Those Government employees are on the front line for enforcing laws related to over 40 agencies. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2129,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090140925,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Afghanistan. Hurricane Katrina recovery. and Sudan. which should be completed this weekand I hope we can find the time to pass itcontains additional funds to support the current level of peacekeepers in .Darfur through the remainder of this year. This will help. but twice that amount is needed. The supplemental also provides additional funds for food and other humanitarian aid. It should shame the White House and the Congress to reflect on the fact that we know we are not doing enough. We also provide funds to support a Presidential special envoy for Sudan. to work in pursuit of peace in Darfur and stability throughout Sudan. northern Uganda. and Chad: We need someone of the caliber of Senator Danforth to be working continuously to help solve the Darfur crisis. A tragedy like this is bigger than any of us as individuals. but it is not too big if we join together in constructive actionas individuals. as private relief organizations. and as nations. AmericA is a great and good nation with the power to help stop this. But it will take sustained attention. and it will take the efforts of committed citizens like Brian Banks and Ben Rome who. one by one. are opening the worlds eyes to a tragedy that must be stopped.","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3369,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090140928,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"A key component to the defense against HIV\/AIDS -is access to cuttingedge pharmaceutical treatments. These lifesaving medications are. often so expensive that they remain out of reach to lowincome and uninsured individuals. ADAP bridges that gap and provides antiretroviral drugs and important medical care to over 150.000 people each year. Unfortunately. ADAPs historical underfunding has accumulated to a point where almost $200 million is needed to meet outstanding need in the program. Congress must commit the necesgary resources to meet the entire demand for ADAPs services. We cannot afford to lose the ground we have gained in the fight against HIV\/AIDS by restricting access to critical pharmaceutical treatments. As successful as ADAP has been at keeping individuals healthy and productive. critical gaps in our approach to HIV treatment and prevention remain. For example. HIV positive individuals have access to treatment under Medicaid only after they have developed fullblown AIDS. ","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5395,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090140931,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Jacobs of Hillsboro. a promoter of the townsite. Others say it was named for a pioneer settler in the area. The post office was established February 15. 1883. Jure 6. 2006 and George A. Swaren was the first postmaster. Today. Clifford remains a small but vibrant community. The town organizes a -senior citizens league and a 4H club. and has a very profitable farmers. cooperative. The Traill Rural Water Company. housed in Clifford. helps to provide. water for irrigation for all of Traill County. The community has come together in recent years to fix up the town spaces. making it a destination to be proud of. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1851,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090140935,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"David Satcher to convene a conference in 1999 that examined the mental health needs of children. The conferencecomposed of some of the Nations* leading experts in mental and public healthpublished a seminal report that concluded that \" . . . the burden of suffering experienced by children with mental illness and their families has created a health crisis in this country.\" The report further concluded that \". . . there is broad evidence that the Nation lacks a unified infrastructure to help children suffering from mental illness.\" I would like to submit. for the RECORD personal testimony offered by three families in Connecticut. I believe their words and experiences speak most directly to the \"burden of suffering\" described in Surgeon General Satchers reporta burden endured by millions of children. adolescents. and then families nationwide. I ask unanimous consent that this testimony be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1878,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090140936,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"My colleague on the Health. Education. Labor. and Pensions Committee. Chairman ENZI. has indicated a desire to bring up the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reauthorization measure soon. It is my hope that this legislation can contribute to that reauthorization effort. I would .like to conclude by saying that this legislation. while comprehensive. is a first stepnot a complete solutiontowards fully meeting the challenge of ensuring the resiliency of our children and adolescents. We need to continue working togetheryoung people. families. doctors. counselors. nurses. teachers. advocates. and policymakerssince we all have a stake. either professional or personalin this issue. Only by wvorking together can we develop effective and compassionate ways through which every young person in this nation is given a solid foundation: upon which to reach his or her dreams in life. I ask unanimous consent that the text of this legislation be printed in","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10541,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090140942,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If the administrative center were to cease to exist. the effect on local congregations could be devastating. Just this month. police in Ivanovo. Russia. reportedly broke up an evangelical event where Bibles were being distributed and detained three members. Catholic parishes in the cities of Sochi and RostovonDon have also had difficulty with local officials in obtaining official permission to use their new church buildings. Concerning antiSemitism. on January 11 of this year a \"skinhead\" attacked worshipers with a knife and wounded eight persons in the Moscow Headquarters and Synagogue of Agudas Chasidei Chabad of the. Former Soviet Union. Thankfully. the Moscow City Court sentenced the attacker to 13 years in prison for attempted murder. However. a copycat attack that follpwed in RostovonDon was not handled as well. with the perpetrator only being charged with \"hooliganism\" and given 5 days administrative detention. I urge Russian authorities to be more consistent with their response to these heinous crimes. Another difficult situation is that of Muslim believers in Russia today. with officials often harassing communities practicing outside of government approved mosques. ","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4726,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090140989,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I further ask consent that the time from noon until 3 oclock be allocated for debate on the motion to proceed to H.R. 8. the death tax relief bill. with the time divided as follows: 12 to 12:30. majority control. 12:30 to 1. minority control. alternating between the two sides every 30 minutes until 3 oclock. I further ask consent that the time from 3 until 6 tomorrow afternoon be allocated for debate on the motion to proceed to S. 147. the Native Hawaiians bill. with the time divided as follows: 3 to 3:30. majority control. 3:30 to 4. minority control. alternating between the two sides every 30 minutes until 6 p.m.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":622,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090140991,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. tomorrow morning at 10:00. we will have a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the Marriage Protection Amendment. We have had a good debate during the last few days on that matter. It is my hope that cloture will be invoked in order to address this important issue. As a reminder to Members. as I indicated. we have a joint meeting in the House at 11 oclock to hear an address by the President of the Republic of Latvia. We will gather at 10:40 in the Chamber and proceed as a body to the House. After that is completed. we will dbate the motions to proceed to the death tax relief bill and the Native Ha.waiian bill. Moments ago. I filed cloture on both those motions. the death tax and Native Hawaiians. Those votes will be occurring sometime on Thursday.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":776,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090140996,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise to express my grave concerns about the level of funding for ADAP. the AIDS Drug Assistance Program. which is inadequate to support the more than 136.000 Americans currently A3365 dependent on ADAP for their lifesaving HIV\/AIDS medication. plus the 10.000 more who are likely to be added next year. The 6year historical ADAP underfunding is evident in the growing waiting lists. unacceptable eligibility rules and insufficient medication. Current initiatives emphasis testing. which. I agree. is critical to addressing this epidemic. However. as a doctor. I am troubled by the ethics of testing Americans for HIV when we are not guaranteeing them access to treatment. I am also disturbed that this underfunding will primarily impact lowincome. uninsured Americans who are disproportionately from communities of color. And as a Member of Congress. ","speaker_name":"DONNA CHRISTENSEN","chamber":"H","state":"VI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":1255,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090140998,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. everyone knows that on September 11. 2001. nearly 3.000 New Yorkers were killed in the attack on the World Trade Center and. of course. several hundred as well here in Washington at the Pentagon. Yet the Department of Homeland Security has chosen to cut both New York and Washington by 40 percent of Homeland security funds for this year. It is absolutely mindboggling and unbelievable and outrageous that New York and Washington would face these cuts. New Yorks money is scheduled to go down from $207.6 million in 2005 to $124.5 million in 2006. Now. to add insult to injury. we hear that the Department of Homeland Security is cutting New Yorks bioterrorism money 15 percent as well. so that in New York. per capita New York would receive $2.99 per resident to fight bioterrorism. while the good people of Wyoming would receive $9.72 cents per person to fight bioterrorism. and the good people of North Dakota would receive $8.09 per person to fight terrorism. .We all know the threat in North Dakota and Wyoming is not nearly as great as New York. What is Secretary Chertoff thinking? What are they thinking over there? Their policies and their thoughts need to change.","speaker_name":"ELIOT ENGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1186,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090141010,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I offer guy was an Iraqi spy. he flew to Bagh- an amendment. dad and walked out of the Green Zone The Acting CHAIRMAN. The Clerk and disappeared. This is a huge na- will designate the amendment. tional security problem. Mr. Chairman. The text of the amendment is as folAnd the problem is really systemic lows: throughout CIS. because their focus is Amendment offered by Ms. MATSUI: not on national security. but customer At the end of the bill (before the short service. title) insert the following: This agencys sole primary motiva- SEC. - None of the funds made available tion is on the convenience of the for- in this Act may be used to carry out the poleign national. to make sure that icy of the Department of Homeland Security H3368 cc that the riskbased formula used for purposes of the Urban Area Security Initiative does not take into account strategic defense considerations. local government assets that serve the military. proximity to international borders. presence of visitors to the -urban area. the presence of drug trafficking and other organized crime activities that relate to terrorism. or the catastrophic and cascading effects of an attack on critical infrastructure including dams and levees.","speaker_name":"JOHN CULBERSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5273,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090141045,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Yes. Mr. Chairman. I point out that the language of the amendment merely requires the Federal official administering these funds to comply with Federal law. A new duty is not required in the face of the amendment. and -because we are simply asking them to comply with current Federal law. I dont adjust that at all in this amendment. There is no policy change other than the requirement to comply with existing law that passed in 1996.","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":435,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090141047,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. having had that discussion. I think it does clarify this amendment significantly and that it is important for us to look across this Nation. Once the sanctuary cat got out of the bag some years ago and local governments began passing for their own local interests sanctuary policies that directly contravene the 1996 Federal law. city after city picked up this policy. and we have three States that also have sanctuary policies.. The result of these sanctuary policies has been that we have had people who have been into these cities who have been picked up for a number of reasons. whether they be for traffic violations. minor crime. assault. issues of that nature where they come in the course of contact with law enforcement. and because of the sanctuary policies. the officers have been prohibited from passing these individuals along to. at that time. the INS. and now the Department of Homeland Security for deportation. The result of that has been the death of at least one police officer in every major city in America. Not as a state.ment on the magnitude of this problem. but as samples of a magnitude that is far greater than that. we have got to have enforcement of.our immigration laws. American people are not going to accept an immigration policy that would cbme at them without enforcem ent of our laws and this is one way to demonstrate the will of this Congress. Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1443,"word_count":244}
{"speech_id":1090141055,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But the other side of this is that we have millions of American citizens that we need to attend to. And if we are going to enforce our laws. that argument will always be an argument that can come to this floor to make the case that we should not enforce them because it might intimidate people who are living beyond the law. Mr. Chairman. I ask support for this amendment. It is prudent. It is reasonable. It supports existing Federal law. Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1356,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090141064,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Guinea. and Venezuela are in that list. On the other hand. the vast majority of all westernized countries. including every single European country along with Israel and Japan. do not offer birthright citizenship. . 1445 In fact. Ireland in 2004 changed their law to no longer recognize birthright citizenship. The magnitude of the problem is. in fact. astounding. The Center for Immigration Studies found that illegal immigrants cost the United States taxpayer about $10.4 billion a year. A large part of that expense stems from the ba.bies born each year to illegal immigrants. In my State of Georgia. a normal. noncesarean section child delivery. with no complications. costs an average of $2.720. Born United States citizens. these children are eligible for all benefits of citizenship. including. but not limited to. education. Medicaid. and welfare. In one of their own publications. the Department of Homeland Security states: \"An industry has developed around this practice of crossing the border illegally specifically to give birth. with travel agents specializing in birth tours and clinics providing postnatal care. which includes transportation services. ","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2145,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090141065,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding. and I thank him for the leadership on this amendment. While I know there -is a question about a point of order. I think it is important to point out that this legislation is also in the form of a bill which has over 80 cosponsors. and as I look at this. one thing to keep in mind is that if you are flying in an airplane right now. regardless of the origination. regardless of the destination. if you pass the south tip of Florida or the extreme islands of Alaska. if you ate born while over those U.S. properties. you become an American citizen. which is an extremely liberal. broad policy in terms of granting one of the most precious things that we as Americans have and that is citizenship. Now. recently. the U.S. Senate passed a bill which probably is not going to get a lot of support in the House on either side of the aisle. but one of the big criticisms of it is that it grants citizenship too easily to people and the reason why that criticism is there is not because. okay. you have got 11 million people who may be here illegally and those would become citizens overnight. It is that once those 11 million become citizens. theypetition to have their mom. dad. cousin. brother. aunt brought in. So you actually have 11 million times three or 11 million times four. It depends on who is doing the calculation. ","speaker_name":"JACK KINGSTON","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2230,"word_count":254}
{"speech_id":1090141109,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman from Kentucky for his comments and appreciate his concerns regarding the wording and the accuracy thereof. and we look forward to working with him as this process moves forward. and I appreciate his support of the amendment. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":311,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090141127,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The program should never be used for pork spending. The formula I have been fighting for will benefit the areas that need it the most: those that fade threats like New York City. Boston. Philadelphia. San Diego. Washington. D.C.. Los Angeles and many others where we know real threats exist. This debate is not a -fight between rural and urban areas. and I would point out that I represent the 32nd most rural district in the country. and I know rural areas have essential infrastructure to protect as well. I learned from 9\/11 that urban and rural areas are linked in terms of economics. and. frankly. as Americans. we all have the same concerns. so we must look for productive investments from DHS. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SWEENEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1842,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090141139,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Today we could be addressing the pressing issues raised by my constituents and yours. But we are not. This resolution would provide for debate for H.R. 5254. This bill purports to address the problem we saw in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. the *vulnerability of Americas energy infrastructure to supply disruptions. Because of last years hurricanes. many refineries in the gulf are running at reduced capacity. or were knocked offline entirely. This tightened supplies and played a role in the rapid rise in gas prices. So there is an issue here for Congress to address. But there is some disagreement on exactly what the problem is. During debate on this bill. you will hear conflicting explanations for why no new refineries have been built in the United States since 1976. The majority might cite the environmental permitting process saying it has impeded the ability of companies to build new refineries. ","speaker_name":"DORIS MATSUI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6460,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090141141,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Once the regulatory work begins. if an agency slips behind schedule. the applicant may go to court to get the schedule restored. The bill also calls on the President to suggest that we use clpsed military bases as possible candidates for siting refineries. subject to local approval. H.R. 5254 explicitly preserves the letter and intent of all laws for environmental protection and public participation. and. for the first time. it gives priority to EPA in scheduling permit processing. But it also instills discipline and interagency teamwork into the system so that needless bureaucratic delay can be eliminated. Why do we need this bill? Witness after witness at our Energy and Commerce Committee hearings have testified to the shortage of refinery capacity in the United States. It is shocking to most Americans that we are importing more gasoline every day and that our domestic capacity to make gasoline is at its upper limits. This causes upward pressure on prices. which we all experience at each fillup. One reason that refinery capacity is so tight is the regulatory costs and uncertainty of permitting. We want to take that excuse off the table. But what we really want to do is open the U.S. market to new entrants who will refine traditional fuels and alternatives such as coaltoliquid and biofuels. both of which are set outin H.R. 5254. ","speaker_name":"RALPH HALL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4451,"word_count":225}
{"speech_id":1090141143,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlelady for yielding. Mr..Speaker. I rise in opposition to this rule and urge its defeat. It is sadly typical of the way this Republican House has operated that the members of the committee of jurisdiction. including the distinguished ranking member Mr. DINGELL. are not allowed to offered amendments during floor debate. I say that is typical. but it doesnt make it right. We need reform of the way this House is being run. Mr. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS ALLEN","chamber":"H","state":"ME","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2643,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090141149,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr: Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I will be asking Members to vote \"no\" on the previous question so I can amend this rule. closed rule. and allow the House to consider the BoucherDingell Strategic Refinery Reserve substitute. This substitute was offered in the Rules Committee when this rule was reported last month. but was blocked on a straight partyline vote. Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent to print the text of the amendment and extraneous materials immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.","speaker_name":"DORIS MATSUI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":550,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090141151,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. whatever position Members have on this legislation. they should vote against the previous question so we can consider a much better approach tb our Nations refinery shortage. The BoucherDingell substitute. which is identical to the text of H.R. 5365. will establish a strategic refinery reserve. This reserve would complement the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. It would provide a mubh needed safety net for this Nation during times when existing refineries are temporarily or even permanently unavailable. It would also be used to supply fuel to the Federal Government and the military during those times when oil production is not compromised. Vote \"no\" on the previous question so we can consider this important and responsible substitute. I want to make it very clear that a \"no\" vote will not stop us from considering H.R. 5254. but a \"yes\" vote will block consideration of the BoucherDingell substitute. Again. I urge all Members to vote \"no\" on the previous question. ","speaker_name":"DORIS MATSUI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1034,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090141176,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise to join my colleague from New York in expressing my extreme displeasure with the Department of Homeland Securitys recent announcement regarding Urban Area Security Initiative grants. The outcome of DHSs process defies common sense. I am hard pressed to understand how the National Capital Region. one of the regions deemed most at risk in the United States. should incur such a drastic reduction in funding. The nations capital bears a disproportionate burden in terms of homeland security costs and ensuring public safety needs. This region was one of two targets on September 11. it was the target of anthrax attacks and sniper shootings. To the best of my understanding. DHSs decision to reduce funding for the national capital area was based on the opinion that regions planning was inadequate. As of this date. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1730,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090141195,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Certainly. That is what I am doing. Madam Speaker. What happened was during the intervening period. after the unanimous consent was entered into. this formula was issued giving Members no opportunity other than this motion in order to make this point. that in order to have funds allocated where they are needed most. the Lowey motion is the only way to do it. If you vote yes on tabling this mo-. tion. you are voting to essentially sustain this allocation.","speaker_name":"ANTHONY WEINER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":458,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090141199,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I understand. The motion to recommit that we are voting on today that we are seeking to have an up or down vote on. I would say. would give us an opportunity to hear this. You dont need to raise the point of order. If you want to simply go vote to sustainthis ridiculous formula. vote on the Lowey amendment in an act of good faith that we showed by entering into the unanimous consent. That is why the point of order should be withdrawn.","speaker_name":"ANTHONY WEINER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":453,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090141249,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I look forward to working with the gentleman to clarify the rules. It is very important that broadcasters know precisely what the rules are. We can do a better job. We are taking the Senate legislation as it was passed. I think we had some better language in the House. I look forward to working with you and other Members on both sides of the aisle to make this a bipartisan effort and lay those ground rules out so everyone. whether it is listeners or broadcasters. knows precisely .the rules of the road and hopefully will not get into trouble for it. I thank the gentleman for his input all along in the process.","speaker_name":"FRED UPTON","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":629,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090141256,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. most of us remember Super Bowl XXXVIII. but not for the reason that most of us Houstonians would like. The game was a great showcase for Houston and one of the best in Super Bowl history. The New England Patriots edged out the Carolina Panthers by a score of 32 to 29 in a wild fourth quarter that ended with an Adam Vinatieri field goal with four seconds left. Unfortunately. Americans remember that game for the offensive halftime show featuring Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson. Performers can do whatever they like on their albums. or on subscription services like HBO. and as a Member of Congress I swore an oath to uphold the Constitution and protect all Americans First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and expression. But public obscenity purely designed to shock people has no place on primetime broadcast television using the publics airwaves. Almost every American home has a television and there is nothing a parent can do to protect against indecency on broadcast radio or television. American families should have the right to watch the Super Bowl without expecting indecent performances. and the current FCC fines were clearly not a deterrent. ","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2193,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090141258,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"CBS and NBC refused to run a 30second ad from the United Church of Christ because it suggested that gay couples were welcome to their church. and the networks felt that it was \"too controversial\" to air. This is how free speech dies: with the pruning of selfsatisfied politicians and the whimpering of fearful citizens. These are just a few examples that occurred before this illconceived bill has even been signed into law. Broadcasters will certainly increase these practices and bite their tongues when \"decency\" enforcers can slap them with a $325.000 fine. multiplied by numerous stations. How much farther down the slippery slope of censorship will we slide? Even more galling is that this freespeech assault is coming from a mere fragment of the public. one organizationthe Parents Television Councilrepresenting the religious right and their far rightwing political agenda. This organization. which is responsible for 99.9 percent of the socalled indecency complaints filed with the FCC. boasts \"nearly 1 million members.\" True or not. while that may be a sizable number for an individual organization. when compared to the almost 300 million people currently living in the United States. it really amounts to a small handful of peopleless than one percent. Why should this tiny population of scolds be allowed to censure what the remaining 99.66 percent of us listen to? It is not for this Congress to put limits on free speech. The public decides what they want to listen to and what they want to hear. They can change the channel. they can change the station. they can turn it off. It is not just speech that we agree with and we think is right that we have to tolerate. ","speaker_name":"GARY ACKERMAN","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3508,"word_count":283}
{"speech_id":1090141275,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I actually have no additional speakers. and so I would yield back the balance of my time. by urging our entire body to follow as we seem to be in unanimity here this evening discussing this legislation that we adopt this resolution unanimously in the House as well.","speaker_name":"LOIS CAPPS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":278,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090141282,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Second. engage in weightbearing exercise. Third. dont smoke or drink too much. Fourth. talk to your doctor about bone health. And fifth. have your bone density tested and take medication as directed by a physician. The activities of National Osteoporosis Awareness and Prevention Month encourage Americans to take the proper steps to protect themselves from osteoporosis. including talking with their health care professionals about their bone health. Mr. Speaker. I urge my colleagues to support this important resolution. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2628,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090141283,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Unfortunately. too many people are not at all aware that osteoporosis can be prevented through diet and exercise. both of which help maintain bone density. Research clearly shows us that the earlier women think about maintaining their bone mass and take the steps to do so. the better their health will be in the long run. And you know. these arent difficult steps to take. Proper diet. including calcium. proper exercise. are good for very many reasons. but knowing that at the same time you are making yourself. healthy. you are also preventing osteoporosis is an important message to get out to everyone. So I encourage the public to take advantage of National Osteoporosis Awareness and Prevention Month by speaking to their health care providers about their risks. and encouraging health care providers to proactively address this subject with their patients. I proudly support this resolution. and I encourage my colleagues to do the same. I now invite my colleague. Ms. BERKLEY. about whom I was speaking. who has now arrived. to speak for as long as she may wish to. 3 minutes or whatever.","speaker_name":"LOIS CAPPS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2150,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090141309,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I share the concerns regarding the budget shortfall at the FAA and the need to free up funds to modernize our air traffic control system. But I do not think that forcing both parties back to the table to agree to a contract will undermine those goals in any way. shape. or form. When the talks between the parties reached an impasse. the controllers were offering $1.4 billion in cost savings. Let me repeat that: they were offering $1.4 billion in cost savings. I believe that if the parties were to return to the table. consensus would be reached in a very short period of time. Congress should encourage both parties to continue to negotiate and not allow the FAA to unilaterally impose their last offer. Mr. Speaker. I urge all of my colleagues to support this good piece of legislation.","speaker_name":"FRANK LOBIONDO","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1338,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090141310,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"KNOLLENBERG was on his way. He is an appropriator and oversees appropriations and was to speak against Mr. LATOURETTES proposal. But what happens here. Members of Congress. Mr. Speaker. is. quite simply put. H.R. 5449 pulls the rug out from underneath actually our entire national aviation system and the whole funding process when we can least deal with it. Airport projects. and Members should be aware of this. when you have- to put 1.9. and I asked the attorneys from FAA. is this enough. at bay for a number of years. and they said. it will probably be double that figure that will be put at bay. I have right now $1.9 billion. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MICA","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2598,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090141318,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. Iyield 30 seconds to myself to make a point. The gentleman from Florida just stated that they are paying these people over $200.000 on average. and I have to tell you that I do not believe that to be an accurate statement. I would just suggest to the gentleman that if you think about over $200.000 a year on average. and I think that is very inisleading. Mr. Speaker. I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. JACK-","speaker_name":"JERRY COSTELLO","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":439,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090141319,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. let me thank the distinguished gentleman from Illinois for his leadership along with the gentlewoman from New York. I rise to have hopefully supported 4755. but I support H.R. 5449. simply to give air traffic controllers the right to return to the bargaining table. But I really want Americans to learn as we sit here. stand here and debate this question. the airways of America are safe in the hands of sacrificing air traffic controllers who sit under the most intense. stressful occupations that you can ever have. Let us not go back to the busting of these wonderful hardworking Americans. such was done under the Reagan administration. Let us. in a bipartisan manner. send these good working folk back to the bargaining table to be able to solve their problems. Is it not interesting that most Members fly to work and they take their flying for granted. because they believe that the airways are safe because our air traffic controllers are on the front lines of handling their responsibilities. As I respect the opposition to this bill. let us. as Members of Congress. not having done this timely. let us now do the right thing and give. if you will. the sense of appreciation to hardworking Americans. not to give them any particular benefits. but to allow them to go back to the table and have a matter resolved in the fair and practicalway. Let us not repeat the busting of a union and let us go back to the negotiating table. I ask for support for H.R.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1475,"word_count":261}
{"speech_id":1090141323,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman. Well. surprise. the political appointees at the Bush Federal Aviation Administration and their supporters in Congress want to undermine the safest. most productive air traffic control system in the world by any measure. Why? Because there is one basic flaw. There is an agenda no one is talking about here tonight. It is not privatized. It does not provide a profit for Halliburton or some other contractor. That is what this is all about. Lets kill off the existing FAA and the air traffic contrpllers and then the private sector will save us. Well. in the three countries where the private sector has come in. it has not worked out so well. neither for the safety nor for the taxpayers. They have all had to be bailed out. ","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3602,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090141327,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I believe he had 195. not even every Democrat signed it. no Republicans. So that procedure ended last week. And then I get the notice that of course the new contract is going into effect on Monday and there is going to be a vote. it was supposed to be today. It will be tomorrow. I feel like the guy that is trying to carry the ball down the field. I get to the end of the line. the goal line. and now they moved the goal for me out into the parking lot. So I do not think I would complain. Again. I think this has been a very fair and open process. And I admire the Speaker and Majority Leader and others who have participated. ","speaker_name":"JERRY COSTELLO","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":632,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090141351,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Congress faces difficult choices and the national preoccupation with preventing potential terror attacks is justified by the lingering shock and damage of the 911 attacks. Still. we cannot afford to ignore a drug problem that claims more than two thousand American lives each month. If we lack the political will or resources to make a truly substantial investment in prevention and. most important of all. to make drug treatment accessible to all who seek it. at least let us take other steps to ensure that drug abuse claims as few American lives as possible. There are steps the government can take to avoid preventable deaths from drug overdose and abuse. as well as from the spread of deadly communicable diseases. including HIV\/ AIDS and hepatitis. among intravenous drug users. If we are serious about the goal of saving lives. then let us work together to: Provide funding to states to establish overdose prevention programs. Ensure that first responders and law enforcement (including correctional workers) are trained to respond to drug overdoses and save lives. Increase the availability -of naloxone (\"nalOXown\")-a shortacting drug that can reverse the effects of a heroin overdosetofirst responders. law enforcement. needle exchange programs. drug treatment centers. and other public health facilities. And. finally. allow federal funds to be used to support needle and syringe exchange programs. which have been proven in scientific study after scientific study to reduce HIV transmission without increasing drug use. All of these are steps that. if implemented. would save lives. preserve human potential. and reduce the suffering of families and communities across America. . By decrying the terrible impact of drugs and yet failing to take prudent action to avoid preventable drugrelated deaths. ","speaker_name":"ELIJAH CUMMINGS","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6188,"word_count":282}
{"speech_id":1090141360,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I might consume. Mr. Speaker. families teach children the lessons they must learn to be happy and to prosper. They also care for children by giving them love and warmth and providing food. shelter and financial support. fl 2200 While families may handle problems differently. families can develop the following traits to become strong and to improve the quality of life and the development of children. Families learn how to show -love and affection towards each other. And no matter what children say or do. children need to know that their parents love them. Children must know that they are loved even though they have different strengths or weaknesses. And when children make mistakes. parents can let them know they are loved as they help them to discover how to learn from mistakes. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2102,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090141381,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Let me just say. that Californians. whether Democrat or Republican. take their politics seriously. They do not always agree on all things. but I think they do agree and I think all of us can agree with them that California does in fact have some of the finest wines known to humankind. I am pleased to join with them in passing this resolution. and perhaps one of these days Representative THOMPSON might even make me an honorary member of that tasting club. Mr. Speaker. until 1976. France was generally regarded as having an unchallenged reputation as the foremost producer of the worlds best wines. In that year. a wine merchant in Paris. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2607,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090141382,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. and I might remind the gentleman from Illinois that wine tasting is a fullparticipation sport available to all over the age of 21. Mr. Speaker. I would just close by noting that many. many times Californias superiority as the grape wine capital of the world has been repeated in Paris. With that. I close by saying I eat French fries 4nd drink California wine. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"DARRELL ISSA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":49.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":462,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090141390,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the gentleman from Illinois is quite right. On Monday I left several tourist dollars on the 95th floor of the John Hancock Building at that lovely. beautiful restaurant. Chicago is in fact a major tourist destination. and I have been to more trade shows than I care to. well. I care to remember them all. They were all quite good. Chicago hosts some wonderful McCormickbased facilities. and has some of the finest hotels. I have not stayed in all of the finest hotels. but you have some of the finest hotels. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"DARRELL ISSA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":49.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":651,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090141393,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker.I would like to offer my support for House Resolution 729. a bill that I and Mr. FARR introduced recognizing the 23rd Annual National Tourism Week. First established by Congress in 1983. this annual event gives us an opportunity to recognize the significant importance the Travel and Tourism Industry has on our economy. The travel and tourism industry is the lifeblood of many states around the country--including Florida. California. New York and Nevada. to name a few. Every Congressi6nal District is impactedthat is every district with a restaurant. hotel. museum. national park. stadium. theater. campgrounds and beaches. Domestic travel and tourismrelated spending has reached $1 trillion a year. There are over 8 million people in the food service. hospitality and travelrelated industries that rely on Americas vibrant and thriving travel industry. ","speaker_name":"MARK FOLEY","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1645,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090141400,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. born in County Wicklow. Ireland. Matthew Lyon was a printer. farmer. soldier and politician who came to America as an indentured servant at the age of 14 in 1764. During the Revolution. Matthew Lyon fought with Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys to capture Fort Ticonderoga. He later resigned from the Army in 1778. and became a member of the Vermont House of Representatives from 1779 to 1783. ","speaker_name":"DARRELL ISSA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":49.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1443,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090141450,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And today. in Iraq. we are not engaged in military operations so that we can somehow derive material benefits from that country or somehow enslave the inhabitants of that -country and turn them toward our political benefit and our economic benefit. We do it because we think that it is in the interests of the United States to spread freedom. to change the world. and I think lots of Americans understand that if we do not change the world. the world is going to change us. Those heroes who have won now some 45.000 Bronze Stars for meritorious service and for valor in the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan I think are every bit as courageous and. in many cases. are related to and the descendants of those incredible people who climbed the cliffs at Normandy and went up those beaches. Some of those landing craft opened up and the Americans were machine gunned before they could get out of the craft. and there were men bobbing in those waves. some of them dead before they hit the water. Others got to the beach and went down. and you can see the dramatic newsreels that show Americans falling as they are taking that beach. and then still others got to the base of the cliffs. and then some scaled those cliffs. Of course. we had others that came in. paratroopers. some of whom landed in dugin positions that the enemy had established and were killed before their chutes could reach the ground. Others that went in in gliders. not an avocation that is conducive to longevity. and others simply went in the oldfashioned way. but they went in for freedom. They went in for America. and they liberated. and that is the theme of Normandy. I thank my colleague for yielding this time.","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2934,"word_count":303}
{"speech_id":1090141530,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Democrats have put forth a real plan for energy independence by 2020. Americans know it is time for a change.","speaker_name":"RUSS CARNAHAN","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1170,"word_count":20}
{"speech_id":1090141531,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the effort to bring real decency standards to our airwaves is taking a major step forward this week. A couple of weeks ago. the Senate passed the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act ending months of inaction by that body on the issue. and the House had passed its own version earlier last year. While there are differences between the two bills. they both send a clear message: If you violate decency standards over broadcast airwaves. you will pay a price. a big price. Under current law. fines are limited to $32.500 per violation. The bill we will vote on today gives the FCC real teeth to enforce decency standards by increasing fines to 10 times that amount. Broadcasters will think twice about airing obscene material if they know it will cost them more than a quarter million dollars to do so. Mr. Speaker. common decency is under attack in our society. The airwaves often.leadthe charge. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1197,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090141542,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to express the shock. disgust and frustration that I have felt since the Department of Homeland Security slashed homeland security money for New York and increased funding for other smaller. rural cities across America. For many months since 9\/11. Congress has been working to convince this administration that a riskbased distribution formula is the right way to protect Americans in cities like New York that are the most vulnerable to terrorist attacks. If the mission at Homeland Security is truly to protect America. then Department of Homeland Security funding should never be a porkbarrel matter. Yet the lack of common sense displayed by cutting New Yorks funding by 40 percent. while increasing the funding of nearly every other city. demonstrates that the threat is clearly not foremost in the minds of the DHS. This is a slap in the face to all of us who experienced 9\/11 in New York. We need to look no further than the 9\/11 Commission report to understand that we must dedicate our resources to areas like New York where the risks are the highest and where multiple terrorist attacks have already occurred. Our constituents ask us to spend taxpayer money wisely: By cutting first responder funding for New York and instead sending it to other areas of the country that are not at as much risk. the administration has failed terribly in its responsibility to spend taxpayer dollars wisely. ","speaker_name":"SUE KELLY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1564,"word_count":240}
{"speech_id":1090141543,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today I introduce the PlugIn Hybrid Electric Vehicle Act of 2006. H.R. 5538. This bill will help reduce our Nations dependence on foreign sources of oil by promoting plugin vehicles and advancing new vehicle technologies. It also establishes a partnership between private and public entities to focus on electric drive technology. Americans are concerned about high gas prices. our dependence on foreign oil. and global warming. These cars have the potential to alleviate all three problems. The Federal Government needs to ensure that the research and development of alternative energy vehicles continues. Congress has a responsibility to help promote this new technology. and I am pleased that this bill already has significant bipartisan support.","speaker_name":"LAMAR SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":762,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090141565,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What I am asking for with this amendment is the diversion of $2.4 million that is currently allocated towards the House Printing Office in order that the Architect of the Capitol could invest in an electronic mapping system to provide this function. Let me describe briefly what can happen with these electronic mapping systems. Essentially. rather than relying oh the Architect of the Capitol to have a bunch of hard copy blueprints that would be presumably folded out in a time of crisis. the entire complex would be mapped in an electronic form such that the information about the complex could be downloaded and available on laptops. PDAs or other electronic means. This could include response plans. hazardous materials locations. and paths of egress or ingress. Imagine had Flight 93 hit this Capitol. the chaos and the smoke and the toxic fumes that would have engulfed this building. we could easily have had Members of Congress. staff. members of the public trapped in unaccessible locations that the first responders would not even know how to reach. What we are asking for today is that we invest in a system that will make it possible for our first responders. our Capitol Police. firefighters from on grounds or off grounds to respond promptly. efficiently to save lives and to restore order as needed. This is a relatively small investment for what could one day be a profound and important lifesaving measure. I would encourage my good friends. the chairman and ranking member. to work with me in the future on this measure.","speaker_name":"BRIAN BAIRD","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2483,"word_count":260}
{"speech_id":1090141597,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of S. 2803. the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act. or the MINER Act. Though* the number of mining fatalities and injuries reached record lows in 2005. this years tragedies at the Sago mine in West Virginia and the others that have followed have served to bring the issue of mine health and safety into giuch sharper focus. Today. after unnecessarily waiting for 2 weeks. the House is finally poised to act. My colleagues. let us not squander this unique opportunity to send comprehensive mine safety reforms to President Bush for his signature. Throughout 2006. the Education and the Workforce Committee has held a series of oversight hearings and briefings during which we heard from Federal mine safety officials. mine workers. representatives from the mining industry and Members of the House. ","speaker_name":"HOWARD MCKEON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2210,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090141601,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Indeed. I would say to the gentleman from California. good decent GEORGE. that there are provisions missing from the pending legislation that were in our West Virginia bipartisan congressional bill. There are also provisions in the gentleman from Californias and my bill that are not in this legislation. But as I said. this bill at hand is a beginning. The death toll in my congressional district. the death toll in the State of West Virginia. the death toll across our Nations coal fields must halt. no more delay in acting.","speaker_name":"NICK RAHALL","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3099,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090141632,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I am pleased to join with the gentleman from Nebraska in support of a resolution to support National Entrepreneurship Week. I rise in support of H. Res. 699 and thank Mr. PRICE of North Carolina for introducing this resolution. H. Res. 699 calls on the President to issue a proclamation recognizing National Entrepreneurship Week and to encourage all levels of government to observe National Entrepreneurship Week annually with special events in support of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship education programs. Entrepreneurship education has long been an integral part of career and technical education programs in high schools across the country. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2220,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090141645,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"for their support of this legislation that was introduced by the gentleman from Pennsylvania . Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of this resolution. The breakup of the Soviet empire in the early 1990s jolted the international political system and fundamentally changed the course of global history. More than a dozen new nations emerged from the ruins of the Soviet Union. stretching from the heart of Europe to deep in Central Asia. While the dissolution of the Soviet Union greatly advanced the progress of democracy and human rights. this forward march was not without setbacks. Looking at the map today. half of the nations formerly within the Soviet orbit have truly embraced democracy. human rights and economic reform. while others continue to struggle with debilitating other totalitarian regimes. Mr. Speaker. since their first steps towards freedom from the firm grasp of the Soviet Union in 1990. the Mongolian people have strongly embraced democracy and human rights. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3236,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090141657,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Formal diplomatic relations extend back to the signing of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between our two nations in 1833. during the Presidency of Andrew Jackson. Since then. Thailand has been a steadfast friend and ally.. Thai King Mongkut offered President Lincoln elephants to use in battle during the Civil War. and Thai troops fought alongside American soldiers in World War I. Korea. and Vietnam. Since 9\/11. Thailand has provided overflight rights and access to facilities to facilitate U.S. and coalition efforts in Afghanistan. sent an engineering battalion to help rebuild Bagram airfield. and deployed nearly 500 troops to provide reconstruction and medical . assistance in Iraq. President Bush recognized the importance of our alliance when he designated Thailand as a major nonNATO ally in 2003. Thailand and the United States also share robust commercial ties. with twoway trade totaling a little over $21 billion and cumulative U.S. investment in Thailand of over $20 billion. Our cultural and peopletopeople ties are extensive and multifaceted. including more than 10.000 Thai students in institutions of learning in the United States. ","speaker_name":"JAMES LEACH","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3784,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090141690,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of H.R. 5254. This bill recognizes the need for increased supplies of refined petroleum products. and takes the necessary steps to increase our refining capacity. No new refinery has been constructed in the United States since 1976. Yet the demand for gasoline exceeds domestic production by an average of 4 million barrels per day. This was made worse in the aftermath of the most recent hurricanes. This growing gap must be met by importing refined petroleum products from foreign sources. Refining capacity is not being increased due to. in part. a permitting process that is overly cumbersome and capital intensive. This bill makes the necessary commitments to expand and diversify the refining industry in this country. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES BOUSTANY","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1202,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090141694,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That means one more hurricane in a region packed with refineries is a big problem. This is something that we need to recognize. certainly this leadership and this committee does. and we hope other Members do. too. All of these statistics end up meaning higher gas prices for our constituents when* they go to the pump. What will it take for Members across the aisle to do more than just complain? They didnt like the GAS Act last year because of environmental concerns. Now the bill we have on the floor today does not touch those existing environmental rules. All that is spelled out in section 6 of this bill. There are those protections. They are there still. We are not getting cooperation on this issue. and at some point we have to conclude that Members who vote \"no\" over and over repeatedly on energy legislation are simply telling their constituents to get over it and live with higher gas prices. We have had multiple hearings on the gas prices. ","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1891,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090141706,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we certainly all know that American consumers are facing an energy crisis. The high cost of energy to heat and power our homes and to run our automobiles is sapping family budgets across the Nation. and hurting the bottom line of businesses across the Nation as well. We need to do more to make our Nation energy independent and to reduce energy costs for our consumers. We need to focus on alternatives to oil and other fossil fuels as well by turning to alternatives like ethanol or biodiesel or nuclear power. solar. wind power. Just as it is wise to diversify your economic portfolio. we must diversify our energy options. and we need to do more to incentivize the production and distribution and use of alternative sources of energy. And I am confident that we will. we can. But while we work toward alternatives. we must also deal with the reality of the current situation. We have too few refineries. and those we do have are in areas that are vulnerable to natural disasters such as the entire world recognized last year with Hurricane Katrina. We have not built a new refinery in America since the 1970s. ","speaker_name":"CANDICE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1864,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090141710,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank. the distinguished chairman. Many times on this floor I have heard debate talk about how America ls lost some -of its manufacturing capacity to other nations. particularly at times with talk about defense issues such as strategic metals. Many people lament that if we have lost that capacity at times of problems or national security. national defense issues. where will we get it from? We have to depend upon other countries to import that. Well. we indeed are inthe same situation now with our petroleum products that are refined. We import 2 million barrels a day from other countries. from Western Europe. from Saudi Arabia. from Venezuela. from some countries that are more volatile politically than others. The same thing occurs when we are importing other crude oil from other countries. and we recognize the importance of not having to depend upon other countries that one day may. be a political friend. and the next day may do such things as say we are cutting off the oil unless you let us have nuclear weapons. Here we are in that same situation when it comes to oil refineries. It takes about eight to 10 years to go through the permitting process for an oil refinery. a preposterous amount of time. but it is important that all permits and all environmental needs are met. ","speaker_name":"TIM MURPHY","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2342,"word_count":227}
{"speech_id":1090141723,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The gentleman from Maine does not want one. He is not having one thrust upon him. Refineries bring jobs and a solid base to the local community. The designation by the President would boost a willing communitys chances of getting the attention of a potential commercial developer. Opponents of this legislation claim that the legislation will increase the likelihood that a community that does not want a refinery on a olosed base would get one. That is ridiculous. and that is exactly wrong. Why? Because the bill only requires that three local rddevelopment authorities consider the feasibility and practicability of siting a refinery. There is no requirement that they accept it. And also because the Secretary of Defense is required to give a substantial deference to the recommendation of the development authority to site or not to site. Helping a willing local community to site a refinery on its closed military installation is good. ","speaker_name":"RALPH HALL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2610,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090141731,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So. Mr. Speaker. I strongly urge rejection of the Republican bill. and I urge that when we submit our motion to recommit that that be approved by the House. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"FREDERICK BOUCHER","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1317,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090141737,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have supported alternate legislation that would strengthen the hands of the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department. targeting price gouging across the energy spectrum. It would also help Americans who are struggling to deal with high gas prices and bracing for record home heating and air conditioning bills. while creating a Strategic Refinery Reserve to provide additional gas supplies during energy spikes like the one we are currently facing. Unfortunately. this more wisely drafted alternative has not even been allowed as an amendment to this bill.","speaker_name":"IKE SKELTON","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3370,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090141748,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of the BoucherDingell motion to recommit. Passage of this motion would do a great deal to improve refinery capacity and enhance the Nations capability to respond to natural disasters. The motion would also strike section 5. that section of the underlying bill that requires the President to designate at least three closed military bases as sites for oil refineries. Passage of this motion would guarantee that communities which have had a base closed through the BRAC process will not be forced by Presidential fiat to accept an oil refinery. If you have a closed military base in your community or you believe in local control concerning decisions of siting oil refineries. support the BoucherDingell motion. If this motion fails and you care about the fate of a closed military base in your community. I urge Members to vote \"no\" on the underlying bill.","speaker_name":"THOMAS ALLEN","chamber":"H","state":"ME","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":894,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090141806,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"About 149 5minute speeches have been made against the war in Iraq. The bold move of the war supporters to go after her. to get newspapers to call her a radical and clamor for a more moderate voice. all of these things did not happen by accident. I think it was a plot. In her 14 years. LYNN WOOLSEY has earned the right not to be challenged. She has a unique point of view based on her unique set of experiences. I serve with her on the Education Committee. There is much to be discussed about Iraq and the war in Iraq. and not enough time is ever allowed to do it. I think she has chosen the only avenue possible. We have not discussed very important matters. like the oil contracts. ","speaker_name":"MAJOR OWENS","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4877,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090141818,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. tonight. I am honored to take this floor to sing the praises and accolades for a man who inspired me as a young person and has continued to inspire me as I have served here in these past 18 years. I have spent 18 years here in the House of Representatives. and 7 years before that I served in the White House under Ronald Reagan. And I am pleased to say tonight that during that entire time. I have never met a man of whom I was more proud than that of the chairman of the International Relations Committee. Chairman HENRY HYDE. Perhaps Ronald Reagan. Perhaps. But HENRY HYDE. of the people that I have worked with as a fellow colleague. there is no match. ","speaker_name":"DANA ROHRABACHER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":46.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4353,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090141820,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Arkansas. And this is what Brenna Gilstrap has to say. in part. about What Rosa Parks Will Mean for My Children: \"Rosa Parks has always been an amazing icon to people everywhere. symbolizing strength and pride during a period in America where racism thrived. I believe everyone is familiar with her story. how she refused to give up her seat on the bus to another person and she had to simply because they were Caucasian. and how she was arrested for doing so. This story of a brave woman standing up for what she believed in will. in my opinion. greatly influence the attitudes of my children. teaching them important morals. Speak your mind even if your voice shakes. Ban ignorance and pay attention to the mistakes made in the past in order to prevent them in the future. Always stand up for what you believe in because even one little person could make a difference in thousands of lives. These are the things that my children will learn from her story. This is why it will mean something. \"Examine the first moral. ","speaker_name":"VICTOR SNYDER","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4424,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090141827,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank my good friend for giving his insight. Mr. Speaker. it has been a pleasure for Republicam and Democrat Members alike to have served and to continue to serve under the tutelage of HENRY HYDE. He has tackled all of the big issues. Tomorrow. as amatter of fact.. in our International Relations Cohmittee. we will be debating Iraq. Mr. Speaker. he is not afraid to tackle those big. controversial issues. And that has been part of his character. ","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":809,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090141865,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. first of all. let me say this has not really been my issue. We have been involved in some other things. but it is one about which I cannot remain silent. I have to say I am probably the wrong person to talk about the marriage amendment for a couple of reasons. One reason is I am not a lawyerone of the few in this body who is not a lawyer. However. I have to say sometimes that gives you a better insight into these things than if you are. I enjoyed listening to some of the liberal Democrats on the Sunday shows saying they are for a marriage between a man and woman. yet immediately starting to back down. backpedal. and think of every reason in the world. It reminds me a little bit of my English as the national language amendment that we had a couple of weeks ago. Everyone was saying they were for it. and then they turned .around and thought of reasons to vote against it. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6055,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090141874,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Thus. title 48 of the West Virginia Code now precludes the State of West Virginia from giving legal effect -to unions of samesex couples from other jurisdictions. As a consequence. both State and Federal law now prevent samesex marriage in West Virginia. With these laws on the books. I do not believe it is necessary to amend the U.S. Constitution to address this issue. States such as West Virginia already have the power to ban kay marriages. State marriage laws should not be undermined by the Federal Government. Thus. our goal should not be to lessen the power of the several States to define marriage. but to preserve that right by expressly validating the role that they have played in this arena for more than 200 years. Mr. President. throughout the annals of human experience. the relationship of a man and woman joined in holy matrimony has been a keystone to the stability. strength. and health of human society. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3160,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090141884,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the people of the United States do care about marriage. Marriage is important. Our culture and the quality of life of our people in this Nation are important. Just yesterday. the people of my State. by an 81percent majority. approved a constitutional amendment to the Alabama Constitution which said that no marriage license shall be issued in Alabama to parties of the same sex and the State shall not recognize a marriage of parties of the same sex that occurred as a result of the law of any other jurisdiction. But that amendment is in jeopardy by the court rulings in the United States. and a ruling that the U.S. Constitution requires that samesex marriage be recognized just like other marriages will trump Alabamas constitution and that of the 19 other States which passed such resolutions by a vote of 71 percent. The only reason to oppose this amendment would be to deny the States the right to make this decision without having it overruled by the Supreme Court.","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":988,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090141923,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Keep in mind that death taxes work on estates that have already been taxed. There isnt anything in an estate that hasnt already been taxed as a lot of it has already been taxed several times. and our death tax allows the Government to come in on the demise of a person and collect up to 55 percent of what they have worked for. \/what they have earned. and what they saved in the hope they could benefit their children. The death tax is punitive. It .costs the economy. It is directed precisely at the kind of activity that we need for economic growth and at precisely the kind of people who drive economic growth. Repeal of the death tax would increase nonresidential investment capital by $25 billion. an average of 100.000 to 200.000 jobs a year. greater disposable income for American workers. and stronger economic growth. That is what the economists say when they study it. I believe the impact of the death tax is far greater than just what the economists have been able to estimate and monetize because it is a particularly demoralizing tax. It says to -the small businesspeople and the farmers. indeed. to everybody who saves and invests. that you can do everything you can to build up your business. you can do everything you can to build up your farm. you can do all that with a view toward benefiting your community. your employees. and making the kind of success we want you to make out of your life. you can be successful at the American dream. and then the Government comes in and takes more than half of it and often takes more. than half of it under circumstances which have the impact of destroying the whole enterprise. This is not speculation. this is what small businesspeople are saying and what they have said year after year after year. ","speaker_name":"JAMES TALENT","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9081,"word_count":316}
{"speech_id":1090141928,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Americas prosperity was created by our entrepreneurial spirit. but today it is estimated that 70 percent of all businesses never make it past the first generation. while 87 percent do not make it to the third generation. and only 1 percent make it to the fourth generation. Why? One of the big reasons is the butden of the death tax. We call this tax the death tax not only because of the time that it strikes often unsuspecting families but also because it kills American businesses and jobs. The ridiculous complexities of the death tax actually favor individuals whose tax lawyers and accountants plan for years to shield money from estate taxation. The real people who are affected by the estate tax are often small businesses and farms. when death catches them unprepared. The estate tax is equal to an unfair double tax on savings and investment. In short. it is a tax on the American dream. the dream that if you work hard and save money you can leave your children with the opportunity to live a happier and more prosperous life than you yourself did. Estate taxes give taxpayers an incentive to save less and spend more. We all know that is not what we need in todays economy. The Commerce Department reported recently that Americans personal savings fell into negative territory at minus 1\/2 percent last year. ","speaker_name":"JIM BUNNING","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3117,"word_count":230}
{"speech_id":1090141932,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I want to make a couple of comments with respect to the bill before us now. I just came from meeting with Wyoming yohngsters who were here with the National Guard. helping young people finishing up with their GEDs. and so on. It was very impressive. very impressive to have young people moving forward and being able. hopefully. to be successful. That has a little to do with what we are talking about here today. The fact is. the question of how we treat people who have been successful. in terms of their business. in terms of their operations. is somethifig we are talking about here. We have had. of course. a number of discussions on the matter of estate taxes. It seems like we have been back and forth on it for a very long time. The problem is still there. ","speaker_name":"CRAIG THOMAS","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2173,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090141933,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This practice can destroy the business outright. or leave it so strapped for capital that longterm survival is jeopardized. Similarly. more and more large ranches and farms are facing the prospect of breakup and sale to developers in order to pay the estate tax. The death tax also discourages savings and investment. Former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan repeatedly warned about the dangers of a low national savings rate. and current Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has continued to raise the same concerns. Yet the death tax sends the message that it is better to consume today than invest and make more money in the future. The death tax also undermines job creation. The Heritage Foundation estimates that the death tax alone is responsible for the loss of between 170.000 and 250.000 potential jobs each year. These jobs are never added to the U.S. economy because the investments that would have resulted in higher employment are simply not made. The death tax also holds back overall economic growth. The Joint Economic Committee found that the tax reduces the stock of capital in the economy by $497 billion. or 3.2 percent. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4578,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090141954,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Constitutionarticle I. section 8. clause 3vests the Congress with authority to regulate commerce with the three classes of sovereign governments identified thereforeign nations. the several States. and Indian tribes. In numerous rulings over the ensuing 215 years. the Y.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly held that legislation enacted to address the conditions of the native people of the United States is constitutional and does not constitute discrimination on the basis of race or ethnicity because the sovereign status of the Indian tribes is the basis for the governmenttogovernment relationship the tribes have with the United States. The Court has thus consistently drawn a distinction between legislation that addresses the conditions of the native people of the United States on the grounds that the United States has a political and legal relationship with the Indian tribes--a relationship that is not predicated on race or ethnicity but rather on sovereigntyand legislation that addresses the conditions of specific groups whose members are defined only by reference to their race or ethnicityAfrican Americans. Hispanic Americans. etc. The status that the Constitution recognizes in Indian tribes was later extended to Alaska Natives in their capacity as aboriginal. indigenous people of the United States. and it is on the same basis that the Congress has enacted legislation for the aboriginal. indigenous people of Hawaii. Many opponents of the bill are attacking and classifying reconciliation efforts between the United States and the Native Hawaiians as racebased. However. anyone who has a clear understanding of Hawaiis history cannot deny that Native Hawaiians are Hawaiis indigenous -peoples. nor can they deny that Native Hawaiians have a legal and political relationship with the United States based on their status as Hawaii9 indigenous peoples. It is Qffensive that laws intended to seek justice and equality for African Americans are now being used to oppress native peoples. We must be fair and thorough while deliberating the merits of this legislation. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4751,"word_count":317}
{"speech_id":1090141962,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Lets adopt my amendment and guarantee civil rights and equal treatment. Again. I have shared the drafts of this amendment with the sponsors of the bill who said they oppose it. Perhaps they will reconsider. but the Senate will have an opportunity to vote on this amendment. Third. there is a dispute over whether the people of Hawaii. who are most personally affected by this legislation. actually want this bill. The sponsors say yes. and point to opinion polls that speak vaguely of \"recognizing\" Native Hawaiians. I can point to alternative polls which show strong majorities opposed when the citizens understand that. with recognition comes the potential for unequal treatment. Do the Hawaiian people want this? We know much of the political establishment does. But what about the citizens? I am concerned that this bill will divide Hawaii and encourage racial division there and elsewhere. Indeed. as the U.S. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6865,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090141966,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I discuss legislation that is critically important to the people of Hawaii. all the people of Hawaii. the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2005. While I am pleased to see this bill finally come to the Senate floor after 6 long years. I remain perplexed by the constant barrage of misinformation that has been provided by opponents to this legislation. Tomorrow We will be voting on a motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to S. 147. the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2005. I ask all of my colleagues. to let this bill come to the floor for a debatewhether you are for or against it. At the minimum. we should be allowed to discuss what this bill is really about. I also want to alert my colleagues to the fact that a new substitute amendment has been drafted which incorporates legislative language negotiated between Senator INOUYE and myself and officials from the Executive Branch to address policy concerns regarding the liability of the United States in land claims. the impact of the bill on military readiness. gaming. and civil and criminal jurisdiction in Hawaii. While I realize that we will not consider the substitute amendment until we get to the actual consideration of the bill. I share this with my colleagues so that they know that our negotiations with the administration have been successful in addressing their concerns and adhering to the intent and purpose of this bill. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2276,"word_count":247}
{"speech_id":1090141989,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This governing entity will be structured so that it can deal with the problems of the Hawaiian people and will give them a seat at the table. It will give them an opportunity to negotiate whatever they decide. I should tell you. those who have spoken in opposition to this bill are good friends that we tespectand we will continue to do thatwho have other reasons to oppose our bill. I do respect them very deeply. But our bill. is one that will help the Hawaiians to deal with their concerns. When it wasw stated that I had mentioned that they could secede. the question that was asked me was whether that could happen. I pointed out that to secede. the Hawaiians would have to take it to this governing entity and this entity would decide whether they should take this to be negotiated with the State government and then with the Federal Government. Lets say they do decide to secede as an entity. I dont think the State government. with the State laws. would agree to that. It has to be negotiated. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3295,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090142012,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"All it required it that an individual have as a result of ones ancestry a specified quantum of Aleut. Eskimo or Indian blood to be an initial shareholder in an Alaska Native Corporation. The Federal Government determined who was eligible to receive stock by formulating a roll of Alaska Natives. Recognizing rates of intermarriage among Alaska Natives. Congress has amended this legislatioh to give descendants of a corporations original shareholders an opportunity to participate in the corporatioks on a coequal basis with those shareholders who had the requisite blood quantum. At the time that the claims act was passed Alaska Natives resided in every urban center of Alaska and many resided outside of the State of Alaska. They too lived as everyones next door neighbor and were mixed in with the States population. In the 34 years since the claims act was passed more and more Alaska Natives have relocated to regional hubs. to Alaskas largest cities. and to locations outside Alaska. Today. Anchorage is regarded as Alaskas largest Native village. ","speaker_name":"LISA MURKOWSKI","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2532,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090142049,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. with regard to the death tax. I will be offering some remarks later in the process that deal with the estimated cost of the elimination of this tax which does not account for the lack of steppedup basis that will not occur if the death tax is eliminated and other factors that demonstrate that the allegations being made about large losses of revenue are not true. That is an important factor in the debate. I will not go over I am pleased the Department of Justhat tonight. tice has given this letter to us. It repI take this moment on another sub- - resents an opinion of the agency of ject to read to the Senate a letter we Government charged with justice. The received. received by Senator FRIST. Department of Justice is well aware of the majority leader. today. from the equal protection requirements. They administration. William Moschella. are well aware of voting rights and the U.S. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6643,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090142054,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Michigan. provided there be 10 minutes of debate for each of the Senators from New Jersey. 10 minutes for Senator STABENOW. and 10 minutes each for the chairman and ranking member. Following the use or yielding back of time. I ask that the Senate proceed to consecutive votes on the nominations as listed. however. no earlier than 2 p.m. I further ask unanimous consent that following those votes. the Senate proceed to the coIfsideration of Executive Calendar No. 663. Susan C. Schwab. to be the United States Trade Representative. I further ask unanimous consent there be 30 minutes for Senator DORGAN. 15 minutes for Senator CONRAD. 10 minutes for Senator BAUCUS. 30 minutes for the chairman. I further ask. unanimous consent that following the use or yielding back of time. the Senate proceed to a vote on the confirmation of the nomination. with no intervening action or debate. finally. I ask unanimous consent that following that vote the President be immediately notified of all of the Senates previous action and the Senate resume legislative session. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3113,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090142067,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And all of this work is done by the hands of 13.000 volunteers and a tiny staff. The Society of St. Andrew has operations in 21 other States. and just last year. the organization saved 29.5 million pounds of fresh. nutritious produce and delivered 88.6 million servings to hungry families in the 48 contiguous States. We should be utilizing the practice of gleaning much more extensively todayconsidering that 96 billion pounds of good foodincluding that at -the farm and retail levelis left over or thrown away in this country each year. Like any humanitarian endeavor. the gleaning system works because of cooperative efforts. Private organizations and individuals are doing a great jobbut they are doing so with limited resources. It is up to us to make some changes on the public side and assist in leveraging scarce dollars to help feed the hungry. One of the single biggest concerns for gleaners is transportationhow to actually get the food to those who need it. I am proud to say that with the help of organizations like the American Trucking Association. Americas Second Harvest. and the Society of St. ","speaker_name":"ELIZABETH DOLE","chamber":"S","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6323,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090142068,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Cory wa6 on his second deployment in Iraq. His death was caused by injuries sustained when the humvee he was riding in was hit by an explosive device near Fallujah. Cory was e remarkable and wellrespected young soldier. His friends and family remember him s a kindhearted and mischievous young man who loved the outdoors. Cory was an avid sportsman and explorer who had planned on going hiking and fishing with his two older brothers. Thad and Kyle. upon his return. Cory also had a softer side that he wasnt afraid to show. He served as a mentor and role model to his friends and even took the time to handmake gifts for his family. As a youngster. Cory came to the Governors Fall Festival in Dover that I hosted as Governor and ran with many of us in the 5kilometer race that kicked off the festival every year. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2777,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090142073,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Unfortunately. under current law. money to reimburse .veterans for travel is allocated from the same accounts used to provide medical care. This bill changes the funding formula and would mandate a separate allowance to reimburse travel costs. This will reduce the competition between programs that are equally meritorious and necessary but are forced to compete for the same pot of funds. Mr. President. I encourage my colleagues tb support the Emergency Energy Assistance for Disabled Veterans Act. It is time we rectified this glaring injustice and provide our veterans with the support they deserve.","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2679,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090142074,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Women and girls desperately need legal protection and economic empowerment so that they can make safe health choices. These are fundamentally connected issues. There is some cause for hope in our battle against this terrible disease. the United States has committed an unprecedented amount of money to the fight. and we are beginning to see some results. This is no cause for complacency. however. According to a recent U.N. report. while the spread of HIV\/ AIDS appears to be slowing down worldwide and some countries are reporting progress in bringing the pandemic under control. others are failing to reach key targets for prevention and treatment. Most troubling is the fact that the rate of new HIV infections dramatically outpaces current efforts to reach people with lifesustaining antiretroviral therapy. According to Family Health International. for each new person who received antiretroviral therapy in 2005. another seven people became infected. We must bring increased focus to prevention efforts and do a better job of reaching out to those who are most vulnerable to this disease. It is also becoming increasingly clear that we cannot address HIV\/AIDS in isolation and that we need to deepen coordination between HIV\/AIDS initiatives and other development goals. HIV\/AIDS does not just affect isolated individuals but families. communities. and entire economies. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4983,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090142079,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it is with the greatest pleasure that I rise today to honor William \"J\" Thompson of Highland. AR. J Thompson works as a lineman for the Southern Electric Cooperative. and since 2004. he has also been a first responder and truck captain for the Highland Volunteer Fire Department. On Christmas Eve. 2005. J Thompson responded to an emergency call from the Highland Police Department. A young man had been stopped by a police officer and had admitted to taking several tranquilizers. Shortly thereafter. he lost consciousness and was unresponsive to the officer. When Mr. Thompson arrived on the scene. the young man had stopped breathing. ","speaker_name":"MARK PRYOR","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1246,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090142090,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to introduce a concurrent resolution which expresses the goal of the United States to provide 25 percent of the Nations energy needs from renewable resources by 2025. I am pleased to be joined in this effort by Senators SALAZAR. LUGAR. HARKIN. DEWINE and OBAMA. The goal of this 25 by 25 resolution is quite simple: to replace 25. percent of our total energy needs with renewable resources like wind. hydropower. solar. geothermal. biomass and biofuels by 2025. This is a bold goal. but given our current energy situation in the U.S.. it is a necessary goal. In the past few years. we have seen the price of crude oil skyrocket from $25 a barrel to nearly $75 a barrel. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3264,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090142092,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Agriculture. Nutrition and Forestry be authorized to conduct a hearing during the session of the Senate on Wednesday June 7. 2006 at 9 a.m. in 329A. Senate Russell Office Building. The purpose of this committee hearing will be to discuss Agricultural Conservation Programs.","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":334,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090142096,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a hearing on \"S.3274: The Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act of 2006\" on Wednesday. June 7. 2006 at 9:30 a.m. in Dirksen Senate Office Building Ropm Witness list: Panel I: Governor John Engler. President. National Association of Manufacturers. Washington. DC. Peter Ganz. Executive Vice President and General Counsel. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":947,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090142100,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Com_ mittee on Commerce. Science. and Transportation Subcommittee on Science and Space be authorized to meet on Wednesday. June 7. 2006. at 2:30 p.m. on NASA Budget and Programs: Outside Perspectives.","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":255,"word_count":40}
{"speech_id":1090142114,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to. the preamble be agreed to. and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. and that any statements relating to the resolution be printed in the RECORD. The. resolution (S. Res. 504) was agreed to. The preamble was agreed to. The resolution. with its preamble. reads as follows:","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":355,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090142174,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Printed on recycled paper. I remind everyone that last night we filed cloture on a Mine Safety and Health nomination. That cloture vote will occur tomorrow unless some other agreement is reached.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":965,"word_count":32}
{"speech_id":1090142176,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I certainly underscore the statement of the distinguished majority leader. This is a good day for the U.S. military and especially our intelligence community. We should feel very good about this. The mission we are talking about. the successful outcome. is a testament to the bravery. the skill. and the determination of those dedicated men and women on the front lines. This is hard to say about any human being. but he got what he deserved: Anyone who aligns himself with him should know they could await a similar fate as long as they engage in terror. I was very pleased to hear the Presidents statement. It was measured. We all recognize there are a lot of difficult days ahead for the United States and Iraqi forces. but having a Security Minister. a Defense Minister. and an Interior Minister makes it that much closer to when we can start drawing down the troops.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":886,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090142187,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He concludes that \"any estate tax big enough to collect substantial revenue is also big enough to have a substantial negative effect on saving and the economy. Reducing the rate will benefit the economy.\" The bottom line is this: We are going to have an opportunity to vote yes on cloture to take up the House repeal bill. For those who believe in full repeal. the next vote would be to support full repeal. Presumably. that wont pass. The next thing that will happenand the majority leader made this crystal clear. and I reiterate this commitment--is that we will have an opportunity then to vote on the proposal that Senator BAUcuS and Senator LINCOLN .and Senators BILL NELSON and BEN NELSON and others of us have been working on to provide a substantial exempted amount-$5 million per spousecapital gains rate to apply to whatever has to be paid. But when an estate hits $30 million. from then on. it gets hit with a 30percent rate. That is a fair way to help the people at the lower end of the spectrum and yet collect the revenue from those very wealthy estates which we all agree can pay part of this estate tax.","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1119,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090142192,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There is. in fact. a tax on inherited wealth in this country. Very few Americans pay it. Currently. the exemption is $2 million for a husband and $2 million for a wife. If you dont have $4 million in net assets in your family. dont worry about this issue. That is going to -$3.5 million apiece. so that is $7 million. If you are not above $7 million. dont worry about it. By the way. notwithstanding those exemptions. if one spouse dies. the other owns everythinga 100percent exemptionand there is no estate tax. It doesnt matter what the estate is worth. the other spouse owns it. There is a 100percent spousal exemption. This ruse of suggesting that this is a death tax is an unbelievable. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10940,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090142194,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the American people want to borrow billions more from foreign countries. spend billions more in taxes to pay the interest on our national debt. and watch billions cut from health care and education and gulf coast reconstruction. then the Paris Hilton tax break is your tax break. Now lets be honest. This is not about .saving small businesses and family farms. We can reform the estate tax to protect the few farms that are affected. We can set it at a level where no small business is ever affected. We can even repeal the estate tax altogether for the 99.5 percent of families with less than $7 million in taxable assetsthat means families with assets almost 100 times greater than the average American household net worth. Democrats have offered to reform the estate tax in these ways time and time again. Reform is possible in a way that doesn cost $1 trillion. But our offers have always been refused. which can only mean that the party in power is really interested in an unprecedented giveaway to the wealthiest of the wealthy. And dont think for a minute that there is any plan to pay for this. ","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3891,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090142197,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"By 2009. when $3.5 million-$7 million for married coupleswill be exempt. only three out of every 1.000 estates will owe any estate tax. thats onethird of 1 percent. Why are the Republican leaders pressing this? Over the last decade. a massive public relations campaign funded by a handful of families has succeeded in creating the mistaken impression that the estate tax catches millions of average Americans. According to a recent report by two nonprofit organizations. Public Citizen and United for a Fair Economy. 18 families worth a total of $185.5 billion quietly financed and coordinated a 10year effort to repeal the estate tax. The report tells how these families spent over $200 millicn contributing to political campaigns. financing outside lobby groups and trade associations. and creating. a massive.. antiestate tax coalition. that served as the main coordinator of the repeal campaign. .. 7:C! I .f1 The advocates of repeal have not been forthcoming about the billions they would save if the estate tax were repealed. but instead they have promoted stories about the effects of the estate tax on family farms and small businesses. Such familyrun enterprises make up the core of the American economy and society. so it is no surprise that using them as the poster children in the campaign for repeal has been met with some public relations success. The wellfunded initiative has left many with the mistaken impression that the estate tax requires many small businesses and family farms to be sold to cover the estate tax bill. Few. if any. examples of that are ever offered. but no matter. The disinformation campaign continues. What is the reality? According to data from the Tax Policy Center. of the 18.800 taxable estates in 2004. there were only 440or two percent.-in which farm or business assets made up at least half the total value of the estate. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8310,"word_count":309}
{"speech_id":1090142211,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. I thank the Senator from Texas. Farlier this year. 26 Senators signed a letter that I produced asking Senator FRIST. the majority leader. to. bring up this bill. He has wdrked hard to find the time. and here we are. I recall. and I will set the record straight. that the death tax is eliminated already in the year 2010..It goes to zero. But the next year. the exemption is $1 million and the rate is 55 percent. a confiscatory rate. The American heritage is one of savings and frugality and a belief in the right to own private property and leave that property to whomever people choose on their death. That is why overwhelmingly people who are not impacted by the death tax believe it is wrong and say in poll after poll it should be eliminated. The cost of collecting this tax exceeds what it brings in to the Government coffers. That is the definition of a bad taxthe very definition of it. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1859,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090142229,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"With stories like Mr. Henickes. it is not hard to understand why. We already pay enough taxes over our lifetimes. whether it is a water tax. a gas tax. a payroll tax. a utility tax. a cable tax. a property tax. a sales tax. an income taxwe are taxed every minute of our lives. We are taxed from that first cup of coffee in the morning to the time we flip off the lights at bedtime. In fact. we are taxed so much that one nonpartisan organization calculates that the first 5 months of the average Americans salary is confiscated by the Government. If you are an enterprising entrepreneur who has worked hard to grow a family business or to keep and maintain -that family farm. your spouse and children can expect to hear the knock of the tax man right after the Grim. Reaper. Some on the other side of the aisle argue that the death tax is a critical stream of Federal revenue and that in any event it only hits the superrich. Neither is true. Mounting evidence shows that once widespread estate tax avoidance is accounted for. the death tax nets zero to negative tax revenue. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8056,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090142237,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to explain to the people of Wisconsin my vote this morning on the estate tax. The arguments surrounding estate tax repeal are muddled. and I believe there are important clarifications to make. First. small businesses and farms rarelyif everare forced to sell off assets or close up shop to pay the tax. Under the current exemption. roughly 99 percent of estates owe nothing in estate taxes. When the exemption expands to $2.5 million. 99.9 percent of all estates wont owe a dime. According to a report by the. Tax Policy Center. in2011. with a $3.5 million exemption. only two of every 100.000 people who die that year would. be subject to the estate tax. -The second explanation is of what the Senate voted on today. Todays vote was on a motion to proceed to a bill to repeal the estate tax. ","speaker_name":"HERBERT KOHL","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1748,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090142240,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my colleague. Senator ROBERTS has outlined the. impact the 1918 flu outbreak had on Kansas. our Nation. and the world. It is almost unimaginable that starting with that one company cook. 50 million people worldwide died. I will tell adifferent story about a public health success. In March of 1947. the City of New York faced an outbreak of smallpoxwhen three cases appeared at a local hospital. On April 4. New York City began a mass vaccination campaign to prevent further cases from occurring. Behind me is a photograph of Red Cross volunteers waiting to receive a vaccination against this deadly disease. ","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3510,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090142246,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I will choose the AngloAmerican tradition of the right to life. liberty. property and the pursuit of happiness. This will prevent me from recognizing all that is Hawaiian in me. I consider the Akaka bill to be a proposal to violate my rights. Let me share some of the testimony of advocates of Hawaiian statehood from half a century ago. These comments show that Hawaiians entered the I I Union with the expectation of being equal to any other of our States. Overwhelmingly. Hawaiians were eager to be Americans. Senator Wallace Bennett of Utah. the father of our good friend. the current Senator from Utah. said in 1954: Hawaii is literally an American outpost in the Pacific. completely reflecting the American scene. with its religious variations. its cultural. business and agricultural customs. and its politics. And former Interior Secretary Fred Seaton wrote to a Senate committee in 1959: Hawaii is truly American in every aspect of its life. I sure hope that is true. in the sense thatbeing American means we do not define and divide people by race. but we transcend that. ","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6296,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090142267,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What does that mean? It* means. as I learned in college. that you have a central whole divided among selfgoverning parts. What are those selfgoverning parts? It is the State of Nevada. it is the State of Florida. it is the State of Tennessee. and it is the State of Hawaiiplus 46 others. none better than the other. Hawaii is equal to Florida. to Tennessee. to Nevada. Lets talk about Nevada. Nevada has been a State for a long time. since 1864. Hawaii is one of the two new kids on the block. along with Alaska. But take Nevada as an example. The State of Nevada has 22 different Indian tribes and Indian entities. The State of Nevada knows they are there. It works just fine. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4805,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090142273,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. there is a fundamental shortcoming to this bill that cant be corrected by small amendments. There is no question that this legislation wouldand I believe for the first. time in our historycreate a new. separate. independent racebased government within the borders of the United States of America. The only argument that could possibly justify such an offense to our -onstitutional tradition and our original motto. which says that when we became Americans we are proud of where we came from but we are prouder of being Americans. is that Native Hawaiians are just another Indian tribe. But the government of Hawaii itself. in a brief in the Supreme Court in 1998. said: \"The tribal concept simply has no place in the context of Hawaiian history.\" The Department of Justice. in a letter yesterday to the majority leader. with a copy to the minority leader. said: \"Tribal recognition is inappropriate for native Hawaiians and would still raise difficult constitutional issues.\" I have outlined in my remarks how Native Hawaiians do not constitute just another tribe. There may be wrongs to address. but this is the wrong way to right a wrong. I urge my colleagues to vote no.","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1188,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090142352,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Our war fighters worked tirelessly with our Iraqi counterparts tracking the movement of alZarqawis followers. leading to his demise in last nights airstrike. We are proud of the success of this operation. but even prouder of the job that our Armed Forces have accomplished in their commitment to peace and stability in Iraq. Although this is positive development and significant step in the global war on terror. our fight in Iraq is far from over. We are making significant strides toward eradicating terrorism. developing a free government. and reviving the economy. But Iraq will not become a democracy overnight. While our involvement continues to be difficult. our resolve must remain strong. We must remain focused on our fundamental goalpreserving the freedom and security of the United States. This is an enormous challenge that will take determination. global cooperation. and fortitude to succeed. I am confident the United States will triumph over global chaos and tyranny. as it always has. But whatever it is. we must back our troops.","speaker_name":"RICHARD SHELBY","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2047,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090142358,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The celebration preparation includes a bingo fundraiser. a 2002 Centennial Historical Book sale. and a cookbook sale. The money raised will be used for the celebration festivities. I ask the Senate tojoin me in congratulating Hannaford. ND. and its residents on their first 100 years and in wishing them well through the next century. By honoring Hannaford and all the other historic small towns of North Dakota. we keep the great pioneering frontier spirit alive for future generations. It is places such as Hannaford that have helped to shape this country into what it is today. which is why this fine community is deserving of our recognition. Hannaford has a proud past and a bright future..","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1404,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090142359,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I know better than anyone that they wouldnt have ended in victory without him. Ray lived out what Winston Churchills political right hand R.A. Butler knew: \"Politics is largely a matter of heart.\" But more than that even. Ray Dooley taught a generation of politicians and political organizers that idealists could be tough as nailsand that there was nobility in fighting your heart out on the political field. He shattered anyones illusion that liberals were fuzzy headed bleeding hearts out of the Ivy Tower who floated above the fray. Ray was never defensive about being in politicshe was proud of it. he wore his passion for the game on his sleeve. He was gutsy. determined. and in the finest sense of the phrase. a true believer. Ray showed us all how to win a campaign and keep your cojiscience. Harry Truman. who rose through the -ranks came of age of Kansas Citys Pendergast machine. was once asked if he minded being referred to all his life as a politician while others were called statesman. Truman laughed and said they only call you a statesman when youre gone. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8129,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090142361,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I rise to recognize Lemmon. SD. The town of Lemmon will celebrate the 100th anniversary of its founding this year. Located in Perkins County. Lemmon was founded when the Milwaukee railroad extended its line toward the West. It officially became a town on May 16. 1906. founded by George Edward Lemmon. I would like to offer my congratulations to Lemmon on their anniversary and I wish them continued prosperity in the years to come..","speaker_name":"JOHN THUNE","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":454,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090142364,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In addition. nearly twothirds of adults are either overweight or obese. But it is not just adults who are affected by poor diets. -Kids are increasingly at risk as well. According to the National Academy of Sciences.. over the last three decades. the obesity rate has doubled among preschoolers and adolescents. and tripled for kids between ages 6 and 11. For children born today. it is estimated that 30 percent of boys and 40 percent of girls will develop diabetes. Some scientists are predicting that the current generation of children may well be the first in American history to live shorter lives than their parents. largely because of poor diets and dietrelated chronic disease. The issues are economic as well. The economic impact of chronic disease can be seen in the annual costs associated with various conditions. Cardiovascular disease and stroke are estimated to cost $352 billion annually. The yearly economic impacts of obesity. cancer. and diabetes are estimated at $117 billion. $172 billion. and $132 billion. respectively. So we need to promote commonsense steps to prevent these conditions. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6967,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090142392,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Newark. NJ. Nicholas de B. Katzenbach. Commission CoChairman. Former U.S. Attorney General. Princeton. NJ. Gary D. ","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1066,"word_count":16}
{"speech_id":1090142407,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that on Tuesday. June 13. at 2:30 p.m.. immediately following the official photograph. there be 60 minutes equally divided for debate prior to the cloture.vote on Executive Calendar No. 553. with 15 minutes under the control of Senator BYRD. and 15 minutes under the control of Senator KENNEDY. and 30 minutes under the control of Chairman ENZI. provided further. that if cloture is invoked on the nomination. the Senate proceed to an immediate vote on the confirmation of the nomination. with no intervening action or debate.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":565,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090142437,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. last night. the murderous mission of one of the most brutal terrorist minds in Iraq. alZarqawi. al Qaedas master of death and destruction to Sunni. Shiite. Kurd and coalition forces alike. has been brought to an end. The death of Zarqawi. al Qaedas commanderinchief of the insurgency. is proof to the people of Iraq. the United States and the world as a whole that freedom is on the march. His death in a U.S. military air strike represents another milestone in the war on terror. We owe a debt of gratitude to our men and women in uniform who put themselves in harms way to protect our freedom and to bring terrorists like alZarqawi to justice. I call upon my colleagues to reaffirm our commitment to the important work our troops in Iraq are doing to make the world a safer place for people of all nations.","speaker_name":"MARK KENNEDY","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":821,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090142438,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. let us give ourselves credit for what we have done in Iraq and let us focus on these issues and let us start withdrawing our troops.","speaker_name":"DIANE WATSON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":33.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1142,"word_count":27}
{"speech_id":1090142439,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"LI 1015","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":927,"word_count":2}
{"speech_id":1090142442,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I urge my colleagues to cosponsor this bill. Mr. Speaker. this last month has been an embarrassing display of the VA consistently failing to provide timely information about the severity and scope of the data. The delays and misinformation have hurt veterans and military personnel. It has hurt them at a time when we should be taking aggressive steps to protect their identities and financial standing. Our veterans and our troops deserve answers and action right now.","speaker_name":"JOHN SALAZAR","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1405,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090142445,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am deeply concerned that nearly 27 million veterans could be affected by a data security breach of record proportions that could compromise sensitive personal information. and every day we learn more. Tuesday we learned that names. dates of birth and Social Security numbers for as many as 1.1 million active duty U.S. military personnel. 430.000 National Guard members. 645.000 Reserve members. may also have been included. This elevates the concern for personal financial security of some veterans to national security for all. This data could be used to identify where servicemembers live. demographics that a lot of our enemies would like to know. Unfortunately. data breaches like this highlight the need for legislation I have authored. H.R. 4127. the Data Accountabjlity and Trust Act. This bill. which the Energy and Commerce Committee has passed by a huge bipartisan vote. goes to the heart of this problem of the critical need to protect consumers personal information. Mr. ","speaker_name":"CLIFFORD STEARNS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1048,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090142452,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"DIAZBALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I also take this opportunity. I think it is very appropriate and just to do so as we discuss legislation that furthers the U.S. national interests in our foreign policy. to commend our forces in Iraq who have managed that great victory of the elimination of the leader of the al Qaeda terrorist network there. who had caused so much pain and suffering. not only to our forces. but to the people of Iraq. The action of the American Armed Forces is to be commended. as wellas admired. and freedomloving people throughout the world. I know. are joining us today in congratulating the U.S. Armed Forces for the great success in the elimination of the terrorist head in Iraq. Mr. ","speaker_name":"BLANCHE LINCOLN","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":914,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090142454,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I can honestly say I will not miss going on CODELs with you because of your indefatigable energy when we are on CODEL. and if we had the time. we could share some stories in that regard. Mr. Speaker. I am very pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York . the ranking member of the foreign operations subcommittee.","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":816,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090142460,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would just like to ask a question. It is my belief that compared to gross domestic product that America spends less than 1 percent on the foreign relations and this particular matter. Do you feel. as I do. that we are pretty stingy compared to other countries when it comes to that measure? Everything you said is true. and all of those things are wonderful. but I still think that we are pretty stingy in this arena.","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":432,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090142474,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The distinguished proponent of this point of order wants to keep those barriers in place. If you vote against this question. you are voting not to proceed with consideration of the rule and of the bill. That means you are voting to deprive the American consumer of video competition. lower prices. and new services. Americans who are demanding this competition for these services. We need to move forward with this bill and with this rule so that we can debate the best ways to deliver what our constituents are asking for. I encourage my colleagues to oppose this maneuver and vote \"yes\" on the question of consideration. Mr. Speaker. I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Texas . the distinguished chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce.","speaker_name":"LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1305,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090142477,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is passed along. So the cities are going to actually increase revenue. They are going to still maintain the control of the rightofway. as they should. I dont know where the CBO came up with this study. I know that I am told that they conferred with our staff. They obviously didnt listen very well. I look forward to cosponsoring the legislation along with Chairman BARTON.I think that this does need to be addressed. CBO. I think. in addition. made another major mistake on the transition to digital bill that the President signed into law earlier this year when they calculated that the sale of the spectrum. the analog spectrum. would bring in only $10 billion when. in fact. we saw some private studies that it might be as much as $20 billion. So. again. ","speaker_name":"FRED UPTON","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1585,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090142478,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I yield the remainder of our time to Chairman BARTON.","speaker_name":"LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":612,"word_count":10}
{"speech_id":1090142494,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this rule provides 1 hour of general debate. equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. The -rule also provides one motion to recommit. with or without instructions. Mr. Speaker. for virtually every telecommunications service. consumers have a choice over which service they can obtain. They can comparison shop and get the deal they feel is best for their family based on service and on price. The reason- that consumers can choose the best telecommunications deal for their family is because most telecommunications services are part of a competitive business. How6ver. unfortunately. this is not true for video services. The lack of competition for cable television service means poorer service. higher prices. and less innovation for new products and services. Mr. ","speaker_name":"LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4802,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090142498,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Florida","speaker_name":"LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":454,"word_count":11}
{"speech_id":1090142516,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. there are strong antidiscrimination provisions in this legislation. And a prime author of this legislation. who has worked very diligently. precisely on this issue. as well as others. and the gentleman who -I had the privilege of coming to Congress with. a classmate. Mr. RUSH of Illinois. I yield him 4 minutes.","speaker_name":"LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":325,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090142529,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This rule should be voted down. There has been little debate about the COPE Act and what it does to rightsofway. Proponents say it protects city streets. In reality. it only goes halfway. It allows cities to manage their rightsofway which include streets. sidewalks and other public property. but that is exactly what Americas cities and towns do today. But the COPE Act sends any dispute about those rightsofway to the FCC. That is such a fundamental change.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DOYLE","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1557,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090142543,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong support of this bill. and I urge my colleagues to support it as well. Our 302(b) allocation. which was nearly $2.4 billion below the Presidents requested level. presented us with several challelnges. Within this sharply reduced allocation. we were compelled to fit dramatic increases in presidential priorities such as the Millennium Challenge Account and the Presidents Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief. as well as increased funding for Afghanistan and Iraq. \u0095 I generally agree with Chairman KOLBE on the spending levels recommended within the reduced allocation. We worked closely together as always to ensure that. in the face of devastating cuts. we at least level funded child survival and health and development assistance priorities. The bill provides the Presidents request of $3.4 billion for HIV\/AIDS. increasing the overall amount for HIV\/AIDS and TB by $751 million over the fiscal year 2006 enacted levels. and more than doubling the Presidents request for the global fund to fight AIDS. ","speaker_name":"NITA LOWEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6786,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090142560,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank my good friend for yielding me time and thank him for the job he has done on this very important legislation. Mr. Chairman. this morning I had the privilege of joining First Lady Laura Bush. Ambassador- Tobias. Dr. Kent Hill at an event announcing Malawi. Mozambique. Rwanda. and Senegal as the newest countries to be added to the PrAsidents Malaria Initiative. $1.2 billion over its 5year program. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2618,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090142568,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The report accompanying H.R. 5522 does indicate the committees awareness of the Gift of Life Internationals Project Iraqi Hearts. It is an initiative that should be thoroughly explored. The ranking minority member and I are both committed to working with the gentleman from New York to ensure that this proposal gets careful consideration from the :)epartment of State and USAID. Spec fic funds have not been set aside. but : f review by State and AII show the orogram can deliver results that save lives. it would have the committeess strong support.","speaker_name":"JAMES KOLBE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":551,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090142590,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the gentlewomans courtesy in permitting me to speak and for her kind words and for the work that she and Mr. KOLBE have done in this important bill. fashioning. I think. something that is very. very good. given the minimum amount of money they have been given. Across the world. this bill will enable the United States to cooperate with other donors. to partner with people in extreme poverty to improve their lives and wellbeing. but. Mr. Chairman. I am hopeful that we can do .a little modification to make this difficult bill a little better. During consideration here. ","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1827,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090142592,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. and today I rise in strong support of the 2007 foreign operations appropriations bill. I want to acknowledge the fine work done by the chairman. Mr. KOLBE. who I had the honor to travel to Indonesia with as part of the House Democracy Assistance Commission and also the superb work done each and every day by our ranking. member. NITA LOWEY. We are very grateful for your fine work. There is a lot to applaud iu this bill. and I want to recognize a couple of H3532 cc areas worthy of specific mention. funding in Darfur and funding for the state of Israel among others. but before I do. I want to express my regret and concern about the fact that this bill is still $2.38 billion below the Presidents reques. ","speaker_name":"ADAM SCHIFF","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2258,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090142622,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The conferees on the supplemental two nights ago. despite the fact that there were two Senate votes and one House vote which put into that bill a declaration that the Congress was in opposition to creating permanent bases in Iraq. despite that fact. the conferees dropped all three of those. So we are now in the position where the Congress of the United States will not even take a position that we dont want permanent bases in Iraq. Now. I know there are some people in this Chamber who dont want us to pull out immediately. There -are a lot of people who dont want us to do that. But. certainly. the only other option isnt to stay there forever. but that is what is being implied if we accept these permanent bases in Iraq. Imagine how our influence in the world would be transformed. Right now. since our invasion of Iraq. we are at an all time low in terms of American popularity in every region of the world. Imagine how our popularity would be transformed if we said that. instead of spending $450 billion on a stupid war. imagine how the world would look at us if instead we said we were going to take 1\/10 that amount and use it to make certain that every single one of Gods creatures who we could reach in the next 10 years would finally have access to water that doesnt make them sick and doesnt make a lot of their kids die. America would be transformed. at least our image would be transformed. into actually living up to our JudeoChristian principles. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2273,"word_count":271}
{"speech_id":1090142623,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. our priorities must be recalibrated. It may be true that the militaries of several poor countries will not be as advantaged. but the family of man will clearly benefit.","speaker_name":"JAMES LEACH","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1945,"word_count":31}
{"speech_id":1090142639,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Sometimes we do not respect the people for what has happened to this country and terrorism around the world. But I want for a minute for you to just take a moment and think how important this amendment would be and the signal it would send to our strongest alley in the Middle East. We have had a wonderful relationship with Egypt over the last 30 years. Over 75 million Egyptians. with some of the other countries. Syria. Jordan. Saudi. some of them 7 million. some 10 million. some 12. this is 75 million Egyp5tians who live in our country today and who live in the Middle East. Mr. Chairman. it is the wrong signal to send at a time when the Middle East is in turmoil. Leadership is what they must have. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN KILPATRICK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4408,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090142642,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But this is not tough love. This is going over the top in my estimation. and would cause damage for many years in the future if it were to pass. Reducing U.S. aid to Egypt at this time would also be strategically not a good move for the United States. Egypt has facilitated expeditious transit of hundreds of U.S. warships and thousands of U.S. aircraft through the Suez Canal and Egyptian air space since the start of Operation Enduring Freedom and Iraqi freedom. Egypt has been a close partner. Many of my colleagues before have spoken about that relationship and what it means to the region at such a critical team. So I would urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment because I think it goes just too far.","speaker_name":"JOHN SWEENEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1272,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090142650,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the requisite number of words. I rise in support of the ObeyHydeLantos amendment. Mr. Chairman. in years past on this floor and in committee I have noted Egypts central role in the Middle East peace efforts and that without those efforts we would have been even further away from peace than we are. That is. I believe. still true today. And clearly Egypt played an important part of Israels successful disengagement from Gaza last year. but as central as the Egyptian role in the IsraeliPalestinian conflict is and as helpful as Egypt has been with ship transits through the Suez and flights over the Suez Canal in support of our efforts in Iraq. in regional peace and security. is not the only agenda that we have with Egypt. President Bush has called for democratic transformation as a response to the rise of Islamic extremists in the Arab world. ","speaker_name":"GARY ACKERMAN","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2744,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090142658,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I accompanied the gentlewoman on the delegation to Egypt. Will she acknowledge that we met with Mr. Mubarak. Jr.. and that he outlined a roadmap for further constitutional democratization in Egypt that is a positive step and that the gentlewoman was impressed with that? Would she acknowledge that?","speaker_name":"ROGER WICKER","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":312,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090142667,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They are undergoing an effort of broadening political participation ensuring freedom of expression. In addition. they recognizethat this is a problem with the incarceration of the opposition. I might remind .my colleagues that it was a court decision that caused Mr. Noor to be incarcerated. But nonetheless. any letter to the effect that suggests that this is not the right way I.will join. but this is not the way to engage in this position. It is true that Egypt is not engaged in active or interactive military conflict as we speak. but there is no doubt that Egypt is a target of terror and terrorism. There is no doubt that they are a strategic body of safety within the region of the Middle East. They are subject to forces of terrorism. militant Islam. and rogue countries that threaten America and Egypt. I would only ask my colleagues that. yes. it is appropriate to admonish Egypt and to make them realize that we want an encompassing of the ideals of democracy. but having just received the Prime Minister of Israel. they have a relationship with a strong partner of the United States. Let us recognize that Egypt has been a friend. that Egypts culture is a culture of great diversity. that Egyptians here in the United States have spent their blood on behalf of freedom of this country. and that the relationship that we have between Egypt and the United States is one to nurture and one to give credence to and one to be able to protect. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4720,"word_count":257}
{"speech_id":1090142670,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And the Administration advises that President Bush dropped in to say hello to Mubarak. Jr.. but briefly because he only wanted to convey his best wishes to Mubarak. Sr. Well. the Mubarak strategy deserves more than that kind of wink and a nod toward democracy. His strategy has been. from the very beginning. to convince American leaders and American taxpayers to transfer their tax dollars to Egypt because he represents the only alternative to Islamic extremists. And to ensure that his strategy continues to pay dividends. he aggressively suppresses any moderate opposition that emerges. It is true that he doesnt boil his opponents alive like Secretary Rumsfelds former buddy in Uzbekistan. But to follow the sad path of civic discourse in Egypt is to watch an authoritarian respond to his peoples demand for a more open society with a big stick. with a view that he can beat that spirit out of them with fear and intimidation. What we need in Egypt. as several people have said on both sides of this debate. what we need is a pragmatic policy. a policy that realizes if we continue to associate ourselves with a corrupt regime. eventually the pressure cooker will explode. and we will have paid to create the very disaster that these dollars are allegedly designed to avoid. Now is the time to tell President Mubarak. through this amendment. that we have wasted more than enough money -propping up tyranny. ","speaker_name":"LLOYD DOGGETT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3944,"word_count":240}
{"speech_id":1090142682,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"GINNY BROWNWAITE of Florida regarding INCLE funding for Mexico.. An amendment by Mr. BROWN of Ohio regarding Child- Survival and Health program. An amendment by Ms. WATERS regarding funding for Haiti. which shall be debatable for 20 minutes. An amendment by Ms. WATERS regarding funding for Haiti. An amendment by Ms. HOOLEY regarding INCLE. funding. An amendment by Ms. ","speaker_name":"JAMES KOLBE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3250,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090142700,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. on the legislative day of Thursday. June 8. 2006. the house had a vote on rollcall 237. on H Res. 850. providing for consideration of the bill to promote the deployment of broadband networks and services. Had I been present. I would have voted \"yea.\"","speaker_name":"DEBORAH PRYCE","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":263,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090142705,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I enthusiastically bring the general debate for H.R. 5252. the Communications Opportunity. Promotion.. and Enhancement Act of 2006. to the floor of the House of Representatives. The process in getting the bill to this stage has been long. has been fruitful. and. in my opinion. it has been fair. It has involved more than a year of hearings. as well as staff and Memberlevel negotiations. That process has clearly borne. ","speaker_name":"JOE BARTON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3409,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090142707,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It would be a wonderful argument. which is made by the proponents of this bill. that it will lower cable bills and bring consumers choice. What a wonderful argument. if only it were true. This bill is going to harm our consumers. harm our citizens. and harm commercial users of the Internet. First. with regard to consumers. The bill will leave many consumers paying higher prices for cable services. There is no. general promise of lower prices. In fact. the telephone companies. and listen to this. have been telling Wall Street that the price they get for their services will be higher than cable. That is the competition we are going to see under this legislation. Worse. the bill is a blow to the universal service principles which Congress has insisted on since 1927. The bill abandons current law that in exchange for the use of public property cable operators are required to serve all consumers. all consumers in the franchise area. ","speaker_name":"JOHN DINGELL","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4272,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090142709,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This is one of the most proconsumer bills to come to the floor this year. and we need to make sure that the President signs video voice legislation this year. I urge all my colleagues to vote for the COPE Act.","speaker_name":"GEORGE RADANOVICH","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1023,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090142711,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today in opposition to H.R. 5252. the Communications Opportunity Promotion and Enhancement Act of 2006. Simply put. I support the ends but not the means with respect to this legislation. Thd goal of increasingcompetition in the video communication market is worthy. Indeed. it is of great importance. We know that robust competition can improve customer services. reduce pricing. and spark innovation and technological advances. This House is right to take on this critical and timely subject. But I am disappointed the drafters felt the need to use a national cable franchise as the means to achieve these laudable ends. ","speaker_name":"TAMMY BALDWIN","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2136,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090142719,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is flawed in other ways. It really turns local control on its head. Local governments across the country have weighed in. Mayors have said these are not good rules for us. I came from local government. I have a deep regard for it. We can do much better by the cities and mayors in our communities. We can do much better about the rules in terms of buildout in our country. We should not in the 21st century be drawing lines around who is in and who is out. That is not where America is at its strongest and its best. ","speaker_name":"ANNA ESHOO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2148,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090142735,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank my friend from Massachusetts for his leadership on all of these issues. Net neutrality would maintain the free and open Internet that exists today. This bill simply does not protect the right of consumers to a wide array of information and entertainment sources. The Markey amendment would pro-. vide those essential protections by outlawing sweetheart deals between network operators. like the phone or cable companies. and Internet content providers. Without net neutrality. buying company As phone service might restrict you to Google and deny you Yahoo. might deny you CNN.com and only give you FoxNews.com. American consumers deserve choice. whether they choose to use the Internet giant Google or the new startup search engine. This amendment is about consumer choice. This amendment is about market competitiveness. ","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":928,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090142750,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Supporters claim that in order to \"keep the internet as we know it\" we must regulate the service providers. Regulating Internet Service Providers will stall investment. curbing the growth and innovation the Internet has fostered in the last decade. Again. this is something best left to the market to figure out. And at this point. it seems to be a solution in search of an actual problem. We are again at a pivotal point in telecommunications policy. At one time. telecom was one of the drivers of our economy and we need a full comeback. This bill willpromote investment in the advanced networks that will keep the U.S. economy competitive in a fierce global marketplace. Lets again unleash the innovation of our telecom. cable. satellite. and Internet companies because when the rules are right. there are none in the world who are better.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL OXLEY","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5327,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090142777,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I urge my colleagues to support the BartonRush COPE Act. an important bipartisan bill.","speaker_name":"GERALD WELLER","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1742,"word_count":14}
{"speech_id":1090142778,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairmap. while I have some reservations about the COPE -Act. H.R. 5252. I will vote for it today. There have been many changes in the telecommunications and cable industry in the 10 years since the last major revision of telecommunications law. In 1996. telecommunication companies and cable companies provided very different services. Today though. these industries are providing very similar services and the distinctions in the old law are no longer as relevant. As a result. I believe it is time for us to make changes to our telecommunication laws that take into account the technological advances of the industry and the changes in the marketplace. This bill would make some of those needed changes. ","speaker_name":"MARK UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2276,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090142784,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Historically. video entrantsprimarily cable companieshave been required to negotiate contracts. called franchises. with local governments before offering video service. With some 33.000 municipalities. this negotiating process is time consuming and costly. serving as a barrier to market access. H.R. 5252 streamlines this process by creating a single. national approval process. This will open the door for telephone companies to enter the video services market and build out extensive new fiberoptic networks to compete with the cable industry whose network is al.ready well established. The bottom line is a national franchise will open the door for more choices. better services and lower bills. I am concerned about some of the potential amendments that. under the guise of \"fairness\". would just defeat the purpose of the bill. The first is mandatory buildout requirements. which are nothing less than the government telling a business how to run itself. Requiring a new entry in a competitive market to deploy broadband everywhere at once. even when its not economical. guarantees that nothing will be built. Market demand will make the case for broadband expansion soon enough. Next. there seem to be new efforts to regulate the \"last frontier\". the Internet. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL OXLEY","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4211,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090142791,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It would clarify that a person or group seeking authority to provide service under a national franchise must agree to comply with all requirements the FCC Commission would promulgate pursuant to the consumer protection and customer services provisions in the bill. Further. it clarifies that pursuant to a colloquy that I had with Mr. BOUCHER at the full. committee markup. the managers amendment would clarify that anyone with a national franchise shall be subject to all the cable operator provisions of title 6 of the Communications Act. except for those ones specifically in the pending bill. It would also clarify that nothing in the legislation that affects existing pole attachment law. This was another concern of Mr. BOUCHER and others at full committee. Mr. Chairman. I would urge my colleagues to support the amendment. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JOE BARTON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1536,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090142801,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I thank the distinguished chairman. My amendment had very well founded and grounded intentions. and that is in this massive effort. the hard work of this committee. the fine leadership of Mr. DINGELL and","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":274,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090142828,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If you agree with Mr. WYNN that the principle of local enforcement and an FCC appeal is a good one. and you Should. you should also agree with that same principle for issues like public access and school channels. INETs. public hearings. as well as consumer protection like the DingellDoyle amendment would have. While we are on the subject of enforcement. I want to make sure my friends are aware that the House will not debate an amendment to fix the COPE Acts rightsofway boondoggle. For my friends who have gotten calls and letters from mayors in their districts. resolutions from city councils. this amendment. while good. does not address their larger concerns about their roads. their streets. and their other public property. If local enforcement is such a good idea. and it is. then why should local governments not be allowed to enforce their own laws about their own streets?","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DOYLE","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1730,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090142830,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Let me begin by thanking the gentleman for his kind words with respect to my amendment. and I also want to thank him for his leadership. along with that of our ranking member on other issues of great concern. I would only point out that he has acknowledged that having the FCC promulgate and allow local enforcement of this rule is a good idea. I thank you for that comment. and that is what this amendment attempts to do. Are there other things that might be desirable? I would certainly concur with him that there are. but I would certainly appreciate support for the amendment because. as he has pointed out. it addresses at least partgof the issue that local communities have expressed concern about. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"ALBERT WYNN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":812,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090142840,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Chairman. I would like to enter into a colloquy with a member of the committee. Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania.","speaker_name":"JOE BARTON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":517,"word_count":19}
{"speech_id":1090142931,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong opposition to the Markey amendment. This amendment is essentially a solution in search of a problem. When we considered this bill in both the subcommittee and in the full committee. we asked experts to identify one example of a problem that this amendment would solve. They couldnt point to one example where a Belloperated company or a cable company had blocked access to their networks or infringed on socalled Internet freedom. Further. when we asked these experts to define net neutrality. these same experts couldnt even agree on a definition for this term or even provide a description that was less than confusing. I am concerned that this amendment will give the FCC the authority to impose old network common carriage requirements on new networks. Since the advent of the Internet. Congresss hands off policy has allowed the World Wide Web to prosper by having the market pick winners and losers. rather than the government.\u0095 The Markey amendment takes us in the opposite direction. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL FERGUSON","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1478,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090142945,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong support of the Markey amendment to maintain network neutrality on the Internet. This is probably one of the most important issues this Congress will face this year. At issue is whether we maintain the current system of nondiscrimination on the network or whether we allow this engine for innovation and progress to be controlled by a few large corporations. As we all know. the Internet has a history of openess and freedom. To be sure. all this freedom has its questionable effectsan enbrmous amount of chaos. loud and intemperate voices opining on everything under the sun. and an unparalled proliferator of unfounded rumors. Im sure we all remember the infamousand mythicalCongressman Schnell who was introducing legislation to tax the Internet? Only the Internet could start and rapidly transmitand keep going for yearssuch an easily knocked down rumor. But it is precisely this unbridled freedom on the Internet that has also brought us innovation on an almost unimaginable scale over the last decade or so. The explosive growth of everything from webbased businesses to politicallybased sites to newsgathering sources has been nothing short of amazing. ","speaker_name":"LOIS CAPPS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3729,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090142963,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise to offer this amendment on behalf of the Congressional Rural Caucus with my friend. Mr. GUTKNECHT from Minnesota. This amendment makes a good bill better. Our amendment is not controversial. it simply is a savings clause. It preserves the ability of the FCC to extend universal service fund and intercarrier compensation obligation to Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP providers. The problem is that the underlying bill extends many new rights to VoIP providers. but extends only some of the responsibility. This leaves out the responsibility to contribute to the universal service system and pag appropriate compensation for use of the network. ","speaker_name":"BART STUPAK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1386,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090142992,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What I am talking about is that we know of instances in the State of Michigan. where our ranking member. Mr. DINGELL. has a community. Inkster. which was excluded from buildout. They purposely went out around his area in Michigan and served the outer surrounding community. That community had a higher income. But when they looked at the little portion. the donut hole. they were low income and minority. That is what happened. There was no services provided there. My motion. ","speaker_name":"HILDA SOLIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4301,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090143199,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in the wake of yet another contentious debate over the size and scope of the Republican tax cuts. I believe that it is high time that this Chamber engages in a serious discussion about the fiscal condition of our Nation and that Senators make an objective assessment of what the economic policies of the last 5 years have wrought on our Nations longterm economic security. It is critically important that we realize that every tax cut we debate or enact today. will have a cost for workers and future generations down the road. Despite the best wishes of some Senators. there is no such thing as a tax cut that pays for itself and the fiscal profligacy of the last few years will have a dramatic effect on the economic opportunities for the next generation of Americans. Indeed. what has made this Nation great is only the result of the commitment of each generation of Americans to leave a country for their children and grandchildren that was a little better than they found it. We need to ask whether our economic choices today will enable us to fulfill that commitment. A recent article in U.S. News and World Report magazine has clearly laid out what is at stake with the fiscal decisions that we have made and will continue to make in the months and years to come. Therefore. ","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1364,"word_count":231}
{"speech_id":1090143214,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. House Republicans are continuing to work to lower the cost of gasoline over the mid and longterm. On Wednesday. House Republicans passed the Refinery Permit Process Schedule Act to help reduce Americas Printed on recycled paper. dependence on foreign oil. Despite our countrys increasing demand for fuel. the United States has not built an oil refinery in over 30 years. Total capacity of current refineries is roughly 17 million barrels per day. while demand is nearly 21 million barrels per day. We cannot continue this trend of using more refined petroleum products than we produce. It is vital that we move away from our dependence on foreign sources to fill this gap. I am pleased that this weeks long overdue legislation helps remove red tape preventing construction of new refineries. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1276,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090143216,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Their reign of terror will be brought to justice. Freedom must always fight to survive. but freedom will prevail when the desert dust settles. And thats just the way it is.","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1112,"word_count":31}
{"speech_id":1090143234,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"ida. Mr. Chairman. Ronald Reagan had a wonderful statement. and that was. if you want to live forever become a Goy-. ernment program because they never. ever go away. When the British and Iraq governments established the International Fund for Ireland in 1986. as part of the AngloIrish Accord. Irelands per capita gross domestic product was relatively low. It certainly was a very good program. Since then. Ireland has grown at a pace more rapid even than ours. and is known as the Celtic Tiger. Today. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA BROWN-WAITE","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1673,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090143241,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There is no better way to have peace than to have prosperity. The fact that general economy of Ireland has improved certainly is a very great benefit to that part of the world. Mr. Chairman. I withdrew this with the information that the program is being phased out in future years. Mr. Chairman. I ask unanimous consent to withdraw the amendment.","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA BROWN-WAITE","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":750,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090143282,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I have been on this House floor before expressing. my concerns about our policy in Colombia. The drug eradication policy. to be blunt. has been a miserable failure. The Colombian military continues to commit heinous acts with impunity. Now. I know that some of my esteemed colleagues who oppose this amendment will once again come to the House floor with their charts and graphs and arrows pointing this way and that. but no matter how you slice and dice it. the bottom line is that after 6 years and $4.7 billion for Colombia. we are exactly where we started out as far as drug cultivation is concerned. The same amount of coca is being grown today in Colombia as in 1999. And this isnt JIM MCGOVERN just saying this. this fact comes from our own Office of Narcotics Control and Drug Policy. It is their figures. their findings. their conclusion. the State Department backs them up on this. $4.7 billion. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4225,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090143316,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman. I would simply say the fact is. you dont just have to look at what this bill does today on this amendment. You have to look at the whole and what it did yesterday on the Egypt amendment. coupled with what it is doing here today. and that means we have shortchanged those refugees.","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":303,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090143403,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Congress has created barriers to keeping and creating jobs in America. The Economic Competitive Caucus has listed eight categories of these barriers that restrict the growth in our economy and restrict more American jobs. One of these categories. is securing trade policy. more trade agreements and opening markets to help create jobs. But we must also enforce the trade policy- and the trade agreements that we have made. because if we do not. we will lose jobs. Mr. Chairman. the gentleman from Nebraska has identified an unenforced portion of our statutes. His amendment closes a loophole. and protects the creative talents in America and saves American jobs. We must protect against infringement of American ideas to protect these jobs and we do that by enforcing our trade agreements. This amendment will do just that. Please support the gentleman from Nebraskas amendment.","speaker_name":"TODD TIAHRT","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1259,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090143414,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Now. WHINSEC provides future civilian as well as military and law enforcement. that is police officers. including U.S. military officers. professional education that helps support our demoL cratic principles in this hemisphere. WHINSEC does that. promotes those democratic values and the respect for human rights and the knowledge and understanding of U.S. customs and tradition through the time that the officers spend there and through the curriculum that is developed there. The courses build strong relationships between the participating nations. helping to ensure peace and stability throughout the hemisphere. This is a school that is open. Anyone can visit the campus. tour the building where the courses are taught. sit in classes. talk to the students and faculty. People are invited in as lecturers from outside. A large part of the curriculum in this program is devoted to human rights and to values. It seems to me that if what we really want in this hemisphere is a military in different countries that shares those values that we hold. that are dear to us. that we should be doing more. not less. of this. more training of these people. Has anybody ever graduated from the School of the Americas in the past that turned out to be bad? Yes. of course. ","speaker_name":"JAMES KOLBE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4279,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090143423,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of the amendment to prohibit funding for the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.-otherwise known as the School of the Americas. This combattraining facility for security personnel in Latin America is notorious for graduating human. rights offenders. In its 59 years of existence. the School of the Americas has trained over 60.000 Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency techniques. sniper training. commando and psychological warfare. military intelligence and interrogation tactics. These graduates have consistently targeted educators. union organizers. religious workers. student leaders. and others who work for the rights of the poor. Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been victims of School of the Americas graduates. For example. on February 2122. 2005. eight members of the San Jose de Apartado Peace Community in Uraba. Colombia. were brutally massacred. Witnesses identified the killers as members of the Colombian militarys 17th Brigade. commanded by a School of the Americas graduate. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2086,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090143457,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume to respond very briefly to what the gentleman just said. I think what he just said demonstrates what this issue is all about: Are we talking about something that scratches the surface of emotions. or are we talking about something that is real. The money is not symbolic. It is real. The $20.000 allows them to buy a seat at the IMET table. It allows them to send their students to the United States to be trained in western values. in democracy and justice. The $400.000 is to pay for American experts to go over and train them in bomb detections and in criminal investigations. Is the gentleman saying we do not want them to be trained. we do not want them to participate? What does this have to do with Wahabism? Nothing. ","speaker_name":"JAMES KOLBE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1132,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090143490,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I will close very quickly. Let me just say that the gentleman may be right that there are some groups that oppose this. but every single mayor. every single elected mayor in those villages and those towns shown on the map that he just showed there of El Salvador has voted in favor of this during the consultative process. Every single elected mayor has come out in favor of this. The economic analysis of this has shown that it has about a 20 percent return on the rate of investment. This is the kind of thing that is going to help farmers and businessmen and others who have been too long isolated in this region. ","speaker_name":"JAMES KOLBE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1209,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090143499,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I want to thank my distinguished colleague from Colorado for bringing this amendment to the floor. and as a former cattleman myself. I am very proud and pleased to be able to support it. I have been working here in this House with her and Members of the House Beef Caucus to reopen some of our markets to American beef throughout the world. What frustrates me most about the remaining bans on U.S. beef is that they are blatantly political. These bans are not based on scientific evidence. evidence which overwhelmingly shows that U.S. beef is among the safest in the world. We have worked hard to demonstrate the safety of U.S. beef. and we have waited patiently for our trading partners to resume imports. Now it is time for us to do more. I support this amendment because it sends a strong. clear signal to our trading partners that we are tired of waiting. and waiting needlessly. ","speaker_name":"BOB BEAUPREZ","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":942,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090143509,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I will use Significantly less than 5 minutes. Mr. Chairman. I thank Chairman KOL3E and Ranking Member LOWEY. They deserve tremendous credit for recognizing long ago for many years the domestic and global benefits of tuberculosis control. They have been leaders in this body. and I thank them for that. There are three compelling reasons to do this amendment: additional dollars will save lives. additional dollars will serve the purpose of fighting not just TB. but contributing to a public health infrastructure and preparedness for a potential bird flu pandemic. and additional TB control dollars now will result in a net reduction of outlays later because of better preparation. ","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":891,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090143517,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentlewoman for her comments. Let me just say gentlewoman has been a leader in this field. I appreciate the fact that she has brought this issue to the attention of this subcommittee and to this body. There is no question that the treatment of women. as it relates to reproductive rights and their treatment in their relationships with their husbands and with others is horrific in many countries. and certainly violates all of the standards that we would consider minimal in this country. Clearly there needs to be. in our appropriations. and in the money that we spend on foreign assistance programs. there needs to be an understanding of this issue. There needs to be a sensitivity to it. And I appreciate the fact that the gentlewoman has brought this to our attention. I think by having this dialogue here today. we emphasize to USAID and to all of our mission directors around the world. that this is something that we believe they should be very much focused on. to be sure that the treatment of women in their respective countries. balancing. balancing the secular rights with the religious law that exists in some.of these countries. balancing that. that we protect the rights of women. the basic human rights of women in these countries. ","speaker_name":"JAMES KOLBE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1526,"word_count":219}
{"speech_id":1090143524,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As I begin this debate. Mr. Chairman. I do want to acknowledge again the hard work of Mr. KOLBE and Mrs. LowEy in working together on probably one of the more different foreign operations bills in the appropriations process. I would also offer to say in good humor and with a sense of caring. I really wish the point of order could be waived. But I hope this issue again gains the attention of the chairman and the ranking member. that we could. in fact. have report language on this. Mr. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2727,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090143526,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the distinguished chairman. I am prepared to withdraw it. As I said. my earlier thoughts are that would not it be great to have had the point of order waived. because I think children are dying as we speak and the refugees in Chad need our help. I want to thank you. Mr. Chairman. I want to thank Mrs. LOWEY for her support. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":745,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090143572,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in opposition to the Foreign Operations Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2007. The United States should plant seeds of peace. not seeds of war. Tragically. however. this legislation appropriates nearly $5 billionor about 25 percent of total spendingfor direct military assistance. H.R. 5522 also includes more than $2.5 billion for socalled \"Economic Support Funds\" that recipient countries often direct toward security budgets. This spending subsidizes armed conflict. encouraging violence rather than diplomacy around the world. At the same time. the legislation includes several provisions I would have loved to support as a standalone bill. For example. it provides $450 million for humanitarian relief efforts in Sudan. Significant financing is included for muchneeded disaster and famine assistance. temporary resettlement of refugees. development aid. and peacekeeping operations. ","speaker_name":"FORTNEY STARK","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1212,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090143641,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If I can. I just have one last question. In reference to the work that is being engaged on right now on developingthe language for the resolution on Iraq. is that being done in a bipartisan way? Are ranking members on those committees also participating in that?","speaker_name":"JOSEPH CROWLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":262,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090143651,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me just add some accolades. But first of all. I want to commend first my friend and colleague from Illinois. Representative SHIMKUS. for the tremendous dedication and service and leadership that he has provided to the page program as its chairman. But let me also commend and congratulate all of you for the tremendous service that you have provided. Many of us make use of your skills. make use of your energy. of your legs. your ability to go from one place to the other and bring things. but I am amazed at the number of people that I have met here who are now Members of this body who at one time served as pages. So I suspect that in the future we will see some of you here as Members from the community where you live and perhaps we will even see one of you sitting in the big chair up in the White House. Congratulations to all of you. Thank you so much for your service.","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":882,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090143656,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank my colleague for his comments. and every time JIM KOLBE speaks. as you have heard in the last comments at the end of the appropriation bill. the Foreign Ops bill in which Members from both sides. especially the Democrats. talked about his integrity. his commitment. his honesty. and those are comments from the heart. and you will get to hear him one more time at the graduation ceremony. I bring you thanks from all the folks who you have worked with. the dorm staff. the school staff and of course. the floor. staff here who are always well represented in keeping track of where you are. Thank you for keeping track of each other during this time. Thank you for keeping each other safe and being friends to those who needed friends at that time. and thanks for keeping each other out of trouble. Those things that you have learned during this time. let us hope that you carry them on with you. that you will just make this world a better place. So thank you. God bless you. and God bless the United States of America. We appreciate your service.","speaker_name":"JOHN SHIMKUS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1082,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090143661,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"When I kill one. I create three.\" So if killing one insurgent creates three more. what happens when you kill one of the most visible insurgent leaders? And here is an interesting twist. If killing Zarqawi was a primary goal of the Bush administration. why did they not act when they had an opportunity 4 years ago? Aocording to NBC News. on three separate occasions in 2002 and early 2004. Zarqawi was within our sights. but all three times. the plan for attack was vetoed at the White House and the National Security Council. Why the hesitation on the part of this famously trigger happy administration? According to NBC sources. it was all about selling the Iraq War. At the time. the administration was furiously trying to build public support for the preemptive invasion of Iraq. resorting to all kinds of misinformation if necessary. And they did not want to lose the public relations value of keeping Zarqawi alive and dangerous. which just goes to show that this misadventure in Iraq seems to have always been more important to the administration than actually stopping terrorists. Remember when the President made the reference to: \"Wanted. Dead or Alive\"? Maybe the real motto should have been: \"Wanted. Dead or Alive. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3690,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090143664,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is. people would be dying unnecessarily because they wouldnt be able to get near a ventilator. and that number assumes that none of the existing ventilators are being used for any other purpose in the United States. Now. when I raised this issue with Dr. John Agwunobi. who is the Assistant Secretary For Health. he is a recent Bush appointee. his expertise was being Health and Human Services Director for President Bushs brother in Florida. qo he brings tremendous expertise to this job and great professionalism. as do many of the political appointees we have seen with this administration. but when I asked Dr. Agwunobi about the ventilator shortage. he said. well. that is not our job. I said. well. what about the national stockpile? He said. oh. yeah. well get some for the national stockpile. How many? Oh. well. 4.000 or 5.000 ventilators. Remember. we need another 640.000 or so in the case of a pandemic. So I said. well. whose duty do- you think it is to enhance the stockpile? How are we going to enhance the stockpile? He says. oh. no. that is the job of the States and the hospitals. He said. in fact. you know. hospitals or some county somewhere might not build a swimming pool. instead. they should be investigating in preparedness for pandemics. Well. he doesnt live in the world that most of us live in. ","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4549,"word_count":234}
{"speech_id":1090143673,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman. I point out also to key into that point. that Stonewall Jackson may have been the most inspiring general in the South. but you canfiot inspire people from the grave. Well. you can do that. but you cannot recruit military to fight underneath you from the grave. This fellow. Abu Musab alZarqawi is done recruiting for alQaeda. They are not going to come here to fight in his memory. because they are going to meet the same kind of end as Zarqawi. But I want to point out his statement here. Mr. Speaker. because I think it is important for Americans to burn into their mind his attitude towards Americans. He said. ","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1993,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090143675,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"God bless our troops. I yield back.","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":542,"word_count":7}
{"speech_id":1090143764,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank my friend for her leadership on the environmental issue. and I would like to get back to it. but I would like to ask the Senator to reflect with me for a minute on the larger issue. an issue of corporate responsibility. whether U.S. businesses will accept their responsibilities as part of America. their responsibility not only to their workers. their investors. and shareholders. but the consumers and America at large. Time and time again. what we find with the Bush administration is they turn their back and ignore this issue of corporate responsibility. We now have a \"Bermuda Triangle.\" This Bermuda Triangle is sucking in American jobs and American tax dollars as more and more corporations are moving their headquarters overseas. As they move their headquarters to Bermuda to avoid paying Americas taxes. they are shirking their corporate responsibility to the United States. When the Stanley Tool Company decided to move from the United States and put their corporate headquarters in Bermuda. did we hear any protests from this administration that they were shirking corporate responsibility? Not at all. We saw in the paper yesterday that we now have the Norquist black list. Grover Norquist. one of the leading gurus of the Republican Party. has said he is creating a black list of those entities. organizations. and people in Washington who will not be acceptable and welcome in the Bush administration. They want their close circle of corporate friends to have entre to persuade this administration to move in the worst directions. They do not want to hear both points of view. the Norquist black list. part of this Bush administration philosophy. It really comes through graphically on this issue of the Superfund. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2574,"word_count":286}
{"speech_id":1090143769,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Not one so far. We now know because other whistleblowers are telling us that they set the pace for the energy industry. This was the biggest transfer of wealth from ordinary American families to the pockets of these people. It is extraordinary. Overlay the whole Enron scandal and anyone can see that California was used as a cash cow to keep Enron afloat while the insiders sold their stock. I have seen videotapes of the highest executives at Enron telling the poor employeesas these top executives were unloading their stockbuy more stock. They wanted to see that the stock was artificially held up and have more people and more employees buying so they could sell out. I look at the word \"patriotism\" perhaps in a different way than others. Patriotism extends to a very broad range. When I say this. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1456,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090143801,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Senator makes a point on race. religion. on gender. sexual orientation. on disability. This legislation goes to the core of the bias and hatred and addresses that. It gives the Justice Department the tools to be able to prosecute those. I thank the Senator. How much time remains?","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":284,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090143818,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Now it appears to me there will be no way to get to the Defense authorization bill before probably next Tuesday at the earliest. and maybe later. Until we do that. we cannot begin on the regular appropriations bills. the first of which should be the Defense appropriations bill. We need to make sure our men and women in uniform and our law enforcement officials all over this country and all over the world who are fighting against this hate crime. terrorism. have what they need in terms of pay. quality of life. weapons. and sophisticated equipment they need to do the job. While. obviously. this issue can be scheduled at -some pointand I assume it will be scheduledit certainly is one in which there is not an emergency facing us right now. I wanted to raise that point. We do not even have a budget resolution. We are 2 months behind getting a budget resolution this year. It is just being ignored: No budget resolution. No 2003 numbers to which we have agreed. No policies. ","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5298,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090143823,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to take this opportunity to express my strong support of the Local Law Enforcement Act of 2001. the \"Hate Crimes Act.\" The Hate Crimes Act is a bill whose time has come. I would like to commend Senator KENNEDY for his long. hard work to pass this importait legislation. and Iam happy to have the opportunity to vote for it today. The Hate Crimes Act creates an intergovernmental assistance program which would provide technical. forensic. prosecutorial and other forms of assistance to state and local law enforcement officials for hate crimes based on race. color. religion. national origin. gender. sexual orientation and disability. The bill authorizes the Justice Department to award grants of up to $100.000 to state. local. and Indian law enforcement officials who have incurred extraordinary expenses associated with investigating and prosecuting hate crimes. This legislation requires grant applicants to coordinate with affected community groups. schools. and colleges and universities. In addition. this bill gives the Justice Department jurisdiction over crimes of violence involving bodily injury. if motivated by a persons actual or perceived race. color. religion. national origin. gender. sexual orientation. or disability. if it meets both the interstate commerce and certification reqiirements in the underlying statute. Lastly. the bill amends the Hate Crimes Statistics Act to include gender and requires the FBI to collect data from states on genderbased hate crimes in the same manner that it currently collects data for race. religion. sexual orientation. disability. and ethnicity. The number of reported hate crimes has grown by almost 90 percent over the past decade and we cannot afford to ignore this growing problem. ","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8048,"word_count":272}
{"speech_id":1090143824,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"When he tried to defend his family. they beat him. \"Theyd been calling him an Iranian.\" Geralds daughter later said. \"I couldnt understand why. You know. my dad is not Iranian. They just kept hitting and hitting my dad.\" she said. The FBI has investigated over 300 incidents since September 11 in which individuals perceived to be Muslim or of Middle Eastern decent have been attacked or threatened because of their religion or national origin. President Bush moved swiftly to protect Muslims and ArabAmericans from hate crimes and sent out a message that this nation will not tolerate such attacks against any Americans. The Presfdent implored. \"In our anger and emotion. our fellow Americans must treat each other with respect ... Those who feel like they can intimidate our fellow citizens to take out their anger dont represent the best of America. they represent the worst of humankind...\" Attorney General John Ashcroft reiterated the Presidents message by warning that. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10572,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090143848,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And. I should not. the administration didnt just request a small debt limit increase. It requested a $750 billion increase. which would constitute the second largest onetime increase eversurpassed only by the $915 billion increase S5338 co signed into law by the Presidents father during his term in office. in November 1990. That dramatic turnaround in events followed a period of rapidly falling deficits in the 1990s and 4 years of surpluses. In total. as a result of the fiscal discipline put in place in the 1990s. we paid down $400 billion of publiclyheld debt and were on the path to eliminate our debt in preparation for the retirement of the baby boom generation. What a sad turn of events we now face today. It is imperative that we find a way out of this mess. Last week. we were close in the Senate on adopting a bipartisan deal to restore budget discipline and prevent us from digging the hole any deeper. That deal would have extended PAYGO and the Budget Act points of orders. and set a cap on discretionary spending for 2003. Unfortunately. our Republican colleagues blocked its consideration. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3402,"word_count":191}
{"speech_id":1090143850,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. as a longtime proponent of a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. I rise to speak concerning. S. 2578. While we are told that this bill will increase the Nations debt limit. what we really voted on today was whether to keep the statutory commitment that Congress has made to the Social Security trust fund. Social Securitys current surplus is the main reason we need to raise the debt limit. Every single dollar of that surplus goes into the Social Security trust fund. and by law. every single dollar of the trust fund counts as part of the total Federal debt. Social Security is expected to run a $160 billion surplus this year. with an even higher surplus next year. Ironically. in order to place that surplus in the Social Security trust fund. the law requires us to increase the debt limit. Only in Washington. DC. can running a surplus increase your level of debt. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2505,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090143880,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it was a Republican President. Theodore Roosevelt. who. in the early 1900s. established our Nations first national forests and refuges. and his fifth cousin. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. who. during the Great Depression of the 1930s. launched the Civilian Conservation Corps. Then. under Dwight Eisenhower in 1960. our country set aside the first part of Alaskas Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Under Richard Nixon. in 1970. we enacted the Clean Air Act to limit air pollution from cars. utilities. and industries. Then. 20 years later. a major expansion of that act was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush. the father of nowPresident Bush. For 100 years. ","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7676,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090143885,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We can trade with Canada on agricultural products. manufacturing products. all kinds of things. People go back and forth across the border and do business every day. But when it comes to prescription drugs. we have not been able to do that. That creates a situation where wedont see the kind of pressure on our companies to .be competitive and fair to Americans We want to get people off the bus. We want those prescriptions coming back to the United States to our neighborhood pharmacy. so a senior can walk in and get the reduced price. I will just share with you some of the price differences we have seen as we have taken the bus trips to Canada from Michigan. Zocor. for high cholesterol. if you need to purchase this in Michigan. the price will be somewhere in the range of $109. If you drive that 5minute bus trip across the border. you can get that same Zocor for $46. If we look at Prilosec for heartburn and ulcer relief. $115 in Michigan. $55 across the border to Canada. Probably one of the most disturbing ones for me is a breast cancer treatment drug. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8208,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090143900,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We will pay off $2 trillion of debt over the next decade. That will be the largest debt reduction of any country. ever. Future generations should not be forced to pay back money that we have borrowed. We owe this kind of responsibility to our children and grandchildren. What a difference a year makes. because just a few hours ago we responded to the Presidents request for the biggest increase in the debtthe second biggest increase in the debt in our Nations history. That is what we did just hours ago. Has this Chamber already forgotten? Have we already forgotten that we just responded to the President. who said he was going to pay down the biggest amount of debt in our Nations history. in fact he said the biggest amount of any country ever? And now. just 2 hours ago. 3 hours ago. we responded to his request for not debt paydown but the biggest expansion of the debtthe second biggest expansion in our Nations history? Here is the comparison. The only time we had a bigger increase in the debt than what the President is seeking was when his father was President. When his father was President. we had to increase the debt by $915 billion. in November of 1990. Now this President comes and asks for a $750 billion increase in the debt. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4410,"word_count":226}
{"speech_id":1090143902,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. remember last year? We have to put this in context. We have to think about the circumstance within which we are making decisions. Last year. we were told there was going to be $5.6 trillion of surpluses over the next decade. That is what we were told just last year. Now we look at the budget circumstance of the United States. and the surpluses are all gone. There are no surpluses. In fact. if we look at the Presidents budget and we look at the latest shortfall in revenues and we look at the stimulus package just passed. what we see over the next decade is not $5.6 trillion of surpluses. what we see is $600 billion of deficits. It is a pretty stunning turnaround. In 1 year we go from $5.6 trillion of surpluses to $600 billion of deficits. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2962,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090143904,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Under the alternative proposal offered on the other side. you are going to go to what is called a carryover basis. You are not going to pay future taxes based on the value at the time that your relative died. You are going to go back to the value of what they paid for it. Let us say you inherit a farm. You dont inherit the value of the farm at the time your father died or your grandfather died. You are going to pay future taxes based on what they paid for the property. There is a big difference between our proposals. It is an accounting nightmare. What our friends are proposing we tried beforethe carryover basis. going back to what grandpa paid for a property. It was an administrative nightmare for all concerned. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2230,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090143910,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I voted against that.","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":606,"word_count":4}
{"speech_id":1090143944,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I think this is a big deal. It touches a lot of people. Some people say: Oh. it - is huge revenue. we cannot afford it. It is only 1 percent of the total income into this Government at best. That is something we certainly can afford to eliminate. No tax causes more gyrations. more lawyers. more accountants. CPAs. appraisers. and strategists to try to beat this tax than does the death tax. In addition to that. the Federal Government spends more on trying to collect the tax than on any other tax. For the 1 percent we get. we are gettingthe heaviest cost on the economy. the heaviest cost on the Government to collect them. I think it is very unwise. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6554,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090143981,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I ask my colleague. are there times when money is spent inappropriately? Absolutely. Do we need to restrain spending? Absolutely. Under the budget proposal I made to my colleagues. we would take spending to the lowest level since 1966. I applaud the Senator from Texas and the Senator from Arizona for saying we have to restrain spending. There is no way out of this hole that has been dug except to look at both sides of the equationspending and revenue. To eliminate the estate tax that costs $99 billion under their proposal. when instead we could reform the estate tax and increase the exemption to $3 million for an individual. $6 million for a couple. at a cost of oneeighth as much. a cost of $12.5 billion instead of $99 billion. makes no earthly sense to me. I hope we think carefully about these votes and what it means for the financial future of the country. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":889,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090144001,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. I appreciate the fine explanation of my colleague from Texas. He has been an advocate of the repeal of the death tax for a long time. I am pleased to join with him in this amendment and to be able to say that we have finally been able to bring before the Senate the permanent repeal of the death tax. I want to make several points. I see that the Senator from Oklahoma is here. Was he intending to make a point at this time?","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":441,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090144004,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In other words. there is a $3 million exemption and. after that. every other dollar is taxed at 50 percent. If it is over $10 million. it is at 55 percent. Now. that is bad tax policy. What we say instead is that the tax is not due on the date of death. Death is not a taxable event. Instead. the money passes to the heirs and. at that point. if they sell the property. there is a taxable event. You pay the capital gains on that property. In fact. the basis for the capital gain is the original basis on when the property was purchased by the decedent. not the value at the time of death. So. in effect. we are replacing one tax with another tax. Much of the revenue is not lost to the Treasury as a result. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10712,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090144029,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Also. not taking away the time of the Senator from North Dakota. the Senator from Nevada is correct. I just inquire. then. for the benefit of all Senators. when the Senator from North Dakota has completed his 5 minutes of concluding remarks. could the Senator from Nevada explain what happens at that point?","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":307,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090144030,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have spoken to the majority leader. We have the Prime Minister of Australia coming for a joint session of Congress tomorrow morning. We are going to do a limited amount of morning business in the morning. Then the escort committee would go with the Senators over to the House side and listen to that speech. That is expected to be completed and we will be back in session approximately 12:30 tomorrow afternoon. At that time. Senator DORGAN will lay down his seconddegree amendment with a 2hour time limit.We would vote at approximately 2:30 on the Dorgan amendment. then the Conrad amendment. and then we would turn to the Senator from Texas. He would lay down his amendment which would probably be around 3:15. At 5:15 or 5:30. thereabouts. debate on that would be completed. and I hope on or about that time we could vote on the amendment of the Senator from Texas and be finished with this matter.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":903,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090144053,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mission of Peace Housing Counseling Agency is a leader in helping people take control of their financial wellbeing and has been recognized numerous times for their achievements. Some of the agencies awards include the Local and National HUD Best Practices Award. the Congress of National Bank Churches Client Volume Award. Homeowners and Outstanding Achievement Awards. Fannie Mae Partner Award. State of Michigan Special Tribute Award. the City of Flint Peppy Rosenthal Human Service Award and the Project Zero Partner of the Year Family Independence Agency of Genesee County Award. I know my Senate colleagues join me in congratulating Mission of Peace Housing Counseling Agency on the work that they have done. and in wishing them well in the years to come.*","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2805,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090144066,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Binaifer Nowrojee. Senior Researcher. Human Rights Watch Africa Division. New York. New York. and Ms. Rory Anderson. Africa Policy Specialist. World Vision. Washington. DC.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":527,"word_count":24}
{"speech_id":1090144084,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it adjourn until 9:30 a.m.. Wednesday. June 12. that following the prayer and the pledge. the Journal of proceedugs be approved to date. the morning Hour be deemed expired. the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day. and there then be a period of morning business until 10:40 a.m.. with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. with the first half of the time under the control of the majority leader or his designee. and the second half of the time under the control of the Republican leader or his designee. that at 10:40 a.m.. the Senate proceed to the House Chamber for the Joint Meeting with the Prime Minister of Australia. and then the Senate stand in recess until 12:30 p.m.. further. that at 12:30 p.m.. the Senate resume consideration of H.R. 8.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":888,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090144088,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Hopefully. on Friday we can even do something that is constructive in nature and complete more legislation. The majority leader indicated on the floor today that prior to the July 4 recess. he will move to the defense authorization bill. That is a very difficult bill. as we know. There are a lot of amendments always. So that will take a good part of the legislative week. So there is a lot of work to do and little time to do it.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1333,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090144121,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Senator BYRD knows the history and rules of the Senate better than any of us serving todayperhaps better than anyone who has ever served this body. He has defended the traditions and prerogatives of the Senate as strongly as any Senator ever has. Senator BYRD reveres our Constitution. a copy of which he always carries in his pocket. and is as firmly committed to our Constitution as any American ever has been. To just give one example. I saw that commitment in our work together against the lineitem veto. which Congress passed and President Clinton signed into law in 1996. In the floor consideration of that bill. Senator BYRD illuminated the debate. as he so often does. by reaching back into history. He quoted the 18th century English jurist. Sir William Blackstone. who wrote: In all tyrannical governments. the supreme magistery. or the right of both making and enforcing the laws. is vested in one and the same man. or one and the same body of men. And wherever these two powers are united together. there can be no public liberty. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4832,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090144164,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In one such case. the Army Corps reportedly paid a prime contractor $1.75 per square foot to nail plastic tarps onto damaged roofs in Louisiana. The prime contractor paid another company 75 cents per square foot to do the work. that subcontractor paid a third company 35 cents per square foot to do the work. and that subcontractor paid yet another company 10 cents per square foot to do the work. In other words. we paid the prime contractor $1.75 per square foot for their work. He used a sub. who used a sub. who used a sub. who ended up paying the people who actually did the work 10 cents per square foot to do the work that we and the taxpayers paid $1.75 per square foot to accomplish. In a second such case. the Army Corps reportedly paid prime contractors $28 to $30 per cubic yard to remove debris. The companies that actually performed the work were paid only $6 to $10 per cubic yard. A representative of one of the companies was quoted as saying: Every time it passes through another layer. $4 of $5 is taken off the top. These others are taking out money. and some of them arent doing anything. We have many important issues to address as we consider this bill over the next few days. For example. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9237,"word_count":225}
{"speech_id":1090144203,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I honor the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution. In1956. the people of Hungary stood in the face of adversity and expressed their passion for democracy and independence. They had a vision of what a free and democratic Hungary would look likea vision that finally came to fruition after nearly 35 years. Only 10 years prior the revolution. Hungarians participated in free elections. Through those elections. the people felt the hope and promise of democracy. The perseverance of these strong people can be seen in their remarkable journey toward freedom. On October 23. 1956. tens of thousands of Hungarians stood in the streets. demanding independence from the Soviets. The revolt began as a peaceful gathering of student protesters that spread to the general population. and the first day ended with clashes between the police and the demonstrators. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2419,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090144206,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am pleased today to recognize the Honorable James D. Darnell of Orange. VA. who has served as a member of the Orange town council for 14 years. For 2 of those years. Mr. Darnell also held the position of vice mayor. As a member of the town council. Mr. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":998,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090144208,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am proud to have the opportunity today to honor Dennis Mansfield. an outstanding Hoosier dad. whose dedication to his 11yearold daughter. Alison. was demonstrated in a heartwarming essay that she wrote recently. Last month. in anticipation of Fathers Day. I asked young people from across Indiana to write essays about their own outstanding fathers as a way of recognizing Hoosier men who working hard to be good fathers. Alison wrote a touching essay illustrating her fathers commitment to helping her achieve her Godgiven potential. by encouraging her to excel in school and teaching her how to be a good citizen. As a nation. we have far to go to reverse the trend of absentee fathers. but there are millions of men. including Dennis. who are already going the extra mile for their children. and they deserve our thanks this Fathers Day. By holding men like Dennis up as responsible fathers. I also hope to encourage other men to play a bigger role in their childrens lives. ","speaker_name":"EVAN BAYH","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2425,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090144217,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Representative PAUL KANJORSKI introduced similar legislation in the House. I ask for the support of my colleagues in authorizing this study to determine whether beautiful Cherry Valley should be preserved and designated a national wildlife refuge. By Mr. VOINOVICH:","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1450,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090144218,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"These deficits only continue to add to our national debt. When I came to the Senate in 1999. the national debt stood at $5.6 trillion. Since then. it has increased 50 percent to $8.4 trillion. As a percentage of Gross Domestic Product. GDP. our national debt has grown from being 58 percent of GDP at the end of 2000 to an estimated 66.1 percent of GDP by the end of 2006. In fact. the debt continues to grow so quickly that the House of Representatives fiscal year 2007 budget resolution raises the Federal debt ceiling to nearly $10 trillion. This is only a few months after Congress was forced to raise the debt ceiling. These ongoing deficits. coupled with the expected tidal wave of entitlement spending. will soon putour Nation in a very unenviable position if thoughtful action is not taken. Moreover. the trust funds for Medicare and Social Security will be exhausted even earlier than previously thought. According to the most recent trustees report. the cost of Social Security and Medicare will grow from nearly 7.4 percent of the economy today to 12.7 percent by 2030. consuming approximately 70 percent of all Federal revenues. crowding out all other discretionary spending and some other mandatory programs. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE VOINOVICH","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4046,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090144222,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. last Monday was a somber anniversary for our Nationit marked the second anniversary of President Ronald Reagans passing. I did not come to the floor last Monday. because I knew that today. just a week later. would be another important anniversary in Reagans life. and one I would rather note. Nineteen years ago. on this day in 1987. President Ronald Reagan stood at the Berlin Wall. at the Brandenburg Gate and issued hisissued libertysfamous challenge to Soviet tyranny: General Secretary Gorbachev. if you seek peace. if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev. open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev. tear down this wall! I believe the power and significance of. this quote has been acknowledged. I believe history recognizes what President Reagans steadfast determination to resist communist expansion and even the communist status quo meant to that great struggle. Many spoke on this floor 2 years ago on his contributions. and most have acknowledged the significance of those contributions. I am submitting legislation today because President Reagans contributions to winning the cold war. defending liberty. strengthening America and brightening our future can. in my mind. be adequately summarized by the moment he went to Berlin. stood in the shadow of a communist tyranny. summoned up the force of the American spirit. and called for the removal of the infamous wall. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2246,"word_count":235}
{"speech_id":1090144223,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"DC 205106150. For further information. please contact John Peschke at (202) 2244797. or Shannon Ewan at (202) 2247555.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":912,"word_count":18}
{"speech_id":1090144226,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Monday. June 12. 2006. at 2:30 p.m. The purpose of this hearing is to receive testimony regarding the implementation of sections 641 through 645 of The Energy Policy Act of 2005. the next generation nuclear plant project within the Department of Energy.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":401,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090144245,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is not a sustainable model. It now exceeds over 6 percent of our total gross domestic product. That is worse than Argentina before they collapsed in a heap a few years ago. This is not sustainable. It is ultimately going to lead to a crash in the dollar and a huge runup in interest rates here in the- United States that make the Jimmy Carter interest rates of 16 and 17 percent look like a bargain. But the Bush administration says. no. it is working just fine. It is working just fine for a bunch of corporate CEOs and a few boards of directors and other preferred people in this country. It is not working well for American workers. and the American consumers are getting a Faustian bargain here. We may see some cheaper prices in the short term. but long term things are going to get much more expensive. It also reflects a failed or. let us say. a lack of any energy policy on the part of the United States of America. $24 billion of the April deficit. was due to oil imports. ","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5296,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090144284,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Wang is currently being held in Shaoguan prison in Guangdong Province. where he is on a hunger strike. Prison authorities continue to deny Dr. Wang access to Western medicine which he needs for his serious health issues. I thank the Members of the International Relations Committee who supported this bipartisan resolution. I look forward to the committees continued work to end the deplorable. appalling and unjust treatment of dissidents by Chinese authorities. My staff and I will continue to work on this critical issue. and I look forward to Dr. Wangs release and return to his family.","speaker_name":"GRACE NAPOLITANO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":38.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2008,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090144285,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We should avoid wishful thinking about the intentions of the Chinese govemment. In addition to the deplorable human rights conditions. the Chinese government is providing military technology to countries that threaten international security including Iran and North Korea. threatening Taiwan with a military attack. and violating its trade agreements. Certainly we need to engage China. but it should be sustainable engagement that enables us to sustain our values. sustain our economic growth. and sustain our national security. Today. we once again call on Beijing to release the thousands of prisoners whose only crime is to demand their basic human rights. We call on the Chinese government to open up the Laogai prison system to the International Red Cross so the world can see what really is going on. The spirit of Tiananmen endures and inspires. Tanks and troops may crush a protest. but they can never extinguish the flame of freedom that bums in every human heart.","speaker_name":"NANCY PELOSI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2542,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090144340,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I have no further requests for time. but I do want to thank Chairman BURTON for sponsoring this very important resolution. We often forget just how important our friend is to the north. Canada is a reliable ally. a good friend in thick and thin. so. again. I want to thank Chairman BURTON for sponsoring this resolution. Madam Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":387,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090144391,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But I would also point out for the record. while every loss of life. every loss of life is a tragedy and something that one would prefer not to happen. this is still one of the lowest. if not the lowest. casualty rates in the history of sustained conflict in our country. So I think. frankly. those in charge of these particular areas have done a commendable job and. frankly. are trying to improve on that job literally on a daily basis. This supplemental is a step in that direction. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"TOM COLE","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1471,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090144396,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me time. Mr. Speaker. I regard the .argument made by my good friend from Oklahoma to be essentially an ad hominem argument. The issue is not whether or not Saddam Hussein was a good guy or. a bad guy. He is obviously a bad guy. And it is nice to see that he is gone. We have other bad guys in the world. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2525,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090144406,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Second. the conference report helps those most impacted by last years devastating hurricane season by providing $19.8 billion to rebuild the gulf coast. This is important. and those folks in the gulf coast region that have been devastated by these hurricanes last summer are doing well. they are improving. but they have got a long. long way to go. Finally. it does all of this by keeping an eye out for the American taxpayer and his or her wallet. At the start of this conference. House Republicans made clear that we would not consider an emergency supplemental package that spends $1 *more than what the President requested. We made good on this promise by rejecting some $14 billion in unnecessary. nonemergency spending added by the other body. So. Mr. Speaker. on behalf of our troops fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. our fellow citizens working to rebuild the gulf coast. and the American taxpayer. I urge all my colleagues to support this bill.","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1804,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090144407,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I will be asking Members to vote \"no\" on the previous question. If the previous question is defeated. I will offer an amendment to the rule to instruct the enrolling Clerk to make some very important national security additions to the conference report. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"LOUISE SLAUGHTER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":481,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090144443,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"By the end of the year. this war will have cost over $350. billion and climbing. By eliminating this provision. once again. we have given the administration a blank check to stay in Iraq per-. manently. Mr. Speaker. our amendment sent. a strong signal that the United States has no designs on Iraq permanently. Removing it behind closed doors says just the opposite. Once again. this administration is misleading the American people. This abuse of power must stop. The House. the Senate. both bodies voted for this amendment. How in the world could it be taken out when the majority of Americans do not want to see a permanent presence in Iraq? It is time to get real about this war. and it is time to ask the hard questions with regard to what our longterm intentions are. and I believe that this would have said just that. I think the American people deserve to know what our longterm plans are.","speaker_name":"BARBARA LEE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1753,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090144455,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am going to be too. I asked him four questions about Federal installations that we had been told by his own security people were gravely at risk of terrorist attack. their words not mine. and I asked the President if he had been briefed. if he had. I wanted to know what he had been told because I know what I had been told and it scared the dickens out of me. And to put it kindly. if he had been briefed. he gave no evidence thereof. I did not expect him to. He is a busy man. but I did expect him to have an open mind. And we walked out of that room after the President said that. without listening to a single argument. he would veto any money we added for homeland security. and that has been the case ever since. Each year. whatever strengthening we have had on the border. of ports has come at the insistence of the Congress of the United States. overcoming the objections of the President. and we have tried on both sides of the aisle from time to time. we have tried to add more money than the President asked for for border security and for port security. This is just the latest chapter in the efforts of some Members of Congress to almost get a double hernia trying to do enough heavy lifting in order to get sufficient money into this budget so we do have a secure border on the south and a secure border on the north. and we still are a long way from being there. So while I will vote for this bill. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6455,"word_count":278}
{"speech_id":1090144478,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the opportunity to be here again with the authorization and approval of our leader. Ms. PELOSI. STENY HOYER. our whip. Mr. CLYBURN. our caucus chair. and our vice chair Mr. LARSEN from Connecticut. We would like to thank them also for giving the 30something Working Group an opportunity to come to the floor as often as possible to talk about the issues that are facing this country. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9173,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090144481,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am sure you remember the debate. Mr. DELAHUNT. because you were probably leading it at the time. the debate when we are talking about lets loan the money to the Iraqis. Everybody said they are going to be able to use the oil for reconstruction. Another urban myth. It never happened. I know our friend from the west of me in Toledo. Ohio. who is one of my mentors down here. has *a difficult story to tell us tonight.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":419,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090144482,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if the gentleman would yield. I just want to conclude something. So with this giveaway program. this giveaway from the American taxpayers. we have not even spent the money well. The Iraqis have not spent the money well. We were going to build 150 primary health care centers in Iraq. Only six have been built. and -they are running out of money. Great record. A great record. That sounds to me like the Babe Ruth of mismanagement. waste and absolute pilfering of American tax dollars. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":919,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090144485,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We are borrowing all this money and giving it to the wealthiest 1 percent. 1.9. Lets see here. $1.9 trillion over 10 years of tax cuts that we are borrowing. So we borrow from them and we give it the wealthiest in our country. And education costs go up. health care costs go up. energy costs go up. I yield to my friend.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1562,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090144510,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I want to endorse what the gentleman says and mention that the arrests that just occurred in Toronto were due to people driving up through Ohio. through Windsor. and going up into Canada. And we have been trying to get homeland security money at the northern border. and the Bush administration has just produced a budget. with their allies here in Congress. that cut the .amount of money that cities like Toledo and Detroit. Cleveland received to protect this border with Canada. We cannot even get Coast Guard patrols up on Lake Erie. Members like PETER DEFAZIO of Oregon here have fought so hard to try to get 100 percent funding. We have had amendments in our committee to ex-* amine all containers offshore before coming to this country. They are simultaneously defeated every single time that we offer them.","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":813,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090144527,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Some people deserve that punishment. Hill is one ofthose people. Mr. Speaker. his guilt is not in doubt. just the means of his execution is in doubt. according to the Supreme Court. You know we went from hanging criminals to the electric chair to the gas chamber to the firing squad to this. quote. put them to a quiet peaceful death. the lethal injection. Now those that are more concerned about the way criminals die than they are concerned about the way victims die say this death will be and may be a little painful. This ought not to be. Criminals should not have more rights than victims. This case is 26 years old. That absurd delay in sentencing is cruel and unusual to the family of the victims. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3703,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090144529,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We are going to make it better. We really believe in an America that is focused on hope and not focused on fear. We believe in an America that is strong on individual freedom that understands the importance of freedom for being able to freely live. to freely think. to freely work. We know that that requires that we have a secure homeland. and that is why this majority has been focused on our security agenda. being \"certain that we look at the moral security of this great Nation. the retirement security. the economic security and. of course. the national security of this wonderful free land that is a beacon of democracy to every single nation on the face of the earth. You know. when you talk about what kind of America you believe in. I love it sometimes when we are visiting with our troops in wartorn areas. and you meet somebody. and they walk up to you. and they say. you are an American. You are an American? You are an American. There is a certain awe that comes out of their mouth when they look at us and they know we are what they would like to be. We have got something they want. That is something that we have got that they want. that other nations want. is freedom. ","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7281,"word_count":223}
{"speech_id":1090144530,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I asked her a series of questions about it for clarification. I began to think as I drove home that evening this is a pretty good formula to put Benazir Bhutto back in power in Pakistan. but I am not convinced that it is a solution on how we could prosecute and win a war on terror. Yet. I sat down and began to read more and more about Islam. in particular the book. \"Radical Islam Visits America\" by Daniel Pipes. and I read that through twice *ith a red ink underliner and a highlighter to try to understand the culture. the religion. the psychology. I put that together with Natan Sharanskys book. \"In Defense of Democracy.\" When Natan writes that all human beings have a certain energy within them that they will use to try to effect a change. and that they will use that energy if that change is to keep them alive or if that change is to deal with the minutiae that may seem .irrelevant to people who will struggle just to stay alive. Then. to understand. that we never go to war against another free people. Free people do not go to war against free people. So if we put that into the equation. there is an energy and a drive for change. by Natan Sharansky. ","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10805,"word_count":221}
{"speech_id":1090144533,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We are not going to stand still and let that happen. You know. I think it is *really quite interesting that sometimes the liberal elites try to couch this debate about Iraq as to whether it was wrong or whether it was right to. go in and free millions of people from Saddam Hussein. whether it was worth it. Many of the leftists think it was not worth it. They would like to just sit down and talk about this. I believe we should put that question aside for a moment because it really does simplify the question of our involvement in Iraq. It oversimplifies it. The question ignores the relevance of Iraq to Americas national security framework. You know. as the gentleman from Texas said. our daily lives. how we go about them. when we are made more unsafe. when our national security is made unsafe by the existence of a hostile and isolated Middle East ruled by murderous thugs and their terrorist supporters. then we have to do something about that. That is a fact. ","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3733,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090144584,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"These accomplishments were of direct benefit to the daily lives and pocketbooks of Americans and represent many programs and reforms that we now take for granted. Bob is probably most proud of the fact he led the way for disabled Americans. for our Nations School Lunch Pro-","speaker_name":"PAT ROBERTS","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":274,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090144599,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to oppose the confirmation of Richard Sticker as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety. I also ask the Senate to send a message of confidence and hope to the miners across America that we in the Senate are no longer willing to put coal industry executives that care more about profits than lives in charge of their safety. How many of us recall the recent news stories coming out of Kentucky and West Virginiaheartbreaking storieswhere lives were lost and.families waited expectantly aboveground praying that those miners would be found and be brought back safely. and how many times that was not the case. What brings about safety in these coal mines. so deep in the Earth? The vigilance of the agencies.- Federal and State. that keep an eye on the companies that are operating out of the view of. most of the world. Those are the things that are important. Today. we will have a chance to vote on a man who wants to head the Federal agency when it comes to mine safety. Unfortuiately. Mr. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7522,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090144601,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Sticklers qualifications and. following Senate tradition. those concerns should be heeded. They should give all of us pause. Indeed. we see the leadership today departing from the usual process and trying now to push this nominee through the Senate. I believe that is the wrong course of action when the lives of our American miners are at stake. Mr. President. as you well know. I am very passionate about this issue because I have worked on mine safety issues with you and with the Senator who is arriving on the floor as I speak. Senator KENNEDY. In fact. at the hearing of this nominee. it was my questioning of his confirmation hearing that revealed to me his businessasusual approach to miner health and safety. When Richard Stickler testified at his HELP confirmation hearing in January. he told me he believed the current mine safety laws are adequate. ","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5108,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090144608,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would say to my friend from Massachusetts through the Acting President pro tempore. I couldnt agree more. I think the country sat at its dinner tables and watched the mine accidents that have occurred increasingly over the past year. So we understand what it takes in this country is leadership at an agency. Just look back at what happened with Katrina with the head of FEMA. It takes leadership in an agency. It takes all of us to put laws in place. But if there is not someone at the head of that agency who is sending a direction down through the ranks that our miners safety and health has to come first. any law we pass will just be something written in a book.","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":684,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090144615,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The mines themselves are having record problems. The mines themselves we find out are having record deaths. We passed good -legislation and we promised those individuals that we were going to do everything we possibly could to make sure that the tragedies that happened to their loved ones would not happen again. We passed the legislation. Now we have the letters from so many of these families who have read the record of this individual and have pleaded with uspleaded with uspleaded with us. that if we honor the memory of those who died in these mines. that we put someone in charge who is going to really implement that legislation and to fight for safety. Is the Senator not moved. as I am. by the letters we received from the miners families who have been lost. many of whom came to our hearings and who listened to the testimony on this individual? They have studied his record. and now they plead with usplead with usthat we get someone else to provide the leadership for implementing the mine safety laws. Is the Senator moved by those letters?","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2215,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090144616,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I say to my friend from Massachusetts.","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":951,"word_count":7}
{"speech_id":1090144628,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Pursuant to the unanimous consent agreement which we adopted last night. it is my recollection that on the Democratic side we were going to be offering an amendment immediately following the pending Warner amendment. I stand corrected. Apparently there was an understanding on this. between myself and Senator WARNER. which was not incorporated.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":345,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090144639,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the distinguished ranking member. my good friend. the Senator from Michigan. is correct. We laid down an amendment on this side under the understanding this is the amendment that he selected to be laid down. I am just wondering if. we can try to get some idea of the magnitude of the debate? I am not able to assess it on my side. I judge you are not. So we have some understanding of the time that is likely to be consumed in the debatethis is an important amendmentwe will work on that together. in hopes we can get some time agreement and therefore we can then move on to other amendments. I would simply ask unanimous consent that at the conclusion of the debate or the disposition of this amendment. that I be recognized to offer another amendment at that time.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":781,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090144648,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":15,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator from Virginia. the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. and alsd for the great job he has done in bringing this Defense authorization bill to the floor. Mr. President. on early Thursday morning. about 5:30. my radio alarm went off and I heard the three wordsalZarqawi is dead. I think that affected me by just hearing that. I sat up in bed. and I thought it did work. It is happening. I told the distinguished chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee that I have to go to Iraq. The two most significant things that have happened in Iraq since bringing down Saddam Hussein happened on the same date. coincidentally. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10625,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090144649,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. at the present time the bill is being amended by the amendment which you just addressed. and there is a pending amendment offered by the minority. That is the next order of business. This afternoon. I think there would be opportunity for additional amendments.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":275,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090144692,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Prssident. at this time I send to the desk an amendment. It has been agreed upon between the ranking member and that I would be recognized for the rurpose of an. amendment following the disposition of the Lautenberg amendment. So at this time I send an amendment to the desk and ask for its consideration following the disposition of the Lautenberg amendment.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":363,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090144701,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I say to my good friend from Massachusetts and my distinguished colleague from West Virginia. I am not at libertyI have no instructions from my leadership beyond propounding this. It was my understanding it was cleared on both sides. I assumed that when it. was handed to me. and therefore I proceeded to request by unanimous consent these actions. I think Members are anxious to go to a series of events now. namely the party caucuses. followed by the traditional photograph. and then there is a briefing at 2:30 by the Secretaries of State and Defense. which I believe is very important for Senators to have the opportunity to attend. That is the purpose of this unanimous consent request.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":706,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090144745,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the leader. We are going to have a very important Thursday signing of the Mine Safety Act. It is a reflection of the good work of our chairman. Senator ENZI. and many others on our Human Resources Committee. It is very good legislation. passed by the -House of Representatives. and to be signed by the President. It is going to be enormously important. We look forward to that and hopefully to its effective enforcement. I thank the leader.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":448,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090144748,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to oppose the nomination of Richard Stickler to be the head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration. I urge my colleagues to join me in voting no on cloture on this nomination. There is a safety crisis in our Nations mines. In less than 6 months. 33 workers have been killed in our coal minesl more than lost their lives in all of last year. Since Richard Stickler was nominated to lead MSHA last September. 53 miners have been killed in mihing accidents. As a recent front page article in the Wall Street Journal said. there has been \"an alarming upswing in coalmining accidents. at a time when the coal industry is in the midst of a boom.\" Coal profits are skyrocketing. but miners are paying the price with their lives. This was brought home to me all too painfully when I traveled with other members of the HELP Committee to West Virginia this winter. We met with the families of the 12 miners killed at Sago Mine. and we promised to fix this broken system. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9206,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090144770,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"While this bill provides needed funding for agricultural disaster assistance in the gulf to producers affected by the hurricanes. it will not send a dime to Minnesotas farmers struggling to survive their own natural disaster. The Senate bill contained that helping hand. Chairman COCHRAN fought forand has fought a number of times. by the way. And I thank the chairman for all the work he has done and all the work he has done on the supplemental and I.certainly thank him for his sensitivity to the needs of Minnesota producers. I served with him when he was chairman . of the Agriculture Committee before he became chairman of the Appropriations Committee. But this relief never made it through the conference. It is not in the final bill. I find it incomprehensible. if not irresponsible. to provide weatherrelated disaster assistance for one region of the country while withholding it from another. At its core. this is an issue about equity for all regions that are suffering. And to the thousands of Minnesotans whose very livelihood has been jeopardized and those losing their farms due to last years disastrous weather. this bill is nothing short of cruel. ","speaker_name":"NORM COLEMAN","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8095,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090144795,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The bill provides critically needed funding to our troops and helps continue the recovery as a result of the damages sustained in Hurricane Katrina. The funding level meets the requests of the administration. We will look at the other needs in agriculture and other areas in the regular fiscal year 2007 funding cycle.. We are having hearings now throughout our Committee o:a Appropriations and the subcommittee that have jurisdiction over these different areas of responsibilities. I am assured we are going to do our best to continue to meet the needs of production agriculture around the country. It is a vital industry. It is the most important industry in my State. surely. More people are involved in agriculture and in processing agricultural commodities than any other economic activity. I share the Senators concerns and assure him we will work to identify the needs in his State and around the country as we go through the appropriations process during this next fiscal year. I thank the Senator for his comments. ","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2494,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090144802,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He has stood tall on so many occasions. but most notably I think wasin October 2002. With an iron will and articulate voice. he questioned the policy of this Government as we entered this fight in Iraq. History. I think. will record his wisdom. his decency. and his contribution to the country. Although I am a day late. I hope I am not a dollar short. Congratulations to Senator BYRD on his model accomplishment.","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4050,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090144804,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In 1958. he was elected to the U.S. Senate. In hisraces since then. he has carried all 55 of West Virginias counties. In the year 2000. he won all but seven of West Virginias 1.970 precincts. What a record. It is hard to find one that compares in any way to the allegiance that he has had from the constituents in West Virginia who not only send him back here but love him as their representative at the same time. It just wasnt winning elections. Senator BYRD could have rested on his laurels. but that is not his style. His life and career have been a relentless pursuit of selfimprovement. In 1963. after 10 years of taking classes at night. ","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7067,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090144805,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I do want to talk for a minute about Senator BYRD and recognize he has set a record in the Senate. as many of my colleagues have noted on the floor. He marked his 17.327th day in office yesterday and became the longest serving Senator in history. That is truly a remarkable accomplishment. and I personally have many fond memories of working with Senator BYRD and look forward to many more. I remember well when I came here as a freshman Senator 13 \/ years ago. Senator BYRD at the time brought in all of us freshmen Senators to sit across from him in his very important office and looked down. at us and told us that we would be presiding. as is the Presiding Officer today. and told us about our responsibilities and made it very clear he -would be watching from his office. and if we ware reading any other material or talking to anyone it would be noted. I certainly did remember that during the many hours I spent in the Presiding Officers chair bedause I knew he was watching. But I think it was a simple reminder to all of us as to the importance of the office we hold here and the respect we have to have for our colleagues. I remember as well that he invited me to lunch several months later with the Senator from Oregon. ","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3381,"word_count":235}
{"speech_id":1090144807,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And many more votes to be cast.","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2109,"word_count":7}
{"speech_id":1090144815,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the digtinguished Senator from Florida for his initiative in bringing this issue in this form to the Senate. I am pleased to cosponsor the legislation with him. Senator LANDRIEU. and others who may cosponsor this legislation. We are reaching out to the industry and to experts in related business activities who have experience. a depth of understanding about this challenge we face to give us the benefit of their advice and their counsel. There are specific recommendations. if they can come to a consensus. on how Government can more responsively address this critical issue. In our State of Mississippi right now. there are people in limbo trying to decide whether they take on the burden of increased costs of insurance. of chances that they may not get insurance they can afford. So rebuilding is slow. Recovery is slow. ","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2202,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090144834,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This conversation will make many people uncomfortable. but it must take place. For as all of us who work on Federal workforce issues know. there is great disagreement about the types of reforms and changes that should be made going forward. We must ask. what should the Federal workforce be doing for America to meet the challenges of the 21st century? Once we have answered that question. we can begin to discuss how we build that workforce. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"GEORGE VOINOVICH","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6326,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090144837,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I am pleased to join with Senator MCCAIN to introduce the Las Cienegas Enhancement Act of 2006. This legislation directs a land exchange between the Bureau of Land Management and the Las Cienegas Conservation. LLC. in southeastern Arizona. The bill is the product of consensus. State and local officials. conservationists. and other stakeholders have worked together to structure an exchange that is fair and in the public interest. Let me explain the details of the exchange. The land to be transferred out of Federal ownership. approximately 1.280 acres. is referred to as the \"Sahuarita property.\" This property is BLMmanaged land south of Tucson near Corona de Tucson. The land is lowlying Sonoran desert and has been identified for disposal by the BLM through its landuse planning process. The private land to be brought into Federal ownership is approximately 2.392 acres of land referred to as the \"EmpiritaSimonson property.\" This property lies north of the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area managed by the BLM. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3024,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090144843,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"These penalties are similar to those which currently apply to Internal Revenue Service employees who are responsible for breaches of tax information. Given the potential impact to our veterans. Atftive Duty. National Guard. and Reserve personnel through identity theft and the incredible disruption and costs incurred by the government from the theft of the VA data. it is vital that we take steps to deter any future incidents and hold accountable those who are responsible. I urge our colleagues to support this important legislation and to work with me for its prompt enactment. We must do all we can to prevent any further compromise of personal data in the hands of the government. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the text of this legislation be published in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3578,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090144844,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The net result of these changes is that the percentage of the entire population that has served in the Armed Forces is dropping rapidly. a change that can be seen in all segments of society. Whereas during World War H it was extremely uncommon to find a family in America that did not have one of its members on active duty. now there are numerous families that include no military veterans at all. Even though the Iraqi war has been prominently discussed on television and in the newspapers. many of our children are much more preoccupied with the usual concerns of young people than with keeping up with the events of the day. As a consequence. many of our youth still have little or no connection with or knowledge about the important historical and ongoing role of men and women who have served in the military. ThiS omission seems to have persisted despite ongoing educational efforts by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the veterans service organizations. This lack of understanding about military -veterans important role in our society can have potentially serious repercussions. In our country. civilian control of the armed forces is the key tenet of military governance. A citizenry that is oblivious to the capabilities and limitations of the armed forces. and to its critical role throughout our history. can make decisions regarding our military involvement that may have unexpected and unwanted consequences. Even more important. general recognition of the importance of those individual character traits that are essential for military success. such as patriotism. selflessness. sacrifice. and heroism. is vital to maintaining these key aspects of citizenship in the Armed Forces and even throughout the population at large. The failure of our children to understand why a military is important. why our society. continues to depend on it for ultimate surviv al. and why a successful military requires integrity and sacrifice. will have predictable consequences as these youngsters become of voting age. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6202,"word_count":326}
{"speech_id":1090144850,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to anndfnce that the Committee on Indian Affairs will meet on Wednesday. June 14. 2006. at 9:30 a.m. in Room 485 of the Russell Senate Office Building to conduct a hearing on S. 374. the Tribal Parity Act and S. 1535. the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Equitable Compensation Amendments Act of 2005. Those wishing additional information may contact the Indian Affairs Committee at 2242251.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":413,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090144857,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on Commerce. Science. and Transportation be authorized to meet on Tuesday. June 13. 2006. at 10 a.m. on the Committee Update of S. 2686 Consumers Choice and Broadband Deployment Act of 2006.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":255,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090144886,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The report detailed numerous examples of hate crimes. including two men in Tennessee who were sentenced to prison in December for shattering a window and painting Nazi symbols in a local Mexican market. Near Houston. two white teenagers were arrested in April accused of beating a Latino youth and sodomizing him with a pipe. Days later on Long Island. a white teen was accused of threatening two Latinos with a machete and a chain saw. Police say ethnic slurs were used in each case. We must condemn these kind of acts and work to promote a unifiedAmerica. work to promote a unified America. Even the President has warned us of the dangerous rhetoric being used in discussions on immigration. During his speech last month he noted. \"America needs to conduct this debate on immigration in a reasonable and respective tone. We cannot build a unified country by inciting people to anger or playing on anyones fear or exploiting the issue of immigration for political gains.\" And I state. exploiting it for political gains. The white supremists are employing sophisticated techniques to spread their message over the Internet including blogs. chat rooms. and racist and violent video games. ","speaker_name":"JOE BACA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":43.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6306,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090144913,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I leave you with one message: there were 18 people running for this seat. The voters had one of the broadest choices of any congressional race. But there was one issue and only one issue that allowed me to be elected. It was not my experience. It was not my hard work. and God knows it was not my intellect. It was the fact that the people in the 50th District wanted something done. they wanted a job and a message sent to Washington. that now and here is the time to address illegal immigration. We did not enjoy the situation or appreciate the problem that created the vacancy. but let me say quite clearly what is obvious in the last few months is that the greatest scandal in America is flot that one man broke the law. but that 12 million illegal immigrants are in this country and Washington is not doing enough about it.. So I ask you. even if you disagree with me on this issue. let us join together and work to address this issue so that both sides. Democrat and Republican. and Independent. can go home proud that we did right by the American people and worked together for our future and our grandchildrens future. Thank you very much.","speaker_name":"BRIAN BILBRAY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":50.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2089,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090144921,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the ladies of the gulf. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. battered Louisiana and Texas. shattering families. scattering 5.172 children across the country. In the darkness of the night. children disappeared from their families. Searchers only hoped and prayed that they would be found. Frantic parents upon arrival in safe harbors panicked because they were separated from their kids. While the A motion to reconsider was laid on Just like the freedoms they protect. hurricanes were a bad dream. losing the table. the heroism and selflessness embodied their kids was a nightmare. This is when the child crusaders came together. without hesitation. launching into action. combing 50 States. searching among thousands of people. In the end. all 5.172 children were brought home. After hundreds of hours of manpower. success occurred because of the dogged determinat*ion of the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1369,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090144973,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And I believe that we have the political will and the good conscience of this House and the Senate that we will get there. The idea is to protect our children. and the idea as well is to recognize that the parameters of our Constitution will allow us to do that while addressing those concerns. So I am hoping that we will have a perfect bill bedause our children deserve so and. as well. that we will have a bipartisan effort to work on this issue. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"HOWARD COBLE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1223,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090144977,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have no further speakers. and I close simply. Mr. Speaker. by thanking the distinguished gentleman from Illinois who has represented the broadness of our view. We must protect our children. and I believe that this bill is on its way to its perfection so that our children will not be subjected to infractions in this legislation. but truly be protected. And I hope that any other legislative Juane 13. 2006 ihitiatiVe that comes forward to protect our children will receive this bipartisan cooperation that we have achieved in the House Judiciary Committee. I ask my colleagues to vote for the legislation of Mr. PORTER. I yield back my time.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":644,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090144991,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I just want to say this is a great victory today. We are ensuring that these students do not have to put away their textbooks or even hang up their lab coats because of something that we did when we thought we were correcting a problem. There are enough challenges put in front of individuals with severe disabilities. and worrying about a place to call home while they attend college should not be one of them. I also appreciate the bipartisan effort on this bill and so many other pieces of legislation that moved through our committee. And thank you. Ms. WATERS. for joining me in this effort. ","speaker_name":"DEBORAH PRYCE","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":702,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090145000,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. -Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I. thank the gentleman from Wisconsin for his very thoughtful historical rendition of the evolution of the interstate highway program. This resolution honors the golden anniversary of the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways. But the original interstate highway. one that linked several States. was charted by George Washington in 1784. a year after the Revolutionary War concluded. Traveling to the Ohio country on horseback. Washington carefully observed the people and the land. He saw that settlers were trapped. that they could fall under the control. as he wrote. of \"the Spaniards on their right or Great Britain on their left.\" He recognized the need to unite our new Nation by opening. as he called it. a smooth way through the Appalachian Mountains to enable the settlers. again as he put it. \"to pass our markets before the trade may get into another channel.\" A quaint way of saying things. ","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3911,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090145013,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. just to conclude and build on the remarks of the dean of our committee. Mr. OBERSTAR. we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of a remarkable thing. a generation of Americans. some have said the Greatest Generation. that thought not just of itself. but of its country and its future and invested in the future. They were not borrowing against existing assets. against existing assets for current expenses. Instead. they were taxing themselves or paying fees themselves to build for the future to create a greater. productive enterprise here in the United States. one symbol of that. of what we are celebrating today. the 50th anniversary of the interstate highway system. the envy of the world. the backbone of the strongest economy in the world. I had. the opportunity. as a much younger person. to meet Dwight Eisenhower on several occasions. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS PETRI","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2408,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090145028,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Nancy and Maria. meanto us. and how much our five grandchildren mean to us. Teigin. Elijah. Lola. Morgyn and Daniel. They are the light of our lives.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL MCNULTY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":558,"word_count":27}
{"speech_id":1090145053,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"OLVER from offering his amendment. As a result. the House will never have the opportunity to vote on restoring funding cuts to Amtrak. I find it so difficult to believe that we -think that it is okay to have a secondhand rail system in this country. That is foolish. And somehow or another we must preserve the integrity of the last remaining rail system of consequence for -people in a corridor to be transported. Finally. I intend to offer an amendment which prohibits the Federal Aviation Administration from consolidating or eliminating Terminal Radar Control Centers. or TRACONs. at airports in federally designated high threat urban areas. In some places. FAAs TRACON consolidation program is leaving entire States without an approach radar system to coordinate and oversee approaching air traffic in that State. In other instances. consolidation runs the risk of placing undue stress on nearby TRACONs already having to deal with larger air spaces and staffing shortfalls. ","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6095,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090145098,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I appreciate very much the chairman. I must say I have come to the floor simply to express my deep appreciation for the work that the chairman is doing on this very important measure. a bill that drives much of the infrastructure of the country. as well as providing housing programs. He and Mr. OLVER have done a great job on this bill under circumstances where they are under great -pressure. There is never quite enough money available to do all that we might like. so it takes very. very positive bipartisan effort to make sure that we provide balance as we restrain spending at the same time. It is a very fine bill. And I might mention further that these gentlemen. together. are now today producing the eighth bill out of 11 FY 07 Appropriations bills off the floor. It is our intention to complete all those bills by the 4th of July break. You are giving.us a fantastic demonstration today that anything is possible if people are willing to work together. So it is great to be with you. ","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1035,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090145100,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I just want to explain to the House that at this point it appears that there are more than 70 amendments pending. and that if each and every one of them only takes 10 minutes. 5 minutes a side. we will be here through all of today. through all of Wednesday. through all of Friday and perhaps into next week. So I would ask Members to keep that in mind and. if possible. to relinquish their ability to offer conflicting or duplicative amendments. I think points can be made without beating a dead horse five times over.","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":532,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090145117,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would just like to point out to the gentleman from Oregon that in fact the guarantee. and it is a guarantee under the TEALU bill. is included in what is called the Capital Investments Fund. So there is money available there. But I need also to point out that we have been told at the subcommittee level that the Department of Transportation. the FTA. will not have rules and regulations until at least a year from now. maybe 15 months from now. which is the very end of the next fiscal year.","speaker_name":"JOHN OLVER","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":550,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090145146,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. while I credit my colleague from Michigan for doing a great deal of work on this bill. and I know it is a tremendously difficult bill. rail passenger service in the United States is the worst in all of the industrialized world. It does not have to be that way. Germany. France. the United Kingdom. Italy. the Scandinavian countries. Spain and Portugal have better rail service. more rapid rail service. more frequent rail service. more efficient rail service than the United States. It does not have to be this way. The degradation of the Amtrak system goes on apace. whether it is the rightofway or equipment. Equipment needs to be replaced. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SCHWARZ","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1323,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090145172,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Building operations. that is cleaning. $119 million. and the DC Old Executive Office Building at $56 million to cover the offsets for Amtrak. None of this is border stations. none of it. Mr. Chairman. I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Florida","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":658,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090145173,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Once again. we are up here fighting for the life of Amtrak. 35 years of service to the public. It just amazes me that .constantly people. the Chair of aviation. billions of dollars that we have put in aviation. billions of dollars. and yet it doesnt pay for itself. and we do not want zero funding for Amtrak. This administration constantly. constantly cut down the funds for Amtrak. This administration has come up with a lot of wacky ideas. but let me tell you something. When gasoline will go up to $4 a gallon. you are going to see a lot of people lining up to take Amtrak. With the passage of the latest emergency funding. President Bush will have spent over $439 billion on the war in Iraq. but we dont want to spend money for Amtrak. During Hurricane Katrina. the way the victims and first responders were able to leave the gulf region and the New Orleans area was through Amtrak. Aimtrak. Mr. ","speaker_name":"CORRINE BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3443,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090145195,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the last word. Mr. Chairman. I am going to support this amendment. It seems to me that if we are to move toward energy independence. and particularly. if we are ever going to get away from our dependence on Middle Eastern oil. with all the uncertainty and all of the problems that go along with that. which we have seen much of. then our largest and fastest gains that can possibly be made are in increasing the efficiency of the use of our motor vehicles. At least a third of all of the oil that we use in this country goes into our transportation sector and to the use of our motor vehicles. and we desperately need to increase the efficiency of those. That is the fastest thing that we can put into place. much fastbr than the work on a hydrogen economy or an ethanol economy or fuel cells or any one of those. The efficiency of the present fleet and vehicles to be sold in the near future becomes important. ","speaker_name":"JOHN OLVER","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2584,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090145213,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I raise a point of order against the paragraph beginning at the words \"to be derived from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund.\" beginning on page 5. line 23. aid ending on line 24. This provision violates clause 2 of rule XXI. It changes existing law and therefore constitutes legislating on an appropriations bill in violation of House rules.","speaker_name":"JOHN MICA","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":355,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090145217,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I raise a point of order against page 6. line 22. beginning with \"provided. that\" through line 26. This proviso violates clause 2 of rule XXI. It changes existing law. which constitutes legislating on an appropriations bill in violation of House rules.","speaker_name":"JOHN MICA","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":266,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090145221,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I raise a point of order against page 13. line 1. beginning with \". for grants\" through page 13. line 6. ending with the word \"Code.\" This provision violates clause 2 of rule XXI. It changes existing law and therefore constitutes. again. legislating on an appropriations bill in violation of House rules.","speaker_name":"JOHN MICA","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":318,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090145313,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I just want to rise in support of the amendment. A number of us have worked hard for a number of different years to save. reauthorize. and fund the HOPE VI program. The gentleman is right: they have funds in the process. but you cant revitalize communities overnight. They seem to have lost sight of the fact that it takes a long time to rebuild a community that starts off being dilapidated public housing. You have to tear it down. you have to enter into publicprivate ventures around that community to restore housing. and that takes time. When people criticize the fact that there is money in the pipeline that has not been expended. that simply reaffirms the purpose for which HOPE VI was initiated in the first place. to restore communities. not to just build houses. That takes time. We need this money to continue the process.","speaker_name":"MELVIN WATT","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":848,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090145316,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of my time. Let me put several things in perspective. Mr. WATT made the obvious point that these projects take awhile to succeed. Therefore if we stop the funding flow. it will make it impossible for commitments to be made that have been kept. Observation number two. we need this appropriation of funds to effectuate the intent of Congress. The committee that has jurisdiction over HOPE VI. the Financial Services Committee. has voted unanimously on a voice vote to reauthorize HOPE VI. The Senate has expressed or manifested the same plan to reauthorize HOPE VI. ","speaker_name":"ARTUR DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3519,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090145370,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. while I recognize that the gentlewoman from Florida has great intentions here. this bill. as we have said. is all about choosing priorities and making some difficult choices. The proposed reduction in HUD S&E funds. combined with the need to absorb a onehalf percent increase in the Federal pay raise. will necessitate a further reduction in HUDs staffing level of severhl hundred fulltime equivalent staff positions. making it more difficult for HUD to provide sufficient oversight and risk management in its significant housing and community development program delivery. Regarding the cuts to GSA. I make note that we are at the start of the hurricane season. and these funds that would be cut support the Office of Citizen Services and Communications. the Nations focal point for information and services offered by the Federal Government. This infrastructure has been a resource in the time of crisis or unexpected events. most recently as a means to provide valuable information to citizens after Hurricane Katrina. Reductions could impact the hours of operation of our call.centers for victims of hurricanes this year. These accounts also fund GSAs real and personal property utilization and disposal programs from which we transfer assets no longer needed by the Federal Government to State and local governments and nonprofit organizations. saving millions of dollars. Ll 1945 Cutting these funds delays in transferring properties to eligible recipients and delays in generating sales proceeds from disposal actions. The amendment would cut funds for the Office of Governmentwide Policy. which carries out various policy functions assigned by Congress that is separate from GSAs operations. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SWEENEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2239,"word_count":264}
{"speech_id":1090145412,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I will make the point order against the amendment because it provides an appropriation for an unauthorized program and therefore violates clause 2 of rule XXI. Clause 2 of rule XXI states in pertinent part: \"An appropriation may not be in order as an amendment for an expenditure not previously authorized by law.\" Mr. Chairman. the amendment proposes to appropriate funds for a program that is not authorized. The amendment. therefore. violates clause 2 of rule XXI. I ask for a ruling on the point of order.","speaker_name":"JOHN SWEENEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":509,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090145414,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Yes. Mr. Chairman. On the point of order. I would object -to the characterization of this program as unauthorized. As a matter of fact. it is my understanding that the program indeed is authorized. It is couched in something called consolidation. which means that it really is authorized. and I would challenge the gentleman on the opposite side of the aisle for thinking or saying that this is an unauthorized program. And if that is his reason for objecting to the program. I would ask that you certainly make a ruling based on the facts and we could move forward with including funding. for this program to make sure that it is retained.","speaker_name":"MAXINE WATERS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":35.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":640,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090145452,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I had an amendment with Mr. UDALL which would have raised the funding amount to $3 million. I feel that the $750.000 is certainly welcomed and .needed. but I regret that we were not able to achieve the additional $1.5 million. One way that thi3 Congress and the President can show their support for a program is the level of funding that is appropriated. and when we passed the very important intelligence reform bill. a very important provision of this bill. and a recommendation. one of the top recommendations of the 9\/11 Commission. was the creation of a governmentwide Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. This board. if given the proper funding and authority. has the opportunity to enhance our security and protect our Nations core values as we fight to prevent terrorism. The bill before us provides up to $1.5 million in funding. as part of the Executive Office of the President. The * MaloneyTom Udall amendment would have increased the amount of the board to $3 million. This board is to be funded from the $52 million account provided for in the Executive Office of the President. and our amendment would further draw from this account. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2093,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090145457,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I appreciate her willingness to accept this amendment. I appreciate the work that she has done. and she is right about this. With the Government getting more power. with the PATRIOT Act and the war on terrorism and. and. and. there needs to be stronger legislative oversight. We need to make sure that our whistleblower statutes protect those in the intelligence community. We need a much stronger Civil Liberties Board. This money will allow the Civil Liberties Board to get started and to do what they need. I know we will be back asking Mr. KNOLLENBERG for more as it proves its viability and effectiveness. Mr. Chairman. at this time I urge acceptance of this amendment. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SHAYS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2994,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090145471,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. reclaiming the balance of my time. this amendment is really about priorities. The National Archives is an excellent program. and one I fully support. but this amendment still leaves them with $281.6 million for operating expenses. It is an increase. HIDTA is at level funding. and it allows HIDTA to improve and expand its services for the first time in 5 years. at a time when communities across this country are facing an increasing problem with methamphetamine. Everybody knows this is a huge problem. one of the fastestgrowing drug problems in the Nation. I think we need to provide HIDTA with the funding they need. It is not that I dont support the archives program. it is terrific. But HIDTA has been funded at a level that it already had an increase. and I think we need to fund this. This is a horrific epidemic in this country. and I think we need to fund it. ","speaker_name":"DARLENE HOOLEY","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":934,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090145480,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I just want to thank the gentleman from Marylahd for hfs interest in this area. I certainly agree that to the extent we can. we should promote and encourage physical activity as a wai to prevent chronic health problems. I would just say that I look forward to working with you on this matter and make sure that these efforts lead to some decent results. Mr. Chairman. I ask unanimous consent that the remainder of the bill through page 252. line 2 be considered as read. printed in the RECORD. and open to amendment at any point.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH KNOLLENBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":543,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090145545,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am here today to talk about the Federal Consent Decree Fairness Act that I hope we see on the floor during this Congress. Mr. GARRETT from New Jersey and Mr. BISHOP from Utah and other members of the Congressional Constitution Caucus are also speaking on behalf of this important legislation tonight. I would also like to thank the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. CooPER). who is the lead cosponsor of this legislation along with me. I am pleased to be the sponsor of the Federal Consent Decree Fairness Act. I would like to start by explaining what it is not about. ","speaker_name":"ROY BLUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3105,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090145549,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"These bases will be called something else for the American people. but they will still be targets for the insurgents. Not everyone has access to enterprise journalism being produced by the mainstream news organizations. So in the interest of promoting a resolution of truth about Iraq. I will enter into the RECORD two recent news articles. The first is from the Los Angeles Times entitled: \"Give the Defense Department an F.\" \"A Roadblock to Unity in Iraq\" was published in the Salt Lake City Tribune. Read them. Make up ybur own mind. The definition of progress in Iraq is not a Republican resolution forcefed to the Congress. as they Would have you believe. The definition of progress is bringing our soldiers home. all of them. in significant numbers every month from this moment on until they are out of harms way and we are out of the war that we should never have been in in the first place. [From the Los Angeles Times. June 3. 2006]","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4866,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090145556,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I come to the floor tonight deeply concerned about the future of our Nations farm economy and the wellbeing of our farmers and ranchers. Americas farm families provide the most safe. reliable and abundant source of food and fiber in the world. The security of our Nations domestic food supply is critically important to the security of our homeland. We must continue to provide our farm families with the tools and resources necessary to continue producing our food and fiber to ensure we never become as dependent on foreign countries for our food as we are for our oil today. I was extremely disappointed in this Republican Congress and their decision to cut agriculture disaster funding during conference committee negotiations of the emergency supplemental appropriations bill last week. I was also struck by the fact that the administration even weighed in by threatening its first veto ever of this supplemental if it contained disaster assistance for our farm families5. Making these cuts on the backs of our farmers and ranchers when they are struggling to make ends meet is unconscionable. Mr. ","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4206,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090145579,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Marine Corps Reserve. Navy Reserve. Air National Guard units from central Virginia continue in this struggle. So. Mr. Speaker. I would again like to thank the gentleman from Georgia for his leadership. not only on the Official Truth Squad. but on this very. very important topic of the war against the terrorists. a war against an enemy that frankly harbors a view of the world very different from those of us in this country and one in which we will not stand down.","speaker_name":"ERIC CANTOR","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3841,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090145580,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for his comments and his keen perspective and dedication to the support of our men and women in the military who are waging this incredibly important battle and incredibly important war. Thank you so much for your participation tonight in bringing a little light. a little vision and a little truth to the discussion. We are also joined tonight by Congresswoman MARSHA BLACKBURN from Tennessee who is almost a regular on the Official Truth Squad that brings some truth and light to so many topics. and she has a clear vision as well and a great perspective on the importance of truth in this discussion but also the importance of waging this war on terror. and I am happy to yield to my good friend from Tennessee. E 2300","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":756,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090145581,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman from Georgia for yielding. He is so appropriate in his remarks this evening as we talk about the big picture of what is happening with the war on terror and reminding us that this is not something that .happened last week. last month. last year. or just within the last decade. This is something that started happening four decades ago and has grown more and more and more repetitive in attacks and actions and outward expressions of aggression as we have moved through the past four decades. Yes. what has happened is we have moved from responding to these terrorist attacks as acts of civil disobedience to getting to the point after September 11 that we said. no. this is not just civil disobedience. this is an act of war. This is now a global war on terror and. indeed. it is important. it is imperative that we win in the battles in Afghanistan and that we win in the battles in Iraq. And as the gentleman from Georgia has mentioned. this is not something that is going to be quick and easy. This is going to be a long fight and a long struggle. We -must be certain that we all realize that our enemy is not an enemy that is located in one single place. There are terrorist cells all around the globe. At this point. yes. indeed. primarily they are drawn into Iraq because of the battle that is there. and that is one of the reasons it is important that we fight and that we win. ","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1785,"word_count":264}
{"speech_id":1090145594,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What is responsible for us arriving at this point? I have to say a lot of good words about our military. the finest we have ever had. they are doing a superb job. I am proud of them. and every American should be. But there have been operational strategic mistakes sadly made by the administration that has brought us to this point at a crossroads in Iraq. First. allowing the looting. second. not having a plan for the aftermath. although duly warned. by dismissing the Iraqi Army rather than giving them a paycheck and a shovel. failure to plan and have American civilian professionals from the State Department. Transportation Department. Agriculture Department. and Judiciary with the right skills to advise the Iraqis when they took over their governmental ministries. the failure to react to the wartime collapse of the Iraqi military and security police forces. and the decision to disband the Army. as I mentioned. failure to have a sufficient number of American troops at the beginning and later as General Eric Shinseki warned. This is a year of transition in Iraq. The bill that we. passed last year. the defense bill. stated that calendar year 2006 should be a period of time of significant transition to full Iraqi sovereignty with Iraqi security forces taking the lead for the security of a free and sovereign Iraq.. thereby creating the conditions for the phased redeployment of the United States forces from Iraq. If we are not able to redeploy our forces from Iraq. the health of our military will be seriously endangered. We are wearing the troops out. ","speaker_name":"IKE SKELTON","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3620,"word_count":267}
{"speech_id":1090145597,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It dropped precipitously after the 2004 election in this country. It has never been predictable. It has never been stable. It has never been measurable. The job of the Congress is to ask the hard questions and come up with the right answers. But if you deny the fact that the questions have to be asked. as the majority has. you will never come up with the right answers. You will lose the faith of the American people. and you will undercut the mission of those in the field. We support. respect. and admire the efforts of those in the field. That is why we should be asking the hard questions. I would like to yield to my friend from California who is not only asking good questions but providing some. of the answers. my friend Mrs. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT ANDREWS","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3583,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090145598,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Even today. Secretary Rice said she is still struggling to do that in many cases. What was needed was a plan for postoccupation Iraq that honored the sacrifices of our troops. And instead they have been given this burden unnecessarily and at great cost. I join in applauding my colleagues. as we all are. trying to raise the facts and the realities of Iraq today. And I yield to Mr. SKELTON.","speaker_name":"SUSAN DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":53.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1902,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090145601,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I rise today as we reexamine why Congress and the administration diverted attention from our fight against terrorists and terrorism in order to invade Iraq. The current administration has gotten too many things wrong in Iraq and has totally misinterpreted the lessons of the post9\/11 world. It is up to Democrats to get things right in Iraq so we can refocus our military efforts to fighting terrorists around the world who want to harm us. Today I ask my colleagues: Will we realistically confront terrorists and terrorism with all the elements of our -national power. or will we continue to ignore a proven approach to follow a shopworn. idealistic approach that drains our military of its resources and America of its good will with the very partners that we need to fight terrorism? That is the choice our country faces. The administration has made countless mistakes since the start of the war in Iraq. As Congress looks to clean up the mistakes that have been made. Democrats must speak out against this administrations tendency to overlook problems and instead push for a policy that centers on oversight of U.S. taxpayer dollars. We must respond to the publics frustrations by creating a secure future for our military and reestablish a foundation for American efforts to fight terrorists and terrorism around the globe. We can only do that by confronting and repairing the waste. fraud. and abuse that plagues our efforts in Iraq. We need to emphasize that our commitment to U.S. taxpayers is equally as important as the commitment we have made tothe Iraqi people. ","speaker_name":"RICK LARSEN","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3550,"word_count":264}
{"speech_id":1090145670,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Who made each mast. and sail. and rope. What anvils rang. what hammers beat. In what a forge and what a heat Were shaped the anchors of thy hope! Fear not each sudden sound and shock. Tis of the wave and not the rock. Tis but the flapping of the sail. And not a rent made by the gale! In spite of rock and tempests roar. In spite of false lights on the shore. Sail on. nor fear to breast the sea Our hearts. our hopes. are all with thee. Our hearts. our hopes. our prayers. our tears. Our faith triumphant oer our fears. ","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4007,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090145712,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Will the Senator allow me to propound a unanimous consent request for the purpose of getting time? I ask unanimous consent that upon all time being yielded back or all time being used relative to the supplemental. that I be recognized for 15 minutes under morning business.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":273,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090145736,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. I thank my distinguished colleague. For years. Senator GRAHAM has been on the Armed Services Committee and has really specialized in healthiIssues and other issues relating to the welfare of the men and women of the Armed Forces and their families. I. like him. share concerns about the rising costs of these programs. How well he and I understand that there is only so much money allocated under the process of our budget to the men and women in the Armed Forces. They need equipmeit. They need training. They need housing. They need medical care. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":694,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090145747,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. for those following the debate. I certainly would acknowledge that the Senator S5840 CO] from New Jersey had a distinguished record in World War II in the U.S. Army in Europe and understands very well. through firsthand experience. the hardships faced by those particularly in the enlisted ranks.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":313,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090145749,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"First let me commend the Senator from New Jersey for his leadership in this matter and for his identifying a real problem which needs to be corrected. It would be. it seems to me. unconscionable for us to be increasing these copays in the middle of a conflict. For the men and women in the military and their families to face additional copays at this point is very. very inadvisable. I thank Senator LAUTENBERG of New Jersey for identifying this problem. and to all of his cosponsors. the same thank you and gratitude is owing. I very much support the amendment. and I hope it will be promptly adopted.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":603,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090145770,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I wonder if we could inquire of the Chair whether the Durbin amendment has been offered. I dont believe it has yet. We agreed yesterday it would be next in line. however. there is an effort being made to work out the Durbin amendment. and I suggest Senator DORGAN be recognized.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":278,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090145787,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I advise the Senate we are. as we say in the Navy. well underway on this bill. The Senator from Michigan and I are anxious to learn from Senators their desire to have amendments. We will do the best we can to accommodate them becauseit appears now we will be able to remain in session somewhat longer this evening than originally anticipated due to the cancellation. I understand. of the White House picnic. I will consult with the leadership. It is my hope we can work on into the early evening.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":496,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090145789,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Battles. Why were they paying in cash? Because. according to this fellow. the word was: You bring a bag. we pay in cash. He said it was like the Wild West. So here is a couple of million dollars. This was going to go to Custer Battles. Let me just tell the story of Custer Battles. I will abbreviate it. but thestory is these two guys show up in Iraq. They dont have a great deal of experience. have very little money. but they decide they are going to be a company now. They are going to be a company in Iraq. and they are going to provide security. They start bidding on security contracts. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11367,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090145797,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is not a surprise to anyone reading the papers that Iran is in pursuit of a nuclear weapon. They are fairly clear about their desire to gain more nuclear technology. They have been very clear about their desire to enhance their ability to reprocess uranium. It is also clear to observers that they are doing so with the intent of developing nuclear weapons. As a result of that. the United States has been engaged in discussions. both with multinational organizations. as well ab with some of our allies who are similarly concerned about this attempt by Iran to develop this type of capability. to get them to cease to do so. We have had attempts by the Russians to get them to rely on them for this technology. We have now seen recent efforts by the United States and a group of countries to approach Iran in multilateral talks about the possibility of getting a different type of nuclear reactor there that does not lead to the potential for development of nuclear weapons. We have seen a whole host of attemps on the part of the world to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of this regime. The question is. Why?. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8903,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090145802,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It seems to me that vote preceded some remarkable developments which have taken place in the international forum within our country. With the great leadership of the Secretary of State. Condoleezza Rice. we have taken some strong initiatives to try and resolve primarily the issue of the desire to proceed with the weapons of mass destruction effort. but there are a lot of collateral ramifications to these important talks. The House vote is of record. but we should let our colleagues know that vote took place way before what I regard as rather dramatic developments with respect to the international consortium of nationsGreat Britain. France. United States. and now recently both Russia and China participating in some way. Does the Senator think the amendment is wise in light of what is taking place now?","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":811,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090145859,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Today. we have a situation in our National Guard units from Floridaand I imagine National Guard units from many other Stateswhich are sent to war with their own equipment. that is. the men and women. the trucks. the tanks. the helicopters. the humvees. and all the gear leave the State and go to protect Americans serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. However. when the tour of duty is over. the Guard returns home and the equipment stays behind. This is understandable. since in a war zone and in desert conditions. vital equipment needs to be replaced sometimes more quickly than new equipment can get to the region. As you might imagine. the National Guard then has a resulting deficit of equipment. which is a temporary situation but nonetheless a crucial delay in their completion of their equipment inventory. With the arrival of this years hurricane season. I have urged the citizens in our State of Florida. where we are currently and have been previously consistent victims of recent hurricanes. as well as other hurricaneprone States. to do everything they can to prepare for potential storms. But even with the best preparedness. storms have a way of taking unexpected turns. and as we have seen over the past three years. the National Guard plays a crucial role in helping stabilize areas in the immediate hours and days following the disastrous hurricanes we have experienced recently. For instance. last year alone. the Florida National Guard deployed 5.800 troops within the State of Florida and along the gulf coast during 4 major hurricanes. To support Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts. the Florida Guard sent 2.500 troops to Mississippi as part of the emergency compact agreement the States have with the Guard. They have done their job with dedication and competence. ","speaker_name":"MEL MARTINEZ","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7241,"word_count":295}
{"speech_id":1090145930,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Feeling thd need to establish a symbol of national unity. on June 14. 1777. 229 years ago today. the Congress resolved: That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes. alternate red and white. that the union be thirteen stars. white in a blue field. representing a new constellation. Mr. President. I have always been impressed with the wisdom and the foresight of the Founders of our country. and here again. we can see their brilliance. The simplicity of that chosen pattern. alternating stripes and crisp new stars. white stars on a field of blue. allowed our flag to evolve along with the everchangingmap of America. The flag they chose has become the most visible symbol of our Nation. The flag they chose has become our most beloved and respected national icon. That flag symbolizes our Nations strength. our Nations honor. our Nations ideals. and our national purpose. It recognizes our glorious past while it celebrates a more glorious future. Legends abound regarding who actually created the first American flag. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10909,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090145932,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. may I commend our distinguished senior colleague. former majority leader of the Senate. for that brilliant speech. most appropriate on this day. I am certain that speech will be carried and viewed by our troops wherever they are in the world. In well over 60some nations our men and women are standing guard tonight. protecting our freedoms. I congratulate you. sir. Thank you very much.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":402,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090145949,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Rick died offering himself for the sake of others.\" Pastor Donnie Reynolds who spoke at the service for Rick perhaps said it best. \"Rick did not just exist. He lived out Gods plan. I believe Rick James is an American hero.\" The evening before. during a quiet moment .as we paid our respects to the family. Ricks father said. \"People now refer to his son as a hero. but he has always been a hero to me.\" I rise today to commemorate Rick. to celebrate his life. and to offer his family our support and our deepest sympathy on their tragic loss.","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3983,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090145951,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am honored to recognize James McCann. a tireless and dynamic educator. on his retirement after40 years of service in Michigan. For 20 years. Jim has served as district superintendent of the Lamphere School District with unparalleled leadership and vision. His efforts have led to numerous opportunities for his teachers. staff. students. and their families. as well as others across Michigan. and have earned the Lamphere School District many awards and achievements over the years. I know I join many in Michigan in congratulating him on a stellar career that has spanned decades and has inspired generations of students to strive for excellence. After earning a teaching degree from Eastern Michigan University and a masters degree in educational administration from the University of Michigan. Mr. McCann has focused his efforts in southeast Michigan. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3179,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090145955,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. each year many of Americas best and brightest high school students come together to compete in the John C. Stennis National Student Congress. For nearly 30 years Harold Keller has been the driving force behind this event. which has provided thousands of young people an opportunity to develop leadership skills and learn about Congress. Harold Keller is known as \"Mr. Congress\" within the National Forensic League. which encompasses the National Student Congress as part of its comprehensive national speech and debate program. Each year he has worked tirelessly to make the weeklong competition run smoothly and fairly. But perhaps more importantly. he has also made time to provide personal encouragement and guidance to many of those who take part. It is this commitmeilt and compassion that has made him not only an integral part of the National Student Congress but also a memorable force in the lives of many students who have participated through the years. In addition to his leadership of the Student Congress. ","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4352,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090145961,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So am I. Thank you for your exemplary service. Catherine. and for your important contribution to the education of Rhode Islands students.","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2677,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090145965,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It found that schools that have high percentages of minorities and lowincome students are \"less likely to have adequate laboratory facilities\" and \"often have lower budgets for laboratory equipment and supplies\" than other schools. The study also found that students. in those schools \"spend less time in laboratory instruction than students in other schools.\" Rural schools had some of the same problems. We cannot expect our country to be adequately prepared for the future unless all of our students are adequately prepared for the future. And unless we do something to improve the laboratory experience for our lowincome. minority. and rural students. we simply wont be prepared. That is why I am proud to introduce the partnerships for access to laboratory science bill. originally championed by Congressman HINOJOSA. which would authorize partnerships between highneed. or rural school districts. higher education institutions. and the private sector. with the goal of revitalizing the high school science labs in those schools. The bill authorizes $50 million in matching grants to help fund comprehensive science instruction improvement plans. with the grant money able to be used for such things as purchasing scientific equippnent. renovating laboratory space. designing new experiments or methods of integrating the laboratory with traditional lectures. and providing professional development for high school science lab teachers. This last one is particularly important because one of the key conclusions from the National Academy report is that \"improving high school science teachers capacity to lead laboratory experiences effectively is critical to advancing the educational goals of these experiences.\" We need to do a lot to ensure that our Nation stays competitive throughout the 21st century. and this bill is only one small step. But it is a sorely fleeded step. particularly for those students who need our help the most. I invite my colleagues to join us in support of.this bill. and I look forward to working to enact this important piece of legislation. By Ms. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT MENENDEZ","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5973,"word_count":322}
{"speech_id":1090145994,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"To those currently serving. -our thoughts and prayers are with you and your families on this 231st Army birthday. Humbled by your sacrifice and awed by your achievements. we continue to find comfort in knowing you are an eminent presence: resolute in standing watch over our democracy and freedoms. Celebrate this Army birthday and continue to live to a higher standard through the Army values and the Warrior Ethos. Our celebration of the 231st Army birthday reminds us all of the sacrifice so many have made in the preservation of our Nation. These words are but a small token of the appreciation and thanks that are owed for the dedication to duty and sacrifice these brave men and women make on a daily basis. These soldiers deserve our gratitude. our praise and most importantly our continued support as they continue to drive on with the mission. Happy Birthday to our Army.","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3222,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090145995,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I also pay tribute to the families of those soldiers who risk their lives for our Nation. Too often the important role that families play goes unacknowledged but their faith and devotion are vital to the Armys success. The families of our soldiers have my deepest appreciation for the sacrifices they make and for the support the give our troops. As this Nation continues to fight in the global war on terror. the Army has been key to providing the Joint force the capabilities it needs to persist in its struggle for liberty and democracy. Through the efforts of the U.S. Army the world has been made a more secure. prosperous. and better place for all of mankind. As I witnessed. firsthand. during my recent trip to Iraq. the men and women serving in the Army who so courageously defend our Nation represent the best of what our country has to offer and have my deepest respect. Thank you for your selfless service. It is an inspiration to us all.","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1838,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090145996,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to wish the U.S. Army happy birthday. It was 231 years ago today. June 14. 1775. that the Continental Army of the United States was formed. Over the past 231 years. millions of men and women have served in the oldest branch of our Armed Forces. Their honor. courage. sacrifice and service are the foundation of Americas greatness. The Army principles of \"Duty. Honor. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES HAGEL","chamber":"S","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1150,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090145999,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today. the significance of this resolution is something that needs the attention of this body. We are today honoring the 231st birthday of the U.S. Army. Throughout the centuries. the noble service of Army soldiers has defended this great Nation. From the first Continental Army under GEN George Washington. to the beaches of Normandy. to the city streets of Baghdad. Americas Army has protected the flame of freedom. Their sacrifice calls us allboth public and privateto the highest standard of citizenship. We enjoy our freedoms because they have been steadfast through the most difficult of circumstances and continue to spread the light of democracy to the darkest corners of the world. We stand here today because they continue to willingly put their lives in harms way. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4256,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090146024,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this Congress has cut and run from its responsibility of oversight. to ensure that the taxpayer money is spent wisely. By last count. nearly $10 billion of the funds set aside for Iraq reconstruction cannot be found. Vanished. $10 billion gone. And now the Government Accountability Office reports that 16 percent of the aid distributed after Katrina. $1.4 billion. was spent fraudulently. Some of the money went to pay for a bottle of Dom Perignon. Caribbean vacations. \"Girls Gone Wild\" videos. That may be one heck of a vacation. but it is a horrendous use of the taxpayer dollars. Instead of rooting out incompetence and fraud and waste and abuse. the Congress has actually protected it. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1161,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090146027,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Washington Times reported last week that while firearms sales in the United States remained on the rise. gunrelated crime and gun accidents are on the decline. Figures released by the Treasury Department show that retail sales of firearms and ammunition rose by almost 3 percent in 2005. All told. 4.7 million new guns were sold during this past year. Yet government figures and independent statistics revealed that firearm crimes and accidental fatalities. including among youth. all trend downward. A recent assault on the Mall. ironically involving one of the Capitol Police chiefs children who was one of the victims. underscores the importance of making guns available to lawabiding citizens in Washington. DC. Residents here deserve the same selfdefense measures that we do in our individual States. The second amendment applies to all Americans. not just some. It does not take a constitutional scholar to figure that out. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK MCHENRY","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1097,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090146028,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"While the science of global warming becomes unambiguous and inarguable and clear. this Congress has lined the pockets of the oil and gas companies with giant subsidies and done absolutely nothing about global warming. It is a tragedy. You know. we have had a lot of Republicans historically to stand up for the environment. such as Teddy Roosevelt. Bill Ruckelshaus. who met with us yesterday. who said do something about global warming. We need some action instead of passivity.","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1129,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090146033,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Federal activist courts have dealt yet another blow to religious freedom in America. Earlier this month a Federal district court ruled that a faithbased prisoner rehabilitation program in in Iowa prison be shut down. The court ruled that the program sponsored by Prison Fellowship goes too far in blending church and state. But consider the facts. The program is completely voluntary. The prisoners can opt out of it at any time. It is open to persons of all faiths or no faith. and prisoners are not required to assimilate into any certain faith in order to graduate into- the program. Mr. Speaker. this is sad news for those who wish to see prisoners undergo real change and rehabilitation. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1172,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090146049,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Chairman. I yield back my time.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH KNOLLENBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":615,"word_count":6}
{"speech_id":1090146096,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Also. the substance of this amendment is not necessary because Congress addressed the issue of corporate. inversion in the JOBS Act. the Jobs Creation Act of 2004. The JOBS Act added a new section to the Tax Code. section 7874. which treats U.S. companies that complete a corporate inversion transaction after March 4. 2002 as domestic U.S. corporations for tax purposes. So we have addressed this issue. This is penalizing compahies who make decisions prior to that time. Critics could argue that companies that have engaged in corporate inversions priorto March 4. 2002 should be coveredby the JOBS Act. but Congress shouldnt. ban companies from competing for government contracts because of legal transactions they performed more than 2 years ago. at the same time denying American servicemen and the American Government the ability to get the best acquisition products that we can for America. In recent years. the House has consistently rejected contracting ban amendments. I urge a \"no\" vote on the DeLauro amendment.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3377,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090146114,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Presbyterian. Episcopal. United Church of Christ and many other faiths have been denied license to travel to Cuba although they have traveled there legally for years. I am afraid we are getting dangerously close to curbing the free exercise of religion in this context and having government impose a religious test. Are you truly religious enough to travel to Cuba? Is this a real religion that you are representing? That is not the business that this government ought to be in. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2303,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090146119,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Protestant and Jewish religious leaders to discuss these restrictions. but so far they have refused. Now they are preparing even more restrictions that will discriminate among the many religious organizations on the island and pick and choose who it is okay to break bread with in faith and fellowship. They will take it upon themselves the right to say what constitutes a church and who is a legitimate person of faith. The United States of America does not and must not take such actions against communities of faith. I urge the people to support the Flake amendment.","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1528,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090146121,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Some may call it prospective. Some may call it misguided. Experience would call it necessary.","speaker_name":"JO ANN EMERSON","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"F","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1131,"word_count":15}
{"speech_id":1090146124,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. let me simply say. if we are afraid that the Baptists. the Methodist. the Lutherans. the Presbyterians. Episcopalians. United Church of Christ. and other faiths that are going to Cuba are somehow propping up the Cuban regime. then our worries are misplaced. That regime has been there for 47 years. and to deny missionaries and others the opportunity to go there and convert people to the faith and to work is simply wrong. Mr. Chairman. I ask unahimous consent to withdraw the amendment.","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":502,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090146129,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Once again I am here to offer an amendment to push the Federal agencies to follow the law and purchase alternative fuel vehicles. I hope it will be accepted again as it has been accepted under other appropriations bills. I believe I am. at the very least. getting the attention from our colleagues. My office has received more calls about my amendment to this bill than any other appropriations bill so far. So let me clear up one concern.","speaker_name":"ELIOT ENGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":496,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090146141,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today to offer a series of amendments on earmark limitations to the Transportation. Treasury. Housing and Urban Development 2007 appropriation. While the Appropriations Committee is touting a twothirds reduction in earmark spending. the sad news is that even with that decrease. the bill still contains more than $930 million in porkbarrel spending. With more than 1.500 earmarks. this bill contains more earmarks than all of the appropriation bills passed in each of the years 1995. 1996. or 1997. This bill provides for new zoo docks. opera houses. bike paths. hiking trails. and 1.500 other congressional priorities. all paid for at the expense of the taxpayer. The most disturbing part of this bill is that these earmarks are paid for with \"funny money.\" with fictitious offsets that would have never left the Treasury to begin with. So while you will hear during this debate many times you are not saving money by getting rid of these earmarks. all the Appropriations Committee would have to do is to simply say we are not going to fund earmarks this year. ","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3612,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090146171,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But that doesnt mean that we ought to do it ourselves. I mean. it is tough for us to make a credible case for oversight of the Federal agencies when. we are spending money like this. This is a swimming pool. The notion that the criteria now has a 40 percent match that we have to get the local folks to kick in money as well. boy. who wouldnt? Who would not offset their budget? What local municipality would not jump at the chance to pay only 80 cents on the dollar or 50 cents on the dollar for a new project that they have. swimming pool or otherwise? Where did this end? Where does this end? It is no better if it is a Federal bureaucrat. But. boy. we look horrible if we say. hey. we spend money better than Federal bureaucrats. We are going to spend it on a swimming pool in Banning. California. Simply wrong. Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1407,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090146237,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"You cannot pay for program operations. You cannot reimburse expenses at any level. including debt service. For more than the past year local citizens who have worked so hard on this initiative have hired professional consultants. have conducted a menu of analysis and feasibility studies. all of it part of the public record and all of it designed to meet the requireffients and the initiatives under the EDI account. I have to say the folks who have put forward that effort and worked so hard would be very. very surprised to hear the gentlemans concern.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCHUGH","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2895,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090146239,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the chairman for yielding me this time. and I rise in opposition to the amendment and in support of the Strand Performing Arts Center. not because it is in my congressional district. because it is not. but because I recognize it as an important part of economic development in the north country. a part of the State of New York that I partially represent. Let me suggest that I play a little off of my colleague. Mr. McHUGHS comments and the notion that what I would suggest the gentleman from Arizona do is direct his angst and his efforts toward the authorizing processes. the processes that created the criteria that many of these projects have had to compete within for many of these years. Maybe that is where the reforms and the oversight would be best directed. because by playing by the rules. the people of the north country have an expectation here that they are going to improve their economic climate. a place that is incredibly distressed. that is in the national interest. I believe. to help assist. and that will be able to improve the quality of life. Things like being able to recruit good doctors to come to work at the Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital. a place that endeavors to develop a cardiological unit that will provide the opportunity for the people of the north country to not have to drive or relocate their families hundreds of miles away. This adds to the quality of life and the recruitment potential. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SWEENEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2231,"word_count":257}
{"speech_id":1090146251,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They would be forced to accept what the IRS sent them. and that outcome is exactly what governments who want these systems expect. Their overall goal is. to squeeze additional revenue from people who already pay their fair share of taxes. In my home state of California. where they have been unsuccessfully trying to implement such a system. a recent poll showed that 67 percent of Californians say they do not want the government to do their taxes. The Tiahrt amendment would have prevented all of that. and I am disappointed it will not be a part of this bill. Mr. Chairman. I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment not because I believe it is necessary. but because it is under a point of order. but will carry on the battle to make sure that the IRS does not get into the business of competing with the private sector and taking advantage of those in lower income levels.","speaker_name":"JOHN DOOLITTLE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1805,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090146254,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I want to thank the ranking member for yielding to me. Mr. Chairman. I planned to offer an amendment to H.R. 5576 to limit the use of funds within the act to prevent the contracting out of jobs of the postal police officers. Based on a security assessment that predates either the anthrax attacks of 2001 or 9\/11. the Postal Service is proceeding with an illconceived -plan tqdecrease the number of professional law enforcement personnel at a number of postal facilities nationwide. In lieu of offering an amendment. the Chairman of Government Reform has agreed to write a joint letter to the Postmaster General outliningour concerns regarding the contracting out of the postal police officers. Further. the letter will ask the Postal Service to base its security decisions on more recent assessments and tb put on hold any plans for cuts or redeployments until updated threat assessments are complete. Nearly 900 men and women serve as postal police officers. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2531,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090146265,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We are putting in better communications so that we can have backup systems that we dont have now. With respect to the TRACONs in south Florida. and I represent south Florida. again we will be consolidating three of these. We will still have Jacksonville as a backup. It is just like Houston did in the case of Hurricane Katrina when they picked up the responsibility for the gulf coast. So we can have safety. security in times of national emergency. We can also have efficiency with the limited taxpayer dollars. and upgrading this technology will do an even better job in these new consolidated TRACONs. So they are bogus arguments. I would like to try to accommodate and we will try to accommodate replacing these personnel in the least disruptive fashion to their families and to their careers. But this is. unfortunately. a personnel matter within FAA. It is time to modernize. upgrade and bring together the best. most efficient. safest system for the traveling public and the flying public through consolidation of these TRACONs.","speaker_name":"JOHN MICA","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1696,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090146267,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the ranking member for yielding to me. And let me answer quickly what the FAA is weighing in closing some of air traffic control facilities. Reno woula go to northern California. Fresno and Bakersfield would go to Las Vegas. Pensacola would go to Meridian. Mississippiexcuse me. Gulfport would go to Meridian and Tallahassee would go to Pensacola. Lincoln would go to Omaha. and Dayton and Columbus would go to Cleveland. Those are just some of the suggestions. Why I asked for time. ","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1472,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090146286,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. reclaiming my time. I look forward to working with my good friend from New York and others on the committee. We both support fiscal responsibility and Federal transportation projects. and I know We agree that common sense must be a hallmark of that process. Mr. Chairman. I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment.","speaker_name":"MARK KENNEDY","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":335,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090146289,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"on the earmarking process and its appropriateness and whether the process for oversight is appropriate. I want to poiht out that the process has been appropriate. but earmarks make up a very small percentage. sixtenths of 1 percent of all of Federal expenditures and that this process here. the American people can rest assured that this Congress is doing its job with great diligence.","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":385,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090146354,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And if the administration is so incompetent that we are wasting a lot of money because we are not administering the program properly. there is money slipping through its fingers because they are not administering the section 8 program properly. let them clean up their act. But the fact is the number of units should remain the same or go up. This amendment says. and the gentlewoman says we are all in agreement. that as many people as possible should be helped. Well. if as many people as possible should be helped. at least lets agree. and this amendment is the only way to do that. not to cut down the number of section 8 units. not to cut down the number of units available whenever we demolish existing housing. That is all this amendment does. Nothing else. And anybody who says that this amendment increases the availability of housing above the policy of one for one is not telling the truth. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1602,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090146357,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. let me just say that one thing I dont quite understand about what is taking place here. but I want to get to the bottom of it. Having to provide a subsidy for empty units. and that is what you are doing. with a budget that only assumes least unit cost or. least unit risks being unable to assist real families. this will. I think. unfairly. shift section 8 dollars to certain regions of the country for what are now vacant units. And this would be to the detriment of the distribution of those funds. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH KNOLLENBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":548,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090146377,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding. With great respect for Chairman MICA and Chairman KNOLLENBERG. I support this amendment strongly. . This is a matter of priorities. and it is a matter of American ownership in a system that supported and that transported 93 percent of our military personnel to the warfighting theaters. It is a matter of priorities. Dan McKinnon. Ronald Reagans head of the Civil Aeronautics Board. who owned and sold North American Airlines and controlled it. said. \"As a rescue helicopter pilot with 61 saves. my number one priority would always be American security. ","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":781,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090146380,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of my time. In my remaining time. I just want to refute what the distinguished gentleman from Florida said. that domestic aviation will not be affected. It will be affected. Foreign owners will decide routes. fleet gize. type of aircraft. service in domestic markets and international markets. We will lose an international trade aviation sector.","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":387,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090146384,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong support of Mr. OBERSTARS amendment. It appears to me that we should see that we are in a huge deficit with the guarantees being foreign governments. We have lost jobs. We are selling companies and property to persons from out of this country. Now we are going to sell our airlines. I think that is one of the worst decisions we could make for homeland security. And I rise in strong support of this amendment. ","speaker_name":"EDDIE JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2604,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090146386,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The proposed rule does not make sense and the DOT should not give foreign control over U.S. airlines just because the European Community is asking for it. Airlines are not just another business. They are an essential form of transportation with many impacts on public policy. Foreign investment in airlines is a major decision for Congress. not the Department of Transportation. Therefore. we should support the LoBiondoPoeOberstar amendment and reject the DOT rule.","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1212,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090146391,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. very briefly. this rule just came in today. and I think everybody is aware of this. The administration understands that an amendment may be offered today to prohibit the use of funds to implement a final rule regarding the foreign investment in U.S. airlines. The proposed rule would facilitate a landmark agreement with the EU that would provide significant benefits to consumers as well as the domestic passenger and cargo airline industry. The administration has worked with Congress to address these concerns with the final rule and recently extended the final comment period by an additional 60 days. The administration. as you must know. strongly opposes any amendment that would prevent the Department of Transportation from finalizing its rule. Mr. Chairman. at this time I yield to the gentleman from Georgia.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH KNOLLENBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":832,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090146458,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And they will be free and the tyrant who is about to celebrate his 80th birthday will soon be elsewhere and the Cuban people will be free. By the way. statements like the resolution that was mentioned recently. that only 22 Members of this House voted against. in support of the prodemocracy movement and in condemnation of the violation of the human rights of the Cuban people. those statements and manifestations by this Congress will always be seen as admirable. admirable statements of solidarity of the people who deserve to be free and who will be free despite 47 years of oppression. So I ask my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to once again stand for the rights of the Cuban people to live in freedom. And these amendments. like this one which seeks to confuse. because it is already legal for Americans with educational purposes to get a license and study in Cuban. but not to engage in child prostitution and not to engage in the endeavors of the regime. like our State Department has stated publicly just a few days ago on the redord. Ambassador John R. Miller. AmbassadoratLarge on International Slavery: Cuba has a tourism industry. government operated or affiliated. which engages in promoting child prostitution. which is not only trafficking under United States law but under United Nations protocol. and it is done very openly. That isamong the realities. the horrible realities of the Cuban tyranny which will soon come to an end but that we must continue to condemn and we must continue to reject unilateral rewards for. So I ask my colleagues to vote down this amendment.","speaker_name":"LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3582,"word_count":275}
{"speech_id":1090146469,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I appreciate that. and I will just briefly conclude by saying that I appreciate the acceptance of the amendment to make sure that as we go forward. the Federal Government limits the number of employees who go overseas. We do not say that there should be no one traveling. We recognize the importance of staff. both here on the floor. and we recognize the importance of staff as far as Federal agencies are concerned. but if we put a reasonable number. as the chairman just accepted. I think we are doing a good thing for the American taxpayer.","speaker_name":"SCOTT GARRETT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":543,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090146487,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"States are either donor States or donee States. States like the State of New Jersey. which is my own. is a donor State. We send more to Washington as far as gasoline taxes than we ever get back in return. so we are. in effect. subsidizing the other States. But even donee States. even those States that think that they are doing well by this system. may not be. And the reason I say that is this. Even though they are getting a little bit more. a few pennies back on the dollar more than they send to Washington. the problem is there are strings attached to those dollars. Washington just doesnt turn those dollars back to those donee States nor in to the donor States without any restrictions. They dont turn them back carte blanche. Washington. the bureaucrats. put restrictions on them. But what exactly do those restrictions cost the States? What do they cost through the micromanagement that Washington does to thosb States? What does it cost those respective States inasmuch as they are not able to spend the dollars as the citizens of those States feel are most appropriate? What does it cost at the end of the day in wasted Federal and local taxes? So what this amendment does. to get to the bottom of it. is simply do a study. ","speaker_name":"SCOTT GARRETT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4409,"word_count":225}
{"speech_id":1090146494,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. my amendment is a straightforward. nonpartisan resolution commemorating one of the worst air disasters in history. Nearly a decade ago. on July 17. 1996. the world witnessed as TWA Flight 800 crashed off the coast of Long Island in the Atlantic Ocean just south of my district. All 230 passengers and crew perished. Today it is important that we continue to offer our support by joining the surviving families who will recognize the 10th anniversary of that tragedy next month and we must do all that we can to safeguard the flying public against future disasters. Like other challenging times our Nation has faced. the reaction to the Flight 800 catastrophe brought out the best not only in my constituents but in so many others in the surrounding towns. States and across the Nation who joined New Yorkers in mourning the loss of so many who lost their lives and who helped my community recover from its most horrific tragedy. New Yorkers. indeed. all Americans demonstrated the great human strength and spirit that makes our country prevail ih the face of tremendous adversity. Thousands of volunteers and employees of the Coast Guard. U.S. ","speaker_name":"TIMOTHY BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2259,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090146497,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Only that in my view this is a very benign. very straightforward amendment. It does just two things. It offers the condolences of the Congress to the survivors of the tragedy and it reasserts our commitment to air travel safety. I understand the point of order. I guess I would respectfully request that the chairman acknowledge that this is a benign and straightforward amendment and not impose the point of order.","speaker_name":"TIMOTHY BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":415,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090146517,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Neighborhoods such as Brooklyn -Heights (the old Municipal Stadium site). Little Sisters of the Poor Housing Redevelopment. and subdivisions such as Citidal Gardens and Renais-. sance Place and elderly developments such as the Residences at West Paseo (the old Robinson Hospital) utilized these programs. None of these developments would be here today without Section 108 and Brownfield funds. Youthbuild programs have provided vocational training and job opportunities for numerous young people in our district to learn building trades. By combining classroom and practical experience. Youthbuild has enabled participants to get decent jobs that pay a livable wage. In Kansas City. Swope Community Builders in KC received a $700K Youthbuild grant this year (2006) to train 60 youth ages 16 to 24 in homebuilding trades and build two affordable houses for sale. Participants can also get a GED if they didnt graduate from high school. Funding for this program was eliminated in the bill. ","speaker_name":"EMANUEL CLEAVER","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5384,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090146518,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. this bill is far from perfect. but I believe it is worth supporting. The bill provides important resources to help support our nations transportation systems. community and economic development. Exam_pIes of this include $8.9 billion for federal transit programs. which is an increase above the Fiscal Year 2006 allocation and the request made by the Bush Administration. Included in this funding is support for light rail projects in the Denver Metropolitan Area. which will help to reduce congestion on Colorado roadways. Communities throughout Colorado and the nation rely on CDBG funds to provide decent housing and expand economic opportunities so I am pleased the legislation rejects the Bush Administration proposal to cut funding to the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG). I am also pleased the full house has supported projects specific to the 2nd Congressional District including: $4.2 million for a replacement tower at the Jefferson County Airport. $500.000 for construction to relieve peak hour overcrowding. reduce accidents. and improve access for pedestrian and cyclists along the US 36 Interchange and Wadsworth in the city and county of Broomfield. $500.000 for construction of a climbing lane on Interstate 70 in Clear Creek County. $100.000 for property acquisition and renovation costs of a new facility for the National Sports Center for the Disabled (NSCD) located in the town of Winter Park. Of course. I do not agree with all its priorities included in the legislation. I believe it was shortsighted to eliminate funding for Small Starts in the Department of Transportation (DOT) budget. ","speaker_name":"MARK UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2887,"word_count":254}
{"speech_id":1090146520,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I rise in strong opposition to the unprecedented language that directs FT A to withhold the final full funding grant payment until both sides reach a close out agreement. Such direction may have the effect of further delaying the resolution of contract disputes. I believe this direction should be rejected by the Federal Transit Administration so that the Tren Urbano project may receive the full funding grant amounts that it is entitled to receive under its agreement with the Federal Transit Administration.","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3588,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090146522,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I submit the following for the RECORD: Departments of Transportation. Treasury. and Housing and Urban Development. the Judiciary. District of Columbia. and Independent Agencies Appropriations. 2007 (Amounts in thousands) FY 2006 FY 2007 Bill vs. Bill vs. Enacted Request Bill Enacted Request","speaker_name":"JOSEPH KNOLLENBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":305,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090146552,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Overall. NICS has been a very good success. Since 1994 more than 1.2 million individuals have been denied a gun because of a failed background check. NICS also provides the vast majority of honest gun sellers with peace of mind in knowing they are selling their products to citizens who will use them safely and legally. However. the NICS system is only as good as the information it contains. And. unfortunately. many States do not have the resources necessary to enter all of their disqualifying criteria into the NICS system. The end result is that felons and others who are not permitted by existing law to buy guns are passing background checks and buying guns through legitimate means. In fact. 28 States have automated less than 75 percent of their criminal history records. In 15 States. domestic violence restraining orders. which are a disqualifying offense. are not accessible through the NICS system. These and other loopholes. of course. have cost people their lives. including two of my constituents. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MCCARTHY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4691,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090146574,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Oil production below prewar levels. electricity is below prewar levels. 54 percent of Iraqi households lack access to clean water. On and on and on. But the main line is this. that this country needs to go in a new direction. The American people are tired.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1457,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090146576,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We went to war with a flawed plan that didnt accouht for the hard work to build the peace after we took down the regime. We also served under a Secretary of Defense who didnt understand leadership. who was abusive. who was arrogant. and who didiit build a strong team. That is not TIM RYAN. that is not KENDRICK MEEK. that is not BILL DELAHUNT. That is a retired Army general who had action in the region.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":405,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090146583,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. $1.05 trillion in 4 years? I do not even know how that can be achieved in 4 years. The Republican majority has handed President Bush. he cannot do it on his own. we have the Republican Congress right under him from 2001 to 2005. $1.05 trillion. now here is the other kicker. that comes in. and with interest. Fortytwo Presidents. 224 years. 224 years. 42 Presidents. were only able to borrow $1.01 trillion. Mr. Speaker. I rest my case on that. I rest my case on the fact that the Republican majority has given the Bush White House everything they wanted on the backs of the American people. The special interests got what they wanted. The billionaires got what they wanted.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4374,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090146586,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Taiwan. Canada. Germany and the OPEC nations looking at us in a different way. in an unprecedented way. The fact that. man. how can yall tell me what to do on foreign policy and how can yall point your finger to me as it relates to war on terror when you cannot even handle your own finances? That is not the American people. That is the Republican rubberstamp majority. They have allowed this President to run this country into a fiscal nightmare. So I close with that by saying. Mr. DELAHUNT. for you to say the generals are coming out. they are coming out because the American spirit is coming out of the chest of Americans that have put themselves in harms way. because this administration and this Congress asked them to put themselves in harms way.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1233,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090146601,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the gentleman will yield. the same type of philosophy with the war. refusing to be accountable and to address the major issues and trying to provide a lot of happy talk for the American people. it is the same with the domestic economy. President Bush says Americas economy is strong and benefiting all Americans. yet at the same time. as this graph shows. college tuition is up 40 percent. gas prices are up 47 percent. health care costs are up 55 percent. and median household income down 4 percent. But the President is saying the economy is strong and benefiting all Americans. Where are you living? Not in Youngstown. Ohio. not in Niles. Ohio. Give me a break. The challenges that the average American person faces today are enormous. The challenges are enormous. and we need to get this country out of this rut we are stuck in and move in a new direction. Let us talk about broadband access for every American. let us talk about fixing the health care crisis in the United States of America so small businesses dont have to pay as much for health care costs. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1881,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090146604,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentlewoman. This is not about playing gotcha. This is not about saying hey. look. this. this. and that. This is about fixing the problems. We need the information that these generals on the ground will provide us so we can actually fix the problems. And we are going to reach across the aisle and work with the Republicans. This is not about Democrat or Republican. This is about the United States of America. We need everybodys ideas. we need everybodys intellect. and we need all Americans to participate in this. These are complex problems. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1026,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090146618,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think that really sums it up. If Democrats take control of this House. It is going to open the doors. It is going to open the windows. We are going to get a breath of fresh air. and accountability will be in vogue once more. for the first time in a long time.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":261,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090146626,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today I had a very pleasant visit with a -very important person. Matt Simmons came by and we spent about an hour and a half talking. Now. who is Matt Simmons and why should we be interested in a discussion with Matt Simmons? Matt Simmons is the Presidents personal energy adviser. He was the primary architect of his energy policy for his first campaign. continued with him through his second campaign. Matt Simmons is the president and CEO of one .of the largest energy investment banks in the world. out of Houston. Texas. and he has written a book which I have here. \"Twilight in the Desert.\" I would like to read just a little bit from the dust cover of the book: Saudi Arabia is the most important oilproducing nation in history. The secretive Saudi Government repeatedly assures the world that its oil fields are healthy beyond reproach. and that they can maintain and even increase output at will to meet the skyrocketing global demand. But what if they cant? \"Twilight in the Desert\" looks behind the curtain to reveal a Saudi oil and production industry that could soon approach a serious. irreversible decline. ","speaker_name":"ROSCOE BARTLETT","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11003,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090146691,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am delighted that our opening prayer this morning was so eloquently delivered by the Reverend Ken Dutille of Swans Island Atlantic Baptist Church in my home State of Maine. It is a great pleasure to welcome him to the Senate today. In fact. as he offered the invocation in this Chamber 11 years ago. on October 18. 1995. it is a pleasure to welcome him back to the Senate today. Pastor Dutilles words give direction. and purpose to our work. His actions also inspire us. they are a vivid reminder of the commitment and compassion that exists among people of faith throughout our Nation. His ministry is truly unique. His church is joined with churches on three other islands to form the Maine Sea Coast Mission. This nondenominational organization was founded more than a century ago to provide spiritual guidance and educational opportunities to the remote seafaring communities of Downeast Maine. ","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2900,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090146704,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"UAV. It also includes $975 million for SINCGARS tactical radios. $675 million in Army tank and Bradley Fighting Vehicle upgrades. $130 million for Army STRYKER vehicles above combat losses. and $567 million for Army trucks. None of these were requested by the administration. and they are not critically needed to aid in the war on terror. Lets take a closer look at just one of these addons. The conference report includes $230 million to buy three Marine Corps V22s. The President did not request any money for the V22 Osprey. which is still in the development and testing stage. In fact. the V22 has not even been deployed to an operational squadron yet. If continued development and testing goes well. the Marine Corps will send the V22 to an operational squadron in the summer or fall of 2007. I have to question why funding for a nonoperational aircraft that is still in the development stages is considered to be an emergency in this bill. The answer is that there is no emergency need for this aircraftif there was. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6562,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090146774,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In case after case. the Special Inspector General determined that either the contractors performance was deficient or the work was not performed at all. One particularly egregious case reviewed by the Special Inspector involved a $75 million contract with Kellogg Brown and Root. KBR. to develop a Pipeline River Crossing at Al Fatah. Iraq. The Special Inspector General reported that the project ailed because subsurface geologic conditions made it impossible to carry out the project design. These conditions were identified by a consultant before work commenced. but neither the Army Corps of Engineers nor KBR acted on the consultants recommendation to perform additional research that would have prevented the failure. A subject matter expert for the Coalition Provision Authority recognized that KBR had limited experience in this type of project and advised that the project would probably fail because design restrictions provided no flexibility to accommodate site conditions. However. KBR refused to conduct design reviews requested by the subject matter expert. The Army Corps of Engineers awarded KBR a firm fixed price contract with no performance requirements. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5095,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090146787,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the leadership and the managers have reached a recommended unanimous consent request which I now propound. I ask unanimous consent at 12 noon today the Senate proceed to a vote in relation to Santorum amendment No. 4234. to be followed by a vote in relation to a firstdegree amendment to be offered by Senator BIDEN related to the same subject. further. I ask unanimous consent that the time until 12 be equally divided between myself. representing Senator SANTORUM and others. and Senator LEVIN. with no second degrees in order to either amendment prior to the votes. provided there be 2 minutes for debate equally divided between the votes.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":657,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090146830,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let us establish the hour of 12:15 for the vote. with 5 minutes at the conclusion for the distinguished Senator from Pennsylvania and 5 minutes under the control of the Senator from Virginia and 5 minutes under the control of Senator LEVIN. I ask unanimous consent that be the case.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":297,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090146835,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"While it is with some reluctance that I cannot support a sanction amendment relating to Iran. nonetheless. because this is broader than the one that previously I cosponsored. and mainly because of the ongoing negotiations which will strengthen ouir position if they do not lead to a good resolution. I cannot support the Santorum amendment. I will support the Biden amendment. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2724,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090146885,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I hope it will be accepted. I ask for the yeas and nays on the amendment.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4648,"word_count":16}
{"speech_id":1090146891,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This Senator hopes. too. as I said at the outset of this Senators remarks. that there is something lost in the translation. a mistake. But if there is. it is time for Prime Minister Maliki to step forward and clarify it. He can easily clarify it. But that does not diminish the need for the sense of Congress that says that the Government of Iraq should not grant amnesty to persons known to have attacked. killed. or wounded members of the Armed Forces of the United States.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":475,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090146896,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I dont support amnesty for those who commit acts of terror against Americans. It sends the wrong signal to our troops. the wrong signal to the Iraqis. and it sends the wrong signal to all Americans. It certainly sends a wrong signal to the insurgents who have now been given the message that they can attack our forces without consequence. President Bush continually makes a point of saying that a free Iraq means the United States will have a friend in the Middle East. This amnesty proposal is no sign of friendship. it is a sign of hostility which dishonors the sacrifice of our troops. Our troops deserve better. Again. I urge the President to tell the new Iraqi Government to stand down. America will not stand as our troops are dishonored in this way. It seems so unfortunate that after the Presidents visit in Iraq. a day later this is floated through the Iraqi Government. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2663,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090146905,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If the Senator will yield for one final question. I just want to be sure I understood his earlier comments from the National Security Adviser for the Government of Iraq. There had been some suggestion that the Iraqis were planning on granting amnesty to those who had killed American soldiers. But if I understood the distinguished majority whip. the National Security Adviser said: And we will never give amnesty to those who killed American soldiers or who killed Iraqi soldiers or civilians. If that language is true. that they would never do that. would the Senator care to venture a guess as to what the reason for this supposed sense of the Senate is to condemn some- amnesty that will never be given?","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":707,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090146912,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This Senator clearly doesnt support pulling the troops out of Iraq by the end of the year. This Senator offered an amendment which is a senseoftheSenate amendment that the Government of Iraq should not grant amnesty to persons known to have attacked. killed. or wounded members of the Armed Forces of the United States based on this mornings story in this newspaper that indicates comments that were made by the Prime Minister. Is the Senator suggesting that he does not agree with the senseoftheSenate resolution being expressed in this amendment as laid down by this Senator from Florida?","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":590,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090146933,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. since this Senator from Florida is the author of the amendment. I would recall. for the consideration of the distinguished Senator from Texas. that there is nothing in this resolution that says anything about condemnation of the Iraqi Governmeht. It says: It is the sense of Congress that the Government of Iraq should not grant amnesty to persons known to have attacked. killed. or wounded members of the Armed Forces of the United States. I would further call to the attention of the distinguished Senator that the yeas and nays have been ordered on the amendment. and as soon as the leadership is ready to dispose of the amendment. we can vote.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":662,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090146938,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would answer the distinguished majority whip by saying. that is exactly the quotation. The same individuals went on to say that who the Prime Minister is going to give amnesty to are those who have not committed the crimes. whether against Iraqis or coalition forces. He went on to say. they might probably have done some minor mistakes in storing some arms or allowing some terrorist to stay overnight or provided shelter. But he has expressly said: We will never give amnesty to those who have killed American soldiers or killed Iraqi soldiers or civilians.","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":576,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090146956,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Absolutely. Mr. President. I would say it falls under the concept of the Christian ethic. We are people who believe that you can be converted. You can be a nonbeliever and then become a believer. What is the difference between that and amnesty. between those people who may have been on the wrong side and then will come forward and belong to this new government? And if they pledge and demonstrate to do it. I think it is up to the Iraqis to determine when and how they become fullfledged citizens of the new democracy. But this amendment would have us say if they indicate they are going to grant amnesty to them. that is wrong. Amnesty ought to be a reward for a pledge of cooperation and support. ","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1166,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090146960,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I think we do have to grasp what is at stake. and if we withdraw from Iraq-","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":819,"word_count":17}
{"speech_id":1090147010,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. first I would like to say to my colleague. we have had a very strong. fervent and heartfelt debate. not a brouhaha by any definition of the use of those terms. We have heard from two of the most respected combat veterans currently serving in this Chamber. It was not in the nature of a brouhaha. They were simply reciting the history of this great Republic since its inception as to how it has dealt with adversaries in the several conflicts that we have had. I first say to the Senator. I hope that you will reconsider the use of that term.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":556,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090147065,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Through a State grant prograVn. health care providers are given the tools they need to recognize signs of depression and to educate women and their families about the disorder and how to access help. We also call on the National Institutes of Health to convene a series of national meetings on postpartum depression and\" psychosis and then to expand and intensify research around that consensus. Our bill has been endorsed by the Illinois Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. the Illinois Psychiatric Association. Postpartum Support International. the Association of Womens Health. Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses. AWHONN. the Family Mental Health Institute. Inc.. the National Mental Health Association and the New Jersey chapter. and the New Jersey Chapter of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. ACOG. I urge my colleagues to join Senator MENENDEZ and me in supporting the MOTHERS Act. which will ensure that new mothers are educated about postpartum depression and that research will help us prevent and treat postpartum depression in new mothers.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3135,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090147066,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Although she had lived in Wisconsin for a number of years. she returned. to Iowa 2 years ago and last fall opened an equestrian business outside Iowa Falls. My thoughts and prayers are with Petty Officer Jaenkes daughter. Kayla. her parents. Susan and Larry. as well as all those other family and friends who are grieving the loss of this young mother. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Petty Officer Jaenke for her sacrifice. I am greatly saddened by her.passing but deeply proud and grateful for what she gave for America. Her loss remains tragic but she died a true patriot.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1219,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090147070,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Even with this important language. the fight to help Oregons salmon fishermen is far from over. and I will continue to press for congressional appropriations to fund the disaster assistance fishing families and the coastal fishing communities need.","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1386,"word_count":38}
{"speech_id":1090147075,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I recognize a community in North Dakota that will be celebrating its 125th anniversary. On June 30July 2. the residents of Steele will gather to celebrate their communitys history and founding. Steele is a thriving community in North Dakota. The city was founded by Wilbur F. Steele in 1878. He purchased the land from the railroad and had hopes that the city would house the State capitol. Mr. Steele constructed a building in the city to serve as a place for the legislature to meet. Since Steele was not chosen as the States capital. the building became the Kidder County Courthouse. which is still in use today. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1671,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090147078,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I pay tribute to a great man. Roger Meier. The late Oregon Governor Tom McCall once said. \"Heroes are not giant statues framed against a red sky. They are people who say. This is my community and it is my responsibility to make it better.\" When Roger Meier passed away on June 5. I lost a trusted friend and Oregon lost a true hero. Through leadership. vision. and generosity. Roger made his community of Portland and his State of Oregon a better place in which to live. work. and raise a family. proven to its .stuaents. faculty. and alumni that \"you can go anywhere from here.\" South Dakota State University. or SDSU. was founded in 1881 as the primary agriculture university in my home State of South Dakota. and 125 years later it now holds the distinction of being the States largest university. ","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1195,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090147101,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the Senator because he has given us optimism and hope that we can reduce this deficit. and he has shown us we can do this without slashing our social programs or any other spending but just contain the growth. BY Mr. WYDEN (for himself. Mr. SMITH. Mr. CRAIG. and Mrs. MURRAY):","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":284,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090147102,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am pleased to be joined today by Senator GORDON SMITH. Senator LARRY CRAIG and Senator PATTY MURRAY in introducing the Fisheries Restoration and Irrigation Mitigation Act of 2006or FRIMA. Our legislation extends a homegrown. commonsense program that has a proven track record in helping restore Northwestern salmon runs. Dollarfordollar. the fish screening and fish passage facilities funded by our legislation are among the most costeffective uses of public and private restoration dollars. These projects protect fish while producing significant benefits. That is why it is important that this program be reauthorized and funding be appropriated now. Since 2001. when the original Fisheries Restoration and Irrigation Mitigation Act of 2000. FRIMA. was enacted. more than $9 million in Federal funds has leveraged nearly $20 million in private. local funding. ","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5254,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090147105,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Section 2 of the bill also amends the \"single heir rule\" of ILCA section 207(a)(2)(D)-which governs the inheritance of interests that are less than 5 percent of the total undivided interest in a parcel of landby making it inapplicable to any interest in the estate of a decedent who .dies during the period beginning on the enactment date of the clause and ending on July 20. 2007. and authorizing the Secretary of Interior to extend this period for up to 1 year. The bill would also delay until July 21. 2007. the application of the presumption in ILCA section 207(c) that a devise of a trust interest to more than 1 person creates a joint tenancy absent clear language in the will to the contrary. It would amend ILCA section 207(o). which authorizes purchase of interests during probate. in various ways. but most significantly limiting nonconsensual purchases to the Secretary and the Indian tribe. clarifying that the 5 percent threshold applies to the decedents interest rather than to the interest passing to an heir. and holding the rule allowing nonconsensual purchase at probate of small interests inapplicable to interests in the estate of any decedent who dcies on or before July 20. 2007. This section would also authorize the Secretary to extend this period for up to 1 additional year. The amendments delaying the application of these provisions will give Indian landowners more time to understand how these provisions work and plan their estates accordingly. The delays of the single heir rule and nonconsensual purchase option at probate will. also allow the Department more time to have procedures and systems in place to determine whether a given interest is above or below the 5 percent threshold that triggers the application of the rules. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3157,"word_count":308}
{"speech_id":1090147110,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Denis to take immediate action to change the name of \"Rue Mumia AbuJamal.\" If such action is not taken. this resolution urges the French Government to take appropriate action against the city of St. Denis to change the name of the street. Finally. this resolution appropriately commends all police officers for their commitment to public service and public safety. I ufge my colleagues to support this important resolution.","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2870,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090147125,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on Commerce. Science. and Transportation Subcommittee on Fisheries and the Coast Guard be authorized to meet on Thursday. \"June 15. 2006. at 10:30 a.m. on the Coast Guards Fiscal Year 2007 Budget Request.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":269,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090147150,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we What I sensed from them was not must get out of Iraq. But getting out of only a sense of patriotism. but a love of Iraq is not enough. because the same this country. As we begin the debate thinking that led us to Iraq. the addic- today. and I know politics seems to tion to war and fear. the misunder- permeate everything. I ask that we standing of the nature of power. the be- first think about those young men and lief that might makes right can lead us women who have risked so much for into Iran. into Syria. and put us at this Nation. who have lost so much for odds with Russia and China. this Nation. whose families are by The war on terror has become a war their side today giving them the love of error. We attacked a nation that did and dedication they need to overcome not attack us. By pursuing policies this difficult struggle. Mr. Speaker. they have given the full measure of devotion to this Nation and they deserve our -thanks. The invectives and political discourse need to focus on their sacrifice and not on our political ambitions.","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1066,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090147154,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. down on the Rio Grande where the sage brush and mesquite trees line the lawless border of the riverbank is the home of generations of Texas ranchers. Their homes. feet from the porous border. they wake up to human smugglers. drug runners and thieves that have trespassed on their soil. On the border I nret crusty rancher. C.E. Cunningham of Quemado. Texas. He has lived on the land for seven decades. and he now writes me about the southern border invasion into America: \"We have had our livestock. wildlife killed. vehicles. tools. equipment stolen. I had to move my mother out of her own home when three illegals stole and robbed her. I have taken weapons away from thieves. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1276,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090147155,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. all of the talk in the media these last few days has been about the fraud In the FEMAindividual and housing assistance program. Now. I am not saying that those who perpetrated the fraud should not be dealt with appropriately. or that FEMA and the Red Cross do not have to clean up their act. But. folks.. this is a disaster the likes of which we have never seen. What would you have had them do in such an emergency. apply miles and miles of red tape and risk not giving service to those who need it quickly? Colleagues. do not let this be a smoke screen that would cause us to lose sight of the contracting and the purchasing waste. fraud and abuse that the big corporations have perpetrated on our government *and all of us. while businesses in the Gulf Region went bust for lack of work. It is always the little guy who bears the blame while the big ones get away. Our relevant committees in this Congress need to turn our focus to the Halliburtons of the world. When we look at the waste. the fraud. and abuse of these giants. that $1 billion will look like chump change. LI 1015","speaker_name":"DONNA CHRISTENSEN","chamber":"H","state":"VI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":1096,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090147183,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. on this day of debate while we discuss the merits and perils of our involvement in the war on terror. there is one sentiment that is shared by every Member of Congress: our admiration for our Armed Forces who risk their lives each day in defense of our freedom. Within. these Halls of democracy where we passionately represent our constituents. it is important to recommend that the democratic way of life that is at the heart of what we do would not be possible without the men and women of our Armed Forces. The brave men and women of our military are often called upon to travel great distances away from their families and loved ones to fight for the freedom that all Americans hold dear. Each time one of them enters into battle. it is with the knowledge that they may be asked to make the ultimate sacrifice for their country. giving their lives to secure our great Nation. In recognition of these heroes. we have placed a memorial display in the Rayburn horseshoe foyer featuring the name of each and every member of our forces who has fallen as a result of the current conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is my hope that the many Members. staff. visitors. students. and constituent groups who visit the House office buildings each day will take a moment to stop by the memorial and reflect on the gift of freedom given selflessly by these honored individuals to every American.","speaker_name":"VERNON EHLERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1399,"word_count":250}
{"speech_id":1090147224,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. pursuant to the rule. I call up the resolution (H. Res. 861) declaring that the United States will prevail in the Global War on Terror. the struggle to protect freedom from the terrorist adversary. and ask for its immediate consideration.","speaker_name":"HENRY HYDE","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":251,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090147244,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Zarqawi. a gentleman who said that he was going to take this war to Washington. DC. and London. He is going to be a little late for that one. because we have an extremely competent American military on the ground in Iraq right now. I think the gentleman from Pennsylvania would agree with that. So lets use that same judgment of those combat commanders who are training those Iraqi units in their areas of operation who say. okay. this battalion is just about matured. this one is not. this one needs more equipment. this one needs some more training. Lets rely on their judgment as to when we can hand that load off to them and let them bear the security burden. Why should a Senator from Wisconsin or a Congressman from California try to impose an arbitrary date on when that maturity takes place. You cannot do it. So I would just ask my friends to give to those great Americans who are over there working this mission right now. lets send a united statement to them that there is value in this mission. there is value in their operation. We are going to complete this mission. ","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4444,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090147246,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The consequences of mismanagement and corruption are serious. Waste. fraud. and abuse have flourished. The taxpayer has been repeatedly gouged. Iraq is not being rebuilt. We have lost credibility and are now viewed in Iraq as occupiers. and our troops did not get essential equipment when they needed it. We have now spent $50 billion on Iraq reconstruction. including $30 billion from U.S. taxpayers. Lets look at what we got for the money. Despite spending $2 billion. Iraqs oil production is still well below prewar levels. running about a half million barrels below 2003 levels. We have invested $4 billion into improving electricity generation. ","speaker_name":"HENRY WAXMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9459,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090147248,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"His name was Osama bin Laden. In October of 2000. the USS Cole was in port in Aden. in Yemen when a small boat came up to it and exploded. tearing a gash 40 feet by 60 feet long midships on the USS Cole. and 17 sailers died. All of these actions we treated as isolated instances. We played defense ineffectively against a transnational. loosely connected movement against extremists who exploit Islam and use terrorism to bring about their dark vision of the future. The adherents to this movement are parasites who thrive in weak states and in failed regimes. That is why the terrorists made Iraq a central front in their war. If they could foment civil war. if they could keep selfgovernment in Iraq from being born. then they could thrive in the chaos and continue their attacks on us. That is why it is important to see it through in Iraq. We made a decision after 9\/11 that we would play offense and not defense. As Americans. we know the enterprise that we are engaged in is difficult and requires persistence and resolve. ","speaker_name":"HEATHER WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"F","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2683,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090147254,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They are using that to divide our country. and that is what will take us down. Mr. Speaker. That is why it is imperative that we continue on this course and we continue to fight this war on the away front. not the home front. Thank you. Mr. Chairman.","speaker_name":"JO ANN DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3589,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090147261,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Buckley wrote that if he had known in 2002 what he knew then in 2004. he would have been against the war. Last year he wrote another column against the war saying: \"A point is reached when tenacity conveys not steadfastness of purpose but misapplication of pride.\" The very popular conservative columnist Charley Reese wrote that the war was \"against a country that was not attacking us. did not have the means to attack us. and had never expressed any intention of attacking us. and for whatever real reason we attacked Iraq. it was not to save America from any danger. imminent or otherwise.\" Many years ago. Senator Robert Taft expressed the traditional conservative position: \"No foreign policy can be justified except a policy devoted to the protection of the American people. with war only as the last resort and only to preserve that liberty.\" Millions of conservatives across this Nation believe that this war was unconstitutional. unaffordable. and. worst of all. unnecessary. It was waged against an evil man. but one who had a total military budget only twotenths of one percent of ours. We are not going to be able to pay all our military pensions. social security. Medicare. and all the little things we have promised if we are going to turn the Department of Defense into the Department of Foreign Aid and attempt to be the policeman of the world. This is contrary to every traditional conservative position on defense and requires huge deficit spending. The conservative columnist Georgie Ann Geyer wrote: \"Critics of the war against Iraq have said since the beginning of the conflict that Americans. still strangely complacent about overseas wars being waged by a minority in their name. will inevitably come to a point where they will see they have to have a government that provides services at home or one that seeks empire across the globe.\" Mr. Speaker. we need to start putting our own people first once again and bring our troops home. the sooner the better.","speaker_name":"JOHN DUNCAN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2966,"word_count":337}
{"speech_id":1090147265,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And we Democrats welcome that. The debate today is about whether the American people want to stay the course. with an administration and a Congress that has walked away from its obligations. or pursue a real strategy for success in the war on terror. Twentyfive hundred brave Americans. male and female. have given their lives in trying to stabilize Iraq. Last month was the bloodiest in Iraqs history. According to Major General.Rick Lynch. attacks against civilians increased 80 percent since November 2005. \u0095 We cannot achieve the end of victory and continue to sit and watch. stand pat. the status quo. That is the Republican policy. Democrats are determined to take the fight to the enemy. In the words of President John Kennedy. \"We shall pay any price. bear any burden. meet any hardship. support any friend. oppose any foe in order to assure the survival and success of liberty.\" Democrats will never put American servicemembers in harms way without a plan and without support. For that. you need the sitandwatch complacency of a Republican Congress.","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3983,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090147272,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That is not rhetoric either. that is dead Americans. If some people continue to preach cut and run from this war. then they will continue to kill Americans. kill Americans and kill Americans. The global war on terrorism must be fought. We can do it on the streets of our hometowns. or we can take the war to the terrorists. Either way. it has to be done. and personally. I prefer doing it overin Iraq rather than in New York or Washington. D.C. or San Francisco. For the first 20 years. we allowed the terrorists to fight this war on their terms. 9\/11 served as a wakeup call for us in the sense that we could no longer afford to sit on our hands and let the terrorists continue to kill innocent Americans. Under the leadership of the Bush administration. and with the support of this Republicanled Congress. we took the fight to the terrorists. wherever they may be. Mr. ","speaker_name":"TERRY EVERETT","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3739,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090147276,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is what the captives tell us when we interview them. They want to take this fight to the Americans in Iraq. I tell you. if we are going to have to fight terrorists. I would rather fight them at a place where every American carries a gun rather than on the streets of New York or Washington or Wichita because they have brought the fight to us. It is not we who decided to do this. I think it is very important as we pursue this worldwide battle against terrorism that we insist on doing it with our full resources. with full dedication. and that we disrupt their finances. that we disrupt their places of safe haven. that we disrupt the countries that are providing protection for them. and that we go to the terrorists and we find the root causes of this terrorism and sever the root. I think the reason we have seen so much money from al Qaeda going to Iraq. the reason that they have sent so many weapons into Iraq. the reason so many foreign fighters have gone into Iraq is because that is where they want to fight this battle. If we leave now. it would be giving them a victory and we would be once again putting another picture on the board here saying we should have fought harder. we should have stopped it back in 2006.","speaker_name":"TODD TIAHRT","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3469,"word_count":235}
{"speech_id":1090147277,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 1 minute. The problem is that the opposite is happening. That is the problem we have. We can stand here and say we want to fight the terrorists in Iraq. Actually. al Qaeda we think is less than 1.000. We think we are caught in a civil war. It is the way that we are doing it. The military cannot win this war. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MURTHA","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":640,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090147283,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And just a few minutes ago I came from the Pentagon where a celebration of the dedication of the Pentagon Memorial was unveiled where 184 Americans lost their lives in that vicious attack on the Pentagon. Mr. Speaker. this war has to be won. All over the world there are cemeteries where Americans lie in rest. Americans who lost their lives in different parts of the world to keep America what it is. to keep America what was created at so many sacrifices. And many of us have had the opportunity to visit those cemeteries and to pay our respects to those fighting warriors who went ahead and did what was necessary to do to preserve this great America. There are American heroes in Iraq today and American heroes in Afghanistan today. And as Mr. MURTHA said earlier. he and I have spent a lot of time visiting with a number of those wounded heroes at our military hospitals. But they will tell you. and they will be the first ones to tell you. we have got to win this war. ","speaker_name":"C. YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3524,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090147285,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have surged intelligence resources into Iraq in a frantic effort to find the next IED. As a result. we have taken our eye off the ball in Afghanistan. where Taliban fighters are reconstituting themselves. even as the United States reduces the number of troops there. Osama Bin Ladin and Ayman al Zawahiri are still at large. inspiring a new generation of recruits to the jihad. Just as constant deployments to Iraq cause burnout in the Army. National Guard and Reserves. we are also burning out large numbers of intelligence professionals. And assigning them to Iraq means they are not available to address other national security challenges. like Iran and North Korea. There has been good news. U.S. intelligence agencies operating with Special Operations Forcei have tracked down many key terrorist leaders. The takedown of Zarqawi showed the importance of fusing human intelligence. imagery. signals intelligence and a military strike capability in real time. That is how intelligence ought to work. ","speaker_name":"JANE HARMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":36.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7212,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090147292,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is now my intention to yield to members of the minority of the House Intelligence Committee who are here. First. I would yield 3 minutes to Representative BOSWELL who is ranking member on our Subcommittee on Terrorism. Human Intelligence. Analysis and Counterintelligence. -(Mr. BOSWELL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)","speaker_name":"JANE HARMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":36.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":355,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090147307,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Lets give victory a chance and a lasting peace will surely follow.","speaker_name":"GILBERT GUTKNECHT","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3263,"word_count":12}
{"speech_id":1090147313,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"To the prior speaker. -we are trying to articulate exactly what we should do. Mr. Speaker. I now yield the final minute of the Intelligence Committees time to Mr. VAN HOLLEN of Maryland. a member of the National Security Subcommittee of the Government Reform Committee. I thank Mr. MURTHA for yielding me the 30 minutes.","speaker_name":"JANE HARMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":36.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":320,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090147316,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We must do as Tony Blair did. The people who are fighting us. he said. know what is at stake. The question is. do we? fl 1545","speaker_name":"MELISSA HART","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2309,"word_count":27}
{"speech_id":1090147342,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Of course mistakes have been made. In every human endeavor. mistakes are made. That is the nature of human endeavors. . I personally am convinced we had too few troops in Iraq when Baghdad fell. I joined my colleague JOHN MCCAIN in visiting Iraq. I have been there multiple times. and it was obvious to me we needed more troops there. I have joined his call for sending more troops repeatedly. and I join those who call for sending temporarily more troops now to take advantage of the death of Zarqawi as an opportunity to crush the insurgents. And no doubt. other mistakes have been made. But whatever mistakes have been made. they do not justify cutting and running. Recently. a constituent of mine. a Vietnam War helicopter pilot. approached me in Phoenix and said. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SHADEGG","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3644,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090147352,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. MURTHA. I want to salute you for your service and your plan. And I want to salute all of the United States military. And might I say that our soldiers are doing their job. They have done their job. And out of doing their job. the casualties are some 19.000. and today. I am very sad to say that 2.5Q0 of them are now 4ead. And so I come with a heavy heart to suggest that there are myths that we need to overcome. And one of them is that there is something called \"cut and run.\" It is not \"cut and run.\" It is the opportunity of involvement. debate and patriotism. a belief that we can put forward a plan that the American people will believe in. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4596,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090147361,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Sergeant Atanacio Haromarin. age 27. Specialist Leroy HarrisKelly III. age 20. Corporal Stephen Johnson. age 24. Corporal Rudy Salas. age 20. Marine Corporal Carlos Arellano. age 22. I have celebrated their sacrifices and mourned their passing with their families: with their parents. with their spouses. and with their children. Eighteen thousand four hundred and ninety servicemen and women have been injured during the war in Iraq. 8.501 so badly they will be permanently damaged from their injuries. I have visited with many of them at the Walter Reed Hospital. And even with more veterans returning from Iraq. President Bush refuses to provide adequate funding for their health care. ","speaker_name":"HILDA SOLIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2764,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090147373,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Weapons of mass destruction. Not there. Saddam Hussein working hand in glove with al Qaeda. Not true. And the more information that leaks out. the more apparent it becomes that these were not mistakes. but deliberate lies. But does this Congress get to the bottom of this? Not this Republican Congress. This Republican Congress sees no evil. .laars no evil. and speaks no evil when it comes to a war that has already killed 2.500 of our young men and women and promises to kill thousands more. This -Republican Congress asks no questions about what we can possibly achieve that can justify the continuing slaughter. E 1715 I ask you. if the President had gone to the American people and said. we must invade a country that poses no imminent threat to us. we must sacrifice thousands of lives in order to. create a democratic government in Iraq. would we have agreed? I think not. As the President now says to us that we should .continiie indefinitely to expend American blood and treasure to support one side in a sectarian civil war. a side. moreover. that is increasingly cozying up to the mullahs in Iran who do pose a threat to us. should Congress continue to consent? I think not. ","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3124,"word_count":210}
{"speech_id":1090147405,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Afghanistan and Iraq. This covers both. The total cost of this. over a period of 10 years. is $371 billion. assuming a modest increment in our deployment to that theater of 50.000 additional troops. This is -CBO speaking. Now. if you add $371 billion to $318 billion. you get $689 billion. That is what this war could cost us if its goes on at its current level. And we have not reflected in this number the accrued costs we are incurring daily due to the harsh environmental conditions in the desert. The Army says it will cost $24 billion alone over the next 2 years to restore and repair and replace equipment. Now. as I said. cost is not the ultimate determinant. but it has to be a consideration when it reaches this magnitude. I do not think we can debate the deployment in Iraq in existing troop levels in a vacuum. as if the cost does not matter. as if we had infinite resources. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2946,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090147409,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I do support our troops.","speaker_name":"SOLOMON ORTIZ","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":27.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2327,"word_count":5}
{"speech_id":1090147413,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"\"They will welcome us when we get there.\" We had awindow of opportunity. and we missed it. We didnt send enough troops in to secure the peace in Iraq. General Shinseki warned us. and they ignored him and sent him out to pasture. We didnt vet Saddams army so we could secure Baghdad. Mistake. Mistake. We have less oil production now than we did when Saddam was in power. The Iraqi people have lost their opportunity. They have 3.9 hours of electricity in Baghdad and we are talking about things getting better? In a time of war. this administration and this Congress has an obligation to tell the truth about what is happening in Iraq. We also have a responsibility to provide the oversight so we correct mistakes. we get our troops into the background because we are sitting ducks up there because we have an occupation that our own State Department polls say is unpopular by 85 to 90 percent of the Iraqis. ","speaker_name":"MARTIN MEEHAN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2794,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090147421,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. This afternoon. regrettably. we are talking about the cost of this war. the cost of the commitment of the American people: the cost in money. and the cost in lives. over 2.500 to date. the cost in wounded. over 18.000. with very little or no oversight. very little or no accountability. and certainly very little or no shared sacrifice in this country. ED 1815 This resolution that we are discussing. because it is not even a debate. is more about politics than about practical solutions. Anyone that doubts that. all you have got to do is read the article in todays paper that sets out the political strategy by the majority leader in terms of this resolution. Oversight. oversight. oversight. Where was our armor. both body armor and vehicle armor? What was our plan post \"Mission Accomplished\" press conference? Where were we during the issue of Abu Ghraib rendition and so many other things that have come up? In fact. last night I went home and I switched on the TV and I just happened. by chance. to catch the program on HBO. Last Letters Home: The Families. And it occurs to me this afternoon that we owe those families from that HBO program. and the 2.500 other families. an apology. because they have made the sacrifice. ","speaker_name":"SILVESTRE REYES","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1488,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090147431,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. let us be clear. Terrorism. as a method of achieving political goals and settling political differences. is intolerable to the civilized world. Inevitably. terrorists will gain access to chemical. biological and even nuclear weapons. Never has a nongovernment organization been able to deliver weapons of mass destruction. That will be unprecedented. and it is truly intolerable. So terrorism. as an organized system of political action. must be defeated. Within the Palestinian Authority. for the first time. the.issue of terrorism as a means of political action is now the issue between Mr. Abbas and the Prime Minister. And in Iraq. the same issue is being joined. ","speaker_name":"NANCY JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4580,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090147443,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as a member of the House Armed Services Committee. I know that it is Congresss responsibility to give our troops the resources needed to accomplish their mission. It is a responsibility that I take very seriously. It is precisely that support for the troops that motivates me to warn that we may\" be doing irreparable harm to our military if we do not alter our mission in Iraq quickly. General Barry McCaffrey recently shared his frank assessment of operations in Iraq. He said we should know by years end whether the new Iraqi Government can effectively control the insurgency. He has argued that we cannot. sustain our current level of operations beyond Christmas without breaking our military and endangering our ability to fight future missions. In other words. we are quite possibly 6 months away from a point of no return that could have longranging effects on our military and the stability of the Middle East and on our ability to defend this Nation. So what is our strategy to prevent the worst case scenario? Where is the oversight and accountability? Well. ","speaker_name":"JAMES LANGEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1410,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090147445,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this resolution declares to the world the resolve of America to fight and to win the global war on terror. including in its central front in Iraq. We have heard a great deal during this debate about mistakes that may have been made in the lead up to the war and during its execution. and they may be somewhat correct. But the facts that cannot be debated are that Saddam Hussein had brutally repressed his own people. that he had used chemical weapons against his own people. that he had sanctioned the rape and murder of his own citizens with rape rooms and mass graves standing as a testament to that fact. that he had harbored terrorists within his borders and supported terrorist organizations throughout the region and the entire world. that he defied the world continually by violating 17 United Nations Security Council resolutions. Saddam Hussein was a threat to world peace and security. and it was a correct decision to go in and remove him from power. And now we must complete the mission to bring freedom to the Iraqi people. And freedom is taking root. We have seen recently the completion of the freely elected Iraqi unity government serving under a Constitution written by the Iraqi people and approved by the Iraqi people. And last week American forces. with the cooperation of Iraqi citizens and security forces. eliminated al Zarqawi. the terrorist leader. And according to the Iraqi national security advisor. the elimination of Zarqawi has delivered his government. he said. a huge treasure of information on the terrorist operation. ","speaker_name":"CANDICE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2503,"word_count":265}
{"speech_id":1090147456,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"No one wants a new mission for our troops. but if we had to fight somewhere else. we wouldnt have the equipment or forces to do it. These are the themes that we should be debating in a resolution today. not the \"feel good\" messages included in the Republican resolution. We all want to feel good about Iraq and believe that progress is possible. But we cant want progress so much that we blind ourselves to the reality on the ground. This debate is driving us further apart.","speaker_name":"MARK UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3065,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090147464,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I can think of no better person to close our segment of the International Relations Committee. and I yield the remaining time to the gentleman from Texas . who served in the United States Air Force from 1951 to 1979. decorated combat veteran with two silver stars. and as all of us know is a living hero. a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. We welcome him and we thank him for closing up our segment of the debate.","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":489,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090147470,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it goes without saying how proud I am of those young men and women in uniform. I know every Member in this body joins me in saying how pleased and proud we are of them. A sad moment earlier today was when it was announced that 2.500 had given their lives in Iraq. But what concerns me. Mr. Speaker. more than anything is the requestthat we made for discussion on Iraq and this resolution that before us today was the result. Trying to blend and fudge together the war in Iraq. which is separate and distinct from the war on terrorism. is disingenuous.","speaker_name":"IKE SKELTON","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":564,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090147480,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There was one young man laying on his bed. and I said. well. when were you wounded? He said about 4:30 this morning. About 4:30 this. morning. we had gotten him off the battlefield. We had stabilized him and had him in an airplane and had \u0095 him to Germany where he had already had successful surgery before the end of the day. The main desire of his heart was to get back with his unit in Iraq. That is good morale. I talked to another young man that was just coming out of the operating room. and he had his arm up in a cast. I asked him. well. soldier. do you plan to stay in the service? He said. oh. I plan to stay in if they will let me. He said the job is not done. And the point I make with these stories is that they see that they are doing something important. ","speaker_name":"JOEL HEFLEY","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2757,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090147493,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We fired the security forces so our people would have to do security. and we fired our own generals that disagreed with the administration. A former commander of U.S. Central Command. General Zinni. said: \"10 years worth of planning were thrown away. troop levels were dismissed out of hand. These were not tactical mistakes. these were strategic mistakes. mistakes of policy made back here.\" But what do we have here from our Republican friends? A resolution that is not bipartisan. We.could have had a resolution that all of us could have supported. We treasure our troops. I want us to succeed in Iraq. but what do we have: partisan. political drivel. Democrats had no input. Democrats were not allowed a substitute. ","speaker_name":"ELIOT ENGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2562,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090147498,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this resolution that we are debating. I would like to focus on point four of the resolution that declares that the United States is committed to the completion of the mission to create a sovereign. free. secure. and united Iraq. I think it is helpful for us to look back at some milestones over the last year or so to help us understand how far we have actually come. We went there to take Saddam Hussein out of power. He is now in jail and on trial for his life. We got that done. In January of 2005 we held the first election for a transitional government. That got done. Their job was to write a Constitution. ","speaker_name":"K. CONAWAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2577,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090147506,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Children in Iraq are returning to school and Iraqi businesses are prospering. Iraq has had several successful elections and has formed their government under a new prime minister. There is undeniable progress and hope in Iraq every day. Mr. Speaker. I close with a story about a constituent. Sergeant Dale Beatty of Statesville. North Carolina. Sergeant Beatty was severely injured while fighting. the .global war on terror apd lost both legs. Yet Sergeant Beatty is not angry. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2653,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090147511,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Iraq cant borrow. they have too many debts already. Now. the wellknown debts to Europe and Russia have been 80 percent forgiven. The secret debts. the ones that are never talked about. are the enormous debts claimed by Saudi Arabia. Kuwait. and other Gulf States detailed on this chart. totaling over $64 billion. Now. much of the European money that was lent to Iraq was used for roads and oil wells. things of continuing value to the Iraqi people. But what did Saudi Arabia and Kuwait lend Saddam money for? To finance his war of aggression and death against Iran. So why does the State Department not have the courage to stand by the new Iraqi government in its declaration that these debts are odious. null and void. and need to be wiped off the balance sheet? The question before us is whether the blood of Americans will be shed in order to pay the debts Saddam Hussein incurred.","speaker_name":"BRAD SHERMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":27.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1812,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090147517,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it is sad that the greatest deliberative body of the worlds democracies cannot provide an opportunity to give voice to the concerns that are shared by Americans Instead. we are given a White House press release against terror and for staying the course. That is not a plan. It is a bumper sticker. Our troops won the war against Saddam Hussein over a thousand days ago. and they have been paying the price ever since their victory because they were not properly. managed. staffed. trained. or equipped. Of course. nobody is in favor of an arbitrary cutoff. On my- Web site I detailed an approach that I think ought to be taken to focus our priorities and stop shortchanging. for instance. our battle in Afghanistan. slowly spinning outside of control. But it is sad that the Republicans can only think of two choices: stay the course. cut and run. If the White House and the Republican leadership believed in democracy in America as much as they say they do in Iraq. we would be debating the esolution of Mr. MURTHAS. for example. here. ","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1470,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090147526,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They say they want to terrorize so that people cannot be free. to compel you to do what you do not want to do. We say. liberty is a gift of God. And so it should be no surprise. just as we have found ourselves in the War of Independence and the wars against Hitler and -the other wars of our history. that we are arrayed against people who have no respect for the formula that has made America so great. And just as in the past. there is a cost. You know. my own son just came back from Fallujah. They say that the cost of freedom is not free. And the parents all across our country. just as my wife and I did. would look at the local paper in the morning. We would say. oh. three marines killed in Fallujah. I wonder if my son is one of them. No. freedom is not free. ","speaker_name":"W. AKIN","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2725,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090147557,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let us face it. they did not volunteer to knock off Saddam Hussein. They volunteered because they were looking for a better way of life. the same way I did when I volunteered in 1948. and you can see where they come from. It does not take away from their patriotism. but they did not take a polisci course in terms of how do you bring peace in the Middle East. I mean. they were not there looking for Saddam Hussein. They were looking for a better opportunity. which I guess they received. They come from our inner cities. They come from our rural areas. They come from the areas of high unemployment. But when they get in the military. they are patriots who do not challenge the policies of a President or Commander in Chief. So they are not advocates. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES RANGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2896,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090147570,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If you harbor terrorists. you are a terrorist. And he carried that out. And as we began to get mobilized to go to Afghanistan. there were those on the other side of the political equation that said you cant go in there and successfully invade and occupy a nation like that. that has never happened in the history of the world. The terrain is too difficult. the fighters are too tenacious. and it is a fools errand to go into Afghanistan and think you can succeed in there militarily. But in fact that is what happened. They said it would be another Vietnam. but it wasnt another Vietnam. The Afghani people voted on that soil for the first time in the history of the world. and American troops were there to see to it that they were able to do that. They have chosen their own leaders and directed their own national destiny. 25 million people. And the advisers that put that together. both civilian and military. were the same advisers that advised President Bush on Iraq. The similarities are almost identical: Difficult country. 25 million people. you cant go there and succeed. ","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3363,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090147571,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 10 seconds to correct some disinformation that the previous speaker put out. It should be noted that this Chamber was near united on going into Afghanistan. Moreover. we believed strongly that is where we should have been. So it wasnt anywhere close to what he explained. Mr. Speaker. I yield 32 minutes to my friend from Tennessee . who served 4 years active duty in the U.S. Navy and retired as a full bird colonel after 26 years with the Tennessee National Guard.","speaker_name":"MIKE THOMPSON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":494,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090147577,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Continued progress on this complex issue requires a sustained commitment from Congress. By stopping the flow of terrorist money. we can diminish the ability of terrorists to attack our citizens and our country. Fighting ter.ror finance must remain a critical component of the War on Terror.","speaker_name":"SUE KELLY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3726,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090147587,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Some have lost their arms. their legs. and their sight in this unnecessary conflict. Mr. Speaker. war is messy. War is bloody. It tends not only to hide the truth. but to sacrifice the truth. While we may have won some military victories. those do not erase the mistake of a preemptive war. They will not silence the questions that are troubling the minds of theAmerican people. They know today that Iraq did not pose an immediate threat. There were no weapons of mass destruction. and they see that we are deeply involved in a misguided conflict. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JOHN LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1431,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090147612,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Iraqi Shiias. Sunnis. and Kurds cannot agree how to divide up Iraq now that we got rid of Saddam. Well. it is 3 years later. All of this American loss of life. President Bush says stay the course. and in fact. it will not be President Bush who gets rid of this war. It will be the next President. Well. you know what? Americans do not want this war without end. Deploy most of our troops back to America within 6 months. Redeploy a significant number in friendly countries around the horizon in case other countries want to meddle. War without end is not the American way. ","speaker_name":"STEVEN ROTHMAN","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2430,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090147616,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And. finally. we need to hear that there is a plan for filling the void left behind when our troops depart. to mobilize rescurces within the international community. to ensure that Iraqs neighbors do not interfere in internal Iraqi affairs. and to support the ongoing development of the Iraqi Government and security forces. These are the elements of a responsible exit strategy. This is the type of leadership hat the President owes our troops and the American people.","speaker_name":"DAVID PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2623,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090147632,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am very proud of the accomplishments of U.S. and Iraqi forces and it truly is a shame that all of the news tends to be negative towards the activities of the soldiers. both American and Iraqi who are working very hard every day to make this country safe.\" I am very pleased and honored this summer to have an intern. Mike Wright. who is a soldier in the 82nd Airborne. When he arrived in Afghanistan in July 2002. the people had nothing: no schools. no healthcare. no paved roads. But in 7 months his unit helped build the first school and health clinic. When his unit came back to Afghanistan in late 2004. it was a different place. New facilities. factories. more electricity. and miles of paved roads. When arriving in the village. he tells me his unit would be greeted by small children. smiling youngsters throwing colorful plastic flowers at them. These examples are among many that illustrate real progress. laying a foundation for future peace. shaping the world where the terrorist message will fall ondeaf ears. Mike told me this also. \"The Afghani war veterans. the oldtimers have asked him. why did you. abandon us when the Soviets left?\" Today their biggest fear is that we will leave before the mission is done and allow the Taliban or other tyrants to take over. ","speaker_name":"DONALD SHERWOOD","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2044,"word_count":226}
{"speech_id":1090147671,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As I thought about what I wanted to say on the floor today. I went back to the remarks that I spoke on this floor on October 9. 2002. when this House was voting on the authorization for the use of military force against Iraq. At that time I certainly couldnt anticipate what the conditions would be now in June of 2006. However. I said at the time. \"When we engage as a nation in a unilateral military action against an Arab Nation. an action that our allies are cautioning against. how will the United States be viewed in the Arab world? Perhaps the result will be an increase in Al Qaeda s membership and a renewed hatred toward Americans.\" I think that this has come true and that our image as a nation has certainly been tarnished as a result of this conflict. I regret thatbecause I know that we live in a nation that does not want to be seen as an enemy by those who live in Arab nations. What has also come true is that Al Qaeda continues to flourish and to find- new recruits as a direct result of our nations actions in Iraq. Although Al Qaeda had at most a negligible presence in Iraq before this conflict. it is now a well established force there. For every terrorist that our nation works so hard to capture. another one is motivated to join out of hate for our nations involvement in Iraq. ","speaker_name":"JOSE SERRANO","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8082,"word_count":247}
{"speech_id":1090147673,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to recognize the brave men and women of our Armed Forces for their service and dedication to winning the Global War on Terror. On September 11. 2001 a group of 19 hijackers commandeered 4 commercial aircraft and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington. D.C.. with the intent on destroying our economy and way of life. Over 3.052 innocent men. women. and children lost their lives in this unprecedented attack. Sadly. the events that transpired on September 11th were the result of years of training and preparation by an enemy that does not value human life. liberty. equality. or religious freedom. Our great Nation lost .473 American lives both civilian and military to the hands of terrorist from 1983 to 2001 for a total of 3.525 victims. With each passing decade our enemies have become more sophisticated and desperate to accomplish their aims of a global jihad. Individuals such as. ","speaker_name":"JON PORTER","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3736,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090147678,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we are on the floor today debating a most serious issue. However. rather than truly addressing solutions. the resolution before us is filled with platitudes which seek to vindicate the ill advised policies of the Presidents war on Iraq. Rather than allowing a meaningful and constructive debate on Iraq. the Republican Leadership decided not to allow any amendments to their resolution. It is a travesty that the elected representatives of the American people are prevented today from offering policy alternatives that might actually affect the shape of U.S. policy in Iraq. This debate had the potential to mark a turning point to the current vacuum of congressional oversight over the Bush Administration as it pursues its misguided and incompetently planned war in Iraq. Rather than offering real solutions. the Republican Majority .in Congress has decided to rubber stamp the Presidents campaign in Iraq. The American people know what has happened. and demand more than just a rubber stamp from their representatives in Congress. Just as in the case of Vietnam. they see a White House which misled our country into war. Using shoddy evidence and insinuations about the connections between Iraq and al Qaeda. the Bush Administration took our country to war to face the \"imminent threat\" of an Iraq with nuclear weapons. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL HONDA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3577,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090147690,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I hope someone will shine the light on this body. I hope we will rise with courage to say that there must be a new direction. I hope we will discard this senseless resolution that simply wants to make partisan or make a partisan battle about who supports the troops and who does not. We cannot stay the course. Richard Nixon knew that we could not stay the course in Vietnam. and he changed the course of direction. It is not antipatriotic to be able to stand up against the wind of the majority. to -be able to say that the dissenting Americans need to be heard. and if we are heard. it will be for the betterment of this Nation and the betterment of this world. Then we can begin to fight the global war on terror. Then we can be more successful. Then we can form the coalition that we need to weed out the terrorists and to truly create for our children a better world. I hope tomorrow we will shed the light on this place and change direction in the Iraq War.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5429,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090147696,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"During next weeks meetings. the European Union must demand answers from the Turkish government as to why the natipn is not meeting benchmarks it agreed to in order to receive EU consideration. The EU must also begin to seriously explore Turkeys continued disregard for improving fundamental freedoms within its boundaries. freedoms that are commonplace throughout the European Union. There is no question Turkey is going to be forced and should be forced to make dramatic improvements in these areas before it can ever be considered for EU membership. The EU must also consider Turkeys relations with its neighbors. I remain a vocal critic of Turkeys treatment of both Armenia and Cyprus. and believe that these issues must also be addressed during next weeks discussions. Mr. Speaker. I am deeply concerned about Turkeys lack of progress in the diplomatic recognition of Armenia. the removal of its blockade against Armenia. and ending its official policy of denial of the Armenian genocide by coming to terms with it. an irrefutable historical fact affirmed by an increasing number of EU member states and European institutions. Turkeys refusal to acknowledge the systematic killing of 1.5 million Armenians has no limits. Just last month. ","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4194,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090147703,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I come before you tonight after listening to the presentations that have been taking place all day. not only as a Member of this body but as. a parent who has lost a child. My son. B.J.. who passed away a little more than 6 years ago. would have turned 24 tomorrow. Every time I learn about loss of life in Iraq. another son or daughter. mother or father. brother or sister. I cant help but think about my son B.J. and the profound pain and loss that will remain with us for the rest of our lives. That intense pain that we feel over the loss of B.J. is being felt every day by those families here in America who have suffered a loss in Iraq. and that is one of the reasons why I oppose this war and one of the reasons why I plan to oppose this resolution. But one of the other reasons I oppose this resolution deals with honesty and truth. Boake Carter is credited with saying that \"in time of war. the first casualty is truth.\" Mr. ","speaker_name":"BART STUPAK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8757,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090147725,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Thank you. I am almost done for this part. and I would encourage the gentleman to stand up so we could have a little bit of a dialogue about this. But when I read what he read in the resolution. declares that it is not in the national security interest of the United States to set an arbitrary date for the withdrawal or redeployment of United States Armed Forces from Iraq. I think it is a very clear statement. If people think it is in the national interest to have an arbitrary date. they can vote \"no\" against this resolution and hold their head up high. If like you. Mr. GOHMERT. and I feel that it would be an absolute huge mistake. and. in fact. I am not aware of any war that has been won by setting arbitrary dates. then we would want this statement to stand and we would support it. This declares that the United States is committed to the completion of the mission to create a sovereign. free. secure. and united Iraq. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SHAYS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1297,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090147731,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"What is important in your dialogue is the terrorists. And there was this argument: Well. the terrorists are not in Iraq. I am not going to argue whether they were there before we went in. but no one can argue that they are not there now. In fact. the prince of the terrorists. al Zarqawi. was killed. He was killed operating and doing his handiwork in Iraq.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SHAYS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":357,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090147777,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is unbelievable what is happening with respect to these reservations and health care. and yet somehow there is no urgency here. Senator MCCAIN and I are asking for a little cooperation from the administration and some cooperation here in the Senate to move this bill. We had a witness just the other day at a hearing about methamphetamine on reservations. Methamphetamine is a scourge all across this country. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent for 2 additional minutes.","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1319,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090147801,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Thank God there are some whistleblowers who are willing to come forward. What we need now. of course. is the opportunity to legislate and see. if we cant stop this. I will not go much longer. although I dont see anyone preparing to offer another amendment yet. I do want to make a couple of points I made the other day on the broader amendment that was turned down by the Senate. That amendment dealt with contracting as well. but it was a much broader amendment than this. I made the point tien. and this actually had to do with Bunnatine Greenhouse. I know there are some who do not want to hear about this anymore. But I dont think we have any choice. This was the top civilian contracting official at the Corps of Engineers. She was the one responsible for overseeing the contracts. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8250,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090147806,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I was the ranking member of the Armed Services Committeethere would be times when he would say. \"John. I simply have to take off a week. I have this special committee.\" He was then on the committee on which you served. I think. throughout your tenure in the Senate. now called Homeland Security. it used to be called Government Operations. And the Senate as a body some time ago decided to take the roots of the Truman Commission. which. indeed. was a successful operation. and repose it. place it into the Government Operations Committee. now the Homeland Security Committee.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1392,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090147839,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I have an amendment related to the rendition of prisoners which I would like to say a word about before we adjourn today. There may be an indication that there are still a few more amendments to be forthcoming. I will bring my amendment to your attention today. and I hope all Members will do the same so that you can plot the schedule for the upcoming week.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":373,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090147840,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we believe there are a number of amendments which will need debate. It would be useful for all Senators on either Monday -or Tuesday morning. if they could. to let us know what amendments they are planning on offering so we could get an estimateI know you would agree as the floor manageras to how many amendments are out there.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":343,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090147865,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I should have known better. In my first Iowa poll in June of 1995. pollster Whit Ayres said. \"Governor. this is the professional challenge of my career. The poll says. Dole 54. Alexander 3. margin of error 4 percentage points.\" The end result in the caucuses 6 months later .was a good deal closer. but Bob Dole won because he had earned for himself the unofficial title of \"President of Iowa.\" Iowans liked his spare talk. his good humor. his war record. and his middleAmerica brand of politics. So did and does the rest of America. Not everyone comes out of a Presidential race more admired than when he or she went in. But Bob Dole did. He ran three times. the last time securing the Republican nomination. ","speaker_name":"LAMAR ALEXANDER","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1705,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090147866,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"President Nixon asked him to be the Chairman of the Republican National Committee. a post he held for 2 years. Then in 1976. President Ford selected Bob Dole as his running mate for the Republican nomination. Recognizing his leadership. Bob Dole rose to the pinnacle of our leadership here in the U.S. Senate as the Majority Leader. He was a tireless worker and effective champion of conservative principles. a strong foreign policy and personal freedom and responsibility. One decade ago.. Senator Dole resigned his post to devote himself fully to his 1996 presidential campaign. As my partys nominee he crossed the country running on a platform of lower taxation and smaller. more accountable government. ","speaker_name":"MEL MARTINEZ","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2664,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090147867,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"While we all regretted to see him go. we are grateful for the legacy he left behind. and I hope we can carry it forward for generations to come. He was a giant during his time in this institution. and when the history of the Senate is written. I am confident that he will be fondly remembered as one of our great leaders.","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2205,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090147869,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I take this opportunity to congratulate my friend. the distinguished Senator from West Virginia. who has achieved the distinction of being the longest serving Senator in the history of the Senate. Even though this is definitely a noteworthy achievement. what has set Senator BYRD apart from all others who have served as Senators is the dedication he has shown to the duties of his office. his respect for the traditions of the Senate. and his leadership of this body during his service in the Senate. As President pro tempore. majority leader. and chairman of the Appropriations Committee. he has succeeded in protecting and enforcing the rules of the Senate. first written by Thomas Jefferson during his service as Vice President and the Presiding Officer of the Senate. and he used his leadership skills to successfully lead the Senate in changing the rules when a consensus for modernizing the rules permitted. His insights into the needs of his constituents and his devotion to their wellbeing have been admirable. Perhaps his greatest contribution to our understanding of the Senate was his authorship of the \"Addresses on the History of the United States Senate.\" the most comprehensive account of the role the Senate has played over the years. I commend the Senator from West Virginia for his illustrious and recordbreaking career in the Senate. and I wish for him many more years of service in this body.","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1428,"word_count":236}
{"speech_id":1090147870,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And he is our wise senior. not because of the records but because he is a man of his conviction. He has told the truth on every issue that confronts our country. He is our rock of integrity. When I was elected at age 29. and 6 weeks later. before I was sworn in. my wife and daughter were killed in a terrible car accident. Senator BYRD came to the funeral home. He waited in a long line to pay his respects. It was an act of kindness that I have never forgotten. I know how bittersweet this honor is for. him. as his lifemate. Erma. would have been 89 years old this week. We all admire the love and devotion the two of them had -for each other. in health and in sickness. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2734,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090147873,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Here in the Senate. no one has shown a greater understanding of the history and meaning of the U.S. Constitution and the role it plays in shaping our values and our way of life as Americans. We both have a habit of carrying a copy in our pocket to remind us of our job here in the Senate and our responsibility as Senators to adhere to the provisions of the Constitution and all it says and requires us to do. Whenever I think of Senator BYRD. the first thing that comes to mind is his incredible knowledge and understanding of world history and the American experience. He also has a profound and substantive mastery of the legacy of the written word. Whenever he takes to the floor to present his views on an issue he always has a ready reference to the precedents of the past. or the words of some great author who had written something appropriate to the moment. Now. Senator BYRD. the great student of the history of our Nation and so much more. is himself a part of the great story of America and the traditions of the Senate. Every day he joins us here to deliberate on the issues before the Senate. he writes another chapter of his own lifes story. a story that will be forever told and retold back in his home State. in the mountains and valleys of West Virginia. by the people who live there who will forever remember him and his legacy as their Senatora legacy that will never be forgotten.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4516,"word_count":261}
{"speech_id":1090147880,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This award is given to the departments that help reduce the number of fire related deaths each year. In 2004. St. Albans did not have any structural fire deaths. The Department was also able to improve their Insurance Safety Office rating from a Class 4 to a Class 3. The better rating will help not only the fire department. but the people they serve as well. by lowering their insurance premiums. This achievement shows the true dedication of the St. Albans Fire Department. Congratulations on such an amazing accomplishment. and let the next 100 years be as strong as the first.*","speaker_name":"JOHN ROCKEFELLER","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1912,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090147897,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. for the information of all Senators. the first vote of the week will occur on Monday afternoon at 5:00. The vote is on a U.S. circuit judge nomination previously scheduled for 5:30. We have moved that up 30 minutes to 5 oclock. We will extend the length of that vote slightly to allow for Members arrival based on the previously ordered time. Next week. we will continue to work through the amendments to the Defense authorization bill. Votes will be scheduled each day.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":485,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090147902,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And as we fight the global war on terror. we need to fight the street terrorists in America. Repeat rapists are never cured. We cannot say they are misunderstood or need therapy or counseling. because some are just evil. and if we do not lock them up indefinitely. then it seems that outlaws like Inman are wasting good air breathing. And thats just the way it is.","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1117,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090147916,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as a member of the Armed Services Committee. through the years I have had the opportunity to visit and watch those in uniform as they trained. as they sailed aboard ship. I have visited with them in difficult places through the years. most recently in Iraq and Afghanistan. I.must tell you how immensely proud I am of those young men and young women who wear the uniform of the United States. We asked for a debate on the issue of Iraq. We were led to believe that we would be debating and discussing at length the issue of Iraq. Then the resolution was put forward for us. which we are discussing today. which is a shotgun blast all across the Middle East and its problems and terrorism. and a footnote is Iran. So we should be discussing the future of our young people as they proceed in Iraq. not everywhere else. because the issue we thought was before us was that. I must tell you that I take a back seat to no one in providing for the troops. the young people in uniform and their families. because their families are so very. very important. Having members of my family in uniform. ","speaker_name":"IKE SKELTON","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2688,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090147920,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. just over 3 years ago the world watched as a treacherous tyrant disregarded United Nations resolutions and burrowed into the bunkers of Baghdad. Within a short period of time. coalition forces dismantled Saddam Husseins regime. which was built on fear. murders. assassinations. torture and lies. And today this despotic dictator stands on trial before the Iraqi people in a courtroom that is a stones throw from his prison cell. While insurgents and terrorists continue their attempts to dismantle the progress that the Iraqi people have made. our resolution to see a free Iraq must remain as strong as ever. Iraqis have also demonstrated their commitment to rebuilding their nation from the ashes of tyranny by their overwhelming participation in three democratic elections. On the eve of completion of Iraqs democratically elected government. coalition forces and Iraqi police tracked down and killed the man Osama bin Laden referred to as the prince of al Qaeda in Iraq. Abu Musab al Zarqawi. Zarqawi led one of the bloodiest insurgent groups in Iraq in a bloody campaign of shootings. bombings beheadings and kidnappings aimed at derailing democracy in Iraq. America is the worlds leader in laying the foundations for freedom and future peace. ","speaker_name":"BOB GOODLATTE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2682,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090147922,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This success stands in sharp contrast to the administrations continued failure to find Osama bin Laden. We should immediately .double the bounty on bin Laden and continue to increase it at regular intervals until the terrorist mastermind is defeated. Finally. Mr. Speaker. I regret the partisan manner in which this resolution has been brought to this floor. which my North Carolina colleague Republican Congressman WALTER JONES has rightly termed \"a charade.\" From the very beginning. the Bush White House and Republican congressional leadership have exploited the Iraq war for partisan gain. I believe the blood of our soldiers should be off limits for political gamesmanship. and with more than 20.000 American soldiers killed or wounded in Iraq. the American people deserve better than petty politics on this issue. I will vote for this resolution because I support our troops. but we can do so much better.","speaker_name":"BOB ETHERIDGE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4450,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090147924,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"fornia. Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 15 seconds just to say I do not dispute the figure given by the gentleman from Pennsylvania. I dispute his logic. I question the causeandeffect relationship. Our presence has not created terrorists. Terrorists were around much before that. In the instance he cited with previous Presidents. yes. they did react. but obviously the totality of their reaction did not stop terrorism. We have a different plan. a different approach. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL LUNGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":633,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090147954,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Thats why this resolution is not in Americas interest. Defeat this resolution. Changing the course. having a definable objective in Iraq is in Americas interest.","speaker_name":"JAMES MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1777,"word_count":25}
{"speech_id":1090147961,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The closest to us is China with 6 million barrels of oil a day. The whole free world wants stability in the Middle East. It is how we get it. What I am saying is there is more instability in Iraq because of us. because of our troops. They have become occupiers. This is the thing that worries me. That is why I think we have to change direction. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JOHN MURTHA","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":760,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090147964,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. there is no greater obligation we have to the people of this Nation than to protect their freedom and their safety. We owe it to the public to pursue those who seek to destroy our way of life. Democrat wartime President Franklin Roosevelt understood this when he said. \"When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike. you do not wait until he has struck before you crush him.\" Policies of appeasement did not work against Nazi Germany. They did not work against the Soviet Union. and they will most certainly not work against terrorists right now plotting violence and bloodshed against our citizens. Our actions taken in Iraq and Afghanistan are aimed unequivocally at crushing global terrorism. We must complete our mission.","speaker_name":"BARBARA CUBIN","chamber":"H","state":"WY","gender":"F","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":736,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090147979,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Since U.S. forces are in the fourth year of a war that was intended to last only months and the concept of a U.S. victory over all the various factions of murderers. criminals and armed insurgents is delusional. one can only surmise that U.S. troops will be in Iraq when the Bush administration leaves office in January 2009. For this reason. Congress needs to dictate a clear position that will allow for the redeployment of U.S. troops within the region to defend U.S. interests and refocus our attention to the war on terrorism. This will allow for a restoration of Iraqi sovereignty and the opportunity for Iraqis to determine their own future. The Bush administrations mismanagement of its Iraq policy from a military and geopolitical perspective is only exacerbated by the tremendous investment of U.S. tax dollars that have yielded such unremarkable results. To date. more than $320 billion has been borrowed and spent in Iraq. Every single dollar has been added to our Nations national debt with the burden for the financial cost of this war on the backs of all of our children and the grandchildren. including those of the very soldiers who are now fighting and sacrificing in Iraq. Image. this Congress and White House have looked the other way as almost $9 billion has simply disappeared into a system in which corruption is endemic and financial mismanagement the norm. Every American should feel betrayed by this Congress and its disregard for oversight and accountability with regard to the hardearned tax dollars of U.S. citizens. As Americans fight and die in Iraq and Americans pay hundreds of billions of dollars for this war. it is remarkable to hear the words of Iraqs Prime Minister alMaliki. ","speaker_name":"BETTY MCCOLLUM","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"F","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10446,"word_count":288}
{"speech_id":1090147981,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. by greater oversight. more thoughtful questioning of the decisions that are made at the Pentagon and in the field. and more openness in considering new directions and new strategies. even if it risks conceding that some of the actions this Administration has taken have been wrong. The Resolution we are addressing today. Mr. Chairman. allows for no such questioning and it only assumes that we are all committed to a strategy that has put us in a position from which no one can say how long it will be... a year. two years. five years . . . before our mission is accomplished and our troops can return home. .. It is not irresponsible for us to suggest that other members of our coalition in Iraq should be assuming a greater share of the burden. It is not irresponsible for us to suggest that we should be scaling back our role. accelerating the training of the Iraqi forces and encouraging the new Iraqi leaders to understand that they need to take charge of their own government. their own security and their own economy. We are helping. and should continue to help. restore the power grids. the water supplies and the oil production facilities so the Iraqi people will see signs of progress that thus far have disappointed them. We must continue to encourage the new Iraqi Prime Minister alMaliki and his government in its campaign for national reconciliation and in its effort to disarm the militias. reduce the sectarian violenceand bring social and economic stability to the nation. I remain hopeful about the future of a Democratic Iraq. but as we work with the new government to accomplish these objectives. ","speaker_name":"NORMAN DICKS","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8034,"word_count":282}
{"speech_id":1090147984,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think it is a little less than that. but it is estimated at 1.500. Now. think. We have got 130.000 troops. They supposedly have 265.000. police and army trained. They have more confidence in their army than they have in the United States forces. yet there are only 1.000 foreign fighters. We have sectarian violence which is. in my estimation. a civil warand we are caught in between. Our troops have become the targets in a civil war. All of us want this thing to be resolved. This is absolutely essential to stability in the free world because of the energy that comes from the Middle East. But how we do it is what we disagree with. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MURTHA","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6158,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090147986,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Someone should tell that to.al Qaeda. Letsbe clear here. Those who say this is a war of choice are nothing more than wrong. This is a war of necessity that we must fight. But you dont have to believe me. Just listen to al Qaedas own leader. their number two leader. Ayman al Zawahiri knows how important the future of Iraq is to his cause. In a 6.000word letter to al Qaedas then commiander in Iraq. the recently eliminated Zarqawi..he made clear that the terrorists view Iraq as a central battlefield in the global war on terror. For some reason. this brazen declaration from one of our nemesis about Iraqs importance hasnt registered with many opponents of the war who insist on conceding_ defeat and withdrawing. If the terrorists tell us directly they see Iraq as a central front on their violent ambitions across the globe.. should we dismiss it? Should we dismiss their claims and simply wait for them to attack America? Operation Iraqi Freedom was hardly a war of choice. ","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9138,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090148002,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would like to associate myself with the comments of the ranking member of the Committee on Armed Services. Mr. IKE SKELTON. Had I not been called away to perform a funeral. I. like him. would have voted against this resolution. or. may have even walked out to protest this mockery in the Peoples House.","speaker_name":"EMANUEL CLEAVER","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":317,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090148009,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Just last year. Congress called for 2006 to be a year of transition in Iraq that would allow U.S. forces to begin to redeploy. But wereinto the middle of June. and we are actually adding troops. A real debate would begin by recognizing that Iraq is a distinct issue. ouly part of the .\"global war on terror\" insofar as the security vacuum in Iraq has attracted terrorists. But as the gentleman from Missouri. Mr. SKELTON. has saidIraq is a separate conflict. an insurgency with terrorist elements and sectarian violence. A real debate would have been honest about how continuous deployment in Iraq hurts our military personnel and their families. strains recruiting and retention. and damages readiness. A real debate would have looked at the human cost. We are losing one battalion every month of killed or wounded soldiers. ","speaker_name":"MARK UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7215,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090148016,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Some will argue funds are unaccounted for. while the Defense that opposition to an indefinite U.S. military Contract Audit Agency has deemed that $1.47 presence in Iraq means support for imme- billion spent by the Halliburton Corporation diately abandoning Iraq. This is completely was excessive or insufficiently documented. false. I favor leaving military commanders with Oil production is at 2.2 million barrels per authority for the military redeployment and day--down from 2.6 million barrels per day troop drawdown. I do not favor near term prior to the war. deadlines imposed by Congress as the way to The resolution we are debating also says accomplish this result. \". . . the terrorists have declared Iraq to be I strongly support our troops and their fami- the central front in their war against all who lies. I support giving them the resources they oppose their ideology.\" This is true only beneed to do their job. and the benefits they de- cause we gave them the opportunity to do so. serve. Iraq clearly was not the central front before I support winning the Global War on Terror. the U.S. invasionanother unfortunate outFor these reasons. I cannot support this res- come of poor planning. olution. It is too openended. too blind to the I continue to believe that part of our decireality of the difficulties we are facing. and too sion making process conceming how to move simplistic a resolution for the complex situation forward in Iraq must include an analysis of in which we find ourselves. how we g re. It inot en taythat","speaker_name":"EARL POMEROY","chamber":"H","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4222,"word_count":261}
{"speech_id":1090148017,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"ThenDeputy Sec- Mr. CANTOR. Mr. Speaker. the members of retary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz testified be- this House have had a lengthy and passionate fore a Senate Committee and predicted that debate today. When these hours of debate are the monetary cost of the war to the United over. I think the American people need a clear States would not exceed $2 billion. Including understanding of what the Democrats propose money to be appropriated this year. we are to do. approaching $400 billion. and continue to Lets look at the Democrats blueprint. the spend $8.1 billion every month in Iraq. Murtha Plan. Wolfowitz also said Iraq had no history of eth- The Murtha Plan proposes to have our nic strife. forces \"redeployed at the earliest practicable It is important to remember that the Bush date\" with no details about what that means. administration assertions were not conven- Meanwhile. the Iraqi leadership only days ago tional wisdom at the time. Both thenArmy requested for our forces to continue their sideChief of Staff. ","speaker_name":"JERRY COSTELLO","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6331,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090148019,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Res. 861.. I cannot vote in favor of it because it does not acknowledge the need for a new direction in Iraq. This resolution was offered without any opportunity for amendment. preventing the House of Representatives from holding a full and fair debate on the most importantmatter facing our nation today. Our troops. and all Americans. deserve a better and more responsible debate. While I will not support this resolution. I will always continue to stand by our troops and their families.","speaker_name":"LINDA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":39.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1554,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090148024,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Democrats were not allowed to offer our substitute or amend the Republican resolution. Further. I strenuously disagree with the language contained in the resolution. I want to strongly emphasize that the failed Republican policy in Iraq includes poor planninq that left troops without critical equipment. and provided no plan for success. The war in Iraq exemplifies gross mismanaqement. as evidenced by $9 billion that is either lost or stolen and cannot be accounted for. There has been no oversiqht of spending to date. The Republican controlled Congress has refused to oversee military conduct and the policy that contributed to the war. There has been a complete lack of accountability regarding this war. No investigating committee has ensured taxpayer dollars were legally and well spent. This administration is guilty of entering into nobid contracts. totaling $17 billion to Halliburton alone. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN KILPATRICK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5024,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090148025,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"You can guarantee theyll move on to other modes of communication. now that details of the terrorist surveillance program have been publicized. It also defies logic to suggest that the privacy of communications with known terrorists is constitutionally protected. Just like in every military conflict our Nation has fought. the interception of enemy communications has been a fundamental part of the war on terror. The day after Pearl Harbor. President Franklin Roosevelt authorized the interception of all communications into and out of the United States. That act was necessary and lawfulas is this more focused interception of al Qaeda communications. given the natureof the enemy we face. Future al Qaeda attacks on our homeland are likely to be conducted by operatives who are already here. Identifying and tracking them is a sizable challenge. and its preposterous to suggest that our intelligence professionals will cast such a wide net that they threaten the privacy of ordinary American citizens in doing this work. They dont want useless information that takes them off the trail of criminals and terrorists. they have neither the time nor the resources to waste. Theyre constantly working against the clock to counter terrorists and terrorist sympathizers who are preparing to attack when and where they can. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL OXLEY","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7013,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090148027,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise with respect to this resolution. H. Res. 861. Mr. Speaker. I pride myself on being unapologetically supportive of a robust military. I do believe that President Wilson was correct when he said the United States can help make theworld safe for democracy. I believe that we must stand decisively against totalitarianism in whatever form it takesand today. it takes the form of a twisted misinterpretation of Islam that is radical. extremist. and murderous. ","speaker_name":"STEVE ISRAEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5193,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090148039,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I will remind Members there are no votes next Friday.","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":694,"word_count":10}
{"speech_id":1090148063,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today. it adjourn to meet at 12:30 p.m. on Monday next for morning hour debate. and further. when the House adjourns on that day. it adjourn to meet at 9:30 a.m. on Tues- their mission accomplished. they are day. June 20. 2006. for morning hour de- still there. still fighting a guerrilla war bate. for which they werent properly trained","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":403,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090148093,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is why this debate had such insignificance because all of us believe in our troops. More importantly. we believe in the families and the wounded that have come home. But I stand here today. Mr. Speaker. as someone who has just returned from Iraq. been to Iraq three times and Afghanistan. been to the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan where we trulybelieve Osama bin Laden hides. Do we remember that name? Someone that we allegedly have been in pursuit of for a number of years. a pursuit that has been stymied by the intrusion of the Iraq war. Rather than the global war on terror. we have misdirected and misconstrued the truth. I am reminded of the somber presentation that Secretary Powell made before the United Nations. all the world was in awe. all the worlds eyes Were turned to America. America with the high moral compass. Yes. if America said it. it must be true. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4775,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090148120,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I want to thank Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ for coming down to the floor today. as you always do. and we continue to work on these issues that are facing Americans. Mr. Speaker. I think it is important that since we are all kind of draped up in the flag this week and talking about who is a patriot and who is not. and I will not stand judgment even on my Republican colleagues. many of whom that have cast dye on some of the Members of the Democratic aisle of saying who is with the troops or who is not with the troops. I just want to say that fact. not fiction. always prevails in history and also in the future. We want to make sure. in the Republican budget. that we point out the fact that there will be a copayment for veterans. There will be a copayment of some $250 for veterans because that is what is in the Republican budget package. That is a fact. Their prescrfption drug costs will go up. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10403,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090148229,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I fully support passage of S. 2012. your and Senator INOUYEs bill to reauthorize the MagnusonStevens Act. particularly in view of your commitment to make these changes to section 416 of the Coast Guard Conference Report. Senator INOUYE. are you in agreement with Senator STEVENS and me on these points?","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":302,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090148265,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my colleagues. I thank the chairman of the committee. Senator WARNER. Let me just make one additional point and then yield the remainder of the time to Senator KENNEDY to conclude the argument. The other point is I find the positions of many of the employers who have come in to see me and talk to me about this issue of minimum wage has changed very dramatically over the last year or two. For a long period of time. I found that the owners of hotels and restaurants and other businesses in my State would come to town each year and lobby me against an increase in the minimum wage. believing that increasing the minimum wage would make it more difficult for them to compete. The truth is. now the local communities such as the community of Santa Fe. the community of Albuquerque. and other local communities around the country have begun to change the minimum wage and to essentiallr take action where the Federal Government has failed to take action. ","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1906,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090148288,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my colleague for his cooperation on the procedure this afternoon. This is a very significant and important amendment. In due course we will have comments from our side with regard to the amendment. I am certain the distinguished ranking member and I will work out a timely schedule for you to bring it up again. take such time as you need for further debate. be followed by a debate on this side and then a vote. because it certainly is one that deserves the attention of the Senate. Mr. President. I see my distinguished ranking member here. We are in morning business. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":616,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090148297,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my colleague. I notice in this amendment. though. language quite similar to what we had last year in one provision on this amendment. At this time. unless the Senator from New Mexico desires to further address the Senate. I suggest the absence. of a quorum.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":280,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090148302,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am advised the distinguished majority leader will momentarily come to the floor for purposes of stating the proposal we have with regard to the matters Senator KENNEDY addressed earlier. Until such time occurs. I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":262,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090148376,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in the 2 minutes I have left. I would like to comment very briefly on a trip made by the Veterans Affairs Committee to oversee World War I and World War II cemeteries in the Netherlands and France. The chairman of the committee. the distinguished Senator from Idaho. Mr. CRAIG. organized the trip. with Senator BURR. .Senator ISAKSON. and myself. Let me say to you that it was inspirational to visit the cemeteriesI had never done that beforeto see so many marble crosses and marble stars of David. It was especially poignant for me because my father fought in World War I. He left Russia at the age of 18 in 1911 to escape the tyranny. The Czar wanted to send him to Siberia. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1738,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090148378,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"How about legislation requiring nutritious food in our schools? How about listening to the scientific and health community about the needless dangers of trans fats in our food? How about ending cuts in education that lead to the cancellation of physical education and health courses? Consideration of this corporate immunity legislation would be especially illtimed in light of the numerous pressing issues that face this Nation today. The Senates time would be better spent debating stem cell research. or the life saving technologies that would make Americans lives better. We should also be moving forward with comprehensive immigration reform. reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act. and addressing the horrific genocide in Darfur. This bill also yet to be subject to committee consideration. If the Ju* diciary Committee had considered this legislation. I am confident we would have amended the sweeping language of this blanket immunity bill. This legislation favors the interests of corporations over the health of our children and the health of their parents. This is not the fix that is needed. Let us direct our energies towards making American health care better by finding cures to diseases. making it easier for consumers to make informed choices. getting more Americans insured and investing in health care prevention.","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4397,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090148379,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As with all supporters of freedom and democracy in the. world. I rise today to extend birthday wishes to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. the Nobel Laureate who remains under house arrest in Burma. Much like her previous several birthdays. Suu Kyis birthday today almost certainly will not be a happy one. The \"gift\" given to Suu Kyi by the ruling State Peace and Development Council. SPDC. a few weeks ago was the news that it was again extending her detention. Under the autocratic rule of the SPDC. drug trafficking. disease and human rights violationsare rampant and pose growing problems to the region as a whole. The SPDC adheres to policies that seek only to consolidate its own power. and the ruined lives of the Burmese people are the result. Indeed. there is little reason for celebration in Burma today. The plight of Suu Kyi symbolizes the plight of her countrymen. ","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1315,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090148389,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I rise to recognize the 125th anniversary celebration of Miller. SD. Located in Hand County. the town of Miller was originally founded in 1881 by pioneer Henry Miller. Since its founding 125 years ago. the community of Miller has continued to serve as a strong example of South Dakota valuesand traditions. I offer my congratulations to Miller on this milestone accomplishment and wish them continued prosperity in the years to come.*","speaker_name":"JOHN THUNE","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":455,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090148394,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I recognize Brentford. SD. The town of Brentford will celebrate the 100th anniversary of its founding this year. Located in Spink County. Brentford wasthe last town established in the county and has outlasted many of its neighbors. The town of Brentford has the unique distinction of being the only sonamed town in the United States. I am confident that the Brentford community will continue to serve as an example of South Dakota .values and traditions for the next 100 years. I offer my congratulations. to Brentford on their anniversary. and I wish them continued prosperity in the years to come..","speaker_name":"JOHN THUNE","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":621,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090148425,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"With such antipathy for the process and the resolution. one would have expected the Democratic leadership to ask for a vote on the previous question on the rule so that they could. in fact. amend it. In fact. they didnt. Or they might have offered a specific official substitute resolution which I. on several occasions over a 2day period. said we would have considered making in order. But. Mr. Speaker. they did neither. In fact. as I said. for over 2 days. I asked the Democratic leadership for an alternative. I was told that nothing would be forthcoming. While individual Members such as Mr. ","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4836,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090148454,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Winn also served as a member of Canadian Interparliamentary Group and as a member of U.S.-European Interpartiamentary Group. He was the first congressional spokesman for Value Analysis Engineering and a strong supporter of Peace Corps and Agency for International Development. Winn received the Treasury Departments \"Bulldog Award\" for fiscal responsibility all 18 years. Winn was the original sponsor of the legislation for the Tallgrass Prairie National Park in Kansas and after his retirement. the bill was managed by Senator Nancy Landon Kassebaum and Representatives PAT ROBERTS and Dan Glickman. The bill was passed. and today the park is a reality. He also is a recipient of the Paul Harris Fellowship Award for Rotary International. After retirement from Congress. Winn was elected to the Board of Directors of Kansas City Life Insurance Company. He married Joan Elliott in 1942 and has five children. I urge my colleagues to join me in honoring Larry Winn and his 18 years of service to the Third Congressional District of Kansas by voting for H.R. 5504.","speaker_name":"TODD TIAHRT","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2585,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090148475,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The competitive spirit and characterbuilding camaraderie that sports provide are essential for teaching our children to follow their dreams while working with others to build lasting relationships. It is important that we all do our part to encourage our children to embrace the experience of teamwork. and for that reason. I urge all Members to come together to support H. Res. 826. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1125,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090148476,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. they serve a much more important role today when so many youth have become voyeurs of sports and not participants in sports. H. Res. 826 is sponsored by Representative MIKE MCINTYRE. Youth sporting leagues and activities. when combined with healthy parenting and responsible coaching. help children to grow emotionally. socially. and physically. Teamwork. discipline. and the value of hard work that goes with them are important lessons for children to learn. In addition. there are clear physical and health benefits for children who participate in youth sports. Mr. Speaker. obesity has become a major problem of young people in the United States. This week I am introducing a bill that would allow the FCC to regulate junk food advertising on TV which is so out of hand that physicians and other health care providers have focused in on this advertising in particular. I am pleased that before Representative JON PORTER. former chair of the HHS subcommittee. left. ","speaker_name":"ELEANOR NORTON","chamber":"H","state":"DC","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":3604,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090148488,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. on rolicall votes Nos. 289 and 290. I was unable to cast votes due to the delay of my Northwest Airlines flight as a result of a thunderstorm over National Airport. There were six of us House Members on this flight. I would have voted \"yea\" on the Sergeant Jacob Dan Dones Post Office Designation ActH.R. 5540. and also \"yea\" on the Larry Winn. Jr. Post Office Building Designation ActH.R. 5504.","speaker_name":"EARL POMEROY","chamber":"H","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":408,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090148494,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. on June 19. 2006. I was in Connecticut and. therefore. missed three recorded votes. I take my voting responsibility very seriously. Had I been present. I would have voted \"yea\" on recorded vote No. 289. \"yea\" on recorded vote No. 290 and \"yea\" on recorded vote No. 291.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SHAYS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":282,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090148495,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I was away earlier this evening and thus unable to cast a vote on a number of measures before the House. Had I been present. I would have voted in the following manner: rollcall 289 (on Passage of H.R. 5540)-\"yea\". rollcall 290 (on Passage of H.R. 5504)-\"yea\". and rollcall 291 (on Passage of H. Res. 826)-\"yea.\"","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":325,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090148499,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today. June 19. 2006. I was unavoidably detained in my district by flight delays caused by inclement weather. Mr. Speaker. had I been present for rollcall vote 289 on H.R. 5540. the Sgt. Jacob Dan Dones Post Office Designation. I would have voted \"yea\". had I been present for rolicall vote 290 on H.R. 5504. the Larry Winn. Jr. Post Office Designation. ","speaker_name":"EMANUEL CLEAVER","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":561,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090148501,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. on June 16 in Baghdad. Iraq. three soldiers who were at a checkpoint that they were manning came under enemy fire. All three soldiers were assigned to this checkpoint. Unfortunately. one soldier lost his life and two soldiers have been abducted. One of them happens to be from Texas. In the backdrop of the Iraq debate that we held last week. let me restate a plea that I have made on behalf of these soldiers and on behalf of the United States military. It is imperative that this sovereign government of Iraq clarify and make very clear that anyone who kidnaps or abducts an American soldier will be held liable. The prime minister needs to make a very pronounced statement about seeking information on the whereabouts of these soldiers. and then he must make it additionally clear that he will not hold to anyone receiving amnesty for killing an American soldier. It is time to transition both security and leadership to the Iraqi Government now.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":962,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090148515,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And need I remind the Secretary of Defense of the words of Winston Churchill. \"Never. never. never believe any war will be smooth and easy. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given. he is no longer the master of the policy. but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events.\" Or as Don Rumsfeld himself likes to say. \"Stuff happens. and its untidy.\" Perhaps it turned out untidy because from day 1 the administration had a cutandrun attitude towards the results of the war. Don Rumsfeld convinced the President to cut and run on the safety of our troops when it came to Kevlar vests and Humvees. Over objections of GEN Eric Shinseki and Secretary of State Colin Powell. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld produced a plan to invade a nation of 25 million with only 130someoddthousand troops. GEN Anthony Zinni. Commander of the U.S. forces in the Middle East. said. \"We are paying the price for the lack of credible planning or the lack ofa plan. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4697,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090148519,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. last week in his surprise visit to Baghdad. President Bush was full of happy talk. \"The progress here in Iraq has been remarkable when you really think about it.\" he said. But as usual. with this administration. there is a side of the story you dont hear until it leaks out. Over the weekend. the Washington Post reported on a memo under the name of U.S.. Ambassador of Iraq Zalmay Khalizad. which describes the treacherous living conditions faced by Iraqi nationals who work for the U.S. Embassy. The cable cites harassment from militia groups. hostility from security forces. the ones we have trained. sporadic utilities in 115degree heat. scarce and expensive fuel. women forced to cover their faces in public. kidnappings of family members. fear of recrimination if it is discovered that they are employed by the embassy and are thus aiding the occupation. Some of these men and women havent even told their families where they work. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2421,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090148540,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I dont think it is known well enough. called Energy Start. where you can buy more efficient appliances. Businesses can get credits. tax credits. for being more energyefficient. So as you pointed out. there are little starts here. but if we really want to get serious about this. we have to start talking about it. making it clear that everyone. every business. every family. and certainly our bigger businesses -can really start to participate in this in a way that will start to really make the kind of difference that will see us shifting to these new energy sources and reducing our reliance on foreign oil. 0l 1930","speaker_name":"ALLYSON SCHWARTZ","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3696,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090148547,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Kennedy got us to the moon. this energy policy wont get us to Cleveland. We believe we need a very significant rampup bothin Federal research and development. basic R&D. tax credits to manufacturers. to help them manufacture fuelefficient vehicles. tax credits to consumers to allow you to decide how to buy both a fuelefficient car and build a fuelefficient home. and use of the procurement policy. We havent talked about this tonight at all. but one of the great tools we have in our toolbox in energy policy is the Federal Government procurement power. The Federal Government is kind of the 800pound gorilla when it comes to buying things in this economy. The Federal Government needs to start buying fuelefficient cars. fuelefficient airconditioning units. and building green buildings. There is much more that we can do. We are taking little baby steps there. The Pentagon is looking at a fuelefficient battery. One of the competitors trying to develop this is in my district. It is called Neopower. ","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2660,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090148548,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It took a while for us to agree to do something about that. and some people said. oh. it is not really a problem. but it turns out it was a problem. and the fact is we could fix it. and we did. So I just want to reflect on that because people sometimes think this is just too big. I cant do it. you cant do it. how are we going to do it? But the fact is we can if we get serious about it. If we understand the different roles of the private and public sector. we can actually do something really dramatic about creating less expensive. mcire homebased energy.","speaker_name":"ALLYSON SCHWARTZ","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4455,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090148578,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What plan have you heard of from the other side of the aisle. from our good friends on the other side? Where is their economic plan? Where is their plan to fix it? What bills have they passed that reduce the deficit. that help Americans struggling to pay for gas. that help them pay for higher education? I mean. is it all you are on your own? It is all about you. and we are from the Government. and we are not here to help. We have a plan. We have a new direction for America which is laid out right there. I hear a lot of the Republicans on the other side of the aisle accusing us of not having a plan. We have got one. Where is theirs? Because if we keep going in this direction. we are headed for more deficit and more of our citizens twisting in the wind.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":761,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090148596,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Sure. What former .House Speaker. leader of the Republican revolution on this Republican Congress said. he cited a series of blunders. You referred to our Republican colleagues incompetence a minute ago. Mr. DELAHUNT. Well. former Speaker Gingrich \"cited a series of blunders under Republican rule from failures in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.\" which we have been talking about this evening. \"to mismanagement of the war in Iraq. He... said the government has squandered billions of dollars in Iraq.\" And our good friend Mr. TANNER. whom you just talked about. and the audit he wants to accomplish once we are in the majority. he analogized that legislation to a mechanic looking under the hood because that is really what is necessary here. I think I would want to make sure I had some Purell with me after we looked under the hood when the Republicans are put aside and maybe have a mask just so that I wouldnt become infected by some of the mismanagement and gross incompetence that has clearly occurred here under Republican rule. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1456,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090148598,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. when you look at what happened in the late 1990s with what the Republican committees were willing to investigate going on in the executive branch. what they were willing to investigate under President Clinton. they spent $40 million chasing him around. and now you are not even willing to provide some oversight for the war or Katrina or any of these other things? It is not a witch hunt. These guys are saying we are screwing up. let us fix it. I yield to my friend.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":500,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090148599,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The silence coming from the Congress is just overwhelming. There has not been a single committee in the House of Representatives that invited General Paul Eaton to come before it and testify. Talk about a rubber stamp. Well. now here is retired Marine Lieutenant General Gregory Newbold. He had these words to say in April: \"My sincere view is that the commitment of our forces to this fight was done with the casualness and swagger that are the special province of those who have never had to execute these missions or bury the results.\" Has there been a request from one single committee of this House to Marine Lieutenant General Newbold to come before us to listen to what he has to say about the incompetence of the civilian leadership of Secretary Rumsfeld? Not one invitation that I am aware of. And here is retired General John Batiste. again. speaking about the Secretary of Defense. This was reported in The Washington Post on April 13: \"We went to war with a flawed plan that didnt account for. the hard work to build the peace after we took down the regime. We also served under a Secretary of Defense who didnt understand leadership. who was abusive. who was arrogant. who didnt build a strong team.\" I know there are more posters. Now. what would have happened in the private sector? Is this a way to do business? Is this competence? I could go onand on and on.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1375,"word_count":246}
{"speech_id":1090148647,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I really have trouble figuring that out. Their excuses dont make sense. Their first excuse is that aides to the Prime Minister were misquoted. but we dont have any evidence of that. In fact. it is quite the contrary. The aide who first stated this stands by his story. They have asked him to step down. and he no longer has his position. But he was quoted. after having stepped down. as saying: The prime minister himself has said that he is ready to give amnesty to the socalled resistance. provided they have not been involved in killing Iraqis. That was the end of the quote. Of course. what it doesnt say. according to everything that they have said. is that it is OK to kill Americans but not Iraqis. We now have news atcountsnot confirmed by the Pentagon. at least to methat Kristian Menchaca. 23 years old. member of the U.S. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6035,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090148657,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. later this week as part of the debate on the Defense authorization bill. we will talk about.Iraq. That a timely issue. As of last week. there have been 2.500 soldiers lives lost in Iraq since the beginning of this conflict. What was promised to the American people to be a rather uncomplicated effort by America to rid Iraq of a dictator has turned out to be a war that has gone on for 3 years with no end in sight. This week the Senate will have a chance to say to the Iraqi people that as of the middle of next year. this becomes your responsibility. We will give you 12 months and more American lives and more American dollars and then. Iraq. you have to stand up and defend yourself. If you believe in the future of your Nation. it has to go beyond an election. go beyond political debate. It has to reach the point where Iraqi citizens are prepared to stand. defend. and die. if necessary. for their own country. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1080,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090148665,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it is amazing to me that less than a week after .the President returned from Iraq. having visited with the new Government leaders there. and having disclosed the death of the top alQaida leader Zarqawi. in Iraq. colleagues in the Senate would actually be proposing withdfawal from Iraq. The strategy there needs to be to win. not to withdraw. Withdrawal follows victory. If we think about the wars we have- gone intothink about World War II. for examplewould it have made any sense for the Congress of the United States to pass a resolution saying to Franklin Roosevelt: You set a deadline for getting out of Germany and for getting out of Japan or we are not going to continue to support this effort? It would have been ludicrous at the tame. More importantly. it sends a message to our troops. to our enemies. and to our allies. and to the people in Iraq that is devastating. Let me read a letter that was written by one of our soldiers stationed in Fallujah recently to his hometown newspaper in Ridgefield. CT. which expresses what I suspect is the view of many of our soldiers. Here is what he said: In Fallujah. the people watch AlJazeerah. However. they also watch CNN. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5810,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090148671,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that after Senator REED is recognizedthe chairman and I have talked about this--at that point. the Dorgan amendment be the matter before the Senate. I believe- that the Senator from Virginia and I have agreed that Senator DORGAN would be recognized for 10 minutes. to be followed then by the chairman for 5 minutes. and the intention then would be to proceed to a rollcall vote.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":417,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090148729,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the distinguished chairman and ranking member. As I was saying. the amendment I filed is designed to break the logjam of what is happening at the Department of Justice delaying whistleblower lawsuits brought under the False Claims Act. and they are not pursuing these cases aggressively. My amendment would require the Department of Justice to report on a semiannual basis on the status of its efforts to respond to whistleblower. lawsuits alleging corruption in Iraq. Afghanistan. and elsewhere. The Department would be required to report its findings to the Judiciary Committee. the Appropriations Committee. the Armed Services Committee. the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. and the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. I believe this is an important. first* step that would allow Congress to evaluate the Department of Justice efforts so we can decide what further steps are needed to ensure these cases are vigorously prosecuted. I am pleased that Senators GRASS-","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1012,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090148730,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Kellogg. Brown. & Root. Yet the Department of Justice has allowed only one of those suits to go forward in the courts. and that lawsuit resulted in a major recovery of fraudulently collected payments. Given the massive amount of missing money. you would think that more than just one lawsuit has been filed against corporate contractors. To be sure. there are many more legitimate cases out there. Since 2003.. the Special Inspector General for Iraqi Reconstruction. the U.S. Army Audit Agency. and. the Defense Contract Audit Agency have all uncovered contracting abuses related to the conflict in Iraq. Auditors of the Defense Contract Audit Agency have found that Halliburton has charged $1.4 billion in questionable and undocumented costs on just two contracts. The auditors found $813 million in questioned costs under Halliburtons Logistic Civil Augmentation Program contract to provide support services to the troops. So here are two. right here: $813 million in \"questioned costs\" on Halliburtonswhat they call the LOGCAP contract. that is for Logistic Civil Augmentation Program. and $382 million in \"unsupported costs.\" That is $1.195 billion just to one company. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10676,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090148733,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr.. President. the pending business is the DOD authorization bill .and most specifically the amendments by Senator MCCONNELL and Senator BILL NELSON of Florida. The McConnell amendment is to be voted on first. followed by a vote on the second amendment. Am I correct?","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":268,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090148746,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So I ask one final question of my friend from Virginia. Since the Nelson amendment basically addresses a nonexistent problem and the McConnell amendment simply asserts what we already know to be the policy of the Iraqi Government. that it would likely be a good idea for the Senate to go on record as supporting both of these amendments at this juncture?","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":354,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090148752,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Let me add. briefly. as I hear the distinguished chairman of the Armed Services Committee. at this juncture the appropriate thing for the Senate to do would be to vote for both of these amendments. It has been made perfectly clear. by statements by the -National. Security Adviser of the new Iraqi Government. that it is not the policy of the Iraqi Government to grant amnesty to those who killed American soldiers. I hope we can move past this reaction to some lower level Iraqi official. since fired from the Iraqi Government. over his illadvised and basically untrue suggestions about what the policy of the Iraqi Government would be toward those who may have killed American soldiers. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":707,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090148762,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I urge Senators to vote for both. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1316,"word_count":11}
{"speech_id":1090148767,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I respect that. This Senator respects the goals that the Senator from Virginia is stating but I am looking at the four corners of the McConnell amendment to wonder if this is something that the Senate wants to vote for when. in fact. in the sense of Congress that is expressed in the McConnell amendment starting on page 2 at line 15 and ending on page 3 at line 9. there is not any statement in the sense of Congress with regard to the policy of not supporting the Iraqi Government if it gives amnesty to people who kill Americans.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":532,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090148769,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is in the findings as set forth on page 1 but not in the sense of Congress. Is it the Senators feeling that the McConnell amendment clarifies the language that says with respect to the exercise of sovereignty we must respect the exercise of sovereignty in accordance with their own wisdom? Does that clarify it?","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":316,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090148772,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Senator is exactly correct. The amendment by this Senator. for which the majority has already said that they are urging a vote. will further give specific action. that is. that the President of the United States should immediately notify the Government of Iraq that the Government of the United States opposes granting amnesty to persons who have attacked members of the Armed Forces of the United States? So we clearly set it out in the amendment offered by this Senator. We want to have time for Senator MENENDEZ to speak. How many minutesdoes this Senator have remaining?","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":578,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090148784,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am quite surprised. Sadly. on a day in which two more Americans have been mutilated. sadly. on a day in which the CNN story is quoting a claim posted on a Web site that our soldiers were slaughtered \"in accordance to Gods will.\" and given the fact -that it is pretty clear the amendment of this Senator sets forth the policy that it is the sense of the Congress that the Government of Iraq should not grant amnesty to persons who kill Americans. I think it is selfevident. I thank the Senator for sharing these thoughts.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":522,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090148807,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the two managers have been working with Members. We have reconciled a series of amendments. and I believe at this point in time I will make the following statement: I have sent a series of amendments to the desk which have been cleared by myself and the ranking member. I ask. therefore. unanimous consent that the Senate consider these amendments en bloc. the amendments be agreed to. and motions to reconsider be laid on the table. Finally. I ask that any statements relating to any of these individual amendments be printed at this point in the RECORD. The. PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":614,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090148834,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. I imagine we will get them later in the afternoon or get them on tomorrow. Could the Senator indicate when we might anticipate those? The reason this is important is because we are talking about 50 pagesof tax issues in the Enzi amendment. Therefore. there is a cost to it. It does seem to me that prior to the time that we have a vote. we ought to know what those particular costs are. We have on the one hand the issues that are directly related to the minimum wage. and then we have the costs in terms of an addition to the deficit. I dont know whether the Senator could tell us that we are going to get it later this evening. If you can give us the assurance. if you think we will have it this evening. that is fine. otherwise. whatever help the Senator could provide. I would be grateful.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":799,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090148857,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is an indication of what has happened in our beloved country over the last number of years. Nearly 37 million of our fellow citizens. including 13 million children are currently living- at or below the poverty level in the United States. Yet we somehow cannot find ways among ourselves here to reach a consensus to increase the minimum wage to $7.25 over the next 2 yearsa $2.10 increase. I find that rather shocking. I suppose it is an indication of what has happened to the body politic in this country. that you cannot find common ground to make a difference in the lives of almost 40 million of our fellow citizens. These Americans are struggling out there every single day and as I mentioned earlier. 13 million of them are totally defenselessour children. Certainly. while Members of Congress may find it odd. the average citizen out there. even those who are making way beyond the minimum wage. were they here tonight in this Chamber. would tell you how difficult it is to meet the rising cost of livingfood. housing. clothingnot to mention soaring energy costs. Yet in the midst of all of that. we find it impossible to provide an inQrease. after nearly a decade. of $2.10 per hour for these families in our country.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2208,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090148864,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank my colleague for bringing up this chart to emphasize the point. I think these numbers are from the Department of Agriculture. Again. the Senator is making an excellent point. If you have a hardtime understanding what the Senator from Massachusetts is saying or the Senator from Connecticut. ask any teacher. Ask any teacher in this country. particularly at the elementary school level. what sort of academic performance. what sort of attention spans you have with a child who has received adequate nutrition. a decent meal. compared to those who have not. You will hear anecdote after anecdote of what happens with children who do not have proper nutritionnot to mention the growing health care problems that can emerge. This is just good. sound investment policy. If you really care about the future of your country. if you really care about whether or not our Nations children are going to be able to perform adequately in this century. then clearly making sure that they have the basic essentials is. again. so obvious that it should not require a debate on the floor of the Senate to make the point.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1111,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090148867,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Today. the real value of the minimum wage is more than $4 below what it was in 1968. To have the purchasing power it had in 1968. the minimum wage would have to be more than $9.25 per hournot the $5.15 we are currently at. I want to make a point as well about what the impact of this minimum wage increase -would have on the lives of working families. Nearly 15 million Americans would benefit from the minimum wage increase to $7.25 per hour. That is 6.6 million people directly affected in a positive way and another 8.3 million affected indirectly. Almost 60 percent of these workers are women. and 40 percent are people of color. Eighty percent of those who would benefit are adult workers. not teenagers seeking pocket change. as some have said. and more than a third of these are adults are thesole providers for their families. . Again. we are talking about an increase to $7.25 per hour. Which is still hardly enough to make ends meet when you consider the cost of food. clothing. housing. not to mention the skyrocketing cost of energy that has hit everybody in this country. We all know how hard it is to provide for our families. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8891,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090148872,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on behalf of the leadership. I make this unanimous consent request. I ask unanimous consent that the first amendment. No. 4323. be withdrawn. provided further that Senator ENzI be recognized in order to offer a firstdegree amendment relating to the minimum wage. provided further that the Senate then resume debate at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday and that there be 1 hours of debate equally divided between the chairman and ranking member of the HELP Committee or their designees. I further ask unanimous consent that at the use or yielding back of time. the Senate proceed to a vote on Kennedy amendment No. 4322. to be followed by a vote on the Enzi amendment. with no amendments to the amendments in order. provided further. if either amendment does not get 60 votes in the affirmative. then that amendment would be automatically withdrawn. I further ask unanimous consent that following those votes. Senator LEVIN be recognized in order to offer amendment number No. 4320 related to Iraq. There will be 5 hours equally divided in relation to that amendment. and following that debate. the amendment be set aside and Senator KERRY be recognized to offer his amendment related to Iraq.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1196,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090148910,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Reserving the right to object. I know we have had a discussion with the distinguished chairman of the committee. Senator BINGAMAN and I are interested in offering amendments at the appropriate time precloture on the Guantanamo situation. I am wondering if we could allocate an hour before the cloture motion is filed to raise that amendment and then have a vote on it. either one or two of those amendments.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":407,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090148917,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"What is the desire? I have to ask my colleagues. we are trying as best we can to accommodate all interested parties. The amendments are coming from this side. It is really incumbent on you all to try and reconcile how you wish to proceed. We are about to lock up the two significant amendments of the Senator from Michigan and the Senator from Massachusetts. I recognize you have had that amendment. You asked to bring it up tonight. I have assembled a group of my colleagues to debate the amendment. What is the pleasure?","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":522,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090148925,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I would simply say thisand I appreciate very much the Senator from Iowa being so courteouseveryone is -in agreement that we are going to try to work something out so that you and Senator BINGAMAN can get a vote on your amendment tomorrow morning. It is just a question of how we do it timewise.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":294,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090148943,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator fiom Virginia. We thank the Senator for his unvaried hospitality and good nature on these kinds of difficulties. We appreciate his determination to try to find the opportunity for a Guantanamo amendment or amendments. They are trying now. I believe. to figure out--I think it is going to be offered at 7 p.m. I guess they willbe here to offer that amendment at 7 oclock.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":405,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090148977,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wish today to express our Nations deepest thanks and gratitude to a special man and his family. I recently received word of the untimely death of LTC Charles Munier of Wheatland. WY. while serving his country in the war on terrorism. Lieutenant Colonel Munier passed away on Monday. June 12. 2006. at Walter Reed Hospital following a stroke suffered while serving in Afghanistan where he was helpifig to train the Afghan army. Lieutenant Colonel Munier served in Wyoming National Guard as facilities manager for Camp Guernsey. Wyomings training center for both Guard and ActiveDuty military. He is remembered by his brother soldiers as a pivotal member of the Camp Guernsey staff and an outstanding officer who took his duties as a citizen soldier very seriously. ","speaker_name":"CRAIG THOMAS","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1957,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090148983,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. Dr. James Cameron was man of great strength. spirituality. and conviction. Dr. Cameron was born in LaCrosse. WI.in 1914 and moved to Indiana as a teenager. In Indiana. he accompanied two friends involved in an armed robbery that turned to rape and murder. Though Dr. Cameron ran away well before the crime was committed. all three young men were taken to jail. ","speaker_name":"HERBERT KOHL","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1454,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090148984,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I look forward to working with all of my colleagues to ensure passage of this bill that would take critical steps toward preparing our Nation to successfully deal with the mental health consequences of public health emergencies. I would ask unanimous consent to insert the text of this legislation in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3895,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090148996,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet on Tuesday. June 20. 2006. at 10 a.m.. to consider the nomination of Paul A. Denett to be Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy. Office of Management and Budget.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":294,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090149024,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on behalf of the majority leader. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it stand in adjournment until 9:30 a.m.. on Wednesday. June 21. I further ask that following the prayer and the pledge. the morning hour be deemed to have expired. the Journal of the proceedings be approved to date. the time forthe two leaders be reserved. and the Senate resume consideration of S. 2766. the Defense authorization bill. as under the previous order.","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":489,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090149038,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Good morning. Mr. Speaker. Imagine if you had not received a pay increase since 1997. The price of goods and services you rely on like gasoline and prescription drugs have gone up dramatically over the last few years. But one thing that hasnt has been the minimum wage. It has *almost been 10 years that we havent raised the minimum wage. and the reality is that 7 million Americans will not receive a minimumwage pay increase. And most of those individuals happen to be single head of households. women. with kids. children. Democrats want to take America in a different direction. We want to expand opportunities to millions of Americans that feel they have been left behind by the Bush economy that has favored the wealthiest few above the middle class. ","speaker_name":"HILDA SOLIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1228,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090149043,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. a hypocrite always practices what he preaches against. And while Vicente Fox took a whirlwind tour of the United States acting like an oldfabhioned revival preacher preaching open borders. trying to intimidate Americans into allowing the illegal invasion of his people down Mexico City way. the gospel of truth comes out. Mexico. it seems. wants its southern border locked down. The Mexican Government says too many illegals are sneaking into Mexico. especially those Guatemalans. The Mexican Government says that illegals are taking jobs from Mexican citizens. Sound familiar? While Mexico is demanding open doors into the rest of North America. they have got their own dead bolt on the door to the rest of the world. Preacher Fox. practice what you preach. Your immigration laws are even tougher than Americas. Why dont you open up your southern border to illegals? And meanwhile. preach to your own people that illegally entering the United States is just wrong. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1151,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090149054,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today with my colleagues to congratulate the Carolina Hurricanes for winning the most storied trophy in sports. the Stanley Cup. The Hurricanes defeated the Edmonton Oilers in game seven to win the first Stanley Cup and the first professional league sporting title for any North Carolina team. The Hurricanes exemplify what is great about professional sports: teamwork. dedication. and sportsmanship. In addition to congratulating the players. coaches and the Hurricanes organization. I would also like to congratulate all the teams fans. the Caniacs. When the Hurricanes first arrived in North Carolina in 1997. skeptics across North America really thought that a Southern State could not support a hockey team. Well. we certainly have proven them wrong. The excitement that the teams fans displayed throughout every game of the playoffs shows that folks in basketball country love our hockey team. ","speaker_name":"BOB ETHERIDGE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1160,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090149057,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We are proud of our military men and women. I am so proud of those families at Fort Campbell. and we are proudof the dedication to ending decades of terrorism once and for all.","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":997,"word_count":34}
{"speech_id":1090149059,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"were correct in their remarks a few minutes ago: this Republican Congress has absolutely no discipline. on the spending side. But neither do they have any discipline on the tax side. Mr. Speaker. payasyougo budget rules worked in the 1990s to control the deficit and kept Congress from working on economic fantasies. It is time to bring those rules back. Mr. Speaker. congratulations Hurricanes.","speaker_name":"PATRICK MCHENRY","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":395,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090149067,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Indiana. During the 1960s. Cameron participated in both marches on Washington. the first with Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr.. and the second with Dr. Kings widow. Coretta Scott King. and the Reverend Jesse Jackson. I urge all Members to come together to honor the life of a man who was a true survivor and who persevered above all to promote civil rights and equality. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES DENT","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1530,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090149083,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. today I will be managing the time on behalf of the Democratic members of the House Armed Services Committee. And I certainly want to thank Mr. MORAN for bringing forth this resolution and thank Mrs. DRAKE of Virginia for managing the time and urging the adoption of this resolution. Mr. Speaker. in 2004. my hometown of Wilson. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE BUTTERFIELD","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2763,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090149089,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Patriot Guard Riders. seeing an injustice. chose to rise up and not permit the desecration of the sacred. Their courage. their conviction. and their simple decency on behalf of families grieving at the loss of a loved one represent the very best of our Nation. In return. we as aC Nation offer them our gratitude for unselfishly serving to protect the sanctity .of military funerals and for easing the burden of mourning families and their communities. thereby setting a worthy example for everyone. I urge adoption of this resolution.","speaker_name":"JIM RYUN","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2650,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090149110,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In September 2005. the Attorney General established a Hurricane Katrina Fraud Task Force. which includes DOJ. Homeland Security. Treasury. the FBI. Federal Trade Commission. and other Federal partners. as well as representatives of State and local law- enforcement. Since its formation. 2.4 United States attorneys have charged 261 people in 218 cases with various criminal activities. and have obtained so far 44 guilty pleas or convictions. Despite these efforts. it is clear the current criminal penalties are insufficient to deter disaster fraud. In March 2006 alone. DOJ announced 17. new indictmentg and four guilty pleas for Katrina- and Ritarelated disaster fraud. In May. of this year. the United States Attorney for the Middle -District of Florida charged 26 people with similar acts of fraud. To enhance Federal law enforcements ability to combat and deter disaster fraud. this bill contains the following substantive provisions: first. the bill creates a new Federal crime to prohibit fraud in connection with any emergency or disaster relief. including Federal assistance or private charitable contributions. as long as the benefit was authorized or paid in interstate commerce. transported through the mail. 6r is anything of value to the United States. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3919,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090149125,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill to require representatives of governments designated as State Sponsors of Terrorism to disclose to the Attorney General lobbying contacts with legislative branch officials. and for other purposes.","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":255,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090149149,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"St. Bernard almost closed its doors in 1992. primarily because of its inability to attract registered nurses. In 1999. Congress passed the Nursing Relief for Disadvantaged Areas Act to help precisely these kinds of hospitals. This legislation created a new H1C temporary registered nurse visa program with 500 visas available a year. To be eligible to petition for an alien nurse. the employer must. one. be located in a health professional shortage area as designated by the Department of Health and Human Services. two. have at least 190 acute care beds. three. have a certain percentage of Medicare patients. and. four. have a. certain percentage of Medicaid patients. The H1C program adopted protections for American nurses contained in the expired HlA nursing visa program. For instance. for a hospital to be eligible for H1C nurses. it has to agree to take timely and significant steps to recruit- American nurses. then H1C nurses have to be paid the prevailing wage. The program also contained new protections such as the requirement that H1C nurses cannot comprise more than 33 percent of the hospitals workforce of registered nurses. and that a hospital cannot contract out H1C nurses to Work at other facilities. This bill would reauthorize the H1C program for an additional 3 years. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2533,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090149166,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. the bill made in order under this rule reaffirms our ironclad support for our men and women in uniform in two fundamental ways. This legislation upholds our part of a solemn pact to provide our Armed Forces with everything they require. and it fulfills our duty to act responsibly in our Nations interests. I commend the committee for achieving both goals in one bill. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JOHN MURTHA","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1179,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090149176,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of the rule for fiscal year 2007 Department of Defense Appropriations Act and the underlying legislation. I would like to commend Chairmen LEWIS and YOUNG. as well as the ranking member and the staff of the Defense Committee . and subcommittee for their tireless effort in support of our soldiers. our sailors. airmen. and marines who are bravely defending us at home and abroad. Mr. Speaker. this bill most importantly meets the immediate needs of our warfighters who are fighting and winning the global war on terror. It is a good bill that provides funding for many important programs which are our militarys top priorities. Not the least of these. Mr. Speaker. is F22 Raptor. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3478,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090149195,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. on Tuesday. June 20. 2006. I was absent due to a family obligation. Had I been present. I would have voted nay\" on rollcall No. 294. suspending the rules and agreeing to H.R. 5228To require representatives of governments designated as State Sponsors of Terrorism to disclose to the Attorney General lobbying contacts with legislative branch officials. and for other purposes.","speaker_name":"GRACE NAPOLITANO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":38.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":388,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090149213,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. again I want to thank the members of the subcommittee who worked so diligently. I want to thank specifically Mr. MURTHA. who worked with us every day. every hour of every day as we put this bill together. Most Members of the House had some participation in the creation of this bill. In fact. there were 412 Members who had something to do with the creation of this legislation. It is a good bill and I hope we can move it quickly.","speaker_name":"C. YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":445,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090149250,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I make the point of order. reluctantly. I might say. against the amendment because it provides an appropriation for an unauthorized program and therefore violates clause 2 of rule XXI. Clause 2 of rule XXI states in pertinent part: \"An appropriation may not be in order as an amendment for an expenditure not previously authorized by law.\" Mr. Chairman. the amendment proposes to appropriate funds for an earmark that is not authorized. The amendment therefore violates clause 2 of rule XXI. I ask for the ruling of the Chair.","speaker_name":"C. YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":540,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090149262,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. my amendment simply deletes section 8057 of the underlying bill. While there was merit in including this provision in 1997 when it was first enacted. the provision has become unnecessary due to comprehensive safeguards enacted into permanent law under the Arms Export Control Act. which is vigorously enforced by the Department of Defense. I believe this provision of this bill is no longer necessary to safeguard our technology. I have discussed this amendment with.both sides. and I ask that it be adopted.","speaker_name":"KAY GRANGER","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":522,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090149264,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So I said. well. if that is the case. if we are going to build the thing. at least lets make certain that we hang onto our technology edge this time. Hence. the language in section 8057. Now. I must confess that times may have changed. but I dont know that we are yet at the point that would justify removing these limitations. My own preference. given my biases about arms sales around the world. my own preference would be to impose the same kind of limitations on new aircraft that we are developing. such as the F35. as we impose now on the F22. But I recognize that that is not. in the cards. given the mindset. of the Congress these days. So given that fact. I would simply say that I have indicated on numerous occasions that I have an open mind and I would be willing to be persuaded. but I am not yet convinced that we are at the point where we ought to relinquish the controls on the export of this aircraft. I recognize what the committee is about to do. but I am significantly uncomfortable with it. and I am certainly not convinced that we have reached the point where we ought to remove these restrictions. I would simply ask the chairman. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1975,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090149298,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong support of the Castle\/Shays amendment. As chair of the Science Committee. I oversee the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. or NOAA. and the critical weather forecasting services it provides. NOAA is a partner with the Air Force on the next generation of weather satellites. known as NPOESS. In May I held a hearing about an Inspector General report on NPOESS. One of the key findings of that IG report was that the contractor received excessive award fees for a problemplagued program. Over the first 3 years of NPOESSSeptember 2002September 2005the contractor received 84 percent of the award fee available to it. for a total of $123 million. This occurred despite the fact the NPOESS is more than 5 years late and its total - costs have risen from $6.5 billion to $11.5 billion. ","speaker_name":"SHERWOOD BOEHLERT","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1700,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090149304,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I think more so than most people realize. but as an officer who flew in those aircraft. you know an awful lot about this. So I am with you. I want to do the best we can to enhance our capability. Thank you for bringing this issue to the Congress.","speaker_name":"C. YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1099,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090149309,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Columns by Senator BAYH and Representative KINGSTON talked about providing incentives to consumers to purchase alternativefuel vehicles. I am doing a bill with Representative KINGSTON that would do exactly that. wean us off of Middle Eastern oil. We have a broad. bipartisan group of Members of Congress who see the benefits for our national security. our economy and our environment if we take these steps to end our addiction. And so I find myself on the floor again. though this time I am pleased to be able to talk about the good work of two agencies of the Federal Government. two agencies that are in the forefront of our fight against terrorism. two agencies that are strained to the limit with incredible demands. two agencies that have. in the midst of numerous other missions. taken a small step to lead the way to our safety and security. So I commend the Navy and I commend the Army and for all that they do and for being the leaders as well in procuring alternativefuel vehicles. Mr. Chairman. I will cede the point of order. and I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment.","speaker_name":"ELIOT ENGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3314,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090149323,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In addition to refraining from the practice of torture under international law. we also have a responsibility as a Nation that we not outsource torture to other countries. that is. that we render. that we extraordinarily render prisoners who we have captured to other countries which we know engage in torture. and accept as a promise from that country they will not torture these individuals. even though these countries are on the list of the State Department as countries that we know engage in torture. This policy must be rejectdd by this House. We should not and cannot undermine our standing as the international leader in human rights by allowing for the outsourcing of torture in the name of the United States to fight terrorism. because we send a signal to the rest of the world that we are not willing to abide by the rules that we say we intend for the rest of the world to adopt. And make no mistake. that is what this country is doing when it carries out renditions of prisoners that we have captured to notorious human rights violators. it is outsourcing torture. It must be rejected. I urge an \"aye\" -vote on my amendment:","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2460,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090149334,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Now you are actually authorizing this program. If you vote for this. you authorize this program. You say you have safeguards. That is what you are going to have. If this passes. this authorizes this program. At one point we couldnt even say that this program existed. S6 I think this is a very difficult time for those of us *who have been briefed about it. And I know there are a lot of people in the executive branch that know about it. But the way I read this amendment. you say follow the proper procedure and you agree with the amendment. You agree with the procedures. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MURTHA","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2109,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090149339,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in opposition to the amendment. As Mr. MURTHA has suggested. there is a lot that cant be said about this amendment and about this program. But what I would like to say is. lets dont tie our hands behind our back when we are fighting a vicious. cruel enemy. Intelligence is extremely important in the war against terrorism. First of all. you dont have. in this particular war. you dont have an army against an army. You dont have a country against a country. You have terrorists attacking innocent people here in the United States on September 11. and leading up -to September 11. and anywhere else in the world that they decide that they are going to attack. ","speaker_name":"C. YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1669,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090149363,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"fornia. I cant quote Mr. Negroponte. but I can quote Benjamin Franklin who. in 1776. explained the unanimous decision of the Committee on Secret Correspondence for not telling their colleagues in the Continental Congress about a covert operation. And he said we find by fatal experience that Congress-","speaker_name":"DANIEL LUNGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":301,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090149379,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is absolutely right. The only thing that the amendment does is it says that when you are surveilling people on our home soil here in the United States of America. it has to be authorized by FISA. If it is not authorized by FISA. if it is outside of FISA. you cannot use the funds in this bill. The gentleman from Illinois says. \"Trust us. There are some of us that know the program. trust us. We cant disclose information about the program here on the House floor:\" I am not asking anyone to disclose information about the program on the House floor. The only question raised by this afnendment is are we funding programs that are in contravention of existing law. FISA. I think you are exactly right about my colleague from Californias argument. which is basically the President has the inherent authority to do anything he wants when he wants. surveil who he wants when he wants. how he wants. for whatever reason he wants. ","speaker_name":"ADAM SCHIFF","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1302,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090149380,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. reclaiming my time. I think President Carter had it right. He said all electronic surveillance for foreign intelligence -or counterintelligence purposes in the United States has to come under the FISA Court. That makes sense. That is. I think. the purpose of this amendment. is to make certain that the money is being expended in compliance with FISA. The gentleman is a cosponsor of this amendment. Is that your understanding?","speaker_name":"NORMAN DICKS","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":441,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090149397,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I take back my time. So the gentleman then agrees with this point. There is nothing inappropriate about this amendment. So while he believes the President is within his power to do this. does the gentleman agree that if this amendment is adopted by a majority. the President would be bound by it?","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":296,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090149407,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I just want to say. stop hiding behind varying degrees of constitutional interpretation. By hiding behind them. I mean this: I dont think that people sat and said. oh. geez this is what John Jay told me and this is what I am bound by. I think we are talking here about what we think public policy ought to be. Should the President or should not the President have to get a warrant through FISA? That is the text of this amendment. Let us debate the public policy. I yield first to the gentleman from Washington.","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":511,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090149434,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What still has gone unanswered is why can we not make changes to FISA and the existing law? If this is such a vital program. why does it have to be done outside of the law?","speaker_name":"ADAM SCHIFF","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1026,"word_count":36}
{"speech_id":1090149437,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the major point here that the opposition to this makes is the President has inherent authority. That has not been tested at the Supreme Court because once FISA was enacted. that was enacted to limit unbridled Presidential authority. I believe FISA is the only way that you can proceed. that the President must go to FISA if he is going to conduct these kind of foreign intelligence activities.","speaker_name":"NORMAN DICKS","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":407,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090149438,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. reclaiming my time. the gentleman is exactly right. That is the law currently. Whether that law violates the Constitution is an open question. Nevertheless. because it has not been contested. it is the law. and the President. the administration. all of us have to live by that law. There is nothing that gives the President of the United States or anyone in this administration the authority to engage in surveillance of the American people. not a single American citizen. outside of the definition requirements within the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.","speaker_name":"MAURICE HINCHEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":575,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090149441,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the Supreme Court has made it very clear it will not referee fundamental constitutional debates over power between the executive and legislative branches. Only if you got a case would this get to the Court. and they will dodge and duck and never allow there to be a case. This is the only constitutional way to confront it.","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":337,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090149460,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I want to clarify this for myself and others who are listening. You are prepared to consider this bill. H.R. 5371. which would force this entire program to comply with FISA. Actually much credit for the construct of H.R. 5371 does go to Mr. SCHIFF and","speaker_name":"JANE HARMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":36.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":265,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090149475,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We should impeach a President because he. allegedly violated the rule of law. And now we come to this floor and say ignore the law? The administration. if it is too hard. can ignore the law? The law says that FISA and title III are the exclusive authority for wiretapping in the United States. period. No ifs. ands. or buts. All this amendment does is repeat it. As I said. I am ambivalent about it because I dont know that we should have to repeat it. but apparently we do. So I urge the adoption of this amendment. and I would remind everybody that to vote agiinst this amendment is to say we are endorsing the violation of the law. We dont care about the rule of law. We endorse the administrations illegal and extraconstitutional action and we are making .ourselves complicit in that and there is no protection. because the President now claims the power to disobey any law under his inherent authority under article II as Commander in Chief. That is a power even George. ","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4813,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090149482,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The gentleman from Connecticut has made a strong and convincing policy argument for building two submarines each year sooner than the year 2012. and we have discussed this off and on for the last several weeks. He is very. very persuasive. So I can assure him that I will continue to work with him as we prepare to go to conference and go to conference to address the shortage of submarines in our Navy. I am a very strong advocate of our submarine capability. I think that is one of the best deterrence systems that we have. one of the best military systems. and I appreciate the work of the gentleman from Connecticut on this issue. As I said. we have had many conversations about this. I know of no better champion of submarines in the House than Congressman SIMMONS. But as we have discussed. the 302(b) allocation for this subcommittee was $4 billion less than the administration requested. so that made a shortage of funds. Anyway. Mr. ","speaker_name":"C. YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1404,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090149510,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"NOAA and many major universities. As my colleagues are well aware. we are facing a science education crisis in the United States. Within the next five years. some 70 percent of current advanced math and science teachers will be able to retire. More and more of the science and math students in our top universities are immigrants. with fewer and fewer students from our nations public schools each year. Independent analysis shows that teachers who have the opportunity to attend the JASON seminars are much better prepared to lead their students into an understanding of science and math. and to get their kids enthusiastic about making a career out of these subjects. These seminars are highly recommended by the National Science Teachers Association. Schools that serve our nations military families are increasing ranked among the best. and one of the chief reasons for that is their affiliation with enrichment programs like the JASON project. Our responsibility lies not only with providing weapons and training to those who would defend our nation. We must also make we give the very best opportunities and benefits to their families. who are also making a sacrifice in defense of America. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JERRY LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":41.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5002,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090149550,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Federal District Court Judge Emmitt Sullivan ruled that the NSPS system failed to \"ensure even minimal collective bargaining rights.\" The court further enjoined the National Security Labor Relations Board on the grounds that it did not satisfy congressional requirement for independent thirdparty review. It has been declared illegal. Now. one might assume after such a ruling had come down that the Pentagon would attempt to fix the problem and that the administration would do so. but in fact that has gone on after 3 years. They are essentially snubbing their noses at collective bargaining rights. at civil service rights. at the right to know whether you are discharged or what. your discharge would be. basic fundamental rights that we ought to give to the people who are - critical members of the defense team. That is why we bring this amendment. to preserve the right to be free from discrimination based on political opinion. something that our Civil Service rules need to protect. and the right to collective bargaining. to engage in collective bargaining in good faith. the right to due process for advance notice of suspension and some meaningful appeal rights for people who work on the defense team. So we are -offering a commonsense amendment that will recognize that we should not be forcing this broken system that has been ruled illegal for people who are doing such great work for us. keeping our uniformed personnel on the post in Iraq and Afghanistan. We commend this amendment to our colleagues attention.","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3390,"word_count":253}
{"speech_id":1090149552,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the requisite number of words. I am pleased to join with my colleagues Mr. INSLEE and Mr. JONES in offering this amendment. and the issue here is really straightforward: Are we going to require the Department of Defense to comply with guidelines established by this House and this Congress. or are we going to allow them. one more time. to ignore the will of Congress and roll over us here in the House of Representatives? Here is the sitdation. Back in 2004. this House passed the defense authorization provision that allowed the Defense Department to go out and set up a new personnel system. but we did it with certain guidelines. We wanted to provide the Department of Defense with greater flexibility. but we also wanted to ensure fairness to the employees. Here is what happened. The DOD took the flexibility part. and they ignored the portions requiring fairness to employees. ","speaker_name":"CHRIS VAN HOLLEN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2832,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090149559,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is a great product. I am sure Sikorsky and others who manufacture helicopters do as well. The question becomes. why are we using the defense bill as a mechanism to fund a center like this when these businesses are fully capable of marketing their own products? f 1915 The rotorcraft industry wants $4 million of Federal defense dollars to subsidize their marketing efforts around the globe. They are doing pretty well. I hope they continue to do well. They are competitive because they make a good product. not because the Federal Government is subsidizing them. Many of them compete for government contracts. That is great. We rely on them. but we shouldnt be saying. all right. we are going to pick you and we are going to lavish you with Federal. dollars to help market your prbduct. Those of us who oppose corporate subsidies for cotton and sugar and tobacco and the airline industry. ","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3857,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090149560,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The amount of impact on my district is one job. one job at Penn State University. The money you just talked about flows into 21 other States. into universities and corporations doing research on rotorcraft technology. Now. why is that important? Because the primary responsibility for rotorcraft research was NASA. but NASA has seen fit to move away from that. And as a member of the Science Committee. we have worked repeatedly to try to get. NASA to take the responsibility mandated by the law. NASA used to fund $30 million a year in rotorcraft research. In the past 5 years. they have spent zero. So we took the initiative that the Army established. And when the gentleman says on this floor. again ignorantly. that the military and the Pentagon dont support this. I would have said to him. why dont you go talk to the Army. because the Army has supported the Center For Rotorcraft Innovation repeatedly. ","speaker_name":"W. WELDON","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4515,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090149570,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"in particular. and. again. I have had my differences with Mr. HUNTER. but Mr. YOUNG recognizes and Mr. HUNTER recognizes that true innovation in this country comes from the small companies. It comes from the research areas that dont necessarily get the big contracts. nor are they sought out by the big companies. They are like the Titanic. They go right down there. And they can be told theres an iceberg. but. boy. they head there anyway by kinetic energy. I can assure you. ","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1611,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090149572,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Well. thank you. and I simply want to reiterate if I were to stand here and offer amendments that had no impact on my district at all. if I ignored those that had an impact. then I could be accused of hypocrisy and doing things that simply have no impact on me. I have tried to make a point to offer amendments that do have an impact. and I have offered them in other bills as well. those that have an impact on both my district and on my State. I simply think that this process is out of control and we -have .to start on it. And I appreciate the gentleman from Hawaii. That was a very good explanation. I appreciate that hearings have been held on this. certainly more thoroughly than some of the other earmarks. But the case I would make is that simply I have made my case.","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":776,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090149580,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in opposition to the amendment. I read the amendment about Iran. but I heard the debate about Iraq. The gentlemans debate made it appear that we just indiscriminately decided to attack Iraq. I would remind the gentleman that there were not only United Nations resolutions dealing with the issue of Iraq. but there was also an overwhelming vote in the House and in the Senate to authorize the President to take whatever military action was necessary. He talked about Iraq. and so I want to talk about Iraq. I want to talk about the June 25. 1996. bombing of Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia. We were not in Iraq. nowhere near Iraq. Khobar Towers was bombed. and 19 of our airmen who were living there lost their lives. ","speaker_name":"C. YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3207,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090149586,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"With -that. I request support for the amendment.","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1829,"word_count":8}
{"speech_id":1090149599,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I agree with that. Mr. FLAKE. And that is the reason that this opportunity exists. It is not a significant amount of money. When you look at the overall defense budget. this is an insignificaift amount of money in terms of what it does in terms of the expansion of jobs. the expansion of ideas. the expansion of technology. and it does create hope and opportunity for people who really want to do business with the Federal Government and have opportunities for creating new opportunities for people. And listen to me. this is a nobrainer. And I hope that we can get the House. when we come back into vote on this amendment. to vote down this amendment. This is a very. very good technology center and it has created lots of opportunities for many. many people. And I urge the House to vote against the Flake amendment.","speaker_name":"RAY LAHOOD","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":818,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090149610,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is the Northwest portion of the United States. I come to understand. and it is a manufacturing initiative. but we dont know much else about it. A few of the Members have been kind enough to share with me today what they are seeking to do. My understanding is that businesses in the Northwest. particularly those that contract with the United States Government. the Department of Defense and others. some are having difficulty. as they are in many parts of the country. My quebtion is. why in the defense bill are we offering help to manufacturing companies in the Northwest? What about the Southeast or the -Southwest? What about companies in Arizona or California or Colorado? Why dont they get similar treatment? How does the Federal Government decide. all right. we are going to help manufacturing companies there. but not here? Again. we are picking winners and losers here. It is not the job and should not be the job of the Federal Government. I appreciate the fact there are Members here willing to defend this amendment. My good friend Mr. BLUMENAUER is here to do so and others. and I appreciate that. In this way we can actually have a dialogue. ","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2458,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090149613,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If you vote against this provision and for your amendment. you will pick our soldiers as losers. This is about providing resources to help small businesses and mediumsized businesses get stateoftheart equipment to our soldiers. I dont know if you have had the occasion to meet with a midsized growing business that makes this kind of equipment. but talking to them and the challenges they face in working with defense procurement proposals. defense procurement procedures and other needs are very difficult challenges. I think it is entirely appropriate that the Federal Government participate in this. along with the match that was described earlier. because this is a program that could well be a model for the country. that will produce more effective business results and better products for our soldiers. One final statement I would just make: We talk in this body a lot about dynamic scoring of tax cuts. There is also dynamic scoring of expenditures. I would submit to the gentleman from Arizona and to all my colleagues that for a small amount 6f money. we are going to -stimulate manufacturing of stateoftheart devices and equipment that will save our soldiers lives and save this government money over the long run. This is a good proposal. an innovative proposal. and good products that will save the lives of our soldiers will result from it. I urge a \"no\" vote on this amendment.","speaker_name":"BRIAN BAIRD","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1999,"word_count":234}
{"speech_id":1090149653,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. GILCHREST. .Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Messrs. SERRANO. GARRETT of New Jersey. BARTLETT of Maryland. COSTELLO. and MOORE of Kansas changed their vote from \"no\" to \"aye.\" So the amendment was rejected. The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.","speaker_name":"CHAKA FATTAH","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":263,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090149670,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Chairman of the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union. reported that that Committee. having had under consideration the bill making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30. -2007. and for other purposes. had directed him to report the bill back to the House with sundry amendments. with the recommendation that the amendments be agreed to and that the bill. as amended. do pass.","speaker_name":"DAVE CAMP","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":440,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090149684,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Recently. at an outpost near Baghdad. American volunteers of the 101st found themselves surrounded and attacked by the enemy. One soldier. Specialist David Babineau. was killed in the skirmish. Private First Class Kristian Menchaca and Private First Class Thomas Tucker were kidnapped. captured. and later. apparently. murdered. Twentythreeyearold Kristian Menchaca was from my hometown of Houston. Texas. The Army turned Kristian Menchacas life around. It gave him a greater purpose. a higher calling. He leaves behind a wife. a family. and lots of grateful Americans. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3198,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090149693,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise tonight to continue the debate on Iraq. the war in Iraq. I rise to continue this debate because those of us who are lart of the Out of Iraq Caucus. and I am the Chair of that caucus. do not intend to have a debate organized for one day and have people going away saying. well. we took care of that. This debate must continue because the truth must be told. Over the weekend. we received terrible news. Two of our soldiers. Private First Class Kristian Menchaca of Texas and Private First Class Thomas Tucker of Oregon were captured by insurgents. reportedly al Qaeda operatives in Iraq. Today their bodies were found. Their bodies showed signs of torture. leading an Iraqi Defense Ministry official to say that they were \"killed.in a barbaric way.\" I extend my deepest sympathies to the families and friends of Private Menchaca and Private Tucker. ","speaker_name":"MAXINE WATERS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":35.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4395,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090149697,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. of all the urgent matters in the world today. and there are many. none is more poignant than the plight of millions of homeless refugees in countries like Africa. Asia and Latin America. and here in the United States. There are 8.4 million refugees worldwide. Some were displaced because of natural disasters. Most were forced to flee their homes and their homeland and loved ones to avoid being killed because of persecution. civil war and outright genocide. They were forced to flee through no fault of their own. and were forced to abandon their belongings and their lives. They fled with the clothes on their back. memories and hopes that one day they would go home again. Today we meet some of these people. This is World Refugee Day. organized by the United Nations to focus attention on the millions of innocent people who are entitled to live and not merely survive. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4518,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090149705,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Again. in 1968. Juneteenth received another strong resurgence through the Poor Peoples March to Washington. D.C. Reverend.Ralph David Abernathy called for people of all races. creeds. economic levels and professions to come to Washington to show their support for the poor. Juneteenth has a way of generating the kind of compassion for the struggle and. of course. a reason for fighting for freedom. Let me thank Representative Al Edwards. a constituent of mine and a State representative who can be called the father of Juneteenth in the State of Texas. establishing the first State holiday for African Americans. Juneteenth. June 19. here in the State of Texas that we have the opportunity to celebrate. He has not finished his work. for he continues to promote the Juneteenth Commission. and I am very proud that on Monday morning. we opened and christened the first Juneteenth statute in the State of Texas. This holiday. however. is spreading across the country as a symbol of freedom. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7567,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090149723,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So this is a major issue of social and economic justice. I am pleased to stand here with my colleagues in support of Congressman MILLERS legislation. the Fair Minimum Wage Act. It is time that we raise the minimum wage for 7 million Americans. It is time that we recognize their right to fully participate in the economic life of this Nation.","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1118,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090149727,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Committee. on Transportation and Infrastructure. H.R. 5076. A bill to amend title 49. United States Code. to authorize appropriations for fiscal years 2007. 2008. and 2009. and for other purposes (Rept. 109512). Referred to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union.","speaker_name":"DON YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":283,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090149777,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Doomsday. That is what the Democrats have to offer. But. actually. we have been waiting for weeks. months. actually over a year now for the Democrats to offer an agenda. and they did that last week. although agenda may be a little too strong of a word. It should be more appropriately called the Cliff Notes for Liberal Lunacy. Case in point. They say they need to require fiscal discipline. Is this some kind of joke coming from the Dems? This is the same party that has proposed $45 billion in new spending on this House floor to appropriations bills over and above what we as Republicans want to fund. Where do Democrats propose eliminating the deficit. by cutting the size of growth? Do they do that? No. They actually just want to go back to raising your taxes for all hardworking Americans. The Democrats are calling from the same old playbook: Promise. tax. spend. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK MCHENRY","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":948,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090149779,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of the impressive work our troops are doing to fight and win the global war on terror. Last week. we debated a resolution pledging our commitment to victory in Iraq. I was troubled by some of the rhetoric I heard coming from other side of the aisle. Many Democrats are still advocating a withdrawal policy. and that is a policy that is sure to fail. Mr. Speaker. we are making significant strides toward a secure Iraq and a more stable Middle East. At that critical moment. it would be a tremendous mistake for us to set a hard deadline for troop withdrawal. A deadline only serves to embolden the terrorists because they know they only have to hold out for a few more weeks or months. or 6 months. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1134,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090149780,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Democrats believe that the minimum wage should be a living wage. No American who works fulltime. all year. should live in poverty. unable to support their family. Last week at the committee level. Democrats were successful in inserting a minimum wage increase into an appropriations bill. But now. the Republican leadership says they will not permit a vote on the minimum wage. They will not permit a vote in this full House. It is time for real action to move hardworking Americans out of poverty. Seven million Americans deserve a raise today.","speaker_name":"BOB FILNER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":51.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1313,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090149788,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. House Democrats want to give minimumwage workers their first pay raise in 9 years. Can you imagine working 9 years and never have a pay raise? Gas went up. milk went up. housing went up. electricity went up. and the House Republicans are doing everything they can to avoid the issue. Last week. seven Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee voted with Democrats to increase the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 as part of the LaborHHS appropriations bill. but now the leaders of the Republican Party refuse to bring this bill to the floor. hoping they can skirt the issue until after election. Can you imagine if you had to wait till after an election to get some more money to buy that gas that is $3 a gallon? The Republican leaders must have done a lot of arm twisting over the weekend because when Democrats called for an increase in the minimum wage on another appropriations bill yesterday. not one of those seven who were with uslast week. who had the guts to be with us last week. were with us yesterday.. I just cannot understand why the House Republicans refuse to allow a floor vote on minimum wage. They will not do it because they know the American people will not vote for them if they do not increase the rate.","speaker_name":"STEPHANIE JONES","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1248,"word_count":226}
{"speech_id":1090149789,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today I want to commend Chairman McKEON of the Energy and Workforce Committee and Congressman TIBERI. who chairs the relevant subcommittee of that committee. Today. we are going to discuss on suspension a bill that they have created. the Senior Independence Act. which is the reauthorization of the Older Americans Act. They have done excellent work. and I also want to thank Congressman DANNY DAVIS. who has worked with me and I have worked with him to make certain that we also address mental health issues in. this bill. Last winter. -I had the pleasure of meeting Suzann OglandHand. who is one of my constituents. and whom I nominated -for the White House Conference on Aging. She is a mental health expert. and she helps large numbers of elderly people deal with their mental health problems. Clearly. this is an issue whose time has come. and I am very pleased that the bill we will be taking up today under suspension includes provisions that will take care of the mental health needs of so many Americans. large and small. and deal with all the different issues that the elderly face. I commend. again. Mr. MCKEON for bringing this bill to the floor. 01030","speaker_name":"VERNON EHLERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1177,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090149791,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In fact. increasing the minimum wage is one of our top priorities.","speaker_name":"LORETTA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":47.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1026,"word_count":12}
{"speech_id":1090149805,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank my friend from Branson for yielding. and I rise in strong support of this legislation. As my colleague knows. we have been focusing on the issue of accountability. transparency and greater disclosure as we look at the challenge of trying to put into place lobby and ethics reform which passed in this House with bipartisan support. We are still working with the Senate on that. And the notion of oversight is something that is a very important constitutional responsibility that we have. This measure that the distinguished majority whip has pursued is. I believe. very important in recognizing that greater transparency and disclosure is important. I do appreciate his commitment to ensure that as information comes forward. and his experience for 4 years as a college president demonstrates. that we will not. in fact. have to have a greater degree of transparency on what will be disclosed as to what is existing on the walls of those college dormitories. But I do believe that the American people should have an opportunity to gain access to as much information as possible when it deals with the awarding of these grants. I thank Chairman DAVIS and Mr. DAVIS and Mr. ","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1402,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090149825,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Money that could have been used to raise loan limits. eliminate origination fees. expand programs where people can pay back their loan as a function of their income. money that could have been used to increase Pell Grants was instead put into the economic priorities of this majority: tax cuts for the very wealthy. subsidies for corporate America and misadventures around the world. So here we are feebly extending existing terms of this bill. while millions of American families struggle with the very real problem of how to pay for a higher education. This is a missed opportunity. It calls for a radical change in the countrys priorities away from tax breaks for the wealthy. away from welfare for corporate America. away from misadventures around the world. toward educating and investing in the people of this country. Those changes in priorities are coming.","speaker_name":"ROBERT ANDREWS","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2032,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090149844,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"State and local levels to streamline access to programs. benefits and help for individuals to avoid institutional care. It encourages local area agencies on aging to work with city and county officials. State agencies and other community entities to plan for the aging across multiple areas. including land use. housing.. transportation. public safety and recreation. Among other things. Mr. Speaker. it advances the mission of evidencebased programs to assist older Americans and their family caregivers in learning about and making behavioral changes intended to reduce the risk of injury. disease and disability among seniors. The bill brings health care monitoring into the 21st century. providing grants specifically for the development of new practices and technologies. allowing physicians and other health care professionals to remotely monitor the health and wellbeing of our seniors either in the home or in communitybased settings. It encourages providers to deliver services in a manner responsive to the needs and preferences of older individuals and their family caregivers. Mr. Speaker. this bill also expands eligibility for the National Family Caregiver Support Program to grandparents and other relatives age 55 years and older who care for a grandchild or an adult childwith a disability. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK TIBERI","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5855,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090149850,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support for H.R. 5293. the Senior Independence Act of 2006. This important piece of legislation includes two amendments I authored along with my friend and colleague from Illinois regarding elderly abuse preventioA and \"cash and counseling.\" Findings from the National Elder Abuse Incidence Study. which was conducted by the National Center for Elder Abuse. suggests that more than 500.000 Americans age 60 and over were victims of domestic abuse in 1996. As shocking and profound as these numbers are. it is possible that they are on the low end as the problem remains greatly hidden. and cases go unreported. A few of these cases of neglect and abuse have surfaced in the papers. For example. an 82yearold East St. Louis man with diabetes who spent 2 weeks at a nursing home had to have his left leg amputated because he did not receive proper care. In another sickening incident. Chicago paramedics found a 94yearold man lying in bed unattended for so long that the bones had poked through his skin in several places. ","speaker_name":"JON PORTER","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2704,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090149858,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as an older American. I rise in strong support of H.R. 5293. the Senior Independence Act. which reauthorizes the Older American Act. And I want to congratulate Chairman TIBERI. who is not an older American. but he is getting there. as well as Chairman McKEON and Ranking Member MILLER and Mr.","speaker_name":"THOMAS OSBORNE","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":305,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090149884,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"GREEN of Texas and Mr. MICHAEL BILIRAKIS of Florida. and I would like to thank the 24 members of the Energy and Commerce Committee who have joined us as cosponsors of this bill. Again. I encourage all of my colleagues to support this legislation. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1237,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090149885,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of the bill before us today. which will reauthorize the community health center program through 2011. Over the years. the health center program has gained tremendous support from Democrats and Republicans. the Congress. and the President. a claim that can be made by very few Federal programs. This support is due to the overwhelming impact that health centers have made on the health and wellbeing of our countrys most vulnerable populations. In 2005. health centers provided care to 6 million uninsured individuals who represented 40 percent of the patient population at health centers. Ninetyone percent of health center patients are low income. and 36 percent are Medicaid. ","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4025,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090149889,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is estimated that the health centers save the Federal Medicaid 30 percent in annual spending through innovative care. Both the Institute of Medicine and General Accountability Office have praised health centers for their effective management of chronic illnesses and have said they are a model in screening and diagnosing conditions like asthma. cardiovascular disease. depression. cancer. and HIV\/AIDS. In addition. community health centers are estimated to be responsible for cutting infant mortality rates in the communities they serve by as much as 10 percent. Considering these facts. we should support the community health centers with additional funding. Less than 25 percent of applications. for new health center sites were funded last year. despite being qualified. It is also worth noting that when we db consider health information technology on the floor. we must exnsure appropriate Federal investment in grants and loans to ensure community health centers get access to the technology. While the unanimously passed Senate bill included Federal funding for lowincome providers. the Energy and Commerce bill. unfortunately. did not. Health IT has the potential to even further improve the quality of care at the community health centers. but the centers simply cannot afford the technology without extra help. I should note that New York City appropriated $27 million to help provide 1.000 New York City doctors treating underserved patients with electronic health record systems by 2Q08. The citys contribution is being matched by an additional $13 million contributed by the community health centers participating in the program. ","speaker_name":"ELIOT ENGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3127,"word_count":250}
{"speech_id":1090149897,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Medical care at community health centers is approximately $250 less than the average annual expenditure for officebased doctor visits. And keep in mind that over 30 percent of patients seeking care at a health center are uninsured. That is some 15 million people a year that seek care. Moreover. health center services save money and lives by treating diseases before they become chronic conditions. require hospital care or require a trip to the emergency room. I have with me here a list of the typical procedures that are offered at community health centers: Prenatal care. dental care. mental health care. substance abuse counseling. hearing and vision screening. They also offer discount prescription drugs. They provide vital case management for those with chronic illness. and keep in mind that 80 percent of health care costs go to those with chronic illness. Oftentimes. those complex cases require that sort of case management to help them meet the needs of their cases. They provide smoking cessation classes. blood pressure monitoring. weight reduction programs. and a host of other programs so vital to saving money in health care. It also provides a health care home for many folks. many clinics giving patients a card so they recognize this is a place where they know their doctor and their doctor knows them. ","speaker_name":"TIM MURPHY","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3924,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090149910,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am so pleased to join in support of this important bipartisan Health Centers Renewal Act. H.R. 5573. Each and every day health centers provide highquality primary and pre-. ventive care to our constituents. In Illinois. community. migrant. homeless and public housing health centers operate 268 primary care sites and serve close to 1 million patients every year. Community health centers do a great deal with limited resources. They provide critical medical care services to many who would otherwise have no other place to go or would end up in an emergency room. They provide early care and chronic disease treatment. keeping people healthy and productive. They are models of accountability and patient involvement. ","speaker_name":"JANICE SCHAKOWSKY","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2799,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090149914,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"BROWN. who we just heard from. the committee staff and their hard work on the bill. There are many of us on the committee with strongly held views about health centers. Some want higher authorization levels. while others sought certain changes in the statute. In the end we came together in a bipartisan fashion to ensure that our differences didnt overshadow our shared support for this important program. And that it has made a tremendous difference in many lives of our constituents. The bill before us today is truly an example of compromise within our committee. and I would like to thank my colleagues for putting together the good of the health center program above all else when it comes to this bill.","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1017,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090149937,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman for yielding. I rise in strong support of H.R. 5574. legislation to reauthorize the Childrens Hospital Graduate Medical Education program. Back in 1998. before my colleague from Ohio. Congresswoman PRYCE. and I authored this legislation. Childrens Hospitals residencies were getting .5 percent of what Medicare provided for other teaching hospitals. Thanks to that legislation that we authored and put in place a number of years ago. Federal GME support for Childrens Hospitals approaches 80 percent of what Medicare provides to other teaching hospitals. Yes. only 80 percent. Nonetheless. as a result. -Childrens Hospitals have been able to increase the number of residents they train. including both general pediatricians and pediatric specialists. increase the number of training programs they provide. and improve the quality of the training they provide and strengthen the programs they provide not only to residents but to the communities. Between 2000 and 2005 in my own State of Connecticut. the Connecticut Childrens Medical Center. increased the total number of fulltime equivalent residents by 31 percent. ","speaker_name":"NANCY JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1967,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090149938,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H.R. 5574. the Childrens Hospital GME Support Reauthorization Act of 2006. In FY2002. 59 childrens hospitals received payments totaling $276 million. These hospitals provide specialized health care for infants. children and adolescents. Most have a wide variety of pediatric specialists to care for all types of medical problems. The Childrens Hospital GME Support Reauthorization Act is of importance to me as it af-. fects many citizens of my congressional district. My district contains. 26 hospitals and many are childrens hospitals. In Chicago. Advocate Lutheran General Childrens Hospital recently opened the worlds first Ambient Experience pediatric radiology suite. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1437,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090149939,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to express gratitude for the passage of H.R. 5574. the Childrens Hospitals GME Support Reauthorization Act of 2006. This bill will extend funding through fiscal year 2011 for childrens hospitals that provide approved graduate medical residency programs. Hippocrates once said. \"Healing is a matter of time. but is sometimes a matter of opportunity.\" Kansas Citys Childrens Mercy Hospitals and Clinics continue to provide numerous opportunities for the children of Missouri and Kansas to receive the best pediatric healthcare available. The services Childrens Hospital Graduate Medical Education (CHGME) provides are invaluable. The $7 million received by Childrens Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in the Greater Kansas City Metropolitan Area trains 125 interns and residents from the University of MissouriKansas City Medical School each year. The CHGME program ensures that children will continue to receive excellent healthcare and our Nations pediatric health workforce will remain strong and competitive for years to come. Since Childrens Mercy Hospital in Kansas City is the only childrens hospital between St. ","speaker_name":"EMANUEL CLEAVER","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2849,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090149956,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. children are onethird of our population and all of our future. If our American way of life fails the child. it fails us all. Today. we have the opportunity to ensure the best healthcare. research and treatment is provided for our children suffering with cancer. Our investment In children will benefit not only their future. but ours as well. At present. 12.400 children have been diagnosed with cancer. Typically. cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in children under age 15. In 2005. cancer took the lives of 2.300 children. Our limited resources for childhood cancer* have hindered the recruitment of investigators and physicians into the field of pediatric oncology. Not long ago. cancer was seen as a death sentence. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1277,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090149957,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 323. which supports efforts to increase childhood cancer awareness. treatment. and research. Childhood is supposed to be a carefree and exciting time filled with joy and wonderment. Too many children. unfortunately. spend their childhood fighting for their lives against cancer. Cancer takes the lives of up to 2.300 children each year. It is imperative that we do more to combat childhood cancer. The number of childhood cancer survivors is growing. Progress is being made but more must be done. ","speaker_name":"MADELEINE BORDALLO","chamber":"H","state":"GU","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":2215,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090149973,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"ida. Madam Speaker. I rise today to urge the Senate to take immediate action to secure our borders. Our constituents have watched in disbelief and disgust as the Senate passed a noillegalleftbehind bill that gives instate tuition and Social Security to illegal immigrants. Rather than seal our gaping borders. the bill gives the green light to even more illegal immigrants to cross our borders. Though it would be a huge challenge to reconcile our varying bills. I ask my colleagues to stand with me to turn a terrible Senate bill into something that will secure America and make its citizens proud. I urge immediate action on a conference committee. so we can finally plug the holes in our border and show lawbreakers that Americans will not tolerate their disrespect for our laws.","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA BROWN-WAITE","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":782,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090149974,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. two new reports released yesterday make an open and shut case that the Medicare part D drug benefit is inadequate to meet the needs of Americas seniors. One report indicates that drug prices are increasing at four times the rate of inflation. The other report shows that the VA. which negotiates with the drug companies for better pricing. is paying 46 percent less for brandname drugs than the prices listed by Medicare plans for the same drugs. Is there any -better proof that we should have allowed the government to negotiate for lower prices when we had the chance? How can we explain or justify these exorbitant drug price increases to seniors? The drug companies say it is not their fault and blame. the insurance companies. . who return blame to the drug companies. There is really nowhere else to turn except to the Medicare bill. which continues to disappoint. frustrate and anger seniors. Part D works just fine for the drug companies and the HMOs. but it is not working for those seniors who. through no fault of their own. havent signed up for a plan and will pay for the consequences of a bad plan for the rest of their lives. Like our energy policy. which coddles oil companies earning record profits. the Republicans flawed health care policy built around part D rewards the pharmaceutical industry. another coddled industry. at the expense of one of the most vulnerable segments of our population. our seniors.","speaker_name":"TIMOTHY BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1440,"word_count":248}
{"speech_id":1090149984,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am proud that the 4th Infantry Division. which is in my district. and the 1st Calvary Division have been active participants in making life better for the Iraqi public. And. Mr. Speaker. I honor them by standing here today and say I fully. support Americas war on terror and the war in Iraq. And I apologize that I was not here for the debate. but I am grateful for all those who stood up for the United States of Americas effort in the battle of Iraq.","speaker_name":"JOHN CARTER","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":31.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3478,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090149990,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Reali. 4. Master Sergeant Joseph J. Andres. Jr. 5. Sergeant Myla L. Maravillosa. 6. Specialist Anthony 0. Cardinal. 7. Specialist Sergio Gudino. 8. Specialist Dane 0. ","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3224,"word_count":26}
{"speech_id":1090150000,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The winner is chosen by a panel of their peers. as well as business and community leaders. They are remarkable people. Chris Brown originally planned on getting an MBA. but his wife encouraged him to become an educator. and as she said. he \"just fell in love with it.\" He earned a bachelor of arts and bachelor of science degree from Utah State. and then he taught social studies at Bear River Middle School for 6 years before going on to become a principal now at his fourth elementary school. EJ 1545 Chriss focus has been on the students. and it goes beyond the school grounds. Every summer he visits every student who attends Corinne Elementary School to understand their home environment. to reach a friendship with their families. as well as to set goals for the upcoming year. He. works hard to ensure that children from all walks of life are provided with the best educational experience. Chriss wife Sharon. who is also an elementary school principal. says. that to Chris. everything about his job is being with the students. He feels an administrative position should give him time to be closer to students. He is in the classroom every day. He teaches social skills to his students every year. ","speaker_name":"ROB BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4170,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090150023,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And we are told that Ohio. the State that I represent. might be the next State to unwisely rent one of its major assets to a foreign nation. Human. Events magazine recently had this description. It said. \"The North American Super Corridor Coalition is a notforprofit organization dedicated to developing this international. integrated multimodal transportation system along the international midcontinent trade and transportation corridor.\" Where does that sentence say anythling about the United States? Still. this group has received $2.5 million in earmarks from the U.S. Department of Transportation to plan this NAFTA superhighway as a 10lane. limitedaccess road. plus passenger and freight rail lines running alongside pipelines originally laid for oil and natural gas. One glance at the map of the NAFTA superhighway on the front page of NASCOs Website will make clear that the design is to connect Mexico. Canada and the United States into one transportation system. But guess what is going to happen? If you look at what is going on in Mexico. guess where Mexico is getting most of the parts to put into their production? Not from the United States. They are getting them from China. ","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6172,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090150029,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I know he will be smiling. knowing that the same call to serve and the same desire to give back to the community that motivated him to seek and serve on the Clark County Commission was at the very heart of his daughters campaign. Catherines campaign for Attorney General of Nevada. Manny Cortez was born on April 29. 1939. in Las Cruces. New Mexico. the oldest of two children of Edward Cortez. a baker. and the former Mary Tapia. The Cortez family moved to Las Vegas in 1944. As a youngster. Manny attended St. Josephs grade school and graduated from Las Vegas High. Manny Cortez attended Nevada Southern University. which later became my alma mater. UNLV. and received an honorary degree from Community College of Southern Nevada. ","speaker_name":"SHELLEY BERKLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5171,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090150039,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There are two belief systems here. There is the Republican belief system that says. cut taxes -for millionaires. give corporate welfare to the oil and health care industries. okay. That is their belief system. Lets make sure that the pharmaceutical industry has no ability or we dont have any ability to negotiate down the prices with them. That is their belief system. But the Democratic belief system is that everybody needs to pay their fair share and make some sacrifice. Why is it just the middle 61ass. the poor and the small business owner making all the sacrifice while the wealthiest people get their tax break. Our belief system is that they need to pay their fair share. those making more than a million a year because they are benefiting from the largess of the United States of America. and we need to take that money and investit into research and development. stem cell research. 21st century technologies. broadband for every household. making sure that our schools are functioning. No Child Left Behind is funded. and that we reduce the amount of interest that you have to pay on a college loan. Mr.. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2592,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090150056,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. SPRAT. I am so glad that you are here because here I hold a letter that former Secretary Snow wrote you about the emergency situation we are in of raising the debt ceiling. Again. Mr. Speaker. thirdparty validators. U.S. Secretary Snow. who is like the accountant. or used to be the accountant. of the United States of America. literally begging you. wrote you a letter and said. We have to raise this thing or I am going to have to shut down normal government operations.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":476,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090150059,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thought it was a diversionary tactic. But I have to acknowledge that those budget process rules had an enormous impact on the success we achieved. moving the budget from $290 billion in deficits when George Bush left office in 1992 to $236 billion in surplus in the year 2000. PAYGO. he said. works. And he recommended that it be renewed. extended in its old form. affecting both tax cuts and entitlement increases. That was Alan Greenspan saying it accounted for a lot of the success of the budget discipline we displayed in the 1990s.","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1054,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090150065,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Twentythree years. And in that time period I know you have seen always checks and balances. whether it is the House. the Senate. or the administration. The problem that we are experiencing now is that we have every branch of government controlled by Republicans. whether it is the House. the Senate. or thle administration. And so therefore there is no restraint. That is why 77 percent of the American people say that Congress is out of step with them.","speaker_name":"CORRINE BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":453,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090150096,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Senator is absolutely right. I want to say to my friend. people are calling for bipartisanship in the Congress. Here we had it in the Senate. We have the Senator from Massachusetts who has a certain political philosophy and the Senator from Arizona with a certain political philosophy. they have locked arms with Democrats and Republicans of all political philosophies. and we came up with a tremendous piece of legislation. If there is something wrong with our legislation. lets go to conference on it. We would be happy to visit with them. Lets not say we are not going to work with you. We want to have a conference and work out legislation that will protect our borders and give the American people what they need. We have to do this.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":742,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090150109,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Prophet Amos exhorts the people of Israel. \"Hate evil and love good. and establish justice. Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an everflowing stream.\" Then. and now. the assembled people of God are called upon to establish justice for lowwage workers. whose cries are so often heard across our land. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the letter and the signers be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1508,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090150133,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator. I would note we wrestled before Y2K as to how many highskilled foreign workers the U.S. needed to let in for that periodyou and I both discussed that in the Judiciary Committee and whether it would adversely impact the wages of highskilled American workers. I would say that the current rate of immigration. legal and illegaland I believe there is a growing consensus that supports this viewhas depressed the wages of lowskilled American workers. I would ask the Senator if he would dispute the fact that the immigration bill he introduced would have greatly increased the number of immigrants into the country and wouldnt that have further adversely impacted the wages of lowskilled American workers?","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":737,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090150152,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Last week. the House Appropriations Committee accepted an amendment offered in the committee by my able colleague. Congressman HOYER. to raise the minimum wage to $7.25. It was accepted by the committee on a bipartisan basis. The bill had been scheduled to come to the House floor this week. but it has been pulled from consideration. News reports suggestI hope wronglythat the House leadership wants to avoid a debate on the -minimum wage until after the November elections. Mr. President. we should pass the Kennedy amendment to raise the minimum wage. It will lower poverty. reduce inequality. and provide vital income gains to 15 million workers and their families. I thank the Chair.","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3605,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090150160,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Six million more Americans are. uninsured because thei cannot afford coverage. Since President Bush took office. gas prices have more than doubled. In many places the price of gas exceeds $3.00 per gallonsomething many working Americans have to buy just to get to work. In my home State of Massachusetts working families have faced gas price increases of $1.41 a gallona 94 percent increase. Yet rather than rewarding work. the Republican leadership would rather reward oil and gas companies with sweetheart deals. Since President Bush took office. the cost of a 4year college education has increased by nearly $8.000. or 57 percent. at public universities and nearly $21.000. 32 percent. at private universities. Yet instead of working to ensure that American families can afford to send their kids to college. our Republican leadership is more interested in working to cut $12 billion from college student aid. increasing the costs of loans. and freezing Pell grants for higher education. These are the wrong priorities. Raising the minimum wage is not just an economic issue. it is a moral issue. It is a question of values. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6796,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090150173,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"How many soldiers who are over there fighting in Iraq. mothers or fathers. might have been earning the minimum wage? What are they fighting for? They are fighting for American values. American values are to treat people fairly and with respect. Increase the minimum wage. and we will have taken a very important step down that road. Mr. President. I understand my time has expired.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2560,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090150175,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would quote the Senator from Massachusetts again who said: Minimum wage jobs dont get you out of poverty. they keep you in poverty. Until we get a Workforce Investment Act passed around here that increases job training for 900.000 people a year o they can get higherskilled jobs so they can get the jobs of the future. not the jobs of the past. we. are going to have problems with the minimum wage and poverty. . We need to be able to give people more choices. not less choices. There is a definite difference in philosophy. We think that free enterprise can work and that it is working and that it does work. and also that States rights work. States are changing the minimum wage to match the economy of their State. Although. if they have really good jobs. they will attract people. I hope. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1512,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090150197,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. I would make the same statement on behalf of our side. that Senators who do wish to speak in support of my amendment let us know. and we will try to work in as many as possible. There is a great demand for time. but it would help us a great deal to know who it is who seeks to speak. and we will try to sequence people to the best of our ability for the convenience of everyone.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":395,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090150206,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It doesnt set out fixed milestones once the phased redeployment has begun. So while it does nbt establish a timetable. it does establish a fixed. but not precipitous. time for the beginning of a phased redeploymentby the end of this year. Beginning the phased redeployment of American troops in 2006 would send a very clear message to the Iraqis: We have been in Iraq over 3 years. We have lost 2.500 brave Americans and suffered more than seven times that number of casualties to make it possible for Iraq to become a free Nation. You. the Iraqis. must now decide whether you want a civil war or a nation. Madam President. sending that message to the Iraqis and ending the openended U.S. policy towards Iraq will prod the Iraqis to take the necessary steps to end the dominance of the militias. will reduce the Iraqi dependence on the U.S. security blanket which deters tough choices by the Iraqis. will change the perception that we are permanently occupying Iraq. a perception which plays into the hands of terrorists. will reduce the number of U.S. targets for terrorists and insurgents. and will reduce the strain on U.S. forces. Supporters of our amendment are just as determined to maximize prospects for success in Iraq as are the opponents of our amendment. We do not accuse opponents of our amendment of wanting failure or of advocating surrender to chaos and terror. We do believe that maintaining the status quo and the openended commitmefit. which is the hallmark of that status quo and that openended commitment. and adhering to a bumper sticker slogan of \"stay the course\" is a recipe for continuing instability and failure. Sliccess isnt assured in any event. but letting the Iraqis know that we are not there for as long as they want us is key to avoiding a culture of dependency. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10237,"word_count":311}
{"speech_id":1090150248,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is the road they took America down in 2002. It was a dead end for our country then. it is a dead end now. The politically motivated resolutions put forth by leading Republicans to gain tactical partisan advantage are a disgrace. In so doing. they have broken faith with those who .serve and those of .us who support our troops and who work for the success of this mission. It is wrong. plain and simple. to turn this serious debate about our policies and national security into a partisan squabble designed to mislead voters. This is politics at its worst. played over war. And that is no way to honor the service and sacrifices of our troops and their families or to find a better way forward in Iraq. Like many in this Chamber. I have traveled to Iraq and to Afghanistan. I have met there and here with tough. smart. patriotic men and women who fill me with tremendous pride. ","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10478,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090150298,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to discuss the situation in Iraq and to ask several questions about the withdrawal proposals being offered by the other side. Why would we risk our success by a premature withdrawal? Why would we risk handing over Iraq to the terrorists when they are on the run? Why would we send a message to the families who had loved ones die fighting for freedom that it was all in vain? Why would we pass legislation that calls for the withdrawal of our troops and that undermines everything we have achieved? These same questions are being asked by many of my constituents in Colorado. According to the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. a key newspaper in Colorados western slope: President Bush and Congress are right not to set a date certain for moving all the troops out of Iraq. That would signal terrorists they only need to hide out until the Americans leave. then reignite their attacks. . And it would tell others that our commitment to freedom in the Middle East is limited. I ask unanimous consent that the editorial from the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1101,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090150310,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. before I speak on these amendments. I will share with my colleagues three amendments I have introduced. The first amendment will double the current referral bonus from $1.000 to $2.000. which will encourage more men and women to enter the U.S. Armed Forces. The second amendment will provide statutory authority to the Army to pay $8.000 dollar enlistment bonuses to individuals who enlist in Officer Candidate School. The Army has made this promiseand this amendment provides statutory authority to fulfill that promise. And finally. I have offeredwith Senators CRAIG. HUTCHISON. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8571,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090150362,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. if the Senator will yield. I will just yield a minute to myself. I compliment the Senator from Missouri. That was a heartfelt message. I hope Mr. Dean gets it verbatim because your son. whom I have watched grow up through these many years. is proud to be a United States Marine and to take on his duty. Mr. President. I wish to advise colleagues at the hour of 5 oclock this debate -on the Levin amendment is concluded. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":918,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090150397,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the Presiding Officer. The National Security Adviser of Iraq said the following in yesterdays Washington Post: We envisage the United States troop presence by years end to be under 100.000. That is a reduction of 30.000. That is totally in keeping with what the LevinReed amendment proposes. That is the Iraqi envisioned timetable. We want to hold them to that vision for their sake and for ours. Then Mr. Rubaie. the Iraqi National Security Adviser. said the followingand these are words which every one of us should soak inthat the removal of foreign troops will legitimize Iraqs Government in the eyes of its people.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":627,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090150409,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the Senator would yield. I totally concur that this next amendment should be brought up and debated in an orderly way. but that being agreed upon. I would hope. between the sponsors of that amendment and the chairman. the Republican manager. So I do not think there is any need for me. frankly. to intervene in that process. Perhaps you could hear from the Senator from Massachusetts as to what his plans are and how he plans to proceed. I think that would be helpful.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":471,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090150418,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So that we dont chew up all the time trying to figure out how to chew up the time. let me suggest that we agree that we have 20 minutes quickly divided between the Senator from Illinois and the Senator from Vermont. Then if Senator FEINGOLD and I could open for the time that we need. and then it would be up to the Senator from Virginia: He obviously would want to have an appropriate amount of time to respond.","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":412,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090150456,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the Chair. and I thank my distinguished friend from Virginia. Senator WARNER. I have an amendment. I would at least like to debate it or have some time to speak on it. I was hoping that I might be able to speak for not to exceed 30 minutes on my amendment. I would like to throw that in the mix.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":303,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090150507,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will say to my good friend and colleagueand my remarks are not predicated on the fact in all likelihood that he will cast a vote which will be supportive of the views that this Senator and others on this side of the aisle have stated. but I say out of the long time that we have worked together to those Senators who may not remember it that I was tasked to draw up the first resolution in the Gulf War when George Bush. Sr.. was President. The Senator from Connecticut stepped up and joined me. It was known as the. WarnerLieberman amendment at that time. Subsequently. when the second resolution was to be drawn up. I again was joined by Senator LIEBERMAN. Senator MCCAIN. and Senator BAYH. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1288,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090150513,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"\"Mom. were risking our life every day. all the time. permanently.\" She told the press that Patrick told his commanding officer twice that he was fired upon by Iraqi troops. He told his dad the same thing and his dad told the press that his commanding officer said. and I quote his dad: \"That he should keep his mouth shut.\" Mrs. McCaffrey said she wants the story to come out because she believes there are other instances of Iraqi troops turning on our soldiers. This is a story that is all over the news. It is emblematic of what this war is turning into. This week. we all were devastated to hear of the cruel and savage killing of two United States soldiers who were reportedly tortured in a barbaric fashion. These soldiers were manning a traffic check point when they were captured by insurgents. A third soldier also died in the attack. Every day we hear of a new tragedy from Iraq. Why? Because more than 3 years ago. our President launched a war that was based on false premises. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7233,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090150516,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It directly addresses the most pressing issue facing the American people today. Last week the very distinguished Senator from Kentucky. Mr. MCCONNELL. offered an amendment similar to that of Senator KERRYs. It was offered up as a sacrificial lamb. and a procedural motion was made to either kill the amendment or to continue debating it. I was one of six Senators who voted to continue debate on that amendment. Some may seek to ascribe my vote as a vote for the substance of Senator MCCONNELLS amendment. But I ghall speak for myself. As I have told Senator KERRY. my vote was not for the substance of Senator MCCONNELLS amendment. My vote was to continue debate on the most important issue in our country today. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10389,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090150522,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my colleague from South Dakota for yielding time to meon this very important topic that we are dealing with today. and I also thank my colleagues from Massachusetts and from Michigan for raising these issues. As Senator THUNE was stating. this is an important debate. It is time we had this debate. It is the right vehicle for us to have this debate. and I think it is helpful for us to have this debate for the United Stateg as we move forward.","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":468,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090150528,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Not now. I have limited time. and I want to make this statement. if I may. That we can. at the appointment of our military leaders. start pulling our troops away from the Sunni Triangle so we can have the Iraqis taking over more and more of the security in more dangerous areas. I think that is an important thing for us to say here in this debate as well. that in opposing setting a timeframe for pulling out. we are not opposing changing tactics. or if our military leaders say it is time. we can start pulling troops down. lets do it. I want that to take place. But it should be the military leaders doing this. without the dictates of us saying here that we are just going to set an arbitrary timeframe for us to pull on out of this region. I think it sends the exact wrong signal. particularly at this point in time wheh we have momentum that we have gained and we have an Iraqi government in place. Frankly. through the help of this debate. we are sending a message to the Iraqi people and their government that the United States is not in this for an unlimited period of time. We do expect the Iraqis to step up. You have to step up in taking more of this on and moving more of this forward. ","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2055,"word_count":232}
{"speech_id":1090150550,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This was a war of choice. not a war of necessity. The Bush administrations record in Iraq represents a massive failure of leadershipa massive failure of Presidential leadership. Let me be clear. While I did not support the war. I have always supported the troops on the battlefield. Our troops have succeeded in the tasks they were given. They have fought for freedom and security in the most difficult of situations. They have risked their lives to protect ours. And the Nation is indebted to them for their service. In New Jersey. over 3.169 New Jerseyans are serving in Iraq or Afghanistan and 71 service members with ties to New Jersey have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country in Iraq or Afghanistan and our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT MENENDEZ","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11728,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090150586,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. if that is all that gets in the way of this. Mr. President. I am confident we can find expediting language or other language that would resolve it. But I will tell you. Congress is going to be dealing with this issue next year at this time if we dont change this policy. Like it or not. we are going to be here debating it one way or the other.","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":350,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090150587,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That may be true. but I will ask another question.. Drop down to paragraph 3. \"maintenance of overthehorizon- troop presence.\" \"The President should maintain an overthehorizon troop presence to prosecute the war on terror and protect regional security interests.\" Where would those troops. in all likelihood. be put?","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":316,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090150598,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"How are they going to do that? By standing up these 400.000 security people. The faster they understand they have to go out and do it. the faster the violence is going to subside. Either they make it or it \"aint\" makeable because we cannot make it for them. That is the bottom line that people have to understand.","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":939,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090150617,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We are going back and forth. and I am about to relinquish the management of the bill to my good friend from Alabama. The parliamentary situation is we remain on the bill. and debate can continue on the bill. We are not going to try and have time constraints. We are trying for the benefit of this infrastructure that has to remain in place and such Senators who may be listening to determine who would like to speak and for what period of time. That is all I am trying to ascertain.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":482,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090150640,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I remember it very vividly. Senator LEVIN was there. He questioned these individuals quite thoroughly. as did I. and as did you. And it is clear there is an unfortunate dichotomy that the Sunni people are. in large measure. responsible for those areas--al Anbar and\" Baghdadwhere this great instability and insurrection takes place today. At the same time. I think the Sunnis should recognize that it is the participation of the United States and the other coalition partners that gives them the security against the majority of the Shiites who could revolt in such a way and challenge them and their future. So let us hope that this government. which is a unity government with Sunni representation. can take hold. But it must be given the opportunity to send its roots down. to gain its stability and give it a chance. This amendment. in my judgment. would send the wrong signal and strip them of that chance.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":911,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090150643,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"First. it states that the United States should not maintain a permanent military presence or military bases in Iraq. Second. it states that the United States should not attempt to control Iraqs oil. . And. third. it states that the United States Armed Forces should be redeployed from Iraq as soon as practicable after the completion of Iraqs constitutionmaking process. or December 31 of 2006. whichever comes first. My resolution is identical to the resolution introduced in the House of Representatives by Representative MIKE THOMPSON of California with at least six Republican cosponsors. As far as I know. it is the only Iraqi resolution introduced that has bipartisan support. So I introduced the same measure here in the Senate. I continue to believe that only this resolution offers a clear. unambiguous. principled standa stand that can produce the results that we all want. \" Only when the Iraqi Government faces a firm timetable for U.S. redeployment will it have the incentive to resolve its internal differences and stand on its own two feet. And only when our government faces a firm timetable will it make urgent policy changes necessary to right our course in Iraq. President Bush has it exactly \"backwards. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11425,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090150650,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to speak about an amendment that I intended to offer to the Defense Authorization bill to address the situation in Guantanamo Bay. Cuba. The amendment would have required that the United States charge. repatriate. or release individuals held at Guantanamo within 180 days of the enactment of the Defense Authorization bill. If for some reason the Government failed to comply within the timeframe provided under the amendment. the Department of Defense would have to provide a report regarding why they have not complied. The amendment would not have closed Guantanamo. and nothing in the amendment would have required the Government to release individuals who are a threat to our national security. I thinlc this is a reasonable approach. These are all options that the President has said that he is moving forward on. I have decided. however. not to offer my amendment at this time for a number of reasons. ","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2226,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090150652,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I called this omission to the attention of the committee and introduced legislation to rectify the situation.- I was pleased to be joined in these efforts to fix this problem by Senators MIKULSKI and BINGAMAN. Mr. President. I am pleased to say today that DOD has done the right thing by modifying the TRICARE criteria for screening colonoscopy so that all averagerisk TRICARE beneficiaries over age 50 have access to this important cancer screening test. This new policy. which is retroactive to procedures performed since March 15. 2006. is good news in the ongoing battle against colon cancer. and I would hope that DOD would disseminate widely the news of the availability of this important preventive service.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1867,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090150653,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I understand one of its purposes was to provide hunting opportunities for disabled veterans. Yet it should be pointed out that in California today. there are already nine military installations that permit hunting five that can accommodate disabled service members. Two of these military installations. Camp Pendleton and Vandenberg Air Force Base. are adjacent to the Channel Islands National Park. and allow disabled veterans to hunt a variety of animals including deer. waterfowl. quail. feral pigs. small game. and coyote. All together there are over 100 U.S. military installations where hunting is permitted. over 70 of which are currently accessible to disabled servicemembers and veterans. Consequently. I strongly believe that the Park Service should continue managing this National Park for the benefit of the general public. It is simply unfair to the taxpayers to allow a provision in the House version of the Defense authorization bill to impede on the publics right to access the island.","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3122,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090150662,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"These men and women selflessly served the people of Mississippi during one of the worst disasters ever to confront our country. One of them. I should point out. is part of the Senates extended family. Chris Ogden. an RN. is the daughter of our own Joy Ogden. manager of the Senates Appointments Desk at the North Door of the Capitol. To Chris. and to the more than 400 like her who brought hope and comfort to Hancock County. I offer the heartfelt gratitude of all the people of Mississippi.","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1820,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090150665,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Barbara was followed by six sons. Theodore. Robert. Ronald. Raymond. Richard. and Stephen. During their years together. their business. Brooks Construction. and later Brooks Concrete. was always known for quality work but. most importantly. for integrity. Bill was also a founding officer of the South Dakota Air National Guard where he served until he retired as a lieutenant colonel. Then. as now. guard service required sacrifice. ","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1986,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090150669,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I wish to pay tribute to the 125th anniversary of the founding of the city of Webster. SD. Webster is a vibrant community and an asset to the State of South Dakota. It is the county seat of Day County. Webster is an excellent destination for outdoorsmen. Hunters will find an abundance of ringneck pheasant. as well as many duck varieties. Canada geese. and doves. Anglers will enjoy the excellent fishing at nearby Waubay Lake and many other area glacial lakes. For the winter months. miles of snowmobiling trails run around the town and the rest of Day County. ","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1541,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090150680,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In 1994. the Senate agreed not once. Senator DURBIN. as the former chair but twice. to approve DSHEA by unani- of the House Agriculture Appropriamous consent. The House also passed tions Subcommittee. is one of the most this bill by UC. It was not controver- knowledgeable Senators in this body sial. when it comes to FDA matters. Members recognized that supple- Our collaboration on this legislation. ments are largely safe. But just to along with the distinguished chairman make doubly sure there was adequate .and ranking minority member of the regulation. we provided the FDA with committee of jurisdiction. the Health. an arsenal of tools to take action. Education. Labor and Pensionsagainst problematic products. HELPCommittee. both of whom were integral to this process. has produced a bill which strikes the right balance between necessary regulation and overregulation. This is how the new system will work: Manufacturers. packers or distributors of OTC drugs or dietary supplements marketed in the United States must provide to the FDA within 15 business days any reports of a serious adverse event associated with their products. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12309,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090150683,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to announce for the information of the Senate and the ptblic that a hearing has been scheduledbefore the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. The hearing will take place on Wednesday. June 28. R006. at 10:30 a.m. in room SD366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. DC. The purpose of this hearing is to consider the nomination of: Marc Spitzer. of Arizona. to be a Member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the term expiring June 30. 2011. vice Nora Mead Brownell. resigned. For further information. please contact Judy Pensabene of the Committee staff.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":615,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090150690,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Indian Affairs be authorized to meet on Wednesday. June 21. 2006. at 9:30 a.m. in Room 485 of the Russell Senate Office Building to conduct a hearing on S. 480. the Thomasina E. Jordan Indian Tribes of Virginia Federal Recognition Act of 2005. and S. 437. the Grand River Band of Ottawa Indians of Michigan Referral Act.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":381,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090150704,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday. June 21. 2006 at 2:30 p.m. The purpose of the hearing is to review the Government Accountability Office Report entitled \"Wildland Fire SuppressionLack of Clear Guidance raises concerns about cost sharing between Federal and Nonfederal entities\" (GAO06570).","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":463,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090150708,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on Commerce. Science. and Transportation- Technology. Innovation. and Competitiveness Subcommittee be authorized to meet on Wednesday. June 21. 2006. at 2:30 p.m. to hold hearings to examine accelerating the adoption of health information technology.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":315,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090150830,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the last 24 hours will tell you everything you need to know about what is wrong with this Congress: hold up voting rights. knock down the minimum wage increase. relieve the superrich of responate taxes. keep fight and die in hat. by the way. Lnd it is paid by e class. Our new ited We Stand. rofit. tax legislation. rely described as t. IDLE. beildren of billionmillionaires of rillion dollars in ears starting in payer loss of revfrom our schools re and from senasier for a camel of a needle than heaven. Here in rrich ride elekeys. to get to where they pay","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":571,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090150832,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise to pay tribute to a courageous hero of the war on terror. Private First Class Steven William Freund. Steven Freund of Pleasant Hills. Pennsylvania. attended Thomas Jefferson High School. and he loved to hunt and fish and do just about anything outdoors. He joined the Marines and served in Iraq for 6 months. already escaping two separate roadside bombs. It was dangerous there. and he knew that. but he strongly believed in and was dedicated to Americas mission. But on May 23. Private Freund made the ultimate sacrifice for his mission and the Nation he loved. ","speaker_name":"TIM MURPHY","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1345,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090150833,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this Congress has been consumed with giving tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. and it is time we look at some of the average Americans and facts about the minimum wage.. Congress has not raised the minimum wage since 1997. The minimum wage is now at its lowest level in 50 years adjusted for inflation. Does anyone really believe it is possible to make even the most basic ends meet on $5.15 an hour? A minimumwage worker working full time all year will earn just $10.700. It takes a full days pay for a minimum wage earner to pay for one tank of gas today. 6.6 million people will benefit from a rise in the minimum wage. Eightysix percent of Americans support the rise in a minimum wage according to. a Pugh poll in December of 2005. It is time this Congress listened to the American people and minimumwage workers. and it is time that we act.","speaker_name":"RUSS CARNAHAN","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":864,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090150835,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Bush economy continues to be. unfriendly to Americas workers. Earlier this month. we learned that employers added only 75.000 jobs to their payrolls in May. about half of what we need just to keep up with normal growth in the labor market. Wage growth was disappointing again in May. continuing a pattern in which workers cannot get ahead of rising costs in gasoline. housing. health care. and on education for their children. even though their productivity keeps growing. The benefits of economic growth under President Bush are showing up in the bottom lines of companies and in the pockets of shareholders. but not in the paychecks of Americas workers. Mr. Speaker. this country needs a new direction.","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":721,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090150838,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Committee on Rules may meet the week of June 26 .to grant a rule which would limit the amendment process for floor consideration of H.R. 4973. the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2006. Any Member wishing to offer an amendment should submit 55 copies of the amendment and one copy of a brief explanation of the amendment to the Rules Committee in room H312 of the Capitol by 12 noon on Monday. June 26. 2006. Members should draft their amendments to the text of the bill as reported by the Committee on Financial Services. Members should use the Office. of Legislative Counsel to ensure that their amendments are drafted in the most. appropriate format and should check with the Office of the Parliamentarian to be certain their amendments comply with the rules of the House.","speaker_name":"DOC HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":807,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090150845,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself as much time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I think it is worthwhile just to put a little bit of the historical context on this issue because it has been around for some time. In the 106th Congress. for example. in the year 2000. the House passed a bill to phase out the death tax in 10 years and permanently repeal it. When it passed the House. it got 279 votes. obviously bipartisan. Sixtyfive Democrats voted for it. In the other body. in the Senate. it passed the Senate with 59 votes. obviously on a bipartisan basis. ","speaker_name":"DOC HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2389,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090150849,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It was the very nascent time of socialism on the world stage. and America embraced this principle of redistribution with the estate tax in 1916. Let me just say that I believe death taxes are immoral. I believe it is morally wrong to make death a taxable event. I believe it is also morally wrong to say to small business owners and family farmers and any American. whatever their means. that after a lifetime of obeying the law and a lifetime of paying your share honestly and legally to the Federal Treasury that we will make your death a taxable event. So I want to say today that I still believe that we ought to repeal the death tax. and the legislation we will consider under this rule does not repeal. but I want to say that it is relief and it is progress and this Congress should embrace it. The estate tax relief provided in previous legislation is scheduled to end in 2010. and what we will pass today will literally bring permanent estate tax relief to millions of American families. especially increasing the exemption to $5 million per person effective January 1. 2010. So let me emphasize that what we will do today is not repeal. but it is relief. and I want to recognize that progress.and embrace it. Let me close with a word of caution to our colleagues who may think of this as a starting point. that this is a deal. Mr. Speaker. that we can send down the hallway and we can negotiate from: let me say. having spoken to many of my colleagues who share my belief that we should repeal this onerous death tax outright. that if this is the deal. it is a good deal for the American people. ","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2795,"word_count":298}
{"speech_id":1090150862,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the rule before us allows only one alternative. You know. it has been said before but it deserves repeating today: As our troops fight for democracy. in Iraq. we ought to show that we can have democracy on the floor of the House. I went to the Rules Committee with another alternative for reforming the estate tax. and to have on a partyline vote the majority refuse to allow the Members of this body to even consider any other alternative but the Thomas proposal. in my opinion. does violence to notions that this is a deliberative body where ideas can be considered. The bill before us is not a reform bill of the estate tax. it is virtual repeal. and make no bones about that. virtual repeal of the estate tax. Look at this chart. The cost of the alternative I advance and have not been allowed to offer is 40 percent the cost of repeal. Our early estimates on the full phasedin cost of the Thomas proposal is that it will lose 80 percent at least of the revenue of full repeal. That is not a compromise. I bet you are going to hear some of these guys say we are going to compromise. ","speaker_name":"EARL POMEROY","chamber":"H","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3994,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090150869,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. this is a good bill. This is a good rule. The material previously referred to by Ms. SLAUGHTER is as follows:","speaker_name":"DOC HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":765,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090150877,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. House Resolution 886 is the rule that provides for debate of H.R. 4890. the Legislative Line Item Veto Act of 2006. As a member of both the Rules Committee and the Budget Committee. the two committees of jurisdiction for the underlying legislation. I am pleased to bring this resolution to the floor for our consideration. The Legislative Line Item Veto Act is the product of years of work on both sides of the aisle in Congress and at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. The original Line Item Veto Act was signed into law in April of 1996. It was later found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in its 1998 ruling on Clinton v. The City of New York. In each Congress since 1998. there have been multiple proposals from both parties to give the President constitutional line item veto authority. ","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3815,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090150878,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the President seeks to cut excessive spending and lower the deficit. he. meaning this President. should adopt the traditional means he already. possesses before seeking expanded authority. Americans might have less trouble keeping their heads above water if they were not being overwhelmed with the red ink flowing in Washington. D.C. The truth of the matter is that this President has no need to use his power to veto when he can convince the majority in Congress to strike sections of legislation that go against the Presidents political agenda. In fact. in the more than 5 years that President Bush has been in office. he has not used the veto authority he currently possesses to veto a single piece of legislation that would lower our deficit or reduce the debt. Who knew that in the year 2000 the Supreme Court would choose Americas first prime minister and relegate Congress role to that of an advisory committee. Someone said recently that this Republican Congress has been simply a rubber stamp for the President. I politely disagree. My view is that at least a rubber stamp leaves an impression. We have heard. and we will continue to hear. that almost all our Governors have something akin to line item veto authority. ","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3130,"word_count":210}
{"speech_id":1090150926,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank my colleague from Florida. and special thanks to Mr. RYAN for his hard work trying to thread the needle and bring forward a bill that is constitutional. which. while not perfect. certainly is an important step in the right direction. Why is this an important step? It shines the light on specialinterest spending. whether it is earmarks or whether it is specialinterest tax breaks. Citizens Against Government Waste estimated that there were nearly 10.000 of these specialinterest projects in last years appropriations bill. totaling $29 billion. and so it is. in my opinion. extremely appropriate that we shine the light on this specialinterest spending. The substitute. which our friends on the other side of the aisle have talked about. would have further restricted this bill to make it almost meaningless by exempting large swaths of the Federal spending from this rescission authority. We need to go forward with this bill. I would remind my friends on the other side of the aisle. it has bipartisan support. There were four members of the Budget Committee that voted for it. ","speaker_name":"JEB BRADLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1215,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090150976,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Where is our compassion for people who really do need our help? Two hundred eightythree billion dollars for the wealthy. nothing to help people who are trying to struggle with a college education. How about the doughnut hole in Medicare? We know seniors cannot afford it. How about using some of that money to deal with the Medicare prescription drug bill. or how about paying down our deficit? I would hope that both Democrats and Republicans would agree that our first priority should be to pay down our deficit. The problem. Mr. Speaker. is that we are not dealing with the problems of typical families. Instead. we are dealing with those who do not need the help. I urge my colleagues to reject this legislation.","speaker_name":"BENJAMIN CARDIN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2359,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090150980,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as I look around the House today. there is scarcely a dozen people on the floor. so they must be somewhere else. probably watching this on television. So those of you who have just tuned in on television. you are watching not the House of Representatives. but the theater of the absurd. What has gone on in this floor this morning and will continue in this afternoon is absolutely absurd. The first thing we did was we refused to consider a bill to raise the minimum wage. The minimum wage has been the same since 9 year ago. $5.15 an hour. This is what ordinary Americans consider a starting wage. and this House will not do it.","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":642,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090150981,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas","speaker_name":"WILLIAM THOMAS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":747,"word_count":13}
{"speech_id":1090150988,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We could have given 4year scholarships to 14 million students to public universities. We could have provided worldwide AIDS programs for 29 years. And we could have provided for every child in the world basic immunization for the next 96 years. Our priorities are upside down.","speaker_name":"XAVIER BECERRA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":31.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2209,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090150994,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Thank you. Mr. RANGEL. very much. What the other side wants you to believe today is that this is tax relief for the average American. What the majority whip said a couple of moments ago was interesting. He said the economy is growing. we have to keep the economy growing. He cleverly neglected to mention the deficits are growing. the insurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan are growing. You need the money to pay for those things. You know what this is? This isnt for hardworking families. This is the Paris Hilton Tax Relief Act. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD NEAL","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3860,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090151003,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it is a real pleasure to yield 4 minutes to a member of the Ways and Means Committee who has been a stalwart on this issue. who has been in the forefront and is one of those whonot only knows this issue from an intellectual point of view. but who has lived it with his family. the gentleman from Missouri","speaker_name":"WILLIAM THOMAS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":317,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090151010,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Everyone that works there is a family. And when you put a business at risk by requiring it to be sold simply to pay taxes. you put every job in that company at risk. If you have 25. if you have 50 employees. you are putting every single one of those jobs at risk by selling the company to someone you dont know. They may live somewhere else and they may move the business or reduce it or do whatever when you lose control. If you really care about working families. you would not ever allow a business to be sold simply to pay the taxes. And like many of my colleagues. I support full and permanent repeal. This is a step in the right direction. I urge my colleagues to support it.","speaker_name":"CHRIS CHOCOLA","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1183,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090151024,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. in a letter to a friend. Benjamin Franklin wrote that \"In this world. nothing is certain but death and taxes.\" The two will soon go hand in hand unless Congress acts to fully and permanently repeal the Death Tax. After a lifetime of paying taxes the Death Tax unfairly imposes a double tax on small. familyowned businesses and farms. Our family farmers appear rich on paper. but in reality are two poor growing seasons from bankruptcy. The Death Tax does not discriminateit just forces the family to sell off the land to another larger farm in order to pay the tax. If Congress truly cares about the family farmer the best thing that can be done is to kill the Death Tax. Mr. Speaker. most small business owners have the entire value of their business in their estate. With the Death Tax. the government immediately \"inherits\" a 37 to 55 percent piece of the estate. a blow that many family businesses and farms cannot survive. ","speaker_name":"BILL SHUSTER","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1730,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090151029,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Instead of seriously facing our massive deficits. were talking about adding to them. Instead of instituting real. clear tax reform. we are talking about a tax rate that is not even defined outright in this bill. I have been willing to consider certain creative proposals that would allow individuals to voluntarily prepay their tax. but this proposal is a nonstarter. If we pass this legislation. who will pay for the deficits? This bill will add $750 billion to the national debt over 10 years. Who will pay that price? Certainly not those who can best afford ittheyre the ones who are reaping the benefits. This bill gives a small portion of the richest people in this country a gift and asks the middle class and their children to pay for it. Mr. Speaker. I urge my colleague to reject this false compromise. Its time to stop passing special interest legislation like this and start focusing on real reforms that benefit all Americans.","speaker_name":"CHRIS VAN HOLLEN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2836,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090151048,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. one may wonder how germane is it when we are considering a bill that 7.500 families will be the beneficiary at the cost of $800 billion. as opposed to what I am raising in the motion to recommit. and that is the lives of 6.6 million.working people that really are working at the minimum wage. So there is a difference in how we perceive what we are doing today. whether the hundreds of million of people that work every day should be sacrificed at a cost of close to $1 trillion when. in fact. we are talking about 7.500 families that have not worked fol the money but are going to inherit the money.","speaker_name":"CHARLES RANGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":613,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090151062,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. under the rule in consideration of this bill. the minority was allowed a motion to recommit. A motion to recommit Was offered. It wag clearly on its face nongermane.. The Chair has just ruled that that socalled motion to recommit was nongermane. However. under the rules. that nongermane bill was read. It amounts to a political pamphlet.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM THOMAS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":351,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090151065,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Yes. The offer of the motion to recommit would have been exhausted. and I would simply say if that is not the case. they could offer another 10 partisan tracts on the argument that it is a motion to recommit. make the same arguments. and never violate the rules. and that is not under the spirit of the rules.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM THOMAS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":309,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090151081,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. you can run over us. We understand that. We do not have the votes. But you called the vote. Mr. Speaker. and we were in the process of a vote. and he had not been recognized at that point. Now. the fact that he was seeking recognition or not is irrelevant.","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":269,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090151093,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The gentleman from California rises. just as he did previously. to gain recognition to indicate that I move that we table .the motion to lay the bill on the table of the objection of the gentleman from Maryland on the ruling of the Chair. So I now have a lay on the table of two objections of the ruling of the Chair.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM THOMAS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":317,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090151111,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Speakers recollection is different than mine. The Speaker propounds and the Parliamentarian advises that apparently you began. Frankly. we were in the process. You had called for the ayes. the ayes had been made. and you were then about to call for the nays. So I would suggest it was not a question that you had begun and then saw that the gentleman from California had risen and then sought to recognize him. What you did was. after asking for the ayes. which were enunciated. you then stopped the vote and then recognized the gentleman from California. My question to you. therefore. you did not respond to. Once the vote is in progress. and I suggest to the Speaker and those who might advise him that the RECORD will reflect that the vote had been called. it is in that context that I again ask you. Mr. Speaker. not if you had started. but. in fact. we were in the progress of a vote.","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":894,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090151169,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As our country moves away from its agriculture roots. we must constantly reach out to our urban and suburban colleagues. Now we would face the real possibility that the President would veto the spending priorities that we set with input from all of agriculture. and. in my opinion. this could threaten the very delicate balance that we must maintain in the committee. If we pass this bill and .allow the President to cancel any new direct spending item. we will gut the Agriculture Committees ability to create farm policy that addresses the new and changing world that our producers face. In closing. I want to remind my colleagues that in 1993. when Democrats controlled the Congress and the Presidency. we reduced spending $192 billion over 5 years. Why is it that the Republicans can only hand us more deficit spending and a spiraling debt? This Line Item Veto Act is an admission. in my opinion. of the inability on the other side to control spending. This bill fails to recognize what we should be doing: working together in Congress and with the White House to set priorities and to spend the taxpayers money responsibly.","speaker_name":"COLLIN PETERSON","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2187,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090151170,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I think the gentleman from Minnesota will be happy to know that under the way this bill works. you cannot go after mandatory programs in the farm bill that already exist. So you cannot go back and take a commodity program out. Mr. Speaker. I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished Member from Florida","speaker_name":"PAUL RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":311,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090151173,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But the real issue. if we are going to get serious about getting back on fiscal track as a Nation. is we have got to go to what has proven to work. And what worked in the 1990s was something very simple called payasyougo. It required tough budgeting decisions on both the spending and the revenue sides that led to 4 years of budget surpluses where we were paying down the national debt rather than increasing the debt burden for our children and grandchildren and. even more importantly. becoming more dependent on foreign countries such as China to be financing our deficits today. I am one of the institutionalists around here who feel that we have ceded too much power. too much control. too much authority to this administration or future administrations. And if anyone in this Chamber wants to stand up and claim that we are a coequal branch of government today. they are fooling themselves. This legislation will make it even worse.","speaker_name":"RON KIND","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2365,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090151174,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. given that my friend from Wisconsin voted for virtually the same bill 2 years ago when Charlie Stenholm and I had it on the floor. I hope we can count on his support again. Mr. Speaker. at this time I yield 1 minutes to the gentleman from Texas","speaker_name":"PAUL RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":257,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090151175,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Common misperception holds that the President has the final say on items that he wishes to eliminate. but this is not correct. Under this legislation Congress has the final say. The President can recommend. but it is up to Congress to vote up or down on his particular cuts. Congress retains the power to say \"no.\" There is no threat to our constitutional powers of the purse. I To address the concerns that the line item veto is a political tool. I urge my colleagues to keep in mind that neither party has a monopoly on the executive branch. While the President is of one party today. this can certainly change tomorrow. I urge my collebgues to vote for this bill that helps restore accountability in Washington and restores the faith of our constituents.","speaker_name":"HENRY CUELLAR","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1499,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090151179,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin for what he has done and for yielding. Mr. Speaker. I would just like to.add this as my own personal perspective. I was a State legislator and lieutenant governor and I was a governor. So I had this both used in a situation in which I was worried about it. in a situation in which I used it. and then I came to Congress and I actually introduced legislation on this early on and later was a cosponsor of that legislation which became law and was later overruled by the Supreme Court. I have heard a lot of arguments today. and I have listened to this both in the rule debate and here pretty intently. And there were discussions like. oh. we are taking away revenue at the same time we are trying to do this. how can this be fiscally responsible? This is not all that big a deal. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CASTLE","chamber":"H","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2478,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090151180,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume to address an issue that Mr. RYAN spoke to just a moment ago. This bill does apply to new direct spending items. Now. there could be some disagreement over what that means. but direct spending is mandatory spending. it is entitlement spending. and under that broad rubric falls Medicare. Medicaid. Social Security and veterans benefits. The reason we are very concerned about broadening the reach to include mandatory programs like that is that these are programs people depend upon. and what this bill essentially does is create a fast track. a 30day turnaround. The President sends a bill here. we cant amend it in committee. we cant amend it on the floor. we only have an upordown vote. we have a limited amount of time for debate. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1191,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090151182,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. at this time I would. like to respond to something that the gentleman\" from South Carolina said. He said under this bill we could go after mandatory programs like Social Security. Medicare. veterans benefits. Juhe 22. 2006 Let me be very clear: you cannot with this program go after Social Security. Medicare and veterans benefits as we know it today. We are saying new programs. ","speaker_name":"PAUL RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1099,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090151209,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"H.R. 4890 supporters claim that this bill does not violafe the Constitution. I am skeptical of this claim since giving the president the power to pick and choose which parts of legis.lation to sign into law transforms the president into a legislator. thus upending the Constitutions careful balance of powers between the Congress and the president. I doubt the drafters of the Constitution. who rightly saw that giving legislative power to the executive branch would undermine republican government and threaten individual liberty. would support H.R. 4890. Mr. Speaker. it is simply not true that Congress needs to give thepresident the line item veto power to end excessive spending. Congress can end excessive spending simply by returning to the limitations on government power contained in the United States Constitution. The problem is a lack of will among members of Congress to rein in spending. not a lack of presidential power. Congresss failure to do its duty and cut spending is no excuse for granting new authority to the executive branch. In conclusion. Mr. ","speaker_name":"RONALD PAUL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2401,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090151224,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the motion to recommit concerns entirely the budget process. It is germane and completely germane to the budget process. We add to the bill or would add to the bill the socalled pay.asyougo provisions which were the law of the land from 1990 to 2002. We reinstate that as a complement to. and it is complementary to. the other powers granted by this bill. It relates to entitlement spending. The bill relates to entitlement spending. So this is well within the ambit.of the subject matter of this bill.","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":516,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090151238,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Now. the other thing. it permits amendrients to strike. I understand the intent of this. I think it is valuable. but the problem I have with permitting amendments to strike is that then you are going to pingpong back and forth with the House and Senate. You will see no end to this. The reason why we do not allow amendments to conference reports is because conference reports represent a conclusion of a legislative process. the end of a legislative process before a bill becomes law. But that is where a lot of mischief happens. and mischief occlurs because people insert earmarks in conference reports. I think by doing this you are going to encourage that. Even if you try to come up with language to streamline the conference report process. I still -think this produces those problems. Lastly. ","speaker_name":"PAUL RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4931,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090151263,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is obviously. from our perspective. I think from your perspective. a very important bill and we thought we had bipartisan agreement on the bill. It came out of committee. as you know. in an overwhelming bipartisan vote. Do you have an expectation of when we might see that bill on the floor? I yield to my friend.","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":318,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090151265,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I appreciate the gentlemans comments. Obviously we share the view that this is an important bill. We understand that the act has some time before reauthorization needs to be done. but in light of the fact that it came out of committee with very bipartisan support. and Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. WATT. and others worked very hard on this bill. we are hopeful it can move as soon as possible so the Senate can itself consider it. The next bill that we had thought was going to be on the calendar last week. the LaborHealth bill. is not listed for this coming week. I have noted some of your comments in the papers. but obviously this bill. as you know. includes an increase in the minimum wage. which was voted out of committee on a bipartisan vote. and we believe that if it is brought to the floor. it will be approved on a bipartisan vote. But can the gentleman tell me what the expectations are for the LaborHealth bill? I yield to my friend.","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":941,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090151272,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Yes. The bill came out of committee. but typically the rules of the House dont allow Members to legislate on an appropriation bill. and I think there are a lot of people who believe that is legislation on an appropriation bill. So there are some concerns about it. And let me be fair. There are other issues with the bill beyond the provision that was authored by my friend from Maryland.","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":388,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090151288,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They get hundreds of millions of dollars. The CEO of Exxon makes $18.000 an hour. A woman in Girard. Ohio. who fills her tank with gasoline from ExxonMobil that lives on the minimum wage makes $11.000 a year.","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":879,"word_count":38}
{"speech_id":1090151313,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We were. actually taking in more and paying down some of that debt. But in the last years since 2000. w6 have just gone on a wild spree. and we have gotten ourselves deeper and deeper in debt. People like me worry about that because my children are going to pay for it. not me. In fact. it may be my grandchildren that pay for it. There are two categories of debt that you have to worry about. One. of course. in this country is personal. debt. Now. lots of people bought houses in the last year. last years. 5. 6 years. and they have been buying houses because the interest rates were low. They were buying on interest only. or they were buying on ARM. that means adjustable rate mortgages. and all of those had a term. an adjustable rate of 4 or 5 years. and those.ARMs are coming due now. Because of what is happening in terms of the dollar and in terms of inflation. the Feds are raising it every month. Since March of 2004. the ARM rate has gone up 59 percent. and it could easily jump 50 percent when these adjustable. rates happen. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4203,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090151325,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to start by commenting about a previous 5minute speech given by Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. and I want him to know how much I appreciate his representation of his district and sharing with theHouse some very vital and important information. As he mentioned. we will be considering legislation that will be dealing with the issues that he pointed out. Mr. Speaker. again. we are glad to be here. the 30something Working Group. to come to the floor with the help of so many of our colleagues. Tonight we have a special guest. Mr. RYAN.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":552,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090151360,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"My father used to say. if I have $5 and beef costs $5. I am going to buy me a pound of beef for $5.","speaker_name":"STEPHANIE JONES","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1063,"word_count":25}
{"speech_id":1090151363,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"A lot in the Ways and Means Committee. They will have about tax law. about accountability or what have you. trying to find the ways and the means of bills that come through that committee. and the Democratic Members are not even called. A conference report comes to the floor. and they have not even seen it. Not that they werent willing to sit down. with the Republican majority. saying. We want to work with you and see how we can work in a bipartisan way. They dont even get the notice for the meeting. So the meeting takes place. it comes to the floor. and the rules that are in the House rules. it smacks the theme of the rules and also the spirit of the rules and the rules. period. about the minority partys being informed about these meetings. So one thing that our leader has said: When we take control. there will be a bipartisan spirit in this House. and we will work together with the Republican minority. if the American people see to it.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":951,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090151366,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I mean. this is very simple. They have their beliefs. we have our beliefs. And we -need the American people to affirm those beliefs at the ballot box. And I believe in November. Ms. TUBBS JONES and Mr. MEEK. that the American people are going to affirm the beliefs of the Democratic Party because we are ready. willing. and able. We have the will and the desire to go out and lead. Put us in coach. We are ready to rock and roll.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2361,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090151371,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And whatever business you have. your customers are going to have more money to go and spend. This is the basic difference that we have between what the first President Bush called \"voodoo economics.\" which is the current system we are in right now. the implementation of the neoconservative agenda. That is what is happening right now. And if you are happy with what this system is yielding for you and your family. then you need to continue to vote for the Republican Party. But if it is not effective for you and your family. then you need to look for alternatives. and that is what we are doing here. But the Democratic Party is saying raise that minimum wage and give these small businesses more customers to go out and purchase their products.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":748,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090151373,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I would like to make a point. because when you raise the minimum wage. you raise the wages for all people who are participating in the labor market. Lets take for example our friends at WalMart. okay? If you raise the minimum wage. now. if you dont work at WalMart or somewhere else of that caliber of a store that hires so many millions of peoplo around the country. they are all going to get a boost. So instead of companies like WalMart making billions and billions and billions in profits. some of that money will make its way back to the workers. so all the workers will get a couple dollars more an hour. which means you are going to have consumers with more money in their pocket so they can pull it out and go buy more goods. which will stimulate the economy. The American people right now are feeling they are not benefiting from what is happening. I think a raise in the minimum wage would do that. it would accomplish that. it would give demand a spark. which is obviously what we want to do. Then. like we have talked about here. investing in sewers and roads and bridges and infrastructure and get this country back where it needs to be with .our infrastructure. so that we could build industrial parks and roads and bridges and increase commerce in the United States. extend broadband. All of these things will stimulate the economy here in the United States of America. educate our kids. get information into the households. and. at the end of the day. you have got a strong country.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1498,"word_count":274}
{"speech_id":1090151390,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the night before last. I went home and my wife told me: You have to be home tomorrowthat is. Wednesday nightbecause at 9 oclock all nine Democratic women Senators will be on \"Larry King.\" I did get home in time to watch the nine Democratic women Senators on \"Larry King.\" When I came to the House of Representatives. there were 22 women in that huge 435Member body. Now I think there are 62 or something like that. I dont know the exact number. I was elected to the Senate in 1986 with BARBARA MIKULSKI. As indicated last night. she is the dean of the Senate women. She is certainly the dean of those nine Democratic Senators there. Having experienced the Senate. a body of 100. with hardly any women. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2077,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090151397,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I yield to myself such time as I may require. I thank the Senator from Arizona. He has been a very strong voice. not only in this debate but all debates. Once again. to me. the debate today hinges around getting this new Government. in which we have invested an awful lot over these 18 months in life and limb. dollars. and in every other way. up and running. It is now running. Mr. President. I have just left a meeting with the Secretary of Defense. the chairman of the Joint Chiefs. and General Casey. the field commander in Iraq. who were briefing a few of us this morning. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":975,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090151418,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President: This plan continues support for Iraq. There is no drop dead. no depart. no ultimatum. It gives them a deadline to stand up. but it provides the President the ability to continue to train if that hasnt completely happened. The fact is. this amendment permits us to accomplish the job. General Casey has saidhow many times does the commanding general have to say it?-this war cannot be won militarily. The only way to do this is to bring parties together and resolve the political differences that are feeding the insurgency. How much time do I have remaining?","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4755,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090151430,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Unlike last year where I sat down and was able to work out with him a conciliatory. bipartisan amendment which got threequarters of the votes of the Senate. it just. in the form he presented it. was not an option this time. Therefore. regrettably. we approach these critically important votes with far greater partisanship than I had hoped. I had hoped we would have greater bipartisanship. But my basic message to America and to my colleagues is that we have put an enormous investment into these conflicts. both in Iraq and in Afghanistan. We are focusing today on Iraq. but we have to look at the others. Madam President. 2.500plus Americans have lost their lives and left families and loved ones grieving. and 18.000 have survived their wounds and are working to reestablish themselves. many going back into uniform or having never left uniform. but remaining in. which is to their everlasting credit. but others receiving the love and the care of their families and their communities in which they live. There has been enormous sacrifice. We have dollars incalculable in amounts. Also. what we have on the line is the credibility of the United States of America. The voice of this Senate will be recorded momentarily. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4910,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090151494,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The House Defense Authorization bill granted the request. It makes plain. good business sense that the Senate do the samethat we give the Department what it needs. I also support this because. as indicated by the principal sponsor of the amendment. the distinguished senior Senator from Georgia. this authority will save money. We are going to hear something to the contrary. but the contrary evidence is from reports that do not apply to the 20peryear acquisition of the F22. That is what we are trying to do. That is what the Defense Departments final studies were based uponacquisition of 20 per year. for multiple years. A multiyear procurement of this nature would net a savings of between $225 million and $325 million. It seems to this Senator that this is precisely what we ought to be doing. We ought to be doing more of this. not less. Is anybody doubting we are going to buy this many of these Raptors? I dont hear that talk. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2992,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090151497,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"However. with the great advancements in technology over the past several years. the F15 has struggled to keep pace. For example. the F15 is not a stealth aircraft and its computer systems are based on obsolete technology. My colleagues should remember that the F15 first flew in the early 1970s. During the ensuing years. natiQns have been consistently deyeloping new aircraft and missile systems to defeat this fighter. Obviously. we need the F22 and we have identified a means to save money while we are buying it.","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2335,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090151499,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The F22 experienced an initial operational capability delay of 9 years 9 months. initial operational test and evaluation delayed 5 years 3 months. full rate production delay of 5 years 3 months. low rate initial production. 4 years 9 months. first delivery of operational aircraft delayed 4 years 7 months. first flight delayed 2 years. and completion of critical design review delayed 1 year 4 months. The record is not good. In fact. the record is terrible. In 1991. the estimated cost. according to the U.S. Air Force. for the aircraft was going to be $114 rillionin thenyear dollars. now. $354 million per copy. This programnot atypicallyhas experienced significant delays and cost overruns. which. by the way. maybe we will get into at some point. Then they received incentive bonuses. even for violations of NunnMcCurdy. We are not talking about the purchase of F22s. What we are talking about is. are we going to violate the basic principles and the law which requires certain cri-. teria to be met before multiyear acquisition of these aircraft? The report prepared by the Comptroller General of the United States clearly states that four of the six criteria set forth in the law have not been met by the Air Force. They have not been met. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2044,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090151517,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Finally. on the issue of saving $225 million: from what? Because the Air Force. on May 16. 2006. stated that an additional $674 million is needed to fully fund the multiyear program being proposed. So is that savings of $225 million out of the $674 million of additional costs or does it mean there really isnt an additional $674 million. that they sent over. that they need? So that has to be sorted out as well. So again. I restate to my colleagues that literally every outside organizationCRS. CBO. GAOall of them believe not that this weapons system needs to be canceled. not that it needs to be delayed. but we do not need to embark on a multiyear lockin acquisition of this weapons system. which no doubt has very great value. I hope my colleagues will agree with the distinguished chairman and me that this amendment should be rejected at this time. Mr. President. does the Senator from Michigan wish to speak on this?","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2370,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090151519,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will be opposing the Chambliss amendment. although I am both a supporter of the F22 and a supporter. generally. of multiyear contracts. Where they Mneet the criteria for multiyear contracts. I am very supportive of them because of. mainly. the money that can be saved. I oppose this amendment with some reluctance. Again. I very much support. and have supported. the airplane. And I. in general. like the multiyear approach. where it meets the criteria. But some of the criteria have not been adequately met. for instance. whether the multiyear contract would result in substantial savings compared to using annual contracts. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2107,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090151523,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There are few. if any. programs that have had more oversight by the Senate Armed Services Committee than this program. We have examined it in great detail in hearings each year from concept to procurement. We have \"examined the technology. the acquisition plan. the development process. and the production issue. And we have examined the costs in substantial detail. In some years we have put on cost caps to force spending discipline. and in other years we have slowed down production to align the request with the reality of the backlog. But despite the challenges of building the worlds most capable fighter. we have decided. and the full Senate has decided. that this is a critical program that should and must continue. And the U.S. Air Force has argued it needs the F22 to continue. There is a very compelling reason for this decision\" Air dominance is absolutely essential to American military dominance and American security in the 21st century.. Our military has had that dominance since World War II. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3871,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090151540,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"While he was making reference to the Senator from Minnesota. I think the chairman was off the floor when the Senator from Minnesota. Mr. DAYTON. made some very glowingly positive and affirmative remarks about our chairman and abouthow he was really delighted to be able to cosponsor the amendment which had been introduced to name this bill after our beloved chairman. I wanted to make sure that he was aware of that and could look up those remarks later.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":455,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090151578,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"These are real. not hypothetical. threats to the United States and its allies posed by these ballistic missiles. These missiles are threats that require a multifaceted response. not the least of which is by means of an effective ballistic missile defense system. I would imagine that over the past 5 weeks. the Department of Defense has been carefully watching the arrival and fueling of TaepoDong missiles at its launch pad on the eastern coast of North Korea. And I would suspect that our missile defense capabilities have been carefully integrated into our diplomatic and deterrent options for dealing with the situationa situation that Secretary Rice said is an \"abrogation of obligations\" of North Korea. a path not of compromise or peace \"but rather instead to once again saberrattle.\" So our Secretary of State has called the situation correctly. The Nation and Congress should heed her words. While I have no direct knowledge of any administration plans beyond what is being said in the press. I would hope that our U.S. Navy ships. which are capable of tracking and potentially intercepting ballistic missiles. have been ddployed in the area. I saw this part of our fleet last year when I was in Pearl Harbor right after they conducted a series of successful intercept tests -in the Pacific. I would also hope that the groundbased midcourse defense system. with missiles deployed in both Alaska and California to provide protections against longrange missile attack. has been activated in case it is needed. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12010,"word_count":249}
{"speech_id":1090151580,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think that is a mistake. but that is not the issue on this amendment. This amendment would authorize $45 million. mainly for testing. mainly to improve the likelihood that a missile which has been deployed will in fact do the job. Since I have been one who has been arguing regularly for more testing. more realistic testing. more operational testing. it seems to me that I can very readily support funding which is going to go to more testing. which is really what this amendment is all about. We have not had a single successful intercept test with an operational system. There have been two failures with this operational system. We -dont know if our system would work. We obviously want it to work if we are going to have it. Since this amendment basically is going to increase not only the pace of realistic flight testing of this groundbased. midcourse defense system but also is going to accelerate the ability to conduct concurrent testing while the missile defense operations ate going on. since in both instances the focus is on testing and making sure that this system will work if ever called upon. I accept the amendment. I have no objection to it and. indeed. support its purpose. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2182,"word_count":210}
{"speech_id":1090151583,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to speak on behalf of the amendment sponsored by the Senator from Alabama. concerning the need to add an additional $45 million to the Missile Defense Agency for testing and operations of the groundbased midcourse defense. GMD. system. In December of 2002. the President directed the Department of Defense to begin fielding an initial set of missile defense capabilities that included groundbased interceptors for the defense of the United States against the longrange ballistic missile threat. Given our total vulnerability to that threat. the Missile Defense Agency chose to begin the simultaneous fielding of missile defense interceptors even while developmental testing continued to validate the effectiveness of the system. While this is not a conventional acquisition approach. I believe it was prudent given the emerging ballistic missile threats we expected to face. Recent North Korean preparations for the test launch of a longrange ballistic missile confirm the wisdom of the administrations approach: we need to have an emergency missile defense capability in place. even while development and testing of the system continues. Moreover. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4233,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090151606,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"paid for airline tickets that were neither used nor processed for refundamounting to about 58.000 tickets totaling more than $21 million. Based on limited data provided by the airlines to GAO. it is possible that the unused value of the fully and partiallyused airline tickets that DOD has purchased could be at least $100 million during the lifespan of DTS. GAO also found that DOD sometimes paid twice for the same airline ticket through DTS. Based on GAOs mining of limited data. the potential magnitude of the improper payments was 27.000 transactions for over $8 million. In GAOs latest report. January 2006. they examined agencies that continue to use existing legacy travel systems at locations where DTS is already deployed! This means that all of the proclaimed savings that DTS was supposed to reap are nowhere to be foundbecause DOD continues to use legacy systems to do the same thing. A blatant example of the waste from the use of these two systems can be seen in the way that travel vouchers are processed: According to an April 13. 2005. memorandum from the Assistant Secretary of the Army. Financial Management and Comptroller. from October 2004 to February 2005. at locations where DTS had been deployed. the Army paid the Defense Finance and Accounting Service. DFASthe system where the majority of DOD payments are routed throughapproximately $6 million to process 177.000 travel vouchers manually. or $34 per travel voucher. versus about $186.000 to process 84.000 travel vouchers electronically. $2.22 per travel voucher. Overall. for this 5 month period. the Army reported that it spent about $5.6 million more to process these travel vouchers manually as opposed to electronically using DTS. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1944,"word_count":279}
{"speech_id":1090151628,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It will be well received by our troops. It will be good for them and their families. Quite honestly. the level of com-. mitment. the level of Active Duty service is on par with World War II among the Guard and Reserves. and it is the least we can do. This will certainly benefit our guardsmen and reservists and their families. I appreciate the chairman and ranking member putting it in the managers package. I have enjoyed working with Senators CHAMBLISS and CLINTON on this issue. The reduced retirement provision was from Senator CHAMBLISS. It was his amendment. And we used his amendment also to improve health care for the Guard and Reserves. What we have donethere is a threetiered system. ","speaker_name":"LINDSEY GRAHAM","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3972,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090151666,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that at 3:45 p.m. today. the Senate proceed to stacked votes in relation to the following amendments to the Defense authorization bill: Chambliss No. 4261. Sessions No. 4471. as modified. I further ask that there be no amendments to the amendments in order prior to the votes and that after the first vote. all rollcall votes be 10 minutes in length. further that there be 2 minutes equally divided between each vote after the first.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":472,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090151717,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to discuss amendment No. 4528. This amendment honors Representative . JOEL HEFLEY. Congressman of Colorados 5th district. for his outstanding service to the people of Colorado and to our Nation. As you may know. Mr. President. Representative HEFLEY made the decision earlier this year to retire after 2 decades of service in Congress. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3286,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090151720,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Our military men and women should not have to worry about these problems while defending our country. We cannot wait until an incident occurs within the Department of Defense that compromises the security of our military members. The federal government must be proactive. The feasibility study I have proposed has a reasonable finish date of six months from enactment and would give the Depattment ample time to study this issue and find a selfimposed solution.. Social Security numbers are not included on drivers licenses or passports. Colleges and universities are using generic numbers for student identification rather than Social Security numbers. It is time the Department of Defense provides this important safeguard for our troops.","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1828,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090151732,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President.- I wish to speak about an amendment I offered to the 2007 Defense authorization bill that would be very beneficial to the members of our Reserve -Component. The amendment would award them 15 days of paid leave at the endof their deployment. provided they have been deployed more than 6 months and have been deployed in a combat zone. The members of the Reserves and National Guard face a different situation and different challenges when they return from combat than do those on active duty because they return to civilian life and civilian jobs almost immediately. In many cases I believe it happens too soon. primarily for financial reasons. The need to return to their jobs as soon as possible means Reservists and Guardsmen have little or no time to make what can be a difficult adjustment. Combat experiences may never be forgotten. especially by those who are not professional soldiers. but a chance to begin to do so. to talk to people if that seems appropriate. would be very helpful. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a very real disability. We must do whatever we can to help our citizen soldiers avoid it. And to help those who get it despite our efforts. ","speaker_name":"MARK PRYOR","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2181,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090151734,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"My starting point. then. and I know the Senators agree. is that we need strong Buy American provisions for purchases of specialty metals from the Defense Department. There have been some complaints about administrabilitysome of which are legitimate but some of which unfortunately I think may be driven by opponents of Buy American rules in and outside the administration. I think the legitimate concerns can and should be addressed with -some minor tweaking and appropriately limited waivers. If material of the right. quality or grade is not available in the United States. the Pentagon could exercise its existing waiver authority. We could pass legislation that could improve that authority. If lax enforcement has led to a buildup in foreign inventories. we could create a temporary \"get well period.\" If a few offtheshelf items should not be included under the Berry amendment. lets figure out what they are and exempt them. But I worry we have gone much further than that. The Senates bill introduces a number of new concepts that I am not sure we fully understand individually. and I am very concerned we do not understand how all of these different concepts will interact together. Let me be clear about one thing. Outside of the U.S. companies. there is only one other worldwide producer of aerospacequality titanium. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4226,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090151766,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. as a result of the extraordinarily hard work. dedication. and cooperation. on a bipartisan basis. of every one of our committee members. and our extraordinary staff. as well as the assistance of really superb floor staffs on both sides of the aisle. we have just seen a unanimous passage of the Defense- authorization bill. As I mentioned before. this is a real tribute to our chairman. I am going to save all the accolades. however. for still a later time. When the chairman brings back a conference report. we will then. hopefully. have enough people here on the floor who can both join in the kudos and hear the applause for our chairman. Our staff loses a great deal of sleep to get this bill passed. And there is never enough attention that is paid to staff. No matter how many times we take a moment to just say thanks to our staff. it never comes close to paying the tribute which is really owed to them. Charlie Abell. who is the majority staff director. is. just a wonderful human being as well as a gifted professional. He and all the other members of your staff. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1523,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090151784,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank our colleague from Missouri. He worked very diligently on this amendment. It is another example of how we must reach down from time to time and provide a caring hand for particularly those young men and women in uniform today who. unfortunately. can be victimized because of their individual needs and requirements at a special time. I believe this amendment will go a long way to remedy that situation. I congratulate the Senator for his hard work.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":472,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090151805,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would just like to take a moment to express some accolades to my fellow colleagues who are on the Senate floor and say .that it is an honor and a pleasure to have an opportunity to serve on the Armed Services Committee under the leadership of the chairman. Senator WARNER. as well as the ranking member. Senator LEVIN. It has also been an honor for me to serve on the Appropriations Committee under the leadership of Senator BYRD. as well as the chairman. Senator COCHRAN. It is the institutional memory that they bring to the process that so many of us appreciate. It is the bipartisan approach they take to solving our legislative problems that brings some peace and understanding. I think. to this process. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1003,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090151806,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my. colleague from Colorado. I must say that he is my eldest daughters Senator. She lives in his State with her husband and child. and therefore I have a very special affinity for the Senators from Colorado. I have known them for years. My only regret is that the Senator once served on the Armed Services Committee. but he could not resist the temptation of joining our esteemed colleague. Senator BYRD. on the Appropriations Committee. I have seen many Senators succumb to that same temptation. At any rate. the Senator from Colorado will always have a place on our committee should he wish to return someday. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":655,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090151816,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to commend Marilyn Wills. the director of Nevadas State Health Insurance Assistance Program. for her efforts during the implementation of the Medicare drug program in my State. I would like to recognize Marilyn for not only her service to Nevadas Medicare beneficiaries. but also for her dedication to her profession and her contributions to the community. As most of us have surely heard from beneficiaries. the enrollment period for the new drug program was a time of great stress. confusion. and frustration. As seniors. people with disabilities. and their loved ones tried to understand the complicated new drug benefit. decide whether to sign up. and then find the best drug plan to join. many found themselves overwhelmed. And with the May 15 enrollment deadline looming. it became increasingly clear that the public needed better in-. formation and better help using that information. I commend Nevadas State Health Insurance Assistance Program. or SHIP. for heeding this call in my State. Hundreds of SHIP volunteers gave their time and energy to counsel their fellow Nevadans about the new Medicare drug benefit. as well as other components of Medicare. supplemental health insurance. and longterm care. As more Medicare beneficiaries. their families. and friends turned to Nevada SHIP for oneonone counseling and assistance. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3465,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090151817,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"For these deeds. Garrett and Chris are a credit to all of us working toward the success of the new Medicare drug benefit in Nevada.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2265,"word_count":25}
{"speech_id":1090151819,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to honor a brave soldier. PFC Justin King. After graduating college and working as a civilian. Private King enlisted in the Army Reserve so he could. in his words. do something \"for his country and more than himself.\" While in advanced individual training. Justin was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Although his body has not responded to chemotherapy treatments and his hope to serve in the field will go unrealized. his illness has failed to break his ironclad spirit. The first time Private Kings commanding officer visited him in the hospital. Private King insisted on getting into full uniform before she entered the room. ","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1279,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090151820,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the Supreme Courts decision earlier this week in the consolidated cases of Rapanos v. United States and Carabell v. Army Corps of Engineers should be a source of great concern in this body and this Nation. The plurality opinion. while it did not. win the support of a majority of the court. is completely at odds with the text and purpose of the Clean Water Act. would put much of the Nations waters in jeopardy. and as many have noted. will likely lead to increased litigation.. To prevent further legal wrangling about what Congress meant when it passed what has come to be one of the countrys fundamental public health and environmental statutes. Congress must pass the Clean Water. Authority Restoration Act. This legislation. S. 912. which I most recently introduced in April 2005. reestablishes protection for all waters historically covered by the Clean Water Act. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1403,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090151821,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to note with pride an accomplishment of one of my constituents. Bonny Jain. of Moline. IL. won the National Geographic Bee here in Washington. DC. on May 24 by correctly identifying the Cambrian Mountains on a map. I dont know if they have \"phone a friend\" in the bee. but it is good that he didnt call me because I thought a Cambri was a small Toyota. His victory in- this competition demonstrates a laudable dedication to. scholarship. As technology makes the world smaller. knowledge of other peoples and cultures becomes more important. And cultures are shaped by geography. ","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1230,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090151828,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Many new businesses started to emerge in Ryder after its founding. including banks. hardware stores. general stores. livery barns. hotels. restaurants. grain elevators. a blacksmith shop. a photograph gallery. and three churches. Today. Ryder is a vibrant community. The people of Ryder are very proud of their community. and they have a strong sense of camaraderie. Ryder is actively involved in creating new ideas for preserving the town that","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1026,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090151833,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mirabiles students are shown that history lessons are not confined to text books. that history is alive in our communities. Having distinguished herself as a talented and committed educator who has made a difference in the lives of her students. Mrs. Mirabile has set a standard to which other teachers may aspire. I am pleased to join her many friends and admirersat Central High School. in the city of Manchester. and with the Molly Stark Chapterin extending congratulations to her for being honored by the DAR for a long career of excellence in teaching.e DUBROW","speaker_name":"JOHN SUNUNU","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3116,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090151836,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Her energy will be missed in our State. Jean was hardworking. -energetic. and a true Republican icon. I am proud of her efforts. and I am grateful for her endless dedication to Alabama politics. I know. she will be missea not only by her three sons. Kent. Arthur. and Jim Sullivan. her two daughters. Teresa Collins and Connie McAfee. and her many friends. but also by the many people she worked with and inspired in Alabama politics.*","speaker_name":"RICHARD SHELBY","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1144,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090151837,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I wish Lieutenant Colonel Parke all the best in his retirement.o","speaker_name":"JOHN THUNE","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1193,"word_count":11}
{"speech_id":1090151844,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"DC 205106150. For further information. please contact John Peschke at (202) 2244797. Shannon Ewan at (202) 2247555.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":799,"word_count":17}
{"speech_id":1090151845,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"DC 205106150. For further information. please contact Frank Gladics at 2022242878 or Sara Zecher 2022248276.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":877,"word_count":15}
{"speech_id":1090151848,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on Commerce. Science. and Transportation be authorized to hold an Executive Session to begin at 2 p.m. on Thursday. June 22. 2006. THE PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection. it is so ordered.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":255,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090151910,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the main reason I wanted to come to the floor today was to talk about the important issue of private property rights. Today marks the 1year anniversary of one of the most controversial decisions ever handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court. and that is the case of Kelo v. the City of New London. In that decision. the Court held by a 5to4 vote that the government may seize private property. whether it be a home or small business or other private property. for the purposenot of public good but. rather. to transfer that same property to another private owner simply because the transfer would create an increased economic benefit to that community. What made this such a profoundly alarming decision was that it represented a radical departure both from what the Constitution saysthat the power of government to condemn private property should be used only for public useand it represented a radical departure from the decisions handed down interpreting that constitutional provision over the last 200 years. After all. protection of homes and small businesses and other private property against government seizure or unreasonable government interference is a fundamental principle of American life and really a distinctive aspect of our form of government. Indeed. private property rights rank among the most important rights outlined by the Founding Fathers when this country was created. Thomas Jefferson wrote that the protection of such rights is: ... the first principle of association. \"the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry. and the fruits acquired by it.\" These protections were enshrined in the fifth amendment to the U.S. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5424,"word_count":272}
{"speech_id":1090151911,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Today I am happy to report that a total of 31 of our colleagues have joined me as cosponsors of this important bill. This bill would ensure that the power of eminent domain is exercised only for public uses. consistent with and guaranteed by the fifth amendment of the Constitution. Most important. though. it would make sure the power of eminent domain would not simply be used to further private economic development interests. The act would apply the standard to two areas of government action which are clearly within Congresss authority to regulate: No. 1. all exercises of the power of eminent domain by the Federal Government itself. and No. 2. all exercises of the power of eminent domain by State and local governments using Federal funds. While we work to protect private property rights. we are mindful that the language we craft could have farreaching implications. There is no question that where appropriate. eminent domain can play an important role in ensuring that true public uses are preserved. But now. just 1 year after the Supreme Court shut the door on Suzette Kelo and her fellow homeowners in New London. CT. it is imperative that Congress act soon to ensure that private property remains free from the long arm of government so that no American will have to worry about the Federal Government being involved in taking their private property for private development. Chairman SPECTER of the Senate Judiciary Committee. on which I am proud to serve. is working with me on legislation that I hope he will choose to move soon through the committee. I look forward to working with him and my other colleagues to develop a solution that reaffirms our commitment to the protection of private property rights. one that will help stem the tide of egregious abuses of private property rights that we have seen throughout the Nation by the illegitimate use of the power of eminent domain. ","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1922,"word_count":323}
{"speech_id":1090151922,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This situation is unconscionable. and my colleagues and I have worked hard to address it. The additional $950.5 million for force protection equipment. including $559.8 million for additional uparmored humvees and $100 million for counterIED vehicles. in this bill above what was requested in the Presidents proposed budget further ensures that our troops have the equipment they need to perform their duties on the ground. I am pleased that the Senate approved the Military Family Support Act amendment that I offered with Senator JEFFORDS. This amendment is designed to assist military families struggling with the longterm absence of a family member. Under this legislation. the Office of Personnel Management is directed to administer a pilot program authorizing Federal employees. who have been designated \"caregivers\" by a member of the Armed Forces. to use their earned leave time in a more flexible manner while a family member is deployed overseas. This amendment also encourages the Department of Labor to solicit private businesses to voluntarily offer more accommodating leave time to caregivers affected by these deployments. This bill also authorizes funding for a provision I authored in last years Department of Defense authorization bill establishing the Civilian Linguist Reserve Corps. CLRC. pilot project. It became very clear after the attacks of September 11. 2001 that the U.S. Government has a dearth of critical language skills. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6137,"word_count":223}
{"speech_id":1090151929,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I wish to pay tribute to the 125th anniversary of the city of Baltic. SD. Baltic was founded in 1881 by Richard Franklin and Justin Pettigrew. Baltic. originally named St. Olaf. came into being when the Milwaukee Railroad laid down track between Dell Rapids and Sioux Falls. A weigh station was established on the current site of Baltic. This development was quickly followed by the construction of the power dam and the St. Olaf Roller Mill. the latter being the work of the towns founders. Franklin and Pettigrew. ","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1766,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090152037,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is the hope of the bipartisan group of Senators that have followed this issue that this program. run by the Minerals Management Service. can be corrected. These are costly. costly mistakes involving billions of dollars. The Presiding Officer. the Senator from North Carolina. has been a great advocate of renewable energy. For example. think what you could do if you took just a fraction of the money that is being wasted on royalty relief and moved it to the renewable energy field. You could help stimulate renewable energy. production and reduce the deficit simultaneously. So that is what the bipartisan group of Senators want to do on this key issue. Since I talked at some length about this a few weeks ago. I think I will move on to the other pocketbook issue. But I do hope. with hundreds of bills having been introduced in the Senate in both the energy and health care areas. that as we go into these last days of the session. the focus can be on those pieces of legislation that have significant bipartisan support. That is true in the case of oil royalty relief and cutting those needless subsidies. ","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9335,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090152054,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The flag is a national treasure. a monument. even. and like other national treasures. it deserves to be protected and respected. Our flag is a unique national symbol that represents common values. shared aspirations. and the sacrifices of millions of Americans. The argument is not about legitimate free speech. in my judgment. but. rather. the extent to which free people must tolerate offensive acts. While some will say that a constitutional amendment to ban flag burning unduly inhibits free speech. I respectfully disagree. Let me be clear. It will not diminish the Bill of Rights. in my judgment. to allow Congress to define and enforce a law which protects the American flag much like other national treasures are protected. To desecrate the American flag. in my judgment. is to desecrate the memory of the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have sacrificed their lives to keep our flag flying. It is to destroy everything this country represents. There are some things that just need to be treated with respect and reverence for no other reason than to honor all those who have served and died for this country. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SHELBY","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4529,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090152056,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":14,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is bipartisan. The last time we brought it up was in the year 2000. If I had my way. we would have brought it up every one of those intervening years so the American people could really realize what is involved here. So today we begin the debate on the flag protection amendment. This is an important debate. This is a constitutional amendment. It ought to be difficult to pass any constitutional amendment. and they truly make it difficult. requiring a twothirds vote of both bodies. Assuming we get those votes and it passes both bodies. it has to be submitted to the States. and 38 States would have to ratify it. at least 38. in other words. threequarters of the States. I thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for supporting this effort. I especially thank my colleague. the chairman of the Judiciary Committee. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11827,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090152061,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The American flag has been flown in times of battle. of victory. and of national tragedy. It is the most recognized symbol of freedom and democracy in the world. Our flag should be protected from those who would desecrate it and demonstrate a basic lack of respect for our national heritage. At the very least. decisions about whether and how to protect our flag should be made by the legislative branch. not the unelected judiciary. The proposal before us today would not immediately ban flag desecration. as its opponents would lead you to believe. Rather. it would return the power to legislate on the issue to Congress and the States. where it belongs. This constitutional amendment will restore the legislative authority to protect our flag to the legislative branch. I will be voting in favor of this amendment. and I urge my colleagues to join me in doing the same. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1582,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090152068,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Combat. And just before coming to Philadelphia. Lieutenant Colonel Ruch served with Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe. Belgium. as the senior staff officer for NATO Infrastructure in Crisis Response Operations dealing with operations in Afghanistan and in the Balkans. Lieutenant Colonel Ruch holds a bachelor of science in geoenvironmental science from Shippensburg University and a masters in engineering management from St. Martins College. He is a graduate of the Engineer Officer Basic and Advanced Courses and of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. His military decorations include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal. the Army Meritorious Service Medal. four oak leaf clusters. the Army Commendation Medal. three oak leaf clusters. the Army Achievement Medal and the Army Superior Unit Award. After turning over the command of the Philadelphia District to LTC Gwen Baker on July 7. 2006. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4879,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090152071,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"When Bishop Williams served at the 17th District AME in Central Africa. membership grew by over 100.000. eventually resulting in the creation of a 20th District. Fittingly. Bishop Williams used his power and influence to bring people together and inspire hope in that part of the world. His dedication to faith and community extends beyond the church into academia. As chairman of Allen University in Columbia. SC. and member of the board of Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington. DC. Bishop Williams brings his passion and fearless leadership to our students. Bishop Williams is a spiritual leader. an activist. community leader. husband and mentor. I join with others in lauding his service. integrity. and vision..","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1820,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090152096,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. 11 days ago in this House. we had a partial limited debate on the war in Iraq. The same day. it was reported in a number of the area newspapers that there was consideration of giving amnesty to those Iraqis that killed. maimed. or injured U.S. troops or citizens. A few of us took to the floor during the Iraq debate and raised the issue of amnesty. Is this what we are fighting for in Iraq. the type of democracy that gives people who kill American soldiers amnesty? Last week. I joined with Denocratic leadership. Mr. LARSON. Mr. CLYBURN.","speaker_name":"BART STUPAK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":553,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090152111,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. this resolution will make changes to the Coast Guard conference report that reflects the compromise agreement that was worked out concerning the Cape Wind project. It will allow the Commandant of the Coast Guard to set the terms and conditions on any leasing of Federal waters in Nantucket Sound that may be necessaryto protect navigational safety. For example. over 3 million passengers ride ferries that transit through Nantucket Sound. and it is vitally important to protect the navigational safety of those vessels. Recent emergencies have reminded us once again why a wellfunded and fully operational Coast Guard is paramount for protecting the citizens of this Nation. The 2006 Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act conference report has been delayed for far too long. We are all glad to see that a fair agreement based on navigational safety has been worked out and that this bill will now move to the Presidents desk for signature. I encourage all my colleagues to support this fair resolution and support full funding for the Coast Guard. Mr. ","speaker_name":"CORRINE BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1156,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090152128,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"ot Florida. Mr. Speaker. I just want to once again thank Chairman YOUNG and Mr. LoBIONDO and Ranking Members OBERSTAR and FaNER for their hard work on this bill. The Coast Guard. once again. is the first agency on the scene that is doing their job. and I am very pleased that we finally have a tWll that we are going to send to the Presidents desk. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"CORRINE BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":398,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090152129,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would just close by urging my colleagues to support this legislation. The House has under consideration the conference report (109413) to the bill H.R. 889 to authorize appropriations for the Coast Guard for fiscal year 2006. to make technical corrections to various laws administered by the Coast Guard. and for other purposes.","speaker_name":"DON YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":343,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090152130,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"N.Y. The study is to be fully funded through the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. As outlined in section 410 of the conference report. this study is to be completed no later than one year after enactment of this law. Newtown Creek is a 3.5 mile long waterway that flows from the East River and separates the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. The State of New York has ruled that the Creek does not meet water quality standards under the Clean Water Act. It is the single most polluted waterway in New York City. and its banks are home to the largest oil spill in the United States. The spill is 150 percent the size of the ExxonValdez spill. In 1978. a Coast Guard patrol detected petroleum on the surface of Newtown Creek and identified a spill that spreads from the banks of the Creek through the Greenpoint neighborhood in Brooklyn. Evaluations at that time identified a spill totaling 17 million gallons attributed to refineries operated along the banks of the Creek by the predecessors to ExxonMobil. BP\/Amoco and ChevronTexaco. ","speaker_name":"ANTHONY WEINER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5435,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090152164,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"for putting in and mentioning the coaching staff and the front office there at the Miami Heat and Pat Riley. who has done an excellent job and who will go down in NBA history as one of the greatest coaches ever coaching the game. For the Miami Heat fans. we cant say enough. This resolution also outlines their contributions. Some 200.000 members of south Floridas community came out in celebration of the Miami Heat. And as we all know. Dwyane Wade. and we all know Shaquille ONeal. there are a number of players there that have contributed quite a bit. and I can tell you that. that sixth player on the court has always been the Miami Heat fans. Even when theHeat are out of town. I think we have a good travel team that goes along with them. Heat fans. and I know the \"White Hot\" fans that are still white hot for the Heat are still celebrating and still appreciating. As we are here now tonight. ","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1158,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090152165,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 1 minute. I just would like to congratulate Mr. MEEK for rallying the support of our delegation behind the Miami Heat. Throughout every game. even those first tough ones. he was passing out beads for the Miami Heat and rallying support. along with Members of this body. even giving Heat beads to Dallas fans. So he Was winning converts one fan at a time. Mr. Speaker. I would like to yield such time as he may consume to another fan of the Miami Heat championship season. my good friend. ","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":526,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090152172,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"H.R. 4416 would permanently reauthorize this very important effort. The placement of photos of missing children on government and congressional mail will greatly assist in locating and recovering children. Mr. Speaker. I commend my colleague. Ranking Member MillenderMcDonald. for sponsoring this bill. and I urge my colleagues to include photos of missing children on their official and franked mail. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1493,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090152189,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I appreciate the gentleman from New Jersey yielding. and I thank him. Mr. Speaker. for bringing these statistics to the floor of the House this evening. Clearly. these fiumbers show that this economy is doing well under this Republican leadership and this Republican President. The blue chip report that the gentleman talked about on fiscal year 2007. and he mentioned those. 50something prestigious financial organizations. says that the economy will continue to do well the rest of this fiscal year and into 2007. Mr. Speaker. it is because of the policies of this administration and this Republicanled Congress. Those policies I am speaking of. of course. are that you grow the revenue when you cut taxes. This is not a novel idea that we just invented over the last 2 or 3 years. This happened under a Democratic President in 1960. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3642,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090152198,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And no one less than Iraqs National Security Advisor said. \"Iraq has to go out of the shadow of the United States and the coalition. take responsibility for its own decisions. learn from its mistakes. and find Iraqi solutions to Iraqi problems.\" Repeating again exactly what Mr. MURTHA has been advocating. I want to now also turn to the gentleman from Washington State . who has been part of the Iraq Watch and from the very outset of this war has come to this floor almost on a regular basis to talk about the concerns that so many Americans in this H4541 country care deeply about. most notably the men and women who serve this country. I yield to Mr. INSLEE.","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1463,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090152200,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the gentleman from Washington State again for his insightful comments and pointing out the new direction that this .country needs to forge and that certainly that the people of this country desire and. as you so eloquently pointed out. as importantly. the people of Iraq. But I would also add that this is something that the generals of this country who have come forward and spoken out with great clarity also feel strongly about. Lieutenant General Greg Newbold: \"What we are living with now is the consequences of successive policy failures.\" Major General Paul Eaton: \"Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is not competent to lead our Armed Forces. His failure to build coalitions with our allies has imposed far greater demands and risks on our soldiers in Iraq than necessary. He has shown himself to be incompetent strategically. oper&tionally and tactically.\" Lieutenant General John Riggs: \"They only need the military advice when it satisfies their agenda.\" speaking on National Public Radio about the Bush administration. \"They only need the military advice when it satisfies their own agenda.\" General Wesley Clark: \"They pressed for open warfare before diplomacy was finished. It was a tragic mistake. Its a strategic blunder.\" General Anthony Zinni: \"We are paying the price for the lack of credible planning. or the lack of a plan. ","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1547,"word_count":224}
{"speech_id":1090152209,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank my friend for yielding. What I find interesting is ever since. well ever since before the invasion the administration has not been forthcoming. has not played it straight with us and with the American people. And I just got in from Boston. my plane was late. I am sure that many of you encountered those kinds of difficulties. But I had an opportunity to listen to my friend. Mr. INSLEE from Washington. And he talked about the Iraqi people not wanting us to stay. if you can accept the results of that poll. which presumably are valid:. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3992,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090152213,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to pose this question here about who is driving the bus when it comes to Iraq policy. And this is an important question I know all of us feel. Yesterday. two of our finest from the State of Washington were killed in Iraq. young men. The day before that. a young man from Port Orchard. Washington. who had been fighting for life for 3 months died in one of our hospitals in Texas. We need somebody to drive the bus of Iraqi policy that is trustworthy. accurate. and has a full understanding of what is going on in Iraq. And when you ask yourself. does the President meet those criteria for that policy. does his policy meet that criteria. was he right on weapons of mass destruction? No. Was he right on association with 9\/11? No. ","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1526,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090152217,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the privilege to address you this evening. and I appreciate the fact that my message to you echoes across America in this technology that we have today. As I awaited my opportunity to address the Chair. I also reflected upon many of the remarks that were made by my colleagues in the preceding segment. and I would like to start out first by stating that there were some remarks that I do agree with. I know that may seem a bit unusual. but the objection to the proposed policy bythe newly sovereign nation of Iraq to the rejection of the proposed amnesty is gomething that we stand together on. as I heard my friend Mr. LARSON say. and I thank him for raising that issue tonight. * As I think about what that means. to offer amnesty to someone for killing Americans or killing coalition troops but not amnesty if they happen to attack Iraqis. whatever stripe they might happen to be. and the same administration will be making demandis on us to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law and punish American soldiers that may or may not. but certainly today we know are accused of those kinds of activities.","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1134,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090152224,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is the southern border. So you have got to go. you know. the hunters go where the ducks are. You know. if you are trying to stop the flow of illegal immigration. you go where it is happening. And the lawless environment on our southern border demands action. People say. well. you cant build the Great Wall of China on the southern border. You dont have to. In this day and age. you can put a protective fence around your yard of your home to keep your animals from leaving that you cant see. If you can do that. you can have the technology with a. protective barrier. Some of it is going to be a fence. literally. Some of it is going to be the latest in technology. ","speaker_name":"ZACH WAMP","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2940,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090152225,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. that it isnt just Americans that believe this way. It isnt just Americans that concur with the statements of Mr. WAMP and myself. but I have a survey in front of me. That survey is of the Hispanics in America. and some of these polls are this: that opposing increasing overall levels of immigration. overall immigrations of immigration. legal or illegal. 56 percent of Hispanics oppose it. and 31 percent say let us go ahead and increase the levels of immigration. But 56 percent. a significant majority. are opposed to increasing those levels of immigration. Benefits for illegal aliens. 60 percent of Hispanics oppose. 20 percent support benefits for illegal aliens. And then even a guest worker program is kind ofsplit. It leans a little bit in favor of a guest worker program. but it is not decidedly in favor of that. A pathway to citizenship. Hispanics in America oppose that for people who are in this country illegally today. 52 to 38 percent. ","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10400,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090152228,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"ment and Agency Executive Secretaries sert \"(increased by $50.0060. dated. February 2. 2001. and entitled \"Guide- Pg 5. AMNDMENT No. 25: At the end. of the bill lines on Relations With Taiwan\". Page 55. line 21. after the dollar amount in(before the short title). insert the following: H.R. 5672 sert \"(reduced by $50.000.000)\".","speaker_name":"THOMAS TANCREDO","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":328,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090152291,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I strongly oppose S.J. Res. 12. Make no mistake. we are talking here today about modifying the Constitution of the United States to permit the Government to criminalize conduct that all of us find offensive and wrong. but that is protected by the first amendment. This amendment would. for the first time. amend the Bill of Rights. I cannot support this course. Let me make one thing clear at the outset. Not a single Senator who opposes the proposed constitutional amendment. as I do. supports burning or otherwise showing disrespect to the flag. Not a single one. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11460,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090152302,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We proudly fly the flag over our Capitol here in Washington. DC. and at State capitols and public buildings all over our country. Mr. President. recently I read a book about the most famous picture in the history of photography. This is a picture we are going to put up on this board that all of you will instantly recognize. This is a picture of Marines erecting the American flag on Iwo Jima in World War II. where thousands upon thousands of Marines gave their lives to take this island from the occupiers. The book I read recently is called \"Flags of Our Fathers.\" written by a man named James Bradley. his father was John. John Bradley. the father of the author. stands in the middle of the most reproduced figure in the history of photography. Only days before this photo was taken. John Bradley. a Navy corpsman. had braved enemy mortar and machine gun fire to administer first aid to a wounded Marine and then dragged him to safety. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11367,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090152345,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank my friend from Massachusetts. I wasnt aware of the time situation. I have enormous respect for Senator HATCHnot only for his legal ability but perhaps more - so for his sincerity and his commitment to this cause. This is not something he is doing for any cheap political purpose. This is not something he is doing to grandstand. This is something that he is doing because he sincerely believes it. He is sincerely committed to the idea that protecting the flag is an essential thing for us to do. not only to honor our veterans but to teach our children the importance of the flag in the future. I respect that. and I am with him. But I cannot quite bring myself to amend the Constitution in the manner that he suggests for those purposes. I want to make it very clear that I do not under any circumstances denigrate those purposes. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BENNETT","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1738,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090152359,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Durbin substitute says you cant use this Nations symbol of freedom and turn it into a symbol of disrespect. If there is a way to deal with and punish those who desecrate our U.S. flag without amending the Constitution. I am all for it. That is why I support the Durbin Substitute. I feel very strongly about this issue. I have voted for legislation to prohibit flag burning. and I have voted against amending the U.S. Constitution. Today. I will do so again. I take amending the U.S. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA MIKULSKI","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5031,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090152360,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But I have been in a communist prison where I looked into the pit of hell. I cannot compromise on freedom. It hurts to see the flag burned. but I part company with those who want to punish the flag burners. Mr. Warner went on to recount how. in a North Vietnamese prison camp. he was given a choice: He could renounce his country and leave. or stay and be tortured. James Warner chose to stay. The North Vietnamese tried to break his spirit but they couldnt. During one interrogation. his captor showed him a photograph of some Americans protesting the war by burning a flag. \"There.\" the North Vietnamese officer told him. \"People in your country protest against your cause. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9170,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090152362,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The predominance our flag holds in the national psyche was reconfirmed after the September 11 attacks. when the vision of the red. white and blue galvanized our Nation. The American flag is not just a piece of cloth. It is a symbol of freedom and of the sacrifice it takes to gain that freedom. The red stripes are there to remind us of the blood that was and continues to be shed in defense of this Nation. I have the deepest reverence for the U.S. Constitution. and I do not believe it should be amended casually. However. in this case. I believe the American flag and all it represents deserves the protection of our laws. Therefore. I have decided to support a constitutional amendment that would require due respect for this great symbol of freedom.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2291,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090152365,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I do not think we amend the Constitution Qnough. But we want to have good. amendments that are necessary. that are important. that enrich us. and that make us a stronger nation. In 1816. Thomas Jefferson wrote: \"Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence. and deem them like the ark of the covenant. too sacred to be touched.\" Jeffergon disagreed and proposed amending a constitution every 20 years or so so that it could \"be handed on. with periodical repairs. from generation to generation. to the end of time. if anything human can last so long.\" I dont know whether we need to amend the Constitution every 20 years. as Thomas Jefferson proposed. but I do think a constitutional amendment is a healthy way for us to remind ourselves that this Nation is a democratic republic. We are not a nation under the rule of the Supreme Court. The Constitution belongs to \"We the People of the United States.\" as its preamble statesnot the judiciary of the United States. The Constitution was democratically adopted. It was meant to be democratically amended. It must remain democratically accountableor lose its legitimacy as the foundation for a democratic republic. Let me finally address one more concern about the language of this amendment. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6110,"word_count":210}
{"speech_id":1090152366,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"A constitutional amendment will only become law if it is approved by threequarters of the States. I have also heard some of my colleagues claim that the language we are debating is too vague. Again. this is simply the first step in a process. The details will be debated once Congress regains its authority to make laws related to the desecration of the flag. It is then the job of those in Congress to talk about and debate the definition of desecration and what that word will mean in our laws. Again. I believe our flag should be protected as a symbol of this Nation and our history. It represents us in military actions. in athletic competitions. diplomacy. and any activity we engage in around the world. The flag helped rally the Nation after the attacks of September 11. 2001. It calls to mind those who serve on our police. fire. and emergency response teams. risking their lives every day to ensure we are safe and protected from harm. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4225,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090152445,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is wrong. We act here in the Senate as stewards of the Constitution. guardians and trustees of a precious legacy. The truly precious part of that legacy does not lie in outward thingsin monuments or statues or flags. All that these tangible things can do is remind us of what is truly precious: our liberty. This proposed amendment would be the first amendment to the Constitution that would narrow the precious freedoms enjoyed by Americans under the Bill of Rights. The infringement would fall on the first amendment. the cornerstone and foundation of all of our rights. of which we must be especially protective. The first amendment has stood up in times of war. during times of bitter protest. It has been one of the rocks on which our national unity and our national stability are built. The proposed amendment is a wrongheaded response to a crisis that does not exist. It would be an unprecedented limitation on the freedom Americans enjoy under the Bill of Rights and would do nothing to bolster respect for the flag. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11935,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090152469,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"For example. just last week my good friend from Maine. Senator SNOWE. and I were able to get an amendment agreed to by the Senate which would make all prisoners of war who die in captivity eligible for the Purple Heart. Also last week Senator LIEBERMAN and I were able to get an amendment agreed to by the Senate improving the mental health screening and monitoring for members of our Armed Forces. I think we honor our veterans and Armed Forces when we make sure that we are looking out for them. keeping our promises to them. Right now we are not. We should provide them with all the equipment they need while they are deployed and all the health care they need when they come home. Lets make sure our men and women have adequate body armor. Lets find ways to expand health care coverage for the members of the Guard and Reserves. Lets make sure the Veterans Administration is adequately funded to meet the needs of our veterans at a time when we are seeing horrific posttraumatic stress: suicides are up. divorces are up. These are the ways we honor our veterans. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6382,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090152473,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Finally. my support for this amendment is based on the premise that the flag is unique and deserves special protection. But for the same reason I believe the flag should be protected. I also firmly believe it should not be politicized for partisan gain. The American citizens who pledge allegiance to this flag. who believe in what it represents. and who live and work under it every day deserve better. I also believe that we should be working as a Congress and as a Senate just as hard to strengthen our national and homeland security. improve our energy security. relieve the health care crisis that faces Americas businesses and Americas families. educate our children. and strengthen the American family. I yield the remainder of my time and yield the floor.","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2364,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090152479,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"She was a champion of a program called \"Choices.\" funded through the Ohio Developmental Disabilities Council. where volunteers provided encouragement and community support to people with disabilities who lived in nursing homes but wanted to live independently in the community. \u0095 Many people were skeptical that this program would work. but Denise believed in the project. As a result of her leadership. hundreds of Ohioans with disabilities are now living independently in community settings.Denises advocacy has helped so many people in both their personal and professional lives. Denise was a person of great faith. dedicating. a substantial portion of her time to helping others in their own spiritual journeys. She demonstrated this commitment through her work with Rainbow Girls and the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at college. She served as a counsel and Bible study leader for the Billy Graham Crusade in Cleveland and organized and led Bible studies for church youth. Denise once said. \"Of all my experiences. the one which has had the most profound influence on my life. and for which I will be eternally joyous. is the time I gave my life and opened my heart to my Savior. Jesus Christ. Much of my time each day is spent in talking to my Friend and studying His Word.\" Denise was a gifted lawyer. She volunteered her talents to nonprofit agencies that helped people with disabilities. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6824,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090152481,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But my brother understood that. and he was willing to lay down his life for the cause of freeing these people. Kendall Ivy was loved dearly not only by his family. but also by those who had the privilege to serve with him. Marine CPT Dave Handy wrote the following statement on an Internet tribute site to Kendall: I was then Staff Sergeant Ivys platoon commander for a short time and remember him leaving the Marine Corps to seek new adventures. I was ecstatic to hear that such a fine leader of Marines had rejoined the Corps and then brought to tears to hear of his death. I remember him as a ruthless enforcer of standards. a superb example for young Marines. and a patient mentor for all around him. All officers should have been so lucky as to serve with enlisted leaders of Staff Sergeant Ivys superior caliber. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and I look forward to seeing him again on the streets of heaven. Semper Fidells. On the same tribute site. Aric Wells of Nashville. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5531,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090152484,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"\"Now many of them have to borrow that for a semester. Many years ago. it seemed like a daunting task. Luckily. we met the challenge and paid off the loan. I have been watching student loans ever since because I understand for many students today they are still the ticket to an education. Last Friday. the Higher Education Act was extended for the fourth time since last year. I hope that by extending it 3 more months we will be able to work on meaningful legislation that will make it easier for students and parents to pay for a college education. Earlier this year. Members on the Republican side of the aisle passed a socalled deficit reduction bill that cut $12 billion from student aidthe largest single cut In financial aid programs in the history of the country. Although most of the $12 billion came from reducing the maximum yield private lenders could earn on loans. it also came from raising the interest rates on many of the loans parents take out for their kids education. Right now. students are scrambling to consolidate their loans in order to lock in a low interest rate. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9317,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090152487,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to commemorate a historic and importsnt event in Nevada. On July 2. 2006. the town of Minden will celebrate .its 100th anniversary. Located in the scenic Carson Valley. Minden is known for its beauty. The Carson Valley Mountain Range provides an imposing. but beautiful. background for the small community of 7.500. Minden is widely known for its small town charm because the town was mapped and planned before a single brick was laid. Visitors and residents of Minden can see the planning even today in tlhe neatly laid streets and buildings. Minden retains its turnofthecentury feel. and most of the original architecture is still evident in the town. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3761,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090152491,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. as the Senator from Iowa knows. I am a longtime supporter of the Special Olympics. and a longtime friend and admirer of Eunice Kennedy Shriver and her work. This remarkable American is a fine example of President Reagans observation that you dont have to be on the public payroll in order to be an outstanding public servant. Anchorage. AK. was proud to host the 2001 Special Olympics Winter Games. which was the largest sporting event ever held in Alaska. In conjunction with that Special Olympics event. I chaired a Committee on Appropriations field hearing on promoting the health of individuals with intellectual disabilities. This was the first hearing of its kind devoted exclusively to the needs of people with intellectual disabilities.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":759,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090152493,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We introduced this amendment to protect .the health and safety of servicemembers and their unitssimilar to the ones The Hartford Courant has written about. The military mental health amendment has two purposes. First. it is meant to keep these courageous young men and women out of the way of any further harm. Second. we must make certain that our units have the strongest and healthiest soldiers and this amendment moves us in the right direction. I also cosponsored an amendment that enables the Air Force to enter into a multiyear contract beginning in fiscal year 2007 for 60 F22 aircraft over 3 years. Moving to multiyear contract will save American taxpayers more than $250 million. To ensure military families do not have to face the burdens of rising pharmaceutical copays for TRICARE next year. I cosponsored an amendment with Senators LAUTENBERG and STABENOW that prohibits increasing retail pharmacy copays for TRICARE beneficiaries through fiscal year 2007. The Presidents budget submission proposed raising generic and brand name copays from $3 and $9 to $5 and $15. respectively. That type of increase is simply not an acceptable solution. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4843,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090152498,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The train arrived in Ashton in September of 1881. shortly followed by the telegraph. The post office was established on December 8. 1881. Other early buildings on in Ashton were the Bowman House. CC Morris General Store. Basset and Kellys Hardware. Andersons Bakery. and .Reed. and Kelseys Drug Store. Ashton was named county seat of Spink County by the Territorial Legislature in 1885. though the seat moved to Redfield about 2 years later. The people of Ashton endured a series of disasters in the ensuing years. There were large fires in 1887. 1890. 1908. and 1910. Also. a tornado damaged much of the town in 1897. ","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1754,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090152502,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the Older Americans Act has been a lifeline for senior citizens across the country for 40 years. and all of us want it to continue to fulfill its important role in the years ahead. Like Social Security. Medicare and Medicaid. the Older Americafis Act is part of our commitment to care for the nations seniors in their golden years. This year. the first of the members of the baby boom generation will be eligible for the acts services. One in nine Americans are over age 65 today. By the year 2030. the number will be one in five. It is clear we need to get our priorities right in this reauthorization. That means starting now to put the infrastructure in place to provide services to baby boomers who retire. This bill takes some of the necessary steps. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3620,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090152506,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am pleased to introduce. with Senators KOHL. GRASSLEY. and SCHUMER. the Preserve Access to Affordable Generics Act of 2006. S. 3582. It is no secret that presctiption drug prices are rapidly increasing and are a source of considerable concern to many Americans. especially senior citizens and families. In a marketplace free of manipulation. generic drug prices can be as much as 80 percent lower than the comparable brandname version. Unfortunately. there are still some companies that may be keeping lowcost. lifesaving generic drugs off the marketplace. off pharmacy shelves. and out of the hands of consumers by carefully crafted anticompetitive agreements between drug manufacturers. This bipartisan bill will improve the timely and effective introduction of generic pharmaceuticals into the marketplace. In 2001. and last Congress. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5982,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090152518,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session on Tuesday. June 27. 2006. at 10 a.m.. in 106 Dirksen Senate Office Building. to consider the nomination of Henry M. Paulson. Jr.. to be Secretary of the Treasury.","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":273,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090152527,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Coinmittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management. the Federal Workforce and the District of Columbia be authorized to meet on Tuesday. June 27. 2006. at 10 a.m. for a hearing entitled. The Right People? Oversight of the Office of Personnel Management.","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":358,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090152560,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. the pictures running with recent news reports tell the story: The Palestinians are in upheaval. Earlier this month. hundreds of supporters of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah faction stormed parliament buildings in Ramallah. setting parts of them ablaze. This was in response to earlier Hamasled attacks on Fatah security forces in Gaza. Madam Speaker. this escalating violence among rival Palestinian factions should teach the world a lesson. Elections alone do not make people democratic. The elections are important. but without the foundation of a civil society and certain values. they will not guarantee democratic freedom. The Palestinian people must also embrace basic democratic values and principles: the rule of law. freedom of speech. due process protections. respect for honest. civil debate. religious liberties. The list goes on. Continuing to choose extremism rather than fundamental civil reforms like these will only lead to further upheaval and hardship.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1002,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090152582,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. at this time. I would like to notify my colleague. Ms. MATSUI. that I do not have any additional speakers. I would welcome the opportunity to have her go through those speakers. have her close. then I will do the same after she is through. Madam Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time. F1 1045","speaker_name":"PETE SESSIONS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":311,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090152646,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And the major reason that we have seen this incredible drop in the number of our community banks is because of the high cost of Federal regulation. The number one item that community bankers cite in the cost of regulation is the regulation associated with the Bank Secrecy Act. Now. nobody in the House will deny that clearly the number one priority of this institution is to fight and win the war on terror. and there is a very important role that the BSA. the Bank Secrecy Act. regime plays in that. But. Mr: Speaker. there has to be in the language of the statute itself a high degree of usefulness to law enforcement for all of these reports that are turned in. Sooner or later. there has to be a balance. There has to be a rule of reason. So what we see on the one hand with our local financial institutions is that every new Federal regulation Somewhere at the margin is raising the cost of credit. That means some family is going to struggle in trying to send a child to college. It means some family is going to struggle and maybe they are not able to borrow the money and make a downpayment on that first home. ","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2318,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090152648,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. that the GAO concluded that unnecessary reporting was taking place. I am sorry to say that. 10 years later. it still is taking place. So many of these banks are filing these cash transaction reports defensively. and yet we know that we still have the knowyourcustomer regime that is in place. The suspicious activity reports are still in place. and these are better enforcement tools for law enforcement than the CTRs. In addition. by passing this particular piece of legislation. the information doesnt disappear. It is still available for law enforcement. The cash transaction data will continue to reside in bank account records and be available to law enforcement when they need it. when they are following up a lead. We have heard from law enforcement itself that. in many cases. what we see is that they are searching for a needle in a haystack. The excessive CTR reports are putting more hay on the haystack. ","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3378,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090152689,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank Chairman OXLEY of the committee. and I rise today to support H.R. 4973. the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2006. also known as the FIRM Act. This important measure. approved by the House Financial Services Committee on March 16. will significantly reform the National -Flood Insurance Program and ensure its continued viability by increasing accountability. eliminating unnecessary Federal subsidies. and updating the flood insurance program to meet the needs of the 21st century. Last year. in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I introduced H.R. 3669. the National Flood Insurance Program Enhanced Borrowing Authority Act of 2005. That piece of legislation increased FEMAs borrowing authority for flood insurance by $2 billion. which went. a long way in helping the Departments flood insurance response. Since that time. FEMA estimates that it will need a total of $25 billion in borrowing authority to cover claims. These claims from homes and businesses that have been damaged or destroyed by Hurricanes Katrina. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT NEY","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2381,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090152695,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Many of these subsidized properties are second homes or vacation homes. and the legislation addresses these and I think is a good compromise. Phasing in riskbased rates for second homes will alsd ensure that families in New Orleans and Mississippi and other floodprone areas that rely on flood insurance wont be forced to pay artificially high rates to subsidize somebodys second home or vacation home. ] 1400 The bill also helps encourage participation in the program. Many people living in the floodplains do not have flood insurance now. Less than 40 percent of the property owners who are required to buy insurance actually do so. In parts of Mississippi and Alabama. hit hardest by Katrina. the coverage rate was only 15 percent. That means that people did not have access to insurance payouts to make them whole. and they are relying on grants and loans from the disaster relief programs that are paid by the taxpayer. The challenge is figuring out how to make sure that more people who are supposed to have flood insurance do so. and this bill helps the situation by increasing the penalties levied for nonenforcement of Federal mandatory purchase requirements. It also includes an important study on how to better enforce mandatory flood insurance. The bill also addresses the inaccuracy and inadequacy of flood insurance maps. We are going to talk a little about this later in the day. ","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5941,"word_count":234}
{"speech_id":1090152699,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"My colleague from Mississippi. who will have an amendment. Mr. TAYLOR. on this floor today. I certainly support. I was there with him. and I saw the devastation and the destruction. We heard the complaints about the insurance companies. Let me just say. in addition to raising the limit. this will go a little bit further. and it will deal with business interruption. It will help to meet the needs of those who are confronted and faced with this kind of devastation for the future. Again. I would like to thank not only","speaker_name":"MAXINE WATERS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":35.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1407,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090152735,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It will cost maybe 35 to 40 cents a letter. maybe even less than that if they would use bulk mail. In this particular case. the 300 families in the affected area. it would have cost $120 to notify them that there was a change in their status. There had not been a flood there in anybodys recollection. at least not in 100 or 150 years. I think this is. a very important amendment. It helps people all across the country. I really appreciate the chairman of the committee and the ranking member saying they would approve this amendment. So I thank you very much. Mr. Chairman and Mr. Ranking Member. ","speaker_name":"DAN BURTON","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2268,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090152764,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I will just conclude by saying to the ranking member the same thing the ranking member said to me in the committee. and that is when we first proposed it. I will be glad to work with you to try to make this amendment an even better amendment. I appreciate your consideration that there were two ends of the spectrum. one that said we should eliminate this subsidy. if you will. today. and other people have said we should never eliminate it. it should just continue on. and we were just trying to find that proverbial middle ground. Hopefully. we have gotten one step closer to that with this amendment. Mr. ","speaker_name":"SCOTT GARRETT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":725,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090152802,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Many homeowners do not know about changes in the map. The only thing they know is that. after they have suffered a severe flood. they are not covered. I think this amendment is a necessary step to ensure that FEMA is made responsible to make the vital information available to everyone who might be a flood Victim. I believe that this is a necessary step to protect the lives of innocent. people who have no choice but to rely on this congressional body to implement necessary safeguards that protects their wellbeing. I urge adoption of this amendment.","speaker_name":"EDDIE JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2476,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090152897,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"No. the gentleman misses my point entirely. I was talking now. assuming that point. as to where the compensation should come from. I do not think it is reasonable to charge the Federal flood insurance program. We have problems with Federal flood insurance. If in fact the gentleman wants to pursue that principle. it ought. to be with regard to the financing of the flood control programs. That is. if as a consequence of flood control there is going to be this problem. I do not think. Mr. Chairman. that we ought to charge the Flood insurance program with it. The second thing I would say is that the gentleman talked about people on fixed incomes. ","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":795,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090152899,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As the gentleman said. if you start this principle of I was here first and then the flood came. I dont know how extendable that would be. I think it is a mistake to set the precedent that some people will get flood insurance for nothing.","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1664,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090152906,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"point is that. regardless of the program. are you going to have the Federal Government somehow pay. are you going to stick four million flood insurance premium payers to pay the cost of the military or- of the Corps of Engineers or of the road project? His point is. you shouldnt stick four million innocent flood insurance premium payers. If you want to set a standard that the Federal Government will pay for these. then go ahead and do that. Finance it separately. but dont stick innocent people who have flood insurance..","speaker_name":"TRENT FRANKS","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":525,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090152934,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This amendment would be a tragic and unnecessary step backwards.","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2814,"word_count":10}
{"speech_id":1090152942,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Since then. water levels in the Great Lakes have fallen to historic lows. These elevations. which determine who is required to purchase flood insurance. need to reflect the actual risk of flooding. Commonsense. let alone science. should tell us very clearly that the risk of flooding is lower today that it was 18 years ago when this study was completed. Right now. the International Joint Commission. or IJC. is conducting a comprehensive study of Great Lakes water levels that will be completed in 2010 or 2011. This study will take a more realistic view of factors affecting lake levels. including increased population. water consumption. environmental changes and higher flow through the Great Lakes system. This amendment would require FEMA to use the more uptodate and accurate data that the IJC study will provide. I am not arguing that Great Lakes states like Michigan should not have their flood maps updated. or that there should be some fixed ratio between premiums paid and damage claims received. What I am saying is that the revised flood maps should use the best data available. rather than 20year old data that does not reflect thetrue flood risk. Mr. Chairman. this bill is about reforming and improving the National Flood Insurance Program. ","speaker_name":"SANDER LEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2248,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090152989,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Chairman. I now yield to the gentleman from Michigan .","speaker_name":"DAVID HOBSON","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1379,"word_count":10}
{"speech_id":1090153018,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"D.C. That Hurricane Summit brought together metrologist experts from universities. the National Hurricane Center and the National Weather Service to develop more accurate indexes for inland flooding monitoring. The purpose of this index. simply put. is to save lives. Too many times these storms hit and bring harm to people who have a false sense of security because they believe they live far inland and too far inland to escape flooding. With information that was gathered at that summit. we drafted legislation. as you remember. Mr. Chairman. and it ensured that NOAA and the National Weather Service would make significant improvements to the Inland Flooding Warning System. That bill was H.R. 4826. the Inland Flood Forecasting and Warning System Act of 2002. that passed the 107th Congress. and it enjoyed wide bipartisan support. The legislation directed NOAA to do three things: Improve the capacity to forecast inland flooding associated with tropical storms and hurricanes. two. to develop a distinctive inland flooding warning system for emergency management officials that clearly defines inland flood risks and dangers. and. third. train emergency management officials. National Weather Service personnel and metrologists to use these improved forecasting techniques on inland flooding. ","speaker_name":"BOB ETHERIDGE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3315,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090153025,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the last word. Mr. Chairman. I rise to ask the gentleman from Virginia to engage in a colloquy. I would ask the gentleman from Virginia to do that. This would involve the provision in the bills committee report that relates to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. I am thankful that the committee has included language in the fiscal year 2007 bill with the intent to direct the Bureau of Prisons to renew the intergovernmental agreements with four West Texas communities. including Reeves County. which are set to expire in 2007. if these local governments offer the Bureau of Prisons fair and reasonable prices and their facilities meet the Bureau of Prisons standards. Further. ","speaker_name":"HENRY BONILLA","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1415,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090153043,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman from Washington for raising this issue. He has talked to me so many times. and I appreciate his persistence. I want to thank him for his leadership on issues important to law enforcement and the fight against meth and the spread of gangs in our communities. I understand your perspective on this concern as a former law enforcement officer. and I am glad I was able to work with you to provide increased funding under the COPS program. and. frankly. if we could do more when we get to conference. we will be glad to do that.","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":560,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090153088,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"regarding the Hometown Heroes Act. a funding limitation by Mr. FLAKE on each of the following: Rochester. New York Tooling and Machining Association for a workforce development program. Bronx Council for marketing of local business arts initiatives. Arthur Avenue Retail Market for local business requirements and improvements. Wisconsin Procurement Initiative. JARI for a regional business incubator. Fairmont State University for a small business development initiative. Fairplex Trade and Conference Center. Southern and Eastern Kentucky Tourism Development Association. ","speaker_name":"BOB ETHERIDGE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":701,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090153125,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Well. I wont repeat myself. The amendment proposes to move $1 million from Justice General Administration in order to restore funding eliminated from the budget request for the Missing Alzheimers program. It is a very important and very needed program. Mr. Chairman. with that. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":311,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090153156,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Last year. the Senate voted to provide $900 million--closer to the original furiding level for this programbut the proposed bill provides just $367 million. Since FY01. funding has been cut from over $1 billion to less than $367 million in the H.R. 5672. The effect of these cuts has been clear: many States have been forced to cut or completely eliminate their gang and drug task forces. The $558 million reported as the funding level of ByrneJAG includes $115 million in discretionary earmarks. and $75 million for Boys and Girls Clubsleaving $367 million for state formula grants supporting drug and violent crime task forces. The proposed $367 million funding level Would cripple the effectiveness of drug task forces nationwide. and jeopardize the gains made in reducing nationwide violent crime to a 30year low. The collaborative task forces built over the past 15 years to combat drugs cannot be easily rebuilt. State and local agencies will take the brunt of meth investigations without* federal assistance. More than 90 percent of drug arrests nationwide are made by state and local law enforcement. Tom Constantine. former head of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) testified that the majority of DEA cases begin as referrals from local and multijurisdictional drug investigations. He was unaware of any major DEA case during his tenure that did not originate from information gathered at the state and local level. ","speaker_name":"LEE TERRY","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7021,"word_count":230}
{"speech_id":1090153164,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I would like to thank the chairman and express my gratitude to him for his leadership and hard work that his staff and my staff have put into this amendment. and I appreciate his willingness to help us and assist us and look forward to working with him on other issues in the coming year. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"DAVID REICHERT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":339,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090153176,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I firmly believe that this amendment is a step in the right direction. The amendment takes funding from the Department of Justices General Administration Fund and the Census Bureau and helps to fund the violence against women programs. fl 1945 This addon actually helps in the fight against domestic violence without breaking the bank or tipping the very careful balance that Chairman WOLF and Ranking Member MOLLOHAN crafted in the underlying bill. Chairman WOLF. you have done a great job. and Members on both sides of the aisle respect you and the work product that we have before us. r urge all of my colleagues to support the amendment to increase funds for VAWA programs. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA BROWN-WAITE","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2896,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090153192,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Lending last year was $2 billion below what the agency claimed they would do. Those are the facts. And the chairman keeps talking about the banks and how taxpayers money is pa3ging $50.000 to the government. benefiting the banks. The only greedy one here is the Federal Government. which has increased four times their fees in the past years. Mr. Chairman. I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from West Virginia .","speaker_name":"NYDIA VELAZQUEZ","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1168,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090153193,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. I rise in support of her amendment. I know from my own experience in my congressional district. which is a rural district and in need of loans. by small entrepreneurs. there is a disappointment in the way the 7(a) program is being administered. E 2000 These fee increases particularly are causing lending to drop. Recent lending figures from SBA show that entrepreneurs received $160 million less through the 7(a) program for the first half of fiscal year 2006 when compared to the same period the previous year. I dont know what you do with that statistic. They are receiving less. We are providing less funding. and certainly the need is not less. ","speaker_name":"ALAN MOLLOHAN","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1742,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090153195,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Lending under $150.000. regardless of the exact size of the small business. is down slightly from FY 2005 levels. but it is slightly higher than the FY 2004 levels when there was no loan subsidy and lower fees. In comparing yeartodate figures. there were more than 12.300 smaller loans made worth $212 million in fiscal year 2006 versus fiscal year 2004 in the under150.000 category. So we got rid of the loan subsidy and the volume goes up. This is a \"no\" vote. It is an easy \"no\" vote.","speaker_name":"DONALD MANZULLO","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1601,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090153202,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of the amendment to H.R. 5672. the Science. State. Justice. Commerce. and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. 2007. offered by the gentlelady from New York that would lower the fees associated with the U.S. Small Business Administrations 7(a) loan program and ensure that the program continues as a publicprivate partnership. The7(a) programis an important financing mechanism. relied upon by entrepreneurs to gain access to lifeblood capital they need to strengthen. diversify. and expand their businesses and to hire new employees. Small businesses are particularly vulnerable to failure due to the difficulty in accessing capital. especially during a firms formative stages. Most banks look upon making seed loans to small businesses as risky. ","speaker_name":"MADELEINE BORDALLO","chamber":"H","state":"GU","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":1535,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090153210,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"CRS estimates that $40 million is needed to eliminate the backlog. This amendment will enable the FBI to create a centralized records repository where all of its paper files can be located and to develop. design. implement the system to store its active files electronically. It will reduce the burdens on people who are here legally seeking permanent residency and citizenship. and it would get wouldbe terrorists out of America swiftly. Mr. Chairman. I strongly urge the adoption of this amendment. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3062,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090153231,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As a father of six children. I recognize the dangers of the Internet. especially with social networking sites. As a result. I introduced the Deleting Online Predators Act to protect our children from these sites while they are at school or in the public libraries. Recognizing that chat rooms and social networking sites represent a clear and present danger to millions of children. I believe that a key component of protecting our children is to crack down on these online predators. That means we must provide law enforcement with the tools necessary to track these criminals down. I want to commend the leadership of Chairman WOLF for his efforts to increase funding for a number of programs in the Department of Justice to protect our children both on- and offline. I reached out to Chairman WOLF. requesting his assistance in securing increased funding for a number of law enforcement programs. and I am pleased to see that he has taken the initiative to include that language to do just that. Through Chairman WOLFs leadership. this legislation comes to the floor with increased funding not only for the Innocent Images Task Force but also for other vital law enforcement programs like the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL FITZPATRICK","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2628,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090153235,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank you. but I thank you also for a very thoughtful bill in very tough times. truly one that does support safer communities and one that does help prepare our young people for a global environment. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"NANCY JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":252,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090153245,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. this point of order is raised appropriately. and I concur with the gentleman from West Virginia in that it is legislation on an appropriations bill. It is actually a taxation. It is a revenue generator. It levies a tax on explosives and on firearms ammunition. and it is a way to generate revenue. perhaps as much as $130 million in this appropriations bill. in order to protect the interests of the firearms industry. the explosives industry. the people that are very closely regulated today and do not need to have additional regulation. Mr. Chairman. it is important that the section be struck out. but it is also important that we maintain our standard here and avoid legislating on an appropriation bill. So. with that. I again suggest that this point of order is one that is very solid on the policy of not legislating on appropriation bills. and I urge the Chair to sustain that point of order.","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":915,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090153256,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Well. Mr. Chairman. I want you to know that I realize you are doing a wonderful job in your position here. and this. in a larger sense. is symbolic to show to the United Nations where our priorities are and to give an opportunity for some Members. like myself. to voice their concerns about this Human Rights Commission. and I thank you for your courtesy.","speaker_name":"CLIFFORD STEARNS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":355,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090153275,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. in the last 5 years. funding for the grants under the consolidated ByrneJAG formula have been cut by almost twothirds. At the same time. we have had two consecutive attempts by the administration to eliminate this program entirely. I dont know about my colleagues. but my poli~e officers in my district dont understand this. The minimum this program should be funded at is $900 million. which is what 162 Members of this House requested in a letter to the Budget Committee earlier this year and that was recommended by the Budget Committee in the report accompanying the fiscal year 2007 budget resolution. I realize how tight this bill is and how much the chairman and the committee have worked to give as much as they can. and I realize tough choices have been made. but we must do better for our law enforcement officers. and our Members will have a chance to do that here today. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"MARK KENNEDY","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":944,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090153295,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I appreciate being offered the time. In my thrle decades of public service. I have never seen a problem as pervasive or as damaging as the meth epidemic faced by my home State of Oregon. Talking to law enforcement leaders about the meth problem. I have heard one message loud and clear. Local . law enforcement lacks the money needed to extinguish this wildfire. The ByrneJAGprogram is an effective partnership between Federal authorities and State and local law enforcement. It enables State and local leaders to leverage resources in key areas and facilitates collaboration among law enforcement. treatment and prevention programs. ","speaker_name":"DARLENE HOOLEY","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1058,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090153298,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. if you were to listen to this debate. you would assume that this bill has zero in it for meth. I urge Members to turn to page 11. 1 know nobody reads the reports here. and it is pretty obvious. but in order to help Federal. State and local law enforcement address the meth epidemic. the recommendation provides $367 million for the Justice Assistance Grants which the administration proposed to eliminate. $99 million for meth specific grants. which is the authorized level. and $58 million above the budget request. $40.000 for drug core programs. an increase of $30 million with regard to that. You act as if we havent done anything on meth. This amendment will devastate the census. I mean. no good deed goes unpunished in this institution sometimes. The administration zeros all this out. We met with every Member. Every Member that approached the committee. we tried to sit down and work it out with them to the best of it. to no avail. ","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2020,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090153304,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But no matter what face narcotics takes in any particular district. I would like to remind my colleagues that we must. in good conscience. support the men and women of local law enforcement. These are the courageous men and woman who risk their lives daily to better the communities. and they deserve our gratitude. but also our efforts to assist them in the difficult and dangerous work they do. I urge my colleagues to vote for the Kennedy amendment.","speaker_name":"JEFF FORTENBERRY","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1166,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090153311,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In my last 10 seconds. I would just compliment and applaud the committee and the chairman for the great work that they have done in trying to offset the cut by the administration. but say with a twothirds cuts in Byrne grants funding. this amendment is absolutely necessary. And I urge my colleagues to support its passage.","speaker_name":"MARK KENNEDY","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":323,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090153312,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is aneasy vote. I am going to call for a roll call vote. We will have a roll call vote. But there is no support for the census. except in the Constitution. This guy named Jefferson and Washington and Madison and Monroe. they thought it was important. But now we are going to take $50 million. I am sort of baffled. I guess it would have been almost easier to sometimes just not kind of go up anytime and try to listen. and then come down and take amendments on the floor that you were almost going to take. I think I am going to lose this amendment. But I believe that I am right. ","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3108,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090153316,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And I dont see how we can just take it from there. Patton. Boggs and Blow doesnt represent the census. Aiken Gump doesnt represent the census. They represent the Chinese. but not thecensus. So we are going to go to the weakest. most vulnerable. Article I. section 2 of the Constitution. I urge a \"no\" vote on the amendment.","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":756,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090153347,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Asa Hutchinson came to my district and visited my drug court in Compton. Califoryiia. He went away believing it was a model for others nationwide. It is clear that these courts make a difference. Mr. Chairman. and deserve sufficient funding levels. I wish to recognize Chairman LEWIS. Chairman WOLF. and Ranking Member MOLLOHAN for their dedication to drug courts and thank them for increasing this account by 300 percent from last year. With the understanding that Chairman WOLF and Chairman LEWIS will fight in conference to increase drug court funding to $45 million. I have agreed to withdraw my amendment. and I defer to the chairman at this time. ","speaker_name":"JUANITA MILLENDER-MCDONALD","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":37.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2451,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090153386,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. former State Department intelligence officials testified yesterday that they warned the administration 3 years ago that the occupation of Iraq would provoke insurgency ethnic strife and the targeting of U.S. forces. But their words then. 3 years ago. went unheeded. The Post reported today that the hearing \"marked the first time intelligence assessments on postwar Iraq had been specifically discussed in a congressional session.\" No Republicans participated.. Three years after the war in Iraq began. Republicans are still refusing to investigate what went wrong. Ohio families are paying the price. Many of us have repeatedly asked the President to present a plan for success in Iraq. a winning exit strategy to complete the mission and start to redeploy and bring our troops home. Republicans responded with theatrics and sound bites. More of the same is not a plan. ","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1174,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090153387,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. just a few days from today. brave Americans will again enter into space. pressing forward the intellectual and. of course. scientific expertise that Americans possess. I support the space exploration program. but I stand today as a member of the House Science Committee who has continually asked the question about safety. safety. safety. After the incident of Columbia. we implemented safety procedures. Unfortunately. today. we find that one of the engineers that had concerns about the space shuttles launch on July 1 has now been removed as an engineer from this program. Whistleblower protection. Safety requirements. It is time. before they launch. that they tell Members of Congress the facts and -that we can be assured that all manner of testing. all assessment has been made to ensure a safe launch. as safe as possible. so that lives can be protected. Vehicles may be lost. but the lives of astronauts should be protected. We need answers. and I look forward to getting those answers as soon as possible.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1028,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090153393,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So we said. how about you just issue the declaration of a disaster. No. their lawyers say they cant do that. I asked to see the legal opinion. They said. no. they couldnt show me the legal opinion. that they couldnt do that. We asked to see the recommendation from the regional people about the disaster. and they said. no. you cant have that. You are only Members of Congress representing these people. You cant have those documents because we havent made a decision yet. When are you going to make a decision? When it is too late for the fishers and their families. When they have already gone bankrupt. Whey they have already lost their boats. ","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4846,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090153395,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He stole the security of citizens everywhere he went. Small town shops sold out of pistols. People who never locked their doors even sealed their windows because of the fear of Resendiz. Resendiz never knew where he was going. never brought anything with him but always knew- what he would leave behind. a trail of terror and the darkness of death. Tonight. much to the dismay of his victims families. he met a far more peaceful fate than the one he inflicted on a 73yearold woman. Her last view of Earth was his wicked face and a pickax coming right at her that was lodged in her head and embedded between her eyes. Tonight. Angel Resendiz is gone. Americans are rid of the beast that pulverized a church secretarys face with a sledgehammer. Then he sexually assaulted her. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2560,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090153428,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I would like to talk about accountability. Mr. Speaker. let me just say that under the United States Constitution. which I carry one with me. Congress has an obligation to provide congressional oversight of the executive branch. Congressional oversight prevents waste and fraud. ensures executive compliance with the law. and evaluates executive performance. However. under the current leadership. Congress has abandoned this responsibility by failing to conduct meaningful investigations of allegations of serious waste. fraud. abuse. and mismanagement of taxpayer dollars. And tonight. on behalf of the 37member fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition. I rise to hold this Republican majority. this Republican Congress. responsible for failing to conduct meaningful investigations of allegations of serious waste. fraud. abuse and mismanagement of taxpayer dollars. Mr. ","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12282,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090153480,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this morning. we have set aside the first 2 hours of the session for a period of morning business. The first hour is under the control of the minority. and the second hour is under the control of the majority. At the conclusion of morning business or shortly thereafter. we hope to turn to the Oman freetrade agreement. The Finance Committee is meeting this morning and expects to report out that measure. It is privileged and will be considered under the 20hour statutory time limit. I dont expect that we will need all of the time. but some debate will be required. Sefiators can. therefore. expect a vote later today once we reach an understanding as to the time required on that bill. This week. we will also consider the Paulson nomination to be Secretary of the Treasury. and we may also clear an appropriations bill for action.. Having said that. we will alert all Members as to the timing of the votes as we reach agreements on any of the legislative and executive items I just mentioned.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1011,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090153489,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. last week. the Democratic women of the Senate. led by our dean. Senator BARBARA MIKULSKI. held an event at the Sewall Belmont House. which I am very proud to say put forth what we are calling the checklist for change. We came together around the importance of an agenda in Congress that meets the needs of all of the American people. We have been given an hour this morning to discuss these issues.. Our first speaker. our leader. is the Senator from Maryland. who has paved the way for women not only in the Senate but in our country on so many issues. I am. with great pride. yielding to the Senator from Maryland.","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":631,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090153501,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my colleague. Senator MURRAY from Washington. for her eloquent statement about the state of veterans affairs in our country and to make sure that those who patriotically served our country are taken care of in their time of need. Many of my colleagues are hereand I appreciate being with my women Senate Democratic colleagues--to talk about our checklist for change and talk about the important issues we believe Congress and the Senate should be focusing on. But I know that people all across my State are wondering what we are doing here in the few days left before our Fourth of July recess. In fact. one of the newspapers in my State basically said: If Members dont have better things to do than some of the proposals they have been bringing up to amend the Constitution. then we should just go home. Or. as one newspaper said: The checklists that we have been dealing with are full of political gimmicks and not national heeds. I would like to say that these are the national needs that we ought to be dealing with. and making college education affordable for all is a huge priority. As we have spoken out on this issue as a group of women Senators talking about the checklist for change. ","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5823,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090153505,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator from Arkansas for her remarks. I dont think anyone speaks more eloquently about the needs of American families than BLANCHE LINCOLN. It is always real and it is always practical. I am just delighted to be a colleague of hers. I rise today to say why stem cell research should be part of this Democratic Womens Checklist for Change. The reason is very simple. and that is because stem cell research offers the promise of historic advances in the treatment of catastrophic disease. It is that simple. The potential for this research was in the news again last week. as scientists at Johns Hopkins announced that they used embryonic stem cells to regenerate damaged nerves in paralyzed .rats. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6189,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090153507,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Contrast that with what happened after September 11. This Government was literally turned upside down and inside out. Lawsdozens of laws. maybe even hundreds of lawswere changed so that we could try to get to core answers to 9\/11. Yet after the greatest natural disaster in American history. with the failure of the Federal Emergency Management. a failure that will be recorded in history for generations. not one law has been permanently changed. And it is almost 11 months after that storm. Billions of dollars have been thrown at the problem. And at the request of myself and a few Members of our delegation. we have managed to move a few billion of those dollars out from this morass of a Federal agency that doesnt Work to try to get money directly to parishes. counties. to economic development departments for the recovery and rebuilding. I raise this point on this checklist not just for Louisiana which we are going to rebuild regardless of the mess we find ourselves in. but we want to raise this issueI want to raise this issuein hopes that it can prevent this kind of recovery taking place in Seattle. in the event of a tsunami. or in California in the event of an earthquake. or in Tennessee which also sits on a fault line of a geological structure. I raise this point to honor the 1.836 victims of Katrina and the 120 victims of Rita. Surely there is enough sacrifice for people to make before their Government. led by a Republican Congress. takes the steps to make sure it will never happen again. ","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11096,"word_count":268}
{"speech_id":1090153514,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would say also. it is fully compliant with the regulations. with the Constitution. and with statutes. If anybody wants to know. I will be happy to talk with them. There was no genuine public right to know that was satisfied by blowing this program. It was legal. and it was effective. No longer will it be effective. and no longer can we be as safe as we were before these disclosures started. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":414,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090153535,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"While some on the other side take every opportunity to point out flaws and failures. I would like to point out that in January of 2005. 8 million Iraqis voted for a Transnational National Assembly. and in August Iraqi assemblymen presented a Constitutionto their countrymen. In October. -80 percent of the people voted to ratify that new Constitution. taking their first steps to create a permanent government. The people of Iraq have not undertaken this path to freedom without danger. They risk their lives standing in lines at voting booths and recruiting stations. Iraqis do these things because they know that they are taking the necessary steps which -will govern their future. . While there have been positive advancements regarding the Government. the private sector has also seen improvements as well. There is much work to be done here. I will not stand before the Senate and state otherwise. However. the road to progress in Iraq is paved with growth. ","speaker_name":"JOHN THUNE","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7324,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090153543,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":14,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We are over 3 years into this war. The President needs to be budgeting for the war. Fourth. we reaffirmed the protections for Social Securitythey exist in current lawensuring its offbudget status so Social Security funds arent pooled with all the other funds to disguise from the American people the seriousness of our fiscal condition. And to prohibit fasttrack changes to Social Securityagain. special rules that are outside the normal rules of the Senate that could lead to a shredding of Social Security and Medicare with very little debate and with virtually no amendments. I will get into that in a moment. We also have a \"save Social Security first\" provision in our plan. a 60vote point of order against any new spending or new tax cuts that increase the deficit until the 75year Social Security solvency is restored. We also restore for 2006 the 60vote point of order against considering tax cuts or new spending or debt limit legislation without a new budget resolution. It is amazing. but our colleagues on the other side last year put in place new spending caps as part of the plan that the chairman of the committee presented moments ago. Last year they put in place spending caps for 2006. 2007. 2008. Two weeks ago. when we passed the supplemental. they wiped them out. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11049,"word_count":221}
{"speech_id":1090153545,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Six months of this year have already passed. It has been 5 months since the President of the United States. before the American people. said that we were addicted to foreign oil and we needed to take aggressive steps to move forward to get ourselves to energy independence. I had the honor of hosting the President at the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden. CO. and we looked at the possibility of renewable energy. Yet some 6 months after that January speech. we still are here in this Senate without having moved forward with any significant kind of energy legislation. That is wrong. Part of the peoples business. the highest priority. is for us to look at this energy dilemma we are facing in this country and to embrace in a real. honest. and ethical way the imperative that moves us toward energy independence. I will address part of what I think we ought to be doing with our movement toward energy independence in our country today. The time to get serious about growing our way to energy independence is long overdue. If Brazil. a Third World country. can do it. it is inexcusable for the United States of America. the strongest Nation on Earth. to do otherwise. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11785,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090153564,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I used to fly back and forth to Iowa. and flight stewardess after flight stewardess would come back to me and say- Do you know Senator LAUTENBERG? And I would say:Sure. I do. And they would say: Well. please tell him thanks. We have been breathing that smoke for years. and now we dont have to. So I thank the Senator for the countless lives he has saved and the working conditions he has made better for all of the people. and all of the passengers who fly on airplanes have the Senator to thank for that. So when the Senator from New Jersey talks about the vaccine for cervical cancer. he is right on the mark. and he keeps up his long tradition of his focus on health care for all Americans. It is a shame that we have a vaccine which could be given to women. young womenas you know. I think it is three shots. if I am not mistaken. and I think it is good for life.","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1495,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090153569,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We will do that. I would like to thank the Senator for the compliment on the smoking prohibition in airplanes. It has finally penetrated. after almost 20 years now. into homes. into restaurants. into places where smoking just isnt an acceptable habit anymore. Todays papers have stories about how dangerous secondhand smoke is. you dont have to smoke the cigarette yourself. you just need to be near someone who is. I am sure the Senator is aware of the fact that breathing other peoples smoke can be as dangerous to your health as if you engaged in smoking yourself. What a coincidence it is that as we have been talking about the no smoking in airplanes. our colleague from the State of Illinois. Senator DURBIN. has joined us on the floor. At the time. he was the House author of the ban and I was the Senate author. so the two of us together were able to put that legislation into effect. Returning to the vaccine. is the Senator aware of the fact that there are detractors out there who. even if you get the good product. will stand in the way of it being made readily available to people who need it?","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1106,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090153574,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Is it not also a fact that the bill which passed the House of Representatives which has been sitting on\"the calendar in the Senate. our calendar of business. for 1 full year while people are suffering from these problems. is it not also true that in this bill.. we are very clear: no human cloning. That is not a part of this. correct?","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":335,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090153586,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Just as an example. everybody remembers Secretary Rubin in the Clinton administration. That timeline is something like: The Senate receives his nomination January 4. 1995. That was the first day of the session that year. The official ethicsrelated paperwork was received on January 5 of 1995. The Finance Committee staff expedited review of the complicated financial details of Secretary Rubin. also a senior official at Goldman SachsHenry Paulson being the CEO of that same firm. The Finance Committee held a hearing 5 days later. on January 10. 1995. On that same day. the committee reported Secretary Rubins nomination. On that same day. the full Senate confirmed Mr. Rubin. and he was sworn in as Treasury Secretary. So we are moving with a similarly aggressive schedule. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7084,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090153588,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I welcome this administrations nomination of Henry Paulson to become Secretary of the Treasury. I have known Hank for many years..I believe that he is an outstanding choice for this demanding position. Hank has demonstrated his knowledge of financial markets and helped guide them through three decades of transformation. He rose to the helm of Goldman Sachs with our former colleague Governor Jon Corzine. and as sole CEO. presided over some of the most successful years of that company. Hank is broadly respected by his colleagues. He has earned a reputation as a man of boundless energy and a relentless work ethic. Hank proved himself an innovative and prescient thinker. able to consider economic and financial challenges before they are upon Jime 28. 2006","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2829,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090153607,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Similarly. our vast energy resources in the State of Wyoming are essential to our countrys national energy policy. and we struggle to maintain a balance between development of those resources and the quality of life we enjoy in Wyoming. I submitted several written questions to Mr. Paulson after our Committee on Finance hearing. and we have had good followup discussion on these issues. He has assured me that he is a strong advocate for personal property rights and has committed to working with me and the Senate to pursue a sensible policy. I am pleased to be able to lend my support to Mr. Paulson. and I look forward to working with him.","speaker_name":"CRAIG THOMAS","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1367,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090153611,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Hank understands the macropicture. the global picture. as well as the micropicture. the more intimate. more defined microlevel. He understands the concerns of Americas hardworking families and how big decisions here in Washington affect individual lives in a very personal way and in intimate ways and affect those individual opportunities. He inherits a thriving -economyas cited again and again. a 5.3percent gross domestic product growth in the first quarter. unemployment at historic lows. 5.3 million new jobs after 33 consecutive months of job gains. and home ownership at historic highs. He understands that Americans are feeling those challenges in their everyday lives. those challenges of high gas prices. of escalating costs that seem to be skyrocketing out of the average persons reach. He shares the Republican Partys conviction that we need to continue those progrowth. lowtax policies in order to continue to create jobs and to foster more innovation. I am confident that under his leadership. America will continue to grow. to thrive. and expand. I look forward to voting to confirm Hank Paulson in a few moments as Secretary- of the Treasury and to working with him to. keep America moving forward. At this time. I know of no others who desire to speak on the Paulson nomination. and I urge the Senate to vote.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3147,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090153613,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. as our colleagues know. there will be no further votes today and no rollcall votes today. We will be in session a bit longer as we finish the business over the course of the next little bit. When I close. I will have more to say about the schedule for tomorrow and Friday as well. I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":330,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090153630,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have also voted. against amendments to the Constitution to do the same. I voted that way because. while I believe that flag desecration is despicable conduct that should be prohibited by law. I also.believe that amending our Constitution is a step that should be taken only rarely. and then only as a last resort. In the past year I have once again reviewed in detail nearly all of the legal opinions and written materials published byi constitutional scholars and courts on all sides of this issue..After that review. I have concluded that there remains a way to protect our flag without having to alter the Constitution of the United States. That is why I have cosponsored S. 1370. a bipartisan piece of legislation introduced by Senator BENNETT of Utah. S. 1370 protects the flag by criminalizing flag desecration when its intended purpose is to incite violence. This is the same standard which makes it illegal to falsely cry \"fire\" in a crowded theater. Reckless speech that is likely to cause violence is not protected under the \"fighting words\" standard. long recognized by the Supreme Court of the United States. The Congressional Research Service believes that this type of statute will. be upheld by the U.S. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3182,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090153633,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. Ronald Reagan once said \"I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph. And theres purpose and worth to each and every life.\" How appropriate that these words reflect the heart and persona of someone who used to work for the Reagans in the White House and who. for the past 2 years. has worked faithfully and tirelessly as my executive assistant. Mary Klappa met the challenge of the job with excitement and expertise. She brought professionalism and trust to her position. We all depend on our executive assistant to make certain we get where we need to be on time and well prepared. a duty in which she excelled. Effectively managing a Senators time is not easy. Frankly. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CRAPO","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2276,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090153635,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Absent some immediate help. it is unclear where these communities will get water for municipal purposes. The communities of Ruidoso. Ruidoso Downs. Las Vegas. Capitan. and Clouderoft. NM. are already operating under stringent water restrictions. I am happy to say that the fiscal year 2006 supplemental appropriations bill provided $9 million for drought emergency assistance to these and other New Mexico communities that have been especially hard hit by the drought. The Rio Grande River is another unfortunate example of the water shortages in New Mexico. Water flowing in the Rio Grande provides water to almost a million people living along its banks. New Mexicos largest cities and fastest growing towns are along the Rio Grandethe Pojoaque Valley. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5385,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090153643,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In my home State of Illinois. schools of nursing are denying qualified students admittance because of the shortage of teachers. This is an indication I","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1977,"word_count":25}
{"speech_id":1090153665,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health. Education. Labor. and Pensions be authorized to meet in executive session during the session of the Senate on Wednesday. June 28. 2006. at 10 a.m.. followed by a full committee hearing commencing at 10:30 a.m. Both the executive session and full committee hearing are scheduled to be held in SD430.","speaker_name":"JIM DEMINT","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":367,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090153696,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Israel. We are in the business of eliminating terrorist funding. not authorizing it. Our mission is to promote the spread of democracy in the Middle East. We must stand beside Israel. our most trusted ally in the Middle East. as they face down this terrorist organization in government clothing. Mr. Speaker. democracy and terrorism cannot coexist. and I am putting my money on democracy.","speaker_name":"PATRICK MCHENRY","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1028,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090153713,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Delaying the difficult decisions will not make it go away. The American public wants and deserves action. not the politics of division.","speaker_name":"JIM COSTA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1171,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090153721,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am a Democrat. and I am glad about it. The reason for this joy is over the fact that the party to which I belong is pushing back against this Republicanled Congress and their outofcontrol spending. Let us take a look at the facts. President Bush and congressional Republicans have turned a $5.6 trillion surplus into a $4 trillion deficit. a change of $9 trillion. This is the most fiscally irresponsible American administration. We owe China almost $150 billion. My hope is that we never have to go to war with them because I dont believe they are going to finance it. Secondly. it is absolutely unacceptable that the United States is borrowing almost all the money they are using to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan.","speaker_name":"EMANUEL CLEAVER","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":730,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090153750,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They are a bloated and overfunded agency as it is. and they should not be using our dollars to come and lobby us. The stated purpose of this Information Center is to \"raise awareness about the organizations work and foster relations with the American public. U.S. Government officials and NGOs.\" Really? To foster relations? Recently. a very highly publicized speech regarding the relationship between the United States and the U.N. was made by Deputy SecretaryGeneral Mark Malloch Brown. In that speech. he chastised the American public and government officials such as us. saying we \"lack judgment and are unwittingly subject to manipulation by U.N. detractors.\" Then this very same U.N. Information Center took that speech and spread it around in a wide array of congressional and executive offices. Again. I personally do not feel that the American public needs to be lectured by someone from an institution with the high rate of corruption and failed promises as the U.N. We should not be having our tax dollars go to an organization to attack us maliciously with false attacks. If the U.N. wants to repair its relationship with the U.S. ","speaker_name":"SCOTT GARRETT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4354,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090153787,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. our subcommittee created this office in 2004 after having a hearing. We have $3 million currently in the bill for China compliance. It is a very. very important issue. We have also required there be a position in Beijing. and so I thank the gentleman for the amendment. We accept it. Mr. ","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":405,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090153804,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman for yielding. and I want to make a comment on the chairman and the ranking member of this committee. that they have done a stunning job given the allocation. What I would like to do with this amendment is to explain why it is important to take $738 million out of the space exploration. program in NASA. that is the program that will send the man to the Moon and a man to Mars. and put that money into the National Ocean Service. the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Ocean Atmospheric Research Service of NOAA. The Ocean Commission. commissioned by Congress. the members were appointed by the present President. Mr. Bush. recommended 200 items to be done with the Worlds oceans as ocean policy for the United States. They recommended that we put in $3.9 billion to implement those recommendations. Well. we know that the budget is tight. The problem. though. is this particular appropriations bill provides for $300 million below the Presidents request for 2007. $300 million below the Presidents request. not even coming anywhere near. not even approaching the $3.9 billion. If you look at the budget for NOAA in 2005. we are. with this bill. with this budget. putting in $800 million less than the 2005 budget. With the 200 recommendations to be implemented with the $3.9 billion that this commission recommended. we are attempting to resolve the issue of most of the worlds largest fish. like you see here. 90 percent of their population is gone. 90 percent. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE GILCHREST","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2199,"word_count":257}
{"speech_id":1090153816,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today in support of the amendment. NOAA is our lead ocean agency. overseeing programs to promote healthy oceans. coastal areas and communities. The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy highlighted the need for new and sustained investments in ocean and coastal programs to meet our current and future challenges. Failing to make these investments will jeopardize the economic and ecological benefits our Nation receives from its oceans and coasts. Although I understand difficult decisions must be made in the limited budget available for fiscal year 2007. H.R. 5672 would decimate funding for our coastal programs including cooperative fisheries research. coastal and estuarine land conservation. ocean exploration and undersea research. oil spill response and restoration. and our National Estuarine Research Reserves. These programs provide important. ontheground benefits to our coastal communities at relatively little Federal expense. ","speaker_name":"H. SAXTON","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1577,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090153818,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I want to emphasize the invaluable services and programs of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. the lead federal agency for.oceanrelated management and activities. Among these are the National Marine Sanctuary Program. the Integrated Ocean Observing Prograni. the National Sea Grant College Program. and the Protected Species Research and Management Program. just to name a few. Combined. the many NOAA activities support necessary ocean protection. research. exploration. and education. Therefore. the significant cuts that are proposed in this bill are unacceptable and would seriously impair the efficiency and effectiveness of the agency. To allow cuts would be a step in the wrong direction and would sustain the \"failing grade\" received on this years U.S. Ocean Policy Report Card released by the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative. Furthermore. it is about time for the \"blue\" of our worlds oceans to get at least as much attention as the \"blue\" above us. After all. our planet of more than 70 percent water is largely unexplored. The amendment being offered by","speaker_name":"SAM FARR","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3055,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090153825,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself as much time as I may consume. This amendment. Mr. Chairman. takes $2 million out of the Secretary of. Commerces Department managerial budget. and it puts that same $2 million in NOAA Fisheries Operational Account. The reason that this is necessary is to create a placeholder so when this bill goes to conference we will be able to revisit and address the very real disaster that is happening on the coast of California and the coast of Oregon. a disaster that. unfortunately. has been completely ignored by this administration. It came to a head last night when a number of the impacted districts representatives met with NOAA fisheries and we were told. in no uncertain terms. that the administration and NOAA were not going to address the problems that working families were having because of the salmon fishing disaster on the west coast. They said that they werent going to even look at this until February of next year. ","speaker_name":"MIKE THOMPSON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1865,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090153829,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I want to thank the committee and my colleagues. We only found out last evening that. despite the facts that are before us. the administration says it will be at least next year before they can determine whether or not there is a disaster for salmon fishers on the Pacific coast. Bottom line. nobody is fishing. They created a structure where people can only go out and catch 75 fish. It is not worth the fuel to go out. It is clearly a disaster. But the bureaucracy here is resistant to declaring the disaster and getting our folks the assistance they need. So. with this. this is nowhere near the amount of funds that will be necessary. but to get to conference and within 1 day to have moved this amount of money in the bill. ","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":970,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090153833,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They cant afford to go out fishing. They cant afford to pay for their homes. And it impacts the entire community. This is the base industry of these west coast communities. These are small communities. They rely on the fishermen to buy food in the grocery store. to buy appliances at the appliance store. to buy clothing. to buy bait. When they are not operating. other businesses also dont operate. I am happy that we have this opportunity for the $2 million as a placeholder. but what. these people need is they need disaster relief. They need this now. and they need money to help them. just like we do for all other disasters that we declare.","speaker_name":"DARLENE HOOLEY","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1124,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090153847,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the gentlemans amendment increases and decreases the amount for the Department of Commerces Departmental Management Account. There is no net effect on the funding level of the account. I have no objection to the gentlemans amendment. The committee accepts the gentlemans amendment. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the bal-. ance of my time.","speaker_name":"DAVID WELDON","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":349,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090153880,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I support the gentlewomans amendment. I know the Veterans Corporation is working to get itself revitalized. and I hope we can have this thing authorized. I think the more effort that can be done would help us. particularly as we move into the outyears. Mr. Chairman. I accept the gentlewomans amendment. Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":368,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090153912,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. it has been 9 years since this country has adjusted the minimum .wage. During that time. the food prices have gone up almost 25 percent. Health care costs overall have gone up over 40 percent. Insurance has almost doubled. Gasoline prices have doubled. Energy prices have gone out of sight. and yet people are still struggling along on the same minimum wage that they were paid 9 years ago. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4031,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090153917,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I do make a point of order against the amendment because it propoqes to change existing law and constitutes legislation in an appropriation bill. Therefore. it violates clause 2 of rule XXI. The rule states in pertinent part. an amendment to a general appropriation bill shall not be in order if it changes existing law. The amendment directly amends the existing law. and I ask for a ruling from the Chair.","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":421,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090153933,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Creating a distinct and separate VOA program for Cyprus provides advocates for reunification a unique opportunity to bring both sides back to the negotiating table. We believe that the United States must play an active role in resolving differences between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. and the Voice of America Cyprus would be a positive step forward. Thank you very much.","speaker_name":"ROBERT WEXLER","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":993,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090153964,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. yesterday we had quite a discussion on this bill. There were efforts to move money from paying for the census. for example. to other areas of the bill or other priorities. There was a lot of talk about limited resources and the limited amount of money in this bill and the need to take money from one area to put into another. \u0095 I would submit that one area that we can take some money from that is overfunded. grossly overfunded. in this bill is in some of these earmarks. Now. I will maybe highlight 10 of them today. but there are literally hundreds in the bill that we could take the money fromto fund our constitutional obligation. for example. to conduct the census every 10 years. But I will start today with 250.000 for the Rochester. New York. Tooling and Machining Association for a workforce development program. that is an earmark. This amendment would strip that funding. ","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3240,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090153968,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the distinguished gentleman from Virginia for yielding. Mr. Chairman. I rise today in strong opposition to the amendment offered by the gentleman from Arizona. It is the responsibility of all Members of this distinguished body to faithfully represent the interests and well being of their constituents. I come to this Chamber again today to once again support the needs of my home district. where job creation continues to be the number one priority of western New York. The Federal investment included by the Appropriations Committee for the Rochester Tooling and Machining Association is welcome news for western New York. I appreciate that the chairman of the committee recognizes. as I do. that this project is worthy of Federal involvement through the Small Business Administration and will be used to meet the ultimate objective of creating and retaining good highpaying jobs for the hardworking Americans I represent. The Rochester Tooling and Machining Association is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the development and improvement of tooling. machining and contract manufacturing industries in Monroe County and western New York. They have been the regions leading association for the tooling and machining clustqr for over 60 years. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS REYNOLDS","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2516,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090153987,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. this earmark limitation amendment would prohibit $200.000 in Federal funds from being provided to the Oil Region Alliance of Business. Industry and Tourism. Now. the mission of the Oil Region Alliance of Business. Industry and Tourism is to \"increase the prosperity and population of the Oil Region\" of Pennsylvania. The point of the alliance is to \"entice people to live. work. learn and play in the valley that changed the world.\" I am certain this is an important organization to the oil region. These folks are working to ensure that the regions future is important .as was its past. I have no problem with that. I dont think anyone does. Being the site .of the worlds first successful oil well in 1859. this area has played a crucial role in the countrys history. ","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2524,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090153997,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If the money is not used for the operation or maintenance of this thriving independent facility. what is it used for? Maybe the funding is intended for some other activities at the Fairplex. such as the Wally Parks NHRA Motor Sports Museum or the Frank Hawley Drag Racing School. Maybe these funds are for Fairplex Park. a major horse racing facility with a grandstand and airconditioned clubhouse for satellite gambling. There is no question that Fairplex delivers major economic benefits for L.A. County and the rest of California. But I do question. however. why the Federal Government is throwing money at an independent facility that generates over $334 million in economic activity nationwide.. Fairplex does so well. in fact. that it donates more than $400.000 in cash and in kind to local organizations each year. So why are we giving this earmark? That is the question. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1785,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090154037,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It seems that we have doubled their budget. or their entire budget comes from the Federal Government. I am not sure which. I am sure the Wisconsin Procurement Institutes budget is higher now than it was 3 years ago. but a significant portion must be funded by this earmark. I certainly support the outsourcing of Federal functions that can be better performed by private companies. but there is something inherently wrong with funding an organization whose purpose it is to help others secure government funding. Just thinking about it makes your head spin. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3228,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090154043,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chairman. let me be very clear. The Wisconsin Procurement Institute was indeed organized originally by Les Aspin when he was chairman of the Armed Services Committee in this House. It is an organization that helps many new companies who are new to the procurement process figure out how the Federal procurement process works. Instead of providing money to individual companies. this money is used to create an institute to educate all kinds of companies so that they can compete for Federal business. especially in the procurement area and most especially in the defense area. I would make one simple point: Right now. large corporations have the resources and they have the experience to seek Federal business. but many quality companies do not because they are unfamiliar with how the Federal procurement process works. There are a number of organizations who rank States in terms of how much Federal moneythey get each year. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3463,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090154059,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. this* amendment would prohibit funds in the bill from being used for the Southern and Eastern Kentucky Tourism Development Association. which receives a $1 million earmark in this bill. The Southern and Eastern Kentucky Tourism Development Association was created in 1987 to promote. expand. develop and market the existing and potential tourism industry in southern and eastern Kentucky. According to our research. since 1987. the Southern and Eastern Kentucky Tourism Development Association has received more than $18 million in Federal grants. loans. and earmarks In fact. last year. in the fiscal year 2006 Science. State. Justice and Commerce appropriation bill. the Southern and Eastern Kentucky Development Association received a $3 million earmark. Now I love traveling. as everyone here does. and I am all for seeing Kentucky tourism continue to grow. ","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1256,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090154071,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As a result. he was separated from his two brothers. his only remaining links to his family that he once loved. He came to see me last year. and he sat in the cafeteria below this Chamber. and he leaned over to me. and he whispered. Congressman. I have had so much pain in my life. We can do better and we must do better to help these young children. By working with the chairman and his staff. we have reduced the dollar amount in the bill so that this amendment no longer affects the Census Bureau. Mr. Chairman. this program will make a real difference in the lives of children affected by meth and other drugs. I urge a \"yes\" vote on the amendment-. Mr. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS CARDOZA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2376,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090154082,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The administrator has said this is very good because when you have earmarks. it takes away. _ So I strongly support the gentlemans amendment and urge that it be adopted.","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":973,"word_count":30}
{"speech_id":1090154165,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As a result of that kind of policy. people in this country have died. I. again. want to thank the author of the amendment and the committee for accepting this amendment.","speaker_name":"THOMAS TANCREDO","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":879,"word_count":31}
{"speech_id":1090154219,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Colorado. Hawaii. Maine. Montana. Rhode Island. Nevada. Oregon. Vermont and Washington. However. the Federal Government has decided that they are going to intervene and prevent those States from carrying out the laws which were passed in two cases by the State legislatures and in nine cases by referenda by the people of those States. We will hear from the people who oppose this amendment that marijuana has something to do with a gateway drug. ","speaker_name":"MAURICE HINCHEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2195,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090154251,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding time. * For 5 years in the Senate. I was a staffer under Senator Hawkins. who chaired the Drug Policy Committee on the Senate side. I have served most of my time in the House on the Criminal Justice Drug Policy Subcommittee or one of its predecessors. I chaired Criminal Justice Drug Policy. I point that out to tell you. in the nearly two decades. I have never heard one credible source that said that there is a need for medical prescription and use of marijuana. not one credible source through dozens and dozens of hearings. In fact. we have heard the other side say. let the doctor decide. and in fact. the experts. and there is no bigger association than the American Medical Association of doctors. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society has opposed this. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MICA","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1409,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090154299,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In the State of New York. the wait lists were so long. the State eliminated them and instituted a lottery system. Once enrolled. learning English takes citizens several years to even obtain a fundamental understanding of the English languagenot enough to understand complex ballots. Citizens should not be barred from exercising their right to vote while trying to become English proficient. Most jurisdictions covered by section 203 support its continued existence: According to a 2005 survey. an overwhelming majority of jurisdictions covered by Section 203 think that federal language assistance provisions should remain in effect for public elections. In fact. in a poll of registered voters. 57 percent believe it is difficult to navigate ballots and instructions and that assistance should be provided. I urge defeat of the Stearns Amendment.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4247,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090154306,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Here we are on the eve of the 4th of July being what was referred to 40 years ago in the bestseller. being the Ugly American. Let us prove that we are the good American and vote down this \"Ugly American\" amendment.","speaker_name":"DAVID SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1461,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090154314,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"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. ","speaker_name":"LINDA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":39.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1014,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090154320,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Stearns Amendment to H.R. 5672 would undermine the Voting Rights Act reauthorization process and effectively disenfranchise language minority voters through the appropriations process. Mr. Chairman. I strongly urge my colleagues to vote \"no\" on the Stearns Amendment (#21) to H.R. 5672. the Science. State. Justice. Commerce Appropriations Act for FY 2007.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL HONDA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2258,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090154327,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces. or ICACs. are Federallocal partnerships that help track down the perpetrators of online child exploitation. Ninety percent of this important work occurs at the. local level by ICAC investigators all across the country. Their jobs become more important every day as the incidence of child por-\" nography rises to nearly epidemic proportions. I want to consider these chilling statistics: In fiscal year 2003. ICACs received 3.741 reports of Internet crimes against children. In fiscal year 2004. that number was 24.138. But. Mr. Chairman. in fiscal year 2005. that number was 198.883. an increase of 5.216 percent in just 2 years. ","speaker_name":"DIANA DEGETTE","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1842,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090154350,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. first of all. let me just acknowledge that I agree with much of what the gentleman says. except the part about us gutting anything. What we did is we took the space exploration program and limited the increase to 10 percent. We by no means cut it to last years level. We by no means slashed it to the bone. What we did is we took a program that grew the most and said. we are going go allow it to grow only 10 percent in the alternative. I want to point out the program that did get slashed to the bone. which was the COPS hiring component. You know. if you have a COPS program which put 117.000 police officers on the street and you say. we are going to reauthorize it but we are not going to provide any funding to do the hiring component. then we are going to start seeing what we are seeing now. which is. nationwide the seven index crimes are starting to creep up again. We saw the single best Federal program against crime perhaps in history was the COPS program. and despite the protestations of some of the folks who were here at the time. it was distributed throughout the country. Now the COPS department at Justice in the hands of the Republican party fervently says. you know what. having a COPS program without having hiring in it is like having no COPS program at all. ","speaker_name":"ANTHONY WEINER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1862,"word_count":246}
{"speech_id":1090154365,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong opposition to this amendment. and it is not exactly correct to say this is just going to cut money from the Moon and Mars. We have a program underway to develop a safer. less expensive. more reliable vehicle than the space shuttle. and that is called the crew exploration vehicle. If this amendment goes through. it is going to delay that program. it is going to run up the costs. and it is going to create a situation where we are going to have no way to get men and women into space. Now. this program. I agree. sounds like a worthwhile program. but frankly. when it got established. I had serious misgivings in the 1990s because I thought we were going to have a real serious problem finding the funding for it on into the future. It was originally sold as just a shortterm thing. but as you would expect. people are going to come back. This is really the Federal Government getting involved in a local issue. and I would say the decline in the crime rate in the United States was because of locking up repeat offenders and not because of the COPS program.","speaker_name":"DAVID WELDON","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1090,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090154373,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. let me say that I strongly urge defeat of the amendment. China is using their space program for military reasons. They now have laser beams. For the members of the committee that came to the subcommittee briefing. the closed briefing. you saw where they are. It is frightening. China has 200.000 enginbers working on the space program. and we have 75.000. If the Weiner amendment passed. the nmber of U.S. engineers would drop. America. under the Weiner amendment. would no longer be number one. That would be dangerous to our country and absolutely wrong. ","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":746,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090154374,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We need to be in the game. We need to participate.","speaker_name":"ANTHONY WEINER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1534,"word_count":11}
{"speech_id":1090154402,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"MOLLOHANS staff have worked together to provide oversight in this regard. The report accompanying the bill includes language to require the commission to implement the recommendations of the Inspector General. We are working to ensure a better EEOC National Contact Center. but prohibiting the funds for the center would increase the workload on the EEOC front line. detract from the people that are helping. So I urge a \"no\" vote on the amendment. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1721,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090154403,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I know that the contact center is not the place in which you want to resolve your claims. If you had an age discrimination claim. you wouldnt want to do it over the telephone. So what I am suggesting to you is. the reason I am opposing these contact centers is because it is not giving people the opportunity to do what they really do need to do. which is have the opportunity to talk with a person who is experienced. It is like all the centers now who are using India in order to take calls from people in America. and you have to explain four or five. six times. I dont have anything against Indians. But in order to make my complaint. I want to make sure that I have someone who is experienced and knowledgeable of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the laws and what I need to do. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"STEPHANIE JONES","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1611,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090154447,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Whatever the world ains by placing peacekeeping forces in an embattled country or region we lose t.enfold by having deviant and abusive members of the peacekeeping force exploit the local populations. Peacekeeping fundsare an important and necessary part of what America does for humanity and the rest of the world. It is a worthwhile cause and a very important resource in spreading American goodwill to other nations. However. I believe the U.N. peacekeeping program must be reformed and Americans should not bb spending their valuable tax dollars .on the program until this serious problem has been fixed. I thank the chairman for allowing me to discuss this issue. I understand it is subject to a point of order. and I will withdraw my amendment with the hope that the chairman and ranking member will address this issue in conference and in future appropriations bills. - Mr. Chairman. -I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL MCCAUL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2163,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090154476,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"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. ","speaker_name":"EDDIE JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2593,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090154481,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"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.","speaker_name":"LORETTA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":47.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":977,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090154487,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. my amendment will prohibit any funds in this bill from being used to enforce the burdensome trigger lock law that was passed and that went into effect on April 24 of this year. I believe this law is needless and equivalent to a tax on citizpns who purchase firearms. The law states that all licensed manufacturers. licensed importers and licensed dealers must provide a trigger lock -with every handgun they sell. This is not a cost that will be absorbed by the gun industry. it is a cost that will be passed on to lawful gun owners. Trigger locks do not stop gun crimes or accidental shootings. Mandating gun buyers to pay for a gun lock is not making America safe. it just is making guns and selfdefense and personal protection more costly. ","speaker_name":"MARILYN MUSGRAVE","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"F","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2739,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090154490,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Playing with it with his friend. he shot and killed his friend. It was an accident. It was an accident that certainly could have been prevented.","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MCCARTHY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1515,"word_count":26}
{"speech_id":1090154538,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I make a point of order against the amendment because it proposes to change existing law and constitutes legislation in an appropriation bill and therefore violates clause 2 of rule XXI. The rule states in pertinent part: An amendment to a general appropriation bill shall not be in order if changing existing law. The amendment imposes additional duties. I ask for a ruling of the Chair.","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":402,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090154546,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Chairman. if you have visited a doctors office or a hospital in the last few months. you may have seen a notice telling you that your medical records may be turned over to the government for law enforcement or intelligence purposes. We can all agree that giving the FBI access to our most intimate private information is too great an intrusion on our privacy to leave unlimited and unsupervised. There may very well be reasonable legitimate reasons for the FBI to need this information in terrorist investigations. Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act provides for them to get that information if they simply go to a judge and tell them why they need it. The NSLs. which this amendment would stop. or would say you cant spend money on. skips the necessity of even going to a judge in private. in secret. and saying why they need that. Let them use section 215. We had al. most a majority on this floor to eliminate section 215. but at. least that re_quires a showing to a judge. The National Security Letters allows any FBI field office director to get these most private records without any showing to a judge. That is wrong. and. I urge my colleagues to vote for this amendment. . ","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3880,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090154549,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 2 minutes. We are talking about terrorism. Every time the gentleman gets up. he paints something that really is inaccurate. and I think the gentleman from California will explain what. you said. There have been changes in the PATRIOT Act. The threat of terrorism and espionage is real. Thirty people from .my district died in the attack on the World Trade Center. Two of my children live up in your congressional district. And if you read the article the other day about gas in the subways. you sort of make these statements. and you act .like the Justice Department and the FBI is going to go after somebodys medical records. ","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1883,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090154593,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I intend to ultimately withdraw this amendment but I thank the chairman for allowing me to rise to discuss. I think. a very important element of our foreign policy. First of all. I will like to acknowledge the U.S. Global Leadership Campaign that brought to my attention. after meeting with former Secretary Powell and former Secretary Albright. the very poor state of foreign aid in terms of dollars. Previously. we had some $35.1 billion. and now $32.28 billion. Obviously. Working under the constraints of the budget amendment passed by this administration and this Congress certainly misdirected or at least caused confusion among the population because they believe we spend too much on foreign aid. whereas it really shows it is only about 1.2 percent. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3524,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090154601,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They come from the pen of Thomas Jefferson. author of the Declaration of Independence and our third president. who wrote the Kentucky Resolution. They were adopted by the Kentucky Legislature and are a matter of historical record. Jefferson understood these rights were. and are. inseparable. A Federal judge is not above the law. A judge cannot amend the Constitution. nor should a judge be permitted to ignore the context of a constitutional right. Mr. Chairman. the Indiana Legislature did not make any law. They didnt enact any statute. They didnt even pass a resolution. The legislature was only carrying out a 188year tradition by beginning each session with a prayer just like the U.S. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL SODREL","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5602,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090154623,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And I think listening to you sensitizes me to next year offer this amendment to create this Blue Ribbon Panel of people who really care about the conditions on reservations and see what we can do to really make it concrete. But I do accept the amendment.","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2180,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090154625,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the last word. Just to compliment the gentleman on his argument. I am very supportive of his amendment. I support the chairmans comments. And I invite the gentleman to testify before our subcommittee next year. He is obviously well versed on the issue. aid the committee and the Congress need to be more sensitive to the concerns that the gentleman raises.","speaker_name":"ALAN MOLLOHAN","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":387,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090154639,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Arkansas. 1995. The court held that the fourthamendments reasonable search and seizure clause requires police officers to knock and announce their presence before entering a private residence. Just a couple of years ago. in United States v. Banks. 2003. the court held that officers must wait at least 15 to 20 seconds before breaking a door down. again reaffirming the knock and announce rule. This ruling by this activist Supreme Court will create a slippery slope unless we stop it. Justice Breyer also mentioned in his dissenting opinion the slippery slope and in mentioning it stated that if a warrant specifies that you can search the home on Monday. can police officers arrive on Tuesday? We have a very serious issue before us. and that is a Supreme Court which has taken it upon itself to enact new law. in contrary not just to existing law. but in contrary to the Constitution of the United States. and this particular decision against the knock and announce policy goes markedly against the fourth amendment to the Constitution. It is something against which this Congress must stand up. We cannot have a Supreme Court which continues to infringe upon the rights and privileges of American citizens. a Supreme Court which continues to insist on violating the privacy rights of American citizens which are protected. in the fourth amendment to the Constitution. That is why I am offering this amendment this evening. Mr. ","speaker_name":"MAURICE HINCHEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2851,"word_count":239}
{"speech_id":1090154659,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the requisite number of words. Mr. Chairman. it is not appropriate. no matter what the gentleman from New York thinks. for a House Appropriations Committee to take this action tonight. I think it is wrong and therefore urge a defeat of the Hinchey amendment.","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":289,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090154666,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I will be very brief. I am offering this amendment to add $2 million for prisoner reentry programs. I think that reentry programs help offenders to move back into their communities and be productive citizens. Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman from Florida for bringing this to my attention. I think the more we can help people. and there is a record number of people that are being released from prisons at this time. the more that we can do and help them as they reenter and become good citizens is good. Mr. ","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":613,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090154714,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. I support this legislation and encourage my colleagues to do the same. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"DON YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1052,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090154716,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the ranking member. I thank the chairman for bringing this bill forward with such dispatch. The bill. as the chairman has stated. has no budgetary impact. It makes other technical corrections. particularly going to those where we research the future needs and the condition of our interstate system. which will be vital for future transportation initiatives.","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":366,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090154726,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So as the proud Representative of their home district. I offer my congratulations to the Carolina Hurricanes. winner of the Stanley Cup and the 2006 National Hockey League Champions. Go Canes.","speaker_name":"DAVID PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2304,"word_count":31}
{"speech_id":1090154729,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In less than a decade. in 1997. when the Hartford Whalers relocated to North Carolina. many of our northern friends questioned whether our fine southern State could support a hockey team. Well. Mr. Speaker. we sure proved that we could. Not only did the Carolina Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup. but we sold out every single game of the playoffs. Hockey is right up there with barbecue and beach music in terms of popularity in the Old North State. North Carolinians are proud of our Hurricanes. and as you have already heard. we cannot wait until next season.","speaker_name":"BOB ETHERIDGE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1859,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090154829,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this morning. we have set aside 2 hours of morning business in 30minute increments. At the conclusion of morning business. we will begin the U.S.-Oman free trade agreement. which has a 20hour debate limitation. However. we are expecting to yield back much of that time. Senators can expect a vote on final passage of that. bill when we finish all debate on the measure. We also will be trying to clear some nominations this afternoon as we finish our work before the Fourth of July recess.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":504,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090154833,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There should be no further delay. I believe this is an urgent matter. I remind my colleagues that when the Senate passed this version of the bill 2 months ago. Senator KENNEDYeven though he felt very strongly about the hate crime billagreed to set that aside. That was a major concession by all of us who favor the hate crimes bill. We made the decision that the sex offender bill should not be delayed by unrelated matters. Since that time. I am sorry to report that some Members of the House have held up the sex offender bill by trying to add their own pet projects related to the death penalty. habeas corpus. and other matters. They are all important matters. but we have to move forward with this sex crime legislation. As the majority leader correctly wrote in his letter. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3037,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090154841,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I do. and I appreciate the opportunity to say so on the Senate floor as well. I dont want to see this process manipulated and the Senator put in a position where he is not comfortable with trying to get done what we all want. I dont think that is right. I dont think that is the comity of the Senate. and I stand with my colleagues who signed that letter as well. Again. I thank the Senator for moving this forward. If we can get this immigration bill moving forward. it would be a major accomplishment for us and for the Nation.","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":544,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090154869,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The track record of the FEC and its continued stonewalling proves that the Commission is incapable of upholding its responsibilities. The time has come to put an end to its destructive tactics. The FEC has had ample and welldocumented opportunities to address the issue of the 527s illegal activities. and each time it has taken a pass. choosing instead to delay. postpone. and refuse to act. BCRA has demonstrated that. on a bipartisan basis. we care about making sure that political power in this country does not lie solely in the wealth of","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":543,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090154879,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And for the businesses and other ratepayers in this county who were impacted economically by the exorbitant rates we have been paying from the western energy crisis and Enrons manipulation. last nights announcement will bring a big sigh of relief. Now we need to make sure that we get on with the task of making sure that this never happens again. When it comes to energy markets that drive our economy. aggressive consumer protection must be part of Federal regulators overall objective. when overseeing the wholesale electricity markets. It is far better that we continue to make sure the Federal regulators do their job. If that is what Congress needs to do by passing amendments such as the Cantwell amendment. we will continue to do so. We also took some important steps in the Energy bill last year by saying that there is a Federal ban on market manipulation. that is. when it comes to electricity markets and natural gas markets. This Senator believes there is still more to be done in other energy markets. Just this morning we woke up to news that BP North America has been indicted for manipulation of propane markets. This is a case that is just starting to be made. but we will hear the evidence. Our work is not done until we make sure that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. the Federal Trade Commission. and other Federal agencies have all the tools they need to make sure there is transparency in energy markets. to make sure that propane. jet fuel. oil. diesel. gasoline markets. all are protected with the transparency and oversight necessary to make sure consumers arent impacted by market manipulation. ","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5992,"word_count":279}
{"speech_id":1090154942,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Since then. relations between our two countries have continually expanded. Today we enjoy a close and cooperative partnership. Although not a formal member of the coalition. Oman has been a committed. dependable ally in the global war on terror. Oman has been a solid partner on terrorist finance issues and has .reached out to work with partner nations in the region on transborder terror threats. Oman cooperates closely with us and other allies on counterterrorism and has publicly supported the democratic trahsition in Iraq. It has also supported stabilization operations. and the democratic and economic transition in Afghanistan. And its government and religious leaders consistently and courageously denounce acts of terror and religious intolerance. Unfortunately. some have sought to undermine the agreement with myths that do not stand up to the scrutiny of the facts. For example. despite claims to the contrary. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3180,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090154965,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. as we all depart in celebration of ourDeclaration of Independence. our secession from the British monarchy. let us. as Senators and as Americans. assess what should be accomplished to secure our independence and. most importantly. the ideals and the freedom that need to be secured. as was expressed in our Declaration of Independence. authored by Thomas Jefferson 260 years ago. The people of America are the owners of our Government. and they expect us to do certain things. I hope when we return. after the Independence Day celebration. one of the first things we will recognize is we are a nation of law&. we are a nation of immigrants. We will recognize that at Monticello. Mr. Jeffersons home where there is always an Independence Day naturalization ceremony there. which is always so inspiring. For those of us who believe we should have immigration reform. that is how people should become citizens in this countrylegally. The American people have noticed our country has. for far too long. neglected to secure our borders. The first thing we need to do. when we get back. is to find the funds for border personnel. for detention center capacity. for a fence. for sensors. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5599,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090154976,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Ireland. Italy. Japan. Korea. Malaysia. New Zealand. Norway. Poland. Portugal. Russia. ","speaker_name":"LISA MURKOWSKI","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7202,"word_count":11}
{"speech_id":1090154981,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Emilee. David. and Erics commitment to excellence. coupled with their mastery of the scientific process. enabled them to return to Hesperia Junior High School as heroes of the community. I commend these students not only for their success in this prestigious competition but also because they are the first team comprised of students .with disabilities to win this national competition. Each of these incredible young people utilized their abilities and coordinated their efforts to succeed. Eighth grade. instructor Barbara Jacobs deserves commendation on her successful mentorship of these young students. I applaud the dedication of the HandsOff Telephone Band Team from Hesperia Junior High School. Their success has provided an example of determination to us all.*","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1807,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090154985,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"McVille also hosts \"McVille Days.\" an annual threeday community celebration that offers residents and visitors many fun and exciting activities to participate in. McVille is a closeknit community that fosters unity and cooperation among its residents. The citizens of McVille have many exciting events planned to celebrate their centennial. including a dance. art show. basketball tournament. pig race. canoe race. car show. golf tournament. and parade. Mr. President. I ask the Senate to join me in congratulating McVille. ND. and its residents on their first 100 years and in wishing them well through the next century. By honoring McVille and all the other historic small towns of North Dakota. we keep the great pioneering frontier spirit alive for future generations. It is places such as McVille that have helped to shape this country into- what it is today. which is why this fine community is deserving of our recognition. McVille has a proud past and a bright future.*","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1806,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090154987,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Thanks to Mr. Rusks leadership. around 11.000 acres of the Wet Mountain Valley will be protected from development. Knowing how useful conservation easements are to ranchers and farmers across Colorado how much good they have done for preserving our open lands and rural way of life. I am troubled by proposals that would punish those who use conservation easements to protect their lands. Our current tax law says that donated conservation easements can be claimed as a deduction. This is how it should be. If a rancher donates development rights to a nonprofit. to be held in trust. he or she should be able to claim a Federal tax deduction. This deduction. in conjunction with State and . local incentives. is a valuable tool in protecting Colorados natural heritage. There have been some instances of fraud in the use of conservation easements. The IRS should punish those responsible and Congress should explore ways of tightening up our laws to avoid abuses of the system. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3075,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090154992,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I wish to also thank Aimee Brewster. an intern in my Washington. DC office. for all of the hard work she has done for me. my staff. and the State of South Dakota this summer. Aimee is a graduate of St. Thomas More High School in Rapid City. SD. and is currently a rising sophomore at the University of Notre Dame where she is studying political science and French. She is a hard worker and has been dedicated to getting the most out of her internship experience. I would like to give my thanks to Aimee and wish her continued success in the years to come.e","speaker_name":"JOHN THUNE","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":577,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090154995,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the fossilized trackways near the Robledo Mountains in Dona Ana County came to my attention in the early 1990s. During the 101st Congress. I cosponsored Senator BINGAMANS legislation that directed the Bureau of Land Management to study and report on the prehistoric sites. I understand the very difficult challenge we face in managing our public lands in a responsible and environmentally sensitive manner. I believe our Federal lands are truly National treasures that demand our most thoughtful management. Local leaders. special interest groups. multiple users. New Mexico State University. and the Bureau of Land Management. BLM. have identified numerous land issues in the Las Cruces area that need to be addressed. The trackways are but one of these issues that can and should be addressed- in the context of a broader lands bill. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1857,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090154996,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is why Senator LUGAR and I. with strong bipartisan support. have pushed to replace foreign oil with more homegrown biofuels and biobased products. We recently introduced the Biofuels Security Act to aggressively ramp up the production and use of ethanol and biodiesel. ensure greater E85 availability as well as what are known as flexfuel cars. those that can run on E85. a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Last year I authored critically important biomass research. development and deployment provisions to the energy bill. This new measure complements such efforts. Cooperatives play an important role in the marketing of agricultural products. According to the USDA. there are over 3.000 agricultural cooperatives in America today representing millions of American farmers and investors. The production and distribution of bioenergy offers a new and lucrative economic opportunity for these organizations. This year the ethanol industry alone will add more than 5 billion gallons of clean burning. renewable fuel to our energy supply. Between now and 2012 ethanol is expected to contribute $200 billion to the GDP. Not surprisingly. many cooperatives are eager to participate in the budding bioeconomy. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3191,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090155001,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"By Mr. KOHL (for himself and","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2423,"word_count":6}
{"speech_id":1090155009,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"for working with me on this bill. I believe this is important legislation and will help stem affordable housing losses in the United States. I look forward to working with my colleagues to see the legislation passed and signed into law. By Mrs. CLINTON (for herself.","speaker_name":"CHARLES SCHUMER","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":266,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090155011,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Brownfields redevelopment is a fiscally sound way to bring investment back to neglected neighborhoods. clean up the environment and maximize use of existing infrastructure. My home State of Michigan has benefited from hundreds of brownfields redevelopment projects. and this bill would help to ensure that federal tools are in place to continue with these successes in Michigan and throughout the Nation. The Brownfields Redevelopment Enhancement Act would provide the Department of Housing and Urban Development with new tools to spur brownfields redevelopment. This bill would provide local governments with increased accessibility to HUDs Brownfields Economic Development Initiative grants by allowing HUD to make brownfields grants without requiring that communities pledge their future community development block grant funds as collateral. Removing this restriction from the HUD Brownfields Economic Development Initiative program would allow many more communities. especially smaller communities. to participate in the program. The bill also adopts the definition of brownfields used by the EPA. which would bring greater consistency and clarity to the federal governments brownfields programs. The bill authorizes $50 million annually for this important Federal program. which provides funding for a wide variety of brownfield redevelopment activitiesfrom site remediation to construction. Supportets of this bill include the U.S. Conference of Mayors. the National Association of Home Builders. the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties. the Real Estate Roundtable. the National Association of Development Organizations. the NortheastMidwest Institute. the National Association of Local Government Environmental Professionals. the Associated General Contractors of America. the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts. and the Environmental Bankers Association. I want to thank my Senate colleagues for working with me on this bill. and I want to especially thank JACK REED who played a key role in the early drafting of the bill. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2837,"word_count":292}
{"speech_id":1090155012,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"VOINOVICH. and JEFFORDS. This legislation will enable more local communities to use grant funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Developments Brownfields Economic Development Initiative. BEDI. program to literally unearth opportunity. For several years. HUD has provided more than $200 million to local governments in BEDI grants of up to $3 million to support demolition. site clearance. site preparation. infrastructure upgrades. and redevelopment activities that are needed to transform brownfields into productive sites once again. This HUD support for brownfields projects is critical because redevelopment requires more than the environmental assessment and cleanup funding that is provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. BEDI grants generate tremendous private investment in brownfields redevelopment. In fact. every dollar in BEDI grant funding generates 10 dollars in private sector support for brownfields projects. Still. these funds could be provided in a much more effective way. ","speaker_name":"ELIZABETH DOLE","chamber":"S","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4890,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090155014,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to introduce legislationpreviously introduced in the 108th Congresswhich I believe is important to the longterm competitiveness of North America. And I would like to thank my distinguished colleague. Mr. COLEMAN. for his support and recognition of the value of this legislation. He is an original cosponsor of the bill. and I look forward to working with him and others to ensure its success. Currently. a significant development gap exists between Mexico and the United States and Canada. I believe it is in our best interests to find creative ways to bridge this development gap. As my colleagues undoubtedly are aware. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5443,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090155040,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management. Government Information. and- International Security be authorized to meet on Thursday. June 29. 2006. at 2:30 p.m. for a hearing regarding \"Community Development Block Grants: the Case for Reform.\"","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":347,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090155044,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the following Finance Committee fellows and interns be allowed the privilege of the floor during the consideration of the Oman Free Trade Agreement: Janis Lazda. Chris Polhemus. J.J. Adams. Gwen Stoltz. Tom Duppong. and Robert Little.","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":278,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090155056,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that at a time determined by the majority leader. after consultation with the Democratic leader. the Senate proceed en bloc to the following bills under the following agreement: H.R. 810. Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. discharged from the HELP Committee. S. 2754. Alternative Pluripotent Stem Cell Therapies Enhancement Act. discharged from the HELP Committee. S. 3504. Fetus Farming Prohibition Act of 2006. I further ask consent there be a total of 12 hours of debate equally divided between the two leaders or their designees. provided further that no amendments be in order to any of the measures. further. that following the use or yielding back of time the bills be read a third time and the Senate proceed to three consecutive votes in the following order with no intervening action or debate: S. 3504. S. 2754. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1287,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090155066,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will be very quick because I know the leader has things to do. In entering this agreement. which we have just done. I am relying on the leaders good faithbasically his word and reputationthat we will do this before we get out of here by the October break. Is that his intention?","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":295,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090155079,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"SBA needs a fulltime planning staff. and We must encourage the agency to better utilize its district offices. In the aftermath of Katrina. we need a strong SBA more than ever. In taking the helm. Mr. Preston will be a pivotal figure in the recovery of the gulf coast as well as to the economic growth of small businesses nationwide. As Administrator. he will be inheriting an agency that. by many accounts has an unfortunate legacy of mismanagement. inefficiency. poor employee morale. and soured relations with Congress. The management challenges are huge. but the need to do it right is greater. I believe that in Steven Preston. we have a nominee who can use his corporate managemEnt and finance experience to fix SBA. I invite him to not be afraid to take on the old ways of doing things at SBA. If lie runs into roadblocks. come talk to us on the Senate Small Business Commil.tee. ","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4540,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090155146,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman from Virginia. and I wish to engage in a colloquy with the chairman. Mr. Chairman. there are many areas throughout the country that have extremely high tourism rates. The local law enforcement agencies of these areas have the difficult task of providing services to these tourists on the top of their responsibility to the base population thatthey represent. For example. the community of southern Nevada has about 1.8 million people. although we have visitors of over 40 million tourists a year into our community. Local law enforcement is responsible with the safety of these visitors. which places a huge financial strain on the various public safety departments. The Judiciary Committee has agreed to consider tourism as a factor for law enforcement grants that they authorize and for which your committee provides funding.","speaker_name":"JON PORTER","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":849,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090155161,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Over the last couple of years. the State Department has spent a lot of time and a lot of taxpayer money to come up. with documents that are alternatives to passports to comply with the law under their Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. The question is: Why are they going to Other documents? They are doing so because of pressure from outside groups who say passports cost too much. or that they will stifle commerce. which. of course. is not true. This efficient document is a universal document and will actually streamline the crossing of people from Mexico and Canada into the United States. To date. there has been no agreement between State and these groups on the type of alternative documents that will be accepted. and it is unlikely they will cone up with some type of alternative document before the deadline. Essentially. these outside groups have been successful in persuading Congress to consider delaying any changes until they get these types of documents. threatening to kill implementation of the Terrorist Prevention Act and leaving America wide open for maybe another terrorist attack. An example of this has already been found in section 135 of the recently passed Senate immigration bill. which postpones the deadline for compliance until alternative documents have been issued. Why other types of identification? Why set up a new bureaucracy to issue them? We should use the passport. Mr. Chairman. we already have a document that denotes citizenship and identity to comply with the law. and it can be used to meet the deadline. It is called the passport. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3911,"word_count":263}
{"speech_id":1090155164,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. what would happen in Michigan or in the Detroit area with the auto manufacturers if all these people that go back and forth between Windsor. Ontario. and Detroit had to get passports. Now. the government has worked. with the support of the Judiciary Committee here. on a plan to provide a pass that would be cheap. it would be counterfeit. proof. and the Federal Government will issue it. It will be somewhat like a drivers license. I understand my friends concern about the fact that drivers license and other forms of ID are not universal and are easy to counterfeit. but we are working on a plan that will provide this kind of identification without having to go through the cumbersome expense and time required to get a U.S. passport. The passage of this amendment would have serious implications for our relationship with Canada. I appreciate the gentlemans concern with Mexico to the south. tiut this amendment. in its restrictive nature. will really limit the economy. It would be devastating to the United States. It would be devastating to the lifestyles of people who are used to going back and forth over the border. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES BASS","chamber":"H","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2060,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090155181,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I make a point of order against the amendment. because it proposes to change existing law and constitutes legislation in an appropriation bill. It. therefore. violates clause 2 of rule XXI. The rule states in pertinent part. \"an amendment to a general appropriation bill shall not be in order if changing existing law.\" The amendment requires a new determination. I ask for a ruling from the Chair.","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":412,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090155186,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I will. I wish there were a waiver of the point of order. but on the basis of the gentlemans point that was made. I hope that we have made our point. At this point. I will concede the point of order. looking forward for my legislation to pass. and ask to withdraw the amendment.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":292,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090155192,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong opposition to the gentlemans amendment to -cut $598 million from the bill. As the gentleman can see from the debate. and the other amendments offered on the bill. many Members feel the funding for a whole host of programs in this bill is already inadequate. The budget resolution passed by the Congress has imposed upon us a very restrictive spending climate. This amendment constitutes attempts to reopen the decisions we have already made in the budget resolution. The bill we are considering today stays within the budget resolution framework and represents a lot of hard work and hard decisions to match limited funds to competing national priorities. A number of accounts in the bill are funded very close to the bone. A re-. duction of 1 percent. many salaries and expenses would have a fairly dramatic and highly negative impact. I would ask my colleagues to oppose this amendment.","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":919,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090155209,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I Want to give all the Members an idea of what the- schedule for the day is. After the passage of this bill. we will move to the rule on the Deep Water Recovery Act. the OCS bill. and the rule on the resolution with regard to the disclosure of the SWIFT Program. Once those two rules have been considered. there will be votes. and then we will move to the OCS bill and then finally to the resolution. We expect to complete our weeks work by 6 or 6:15 this evening. I am trying to give everyone as much notice as we can. That is the schedule as I see it.","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":567,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090155216,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"My colleagues. many American families have long stood vigil on .behalf of their family members who were murdered on December 21. 1988 on Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie Scotland. We must never forget the pain and suffering of the families affected by this horrible act and Muammar Qadhafi and others must .be held responsible. It is our job today to ensure that America requires Libya to fully honor its commitment to the victims of Pan Am 103. In recent years. the Libyan government has come forward and expressed an interest in becoming a member of the international community. However. at the same time. I remain concerned that Libya has yet to meet its financial","speaker_name":"JOHN SWEENEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":660,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090155220,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Sweeney amendment has a simple purposeto bar our Government from funding any activity related to restoring diplomatic relations with Libya until Libya honors the financial commitments it made to the families of the victims of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight And. even more important than the financial obligation is the need to bring those responsible for the destruction of Flight 103 to justice. Money can never compensate for the coldblooded murders by statesponsored acts. of terror. Mr Chairman. I urge support for the amendment and the base appropriations bill.","speaker_name":"SANDER LEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1487,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090155260,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of this rule and the underlying bill. For me. the question of drilling off our coastal waters is a difficult one. and it is made even more difficult by the fact that I represent the State of Florida. where we have 1.300 miles of shoreline. and we have a tourism industry that adds up to about $60 billion. and a lot of that is due to our magnificent beaches. But I am faced with a question today. whether I vote in favor of letting the people of Florida control their own destiny as it relates to offshore drilling within 100 miles of the shore. I can do that. or I can just vote \"no\" and do nothing. It seems to me. as I look at this bill. I would urge my colleagues to support it because it gives to our precious beaches in Florida unprecedented permanent protection. something we have never had before. something we may never have again within that first 100 miles. Would I like to see more protection? Sure I would. Most people in Florida would. ","speaker_name":"ANDER CRENSHAW","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1657,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090155272,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as Congress gets ready for the Fourth of July recess. I am reminded again that we do not have a Federal price gouging law on the books. And just in time for the Fourth of July. . In Marquette. Michigan. last night. gas prices were $2.89. When my constituents woke up this morning. it is now $3.09. Just in time for the Fourth of July. For almost a year now. we Democrats have been calling on the Republican leadership to allow a real gas pricegouging bill to be passed in the law. One hundred and thirtyfive Members of this body have signed a discharge petition requesting that my legislation. the Federal Response to Energy Emergencies. the FREE Act. be brought to the floor for a vote. ","speaker_name":"BART STUPAK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1214,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090155299,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we are asking for all Members of Congress to universally say today we believe the leaking of classified information is wrong. And that is what we are here for today. I am disappointed that we have Members of this body that say that is what a free press is all about. to leak classified information.","speaker_name":"PETE SESSIONS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":311,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090155306,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Three years ago next month. classified information was deliberately leaked to the press for political purposes by one or more senior White House officials. The intelligence community expressed outrage over the disclosure of Valerie Plame. A network of U.S. intelligence sources developed over the course of several decades was endangered. At no time did the House leadership bring a resolution to the floor condemning the leak. Every effort by Democrats to investigate the incident was blocked. While the resolution before us references other past leaks of classified information by name. it remains silent about this particular incident. Mr. Speaker. the fundamental challenge facing our Nation in the aftermath of 9\/11 is. how to guarantee the security of our citizens without sacrificing- the fundamental principles upon which this great Nation is founded. Guaranteeing security is about the end goal. Guaranteeing those fundamental principles is about how we get there. ","speaker_name":"DORIS MATSUI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4557,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090155323,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I think that we must further that debate and come back to the realization that potential abuse is a very nebulous standard and which. fortunately. was not applied in World War II to classified information. or there would have been no Manhattan Project. Further. I think it is also wise to look back at the relationship between the government and the press at the time of World War II. President Roosevelt was fond of bringing reporters into his office. and he would engage in offtherecord conversations with them so that they were aware that he trusted them and that then he could reciprocate that trust to the reporters. At one point. some of the offtherecord briefing appeared in a column in a paper. At the next meeting of the assembled press in the Oval Office. Franklin Roosevelt gave that reporter a gift. It was an iron cross. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"THADDEUS MCCOTTER","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2109,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090155361,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"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.","speaker_name":"GEORGE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":452,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090155384,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would encourage a yes vote on this bill. Louisiana loses 30 miles a year off our coast. We lost 100 miles last year off our coast thanks to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. We have lost a size of land equivalent to the entire state of Rhode Island. The State of Louisiana is poised to pass a constitutional amendment dedicating 100 percent of the royalties we will receive under this bill for coastal restoration. hurricane and flood protection. restoring our coastal infrastructure. If you are worried about the hundreds of thousands of jobs we are losing in this country. if you worried about the 100.000 jobs we have lost in the wood and paper industry in the last 6 years. the 100.000 jobs we have lost in the petrochemical industry in the last 6 years. I would encourage a yes vote on this bill. In Louisiana alone. we have lost 5.000 jobs. 5.000 jobs in the last couple of years. jobs that averaged $50.000 a year. jobs in our fertilizer industry. jobs in our wood and paper industry. in part because natural gas prices are half. in Russia are half or less overseas compared to what we are paying right here in the United States. If you are worried about keeping those jobs. I would encourage a yes vote on this bill. ","speaker_name":"BOBBY JINDAL","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2542,"word_count":222}
{"speech_id":1090155398,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This high natural gas price is devastating our industries. and. therefore. we are losing jobs across the country in manufacturing and in the petrochemical industry in my State and around the country. Eightyfive percent of the Outer Continental Shelf is off limits for natural gas production. That is wrong. Louisiana is Americas energy corridor. Approximately 34 percent of the Nations natural gag supply and almost 30 percent of the Nations crude oil comes through our State. We need to have the right kind of support to continue providing- this help to our country. E 1530","speaker_name":"WILLIAM JEFFERSON","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1316,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090155402,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Thank you very much. Mr. Chairman. I rise to support H.R. 4761. I would also like to thank Chairman POMBO and Ranking Member RAHALL for their efforts on this legislation. This bill is an important step toward achieving the goal of further developing our domestic energy resources. We have for too long put Vast oil and natural gas reserves off limits to exploration and production. as The Washington Post editorial stated this week. Our domestic reserves are not limitless. and this is a first step. But we must take other steps. such as increasing conservation. developing an ethanol industry. and increasing CAFE standards if we are to make our country safer by cutting our reliance on foreign oil. Despite the previous efforts of Congresses. our addiction to foreign oil. as the President stated. is greater today than ever before. ","speaker_name":"JIM COSTA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1321,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090155406,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"BOYD. the definition of that military mission line. which now further Aligns this House bill with our two Florida Senators proposal. This is a huge step forward from where we are. And the bottom line in this debate is that if we do nothing. unlike most other issues that come before this House. if we do nothing. bad things do happen. Because the moratorium that Floridians have slept under the protection of for the last 25 years begins to expire as soon as 2007. and it continues on in the expiration into 2012 when drilling will be far closer to our coast than anyone wants in this Chamber. So I commend the gentleman for his leadership. I urge people to support the bill. I urge them to give every consideration to the Bilirakis amendment. and let us move this thing forward.","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2202,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090155414,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"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.","speaker_name":"CORRINE BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":884,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090155443,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in opposition of H.R. 4761. which would open the entire Outer Continental Shelf to drilling for both oiland gas. Before looking to open up more area for drilling. we need to develop a comprehensive energy policy that emphasizes conservation. as well as increasing our supply with renewable and nonrenewable energy resources. We need to increase our supply of energy. but it is imperative we first take bold action to reduce our demand for oil. This legislation takes the wrong approach to our energy policy by not challenging Americans to use energy in more responsible ways. The bottom line is we are not resolving our energy needs because we are not conserving. Well just continue to consume more and waste more. consume more and waste more. and act like it doesnt matter. We are on a demand course that is simply unsustainable. Drilling is the wrong answer to the right question of how do we meet our energy needs? Before we increase our supply of energy. we must first take control of our overconsumption.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SHAYS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1030,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090155456,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In short. Mr. Chairman. I would like to see more energy production in the Outer Continental Shelf. However. there is a right way and a wrong way to achieve this. Unfortunately. the bill we are considering today is the wrong way.","speaker_name":"JOHN DINGELL","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1694,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090155473,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The outsourcing of American jobs is an issue of central importance to me and my constituents. and I believe this bill is a step in the right direction of bringing jobs back to hardworking Xmericans. Yet the present issue I would like to speak on addresses the fact that contracts and leases. as considered in this bill. engage fierce competition from national and multinational corporations. in addition to domestic businesses. The share of businesses owned by minorities rose from 6.8 percent of all U.S. businesses in 1982 to 15.1 percent in 1997. yet this is far below representative of the proportion of the minority population today. Historically. minority and womenowned businesses have been disadvantaged in seeking and winning these contracts. According to a survey by the Small Business Administration. minorityowned employer establishments had lower survival rates than nonminorityowned employer . establishments between 1997 and 2002. During 19972001. the business expansion rates of three minority business groups were higher than that for nonminorityowned businesses. While 27.4 percent of nonminority owned establishments expanded during this period. 34.0 percent of Hispanicowned employer establishments expanded. as did 32.1 percent of Asian and Pacific Islander owned establishments. and 27.8 percent of American Indian\/Alaska Nativeowned establishments. There may be inherent disadvantages for these businesses. but it is clear their potential is tremendous. This amendment ensures that these businesses have the ability to compete fairly for these lucrative opportunities. I am very proud that my district. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7715,"word_count":239}
{"speech_id":1090155478,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I have been saying both in debate and on the floor and talking to people that we want to reach out to those who say they are in opposition. But it is difficult to reach out when you have to listen to the kinds of things that are being said here about revenues and all the rest of it. Let us get something straight here. One hundred percent of nothing is nothing. There are no revenues coming in. All of these figures that are being bandied about as if we are losing something. we are not losing anything except energy independence in this country. Now we have reached out to everybody that we wanted to speak to and who has wanted to be honest with us about what we are talking about here today. We are losing jobs by the thousands. ","speaker_name":"NEIL ABERCROMBIE","chamber":"H","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1498,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090155480,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank* the gentleman for yielding. So the Bush administration has now checked in. and the Bush administration is saying they are very unhappy about $600 billion being taken from the Federal Government and given to four States. They are unhappy with this ripoff of the Federal taxpayers of 46 States. This transfer of $600 billion. down here. Yes. drill down here. Yes. drill tomorrow. Yes. at $70 a barrel. drill. drill. drill. That is 80 percent. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":767,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090155493,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So we would like a modest increase to allow this technology to go forward. It is a very modest increase. of course. and here is something we can do with our oceans that is clean and renewable.. And we have heard the science coming out on global warming. the importance of not just relying on fossil fuel in our energy plan. Mr. Chairman. I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey .","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1624,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090155501,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I appreciate the Chairs acceptance of the amendment. I just wanted to point out I have looked at this. as the Chair believes. I just want to point out in dealing with these new energy technologies. we are going to find some that are dry holes and do not work. but I think it is incumbent on us to look for any technology that has a reasonable chance for success. I think this one does. This is a good investment for taxpayers. I appreciate the Chair accepting the amendment. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":582,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090155520,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I certainly do not begrudge the gentleman from Virginia or the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia for their efforts to obtain additional funding for the transit system in this region. I have ridden it. It is a very valuable part of our infrastructure not only in our Nations capital but in this country. Quite honestly. I do not see any link here between OCS. oil and gas leasing. and funding a particular transit system. ","speaker_name":"NICK RAHALL","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1541,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090155523,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Chairman DAVIS has gone to wonderful creative trouble to find the funds. funds that were not being obligated to use for other purposes. This may look like a regional matter. It is a matter involving 20 million Visitors who come to the District of Columbia and. frankly. have so piled on to the system that they have broken it down. Moreover. the rest of the people who use it during the weekdays are almost always Federal workers. We subsidize those Federal workers in order to get them to use this system. Watch what you wish for. They are now using it. Now the system in which we have invested so much. we helped build it. we the Federal Government. because we knew visitors and Federal workers were chiefly involved. Because of that we have got to have a dedicated stream of funding or we do not have enough cars and we are not able to protect our investment by keeping the upkeep and that is why it is falling down. In every respect. ","speaker_name":"ELEANOR NORTON","chamber":"H","state":"DC","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":1075,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090155526,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Now. Mr. POMBO will say to you. do not fix it now. we will fix it later. But the President is saying this is a big mess. We oppose it. Clean it up. And still we have a chance to clean it up. Thank God we got the letter before we voted to create the mess. Now Mr. POMBO is saying. lets creat6 the mess and We will clean it up when it gets to the Senate. which is. ","speaker_name":"SHERWOOD BOEHLERT","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2946,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090155536,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. what my amendment will do is to correct the problem that the President has identified. amongst other things that also need correcting in the bill. while leaving intact a wonderful provision that will ensure that we correct the problem that occurred in the 1990s during the Clinton administration. which allows for oil companies to escape paying the royalties which the American people should be receiving on leases which were given out during that period of time. 1998 and 1999. I agree with the intent of the language which is in the bill that the majority has crafted. They did a good job on that section. although with the rest of the bill I have a problem. And my amendment will help to correct that problem. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":774,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090155557,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. By extending \"no leasing\" buffer zones to 125 miles away from the State boundaries. this amendment is I must admit an improvement in the current bill from the perspective of its Florida sponsors. and I certainly understand that and commend them for the effort here. However. as is in the underlying bill. the amendment gives effective control over national resources to the States. The OCS lands and oil and gas resources belong to all the people of America. The name of every West Virginian. the name of other citizens of our country are on the deed to these properties. So these oil and gas resources belong to all the American people and not just to those who reside in the adjacent States. and. as such. Congress should retain the powers to make the decisions regarding those national resources on those grounds. It is for that reason that I object to the amendment. ","speaker_name":"NICK RAHALL","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":975,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090155570,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise to support this vital amendment that would extend the prohibition on offshore drilling from 100 to 125 miles off the coast. The amendment would also require States to proactively opt in. as has been described. to drilling. giving States that do not want to drill the ability to do so clearly. This amendment is vital to coastal States as it provides further protection from drilling. and I would urge everyone to support it.","speaker_name":"ROBERT WEXLER","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":445,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090155588,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Earlier today someofie said. well. what would happen if you gave out the name of spies? Well. ask the people in this administration who gave out the name of Valerie Plame. We hope that something will be done. Here is the difference between the two resolutions: the Republican resolution. drafted entirely by them and withheld from us until its publication. agrees that we should track terrorist financing. So does the Democratic resolution. Theirs. however. includes a number of factual statements that I do not believe we yet have a basis for making. Now. in some cases. some of those factual statements are about things that turn out. we think. not to have been true. For example. on page 3 of their resolution they have reference to a prior incident in which the Washington Times was accused of having disclosed classified information regarding efforts to monitor the communication of Osama bin Laden. They dont mention the Washington Times because they like the Washington Times. They mention the New York Times. Times. they are a changing. ","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5037,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090155597,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I reserve the right to object. We are being asked to move this very quickly. I guess. because of the baseball game. If we could get the right to get a vote on our substitute. I wouldnt object. But as long as we arent even being allowed to have a vote on our substitute. I dont know why we should be asked to hurry up the proceedings. I would ask the gentleman if we could get unanimous consent now. in addition to this. to allow us to present our substitute. If we could get unanimous consent for that. then I would have no objection to this.","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":542,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090155606,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to begin by commending the gentleman from Massachusetts for the resolution he cant bring to the floor. I am proud to be a sponsor. And it starts off supporting intelligence and law enforcement programs to track terrorists and terrorist finances conducted consistent with Federal law and with appropriate congressional consultation. Whats wrong with that? What makes the Republican majority not want to hear the discussion on this amendment? Well. there may be some motive political about this selective crying out about information.","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":552,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090155631,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. there is no American. Democrat or Republican. who does not want to pursue. capture and. if necessary. kill any al Qaeda who threatens our country. And what is happening here tonight is an attempt to shoot the messenger. which is the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal and the L.A. Times. that there may be a program that is being conducted by this administration which may not be constitutional. It may not be proper oversight. Now. we are told that BoozAllen. an accounting firm. is checking for us. But we did not subcontract constitutional protections to an accounting firm. Enron hired Arthur Andersen. we know what happened to their investors. We are supposed to be the checks along with the Federal courts. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8472,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090155637,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman for his leadership. The law is a little bit of a sticky wicket. There are a lot of claims being made on the other side of no oversight and that the President hasnt properly informed the Congress. NANCY PELOSI was properly informed. the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee. properly informed. HARRY REID. properly informed. What does the law say? The law says the President shall keep the intelligence committees informed. The implementation clause. and I would recommend it to the gentleman from Massachusetts. the President and the congressional intelligence committees together shall establish these procedures. Who established them? Harry Truman. 1947. Who established the Gang of Eight and used it more than any other President? Jimmy Carter prior to September 11. The law and history is a sticky wicket.","speaker_name":"RICK RENZI","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":839,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090155671,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am proud to cosponsor H. Res. 900. offered by Ranking Member BARNEY FRANK. which provides that the House of Representatives supports efforts to track terrorist financing and their financial supporters by tracking terrorist money flows and by uncovering terrorist networks. both here and abroad. in accordance with existing applicable law. The Frank resolution also expresses concerns that unauthorized disclosure of classified information may have made efforts to locate terrorists and terrorist networks and to disrupt their plans more difficult. It does not include controversial whereas clauses or findings that cannot be verified. The Rules Committee should have allowed this resolution to come before the House for a vote. I am unable to sponsor H. Res. 895. which Financial Services Committee Chairman MICHAEL G. OXLEY introduced yesterday afternoon. because his resolution contains a number of statements that simply cannot be factually confirmed at this time. ","speaker_name":"BRAD SHERMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":27.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1499,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090155734,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I have been calling for the President to present a plan for bringing our troops home since December of 2005. and in May of last year. when we held the first debate on Iraq on the House floor after the beginning of the war itself. 128 Members of the House. more than onethird of the Members of the House of Representatives. agreed that the President needed to come up with a plan for bringing our troops home and share it with the appropriate congressional committees. Today. more than a year later and with the majority of the American people agreeing that this senseless war needs to end as soon as possible. that number would be surely higher. The idea that the President invaded a country in the very first place without a strategic goal in mind and without a plan for how to win and how to leave is absolutely incomprehensible. And no one should -onfuse the Bush administrations tired old line about staying the course for an actual plan or a strategy. Lines like \"we will stay in Iraq until the job gets done\" are nothing more than trite slogans. What most Americans and nearly all Iraqis understand is that openended U.S. military presence in Iraq does not serve either Americans or Iraqis. The very perception that we plan to stay in Iraq permanently at any level is one of the greatest catalysts spurring the Iraqi insurgency. Just yesterday. 11 Sunni insurgent groups publicly stated that they would immediately halt all terrorist attacks in Iraq. including those against American troops. if the United States would publicly commit to leaving within the next 2 years. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3957,"word_count":277}
{"speech_id":1090155759,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Kentucky. all over. The courthouses were built back in those days. a lot of courthouse. I betcha. But that is not the real crux of the matter. The real crux of the matter is we have to. and only the government can. invest in infrastructure. Because. after all. that is where private enterprise can go to create the jobs. to create prosperity. so that people have water. sewers. bridges. highways. airports. whatever it may. That is how private enterprise grows. around infrastructure investment by the government. We are not able to do that because we have. just in the last 60 months. transferred out of the tax base. not raising taxes. not lowering taxes. we have. transferred out of the tax base over $60 billion a year every year that goes not for veterans. not for education. not for infrastructure. but for interest. Seventyfive percent of that $60 billion that we are writing every year in checks for interest is going overseas. not even staying in this country. The consequences of that are twofold. ","speaker_name":"JOHN TANNER","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11122,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090155764,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I need $1.5 billion to finish 169. Interstate 69. I need another $1.5 billion to finish Interstate 49. I need $200 million to finish Interstate 1530. $300 million to fourlane 167 from Little Rock to El Dorado and beyond. about 80 to $100 million to finish the Hot Springs Expressway. and $200 million to fourlane U.S. Highway 82 from the east to the west side of Arkansas. These kinds of road projects can create jobs and economic opportunities for one of the poorest regions in the country. the Delta region. which I am proud to represent. But before we can meet Americas priorities and lift these folks up out of poverty and give them a helping hand by building the roads they need. we must first restore common sense and fiscal discipline to our Nations government and pay down this national debt and stop this deficit spending.","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3606,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090155766,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Communist takeover by Lenin was violent and costly. The demise of commulism and the acceptance of a relatively open system in the former Soviet Union occurred in a miraculous manner. Both systems had intellectual underpinnings. In the United States over the last century. we have witnessed the coming and going of various intellectual influences by proponents of the free market. Keynesian welfarism. varieties of socialism. and supplyside economics. In foreign policy. we have seen a transition from the Founders vision of nonintervention in the affairs of others to internationalism. unilateral nation building. and policing the world. We now have in place a policy driven by determined neoconservatives to promote American goodness and democracy throughout the world by military force. with particular emphasis on remaking the entire Middle East. We all know that ideas do have consequences. Bad ideas. even when supported naively by the people. will have bad results. Could it be that the people sense in a profound way that the policies of recent decades are unworkable and thus they have instinctively lost confidehce in their government leaders? This certainly happened in the final years of the Soviet system. ","speaker_name":"RONALD PAUL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12208,"word_count":191}
{"speech_id":1090155921,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wish to join my colleagues from Oregon and Washington in introducing S. 3522. the Fisheries Restoration and Irrigation Mitigation Act. FRIMA. of 2006. It is important that we pool our resources and Work together in the region to get serious about fish restoration. FRIMA has proven to be cost effective and efficient at this goal and. therefore. should be reauthorized.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":386,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090155927,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I wish to celebrate the longevity and accomplishments of the Princeton Health Care Center in Princeton. West Virginia. Last week. this longterm care provider celebrated its 25th anniversary. and I wish to recognize its achievements and its enormous contribution to its community. Twentyfive years ago. I stood with many community leaders in Princeton. at that time as Governor of West Virginia. to dedicate a brand new facility called the Princeton Health Care Center. Now. two and a half decades later. the Princeton Health Care Center is a 120bed facility in the heart of Mercer County. It serves residents of Princeton and surrounding communities. including Bluefield and most of southern West Virginia. The facility offers medical services. nursing services. social services. therapeutic and recreational activities. dietary services. financial planning and consulting. transportation. and other standard activities many of us use in our daily lives. This litany of available services shows that this facility attends to all the needs of its residentsphysical health. mental health. social wellbeing. and others. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ROCKEFELLER","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2523,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090155932,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I also wish to acknowledge the Natchitoches National Fish Hatchery. This year. they will celebrate their 75th anniversary. and I wish to take a few moments to highlight their contributions to Louisiana. As the only Federal fish hatchery in Louisiana. the Natchitoches station has steadily served the needs of the region. Founded in 1931. the Natchitoches National Fish Hatchery was originally established to provide recreation and food for the public during the depression and war eras. Today the hatchery dedicates itself to the restoration of depleted species. recovery of threatened or endangered fish. and management of interjurisdictional fisheries. Over the years. the Natchitoches National Fish Hatchery has been involved with raising 16 species of fish and has stocked more than 164 million fish. The station has been an invaluable resource to Louisianas wildlife and fisheries. Federal fish hatcheries have been an important part of our Nations resource management efforts for more than a century. Resource managers nationwide acknowledge hatcheries as a valuable tool for the preservation of our Nations fisheries resources. ","speaker_name":"DAVID VITTER","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1412,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090155934,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"DC 205106150. For further information. please contact Henry Abeyta at (202) 2248339. Clint Williamson at (202) 2247556. or Steve Waskiewicz at (202) 2286195.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":976,"word_count":23}
{"speech_id":1090155948,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It will continue to get western on our border until border security becomes a national security issue. And thats just the way it is.","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1207,"word_count":24}
{"speech_id":1090155950,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. in a rare display of accuracy. today the New York Times highlighted how the Bush tax cuts are helping tremendously reduce the Federal deficit. As the driveby paper reported. an unexpected steep rise in tax revenues from corporations and the wealthy is driving down the projected deficit this year. On Friday. the Congressional Budget Office reported that corporate tax receipts for the 9 months ending. in June hit $250. billion. nearly 26 percent higher than the same time last year. and that overall revenues were $206 billion higher than at this point in 2005. This incredible increase in tax receipts demonstrates that Republican policies are truly benefiting all sectors of the American economy. By reducing taxes. we have helped American businesses create jobs and. in turn. contribute larger amounts. reducing the Federal deficit. House Republicans will continue to work to make these effective tax cuts permanent. In conclusion. God bless our troops. and we will never forget September 11.","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1012,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090156028,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I rise today in support of House Concurrent Resolution 427. authorizing the use of the Capitol rotunda on July 19 of this year for a ceremony to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the Department of Veterans Affairs. As my colleagues are well aware. Congress must pass a concurrent resolution to use the Capitol rotunda. the respected location of Americas historic ceremonies. I want to thank the gentleman from Indiana for introducing this resolution. This event will mark the 75th anniversary of the Department of VA in which Congress will use the historic rotunda location to commemorate the service of the VA professionals who provide Federal benefits to veterans and their families. On July 21. 1930. President Hoover issued an executive order to consolidate various veterans programs to create the Department of Veterans Affairs. which has grown from an organization of 48 hospitals and 30.000 employees into the Nations second largest Federal agency. Tolay. the VA employs over 237.000 professionals. is comprised of 157 hospitals and over 850 communitybased clinics. provides pensions and disability compensation to more than 3.4 million veterans. and provides a dignified and permanent resting place at the 120 national cemeteries that honor the men and women who served in our Nations military. The responsibility to care for veterans. spouses. survivors and dependents can last a long time. ","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2517,"word_count":225}
{"speech_id":1090156037,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speake&. I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill to direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to transfer to United. States Immigration and Customs Enforcement all functions of the Customs Patrol Officers unit operating on the Tohono Oodham Indian reservation.","speaker_name":"MARK SOUDER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":272,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090156042,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. first. let me thank Chairman PETE KING of the Homeland Security Committee and the ranking member. Mr. THOMPSON. for steadily standing behind. this and also keeping the pressure on the administration to resolve these types of things. if they will not remix and back off from their determination to artificially divide this agency. at least to accommodate the things that do not quite fit the bureaucratic structure. I want to thank Chairman LUNGREN of the subcommittee. as well as Chair-\" man ROGERS of the Homeland Security Appropriations Committee for keeping the pressure on in spite of the administrations resistance. I appreciate the support in ICE of Director Myers. Julie Myers. for her support in trying to work. out a compromise and backing off some of the resistance we have had over the last few years. Congressman JOHN SHADEGG of Arizona has been a leader on this. along with Congressman GRIJALVA for a number of years. and his staff has been down there many times. We have spent much time on the Arizona border. ","speaker_name":"MARK SOUDER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2423,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090156075,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this election is going to be a referendum on the Presidents plan to deal with Iraq. The American people need to know what is going on. And. of course. our press gives them one view. But I think it is important to see what the rest of the world is saying about what is going on in Iraq today. For that reason I am going to read some portions of an editorial from the Daily Star of Lebanon. It is the most influential and most balanced paper in the Middle East. and the title is \"Only Iraqis Can Keep Sectarian Violence From Ruining Their Country.\" \"In the latest outburst of sectarian violence in Iraq. roving bands of Shiite gunmen killed at least 41 Sunnis in Baghdad on Sunday as a car bomb targeted a Shiite mosque. killing 17.\" \"Bloody scenes such as these are becoming all too common in Iraq. where a lowintensity civil war threatens to erupt into fullscale sectarian conflict. The violence already poses a threat to the fragile Iraqi government. Sunni MPs. who have been boycotting Parliament sessions over the abduction of one of their colleagues. MP Tayseer Najah alMashhadani. are now considering extending their boycott to withdraw from Prime Minister Nuri alMalikis Cabinet. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4136,"word_count":209}
{"speech_id":1090156080,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. our community of Nashville. Tennessee. and the Nashville banking industry lost an entrepreneurial banker. Brian Williams. who was the Music Row banker for SunTrust Bank. and he was such an extraordinary. truly extraordinary. man. Certainly. we feel that we have lost a visionary in not only the banking industry but in the music business industry. Brian is one of those who really understood that the entertainment industry and the music industry is a business. and he approached it that way and he pioneered the music industrys banking division for SunTrust Bank. He is a man who I honestly believe in all my years of working on the intellectual property issue. whether as head of the Tennessee Film Entertainment Music Commission or as a member of the State Senate or now as a Member of Congress. he understood the ability of intellectual property to generate an income. He understood that intellectual property is private property. and he understood how royalty income could indeed work for our creative community. He is truly going to be deeply. deeply missed and to his wife. Marion. and his parents. our thoughts are with you all. ","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5582,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090156082,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We ignore .this at our own peril. He also mentioned with the State of Texas. the billions that are spent on education. the hundreds of millions that are spent on health care for those that have illegally entered this country. He also mentioned incarceration and the hundreds of millions of dollars that are spent in his State of Texas on incarceration. I asked the sheriff from Los Angeles County during the hearing in San Diego what they spent every year on incarceration. because 26 percent of their jail population are criminal aliens. 70 percent of those are repeat offenders. They are spending about $80 million a year. $80 million of taxpayer dollars each year in Los Angeles County for incarceration of those who have committed offenses and are being held and detained as criminal aliens. Another point that the gentleman talked about was that our laws are not up for discussion. And one of my constituents over the weekend said. you know. U.S. citizenship is not a lottery. and it is not. And this comment came from a gentleman who is a veteran. And he grabbed me by the arm as we were out celebrating our freedom. celebrating Independence Day. and looked me straight in the eye. ","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6415,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090156086,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"You know. this is not fair. This is not right. And there is great concern. And I think that that is one of the reasons that the American people return to looking at the House bill and saying. this is what we want to see: first. secure the border. Second. deal with that magnet. Look at the employer sanctions. then deal with the enforcement mechanisms. And then. once you have stabilized the situation. look at the visa programs. but only after the situation has been stabilized. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2521,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090156089,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In other words. merely being in the country illegally. the Senate bill would strip them of any power to apprehend. arrest and turn those individuals over for deportation. Again. it is completely opposite of our Housepassed bill that is trying to empower those on the front lines. to give them more resources and give them additional training to help and become partners with the Federal Government. with the Department of Homeland Security. with Border Patrol in trying to apprehend these people. We know in many ways the flood of illegal entrants has changed over the years. Again. I know that many people who come here are not bad people. and I am not attempting to vilify them. I am the father of two small children. a 4yearold and a 2Y2yearold. And I know if I was born poor in Latin America and I couldnt feed my children. I .dont know what you would do to stop me from crossing this border. But because I have compassion for somebody does not mean that I want to hand them a check drawn upon the Federal taxpayer. Because I have compassion for someone does not mean I want to say. okay. we are going to let you cut in line and here are your U.S. citizen papers. ","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3669,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090156095,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Thank you. my friend. I hope that you had a pleasant break. I know you were working. but I hope that you enjoyed your stay at home. Professor Allisons observations really echo the conclusion that was reached by a bipartisan group of experts. including many from the administration of President Reagan. and that conclusion was that the United States is losing the war on terror. We read that our friends on the other side of the aisle have made a political decision to talk about national security. to talk about terror and what they have accomplished. Well. the truth is. nothing has been accomplished. except the loss of thousands of American lives with a financial cost going on some half a trillion dollars. You know. one only has to watch the nightly news. I was in the cloakroom earlier and watched the national news. It was depressing. it was sad. it was tragic. What is going on in Baghdad today and all over Iraq is an orgy of violence and bloodletting. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2344,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090156096,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. to your point. you know. if we go back to the outset of the invasion of Iraq. we can trace it back to the summer of 2002. with the Presidents address at West Point. where he announced the doctrine of preemption and unilateralism. And as you will recall. who were the staunchest critics of the President at the time? It was not Senator KENNEDY. It was not Senator BYRD. It wasnt BILL DELAHUNT or JIM MCDERMOTT or MAXINE WATERS or myself. It was Scowcroft. Eagleberger. Baker. Kissinger. because they understood the perils present in this kind of foreign policy. to abandon the precepts of Casper Weinberger and saying the United States should never enter into a military conflict unless its vital interests are threatened. And we knew that that was not the case. and the Powell corollary to that which is. if we go in. we go in with overwhelming fcrce and secure the country.","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":880,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090156102,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Because of the word of Ahmad Chalabi. So what has become the ChalabiCheney nexus has led us into this quagmire that we find ourselves into today. And as you point out. we have diverted the necessary funds that are needed to combat terrorism. We still do not have Osama bin Laden or Mullah Omar. They are still at large. And we need to make sure that if we are going to send a strong message around the world that this kind of terrorist act will not be tolerated. that we refocus and regroup. It is also pointed out in several articles over this weekend that we still can prevail in Afghanistan if we put the resources there and support President Karzai and make sure that we regroup and redetermine our effort to put down the Taliban and to focus on weeding out those elements of al Qaeda that still exist along the Pakistani border and throughout Afghanistan that has become once again overwhelmed with warlords.","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":913,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090156107,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is what I am referring to. absolutely. And I am so glad that you are making it plain. The fact of the matter is. the growing and cultivating of poppy seeds in Afghanistan is the drug trade that is flowing off into that Pakistan border that we cannot seem to get under control. We have this socalled great relationship with Mr. Musharraf in Pakistan. But guess what? While he is talking to us and we are funding him and we are socalled cooperating. he tells us there is nothing he can do about the lawlessness on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. And it is believed by everybody that that is where Osama bin Laden really is. And so I do not know who our friends are anymore in that region. Having said that. I think you rightfully identified that we directed the resources away from Afghanistan and we went into this socalled war in Iraq because we were after Osama bin Laden. and we created this war on terrorism. ","speaker_name":"MAXINE WATERS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":35.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1675,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090156111,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And that is why I think many of us were very surprised just last week to learn that the Central Intelligence Agency. the CIA. has closed down. closed down. the unit that was first established many years ago with the specific purpose of tracking down and hunting down Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. And let me just say this: I know a lot of us had to be scratching our heads when we saw that. because the American people know well that we have not completed that mission. and I think it is important that they know that the individual who first started that unit. a former member of the CIA. Michael Scheuer. was also very surprised and perplexed. He is the one that was the head of what- was called Alec Station. this unit dedicated to tracking down Osama bin Laden. And he is now retired from the CIA. but here is what he said. It reflected a view within the agency. the CIA. that Mr. bin Laden was no longer the threat that he once was. And Mr. Scheuer sadd. and I think most of us would agree. that that view was mistaken. that Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda remain a very virulent threat. E 2115 Here is what Mr. Scheuer had to say: \"This will clearly denigrate our operations against al Qaeda. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3261,"word_count":227}
{"speech_id":1090156120,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If I may. before you yield to JIM McDERmOTT. I think it is important to follow what Congressman VAN HOLLEN just talked about in terms of the diversion of resources. Several weeks ago. the foreign minister of Afghanistan came to this country and made a statement. and it was reported in the Washington Times. that the government fofces. the security forces. the army and the police. are being outgunned and outmanned by the terrorists in Afghanistan. In response the administration said. Well. we will double the assistance to the security forces. This is more than about 5 years. I daresay. since we invaded Afghanistan. This just simply goes to the point that in Iraq. with Katrina. with Afghanistan. with just about everything. we have seen a level of incompetence and mismanagement that is simply mindboggling. Last week. they are talking about increasing military assistance to the security forces in Afghanistan. In the meantime. it is going very badly in Afghanistan.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":973,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090156132,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But he said that they seem to be frozen in the ice of their own indifference. Frozen in the ice of their own indifference. Indifference towards making sure that there is a workable. living minimum wage. Indifference to working people. indifference to the men and women as Mr. DELAHUNT has pointed out time and time again who are lined up along the highway to Crawford. Texas. seeking only an audience with the President of the United States to talk -about their sons and daughters who have given their lives. Indifference. as Ms. JACKSONLEE has pointed out. to the senior citizens of this country who have become refugees from their own health care system and have to travel to Canada to get prescription drugs that they can afford. Indifference to what we are doing to college students today. cutting back the funding that they so desperately need. Indifference to what happens at the gas pumps where people who are struggling to make a living and have to get back and forth to work find themselves. ","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2169,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090156143,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The country is not ready for it. You just ran your whole campaign on it. Now you are niot for it? And they. the President and the Republican Congress on the other side. actually think that the American people are going to fall for this again. Well. we haye got news for them.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1189,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090156145,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Exactly. -We are not the only ones. And I think the country is obviously divided on those very polarizing issues. But regardless of how you feel. we have got real problems in this country. Mr. Speaker. Can we stop. insulting the American public to think that they are going to somehow fall for these shenanigans again that were used in 2004? The President was for a gay marriage amendment. then he was against it and decided he was not going to push it. And then 12 years later. when he is 30 percent in the polls and the Republican Congress has not passed one piece of significant legislation. all of a sudden. they are for the gay marriage amendment again. It is not going to work. Do you know why? Because this is what has been going on. Mr. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1739,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090156151,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So. my only point on the method that you have just given is. for Gods sake. we need a new direction in America. We really need a new direction. and that would cover all of the basic bread and butter issues that you have just recounted. So what I am hoping is that Democrats do not let up. that we tell the American people that we would much. rather stand with them than fall amongst the throng who think it is always good to be with the special interests. I would much rather pass a minimum wage. I would much rather ask the question why the gas per gallon is so high and do something about it. I would much rather keep kids in college and take care of the environment and see people go back to work. That is what I think we are saying here tonight.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2060,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090156152,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But just picture those two things and the impact it would have on your life.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1420,"word_count":15}
{"speech_id":1090156156,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Corporate welfare. Let us expand just for a second. Corporate welfare. $16 billion to the energy companies and between 20 and $30 billion to the health care industry. That is where that money is going. So if you are going to -dethrone Lyndon Johnson. at least dethrone him by investing in education.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":299,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090156195,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. House Democrats have been talking a lot about their agenda lately. but each and every time they fail to mention border security or immigration reform. and I suppose for good reason. With their lackluster record on immigration reform. I can understand why they hesitate to bring up the issue. After all. Republicans voted to pass a border security bill in December. but Democrats. led by their minority leader. opposed the bill. Republicans voted to pass the REAL ID Act to make sure people who receive drivers licenses are here legally. but Democrats. led by their minority leader. opposed the bill. -Republicans wanted to allow members of our Armed Forces to help perform certain border security protection functions. but Democrats. led by their minority leader. opposed the amendment. With a record like this. it is no wonder that the Democrats never mention border security as a part of their agenda.","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":916,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090156198,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. over the last 9 years gas prices have doubled. college prices are up 38 percent. food prices. up 20 percent. housing. up 25 percent. and health care costs. up a whopping 75 percent. But the minimum wage hasnt budged over that period of time. Over the last 5 years. we have had a singular focus in this House on raising revenue for those families for whom these numbers really dont mean much. because they have so much disposable income. But for people on the minimum wage. it means they have to decide between putting food on the table or insuring their own children. They have to work a week just to fill their tank with gas. Thats not right. and isnt it time that the Republican Party stop blocking the Democrats attempts to raise the minimum wage and recognize that it is the working class families who are providing the underpinning of this economy? Lets increase the minimum wage. It is the right thing to do.","speaker_name":"JAMES MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":927,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090156199,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I listened With interest to the comments of my friend from Virginia. and perhaps at a later time. he can elaborate on what he said at a town hall meeting recently where he was quoted as saying he looked forward to earmarking the heck out of future spending bills. should his party take control. Mr. Speaker. I come to the floor today to talk about the border security hearings we held last week in California and Texas. I attended the hearing in California and noted with interest the comments of Sheriff Rick Flores of Webb County. Texas. who said in response to our questions that the first goal of this government. and our first priority. should be enforcement of the law and enforcement of our borders. Mr. Speaker. that is a clear message. ","speaker_name":"JOHN HAYWORTH","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":966,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090156203,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. on Americas birthday. North Korean leader Kim Jong I1 thought it was wise to fire six ballistic missiles. The international community condemned these launches. and Kim Jong Il responded by firing an additional missile on July Having been to North Korea in 2003. I can tell you that their government does nothing for its people and uses blackmail as its primary foreign policy tool. Kim Jong II and some of our opponents on the other side of the aisle believe that if North Korea fires missiles that it should be rewarded with direct talks and various forms of assistance. I dont believe in blackmail or rewarding bad behavior. As President Bush has said recently about Kim Jong Il. he can verifiably get rid of his weapons programs. stop testing rockets. and there is a way forward to help his people. The choice is his to make. Our military and intelligence professionals. along with our allies in this region. will continue to keep a close watch on North Korea. ","speaker_name":"JEFF MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1251,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090156205,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today I rise to invite the Senate to join the House in debating how we are going to address illegal entry into this country. We are hearing from our colleagues today reporting back on the hearings that we are holding around the country. talking with sheriffs. talking with Border Patrol. talking to people on the ground. We are hearing the same thing: stop illegal crossings. It is time. Get this problem under control. Mr. Speaker. in this environment every State is a border State and every town is a border town. Meanwhile. the other body. holds hearings talking about everything under the sun related to immigration except the actual process by which people come into this country illegally. Until our colleagues across the Capitol are willing to admit illegal entry is the problem. we are going to continue seeing a debate that goes nowhere. ","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1085,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090156206,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. House Republicans have a chance to give more than 6 million Americans a muchdeserved pay raise. Would you believe that the minimum wage has not been increased in 9 years? It is the second longest amount of time that hardworking Americans have had to go without a pay raise. resulting in the hourly wage being at its lowest level in 50 years. House Democrats want to expand economic opportunity for all Americans. We want to inorease the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25. It is only fair. These workers play by the rules every day. All they want in return is to make a living wage. Do my Republican colleagues really believe that $5.15 an hour is still a living wage? House Republicans claim that the only people who make the minimum wage are teenagers. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE BUTTERFIELD","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1108,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090156213,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Thanks to the Naperville police and the Illinois State Police. the two crimes were uncovered before the predators met the children. In Michigan. one minor had traveled halfway around the world to meet a man in the West Bank town of Jericho that she met on the networking Web site MySpace.com. As children. many of us were taught never to talk to strangers. As parents and grandparents. our message must change with technology to include strangers on the Internet.","speaker_name":"JUDY BIGGERT","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1112,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090156216,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. after September 11. we all concluded that securing our borders was a top priority. Unfortunately. for the past 5 years the Republican majority here in Washington. from the White House to Capitol Hill. have refused to adequately fund border needs. As a Congress. we promised to add 2.000 Border Patrol agents. 8.000 additional detention beds. and to add 800 more immigration investigators every year between 2005 and 2009. Two years into that promise. we are falling exceedingly short. House Republicans have cut $48 million from Customs and Border Security Protection. and Democrats tried to restore the funding. but we were rebuffed by the Republican majority. It is bad enough that Washington Republicans refuse to properly fund border security measures. but now it appears they are unwilling to work together to negotiate a final border security and immigration bill this year. The only way we will secure our borders is if House and Senate Republicans stop playing games. stop holding press","speaker_name":"LINCOLN DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1007,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090156224,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They can read independent newspapers. Women are part of the political process. In fact. women secured 31 percent of the seats in the Iraqi National Assembly. Primary school enrollment has increased by nearly 3 million children. and Iraqi medical schools now graduate more than 2.000 doctors a year. So. Mr. Speaker. as we congratulate the Iraqi people on these successes. lets not forget to thank our troops for the important work they are doing in Iraq. training soldiers. building schools. working every day for security and freedom in the Middle East.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1227,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090156247,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Let me respond directly to that. The horse racing provisions in this bill reflect the Interstate Horse Racing Act. To the degree that there is any change. it is a slight upgrading restriction in horse racing. because the new definitional structures put in this bill apply to the Wire Act. This bill does not touch the dispute between the Justice Department and the horse racing community. But it increases the strength of the Justice Departments position in the sense that these new definitional structures that will apply to the Wire Act will also apply to horse racing itself.","speaker_name":"JAMES LEACH","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":578,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090156252,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am deeply impressed by -the passion that my comments have raised. But remember that the old bill that he killed did not contain a lottery exemption that Abramoff wanted. and this one does. CQ may have gotten it wrong. ladies and gentlemen. I doubt it. Republicans are touting Internet gambling legislation .the House will likely pass as evidence that disgraced - lobbyist Jack Abramoffs influence is gone. even though the measure would protect many of the gambling interests he once represented.","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":510,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090156266,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So you have a regulatory scheme that cant work and no prohibition against gambling. If we wanted to get serious about Internet gambling. you should have put xn there it is illegal to gamble. Thatis not in the bill. This bill is a message bill. It is unenforceable. you cant regulate it. It would make more sense since the cat is out of the bag. many countries are running Internet gambling operations already. If we are going to do anything. we ought to regulate the operations. supervise it. and tax it.","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1389,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090156294,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The fundamental principle of the autonomy of the individual is at stake today. Now. I have to say. I understand a lot of the conservatives dont like it because there are people on the religious side who dont like it. Some of my liberal friends. I think. are being very inconsistent. We are for allowing a lot of things. I mean. many of us vote to say. You can burn the flag. I wish you wouldnt. but you can. ","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4153,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090156310,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Internet gambling generates over $10 billion in revenues. Nearly 80 percent of those revenues are impossible to account for because illegal gambling sites are located in jurisdictions with no regulation on gambling. This allows States the prerogative to decide what kind of gambling should be permitted or forbidden within the State borders. Some States say you cannot gamble. other States say you can. The attorneys general of 48 States have said they are in support of this legislation. It will make online gambling impossible for minors. Minors cannot go into -brick and mortar facilities right now. It should. in fact. make it inaccessible for minors. It recognizes the jurisdictional impediments for prosecuting offshore gambling businesses. Financial systems will be required to block money flow to these businesses. cutting off the oxygen for these illegal transactions. ","speaker_name":"DARLENE HOOLEY","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1600,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090156313,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. SENSENBRENNER. for their hard work and leadership on this issue. Mr. Speaker. it is time that we enforce the law when it comes to Internet gambling. Dozens of Web sites entice Web surfers to bet online with free software offers. Online sites advertise openly on TV. Stores carry books on how to get rich by gambling online. The only problem? Online gambling is illegal. This bill makes that clear and provides mechanisms to effectively enforce the law. This year Americans will send $5.9 billion to offshore. unregulated online casinos. ","speaker_name":"JAMES LEACH","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1807,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090156322,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Again. we have heard these stories about the problems of Internet gambling. But this bill does not prohibit Internet gambling. It prohibits running the operation. If we wanted to be effective in prosecuting illegal gambling on the Internet. we would prosecute the individual gamblers. A few sting operations would get the word out that if you gamble on the Internet. you will be caught. because the money trail will lead back to each individual Internet gambler. So as long as individuals can gamble over the Internet with impunity. the market will be provided for them from some place. Mr. Speaker. this bill does not prohibit Internet gambling. just tries to prohibit running the operation in a jurisdiction within the reach of the Department of Justice. then it sets up an impossible regulatory scheme. requiring banks to figure out which of billions of transactions might be related to illegal Internet gambling. If we want to prohibit Internet gambling. lets debate that. Meanwhile. we should defeat this bill.","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3556,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090156332,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Please oppose this measure unless there are some changes made about it. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1730,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090156333,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker it puzzles me greatly to hear my distinguished friend from Michigan call this bill Abramoffs revenge. There are no two Members of this body that fought Mr. Abramoff more strongly on this issue than the gentleman from Iowa and the gentleman from Virginia . And what side are they on? They are the sponsors of this bill. because they realize that we have to do something to curtail Internet gambling. Now. this bill started out before I became the chairman of the Judiciary Committee. It is still around. and Internet gambling is growing by leaps and bounds. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1600,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090156350,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Anybody can log on. Anybody can place a bet. And I dont see any way to prevent children. and I dont see any way of keeping people from spending their hardearned money on that. This creates a huge e~iemption which we will have no control of. and totally. in my opinion. undermines the bill and makes a mockery and a farce of what we are doing here today. or supposed to be doing here today. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"SHELLEY BERKLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2672,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090156352,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin for yielding to me. and I do rise in opposition to this amendment. The underlying bill contains a carefully negotiated balance which reflects existing laws that allow States to control gambling activities within their borders. The gentlewomans amendment strikes that carefully negotiated balance. Its adoption would doom the bill. To those who support passage of the bill and a ban on Internet gambling. I urge a \"no\" vote on this amendment. Fortyeight of 50 State attorneys general have announced support for a ban on Internet gambling. But if the amendment that is offered by the gentlewoman passes and States lose the authority over gambling within their borders. the bill will fail because State support for it will be withdrawn. ","speaker_name":"FREDERICK BOUCHER","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1469,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090156363,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That equates to 1 million people in Saratoga spending $70 million at local restaurants. stores and various other attractions. These people make Saratoga the jewel of upstate New York that it is. We ought not to punish a legitimate industry that is already regulated. This is a responsible industry that provides jobs. pumps money into our economy and is already regulated. I urfge a \"no\" vote on this amendment.","speaker_name":"JOHN SWEENEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2317,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090156375,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H.R. 5646. a measure which will require the Environmental Protection Agency to conduct an analysis of the energy effects of the expanding use of computer servers and the c6ncentration of computer servers in large data centers. Computer server use is rapidly .growing at a rate that is estimated to be 50 percent over a mere 5 years. Servers are now used in virtually every business and every government office. And now companies with large information processing needs are aggregating servers into large data centers. The growing use of servers has an energy consequence. and it is now estimated that server operations consume electricity valued at $3 billion annually. In our ongoing efforts to become a more energyefficient Nation. it is appropriate that we focus on ways to encourage more energyefficient computer servers. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy are charged with the administration of the Energy Star program. which identifies and labels energyefficient technologies in a number of business and household products. Use of more energyefficient products enables residential and commercial energy consumers to lower their electricity costs and also to lessen the overall national demand for electricity. ","speaker_name":"FREDERICK BOUCHER","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2290,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090156422,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. due to my attendance at a funeral for a family member of my staff I was unavoidably detained from voting on H.R. 4411. the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. Had I been present. I would have voted \"aye\" on final passage and \"nay\" on the passage of the Berkley\/Conyers\/Wexler amendment. I support passage of H.R. 4411 in the Judiciary Committee and I continue to support efforts to rein in the proliferation of internet gambling.","speaker_name":"J. FORBES","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":458,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090156429,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of House Resolution 576. celebrating the success of the Advancement Via Individual Determination program. also known as AVID. AVID began in one classroom in 1980. and has now trained more than 98.000 educators and nearly 260.000 student alumni. Fortunately. AVID is beginning to spread to the East Coast. and has already reached five schools in my home State of Delaware. The accomplishments of AVID extend beyond the growth and expansion of the program. AVID seeks to help underachieving students by providing them with the support they need to take challenging classes and go on to college. School officials select average students making Cs and Ds. but have the potential to do better. and then place them in honors and collegeprep classes with academic and motivational support. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CASTLE","chamber":"H","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2400,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090156466,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In fact. few people realize today that the Constitution did not include what we know as the Bill of Rights. the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. And it was only as a promise by the States and the Continental Congress that they would at a later time include the Bill of Rights or something to the effect of the Bill of Rights that many of the States then adopted. In fact. during the Continental Congress it was Patrick Henry that said that he refused and would refuse. and he eventually did. to sign the Constitution because he said. I smell a rat. But Lord onlyknows here was a gentleman that had an olfactory memory that could reach over 200 years out into the future and here we are today. But I would tell you that Patrick Henry did say that he would not sign the Constitution or agree to it unless it included a Bill of Rights. an enumeration of all the rights of man. And several folks. including one James Wilson. took that under advisement. And they came back several days later. and to the presiding officer at that time. George Washington. they said. Mr. ","speaker_name":"C.L. OTTER","chamber":"H","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4248,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090156491,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. I am honored to have cosponsored that legislation. And to your point. I think it is basic fiscal common sense. The taxpayers deserve better than what they are getting from this Congress. I cant imagine anyone who would call themselves a fiscal conservative and not support this commonsense legislation or any leadership that wouldnt bring such legislation forward.","speaker_name":"MELISSA BEAN","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":370,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090156496,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And I thank you for yielding.","speaker_name":"JOHN TANNER","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":953,"word_count":6}
{"speech_id":1090156498,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If you will yield on just that point. here is what the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security. which is where FEMA is now. said in regard to their financial statements. \"Unfortunately. the Department made little or no progress to improve its overall financial reporting during FY 2005. The auditor was unable to provide an opinion on the Departments balance sheet.\" What they are saying is. we dont know what these people are doing with this money and they cant tell us. Congress is not asking. what did you do with the money. but if they asked. they couldnt tell them. That is what this bill goes to. and I am glad you have that horrendous picture there about all these trailers. They cant tell you and the auditor cant tell you what happened to the money.","speaker_name":"JOHN TANNER","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":786,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090156506,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Why are we still sending money to help rebuild Iraq? I think there are many things that we need oversight on. and the mismanagement that we are seeing of this administration and of this Congress is something that every American ought to be screaming about today.","speaker_name":"LINCOLN DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":927,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090156508,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We call this the Blue Dog Coalition. not Blue Dog Democrats. We are all Democrats. but we invite the Republicans to join us so we can bring some sense to this fiscal irresponsibility. I hope some Republicans will join this coalition because it is not limited just to Democrats. Most Blue Dogs are conservative Democrats. at least when it comes to fiscal matters. And we are also hawks on defense spending. so we invite Republicans to join us.","speaker_name":"LINCOLN DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":442,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090156523,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. once again it is an honor to come to the House floor. We would like to thank the Democratic leadership for allowing us to have this hour. The 30something Working Group. as you know. comes to the floor if not daily every other day when we have the opportunity to do so. to share with the Members of the House initiatives and plans that we have on the Democratic side of the aisle that will make America better and stronger. As you know. we have been on the message of a new direction for America. and we have been working very hard on that because that is the message that we have and that the American people are looking forward to seeing implemented. So many times here on this floor. we talk about ideas and concepts. but they never really make it to the legislative debate. due to the fact that here in the House. Democrats are in the minority. and the majority has adopted a rule that there is not a true bipartisan spirit here in this House. only when we vote on post offices and naming bridges. But when it comes down to policy. policy that is affecting the people that we represent every day. there is a great divide. a divide to where we are not sitting down at the negotiating table. in committee. in subcommittee. and definitely not sitting down before legislation comes to the floor in a conference committee to talk about what is best for America and how can we make it better. The American people yearn and hope for Democrats and Republicans and the one Independent in this House to work together. I think it is important to outline the fact that our leadership has said if given the opportunity. earning the opportunity of the American people to lead. that you will see a bipartisan spirit. not only spirit. you will see bipartisan action in this House on major pieces of legislation dealing with health care. education. how we are going to balance the budget. just not talk on how to cut the deficit in half or we may cut the deficit in half. really breaking down the deficit so that we will not pay more than what we are spending and investing in education. homeland security. and veteran affairs. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6816,"word_count":389}
{"speech_id":1090156541,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me respectfully disagree with you and say tens of billions. maybe in excess of 100 billion. but it is clearly a substantial amount of money. Just stop and think for 1 minute. That money would eliminate the doughnut hole. And by the doughnut hole. we mean once the cost of a particular prescription exceeds an amount. I think it is $2.600. for the next $3.000plus a senior citizen has to pay for that prescription out of his or her own pocket. We are already receiving calls. I do not know if your district offices have had this experience. but the volume of calls from seniors saying. you know. I didnt realize how quickly I would reach that socalled doughnut hole. and I cant afford the next $3.000 to meet my medical needs. And I need those drugs that take care of my cardiac problem. for example. and I cant afford it. Mr. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2402,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090156542,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. Mr. DELAHUiNT. I think it is important to take it away from the political debate here on this floor. between what we believe that the American people want and need versus what the special interests must have. The only way that people are going to win on this floor is if we give them voice. Last night. we got into a passionate discussion about the minimum wage and why it was important. And we. I think. all agree that we give those individuals voice that are punching in and out every day and catching the early bus. We give voice to that mother that is trying to figure out how she is going to get the kids to school and make it to work making minimum wage. working more than half a day to even cover the gas costs. let alone having to buy groceries and do all those other things. and that father that catches the early bus and is trying to make it happen. So I think that as these fuel prices continue to go up. as it relates to Medicare. there is this quiet inching up the storm of new requirements and new loopholes for seniors to jump through in the hopes they will not follow through or go through all those hoops. so that they do not get what they deserve.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1171,"word_count":226}
{"speech_id":1090156550,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"stood right here and told the Speaker. it is a shame that we are leaving here on the 4th of July break and we havent addressed the issue of millions of Americans still making $5 and some change since 1997. meanwhile the cost of milk. bread. health insurance and everything else has gone up.","speaker_name":"GEORGE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":290,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090156551,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Really. what it boils down to is exactly what you are saying. it is that they are completely out of touch. And I just want to pull up this illustration. We have our thirdparty validators here that really help us demonstrate what we are talking about on the floor each night. Mr. Speaker. It is not information we are making up. It is not the Debbie Wasserman Schultz encyclopedia. or the Tim Ryan dictionary. These are facts we are laying out in front of the American people so that they can decide whether they want to continue down the path the Republican leadership has taken them on or whether they want to go in a new direction. It is clear that the Republicans have made these decisions because they are out of touch. I mean. let us just look at the real economic changes under this administration. under President Bush and the Republican leadership. as opposed to the bogus one that they rolled out today with their economic midyear review. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3802,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090156562,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Do you know what my husband and I noticed the other day when we were filling up our tank? That the dimes. you know how when we were little kids and the pennies are what scrolled really fast when you were filling up your gas tank. Now it is the dimes that scroll as fast as the pennies used to. I mean. that is how much things have changed. So dimes. you know. 10 dimes. that is a dollar. Byebye. every 10 dimes. another dollar gone.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":432,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090156571,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Thats a former director of the Congressional Budget Office that used to work for President Bush. It is such a deep well of sorrow. This country is going in the wrong direction. whether you are talking about oil or Medicare or the war or Katrina or whatever. and my friend has got his toy there. This. country is going in the wrong direction and we want to go in another direction. If you like the neoconservative agenda that has been implemented. look around. gas. oil. retirements. pensions. minimum wage. Social Security. college tuition. keep the Republicans in office.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1321,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090156572,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. RYAN. just very quickly. the bottom line is. Mr. DELAHUNT. to your point. sir. the reason why the chairman hasnt called ExxonMobil in. the reason why everything that we have described here today is that we are on the total opposite side of their position. We are not willing to rubber stamp everything that the President and the administration says must happen in this Congress. We are not willing to rubber stamp the special interests just because they are contributors to a particular campaign or something. . We are willing to stand up for the American people. And the reason why we have this rubber stamp down here on the floor. just to illustrate exactly what the Republican Congress has done. and that is the reason why we are in the situation we are in now.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":768,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090156592,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today we have the first 30 minutes of the session set aside for a period of morning business. Following that time. we will return to the consideration of the Homeland Security appropriations bill. As I announced yesterday. we will finish that bill this week. Therefore. if Senators have amendments. they should come to the floor and offer them. The two managers were here yesterday and will be on the Senate floor shortly and ready for business. Therefore. Senators can expect some votes today relative to the Homeland Security appropriations bill. and we will alert everyone when we lock in a time certain. The Senate will also recess today from 12:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. for our weekly policy meetings.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":717,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090156598,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my leader on the Democratic side. Yesterday I visited Guantanamo Bay. along with my colleague. Senator GEORGE ALLEN of Virginia. RADM Harry Harris. commander of the Joint Task Force in Guantanamo. spent most of his day giving us a very informative briefing and a tour of the facilities. I thank the admiral. and I thank all the soldiers and sailors.at Guantanamo for their service to our country. They are great Americans doing a difficult job in a dangerous place. I met with several young men and women from Illinois. I had lunch with them. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12088,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090156621,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. if the Senator will further yield. it would also apply to purchases that could come from any countrywe are not just talking about Canada? For example. purchases from England. they could come from India. they could come from Cuba. they could come from Libya. they could come from even states that have been identified as terrorist states?","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":352,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090156634,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If I could respond. in claiming my time. I disagree with that wholeheartedly. Yes. the FDA has refused to take any action to do that. Can they? Absolutely. they can. Is it possible to do that. particularly in the modern age of packaging technology? Absolutely. Most of the drugs we are talking about. in fact. are manufactured either in this country or in the same manufacturing points as the drugs that are bought in this country. So I disagree with the premise the Senator has laid out. But that is certainly the FDAs position. not to attempt to do any of that and to be completely. 1.000 percent opposed to reimportation.","speaker_name":"DAVID VITTER","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":624,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090156640,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In fact. recent anecdotal studies have shown something like 80 percent of the drugs coming in through the Internet do not meet the standards they claim they do meet. So why would you amend this bill to put Customs and Border Protection in the untenable position of having to basically release drugs to come into this country. which the FDA says it cannot claim are safe. when you have not put in the higher regime requirements of having the FDA come in and determine whether those drugs are safe?","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1723,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090156664,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Innovative senior citizens first alerted the Nation several years ago to the opportunity available in Canada by organizing bus trips across the border from many of our Northern States. In Massachusetts. the city of Springfield began using Canadian pharmacies to provide drugs for its city employees and retirees. Springfields example led the way for other city and State governments across the country to do the same. The Internet revolution vastly expanded the opportunity by enabling patients across America to go to Canada on the internet and save thousands of dollars a year on their prescriptions. The administration should not be. using the Customs agency to block patients from getting safe drugs from Canada. Yet recently it has been using the Customs agency to avoid a current requirement that the Food and Drug Administration give special notice to a patient if it detains the patients im ported drug at the border. This amendment should stop that abuse. but this amendment is not the real answer on importation. It is time for Congress to allow safe imports from Canadaand from other developed countries. too. S. 334. the DorganSnowe drug importation bill. will do this. and the Senate needs to act on this bill. Patients will be able to import drugs from exporters in Canada who are registered with FDA and regularly inspected by FDA. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2965,"word_count":222}
{"speech_id":1090156666,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As this year goes on. more and more seniors are getting excellent and affordable coverage under the new prescription drug plan that we passed in 2003. which means allowing potentially unsafe drugs into our country is an unnecessary risk that we do not need to take.","speaker_name":"JIM BUNNING","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2508,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090156688,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that upon the arrival of the Senator from West Virginia. he be recognized to offer two amendments. and that upon the disposition of those two amendments. the Senator from Maine be recognized to offer an amendment.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":252,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090156717,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the Senator from North Dakota. There is some irony in that. although neither the Senator from West Virginia nor the Senator from North Dakota has a port. unless Harpers Ferry is considered a port. they would be putting forward this concept. It is a good concept. I ask unanimous consent the amendment be agreed to.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":322,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090156726,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We held some 23 hearings at which nearly 90 witnesses testified. We formally interviewed 325 individuals. and we reviewed some 838.000 pages of documents. We distilled all of this into a comprehensive report with many recommendations for improving the response at all levels of government. Some of these recommendations have to do with how the Federal Government should be organized to effectively respond to future disasters. whether they are manmade or whether they are natural ones such as Katrina. These recommendations have been distilled in part in USEMA legislation that forms the basis for this amendment. I note that this is the first step in implementing the committees comprehensive recommendations. We will be introducing a subsequent bill to implement other findings and recommendations. Most significant will be a package of reforms to the Stafford Act. but that is not what we are proposing today. The amendment before us today has four key features. It seeks to restructure. reform. and strengthen the Federal Emergency Management Agency. ","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12497,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090156788,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in deciding how to vote on this issue. I would encourage our colleagues to consult the experts. the first responder organizations that overwhelmingly support the CollinsLiebermanLottCarper approach and do not support the amendment that has been proposed by my colleagues from New York and Hawaii.","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":311,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090156789,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If the Senator would yield so we could enter into a unanimous consent agreement. I believe we have reached an agreement where we can proceed to lock in the vote on the Senators amendment and the amendment offered by Senator AKAKA and Senator CLINTON. Mr. President. the request is as follows: I ask unaifimous consent that at the conclusion of the Senators remarks. Senator LAUTENBERG be recognized for 15 minutes. and that at the conclusion of his remarks. we would go to a vote on Senator COLLINS amendment. with no second degrees being in orderand there would be 2 minutes equally divided prior to that voteand that at the conclusion of the vote on Senator COLLINS amendment. we would go to a vote on the amendment offered by Senator AKAKA and Senator CLINTON. with 2 minutes equally divided prior to that vote-","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":814,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090156801,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There is unanimity on that as well. But the fact is. when FEMA was an independent agency. it also experienced severe problems dealing with major disasters. If you look at the GAO and other reports. and. indeed. the hearing records before the committee I now chair back after Hurricane Andrew in 1992. you could take out the word \"Andrew\" and substitute \"Katrina.\" and you would get exactly the same indictment. In the hearing after Hurricane Andrew. my colleague. Senator AKAKA. noted the difficulties that FEMA has had with response to catastrophic disasters. It is those catastrophic disasters. the fact is. that FEMA has never been able to handle. both when it was independent and when it was in DHS. Our committees bipartisan recommendation seeks to correct that problem by creating an agency with the capabilities for the first time to manage catastrophic disasters. The Government Accountability Office found that FEMAs response to Hurricane Andrew in 1992 \"raised serious doubts about whether FEMA is capable of responding to catastrophic disasters.\" This is when FEMA was an independent agency. In particular. the GAO said that \"the Federal strategy for response lacked provisions to assess damage. the needs of victims. to provide food. shelter. and other essential services when the needs of victims outstrip State and local resources.\" You could apply exactly the same words to what happened after Katrina. What we need is to build an agency that does have the capacity to respond to not just small- and mediumsized disasters but to true catastrophes. ","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6276,"word_count":253}
{"speech_id":1090156836,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Decadesold. obsolete Federal court injunctions continue to impede the Department of Homeland Securitys efforts to enforce our immigration laws. For example. if you look at June of 2005 through February of 2006. you can see why this specific injunction. which impedes the use of expedited removal when it comes to immigrants from El Salvador. is such a problem and why this amendment is necessary. For example. in June of 2005 there were some 4.181 Brazilians subject to apprehension. At the same time. there were roughly the same number of El Salvadorans: 4.011. But because of the improvements in expedited removal and immigration law enforcement inso far as it relates to Braziliansnot subject to the Orantes injunction that impedes. the use of this important procedurewe saw the number of Brazilians drop from 4.181 in June of 2005 to 72 in February of 2006. During the same time period. because of the impediment created by the Orantes injunction. which prohibited the use of expedited removal when it came to Salvadorans who illegally immigrated into the United States. we saw. in June of 2005. 4.011 Salvadorans. and in February of 2006. that number has virtually not changed at all. to 3.906. . So. clearly. the impediment created by this Orantes injunction. that would be overturned and remedied by this amendment. creates an impediment for the Department of Homeland Security when it comes to enforcing our immigration laws. This amendment. it is important to note. would not eliminate injunctive relief but would require that any injunction granted be narrowly tailored and to not unnecessarily impede on enforcement of our immigration laws. Specifically. it would provide that injunctions must be narrowly tailored to precisely address the actual harm identified. It would require that injunctions do not extend forever and must end on a date certain. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CORNYN","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4293,"word_count":300}
{"speech_id":1090156855,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The ranch employs some 35 Garfield County residents. and the TurnAbout Ranch program has strong support from the local community and the local civic leaders in the area. Historically used for agriculture and grazing purposes. it was purchased by the Townsend Family and leased to TurnAbout Ranch. Inc.. for the purpose of restoring dignity and selfesteem to wayward teenagers. Because Governmentowned land administered by the BLM surrounds the private land. the only way to resolve the trespass is to ask for the blessing of Congress. Mr. President. this legislation offers a simple and fair solution to a fairly technical problem on our public lands. I hope Congress can use this legislation to resolve this problem in the very near future. By Mr. INHOFE (for himself. Mr. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1648,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090156875,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a hearing on \"Hamdan V. Rumsfeld: Establishing a Constitutional Process\" on Tuesday. July 11. 2006. at 9:30 a.m. in Hart Senate Office Building Room 216. Witness list: Panel I: Mr. Steve Bradbury. Acting Assistant Attorney General. Office of Legal Counsel. United States Department of Justice. ","speaker_name":"JOHN THUNE","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1226,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090156965,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am proud to announce that the Republican baseball team once again was victorious in the annual congressional game by a 121 score onJune 29. I particularly want to thank our sponsors. We were able to raise over $100.000 for charities. Once again. the charities were the big winners. the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Washington area as well as the Adult Literacy Council. I want to also congratulate my counterpart. MIKE DOYLE. the manager of the Democrat team. JOE BACA. the pitcher and the most valuable player on the part of the Democrats. with KENNY HULSHOF the MVP on the Republican side. and JOHN SHIMKUS. our extraordinary pitcher. who came back from heart surgery this year to pitch a complete game. So congratulations to everybody for a wonderful evening of camaraderie and a good time and a nice victory as well. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL OXLEY","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1252,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090156971,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the White House Office of Management and Budget just released its annual midyear budget update. Under article I of the Constitution. the House of Representatives has no higher priority than to see to the wise expenditure of the resources of the American people. and the word is. the news is good. This years budget deficit is now forecast to be $296 billion. 2.3 percent of our economy. essentially equal to a historic average. The really good news is. the deficit is 30 percent below the administrations February forecast. Revenues grew by a dynamic 14.5 percent last year and are forecast to grow this year by $245 billion. or 11.4 percent. Revenues to the Federal Government are increasing because of the progrowth tax cuts that President Bush and this Republican majority brought forward. The tax cuts are working. The economy is growing. Revenues to the government are up. ","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":944,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090156983,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the American people expect us to stop the flood of illegal immigrants coming to this country. In order to do that we need to secure our borders. We need to crack down on employers that hire illegals and preserve American jobs for Americans. We need to reject all formg of amnesty. Many talk about a guest worker program. I think most reasonable people believe that a guest worker program in the farming industry. perhaps in the gardening and landscape industries. is reasonable. Beyond that we need to look at what the need of America is. not the need of foreign countries and where they want to place their people. We need to absolutely reject again all forms of amnesty. We need to increase enforcement on current immigration laws. ","speaker_name":"GARY MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":42.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1244,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090156986,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of the Voting Rights Reauthorization Act of 2006. Many brave men and women have fought against bigotry. injustice. inequality to secure the voting rights for all Americans. Many of our veterans who serve now and in the past. of all colors. of all races. have fought for the freedom that we enjoy today. They have sacrificed their lives so that every individual has the right to exercise - their voting right. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is one of the greatest achievements of Congress because it has torn down arbitrary barriers to voting participation. The VRA gave dignity. pride and hope to many who have been historically shut out of the democratic process and oppressed by the Jim Crow legacy. I can remember my dad. a U.S. citizen. born here in the United States. when he first cast his first vote and told us the importance of voting. It was during that period of time that we knew the importance of voting and that every person. regardless of the limited English that they had. and my dad spoke very little English. but voted I encourage all of us to vote for the Voting Rights Act on a bipartisan basis. and both Republicans and Democrats are here to support a strong Voting Rights Act that extends the protection for the future generations.","speaker_name":"JOE BACA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":43.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1289,"word_count":229}
{"speech_id":1090156992,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"JOHN LEWIs. you bring tears to my eyes. Fannie Lou Hamer. Coretta Scott King and Rosa Parks. all who have made the ultimate sacrifice and yes. exhibited enormous courage. And today I ask this House to exhibit courage. to vote for a bill that gives credence to Americas dream. We all are created equal. The Voting Rights Act is not an act of color. It is an act of reputation and integrity of America to allow all Americans to vote. The honorable Barbara Jordan. whose words were \"we the people.\" would not have been elected to the United States Congress as the first holder of this seat had it not been for the 1965 Voter Rights Act. And Lyndon Baines Johnson. a southern Democrat President. called upon all of his colleagues. all of the Members of Congress. whether they were from the South. from the North. stand up for what is right. And so today. we will be on the steps of the United States Congress. on the East steps. to join us for a vigil of petitioning to say to this Congress. be of good courage. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1290,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090157013,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Now. that is what the majority objects to. They do not believe sufficiently in the democratic process to allow a vote on it. Now. here is the reason. It certainly is. not time. We finished up about 3 oclock yesterday afternoon. We are going to finish about 3 oclock this afternoon. We will be out Friday. We do very little those days. The reason is very simple. There are two sets of issues around today. ","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4516,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090157014,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I find it rather ironic that the bill before us today is a bill that I think would help go a long way towards bringing more transparency and accountability to credit rating agencies. They agree with the principles behind the bill. which would avert and help the working people of America to make not only better investment decisions. but to know that the company that they are working for and entrusting their savings with is going to have a fair and balanced look at their books. We have no disagreement in terms of the rule. We have two different approaches to this. and I think we would really be well served to keep the debate looking towards how we can best protect those working people under the realm of the bill that we are discussing today. Mr. ","speaker_name":"SHELLEY CAPITO","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":865,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090157019,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Just think about it. You do not have to have a vivid imagination to understand how hard it is for a family. and many families we are talking about. not just high school kids. many families trying to get by on $5.15 an hour. the. lowest level in purchasing power in 50 years. We will have a recorded vote in a few minutes on the previous question. This is not an arcane parliamentary procedure. Every editorial board. every citizen group. every voter ought to understand what this vote means. It means. will we have a vote on the floor about raising the -minimum wage to something that is tolerably humane? - 011130 We have the time to do it. Mr. FRANK pointed out. yesterday we finished legislative business midafternoon. today we will finish in the midafternoon. Friday we wont even be in. We have time. ","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2278,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090157032,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. my amendment to the rule provides that immediately after the House adopts this rule. it will bring H.R. 2429 to the House floor for an upordown vote. This bill will gradually increase the minimum wage from the current level of $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour after about 2 years. This bill has 136 cosponsors and a discharge petition to bring to the House. the bill to the floor. and has the signatures of 190 Members of the House. This bill is also identical to language as included in the LaborHHS appropriations bill that was blocked by the leadership just last month. Mr. Speaker. it is unconscionable that this Congress has refused to help Americas lowincome workers and their families by increasing the minimum wage. Somehow there is always time for another tax break for multimillionaires who dont need the money. but nothing to ease the finahcial struggle that lowincome families face each day. The minimum wage is now at its lowest level in 50 years. A fulltime. minimumwage earner earns just $10.700 a year. an amount that is $5.000 below the poverty line for a family of three. ","speaker_name":"DORIS MATSUI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1397,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090157048,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from California for yielding me time. but even more for bringing this issue to the floor. Yes. where is the time and place? Since 1997. the minimum wage has been frozen and millions of people have been stranded. I dont know of a better word to use. During that time we have seen congressional pay increase by several times the total amount that a minimumwage earner would earn in a year. We have seen CEO compensation raised many times what a minimumwage earner would earn in a year. I mean. the increase is that much.","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":553,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090157050,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I compliment the\" gentleman on his eloquent speech on the minimum wage. However. this bill before us is not a minimumwage bill. As I said earlier. what it does is change highskill. highwage to $7.25 an hour. That is what I read from their motion to instruct. One of the things I would like to say is that I appreciate Mr. ","speaker_name":"HOWARD MCKEON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1570,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090157055,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. first I Mr. Speaker. I yield 2 minutes to the want to thank Representative MILLER gentleman from California . for offering this motion and for his (Mr. BACA asked and was given percontinued leadership in fighting for mission to revise and extend his reAmericas workers. marks.) Thirtyeight years ago I was a single. Mr. BACA. Mr. Speaker. I rise today working mother with three small chil- to call for a vote on raising the mindren. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3442,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090157078,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. in response to the largest corporate scandals in U.S. history. Congress passed the SarbanesOxley Act strengthening the role of gatekeepers such as auditors. boards of directors. audit committees. and equity analysts. We now turn our attention to another gatekeeper. the credit rating agency. and Congressman FITZPATRICKs H.R. 2990. the Credit Rating Agency Duopoly Relief Act. Credit ratings serve a vital function in our capital market system. providing investors with an understanding of the creditworthiness of corporations and municipalities with respect to debt and other securities. As evidenced by the failures in the rating of Enron and WorldCom..who were given investment grade ratings by Moodys and Standard & Poors just days before declaring bankruptcy. the credit rating industry is in drastic need of increased competition and improved transparency. Currently. the SEC designates ratings agencies as nationally recognized statistical ratings organizations. or NRSROs. through an opaque process that provides applicants little guidance on the substance and procedure by which they will be evaluated. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL OXLEY","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2712,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090157085,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The bill contains a freeforall in the ratings market without the usual market protections against abuse. For example. the bill allows almost anyone to register as a rating agency and issue ratings. but insulates rating agencies from lawsuits. The fact that the bill does not provide adequate rating quality assurance is of grave concern to me for safety and soundness. Taking away the SECs seal of approval for rating agencies will cause investors to possibly lose confidence in the markets because they are rightly concerned about ratings shopping or simply inaccurate ratings. We spent the last several years working to overcome the crisis in investor confidence caused by corporate governance scandals. and this is absolutely not the time for taking risks in this area. E 1345 Mr. Chairman. I also have procedural concerns regarding how this bill was advanced through the committee on which I serve. As you know. the SEC was not asked to participafe in either of the two hearings that this committee held on this legislation. And given the role that the SEC plays now in effectively overseeing rating agencies and the role it will play in administering this legislation. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2910,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090157103,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I rise to offer an amendment to H.R. 2990. the Credit Rating Agency Duopoly Relief Act. This amendment makes certain clarifying and technical changes to Mr. FITZPATRICKS rating agency reform legislation. Specifically. the amendment clarifies that there is no private right of action for rating agencies registered as nationally recdgnized statistical rating organizations. or NRSROs. under th e Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Neither is there an express or an implied private right of action with respect to rating agencies registered as NRSROs under the Securities Exchange Act. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL OXLEY","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1315,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090157132,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the remaining time. Mr. Chairman. it is appropriate. I think. to perhaps review thesubject matter at hand from a little higher altitude than the debate has taken us. We have an obligation in this House to ensure that hardworking American families who invest their money in the markets can do so in the most safe and sound manner possible. What we now know about the function of the credit rating agencies over the past decade is their performance has been less than what we should expect. In fact. days before corporate failures. they continued to report the highest investment grade analysis on many troubled companies. We know that we must act to ensure that pension fund investors. managers of perhaps rather large public schoolteacher or public employee investment funds have the best tools available to ensure that innocent third parties are not harmed by abhorrent actors in the capital markets. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD BAKER","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1523,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090157162,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As he lay in the cold night for 18 hours. he was wounded again. When he was found the next morning and taken to the aid station. his clothes and shoes had been cut off. But his personal belongings. just a wallet and a small pocket New Testament with his name inscribed on the front. were saved. After a few days. Doc noticed that his Bible. which was given to him by his aunt. had been hit by a piece of shrapnel which went through the entire Bible but caught the outer binding. Doc stated that the Bible. which he kept close to his heart. was a gift of life because it prevented the shrapnel from piercing his heart. After he was wounded Doc was awarded the Purple Heart with the Oak Leaf Cluster. in addition to numerous other medals. including the Bronze Star. EuropeanAfricanMiddle Eastern Campaign Medal. Good Conduct Medal. American Campaign Medal. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2920,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090157193,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This Congress has already provided $166 billion to the Army in 2006. That is $2 billion more than the administration requested. Obviously it is not enough. Because I am hearing of reports in the media about bases like Fort Sam Houston where the utility bills have not been paid since March. The Army knows it has a -problem. They even requested mofre money. but the Presidents Office of Management and Budget cut $4.9 billion from the Armys request for the 2006 war supplemental before it was presented to Congress. So now the Army is trying to pinch pennies by closing libraries. reducing trash pickup. closing dining facilities. and reducing support for vital training activities. This is a move that is certain to damage morale and sends the wrong message to our troops. This is not the way to reward the courage and sacrifice of our soldiers and their families. Several weeks ago. ","speaker_name":"IKE SKELTON","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3084,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090157198,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There have also been rail and transit attacks in Japan. South Africa. and Israel. and so far unsuccessful plans for attacks on New Yorks transportation system. On the streets of Iraq. insurgents are perfecting the use of TEDs against our troops. When those terrorists look to transfer their skills to the United States. where will they look to use them? The pattern is clear. the message is deafening: High density. high profile targets are the most attractive targets for terrorists. and rail and transit systems remain dangerously vulnerable. Like many of the Members of this House. I was pleased when Secretary Chertoff took office and stressed in his first public speech that DHS must base its actions on threat. vulnerability. and consequence. Unfortunately. action has not measured up to that rhetoric. Last month. the Department cut by 40 percent for New York and Washington. D.C.. cut funding by 40 percent. two cities that have been attacked- and the two cities that remain the most likely targets for future attacks. We are all looking for the best way to spend the limited money that has thus far been allocated to homeland security. ","speaker_name":"NITA LOWEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3432,"word_count":191}
{"speech_id":1090157205,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The 9\/11 Commissions final report noted that \"surface transportation systems such as railroads and mass transit remain hard to protect because they are so accessible and extensive.\" Throughout the country. there are over 300.000 miles of freight raillines and over 10.000 miles of commuter and urban rail system lines. On a typical weekday. 11.3 million passengers use rail or mass transit. and at any given time. hazardous materials are transported throughout the country. Yet we still do not have a comprehensive national strategy for rail security. The Transportation Security Administration has not yet implemented adequate security guidelines for rail and mass transit systems similar to those required for airports. The Department of HomelandSecurity does not even require rail and mass transit systems to complete vulnerability assessments or submit security plans to the Department. Nor are we providing adequate funding for rail security. Over the past four years. the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration have spent on average $9 per air passenger. as compared to only one penny for each rail or mass transit passenger. One penny to prevent bombs. chemical and biological agents does not go far enough for tools. prevention and training. It is clear that many of our rail and mass transit employees lack adequate security training. In a 2005 survey of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. 84 percent of those surveyed -said they had not received \"any training\" or \"additional training\" related to terrorism prevention and response in the previous twelve months. ","speaker_name":"JULIA CARSON","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"F","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3337,"word_count":249}
{"speech_id":1090157214,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The concern is that border and those people coming across. Mr. Speaker. we hear from people in this country. and there is certainly a valid economic argument for it. that we need these folks to come in here and take the jobs that Americans dont want. And there is some validity to that argument. There is some validity to many of these diligent hardworking people who. have come to this country to take really tough jobs out there. working in the heat in Texas in the summertime. which is. believe me. having done it. it is a hard job. No matter where you are. if you are out digging post holes. laying asphalt. or putting a roof on in Texas. you are earning your pay. It is hot. tiring. almost thankless work. So we say we need these folks to build those fences. put those roofs down. and lay that asphalt. We need them. We have to have them. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CARTER","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":31.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10707,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090157226,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You are all silent. I mean. can you help me. please? I am just confused. Mr. Speaker. Whatever happened to JOHN MCCAIN? Does he still support this bill. this possible candidate for the Republican nomination for the presidency in 2008? Whatever happened to Senator MCCAIN?","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":271,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090157229,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I would like a pay raise. but at the same time I have a conscience about this. Our leadership has said. and wehave said.that we are not going to take a pay raise unless the American people get a pay raise.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2555,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090157233,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think the President and some members of his party are struggling to know what his party affiliation is. Because I know some Republicans that are very concerned about what the President has done and What he is doing. But he says he is a Republican under the line that he is a fiscal conservative. but that is not the case. So we do not know what to believe. Ideological wise. he is a Republican President. but at the same time some of the stuff we hear here on the floor would say that it is some other kind of party or philosophy that is out there. But to the answer your question. yes. he is a Republican President.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":618,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090157235,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If it is the BushMcCain or it is the KennedyMartinez bill II. Arlen Specter bill II. so that if someone sees us here on the floor and they heard. well. they call it the BushMcCain bill. they say. well. they left the Democrats out. and then we have just done what they havedone. I know how that can be contagious sometimes because it happens so much here on this floor.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":793,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090157239,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I know that we worked hard. And I will yield to the gentlewoman in a moment. That we have worked hard to secure the borders. That is what we haye been trying to do for the past 6 years. I am going to refer to my notes here for a minute. We. as a party. have filed amendment after amendment as appropriations bills have come to the floor. If. they had been adopted. there would be 6.600 more Border Patrol agents today patrolling our border. 14.000 more detention beds. and. Mr. Speaker. 2.700 more immigration agents along our borders than now exist. But those amendments were not adopted because the Republican majority voted against them. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1243,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090157242,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have another one. The Bush administration also has a worse record than the Clinton administration on pursuing immigration fraud cases. In. 1995. during the Clinton administration. 6.455 immigration fraud cases were completed. In 2003. guess how many? One thousand three hundred eightynine. 78 percent fewer immigration fraud cases completed. And then if you take the statistics that they brag about. the Bush administration brags that in its first 5 years it caught and returned 6 million undocumented individuals. That is actually a drop from any 5year period that you can demonstrate during the Clinton administration. So that is what I mean when I say they just put up the statistics that make them look good and leave out all the other relevant information.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":763,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090157246,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Now. if we were meeting in the .30Something Working Group and say. well. $1.05. well. maybe we need to. even though it happened all in 4 years and it took 224 years for this to happen. lets say $1.09. that sounds better. That would be misleading the American people and the Congress. Members are on the floor. and they take what we say to be truth to power. that we come and we are here leveling on behalf of the American people. We are not here to say what sounds good or what would sway a certain segment of th! population to feel one way or another. Folks woke up early one Tuesday morning from representation. not for someone to mislead them through statements here on this floor that are not accurate. That is the reason why we are in the situation that we are in now. Even when it comes down to the war in Iraq. Even when it comes down to the pursuit of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. The information is not accurate that has been shared with the American people and that is the reason why so many individuals are suffering as it relates to gas prices. These gas companies and these petroleum companies have been allowed to come into this Chamber with Members carrying their will and voting the way that they want them. to vote against their constituents. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3283,"word_count":234}
{"speech_id":1090157250,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And what they were doing this week is saying. Wow. the deficit wasnt $423 billion. it was only $300 billion. Now. what is clear. and what USA Today is not letting the President get away with. is that they began by inflating the number that they said the deficit would be at. so that when what happened occurred. when they knew it would be much lower than that. it would look like an accomplishment. Well. if they are excited about a $300 billion deficit. then I really want to know what their definition of fiscal responsibility is. because that apparently for years- has been the cornerstone of the Republican Partys platform. that they are fiscally responsible. A $300 billion deficit is fiscally responsible. And then on top of that they are passing tax cuts for the wealthiest among us? And this is how those tax cuts break out for folks? I mean. we just passed a tax reconciliation bill just a few weeks ago that. if you look at how it benefits people by their income. this is what it really boils down to: That tax cut bill. which virtually all the Republicans voted for. if you make between $10.000 and $20.000 a year. which is around minimum wage. the one that they havent raised since 1997. you get about enough back to buy a Slurpee. If you make between $40.000 and $50.000 a year. somewhat more than minimum wage. you get enough back in that tax cut bill offered by the Republicans to buy a gallon of gas.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1416,"word_count":259}
{"speech_id":1090157267,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You know. I go to some of these States like Virginia and Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. and they are all commonwealths. That philosophy. what do we have in common. how can we pool the common wealth to benefit everyone? Everyone contributes and everyone benefits. And what we have now. Mr. DELAHUNT and Mr. MEEK. is a situation that has set up a system that has been corroded and corrupted. Now. I am not saying by individual Members. I think over time this happens. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3812,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090157272,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Those of us who lived through ihat time. and I can say during that period of time it was a very impressionable point in my life. If my math is correct. I was a sophomore in high school. The television was full of mostly peaceful marches and peaceful demonstrations. It was an issue that those of us who lived in the Midwest were pretty much protected from that and didnt see the necessity for those kinds of demonstrations right away. but the demonstrations on television. and it was important that television did carry that message at the time. that educated the American people. I look back on that time. that time in history. when we saw mostly peaceful marches. We saw fire hoses and dogs. yes. and there was violence and there were people that died in the process. But for the size nation that we are. for as large a problem that we had. and the problem we had was the institutionalization of racial segregation primarily in the South. And there were millions of Americans who were citizens in good standing that were shut out of the polls and shut out of many of the other avenues of what we consider normal life today. It is hard for the generations that are sophomores in high school today to understand what it was like in those years back in the middle 1960s and in many of the years before them. ","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10643,"word_count":240}
{"speech_id":1090157274,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And I appreciate the leadership and support that has been there on this cause. It has not been an easy task. I had not thought about it as dogged determination. I had simply thought about it as a cause and a principle that needed to be established. Simple common sense if you are going to have a Nation that promotes assimilation and one of the standards of that promotion of assimilation is a Federal law that defines the standards by which people that come to this country are naturalized. conditions they must meet before they can get a hold of that brass ring called citizenship. And. Mr. Speaker. citizenship needs to be precious. It needs to have great value. If we are going to be a strong nation. we have got to look at this flag and feel that lump come into our chest when it comes down in the parade. ","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11045,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090157279,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this morning. we will start with 1 hour of morning business. At approximately 10:40 a.m.. we will resume work on the Homeland Security appropriations measure. Yesterday. we disposed of seven amendments. and there are two amendments currently pending. Today we should have another full day on the bill with votes occurring throughout the day. As I have said previously. we will finish the bill this week. and. therefore. we will stay as late as necessary over the next couple of days in order to complete our work on this Homeland Security bill. I thank Senators for their cooperation in working with the managers of the Homeland Security measure. We are making good progress. and we want to complete the bill shortly. I look forward to finishing the appropriations bill. in all likelihood. on Thursday.. Mr. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":868,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090157297,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The people in Searchlight. NV. would rather that we dealt with things that are important. not flag burning. not gay marriage. not the estate tax. With the limited amount of time we have left. we. the minority. the Democrats. believe we have to do some things and do them before the August recessthings that affect people in my little town. Searchlight. NV. Stem cell legislationit is difficult to watch. before your eyes. someone who deteriorates with Parkinsons disease. You can see it happen. No matter how often they go to the physician. the ravages of that disease go forward. How many times does a little child have to be pricked with a needle before the majority over here understands that we have to do something about Parkinsons disease. juvenile diabetes. adultonset diabetes? We have to do something about Lou Gehrigs disease. Alzheimers. multiple sclerosis. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6941,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090157309,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the people whom we visit in Nevada and Illinois and other places who have these problems are not Democrats only. They are Republicans. They are Independents. They want this Senate to do something to help us. That is why I am so disappointed that we have been literally wasting our time on issues that have no relevance. Remember the months and months we spent on that fictitious -issue that we should not have dealt with about uprooting the foundation of our country. to change the quality of the Senate. to make it a unicameral legislaturesocalled nuclear optionbecause they didnt get all the judges they wanted. They were willing to throw this Senate into something it had never been before. We spent all of that time. when we could have been doing stem cell research legislation. we could have been doing something about gas prices and the other things we have spoken about.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":892,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090157316,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the Senator from Nevada will yield. I address the comment and question to him. Despite the fact we have been pushing for a year. even speaking to this issue in the Senate today. sending a letter to Senator FRIST tomorrow. I thank him and congratulate Senator FRIST. This is a bipartisan bill. It is critically important to our Nation to move forward on stem cell medical research. When President Bush closed down this promising area of medical research almost 5 years ago. we left- a void in terms of opportunity for finding cures .for critical diseases. It has never been a partisan issue. Former First Lady Nancy Reagan has pushed for stem cell research. Senator ORRIN HATCH. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2160,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090157350,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This amendment is as to what the House is doing. And I would confirm with the Senator. the chairman. that this is a great bill in terms of earmarks. There are very few in it. We study every bill to see where it is and what the direction is. My hope is that an example will be set. There are a couple of earmarks. directives in this bill we will be talking about in amendments. but I will tell the Senator that I agree and I appreciate the fact that we are seeing a little bit of a change in culture in that regard: My hope would be. alsoI might ask the Senatorif he would agree to hold this in conference so we can see what the House does when we come to the conference report. With that. I withdraw my objection.","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1140,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090157395,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wish to respond to the chairman for a minute. I know this isnt going to solve the problem. This takes away the excuse for not doing proper payment analysis at the Department of Homeland Security. I know they are working hard in that regard. Mr. President. I note that the Senator from Alaska is here. I wonder if we might recall amendment No. 4585.","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":365,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090157442,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the Senator from Alaska just made a point that I think is critical that we understand. During the debate prior to the Senator coming to the floor. the point was made by the Senator from Oklahoma that there are a number of other backup systems that are available to users of the system in the coastal waters off Alaska and other States. From what I just heard from the Senator from Alaskaand I want to clarify thisbecause of the mountainous regions. because of the inaccessibility and a lot of the difficult geographic locations that exist within his State. we are not positive that many of those backup systems work. is that correct?","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":648,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090157443,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it is my understanding that there are areas in our State where GPS does not provide the accuracy it does in other places because of the lineofsight problem. whereas because of the very strong wavelength and signal strength LORAN puts out. particularly the modernized LORANC. it is an absolute necessity right now.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":328,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090157445,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Senator is absolutely right. We just cannot terminate this system all at once. It is true it can be phased out in many places in the country without any harm to anybody. But the people who rely on the system right now as the sole source of their navigation should not be abandoned. As a matter of fact. I have prepared a seconddegree amendment which I will be glad to offer if the Senator from Oklahoma does not understand our situation. It is a seconddegree amendment which would delete the amendment. as the Senator wishes. but substitute for it a complete indemnity by the United States of any harm that comes to any person who presently is relying on LORAN because they cannot have navigation capability. We believe there is going to be substantial harm to a lot of people if this is not dbne right. The current system just says \"terminate.\" If they did so by_ costbenefit analysis on a nationwide basis. they did not do it on a costbenefit analysis in the area where it is needed. \"Where it is needed\" is what makes a difference. ","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2066,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090157460,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let me just add that I support the recommendation that Senator STEVENS has just made. and if we are able to work that agreement out. I think that would be good. I do want to amplify something quickly that I stated earlier in the debate. and it was repeated by my colleague from Alaska. and that is that DHS came to this decision without adequate consultation with other impacted Federal agencies. If there is any confusion over that question. I would like to put in the RECORD and ask unanimous cdnsent to insert a letter from the Honorable Jeff Shane. Under Secretary of Transportation. to the Honorable Stewart Baker. the Assistant Secretary of Policy at DHS.","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":676,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090157490,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The number in this billand we have about $187 million for rail securityis not the only commitment to rail. In. fact. if you look at the amendment that the Senator from Delaware has put forward. a big chunk of the money. I think. goes to tunnel security or other construction. We talked about it quite a bit. Amtrak and the northeast corridor. which is Amtrak. gets its funding through another subcommittee. That subcommittee has. in its appropriation. a lot of money for Amtrak. In fact. it has $770 million for - capital improvement which can be used for tunnel security. It has $440 million. I believe. for operating costs which can be used for security. That comes through a different committee. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6087,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090157495,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is a little bit sinilar to my saying. in the education budget. there is a whole lot of money there in order to be able to provide for eliminating the additional cost of the loans to college students because the education budget has X number of dollars. That means you have to go cut something out of education that is already underfunded. I find it to be a false argument. The point about the basis of the threat. I know of no other area where there has been as many consistent. specific threat assessments made by the FBI. by the CIA. by our intelligence agencies than rail. I may be mistaken. but I am happy to stand corrected if I am wrong. The threat is there. Lastly. TSA does not pay for the doors on the aircraft. We still spend billions and billions of direct dollars in taxpayers money. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7409,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090157522,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. this involves gun confiscation during major -disasters or emergencies. My amendment is very simple and straightforward. It would prevent any sort of confiscation of legally held guns protected by the second amendment during major disasters or emergencies. In the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. local and Federal law enforcement officials were overwhelmed in many ways by the tragedy that unfolded. That is understandable. During the chaos. a criminal element took advantage of the tragedy and started to commit serious crimes against persons and property. In many cases. lawabiding citizens took action and defended their property and themselves through the constitutionally guaranteed second amendment right to bear arms. There is probably no more important or significant moment in normal. everyday American life where that second amendment right meant something. In some cases. it was literally the difference between a lawabiding citizens life or death and between that citizens ability to protect his property or have it completely taken away. Yet in the midst of that situation. where that constitutionally guaranteed right was so important. even far more important than in an everyday situationalthough it is certainly crucial thencertain law enforcement authorities confiscated legally held firearms by lawabiding citizens. ","speaker_name":"DAVID VITTER","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4159,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090157610,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it is my understanding that the Senator from New York is going to offer an amendment at this time. I ask unanimous consent that the time between now and 5 oclock be divided as follows: The Senator from New York have 40 minutes and that I have 15 minutes in opposition. I think that adds up to the right timeactually. now. it doesntthat I have 20 minutes in opposition. Whatever is left after 40 minutes. that is what I. have in opposition. and at 5 oclock we proceed to a vote on the amendment of the Senator. There will be 40 minutes for the Senator from New York. 20 minutes will be reserved to myself. and at the conclusion of that time we will proceed to a vote. or earlier should the -time be yielded back on the time of the Senator from New York.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":767,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090157621,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They said we had gotten money. Oh. Right. They said: Our database shows you dont deserve it. Thank God for the Department of Homeland Securitys IG. There they go again over there at Homeland Security. They cant get it right. Their own inspector general said the Departments ability to assess risk is seriously flawed. Guess what. They count an insect zoo and a bourbon festival as critical infrastructure. ","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6788,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090157638,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"First. the New YorkNew Jersey area. of course. continues to be. unfortunately. a target of choice. When .terrorists talk about creating devastation to our homeland. unfortunately. New York comes first to their minds. It means that our city has to be extra vigilant. Our State has to be extra vigilant. Our friends across the river have to be extra vigilant. Frankly. while there are threats everywhere. New York has to be more vigilant than anywhere else. Yet in a deep disappointment that still wounds us. the Homeland Security Department dramatically cut back on our funding. The amendment Senator CLINTON is offering with which I am proud to be her partner. along with Senator MENENDEZ and Senator MIKULSKII. basically increases the overall pot because we have two problems. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES SCHUMER","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6374,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090157639,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But that doesnt mean we can simply give up. New technologies offer the promise of being able to detect explosives and chemical weapons far quicker and less obtrusively than we do now. but we need to put the money into researching those technologies. This amendment will do that. This amendment also provides money to help local law enforcement- authorities out with overtime when their region is declared to be a high threat area. which is sorely needed in highrisk areas such as the New York and New Jersey metropolitan region. I never want to be standing here and discussing an attack that happened a day earlier on an American subway system. on American trains. or on American buses. It is bad enough that I have to stand here today and discuss yesterdays tragic events in India. But this is one more wakeup call to a Congress that has continued to hit the snooze button when it comes to transit security. I want my colleagues to ask themselves what they would be- willing to do. what commitment they would be willing to make. if yesterdays news had been about trains in New York. Chicago. Los Angeles. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT MENENDEZ","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4016,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090157718,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"My friends from Michigan and North Dakota raise important points. I agree the establishment and equipping of the three remaining northern border air wings is a priority. The northern border has long been neglected compared to the southern border. As my colleagues are aware. funds were appropriated In the fiscal year 2006 Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act to initiate funding of the third northern border air wing in North Dakota. I am committed to seeing that the establishment of the remaining northern border air wings is accomplished as expeditiously as possible.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":585,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090157733,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"VA. where his unit received the REDCOM SIX award for the Best Small Unit. the Most Improved Unft and the Best Small Unit with over 50 percent enlisted. He served in Desert Storm from 1992 to 1994 and then from 1994 to 1997 Packard served as commanding officer of a medical logistics unit in Newport News. VA. Packard concluded his service with the Navy at the Pentagon as a commander assigned to the OPNAV.N86 staff. Commander Packards leadership and dedication to preserving the freedoms and liberties that make this country so great is truly admirable. I am grateful for Commander Packards service and contributions to the United States ahd to the Commonwealth of Virginia.*","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1271,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090157848,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. over 51 years ago this month. President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act. America is a -better country because of the Voting Rights Act. The right to vote is the most fundamental thing our American citizens have to participate fully in American democracy. The Voting Rights Act is our Nations most crucial and critical civil rights victory. The law commemorates the lives of those who marched. died and participated that we all might be better Americans and live and vote in the -democracy that we love. It is important today. as we debate the Voting Rights Act. that America pay particular attention. This law was good then. this law is good now. and it is needed for our future so that Americans might rise up and live in Gods best interest. Remember. today. urge your colleagues. call your Congressperson. tell them to vote to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act for 25 more years.","speaker_name":"CAROLYN KILPATRICK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":913,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090157850,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. nearly 4 years ago. this administration came before us and promoted their idea of peace and democracy in the Middle East. Their vehicle for accomplishing this? A unilateral first strike against Iraq and the subsequent occupation. Let us reflect on this policy this morning. In Iraq. over 2.500 American soldiers have died. tens of thousands injured. over 100.000 innocent Iraqi civilians killed. and countless injured. We are mired in a civil war there. and violence is growing every day. In Iran. international efforts at diplomacy have been undermined by our Iraq policy. This administration seems determined to repeat the disaster of Iraq in Iran. most recently by trying to link Iran to the attacks on Israel. As a broader regional war breaks out between Israel and Lebanon. spurred on by Hezbollah. instead of trying to find ways to end the conflict by rescuing negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel. this administration. which has an unfortunate talent for war. is making statements which will contiibute to escalation. Israel urgently needs diplomatic assistance. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1260,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090157851,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. our individual heritage of the past is important. but our future as Americans is more important. Many Americans trace their past through Ellis Island. Mrs. Maribeth Burgess Ray of Baytown. Texas. recently went there. and she says: \"While at Ellis Island. I found a profound statement. An article had a picture of a mother and her two sons. The newcomers attire was that of the country from which they had fled. The statement was. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1121,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090157866,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Instead. what the Republican leadership has done is to guarantee that much of this debate will be divisive and ugly. They have decided that it is more important to placate a small faction of their base than to embrace a thoughtful. bipartisan agreement. And that is shameful. This House should be doing everything possible to prevent discrimination and to promote voting equality. At the end of the day. Mr. Speaker. I hope we will pass this bill without any of the poison pill amendments allowed by this rule. These amendments will only weaken the Voting Rights Act in spirit and in practice. It has been just a few decades since many States and localities had discriminatory regulations on the books. things like poll taxes. literacy tests. and others. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1932,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090157874,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Supreme Court. \"The court ruled that. in fact. the new congressional plan created a sufficient number of safe minority districts given the demographics of the state and the requirements of the law.\" Holland said. He added that Texas now has three African Americans serving in Congress. up from two before the redistricting. Texas Republicans also have maintained that the plan did not dilute minority votes and that the number of congressional districts with a majority of racial minorities remained unchanged at 11. The total number of congressional districts. however. grew from 30 to 32. The 73page memo. dated Dec. 12. 2003. has been kept under tight wraps for two years. Lawyers who worked on the case were subjected to an unusual gag rule. The memo was provided to The Post by a person connected to the case who is critical of the adopted redistricting map. Such recommendation memos. while not binding. historically carry great weight within the Justice Department. Under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. ","speaker_name":"LLOYD DOGGETT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12647,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090157876,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to express my support for reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act. Before the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. thousands of citizens were denied their constitfitional right to vote on the basis of race. While the -system has vastly improved. the need for the Voting Rights Act remains. A sacred right possessed by Americans is the right to choose their government. That is why it is so important to pass the bill today. to preserve the rights for all citizens. We have a moral obligation to ensure that no citizen is ever denied their right to vote based on race. creed. or color. I am grateful for the strong leadership of Chairman SENSENBRENNER. who has never wavered in his commitment to the Voting Rights Act over his entire career. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time.","speaker_name":"MARK KENNEDY","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":816,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090157884,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It will be incumbent dilute the minority vote. upon the Attorney General. and he is In my congressional district. in 1965. so instructed. or she. to look at all juthere were no black elected officials. risdictions in all States. and this inforToday. Mr. Speaker. I count 302. It was mation is to be reviewed after each the Voting Rights Act that made it Presidential election. using the latest happen. three Presidential elections. I support the rule. Mr. Speaker. and I If you violate section 4. you are and support the underlying legislation. I you should go to the penalty box. urge my colleagues to defeat the which is the preclearance section. If amendments and pass this legislation you are in the penalty box and have into law. not violated section 4 in the last three","speaker_name":"GEORGE BUTTERFIELD","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1591,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090157886,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. I want to thank Chairman This is the section that puts jurisdic- SENSENBRENNER and Ranking Member tions under the heavy hand of the Jus- CONYERS. from my great State of tice Department. the preclearance sec- Michigan. for your leadership. sir. tion of the bill. thank you very much. and to thank the The trigger section occurs when less Speaker and NANCY PELOSI for bringing than 50 percent. of citizens of voting this legislation to the floor. age do not vote in Presidential elec- The Voting Rights Act of 1965. 41 tions. To determine if you will be years ago. has made America a strongunder section 5 of the VRA. the elec- er nation. Today. I rise in support of tions used are 1964. 1968 and 1972. elec- the rule that brings it to the floor and tions 40 years ago. presidential elec- allows us to have this debate. tions between Goldwater and Johnson.. The preclearance portion of the Only those who violated section 4 dur- amendments that we will be debating ing those 8 years are under today allows the courts to go into jupreclearance today. H.R. 9 wants to ex- risdictions that have a history of distend that 25 more years. using_ 40year- crimination of voter irregularity. of old data. applied to the same jurisdic- violations. We must preserve that tions. no matter how good their voting preclearance portion of the Voting record is today. \" Rights Act. H.R. 9. it does not seem to matter It is important today. it was importhat many other jurisdictions around tant 41 years ago. and it allows our votthe country have also violated section ing systems and all Americans to have 4 of the Vbting Rights Act. even in this access to clean. fair voting procedures century. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES NORWOOD","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4588,"word_count":296}
{"speech_id":1090157888,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today. I rise in strong support of H.R. 9. the Voting Rights Act. as passed by the Judiciary. Committee. and in strong opposition to any amendments which would attack Americans right to vote. The. right to vote is the foundation of our democracy. The Voting Rights Act has advanced the rights of all Americans. Latinos and other minority voters have greater voice today because of the Voting Rights Act. In 2004. a record number of 7.5 million Latinos cast a ballot for President. compared to 2 million in 1976. We must continue protecting the rights. including section 203. which provides taxpaying U.S. citizens with limited English proficiency with needed language assistance. Section 203 ensures that all citizens have a right to cast an informed ballot and integrates nonEnglishproficient citizens into a system of democracy. ","speaker_name":"HILDA SOLIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1095,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090157895,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the passing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act is a crowning achievement of Congress and the civil rights movement. Some say that we no longer need a Voting Rights Act. that 41 years is enough. Others want to water down key expiring provisions in order to weaken the act. Yes. we have made considerable progress in the last 41 years. However. much work needs to be done. The sad fact is that in every national election since Reconstruction. in every election since the Voting Rights Act passed in 1965. American voters have faced calculated and determined efforts by persons and groups whose goal is to deny them the most fundamental right. and Support this bill. Defeat the amendthat is the right to vote. ments. Lets move forward with the Gone are the days of poll taxes and Voting Rights Act. literacy tests. ","speaker_name":"DIANE WATSON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":33.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1345,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090157898,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we While. yes. we have made some should be proud. because in this coun- progress in Georgia. I am a living testitry we look back at our history so that mony to that. the fundamental queswe may move forward wisely into the tion of the Voting Rights Act is not if future. The Voting Rights Act is proof there has been progress made. The positive that America learns from its question is will that progress be in risk history. of being undone if we do not have the Today. more Americans from every Voting Rights Act? corner of our Nation. whatever their And no State gives clearer evidence race. creed. or color may exercise their that progress will be undone than my right to vote. But. Mr. Speaker. I said own State of Georgia. Georgia leads more. not all. ","speaker_name":"XAVIER BECERRA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":31.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2049,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090157917,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today in support of the Voting Rights Act authorization. I will be inserting for the RECORD a letter from the Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Tim Kaine. supporting the act as written. It is an unfortunate fact of our history that there were once entrenched practices that served to deny minorities their franchise. Such systematic discrimination cannot stand in a country founded on the promise of freedom and equal protection under the law. Some argue that those times have passed. that there is no need to reauthorize the law. But the committee held over a dozen hearings on this and found.out that there are still discriminatory practices around the country. Fortyone years ago. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2486,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090157945,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It fed the flames of regional conflict until we suffered the most devastating war in our history. It gave birth to segregation. poll taxes. and literacy tests. This specter embodies what is- perhaps our Nations original sin: discrimination. It has dunned us with a moral debt that maybe can never be fully paid. I pray that is not the case. But then again. maybe it is only waiting for a generation with the courage to exorcise that demon out of our -hearts and out of this land. Our forebears. in spite of their many blessings that they left us. failed this challenge. They had the chance with Dred Scott and instead decided that slaves were not human beings. They had a second chance with Jim Crow. but instead built a segregated society. Today. we have a rare chance. and I mean rare. to revisit the fundamental issue. discrimination. that our predecessors avoided dealing with. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES NORWOOD","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11469,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090157946,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 15 seconds. I say to the gentleman that when we rise in the House. it is my intention to introduce for the RECORD a copy of the decision that was entered yesterday in the State of Georgia that declared recent actions unconstitutional. Perhaps he will be convinced that this is not the history of the past but today. Case 4:05cv00201 -HLM Document 123 Filed 07\/13\/2006 \" Page 1 of 2","speaker_name":"MELVIN WATT","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":410,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090157951,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have come a long way as a Na tion. but we have a long way to go tc really overcome. as President Johnsoi called upon us to do. The evidence before the Judiciar3 Committee was absolutely clear thal serious problems in discrimination re main. The testimony made it cleai that section 5 preclearance has beer used more between 1982 and 2005 thar between the years 1965 and 1982. Th( evidence showed that since 1982 the Department of Justice has objected tc more than 700 discriminatory voting changes that have been enacted by th covered jurisdictions. The evidence showed that the covered jurisdiction withdrew an additional 200 proposec changes from section 5 review and ar additional 600 voting changes were revised to ensure nondiscriminatory im. pact. Anyone who says that we do not con. tinue to need the Voting Rights Act it dead wrong. 0I 1245 In addition. there were many othei findings. We have a long way to go. Mr. Chair. man. to achieve a more perfect Union I urge my colleagues to adopt the bill that came out of the Judiciary Com mittee. withodt amendment.","speaker_name":"CHRIS VAN HOLLEN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2049,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090157966,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding.. I want to clear up several misconceptions. I think. that have occurred here. First of all is. we are concerned in my State and some of the ones who spoke about the continuation of section 5. which requires preclearance. This bill. as all bills. have certain findings of fact. and I want to address some of those findings of fact. The first one is based on the fact that there were hundreds of objections interposed as one of the conclusions that justifies the extension. The American Enterprise Institute says that the raw numbers on objections are insufficient to measure support for reauthorization. They give the statistics. and the statistics are that from 1982 to 2005. out of the 105.000plus objections. 0.7 percent received objections in the covered States. ","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2541,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090157967,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself 1 minute. Mr. Chairman. the Voting Rights Act coverage formula and the provisions that it triggers have been upheld by the Supreme Court on multiple occasions and not just in 1966. The Supreme Court in 1980 in Rome v. United States. and later in 1999 in Lopez v. Monterey County. upheld the constitutionality of section 5. In particular. in the city of Rome. the court looked at the House Judiciary Committees finding that \"the recent objections entered by the Attorney General to section 5 submissions clearly bespeak the continuing need to this particular preclearance mechanism.\" Now. there have been objections that have been interposed to submissions that have been made in Georgia since 2000. and that is why we have to have the formula that is in section 5 and the preclearance provisions in section 5 which have been upheld by the Supreme Court. Mr. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":930,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090158003,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"H.R. 9 will ensure that voice for millions more in generations to come. H.R. 9 would renew provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that protect minority voters in States and districts that have a documented history of voter suppression. It would extend the provisions of this bill for an additional 25 years. require the U.S. Attorney General to send Federal observers to monitor elections to make sure that eligible AfricanAmericanand other minority voters are permitted to vote. it would extend bilingual requirements. and it would prohibit the use of any kind of test or devices to deny an individual the right to vote. Each and every Member of the House has the unique opportunity today to continue the work of the great civil rights leaders of the past. Martin Luther King. Jr.. Coretta Scott King. Rosa Parks. Fannie Lou Hammer. and our own JOHN LEWIS. to overcome the ghosts of oppression and fight for a new day of equality and respect for every individual. ","speaker_name":"JANICE SCHAKOWSKY","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2367,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090158004,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Nor is the right to vote honored when votes mysteriously disappear and cant be accounted for in a recount because there is no paper trail. In 14 States. felons are denied the right to vote even after they serve their sentences. I sincerely doubt the public would support a law prohibiting felons from freely practicing their religion after completing their prison terms. Yet we deny an equally fundamental right to millions of Americans who may .have written a bad check or been convicted of a minor drug offense. These issues are just as threatening to our democracy as poll taxes and voter intimidation. and so today cannot be viewed as the capstone. but rather the foundation. of our efforts to guarantee the right to vote.","speaker_name":"FORTNEY STARK","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2065,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090158011,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today in support of H.R. 9 \"The Fannie Lou Hamer. Rosa Parks. and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006.\" I am proud to support this legislation and the -bipartisan efforts that have brought it to the floor today. The renewal of these key provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act is a critical opportunity to provide continued oversight and reform to our election system. This legislation will ensure that minority voters who have been disenfranchised in the past will not run the risk of facing such hurdles in the future. Though the Fifteenth Amendment of our Constitution guarantees the right of all citizens to vote free of discrimination. it is important that these provisions of the Voting Rights Act are renewed so as to clarify and expand this fundamental American right. In addition to its importance on a national stage the beneficial effects of the Voting Rights Act have been felt locally in the Tampa Bay area. which I represent. In 1992. as a re suit of a Section 5 objection to Floridas reapportionment plan. the state created a new majorityminority state senate district in the Hillsborough County area. This new seat was created to accqunt for the mere than 40.1 percent of African American and Hispanic members of the voting age population in the area. ","speaker_name":"JAMES DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1649,"word_count":226}
{"speech_id":1090158032,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Chairman. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 9 and to do everything possible to make sure every vote is counted and that every vote counts in our electoral system.","speaker_name":"ANNA ESHOO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2619,"word_count":30}
{"speech_id":1090158056,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I appreciate my good friend from Georgia yielding the time to me. and I appreciate his work on behalf of the Voting Rights Act during the process of this debate. Mr. Chairman. this bill is named after Fannie Lou Hamer. Coretta Scott King. and Rosa Parks. These brave women dedicated their lives to ensuring that everyone had access to the polls and the right to vote. It is up to us standing here today to honor their legacy by ensuring that the bill we pass to rewrite the Voting Rights Act will stand the test of time forever. There is no question that the Voting Rights Act was needed in 1965. Georgia had a terrible record and merited the drastic remedy imposed on it by preclearance and section 5. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WESTMORELAND","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2379,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090158059,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the Norwood amendment only duplicated the existing protections of the Voting Rights Act. perhaps the only complaint would be that it is redundant and unnecessary. In 1975. Senator Strom Thurmond offered a similar amendment to change the trigger to the next election. making virtually the same arguments that are being made by Mr. NORWOOD today. He stated: \"One of the main problems with the Voting Rights Act is that it is. as presently constituted. an ex post facto law which punishes several Southern States for events which occurred in 1964.\" In a remarkable colloquy that ensued between Senator Thurmond and Senator Jesse Helms from my home State. Senator Helms proposed yet another amendment which would have a presumption of discrimination if registration and participation of votingage citizens exceeds 50 percent in the last election. Like the amendment offered by Mr. NORWOOD. this amendment should be defeated as we defeated the ones by Mr. Helms and Mr. Thurmond back at that time.","speaker_name":"MELVIN WATT","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2137,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090158078,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There must be congruence and proportionality before the injury to be prevented or remedied. and the means adopted to that end.","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":922,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090158099,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Georgia. where a black majority city council had their objections that were sufficient for the Justice Department to rule. Let me just read about some of the other objections in Georgia we keep hearing about. Six of these were creation of additional judicial slots in superior and State courts. objections for which the Federal courts found no merit since they approved these additional judgeships. Another four objections went to redistricting plans. The first three forced Georgia to draw districts that courts later found to be unconstitutional under Miller v. Johnson. The fourth involved the postMiller plans to correct for racially drawn State legislative districts. An eleventh objection involved Monroe municipal elections that a court deemed to have already been precleared. An October 1992 objection in Union City was withdrawn. and there is no indication that the city made any changes to secure removal of the objection. That might be a twelfth inappropriate DOJ objection. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WESTMORELAND","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2773,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090158101,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of the reauthorization and against all amendments. Mr. Chairman. I rise to take part in an ongoing historic dialog that unfortunately. we must continue to address in the United States Congress. The issue before us today is whether we should reauthorize certain sections of the Voting Rights Act. I grew up in the fifties and sixties when we had segregated water fountains. schools. an restrictions on voting. We are here to decide if we should continue mandating preclearance for any changes in election policy in jurisdictions that are known to have a history of disenfranchising the rights of minority voters. My home state of Texas is included on that list. ","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2146,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090158113,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But I have been gone for 16 years in this House. I come back and find there are very few Members here who were here when I was here before. As a matter of fact. some-\" times I talk to Members and I feel like I am sort of the museum piece being pulled out for people to observe. The only point I make is 25 years is a long time. And if you look at the testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee by Professor Hasen from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. he points out that this kind of amendment may very well be the kind of amendment that saves this law under consideration by a future Supreme Court with respect to its constitutionally. Why? Because he said. beginning in 1965. Congress imposed the strong preclearance remedy on those jurisdictions with what the Supreme Court called a pervasive. flagrant. and unremitting history of discrimination in voting on the basis of race. In South Carolina v. Katzenbach. the court upheld section 5 of the act as a permissible exercise of congressional power. But what has changed since 1965. as Professor Hasen says. both the law and the facts. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL LUNGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2923,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090158160,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I want to thank the gentleman for yielding. and I rise in gratitude to Chairman SENSENBRENNER for his leadership on the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act. It is historic in its scope. and I admire his thoughtfulness and the dignity with which he has gone about this process. I also rise. although in opposition. with deep respect for the gentleman from Iowa. whom I would support for anything. including Pope. Even though. from time to time. we differ on issues. he is a man of integrity and principle. The arguments have been made today by the chairman. and they will be by others in opposition to the King amendment. in a substantive way. that even though section 203 only affects 12 percent of the counties of this country. it was enacted for sound reasons and we still need it. that to support the King amendment could literally hurt the elderly. who in many cases were excluded from the English proficiency requirements of naturalization and. therefore. would. if this amendment passed. be denied the language assistance to participate as American citizens in the voting process. There has also been the thoughtful discussion that we are not just talking about choosing between candidate A and B. but rather. Mr. Chairman. we are talking about ballot initiatives that can oftentimes be written in double negatives. and so language assistance is appropriate for Americans in exercising their bloodbought right to vote. ","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2531,"word_count":240}
{"speech_id":1090158164,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"ida. Mr. Chairman. I thank the chairman very much for yielding this time. I rise today in support of this amendment. which I am cosponsoring along with my good friend and colleague Congressman KING. Bilingual ballot requirements were not in the original Voting Rights Act. As a matter of fact. they were only added in 1975. and were always intended to be a temporary crutch. not a permanent mandate. And that mandate. by the way. is an unfunded mandate. Now. many of us came from backgrounds in the State legislature and\/or local governments. and .what. was the one thing we complained the most about? Unfunded Federal mandates. This. ladies and gentlemen. is an unfunded Federal mandate. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA BROWN-WAITE","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1304,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090158168,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Expiring provisions of the Voting Rights Act require covered jurisdictions to seek \"preclearance.\" either with the U.S. Department of Justice or a specific federal court. of any proposed voting changes. such as redistricting. Two counties in South Dakota are subject to these requirements. Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act requires that language assistance be provided to language minorities. including certain Native American communities.. A number of jurisdictions in South Dakota are covered by Section Statements made by a number of the proponents of the King amendment seem to suggest that the only nonEnglish languages come from foreign countries. But the fact is. in. my home state of South Dakota and across America. any voters speak Native American languages--languages that were spoken here long before English was ever uttered in.this hemisphere. Parts of Indian Country are covered by Section 203a section with strong bipartisan supportbased on a history of practices and procedures that disenfranchised certain language minorities. American Indians were here when many of our ancestors immigrated to the United States. Just yesterday I had the opportunity to celebrate and honor the service of Native American code talkers who fought bravely during World War II. Native Languages were the basis for a military communications code that was never cracked by the Axis powers. ","speaker_name":"STEPHANIE HERSETH SANDLIN","chamber":"H","state":"SD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4777,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090158182,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And I should also point out that this amendment does absolutely nothing. nothing to require that all ballots be in English. We simply say under this amendment that the States and localities will decide how to implement it themselves. Third. this bill currently is an arbitrary and capricious attack against individuals by insulting the voters by simply implying that with a foreign language surname that they cannot understand the language. I support the amendment.","speaker_name":"SCOTT GARRETT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1341,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090158190,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Korean. Chinese and Vietnamese. The next Census has predicted that they will have to produce an additional five laniguages. This is a reasonable amendment. I ask for an \"aye\" vote.","speaker_name":"GARY MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":42.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1146,"word_count":30}
{"speech_id":1090158211,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. the distinguished chairman of the Judiciary has argued that my amendment places an impossible burden on the Department of Justice. All we are asking them to do is to look at the jurisdictions that are now covered under section 5. and hopefully. I thought that the Department of Justice was looking at these jurisdictions. I thought they were keeping up if there was any violation or not any violation. The chairman of the Judiciary has jus* really caused me some concern to think that we are under the coverage of section 5. but nobody is looking at us. Nobody is looking to see if we are doing the right thing or not. I am confused. Maybe we need to do some more legislation to make sure the Department of Justice is doing their job. They are the ones that know if there have been any objections. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WESTMORELAND","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2020,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090158212,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. and use that very same argument you just put on us about Mr. WESTMORELANDS amendment. This amendment has the support of some of the strongest supporters of section 5 renewal. and it is there for a very practical reason. The Supreme Court would likely throw out a 25year extension of section 5 if no attempts have been made to update the rules that determine whether counties remain under Federal oversight. The court allowed section 5 to stand for one reason. Even a nonlawyer can read it in there. It was to be a temporary remedial tool. There was not a thingin that law that says past discrimination puts you under section 5. There is nothing written in the bill that says that. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES NORWOOD","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6304,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090158218,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise today in support of the amendment offered by Representative LYNN WESTMORELAND. andI would ask all my colleagues to join me in supporting it. I was surprised a little earlier to hear the chairman say that of the four amendments this is the worst of the lot. Mr. Chairman. I would suggest that it is one of the best of the lot. and with all due respect to Mr. SENSENBRENNER and Mr. CHABOT. I wish there was as much concern about the unfunded mandates that this bailout provision in H.R. 9 puts on local jurisdictions and the unfunded mandates that the multilingual ballot requirements put. on local jurisdictions as their concern of the financial burden .and time constraints that it puts on the Justice Department. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1992,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090158224,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of the legislation. Mr. Chairman. I came to the Congress in 1987the 100th Congress. We had a number of stars in our freshman classJIM BUNNINGA Hall of Fame baseball pitcher. Fred Grundyan accomplished actor. Amo HoughtonThe 1st CEO of a Fortune 500 Company elected to the Congress. JOHN LEWISa hero of the Civil Rights movement who plotted and marched with Dr. ","speaker_name":"FRED UPTON","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1849,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090158228,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. many of my colleagues have expressed some bit of surprise at the virulence coming from the Republican Members of the Georgia delegation. Well. let me just say that I am not surprised at all. because I was born in Georgia and I live there. I served in the Georgia legislature with a few of them. But let me also say that just this week the second attempt by the Georgia legislature to impose a voter ID bill on the people of our State was struck down by the courts in violation of the Voting Rights Act. We also learned in 2002. in my own election. with the crossover vote. that crossover voting can be used as effectively as the allwhite primary was in days past. So we need the Voting Rights Act. We need it because we are looking at the State of Georgia. We see What you are doing. And now the Nation also sees that the State of Georgia desperately needs to be under the Voting Rights Act because some things still have not changed- \u0095","speaker_name":"CYNTHIA MCKINNEY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":950,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090158237,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in opposition to this amendment. Mr. Chairman. this amendment presents a new process. which was not considered in our exhaustive hearings. In fact. testimony at our hearings showed that the present bailout process is reasonable and inexpensiveall 11 jurisdictions that tried to bailout were able to do SO. Although there is not a problem nowthis amendment is a problem. There are nearly 900 jurisdictions covered nationwide by section 5. This amendment forces the Department of Justice to conduct an investigation in each jurisdiction every year. This amendment also reverses the longstanding requirement that jurisdictions bear the burden of establishing that they are free from discrimination. and instead places the burden on the Attorney General to determine whether each jurisdiction qualifies for bailout. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1176,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090158239,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It has not changed. People say one thing and have another agenda. I close by saying the agenda today appears to be to water down this act and strip it of a lot of its power. and that is wrong.","speaker_name":"ARTUR DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1008,"word_count":40}
{"speech_id":1090158246,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The only thing they are is a bunch of checkers. They just check things as they come in to them. rather than looking at these 900 jurisdictions. By the way. if Mr. NORWOODs amendment passes. it would be a lot more than the 900 jurisdictions to be looked at. because of problems all across the Nation. But our DOJ has more attorneys on staff than the city of Granville does or the county of Coweta or the State of Georgia. If they do not know what jurisdictions should be able to bail out. God forbid that any city. county or State does. I ask that the Members of this House please support the Westmoreland amendment to H.R. 9. Mr. Chairman. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WESTMORELAND","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1753,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090158291,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Clearly. protecting the American peoples pensions and ensuring that we get better funding of private pension plans is the goal of this legislation. I can tell the gentleman that I think we are very close. There is some progress. We are close. We have discussed this for months and months here. It is a very difficult bill. as you are well aware. and trying to make sure that there is balance. that we dot the Is and cross the Ts. that process is under way. But I am hopeful.","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":474,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090158299,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Committee on Rules may meet the week of July 17 to grant a rule which could limit the amendment process for floor consideration of H.R. 2389. the Pledge Protection Act of 2005. Any Member wishing to offer an amendment should submit 55 copies of the amendment and one copy of a brief explanation of the amendment to the Rules Committee in room H312 of the Capitol by noon on Tuesday. July 18. 2006. Members should draft their amendments to the bill as introduced on May 17. 2005. Members should use the Office of Legislative Counsel to ensure that their amendments are drafted in. the most appropriate format. and they should check with the Office of the Parliamentarian to be certain that their amendments comply with the rules of the House.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":745,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090158307,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. Americans are fed up. They are worn out. burned out and pocketed out of taking care of illegals who come here and expect a handout and a free ride. and now Americans. they are speaking out. Recently. taxpayers in Houston forked out over $125 million in hospital costs in just 1 year by treating more than 53.000 illegals. taking advantage of the system in our hospitals. taking advantage of Americans. and really taking advantage of legal immigrants. Mr. Speaker. it is morally wrong for illegals to enter this country with the expectation that they will live off of others. It is morally wrong for them to expect that Americans will pay to take care of them. take care of their health costs. their education costs and their social services costs. But now it is becoming illegal for illegals to get these services that even many Americans do not receive. Taxpayers are finding their own answers. while some Federal lawmakers in Washington remain deaf to their desire because they are too busy dueling over illegal immigration doctrines. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4116,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090158367,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"When Chairman THOMAS was on the Senate floor. I asked about the potential blue slip problem. We have gotten word we will clear that hurdle. if necessary. I obviously checked with Chairman BOND and the housing subcommittee. They have been very helpful in that regard. We have run all the traps. There is a solid offset. and it provides for a definite need in a very critical area of our national security. that is. our border presence. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6124,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090158404,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In fact. it represents roughly half the cost of the underlying -bill. However. our country continues to spend between $4 billion and $5 billion every month in Iraq and Afghanistan. roughly a billion dollars a week. So we are talking about 16 weeks of investment. if you want to look at it in those terms. in Iraq as to whether or not we ought to be talking about similar investments here at the local level. This is funding that would not be wasted. The Rudman report clearly states the need for more resources. The demands we hear from our States and localities and first responders clearly state the need is there. Our ports have identified $8.4 billion to meet Federal security requirements. That is their assessment. Our transit agencies have identified $6 billion to make trains and buses and other forms of transit safer for passengers. Our firefighters and first responders demonstrate over $4 billion in needs annually so that they may perform their critical duties more safely. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3700,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090158415,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. I wish to reiterate the fact that we already have $8 billion in the pipeline. We are going to have $10.5 billion. which has not been spent after this bill is passed. This amendment is a $16 billion plusup on a bill that cost $32 billion. It is a massive expansion. It will basically be going into an account at Homeland Security and wont be spent because they cannot spend the money they already have. It is a proposal that is simply not going to have the policy impact the Senator hopes for. I know the Senator has alluded a couple of times to how much we are spending in Iraq. which is an immense amount of money. But we have soldiers on the ground in Iraq. We have equipment that has to be replaced there. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1265,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090158419,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. at this time what we are going to doand I will make a unanimous consent request to this effectis we are going to recognize the Senator from Maryland to make two points on germaneness: one -relative to Senator SANTORUMs amendment and one relative to Senator KYLS amendment. At the conclusion. we are going to recognize the Senator from Texas for up to 10 minutes. Then we are going to recognize the Senator from Maine for up to 20 minutes. I ask unanimous consent that what I have stated be the order. At the same time. I further ask unanimous consent that whilethis action is pending. I not lose the right of priority relative to making a seconddegree amendment on the Vitter amendment.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":701,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090158453,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This is part of our critical infrastructure. absolutely essential assets? Yet the amendment offered by the Senator from New Jersey provides virtually no guidance on how a riskbased formula would work. By contrast. the legislation approved by the committee I chair puts forth risk factors that the Department should weigh. The Menendez amendment simply hands the. reins over to the same Department that was so widely criticized in its funding decisions. The result of the approach of Senator MENENDEZ will be that more funding will be given out under a flawed and inexact methodology. That is exactly why we still need to maintain a healthy State minimum. to assure that flawed distribution methods do not lead to gaps in our security system. The minimum in the amendment offered by the Senator from New Jersey. .25 percent. is simply too low. It slashes by twothirds the Homeland Security grants that every State is now guaranteed. Under his amendment. each State would be assured of only a little more than $2 million. for both the State Homeland Security Grant Program and the law enforcement program for this year. Compare that with a minimum allocation of slightly more than $7 million for fiscal year 2006 and $9 million the year before. Again. let me emphasize this. ","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5416,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090158459,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I join my colleagues from Maine and Connecticut in opposing the Menendez amendment. which seeks to change the formula for the State Homeland Security Grant. Program. The chairman and ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee have fought tirelessly to ensure that every State is prepared for a major disaster. I am pleased to be an original cosponsor of their bill. S. 21. the Homeland Security Grant Enhancement Act. which strikes a fair compromise on this issue. This legislation passed the Senate by an overwhelming majority last year as an.amendment to the FY 2006 Homeland Security appropriations bill. Thanks to Senator COLLINS and Senator LIEBERMAN. -the Senate has taken a strong position on the need for a consistent. guaranteed line of homeland security funding for each and every state. I strongly advocate the .75 percent minimum. which is guaranteed under current law. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2057,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090158500,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We visited the Canajoharie town hall. where all of the equipment was flooded and gone. including computers. phones. police department and fire department recordsgone. We were in Binghamton and Conklin. which was totally flooded. as was Hancock and other places. We were told in one area in the Delaware Valley that the rain cloud stayed and never moved for 16 hours at the top of the mountain and the rain kept coming down. We met an older gentlemen whose 15yearold daughter was in their house by the creek bank. The creek turned its course and pushed the house into the water. and she died. We saw that damage firsthand. The damages are going to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Just alone. the sewage plant in Binghamton was destroyed. a brandnew $20 million plant. gone. The physical damage to farms is enormous. As we flew over the Catskill Mountains. in the Delaware Valley and the Mohawk Valley. you could see farms floodedthe whole farm. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES SCHUMER","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6451,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090158504,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have lived with tornado damage. I visited many devastated communities. But tornadoes were not thought to affect States like New York. New York was hurricane territory. not tornado territory. Last night. we had a tornado. The strange weather that we are experiencing is out of the usual. and I hope that we can get the help we need and that the amendment that Senator .SCHUMER and I have proposed will be passed so that we can replenish the disaster fund with the amount of money that we know will be needed to take care of the people we represent in New York. There was similar damage in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. and apparently there is more to come. We have had predictions that the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season outlook is expected to be 80 percent above the normal in the number and intensity of hurricanes. We all know of the damage that occurred along our Gulf coast. But there are predictions of significant storms along the Atlantic coast up to and including New York for the rest of this summer and into the fall. ","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4038,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090158529,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This is an issue which does have jurisdiction in the Commerce. Science. and Transportation Committee on which I serve. Frankly. I commended him. privately and publicly. for being willing to take some of these things off the list. How many of you have been through these outrageous processes that you have to go through or have had to go through to get on airplanes? How many times have I been ripped off of soissors or small pocket knives that are no damage at all? I just went ahead and bought them by the dozen. I mean. this is not going to an airplane take. So common sense is what I have asked the TSA to use: Use your head. My goodness. is this a weapon? It looks pretty dangerous. It is a ballpoint pen. So it is time we have some common sense at the Department of Homeland Security. at the Transportation Security Administration. ","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3527,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090158601,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This amendment does nothing to eliminate the effectiveness component. It does not eliminate the minimum guarantees for States. But threat after threat has been revealed. and that makes it very clear where the greatest threats are in our country. That ultimately should be our thrust. driving our resources. those which we have. as we try to build more to where the risk is. We are all in this together. We are called upon to vote for agriculture. hurricanes. and other things. I ask Senators to vote in favor of this amendment.","speaker_name":"ROBERT MENENDEZ","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1319,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090158615,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. pursuant to section 402 of H. Con. Res. 95. the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2006. I move to waive section 402 of that concurrent resolution for the purposes of the pending amendment. and I ask for the yeas and nays.","speaker_name":"CHARLES SCHUMER","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":254,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090158645,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask unanimous consent that we proceed to an amendment by Senator REED. followed by an amendment by Senator DAYTON. After those two amendments are disposed of. we will have an hour of debate relative to the Vitter amendment. with Senator DURBIN controlling 45 minutes and Senator VrrTER controlling 15 minutes. And then we will proceed to a vote on the Vitter amendment.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":371,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090158675,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I again stand to strongly support this amendment and urge my colleagues to vote for its passage. I have only been able to listen to some of the comments of the distinguished Senator from Illinois. I really think he has been watching a very different disaster and scenario than I experienced and lived through on the ground in Louisiana. I can tell you that the confiscations we are talking about were not from the criminals he is referring toby the way. confiscations from criminals who are engaged in criminal activity can still occur under my amendment. The police have the power and the authority to enforce the law. which includes apprehending criminals and taking weapons away from criminals committing criminal acts. The confiscations I have been talking about that happened in. the disaster area were from lawabiding citizens. They were lawabiding citizens who didnt have a phone line to communicate with the police or anyone else. They were lawabiding citizens who were isolated in their homes. frightened. and only had their own resources and witnesses and. yes. in some cases. firearms. to protect themselves and their families and to protect their possessions. ","speaker_name":"DAVID VITTER","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2953,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090158682,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me ask. if we had a 9\/11type situation and you had WalMart that was closed down. with broken windows. and they have a series of guns in the back. and KMart and pawn shops were broken down. does the purpose of this for first responders say they have to leave those guns on the shelves so that looters can arm themselves and terrorize a community? Would that be the result. in your reading of this?","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":400,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090158684,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me ask further. did- not the Senator from IdahoI know the Senator from New Jersey and myself have indicated that if they wanted to go ahead and have some way that individuals could demonstrate they had a legitimate ownership of thatgun. they would be immune from this amendment. That was rejected. as I understand it.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":321,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090158686,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Sure we are having strife and violence in the streets. but the Vitter amendment is going to protect the second amendment and leave that alone. That is hogwash. Mr. President. That isnt security. This makes a sham of the Homeland Security billa sham of it. And that is what this amendment is. As the Senator from Illinois has pointed out. it is very simple: None of the funds appropriated by this ActThat means nothing. no first respondersshall be used for the seizure of a firearm based on the existence of a declaration or state of emergency. If there is any harm out there whatsoever. no first responder can see it. If a gun is lying out there and there is a terrorist who wants to grab it and cause mayhem. the Vitter amendment says the first responder cannot seize it. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4613,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090158695,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Pistols. guns around? Outrageous. What it means is that our law enforcement community will not be able to. even temporarily. hold weapons to protect other victims of the community at large during this crisis. At the next evacuation center. such as the Louisiana Superdome. we should allow people to roam around that facility with guns and assault weapons? What happens if someone wants to steal something they see one of their neighbors has and an argument ensues? The lawfulness is gone. They will be totally out of control giving somebody a gun like that. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to write a law that took guns away from domestic abusers of children and spouses. We had a huge fight over it and finally we got it through. It was 1998. Since then. we have had over 100.000 gun permits denied to people who get so enraged that they beat up their kids. their spouse. their wives. their husbands. and the NRA was in there fighting every inch along the way: Oh. no. dont deprive the people of their freedom to beat up their wife. beat up their kids. and maybe if they are drunk enough. they may want to take a couple of shots at members of their household. No. we stopped that. We plead with the Senator from Louisiana: Dont force us to vote on this amendment. ","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3632,"word_count":231}
{"speech_id":1090158700,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the chair. Understandably. police dont want guns in those shelters. The police must have the right to make that shelter a gunfree area. So what do they do? They say: Hey. Joe. turn in that gun. turn it in. and as soon as you are settled. we will keep it in safekeeping for you. and we will give you back your gun. But meanwhile. dont permit that gun owner. in a moment of rage. to do damage that is irreparable. The fact is. our law enforcement community has to have the ability to make decisions that it believes will ensure the health and safety of the community at large. There is no valid reason law enforcement agencies should be prevented from doing their job in times of emergency. Lets not make it tougher for them. What do we want to do in times of crisis such as a flood. an earthquake. a hurricane. a tornado? At times like that. do we want to make it tougher for our emergency response people to carry out the duties they volunteer for. typically. and do so efficiently. under dangerous circumstances to themselves? Let the NRA say: Come on. come on. lets let them have their guns. ","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1250,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090158717,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Senator WARNER. No. 4592. Senator FEINGOLD. No. 4638. Senator BOXER. as modified. No. 4642. Senator PRYOR. as modified. No. 4619. Senator DURBIN. as modified. No. 4635. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":704,"word_count":26}
{"speech_id":1090158719,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Iraq. Tunisia. Kenya. Morocco. and Turkey. These attacks by alQaida on an international Red Cross building. synagogues. train stations. hotels. airports. restaurants. night clubs. and cultural centers. show its willingness to attack \"soft targets\" of all types in order to conduct its campaign of terror. I want to make sure that our communities are safe and thQ buildings where citizens live. learn and work are strong and secure to safeguard American lives in the event of a terrorist attack. Local communities are on the front lines in our war against terrorism. This CQngress must do its share to make sure that they do not have to bear the full cost of this war. We have done this by providing funds for security enhancements in buildings that Americans visit everyday. Yet DHS has failed to give local communities the funds they need. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA MIKULSKI","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3289,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090158759,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Adam Morrison. and all of our staff who have been out here. I end by thanking Senator GREGG for his tremendous work on this bill in a very difficult year.","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":988,"word_count":30}
{"speech_id":1090158761,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And. of course. we very much appreciate the assistance of the staff of the full committee. and especially the assistance of Senator COCHRAN and Keith Kennedy. Bob Putnam. Jack Conway. and Richard Larson. These are folks who come in and help us out a great deal. So we thank them immensely. We could not have gotten to this point without them. They work immense hours. We can never really adequately express our appreciAtion to them. but we do greatly appreciate all they have done.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1638,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090158765,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Without .careful choices. how does that investment make us safer? The Congress gave the Department authority to allocate first responder funds based on risk. and what did they do? They cut grants to New York by 37 percent and the Washington. DC. area by 43 percent. Nearly 5 years after 9\/11. key issues. such as fixing FEMA. establishing chemical security standards. inspecting cargo on commercial aircraft. inspecting air passengers for explosives. securing our ports. and making sure that State and local governments have effective mass evacuation plans. are all languishing at the Department. The list of issues that are festering at the Department goes on and on. To the Department of Homeland Security I have two words: Wake up. To the -administration. I simply say. if you are not going to lead on making our homeland safer. than follow the lead of Chairman GREGG and the United States Senate. Chairman GREGG has done a masterful job on this bill. I urge adoption of the bill.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4352,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090158767,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"NBAF will be on the frontline of research and development of new ways to protect our nations food supply. so the final choice of a team to operate NBAF must be made on the basis of scientific and technical merit. The MidAtlantic BioAg Defense Consortium is among the 29 applicants to run NBAF. It consists of a group of researchers from leading universities and selected federal and state agencies in Maryland. Virginia. Pennsylvania. West Virginia and Delaware. I believe that this fivestate consortium. led by the University of Marylands School of Medicine. offers unparalleled scientific expertise and critical understanding in large institutional management. and will present a strong proposal for the Departments consideration. The combined expertise of the MidAtlantic Consortium has a proven track record in research and development of countermeasures to many agents and toxins designated as threats by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA MIKULSKI","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5109,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090158793,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise because of the recent attacks on Israel. The most recently breaking news: rocket attacks on the city of Haifa in Israel. which clearly represents an escalation of the attack from Lebanon. Therefore. I do rise to condemn the acts of war perpetrated against the nation of Israel by Hezbollah forces operating in southern Lebanon. Dozens of Katyusha rockets were fired at northern Israel on Wednesday and Thursday. and additional salvos have continued to rain down. Israeli soldiers were attacked as they attempted to respond to this unprovoked assault across an internationally recognized border. As a result of this aggression. eight Israeli soldiers are dead. two more are prisoners of Hezbollah. and the citizens of northern Israel are living in fear. I call on the international community to support Israel in its attempts to end terrorist operations in southern Lebanon. free the captive soldiers. and restore its territorial security. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2045,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090158800,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Further. the Great Lakes are threatened by the continuing introduction of invasive species which impact the native food chain and habitat. The fish and wildlife in the Great Lakes are under pressure. and the Great Lakes Fish & Wildlife Restoration Act of 2006 provides needed resources and authority. For instance. the bill would reauthorize the grant program. increasing the amount available for grants to $12 million and add wildlife projects to the types of projects that may receive grants. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service would award grants based on the recommendations from the existing grant proposal review committee. though wildlife experts would be added to this committee. The bill also authorizes up to $6 million each year for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to undertake projects that have a regional benefit to fish and wildlife. Under this new authority. the Service would undertake projects based on the recommendations of States and tribes. This bill reflects the collaboration of nongovernmental groups. as well as tribal. State. and Federal agencies with jurisdiction over the management of fish and wildlife resources of the Great Lakes. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2377,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090158801,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Singer. A. Dewey Bond. and Frank R. Begovich as well as Charles M. Murray. the general manager. for their efforts in undertaking this endeavor. The Griffith plant is a stateoftheart facility which combines sensitivity to the environment. technologically savvy security measures. and an appreciation for the history of its surrounding area. The plant sits on the site of a prison most famous for holding a group of suffragettes in 1917 who were arrested for demonstrating in front of the White House to secure their right to vote. The facility pays tribute to these brave ladies by incorporating design elements of the workhouse in the plants architectural design. The opening of the facility shows the dedication Fairfax Water has for its customers health and safety. Fairfax Water will continue to be a vital and necessary partner in its community. and a leader in the Commonwealth and the country. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1614,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090158813,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Despite these devastating numbers. according to UNAIDS. less than one in five people at risk for infection of HIV have access to basic prevention services. Studies have shown that twothirds of new HIV infections could be averted with effective prevention programs. Clearly. we still have a long ways to go to rein in this disease. During the debate on the global HIV\/ AIDS bill. I expressed concern that we were placing politics over science by requiring that at least onethird of prevention funds go to \"abstinence only\" programs. I argued that such an artificial earmarkwhich. by the way. was not based on any scientific study or conclusive evidencewould tie the hands of HIV\/AIDS workers and doctors on the ground and severely inhibit the ability of the administration to fund the most effective HIV prevention programs. It would mean less money for funds to prevent mothertochild transmission. less money to promote a comprehensive prevention message to high risk groups such as sexually active youth. and fewer funds to protect the blood supply. Unfortunately. the evidence clearly shows that the onethird earmark has had a negative impact on our prevention efforts and inhibited the ability of local communities to design a multipronged HIV prevention program that works best for them. Last. month. the Government. Accountability Office. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9212,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090158815,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Federal Home Loan Banks provide a LOC. Unfortunately. the Internal Revenue Service. IRS. has classified Federal Home Loan Bank LOCs as a Federal guarantee. a decision that triggers the loss of a bonds taxexempt status. By allowing community banks to partner with the Federal Home Loan Banks to offer credit support on municipal taxexempt bonds. local communities will be able to reduce the cost to local taxpayers for bonds issued for such projects as wastewater treatment facilities. fire stations. medical clinics. school buses. longterm care facilities. and infrastructure improvements. Through their community bank owners. Federal Home Loan Banks have offered letters of credit for over 10 years. They can provide letters of credit for taxable municipal bonds and taxexempt housing bonds. however. due to a quirk in the law. they cannot do so for. taxexempt economic development bonds. My legislation would fix this inconsistency in the Tax Code. Congress has already determined that credit support issued by other governmentsponsored enterprises. GSEs. can support nonhousing municipal bond issues without losing taxexempt treatment. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4533,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090158816,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"More centers such as this ought to be in place in areas spanning the Nation. That is why I made it a priority to author and pass the Womens Business Center Sustainability Act of 1999. to help successful centers remain open and viable in the areas they serve. This bill was signed into law as a means of safeguarding successful centers with proven results by authorizing continued funding for a set time period under sustainability grants. The theory behind this bipartisan legislation was to continue to allow for new centers. but to also ensure that those with a proven track record would continue to be helped. And yet. since its enactment. Senator SNOWE and I have had to fight each year to ensure that there is sustainability funding through the passage of numerous temporary extensions and a series of exchanges with the SBA. These centers are vital in equipping women entrepreneurs with the tools they need to succeed in business. and it is unfortunate that this administration has attempted to eliminate sustainability funding since President Bush took office. It is high time that all centers demonstrating proven results year in and year out receive this sustainability funding. The legislation I am introducing today. guarantees the future of the Womens Business Center Program and bridges it with other SBArelated womens initiatives to ensure there exists a unified and cohesive mission driving the programs forward for women entrepreneurs across the country. In this. the bill not only makes permanent the Womens Business Center Sustainability Pilot Programthrough the creation of 3year \"renewal\" grants for centers with sustainability grants. and 4year \"initial\" grants for new centers across the countrybut it also increases the programs authorization levels. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6280,"word_count":282}
{"speech_id":1090158818,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to announce for the information of the Senate and the public thata hearing has been scheduled before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. The hearing will take place on Thursday. July 20. 2006. 10 a.m. in room SD366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. DC. The purpose of this hearing is to consider the nomination of: John Ray Correll. of Indiana. to be Director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. Department of the Interior. vice Jeffrey D. Jarrett. Mark Myers. of Alaska. to be Director- of the United States Geological Survey. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":894,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090158964,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We had to get the number down to a certain number that is workable so we could have a time agreement to get this bill passed. I thank Senator Feingold for his cooperation and for agreeing to offer limited amendments under short time agreements. If he wanted to be hard to get along with. he could have had long agreements and this would have gone into many nights. He didnt do that. He agreed to short time agreements. which will make this possible to pass. His willingness to work with us is very much appreciated by me. Over the past few months. he consistently has been helpful and responsive in Working on the WRDA bill. For anyone to suggest that Senator Feingold has not been helpful in keeping this process moving would be wrong. He has been a great partner with me in moving things forward and I thank the Senator from Wisconsin for his cooperation. We have a lot that we need to authorize the Corps of Engineers to do in navigation. flood control and environmental restoration. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2907,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090158966,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Because all amendments that can be considered to S. 728. the Water Resources Development Act of 2006. had to be filed prior to the bill coming to the floor. I would like to inquire of the bill managers whether or not they would agree with me that reasonable modifications by the authors to their amendments would be acceptable as is the normal Senate practice.","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":360,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090158984,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to introduce legislation that helps the U.S. Forest Service protect sensitive and precious forest by selling developed land in Leon County. FL. in order to purchase atrisk land in the heart of our national forests. Specifically. this bill allows for the sale of tract W1979. which is 114 acres in Tallahassee. the proceeds of which are specifically designated to purchase private inholdings in the Apalachicola National Forest. The Forest Service believes that W1979 has lost its national forest character and is unmanageable. The land will be sold to Leon County. where it will help the continued advancement of Blueprint 2000. a series of community initiatives to improve Tallahassee and Leon County. By selling this land on the outskirts of the Apalachicola National Forest. the U.S. Forest Service can acquire precious land deep in the forest that could be lost to development. ","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1778,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090159001,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That is due in part to the high gasoline prices that we are going to see go up againin part because of the international turmoil in the Middle East. the fact we are 60 percent dependent on the Middle East. Our response on this floor should be and will be to address issues surrounding lowering that dependence on foreign sources of oil. I hope we can do that in the next several weeks. We had a very positive bipartisan announcement about opening exploration in the Gulf of Mexico. It is bipartisan. so I am very hopeful about that. Health care is another one of those issues that squeezes people so much because health care prices continue to go up two to three times faster than wages. When that is the case. you get squeezed as an individual. So in spite of the great macro numbers around the United States of America. the individual feels squeezed with gasoline prices and health care. So small business health plans are something we should come back to. something we need to come back to and address. Most people today work for what we call small businesses. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5573,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090159017,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"These extremist elements and those that support them cannot be allowed to plunge the Middle East into chaos. and a wider conflict. Even some Arab governments. including SaudiArabia. Egypt. and Jordan. took the commendable step of chastising Hezbollah for its \"unexpected. inappropriate. and irresponsible acts.\" In light of the chaos being precipitated by Hezbollahs rocket and missile capabilitya capability being provided directly to Hezbollah by the governments of Syria and IranI thought it would be appropriate to take a moment today to talk about how that threat can be addressed. The estimated 13.000 missiles currently in Hezbollahs arsenal are hidden throughout Southern Lebanon. in private homes. caves. and factories. At present. the only way to destroy these systems is to search them out on foota risky and potentially provocative solution. Alternatively. Israeli forces can strike at missile launchers after they have fired. meaning that at least one salvo will already be en route. It would be a vast improvement if Israel had the option of neutralizing the Hezbollah threat through defensive. rather than offensive means. Israel currently has access to Patriot and Arrow missile defense technologies. great systems which are critical for defending against longerrange missiles. but poorly suited to defend Israeli territory from the types of rockets and missiles currently being fired by Hezbollah. It is for this reasbn that I support the U.S. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3782,"word_count":225}
{"speech_id":1090159032,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. my time is up. Again. this is going to be a good debate. a good airing of the issues. Tomorrow we will vote on this bill and send it to the President. I am hopeful that !he President. after reviewing it and looking at what happened in the pastthe new things that have come to light because of the mouse feeder cells and the contamination of those lineswill sign the bill and give real hope to millions of Americans. I yield the floor. EXHIByr 1","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":459,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090159050,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That number is far too small to tap the vast potential of this research. The President did not question the legitimacy of the science being used in stem cell research but the ethics of using embryos. scientifically known as blastocysts. until implanted through in vitro fertilization. A blastocyst consists of around 150 cells. which is smaller than the point of a pin. While the blastocyst is destroyed during the process of extracting embryonic stem cells. the key fact is that any that are used for stem cell research would have been discarded and destroyed anyway. That is a fact that opponents refuse to - deal with. These blastocysts are. created by in vitro fertilization clinics and. for a variety of reasons. will not be used for implantation and will. therefore. eventually be discarded. Last month. the Detroit News editorialized against a Michigan law restricting embryonic stem cell research and used words that equally apply to the Presidents policy. The News wrote: The justification for this law is to protect human embryos. but the fact that fertility clinics can simply discard them means that the research ban is pointless. The logic of some embryonic stem cell research opponents is totally befuddling. They are apparently willing to ignore the discarding of the embryos by fertility clinics. but they label as morally objectionable the lifegiving use of embryos which would otherwise be discarded. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9177,"word_count":230}
{"speech_id":1090159059,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Is the Senator aware that the only successful treatments for juvenile diabetes to come from stem cells have come from adult stem cells. and in fact that the embryonic stem cells have onefiftieth the amount of insulin. were not effective. and ended after about 80 days after transplantation? Is the Senator aware of that?","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":320,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090159062,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me respond this way: First. I note that the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. which represents families all over America who.are affected with juvenile diabetes. is in support of H.R. 810. I want that on the record. In fact. they have been one of the strongest supporters. Second. the transplantation of insulinproducing pancreatic cells is already known to reverse the most damaging symptoms of type 1 diabetes. The problem with that is the limited number of organ donors out there who donate pancreases. That seems to be the problem. Could I ask the Senator. are there enough pancreas donors out there to take care of everyone with juvenile diabetes?","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":661,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090159063,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is not required. Actually. today the science shows that ductal cells from the patients own pancreas can be induced to become stem cells that then produce insulinproducing cells. There is no transplantation needed. In fact. these ductal cells have been proven and demonstrated to produce the same eyelet cells that the patient did initially when they were grown as an embryo.","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":377,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090159076,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the Senator. I again say that all the Nobel scientists. all of the leading scientists in America simply do not agree with the Senator from -Oklahoma. These are the people involved in cell biology and that kind of research. The Senator says embryonic stem cells will produce tumors. We do not know that is true. We do not have any real longterm data to know anything about how embryonic stem cells will work later on.","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":424,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090159082,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I will spend a few minutes. This is a very emotional debate for every family in this country. Every family in this country has someone who. in fact. has a disease that will be impacted in the future by research that is ongoing in terms of stem cell research. I. make a couple of points. We have heard today a couple of very strong statements that are highly inaccurate. One is that the only way you will cure this is with embryonic stem cells. No one knows that. As a matter of fact. most of the cures in science have come not by what we thought was going to happen but by what happened that surprised us. That is not true. . No. 2. there is no ban at the present time on research in this country on embryonic stem cells. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1964,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090159091,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"President. I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the RECORD the latest peer review articles that have been brought up to date for this year. This is about 15 pages long. and it has multiple entries. For every disease that has been mentioned on the Senate floor by those supporting the embryonic stem cell research. there are treatments ongoing today using adult stem cells.","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":963,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090159122,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You take an egg. scoop out the nucleus. take a stem cell from the donorit_ can be- from a skin cellput that nucleus in. and activate the process of growing cells. That process of stem cell research has enormous promise. This Senator has heard from thousands of Floridians who suffer on a daily basis from some of these terrible diseases. The Senate has the ability to bring hope to these people. It is time to act. The Senate should pass this bill and pass it with a fairly sizable major-. ity. giving scientists the tools they need tosearch for cures. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4935,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090159124,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Ryan was able to speak. use his- arms. and eat normally. just like any other childa miracle his family had once only dreamed of. Ryans story exemplifies the power and the promise of stem cells to treat and cure the millions of Americans who are suffering from catastrophic. debilitating and lifethreatening diseases and health conditions. Each year. 100.000 Americans will develop Alzheimers disease. Over 1 million adults will be diagnosed with diabetes this year..which can lead to complications such as blindness. damaged nerves and loss of kidney function. And there are far too many individuals with .spinal cord injuries who are struggling to maintain mobility and independence. For most of our history. medicine has offered little hope of recovery to individuals affected by these and other devastating illnesses and injuries. Until now. Recent developments in stem cell research may hold the key to improved treatments. if not cures. for those affected by Alzheimers disease. diabetes. spinal cord injury and countless other conditions. Many men. women and children who are cancer survivors are already familiar with the lifesaving applications of adult stem cell research. Patients with leukemia or lymphoma often undergo bone marrow transplants. ","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7941,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090159134,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Now. why do we want multiple cell lines? It goes back to the issue I have been talking about all day. It is called tissue rejection. That is the wonder of adult stem cells and germ cell pluripotent stem cells versus embryonic. With embryonic. there is rejection because there is an allergy to the foreign tissue. It is called the HLA. histocompatibility complex. The only way around that. with fetal embryonic stem cells. is to clone yourselfthe only way you will get around it. And it will only work well in women. Only if you clone yourself with your own egg do you avoid all the allergy implications of foreign tissue. So I think it is very important that weit is OK to have this debate. but some of the claims we hearwe actually heard. and I know he did not mean this. Senator SPECTER talking about embryos injected into the pulp of the tooth to create a new set of teeth. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5188,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090159143,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If I might. as a manager. we are on strict.time limits. At 5 oclock. Senator KENNEDY gets 25 minutes and then 5 minutes goes to Senator REED. At 5:30. it goes back to the other side. If we take time\" here and there. it spills over. and someone is going to lose time.","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":266,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090159175,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"LouisPost Dispatch: A choice between two understandings of human life. On one hand. we have millions of people who suffer from ALS. Alzheimers. juvenile diabetes. Parkinsons. spinal cord injuries and cancerand the loved ones -who care for them and suffer by their sides. On the other hand. we have tiny bundles of unfertilized cells existing in petri dishes. He went on to write. the people who oppose stem cell research: should explain to the afflicted and their loved ones why they care more about those cell bundles than they do about the people. This Stem- Cell Research Enhancement Act has been supported by go many groups. I ask unanimous consent. Mr. President. to have the names of some of those groups printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3928,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090159198,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is vital that we continue to conduct important medical research and continue producing these types of results providing hope for patients and their families. I am very thankful for the accom: plishments that have been made in modern medicine. those of which many of us have already enjoyed or perhaps will in the future. However. I see the life changing results that have come from adult stem cell research. and cant help but compare these to the lack of results we have seen from embryonic stem cell research which has not provided the concrete benefits to patients that we have seen otherwise. We should not discount the possibilities surrounding the discoveries that lie ahead within medical research. but. since we have seen results from alternative types of stem cell research. not involving embryonic stem cells. should we spend federal money on researching something that has yielded few positive results? I have seen positive results from the research we have done in the area of adult stem cell research. In fact. an overwhelming proportion of privately funded research is going towards adult stem cell research. This is a strong indication of what researchers think regarding the direction of future stem cell research. Adult stem cells and- other similar alternatives have helped thousands of patients throughout the world. while the results of embryonic stem cell research have not helped any one patient yet. I have seen the proven results and lives that have benefited from the research done on adult stem cells. It has been proven -that the results of this research have created procedures that have assisted in saving lives. and curing illnesses. ","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3459,"word_count":273}
{"speech_id":1090159202,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":14,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. next week it will may be 75. but for this week it is 72. My point in saying highlighting this is that some have said they really question whether we are getting that many treatments. There have only been nine FDAapproved full clinical trials. full treatment areas using adult stem cells. Okay. I will take that. I do not know if that is an accurate number. But remember that FDA is the standard where you have to go through clinical trials 1 and 2 to get the application and get it tested before it is fully used. I note that people are challenging how many areas of adult stem cell are being treated. I welcome this debate. ","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9575,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090159227,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to speak in. support. of a resolution the Senate is expected to soon consider. and which I have cosponsored. along with Senator FRIST. who is the lead sponsor. and Senators RED. BIDEN. SANTORUM. NELSON of Florida. KYL. BOND. and LEVIN. It is a resolution that condemns Hezbollah and expresses support for Israels right to self defense. All of us are watching in horror what is happening there. and I think it is important that the United States Senate speak forcefully in support of our President. ","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2731,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090159231,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Territories. the District of Columbia. and American Indian Consortia in building or enhancing coordinated systems of communitybased services and supports for children and adults with traumatic brain injuries. In addition. when Congress first authorized the Traumatic Brain Injury Act as part of the Childrens Health Act of 2000. it had the foresight to -include funding for the Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Traumatic Brain Injury Program. This program has played a crucial role because individuals with traumatic brain injury have help in returning to work. finding a place to live. accessing needed supports and services such as attendant care and assistive technology. and obtaining appropriate mental health. substance abuse. and rehabilitation services. Often those with brain injuriesincluding our returning veteransare forced to remain in extremely expensive institutional settings far longer than necessary because the communitybased supports and services they need are not available. Effective protection and advocacy services for people with traumatic brain injury can lead both to reduced Government expenditures and increased productivity. independence and community integration for patients. However. those who advocate for the iiijured must possess specialized skills and the work is often timeintensive. This legislation also provides funding for critical CDC programs that provide extremely important surveillance and injury prevention information. In a time when both the administration and Congress are searching for programs that provide the right kind of \"bang for the Federal buck.\" the recent findings in an Institute of Medicine March 2006 report show that the TBI programs work. Last year the various programs in the TBI bill were funded for a total of only $12 millionyet look at the good they do. Not only should these programs be reauthorized. the funding also should be increased. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3907,"word_count":284}
{"speech_id":1090159232,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Whistleblowers in the executive branch have helped me do my job of oversight. We have done a good job to make sure that whistleblowers in the executive branch are protected. It is simply not fair. nor is it good governance for Congress to enact whistleblower protections on the other branches of Government without giving its own employees the same consideration. This bill merely extends those same protections that other Government employees enjoy to Congresss own employees. I fully back hardworking Government employees who serve to protect our country. and I hope my colleagues will join me. Congress needs to make sure that its own employees can speak up without retaliation when they blow the whistle on fraud. waste. or abuse. . Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the text of this bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1574,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090159239,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on behalf of the leader. I ask unanimous consent that floor privileges be granted for the duration of the stem cell debate to the following: Dr. Roger Johns of Senator HATCHS office. Laura Holland. Jeff McCaffrey. Jon Koegler. Martina Bebin. and Dave Schmickel of Senator ENZIS office. and Nicole Weitz of Senator FRISTS office.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":343,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090159243,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on behalf of Senator ROCKEFELLER. I ask unanimous consent that the following legislative fellows in his office be accorded floor privileges for the duration of Senate consideration of stem cell bills. and on all votes thereon: Dr. Al Pheley. a Robert Wood Johnson fellow. and Bruce Gilberg. an American Association for the Advancement of Sciences fellow.","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":369,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090159281,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. in 1972 Congress enacted the Marine Mammal Protection Act to protect marine mammals from harmful human activities. It is a landmark statute in our pantheon of national environmental laws. providing for the conservation and management of whales. dolphins. porpoises. seals. sea lions. and other marine mammals. In the past. consideration of amendments to MMPA was done on a bipartisan basis. such as significant changes made by Congress in 1994. However. during this Congress. I have stood opposed to further consideration of MMPA legislation the Resources Committee approved almost 1 year to this day. until today. Let me emphasize that my opposition was until today. This was because the bill would have eliminated a fundamental mandate of MMPA known as the \"deadline for the zero rate mortality goal.\" In other words. we. as a Nation. are to strive to put into place management regimes which will reduce. and ideally eliminate. marine mammal fatalities at the hands of human beings. The troublesome provision which would have eliminated the deadline has been dropped from the legislation we are now considering. In this regard I would like to express my appreciation to Chairman POMBO for agreeing to this. and I am pleased to say that I support the bill as amended today and urge its approval by this body. ","speaker_name":"NICK RAHALL","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1372,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090159321,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":16,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in opposition of H.R. 3496 for several reasons. Number one. . Mr. Speaker. I dont quite understand why this is on the suspension calendar today. Second of all. Mr. Speaker. the Federal taxpayer is paying a lot of money already to help subsidize this particular transit system. ","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10714,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090159325,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of the bill. The bill brings accountability. I have a note here and I quote. \"CBO expects that the proposed amendment would not authorize any additional appropriations.\" I would read that one more time: \"CBO expects that the proposed amendment would not authorize any additional appropriations.\" I rise in supportof the bill. H.R. 3496. the National Capital Transportation Amendments Act. The legislation would ensure. and what Mr. DAVIS is trying to do. accountability for the Federal funding that is provided to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. or. as they call it. Metro. ","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2060,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090159335,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Before I begin. I would ask unanimous consent to put the memorandum from Greg Waring of the Congressional Budget Office into the RECORD noting that OBO has reviewed the proposed amendment and it does not authorize any additional appropriations. score of zero.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":259,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090159346,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Last years devastating hurricanes that struck New Orleans and much of the gulf region provide a recent example of circumstances where this bill would help ensure that justice can continue to be administered. The version of H.R. 3729 we consider today reflects bipartisan. clarifying changes adopted in committee based on discussions with the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts and the Department of Justice. This legislation .preserves the primacy of State law by expressly providing that the bills authority does not extend to any statute of limitation for a criminal or civil action if the claim arises under State law and extending that limitation would be inconsistent with the governing State law. Additionally. the bill expressly provides that the bill not be construed to authorize suspension of habeas corpus. and places a limitation of 14 days on the amount of time a deadline may be extended or tolled while preserving the ability of a judge to seek additional time extensions. Finally. this legislation requires that * a court issuing an order to toll or delay deadlines make all reasonable efforts to publicize the order on the Web sites of the Federal judiciary and all affected courts and notify the House and Senate Judiciary Committees vhen such action is taken. Mr. Speaker. this bill helps ensure that the fair and timely administration of justice. which is central to our form of government. is not imperiled by natural disasters or other emergency circumstances. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation. Mr. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2643,"word_count":250}
{"speech_id":1090159384,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I was unable to cast recorded votes on rollcall Nos. 375 and Snyder Sodrel Solis Souder Spratt Stark Stearns Stupak Sullivan Tancredo Tanner Tauscher Taylor (MS) Taylor (NC) Thomas Thompson (CA) Thompson (MS) Thornberry Tiahrt Tiberi Tierney Turner Udall (CO) Udall (NM) Upton Van Hollen Velazquez Visclosky Walden (OR) Walsh Wamp Wasserman Schultz Waters Watson Watt Weldon (FL) Weldon (PA) Westmoreland Whitfield Wicker Wilson (NM) Wilson (SC) Wolf Woolsey Wu Wynn Young (AK) 377. Had I been present. I would have voted \"yea\" on both votes.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BILIRAKIS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":555,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090159385,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I was absent from Washington on Monday. July 17. 2006. As a result. I was not recorded for rollcall votes Nos. 375. 376 and 377. Had I been present. I would have voted \"yea\" on rollcall Nos. 375 and 377. I would have voted \"nay\" on rollcall No. 376.","speaker_name":"MARK GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":262,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090159388,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"ida. Mr. Speaker. I rise in. support of the bill H.R. 4075. the Marine Mammals Protection Act. legislation that protects a true wonder ofnature. the Florida manatee. Living in Floridas streams. swamps. and rivers. manatees are beloved throughout my district and especially in Citrus County. The Marine Mammals Protection Act provides new and increased protections for the manatees from fishermen and from wildlife loss. Chairman RICHARD POMBO deserves credit for bringing this bill -up for a vote and helping to protect one of Floridas most precious natural resources. Mr. Speaker. this legislation will provide grants and protections to help ensure that Floridas sea cows will be around for my grandchildren. my great grandchildren. and everyone to enjoy years into the future. There actually is a preserve in my area where the manatees. once they are injured. can go for treatment. and it is a wonderful. wonderful resource. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA BROWN-WAITE","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":987,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090159392,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Border Patrol and Hidalgo County. Texas. sheriffs deputies patrolling the Rio Grande River. the international border between Mexico and the United States. stumbled upon two boys from Mexico that were running from outlaws on the Mexican side. They had just raided their ranch and kidnapped their father and killed a ranch hand. so they were fleeing these criminals. They were swimming to the safety of the United States. They were hiding in the cornfields of Mexico for several hours while machine gun carrying killers were looking for them. But violence did not end on the Mexican side of the river where it started. The victims swam across the river to their escape into the hands of U.S. law enforcement officers. Seconds after stumbling on the boys. law enforcement officers on the border and sheriffs deputies were engulfed in a barrage of bullets. The bad guys on the Mexican side of the border. these thugs who were lying in wait. would wait no more. and they decided to fire on American peace officers from their side of the river. As many as 10 men with machine guns turned their guns to fire 200 to 300 rounds of ammunition at law enforcement officers on the American side of the river. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3680,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090159397,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. tomorrow the House will take up H. Res. 784. a resolution I introduced that honors Radio Al Mahaba. an Iraqi radio station that offers the Middle Easts only programming for women. The station began broadcasting on April 1. 2005. as an educational tool for the women of Iraq. Historically. Iraqi women were extremely well educated. but the educational oppression brought on by Saddam Hussein led to the illiteracy rate for women rising to 75 percent. Saddams regime drove women back to confinement and the extremists restricted them with harsh rules and practices. mostly imported from Iran and Saudi Arabia. After Saddam was ousted. the women of Iraq needed some way to reach out to all women nationwide. to talk to them directly and provide help. Bushra Jamil. an Iraqi who was living in Canada. saw this as an opportunity to empower the women of Iraq as it transitioned to a democracy. Bushra returned home and created Radio Al Mahaba. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MCCARTHY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4216,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090159408,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mobridge. located near the North Dakota border along the Missouri River. it is a regional trade center. larger than the other towns that I mentioned. It had the driest 6 months ever recorded in that community. only 2.23 inches of precipitation over an entire half year. This is less than 25 percent of their average rainfall. This is farm and ranch country and the effects have been devastating. Agricultural conditions are very dire and deteriorating. I have heard reports of ranchers completely liquidating their cattle herds as feed and water disappear. There is insufficient grass to get the entire herd through the summer. there is no hay to get these animals through the fall and winter. Wheat fields have burned up and hopes for a decent corn and soybean harvest are fading fast. The record high temperatures of last week have come at the time that the corn is tasseling. a critical time for the crop. A farmer can lose up to 8 percent of yield a day under conditions of such severe stress. ","speaker_name":"STEPHANIE HERSETH SANDLIN","chamber":"H","state":"SD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5617,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090159420,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The U.S.-Oman FTA is. after all. a comprehensive and highstandard agreement. High standards are provided for including comprehensive protection for intellectual property rights. government procurement transparency. and trade facilitation. Developing a highquality FTA with Oman will establish a high \u00a7tandard for all of the other Gulf Cooperation Council Members and set a very high standard for them to meet. Consequentially. the FTA represents a significafit benefit to U.S. trade that extends well beyond those benefits that currently exist in Oman. The FTA establishes a secure. predictable. legal framework for U.S. investors in Oman and includes highstandard legal protection for their model on U.S. legal principles. such as substantive due process and the ability to comment on proposed laws and regulations. Mr. Speaker. the FTA. also creates and expands opportunities for U.S. goods and services. This FTA will broaden and strengthen the bilateral. commercial relationship between the United States and Oman beyond the approximately $748 million generated in twoway trade during 2004. One hundred percent of this bilateral trade in consumer and industrial products will become duty free under this agreement. The U.S.-Oman FTA will build upon the trade and investment framework agreement signed between our two countries on July 7. 2004. and will spur continued growth of U.S. direct investment which in 2003 was $358 million. a substantial increase over the previous year. ","speaker_name":"PHILIP ENGLISH","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9740,"word_count":223}
{"speech_id":1090159424,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Because the gentleman really was. on the floor. our leading not only advocate for but expert on the Bahrain FTA. comparing this free trade agreement and the commitment the government has made on top of it at a time certain. to the agreement. made by Bahrain. how does this compare in strength?","speaker_name":"PHILIP ENGLISH","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":293,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090159442,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. the gentleman makes a great premise that he asks us to respond to. But what I would like to do. if I could. is respond by quoting from a column in the New York Times yesterday by Frank Rich. who said: \"The Bush doctrine was a doctrine in name only. a sales strategy contrived to dress up the single mission of regime change in Iraq with the philosophical grandiosity worthy of FDR. There was never any serious intention of militarily preempting either Iran or North Korea whose nuclear ambitions were as naked then as they are now. or striking the countries that unlike Iraq were major enablers of Islamic terrorism. Axis of evil was merely a classier brand name from the same sloganeering folks who gave us compassionate conservatism. and a uniter not a divider.\" Madam Speaker. with that I would like to yield to my distinguished colleague from New York .","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":872,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090159450,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The violence that we are witnessing on a daily basis in Iraq is absolutely unconscionable. The violence is such that not only are the Sunnis being attacked by the Shiias. but innocent people are being killed. Civilians are being killed day in and day out. .and to tell you the truth. M. LARSON. and other Members here and Mr. DELAHUNT who has worked on this issue so long and so hard. I think it is easy for us to conclude at this point. no matter how difficult it is. that we have destabilized Iraq with our occupation. When we went into Iraq supposedly because they had weapons of mass destruction and discovered that there were none. when we decided to change our tune. that is. the President of the United States and talk about wanting to instill a democratic government. the American people said. okay. the President of the United States must know what he is talking about. So they have a new government. Saddam Hussein. is behind bars. ","speaker_name":"MAXINE WATERS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":35.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3674,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090159451,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I think the gentlewoman asks a very legitimate question. but I do not think you were present in the Chamber when I referred to a statement dated July13 coming from the Afghan defense minister. a gentleman by the name of Abdul Rahim Wardak. who said that the Afghan Army cannot secure the country without at least 150.000 more troops. five times what it has today. and that in his opinion. and he clearly represents the sentiment of the government. it is an opportunity for the United States to double the assistance given to Afghanistan. In other words. we left Afghanistan before we finished the job. What I find particularly interesting is that we do not hear that from this administration. but the new head of NATO. the NATO force in Afghanistan.. a British general. David Richards. made this observation: Afghanistans Taliban rebels have taken advantage of a power vacuum and grown stronger because the worlds attention has been distracted by Iraq. How true. I agree with him. I agree with him. And if one looks around the landscape again. I am sure it has not been on the front page. but we all here present in this Chamber today know what is happening in Somalia. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1578,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090159452,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. if the gentleman would yield. I would just like to expand on a point that the gentlewoman from California made. She talked about the report in todays New York Times that Sunni leadership is now asking American troops to stay to deal with the sectarian violence. and it points out the folly. if you will. of what purports to be our exit strategy. I mean. the President has said repeatedly that as the Iraqi Army stands up. then we will stand down. We have now stood up a significant number of Iraqi soldiers and law enforcement officers. and yet here we have the Sunni leadership. .which has been adamantly opposed to our presence in the country. adamantly \"opposed to our occupation of the country. now asking us to stay. And so what does that suggest? It suggests that we do not have an exit strategy at all. or the one that has been put out there by the President is one that has absolutely no chance of yielding any kind of beneficial result in Iraq.","speaker_name":"TIMOTHY BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":968,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090159456,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. we have had years of failed policy. No one has been held accountable. What do we expect in the years ahead and the days ahead and the months ahead from an administration that refuses to hold those who get it wrong accountable and ignores all those who get it right?","speaker_name":"CHRIS VAN HOLLEN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2875,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090159460,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Will the gentleman yield? The gentlemen. I think. words of both my distinguished colleagues from Massachusetts and Maryland are summed up very well in Frank Richs article yesterday when he said. This Presidency never had a vision for the world. It. instead. had an idea fixed on one country. Iraq. and in pursuit of that obsession. recklessly harnessed American power to a gutdriven improvisation and PR strategies. not doctrine. that has not changed. even now. And with that. let me at this point recognize our colleague. the distinguished lady from Texas. who has also come to the floor this evening.","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":602,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090159474,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":17,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we come with thirdparty validators. We come with the facts to share with the American people. and we come to let the American people know. and Members on the majority side. that we have the will and the desire to lead. and we will if we have the opportunity after November. I just wanted to share a few things because there are a lot of folks that are out there saying that they are fighting on behalf of the everyday American. So I thought I would just bring a couple of visual aids. and also some information. This is the source of the College Board 2005 as it relates to the census and what Americans are dealing with. I want to start with this next chart here. I want to start with this chart. Minimum wage. And this is real economic change under Bush. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10914,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090159480,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Just show it. I hope that those that are watching can see the cover. Except I would expand on the title. \"Energy Plan.\" I would add a dash. and I would add the words \"A Blueprint to Win the War Against Terrorism.\" because therein. in that plan. lies the secret. and it shouldnt be a secret. because I think it is obvious to many of us. that if we can adopt an energy plan. no longer will we find ourselves hostage to governments and societies that disagree with our values. And that is the case now. \/ Six years into this administration. and gas has gone from $1.40 a gallon at the pump to now it is over $3. The Middle East is destabilizing. But the reality is. and we spoke about this. myself and some other colleagues earlier. today we are losing the war on terror. At least that i& the opinion of people. including the American people. in 34 countries out of 35 where a poll commissioned by the BBC was taken. Just recently. a bipartisan group of experts in foreign policy and national security concluded that we are losing the war on terror. Now. in the previous hour my good friend from Iowa made the observation. why should we care whether people like us or not? Why should we care? Because. again. if you take a look other polls. and not just. by the way. in the Middle East. but on every continent. the image of the United States is poor. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2250,"word_count":254}
{"speech_id":1090159482,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I didnt want the world to know that. but you let that secret out. The story reads. \"U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 to oust the radical Taliban regime. Although the country now has a democraticallyelected government. the Taliban has been making a comeback.\" Now to quote the Secretary. This is Mr. Rumsfeld. \"Western Europe ought to have an enormous interest in the success of Afghanistan. and it is going to take a lot more effort on their part for the Karzai government to be successful.\" He was alluding to the President of Afghanistan. Mr. Karzai. E 2330. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3043,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090159501,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I did. actually. I think we also have a graphic depiction of that. But really what this comes down to. Mr. DELAHUNT. is a -clear indication of who is for immigration enforcement and border security. and who is just kidding. who is in favor of putting action behind. the words. and who just speaks the words. There is one more statistic that was more difficult to graphically depict. so I will go through this last one. which is also important. because the Bush administration has touted that in its first 5 years. it caught and returned 6 million undocumented individuals. That is actually a drop in any 5year period under the Clinton administration. So. you know. this is all just a lot of puffery. a whole lot of chestpounding. which they seem to be really. really good at. But when you scratch below the surface. just a little bit. there is no depth. there is nothing there. -And. clearly. the former House Speaker. Mr. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1681,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090159504,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"\"-\" This is where we are because this leadership. our Republican colleagues. time right now. when the President have just been totally willing to cede and the 109th Congress is history makpower. just give up the legislative au- ing. not history making being the Conthority that we have. and say. Mr. ig o itr aigbigteCn gress that did so much for the AmerPresident. you take it. we are out. ican people but the Congress that alSo Mr. Gingrich had something else lows the President of the United States to say just the other day. He said the to ge thi nt in a poito tatei correct answer is for the American peo- to get this country in a position that it ple to just start firing people. is in because the checks and balances I dont think he was talking about that are in the Constitution and how anything other than this fall during we are supposed to govern and carry the elections. because they are not. out oversight was not adhered to. they are clearly. they clearly do not Here it is. Time magazine. The End have their priorities straight. They of Cowboy Democracy. what Korea. clearly only speak words and dont Iraq and Iran teaches us about the limback them up with action. They clearly its of going it alone. And then you go only bob their heads up and down like on to page 20. and it talks about how the bobblehead Republicans that they the White House has just now realized have been and rubberstamp everything that they have a problem. that the President asks them to do. Now. it would be okay if it was just There it is right there. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2960,"word_count":286}
{"speech_id":1090159507,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So. instead of changing course and moving us in a new direftion. the Republicans want to continue to go in the direction that we are continuing. that Americans are so frustrated with. This very week they are going to focus on the politics of distraction because. as we shine a light on what is really going on. then the American people would become even more frustrated than they already are. Mr. Speaker. all of our charts in the 30 Something Working Group and the things we discussed tonight will be up on our Web site. People can log on to www.HouseDemocrats.gov\/ 30Something. We encourage the Members to take a look at all the things we have got up there. and I yield back to","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":679,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090159603,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"A broad consensus in New York and across our country has brought us to this debate and vote. There has been an upsurge of demand. It has crossed every line we can imagine. certainly partisan lines. ethnic. racial. geographic lines. People in every corner of our Nation are demanding that we in Washington open the doors to this promising science. It is long overdue. but finally we are at this point. My friends. Christopher and Dana Reeve. whom we have lost in the last several years. were eloquent. passionate advocates for this research. Christopher. from his wheelchair. performed his greatest role.- He may have been Superman in the movies. but he was a super human being after his accident which paralyzed him. consigned him to a wheelchair to help with his breathing and respiratory functions. But he never gave up. He launched his greatest battle to try to bring our Nation to the point where we would take advantage of the science that is there. ","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6666,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090159630,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is also about keeping Americas research centers competitive and relevant. Stem cell research is likely to be an important area of science and medicine for a long time to come. Instead of treading water. as we have done under President Bushs stem cell policy. America should be leading the way and making other countries play catchup. instead of us playing catchup to them. We have done this in the past. The United States has always.been a valuable contributor to the prevention and treatment of illness. We have developed vaccines and antibiotics that have saved literally millions of lives. We have made tremendous advances in the areas of biotechnology and pharmaceutical research. Now we have an opportunity to make a national commitment to expand the frontiers of medical research once again. If we focus our resources and attention today to find cures. we will save lives. and we will save money in the long run. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5584,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090159641,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Researchers can unlock enormous po- tentia:l in stem cell research if Congress will only give them the key. At the University of Wisconsin in 1998. Dr. James Thomson became the first scientist to break into this new frontier by isolating human embryoni c stem cells. Since then. researchers at the university have been able to coax embryonic stem cells to develop into mature blood cells. which could provide treatments and cures for people with a range of currently incurable diseases. By further examining the potential of stem cells. scientists at the University of Wisconsin have also successfully developed neural cells. and they have even transferred these cells successfully into mice. where the cells continued to thrive. The possibilities here are .clear: If technology such as this is able to expand. those with neurological disorders and bleak prognoses may now have hope. Despite its incredible promise. this research has unfortunately been limited by the President since 2001. It is time for Congress to take the necessary action to provide more stem cell lines to scientists so that this research can go forward. without the Federal Government standing in the way. The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act would allow federally funded research to be conducted on stem cell lines derived from excess embryos created for in vitro fertilization. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4723,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090159675,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I support passage of H.R. 810. the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005. Research using embryonic stem cells will likely play an important role in developing treatments and cures for conditions such as diabetes. heart disease. Parkinsons. Alzheimers. cancer. and other devastating diseases. With the appropriate safeguards in place over the use of stem cell tissues. the potential improvements to our quality of life and our standards of care should be pursued. It is clear from my conversations with scientists representing many disciplines that the stem cell lines permitted under the administrations policy allowing Federal funding from embryonic stem cell research on those cell lines in existence on August 9. 2001. are no longer adequate to allow them to pursue the breakthroughs in treatments afid cures which stem cell research promises. This bill does not allow embryos to be created for use in research. rather. it allows scientists to use embryos that already exist in storage at fertility clinics that would otherwise be destroyed. It does not make sense to me to discard embryos that might otherwise be used to find a cure for cancer. diabetes. or Alzheimers because it is \"taking a life.\" These embryos are slated for destruction in any case. None of the bills before us today would prohibit the destruction of unwanted embryos created in fertility clinics but then unused. I hope that my colleagues would prefer to have this research conducted in our country where appropriate safeguards to prevent cloning of human beings may be put into place. ","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1961,"word_count":254}
{"speech_id":1090159689,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Every time I see Jim Cordy. he displays an hour glass. He inverts it. and as the sand passes from one part of the hour glass to the lower. Jim Cordy makes the dramatic point that is the way his life is slipping away in the absence of utilizing all means possible to cure Parkinsons. The number one possibility is embryonic stem cell research. Senator BROWNBACK and I had a debate where- he challenged me on when life began. and I retortedsuffering from Hodgkins cancer myselfthe question on- my mind was when life ended. Life will never begin for these embryos because there are 400.000 frozen embryos in the US. Notwithstanding millions of dollars appropriated to encourage adoption. only 128 have been adopted. So those lives will not begin. but many other lives will end if we do not use all the scientific resources available. In bygone years. Galileo was prosecuted when he insisted the world was round. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1982,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090159695,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in just a few moments we will be voting on three bills. The first bill we will be voting on is the Fetus Farming Prohibition Act. The second bill we will be voting on is the alternative means. the alternative ways of deriving stem cells. And the third is the House bill in support of research which is derived from blastocysts. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent it be in order to ask for the yeas and nays on all three bills en bloc.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":453,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090159727,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the minority leader of our committee who has done such a good job. Let me announce what I would like to do and see if there is any objection. I will not pose this as a UC. but I will mention we have some people who do have to leave. We had announced earlier we would go straight to the Boxer amendment. I am in support of the Boxer amendment. and that is not going to take a long time. However. she has graciously agreed -to let the Senator from Michigan go in advance of her for 10 minutes. The question I would like to ask the Senator from Michigan is. would it be permissible. and not counted against -the time of the Senator from California. if Senator SANTORUM went for 3 minutes prior to you? This is at the conclusion of the remarks of the Senator from Missouri. Would that be all right? It would put you off only 3 minutes.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":854,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090159779,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Could I interrupt just for a moment? I would like at this point to yield a few minutes. whatever time is necessary off of our time. to the Senator from Missouri who has another committee hearing and would like to take his time now. Would that be acceptable?","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":257,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090159792,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the argument that the Senator from Oklahoma makes about a 2005 report by the Corps of Engineers is flatly contradicted by the certification by the Coast Guard and the American Bureau of Shipping as of March 23. 2006. after the 2005 report referred to by the Senator from Oklahoma. that the McFarland requires no rehabilitation and remains operational and available to perform dredge work. I yield 10 minutes to the Senator from Delaware.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":452,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090159825,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. my wife Fran and I recently attended a very moving memorial dedication ceremony in Sunbury. OH. to honor and to remember the brave Ohio men and women who have died fighting for our country in Iraq and Afghanistan. These courageous service memberswith the many faces of Ohiocame from the smallest villages in our state and from the largest cities. Some came from our farms. Some were born here in Ohio and in America. Others came to this state and this country from many. -many miles away. Some were 18 or 19 years old. Some were in their 40s. Some were Privates and Lance Corporals. while one was a Lieutenant Colonel. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4163,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090159826,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today with a heavy heart and deep sense of gratitude to honor the life of a brave soldier from northern Indiana. Jeffrey McLochlin. father of three. died on July 5 in smallarms fire in OrgunE. Afghanistan. Jeffrey risked everything to fight for the values Americans hold close to our hearts. in a land halfway around the -world. A city police officerin Rochester. Jeffrey had been a National Guardsman for 19 years. He was training Afghan soldiers in police tactics and was on patrol with coalition and Afghan forces when he was shot by antigovernment forces. Jeffrey was on his second tour of duty and had previously served his country in 2004 on a NATO peacekeeping mission in BosniaHerzegovina. ","speaker_name":"EVAN BAYH","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3477,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090159831,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Debo P. Adegbile. Associate Director of Litigation of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Inc.. testified about some examples of the types of evidence in the record: The Record before this Congress presents continued evidence of such violations. and highlights the necessity for continued review of voting changes to protect minority voters in covered jurisdictions. For example. since the VRAs 1982 renewal. violations of minority voting rights have taken the form of last minute election date or polling place changes. discrimination at the polls. and familiar dilutive tactics of \"cracking\" and \"packing\" minority voting districts. Objections to voting changes interposed by DOJ are one category of evidence relevant to the persistence of discrimination in covered jurisdictions. Although several witnesses pointed to a recent reduction in VRA objections as a reason to oppose extension of section 5. in fact there have been more objections in covered jurisdictions since the last reauthorization in 1982608than there were before that reauthorization. including 80 statewide section 5 objections. However. these objections only reveal a chapter of a much longer story. Mr. Adegbile also testified: Although many VRA opponents and commentators point to a recent reduction in DOJ objections as evidence of the decreasing need. for Section 5this analysis oversimplifies the many ways in which the law serves to protect minority voters. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9047,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090159834,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I congratulate the Owensboro Catholic Elementary sixth grade Future Problem Solving Team of Owensboro. KY. The Future Problem Solving Team recently earned the State championship in their division. placing first out of about 50 teams. They went on to compete at the international conference in Colorado and placed 22nd out of 55 teams. The Future Problem Solving Program is a nationally recognized. awardwinning program that seeks to increase awareness for the future and encourage creativity in students of all ages. Over 50.000 students participate in the competitive components associated with future problem solving and community problem solving. Of these. less than 3 percent earn an invitation to the prestigious international event. I congratulate the Owensboro Catholic Elementary sixth grade Future Problem Solving Team for their achievement. The administrators. teachers. parents. and students of this team are an inspiration to the citizens of Kentucky. ","speaker_name":"JIM BUNNING","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1072,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090159846,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am pleased to join my colleague. Senator ALEXANDER. in introducing legislation that would create the Americas Opportunity Scholarships for Kids. First proposed by President Bush. this legislation will provide children who are in schools designated for restructuring with scholarships either for the .cost of tuition at a private school or for sustained. supplemental educational services. The No Child Left Behind Act set up a structure for schools to get evaluated annually to determine whether they are meeting adequate yearly progress. Schools are designated for restructuring after 6 years of poor student academic achievement. Children are often- trapped in these circumstances. and this legislation will help provide them with either a way out or additional services to increase their academic achievement levels. I believe that the Americas Opportunity Scholarships for Kids will provide true school choice across the country. Competitiveness and innovation are two of the latest buzz words that surround education. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4319,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090159847,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"President. under the bipartisan leadership of Representative ESHOO. and Representative ROGERS. the House approved identical legislation last week. I hope that the Senate will also pass this needed legislation as soon as possible.","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2025,"word_count":33}
{"speech_id":1090159897,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to express concern about Pakistans links to last weeks terrorist attacks on Indian civilians. Although slow moving. the peace process between India and Pakistan was promising. and I am afraid that Pakistan now stands in the way of further progress. First. I would like to express my deepest condolences to the families and friends of the victims of these devastating attacks. On the same day that terrorists hit Mumbai trains in the evening. similar coordinated attacks H5284 co occurred in Srinagar. Kashmir earlier in the morning. As a result. over 200 people have died and more than 700 have been injured. These attacks were senseless acts of terrorism and violence. ","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3306,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090159913,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today I rise to celebrate the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Regional Health Forum that was held on July 7 in Los Angeles. California. The Hispanic Caucus and Congressmember JOHN CONYERS from the Black Caucus came together with over 200 community activists to find a new direction to battle health care disparities in disadvantaged communities. The new direction that we have adopted ensures quality health care that is accessible. affordable and culturally and linguistically appropriate. An accessible and culturally sensitive health care system is critical to addressing conditions that disproportionately impact communities of color like. for example. diabetes. obesity. kidney disease. HIV and AIDS. and mental illness. All these chronic illnesses affect our communities. The new direction developed at the forum is one where community members. providers and policymakers at the local. State and Federal levels come together to collaborate to end health care disparities. and we plan for solutions in the next upcoming congressional session. ","speaker_name":"HILDA SOLIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1272,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090159939,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speakpletely shutdown and stifled if this er. I thank my good friend from Massaamendment were to pass. chusetts for yielding me time. Our Constitution. the most cherished Mr. Speaker. you knowwe have a document embodying the American conflagration in the Middle East today Dream of life. liberty and the pursuit as we speak. We have raised the debt of happiness. should not be amended to ceiling four times to over $9 trillion. single out and deny the rights of any and we are going to pass it all on to our one group of Americans. This divisive. kids. And yet this is how the Repubhateful. and unnecessary amendment is lican congressional leadership chooses unworthy of our great Constitution to spend its time. that has been the foundation of our Nobodys marriage is endangered. great Nation. What this is really about and what this I urge my colleagues to reject this amendment should be entitled is the rule and to vote against the amend- \"Gay Discrimination Act.\" That is all ment. it is. And what is its motivation? It is","speaker_name":"TAMMY BALDWIN","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4702,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090159949,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I think it is pretty clear. The gentleman wants to talk about the fact that this should be a church issue. I agree with you. I wish it were. if it were not for these activist Federal judges and these public officials. I will remind the gentleman from Missouri. the good Reverend. that they will be the one that would be performing these marriages and they would do it to a faretheewell. Mr. Speaker. I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. DANIEL","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":948,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090159960,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So this is not an amendment about activist judges. This is an amendment that says no State by whatever process. including a referendum. can make this decision. Why? I also feel strengthened in my advocacy of a cause when people wont tell me their real arguments against it. I think this is motivated. frankly. by a dislike of those of us who are gay and lesbian on the part of those who are the main motivators. You know. we are told dont take things personally. but I take this personally. I take it personally when people decide to take political batting practice with my life. when people decide that they would demonize. not just me. I am old. I am over it. but young people who are just starting out. who find themselves. for reasons they cant explain. attracted to someone of the same sex. and they are demonized in this House of Representatives as if they are a threat to marriage. That is the biggest nonsensical statement of all. Yes. marriage between a man and woman who are in love is a good thing. ","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5306,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090159969,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Reclaiming my time. I think that the gentlewoman from Colorado and those of us who support this constitutional amendment feel that this is all about marriage that results. or potentially can result. in the procreation of children. This is what our Constitution has implied for 223 years and. indeed. what the word of God has implied for 2.000 years. With that. I will continue to reserve the balance of my time for the purpose of closing.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":438,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090159979,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would not want to negate the heroic job that many single parents do every day in providing the necessary support to a childs happiness. But today we are discussing what social policy is best for our children. and I am convinced that the best is found in promoting and defending traditional mar.riage. Are there other important issues? Of course there are. but preserving the institution of marriage. which. as the Supreme Court said many years ago. is \"the foundation of the family and of society. without which there would be neither civilization nor progress.\" certainly warrants a few hours of our time. And even if there are other issues we need to address. as a former Member. one of my favorites. J.C. Watts said. \"Members of Congress are capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time.\" And where are those who say we are wasting time when we were renaming post offices and Federal buildings earlier this year? Mr. Speaker. if we have enough time to rename post offices and Federal buildings. surely we can spend one afternoon debating whether or not the traditional definition of marriage is worth preserving. Others have asked why we need this amendment given that courts in New York. Georgia. and Nebraska have recently turned back challenges to traditional marriage. ","speaker_name":"MARILYN MUSGRAVE","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"F","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6595,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090160009,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"fornia. Mr. Speaker. what I would like to ask is this: Does the gentleman see any problem with society allowing preferential status in some ways to the traditional marriage between a man and a woman? Because that. to me. is what it really comes down to.","speaker_name":"DANIEL LUNGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":253,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090160012,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the debate before us today. as has been highlighted by people from both sides of the aisle. is about a definition of marriage. I think that the point that in the subtlest way has to be made clear. it is something that most Americans understand logically. and that is marriage is not about love. it is about a love that can bearchildren. There is a difference. I love my parents. I love my family. I have friends that I love. But I love my wife and we are married.- Marriage is a love that bears children and replenishes society along those lines. I have been married personally for 31 years. We have six children and even a grandson. ","speaker_name":"W. AKIN","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3203,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090160026,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I wanted to point out to my friend from Missouri that in order to become States in the United States of America. Arizona and Utah had to change their own State constitutions to recognize marriage as a union between one man and one woman in order to do away with polygamy. Mr. Speaker. I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Colorado","speaker_name":"JACK KINGSTON","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":360,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090160059,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That debate should happened in our state legislatures.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SHAYS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2549,"word_count":8}
{"speech_id":1090160060,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thought as a Nation and as a people we had moved so far down the road toward one family. one House. one America. To pass this legislation would be a step backward. The institution of marriage is not begging this Congress for protection. No one is running through the halls of Congress. No one is running around this building saying protect us. Whose marriage is threatened? Whose marriage is in danger if two people. in the privacy of their own hearts. decide they want to be committed to each other? Whose marriage is threatened? Whose marriage is in danger if we decide to recognize the dignity. the worth and humanity of all human beings? The Constitution is a sacred document. It defines who we are as a nation and as a people. Over the years. we have tried to make it more and more inclusive. We cannot turn back. We do not want to go back. ","speaker_name":"JOHN LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1699,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090160063,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It should only be altered in the most extreme circumstances. I believe opening this document to allow such a narrow definition could lead to unintended consequences in the near and far future. Our commitment to federalist principles and to this great Republic must supersede all debates of the day. Furthermore. I strongly believe that one of the most important powers reserved to the States as a result of the 10th Amendment is the act of regulating marriage and family law. This right of States to selfdetermination has protected and sustained our Republic for more than 200 years. While serving in the Florida Senate in 1997. I voted to support a statute stating that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. This statute became State law and was in response to actiontaken by the U.S. Congress to ensure the right of the States to define marriage. ","speaker_name":"MARIO DIAZ-BALART","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3323,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090160067,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of House Joint Resolution 88. Most Americans believe that marriage should be defined as the legal union of one man and one woman. But as we have seen in the past several years. attacks on marriage by unelected and unaccountable judges threaten to destroy this longstanding and widely accepted institution. I firmly believe that activist judges should not be able to overturn the marriage laws of almost every state based on bizarre legal theories. Although I believe we must be extremely careful in amending the Constitution. this is a critically important issue for our country. We must place the vital institution of marriage beyond the reach of activist courts.","speaker_name":"WALTER HERGER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":702,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090160082,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution expressing the sense of the Congress that continuation of the welfare reforms provided for in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 should remain a priority.","speaker_name":"WALTER HERGER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":275,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090160087,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. We have before us today a Republican resolution that should be backdated to the last Democratic President. if it is to be honest. because when America actually made great strides in decreasing poverty it was during that administration. But that is not what we are about today. This is a PR event. H. Con. Res. 438 is a Republican attempt to take a victory lap on something they have done right. I mean on the war and gas prices and everything else. they cannot say anything. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4041,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090160105,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"A policy that keeps children in poverty.","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1157,"word_count":7}
{"speech_id":1090160111,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of the welfare reforms provided in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. .The House is considering H. Con. Res. 438 that expresses the sense of the Congress that continuation of the welfare reforms provided for in the 1996 welfare reform act should remain a priority. The House Resolution marks the 10th anniversary of the 1996 Republicanled enactment of welfare reform. I strongly support H. Con. Res. 438 that celebrates 10 years of success in reducing welfare rolls and helping children and families escape from the cycle of poverty. Ten years ago. ","speaker_name":"TODD TIAHRT","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1362,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090160132,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Captain George A. Wood of New York was killed on November 20. 2003. while fighting the war on terror in Iraq. Wood was on patrol when his tank rolled over an improvised explosive device. At the time. he was assigned to B Company. 1st Battalion. 67th Armor Regiment. 2nd Brigade. 4th Infantry Division. based out of Fort Hood. Texas. Growing up in New Yorks Mohawk Valley. Wood was a football and track star at Notre Dame Junior Senior High School in Utica. New York. ","speaker_name":"KENNY MARCHANT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1121,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090160144,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. 40 years of political turmoil forced many individuals from the Republic of El Salvador to flee the country in search of peace and security in the U.S. Currently. there are over 900.000 Salvadoran Americans living in the U.S. The majority of them have found new homes in California. New York. and the Washington. D.C. metropolitan area. The history of the U.S. is a rich and enduring tapestry woven with the threads of many remarkable lives. cultures and events. The lives. work. and artistry of Salvadoran Americans have added strength. vitality and purpose to that tapestry. The SalvadoranAmerican community continues to make great economic and cultural contribution to the United States. ","speaker_name":"WM. CLAY","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":867,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090160147,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I urge my colleagues to recognize the Salvadoran Americans and pass this resolution.","speaker_name":"HILDA SOLIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3079,"word_count":13}
{"speech_id":1090160150,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I certainly would like to thank the gentleman from Missouri for offering me this opportunity to say a few words in support of this resolution. I certainly want to extend my commendation to the gentlewoman from California for being the chief sponsor of this bill. and I regret to say I should have been an original cosponsor. and I want to be on record that I want to be on as an original cosponsor of this resolution. Madam Speaker. August 6. 1525 means a lot to the Salvadoran Americans in our country. As the gentlewoman from California said earlier. we almost have a million fellow Americans whose ancestry is from El Salvador. On August 6. 1525. the official founding of Villa De San Salvador was declared in the Valle de las Hamacas. or the Valley of the Hammocks. where the indigenous ancestors of El Salvador fought historic battles against the submission and abuse of Spanish colonialism- in order to preserve the life and liberty of the Cuscatleco population. This is very significant and important. Madam Speaker. and I certainly want to say that we truly are a Nation of immigrants. Whether you be from South America. and even if you are from Ireland. we can never forget the problems there. the people starving to death. and there was the Irish potato. ","speaker_name":"ENI FALEOMAVAEGA","chamber":"H","state":"AS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":2110,"word_count":223}
{"speech_id":1090160152,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This bill provides much needed and deserved recognition to the Salvadorian American community for the indelible mark they have made upon the diversity and prominence of our great nation. I urge an \"aye\" vote.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1351,"word_count":34}
{"speech_id":1090160160,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This is a proud heritage that is shared by millions of Italian Americans. and a pride which extends to the Italian National World Cup team. Countless Americans throughout the United States rejoiced at Italys success. and it is with a hearty \"bene fatto\" that I extend congratulations to Italy and to the Italian International Soccer team on winning the 2006 FIFA World Cup. I urge my colleagues to do likewise by agreeing to this resolution. Madam Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1598,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090160199,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"While these women have hope. they understand that the future is very uncertain. Irknow my colleagues join me in expressing our strong support and solidarity with the women of Iraq as they fight for the rights to which they are entitled. I urge a \"yes\" vote on this important resolution.","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2270,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090160200,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H. Res. 784. a resolution that would celebrate Radio Al Mahaba. the first and only radio station for women in Iraq. Located in a country that only just recently employed a democratic system. Radio Al Mahaba is a true symbol of the rights associated with that system. In Iraqs history. women were typically.denied their basic rights. Radio Al Mahaba. which means \"Voice of Women.\" firstwent on the air on April 1. 2005 and represents just the opposite of this norm. It has become a forum where women can voice and discuss opinions and practice their freedoms of speech and the press. The station offers speaking opportunities for local volunteers and female journalists. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1488,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090160201,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I support the format facilitated by the radio station because it provides women with a long overdue venue where they can tell their stories. share their ambitions and express their fears. When calling the radio station. these women address a wide range of personal and political issues that have a direct affect on them as women. The format allows them to candidly share enduring numerous- beatings from their husbands. share their frustrations with the consistent pressure from religious groups to wear the hijab. and express their fear of having a strict form of Islamic Law imbedded in their society. For women who feel as forgotten members of society. the radio station provides them a haven to freely express themselves without fear of judgment or persecution. These women endure immense atrocities and oppressions and we must support and recognize their efforts to assert themselves as strong voices in Iraqs society.","speaker_name":"EDDIE JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2103,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090160219,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield 21\/4 minutes to the gentlewoman from Nevada and thank her for her leadership in this effort as well.","speaker_name":"GARY ACKERMAN","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3937,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090160238,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding. and I rise in support of this legislation. As a cosponsor of the House equivalent of this Senate bill to prohibit fetus farming. I believe it is something that we need to take action on. What is fetus farming? Simply put. it is the creation and development of a human fetus for the purposes of later killing it for research or for harvesting its organs. While advances in scientific research have led to some new and exciting treatments that have enlarged and enhanced the quality and length of human life. we must not lose sight as to what we are trying to accomplish. Scientific advancement should aim to affirm and to improve human life. Unfortunately. some have begun to pursue scientific research for its own benefit or for profit. without respect for human life. Science without respect for human life is degrading to us all and reflects a hollow and deceptive philosophy. a philosophy that we as a people should never condone. ","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2688,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090160243,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have always led the way in terms of our health care. And what is happening is obviously because there has been a prohibition on stem cell research. that we have fallen behind. and so other countries are eclipsing us. other countries which I believe cannot do it as well as we could do it if we were allowed to do it. And so as a result. people are dying and being injured with no help every day when. if we were permitted to have stem cell research. we could have the help that we need. This is an undertaking that really the Federal Government needs to put itself behind and which cannot work if it is left to the private sector. It cannot work if it is only going to be certain kinds of cells or certain limited amounts of cells. This has to be something that we have to do. I am very sensitive to people who care about this issue. but this. to me. has nothing to do with the issue of abortion or any of those issues. This is about saving peoples lives and making it easier for people who have loved ones. who are ill and who would rely on this kind of research to get better soon. So I would hope that my colleagues would support stem cell research and vote for this bill. but again. this bill is only a scratch. We need to do much more.","speaker_name":"ELIOT ENGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2039,"word_count":244}
{"speech_id":1090160245,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Dr. Robert Lanza. for example. of Advanced Cell Technology. attempted to clone cows for their liver stem cells. The cloned cow fetuses were implanted and grown in the womb for 3 to 4 months before being aborted so their liver tissue could be harvested. Dr. Lanza said ominously. \"We hope to use this technology in the future to treat patients with diverse diseases.\" He is not talking about cows. He is talking about human beings. Another researcher. Dr. Smadar EvantovFriedman of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. conducted research to determine the best \"gestational time windows for the growth of pig embryonic liver. pancreas. and lung precursors.\" They determined that the best windows for tissue ranged from more than 2 months to more than 6 months. and that is 6 months of gestation. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2889,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090160258,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"When Congressman WAXMAN originally developed these laws. the thought of fetus farming hadnt even crossed our minds. Even now. most of us and most scientists would say that fetus farming is unthinkable. Science Magazine. in their reporting -on the bill. stated. this bill. the one we are debating now. not H.R. 810. that fetus farming was \"ethically taboo for any legitimate researcher.\" However. what I want to get into now. and that is the reason I have the posters. this is the reason I have introduced this legislation. It may be considered taboo now. but I dont know if it will still be considered taboo in 2 or 3 or 4 years. And the way these things usually progress is they start doing it in animals and it shows a little bit of maybe potential. and then people start saying. we can cure diabetes and Parkinsons disease if we just start doing this in humans. And that is the direction they want to go. Now. this was the first study that caught my attention. and as I have stated many times on the floor of this Chamber. I am a physician. I still see patients once a month. I have treated diabetes and Parkinsons. ","speaker_name":"DAVID WELDON","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5143,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090160271,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As a cosponsor of that legislation. it was a bill which expanded the number of stem cell options available to Americans suffering from lifethreatening diseases. Todays legislation will allow us to take another step forward and open up even more avenues for promising research for individuals and families. The concerns with embryonic stem cell research are real and deeply held by many Americans. But Americans are not the only ones who have reservations about moving forward with research that destroys human embryos. In fact. many nations currently refuse to support embryonic stem cell research of any kind. And last year the United Nations adopted a resolution declaring a prohibition on \"all forms of human cloning inasmuch as they are incompatible with human dignity and the protection of human life.\" Voting along with the United States on this strong declaration were 84 nations. including Germany. Austria. Australia. Italy. and Portugal. The legislation before us today upholds these principles and will help to further establish our Nations leadership in ethical and effective scientific research. ","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2281,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090160273,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Put simply. the legislation mandates the National Institutes of Health to support highly speculative research. some of which has been deemed unethical by the Presidents own Bioethics Council. and this mandated research may violate current law because embryos will be destroyed with Federal dollars. While I appreciate the fact that this legislation acknowledges the very real fact that embryonic stem cells have more potential for treatments and cures than adult stem cell research. and I think that is a very important point. I might add. this legislation is a delay to cures. Why is it a delay? It requires researchers to develop new ways to create or isolate embryonic stem cells before the research with embryonic stem cells can even begin. So you add a whole additional step to the process. And in speaking with Dr. Leon Kass. the former director of the Presidents Bioethics Council. it could take years to develop these isolation techniques. which means the research is being held up even further. Why not go with the tried and true method of isolating embryonic stem cells from 5dayold blastocysts created for the purposes of IVF. no bigger than the tip of a pencil. that would never be implanted in a woman and are slated for medical waste. And then let the research begin immediately. It would be one thing if these methods were scientifically proven. but they are not. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CASTLE","chamber":"H","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3135,"word_count":232}
{"speech_id":1090160280,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would just correct the gentleman from Nebraska. I was in England over the Memorial Day recess. meeting with all of the major researchers. None of them have found clinical application in just taking cells out of embryos. They all agree that embryonic stem cell research shows the most promise. Mr. Speaker. I yield 3 minutes to my distinguished colleague from Massachusetts .","speaker_name":"DIANA DEGETTE","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":389,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090160283,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of the SantorumBartlett pluripotent stem cell bill. and I want to take this opportunity to say on the floor of the House of Representatives that I am proudly both prolife and proscience. Today is a great day for the American people. Today they getto see their Members of Congress stand up for the sanctity of human life as well as the hope of medical research. No longer as a society do our hands need to be tied to choose one or another. nor are we forced to trade one persons life for the chance to improve anothers. No. Today. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1596,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090160292,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Please vote against the distraction before us right now.","speaker_name":"TAMMY BALDWIN","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1652,"word_count":9}
{"speech_id":1090160294,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"However. they need not be derived from human embryos. A May 2005 White Paper published by the Presidents Council on Bioethics described. in depth. various methods of deriving pluripotent stem cells without destroying embryos. In keeping with the recommendations of the Presidents 2001 policy on Federal stem cell research and the Dickey amendment. S. 2754 would authorize appropriations for the Secretary of HHS to conduct research into developing techniques \"for the isolation. derivation. production. or testing\" of pluripotent stem cells that do not involve the destruction of human embryos. Bottom Line: S. 2754 will allow federal funding for stem cell research that is ethically sound because embryos will neither be created. harmed. nor destroyed.","speaker_name":"JEAN SCHMIDT","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2472,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090160301,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Alternative methods described in legislation are highly speculative. and are either simply ideas or unproven in a human model. We all know that the Federal money is going to cost the taxpayers a lot. But privately. you can go out and do what you folks want to do. So if there are so many cures for this. why not have the H5358 Co private sector provide them for you? And all of these baby boomers that you talk about who will not get these. of course. will in fact get them. because the private sector can solve it.","speaker_name":"CLIFFORD STEARNS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1054,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090160325,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of Senate Concurrent Resolution 108. authorizing the printing of a revised edition of a pocket version of the United States Constitution and other publications. This concurrent resolution not only reauthorizes the printing of the pocket size Constitution. but also the publication \"Our Flag.\" These congressional publications are favorites among Members to distribute to their constituents who visit them both here and in the Nations Capitol and back at home in their district. And I can say that not only do Members enjoy distributing them. because we have such a respect and love for the Constitution. but I do have to tell you that students. citizens. teachers. also love to receive these pocket editions. And I urge them to emphasize to them what a fantastic thing it is that a pocketsized version of a document has served this Nation so well for so many years that it has led to the longestlasting democratic government in the history of this planet. In addition. this resolution authorizes for the first time the printing of a history of the U.S. Botanic Garden. This book offers a comprehensive history of the garden and will further help its mission of educating the American public on environmental sciences. With that. ","speaker_name":"VERNON EHLERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1316,"word_count":210}
{"speech_id":1090160338,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am not worried about these gun owners. Many responsible gun owners already voluntarily equip their guns with safety locks. Gun locks are needed to prevent accidents with the minority of gun owners.who are not responsible. And while the progun lobby does not like to talk about it. yes. there are irresponsible gun owners out there. Last month in New Jersey an 11yearold found his grandfathers gun and killed his 12yearold best friend. A gun lock that you can purchase online for less than $7 would have prevented this tragedy. According to the CDC. 151 children died of accidental shotgun wounds in 2003. Mandatory gun locks would have saved some of those childrens lives. Gun locks prevent stolen guns from being used in crimes. Opponents of mandatory gun locks cite that the cost of gun locks prevent gun ownership. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MCCARTHY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4613,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090160361,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I hope. with those peaceloving people of our community that peace is just ahead.","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4263,"word_count":16}
{"speech_id":1090160373,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It means that every time that America borrows money in the future. possibly forever. we will have to pay more for it. Because the good part about being a solid credit risk is that you pay the lowest possible rate of interest. You are able to borrow money cheap. But by losing our AAA credit rating. our interest rates are going up. There is another bad part to this S&P report. Again. this is not a political report. this is from one of Americas leading business organizations. It says that by the year 2020. which isnt that far away either. that our Treasury bonds will basically be junk bonds. or what they call below investment grade. Now. that is such a far cry from our current AAA rating. the rating that U.S. bonds have had for all of modern American history. it is a literal tragedy to see America go from AAA ratings down to junk bond ratings in just a few short years as a result of the work of one administration. the current administration. Because even though the current administration will be out of office in 2008. the impact of their fiscal policies stretches for decades beyond their time in office. That is why this S&P report is so significant. ","speaker_name":"JIM COOPER","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7215,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090160384,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And there is another bill that you have got that I am real proud of. and that is. again. about being good stewards. about the public trust that is being placed in us to come here and to represent the people from back home. They place a lot of trust in us. And when we violate that trust. when we break the laws that we helped write as Members of Congress. we shouldnt be held to the same standards as every other citizen in this country. We should be held to a much greater standard. And we should have to serve even longer prison terms and have even bigger fines than everyone else. because if we are going to come here and violate the public trust and break the laws that we helped write. we should be held to an even more strict standard. And I am proud of the bill that we have on that. And I will yield to the gentleman from California to describe that piece of legislation","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2563,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090160385,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I will never forget my grandmother. she wasnt so excited when I got into politics because she said. you know. DENNIS. that is a dirty game sometimes. And if you are going to get in that business. you just make sure you do the right thing. And when I introduced the legislation that you described. it is really holding us to a higher standard. And the legislation says that if you break the public trust and you enrich yourself while you are standing here in the Halls of Congress that you would have to serve the time that you would get convicted for fraud or for all the other kinds of things that you can do to get put in jail. but you would have to serve a sentence enhancement for two additional years because you broke the public trust. the trust that the people gave you when you signed up to run for this office. And I hold that sentiment very strongly. that that is something that we should all stand up and be held accountable to a higher standard if we are going to take the oath of office. So I thank you for raising that issue and that I could talk about my bill tonight. I want to also tell you that the work that we are doing with regard to oversight and demanding that this Congress do oversight. that is one of the fundamental jobs of Members of Congress. to hold hearings and to examine where our tax dollars are going. And we simply. as a Congress. are not doing that anymore. It is part of the problem with having oneparty government that there is nobody to hold it accountable. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS CARDOZA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2372,"word_count":284}
{"speech_id":1090160388,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As you can see. this is an active runway at the Hope Airport. And these are old World War 11 proving ground runways that are no longer being used. So FEMA decidQs they are going to go out and buy about 20.000 brandnew. fully furnished. microwaves built in. whirlpool tubs built in. We have been in them. We have seen them.","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":921,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090160442,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this morning we have a period of 1 hour for morning business. Following that hour. the Senate will return to the consideration of the Water Resources Development Act. We are considering that bill under a unanimous consent agreement that allows for seven additional amendments. We will finish that bill today. and that will require votes throughout the course of the day. I expect that not all of the debate time will be used on each of the remaining amendments. If we are able to yield back some time today and if some of the amendments. dont require rollcall votes. it is possible to finish early this evening. If Senators begin to use all of the time allocated. it will turn into a much later session with votes. In any event. we will finish the bill today. Tomorrow we have an order to proceed to the Child Custody Protection Act. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1413,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090160486,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. also. I am going to announce what we are doing. We are going to be considering these two amendments. and after the time has expired for both amendments under the time agreement. then we will actually be voting on them side by side. That will take place and people will have a choice. I also want to mention that the Senator from Wisconsin and the Senator from Arizona acknowledge that the underlying substitute amendment does improve this situation. I dont think anyone is saying that what we have had in the past is acceptable. It is not acceptable. We are talking about making major changes. and the underlying substitute amendment does that as well as either of the amendments we are considering now. Before I forget to do this. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1328,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090160521,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Independent review panels will not take away any decisionmaking responsibilities. I want to be clear on that because a couple of the comments today could at least be interpreted to suggest that somehow this is going to take away the decisionmaking power from those who have it. Under my amendment. no decisionmaking responsibilities are taken away from the Army Corps of Engineers. The amendment simply allows for independent experts to identify problems in the best possible way. Why would anyone not want to hear the important feedback from independent experts? I would like to talk a little more in detail about one of the biggest differences between our independent review amendment and the InhofeBond alternative which will be voted on side by side starting at 2:30. as the Senator from Oklahoma indicated. One of the very clear recommendations from the National Academy of Sciences 2002 report on peer review is that reviewers should have the flexibility to comment on important issues to decisionmakers. On this point. the two competing amendments are very different. I want my colleagues to understand the importance and the potential ramifications of the difference as they consider these two amendments. My amendment implements the recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences by allowing a thorough analysis of a Corps feasibility study. The InhofeBond amendment ignores this recommendation by sharply limiting what independent reviewers would be allowed to consider. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6587,"word_count":232}
{"speech_id":1090160523,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Another aspect of the InhofeBond amendment I would highlight is the detailing of which project studies at a minimum should undergo peer review. Independent reviews are required if the estimated total project cost is more than $100 million. I believe the FeingoldMcCain approach is $40 million. We also say it has to be over $100 million and if the Secretary of the Army determines that the project is controversial. Independent reviews may be required if a Governor or head of a Federal agency requests the review. I know some of those opposed to this amendment have argued that these triggers are too lenient. but I dont believe that is the case. Of the 44 new or contingent authorizations included in the substitute amendment. 18 would have been subject to independent peer review based on the $100 million trigger alone. That is 40 percent of these projects based on just one of the four possible triggers. The other triggers would be in addition to this requirement of the minimum of $100 million. I dont consider that lenient at all. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5838,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090160527,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. to my colleague and friend. Senator FEiNGOLD. I thank him very much for yielding. and I thank him even more for his leadership and that of Senator MCCAIN in offering this amendment. Before I talk about the amendment. I want to also thank Senator INHOFE and our ranking member. -Senator JEFFORDS. as well as Senators BOND and BAUCUS. for bringing this bill to the floor today. It has taken 6 long years and a huge amount of work on the part of them and their staffs and our staffs as we have prepared for this debate today. We are finally able to move this important legislation because of their dogged determination. really a collective determination and willingness to work with all of us to address our States respective needs. and an openness to debating possible reforms for the way we plan and prioritize water resource projects. This bill includes several provisions that are very important to my State of Delaware. I want to quickly highlight maybe two of those and talk about the importance of modernizing the Corps of Engineers. First. this bill preserves something called the St. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6626,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090160555,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Louis Dispatch would be of interest to my colleague. Senator BOND. This also has a number of groups from Wisconsin who are strongly in. opposition to the FeingoldMcCain amendment. such as the Wisconsin Corn Growers. the Wisconsin AgriServices of Brunswick. the Farm Bureau. and others. Sometimes you can evaluate something. an amendment. by who is in support of it. I think if you look at this. there are 288 groups. Virtually everyone who has any interest in using a waterway has said they strongly support the InhofeBond amendment. It is such a varied and diverse group. All the Chambers of Commerce. the labor unions. they are all in there. including. of course. the U.S. Chamber. the Wisconsin groups. Agribusiness Association of Iowa. as I mentioned before. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7151,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090160599,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that Senator MCCAIN be recognized to offer an amendment regarding prioritization report. further. that following the reporting of that amendment. Senator INHOFE be recognized to offer an amendment on fiscal transparency. provided further that there be 1 hour total for both amendments. to be divided equally between Senators INHOFE and McCAIN. further. that following the use or yielding of time. the Senate proceed to a vote in relation to the McCainFeingold amendment. to be followed by a vote in relation to the InhofeBond amendment. with no intervening time or extra debate. and that following the votes. there will be 30 minutes equally divided. followed by a vote on final passage. Mr. President. let me restate this. We have too many things going on. so let me be sure we get it right. The unanimous consent request is that Senator MCCAIN be recognized to offer an amendment regarding prioritization report. further. that following the reporting of that amendment. Senator INHOFE be recognized to offer an amendment on fiscal transparency. provided further that there be 1 hour total for both amendments to be divided between Senators INHOFE and MCCAIN. further. that there be 30 minutes equally divided for general debate on the bill. and that following the use or yielding of time. the Senate proceed to a vote in relation. to the McCainFeingold amendment. to be followed by a vote in relation to the Inhofe amendment. to be followed by a vote on final passage. all with no intervening action or debate.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1551,"word_count":256}
{"speech_id":1090160616,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. right now we are waiting for Senator MCCAIN to return and call up his legislation in conjunction with the unanimous consent agreement. I would like also to say the same thing. It has been great working with Senator JEFFORDS and his staff. as well as other staff members. and of course my staff. Angie. here. has been the primary driver with Steve Aaron and Blu Hulsey. David Lungren. our staff director. and Ruth Van Mark. who has done so much work on the transportation end. On Senator BONDS staff. Letmon Lee. of course. JoEllen Darcey with Senator JEFFORDS. Catharine Ransom. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1180,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090160627,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I remember it because I was chairman of the subcommittee that handled the bill. The time has come to finally pass this legislation. Americas infrastructure and waterways system is the foundation of our economy. For too long. we have been ignoring our infrastructure. but Katrina was a wakeup call for all of us. In the wake of this disaster. we saw firsthand the devastating impact of a weak infrastructure on our people and our economy.The more we continue to fail to fund our water infrastructure. the more we are putting our Nations competitiveness at risk in this global marketplace. It has a new dimension to it because if we are going to compete in the global marketplace. we need to build the infrastructure for competitiveness. and we have had our heads in the sand in terms of the condition of that infrastructure. It is a critical piece of Americas competitiveness. Our infinite needs are overwhelming and being squeezed. We should be rebuilding an infrastructure so that .the new generation has at least the same opportunity to enjoy our standard of living and quality of life. Right now. our infrastructure is collapsing due to insufficient- funding. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE VOINOVICH","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8081,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090160651,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Heritage Foundation memo says: Absent any formal mechanism to rate Corps projects and establish priorities for investments that benefit ordinary Americans. not just lobbyists and special interests. the Corps will continue on the same ineffective course that contributed to last years disaster in New Orleans. And with the Corps already working under a 35year backlog of projects totaling $58 billion. these management deficiencies will persist for decades. I hope my colleagues on this side of the aisle who almost always pay close attention to the Heritage Foundation and their findings will pay attention to this one as well. I again thank my friend from Oklahoma for his courtesy in consideration of this amendment. I reserve the remainder of the time.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":759,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090160665,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am not as familiar with those projects. I can tell you that this WRDA billof course. my partner and colleague. Senator VrrrER is on the authorizing committee. and he deserves a tremendous amount of credit for his work. I wanted to say that the ecosystem project of Louisianas coastal area is funded. as well as significant navigation and hurricane protection and wetlands restoration projects. In addition. there are some innovations important to America. There are some new technologies that will allow us to protect these areas. to build stronger levees. to protect this coast with better materials that cost lessway lessand we can stretch the dollars in this bill far more than we have been able to do in the past because although this is a very large bill with a $10 billion authorization. it is not enough. as some of our colleagues have said. Mr. President. the technologyand we will soon send to the RECORD an example of the technologies--will help us to make these projects stretch. I thank the ranking member for his. courtesy and the chairman for all of his help.","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2673,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090160720,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This bill contains authorizations for three important projects in New Jersey. The first is a South River storm dantage and ecosystem restoration project. The second is a Raritan Bay and Sandy Hook Bay project at Union Beach which will address hurricane and storm damage and provide for beach nourishment over the 50year life of the project. The third is a Manasquan to Barnegat Inlets project to address hurricane and storm damage and provide for beach nourishment over the 50year life of the project. The bill also contains a contingent authorization for a Great Egg Harbor Inlet to Townsends Inlet project for hurricane and storm damage reduction and periodic nourishment over the 50year life of the project. I also appreciate the bill managers willingness to accept my language on the shore protection demonstration program. This program will help us learn how to nourish our shore in smarter and cheaper ways. While I supported the FeingoldMcCain amendment regarding independent peer review. I hope this wont be construed to take anything away from the underlying bill or the hard work of its managers. The underlying bill is one that I am pleased to support. and I will vote for its final passage.","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2178,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090160722,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today in strong support of the Water Resources Development Act. First. let me commend my colleague from across the Mississippi River. Senator BOND. for his efforts in bringing this bill to the floor. I was pleased to support his efforts in the Environment and Public Works Committee and to be an original cosponsor of this bill. Last year. Senator BOND and I worked together on a letter. signed by 40 of our colleagues. saying it was time for this bill to be considered on the floor of the Senate. When we were told that 40 was not enough. that we needed 60 signatures. we came back and got 81. That was 7 months ago. and I am pleased that the Senate is now on the verge of passing this bill because this is an important bill both to my State of Illinois and to the entire country. ","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4210,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090160761,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Boy Scouts motto is \"Be prepared.\" I think that. Win Paul Rockefeller was always prepared to help his fellow man. He was always looking for ways to be of service. The Boy Scouts slogan is \"Do a good turn daily.\" and certainly he lived by that and lived by a very deep faith. He demonstrated his faith every single day that we all knew him. Like my colleague from Arkansas. we extend our prayers to Lisenne. their children. and to JAY ROCKEFELLER and the entire Rockefeller family and all of their friends and all the people they have touched. We just want to say we know that he is in a better place. We know that he has been greeted at the Pearly Gates with open arms. We will truly miss Winthrop Paul Rockefeller. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"MARK PRYOR","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2674,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090160770,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Veterans Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development Act of 1999 created the National Veterans Business Development CorporationThe Veterans Corporationto address gaps in providing small business and entrepreneurship assistance to veterans and servicedisabled veterans. These services are to be delivered through newly created. communitybased veterans business resource centers. VBRCs. The legislation authorized Federal funding through fiscal year 2004. with the requirement that the Corporation \"institute and implement a plan to raise private funds and become a selfsustaining corporation.\" While the Veterans Corporations purpose and mission are wellintentioned. in practice. the Corporation has been unable to become selfsustaining and continues to rely on congressional appropriations. Furthermore. the Corporations funding concerns have diminished its ability to create a vibrant national network of VBRCs. The Corporations struggles have led it astray from the original intent of the law and hurt its delivery of services to our Nations veterans. As such. my colleagues and I are introducing legislation to reauthorize the Veterans Corporation and to improve the direction of the Corporation as it works to serve veteran and servicedisabled veteran entrepreneurs. Although the Veterans Corporation has fallen on hard times. its vision of assisting veterans with their business needs is still admirable. In fact. according to the Small Business Administration. about 22 percent of veterans were either purchasing or starting a new business or considering doing so in 2004. Moreover. almost 72 percent of these new veteran entrepreneurs planned to employ at least one person at the outset of their new venture. ","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5857,"word_count":247}
{"speech_id":1090160771,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. There are few things as critical to our Nation. and to American citizenship. as voting. Like the rights guaranteed by the first amendment. the right to vote is fundamental because it secures the effective exercise of all other rights. As people are able to register. vote. and elect candidates of their choice. their interests and rights get attention. The very legitimacy of our democratic Government is dependent on the access all Americans have to the electoral process. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 transformed the landscape of political inclusion. As amended. the act contains important provisions for language assistance: Section 203. added as part of the second reauthorization of the Voting Rights in 1975. broadened this landscape by allowing millions more American citizens to participate fully in our democracy. Section 203. which requires bilingual voting assistance for certain language minority groups. was enacted to remove obstacles to voting posed by illiteracy and lack of bilingual language assistance resulting in large measure from unequal educational opportunities available to minorities. These provisions helped overcome discriminatory barriers which limited access to the political process for language minority groups and resulted in low turnout and registration. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12868,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090160778,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is exactly what the Veterans Corporation Reauthorization Act of 2006 aims to do. This legislation builds on the preexisting TVC program in order to expand its reach nationwide. so that more veterans can have the tools they need to realize their entrepreneurial aspirations. Through a series of provisions that target the weaknesses of TVC and develop sound policies to strengthen them and clarify the organizations mission within the veterans community it serves. this bill makes several key improvements to the corporation. In its inception. we envisioned that TVC would establish centers across the country to help assist veteran entrepreneurs with their small business needs. Unfortunately. the organization has shifted its primary focus toward the development of online programs in recent years. Although it is a good thing that TVC has four centers across the country. clearly more needs to be done to build upon these and develop a substantial number of new centers and networking opportunities for veterans nationwide. That is why this bill clarifies the role TVC should have in local communities. In rewriting the purpose of TVC in this capacity. our legislation explicitly states that the organization should be actively working to form more centers in order to build and create a national network linking veterans to the information. counseling. and assistance they need in starting and maintaining their businesses. A recurring frustration that echoes from many veterans nationwide is that they are often unable to gain access to the Federal contracting and procurement realm. It is downright shameful that so many servicemen and women feel as though a government they fought so hard to protect all but abandons themcontinuing to award myriad contracts to big businesses. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9504,"word_count":280}
{"speech_id":1090160780,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today with Senators SCHUMER and LEAHY to introduce an important piece of legislation for seniors. individual with disabilities. children. and anyone who is taking a brand name prescription drug with a generic equivalent. The bill we are introducing today would outlaw the latest in a long line of loopholes that brand name manufacturers have found to limit generic drug access to the market. Our legislation would prohibit brand name manufacturers from introducing socalled \"authorized generics\" during the 180day period that Congress intended true generics to have exclusive market rights. Some of my colleagues may be wondering what an \"authorized generic\" is. An authorized generic drug is a brand name prescription drug produced by the same brand manufacturer on the same manufacturing lines. yet repack.aged as a generic in order to confuse consumers and shut true generics out of the market. This is a huge problem and one that is becoming even more prevalent as patents on some of the bestselling brand name pharmaceuticals start to expire. Pravachol. Zocor and Zoloft have patents that have expired or will expire this year. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ROCKEFELLER","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3492,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090160782,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Because of the limited time available for the hearing. witnesses may testify by invitation only. However. those wishing to submit written testimony for the hearing record should send two copies of their testimony to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. United States Senate. Washington. DC 205106150. For further information. please contact Joshua Johnson at 2022245861 or Steve Waskiewicz at 2022286195.","speaker_name":"LISA MURKOWSKI","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2423,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090160798,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to. conduct a markup on Wednesday. July 19. 2006. at 2 p.m. in the Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226. I. Bills S. 2703. Fannie Lou Hamer. Rosa Parks. and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and t Amendments Act of 2006 [SPECTER. I","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":350,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090160806,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the President of the Senate be authorized to appoint a committee on the part of the Senate to join with a like committee on the part of the House of Representatives to escort His Excellency Nuri alMaliki. Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq. into the House Chamber for a joint meeting at 11 a.m. on Wednesday.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":356,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090160819,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"H.R. 1036. makes truly technical corrections that shore uip those laws and further preserve the traditional role of important intellectual property protections. In addition to these technical corrections. I. along with Chairman SPECTER and Senator HATCH. offered an amendment that makes one more correction. Several copyright holders had brought it to our attention that under current laws. copyright royalty judges do not have the ability to allocate portions of cable and satellite royalties before the end of royalty distribution proceedings. This has resulted in more than $1 billion in cable and satellite royalties being withheld from rightful recipients. Our amendment rectified the problem by providing copyright royalty judges with explicit statutory discretion for partial distribution of royalties and was included in the legislation that the Judiciary Committee approved last week. Now that the bill is on the floor. I urge my colleagues to move it quickly. by unanimous consent.","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2036,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090160820,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the committeereported amendment be agreed to. the bill as amended by read the third time and passed. the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":264,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090160831,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it stand in adjournment until 9:30 a.m.. Thursday. July 20. I further ask that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate proceed to H.R. 9. the Voting Rights Act. as under the previous order.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":413,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090160851,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. President Ronald Reagan famously said. \"We cannot diminish the value of one category of human life. the unborn. without diminishing the value of all human life.\" Yesterday the United States Senate passed a bill that authorizes the use of Federal tax dollars to fund the destruction of human embryos for scientific research. While supporters of the bill argue this debate is a battle between science and ideology. that really misses the point. If the CastleDeGette bill returns to the Congress tonight. we will simply decide whether Congress should take the taxpayer dollars of millions of prolife Americans and use them to fund the destruction of human embryos for research. You see. I believe that life begins at conception. that a human embryo is human life. I believe it is morally wrong to create human life to destroy it for research. and I believe it is morally wrong to take the tax dollars of millions of prolife Americans who believe that life is sacred and use it to fund the destruction of human embryos for research. This debate then tonight will not be about what an embryo is. It will be about who we are as a Nation and whether we respect fully half of our country. ","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1276,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090160854,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. both Houses have passed legislation that would ensure funding for important research on embryonic stem cells and hold great promise of cures for diseases that have confounded scientists for years. diseases that have taken and continue to take many lives. Cord blood. while important. is only a small part of the answer. Adult stem cells is an unknown- and too far into the future. Meanwhile. our loved ones continue to suffer and die. We in the Congressional Black Caucus Health Brain Trust work to improve the quality and length of life of minorities and all Americans. H.R. 810 becoming law is a critical part of that effort. A veto of this legislation would be conceding our countrys moral leadership and leadership in medical science. A veto would put Americans at the mercy and largesse of other countries for our wellbeing. A veto of this legislation would be a veto of the right of many to a cure. to wellness and to life itself. We have to stand up against the conservative fundamental ideologues of the right. and we must stand up for life. for this important iesearch. embryonic stem cell research. which has the potential to give the gift of life to millions. ","speaker_name":"DONNA CHRISTENSEN","chamber":"H","state":"VI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":1299,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090160856,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. are you vetoing hope for Parkinsons victims. vetoing hope for cancer victims. for diabetes victims. for Alzheimers victims? Why. Mr. President are you. alone. standing in the way of hope and progress for our people?","speaker_name":"JIM COOPER","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":978,"word_count":37}
{"speech_id":1090160865,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Beheruz Sethna. the city of Carrollton. County of Carroll. and the entire West Georgia community on reaching this historic milestone. Madam Speaker. I ask that you join me in congratulating the University of West Georgia. and here is to another 100 years of educating Georgias students.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1160,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090160873,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I could go on and on. but I believe I have made my point that this House has a proven track record of passing legislation important to the American people and their families. and the. Pledge Protection Act simply builds upon that track record. H.R. 2389 will affirm the ability of Americans across this country to recite the Pledge of Allegiance anytime. anywhere. with or without the phrase \"one Nation under God.\" The point is. the individual will get to choose. Since the days of colonial America and the founding of this great Nation. the vast majority of our citizenry has celebrated and honored the role of Almighty God in shaping the history of this great land and defending her through many trials and tribulations and in lifting her up as a shining city on a hill. As our founders set forth in the Declaration of Independence. \"We hold these Truths to be selfevident. that all Men are created equal. that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights. that among these are Life. Liberty. and the Pursuit of Happiness.\" Madam Speaker. the recognition of a higher authority above human law and above temporal law is fundamental to the establishment and preservation of our fundamental rights and liberties. Those who would divorce the recognition of a higher authority from the rights he secures are guilty of throwing the baby out with the bath water. If our fundamental rights come from human beings. then human beings can take them away. But because our rights are endowed to us by our creator. no man. no woman. no government can take them away. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5927,"word_count":272}
{"speech_id":1090160875,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"you are quoted as saying yesterday in the discussion with reference to banning gay marriage. the quote says. \"This is probably the best message we can give to the Middle East in regards to the trouble we are having over there right now.\" I say to you. sir. that I find that very confusing in the sense that I dont understand how. with all of the things going on in this country and around the world. that gay marriage. yesterday. was the most important thing that we could contribute to the horror of what is going on in the Middle East. But I dont intend to use much of my time this morning. frankly. I really am embarrassed for the House of Representatives today. Why? Lets be clear about what the priorities are for the majority and what they are for the rest of the world. Today. the Federal minimum wage purchases less than it has at any point in the last 50 years. Let me repeat: The Federal minimum wage purchases less than it has at any point in the last 50 years. It hasnt been raised in 9 years. and today the House is going to spend its time protecting something that all of us say every morning in the House of Representatives. the Pledge of Allegiance. In the last year. 23 percent of all Americans say they or someone in their family have had to stop medical treatment because of the cost. and today the House will spend its time attempting to turn the independent judiciary into an echo chamber of the right wing of this particular majority. If today is anything like the typical day of the past 3 years 1ee. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3554,"word_count":285}
{"speech_id":1090160877,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We are a Nation that respects minority opinions. Those who disagree with the Pledge have every right to attempt to convince others of their point of view and convince Congress to change it. That is how our system works. Instead. the Ninth Circuit would. allow the opinion of one person who disagrees with the Pledge to override the opinions of tens of millions of Americans who want to express their belief that America is in fact one Nation under God. I am proud to stand with the vast majority of Americans and certainly the vast majority of West Virginians who support our Pledge of Allegiance the way that it is. We do not need Federal judges to dictate what our Pledge says. I hope my colleagues will join me and support the Pledge Protection Act.","speaker_name":"SHELLEY CAPITO","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1959,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090160887,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But the Republicans wouldnt understand that. because they just dont understand the plight nor do they care about the plight of these workers. That is why we should raise this minimum wage. Minimum Wage Legislation Introduced By Democrats in OddNumbered Years 1. 105th Congress 1997: H.R. 2211 \"American Family Fair Minimum Wage Act of 1997\"Republicancontrolled E&W Committee refused to take action on the bill. 2. 106th Congress 1999: H.R. 225 \"Fair Minimum Wage Act of 1999\" 3. 107th Congress 2001: H.R. 665 \"Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2001\" 4. 109th Congress 2005: H.R. 2429 \"Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2005\" Letters to Ed and Workforce Chairman Goodling From Ranking Democrat William Clay Requesting Action on the Minimum Wagein OddNumbered Years 5. March 1. 1999. asking for hearing and markup of minimum wage legislation. Letters To Ed and Workforce Chairman Boehner from Senior Member Miller Requesting Action on the Minimum Wagein OddNumbered Years 7. March 2. 2001 from all 22 Democratic Members of the Committee requesting hearings on H.R. 665 to increase the minimum wage 8. July 16. 2001 from George Miller requesting. among other things. \"immediate action to increase the minimum wage.\" Press Events\/Statements\/Reportsin OddNumbered Years 9. Ranking Member Clay Makes a Statement in Ed and Workforce Committee urging passage of the minimum wage. October 7. . 10. ","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10342,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090160893,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. The gentleman from Rhode Island. I greatly respect. The other side. making points about minimum wage or mental health parity and implying that these are the godly things to do. then I think in a way that they are inadvertently making my case. Let us go along with the wishes outlined in this bill to keep \"under God\" in our Pledge of Allegiance. as we stand up every day and honor our flag. That. indeed is what it is all about. I thank them for helping to make the case for this particular piece of legislation. H.R. 2389. I do hope that we have a recorded vote on the rule. and obviously on the bill. and I look forward to wide. maybe unanimous. bipartisan support on this issue. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":789,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090160898,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Before yielding to the distinguished minority leader whom I believe will cause in November the priorities of this House to change substantially. and to protect not only minimum wage earners. but the middle class of this country better than we have. I would like to come to todays discussion. I find it difficult to believe that God would want us to strip the courts of their powers to interpret the laws of this land. albeit with the divergent opinions. I shudder that my colleagues do not understand the dynamics of the Federal judiciary. But let me do something. perhaps not dramatic. perhaps a little melodramatic. Under MadaM Speaker are the words \"In God we trust.\" I have been in this body 14 years. and I have had .the distinct privilege. as have many other Members of the House. of Representatives. of opening these proceedings with other speakers in the chair. at least five times. from my memory. Every time that I participated in the opening proceedings. we said the Pledge of Allegiance. and we used the term \"God.\" I dont have as many of these as I want. and minimum wage workers dont have this many. and the middle class is suffering immensely in this country. But on our money is \"In God we trust.\" Please understand this. Only once has a court ruled that you cannot say the Pledge of Allegiance in this country. and that law was stricken down. I ask you. please. to listen to the Chief Justice when he says that courtstripping would be bad policy. ","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1618,"word_count":260}
{"speech_id":1090160905,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. Madam Speaker. I rise again in support of this rule and in recognition of the importance of the underlying bill. H.R. 2389. the Pledge Protection Act of I want to express my appreciation to my colleagues who participated in the preceding debate on this rule. and I want to ask my colleagues to continue their participation as we move into the general debate. I also want to again commend Representative AKIN. both a friend and a colleague. for leading the charge in defense of not only our Pledge of Allegiance. but also many of our timehonored traditions that are currently under assault by some activist judges. as he just enumerated. As I stated yesterday. we did not raise these issues. a few activist judges did when they decided to throw out precedent and make new law without one vote cast in either a legislature or at the ballot box. So it is now the responsibility of this Congress to stand up for the will of the American people and sanction our Pledge of Allegiance. Let us affirm this is \"one Nation under God. indivisible. with liberty and justice for all.\" The material previously referred to by Mr. HASTINGS of Florida is as follows:","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1203,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090160923,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The power of Congress to limit jurisdiction of the courts is one of those primary checks on the power of the judiciary. So this is all according to procedures that our Founding Fathers established. Article III. section 2 grants Congress the power to limit the jurisdiction of Federal courts. So what we are doing today is according to the Constitution. The Pledge Protection Act invokes the constitutional powers and removes the Pledge from the jurisdiction of Federal courts. I ask you to support this act. I urge my colleagues for future generations to acknowledge our providential point in history.","speaker_name":"CLIFFORD STEARNS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3950,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090160953,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the distinguished majority whip. Mr. Chairman. with respect. religion in the United States is rightly pluralistic. We are or in no way should we be theocratic at all. As a matter of fact. one of the great threats in the world today. jihadism. is born out of theocracy. That doesnt mean. though. that this country should be godless. One of my greatest. one of the great sayings I love is if there is no God. nothing matters. But if there is a God. nothing else matters. We should remember that today. Abraham Lincoln said we do not claim to have God on our side. but we strive to be on his. ","speaker_name":"ZACH WAMP","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1193,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090160976,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I would like to start by quoting a person who I believe is the- founder. or at least acknowledged as the father. of the Democratic Party. Thomas Jefferson. His words encased in stone on his monument read: \"The God that gave us life gave us liberty.\" It goes on to say: \"Can the liberties of a people be secure if we remove the conviction that those liberties are the gift of God?\" The author of our Declaration well understood that it is impossible to assert that we have inalienable rights and at the same time ignore the person that gave us the inalienable rights. the God that provided those rights itself. This question goes to the heart of what America has always stood for and always fought for. We believe that there is a God that gives basic rights to all people. and it is the job of the government to protect those rights. If the courts come to the decision that we cannot acknowledge God. then we have ripped the heart out of the logic of what makes America. the fact that our rights come fromGod Himself. and we have thumbed our nose at Thomas Jefferson and our Declaration and our 300plus years of history. Now we have good reason to fear that the Court will not be content to ignore just the fifth amendment and say that you can take private property from people and redistribute it without a public purpose. but that they may also decide to take the first amendment and turn it upside down and use it as a sword of censorship rather than an oasis of free speech. I am not persuaded by the pious handwringing of liberal activists who flinch not at the courts unfettered march to create some imagined utopia at the expense of the separation of powers in the Constitution itself. ","speaker_name":"W. AKIN","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1885,"word_count":312}
{"speech_id":1090160977,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Ninth Circuit is expected to rule on this issue in March 2007. The bill before us would prohibit Federal courts from ruling on issues related to the Pledge of Allegiance. Article 1l1. Section 2. Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution gives the Congress the authority to set such limits. The Constitution states: In all Cases affecting Ambassadors. other public Ministers and Consuls. and those in which a State shall be Party. the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all other Cases before mentioned. the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction. both as to law and Fact. with such Exceptions. and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make [emphasis added]. Mr. Chairman. today. by passing this law. we are making those exceptions. ","speaker_name":"DAVID WELDON","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1417,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090160979,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have no objection to the current wording of the Pledge of Allegiance. After the Ninth Circuits decision. I voted for a resolutionapproved by the House by a vote of 416 to 3affirming that \"the Pledge of Allegiance and similar expressions are not unconstitutional expressions of religious belief\" and calling for the case to be reheard. But this bill is a different matter. It may be called the \"Pledge Protection Act.\" but that is inaccurate and even misleadingbecause it not only fails to protect the pledge but also would undercut the very thing to which those who recite the pledge are expressing their allegiance. It doesnt protect the pledge because even if it becomes law people who dont like the way the pledges current wording would still -be able to bring lawsuits in state courts. So. even if Colorados courts upheld the current wording. the courts of other States might not. And the bill says the U.S. Supreme Court could not resolve the matter. That would mean there would no longer be a single Pledge of Allegiance. but different pledges for different Statesand the Constitutions meaning would vary based on State lines. ","speaker_name":"MARK UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2944,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090160982,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I urge my colleagues to join with me in support of this bill to prevent the federal judiciary from hearing cases against the Pledge of Allegiance.","speaker_name":"JO BONNER","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1771,"word_count":26}
{"speech_id":1090160984,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Is that really the precedent we want to establish? I believe we need our judicial system to protect our rightsand this bill prohibits the courts from doing just that. Indeed. I believe enactment of this legislation would have a dramatic impact onthe ability of individual Americans to be free from governmentcoerced speech or religious expression. . In our system of democracy. our government works on a system of checks and balances. Instead of stripping power from the courts. I believe we should follow the process prescribed in our Constitutionconsideration of a Constitutional amendment. In fact. as a member of the California Legislature. I passed a bill calling on Congress to pass a Pledge protection amendment. and I believe that is the appropriate way to address this issue. I happen to believe that the inclusion of the term under God in the Pledge is appropriate and constitutional. Further. should the Supreme Court ever rule that the term is unconstitutional. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS CARDOZA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2679,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090160987,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I support our national Pledge of Allegiance 100 percent. I strongly believe the Pledge teaches Americas children national pride and a sense of civic responsibility. However. I oppose H.R. 2389. the \"Pledge Protection Act.\" This bill is merely a reaction to one federal case: Newdow vs. U.S. Congress. The 9th Circuit Federal court in Newdow held that the Pledge of Allegiance violated the Established Clause of the Constitution. The court ruled that the phrase \"one nation under God\" within the Pledge impermissibly takes a position with respect to the identity and existence of God. ","speaker_name":"LINDA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":39.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1652,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090161001,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I recognize that Congress clearly has the authority under Article III of the Constitution to define the jurisdiction or the federal district and appellate courts. But constitutional scholars say there is no direct precedent for making exceptions to the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. I would caution my colleagues to think twice before tampering with authorities clearly granted in the Constitution. The issue today may be the Pledge. but what if the issue tomorrow is Second Amendment rights. civil rights. environmental protection. or a host ofother issues that members may hold dear? I would also ask my colleagues. do we really want 50 different versions of the Pledge of Allegiance? I certainly dont think so. The Watt amendment would restore to the bill the Supreme Courts jurisdiction over questions related to the Pledge of Allegiance. changing the bill back to the way it was originally introduced in the 108th Congress when I was a cosponsor. I revere the Constitution and the Pledge of Allegiance. I believe that \"Under God\" are two of the most important words in the Pledge. I also believe that the Supreme Court should be the final arbiter of all federal questions. Thats why I urge you to support the Watt Amendment to the Pledge Protection Act.","speaker_name":"JUDY BIGGERT","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1984,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090161030,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. we are now down to the heart of the matter. This entire spectacle is aimed at a possible decision by one Court that the directed recitation by school children under the instruction of their teacher of the phrase \"under God\" may violate the first amendment rights of those children. Lets be clear. Nowhere in the United States is the use of the phrase \"under God\" prohibited in the public schools. In the only two cases in which the Court ruled that the directed recitation of the phrase \"under God\" violated the establishment clause. the Supreme Court vacated one ruling. and has issued a stay preventing the second ruling from interfering with the recitation of the Pledge. For this we need to take a chain saw to the Constitution? For this we need to endanger the religious liberty of religious minorities like the Jehovahs Witnesses. who were thrown out of school because their religion barred them from saying the Pledge? Only the Supreme Court protected their rights in violence against Jehovahs Witnesses that ensued. ","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3326,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090161031,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Why then is something as arbitrary as a bill that would strip our Federal courts of their authority to hear an issue that the highest court in our land has never spoke on at the top of our list of \"things to do\"? Need I remind my colleagues that the Supreme Court has never. since the inclusion of the words \"under God\" into the Pledge of Allegiance back in 1954. discussed or ruled on its constitutionality? Why then do we need this legislation at all? Why then do we need to offer this legislation now? It is our rights as individuals that are at stake right nownot the sanctity and preservation of the Pledge. I urge my colleagues to vote \"no\" on this amendment.","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2010,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090161037,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Chairman of the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union. reported that that Committee. having had under consideration the bill to amend title 28. United States Code. with respect to the jurisdiction of Federal courts over certain cases and controversies involving the Pledge of Allegiance. had come to no resolution thereon.","speaker_name":"STEVEN LATOURETTE","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":339,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090161045,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The astronauts also performed three successful space walks to test equipment and to conduct maintenance. This Discovery mission is an essential building block for the Vision for Space Exploration to the Moon. Mars. and Beyond. NASA is already fast at work on preparation for the next shuttle launch. with a window that begins on August 28. just a little more than a month away. This mission will resume the assembly of the international space station with the delivery of two truss sections and a set of solar arrays. NASA Administrator Mike Griffin. the Discovery crew. and the men and women of NASA deserve accolades from the American public for a successful STS121 mission and for effectively reviving Americas space program to the heights of its glory. These astronauts represent the best of humankind. As the President stated upon the return of the Discovery crew on Monday: \"Your courage and commitment to excellence have inspired us all. and a proud Nation sends its congratulations on a job well done. Americas space program is a source of great national pride.\" I urge the passage of H. Con. ","speaker_name":"KEN CALVERT","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":44.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1970,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090161046,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"CALVERT. and those of us enthusiastically in support of this very. very important resolution. I would like to first of all acknowledge the human factor. and that is to call out the names of COL Steve Lindsey. CDR Mark Kelly. Piers Sell-","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":478,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090161050,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The quote goes this way: \"Think of what was required to achieve that mission. Think of the unpitying effort. the merciless discipline. the courage. the responsibility of relying on ones judgment. the days. nights and years of unswerving dedication to a goal. the tension of an unbroken maintenance of a full. clear mental focus and honesty. It took the highest. sustained acts of virtue to create in realty what had only been dreamt of for millennia.\" I encourage all my colleagues and all Americans to join me in commending NASA for completing this mission and all of NASAs work..","speaker_name":"RONALD PAUL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3608,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090161106,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding. thank him for his extraordinary leadership in making foreign policy for our country that is values based. and it makes us safer. My compliments. Mr. Speaker. to the gentleman from New York and Mr. WILSON of South Carolina for bringing this important legislation to the floor. Thank you. Mr. LEACH. for your leadership on this as well. ","speaker_name":"NANCY PELOSI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1943,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090161109,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is often said that India and America have a natural bond as two of the largest democracies. Today we share a bond of a common enemy: what the 9\/11 Commission identified as Islamist terrorism. Today our thoughts are with the people of India. and I am confident that the aftermath of these attacks and in that aftermath. we will see all the resilience that is embodied in the Indian people.","speaker_name":"EDWARD ROYCE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":40.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1790,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090161166,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Alzheimers Disease. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). cancer. and spinal cord injuries. it is necessary to expand the number of stem cell lines that can be used in6 federally funded research. Our debate today is a historical achievement for two reasons. First. President Bush vetoed this bill. after it passed in both the House of Representatives (238194) and the Senate (6337). This was the first time in five and onehalf years in office that President Bush has vetoed a bill. This speaks volumes about the failure of our system of checks and balances. the shortsightedness of our executive branch. and the lack of Congressional leadership. Second. we must reAssess and reaffirm the need and commitment of this nation to pursue medical research leadership and scientific innovation. We must do everything in our power to reduce human suffering and better understand human physiology. Today. we must make history. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5777,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090161175,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. of course. the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania refers to the South Korea experiment which was not embryonic stem cell research. Rather. it was somatic cell nuclear transfer. not at issue today. And. furthermore. it only points out why we need Federal oversight and ethics in the United States. Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Connecticut","speaker_name":"DIANA DEGETTE","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":399,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090161199,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. medical research in the United States has for decades been the envy of the world. That embryonic stem cell research holds the key to potential treatment for all manner of disease is already well documented in this debate. As a physician. I am dismayed at the claims that adult stem cells and umbilical cord cells hold the true pluripotentiality of embryonic stem cells. This is simply not true. I ask my colleagues to vote to override the veto of this bill. Embryonic stem cell research will continue apace in other parts of the world. It is sad that the great progress and potential in this field wont happen in the United States with our superb academic scientific facilities. It is sadder yet that those who oppose this bill dont recognize that embryonic stem cells represent the epitome. the ultimate. in those things prolife. that is. to save the lives of our fellow members of the human race.","speaker_name":"JOHN SCHWARZ","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":911,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090161218,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This country leads the world in medical research. but it also leads the world in ethical action. We should not be losers in either side. Support the Presidents veto.","speaker_name":"DANIEL LUNGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":948,"word_count":29}
{"speech_id":1090161224,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Latin root of veto. the Latin translation of veto means \"I forbid.\" President Bush has said today. I forbid allowing the best and brightest minds to pursu6 the science that they believe has the most promise and potential to cure. [l 1815 President Bush says. I forbid bringing embryonic stem cell research under NIH. ensuring the strict controls and stringent ethical guidelines that only NIH can ensure and impose. President Bush says. I forbid giving our scientists the opportunities they need to ensure that our Nation remains preeminent in science. Today. I am hoping that the peoples House will reflect the American peoples will and overturn this shortsighted action. and instead of saying \"I forbid.\" say \"yes\" to the American people. The opponents of this legislation believe- that this is a struggle between faith and science. I believe that faith and science have at least one thing in common: Both are searches for truth. America has room for both faith and science. and thank God for that. ","speaker_name":"NANCY PELOSI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3737,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090161247,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is not a partisan issue. and its bigger than a right to life issue. I urge Members to vote against H.R. 810 and sustain the Presidents veto.","speaker_name":"BART STUPAK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3535,"word_count":28}
{"speech_id":1090161276,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Over 300 people have been killed in the last 7 days who have no fight in this. They do not live in the southern part of the country. And there are many people that are trapped there. And I wish the resolution would have allowed for some idea that you can go into the southern part. you can go after Hezbollah. you can run them out of the country. and we are well within our right to do that. but not to shut down every way and every means of people to escape the country. not to kill innocent people. not to go into neighborhoods where there are absolutely no Hezbollah.","speaker_name":"RAY LAHOOD","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2977,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090161282,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Israel has gone to every length to minimize collateral damage. As a matter of fact. the difference between the tragedies befalling the Lebanese people and the tragedies befalling the Israeli people is very simple: Hezbollah deliberately. deliberately. attacks civilians. Israel does its utmost not to attack innocent civilians.","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":892,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090161287,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Furthermore. while Israel makes every effort to minimize civilian casualties. it is clear that the terrorists of Hamas and Hezbollah deliberately attempt to maximize such casualties by indiscriminately firing rockets upon Israeli population centers. Mr. Speaker. as a first step towards restoring calm. it is absolutely imperative that Israels soldiers in Gaza and Lebanon be returned unconditionally and unharmed and that indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israeli civilians by Hamas and Hezbollah cease immediately. It is also long past the time for the international community to facilitate the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1559. If that U.N. resolution had been carried out. there would be no innocent citizens on either side being killed this day. The tragedy of our international community is the United Nations talks a much better game than it ever plays. That resolution. which was adopted in September of 2004. calls for the Lebanese army to control southern Lebanons border. and for all militias. including Hezbollah. to be disabled and disbanded. So long as the international community fails to ensure the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1559. I believe Israel as a sovereign nation with an inherent right of selfdefense has every right to strike armed terrorists which seek her destruction. Disarming and disbanding terrorist organizations is essential to Middle East peace. ","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4990,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090161289,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. first of all. I would like to associate myself with the previous speaker and his remarks. Mr. Speaker. I rise today to voice my steadfast support for Israel during this time of crisis and escalating violence. In the strongest possible terms. I condemn Hezbollahs unprovoked attack on Israel. On July 12. 2006. Hezbollah assaulted northern Israel. ","speaker_name":"E. SHAW","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2001,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090161294,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. before yielding to my friend from Massachusetts. I yield myself such time as I may consume to make a comment about Mr. PAULS observation as he calls for neutrality. Calling for neutrality between a democratic ally of the United States and a gang of terrorists is not worthy of this body. There is no neutrality between a gang of terrorists who indiscriminately kill and the democratic state. May I also say that it was Hezbollah terrorists who killed the largest num-. ber of U.S. Marines in Beirut a quarter century ago. Some of us were there visiting with them just a couple of weeks before they were all killed. Lee Hamilton. a distinguished former Member of this body. and I visited with our marines just days before they were all killed by Hezbollah terrorist activity. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":926,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090161318,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. and. I recognize her leadership and her staff as well as that of the gentleman from California in bringing this resolution forward. and congratulate them on that. . Very briefly in response to my good friend from Texas and his view and addressing so many different issues. I would just like to say this clearly is not a conflict. I think. that Israel finds itself in by its own making or its asking. As the gentleman from California","speaker_name":"ERIC CANTOR","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":483,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090161333,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Yet the Israelis must know that when they vacate a territory.* that territory will not be used as a rocketlaunching pad against Israel. and that if it ever is. that Israel will have the full support of the United States and of this Congress. We cannot have peace. we cannot have any Israeli territorial concessions unless we show Israel that we.will support them when they have made those concessions. There are those who urge a ceasefire. I hope we get there soon. But this all started with rockets and kidnapping. and it would be a phony ceasefire unless the soldiers are returned.- and unless Hezbollah is disarmed as required by U.N. Resolution 1559. There are those who talk of prisoner exchanges. but we should not tell Israel to exchange the guilty for the innocent. nor should we tell them to release those who would resume their terror. We in Congress should call every major ambassador from Europe and demand that Europe list Hezbollah as a terrorist entity and stop Europeans from sending money to Hezbollah. And. finally. we all need to call the World Bank and say that it is time. for the World Bank to stop making loans and giving aid to Iran. which. after all. is the source of the money and the missiles that Hezbollah is using. It is time for the World Bank to stop its loans to Iran. and to not disburse funds that have already been approved until that government changes its policy.","speaker_name":"BRAD SHERMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":27.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2680,"word_count":249}
{"speech_id":1090161342,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Since then. Palestinian militants have fired 17 homemade rockets towards Israel. The Israeli Army has carried out 168 far strikes and fired more than 600 shells into Gaza. The Government of the Palestinian Authority is breaking. as lawmakers. ministers and members of the police force have been arrested. In todays Washington Post. Harold Meyerson published an oped called. \"The Guns of July.\" comparing the past weeks escalation of violence in the Middle East to the escalation of violence over the course of a month in Europe. that began with the assassination of Austrian Archduke Ferdinand by a Serbian nationalist terrorist and led to World War I. He said we are in the midst of what \"may be the brink of a cataclysmic regional war with ghastly global implications.\" He wrote. \"While the two crises and sets of conflicting forces are by no means parallel. in each the power of nationalism. the sense of national victimization. the need for revenge. the opportunity for miscalculation. the illusion of obtainable victory and allaround fear and rage loom large. More inexplicably. so does the American absence.\" The resolution before us today does not rein in the chaos in the Middle East. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6946,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090161350,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There should be no precipitous calls to a ceasefire before Israel could rid itself of a terrorist threat. We should fully implement my bill. and I was happy that our Democratic leader mentioned it. the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act. and President Bush should implement those sanctions which are available to him against Syria. I care very much about Lebanon. Our bill was called Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act. The people of Lebanon are suffering. When this is over. we should do everything we can to help them rebuild their country. But the people of Lebanon have suf-. fered by having this terrorist group. this poison. in its midst. this poison. this militia that is a lawless militia. and that Security Council Resolution 1559. which called for the Syrians to leave Lebanon. I thank my colleague who is my partner in the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act. She knows that when the Syrians finally left Lebanon. the world community failed to implement the other part of Resolution 1559. which called for all militias to give up their arms. Hezbollah continued and. shamefully. even won some seats in the Government of Lebanon. ","speaker_name":"ELIOT ENGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2758,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090161372,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Monica was the first civilian killed in this conflict. How can this be explained to her children? How will they ever understand the meaning of this attack? I believe theUnited States must call on Syria and Iran to stop all support of Hezbollah. The Israeli people do not want violence. They want peace. They want to be able to go about life without causing harm to anyone else and without fearing for their own safety. Israels voluntary withdrawal from southern Lebanon 6 years ago is proof of their desire for peace and stability in the region. It is my hope that Israel will be able to secure its border quickly and facilitate a safe return for its soldiers captured by Hezbollah and Hamas. and that is why I fully support this resolution.","speaker_name":"BEN CHANDLER","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1433,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090161376,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Argentina. In 1996. they killed 19 U.S. airmen at a U.S. military barracks in Saudi Arabia. Left unchecked. Hizballah and these terrorist groups will continue to destabilize the region and use it as a base to foster global. instability. By passing this resolution with strong bipartisan support. we will send an unequivocal message to the worldHizballah and Hamas are responsible for this violence. Israel has a right to defend itself. and the United States will stand with Israel in its fight against terror. I am confident that Israel will prevail in this fight. And. it is my hope that their strong actions against terror will ultimately lead to the peace and security that so many in the region desperately seek.","speaker_name":"ALLYSON SCHWARTZ","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2736,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090161394,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself the balance of our time. Madam Speaker. I also would like to thank the gentleman from California. our ranking member of the International Relations Committee. for handling this debate in such a skillful manner. We want to thank our majority leader Mr. BOERNER. who was one of the authors of this resolution. and. of course. our esteemed chairman of the International Relations Committee.","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":417,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090161403,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Waiting another week before dispatching the Secretary of State is not a viable response. Finally. I would note that every day this crisis continues brings a greater risk of direct involvement by Syria and Iran. As bad as this situation is now. direct involvement from either Syria or Iran would be much. much worse. Immediate. handson U.S. involvement is critical to keep the situation from spiraling even further out of control. Madam Speaker. the situation in the Middle East grows graver every day. Dozens of Israelis and hundreds of innocent Palestinians and Lebanese civilians have already died. Beruit. which has only recently been restored to its historic splendor. is in ruins. A key ally in the area is threatened and our national security interests are as well. I urge the Administration to help bring peace to the region.","speaker_name":"LOIS CAPPS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4102,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090161407,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. today I rise in strong support for H. Res. 921. condemning the recent attacks against the State of Israel. With this resolution. the United States of America reaffirms its steadfast support for the State of Israel. denounces the use of terrorism as a tool of influence. and condemns those states that encourage its use. Iran and Syrias support for the terrorist organization. Hezbollah. does not go unnoticed. I urge the President of the United States to continue his support for Israel. as it responds to the armed attacks against it. and I support bringing the full force of sanctions: economic. political and diplomatic. against these statesponsors of terrorism. Madam Speaker. Israel. as a sovereign nation. has the right to defend itself and protect its citizens by deterring further attacks by the terrorist organization. Hezbollah. Since its founding. ","speaker_name":"GERALD WELLER","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2646,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090161450,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Hassan Ghul. no longer a threat. to the United States. Khala Khadr AlSalahat. no longer a threat to the United States. Nayif Shindakh Thamir. no longer a threat to the United States. Adil Abdallah Mahdi. no longer a threat to the United States. Humam Abd alKhaliq Abd alGhafur. no longer a threat to the United States. Ahmad alAli. no longer a threat to the United States. Lt. Colonel Khaled Rajab. no longer a threat to the United States. Sabawi Ibrahim Hasan alTikriti. no longer a threat to the United States. Abdul Hadi Daghlas aka Abu Taisir. no longer a threat to the United States. ","speaker_name":"THADDEUS MCCOTTER","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2267,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090161462,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. and the best part about this chart is again. really. college tuition up. gas prices up. health care up. this is since President Bush has been in. median household income. down 4 percent. When you have all of these increases. rapidly increasing. and the wages are increased by 4 percent. a terrible problem. But here is the real problem. President Bush says. Americas economy is strong and benefiting all Americans. Come to Youngstown. Ohio. Mr. President. Come to western Pennsylvania. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1510,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090161542,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Suffern. and Wesley Hills. Half of Ramapo is designated park land. Businesses have invested more than $1 billion in the past 4 years. The town has the highest bond rating in the country.A new stateoftheart cardiac care unit has opened at Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern. They have great schools. and $125 million has been invested in a water treatment plant. Three years ago. Money Magazine named Ramapo as the second best place to live in the Northeast. This year the ranking was done on a nationwide basis. I am proud to represent Rockland and.Ramapo in the U.S. Congress. and","speaker_name":"ELIOT ENGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1162,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090161543,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. some have asked why the House will be holding hearings around our country about illegal immigration. Well. the concise reason is the outoftouch ReidKennedy Senate bill. The Senate passed legislation that clearly flies in the face of common sense. The American people dont want amnesty The. ReidKennedy Bill includes it. The American people dont want to provide Social Security benefits to illegal aliens. The ReidKennedy bill includes it. The Senate voted to give illegals things that American citizens. legal American citizens. dont get. like instate college tuition for all. This makes no sense. ","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1130,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090161556,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As such. this FTA is about much more than trade. it is a tool for advancing U.S. strategic interests. Oman is a key ally in the global war on terror and has provided critical assistance to our Armed Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. In short. this U.S.-Oman FTA will help to improve our market access and increase national security. and. therefore. I would like to reiterate my strong support for this mutually beneficial agreement.","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2153,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090161558,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. before we vote for unstructure? Any group of people or gov- first gulf state to do so. fettered free trade with Oman. we eminent that incorporates to do busi- On December 26. 1994. Oman became should consider this. In Oman. the minness in Oman. the first gulf state to host an Israeli imum wage ranges from absolutely The same people who supported the Prime Minister. again trying to build zero to $1.30 an hour. The average wage Dubai Ports World deal are now telling on a relationship of peace with another in Oman is about $13.200. below the us that this is. again. nothing to worry important ally of ours in the Middle poverty line for a single mother with about. They were wrong then. and they East. one child living in this country. are wrong now. We should not export Oman has eliminated all aspects of Is that fair competition for American the safety and security of Americans. I the Arab boycott of Israel. In 2005 and workers? In addition. Mr. Speaker. we urge again my colleagues to vote \"no\" 2006. senior Omani officials issued let- hear a lot from this administration and on the previous question. ters affirming that Oman has no boy- my Republican colleagues about the","speaker_name":"LINDA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":39.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3062,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090161581,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would say to my friend. obviously we want to do everything that we can to see the standard of living and quality of life for that underclass that she refers to. as she leaves the floor. as I am trying to engage in this colloquy with her. I will say that I believe that our policies have played a big role in enhancing the standard of living and quality of life. and I am not going to be satisfied until every single one of those individuals does. in fact. see their quality of life improve. I believe in that economic liberalization and creating economic opportunity. which we have done for so much of Mexico. through the existence of the-","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":641,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090161607,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is wrong. Whatever divisions we have politically in our country. we ought to keep it on this side of our flag and not have to expose these differences with foreigners. So often we have Presidents of Peru and Ambassadors from Oman indicating that the majority party has said we can get this out but you have to talk with the Democrats. Well. you shouldnt have to talk with the Democrats. but the United States Trade Representative should have to talk with us and Republicans and members of the committee. The House. to a large extent. relies on the expertise that is developed by those of us who are privileged to serve on the Ways and Means Committee. and we owe it to our Members to say what is in the trade bill and what is not in the trade bill. But also. in order to give a fair explanation. we should know what USTR intends to put in the bill. NOW. over the years. all we have said is this: The the details of a bill should be fair. and as far as I am concerned. America should have a fair advantage. We should make certain that we are able to see that our products have access to their markets. But there is also something that I think is a principle that is American. and that is that the basic rights of the workers should be protected. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES RANGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3877,"word_count":238}
{"speech_id":1090161616,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"A couple of red herrings have been brought up. and as much as I respect and admire my colleagues who have brought up these red herrings. we are all entitled to our own opinions. but not our own set of facts. The facts are that we asked the Congressional Research Service to look into this. They came up with a report that was compelling and definitive: there is no national security interest involved here. because if we decide there is a national security threat. which we selfdefine. that trumps everything else. and at any time we can raise the essential security justification. No one else has the authority to secondguess what it takes for us to protect our national security. and there is no precedent for any kind of international panel secondguessing us. There is no national security issue here. The language. the provisions in this treaty. are the same as have been in all the others. It is the same language as Bahrain. the same language as Central America. There is no change here. In terms of labor law. and I will address this subsequently after people address it on the Democratic side to lay out their objections. but I have read the communication from the Sultan. as I trust others have. He is willing to agree to the labor rights issues. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5550,"word_count":223}
{"speech_id":1090161640,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. in. response to my good friend from New Jersey. and also in response to my good friend from Michigan . who asks about. and makes accusations with regard to. the situation in Oman. I should. remind them that there were 33 strikes in 2004. more than 6.000 workers went on strike. Strikes continue to bipartisan debate. He didnt want anythis day with no repressive tactics. no thing to be divided Democrat or Repubgovernment reprisals. lican. The Sultan said. I am going to And the Omani Government has rep- live up to my word. giving us all of the resentatives of the International Labor indications that they are going to do Organization on the ground in Oman the right thing. working with them to develop more I know I heard in this debate some and stronger standards. say. well. there is no agreement that it","speaker_name":"JAMES MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":822,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090161683,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. I cannot stress enough the importance of the legislation that is now before this body. Yes. this agreement is a good economic agreement for those doing business in Oman. In fact. it is one of the best free trade agreements that this body has considered. granting the United States some of its broadest market access ever. and establishing a strong standard as we push to open the large. emerging Middle East market through a Middle East Free Trade Area. I am particularly pleased that my home State of Florida will receive dutyfree treatment on much of its citrus products. However. while the economics of United StatesOman Free Trade Agreement are compelling. I believe that there are more important issues for the Members to consider as they cast their .votes today. Specifically. what that vote will tell the people of Oman and. perhaps most importantly. the people throughout the violent Middle East as the conflict today threatens to spark a new war.","speaker_name":"E. SHAW","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1007,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090161749,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It has been going on for quite awhile. Lets not forget that those offering this motion were the same Members who could not even bring themselves to vote \"yes\" or \"no\" on the House pension bill when it was being considered by the House Education and Workforce Committee last summer. Rather. they voted \"present.\" acknowledging that they were. in fact. in the room. While they attempted to politicize this issue. did they ever offer a comprehensive pension reform plan of their own? No. They just stood on the sidelines trying to obstruct our progress. just like they are today. I also oppose this motion because of its substance. This pension reform debate is and always has been about the massive underfunding in worker pensions. about the need to change the status quo. This obstructionist motion to instruct does just the opposite: It essentially preserves the status quo and even makes the situation worse. First. on hybrid plans. This motion to instruct essentially codifies benefit expectations in hybrid plans. tying the hands of those who voluntarily offer them. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KLINE","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3140,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090161751,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of the motion to instruct. and I hear my friends comments about process and responsibility. This has been the most irresponsible pension conference process one could imagine. Mr. Speaker. I was sent here. as were my colleagues. duly elected by my constituents to speak for them. I was appointed by the leadership of my party to participate in this conference to speak for all of our constituents. There have been many meetings. we have been invited to none. There have been many discussions. we have participated in none. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT ANDREWS","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1402,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090161755,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to thank Mr. MILLER for this motion to instruct the pension conferees because a defined pension plan is a promise. It is a promise that workers count on when they come to the end of their employment. It is a promise that they plan their future around. Many workers have been promised benefits at the end. of their work service. In fact. many have accepted retirement benefits instead of pay increases. Now remember that. Many people choose to forgive @ pay increase and get an increase in their pension instead. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1767,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090161758,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr..Speaker. I thank my colleague for his leadership on this motion to instruct. I agree we need to protect the pension benefits of airline pilots. as well as ensure that when an employer converts from a traditional defined benefit plan to a cash balance plan. that their workers receive their full benefits. We also need to draft rules that protect older workers because they can be vulnerable during such conversions. But we must also address the issue of providing retroactive legal certainty to 1.100 employers whose cash balance and hybrid pension plans are unfairly caught in limbo. Addressing retroactivity is important to the retirement security of thousands of American workers that gain from these hybrid pensions which are defined benefit plans. It has been for 7 years that employers of sponsored cash balance and other hybrid plans have been caught in a web of legal uncertainty. fJ 1530 Beginning in 1999. the Internal Revenue Service felt it necessary to temporarily stop issuing determination letters for converted hybrid plans. and litigation through our court system has left the legality of all cash balance plans up in the air. In my congressional district I have four major employers that offer pension benefits to their employees through either a cash balance or other hybrid pension plan. Some of these plans were acquired through merger and acquisition. while some were adopted through conversion. These employers treated their employees fairly. giving them the choice as to whether or not to convert their plans and ensurifig that workers benefits were not diluted. ","speaker_name":"STEPHANIE JONES","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2728,"word_count":256}
{"speech_id":1090161826,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"State and local level as well as a multitude of private studies. All of them. all of them. have pointed to a broad systemic and other flaws in our homeland security program. Almost 2 years ago. the independent 9\/11 Commission published its report. but most of its recommendations have yet to be implementbd. Our homeland security plan requires the implementation of all of the 9\/11 Commission recommendations. It provides for the screening of all containers and cargo. It safeguards our nuclear and chemical plants. It prohibits outsourcing of ports. airports and mass transit to foreign interests. Trains and equips our first responders and invests in public health to safeguard Americans. In early June we discussed our plan for Iraq. a new course to make 2006 a year of significant transition to full Iraqi sovereignty. with Iraqis assuming primary responsibility for securing and governing their country with a responsible redeployment of U.S. forces. Democrats will insist that Iraqis make the political compromises necessary to unite their country. and defeat the insurgency. promote regional diplomacy. and strongly encourage allies and other nations to play a constructive role. ","speaker_name":"ADAM SCHIFF","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10273,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090161845,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. before I get to the topic that I want to spend at least the lions share of the next hour on. I want to respond somewhat to the commentary from my friends on the otherside over the last hour and really agree with them on a whole lot of issues.","speaker_name":"ZACH WAMP","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":255,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090161846,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Tennessee for yielding. I am here as a Representative from Michigan. And as many of you know. and I am sure you do. Mr. Speaker. Senator Arthur Vandenberg from Michigan played a key role in bringing the United States into the postwar world. He originally started out of Grand Rapids as an *isolationist. And yet as he saw the gathering clouds of World War II and the impact of isolationism and appeasement upon the course of world events. he quickly became a believer in the United States role in the world. and not simply being in the world itself and going along with the tide of history but trying to direct that tide of history towards a positive outcome for our own citizens and for humanity. ","speaker_name":"THADDEUS MCCOTTER","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4790,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090161850,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But I want to say that from that program. to the lack -of action with respect to genocide in. Darfur. Sudan. to the tremendous human rights abuses by the U.N. peacekeeping staff during their mission to Congo. the U.N. is absolutely rife with fraud and abuse and needs reform. We could list these things. and there is a long list. and I am going to talk a little bit about. the history of scandals in the United Nations: the OilforFood Program. we will talk a little bit more about. the peacekeeping operations. the Center for Human Settlement or Habitat. Settlement Rehabilitation Program in Northern Iraq. UNICEF. the U.N. Childrens Fund. the Conference on Trade and Development. the Development Program. the Educational. Scientific and Cultural Program. we all know UNESCO. the Electoral Assistance Division. meaning electing people. not electricity. High Commission for Refugees. the Office of Drugs and Crime. the Claims Commission. the Population Fund. and the Environmental Fund. Every one of these programs has had a scandal attached to it. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4897,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090161899,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Some of them are just thugs that Saddam released from prison. and they are thugs trying to create a territory and using terror and using violence. much as Al Capone in the St. Valentines Day Massacre did. used violence in a certain way to gain a certain amount of power in a neighborhood. So it is not as simple as sometimes we would like to pigeon hole what the violence is all about. It is about a lot of things. - But. most importantly. I think the Iraqi government now has to demonstrate. as the Kurds did. that they have a zero tolerance policy. They will hunt people .down and bring them to justice. You said something else earlier about the advantage that the Iraqis have when they are doing the heavy lifting. You said they understand the culture. One thing you didnt mention. I want to add. they understand the language. ","speaker_name":"GILBERT GUTKNECHT","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2541,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090161910,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"These guys would say. hey. we go out. we are near an explosion. an IED. our equipment is damaged. We bring it back. our mechanics know that they need to get this fixed. because we are going out again on patrol. They may have not a spare. but they have got another truck or another vehicle that they can take out. But. they have got to get this one working again. And the mechanics. they work 24 hours straight to get this stuff up and running. Same thing with the C130s. We are putting lots of hours on some of these machines. I think the first plane that we flew in on from Kuwait to Baghdad was a 1961 C130. from Selfridge Air Base in Michigan. And. you know. there are maintenance. people back there who in this environment. that plane goes on. I think it was doing two trips that day back and forth to Baghdad. ","speaker_name":"PETER HOEKSTRA","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1822,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090161917,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am going to Again. problems. high unemployment close up here. If you have any closing rate. slow economic development. but thoughts. Chairman HOEKSTRA. go secure. ahead. Then I am going to close up and Mr. GUTKNECHT. I think we should yield it back here in just a few min- share the story that the general told us utes. about the man who worked at the mili-","speaker_name":"GILBERT GUTKNECHT","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":359,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090161942,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We honor their legacy by reaffirming our commitment to protect the right to vote for all Americans. The distinguished senior Senator from Massachusetts. who is on the floor. was in the forefront of this battle the first time around. He and his family. his late brothers. the President and brother Senator Robert KennedyPresident Kennedy. Senator Robert Kennedy. and now Senator EDWARD KENNEDY. have been in the forefront of the civil rights battle. This has been a personal thing for them. It has been a commitment that has spoken to the conscience of our Nation. and I applaud my friend from Massachusetts for what he and has family have done. Reauthorizing and restoring the Voting Rights Act is the right thing to do. not only for those who came beforethe brave and visionary people who fought for equality. some at great personal sacrifice. some even giving their livesbut also for those who come after us. our children and our *grand-. children. All of our children. all of our grandchildren. should know that their right to vote will not be abridged. suppressed or denied in the United States of America. no matter their color. no matter their race. no matter what part of the country from which they come. I do thank the chairman for following the suggestion to convene the Judiciary Committee yesterday in special session to consider what really is bipartisan. bicameral legislation to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act. In fact. our Senate bill. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11498,"word_count":244}
{"speech_id":1090161949,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise as a Senator from Georgia to express my support and join a unanimous Senate in support for extension of the Voting Rights Act. I come to the well to speak from a different perspective than some. I was born in the South in 1944. educated in its public schools in the 1950s and 1960s. I was in the fourth grade when Brown v. Board of Education was the ruling of the Supreme Court. I was in high school when the public schools of Atlanta were integrated. I went to the University of Georgia when the first students integrated that institution. I lived through all the changes that many refer to as history about which they have read. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ISAKSON","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4266,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090161957,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I know the distinguished Senator from Virginia is -going to be recognized. but I have a quick housekeeping issue. The distinguished chairman. the distinguished Senator from Pennsylvania. and I want to make sure we go back and forth. side to side. So following the distinguished Senator from Virginia. we will go to the distinguished Senator from North Dakota. Following the next Republican. I ask unanimous consent that the distinguished Senator from Illinois. Mr. DURBIN. be recognized for 15 minutes.","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":517,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090161971,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But I think that Ted Shaw. the president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. put it best when he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that: The Voting Rights- Act was drafted to rid the country of racial discriminationnot simply to reduce racial discrimination in voting to what some view as a tolerable level. As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and as the ranking member of the Subcommittee on the Constitution. you can take it from me that the committee has done due diligence in examining this issue. But you do not have to take it from me. of course. The extensive record the committee has compiled powerfully demonstrates the importance of the reauthorizing legislation before us today. Even in recent election cycles. Americans continue to be disenfranchised by discriminatory redistricting plans. through the denial of voting materials they are entitled to under the law. and through changes to election procedures that disadvantage minority candidates and voters. among other things. It is also worth noting that just a few weeks ago. the Supreme Court recognized that discriminatory redistricting. plans are not simply a vestige of the pastfinding a purposeful effort to dilute the voting power of over 100.000 Latino Americans. It is clear to me that we have come a long way from the bridge in Selma. AL. but we have not come far enough. Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act has been instrumental in bringing about the draliatic improvements in voting rights and representation for minorities in covered areas. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4393,"word_count":255}
{"speech_id":1090161979,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Some have raised the specter that Federal bureaucrats will abuse the authority we are giving them under this provision. that they will characterize all manner of practices as having a \"discriminatory purpose.\" In particular. there has been some suggestion that the new language will be abused by the Justice Department to require creation of the maximum number of Black majority districts possible or the maximum number of socalled coalition or influence districts. in which minority voters are combined with enough White voters of similar partisan leanings to elect a candidate. I dont think this is what the bill does. or that it can be reasonably read to do this. To say something has a discriminatory purpose is a term of art. It is the language of the jurisprudence of the 14th amendment. of cases such as Washington v. Davis. which define when particular action constitutes racial discrimination and violates the Constitution. There is a welldefined body of case law defining when racial discrimination violates the U.S. Constitution. That case law provides clear borders to the limits of the Executive discretion being granted in this bill. One traditional and important standard for identifying unconstitutional racial discrimination is to ask whether the challenged court action departs from normal rules of decision. In the case of redistricting. courts and the Justice Department would ask: Was the decision not to create a Black majority district a departure from ordinary districting rules? If a State has a large minority population concentrated in a particular area. ordinarily rules of districtingfollowing political and geographic borders and keeping districts as compact as possiblewould recommend that these voters be given a majorityminority district. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4900,"word_count":274}
{"speech_id":1090161994,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Today. a higher percentage of Black citizens in Georgia are registered to vote than are White citizens: 66 percent compared to 59 percent. Today. a higher percentage of Black citizens in Georgia turn out the vote than do White citizens: 51 percent compared to 48 percent. The number of Black elected officials in Georgia has climbed steadily. from 30 in 1970 to 249 in 1980. a 730percent increase. to 582 in Let me talk about my home county which is in rural Georgia. the very southern part of our State. Our community is a beneficiary of this Voting Rights Act. Over the years. several members of our Black community have been elected to city council. county commission. and school board posts. Men and women such as Wesley Ball. Frank Wilson. Lamont Alderman. Justina Lewis. George Walker. ","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3739,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090162009,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The witnesses we have heard in the Judiciary Committee over the past couple of months have had many different ideas. and after hearing from them. I am concerned that we should have listened more carefully to some of their recommendations. My concerns stem. in part. from the extraordinary nature of some of the temporary provisions of the Voting Rights Act particularly the \"preclearance\" requirement of section 5. Section 5 requires Alabama and other covered jurisdictions to \"preclear\" any change in \"any voting qualification or prerequisite to voting. or standard. practice. or procedure with respect to voting.\" The preclearance requirement applies to \"[any change affecting voting. even though it appears to be minor or indirect.\" As a representative of the Department of Justice testified in the House of Representatives. \"There is no de minimis exception\" to the preclearance requirement. In 1966. the Supreme Court in South Carolina v. Katzenbach upheld section 5s preclearance requirement \"as a necessary and constitutional response to some . States extraordinary stratagem[s] of contriving new rules of various kinds for the sole purpose of perpetuating voting discrimination in the face of adverse federal court decrees.\" The.Court \"acknowledged that suspension of new voting regulations pending preclearance was an extraordinary departure from the traditional course of relations betweei the States and the Federal Government.\" but \"held it constitutional as a permitted congressional response to the unremitting attempts by some state and local officials to frustrate their citizens equal enjoyment of the right to vote.\" In other words. the preclearance requirement was an extraordinary response to an extraordinary problemunrelenting efforts by some State and local officials to contrive new rules for voting and elections after each defeat in Federal court. During the reauthorization process. we have been presented relatively little presentday evidence of continued tunremitting attempts by some state and local officials to frustrate their citizens equal enjoyment of the right to vote\" as was the case in 1965especially the kind of changetherulesafterlosing tactics that prompted the section 5 preclearance requirement. According to Richard L.. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12476,"word_count":335}
{"speech_id":1090162010,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We must ensure public confidence in our electoral system. As I have said on the floor of the Senate before. \"as our country* plants the seeds of democracy across the world. we have the essential obligation to continue to operate as the model.\" I urge my colleagues to support this reauthorization.","speaker_name":"RICHARD BURR","chamber":"S","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2648,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090162013,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am pleased to speak in support of the Voting Rights reauthorization legislation. of which I am a cosponsor. Congress enacted the Voting Rights Act in 1965 to protect the voting rights of all Americans. and I am pleased that the Congress is reauthorizing this important legislation. The right to vote is the foundation of our democracy and a fundamental right to our citizenry. Before the Voting Rights Act was passed. however. a great percentage of American citizens were denied that right. The Voting Rights Act rectified that wrong by prohibiting the enactment of any election law that would deny or abridge voting rights based on race or color and provided the right to challenge discriminatory voting practices and procedures. This legislation has been extended and amended four times since its passage and has resulted in a tremendous growth in the ability of minority citizens to fully participate in the American political system. both as voters and candidates. At the time the act was first adopted. only onethird of all African Americans of voting age were on the registration rolls in the specially covered States compared with twothirds of White voters. Now African Americans voter registration rates are approaching parity with that of Whites in many areas. and Hispanic voters in jurisdictions added to the list of those specially covered by the act in 1975 are not far behind. ","speaker_name":"JAMES TALENT","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1945,"word_count":231}
{"speech_id":1090162015,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am proud to be an original cosponsor of this very important piece of legislation. the Voting Rights Reauthorization Act of 2006. As we all know. Congress first passed the Voting Rights Act back in 1965. when many jurisdictions had numerous laws and regulations aimed at denying the right to vote to many of our citizensin direct violation of the 15th amendment to the Constitution. The Voting Rights Act made it clear that our society would no longer tolerate such abuses. It also made clear that all citizens should have the opportunity to exercise this critical right freely and easily. without harassment. intimidation. or other barriers to voting. Its passage was one of the proudest moments of the civil rights movement. The Voting Rights Act has been an extraordinary success. and we can see its results in towns. counties. and States across the country. as well as in the House of Representatives and in the U.S. Senate. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2181,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090162044,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"COCHRAN. and LOTT. Calendar No. 766. Gustavo Gelpi. 5 minutes each for Senators SPECTER and LEAHY. I further ask unanimous consent that following the use or yielding back of the debate times above. the Senate proceed to a vote on passage of H.R. 4472. to be followed by consecutive votes on the confirmation of the abovelisted nominations in the order specified. without intervening action or debate. and that following those votes. the President be immediately notified of the Senates action. and the Senate then resume legislative session. \"","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2202,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090162072,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. earlier this afternoon when I was. not on the Senate floor. a few Republican Senators gave statements that reflected their individual views of what the legislation we are considering today will do to address the Supreme Courts interiretation of legislative intent in the Georgia v. Ashcroft and Reno v. Bossier Parish cases. While I am not fully informed of their positions. I certainly disagree with what I heard. In the Senate Judiciary Committee we received extensive testimony about these two provisions over the course of several hearings that informed our Committee vote yesterday. I ask unanimous consent to haveprinted in the RECORD a full explanation of the testimony we received that informed our vote yesterday and my understanding of the purpose and scope of these two provisions as an original and lead sponsor.","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":839,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090162075,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. Section 5 of. the bill. which deals with Georgia v. Ashcroft and the Bossier II case. is extremely important. As ranking member of the Judiciary Committees Subcommittee on the Constitution. Civil Rights. and Property Rights. I concur with the discussion of this provision oby the Senator from Vermont.","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":316,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090162082,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Vera. 517 U.S. 952. 1996. and Hunt v. Cromartie. 526 U.S. 541. 1999. however. the Supreme Court has held that the Justice Departments one time policy of requiring States to maximize majorityminority districts violated the Constitution. I want to make it clear that this bill does not allow such behavior. much less require it. As I understand it. the new language we are adding allows the Justice Department to stop purposeful. unconstitutional behavior. It does not grant the Justice Department license to violate the Constitution. It does not authorize the Justice Department to define for itself what is a \"discriminatory purpose.\" And it does not give the Justice Department a blank check to require States to maximize influence or coalition districts. Second. the bill overturns Georgia v. Ashcroft by protecting the ability of minorities to \"elect their preferred candidates of choice.\" Some commentators have read Georgia v. Ashcroft as allowing States to break up naturally occurring. majorityminority districts to create other districts where minorities have less voting power but still exercise important influence in elections. The bills new language protects districts in which minority citizens select their \"preferred candidate of choice\" with their own voting power. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3269,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090162096,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. 41 yearsthat is how long it has been since the Voting Rights Act was first enacted in 1965. and we have come a long way in those 41 years. That much was made clear to me on a recent visit to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. TN. just about 3 weeks ago with President Bush and Dr. Ben Hooks. a renowned civil rights leader. a former executive director of the NAACP for 14 or 15 years a.personal friend of myself and my distinguished colleague from Tennessee who is with me on the floor.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":511,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090162132,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"One in ten boys is estimated to be a victim. Only 35 percent of these cases are ever reported to the police. That is why this spring. Washington State passed a tough law that is new in mandating that sex offenders from other States must register with authorities within 3 days upon moving to Washington State. The previous law had been 30 days. We also established a minimum sentence for certain sex crimes and tougher registration rules. Back in 1990 we were the first State to enact a sexual predator involuntary commitment law that ensures predators who are about to be released after serving their time can be prevented from being released if mental health officials believe that they will endanger the community. This law has become a national model for other States to follow. Today. these sexual predators are housed on McNeil Island where they cannot hurt our children. Here is what I know. ","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6507,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090162136,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The injuries do not cease to exist simply because the victim- has turned 18. They continue and so should the penalties. These changes are long overdue. I am proud that the Senate.has passed this important legislation. and I am grateful to Masha for having the courage to stand up and make her voice heard.","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2902,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090162137,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It funds Big Brothers and Big Sisters and includes my bill for the reauthorization of the Police Athletic Leagues. These two programs provide kids with supervision and role models and mentors who can help protect them from predators. In addition. it mandates that potential foster and adoptive parents go through a thorough criminal background check before a child can be placed with them. Also incorporated in this bill are aspects of the Internet Safety Act which I proudly cosponsored. These include establishing new criminal penalties to keep up with the constantly increasing level of depravity among pedophilesfor example. the child exploitation enterprises provision to prosecute the \"molestation on demand\" child pornographic industry that has sprung up in recent years. Sexual predators of children are among the worst kind of offenders. and it is only right that there are sentencing enhancements for registered sex offenders who reoffend. This is a good piece of legislation. I am pleased so many of my colleagues support it. and I look forward to its pending passage.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3532,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090162138,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Ally was 30 years old when she was attacked and murdered in a public restroom by a repeat sex offender in Bridgewater. MA. in 2002. Allys friends described her as a strong. smart. and independent woman. She had worked at the USA Sailing Association of Portsmouth. RI. where she was a keelboat training coordinator. Ally is survived by her mother and sister. Andrea and Caroline. and her father and stepmother. Ray and Linda. This legislation is dedicated to her memory. along with the memories of Molly Bish and the many other victims of terrible crimes. Several changes have been made to this legislation as a result of our work with the House. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10281,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090162143,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The final legislation passed by Congress included a number of provisions that I had either authored or supported. such as the National AMBER Alert Network Act. the Protecting Our Children First Act. which reauthorized funding for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. and legislation to amend the Violence Against Women Act to provide transitional housing assistance grants for child victims of domestic violence. In addition. I am pleased that the Senate has acted on other legislation for children and crime victims that I have sponsored. These include the 21st Century Department of Justice Appropriations Authorization Act. which among other things included important grant funds for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. and established the Violence Against Women Office in the Justice Department. In 2004. the President signed into law the Justice For All Act. a package of criminal justice reforms that. among other things. authorized funds to reduce rape kit backlogs and enumerated crime victims rights. I am glad that this new consensus legislation to protect children honors the efforts of John and Rev6 Walsh. who have worked so hard to ensure that other families would not experience the tragedy that befell their family. It has been my privilege to work for many years with the Walshes and with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. in which they have played such an instrumental role. to take many important steps to keep children and families safe. I commend and thank John Walsh once again for his passionate advocacy on behalf of the Nations children over many. many years. I am also glad that members of both parties in both bodies ultimately agreed with me and with the distinguished Senate Republican and Democratic leaders that we should prioritize finishing and passing legislation to protect children from sexual predators. without tying this crucial legislation to other more difficult issues. The Senate has passed court security legislation. for which I was a principal cosponsor. as part of S. 2766. and we have been working to settle differences between our legislation and the other bodys court security proposals. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12489,"word_count":348}
{"speech_id":1090162167,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"After today. in the last 2 years under Republican control. the Senate will have confirmed 50. So the fact that the Senate has now confirmed more nominees in the past 5\/2 years. 256. than in the last 5\/2 years of the Clinton administration is due in no small part to the much faster pace of confirmations of this Presidents nominees when Democrats controlled the Senate. I am pleased that the Republican leadership has scheduled debate and consideration of these nominations and am glad that the Republican leadership is taking notice of the fact that we can cooperate on swift consideration and confirmation of nominations. Working together. we can confirm four judges today. I commend the Republican Senate leadership for passing over the controversial nominations of William Gerry Myers III. Terrence W. Boyle. and Norman Randy Smith. The Republican leadership is right to have avoided an unnecessarily divisive debate over these nominations that were reported on a partyline vote. The President and Senate Republican leadership have too often. though. chosen to pick fights over judicial nominations rather than focus on filling vacancies. Judicial vacancies have now grown to well over 40 from the lowest vacancy rate in decades. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4432,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090162184,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Hamas responded by offering only to provide information about Corporal Shalit. not his release. in exchange for the release of over 400 Palestinians in Israeli jails. Israel rightly refused an exchange. and hoped that international pressure would succeed. Having waited 3 days. on June 28th. Israeli troops pushed into Gaza to find and free Corporal Shalit. President Bush appealed to Palestinian Fatah leader. Abbas and our MiddleEast allies to exert pressure on Hamas to free Corporal Shalit. The U.S. ambassador to the UN. John Bolton. called on the Syrian president. Bashar Assad to arrest Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal. who is harbored in that country. Additionally. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11240,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090162186,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wish to discuss a critical issue that I have addressed in this Chamber numerous times in the last several years. and that is the situation in Darfur. It is truly a shame that in July of 2006. the horrendous conditions and continued violence look very similar to that which first caught our attention in Despite the recent peace agreement that was reached in early May between the Government of National Unity and one faction of the largest rebel group. the violence on the ground has continued unabated. This has led to a tenuous humanitarian situation. According to the United Nations Childrens Fund Darfur Nutrition Update for June 2006. malnutrition rates and admissions to therapeutic feeding centers are rising across Darfur. Under difficult conditions. our Government has done a tremendous job in providing. assistance to the people of Darfur. including contributing over 80 percent of the food delivered in Darfur by the World Food Program. Unfortunately. our Governments efforts are not enough. Other donors must increase their contributions and fulfill the pledges they made. To make these matters worse. the Government of Sudan blatantly refuses a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Darfur. leaving the African Union to try and enforce peace. which it has been unable to do thus far. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2439,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090162190,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I would simply like to clarify that it is the intent of the committee that this provision authorizes construction of a 575acre addition to the existing 1.140acre Poplar Island. MD. beneficial use of dredged material project which is presently under construction and authorizes an additional $256.1 million for that expansion.","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":325,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090162198,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I have arisen previously to talk about a proposal of the DM&E Railroad to reconstruct its rail line across southern Minnesota in order to run up to 36 unit coal trains. rail cars containing grain and other agricultural products. and possibly shipments of hazardous materials. The DM&E is presently seeking a $2.5 billion lowinterest loan from the Federal Railroad Administration for this project. which the company initially said would be financed to the private capital markets. Evidently unable to attract that necessary financing. DM&E has now turned to the American taxpayer to assume the enormous financial. risk that such a project entails. If the project were to be successful. the financial benefits would go to DM&Es executives and investors. If the project were to fail. the losses would be paid by American taxpayers. It is forthat reason that I have urged the Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration and the U.S. Secretary of Transportation. who have the ultimate decisionmaking authorities. to exercise all necessary due diligence before their decisions about this enormous financing. ","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3548,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090162201,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In particular. Members and their staffs came to depend on Kathys thorough knowledge of the Social Security Program as they developed proposals for addressing the programs financial status and benefit structure. She also made major contributions to CBOs reports on the economic and budget outlook and the reestimates of the Presidents- budget. Her analyses always displayed those characteristics of CBOs reports that we in the Congress most valueimpartiality. clarity. and comprehensiveness. In fact. Kathy was a principal architect of the formats of many tables on which the Budget Committee has come to rely so heavily. The Congress. will feel the loss of a dedicated public servant who selflessly worked extraordinary hours in helping us advance the legislative process. We will miss Kathys expertise and counsel. I know that I speak for all of the Members who have served on the Budget Committees of the House and Senate during the past 25 years and all of our staff when I express our gratitude to Kathy for all of her contributions to the legislative process..","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1578,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090162214,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Under this legislation we require that CMS notify those who are approaching the coverage gap and give them an option of making a onetime plan change in order to obtain essential drug coverage. Under our legislation. beneficiaries could change to any plan which would provide continuous coverage. That includes drug plans which provide generic or brandname drugs as well as Medicare Advantage plans offering comprehensive drug coverage. In a few States. there is simply not an option which allows a beneficiary to obtain continuous brandname drug coverage. I note that in my State of Maine. as well as in New Hampshire and Alaska. such coverage simply cannot be obtained. So this legislation directs the Secretary to provide an option for beneficiary enrollment in a plan with brandname drug coverage outside their region. That is simply fair. and it is essential to ensure that we dont see the doughnut hole threaten the health of our seniors. We know that this coverage gap isan issue we simply must address. Seniors need to be able to plan and budget and count on a predictable monthly cost for their essentials of life. When the Congress adopted Part D 3 years ago. we said we never wanted to make seniors again choose between buying food and buying essential medicines. ","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5434,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090162224,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services\" be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday. July 20. 2006. at 9:30 a.m.. in closed session. to receive a classified briefing on overhead imagery systems.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":254,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090162232,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday. July 20. 2006. to hold a hearing titled \"VA Data Privacy Breach: TwentySix Million People Deserve Assurance of Future Security\". The hearing will take place in room 418 of the Russell Senate Office Building at 10 a.m.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":363,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090162312,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Cubi Point in the Philippines. and as Command Judge Advocate onboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt. Following completion of graduate school. Admiral McPherson returned to the Naval Legal Service Office in Norfolk and served tours as senior defense counsel and senior trial counsel. He was then assigned as Force Judge Advocate for Commander. Submarine Force. U.S. Atlantic Fleet. the assistant for legal and legislative matters for the vice chief of Naval Operations. and as special counsel to the Chief of Naval Operations. In\" September 2000. Admiral McPherson assumed command of Trial Service Office East in Norfolk. and in October 2002. he was promoted to rear admiral and assigned as the Deputy Judge Advocate General and Commander. Naval Legal Service Command. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2480,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090162333,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate immediately proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations on todays Executive Calendar: Calendar Nos. 767. 768. 786 through 810. and all nominations on the Secretarys desk. I further ask unanimous consent that the nominations be confirmed en bloc. the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table. the President be immediately notified of the Senates action. and the Senate then return to legislative session.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":485,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090162406,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam President. I didnt mention this in our private conversation. but we are going to do the Defense bill hopefully before we leave. and the one thing we havent talked about is the Intelligence authorization bill. That has been reported out of the committee.I think we could have a very short time agreementI mean very short. Is there a way the leader would try to work that into the schedule before we go? Because this would be the second year without an intelligence authorization bill.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":489,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090162417,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"First. my coming here is just as the Senator -indicated. How can we. the Senate of our country. .leave here with the raging civil .war going on and our troops are right in the middle of it? How can we leave here without changing the course in Iraq? That is why I am here. It is a cry for help. We need . our Republican colleagues to speak out. This blind allegiance to the President is not good for our country. \"","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":413,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090162448,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He had to run from where the headquarters was. in a different part of the hotel. to our roomit was spread out a long waycarrying all this emergency equipment. When he came. he was perspiring so hard. He was so gentle and nice with my wife. Every time I hear this recounted. how he and Officer Chestnut were killed. I remember this man so clearly. I can see his face very plainly. I have expressed to his family my personal appreciation. as I tried to do for Officer Chestnut. whom I did not know except in passingbut I felt some affinity toward Officer Gibson. These two men were at one of the entrances to this Capitol. The crazed man came in and killed both of them. While we have this terrible event in the history of the Capitol 8 years ago today1998if there could be a positive side. and that is hard to find. the one place you would have to go is the Visitors Center. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3508,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090162469,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"July 24. 1998. both men were nearing the end of a busy work day. But events unfolded with a quick and horrible speed. At about 3:40 p.m.police and prosecutors allege that Rus.sell Eugene Weston entered the Capitol through the East -Entrance. He attempted to evade a metal detector and Chestnut stepped into his path to stop himto protect all of us. Weston shot him at pointblank range. Weston then allegedly proceeded down the corridor. rushing towards the Office of the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives. Gibson. those who were in the office say. warned everyone to get down. He yelled \"Drop your weapon\" and exchanged gunfire with Weston. The crazed gunman hit Gibson in the leg and the chest. Gibson hit Weston in the leg and chest as well. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3682,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090162471,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I wish to honor Duluth East High School. in Duluth. MN. which recently earned an Award for Excellence in Education for its exceptional and innovative achievements in educating children. Duluth East High School is truly a model of educational success. which is reflected in the achievements of its students. Duluth East High School boasts a 98percent graduation rate. Ninetyone percent of its graduates go on to some type of postsecondary education. with over 66 percent enrolling. in a 4year college. The class of 2005 had two students who qualified as National Merit semifinalists. nine received Letters of Commendation from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. 23 earned a perfect 4.0 grade point average. and. all told. members of the class were offered in excess of $2 million in scholarship monies. Duluth East provides many challenging courses for highachieving students. offering advanced placement courses in English. calculus. and European history. All advanced placement students are required to take the advanced placement test at the end of the term. Students scoring three or better on the test automatically earn college credit. ","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2589,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090162475,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. president. today I honor Lowell Elementary School. in Duluth. MN. which recently earned an Award for Excellence in Educati6n for its exceptional and innovative achievements in educating children. Lowell Elementary School. a music magnet school. is truly a model- of educational success. In addition to a wellrounded learning experience. the school offers an exceptional music curriculum. including a choir at each grade levelkindergarten through fifth gradepiano instruction for second. third. and fourthgrade pupils. string instrument lessons for third through fifth grades. and band instruction for grades four and five. Lowell Elementary Schools success is reflected in its popularity within the Duluth community. There are 127 students on a waiting list for enrollment in Lowell. including children for future kindergarten enrollment. An English language learner program is housed in the building. serving 33 to 38 students per year from 10 different countries. A 21st Century Program. which involves a partnership between Lowell and the YMCA. provides onsite daily mentoring and tutoring services after school until 6:00 p.m.. for pupils in grades K through 5. Parents further attest to Lowells success. Joan Lancour states: My child has attended Lowell for the past three years. ","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2680,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090162476,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Interestingly. while the track was intended for sulky races. in 1924. female jockeys raced Kentucky thoroughbreds every day of the fair. In 1896. a new Agricultural Hall was constructed to showcase the agricultural industry. In addition. the Fair Office. the oldest building still standing. was constructed in 1917. and in 1920. the present \"Heritage Hall\" was constructed. During World War II. the fairgrounds were used to house German prisoners. who worked to help the local sugar industry that was so vital to our war effort. More recently. in 1981. the Historical Society of Michigan designated the fairgrounds a historical site. Many people have contributed to the success of the Tuscola County Fair. including Emery J. Vandemark. the longest serving board member. the treasurer for 28 years. and the current 13year President. the late Jay Kitchen. past president. Walter Jackson. president.of the fair board and active 4H member. James Fitzgerald. past president. Jerry Vandemark. longtime fundraiser. and longtime members Waldo Garner. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2337,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090162479,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I wish to recognize Webster. SD. The town of Webster will celebrate the 125th anniversary of its founding this year. Located in Day County. Websterwas founded in 1881 and named after one of its first settlers. J.B. Webster. Webster has been a successful and thriving community for the past 125 years. and I am confident that it will continue to serve as an example of South Dakota values and traditions for the next 125 years. I offer my congratulations to Webster on their anniversary and wish them continued prosperity in the years to come.*","speaker_name":"JOHN THUNE","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":564,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090162504,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. tomorrow morning there will be the 2 final hours for debate on the Holmes nomination. If all time is used. that vote would occur shortly before noon on Tuesday. That vote could occur a little earlier if some debate time is yielded back. After the policy meetings in the afternoon. we will proceed to the Child Custody Protection bill. We will be on that bill. the Child Custody Protection bill. throughout tomorrow afternoon. into the evening. in order to finish the bill. A few moments ago I filed cloture on the Gulf of Mexico energy security bill. I filed cloture on the motion to proceed to ensure the Senate can take action on this bill related to our energy independence. That vote will occur Wednesday morning. prior to the 11 a.m. joint meeting with the House of Representatives.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":802,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090162511,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Hamas. are shooting rockets into southern Israel. while Hezbollah terrorists. still. in Lebanon. are shooting rockets into northern Israel. And the worlds peace police still whine for harmony. Mr. Speaker. you make peace by making the terrorist criminals stop shooting. Here guns talk louder than appeasement words. And thats just the way it is.","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1160,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090162521,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. BLUMENAUER has worked tirelessly over the past several years to craft and advance this legislation. Mr. Speaker. we support the pending measure. Mr. Speaker. I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman fromOregon .","speaker_name":"MADELEINE BORDALLO","chamber":"H","state":"GU","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":874,"word_count":38}
{"speech_id":1090162524,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It was a great way to learn about the mountain and see it firsthand. It is truly a remarkable place and great piece of America. I hope others will come and enjoy it as we have. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time and ask for your support for this very important and progressive legislation.","speaker_name":"GREG WALDEN","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":931,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090162530,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I look forward to the support of this House on H.R. 854. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"GREG WALDEN","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1236,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090162542,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it is now my honor and privilegeto yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New Jersey . who has put an incredible amount of work into this legislation to bring it forward and has been a dutiful and diligent lawmaker in that respect.","speaker_name":"GREG WALDEN","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":261,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090162576,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we on this side of the aisle have no objection to passage of S. 310. This simple and noncontroversial transfer of a small amount of real property has been adequately explained by the majority. and. in fact. this is the second time this measure l4as come before the House. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"MADELEINE BORDALLO","chamber":"H","state":"GU","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":334,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090162580,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the fact that the Negro Leagues ever existed in this country is a painful reminder of the dark days of legalized racism through segregation. However. the success of those leagues. the innovations begun in those leagues and the stars who played in those leagues are sources of great pride and inspiration. National recognition for the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. Missouri. is a fitting tribute to those who were involved in the Negro leagues and to the great work the museum is doing to preserve this important chapter in the story of America. Furthermore. Mr. Speaker. Representative EMANUEL CLEAVER is to be commended as the sponsor of the House companion to this resolution. Representative CLEAVERS tireless efforts on behalf of this legislation were crucial in bringing this measure before the House today. ","speaker_name":"MADELEINE BORDALLO","chamber":"H","state":"GU","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":945,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090162587,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume: I am pleased to support Senate 1496. the Electronic Duck Stamp Act. I would also like to compliment the author of this legislation. Senator MIKE CRAPO. and the sponsors of the House version. Congressmen RON KIND and","speaker_name":"GREG WALDEN","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":271,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090162591,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. with regard to S. 1496. this program. my understanding. creates a 3year pilot program to distribute Federal duck stamps electronically. Duck stamps are something which I am very familiar with and am completely in support of the overall program. These stamps are sold to hunters. conservationists and collectors. raising funds to acquire land in the national wildlife refuge system. which. in turn. are then beneficial to the duck hunters in my district and yours as well. The question goes to the overall cost of this system and who will be paying for the system. Traditionally. under the duck stamp program. it is not a cost to the overall taxpayers of the country. Rather. it is those who enter in to select to buy the duck -stamps themselves. However. this is the point. CBO estimates that this bill will cost $750.000. or threequarters of a million dollars. over the next 3 years to implement and that the fees authorized will not be sufficient to offset this cost. In light of this report from the CBO. can you assure us that the costs will be generated from the actual sale of the stamps. and can you point out where the error has been. therefore. in the CBO cost estimates in this program?","speaker_name":"SCOTT GARRETT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1209,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090162615,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Senate 203 includes several titles in this carefully constructed bill. Title I provides for the temporary reduction of soda ash royalties. title I1 establishes 10 National Heritage Areas. title I authorizes three suitability and feasibility studies for new heritage areas. titles IV makes improvement to and reauthorizes the Illinois and Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor. title V authorizes an important water storage study. title VI authorizes a special resources study in the State of Delaware to determine the suitability of including certain sites in the National Park System. title VII reauthorizes the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Val-","speaker_name":"GREG WALDEN","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":709,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090162643,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill to direct the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain parcels of land acquired for the Blunt Reservoir and Pierre Canal features of the initial stage of the Oahe Unit. James Division. South Dakota. to the Commission of Schools and Public Lands and the Department of Game. Fish. and Parks of the State of South Dakota for the purpose of mitigating lost wildlife habitat. on the condition that the current preferential leaseholders shall have an .option to purchase the parcels from the Commission. and for other purposes. as amended.","speaker_name":"GREG WALDEN","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":597,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090162647,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I yield myself such time as I may consume. H.R. 4301. sponsored by Congresswoman STEPHANIE HERSETH. brings much needed closure and justice for a number of landowners who have been negatively impacted by a South Dakota irrigation project that never materialized. To complete the irrigation project. the Federal Government acquired.over 19.000 acres from local landowners. Many of these lands were obtained by condemnation. Despite all this hardship. the project was never completed. but. the Federal Government has retained ownership to the lands for the last 30 years. This bill simply gives many of the landowners options to buy the land back and gives some of the land to the State of South Dakota to benefit fish and wildlife. The legislation also fornally deauthorizes that irrigation project. This bill is a culmination of many years of hard work among various interests. It not only provides fairness to local landowners and the county government. but it also improves the environment. I commend the South Dakota delegation for their hard work and urge my colleagues to support this most important. balanced and fair legislation. ","speaker_name":"GREG WALDEN","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1184,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090162662,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And to the staff of the Resources Committee. particularly Erica Tergeson -and Doug Crandall. and to Greg Kostka at the legislative counsel who drafted countless versions of this legislation. And. finally. I want to thank those who put the most work into this. my staff: Lindsay Slater. my chief of staff. Laurel Hall. Josh Heird. and Nikki Watts for their incredible efforts on this piece of legislation.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL SIMPSON","chamber":"H","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3773,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090162664,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding and for her leadership in so many areas. Madam Speaker. I rise in opposition to this legislation. As a strong supporter of our Nations wilderness. I amopposed to it.- the Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act. I am joined in my opposition by the Sierra Club. and I will place their statement in the RECORD. I am also joined in my opposition by 44 different organizations. most of which are located in the great State of Idaho. and I will place their statements in opposition also in the RECORD. I am also joined by Wilderness Watch. They are opposed because they say that the legislation contains \"wildernessweakening provisions.\" And I will place their statement in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":746,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090162665,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. among other harmful provisions. the underlying bill. H.R. 3603. will give away many public lands for private development to local governments completely for free. A bill this controversial should not be considered under suspension of the rules. The bill. H.R. 3603. includes unusual language that allows the giving away of publicly owned land. owned by the taxpayers. to localities. to counties. and local governments for them then to possibly develop it for private development. It will also give away. I am told. by the Sierra Club. 5.000 acres. My good friend on the other side of the aisle. MIKE SIMPSON. said that it is only 3.600 acres. I asked the Democratic staff what is the correct number? They say they do not know because they just got the maps of this controversial bill today at 12:30. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3881,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090162680,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. the majority has already explained the purpose of H.R. 233. which was introduced by my colleague from California. Representative MiKE THOMPSON. The gentleman is to be commended for his efforts to preserve the wild lands of his Northern California district. He has worked diligently with Federal. State. and local interests to preserve and enhance the wilderness experience. Madam Speaker. overall. we support H.R. 233. and we recommend its adoption by the House today. Madam Speaker. I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Northern California . the sponsor of this legislation.","speaker_name":"MADELEINE BORDALLO","chamber":"H","state":"GU","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":611,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090162681,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. Madam Speaker. this bill will protect some of the most beautiful wilderness area in my entire congressional district. It is the product of over 5 years of hard. grassroots work. It represents town hall meetings. I cant tell you how many town hall meetings. field tours with all the different stakeholder groups. open debate. both in the House and the committee. and the Senate. both in the committee and on the floor. in city hall chambers and board of supervisors chambers throughout my district. stakeholder meetings with people representing timber. hunting and fishing. conservation. government. offroad vehicles. mountain bikes. businesses. \"farming. It is 5 years of exhaustive and inclusive work. The result is the added protection to 275.000 acres of the most beautiful and the most important landscapes in all of Californias First Congressional District. It includes the famous King Ranch. which the Bush administration in testifying in committee on this identified that particular portion as being the crown jewel of our entire national wilderness system. ","speaker_name":"MIKE THOMPSON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4416,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090162722,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. this resolution calls upon the President to establish a national Hire a Veteran Week. No group in America deserves special employment opportunity more .than our Nations veterans. These men and women have volunteered to put themselves in harms way to preserve the Nations way of life and economic .system. They serve on every continent. in hundreds of occupations. in remote locations. and in the toughest of combat conditions. They answer the Nations call to duty. asking in return only our support and our thanks. Veterans are one of the most diverse communities in America. with significant representation from all major ethnic and socioeconomic groups. Todays veterans bring a solid work ethic. understand the chain of command. are accustomed to working within a system. are highly motivated. and are comfortable with technology. Hiring a veteran to fill a goodpaying job is an important way to say thank you for your service and brings a quality employee to the workforce. Madam Speaker. this bill was jointly referred to the Committee on Armed Services which waived consideration of the bill. I would like to thank Chairman BUYER. chairman of the full committee. ","speaker_name":"JEB BRADLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1531,"word_count":191}
{"speech_id":1090162775,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Committee on Rules may meet later this week to grant a rule which could limit the amendment process for floor consideration of H.R. 4157. the Health Information Technology Promotion Act of 2005. The bill was ordered reported by the Committee on Energy and Commerce on June 15. 2006. Any Member wishing to offer an amendment should submit 55 copies of the amendment and one copy of a brief explanation of the amendment to the Rules Committee in room H312 of the Capitol by 11 a.m. on Wednesday. July 26. 2006. Members should draft their amendments to the text of the amendment in the nature of a substitute posted on the Web site of the Committee on Rules. Members should use the Office of Legislative Counsel to ensure that their amendments are drafted in the most appropriate format and should check with the Office for the Parliamentarian to be certain their amendments comply with the Rules of the House.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":924,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090162782,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am proud of this community. Nicodemus deserves to be honored for its contributions to American history. I commend and encourage the preservation efforts of the National Park Service and the residents of this amazing town.","speaker_name":"JERRY MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3433,"word_count":36}
{"speech_id":1090162791,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Under his guidance and hard work. the Cloakroom has become a place fitting for the U.S. House of Representatives. He has become an institution to those Members who have served this legislative body and he will be deeply missed. We wish Mr. Friedman well.. and we all deeply appreciate his dedicated and decent service. I will certainly miss him. I wish Tim and his wife Colleen many good years. filled with family. friends. good health. and plenty of golf. On behalf of -my staff. myself and my lovely wife Deborah: Thank you. Tim.","speaker_name":"JOHN DINGELL","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1439,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090162793,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it is a notsocloselyheld secret that Congressional staff plays a crucial and indispensable role in making it possible for Members of Congress to carry out their constitutional duties. That is certainly the case for Tim Friedman. who will mark 30 years of service15 terms. if he were a Memberto the U.S. House of Representatives on July 19. 2006. Tim is a true \"Man of the House.\" He began his career in 1976. under Speaker Cari Albert. From his first job in the office of the Doorkeeper. he transferred to tl~e House Sergeant at Arms office where he worked until 1985. when Speaker Thomas P. Tip\" ONeill appointed him as Assistant Manager of the House Democratic Cloakroom in 1985.. The Democratic Cloakroom is the crossroads of the Caucus. and Tim Friedman stands right in the middle of the intersection. He has been a constant source of information. wisdom and assistance. dispensed with characteristic good humor there for the past 20 years. He is so professional in his job that. like a great golfer. he makes something very hard look easy. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1479,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090162795,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. Tim Friedman has been a friend of mine since the first day I walked onto the House Floor 18 years ago. His interest in. and service to. this anol other Members of the House has always been above and beyond the call of duty. As he heads to a wellearned retirement a bit to our south. I want my dear friend Tim to know that I will think of him often. and with tremendous gratitude for his extraordinary service. Thanks. Tim!","speaker_name":"MICHAEL MCNULTY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":435,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090162797,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to honor Mr. Tim Friedman for his many years of heartfelt service and wish him best .wishes on his retirement from the U.S. House of Representatives and the House Democratic Cloakroom. Originally from Lackawanna. NY. outside of Buffalo. Mr. Friedman began his career in the House of Representatives on July 19.1976 under the patronage of the Honorable Dan Rostenkowski of Illinois. He worked as a Doorkeeper from 1976 to 1982 under the Honorable James T. ","speaker_name":"TIM HOLDEN","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1271,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090162798,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"A native of Lackawanna. New York. Tim came to Washington in 1976 and worked first as a Doorkeeper. guarding the privacy of Members and keeping the floor of this House secure. His talents were recognized and in 1982 he transferred to the House Sergeant at Arms where he continued his efforts to keep this House running in an efficient and productive manner. In 1995. Speaker of the House Thomas P. ONeill appointed him to his current position of Assistant Manger of the House Democratic Cloakroom. Tim. you will be sorely missed but I know that you and your wife Colleen are looking forward to a life of leisure in North Carolina. I know you will enjoy having the time to play all the golf you want. I played golf on your golf team at Andrews and had a barrel of fun. ","speaker_name":"RUBEN HINOJOSA","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1735,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090162815,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Nation has been focused on the war declared by Hezbollah against Israel this past week. And while most of the media focused on stories of the conflict in Israel or Lebanon. they have not covered an aspect of the story critical to our fellow citizens. the protection and evacuation of American citizens from this conflict. On the day that Hezbollah started this war. we estimated that there were over 20.000 Americans in Lebanon. I want to first commend our ambassador in Lebanon and the U.S. embassy team in Beirut for rapidly assembling. the plans and data on the Americans to be saved. The U.S. Government regularly plans and sometimes executes what is called a noncombatant evacuation operation. or NEO in Pentagon parlance. to rescue Americans abroad. The scale of the Lebanese NEO was very. very large. This operation. assembled on very short notice. responded remarkably to a rapidlychanging. massive movement of our fellow citizens. Some of the unsung heroes of the Lebanon NEO are the men and women of the United States Navy and Marine Corps. ","speaker_name":"MARK KIRK","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3073,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090162825,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In 1984. the voters from the 7th Congressional District chose Mr. Manton. to represent their interests in Washington. He served with distinction on the Commerce Committee and as CoChairman of the AdHoc Committee on Irish Affairs. As the son of immigrants. Mr. Manton never forgot what makes this country great. As Chairman of the Queens Democratic Party. he embraced the growing diversity in Queens and recruited candidates of all ethnicities. including from the Asian and Hispanic communities. Mr. Manton maintained his position as District Leader for the Anoroc Democratic Club in his home district until the day that he died. which further demonstrates his commitment to being accessible to the public and the valuehe placed on being in touch with the community. Over 2 million people are lucky enough to call the borough of Queens home. ","speaker_name":"ANTHONY WEINER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2535,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090162842,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. the members of the New York delegation have risen today with great sadness and with great pride in the life and service and leadership of our former colleague. Tom Manton. When Mr. RANGEL announced to the body earlier this evening the sad news of Mr. Mantons passing. which. of course. has been heralded in the press because he was a big figure in New York. it brought back many memories for those df us who served with him. A big. strong Democrat. he served with great pride in this body as a way to serve the people of his district. which he loved and took great pride in. He worked in a very bipartisan way to get the job done for them. I had been a former Chair of the California Democratic Party over 20 years ago. so we shared that commitment to removing obstacles of participation in the political process through the Democratic Party organization which he led with great pride for so much of his political life. His policy contributions for his district are legendary. and that is why he was unbeatable until he just decided he wasnt going to run again. and we all know of the legacy that he sent us in the great service of Mr. CROWLEY in the Congress. ","speaker_name":"NANCY PELOSI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3089,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090162844,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In Brooklyn we had to battle for everything. We had to fight all the way. Tom Manton was a political boss. He was head of a machine. But he gave new meaning to the word machine and being a boss. A conciliator. a mediator. a guy who made things happen as he took this diverse. rapidly growing borough. rapidly growing in terms of diverse population. he wove it altogether without bitter fights and without leaving a lot of blood in the aisles. So I take my hat off to Tom Manton and the kind of example he made. I can add very little to what my colleagues have already said.","speaker_name":"MAJOR OWENS","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1282,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090162849,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have an economy that is moving in excess of 3.5 percent in gross national product. We have created. over the last several years. 1.85 million jobs over the last 12 months alone. and 5.4 million since Augustof 1993. What I think this translates to is more small business owners having more money to create jobs. to buy more equipment. which creates more jobs. I think we also have individuals who have more discretion over their own dollars. They can say what they want to buy. when they want to buy it because they have fewer Federal taxes to pay. I think that empowers them to consume more goods. which then translates to more business to more jobs. So I see it as an engine that is moving in the right direction. I believe that the tax relief package and the tax cuts that we passed are a large part ofthat.","speaker_name":"EMANUEL CLEAVER","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2740,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090162850,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the gentlewoman will yield. First of all. I agree with your numbers. The job gain during this administration from 2003 to the present does bring the total jobs to 5.4 million. My disagreement with the numbers is that the numbers do not include 2.7 million jobs lost prior to the growth period. And so if you subtract the 2.7 million jobs that were lost. you actually will have a 2.7 million jobs increase instead of 5.4 million. And I have my own chart. And I do not quarrel with your numbers. But I have taken the numbers in a different direction. In 2005 dollars. income in 2005 dollars. this chart reflects the tax savings for Americans. ","speaker_name":"EMANUEL CLEAVER","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1270,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090162852,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I would not support giving any additional tax cuts to people who are already paying virtually no taxes. The earned ificome tax credit. I think. adequately. appropriatply and significantly deals with the people who are at the very lowest end of the income level in this country. And they are paying virtually no taxes. However. I do think that the tax cuts are inevitably going to be disproportionate because of the disproportionate income. But the problem that I am having with that. in addition to the fact that they are not as equitable as I think we could design them. we are the only Nation -in the history of the planet that I can find out that actually moved for a tax cut during a time of war. Generally during a time of -war. we ask the people of the Nation. particularly our Nation. to make sacrifices. And so we .are making significant spending a part of our daytoday living in this country with a conflict going in Afghanistan. a conflict going in Iraq. and who knows what will happen with all of the troubles now in the Palestinian territories as well as in Lebanon. So I think that we missed a rare but a very. very key opportunity to challenge the people of our country to make sacrifices during this particular time. ","speaker_name":"EMANUEL CLEAVER","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1977,"word_count":223}
{"speech_id":1090162866,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"My final argument is. and I think this is a very. very good example or illustration of the disparity between the recipients of the best ends of the tax cut. Lee Raymond. who was the retiring CEO of ExxonMobil. owns 7.7 million shares of their stock. Now. at the current dividend rate. he would generate. if he sold his stock today. $10 million. On top of that. he will have a $2.5 million tax cut. I think when we see that kind of disparity it has to pull at us that something is dreadfully wrong. Now. I am not upset with Mr. Raymond. I do not even know him. He may be a nice person. ","speaker_name":"EMANUEL CLEAVER","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2421,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090162868,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We had a situation when I first came here with 25 jobs being. lost in Kansas City. and some people told me that I needed to go to war. We were going to lose it anyway. so I needed to go to war with a Republican. FRANK WOLF. It didnt sound right to me. So I did something that was completely stupid. I called FRANK WOLF on the phone. went to his office. we met. we talked about the issue. and he said. Cleaver. youre right. Twentyfive jobs were saved because I refused to go to war with someone just because he was a member of the other party. And I am convinced that much more could be accomplished here if we worked together. I have heard this story more than once. ","speaker_name":"EMANUEL CLEAVER","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5470,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090162875,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And we were talking about over 500.000 veterans. So these are actual people living in our States asking for asking for health care. as you say. on waiting lists. going to the pharmacy. being asked to pay for more prescription drugs. being asked to pay an enrollment fee to get their health care. and not assured that they are going to get the kind of health care that you are saying is really lifesaving..","speaker_name":"ALLYSON SCHWARTZ","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":958,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090162952,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Sixtythree voted in favor of stem cell research. reflecting Americas feelings. Seventy percent of American people say we should go forward with this research. that these embryonic stem cells that will be thrown away. it is far better to use them to find cures to relieve human suffering. That is what most Americans believe. That is what a bipartisan majority of the Senate believed. The magic number in the Senate is not 63 when it comes to this issue. The important number is 67. Why? That is the number of Senators it would take to override a Presidential veto. a veto of the stem cell research bill. We fell four votes short. It became an operative issue when the President of the United States decided to use his first Presidential veto to stop this medical research. On Saturday. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10933,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090162956,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I dont know quite where to begin. If you are sitting out in America today and you heard what you just heard. what you heard was. I am going to point out how bad you are. Here is what is wrong. here is the choice. What you heard was \"a partisan rant about the situation we find ourselves in today rather than a constructive hand that says. lets work together to get things done. We heard a debate about stem cells so it could be used politically. We heard a lot of words that were interchanged. stem cells versus embryonic stem cells. We heard words that President Bush does not care about people with illnesses. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10572,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090163014,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In fact. the Supreme Court made it clear in Planned Parenthood v. Casey -that it is the States right to declare that an abortion should not be performed on a minor unless a parent is consulted. This is not an argument on the merits of abortion. Rather. this is a debate about preserving the fundamental rights of parents to have knowledgeabout health decisions of their minor daughters. Let me conclude with this. This is one of the biggest moral issues of the day. the right to have an abortion or not. It splits America: The emotions are high. There are good people on both sides of the debate. We need to look for common ground. where we can come together and at least have some reasonable restrictions on abortion. I believe this bill is one of those reasonable restrictions on abortion that I think all of us should come together on. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":857,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090163029,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the Democratic leader and the Republican leader had a unanimous consent agreement on this bill. and during that timethe way the Senate operatesamendments.were exchanged and language was handed to each side. We were prepared to debate amendments based on text we were given. and in a highly unusual move. the Senator from New Jersey has brought forward language that is different than what was provided to us in the unanimous consent agreement. At this time. having to go through the amendment to see what all the consequences of those differences are. I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":601,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090163045,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"When the New Jersey Supreme Court struck down a law that would have required parental notification. they considered the effect that notification laws have had on other States. Their conclusion was- the same as mine. and I quote: [A] law mandating parental notification prior to an abortion can neither mend nor create lines of communication between parent and child. For example. in Texas. a pregnant 16yearold explained why she could not tell her mother she was pregnant. She said: My oldest sister got pregnant when she was 17. My mother pushed her against the wall. slapped her across the face and then grabbed her by the hair. pulled her through the living room. out the front door and threw her off the porch. We dont know where she is now. Furthermore. the underlying bill does nothing to protect a young woman whose father rapes her. Despite such a despicable violation. he would still be .allowed to make parental decisions on her behalf. Instead of punishing him. we would punish grandmothers or clergy who actually have to try to protect her from such an abusive relationship. Now. these are horrible situations. but they are real life situations. and by forcing a minor to ask an abusive. violent parent for permission. we are only adding to the abuse. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT MENENDEZ","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10661,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090163098,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What about the situation where the young girl we are talking about has been a victim of incest? Would the father then have the right to bring a lawsuit against someone who took the daughter he abused across the State line? Nobody wants to talk about this issue. This is not the kind of thing you wake up in the morning and say: I hope the debate today will be about abortion and incest. But that is what we face. We are talking about writing the laws of the land in a way that is sensible. You say: That has to be a rare situation. Yes. it is. I am sure it is. But for that life and that person and that crime. it could be the most important and tragic event that ever happened in their lives. That is why we have to take this very seriously. We have to write these amendments very carefully. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8226,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090163125,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. 100 to 0. thats the kind of statement we could have madebut that kind of unity was sacrificed on the altar of Republican wedgeissue politics.","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6096,"word_count":27}
{"speech_id":1090163130,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today in support of the Child Custody Protection Act. which prohibits transporting. a minor across State lines to obtain an abortion if doing so abridges a parental notification or consent statute in the State in which the minor resides. The bill also provides an exception for cases where an abortion is necessary to save the minors life. I am proud to say that I am a cosponsor of this bill and I supported it in past Congresses. One of the most important roles of parents is to provide guidance and comfort to their children. Parents are more mature and possess the wisdom of experience that children simply cannot possess. In no other circumstance is the need for parental guidance more important than when a child requires medical care. Who is in a better position to provide a childs relevant medical and psychological history and other valuable medical information than a parent? Not only has. the Supreme Court recognized the importance of parental rights with regard to the \"care. custody. and control of their children\" as \"perhaps the oldest of the fundamental liberty interests.\" they have also acknowledged the importance of parental gdidance and consent when a child is faced with a difficult decision by stating \"the laws concept of family rests on a presumption that parents possess what a child lacks in maturity. experience. and capacity for judgment required for making lifes difficult decisions.\" At a time when a school nurse cannot even administer aspirin to a child with a headache without parental consent. how can we allow a child to have an abortion. a major medical procedure with potentially deadly consequences. without parental consent? I can think of no other time when parental guidance and consent is more important than when that parents minor daughter is pregnant and contemplating abortion. A minor girl. who is undoubtedly under incredible stress. does not have the maturity to make the decision to have an abortion on her own. ","speaker_name":"DAVID VITTER","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3972,"word_count":330}
{"speech_id":1090163131,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The American people have spoken. Our States have spoken. Though the media might not always hear the message. Americans are quite unified. and have been for a long time. on the issue of abortion. Supermajorities of the American people think that some regulation of abortion is appropriate. Nowhere is this more obvious than on the issue of parental consent and notification laws. Most Americans understand that a parent or a guardian should be involved in this decision. The Child Custody Protection Act will give Federal support to State laws requiring this involvement. laws that are too often circumvented when young girls are taken across State lines to obtain an abortion. often with the assistance of the predatory men responsible for their pregnancies. These actions are terrible for families and young women. They are a danger to a young womans health and to her spirit. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11530,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090163142,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I try to put myself in those kinds of situations as a Senator and say: How would I want to be represented? And this is how I would want it. I would want somebody to stand up and say: The rights of parents should be respected. That is what we. are doing in this bill. But more than that. for the wellbeing of these teenage girls. the vastmajority of them would be better off if the parents were involved. Now. we realize there are cases where that is not the case. where there is an abusive parent. There are exceptions. That is part of the amendment compromise we are working to reach. I think it is a good compromise. In a situationthat has been brought up here on the floor many times where there has been a girl impregnated who is in her teenage years. we do not want to make unreasonable exceptions that make these laws ineffective. There was an amendment that would have said: We will make an exception to allow the clergy to take a girl across State lines. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9632,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090163189,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I to pay tribute to a fine New Jerseyan and a great friend of my State. James Healy. News of Jims untimely passing this past Friday at the age of 48 saddened all of us in the New Jersey delegation. His great personality and tremendous work ethic truly made him a pleasure to work with and an asset to his organization. the New Jersey Department of Transportation. NJDOT. For nearly 20 years. Jim held several important posts within the department. Most recently. he served as the NJDOTs Federal liaison. ","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2369,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090163193,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Such an investment is fundamental to help promote our countrys competitiveness nationwide. Twentysix States are eligible for the EPSCoR program. and these States represent 20 percent of our population. 25 percent of our doctoral and research universities. and 18 percent of our academic scientists and engineers. The EPSCoR states also represent unique environments for scientific research with Hawaii and Alaska having unique features. Montana is a major area for paleontology. Six of the top ten energy producing States are EPSCoR States. It is common sense to invest in building research capacity in our EPSCoR States. We also know that EPSCoR works. More than onehalf of the researchers supported by NSFs EPSCoR program during the first 10 years later were successful in competing for nonEPSCoR funding. Also. 75 percent of new technology companies started by university research are based in the States where the original research was done. To strengthen our research and enhance competitiveness EPSCoR is a smart investment. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ROCKEFELLER","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3162,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090163236,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This country needs a new direction. a direction that will make tomorrow safer than today. The American people deserve nothing less.","speaker_name":"MARTIN MEEHAN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1032,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090163240,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Bush Administration and Washington Republicans continue to tout the success of their economic policies. But their economic record actually falls far short of their rhetoric. This week. the Democratic staffs of the House Budget Committee and the Joint Economic Committee released a report showing that employment growth is at its lowest levels since the Eisenhower administration. while inflationadjusted wages have decreased by 1.3 percent since August of 2003. when the economy stopped losing jobs. Today. the average American worker is spending more hours on the job for less pay. According to the report. median annual household income has decreased by $1.700 after accounting for inflation since President Bush took office back in 2001. While the wealthiest have been rewarded with tax breaks. middleclass workers are really feeling the pinch. Stagnant wages are making it difficult for them to pay for rising housing. health care and gas bills.","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":966,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090163251,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Shame on them.","speaker_name":"SHELLEY BERKLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1098,"word_count":3}
{"speech_id":1090163252,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. those who make $5.15 an hour work through Christmas. They work through Easter. They work through Thanksgiving. And they make. at the end of the year. $10.712. Mr. Speaker. it is time to raise the minimum wage. I speak for the least. the last. and the lost.","speaker_name":"AL GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":805,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090163264,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of S. 3525. The Improving Outcomes for Children Affected by Methamphetamine Act of 2006. This legislation would amend the Social Security Act to better serve the special needs of children in families affected by methamphetamine abuse and addiction. It is never cliche to reiterate the fact that children are our future. Children in our homes and in our families too often suffer the tragic ills of methamphetamine abuse. S. 3525 serves to protect children who suffer at the hands of methamphetamine abuse. I believe that this legislation will improve the lives of atrisk children in our nation. This legislation will continue our nations commitment to atrisk families through the reauthorization of the Promoting Safe and Stable Families Programs. ","speaker_name":"MADELEINE BORDALLO","chamber":"H","state":"GU","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":1638,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090163275,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The 1996 welfare reform law did the same thing. It replaced the former AFDC program with the new TANF block grant program and only authorized the new program. through fiscal year 2002. The Child and Family Services Program Act of 2006. which the House agreed to just this morning. in bipartisan fashion. also does the same thing. It limits the authorization of the child welfare services program through only 2011. or for the next 5 years. instead of permanently. as under current law. This was done and agreed to in bipartisan fashion. by this House to ensure Congress reviews this program as it reviews the related Promoting Safe and Stable Families program. which also would authorize it through 2011. Mr. Speaker. again I urge Members to join me in passing this legislation today. H.R. 5865 will ensure that those arriving in America from the strife and turmoil in Lebanon will continue to have service available to help them as they make their way home. It also ensures Congress time and opportunity to review the repatriation program and consider ways to improve it to even better meet the needsof displaced Americans in the future. In closing. ","speaker_name":"WALTER HERGER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2123,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090163326,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the chairman for yielding and I thank him from my heart. as a dad of three small children. for Chairman JIM SENSENBRENNER. once again. tenaciously achieving measurable gains in the law to protect our families and protect our children in the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. I am particularly humbled because title V of this legislation is derived from a bill that I introduced in Congress. the first session. the Child Pornography Prevention Act. As the title states. the intent of my legislation is to prevent American children from becoming victims of pornography because. as we know. child pornography is the fuel that fires the wicked hearts of child predators. in addition to abusing the children involved. A main tenet of my bill is the addition of language that will fix a technicality that socalled home pornographers have used to evade Federal prosecutions. and it is in this legislation. Another element of my bill is the addition of a new section to the criminal code. section 2257(a) which adds a recordkeeping requirement that will force producers of sexually explicit material to keep records of the names and ages of their subjects when they are engaged in simulated sexual activity. Wnother measurable gain in the law for children. Providing law enforcement with the tools to combat child pornography contained in this legislation is a much needed and overdue step that must be taken to protect our kids from those in society who have no decency. no conscience and no shame. I urge passage of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. ","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6513,"word_count":269}
{"speech_id":1090163344,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. my colleagues. by working together. we can strengthen our efforts to protect children from predators. Again. I urge this House to pass this commonsense legislation.","speaker_name":"JOHN HAYWORTH","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1012,"word_count":26}
{"speech_id":1090163346,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I particularly want to thank the chairman for working with me in including those provisions which were set forth in two bills I h ad previously introduced. I urge passage of the bill.","speaker_name":"PAUL GILLMOR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1021,"word_count":33}
{"speech_id":1090163352,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of this bill. Today. the House is considering the Senatepassed version of H.R. 4472. the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. which includes the language of the National Police Athletic\/Activities League (PAL) Youth Enrichment Reauthorization Act of 2005. H.R. 4005. of which I am a prime sponsor. PAL is a youth crime prevention program that utilizes educational. athletic and recreational activities to create trust and understanding between police officers and youth. It is based on the understanding that young people--if they are reached early enoughcan develop strong positive attitudes toward police officers and gain the skills needed to achieve success throughout their lives. The bill will reauthorize the National Police Athletic League Youth Enrichment Act of 2000 (P.L. 106367). It will also authorize $16 million per year in assistance to National PAL and the 350 local PAL chapters around the country. help establish 250 (50 per year) new PAL chapters. and provide support for the annual Youth Leadership Conference. The PAL program brings youth under the supervision and positive influence of a law enforcement agency and expands public awareness about the role of a police officer in the local community and reinforces responsible values and attitudes instilled in young people by their parents. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1545,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090163353,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"These are devious people who work in cohorts with pornographers to sell child pornography. but who currently can work out of sham corporations to avoid prosecution. My legislation will empower prosecutors with the ability to charge and convict these people. Providing .law enforcement with the tools tocombat child pornography contained in my legislation is a muchneeded and overdue step that must be taken to protect our children from those in our society who have no decency and know no shame. Mr. Speaker. I urge passage of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. It is time to protect ourchildren. and today we take a significant step toward that goal:","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4661,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090163390,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"By providing consumers with choice. H.R. 5121 will provide FIIA the flexibility to set mortgage insurance premiums consistent with the risk of the loan. FHA will use the borrowers total credit score profile when setting the insurance premium. Borrowers who are low credit risk will pay a lower insurance premium. while borrowers who pose a higher credit risk will be charged a slightly higher premium. As such. FHA will reach deeper into the pool of perspective borrowers while guaranteeing the soundness of the FHA fund. In the 35th Congressional District in California that I serve. 2.064 loans were insured by FHA in 2001. but only 74 loans were made in 2005. Similarly. FHA programs have been seriously curtailed in just about every region of the country. resulting in fewer and fewer home purchases supported by FHA programs. H.R. 5121 will increase FHA home limits. ","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5742,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090163397,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of the Expanded Homeownership Act. It modernizes and moves the FHA into the realities of the housing market of the 21st century. I want to build on the comments of my colleague MAXINE WATERS who has worked selflessly and devotedly on moving this legislation to the floor in a bipartisan effort. There are three points that are particularly important to New York and the district that I represent. The bill raises the mortgage limits to 100 percent of area median income. thereby making more Americans eligible to receive loans under FHA. Secondly. it expands coverage. not only to higher risk individuals. but also to cover condos and coops. I represent many people who live in highrises. They live vertically as opposed to horizontally. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1339,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090163406,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This change is critical to California. where home prices and new home construction have eclipsed FHAs current limit of $362.790. We must pass H.R. 5121 because it will allow the FHA program to reach underserved communities. All hardworking people deserve a fair deal in the homebuying process with a real chance to create better. more economicallysecure futures for their families. Mr. Speaker. I express my full support of this bill and urge my fellow colleagues to adopt its final passage.","speaker_name":"JOE BACA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":43.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2464,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090163426,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I also want to take a moment to thank Chairman OXLEY for his leadership on this bill and on so many others throughout his tenure. The Financial Services Committee and this Congress will feel his absence. This bill is a good example of the bipartisan work of the committee that Chairman OXLEY helped to make possible. We dont always agree. but we can often work together to find points of agreement. as we have done on this bill. This bill responds to concerns that the committees involved have had for some time and that we heard repeatedly from our constituents. both businesses and interest groups. as we began work on this very important piece of legislation. First. the bill reaffirms Congress strong intent that the bank support small businesses to a greater extent than at present. consistent with sound lending practi6es. To this end. the bill creates a Small Business Division within the bank run by a senior VP who reports directly to the chairman. The staff of this new division are dedicated exclusively to small business transactions. reflecting the fact that these deals and these clients need unique skills. Within this division. the bill creates an office charged with expanding outreach to women and minorityowned businesses. On these sections. the leadership of the Small Business Committee was especially valuable. and I want to thank my colleague Representative VELAZQUEZ from New York. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6765,"word_count":232}
{"speech_id":1090163429,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"However. due to limited finances and production capacity. these firms face obstacles trading internationally. The ExportImport Bank was established to increase the capacity for all United States businesses to competitively engage in international trade by providing access to affordable financing and insurance. Yet the bank has failed to fulfill its congressional mandate established in the previous reauthorization to ensure that smafl businesses are a priority in lending decisions. To establish a culture that prioritizes these businesses. the banks institutional structure on policies must be enhanced to focus on small exporter issues. I believe the new changes adopted in the legislation will significantly expand lending opportunities as it creates a new Small Business Division. an Office for Minority Exporters and a minority financing goal at the bank. These changes will ensure that the bank fulfills its mandate to support a successful component of the Nations trade strategy. The country will .significantly benefit from challenging the bank to expand financing opportunities for all of our entrepreneurs. By approving this legislation. we have the opportunity to keep small and minority businesses on the path to success. By supporting a diverse and successful set of exporters. we will also ensure that the Nation improves its trade performance. I urge Members to support the bill to ensure that all of our promising businesses can succeed in the global economy.","speaker_name":"NYDIA VELAZQUEZ","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2410,"word_count":224}
{"speech_id":1090163444,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of the ExportImport Bank Reauthorization under suspension vote today. This is a sound. bipartisan bill. So often. people see the acrimonious side of this House rife with partisanship and member distrust. We do not have that on the Financial Services Committee. and that is due in large part to the leadership of Chairman MIKE OXLEY and our Ranking Member. BARNEY FRANK. While I am working hard to see BARNEY become our chairman in the 110th Congress. I just want to salute our outgoing Chair. MIKE OXLEY. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH CROWLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3381,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090163468,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. Madam Speaker. I rise in opposition to H.R. 5013. the socalled Disaster Recovery Personal Protection Act of 2006. There is really only one word to describe this bill: Insane. The proper title of this bill should be The Right to Sue Cops and National Guardsmen Act of The premise of the bill is that following Hurricane Katrina. and possibility other disasters. law enforcement personnel illegally seized- guns from people who had legal permits to own a gun. [ 1445 In some cases. they may have been seized because law enforcement did not want guns inside a public shelter. In other cases. people evacuated and left guns behind. and the police collected these guns so they would not fall into the hands of looters. The NRA claimed this was illegal and sued the New Orleans Police Department. The New Orleans Police Department stated it had to determine who were the rightful owners of the guns before they could return them. I believe the lawsuit has since been settled. and the guns are being returned to their rightful owners. Yet. today. we are considering a bill that would ostensibly solve this socalled problem of guns being illegally seized following a disaster. ","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5012,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090163471,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Would this bill permit a person to bring a gun into a rescue shelter? I yield to the gentleman from New York.","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MCCARTHY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2487,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090163476,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman for that -answer. and one more question. Who is liable in any lawsuit authorized by this bill? Is it the officer who confiscates a gun or the city or the State? The language. even though I know you worked to change the language. is still a little bit confusing. I will state my question again: Who is liable in any lawsuit authorized by this bill? Is it the officer who confiscates a gun or the city or the State? Can the Federal Government be sued if the confiscation is made by a Federal officer? Can a person seek monetary damages in addition to the return of the gun? I yield again to the gentleman.","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MCCARTHY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":625,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090163482,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the gentleman will yield for a question. under this bill. if a law enforcement officer had completed evacuating people from someplace and saw a few guns lying around in -a house. and didnt know who they belonged to but wanted to take them up so that looters who might come by. later couldnt take them and present a menace to the public. would this prevent him from doing that? Would this subject him to a lawsuit later personally if it turned out that the owner of the house came back and said. why did he take my legally owned guns?","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":536,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090163499,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Coast Guard is mobilized to deal with a disaster when it has to evacuate persons stricken by disaster. hurricanes. floods. at sea under tempestuous circumstances. as we see on the Weather Channel the Coast Guard nobly rescuing people under extraordinary adverse circumstances. The bill. as introduced. would have prohibited a Coast Guard officer from requiring a person boarding a rescue helicopter. boarding a rescue- vessel. a search and rescue ship. would have prohibited those persons from surrendering their firearm. Not to seize the firearm. not to take it away permanently. but to say we will keep this for you until you are safely onshore. There is no law that gives the Coast Guard the authority to do that. Now. we should have had the bill under consideration in the committee. and we should have provided that authority to the Coast Guard. and that authority would be perfectly acceptable to advocates of firearm ownership. I have been. for 32 years. an advocate for firearm ownership. I have supported the right to keep and bear arms for all my service in the Congress and long before that. as a young lad growing up in northern Minnesota going out hunting before school and -after school and on the weekends. But this is a different situation. and we needed that authority for the Coast Guard. So now we have it in this language that is on page 5. line 19 of the bill before us. Subsection (b) Limitation: nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit any person from requiring the temporary surrender of a firearm as a condition for entry into any mode of transportation used to rescue or evacuate during a major disaster or emergency. ","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5025,"word_count":285}
{"speech_id":1090163500,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. in conclusion. let me simply thank the subcommittee chairman of Emergency Management. Mr. SHUSTER. for bringing this bill through the subcommittee. and certainly Chairman YOUNG for moving the bill -through the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. and most importantly. I think we owe a great deal of thanks to Mr. JINDAL for recognizing a situation which was very. very. I am sure. difficult for some of the residents of his district and the people of New Orleans to face. It is one thing to face a tragedy. but then also to be thrown into a situation where. in fact. you are not only stripped of your guns. your means of protection. but you are stripped of your constitutional rights. And that was what was done to the people of New Orleans whose guns and protection for their family was actually occurring in front of their very eyes. So. you know. this body is all about adopting laws that are meant to face situations that we havent faced before. and certainly Katrina was one of those instances we did not face before. a storm of this magnitude. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KUHL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1352,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090163530,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I want to commend the sponsor of this resolution. our colleague LANE EVANS. who will be leaving the Congress at the end of the year. Representative EVANS has always been a champion of our Nations veterans. and this resolution has the strong support of veterans groups and other organizations. Representative EVANS has long had a record of distinguished public service. and our thoughts are with him at this difficult time. Mr. Speaker. I urge the passage of House Concurrent Resolution 235. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"THOMAS PETRI","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1516,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090163537,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. I Each year. dozens of visually impaired per- yield myself such time as I may consons are involved in car collisions. For exam- sume. pie. a blind person may be crossing a street Mr. Speaker. I strongly support this intersection and be hit by a reckless driver. bipartisan legislation. In 2001. after There is simply no reason for a driver to strike several years of intense labor managea visually impaired pedestrian. H. Con. Res ment negotiations. the most com235 will help to reduce the likelihood of this prehensive reform of the railroad rehappening in the future by educating drivers tirement system in nearly 2 decades about visually impaired persons. This resolu- was enacted. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1768,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090163552,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They also give us cause for thanks and reflection upon a professional athlete who is a model in his play and in his principles for all generations. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2135,"word_count":36}
{"speech_id":1090163557,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. when we introduced this resolution with all of the folks that are speaking here today. we got a call from Representative GINGREYS office. I said to myself. well. he is not -from Iowa. he is not from Cleveland. why would a guy from Georgia want to talk about Bob Feller? He is about to tell us. It is my pleasure to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia","speaker_name":"STEVEN LATOURETTE","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":373,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090163564,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. when we introduced this resolution. I was riding over for a vote yesterday and saw Mr. LEACH of Iowa. and his eyes lit up when I said we were going to do this. because he too has some remembrances that he wants to share about Bob Feller. It is now my pleasure to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Iowa .","speaker_name":"STEVEN LATOURETTE","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":320,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090163583,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it is my pleasure to yield 4 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scorr). a member of the Education and the Workf6rce Committee. Judiciary Committee. and Budget Committee and known to those of us in the Alpha fraternity as Brother Constitutional Scholar.","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":288,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090163586,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Alpha men fought on the beaches of Normandy. All the way from the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli. Alpha men were there fighting for this country. And when the challenge came to desegregate the schools. the leader of that. Thurgood Marshall. was an Alpha man who stood tall. And when the call came out. who would go for us and who shall we send to lead the charge in the civil rights movement. Martin Luther King stood strong. a 26yearold man. and said here I am. Lord. send me. Alpha. So it is with great feeling and great expression that I join every Member of this House of Representatives to .give the proper respect to an organization on whose shoulders we in this House rest. ","speaker_name":"DAVID SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3027,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090163590,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. and. first of all. I want to thank Representative HINCHEY from New York for introducing this resolution. I also want to thank my colleague from Nebraska for his management of the bill. Representative OSBORNE. a tremendous educator and legislator. And let me thank all of those who have spoken. Mr. Speaker. when I think of Alpha Phi Alpha I think of its motto: First of all. servants of all. we shall transcend all. Alpha is a great service organization. and I want to congratulate our national president Daryl Matthews and brother Harry Johnson. who is leading the effort to build the Martin Luther King monument on the mall. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1826,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090163644,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The President knows the American people are a little upset. So in his State of the Union he talked about how we need to do more about alternative fuels and alternative technologies. Unfortunately. the moiey did not follow the mouth. If John Fitzgerald Kennedy had applied that same amount of money to his mission to the Moon. we still would not be in the outer atmosphere of the Earth. let alone the Moon. There is no real commitment there because real commitment would mean that you are starting to threaten the wildly profitable oil industry. BP announced today. and they are supposed to be the weakest of the announcements this week. that their profits were up a mere 40 percent over the quarter for last year. ExxonMobil is likely to announce either the largest quarterly profit in history for any corporation on the face of the Earth this week on Thursday or maybe only the second largest. They made $100 million a day profit last year. They gave their CEO a $400 million retirement package. They are not investing in new capacity. ","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5094,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090163680,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. tomorrow this House will be treated to a real interesting historical event. The Prime Minister of Iraq will be here. His article. today in the Wall Street Journal says: \"Iraq is a sovereign nation.\" He goes on to talk about one province of Iraq that has somestability and makes that appear that that is the Iraq .that he is here to represent. If one reads the European newspapers. the Independent. and I will enter this into the RECORD. the Independent from Great Britain says. and the title of this. article is. \"Sectarian breakup of Iraq is now inevitable admit officials.\" They talk about the fact that Mr. Maliki yesterday met with Tony Blair in London. where he talked about the fact that things were going just fine. But the article goes on to say that senior Iraq officials are saying that the breakup of the country is inevitable. This is a quote from one: \"Iraq as a political project is finished. The parties have moved to plan B. that is that the Shiia. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4044,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090163682,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is hard now to believe that we had a balanced budget from 1998 to 2001. Because year after year we have record deficits. Now. why should deficits matter? I have given you a few reasons. Others. the deficits reduce economic growth. We have seen that. People lost their jobs under these enormous deficits that we have seen since 2002. Some of them are now beginning to find jobs again. but they are finding jobs at a much lesser salary than what they were making when they lost their jobs. and often times they are finding jobs with few or no benefits. These deficits burden our children and grandchildren. because it is they","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4668,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090163695,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"talked about the Blue Dog backed accountability plan that will hold Federal agencies accountable when they cannot account for the taxpayer money that we provide them -to assist taxpayers and to run our government on. He talked about our bill to make cabinet level secretaries go back to the Senate for reconfirmation when they fail to produce.a clean audit.","speaker_name":"DAVID SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":357,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090163702,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. what a pleasure it is to come back to the House floor this evening. On behalf of the Official Truth Squad. I want to thank the leadership and the conference for allowing me to host this hour. The Official Truth Squad kind of grew out of frustration on the part of the freshmen class a little over a year ago. We felt that there were a lot of things that.were said on this floor that. taken at face value. might be seen as being accurate. but. in fact. if you look at it a little closer. they were not the truth. And we felt that there was not a whole lot of time allotted to refuting the inaccuracies. Now. some of those inaccuracies. Mr. Speaker. you have just heard. ","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8045,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090163704,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentlelady from Virginia. What wonderful points you made and shed light. on the Official Truth Squad and facts that you brought before us. the issue about the tax cuts. the capital gains and dividend tax cuts now at 15 percent. which we have attempted to extend and worked so hard to extend. If one would believe everything that they hear from the other side. you would believe that every single person on the other side of the aisle supported that continued decrease. Not the case. as you well know. Not the case. There is really wonderful and good news as it relates to the economy. the remarkable economic growth that you have cited. and we will go through some of that in just a little bit. Taxpayer behavior. I appreciate your mentioning that. because people across this Nation know what goes on here in Washington as it relates to tax policy. and they tailor what they do in their personal lives based upon that. There is no doubt about it. I would be happy to yield for a moment. if you would -like.","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1018,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090163709,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If you do not mind me interrupting. but that was at no cuts. This was just a decrease in the spending. a decrease in the growth of our government. and they spoke about sitting around the kitchen table and talking about your budget. We all do that. We all have to do that. The American family has to do that. but at the same time. if we know we are going to get a 5 percent pay raise or whatever. we cannot spend more than that. Sometimes we have to rein in our spending. and this is what the Republican majority has tried to do here. So I want to thank you for bringing the Truth Squad to the floor and for explaining to all of us exactly the good things that this majority party has done to put this country in the right direction. and I might also add that our deficit has come down over the last quarter and the last months due to these tax cuts that we gave the American people because they know so much better about how to spend their money than we do as a Congress and as a government. But I want to thank you for taking this opportunity to bring the Truth Squad to the floor and to bring truth to some of the things that are said here.","speaker_name":"LYNN WESTMORELAND","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1142,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090163722,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We are borrowing .the money from China. Japan. and OPEC countries in order to fund the war and to fund tax cuts that are going predominantly to people who make more than $1 million a year. The -average . American person. Madam Speaker. does not agree with that policy. They wholly reject that policy because it makes no sense. People in Youngstown. Ohio. work very hard. and they meet their obligations for the Federal Government. They pay their taxes. and to watch the United States Congress. . Republicancontrolled. take their hardearned money and build roads and bridges in an elective war. with no plan. no exit strategy. no idea of how to execute it. and take their money and build roads and bridges and hospitals over there. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":752,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090163728,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Republican majority takes over and we are borrowing fron countries that we have issues with. like China. Japan. and the U.K. Well. not the U.K.. but other countries that are questionable. OPEC nations. And I dont even want to go through that list. So when we start talking about these things. gentlemen. and when they come to the floor. and this is a free country and what a democracy. but meanwhile.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1149,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090163740,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Where have you been? Now you are talking about fiscal responsibility. And the reason you are talking about it is because there is 100 days to an election. That is why you are talking about it. And you talk about the direction of the country. You know. we talk about a new direction and a change in direction. Madam Speaker. because there is no alternative. If we continue to go and continue to chart the same course that the administration and the Republican House and the Republican Senate have charted for the United States. we will be in serious trouble. And let me just give you four statistics: Since the Republicans have controlled both branches of Congress in the last 5 years. and President Bush was inaugurated in 2001. college tuition has increased by 40 percent. health care costs to the American people have increased by 55 percent. and gas prices have increased by 79 percent. But Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. you know what has gone down in this country? Madam Speaker. you know what has declined in this country? Median household income. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2410,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090163756,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And instead. Mr. RYAN. we are focusing on the Pledge of Allegiance and gay marriage. And what it really comes down to. do you think that the mom whose baby isin Iraq fighting on behalf of our country is worrying about whether one of her children is going to be able to say \"under God\" in the pledge at school. or is she more worried that her baby over in Iraq is going to come back to her? What do you think is a higher priority for her?","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":437,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090163768,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. DELAHUNT.. that is the reason why we should feel very motivated and empowered to be here any time we get an opportunity to come to the floor. So I am excited about the fact that we are armed with the facts. I am glad.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1849,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090163794,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"for the opportunity to speak on this point. which Mr. Gingrich stated back in March that they. the Republican majority. are seen by the country as being in charge of a government that cant function. When you -look at what he is talking about. and what even Mr. Gingrich stated the other day on Meet the Press. is that the institutions havent kept up with the times. And the majority has had now 12 years to try to reform these institutions. and they have made them worse. not better. Because.. in the example of FEMA where. they appointed horse attorneys. equestrian attorneys to run FEMA. or all the graft and patronage that is going on in Iraq. Mr. DELAHUNT. which you know about better than us and spoke very eloquently about at 11:30 last night by yourself. all of these issues add up. When you have higher tuition costs. the paycheck you get doesnt buy as much. when you have higher health care costs. when you are worried about your pension. when you have the auto industry collapsing before its very eyes. you have a low minimum wage that hasnt been raised since 1997. you are unable to govern. as Mr. Gingrich said.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1123,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090163804,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In a pure democracy. there are no elected leaders. The people simply vote. and that is what happens. The laws represent the current opinion of the majority of the people. In a republic. we have the rule of law. One example in our history that helps me understand this is an experience with Harry Truman. Take charge. Harry. You remember the characterization. The steel mills were striking and the economy was already in trouble. In those days. it mattered that the steel mills were striking. ","speaker_name":"ROSCOE BARTLETT","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11180,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090163807,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We pass an increase in the minimum wage to $7.25. How many lives will that affect around this country? Six or 7 million directly. and then millions of others as the bottom gets bumped so the middle income people will get bumped as well. Cutting student loans. If you have a student loan right now and your rate is 6 or 7 percent. parents and students. loans interest rate will be cut in half within the first 100 days here. That is $12 billion. So many people may be saying. well. are you going* to get the money? We are going to not give the oil industry $12 billion in corporate welfare. The American people have a choice to make. Okay? They can reaffirm that legislation. they can reaffirm that position that the Republican Congress implemented over the last year or two and that President Bush affirmed by signing the bill into law and Vice President CHENEY kicked off with his secret meeting that he had years ago where we were complaining and saying. well. the oil industry was in there writing the legislation. And everyone said. well. the Democrats. you know. they were in there writing the legislation and now we have $3 gas prices. Okay? So these small steps. and as you said so articulately at the wee hours or almost the wee hours of the morning about balancing the -budget. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3470,"word_count":233}
{"speech_id":1090163815,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is not a level playing field. to begin with. because China manipulates their currency. as we talked about yesterday. They do not enforce their intellectual property laws. They have no environmental laws. They have no human rights. no religious freedoms. none of the things we value. So they are taking this money and wiping out the middle class of the United States. That is not free trade. That is not fair trade. It is an unbalanced system. And we just keep feeding the beast: Right here. How much more do you want? How much more interest do you want? Be happy to yield.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3185,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090163917,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In the wordsof the Federal Reserve Chairman: High prices of natural gas reflect strong demand and diminished supplies. This vote today is a step toward correcting that imbalance. Also. in this gulf coast bill we provide protections to the Florida coastline. Thanks to the skills and heart and concern of the distinguished Senator MEL MARTINEZ from the State of Florida. we have protected the Florida coastline in this legislation. I say to those opposed to this legislation. these provisions are a compromise between those who seek additional access to new areas of development and those who do not want to develop off their shores. We struck a balance. Here in the Senate that balance has the overwhelming support of those who seek additional Outer Continental Shelf deep sea access. and the overwhelming support of those whose priority is coastal protection. I am proud of this balance and I defend it against those who challenge it and seek to undermine it. Finally. the bill is both fiscally responsible and meets the needs of the coastal States that make the sacrifice of hosting our energy infrastructure. It takes care of them in a fair way. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6215,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090163958,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. I ask unanimous consent that the debate from 12:30 to 6:30 this evening on energy security be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees with respect to the motion to proceed to S. 3711. provided further that following any opening remarks of the two leaders on Thursday. July 27. the motion to proceed be agreed to. and the Senate then begin the consideration of S. 3711.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":404,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090163966,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the Senator as well. He makes a very important point. The United Nations has not responded to efforts to prod them into moving this item up on the agenda. It could well be because of the lack of enthusiasm. shall I say. of the Chinese and the Russianstwo permanent members of the Security Council. Nevertheless. the efforts persist. This U.S. sanctions -bill is important. but it is not going to get the job done. We know that. It would require multilateral sanctions of a dramatic basis. such as were imposed against South Africa. to get the job done. At least at this point. the ASEAN countries seem to be more interested in doing business there than they are squeezing the regime. There was. however. one encouraging sign. ","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1278,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090163968,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"China. I urge .the administration to continue engaging our trading partners to join us in strengthening sanctions against the ruling military junta. We need to work together in order to spur meaningful democratic reform in Burma. For these reasons. I support authorizing the import ban for another 3 years. and I support the outright renewal of the import ban for another year. I. therefore. urge my colleagues to join me in supporting passage of H.J. Res. 86 and getting it to the Presidents desk for his signature as soon as possible.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2045,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090163981,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Prior to doing that. I ask unanimous consent that during the consideration of S. 3711. there be a limitation of five firstdegree amendments. energyrelated amendments. in order on each side.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1270,"word_count":30}
{"speech_id":1090163995,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is ready to go. I once again thank my good friend and valued member of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resourcesand many others around herefor his terrific speech summarizing the problem we have and the way this American solution to an American problem should be addressed and why. I thank the Senator. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2708,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090164002,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Obviously. people who have the time to look at this believe it has been a very unfair situation. one that for some reason or another we have tolerated for years. When they realize the way it is handled in other parts of the country. they feel very strongly it is time we step up and get some benefit. It is also further exaggerated and exacerbated by the fact that if we believe that we are on the line. dealing with all the costs and all the potential problems that could go along with this. we ought to get some of the benefits so we can prepare for that. I want to say that the people in the Senate and the American people have been very concerned. sympathetic. and helpful to. us after the hurricane. But they know we have coastal impact problems. We need to address some of those problems now. not later. because they have become very serious. There are areas we are losing that are basically going into the Gulf of Mexico. and we can also take steps to preserve what we have and to better prepare for hurricanes. use for protection and mitigation for the future. The people feel very strongly about it. It is not just our Governors who see this obviously as one way to help us deal with the future needs we have. but also just the rankandfile people. We understand we need to get it done. ","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1832,"word_count":243}
{"speech_id":1090164034,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the Senate today is considering the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act. I believe this legislation is not appropriate energy legislation and also not responsible fiscal policy for the United States. as we face a Federal deficit of $8.4 trillion and looming cuts to many vital programs that the Federal Government must support. Next week we will begin to take up the Defense appropriations bill for this year. As we consider that bill. we will discover huge unmet needs to finance the current operations of our military. If we diminish the Federal Treasury. our ability to respond to that issue and a host of other issues will be contemporaneously diminished. This legislation would mandate that almost 38 percent of revenue from Federal resources generated by new leases in new areas of production made available by this bill will be given to four Gulf Coast States. Revenues that currently would be provided to the Treasury for the benefit of the Nation as a whole will be diverted to four States. This bill. if passed. will cost the Federal Treasury billions of dollars over time. I am not alone in my opposition to this legislation: Taxpayer advocates and environmentalists share my concerns. ","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1319,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090164049,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I intend to speak for about 15 minutes. I think that was part of our unanimous consent agreement earlier. I know there are other Senators who want to speak for and against. I wish to begin again by thanking Senator DOMENICI .for his strong and able leadership. I want to associate myself with the remarks of the chairman of the Appropriations Committee. the senior Senator from Mississippi.","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":405,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090164050,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":14,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They amended his law that he sent to Congress to give 100 percent and the Federal Government to get nothing. That. of course. didnt make any sense. And President Truman was correct. He vetoed it. I would have. too. if I were the President. and so would THAD COCHRAN. if he were the President back then. It didnt make any sense. But for Members to come to the floor and read only a part of the history and use it for their argument is not being forthright. That is what history books will say. That is why those of us in Louisiana understood that it was Leander Perez. who was leading the charge for a greater share. 100 percent. We were so angry because we basically ended up with nothing. ","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10857,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090164072,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise in support of S. 3711. the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act. which can certainly be described simply that it will open a portion of the gulf to exploration for oil and natural gas. I dont want to be understood as criticizing or begrudging anybody their opinions in opposition to the bill. but it seems to me that given what the country has gone through and is going through because of the high cost of energy. it should not be a difficult debate to allow the United States to explore for oil that is within or close to its borders. doing that in a way that is sensitive to the environment and to other considerations in order to produce more oil and natural gas that will lower costs. ease the pressure on our consumers. and allow our economy to grow and continue to produce jobs. How difficult is it in a time such as this to decide that we are in favor of getting more oil and natural gas? I speak as a person who offered the renewable fuel standard in committee. I am cochairman of the renewable fuels caucus. I am a huge believer that ethanol. biodiesel. and renewable fuel attained through those feedstocks and other feedstocks is the future of this country in terms of energy. It is the way we are going to get energy independence and reduce dependence on foreign oil in the long term. But our people need relief now. or as soon as we can get it to them. Natural gas prices set record highs last winter. ","speaker_name":"JAMES TALENT","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6394,"word_count":267}
{"speech_id":1090164101,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to commemorate an incredible feat of physical and mental endurance. a feat that was completed on Sunday. July 23. Floyd Landis. a native of Lancaster County. PA. completed the 20th stage of the 2006 Tour de France with an overall time of 89 hours. 39 minutes and 30 seconds. winning the race by 57 seconds in the closest threeway finish in the long history of the tour. In winning the 93rd Tour de France. Floyd Landis became just the third American cyclist to win this most prestigious of races. joining previous American victors Greg Lemond and Lance Armstrong. He. like them before him. has become the face of American cycling. and. frankly. we could not ask for a better spokesman. The Tour de France. with this years race totaling over 2.200 miles. is known around the globe as one of the toughest physical challenges in the sporting world. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2988,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090164107,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on behalf of all Oregonians. I wish to recognize the recent accomplishments of Oregons first national park at Crater Lake. . President Theodore Roosevelt had never set his eyes on the deep blue waters of Crater Lake when he signed the law in 1902 making Crater Lake the fifth oldest national park in the United States. He was. however. well aware of the 17year battle fought to make its protection a reality. The father of Crater Lake. William Gladstone Steel. devoted his life to seeing Crater Lake protected and walked these halls of Congress to make sure that the majesty of this Oregon jewel was forever enshrined. Hard work and perseverance have been at the core of the entire storied history of Crater Lake National Park. On August 25. 2006. the Crater Lake National Park will open the doors to its new Science and Learning Center. Just as William Gladstone Steel spent his early years participating in scientific experiments at Crater Lake. the Science and Learning Center will provide the public with an entry into one of natures most spectacular laboratories. ","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2602,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090164109,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I rise to congratulate the dedicated leadership and employees of Fairfax Water. Their vision and hard work has paved the way for the opening of the Frederick P. Griffith. Jr. Water Treatment Facility on July 15. 2006. The Griffith plant is truly state of the art and we are proud that the Commonwealth has such an entity leading the way and settihg such high standards for the rest of. the country. Leaders at Fairfax Water truly recognize the importance of protecting our natural resources and preserving the facets of the surrounding area. I think it is most important to recognize that this new facility embodies our Nations commitment to homeland security. The Griffith plant is equipped with numerous security measures which go a long way to ensure that Fairfax Waters nearly 1.5 million customers are well protected from potential threats be they natural or manmade. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1915,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090164110,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Their lowest average scores of 1408 in reading and 1395 in math occurred in 1999. In 2005. the average reading score was 1719. an increase of 311 points. the average math score increased to 1641. an increase of 246 points. Roosevelt attributes its success to the strong team effort. involving teachers. administrators. and parents working closely together to set goals and objectives for the children. Another component of the success of all of Mankatos schools is the tremendous support from the community. Last fall. Mankatoarea voters approved two referenda: to provide $6 million to update many existing buildings throughout the district and to provide $3.5 million over 7 years to update the schools technology. In 2002. voters approved a $2.5 million per year operating referendum. Much of the credit for Roosevelt Elementary Schools success belongs to its principal. Rick Lund. and the dedicated teachers. The students and staff at Roosevelt Elementary School understand that. in order to be successful. a school must go beyond achieving academic success. it must also provide a nurturing environment where students can develop the knowledge. skills. and attitudes .for success throughout life. ","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2787,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090164113,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The students and staff at the Bren Road Education Center understand that. in order to be successful. a school must go beyond achieving academic success. it must also provide a nurturing environment where students can develop the knowledge. skills. and attitudes for success throughout life. All of the faculty. staff. and students at the Bren Road Education Center should be very proud of their accomplishments. I congratulate the Bren Road Education Center in Minnetonka for winning the Award for Excellence in Education and for its exceptional contributions to education in Minnesota.*","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2988,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090164114,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"All of the faculty. staff. and students at the Eden Prairie School District should be very proud of their accomplishments. I congratulate Eden Prairie School District in Eden Prairie for winning the Award for Excellence in Education and for its exceptional contributions to education in Minnesota.e","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2817,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090164125,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session on Wednesday. July 26. 2006. at 2 p.m.. in 215 Dirksen Senate Office Building. to hear testimony on \"A Closer Look at the Size and Sources of the Tax Gap.\"","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":265,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090164150,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today in support of the conference report to accompany S. 250. the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006. This legislation reflects a lengthy bipartisan effort to strengthen and improve Federal programs designed to support career and technical education. I am very pleased to have worked with my friend and colleague from Massachusetts. Senator KENNEDY. from introduction of the bill in the Senate through todays consideration of the conference report. This legislation was reported favorably by the Senate Health. Education. Labor. and Pensions Committee last Spring by a unanimous vote. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12448,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090164151,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Perkins programs are helping them build a better life. According to the most recent National Assessment of Vocational Education by the Department of Education. students earned almost 2 percent more for each high school occupational course they took. That is about $450 per course based on average earnings of $24.000. That adds up. especially for the 45 percent of all high school graduates who take three or more occupational courses. The data also show that participants in career and technical education at the postsecondary level can benefit from just 1 years worth of courses. Even those who did not attain a credential still earned between 5 and 8 percent more than high school graduates with similar characteristics. Today. career and technical education students are better prepared for college. Almost twothirds of all high school graduates of career and technical programs now enter some form of postsecondary education. When these programs are combined with a college prep curriculum. that number rises to 82 percent. That is good progress. but we need to do even m6re. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11741,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090164153,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Students who have completed Perkinssupported programs are better prepared not only for higher education but for the workplace. The President has proposed eliminating funding for all vocational and technical education programs. This is the wrong way to go. If Perkins was eliminated. high schools. technical schools. and community colleges in every State would suffer. In Maryland. our schools would lose almost $19 million. Last year. we had more than 150.000 students enrolled in career and technical programs in Maryland. In the United States. 97 percent of high school students take at least one career and technical education course. Onethird of college students are involved in career and technical programs. And almost 40 million adults attend shortterm occupational training. If these schools had to close their doors or shut down their vocational programs. where would these students go to learn the skills they need to get good paying jobs? Vocational and technical education provides students across the country with opportunities to develop academic and technical skills that are critical for economic and workforce development. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA MIKULSKI","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2369,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090164159,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate immediately proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations on todays Executive Calendar: Nos. 771. 772. 774. 775. 776. 777. 778. 779. 780. 781. 782. and 785. I further ask unanimous consent that the nominations be confirmed en bloc. the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table. and that the President be immediately notified of the Senates action. and then the Senate return to legislative session. Before the Chair rules. I note for the record that with respect to Calendar No. 779. the Mishkin nomination. if a vote were held. Senator BUNNING is opposed to the nomination and would have been recorded as a \"no\" on confirmation.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BENNETT","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":709,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090164163,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today. we invoked cloture on the motion to prcceed to the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security bill. and we have had a full day of debate. Tomorrow. we will be on the bill and Members are encouraged to come to the floor and speak. Again. this is a very carefully crafted bipartisan bill. It is very targeted and will move us closer to energy independence. So we hope we can finish the bill at the earliest time. We have other important issues to address before we finish our work prior to the August adjournment. Therefore. the leader hopes that we can continue to work on other measures as we process this important energy security measure.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BENNETT","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":650,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090164196,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Republican donothing Congress is unwilling to tackle the issues of importance to the American people. At a time when hardworking Americans are finding it more and more difficult to make ends meet. at a time when a weak economy is creating very few jobs. at i time when gas prices are at record levels. the Republican donothing Congress has frittered away scarce time on meaningless and divisive proposals that were never even intended to become law. No wonder the American people are so disgusted With Washington. There is so much that this Congress should be doing. and yet the House Republicans refuse to act. We could raise the minimum wage for the first time in 9 years and give 7 million Americans a pay raise. We could give the Federal Government the ability to negotiate prescription drugs on behalf of Americas seniors in order to fill the gap in coverage that millions of seniors will soon face in their drug coverage. We could finally go after Big Oil and guarantee the American consumer is not to be gouged at the pump. Mr. Speaker. there is a lot we could do. ","speaker_name":"JANICE SCHAKOWSKY","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1180,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090164226,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I will be bQrief. I do not think anybody could have predicted. certainly not me. that a few weeks after the firestorm that came about with the announcement of the Dubai Ports deal that we would be on the floor today debating legislation that was considered by our committee and others and passed in our committee overwhelmingly with a 640 bipartisan vote. with cooperation on both sides of the aisle. to deal with a real problem. Even though I personally felt there was a great deal of overreaction about the Dubai Ports deal. the fact is that it revealed some very deep concerns that people like the gentleman from California had. and others. about how the CFIUS process works. We set about with great care. working with Mr. FRANK. our ranking member. Mrs. MALONEY and Mr. CROWLEY. to craft a bill under the guidance of Chairwoman PRYCE and Mr. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL OXLEY","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1781,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090164231,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H.R. 5337. the National Security Foreign Investment Reform and Strengthened Transparency Act of 2006. As we have seen over the past year. greater oversight is needed regarding foreign investment in the United States. I have expressed serious concern regarding the acquisition of U.S. port operating companies by foreign companies. I want to commend Chairman OXLEY and Ranking Democratic Member FRANK for the work they have done to bring this legislation to the floor. Mr. Speaker. I want to call attention to one critical issue. the acquisition of U.S. domestic oil companies by Russian firms with close ties to the Russian Government. News reports suggest that Russian oil interests seek to acquire U.S. pipelines and liquefied gas facilities in order to control the entire supply chain of Russian gas exports to the United States. from extraction to consumer sales and distribution. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4387,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090164238,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I support H.R. 5337. and I would like to applaud the floor managers of the bill for their efforts on the legislation. The CFIUS process is in need of reform. and this bill provides reforms that effectively balance the countrys need for strong national security protections with its need for continued foreign investment. While our national security objectives must be paramount in this area. I do have some concern about the time CFIUS could take under the bills provisions to review an acquisition that it ultimately determines presents no national security issues. The bill allows for a CFIUS review period of up to 30 days. followed by an investigation of up to 45 days when certain conditions specified in the bill are determined to be present. The investigation period can then be extended under certain circumstances. Notably. there is a mandatory investigation of all acquisitions by stateowned companies even in the absence of any showing of a possible national security concern. I would prefer to see the process shortened where it is apparent at an early stage that national security is not an issue. and I urge my colleagues to consider changes in this regard in conference. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2664,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090164247,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill to establish a grant program to fund eligible joint ventures between United States and Israeli businesses and academic persons. to establish the International Energy Advisory Board. and for other purposes. as amended.","speaker_name":"JOHN SHADEGG","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":276,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090164254,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. I rise today in strong support of this bill introduced by my distinguished colleague and friend. Mr. SHADEGG of Arizona. This measure establishes a grant program to fund joint ventures between American and Israeli businesses and scholars and calls for the creation of an International Energy Advisory Board comprised of U.S. and Israeli representatives working in tandem toward the diversification of our sources of energy. Today. due to our reliance on the foreign supply of oil. the United States is in a troubling position that is quickly escalating. As reported by the Department of Energy. U.S. dependence on foreign oil will increase by 33 percent in the next 20 years. ","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2438,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090164272,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of H.R. 5611. the Fuel Consumption and Education Act. I would begin by noting that in the debate on the last bill and. indeed. in the 1minute speeches which occurred in this Chamber just this morning. it was noted that the cost of gasoline across America is spiking. Indeed. it is imposing a severe financial burden on every single American family and on every single American business. Rightfully. the American people have asked Congress to solve this problem and to solve it quickly. and yet I think most Americans understand. indeed. survey data show that they understand. that there is no single silver bullet that we can enact and solve this problem overnight. But. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SHADEGG","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3025,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090164283,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I guess it was about 2 months or so ago that my friend and colleague from the good State of Texas came up to me with a piece of legislation that he thought. would really help consumers. an education plan that promoted. in fact. could save lots of gasoline that we would not have to import.","speaker_name":"FRED UPTON","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":302,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090164293,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rqles and pass the bill to amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require recipients of universal service support for schools aild libraries to protect minors from commercial social networking websites and chat rooms. as amended.","speaker_name":"FRED UPTON","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":265,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090164318,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today as a cosponsor of H.R. 5319. the Deleting Online Predators Act. As a mother of four and a grandmother of six. the safety of our children is a priority of mine. When most of us were children. our parents told us to never talk to strangers. Now as parents and grandparents. our message must change with technology to include strangers on the Internet. We all were horrified by the story of the teenage girl from Michigan who traveled across the world to the West Bank town of Jericho to meet a man she had been communicating with on the networking Web site. MySpace.com. Even worse are stories that involve intemet pedophiles preying on children from all over the Nation. including my district. Naperville. a city that has twice been voted by Money Magazine as the Top City in the Nation to Raise Children. has witnessed two high profile cases in the last three months involving young teenagers and men they have met on MySpace.com. ","speaker_name":"JUDY BIGGERT","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1904,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090164330,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H. Res. 928. recognizing the contributions of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. and I want to thank the gentlewoman from Texas . my colleague. for introducing this resolution. Ms. JOHNSON certainly recognizes the important role that Historically Black Colleges and Universities play in the postsecondary education environment.","speaker_name":"CHARLES BOUSTANY","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":428,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090164337,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I commend the gentlewoman again for bringing this resolution to the floor. Let me just say that as we recover on the gulf coast. and I mentioned the Historically Black Colleges and Universities in my home. State of Louisiana. they played a vital role in the leadership in helping us recover. So. again. I thank the gentlewoman from Texas for bringing this valuable resolution to the floor. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES BOUSTANY","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":492,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090164342,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 3 minutes. Mr. Speaker. I will comment on Mr. DAVIS comments about going to the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. Since 1986. the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff has received $31 million from the title IIIB congressional funding. and I think that his story is a story of many of my generation. I was a child in a family of eight. Our father wor~ed in a furniture factory as a laborer. ","speaker_name":"MAJOR OWENS","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3104,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090164348,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. I can join the list. I heard DANNY DAVIS. my good friend from Illinois. speak of his experiences. In 1953. I left Sanford.. Florida. on a train for Nashville to attend Fisk University. one of the Historically Black Colleges that has been recognized. I left there and came here to Howard University and left there and went to Florida A&M University. where I achieved my JD degree. Ms. BRowN. my colleague and classmate. spoke momentarily about Floridas schools. I have taught at Florida Memorial. been a Board of Trustee member at Bethune. and I am a graduate of Florida A&M University. ","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1241,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090164350,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am here today to speak in support of establishing a National Historically Black Colleges and Univer-\" sities Week. I am not only the product of an HBCUSouthern A&M College in Baton Rougebut I represent three of these colleges in my district. Xavier. Dillard and Southern University in New Orleans. These universities are the leaders in Louisiana in graduating AfricanAmericans.- Xavier graduates more black pharmacists than any university in the country and has a near 100 percent bar passage rate. The university also sends more AfricanAmericans than any other university to medical school. Dillard University is nationally known for its nursing program and Southern University educates nearly 100 percent New Orleans residents who may not have received a college degree if SUNO was not open. These universities. as .well as the other schools in the Southern University system and Grambling State University. have been vital in producing the best and brightest AfricanAmericans in the American workforce. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM JEFFERSON","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2542,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090164398,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the majority has already explained the purpose of H. Con. Res. 456. which would correct an inadvertent error in the Housepassed version of S. 203 involving the New Jersey Coastal Heritage Trail Route. Correcting this error would ensure the proper inclusion of language from H.R. 472. introduced by my *colleague from New Jersey. Mr. LoBIONDo. I was proud to join the rest of the New Jersey congressional delegation in being an original cosponsor of this bill. which would reauthorize appropriations for the route and requires the Secretary of the Interior to develop a strategic plan. The Coastal Heritage Trail extends for nearly 300 miles from Perth Amboy south to Cape May. then along the Delaware Bay to the Delaware Memorial Bridge. It is a partnership between the National Park Service and the State of New Jersey. with the help of other organizations working to preserve the natural and cultural heritage of the New Jersey coastline. ","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1276,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090164400,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speakers table the bill to amend section 1113 of the Social Security Act to temporarily increase funding for the program of temporary assistance for United States citizens returned from foreign countries. and for other purposes. with a Senate amendment thereto. and concur in the Senate amendment.","speaker_name":"WALTER HERGER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":351,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090164421,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong support of this legislation. allowing for a nuclear cooperation agreement with India. The last two administrations have forged closer ties with India. And India is a nation now of over 1 billion people. The last two administrations frankly have overcome the chilly relations of the Cold War with India. And last Julys joint statement committed each country to a global partnership which has accelerated our cooperation on many issues. including on counterterrorism. As we saw 2 weeks ago. when a series of commuter train bombings hit Mumbai. killing over 200 Indian people. India is a frontline state in the struggle against Islamist terrorism. Congress has played a leading role promoting U.S.-India relations. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD ROYCE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":40.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3830,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090164429,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"India has long been outside of the international nonproliferation regimes. Under this agreement. India will place 14 of 22 ex- isting and planned nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards. For 30 years. India has protected its nuclear programs. It has not allowed proliferation of its nuclear technology. India is the worlds largest democracy. with the 11th largest economy. It is treated uniquely because of its history of maintaining a successful nuclear nonproliferation regime. I saw firsthand on a visit to India in December the vibrant future of India as Americas partner in the codel led by Dan Burton. Passage of this agreement promotes meaningful mutual economic benefits for India and America. ","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1794,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090164438,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I would like to engage my colleagues and managers of this bill. Mr. ROYCE and Mr. LANTOS. in a colloquy on the issue of Indias nuclear testing moratorium. Section 129 of the Atomic Energy Act provides that. \"No nuclear materials and equipment or sensitive nuclear technology shall be exported to any nonnuclear weapon state that is found by the President to have detonated a nuclear device.\" It. is my understanding that section 4(a)(3)(A) of H.R. 5682 waives this restriction for any nuclear test that occurred before July 18. 2005. effectively allowing nuclear cooperation in spite of Indias past nu.clear tests. but not for any detonation or tests after that day. Therefore. if India were to do so. continued nuclear cooperation would be in jeopardy. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SPRATT","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":835,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090164470,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. before yielding time. I want to express my regret to all of my colleagues that the stringent requirements will enable me to yield no more than 1 minute to each of our speakers. Mr. Chairman. I am very pleased to yield 1 minute to a distinguished member of the committee. my good friend from California .","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":317,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090164482,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Furthermore. the precedent of working outside the NPT is dangerous. If India can secure the benefits of NPT membership without adhering to the treatys limitations. other countries will have little incentive to remain in the NPT. I urge my colleagues to stand up for nonproliferation and join me in voting \"no.\"","speaker_name":"FORTNEY STARK","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2049,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090164489,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"With this agreement. the majority of Indias civilian program will be under supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency. We always must be mindful of nuclear proliferation and nuclear materials falling into the wrong hands. The Indian government remains committed to peace and stability in the region and the world and they realize the danger of allowing the proliferation of nuclear technology and material. Sadly. this danger is all too real to the people of India becauselike the U.S.--India has not been immune to terror attacks. The train bombing earlier this month and the attack on their parliament 5 years ago remains a constant reminder of terror and has forced them to reevaluate their civilian nuclear program and their status in the intemational community. Mr. Chairman. H.R. 5682 will strengthen the U.S.-India relationship. promote a clean energy source. and make global nuclear materials more secure. For all these reasons. I strongly support the bill and encourage my colleagues to do so as well.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH KNOLLENBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2937,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090164521,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of my time. It is my understanding that a member of the committee. the gentleman from California offered an amendment in committee that was passed on voice vote. However. upon further reflection. I understand the Member has asked that the amendment language be removed. And what is happening here is that the committee is honoring that request. I would note. however. that the heart of the section 4(b)(7). and this is the section that the gentleman is concerned about. which states that the President must determine that the Nuclear Suppliers Group has decided by consensus. that remains intact. and that is the practice at the NSG. And let me just quote from the bill: \"The NSG has decided by consensus to permit supply to India of nuclear items covered by the guidelines of the NSG.\" So the heart of the determination remains intact. And. again. the removal of that particular language was at the request of a member of the committee.","speaker_name":"EDWARD ROYCE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":40.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":978,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090164531,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding. and I thank him for his amendment. During consideration of this agreement in committee. members expressed some of the same concerns raised by the gentleman from Florida. and we added language to the underlying bill to alleviate those concerns. I offered an amendment. a successful amendment. in committee that explicitly states that nothing in this bill shall violate our article I NPT obligation. not. to. in any way. assist. encourage. or induce India to manufacture or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons or nuclear explosive devices. Now. the gentlemans amendment further clarifies that the aiding of Indias strategic program is not Congresss intent. And with that. we are quite prepared to accept the gentlemans amendment.","speaker_name":"EDWARD ROYCE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":40.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":775,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090164558,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Due to the strategic political and economic importance.of the South Asia region. it is imperative to our national interest to continue our policy of engagement collaboration. and exchanges with and between India and Pakistan. particularly since this has served the nation well in the past. My amendment. which is endorsed and cosponsored by Congressman BURTON. and which is not opposed by either the Majority or Minority of the Committee on International Relations. simply states that the \"South Asia region is so important that the United States should continue its policy of engagement. collaboration. and exchanges with and between India and Pakistan.\" Peaceful nuclear cooperation with India can serve multiple U.S. foreign policy objectives so long as it is undertaken in a manner that minimizes potential risks to the nonproliferation regime. This will be best achieved by sustained and active engagement and cooperation between India and the United States. Similarly. Pakistan has been a critical ally in the global war on terror. Pakistan has been a good friend to the people of the United States. Although H.R. 5682 signals no change in this countrys relationship with Pakistan. it is not difficult to understand why. it may give pause to some supporters of Pakistan. This is another reason why it is vital for the United States to continue to engage both Ppkistan and India in ongoing political engagement. economic and technological collaborations. and personal exchanges. which will bring the United States closer to these two vitally important democracies in the South Asia region and will bring India and Pakistan closer to each other. As a founding CoChair of the Congressional Pakistan Caucus. I am wholeheartedly committed to the political. economic. and social amelioration of Pakistan for the Pakistani people and the ascendancy of Pakistan in the -intemational community. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5139,"word_count":296}
{"speech_id":1090164572,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. this is a great amendment. Because right now this is how much nuclear material is needed by India to produce nuclear electricity in their country. It is used for electricity. However. once we provide them all of this nuclear material for their nuclear electricity. it is going to free up the same amount to make nuclear bombs. So they can go from 7 a year to 40 to 50 nuclear bombs a year. Well. they are saying they do not want to do that. And the proponents of this treaty are saying. they are not going to do that. What theSherman amendment says is. the President must certify each year that they do not do that. That is why the Sherman amendment is the deal maker. because it proves what is being said is actually the truth.","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":742,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090164575,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This proposal will be harmful to security in India. in the region and the world. And this proposal will be harmful to the people of India in that it could escalate an arms race between India and Pakistan. I support Representative SHERMANS amendment. which requires the President to certify annually that India is not dedicating more domestic uranium to its weapons program. as a condition for the U.S. to cooperate with India on nuclear technology. Pakistan wants a deal with the U.S. on nuclear technology. but the U.S. has refused. Instead. Pakistan has turned to China for this technology. To add fuel to the fire. it was just reported that Pakistan has begun building a powerful new reactor for producing plutonium. signaling a major expansion of the countrys nuclear weapons capabilities. Instead of giving India more uranium to develop nuclear weapons. the United States should take leadership in preventing an arms race in the region. A good first step would be to pass the Sherman amendment.","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1710,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090164591,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I regret but I must strongly oppose this amendment offered by my good friend from California. This amendment was carefully considered by the International Relations Committee and was overwhelming defeated on a bipartisan vote. It is a killer amendment. -which would destroy this historic piece of legislation. and Ithink it would be irresponsible for us to hazard that strong probability. Mr. Chairman. I urge all of my colleagues to oppose this amendment.","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":470,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090164597,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So I think Congress has made it clear that this is not the intent of the agreement. The gentleman is right that the language in the underlying bill is not as strenuous as his proposal. but there is also an international component to this agreement. We are opening the door for this cooperation with India not only for the United States but for other countries as well. and I dont see how the gentlemans amendment would prevent the nuclear supplier group from approving such trade for other countries. excluding only the U.S. Let me also say I do believe that fulfilling this relationship with India is in the interest of the United States. Indeed. and here is my final point. if this amendment were to pass. it could in fact be detrimental to U.S. iiterests from that perspective.","speaker_name":"EDWARD ROYCE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":40.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1763,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090164675,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Then they asked for an extension to July 8. And we were going to bring this resolution to the floor some time ago. and we decided. okay. we will wait until July 8. My friend from Massachusetts and Mr. MEEKS asked me to hold up on this. I think","speaker_name":"DAN BURTON","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":734,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090164688,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Reclaiming my time. there was. and I would remind my friend that there was a very tense issue between Venezuela and the United States regarding air traffic between our countries. Quiet diplomacy. patience. restraint resulted in the resolution of that problem. So that today between Venezuela and the United States. there is air travel. it is working. So accord can happen. I share the frustration of my friend from Indiana. I know that he is someone who is a very cando kind of guy. and at times. one might describe his temperament as somewhat impetuous. Unfortunately. diplomacy does not necessarily work that way. Now. I understand. too. that the State Department INL had this to say. I am quoting from our own State Department. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2109,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090164689,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"DELAHUNT said. we need to also take a look very deep into our souls about what is driving this demand in this country for cocaine.","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1136,"word_count":25}
{"speech_id":1090164701,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Reclaiming my time. and I just want to say this. If there is a problem that has evolved out of this discussion tonight. it lays at the feet of Hugo Chavez. It lays at his feet. Because there was an agreement that was hammered out between his people and the DEA here in the United States. He asked for more time. we gave them more time. He wouldnt sign it nor would he give us a date certain when he would sign it. How long do you wait? How long do you wait for drugs to continue to come into the United States before we get an agreement saying we are going to allow the DEA to do their job?","speaker_name":"DAN BURTON","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":590,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090164703,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Well. I didnt yield any more time to my colleague. he just started talking. But that is okay. I have a high regard for him. Let me just say once again that we have gone the extra mile on this agreement with Mr. Chavez. He wouldnt sign it. nor would he give us a date.certain when he would sign it. We adhered to my colleague and others requests to extend the time period. he wouldnt sign it. and that is why we have this resolution tonight. I dont know how it is going to play in Caracas. all I can say is it is time we get an agreement. and the DEA needs to be able to do its job.","speaker_name":"DAN BURTON","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":581,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090164704,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H. Con. Res. 400. to express my concern that the government of Venezuela do what it can to secure its airport facilities from the trafficking of illegal goods. It is always essential to restrict the transport of these substances and the transport of laundered money from their sales. International certifications in airport facilities help to ensure that such restrictions are in place. Recent evidence shows a general lack of enforcement in Venezuela of the measures necessary to avoid the trafficking of narcotics and other controlled substances. Especially in light of the discovery in April of a Venezuelan plane filled with narcotics en route to Mexico. we must seriously question the compliance of Venezuelas airports with such standards. I ask that my colleagues join me in requesting that the government of Venezuela exercise more effort in the future to ensure the secunty of their airport facilities. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2085,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090164725,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is why there is an absolute moral imperative to develop a vaccine to stop the transmission of the HIV\/AIDS virus. A successful vaccine will literally save millions of lives in the poorest countries of the world. restore people to their livelihoods. and prevent children around the globe from becoming AIDS orphans. The resolution before the House brings attention to the intensive work over the past decade to develop a successful HIV\/AIDS vaccine. The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative has built bridges between the developed and developing world that did not exist before. It also has conducted vitally important vaccine trials in the developing world that hopefully will lead to a successful vaccine in the near future. I commend the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for recently awarding $23.7 million towards financing this network of committed researchers working around the clock to find a cure. Mr. Speaker. there will be a successful HIV\/ AIDS vaccine one day. and it is our collective hope that this will occur before millions more of the words citizens lose their.lives. This resolution congratulates the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative for 10 years of significant achievement in the search for an HIV\/AIDS vaccine towards this goal. Mr. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2393,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090164749,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"These men and these women. Mr. Speaker. were victims. They did what they were trained and commanded to do. In fact. one infantryman in the film said that at the end of the day. those who had not killed that day were chided by the others in their unit. Of course. Mr. Speaker. you can be certain that these young people were in desperate need of help. Physical. which is obvious. and mental. which is harder to assess because their needs were labeled \"behavior disorders.\" So these individuals joined the military. did their jobs. no longer liked themselves when they came home. but came home in great need of help to find it was very difficult and sometimes absolutely impossible to get the help they needed. One soldier hung himself. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3752,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090164753,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And. Mr. Speaker. lest we forget. it is the same ideology that is working feverishly to gain nuclear weapons. to terrorize the Western world in ways that we cannot yet imagine. Seven decades ago. Mr. Speaker. another murderess ideology arose in the world. The dark shadow of the swastika fell first upon the Jewish people of Germany. And because the world did not respond to such an evil. it began to spread across Europe until it lit the fires of World War IIs hell on Earth. which saw atomic bombs fall on cities and over 50 million people dead worldwide. All because. Mr. ","speaker_name":"TRENT FRANKS","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3872,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090164757,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"These reactors paired with some of our most highly technological jets and materials could be disastrous to the region. Mr. Speaker. we may be supporting the Pakistani military. but we may also be increasing the rift in peace relations between India and Pakistan and in the South Asia region. Mr. Speaker. economic assistance is certainly necessary to reform Pakistans schools. provide health care programs and support economic restructuring that will stop Pakistan from being a breeding ground for terrorists. But military assistance is another matter. Allowing this sale sends the wrong message to the government and the people of India. I fear that it will mean a step backwards in U.S.-India relations and in South Asias regional stability.","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2574,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090164762,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"\"Offering a road map on the issue was legislation. H.R. 5866. that would erase the scheduled payment cuts while arming Medicare beneficiaries with more information on the quality of physician care. \"The bill would lower the MEI by 1 .percentage point. which in 2007 would mean a payment increase of 2.7 percent. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission called for an update based on the MEI of 3.7 percent in 2007 minus an adjustment fact of 0.9 percent. essentially the same number. \"The bill would also enact recommendations by the Institute of Medicine to improve Quality Improvement Organizations which contract with Medicare to improve quality of care under the program. The bill would make the quality improvement activities of QIOs available to all providers. guarantee a minimum of funding for QIOs and a required review of their resources when the organizations duties are expanded.\" Mr. Speaker. I think this is a worthwhile bill. I think this Congress owes it to the patients and the physicians in this country that depend upon the Medicare system. We have done some great things with expanding the prescription drug program. but it is time to address some of the other shortcomings of the program.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BURGESS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5275,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090164769,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And this is one that gripped me when I heard it said this afternoon. Prime Minister Maliki: \"The fate of our country and yours is tied. Should democracy be allowed to fail in Iraq and terror permitted to triumph. then the War on Terror will never be won elsewhere\". Mr. Speaker. we must win this battle in this Global. War on Terror. this battleground that is Iraq. There is no alternative but victory. In fact. we are moving down this path in a successful fashion. You just cannot simply every day take a measure of it. It is kind of like going on a diet in the morning and weighing yourself at noon and. deciding you want to change your diet. ","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10624,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090164771,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"You illustrated that first year. some months ago. the statement was made that we should pull troops back to the horizon. Now I envision that to be kind of back there where the sun sets on the hill or rises on the hill. Either way it would be a horizon. And it does turn out that the horizon was Okinawa. I dont think anybody in the world imagined that the horizon really meant Okinawa.","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1587,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090164773,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman. I would like to restate some of the comments that we heard earlier today from the new Prime Minister of Iraq and make some of the points he said about how Iraq of today is different than what the Iraq of a few years ago was. He said. \"We have gone from a small oneparty state ruled by a dictator and a small elite to a multiparty system where politics is the domain of every citizen and parties compete at all levels. What used to be a statecontrolled media is now completely free and uncensored. something Iraq had never witnessed since its establishment as a modern state. and something which remains alien to most of the region. What used to be a command economy in Iraq we are rapidly transforming into a free market economy. In the past 3 years. our gross domestic product per capita has more than doubled. and it is expected that our economy will continue to grow.\" He went on to say. \"While small sections of central Iraq are unstable. large sections have remained peaceful but ignored for far too long. They were the most deprived areas of Iraq under the previous regime and have been the most valiant in Iraqs struggle for free-. dom. We need to make an example out of these stable areas as models for the rest of the country. ","speaker_name":"VIRGIL GOODE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3889,"word_count":232}
{"speech_id":1090164778,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. I talk to my constituents. and I talk to the American people that are walking through the halls of Congress. You know. this is the summertime. Mr. Speaker. and. as you know. we have a number of visitors that visit the Capitol of the United States here. We wear these congressional pins. And last night when we left at 12 midnight there were Girl Scouts out front.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":392,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090164867,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the United States and our ally Israel stand at an important and historic juncture. Irans continued efforts to establish a nuclear weapons program and their continued efforts to assist Hezbollah. an internationally recognized terrorist organization. is in defiance of their obligations to a free and stable world. . Today I stand united with my friends in Israel. who face a constant threat by Iraniansponsored Hezbollah terrorists. The House has acted by passing H.R. 282. the Iran Freedom Support Act. If this bill is passed. a strong set of economic sanctions will begin to hold Iran responsible for their actions in- the Middle East. It is critical that the Senate act on this companion legislation that is pending before them. Congress must confront Irans continued belligerence by halting that countrys nuclear aspirations and work to prevent their further sponsorship of terrorists.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH KNOLLENBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":901,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090164869,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it is imperative that we secure our southern border immediately. One overlooked reason is the Department of Homeland Security has issued data which indicates that each year. hundreds of aliens from countries known to harbor terrorists or who promote terrorism are apprehended attempting to enter this country illegally. Since 2002. the number of nonMexicans apprehended while trying to enter the United States illegally has increased 343 percent. This is of great concern to me and to others. In the words of former Deputy Secretary ADM James Loy of Homeland Security: \"Entrenched human smuggling and corruption in areas beyond our borders can be exploited by terrorist organizations.\" There have been reports. Mr. Speaker. that terrorist organizations. including al Qaeda. have been operating. recruiting members. and maybe training terrorists in South American countries. including Argentina. Brazil. and Paraguay. This is particularly alarming when you consider that attempts to enter our country illegally from Brazil has increased 900 percent over the last 3 years. ","speaker_name":"CLIFFORD STEARNS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1132,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090164871,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this Republican majority is dedicated to the security agenda. We have created a plan of action for leading that addresses the issues facing America today. As part of our security agenda. we are promoting border security that halts illegal entry into the country. We are strengthening our national security by fighting terrorism in the Middle East where it begins. not on our own soil after an attack. We are also promoting economic growth and job creation by lowering taxes and reducing regulation in order that families can plan for their very own secure future. Energy security means America must harness our own domestic oil resources. expand oil refining capacity that is limited due to red tape. and at the same time carry out research and development for alternative energy sources while we focus on conservations best practices. We are fighting to defend the moral infrastructure that has made America great as part of our moral security agenda. Mr. Speaker. we invite everyone to join us in a thoughtful process of securing Americas future.","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1061,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090164876,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. for the purpose of debate only. I yield the\" customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts . pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution. all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. House Resolution 946 provides for the consideration of the conference report to accompany Senate 250. the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006 and waives all points of order against its consideration. Mr. Speaker. I am actually proud to stand in support of this rule the underlying legislation. which reauthorizes important vocational education loans and programs. In our everchanging economy. it is clear that education and training is more vital than ever before to both our Nations economic growth and competitiveness. as well as the quality of life for individuals and their families. ","speaker_name":"ROB BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2355,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090164891,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank our distinguished member of the Rules Committee. Mr. Speaker. I rise this morning in opposition to the rule and in opposition to the bill. and I want to state very clearly why. I believe that this bill is deeply deficient. And I am very disappointed because I had high hopes for this bill. At one time I was a cosponsor of it. but I removed my name from the bill when I saw what the deficiencies were and that the majority would not address them. My colleague. Mrs. CAPPS.* has just eloquently outlined the deep deficiency relative to privacy. ","speaker_name":"ANNA ESHOO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2414,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090164894,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentlewoman. The great Irish poet. William Butler Yeats. used to say that. \"In dreams begins responsibility.\" There is a dream here that we can place all of the medical records of all Americans online. that can have an IT world where for the sake of patients we can move medical information across hundreds. thousands of miles to save the patients life. And that is great. That is a great dream. But that dream will replace something that exists today. which is that when each of us goes in to visit a physician. When our family members private medical records are inside a cabinet with a nurse that has a key that can open that drawer and pull out your familys private records. that you have confidence that that physician. that that nurse is not going to tell everyone else in town what the secrets are of your husband. of your wife. of your child. of. your mother or your father. that there are protections. that privacy is sacred. that your physician is a privacy keeper and not a data mining information seeker. As we move to this new era where information is being abrogated by medical insurance companies. HMOs. medical consultants. medical data mining companies. that we build in at the beginning of this era the privacy protections. the guarantees that each individuals family has a right to say. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3749,"word_count":232}
{"speech_id":1090164910,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I know a lot of Members are interested in what the schedule is. I think all of you know that today we will move to consider the conference report on the Carl Perkins vocational education.program. We will then move to the health IT bill. We expect that that will take us to late afternoon\/early evening. The reason I stood up is that it is pretty clear that we are in fact going to have votes tomorrow. There are a number of Members. though. from New York who want to go to former Representative Tom Mantons funeral. We will work with those Members to carve out a window so that those Members who want to go to New York can come back. But we will have votes tomorrow. ","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":780,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090164919,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of this conference report and ask my colleagues to join me in doing the same. Rahall Rangel Reyes Ross Rothman RoybalAllard Ruppersberger Rush Ryan (OH) Sabo Salazar Sanchez. Linda T. Sanchez. Loretta Sanders Schakowsky Schiff Schwartz (PA) Scott (GA) Scott (VA) Serrano Sherman Skelton Slaughter Smith (WA) Snyder","speaker_name":"HOWARD MCKEON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":401,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090164921,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You see. Mr. Speaker. miracles can happen. ThenChairman BOEHNER and nowChairman McKEON and Subcommittee Chairman CASTLE need to be thanked and honored for getting us this far. But most importantly to me. I want to thank the hard work of the committee ranking member. Congressman GEORGE MILLER. Having voted for H.R. 366. which passed the House almost unanimously. I believe that todays conference report significantly improves the bill. Particularly pleasing is that this bill not only has expanded math. science. and technical programs. it also has continued and strengthened the Perkins Act commitment to preparing women and men for occupations that are nontraditional to them. to ensuring access to career and technical education for special populations who face unique challenges. and to preparing those students for careers that will leadthem to selfsufficiency. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2365,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090164933,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank Subcommittee Chairman CASTLE and Mr. MILLER and Ms. WOOLSEY and Chairman MCKEON for their work on this bill and rise in support of it. I am especially pleased that Congress has shown such strong support for the Perkins program in view of the fact that it has been zeroed out on successive years by the administration. and it seems that people in this body understand the importance of a vocational technical education. particularly important in my State of Nebraska which is largely rural. In rural America. if you do not have vocational technical education you have real problems. So this has been critical. Also. we currently lack the skilled workforce in our country to maintain our economy. and a big key to this. of course. is vocational training. This bill improves vocational technical education in several key areas. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS OSBORNE","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2771,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090164935,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"his words in support of vocational education. because he is the ranking member of the subcommittee on appropriations that we go to to fund these programs. because we know that none of this works. none of it works. Mr. Speaker. unless we provide the needed funding. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the remainder of my time.","speaker_name":"RALPH REGULA","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":316,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090164958,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In fact. according to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. nearly 90 million electronic data records of U.S. residents have been compromised because of security breaches in just the past year and a half. This administrations lax approach to enforcing existing medical privacy requirements has raised additional concerns. A recent Washington Post article reported that the administration has not imposed a single civil -fine under the Federal medical privacy rule despite nearly 20.000 complaints of violations over the 3 years the rule has been in effect. It is irresponsible for Congress to promote the development and use of health information technology without ensuring that necessary privacy and security for health information are in place. I thank the gentleman from New Jersey for yielding to me so I could point out these specific concerns that. I have with this legislation. and I wish we could address them.","speaker_name":"HENRY WAXMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2532,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090164959,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Chairman. I yield 2 minutes to the former Governor of the First State. the great State of Delaware .","speaker_name":"JOE BARTON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":629,"word_count":19}
{"speech_id":1090164970,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I was disappointed with this bill during the markup in the Energy and Commerce Committee. and I remain disappointed with the final version on the floor today. With information technology. this Congress has an opportunity to revolutionize the way health care is delivered in this country. but this bill is weak and it merely props up the status quo. And. Mr. Chairnian. this bill could actually make things worse. My main concern is that underserved communities would not be a part of the health care information technology revolution. Too often communities such as those Irepresent wherea disproportionate number are minority Americans and are the last to garner the benefits of new technological developments. As such. it is vital that any serious HIT bill have a funding component that aids low income providers. ","speaker_name":"BOBBY RUSH","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1770,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090164976,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And he said. If you are retired and you paid for a package travel. if you feel like getting on the bus. getting on the airplane. you more often than not make an effort to make that trip. and more times than you would expect. the first stop on that trip is the hospital. For somebody who is on that motor coach who should not have probably gotten on but they get to Branson. Missouri. not feeling all that well. with the right kind of ability to get their health information shared. a 3day visit to the hospital could be a 3hour visit to the hospital. We need to start this process. Chairman BARTON understands that. Mrs. JOHNSON understands that. Our committee understands that. This is the way to do it today. ","speaker_name":"ROY BLUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2314,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090164982,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It does nothing. H.tA. 4157 doesnt provide for thedevelopment of or the adoption of interoperability standards. it does not provide funding to help providers transition to an electronic medical records system. and it does not strengthen privacy protections. It does do one thing: It weakens Medicares fraud and abuse laws. My colleague from Louisiana on the Ways and Means Committee acknowledged in our full committee markup that if the fraud and abuse provisions were removed from this bill. it would accomplish nothing. Zip. That is a Republican who said that. CBO says. \"CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 4157 would not significantly affect either the rate at which the use of health technology will grow or how well that technology will be designed and implemented.\" The reason that it has no cost is it doesnt do a bloody thing. People who I often disagree with. Americas Health Insurance Plans. representing the forprofit hospitals and plans. wrote to us and said. ","speaker_name":"FORTNEY STARK","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3621,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090164997,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me time. Mr. Chairman. I rise today in favor of a bill that would help us usher in 21stcentury medicine into the doctors offices of our country. By encouraging the dissemination of health information technology. we move full speed ahead toward establishing an infrastructure necessary to create an environment where errors are reduced and care is improved. This bill promotes cooperation between doctors and hospitals and provides physicians with the IT support services they need to establish this infrastructure. In particular. I am pleased this bill includes an amendment that I sponsored in the Energy and Commerce Committee with Congressman TowNs that would provide grants for the use of health information technology to coordinate care for the uninsured. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL FERGUSON","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1290,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090165001,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. for the record I would like to note that the HIPAA laws do apply to this with regard to privacy. whereby there would be fines up to $250.000 and up to 10 years in prison for disclosure or obtaining health information in many of these areas. So it does apply. The second is the CBO report which is being taken out of context. It mentioned that there can be savings for Medicare in this. And as hospitals learn to adapt to health information technology. if they do not adapt right. that may be more costly. but overall there are many savings in this.","speaker_name":"TIM MURPHY","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":562,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090165018,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I think the gentlemans amendment points out why health information technology is so terribly important to making the next leap forward in quality that medical science has made available to us. It will take a lot more teaching of patients. It will take a much different relationship between nurses and medical personnel and patients to make sure that they have the guidance and support they need to prevent their disease from getting worse or to follow a regimen that will prevent their chronic illness from compromising their lives. [ 1430 So this issue of communication is going to be a bigger issue in the next round of the American health care system even than it is today. But I would like to yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania for some questions.","speaker_name":"NANCY JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":771,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090165071,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The information that will result from this amendment will allow us to make those decisions with greater confidence in their benefit to our constituents. I ask my colleagues for their support in assisting us in gaining greater insight into this important matter. I ask for their support on this amendment. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2722,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090165077,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I appreciate those comments. and I would agree. I think it is important that we move forward with a more specific ICD coding system. ICD 10 will do that. and hopefully it will be adopted in a timely fashion. This report will be back prior to the installation of those new codes. and so I look forward to seeing the results of this report and hopefully making some recommendation at that time. and urge my colleagues to support this amendment. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":550,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090165087,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield to myself as much time as I may consume. I want to thank Representative MCMORRIS for her leadership on this bipartisan issue. This amendment really gets at the heart of why health care information technology is important in the first place. and there are really two big reasons. Number one. it can significantly improve the quality of care for patients. and. number tw6. it can significantly reduce health care inflation. Right now. if you want to do anything to improve the quality of health care in this country getting inflation under control is job one so that people can access that. That is what health care information technology has the promise to do. and this amendment. in particular. focuses on one aspect of it where it could really reduce the costs and improve the quality of care. helping a specific class of patients get the best information possible for the best disease management possible. All across the world. information is being developed even as we sit here on how to better deal with all kinds of different diseases. But how do we make sure that both patients and providers have realtime access to that best information and employ it? That is what this amendment aims to do. ","speaker_name":"ADAM SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2003,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090165100,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I am very happy to rise in support of the amendment of the gentlewoman from Washington. A little disappointed my own great amendments were not made in order but very happy to support hers. As a physician. having practiced 30 years of clinical medicine. there is no question that the cost of chronic disease management is the most costly. and particularly under Medicaid. I think the gentlewoman has the exact right idea. to be able to monitor this information on a realtime basis so that physicians know- exactly what they are spending and what is cost effective. I was very happy as a member of the Rules Committee to recommend her amendment be made in order. Thank goodness it was. and I proudly stand here today to recommend this amendment to all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. I commend her for the good job she has done.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":853,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090165118,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this is an important motion for a modest bill. It leaves this bill with an opportunity to move forward today with just one important change. and that is the addition of vital personal privacy protection of what should be genuinely personal medical records. In my youth. there was a popular song called \"I Heard it Through the Grapevine.\" These days. its \"I saw it on the Internet.\" In this busy world of busy bodies and identity theft and commercial snooping. I believe what a patient confides to a physician about an ailment. what a young couple tells a psychologist about their marriage. what prescription a pharmacist provides. that highly personal information should not be spread and read on the Internet. The consequences of unwanted disclosure of personal health information is more than embarrassment or humiliation. It may mean the loss of a job or a promotion. It may mean that an individual refuses to confide necessary information to their doctor or avoids health care and critical medical tests because of fear that the information will be disclosed without her consent. This Administration has shown little interest in personal privacy. whether it was the privacy of library records or phone conversations or veterans records. The Federal Government scored a Dplus on the 2005 Computer Security Report Card. with the Departments of Health and Human Services. ","speaker_name":"LLOYD DOGGETT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2260,"word_count":226}
{"speech_id":1090165119,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And that is why I ask all of you to join us in the motion to recommit. Your constituents -will thank you for it if you vote for the motion to recommit.","speaker_name":"PATRICK KENNEDY","chamber":"H","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":982,"word_count":32}
{"speech_id":1090165124,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We are actually trying to get medical records in our country. the greatest Nation the world has ever known. to use technology that many other industries and many other groups have already incorporated into their daily business routine. Now. there is an ongoing study at HHS on privacy. They have received over 50.000 public comments so far. This bill before us. if it becomes law. has an implementation period. There is going to be adequate time to come back. if we need to. with a specific medical technology privacy bill. In past Congresses. Mr. MARKEY and I have been cochairmen of the Privacy Caucus in the House. along with Senator SHELBY and Senator DODD in the Senate. I am as strong an advocate of protecting personal privacy as anybody in this body. I would say Mr. ","speaker_name":"JOE BARTON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1708,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090165166,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is no different with countries. You cannot have that kind of icy standoff and think the world will be at peace. I can tell you that the southern part of Lebanon that is the object of the invasion right now is an area where development was not allowed to occur. where the west literally backed away and allowed the forces of Hezbollah to gain greater and greater footing. And we are yielding the policies of isolation that allowed this to occur. So I would say to my colleagues. I would say to people of good conscience everywhere. now is the time to stand up to stop the killing on all sides in a part of the world where the soils are blood drenched from Bethlehem to Gaza to northern Israel. and Haifa now. to southern Lebanon again. Havent we had enough of killing one another? I would urge the Secretary of State. the President of the United States. the Members of this Congress who are going to be leaving Washington tomorrow in this House and I guess next week in the other body. to devote your August to thinking how we can all be voices to stop the killing and to call for a ceasefire on all sides for the sake of the world. Surely we are destroying a part of the earth that will take generations to restore. and we every day are watching young people and innocence killed by thehundreds and thousands. Cant the world do better than this? I think about the drawing of the little boy looking out the window at a beautiful sky and apple trees with the bayonets walking by.","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4077,"word_count":277}
{"speech_id":1090165174,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Lee Raymond. just retired a couple of months ago. they gave him -a $400 million retirement. And now. Mr. Raymond. Americans are struggling to fill up their gas tanks. right? It is hard to afford 50 bucks if you are driving an SUV. But Mr. Raymond. well. he isnt too worried about that. He is out buying oil fields and gas fields in the Middle East and in Africa. An individual. one guy. got so much money from ExxonMobil from them bleeding extortionate profits out of the American people. that he can afford to buy his own oil and gas fields. And certainly. ","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4119,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090165182,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank my colleague. Thank you. Congressman FARR. for those nice words and for standing here with me this evening. Mr. Speaker. tonight I come to the floor again. for the 165th time. to discuss the costs of the occupation of Iraq. Unfortunately. we all know too well the human cost of the occupation. More than 2.550 of our brave fighting men and women have died. Nearly 100 Iraqi civilians are killed every day. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2771,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090165208,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But we should not believe that passage of this bill is the creation of a national- energy policy. The fact is if we pass this bill next week. it will have literally no impact on gasoline prices today and no impact on our dependence on foreign oil. If we are going to address that. we have to do it in A larger context. On the Democratic side of the Senate. we have proposed a bill that will move us forward. looking at the national energy picture and moving us toward breaking our dependence on foreign sources of energy in the future. That is important for us to .do. Today we are so dependent on foreign sources of oil that we are at the mercy of the OPEC cartel.. and at the mercy of the major producers we are doing business with in countries around the world buying their oil and gasand these countries are virtually our sworn enemies. There are many countries in the world that we send billions of dollars to as we buy their oil and gas that turn around and use the money we send against us in the war on terrorism. That is as horrifying as I can think of at the moment. that we would send American dollars to these countries to subsidize terrorist activities. Yet it is happening because we are so dependent on these foreign sources. What can we do? What should we do? First. we should look at the obvious. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11091,"word_count":248}
{"speech_id":1090165215,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Alabama. Mississippi. but especially for Louisiana. It addresses those revenue needs that the State needs since it is losing all of those wetlands. We saw the results of that in the great tragedy of Hurricane Katrina a year ago. So I give great credit to Senator LANDRIEU. But I also give great credit to Senator LANDRIEU because she knew the interests of Florida had to be protected in order for her to get an agreement because both Senators from Florida were willing to filibuster any legislation that threatened the interests of Flor-. ida. To her great creditSenator LANDRIEUsshe worked with the two Senators from Florida. She also worked with the other.gulf coast Senators. And what has been crafted is a piece of legislation that addresses just the Gulf of Mexico. Now. you might wonder: Why does Florida not want its waters off the coast of Florida to be drilled? Well. this Senator is going to explain that. ","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11171,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090165252,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"President? Well. S. 3711 would be doing more to secuire our supply of domestic energy than anything we have done in a long time. It is not everything under the Sun. it is not a silver bullet. it is not a magic wand. but it is a major. concrete. specific step forward that would help secure our energy future. What is that? It is 8.3 million acres of area in the gulf opened to exploration and production for the first time ever. 1.26 billion barrels of oil. brandnew production. and 5.83 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. brandnew production. That is doing something. and that- is doing something that will have an impact on our energy futurenot in 20 years. not in 10 years. but very soon. We will see this production in a few years and we could see its impact on prices even sooner than that. As folks in the energy industry recognize that we are opening this brandnew area to both oil and gas exploration. we could see a positive impact. bringing prices down even sooner than the production would begin. So I am in support of doing something strong. concrete. and meaningfulnot just talking a good game and. at the end of the day. doing nothing. The distinguished Senator from New Mexico made some points in opposition to this proposal. He said it was very regrettable that he and others were not completely open to propose any amendment with regard to this bill. ","speaker_name":"DAVID VITTER","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8255,"word_count":247}
{"speech_id":1090165253,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. if I could inquire of my colleague from Washingtonand I have my colleague from Alabama who seeks recognitionmaybe we can get some order set up here. I have a 15minute presentation. I believe my colleague from Alabama is seeking recognition. if I could inquire.","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":275,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090165281,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If this was a chemical weapon exploding in Seattle. the chemical plume could contaminate the rail system. Interstate 5. and SeaTac Airport. not to mention the entire downtown business and residential district. At the port. there would be tremendous confusion. People would try to contain the fire. but its unclear whoif anyonewould in charge. Thenwhen word spreads that its .a dirty bombpanic would likely set in. There would be chaos as first responders try to react. and residents try to flee. Next. our government would shut down every port in America to make sure there werent other bombs on other containers in other cities. That shutdown would be the equivalent of driving our economy into a brick wall. It could even spark a global recession. Day by day. we would feel the painful economic impact of the attack. ","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9026,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090165296,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Unfortunately. so far this year the Democrats have succeeded in obstructing these key things which would lower the cost of health careWe can also invest in the flexibility and choice necessary to train the best workforce in the world. so that we can attract the best jobs in the world. Our goal as Republicans is maximum wage. not minimum wage. Unfortunately. again. the Democrats are obstructing ways that we can create more alternatives and choices to improve the quality of our workforce and the amount of pay people earn. We can also work to increase our natural gas and oil supplies and to reduce the cost of gas. increase Americas supply of energy. while we encourage conservation and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. The good news is that Republicans are workingone step at a timeto secure our prosperity. We understand the American people need real solutions. not more Democrat obstruction. Some say there has been no coherent Democratic energy strategy since early in the Clinton administration. Well. I disagree. They have a strategy. it is just the wrong one. ","speaker_name":"JIM DEMINT","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8852,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090165300,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is like adding the capacity every year to serve the entire country of Spain. These new coal plants have created problems- such as widespread pollution. Sixteen of the worlds 20 most airpolluted cities are in -China. Even with the influx- of plants and patchworks to the grid. there are various areas of the country that still have uncertain access to power. In 2004. China had a power shortage in 24 of its 31 provinces. They are struggling with the mammoth task of trying to keep pace with their energy needs. Since 2001. their consumption has grown at a rate 11\/2 times the growth of its overall economy. So we see that China. because it was poorly endowed with natural resources--except for coalhas increasingly become dependent on oil imports. Now China relies on the Middle East for half of its oil. which is similar to our. circumstances. ","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11910,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090165351,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And now people say: I see the importance of what you are doing in Washington. DC. why.you are following President Bush in terms of his tremendous leadership in cutting taxes. keeping taxes low. and working hard to make those tax cuts permanent. Then it comes together. We are looking at a tax extender package. and we are also looking at what my colleagues feel strongly abouta permanent solution to the death tax. First of all. the death tax does not make sense. It is not fair. It discourages savings and discourages thrift. Therefore. we need to have a permanent solution. I say bury it forever. but the will of the Senate is not to bury it forever and eliminate it totally. Therefore. we are working with what is a very reasonable compromise position. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11189,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090165356,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In 2002. the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on the west coast--considered the most activist circuit of all in the country and the most reversed by the U.S. Supreme Courtfound that the method of the sale violated the \"no aid to religion clause\" of the California State constitution. They transferred it to a private. nonprofit. nonreligious organization. but they said this aided religion. I believe this is something on whichwe can all agree. I know the Senators from California. Senators FEINSTEIN and BOXER. have indicated they believe this memorial should remain. I think we will be able to work through these difficulties and get this legislation passed. Mr. President. following up on the Mount Soledad Memorial legislation to deal with the court ruling that has imposed a $5.000 fine per day on the city of San Diego. a ruling stayed by Justice Kennedy on the U.S. Supreme Court. that ruling deals with the cross that was maintained by the Mt. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8941,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090165357,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In 1991. a Federal judge issued an injunction prohibiting the permanent display of the cross on city property. Since that time. the city has repeatedly tried to divest itself of the property through sale or donation. But the plaintiff continued to mount legal challenges to every attempted property transfer. The legal wrangling over this memorial continues today. The Mount Soledad Memorial is a remarkably popular landmark. In fact. I had the pleasure of visiting the Memorial during the Fourth of July recess and can personally attest to the profound impression it can leave on its visitors. . It is also of great importance to the local community. On two different occasions. the voters of San Diego have overwhelming passed ballot measures designed to transfer the property to entities which could maintain the cross. Given the many years of legal disputes regarding this memorial. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2814,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090165360,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":16,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this is a piece of legislation which we offered preyiously during this Congress. unsuccessfully. I might add. that I and others intend to offer once again. I want to describe it and describe why we intend to offer it again as we find additional legislation on the floor of the Senate with which to offer it as an amendment. It deals with accountability in contracting. The legislation we have introduced is called Honest Leadership and Accountability in Contracting Act of 2006. I introduced it on March 2. S. 2361. The bill is sponsored by 30 of my colleagues here in the Senate. Senator REID joined me in announcing the legislation that day. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11162,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090165361,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"CNN. and finally at CBS. His work for Charles Kuralt and CBS Sunday Morning was nominated for an* Emmy. A 13minutelong story he had photographed was aired. which is the television equivalent of a long book. His career at the recording studio began in 1988 where he quickly came to specialize in audio operations. However. his contributions were not just technical. He also had just the right personal touch with Senators. It isnt always easy to get up in front of TV cameras and lights to speak. even for Senators. but Marty had the ability to put any Senator at ease. When floor directing. he spoke to each Senator easily and with warmth. and they trusted him. He was never intimidated but he was always respectful. -Marty can be a bit feisty. but his bark is much worse than his bite. To those who have gotten to know him. he is warm and caring. too. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3070,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090165362,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to support final passage of S. 250. the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act. This legislation represents a bipartisan effort to enhance and strengthen career and technical education programs across the United States. In my home State of Nevada. career and technical education programs enjoy strong support. Recently. career and technical educators from across the State came together to come up with common course standards for students that focus on certain career and technical education programs. Nevada also has a Career and Technical Education Plan that links these course standards with the academic requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. I have always supported the Perkins Career and Technical Education Program because I believe that these programs often catch students that slip through the cracks in traditional education programs. Career and technical education programs provide students with real world applications for what they are learning in the classroom. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2881,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090165366,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to speak about the need for hate crimes legislation. Each Congress. Senator KENNEDY and I introduce hate crimes legislation that would add new categories to current hate crimes law. sending a signal that violence of any kind is unacceptable in our society. Likewise. each Congress I have come to the floor to highlight a separate hate crime that has occurred in our country. On January 23. 1981. in Chicago. IL. Stevie Lynch. a mentally - retarded man. was attacked while walking to a friends house. According to police. two men stopped Lynch on the street taunting him about his disability and trying to make him drink beer. ","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1175,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090165370,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am honored to join Senator DURBIN in introducing the Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad Act which focuses on the important issue of preparing future generations to live and work in an increasingly interconnected and complicated world. My colleague and I strongly believe that in order for the United States to effectively confront global challenges. to compete successfully in a global economy. and to lead responsibly in the world. we must dramatically increase the number of Americans gaining international experience through study abroad. In 2004. Congress recognized the value of study abroad when it formed the Commission on the Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad Fellowship Program. The Commission issued a report in November \u00952005 calling for a national study abroad program to greatly increase and diversify the number of U.S. students participating in study abroad while at the same time addressing the institutional barriers which hinder many students from studying abroad. Again. the Senate recognized the significance of the study abroad experience when it declared 2006 as the \"Year of Study Abroad.\" and encouraged initiatives to promote and expand study abroad opportunities. With this legislation. my colleague and I move this important agenda one step further by sponsoring a bill that will change the country. It will enable our students to graduate with skills necessary to work effectively in todays global society by making study abroad an integral part of the undergraduate educational experience. ","speaker_name":"NORM COLEMAN","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3130,"word_count":234}
{"speech_id":1090165374,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Beginning in 1940. Dunham also appeared in several films. including. \"Carnival of Rhythm\". \"Cabin in the Sky\". \"Star Spangled Rhythm\". \"Stormy Weather\". and \"Casbah\". Dunham also produced the choreography for \"Pardon My Sarong\". Whats more. Katherine Dunhams legacy doesnt stop on the dance stage. She used her notoriety to focus the publics attention to social injustices around the world. ","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3782,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090165378,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Forestry. Conservation. and Rural Revitalization of the Committee on Agriculture. Nutrition and Forestry be authorized to conduct a hearing during the session of the Senate on July 27. 2006. at 10 a.m. in SR328A. Russell Senate Office Building. The purpose of this subcommittee hearing will be to conduct an oversight hearing on the U.S. Department of Agriculture use of technical service providers.","speaker_name":"JIM DEMINT","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":463,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090165384,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that on Thursday. July 27th. 2006. at 9:30 a.m. the Committee on Environment and Public Works be authorized to hold a hearing to discuss the Stafford Act: A Path Forward for the Nations Emergency Preparedness and Response System.","speaker_name":"JIM DEMINT","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":268,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090165396,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a markup on Thursday. July 27. 2006. at 10:45 a.m. in Senate Dirksen Building Room 226. 3. 5. 1838. Federal and District of Co- Tentative Agenda lumbia Government Real Property Act of 2005. Nominations of 2005. 4. S. 3492. Federal Workforce Per- Kimberly Ann Moore. to be U.S. Cirformance Appraisal and Management cuit Judge for the Federal Circuit. Improvement Act of 2006. ","speaker_name":"JIM DEMINT","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":911,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090165402,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday. July 27. 2006. to hold a markup to consider the nominations of Patrick W. Dunne to be Assistant Secretary for Policy & Planning and Thomas E. Harvey to be Assistant Secretary for Congressional Affairs.Department of Veterans Affairs. The meeting will take place in the Reception Room off the Senate floor in the Capitol following the first rollcall of the Senate after 1 p.m.","speaker_name":"JIM DEMINT","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":520,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090165408,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management. Government Information. and International Security be authorized \u0095to meet on Thursday. July 27. 2006. at 2:30 p.m.. for a hearing regarding \"Responsible Resource Management at the Nations Health Access Agency\".","speaker_name":"JIM DEMINT","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":360,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090165435,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following treaty on todays Executive Calendar: No. 13. I further ask unanimous consent that the treaty be considered as having passed through its various parliamentary stages. up to and including the presentation of the resolution of ratification. that any statements be printed in the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD as if read. and that the Senate proceed to a vote on the resolution of ratification. and further. that when the resolution of ratification is voted on. the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. the President be notified of the Senates action. and that following the disposition of the treaty. the Senate return to legislative session.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":748,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090165444,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I opened my remarks tonight to say there are a lot of issues being considered. Let me in closing mention a great event we had today for a bill that will get a fair amount of attentionbut not the attention it deservesin affecting peoples lives in a very direct way. It is. called the Adam Walsh bill. named for a little boy. 6 years of age. who died 25 years ago today. The bill addresses an issue that has been highlighted a lot. most recently on television. that has to do with sexual predators which had been facilitated a lot by the Internet. This bill establishes two registries. One is for sexual predators. Right now there are about 500.000 we know of in this country. 100.000 we dont know where they are. It establishes a registry across the country. a national registry. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2372,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090165544,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In contrast. having the Treasury maintain its role as disbursing agent would only cost $800.000 annually. a $2.1 million annual savings. In addition to the fiscal concerns that have arisen regarding .transferring disbursing responsibilities for benefits. identity theft is a looming threat because of the need to transfer personal information of private individuals from the Treasury Department to the private sector. The specter of this threat is growing. and I do not believe our Nations retirees should be concerned with who may have access to their personal information. A benefit in addition to oost savings and security is that unlike a private vendor. the Treasury Department has the ability to use debt collection tools such as withholding tax refunds that are not available to the private sector. The Treasury Departments ability to make collections on overpaid benefits is easier. cheaper. and more efficient than having a private sector agent make the same collections.. The advantages of securing benefits for our retired railroad workers and saving taxpayer dollars are obvious. The maintenance of these benefits under the realm of the Treasury Department is a costefficient and secure means of distributing benefits. and I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2734,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090165550,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and. Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management. Government Information. and International Security be authorized to meet on Friday. July 28. 2006. at 9:30 a.m. for a hearing regarding \"Cyber Security: Recovery and Reconstitution of Critical Networks\".","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":354,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090165564,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Now it is at $74 a barrel. If this administration goes ahead and attacks Iran. it will go to $130 a barrel and about $5 a gallon for gas. This Congress must do more than genuflect with tax breaks and subsidies to Big Oil. It is time we took the side of the consumers whose budgets are being crushed and mobility being crushed by $3 a gallon gas. It is time for a 100 percent excess profit tax on the oil companies. That is what m~r bill. H.R. 2070. does. It will lower the price of gas because it will tax excess profits of oil companies and it wont increase the price of gasoline. My minute is up. but the oil companies profits are eternal. unless we stop the price gouging with a 100 percent excess profits tax.","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1232,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090165569,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as we approach the 1year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. it is appropriate that we remember the valiant service of the U.S. Coast Guard.. During our Nations most destructive natural disaster. these men and women went above and beyond the call of duty. The sheer magnitude of the Guards response was astounding. Onethird of its air fleet was deployed in the Gulf region. Six years of searchandrescue operations were completed in 1 week. More than 33.520 lives were saved. Mr. Speaker. it is important to note that these servicemembers were not unaffected bystanders. ","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":903,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090165577,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speak-. er. last night we had a terrible tragedy occur in my office. My assistant for foreign policy. Dan Getz. who was age 37. dropped dead of a heart attack. Dan was an outstanding young man. He worked very. very hard in dealing with foreign policy issues. and he was a real credit to everybody that works here in the House..","speaker_name":"DAN BURTON","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":331,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090165586,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Our constituents cannot be fooled by this late night flimflam. We should have an upanddown vote on a minimum wage increase. not a vote on minimum wage increase and the estate tax at the same time or pension reform or whatever else the leadership feels convenient to add to this bill. It is hard to hit a moving target. and rather than playing games. we should remember that there are people in this country who make $5.10 an hour. This is a real issue that impacts real people. We have not raised the minimum wage since 1997. When adjusted for inflation. the minimum wage is the lowest it has been fl 50 years. When it takes a full days pay to fill up jour gas tank. something is wrong. A minimum wage earner makes only $10.700 a year. This is well below the poverty threshold for a family of three which is $16.600 a year. We need to lift these hardworking Americans out of poverty and have a true vote on the minimum wage. ","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2165,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090165588,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Let me just respond to the gentleman. What is frustrating to us here tonight is the fact that for months and months and months we have been trying to get a straight upordown vote on the minimum wage. We think it is an absolute disgrace that the minimum wage has not been raised since 1997. 9 years. and in those 9 years. Congress has given itself eight pay raises. We think there is something wrong with that. and we want to see passed and enacted into law an increase in the Federal minimum wage. So we want a straight upordown vote because we think that is the best way you can get that. Instead. what you do. you bring a minimum wage bill to floor to provide some of your more vulnerable Members cover. and you bring it in a package that you know probably is not going to go anywhere in the Senate because the previous combination of the estate tax and the tax extenders package has not gone anywhere in the Senate. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2332,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090165630,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reserving the right to object. though I may not object. just a few days ago. I filed H. Res. 945. the Lebanon Humanitarian Relief Act with a number of cosponsors. And I raise the question to the distinguished gentleman of whether or not what we are doing today will also include a cessation of targeting infrastructure of noncombatants. and whether or not it will also establish or give the Secretary of State the ability to. if you will. negotiate safe corridors for evacuees to be able to be evacuated. This is a crucial time in the history of our Nation. and as well in the issues dealing with the Mideast. And I am concerned that as we consider funding for the evacuation of innocent Lebanese citizens. as has been noted. several incidents have . occurred where evacuees unfortunately suffered injury or death trying to escape. therefore we should instruct the Secretary of State to negotiate with the United Nations and the participants in this conflict safe corridors for the Lebanese evacuees and also a cessation of firing on noncombat structures such as airports. hospitals. schools and otherwise. I yield to the gentleman to know if there are any instructions in this UC with respect to any of those items.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1229,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090165631,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. no. there are not. It would merely ensure that the State Department could use the existing funds to get American citizens out of harms way and to pay the debts that they have obligated both for cruises. for ships and for other things whereby they are taking people to Cypress and other points of safety. so they can pay their bills.","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":345,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090165652,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. All we want is a clean upordown vote on the minimum wage. We want this to become law. We do not want to make a political statement. This is not about a press release. Why do we have to bog the minimum wage bill down with language to benefit the heirs of the WalMart family. the Mars family? Or give Paris Hilton another tax cut? Why can we not just do what is right. which is to give lowwage income earners in this country the raise that they deserve? We are tired of the political posturing. We want action. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":631,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090165653,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if my colleague that just spoke on the other side of the aisle cared about the minimum wage. she would have signed the discharge petition so we could have had an upordown vote on the minimum wage. Mr. Speaker. if ever the American people needed evidence that the Republican Congress is putting politics before what is good for the American people. this is it. This is a cynical gimmick. It is designed to kill any increase in the minimum wage. It is an excuse for vulnerable Republicans to go home this August claiming they cast a vote in support of raising the minimum wage without actually impacting the life of a single family earning it. Mr. Speaker. why must we make this debate about an estate tax that the country cannot afford. one which would benefit 7.500 families nationwide? Only 7.500 families. What we want and what we need is an economy that produces a rising living standard for most American families. and right now. with rising interest rates. high gas prices. skyrocketing health care costs and a slowing housing market. it makes no sense whatsoever for the Congress to tether a modest increase in the minimum wage to billions of dollars in an estate tax cut for those who do not need them. ","speaker_name":"ROSA DELAURO","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1901,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090165656,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Let us have a little straight talk. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle are tying the minimumwage to all these special tax breaks and tax breaks for Paris Hilton absolutely. They are doing this for one reason. because they know it will be dead on arrival in the Senate. That is cynical. and this is pol: itics at its worst. Mr. Speaker. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York . the distinguished ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee.","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":518,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090165681,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Because this will force some fixed costs up in small business and you cant just throw it on them without some people losing their jobs. and this is a fair and responsible way to do it. I know why you are so mad and why you say things you dont really mean. because you have seen us really outfox you on this issue tonight. That is what we are doing today. is bringing a very crafty. smart. goodforAmerica. goodfortheeconomy package and still allow the minimum wage to go up. I hope it passes this body. the other body. because it is going to be good for America in the aggregate. not indiVidual pieces. Right now would be an excellent time to actually .put this package forward together. and I believe the country will be much better off. I am proudof this majority that we figured out the best way to do this and do it right now. It is an excellent time. I thank our leadership for bringing this to the floor tonight. And it is not in the middle of the night. As a matter of fact. it is broad daylight here in Washington. and it is going to be that way through this entire debate across most of America.","speaker_name":"ZACH WAMP","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2826,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090165683,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"With all due respect to my good friend from the State of Washington. what I said was because your bill intends to take away the tip credit provisions. you are going to cut the minimum wage for thousands and thousands and thousands of Washington employees who are minimum wage who. because of the tip credit provision. you are going to cut it $1.75 an hour immediately upon effect. And that is wrong.","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":399,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090165706,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And the time line in doing that will save many em-. ployees from what would have been a certain failure to have pensions if we did not act before we adjourned for our summer district work period. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM THOMAS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2270,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090165710,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I say. which says that the proposal delays the effective action on funding and benefit limitation rules for defense contractors. Those who are ripping us off in Iraq by the billions are not being brought under this bill. This provision was not in the House nor was it in the Senate version of the bill. If the funding and limitation rules are so good for everyone. which is what the majority contends. why arent they good enough for Halliburton? Of course. I know Halliburton is a friend of the Vice President. Perhaps we need CSI to come in here to uncover how this bill got put together. but we know enough to oppose the bill. This proposal continues to promote the philosophy of conservatives. which is that people are better off alone. You are on your own. folks. We are going to give you a 401(k). and good luck. no defined benefits anymore. This is to end pensions as we have known them.","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1769,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090165712,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"H.R. 4 requires employers to fund 100 percent of their liabilities. The bill also requires employers to make up contributions faster than the 30 years under current law. More importantly. the Pension Protection Act lives up to its name by not allowing companies to make promises to their workers they cannot hope to fulfill. If pension plans are critically underfunded. executives will no longer be able to commit new pension benefits to workers under the false premise that they have the money to make good on those faulty assurances. In Michigan. the auto industry is critical to our States economy. I want to thank Chairman THOMAS and Mr. Leader BOEHNER for their leadership. ensuring Michigans manufacturers continue to operate robust pension plans. I am particularly pleased H.R. 4 has the support of United Auto Makers and the United Automobile Workers. I worked hard to ensure the auto sector and its workers are not subject to unfair. unrealistic rules that would unnecessarily penalize this critical sector of the American economy. H.R. 4 also provides relief to the struggling airline industry. ","speaker_name":"DAVE CAMP","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2579,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090165746,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman very much. Mr. Speaker. of necessity. this bill. H.R. 4. governing pension rules is very complex. A detailed. plainEnglish explanation is available from the Joint Committee on Taxation and will be a key resource in understanding the intent underlying the bills provisions and. therefore. obviously of the legislative intent behind the bill.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM THOMAS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":362,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090165748,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Thank you. Mr. Chairman. for that time. I normally dont do this. but I rise in opposition to this pension bill on which I am a conferee. The original House pension bill had no specific industry relief. In the House bill we did not pick winners and losers. However. the Senate bill did 8ontain specific airline industry relief. The four legacy carriers that maintain pension plans were all treated the same. Within that industry. there was no picking winners and losers. Yet this bill that we are debating chooses to favor two bankrupt airlines. ","speaker_name":"SAM JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2221,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090165758,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This is a very complex issue. and we have worked on this bill for a considerable amount of time in the Committee on Education and the Workforce. of which I am a member. I am puzzled. because there is a little confusion on the floor tonight about the airlines issue. and I hope I can help to clarify that. The impression that has been given. and I have heard it in other discussions and not just in this debate. that there is one plan here for Northwest and Delta and a different plan here for Continental and American Airlines. That is simply not true. There are two plans. but it does not specify which airlines. Any of the airlines can pick one of the two plans. It is an open choice. One plan is for an airline which chooses to freeze their pensions. In that case. they will pay what they owe to the PBGC at a certain rate of interest over a certain period of time. In the other plan. airlines do not have to freeze their pensions and they pay their obligation to the PBGC at a certain rate over a certain amount of time. ","speaker_name":"VERNON EHLERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2098,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090165762,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It prohibits employers and union leaders from digging the hole even deeper by promising extra benefits when their plans are severely underfunded. The bill enhances disclosure to give workers and retirees more information about the condition of their own pension fund that they pre a member of. It protects taxpayers from a multibillion dollar bailout of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. It better protects multiemployer pensioa plans for both workers and the employers who fund them. And it gives access to critical investment advice for those who have 401(K) plans and IRAs. I want to also mention the last issue. the fact that one of the issues I have worked on for these 7 years and never given up onis trying to get critical investment advice into those who have selfdirected plans. My colleague from Massachusetts sits over there with a smile on his face because we worked on this together. although he disagrees with me. He is still my friend. But helping those who have to make decisions in their 401(k) plan or their IRA is critically important if we want to help them get the type of retirement security that they want for themselves. We all know that many of these plans are underfunded. ","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7147,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090165767,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Northwest Airlines has said it will have to terminate its pension plan and turn it over to the Federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. Thats a bad outcome for everyone. Its a bad outcome for Northwest employees. because many of them will not receive their full earned pensions if that happens. Its a bad outcome for taxpayers. because we will assume Northwests debt. even though the company is eager to pay it. given time. The bill also includes longoverdue reforms to multiemployer pension plan law. These longoverdue reforms will allow multiemployer pension plans to address what for some plans is a shortterm funding crisis. and will give all plans flexibility they didnt have before to advance fund and guard against a future crisis. Republican leaders unfairly dropped multiemployer pension plan reform from the pension reform bill that addressed similar problems for singleemployer plans several years ago. This final bill also represents a substantial improvement over the original proposal put forth by the Bush administration. and the bills that passed the House and Senate. Under the improved bill: Companies will be spared the extreme funding unpredictability proposed by the Bush administration. which advocated forcing companies to respond to every shortterm fluctuation in interest rates and workforce composition. without any \"smoothing\" of interest rates at all. A provision which would have unfairly classified pension plans as \"at risk\" and subject to penalty if the company had a poor credit rating. even if the plan itself was wellfunded. has been removed. ","speaker_name":"SANDER LEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5808,"word_count":247}
{"speech_id":1090165811,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Vote against this bill.","speaker_name":"ROBERT ANDREWS","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1278,"word_count":4}
{"speech_id":1090165826,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I reclaim my time. For 10 years. Democrats have tried to increase the minimum wage and Republicans have blocked it. Yet during the 10 years with no minimum wage increase. Congress. under Republican leadership. has increased its own pay six times. The CEO of ExxonMobil is paid more than $17.000 an hour while a minimumwage worker who fills her tank with ExxonMobil gas earns less than $11.000 a year. Yet this bill puts first millions of dollars in tax cuts for the ExxonMobil CEO. Tonight it is clear why we need a change. That change is only a months away.","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":558,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090165830,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"HAYWORTH? I will yield to you. If you think that is wrong. you can walk up to your staff member and she will tell you that you are cutting restaurant workers $1.78 in the State of Washington. If you disagree with that. I will show you page 181 of your bill.","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2555,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090165837,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is good legislation. And if you care about lowincome workers. particularly those who are on welfare. and you want to encourage them to get a job. you should vote for this legislation because we extend the work opportunity tax credit. We extend the welfare to work tax credit. This past year almost half a million American citizens had the opportunity to leave welfare and go to work. This legislation deserves bipartisan support.","speaker_name":"GERALD WELLER","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1956,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090165838,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You could not find time to deal with their problems of Working all year long and ending up with $10.700 and being in poverty. You could not find time for them when the price of gasoline went up and the price of rent went up and the price of education went up and the price of milk went up. You could not find time then. But all of a sudden. you can find time now. but only. only if you can stick it in with relief for the richest people in America. relief that you know will not happen in this legislation. And once again. these people will be denied. They will be denied at the hands of the Republican leadership that has been hostile to the minimum wage from the moment they came to this House of Representatives. They had never had any intention of supporting it. they had never voted for it. and it will not happen again. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"GEORGE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3998,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090165849,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it is interesting to hear the level of Orwellian \"newspeak\" emanating from our friends on the left. We are now told that a reasonable. rational compromise that includes many commonsense ideas is somehow legislative extortion. We hear that a compromise that provides an increase in the minimum wage is paired with other policy initiatives that somehow make it a poison pill. Isnt it interesting the lexicon offered by the left? If it is a compromise forged by conservatives that somehow actually. ironically delivers on an issue for which my friends on the left believe they have ownership. why. that is a poison pill. Oh. and conveniently omitted when we hear the bold relief. including the impugning of our motives for moving forward on this. conveniently omitted. are the policy initiatives championed in bipartisan fashion: the work opportunity tax credit. the earned income tax credit. those extenders that are part of this that actually help those working to get ahead. It is a very interesting occurrence we see here tonight. \"Curiouser and curiouser.\" said Alice. It is not Wonderland. and this legislation may not be perfect. but it is not the glum. dour air of apocalyptic fate that the left would portray it as. It is a positive move. raising the minimum wage. extending tax relief. and revising tax policy.","speaker_name":"JOHN HAYWORTH","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1330,"word_count":221}
{"speech_id":1090165870,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I really would like to travel with some of you folks to restaurants and hotels and watch you go back and find someone who is getting the minimum wage and make that pitch to them. Because what they are going to say is. gee. youare right. I am glad you voted against increasing the minimum wage so I could get a few more bucks. I understand doing it here on the floor. I understand doing it in those expensive fundraisers that you hold. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM THOMAS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":682,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090165872,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the distinguished chairman dares me to go back and tell my people. I am going to say. the Republicans will not give you the minimum wage increase unless we give $800 billion to the superrich. They will say. dont do it. STEVE. We will throw the Republicans out in November and get an increase in the minimum wage without them.","speaker_name":"STEVEN ROTHMAN","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":338,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090165881,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. I have introduced legislation. the Sunlight Rule (H. Res. 709). to prevent situations like the one currently confronting Members. The Sunlight Rule prohibits any piece of legislation. including conference reports. from being brought before the House of Representatives unless it has been available to Members and staff in both print and electronic versions for at least 10 days. H. Res. 709 also requires that conference reports and managers amendments that make substantive changes to a bill must be available in both printed and electronic forms at least 72 hours before a vote. The announced purpose of this bill is to raise living standards for all Americans. This is certainly an admirable goal. however. to believe that Congress can raise the standard of living for working Americans by simply forcing employers to pay their employees a higher wage is equivalent to claiming that Congress can repeal gravity by passing a law saying humans shall have the ability to fly. Economic principles dictate that when government imposes a minimum wage rate above the market wage rate. it creates a surplus \"wedge\" between the supply of labor and the demand for labor. leading to an increase in unemployment. Employers cannot simply begin paying more to workers whose marginal productivity does not meet or exceed the lawimposed wage. ","speaker_name":"RONALD PAUL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5118,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090165885,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"While it is unfortunate that the majority leadership has not seen fit to bring legislation to the floor that neither the American people nor most of my colleagues have had a chance to review. it is downright insulting that the legislation on the floor today was written knowing that it will never pass out of the Senate. This bill is dead on arrival in the Senate. For the last twoyears. the Democrats have fought to increase the minimum wage. The effect of the last minimum wage increase in 199697 has been completely eroded by inflation. which. when factored in. the $5.15 minimum wage today is lower than the $4.25 minimum wage level before the 199697 increase. At the same time fuel prices have continued to skyrocket. housing prices are soaring and health care continues to be out of reach for those whose jobs do not provide it for them. If the Democrat minimum wage initiative would come to the floor. an estimated 14.9 million workers would receive an increase in their hourly wage rate if the Democrat minimum wage were raised. Over half a million of these workers reside in my home State of California. But this Republican bill does not provide the minimum wage increase American workers need. It delays the increase and nullifies wage protections for tipped workers. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JUANITA MILLENDER-MCDONALD","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":37.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2450,"word_count":221}
{"speech_id":1090165900,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman from California. For those who have been listening to this debate. you would notice that the Republicans have never talked about one part of this bill. I heard the distinguished chairman of the committee go through all of the things that he requested a \"yes\" for. and he never mentioned the giveaway for the rich in the estate tax repeal. Everything that he talked about dealt with helping the poor folks get an increase in minimum wage. Well. that is the motion to recommit. I think he mentioned something. other people did. about helping the poor coal miners. That is here. I know he talked about the carefully skilled extension. the tax bills that expire. the extenders for that. and that is in it. And so since he didnt mention the estate -tax repeal. a motion to recommit takes it away. And so we can all start reading from the same page and say this i.s like the ThomasRangel bill: it takes care of the poor that are working. the 6 million workers that deserve a pay increase. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES RANGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1993,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090166103,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":14,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Look at our economy. The majoritys reckless fiscal policies have created a $9 trillion debt. placing a birth tax on our children and our childrens children. In recent years. the poor have gotten poorer and the rich have gotten richer. and the middle class have been squeezed. What is the response of the Republicans? Repeal the estate taxhundreds of billions of dollars to go to a small group of Americans. a very small group of Americans. a country with 300 million people. This repeal of the estate tax may affect 10.000 peopleless than twotenths of 1 percent of the American people. Look how divided America has become. The majoritys focus on issues such as marriage and flag desecration has divided our country and distracted this body from more pressing concerns. problems in health care. ignoring global warming. energy and gas prices. I appreciate the distinguished majority leader saying he believes we should move to energy independenceand we certainly should. I support this drilling bill. President Clinton supported it. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11606,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090166107,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I say to my friend. the distinguished minority whip. the time we have spent on this Senate floor dealing with estate tax. think what we could have done in energy. health care. education. the debt. but they are spending it on this massive debt increase. Hundreds of billions of dollars we will increase the debtthis years deficitthe debt over the next 10 years. I have never seen anything like it.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":396,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090166109,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This increases the national debt by hundreds of billions of dollars. I ask my friends on the other side of the aisle. how could you let this happen? I say that. I plead: How can you let this happen? We will try to stop it. We would like a little help. How can you let this happen? I am really troubled. I cannot understand how they would even have the audacity to bring this up: a $2.10 increase over 2 or 3 yearsit is not all at onceand a massive. immediate cessation of the richest of the rich having to pay basically any taxes on their estates.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":547,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090166130,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I maintain another traditionthe tradition of other Florida Senators. Connie Mack. Bob Graham. others who have fought over time to protect Floridas treasures from those who dont share our values. I am proud to be part of that tradition. I am firmly committed to this tradition. And in that tradition. I have worked very hard onand I am proud to saywhat I believe has been a good compromise for our State. along with Senator NELSON and members of the Florida delegation in the House of Representatives. who have worked diligently as well to protect their areas of Florida. protect the State and at the same time understanding the great pressures we are under and the battle that has gotten fiercer and fiercer as demand has increased for ever more production of gas and oil. As the prices at the pump continue to go up. as prices drive businesses abroad and overseas because of the high cost of natural gas. that pressure has been ever increasing. What I want to do today. in hoping that the people across the State and also across our Nation understand. is say that this bill puts the control of the future of our State in our hands. As the map here shows. it provides a tremendous zone of protection for the State of Louisiana125 miles south of Pensacola and the panhandle. but almost 320 some miles from Naples and 237 miles from Tampa. ","speaker_name":"MEL MARTINEZ","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9171,"word_count":238}
{"speech_id":1090166139,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. when the matter of the pending Gulf of Mexico Energy Bill was first brought to my attention. and every day thereafter. I repeatedly spoke to the distinguished managers of this legislation about the need for States other than those specifically cared for in this legislationnamely. the Gulf Statesthe other coastal States to be permitted to amend this bill such that coastal States could begin the long process of asserting our rights as coastal States to those energy resources that. in all probability. are on the Outer Continental Shelf. Therefore. I readied an amendment that I send to the desk. and I ask unanimous consent that it be printed in the RECORD following my statement.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":698,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090166141,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We must also be aware of the virtually exponential growth and demand in the developing nations. all competing in the world market for this fungible good named \"energy.\" Chinas energy consumption has grown by over 100 percent in the past 20 years. It is expected to double again in the next 20 years. Mexicos natural gas demand is expected to double by 2025. Energy consumption in India is expected to more than double in the next 20 years. We are too dependent indeed on overseas supplies. so we turn to our continental limits. Indeed. the question at hand is about the Gulf of Mexico. The bill authored by Chairman DOMENICI does increase our supplies. and I am very hopeful the Senate will act in passing this important piece of legislation. I propose to support it. I want to make clear that more must be done outside the Gulf of Mexico. With 20 percent to 25 percent of our domestic oil and gas production located in the Gulf of Mexico. we simply have to diversify our geographic supply. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9076,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090166174,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I intend to support cloture on S. 3711. the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006. and will vote for final passage. I am voting for cloture and for final passage because I believe we need to move forward to open up more areas for natural gas exploration to address the increasingly tight natural gas supply in the U.S. and its resulting high prices. but to do so in a way that protects our environment. Over the past 6 years. the tight natural gas supply and increasing costs of natural gas has had a significant impact on consumers and particularly on the U.S. manufacturing sector. which depends on natural gas as both a fuel source and a feedstock and raw material. With U.S. natural gas prices the highest in the industrialized world. many companies have made decisions to move their manufacturing operations offshore. More than 2 million manufacturing jobs have been lost to overseas operations in the last 5 years. and I believe we need to take reasonable efforts to bring down the cost of natural gas in the U.S. I agree with many of my colleagues that this compromise on offshore oil and gas exploration represents what is achievable in the Senate. and I urge the leadership on both sides to resist strongly any efforts by the House to broaden the scope of this legislation. If the bill comes back from conference with the House of Representatives without the Senate limits and environmental protections. I will not support the final product worked out by the conferees. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1572,"word_count":260}
{"speech_id":1090166180,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Two windows going out. We will see how it works. The public is going to say: Boy. it works. And then some more windows will go out later. And that is what you are talking about. Thank you so much.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1074,"word_count":40}
{"speech_id":1090166184,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would say to the chairman of the Energy Committee. I wanted to get on that committee in this session because I really do believe energy independence. energy security is the most important issue facing our country. The Senator has provided great leadership. working with a variety of different forces. and getting things done on a bipartisan basis. I agree that Senator MARTINEZ was absolutely crucial in this bipartisan effort. I would hope. though. that you recognize that while I am introducing this amendment. I know my colleague. Senator WARNER. has a different sort of amendment. trying to get to the same point. I hope I can count on you. and I hope the American people can count on you to work in a bipartisan fashion in the future. whether this year or future years. to allow the people of Virginia. if they so desire. to explore off our coasts and use this as a model in sharing revenues with the States because I think sharing of revenues with the States will be an incentive for States to help the national mission of energy independence and not allow that good energy to stay there fallow in deep water off our Outer Continental Shelves.","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1151,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090166202,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in a few minutes we will be voting on S. 3711. which is the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006. I urge all Senators to oppose cloture on this bill which is the vote that will occur at 5:30. Last week. I outlined my reasons for my strong opposition to the bill. The bill is not good energy policy and. in my view. it is even worse fiscal policy. Turning first to Energy. S. 3711 actually expands areas that are under moratorium off the coast of Florida. It also sets a precedent for imposing a new longterm congressional moratorium. The chart behind me has been referred to by many on both sides of this debate. ","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5608,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090166217,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":14,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Second. this bill will drain billions of dollars from the Federal Treasury. That is indisputable. And it does nothing to help us meet the critical goal of reducing Americas dependence on oil. As a matter of fact. this bill deepens our dependence on oil. Achieving real energy independence must be more than just a slogan. In this unbalanced bill. we admit our addiction to oil. As a matter of fact. I heard many colleagues say we need more oil. that we need this oil. But with this bill. we continue to feed this habit. I personally believe there are places in this country where you can drill off the coast. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10996,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090166218,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to oppose S. 3711. which will allow drilling in the gulf and create a new revenuesharing scheme to provide additional resources for the Gulf States. Let me first say that I am not opposed to drilling in the gulf. In fact. in 2001. I voted to open a portion of the gulf. known as lease sale 181. to drilling. That vote was a codification of the agreement between former President Clinton and the former Governor of Florida. Lawton Chiles. Yet the agreement was repudiated after President Bush came into office and reduced the amount of acreage that could be drilled in the Gulf of Mexico at the request of Floridas Governor Jeb Bush. In fact. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4809,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090166224,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Senator from New Mexico makes a critical point. The projected revenues for the LWCF stateside program under this bill are important. but they are not sufficient to keep that program. which has contributed to the improvement of 98 percent of the counties in the United States since 1964. strong and vital. And I know that all of us aim to bolster the LWCF stateside grant program. and to achieve the level of support envisioned by Congresss authorization. So we must supplement the revenues directed to LWCF under this bill with meaningful annual appropriations. I have spoken to the majority leader about this issue as well. and he has assured me that he shares my concerns. I look forward to working with him and with all of my colleagues on this issue in the years ahead.","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":777,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090166226,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I was pleased that the Senate Committee on Appropriations included $30 million for the stateside program in the fiscal year 2007 Interior and Related Agencies appropriations bill. This was a significant improvement over the Presidents budget request and the House Interior bill. both of which zeroed out stateside for the second straight year. Still. there is room for improvement. I would share the Senators interest in adding to the stateside funding in the Senate committee mark if appropriate offsets can be found. In fiscal year 2007. zero revenues will be allocated to stateside LWCF from this conservation royalty because it will take time for the new areas to be brought on line and begin producing. So we will need to appropriate funding in fiscal year 2007 to fill that gap.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":784,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090166235,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator for his support and leadership on energy issues. I believe America faces a great threat in foreign oil dependence. but more importantly. I believe in Americans ability to accomplish the impossible. I know if Congress will put forth a vision and provide the tools to accomplish that vision. Americans can break our addition to foreign oil. I yield the floor. and I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"NORM COLEMAN","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":431,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090166290,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. reserving the right to object. on behalf of several Senators on this side of the aisle. I might say the bill that was brought to the floor is a bill which is fatally flawed. It is a bill which would have allowed a parent who was guilty of a crime against his child. a parent guilty of incest. would have been allowed to file a lawsuit against someone trying to help the victim of his crimes. Fortunately. an amendment was considered and unanimously passed here which addressed this fatal flaw in this bill. There are several on this side of the aisle who are working to receive. an assurance from the Republican leader that this matter will not go forward in conference until this fatal flaw is removed in the bill. And until that agreement is reached. I believeand others do. toothat it would be a terrible injustice for us to consider a bill which would allow this circumstance to continue. And until. that agreement is reached. I object.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":955,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090166298,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We continue to address the issues important to real people right now with regard to their cost of living. to hopefully lower natural gas prices in the Senate today. to address the values -they care about when you talk about parental consent for abortion. people trying to circumvent those laws. and sexual predators. or when you talk about the infrastructure of our waterways and our waterway development. again. which promotes . economic growth. I would be hard pressed to say we are not addressing the issues that mean something to the average. hardworking taxpayer out there today.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3228,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090166315,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Does the leader share my view that one of the things we hear the most from our constituents as we go about the country is: Why cant you people in the Senate do things on a bipartisan basis? And I heard the leader indicate earlier that we obviously have bipartisan support for the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act. we have bipartisan support for the tax extenders. bipartisan support for the ininimum wage. and. yes. bipartisan support for a permanent reduction in the death tax. Why in the wrldwith bipartisan support for all of these three measures which the leader has put on the agenda for the last week before the August breakwhy in the world shouldnt we come together on a bipartisan basis and do something together that would be. overwhelmingly popular with the American people? We have seen the poll data on the death tax. Even after Americans understand it does not apply to them. they hate the tax and despise it because they think they shouldnt have to visit the IRS and the undertaker on the last day. And we are not even. as the Senator from New Hampshire pointed out. permanently repealing it. which would be our first choice but. rather. getting a permanent reduction. The minimum wage is overwhelmingly approved. and we have taken Senator KENNEDYS figures. What part of \"yes\" do our friends on the other side not understand? S6 I would just ask my friend. the majority leader. if he can think of any rationale why the Senate. any reason why the Senate should not come togetherwith bipartisan support existing for all of these measures--this week and have one of the Senates finest moments. operating on a bipartisan basis to do some series of things that are important for America?","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1698,"word_count":297}
{"speech_id":1090166324,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It has been about 10 years. As I said here yesterday. I dont know why. even though it is a flawed measure they sent us. I dont know why they have moved forward. Maybe it is because we stood up and said there will be no congressional pay raise until the minimum wage is increased or maybe it is because Oprah did a show on this last week or maybe it is a combinatidn of both.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":374,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090166326,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Of course. we should consider it. I say through the Chair to my friend from Illinois. we are in this predicament because the Republicans have put us here. We are spending an inordinate amount of -time on seeing if they can run up a debt of approximately $1 trillion to the American people to take care of 8.100 people. That is why we are here. It is not because of the minimum wage. they hate the minimum wage. You know that. I know that. It is not because of the extenders. The extenders are good for most everybody. That is why they put it on the pension bill in conference. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1303,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090166330,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wanted to correct the RECORD. I spoke inaccurately in that on the issue of paygo. there is available under paygo approximately $300 billion to cover the cost of this tax bill. In one 5year period. it may be out of compliance. but over the entire 10year period. it is clearly within compliance. I did want to make that clarification.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":349,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090166338,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":16,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have this zero rate out there at 2010. about a little over 3 years from now. that we need to fixa permanent fix. We are on the verge of doing that. We will have bipartisan support for that despite the assistant Democratic leaders arguments against it. We need to work on these things. We can and will move forward with that proposal. Also. our Democratic colleagues say they wanted the minimum wage raised. according to the Kennedy bill. and so as a compromise we proposed to do that and work that out. That is where the negotiations are going. Hopefully we will be successful in that. Mr. President. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10946,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090166347,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in response to my friend from North Dakota. I would note that the difference between the position he articulates--and it is a position a lot of people in Washington holdand the position that a lot of the rest of us hold is between those who worry a lot about how much money the Government has versus those of us who think it is a better idea to let people keep more of what they earn. that they are probably in a better position to make good judgments about how that money should be spent. and especially when it comes to their death and their loved ones who have to face the difficult choice of deciding how to pay the death tax that. unless something is done. is going to go up to effectively 60 percent. Can anybody imagine a 60percent tax rate? It is actually on the books at 55 percent. but because of the way the Code works. it can be as much as 60 percent. Can you imagine a 55percent or 60percent tax rate? You cannot pay it unless you sell the farm or sell the business. I know people to whom that has applied. So it is a difference between those who worry how much money Washington has and those of us who are concerned about people keeping more of what they earn.","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1189,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090166354,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That may not even be including the Mackenzie gas bill in Canada. The Minerals Management Service indicates the gas made available under the bill before us. if you project 50 years into the future. could be about 2 months of supply. In other words. of all the natural gas we are going to need for the next 50 years. the bill before us will provide about 2 months of supply. Over the next 15 yearsanother way of looking at itwe get about 9 days worth. And We wont get any at all until 2012. This is not going to have any significant impact on our supply. As Senator BINGAMAN noted. in order to get access to this .very modest amount of gasas I said. perhaps 5 trillion cubic feetwe are locking away 21 trillion cubic feet in the eastern gulf until 2022 by placing these areas under a 16year moratorium. What a deal for the American consumer. What a deal. We can get 5 trillion cubic feet. but in exchange for that we are going to lock away. for 16 years. up to 21 trillion cubic feet that could be made available in the eastern gulf. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10707,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090166367,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I understand that Senator SCHUMER is SUpposed to go next. So I ask unanimous consent that I may be recognized following Senator SCHUMER or. if the other side would like me to go first. I would go first. But it is my understanding the time should be charged to the other side.","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":290,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090166386,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Washington lawmakers responded by creating daylight savings -time and a national speed limit. -A new Department of Energy and a Strategic Petroleum Reserve was established. And Congress enacted Corporate Average Fuel Economyor CAFEstandards. the firstever requirements to reduce petroleum consumption in the vehicles we drive. As a result. the \"gas mileage of cars doubled from 14 miles per gallon in 1976 to 27.5 mpg for cars in 1985. Today. CAFE saves us about 3 million barrels of oil per day. making it among the most successful- energysaving measures ever adopted. But that decades worth of fuel consumption improvements ended more than 20 years ago. because CAFE standards are the same today as they were in 1985 27.5 mpg- for cars. To address this problem. I have joined with Senator LUGAR and a bipartisan coalition of senators to propose the Fuel Economy Reform Act. which we have also filed as an amendment to the OCS bill. This amendment would establish regular. continual. and incremental progress in fuel economy. but still preserve the expertise and flexibility of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administrationor NHTSAto determine howto meet those targets. Under this proposal. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8763,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090166388,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have grave concerns .aboutthe fiscal implications of the legislation. This bill will redirect billions of dollars in Federal revenues to just four States. While I agree that we have a responsibility to ensure that Federal dollars are going to important activities like protecting and restoring coastal wetlands. I do not believe that doing so requires. creation of a new entitlement for a handful of States. If enacted. S. -3711 will have massive longterm -and negative consequences. For example. in 2017. the loss to the taxpayers of the country is -estimated to be over $590 million a year. jumping to over $1.2 billion per year in 2022. Adding it all up. you get a total likely loss of over $170 billion over 60 years. I am not prepared to support .such a massive drain on the Federal Treasury for the benefit of a few States and I urge my colleagues to oppose S.3711.","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1901,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090166403,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Alabama. and modities. and even out of animal Mississippi. They have done an excel- renderings. lent job in writing this legislation to These energy sources are not buried benefit their States. So I certainly un- under miles of water or ocean floor loderstand their support for this brand of- cated miles and miles away. They are revenuesharing.. right in our agricultural States. They What I dont understand is why the are renewable every year. They are other 92 of us would agree to it. The cleaner burning than traditional fossiloffshore waters of the Gulf Coast be- based fuels and they provide additional long to all Americans. as do the Atlan- boosts to farmers in rural communities tic and Pacific Oceans. the Great around the Nation. where local econoLakes. and other national resources. mies depend upon a healthy agriculThis is a terrible precedentto allow a tural economy. They boost the market few States to benefit at the expense of prices in the marketplace for those the rest simply because of their prox- commodities. meaning they lower taximity to a national resourcenot their payer subsidies. It is a winwinwin for ownership. of it. just the proximity to all Americans. yet we are not allowed it. If Congress opens this door. watch to offer these additional kinds of incenfor the stampede of parochial claims tives and expansion of these and other for a cut of every other Federal natural energy fuels. conservation. and other resource. ways that we can truly enhance- our enAlso sadly lacking from this bill is ergy security. any kind of windfall profits tax on the For those reasons. ","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8616,"word_count":269}
{"speech_id":1090166422,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"S. 3711 continues topromote failed policies of the past. It opens 8 million acres of Floridas gulf coast waters to offshore drilling. rigs. including more than 6 million acres that are currently protected by the bipartisan moratorium on offshbre drilling that has been in place for 25 years. S. 3711 also diverts tens of billions of dollars in offshore drilling revenues from the Federal Treasury and gives the money to just four States. Furthermore. passing S. 3711 paves the way for a conference with H.R. 4761. the even more harmful House.-passed * bill that lifts the moratorium on all offshore drilling. including my home State. Massachusetts. For our coasts. our environment. and our economy. I oppose S. 3711. and instead support real solutions to our energy problems..","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1921,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090166460,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Without a doubt. some of this is goodthe CFIUS process needs to be thorough. But extreme caution. when mixed with amendments to the ExonFlorio statute proposed by S. 3549. may result in substantial bureaucratic friction and delay for the foreign investments that pose no national security risk. I am concerned that. in the postDubai Ports World environment. overburdened CFIUS agencies could be tempted to regularly seek to extend the initial 30day review to a 60day period for reasons unrelated to any issues presented by the transaction under review. This temptation could be even greater given the casebycase. detailed notifications to Congress that the bill would require CFIUS personnel to provide at every stage of regulatory proceedings. Ultimately. these delays could clog up the CFIUS process. penalize foreign- investors. and chill foreign investment. without actually contributing to improved national security. I also raised this issue during Banking Committee hearings on S. 3549. which passed the Senate last week. Chairman SHELBY pledged to work to address these concerns during markup of the legislation. I look forward to working with him to do so as the bill proceeds to conference.*","speaker_name":"JIM BUNNING","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2195,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090166461,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I recognize the accomplishments of BG James J. DAgostino. U.S. Air Force. assistant adjutant general for air and deputy commanding general. of the Rhode Island National Guard. General DAgostino is retiring on August 5. 2006. with over 38 years of active military service in war and peace. I have been pleased to know General DAgostino for many years. Brigadier General DAgostino has served in a variety of field and staff assignments. His military career began in 1967 when he enlisted in the U.S. Army. ","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5858,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090166465,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. for the Committee on Foreign Relations I report favorably the following nomination lists which were printed in the REC6RDS on the dates indicated. and ask unanimous consent. to save the expense of reprinting on the Executive Calendar that these nominations lie at the Secretarys desk for the information of Senators.","speaker_name":"RICHARD LUGAR","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":331,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090166473,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank my friend. who has led this campaign for so many .years. Landmines and -other munitions that are designed to be victimactivated are inherently indiscriminate. In that sense. they are no different from poison gas. They should be abolished and replaced with weapons that have a manintheloop who can distinguish between an enemy combatant and a civilian. The Department of Defense has this technology. It is time for the United States to adopt a policy that is consistent with the force protection needs of our troops and with the moral values of the American people. By Mr. ENSIGN (for himself.. Mr. NELSON of Florida. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":634,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090166474,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I believe that now is the time for the U.S. Government to push for a peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba. It is a travesty that more than a decade after the cold war ended. a brutal communist dictatorship is still oppressing people 90 miles from our. border. It would be an even greater travesty if the United States did not do everything in our power to ensure that after Fidel leaves powerone way or anotherCuba becomes free. Lets join together in support of the Cuban people and in support of freedom. and lets adopt this bill. We need to send a signal to all the dissidents and political prisoners in Cuba that we have no illusions about the nature of Fidel Castros regimethat we know of their plight and stand ready to help them. When -Ronald Reagan called Russia the \"evil empire.\" it brought hope to the dissidents and political prisoners in the Soviet gulags. They knew that the people and leaders of the United States were united with them. They were not alone. That is why I am introducing a bill today that authorizes assistance to the OAS for Cuba human rights activities and election reform. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2546,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090166475,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is similar to the Patient Navigator demonstration program I introduced and -which was subsequently enacted S8542- CO into law. There. we also took a successful smallscale program being used at select medical facilities around the country and expanded it by providing grants for a scaledup demonstration program to serve those with cancer and other chronic diseases. and in particular. to provide support to medically underserved populations. With the veterans navigator bill. I propose to do something similar. capitalizing on the successes of the Patient navigator concept. to help our troops. The $25 million over 5 years in -the bill would allow VSOs and other organizations to apply for grants so that they could hire and train navigators to provide assistance. on an individualized basis. to members of the Armed Forces as they transition from military service to the VA health care system. They would do so in coordination with DOD and the VA. Right now. many VSOs rely principally on donations to perform these services. At the end of the 5 years. the VA Secretary would submit a report to Congress on the effectiveness of the. veterans navigator demonstration program and to recommend whether -it should be made permanent. .X. \" Often called national service officers or counselors. a navigator is a \"sherpa.\". a guide through the maze of paper and people and specialists and benefits. A navigator is an advocate for those no longer able to go it alone. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT MENENDEZ","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12117,"word_count":241}
{"speech_id":1090166480,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I rise -with my good friend Senator ENSIGN to introduce the White Pine County Conservation. Recreation and Development. Act of 2006. This bill creates economic opportunity for the people of White Pine County. improves public land management. and protects some of Nevadas most incredible wild lands. It also makes needed changes - to the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act. The White Pine County Conservation. Recreation and Development Act is the product of many years of work. Ranchers. land managers. conservationists. offhighway vehicle advocates. tribal members. city and county officials. wilderness advocates and many others have contributed tq this effort. Meetings and tours focused on a -White Pine County land bill have been taking place for more than 5 years. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1297,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090166501,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution be agreed to. the preamble be agreed to. and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. with no intervening action or debate. and that any statements relating to the measure be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":275,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090166521,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it stand in adjournment until 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. August 2. I further ask that following the prayer and the pledge. the morning hour be deemed to have expired. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate then resume consideration of H.R. 5631. the Department of Defense appropriations bill.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":394,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090166550,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I do not know if he has any additional comments to make.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1679,"word_count":12}
{"speech_id":1090166554,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wish to join my colleague from Connecticut in commending our leader from Rhode Island for the role he has played in bringing this to our attention. The men and women of the Army and the Marines are fortunate to have the Senator looking after their interests. I thank him very much.","speaker_name":"DANIEL INOUYE","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":298,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090166558,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We agreed with him. and. as a matter of fact. the moneys we added last night were in addition to what the Senator was seeking because they cover some other activities beyond what he was talking about.","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2298,"word_count":37}
{"speech_id":1090166616,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Prime Minister Maliki has acknowledged the militia problem. but he has not articulated a clear vision for how to tackle this critical issue. It is time for the new Government to move beyond vague statements and develop a viable strategy to deal with the militias and prevent Iraq from descending into fullscale civil war. On this critical issue. we need to know the intelligence communitys assessment of the likelihood that the Government of Iraq will obtain a commitment from the political parties to ban militias. We need to know the extent to which the Government of Iraq has developed and implemented a credible plan to disarm. demobilize. and reintegrate militias into Government security forces. More broadly. we need an assessment from the intelligence community about whether Iraq is succeeding in standing up its own effective security forces and what actions are needed to increase the prospect of that occurring. The third issue is terrorism. We need an assessment from the intelligence community about the extent of the threat from violent. extremistrelated terrorism. including alQaida. in and from Iraq. and the factors the intelligence community believes will address the terrorist threat. . Iraq Prime Minister Maliki told Congress last week that in addition to the challenge of sectarian violence. his country is \"the front line\" against terrorism. Is a majority of the violence in Iraq driven by the insurgency rather than foreign terrorists? Is it still the case that less than 1 percent of the prison population in Iraq are foreign fighters? We need to knowthe current nature and the extent of the terrorism thireat. Just as important. we need the intelligence communitys assessment on what we and the Iraqis can do to counter the threat. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6549,"word_count":285}
{"speech_id":1090166631,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. it is my understanding that the Senator from Texas would like to offer an amendment. I ask unanimous consent that the pending business he set aside so that he might offer that amendment. keeping in mind we do have a vote set for 2 oclock on the pending business.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":279,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090166669,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I believe Iran and Syria. through Hezbollah. are responsible for attacking the State of Israel and should be held accountable. Accordingly. I urge the United Nations to demand the immediate halt of Hezbollahs attacks against Israel. declare Iran and Syria directly responsible for the actions of Hezbollah and demand that all support for the terrorist organization be immediately withdrawn under the threat of sanction. Iran and Syria were three of the original 51 Member States of the United Nations. agreeing to the Charter and accepting its conditions on October 24. 1945. Chapter I. Article 2. Paragraph 2 of the Charter binds \"All Members. in order to ensure to- all of them the rights and benefits resulting from membership. shall fulfill in good faith the obligations assumed by them in accordance with","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4134,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090166715,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The. Senator just reminded me. I am. the one- who suggested that we include some money forbreast cancer research. It Was languishing at the time...It was .-backlin -the 1980s..Sifie. thatitime -ithas grown to $750 million that. wagoinvolved.!PI :thlnkt was. inuth&e.iast. bill. we had. dealing with medical research that had nothing to do with the Department of Defense. With the shortage of money we have now. we are now over the budget by about $78 billion in emergency money. Dont tell me I am objecting to brain research. As I said. I have been the subject of brain research. But there is plenty of money there for it. I notice the occupant of the chain suggests maybe I need a little bit more. ","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4350,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090166737,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Congress reinstitutes royalty relief on production in the deep waters but did not require the Department of Interior to put price thresholds in new leases that include royalty relief. The 1998 and 1999 leases demonstrate that the Interior Department cant be trusted to do this on its own. and we cannot afford another $7 billion mistake. Let me explain how the amendment fixes these three problems. Lets take the 1998 and 1999 leases first. since they are the most controversial. In the context of the fiscal year 2007 Interior appropriations bill. there have been efforts to address this problem by Senator GREGG. Senator DOMENICI. and Senator FEINSTEIN. This amendment today builds on those efforts. In our approach. we try to get companies to do the right thing by giving them a choice: Keep your existing leases royalty free but be barred from bidding on new leases or renegotiate in good faith with the Federal Government and retain your- eligibility to bid on new leases in the future. The major difference in our amendment is that we provide time to renegotiate. Every company that wants to come to the table has a full year from the date of enactment of. this Act to reach agreement. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8635,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090166739,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. first of all. I thank the distinguished Senator from Arizona for working with me on this issue. for many months now. Colleagues know that I stood in this spot .for almost 5 hours a few months ago to try to put together a bipartisan effort to save taxpayers billions of dollars. I believe we have done that. I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the RECORD the official score that Senator KYL and I have now received from the Congressional Budget Office. which the Congressional Budget Office has now officially informed us that over the next 10 years. the taxpayers will save $9 billion.","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":607,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090166741,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"President. the vEL State or of the District of Columbia or managers of the bill are prepared to ac- up t territory thereof. ..\" cept this amendment and ask that it be of d Secondly. the oil companies have ar- accepted on a voice vote. ing gued that the amendment will hurt oil The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there Sys and gas production. further debate on the amendment?. If for In fact. the amendment will not im- not. the question is on agreeing to the else pact the daily production of more than amendment. as modified. offs 1.5 million barrels of oil and 10 billion The amendment (No. 4776). as modi- (Po cubic feet of natural gas from the Gulf fied. was agreed to. D of Mexico. Mr. STEVENS. I move to reconsider Oil companies are also free to explore the vote. ar and drill in the more than 4.000 un- Mr. INOUYE. I move to lay that mo- or tapped leases in the Gulf of Mexico tion on the table. Al that have already been leased to them. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7633,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090166751,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is the only reason I raise this today. This burden also falls on some authorization committees and others that really need","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1559,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090166752,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. before the Senator leaves. I am sure Senator INOUYE is telling him the same thing. We. will instruct our staff to start the process of establishing a series of hearings to investigate this fraud that he has brought to our attention. The Senator is a member of our committee. and we will be pleased to work with him on it. If it gets to the point where we need a commission per se to be outside of the Congress to7do this investigating. we can look Into that. too. I think we should start the process of investigating into these repeated reports we have had about fraud and corruption in connection with Government contracting. particularly that related to our war effort. I thank the Senator for his work.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":720,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090166761,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There must be some way to put some controls over the way this money. is spent. I am appalled when I hear of some of the things the money is spent for in a redundant fashion which ends up not achieving the goals. but still have to spend the money after the goals are not achieved. It is difficult for us right now to get our hands on the way thig *war has been costed out and the way the money has been spent. I dont think it is a political question. I dont think it is a matter of pol-","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2456,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090166782,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr.. President. the Dodd -amendment raises an interesting issue of availability of additional money if needed. It in effect is reprogramming authority granted in advance to move money to meet necessity. if it occurs. On that basis. I think I would be willing to support it. but I think the Senate as a whole ought to vote. Mr. President. I suggest. that we agree on a time to commence this rollcall vote. Can we say it occur at 10 minutes after 5? Is that agreeable with Senator INOUYE?","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":486,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090166790,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask to rescind theprevious order regarding the vote that is scheduled. and I now ask consent that at 5:15 today. the Senate proceed to a vote in relation to the DOD amendment No. 4819. with no amendments in order to the amendment prior to the vote. further. that the Senate then vote in relation to the Durbin amendment No. 4781. with no amendments in order to the amendment prior to the vote. and there be 4 minutes for debate equally divided between the votes.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":479,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090166852,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"While some shortfalls remain in the bill. it is important to note that it provides an additional $340 million for National Guard and Reserve equipment above the Presidents request. The bill also. provides $735 million for body armor and personal protection equipment. as well as $1.5 billion for the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization. Furthermore. I am pleased that the bill reported out by the Senate Appropriations Committee provides funding for a number of important South Dakota projects. Due to my seat on the Appropriations Committee. the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology received funding to develop a number of important defense related projects. Researchers at the school will receive over $3.3 million to establish and staff a nationally competitive polymer and composites processing laboratory in South Dakota. they will work to develop new transparent armor for the Armys Future Combat Systemsl and the school will develop a control system for: laser povder deposition. The South Dakota School of Mines and Technology is not the only organization conducting critical defenserelated research in South Dakota. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe will receive $5 million to continue their efforts to establish the Advanced Electronics Rosebud Integration Center. The center will research. develop. test. and demonstrate advanced electronics integration and fabrication technology on the Rosebud Sioux Tribe reservation in South Dakota. In addition. funding was. provided to RPM & Associates to facilitate their efforts to use LENS technology for aerospace applications. ","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4743,"word_count":239}
{"speech_id":1090166859,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We know there are huge reserves of oil and natural gas that will lower the cost of gasoline and make it easier for our businesses to compete in* this country. That is something we passed despite Democrat obstruction. On Friday this week we will take up one of the most important bills of the year. This gets at the recent calls for prosperity that. the American people are asking for.. We call it the Family Prosperity Act. I call. it. raise your standard of living and lower the cost of death. This bill includes a number of things. It increases the minimum wage but. more importantly. it provides a number of research and development tax credits. tax credits for welfare to work. a lot of tax incentives to expand our economy. increase jobs and help everyone increase their income in this country. not through a Federal mandate but by just letting businesses and individuals keep more of their own money and reinvesting in our economy. That is the way to help increase income. This bill includes all of that. ","speaker_name":"JIM DEMINT","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10098,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090166874,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"From Sept. 30. 1999 to Sept. 30. 2004 (the end of the fiscal year). the caseload in the New Mexico federal district court increased 57.5 percent. from 2.804 to 4.416. In the 2004 fiscal year alone. 2.126 felony cases were heard. almost half of all cases in the entire 10th Circuit. which.includes Colorado. Kansas. Oklahoma. Utahand Wyoming. Most typical immigration cases go before an immigration judge. and the subjects are deported. But people deported once and caught crossing illegally again can be charged with a felony. And that brings the defendant into federal district court. Those are the cases driving up New Mexicos caseload ... Some days as many as 90 defendants crowd the courtroom in Las -Cruces ... ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6033,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090166878,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Thirtyseven percent did not fill a prescription because of cost. The uninsured are seven times more likely to seek care in an emergency room. They are less likely to receive preventative care because they cannot afford to see the doctor. and they are more likely to die as a result. Each year. at least 18.000 people die prematurely in this country because of uninsurance. If the uninsured S86I6 August 2 .p06","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2721,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090166896,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural. Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on August 2. 2006. at 11:30 a.m.. to purpose of this meeting is to consider the nominations of John Ray Correll. Mark Myers. and Drue Pearce.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":287,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090166908,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Cornmittee on Indian Affairs be authorized to meet on Wednesday. August 2. 2006. at 9:30 a.m. in Room 485 of the Russell Senate Office Building to conduct a business meeting on S. 374. -the. Tribal Parity Act. S. 480. the Thomasina E. Jordan- Indian Tribes of Virginia Federal Recognition Act of 2005. S. 660. the Lumbee Recognition Act. S. 1439. the Indian Trust Reform Act of 2005. and S. 1535. the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Equitable Compensation Amendments Act of 2005.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":522,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090166910,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"DC. Rear Admiral Bruce MacDonald. Judge Advocate General. United States Navy. Washington. DC. Major General Jack Rives. the Judge Advocate General. United States Air Force. Washingtoxl.. .]C. -and. Brigadier General Kevin- M. \u00a7andkuhler. ","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":907,"word_count":33}
{"speech_id":1090166942,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar Nos. 566. 568 through 575. all postal naming bills. en bloc. that the bills be read a third time and passed. and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table. en bloc.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":277,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090166974,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let me go to the Child Custody Protection Act. This is a bill that earlier this week I asked unanimous consent to go to conference on. a bill we passed last week with strong bipartisan support. 65 to 34. The assistant Democratic leader objected to this request on the grounds that he wanted assurance that language offered in an amendment by Senator BOXER would be retained. He was referring to the only amendment that the Senate agreed to on that bill. This amendment clarifies that a father who victimized his daughter by incest would not be able to transport her across State lines for an abortion or to sue anyone who did. This amendment offered by Senator BOXER and cosponsored by Senator FEINSTEIN passed the Senate 98 to 0. I obviously voted for it. It improved the bill. I fully support the amendment. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1695,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090166975,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If that does not work. there are procedural methods that can be taken. The bill passed by 70 votes or even more. far more than enough to overcome any procedural hurdles anyone could stand in the way of. Steps just have to be initiated. As a result of that. on behalf of Senator BOXER and others. I object.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1059,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090166989,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. I have another managers package that has been prepared and has the approval of Senator INOUYE and myself. Let me state it for the Senate. It contains amendment No. 4777. for Senator SMITH. regarding landing systems. amendment No. 4821. for Senator LANDRIEU. regarding firstaid kits. amendment No. 4789. for Senator STABENOW. regarding Stryker combat vehicles. amendment No. 4837. for Senator BENNETT. regarding allterrain vehicles. amendment No. 4823. for Senator DURBIN. regarding the training of military nurse educators. and amendment No. 4838. for Senator MCCAIN. regarding grants. These have been cleared by both managers. I send this managers package to the desk and ask unanimous consent that it be considered immediately. the amendments be adopted immediately. and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":838,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090167020,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. we spent some time last evening with the Parliamentarian on it. We believe we have a defense of germaneness based on what the content of the House bill is and that we would stand by the idea that this is already relating to and attached to requirements from the House bill. We do not believe it violates rule XVI. I ask for a ruling from the chair.","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":365,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090167033,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Senator has the floor. I will not object now. but we are trying to get the votes put together so we can start at 11 oclock for the convenience of the Senate because committee meetings are going to take place. I will not object now. To any further interruption. I will object.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":279,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090167035,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This letter says that absolutely the Fair Labor Standards Act prohibits employers from paying less than the current minimum wage. That is to be taken into consideration in terms of what the Senate is doing with the minimum wage tip credit provision. The letter from the Department of Labor is very clear. If my colleagues have any question. this is now part of the RECORD. I have asked that it be printed in the RECORD. It lays it out very clearly. Again. the letter states that if the tip credit becomes law. the Labor Department reads it \"as protecting the current minimum wages of the tipped employees in the seven States that now exclude a tipped employees tips from being considered as wages because to do otherwise would be inconsistent with what we understand to be the intent of Congress and the Fair Labor Standards Act.\" In my State. the minimum wage is $6.15. Our employee wages are not going to be decreased if this tip provision comes in. If there is an increase above that. then of that amount of the increase. you could use tip credits to compensate for that. with no decrease in the minimum wage. This is nothing more than an effort by my colleagues on the other side to steal defeat from the jaws of victory as we move to the opportunity to pass an increase in the Federal minimum wage. ","speaker_name":"NORM COLEMAN","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1387,"word_count":236}
{"speech_id":1090167051,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This large quantity in the Defense Departmentplus many of the other agenciesis not even being reported or looked at. There is $1.6 billion in food stamps. I could go on and on. The fact is. when we are running a deficit such as we are and we are borrowing the money from our grandkids. we ought to do every small thing we can to improve the stewardship of that money. The DOD is reporting improper payment information for only three programs--the military retirement fund. military health benefits and. for the first time this year. military pay. There are significant other improper payments within the Pentagon. We know it and we are going after it and we are going to try to solve it. The Improper Payments Act doesnt exempt this agency from its requirements. No agency is exempt. What it says is: Perform a risk assessment. develop a statistically valid assessment of improper payments. develop corrective action. and report the results. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4399,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090167085,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The fact is we are loading to the tune of billions of dollars a year projects Members of Congress want but the Defense Department doesnt want that interfere with their mission rather than help their mission. An analysis of the usefulness of each earmark in advancing the goals of the Department of Defense is the purpose of this amendment. This will provide Members of Congress a more complete view of the costeffectiveness of the earmarks and whether they continue to warrant additional funding. The annual earmark report will ensure that policymakers and the public are fully aware of the impact of unnecessary earmarks on the budget of the Department of Defense and siphon away from military preparedness and our national defense. The grading system will likewise provide needed information to the appropriators about projects that are inserted in the bills that have not had proper oversight. debate. or discussion. This added transparency will ensure that every Member of Congress can cast a truly informed vote and ensure greater accountability for how Federal funds are allocated and spent. This is at the heart of the confidence of the American people with Congress. Do we earmark something because it is the best thing for the country to do. is it the best longterm choice. or do we earmark something because it helps us individually? I would say there isnt one State in this country that can be healthy if this country isnt healthy. There cant be one community that can end up healthy if the country isnt healthy economically. None of us can be free unless we are all free. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6187,"word_count":268}
{"speech_id":1090167094,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this is a real straightforward amendment. The Defense Department spends more on conferences than all the other programs combined. It has grown significantly in the last 5 years. Every dollar that is spent on a conference in Las Vegas. the Presiding Officers home. or in Hawaii or south Florida is a dollar that doesnt go to our troops. We are not saying eliminate the needed conferences. We are saying do some sacrifice when it comes to conferences so we have money to fund our troops appropriately. Be wise. use digital video conferencing where you can. and make some sacrifice within the ease of travel and conference fun and fair for our troops. It is $70 million a year. Less than 5 years ago it was $58 million. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":854,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090167112,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the only problem with that is I think the Senate ought to have a rollcall vote on whether improper payments which have been made by the Department of Defense ought to be held in conference. I would like to have a recorded vote to empower the chairman of the committee to hold this in conference. All this says is. lets look at improper payments of the Department of Defense. They make more improper payments than anywhere in the Government. They only look at three areas out of all the areas. The law says they should report improper payments. That is all I am asking for. Lets make them report the improper payments under the Improper Payments Act of 2002 which says they should.","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":695,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090167118,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Donald Rumsfeld. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. General Peter Pace. and General John Abizaid. Commander. United States Central Command. My vote would not have affected the outcome of this amendment.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":772,"word_count":32}
{"speech_id":1090167127,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I will be brief on amendment No. 4827. This is an amendment that the distinguished senior Senator from Missouri and I filed yesterday. It guarantees that $2.4 billion of the $13 billion included in the managers package on Tuesday for the Army and Marine Corps be allocated for National Guard equipment. It does not add any money. It ensures that the promises that have already been made to the Guard about funding will be fulfilled and. also. of course. make sure we have a much needed infusion of equipment to the National Guard. It follows an amendment that Senator BOND and I introduced last September to the Fiscal Year 2006 Defense Appropriations. in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. We realized. with the significant shortfalls in equipment available to the Guard at home for use in such natural disasters or other domestic emergencies. if. God forbid. we had another such tragedy. the Guard would not have had enough trucks. tractors. and communication gear across the country to adequately respond. The problem thenand still isthat much of their equipment has been left in Iraq. where the National Guard has been indispensable. Since the start of the war in Iraq. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3696,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090167131,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The bad news was that one out of the three battalions that we had took the only equipment we had. We did not have equipment for a second battalion that could have been very. very well used by our Guard in assisting the recovery mission in Louisiana or Mississippi or Texas or other areas. That is why it is so important to make sure we are fully equipped. More than 200.000 Guard troops have left their homes. their jobs. and their families to participate in the war on terror in Afghanistan and Iraq and other missions since 9\/11. The National Guard has provided as much as half of the combat force and 40 percent of the total force in Iraq. They are performing their duties with honor and valor. often at great cost to their families and their own lives. The Guard also helps local responders deal with overwhelming natural disasters here at home such as hurricanes. tornados. and floods. The modified amendment will provide an additional $2.4 billion for National Guard and Army Reserve needs on top of the funds already provided in the bill under title III and title IX. Lieutenant General Blum in a recent interview had this to say about National Guard readiness: I am further behind or in an even more dire situation than the active Army. but we both have the same symptoms. I just have a higher fever. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8703,"word_count":235}
{"speech_id":1090167158,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I have conferred with our cochairman. Senator INOUYE. This is our intention. We do appreciate the Senators desire to work cooperatively on this issue. and we intend to follow through and see to it we get the information he seeks and have further dialog on it when we do.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":285,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090167164,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Savers Credit is going to be made permanent. That is probably the most that can be done for lowincome individuals. The bill helps protect our airline workers pensions. It give workers timely and accurate information on pension plan finances. It protects workers and businesses in multiemployer pensions. It protects older workers early retirement benefits from erosion. That is important. It gives workers access to unbiased investment advice. It adopts postEnron worker pension protections. It penalizes corporate executives who line their pockets when workers pensions suffer. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12213,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090167232,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. there is a lot of news south of Florida. 90 miles from Key West. We dont know the condition of Fidel Castro. Clearly. there is obviously a major medical problem and. for days now. Raoul Castro. his brother. has been invisible. Even though the Cuban Government released information which said President Castro had ended up going in for intestinal surgery. basically. we just dont know. But what we do know is he is 79. going on 80. and we do know that none of us are immortal and. therefore. what we know is that there are a limited number of days of this totalitarian regime. and then there is going to be a transition to something else. Mr. President. I call up amendment No. 4853.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":697,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090167236,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. now is the time that if the United States were to supply some direct financial assistance to dissidents. it could start to have a salutary and immediate effect on what is happening on the island. Clearly there is going to be a transition. we just dont know when that transition is going to come. What we hope is it is going to be a transition ultimately to a democratic government. The news this week marks an opportunity that we have been anticipating for decades. We can only hope that it is a real opportunity for the Cuban people to move forward. leaving behind a dictatorship and the repression they have experienced for a half century. But we must remind ourselves that the true celebration is going to come on the day that the Cuban people have a democratically elected government of their own choosing. While it seems that we are one step closer toward our shared goal. we should remind ourselves of the need to continue our support for the true Cuban heroes: the brave dissidents who struggle every day to demand and to plead for the very basic human rights. including the ability to read what they want to read. to say what they want to say. to live where they want to live. and to study what they want to studythings that we take for granted in this country. but where. only 90 miles from Key West. people do not have those freedoms. These heroes in Cuba dont win medals. They are not honored in ceremonies. ","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6452,"word_count":260}
{"speech_id":1090167275,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. for the information of Senators. after the vote on this amendment. Senator SESSIONS will offer his amendment which deals with the conventional Trident modification. a very serious amendment. I ask unanimous consent that the vote on this amendment be limited to 10 minutes. I say to the Senate this amendment is on the Defense authorization bill. I urged the Senator to accept a voice vote. but the Senator requested a vote. So I request a vote now.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":463,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090167281,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"For that reason. I would like to include two letters with my statement. The first letter is by the U.S. Department of Labor and the second letter is from the National Restaurant Association. We are all saying the same thing. notwithstanding the efforts of others to try to defeat this compromise bill by distorting what the tip credit means. The U.S. Department of Labors Director of Wage and Hour Division has written to the majority leader stating the following: The Wage and Hour Division would read Section 402 as protecting the current minimum wages of the tipped employees in the seven States that now exclude a tipped employees tips from being considered as wages because to do otherwise would be inconsistent with what we understand to be the intent of Congress and the Fair Labor Standards Act. which the Wage and Hour Division enforces. If a Republican administration is saying we will not reduce anyones wages. I dont believe a Democratic administration would. A Republican House of Representatives has applied the same interpretation to the tip credit provision. and I believe a vast majority of the Senate would agree with the Houses interpretation. ","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5872,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090167303,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Second. the demand for a prompt strike capability is not well supported by the timeliness of our intelligence or its decisionmaking processes. It takes time to validate intelligence information. and the decision to strike takes time. It should be carefully analyzed before making that decision. This capability would offer the opportunity for risky. even reckless strikes. rather than deliberate. clearly thoughtout action. Congress needs to thoroughly understand the implications and uses of the concept of prompt global strike. My third concern with CTM is my preference to do more with our forwarddeployed conventional strike assets which may be called back and under positive control under the combatant commanders until final commitment. Our committee recommended the Defense Department look again at how and where our conventional strike forces should be deployed to develop a more responsive means to meet the need for a faster strike capability. The facts are that Congress does not have sufficient information to make a decision on a conventional Trident missile today. This missile is not something that is needed in the near term. Therefore. ","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3444,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090167328,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"No one has to worry about moving this when we get back. We want this bill to be completed. We want it to be done right. No one questions the capability of Senator INOUYE and Senator STEVENS on the Defense appropriations bill. But we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Hey. listen. some of my Senators are leaving. They dont need to be here to vote on cloture. Some of them would like to be here to vote on cloture. What I suggest is we have a program to complete the work around here. People have come to meDemocrats and Republicansasking: What do you propose? I propose we vote on the socalled trifectaI have another name for itand do the pensions bill and try to get the extenders done. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2321,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090167334,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That just helps clarify so we know what we are working with. I know the chairman wants to make a comment. Right now the way things exist. because I filed cloture last night. we should say right now we will be voting at 9:30 tomorrow morning on trifecta. We stilland I dont want to close that downhave the option. the opportunity of maybe doing it tonight. We can go back in the cloakroom and talk about what the schedule will be. I will turn to the chairman. I know he wants to make a comment. but lets not close finishing tonight. It would have to be under a very tight agreement of how we complete this Department of Defense bill. This is an absolutely critical bill for this country. I have heard very clearlyand the Democratic leader and I have been talking about itif we had to put it off and if we can finish it late that Wednesday night is something we can consider. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1003,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090167343,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask for the regular order. and I call up amendment No. 4842. and I ask unanimous consent that Senator ENSIGN be added as a cosponsor and indicate that I am ready to vote. and I do not call for a rollcall vote or the yeas and nays at this time.","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":260,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090167369,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the Senator will further yield for a question through the Chair. I am sure the Senator is aware that we have done this before. When people are visiting in the United States and hostilities break out in their homeland. we have offered them a chance to stay here on a temporary basis. I might add. there are safeguards built into this process. If there is anyone about whom we have a question as to whether or not they are safe to remain in the United States. they will not receive this temporary status. That goes without saying. We want to make certain that the people who remain here are truly those innocent travelersstudents. members of familieswho are concerned about whether returning home could endanger them or people who are here. I ask the Senator from Michigan. if we are in a predicament where a family is here visiting their relatives in Chicago or Detroit and they have small children and they are from one of the parts of southern Lebanon that has been under fire. does it not stand to reason that we as a compassionate people would say to them: You can wait. Stay with your family. We are not going to force you to leave. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1284,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090167383,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I want to specifically speak a little bit about the protective status legislation that I cosponsored with Senator DURBIN and others. This is essential to send the right message to the Lebanese people and to the world that we are not going to send immigrants back into a war zone simply because their immigration status has changed. This is a temporary measure but an absolutely crucial one. It is the right thing to do while the fighting in southern Lebanon rages on. We have funding needs. we have needs for humanitarian corridors. we have needs for protective status. All of these are essential if we are going to put Lebanon on the path to a peaceful resolution to their situation.","speaker_name":"JOHN SUNUNU","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2028,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090167389,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise in strong support of the amendment offered by the Senator from Michigan to provide $200 million in emergency humanitarian and reconstruction aid to Lebanese and Israeli civilians affected by the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel. I commend Senator STABENOW for this amendment. If this conflict and the terrible loss of innocent lives and destruction of civilian infrastructure in Lebanon and Israel had occurred three months ago when we were debating the fiscal year 2006 emergency supplemental. there would have been no question that we would have included this aid. To date. the U.S. Government has pledged $30 million in humanitarian aid to Lebanon. While welcome. this is only a tiny fraction of what is needed. Over 900.000 Lebanese citizensone in fivehave fled their homes and are either displaced in Lebanon. living in schools and public buildings. or are refugees in Syria. Estimates are that 200.000 people are in immediate need of humanitarian aid including food. water. fuel. shelter and medical care. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2366,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090167419,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. Senator FEINSTEIN and I would like to thank the Senator from Alaska and the Senator from Hawaii for their outstanding leadership on this bill and especially for their dedication to ensuring that our Nations combatwounded service members receive the best possible services and care. I would like to ask both Senators to work with us during conference negotiations in support of funding for the Northern California Institute of Research and Education. NCIRE. This funding will support the work of the Neuroscience Center of Excellence at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Centera stateoftheart facility dedicated to the diagnosis. prevention. and management of neurodegenerative diseases. brain and spinal cord injuries. and neuropsychiatric disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder. PTSD. that occur in U.S. warfighters. I had the privilege of recently visiting NCIRE. Let me tell you. the work they are doing is cuttingedge and absolutely vital . to our Nations warfighters and veterans. They are developing new ways to diagnose and treat PTSD in an effort to ensure that our more recent veterans do not share the same fate as so many of those from earlier conflicts. including Vietnam. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1565,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090167420,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I share my home State colleagues support for the great work the Northern California Institute for Research and Education is doing on behalf of our veterans. NCIRE was founded in 1988 to administer research at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. It is the largest of over 90 nonprofit research institutes associated with the VA. It is also designated as a Department of Defense Center of Excellence in Neuroscience and Neuroimaging for its work benefiting our more recent veterans. including gulf war illness. posttraumatic stress disorder. neurotrauma and closedhead injury resulting from combat. The Neuroscience Center of Excellence is the VAs premier research instrument for neurodegenerative diseases and brings together VA and Defense resources to conduct medical research in the areas most important for our active military and veterans. Research in neuroimaging. neuropsychiatry and basic neuroscience is targeted at diagnosis. prevention and management of neurodegenerative diseases. brain and spinal cord injuries. and neuropsychiatric disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder. In the near future. NCIRE will be working to enhance highresolution imaging strategies to predict and prevent combatrelated damage to the brain and the nervous system. expand neuropsychiatric studies into PTSD. and understanding of vulnerabilities to PTSD and its effect on combat performance. I would note that the House version of this bill provides $4 million for the Neuroscience Center of Excellences research in neuroimaging and neuropsychiatric trauma in U.S. warfighters. I understand the chairmans concern about the growth of health research spending in this bill. but would point out that this facility is designated as a DoD Center of Excellence. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1961,"word_count":260}
{"speech_id":1090167443,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"For the past 2 years. Congress has included lupus as one of the diseases eligible for research funding through this highly regarded DOD program. This program has proven effective in filling essential gaps in research efforts funded by private industry and other public sources.","speaker_name":"CHARLES SCHUMER","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":277,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090167451,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Areas of particular interest for us continue to be hemostasis. resuscitation. bone tissue injury) soft tissue injury. trauma informatics and clinical trauma research. These six areas all focus on saving soldiers lives and returning them back to duty as soon as possible. Collaboration with you continues to help us in our medical mission to serve these soldiers. I sincerely look forward to our continuing this important partnership and using the technologies available today and in the future so we can meet these increasingly complex challenges to better serve our warfighters. Sincerely.","speaker_name":"ALAN MOLLOHAN","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1369,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090167452,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Or both. I would like to hear from the Pentagon what is taking so long. A number of problems and delays I have heard or read of in the various benefit programs may be attributable to a simple lack of enough personnel to process forms. take calls. and get payments out. I want to hear from the Pentagon if there are enough people on board to get this important job done so that the families of our fallen soldiers do not suffer any more hardship than they already must. I do commend the Defense Department for setting up a new call center that is designed to help survivors navigate the process through which they sign up for and receive these various benefits. I also want to know how thats working. For these reasons I am introducing an amendment that asks the Secretary of Defense to report back to Congress on these questions. It is fine for us to establish benefit programs but just as important to keep an eye on them and make sure they work. and without delays. I hope this amendment will be adopted. and I ask my colleagues for their support.","speaker_name":"MARK PRYOR","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2318,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090167454,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Security is not getting better in Iraq. The United Nations has reported that an average of 100 civilians were killed per day in June. The U.N. just released a report suggesting that over 6.000 civilians have died over the past 2 months. And the administration seems unable to settle on an appropriate strategy to address these worsening conditions. Just 2 months ago General Casey came to Washington to discuss the significant drawdown of U.S. troops from Iraq. Now. just a few weeks later. troop deployments are being extended beyond a year. and we are no closer to helping Iraqis establish stability in their country than we were over a year ago. It is clear that our current approach in Iraq is not going to establish stability in Iraq. We need a new strategya political and economic strategythat will help establish longterm stability in Iraq. Perpetuating the massive presence of U.S. forces in Iraq is not the answer. We need a new strategy in Iraq so that we can repair our military and strengthen our national security. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10085,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090167462,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Reserving the right to object. Mr. President. I have made it clear since the outset that our intention was to address the Family Prosperity Act. which are the three bills. which people have been referring to as the \"trifectea.\" unamended and without any attempt to either separate that and add it to the pensions bill. We will proceed as planned. consistent with the unanimous consent request that I outlined. I do object.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":422,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090167464,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Reserving the right to object. Mr. President. I understand the leader. He told me that earlier today. I told him I would do this. I hope that when we come back. following the completion of the Defense appropriations bill. this will be one of the first things we work on. This is an extremely important piece of legislation. I am disappointed that we were not able to complete this at the conference that was completed a week or so ago. I have no objection to the majority leaders request.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":488,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090167466,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will yield to Senator GRASSLEY when he comes. I think that I will go ahead and yield myself time on this bill. We have essentially 30 minutes on either side. of which 15 or 20 minutes of our time will be used by Senator GRASSLEY. We will be voting shortly on what we are calling the Family Prosperity Act. Heretofore. it has been called the trifecta bill because it addresses three different issues that are critically important to the American people. Each of these three bills that have been grouped together to become the Family Prosperity Act are important to hardworking Americans. millions of them. One of the three bills is the permanent tax relief bill. Let me say at the outset that this is a compromise bill that has been put together. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3879,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090167501,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The estate tax relief before us has a longterm negative impact on our deficit. The 10year costs from 20122021 are $753 billion when interest is included. That is $753 billion that will be added to the deficit or result in vital programs having their funding slashed. And there is no discussion now about how to pay for this bill. An increase in the minimum wage should not be saddled with an unrelated. unnecessary. and unfair tax -provision. We should pass a clean minimum wage bill and then work on a bipartisan estate tax bill that is fiscally responsible and protects most small businesses from the estate tax. The legislation -before us provides an average tax cut of $1.4 million to 8.200 estates. A minimum wage increase would provide an average benefit of $1.200 to 6.6 million hardworking Americans. The package before us clearly reflects misguided priorities. I cknnot think -of one reason why minimum wage legislation should include estate tax relief. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6972,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090167509,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This is the only opportunity for the abandoned mine lands issue to be voted on in the Senate. There may be attempts to throw this in and attach it to other bills and all sorts of pounding the chest of how -we are not letting it happen. This is a compromise. This is giving things that I can tell you many on this side of the aisle dont want to givewhether it is minimum wage. whether it isAMT. whether it is many of the provisions in this bill. there are a lot of folks on this side of the aisle who do not like any of this. and. in fact. have never voted for any of these things. In exchange for that. what most of the Members on this side of the aisle would like to see done is to do something about the onerous death tax which is scheduled to expire in 2010. and then revive itself from the dead the next yearhorrible tax policy. But that is where we are. We are trying to fix this. We are trying to get the priorities of both sides together in a bill to move this country forward in a way that both sides can walk away and say: We didnt get everything we wanted. but we made progress. I got something that was really important to me. Both sides can say that. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2704,"word_count":232}
{"speech_id":1090167549,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. specifically. I want to draw the chairmans attention to the excess business holdings provision and the language that allows the Secretary to waive the application of the excess business holdings provisions if the holdings of the Type III supporting organization are held consistent with the purpose or function constituting the basis for its exemption under section 501. I want to emphasize that my understanding is correct that the Secretary should make a final determination very quickly after a currently existing Type III supporting organization seeks exemption from the excess business holdings rules. It is extremely important that the determination be made within 6 months after the organization seeks exemption so that the organization knows how it must structure its holdings. Is that my friends understanding?","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":834,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090167555,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But. unlike the other two provisions I described above which permit employers to increase their contributions to defined benefit plans effective for years after December 31. 2005. it appears that this last related provision regarding guaranteed plans may inadvertently not have the same effective date as the other two. It seems to me that if we are encouraging employers to fully fund their defined -benefit pension plans. that the effective dates for these provisions should all be effective as of December 31. 2005. I am hopeful that we will examine this issue and can correct this technical oversight.","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2046,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090167566,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"My second question relates to the definition of \"market rate of return\" in the whipsaw provisions. My understanding. is that the term \"market rate of return\" is intended to allow plans to adjust benefits in ways that benefit participants. For example. a plan could provide a variable market rate of return and. in addition. protect participants by preventing the rate of return in their accounts from falling below a reasonable. minimum level without having to reduce the variable market rate of return. My further understanding is that the term \"market rate of return\" is intended to include a fixed rate of interest that is no greater than the yield on longterm. investmentgrade corporate bonds at any time during a reasonable period before the rate is first applied under the plan. is this correct?","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":801,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090167572,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Unfortunately. this bill does not treat all airlines equally. In talking to my colleagues in the Senate. I believe there is a general consensus that this differential should be corrected at the earliest possible legislative opportunity. If that assurance can be given by the Senate leaders on this pension legislation. I believe we should pass the House bill this week and work diligently to correct the inequity upon our return in September.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2056,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090167575,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this pension bill is a good bill. but it is not a perfect bill. It will make sure companies put real money behind their pension promises. in good times and bad. It will give workers more information about their pension plans so they understand the risks they face. It will create incentives to encodrage more workers to save for their retirement. Unfortunately. the bill is not fair to all airlines. The bill gives advantages for some carriers at the expense of othersespecially disadvantaging those in New Jersey. As a result of this bill. some airlines will have to contribute hundreds of millions of dollars more to their pensions than others. That isnt fair. and it doesnt create a level competitive playing field. The Senate agreed that this isnt fair. and that is why the Senates version of airline relief treated all airlines equally. ","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1302,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090167579,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I certainly endorse the comments of the Senator from Texas. The airline industry is very competitive with thin profit margins. The costs of labor and benefits are two of the few variables that affect a companys bottom line. The bill that came over to the Senate from the House. and which we are unable to amend today. puts several of the airlines at a severe competitive disadvantage because it does not apply the same rules to -each airlines pension fund. Recognizing the importance of the other reform measures in this legislation. I understand the need to pass it and send it to the President for his signature. But before we do that. I would like to hear from the majority leader if he believes that he will be in a position before the year ends to revisit this questioii and help us reach a more equitable resolution.","speaker_name":"GEORGE VOINOVICH","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":822,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090167608,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank my colleagues. I thank. particularly. Senator SANTORUM. who has been terrific on this issueand who has been a chief sponsor with me. along with the other Members whom I have mentioned. In conclusion. hundreds of thousands of families across America struggle each and every day with autism spectrum disorder. ASD. one of the fastestgrowing developmental disabilities in the United States. While we used to think of ASD as relatively rare. today it is diagnosed at a rate that is 10 times that of a decade ago. In my home State of Connecticut. we have witnessed an increase in diagnoses of ASD of close to 1.100 percent since 1993. What these numbers tell us is that ASD diagnoses are rising at truly alarming rates and we simply must provide more answers to all those affected by this devastating condition. As a nation. we need to support the families that are struggling to raise a child with ASD. There are many theories as to why the prevalence of ASD has increased. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7893,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090167628,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the Chair. For the information of those who might be listening. the bill is now passed and we are off to the House with great hope that this fall will bring us successful passage there and final action by the President sometime in September. I.yield the floor.","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":268,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090167629,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I see the majority leader is on the floor. I will make a unanimous consent request. I would like to very briefly describe what I am about to request. I have filed S. 3765. along with Senator SUNUNU as my cosponsor. as well as Senator FEINGOLD and Senator","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":269,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090167641,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. if I might be allowed to comment as well. as the Senator from Tennessee. the majority leader. describes the bill. it sounds as if it is one that I gladly and wholeheartedly would support. I know Senator MARTINEZ has a special interest in this issue. having been born in Cuba and then coming to the United States and still with the great love for the land where he was born. I have spoken to him for the last several days while there apparently is a transition of power in place there. And I know how important this is to him personally and to so many other people of Cuban dissent who live in the United States. I am sorry that it cannot be cleared. but there are some on this side of the aisle who have expressed some reservation or objection at this point. But I personally hope that we can do this as quickly as possible so that the people of Cuba can appreciate and enjoy freedom as soon as we can give them a helping hand.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":942,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090167644,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this week I introduced the African Health Capacity Investment Act of 2006. This bill was inspired last December. when I visited the Democratic Republic of Congo with Senator SAM BROWNBACK of Kansas. The Congois one of the poorest. most violent regions on Earth. This past weekend. it held its first multiparty elections in nearly 50 years. That is a moment to celebrate. But one of the most profound challenges that the newly elected government will face is how to even begin to meet the health needs of its people. In the DRC. there are only 7 doctors and 44 nurses per 100.000 people. In the eastern Congo. which has witnessed terrible conflict and disease. there is only 1 doctor per 160.000 people. And. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9616,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090167651,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to speak about the need for hate crimes legislation. Each Congress. Senator KENNEDY and I introduce hate crimes legislation that would add new categories to current hate crimes law. sending a signal that violence of anykind is unacceptable in our society. Likewise. each Congress I have come to the floor to highlight a separate hate crime that has occurred in our country. On July 28. 2006. in Detroit. MI. Julia Lynn Marsh. a male transvestite. was physically and verbally assaulted by three men. According to sources. ","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1004,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090167659,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Virginia Corridor will. also offer a place for Modestos outdoor enthnsiasts to pursue a myriad of outdoor activities. as it will link three primary bike paths that include: the Hetch Hetchy Trail in North Modesto. the class I trails in Dry Creek Regional Park and the Tuolumne River Regional Park. I congratulate the city of Modesto on the opening of the Rotary Clubs of Modesto Centennial Junction of the Virginia Corridor. I especially commend the invaluable contributions of the United Rotary Clubs of Modesto which. through their generosity and commitment to public service. have provided a community jewel that will go a long way towards improving the quality of life for the people of Modesto.*","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2747,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090167666,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Jim Barr has given of his personal time not only in his service to several national telecommunications industry boards but to numerous prestigious public service organizations.. including the United Way of Dane County. WI. Jim Barr has been an exemplary leader. His efforts have brought a higher quality of life to the people who have served with him and to the community he has served. He is. however. first and foremost. a loving and supportive husband to Joan. his wife of 45 years. a caring and understanding father to his four children. and a proud and devoted grandfather to eight grandchildren. Mr. President. I therefore honor Jim Barr today for his outstanding contributions to the telecommunications industry as well as Wisconsin. He is a visionary and a builder. leader and a mentor. a beloved husband. father. and grandfather. and I am proud to call him my friend.*","speaker_name":"HERBERT KOHL","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1774,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090167673,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. tdday I rise to discuss a bill that aims to give Americas children access to greater educational opportunities. As history has taught us. advanced societies are always built on a foundation of a few shared valuesand education is a chief component of that foundation. For 21st century America to continue to lead the world. the leaders of this great Nation of ours must remain committed to providing every American child the opportunity to succeed in the classroom. A quality education unlocks the doors that lead to bigger life opportunities. As the axiom goes. knowledge is power [attributed to Sir Francis Bacon]. In addition. our educational system should be helping parents to make better choices. not taking choices away from them. That is why I am introducing the Tax and Education Assistance for Children (TEACH) Act of 2006. Representative VITO FOSSELLA of New York has already introduced this bill in the House. of Representatives. where it has collected 34 cosponsors. Six of those cosponsors come from my home State of Florida. ","speaker_name":"MEL MARTINEZ","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1100,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090167686,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This database would build on the current systems and would include late phase II. phase II. and all phase IV clinical trials for all drugs. A second. publicly available database would include the results of phase III andphase IV clinical trials of drugs. with the possibility that late phase II trials would be added later. Posting of results could be delayed for up to 2 years. pending the approval of the drug or the publication of trial results in a peerreviewed journal. The public needs to know about the results of clinical trials on drugs. Tragically. such information was not adequately available for - the clinical studies of antidepressants in children. Posting information in the clinical trials registry and the clinical trials results database will be requirements for Federal research funding and for drug review and approval by the FDA. Both the FDA and the Inspector General Office of the Department of Health and Human Services would review the content of submissions to the results database to ensure they are truthful and nonpromotional. These Federal requirements would preempt State requirements for clinical trial databases. Finally. the bill will improve FDAs process for screening advisory committee members for financial conflicts of interest. The agency relies on its advisory committees to provide independent. expert. nonbinding recommendations on significant issues. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6527,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090167688,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Tobacco smuggling may provide some with cheap access to cigarettes. but those cheap .cigarettes are coming at a significant cost to the rest of us. According to the Government Accountability Office. GAO. each year. cigarette trafficking investigations are growing more and more complex. and take longer to resolve. More people are selling cigarettes illegally. and they are getting better at it. As these cases get tougher to solve. we owe it to law enforcement officials to do our part to lend a helping hand. The PACT Act enhances BATFEs authority to enter premises to investigate and enforce cigarette trafficking laws. and increasing penalties for violations. Unless these existing laws are strengthened. traffickers will continue to operate with near impunity. Just as important. though. we must provide law enforcement with new enforcement tools tools that enable them to combat the cigarette smugglers of the 21st century. The Internet represents one of those new obstacles to enforcement. Illegal tobacco vendors around the world evade detection by conducting transactions over the Internet. and then employing the services of common carriers and the U.S. ","speaker_name":"HERBERT KOHL","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4067,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090167704,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Senator ALLARD. Senator COLEMAN. Senator ALLEN and Senator SMITH for joining me in sponsoring this legislation. The United States shares around 4.000 miles of border with Canada and almost 2.000 miles with Mexico. Controlling what comes across .these borders must be a top priority for national security. A report recently released by the Presidents Office of National Drug Control Policy. the Department of Justice. and the Department of Health and Human Services had this to say: The most urgent priority of the Federal Government toward reducing the supply of methamphetamine in the Untied States will be to tighten the international market for chemical precursors. such as pseudoephedrine and ephedrine. used to produce the drug. Most of the methamphetamine used in Americaprobably between 75 and 85 percentis made with chemical precursors that are diverted at some point from the international stream of commerce . . . Although domestic enforcement continues to be a priority. the impact of State laws controlling retail access to precursors. together with Federal. State. and local enforcement efforts. has had a significant impact on the domestic production of methamphetamine. As a result. a larger proportion of the methamphetamine consumed in the United States is now coming across the border as a final product... ","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4127,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090167710,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The bill also allows a States attorney general to file a Federal motion to stop these pharmacies from operating illegally. no matter where the entity is headquartered. Previously. this type of enforcement would require a filing in every State. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation. By Mr. CORNYN (for himself. Mr.","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4652,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090167738,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We were unable to finish it today. but we have a glidepath\" to finish it within 2 days after we return from the recess. The Senates productivity this past month goes way beyond securing Americas homeland. We have taken action to ensure that the homeland we secure is a homeland we value that is worth securing. We have taken action to secure Americas prosperity by passing an important bill. the Water Resources Development Act. an act which focuses on building that infrastructure along the waterways. and by passing the .Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act. an act we passed just a couple of days ago that addresses opening up an area to deep sea exploration that will have more than a billion barrels of oil and more than 5.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas--a huge amount of natural. gas to increase our supply. enough to supply 6 million homes for 15 years. In securing Americas prosperity. just a few moments ago we passed the pensions bill which will affect millions of Americans. In America. we have a rich history of working hard. of setting ambitious goals. setting that ambitious vision. and doggedly pursuing that vision. pursuing that goal. That tradition of hard work has brought us the prosperity we know today. * In the Senate. we have the responsibility to protect that prosperity. We have the responsibility to ensure that hard work is rewarded just as richly tomorrow as it was yesterday or is rewarded today. Securing Americas prosperity is a noble goal toward which we made considerable progress this month. To enjoy that prosperity. we also have to secure Americas health. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6991,"word_count":273}
{"speech_id":1090167746,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday. September 5. the Senate proceed to executive session and proceed to the immediate consideration of Executive Calendar No. 819. Kimberly Ann Moore. -to be U.S. circuit judge. with 1 hour of debate equally divided. to be followed by a vote on confirmation at 5:30 p.m.. with no intervening action or debate. Finally. I ask unanimous consent that following that vote the President be immediately notified of the Senates previous action and the Senate then resume legislative session.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":549,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090167794,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of the following treaty on todays Executive Calendar: No. 5. I further ask unanimous consent that the treaty be considered as having passed through its various parliamentary stages. up to and including the presentation of the resolution of ratification. that any committee conditions. declarations. or reservations be agreed to. as applicable. that any statements be printed in further. that when the resolution of ratification is voted on. the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. the President be notified of the Senates. action. and that following disposition of the treaty. the Senate return to legislative session.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":711,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090167837,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it stand in adjournment undei the provisions of H. Con. Res. 467 until 11 a.m. on Tuesday. September 5. I further ask that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the- Senate then resume consideration of H.R. 5631. the Defense appropriations bill. I further ask that at 4:30 p.m.. the Senate proceed to Executive Calendar No. 819.-Kimberly Ann Moore. as under the previous order.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":577,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090167855,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But there is an interesting thing to note. During that same 9year period. when we have said that the lowest paid workers in America should be stuck at making around $10.000 a year. Congress has voted itself an increase in pay of $31.000 a year. We say no to millions of American workers. some of them single moms trying to raise their kids as best they can. We say no to increasing their minimum wage. and we increase the salary of Members of Congress. We have taken a stand on the Democratic side. It is not going to happen this year. If the Republican majority refuses to increase the minimum wage for millions of these workers. there will be no increase in congressional pay. It is a small thing. maybe only symbolic. but it is an important symbol. Finally. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11019,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090167880,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. again. just to complete that thought. there are ways that both sides in this endoflife care debate can be brought together. I have mentioned several. What I think is clear. after the Terri Schiavo discussion. is that the American people dont want the Federal Government butting in. interfering. and preempting the ability of families and those in their last days to make these judgments. For the citizens of my State. the Death With Dignity Act has brought about improvement in many areas and encouraged conversations about a wide variety of endoflife options. Those conversations probably wouldnt have even taken place if the people of my State hadnt voted for this twice. In my State. the endoflife process has been decriminalized. Recognizing the deeply personal nature of this. the Federal Government should not decide again. as has been considered before. that this should be the province of the Federal Government and not left to individuals and families. My State has chosen a unique path. Rather than the bitter and divisive debate over physician aid in dyingwhich this country would have. once again. if S. 3788 moved forwardI would offer that instead the Senate work together on a bipartisan basis to make the end of life a better period for all Americans. ","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2029,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090167943,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. Senator ALLEN filed an -amendment numbered 4883. which was on the same -subject matter as my amendment numbered 4884 that was filed. I have been told by staff that he has modified his amendment so it is now identical to mine. is that correct?","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":257,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090167944,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I believe so. Mr. President. my amendment was filed before the Senators and his Was filed after. I have not read the Senators amendment. but as modified. the best I have heard from talking to Senator STEVENS and listening to the Senator from Massachusetts. they seem to be very close. if not identical.","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":302,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090167945,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think the changes in language the Senator made to his amendment have made them virtually identical. so it appears we are setting out to do the same thing. So that there is clarity in the record. I want to make sure I inderstand this. My amendment said $19 million will be available to this program for defense and a veterans brain injuries center. Is that the Senators modified amendment?","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":390,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090167997,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And. of course. as more information has come out. it could have been avoided. should have been avoided. should. have been avoided. And they wonder if the lessons have been learned about that. They see Homeland Security that should be able to respond to any emergency. even that on a seconds notice. and yet they see that it failed to re_ spond to Katrina there was all kinds of notice. They see Republicans and Democrats joined together saying: Go get Osama bin Laden. And the administration does not get Osama bin Laden. Instead. they divert those forces to go into Iraq in a war we did not need and one that has made us less secure. They even disbanded the special intelligence unit that has been tracking Osama bin Laden. But worse yetand I heard this from Republicans and Democrats alike in my Statewhen the Secretary of Defense and others in the administration say if you raise questions. if you point out their mistakes. somehow you are aiding the enemy. however defined. that you are not being patriotic. I am reminded to paraphrase Mark Twain. He said: Love your country. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3370,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090168002,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am pleased today to urge my colleagues to support the confirmation of Kimberly Moore to be a circuit judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Kimberly Moore is a Falls Church. VA resident and a full tenured law professor at George Mason University. Among other cases. the Federal Circuit hears all patent appeals from the district courts and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Kimberly Moore is uniquely qualified to serve on this distinguished court. First. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":866,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090168021,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. for 25 years the Chevrolet Corvette. known as* Americas sports car. has been exclusively manufactured in the General Motors Bowling Green Assembly Plant in Bowling Green. KY. I rise today to celebrate Bowling Green as the \"Home of the Corvette.\" We are very proud that it is in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The Corvette looms large as one of Americas most admired sports cars. Introduced in 1953. it was originally produced elsewhere. but in 1981. General Motors recognized Kentucky as the growing. businessfriendly environment it has become and decided Bowling Green and the Corvette made a good match. The first Kentuckybuilt Corvette rolled off the assembly line on The Bowling Green Assembly Plant also produces the Cadillac XLR and XLRV in addition to three models of the Corvette. Over 39.000 GM cars are manufactured in Kentucky each year and delivered to driving enthusiasts all over the world. Over the 22 decades. the Bowling Green Assembly Plant has undergone redesign and updating to incorporate the latest technology. ","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2959,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090168030,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to pay tribute to a former colleague and dear friend. Robert Giaimo. who passed away on May 24 of this year. He served the people of Connecticut and the United States as a Member of the House of Representatives for more than 20 years. and I want to speak to my colleagues today. about the. life and legacy of this dedicated public servant. Bob Giaimo was born in North Haven. CT on Oct6ber 19. 1919. son of the late Rose and Rosario Giaimo. He attended North Haven public schools. and graduated from FordhamUniversity before receiving his law degree from the University of Connecticut in 1943. During Wbrld War H. Bob served as a commissioned officer in the United States Army. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3251,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090168035,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The students and staff at Saint Anthony Village High School understand that. in order to be successful. a school must go beyond achieving academic success. it must also provide a nurturing environment where students can develop the knowledge. skills. and attitudes for success throughout life. All of the faculty. staff. and students at Saint Anthony Village High School should be very proud of their accomplishments. I congratulate Saint Anthony Village High School in Saint Anthony Village for winning the Award for Excellence in Education and for its exceptional contributions to education in Minnesota.9","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2890,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090168039,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I honor the Wabasso Public Schools. in Wabasso. MN. which recently earned an Award for Excellence in Education for exceptional and innovative achievements in educating children. The Wabasso Public Schools are truly a model of educational success. The district is a small. rural district that has a single building for its entire program. prekindergarten - through grade 12. Superintendent Ted Suss describes the District as the \"center of local activity. the most important institution within its community. and the emblem of community pride.\" Wabasso Public Schools have demonstrated that quality education can be provided in a small. rural school district.. The district prides itself for its success in academics. athletics. and the arts. Wabasso Public Schools amenities include a comprehensive early childhood education program. a formal prekindergarten for 4yearolds and an allday kindergarten. In the high school. Wabasso offers a fullyear physics class and a fullyear calculus class. ","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3672,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090168041,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"These volunteers not only include parents of Wilshire pupils. aunts. grandparents. and community members are also regulars in the volunteer room. Much of the credit for Wilshire Park Elementary Schools success belongs to its recently retired principal. Dr. Bonnie Kirkpatrick. and the dedicated teachers and staff. The pupils and staff at Wilshire Park Elementary School understand that. in order to be successful. a school must go beyond achieving academic success. it must also provide a nurturing environment where children can develop the knowledge. skills. and attitudes for success throughout life. All of the faculty. staff. and pupils at Wilshire Park Elementary School should be very proud of their accomplishments. I congratulate Wilshire Park Elementary School in Saint Anthony Village for winning the Award for Excellence in Education and for its exceptional contributions to education in Minnesota.*","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3041,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090168047,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Lyn may be leaving her job. but she is leaving all of us with a tremendous legacy of service and success. Congratulations. Lyn.*","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2433,"word_count":23}
{"speech_id":1090168048,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am pleased to be an original coauthor of the Community Health Center Employee Health Coverage Act of 2006 with Senators SMITH and MURKOWSKI. I ask for unanimous consent that a fact sheet with respect to the legislation be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":261,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090168055,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate immediately proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination on todays Executive Calendar: No. 866. I further ask unanimous consent that the nomination be confirmed. the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. the President be immediately notified of the Senates action. and the Senate return to legislative session.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":393,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090168060,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the amendments at the desk be agreed to. the bill as amended be read the third time and passed. the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. and that any state- ments relating to the measure be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":264,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090168088,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. is it not time that we in Congress take real steps forward to increase the number of Americans with health insurance? The latest Census Bureau report shows us that there are over 46 million Americans without health. insurance coverage. To resolve this problem and relieve the burden this places on our health care system. we need an innovative and new approach. The bipartisan Health Partnership Through Creative Federalism Act. H.R. 5864. offers that inventive path. Creative Federalism provides for innovation in health care through State initiatives that expand health care coverage. It empowers States and other regions to tailor health programs to their specific needs. thereby increasing access to health care all across this Nation. Members from both sides of the aisle realize that to solve a problem of such significance. we need fresh thinking and new ideas. States should be encouraged to consider a variety of reforms. tax credits. pooling programs. health savings accounts or a combination of other options. Mr. ","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1267,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090168098,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Abraham Lincoln and his family moved to Illinois in 1830. Lincoln would go on to serve in the Illinois House of Representatives. represent Illinois in the 30th Congress and run unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate. In addition. he practiced law and later served as a judge. In 1860. Abraham Lincoln was elected President in the midst of a Nation dissolving from within. By the time of his first inaugural address in March. seven States had already seceded from the Union. Yet. committed to doing everything in his power to prevent civil war. President Lincoln used his inaugural address to nake a stirring appeal for the preservatioh of the Union. ending his address by saying: \"I am loathe to close. We are not enemies. but friends. ","speaker_name":"MELISSA BEAN","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2914,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090168102,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am proud of the heritage of our State. proud of the tremendous work that he did and what he has meant to the development of what is the greatest Nation on the face of the Earth. the United States of America. and so I urge passage of this legislation.","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1015,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090168119,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H. Res. 912. which expresses the sense of Congress regarding the importance of life insurance. Life insurance provides financial security for families in the event of a premature death by helping surviving family members meet immediate noeds and longterm financial obligations. Almost 70 million Americans say they lack the life insurance coverage needed to ensure a secure financial future for their loved ones. yet the need for life insurance is well documented. Recent studies have found that when a premature death occurs. insufficient life insurance coverage on the part of the deceased often results in the surviving family members being placed under an insurmountable burden. forcing family members to take on extra jobs. work longer hours. borrow money. and spend less time with their families. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1522,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090168160,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There is no better place to place that trust and legal authority and that binding agreement than in the hands of these Michigan citizens. Mr. Speaker. those PCBs. that blood. we even found illegal drugs coming across in those trucks. as well as soiled coffin waste. It is all living proof of what we have endured over these last years. Today is the day .we will stand up and tell our good friends the Canadians we are tired of getting their trash in the State of Michigan. Let us be good stewards of our environment. . Mr. Speaker. I thank the chairman for his hard work and all. he has done to bring us to this point and put all of the right people in the room to make this happen. I thank Mr. ","speaker_name":"MIKE ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4075,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090168164,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. Michigans two Senators secretly negotiated a personal agreement with the Province of Ontario that effectively stops our ability to stop Canadian trash. Michigans two Senators agreed not to push any legislation in the Senate and not to push any inspection fees of those trucks and agreed not to do anything apparently on this issue for the next 4 years. And in return. the Canadians have agreed to phase out over the next 4 years about onethird of the garbage that they dump in Michigan today. What about the other two thirds? Apparently there is no problem. We are going to just stand back and let those trucks keep coming. . No wonder the Canadians have been celebrating in the last week. They cannot believe their good luck. Just when the United States Congress finally is set to pass legislation that will stop Canadian trash. the two Senators from Michigan save them.. ","speaker_name":"CANDICE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3208,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090168167,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So this bill says the EPA has 2 years. up to 2 years. and in the meanwhile. States could take action. but I think there is a real probability that there would be litigation in the meanwhile. And so because of what the Senate spokesman has said. with no likely action in the Senate. and other problems. we have beforeus a bill that I strongly support. but it should not be the basis for an attack on what was done by the two Senators from our State of Michigan. No basis whatsoever. There has also been a mischaracterization of what our two Senators said. They did not say they do not support 2941. They .said they support it. They had presented some amendments to the Homeland Security bill. and that helped to instigate action by Ontario to do something. To do something. And now there is an agreement that will lead to a substantial reduction of the trash that is coming in from Ontario. ","speaker_name":"SANDER LEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2831,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090168171,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Look. I said the EPA would have up until 2 years. and in the meanwhile. States could act. and I said it is thought by many observers that there would be litigation. I dont favor litigation. But there might well be litigation in terms of the power of the States as delegated from this House. All I am saying. sir. is. look. there was reference to this legislation. There was also reference to the reality that there were amendments in the Senate that were going to put a squeeze on Ontario. I acknowledge the importance of this bill. I am sorry it did not occur earlier. and it comes up at the 11th hour after a number of us wrote to the Speaker saying. bring it up. and most of us. not all of us.- signed those letters. And here it is. the 11th hour. and now it is being brought up. ","speaker_name":"SANDER LEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1072,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090168172,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. reclaiming my time. let me just point out that in the Detroit News. it was reported on September 1 that the environmental ministry spokesman from Ontario. Kate Jordan. said the deal was prompted by fear of this bills becoming law and that Michigan might stop all trash shipments within 30 days. Now. I am not critical of the Senators. and I havent been. for trying to negotiate a deal. But I do want to point a couple things out. First of all.\"anybody could sue for anything. so you may have litigation: But the fact of the matter is we went to great lengths to be sure that this complied with both NAFTA and the U.S.-Canadian transboundary agreement. The other point is that the socalled deal with the Canadians is not in any way legally enforceable. All you have is a promise that they will do that. They can turn around tomorrow or next eek or next month and take that back. ","speaker_name":"PAUL GILLMOR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1053,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090168189,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"After graduating. YouthBuild participants continue to have access to the resources that will help them explore postsecondary options. have successful careers. and become role models for other atrisk youth. Since 1993. nearly. 60.000 young people have built over 15.000 units of affordable housing. Yet this program has value that far surpasses only the development of affordable housing. This bill provides for the transition of this program -from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to the Department of Labor and specifically as a national program under the Workforce Investment Act. By integrating the YouthBuild into WIA programs. the program will have access to a wider range of youth employment resources. As a national program it will have the attention of the Secretary of Labor. We welcome the program to the jurisdiction of the Committee on Education and the Workforce. With continued appropriations. I am confident that this program will continue to thrive in the Department of Labor. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2275,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090168195,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Therefore. moving this program to the Department of Labor will allow better coordination of services for atrisk youth. strengthen connections to the workforce investment system. and streamline program operations. Mr. Speaker. by moving the programunder the Workforce Investment Act. YouthBuild will make more efficient and effective use of Federal funds. The program will be able to maximize collaboration with partners in the OneStop Career Centers and reduce duplication of efforts across funding streams. In addition. the program will emphasize training that leads to industryrecognized certifications. which will increase participants access to high demand jobs. At the same time. the program will -retain the dual purpose of providing affordable housing. In short. this transfer will enhance the YouthBuild program and provide meaningful opportunities for atrisk youth to acquire the basic education and job skills they need to advance to higher education and productive employment. while at the same time helping rebuild communities. This is a sound. straightforward. and common sense proposal that I urge my colleagues to support.","speaker_name":"HOWARD MCKEON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2295,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090168228,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The only individual who survived the crash. copilot James M. Polehinke. is recovering at Chandler Medical Center. in Lexington. Kentucky. and we wish him a speedy recovery. Many individuals and entities who responded to the disaster acted nobly. cooperatively. and admirably. Federal. state and local officials and volunteers were soon on the scene. and I applaud their efforts. However. this was clearly a mistake. and an accident that should never have occurred. We desperately need adequate and rigorous oversight to ensure the operational safety of every commercial flight in this country. Air control towers across the country are currently shortstaffed. Since September 2003. the number of air traffic controllers has plummeted from 15.386 to 14.305 in August 2006. Moreover. at the time of this tragic accident. there was only one air traffic controller present. which is a violation of FAA guidelines which mandate at least two air traffic controllers be present. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1963,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090168248,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the President gave a major policy speech today outlining the future and the fate of those individuals who are detained at our base in Guantanamo. Cuba. Two months ago. I had the opportunity to travel to Guantanamo to evaluate for myself the treatment of the individuals who are housed there. Mr. -Speaker. I might remind us how these individuals held in that facility are not signatories of the Geneva Convention. nor are they citizens of the United States and. therefore. entitled to constitutional protections. With these individuals. it is not a question of guilt or innocence. It is a question of capability and intent. Clearly. these are individuals who are capable of doing our country great harm. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BURGESS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":926,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090168273,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. next Monday. 5 days from now. it will be 5 years since we experienced the attack of September 11. 2001. That was one of the most tragic circumstances ever to confront .this country. More than 3.000 Americans lost their lives. \u0095 But it has developed into an additionally tragic circumstance for our Nation 6s a whole. because the administration and the Congress. the entire government of our country. the legislative and executive branches. failed to address the issue properly. The administration called upon the Congress to give it the authority to conduct itself in a way that was entirely inappropriate. and on October 16. the majority of the Members of this Congress voted to give the President that authority. As a result of that. we have now been bogged down as a result of the attack in Iraq and the subsequent occupation for more than 3 years. and the administration and this Congress have no plan for relieving ourselves of that obligation and responsibility.","speaker_name":"MAURICE HINCHEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":981,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090168279,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is time we have people here in Washington who again represent the vast majority of the people of the United States who believe in hard work. who want to follow the rules. and they have a right to live a better way of life for investing themselves in the beliefs of this country and for putting their lives on the line for it. Mr. Speaker. America. this Congress. and. frankly. this President simply have to do much better.","speaker_name":"MARCY KAPTUR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4244,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090168291,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If I can interject for just a second. we had a nonclassified briefing. so I can raise this point. before we had the August recess with Secretary Rice. Secretary Rumsfeld. Director Negroponte. and General Pace. and I asked a question that is based on your comments. It was acknowledged at that time that the sectarian violence now exceeded the violence from the insurgency. I asked them h6w are we changing our strategy. militarily or politically. because the strategy used in dealing with the counterinsurgency effort and the strategy you use in trying to bring a halt to a civil war are two very different animals. So I asked. how are we adjusting to these new conditions on the ground? And the long and short of it was. we are not adjusting to the conditions on the ground. We are doing the same thing. the same strategy. the onesizefitsall. the staythecourse. That. I think. given the history you have outlined. where this congressionally compelled report indicates things have gotten worse across almost every metric. not better. that stay the course just doesnt cut it any more.","speaker_name":"ADAM SCHIFF","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1083,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090168294,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We know what the consequence of that is. We know what the consequence. is. When you dont hold people accountable for failure. you shouldnt be surprised when you get more of the same. But more of the same is not a good strategy in Iraq. More of the same is not a good strategy in terms of* our national security. These are tough. difficult issues. Nobody has all the answers. So. it is very important that the Bush administration and the Republican leadership stop pretending that they have all the answers. because their view of the world has gotten us to where we. are now. and we can be doing a lot better. I want to thank you and Mr. ScoTr for your very sensible leadership on these national security questions.","speaker_name":"CHRIS VAN HOLLEN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":714,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090168298,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Now. I am telling you. it is not just me here. You have been around this country. all the polls are saying it. Americans want a difference. They want a change in direction. Quite honestly. that is why you have two parties. That is why you have parties here. That is why the Founding Fathers made it that way. One party cannot have it all the time. and the American people deserve a change. I am convinced President Bush has stayed the course. ","speaker_name":"DAVID SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3139,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090168324,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I very much appreciate the comments of the Democratic leader. This is a bill we started before our recess. We agreed we would finish today. although because of extenuating circumstances we will go to tomorrow. It is a very important bill. It is important in support of our troops. in support of our efforts on the war on terror. It is a bill we will finish tomorrow.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":381,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090168333,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They had to convert to Islam before they were released. This is the goal of these .radical Islamists. as the President explainedto either bend the rest of the world to their will. to kill us or to die trying. We will only win this war if we take the threat. seriously. The sooner we commit to victory. the fewer our losses will be. The best strategy is to take the fight to the enemy. The worst strategy is to leave in the middle of a battle. for example. in Iraq. It would be difficult. if not impossible. to win the war if we abdicate the battle. What ally in the war will stand with us if we decide that the fight is too tough? How would that help us influence the mullahs who rule in Iran? I will read from parts of the Presidents speech to illustrate the clarity with which he described the nature of our enemy. the nature of this conflict. and the absolute necessity that we confront it strongly now in order to save future generations from the scourge of this continuing conflict. The President said: Five years after our nation was attacked. the terrorist danger remains. Were a nation at war. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11545,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090168354,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"A cluster","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3688,"word_count":2}
{"speech_id":1090168358,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I cannot support this amendment. It is not enforceable. It establishes policies that may in some situations dangerously restrict the options available to our commanders on the battlefield.I do share the Senators concern about pbtential use on the indiscriminate manner of these antipersonal weapons. Protecting innocent civilians from the violence and destruction of war is our goal. It is a laudable goal. Of course. the consequences of using cluster munitions must be carefully considered before such weapons are engaged. This is a complex policy area. It deserves comprehensive review by the relevant policy committees. not only the Committee on Armed Services but also the Foreign Relations Committee. ","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2863,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090168382,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the distinguished Senator will yield. I thought there was an agreement for us to offer this amendment and not ask for a vote on this amendment. Had the Senate followed the regular order. we would have been done with the other business. the pending business on cluster bombs.","speaker_name":"BARBARA MIKULSKI","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":277,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090168396,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Why privatize now? It is a solution that is wrong. The competition was flawed. It does not save taxpayers money. Sure. we understand contracting out when it is legal. when it is fair. when it saves taxpayers money and maintains integrity. This amendment will eliminate the funding to carry this out. and we urge its adoption at the appropriate time.","speaker_name":"BARBARA MIKULSKI","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2817,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090168406,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I have seen the way those people interact with Secretary Rumsfeld. I know some people say there are dissidedts in the Department of Defense. It would be surprising in a country as large as ours. with a Defense Department as large as ours. if there were not some. I do believe he has the support of those who are involved in managing our activities at home and abroad now in the defense area. He has a steady hand. I know he has the trust of the President. I admire the work he has done. I find it unfortunate that this bill will be held up now for a period of time debating the future of Secretary Rumsfeld. I say categorically that this amendment is nongermane to this bill. It is subject to a point of order. ","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4237,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090168409,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will eventually address my own remarks. but as the distinguished Democratic leader spoke. we had the majority leader here. It was his intention. of course. to follow the Democratic leader with his remarks. He was called to the White House. and therefore we will have to hear from our distinguished majority leader later in the day on this matter. If I could ask my colleagues across the aisle. perhaps we could alternate. Senator STEVENS has spoken. perhaps I could follow your next speaker as a matter of comity.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":530,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090168412,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I still have the floor. I am happy to yield. I want to have the consent entered into. If the Senator from Illinois is willing to enter into the agreement. we can go back and forth across the aisle. I am happy to agree to that unanimous consent with that understanding.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":268,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090168415,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. at this point in time. I reserve. with the understanding that I encourage it be agreed to. but the distinguished Senator from Texas. the Senator from Alaska. and others are going to work on the sequencing over here. so I wonder if we could just informally say we will follow that until such time as one of these two come over and agree.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":351,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090168424,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Iraq would become the new staging area for terrorists. Being between Iran and Syria. if we leave before this country can stand up on its own. everyone knows it will be in the hands of terrorists. We cannot retreat. We must fight this global war that has been declared on us. There is a reason there has been no attacks in this country since 9\/11. It is because we have been attacking the terrorists all around the world. The Democrats are united. They are united in the idea of retreat and defeatism. They attack this President with no ideas of their own. They are trying to take the tools to fight terrorism away from this Presidentthe PATRIOT Act. the interception of communications. tracing finances. ","speaker_name":"JIM DEMINT","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3659,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090168433,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. before my colleague departs. I wonder if I might engage in a colloquy with him. I am the next speaker on this side. I have allowed my colleagues to go ahead of me to accommodate them. If the Senator wants to recite his unanimous consent request. we have absolutely no_ objection. and I would simply add to it that following the speaker on the Democratic side who follows me. the distinguished Senator from New Hampshire be recognized to speak on our side.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":470,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090168438,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I take my cues from his approach and the manner in which he addressed the importance of the debate and how those who participate in it hopefully will be guided by his impressions. To my good friend from Michigan. I listened very carefully to much of what he said. and I commend him in the sense that he is consistent in his approach. But what I want to draw the Senators attention to is. what are the consequencesto the whole region. to the people in Iraq. to the war we are waging against terrorism. to our people here at homewhat are the consequences if this somewhat fragile and new Government struggling to put down its roots and exercise the full reigns of sovereignty. what are the consequences should it fail to be able to exercise the full spectrum of responsibilities of a sovereign nation that Iraq is now? It is a sovereign nation. I believe those consequences. of their inability to govern. the inability of those in control of their armed forceswe are not -in control of their armed forcesthey are a sovereign nation. It is the Prime Minister who will issue the orders to their armed forces. not General Abizaid or General Casey. We .work in concert with them. but they are a sovereign nation. What are the consequences if this Government were not able to exercise the reins of sovereignty because of such conditions of further deterioration in the security situation? What are the consequences. I ask my good friend? I would name several. in my judgment. First and foremost. that nation is. sitting on the second largest oil reserve in the worldthe second largest oil reserve. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6669,"word_count":279}
{"speech_id":1090168468,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we are here ostensibly debating a resolution that deals with the Secretary of Defense but. of course. the conversation has devolved into a discussion of the war against the radical Islamists and the .battle in Iraq. a battlefront of that war. Let me begin. though. by asking unanimous consent that at the end of my remarks we have printed in the RECORD a letter from Josh Bolton. of the administration. to the distinguished minority leader.","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":455,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090168474,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I make a unanimous consent as to the remaining speakers on the Democratic side. if I might. I apologize for interrupting the Senator from New York. I ask unanimous consent that the following speakers be recognized on the Democratic side in sequence. alternating with Republicans: Senator CLINTON for 10 minutes. Senator HARKIN for 15 minutes. Senator BOXER. 6 minutes. Senator CARPER. 5 minutes. Senator DORGAN. 10 minutes. Senator MURRAY. 5 minutes. Senator MIKULSKI. 5 minutes.. and Senator LAUTENBERG. 10 minutes. The sequence may be different. depending on who is in the Chamber. but those are the times allotted for which I ask unanimous consent.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":651,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090168484,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Thank you very much. Mr. President. I appreciate all the courtesy. Mr. President. this is really a sad day for me. It is a very sad day. as we are coming up on the anniversary of September 11. as I remember the fear that gripped the Capitol and gripped the United States of America. I remember us being outside on the steps of the Capitol on the evening of September 11 when we stood together and sang \"God Bless America\" together. when we were one Nation indivisible and when we were united and we were so determined to fight that global war against terrorism. I joined with all of my colleagues and I voted to give the President the power to use lethal force to pursue the terrorists and pursue the Taliban and take the fight to Afghanistan. And how pleased I was with the victory in Afghanistan and the way. then. that the Afghan people came together in their Loya Jurga to choose Mr. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA MIKULSKI","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6038,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090168494,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It doesnt make sense to me. and it doesnt make sense to millions across the country. Before the war. Secretary Rumsfeld said: We know where the weapons of mass destruction are. But now we know that there was no real evidence that Iraqis had WMDs. He also said that the Iraqis would welcome U.S. troops and that Iraqi resistance would be limited. That was obviously wrong. He also failed to build coalitions with our allies. That doesnt stop him from referring to the coalition experience that we are having. There is virtually no coalition existence there. with the exception perhaps of the U.K. and Canada. In fact. -Secretary Rumsfeld went out of his way to mock our allies when he should have been reaching out to them. ","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7316,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090168519,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I say to my friends on the other side. if the effort were mismanaged as badly by a Democratic administration. I bet we would be having this debate in September of 2006. This is a reasonable debate. I say that as one who has voted for most of this administrations nominees who had to be confirmed. wh6 tried to help a bunch of my old colleagues. including Secretaries Thompson. Ridge. Leavitt. Whitman. and othirs to put together their teams to help govern this country. Every now and then the time comes to change course. We know what we are doing is not working. One of the keys to changing course. frankly. is to change leadership. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3402,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090168528,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will momentarily send an amendment to the desk. But my disappointment is that the majority. as they have done for years when a tough -issue comes before the Senate. through technical means. is preventing Senators and preventing the Senate from expressing its willin this instance on this resolution of no confidence. This is unfortunate. We should have the ability to vote on this amendment.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":408,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090168547,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I certainly believe Senator WARNER outlined the whole concept of civil war very clearly. You can: call it a civil war if you want. but the question is. when you put it into an amendment that demands we have a report to assess a finding by the Department. which it must make whether or not there is a civil war going on. and then give it instructions based on how it makes that decision. I think. is micromanaging the Defense Department. If there is one thing we should not do on an appropriations bill is try to micromanage the Defense Department. I urge the Senate not to support this amendment. I do believe the reports we are getting right now give us some measurement of what is going on. and on the basis of that lets make judgments which we should make. For instance. this bill measures progress toward a democratic Iraq. It describes the obstacles toward political progress. and it gives us a comparison of the situation in individual Iraqi homes. It tells us about the black market in Iraq and how it might affect what we are doing over there. It discusses the alQaida influence in Iraq and the recent developments in the security environment. ","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6164,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090168576,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is going to be closed in a couple years because of BRAC. Let the landscapers do their job. Let the doctors and nurses do their job. Lets do our job and pass the MikulskiSarbanes amendment.","speaker_name":"BARBARA MIKULSKI","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":983,"word_count":36}
{"speech_id":1090168589,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to pay tribute to Wayne S. Fenton. M.D.. Director of the Division of Adult Translational Research and Associate Director for Clinical Affairs at the National Institute of Mental Health who was tragically murdered on Dr. Fenton was a man truly passionate about working with the most severe mentally ill population. He was a compassionate and tireless advocate for people with mental illness and the families so desperately trying to help them. He went above and beyond the call of duty and continued a private practice outside of his work at the National Institute of Mental Health. In his private practice. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3083,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090168592,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. last week. an excellent article in the New York Times of Augast 29 detailed the renaissance of Pittsfield. MA. which has adopted a bold economic revitalization strategy centered on the arts and historic preservation involving the restoration of the popular Colonial Theater of a century ago. Pittsfield mayor James Ruberto and the entire Pittsfield community came together behind this bold vision. which received major encouragement a decade ago when the theater was included as part of First Lady and now Senator HILLARY RODHAM CLINTONS highly effective Save Americas Treasures tour. The Colonial Theater certainly qualified as an American Treasure. The restored theater reopened on August 29 to wide acclaim. and I am proud of all that the mayor and the community have accomplished. This recognition of their efforts is eminently welldeserved. and I believe all of our colleagues in Congress will be interested in Pittsfields extraordinary achievement. I commend Mayor Ruberto and the people of Pittsfield for a job well done. and I ask that the article be printed in the RECORD. The article follows. [From The New York Times. Aug. 29. 2006]","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1158,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090168603,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And I hope we can remain focused on the goal of making America safer and continuing to honor the victims of 9\/11. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2451,"word_count":37}
{"speech_id":1090168616,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on September 6. 2006. at 10:30 a.m.. to hold a closed briefing. THE PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection. it is so ordered.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":259,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090168628,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask date. the time for the two leaders be unanimous consent that the Judiciary reserved. and the Senate proceed to a Committee be discharged from further period for the transaction of morning consideration of S. Res. 448 and the business for up to 30 minutes. with the Senate proceed to its immediate con- first 15 minutes under the control of sideration. the Democratic leader or his designee","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":410,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090168730,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to follow my Texas colleague. in fact my neighbor in the Houston area. and say the House is spending more time today on this horse .bill than we are on homeland security. and we need to deal with that. We need to protect our borders. ports and airports. If you dont like the bill. I am a cosponsor of it. you can just vote \"nay.\" Mr. Speaker. the reason I am here today is because I recently learned that the U.S. Department of Education failed to award the LULAC National Education Service Centers a grant under the Talent Search Program.","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":559,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090168733,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today I rise to highlight the struggle of American working families. The Census Bureau reported that American families are living paycheck to paycheck. struggling to make ends meet and going deeper into debt. even as they are working harder and are more productive. Housing costs and interest rates are skyrocketing. Thd income of American families continues to stagnate even as health care. energy and college costs keep going up. The number of Americans without health insurance has risen by 16 percent to 46 million people. equal to the population of 24 States and the District of Columbia. This includes more than onethird of my constituents in east Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley. not to mention the 5 million more Americans living in poverty under this administration. We need a new direction to help Americas working families achieve the American dream. not more tax breaks for the wealthy oil corporations. I urge my colleagues to please reject the failed economic policies of the Republican Congress and instead honov hard work. fair wages and economic growth.","speaker_name":"HILDA SOLIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1090,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090168737,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is a disgrace. This Republican Congress is doing nothing. It is the biggest donothing Congress that we have ever seen. We come here to talk about horse protection. We have been out for 6 weeks. The American people want more.","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1254,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090168773,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker..1 yield myself 3 minutes. Mr. Speaker. I hope that the absence of speakers on the other side of the aisle is a reflection that there will be bipartisan support for this motion to instruct the House conferees on the defense bill. If so. then I think that is very good news for our military retirees. I certainly want to express my respect to my friend and colleague. Mr. HEFLEY. who is a great champion for our military. both those on active duty and our retirees. What is a little bit disconcerting. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS EDWARDS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1465,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090168782,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is a retail program. As a matter of fact. I created the outofnetwork retail pharmacy network to give these veterans a choice. the military retirees. so that they can gain access to some new blockbuster drug and pay a little bit more money for it. But. please. my colleagues. do not. just before an election. open up the Federal Supply Schedule. Do not do this. We do this to protect very important members of our society who have been injured. and the disabled. q Now. what has been challenging to us is that Congress then. subsequent to having passed this. the Federal Supply Schedule. to gain access to lower cost medications for these disabled veterans. we opened up access to the VA. You have individuals who have gained greater access into the VA. That begins an erosion. I understand that. Now we say. oh. my gosh. if these veterans are gaining access to the Federal Supply Schedule. then what about members to DOD. ","speaker_name":"STEPHEN BUYER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4402,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090168783,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What are we aoing? We are perhaps saving enough money so that the Defense conferees dont have to actually force a 100 percent increase in the copay for generic drugs to military retirees and a 77 percent increase in the copay for military retirees to buy namebrand drugs. That is what we are doing. What we are doing is taking a law that was passed in 1992 that the Veterans Administration in 2002 said provides the authority to provide this discount to retail pharmacies and just clarifying that law. Apparently. it wasnt the Department of Defense or Veterans Administration that opposed the kind of language I am supporting. it was the drug companies who filed lawsuits in this matter. to prevent military retirees for getting cheaper prices. I dont find the pharmaceutical manufacturers filing lawsuits so that they could make less money.","speaker_name":"THOMAS EDWARDS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1686,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090168803,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I only wanted to respond to Mr. EDWARDS comments that he understands there is a lawsuit because the drug companies do not want to give discounts on their drugs to the retail pharmacies. paraphrasing what I believe you said. That is not what the lawsuit is. That is not what the lawsuit is about. What the lawsuit is about. as I understand this. is that DOD created a virtual depot. and they created this virtual depot or warehouse because they had no authority under the statutes to do this. They needed to create a warehouse so they could obtain access to rebates that are being done out in the private sector. So it was clever. It was smart and clever. but they had no authority to do this. ","speaker_name":"STEPHEN BUYER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":933,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090168806,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"on their sincere concern for the welfare of our veterans. They see things differently on this particular issue. but that doesnt take away from the concern that both have. They are good friends. and I know where their heart is on this. and it is in the right place. As I said earlier. we have had the kind of debate I wish we could have more often here in the House of Representatives.","speaker_name":"THOMAS EDWARDS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":384,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090168821,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Virginia .","speaker_name":"C.L. OTTER","chamber":"H","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2330,"word_count":13}
{"speech_id":1090168831,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Processing provides a costeffective alternative to neglect and abandonment when horse owners are unable to find another buyer. It is not such a problem out in rural areas. but it is a major problem in urban areas. In 2005 alone. it saved owners and rescue facilities an estimated $220 million in total costs of caring for unwanted horses. The Animal Welfare council estimated that cumulative annual maintenance costs of otherwise processed horses since the year 2000 would have exceeded more than $513 million in 2005. It would cost $1.900 per year to house eacl unwanted and abandoned horse. not including veterinary or farrier services. It will cost $127 million in the first year to properly care for these animals if this legislation is enacted. Who will pay for this cost? You will pay for the cost in the end. These facilities do hot receive public money at the moment. but I can assure you that if these horses become a nuisance. you. the taxpayer. will end up paying for their care. H.R. 503 does not specify who will bear the costs of the .ban if this ban is implemented. What will happen to the management tools the Bureau of Land Management has to manage the wildlife of wild horse bans out in the western United States? If this bill is enacted. none of these horses who are unwanted. and although BLM does try to auction them off or to give them to pet owners. what will happen to those horses? What will happen when I am out riding. rounding up my cattle and my horse falls into a prairie dog hole and breaks his leg? Will I then not be able to send him to some rendering facility? What will happen or what is the next step? Will people take away our right to be able to go out and hunt elk? Is that the next step? I know that H.R. 503 is a wellintended act. but it will have very serious consequences on our agricultural community. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SALAZAR","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2803,"word_count":337}
{"speech_id":1090168832,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would make two points. One is that 90plus percent of the horses that are sent to slaughter facilities are lated by the USDA as being healthy and strong and fit animals. So this is not about putting down animals. and if you have that problem. there still are humane procedures. You can go to a local vet and have your local vet for $50 to $250 oversee the process of putting your animal down. Frankly. this bill does not stop an owner from putting a horse down themselves by any means. This bill prohibits the public transportation of that. This bill prohibits the slaughter for human consumption at these three facilities.","speaker_name":"JOHN SWEENEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1149,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090168841,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So what have you accomplished?","speaker_name":"COLLIN PETERSON","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":797,"word_count":5}
{"speech_id":1090168856,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"You never do that. And that is precisely vhat Mr. Robbie Solomon of Belmont. Mississippi. did. So I did want to point out exactly what is going on in this transportation of these animals to slaughter. and this is not soniething that is uncommon. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"ED WHITFIELD","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2579,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090168858,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We dont want to see that. But we have to have some way. because this will decrease the value of the average horse about $300 simply because of the burial fees and the extra costs of taking care of horses. So this is not a solution to the problem. The people in my area oppose it. and I would strongly urge we defeat the bill.","speaker_name":"THOMAS OSBORNE","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1214,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090168863,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. I yield myself 2 minutes. Madam Chairman. I would like to address one issue that the distinguished gentleman from Michigan raised. and we all have great admiration and respect for the gentleman from Michigan. He raised the question about how are we going to take care of all these horses that are not slaughtered when they die and the impact of those animals on the environment. I would remind the body that there are 133 million cows in America today. Every year many of them die out in the fields. Some of them are picked up by renderers and processed. but many of them are drug to the back 40 where they are decomposed. eaten by scavengers and whatever. The same thing. would happen to horses that die out in the fields. In my State of Kentucky. only about 40 percent of the animals that die in the fields are picked up by renderers. - This bill would not affect what happens to natural death to animals in the field in any way whatsoever. ","speaker_name":"ED WHITFIELD","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1496,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090168865,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"When horses are euthanized on private lands. it is normally done with a -heavy dose of barbiturates. Once that horse succumbs to the barbiturates. the carcass becomes an environmental concern. And if the horse is disposed of on private land. we have to be concerned about the issues that lead to contamination. human exposure to zoonotic disease and related problems. The individuals who support H.R. 503 and argue unwanted horses can be moved to adoption facilities or resold are selling us short on the resources. The total take capacity for all these facilities is 6.000 head. 6.000 head. These facilities are already at overcapacity. Where would the additional 100.000 horses go? I would add that is a cumulative total of perhaps a 10year rolling total of 100.000 a year. It may be 1 million horses. But these horses are eating our cellulose and costing us ethanol.","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1890,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090168872,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"First: \"Horses are an integral part of the American culture and I am extremely distressed over the fact that our horses.. icons of our culture. are being slaughtered in foreignowned slaughterhouses to please the palates of wealthy gourmets in Belgium and France. Horse slaughter and human consumption of horse meat is not and never will be acceptable in American culture. Americans overwhelmingly agree that horse slaughter should be banned. Several national voter surveys reveal that 77 percent to 90 percent of Americans feel that horses in the United States are not bred. raised or produced as food stock. and as .such should be afforded the same protection from commercial slaughter as are all other nonfood producing animals. The last paragraph: \"Horses are our companions and partners. They carry our children in competition at the county 4H fair. make our country proud in the Olympic games. win Kentucky Derbys and Triple Crowns. carried our soldiers into battle and helped our forefathers to settle this country. They deserve. better than ending up served on the plates of fancy restaurants from Belgium and Paris.\" Madam Chairman.. I join my colleagues today who support H.R. 503. and I hope and pray that this Congress will pass this legislation because horses are part of the history of this Nation and the West would never have been settled if it had not been for the horses working with the American citizens to build America. Subject: Please vote for H.R. 503 as originally introduced. Hon. ","speaker_name":"WALTER JONES","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2576,"word_count":248}
{"speech_id":1090168874,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Chairman. I thank the gentlewoman from Illinois for yielding me the time. Madam Chairman. I rise in strong support of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. The House has gone on the record three times now in strong opposition to horse slaughter. I hope my colleagues will maintain that record. maintain their consistency and give overwhelming support of this bill. It is a sad state of affairs when we have to fight to prevent the slaughter of more than 90.000 American horses a year. Horses are an integral. part of the tapestry of this country. an American icon. The horse is a symbol. a promise of possibility. Most of all. the horse is a companion. as we just heard in the letter of Mr. ","speaker_name":"NICK RAHALL","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2206,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090168879,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"A parliamentary inquiry. Could you explain the remaining time that is available. The Acting OHAIRMAN . Yes: The gentleman from Kentucky has 2V minutes remaining. The gentleman from Virginia has 4 minutes remaining. The gentleman from Minnesota has 4 minutes remaining. and the gentlewoman from Illinois has 2 minutes remaining.","speaker_name":"ED WHITFIELD","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":327,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090168888,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We dont allow horse meat to be eaten in this country. To allow the shipment of meat overseas is a bit hypocritical. While some may have expressed concern about the cost of disposing of sick horses. the fact is. according to the USDA. 90 percent of horses arriving in slaughter are in good condition. There are many alternatives other than horse slaughtering. and among those options are horse welfare associations and equine sanctuaries. The bill responds to a strong American concern about the treatment of horses. in addition to prohibiting the trade and transfer of live horses intended for human consumption. H.R. 503 lessens the USDAs workload by reducing the number of animals requiring inspection. I urge my colleagues to.vote in support of this bill.","speaker_name":"MARK FOLEY","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1364,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090168889,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So this is a peerreviewed article that refutes that assertion that was made by","speaker_name":"COLLIN PETERSON","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":792,"word_count":14}
{"speech_id":1090168918,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Many of these horses have many years of life expectancy left in them. so they are going to accumulate over a period of years. In fact. the American Veterinary Medical Association says over 6 years they will grow to 272.000 in number. That is far. far more than the capacity of all the horse sanctuaries around the country that exist today. And there is no sign of their growing rapidly to meet this need because they cannot even meet the current need to take care of the unwanted horses that exist in this country right now as we speak. So I would urge my colleagues to support this very good amendment that will cure a very serious flaW in this legislation. and then we will have the opportunity to see who is correct about how many unwanted horses we are going to have in this country. Are the experts. the American Veterinary Medical Association. the horse doctors. the Horse Owners Associations around the country. who strongly support this amendment. correct. or are they correct? I think this is a fair amendment. and I would urge my colleagues to adopt it.","speaker_name":"BOB GOODLATTE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1765,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090168931,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They have recipes today. And this is something that infringes upon peoples property rights and their cultural rights. And if we are going to say this to the Native American people that we are going to pull these assets out from underneath you and you cant do with a horse what you have done for hundreds of years. I think that is a message that we are not going to want to send across America.","speaker_name":"STEVE KING","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1456,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090168932,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am writing to ask for your support in cosponsoring the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. The AHSPA has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Representative John Sweeney (RNY) who is chair of the Congressional Horse Caucus and Congressman John Spratt (DSC). A similar bill will soon be before the U.S. Senate. Despite the passage of the WildFree Roaming Wild Horses and Burros Act of 1971 which was enacted to protect the wild horse from slaughter. hundreds. perhaps thousands. continue to be slaughtered each year. The Bureau of Land Management removed too many wild horses from their ranges resulting in ongoing sales to the slaughterhouses. If you wish to learn more about these activities. please contact Chris Heyde of the Society for Animal Protective Legislation. In a Sacred Hoop of life. where there is no ending and no beginning! Thank you for your attention to this effort. Mitakuye Oyasin (All my relations). ","speaker_name":"ED WHITFIELD","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4849,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090168935,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And we have been tied to the horse. the eagle. These symbols of American strength. of American greatness. are sources of inspiration. My very good friend Mr. WHITFIELD understands what this is really about. This is about preserving a symbol. We cannot allow the kind of slaughtering that takes place. More than 100.000 horses. Imagine. And the fact is they are slaughtering the healthy. fatter horses that have been well taken care of. They do not want the infirm. the old. the lame horses. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2275,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090168966,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I regret that. because I was taking my children to their first day of school. I missed one vote on September 7. 2006. Had I been present I would have voted \"yes\" on H. Res. 981 (Providing for the consideration of the bill H.R. 503 to amend the Horse Protection Act to prohibit the shipping. transporting. moving. delivering. receiving. possessing. purchasing. selling. or donation of horses and other equines to be slaughtered for human consumption.).","speaker_name":"ROBERT ANDREWS","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":464,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090168984,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I understand. On the following Friday. the 22nd. as the gentleman knows. Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown on that day. That is the first day of Rosh Hasianah. One of the problems. as you know. that we have is Members getting back to the West Coast in time to observe Rosh Hashanah appropriately. Friday the 22nd is currently on the schedule. Can you comment on that?","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":365,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090168985,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I will work with you to accommodate our Members who want to 6bserve this religious holiday. Ido understand the problem for Members on the West Coast. We will work with you to come to some resolution. We dont want to put any Members in a difficult travel position when it comes to observance of their religious holidays.","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":319,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090169012,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. It is time for accountability. It is time for a new direction. It is time to audit Americas books.","speaker_name":"DENNIS CARDOZA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1067,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090169017,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Armed Services Committee is nearing agreement to add $20 billion to the Defense Authorization Act for next year to try to help fix this grave situation. This will help. but the Departments readiness problems are too large to be fixed by a onetime investment. Together. the Army and Marine Corps need an astounding $29 billion in 2007 to repair or- replace equipment damaged in Iraq and Afghanistan. The amount is only part of the overall bill that represents a snapshot in time of a problem that is large and continues to graw. The problem has developed over time due to mismanagement and a failure on the part of the administration to adequately plan for Iraq. It cannot be solved overnight. Congress can continue to provide bandaids for readiness shortfalls by . funding through supplementals. but the Army and Marine Corps are limping along. They cannot keep pace with falling readiness levels. The only way to truly solve this problem is for the administration to commit to fully funding the needs of the Department of Defense. This country is at war. ","speaker_name":"IKE SKELTON","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3389,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090169038,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In both cases. that doctrine andcorollary were rejected in favor of the doctrine of preemption and unilateralism. which has left our allies looking at us as we twist slowly in the winds of Iraq. as Friedman says. babysitting an insurrection and civil war while our most precious of resources. our men and women who serve this country. are in harms way. We need a new direction. We ought to send a viery clear signal to the world. to the people in this country that it is time for accountability. that it is time to say that mistakes were made and then move on. And we can start with Defense Secretary Rumsfeld stepping down. as he should. The head of the 9\/11 Commission has indicated to both Republicans and Democrats alike that we need to continue to adopt those resolutions and recommendations that they have found in their studies. 20 of which still arent implemented. which is over half. And so in order to prosecute the war on terror. we have got to be able to accomplish those goals. But without a Congress that wants to hold the President accountable. that is not going to happen. A gentleman that has been doing just that and speaking out in his district has been TIM BISHOP of New York. and at this time. I would like to yield to him.","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3785,"word_count":227}
{"speech_id":1090169040,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the gentleman will let me ask a question. knowing you are from New York and knowing specifically you are from Long Island. and. of course. with a solemn date approaching us of September 11. do most citizens in New York understand. in your estimation. the difference between the war on global terrorism and the war in Iraq and see them as different subject matters. or. as IKE SKELTON on the Armed Services Committee has been so nobly trying to demonstrate. the difference between the insurrection and civil war in Iraq and the war on terror? Or has the administrations attempts to blur the lines confused people? What is the sense of New Yorkers?","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":649,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090169041,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"My sense is that New Yorkers have not been fooled. My sense is that New Yorkers. and there is hardly a New Yorker who did not lose a loved one or did not lose a friend in the Twin Towers. most New Yorkers recognize that we are fighting two separate and distinct wars. despite. as you say. the administrations efforts to blur the distinction and to cojoin them in an effort to justify somethingthat the vast majority of Americans now recognize was a tragic mistake. . When I go around my district. one of the questions I ask people is do they feel safer today. in August of 2006. than they did on September 12. 2001. and the answer overwhelmingly is no. The answer overwhelmingly is no. I think most people recognize in my district. and I am grateful for this. that the war in Iraq. which was purportedly to make us safe. make us more safe. has in fact imperiled us beyond where we were the day we invaded. I think that that is an important recognition and an important distinction for those of us who recognize the distinction needs to continue to be made.","speaker_name":"TIMOTHY BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1056,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090169055,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Only if you care cause I d6 believe that in many ways about taxpayer money. I mean. the ex- this administration has created more amples are so bald and so bad that it is problems in the Middle East than they almost laughable if it wasnt what was have solved. going on today and it was taking us I agree with the gentleman from down the wrong trail. Washington that a good part of this has What has been said here today is. I to do with the inadequate leadership at was reading the MiddleEastern papers the Department of Defense. but we today. everybody says that half of Af- should never forget that this policy is ghanistan is now under control of the driven by the President and the Vice Taliban. That is universal in the press. President and there is a unanimity of The British general there is saying thinking in this administration about we are losing this thing. he is worried. the Middle East. the conviction that We will not get a change unless we -get - we could simply force our will on sevsome hard questions asked. We are eral hundred million people and bend them to become something that we want them to become. regardless of their own intentions. But I wanted to speak for a minute tonight about how Congress. this Republican Congress. has aided and abetted the administration by giving up its constitutional role of exercising oversight over the executive branch. It is absolutely stunning to me how both the House and the Senate have done everything that they could to rubber stamp administration policies in Iraq and cover up for them. A few examples. going back to when Democrats controlled the Congress in the 1980s. there was an Oversight Subcommittee on Armed Services. and that oversight subcommittee discovered those $500 hammers and $6.000 toilet seats and put an end to much of that kind of overcharging. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5500,"word_count":323}
{"speech_id":1090169056,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It seems like we are being treated to a late summer\/early fall offensive. I would say smoke screeii on the part of this administration to convince the American people that we need to stay the course in order to be safe. Basically what they are doing is they are engaged in defending the indefensible. The only way they can defend a war that the American people have clearly turned against is to present it in a context that makes it appear to be reasonable or defensible. but in fact quite the opposite is the case. I think all of us as elected officials. we have no more solemn responsibility than to provide for the safety and security of those who have elected us to represent them. But I think a fairminded person has to look at the record of where this administration has taken this Nation and where this Congress. complicit in the strategies and objectives of this administration. have taken this country. Every single place you look. it reeks with failure. The 9\/11 Commission presented to us 41 carefully crafted bipartisan recommendations. Thig Congress has only acted on 20 or 21 of them. The 9\/11 Commission. again a bipartisan group. has given this administration and this Congress 14 Ds. 5 Fs and 2 incompletes on those recommendations.","speaker_name":"TIMOTHY BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1249,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090169064,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If I can just go back to a point made by Tom Allen. The lack of accountability. the abrogation. if you will. of this bodys constitutional responsibility to conduct oversight. We serve on different committees. I happen to be the senior Democrat. the ranking member. on a subcommittee of International Relations that is entitled Oversight and Investigations. We have not held one serious hearing relative to Iraq in the past 2 years. And I know that. prior to that. for the past 5 years. Iraq has been off the chart in terms of the committees considerations. You dont talk about it unless there is good news. What I wanted to do was to bring before the committee. not Secretary Rumsfeld because we have heard enough from him. He is an F. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2652,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090169075,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this morning the first 30 minutes of session will be devoted to a morning business period for Senators to make statements. Shortly after 10 a.m.. we will resume our work on the Defense appropriations bill. We worked into the evening last night and voted on a couple of the pending amendments. Therefore. we will finish the bill during todays session. The two managers can update us when we return to the bill. but it is my hope we can finish the bill early today and move on to other business. I know I can speak for the chairman and say it is imperative we do not delay this defense funding bill any longer and we move toward passage quickly. Several committees have been meeting on the issue of port security. We should be ready to begin that important Homeland Security bill next. We will have further updates during todays session as to the timing of finishing the Defense bill as well as the next order of business.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":935,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090169080,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I always say: We welcome your prayers. keep praying. We certainly need those prayers. I asked my staff to give me a little bit of background on Father. to say a few words. I have 10 pages of accomplishments. What a remarkable tale of accomplishmentand still a young pup. I am honored you are here. Thank you for coming and starting our day on the right foot. I would say to those people from other States. in talking to the Presiding Officer before the session began. he was asking where the Greek Church is in our State. If you come through Delaware on 195. and a lot of people do. in the early part of June. you get off on Pennsylvania Avenue and head north a couple of blocks. make a left turn on Broom Street. you will find the Greek Church. They hold a great festival there. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2011,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090169084,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. west of Baghdad in Iraqs Al Anbar Province. the 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion of the 1st Marine Division rested for the night. On Saturday. June 29. a suicide bomber crashed his vehicle into a barrack. The structure collapsed. Four marines died. Among them was a 28yearold corporal named Phillip Baucus. He is my nephew. When I first took my wife Wanda to the family ranch many years ago. about 23. young Phillip. 5 or 6 years old. received Wanda. He walked up to Wanda and said: Wanda. welcome to the ranch. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3520,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090169133,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have failed to do so. I think this amendment brings the Senate. in hopefully a bipartisan way. to say we want to give focus and attention to finding and bringing to justice Osama bin Laden. Listening to Senators. I am mindful that at the end of this year we will have been fighting the war in Iraq longer than we fought in World War II. Understand that we took on the Germans in western Europe. north Africa. the Japanese in the Far East. mobilizing 12 million to 14 million people over this period of time. And we will have by the end of the yearwe are now in Septemberwe have been fighting in- Iraq longer than we fought in World War 1128 million people. We virtually occupied with air supremacy over the whole countrythe top third of it and the lower third of it was a heavy embargo. violations of embargoes. But the amount was $14 billion a year in terms of the military. and we now have servicemen still weighted down over there. I agree with those who said the service men and women have done their job. The politicians havent done theirs with regard to Iraq. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6574,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090169141,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I did not make this a political matter.7I make this a matter of policywhat is the right thing to do for our country. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2296,"word_count":27}
{"speech_id":1090169170,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I would remind them that just because there has not been another terrorist attack on U.S. soil that does not mean alQaida has been eliminated or thatbin Laden has been rendered ineffective. So I am in incredibly strong support of Senator CONRADS amendment. Perhaps the face of Islamic terrorism has evolved. but . he still is our central focus.","speaker_name":"ROBERT MENENDEZ","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1576,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090169180,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"President. I ask for the yeas and nays on the Senators amendment.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":825,"word_count":12}
{"speech_id":1090169187,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But as I got older. I didnt run very fast. I wasnt as strong as I thought I was. so my baseball career was not much to write home about. PETE DOMENICIS is. PETE DOMENICI was a pitcher. PETE DoMENIcI pitched for a farm club of one of my favorite baseball teams. the Dodgers. where my good. close friend. Hall of Famer Greg Maddux. now pitches. PETE DOMENICI will not make the Hall of Fame for baseball. but he will for U.S. Senator. He is a wonderful man. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1945,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090169202,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to offer an amendment that would limit funds for any future public relations campaign being commissioned by the Pentagon to promote positive coverage of the war in Iraq. We first learned about this $20 million PR campaign to improve the image of President Bushs Iraq policy in the Washington Post last week. In my mind. this proposal is not just irresponsible. it is an insult to the thousands of Iraqi citizens and coalition forces who have died in this war. At a time when this violent insurgency continues to expand and American troops are putting their lives on the line day in and day out. what is the administrations focus? A better public relations campaign? The Bush . administration doesnt need a new PR campaign in Iraq. They need a new policy in Iraq. We must change the course in Iraq. not waste time or money for public relations efforts. We must work to reduce the insurgency. not suppress news reports of its existence. We must strive to improve the situation on the ground in Iraq. not focus on changing the spin. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT MENENDEZ","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8727,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090169238,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to offer an amendment along with my colleague from Indiana. Senator EVAN BAYH. which would provide an additional $65.4 million for the procurement of Predators for our special- operations forces. The Predator is an unmanned aerial vehicleor UAV. for shortused for armed reconnaissance. airborne surveillance. -and target acquisition. Ithas become a critical asset in the war on terror. It is a small. remotely piloted aircraft that brings the battlefront to the military. Through the use of cameras and other sensors. the Predator monitors. in real time. buildings or people. Because it is unmanned. it is ideal for use in areas that are inaccessible to the U.S. military such as areas where the airspace is unsecure. the terrain is unpassable. or the environment is contaminated by chemical or biological weapons. The Predator systems hardware consists of a small- monoplane with sensors. a ground control station. and data communications system. ","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5904,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090169244,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Very well. I have no objection. This money. if nothing else. would be available to replace some of the Predators that have been lost. So we are willing to accept it. but if the Senator wishes a vote. I would ask thatMr. President. I ask for the yeas and nays on his amendment.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":276,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090169308,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Kennedy amendment No. 4857 be agreed to. with the motion to reconsider laid upon the table. I further ask unanimous consent that the Rockefeller amendment No. 4906 be withdrawn. and further. that the managers amendment. which has been cleared by both managers. which is at the desk. be considered and agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. I ask unanimous consent that following this action. the Senate proceed to vote in relation to September 7..2006 the Reed amendment No. 4911. with no seconddegree amendment in order to the amendment prior to the vote and that there be 4 minutes for debate equally divided prior to that vote. I ask unanimous consent that following disposition of that amendment. the only other amendment in order to the bill be the BingamanDomeniciBurnsDorgan amendment relating to. firefighters. and that following disposition of that amendment. the bill be read a third time and the Senate proceed to vote on final passage of the bill. the Senate then insist on its amendments. request a conference with the House. and the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on the part of the Senate.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1186,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090169337,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this aniendment that is offered by myself and Senator BAYH would add $64.7 million to continue an accelerated acquisition of Predator. These are unmanned aerial vehicles that are critical to our war on terror. They were instrumental in the detection and the ultimate destruction of Zarqawi and. other terrorists. They.are the chief tool of our special operations forces in terms of going after. seeking. finding. and destroying terrorists and terrorist networks. There was a plan to accelerate the deployment of these UAVs. That plan was disrupted. if you will. because of decisions previously made. But I think today we can send a uniform and unanimous message that we need to acquire these six additional UAVs to create ultimately a squadron of UAVs for our special operations - command. With these weapons systems. we can continue to deal effective and decisive blows against terrorists. I urge unanimous passage of this legislation adding $64.5 million. ","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1219,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090169350,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank my good friend from Texas for her support by cosponsoring my amendment. I have enjoyed a wonderful working relationship with Senator HUTCHISON on a number of issues. especially veterans issues. We have worked together to increase veterans health care funding as well as veterans research funding. We just recently worked together on an amendment to provide credit monitoring services to Veterans and active duty servicemembers at no cost in response to the theft of a Veterans Administration laptop computer. Senator HUTCHISON and I. as well as other Senators from both sides of the aisle. are here today in an effort to give our veterans the health care they so rightfully deserve. Those -returning servicemembers who suffered a traumatic brain injury need the best quality care available and this amendment is a long step in that direction. I thank the Senior Senator from Texas for her support and her leadership as chairman of the Veterans Affairs Appropriations Committee on this issue.","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":999,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090169362,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We will not be voting tomorrow. We want to have all opening statements tonight and tomorrow on the port security bill. We will have announcements tomorrow morning as to whether we will be voting on \"Monday. The Democratic leader and I will make that announcement.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":791,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090169379,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to present the Port Security Improvement Act of 2006. This bill will help to close dangerous gaps in our ability to protect our shipping lanes and seaports from attack. A number of our colleagues have worked very hard on this bill. This bill reflects not only bipartisan consultation and support but coordination among the Senate Homeland Security Committee. the Commerce Committee. and the Finance Committee. I thank our leader. Senator FRIST. for encouraging and facilitating those discussions. I particularly wish to thank my colleague. Senator MURRAY. who joined me in sponsoring the GreenLane cargo security bill in November of 2005. which has served as the basis for the legislation we debate tonight. ","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8333,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090169384,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"TWIC Program. Again. we would require DHS to publish a final rule on the implementation of this program by the end of this year. Finally. this comprehensive legislation would authorize the competitive. riskbased Port Security -Grants Program. It would have stable. consistent funding set at $400 million each year for the next 5 years. This is a significant commitment of resources. and it will allow our ports to plan and to undertake multiyear projects that require a sustained investment. N The Port Security Improvement Act of 2006 will help us construct an effective. layered. coordinated system that extends from the point of origin to the point of destinatiom. It will cover the people. the vessels. the cargo. and the facilities involved in our maritime commerce. And it addresses a major vulnerability identified time and again by terrorism experts. Mr. President. ","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5434,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090169398,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to pay tribute to the men and women in uniform serving the United States around the world. and observe a somber milestone in Michigans contribution to Operation Iraqi Freedom. In August. the 100th member of the U.S. Armed Forces from Michigan made the ultimate sacrifice while serving in Iraq. U.S. Army 1SG Aaron Jagger of Hillsdale died when a roadside bomb detonated near his vehicle in Ramadi. Iraq. Sergeant Jagger was serving his second tour in Iraq. I offer my heartfelt condolences to Sergeant Jaggers family. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1788,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090169401,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it is with great pleasure that I rise to celebrate EaglePicher Technologies. LLC. on the companys \"One Billionth Hour\" in space as represented by the superior batteries the firm designs and builds and that power U.S. satellites. Recognizing the need for custom designed and built batteries. the technologies division at EaglePicher works on a variety of batteries for aerospace and military use. which the company calls special use batteries. The companys technology division. based in Joplin. MO.. continues a tradition that stretches back to the 1960s when EaglePicher provided power systems for the first United States satellites and the manned Mercury program. Today. EaglePicher nickelhydrogen cells are powering spacecraft orbiting Earth and beyond. I commend Eagle Picher. its leadership and its dedicated employees in Misgouri on their commitment to maintaining the highest standards while breaking new ground for power systems and advanced electrical power system applications. I am pleased to join with the Joplin community and the State of Missouriin congratulating the company and wishing the firms valued employees with continued growth and success.*","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1178,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090169403,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Jack Brown went on to become the president and CEO of Stater Bros. Markets. one of the Nations largest supermarket chains. Today San Bernardino Valley College can look back on a proud history of growth and change in the San Bernardino Valley and California. I applaud the service and dedication of the faculty. staff. and students of San Bernardino Valley College as they celebrate 80 years of improving liveg and education to the people of the Inland Empire and southern California.*","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3342,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090169408,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This year on September 17 at 3:00 pm. this longtime chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution will participate in \"Bells Across America\" to -commemorate the signing of the Constitution and to recognize all citizens of the United States of America. I applaud the Daughters of the American Revolution for their continued dedication to celebrating the importance of the Constitution through education and activism. Moreover. I commend the Fort Miro Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Monroe. LA. for doing this fine work on behalf of the State of Louisiana.*","speaker_name":"DAVID VITTER","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1463,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090169424,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In Kelo. the Supreme Court gave the legal mandate that the \"broad reading\" of the takings clause of the fifth amendment includes taking from one private citizen and giving it to another as long as the city claims an economic benefit. Changing the definition of the fifth amendment to mean \"more tax dollars for the city.\" is not only incongruous. it is outrageous. This philosophy comes out of a socialistic presumption that all property really belongs to the State. that the State is the true landlord. and that people are allowed to use the land until the State gets a better offer. The Supreme Court is opening up the gate of opportunity to these cities essentially saying: \"Hey. if you need money. just condemn some property .... bulldoze the houses and sell the land to a giant retail store or factory that will generate lots of tax dollars.\" Once again. the courts have taken the Constitution and twisted it. actively and willfully pursuing their own radical and elitist policy. usurping the will of the people. and their elected representatives. The Supreme Courts Kelo decision is the pinnacle of a mutation of its takings clause jurisprudence. and essentially extends a governments condemnation power to include taking private property and giving it to another private party who willr raise revenue for a city or town. Justice Thomas. in his dissent. quoted renowned legal scholar William Blackstone whose \"Commentaries on theLaws of England\" eloquently described the authority of the law at the time the fifth amendment was drafted: \"The law of the land ... postpone[s] even public necessity to the sacred and inviolable rights of private property.\" Justice Thomas continued. agreeing with Justice Sandra Day OConnors wellstated warning taken from her dissenting opinion: If such \"economic development\" takings are for a \"public use.\" any taking is. and the Court has erased the Public Use Clause from our Constitution. Justice OConnor also explainedthat historically. the \"Government may compel an individual to forfeit her property for the publics use. but not for the benefit of another private person. This requirement promotes fairness as well as security.\" Professor Bradley Jacob. a constitutional law professor at Regent University School of Law. is gravely concerned by the Courts decision in Kelo. He observed: What the Court ruled in Kelo is not consistent with the Constitution. it is not consistent with the Declaration of Independence. and it is not consistent with the principles of liberty that underlie free Republican government. It was valid only in the eyes of those who accept the idea that the Supreme Court is our national superlegislature. imposing its views of wise social policy on an unwilling nation. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8590,"word_count":443}
{"speech_id":1090169443,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am proud to be an original cosponsor of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act. S. 2590. that I have brought before the Senate this evening. This is a simple bill. yet a profound bill. designed to simply shine more sunlight. shine that light that we all know is so necessary. on Federal spending. I am absolutely convinced that this bill will go a long way in ulti mately reflecting greater fiscal discipline and greater accountability. This is a simple bill but profound. profound in the sense of what it requires. One way to think of the bill is that it will create. for the very first time in the Executive Office of the President. the Office of Management and Budget. the equivalent of a Google search engine for all Americans to see how their Federal tax dollars are being expended. That is the simplicity of it all. I congratulate my colleagues. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2113,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090169581,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I took a trip to the west coast and toured the Long Beach Port in southern California. It was amazing. I took an aerial tour. talked to all of the people there from security to the people handling the containers. Over 13.00013.000containers come through that one port every day. It is the largest port in the country. It is the third largest in the world. It is not far from Los Angeles or LAX where 62 million passengers pass through annually. To say the least. this part of the country is a major front on the battle to protect our ports from terrorist attacks. I am delighted we did turn to the port security bill last night. We have much to do over the next several dayswith opening statements made last night and over the course of the day. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7369,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090169589,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank Senator COLLINS and Senator GRASSLEY for their cooperation. and our counterparts on the other side of the aisle. my colleagues Senator INOUYE. Senator MURRAY. and Senator BAUCUS. those who are working with us to move this bill as quickly as possible. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":292,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090169612,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Penn Station in New York City is used by over 500.000 transit. commuter. and intercity passengers each workday. Look at the amount of money we have spent to try to protect that vulnerable target as opposed to literally every major airport in America. This funding is all the more urgent given this summers arrest by the FBI of eight suspects tied to alQaida who were plotting attacks on train tunnels connecting New York and New Jersey. The legislation would also establish a grant program authorized at $350 million to help increase security by the freight railroads. Amtrak. shippers of hazardous materials. and local governments with security responsibility for passenger stations not owned by Amtrak. Further. DHS would be required to complete a vulnerability assessment of the rail network to terrorist attack and make recommendations to Congress for addressing security weaknesses. Importantly. to protect the taxpayers interests. all Amtrak authorizations would be managed by the Department of Transportation through formal grant agreements. We all know that we face a dedicated. focused. and intelligent foe in the war on terrorism. This enemy will probe to find our weaknesses and move against them. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8402,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090169614,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the Senator from Arizona for his comments. I might say on the visit that I made to Los Angeles Harbor. it is very clear that rail is essential for the 40 percent of the cargo that comes into the United States. The majority moves out of the Los Angeles Harbor by rail. and currently that is very sensitive because there is only one rail coming out of there and there should be multiple rails. Senator MCCAIN has offered S. 1052. which our committee reported in November of 2005. That bill contained sections of aviation. rail. trucking. and port security. In addition. Senator MCCAINs bill passed the Senate in 2004. It is not controversial. I will urge the Senate to let us pass it again without amendment so we can take it to conference. and I do believe it will become law. It is very clear it is as essential as the port security section. and I thank him for bringing it to the floor. ","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1649,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090169654,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"General Obering. and especially all the dedicated men and women of the MDA who helped make this test a success. General Obering stated that the test is about as close as we can come to an endtoend test of our longrange missile defense system. This success only builds upon a long record of missile defense intercepts and. more importantly. it is the fourth intercept in the last 90 days that used hittokill technology. In June. we launched a seabased AEGIS interceptor that was successful in intercepting a separating warhead. In July. we launched a landbased terminalphase interceptor. Terminal High Altitude Air Defenseor the THAADinterceptor. successfully intercepting the target. Very recently. we had a successful Patriot3 intercept that was conducted by the U.S. Army in collaboration with the Missile Defense Agency. There have been many naysayers and doubters on missile defense. but I am proud to have supported the Missile Defense Agency over the past several years as it has grappled in an intensive effort to track down and eliminate or minimize risks that have contributed to setbacks in the past. There is an emphasis on quality that is paying off. as witnessed by our most recent tests. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3501,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090169659,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Despite these troubling figures. FASD is still widely under diagnosed. misdiagnosed. or not diagnosed at all. Diagnosis is critical because many persons with FASD can overcome learning and behavioral problems and succeed but only with appropriate health. social. and educational resources. The cost of FASD is highmore than $3 billion each year in direct health care costs. The indirect financial and social costs are also greatincluding the cost of specialized health care. education. job training. and general support services. That is why prevention is so imperative. Prevention of FASD is seven times more cost effective than treating the disorder. But more importantly. abstaining from alcohol during pregnancy will save a family a lifetime of heartache and will prevent the greatest loss of all that of human potential. Senator TIM JOHNSON and I have introduced the Advancing FASD Research. Prevention. and Services Act. ","speaker_name":"LISA MURKOWSKI","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3942,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090169661,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Gary taught criminal justice at Indiana University Northwest. He devoted all of his energy to protecting and serving his community and to caring for his colleagues and their families in their time of need. He is survived by his wife Olga and two children. Greg and Jennifer. Like all of his colleagues in law enforcement. Chief Martin made daily sacrifices to ensure the safety of our streets. our neighborhoods. and our families. In an increasingly dangerous world. we depend on our brave men and women like Gary to protect us from violence and other threats to our communities. A lifelong Hoosier. he was also involved in numerous other public safety projects. including working to create a pilot program with Gary schools that sought to assure parents that their children would get to school. attend school. and return home safely. Lake County sheriff Rogelio \"Roy\" Domiguez recalled Martins leadership and warmth. saying \"Gary was a friend and a mentor to everyone in law enforcement and our entire community. He will be greatly missed by the thousands of students. police officers and others who simply call him friend.\" It is a rare man who can make such an impact on so many people over the course of one life. ","speaker_name":"EVAN BAYH","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2805,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090169664,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I wish to pay tribute to the remarkable achievement of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeast Indiana. which was named \"National 2006 Agency of the Year\" by Big Brothers Big Sisters of America this summer. This honor was achieved through the hard work and persistence of the entire staff. board of directors. Bigs. Littles. donors and other stakeholders. Headquartered in Fort Wayne. IN. the agency was established in August 1972 and continues to assist young adolescents who lack guidance and support by creating positive and enduring relationships between youth and adults and by supporting those relationships with appropriate screening. training and supervision. Presently. more than 1.100 area youth participate in Big Brothers Big Sisters programs in 10 Indiana counties and 2 Michigan counties. Several factors contributed to the agency receiving this years award. During the past 5 years. it has grown exponentially in many areas. from expanding the region it helps to increasing the length of the matches it provides. which grew by almost 120 percent between 2001 and 2005. ","speaker_name":"EVAN BAYH","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2705,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090169764,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we will shortly have a request for a vote on this amendment. as amended. Hopefully. it will take place around noon tomorrow. I know of no other business we have to come before us tonight. We will await the wrapup statement to be sent to us by the leaders office. I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":312,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090169783,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Their efforts reflected the words of the author Henry James: We work in the dark. we do what we can. we give what we have. Following those attacks. Americans did everything they could to help those directly affected. Those of us in Congress almost immediately made $40 billion available to initiate recovery. Since then. our country has been fortunate. We have met the terrorists abroad rather than here on our soil. and we have accomplished this in a way consistent with our ideals. Democracy is harder to move than a dictatorship. It moves slowly. but it moves surely. There is much more work left to do. but so far. we have been able to prevent another massive terrorist attack on our country. The terrorists who attacked us 5 years ago thought they could defeat us. ","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2768,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090169791,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to pay tribute to the innocent Americans who were killed in the terrorist attacks of September 11. 2001. I ask that we commemorate the emergency responders who provided relief in the aftermath of the attacks. I finally ask that we salute our brave men and women in uniform who have volunteered to serve their country in this time of need. I offer my condolences to the family of Al Marchand from Alamogordo. NM. a flight attendant on United Airlines flight 175 and one of the first casualties on this horrific day. Since that day. many New Mexicans have volunteered to serve their country by entering the ranks of our Armed Forces. Some lost their lives in this war to protect our way of life. I will ask that the attached Associated Press article containing the names of these proud soldiers be printalso will pay tribute to LTC Marshall A. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4615,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090169793,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today marks the fifth anniversary of the vicious attack on America by alQaida terrorists. Despite the passage of time. Americans still vividly recall with enormous pain and sorrow that dark and somber day. We honor the nearly 3.000 innocent Americans who lost their lives that day. We recall the brave firefighters and first responders who sacrificed their lives so that others could live. We vividly remember the images on television of the Twin Towers crumbling before our eyes. We could see from our office windows the plume of smoke rising from the Pentagon. and we realized that but for the grace of God and courage of the passengers on flight 93. the Capitol buildings and many of us could have met that same fate. We recall the pledge by all Americans that this type of attack will never. ever occur again. We recall how all of us in Congress came together in common purpose. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1825,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090169794,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I appreciate this opportunity to join my many friends from the Hispanic community in Indiana and across the country as we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. From September 15 through October 15. all Americans will take time to reflect upon and celebrate the many contributions that Americans of Hispanic and Latino descent have made to our Nation. Millions of Hispanic Americans have worked tirelessly to provide for their families. strengthen their communities. and enrich our national culture. I also wish to recognize the approaching 196th anniversary of Mexican Independence. I am hopeful that. as we commemorate this important milestone. we can also celebrate the remarkable friendship between our two nations as neighbors and partners for peace and justice in the world.","speaker_name":"RICHARD LUGAR","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":791,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090169798,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Even before Romania was a NATO member. it participated with troops and logistical support in the war on terrorism. Now. Romania is the fifth largest contributor of troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Ambassador Ducaru has been a strong supporter of Romanias participation in the process of democratic and economic reconstruction of Afghanistan and Iraq. pointing to the lessons learned of his own countrys dramatic and sometimes painful transformations in the last 16 years. He has been a constant advocate of cooperation between American businesses and the business potential of coalition countries. His support for democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq is not surprising because Ambassador Ducaru is a longtime advocate of democratic values. He is a member of the new generation of leaders that transformed Romania to an open free society following the revolution of 1989. He has been at the forefront of a new generation of Central European leaders whose countries have evolved from nondemocratic and closed societies to countries that preserve freedom. security. and economic opportunity. As he departs his current post to become the Romanian Ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. I express my gratitude for his efforts to build a strong and vibrant relationship between Romania and the United States. ","speaker_name":"SAMUEL BROWNBACK","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2753,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090169834,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today. following 30 minutes set aside for morning business. we return to the port security legislation. Yesterday we were able to adopt the McCain rail security amendment. as amended. and today we have scheduled a vote. to begin at noon. on Senator DEMINTs amendment on a national alert system. The vote at noon will be the first vote of the day. Following that vote. the Senate will recess for the weekly policy meetings to occur. For the remainder of the afternoon and evening. we will make further progress on the bill. with additional rollcall votes expected. It is my hope Senators will continue to work with the- managers on their amendments. and that will allow us to schedule votes as necessary. I do want to thank all Senators for participating in yesterdays east front observance of the anniversary of September 11. It was an emotional day across this country. and I was proud to stand with my Senate and House colleagues during that important tribute. Mr. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1053,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090169837,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I was honored to join with President Bush and others at the Pentagon yesterday to commemorate the. fifth anniversary of 9\/11. I was pleased. also to join my colleagues on the east steps of the Capitol last evening in an emotional tribute to those who died on that fateful day 5 years ago. Mr. President. 9\/11 was one of the darkest days of this Nations history. It brought America together. We were inspired by the bravery of our fellow Americans. We stood shoulder to shoulder with the President. And when he stood upon the mound of rubble at Ground Zero. with a bullhorn in hand. -he spoke for all of us. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3566,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090169840,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I come to the Senate floor in sadness. The President of the United States gives an address about the condition of our country 5 years after the events of 9\/11. He gives an address and lays out the scope of the problem we are confronting. There are people all .across this world who subscribe to a radical. perverted form of Islam and want to destroy everything we believe in. That is the enemy we are confronting. We are in an active war with our military against them in Afghanistan and Iraq. That is the reality. The minority leader just referred to it as sectarian violence. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10058,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090169879,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is the most incompetent. unbelievably dangerous trade strategy. and yet all we get from anybody is this talk about free trade. free trade. how wonderful it is. Well. this last month alone. we are up to our necks in $68 billion of debt. the majority of which is held by the Chinese and the Japanese. If this months trade deficit does not persuade some people to finally decide the current trade strategy is not working. then I guess nothing ever will. But let me just. from this 1 month. extrapolate what our yearly tfade deficit is with these various countries. We are running a trade deficit at a $240 billionayear level with China. Our trade deficit with the European Union is at a $140 billionayear level. OPEC. $120 billion a year. Japan. $90 billion a year. Canada. $70 billion a year. Mexico. $60 billion a year. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2803,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090169893,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Dubai Ports World takeover almost snuck under the radar. after getting scanty review from the CFIUS committee. There is only one bit of good that came from this Dubai Ports World fiasco. It revealed how little we had done to protect our ports and focused the Nation. and hopefully this administration. on bolstering port security in the United States and around the world. I am inclined to support the Port Security Improvement Act of 2006. but I am also very concerned that this bill does not go nearly far enough toward securing our seaports and shipping vessels. especially against the unspeakable danger of a nuclear weapon. This is our great nightmare. God forbidGod forbida nuclear weapon is shipped into this country and exploded. Nothing could be worse. So instead of doing little baby steps. instead of saying this is a 10- or 15year project. why arent we moving with alacrity to make ourselves safer against the greater danger we could face? I know my colleague from Connecticut. who has just walked in. has been very active on this issue and has been very helpful to me when I have offered amendments in this regard. We need to do much more to guard against nuclear weapons being smuggled into our country by sea. and we cant have any holes in our defenses. Today I am offering two amendments that will strengthen port security improvement in these key aspects. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES SCHUMER","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11120,"word_count":238}
{"speech_id":1090169894,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to speak on the overall bill before the Senate to express my strong support for it and to say I am proud to be an original cosponsor of the Port Security Improvement Act of 2006 and its predecessor. the GreenLane Cargo Act. Seeing that the clock is reaching noon. I ask unanimous consent we extend the time for the scheduled vote by 10 minutes.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":366,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090169916,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am well aware of the difficulties these smalltown law enforcement agencies face day to day. As attorney general in Colorado. I had the honor of working with 14.000 of some of Americas finest law enforcement officers. Many of them are from rural Coloradosheriffs such as Jerry Martin. from Dolores County. and the other sheriffs in my State. These people are always asked to do a lot more with a lot less. Their pressure is great. The growing demands on rural law enforcement and shrinking budgets have hit training programs particularly hard. Many rural law enforcement agencies simply dont have the budget to provide officers -with adequate training. Furthermore. even those agencies that can come up with the money cannot afford to take police officers off the street to get additional training. As attorney general and chairman of the Colorado Peace Officers Standards and Training Board a few years ago. one of my proudest accomplishment was working on a bipartisan basis to help establish a $1 million annual training fund for Colorados 14.000 peace officers. with the focus on the smaller law enforcement agencies in Colorado. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5670,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090169933,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. if I may ask the Senator from Alaska another question. and that is. -if we had a higher cap and were able to persuade the management of TSA to search for a larger pool of people. might we have more people available presently to serve? My experience from my corporate life tells me that you never quite reach the level you have. We see that in our staffing here. I urge the Senator from Alaska to respond to whether the Senator thinks we can improve our population of screeners who are -readily available if we search a little bit harder. train a little bit better. reduce the fatigue factor which now occurs and causes so many sick days. so many absences. and so much turnover because the job. at 60 hours a week. as many of our people are working. is a strain on them and they just cant take it.","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":811,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090169971,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. before I make my statement. which will be on the Reid amendment. I would like to congratulate Senator COLLINS. Senator INOUYE. Senator MURRAY. and all of the Members who worked in committee on this bill. Although one doesnt often tell tales of what happened in a Democratic caucus. I would like to quote Senator MURRAY in that caucus. She said. \"This bill will make a difference.\" I think that is a very dispositive. definitive. and positive statement. So I would like to offer my congratulations to the chairman of the committee and all who worked on it and thank them very much.","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":595,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090169986,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise in support of Senator MURRAYs amendment. I commend her for offering it. Each year. U.S. Customs and Border Protection collects more than $24 billion in Customs duties and fees. The amendment would extend the merchandise processing fee and passenger conveyance fee for an additional year. and our hope is that that money will then be targeted to pay for this bill. This makes sense. In many ways. it is a user fee. ","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":819,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090169995,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Now. this is the very same rhetoric and. if I may say. it is the very same hot air that we have been listening to and we have been hearing for 5 years5 years. Yes. we have been listening to it for 5 years. the same rhetoric. the same hot air that is used for lifting balloons. lifting balloons into the heavens. The administration. time and time again.. uses tough talk when it comes to homeland security. but. sadly. that tough talk rarely is followed up with real mohey. cash on the barrelhead. This month the majority leadership is once again playing a clever rhetorical game with homeland security. The port security bill that is before the Senate authorizes $400 million for port security grants. These grants would provide essential resources to our most vulnerable ports for building fences. deploying cameras and sensors. training security personnel. and - for verifying the identity of the thousands of port workers who access our ports every day. The Housepassed bill which authorized the same $400 million level was adopted by a vote of 421 to 2. But. I ask my colleagues. where. oh where is the $400 million? Where is it? Right now. the Senate and House are conferencing the Homeland Security appropriations bill for fiscal year 2007. The Senatepassed version of the bill includes an amendment that I offered with the support of my illustrious. inimitable chairman. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9289,"word_count":235}
{"speech_id":1090170002,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But it includes this provision. and other trade agreements have included the same provision. U.S. port operations that we couldnt block Oman from acquiring under the FTA. under our Free Trade Agreement with Oman. we would be prohibited from blocking an agreement that included landside aspects of foreign activities. including operations and maintenance of docks. loading and unloading of vessels. directly to or from land. marine cargo handling. ship cleaning. et cetera. In point of fact. we are negotiating trade -agreements that \"-include provisions which say we are -not able to block a foreign company owned by a foreign country from coming in and managing our seaports. That is what we are doing in trade agreements. Most of our trade negotiators have been fundamentally incompetent from the start. It was Will Rogers who said many decades ago that the United States of America has never lost a war and never won a conference. He surely must have been talking about our trade negotiators. They dont wear uniforms so they do not remember whom they represent. I have often threatened to buy them jerseys so they can look down and see whom they representthe good old U.S.A.-just like Olympic athletes represent the U.S.A. We negotiate trade agreements that we are told will strengthen this country. and month after month and year after year we sink deeper into this abyss of red ink. with now a $68 billion trade deficit in the last month alone. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9606,"word_count":243}
{"speech_id":1090170048,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"India. leaving over 200 dead and 700 injured. Last year. the LOndon subway system was the target of a tragic attack that left 50 people dead. and in 2004. almost 200 people were killedwhen bombs exploded on commuter trains in Madrid. Here. this past May. the Department of Homeland Security issued a specific warning to transit systems to remain alert against possible terrorist attacks. The warning said that four people had been arrested in separate incidents involving videotaping of European subway- stations and trains or similar activity. which the Department noted provides \"indications of continued terrorist interest in mass transit systems as targets.\" The threat is clear. In response. both the Federal Transit Administration and the Department of Homeland Security have worked with transit systems to identify steps that can be taken to help prevent and mitigate attacks. In fact. the greatest challenge to securing our Nations transit systems is not a lack of knowledge of what to do. but rather. a lack of resources with which to do it. In the words of the Government Accountability Office. \"Obtaining sufficient funding is the most significant challenge in making transit systems as safe and secure as possible.\" In. an editorial published shortly after the London subway bombings. the Baltimore Sun stated that. \"Since September 11. 2001. the Federal Government has spent $18 billion on aviation security. Transit systems. which carry 16 times more passengers daily. have received about $250 million. ","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4409,"word_count":239}
{"speech_id":1090170069,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Thank you. Mr. President. Mr. President. we are here on the floor of the Senate this evening talking about the maritime cargo security bill. This is an extremely important piece of legislation. I have been working on this issue since September 11. 5 years ago. when I recognized. as did others. that we have an extreme vulnerability in our port cargo container system when it comes to our Nations security. We have .been working since that time to put together legislation. I commend Senator COLLINS and her staff. Senator INOUYE. ","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3351,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090170079,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will file a cloture motion tonight to ensure that we do get a vote this week. We will continue to consult with the managers on both sides. and if we can reach a reasonable agreement to bring the bill to a finish on Thursday. then I believe we should vitiate this particular vote. But since it is stilluncertain and we do have a lot of business to do. at this time I send a cloture motion to the desk.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":417,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090170085,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He went there and went to the local sporting goods store and bought a football. He took a drainage ditch that ran .by the field and named it the \"wonderful. beautiful Eagle Creek.\" and slowly but surely he recruited young men to come to Georgia Southern to play football. Within a few years. Georgia Southern went from just having a program to being a national champion. And he repeated that national championship again. But more importantly. all through his life. Erskine Russell did what only he could do: he led by examn ple. not by lecture. what was right about America. what was right about living by the rules. what was right about playing by the rules. and what was right about moral character. Two thousand people appeared at Paulson Stadium last Sunday to pay their last respects to Erskine Russella man who will be missed not just for a short period of time but for the lifetime of all those whose lives he touched. In conclusion. talking about the lives he touched. when my son Kevin was in the llth grade at Walton High School in Marietta. GA. he was tragically injured in an automobile accident. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ISAKSON","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2688,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090170088,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"My prayers go out to the family and friends of Sergeant Allen as they face this difficult tragedy. Nebraskans should be proud of the commitment Sergeant Allen showed oward the Army and his country. He is an example for us all.","speaker_name":"BEN NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1340,"word_count":41}
{"speech_id":1090170091,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. during the August recess. one of my constituents. Michael Mulroy. of Fairhaven. wrote a very thoughtful article that was printed in the New Bedford StandardTimes on August 15 in its \"Your View\" feature. Mr. Mulroys article eloquently describes the restorative and wondrous nature of the ocean and questions the wisdom of placing wind farms and -other largescale industrial projects at sea. He urges us to \"look uponthe ocean with reverence.\" As someone who is committed to preserving the natural beauty of Massachusetts and its magnificent coastal waters. I was. moved by Mr. Mulroys inspiring article. and I believe many of our colleagues will be inspired by it as well. I ask unanimous consent that it be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":744,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090170094,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am pleased to introduce the \"Fix and Improve Reimbursement (FAIR) for Physicians Act of 2006\" today with the support of the Michigan State Medical Society and the Michigan Osteopathic Association. Over 20.000 M.D.s and D.O.s in Michigan provide more than 1.4 million seniors and people with disabilities with highquality medical services under the Medicare program. Our Michigan families have received fantastic care. from fantastic doctors. But will they continue to? Not unless we do something about the payment system used to reimburse physicians for Medicare services. Beginning January 1. 2007. the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula will cut payments to physicians and health care professionals by 5.1 percent. What does that mean in dollar terms? Medicare payments in Michigan alone will be cut by $137 million in 2007. the average cut for a physician in Michigan would be $34.000 per year. That doesnt make any sense. Medical costs are going up. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8277,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090170116,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that Amber Mace and Heather Ludemann. legislative fellows with the Commerce Committee. be accorded the privilege of the floor during consideration of H.R. 4954. the Security and Accountability For Every Port Act or the SAFE Port Act.","speaker_name":"DANIEL INOUYE","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":272,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090170140,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today. I am taking a parliamentary step to. in effect. reintroduce S. 3815. a bill I sponsored with Senator LINCOLN. that would improve access to and quality of longterm care. By doing this. we are removing a provision from the original text of the bill that we did not intend. nor agree. to include in otr legislation Due to human error. a provision entitled \"Liability Acts of Abuse Committed by Employees\" was incorrectly included in text of the bill that I introduced with Senator LINCOLN on August 3. 2006.","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":526,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090170166,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise todby to recognize the Republicans determination for complete success in the war on terror and the policies we are putting forth to prevent further terrorist attacks. The great statesman. Winston Churchill. said: \"Never. never. never believe any war will be smooth and easy. or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given. he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events.\" Republicans are committed to defending our Nation from further terrorist attacks and are taking the initiative to vote in the coming weeks on two important pieces of legislation integral to fighting the war on terror. We will vote to authorize the terrorist surveillanbe program that monitors calls only from known or suspected terrorists outside of our country to cells within the United States. We will also vote to authorize military tribunals for known or suspected terrorists. It is commonsense justice to try terrorists under military tribunals rather than afford them a trial in the criminal court. a part of our very lifestyle they are trying to destroy.","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1240,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090170185,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of H.R. 5428. legislation I introduced to honor Joshua Adam Terando by naming the Morris Post Office Building in his honor. I also want to thank my good friend from Florida as well as my good friend from Illinois","speaker_name":"GERALD WELLER","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":256,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090170203,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as part of the debate on House Resolution 983. I ask unanimous consent that the following statement from Mayor Luke Ravenstahl of Pittsburgh be included in the RECORD: Bob OConnor was more than just the Mayor of Pittsburgh. He was our friend. and will be dearly missed. He left behind a dynamic and exciting agenda for Pittsburghs renewal. His words and actions will serve as a model to my tenure as mayor of the City of Pittsburgh.","speaker_name":"TIM MURPHY","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":445,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090170210,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself as much- time as I may consume. The purpose of S. 1773 is to ratify the settlement of several landrelated claims between the Pueblo de San Ildefonso and the United States. The Pueblo is a federally recognized Indian tribe in the upper Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico. In 1951. the tribe filed a land claim before the Indian Claims Commission seeking damages for losses of land that were not compensated for by the United States. The commission held that the tribe used and occupied a larger area than in the past than its current land holdiigs. and that -portions of those.lands were later taken -from the tribe by the United States. It also held that the U.S. was liable to the tribe for most of its claims. After several years. the United States and the tribe reached a mutually acceptable settlement that. when approved by Congress. will convey approximately 7.100 acres of Forest Service land to the tribe and will extinguish all land claims the tribe has against the United States. S. 1773 has the full support of the New Mexico State congressional delegation. and I look forward to the support of this body. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE RADANOVICH","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1188,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090170213,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In 1951. the Pueblo of San Ildefonso. located in northern New Mexico. initially filed a legal claim under the Indian Claims Commission Act of 1946. That law provides for some degree of compensation to Native American tribes and pueblos for lands lost and for damages resulting from government actions. The claim of the Pueblo of San Ildefonso is the last remaining unresolved case under the 1946Act. On May 24. 2006. S. 1773. The Pueblo de San Ildefonso Claims Settlement Act. passed the Senate by unanimous consent. I ask today that my colleagues in this House fully support passage of this important and historic bill. This legislation is needed to implement the settlement agreement signed by the Pueblo and the Departments of Justice. Interior. and Agriculture. According to the terms of the agreement. authorizing legislation must be..enacted by November 2006. ","speaker_name":"TOM UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1641,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090170230,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. H.R. 5094 will transfer title to Mattamuskeet -Lodge from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to the State of North Carolina. This historic facility. built by the WPA in 1937. is on the National Registry of Historic Places and is located on the Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge in Hyde County. North Carolina. For years. the lodge served as a cultural focal point in eastern North Carolina. as local residents gathered at the facility for high school proms. weddings. and other community events. Duke University. ","speaker_name":"WALTER JONES","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2016,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090170288,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H. Res. 175. a resolution recognizing the importance of establishing a national memorial at the World Trade Center site and supporting the efforts of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation to build a permanent memorial at the site. Five years ago. we lost 2.976 lives in a coordinated attack.on our soil. 81 of whom were residents of the 17 towns now in the Fourth District. On .the anniversary of the 9\/11 attacks. we remember each one of those men and women who lost their lives. and their family and friends who still mourn their loss today. But this is a tragedy that we will not and cannot forget in another five. 15 or 50 years. We must never forget. For that reason. I support the creationofa national memorial at the World Trade Center A national memorial is a way to honor the Americans who lost their lives on September 11. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SHAYS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1291,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090170303,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it is. without a doubt. that the supposed agreement on Darfur in Sudan that was supposed to bring some reconciliation and relief to the Darfurian refugees is of little value at this time. The agreement is crumbling. the refugees are desperate. and. frankly. I think it is crucial that we rely more upon the Members of this body asking the administration to again intercede. We understand that there has been an envoy that has been sent. but there is no understanding of his or her purpose to be able to solidify this agreement that is falling apart. It would be far better for this Congress to address this as a collective body. because it is urgent. It is a crisis. The Darfurian refugees are suffering. There is violence and there is no relief. There needs to be more funding for the African Union peacekeepers. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":977,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090170340,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I made the tongueincheek statement here one night that it is getting to the point that if China attacks Taiwan. we have to go to China and borrow the money to defend Taiwan. That is a national security matter that is real. It is not a scare tactic. This is real. as it relates to the vulnerability that is created by us financing our government with foreign investment. That is number one. Number two. as you said earlier. Mike. we are transferring our tax base to interest. There is no country that has ever been successful with no infrastructure investment by the government and no human capital investment. human capital being education and health care. No country in the history of the world has been strong and free with an unhealthy. uneducated population. The more we transfer the tax base to interest and away from investment in infrastructure and the human capital of our citizens. our shareholders. the more we are creating a vulnerability in this country which is a national security matter. ","speaker_name":"JOHN TANNER","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4331,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090170343,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I will close tonights activities with one last thought. and that is that we owe the taxpayers more than we are giving them with the jobs we are supposed to do. We should be accounting for their money every single day we are here.","speaker_name":"HENRY WAXMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1687,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090170358,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. DELAHUNT. and I am glad that the Democratic leader. Ms. PELOSI. allowed us to have this hour tonight. and also working with Mr. HOYER. our Democratic whip. and Mr. James Clyburn. our chairman. and Mr. John Larson. the vice chair of our caucus. to come to the floor not only on behalf of Democrats but also on behalf of the American people. I think it is very. very important in this time. the day after 9\/11. 5 years later.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1147,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090170361,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We are for going after the terrorists. Well. the majority has been in the majority for 12 years. Now all of a sudden the majority has religion saying we are going to track down these terrorists. The Democrats cant do it. but we can do it. If somebody had a job in your office.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3147,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090170371,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Do you know when this picture was taken? This picture was taken today. today. So with the loss of almost 2.700 American military personnel. Madam Speaker. in the expenditure of hundreds of billions of dollars. what is the reality in the region today? There is the reality in the Middle East today. Take a good look. The Prime Minister of Iraq and the Prime Minister of Iran with their hands firmly grasping each other. Need we say anything more?","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":445,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090170402,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You are absolutely right. And we are not done there. I am going to go on and then bring it in for a landing. and yield to either Mr. RYAN or Mr. MEEK. But 78 percent fewer completed immigration fraud cases. When you are investigating immigration fraud as to whether or not someone belongs here. whether they have actually legally applied for residency. permanent or otherwise. for a green card. the number of cases that were pursued that were fraudcases in 1995. and. Mr. RYAN. who was President in 1995?","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":504,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090170423,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. DELAHUNT. I have got to tell you. over August break I had numerous conversations with business folks. Republicans. cardcar-. rying. who would talk to me about the fact that if they were. running the business and Rumsfeld was their assistant or vice whatever. he wouldnt be around. He would have been gone years ago.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":319,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090170431,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That was the response to 9\/11.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1389,"word_count":6}
{"speech_id":1090170444,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Somehow that doesnt come up in my town hall meetings. I can tell you that our priorities for last week included implementing the 9\/11 Commission recommendations. raising the minimum wage. lowering prescription drug costs for seniors. increasing Pell grants for people who want to pursue higher education for students. rolling back the subsidies for big oil. which have been implemented by the Republican leadership in Congress. and their rubber stamped colleagues. restoring the PAYGO rules so that we arent continuing with outofcontrol spiraling deficits. so that we can make sure that we only spend what we take in. and comprehensive immigration reform.. That was on our agenda last week. and the Republican agenda was making sure that we prevent the slaughter of horses. I dont know. I think after November 7. I think most Americans are hopeful that we will move in a new direction. That when they get out of bed in the morning. they will not have to worry about whether there is a plan to make sure that it doesnt cost them more than $50 to fillup their gas tank. that the agenda that is addressed by the Congress of the United States doesnt include whether or not children will be reciting \"under God\" in the pledge. I mean. most moms. with a young man or woman fighting in the war in Iraq. they are not worrying about whether their little ones are saying \"under God\" in the pledge. They are worrying about whether their baby is going to come back to them. The father of four. before he leaves the house in the morning. do you think he is worried about whether or not we burn the flag that day somewhere in America. as objectionable as flag burning is. or do you think he is more likely to worry about whether he is going to be able to afford to fill up his gas tank with than $50 coming out of his wallet. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3601,"word_count":327}
{"speech_id":1090170446,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I just want to say it is outstanding what you pointed out. but I really do like what the Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs do in my local area. I just want you to know that. We have a very strong Rotary in my area. Opelika Rotary. doing a very outstanding job.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":251,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090170454,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"H.R. 1817. a motion to recommit. 2005. again vote number 188. again failed on partisan lines. You start talking about on border security and closing the gaps. On nine separate occasions over the last 5 years. Democrats put forth -motions here on this floor. because that is the only thing we can do. Being in the minority. we are not able to bring the bills to the floor. because the majority is blocking those bills from getting out of committee. And they are noted right here. and I am not going to go through that at this particular time. but all of this is on line. HouseDemocrats.gov. if anyone wants to go on and get this information. Also when you start talking about aviation security. Democrats offered a motion to require air cargo to be screened within 3 years. The motion was rejected by Republicans. again 2005. vote number 188. 5\/18\/05. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7874,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090170463,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. MEEK. as we close out and before we go to Mr. RYAN. I want to conclude by saying what a privilege it is to serve with the both of you and Mr. DELAHUNT and that the leader has given us this opportunity. I hope that 5 years from now when. after November 7th of this year. we are given an opportunity I am hopeful to run this institution. that on September ltth. 5 years hence. when we get asked the same question that I was asked yesterday. are we safer. that because we have implemented the 9\/11 Commission recommendations and the other attempts that we have made to improve our homeland security. that we will be able to confidently answer that question. \"yes.\" And I think the saddest thing and the way I would conclude my remarks tonight. the saddest thing I reflected upon yesterday was that there was so. much opportunity that we had after 9\/ 1 001. The country was so incredibly unified. Automobiles around this country on every highway had two American flags on either side of the windshield. you had universal unity. And this administration squandered that unity. and the road is littered with the missed opportunities. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1190,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090170540,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this morning we will resume debate on the port security bill immediately following the 30minute period of morning business. We have an agreement for a vote in relation to Senator REiDs amendment to occur at 12.15 today. There is a point of order against that amendment. and therefore the vote is likely to be on a motion to waive the budget relative to that amendment. The managers have done good work on the bill thus far. but we have not had an agreement yet as to when we can finish- this security legislation. Therefore. last night I filed a cloture motion on the bill so that we will conclude the bill this week. I have indicated we are willing to vitiate that vote if an agreement is reached that will bring the Senate to a reasonable conclusion on this port security measure. In the meantime. we will continue to work on amendments. with rollcall votes each day: I also remind Senators that under the rule. Senators have until 1 p.m. today in order to file timely firstdegree amendments.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1009,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090170558,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Republican Congress is defending the use of military intelligence and law enforcement resources that have led to the capture of many of alQaidas top leaders and have helped to degrade alQaidas capabilities around the world. But these very techniques were criticized by my distinguished Democratic colleague this morning on the floor. We have to use the technology available to us to track communications. to stop financing of terrorism around the world. and if we dont we put our country at risk. The Republicans have supported strong nominees for critical national security and foreign policy positions. such as U.N. Ambassador John Bolton. despite Democratic obstruction. Again. despite continued Democratic obstruction. Republicans will continue to push a comprehensive agenda to secure Americas homeland that will strengthen our borders with additional border agents. enforce immigration laws with worker verification. secure our ports with worker background checks. and support surveillance to find and stop terrorists before they strike. What is the Democratic plan? The latest Democratic plan to secure our country is to complain about Donald Rumsfeld. to send a letter to the President telling him to do things in Iraq that have already been implemented and. as we heard this morning. to complain about the listening or tracking of phone calls from known terrorists. I cant put it any better than my good friend. the Senator from Kentucky. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JIM DEMINT","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5291,"word_count":227}
{"speech_id":1090170583,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"South Dakota is worse. and this disaster goes right down the center of our country. The time to act is now. I thank my colleagues. and I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":679,"word_count":30}
{"speech_id":1090170585,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Indeed. the sponsor of this amendment voted against the formula change he has included in this bill. as did a total of 25 Democratic Senators. the majority of the Democratic caucus. It is not surprising that they did. for if the Reid amendment were to pass. 34 States would lose money for homeland security activities. It is also ironic that the funding formula included in Senator REDs amendment is an implicit endorsement of the funding allocation decisions that were so widely and correctly criticized earlier this summer. This bill would give the Department of Homeland Security additional discretion in allocating homeland security funds. We know what happened when we gave the Department additional discretion. The outcome was not a good one. I mentioned that the amendment also includes provisions that have already been signed into law. Let me give an example. Mr. President. 105 pages of this 507page amendment have to do with implementing the 9\/11 Commissions recommendations on foreign policy and public diplomacy. ","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5730,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090170607,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to speak in support of the emergency agricultural disaster assistance package. At the outset. I commend my colleague. Senator KENT CONRAD. for having taken the leadership role in making sure we are taking care of the needs of family farmers and ranchers across America. I also congratulate Senator NELSON for his leadership on this issue this morning. Last night. as America went to sleep. much of Americathe farmers and ranchers who bring us the food security in this countrycontinued to work way into the night. I can assure you that across this country. where those combines are running until 11 or 12 or 1 oclock in the morning. those farmers are working. Today probably starting at about 3 or 4 in the morning. there were many farmers who were out there trying to bale their hay with the leftover dew from the nighttime. making sure they were baling what was left in a way that would bring them the maximum production. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3646,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090170660,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In just the few moments I have. I wish to outline what we do. First. we are going to rely on the expertise of a bipartisan group that has gained great respect across the Nation. and that. of course. is the 9\/11 Commission. The 9\/11 Commission. with Governor Kean of New Jersey. a Republican. and Congressman Hamilton. a Democrat. came up with 41 recommendations to make America safer. They published those recommendations more than 2 years ago. It was a blueprint for making this a safer nation. This Commission has stayed in business long enough to grade the administration and Congress on its response. The results of their last report card were alarming. Last December. they graded our Governments progress as follows: 5 Fs. 12 Ds. 9 Cs. and one Aminus. That is it. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5826,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090170782,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But thats life. We do the very best we can. and most of us do a pretty good job. I thank my friends. I thank my colleagues. I thank everyone else who is part of the larger Senate for all that you do. It means a lot to me.","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1258,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090170787,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We are proposing to secure 22 of our Nations busiest container ports. But what about the other 66 domestic container ports? Shouldnt they receive the scrutiny? And shouldnt we protect the additional 273 secondary sea and river ports in the United States? Certainly. we should. That is why I offer this amendment today. which will direct the Homeland Security Secretary to develop a strategy for the deployment of radiation detection capabilities at every U.S. port. I believe it is going to make all of us a little bit safer. There has been enough delay. Now it is time to do this. And we should do it right. So this legislation is the implementation of a program for the examination of containers for radiation at ports of entry described in the bill. not just the 22 major ports.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3185,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090170789,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the port security legislation we are considering requires that radiation detection equipment be installed in the busiest 22 ports of entry by the end of next year. That would result in 98 percent of all cargo coming into this country being screened for radiation or radiological devices. The Senators amendment raises the question of. What about those smaller ports? Doesnt this invite. for example. terrorists. knowing they will be screened at the 22 largest ports. to instead divert dangerous cargo to a small port? The Department of Homeland Security wants to make sure it has flexibility to do. perhaps. hafidheld devices for screening rather than the expensive. large radiation portal monitors that are at big ports. such as Seattle. I would pose a question. through the Chair. to the Senator from Florida. whether there is anything in his amendment that speaks to the type of equipment that must be installed. because obviously. if you have a very small port that only gets a couple of cargo ships per year. it may not make sense to invest in radiation portal monitors. but it may make sense to. instead. assume that the Customs and Border Patrol agents are equipped with handheld screening devices. which still screen. So I would ask. through the Chair. my colleague from Florida whether his amendment. as I read it. gives flexibility to the Department as to the types of equipment. in keeping with the fact there are different needs and different volumes?","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1478,"word_count":247}
{"speech_id":1090170791,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. indeed. thank you. Mr. President. The Senator from Maine is exactlycorrect. There is the flexibility in the amendment for the Department to make that deternination because it is specifying the implementation of a program for examination of containers for radiation at ports of entry.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":289,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090170842,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He is very conscious of what it takes to protect ourselves to the last detail that we can. I believe we have to be in support of the Menendez amendment that says: OK. come on. tell us what it is that you plan to do to protect the people of America in a way that gives us comfortnot 1 out of 20 cargo containers that arrive that might be supported by a paper manifest that doesnt mean an awful lot because there is plenty of opportunity to -tinker with that cargo container before it leaves the shore unless we have scanned it at the last moment possible. I urge our colleagues to support the Menendez amendment. Lets not waste any more of the -time that the people of America need to- feel secure about those ships that enter our harbors bringing goods into this country. I yield whatever time there is back to the Senator from Washington.","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3893,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090170869,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. with reference to the concerns the Senator from Maine raised. let me just say the amendment we just adopted says we are going- to scan 100 percent of the containers that have been identified as high risk before they leave the United States. So that is the very essence of what we seek to do as well. Secondly. the only amendment before the Senate that will move us to a plan to get to 100 percent scanning of all cargo in this country is the amendment presently before the Senate. If you want to continue to allow a mathematical equation to determine how we inspect only 5 percent of the cargo in this country. then that is what you just accomplished. If you want to move toward a plan to get 100 percent scanning of all the cargo that comes into this country. giving the Department of Homeland Security the opportunity to develop such a plan. then this amendment is the one you want to vote for.","speaker_name":"ROBERT MENENDEZ","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":911,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090170891,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I appreciate the comments of my distinguished colleague. Time is very short. I understand. That is why my colleague brings it to the floor now. because it is very important that we extend these tax provisionssales tax. college tuition. and the R&D tax credit. It is very important. That is really the reason I took a bill I know my colleague supports. and that is a permanent solution to the death taxmaybe not exactly the way it is now. but he is somebody who supported that cause. Indeed. it has the majority support of the United States of America. It is the right thing to do. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1493,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090170951,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Americans to believe this is a very In this example. the large businesses complicated issue. Certainly. there are that own the Internet pipes extend technical aspects to it. But the bottom their reach to the detriment of small line proposition. Mr. President and col- business. According to the business leagues. is. today. when you log on. you plans of the major phone and cable get to take your browser where you companies. what they have been telling want to go. when you want to go there. Wall Street. what is printed in the and everybody is treated the same. business press. this is the direction in That iswhat would change under this which they are headed. legislation because it would be pos- Without Net neutrality. without sible. under the way the bill is written strong. enforceable provisions to ennow. for major phone companies and sure that the Internet is free of discable companies to essentially set up crimination. this small firm in New what they have describeddescribed in Mexico would not be able to use the the business press--as a paytoplay ar- Net the way they can today. and there rangement. It would change the funda- would be thousands and thousands of mental nature of the way the Internet other small.businesses like it. works today. I happen to think that is Now. Mr. ","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6409,"word_count":223}
{"speech_id":1090170965,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"One thing about GolinHarris has not changed over these 5 decades and that is the strength of its leadership. Under the guidance of Chairman Al Golin who has helped shape the firm from its beginning. GolinHarris has developed a reputation as an outstanding corporate citizen and an innovator in an intensively competitive and fastchanging field. I would like to extend my congratulations to Al Golin and the employees of GolinHarris on this milestone 50th anniversary and wish them continued success in the years to come.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1024,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090170968,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He later died from injuries sustained in that battle. He was scheduled to return home in November. Staff Sergeant Jenkins was laid to rest with full military honors in Killeen. TX. Posthumously. he was awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart for his courageous service. A few miles away. his fellow soldiers held a separate memorial ceremony at Fort Hood in honor of Jenkins and the five other 4th Infantry Division soldiers who were killed in Iraq during the month of July. It is with a heavy heart that we mourn the loss of yet another brave soldier from Arkansas. While Kenneth Jenkins may no longer be with us. I pray that we may find some sense of solace knowing that his spirit will live on forever in the hearts of those whose lives he touched. The way he lived his life is truly an example for us all. ","speaker_name":"BLANCHE LINCOLN","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2616,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090170971,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Although life seems a little dimmer without him. I know my life is better for having known him. I know Monroe is in heaven. and if I had to guess. I would say it is likely he is up there right now organizing the angels for further good deeds. Nothing on this Earth slowed him down and I dont expect that to change now that he has gone ahead to a better place. A giant of politics in our State. and an even greater human being. Monroe will be sorely missed by all who knew him. and even more sorely missed. though they may never know it. by those who never had that opportunity.*","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2911,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090170991,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a markup on Wednesday. September 13. 2006. at 9:30 a.m. in the Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226. Agenda I. Bills: S. 2453. National Security Surveillance Act of 2006. Specter. S. 2455. Terrorist Surveillance Act of 2006.. ","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":739,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090171004,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am pleased that today the Senate has agreed to pass S. 2464. the Fort McDowell Indian Community Water Rights Settlement Revision Act of 2006. with an amendment that I have also offered. S. 2464. amends the Fort McDowell Indian Community Water Rights Settlement Act of 1990. which ratified a negotiated settlement of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nations water entitlement to flow from the Verde River. I am pleased to be joined by Senator KYL as an original cosponsor of this bill and the amendment. The 1990 Settlement Act. provided. among other things. for the Secretary of the Interior to provide the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation a nointerest loan pursuant to the Small Reclamation Project Act for construction of facilities for the conveyance and delivery of water to the Fort McDowell reservation. However. during environmental review conducted prior to construction of the irrigation system. 227 of the acres to be irrigated were discovered to contain significant cultural sites. With the agreement. of the tribe. the Secretary withdrew those acres from development. but replacement lands have proven difficult and expensive to mitigate and implementation of the Act has been left uncompleted. The current values of the nointerest loan outstanding and the current cost of the Department of the Interiors obligation to mitigate replacement acreage are nearly identical. thus the tribe and the Department have agreed to resolve this issue by mutually releasing their remaining obligations under the reclamation provisions of the 1990 Settlement Act. S. 2464 would implement this mutually agreedupon resolution. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2129,"word_count":253}
{"speech_id":1090171042,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to urge my colleagues to continue addressing the needs of. small businesses that create seven out of every 10 jobs in our communities. Small businesses are the backbone of our local economies. During the past month. I held small business walks down the main streets and through the business districts of towns and villages in New Yorks Hudson Valley. I talked directly to small business owners and employees in places like Warwick. Port Jervis. Beacon and Highland Falls to hear directly from them about the challenges they face every day. They asked for continued tax relief so they can afford to pay their employees. ","speaker_name":"SUE KELLY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1453,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090171050,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. Osama bin Laden himself has stated that victory for the extremists in Iraq will mean Americas defeat and disgrace forever. The terrorists clearly see Iraq has the central front in the global war on terror. On Monday evening. the fifth anniversary of the attacks of 9\/11 and the beginning of the war on terror. the President clearly stated the importance of success in Afghanistan and Iraq and winning that war. He understands the resolve that we need to meet the significant challenges faced by our Nation. And what is the response of the Democratic leadership? To attack the President for even mentioning Iraq as a part of the war on terror. They seek. once again. to distract and divide America to score cheap political points. For whatever reason. they do not take the terrorists at their word with regard to Iraq. or they do not care because they see a political benefit in undermining U.S. efforts. The Democrats must understand that America must be united. ","speaker_name":"CANDICE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1249,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090171051,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. just when you thought the Bush administration had finally faced reality and admitted that Iraq had nothing to do with 9\/11. President Bush uses a nationally televised speech on 9\/11 to once again blur the lines between the war on terror and the war in Iraq. Last week. a bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee report concluded that the U.S. intelligence analysts were strongly disputing any link between al Qaeda and Iraq. while the Bush administration officials were fabricating links to justify invading Iraq. Over the- last month. President Bush and Vice President CHENEY have admitted to the American people there was no link between the terrorist attack on September 11 and the Iraq war. Yet. during a nationally televised speech on Monday. the President once again had the audacity to say that the safety of America depends on the outcome of the battle in the streets of Baghdad. once again connecting in many peoples minds 9\/11 and Iraq. The President cant have it both ways. And on an issue so important as this. national security. the President should level with the American people and admit it is time to make a change and change the course in Iraq.","speaker_name":"HILDA SOLIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1175,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090171058,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the statement by Majority Leader BOEHNER was shameful and disgraceful. To suggest that my fellow Democrats care more about protecting the terrorists than the American people. is not right. it is not fair. it is not just. and it is not the American way. Mr. Speaker. Democrats will not stand by and let a single attack go unanswered. You may play the politics of fear. you may question the patriotism of those who use their constitutional rights to criticize this administration. but this dbg will not hunt. This dog just will not hunt. The American people know better. They warft this Nation to take a new path. ","speaker_name":"JOHN LEWIS","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":814,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090171061,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the President of the United States continues to try and sell Americans on the fact that we should be in Iraq. Mr. President. where is Osama bin Laden? Mr. President. you have spent over $300 billion on this occupation in Iraq. You have misled this country. We have over 2.700 soldiers that are dead and the occupation continues. We are less safe. The real war is in Afghanistan. We have not dedicated the soldiers or the money there. ","speaker_name":"MAXINE WATERS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":35.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":995,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090171065,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this week Republicans have turned to their two favorite political tactics: Smear and fear. It is bad enough that President Bush chose to use a 9\/11 anniversary speech on Monday night not to unite this Nation with facts but instead to once again divide us by using his bully phlpit to instill fear into Americans with misleading statements. Just 2 weeks ago the President said Iraq had nothing to do with 9\/11. but once again oh Monday night he spent the majority of his speech in the Oval Office talking about Iraq. Why would the President talk about Iraq if he knows it had nothing to do with 9\/11? Mr. Speaker. he is trying to blur the issue so Americans will continue to tolerate his failed staythecourse strategy that a majority of Americans have already rejected. Democrats want a new direction for Iraq. with the responsible redeployment of U.S. troops beginning this year. in order to strongly position America to confront the global challenge of terrorism. Unlike the administrations current plan. our real security plan is a strategy for taking the fight to the terrorists to better protect Americans.","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1123,"word_count":191}
{"speech_id":1090171086,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. the resolution that will be brought here before the House for a vote is an earnest. heartfelt and comprehensive resolution putting the House on record and standing once again against terrorism. This House already has a strong record on this topic and has already passed a number of bills designed to acQomplish the main goal laid out in this resolution. to remember the lessons of 9\/11 and to honor the victims by preventing another attack on American soil. We have voted to give our law enforcement the tools they need to prosecute the war on terror in the United States and throughout the world. and -through the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act and -its reauthorization we have once again reaffirmed that. We have voted to implement a key component of the 9\/11 Commission by -creating Federal standards for the application process in the issuing of State identification cards through the REAL ID Act. C1 1115 And this House has voted to secure our borders through the Border Protection. Antiterrorism. and Illegal Immigration Control Act and to defend our ports through the Security and Accountability for Every Port Act. We have made important reforms in the intelligence community through the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act and provided our first responders with the resources that they would need with our annual Homeland Security authorization and appropriations process. Mr. Speaker. this House has accomplished a great deal on behalf of the American people to ensure the citizens of the United States that they can be safe here and abroad. but we understand that this job is not yet done. Next week the House is scheduled to consider legislation that will build upon all of this hard work. legislation to further boost our national security and to give our law enforcement the tools it needs to prevent our shadowy. evershifting. and determined enemy to once again demonstrate that we do not rest in the war on terror and that we will not forget. ","speaker_name":"PETE SESSIONS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5327,"word_count":332}
{"speech_id":1090171104,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But also. it is essential we not just lament what happened that day. not just acknowledge. the suffering of that day. but I believe we owe it to history to show what Congress has done. It is not enough just to say we feel sorry for what happened. It is important we show what we are doing. what we are doing as Members of Congress. to respond to the horrors of that day. In putting together this resolution. the leadership on our side of the aisle reached out to the other leaders certainly. On my committee. we reached out to Democratic members of our committee trying to put together a resolution. and the fact is the gentleman from Massachusetts. who is a good friend of mine. he acts as if this resolution this year is so markedly different than what was passed in previous years. Well. if you go back to 2004. the resolution referred to introduced by Mr. HYDE and Mr. LANTOS. H. Res. 757. it goes through a long listing of what has been done since September 11. 2001. ","speaker_name":"PETER KING","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6021,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090171107,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I completely disagree with that. I would completely. disagree with that because I think every single American that day learned of the tremendous forces that were aimed at the United States that we had really been completel!7 unaware of before. So I think that we are better off today. Are we absolutely safe? No. Are we safer? Yes. we are. and we have a responsibility to maintain that line of defense. This resolution has nothing to do with that. It is a resolution. the force of this body. to say we respect the men and women who on 9\/11 gave their lives. we are sorry for the men and women who have been injured as a result of that. we are going to support our military. we are going to support the families and we -will never forget. and we are going to back up our allies. and we are going to make sure that we get it right. That is what this resolution is about. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"PETE SESSIONS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1730,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090171124,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As creatures of the State. the counties interests should be protected by their State. as is the case in Michigan and other. States. Never before has a Federal law equated sovereign tribes with counties. We can address the issue of offres-. ervation gaming without equating those sovereign tribes with counties. But suspension of the rules forbids any amendments. I oppose setting a bad precedent in Federal law that undermines our longstanding policy of protecting tribal sovereignty. In addition. there are a number of Members concerns that remain unaddressed by this bill. During committee markup of this bill. several Members were told that their issues would be resolved before the bill was scheduled for consideration on the floor. Their concerns remain unaddressed. and consideration of this bill under suspension of the rules does not allow for modification or amendment. Mr. ","speaker_name":"DALE KILDEE","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3473,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090171127,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As a result. tribal governments in my State and all across the country have urged me to oppose this legislation. And most tribal organizations. as the gentleman from Michigan has pointed out. - also oppose the legislation. Our Constitution recognizes three types of sovereign entities beyond our own country: First. foreign governments. second. the States. and third. Indian tribes. Existing law requires that to enter into gaming activities. tribes must negotiate agreements with the Federal Government and the State government. Under this bill. for the first time in United States history. Indian tribes would be required to negotiate directly with local governments in order to engage in lawful activity. That diminishes the power of tribes and raises local governments to the level of sovereign entities. This is wrong for two reasons. First. local governments are not sovereign units. ","speaker_name":"TOM COLE","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3671,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090171130,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is completely inappropriate. \u0095 Regardless of whether you are an opponent or proponent of offreservation gaming. Members should have an opportunity to bring their concerns to the floor and offer amendments. There are many reasons to oppose this bill. and I have the largest one of them of all: This. an 80mile long. 4.000footdeep gorge. It is our Yosemite. It is our Grand Canyon. It is a national treasure. and it is completely inappropriate to put a gambling casino smackdab in the middle of this national treasure. Vote \"no\" on this suspension bill so we can protect the Columbia River Gorge and we can bring a real bill to the floor and have Members debate their concerns and amend this bill appropriately.","speaker_name":"DALE KILDEE","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1180,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090171153,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"However. instead of requesting that the Department of Interior formally recognize that claim and have the land taken into trust. the Tribe made an openmarket purchase of 128 acres of land and declared through a Tribal Council Resolution their sovereign authority and jurisdiction over the property. It should be noted that according to the Department of Interior. the Tribe has never officially contacted the Department about their claim to this land. Not to mention that another tribe. the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma. has made a competing claim to the same land. Shortly after presenting the resolution to the County. the Tribe attempted to begin work on construction of a satellite office on the property. which the land is not currently zoned for. As a result. the County was forced to issue a stop work order on the project. Subsequently. the Tribe scheduled a public hearing regarding their proposed change in land use. Ultimately. the Tribes intention is to construct a $715 million \"first class gaming. entertainment and resort complex on 1.280 acres of land\" according to their proposal issued in 2003. This is despite the fact that tribal gaming is not allowed under State law. Rather than take the steps outlined by IGRA. and apply to have their land taken into trust by the Department of Interior. the Tribe has instead chosen to force costly legal action by the County for the purpose of having their claim heard in court. This is clearly an attempt to circumvent the review process by the Department of Interior. ","speaker_name":"J. HASTERT","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4660,"word_count":255}
{"speech_id":1090171183,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"BUYER in Las Vegas so they could see for themselves firsthand what the needs of my veterans were. The day that Mr. BUYER was touring our shared VA hospital facility. the hospital facility was on divert. and unfortunately every other hospital in the Las Vegas area was also on divert. It is a very common occurrence in the fastest growing community in the United States. and that is why this is such an important piece of legislation. I represent the Las Vegas area of the State of Nevada. It is the fastest growing community in the United States. But I also have the fastest growing veterans population in the United States. and no health care facilities in which to treat these 200.000plus veterans that call southern Nevada home. After the CARES study. it was determined that Las Vegas was indeed entitled to an entire medical complex. and I am very happy to say that this piece of legislation authorizes a medical complex that is comprised of three buildings. an 80bed VA hospital. fullservice VA hospital. a fullservice outpatient clinic to take care of the needs of our veterans. and a 120bed longterm facility which is so desperately needed in the southern Nevada area. It will be located on 147 acres in north Las Vegas on the corner of the 215 and Pecos Road. This land has already been transferred to the VA. so we dont have to worry about the land. ","speaker_name":"SHELLEY BERKLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2615,"word_count":241}
{"speech_id":1090171186,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. once again I would like to thank the good chairman of the committee. Chairman BUYER. and chairman of the House Subcommittee. HENRY BROWN. for their hard work that they have done on this legislation. really making it a boncerted effort to bringing on board today so that we can vote on this legislation. Bu. once again. the staff. I know this is not an easy process. The staff on both sides of the aisle have worked very diligently in this effort. So I do want to commend the staff on both sides of the aisle. and I really appreciate the chairmans Strong advocacy for veterans and veterans issues. and enjoyed working with him on this legislation.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL MICHAUD","chamber":"H","state":"ME","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":659,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090171190,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And. likewise. it has been a real treat. And even though I do not represent the State of Florida. there are a lot of snow birds from the State of Maine. veterans that go to Florida. So I have heard from my veterans as well as far as the facilities in Florida. I really appreciate your comments. Mr. Chairman. Mr. Speaker. I would yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL MICHAUD","chamber":"H","state":"ME","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":364,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090171214,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. I will end on this before I finish my remarks. But I just want to say no one has any monopoly on grief in this Chamber. I lost well over 150 friends. neighbors and constituents on September 11. 2001. I spent all day Monday at cemeteries and commemorations and meeting with families. I think it is really wrong to somehow attack this resolution as our attempt to be partisan. We could have found much more ways to be partisan if we wanted to. It was an attempt to come together. For whatever reason. the opposition has chosen to draw the line today on the fifth anniversary. when they could have done it 2 years ago. For whatever reason they decided now is the time. ","speaker_name":"PETER KING","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4085,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090171231,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. again I would remind my friends on the Democratic -side that the resolution that the overwhelming majority of them voted for 2 years ago. for instance. on the issue of port security. in the whereas clauses specifically cited the innovative programs which have done so much to make our ports more secure and to screen cargo. And. again. we dont have to agree with every aspect of every bill. but if it was good enough 2 years ago for them to cite it. I dont know why it suddenly now becomes such an extreme partisan issue. Mr. Speaker. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Connecticut. who I must say is an extremely strong and very independent voice and advocate for Homeland Security.","speaker_name":"PETER KING","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":701,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090171235,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am more proud than ever to have introduced and sponsored this resolution. Mr. Speaker. I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida .. a member of the committee.","speaker_name":"PETER KING","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1331,"word_count":30}
{"speech_id":1090171251,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. this should be a time for solemnity. not selfcongratulation. and most certainly not political tactics cooked up in the back rooms of the RNC or the bowels of the White House. We must all agree to that. The focus today should be on the victims and heroes of the 9\/11 attack and the families they left behind. We commit to memory the thousands who died or were injured 5 years ago. They included firemen. who voluntarily rushed with their heavy gear up the stairs of the Twin Towers and into the flames. all the while urging the people they served to move faster to safety below. We remember the police officers who put their lives on the line every single day and lost them all at once when the towers collapsed. We think of the people at the Pentagon. just across the river from here. military as well as civilian. who were on duty when their fortress was breached and their world. and ours. imploded. We recall the passengers and the crew trapped on airplanes turned into missiles. helpless and hurting as they used whatever means that were available to them to get word to their families or to affect some sort of rescue. And in this House in particular. Mr. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4888,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090171259,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. our commemoration of September 11 is a solemn occasion. It is a day of remembrance and a day of resolve. We remember those. Mr. Speaker. who perished or were injured 5 years ago in New York. Virginia at the Pentagon. and Pennsylvania due to the evil acts of men consumed by a murderous ideology filled with hate. We mourn the loss of the innocent. and we pray for their loved ones. We also recall with pride. yes. with sorrow as well. though. the heroism of our first responder. and in many cases civilians turned rescuers. who put their own lives in harms way as they sought to help others. Their selflessness on a day of fire. destruction and death reminds us of the courageous American spirit. and it renews our faith in humankind. ","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1641,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090171277,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We hear the head of FEMA. I saw two fire- our colleagues on the other side. The fighters on their knees sifting through Gilmore Commission. which Ray Dowthe debris with their hands. As I got ney eniouraged me to put into law. closer I could read their turnout gear. which I did. made three reports before and there were the names Downey and 9\/11. most of them in the previous adDowney. ministration. Forty percent of the 9\/11 You see. Mr. Speaker. two of Ray recommendations had already been Downeys five kids are also firefighters. made by the Gilmore Commission betoday they are battalion chiefs in New fore 9\/11 ever happened. But we dont hear that today on the House floor. that there were recommendations that we could have. put into place before 9\/11 and we didnt do it. So stop the blame. This is not fair to Ray Downey and his family. ","speaker_name":"W. WELDON","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5064,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090171279,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We continue to. I believe. be a Nation that is united in a desire to win this war. recognizing that there are real differences about how we will fight this war to be successful and to be consistent with American ideals. Because the biggest tribute that we can leave to the victims of 9\/11 is to make sure that we win this war but also to make sure that we do not change how we are as we go about winning that war. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"PETER HOEKSTRA","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3448,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090171280,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have not examined whether the intelligence on the insurgency was flawed or whether policymakers deliberately ignored warnings and professional assessments. Press reports indicate that the administration may still be trying to paint a rosy picture of the situation in Iraq. The August casualty reporting excluded statistics on people killed by bombs. mortars. rockets. and other mass attacks. The result is that the August statistics for murder rates in Baghdad appear 52 percent lower than the daily rate for July. Mr. Speaker. I do not think policymakers should engage in creative accounting when it comes to the lives of our sons and daughters or the lives of innocent Iraqis. According to some reports. a draft \"National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq.\" which reportedly paints a very negative picture of the situation there now. is being held by the administration until after the November election. If that reporting is true. it is deeply troubling and could needlessly endanger the lives of our military and intelligence professionals in the field. And. ","speaker_name":"JANE HARMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":36.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6544,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090171284,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlewoman. my good friend from California. Mr. Speaker. I rise to recognize September 11 as a national day of mourning. to commemorate and honor Amiericas 5yearlong national sacrifice. and to warn of clear and present danger in the days ahead. Our Nation will never forget the terrorist attacks on September 11. 2001. Nearly 3.000 innocent Americans perished in that day. and the lives of many thousands more were forever changed. The tools and the national power were mobilized to bring justice to those responsible. To each and all experiencing personal loss. we honor and we pay respect. ","speaker_name":"IKE SKELTON","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3164,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090171300,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the chairman. On September 11. 2001. life in America was irreversibly changed. That day we were drawn into a war to confront a threat we did not fully understand. Although we still cannot fully understand why terrorists hate our way of life so much. we do understand this much. We are still very much at war. Almosta 5 years after the attacks on September 11. 2001. Islamic extremist groups continue to represent the most immediate threat to the United States and our allies. They have struck London. ","speaker_name":"TODD TIAHRT","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2364,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090171309,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"While much remains to be done in Iraq. it is important that we continue to remain there against those who want to cast Iraq. into a civil war: Mr. Speaker. we have accomplished so much in the global war on terror. We have significantly degraded the al Qaeda network by capturing and killing many of their leaders and associates. Despite these successes. the terrorists remain committed to launching another attack. It is not a question of if. but rather when. As we mark the anniversary of these attacks. we must remain resolute to fight and win this war against terror. Mr. Speaker. this war on terror must be fought. We can do it in the \"streets of our own towns. or we can fight the terrorists wherever they are. Either way. it has to be done. ","speaker_name":"TERRY EVERETT","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1809,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090171311,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am concerned that partisan bickering. that in fact those who want to change who runs the Congress or those who want to retain it have begun to look in those terms rather than in terms of how do we keep America safe. So I look forward to this passage. I. look forward to going back to work. and I look forward to in fact the Congress. on a bipartisan basis. coming back together in a way that we have not been. And I am deeply disturbed at some of the statements made here today. becanse I think that for those who listen throughout America. Mr. Speaker. they are going to hear that many are. like me. concerned for America. concerned that we come together and we continue to do the peoples work of making this country safe in the war on terrorism. And I hope that those who speak out with other ideas are also considered.","speaker_name":"DARRELL ISSA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":49.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1746,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090171346,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"\"to kill 4 million Americans. 2 million of them children.\" Let me repeat that. The spokesman for Osama bin Laden said on their Web site. \"We have the right to kill 4 million Americans. 2 million of them children. and to exile twice as many and wound and cripple hundreds of thousands.\" He went on the Web site to explain what justified it. and these are his words. \"America with the collaboration of the Jews is the leader of corruption and the breakdown of. values. whether moral. ideological. political. or economic corruption. It disseminates abomination and licentiousness among the people via. the cheap media and the vile curricula. America is the reason for all oppression. injustice. licentiousness. or suppression that is the Muslims lot. It stands behind all the disasters that were caused and are still being caused to the Muslims. it is immersed in the blood of Muslims and cannot hide this.\" Why do I mention this?*I.mention it because the threat is clear. They have officially said that they would not feel that they have succeeded until they have taken 1.400 assaults similar to those of 9\/11. because that is what would be required. 1.400 times the loss of life that we had on 9\/11. They do not refer to any cleavage between Democrats- and Republicans. They do not say they .do this because of what this administration did or that administration did or because of what the Democrats did in the Congress. or the Republicans. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL LUNGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3584,"word_count":247}
{"speech_id":1090171348,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself as much time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. this has been an important discussion between ourselves. I feel better now that we have resolved to overlook those parts of this resolution that could be called congratulatory to the executive branch. to the Congress. to any parties. We come together now to remember and memorialize once again the great contributions of those who served on the front lines and those who gave their lives and the families of those who died in this great tragedy of 9\/11\/ Mr. Speaker. it is in that spirit that we on this side yield back the balance of our time.","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":616,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090171350,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The U.S. Department of Justice has convicted 253 defendants on terrorrelated charges. and our intelligence agencies and law enforcement working together have disrupted more than 150 terrorist threats and cells here in America. including plans to attack targets on both coasts using hijacked aircraft and plans to blow up apartment buildings here in our country. Just last month. British and Amdrican intelligence officials. using the sort of tools we provided President Bush. thwarted a plot to bomb multiple American airliners headed from London. This resolution today affirms the commitment of Congress to remain vigilant in efforts to provide law enforcement and our Armed Forces with all the tools necessary to fight and win the global war on terrorism. We have engaged in dramatic efforts to secure our ports and borders. with legislation on the way that will provide more Border Patrol agents. additional fencing and surveillance. and enhanced State and local law enforcement authority. The House will vote next week on legislation authorizing military tribunals for terrorists. such as the alleged September 11 mastermind. Khalid Shaykh Mohammad. We are designing a system that not only brings these terrorists to justice but gives the President the tools that he needs to continue preventing terrorist plots before they happen. Prevention must be the standard and prevention must be our goal. ","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6674,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090171356,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"While there may be disagreement over whether or not we are safer today. we can all agree that much more needs to be done to protect and defend the American people. The War on Terror that started on that fateful day five years ago is still far from finished. The threat posed by Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations remains very real. Osama bin Laden and many of his allies are still at large. yet his trail has grown \"stone cold\" over the past two years and the CIA has shut down their unit responsible for tracking him. Afghanistan has become the forgotten front in the war on terror. pushed aside in favor of a war of choice against a country that posed no real threat to our nation and in which we find ourselves mired in a seemingly endless occupation. The Taliban. the former rulers of Afghanistan who supported A Qaedas attack on our nation. has grown again in strength as we have grown distracted by Iraq. This is a time of great consequence for our nation. Unfortunately. slogans and partisan attacks have once again become substitutes here for serious debate on the national security challenges we face. This is clearly evident in the resolution before us. which contains divisive language designed to score political points instead of bringing this country together. As we move ahead. ","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2784,"word_count":227}
{"speech_id":1090171361,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in reluctant opposition to this resolution. as I strongly feel. that we need to be careful about how we commemorate the tragic events of September 11.2001. Several times over the past four years I have voted in favor of these annual 9\/ 11 resolutions because they simply commemorated the tragic event and urged our continued vigilance in an increasingly dangerous world. I believe using the event to promote particular legislation or foreign policies. however. denigrates the memory of those who perished in that attack. Much of the legislation referenced in this legislation is legislation that I supported. For example. I voted in favor of the Border Protection. Antiterrorism. and -Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 and for the SAFE Port Act of 2006. I continue to support measures that help secure our borders and thereby make us less vulnerable to future foreign attack. ","speaker_name":"RONALD PAUL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1999,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090171362,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of House Resolution 994. \"expressing the sense of the House of Representatives on the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks launched against the United States on September 11. 2001.\" The terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. D.C. on September 11. 2001. were monstrous and cowardly acts that will be forever etched in our national memory. In remembrance of that tragic day. I wish to express my condolences. and the condolences of a mournful nation. to all those who suffered losses. Today. America again honors the courage and bravery of those who willingly risked their lives to save others and recognizes those dedicated men and women in service now. defending worldwide peace and security. In the -5 years since the appalling acts of September 1 1th. our country has been. fighting a global war on terrorism to protect America and our friends and allies. ","speaker_name":"RON KIND","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4771,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090171364,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Flight 93 was believed to be headed for the Capitol that illfated day five years ago. Many of us here today may have been in mortal danger had it not been for the brave passengers on that flight. I would like to thank the heroes of Flight 93 and their families for their sacrifice. for being the first line of defense against terror. and for showing the world our strength. our resolve and our courage as Americans. My prayers are with the families of the victims of 9\/11.","speaker_name":"BILL SHUSTER","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1279,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090171365,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have come to recognize the dangers that hate and terrorism impose upon peaceful and freedomloving people worldwide. We are better informed of terrorist threats and better organized to deter these dangers. Most importantly. we have learned that the Global War on Terror. this great struggle of our time. is a fight best waged on foreign soil. out of the reach of American streets. American neighborhoods. and American families. As we pay tribute to the memory of September 11. 2001. Congress will take up several measures to ensure that our homeland is secure. These measures are designed to combat a new enemy that hides from sight. attacks the weak and unprotected. and uses innocent civilians as human shields. To prevent future terrorist attacks. we are working to disrupt terroristactivities internationally and domestically. including stopping terrorist networks and their financing schemes and securing our borders and critical infrastructure. September 11. 2001 was a watershed moment in American history. when the defenders of freedom and democracy began the long struggle against fear and tyranny. Five years later. we pause as a nation to honor the memory of those who lost their lives that day and all those who have since made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of liberty. ","speaker_name":"GARY MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":42.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2239,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090171399,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"and Chairman BARTON and Ranking Member JOHN DINGELL for their help in moving this expeditiously to the floor. I also want to thank all my colleagues from New York who unanimously supported this renaming. but particularly I want to thank the dean of our delegation from Long Island and Queens County. Representative GARY ACKERMAN. as well as CAROLYN","speaker_name":"NANCY PELOSI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":348,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090171428,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as a senior member of the House International Relations Committee and as a member of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus. I have had the opportunity to meet personally with the Dalai Lama on several occasions. most recently in November 2005. when he spoke to Congress on issues relating to democracy. human rights. and Tibet. Born to a peasant family. His Holiness was recognized at the age of two. in accordance with the tradition of Tibet. as the reincarnation of his predecessor. the 13th Dalai Lama. and thus an incarnation of the Buddha of Compassion. His enthronement ceremony took place in the capital of Tibet on February 22. 1940. at the tender age of five. A decade later. on November 17. -1950. His Holiness was called upon to assume the position of head of state for the people of Tibet. His Holiness is the embodiment of serenity and understandings. His inner peace and calm demeanor give us hope that a resolution can be reached on the issue of Tibet. ","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4204,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090171430,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Tens of thousands of Washington residents packed an auditorium for several nights to hear his words of wisdom. His Holiness has used his international acclaim to speak out forcefully against the cultural and religious annihilation of the Tibetan people. Rather than resorting to force. the Dalai Lama has actively pursued a negotiated solution to the Tibetan issue with the Chinese Government. In five rounds of discussions. representatives of the Dalai Lama have argued with determination to the Chinese that the Tibetan people must have true religious. cultural. and economic autonomy. and that the current marginalization of the Tibetan people in their own land must end. Awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to His Holiness the Dalai Lama will send a strong signal of congressional support for a negotiated settlement to the Tibetan issue that preserves Tibetan culture and promotes genuine autonomy for the longsuffering people of Tibet. Through his words and through his deeds. the Dalai Lama has made an enduring contribution to peace. nonviolence. human rights. and religious understanding. With our action here today. Mr. Speaker. His Holiness will join the ranks of Pope John Paul U. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3203,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090171469,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I think it was General Casey who said if we leave Iraq prematurely. they will follow us home. I will finish what the American Enterprise Institute analyst said about this presence in Iraq. He said jihadists from around the world have flocked to Iraq to fight America and its allies. They believe they will win and drive the infidels from Mesopotamia. the name they use to emphasize that they have no regard for modern -national identities. If they succeed in Iraq. they say they will use it as a base from which to conquer the rest of the lands surrounding the Persian Gulf. a jumping off point for further conquest. In Time magazine Sunday. Max Boot writes this. He says. if we believe that wholeheartedly supporting friendly dictators works. .we should remember that our support for the Shah of Iran in the 1970s and Yasser Arafat in the 1990s has taught us. that secular strongmen cannot keep the lid on forever. Either we push for change now. or we risk a fundamentalist explosion later on. and we need to be honest with the American people. to my friend from Florida. and let the people know that we have difficult days ahead. I have been on the Homeland Security appropriations subcommittee for 4 years. ","speaker_name":"ZACH WAMP","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1758,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090171479,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They are the enemy. Our opponents here in this very healthy discussion are the Democrats. But I have to say I believe deep in my soul that the members of the minority party in Washington who believe that we should pull out of Iraq by a date certain are wrong. Senator LIEBERMAN is right. Ned Lamont is wrong. And there is disagreement in their party over this. but it is a matter of life and death. war and peace. tyranny and freedom. and Ned Lamont and that mentality is wrong. We cannot afford to fail in Iraq. I also want to talk about our vulnerabilities briefly. Theborder is a vulnerability. We had testimony yesterday by Duncan Hunter. the chairman of the Armed Services Committee. and Harold Rogers. my chairman of Homeland Security appropriations. about how the southern Border is being. infiltrated by people not just from Mexico and Central America but from all over the world. and it is a vulnerability for us. ","speaker_name":"ZACH WAMP","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2717,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090171488,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I appreciate the gentlemans passion and want to thank you for inviting me to be down here with you again. I think what you are trying to say is that this Congress. this President. has really put us and the American people in a loselose situation. Good Presidents and a good Congress do not put the American people and their military operation in a loselose situation. And now they have reverted back to just saying. Democrats dont care about national security. Democrats are more in favor of protecting the terrorists. Jus.t name calling. It is like you are on theplayground again. The thing that we have to look at is the record. The record does not lie. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2414,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090171490,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"All we are saying is. every single aspect of. the neoconservative political agenda has been implemented and it is not benefiting the American people. Look at your energy costs. Look at your health care costs. Look at your tuition costs. Look at your tax burden. Look at the inefficiency of government. Look at how your government responds to natural disasters. Look how your government handles its foreign policy. Look at the prewar plan. When you have a problem with your political system and your leadership. when you have the Secretary of Defense. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3450,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090171502,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And let us look at the colossal failure that has been made here. We have now. because of the decimation in Iraq and the inability of a postwar plan that Rumsfeld didnt want anyone to talk about. and not propping upsome government there to combat Iran. now you have Iran as the major player in this region. And they are talking about nuclear weapons. they are funding terrorists through the back door in Iraq through Hamas. Through all of the terrorist organizations in the Middle East. Iran is the one stoking this fire. We have put ourselves in such a position of weakness. Now. we have troops there and troops in Afghanistan. too. so what if something else happens? And I think it is interesting. and our ranking member on the Armed Services Committee. Mr. SKELTON. has been talking about this for a long time. anid it is difficult to even fathom this. but onehalf of all Army units. deployed and nondeployed. Active and Reserve. onehalf of all Army units received the lowest readiness rating any fully formed unit can receive. with a decline in levels that havent been seen since Vietnam. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1831,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090171512,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Stanford was a member of the board of trustees at Congregation Schaarai Zedek. a longtime member of Tampas Rotary Club and a Paul Harris Fellow. He was one of the founders of the Ybor City State Museum. treasurer of the Berkeley Preparatory School and president of the Dads Club. In addition. Stanford served as longtime director of the Latin America Fiesta and was a member of the Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla. as well asa number of Tampas social organizations. It is particularly fitting that Stanford continues to serve his fellow man in death as he did in his long. rich life. Stanford .donated his liver to a transplant patient upon his passing. Mr. Speaker. Stanford Newman was an icon in the cigar industry and in Tampa Bay. His contributions to our communitys economy and E1703 culture will leave a lasting impression. ","speaker_name":"JAMES DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3453,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090171559,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The enemy is -creative. I mentioned the attacks that could have emerged out of the plot which was uncovered by the British. Who would have ever deemed imaginable a day when business travelers could not be carrying contact lens solution in their carryon. It is because of an attempt with a \"Gatorade\" bomb. The terrorists are always thinking. They are always thinking of how they can stay one step ahead of even what our imagination is. They are searching for our weak points. They are seeking ways to exploit our weak points. That is why we have to remain vigilant. and that is why we have to address these issues on the floor. The substance of the bill that is on the floor does just that. the port security bill. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8086,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090171575,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We attributed their declarations of hate as mere rantings of lunatics. Time has shown us that the words of these Islamic extremists must be taken seriously. and we must continue to act decisively to stop them from achieving their aims. In an effort to steal our collective resolve. it -s important to remind ourselves just who the enemy really is in this global war against Islamic fascism. For too long America has seen our enemies through a prism that casts them in the mold of conventional powers. but the Islamic fascists are a different breed. They fight for no flag. nor do they adhere to any international agreement. They fight outside the box. whereas. our sense of what is right and wrong constrains us to adhere to recognized rules of engagement. We all know.the selfprofessed leader of alQaida is Osama bin Laden. His call to arms for his disciples is: Death is better than living on this Earth with the unbelievers amongst us. We know Iraq is central to the war on terror because Osama bin Laden said it is. He said: The most serious issue today for the whole World is this third world war that is raging in Iraq. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7249,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090171577,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. alQaida. reads our newspapers and watches our television stations. They see the lack of resolve in some of our leaders and they seek to exploit it. This is the time to lead. a time to unite. and a time to defeat an enemy that wants to bring an end to freedom around the world. We must lay down our party labels as Republicans. Democrats. or Independents and become Americans. We must not tire. We must not falter. We cannot fail. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":478,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090171581,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise this morning on a very sad note for all of us who knew a very special. wonderful woman by the name of Governor Ann Richards. Last night she left this world. but she left behind a tremendous spirit that many of us will carry on. She was the kind of woman who could walk into a room and light it up. no matter where she was. She was a Governor of Texas. and I know that State knew and loved her well. but the rest of the country also loved her. I was privileged to kfiow this wonderful. compassionate human being. She made me laugh. she made me think. and she made me remember what I cared most about in this country. Her loss is a tragic one certainly for the State of Texas. certainly for the country. but absolutely for every one of us who knew her. I know many people will be speaking throughout the next several days about the loss of Governor Richards. but I just Wanted. on behalf of so many of us who cared for her so much. to express our condolences to all of her family. to her friends. to everyone who knew her. and to let them know that we will not forget and. we will continue to carry her message of hope and passion as we continue in our lives. ","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1213,"word_count":232}
{"speech_id":1090171586,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to take a few minutes to add to Senator MURRAYs heartfelt and beautiful tribute to Governor Ann Richards. Many of us woke up this morning to read the newspaper and were stunned by the news that Governor Richards had passed away. Many of us. of course. knew of her illness and that she struggled with it and fought it bravely. but I am not sure -how many understood how close she was to deaths door. As a neighbor of hers who grew up right over the border from Texas. and as a young woman in the legislature. Ann Richards was at the top of the list of women I looked to early in my career. I did not have too many women to .look to because there were just not that many women in public office in this country in 1976. the year when Governor Richards started her political career as Travis County Commissioner.. There were 604 women in state legislatures nationwide. Not only was she an outstanding leader but she was an extraordinary administrator. ","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3193,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090171597,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I hope this casual approach to a dangerous threat ends with the adoption of the rail and security amendments this week I strongly support their passage and urge our leadership to fight to maintain them in the bill with the amendments we send to the President. In conclusion. it has been 5 years since 9\/11. 5 years of hearing that we need to take threats seriously and realize we live in a dangerous world. It is time we act on those words and protect the millions of Americans who rely on rail and transit every day. and on our ports. just as this legislation would better protect our ports and the communities around them in the years ahead. Mr. President. I yield my time.","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":675,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090171633,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"proposes an amendment numbered 4986. as modified. The amendment. as modified. is as follows: (Purpose: To require that as part of the annual performance plan required in the budget submission of the Bureau of Custome and Border Protection under section 1115 of title 31. United States Code. the Commissioner of Customs establish performance indicators relating to the seizure of methamphetamine and methamphetamine precursor chemicals in order to evaluate the performance goals of the Bureau with respect to the interdiction of illegal drugs entering the United States. and for other purposes) At the end of the bill. insert the following:","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":639,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090171639,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we are about to vote on cloture on a very important maritime cargo security bill. This is a bill that will have a significant impact on the Nations security. as it is implemented. A numberof people have been working on the floor for the last several days to work our way through amendments. I think a lot of progress has been made. and I am very pleased with the number of improvements that have been made to this bill over the last several days. When this bill is finally passed out of the Senate and conferenced with the House. which I hopewill occur shortly. and signed by the President. we can all say that in a bipartisan way we have significantly made a difference in the lives of all Americans. In a moment we will be voting on cloture. That means this bill is very close to the end. We have a few amendments we are going to be dealing with. but both the Republican leader and the Democratic leader have been clear they want this bill finished by early afternoon. That means if any of our colleagues on our side have an amendment they need to have discussed. they need to talk with us during this cloture vote or their amendment will not be considered. ","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1463,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090171676,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. yesterday I tried to get the Senate to pass a bill extending the 2005 expired tax provisions. \u0095what we call the extenders package. The majority leader objected at that time and stated that it was his desire that the extenders continue to be part of the socalled .\"trifecta\" package. married with estate tax relief and a minimum wage increase. I told him yesterday of my concern that since that strategy has already failed a number of times. and I dont think there is much hope of any change. and it is time to let the popular tax extenders package pass. I want to take the leader at his word thatthere is hope for change. But I also read comments yesterday by one of our Senate colleagues tasked by the majority leader to try to find a solution to all of this. and that Member of that socalled task force is quoted as saying. \"My counsel is to do it in the lame duck session.\" I very much oppose that. I dont think it makes any sense to push all of this in a lame duck. Let me tell you why. Last week. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5166,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090171683,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we have had numerous opportunities to renew important tax incentives. Earlier this year we had an opportunity in the tax reconciliation. The priority was to deal with tax cuts tjhat had not even expired or were not going to expirethe -dividend deduction and the capital gains. With tax cuts that have expired. businesses are not going to be able to take advantage of work opportunity tax credits. in research and development. We know we are falling behind in stem cell research. We have businesses that want to make those investments in research and development and be the best they can be in the global marketplace. These businesses have not been able. is that correct. to realize that tool and use that tax deduction for at least the first three quarters of this year?","speaker_name":"BLANCHE LINCOLN","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":785,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090171695,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the chairman of the committee and appreciate very much his leadership. I rise to state I support what Senator BAUCUS has proposed. It affects a number of Nebraska teachers. Nebraska families. I appreciate what the Senator is doing.","speaker_name":"BEN NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":254,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090171768,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I say to the chairman of the full committee. is the Senator aware that on page 31. the prewar assessment part of the report. there is a reference at the bottom. as I indicated. to the CIA operational cable of December 20. 2002. The Senator indicated the substance is not included. but I will read from the report: In addition. the Committee is examining the facts surrounding a December 20. 2002. cable from th6 relevant CIA station [this is all available to the American public today] which transmitted comments from a letter to the DCI and a discussion with the Chief of Station from the head of the foreign intelligence service that handled CURVE BALL. The cable noted that the head of the foreign intelligence service intelligence said experts from a number of foreign intelligence services had analyzed the CURVE BALL information and believed \"the information wac plausible\"-et cetera. et cetera. In other words. the content is right. here.","speaker_name":"JOHN ROCKEFELLER","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":945,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090171771,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They stayed on it through phase I. Phase I took 2 full years during which we exhaustively examined all of the documents. interviewed anybody that might have information on whether there was an intentional misleading or misrepresentation or pressure to change the estimates of the intelligence analysts and thwart the process. We reviewed that process exhaustively. At the end of it. our bipartisan conclusion was there was no evidence of any pressure to change\" findings of the Intelligence Committee. there was no effort to mislead or misuse the information of the intelligence analysts or the intelligence estimates. Regrettably. our Democratic col.leagues were not satisfied with that. They wanted to continue the battle. So we initiated a second backward look into history that I think was a tremendous waste of timephase fIlto go back and say: Well. maybe we missed something. We are going to go back and look at the intelligence prior to the commencement of Operation Iraqi Freedom and see if we cant find some misstatement. some misstep by the administration. Well. President Bush is not running again. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10774,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090171773,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So my hat is off to all of my colleagues in the Senate. Democrat and Republican. who serve on this committee. It is a massive assignment. and they have a massive responsibilityto measure the efficacy of our intelligence operations as well as their reports. I cant think of another committee in CongressI might say the Armed Services Committee is closethat has such an awesome responsibility. I want to preface my remarks by saluting all of the members of the Intelligence Committee for giving their time to this effort. But I will tell you. there is no more frustrating assignment in Congress either because you will sit there for hour after weary hour. day after weary day. week after week. and month after month listening to all of this information. being sworn not to repeat a word of itimagine. The only questions you can ask are in the room. The only statements you can make are in the room. It is classified information. We wouldnt want to risk the life of a single American or ally or someone helping our cause. so we are extra careful. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6710,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090171850,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I want to- thank the firefighters--specifically the International Association of Fire Chiefs and the International Association of Fire Fighters--for bringing these important public safety concerns with the initial amendment to our attention. Through their diligence. we have an amendment that will promote the deployment of critical 911 services. rather than delay it. This is crucial to assist Americas first responders. including local fire. EMS and police officials. in their efforts to save lives. As the port security bill moves forward. it is critical that the compromise reflected in this important public safety amendment be maintained. I appreciate the assurances made by the managers to protect this important compromise. All Americans deserve the very best emergency response system. This amendment now helps accomplish that goal.","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2069,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090171851,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today. the Senate accepted an important amendment to this port security bill to protect longshoremen and private sector marine terminal operators from any adverse consequences that could result from government cargo screening activities. The amendment was coauthored by Senator KENNEDY and myself. and I thank the distinguished Senior Senator from Massachusetts for his leadership on this issue. I also thank the floor managers. Senators COLLINS.","speaker_name":"JOHN ISAKSON","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":461,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090171895,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is a loss for all Americans. We are comforted to know that Ann departed this world in high spirits and humor. just as she would expect us to continue our lives.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":794,"word_count":32}
{"speech_id":1090171899,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today with a heavy heart. to pay tribute to a remarkable woman and patriot. Ann Richards. There are so many words that I could use to describe Ann. She was vibrant. fiery. quickwitted. fearless. but for me the word that I think captures her best is genuine. With Ann. what you saw was what you got. She had an authenticity that is rare in life. and even rarer in politics. Even with all of her charisma and charm bubbling over. Ann would be the first to tell you that her life was not perfect and that she had made many mistakes over the years. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2175,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090171907,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Her 1990 election as Governora comefrombehind victorymade her the first woman elected governor in Texas in nearly 60 years. and the first woman to win that office without following her husband in. As Governor. Ann Richards pursued a progressive agenda and appointed an unprecedented number of women and minorities to posts they never would have dreamed of in Texas Government. Her family said that. as Governor. she was most proud of two actions that probably cost her reelection. She vetoed legislation that would have allowed people to carry concealed handguns. She also vetoed a bill that would have destroyed an aquifer that supplies water for mluch of south central Texas. She paid the political price. Years later. when a reporter asked her what she might have done differently had she known she was going to serve only one term as Governor. Ann Richards grinned and replied: \"Oh. I would probably have raised more hell.\" She was not just a political.hero. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5953,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090171917,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"June was recognized for her hard wqrk. dedication. and expertise andreceived numerous awards and accolades. She served as a member of the Commerce Departments prestigious Industrial Policy Advisory Committee. testified before Congress on automotive issues. and was a soughtafter speaker on the subject of international trade. June received the Industry Week Excellence in Management Award and was selected to the Committee of 200. an organization of the top 200 women business leaders in America. In addition to her work in the automotive industry. she was also active in petroleum exploration and production. farming. and garment manufacturing. In the 1980s. Junes company was awarded a government contract to produce chemical warfare protective clothing which was used during the first gulf war. June was an inspiration to many and I am truly grateful for the endless contributions she made to Alabama and our Nation. She will be missed by her husband Tim Fletcher. her five children. Kara Davis. Ondi Cain. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SHELBY","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1918,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090171918,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This week. Tammy Mahan is in Washington to be honored for her outstanding public service. She is receiving a 2006 \"Angel in Adoption\" award from the Congressional Coalition on Adoption. This is an honor richly deserved. I congratulate Tammy. and I salute not only her woik but also the good work being done by all the young .activists in Elevate..","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2104,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090171920,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But we have a higher moral obligation to protect the life of every personevery man. woman. and childwho sets foot on American soil. We must do everything in our power to preserve life. That is why I propose the Border Death Reduction Act. I urge my colleagues to support it. The law will implement the GAOs recommendations. It will require CBP to create a strategy for reducing border deaths. It will mandate a full count of deaths along the border. It will impose tough. new penalties on coyotes who abandon their charges. and it will expand the network of rescue beacons that people in trouble can use to call for help. \u0095 These beacons. -I believe. are an absolutely vital link in our border security system. Let me explain. Rescue beacons are devices at prominent locations that individuals can activate when they need help. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4348,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090171923,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today. I am pleased to join Chairman. GRASSLEY in introducing the Medicare Data- Access and Research Act. This bill will take an important step to advance the safety. efficacy. and quality of health care services delivered to people under the Medicare Program and it will help improve the care delivered to all Americans. This bill requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services. HHS. to make Medicare data accessible to Federal health agencies and the health services research community for the purpose of conducting studies that will serve the public health. As the largest single payer of health care services in the United Statescovering over 40 million lives. 70 million hospital days. and processing nearly a billion physician claims per yearMedicare collects and maintains a wealth of information on the health services delivered to a significant portion of the population. This information has been a national resource for research and analysis of health care. And with the addition of the Medicare prescription drug benefit. it will be the most comprehensive resource our Nation has to study the effects of diseases and the treatments we have for them. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5331,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090171926,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And with him. Jefferson devised a plan for action. It was a plan to counter the economic threat from the north. It was a plan to safeguard Americas economic future. - That December. President Jefferson presented his plan to Congress. It was Americas first economic competitiveness plan. It called for one officer. a dozen soldiers. and $2.500.Thomas Jeffersons .economic competitiveness plan of 1802 has become better known -as the Lewis. and ClarkExpedition. Today. we see that expedition as one of -our Nations great displays of ambition and courage. And today. we see that it laid the foundation of the United States as we know it. Today. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8501,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090171928,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"S. 3522. to amend the Bonneiille Power Administration portions of the Fisheries Restoration and Irrigation Mitigation Act of 2000 to authorize appropriations for fiscal years 2006 through 2012. and for other purposes. S. 3832. to direct the Secretary of the Interior to establish criteria to transfer title to reclamation facilities. and for other purposes. S. 3851. to provide for the extension of preliminary permit periods by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for certain hydroelectric projects in the State of Alaska. S. 3798. to direct the Secretary of the Interior to exclude and defer from the pooled reimbursable costs of the Central Valley Project the reimbursable capital costs of the unused capacity of the Folsom South Canal. AuburnFolsom South Unit. Central Valley Project. and for other purposes. H.R. 2563. to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to conduct feasibility studies to address certain water shortages within the Snake. Boise. and Payette River systems in Idaho. and for other purposes. and H.R. 3897. to authorize the Secretary of the Interior. acting through the Bureau of Reclamation to enter into a cooperative agreement with the Madera Irrigation District for purposes of supporting the Madera Water Supply Enhancement Project. Because of the limited time available for the hearing. witnesses may testify by invitation only- However. those wishing to submit written testimony for the hearing record should send two copies of their testimony to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. United States Senate. ","speaker_name":"LISA MURKOWSKI","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2569,"word_count":239}
{"speech_id":1090171933,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Conmittee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday. September 14. at 10 a.m. The purpose of the hearing is to consider the nomination of C: Stephen Allred. of Idaho. to be an Assistant Secretary of the Interior. Vice Rebecca W. Watson. resigned. and Robert W. Johnson. of Nevada. to be Commissioner of Reclamation. Vice John W. Keys. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":452,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090171958,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I now ask unanimous consent at a time to be determined by the majority leader. in consultation with the Democratic leader. the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of.Calendar No: 565. H.R. 5684. I further ask that there then be 3 hours of debate on the bill. 2 for the minority. with 60 minutes under the control of Senator DORGAN. 30 minutes under the control of Senator CONRAD. and 30 minutes under the control of Senator BAUCUS or his designee. and 1 hour under the control of the majority. with all time- consumed on either Friday. September 15. or Monday. September 18. I further ask that on Tuesday. September 19. there be 10 minutes for Senator DORGAN. 10 minutes for Senator CONRAD. and 10 minutes equally divided between the chairman and ranking member. and that following the use or yielding back of time. the bill be read the third time. and the Senate proceed to a vote on passage.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":903,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090171962,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This afternoon. the Senate passed the port security bill. I thank the bill managers for their great work in processing this important measure. Tomorrow. we will be in session. but we will not have any rollcall votes. We do plan to turn. as indicated earlier. to the United StatesOman Free Trade Agreement under the agreement just entered into. I remind all of our colleagues we passed the Senate bill in June by a vote of 60 to 34. Under this unanimous consent agreement. we will vote on passage of the House bill on Tuesday of next week.. Again. for the information of all Senators. we will not have any rollcall votes during Fridays session of the Senate.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":657,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090171975,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In her 4 years in the Boca Raton community. Rabbi Rader has earned a- reputation as a compassionate pastoral counselor as well as an inspiring teacher and lecturer. I am honored to have her here with us today.","speaker_name":"E. SHAW","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1031,"word_count":38}
{"speech_id":1090171982,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Republicans gave us their November 7. resolution last night. Five years ago. the Nation stood as one. but the Republicans have divided us ever since. They believe dividing America is the best hope for clinging to power in the November election. They can pass selfcongratulatory resolutions that have more to do with November 7 than September 11. but patting themselves on the back is no substitute for protecting the American people by adopting the recommendations of the bipartisan 9\/11 Commission. Republicans have not done that. Instead. Republicans have been ordered by the President to continue his fiction that Iraq and al Qaeda were connected. The evidence proves otherwise. so Republican leaders are trying to hide the evidence beneath their rhetoric. Just remember this: Republicans have propped up this President by spending more on the Iraq war than on domestic security. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1207,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090172011,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It already has fence in it. so that is not even. the issue. What I continue to ask. and I invite","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":460,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090172020,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But we are saying that you cannot come forward with something that does nothing. and that is what this is. Nothing. Talk. We need action. Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to yield 5 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Houston. Texas . who has attended a lot of these hearings that we are talking about and is a distinguished member of the Judiciary Committee and the Homeland Security Committee.","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1302,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090172021,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I believe in comprehensive immigration reform. I also believe that we can compromise in a conference committee. They know that you do not need this freestanding bill that is very limited. You can go to conference and actually agree to the fencing language. if that is a priority. in the Senates conference bill. Now. my question to Mr. SESSIONS. who is on the Rules Committee. is. does he have an agreement that the Senate leadership is going to take this bill? Because if he does not. we have literally 2 weeks before we are out of session. And is there a commitment to this bill? If it is. tell us on the floor of the House. We might want to join in a reasonable response if we know that you are going to go to conference with your bill. which will pass because you have the numbers. but with the idea of comprehensive immigration reform. Let me share a letter that has just come from Governor Rick Perry of Texas. a Republican. Governor Janet Napolitano. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4896,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090172045,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Well. thank you very much. and it is because of this kind of cooperation. My objective is still to get our other colleague over there. Mr. SCOTT. onboard. We have evolved this bill a long way to try to get Mr. SCOTT to be onboard in terms of the phasein and phaseout of the provisions of this bill. the number of other work opportunities that we have put into this bill. the opportunities to work with notforprofits and those types of things. but we are not quite there yet. Are we there?","speaker_name":"PETER HOEKSTRA","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":488,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090172051,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is just good to be able to stand here on this bill. to be able to work with the chairman and to be able to work across the aisle and to take a look at the consensus that we have developed on this bill. It is how the House should work. I encourage my colleagues to support this bill that has come through the Judiciary Committee. Let us move this forward and let us work together to get something done in the Senate as well. Mr. Chairman. H.R. 1965. the HoekstraFrankMaloneySensenbrennerConyersCoble Federal Prison Industries Competition in Contracting Act of 2006 will bring fundamental. comprehensive. and balanced reform to Federal Prison Industries. Inc. (FPI). Because of FPIs status as a mandatorysource. noninmate workers and the firms that employ them are completely precluded from having the opportunity to even bid on $800 million in Federal contracting opportunities. Noninmate workers and the firms that employ them are denied the job opportunities funded by their tax dollars. ","speaker_name":"PETER HOEKSTRA","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5338,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090172059,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I thank the ranking member. and I speak strongly in support of this bill. I have not yet had anyone explain to me why it is our strong policy to ban the.products of prison labor that come over in trade. but we then encourage them to compete with American workers if it is domestic prison labor. I agree it is a good idea for inmates to have work opportunities. but I am hoping that marketing is not one of those things in which prisoners engage. That is. it is the actual process of making the product that has its rehabilitative effect. And as the gentleman from Michigan just mentioned. it is the intention of many of us to increase the extent to which prisoners could be used .to make products that could be distributed to various entities in our society in a way that wouldnt be competitive with the market. But I do not understand how you tell lowwage workers. because the level at","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":900,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090172074,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. can you. or another member. tell me why we are considering this legislation? Why when we have the largest prison population in the world. why when we have one of the worst recidivism rates in the world. why when we have enormous expense from crime and imprisonment. and why when Americas historic and ethical attitude towards crime is based predominantly on a redemptive view of human nature. why are we doing this?","speaker_name":"RUSH HOLT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":429,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090172099,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. the underlying bill permits solesource contracts between the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Federal Prison Industries. This amendment would extend the solesource authority to the entire Department of Justice. Existing law allows a head of any executive agency to make a solesource contract award. if the agency head makes a determination that such an award is in the \"public interest.\" Following such a determination. Congress must be notified and the contract award suspended for 30 calendar days. This bill expressly provides the Attorney General to grant a noncompetitive contract whenever it is deemed necessary to maintain prison safety. Additionally. the bill allows the FPI board of directors to exceed the level specified for FPI sales if good cause is shown. which would include maintaining inmate equipment. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1676,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090172120,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. and just acknowledge this amendment is just designed to preserve a few of the jobs that we have got left. The amendments that passed in 2000 and 2001 have cost. If they had not passed. we would have 9.000 more jobs than we have now. We have already lost jobs. We would have had a lot more jobs than we had. We are just trying to preserve job opportunities. which have been shown to reduce crime. Now. I know it has already been said that trying to reduce crime is misguided around here. but that is the goal of the bill. and everybody who has studied it knows that is what would happen. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":773,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090172122,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin. Mr. Chairman. this amendment raises an interesting question. We exclude services. forprofit business services. but we include everything else. What is the difference between the services and the products? We have to move in an organized fashion or not. To bifurcate this into services being excluded.. I think. doesnt make any sense at all. Now. we are back to the continued mantra that less jobs mean more crime. so if you are for less crime. you H6578 CO are for more jobs. But what we are doing. in this bill. goes back to an earlier consideration in which we said. which the gentleman from Virginia said. that we could guarantee these jobs and the $75 million. that this would work out. Of course. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1147,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090172168,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So it would cost almost $7 billion to build the 730mile fence. In contrast. with just $360 million. we could hire. train and equip the 2.000 Border Patrol agents that would make it operational and secure at the borders. the ones that we said we were going to hire in the 9\/ 11 act. So today we are not discussing a comprehensive bill like the substitute drafted by my colleague. Mr. THOMPSON. the ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee. the one that gives technology. personnel. equipment to monitor and secure every mile of the border 24 hours a day. 7 days a week. Unfortunately. the Republican leadership would not allow an upordown vote on that amendment. I am a strong supporter of border security. and today. today I wish we were voting on a strong border security bill. I want to work with my colleague on the other side of the aisle. but I cannot support this bill. It will cost billions of dollars. take many years to implement. and it still wont solve our border security problem..","speaker_name":"LORETTA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":47.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2673,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090172169,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would say to my good friend from California. all of us agree no one provision is going to solve illegal immigration. but this is a significant provision going forward. In addition. this years appropriation bill provides for 1.200 new Border Patrol agents which will bring us up to 14.580. an increase of over 80 percent since September 11. 2001. and over 1.200 ICE officers. Mr. Speaker. I yield 11\/2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia .","speaker_name":"PETER KING","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":456,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090172170,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The invasion into this country is from south - of the border primarily. That is why we need the fence along the southern border first. and we will study the situation along the northern border. Cost: $7 billion is a small fraction of the cost that illegal immigration imposes upon the taxpayers of the United States and the taxpayers of the various States of this country. It costs in excess of $70 billion per year. Lets take this very firm. very positive step and I urge everyone to support the King legislation.","speaker_name":"VIRGIL GOODE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1004,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090172181,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But this unfunded mandate in terms of this fence is unfortunate. because we are just doing and repeating what we have already done in the past. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"BENNIE THOMPSON","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":757,"word_count":35}
{"speech_id":1090172190,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I appreciate Chairman KINGs work on this bill showing that it is a national security issue and not just a problem that we have in the Southwest. Many in this Congress have been following what they believe to be the absurd antiAmerican prosecution of two Border Patrol agents. Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. who were doing their jobs to protect the U.S. border and protect drugs from entering America. Instead they were improperly put on trial for what the U.S. Attorney who prosecuted this case said was the unlawful pursuit of an illegal invader into this Nation who was bringing 800 polinds of dope into this country. One part of the bill that I wish to highlight is section 5. This portion directs the Border Patrol to make clear the policy on pursuit and whether the authority should even be expanded. The Border Patrol lists among its objectivs to detect. apprehend and deter drug smugglers. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1313,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090172200,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the chairman for yielding. Mr. .Speaker. on December 16. 2005. the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4437. the Border Protection. Antiterrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005. by a vote of 239182. Included in the final version of that bill was an amendment that was offered by","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":313,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090172211,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And that is what has happened in this Congress. We failed in the overall policy of addressing- the question of immigration. And so we fail our Border Patrol agents. we fail our Customs and Border Protection agents to the extent. that they do not have enough resources to have what we call secondary inspections. So what we are talking about is adding 3.000 new Border Patrol agents. making sure we have 12.000 new agents. SeptWntber 14. 2006 creating 2.000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent positions. having coordination between the northern and southern border. They dont talk to each other. Creating detention beds. having a virtual reality. Does anybody know what we will do with those individuals that are caught? We are creating 25.1000 new detention beds. That is what Democrats are talking about. comprehensive reform. Then I might suggest that the other aspect of what we are saying is that we must have surveillance. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3240,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090172217,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the chairman for yielding. My colleagues. since 9\/11 border enforcement became not an immigration issue primarily but a national security issue primarily. We have to know who. is coming across our borders and what they are bringing with them. That re: quires a fence. The fence in San Diego works. When we built that fence. we had border gangs robbing. raping. murdering. killing mostly the illegal aliens who came through. preying on those people. We had 300 drug trucks a month ramming across the open border. coming through the sagebrush. We had a border that was out of control. ","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1508,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090172231,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in opposition to H.R. 6061. the Secure Fences Act of 2006. We need a comprehensive solution for our immigration policy. This measure irresponsibly attempts to gloss over the problem of securing our nations borders rather than working to finalize negotiations on a allencompassing solution. It is a transparent political attempt by the majority to coerce voters into believing something is -being done. when in fact this measure does not even outline a funding mechanism to put these provisions into action. According the Department of Homeland Security. we need a varied approach to the border security problem combining personnel. equipment. technology. and infrastructure improvements. For the estimated cost of the fence proposed in H.R. 6061. we could instead spend $2 billion to purchase the 35.000 detention beds authorized in the 9\/11 Act of 2004 and end the \"catch and release\" practice. For $360 million we could hire. train. and equip 2.000 new border control agents also outlined in the 9\/11 Act. For $400 million we could hire 250 portofentry inspectors or acquire 1.000 radiation monitors to screen 100 percent of the cargo entering U.S. ports for nuclear material. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN KILPATRICK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2598,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090172275,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I might consume. Mr. Speaker. it is no secret why fewer than 30 percent of Americans approve of the job that Congress is doing. It is not hard to figure out why nearly 75 percent of Americans feel as though the country is headed in the wrong direction. and it is easy tosee why so few citizens are confident that this government will turn things around. Our elected officials routinely abuse the public trust. promising one thing and delivering another. They intentionally disguise business -as usual to look like positive reform. and Members of the House have ignored the rules written in the public interest. and have allowed the deliberative process at the heart of our democracy to be captured by special interests. The result has been a Congress where corrupt lobbyists. write the bills. 15minute votes are held open for 3 hours and entirely new legislation is crammed into acts in the dead of night. The American people know it. and they are tired of the old games. ","speaker_name":"LOUISE SLAUGHTER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7320,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090172277,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This should apply to all committees. and he was right then. and he is right now. It is important. indeed. I would argue it is vital that the American people be able to know how every dollar they send us in taxes gets spent. and this legislation will allow that to happen. It says that every earmark and every Member who requested an earmark must be openly acknowledged in the legislation itself. By shedding the light of day on the earmarks that move through this Congress. we are being open and straightforward. Those who have what they consider to be a good earmark for the country can come to this floor and defend it and explain it. and the American people can examine it. I believe this is a tremendous step forward. I want to caution people listening to the debate. What you will hear in the debate here today is that this bill isnt right. because it is not perfect. It doesnt go far enough. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SHADEGG","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2359,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090172293,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The scope of debate is substantially narrowed when even partisan disagreements that would otherwise occur are hushed as Republicans and Democrats find common cause in protecting their earmarks. I am under no illusion that this legislation. which deals only with the issue of transparency. will solve the problem of earmarking. Too many in this body have been convinced that they have both the right and the obligation to personally direct funding to their district. But this bill does represent an important first step.. Mr. Speaker. we owe this institution more than we are giving it. Lets pass this bill and give it more of the respect it deserves.","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2001,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090172304,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if I could reclaim my time. I will tell you this. I know full well that the United States Senate is watching this debate very. very closely and they very much are interested in seeing us comply with this. Mr. Speaker. at this point I would be happy to yield 2 minutes to my very good friend from Columbus. Indiana. the chairman of the Republican Study Committee. Mr. PENCE.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":386,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090172336,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Legislation has been passed without Members even knowing what they are voting for. votes have been held open for record amounts of time. and lobbyists have had more access to conference negotiations than Members of the conference. This shameful behavior should not be acceptable to Members of either party. and this bill is just another example of how Congress has done nothing to stop it. I urge. my colleagues to reject this bill and to make valid. meaningful reform a genuine priority for the 109th Congress.","speaker_name":"JOHN DINGELL","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1440,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090172338,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I strongly support this resolution to reform the earmark process in Congress. Not all spending requests are bad. Many of them fund legitimate. public projects. The Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse. and Members of Congress are often in a better position to determine the pri orities of their districts than government employees in Washington. However. the often secret process that has been used in recent years to fund earmarks has led to wasteful and unnecessary spending. The earmark process needs more sunshine on it. and this new rule provides for that. This bill will bring greater transparency to the legislative process. ensuring that Members of Congress are held accountable for their requests. By requiring a list of earmarks and their sponsors to accompany every bill and conference report considered by the House we will deter wrongful behavior and give the public a better view of what their elected officials are doing in Washington. ","speaker_name":"LAMAR SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1824,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090172371,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Committee on Rules may meet the week of September 18 to grant a rule which could limit the amendment process for floor consideration of H.R. 6054. the Military Commissions Act of 2006. Any Member wishing to offer an amendment should submit 55 copies of the amendment. and one copy of a brief explanation of the amendment. to the Rules Committee in room H312 of the Capitol by 12 noon on Tuesday. September 19. 2006. Members should draft their amendments to the bill as ordered reported by the Committee on Armed Services. which is expected to be filed tomorrow. Friday. September Members should use the Office of Legislative Counsel to ensure that their amendments are drafted in the most appropriate format. and should check with the Office of the Parliamentarian to be certain that their amendments comply with the rules of the House. September 14..2006","speaker_name":"TOM COLE","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":872,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090172380,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the week of September 10 was denominated National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week by legislation introduced by our colleague and my friend. Congresswoman EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. and passed this past July. and I am honored to join my colleagues today in celebrating it. The contributions made by HBCUs to the African American community. to our country and to our culture cannot be overstated. As President Clinton once noted. \"Generations of African American educators. physicians. lawyers. scientists. and other professionals found at HBCUs the knowledge. experience and encouragement they needed to reach their full potential.\" The alumni rolls of HBCUs read like a Hall of Fame list. Mr. Speaker: Martin Luther King. Jr.. a graduate of Morehouse College. Booker T. ","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4789,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090172396,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am proud to have strong connections to HBCUs. Many of my family members attended. including my late mother. Mary Looney Tubbs. a graduate of Alabama State University. my late sister. Mattie Browder Still. a graduate of Alabama State University. and my sister Barbara Walker. who attended Morris Brown College. Additionally. my cousin Essie Baldwin attended Alabama State and my cousin Joan Wilson attended Morris Brown. Four of my staffers attended HBCUs. District Director Betty Pinkney and my health liaison are proud graduates of Central State. My Communications Director. Nicole Williams. a proud graduate of Spelman College. and my Scheduler. Lalla King. a proud graduate of Morgan State University. ","speaker_name":"STEPHANIE JONES","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4452,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090172411,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"\"Police Discover 65 Bodies Across Iraq.\" The New York Times. \"New Wave of Violence Flares Across Baghdad.\" The BBC. \"Iran Offers Iraq Full Support.\" On top of that. according to the Department of Defense. in September so far 23 of Americas brave servicemembers died in this seemingly endless occupation. Throughout this occupation there have been 2.900 coalition deaths. Almost 2.700 of those are Americans. An average of 100 Iraqi civilians are dying each day. Mr. Speaker. it is time for a reality check. The socalled insurgents are not -in their last throes. The mission is not accomplished. far from it. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3250,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090172424,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. What a week this has been. It began on Sunday when the President dispatched his Secretary of State and Vice President to the Sunday talkshows to recreate the Administrations fiction that Iraq and alQaeda were connected. Their appearances came shortly after the Republican controlled Senate Intelligence Committee told the American people in a bipartisan report that there were no ties between Iraq and alQaeda. No Ties. But. the Secretary of State and Vice President wouldnt let the facts stand in the way. In appearance after appearance. they kept telling the American people to be afraid. to believe their fiction about Iraq. The truth affirmedagainthat there was no national security interest served by invading Iraq. The President diverted the nation from Afghanistan and the hunt for bin Laden. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4161,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090172442,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But what did we do? Hans Blitz and the inspectors were given full range of the country. And when that announcement was made by the Government of Iraq. President Bush said. Get out in 48 hours. Why would you do that? They knew that they didnt have weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The bluff was over. So Saddam Hussein decided to let them go anywhere because I dont have them. And. therefore. they will see that the bluff is over. No. the President ordered the strikes. I will conclude because there are other Members here and I could go on and on and on. ","speaker_name":"DONALD PAYNE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3521,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090172448,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"especially. having heard specifically. going back to his district. people often ask what led you to come to this floor and speak out against the war in Iraq? Well. it took place in small towns and communities where people were yearning for the truth and wanted to hear voices that because a majority rule here in a oneparty Congress were notable to break through.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":363,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090172453,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I dont think it was \"friend.\" It was not \"friend.\" but it was even more intimate. I cant find the quote right now. even though this is a story that came out today where the Prime Minister of Iraq. after his meeting with President Ahmadinejad. he then goes and meets with the Supreme Iranian leader. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. and the terms that they use are brothers. brothers. Now. I wonder. is this an effort to unify?","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":417,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090172456,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I want to point -out something. why this is such a diabolical development that the President has given to the world and the United States. and that is it is very simple. We have folks in harms way today. we have lost 2.600 of our finest men and women in Iraq. and it is very clear that we are not going to get those people out unless the leadership of Iraq and the Shiite factions finally reach an agreement regarding oil revenues with the Sunnis and the Kurds in Iraq. This picture is a picture of the friendship of the Shiiteled fundamentalist Iranian government essentially signing up with the Shiiteled faction of the government in Iraq. and this President has refused to drop the hammer on the government of Iraq to tell them that they have to make a deal about oil revenues right now and refusing to continue to keep our troops there in harms way unless they do. Because it is clear that unless this President makes very clear to the Shiites and the Sunnis and the Kurds that if they dont reach an agreement about oil revenue. which they are arguing about today. and have been arguing about for 3 years. we could be there for 500 years and not solve the problem. This President has simply allowed them to shake hands and not put pressure on them. not drop the hammer on them. That is what he has got to do. and he hasnt done it.","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1334,"word_count":250}
{"speech_id":1090172461,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as Mr. DELAHUNT so eloquently pointed out. and has time and again. the Iraq Watch. which you four Members initiated along with Mr.ABERCROMBIE and Mr. KUcINICH. has done a great job for the Nation. People often ask. why do you come down and speak in what is an empty Chamber? And my response is. out of love of country. It is for love of country that you get to ask the unwelcome questions to this administration. But in a oneparty town where the administration controls every agency and both Houses of Congress. we cant penetrate through. except for all of those meetings that are taking place in town halls and at forums and now on the blogs. that people all across this country get it. Someone who has gotten it throughout his entire career and someone who has served hisNation out of love of country and a great city is MAJOR OWENS. I would like to recognize him at this time.","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":892,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090172467,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Our economy was reduced by $2 trillion. That is a lot of money. We dont write checks for $1 trillion. But to give you an idea. Mr. Speaker. of how much $1 trillion is. if you had started a business the day after Jesus Christ rose from the dead and made $1 million that first day with your business. and the next day -you made another $1 million. and the next day until today. every day until today you made $1 million. in \"other words. $1 million a day for 2000 years is not yet $1 trillion. It is only about threefourths of the way there. So this is a tremendous hit\" to our economy following September 11. 2001. a hit of over $2 trillion. Now. since that time. we have done things under the leadership of the President and the Republican House to revive our economy. We cut taxes. ","speaker_name":"TODD TIAHRT","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10829,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090172470,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is one of the planks in many congressional candidates that are running this year. And whenever we hike taxes. it takes money out of the peoples pocket and puts it in the pocket of the government and puts the money out of the families control and into the hands of government bureaucrats. It seems to me that our policies empower the individual. Taxes are way too high. Even after the Bush tax cuts. they are way too high and need to be cut further. And that is .something that we constantly try to do as Republicans. I think every year. the Republican majority. we have introduced and passed bills to cut taxes. We are still trying to eliminate the horribly unfair death tax that is nothing more than a vicious socialistic scheme to punish the rich that was enacted back in the early part of the 20th century. We would be so much better off. as the gentleman observed. to change our tax system so that we are not all spending so much money to comply. And I really appreqiate the gentlemans efforts in leading this discussion tonight and look forward to work with him to improve economic competitivehess. to empower families and individuals. to reduce the burden of government on their lives. ","speaker_name":"JOHN DOOLITTLE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3700,"word_count":214}
{"speech_id":1090172494,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Osama bin Laden said the center of the war on terror is in Iraq. yet we hear Democrats asserting Iraq has no connection to the war on terror. Osama bin Laden declared that. and that is why we need to understand it is important that we succeed in Iraq against the terrorists.","speaker_name":"JOHN DOOLITTLE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":274,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090172502,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Lets remember this picture. We have funded this relationship. We have made this relationship between the Prime Minister of Iraq and the President of Iran. we have made that happen. These were sworn enemies. During our formative years Mr. MEEK. Iraq and Iran were at war. bitter lockedhorns war. If you recall. it was the Sunnis led by Saddam Hussein in Iraq versus the Shiites in Iran. What has occurred is that we have done by our actions in Iraq what thousands of years could not accomplish. We -have basically upended the stability that existed there and brought the Shiites into control. and basically created a hotbed of chaos and terrorism that didnt exist before. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5878,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090172508,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. because that is what we do in the 30Something Working Group. because this is not about dancing in the end zone. The Republican Congress brought up a bill talking about the minimum wage. and they put together a bill that would not see the light of day in the U.S. Senate. would never see the desk of the President of the United States. But just to say that we passed a bill off the floor. that is what they wanted to do. Well. we called it the Potomac TwoStep. And the bottom line is this. Mr. Speaker. The American people. they dont want slogans. they dont want talk. they want action. And this Republican Congress has not put forth the action. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5148,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090172603,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Look what was said yesterday by the chairman of the Finance Committee. a Republican. CHARLES GRASSLEY of Iowa: A delay of legislative beyond the anticipated recess date of September 29. 2006. will cause hardship. tax compliance problems and confusion for the millions of taxpayers who claim these widely applicable tax benefits. According to a memo from Senator GRASSLEYS office. after consulting with IRS officials. the IRS contracts with several printers to produce 1040 and 1040A income tax return forms are in jeopardy. It also said that IRS must finalize the information it is to submit to these printers by October 15 in order to ensure forms will be printed in time and be distributed to taxpayers at the beginning of 2007. that if Congress has not passed extenders legislation by that time. the forms will omit lines instructing taxpayers to compute State and local sales tax. college tuition. or outofpocket classroom expenses into their tax liability. American families and businesses are paying the price because of this donothing Congress. They refuse to extend important tax breaks. Families who recently took their sons and daughters to college now wonder whether the tuition deduction Republicans allowed to expire last year will get reinstated. What are these tax extenders? The State and local sales tax deduction. In States all over the country which have an income tax. they are allowed to deduct that from their Federal income tax. Now that the Republicans failed to act in States where individuals- pay sales tax. they are not able to do this. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4888,"word_count":256}
{"speech_id":1090172611,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"A majority of Americans today question whether that was the right decision. I question whether that was the right decision. I was one of 23 who voted against going to war. I did not believe the intelligence supported it. Events that have happened sincewe have lost 2.671 of our best and bravest and finest American soldiers. They have given their lives in that war in Iraq. 19.000 or more have returned seriously injured. We have spent over $320 billion. We spend anywhere from $1.5 billion to $3 billion a week on a war with no end in sight. We went through this administrations effort to redefine torture to abandon the Geneva Conventions that we had stood by for decades. We saw the scandals of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4418,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090172646,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to consider the following treaties on todays Executive Calendar: Nos. 16 and 18. I further ask unanimous consent that the treaties be considered as having passed through their various parliamentary stages. up to and including the presentation of the resolutions of ratification. that any committee conditions. declarations. or reservations be agreed to as applicable. that any statements be printed in the RECORD as if read. and that the Senate take one vote on the resolutions of ratification to be considered as separate votes. further. that when the resolutions of ratification are voted upon. the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. the President be notified of the Senates action. and that following the disposition of the treaties. the Senate return to legislative session.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":851,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090172653,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President and Members of the Senate. next week we will resume consideration of the Oman free trade bill. Under the time agreement. we will have a vote on passage on Tuesday. Senators should expect this vote to occur before our weekly policy lunches. This will be the first vote of the week. We now also have an agreement to finish a very important nomination. that of Alice Fisherof Louisville. KY. I might addto be Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division. We will consider that nomination early next week as well. I thank all Members for their attention.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":572,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090172676,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That is unacceptable. We have only a few days left in this session. This week. we will vote on the nomination of Alice Fisher to be an Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division at the Department of Justice. But it has taken months and months to get to this pointmonths and months of obstruction. We have other key national security nominees who need to be confirmed. These are positions vital to our continued safety and security. but at every turn we find obstruction instead of confirmation. As we move forward. I urge my colleagues to review our Constitutions Preamble. to consider anew our purpose here in the Senate. and to let that purpose guide our debate and action here on the Senate floor. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2984,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090172693,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is also true. is it not. that the Democratic policy conference has been holding hearingsin fact. I think it is the only agency on the Hill holding hearingson this waste and abuse. this profiteering and corruption at the expense of American taxpayers and even. equally importantmore importantlyat the expense of our troops?","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":325,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090172702,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Did you realize that. every one of you who is within the sound of my voice throughout this great Nation? You may revere the Constitutionand most people do. Yes. they are proud of the Constitution. They revere it. But they do not know what is in it. too many do not know what is in it. Many do. I think that may also be true of many Members of Congress. many Members of this body. As you know. there are two bodies of Congress. Two bodies make up the Congress. not one body. It may be true of many Members of these two Houses. It may be true of many Members of this House. the Senate of the United States. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11884,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090172707,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Now we have a massive trade deficit. and some say this is a success. I would hate to see a failure. If this is a success. what would be a failure? Agriculture provides another clear example. When this administration took office. we had a trade balance in agriculture of a positive $15 billion. That was in 2001. Every year. this balance has gone down: to $13 billion in 2002. $10 billion in 2003. just under $10 billion in 2004. last year it slipped to under $5 billion. and this year they are now anticipating a trade balance in agriculture of only $2 billion. That is stunning. absolutely stunning. We used to run a trade surplus in agriculture of over $25 billion a year. Now we are very close to having no trade balance in agriculture. Yet we keep going down the same path. trumpeting every one of these trade deals as another great success. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11409,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090172733,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I wish to recognize the help of executive director Patricia Pummel and board members Wayne Asscherick. Phyllis Boernke. Dave Bussard. Jim Castleberry. Patrick Clinch. Cynthia Clinch. Linda M. Colhoff. Richard Cooper. Lt. ","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4187,"word_count":32}
{"speech_id":1090172735,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Absent such a study. I fear that there is a significant likelihood that we may be depleting aquifers at an unsustainable rate. I thank Senator BINGAMAN for being an original cosponsor of this legislation. I also thank Representative HEATHER WILSON for introducing companion legislation in the House of Representatives and I look forward to working with them to ensure the bills passage. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5183,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090172736,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I asked the CEOs when the major oil companies came before a joint hearingI see the distinguished Senator from Alaska in the chair. He will recall at our hearing. the joint Commerce and Energy hearing that was held. I asked the oil company executives of the major companies whether they needed the various tax breaks that were currently offered. and to a person. they said they did not. I see my good friend from Utah. and I thank him for his efforts to make this legislation bipartisan. What I will do. now that the Senator from Utah has arrived. is briefly describe how our bipartisan legislation works and why we think this will be a major transformation in terms of the cars. trucks. and SUVs on the roads of our country. Under our bipartisan. marketoriented bill. consumers who buy vehicles that are at least 25 percent more fuel efficient than the applicable standards. called CAFE. would get a rebate of at least $630 and as much as $1.860 for the most fuelefficient cars. We have separate standards for cars and trucks so the consumers can choose the type of vehicle they want and still get the rebate or the credit as long as they choose a fuelefficient model. In the past. the automobile industry has said that fuel economy standards are hard to achieve because car buyers place little value on fuel economy. The new program created by our bill directly addresses that concern by providing rebates to consumers for purchasing fuelefficient vehicles. Many in the automobile industry have also said that car buyers dont fully appreciate the value of lifetime fuel savings at the time of purchase. ","speaker_name":"RON WYDEN","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10010,"word_count":278}
{"speech_id":1090172739,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to announce that the Committee on Indian Affairs will meet on Wednesday. September 20. 2006. at 9:30 a.m. in room 485 of the Russell Senate Office Building to conduct an oversight hearing on the Tribal Self Governance: Obstacles and Impediments to Expansion of Self Governance. Those wishing additional information may contact the Indian Affairs Committee at 2022242251.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":398,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090172748,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it stand in adjournment until 9:45 a.m. on Tuesday. September 19. I further ask unanimous consent that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate proceed to a period of morning business for up to 30 minutes. with the first 15 minutes under the control of the Democratic leader or his designee and the final 15 minutes under the control of the majority leader or his designee. further. that following morning business. the Senate resume consideration of H.R. 5684. the Oman freetrade bill. for 30 minutes under the previous order. with a vote on passage to occur at 12 noon. further. that any additional time until the vote be counted on the bill. with the time equally divided between the two leaders or their designees. Further. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in recess from 12:30 until 2:15 to accommodate the weekly policy luncheons.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1072,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090172776,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"People are dying. People are being killed. They are being raped. They are being murdered. They are being starved and they are dying of all kinds of diseases. Nobody takes responsibility. All the forces that can do something about itRussia. China. the Arab League. Sudan itself. that could stop thiswash their hands of it. The diplomatic inertia on Darfur is illustrative of just how much Americas credibility and influence has eroded in the eyes of the world. largely because of our misguided policy in Iraq. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8145,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090172777,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am going to speak about the Oman Free Trade Agreement. but I wanted to first respond to my colleague from New Hampshire who was on the floor of the Senate earlier this morning saying there is no problem with respect to what we are accomplishing here. He listed various accomplishments. He said: The only things we cannot accomplish are the things we are obstructed from accomplishing because the minority will not let us. First of all. that is not the case because. with respect to oversight hearingswhich was the subject I raised and my colleague from Illinois raised this morning. oversight hearingshobody is obstructing anybody from holding oversight hearings. That is the responsibility of the committees and the chairmen of the committees. to hold oversight hearings. I have held some in the Democratic Policy Committee because the regular committees wont hold them. but let me describe a few of the things I have found in the hearings I have heldsome big. some small. all of them. in my judgment. cheating American taxpayers: Contractors in Iraq paying $45 for a case of CocaCola. contractors in Iraq paying $7.500 for a 1month lease on an SUV. contractors in Iraq who are buying towels for the troops. and instead of buying the hand towels for our troops to use that would cost a relatively small amount of money. they triple the amount that the taxpayers pay for these hand toWels for our soldiers because they want the company name on them. Kellogg Brown and Root. embroidered on the towels. So they triple the cost of the towels. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6879,"word_count":267}
{"speech_id":1090172814,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will use part of that time. Today we are considering the nomination of Alice Fisher for the position of Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. We have less than 2 weeks left in the legislative session before we recess for the elections. The Republican leadership has once again delayed doing the work of the American people so they can consider a nominee about whom many questions remain. We are being required to consider this nomination despite- unanswered questions regarding her role in the administrations controversial. questionable detainee treatment policies. Of course. on these questions. as on so many other matters involving torture and detainees at Guantanamo. the administration has refused to provide Congress with the information it has sought. As I said 2 weeks ago when the President renominated five extremely controversial choices for lifetime positions on the Nations highest courts. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11817,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090172834,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He said he had regular discussions on this subject about the detainee treatment at Guantanamo with the counsel to the Criminal Division. David Nahmias. and another Deputy Director. Bruce Swartz. We simply wanted to find out from the two of them. particularly from Mr. Nahmias since he served in the same department of the Justice Department with Alice Fisher. and the Deputy Director of that department. whether he. David Nahmias. had shared the information that he got from the FBI that wrote the email. with the Deputy Director of that department. For reasons that I cannot fathom. the Justice Department is still stonewalling answering questions which are directly related to the nomination. That question is. Did Mr. Nahmias and Mr. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5923,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090172836,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. there are many things I can say in response to what the distinguished Senator from Michigan has said. but silence is the preferable course. Instead. I ask. as the representative of the majority leader. to set the vote at 5:45 with the expectation there will be no other speakers. I ask unanimous consent we set the vote at 5:45.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":343,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090172846,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is acceptable. Having set the vote at 5:45. we have given our colleagues ample notice. If somebody wants to speak in the next 14 minutes. they certainly would be at liberty to do that. My hunch is that we will have a quorum call for 14 minutes. The important thing is that we have finished the discussion on a reasonably harmonious note. I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":377,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090172865,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have not decided as yet. But that is another dimension to the diversity of thinking on this very important provision. As all Members in this body fully appreciate and understand. when a matter of this controversy comes along you are often singled out by a variety of people who disagree. I have not taken a position. but nevertheless I am being besieged by telephone. by bloggers. by everything elsethat I have taken this or that position. I will state momentarily what I think should be done. But I am very proud of my background. I was blessed with two magnificent parents. We were active in the Episcopal Church. and I have remained active in that faith nearly all of my life. nearly 80 years now. My uncle was a rector of a very prominent parish here in Washington. DC. in the shadow of the Washington Cathedral where I was raised. not more than three blocks from his church. and I was a regular attendee of Sunday school through that. ","speaker_name":"STEVE ISRAEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11320,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090172868,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. as the Senate author of the Disaster Recovery Personal Protection Act of 2006 and a cosponsor of the District of Columbia Personal Protection Act. I believe we must work to support the ability of lawabiding citizens to defend and protect themselves and \"their families from criminal activity. It has been proven time and time again that prohibiting lawabiding citizens from owning a legal and constitutionally protected firearm does not reduce crime but. as this article which I will ask to have printed in the RECORD states. in fact. increases crime. I ask unanimous consent that an article published in the August 7 issue of Legal Times .entitled \"The Laws That Misfire: Banning guns doesnt workin the District or anywhere else\" aur thored by Don B. Kates be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"DAVID VITTER","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":798,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090172909,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that with respect to the bill. H.R. 4954. the Senate insist on its amendment. request a conference with the House. and the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on the part of the Senate with a ratio of 9 to 7.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":252,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090172917,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today we passed the Oman Free Trade bill by a vote of 63 to 31. I am pleased that we were finally able to proceed to a vote on the confirmation of a very important nomination. and that is the nomination of Alice Fisher to be an Assistant Attorney General. Tomorrow we will have a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the Secure Fence Act. a bill on border security. That vote will occur at approximately 11 a.m.. and this will be the first vote of the day. I hope that cloture will be invoked. and if it is invoked. I would hope that we could begin the bill as quickly as possible.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":600,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090172920,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. thank you. I am very concerned about Iraq. Very concerned. The weather vane of the Iraqi fight has shifted clearly to the Iraqis. It is theirs to win or lose. General John Abizaid stated yesterday. \"Its very. very clear that in order to win in Iraq. the Iraqis have to assume more and more responsibility.\" Last week. there were two developments in Iraq that I feel need to be highlighted. First. the Marine Corps chief of intelligence in Iraq has reportedly described the situation. in the Sunnidominated Anbar province as \"politically\" lost to al Qaeda. The second is the plan to secure Baghdad from the insurgents by encircling it with. for lack of a better word. a moat. ","speaker_name":"IKE SKELTON","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2821,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090172922,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"My colleagues. since 1979. the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. OECD. has had a convention against corruption i tPrinted on recycled paper.and continues to see it as a top global priority.. All this reflects a growing international consensus that corruption is a problem that we must. confront. That much is true. But working on anticorruption campaigns. all these entities treat the symptoms rather than the disease.. The disease is oppression -and lawlessness. The cure is freedom and the rule of law. The annual Index of Economic Freedom. compiled by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal. provides a simple framework for understanding how -open countries are to competition. the degree of state intervention in the economy. whether through taxation. spending or overregulation. and the strength and independence of a countrys judiciary to enforce rules and protect private property. One of the indicators in the index is the size of a nations \"informal.\" or black market economy. which helps to measure this corruption. Charting the relationship between economic freedom and the size of the informal bconomy as a percentage of GDP. the Heritage Foundation found a positive correlation between these two factors. ","speaker_name":"CLIFFORD STEARNS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4756,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090172933,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. it was recently reported that in order to stop boardroom media leaks. investigators hired by HewlettPackard used pretexting to obtain the phone records of directors and journalists. This disclosure demonstrates another nasty byproduct of having the availability of Internetbased personal information instantly available. One of the major reasons for the growing pretexting problem is the lax data security at businesses that hold sensitive consumer information. The Commerce. Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee which I chair has amassed an extensive record on these issues. I have introduced H.R. 4127. the Data Accountability and TrustAct. which is designed to improve data security and attack the scourge of privacyinfringing practices. like pretexting. that continue to be exploited on the Internet.","speaker_name":"CLIFFORD STEARNS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":825,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090172944,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"No longer will imported suits of a lower quality be able to claim they are the same high quality as those bearing the \"made in the U.S.A.\" label. This bill updates the outdated law that does not recognize the different levels of yarn fineness. We have a great tradition of wool suit craftsmanship in the United States. By updating the Wool Products Labeling Act. H.R. 4583 will help ensure the health and vitality of the U.S. apparel and textile industry which includes members of my union. UNITE HERE!. and two Chicagobased manufacturers. Hartmarx and Oxxford Clothes. The passage of our bill will ensure that the U.S. tailored clothing industry can continue to thrive in the international marketplace. H.R. 4583 is supported both by the wool suit manufacturers and the Garment Workers Union. UNITE HERE!. as well as the U.S. textile industry. ","speaker_name":"JANICE SCHAKOWSKY","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2159,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090172959,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself .such time as% I may: consume. I would just:say that. again. -while the -Democrats support..this resolution. we are very concerned over the fact that it is essentially commemorative in nature and it does not do anything in terms of funding or addressing any of the problems that have been outlined by the National Cancer Institute in order tomove forwardand -eliminate cancer by the year 2015. So while we think it is a goodresolution and we .do support it. we need to point out that the Republican majority is essentially doing nothing to implement a strategy that. would. actually lead us to the eradication of cancer. Madam Speaker. I have no further requests for time. and I yield back the balance of my time. -","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":745,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090172974,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. I support House Resolution 982. sponsored by my colleague Congresswoman CAPPS from California. Madam Speaker. peripheral arterial disease is a serious ailment that affects millions of Americans. This resolution will help to draw attention to this problem by recognizing September 18 through 22 as Peripheral Arterial Disease Awareness Week. and it is my. hope that this recognition. along with educational efforts on the part of the research and medical communities. will help make this a problem we can overcome. There are more than 8 million people in the U.S.. one in 20 adults. that have peripheral arterial disease. This is a vascular disease that results in the narrowing of arteries and decreased blood flow to the limbs. It could lead to leg pain disability and even amputation. And. sadly. the disease often goes unrecognized because the symptoms include common symptoms of old age. such as fatigue. heaviness. pain and cramping in -the leg muscles when walking. ","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3877,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090173003,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 622) to recognize and honor the Filipino World War II veterans for their defense of democratic ideals and their important contribution to the outcome of World War H. as amended.","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":257,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090173018,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. today the House of Representatives is poised to pass House. Resolution 622 honoring and recognizing the service of Filipino World War II veterans in their defense of our society and the freedoms we enjoy today. I am proud to cosponsor this resolution highlighting theefforts of a community that came together with the United States to triumph over Japanese Imperialism. In 1946. on a hot July day. President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a military draft calling the organized military forces of the Government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines into armed services under the command of United States Army officers lead by General Douglas MacArthur. Those brave soldiers stood side by side with American military service members courageously fighting to defend America.. These Filipino Wdrld War II veterans are part of what is often referred to as the \"greatest generation\" and with good reason. From Bataan to Corregidor. Filipino soldiers unselfishly fought to preserve and protect the democratic principles we champion. with the hope that those principles could liberate a people enveloped by tyranny. ","speaker_name":"BRIAN BILBRAY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":50.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1756,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090173021,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"H.R. 302. the Filipino Equity Act. introduced by my colleague and fellow Californian BOB FILNER. are pending before this House. H.R. 302 would restore all benefits promised to Filipino veterans. I call on the leadership of this House to bring H.R. 302 to the floor for a full vote before we adjourn this fall. The words of this resolution are well deserved and welcomed by all who honor the sacrifices by Filipino veterans of WWII. But it is time we match our words with action.","speaker_name":"GEORGE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2182,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090173037,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I want to thank Mr. LANTOS for his undying commitment to human rights. It was you and Mrs. Lantos who worked to see a Human Rights Caucus created. and you have kept these issues in front of the Congress. and I salute you for that. I also salute my colleague Ms. ROsLEHTINEN for her commitment to human rights. I think it is important that we always bring these issues before the House. But I think it is also important to relate to Members of Congress the context in which this resolution is occurring and to look back over the last 4 years at a similar context. Septemnber 19. 2006 The Bahais in Iran certainly deserve to have a full according of their. rights. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5908,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090173068,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Many Christian Montagnards have lost access to their ancestral lands. and they have been severely marginalized in an economic sense. In some cases. confiscated Montagnard land has been turned over to Vietnamese from lowland areas. .Madam Speaker. the Vietnamese Government has recently made efforts to improve its land reform policies. It is imperative that the government uses this process to end discriminatory land seizures and to ensure that everyone receives adequate compensation for their property. I urge all of my colleagues to support this resolution. Madam Speaker. I yield 3 minutes to the author of this important resolution. my good friend from California","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1709,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090173080,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I urge all of my colleagues to support this resolution. Madam Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1048,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090173125,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Siblings will be separated from each other and most will have moved at least three times before being adopted. It is currently an unfortunate fact that- one in five children will never be adopted. and will be forced out of the foster care system at the age of 18 with little or no family support. Modeling the successes of the Adoption and Safe Families Act and National -Adoption Day. states have significantly increased adoptions from foster care. National Adoption Day inspires a collective national effort to raise awareness to the 119.000 children in foster care awaiting permanent. loving families. For the last six years. National Adoption Day has seen the dreams of thousands of children come true by working with courts. judges. and attorneys to finalize adoptions and find permanent. loving homes for foster care children. Let me add that I hope that before we recess. we may have the opportunity to make a further statement with H.R. 1704. Second Chance Act. This important legislation reauthorizes. rewrites. and expands crucial provisions regarding adult and juvenile offender reentry demonstration projects. in order to address issues of recidivism and the effects of the criminal justice system and child welfare services on families. The welfare of children must continue to be a priority for all Americans. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2660,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090173136,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am a firm believer in our Constitution and our Bill of Rights. and I take my oath of office to defend those rights very seriously. This legislation is simple. This act does not issue a blank check to anyone to conduct random. unfounded. or mass searches. It does not change the fourth amendment standards on search and seizure. In fact. it is the parents and school officials who are empowered by this legislation. These men and women will work together in individual communities across the Nation to develop school safety policies that suit the unique needs of their teachers and students and are based on the constitutional standards set by the Supreme Court. Nothing more. nothing less. H.R. 5295 requires local education agencies to have policies in place that adopt a standard articulated by the Supreme Court in New Jersey v. T.L.O. This standard allows teachers and school officials to use their experience and judgments to make decisions that will help control their classrooms and protect the students. ","speaker_name":"GEOFF DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3176,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090173147,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H.R. 5295. the Student and Teacher Safety Act. This legislation builds upon the past efforts of this Congress to bolster school safety. and I commend Mr. GEOFF DAVIS of Kentucky for leading the charge on this legislation. Enhancing school safety is not a new priority for this House. Earlier this year. we sent to President Bush legislation that included a proposal of my committee colleague Mr. PORTER to provide schools with -criminal history records for individuals seeking to work with or around children. Today -we have the opportunity to take another step towards safer classrooms. The Student and Teacher Safety Act simply asks schools to adopt policies that put them in compliance with the legal standard established by the U.S. ","speaker_name":"HOWARD MCKEON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1132,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090173151,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"H.R. 5295 will provide muchneeded clarity for school districts in setting policies for school searches. Specifically. this legislation will require school districts and other local education agencies to create a policy that is firmly founded - upon the fourth amendment protections and follows the controlling Supreme Court decision on school searches. New Jersey v. TLO. I am proud to be listed as a cosponsor of this legislation. and I call on my colleagues in Congress to support its passage here today.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL FITZPATRICK","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2128,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090173164,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would like to express my strong support for House Resolution 874. a resolution recognizing -and honoring older Americans. I would like to thank my friend and fellow Texan. Congressman CHARLIE GONZALEZ. for bringing this resolution forward. As the repolution so eloquently. states. older Americans have made countless contributions that have strengthened our Nation. We are gradually bidding farewell to our Greatest Generation that fought for our freedom and values during the Great Depression and two world wars. We must never forget their strength of character and willingness to sacrifice for the greater good of our Nation and our world. We are now welcoming the baby boom generation into the ranks of older Americans. ","speaker_name":"RUBEN HINOJOSA","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1963,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090173166,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from New York for yielding. Mr. Speaker. I join my friend Congressman GONZALEZ of Texas and many of my colleagues to support H. Resolution 874. a resolution. to recognize and honor older Americans for their role in helping make America great. It is so important that policymakers in Congress recognize the contributions of our Nations seniors by keeping their needs in mind as we develop legislation. We must take this responsibility seriously as we consider issues such as Medicare. Social Security. veterans benefits. housing. and health care. ","speaker_name":"WALTER JONES","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1283,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090173184,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"February 22. 1932. that the War Department announced General Order No. 3. which established the Purple Heart. In 1942. President Franklin D. Roosevelt extended the award to- the Navy. Marine Corps. and Coast Guard. and established a uniform application of standards in the Army and Navy. President Harry S. Truman retroactively extended the eligibility for the Navy. Marine Corps. and Coast Guard back to April 5. 1917. and in 1962. President John F. Kennedy extended eligibility to any \"civilian national of the United States. who while serving under competent authority in any capacity with an armed force .... has been. or may hereafter be. wounded\" to qualify for the Purple Heart. ","speaker_name":"IKE SKELTON","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3228,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090173217,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mrs. King sewed and used needlepoint to create hats for friends and family in her little free time. Her hats were noticed by a local milliner. and he suggested that she travel to New York and study witha top milliner. Mrs. King was accepted at the Dache millinery and worked as a copier from nine to six. Each day she was given a hat and a bag filled with materials and required to \"copy\" the original. She later became a fitter. fitting hats on celebrities such as Greta Garbo. Mary Pickford. and Loretta Young. During the summer of 1946. Mr. and Mrs. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6603,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090173223,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Emergency medical services agencies do not coordinate with their emergency rooms and trauma centers. And some emergency rooms are overcrowded. while others remain nearly empty. There is not effective communication between public safety agencies and public health departments. They often use different radio frequencies and have different emergency plans. Interoperability. which was a big issue during Katrina. is still an ongoing concern. H6712 Co There is no nationwide standard for training and certification of emergency medical personnel. and Federal responsibility for oversight is scattered across miiltiple Federal agencies. Thirdly.- critical specialists are often unavailable to provide emergency trauma care. Threequarters of hospitals report difficulty finding specialists to take emergency and trauma calls. Key specialties are in short supply.. Specialists often treat emergency room patients without compensation. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BURGESS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5688,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090173227,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I have the honor of being the first of a series of Democratic speakers tonight about the budget. And my colleagues will talk in some detail about the deficit and the debt and its consequence on the country. But. if I can. I want to begin with a memory of a 10yearold child growing","speaker_name":"ARTUR DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":293,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090173244,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I believe the Federal Government needs to work in partnership with our States and local communities to meet the needs of our people. I have worked for several years with my good friend Congressman CHARLIE RANGEL of the Ways and Means Committee to pass Federal legislation to leverage school bonds on\" the local level. This legislatioi. will make a real difference throughout America to build new schools. relieve overcrowding. enhance safety and improve education for our children. Unfortunately. under the current Republican regime. we cannot even get a hearing on the RangelEtheridge bill. But worse than not passing new bills. the Republican budget fails to pay for the laws they have put on the books. For example. the No Child Left Behind. which the President bragged about as his signature legislation reform achievement. has never been fully funded. To date. Republicans in the White House and Congress have shortchanged our schools roughly $50 billion that they promised under No Child Left Behind. ","speaker_name":"BOB ETHERIDGE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4026,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090173262,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We must have allies. We must have allies who respect us. who believe that our word is credible. and believe that our leadership is based upon values. insight. good intelligence. and conviction. Without question. Madam Speaker. our continuing military action in Iraq has fomented much of this antiAmerican sentiment. Let me add that I supported the effort to remove Saddam Hussein as the dictator in Iraq. Democrats. however. as the loyal opposition. believe that we have a duty to honestly appraise the gross miscalculations and. I suggest. even incompetence that have plagued Operation Iraqi Freedom from its very start and to offer alternatives. The -administration ignored the advice of. tbp military commanders and sent far too few troops to accomplish the task at hand. Recall. if you will. that we sent over a half million troops in the fall of 1990 to confront Saddam Hussein and his army in the late winter of 1991. We sent those troops to eject Hussein from Kuwait. ","speaker_name":"CHRIS VAN HOLLEN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10731,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090173263,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman from Maryland for his leadership. And I particularly appreciate your comments about the proposal that Zbigniew Brzezinski has put forward. It is. I think. exemplary of the new direction in Iraq that Democrats have been advocating. The administrations policy of stay the course. the sum and substance of it. is more of the same. Indeed. in a nonclassified briefing when I asked Secretaries Rumsfeld and Rice. Director Negroponte and General Pace how are we adapting our strategy given that the sectarian violence is now more prominent than the insurgent violence. how are we changing from a counterinsurgency strategy to one that attempts to stop the civil war. the long and short of it is we werent. We are simply doing the same thing we have done all along. The same thing that has led us to a place. as you pointed out. where Marine intelligence is saying we lost Anbar Province probably for good. If you keep doing the same thing and you expect the result to be different. you are going to be bitterly disappointed. ","speaker_name":"ADAM SCHIFF","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1111,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090173274,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank my colleague for his statement tonight and all your tremendous leadership on this. I am confident with Democrats we will not only have a new direction. but we will have a functioning government of checks and balances where there is actual oversight by the Congress of the administration. which every administration needs. no matter how good. but particularly when the administration has made such serious mistakes that have placed this Nation so much in jeopardy. We need oversight. I would add only one thing. and this you -may have watched. Mr. VAN HOLLEN. the interview with the President from New Orleans when he went down for the Katrina anniversary. and Brian Williams asked him. \"Mr. President. some people have criticized that you have never really asked for a sacrifice of the American people in the war on terror. Is that a fair criticism?\" His answer really struck me. because we have been talking about the American people being brought inand given a chance to contribute to our security and our success with an Apollolike project for energy independence. Well. the Presidents idea of sacrifice. he said. ","speaker_name":"ADAM SCHIFF","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2287,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090173357,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I didnt support the Senate bill in that I thought it was too broad in terms of dealing with people who had come here illegally. even though I do believe there are some. depending on the situation. \u0095who should be given an opportunity to go through the system. But I am pleased that we are beginning to do something. The first thing. obviously. is to do something about the border. I am going to support the bill before us. although I dont think it is perfect. I think. frankly. there needs to be some limit on building fences. I cannot imagine building a fence. a 40foottall fence. all across the border. All we would have is 40foot ladders if we did that. But there are areas in particular where this needs to be done. I think this is an authorization where some decisions can be made with respect to how that is done. There ought to be other things we consider along with it. ","speaker_name":"CRAIG THOMAS","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2043,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090173371,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I will be pleased to yield the floor and reserve the remainder of my time.","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1540,"word_count":15}
{"speech_id":1090173381,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It includes a number of other things. such as technology and sensors and the like. The second aspect of the lbgislation is very. very important. We voted in this body 93 to 3and the majority leader and the Democratic leader both made reference to itto fund it at $1.8 billion. That was a commitment we made. We said we were for that. This budget that we passed has $20 billion set aside for emergency funding as part of our budgetary expectations for this year. How much of that will go to homeland security? We have to be careful to watch. And even though we authorized these barriers at the border. which are going to make a huge. huge difference in reducing illegal entry into Americait is going to be so positivebut if we do not fund it so we can actually build it. it cannot be built. That requires an appropriations. So I am getting worried about that. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6630,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090173385,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wish to say a few words before we move to the cloture vote on H.R. 6061. the Secure Fence Act of 2006. Colleagues. the purpose of -the fence is to prevent illegal pedestrian and vehicular traffic crossing the international border of the United States with Mexico. This bill does four main things. First. it authorizes over 700 miles of twolayered reinforced fencing along the southwest border with prioritized placement at critical. highly populated areas. Second. the legislation mandates that the Department of Homeland Security.. DHS. achieve and maintain operational control over the entire border through a \"virtual fence\" that deploys cameras. ground sensors. unmanned aerial vehicles. UAVs. and integrated - surveillance technology. Third. it requires DHS to provide all necessary authority to border personnel to disable fleeing vehicles. similar to the authority held by the U.S. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3056,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090173403,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In fact. he has postponed or canceled I believe three different meetings with them and now says he is prepared to meet with them after the election. This isnt about elections. This isnt about politics. This is about a fight for a way of life. This is a fight for a way of life in this country. While he is waiting until after the elections to meet with the auto industry and to begin to engage to do something about these numbers. we have folks who are facing layoffs today. We have headlines. We have Ford Motor Company and their latest headlines. We have struggles going on throughout the industry. Every day. somebody in Michigan gets up in the morning and worries about whether or not they are going to have a job. worries about whether or not they are going to be able to afford to send their kids to college. whether or not their health care is.going to still be there. and whether or not they are going to be able to pay for it. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE STABENOW","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10025,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090173420,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As I understand it. we have had this tremendous runup in the debt. We are just saddling this burden on the next generations. One of the things that has happened and needs to be underscored. at least as I am informed. is that the amount of the debt that we are borrowing from overseas has escalated tremendously. In fact. we have borrowed more from overseasin other words. foreignheld debtunder President George W. Bush than all of the previous Presidents combined. It is not only that we are incurring the debt and the problems that go with that in terms of the future burden. but more of that debt isbeing held externally by people overseas rather than being held internally. Before. we were paying it to ourselves. It meant working people were paying money to people who held the Government bonds. but at least it was all within the country. Now there is a tremendous tariff on working people to send this money overseas to the debt that is being held abroad. Isnt that the case?","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":981,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090173422,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the Senator will yield. as the Senator points out. we have become dependent. as Tennessee Williams said. on \"the kindness of strangers.\" On the one hand. we say we are the worlds superpower. In many respects. that is quite true. However. economically. the foundations are weakening. They are not as solid and as strong as they once were. In the last years of the Clinton administration we were running surpluses and paying down the debt. The Bush administration came in and made these very excessive tax cuts at atime when we moved into a war footing. We have never done that before in this country. When we have gone into a war footing we have always concerned ourselves with how to meet the budgetary demands of the war. That did not happen here. All of a sudden we have switched from running surpluses to running these large deficits. year.after year after year. ","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1438,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090173430,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But again. I say to the Senator. like you. I am concerned there is another movement afoot. Just listen to what the President says and what the chairman of the relevant subcommittee in the House and also the House majority leader say. If they get a chance. next year. they are going right back after Social Security. cespite. as you point out. the rejection by the American people. And this was not some type of narrow. close call. Seniors. middleincome Americansall Americans. I thinkwere standing up basically saying: This is not a sensible approach.","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2667,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090173450,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I say to my friend. I received a call before the last recess from the chair of the Business Roundtable. This is a group composed of Democrats and Republicans but. frankly. more Republicans than Democrats. and they represent the American business community. The chairman of that group saidsomething to me. I asked him. Of all these provisions. which is the most important? And he said. We only care about one: the research and development .tax credit has to pass. It is so important to the American business community. If we dont have that. it is going to have a tremendously detrimental effect on business. We have not done it. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":803,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090173466,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I just had the unfortunate experience of being trapped in the Presiding Officers chair as some of my Democratic colleagues presented a sad scenario of how Republicans had not taken up an important bill that would continue important tax credits for Americans and American businesses. Unfortunately. they failed to admit that we all had a chance to vote on that bill only a couple of weeks ago when Republicans. at.tempting to work with Democrats. brought all of these \"tax extenders.\" as we call them. to the floor. along with","speaker_name":"JIM DEMINT","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":540,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090173476,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. simply put. olir substitute has no budgetary score and simply authorizes future appropriations for the annual penalties collected each.year from foreign automakers who violate CAFE standards. I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will work with Senator SALAZAR and me to clear this important measure. The House has agreed to take up and pass the ThuneSalazar substitute once it clears our Chamber. allowing the bill to be sent to the President for his signature. In light of the very clear message from the American people that they want Congress to do more to increase the availability of alternative fuels. I hope my colleagues drop any objections they have so this measure can be passed by the Senate. If we look at the state of the renewable fuel industry today and the state of our energy situation in this country. it is very clear that we need to be doing more to promote the use of alternative energy and renewable fuels. * If you look at the Energy bill that was passed last summer. it included a renewable fuels standard for the first time ever as a matter of policy for this country. We have in law a requirement that a certain amount of renewable fuelethanol and other types of bioenergybe used. Now. that creates a market for ethanol. We also have on the other side. on the production side. a. lot of ethanol plants either currently in production or under construction. ","speaker_name":"JOHN THUNE","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9898,"word_count":247}
{"speech_id":1090173488,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my friend from Alabama and the Presiding Officer. Mr. President. let me. at the outset. say that I very much appreciate the work we have done on the alternative fuels legislation that Senator THUNE and I have been sponsoring and advocating. I would hope it is legislation we can move forward to yet in this Congress. I think when we look at the issues that are confronting our world. from the issues of terrorism. to the issues of energy independence. there is an opportunity for us to do something significant that will move us down that track of energy independence. Last year. in the passage of the 2005 Energy Policy Act. we acted together in a bipartisan way to move that legislation forward. I am hopeful the legislation Senator THUNE and I have been sponsoring will. in fact. be legislation that can. in fact. become law and reach the Presidents desk as a result of the work of this Congress. I appreciate his work and his advocacy in trying to find out where the problems lie with respect to this particular bill. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11018,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090173490,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It has had no committee hearings whatsoever in the Senate. It is completely different than what the Senate passed. with Republicans and Democrats voting for it just a few months ago. I dont know why we could not have worked in the normal way we have done for a couple hundred years here and worked out the bills we had. Actually. this is an issue on which the President could be of help and show some leadership. He stated privately that he preferred the bill we- passed. and it would be nice to hear him support it publicly. Along with a bipartisan majority of Senators. I voted for a far more measured version of a physical barrier on the southern border. In doing so. we demonstrated our commitment to border security. The Senate bill has a provision calling for 370 miles of fencing in the most vulnerable hightraffic areas. That is what the White House requested and recommended. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9455,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090173501,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":16,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I have listened to the Senator from Alabama. He brought us back to 9\/11 and that is where I am going to start in my remarks right now. on a dreadful day when we saw the Pentagon in flames right here from the Capitol and we ran -down those front steps and it was the bluest of skies and we were looking for Flight 93. was it coming our way? We all vowed to go get the people who attacked us. I came down to this floor and with a heart full of grief. Every one of those planes was going to my State. I voted to go get the terrorists. Go get alQaida. Go to war against Osama bin Laden. I am sorry to say that. for whatever reasonand we are beginning to learn more about itbased on misinformation. faulty information. skewed information. we turned around and we took our resources. great resources and the greatest men and women in the military. and we went into Iraq. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10469,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090173508,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. given the fact that is the case. that we cannot proceed. and given the fact we have 1 week left in order to avoid this penalty. it is my hope there may be a vehicle that will come along. and that since Senator GRASSLEY and Senator BAUCUS have been trying- so hard to get this legislation up. they may find an appropriate legislative vehicle on which to attach it to bring this needed relief to the senior citizens of this country. Mr. President. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":479,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090173510,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I have sought recognition to discuss the issue of habeas corpus. which is the Latin term used to define the great writ from ancient England to produce the body. to determine if an individual is being lawfully held. The writ of habeas corpus has an illustrious history in common law. in English law. and in American law. It is the focus of attention on issues now being considered relating .to detainees in Guantanamo. and was the focus of attention in the Hamdan case. which is now being considered -by the Congress of the United States in terms of complying with the order of the Supreme Court of the United States for the Congress to discharge its constitutional duty under Article I. section 8. to establish procedures for military commissions. We have pending at the present time two bills: the Terrorist Tracking. Identification. and Prosecution Act. S. 3886. which Ras been proposed by the administration. and the Military Commissions Act. S. 3901. which has been reported out by the Armed Services Committee. There have been extended discussions about these bills in terms of compliance with the Geneva Conventions. whether classified information may be used. whether hearsay is appropriate. whether coerced confessions can be","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1248,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090173517,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the Senator. If I might. I say to the Senator. I recently joined Senator ALLEN of Virginia on a trip to Guantanamo. We were met by the admiral in charge of the facility. He made it very clear in one of his opening remarks that Guantanamo is not there for punishment. but it is there for detention. He said punishment. of course. would be meted out to those found guilty of crime and wrongdoing. But the people being held there are being detained until we can determine their status. If they are. in fact. guilty of terrorism or war crimes. I think the Senator from Pennsylvania and I would quickly agree that they should be held responsible for those activities and punished to the full extent of the law. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1538,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090173524,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Senator CRAIG pointed out the reason they are undocumented is because American workers will not do the jobs. When I started this I did not believe it. so we called all the welfare departments of the major agriculture counties in California and asked. Can you provide agricultural workers? Not one worker came from the people who were on welfare who were willing to do this kind of work. That is because it is difficult work. The Sun is hot. The back has to be strong. You have to be stooped over. It is extraordinarily difficult work. For a State as big as mine. there is an immigrant community wbich is professionally adept at this kind of work. They can pick. they can sort. they can prune. -they can harvest--virtually better than anybody. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4036,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090173537,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Johnson. and Olson. He came to America and became Anders Isakson. He fled because of the potato famine. He landed on Ellis Island. He came legally. I have gone to Sweden and gotten the embarkation and legal papers. I have them at home. My father was born in 1916. while Anders was still here legally but as an immigrant. My father is an American citizen today because of birthright citizenship. I am a citizen today because Anders. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ISAKSON","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3435,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090173544,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"President Ahmadinejad continues to lessen his standing as a credible world leader in the community of nations.","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2129,"word_count":17}
{"speech_id":1090173546,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. next week the United States will welcome President Nursultan Nazarbayev. the leader of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Fifteen years ago 15 independent states were formed after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The international community has followed the aftermath of these events in that part of the world with great interest. Kazakhstan has demonstrated important economic gains during this period. The reforms which have been carried out thus far have allowed it to become one of the worlds rapidly developing economies with an annual growth of 910 percent. Additionally. it has become the place for common ground among its various ethnic and spiritual groups. As ethnic and religious conflicts divide regions around the world. Kazakhstan is working to preserve broad. interfaith tolerance by creating the Congress of World and Traditional Religions. This program unites a predominantly Muslim country with more than 40 other faiths and fosters a dialog which assists in overcoming religious differences. ","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2122,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090173573,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session on Wednesday. September 20. 2006. at 10 a.m.. in 215 Dirksen Senate Office Building. to hear testimony on \"Our Business Tax Systern: Objectives. Deficiencies. and Options for Reform\".","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":293,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090173607,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask that the Chair now lay before the Senate the House message to accompany S. 3525. The Presiding Officer laid before the Senate thefollowing message from the House of Representatives: S. 3525 Resolved. That the bill from the Senate entitled \"An Act to amend subpart 2 of part B of. title IV of the Social Security Act to improve outcomes for children in families affected by methamphetamine abuse and addiction. to reauthorize the promoting safe and stable families program. and for other purposes\". do pass with amendments.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":543,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090173621,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Last year. Senator HARKIN and I introduced legislation. that passed the Senate by unanimous consent. that would extend the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act. for oneyear to allow additiondl time to review the GAO recommendations and develop needed modifications to the. law to improve the functioning and operation of the program. Unfortunately. the House refused to take up the bill and the law expired. I conditioned my support of any multiyear extension or revision of the Livestock Mandatory Reporting program on carrying out the GAO study results. Now we are at. a crucial point with the legislative session coming to a close. Senator HARKIN and I realize that we are facing strong opposition from the packing industry on moving a Senate version that includes the GAO recommendations. I ask for assurances from Chairman CHAMBLISS that he will work with Senator HARKIN and me to move our proposed legislative changes forward.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":929,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090173623,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank Chairman CHAMBLISS for his patience throughout this process and -willingness and commitment to help Senator GRASSLEY and me to get GAOs recommendations implemented. His commitment to help us pursue our legislative proposals next year is sincerely appreciated.","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":267,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090173647,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Congress must also enact a new temporary worker program. without amnesty. and without creating a new Federal bureaucracy. and I believe we will. We must do no less than secure our border.. but we must do more to ensure that we solve this domestic crisis in a manner consistent with law and order and the compassionate character of the great American Nation.","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":991,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090173656,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to plead for the survival of the people of Darfur. Despite a peace agreement signed in May and the U.N. Security Councils approval for a peacekeeping force of 20.000 last month. Darfur is descending into chaos. Twelve years ago the world stood by as ethnic war erupted in nearby Rwanda. One hundred days later. 800.000 bodies. hacked to death by machetes. had piled up in the streets and rivers. Without swift intervention. Darfur may soon erupt into a scene as deadly. ","speaker_name":"JOHN OLVER","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1093,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090173657,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. you know. all Americans know if you are here legally. you ought to be iewarded. If you are here illegally. you ought to be deported. My constituents constantly complain to me that illegal immigration is a huge problem. Local officials have used the socalled \"catchandrelease\" policy when they apprehend an illegal immigrant. Really. that person should be sent to jail. Why would we want someone who was just picked up by the police and is here illegally still out in the community and potentially free to flee? That just doesnt make any sense. It is time America totally ends catchandrelease policy when it comes to illegal immigration. Texans and all Americans want. need and deserve real immigration reform.","speaker_name":"SAM JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":722,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090173660,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. there is an old saying that goes. if it aint broke. dont fix it. Well. just the opposite is true when it comes to the Republican prescription drug plan that is seriously broken. We must fix it. This week. the average American senior will be denied payment of their drug costs through the private plans they have selected because they have fallen into the socalled doughnut hole. Under the Republican plan. seniors lose drug coverage after they have spent $2.250 in outofpocket costs. and they wont be eligible for more assistance until they have spent $5.100 for the year. It is expected that more than half of the seniors who fall into the doughnut hole will not be able to escape it. This Septemi~er 20. 2006 is simply not fair. Many seniors on fixed incomes will be forced to cut back on their prescriptions. regardless of the consequences to their health. Democrats in this Congress want to take a new direction to eliminate the doughnut hole. ","speaker_name":"RUSS CARNAHAN","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1203,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090173662,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I came here this morning to chastise the Republican majority for their failure to act on the minimum wage. but one of my colleagues said something so outrageous and indecent that it demands an answer. One of my colleagues lauded President Bushs action on security and foreign policy. asserting that we hadnt had any losses since September 11. that we hadnt been attacked. We have been attacked in Baghdad. We have been attacked in Mosul. We have been attacked in Tikrit. We are being attacked every single day. because this President and this donothing Congress has sent our troops and our finest men and women. our sons and daughters. our husbands and wives. into harms way. where they never should have been in Iraq. We have lost 2.600plus. We have had 15.000 of them limping around America because of the absurdly incompetent. ineffective. boneheaded decisions by this President and this Congress which has allowed them to go into harms way. ","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1275,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090173686,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume to respond. and then I will yield to the chairman of the committee. First of all. I think this is serious business. When you talk about one of the most precious rights we have as citizens. it is to vote. Obviously that is how we all arrived here. And I think we have. shamefully. a very low percentage of people who are voting. when we compare worldwide. in this country. So I think.highlighting voting and voting patterns and the way to vote and the way to legally vote is an important issue. But what I have heard just now is a very cynical and I think slightly meanspirited attack on why we believe and why the committee has brought -forward very thoughtful legislation on voting and voter identification. ","speaker_name":"SHELLEY CAPITO","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2552,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090173699,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr.. Speaker. I just wish to- correct one thing with reference to President Carter. What he said was that there should be identification. not proof of citizenship. and that it should be free to everybody. I am sure he didnt allow for an unfunded mandate. Mr. Speaker. I yield to the distinguished ranking member of the Armed Services Committee. a decorated veteran and hero that all of us respect. I would be interested. the kind of hero that IKE SKELTON is. that he tell his story. or hear his story about what happened to him. Mr. ","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":624,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090173700,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I was turned down trying to get a Department of Revenue nondrivers license voter identification card. A month later. just a few days ago with my passport. which was up here in Washington in my safe. I waited in line and did get my voter nondrivers license identification card. So I am pleased to tell you that I can vote -in November. I also should tell you that in recent days the law that was passed by the Missouri legislature was held to be unconstitutional by the trial judge in Jefferson City. Missouri. This law. if allowed to stand in our State. or on a Federal level. will disenfranchise some very nice people. particularly senior citizens who walk in without a photo ID or drivers license. I just thought I would share my personal experience with my friends and colleagues here in the House.","speaker_name":"IKE SKELTON","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1905,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090173712,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They found 1.500. Can the gentlewoman cite me one instance of a criminal charge being proven that that is the case? I dont doubt that you can assert that some people said there is fraud. Yes. Can you cite me one conviction of anybody who facilitated one of those 1.500 dead people going in. saying. \"I am Sam Brown.\" who is dead. \"and I want to vote\"? Can you citeme one example of one conviction where that was found to be the fact. as opposed to an assertion?","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":461,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090173715,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I agree with the gentleman. We dont want to disenfranchise anybody from voting. because voting is something that we all cherish not only in this Hall. but in every household in America. I believe that asking somebody to show a photo ID. which we do for many things. to buy cigarettes. beer. get on an airplane. travel. and many other instances. cash a check. we are asked for photo ID in many instances. and I think we provide in this bill for those who might not have photo ID who need it. . Once they get it. I think it would be viewed as a positive thing for them. so they wouldnt be going. as they do in many cases to checkcashing facilities that dont require a photo ID. and they end up paying 30 and 40 percent surcharges for that. I would like to say. in my State of West Virginia. we just had five Federal convictions for vote fraud. vote buying. So it exists. And it is a defeating thing that occurs from State to State. because it defeats those of us who get up on that election morning or have gotten up earlier to early vote or send in our absentee ballot. ","speaker_name":"SHELLEY CAPITO","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1194,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090173717,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am very pleased to yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from California . my good friend. Ms. SOLIS is the first Hispanic woman to be elected to the California senate. She has had a lot of experience in this voter business.","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":250,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090173720,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. all we are looking for is common sense here. You have to have a photo ID if you look like you are under 18 years of age and want to buy alcohol. You have to have a photo ID if you are going to get on board an airplane. You have to have a photo ID if you are going to enter many office buildings. here in the United States. It seems to me that the notion of providing photo identification when you are getting ready to exercise that very important franchise to vote is something that we should have in place.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":520,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090173730,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. let me thank the gentleman for yielding and for his leadership in the preservation of democracy and also in the promotion of justice. Talk about a cynical and discriminatory electionyear ploy. This is unbelievable. This bill. as well as this closed rule. should be defeated. As the country with one of the lowest percentages of voter participation in the world. we- should be doing everything we can to remove the barriers to voting. For example. we should have been debating legislation to fix the real problems with the 2002 and 2004 elections: long voting lines. voter intimidation. faulty machines. poor training for poll workers. discriminatory voter registration laws. or making. for example. election day a Federal holiday so everyone can exercise .their right to vote. But. instead. we are debating a bill that effectively suppresses voter turnout by imposing this new. unconstitutional poll tax on all Americans. .Have we already forgotten why we just reauthorized the Voting Rights Act a few months ago? Now the Republican leadership is already working overtime to try and undermine it. Yes. we must eliminate voter fraud. but that is certainly not what this bill does. There are real solutions that will enforce our constitutionally guaranteed right to vote. that will ensure that every vote is cast and counted. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA LEE","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1821,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090173739,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. if the leadership is insistent on the moving forward with this divisive bill. which I might add aint going to pass the Senate. lets at least allow the ranking member of the committee of jurisdiction to offer her amendment to try and address some of the more egregious provisions in the bill. The MillenderMcDonald amendment would establish uniform standards for the treatment of provisional balance and clarify criminal penalties for voter fraud under the Help America Vote Act. It would codify a Federal court decision that HAVA matching requirements are intended as an administrative safeguard. not as a restriction on voter eligibility. And it would recommend to the States additional fraudprevention methods. Finally. it would exempt senior citizens. the disabled. and the military and their families from onerous photo ID requirements in the bill. Mr. Speaker. nonparticipation in the election process is more of a problem in this country than noncitizens trying to vote. This bill will do more to keep eligible American citizens away from the polls than it will do to fix the nonexistent problems of ineligible immigrants sneaking in to vote in our Federal elections. If we must take up this problem in search of a solution. lets at least allow the MillenderMcDonald amendment to be included. ","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1435,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090173759,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Since that time. Congress has not passed an organic act for NOAA. and today NOAAs authorities come from over three dozen issuespecific laws. Some years ago I decided this was an intolerable situation. and we began work on an organic act. In 2004. the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy. a nonpartisan group of the Nations leading ocean experts. recognized this lack of congressional directioii for NOAA as an impediment to the agencys vital legislative role. The Commission strongly recommended that Congress pass a NOAA organic act. We in Congress need to provide NOAA and its employees clear direction and the tools they require to perform critical missions and functions that affect the everyday lives of all Americans. including weather forecasts and storm warnings from the National Weather Service and alerts from the National Ocean Service about dangerous conditions such as toxic algae blooms or even tsunamis. In response to this need.- I introduced the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Act. My bill gives NOAA a clear mission so it can more effectively set program goals. For example. my bill states that the mission of NOAA is to first understand and predict changes in the Earths oceans and atmospheres. conserve and manage coastal. ocean and Great Lakes ecosystems. and educate and inform our fellow citizens about these topics. ","speaker_name":"VERNON EHLERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5015,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090173760,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. the bill before us today. the NOAA Organic Act. is a product of diligent work of the Science Committee and the gentleman from Michigan. Representative EHLERS has been a tireless champion of this legislation. H.R. 5450 maintains the National Weather Service as a distinct office within NOAA. The National Weather Service. with its nationwide distribution of local forecast offices. is one of the best known and most trusted organizations within NOAA. The public relies upon the weather service to provide the watches and warnings of severe storms that enable us to prepare for those events and reduce the loss of lives and property. In the area of satellite acquisition. we are requiring the administrator of NOAA to notify Congress whenever a satellite acquisition deviates substantially from its projected cost and schedule. ","speaker_name":"BARTON GORDON","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1357,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090173782,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"D.C.. it seems the American people have made up their mind. A recent NBCWall Street Journal poll showed that 81 percent of those surveyed favored an ID requirement for voting. A Rasmussen poll during that same time period showed a similar result. Seventyseven percent surveyed favored an ID requirement for voting. Likewise. the bipartisan CarterBaker Commission on Federal Election Reform recommended a national voter. ID requirement in the report they issued last year. While the division on this issue may be partisan here in Congress. it certainly was not on this bipartisan commission. It seems a large bipartisan majority there concluded by an 183 vote that requiring ID is a necessary reform. Once implemented. H.R. 4844 will put an important safeguard in place that will enhance the integrity of our system and help restore confidence in it. ","speaker_name":"VERNON EHLERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5490,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090173784,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it is my pleasure to yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois one of the most honorable persons in the Chamber. one who has served well for so many years. the sponsor of this bill. who has worked tirelessly for this Congress and for the people of the United States. including on this bill.","speaker_name":"VERNON EHLERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":308,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090173785,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Under the current law. all you need to establish your identity when registering to vote by mail is a utility bill or bank statement. documents easily forged and which do not give any indication of citizenship. Our election system is too important to be safeguarded by mere honesty alone. We must have verification. Opponents claim that there are strict punishments already in place to deter voter fraud. I agree there are sanctions in place. but they are toothless measures when election officials do not have the tools they need to 6oncretely establish a voters identity on election day. Broad popular support exists for this bill. Photo IDs were called for in the 2005 report issued by the bipartisan Commission on Federal Election Reform. Many States have recognized voter fraud is a problem and passed photo ID laws as protective measures. Arizona","speaker_name":"HENRY HYDE","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3821,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090173799,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 4844 because of the dangerous impact it would have on voter participation in the United States. When I was Secretary of State. I led an effort to reform our elections. We replaced our outdated voting equipment. made polling places accessible. and significantly reduced error rates. My job was to make voting open and accessible to eligible citizens. and to encourage people to participate in the process. From that experience. I know this legislation would practically do nothing to reduce fraud. while creating new barriers for Americans to vote. Should H.R. 4844 become law. fewer eligible citizens will be able to vote because they lack proper identification or documentation. Maybe it is an elderly woman who leaves her home of 50 years to enter an assistedliving facility. ","speaker_name":"JAMES LANGEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1056,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090173803,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is the basic thrust. You come here and talk about needing a picture ID to get on a plane. to get on a bus. Well. the right to get on a plane must not be infringed was not written into the Constitution. but the right to vote was. And if Alexander Hamilton was right. if Thomas Jefferson was right. ought not we be right? If Madison was -right. shouldnt we be right? If Abraham Lincoln was right. shouldnt we be right? If Martin Luther King. Jr.. was right. shouldnt we be right? When Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act. he said the same thing. All throughout our history. and why? Here are you. the Republicans. doing this dastardly unAmerican act. And if John Lewis. who got his head bloodied on Edmund Pettus Bridge. says it is right. then it should be right. And the right thing to do is to vote down this. dastardly unAmerican bill.","speaker_name":"DAVID SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1899,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090173811,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this just shows you how flawed this bill is. This bill should have remained in committee so we could really crank out and clear up some of these problems. We have heard two colloquies from the majority on issues that are not a part of this bill. for heavens sake. At this time I would- like to yield 1 minute to the gentleman whose State has thrown out a similar type of law. the gentleman from Missouri. the Honorable WILLIAM CLAY.","speaker_name":"JUANITA MILLENDER-MCDONALD","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":37.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":445,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090173848,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it is amazing to me that during the 40th Anniversary of the historic passage of the Voting Rights Act. that anyone could propose mandating nationwide photo ID requirements. Given the cost. difficulty and bureaucracy involved in obtaining photo ID for many minorities. elderly. and indigent. the idea of a national voter ID and proof of citizenship requirement amounts to nothing less than a 21st Century Poll Tax. that could disenfranchise as many as 20 million American voters.","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":491,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090173892,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"They certainly do not need these added financial insecurity pressures that are placed upon them bypredatory lenders and financial abusers. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"GEOFF DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4158,"word_count":29}
{"speech_id":1090173898,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of S. 418. a bill that speaks to an issue that has been of concern to Congress for several years now. I believe that the time has come to stop talking about unscrupulous practices that unfairly target U.S. servicemen and women and to act to end them. This bill serves that end. This bill addresses the issue of deceitful insurance schemes that take advantage of U.S. service men and women by pitching important investment and insurance programs while hiding within. them antiquated fee schemes. For those who offer important financial and life planning programs to hide within such plans unfair. this bill removes the ability to hide expansive and outdated fee schedules that bilk vulnerable. young service men and women. S. 418 protects the financial interests of those who serve. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation and to support our men and women in uniform and their families.","speaker_name":"MADELEINE BORDALLO","chamber":"H","state":"GU","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":931,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090173919,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. H.R. 4957 contains several important conservation titles. It would first convey the Tylersville National Fish Hatchery to the State of Pennsylvania. a provision authored by Congressman JOHN PETERSON and Senator RICK","speaker_name":"WALTER JONES","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":271,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090173935,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"H.R. 2018. in- the House last year. Senate bill 260 will authorize the popular Partners for Fish and Wildlife program. The Partners Program provides technical and financial assistance to private landowners to voluntarily restore wetlands and other fish and wildlife habitat on their own land. With more than 80 percent of the fish and wildlife in the United States on private lands. S. 260 is needed to encourage publicprivate landowners in Oklahoma and around our Nation to enter into agreements with the Federal Government to conserve valuable natural habitat and wildlife. Since 1987. the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has operated the Partners Program as a separate line item under the Presidents budget. subjecting these funds to reprogramming within the Fish and Wildlife Services. Senate bill 260 authorizes up to $75 million through fiscal year 2011 to allow this successful program to stabilize and expand. Given that thousands of landowners are eager to participate in the Partners Program. Senate bill 260 couldnt come at a better time. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SULLIVAN","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2433,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090173953,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume to just add to the discussion that I do not think government will come to a halt in 10 days. The House will pass a continuing resolution so that we can get through October. come back after election on November 13. and take up these appropriation bills. The Appalachian Regional Commission will continue. Quite right. the gentleman has stood firmly against earmarking in the authorization process. but it is in the appropriation. It is where the money is delivered where the evil occurs. if you will. and in this context. this is not a bill to be tinkering with with earmarks when there is so clearly a grassro6ts process that is fair and equitable and has input from the people whose lives and livelihoods are affected.. a It goes all the way up through the top. and when it gets up here say. oh. sorry. you do not count. your judgment is not of value. To take nearly a third of the money. a limited amount of funds in the appropriation process. and","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1004,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090173963,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The language was written very broadly. binding future funds provided by Congress and affecting all parts of the Metro Rail subway project. including future extensions. However. in November of 2005. a panel of engineering experts reported that tunneling along the Wilshire Boulevard corridor can be done safely if proper procedures and appropriate techniques are used. This bill. H.R. 4653. was introduced by Congressman WAXMAN in December of 2005 and will repeal the current prohibition on tunneling in the Wilshire Boulevard corridor. With its passage. a more comprehensive transportation planning process can take place in the corridor. and future transportation proposals that involve tunneling will be eligible for Federal funding. I encourage my colleagues to join me in support of H.R. 4653. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time. Fl 1745","speaker_name":"BILL SHUSTER","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1933,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090174026,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Dave Evans from The Printers. Darel Nigon from Nigon Woodworks. Shawn Flippin from National Pawn Company. Rochester Culverg. both north and south. Jim Rush from AZ Embroidery. and Homestyle Pizza. objection. the gentleman from Illinois is recognized for 5 minutes.","speaker_name":"GILBERT GUTKNECHT","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1751,"word_count":40}
{"speech_id":1090174031,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. the young people who every 6 months that the government in have spearheaded Operation Hometown Khartoum is negotiating in good faith Gratitude. as well as the sponsors who for an end to the civil war. According seeded this work. are not just sending to some sources. we may be close to a care packages and supplies. By their framework for peace in that region. support and their effort. they are dis- Mr. Speaker. only a short time ago playing what Harry Truman meant by we paused here to mark the 10th anni\"unbeatable determination\" and play- versary of the genocide in Rwanda. ing a major part in doing the job at where more than 800.000 people died hand. while the world watched and did noth._ _ing. Once again. genocide has unfolded","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BURGESS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2086,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090174033,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But of necessity. those of us who are more well off or perhaps not as ill will find ourselves exposed to some expenditure -for prescription drugs in the socalled coverage gap. Well. 92 percent of the people who signed up for Medicare are not affected by the coverage gap. That is. 45 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries will be eligible. Some fall into a category where they are eligible for lowincome subsidies and therefore not affected by the gap. They have annual drug expenditures well below the $2.250 level and will never reach the gap. or they -have chosen an enhanced Part D plan that .provides some coverage in the coverage gap. An additional 47 percent have prescription drug coverage from plans outside of Part D. government plans. veterans plans or another Federal pro-. gram. or an employersponsored program. Or there are those 9 percent who just said. I dont get sick. I dont need drugs. I dont take drugs. and I am not going to sign up. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4771,"word_count":168}
{"speech_id":1090174037,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. I want to start by thanking my colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus. Representative DANNY DAVIS. who has already spoken. and the other members of the Congressional Black Caucus who are here this evening to shed more light on what is going on in the Sudan and to challenge our other","speaker_name":"MELVIN WATT","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":349,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090174040,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We need the Nations that surround the Sudan to speak up. Egypt President Mubarak. I have been a strong supporter of Egypt. and I still will be. but you must speak up. You must do more. You and I have talked about this. You must do more. Jordan. King Abdullah. you have got to get involved. You have got to get involved. People are dying as we speak. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN KILPATRICK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4688,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090174050,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. how many times can people say. \"Never again.\" and then proceed to observe the syAtematic elimination of a people. of genocide? When it happened in Rwanda. we were shocked. horrified. While it was happening and. after it happened. we all examined our consciences and said. how could we have let that happen? Never again. That had been said after Bosnia. of course. after the Holocaust. which was the ultimate. of course. genocide. So here we are with a very welldocumented genocide where the people of the world are appalled by it. There is great sadness about the loss of life and displacement of people. much dismay about the fact that the humanitarian assistance cannot be delivered. In fact. some of tle humanitarian deliverers of that aid are being killed in the Sudan and Darfur region now. And yet. for some reason. as a country. as a world. we seem incapable of taking the necessary action. I want to commend DONALD PAYNE for his tremendous leadership on this important issue. ","speaker_name":"NANCY PELOSI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1479,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090174056,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I was there in The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a the month of August. I have seen the previous order of the House. the genthrongs of humanity living in huts tleman from Missouri is made of straw. living on the ground recognized for 5 minutes. and off of the land. persons living Mr. SKELTON addressed the House. under conditions that we would not His remarks will appear hereafter in want animals and lower life forms to the Extensions of Remarks.) live under. I have seen these conditions. No running water. no electricity. no sanitation facilities. Where do we GENOCIDE IN DARFUR stand on one of the great challenges Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"AL GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2638,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090174117,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Because it comes down to this. that this is another. I think. election year situation. But the bottom line is this: We opt out of the Geneva Convention. and we make a certain set of rules to say how military prisoners should be treated. just because if we do that. we have a certain set of standards. it does not mean other countries wont opt out. and their standards will be a heck of a lot lower than our standards.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":417,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090174126,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. right next to your district. by the people of South Florida. they federalized me to come to the Congress to do What? Carry out Article I. section 1 of the U.S. Constitution. That means the legislative body has oversight and is the investigative body. We are not doing any of those. Let me just take a momeft. Today we had a number of visitors to the Capitol. The American Cancer Society came to the Capitol. A number of survivors came to the Capitol. They have a walk that is going on right now outside on the Mall near the reflection pool of the Capitol. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1366,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090174152,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If I may ask the gentleman to yield to me for a moment. I appreciate that. I want to follow up with some things that my colleague from Pennsylvania was saying as part of this. Again it is important as our words are heard. my colleAgues and Mr. Speaker. that we are not standing here in a conciliatory posture. This is not a matter of asking people to surrender their beliefs or their strength or undercut that which is the basis of our Constitution. It is in fact something that strengthens it. An article that was written in Time Magazine that just appeared commented here about an analysis of things that Pope Benedict said. It is important to note that this article. by Jeff Israely. said that \"Pope Benedict spoke about the need for the West.\" He was saying \"His questions are not reserved for the Islamic world. as he has done before. Benedict spoke about the need for the West. especially Europe. to reverse its tendency towards godless secularism. ","speaker_name":"TIM MURPHY","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5669,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090174154,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would like to thank the gentleman from Georgia. I would like to return to some of the commentary that the gentleman from Pennsylvania made. because in our founding documents. in another of our founding documents. the Declaration of Independence. here are the words. \"We hold these truths to be selfevident. that all men are created equal. and are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. and among these are life. liberty and the pursuit of happiness.\" In other words. the founding docu\u0095ment in a certain sense separated the institution of church and state. yet at the same time affirmed the transcended values. the transcended ideals that make democratic politics possible. Frankly we are at a crossroads. because I think for the world to progress in the name of civil reform. in the name of civilization. we have to recognize this fundamental principle. that every person has inherent dignity and rights. That is the foundation of an order that can then be built upon justice and in charity. That is what we are facing worldwide. It is.so essential that those of us who have been given the gift of stabilized societies. who have lived with the blessings of that philosophical context. help others who are reaching out as well for civil society and to build up the institutions that can promote that very principle. that every person has inherent dignity and rights. This is the crossroads that we face I think in the world today. because all of civilization hinges upon that key principle. We have had to work that out in our country. It has been imperfect. ","speaker_name":"JEFF FORTENBERRY","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2179,"word_count":269}
{"speech_id":1090174156,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He is inviting it to join. rather than reject. the modern world.\" I would like to turn it over if I may to my colleague from Michigan.","speaker_name":"MELISSA HART","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1181,"word_count":27}
{"speech_id":1090174161,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank my good friend from Pennsylvania for joining us this evening and for those wonderful. wonderful words of wisdom. We have just a very few short moments left. In closing. let me just thank my good friend also from Pennsylvania Congresswoman HART who truly organized this activity this evening. I think this has been a remarkable discussion. It has been a lofty discussion. It truly has been a privilege to come to the floor. and the privilege of service is indeed the privilege of leadership. I guess if I were to summarize I would say that what we call our colleagues to this evening is. in fact. not just our colleagues. but all Members of the civilized world. is to an appreciation that faith and reason go handinhand and that dialogue is what is absolutely necessary if we are to solve the remarkable challenges that we have as a diverse world. Mr. ","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1841,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090174164,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Ms. WASSERMAN SCILvTZ. I think it is important that we take this in a very serious manner. Even though it is Eastern Standard Time. it is approximately 11:20 p.m.. and we have worked a full legislative day. We have a full legislative. day tomorrow. And we are here to give voice to those that are counting on not only Members of Congress. but Members of Congress that have the will and desire to move us in a new direction. Mr. Speaker. I think it is important that for those Members who want to join this side of the aisle in making sure that veterans. those who have allowed us to salute one flag. to be able to get the kind of health care that they deserve from this government. to allow those small businesses that want to provide affordable health care for their workers. all of the way up to the Fords and the GMs of the world who would like to provide health care. because we havent addressed those issues here in this Congress. The corporate community and also the business community are suffering because of it. as well as the workers. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3623,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090174168,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let us look at the recent polling: A respected poll. NBCWall Street Journal poll. 52 percent of those polled disapproved of the Presidents handling of the economy. That was not a long time ago. That was on September 15. a few days ago. A BloombergL.A. Times poll showed 60 percent of selfdescribed Independents said the economy was doing badly. 60 percent. That was on September 5. And really what we are dealing with here is Americans are facing a different reality than the Republicans statistical spin. Let us look at the situation with the minimum wage. It is now at its lowest level in 50 years adjusted for inflation. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9644,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090174172,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Haas. Clerk of the House. reMembers tonight. Mr: MEEK. thank you ported and found truly enrolled a bill for joining me once again and for your of the House of the following title. leadership in the.30 Something Work- which was thereupon signed by the ing Group. Speaker: IIR. 5684. An act to implement the United StatesOman Free Trade Agreement.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1326,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090174194,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. today I want to recognize the town of Norwood. North Carolina. for its 125th anniversary. Norwood has a rich and vibrant history as the areas earliest settlers arrived in the 1750s. and the town officially was incorporated in 1881. In the beginning. Norwood was a town thriving on agriculture and newly established railroad lines. Local entrepreneur Troy J.W. McKenzie relocated his business to Norwood and commented that the town will very soon. unless indications are false. become an important trade center. McKenzie was correct. In the 21st century. Norwood is the home of many local and international- manufacturing companies. and this businessfriendly environment has the potential for continued economic growth. ","speaker_name":"ROBIN HAYES","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":828,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090174204,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. this is about election politics. This is about the Republican leadership in the House trying to appeal to the cheap seats and gain some political points 1 week before we adjourn for the November election. The gentleman from Georgia mentioned with great pride this legislative accomplishment that we passed last week. the border fence security bill which the Senate is now dealing with. It is important to point out to the American peoplethat while it sounds nice. there is no money in it. There is no money to provide for the construction of such w fence. The chairman of the Homeland Security Committee before the Rules Committee last week could not even tell me how much it was going to cost. but we know it is going to be hundreds of millions of dollars. if not billions of dollars. So we pass a bill saying we want to do this. but no money. Guess what? Without the money. you cannot build it. So what are we really doing here? Are we protecting the borders. or are we trying to put on a show for the American peoplebefore elections that somehow we are doing something meaningful when. in fact. we are not? We are wasting time. The American people want comprehensive. compassionate immigration reform. and they want strict border security plans. notpartisan legislation and not just a show to imply that somehow we are doing something when. in fact. we are not. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9693,"word_count":243}
{"speech_id":1090174214,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Again. it is frustrating that when the President of the United States is urging us to approach this issue in a comprehensive way. that the Republican leadership of this House cant get together with the Republican leadership of the Senate and address a whole range of issues. I think it is also important to point out so that there is no misunderstanding for those who may be observing these proceedings that. even if the Senate passes the socalled fence bill. they should be under no illusion that all of a sudden a fence is going to be built along the southern border of this country. The fact of the matter is there is no money for it. This is an authorization. not an appropriation. and nobody has been able to identify where the money is going to come from. The other thing is. again. I go back to what I said before. We need more border security agents on the border right now. We need more detention beds. We need more immigration enforcement agents along the border. We have tried. we have tried over and over and over again to get the majority to allow us just the right to offer amendments to be able to address some of these issues and have been rejected over and over and over again. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1803,"word_count":221}
{"speech_id":1090174221,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"What we do in process is prioritize. I. for example. have a provision in the underlying legislation that deals with outlawing the tunnels. which is not a crime. believe it or not. This is a reasonable and necessary action. This is a reasonable and necessary action to be taken. My friend from Texas got up and spoke about a bill that had passed through the Senate dealing with a fence. The problem was that in the final bill passed by the Senate. there was a provision to ask for the Mexican Governments permission to have such a fence. Clearly that doesnt sit well with the American people. Although my friends lament taking the hearings to the people out of Washington. D.C.. it is exactly what we \"should have done. We have heard from the people. ","speaker_name":"JOHN HAYWORTH","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1651,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090174253,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"While my neighbor and friend J.D. HAYWORTH is on the floor. let me gain his attention for just a moment. I am sorry that you do not want a.comprehensive bill. Most people do in the Congress. And I would like you to respond to this inquiry: Were there hearings held on this bill in theHomeland Security Committee? .","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":314,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090174279,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. illegal border tunnels entering our.country undermine our efforts to protect the border and pose a significant threat to our national security. Last January. I was shocked to hear that the San Diego Tunnel Task. Force. a group composed of agents from the Border Patrol. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). discovered an elaborate border tunnel connecting Otay Mesa. California and Tijuana. Mexico. a complex 2.500 foot tunnel complete with electricity and ventilation systems. and harboring two tons of marijuana. Just last weekend. officials discovered a 400 foot tunnel connecting Calexico. California and Mexicali. Mexico. ","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4295,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090174297,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself 1 minute. Madam Speaker. what we have heard from the other side of the aisle I think basically falls into the category of the perfect being the enemy of the good. When the perfect defeats the good. then bad prevails. The way checks and balances were set up. it is really hard to pass a perfect bill. I think one has been passed since 1789 in this House of Representatives. What we are doing at the:end of the session is some good stuff. Criminal alien gangs and all of the other things that I described in my opening statements. I think they are kood. If they are good. we ought to vote for them. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":806,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090174344,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. pursuant to clause 1 of rule XXI and by direction of the Committee on Appropriations. I move to take from the Speakers table the bill making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30. 2007. and for other purposes. with a Senate amendment thereto. disagree to the Senate amendment. and agree to the conference asked by the Senate.","speaker_name":"C. YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":385,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090174361,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Asking our local law enforcement agencies to enforce Federal immigration law without any commitment of funds is unfair and takes officers out of our neighborhoods and off our streets. The role of local law enforcement is to protect our property and our families.Most local -police departments are already stretched thin as it is. In Houston. our officers have had the challenge of protecting an additional 100.000 people who evacuated to Houston from New Orleans over a year ag6. Adding immigration enforcement to their duties would make their jobs tougher and our neighborhoods less safe. Currently if law enforcement officers catch someone committing a crime that is here illegally or legally. they are turned over to Immigration Control and Enforcement. and they are deported. Now. they need to pay their debt to our own county or State. but they will be deported. If someone breaks into my home. either the Houston Police Department. the sheriffs department or the county constables will show up. not the Border Patrol. not Immigration Customs Enforcement officers. They dont come to protect my home. Securing our borders is a Federal responsibility. This body is responsible for ensuring that there is enough funding for detention beds and Border Patrol Qfficers. ","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2422,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090174369,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I will be very brief. There is only one response to my friend the chairman. If the issue is about papers and the only reason we havent gone to conference committee is because the papers havent been delivered. I do have Senator FRISTS phone number. and I am happy to provide it. I cannot conceive that it is a matter of paperwork and process that is keeping us from going to conference committee on one of the most serious\" domestic issues this country has faced. Secondly. in response to the following speaker. the reason we cannot quite unite to do something here. apparently. is because we are not going to unite on a fools errand. Everyone on your side of the aisle. from the gentleman from Colorado to the chairman to others. has acknowledged over and over again we are not going to deport 12 million people. You are not going to have local law enforcement pick up the task for you of deporting 12 million people. ","speaker_name":"HOWARD BERMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1741,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090174373,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"How many enforcement actions did this government. this Federal Government. take against people who are abusing the laws and taking advantage of the fact that American citizens would like to take those jobs? Three enforcement actions in all of 2004. State and local law enforcement officers know what happens when those bills are passed: the buck gets passed with it. and ny money gets passed along. Mr. Speaker. police officers are also telling us why would we want to have to enforce Federal immigration laws when we have to enforce the local laws to protect our citizenry. If a crime is committed. why would an immigrant who is already living in the shadows come out of the shadows to report a crime that he or she witnessed. if he or she knows that now we will pick them up on an immigration infraction? This is crazy. But this is what we are left with these last final days. Mr. Speaker. we can have comprehensive immigration reform. The Senate did it. It is a shame that the House has not decided to follow suit. ","speaker_name":"XAVIER BECERRA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":31.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3331,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090174380,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I support H.R. 6095. the Immigration Law Enforcement Act of 2006. Its important to Americans that local law enforcement officials are doing everything possible to arrest and prosecute criminals. And its important that law enforcement offi.cials know under exactly what circumstances they can lawfully arrest or detain a suspected criminal. Take for instance the situation in which a police officer has reasonable suspicion to stop an individual and finds out that individual is in the United States in violation of our immigration laws. Its contrary to common sense that the police officer would not be able to arrest that person simply because immigration is a Federal responsibility. But this is the argument of those who oppose this bill. H.R. 6095 affirms the authority of State and local law enforcement officials to investigate. apprehend. and arrest illegal immigrants. Several Federal Courts of Appeals. including the Tenth and Fifth Circuits. have agreed that State and local law enforcement officials have the authority to do so. ","speaker_name":"LAMAR SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1935,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090174410,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I make a.point of order against the motion to recommit. It is the same point of order that I made on the previous motion to recommit. The motion to recommit violates clause 7 of rule XVI and on page 3. lines 1 and 2. it has the same defect of .increasing the number of U.S. marshals who do not have jurisdiction over immigration violations.","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":353,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090174449,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What can you tell us P about the rest of the November and December schedule so that Members 1 might be planning for that as well? Are we likely to have votes on Friday. the 0 17th. for example. and what about the .following week and . Thanksgiving e week?","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":255,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090174495,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And after he finally walked her around so she could be disoriented about where she was. he took her to a hole in the ground. 15 feet deep. where he kept her for 10 days. In this hole in the ground. the cover of it was a piece of plywood. Down in this hole he had a camp stove. he had another hole dug for a toilet. he had a shelf and some dirty cooking utensils. It looked like an underground outhouse. I have seen photographs of it. This was Elizabeths dark dungeon of depravity for 10 days. He had boobytrapped this hole in the ground so that when he was gone. and if she tried to leave. it would blow up and kill her. When he was there. he abused her. He abused her as much as he wished. He had weapons. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4522,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090174499,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Sudanese Government has renewed aerial bombing. Many humanitarian aid groups have had to pull out. leaving hundreds of thousands of people without food and water. \" Appointing a U.N. envoy is an important step. but only the deployment of a U.N. peacekeeping force will bring some measure of security to the suffering people of Sudan. We cannot afford to let the AU peacekeeping force. to remain underfunded. underequipped and undertrained. But the AU. forces only have 7.000 boots in the ground. and the region of Darfur is about the size of France. We need a U.N. force with. a strong. clear mandate to protect the defenseless people of Darfur on the ground as soon as possible. Security Council Resolution 1706 does not say that we have to wait for Khartoums permission to deploy it. We need an enforced nofly zone over Darfur. most likely coordinated by NATO. so we can put a stop to Khartoums aerial bombing and its air support of Janjaweed militia attacks against villages and refugee camps. We need the United States Senate to support the Housepassed Darfur Peace and Accountability Act so that we can get that critical litigation to the Presidents desk as quickly as possible. We need universities and State and local governments to divest their public funds from company stocks that do business with the Sudanese Government. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3330,"word_count":225}
{"speech_id":1090174517,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But dont be fooled. Minimum wage still has not gone up. bread has not gone down. milk has not gone down. college education has not gone down. health insurance has not gone down. In fact. there are people who are in bankruptcy as a result of not being able to afford health insurance. And as a result of the cost of their health insurance. they are in bankruptcy losing their house because they have to pay the cost of health insurance.","speaker_name":"STEPHANIE JONES","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2474,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090174532,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There is a lot at stake. The enemy is real. The enemy is all over the place. I am a member of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee. have been since we established the Department of Homeland Security. Some things I can say. some things I cant say. There are a lot of people in this country we dont want here. because we are free. because there are 2.000 miles along the MexicanU.S. border. because there are 5.500 miles along the CanadianU.S. border. because there are 12.000 miles of U.S. coastline. because there are 328 million people that come across our land border crossings each year. because there are 71 million people that come in through our international airports from all over the world. There are 157 land ports of entry. We have a lot of people coming and going from this country. and now there are a lot of people in this country that. the truth is. we dont want them here. that because we are a free country and they havent yet done anything wrong here. we dont remove them. We dont line them up and ship them out until they do something wrong. But I have got to tell you. we are watching them. because the threats are real. ","speaker_name":"ZACH WAMP","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11003,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090174535,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I know our time is short. I thank the gentleman. I wish to emphasize why. as the gentleman from Texas pointed out. our border security efforts to date have been a good step. but they must be increased. . History shows us that once before an enemy of the United States. the communist Soviet Union and its Bolshevik * dictators. joined league with the communist Castro on the island of Cuba to plant nuclear weapons 70 miles off the United States shores. What a sad irony in history it would be for the United States today to see a dictator in Tehran join league with the oppressive dictator Mr. Chavez in Venezuela to potentially place nuclear devises within Americas borders. I think we should look back to what President Kennedy talked about when he addressed the Cuban missile crisis in order to steel ourselves for the struggles ahead. President Kennedy pointed out that America does not keep its word only when it is easy. ","speaker_name":"THADDEUS MCCOTTER","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1363,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090174556,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"No Member can be appointed. but the general membership can appoint a Speaker. and the Speaker doesnt necessarily have to be a Member of this body. so I am told. And so someone can be appointed to this body to oversee it. Now. someone on the other side should think about maybe looking at that and taking advantage of it. But I know when we get elected and we take over this Congress. I know it is going to be Ms. PELOSI who is going to be our Speaker. I yield to my friend. and I thank my friend. and I look forward to seeing you next week back here again with all of your skills and rhetoric and commitment.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1459,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090174600,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I come to the floor today to talk to our colleagues about something going on in America at this very moment that probably is very pleasing to the average consumer. I cami to the floor of the Senate over a month ago to deliver a speech using this map. I called it the \"NoZone Speech*\" I called it the \"NoZone Speech\" because all of these red areas around our Nation. off our shores. in the Outer Continental Shelf. are nozones to oil exploration and development. Why? Because we have said politically we dont want to go there. Yet it is believed by the U.S. Geological Survey that in the nozone rests maybe 80 billion or 90 billion barrels of oil. I gave that speech in late July of this year at a time when we were debating a very small area down here that could supply upwards of 3 billion or 4 billion barrels of oil. known as lease sale 181. The Senate finally got it. worked out their differences. and passed that legislation. ","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3489,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090174604,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Oh. the gnashing of teeth. the ringing of hands that occurred on the floor of the Senate: We dare not drill in ANWR. We dare not go here. We must not do this. During the course of all that rhetoric we became increasingly dependent upon unstable political areas of the world for our oil. And the American consumers began to pay the price a couple of years ago when gas went above $2 and then $2.10 and then 50 cents more and then $2.80 and. of course. this summer over $3 a gallon. Americas farmers today are now paying $3.20 to $3.50 a gallon for diesel. and they cant control their input costs. Many of them are finding themselves in financial difficulty because of the cost of diesel or the cost of fertilizer because. of course. it takes natural gas to produce fertilizer and nitrogen and phosphates. America. wake up. America. get on your phone and call your Congressman and call your Senator and say: No more nozone. Allow us to develop our resources -and to do so in an environ-. mentally sound way because we now have the technology. ","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4078,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090174628,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Chevron and some of its partners discovered a major oil and gas find. as shown here on the map. Look how small this is. It -is just one of these little dots. just one of them. It is so tiny on the map. but it is so huge. This one discovery of. Chevron called the Jack Rigthe Jack findand several right here in the deep water of the Gulf of Mexico will double the reserves of the countrys oil. It is a significant find. It is as significant as finds in Saudi Arabia. It is surprising. in some sense. to some people who thought we drilled everything we could in America. But the fact is. ","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10985,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090174636,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That is why it is important this issue be addressed. I understand there are differences of opinion in the Senate about how to address this. whether or not we ought to have a comprehensive approach or how we deal with those who are already here illegally. I think those are all points of debate and issues we need to continue to discuss and resolve. But we have to start fundamentally with stopping the problem now. The people of this country expect us to act. It is a matter of national security. We have the possibility of terrorist organizations using our open. porous border as an opportunity to get a foothold in this country. As I have said. we have a lot of law enforcement issues related to people who come here illegally and then commit illegal actsthe methamphetamine incidents I talked abput in South Dakota being one example. But. clearly. we need to -start sealing. securing this southern border to make sure the people of this country have confidence that we are taking the steps necessary to stem the flow of illegal immigration and to get this issue under control. I appreciate the work the chairman of the Budget Committee and others have done to put more resources and funds toward that because I think it has made a profound difference already. ","speaker_name":"JOHN THUNE","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11099,"word_count":222}
{"speech_id":1090174698,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Robin Dole. his daughter. Sheila Burke. who we all know. Robert Lighthizer. former staff. Joyce McCluney.. former staff. please come forward. [applause] [inaudible conversation]","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2743,"word_count":24}
{"speech_id":1090174700,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"A smalf number of rogue gun dealers are playing a tremendous role in aiding gun crimes by supplying thousands of guns to the criminal market. We must use this type of information to help point the way to policies that keep guns out of the hands of criminals.","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2656,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090174703,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this is a historic day. Last night we passed S. 1035. the Code Talkers Recognition Act. As my fellow Senate colleagues may know.. code talkers played a unique role in our battlefield successes by transmitting commands and messages in their native language. which. of course. completely baffled the enemy. I was fortunate to meet one of these heroes during a visit to the Meskwaki settlement a couple years ago. Frank Sanache was modest and soft spoken about his heroism. But history has recorded his deeds in battle. And his passing was a loss to all of us who knew and respected him. In January of 1941. Frank and seven other Meskwaki tribal membersEdward Benson. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2121,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090174706,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"After much success with the general store. Lawson Patten. R.Ls son. began to operate a seed cleaning business out of one of his fathers warehouses in 1947. In 1954. Patten Seed Company Was incorporated and over the last 52 years has become a household name in the turfgrass. sod. and seed industry. Patten Seed Companys expansive operation covers 25 facilities across four States and has over 15.000 acres of grass seed and sod farm land in the Southeast. Sod from Patten Seed Company can be found in many places. from small South Georgia lawns to the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas. I am sincerely proud of the recognition that has been accorded to Patten Seed Company. Lakeland. GA. where Patten Seed Company originated. is not too far from my hometown of Moultrie. ","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2046,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090174707,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The report finds that of the 2.263 public firms with market capitalization of less than $75 million. just 66 have fully implemented Section 404 of the law that requires firms to construct formal internal control frameworks and filed internal control reports. These 66 firms reported payipg $1.14 in audit fees per $100 of revenue. compared to just $.13 per $100 for firms with greater than $1 billion in market capitalization. I believe we must take action to help small companies comply with the regulatory burdens of the SarbanesOxley Act. In addition to the costs associated with internal controls. 81 percent of small firms responding to the GAO survey said they brought in outside consultants to comply with the Act. Nearly half of the small firms reported \"opportunity costs\" related to complying with the regulatory burden placed on them by the SarbanesOxley Act such as deferring or canceling operational improvements.. and more than onethird of respondents wdre forced to defer or cancel information technology investments. Too many small firms simply do not have the resources and expertise necessary to implement the formal internal control frameworks required by Section 404. and as a result. they are disadvantaged compared to larger firms that are absorbing these costs. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has provided a lengthy compliance period for small businesses to comply with the SarbanesOxley regulations and is attempting to develop additional methods to ease the regulatory burden. However. I believe additional efforts are needed. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5473,"word_count":244}
{"speech_id":1090174713,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I yield the floor. By Ms. CANTWELL (for- herself.","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3407,"word_count":9}
{"speech_id":1090174715,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"With the rising number of uninsured and the everincreasing healthcare costs. it is more important than ever to maintain existing health care coverage for children in order to hold down health care costs and to keep children healthy. Removing barriers for innovative states and allowing them to fully access their SCHIP allocation is a major step in achieving this goal. I urge my colleagues to join us in support of this bill and ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"MARIA CANTWELL","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5282,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090174727,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meetduring the session of the Senate on Thursday. September 21 at 10 a.m. The purpose of the hearing is to consider the nomination of Mary Amelia Bomar. of Pennsylvania. to be Director of the National Park Service. Vice Frances P. Mainella. resigned.","speaker_name":"JOHN THUNE","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":353,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090174746,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today we consider a nominee for the new position of Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division. All too often. in the BushCheney administration. national security has been cited as a justification for overriding the rule of law and for imposing unprecedented secrecy. With the acquiescence of the Republicancontrolled Congress. this administration may be the most unresponsive in history and the most unaccountable. Kei Wainstein is President Bushs selection to be the first Assistant Attorney General for National Security a new position created by Congress. I will not oppose this nomination in the hope that Mr. Wainstein will work with us and be responsive to the Senate. I have concerns about this administrations unilateral approach to national security issues. Four years ago. the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department issued a secret legal opinion concluding that the President of the United States had the power to override domestic and international laws outlawing torture. The memo sought to redefine torture and asserted that the President enjoys \"complete authority over the conduct of war\" and asserted that application of the criminal law passed by Congress prohibiting torture \"in a manner that interferes with the presidents direction of such core war matters as the detention and interrogation of enemy combatants would be unconstitutional.\" It seemed to assert that the President could immunize people from prosecution for violations of U.S. criminal laws that prohibit torture. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6133,"word_count":236}
{"speech_id":1090174843,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As the area grew. so did Manresa with a series of additions and renovations that have enlarged the original capacity of retreat guests from 23 to its current capacity of 78. The Manresa Jesuit Retreat House has provided a foundation upon which thousands of metro Detroiters have grown. both personally and spiritually. I am proud to recognize its importance in forging the character of the community as we celebrate the eightieth anniversary of Manresas inaugural retreat.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH KNOLLENBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1844,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090174844,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Sharon. and Patricia. and his siblings. Doris. Naomi. Jerome. Flora. and Hoy. He will be remembered for his witty sense of humor. unfaltering dependability. and endearing concern for others. Mike touched everyone he met. and. by his absence. we are all diminished. Mr. Speaker. I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Austin Malcolm \"Mike\" Allen for his lifetime of dedication and service to his fellow human beings. of Remarks E1 793","speaker_name":"THADDEUS MCCOTTER","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1066,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090174845,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. Today I welcome President Nursultan Nazarbayev of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the United States. When the Soviet Union collapsed. there was great concern about the political and economic future of the former Soviet republics. The world wondered whether these nations would join democratically developed nations. and whether they would be able to overcome the communist ideology that had been imposed on them for so long. Furthermore. as a result of the disintegration of the Soviet Empire. nuclear weapons were scattered. uncontrolled and therefore even more dangerous. The colossal number of nuclear weapons was a real threat to peace and the possibility loomed of bloody territorial and international conflict. Unfortunately. in some cases our concems were valid. For many of these emerging states. the burden of building a stable. flourishing and democratic society appeared to be a difficult task. Not everyone could handle this historic mission. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES MELANCON","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3693,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090174847,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to salute a man who has touched the lives of so many in my community of Nashville. as well as. arouddthe world. through his music and his commitment to sharing his talent with others. Matthew Kennedy was bom in the segregated South in 1921. the son of a strict. school teacher mother and postal worker father. Only months after his birth. his father dies of a heart attack leaving his mother on her own to care for the family. Despite the challenges. Matthews mother is determined that her young son and will be able to take \"serious\" piano lessons with the towns white music teacher. The teacher agrees to lessons and in exchange Matthew and his cousin agree to clean her studio. Even at this very y6ung age. Matthews tal.ent is evident. ","speaker_name":"JIM COOPER","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2665,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090174952,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I argued that good fences make good neighbors. It clarifies where property lines are. what your rights are. and neighbors can get along pretty well. Leave them ambiguous. and people get in fusses. At any rate. when we voted. the vote was 83 to 16 to approve my amendment mandating construction of this fence. That was part of the overall immigration bill. That immigration bill was fatally flawed. The truth is. it is not going to become law. We can all be thankful for that. This amendment. though. was voted on 83 to 16. A lot of our colleagues say. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6221,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090174961,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. if the Senator will yield. I think the Senator has provided great leadership on security on a number of issues. You may be talking about other issues as. we go for. ward right now. but I know the Senator would agree that our borders do represent vulnerabilities. and fixing our borders is also an aspect of national security. as I read of Hezbollah people coming across and others who have dangerous reputations. I also thank the Senator for his steadfast leadership and his clear thinking in regard to the fundamental issue that barriers do represent a critical part of what we need to do to have a lawful border.","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":629,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090174962,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator from Alabama. And I think we will prevail. As to what you are suggesting. and what you have been suggesting over the last few minutes. the vast majority of the American people are on our side. They know as to people who say: You cannot secure our border.. fences will -not workthey worked for a long time up in between North Korea and. South Korea. I think they will work down here. too.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":422,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090174969,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We as a Senate did that several months ago. I was very proud to have worked with people such as Senator MCCAIN. Senator GRAHAM. Senator DURBIN. Senator KENNEDY. and a whole host of other people who were .involved in putting together what became a comprehensive immigration reform package. It was a lawandorder bill that we! debated here on the floor for weeks and was ultimately adopted by a significant bipartisan group of Senators. It was a lawandorder bill because it dealt in a comprehensive way with the issue of immigration. It dealt in a comprehensive way with the recognition that we have a national security crisis on our hands that requires us to deal with immigration reform in a comprehensive way. The components of the legislative which we subsequently shepherded through the Senate included border security. strengthening our border. It included immigration law enforcement so we make sure that we as a nation uphold our tradition of being a nation of laws. that we enforce our immigration laws here in our country. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11599,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090174987,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"His principal occupation has been in the civil field. and he has had considerable trial practice. Mr. Besosa is currently a partner in the law firfn of Absuar Muniz Goyco and Besosa. a firm he joined in 1994. The American Bar Association has rated Mr. Besosa \"well qualified.\" Mr. Besosa was passed out of the Judiciary Committee unanimously. I am pleased in my capacity as chairman of the committee to recommend him to my colleagues for confirmation.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1142,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090175003,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Clearly. the program is accomplishing its mission. I am proud of these success stories and am glad to have helped three such successful programs secure the Federal funding they needed to doimportant tasks for our Nation.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2323,"word_count":36}
{"speech_id":1090175004,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Legislation enacted during the year seriously eroded legal protections for human rights and expanded the powers of the executive branch to regulate and control civil society . . . [The laws that were passed] encroached on political rights. freedom of the press. freedom of religion. and other human rights.\" The Justice Department and the FBI have accused President Nazarbayevwho has been in control of the country since 1990-:of corruption and reportedly considered indicting him on bribery and other charges under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Instead they indicted his personal financial adviser. James Giffen. while identifying President Nazarbayev as the recipient of tens of millions of dollars in payoffs of cash and gifts in an oil lease deal. President Bush has said that his goal is to spread democracy and the rule of law around the world. But this goal is hard to reconcile with his support for one of the worlds most repressive and corrupt dictatorships. Mr. President. the Washington Post recently published an insightful article on this issue. which I would like to have printed in the RECORD. I hope my colleagues will have the opportunity to read it and will join me in calling on President Bush to cancel this visit and send the message that there is no room in the White House for those who have such disregard for democracy and the rule of law. I ask unanimous consent that this article be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2398,"word_count":242}
{"speech_id":1090175007,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to make some remarks today about Alabamas 20062007 Teacher of the Year. Ms. Cameron McKinley. Ms. McKinley has been a technology specialist for the Hoover City School System since she left her successful career as a businesswoman in the marketing field over 10 years ago to pursue her dream of teaching. Within the Hoover City School System. Ms. McKinley has taught computer education. instructional technology. and summer technology camps. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1352,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090175009,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Workers. consumers. and businesses in nearly 120 countries including our own will benefit from the continuation of this program. which affects the price of over 5.600 finished- and unfinished goods. Therefore. I ask that you join me in reauthorizing the Generalized System of Preferences. By Ms. SNOWE:","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3016,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090175047,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we can come back and comment on this. but what I have just done is put an amendment on the legislation. The military commission or Hamdan legislationI have put that as an amendment on the border security fence bill. I say that just so our colleagues will understand the Democratic leader and I are working very hard to reach an agreement. and we are just about there. We need to talk to some more colleagues about how we will address the Hamdan legislation. Because things are tight in terms of being able to finish the amount of business we need to do in the next 4 to 5 days. what we just went through was to set up a structure whereby we know we are going to -be able to finish that. Again. our intent is to work out a plan to be able to address that legislation in a way that is agreeable to both sides. I think we should be able to do that tomorrow morning.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":877,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090175058,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. right now. I will object to the modification of my unanimous consent request. After a brief discussion. we can come back and see if we are close to being able to take this to the floor under this time agreement. with these amendments. I think we ought to lock it down tonight. With that. I object to the modification.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":332,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090175074,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to. the preamble be agreed to. and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. The resolution (S. Res. 583) was agreed to. The preamble was agreed to. The resolution. with its preamble. reads as follows: S. REs. 583 Whereas a strong country begins with strong communities in which all citizens play an active role and invest in the success and future of the youth of the United States. Whereas the fifth National Youth Court Month celebrates the outstanding achievement of youth courts throughout the country. Whereas in 2005. more than 110.000 youths volunteered to hear more than 115.000 juvenile cases. and more than 20.000 adults volunteered to facilitate peer justice in youth court programs. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2452,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090175085,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask -unanimous consent that the committeereported amendment be agreed to. the bill. as amended. be read a third time and passed. the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":265,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090175107,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The reason I am turning around is. as the Democratic leader said. people have been working very aggressively since the agreement was reached. And every change. we have really tried to go to both sidesto the House. to the -Senate. to the administrationso that we can have as much agreement as we possibly can on this bill. So the changes that have been made have been minor. as just reported to me.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":397,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090175119,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. MerriamWebster defines torture as \"the infliction of intense pain. as from burning. crushing. or wounding.\" I would challenge those who oppose Americas strenuous interrogation of known terrorists to explain how sleep deprivation and forced standing fits this description. The Islamofascist movement seeks the destruction of modern civilization. To accomplish this twisted goal. no means are off limits. Rules of war and international treaties do not apply. These barbarians target civilians. they eagerly blow up innocent children. they behead their captives. Our men and women in uniform are fighting to protect our families and our homeland from these mass murderers. It is important that America maintain its high moral standing in the global community. An honest debate about the treatment of terrorist detainees is certainly in order. ","speaker_name":"JOE WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1106,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090175129,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. while the majority has decided to bypass the hearing and the committee consideration process for the pending legislation. H.R. 1344. since it simply authorizes a study of a proposed river designation. we have no objection to adoption of the bill by the House today. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"MADELEINE BORDALLO","chamber":"H","state":"GU","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":325,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090175131,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Lower Farmington also offers recreational opportunities and has been the site of U.S. Olympic Team white water slalom trials. Additionally. the river is home to native brook trout and the slimy sculpin. two fish species only found in areas of highquality water. The study of the river is an essential step forward in the designation process. With its strong bipartisan support. I also would like to thank the Resources Committee for bringing this bill forward. I encourage my colleagues to support the legislation.","speaker_name":"NANCY JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2750,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090175136,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill to authorize the National Park Service to pay for services rendered by subcontractors under a General Services Administration Indefinite Deliver\/Indefinite Quantity Contract issued for work to be completed at the Grand Canyon National Park.","speaker_name":"RICK RENZI","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":299,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090175149,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The underlying focus of each individual mission is for the safety. the protection and the wellbeing of the American people. Under the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization for fiscal year 2005. over $12.8 million was secured to construct a new Nevada National Guard Readiness Center in southern Nevada. Additionally. during their 2005 legislative work period. the Nevada State legislature approved matching funds and has appropriated over $27 million for the construction of and projects associated with the Readiness Center. The State of Nevada is firmly committed to ensuring that we do our part to defend our homeland and that our guard is prepared to respond to any national security threats facing our State and Nation. The Southern Nevada Readiness Center is an essential link to helping the State meet its commitment to train guardsmen to respond to chemical. biological and other terrorist threats against Nevada and our Nation. Therefore. Mr. Speaker. I urge my colleagues to support passage of this very important bill.","speaker_name":"JON PORTER","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1920,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090175150,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. in closing. I just want to state my support for our National Guard Civil Support Teams and for H.R. 4382. We fought long and hard for our CST in Guam and just broke ground for our facility last month. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"MADELEINE BORDALLO","chamber":"H","state":"GU","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":263,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090175162,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. H.R. 5079. the Oregon Water Resources Management Act of 2006. is sponsored by Congressman GREG WALDEN. It incorporates language from H.R. 5019. S. 166. and S. 251. Each of the bills deals with Oregon water resource management issues. They all have bipartisan support from the Oregon delegation and during the 108th and 109th Congresses had been vetted through the committee hearing process on both the Houseand Senate sides. I urge my colleagues to support this bill. which will result in better management of Oregons water resources. Mr. ","speaker_name":"RICK RENZI","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":637,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090175199,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would like to thank Representative BRADLEY for introducing his legislation to designate. within his district. 10.800 acres of new wilderness in the White Mountain National Forest. The Sandwich Range Wilderness additions proposed in this bill were developed with the Forest Service through their forest planning process and with substantial input and involvement from the public and local interest groups. Since it has the strong support of New Hampshires citizens. environmental groups. the forest products industry. elected officials. the Forest Service. and administration. it deserves our support as well. I urge you to vote in favor of H.R. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"STEVAN PEARCE","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":749,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090175204,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"By putting these bills on the Suspension Calendar. the Republican leadership ensured that wilderness bills in New England will not be signed into law this year as it is virtuallig impossible to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate bills given the amount of time left in this legislative session. The New England Wilderness Act enjoys the full backing of the two states bicameral. tripartisan delegation. It is disappointing that in the final days of this Congress. Republicans are abusing their power and the American people are paying the price.","speaker_name":"CHRIS VAN HOLLEN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1415,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090175215,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. H.R. 5861 is an acceptable compromise. While it makes technical changes to the Historic Preservation Act. it includes none of the highly controversial amendments that were first proposed by the majority. The historic preservation community. including the Advisory Council. the Trust. and the State and Tribal Historic Preservation Officers support this legislation. Mr. Speaker. we do not oppose H.R. 5861. \" Mr. Speaker. I have no further speakers. and I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"MADELEINE BORDALLO","chamber":"H","state":"GU","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":503,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090175220,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. H.R. 4275. introduced by Congresswoman SUE KELLY. would extend through October. 2015. the authority of the Disabled Veterans Life Memorial Foundation to raise funds for a memorial in the District of Columbia to honor veterans who became disabled while serving in the Armed Forces of the United States. The organization has already secured a site from the National Park Service for this memorial. I urge adoption of the bill. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"STEVAN PEARCE","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":540,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090175224,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The proceeds of this coin will go towards the efforts of the Foundation to build the memorial. This legislation currently has 195 cosponsors. and I invite my colleagues to cosponsor this legislation that pays tribute to our veterans in two ways. by minting a coin honoring our Nations disabled veterans. and by helping the Foundation in their efforts to build a memorial to disabled veterans. I would like to quote from a letter from Bradley Barton. the National Commander of the Disabled American Veterans. which has endorsed the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial Coin Act. Commander Barton says. \"We express our pride. patriotism. values and national identity through memorials that signify and define who we are as a Nation. and it is important that we maintain public recognition and awareness of the extraordinary sacrifices disabled veterans have made on behalf of their fellow citizens and our country.\"","speaker_name":"SUE KELLY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1636,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090175225,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"These extensions include the memorials to Women in Military Service for America. George Mason. World War II. Martin Luther King. Jr.. and the Victims of Communism. There are over 3 million living disabled veterans in this country. a number which unfortunately continues to rise as we remain engaged in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Let us respect and honor the invaluable service of all past and future disabled veterans by ensuring that the Foundation is granted an extension necesiary to complete the Americans Disabled Veterans For Life Memorial. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2768,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090175231,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. H.R. 3871. introduced by Congressman JEFF FORTENBERRY. would . authorize. the Secretary of the Interior to convey to the Missouri River Basin Lewis and Clark Interpretive Trail and Visitor Center Foundation specified Federal land associated with the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail in Nebraska. This land would be used as an historic site and interpretive center for the trail. I urge your support for H.R. 3871. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"STEVAN PEARCE","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":523,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090175242,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. H.R. 5132 directs the Secretary of the Interior to study the feasibility and suitability of including certain lands related to the Battle of the River Raisin during the War of 1812 in Monroe County. Michigan. as part of the National Park System. Currently. the main battlefield is occupied by an abandoned paper mill. The city of Monroe has received a $1 million grant to clean up the location in preparation for possible listing as a National Historic Landmark. The National Park Service testified that there is intact archaeological evidence of the battle and that this site has impressive integrity as a battlefield if it is preserved. ","speaker_name":"STEVAN PEARCE","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":789,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090175252,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. H.R. 1796. would designate the route of the Mississippi River for study as a potential addition to the National Trails System as a national scenic trail. national historic trail or both. The route would stretch from its headwaters in the State of Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. Establishing a national trail along the river will connect the nearly 40 existing public land units on or very near the river which includes national forests. national parks. and wildlife refuges. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"STEVAN PEARCE","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":579,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090175260,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill to designate the Piedras Blancas Light Station and the surrounding public land as an Outstanding Natural Area to be administered as a part of the National Landscape Conservation System. and for other purposes.","speaker_name":"STEVAN PEARCE","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":268,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090175263,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. Representative Lois CAPPS. the author of this legislation. has been a tireless advocate for conservation of the stunning natural resources found in her district. H.R. 3534 continues her efforts by protecting and interpreting an historic light station and the incredibly rich natural resources surrounding it. We urge our colleagues to support H.R. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"MADELEINE BORDALLO","chamber":"H","state":"GU","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":407,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090175289,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would like to commend Mayor Mike Bloomberg for his dedication to this issue and his opposition to this legislation. I also oppose H.R. 5092. and I encourage my colleagues to do the same.","speaker_name":"PETER KING","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1842,"word_count":34}
{"speech_id":1090175290,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In reality. H.R. 5092 is a giveaway to those few gun dealers who just cant be bothered to comply with the law. As such. H.R. 5092 doesnt help average. lawabiding gun dealers. Instead. it puts them at a disadvantage to the few bad actors -who see dollar -signs in the carnage that plagues our neighborhoods. Most gun dealers know that they have a unique responsibility to make sure their products do not fall into the wrong hands. And so. they put in the extra effort to make sure they keep track of the guns in their inventory. But why should any small businessperson put in the effort to comply with their responsibilities if the Federal government cannot shut down the guy across the street who acts irresponsibly? Why would anyone take the time and expense to do the right thing if they are going to be run out of business by the few bad apples doing the wrong thing? This is the danger we face if H.R. 5092 becomes law. This law will not protect lawabiding gun dealers. In fact. it will make them victims of the lawbreakers. by tying the hands of the hardworking Federal agents who work to keep illegal guns off our streets. ","speaker_name":"DIANE WATSON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":33.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1993,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090175306,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I urge my colleagues to support this measure before the House on the suspension calendar. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3157,"word_count":25}
{"speech_id":1090175338,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The threat of Federal court litigation is real and troubling. One representative of the National Association of Homebuilders said this bill would be a hammer to the head of every local official. Is that what we should be doing? Congress and the Federal Courts will now become a super national zoning board? Whatever danger to the environment this legislation may pose. it is green in at least one respect. It is an out-. standing example of recycling. taking us all back to those memorable days of Newt Gingrichs Contract on America. where even the Republican Congress rejected this kind of legislation in those days. Later versions of that effort. which have been called kinder and gentler by at least one legal scholar. focused on procedural issues. a euphemism for the kind of forum shopping in this bill. This bill is much less kind and less gentle. It greatly expands the definition of a taking. It would require the Government to provide compensation in the kinds of cases I spoke of a few minutes ago where the Constitution does not require compensation. It would allow developers to game the system by dividing their lots to squeeze money out of our communities. Should we have to pay someone off to keep them from poisoning our drinking water? Should we have to pay people off if we want to control suburban sprawl? Is it a taking if we make them pay for. some or all of the costs of the new roads. sewer lines. water lines -and schools that will be needed when they are done? This bill says \"yes\". ","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9483,"word_count":267}
{"speech_id":1090175360,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H.R. 5323. the Proud to Be an American Citizen Act. which enables U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services or nonprofit entities to conduct naturalization ceremonies on or near Independence Day each year. The legislation gives us an opportunity to underscore the importance and privilege of U.S. citizenship. This legislation does not authorize new funds. but would provide up to $5.000 for each ceremony organized on Independence Day out of the funds already available to the Department of Homeland Security. The moneys provided under this bill would be sufficient to cover the basics for a ceremony to honor those who have worked hard and met the legal requirements to become United States citizens. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1510,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090175361,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I am happy to rise in support of this legislation because immigration is one of the basic foundations of the Nation. and the contributions of immigrants are too many to be counted. This legislation recognizes these principles. and in addition. authorizes the Homeland Security Secretary to dispense $5.000 to public and private nonprofit entities to host naturalization ceremonies. This purpose originally was authorized as a part of the 1996 immigration law. and I believe it deserves reauthorization. I join with the chairman of the committee in urging our colleagues to vote \"yes\" on the bill.","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":652,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090175402,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution. It is appropriate we recognize Curt Gowdy in this way. We know he was the voice of the Red Sox. as well as the announcer on many other sports events. Mr. Speaker. I urge adoption of this bill. Mr. ","speaker_name":"CHRIS VAN HOLLEN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":347,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090175407,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution congratulating the Professional Golfers Association of America on its 90th anniversary and commending the members of the Professional Golfers Association of America and -the PGA Foundation for the charitable contributions they provide to the United States.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":336,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090175414,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr.-WAxMAN and Mr. CLYBURN. who is cosponsor of the resolution from South Carolina. who knows well and spoke with me the other day about the vital importance of golf in South Carolina. for their efforts in moving this resolution so quickly to the floor. Mr. Speaker. again I want to congratulate the PGA on its 90th anniversary and thank all of its members for making such a difference in peoples lives all around the country.","speaker_name":"MARK FOLEY","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2771,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090175434,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I understand Mr. WOLF is on his way over. Mr. Harry Parrish was a constituent of my friend FRANK WOLFS as well. and served very ably with Frank working on A number of State and local and national issues together. bringing transportation out to that section of Prince William County. working on financial arrangements. and for the overall good of the community. So I would at this point. I think. reserve the balance of my time. Could I ask the Chair how much time is remaining on our side.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":502,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090175454,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I want to join the chairman of the Government Reform Committee in recommending that our colleagues support this legislation to name this post office in honor of Dorothy and Connie Hibbs for their service. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"CHRIS VAN HOLLEN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":310,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090175464,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As the chairman said. each year an estimated 30.000 to 50.000 Americans are affected by myositis. a general term used to describe swelling of the muscles. Myositis patients suffer from their immune systems attacking their bodys own normal tissue. resulting in inflammation or swelling. The disease can cause muscle weakness. and patients often live in chronic pain and have longterm health problems thatcan lead to permanent disabilities. Myositis affects individuals of all ages and can come in many different forms. Many patients with treatable forms of myositis often have severe longterm disabilities because of failure to diagnose and treat the disease. In addition.. the effects of inflammatory myopathies are much more severe than just inflammation. They are thought to be autoimmune diseases such as that the bodys immune system. which normally fights infections and viruses. does not stop fighting once the infection or virus is gone. Mr. Speaker. because myositis varies so much from patient to patient. no single existing treatment works for everyone. Myositis -can be treated with steroids. various medicines and intravenous immune globulin. ","speaker_name":"STEVE ISRAEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2456,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090175465,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. let me just again commend Mr. ISRAEL of New York for his leadership on this issue and bringing attention to the disease myositis. Again. as he said. it is important as we raise national awareness about these diseases that we also provide the resources necessary to the NIH and other researchers who are doing important work to find cures and treatments for these diseases. It is absolutely essential that we invest as a Nation in that very important effort and provide them with the resources they need. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"CHRIS VAN HOLLEN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":563,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090175472,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of S. 2690. legislation to designate a United States -Postal Service facility in Manassas. Virginia. as the Harry J. Parrish Post Office. I want to particularly thank the gentleman- from Virginia for his work to bring this legislation to the floor. I am pleased to be a sponsor of the House companion bill to the Senate measure introduced by Virginia Senator GEORGE ALLEN. Harry Parrish serve over 50 years in elected office. He was elected to the town council of Manassas. Virginia. in 1951. and held that position until 1963 when he was elected mayor. ","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2349,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090175481,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Arizona .","speaker_name":"CHRIS VAN HOLLEN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":719,"word_count":16}
{"speech_id":1090175493,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it is with great honor and respect that I rise today to pay tdbute to my late colleague and dear friend. Leonard Stavisky and to pledge my support for the renaming of a post office in -Queens on his behalf. I wish to thank the dean of the Queens County Delegation and Senator Leonard Staviskys predecessor in Albany. Congressman GARY L. ACKERMAN for bringing this fitting tribute to our attention today. Leonard Stavisky was a giant in Queens County politics. I had the pleasure of getting to know Leonard during our time shared in AI-. bany. I served in the State Assembly and Leonard was a senior Member of the State Senate. Leonard was a lifelong New Yorker who was deeply committed to leaving his community better than he had found it. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH CROWLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2184,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090175504,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker. I stand in strong support of H. Res. 992. supporting the appointment of a Presidential Special Envoy. also. H. Res. 723. calling for the President to take immediate steps to -improve \u0095 the security situation in Darfur. and H.R. 3127. the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act. I want to commend and personally thank Chairman HYDE. ","speaker_name":"FRANK WOLF","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":402,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090175512,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I want to congratulate the distinguished gentleman from New Jersey for his persistence on passing the accountability bill and the declaration of genocide- It has been a long journey. We passed -it. We are back again. But the people of Darfur cannot take any more bumps in the road. the constant pain of the violence and abuse against women and children and men. the constant moving. the increasing number of refugees. the violence against refugees. the Janjaweed and others. The government is continuing to play the blame game. It is vital that the envoy have a robust mandate and be able to energize the negotiations that are going on or that are not going on. The President of Sudan has to be addressed and has to be admonished. and then we need NATO to be able to ensure that there is security and that they are much involved in pushing the Sudan. We need Egypt. we need Jordan. we need Algeria. we need Libya to encourage the president of Sudan to stand down. It is extremely important that we are reminded of the necessary hurhanitarian aid that is vital in the cause of saving lives. We need to save lives. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5356,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090175543,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"To counter the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers. Khartoum said it would send 30.000 of its own troops to Darfur to protect civilians. Mr. Speaker. as a Holocaust survivor. I cannot think of more despicable cruelty than to have Khartoum send its armed forces who have raped. tortured. and slaughtered thousands and displaced 2 million to protect civilians in Darfur. In the past few.weeks. the government has escalated its campaign of death in Darfur. Bombers. attack helicopters. and Arab militias have been deployed in a new campaign of terror. Just recently. the government unleashed its forces on Tawilla Town and seven nearby villages. forcing thousands of residents to flee. The barbed wire fence surrounding the nearby African Union peacekeeping base provided scant protection for terrified civilians fearing for their lives. Mr. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3784,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090175546,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Despite the hour. Mr. Speaker. I believe that these initiatives offered by Mr. LANTOS. Mr. PAYNE. and others are probably the most important work that we will do this week. It is that way because we are talking about absolute slaughter. And I thank the gentleman for his leadership in recognizing the horror of the Khartoum government. And let me just recite for my colleagues the sheer arrogance of the leadership in Khartoum that after the comprehensive peace agreement between the Government of Sudan and others. the Government of Sudan refused a proposal from the Sudanese Peoples Liberation movement to send joint troops to protect civilians and disarm the governmentsupported militia. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5788,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090175574,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 965) commending the people of Montenegro on the conduct of the referendum on independence. welcoming United States recognition of the sovereignty and independence of the Republic of Montenegro. amd welcoming Montenegrin membership in the United Nations and other international organizations.","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":371,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090175592,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution recognizing the accomplishments of the American Council of Young Political Leaders for providing 40 years of international exchange programs. increasing international dialogue. and enhancing global understanding. and commemorating its 40th anniversary.","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":334,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090175597,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I first would like to commend my friend. fellow Californian. chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. Congressman BILL THOMAS. for introducing this measure. I have worked with him on many different issues over the many years we have both served here. from Africa to Southeast Asia. and I am sure all of us will miss him when Congress reconvenes next January. The resolution before the House recognizes the achievements of the American Council of Young Political Leaders. which is celebrating its 40th anniversary BILL THOMAS has served on the board of directors of this fine organization. and we commend his leadership on behalf of ACYPL. H7324 col Madam Speaker. as the midterm election approaches. partisanship is at the e6itreme. But on the subject of the importance of ensuring the next generation of American political leaders. we understand that the global environment calls for us to have bipartisan support for this measure. For 40 years. this organization has selected young political leaders in the United States. carefully balanced between Republicans and Democrats. to travel to many other nations to meet their foreign counterparts. These missions have helped young American political leaders in their understanding of the complexities of the economic. cultural and political climate of many countries and provide a global perspective for policymaking at the local. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1989,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090175609,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I rise today in support of H. Res. 989. commending the United Kingdom for its efforts in the War on Terror. and for other purposes. . United Kingdom and the United States have been close allies in not only two World Wars and Operation Desert Storm. but also the Global War on Terror. We are cousins and we are friends. with a common history and common cause. On September 11. 2001. the United Kingdom reached out to us in sympathy and friendship. and joined us in facing the emerging threat of religious fundamental extremism. Sadly. on July 7. 2005. we reached out in turn as Britain suffered a terrorist attack on its London Underground and a bus. killing 56 people including four suicide bombers. As they suffered. so did we suffer. remembering the pain and confusion. the shock and the remorse. We have struggled to find sound policy to protect our homelands. and Iave stood shoulder to shoulder to develop effective strategies. Though we earn the criticism of many nations. including that of the United Kingdom. the conversation remains honest and open. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1165,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090175619,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Targeted killings of public figures and the recent conflict between Hezbollah and Israel illustrate the dangers of Lebanons inability to control its borders and to provide sovereign","speaker_name":"DARRELL ISSA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":49.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1420,"word_count":27}
{"speech_id":1090175635,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Dr. Roy was born in Kothwan. a small village in the Indian state of Bihar. In 1971. after earning his degree from Ranchi Veterinary College. he immigrated to the United States with a mere $7 in his pocket. He found employment with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in New York. After his successful completion of an equivalency examination. Dr. Roy was hired by the Rahway Animal Hospital in New Jersey. In 1977. he purchased that same hospital. He would later acquire two additional veterinary hospitals in New Jersey and established the Central Jersey Emergency Clinic. an afterhours emergency room for animals. Mr. ","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3323,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090175648,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. on July 12 of this year. Hezbollah guerillas killed three Israeli soldiers and kidnapped another two. Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. All the while Hezbollah continued to launch rockets at civilian targets in northern Israel. These actions against Israels sovereignty sparked Israels defensive measures and the subsequent escalation of the conflict. In the. end. as a direct consequence of Hezbollahs belligerence. more than 1.000 Lebanese and Israeli civilians lay dead and the infrastructure of Lebanon lay in ruins. When the ceasefire was brokered by the United Nations. it was the understanding of all parties. especially Israel. that the U.N. would work toward the release of Israels kidnapped soldiers. Today. however. more than 2 months later. those two brave young men remain in captivity and their families remain uncertain of their future. Furthermore. ","speaker_name":"SCOTT GARRETT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4363,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090175672,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think the American people need to be very concerned about what has not happened here on this floor. in committee. in subcommittees. and as it relates to the leadership making sure that our men and women in harms way not only have what they need in the field. need it in Afghanistan. where they are undermanned and under gun at this particular time. but due to the training of Coalition Forces many ar able to protect themselves. but they need more. In the war in Iraq. a number of unfortunate events are taking place on a daily basis. A number of Marines were lost over the we6kend. and we are in our last week of session. I think that *the lack of oversight and diplomacy at the same time has resulted in a new insurgence that has been created in Iraq. I must say that Karen D. Young of the Washington Post on Sunday wrote about this. I think it is important to read it. It was on the front page. I think it is important that Members pay close attention to that and provide the kind of oversight that is needed. I am glad to be joined by the 30Something Working Group. ","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1986,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090175682,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Wolfowitz. who was Under Secretary of Defense. is now with the World Bank. He got a promotion. Mr. Rumsfeld is still there. All the underlings are still there.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1017,"word_count":29}
{"speech_id":1090175691,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And you are absolutely right. Mr. MEEK. And we have our interests and we have our intelligence experts saying that staying the course is the wrong approach because we are getting worse not better in terms of the results that we are getting over there. We have our military experts. our generals. that I know Mr. DELAHUNT has the commentary from the generals that ran the operations in Iraq lined up and ready to walk us through. We try to talk about this. This is not. you know. it would be very easy for us to come out on the floor andtalk about what DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZs opinion is. KENDRICK MEEKS. TIM RYAN. ","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":705,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090175697,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And we all agree that it is demented and it dioes not make any sense. and they are fanatics and everything else. But what we are trying to do is say. lets be smart about this. And their approach has caused us more grief. created more terrorists. and put us at more risk. The United States is less safe today than we were a few years ago because of the way this administration has conducted this war. Now. if we had got rid of Saddam Hussein. and that would have been it. and we would have secured Iraq and built this democracy there. that is one thing. But that did not happen. Now we have a Secretary of Defense. it finally comes out that he said. the next person that asks me about a postwar plan will be fired. So we have got an estimate saying that this war is actually increased the number of terrorists. and then at the same time. and we know part of it is because it has taken so long to secure the country. Then we found out the Secretary of Defense said. well. the next person that asks for a postwar plan is going to be fired. Wrong.","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2628,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090175718,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we have an opportunity to make a difference. We have an opportunity to move this country in a new direction. to implement the New Direction Agenda. to implement the Real Security agenda. to implement an agenda that is going to once again reflect the values and principles and ideals of working families in America. and not just for the select few. and to elect some Members of Congress who will throw away that rubber stamp. You often talk about how on November 8 we are going to come back up here and have a rubber stamp burning party. I look forward to the bonfire. Mr. Speaker.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM DELAHUNT","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2194,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090175775,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If that cloture on the amendment is invoked. there would .be time for postcloture debate on the amendment. Once all postcloture time is expired. there would then be a vote on the adoption of the amendment. followedimmediately by a cloture vote on the secure fence legislation. All those votes would be Thursday. I explained that last night. and I explain it again now because it illustrates the procedural moves that have to be made in order to finish this bill with certainty before we depart on Friday or Saturday. It is critical that we do so.. The very important. critical. highvalue interrogation programs cannot continue until we legislate. and indeed the military tribunals. military commissions cannot take place in terms of trying these enemy combatants until we act. It is important with regard to what I said for people to understand that the Democratic leader and I and our caucuses are working very hard to get a unanimous consent agreement to consider the Hamdan legislation freestanding. However. last night we did not reach that agreement. or early this morning. but I am very hopeful that we can do so shortly. Mr. President. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2360,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090175781,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have required that every visa holder be fingerprinted before entering the United States. We have frozen nearly $1.5 billion in terrorist assets. We have convicted 261 accused defendants in terrorismrelated cases. and we have killed or taken prisoner a number of alQaida leaders around the world. particularly in Iraq. including Al Zarqawi. who was the No. 1 alQaida leader in Iraq. including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. whom we have captured and from whom we have received very valuable information. We have to remember that he was the mastermind of the 9\/11 plot. In the area of port security. Georgia has three ports and is one of the top five States in the handling of some 11 million containers that reach our Nations shores every year. Georgia plays an important role in the commerce of this country. and that is why I am pleased that Congress has completed a comprehensive port security conference report. which will continue to improve the security of our seaports all around America.: This bill improves a layered security approach to cargo screening and scanning. In Georgia. we will begin augmenting the existing cargo security detection equipment with radiation portal monitors next month to ensure the screening of highrisk containers to stop the illicit import of nuclear and radiological materials. This important piece of legislation also provides for the development of a plan to ensure the successful resumption of shipping in the event of a terrorist attack. In addition. it mandates a plan to determine when it is feasible to scan containers prior to their reaching the United States. ","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5843,"word_count":262}
{"speech_id":1090175783,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This bill. as it was worked out last night. has $1.2 billion in it for putting up either physical fencing. vehicle barriers. or what is known as a virtual fence. which is the Secure Border Initiative where in some parts of the southwest border. where a physical fence doesnt make any sense. there will be significant electronic monitoring of the border. which will allow us to see who is coming across the border. Once they come across the border. because we have added all these new border security personnelthe totals of which are here. 14.000 border security persbnnel. almost 15.000we will be able to catch them if they are coming across illegally. In addition. we have dramatically increased our efforts to recapitalize and support the Coast Guard. I think everyone understands the Coast Guard is one of the premier agencies in our Government. Their efforts during Katrina were exemplary. They have the primary responsibility for making sure people coming toward the United States over the seas are coming here as part of reasonable commerce or simply as tourists and are not coming here to harm us. In order to accomplish that. they have dramatically increased the review of shipping as it comes toward the United States at the port of embarkationwhether that is in Asia or somewhere elseand they have increased their interdiction capabilities should there be a suspicious cargo on a ship headed toxward the United States. To accomplish this. we have significantly increased tie- commitment to the Coast Guard in the area of purchasing more cutters. fast boats. arming their helicopters. and just generally upgrading their capacity to do their job well. as they do it well. Over $7.5 billion has been put into the Coast Guard as a result of this effort. The practical result of all this new funding. all these new agents. new commitment to detention beds. is that we are moving toward a secure border. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11537,"word_count":321}
{"speech_id":1090175821,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am sure there is going to be a very vigorous response to the charges that were made by my good friend. the Senator from South Carolina. Those will come later. I am sure that will be a very heated debate as we go on through these next few days and next few months.","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":280,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090175856,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is where we are at the present time. We will vote on this tomorrow. There is no debate about our immigration system being broken and in need of repair. All of us at this point understand that reform is essential. The choice we confront is whether we will answer that call with a decisive vote in favor of comprehensive reform or whether by failing to do so we will defer to the House of Representatives. which has an enforcementonly approach. I listened to Dr. Land today. who is the President of the Southern Baptist Organizationnot recognized as being either a Democrat or liberal figuretalk about the morality of this issue and also about the immorality of the House approach. He commented on a joint press. conference he read with great particularity and with the language which is the approach of the House of Representatives included in terms of its immigration bill. He was pointing out that any person of the cloth who cares for the least among us. whether it is food. clothing. or a stranger. any act of general humanity. would be accused of aiding and abetting an undocumented and. under their language. he concluded could be both arrested. tried. and convicted. He spoke enormously eloquently about the morality of that particular House legislative approach and its inappropriateness. and compared it to the fugitive slave law wherein innocents were helping free slaves in the midl800s. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11940,"word_count":237}
{"speech_id":1090175879,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I at the outset thank my colleague from Minnesota who was quick to join with his colleague Senator DAYTON as a cosponsor of this resolution. Many times politics divides us. but when it comes to an issue such as mental illness. we are all in this together. I know my colleague from Minnesota has probably had the same experience I had. of raising this issue at a town Despite assurances beginning in Janmeeting or a public meeting. and then uary of 2003 from the new Senate maI almost guarantee you that before you jority leadership that the Senate would leave that hall. someone will come up act on successor legislation in honor of to you and ask if they can speak to you Senator Wellstone and pass mental privately to tell you the story of a health parity. despite the best efforts child or a spouse who has bipolar dis- of Senator DOMENICI. who was then order or schizophrenia or who has con- joined on our side of the aisle by Senmitted suicide. It touches so many of ator KENNEDY and our own caucus leadus. What Paul Wellstone was trying to ers. Senator REID and Senator DURBIN. remind us of is that mental illness is the Senate has neither considered as a not a curse. it is an illness. and an ill- body nor passed mental health parity ness that can be treated. Why in either the 108th Congress or the shouldnt we include it in our health 109th Congress. insurance for Americans so that every In other words. during the last 4 family can be spared the suffering that years following Senator Wellstones comes with mental illness today. terrible tragedy. the Senate has not I thank my colleague from Minnesota acted to pass this legislation. for joining me on this resolution. That is why Senator DURBINs resolu-","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1731,"word_count":310}
{"speech_id":1090175890,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am sorry to hear we have an objection. We need to find a way to work through this objection. I have been working desperately across the aisle with Senator KENNEDY. who has been joining me in this effort to help get it out of committee. We have been trying to find a way that the formula would work. One of the ways was to include in the bill 3 years of hold harmless for them to finish updating their system to the point where if they truly have the HIV numbers. they will truly get the money. If they dont have the HIV numbers. yes. they will lose the money. Now. I dont know if the Senator from Minnesota is aware that our Ryan White reauthorization bill increases the funding for Minneapolis by $2 million and $2.5 million for the whole State. It is a net benefactor. There have been increases in HIV and AIDS cases in Minnesota. and this would move money to where the cases are. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":975,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090175894,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. by objecting to moving this bill. we need to look at the real lives that are getting ready to be harmed. Not only is the funding for the program going to be cut to the poorest of the poor by the formula in the preexisting Ryan White Act. but also the money for New York and California is going to be cut. The -New York delegation. for example. argues that updatingthe formulas is devastating their States infrastructure. A closer look reveals that the impact on New York. like other States with large urban areas. is not so great. The national average funding per AIDS case in 2006 was $1.613. New Yorks average was $2.12233 percent more than the national average. Under the corrected funding formulas. the national average in 2007 would be $1.793. New Yorks would still be higher at $2.107. just 5 percent less than the State currently has. so people who are getting no treatment now. especially minority women where this disease has ravaged and is growing at a larger proportion. do not have access to any care. What we are really saying is to avoid a 5percent cut. we are going to eliminate access for large numbers of minority women in this country who are infected with this virus and have no access to drugs. have no access to treatment today because the dollars have not followed the epidemic. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1578,"word_count":234}
{"speech_id":1090175900,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Since my chairmanship began. the vision for both the full committee and the subcommittees is to craft legislation that provides lifelong opportunities for people to be healthier. more competitive. and to be more secure at school. work. and in retirement. Because we have such a broad jurisdiction. the HELP Committee has had an aggressive legislative schedule in the 109th Congress. Over the past 2 years. together with the subcommittees. we have held 57 hearings and reported 36 bills out of committee. 21 of these proposals were approved by the Senate and 12 were signed by the President and became public law. We also reviewed and approved 352 nominations that require Senate confirmation. I thank my colleagues. including their staffs. for doing the work needed to maintain this aggressive pace. In this Congress. the HELP Com-\" mittee has been privileged to have in its ranks active subcommittee chair-. men and engaged members. This is largely the reason the committee has had legislative success. I thank them for their dedication. and I applaud them for the joint success as a committee. Our ranking member. Senator KENNEDY. and I may disagree on a number of issues. but we have worked hard to find common ground and we share a commitment to improving the health. education. work. and retirement security of Americans. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12171,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090175905,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He was one of the best friends I ever had. Of course. I think he was to millions of other people around America. They thought he was one their best friends also because of what he stood for and what he fought for. He was always sticking up for the kind of little personpeople who didnt have much voice or power around here. Paul had one burning goal during his alltooshort tenure in the Senate. and that was to get mental health put on the same parity as physical health. He struggled mightily to get that done. After his tragic death in October of 2002. many here talked about the need to pass in his memory the Paul Wellstone mental health parity bill. We still have not gotten it done. Four years later. we remember that political science professor who came to the Senate. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8197,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090175909,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Growing up in Searchlightwhether I was hunting or -just hiking in the desertI developed a great appreciation for public lands. Preserving these lands for both practical and aesthetic purposes is one of my top priorities. Given that more than 87 percent -of the land in Nevada is managed by Federal agencies. I know that I am not alone in recognizing the importance of public land. Nevadans understand that public lands serve many vital purposes in our State. from hiking and hunting to mining and ranching. I would be remiss if I didnt also take time to recognize and. thank the thousands of Federal employees who manage these lands yearround. The Bureau of Land Management. the Forest Service. the Fish and Wildlife Service and other Federal land agencies help ensure that the complex patchwork of Federal land management in Nevada serves and adapts to the changing needs of our communities and the public at large. They provide a vital. although rarely reported. service to our Nation. Through the month of October. volunteers and staff from land management agencies from across Nevada will gather at sites such as the Black Rock DesertHigh Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails Conservation Area. the Desert Tortoise Conservation Management Area. the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Lamoille -Canyon. and the Nevada Northern Railway. among others. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2504,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090175912,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We must work hard to educate our children. how to live in healthy relationships to prevent the cycle of violence from being repeated in the future.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CRAPO","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2309,"word_count":26}
{"speech_id":1090175915,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I was necessarily absent on Senate business yesterday when the Senate voted on the nomination of Francisco Augusto Besosa to be a U.S. district judge for the District of Puerto Rico. Had I been present. I would have voted in favor of Mr. Besosas nomination.","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":272,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090175922,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wish to recognize Navy Lieutenant Chris Hart of Rapid City. SD. Lieutenant Hart was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Valor for his courageous service in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Lieutenant Hart served as Explosive Ordinance Disposal Team OfficerinCharge with Multinational Forces Iraq. Multinational Division West from July to September 2005. He took part in 52 combat operations. and showed outstanding leadership in the face of enemy fire. Thanks to. Lieutenant Harts efforts. insurgents were denied explosive materials and thwarted in their attempts to cause harm. ","speaker_name":"JOHN THUNE","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":874,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090175925,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This does not even address tax policies under the jurisdiction of the Finance Committee. So in July I directed the three major Senate Committees with responsibility for authorizing legislation to combine their various proposals into one bill. The bill Senator REID and I introduce today is the result of a lot of hard work over the summer and August recess month. First I want to acknowledge the leadership of Senator ENSIGN. Chairman of the Commerce Subcommittee on Technology. Innovation. and Competitiveness in helping to produce this legislation. Second. I thank the Chairmen and Ranking Members of Energy. Commerce. and the HELP Committees for their dedication to this projectSenators DOMENICI. BINGAMAN. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5556,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090175926,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have expertise that touches on multiple fields of industry from telecommunications to transportation. from the safety of the home to the security of the homeland. and from marine containers to marine mammals. At the end of the day. our middle name is \"science.\" and we brought that perspective to this bipartisan effort to use technology and innovation to address emerging challenges to our national economic competitiveness. The lynchpin of continued innovation that will lead to economic competitiveness will be educating and inspiring younig people to be educated and employed in science- and technologyrelated disciplines. This bill uses educational programs to inspire students from kindergarten through graduate school to pursue math and science. It also ensures that the Nations enterprise research is wellfunded and focused on the needs of the Nation. This bill includes a 5year authorization that would double funding for the National Science Foundation. NSF. and significantly increase funding for the National Institute of Standards and Technology. NIST. The Congress has increased funding for NSF before. This time. with the help of my colleagues and the administration. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL INOUYE","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3271,"word_count":179}
{"speech_id":1090175934,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to express my strong support for the Ryan White CARE Act. The programs funded through this law have. for more than 15 years. enabled hundreds of thousands of people living with HIV and AIDS to access essential care and treatment services. Yet the reauthorization proposals currently under consideration by both the House and the Senate would unfairly shift funding from the hardesthit areas of the epidemic. devastating the ability of providers and organizations to offer lifeextending services. The more than 100.000 people living with HIV and AIDS in New York would be adversely affected by the millions of dollars in cuts they would face if these reauthorizations were to go through. I understand that the White House and the Republican leadership are pressuring many of my colleagues. particularly those from codebased States. that if they dont reauthorize the bill this year. they will face cuts in funding next year. But approving a fundamentally flawed bill under pressure is not the right thing to do. We should be working .to strengthen the CARE Act for everyone. not decimate it. Today. ","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2168,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090175938,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I will read the resolution. if I could. because it expresses so many of the feelings of so many throughout New Orleans and the gulf coast: Whereas the City of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana and the Gulf Coast were severely impacted by Hurricane Katrina on August 29. 2005 and the subsequent levee breaks which occurred. Whereas southwestern Louisiana and the State of Louisiana were severely impacted by Hurricane Rita on September 24. 2005. Whereas the New Orleans Saints and the Louisiana Superdome have always been special symbols of pride to the City of New Orleans and to the State of Louisiana. Whereas. due to the leadership and hard work of the men and women who rebuilt the Superdome. as well as to the partnership of the National Football League. the State of Louisiana and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. the Louisiana Superdome was able to reopen on Monday. September 25. 200613 months since the last New Orleans Saints home game was played there. Whereas the return of the New Orleans Saints to the Louisiana Superdome serves as a symbol of hope for the great rebuilding of the City of New Orleans. the State of Louisiana and the Gulf Coast region. Whereas the City of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana showed its pride and support for the New Orleans Saints with an attendance of 70.003 fans at the September 25. 2006 game. Whereas the New Orleans Saints won their first game in the Louisiana Superdome since. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita by defeating the Atlanta Falcons. 23 to 3. Whereas with the win over the Atlanta Falcons on Monday. ","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5574,"word_count":272}
{"speech_id":1090175949,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session on Tuesday. September 26. 2006. at 2:30 p.m.. in 215 Dirksen Senate Office Building. to hear testimony on \"Health Savings Accounts: The Experience So Far.\"","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":265,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090175997,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am delighted to take this opportunity to reflect on the aweinspiring career of Chairman HENRY J. HYDE. It is difficult to imagine this House without HENRYS wisdom. his leadership and his wit. Chairman HYDE has led our International Relations Committee and the House Judiciary Committee. prior to his current chairmanship. with grace and fairness. Vice President CHENEY summed up the essence of HENRY HYDE very well when he recently noted. as a committee chairman and in all of his dealings. HENRY HYDE has been the soul of fairness and balance. If you had any kind of trouble in your life. you would want someone like HENRY to plead your case. and you would- want someone like HENRY to decide your case. He understands people. ","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4209,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090176003,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise to urge the passage of legislation that I am cosponsoring with the gentlewoman from Ohio . The Health Insurance for Life Act provides extended health care coverage to individuals and families who need COBRA when they are in between jobs or waiting for their health insurance to begin at a new job. Suburban families like those living in the Hudson Valley in New York encounter a job change an average of seven times. Workers need assurances that their health insurance remains as transferable and uncomplicated as possible when job changes occur. COBRA provides the safety net that parents and children need to maintain affordable health insurance. but under current law there are time limitations on how long families can use COBRA. H.R. 5740 removes COBRAs time limits and ensures that families in need of extended COBRA coverage- cannot be charged unreasonable premiums. This Congress must continue developing new ways to protect the underinsured and uninsured in New York and throughout our country. Passage of our bill ensures that time is on the side of families and children who rely on COBRA for their health insurance.","speaker_name":"SUE KELLY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1147,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090176009,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to deliver a message: The Democrats have no direction when it comes to the war on terror and national security. Just this week. the minority leader said. and I quote. \"5 years after 9\/11 Osama bin Laden is still free. and not a single terrorist who planned 9\/11 has been caught and brought to justice.\" In reality. currently. the U.S. has in captivity Khalid Shaikh Mohammad. the mastermind behind 9\/11. Mustafa Ahmad asHawsawi. a financier of the 9\/11 attacks. and RamziBin alShibh. who served as a facilitator between the 9\/11 hijackers in the U.S. and the al Qaeda leadership in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Another baffling statement was made recently by the Senate minority leader referring to the national security bills the House has passed to make our Nation safer and secure our porous borders. The Senate minority leader openly said that the Republican Congress is spending time on issues that are not relevant to the American people. Mr. Speaker. the statements of the respected minority leaders lead me to believe that not only are the Democrats out of touch with the majority of Americans. but it appears as if they are now.completely out of touch with reality.","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1197,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090176022,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr Speaker. I want to joinwith my colleague from Massachusetts. Congressman BARNEY FRANK. in paying tribute to .a great man. Leo Diehl. who recently died. He served as Tip ONeills righthand man and was a great counselor not only to Tip. but to so many people who served in this Congress during those years. Those of us who were members of congressional staff remember him with great fondness and great respect. The great people who serve in this institution are not just the people who get elected. but often those who serve those who are elected. Leo Diehl was a wonderful man. The world has lost a great person. jJ 1030","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":621,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090176095,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Then he pushed. her down and forced himself 6n her. Since he did not threaten her with a weapon or cause any bodily harm. she did not know to call it rape. She blamed herself for not knowing he wasnt a nice guy and she blamed herself for getting pregnant. Reverend Hancock Ragsdale offered solace and advice. In her most desperate hours. this girl was able find the comfort she so desperately needed. In addition to providing emotional support. the Reverend was able to help this girl fill out the mountains of -paperwork and fill the necessary prescriptions. The advice and guidance a child would hope to receive from a parent was administered in this case by a trusted spiritual leader. 0] 1145 Mr. Speaker. the American Medical Association. the American Academy of Pediatrics. the American Psychological Association. the American College of Physicians all. all agree that mandatory parental consent notification can be highly detrimental to young women. Shouldnt we be inviting the experts in health care to help us in drafting and making these recommendations and protocol? Instead. we come to the House floor under a closed rule. stand on our soapboxes. and declare that we know what is best for every single child under every single circumstance in America. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6648,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090176101,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. that such a bill would even be necessary. because transporting a minor across State lines without parental permission for any other reason but to have an abortion is already a crime. Therefore. I ask my colleagues to join me once again in supporting this commonsense legislation and the substitute amendment to strengthen the bill to ensure that our precious children are protected and that the right of our parents are upheld.","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2645,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090176125,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I was unable to participate in the following votes. If I had been. present. I would have voted as follows: Rolicall vote No. 474. on agreeing to the resolution H. Res. 1038Providing for consideration of the bill 2679. to amend the Revised Statutes of the United States to eliminate the chilling effect on the constitutionally protected expression of religion by State and local officials that results from the threat that potential litigants may seek damages and attorneys fees. I would have voted \"aye.\" Rollcall vote No. 475. on agreeing to the resolution H. Res. 1039Providing for consideration of the bill S. 403. to amend title 18. United States Code. to prohibit taking minors across State lines in circumvention of laws requiring the involvement of parents in abortion decisions. I would have voted \"aye.\" Rollcall vote No. 476. on Motion to suspend the rules and pass H.R. 5092The Bureau of Alcohol. ","speaker_name":"SUE MYRICK","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1180,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090176137,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill to reserve a small percentage of the amounts made available to the Secretary of Agriculture for the farmland protection program to fund challenge grants to encourage the purchase of conservation easements and other interests in land to be held by a State agency. county. or other eligible entity. and for other purposes.","speaker_name":"BOB GOODLATTE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":381,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090176150,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill to provide for the conveyance of the former Konnarock Lutheran Girls School in Smyth County. Virginia. which is currently owned by the United States and administered by the Forest Service. to facilitate the restoration and reuse of the property. and for other purposes. as amended.","speaker_name":"BOB GOODLATTE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":342,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090176154,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. and I want to express my appreciation to the gentleman from Virginia . chairman of the House Agriculture Committee. and the gentleman from Minnesota for moving this measure through the committee and bringing the bill to the House floor today. The Lutheran Girls School building in Kofmarock.. Virginia. is a historic structure. and it is presently listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was constructed of wood and stone. hewed from the mountains where the building is located during the 1920s. and has graceful architecture that is typical of the rustic buildings constructed during that era. It was constructed by the Womens Missionary Society of the Lutheran Church in America and was operated by the Lutheran Church as a girls school from the middle 1920s until 1959. At that time the school was closed and the building at that point entered a very long- period of disuse. In 1967 the Forest Service acquired that building as part of a much larger","speaker_name":"FREDERICK BOUCHER","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1031,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090176160,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill to provide for the conveyance of National Forest System land to the towns of Laona and Wabeno. Wisconsin. to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to convey certain isolated parcels of National Forest System land in Florence and Langlade Counties. Wisconsin. and for other purposes. as amended.","speaker_name":"BOB GOODLATTE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":356,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090176162,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Maalam Speaker. I rise in support of H.R. 4559. This bill simply proVides the Forest Service with the required legislative authority to sell two tracts in Wisconsin to neighboring towns for a set price which the Forest Service and the towns agree represents fair market value. The intent of the land sale is to spur economic development by providing the towns room to grow and allow the Forest Service to acquire more sensitive lands that have higher natural resource value. The proceeds of these sales will be used by the Forest Service to acquire other higher priority lands in the ChequamegonNicolet National Forest. I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin for introducing this legislation. and I thank Mr. PETERSON for working with us on the committee to move this legislation forward. I urge my colleagues to support the bill. ","speaker_name":"BOB GOODLATTE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":935,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090176176,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to support this legislation. and I am very pleased that. it is a bipartisan approach to strengthening. our Child and Family. Services Improvement Act. . We have heard a great deal during our work on the Human Resources Subcommittee about the. Federal Government spending a lot of money reimbursing States to remove children from their homes and place them in foster care. If the State does not remove the child under our Federal foster care program. the Federal Government keeps the funds. It is the only Federal program that actually pays States to remove children from their homes. That is why this legislation is so critical and so important. Unlike the problematic Federal foster care system. the money in Safe and Stable Families goes to States to target atrisk families. helping States treat the child in their homes. prevent abuse and neglect. and adjust the entire family system to place child outcomes and family permanence above family breakups and foster care. ","speaker_name":"NANCY JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3240,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090176195,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I also rise today to discuss H.R. 6131. legislation to make technical corrections to the Energy Policy Act of 2005. We are here today to make these technical corrections because of the hastily drafted Energy Policy Act of 2005. As ranking Democrat of the Environment and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee. which has authorization over the leaking underground storage tank program. I will support the policy to fix this piece of legislation. However. the bill should not mask the failure of the Bush administration and the Republicanled Congress to adequately fund this Federal program. The Leaking Underground Storage Tank program is responsible for protecting groundwater and local drinking water supplies by preventing and cleaning up MTBE and petroleum contamination from leaking underground storage tanks in our communities. More than a year ago. Congress dramatically increased -the funding authorization for the EPA Leaking Underground Storage Tank program to $605 million annually. ","speaker_name":"HILDA SOLIS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4045,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090176197,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I think the bottom line is that the Energy Policy Act of 2005 authorized an additional $400 million annually for inspection. prevention and cleanup of our water supply. and without passage of this legislation. none of that money can be spent. regardless if you agree with the level of appropriations or not. So I think it is important that we pass this piece of legislation. and I encourage my colleagues to support it. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"CHRIS CHOCOLA","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":538,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090176211,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"ida. Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker. I rise today in very strong support of H.R. 2679. the Public Expression of Religion Protection Act. With this bill. we will close a loophole that has allowed liberal groups like the ACLU to prey on taxpayers for far too long. Originally. Congress sought to protect underprivileged civil rights applicants by allowing them to collect attorneys fees if they won their suit. ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA BROWN-WAITE","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1499,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090176235,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today the Republicans bring to the floor a bill that would undermine yet another basic freedom. The socalled \"Public Expression of Religion Act\" is nothing more than an attack on religious liberty. It promotes governmentsponsored religion by limiting challenges to such constitutional violations. This bill is about the government stopping people from standing up for their civil rights. By restricting -peoples ability to stand up for their civil rights when governments promote a particular religion. this bill chips away at the constitutionally protected separation of church and state. Thats not all thats at issue here. Language in the bill leaves the door open to allsorts of statesponsored violations of constitutional freedoms. It casts a dangerously wide net. This bill also gives the green light to civil rights violations. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1438,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090176243,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr.- Speaker. for the purpose of debate only. I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentlewoman from California . pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of- this resolution. all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only.","speaker_name":"TOM COLE","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":266,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090176254,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of the rule and the underlying conference report for the fiscal year 2007 Department of Defense Appropriations Act. I would like to commend Chairmen .Lewis and Young as well as the staff of the Defense Subcommittee for their tireless efforts in support of our soldiers. sailors. airmen and marines who","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":339,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090176287,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time at I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of S. 403. the Child Custody Protection Act. As amended by the rule. the legislation before us contains provisions substantially similar to H.R. 748. the Child Interstate Abortion. Notification Act. which overwhelmingly passed the House in April of 2005 by a vote of 270Laws that require parental notification of a minors abortion are overwhelmingly supported by the American people. A 2005 poll by Pew Research Center found that large majorities believe that girls under 18 should receive parental consent before an abortion. According to the poll. half of selfdescribed liberal Democrats favor requiring young women to get the consent of at least one parent before getting an abortion. and nearly threequarters of moderate or conservative Democrats favor requiring parental consent. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":986,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090176299,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I have two questions about this bill that are completely aside from the merits. One is. why are we doing this bill? We passed the bill earlier. We passed essentially this bill earlier this session. the Senate passed a bill. and now we are passing a bill that isnt the same as the Senate bill. Why? So that no law. so nothing becomes law this year. So I would like to ask the chairman. the distinguished chairman. why we are not passing the same bill the Senate passed? Because. otherwise. there is no possibility. as I see it. of getting an agreement before we leave. ","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":650,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090176324,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Federal criminal statute will deter individuals from transporting teenagers across state lines in order to willfully violate the parental invorvement laws of the teenagers home State. Mr. Speaker. I was pleased to support H.R. 748. the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act when it was considered by the House in April of last year. This rule gives us the opportunity to restore an important provision that was not included in S. 403. specifically the provision that places responsibility on the abortion provider to give a parent or guardian 24 hours notice of a minors abortion decision. I urge my colleagues to pass this resolution and the Child Custody Protection Act. It is time for Congress to take action against all those who assist minors in circumventing a parents right of involvement in the most serious decision a minor can make.","speaker_name":"SAM GRAVES","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2622,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090176352,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise to support the conference report on H.R. 5631 which makes appropriations for the Department of Defense for fiscal year 2007. The agreement provides $377.6 billion for the United States military. In addition. $70 billion is provided in the socalled bridge fund for the operations of the war against terror. Finally. $200 million is included in emergency funding to help the Department of the Interior and the Forest Service combat wildfires. Mr. ","speaker_name":"C. YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5730,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090176357,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I commend the leadership of the CommitteeChairmen LEWIS and YOUNG. and Ranking Members OBEY and MURTHAfor their hard work in producing wellbalanced bill that meets the needs of our warfighters today and lays the foundation for a strong national defense inthe future. This conference agreement provides $447.6 billion. including $70 billion in \"bridge funding\" to support our missions in Iraq. Afghanistan. and global war on terrorism. The total is about $4.1 billion less than the Presidents budget request. but it is over $19 billion more than last years DoD appropriations act. Yet still. within this limited allocation. the conference report provides important resources for our warfighters: AIRCRAFT F\/A22 Raptor-$2.7 billion to procure 20 F22s next year. nearly double what was requested by the Administration. F35 Lightening Joint Strike Fighteralmost $5 billion for development and procurement of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). Hercules Cargo Planes-$787 million for nine Air Force C130Js. and $243 million for Marine Corps KC130Js. SHIPS New Assault Ship-$2.6 billion for two of the Navys nextgeneration surface combat ship. the DD(X). LHA Amphibious Assault Ship-$1.1 billion for the LHA Amphibious Assault Ship. Attack Submarine-$2.5 billion. equal to the administrations request. for procurement of the next Virginiaclass new attacksubmarine.","speaker_name":"RODNEY FRELINGHUYSEN","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1695,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090176375,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank my colleague from New Jersey for those kind words. I rise this evening in strong support of H.R. 4942. the Promoting Antiterrorism Capabilities Through International Cooperation Act. which Chairman KING and I introduced along with Chairman REICHERT and Ranking Member PASCRELL and other Members. I am happy to see this bill finally make it to the House floor. I first raised the idea of this bill in January 2005. soon after I became ranking member. I know my Democratic colleagues had pushed for it in the 108th Congress as well. While it took a while to get my colleagues on board. I was glad when they finally did. The product before us today is a good one. ","speaker_name":"BENNIE THOMPSON","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2372,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090176388,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the chairman. Chairman ROGERS. and Congressman MEEK. Mr. Speaker. I would like to paraphrase the great Frederick Douglass. who reminded us that we may not get all that we have worked for. however. we will work for all that we get. Clearly. we have worked to get more Border Patrol agents. It is important that we do so. At the rate of 33 to 1. 66.000 before we can get 2.000. it will take a considerable amount of time to get the number of agents needed. ","speaker_name":"AL GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1072,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090176389,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I think it will protect America even further. I join Mr. GREEN and also Mr. ROGERS in encouraging all of our Members to vote in the affirmativein making sure that we pass this very important piece of legislation. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"KENDRICK MEEK","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":935,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090176395,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H.R. 6160. the More Border .Patrol Agents Now Act of 2006. This legislation takes an important step toward making our borders more secure and our country safer. More agents along our Nations borders will lead to better enforcement of our immigration laws. The Presidents commitment of 6.000 more Border Patrol agents in the next two years is a good start to enhancing border security. but if these agents- cannot be easily hired. or if current Border Patrol agents are lost to other employment. this enhanced security cannot be maintained. . Personnel concems should not be a factor limiting the effectiveness of the Border Patrol. H.R. 6160 addresses some of these concerns. By streamlining the hiring process and offering recruitment and retention bonuses. H.R. 6160 takes steps to ensure that the Border Patrol will be an effective first line of defense at our borders. ","speaker_name":"DARRELL ISSA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":49.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2054,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090176397,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. border security is an issue of great concern to all Americans. It deserves serious deliberation and congressional consideration. Unfortunately. the bill before us now. H.R. 6160. the More Border Patrol Agents Now Act. was introduced yesterday and is being considered on the floor today without benefit of committee action by either the Homeland Security or Government Reform Committee. H.R. 6160 would grant the Department of Homeland Security the ability to award Border Patrol agents lumpsum recruitment and retention bonuses of up to 25 percent of annual pay. It would also allow the Department to rehire retirees. The Department can already do this under current Governmentwide authorities as long as it works with the Office of Personnel Management. OPM. the agency which best understands hiring needs. Giving the Department this direct authority to circumvent OPM may or may not be a good idea. ","speaker_name":"HENRY WAXMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1454,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090176409,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Attorneys Office has granted immunity to the Mexican drug dealer. the smuggler who these two officers intercepted. This criminal alien was caught with 743 pounds of marijuana. and the U.S. Attorneys Office has treated this criminal as if he were a victim. At the same time. the book was thrown at our border patrol agents. I will submit for the RECORD. Mr. Speaker. my letter to the Attorney General regarding this outrageous case. The brutal treatment of the two border guards has demoralized our Border Patrol agents. I hope as we sing our praises today. that we understand that we are. yes. grateful to all of these people who protect us at the border. including the two Border Patrol agents that are iiow under attack. In the meantime. let the case of Border Patrol agents Ramos and Compean be revisited and the outrageous criminal charges against them dropped.","speaker_name":"DANA ROHRABACHER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":46.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2487,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090176411,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But of course in terms of responding to- the concerns that they have. I would be remiss if I did not mention that we have legislation. H.R. 4044. to provide more equipment. 15.000 Border Patrol agents over the next 5 years. increasing the number of agents from 11.000 to 26.000. With more than 8.000 miles of land and coastal borders to patrol continuously. it is evident that an increase is needed. but more importantly resources are needed and professionalism is needed. Mr. Speaker. let me speak for a moment on professionalism. This tragedy that has occurred in Texas. my own State. cries out for relief. We are looking to address this question by getting the facts and moving. hopefully expeditiously. for hearings in this Congress.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2317,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090176429,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"While the law set aside 35.6 billion over 10 years to obtain drugs for the Strategic National Stockpile. companies receive very little compensation until they can deliver a minimum number of doses. As a result. many of these potential drugs languish in the laboratory in what is known as the \"Valley of Death.\" As with any drug. the development of biodefense drugs require efficacy trials. toxicity testing. production design and a range of other activities that are expensive but necessary to determine whether a drug will work. whether it is safe and how it will be manufactured. The centerpiece of this legislation that we are on the floor on behalf of this evening develops a new. or places a new office within HHS. the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. BARDA. which would be a single point of Federal authority for the development of medical countermeasures. This bill will empower BARDA to make milestone payments to drug developers at key stages of their work. helping to reduce. financial risks of taking on this great challenge. In other words. we are going to get the job done. I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation. which will ensure that our country does its best to prepare for the worst. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"ANNA ESHOO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3519,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090176432,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I just want to close. I do not think I have any other individuals to come to the floor to speak on this this evening. I also want to thank our staffs. because they have worked exceedingly hard and exceedingly -well With one another. both from Mr. ROGERS staff. certainly mine. with Steve Keenan and Jennifer Nieto. and everyone that helped them in my office. as well as John Ford on the minority staff of the committee. as well as the majority staff. I salute all of you. I thank you. I am proud of the work we have been able to do.","speaker_name":"ANNA ESHOO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":545,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090176435,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the bill before us would create a new agency within the Department of Health and Human Services. the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. or BARDA. I support creating this new agency. However. some provisions in the bill raise concerns because they waive a number of existing Federal statutes enacted to ensure proper government oversight. I want to express my reservations over these provisions. and urge that they be addressed in conference. This bill contains exemptions from important federal open government laws designed to ensure accountability.and.transparency. like the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and federal procurement law. These open government laws are within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Govemment Reform. on which I am the ranking member. but unfortunately. the Government Reform Committee did not have an opportunity to consider the bill. FOIA is the central law that guarantees public access to government information. It establishes the presumption that people should be - able to access information held by the government. FOIA contains exemptions that prevent the disclosure of information in the case where harm could result from disclosureincluding exemptions for classified information. trade secrets. information compiled for law enforcement purposes. and internal agency documents that would be exempt from discovery jn litigation. ","speaker_name":"HENRY WAXMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3957,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090176459,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. I rise in support of S. 244. the Swift Creek Hydroelectric License Extension Bill. authorizing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to extend the time specified in the project license to begin construction of .the Swift Creek Hydroelectric Project for three 2year periods. a total of 6 years. The Swift Creek Project is a 1.5 megawatt project in Wyoming. This bill has passed the Senate with unanimous consent. and passage of the bill today will send this bill directly to the Presidents desk and allow the further development of clean renewable hydroelectric power. I urge my colleagues to support S. 244. Madam Speaker. I -reserve the balance of my time..","speaker_name":"C.L. OTTER","chamber":"H","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":734,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090176474,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. I rise in support of H.R. 971. a bill to provide license extensions of time to begin construction of three hydroelectric projects in Connecticut: the 440 kilowatt Hale project. the 373 kilowatt Collinsville Upper and the 1.1 megawatt Collinsville Lower projects. The bill extends the start time period for construction until May 30. 2007. for all three projects. and also authorizes the Federal Energy Regu.latory Commission to extend the time and the start date by two additional 2year periods. These renewable hydroelectric projects will provide a boost to the local economy. remove river debris and enhance fishery resources by constructing fish ladders: They also provide a valuable new resource of hydroelectric energy in the New England area. Madam Speaker. I urge my colleagues to support the bill.","speaker_name":"C.L. OTTER","chamber":"H","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":878,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090176505,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I regret that our dismal record of recent years of failing to provide sufficient appropriations for the NIH has made the authorization levels in this bill seem generous. They are not. Certainly. there are proposals in this legislation that are worthy of support. and I will support this bill moving forward. Mr. BARTON has worked hard to moderate his original proposal. and he has secured support from the community as a result of his efforts. I do urge the Senate. however. as they consider this bill. to pay particular attention to provisions which allow the Administration to abolish institutes and offices established by law without the consent of the Congress. The bill also establishes a Scientific Management Review Board. with similar powers to change the organization of the NIH with no Congressional involvement. Although I recognize that the Secretary has authority to make these kinds of changes under current law. no Secretary has ever used it. So these provisions breathe life into an authority that has long lain dormant. In my view. it is not a wise move for the Congress to affirm and expand the authority of the Administration to undo the actions of the Congress. ","speaker_name":"HENRY WAXMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3005,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090176537,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Chairman BUYER. I thank you and Mr. FILNER for your leadership on this. Secure information is the lifeblood of effective government policy and management. yet Federal agencies continue to hemorrhage vital data. Recent losses -of personal information compel us to ask. what is being done to protect the sensitive digital identities of millions of Americans. and how can we limit the damage when personal data goes astray? As we all now know. a Department of Veterans Affairs employee reported the theft of computer equipment from his home. equipment that stored more than 26 million records containing personal information. VA leadership delayed acting on the report for almost 2 weeks while millions were at risk of serious harm from identity theft and the agency struggled to determine the exact extent of the breach. But this is only one in a long string of personal information breaches in the public and private sectors. including financial institutions. data brokerage companies. and academic institutions. Just last week. we learned the Census Bureau cannot account for 1.100 laptops issued to employees. These breaches illustrate how far we have to go to reach the goal of strong. uniform governmentwide information security policies and procedures.. On our committee. we focused on governmentwide information management security for a long time. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4572,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090176539,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. again. to have the chairman of another committee testify to working together is really I think a good model. So thank you again. Mr. Chairman. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"BOB FILNER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":51.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":522,"word_count":40}
{"speech_id":1090176554,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H.R. 5835. the Veterans Identity and Credit Security Act. Earlier this year. millions of veterans saw their economic security threatened.when several VA computers were stolen from a Veterans Administration (VA) employees home. While it appears that no veteran was a victim of ID theft. the VA was illprepared to deal with the lost of this highly personal and confidential information. While I am pleased to support this bill. which will help safeguard veterans personal information in the future. I urge this Congress to immediately pass legislation that will protect all Americans from ID theft. not just our veterans. The threat of ID theft is too important to ignore any longer. Data security is an issue that we have labored over for months. and while this will protect Americas veterans from breaches of data security. the Americanpublic wants Congress to act to protect its private information as well. As many of my colleagues have outlined during the debate today. this bill takes several steps to empower the VA to combat ID theft. ","speaker_name":"MAXINE WATERS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":35.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2129,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090176555,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And. thank you. Chairman BUYER. for your steadfast leadership on this issue for years.","speaker_name":"CLIFFORD STEARNS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2302,"word_count":14}
{"speech_id":1090176559,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Require quarterly reports from the VA to the Committees on Veterans Affairs of the House and Senate on any data breach that occurred in the previous quarter and to also require prompt notice in the event of a significant data breach. Require the VA to undertake. as soon as possible after a data breach. an independent risk analysis (conducted by a nonVA entity). The Secretary shall then make a determination. based upon this analysis. if there exists a reasonable risk for potential misuse of the compromised data. If the Secretary does determine that this potential exists. then the VA is required to provide credit protection services. In the event of any data breach. the VA shall notify all affected individuals of the breach and inform them that they may request. at no charge. a fraud alert and a credit security freeze for a period of one year. The notification is to clearly spell out the advantages and disadvantages to requesting these actions. Require the VA to provide credit protection services. including data breach analysis. credit monitoring services and identity theft insurance. to covered individuals (defined as individuals whose sensitive personal information is involved in a data breach. on or after August 1. 2005 for which the Secretary determines a reasonable risk exists for the potential misuse of the sensitive personal information). Authorizes the VA to contract with other government agencies and credit reporting agencies to provide these services. Require that when the VA enters into a contract that the contractor shall not compromise any sensitive personal information. In the event of a breach. the contractor shall pay liquidated damages (which will then be used by the VA to provide\" credit protection services). ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5892,"word_count":282}
{"speech_id":1090176587,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to support H.R. 1215. the Green Chemistry. Research and Development Act. This legislation codifies the ongoing efforts throughout the Federal Government to encourage the development of products and manufacturing processes that are safer. contain fewer toxic compounds. and make better use of recycled materials. I am especially pleased that the bill includes my amendment to authorize a training program at the National Science Foundation. This new program creates partnerships between companies in the chemical industry and colleges and universities to provide professional development training to practicing chemists and chemical engineers in the use of green chemistry concepts and strategies. ","speaker_name":"VERNON EHLERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4654,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090176600,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And unlike other severe weather events. Mr. Speaker. drought conditions emerge over a long period of time. Reduced rain and snowfall. deplete moisture in the soil. reduce the level of reservoirs. and reduce the flow in rivers. NOAAs current Drought Monitor and drought prediction efforts have provided information to assist with drought planning and mitigation. but I believe we can and should do more. We need a more refined information system on a seasonal and longterm basis about the severity and persistence of drought conditions to better tailor drought mitigation plans at the regional and local levels. H.R. 5136 will also facilitate the consolidation of droughtrelated information in one location. providing the public and decision makers at all levels a single point of access for information on drought. I want to thank Chairman BOEHLERT and Chairman EHLERS for their support of this legislation. In particular. again. I want to mention my good friend. the senior member from Texas. ","speaker_name":"MARK UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1950,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090176617,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And of course OSHA and every other agency of occupational safety in America probably would have gone berserk. But again here is Billy Cotter. 13 years old. running the street sweeper. refueling helicopters that are bringing in the lifesaving goods. Billy really epitomizes the work that was going on out there. and the people pitching in doing what had to be done. Mr. Speaker. the other person I want to mention also. in addition to great work of Stennis employees. on the day after Easter. a convoy of the 155th Mississippi National Guard was attacked in Iraq. One of the drivers. a young Mississippi State student who had been activated for the war. a fellow by the name of William Brooks was severely wounded. lost both legs. He spends a lot of time at Walter Reed. In the course of that. I had asked the folks at Mississippi State University if William was up to it. if he would do an internship. would they give him credit for his studies. For whatever reason. ","speaker_name":"GENE TAYLOR","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5376,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090176618,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we yield back the balance of our time.","speaker_name":"RALPH HALL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":524,"word_count":10}
{"speech_id":1090176652,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Again. this is not a political statement. I cant imagine the most partisan person in the world saying that this is good government. when we have money leaving here through a fire hose and nobody asking them where it is going or what happened to it. and if they did ask them. they couldnt tell them. They cant produce an audit. They cant tell you what they did with the money. This is the grossest kind much financial mismanagement on a scale that I can ever recall in the history of this country. We dont even get to Iraq and all the sole source contracts that have been given there and the billions of dollars that cannot be tracked or traced or even accounted for. I dont like to pay taxes any more than anybody else. but the one thing I do expect is the Congress to at least exercise its oversight authority to the extent that they hold people accountable who are spending this money. I know in business. you ask somebody. well. what is this expenditure for? \"I dont know. man. I cant tell you.\" Nobody would put up with that. No taxpayer would put up with it. ","speaker_name":"JOHN TANNER","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1427,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090176655,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Yes. I said foreign lenders. who now own about 40 percent of our Nations debt. Foreign lenders currently hold a total of a little over $2 trillion of our public debt. Compare that to only $623 billion in foreign holdings back in 1993. Put it another way: This President. this President and this Republican Congress in the last 5 years have borrowed more money from foreign lenders than the previous 42 presidents combined. Our Nation is borrowing money from places like Communist China to fund tax cuts for people in -this country earning over $400.000 a year. It simply does not make sense. Those are not the kind of values I learned. growing up at the Midway Methodist Church outside of Prescott. Arkansas. I learned about being a good steward. ","speaker_name":"MIKE ROSS","chamber":"H","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3114,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090176703,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we have a period of 1 hour of morning business to start todays session. Following morning business. we have 1 hour of debate prior to a scheduled cloture vote on the pending amendment relating to military tribunals. to the military commissions. Before that cloture vote begins. the Democratic leader and I will continue to work toward an agreement that would allow us to consider the military tribunal legislation as a freestanding measure under a specific time agreement. We started talking about that yesterday and worked through the night. and we will continue over the course of the morning to reach that agreement. We are working in good faith toward an understanding on this bill and hope we will be able to work that out prior to that 11:30 a.m. vote. I will keep our colleagues posted as to the outcome of those talks. If we are able to reach a consent agreement. then I will vitiate the order for the cloture vote. and we will proceed directly to the military tribunals. the socalled Hamdan legislation. today. Votes will likely occur throughout the afternoon either on the cloture vote on that issue or on amendments that may be considered. to the freestanding bill. We have a number of other important items to consider this week. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1949,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090176709,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. reclaiming the floor for just a moment. I say to my friend from Vermont. I consider him a Charles Atlas today and any time I have ever served with him in the Senate. He is one of the most senior Members in the Senate. He is the person the Democrats have designated to be the arbiter of issues that go on in the Judiciary Committee. the busiest committee in the Senate. I also say to my friend that he is not only a U.S. Senator but a very -good one. and I look forward to working with him to work through this issue. and with other members of the committee. as I mentioned. not in name. but there are others I need to work with on the Judiciary Committee.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":670,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090176712,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It expands scholarship programs that are aimed to recruit and train math and science teachers--teachers who really need to focus on the K12 area. It encourages more students. more high school students. to take advanced placement courses and enter the international baccalaureate programs. It will take an increased investment. Over the next 5 years. our economy will exceed $76 trillion76 trillion is how big our economy will grow. A 1percent investment for the future is really a small price to pay for that continued security and leadership in the world. I did not have the opportunity to speak to this bill yesterday when it was introduced. I encourage our colleagues to join the bipartisan leadershipagain. myself and Senator REID who. are sponsors of this legislation. Mr. President. I yield the floor. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3622,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090176720,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I have listened to my friend. JIM JEFFORDS. the Senator from Vermont speak here this morning. I couldnt help but think as I heard Senator JEFFORDS speak with wit and clarity. and you might say even some emotion. that JIM JEFFORDS.-given the opportunity to make a speechand many of us will do so on this -Senate floor as we leavedid it being true to himself. with his own good nature. his own sense of history. and his own justifiable pride in what he .has accomplished. I.have known JIM JEFFORDS from his days as a State senator in Rutland. I have known his wonderful wife. Liz Daley Jeffords. They are both dear friends of mine and my wife Marcel. Mrs. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2048,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090176744,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I do not believe that JIM necessarily set out to start a revolution. rather he invoked what might be considered a revolutionary idea to some in Washington: government ought to serve the concerns and interests of ordinary Americans Instead of catering to fringe groups or. election year antics. In hindsight. most will hail JIM JEFFORDS principled decision to switch parties. though.I know the decision was a difficult one for him and strained his relationship with many in this body. But JIM JEFFORDS did what he thought was right. and I applaud his courage and his example of leadership. So I thank Senator JEFFORDS not only for his lifetime of service and accomplishments but for having raised the bar for all of us. I wish -JiM JEFFORDS and his family many happy years ahead.","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3582,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090176748,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Defense appropriations bill contains $70 billion of supplemental funding to ensure that our troops have the resources needed to succeed in the global war on terrorism. Mr. President. I commendthe good work of our conferees. and I am hopeful that both conference reports will be passed by the Senate this week. It will permit the timely transition to the new fiscal year and prevent potential funding delays that could result in a disruption of programs that are very important to our national security.","speaker_name":"THAD COCHRAN","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4716,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090176760,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There are 10 to 12 million people here today who are undocumented. I know many of them in my city of Chicago. which I am honored to represent. Many come forward to talk about the challenges they face with current immigration laws. which are almost impossible to understand. Instead of looking at the whole picture and having an honest answer. even if it isnt that popular. the Republican leadership has decided that before we get out of town we are going to vote on a 700mile fence. on the Mexican border and a study of a fence along the Canadian border. It tells you where we are politically. The second part of this bill is not much different. It is an effort. I am afraid. by many political strategists. to create a political wedge issue. a replay of what we faced 4 years ago with the vote on authorizing the President to invade Iraq. The reality is that the Congress has stood ready to create commissions to try terrorists for a long time. It was 2002. when Senator ARLEN SPECTER. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11294,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090176768,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Secondly. the GAO found that the VA was basing its budgets on \"unrealistic assumptions. errors in estimation. and insufficient data.\" Third. the Pentagon failed to give the VA uptodate information about how many service members would be coming down the pipeline and into the VA. Finally. the GAO found that the VA did not adequately plan for the impact of service members coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan. For me. I think one of the most disturbing findings is that the VA kept assuring us here in Congress. that everything was fine. while inside the VAat the same time it was asshring us things were fineit was very clear that the shortfalls were growing. The VA. in fact. became aware it would have a problem. In October of 2004. inside the VA. they knew they had problems. but they did not admit those problems until June of 2005. Veterans were telling me of long lines and delays in care. For months. I tried to give the VA more money. but the administration fought me every step of the way. And who paid the price for those deceptions? Americas veterans. and that was just wrong. ","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7140,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090176772,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. for the information of our colleagues._we will engage in a unanimous consent request which will set out the activity for the afternoon and possibly early evening on the Supreme Court Hamdan decision.. I ask unanimous consent that the cloture motion with respect to amendment No. 5036 be withdrawn. and that further. the cloture vote scheduled in relation to H.R. 6061 be delayed to occur following the disposition of S. 3930. and that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 634. S. 3930. relating to military tribunals. provided further. that the substitute amendment. the text of which is at the desk. be considered and agreed to as original text for the purpose of further amendment. provided further. that the only other amendments in order. other than any managers amendments which are to be cleared by both managers and the two leaders. be the following: Levin. substitute. Rockefeller. congressional oversight. Kennedy. interrogation. Byrd. sunset. Specter. habeas. I further ask unanimous consent that the listed amendments be limited to 60 minutes equally divided between the two leaders or their designees. other than the Specter amendment and the Levin amendment which will be limited to 2 hours equally divided. as stated above. and that there be 3 hours for general debate equally divided. again. between the two leaders or their designees. I further ask unanimous consent that following the disposition of the above amendments and the use or yielding back of time. the bill be read a third time and the Senate proceed to a vote on passage. with no intervening action or debate.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1626,"word_count":265}
{"speech_id":1090176774,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Reserving the right to object. Mr. President. this is in keeping with our agreement. I wanted the record to reflectin case Senator LEAHY is watching us because he wanted to make sure he would have 45 minutes on his amendments and 15 minutes on the billit is my understanding Senator SPECTER will be giving him 15 minutes of his time. but if he doesnt. I will take it from the bill. So Senator LEAHY will have his 45 minutes. 15 minutes on this bill. So I think this is an opportunity to .improve this bill. We would all like to have had more time for hearings and debate on the floor. but we are where we are. I am thankful and grateful that we have an opportunity to improve this bill.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":686,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090176776,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will have an opening statement on the bill. But what we have done is set out. with a time agreement. a way to address a very important piece of legislation. I appreciate the Democratic leader and his caucusour leadership and our caucus all agreeing upon this outline of how we will address an issue that will. make us safer and more secure. We will turn to the bill. and then I will make an opening statement. and then we will start right in with the amendment process following my opening remarks.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":515,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090176824,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"No. Mr. President. I am confused by this. It was my understanding the Senator from Vermont had up to 45 minutes specifically reserved. not from anybody elses time. but from his own time. on the SpecterLeahy. et al.. amendment. and a totalout of which the 45 minutes would have to comeof 1 hour on thebill. Is that incorrect?","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":324,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090176842,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I believe the JAGs are a good source of advice. That doesnt mean they are the only source of advice. That doesnt mean that because the Judge Advocate Generals of all four branches say so. we need to do what they say. It would be wise to just listen. and I have tried to listen. Sometimes I agree. sometimes I dont. But they have said unanimously. it is my understanding. that the. evidentiary standards in terms of admission of evidence. where the judge will determine whether the evidence is reliable and probative using the totality of circumstances to create justice. was a sufficient legal standard. and they were supportive of that standard. So this idea that we are going to allow coerced evidence into a trial purposely. that we made a conscious decision from the committee bill to the compromise to change course and take everything we had said before. and just throw it over in a ditch. quite honestly. makes no sense. Whatever motives you would like to attribute to the effort here. I can assure my colleagues I want to create a process that would be acceptable if our troops found themselves subject to it. And every military Judge Advocate. every admiral. and every general. believes the evidentiary standard in this committee bill is legally acceptable and appropriate. ","speaker_name":"LINDSEY GRAHAM","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3485,"word_count":220}
{"speech_id":1090176868,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This right dates back to the Magna Carta of 1215. and is enshrined in Article I. section 9. clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution. Filing a habeas petition doesnt entitle a person to a fullblown trial. but it does provide a means to ask whether the persons confinement is in compliance with the law. It doesnt confer any additional constitutional rights. it simply -allows a person to ask whether their depravition of liberty is consistent with the Constitution. One of the principal arguments proponents for removing this protection have put forward in the past was that maintaining habeas rights leads to unnecessary and frivolous litigation. The fact is that these arguments misconstrue. the nature of habeas petitions. The reality is. in my view. that courtstripping provisions will not. in fact. lead to less litigation. For example. if this measure is passed. the courts will be forced to consider whether this provision amounts to a suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. If it is determined that it does suspend the writ of habeas corpus. the courts will determine whether the suspension clause of the Constitution has been satisfied. Our Constitution is very clear. ","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12334,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090176915,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I will consider that. depending on how the argument goes. I appreciate very much the contribution of the distinguished ranking member. I do not know how many people on this side are going to seek time. but I do believe we can accommodate the request of Senator LEAHY. But I want to see how the argument goes before making a commitment.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":335,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090176921,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. if I could just use such time as I want. I will not take much because I am anxious for my colleagues toaddress this issue. The distinguished Senator from Pennsylvania made the statement that they have constitutional rights. I wish to respectfully sort of differ with the Senator. The Supreme Court. in the Rasul case. ruled that rights of aliens held at Guantanamo Bay. Cuba. 28 U.S.C. 2241the Court did not reach the question of the constitutional right of habeas corpus that applies to a U.S. citizen. of course. they being aliens. In the Rasul case. the Court interpreted the habeas corpus statute. section 2241. to apply to an alien held at Guantanamo Bay. That holding is based in large part due to the unique longterm lease that the Court took judicial notice of and other evidence brought before the Court. the longterm lease tantamount to U.S. territory. For more than 50 years. the Court held that aliens in military detention outside the United States had no right. to petition the Federal courts for re.view of their military detention. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1133,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090176929,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The reason onal I say that is because under the Detainee Treatment Act we passed last year. every detainee at Guantanamo a as Bay will have their day in Federal )uth court. After the military renders their decide- sion that they are an enemy combats. in ant. as a matter of right each person can go to the DC Circuit Court of Apues- peals. and the Federal DC Circuit Court. n it of Appeals will look at that case with bat- two issues before them: Does this that CSRT process. the annual review aili- board. does it constitutionally pass icial muster as being adequate due process not only under the Geneva Conventions n it but under our Constitution to the exy of tent it applies? Second. was the decihas sion rendered by that board finding the .s a person enemy combatant by the preime- ponderance of the evidencethe standnor ards and procedures involved. do they ime- pass muster? And in the individual case. did they get it right? That is the tary structure for them to decide the issue .e 4. set up in a constitutionally sound mantri- ner. is a The reason I oppose my chairman. for bat- whom I have great respect. is because been the habeas process is a doctrine that is iak- normally associated with criminal law. and we are in a war. The Japanese and our German prisoners we interred in World .hey War II never had access to our Federal .e a courts to bring lawsuits against the ress people who confined themour own troopsfor a reason: it was a right not PEC- given in.international law to an enemy the prisoner. and it was not a right we gave om- to any prisoner we have held in the his.itu- tory of our country consciously as Conse I gress. has The problem in this case is the Govs is eminent argued that Guantanamo Bay d be was outside the jurisdiction of the Lcit- United States. Why is it important? It the is clear that our habeas statutes do not ina- apply overseas. The Government lost t is that argument. Chairman SPECTER is absolutely right. The court said that hen for legal purposes. Guantanamo Bay amo falls within the confines of the United the -States. Section 2241. the habeas statatus ute. unless Congress says otherwise. o be will apply to this environment. aeva Now it is time for Congress to decide. in its wisdom. whether the Federal om- courts should be determining who an are enemy combatant is through a habeas ple. action. Do we want that to reside in .ary the military. where it has been for our -be whole history. and allow Federal who courts to review the military decision. the not substitute their judgment for the in- military? who It is not about who loves America evi- and who is unAmerican. ","speaker_name":"LINDSEY GRAHAM","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10172,"word_count":478}
{"speech_id":1090176934,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I didnt want you to yield for a question because I didnt want to interrupt your presentation. I begin by complimenting the Senator from South Carolina for his excellent work. He and Senator WARNER and Senator MCCAIN have done exemplary work in maintaining the Geneva Conventions and appropriate rules and to classify evidence. When you talk about constitutional issues and you talk about section 2241. I agree with the Senator. but how do you deal with the flat terms of the Constitution. \"the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion public safety may require it\"? How do you deal with that if you do not have rebellion?","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":688,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090176935,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I will sit down with the Senator and we will figure out how to work through that. I am just being as honest with the Senator as I know how to be. I think this is a statutory problem. not a constitutional problem.","speaker_name":"LINDSEY GRAHAM","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1117,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090176936,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Well. Mr. President. the distinguished chairman of the Armed Services Committee says he does not want to come back and legislate again. If this bill is passed. we will be right back here at a later date. When the Senator from South Carolina says it is not on constitutional grounds. the plain English of the decision says it is. But letme ask the Senator one further question. that is. you fought hard to have classified evidence available in the trials. albeit a war crimes trial. And you have Justice OConnor saying they have to have the opportunity to rebut facts. When these proceedings are handled so much on classified information the detainees cannot see. would it not be consistent with your approach on classified information generally to at least have them know something about the charge so they can rebut the facts?","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":827,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090176945,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr.. President. I only need one sentence to refute the arguments of the Senator from Arizona. and it comes back to Justice OConnors opinion again. She says: All agree that. absent suspension. the writ of habeas corpus remains available to every individualEvery individualdetained within the United States. Guantanamo is held to be. within that concept..But she talks about \"every individual.\" That includes citizens and noncitizens. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":451,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090176956,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Supreme Court case which brought about the need for this legislation deals with Hamdan. Lets be clear. Hamdan was .Osama.bin Ladens body guard and driver. This is the kind of person about whom we are talking. Giving unlawful enemy combatants such as these U.S. domestic habeas rights is inappropriate. These people are not U.S. citizens. arrested in the U.S. on some civil offense. they are. by definition. aliens engaged in or supporting terrorist hostilities against the U.S.. and doing so in violation of.the laws of the war. Some may not have been around long enough to remember that the U.S. detained hundreds of thousands of German and Japanese soldiers. captured on World War H battlefields. We didnt give these enemy combatants access to U.S. domestic courts or habeas corpus rights. Not only would that have been absurd. it would have totally bogged down the legal system. There has never been a legal question over the appropriateness of a separate military process for enemy combatants. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2502,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090176971,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Though I supported Senate passage of the bill in an effort to keep this important legislation moving through the legislative process. I want to highlight two provisions in the bill with which I have significant concerns because they will have a chilling effect on foreign investment. First. the provision that potentially extends the initial 30day review period to a 60day period would place all foreign investors. including those of our closest allies. at a competitive disadvantage. Under current law. most transactions. foreign and domestic. require an antitrust review under the HartScottRodino Act which takes a minimum of thirty days. However. the foreign investor is also. appropriately. required to undergo a 30day CFIUS review. which may occur concurrently with the HSR review. This process allows a thorough review without putting one type of investor at a disadvantage to another. S. 3549. however. would potentially expand the 30day CFIUS review to 60 days. creating a much longer delay and one that is dis-. connected . from the HSRmandated time table. This would create a substantial competitive disadvantage. Our government ought to be able to quickly identify and clarify the national security implications of a given transaction certainly within the 30 days prescribed under current law. The second provision with which I have concern would require repeated and detailed notifications about ongoing transactions to many Members of Congress and State Governors. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SUNUNU","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3193,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090176972,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would have voted in support of the nomination of Francisco Augusto Besosa to the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. However. I was on my way back from Montana and was unable to make it to the Senate floor before the vote ended. Mr. Besosa is well qualified for the position and will be a good addition to the court. Francisco Augusto \"Frank\" Besosa is partner and head of the litigation department of Adsuar Muniz Goyco Besosa. P.S.C. in San Juan. ","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2070,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090176974,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I will continue to press for additional funding so that all older Americans who want or need to work longer have the opportunity to do so. As older Americans live longer and healthier lives. most have the ability and desire to remain active. Some want to maintain physical and mental health. some need to improve their financial security. and some want to continue to contribute to society. Whatever the reason. its time to change the way we think about retirement. Older Americans are a valuable asset to our nations businesses. communities. and economy. and we must tap their reservoir of experience and talents. Our seniors deserve it. and our economic future may well depend on it.","speaker_name":"HERBERT KOHL","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4569,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090176994,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I ask by unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1632,"word_count":16}
{"speech_id":1090176998,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Commonwealth of Virginia. of which I have been honored to serve for the last 28 years in the Senate. is home to over 200.000 Federal employees. I have long been a strong supporter of our Federal employees as I have been for our military personnel. Our efforts in the war on terrorism can only be successful with a highly skilled and experienced workforce. I can personally attest to the dedication of civil service employees throughout the Federal Government. Since the September .11th attacks. Federal employees have been relocated. reassigned. and worked long hours under strenuous circumstances without complaints. proving time and again their loyalty to their country is first and foremost. During my service as Secretary of the Navy during which I was privileged to have some 650.000 civilian employees working side by side with. the uniformed Navy. I valued very highly the sense of teamwork between the civilian and uniformed members of the United States Navy. Teamwork is an intrinsic military value. in my judgment. and essential to mission accomplishment. A sense of parity and fairness is important for developing this teamwork. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5932,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090177019,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday. September 27. 2006. to hold a meeting to mark up the nomination of Robert T. Howard to be Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology. -Department of Veterans Affairs. The meeting will takeplace in the Reception Room off the Senate Floor in the Capitol following the first roll call vote of the day.","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":453,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090177025,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Director. Project for Civil Justice Reform and Project for International Religious Liberty. Hudson Institute. Washington. DC. Father Kenneth Gavin. S.J.. ViceChair. Refugee Council U.S.A. and National Director. Jesuit Refugee Service. ","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":837,"word_count":30}
{"speech_id":1090177051,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Borlaug the Congressional Gold Medal. Dr. Borlaug is a true American hero and it is fitting that Congress honors this man who has done so much to alleviate hunger and human suffering. improve the quality of life around the globe and promote understanding and peace among all of the worlds people. I would like to thank Senator GRASSLEY and the many cosponsors of this bill for their support and work to honor Dr. Borlaug with this high distinction.","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3827,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090177096,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. according to the -majority leader. the House will adjourn 2 days from now and take a political vacation for 6 weeks. We will do this despite the fact that we will leave 300 million Americans less safe than if we stay here and implement the recommendations of the bipartisan 9\/11 Commission. Continuing to do nothing in the face of continued threats to our people and our way of life is hardly what the American people elected us to do. The 9\/11 Commission focused their recommendations into three broad areas: We need to attack terrorists and their organizations. we need to prevent the continued growth of Islamist terrorism. and we need to protect against and prepare for terrorist attacks. It pains me to say. though the American people must know. this administration and this Congress have failed miserably on all three of these counts. Instead of going after terrorists. we invaded Iraq and have caused an allout civil war there that costs American lives on a daily basis. The war in Iraq has not prevented the growth of terrorism. We are learning now that it has actually enhanced the growth of terrorism. Instead of protecting and preparing for the next terrorist attack. we busy ourselves building partial \"lets pretend\" fences. ","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1391,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090177097,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we have heard an awful lot in the last couple of days from the Democrats over the national intelligence estimate which partly says that our involvement in Iraq is creating a new .generation of jihadist leaders. What they fail to say is that the same NIE says that. I quote. \"Should jihadists leaving Iraq perceive themselves or be perceived to have failed. we judge fewer fighters will be inspired to carry on the fight.\" Mr. Speaker. I want to remind my colleagues that one of those new leaders cited in the report. Abu Musaab al Zarqawi. is now very much dead. Lets just say that he has failed. The NIE says that the best way to kill the jihadist movement is to spread hope and democracy. which is exactly what we are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan. ","speaker_name":"CANDICE MILLER","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"F","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1187,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090177099,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to address gas prices and the Democrats selective agenda on talking about them. Up until recently. over the last year. gas prices have risen. and the Democrats jumped on this issue and played the blame game. They condemned President Bush repeatedly saying it was the Presidents fault. The Republicanled Congress and administration began to explore new options to increase domestic output to help lower. the cost at the pump. The Republican Congress continued their battle to open ANWR. Seventyfiverpercent of Alaskans want ANWR opened for oil exploration and all of the elected officials at the Federal level want it open. The area that would be explored is roughly the size of a postage stamp on a football field. yet the Democrats continue to obstruct this effort. The Democrat solution to rising gas problems was not a policy or a proposal. it was simply- \"no\" to Republican and administration proposals and blaming the President. . ","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1174,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090177116,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise to call on this House to pass legislation to end Americas dependency on foreign oil. Earlier this week. I attended the opening of Piedmont Biofuels in Pittsboro. North Carolina. This plant is already producing thousands of gallons of B100 biodiesel made from soybeans grown in my home State. This plant is a model for the future of our energy independence. The technology exists today that. can turn our crops into biofuels. What we dont have is the infrastructure to facilitate the use of these fuels. ","speaker_name":"BOB ETHERIDGE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1144,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090177128,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we have all heard about the donothing Congress of 1948 that met only 101 days. Well. Mr. Speaker. I am sad to report that this Republicanled Congress will go down in history as the dolessthannothing Congress. Today is only the 78th day that we have met for legislative business. And yet the Republican leadership insists on recessing at the end of this week to allow extra time. for campaigning. Democrats believe we should not adjourn this body until we address this needs of all Americans. not just major corporations and the wealthy few. To do that. we must deal with the issue of the skyrocketing college tuition costs that are plaguing so many students and their families. ","speaker_name":"DIANE WATSON","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":33.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1201,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090177139,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It will help our seniors and it will help balance the Federal budget.","speaker_name":"GEORGE BUTTERFIELD","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1024,"word_count":13}
{"speech_id":1090177161,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I commend my colleagues for. coming to the floor this morning. and certainly those of us listening today and throughout this country can understand that our frustration here is only superseded by the frustration of millions of Americans. I am proud of the leadership on the Democratic side that is insisting that we take up these matters discussed here on this floor today. tomorrow. or Friday before we adjourn. They are that pressing. The gentleman from Georgia came down and criticized this as being petty and not having respect. What about respect for the families of 9\/11? What about the respect for people who need a minimum wage increase? For the middle class squeeze that is going on with .energy and college tuition. what about respect for them? Roosevelt said it best of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle. \"We do not question your patriotism or love of country.\" What he said. though. rings true. that \"you are frozen in the ice of your own indifference.\" your indifference towards working families. your indifference to the families of the 9\/11 Commission report who seek a resolution here. Please join us in bringing this forward.","speaker_name":"JOHN LARSON","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1167,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090177186,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Senator McCAIN. The problem is that the bill before us represents an agreement between us. the administration and the very same Senators\" who propounded what was offered as the Democratic substitute in the Armed Services Committee. We have heard a lot about Mr. SKELTONS amendment.- As I understand it. this amendment would be somewhat redundant. The bill calls for expedited judicial review of H.R. 6166. We are here working on this legislation because the courts told us to do exactly what we are doing. The judicial branch directed Congress to establish procedures for military commissions. We have done that with this bill. Now the minority party wants to hand this issue back to the courts. \" The bill before us. ","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2808,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090177190,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank my friend for yielding. And let me just say that. again. as I mentioned. this is a verydelicate compromise that we have been able to fashion and put together here. which enjoys bipartisan support. And while there were a wide range of amendments that were silbmitted. there was no firm alternative provided to our package that was a solution.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":349,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090177200,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The government should not deny the minimum legal process to certain individuals now and risk the loss of freedom for all people in the future. Additionally. as the Supreme Court has ruled--and I predicted before. you","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1337,"word_count":36}
{"speech_id":1090177206,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"fornia. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of the rule. Listening to the debate. it is very interesting. The gentlewoman from New Yorks description of our treatment of captured alleged terrorists was astonishing. As a matter.of fact. after listening to her litany of complaints.. President Chavezs comments at the United Nations appear mild. We have not violated the rights of individuals. This bill creates a fair and orderly process to detain and prosecute al Qaeda members and others captured during the war on terror. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL LUNGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2168,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090177222,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of this important legislation. Is it perfect? No. Do we have an obli\u0095gation to pass it? Yes. It is very important that this Congress passes it as soon as possible. First of all. the most important thing that this legislation does. that it accomplishes. is that it protects our troops and intelligence officers. Sources and methods of intelligence gathering are protected. The security of this country. the American people. thus and for many other reasons. the security of this country is protected and is enhanced by this legislation. And that is the most important ingredient. ","speaker_name":"LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1449,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090177226,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. there are some things that need to be addressed. For one thing. putting the judge advocate generals of the service. as great as some of them are. on a pedestal is inappropriate. When I served 4 years in the Judge Advocate General Corps on active duty. we had one TJAG that did not even know what post he was at from time to time. So it must be taken in context. But when Ihear Members here on the floor say. gee. by passing this bill we are putting troops at risk. let me tell you what will put troops at risk. when we start applying criminal law standards that I observed during my years as a judge and chief justice. you start applying those. the forensics in the battleground area. you are putting troops at risk. When a man and a woman has to fire in selfdefense and also be thinking about. gee. can I go get that that has fingerprints. DNA. I better go collect evidence for the trial that will be upcoming. then that puts them at risk. Please do not put our troops at further risk by making them comply with civil standards back here in this country. ","speaker_name":"LOUIE GOHMERT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1788,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090177259,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have produced an extraordinarily fair criminal process here to adjudicate the fate of these terrorists. Those who would find the court procedures laid out in this bill wanting will never be satisfied until we are reading Miranda rights on the battlefield. We have carefully narrowed and crafted the provisions of this bill to enable the United States to prosecute the perpetrators of the 1998 bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. the 2000 attack on the USS Cole. and other crimes that have been committed. Yes. these were suicide attacks and the men who delivered the explosives were killed. along with innocent -victims. but the planner. logisticians. and -financiers of those operations remain at large. Importantly. this bill allows. as all Americans believe it should. the criminal prosecutions of those who purposefully and materially supported these criminal activities. And. of course. the measure covers those responsible for 9\/ 11 as well. Mr. Speaker. I can think of no reason that this measure should not pass unanimously. It outlaws torture.","speaker_name":"H. SAXTON","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1920,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090177265,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Make no mistake about this as well. The language that we are incorporating into our basic domestic criminal law uses the language of the commentaries on common article 3 and the Geneva Conventions. We simply harmonize that common article 3 with our United States laws. requiring that only grave breaches of that common article. as provided in the Geneva Conventions commentaries. are subject to criminal prosecution. International law has traditionally provided. time and time again. that it is the signatory to an international convention that is responsible for making it clear what the violations of law may be. and that is what we are doing here today.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCHUGH","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1709,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090177271,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker. as a member of the House Intelligence Committee and the House Armed Services Committee. I understand the critical need to have the best possible intelligence both to prevent terrorist attacks against our Nation and to protect our troops in the battlefield. But those who have tied passage of military commissions legislation to the collection of actionable intelligence are simply misleading the American people. I am deeply disappointed that military commissions legislation crafted by the White House and the Republican. congressional leadership does not create a system that will pass constitutional muster. Like my colleagues. I demand that our Nation prosecute those who commit terrorist acts against us. but if Congress and the White House create a system of military tribunals that will be struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional. we will further delay justice for the victims of terrorism -and for their families. ","speaker_name":"SILVESTRE REYES","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2323,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090177272,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would like to yield at this time 2 minutes to a gentleman who is himself a veteran and a former JAG officer and the chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee and a gentleman who has paid a lot of attention to this important subject. the gentleman from Indiana .","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":277,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090177275,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. BUYER. that is correct. It is the intent of the legislation that the detailed military counsel shall act as an associate counsel during the course of selfrepresentation. As you stated. should this right be revoked. the military counsel will then proceed to represent the accused throughout the rest of the trial_","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":316,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090177279,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"When it comes to terrorists planning mass murder on the American people. I want to find them. I want to capture them. I want to kill them. I want to try them. If they are found guilty. I want to kill them. I believe in capital punishment for terrorists perpetrating genocide. But because I think that we should fight and kill terrorists. I want there to be fewer of them to fight and kill. ","speaker_name":"STEVE ISRAEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2654,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090177281,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Secondly. I am concerned abouit the fact that there has been an insufficientprocedure for us to .consider this bill. There have been many good ideas dealing with habeas corpus. dealing with issues of retroactive immunity that I think deserve a full and fair airing and hearing on this floor. This is an unfortunate procedure in which we find ourselves. My concern is it will be our sole opportunity. given the way. things go around here. to voice our opinions on this. I do think that the underlying provisions of this bill are consistent with the spirit and letter of our obligations under the Geneva Conventions. \u0095 I have concluded that compliance with these conventions is essential so we can go forward in prosecuting and trying those who threaten our country. I believe this process needs great improvement. I think this bill needs one very specific improvement. But to move it forward. I will vote \"yes.\"","speaker_name":"ROBERT ANDREWS","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1930,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090177283,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Every single one of us wants those responsible for 9\/11 and other terrorist acts to be tried fairly and punished accordingly. And we want those convictions to be upheld by the courts. and we want to stop future attacks. But. regrettably. the bill before us today. in my opinion. falls far short of t]e high standards that this Congress and the American people expect and demand and indeed that the world expects of America. This legislation at bottom is really more about who we are as a people than it is about those who seek to harm us. That is true if it were domestic. It is true internationally. No one wants to defend murderers and -rapists. those who would harm our people. whether they live here or -they live abroad. However. defending America requires us to marshal the full range of our power. diplomatic and military. economic. and. yes. moral. And when our moral standing is eroded. our international credibility is diminished as well. We must not lightly dismiss the somber warning of our former Secretary of State. the leader of our Armed Forces. ","speaker_name":"STENY HOYER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4403,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090177288,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Our soldiers are abroad fighting a battle that I believe our President has not allowed them to win because of his continued mismanagement. The National Intelligence Estimate says that the war in Iraq has actually invigorated the growth of terrorism and worsened its threat around the globe. Today. we could have had an opportunity to fix one of those mistakes. but we are ignoring that opportunity and ignoring the respect for due process and denying habeas corpus to detainees. I cannot and will not support this legislation.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH CROWLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1181,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090177309,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So any remedy provided by the detention act goes away in the year of appropriation. If you read that language. that word alien does appear on page 93. but the determination of that jurisdictional fact will be done by a military tribunal. and that is not where American civilians should have their rights determined.","speaker_name":"IKE SKELTON","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":767,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090177319,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield 15 seconds to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Wu). \u0095 Mr. WU. I stand by my analysis of the proposed bill. The two chairmen stand by theirs. This is the best reason why this bill should not be rushed through. The staff cannot be held responsible for drafting errors. and we should not be rushing this kind of legislation through without the careful consideration that it deserves.","speaker_name":"IKE SKELTON","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":399,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090177323,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In June. the Supreme Court held in Hamdan that the DTA did not bar nearly 200 habeas corpus petitions and the other lawsuits by detainees pending on the date of enactment. despite clear statutory language and Supreme Court precedents to the contrary. This bill clarifies congressional intent to prohibit any habeas corpus petitions or other lawsuits pending on or. filed after enactment brought by any. alien in U.S. custody detained as an enemy combatant or awaiting such a determination. The Supreme Court has never. never held that the Constitutions protections. including habeas corpus. extend to noncitizens held outside the United States. In fact. the Supreme Court rejected such an argument in 1950 in the case of Johnson v. Eisentrager. Moreover. in the 1990 Verdugo case. the Court reiterated that aliens detained in the United States but with no substantial connection to our country cannot avail themselves of the Constitutions protections. As a result. any argument that this bill breaks new ground or improperly denies detainees certain constitutional rights is both groundless and misguided. Despite the fact that detainees have very few rights under our Constitution. this bill reflects Congresss statutory determination that they are entitled to an orderly process and a full and fair review of the governments core decisions authorizing their detention by the D.C. Circuit. a respected article 3 court. As we consider this legislation. it is important to remember first and foremost that this bill is about prosecuting the most dangerous terrorists America has ever confronted. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4089,"word_count":249}
{"speech_id":1090177325,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"You cant run afn interrogation with attorneys. What they are going to do now is that we are getting court orders to get more lawyers down there.\" Now. to put some order in this and to defeat what Mr. Ratner said. the legislation has got to pass. -Mr. Speaker. I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. DANIEL","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":917,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090177328,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Congress may do so only in cases of rebellion and invasion. neither of which is present today. Nine distinguished retired justices have written to bring this to our attention. I include their letter for the RECORD. To MEMBERS OF CONGRESS: The undersigned retired federal judges write to express our deep concern about the lawfulness of Section 6 of the proposed Military Commissions Act of 2006 (\"MCA\"). The MCA threatens to strip the federal courts of jurisdiction to test the lawfulness of Executive dptention at the Guantinamo Bay Naval Station and elsewhere outside the United Stites. Section 6 applies \"to all cases. without exception. pending on or after the date of the enactment of [the MCA] which relate to any atpect of the detention. treatment. or trial of an alien detained outside of the United States ... since September 11. 2001.\" We applaud Congress for taking action establishing procedures to try individuals for war crimes and. in particular. Senator WARNER. Senator GRAHAM. and others for ensuring that those procedures prohibit the use of secret evidence and evidence gained by coercion. Revoking habeas corpus. however. creates the perverse incentive of allowing individuals to be detained indefinitely on that very basis by stripping the federal courts of their historic inquiry into the lawfulness of a prisoners confinement. More than two years ago. the United States Supreme Court ruled in Rasul v. ","speaker_name":"ZOE LOFGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8318,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090177341,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Habeas corpus is necessary to avoid wrongful deprivations of liberty and to ensure that executive detentions are not grounded in torture or other abuse. We are deeply concerned that many provisions in the bill will cast serious doubt on the fairness of the military commission proceedings and undermine the credibility of the convictions as a result. For instance. we are deeply concerned about the provisions that permit the use of evidence obtained through coercion. Provisions in the bill which purport to permit a defendant to see all of the evidence against him also appear to contain serious flaws. We believe that any good faith interpretation of the definitions of \"cruel. inhuman and degrading\" treatment in the bill would prohibit abusive interrogation techniques such as waterboarding. hypothermia. prolonged sleep deprivation. stress positions. as.saults. threats and other similar techniques because they clearly cause serious mental and physical suffering. However. given the history of the last few years we also believe that the Congress must take additional steps to remove any chance that the provisions of the bill could be exploited to justify using these and similar techniques in the future. Again. this letter is not an attempt to catalogue all of the flaws in the legislation. There is no reason why this legislation needs to be rushed to passage. In particular. there is no substantive reason why this legislation should be packaged together with legislation unrelated\" to military commissions or interrogation in an effort to rush the bill through the Congress. Trials -of the alleged \"high value\" detainees are reportedly years away from beginning. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7119,"word_count":262}
{"speech_id":1090177347,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Lets do it. Mr. Speaker. I yield the balance of my time to the majority leader. Mr. BOEHNER.","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2365,"word_count":18}
{"speech_id":1090177348,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We recognize military tribunals play. a critical role in helping us fight the global war on terror. and we will give these tools to our President as he fights to help keep all of us safe. But the real question today is. what will my colleagues. my Democrat colleagues. do when it comes to this vote today? Virtually every time the President asks Congress for the tools he needs to stop terrorist attacks. a majority of my Democrat friends have said \"no.\" Democrats by and large voted \"no\" on establishing the Department of Homeland Security in July of 2002. A majority of Democrats voted-\"no\" on additional funds to respond to the attacks of September 11 and bolster homeland security efforts in May of 2002. The majority of the Democrats voted \"yes\" to deny funding for law enforcement to carry out provisions of the PATRIOT Act in July of 2004. And a majority of Democrats voted \"no\" on the REAL.ID Act. which makes it dif-. ficult for terrorists to travel freely throughout the United States. in BFebruary of 2005. And Democrats voted \"no\" on reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act. and gloated about killing it. in December of 2005. And more recently. many Democrats voted against a resolution condemning the illegal leaks of classified intelligence information that could impair our fight against terrorism. Democrats voted \"no\" in the Judiciary Committee against allowing the terrorist surveillance program to go forward. And the Democrats in the Judiciary Committee voted \"no\" on this bill as well. So the question is. will my Democrat friends work with Republicans to preserve this crucial program or oppose giving the President the tools that he needs to protect the American people? Will my Democrat friends work with Republicans to give the President the tools he needs to continue to stop terrorist attacks before they happen. or will they vote to force him to fight the terrorists with one arm tied behind his back? Now. ","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4922,"word_count":324}
{"speech_id":1090177351,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Habeas corpus isnt about giving special rights to terrorists. as some have claimed. rather. it is about giving people who are accused of serious crimes an opportunity to disprove the charges against them. I am also concerned that this legislation gives the President the authority to reinterpret the meaning and application of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. Especially given the well documented abuses of prisoners held at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. we need to be clear that the United States will rigorously comply with its international obligations under the Geneva Conventions. This is important both to reinforce our Nations moral standing in the world and to protect the men and women of ourArmed Forces. If a U.S. soldier is held prisoner by another nation. we expect that they will enjoy the full protections of the Geneva Conventions. not some watereddown interpretation. It is the job of Congress to pass legislation to try. and. punish terrorists. That legislation must protect our men and women in uniform from erosion of the Geneva Conventions. and the legislation must be tough. fair and able to withstand constitutional challenge. The bill before the House meets none of these standards. and I urge my colleagues to reject it. Rather than rush through such a fundamentally flawed bill. the House should remain in session and do the job right.","speaker_name":"SANDER LEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2517,"word_count":225}
{"speech_id":1090177398,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Market perception of unsustainable increases in catastrophic risk has resulted in the precipitous decline of insurance coverage availability at astronomical cost to consumers. This bill expands market capacity to provide surplus lines coverage. It eliminates hundreds of billions of dollars in administrative costs and duplicative filing fees. which are passed on to consumers. Maintaining the status quo means higher costs for commercial firms. consumers. and ultimately our economy. I encourage my colleagues to support this bill because it ensures that companies are able to obtain insurance. meaning they can stay in our communities. provide much needed jobs and keep our economies strong. Companies in my home State are literally closing their doors or leaving Florida altogether because they cannot get insurance. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1572,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090177402,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. just as the ranking member. I want to say that the leadership shown both by the gentleman from Kansas and the gentlewoman from Florida on this has been very important. Particularly I would say the gentleman from Kansas has been a.very steady contributor to our deliberations regarding the importance of balance. and given the physical -conditions that have occurred in Florida and the reaction thereto. the gentlewoman from Florida has been a real leader in trying to get an appropriate Federal response to the insurance crisis. and I am glad we were able to take this step today.","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":593,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090177427,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I congratulate the chairman on his good work on what is truly an important piece of reform legislation in the world of finance. This.has immeasurable impact on any number of businesses and individuals financial interests. I certainly want to continue to compliment Mr. FITZPATRICK on his good work with HR. 2990. a previously passed House bill. which in essence is incorporated into the version sent back to us from the Senate with the good additions provided by Senator SARBANES. So this has been a bipartisan and bicameral effort which I think presents itself before the House today and also provides for exemplary reforms. .Credit rating agencies are unique entities. Currently. there is no mechanism by which a corporation may become a credit rating agency. There is little oversight once one is designated. and if they fail to meet their fiduciary duties. there is not clear methodology by which one would be lecommissioned. The underlying bill makes strategic and important changes with regard to these provisions establishing a registration process through the SEC. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD BAKER","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2123,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090177429,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. in closing. I want to pay special tribute to our friend from Pennsylvania . It is rare in this House that a freshman has been able to pass major legislation as we have before us today. and it is a real tribute to his leadership and hard work and the cooperation on both sides of the aisle that we were able to get this bipartisan and bicameral bill finished. We had a most impressive and informative field hearing in the City of Brotherly Love last November. and it really did set the template and the opportunity for the committee to move forward with this legislation. It is particularly poignant because it is a natural after passage of SarbanesOxley. and I know Senator SARBANES and I both appreciate the work and the leadership that Mr. FITZPATRICK has provided for us and for Chairman BAKER to move that legislation through his subcommittee. I want to thank all involved. including the staffers that Mr. FITZPATRICK mentioned. This has been a labor of love. and it will be one that will have enormous implications for our capital markets down the road. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL OXLEY","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1121,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090177456,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"also deserves recognition for her longstanding support of regulatory relief legislation and actually sponsoring the first legislation in the last Congress before she moved to the Rules Committee. Mr. Speaker. the financial services industry spends a great deal of money every year complying with outdated - and ineffective regulation. That is money that could instead be loaned for new homes. new cars. and new projects. fueling job growth in local communities. The soonerwe enact this legislation. the sooner we will provide needed relief to depository institutions and increased financial opportunities for both consumers and businesses. Mr. Speaker. I urge Members to support passage of S. 2856. as amended. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"SHELLEY CAPITO","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":757,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090177469,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I will at least attempt to be brief. As the chairman noted. people long before me have worked on this piece of legislation. and it appears that it will soon culminate in success. I certainly want to thank Chairman OXLEY for his leadership on the committee. I want to thank his trusting need to carry this legislation. I want to thank him for creating a place in Congress where good things can be done for America on a bipartisan basis. and. unfortunately. Mr. Speaker. there are not that many places where that is done. I want to thank Subcommittee Chairman BACHUS. the gentleman from Alabama. for his counsel and help in moving this important piece of legislation through his subcommittee. I want to thank the gentleman from Massachusetts. the ranking member. for his help. his counsel. his reaching out to work on a bipartisan basis. and. finally. the gentleman from Kansas","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1444,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090177492,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak in strong support of the HOPE VI Reauthorization Act of 2006. H.R. This program does play a vital role in the redevelopment of severely dilapidated public housing units and promotes selfsufficiency among the residents of the community. HOPE VI projects forge new relationships and partnerships between -local -businesses and development agencies. garnering growth and investment in poverty stricken neighborhoods. In May. 2005. the Allentown Housing Authority. located in my district. received $20 million from this program for the redevelopment and revitalization of the Hanover Acres and Riverview Terrace public housing facilities. Once complete. the project will provide 322 new housing units and a community center for families. as well as adult education services. youth programs. child care. and homeownership and money management education programs for residents. Because of this investment. families will have increased opportunities for education. job skills. training. and job placement. This HOPE VI project is not only crucial to Hanover Acres but ultimately a catalyst for the. revitalization of the entire community and neighborhood.","speaker_name":"CHARLES DENT","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1183,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090177531,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The hedge fund industry has such a significant impact on the markets and was last reviewed by the PWG study on this topic way back in 1999. But the growth of the hedge fund industry over the past 7 years makes this legislation timely. I would call your attention to the improvements of the hedge fund industry risk management function. improvements that were recommended in that study in 1999. Counterparties and financial institutions have taken affirmative steps over the past 6 years now to mitigate exposures to risk through innovative financial products and the allocation of greater resources toward a dedicated risk management role. Additionally. the hedge fund industry has in the past demonstrated its willingness on its own to resolve market challenges. For example. through a selfimposed obligation. derivative market participants. including hedge funds. directed their efforts toward eliminating a credit derivatives paperwork backlog that in past years was caused by explosive growth within those markets. The industry has now successfully reported that it has made substantial progress in increasing operational efficiencies and operational risks. Again. at this time. I support this legislation. and I also should point out that I would like to thank Congressman CHRIS SHAYS from Connecticut for his expertise in this area. as many of the hedge funds that we speak of here tonight are near in his district. I compliment the Congressman and his efforts to getting this bill through this House.","speaker_name":"SCOTT GARRETT","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3200,"word_count":238}
{"speech_id":1090177532,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is something that we want to look at. So I think that we have an appropriate vehicle today. legislatively. to say this is something we want to look at. We will come back next year and deal with it further. I think this is the appropriate way to do it. Madam Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2317,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090177538,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"would appreciate the fact. that the Managed Funds Association. which is the funds of the association of the hedge funds. in essence. are in support of this legislation as well. They have indicated the hedge funds are currently subject to numerous regulations already relating to advertising and broad reporting requirements. ERISA and other securities. But they do as well see the benefit to look at both sides of the equation from a balanced approach. both the risk and the pOtential difficulties as well. So I just wanted to add that to the Record as well.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CASTLE","chamber":"H","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":558,"word_count":95}
{"speech_id":1090177553,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Committee on the Judiciary recognizes that the courts. United States Trustees. and chapter 7 trustees have responsibilities in all chapter 7 cases. including cases where the filing fees are waived under 28 U.S.C. section 1930(f). The bill before the House would amend the act to permit a court to waive an additional $40 of the filing. fee designated for payment to the trustee. under specified circumstances. This would be in addition to provisions under current law that permit a court to waive the entire filing fee for qualified low income debtors under specified circumstances. The committee is aware that such waivers could have an impact on the courts. the United States Trustees. and chapter 7 trustees. Accordingly. the courts and U.S. Trustees should closely monitor the impact of such waivers on those entities dependent on fee income and should report to the Congress.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER CANNON","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":897,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090177562,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There have been negotiations and conversations. There were things in there. like including thrifts. that the Senate was not willing to accept. but there will be another legislative session. It seems to me the better part of wisdom and better part of public policy is to take what we can now. and that is what we. have done. I think this will prove to be a good thing and that it will help us make the case for. in fact. doing everything that we wanted to do. I just at this point. Madam Speaker. include into the RECORD letters in support of the original bill. .but also obviously in favor. of the other version that we did because that is all we could get through on the other side from the Of.fice of Thrift Supervision and the Comptroller of the Currency.","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1215,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090177571,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. before I close. I want to thank the FTC and the work of the Financial Services- Committee on these provisions within this legislation. I urge my colleagues to support this bill. H.R. 6072. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"PATRICK MCHENRY","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":251,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090177588,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I understand and support this legislation but believe that not every aspect of it includes the rosy picture that has been painted here today.","speaker_name":"DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2637,"word_count":24}
{"speech_id":1090177594,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Widener require financial aid to pursue their studies. In addition. Widener also provided loans at lower costs than Sallie Mae and the big banks and has charged no upfront fees to students borrowing their loans from the university. The provisions in H.R. 6138 would not allow school lenders to make Graduate PLUS loans to their students after December 31. 2006. The Graduate PLUS loan program has only been available since July 1. 2006. and was designed to replace graduate students need to borrow highercost private loans to cover their remaining need. A number of institutions have sought to meet their borrowers financing needs though eligible lender trustee arrangements under which a bank originates and holds loans on behalf of a trust established by the institution. The proceeds from the sale and repayment of these loans are used to help students: By continuing to deny school lenders the ability to make Graduate PLUS loans directly and stopping them from making them under trustee arrangements. the bill shifts millions of dollars from funds to help needy students to the profits of the big corporate lenders. The inability to make Graduate PLUS will result in a loss of over $50 million need based grant aid for students at the 14 school lenders in Pennsylvania. In addition to Widener University in my district. the University of Pennsylvania. University of Scranton. ","speaker_name":"W. WELDON","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3530,"word_count":226}
{"speech_id":1090177595,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H.R 6138. a bill intended to extend the programs under the Higher Education Act of 1965. The Higher Education ActHEAauthorizes the major Federal student aid programs that are responsible for the majority of financial assistance to postsecondary students. The provisions in this bill will ensure that the HEA will not expire at the end of this fiscal year by extending its provisions another 9 months through June 30. 2007. In 1965. the Higher Education Act was established to help low- and middleincome students pursue higher education. Today. the Federal Government invests more than $70 billion in. direct financial aid to students and families. and hundreds of millions of dollars are provided to colleges and universities so that they may better serve their students. However. it seems as though every time we extend this crucial legislation. the provisions it contains divert the resources further and further away from where they are most needed. Eightysix percent of high school graduates from families with incomes over $80.750 go on to college while only 57 percent of graduates from families earning less than $33.000 do so. Pell grants and student loans are supposed to help narrow this gap. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2346,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090177604,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H.R. 4766. the Esther Martinez Native American Languages Preservation Act of 2006. introduced by my colleague from New Mexico. Mrs. HEATHER WILSON. Language scholars estimate that there were approximately 300 languages spoken in North America prior to the arrival of Columbus. Some project that without intervention. only 20 indigenous languages will remain viable by the year 2050. ","speaker_name":"DALE KILDEE","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3138,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090177615,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is why we must pass this legislation. Native American languages canbe revitalized through language immersion programs. Language immersion programs have the ability to create fluency among students. In addition. students who participate in such programs often have higher rates of academic success then their peers who do not. This legislation therefore would be one way to raise the academic achievement of Native American students. The Native American Language Preservation Act would contribute to an already existing Native language grant program within the Department of Health and Human Services by allocating grants for language immersion programs which would not only help keep the language alive. but also help ensure that Native languages are accessible for the next seven generations to come. I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 4766. Lets preserve and honor Native American heritage and save our Native languages.","speaker_name":"JOE BACA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":43.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2710,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090177616,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of the Esther Martinez Native American Languages Preservation Act of 2006 . I would like to congratulate my colleague from New Mexico. Mrs. WILSON. for bringing this issue forward. This is important legislation to preserve the culture and increase fluency in Native American society. Sadly. all across America. Native American languages are in rapid decline. estimates are that there may be only 20 Native American languages remaining by the year 2050. These languages are unique to our country and unique to our history. ","speaker_name":"STEVAN PEARCE","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2982,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090177623,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As a result of the storms and the flooding. the local tax base in several gulf coast communities was decimated. The loss of business and government infrastructure. jobs and housing deprived school districts of local property taxes that normally fund school operations. In Louisiana. Orleans and St. Bernard Parishes were the most severely impacted by Hurricane Katrina. Currently. approximately 23.000 students are enrolled in the Orleans Parish School System and Recovery School District. That is compared to an original enrollment of 62.000 students prior to the hurricanes. In St. Bernard Parish. only 3.300 students have returned out of a total of 8.400 before the hurricane. The Hurricane Education Recovery Act. included in the Defense Appropriations Act of 2006. granted the U.S. ","speaker_name":"BOBBY JINDAL","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3488,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090177624,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Unfortunately. the waiver is set to expire on September 30. even though the families continue to return to the area and their schools are id need of rebuilding. The waiver is critical because it allows school systems the flexibility to use available Federal funds for the most critical needs. Without the waiver. they would have funding for just about everything they need except those critical immediate needs required to reopen the schools. Without the waiver. they wont be able to spend the money for those critical needs. This waiver has worked well and just needs to be extended. On September 19. just a few days ago. H.R. 6106 to extend the waiver authority for the Secretary of Education was introduced by the gentleman from Louisiana . This legislation is a straightforward extension of the Secretary of Educations waiver authority for an additional fiscal year through This bill would not have been possible without the hard work of not only the gentleman from Louisiana but his Louisiana colleagues.","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1704,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090177632,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank my colleagues. the gentlewoman from Ohio and the gentleman from Pennsylvania . for taking the lead and offering this legislation. This is not the first time this year that campus fire safety has been a priority for the House. In March. when we passed the College Access and Opportunity Act. we also endorsed an effort to ask colleges and universities to report annually on fire safety efforts. The report would include such information as a list of all student housing facilities and whether or not they were equipped with a sprinkler system or other fire safety program. as well as statistics on occurrences of fires. false alarms. information on various fire safety rules and regulations. and other measures as well.. Mr. Speaker. although that measure has not advanced with our friends on the other side of the Capitol. today we have the opportunity to demonstrate our continued commitment to the safety of college students. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution. and I thank the primary authors of this resolution. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balanceof my time.","speaker_name":"BOBBY JINDAL","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1792,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090177637,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H. Res. 295. which establishes September as Campus Fire Safety Month. I applaud the efforts of my distinguished colleague. Congresswoman STEPHANIE TUBBS JONES. in bringing this matter to the floor today. The statistics relating to fire safety on college campuses are startling. Since January 2000. 89 campusrelated fire fatalities have been reported in the United States. Three of these were in my home state of New Jersey alone. So far in 2006. we have already lost 11 students to fires on college campuses. ","speaker_name":"BILL PASCRELL","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1097,"word_count":91}
{"speech_id":1090177648,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Create a Boy Scout troop for juvenile delinquents. Create a Boy Scout troop or a Girl Scout troop for people who are homeless. who are living in homeless shelters. Almost 40 years ago. my brothers and a couple other people who had not gone to college. we all got out of the service. We had just gotten out of Vietnam. and we got involved with a minister and a lawyer that created a Boy Scout troop for people who committed felonies. We created a Boy Scout troop for juvenile delinquents. And the way to get in that Boy Scout troop was that you had to have committed a Yelony or you had to be homeless or one of those categories. And it transformed their lives. This Sufiday in my district. we are going to have a picnic for 30 homeless children and. if they come. their parents. And what we are going to do is we are going to walk through the woods. we are going to feel the cool shade of the forest. and we are going to identify trees and we are going to talk about natures design. Then we are going to take them on a short canoe ride and walk them on the beaches of the Sassafras River. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE GILCHREST","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3321,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090177655,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H. Res. 1009. a bill supporting efforts to promote greater public awareness of effective runaway youth prevention programs and the need for safe and productive alternatives. resources. and support for homeless youth and youth in other highrisk situations. As the Chairwoman of the Congressional Childrens Caucus. I am integrally involved in the efforts of Congress to help protect and look after the children of this Nation. and to ensure that they have an equal opportunity to leam. to grow. to achieve. and most importantly. to dream. Youth that end up on the streets or in emergency shelters are often those who have been thrown out of their homes by their families. These youth are also. tragically. more likely to have been physically. sexually. or emotionally abused at home. It is also common for these youth to have been discharged by State custodial systems without adequate transition plans. Many have lost their parents through death or divorce. and many are too poor to secure their own basic needs. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1923,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090177679,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I strongly support this bipartisan legislation. H.R. 5483 is a bill to help disabled railroad employees. Under our current system. a permanently disabled railroad worker is given a monthly stipend by the Railroad Retirement Board. The average stipend is about $1.911 a month. which is often too little to support a family. This has led disabled workers to seek a supplemental source of income. If a disabled railroad worker is well enough to work.at another job. current law lirhits his or her earnings to only $400 a month. a limit which has remained unchanged for years. Mr. ","speaker_name":"STEVEN LATOURETTE","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1830,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090177716,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. H.R. 5026. introduced by Representative Luis FORTU&O of Puerto Rico. designates the Investigations Building of the Food and Drug Administration located in San Juan. Puerto Rico. as the Andres Toro Building. Andres Toro was the Director of the Compliance Division of the FDA San Juan district office. He joined the FDA in 1977 as an investigator in the San Juan district office and worked his way up through the ranks to Director of the Compliance Division. He is the first and only Puerto Rican to have risen to this high government rank in the FDA without taking. a position off the island. and received many awards along the way. ","speaker_name":"BILL SHUSTER","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1215,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090177735,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri in 1980. Judge CAhill had a reputation for being courteous and compassionate. He passed away on August 18. 2004. at age 81. I support this legislation and encourage my colleagues to do the same. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"BILL SHUSTER","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1205,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090177736,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Louis University Law School in 1951 and began private practice. In 1954 he joined the Office of the Circuit Attorney for the City of St. Louis. In 1972. he became the executive director and general counsel for the Legal Aid Society of St. Louis. From 1975 until 1980. he served as circuit court judge of the TwentySecond Judicial Circuit of the State of Missouri in St. Louis. He was appointed by President Carter on May 23. 1980 to the Federal court. Judge Cahill became the first African American to be -appointed to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. He was known for being both compassionate and courteous. ","speaker_name":"CORRINE BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1876,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090177739,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He also served as executive director and general counsel for the Legal Society of St. Louis. where he played a pivotal role in expanding legal aid services throughout eastern Missouri. Judge Cahill was truly a dedicated public servant who spent his life pursuing justice and equalityfor others. Today. throughout St. Louis. Judge Cahill is fondly remembered for his courteous style and his compassionate heart. He was a hardworking man with a generous spirit who helped to improve the lives of countless citizens. some who knew him well and others who never even met him. Judge Cahills contributions will benefit generations. and St. Louisians will forever cherish his memory. I also want to add. ","speaker_name":"WM. CLAY","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2400,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090177746,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. H.R. 2322. introduced by Representative LLOYD DOGGETT. designates the Federal building located in McAllen. Texas. as the Kika de la Garza Federal Building. The bill honors former Congressman Kika de la Garza from Texas. who served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 32 years. Congressman de la Garza started his career of civil service early when he enlisted in the U.S. Navy at age 17. After his military service. he earned a law degree from St. ","speaker_name":"BILL SHUSTER","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1132,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090177750,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I appreciate this opportunity to express my strong support for H.R. 2322. which designates the Federal building located at 320 North Main Street in McAllen. Texas. as the \"Kika de la Garza Federal Building.\" This honor is welldeserved recognition to the former Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee. cofounder of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. and one of the most beloved members to have served in this House with distinction for more than thirty years. Elected in 1964 to the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas 15th District. Kika de Ia Garza served the people of the Rio Grande Valley and the nation for 16 terms before retiring in 1996. He was one of the first Hispanics elected to Congress and the first to chair the Committee on Agriculture. Bom Eligio de la Garza in Mercedes. Hidalgo County. Texas on September 22. 1927. \"Kika\" de la Garza grew up in Mission where he attended Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic School and! Mission High School. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5147,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090177751,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H.R. 2322 which would designate the Federal building at 320 North Main Street in McAllen. Texas as the \"Kika de la Garza Federal Building.\" I want to thank my colleague. Congressman LLOYD DOGGETr for his efforts in bringing this measure forward. I am proud to represent the district that was held for over 32 years by my friend Kika de la Garza. Congressman de la Garza had a distinguished career in public service first as a state legislator then as a Member of Congress. As a state legislator. he created the Nations first staterun system of English language instruction for preschool children. As a Member of Congress. he was instrumental in protecting rural and agriculture communities through his work as Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee. Kika was also a founding member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and worked to improve the quality of life for Hispanic Americans. ","speaker_name":"RUBEN HINOJOSA","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1234,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090177769,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill to amend MagnusonStevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to authorize activities to promote improved monitoring and compliance for high seas fisheries. or fisheries governed by international fishery management agreements. and for other purposes. as amended.","speaker_name":"STEVAN PEARCE","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":324,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090177800,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. as an original cosponsor of this legislation. I rise in strong support of H.R. 5160. the Long Island Sound Stewardship Act. I recognize the vital role the Long Island Sound plays in the Fourth Congressional District as well as all of Connecticut. The Long Island Sound contributes more than $5 billion annually to the regional economy and is one of the most populated and visited areas of our country. In fact. approximately 10 percent of the. American population lives within the Long Island Sound watershed. It is a source of livelihood. nourishment. and recreation for many in Connecticut and elsewhere. and it is critical that we treat it well. This legislation -would authorize $40 million to protect and preserve areas along the Sounds shorelines with significant ecological. recreational. or educational value. The Long Island Sound Stewardship Act gives those most familiar with the Sounds precious and diverse resources the tools necessary to continue their conservation efforts. and applies the most effective methods available to identify. protect. and enhance sites with ecological. educational. and recreation value in Connecticut and New York. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SHAYS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1490,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090177806,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. the Utah Regional Land Exchange Act is the culmination of years of analysis and negotiations among representatives of Utahs State School Trust Lands. the Department of the Interior. locally elected officials. environmental groups and Members of Congress. Congressman CHRIS CANNON should be commended for crafting this bipartisan legislation that will convey and exchange of over 80.000 acres of State and Federal lands for recreation. scenic and development purposes. This creative and significant exchange will be of great benefit to Utahs schools. recreationists. communities. and to all Americans who care about the proper care and management of Federal lands and in protecting important natural and scenic areas. I urge passage of this bill. Madam Speaker. I reserve the balance of my -time.","speaker_name":"STEVAN PEARCE","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":864,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090177808,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. the chairman of the subcommittee has adequately explained the purpose of thelegislation. I would just note. however. that the lands involved do lie within the Congressional district represented by my good friend and colleague. JIM MATHESON from Utah. I commend his leadership and involvement in the passage of this legislation. I would encourage its adoption this evening. Madam Speaker. the majority has already explained the purpose of H.R. 2069. 1 would note that the lands involved lie within the Congressional District represented by my colleague. JIM MATHESON. The gentleman from Utah is to be commended for his advocacy of a land exchange that. as amended. is a winwin for all the involved parties. Madam Speaker. we appreciate the cooperation shown by the majority. the State of Utah. the BLM. and others in addressing issues that originally existed with the legislation. We support H.R. 2069. as amended. and have no objection to the adoption of the legislation by the House today.","speaker_name":"RON KIND","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1005,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090177816,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"POMBO for his leadership. Finally. I appreciate the hard work of the House Resources staff. Chris Fluhr. Matt Miller. and Todd Willens for helping bring this legislation to the House floor today. Again. this settlement is good for America and should be passed here today. Madam Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"STEVAN PEARCE","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3545,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090177826,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to study the feasibility of enlarging the Arthur V. Watkins Dam Weber Basin Project. Utah. to provide additional water for the Weber Basin Project to fulfill the purposes for which that project was authorized. as amended.","speaker_name":"STEVAN PEARCE","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":325,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090177847,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. H.R. 5016. introduced by Mr. KOLBE. would consolidate lands within the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area located 50 miles south of Tucson. The area consists of 42.000 acres managed by the Bureau of Land Management. This legislation would add 2.490 acres of private land to the conservation area in exchange for 1.280 acres of isolated BLM lands. The bill would also modify the boundary of the conservation area to exclude a 40acre tract of land for a sanitary landfill. This area was inadvertently included in the original boundary. I would urge support for this bill. ","speaker_name":"STEVAN PEARCE","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":696,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090177870,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I just want to take a moment to commend my good friend from Michigan. again. for the leadership that he has shown on this piece of legislation. We just recently had another hearing in the Resources Committee. of which he was an active participant. This has been a bipartisan effort with great collaboration from the Federal. State and local level. and obviously for those of us in the upper Midwest area. this does touch and affect us a little bit closer than perhaps the rest of the Nation.. But the legislation does mirror the companion House bill that was introduced earlier. H.R. 4953. which was sponsored by our friend Mr. KILDEE from Michigan. along with 31 other House Members that were sponsors of the legislation. including myself. as well as the gentleman from Ohio and also the gentleman from Michigan who has been also a champion on this issue. S. 2430 would reauthorize and improve a valuable conservation program administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.","speaker_name":"RON KIND","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":993,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090177871,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"just mentioned some of the success stories that have been garnered from this original bill. but as we know all too well in this chamber that we could pass the best authorized bill in the world. but if it is not supported by adequate funding. they cannot do anything with it. Unfortunately. the history of this bill has -been a lot of support in both the public and private sector but not enough funding in order to accomplish the goals and really -achieve the success that I know we can make in the upper Great Lakes area. The five Great Lakes are the crown jewels of our Nations natural resources. They are the largest group of fresh water lakes in the entire world. This has an incredible ecosystem impact but also economic impact throughout the entire region. That is why we feel it is important to move forward on reauthorization. hopefully to get the support for funding the reauthorized bill in future years as we try to implement its provisions. I certainly encourage its passage tonight. Madam Speaker. I yield back the remainder of our time.","speaker_name":"DALE KILDEE","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1050,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090177873,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"from Michigan and also not only was our friend from Wisconsin a tremendous asset in being quarterback of the congressional team last week. but his quarterbacking this legislation through. I urge my colleagues to vote \"aye\" on this bill. Madam Speaker. I yield back my time.","speaker_name":"DALE KILDEE","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":273,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090177887,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Theis Ranch property became part of the Jicarilla Nation Reservation in September of 1988. A lawsuit was filed in October 1987 to determine the ownership status of a disputed road. In the original lawsuit. Rio Arriba County sought to establish that the County acquired the disputed road by prescription and. therefore. that the County was the -roads rightful owner. However. the Jicarilla Nation contended that the Nation owned the road because the road was. and continues to be. within the boundaries of the expanded 1988 Jicarilla Reservation. On December 10. 2001. the District Court found in favor of the Jicarilla Nation. determining that thedisputed road traversed the Jicarilla Reservation in several locations. Rio Arriba County appealed the District Court decision. and the appeal is currently pending before the Court of Appeals of the State of New Mexico. In an effort to settle the road dispute amicably. the Jicarilla Nation and Rio Arriba County entered into mediation. The parties successfully reached a settlement. Representatives of the Secretary of the Interior approved the settlement on June 18. 2003. ","speaker_name":"TOM UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3010,"word_count":177}
{"speech_id":1090177909,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I would like to. first begin by thanking our managers of the time for their patience and indulgence in moving forward so many good pieces of legislation. I want to thank. first and foremost. the principal cochair of this legislation. Ms. ILEANA RoSLEHTINEN of Florida. for her efforts in trying to help move this legislation forward. And while I have a written statement. which I will submit for the RECORD. I also want to thank the work of the committee chairman and ranking members here. not only the full committee members. Mr. POMBO. and Mr. RAHALL. the ranking member. but also our National Parks chairman. ","speaker_name":"XAVIER BECERRA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":31.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":772,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090177939,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Johnson said FDR continued the conversation -without pause and earned the respect of his adversary sitting at the dinner table with him. When First Lady Roosevelt learned that Mr. Johnson was preparing to take the bar exam. she had a desk set up in the White House to allow him to study for 2 hours every day. In October of 1942. he was called to active duty as a captain in the 92nd Infantry Division of African American soldiers. Mr. Johnson earned the admiration and respect of all who served with him and was awarded the Bronze Star. the Purple Heart. and the Combat Infantry Badge. and received a special regimental citation for bravery. He was called to duty and served again during the Korean war. where he attained the rank of lieutenant colonel. After his service in the military. Mr. ","speaker_name":"K. CONAWAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3241,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090177999,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. America was attacked on September 11. 2001. by a ruthless enemy of our Nation. It is .my strong belief. as I believe it is the belief of all of us in this Chamber. that those who are responsible for orchestrating this plot and anyone else who seeks to do harm to our country and citizens should be brought to the bar of justice and punished severely. On that I presume there is no debate whatsoever. These are extraordinary times. and we must act in a way that fully safeguards Americas national security. That is why I support the concept of military commissions: to protect U.S. intelligence and expedite judicial proceedings vital to military action under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. As we develop such means. we must also ensure our actions are not counterproductive to our overall effort to protect America at all levels. The administration and the Republican leadership on this issue would have the American people believeand this is the unfortunate pointthat the war on terror requires us to make a choice. both here in this Chamber and across the country. between protecting America from terrorism and the choice of upholding the basic tenets upon whichlour Nationwas foundedbut not both. This canard. in my view. has been showcased far too often. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2577,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090178031,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. we will proceed on Specters amendment. In due course. I will find the time to comment on my colleagues 30 seconds. I want to keep this thing in an orderly progression. I would like to add the Senator from Texas. Mr. CORNYN. in the unanimous consent agreement to be recognized as one of the wrapup speakers on those in opposition to the amendment. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":382,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090178068,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I appreciate the opportunity to talk generally about the bill. I have already spoken about the importance of not affording habeas corpus to the unlawful combatants when they have more protections than international law requires. or than any other country provides. Speaking on the bill. for the last 5 years. our most important job has been to protect our families from another terrorist attack. Our children. our mothers. fathers. grandparents. and grandchildrennone of them deserved to die in the 9\/11 attacks. none deserve to die in another terrorist attack. That is why we are doing everything we can to protect our families by stopping terrorists-. capturing them. learning their secrets. foiling their plots. and bringing the terrorists to justice. Through our hard work. there has not been another direct attack on U.S. soil since 9\/11. We have worked hard to prevent and stop attacks in the last 5 years and must continue to prevent future attacks. We dramatically boosted airport and airline security. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12050,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090178088,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I support the SpecterLeahy amendment on the writ of habeas corpus. The habeas corpus language in this bill is as legally abusive of the rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution as the actions at Abu Ghraib. Guantanamo. and the CIAs secret prisons were physically abusive of the detainees themselves. The Supreme Court has long held that all persons inside the United States. including lawful permanent residents and other aliens. have a constitutional right to the writ of habeas corpus. Yet. this provision purports to apply even to aliens who are detained inside the United States. including lawful permanent residents. Unlike the provision that was included in the Detainee Treatmexit Act last year. this courtstripping provision would apply on a worldwide basis. not just at Guantanamo. It would apply to detainees of all Federal agencies. not just the Department of Defense. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7060,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090178122,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the managers of the bill have been notified there are still three amendments remaining. one by Senator ROCKEFELLER. one by Senator KENNEDY. one from Senator BYRD. If I understand from my distinguished ranking member. we will proceed to the amendment of Senator","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":275,"word_count":44}
{"speech_id":1090178148,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And I take no issue with many of the questions the Senator from West Virginia raises. As a matter of fact. I probably would have some of my own. But I do question the need for a very lengthy. detailed report every 3 months. If you read all of the requirements. this is a paperwork nightmare. They are going to have to comply and tell us how they are going -to comply. and we are going to oversee them. I believe putting out this lengthy report gets us nowhere. Frankly. if our past experience is any guide. we will probably- se those reports leaked to the press because reports have a way. regrettably. of being leaked and being disclosed. I think there is one big problem with the Rockefeller amendment. In the amendment. he requires every 3 months * the Attorney Generalany time there are any new interrogation techniques. the Attorney General shall submit an unclassified certification whether or not each approved interrogation technique complies with the Constitution of the United States. applicable treaty statutes. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4889,"word_count":175}
{"speech_id":1090178166,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As I look at this. I must say in scope. it is unprecedented. They ask questions that I think. quite frankly. if I were an interrogator working within the confines of the Central Intelligence Agency. would have a very chilling effect on me to know that four times a year I would be held responsible for all of these questions which I think those in charge at the Agency can certainly respond to any committee request in terms of a briefing. I would be a little nervous. And that is not the case because. as I said in my remarks. the CIA will not be detecting and interdicting unlawful alien combatants. it will be writing one report after another. four times a year. If we look at the length. breadth. and depth. it is not whether we get this information. it is how we get the information. All we have to do is ask. This is a tremendous burden. I must tell my colleagues that I dont know where we are going to get enough staff on the committee to respond -to these four mandated reports. It is going to be * rather unique situation when we have a lot of work to do. ","speaker_name":"PAT ROBERTS","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3119,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090178203,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We could go on. In another case prosecuted from March 3 to April 30. 1948the Japanese officer was sentenced for exposing prisoners to extreme cold temperatures. forcing them to spend long periods of time in the nude. making the prisoner stand in the cold for long periods of time. hour after hour. throwing water on him and inducing hypothermia. This officer received 15 years of hard labor. Fifteen years. We didnt tolerate those abuses. and we should not tolerate those abuses inflicted on any Americans who are going to be taken in the war on terror. That is what this amendment is all aboul. It will tell the Secretary of State to notify every signatory from 194 nations. that if any of their governments are going to use any of these techniques on any Americans that are taken in this war on terror. that we will consider this a violation of the Geneva Conventions and that they will be accountable. This is to protect our servicemen and servicewomen. those who are in the intelligence agencies. those performing dangerous duties. those who are not wearing the unifQrm in their battle against terror. We are putting everyone on notice. We. did not make up this list. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5043,"word_count":204}
{"speech_id":1090178304,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. my distinguished colleague used two phrases just now. He said: Burden.. He used the word burden. He then said the word bother. Senator. you walk straight into the constitutional separation of powers in your language andyou say: The Sec-. retary of State shallthat is a direct ordernotify other parties to the Geneva Conventions. You are putting a direct order to the executive branch. I say that is a transgression of the long constitutional history of this country and the doctrine of separation of powers. -","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":524,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090178319,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have made that distinction for no other reason than to provide incentive for every nation across the world to observe international agreements for the proper treatment of captives. It bears repeatingthis bill applies to the trial of illegal enemy combatantsthose who make no pretense whatsoever of conformity with even minimal standards or international norms of civilized behavior when it comes to the treatment of those they capture. We hear repeatedly that we should be concerned about what we do. for fear that we encourage others to treat our captured service men and women in a similar manner. But lets be very clear here and state what every American knows to be true. The alQaida terrorists treat our captured service men and women by beheading them and by dragging their bodies through the streets. They need no encouragement or excuse for their actions by reference to our treatment of their captives. As a result of the Supreme Courts ruling. we are creating military commissions that provide rule of law protections which are embodied in this billcourts. judges. legal counsel. and rules of evidence. So this bill appropriately meets our international obligations and Americas sense of what is right and it is in keeping with our highest values. However. this bill will allow *the President to move forward with a terrorist interrogation program that will ensure that we continue to get critical information about those who are plotting to carry- out hateful acts against America and against Americans. I commend the President for his determination to respond to the new reality confronting us. ","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4433,"word_count":262}
{"speech_id":1090178331,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If I may. I thank the Senator from Texas. Several :times we came to the Senators office in the course of the deliberations on this bill because the Senator. too. brings to the debate a vast experience. having risen through the ranks of th legal profession to become a judge in his State. The Senator is very well equipped and did provide a very valuable input into this debate.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":377,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090178391,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. here is. the Army Manual of 2006 printed after the Senate of the United States went on record in accepting the McCain amendment prohibiting torture. In the printed Army Manual is a list of the prohibited activities where any person who is a member of the Defense Department is prohibited to engage in these kinds of activities because they have made a finding that they are basically and effectively torture. Today we have thousands of Americans in the Central Intelligence Agency. Special Forces. the SEALS. and American contractors working for the CIA around the world fighting terrorism. All this amendment does is give notice to each and every country that any country that is going to practice these kinds of techniques on any American will be guilty effectively of a war crime. That is effectively what we have done with the Army Manual. and we ought to protect our intelligence agency personnel. our SEALS. and all of those who are all over the world protecting the United States. Arguments against? It is a violation of the Constitution because it is an instruction to a member of the Cabinet about what they ought to do. Here it is for airports. The Secretary of Transportation shall conduct an assessment with foreign countries. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1846,"word_count":212}
{"speech_id":1090178415,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Senators WARNER and MCCAIN. over the last year. you have played an instrumental role in bringing needed clarity to the rules for the treatment of detainees in U.S. custody. I understand that you also played a key role in negotiating the provisions of the military commissions bill regarding the War Crimes Act and Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. As you said last year when the Detainee Treatment Act was adopted. this is not an area in which ambiguity is helpful. For this reason. I hope that you will help me in providing a clear record of our intent on these issues. In particular. section 8(a)(3) of the bill provides that \"the President has the authority for the United States to interpret the meaning and application of the Geneva Conventions\". that these interpretations shall be issued by Executive order. and that such an Executive order \"shall be authoritative (as to nongrave breach provisions of Common Article 3) as a matter of United States law. in the same manner as other administrative regulations.\" Would you agree that nothing in this provision gives the President or could give the President the authority to modify the Geneva Conventions or U.S. obligations under those treaties?","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1211,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090178416,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"First. I say to my good friend from Michigan that this legislation clearly defines grave breaches of Common Article. 3. which are criminalized and ultimately punishable by death. It is critical for. the American public to understand that we are criminalizing breaches of Common Article 3 that rise to the level of a felony. Such actsincluding cruel or inhuman treatment. torture. rape. and murder. among otherswill clearly be considered war crimes. Where the President may exercise his authority to interpret treaty obligations is in the area of \"nongrave\" breaches of the Geneva Conventionsthose breaches that do not rise to the level of a war crime. In interpreting the conventions in this manner. the President is bounded by the conventions themselves. Nothing in this bill gives the President the authority to modify the conventions or our obligations under those treaties. That understanding is at the core of this legislation.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":932,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090178427,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Would you agree that nothing in this section or in this bill requires or should be interpreted to authorize any modification to the new Army Field Manual on interrogation techniques. which was issued last month and provides important guidance to our solders on the field as to what is and is not permitted to the interrogation of detainees?","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":340,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090178429,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I concur wholeheartedly with the Senator from Virginia. As the Senator form Virginia is aware. there is a provision in the bill before the Senate that defines \"cruel and inhuman treatment\" under the War Crimes Act. I would note first that. this definition is limited to criminal offenses under the War Crimes Act and is distinct from the broader prohibition contained in the Detainee Treatment Act. That act defined the term \"cruel. inhuman and degrading treatment\" with reference to the reservation the United States took to the Convention Against Torture. In the war crimes section of this bill. cruel and inhuman treatment is defined as an act intended to inflict severe or serious physical or mental pain or suffering. It further makes clear that such mental suffering need not be prolonged to be prohibited. The mental suffering need only be more than transitory. It is important to note that the \"nontransitory\" requirement. applies to the harm. not to the act producing the harm. Thus if a U.S. soldier is. for example. subjected to some terrible technique that lasts for a brief time but that causes serious and nontransitory mental harm. a criminal act has occurred.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1175,"word_count":195}
{"speech_id":1090178445,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. at this point in time I yield to the distinguished Senator from Arizona 14 minutes. I would say that I have been privileged to be a Member of this institution for now 28 years. and I first met JOHN MCCAIN through his father when I was Secretary of the Navy. So that goes back 28 plus another 5 years that I have known of JOHN McCAIN. This Chamber. and indeed all of America. knows full well about the extraordinary record that this man has in the service of his Nation. showing unselfishness. showing courage. showing foresight. Iam proud to have worked with him as a partner in these past weeks. indeed. months now. on this piece of legislation. I just want to express my gratitude. and I think the gratitude of many people across this country. for the service he is rendering the Senate and hopefully will continue to render the Senate in the coming years. When I step down under the caucus. it is my hope that JOHN MCCAIN is elected to succeed me as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. But at this point in time. I am proud to yield. as manager. my time to the Senator from Arizona.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1113,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090178450,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. before I move on to other issues. I have heard some criticism on the Senate floor today about the way in which the bill treats admissibility of coerced testimony. A New York Times editorial today said that in this legislation \"coercion is defined in a way that exempts anything done before the passage of the 2005 Detainee Treatment Act. and anything else Mr. Bush chooses\" in their own inimitable style. This is thoroughly incorrect. and I would like to correct not only the impression but the facts. This bill excludes any evidence obtained through illegal interrogation techniques. including those prohibited by the 2005 Detainee Treatment Act. The goal is to bolster the Detainee Treatment Act by ensuring that the fruits of any illegal treatment will be per se inadmissible in the military commissions. For evidence obtained before passage of the Detainee Treatment Act. we adopted the approach recommended by the military JAGs. In order to admit such evidence. the judgewe leave it to the judgemust find that: it passes the legal reliability testand. as applied in practice. the greater the degree of coercion. the more likely the statement will not be admitted. the evidence possesses sufficient probative value. and that the interests of justice would best be served by admission of the statement into evidence. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2371,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090178451,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the RECORD letters from GEN Colin Powell. GEN Jack Vessey. and GEN Hugh Shelton. and a letter from the former Commandant of the Marine Corps. General Krulak.","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2555,"word_count":37}
{"speech_id":1090178463,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The President says the United States does not engage in torture and there should be no ambiguity on that point. but this bill gives the President authority to reinterpret our obligations and limits judicial oversight of that process. putting our own troops at risk on the battlefield. A fourstar general. former Secretary of State. former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. GEN Colin Powell. wrote: The world is beginning to doubt the pens. we will be back here debating moral basis of our fight against ter- how to bring terrorists to justice. rorism. To redefine Common Article 3 The families of the 9\/11 victims and would add to those doubts. Further- the Nation have been waiting 5 years more. it would put our own troops at for the perpetrators of these attacks to risk. be brought to justice. They should not Second. this bill authorizes a vast ex- have to wait longer. We should get this pansion of the Presidents power to de- right now. we should do it right. We tain people. even U.S. citizens. indefi- are not doing so by passing this bill. nitely and without charge. There are The national security policies of this no procedures for doing so. There is no administration and this Republican due process provided. and no time limit Congress may have been tough. but on the detention is set. they certainly havent been smart. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6287,"word_count":233}
{"speech_id":1090178473,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I and others tried to add funds where possible. but not until recently did the administration begin to respond to the inadequacies along the border. So much more is required and needs to be done. The bill beforethe Senat6 today is a good bill. It would authorize twolayer fencing along the southern border where our security is weakest. and set timetables to which the Congress can hold the administration. But this bill will amount to little or no protection without the resources to implement it. The administration must do more. Without its continued support and a committed effort to prevent illegal immigration. the protective barrier called for in this bill will amount to nothing more than a line drawn in the sands of our porous Southern border.","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3055,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090178483,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The fence proposal we have before us: Goes far beyond what Secretary Chertoff needs. it doubles the size of the fence we have already approved. From 370 miles to 850 miles. It is also expensive. Estimates range from $3 million per mile. And it will not work. Fences will not stop illegal overstayerswho account for 4050 percent of current undocumented population. or the many who continue to come here to work. What the Republican leadership does not seem to get is that comprehensive immigration reform is all about security. The American people want realistic solutions. not piecemeal feelgood measures that will \"waste billions of precious taxpayer dollars and do nothing to correct a serious problem. Sacrificing good immigration policy for political expediency and hateful rhetoric is not just shamefulit is cowardly. Let us be frank. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2073,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090178521,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If you object to making sure AfricanAmerican women across this country have access to lifesaving drugs. you ought to come to the floor and say you object to that be-. cause that is what an objection means for this bill starting October 1. There is already a lack. There are people dying -in three States right now because they have waiting lists for drugs for HIV for people who have no other resources to take care of themselves. Last year I offered an amendment on this floor. fully paid for and offset. for $60 million for additional ADAP funds that would have taken care of the verypeople who are going to suffer from this bill. and the very same Senators who are blocking this bill voted against those funds for those people who have no treatment today. There is something very wrong in the Senate when the leaders of the charge for this bill. with the exception of Senator KENNEDY who has done miraculous work with Senator ENZIthe leaders in the charge for getting this bill and making sure everybody has equal access to care for HIV in this country are four conservative Senators. We ought to ask a question about that. Why are. we down here fighting for this? We believe in equal treatment. We believe in equal access. Where are the people who claim all the time to defend that? Why arent they here on the floor of the Senate? I want to make a couple of other points. The LaborHHS bill that we are going to be voting on this fall has $1 billion in earmarks in it. $1 billion in earmarks. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4860,"word_count":275}
{"speech_id":1090178535,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"CDC has offered to provide assistance to States throughout the. process. In fact. I recently confirmed today that CDC has already offered California technical assistance--up to six staff for up to 6 monthsto help them make this change. Further. given some confusion about that technical assistance. I have asked CDC to send a letter to California. restating that they would provide that assistance.. Mr. President. Senator HATCH was the chairman of this committee when the original Ryan White HIV\/AIDS treatment bill went through. He is the one that selected the name of Ryan White. He has an explanation of how that came about and the differences this bill has made and the urgency with which this needs to be done right now.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":726,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090178536,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He was determined to continue at his school and live life normally. But in 1985. not many people knew the truth about AIDS. Not very much was known about AIDS at all. Most of the socalled facts that people claimed to know were speculation. So Ryan faced a lot of discrimination. mostly based on the unknown. Ryan was soon expelled from his high school because of the supposed health risk to other students. His situation became one of the most controversial cases in North America. with AIDS activists lobbying to have him reinstated while attempting to explain to the public that AIDS cannot be transmitted by casual contact. After legal battles. Ryan and his mother settled with the school to have separate restrooms and use disposable silverware from the cafeteria. He agreed to drink from separate water fountains and no longer used the high school gymnasium. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4594,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090178551,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Prosecutors say Adam Blackford and Yitzak Marta met Walker outside of a gay night club and murdered him. Marta testified at Blackfords trial that the motivation for this crime was the victims sexual orientation. I believe that the Governments first duty is to defend its citizens. to defend them against the harms that come out of.hate. The Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act is a symbol that can become substance. I believe that by passing this legislation and changing current law. we can change hearts and minds as well.","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1114,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090178552,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Finally someone with the guts to stand up and call it what it isa sham. I think you have taken over Toby Keiths place as my favorite Oklahoman.\" Al of Clinton. CT: \"Its about time someone with a loud microphone spoke up on the global warming scam. You have courageif only this message could get into the schools where kids are being. browbeaten with the fear message almost daily.\" Kevin of Jacksonville. FL. writes: \"Im so glad that we have leaders like you who are willing to stand up against the onslaught of liberal media. Hollywood and the foolish elected officials on this topic. Please keep up the fight.\" Steven of Phoenix. AZ. writes: \"As a scientist. I am extremely pleased to see that there is at least one Member of Congress who recognizes the global warming hysteria for what it is. I am extremely impressed by the Senators summary and wish he was running fMr President.\" Craig of Grand Rapids. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8611,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090178556,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to recognize the exceptional generosity and work of Park B. Smith and his wife. Linda Johnson Smith. Park and I met through our mutual involvement in The Marine Corps--Law Enforcement Foundation. an organization that believes in and supports the potential of our youth. They provide scholarship bonds for children of activeduty Marines and Federal law enforcement personnel killed in the line of duty. Park has become a good friend and someone whom I admire. Park. an alumnus of the College of the Holy Cross. and Linda have a strong belief in the value of education and have exemplified this dedication. Through their generosity. the College of the Holy Cross has been able to continue to grow and build itscommunity. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":909,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090178557,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in early August. I was unable to be in Washington for the cloture vote on the socalled trifecta bill. which so insidiously tried to hold hostage a necessary increase in the minimum wage and necessary extensions of tax credits important to American families and business to an excessive and unjustifiable reduction in the estate tax paid by the richest families in our country. I want to make clear that I would not have voted to allow this bill to proceed and that my inability to cast a vote in no way undercut the effort to stop this outrageous legislation. Since it was necessary for proponents of the legislation to find 60 votes irrespective of the number of votes against cloture cast by those of us in opposition. the very act of not voting for the cloture motion","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":785,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090178566,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing Charities for the Blind. a nonprofit organization in southern California. This organization continues to make a positive impact on the lives of individuals who axe blind or visually impaired. Charities for the Blind is an organization that provides computer adaptive technology and training to blind and visually impaired individuals. The men and women who volunteer their time and energy to this organization provide an important service to the people of Southern California and our Nation. Charities for the Blind was created by Craig Schneider in 2000 after he suffered a complete loss of his vision. Craig Schneider is a general building contractor who became blind after complications from radiation treatments and exposure to radon gas. He found it difficult to adapt to a visually impaired lifestyle. He took computer -courses with the assistance of computer adaptive technology but found them difficult and frustrating. Other students were similarly frustrated. and when some began to drop out of classes. he knew that he was not alone. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3080,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090178570,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In order to apply to be a blue ribbon school. the White Lake School District submitted a 27page application outlinihg their strategies and techniques for learning success. Mr. President. I am proud to have this opportunity to honor White Lake School District. It is a privilege for me to share with my colleagues the exemplary leadership and tireless commitment to education that White Lake School District provides to its students. I strongly commend the hard work and dedication that the faculty. administrators. and staff devote to White Lake schools. and I am very pleased that their hard work and the. students substantial efforts are being publicly honored and celebrated. On behalf of all South Dakotans. I would like to congratulate this extraordinary school system and wish them continued success.*","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1843,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090178573,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I honor Mr. Jimmy Williamson. who will become the first Alabamian to serve as chairman of the board for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. This is a tremendous honor. both for Jimmy and for Alabama. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants serves as the national professional association for more than 350.000 certified public accountants. Jimmys education. experience. and passion for finance make him the best choice to take the helm of the organization. Jimmy. a past president of the Alabama Society of CPAs. is a senior partner and stockholder in the MDA Professional Group accounting firm where he specializes in profit sharing plans. fringe benefits. nonqualified deferred compensation plans. estate and personal financial planning. business acquisitions. .and investment review and analysis. I am also proud to say that Jimmy and I share an interest in fraud prevention and detection. one of the most important financial issues we face today. His professional work and leadership on committees. that are too plentiful to name. make him uniquely qualified and prepared for this position. I am proud to recognize his professional achievements and congratulate him on this important post.e","speaker_name":"RICHARD SHELBY","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1250,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090178576,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I .wish to recognize the efforts of a good friend and to highlight his service to our Nation. Thomas R. Etling. of Chesterfield MO. is privileged to have served for 26 years as an adjunct faculty member of the Saint Louis Community College at Florissant Valley. In his years in the Business and Human Relations Division. he has taught a variety of subjects ranging from statistics. to marketing and human relations. Throughout Mr. Etlings career. he has been honored with several distinctions for his hard work 2nd dedication in the classroom. During the 20012002 academic year. he was selected as Adjhnct Faculty Member of the Year. In 2004. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JAMES TALENT","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1436,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090178578,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"From the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. for consideration of sections 101104. 107109. and 204 of the House bill. and sections 101104. 106108. 111. 202. 232. 234. 235. 503. 507512. 514. 517519. title VI. sections 703. 902. 905. 906. 1103. 1104. 11071110. 1114. and 1115 of the Senate amendment. and modifications committed to conference: Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. SHUSTER\" and Mr. OBERSTAR. From the Committee on Ways and Means. for consideration of sections 102. 121. 201. 203 and 301 of the House bill. and sections 201. 203. 304. 401404. 407. and 1105 of the Senate amendment. and modifications committed to conference: Mr. THOMAS. Mr. SHAW. and Mr. \"RANGEL. as managers of the conference on the part of the House. ","speaker_name":"BILL PASCRELL","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1592,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090178581,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"To address these health concerns. the Latina Health Access Act provides a twofold approach to dealing with this problem. First. the bill would provide greater health access to Latinas. Second. the bill would provide educational outreach programs targeted at Latinas in regards to health care access. The bill would create a program at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that provides funding -for highperforming hospitals and community health centers targeted at serving the growing Latina population of the United States. Also. the bill would mandate that HHS provide grants to various nonprofita. state or local governments that serve Latino communities. and lastly to women of color who seek to create diversity in the health care community. Finally. the bill would direct HHS to provide $18 million for grants to fund research institutions so that they may conduct research on the health status of Latinas. The Latina Health Access Act also focuses on educational outreach to the Latina population. The bill would fund health education programs targeted specifically to Latinas through communitycentered informational forums. public service announcements and media campaigns. Adequate health access is the key to diagnosing and treating diseases before they become deadly and rampant. We need to strengthen our efforts to bring greater health access to the Latina population. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3412,"word_count":213}
{"speech_id":1090178582,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting thiseffort. I ask unanimous consent that the text of my bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2643,"word_count":25}
{"speech_id":1090178585,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But today. 30 years later. about 24 million older homes. and millions of other buildings. have deteriorating lead paint and elevated levels of leadcontaminated dust. We know how children are typically .exposed. We know what the health effects from exposure are. And we know how to fix the source of the exposure. The one thing we dont know how to do is reverse the brain damage once it has occurred. So. otherwise healthy chtldren wind up facing a lifetime of disadvantage because we have failed to eradicate this insidious problem. Every day. millions of American parents drop their children off at child care facilities on their way to work. Nearly 12 million children under age 5 spend 40 hours a week in child care. And every day. many of those children in older buildings may be exposed to lead poisoning. While many child care facilities have taken steps to ensure sources of potential lead exposure are eliminated. too many operate in older buildings that need repair or remodeling to ensure these sources are contained. ","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2952,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090178589,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. when companies make headlines today it is often for all the wrong reasons: fraud. tax avoidance. profiteering. etc. Yet many of the companies that are currently providing jobs across America are conscientious corporate citizens that strive to treat their workers fairly even as they seek to create good products that consumers want and to maximize profits for their shareholders. I believe that we should reward such companies for providing good jobs to American workers. and create incentives that encourage more companies to do likewise. The Patriot Employers bill does just that. This legislation. which I am introducing today along with Senator OBAMA. would provide a tax credit to reward the companies that treat American workers best. Companies that provide American jobs. pay decent wages. provide good benefits. and support their employees when they are called to active duty should enjoy more favorable tax treatment than companies that are unwilling to make the same commitment to American workers. The Patriot Employers tax credit would put the tax code on the side of those deserving companies by acknowledging their commitments. The Patriot Employers legislation would provide a tax credit equal to 1 percent of taxable income to employers that meet the following criteria: First. invest in American jobs. by maintaining or increase the number of fulltime workers in America relative to the number of fulltime workers outside of America and also by maintaining their corporate headquarters in America if the company has ever been headquartered in America. Second. pay decent wages. by paying each worker an hourly wage that would ensure that a fulltime worker would earn enough to keep a family of three out of poverty. at least $8.00 per hour. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2997,"word_count":282}
{"speech_id":1090178592,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I have heard from parents. teachers and school administrators that students with severe food allergies often face inconsistent food allergy management approaches when they change schoolswhether they get promoted or move to a different city. Too often. families are not aware of the food allergy policy at their childrens school. or the policy is vastly different from the one they knew at their previous school. and they are left wondering \u0095whether their child is safe. Last year. Connecticut became the first State to enact schoolbased guidelines concerning food allergies and the prevention of lifethreatening incidents in schools. I am very proud of these efforts. and I know that the parents of children who suffer from food allergies in Connecticut have confidence that their children are safe throughout the school day. Other States. such as Massachusetts. have enacted similar guidelines. Tennessee school districts are poised to implement their statewide guidelines in July. But too many States across the country have food allergy management guidelines that are inconsistent from one school district to the next. In my view. this lack of consistency underscores the need for enactment of uniform. Federal policies that school districts can choose to adopt and implement. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3862,"word_count":198}
{"speech_id":1090178595,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"My bill would require the VA to create a curriculum and required protocols for training VA staff to better screen PTSD. It also would require the VA to commit -additional staff and resources to this challenge. During my years in the Navy. I learned one of the most important lessons of my entire life: Never leave a buddy behind. Thats true on the battlefieldand its also true after our service members return home. Often. the physical wounds of combat are repaired. but the mental damagethe psychological scars of combatcan haunt a person for a lifetime. One study shows that about 17 percent of activeduty service members who served in Iraq screened positive for. anxiety. depression. or PTSD. This number is comparable to rates of PTSD experienced by Vietnam War veterans. But. in the decades since. scientists have learned that quick intervention is critical to ensuring that an acute stress reaction does not become a chronic mental illness. This is exactly the aim of my bill: to improve early detection and intervention . . . to save lives . . . and to prevent longterm mental illness. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2380,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090178620,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. as in executive session. I ask unanimous consent that the injunction of secrecy be removed from the following agreements transmitted to the Senate on September 28. 2006. by the President of the United States: Mutual legal assistance agreement with the European Union. Treaty Document 10913. Extradition agreement with the European Union. Treaty Document 10914. I further ask that the agreements be considered as having been read the first time. that they be referred. with accompanying papers. to the Committee on Foreign Relations and ordered to be printed. and that the Presidents messages be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":632,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090178624,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it stand in adjournment until 9:30 a.m. on Friday. September 29. I further ask that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the Senate proceed to a period for the transaction of morning business. with the time equally divided -between the two leaders or their designees until 10 a.m.. further. that at 10 a.m.. the Senate proceed to a vote on the adoption of the conference report to accompany H.R. 5631. the Department of Defense appropriations bill.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":664,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090178636,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. the Iraq war has gone from shock and awe to shocked at how awful it is. On the heels of the public disclosure of the NIE estimates. todays Washington Post reports that the Baghdad Police College. was so poorly constructed it might need to be demolished. Special Inspector for Iraq Reconstruction said. \"This is the most essential civil security project in the country. It is a failure. The Baghdad Police Academy is a disaster.\" There are foundation problems. tile floors are warped beyond repair. faucets leak. toilet waste flooding all over the second and third floors. The. Parsons Corporation did such a bad job with the $75 million in U.S. taxpayer money it was awarded to build the new facility. the whole facility may need to be torn down. The Persons Corporation received a $1 billion contract. $12 billion gone. wasted. unaccounted for in Iraq. But what is $12.5 billion among friends? That wasted money follows a long line of other costly mistakes. including this Congresss refusal to hold anybody accountable.","speaker_name":"RAHM EMANUEL","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1035,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090178642,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I urge President Bush to convey the following message to the government of Vietnam during his travel there in November for the AsiaPacific Economic Corporation Conference. The U.S. supports the people of the 8406 Democracy Movement who are working toward a free and democratic Vietnam and strongly objects to any mistreatment of them.","speaker_name":"LORETTA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":47.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1173,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090178660,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"that the House in discussing the port Madam Speaker. homeland security is security bill with the Senate refuses to not a red or blue State issue. It is a provide funding for protecting subred. white and blue issue. It is an ways. trains and buses across our NaAmerican issue. When al Qaeda struck tion. us 5 years ago. it did not distinguish its atc i n nn M rd and victims. The terrorists did not care if Muma in Dem o wa ts e Mumbai? Democrats want to secure you were from a red or blue State. our border. and we want to do it right. Party distinctions mattered little to Five years \/ Fieyasago the President anterrorists. Mother nature. too. had lit nounced that he was creating an Office tle use for arbitrary partisan labels as of Homeland Securityto provide a rowe learned with Hurricane Katrina and bust and effective border security proRita. Those terrible storms inflicted gram. Half a decade later. Southwest suffering on all the people of the gulf Governors were forced to declare borcoast. der emergencies. and the National The American people expect that Guard was sent to the U.S.-Mexican homeland security is one of our top na- border to assist with the growing bortional priorities. and the 9\/11 Commis- der crisis. sion. the bipartisan panel we created. ","speaker_name":"BENNIE THOMPSON","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3912,"word_count":222}
{"speech_id":1090178681,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. I think the gentleman protests too much because he failed -to acknowledge that he hadan opportunity to vote on the minimum wage on this floor in this body. He had an opportunity to vote to extend tax credits for research and development. something that is certainly important to California. his home State. the birthplace of the silicone revolution and which allows us to keep on the cutting edge of the economy. The research and development tax credits allow us to compete in the global marketplace so that companies can be global headhunters and bring in the best talent from around the world. create jobs and build businesses here in this country. Not only did he vote against the minimum Wage for the lowest end of the workforce spectrum. but he voted against extending those same incentives to invest in laboratories. to invest in innovation. to invest in intellectual capital in this country at the high end of the workforce spectrum as well. He also denied the opportunity for 10 States in this country to be able to extend the sales tax deductibility. the same type of State and local deductibility that other states enjoy on a regular basis in this country. And he denied hundreds of thousands of small businesses around this country and family farms the opportunity to keep what they have built. to allow their business to pass from one generation to another. He has had the opportunity to vote on a minimum wage. and he chose to Vote against it. ","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3048,"word_count":266}
{"speech_id":1090178720,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I want to interject myself in the spirit of debate that. we are having here. and want to thank both sides for making this a bit more fun than normal. But we heard a couple of words here today. one of them was \"bitterness.\" one of them was \"market forces.\" and one was \"business.\" If you look at the Republicancontrolled Congress and you look at running the government like a business. I think you fail on all accounts. I think when you talk about losing $9 billion in Iraq.- and no one knows where it is. that is not running government like a business. When you look at all of the waste. this government is being run like it is 1950 with misleading information. Now we are moving into a new economy. knowledgedbased and informationbased. and the government has not changed at all. All of the guys. who came in here with Newt Gingrich in 1994. you may remember the big Republican revolution. we are going to balance the budget. we are going to run this thing like a business. we are going to have a smaller government. you are talking about a trillion dollar Medicare drug program. and you have to go back to your conservative base and you have to tell them that you passed it without any ability to negotiate down the drug prices. Good luck in the next 5 weeks. You have to go back to them and say we are for free markets. ","speaker_name":"TIM RYAN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":17.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3592,"word_count":250}
{"speech_id":1090178731,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Reclaiming my time. I know the gentleman knows that in the defense appropriations bill. that we have language in there right now that would allow it to be legal for our seniors that live at or close to the border to go across the border either into Canada or Mexico and .buy those lower priced drugs. But the point is this bill. Medicare Modernization and Prescription Drug Act. is lower in prices to the point where all of that is not even necessary.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":451,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090178771,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in reluctant support of this bill and in strong support of its authors--who got what they could from a President who has a veto pen. and is determined to continue our ineffectual policy toward Iran. America has been blinded by the flash of this Presidents overly aggressive response to Iraqs tiny \"weapons of mass destruction\" program. So. as a result. we have settled for a loud but pitifully ineffectual effort. both toward North Koreas nuclear program and toward Irans. In this bill. I had an amendment that would have prohibited U.S. corporations from doing business with Iran through their foreign subsidiaries. That amendment was stripped in conference. So Halliburton is protected. the American people are not. This bill extends the IranLibya Sanctions Act. which was so effective. along with other measures. in getting Khadaffi to cliange his policies. ","speaker_name":"BRAD SHERMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":27.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1644,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090178773,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Republicans have given us H.R. 6198. the We Run the World Act. There is no need for other nations to actually have governments. actually. We will send our press releases. Just follow along. Russia. Iraq. Iran. Pakistan. Lebanon. and anywhere else where we think we. run them. Republicans want Americans to point the finger and send along instructions. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1974,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090178783,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time to close. Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the gentlewomans work because the bill that we have before us. as I mentioned earlier. is. a substantial -improvement over the one that was approved by the House earlier this year. I had hoped it would come back to our committee because I think these issues are worthy of further discussion. and there is more finetuning we could do. For instance. dealing with the provisions for terms of the promotion of democracy. reading the language that is in this bill. the Ayatollah Khomeini. in exile in France. would have qualified for U.S. assistance. We could have had a debacle like we had with Chalabi. I dont think it is as tight and precise as we would like. ","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1589,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090178786,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This legislation takes us a step closer to similar results in Iran. I urge my colleagues to vote \"no\".","speaker_name":"FORTNEY STARK","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1785,"word_count":19}
{"speech_id":1090178788,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in opposition to H.R. 6198. the Iran Freedom Support Act. because this bill could very well derail the diplomatic efforts currently underway that are our best hope for ending the possibility of an Iranian nuclear weapon. Let me be clear that I agree with the great majority of which this bill would do. I believe that we should extend the Iran Libya Sanctions Act. I believe that we should support human rights in Iran. But as with so many things in life. Mr. Speaker. timing is everything. And this is the wrong time to pass this bill. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1510,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090178798,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This trigger builds accountability into every contract .made for the Secure Border Initiative and will provide the American public with some certainty about where their money is going. This bill also will allow the Inspector General to express. its concerns if they find unsatisfactory practices early on. They will not have to wait until all the money is out the door and excuses are being made before they get involved in the oversight of this multibillion dollar project. Mr. Speaker. I also want to emphasize that this review would include the assessment of the inclusion of small. minority. and womenowned businesses in any subcontracting plans. an area of constant challenge for the Department. I guess some people would wonder why this kind of oversight is necessary or whether wve are being fair. Let me tell you why this kind of oversight is necessary for a project of this size. First of all. SBInet is expected to cost around $2.5 billion. ","speaker_name":"BENNIE THOMPSON","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3110,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090178803,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. I would like to sum up by emphasizing that it is critically important for the Members to recognize that we need to put these kinds of accountability measures in place so that we can ensure that as we go forward with the massive expenditures we are going to make to secure our borders that we dont have a repeat of the waste. fraud. and abuse that we have seen in the past. With that. Mr. Speaker. I urge an \"aye\" vote for H.R. 6162. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"MIKE ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":534,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090178809,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would like to thank the 20 members of the Energy and Commerce Committee who joined me as original cosponsors of the bill. Mr. Speaker. I would also like to specifically commend Chairman DEBORAH PRYCE of Ohio and Chairman NANCY JOHNSON of Connecticut for their strong and continued leadership on this important issue. I encourage my colleagues to support the legislation. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2379,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090178814,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I have no other requests for time. \u0095 In closing. I would like to express my appreciation to Mr. PALLONE. who was an original cosponsor of this legislation. And it is true that we have made a bipartisan effort. I think that is the way we should do more things around here. I appreciate the cooperative spirit with which this bill has now moved through both bodies.","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":376,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090178815,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"OH. Strong leadership. a clear vision. and a compassionate teamof medical professionals has made Columbus Childrens one of the best hospitals in the nation caring for sick children.","speaker_name":"DEBORAH PRYCE","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1191,"word_count":28}
{"speech_id":1090178843,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of the Ryan White CARE Act and the great care that it offers for those suffering from HIV\/AIDS. But today I reluctantly rise in opposition to this legislation because it contains flawed provisions with harsh and negative effects for New Yorks Hudson Valley and New York State. I represent Dutchess County. New York. and the eligible metropolitan area in that county. If this bill is passed. Dutchess County would lose up to 5 percent the first year. and then incrementally more in the second and third year. And by the fourth year. all funds for title I would be eliminated for Dutchess County. Title I money goes for support and services for people living with HIV\/ AIDS. ","speaker_name":"SUE KELLY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1847,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090178851,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 30 seconds. I appreciate the gentlewomans passion. but I just want to point out the fafts. If we dont pass this bill today. the City of Los Angeles. in 3 days. is. going to lose over $4 million. and the State is going to lose over $6 million. The State could lose up to 21 percent of its AIDS funds. Now. those are the facts. [] 1500","speaker_name":"JOE BARTON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":361,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090178856,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Gene Copello. I wont read the entire letter. but I want to read parts of it. It says. \"Dear Representative: The AIDS Institute.\" and this is a nonpartisan institute. \"urges you to vote yes today on the Ryan White HIV\/ AIDS Treatment Modernization Act. H.R. 6143. \"While no bill that is crafted through a series of compromises is perfect. the AIDS Institute strongly supports its immediate passage because it would better direct limited resources throughout the country in a more equitable fashion. Additionally. it contains a number of important reforms that seek to update the law to better reflect todays epidemic. \"If the bill is not passed this week. a number of States and the District of Columbia will lose funding-. and the important reforms contained in the bill will not be allowed to be implemented for the coming year.\" Mr. Speaker. the bill before us is the result of bipartisan. bicameral negotiations over a several year period. ","speaker_name":"JOE BARTON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2122,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090178866,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Florida. the conference featured a \"sizzling\" fashion show. beach party. and \"Latin Fiesta.\" Indirect costs are not yet available from HHS regarding the cost of sending 67 employees from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 5 employees from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). and one NIH contractor. While such spending strikes one as strange. the examples .dont end there. The New York Times reported that New York was paying for dog walking and candlelit dinners with AIDS funds. while other areas of the country do not even have sufficient funds to pay for medications for those living with HIV. Hot lunches. haircuts. art classes. and even tickets to Broadway shows were financed by federal funding. Indeed. although the federal government spends over $21 billion on HIV\/AIDS annually. up to a staggering 59 percent of Americans with HIV are not in regular care. This misallocation of funds is great cause for concern and should motivate Members of Congress to respond by supporting the reauthorization of the Ryan White CARE Act. By doing so. greater oversight in funding would be provided. The reauthorization of this act would prioritize medical care and treatment over less essential services and* programs. I ask my colleagues to support this reauthorization.","speaker_name":"MARK SOUDER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2475,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090178867,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. when Congress passed the Ryan White CARE Act in 1990. we sent hope to millions of Americans who were living under a death sentence that came with a diagnosis of HIV or AIDS. In large part because of Ryan White. outcomes have dramatically improved. This bill fails to uphold the hopeful tradition of the original legislation because it creates a system of winner and losers in the allocation of federal resources. This major reauthorization of our federal HIV\/AIDS policy is also being considered- under suspension of the rules. prohibiting Members from offering amendments to address the serious deficiencies in the bill. Last week. I offered an amendment with several of my colleagues from the Califomia. New York and New Jersey delegations to increase the overall authorization levels in the bill which would helps address the needs of communities more recently affected by the epidemic. Our amendment also extended the hold harmless provisions- of the bill by two years to ensure that the historic epicenters of the disease do not experience precipitous declines in funding levels from year to year. Our amendment was defeated by a single vote. ","speaker_name":"ANNA ESHOO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2416,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090178876,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I thank my friend from New Jersey for visiting us in Arizona from time to time. I would also note that President Raphael Bear of the Fort McDowell Yavapai community worked very hard on this. coming to see me personally and giving great testimony here on July 12. Mr. Speaker. I have no additional speakers. would urge passage of this legislation and yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":944,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090178896,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. with these expressions of concerns and provisions. I would support this legislation. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1899,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090178898,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H.R. 4846. the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library Authorization Act. which will authorize grants from the National Archives for the establishment of a Presidential library to provide educational and interpretive service to honor the life of Woodrow Wilson. As a statesman. scholar and President. Woodrow Wilson faced economic crisis. democratic decay. and a world war. Presidential historians agree that World War I and President Wilsons leadership radically altered the role of diplomacy as a tool of foreign policy. a policy that established a new path for Americas role in promoting democracies throughout the world. So. too. did Wilsons highminded ideals craft a legacy that shaped the powers and responsibilities of the executive branch in times of war. Mr. Speaker. as a professor and President of Princeton University. Wilson created a more selective and accountable system for higher education. ","speaker_name":"BOB GOODLATTE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2990,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090178899,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As President. Wilson promoted numerous social and economic reforms including the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. H.R. 4846 authorizes a matching grant program to establish the Wilson Library at the Presidents birthplace in Staunton. I have had the pleasure of visiting the museum there on many occasions and my nephew. Brett. especially enjoyed seeing the fully restored PierceArrow limousine that was used to transport President Wilson from New York to Washington upon his return from France in 1919 after negotiating the Treaty of Versailles. I commend the gentleman from Virginia. Mr. GOODLATTE. for this legislation and urge my colleagues to support H.R. 4846. [ 1530","speaker_name":"VIRGIL GOODE","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1188,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090178915,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. research indicates that more than 77.000 women in the United States will be diagnosed with reproductive cancer in 2006. The Gynecologic Cancer Foundation works with oncologists. cancer survivors and advocates so that one day these cancers can be prevented or detected at their earliest stages. I am pleased to speak on behalf of this resolution honoring the 15th anniversary of the Gynecologic Cancer Foundation as well as this mission to raise awareness about the prevention. early detection. and treatment of reproductive cancers. I urge all Members to join me in supporting the goals and ideals of Gynecologic Cancer Awareness Month by agreeing to H. Con. Res. 473. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WESTMORELAND","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":784,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090178925,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If infant mortality rates are low. then it means that the quality of life is high. It is pretty obvious. Mr. Speaker. that we need to do more to deal effectively across the board with the quality of life for people in our country. a great Nation. in an effort to make it even greater. I strongly support this resolution and urge all of my colleagues to do so. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2014,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090178952,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to support H. Con. Res. 222. a resolution commending the goals and ideals of National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. As a practicing OB\/GYN for almost 40 years. I know there are few things more devastating than losing a child to medical complications such as a miscarriage or a stillbirth. Americans should take every opportunity to provide comfort and support to people who have suffered such a grievous loss. I also wish to pay tribute to the efforts of Mrs. Robyn Bear. who played an instrumental role in bringing this issue befor6 Congress. ","speaker_name":"RONALD PAUL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1687,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090178961,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"University of Georgia halftime. I want to say to any of them that go on and play college baseball. do not go to Auburn or Alabama just to cross the river. Stay in Columbus. go to LaGrange College. University of Georgia. Bulldogs. Georgia Tech. Kennesaw State University. We have got some great baseball teams in Georgia. and that is where we want them to play.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2295,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090178973,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"\"I have just returned from visiting the Marines at the front. and there is not a finer organization in the world\" than the Marine Corps. Lance Corporal Robert \"Robbie\" Alexander Martinez was a member of this fine fighting organization. and. as mentioned. he was killed in December. 2005. while fighting and serving our Nation in Iraq. He volunteered to join the Marines. and he volunteered to go to Iraq. He was a member of the 2nd Battalion. 7th Marine Regiment. the 1st Marine Division. based at the Marine Air Corps Ground and Combat Center. Twentynine Palms. California. Lance Corporal Martinez was 20 years of age when he died. He was on his second tour of Iraq. and he had spent 7 months on the Syrian border. He went to Iraq and Fallujah after 2004. and then he and nine.other Marines .were killed last December when a roadside bomb exploded next to them. Lance Corporal Martinez was scheduled to come home to Texas within a week of his death. but at the last minute his tour was extended for over a month and a half. ","speaker_name":"TED POE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4099,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090178980,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"On this side of the aisle. I would especially like to thank Ricardo Martinez for his work in keeping the process moving forward. Aging is a fact of life. However. through the establishment of Social Security. Medicare. and the enactment of the Older Americans Act. living in poverty no longer is a fact of aging. From 1959 to 2002. the percentage of older people living in poverty fell from 35 percent down to 10 percent. The Older Americans Act of 1965 is the landmark legislation that articulated our core values as a Nation. The act begins with a declaration of objectives which includes the following: \"Retirement in health. honor. dignity. after years of contribution to the economy.\" This is a statement of our national obligation to older Americans. The Older Americans Act represents our commitment to meeting that obligation.. This law provides for supportive services. such as transportation. housekeeping. and personal care. ","speaker_name":"RUBEN HINOJOSA","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4503,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090179008,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"fornia. Mr. Speaker. I rise in opposition to the motion to instruct. not because I disagree with the intent of the gentleman from Mississippi nor the other speakers on the other side. but rather. lets not screw up a good deal. We have worked very hard on a bipartisan basis to bring forth a major piece of legislation dealing with an area of the country that needs to be addressed. and that is port security. The name of the bill is the Safe Ports Bill. The Senate retained our number. retained the name. the guts of our bill is in this conference report that I believe we will complete before the end of today. And if we instruct conferees in this regard. frankly. we complicate the effort to reach a final conclusion. I am concerned about the area of rail and mass transit security. As a matter of fact. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL LUNGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":945,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090179017,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Dubai Ports Worlds failed attempt to take over shipping operations here in America was what finally got our country to focus on securing our ports. The SAFE Port\/GreenLanes bill is a critical piece of legislation and a bipartisan effort. It is a comprehensive first step to make our ports safer. We must make port security a high priority. I strongly support moving this bill through Congress.","speaker_name":"C. RUPPERSBERGER","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1917,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090179039,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to thank my friend from Florida for yielding me the time. Mr. Speaker. yesterday we dealt with the issues of torture and military tribunals under a closed rule. No amendments allowed. Today we deal with the issue of domestic spying. also under a closed rule. Never mind that there are profound constitutional issues at stake. This Republican leadership has decided it is more important to debate suspension bills than matters that could likely undermine the most sacred rights of our people. This bill authorizes more warrantless surveillance of American citizens than Congress has ever authorized in American history. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3914,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090179052,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"fornia. Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding. and I note the gentleman from Floridas fondness for quoting Benjamin Franklin. It is interesting the debate we are engaged in today is not a new debate. because there has always been debate about the tension that has been developed or actually written into the Constitution among the three branches of government dealing with difficult issues like this. And while the gentleman from Florida commended us to a conversation by the esteemed Founding Father Benjamin Franklin. I would give him another one. In 1776. Benjamin Franklin and the other four members of the Committee on Secret Correspondence explained their unanimous decision not to tell their colleagues in the Continental Congress about a sensitive U.S.French covert operation by writing: \"We find. by fatal experience. that Congress consists of too many Members to keep secrets.\" There was a tension that they understood at that time. and there is a tension that naturally resides in this because of the unique character of the President as Commander in Chief and his ability to ferret out foreign intelligence. So the question is how do we try and deal with that tension? I would suggest to my colleagues that the fact that we have not had an attack since 2001 on U.S. soil is something for which we can all be thankful. but safer does not mean there is any room for complacency. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL LUNGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2602,"word_count":236}
{"speech_id":1090179060,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So if it is up in. a desk drawer in a hotel in the opinion of the administration that Islamabad and you look at who their there is an emergency situation to profrequently called numbers are. dont tect our country. they can go on that you .think. that says a lot about that phone to find that terrorist. but they person and who they are talking to? would be able to have 14 days before Certainly if you look at your own it they go to a FISA judge. But the issue says an awful lot about you. who your is they have to go to a FISA judge. and friends are. who your stockbroker is. that is the check and balance we do what your wifes cell phone number is. have in this country. Look at your own device. And we use If we get information on an importhat same common sense. that same. in- tant target. we can conduct vestigative approach to the terrorists. warrantless surveillance for 14 days beSo when we look at the laptop or fore going to a FISA judge. That is givwhen we look at the cell phone in ing the tools that we need. That Islamabad or London or Hamburg or amendment was rejected.. New York and there are numbers on The purpose of my amendment was there from a known al Qaeda operative to make sure that in an emergency to someone in -the United States. we there was absolutely no chance that ought to be on that number as quickly the men and women of the NSA would as possible. have to turn off their equipment just because they didnt have enough time to get a warrant. Anything else is an assault on com- As the Member who represents NSA. mon sense. We must move as quickly. which is in my district. who sits on the as efficiently as possible. using every Intelligence Committee and is one of technology at our disposal to prevent the handful of Members briefed into terrorist attacks. to disrupt terrorist the Presidents program. I would have attacks. and to bring to justice the hoped that my amendment would have people who are planning them. been in order. ","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4888,"word_count":371}
{"speech_id":1090179093,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. I join with my colleague. Mr. ISSA. in introducing this legislation because I believe it is a worthy proposal that is narrowly drafted and will provide us with valuable and important insight on the operation of patent litigation in the Federal court system. This patent pilot program. created under the bill. is designed to enhance expertise in patent cases among district judges. provides district courts with resources and training to reduce error rates in patent cases. and helps reduce the high cost and lost time associated with patent litigation. The legislation has received an impressive display of broadbased support from a wideranging spectrum of interested parties. including the technology industry. the pharmaceutical industry. the consumer electronics industry. biotech. intellectual property owners and other IP organizations. as well as a U.S. district chief judge. Several months ago. the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Courts. Internet and Intellectual Property held a hearing on improving Federal court adjudication of patent cases. At this hearing a number of proposed solutions were discussed. serious concerns were expressed with other proposals that would have called for the creation of a new specialized court as well as proposals that would move all patent cases to an existing specialized court. These concerns centered around the need to maintain. generalist judges. random case assignment. and to maintain the important legal percolation that occurs currently among the various district courts.Our approach avoids these pitfalls and is a worthwhile program that Congress should establish on a test basis. ","speaker_name":"ADAM SCHIFF","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3212,"word_count":247}
{"speech_id":1090179121,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank my colleague. Mr. Speaker. Let us be clear about one thing. As we have all said. we understand that electronic surveillance is a vital tool in the war on terror..We all want to know when Osama bin Laden is calling: when he is calling. who he is calling. and what he is saying. Existing law. FISA. gives the President the authority to do that. And if the President wants greater flexibility in using that authority. he should come to the Congress and tell us exactly what additional authority he needs. As has been said. this Congress has already amended FISA. the electronic surveillance law. more than 25 times since 9\/11 to accommodate changing technologies. That is why it was so troubling to learn that what we as a Congress did in the PATRIOT Act with respect to electronic surveillance was essentially a meaningless exercise. ","speaker_name":"CHRIS VAN HOLLEN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1989,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090179145,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This has not been an easy task. She has worked diligently to address a number of complex. substantive issues and a range of interests within the House. Mr. Speaker. I believe that this bill is not only necessary but vital to protect our Nation and the American people. The Nation demands that the Congress pass laws to protect our national security. This is what this bill does. I urge all Members to support it. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"PETER HOEKSTRA","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5521,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090179156,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This bill heads us down a dangerous path. The radical changes this bill makes to FISA definitions and standards represent a wholesale rewrite of the law. They nullify FISA by exempting large categories of U.S. person communications from the warrant requirement. and it rubberstamps all forms of data mining. The American people want us to protect them. but they dont want us to throw the Constitution overboard. May I remind everyone. with the obligation that we have to the American people when we come here. the oath we take says that we will uphold the Constitution of the United States. This bill does not live up to our Constitution. It gives away the fourth amendment. Members of the House should reject it.","speaker_name":"HEATHER WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"F","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1532,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090179159,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But we are in the midst of an election. I have been on the Judiciary Committee since I came as a freshman 6 years ago. I am very concerned about civil rights. about protecting Americans civil rights. And if I could just take a minute to get beyond the partisanism for a moment. I am also an Arab American. I am exactly the group that is likely to have to think about is my call to Yemen or to Lebanon or to Jordan or any of the other expanded places that I have family and friends. is that going to be potentially monitored? I have thought about that. I have soul searched it for myself and for many millions of people like myself in the United States who are Americans born and raised but. in fact. have friends and family abroad. I am comfortable with this bill. I am comfortable with the parts that are unclassified. and I am comfortable with what I have learned on a classified basis. That doesnt come easy. but I have made the effort to do so. ","speaker_name":"DARRELL ISSA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":49.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1943,"word_count":182}
{"speech_id":1090179163,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In our attempts to keep this country safe. we need to remember who it is that we are dealing with. And when they do call in. what type of process should we go through to keep this country safe? It is my belief that this legislation has the checks and balances that protects the Constitution. It has the same safeguards that we all hold dear for the citizens of this country. and yet it gives us the tools necessary to keep this country safe. the same S&etembkr. 28. 2006 tools we use to capture people who push drugs on our kids. the same tools we use to keep child pornographers from taking advantage of our children. The same tools we need to use to keep this country safe by bringing terrorists to justice. because I guarantee you. if they have the opportunity and the means. they will take American lives. So we must use this tool. as laid out in this legislation. to make sure that we can keep this country safe. to make sure that we can. yes. uphold the Constitution. but use all tools necessary to make sure that we bring these criminals. these terrorists. these people who want to harm us to justice.","speaker_name":"TODD TIAHRT","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3059,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090179172,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The President claims that inherent in his office is all of the authority needed to conduct warrantless electronic surveillance. Rather than enshrine in law powers the President claims he already holds. we should await the conclusion of judicial review of the Presidents domestic surveillance program. At that point. we can determine if additional adjustments to FISA are necessary. We do not need to pass this. diminishment of privacy in our country tonight. Of course. that would require something that the administration has thus far been unwilling to allow. congressional hearings on the domestic surveillanceprogram. Congress needs answers to questions that remain unresolved to the unsatisfactory and sterile briefings provided. thus far by the administration. Until that happens. we should be reaffirming the exclusivity of FISA and our commitment to providing whatever additional resources and procedural enhancements might be necessary to facilitate its operation. That is exactly what the bipartisan Schiff. Flake. Harman. ","speaker_name":"JANE HARMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":36.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2804,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090179180,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But current law isnt good enough for the President. He wants to do what he wants. when he wants. without telling anyone. This President violated the Constitution. Rather than hold him accountable. we are going to approve of his despotic behavior. Under this legislation. the President can conduct warrantless surveillance of Americans any time he declares there is an \"imminent threat\" likely to cause death or widespread harm. Good luck finding a time when this President. or any President for that matter. doesnt claim theres an imminent threat. Mr. Speaker. in this Congress alone. you have attempted to close the halls of justice to detainees. gun victims. religious minorities. fast food consumers. asylumseekers. injured patients. and now. anyone spied on by their own government. Weve gone from a nation of laws to a nation of exceptions. Unless my colleagues want a nation of. by. and for the Protestant. thin. suspicionless white male. ","speaker_name":"FORTNEY STARK","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2392,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090179194,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding. You know. we want to listen to the terrorists. We want to know who they are talking to. If they are talking foreign to foreign. we clearly have the right to listen in. If they are talking foreign to domestic. we want to listen. but we want a judge to review that. The idea is to have in this separation of powers between the judicial and the executive branch the oversight that the Framers had in mind for our constitutional system. At the end of this war on terror. it is really about whether we have preserved the constitutional system that is going to win the hearts and minds of the world to our point of view. It is crucial that we do that here tonight by voting to see that we have judicial oversight. ","speaker_name":"BOB INGLIS","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":792,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090179198,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. there are two technical reasons to oppose this motion to recommit. and I do not think that the au-. thors of the motion to recommit were entirely aware of what they would do. but I think the House needs to understand it. First. in the motion to recommit. there is no change to the definition of electronic surveillance. That means it is not technology neutral. and we would continue to have the odd situation when al Qaeda calls in to the United States over a radio we could intercept that communication completely outside of FISA. but if they call in on a wire. we still could not listen. This is why we need to update the Electronic Surveillance Act. as the base bill does. And. secondly. the exclusivity provision written into the motion to recommit says that the only way to collect foreign intelligence in the United States is through FISA. That is not current law. Under current law. under title XVIII. foreign intelligence information collected through criminal proceedings can be shared with the intelligence community. What this motion to recommit effectively does is rebuild the walls we have torn down between law enforcement and foreign intelligence.","speaker_name":"HEATHER WILSON","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"F","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1175,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090179224,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We passed recently the earmark reform rule that applies simply to House rules. I had a concern that it might not apply to suspension bills. bills which are brought under suspension of the rules which would include suspending the earmark rule that we adopted. I find in the report specific language referring to the Great Lakes Maritime Research Institute and specific moneys that are allocated in 2007. 2008. 2009 and 2010. That would seem to fit the- definition of an earmark for the purposes of the rule that we passed. and the rule that we passed requires that a Member who requested that earmark identify their names with that earmark. I would ask the gentleman if that is the earmark you requested?","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":703,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090179227,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. the gentleman refers to a press release. We dont legislate by press releases here. Secondly. that statement was issued after the Secretary made a designation. After the Secretary made a designation. And participating -in the Institute are the University of Toledo. the University of Wisconsin at Madison. the Great Lakes Maritime Academy. which is in Michigan. the University of Michigan. Michigan Tech University. and University of MinnesotaDuluth. This is a consortium of universities. But the legislation didnt designate where it should be located. That designation was left to the Secretary.","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":610,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090179228,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman. We do not legislate by press release. Unfortunately. for those of us who are* trying to bring some accountability or transparency. sometimes the only way we can find out who requested an earmark or specific funding is to go to press releases because the agency wont tell us and the committees wont tell US.","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":329,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090179229,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Reclaiming my time. I just want to say that the law directed the Secretary of Transportati6n to designate. The press release didnt. The legislation didnt. Appropriations didnt. If you are looking for transparency. it is very transparent what we have here in this bill. Additional years of authorization. the specific dollar amounts in an authorization. not an appropriation bill and not directed to a specific place.","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":416,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090179230,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman. My concern is that when we did the earmark reform rule we didnt specifically cover suspension bills. and we want to make sure that all avenues are covered. whether it is authorizing on suspension bills or whatever else we do. So I appreciate the gentlemans explaining this particular source of funding and how it is arrived at. The chairman of the Rules Committee said during the debate on that earmark rule. he said. \"By adopting this new rule. we as a body are not only making the commitment to live under its provision. but every Member must make a commitment to adhere to the spirit of this new rule. It is more than just adding a new rule. It is making a commitment to change the culture of the institution.\" And what I want to make sure is that under rules of suspension that we dont bring to the floor any earmarks that have not been identified according to the rule.","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":897,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090179231,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I thank the gentlemans integrity and his pursuit of a personal and institutional objective. However. this is not an earmark for a project. It is not a designation of a specific venue for an activity. It is an authorization for the Department to make a decision which was done pursuant to the 2004 law. and in this legislation we simply extend what is already in existence as designated by the Secretary. Now. we are very careful in this committee. I will not stand for. in any aviation authorization bill. any specific designations or earmarks. People always want to have an air traffic control tower or center or something else designated in that bill. We keep it out. And we do not have any of those designations in this bill for specific districts for specific Members.","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":787,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090179255,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Chuck Fortenberry willingly gave his life to save the lives of many of his countrymen knowing he may never holdhis loving wife again or -ee his three sons grow into men. He represents a new generation of hero. fighting for our security. and he is the latest in a long line of Tyler County veterans who answered the call to our Nations defense. I want to make sure that future generations understand the freedoms they enjoy are paid for by the blood. sweat and tears of the families in Tyler County who raise their sons and their daughters to love and serve their country at any price. I am proud to author this legislation. I urge its support.","speaker_name":"KEVIN BRADY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1510,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090179257,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. -on Easter Sunday. 2004. Apache helicopter pilot Army. Chief Warrant Officer 3 Wesley Charles Fortenberry and his gunner answered a desperate call for help from a convoy of 29 reservists trapped in an ambush with an estimated 300 Muslim extremistspinned down in a milelong kill zone in Bagdad. down to their last rounds of ammunition.","speaker_name":"JERRY MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":349,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090179266,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Beverly J. Wilson. I urge its passage.","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1066,"word_count":7}
{"speech_id":1090179294,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mt. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Katherine Dunham was born in Glen Ellyn. Illinois. in 1909. and from a very early age. she was passionate about the arts. She attended Chicago University and went on to earn a masters and doctoral degree in anthropology. In 1931. she opened her first dance school. and in 1948. she participated in a tour that was the first to bring African American danceto the European public. Upon returning from Europe. Dunham directed a production on Broadway. and in 1963. she became the first African American to choreograph for the Metropolitan Opera. Perhaps one of the most defining moments of her career. however. was receiving the Albert Schweitzer Music Award for a lifes work dedicated to music and devoted to humanity at New Yorks Carnegie Hall. ","speaker_name":"KENNY MARCHANT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":977,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090179305,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I might consume. H.R. 1472. legislation introduced by Representative CHARLES RANGEL. was unanimously passed by the Government Reform Committee on September 21. 2006. H.R. 1472 designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 167 East 124th Street in New York as the Tito Puente Post Office Building. Tito Puente. the great musician known as the \"King of Latin Music.\" was born in 1923. He recorded over 100 albums and was a 4time Grammny award winner. featured motion picture performer and internationally acclaimed musician. He died in May of 2000. and all of us who have heard the Latin sounds and relaxed as we listened are proud to know that a postal service is being named in honor of this great musician. I urge its passage. Mr. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":843,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090179312,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. there is no question that a sound financial foundation can provide people with more opportunities and a better quality of life. H. Res. 973. as amended. recognizes the importance of thorough planning to the achievement of financial aspirations. and it commends the millions of Americans who are already working and planning to achieve their personal goals. In the past year. proclamations have been made in several States. as well as the District of Columbia. recognizing this fact. and I am pleased to support H. Res. 973 designating the week of October 2. 2006. as National Financial Planning Week. Mr. ","speaker_name":"KENNY MARCHANT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":716,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090179324,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We had some of the most wonderful times that I can imagine. Mayor Sinde. just before he died. and he was a serious senior citizen by then. last Worked as a volunteer crossing guard. After he had retired from being the mayor. and being everything else in the town that one could do. he volunteered as a crossing guard. And so I and I am certain all of the residents of Westchester. Illinois. are very pleased to know that this postal facility will be named in honor of their great mayor and their great friend. and I urge its passage. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1296,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090179333,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I urge I urge all Members to join me in honall Members to support the passage of oring Major Quamo for -his remarkable H.R. 5990. and I yield back the balance life and service to the United States. of my time. Without the courage. dedication. and","speaker_name":"KENNY MARCHANT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":259,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090179343,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Commander Cevolis courageousness and commitment to his country earnedhim eight Air Medals and two Distinguished. Flying Crosses. His life was taken far too soon on January.18. 1955. when his plane crashed during a training mission. He was rightfully remembered in the Rhode Island Aviation Hall of Fame. and I am pleased to support this bill honoring his great legacy. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"KENNY MARCHANT","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":835,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090179531,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today in opposition to the false argument by the Democrats that the tax relief this Republican Congress has provided the American people during the last 5 years isnt helpful. Democrats are vowing to repeal these tax cuts and are running around with a terribly false sound bite that tax cuts are for the rich. So I ask them: Do only rich people have children? Because we increased the tax credit to $1.000 per child for every American family. So I ask them: Do only rich people get married? Because we fixed a major flaw that punished every American married couple by charging them higher taxes for filing jointly. And I ask them: Do rich people have a family income of $14.000 a year? Because it was for them that we created an income range. a new 10 percent tax bracket to specifically cut their tax rates. It cuts taxes for 6.1 million lowincome taxpayers in New York alone. Finally. I ask them: Are you labeling every small business owner in America as rich? Because we on the Small Business Committee worked very hard to ensure the majority of these tax cuts specifically helps small businesses. ","speaker_name":"SUE KELLY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1617,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090179534,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Republicans are shutting down the debate in Congress today. They dont want the American people to hear anything other than Republican press releases. They have nothing else to show and offer the American people. November will be a referendum on the Presidents failed diplomacy. disastrous war in Iraq. and governing America by telling the American people to be afraid. Now. maybe Aesop was wrong 3.000 years ago in his fable. Maybe you can shout. \"Wolf. wolf. wolf.\" and win an election. But you cant stifle democracy and cling to power. The American people have had enough. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1032,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090179535,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. despite countless assurances from the President that we are safer now than we were before 9\/11. this past week we learned the truth: The world is more dangerous today than it was pre9\/11. and the war in Iraq is the main reason why. This weekend on \"60 Minutes.\" Bob Woodward will report that our intelligence agencies predict that 2007 is going to be more deadly for American troops. than 2006. That is a dire prediction considering that insurgent attacks against our troops are now occurring every 15 minutes. These reports from our intelligence agencies should serve as a wakeup call to House Republicans who for 3 years have sat on the sidelines neglecting their oversight responsibility of the war in Iraq. How bad do things have to get in Iraq before this Republican donothing Congress actually takes action? When will they finally begin asking questions? When will they finally begin to hold Secretary Rumsfeld and others in the Presidents War Cabinet accountable for their incompetence? Mr. Speaker. the American people deserve a Congress that will take its oversight responsibilities seriously. It is time for a change here in Congress. and it is coming this November.","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1189,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090179538,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It also authorizes the establishment of military commissions to try alien unlawful enemy combatants. which is the legal term used to define international terrorists and those who aid and support them. for war crimes. While this new chapter is based upon the Code of Military Justice. it also creates an entirely new structure for these trials. These commissions will only be used to try alien terrorists for war crimes. Any U.S. citizen will be tried within the Federal United States judiciary. These alien terrorists acquitted of a war crime will still be detained as enemy combatants according to the principle in international law that there exists an undisputable right to keep the enemy from returning to the battlefield. Thus. an acquittal at a war crime trial will not result in terrorists being released. This legislation also provides for an independent certified military judge to preside over all proceedings. This agreement creates the process necessary to prosecute terrorists effectively and fairly. while also protecting American troops and intelligence agents fighting the global war on terror. I would like to thank Chairman DUNCAN HUNTER and Chairman SENSENBRENNER for all of their hard work in reaching an agreement with the other body that keeps Americans safe while observing the rule of law. Third. this rule provides for the consideration of legislation to give private property owners the ability to litigate cases in Federal court when local and State regulations deprive owners the use of their own land. ","speaker_name":"PETE SESSIONS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8153,"word_count":244}
{"speech_id":1090179545,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I had a chance to go with the Honorable Jo BONNER from Alabama down to Laredo. And both he and I together had a chance to see firsthand how the Army National Guard worked with Border Patrol. We went out that night to see firsthand their needs. Mr. Speaker. that is what is in this bill. the ability that we have to protect our border. to provide the necessary resources. to make sure that our men and women who are with official law enforcement and also those who are with the Guard are able to make sure that this country is protected. That is what is in this bill. I am proud of it. I am going to ask for everyones vote for not only the rule but also the underlying legislation. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"PETE SESSIONS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1610,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090179568,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. pursuant to House Resolution 1054. I call up the bill to simplify and expedite access to the Federal courts for injured parties whose rights and privileges under the United States Constitution have been deprived by final actions of Federal agencies or other government officials or entities acting under color of State law. and for other purposes. and ask for its immediate consideration.","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":401,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090179577,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the chairman. In an attempt to adhere to his admonition that brief is better. I will add my voice of support for this bill. I represent a rural district in Texas. It is 36.500 square miles. It is 14 percent of the land mass of Texas. and so we have a lot of opportunities for takings from various entities. I support this bill because most landowners. most developers. simply want answers. \"Yes\" or \"no\" is better than \"wait until tomorrow.\" Once you get hung up in this regulatory nightmare of waivers and permits and permits and waivers and that body and this body. just knowing the truth and what the ultimate answer is would be better. ","speaker_name":"K. CONAWAY","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1089,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090179604,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Do not allow this gambit to take place. It is not fair. It is not Constitutional. and it is not going to pass.","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1836,"word_count":23}
{"speech_id":1090179615,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We cannot give them the right to go straight into Federal court because the rule. the court said. is compelled by the verynature of the inquiry required by the just compensation. that is. the takings clause. because the fact. it is applied in deciding a takings claim simply cannot be evaluated until the administrative agency has arrived at a final decision regarding how it will apply the regulation it issued for the particular land in question. Just 7 years ago. in 1999. the Supreme Court said again. a Federal court cannot entertain a takings claim under section 1983 or unless or until the complaining land owners are denied an adequate \"deprivation remedy.\" in other words has been denied State court review. So by forcing the case right into Federal court this is clearly unconstitutional. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6058,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090179619,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I just want to clarify. I find it interesting that my colleague from Cincinnati somehow thinks that. because I noted his witness represents people siting radio towers in landfills. that I was disparaging him. I did not say anything like that. I gave reallife examples of why his bill is going to destroy property values. If you have a 1.000foot radio tower next to you or a landfill expansion. in your home town that may make one person more money. but it has the potential of eroding the protections of everybody around them. Those are the reallife examples that they refuse to acknowledge.","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":604,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090179647,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am very comfortable with the fact that American citizens cannot be tried in this. The reason I am spending a little time on it is that there was an editorial that went out there by a law professor published in the Los Angeles Times. Let me tell you. as a lawyer myself. just because a law professor says it. I am going to tell you what: not necessarily true. I read his editorial. and I also then looked at the law. Let me now speak unto the law professor: read the bill. Just like what you would do to your law students. you would tell them to read the bill. And when you read the bill and when you open it up. you would find that the words you wrote so that the readers in Southern California would somehow take what. action. or give you credit or credence to your words. your words are false. And that is completely unfortunate. So hopefully people will begin to understand that this whole issue about these military commissions applying to American people is not true at all. ","speaker_name":"IKE SKELTON","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4505,"word_count":185}
{"speech_id":1090179658,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Missouri for his defense of basic constitutional principles. I would say that the basic premise of military commissions. that the U.S. military should try unlawful enemy combatants using draconian rules. that basic premise is false. . The jury of commissioned military officers are not peers of these detainees. The detainees are accused of crimes against humanity and should be tried like all other such persons. The U.S. should hand over these detainees to the International Criminal Court. The U.S. should offer evidence that would be legal under our Constitution and the Geneva Conventions. This model of justice would set a precedentfor other nations where the rule of law remains unfair. unjust. and inhumane. The wrong approach is to create a court system that has more in common with the nations that torture. jail and hold indefinitely anyone without legitimate evidence. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3174,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090179676,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. to bring a chill into the debate. the issue of who can be detained is not addressed in this bill. This bill is about trying alien detainees who are unlawful enemy combatants. Nothing in this bill changes the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005.","speaker_name":"STEPHEN BUYER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":252,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090179680,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"There is some evidence that he is. in fact. a murderer or rapist to justify keeping him in jail. Under this. though. you say he is an unlawful enemy combatant and thats that. You never hear from him again. That is against all our traditions. It makes the President a dictator because someone who claims the power to put someone in jail forever. with no hearing. no evidence. and no recourse. is a dictator. And on page 93 of the bill it says that no court shall have jurisdiction to entertain habeas corpus. which is simply a request to say show me why you are holding me in jail. or to entertain any action saying. Hey. you are torturing me. about the condition of confinement. So you can take this person because the President says so. put him in jail. subject him to any torture or whatever. and whatever you write in the law doesnt matter because no court can hear the case. There is no one to bring the complaint before it. That is wrong and it is insupportable.","speaker_name":"JERROLD NADLER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2322,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090179684,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"DC. Senator CARL LEvIN. Ranking Member. U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services. Russell Office Building. U.S. Senate. Washington. DC. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5008,"word_count":19}
{"speech_id":1090179690,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I will not take up any more time speaking about why I oppose this bill. I spoke at length during the House debate. and nothing has changed over the past 48 hours to make me believe that undermining our history. values and constitutional commitment to human rights. civil rights. the rule of law. due process and judicial review is the right thing to do. Instead. I would like to submit for the RECORD the views of others in the face of this monumental mistake this Congress is making in submitting to the demands of an imperial White House. \u0095 I ask unanimous consent to submit into the RECORD the following materials: 1. Resolution Condemning Torture by the Conference of Major Superiors of Men. 2. A September 22. 2006 letter from human rights organizations to the U.S. Senate regarding the Military Commissions Act of 2006. 3. September 28. 2006 New York Times editorial. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1010,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090179700,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"(during consideration of H. Res. 1053) submitted the following conference report and statement on the bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2007 for military activities of the Department of Defense. for military construction. and for defense activities of the Department of Energy. to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year. and for other purposes: [Conference Report will appear in dated September 29. 2006.]","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":441,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090179710,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am going to ask -to submit a conference report. I just wanted to say that this conference report is largely the product of Mr. Bob Cover. who after many. many years is leaving the Office of Legislative Counsel. We appreciate his great service to our country.","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":273,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090179712,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I mean. that is their legacy and we need to change that. and hopefully come November that will change. Mr. Speaker. I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida . a champion for increasing the minimum wage.","speaker_name":"JAMES MCGOVERN","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1162,"word_count":38}
{"speech_id":1090179723,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And do you know that there are hundreds of thousands of additional senior citizens. Mr. Speaker. who are going to be stuck with a penalty of paying an extra 7 percent premium for the rest of their lives because we couldnt fix the Medicare prescription drug program to eliminate the monthly penalty and the prohibition on the governments ability to negotiate lower prices? It was written for and passed for the benefit of the drug companies. not the senior citizens of America. Mr. Speaker. the average college student is graduating from college with a $20.000 debt. They cant afford to go into public service because they have to go into a job that is going to give them the maximum compensation so that they can spend the first few years after graduation in order to pay back their debt. We have thousands of students who have worked so hard to become eligible for a college education. to become all that their parents want them to be. all that we need them to be. but they cant afford college. Yet we have seen massive cuts in college tuition assistance imposed by this Congress. a Congress that has refused to provide the kind of size and availability of Pell Grants that would have enabled these young people to get to college and to afford college. Mr. Speaker. not to provide the resources for our students when we will spend over $400 billion on a misguided mission in Iraq is unbelievable. and yet we are ready to recess. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2985,"word_count":255}
{"speech_id":1090179760,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"\"Well. I understand some of you want to spend more money than I have requested for homeland security.\" He said. \"My good friend Mitch Daniels here from OMB tells us that we have got enough money in our budget. and so I want you to know. if you appropriate a dollar more than I have asked for. I will veto the bill. I have got time for four or five comments and I am out of here.\" Senator STEVENS said. \"Mr. President. I do not think you understand. we have already agreed. We will knock off any item you do not want. We are not trying to have an argument. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7251,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090179777,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I would ask all Members to support this conference report.","speaker_name":"MARTIN SABO","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2084,"word_count":10}
{"speech_id":1090179781,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I have been on this committee since its inception 4 years ago. It is probably my most challenging duty here in Congress. It is one of my greatest honors. and I have to tell you. every year this appropriation measure is probably the steepest climb that we have because we know now that the threats we face. the challenges we face are enormous. and any arbitrary amount of money cant bring us to a place of perfection. I want to salute the chairman for his great work. This is probably one of the best bills that you have been able to produce. Chairman. and they have all been pretty darn good. and so I really appreciate your leadership. To Mr. SAB6. ","speaker_name":"JOHN SWEENEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":20.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2093,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090179788,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Some said it couldnt be done. Mr. Speaker. we have done it. The important reforms of FEMA are based in large part on H.R. 5351. which I introduced on May 11. 2006. and which passed the Committee on Homeland Security less than 1 week later. Finally. this legislation addresses emergency communications. Congress has already appropriated billions of dollars for interoperability. However. standards are still not established. Many States do not have plans statewide and are still working on it. I Before spending billions more. there are less expensive but integral reforms that must be implemented. Once these reforms occur. then and only then should we create an additional grant program. ","speaker_name":"DAVID REICHERT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6013,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090179798,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is such a huge undertaking. We have got 7.500 miles of borders with our neighbors. we have 12.000 miles of coastline. including the Great Lakes. 440 commercial airports with 600 -million passengers a year internally and many millions more from outside the country. rail and subways and tunnels and bridges and cyber structures. and the financial system. Everything we have is subject to attack. and it is a very. very difficult chore for the government. both the executive branch and certainly the legislative branch. to try to get our arms around the mission and to try to find the moneys there to try to finance the effort to defend the country against its enemies. But I think we have done that within this bill as best we can. We have covered practically every angle that you can think of with plenty of funding. I am especially pleased that we found huge new sums to spend on border security. We cant exist as a country if we cant protect that border. and that is what this bill is all about in its main emphasis. Again. I want to thank M..RTY SABO for his years of service and friendship. he and Sylvia. MARTY. you and Sylvia. we wish you Godspeed.","speaker_name":"HAROLD ROGERS","chamber":"H","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1633,"word_count":209}
{"speech_id":1090179799,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today. the House debated the Conference Report for Homeland Security Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2007. Section 535 of the conference report included a provision that will allow individuals to import into the U.S. from Canada a 90day supply of a prescription drug. on their person. for their personal use. The provision specifically exempts controlled substances and biological products. As the Chairman of the authorizing Committee with jurisdiction over the regulation of drugs and biological products. it is important for me to clarify what the language in this section means in regards to biologic products. The exemption applies to biological products. as that term is defined in Section 351 of the Public Health Service Act. The legislation does not confine the exception of only to those products licensed under Section 351 of the PHSA. This is an important distinction. To be clear. the language exempts biologic products licensed under the Public Health Service Act and those approved under the Federal Food. Drug and Cosmetic Act. ","speaker_name":"JOE BARTON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3681,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090179801,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Amazingly. the Department has no real plan to solve the communications crisis and has not made the issue a priority. This bill will require it to complete a baseline study to assess current capabilities. create a resource plan. expedite voluntary consensus standards. set goals and time frames. identify- obstacles. coordinate planning with other federal as well as state. local. and private sector partners. design backup systems in the event that primary systems fail. and verity manufacturers claims that equipment meets certain standards. Unfortunately. the conference report does not include my dedicated communications grant program. While it is imperative that we have a workable strategy. it can only be executed when local public safety agencies have funding to plan. design. implement. and maintain interoperable networks. In addition. the bill cuts funding for the major first responder grant programs. further delaying the progress that state and local governments should be making to increase communications capabilities. Although the conference report is not perfect. I am pleased that conferees took the first step in adopting my interoperability strategy.","speaker_name":"NITA LOWEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2331,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090179807,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As a political gesture. this Administration and this Congress want to build a wall and militarize the border? Thats not what we need. We need to keep our promises to the American people and fund the promises we made. We must send a clear message that\" when you cross our borders illegally. you will be caught and detained. I get our desperate fiscal situation. But compromising border security is not the way to trim the deficit. At some point. this Congress must deal with the national security risks that remains with the very large number of OTMs released into the general population who are still unaccounted for. Funding the effort to locate all the released OTMs is going -to make paying for the minimum number of agents -and beds seem like childs play.","speaker_name":"SOLOMON ORTIZ","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":27.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3782,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090179818,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"What they ask is that we provide the equipment they need to get the job done. provide for them. provide for their family. And the agreement we have before us today -would do that. I thank the conferees for their efforts to craft this compromise. Mr. -Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"DORIS MATSUI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3142,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090179834,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. pursuant to House Resolution 1062. I call up the conference report on the bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2007 for military activities of the Department of Defense. for military construction. and for defense activities of the Department of Energy. to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year. and for other purposes.","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":365,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090179840,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"With that. Mr. Speaker. I would like to listen to my great colleague. who had a great taste in coats today because we came with exactly the same outfits here. Mr. SKELTON. the fine gentleman from Missouri. has done a wonderful job working on this bill. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JAMES GIBBONS","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1300,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090179850,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Thank you. Mr. MCHUGH. I appreciate that very much and the kind words Mr. -SKELTON said earlier. You know. there is a lot that I am going to miss about COngress. and more than anything else is my service on this committee. Because you felt every day you were working on this committee that you were doing something worthwhile. something that was important for America. I am so privileged to have done this with the wonderful people that are on the committee and also on the staff. We do have an absolutely outstanding staff that we are very proud of.","speaker_name":"JOEL HEFLEY","chamber":"H","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":550,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090179868,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The conferees adopted a Senate provision establishing U.S. policy on ballistic missile defense that clearly reflects our views. It says that we should accord greater priority within the program to effective nearterm missile defense capabilities. including the groundbased midcourse defense system. the Aegis ballistic missile defense system. the Patriot PAC3 system. the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system. and the sensors necessary to support such systems. The conferees also adopted the House provision preventing -use of funds for testing or deployment of a spacebased missile defense interceptor. Mr. Speaker. while time does not permit me to describe in detail the rest of our subcommittees accomplishments. I again want to thank Chairman EVERETT and our Senate colleagues for their cooperation in achieving this bipartisan. successful measure. and I want to recommend to all our colleagues that they vote \"yes\" on this very important legislation to support our troops and their families.","speaker_name":"SILVESTRE REYES","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2627,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090179876,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Before I begin. I just wanted to recognize and commend the great service of my friend and colleague. Congressman HEFLEY. and I have so enjoyed serving with you in a number of capacities. particularly in our work in the Armed Services Committee. We had an opportunity to work on several important issues. and I thank you for being such a gentleman and giving such great service to this Congress. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H.R. 5122 and thank Chairman HUNTER and Ranking Member SKELTON for their hard work. ","speaker_name":"JAMES LANGEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1638,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090179883,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to commend Chairman HUNTER and Ranking Member SKELTON for their exemplary leadership \"in bringing this conference report. I also want to thank my subcommittee ranking member. Mr. TAYLOR. for his tireless efforts and dedication in the preparation of this important legislation. I am grateful for our strong and cooperative relationship. In addition. I would like to recognize my fellow colleagues on the subcommittee for their diligence and commitment to a job well done. The intense work involved in preparing this conference report before us has been accomplished with the assistance of our professional and hardworking staff. and I commend their efforts and the quality of the final product. ","speaker_name":"ROSCOE BARTLETT","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2413,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090179900,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. let me just begin by recognizing the true bipartisan nature of this bill. The. bipartisan nature of this bill is due in no small part to our great chairman and my friend. DUNCAN HUNTER. and the person that he often refers to as his partner. Congressman IKE SKELTON. and their respective staffs. IKE. thank you very much for your great cooperation. and for working through the summer as conferees with our colleagues in the Senate to fine tune this measure to provide the maximum benefit to our troops in every possible area. from pay to health care to equipment to armor and to advanced weapons systems for now and those contemplated far into the future. We funded 11 of the top unfunded requirements for the U.S. Special Operations Command. adding almost $200 million to the commands acquisition budget. We also funded technology initiatives within each of the services and in DARPA. ensuring the continued future supremacy of U.S. weapons systems and equipment. Cuttingedge medical research was also addressed. ","speaker_name":"H. SAXTON","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2006,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090179901,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. the great Roman orator. Cicero. once said that the greatest of all virtues is gratitude. and I am filled with gratitude at this moment. Mr. Speaker. for our chairman DUNCAN HUNTER. for the members of this committee. the ranking members. subcommittee chairmen. every member. as well as our hardworking and dedicated staff. I think it is also a moment like. this when we are getting ready to pass a defense bill which fulfills the first duty of Members of Congress and of -our government to protect the citizens of our country. A special note of gratitude and appreciation should go to those who wear the uniform of our country. to those who have worn the uniform of our country. to those who have sacrificed. and especially to those tremendously supportive families of those who serve in our various services. ","speaker_name":"IKE SKELTON","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1012,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090179951,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding. and I want to thank Mr. DEFAZIO and Mr. PETRI. and especially Mr. OBERSTAR. the ranking member. This is a good team. We wrote a good bill. but the bill was quite large. and there were some errors in printing and errors in judgment in the sense that somebody had misinterpreted what we wrote. and this bill is truly a technical corrections bill. The reasons it take a little time. As the gentleman from Minnesota mentioned. is because this is a twobody form of government. and there was some difference of opinion in the other body on what I will not mention. and it has taken us a long time to try to arrive at this technical corrections bill that gets done what we tried to do and intended to do and will do now in","speaker_name":"DON YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":764,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090179969,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Over the past decades. this issue has created much grief. litigation. and oftentimes flatout distrust among the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth. This type of back and forth over the past 30 years has not been healthy for north Texas. as we have many pressing challenges that require us to work together in good faith if we are to be successful as a region. Mr. Speaker. I support the. compromise. The compromise outlined within Senate Bill 3661 requires give and take of -all vested stakeholders. But. most importantly. Mr. Speaker. the measure represents a unified local consensus of which I am most proud. Further. many homeowners and constituent groups that live and work within the Love Field area also support this compromise. ","speaker_name":"EDDIE JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6647,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090179977,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker and members of the various committees that are on the floor. before I begin my. comments it is my observation that this may be the last bill that the House Judiciary Committee may be involved in until we adjourn. and so it becomes my responsibility as the ranking member to commend Chairman JAMES SENSENBRENNER for his efforts as chairman over almost the last 6 years. He has been on the Committee of Judiciary for many years. and I have had the honor to serve and work with him throughout his career on the House Judiciary Committee. He has worked hard all the way up to the title of chairman. It has than been my pleasure and honor to join with him. and I would like to just take a momentto tell you why I am making this statement. The first thing that comes to my mind is the fact that he has done a stellar job in protecting the jurisdiction of the Judiciary Committee. In doing so. he has brought us more work than anybody ever has. We handled more bills than almost any but one committee. And he has been willing to stand up to special interests wherever his convictions lead him. Secondly. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4914,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090179979,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"H.R. 6228. would implement three core provisions of the parties contract: to repeal the Wright Amendment 8 years after enactment of this Act. eliminate the restrictions on throughticketing from Love Field. and to cap the Love Field gates at 20 in perpetuity. Importantly. the bill addresses two very significant issues that I raised in Committee: safety and new entrant access. Love Field is approximately 8 miles from DFW. In 1991. when I served as Chairman of the Aviation Subcommittee. I held a hearing during which significant safety concerns were raised regarding the potential expansion of flights at Love Field. Many witnesses attending that hearing expressed concern that the proximity of approach and departure procedures to and from both DFW and Love Field. along with conflicting flight patterns. could decrease the margin of safety. While I have the utmost confidence in our nations air traffic controllers. I want to ensure that by adding more flights at Love Field. we are not reducing the cushion of safety. Controllers should not need to slow air traffic to accommodate the safety margin. nor should they be compelled to operate at the outside of the power curve to avoid delays in and around the DallasFort Worth area. H.R. 6228 addresses this very significant issue by including a provision that prohibits the legislation from taking effect until the Federal Aviation. ","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6589,"word_count":224}
{"speech_id":1090179987,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. to my brother from New York. Brother Meeks. this is a proconsumer compromise that all the consumer organizations that I have consulted and that have consulted me are strenuously opposed to. Can anyone can explain to me how this is a proconsumer bill?","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":263,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090180000,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"For example. inthe local agreement. the City of Dallas agrees to reduce the number of gates at Love Field from 32 to 20. Though I might not like it. I respect their right to contractually bind themselves and decide whether Love Field is limited to 20 gates. 10 gates or even shut down. It is their airport. But I believe it is wrong for the parties to ask Congress to establish into Federal law their private contractual obligations. Those are enforceable in court. By including these privately made agreements in a new federal law. Congress would be- replacing one complex set of anticompetitive rules with another. Termi-","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3170,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090180009,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"GORDON. for his leadership and his additions to the bill. The bill was further perfected in committee by Representatives RALPH HALL. DORIS","speaker_name":"JUDY BIGGERT","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2425,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090180025,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. there have been in the last couple of years two major governmentsponsored studies on energy. One was a big SAIC report. commonly called the Hirsch Report. The other was a more recent report by the Corps of Engineers. and both of them reached essentially the same conclusion. The world has either peaked in oil production. conventional oil production. or it will shortly peak in oil production with potentially devastating consequences. The Hirsch report said that the world has never faced a problem like this. that mitigation consequences will be unprecedented. Today I got across my desk a flyer from a group here on the Hill that said that we ought to be cautious about this suspension vote because some new programs were suggested here. I hope. Mr. Speaker. that some new programs are suggested here because the reality is the Hirsch report said if you didnt anticipate the peaking of oil. in -20 years there were going to be economic consequences. ","speaker_name":"ROSCOE BARTLETT","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1893,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090180033,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And again. I say mark it down. Ten years from now you will look back and say why wasnt there ten times. as much money in that bill because we really needed it? This falls far short of what we ought to be .doing. but at least it is something Please vote for it.","speaker_name":"ROSCOE BARTLETT","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":830,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090180039,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and in- bers may have 5 legislative days in clude extraneous material on Senate which to revise and extend their re3661. marks on this legislation and to insert","speaker_name":"JUDY BIGGERT","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":286,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090180052,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. -Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that it be in order at any time for the chairman of the Committee on Rules or his designee. without intervention of any point of order. to call up House Resolution 1064. that the resolution be considered as read. and that the resolution be debatable for 20 minutes equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent.","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":367,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090180056,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of this consent agreement providing for the consideration of a conference report for the Security and Accountability for Every Port Act. This port security bill. which has been agreed to now by the conference committee. came as a result of House action that was made on May 4 that passed this House 4212. Mr. Speaker. I want you to know that there are four major provisions within this SAFE Act: number one. enhancing security at U.S. ports. number two. preventing threats from reaching the United States of America. number three. tracking and protecting containers en route to the United States. and. number four. establishing the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office. Mr. Speaker. we have spent a lot of time in this House of Representatives speaking about and working with our counterparts in the United States Senate as well as the administration on better ways that we can enhance port security. This conference report which we bring tonight. the last night before we go to recess. is an important victory for the American people. ","speaker_name":"PETE SESSIONS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":32.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1324,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090180064,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to stress that a \"no\" vote on the previous question will not stop consideration of the port security conference report. but a \"no\" vote will allow the House to include in the conference report the critical Senate provisdons that were contained in yesterdays motion to instruct that passed this House by a bipartisan and overwhelming vote. Again. vote \"no\" on the previous -question. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time. Seftehber 29. .2006","speaker_name":"ALCEE HASTINGS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1524,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090180087,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. on Hinojosa September 29. 2006. I was away from my offi- Hobson cial duties due to a family matter. and subse- Hoekstra. Holden quently missed a recorded vote on rollcall No. Holt 514. on a motion to refer the Privileged Reso- Honda lution to the Committee on Standards of Offi- Hooley Hostettler cial Conduct. Had I been present. I would Hoyer have voted \"yea.\" Hulshof Hunter \" Inglis (SC) Inslee WRIGHT AMENDMENT REFORM Israel ACT OF 2006 Issa Istook","speaker_name":"TIMOTHY JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":466,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090180098,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We then had the further act which was acting on the floor of the House. and we got a 4212 vote. It was totally bipartisan. Even the two who voted. against it split one Republican and one Democrat. You cannot get much more bipartisan than that. We have worked together to preserve the essence or the guts of the bilrthat we have crafted through our committee structure and which we passed on the floor. I am proud to stand here and say that we have accomplished something that many people thought could not be accomplished. The Senate began their journey several months before we did in terms of a formed bill. Yet we leapfrogged over them in the work that was done in our subcommittee and committee. And I do believe that the actions of this House nudged. if I might use that term. our colleagues on the other side of the Rotunda such that we are able to bring this bill to the floor for completed action tonight on this side of the Rotunda and the other side of the Rotunda. Rather than create an act of political statement. we have created an act of law. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL LUNGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6903,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090180099,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank Mr. LUNGREN for the accurate recap of the early parts of the act. But like most early parts of the act. people forget how it ends. and what I am saying to you is. while bipartisanship might be good. the process is incomplete. Mr. Speaker. I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from California . one of original authors of the bill. - (Ms. HARMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)","speaker_name":"BENNIE THOMPSON","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":431,"word_count":80}
{"speech_id":1090180100,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the Ranking Memberof the Full Committee for yielding to me so early in this debate. Mr. Speaker. today. I rise in support of the conference report for the SAFE Port Act. In a month -that was supposed to be all about security. this measure is the only one we have considered that will actually make America more secure. This bill is as good as it is because it was developed through a bipartisan approach. From introduction back in March. through subcommittee and full committee markup. to passage by an astonishing vote of 4212 in May. we worked on this bill together. Sadly. as our Ranking Member has said. this bipartisanship ended in the conference. ","speaker_name":"JANE HARMAN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":36.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2777,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090180104,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. FRIST. for their steadfast support. Companion legislation to the House product was forthrightly led in the Senate by JOHN KYL of Arizona. Many Members have played an important part over the years in this legislation. particularly MIKE OXLEY and SPENCER BACHUS from the Financial Services Committee and BOB GOODLATrE and CHRIS CANNON from Judiciary. But I want to stress this is bipartisan legislation. The majority of Democrats voted for it just a few weeks ago. Indeed. all of us can be proud of this legislation. It should be considered a significant accomplishment of this Congress. After all. with each passing day we learn of friends and neighbors touched by devastating losses from Internet gambling. Never has it been so easy to lose so much so quickly at such a young age. ","speaker_name":"JAMES LEACH","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1438,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090180113,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"\"We write to protest your decision to shut down the HouseSenate conference on H.R. 4954. Many of us took your word that we would have a voice in the conference process. However. your action to silence input from every Democratic member of the conference by denying the right to offer amendments effectively stripped the longoverdue rail and mass transit security measures from the final bill.\" -This is a sorry process It is a sorry procedure. It is a sorry piece of legislation. It is inadequate. and it is another example of the majority trying to do things on the cheap and then marketing it as something good.","speaker_name":"JOHN DINGELL","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2859,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090180133,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would just add. if the gentlewoman will yield. this is the bill that came back to us from the Senate. and I would remind the gentlewoman that unlike the transit and rail. provisions. which never passed this House. the Internet gambling bill legislation did pass this House by a vote of 31793. There was at least some nexus which was lacking with the others.","speaker_name":"PETER KING","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":359,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090180135,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I would like to remind .my chairman that the motion to instruct said to include rail and mass transit to the conferees. That is in response to your response to the gentlewoman from Las Vegas. We more or less said \"do it\" from the House perspective. and it wasnt done.","speaker_name":"BENNIE THOMPSON","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":336,"word_count":63}
{"speech_id":1090180139,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So when the bomb has reached the port of New York or Boston or L.A.. the only thing that will be there is \"beware of dog.\" They refuse to put up the protection. Vote \"no\" on this terrible bill.","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2166,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090180146,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This Republican Congress deserves an F for what they have done to protect transit and passenger rail in this country. They wasted an opportunity to protect the citizens who take public transit and passenger rail to work every day.","speaker_name":"CORRINE BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1071,"word_count":39}
{"speech_id":1090180161,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. on September 29. 2006. I was away from my official duties due to a family mater. and subsequently missed a recorded vote on Rollcall No. 516. on final passage of H.R. 4954. a bill to improve maritime and cargo security through enhanced layered defenses. and for other purposes. Had I been present. I would have voted \"aye.\"","speaker_name":"TIMOTHY JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":336,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090180216,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. on the bill that is now before this body. I hope that if there are going to be amendments. one of the amendments we need to take into considerationI am sure the leader has heard from his Members. as I have heard from mineis disaster relief. I hope we have this vehicle moving through here today and that we do something regarding agricultural disaster assistance legislation. We passed it three times in this body. and it has neve made it out of the House. \" It is not just the Midwestern States that we know produce a lot of food. We have had natural disasters all over. The State of Nevada has had raging fires. In California. there is one fire that has been burning since the 1st of September and they still havent put it out. So I hope the leader will consider that legislation. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2390,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090180238,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. again. I thank the 2 people primarily responsible for the bill being so well put together. Sid Ashworth and Charlie Houy. respective assistants for Senator INouYE and me. It has been a good period dealing with this bill. This is the largest bill we have ever provided for the Department of Defense.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":313,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090180254,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to talk about a couple of issues that I think are very important. One I will get to in a minute. the pending legislation before us. the issue of immigration. illegal immigration. and what we are trying to do to combat that in the Senate. Today. I am very hopeful that with the proper cooperation. we can get this done today and over to the President in the next 48 hours to begin the process of securing the border and dealing with an issue that may be the No. 1 issue in my State right now. I probably hear about this issue of illegal immigration from casual contact with my constituents in grocery stores. the train station. et cetera. I have more people asking me about the issue of illegal immigration than any other issue we deal with. It is remarkable in the sense that if you talk to folks here in Washington and the \"experts\" in the media. this is not important to people. Particularly. you would think in a State such as Pennsylvania. which is miles away from the southern border but not too far from the northern border. this would not be an important issue. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2561,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090180261,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I appreciate the Senator asking the question. I began to work with American agriculture and specifically western growers in the Pacific Northwest and in the Senators State of California starting in about 1999 whenthey came to me .and recognized. as they now clearly know. that they were beginning to rely on an illegal workforce of undocumented workers who were coming in because the law that exists. the H2A. was so complicated and so bureaucratic. it was simply failing them. So it has been now at least 7 years that we have worked to comprise and build the AgJOBS legislation.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":594,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090180264,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. clearly what is happeningand the Senator has said it so wellis this a failure of American agriculture or is this a failure of Congress? It is clearly a failure of Congress and the Government. We have known our borders are po. rous for a long time. and we are closing them now. and we should close them. There is nothing wrong with doing that. In fact. for national security and to build an orderly process in immigration. it is critical that we do close them or control them. But we also knew that immediately attached to it had to be the creation of a legal guest worker program. That is where Congress is failing. We believe and in the letter we submitted the losses by the end of the harvest season could go anywhere from $1 billionand they are well beyond that nowto $5 billion or $6 billion at farm gate. meaning as it leaves the farm. which means to the consumer in the supermarkets of America. it will be a much higher price to pay. I thank the Senator for asking the question.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":999,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090180275,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But the process didnt work the way it was supposed to work. It wasnt getting the industry involved. which has been devastated in our countryliterally wiped out for all intents and purposesby lawsuits. It was not willing to get started up again because they didnt feel there was. first. an adequate source of resources in the area of dealing with a biological attack and. secondly. they feared the huge potential liability that might fall on them for the production of what would be not a major item within their market. Senator BURR has spent a year addressing these issues: How do we get more manufacturers and more entrepreneurs and more medical specialists into the business of developing and being positioned to develop vaccines which will deal with potential pandemic flu or a terrorist attack. In addition. he recognized that is not enough. that you have to get the communitiesespecially- State and local communitiesthinking about how they will handle a situation where they may have literally tens of thousands of people they have to care for all at once. that type of a surge. or that they have to isolate from the community. The Federal Government clearly wasnt orchestrated correctly. It was diffused. as Senator BURR pointed out. as to who was responsible and how these plans were going to be developed. This piece of legislation has evolved here through a superior exercise in legislative activity by Senator BURR and Senator ENZI. chairman of the full committee. in a bipartisan effort. a bicameral effort to address these very significant problems which we have found within our health care delivery system when it comes to dealing with a potential threat of a pandemic event or biological event. .This legislation should be passed. There is no reason it shouldnt pass. It passed in the House overwhelmingly. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3722,"word_count":303}
{"speech_id":1090180291,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Dorgan. one amendment. Leahy. two amendments. Obama. one amendment. Levin. one amendment. that in addition to any time limits on amendments. there be 6 hours of debate on the bill-.","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1006,"word_count":30}
{"speech_id":1090180305,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We need natural gas. We are prepared to open this section--8 million acres. To put this in perslpective. ANWR is only 2.000 acres. So when critics of our approach say the Senate bill does not do anything. then. why did we debate for 30 years over nothing? If we debated 30 years only 2.000 acres. why is 8 million acres nothing? I do not think that is true. It is obviously incorrect. Eight million acres is a great many more than 2.000 acres. The reserves here are thought to be substantial. Shown on this map is the oil discovery that was announced 3 weeks or 4 weeks ago announced: the Jack well. as it is commonly known. discovered by a Chevron partnership. This one well.. drilled 28.000 feet10.000 feet of water and 18.000 feet of landwill double the reserves of oil and gas in the United States of America. ","speaker_name":"MARY LANDRIEU","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4578,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090180328,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it doesnt have to be this way. Rather than spending the month of July and September debating bills for political reasons. we could have been debating these appropriations bills that are critically needed for the Nations safety and security. We could have been fighting for the people. we represent. We could have been meeting their basic needs. protecting their livelihoods. and ensuring their safety. But our leadership said no. and now our families are payinga price. I think the Senate deserves better. but more importantly. the people we represent deserve better. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":601,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090180357,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And I am committed by putting my objections in writing. and I did so. I ask unanimous consent that the letter be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":899,"word_count":26}
{"speech_id":1090180368,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I respectfully ask the Senator from Oklahoma if I could do the other two pending unanimousconsent requests and then allow the Senator from Oklahoma to speak for 15 minutes. and then. after that allow either Senator CORNYN or Senator LEAHY. or both. along with myself. to speak on the previously agreed to bill for up to 15 minutes.","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":346,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090180422,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Such insulation is inappropriate and unprecedented. and it is bad for consumers. I am sensitive to the hard work that the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth. and the airport authority there. have put in to craft a solution to the complicated web of problems created by the Wright amendment. It is more than unfortunate that Congress permitted such a clearly anticompetitive situation to exist in the first place. and it is certainly our obligation to try to rectify that problem. Doing so in a way that creates a new set of anticompetitive issuesand the resulting harm to consumers--would only be -to repeat the errors of the past. I appreciate the changes we have been able to agree to. stripping the explicit antitrust exemption from the bill. and speaking only to the obligations of the city of Dallas. rather than blessing the agreement among the cities. the airport authority. and two airlines. I am still concerned. however. because while Congress is no longer explicitly deeming the contract in compliance with competition laws. an implicit protection from those important guardians of consumer welfare may remain. The parties to the contract. both public and private. all assure me that the contract is not anticompetitive. and that the statute should not be read to create an exemption. I would prefer to be more precise in the statutory language. but I trust that they are correct. Senator CORNYN and I share a concern about providing antitrust immunity to agreements involving private parties. While I would prefer greater clarity on this point in the bill. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3306,"word_count":260}
{"speech_id":1090180424,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This legislation will allow the DFW Metroplex to end decades of bitterness and infighting that have plagued the Wright amendment. It provides a solution that all parties affected have agreed to. And just about every party to this agreement has given something up for the good of the North Texas economy and the traveling public. We can now move forward to allow immediate benefits to consumers and the traveling public because airline prices are going to go down when this bill is passed. Actually. the bill has already passed. I am very pleased to say it has passed the Senate. It is going to the House now. And you will see. when the bill becomes law. that the prices of tickets from Dallas Love Field are going to go down to every destination.. That is going to increase competition and interest in flying. which is going to be good for everyone. Mr. ","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4311,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090180426,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And the local community has had less input into its own aviation capabilities than maybe any other two major cities in America with major airports. I think today we have clarified the Wright amendment. and I do not think it is ever going to set a precedent because no other airport has a Wright amendment. So as we phase it out gradually. in an orderly way. to protect the integrity of the DFW Airport. as well as increasing competition in both DFW and Love Field. this is. for the taxpayers and the consumers and the traveling public. a win all the way around. I want to thank a few people because no one could have passed this bill alone. It took so much cooperation and so many things that were necessary to bring everyone together. I thank Senator STEVENS and Senator INOUYE. the chairman and ranking memberof the committee of jurisdiction. the Commerce Committee. I could not have asked for more help. The bill passed out of the Commerce Committee 21 to 1. Senator ROCKEFELLER was the only one who voted no. but he could not have been more accommodating and honorable in his objection. Once we passed the bill out of committee. we worked with him to make sure he was a part of everything we did. ","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6042,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090180432,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today on behalf of myself. Senator NELSON of Nebraska. Senator HAGEL. Senator DORGAN. Senator SALAZAR. Senator COLEMAN. Senator BAUCUS. Senator JOHNSON. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5749,"word_count":25}
{"speech_id":1090180450,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The unfortunate fact is that Drought David has. in some instances and in some locations. experienced its fifth birthday and. in some other areas. its seventh birthday. Failure to provide this needed relief threatens many small rural businesses and communities as well as farmers and ranchers. It threatens our Nations food and fuel security efforts. So today I join my colleagues and thank Senator CONRAD for his final push because this is. in fact. abipartisan effort to try to take care of those who are experiencing losses that are far beyond their ability to sustain and. certainly. far beyond their control. Over the last few years. I think we have begun to understand that a drought has devastating. impacts in much the same way hurricanes do in other locations. The difference is that a hurricane or a flood is a fastmoving disaster. this is a slowmoving disaster that can go over the course of years. as I have indicated. Giving it a name. I hope. will somehow have the impact of our colleagues understanding that this is an incident which goes over a long period of time. nevertheless. the devastation can be considerable. and in some cases the economic losses can be the same as those who have other disasters. We cannot prevent a drought. but Congress can help when a drought devastates large portions of our country. ","speaker_name":"BEN NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4374,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090180460,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank my colleague from North Dakota for yielding me time. I stand with my colleague from Minnesota. Senator DAYTON. in bipartisan agreement. This is not a partisan issue. and it should not be a partisan issue. I consider this one of the most important pieces of legislation that has been left undone this year. agricultural disaster assistance. While this body has come to the aid of producers in the gulf affected by hurricanes who need agricultural disaster assistance. Minnesotas farmers and families have been left to fend for themselves in the face of natural disastersthe flooding of 2005 and the record drought in 2006. In the sugar sector alone. revenue was reduced by $60 million in Minnesota in 2005 thanks to this natural disaster. ","speaker_name":"NORM COLEMAN","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2647,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090180486,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. let me just follow up on the point that this would be a bipartisan vote here in the Senate today. I want to point out that the piece of legislation Senator CONRAD has worked on and that I have added as an appropriations measure twice has passed the Senate. Twice I was in conference with that. Twice it was defeated in conference. I wish to make that point because the implication was the Department of Agriculture didnt have much to do with that. The fact is the House conferees defeated this because the President threatened to veto it. and the House conferees were listening to the Department of Agriculture. which also opposed it. Look. it seems to me we need the administration to understand what is going on here. This is bipartisan on the floor of the Senate. Weneed some help downtown as well from the Department of Agriculture as well as the White House to get this done.","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":895,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090180506,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Eventually. of course. the control will be consolidated and the violence will go down. But the point is that it is important we demonstrate to the American people that we are serious about gaining control of our border. -and it cant be done without more fencing. Let me describe just a little bit what we mean by this fencing because there is some misinformation about it. In Arizona right now in the urban areas south of Yuma. around San Louis. in Nogales. Douglas. and some of the smaller communities. there is some fencing. Much of it is a very old and ugly barrier. It is steel plates that were used in World War II and. I suppose. Vietnam for landing mats in the jungle to make temporary landing strips for aircraft. They stand those steel plates on end and imbed them in concrete. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10947,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090180521,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am. again. deeply honored by his words.","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1301,"word_count":8}
{"speech_id":1090180528,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank. him for his friendship. I thank him for the opportunity to work with him. I wish him continued success after I leave the Senate. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":902,"word_count":30}
{"speech_id":1090180537,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Rather. it focuses on outdated funding formulas that only examine AIDS. not the full spectrum of the disease. Just like her numbers on funding per person. the Senator from New York refuses to acknowledge those with HIV. This chart shows that today. in over 25 States. half of the gases in those States are not counted because those Americans only have HIV. not AIDS. These States receive funding for less than half their total HIV\/AIDS cases because of the current. outdated. failed formula. Half the Nation does. not receive enough funds to provide the most basic care to their residents. Now. my third problem with the bill of the Senator from New York or the Senator from New Jersey is that it ducks the key issue. Rather than more equitable distribution for funding and more equitable access to treatment for all Americans. my colleagues supporting this bill are simply throwing more money at the problem. assuming it will ensure more equitable access to lifesaving treatments. We know this is simply not the case because it does not solve the inherent flaws in the funding formulas. Now. this chart shows that under the current law. more than 3 percent of Ryan White funding is returned to the Treasury each year. That is more than 3 percent--much of this coming from New York and New Jersey. the very States that objected to the passage of the bill that would more equitably distribute funding across the Nation. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11233,"word_count":244}
{"speech_id":1090180555,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. for the last few seconds I am going to just mention that the bill by the Senators from New York and New Jersey was introduced on Tuesday. Surely they have had time to think about having that amendment debated and voted on in that amount of time. I am really disappointed that they wont give some kind of an answer that will allow a vote on that amendment. If that is what theyneed for cover. that is OK with me. I just need to get this done. New York and New Jersey are stealing the future from those with HIV. and that just cannot happen in the U.S. Senate. We have to worry about all the people from all of the United States. and that is what the reauthorization Would do. That is why it is important to do it. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1006,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090180561,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that following the statement by the Senator from Texas. the Senator from Iowa. Mr. GRASSLEY. be allowed to speak for 20 minutes. followingSenator GRASSLEY. myself for 15 minutes. and following Senator GRASSLEY. Senator MURRAY for 15. Senator HARKIN for 10. and Senator MENENDEZ for 15.","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":324,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090180565,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"First of all. I would like that not to be the casewell. that automatically would be the case because Senator GRASSLEY and myself would follow Senator HUTCHISON. Following the Senator from Texas. then the Senator from Iowa. and then myself. and then I -am asking following myself. that Senator MURRAY and Senator HARKIN be recognized. There will be three Republicans right in a row there already. at.least two. so I am just suggesting that at least Senators MURRAY and HARKIN be able to follow myself.","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":500,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090180572,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It is necessary to be tough on illegal immigration. but being tough and stupid is stupid. Lets challenge the House to get tough and smart about protecting our southern border. as President Bush has proposed and as the Senate has enacted. But lets not fool ourselves and lets not try to fool the American peolle that this legislation by itself will solve or even substantially reduce the very serious flood of illegal aliens crossing our southern border. This bill is also incomplete and inadequate because it does nothing to strengthen our national security along our countrys northern border. even though that border spans 5.500 miles and is over three times longer than our 1.800mile southern border. Our northern border has not. as yet. experienced the same volume of illegal traffic as the southern border. Yet it is even more unguarded and thus unprotected. There are over 11.000 Border Patrol agents stationed along our 1.800mile southern border. There are only 950 agents along our entire 5.500mile northern border. If you are what the Border Patrol agents call an economic immigrant. meaning someone who is coming into this country for a job. and you live south of the United States. you will probably try to cross our southern border. The Border Patrol agents with whom I talked last month in Texas. ","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9628,"word_count":219}
{"speech_id":1090180610,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The law that established the Education Department states: No provision of a program administered by the Secretary or by any other officer of the Department shall be construed to authorize the Secretary or any such officer to exercise any direction. supervision. or control over the curriculum. program of instruction. administration. or personnel of any educational institution. school. or school system . over the selection or consent of... textbooks. or other instructional materials by any educational institution or school system. except to the extent authorized by law. Now. when we established the Department of Educationand I happened to be here at that time. I was in the House of Representatives at that timethe hue and cry went up to those who were opposed to establishing the Department of Education that the Department -of Education would begin telling local school districts what to S10600 cot teach. what books to use. Well. none of us wanted that. We wanted the Department of Education to do certain things but not to control local schools. We wanted to leave the control of school curricula. textbooks. what they taught. in the hands of local school boards. So we put this in the law expressly forbidding the Secretary of Education. or anyone in that Department. to exercise any direction. supervision. or control over textbooks. and -things like that: That is about as clear as night is from day in the law. Later. when we passed the No Child Left Behind Act. we further elaborated on that. and No Child Left Behind established the Reading First Program. It reiterates this point: No funds provided to the Department under this act may be used by the Department to endorse. approve. or sanction any curriculum. The Department officials repeatedly denied that they showed any favoritism. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4870,"word_count":295}
{"speech_id":1090180614,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. if this description is accurate. it is hard to imagine that Secretary Spellings didnt know anything about the abuses described in the inspector generals report. Instead of making others take the fall for what happened. she needs to stand up and say whether she had any knowledge of or involvement in these activities when she worked in the White House. Last weeks report from the IG was just the first of several on the Education Departments management of the Reading First Program. I. am afraid that what we have learned so far is just the. tip of the *iceberg. Secretary Spellings needs to explain as soon as possible her role in this program. Mr. President. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":694,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090180650,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. -I support. as did the Senator from Colorado. tough border security. I voted. as did the Senator. for an amendment in the context of an immigration reform bill that would have authorized for Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff 370 miles of fence based on what he told the Senate he needed. Building some fencing as part of a comprehensive reform bill makes sense. Would the Senator agree. we cannot take a piecemeal approach to fixing our borders?","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":463,"word_count":78}
{"speech_id":1090180664,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It included legislation that was an amendment proposed by the Senator from Alabama which would have constructed a 370mile fence. That was a comprehensive piece of legislation. In addition. we said we would be a nation of laws and we would enforce our laws. We did that with a number of different provisions which included an additional 5.000 new investigators. It included 20 new detention facilities. It included provisions to reimburse the States their costs for detaining and imprisoning criminal aliens. The list goes on. It was a tough bill that said. we are going to enforce the immigration laws of our country. We did not stop there because we have the reality of an elephant in this room. in this country: the 12 million people who live here. Under the leadership of Senator MCCAIN and Senator KENNEDY. we came up with a program that would have brought these 12 million people out of the shadows through a system of penalties and registrations that would have applied to them. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2853,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090180670,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Fiftyfour seconds. Let me just conclude. Mr. President. I hope as we move forward as a Senate we can find the courage in this body tonight to turn down this political gimmick. that in this body there are statesmen and people of principle who believe we ought to put our national security interests ahead of politics. that there are people in this body who believe we ought to address the economic realities of Americas farmers and ranchers and construction workers. construction companies. and others. that there are people in this body who can look at the future of the Western Hemisphere. including our relationship with Latin America. and recognize that at the end of the day the fence that is being proposed today is going to be inimical to the longterm interests of the United States of America as we unite as a global community to deal with the issues of terrorism around the. world. that this fence is going to be something that is going to hurt us in building those alliances. Mr. President. I urge my colleagues to vote against this fence bill. And I urge we do it in a bipartisan way. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1113,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090180686,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. imagine that. observing the fourth anniversary of the death of one of our colleagues. acknowledging his life of public service. and simply askiiig that the next Congress take up his bill to try to make sure those suffering from mental illness will get fair treatment and compensation under their health insurance plans. I find it hard to believe. But if that is the nature of our business. if we have reached that level of partisanship. then it is regrettable. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":494,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090180688,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I understand what the problem is on this resolution. All of us loved Paul Wellstone. What an advocate he was. What a believer he was. But in this legislation. as I understand this resolution. it calls explicitly for the endorsement of those who support the resolution of a mental health piece of legislation that is not universally accepted. Some people. I understand. have suggested we use a different. a general affirmation of the goal of that legislation. and that we could all support. But I think it is a bit much to ask. on a resolution. without any study. that this Senate take a position on a specific piece of legislation. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1007,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090180690,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I submitted the language in this resolution to the Republican side. I have worked on three different versions of the language to find something that mirrors the language. the purpose clause. of the bill that was introduced by Senator DOMENICI and Senator Wellstone. calling on the Senate to try to enact legislation to meet that goal. There may be Senators who vote for this resolution and want to offer an amendment or change it. That is the way this place works. But to suggest if you call for legislation \"to give people with mental illness a chance for compensation in your health insurance that it is not collegialit is not collegial? I have offered this resolution and amended it twice in an effort to be as collegial as possible. But it is hard to understand.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":781,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090180713,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we can build the tallest fence in the world. and it wont fix our broken immigration system. Nor will it strengthen security on the borders. to do that. we need the comprehensive reform that the Senate passed earlier this year. We have been waiting for months for the majority to appoint conferees so we could complete this important legislation. but they have refused to do so. I support tough border security. I voted for an amendment. in the context of our comprehensive immigration reform bill. that would have authorized Homeland Security Secretary Chertoffs Department to build 370 miles of fencingbased on what he told us in the Senate he needed. Building some fencing as part of the comprehensive reform bill makes sense. As I have said before. we cannot take a piecemeal approach to fixing our borders. We need to do more. We passed a comprehensive bill. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2808,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090180720,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. last week. immigration agents arrested 120 illegal workers at a worksite in Colorado within 1 mile of global surveillance and a missile earlywarning facility. Most likely. they came to America to find jobs. But if any had sinister intentions. only a fence separated them from a critical military facility. Most immigrants come to America with good intentions. but not all of them. Intelligence reports show that September.29. 2006 alQaida considers our borders a vulnerability. Imagine how terrorists might exploit a 1.951mile border with Alexander Mexico. Allard We are a Nation of immigrants. but Allen we are also a Nation of laws and prin- Baueus Bayh ciples. Any attempt to halt the influx Bennett of illegal immigrants must respect that Biden fact. The comprehensive immigration Bond Boxer reform legislation the Senate passed in Brownback May struck a careful balance. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2566,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090180733,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Such a relationship makes it difficult. if not impossible. for the girl to admit to being pregnant or to express her desire to obtain an abortion. Additionally I am concerned with the delay this bill poses on young girls seeking abbrtions in the case of rape or health risks. Proponents of this legislation have urged me to support it on the ground that the state judicial bypass laws provide a sufficient means for young girls who have such a bad relationship with their parents. to receive judicial authorization to secure an abortion without their parents knowledge or consent. It has been suggested to me that there may be compelling data that the judicial bypass procedures provide a sufficient means for such girls interests to be protected. On the current state of the record. however. I believe that the judicial bypass procedures are not adequate. so I do not believe that a Federal crime should be legislated for those who take minor girls across state lines to secure an abortion. To those who have urged me to support the legislation and have asked me to review such data. I have replied that I would be willing to study any such information. As noted. on this date of the record. I could not support legislating a Federal crime on this issue.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1920,"word_count":219}
{"speech_id":1090180735,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The purpose of the Child Custody Protection Act is to prevent people. including abusive boyfriends and predatory older males who may have committed rape. from pressuring young girls into having secret abortions without their parents consent. kTE S10617 The bill also requires an abortionist to give 24 hours notice to a parent of the minor from another State before performing the abortion. Several exceptions are made. including exceptions related to parental abuse and the life and bodily health of the mother. Should the abortionist fail to do so. they could face a fine or jail time. We are reminded how important parental notification is when we hear the story of Marcia Carroll and her daughter. from Pennsylvania. Ms. Carrolls daughter was. without her mothers knowledge. pressured by her boyfriends stepfather to take a train and cross State lines and have an abortion. she didnt want to have and - which she now regrets and .seeks continual counseling for.. The abortion provider who performed an abortion on Mrs. Carrolls daughter had a long history of abusing .his patients. Mrs. Carroll should have been given an opportunity to learn about the history of her childs doctor. who had been professionally disciplined \" multiple times for having sex with a patient in his office. for performing improper rectal and breast exams on two others. and for indiscriminately prescribing controlled dangerous substances. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ENSIGN","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8145,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090180746,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the Senator from Ohio for raising this important question. Section 550 does not contain any language regarding its preemptive effect. I know there have been some in the other House who believe that this silence means the legislation would have no effect on State or local attempts to regulate chemical securityin other words. that it gives them a green light to go farther. I want to state clearly my belief to the contrary. As we all know. under wellestablished Supreme Court precedent. a Federal law that is silent in this way can still occupy the field and impliedly preempt any State legislation on the same topic. Historically. Congress has done so in the security area. whether it be nuclear security or aviation security.","speaker_name":"MARK PRYOR","chamber":"S","state":"AR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":736,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090180753,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Senators understanding is correct. The Parliamentarians office has indicated to my staff that the wireless alert capability language in the act does not preclude the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee from considering legislation next year to address FEMAs role with respect to the emergency alert system. and I commit to working with you to develop a bill that will set forth FEMAs role with respect to new emergency alert capabilities.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":459,"word_count":72}
{"speech_id":1090180759,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I believe the proper implementation of WHTI is imperative. I wish to emphasize that the Departments of Homeland Security and State can move forward with the full implementation of WHTI before June I. 2009but to do so they must comply with all legislated criteria. These legislated criteria are designed to ensure that the PASS Card protects the privacy of our citizens. that readers have been installed at all ports of entry. that all employees have been properly trainedin short. that the system works. before it is used by millions of citizens. And I emphasize that implementation. meaning putting the system into operation can occur at any time but no later than June 1. 2009. if the. conditions. which are designed for proper operations. are met.","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":750,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090180772,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Northern Border Air Wing. NBAW. initiative was launched by the Department of Homeland Security. DHS. in 2004 to provide air and marine interdiction and enforcement capabilities along the northern border. Original plans called for DHS to open five NBAW sites in New York. Washington. North Dakota. Montana. and Michigan. Michigan was originally scheduled to be the third facility opened. The New York. and Washington NBAW sites have been operational since 2004. Unfortunately. not all of the sites have been established. leaving large portions of our northern border unpatrolled from the air and. in the case of my home State. the water. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6877,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090180774,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"What most people do not .know is that dairy farmers. dairy cooperatives. and milk processors use anhydrous ammonia as a cooling agent to safely store milk and milk products as it makes its way from farm to grocery store shelf. Many in the food industry consider anhydrous ammonia to be one of the most efficient refrigerants available. and in a relatively lowrisk process. In accordance with Government regulations and guidelines. many dairy facilities now use anhydrous ammonia refrigeration systems after phasing out other chemicals that are less environmentally friendly. The dairy industry in Idaho and nationwide has been extremely diligent in taking actions to enhance the safety and security of their facilities. Those actions include regularly working with the Department of Homeland Security under Presidential Directives 7 and 9 along with regularly conducted vulnerability assessments with the Food and Drug Administration. FDA. the Department of Homeland Security. DHS. the Federal Bureau of Investigation. FBI. and State and local officials. Food facilities were some of the first industries we focused on in our fight against terrorism. This sector of our economy is currently regulated under the PublicHealth Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 under the jurisdiction of the FDA. ","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3944,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090180775,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Only 1719 percent are examined with imaging equipment. Only 73 percent are screened for nuclear material. Five years after the 9\/11 attacks. many of our first- responders still cannot communicate with each other on their radio systems. Five years after the 9\/11 terrorist attacks. we still have no system for verifying the identities and backgrounds of the thousands of workers who have access -to our ports. boats. cargo containers. or air cargo. Five years after the 9\/11 terrorist attacks. we still do not have a reliable system for inspecting the 23 billion pounds of air cargo that is placed on passenger aircraft every year. Annually. 500 million people cross U.S. borders via ports of entrymore than 330 million of them are noncitizens. One of the key findings of the 9\/11 Commission is that we do not have a system in this country for tracking aliens who pose a risk and remain in this country undetected. Five years after the terrorist attacks of 9\/11. we still do not have a system for knowing when. or if. aliens have left the country. Nor do we have a 10fingerprint system to reliablyverify the identity. or the criminal or terrorist background. of aliens coming into this country. The EPA has estimated that there are 123- chemical plants across the country that could each endanger more than 1 million people if attacked. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10085,"word_count":227}
{"speech_id":1090180776,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I believe that its passage will open the door to expanding access to lowercost medications from Canada for all Americans. regardless of where they live. We have made progress but I intend to keep pushing the issue until all Americans can get the medications they need at an affordable price.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2446,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090180787,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The vulnerability of our cargo is perhaps best illustrated by an incident that happened in Seattle earlier this year. In April. 22 Chinese nationals were caught as they attempted to leave a shipping container. Those illegal aliens transited in a shipping container all the way from China to our shores to the port of Seattle. This container could have just as easily have contained not people seeking a better way of life but people seeking to destroy our way of life. There could have- been a squad of terrorists in that container. There could have been the makings of a dirty bomb. There could have even been a small nuclear device. That is the vulnerability of the current system. In fact. the containers have been called the poor mans missile because a low budget terrorist could ship one across our oceans to a United States port for only a few thousand dollars. The stakes are very high. ","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7907,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090180809,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I come to the floor to join more than 35 of our colleagues in support of the National Competitiveness Investment Act. Our countrys success is the direct result of our advancements in science and technology. Throughout our history. our scientists and engineers have created new industries--and their efforts have ensured our countrys competitiveness in the global economy. Two key reports now raise serious concerns about our ability tor continue this tradition. The \"Innovate America\" report by the Council on Competitiveness and the National Academies \"Rising Above the Gathering Storm\" report. also known as the \"Augustine Report.\" both conclude advancements in science and technology are our countrys best hope for the future. They identify serious problems with our efforts in these areas. Sadly. this week the World Economic Forum announced our country has dropped from first to sixth place in its \"global competitiveness index.\" Our comprehensive legislation addresses several of these issues. and all of us owe a great debt to Senator ENSIGN. who has shown tremendous leadership in the drafting of this bill. As the new chairman of the Commerce Committee. ","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2092,"word_count":183}
{"speech_id":1090180811,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. for more than 50 years. the North Atlantic Treaty Organization -has served as a force for stability. security. and peace in Europe. It remains the foundation of security on the Continent and the cornerstone of U.S. engagement in Europe. Today it is the key institution helping to secure a Europe that is whole. free. and at peace. Not.only is it the most successful alliance in history. but NATO has also contributed to the democratic transition of our former adversaries in Central and Eastern Europe by fostering the development of new. strong. and democratic allies capable of contributing to our common security goals. NATOs enlargement over the past decade has strengthened the strongest alliance in history and helped spread de-\" mocracy and liberty. For this reason. it is essential that we keep the door to NATO accession open for others. Today. I am proud to introduce the NATO Freedom Consolidation Act of 2006. along with Senators LUGAR. BIDEN. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3530,"word_count":159}
{"speech_id":1090180813,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Before serving in the Governors cabinet. Ms. Wilcher had over three decades of experience in environmental and naturalresources issues. She served in President Ronald Reagans administration as a biologist and environmental lawyer with the U.S. National Park Service. And under President George H.W. Bush. she served as the Environmental Protection Agencys Assistant Administrator of Water. Known for being a straight shooter who got things done. Ms. Wilcher dealt with the worst mine disaster in Kentucky in the past 16 years and pushed for tougher minesafety legislation that was passed by the.Kentucky General Assembly. ","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1630,"word_count":93}
{"speech_id":1090180818,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Darfur Peace and Accountability Act supports these measures. Consistent with. the goals of this bill. a number of States have already acted to do their part to stop genocide. My home State of Illinois was the first to enact a law suspending State investment in companies that conduct business in Sudan or with the Sudanese Government. The law mandates the divestment from all Illinois State Pension Systems of securities issued by any company doing business in Sudan and prohibits the State from investing in foreign government bonds of Sudan. Illinois is following a tradition established during the campaign against apartheid in South Africa. Like that campaign. the Illinois law is a public expression that the citizens of my State and others that have passed similar legislation do not want to be party to supporting a foreign government that preys upon its own people. It is both symbolic and very tangible: the people of Illinois are choosing how they will invest their money. That is an act very much within their rights. and I salute their efforts. Passage of the Darfur Peace andAccountability Act is an important and overdue step. But we must do more to ensure that the United Nations peacekeeping mission is imi0emented: the people of Darfur need UN boots on the ground. and the world must live up to its promises to end the genocide.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3553,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090180820,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I agree with the junior Senator from Illinois. There is a very powerful commitment in both Houses to take a meaningful stand against the genocide in Sudan. State governments. universities. and other institutions from coast. to coast have passed divestment measures. Those voices have been heard in Congress. and I agree there is strong bicameral. bipartisan support for divestment. but that no single provision could be allowed to jeopardize passage of this important legislation. given the situation on the ground in Darfur.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":525,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090180829,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I have listened intently over the past few weeks as the President. members of his Cabinet. and Members of this Chamber have discussed Iraq. the war on terror. and ways to strengthen our national security. For years. now. I have opposed this administrations policies in Iraq as a diversion from the fight against terrorism. But I have never been so sure of the fact that this administration misunderstands the nature of the threats that face our country. I am also more sure than ever and it gives me no pleasure to say thisthat this President is incapable of developing and executing a national security strategy that will make our country safer. As we marked the fifth anniversary of 9\/11 this month. we recalled that tragic day and the lives that were lost in New York. at the Pentagon. and in Pennsylvania. And we all recalled the anger and resolve we felt to fight back against those that attacked us. This body was United and was supportive of the administrations decision to attack alQaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10194,"word_count":180}
{"speech_id":1090180840,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"President. I encourage my colleagues to join me in recognition of National Employ Older Workers Week. As chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging. I look forward to working with my colleagues to encourage the hiring and retention of older workers. We honor these workers for their experience and the contributions they have made throughout their lifetimes. and look forward to their continued contributions to our countrys prosperity..","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1797,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090180843,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"At the same time. larger companies will have opportunities to increase their investment and build better services to reach even more customers. This is a winwin situation for my State and the country. Also. this bill has numerous other critical components--one of which being the assistance it provides to our Nations first responders. The First Responder Coalition. a group consisting of tens of thousands of concerned citizens and first responders. strongly supports this legislation as it delivers key assistance for interoperability. \".Interoperability\" is a term that refers to local. State. and Federal agencies being able to communicate effectively during the time of a crisis. This legislation will allocate up to $1 billion in muchneeded funds to first responders specifically for interoperable communications. and my amendment adopted in committee will speed up the delivery of that important funding. As we witnessed in last years devastating hurricane season. local governments need dedicated and easily accessible technology so they can communicate with each other. as well as State and Federal authorities in the event of similar circumstances that require critical early responses. In Louisiana. nothing could be more important for us. I am asking us today to heed the call for the entire country deserving for the great benefits of this bill. ","speaker_name":"DAVID VITTER","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4010,"word_count":209}
{"speech_id":1090180846,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I come to the floor today to speak about an issue that would greatly impact this TE $10657 .countrys physicians and our constituents ability to access care. The issue of physician reimbursements under Medicare is important to me and my Colorado constituents. Congress was able to take steps to address the reimbursement issue for 2006. but once again phys.icians are faced with the possibility of a decreased reimbursement for 2007. Many .physicians and physician groups have contacted Congress. requesting that the problem be addressed. Ellice Zirinski. who works in Family Practice in Arvada. CO. wanted Congress to know that she would strongly urge them to take action and increase Medicare reimbursement to physicians. Should reimbursement decline as legislated. she could no longer afford to give care to her patients and stay in practice. She does not want to jeopardize her patients access to c~re. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3027,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090180851,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Each year my wife Barbara and I sponsor a cancer booth at the South Dakota State Fair in Huron. SD. For many years..we have been able to provide free PSA tests to hundreds of men. and several people have returned to the booth to tell us that the PSA test they took at the fair detected their cancer. and they are now on the road to a full recovery. Barb and I are gratefulthat we are able to offer this service. and that it is making a difference for South Dakotans. Many individuals have had their own lives or the lives of family and friends touched by cancer. I am so grateful that my own battle with this disease had a successful outcome. *Prostate cancer is often not an easy subject to discuss. but uncomfortable though the topic may be for some. we must remember that early detection saves lives. My wife Barbara is a twotime cancer survivor. and her experience taught me that early detection and swift treatment is the best defense in fighting any form of cancer. I am proud to add my voice to those who are working to fight prostate cancer. and to commend them on their indefatigable efforts to raise awareness of the risks. to promote early detection and treatment. and to further our efforts to understand and eliminate this disease. I urge men to discuss their risks and screening options with their doctor. and I urge women to raise this important topic with the men in their lives. Through screening and early detection. we truly can save lives.","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2702,"word_count":264}
{"speech_id":1090180855,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This is not an insurmountable challenge. Americans have accomplished more difficult tasks in our history. Lastly. I would like to emphasize the issue of.public ownership. These lands are owned by the people. We policymakers need to always keep that in mind and not just pay this fact lipservice. National Public Lands Day is a perfect time to remind ourselves who owns this land. We must be flexible with the different types of recreation and access to public land that people want. Mr. President. in closing. let me add that Americans have always had a strong relationship .with public lands and have always understood the need to preserve them for posterity. ","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3271,"word_count":110}
{"speech_id":1090180857,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The Senate bill also does not consider aviation security Yes. aviation security has imp.roved greatly in the last five years. But five years after 9\/11. we are still not screening cargo loaded on board passenger planes. I am pleased that DHS will launch a pilot program at San Francisco Airport. SFO. this October to check all commercial cargo for explosives on passenger flights. but we. should be doing this at every airport in America to ensure the safety of passengers and the solvency of the airline industry. But until that time. at the very least. we need to use at least one blast resistant cargo container on passenger planes that carry cargo. This was one of the major recommendations of the 9\/11 Commission. When I tried to offer an amendment to do just that. the Republican managers of the bill blocked my amendment. Cost is not the problem here. The price to place one blastresistant container on planes is about $75 million or a little more than the price of 5 hours in Iraq. The American people deserve to know that we are doing everything -we can to keep them safe. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5553,"word_count":191}
{"speech_id":1090180860,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to encourage my colleagues to pass H.R. 6138. which would provide for a temporary extension of the Higher Education Act of 1965 by extending its provisions through June 30. 2007. This extension. unfortunately. is the sixth time the Higher Education Act has temporarily been extended. It is now critical to moveforward with the Higher Education Act and reauthorize the remaining discretioiiary programs. As my colleagues know. the mandatory portions of the higher education law were reauthorized in February under the Deficit Reduc.tion Act of 2006. We have the bill out of the Senate Committee on Health. Education. Labor. and Pensions. but havent had the floor time to debate it. I am making the Higher Education Act a top priority for 2007 because postsecondary education is the key to the future successes of our students. our communities. and the economy.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":887,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090180864,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I pay tribute to those individuals from PenroseSt. Francis Hospital in Colorado. Springs. CO. who graciously agreed to provide medical attention to retired Air Force veteran Mr. Richard Mc Whorter following a critical injury in April. 2006. while working in Amrian. Jordan. The staff of PenroseSt. Francis worked quickly and tirelessly to arrange for the appropriate procedures in order to best help Mr. Mc Whorter given the urgency and unfortunate extenuating circumstances. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1251,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090180867,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am pleased to acknowledge the Shockey Companies for over 100 years of service. When the company began in 1896. its founder. Mr. Howard Shockey. developed a reputation in Winchester. VA. for his superior craftsmanship and hard working attitude. Today. more than three generations later. the Shockey. Companies have remained true to their commitment to serve the Winchester and midAtlantic region with the crdftsmanship. quality. and oldfashioned values that the company was first built upon. Over the past three generations. the Shockey Companies expanded even further. working 6n transportation projects for interstate bridges and interchanges on the highways of Maryland. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1245,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090180871,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"To express their appreciation for the continual support of local patrons. the Wright family gives back to their community through annual charity events such as the Youth Development Centers Annual Punkin Chunkin Contest. I would like to recognize Hill High Farm as an historical trademark of Shenandoah Valley. loved and cherished by so many in the Virginian community..","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1312,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090180878,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I wish to honor a man that has worked his way to and excelled in the highest level of athletic competition. Mr. Bill Zadick. Bill competed in the wrestling world championship in Gaungzhu. China. where he won the gold medal in the 66 kilogram weight class. The wrestling world championship brings together the top wrestlers from around the world. and to win a gold medal is evidence of determination. dedication. and elite talent. The semifinal match that Bill won exemplified these characteristics as he fought for every point in a weight class deemed to be the most difficult of all. Not to be overlooked was the silver medal victory achieved by Mr. Mike Zadick. brother to Bill. in the 60 kilogram weight class. ","speaker_name":"CONRAD BURNS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1529,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090180894,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"A number of studies have concluded that ethanol can contribute 20 to 30 percent or more of our transportation fuel in the future. Several of my Senate colleagues joined me to introduce S. 2817. the Biofuels Security Act of 2006 which calls for domestic production and use of renewable fuels to reach 60 billion gallons a year by 2030. I am especially proud of the leadership role that my State of Iowa and the neighboring states of the Midwest are going to play in this expansion. Given this outlook. it is time for us to consider the full implications of such a transition. One issue that deserves prompt attention is that of ethanol transport. The volumes of ethanol to be shipped in the future strongly suggest that pipeline transport should be evaluated because of the potential economic and environmental advantages that alternative might offer as compared to shipment by highway. rail tanker or barge. As production volumes increase. especially in the Midwest. it is likely to be more economical to pump ethanol through pipelines than to ship it in containers across the country. Pipeline shipping also would reduce the vehicle emissions associated with rail or tanker shipment. as well as being more energy efficient. For all of these reasons. we should begin to consider development of an ethanol pipeline network. Given the pace of ethanols growth. it is likely that our Nation could begin to benefit from pipeline transport of ethanol as early as the 2015 to 2020 timeframe. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5910,"word_count":249}
{"speech_id":1090180896,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"However. unless new sources of water are found. future conflict over Water is inevitable. Recent conditions illustrate the need for us to look for ways to supplement flows of the most severely impacted regions in order to stave off the hardships and conflict that result from lean water years. It is my sincere hope that recordbreaking rains this summer will not breed complacency. The bill I introduce today would authorize the United States Bureau of Reclamation to investigate ways to increase the flows of the Rio Grande. Pecos and Canadian Rivers. the three rivers that have been most devastated by longterm drought. While little can be done to increase rainfall. it is my belief that this bill will help us begin to better understand ways to increase the flows of these rivers to help mitigate the damaging effects that drought imposes on the municipalities. agricultural producers. industries and endangered species that depend on the water these rivers provide. I thank Representative HEATHER WILSON for introducing a companion measure in the House of Representatives. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2405,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090180897,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"After 65 years of mining. we are now faced with the reality that the water contained in the Ogallala Aquifer has been significantly depleted and continues to be drawn * down at an alarming rate. Many on the periphery of the Aquifer. including much of eastern New Mexico. parts of Kansas and Oklahoma have been forced to drill new wells in order to supplement existing wells that are producing water at a fraction of the volume of several decades ago. This problem is not limited to those communities overlying the Ogallala. Many other regions entirely reliant on groundwater face a similar problem. As is the case with the communities in eastern New Mexico. when the wells run dry. the only alternative for many is to ship water from long distances. In many instances. this is a very expensive proposition that exceeds the capacity of rural communities ability to pay. In order to address the want of a sustainable water supply in eastern New Mexico. I introduce today the Eastern New Mexico Rural Water System Act of 2006. The bill would authorize the United States Bureau of Reclamation to provide financial assistance to the Eastern New Mexico Rural Water Authority. at a 75 percent Federal costshare. to construct a pipeline from Ute Reservoir to communities in eastern New Mexico. This project would provide them with a renewable source of water for years to come. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4035,"word_count":233}
{"speech_id":1090180899,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We as a Nation have assiduously acted to protect our children from many of the dangers that they face every day. but we have dropped the ball when it oomes to making sure that the places where they spend their days are free from contamination. The Environmental Protection for Children Act will help fix that. and I urge my colleagues to join me in support of this important piece of legislation. By Mr. SMITH (for himself and Mr. WYDEN):","speaker_name":"ROBERT MENENDEZ","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2910,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090180902,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Improvement. and Modernization Act of 2003. by providing hospitals who continue to be disadvantaged by low Medicare reimbursement an increase in funding. The bill would allow both acute care hospitals and notforprofit inpatient rehabilitation facilities apply for funding in a similar manner as set up under Section 508. Facilities that meet specific wage and geographic criteria will receive a three year reclassification. Under the Section 508. program a number of hospitals meet the necessary criteria to receive reclassification. however. inadequate funding of $300 million per year for the program was provided. As a result. 154 additional hospitals did not receive this vital funding. Under this legislation. sufficient funds would be provided to allow all facilities that meet wage and geographic criteria to receive reclassification funding. To remedy the underfunding of impatient rehabilitation facilities. not for profit facilities will be eligible for funding through this program. If all acute care hospitals in an MSA. apply for and receive funding through this program. or have sole community hospital status. or have reclassified to another MSA through another mechanism. then nonprofit inpatient rehabilitation facilities in that MSA are eligible. Those rehabilitation -facilities will be reclassified to the MSA where a majority of other hospitals from the same MSA have been reclassified. For those hospitals who received funding under the current Section 508. they will have received the benefit of a higher wage index for three years. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8447,"word_count":233}
{"speech_id":1090180911,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today Senator BAUCUS and I are pleased to introduce the Tax Technical Corrections Act of 2006. Technical Corrections measuxes are routine for major tax acts. and are necessary to ensure that the provisions of the acts are working consistently with Congressional intent. or to provide clerical corrections. Because these measures carry out Congressional intent. no revenue gain or loss is scored from them. Technical corrections are derived from a deliberative and consultative process among the Congressional and Administration tax staffs. That means the Republican and Democratic staffs of the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees are involved. as is the staff of the Treasury Department. All of this work is performed with the participation and guidance of the nonpartisan staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation. A technical enters the list only if all staffs agree it is appropriate. By filing this bill. we hope interested parties and practitioners will comment and provide direction on further edits. additions. or deletions. These comments should be submitted in a timely manner. by the end of October:It is our hope that we may move this package of technicals in November if possible.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1222,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090180920,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"President. I rise today. along with my colleague. TOM COBURN. to proudly introduce the Child Medication Safety Act. a bill to protect children and their parents from being coerced into administering a controlled substance or psychotropic drug in order to attend a school. The text of my bill exactly matches the text of H.R. 1790. which passed the House on November 16. 2006 by a vote of 407 to 12. Parents today face many challenges when raising their children. one of which is ensuring that their children receive the best education possible. My views on education come from a somewhat unique perspective in that my wife. Kay. was a teacher at Edison High School in Tulsa for many years and now both of our daughters are teachers. I can assure you that I am one of the strongest supporters of quality education. However. it has come to my attention that schools have been acting as physicians or psychologists by strongly suggesting that children with behavioral problems be put immediately on some form of psychotropic drugs. Schools and teachers are not equipped to make this diagnosis and should not make it mandatory for the student to continue attending the school. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3263,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090180923,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Robinson II earned the highest GPA ever achieved at the law school. Following law school. he returned to Richmond. VA to establish a law firm with another pioneer of civil rights. Oliver W. Hill. Through the years he was involved in many important civil rights cases in State and Federal courts. but it was his vital role in the seminal case of Brown v. Board of Education that placed Judge Robinson into legal history. Judge Robinson is widely recognized as the architect of the legal strategies that led to success in intergrading the nations public schools. Judge Robinson left the private practice of law in 1960 to become Dean of the Howard Law School. In October 1963. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3624,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090180927,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would like to take the time to recognize some of the successful programming we have had in New Mexico for Mesa Elementary School in Clovis. NM is the definition of a school that embraces character education programming. Everyday school begins with a Character Song and Pledge and every month they organize a Character Counts assembly to recognize and reflect upon the \"Six Pillars of Character.\" In Gallup. the Gallup High School National Honor Society is distributing Character Counts posters to all faculty and staff and volunteering for a Youth Leadership Weekend. In Las Cruces. the City of Las Cruces Recreation Section organized the KSth basketball leagues to participate in sportsmanship games and the halftime show will spotlight Pursuing Victory with Honor. Lastly. the New Mexico Womens Correctional Facility is gearing up to commence a Character Counts based series in their new character education programming. All of these organizations and schools as well as the many others not mentioned here. are to be commended for their hard work in developing these programs and spreading the message that character truly does count. During the week of October 15. I hope everyone takes the time to participate in a Character Counts event in their local area. I know in New Mexico we will be having some special celebrations. On October 16 in Carlsbad. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3351,"word_count":221}
{"speech_id":1090180930,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Facing the labor shortages of the Great Depression. Byron decided to turn professional in 1932 at the -young age of 22. By 1937. he had won his first Masters. In his 14 years as a professional. Byron won 54 sanctioned tournaments. including the Masters in 1937 and 1942. the U.S. Open in 1939. and the PGA Championship in 1940 and 1945. As a hemophiliac. Byron was excused from military service during World War II.-which allowed him time to perfect his game. In 1944. he won 13 of the 23 tournaments he played. and in the following year won a record 18 times in 31 starts. During his record season of 1945. ","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2599,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090180943,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. as in executive session. I ask unanimous consent that all nominations received by the Senate during the 109th Congress remain in status quo. notwithstanding the September 30. 2006. adjournment of the Senate and the provisions of rule XXXI. paragraph 6. of the Standing Rules of the Senate. with the following exceptions. The list of nominations is as follows:","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":374,"word_count":60}
{"speech_id":1090180945,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"PN1998. From the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee: Calvin Scovel. PN1808. I further ask unanimous consent that the nominations be confirmed en bloc. the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table. the President be immediately notified of the Senates action. and the Senate then return to legislative session.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1155,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090180995,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"\" This legislation improves the functions of the Administration on Aging. provides grants for State and community programs on aging. and creates training and research programs to assist seniors in maintaining their independence. In addition. the conference report includes job training for seniors through the community service employment program and grants for supportive and nutrition programs for older Native Americans. There are two provisions of this measure that I would like to highlight. First. the conference report includes provisions from legislation that I introduced earlier this Congress with my colleague. Senator BLANCHE LINCOLN of Arkansas. S. 2010. the Elder Justice Act. More specifically. this legislation includes a provision which authorizes the Assistant Secretary on Aging to designate an individual to be responsible for elder abuse and prevention services. and to coordinate Federal elder justice activities. This includes developing a longterm plan for. the creation and implementation of a coordinated. multidisciplinary elder justice system. I am so proud to have provisions from the Elder Justice Act included in this legislation. With over 77 million baby boomers retiring in the next three decades. we have no choice but to acknowledge something must be done to combat elder abuse. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3408,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090181007,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am sure my col- prove H.R. 6159._ a bill passed by the House of Representatives on Tuesday that would provide a shortterm extension of the Small Business Administration. SBA. and all of its programs. In particular. it ensures the continued authority. through February 2. 2007. of the SBAs PreDisaster Mitigation Program. the Small Business Development Center DrugFree Workplace Grants. the Advisory Committee on Veterans Business Affairs. and also the SBAs Cosponsorship and Gift Acceptance Authority. Currently. many of the SBAs programs. authorities. or provisions authorized under the Small Business Act and the Small Business Investment Act are scheduled to expire on September 30. 2006. While most of the SBAs programs can operate through appropriations -and the Continuing Resolution. this bill makes certain that the SBA will continue its vital small business lending programs such as the 7(a) loan guaranty program. the Certified Development Company program. and the Small Business Investment Companies program. On July 27. 2006. the Small Business C6mmittee unanimously reported out the Small Business Improvements and Reauthorization Act of 2006 . a comprehensive. bipartisan bill which reauthorizes the SBA for the next 3 years. This bill is a product of the committees work over the last 2 years and includes many critical provisions to improve and revitalize the SBA and its programs. My SBA Reauthorization bill will enhance the SBAs role in assisting American small businesses to thrive and grow. through the agencys lending programs as well as other programs and services. Most importantly. it will enable the agency to help small businesses continue creating new jobs for our economy. Since 1999. the SBAs programs and services have time and again proven their value. helping to create or retain over 5.3 million jobs in the United States. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8438,"word_count":290}
{"speech_id":1090181010,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Chair lay before the Senate the House message to accompany S. 2856. The Presiding Officer laid before the Senate a message from the House as follows: S. 2856 Resolved. That the bill from the Senate entitled \"An Act to provide regulatory relief and improve productivity for insured depository institutions. and for other purposes\". do pass with the following amendment: Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert:","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":469,"word_count":76}
{"speech_id":1090181011,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to engage the distinguished Senators in a colloquy. Section 702 of the Financial Services Regulatory Relief Act of 2006 clarifies that written conditions in applications and written agreements with institutionaffiliated parties are enforceable in order to protect the safety and soundness of insured depository institutions. Institution affiliated parties can include bank directors. officers and principal shareholders. This provision was included at the request of the regulatory agencies. and we have heard some concerns that the regulatory agencies may use this language to require personal guarantees from bank directors and officers in inappropriate circumstances. I ask Senator CRAPO if he can explain the legislative intent behind Section 702?","speaker_name":"RICHARD SHELBY","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":773,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090181047,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask unanimous consent that the amendment at the desk be agreed to. the committeereported amendment as amended be agreed to. the bill as amended be read a third time and passed. the motion to reconsider be laid on the table. and any statements relating to the bill be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":291,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090181051,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask unanimous consent in order tothe amendment at the desk be agreed \"(A) carry out the provisions of subparato. thebill as amended be read a third graphs (E) and (I) of section 2(b)(1) relating time and passed. the motion to recon- to outreach. feedback. product improvement. and transaction advocacy for small business sider be laid on the table. and any concerns. statements be printed in the RECORD. \"(B) advise and seek feedback from small","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":446,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090181087,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. reserving the right to object. I want the RECORD to reflect the hard work that has gone into this bill by the managers of the bill. the chairman. Senator WARNER. and the ranking member. Senator LEVIN. There are no two finer Senators in the Senate. They have worked so diligently and so hard on this legislation for which they deserve so much credit for getting us to where we are. They are both dedicated to the service of their country. They are just two of the best. and if not for them we could not be where we are. I also express my appreciation to Senator COBURN for allowing us to move forward on this legislation this morning.","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":648,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090181094,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Senator from Massachusetts is correct about the provision. The Armed Forces have a legitimate role to play in responding to serious emergencies. That role benefits from clear definition. Bringing this statute to date and removing its ambiguities will help the Nation respond better to the next crisis.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":305,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090181097,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Yet the authorization bill sends the signal that we are not interested in truly supporting them. This conference report says we do not want to address glaring problems that have surfaced during their increasingly frequent deployments. And. incredibly enough. it says to the Guard that other military forces are better to carry out tasks here at home. In short. this bill goes in the wrong direction. Lets review what the 500.000 men and women of the National Guard do for the country. The National Guard is essential to the militarys missions at home and abroad. More than 10.000 members of the National Guard are currently called up for domestic options. most along the border and involved in counterdrug operations. Almost 60.000 citizensoldiers are deployed overseas. almost 40.000 involved in Iraq deployments. Over 6.000 members of the Air Guard are deployed. And lets remember. that at the highwater mark. the Guard made up almost 40 percent of the troops on the ground in Iraq. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12281,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090181101,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Ultimately. the action of the last few days reflects a lack of leadership and a lack of vision about our responsibilities to the American people. As a result. what we have before this body today does so much less than what is possible and prudent to secure the Nation. as well as ignoring the will of both bodies. More importantly. it neglects- the real needs of our transportation security. We have missed a rare opportunity to make our transportation infrastruc-. ture more secure. We have missed a rare opportunity to follow through with the pr omises we made on the Senate floor just 14 days ago.","speaker_name":"DANIEL INOUYE","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6183,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090181112,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I do want Therefore. once again. I am disto add my congratulations to the man- appointed that this Senate is prevented agers. Senators WARNER and LEVIN. from passing this important legislation They have done a tremendous job on by their objection. All Republican Members of the .Senthe Defense authorization bill. a very ate are prepared. this evening. to pass important bill. We had several pauses the managers amendment to the legisover the course of today that we were tationnwithoutaanymdebate oreamendable to work through. and not at all mtn Bit is ceate orats ment. But it is clear the Democrats with the substance of the bill. but with will not allow us to do so. relatedissues. But I congratulate both The reason so many of my colleagues of them for their hard work. for their on the other side of the aisle are not dedication. and for their patriotism. all prepared to pass the legislation is that of which is reflected in that Defense in some cases they oppose it and wish authorization conference report that to defeat it. and in other cases. a lot of we just passed. amendments. In my opinion and the opinion of other Republican Members UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST- of the Chamber. there really is no need S. 3709 to further amend the managers amendment. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1303,"word_count":220}
{"speech_id":1090181113,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I do want out between Chairman LUGAR and to turn to another very important Ranking Member BIDEN of the Coinissue. It is an issue the Democratic mittee on Foreign. Relations. They leader and I have been discussing and have done an outstanding job working moving towards. It is on the India nu- on that bill and refining that bill that clear arrangement. I will propound a was reported by their committee. It is unanimous consent request and com- -a tribute to their fine work. to their ment after that. dedication. to their hard work that all Mr. President. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1197,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090181121,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. if the Senator will yield. I know I speak for both of us in expressing our appreciation to our Senate staff. It is 2:30 in the morn- ing. and they have been here long. long hours. We get a lot of things done here. but it is not on our own. We have a wonderful staff that does so much. We have the pages. some of whom are still here. and they are juniors in high school. We have the doorkeepers. the Capitol Police. the official reporters. and the fine floor staff that makes it possible to get all this complicated stuff done. It could not be done without f them. They get very little recognition. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":753,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090181363,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This tribute will honor veterans from the Humboldt area dating back to the Civil War and continuing to the present day. There will be hundreds of pictures mounted on the walls and articles of interest will be displayed on tables. While Humboldt may not be large. their contribution to the U.S. military has been great. Humboldt residents have served during times of peace and times of war. When needed. they have heeded the call of duty and traveled far from home to defend the United States. They have triumphed at Vicksburg during the Civil War. flown bombing missions over the Pacific in World War II. rescued fellow soldiers as the U.S. engaged in the Korean War. courageously served in Vietnam. liberated a country held hostage during the Gulf War. and fought in the War on Terror and Iraq. Mr. Speaker. during this time when the military is so important to the United States. it is f Remaiks E1977 gratifying to see local communities make efforts to remember those that have dedicated their lives to protecting this nation. I congratulate the citizens of Humboldt and wish them the best.","speaker_name":"JOSEPH KNOLLENBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1904,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090181365,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"John is a registered Water Rights Surveyor in Nevada and a licensed Professional Land Surveyor in Nevada. California. and Oregon. He is a published author of several articles on land surveying and an instructor. presenting papers at national conferences. classes and seminars. In addition to his academic success and accomplishments. John is also a member of several organizations such as the Urban Land Institute. International RightofWay Association. American Public Works Association. American Congress on Surveying and Mapping. and the Nevada Association of Land Surveyors. John is also a graduate of the 1998 Clark County Leadership Forum. John has allowed these experiences to strengthen his philosophies and ideologies of community. integrity. and professionalism to .strengthen his moral code and leadership abilities. ","speaker_name":"JON PORTER","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2313,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090181367,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. Katy Elementary School. of the Katy Independent School District. is among the 26 Texas schools that have recently received the Department of Educations prestigious Blue Ribbon Schools award. The No Child Left BehindBlue .Ribbon Schools Program recognizes outstanding lOublic and private schools. that are either academically superior or have demonstrated- dramatic and consistent gains in student achievement. The Department of Education selects Blue Ribbon Schools based on nominations submitted by the states. My colleagues may be interested to know that every school nominated by Texas received a Blue Ribbon Schools award. Schools can be nominated for a Blue Ribbon Schools Award if at least forty percent of their disadvantaged students show dramatic improvement over three years on state tests in reading or English language arts and mathematics. Schools whose student bodies rank in the top ten percent on. state tests in reading or English language arts and mathematics may also be nominated for a Blue Ribbon Schools Award. In addition to these two criteria. Blue Ribbon Schools must meet.Adequate Yearly Progress requirements in reading or English language arts and mathematics. must not have been identified as a \"Persistently Dangerous\" school within the last two years. and must comply with other Department of Education requirements. ","speaker_name":"RONALD PAUL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1859,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090181405,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to announce for the information of the Senate and the public that an oversight hearing has been scheduled before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. The hearing will be held on Wednesday. November 15. 2006 at 2:30 p.m. in room SD366 of the Dirksen Building. The purpose of the hearing is to receive testimony on the December 2005 report from the Presidents Task Force on Puerto Ricos status. Because of the limited time available for the hearing. witnesses may testify by invitation only. However. those wishing to submit written testimony for the hearing record should send two copies of their testimony to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. United States Senate. Washington. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":849,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090181442,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Senate amendment reduces funding for a biomass grant program authorized by the Energy Policy Act of 1995 to pay. in part. for the funding authorized by the unrelated package of other energy and natural resourcerelated bills. This biomass grant program was originally authorized at $50 million per year. but only received $4 million in funding this year. The Resources Committee has been very supportive of biomass funding to help reduce hazardous fuels and create valuable byproducts for otherwise unmerchantable woody debris. And while the Senates reduction in authorization funding is somewhat distressing. the Resources Committee agrees to pass this bill with the understanding that both the House and the Senate work together to increase the amount appropriated for biomass grants in the future. This would. in turn. reduce the cost of removing hazardous fuels from the forest and save taxpayer dollars. Mr. Speaker. I urge adoption of the bill. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE RADANOVICH","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1805,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090181469,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It uses both Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service acreage to balance an exchange with Idaho State Endowment lands on an equalvalue basis. Bureau of Land Management. Forest Service and Idaho Department of Lands staff have identified parcels that help reduce threats to federal forests and grasslands identified by the Chief of the Fdrest Service while conveying land to the State of Idaho that help the States endowment fund beneficiaries.I introduced identical legislation H.R. 2718. and I appreciate all of the assistance we got from the House Resources Committee in moving this bill through the process. This land exchange is an agreement on which everyone wins. The state of Idaho gets more timberland. the schools get more timber revenue. the people of the Boise area get more open space. and the state and federal agencies involved get a higher level of management efficiency. I would appreciate your support of this small but important piece of legislation.","speaker_name":"C.L. OTTER","chamber":"H","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1787,"word_count":157}
{"speech_id":1090181478,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. we support H.R. 1129.","speaker_name":"STEPHANIE HERSETH SANDLIN","chamber":"H","state":"SD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":816,"word_count":6}
{"speech_id":1090181512,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may con: sume. and I too rise in support of H.R. 6121. the reauthorization of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Program. My good friend and colleague from Wisconsin gave a clear and convincing summary of what the bill is about. and I see no reason to actually prolong this. I agree with the sentiment. and I strongly support it. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":416,"word_count":77}
{"speech_id":1090181529,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This has included employees of banks. underwriters. insurance companies. investors. university research facilities. and even the New York Stock Exchange. Victims have experienced threatening letters. emails and phone calls. repeated organized protests at their homes and the blanketing of their neighborhoods with defamatory literature. Some of the more violent acts by these groups include. arson. pouring \"acid on cars. mailing razor blades. and defacing victims homes. Many of the actions that the groups have engaged in are not addressed by the current animal enterprise terrorism statute. 18 United States Code 43. This legislation would expand the reach of Federal criminal law to specifically address- the use of force. violence or threats against not only animal enterprise organizations. but also those who do business with them. S. 3880 would make it a Federal crime to intentionally damage the property of a person or entity having a connection to. relationship with. or transactions with an animal enterprise. The bill would also make it a criminal act to intentionally place a person or family member in reasonable fear of death or serious bodily injury because of their relationship with an animal enterprise. Additionally. the legislation expands the definition of economic damage to include loss of property. the costs incurred because of a lost experiment or lost profits. It also includes a definition of the term \"economic disruption\" to mean losses or increased costs resulting from threats. acts of violence.. property damage. trespass. harassment. or intimidation against a person or entity because of their relationship with an animal enterprise. This does not include a lawful boycott. ","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3526,"word_count":262}
{"speech_id":1090181542,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The reason the bill is before us is that the current statute does not extend the reach of the Federal criminal law to those who do business with animal enterprise organizations. and the bill will make it a specific crime to intentionally damage the property of a person or entity having the connection to or relationship with or transactions with an animal enterprise. That is not in the current law now.","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":404,"word_count":71}
{"speech_id":1090181552,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"No one has the right to yell \"fire\" in a crowded theater. We have heard those kinds of admonitions. On the other hand. the chairmans recitation of the statements of animal rights activists. statements that I. myself. would disagree with. those statements. in and of themselves. are constitutionally protected speech. E 1515 Yet under this bill they suddenly find themselves shifting into an area of doubt. which goes back to my initial claim that this bill was written to have a chilling effect upon a specific type of protest. Again. I am not for anyone abusing their rights by damaging another persons property or person. but I am for .protecting the first amendment and not creating a special class of violations for a specific type of protest.","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2007,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090181570,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As Chinese manufacturers move south to Vietnam in search of even cheaper labor. more and more exports will come from Vietnam to the United . the poorest country in our hemisphere. States and more and more jobs in the and certainly we want to do what we U.S. will disappear. Wake up. Congress. can for them. SubSaharan Africa is We have got close to an $800 billion also a very undeveloped area that is trade deficit. and this bill just keeps having enormous economic problems. going in the same direction. And for those kinds of supports I think Goodbye. American jobs. No workers there ought not to be any kind of opporights. No human rights. No environ- sition to them. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4649,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090181577,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. in closing. I would like to thank Mr. RAMSTAD. who will port be leve WT Viet coll and grar Viet M opp the (nor ucts for text NI dier fort trying to get back here in order to :e time on the floor. and really I nk if he were here. and I will not itate because he is not. to praise n for the good work that he has done his foresight in bringing this parular bill forward. *","speaker_name":"E. SHAW","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":383,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090181615,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I was regrettably unable to be on the House Floor for rollcall vote 517passage of H.R. 3085a bill to amend the National Trails System Act to update the feasibility and suitability study originally prepared for the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail. rollcall vote 518passage of S. 819the Pactola Reservoir Reallocation Authorization Act of 2005. and rolicall vote 518--passage of H.R. 5602a bill to authorize the extension of nondiscriminatory treatment (normal trade relations treatment) to the products of Vietnam. and to establish a procedure for imposing quotas on imports of subsidized textile and apparel products of Vietnam. Had I been present I would have voted \"aye\" for rollcall vote 517. \"aye\" for rollcall vote 518. and \"no\" for rollcall vote 519.","speaker_name":"DAN BURTON","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":776,"word_count":123}
{"speech_id":1090181642,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And it includes $4.3 billion. a $228 million increase over last years enacted level. for geriatrics and extended care to assist the Nations. aging veterans population. For military construction. which 2 years ago was all that we did togethernow we also have the veterans budget for the second yearthe bill includes $16.3 billion in funding. That is for a wide range of missioncritical facilitiesbarracks. daycare centers. family housing projects. both within the United States and overseas. Also included in that funding is $5.24 billion to implement the most recent base realignment and closure round. not so fondly known as BRAC around here. Last but not least. the bill includes $143 million for a group of small but essential agencies.- including the American Battle Monuments Commission and the Armed Forces Retirement Home. This title of the bill also funds Arlington National Cemetery. a sacred site familiar to all Americans which in many ways is the centerpiece of our homage to those who serve the Nation and our military in war and in peade. In a year )[n which the Appropriations Committee has been faced with severe budget constraints. we are fortunate to be able to bring to the Senate a bill that fully funds the Presidents request for veterans and meets the pressing infrastructure requirements of the military. We were able to accomplish this without imposing any new fees or copayments on -veterans. Most importantly. perhaps. is we do not appear to be facing the same kind of shortfall in funding for VA health care that the Senate was confronted with last year. Providing affordable. accessible. firstrate health care to our Nations veterans is a priority for this Senate and for both the chairman and myself. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7778,"word_count":285}
{"speech_id":1090181685,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to express my sympathy over the loss of U.S. Army National Guard SFC Scott Nisely of Nebraska. Sergeant Nisely died during a firefight with insurgents near Asad. Iraq. on September :30. He was 48 years old. Sergeant Nisely was born in Syracuse. NE. After high school. he attended Doane College in Crete. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES HAGEL","chamber":"S","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1302,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090181688,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I am deeply gratified that Congress has acted to support a new way for communities and citizens to work together to preserve this ecologically important estuary for years to come. The Long Island Sound Stewardship Act. or LISSA. will help protect the sound by providing financial -incentives for land owners within the sound area to preserve the environmental quality of and public access to this endangered habitat. Long Island Sound is a unique estuary with profound economic. ecological and cultural importance for the United States. This critical resource contributes approximately $6 billion annually to the economy of the region. and it is especially important to the tens of millions of people who live within 50 miles of its shores. We have come a long way in restoring the Sound and its rich biodiversity. Take. for example. the ospreya bird that has come to symbolize the Sound. In 1940. there were approximately 1.000 osprey nests along the Sound shoreline. But by 1974. pollution reduced the number of osprey nests to just nine. Because of proactive conservation measures. the osprey has rebounded. That is real progress. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH LIEBERMAN","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4366,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090181697,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"RCALF has now merged with the United Stockgrowers of America and has over 18.000 members. The owners of the Herreid Livestock Market have also supported access to local health care by giving large donations to the Linton Hospital Foundation and the Campbell County Clinics. While drought conditions have caused a spike in shortterm sales. the sale barn may be facing some challenging years as producers work to build their herds back up. However. I am confident that the same work ethic that has caused the Herreid Livestock Market to flourish for 25 years will allow the business to continue prospering. On October 6. 2006. the community celebrated the Herreid Livestock Market with a free BBQ Beef Lunch before the 25th anniversary sale. I wish to congratulate the current and past owners and employees of the Herreid Livestock Market on reaching this milestone for their business. and for their years of service to the community. Once again. I commend the individuals involved in this enterprise and am pleased to see them publicly honored.*","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2757,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090181699,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In the generations that followed. the Theatines established missions in foreign lands. building churches and spreading their teachings to places like Peru. Borneo. Sumatra. Georgia. and Armenia. The Theatines arrived in Colorado at the end of the 19th century to a young State undergoing rapid changes. Thousands of new immigrants from Ireland. Italy. Mexico. and elsewhere rushed to Colorados mines. farms. and ranches. These immigrants arrived in places like Durango. San Luis. and Antonito. and found a centuriesold Hispano culture and a deeply rooted Catholic faith. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2861,"word_count":86}
{"speech_id":1090181700,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask that the remarks of Archbishop Wuerl to which I referred be printed in the RECORD. The material follows.","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1505,"word_count":20}
{"speech_id":1090181701,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to share with my colleagues in the Senate the story of an awful tragedy that took place in Weirton. WV. Larry Tice. a steelworker at the former Weirton Steel now called Mittal Steels Weirton Plant took his own life earlier this year after being overwhelmed with a misplaced feeling of failure. Larry spent decades in Weirton Steels hot mill before he was transitioned to the tin mill in Mittals reorganization and shrinking of its operations in Weirton. At its height. Weirton Steel employed 14.000nearly everyone in a town of roughly 25.000. Twenty years ago employment was approximately 7.000. and today the company employs less than 2.000 people in a town that has shrunk to fewer than 20.000 people. Weirton. is a town that had been built around the plant. and the plant served as the towns economic engine for nearly 100 years. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ROCKEFELLER","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4469,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090181703,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to announce for the information of the Senate and the public that the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs will hold a hearing entitled \"Failure to Identify Company Owners Impedes Law Enforcement.\" . The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations hearing will examine the issue of States routinely incorporating hundreds of thousands of new. nonpublicly traded companies in the United States each year without obtaining the identity of the corporate owners. thereby impeding law enforcement investigations into persons misusing U.S. shell corporations for money laundering. tax evasion. terrorist financing. or other crimes. The hearing will feature the April 2006 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report prepared at the Subcommittees request. \"Company Formations: Minimal Ownership Information Is Collected and Available.\" Witnesses for the upcoming hearing will include representatives of GAO. the Department of Justice. the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. and the Internal Revenue Service. as well as representatives of several states. A final witness list will be available on Thursday. November 9. The Subcommittee hearing is scheduled for Tuesday. November 14. 2006. at 2:30 p.m. in Room 342 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. ","speaker_name":"NORM COLEMAN","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1483,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090181807,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. the people have spoken. The election is over and they have said to us that they have given us their marching orders. For 40 months American soldiers have been suffering. working. and dying for their country In the Iraq war. Since that day. .2.800 Americans have been killed. More than 20.000 have been wounded. most in gruesome fashion. and we have spent $450 billion when Secretary Wolfowitz told us the Congress Would pass only $3 billion in appropriations to fund this curious exercise. According to the National Intelligence Estimate. we have been made less safe. The other members of the axis of evil. Iran and North Korea. have developed or are developing nuclear weapons. We have forgotten our mission in Afghanistan where a democratically elected government is slowly losing control of the country. The war in Iraq has produced more terrorists. ","speaker_name":"JOHN DINGELL","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4785,"word_count":143}
{"speech_id":1090181811,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"However. if a Democratic Congress passed a law granting him authority to negotiate prices with drug manufacturers. I am certain we could achieve enormous savings in the Medicare program which could be passed on to Americas elderly and disabled in the form of more generous coverage. Indeed. there is a lot of evidence to support this conclusion. Take. for instance. a study considered earlier this year by the consumer group FamiliesUSA. They compared prices under private prescription drug plans participating in Medicare part D to the prices available through the Department of Veterans Affairs health system. Their research showed that the government could help lower costs substantially. From November 2005 to April 2006. FamiliesUSA found that virtually all of the part D plans raised their prices for the majority of the top 20 drugs in this study. The median price increase among part D plans for the top 20 drugs prescribed to seniors was 3.7 percent. Furthermore. for all of the top 20 drugs prescribed to seniors. ","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5287,"word_count":167}
{"speech_id":1090181821,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. Admiral Chester Nimitz. in describing the bravery of Americans battling for Iwo Jima. said. \"Uncommon valor was a common virtue.\" Captain Ed Davis. who died last week at age 67. was a man of most uncorhmon valor. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. Captain Davis was shot down over Vietnam in 1965. and he would spend the next 72 years as a prisoner in Hanoi. When finally released from captivity. he said. \"When I first saw thatflag\"meaning the U.S. flag-\"I knew it was all worth it.\" To those of us who knew him. his death is a great loss. But his passing is also a great loss to the country he loved. -- Captain Davis won three silver stars. the Legion of Merit with Combat Citation. five air medals. two purple hearts. as well as numerous other honors both military and civilian. Our thoughts and our prayers and those of a grateful Nation go out to his .family. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":910,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090181839,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank you. BOB. for those kind comments and also the chairman. I do rise in support of H.R. 6314. introduced by the Committee on Veterans Affairs chairman. STEVE BUYER. For the past 24 years. Madam Speaker. I have had the pleasure of serving in this body and also the honor. true honor. of being a member of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs. During that service I have helped create and adVance numerous programs that benefit our Nations veterans. This Congress. as chairman of the committees Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. I have monitored and scrutinized billions of dollars of programs and projects that benefit veterans. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BILIRAKIS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1154,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090181869,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H. Res. 993. a resolution to applaud the goals and activities of National Cyber Security Awareness Month. Computers and the Internet have been integrated into our daily routine in businesses. schools and homes. These information and communication systems underpin our government. and they increase the productivity of our industries. financial institutions and transportation systems. However. our increasing dependence on computers and computer networks exposes our society to the risks of cyber attacks. destructive viruses. malicious hacking. and identity theft. ","speaker_name":"BOB INGLIS","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3380,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090181870,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"To reach its objectives. the Alliance organizes national and regional events. These events range from small business workshops and student assemblies to cyber security boot camps. which would take consumer education to the grassroots level. The Alliance also makes public service anhouncements to inform consumers about online best practices and to protect their valuable personal data. and it publicizes its online resources for computer users. This includes beginner guides. computer security tips and free security scans. The resolution before the House calls attention to and endorses the commendable efforts of the National Cyber Security Alliance to increase awareness of cyber security throughout the Nation. This is a message we should all heed. Mr. Speaker. I commend this resolution to my colleagues and ask for their support for its passage by the House. Mr. ","speaker_name":"DORIS MATSUI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2614,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090181874,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"fornia. Mr. Speaker. I thank my colleague from California for the time. I rise in strong support of House Resolution 993 and the goals and ideals of the National Cyber Security Awareness Month. and I am proud to be one of the original cosponsors of this resolution. I believe that raising awareness about the need to enhance computer and network security in the U.S. is a valuable tool to protect the identities and data. of all Americans. As the ranking member on the Ecconomic Security. Infrastructure Protection and Cyber Security Subcommittee on the Committee on Homeland Security. I have had an opportunity to work on critical issues related to cyber security. In the past. ","speaker_name":"LORETTA SANCHEZ","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":47.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3130,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090181884,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"ISSA.","speaker_name":"TAMMY BALDWIN","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2524,"word_count":1}
{"speech_id":1090181890,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We were able in North Carolina to pass a model piece of legislation. Unfortunately. it has not .been passed in all the States. but I hope that more States will pick it up and help educate women about these diseases and how they can be prevented. So I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA FOXX","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1189,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090181894,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. of course I rise today in support of H.R. 1245. the Gynecolpgic Cancer Education bill. also known as Johannas bill. This very important bill authorizes an early detection and awareness campaign directed at women and health care providers. Approximately 80.000 women a year will be diagnosed with some form of gynecological cancer. and close to 28.000 women will die from these cancers. Early detection is the key to survival. But so many. women and their providers are unaware of symptoms and risk factors. Unfortunately. there isnt currently a reliable screening test for ovarian cancer. Women need to know the symptoms so that they can be diagnosed early. Studies demonstrate that early detection is the key to survival. When diagnosed early. women have a 90 percent chance of survival. ","speaker_name":"RALPH HALL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1976,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090181895,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. again I am proud to join my colleagues in supporting this legislation that will increase awareness and knowledge of women with respect to gynecologic cancers. This bill. as we have heard. will increase the survivability of these cancer diagnoses and prevent cancer deaths. I urge all of my colleagues to support this important legislation.","speaker_name":"TAMMY BALDWIN","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":352,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090181908,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H.R. 864. the Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking Act or STOP Underage Drinking Act. Underage drinking is a serious public health concern in communities throughout our Nation. According to 2004 estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. there were over 142.000 emergency room visits by youth. age 12 to 20. for unintentional injuries and other healthrelated concerns caused by alcohol consumption. This bill builds interagency and communitybased coalitions focusing on underage drinking. funds the production. broadcast and evaluation of national mediabased public health campaigns about the dangers of underage drinking. and establishes grant programs for preventing and reducing alcohol abuse at institutions of higher education and surrounding communities. This bill is a great start in moving our Nation towards the goal of decreasing youth access to. and consumption of. alcohol. It has the endorsement of both- the alcohol beverage industry and a number of key public health advocates. both committed to the idea that a multifaceted national effort is key to making progress in curbing underage alcohol consumption.. I want to express my appreciaticn to Congresswoman ROYBALALLARDS office. as well as the many other lead cosponsors of this bill that include Representatives WAMP. OSBORNE and DELAURO. ","speaker_name":"TAMMY BALDWIN","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"F","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1589,"word_count":206}
{"speech_id":1090181909,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The acting director of this agency justified in House and Senate Appropriations Committee hearings a budget increase of over $2 million for fiscal year 2005 to 2006 by claiming the agency would expand its research into youth alcohol abuse. But if you think that there needs to be more money. you can visit www.alcoholfreechildren.org. another underage drinking program that receives Federal funding from the Federal Government. Or theres www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov. or www.alcoholpolicy.gov. Why are we spending $72 million on Federal research and grants to establish duplicative programs? And why are we doing this exactly 1 week after the voters told us that they were tired of wasteful spending? Mr. Speaker. we simply cannot afford to keep adding new authorizations. new Federal programs when we know that we are running deficits aAd we have a massive debt. Where does it end? Where do we say. you know. having seven or eight or a dozen programs that already do virtually the exact same thing are enough? Why are we simply adding another? We cant continue to do this. So I would rise in opposition to this legislation and urge my colleagues to vote against it.","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2198,"word_count":192}
{"speech_id":1090181922,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But I do believe this is a wellthoughtout piece of legislation and one that I would urge this body to adopt.","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1123,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090181940,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I urge my colleagues support of this great resolution that will help and honor our industries in western North Carolina.","speaker_name":"PATRICK MCHENRY","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1817,"word_count":20}
{"speech_id":1090181960,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this afternoon we will resume consideration of the Military ConstructionVeterans Affairs appropriations bill. We will be voting later this afternoon. Once a vote is scheduled. we will notify Senators as to the exact timing of that vote. As .it stands now. we are looking at a late afternoon vote as the first vote of the day. If we can expedite floor consideration with a handful of relevant amendments. it is our hope we should be able to finish this important spending bill today. I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"JOHN SUNUNU","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":532,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090181965,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Repeatedly. we have come to the Senate to try to get disaster assistance considered. Last spring. as part of the hurricane supplemental. the Senate approved an agricultural disaster package for the 2005 cropyear. That measure was dropped in conference due to opposition from the administration and the House leadership. I have taken out the provisions that drew the opposition of the administration. Those direct payments that were an offset to the dramatic runup in energy prices are not in this bill. The legislation I am offering today is nearly identical to the bipartisan relief provision I introduced on September 20. 2006. My amendment is bipartisan and has 19 cosponsors. The need for this amendment is compelling. In North Dakota last year. as this picture shows. we faced extraordinary flooding. Over a million acres were prevented from being planted. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6963,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090181981,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. that is certainly fine with me. I was trying to follow the direction I got from the chairman and the floor manager when we talked a few minutes ago. But if she wants to.pursue this and proceed as she has suggested. I have no objection. and I withdraw my unanimous consent request.","speaker_name":"SUSAN COLLINS","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":295,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090182005,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We have been struck by the third worst drought in our Nations history. This provision passed this body with 77 votes. The people who are out there expect the Congress. expect the Senate to respond to the -needs of the American people. We have a need for security: We have a need. an absolute need. for a return to fiscal responsibility. We also have a need to deal with natural disasters when they strike the American family. This is a set of disasters almost unprecedented in our history. The people who -have been hit by them deserve a response. That is what this amendment seeks to do. Mr. President. how much time do I have remaining?","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1141,"word_count":116}
{"speech_id":1090182013,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. we recognize the Senator would be within his rights to make a motion under rule XVI. I say to the Senator. we hope he will not do that. We hope we will have a chance for a vote on the Senate floor on this que*stion. I say to my colleagues. if we dont get a vote now. we are not going to stop until we do get a vote. I say to my colleague. it is certainly reasonable to bring a challenge under the Budget Act and to require a supermajority vote. but I hope very much that the Senator will not use rule XVI on a matter of this importance to so many people across the country. I implore the Senator not to invoke rule XVI.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":634,"word_count":129}
{"speech_id":1090182027,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am pleased to be a cosponsor of amendment 5123 offered by Senators COLLINS and FEINGOLD. This bipartisan amendment would extend the life of the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. SIGIR. and restore the bipartisan agreement made regarding the termination of the SIGIR in the Senatepassed fiscal year 2007 Defense authorization bill. The CollinsFeingold amendment is necessary to undo the damage of a veiled provision inserted in the fiscal year 2007 Defense authorization conference report by the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee that terminates the SIGIR by an artificial date that has no basis -in the progress of reconstruction projects. This amendment will sustain the valuable work of the special IG to monitor. audit. and inspect funds made available for assistance for Iraq in both the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund and in other important accounts. which totals nearly $32 billion. The amendment will restore the formula for calculating the SIGIRs .termination to 10 months after 80 percent of the funds appropriated for Iraq reconstruction have been expended. While I strongly support this amendment. I believe the SIGIRs authority should extend as long as necessary to ensure that the billions of dollars appropriated for Iraqs reconstruction be granted adequate oversight. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3241,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090182038,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It may be bipartisan but. -as far as I am concerned. that is no excuse. This is not what I think the message from the electorate was. that we need to have a whole bunch of new spending nongermane to the matter at hand. So while I understand the needand we have farmers in my State who have suffered through floods earlier this year and I am sure will be impacted by this. but it is absolutely essential that we take this. issue seriously. and I intend to do that. So at this point I am going to suspend and ask for a quorum call and I will be back in a minute. I suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2366,"word_count":120}
{"speech_id":1090182042,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I understand the Chair has reviewed the amendment. amendment No. 5144. and I now raise a point of order against the amendment. But first. before I do that. I understand the Chair is currently reviewing this amendment. so I am going to suggest the absence of a quorum.","speaker_name":"RICHARD SANTORUM","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":282,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090182095,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I dont think there is a formal UC on the floor. but I have to object to that only because as leader. I am going to have every chairman coming out putting bills in order. I want to be able to keep that flexibility a bit. just as We have today. because if we dont reach some sort of agreement working together. we. are not going to finish even the first MILCON bill on the floor of the Senate. What I can say is what I intend to do tomorrowagain without any UC. I guess we can write up somethingis complete this bill that is on the floor tonight and then tomorrow go to the Agriculture bill. finish that bill. and then very high ofl the list would be Energy and Water. What I dont want to do is get in the overall Sequencing of bills when I dont know how long this bill is going to takehopefully tonightor the Agriculture bill.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":825,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090182243,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"She worked very hard to make sure she had an understanding of what was at stake. When she started her congressional career in 1995. she read every piece of legislation that was coming up for a vote on the House floor. She felt she owed it to those who sent her to Congress. She surprised more than a few committee chairmen by showing up at hearings being held by committees she didnt serve on. simply because of her desire to know more and understand an issue. One of her mostoft repeated matras was \"Love many. trust few. and paddle your own canoe.\" And that is exactly what she didshe was not someone who would check the wind before deciding what to do. She listened. asked questions. read documents. studied the issues. and talked with experts and plain folks. She took all that information she gathered and then made her decision. At hercenter was a very principled. gracious womanone who was strong in her beliefs and kind to all those around her. regardless of theirs. In many ways. she mirrored the principled center many of us admire about President Ronald Reagan. Idahoans have lost a true champion for smaller government and personal freedoms. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CRAPO","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3603,"word_count":202}
{"speech_id":1090182250,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As long as I have known her. she has always had a tank full of enthusiasm and a heart full of dreams. so I am sure that she will continue to contribute powerfully to the family of organized labor in Iowa and nationally. Our beloved late colleague. Senator Paul Wellstone. said that \"the future belongs to those with passion.\" By that standard. Roberta has a very bright future. And I wish her the very best.e","speaker_name":"THOMAS HARKIN","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2261,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090182253,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":14,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the Parisbased Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. which receives 25 percent of its budget from the U.S.. has used U.S. taxpayer money in turn to encourage and support higher taxes on the U.S. taxpayer. in addition to its support of U.N.. global tax schemes. The OECD has endorsed and encouraged higher taxes. new taxes. and global taxes no fewer than 24 times in reports with titles such as \"Towards Global Tax Cooperation.\" in which the OECD identifies 35 nations guilty of \"harmful tax competition.\" They have advocated that the U.S. adopt a costly and bureaucratic value added tax.a 40cent increase in the gas tax. a carbon tax. a fertilizer tax. ending the deductibility of State and local taxes from Federal taxes. new taxes at the State level. and a host of other new and innovative taxes on U.S. citizens. It is not only the recommending of higher taxes which concerns us. the ultimate concern is the movement towards undermining U.S. sovereignty. Ecogroups such as the Friends of the Earth want the OECD to declare that dambuilding for flood control and electronic power is unacceptable as \"sustainable energy.\" In May. 2005 the OECD ministers endorsed a proposal at the U.N. to create a system of global taxes. The OECD has stated explicitly that lowtax policies \"unfairly erode the tax bases of other countries and distort the location of capital and services.\" What we have here are Parisbased bureaucrats seeking to protect hightax welfare states from the free market. That is why the OECD goes on to say that freemarket tax competition \"may hamper the application of progressive tax rates and the achievement of redistributive goals.\" Clearly. free market tax competition makes it harder to implement socialistic welfare states. The free market evidently hasnt been fair to socialistic welfare states. Well. its a good thing that they have the OECD and nearly $100 million in U.S. taxpayer money to protect them. Noted economist Walter Williams clearly sees the direction in which this is headed when he says that \"the bottom line agenda for the OECD is to establish a tax cartel where nations get together and collude on taxes.\" Treasury Secretary Paul ONeill seconded that when he said that he was \"troubled by the underlying premise that low tax rates are somehow suspect and by the notion that any country should interfere in any other countrys\" tax policy. ","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5654,"word_count":399}
{"speech_id":1090182266,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the Senator. He has been a very distinguished chairman of the committee. This is an issue in which. as a member of the Intelligence Committee and Judiciary Committee. I have had an intense interest. The Senator from Pennsylvania recognizes that. I appreciate that. I am unsure whether this bill is for the purpose of judicial review of the Presidents article II authorityI think I understand what the Senator is doing. He is essentially exempting all those calls which come into the United States. not calls from point A to point B in the United States. I think that bears further discussion. but I trust no action will betaken on this bill in this session .but that the Senator from Pennsylvania is submitting it as a marker for next year.","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":748,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090182267,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it would be my hope that we could act on it this session. I say that. subject to review by the Senator from California and by other Members and by the House of Representatives. The Senator from California and I and others have thought about this issue long and hard. This bill is a real effort to try to accommodate all of the concerns the Senator. from California has raised. That is to maintain the status of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act as the exclusive way to wiretap. That stands. There is no statement about the authority of the President under article II. which had been objected to before. As I say. whatever the constitutional authority is. it is. regardless of what the bill says. but this bill says nothing about that. It says nothing. ","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1859,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090182269,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am glad to respond. and I thank the Senator from California for the question. It would achieve individualized review of warrants on calls originating in the United States. and there are a lot of them. How many there are. I dont know. but the NSA officials have told us that if we give them the additional resources. which was suggested originally by the Senator from California and which I concur in on the FeinsteinSpecter bill. that they could have individualized warrants. And. I think that would be a big step forward on civil rights.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":555,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090182274,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Ms. LANDRIEU.) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill H.R. 5385. making appropriations for Military Construction and yeterans Affairs. and Related Agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30. 2007. and for other purposes. which was ordered to lie on the table. as follows: On page 106. between lines 12 and 13. insert the following new section: SEC. 229. Effective as of October 1. 2006. the authority provided by section 2064 of title 38. United States Code. shall continue in effect until September 30. 2007. SA 5140. Mr. FEINGOLD submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill H.R. 5385. making appropriations for Military Construction and Veterans Affairs. and Related Agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30. 2007. and for other purposes. which was ordered to lie on the table. as follows: At the appropriate place in title II. add the following:","speaker_name":"BARBARA MIKULSKI","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":911,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090182302,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today we did complete our work on the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs appropriations bill. Tomorrow afternoon. we hope to begin the Agriculture appropriations bill. We are also continuing our efforts to reach an agreement for the consideration of the U.S.India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act. We do expect votes in the afternoon. so Senators should plan their schedules accordingly. This week. we will also need to pass a shortterm continuing resolution when received from the House.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":517,"word_count":79}
{"speech_id":1090182373,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. we thank Chaplain Crosley and the soldiers of the 101st Airborne for their great service to our great Nation.","speaker_name":"MARSHA BLACKBURN","chamber":"H","state":"TN","gender":"F","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1177,"word_count":20}
{"speech_id":1090182374,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. one week ago. the American people sent a message to this Congress. that message had to do with Iraq. Were the American people asking us to send more troops? No. they want the troops to come home. Were they looking to expand the war? No. they want to end the war. There is only one way to end this war: cut off funds. The White House doesnt believe Congress will exercise this power. That is why the President is determined to stay in Iraq through the end of his term. He may have let go of Rumsfeld. but he is not going to let go of the war. The President is trapped. trapped by lies. fabricated intelligence. pretensions to empire. desire for oil and prophetic illusions. The truth shall set the President and the Congress free. the truth that it was wrong to g6 into Iraq. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS KUCINICH","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1325,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090182460,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The House produced final action on every single one of the appropriation bills except the LaborHHS. and the Senate is in the process. I hope. of moving those bills forward. The Senate passed the Military Construction bill yesterday. It is my understanding that they are taking up the Agriculture bill this week and will also perhaps take up the Energy and Water bill. I hope that is the case. I agree with the gentleman that I would much prefer to see these bills handled in regular order. one by one. on a separate basis. Having said that. my primary purpose is to see to it that they move. and I care less about how they move than whether they move. and I think most American citizens feel the same way. I think we have a duty to finish action on all of these bills. and I think it would be sad. indeed. if we were to adjourn this Congress with local units of government. local school boards. local program managers and State program managers not having any idea what the final resolution of these bills will be. So while I certainly agree with the gentleman that it is preferable to move individual bills. I am open to any suggestion procedurally in order to finish that work. ","speaker_name":"DAVID OBEY","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3016,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090182488,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I regret that. due to a doctors appointment yesterday. I was unable to vote on H.R. 6314. a bill extending certain authorities to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out important services that assist Americas veterans. and H.R. 864. the Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking Act. Had I been present. I would have voted \"yes\" on the motion to suspend the rules and agree to both H.R. 6314 and H.R. 864. Veterans who ha~e fought to preserve the freedom and liberty enjoyed in this country deserve our relentless support and commitment. I will continue to show this commitment and pursue legislation such as my bill. The Healthy Vets Act. which would require the VA Secretary to contract with local doctors and hospitals on a cksebycase basis to provide medical services including primary care for those veterans who live far away from VA facilities. Mr. ","speaker_name":"STEVAN PEARCE","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1057,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090182490,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"\" Six years ago. my wife and I decided to expand our family and open our home to two foster care children. Like many adoptive families. we faced many challenges during this process. But these experiences have only made our family stronger. The adoption process is -often complicated and riddled with paperwork. meetings. and home studiesimportant factors.when accessing the ability of a family to care for a new child--but they can also discourage qualified parents from embarking on the adoption process. The foster care community has been working with Congress and State governments across the country to streamline the adoption process and focus on limited resources. such as requiring frequent home visits and experienced caseworkers. As Members of Congress. it is our job to be the voice for foster children and make sure their dreams are recognized. We owe it to them to streamline the adoption process to ensure positive- outcomes for these kids. It is important that we continue to make this process more accessible to families so that these children can be welcomed into loving homes. Despite the obstacles that we still need to overcome. this is a time to celebrate those families that have decided to make a difference in the life of a child. I commend these families and hope that children across the Nation will find a place to call home this Saturday as part of National Adoption Day.","speaker_name":"DENNIS CARDOZA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2994,"word_count":234}
{"speech_id":1090182505,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They need to earn more also. We made a lot out of boasting about the fact that America has now reached the point of our population being 300 million. We have pointed out that we are the third largest nation in the world. and that is something to be proud of. I think it is. But let us take a look at that 300 million in terms of people who are able to be productive. people able to contribute something to society. people able to take care of themselves. That is the way I define the middle class. The middle class consists of people who can take care of themselves because they have the capacity to earn income to take care of themselves. and .H8659 they also have the capacity to make some contributions to the larger society. We need a middle class. We need more middle class folks. It is said that the whole nation of Japan is middle class. ","speaker_name":"MAJOR OWENS","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5056,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090182524,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. pursu- Emerson. Eliot L. Engel. Phil English. Anna ant to the order of the House of today. G. Eshoo. Bob Etheridge. Lane Evans. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS OSBORNE","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":266,"word_count":25}
{"speech_id":1090182534,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Boxer. Feinstein. Harkin. up to seven Bingaman. Kennedy. and Dodd. I further ask that all amendments except Senator FEINGOLDS be subject to relevant second degrees and that all be related to the subject matter of the bill. I further ask that once the bill as amended has been read a third time. the Senate then proceed to the consideration of H.R. 5682. the Housepassed companion. that all after the enacting clause be stricken and the text of S. 3709 as amended be inserted in lieu thereof. and that the Senate then proceed to a vote on passage of H.R. 5682 as amended with no intervening action or debate. I further ask that following passage of the bill. the Senate insist upon its amendment and request a conference with the House. the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees. and S. 3709 be returned to the calendar.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1397,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090182546,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to address two matters that will be taken up by the Senate in this lameduck session. The first will be after we come back from the Thanksgiving holiday. We will be taking up a tax bill that will include a group of what we call tax extenders. These are tax breaks that are in existing law which are running out of time. They are going to cease to exist by the 1st of the year. unless we extend these tax breaks. One of those tax breaks is very important to our State of Florida. In fact. six States in this Union do not have a personal income tax at the State level. Whereas. those 44 States that do have the personal income tax are able to deduct that State income tax in the calculation of their Federal income tax. in those six States that do not have the State income tax. they have no such deduction. ","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1682,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090182549,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"FDAapproved. made and manufactured in manufacturing plants approved by the FDA. My colleague talked about Canada and the United States. That is an obvious issue. My State borders Canada. and we see people coming back and forth going to Canada to purchase prescription drugs. in some cases for onetenth the price they are charged in this country. We need to find a way to pass the comprehensive legislation. My colleague from Florida cosponsored that bill and worked with us on itmyself. Senator SNOWE from Maine. Senator MCCAIN. Senator GRASSLEY. Senator KENNEDY. a pretty significant bipar-\" tisan group in the Senate. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3050,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090182553,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I will be in a position in which I will be objecting to any other business coming before the Senate. If they want to have a live quorum. we can go through that exercise. but we will go through it repeatedly. This is not fair. It is not right. We have tried repeatedly to get this bill up so we canhave a vote. It has previously passed the Senate with 77 votes in favor. What we are asking for is not unreasonable. We have reduced the cost dramatically. Here. a persons word is their bond. I kept my word. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1475,"word_count":99}
{"speech_id":1090182566,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"NJ. There are many more New Jerseyans who have perished there. The number is almost 80 now. We look around. and they are from States across the country. Almost every State has seen the loss of a former resident. someone with roots in that State: SGT Bryan Burgess of Garden City. MI. SGT Courtland A. Kennard of Starkville. MS. CWO Miles P. ","speaker_name":"FRANK LAUTENBERG","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3731,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090182612,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This gentleman included pictures. I dont think these are pictures that can .be seen on camera. but I will hold them up and describe them. These are six different pictures. In some of them. there is water from horizon to horizon. Here we see a view that would g6 for miles and miles. There is water everywhere. This is what happened last year over much of my Stateas I indicated earlier. a million acres that could not even be planted. another 600.000 acres where the crops were drowned out. Now this year. as I have said before. irony of ironies. the worst drought since the 1930s. Land I have been on many times in my life south of my hometown is like a moonscapenothing growing. just dirt. land that had been planted and nothing even emerged. To understand what happened. this is the weather for the month of July in my State. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8789,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090182625,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to pay special tribute to the General Federation of Womens Clubs and their recent work to fight domestic violence. The organization is a gem among our midst. Founded in April 1890. it is one of the worlds oldest and largest womens volunteer organizations. More than 150.000 women members in 5.000 local and 20 international clubs volunteer over 13 million hours and contribute approximately $35 million through more than 160.000 club projects. I cant underestimate how powerful and influential this corps of volunteers is to the health of our Nation. I am particularly proud that this year the international president. Jacqueline Pierce. has adopted \"Domestic Violence Awareness and Prevention\" as her Presidents Special Project for 20062008. Nannette White. a member from Louisiana. serves as the national chairperson of. the Presidents Special Project. and with the support of a national committee of women. promotes participation in this project. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3250,"word_count":151}
{"speech_id":1090182636,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The Coinlengthy recovery times at Walter Reed mittee received testimony from the Army Medical Center and the financial Wounded Warrior Project. the. organitoll that that period of convalescence zation largely responsible for TSGLIs had on them and their families. They conception. While very pleased with talked about wives. parents. and other the program overall. a serious concern relatives who had taken long absences was raised regarding the equity of only from work. and some who had even extending retroactive TSGLI payments quit their work. in order to spend time to those injured during Operations with those recovering at Walter Reed. Iraqi and Enduring Freedom. Mr. JerAnd they told me that the Department emy Chwat. testifying for the Wounded of Veterans Affairs compensation sys- Warrior Project that day. used the extem was no help because. by law. those ample of one servicemember as repbenefits do not kick in until after sepa- resentative of others who are not now ration from service. eligible for benefits: Based. on their experiences. these Brave men and women like Seaman Robert wounded warriors recommended that I Roeder who was injured on January 29. 2005 pursue legislation to create a new in- when an arresting wire on the aircraft carsurance benefit for those with trau- rier. the USS Kitty Hawk. severed his left atic injuries such as theirs. The in- leg below the knee.... Although the ship was sanice wojur ul a bete $25.00 and on its way to the Gulf andthe training exersurance would pay between $25.000 and cises being conducted were in preparation for $100.000 as soon as possible after an in- action in either Operation Enduring or Iraqi jury occurred. thereby bridging the gap Freedom. Roberts injury does not qualify in assistance needed during the time of for payment. Furthermore. since enactment of the 2005 Emergency Supplemental. retroactive SGLI and death gratuity benefits combining $238.000 have been expanded to provide payments to survivors of all servicemembers who died on. active duty. whether in combat or not. ","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4626,"word_count":332}
{"speech_id":1090182847,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent to show a couple of items on the floor of the Senate.","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1106,"word_count":18}
{"speech_id":1090182849,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Let me read for the RECORD. as I startand I want to then talk about this specific agreementI want to read an excerpt from Graham Allisons book. He is at Harvard. He wrote a book called \"Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe.\" I talk about 9\/11\/2001. several thousand Americans murdered by terrorists. The detonation of a nuclear weapon in an American city by a terrorist group will not mean several thousand Americans being murdered. it could likely mean several hundred thousand Americans being murdered. or more. Let me read to you from Graham Allisons book. I am quoting: On October 11. 2001. a month to the day after the terrorist assault on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. President George W. Bush faced an even more terrifying prospect. At that mornings Presidential Daily Intelligence Briefing. George Tenet. the director of central intelligence. informed the president that a CIA agent codenamed Dragonfire had reported that Al Qaeda terrorists possessed a tenkiloton nuclear bomb. evidently stolen from the Russian arsenal. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7133,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090182858,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Yes. I intend to offer the other amendment. debate it. and ask for a recorded vote on it. I will take a look at the proposed modification to see what that modification is. but I will try to be back on the Senate floor as quickly as possible to accommodate the Senators interests in getting it done.","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":298,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090182881,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So others who want to continue the debate will have the opportunity to do so. And as one who has been a floor manager. I understand his desire to have focus and attention on the underlying matters. But I appreciate the courtesy and the understanding of the manager letting me talk briefly this afternoon. (The remarks of Mr. KENNEDY are printed in todays RECORD under \"Morning Business.\")","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":388,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090182899,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I fear the enactment of the bill pending before us would result in making the world a more dangerous place rather than a less dangerous place. This amendment will give us the advantages of the agreement but without the increased danger which all of us would like to see avoided.","speaker_name":"JEFF BINGAMAN","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1757,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090182905,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Let me respond to the Senator. I appreciate his willingness to offer the amendments in a timely fashion. We are in the process of debating one amendment. but I will ask uianimous consent it be temporarily laid aside so the Senator can offer his amendments to expedite this consideration.","speaker_name":"RICHARD LUGAR","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":287,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090182921,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to speak to the Dorgan amendmOnt. I appreciate. respect. and share the sentiment and concern of the Senator from North Dakota who has been doggedly supportive of pushing nonproliferation and a nonproliferation regime. And if this were 1998 or 1999. I would support the Senators amendment. But this is 2006. and a great deal has changed since India and Pakistan both exploded nuclear devices in 1998. The Security Council resolution passed after those tests called for several things: one including for India and Pakistan to immediately stop their nuclear weapons programs and their ballistic missile programs. We wish they would have ceased their nuclear programs. They did not. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2335,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090182926,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. it is my intention to respond briefly to a couple of comments that have been made in objection to my amendment. and then to offer my second amendment. per agreement with the chairman. That would probably take me about 10 minutes. and to speak in support of my second amendment.","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":292,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090182935,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It would be my hopeand let me discuss this quicklythat the debate on the first amendment of Senator DORGAN is completed. Secondly. I want a short time for Senator DoMENICI of New Mexico to make a statement. And then thirdly. we will proceed to the introduction of Senator DORGANS second amendment. My hope would be that a unanimous consent will be formulatedI know staff from both sides are working on that--that will provide for rollcall votes on both Dorgan amendments and then. at the conclusion of the debate of the distinguished Senator from New Mexico. on the Bingaman amendment. perhaps a stack of three votes for the convenience of Senators. I am broaching that. not asking for everybody to agree. but I am hopeful that would be a general agreement of those who are around at this point. It is my hope that the distinguished Senator from New Mexico might be recognized.","speaker_name":"RICHARD LUGAR","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":877,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090182945,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent to offer a modification to the first amendment I offered today. The amendment had two line numbers in it that were made to the original copy of the legislation. That legislation was subsequently changed. So let me ask unanimous consent that on the initial amendment I offered today. on line 1. the reference to line 15 be struck. and it is line 8. on line 2. the reference to line 15 be struck. and it is line 9.","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":451,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090182949,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"For the convenience of our colleagues. those three votes would come without pause. thus minimizing the dislocation of Members schedules and accelerating our consideration of this debate. I am certain the Chair has heard that Senator BIDEN and I. for many of our colleagues who were hopeful that we could proceed in a responsible way but conclude the debate today. on Thursday. are attempting to do that. and we appreciate the cooperation of our colleagues. Having said that. Mr. President. let me state my opposition to the second. amendment offered by the distinguished Senator from North Dakota. His amendment would. in fact. undo the entire effort we have achieved with India over the past year. Not only would he revise Indias civilian military separation plan with his amendment. but he would require India to assume the obligations ofa nuclear weapons state under the Nuclear NonProliferation Treaty. the NPT. This is. in effect. a perfect killer amendment. It should be strongly opposed by every Member of this body who supports -an improved relationship with India. The Senators amendment adds two new determination requirements to our bill: first. that Indias separation plan result in a situation wherein all reactors that supply civilian power are declared to the IAEA and under safeguards. and second. that India assume certain NPT obligations. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4524,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090182981,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. my Dodd amendment. in light of the underlying Dorgan bill brought to the floor of the Senate. would express that we would continue Alexander to support the implementation of the Allard United Nations Security Council Reso- Allen lution 1172. Baucus The reason that is important is it Bayh Bennett had been the policy of this country to Biden not only author but to support that Bond resolution after India and Pakistan ex- Brownback Bunning ploded their nuclear weapons. Burns It calls on them to immediately stop Burr their nuclear weapons development Cantwell programs. refrain from weaponization Carper Chafee o? deployment of nuclear weapons. Chambliss cease the development of ballistic mis- Coburn siles. and so on. Cochran That has been a very important tenet Coleman Collins of this country in supporting that Cornyn United Nations Resolution 1172. De- Craig spite what we are doing in the under- crapo lying bill. I would hope this country DeMint and this Senate would express our support for that which we drafted and that McCain YEAS26 Dorgan Leahy Durbin Lincoln Feingold Menendez Feinstein Mikulski Harkin Obama Jeffords Pryor Johnson Reed Kennedy Salazar Lautenberg NAYS73 Domenici Murray Ensign Nelson (FL) Enzl Nelson (NE) Frist Reid Graham Roberts Orassley Rockefeller Gregg Santorum Bagel Sarbanes Hatch Schumer Hutchison Sessions Inhofe Inouye Shelby Isakson Smith Kerry Snowe Kohl Specter Kyl Stabenow Landrieu Stevens Levin Sununu Lieberman Talent Lott Thune Lugar Vitter Martinez Voinovich McCain Warner McConnell Wyden Murkowski","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1566,"word_count":241}
{"speech_id":1090182987,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to indicate that the distinguished Senator from Nevada -will offer an amendment. We will then proceed to. the Old Senate Chamber for a debate on that amendment. I think we have an agreement that the extent of the debate will be no more than 60 minutes. We would return to this Chamber for the actual vote on the Ensign amendment. following the debate in the Old Senate Chamber. Therefore. the Senator from Nevada should be recognized so that he can start that process.","speaker_name":"RICHARD LUGAR","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":496,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090183027,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I believe I have responded to each of the arguments made by the Senator from Indiana. Obviously. I have enormous respect for him and his leadership of the committee. but I would urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this amendment which would allow me to feel comfortable supporting this agreement. because I do want us to have a good agreement with India. I just think we need to have this sort of an assurance that my amendment provides. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3486,"word_count":84}
{"speech_id":1090183067,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Anything can happen. A President cannot certify it is not possible. That is what \"cannot\" says. But he can certify to the best of his knowledge it is not occurring. That is what we require. \"Cannot\" makes this a dealbreaker. No President could certify it. \"Cannot\" translates into \"it is not possibleto replicate. it is not possible to .... \" and no one can certify to that. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH BIDEN","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":994,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090183093,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Finally. would the managers agree that section 105 of S. 3709 requires that the President determine. prior to. exercising the waivers in section 104. that \"an agreement between India and the IAEA requiring the application of safeguards in perpetuity in accordance with IAEA standards. principles. and practices to civil nuclear facilities. programs. and materials ... has entered into force.\" and that the most logical approach. as U.S. officials have stated for thi record. would be to use the IAEA INFCIRC\/66. Rev. 2 agreement as the model for Indias safeguards agreement?","speaker_name":"BARACK OBAMA","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":574,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090183101,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. last year President Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ushered in a new era of cooperation between the United States and India on civilian nuclear energy. President Bush promised to seek the necessary changes in U.S. laws and policies to allow full cooperation and commerce in this area. In return. Prime Minister Singh has committed India to specific steps strengthening its adherence to various elements of the global nonproliferation regime. This agreement marks a historic milestone for U.S. relations with India. one of our most important friends. a natural ally. and a country that can be a close partner -on a number of key issues including nuclear nonproliferation. The legislation pending before us today is critically important because it sets the framework for Congress to consider a formal peaceful nuclear cooperation agreement with India under section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act. The Foreign Relations Committee passed this bill with strong bipartisan support shortly before the July 4th recess. and I hope the full Senate will follow suit. By passing this legislation. we will not only move the United States and India one step closer to energy cooperation but also send a clear message that a strong United StatesIndia relationship is vital to both of our nations. More and more. this bond is built on the bedrock of natural affinitieson shared interests and shared values. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11754,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090183104,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. just for the information of my colleagues. this will be the last rollcall vote tonight. The plans will be on Monday. December 4. to be back in session. and in all likelihood we will not be voting until the late afternoon of December 5. Everybody stay posted. We will keep you apprised of the future plans.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":320,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090183139,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He has been my goto guy on the Republican side of the aisle. When I had absolutely given up any hope of passing legislation for hundreds of millions of dollars to save hundreds of millions of lives. MIKE managed to help out in many different ways. He invited me once to travel to Haiti with him. Haiti is a DeWine family project. MIKE and Fran have made over 15 trips to that poor island and have met with so many people there in orphanages and on streets trying to help them. There is a little school in PortauPrince. the Becky DeWine school. named after MIKE and Frans late daughter. They have poured more love and resources into that school for some of the poorest kids on this planet than we could ever count. They worked together with Father Tom of Hands Together and so many other great charities that have done such work. As I listened to MIKE tonight give his tributes to these Ohio soldiers. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2696,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090183147,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Recently the Kentucky General Assembly passed a resolution to rename Kentucky highway 979 the Eula Hall Highway. On October 24. 2006 The Pike County News Express profiled Eula Hall and her accomplishments and sacrifices for the people of Kentucky. I ask unanimous consent that the full article be printed in the RECORD and that the entire Senate join me in paying respect to this beloved Kerituckian.","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":943,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090183149,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That proclamation is a fascinating and informative document. It begins by proclaiming that. \"it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God. to obey His will. to be grateful for His benefits. and humbly implore His protection and favor.\" The Father of our country left no doubt about his belief that our Nation was not simply the creation of mere mortals but was. in fact. guided by a Divine Hand. As if to emphasize this point. his proclamation went on to praise \"that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was. that is. or that will be.\" He exhorted the people of his young Republic to express their gratitude to Almighty God for his protection of them through the Revolutionary War. He wrote: \"We may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation.\" That was George Washington. That was the basis of our first national Thanksgiving. But he was not through. This was a Thanksgiving proclamation. so he pro-. ceeded to give thanks. He asked the American people to be thankful to Almighty God for \"the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed.\" And he asked the American people to be thankful \"for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of. government for our safety and happiness. and particularly the national one now lately instituted.\" I hope everyone caught that. President Washington was thanking the Good Lord for the Constitution that created the American Government. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BYRD","chamber":"S","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6013,"word_count":278}
{"speech_id":1090183151,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I want to bring to the Senates attention the loss of a young man of great promise from my home State of Colorado: Marine LCpl Kyle Wesley Powell. A member of Unit C Co. 1st Combat Engineer Battalion. 1st Marine Division. I Marine Expeditionary Force out of Camp Pendleton. Lance Corporal Powell was killed earlier this month in Fallujah. Iraq. Kyle Powell was a native of Colorado Springs. He was an Eagle Scout who graduated from Cheyenne Mountain High School. and joined the Marine Corps in September 2003. Lance Corporal Powell was on his third tour as a marine in Iraq. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2560,"word_count":103}
{"speech_id":1090183152,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":35,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He was assigned to 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion. 1st Marine Division. I Marine Expeditionary Force. Twentynine Palms. CA. Sgt Christian B. Williams. 27. died July 29 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province. Iraq. He was assigned to 3rd Light Armored Re-. connaissance Battalion. 1st Marine Division. I Marine Expeditionary Force. Twentynine Palms. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12413,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090183153,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"These small countries benefit from the billions of dollars of profit generated by their local gambling operators. So when the United States tries to prosecute a criminal violation of its gambling laws. these countries are not interested in extraditing their wealthiest residents. The United States is thwarted in its efforts to enforce its criminal laws against offshore gambling businesses. Some say that. instead of trying to enforce the law. we should legalize and regulate online gambling. Why does this approach have so little support in Congress? Because Internet gambling is a scourge to society. leading to addiction and bankruptcy. and enticing young people into a gambling lifestyle. Internet gambling is highly addictive. Online gambling is available 24\/7 from almost any location. Fast and continuous play. often financed by credit. allows online gamblers to rapidly lose tens of thousands of dollars. leading to bankruptcy. family devastation. and criminal activity. It is easy to conceal the addiction because an online gambler does not need to leave home or the office to gamble. and shows no physical signs of addictive behavior like an alcohol or drug addict does. Various recent studies show that Internet gamblers are two to three times more likely to become addicted than brickandmortar gamblers. ","speaker_name":"JON KYL","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12634,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090183156,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I want to take a moment to commemorate an important event that took place on Veterans Day weekend. On November 10. the Marine Corps Birthday. I was privileged to give the annual address at the revered Iwo Jima Memorial. and then to attend the dedication of the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico. VA. This marvelous dedication featured remarks from President Bush. President of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation General (Ret.) Ron Christmas and the distinguished news anchor and former marine. Jim Lehrer. They were joined by thousands of fellow marinespast and presentincluding Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2155,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090183157,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Pedersen for his contribution to their memories.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3241,"word_count":7}
{"speech_id":1090183160,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to make my colleagues aware of inflammatory breast cancer. IBC. the least common but most aggressive type of breast cancer. Although IBC accounts for 1 to 5 percent of all breast cancer cases in the United States. it is an especially aggressive and rare form of breast cancer. The unique symptoms of IBC can result in misdiagnoses or late diagnoses. IBC often presents with similar symptoms as mastitis. a type of breast infection. The disease also occurs more frequently in younger women. Physicians may believe these young women are at lower risk for breast cancer and might misdiagnose their symptoms. Unfortunately. these delays in correct diagnosis result in the sad fact that IBC is more likely to have metastasized at the time of diagnosis than nonIBC cases. ","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2759,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090183161,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am pleased to join with Senator FEINSTEIN and cosponsor the Preserving Crime Victims Restitution Act of 2006. When a criminal defendant pleads guilty or is found guilty by a jury of his peers but dies before sentencing or while his case is on appeal. the defendants victims should not sustain a financial loss and the defendants estate should not profit from his crimes. The judicially created doctrine of abatement provides. however. \"that the death of a criminal defendant pending an appeal of his or her case abates. ab initio. the entire criminal proceeding.\" In its most extreme form. the scope of the doctrine can be breathtaking. As the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held in United States v. Parsons: [T]he appeal does not just disappear. and the case is not merely dismissed. Instead. everything associated with the case is extinguished. leaving the defendant \"as if he had never been indicted or convicted.\" Common sense requires that punishments like imprisonment or probationary supervision terminate once a defendant dies. ","speaker_name":"JEFFERSON SESSIONS","chamber":"S","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3707,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090183164,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"From this beginning. the Little America Hotels and hotel properties led by Earl have became a favorite place for thousands of travelers throughout the Western United States. In fact. in preparation for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. Earl personally undertook a mission to build the first fivestar hotel in Utah. His dream became a reality with the development and building of the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City. This property is truly \"grand.\" It is beautiful from the top to the bottom and is a wonderful testament to Earls dedication to quality and service. Earls contribution to the travel and recreation arena doesnt end with his hotel properties. He also owns and manages the Snowbasin ski area in Utah. the home of several Olympic races during the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. and the Sun Valley resort in Idaho. repeatedly named the No. 1 ski resort in America. Earls business holdings also include a large petroleum portfolio anchored by his purchase of Sinclair Oil in 1976. His innovative leadership in the petroleum industry has enabled Sinclair Oil to grow and is now one of the largest privately held. full integrated oil companies in America. His leadership and dedication have been recognized many times through numerous awards and honors. including an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Utah. the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars of the Smithsonian Institutions Award for Corporate Citizenship. appointments to the U.S. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4438,"word_count":237}
{"speech_id":1090183165,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":18,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Congratulations and best regards. The four national award winners are: Outstanding Baccalaureate Colleges Professor: K.E. Brashier. associate professor of religion and humanities. Reed College. Portland. Ore. Outstanding Community Colleges Professor: Mark Lewine. professor of anthropology. Coyahoga Community College. Cleveland. Ohio Outstanding Doctoral and Research Universities Professor: Alex Filippenko. professor of astronomy. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5290,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090183171,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"While his many accomplishments are too numerous to list here. his most recent efforts clearly demonstrate just how much he has meant to Los Angeles county and my State over his entire career. Dr. Janssen has advocated closely on important Medicaid reform proposals and helped to improve the flexibility of Federal foster care funds. He coordinated and developed advocacy strategies with local government and housing and community development groups in the Los Angeles region to protect vital community development block grant funds. Working to improve the countys health system. Dr. Janssen helped assure critical Federal funding guarantees and assisted in creating an action plan in the event of an avian flu epidemic. He also collaborated with the States congressional delegation. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. and the administration to secure funding for Martin Luther King\/Charles R. Drew Medical CenterKing\/Drewin south Los Angeles. preserving critical. lifesaving services. and ensuring that the patients served by King\/Drew continue to have access to care. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2652,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090183173,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I extend my deepest condolences to those who suffered losses in the fire and commend the community for their unity and perseverance in rebounding from this disaster.*","speaker_name":"TIM JOHNSON","chamber":"S","state":"SD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2592,"word_count":27}
{"speech_id":1090183174,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to pay tribute to the Bighorn Center for Public Policy and to recognize the work of a great Coloradan. the Bighorn Centers CEO and founder. Rutt Bridges. The Bighorn Center for Public Policy was created in 1999 in an effort to provide Colorado with a truly nonpartisan organization that identifies. develops. and advocates public policies to enrich the quality of life in the State of Colorado. Over the past 7 years. the. Bighorn Center has brought together leaders from both .sides of the aisle to find real solutions to Colorados everchanging public policy needs. Rutt Bridges is a close friend and colleague. He is a man who understands the value of hard work and authentic leadership. and it has been my pleasure to work with him over the years to improve Colorado. More than 25 years ago. ","speaker_name":"KEN SALAZAR","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2738,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090183184,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"New Philippine Scouts were Filipino citizens who served with the United States Armed Forces with the consent of the Philippine government. They served between October 6. 1945. and These veterans are now in their eighties and nineties. Of the 200.000 Filipino veterans that served in World War II. close to 49.000 survive. Some of these veterans receive U.S. benefits. some do not. By 2010. it is estimated that there will be just 20.000 survivors. With the passage of the Immigration Act of 1990. the courage of the many Filipino soldiers who fought alongside our troops during World War II was finally recognized by our government. and Filipino veterans were offered the opportunity to obtain U.S. citizenship. According to the former Immigration and Naturalization Service. about 15.000 Filipino veterans live in the U.S. and became citizens between 1941 and 1995 under the authority of the Immigration Act of 1990. Between that time about 11.000 veterans who live in the Philippines were successfully naturalized. These thousands of Filipino veterans clearly wished to spend their golden years in the United States. and I am pleased that the 1990 Immigration reform efforts provided them the opportunity to do so. Unfortunately. the offer did not extend to the adult sons and daughters of these veterans. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL AKAKA","chamber":"S","state":"HI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4710,"word_count":210}
{"speech_id":1090183188,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I am submitting a resolution recognizing November as National Lung Cancer Awareness Month. It is important for Americans to recognize the large number of individuals who are diagnosed with and die from lung cancer each year. This resolution is a reminder to all Americans to help raise awareness about lung cancer. including the importance of early detection and treatment of this dreadful disease. In the United States. nearly 125.000 Americans die from lung. trachea. and bronchus cancer each year. According to the Centers. for Disease Cpntrol. CDC. lung cancer is the numlfer one cause of cancer deaths nationally for men and women. More American women will die from lung cancer than die from breast cancer each year. The disease kills more individuals than breast. prostate. colon. liver. and kidney cancers combined. In my home state of Georgia this year alone. morethan 6.20G Georgians will be diagnosed with and almost 5.000 will die from lung cancer. ","speaker_name":"SAXBY CHAMBLISS","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3063,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090183191,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday. November 16. 2006 at 10 a.m. The purpose of this hearing is to consider the nomination of Kevin M. Kolevar. of Michigan. to be an Assistant Secretary of Energy (Electricity Delivery and Energy).","speaker_name":"RICHARD LUGAR","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":352,"word_count":59}
{"speech_id":1090183269,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask unanimous consent notwithstanding the upcoming recess or adjournment of the Senate. the President of the Senate. the President pro tempore. and majority and minority leaders be authorized to make appointments to commissions. committees. boards. conferences. or interparliamentary conferences authorized by law. by concurrent action of the two Houses. or by order of the Senate.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":383,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090183284,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask that the full text of S. 4051. the \"Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Oversight and Resource Enhancement Act of 2006.\" be printed in the RECORD. The text of the bill follows. S. 4051 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":315,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090183285,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In 1981 he entered the Marine Corps Reserve where he held several line and staff positions including a role as commander of the 4th Battalion. 14th Marines and Executive Officer of the 4th Civil Affairs Group. Most recently. Colonel Colella was recalled to active duty in support of coalition operations in Afghanistan related to Operation Enduring Freedom. where he served as Chief of Staff to the U.S. Defense Representative in Pakistan. In 1987. Tom joined Korn\/Ferry in the firms Washington. D.C. office conducting seniorlevel searches for a global client base in the industrial. aerospace and defense sectors. Tom was also called into civilian public service after accepting a position within the U.S. Department of Education in the former Bush administration. and most recently serving as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Manpower and Reserve Affairs in the current Bush administration. I have been fortunate to have Colonel Colella serve as the chairman of my academy review board since my election to the U.S. ","speaker_name":"JOHN ISAKSON","chamber":"S","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2643,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090183317,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I want to thank Ms. SEKULA GIBBS and the gentlewoman from Guam. Ms. BORDALLO. for assisting in this important resolution. This is something that I think that the membership of this House can enter into with lots of enthusiasm. with lots of energy. ","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1180,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090183332,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"HYDE once quoted this poem to me verbatim as we sat in this Chamber between votes. and I think it applies to his service and his retirement and his dedication today. Tennyson wrote: \"Tho much is taken. much abides. and tho We are- not now that strength which in the old days. Moved earth and heaven. that which we are. .we are One equaltemper of heroic hearts. Made weak by time and fate. but strong in will To strive. to seek. to find. and not to yield.\" Such was the career of this rare leader and the gentleman from Illinois. May God bless his golden years and may God bless all the deliberations that will take place in the Henry Hyde Room in the United States Capitol for generations to come:","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3767,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090183333,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. HYDE has Jong championed the cause of todays military veterans. Mr. HYDE served in the U.S. Navy in the South Pacific. New Guinea and the Philippines during World War II and continued to serve inthe U.S. Naval Reserve until 1968. fetiring at the rank of commander. Earlier this year I was privileged to travel to American Samoa with Chairman HYDE where he recognized and acknowledged the military servide and sacrifices of our Samoan soldiers in the global war on terror. Chairman HYDE is my dear friend and a cherished colleague. He is highly regarded by members from both sides of the aisle for his leadership and integrity. ","speaker_name":"ENI FALEOMAVAEGA","chamber":"H","state":"AS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":2518,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090183339,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"If this program expires. the Corps will have to -fire some regulatory personnel. reducing its ability to process permits in a timely manner. The Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has heard from Members on both sides of the aisle supporting the section 214 program. H.R. 6316 is nearly identical to section 2003 of the Water Resources Development Act of 2005. which passed the House on July 14. 2005 by a vote of 40614. Since the authority for the section 214 program is expiring. it is necessary to move this piece separately. I thank Representative BAIRD and our colleagues from the western United States for introducing this bill. I urge all Members to vote in favor of H.R. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"DON YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1264,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090183340,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. YOUNG. the House and Senate has been unable to reach agreement on a final package. I am confident that our committee. under the leadership of our incoming chairman. Mr. OBERSTAR. will make the passage and enactment of the Water Resources Development Act a number one priority in 2007. Mr. Speaker. I urge support of this bill and reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"EDDIE JOHNSON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":30.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4518,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090183343,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And the City of Seattle alone estimates the cost savings at over $5 million. again from a piece of legislation that does not cost the Federal Government a penny. Additionally. due to urgent construction needs. thousands* of Corps staff have volunteered to serve in the Katrina area as well as reconstruction areas in Iraq and Afghanistan. Again turning to the Seattle Corps as an example. they have deployed a total of 233 civilian and military staff. approximately 29 percent of their staff. to these areas. First. we appreciate the service of those staff members and their courageous work in those combat areas. At the same time. however. their departure has left a limited number of staff remaining to handle the needs of the regional area. The deployments of the soldiers and men and women serving overseas can range from 30 days to a year or more. again leaving a substantial gap. It is during such times of increased deployments and increased demand for permits that we need expedited processes such as 214. and they are vital in continuing regional growth and economic need. This section. as was mentioned. was enacted last year unanimously .as H.R. 4826. and currently is unfortunately set to expire on December 31. What we are seeking is simply an extension until the committee finishes their work on WRDA before the end of the 110th. and I share my colleagues frustration that in spite of the House. as my good friend from Alaska said. we pasged it across the aisle. We are with you across the aisle. it is across the Capitol that we have got the problem with the other body. as we say. ","speaker_name":"BRIAN BAIRD","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4048,"word_count":278}
{"speech_id":1090183344,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I rise today to express my support for H.R. 6316. and I am glad the House will be approving this bill today. The bill extends the Army Corps of Engineers authority to accept and expend funds contributed by nonFederal public entities to expedite the processing of permits. If the House and Senate had been able to agree to the Water Resources Development Act. this authority would have been extended. but unfortunately the two bodies have been unable to pass WRDA yet again. H.R. 6316 helps to address an increasingly important problem in areas that are experiencing significant growth in environmentally sensitive areas. In the Sacramento. CA region. for example. much of the land includes wetlands and endangered or threatened species. meaning that any construction projects require permits from the Corps of Engineers to proceed. At current staffing levels. the Corps of Engineers cannot process the large number of permits in a timely manner. The authority granted by this bill allows the Corps to accept outside funds to support additional staff to work on the processing of these permits. I would prefer that in the future we can address this problem permanently. either by giving the Corps of Engineers sufficient funding to do its job or by granting permanent authority similar to that in this bill. but in the interim. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL HONDA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1452,"word_count":221}
{"speech_id":1090183352,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. I rise in support of House Concurrent Resolution 73. introduced by m colleague from Louisiana. Congressman MCCRERY. This bill will establish the first Tuesday in May as National High School Seniors Voter Registration Day. during which volunteers will register high school seniors and other students of voting age on site in their schools. As I have often stated. my goal as the chairman of the House. Administration Committee is to make sure that every citizen who is able to vote does so. As an educator. I have witnessed firsthand the passion and energy our young people possess when given a chance to voice their beliefs. qualities that will serve them well as they enter the voting booth. ","speaker_name":"VERNON EHLERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1084,"word_count":130}
{"speech_id":1090183353,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I support this resolution and the continued goals and ideals of National High School Seniors Voter Registration Day and encourage all eligible students not only to register to vote but to exercise that franchise as well. Madam Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JUANITA MILLENDER-MCDONALD","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":37.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3357,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090183355,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. it is a pleasure to be on the floor today to support this resolution. and I thank the chairman and ranking member of the comnmittee for bringing this to the floor today. The resolution actually encourages the Congress to support the goals and ideals of National High School Seniors Voter Registration Day. This is a program that was actually started in my hometown of Shreveport. Louisiana. back in 1996. and the results have been indeed noteworthy. Just this year. for example. in the class of 2006. the high school graduating class of 2006. nearly 50 percent of the graduating class registered to vote in Shreveport this year. That is far above what you will find in most cities and towns that dont have a program similar to this in effect. The goals and ideals of the High School Seniors Voter Registration Day are contained in the programs mission statement. and simply. the programs mission is to register to vote high school seniors and students of voting age on the first Tuesday in May. And also. to encourage students to make a lifelong commitment to civic participation in all areas of society by educating them about the importance of voting. Thats the mission. Certainly I would hope this Congress today by its vote here in the House and I hope later in the other body would support the goals and ideals of this -program. ","speaker_name":"JAMES MCCRERY","chamber":"H","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1803,"word_count":235}
{"speech_id":1090183367,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I thahk the Gentleman from Wisconsin for moving this legislation to the House floor. The Committee Chairman did a good job of summarizing how the bill works. so I wont repeat his description. I would point out that granting the additional authority to the PTO Director under H.R. 4742 is consistent with other actions by the Committee and Congress to assist other individuals and institutions in the Gulf region. This includes enactment of legislation that allows Federal courts during emergency conditions to operate outside of their geographic domains. provide transportation and subsistence expenses for indigent defendants. and delay or toll judicial proceedings. Madam Speaker. this is a good bill that will help inventors. trademark holders. and other interested parties maintain their intellectual property rights under adverse conditions. I urge Members to support H.R. 4742.","speaker_name":"LAMAR SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":21.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":898,"word_count":136}
{"speech_id":1090183419,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask my colleagues to support the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail. and I appreciate all the hard work of our chairman and those who put forth their effort in this event.","speaker_name":"JO ANN DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2438,"word_count":34}
{"speech_id":1090183429,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The State Water Commission has already approved the conveyance. I urge my colleagues to support this noncontroversial bill. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"GEORGE RADANOVICH","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":824,"word_count":27}
{"speech_id":1090183475,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is why the legislation before us today is so important. It directs the Federal Government to partner with local entities to identify and protect internment sites. In the process. it will help to demonstrate our countrys commitment to equality. justice and liberty for all. These are the founding principles of our Republic. We have no greater responsibility as Members of Congress than to protect and further these ideals. This legislation will help us do so by communicating the lessons of the internment to our children and grandchildren. It has been a distinct pleasure of mine to collaborate with so many of my colleagues to bring this legislation to the House today. I would like to extend my special thanks to my colleague from California. Chairman THOMAS- and. as he mentioned. he came to the class with my late husband. Bob. ","speaker_name":"DORIS MATSUI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2589,"word_count":141}
{"speech_id":1090183491,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speakers table the bill to exempt from certain requirements of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 a proposed nuclear agreement for cooperation with India. with a Senate amendment thereto. disagree to the Senate amendment. and agree to the conference asked by the Senate.","speaker_name":"HENRY HYDE","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":319,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090183520,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The end result is that felons and others who are not permitted by existing law to buy guns are passing background checks and buying guns through legitimate means. In fact. 28 States have automated less than 75 percent of their criminal history records. In 15 States domestic violence restraining orders are not accessible through the NICS system. Mr. Speaker. each year we see thousands and thousands of people dying because of gun violence. We see so many more being wounded because of gun violence. We have a chance to enforce the laws that are on the books. but we need to help the States get the money to computerize the information .that they have. We can save lives. number one. We can cut down on health care costs. And all that can be done by passing the NICS Act. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MCCARTHY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3632,"word_count":139}
{"speech_id":1090183529,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Of particular triumph. . the UNM College of Nursing will be graduating its first Ph.D. candidates in the 2007 academic year. Dr. Fleck was Dean of the UNM College of Nursing in the mid1970s and also served in other important positions in the community. She worked in public health and also served for 17 years as the director of school nursing for the Albuquerque public schools. She is loved and admired for her commitment and devotion to better health care by her fellow professionals. by students. and by the untold numbers of the community that she has served so well. Dr. Flecks late husband was also a legend in public education. Dr. Martin Fleck was a professor and chair of biology at the University of New Mexico. Like his wife. he was a caring and involved member of his community. serving on committees that either founded or supported the symphony. public parks and many educational programs. ","speaker_name":"TOM UDALL","chamber":"H","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2714,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090183532,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to thank you so very much for allowing me to come to the floor. I want to thank the leadership for allowing me to come and talk about an issue that is extremely. extremely important and timely right now as we complete congressional business this week. I would like to talk a bit about health care and health care expenditures and how the current system is set up that will. I believe. and many people believe. adversely affect how patients are treated across our Nation. And it has to do with the Medicare program. and it has to do with something called a sustainable growth rate. or SGR. which is currently the way in which it is determined on the part of the government how physicians are compensated for caring for Medicare patients. Now. before I came to Congress. Mr.\" Speaker. as you know. and others. I was a physician. orthopedic surgeon. practiced over 20 years in private practice of orthopedic surgery on the north side of Atlanta. ","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11635,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090183536,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Thank you so very much for your comments and your participation and for your commitment to service. to standing up and rising and being a Member of the House of Representatives. We commend you and thank you for what you have done and. appreciate your perspective and your expertise. You said it better than anybody could about this isnt about necessarily reimbursement or money for physicians. this is about access to care. Because when that physician closed his or her doors in smalltown Texas. which is not unlike smalltown America anywhere. then those patients. those citizens. -those American citizens. lose their access to care. So this is an urgent issue. It is absolutely imperative that we in this Congress address it. Once again I call on colleagues on both sides of the aisle to make certain that wedo so this week. I am pleased as well to be joined by some. other physician colleagues. Dr. Boustany. ","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1372,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090183539,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Therefore. in order to account for the differences in patient population. health status and compliance. these formulas would need to be very tightly drawn. In addition. there would be a measure reported back to the physician himself or herself as to how they did in comparison with their peer groups. These report cards. if you will. would not necessarily be made generally available to the public. but whether or not a physician or a clinic complied with the data that was required. would be made public. I think it is important to give providers. to give clinics. to give doctors some measure of flexibility in this regard. and whether it be the participation in a medical home. whether it be the participation in the PVRP program. whether it be the participation in the national quality forum programs. that any of these should be seen as complying with the intent of the legislation to provide quality meas* ures. They should be voluntary. and any increase in reimbursement should not necessarily be tied to the baseline of quality reporting. but an additional increase in reimbursement would be provided to those physicians and clinics and offices that did indeed provide some type of reporting data. Again. I want to thank the gentleman from Georgia for bringing this very timely issue to the floor of the Congress. I do know there is a lot of. work going on on this very issue right now. and my goal in this is to be helpful in the overall process and make certain that in the future we do not saddle physicians offices - and physicians practices with additional reporting requirements that are not voluntary. that are mandatory. that are punitive in their nature and end up decreasing the overall quality and character of medicine that we have grown to enjoy in this country. I thank the gentleman from Georgia.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BURGESS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6136,"word_count":313}
{"speech_id":1090183543,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Ahmadinejad was a senior officer in the Special Brigade of Revolutionary Guards stationed at the Ramazan Garrison near Kermanshah in western Iran. It was there at his headquarters of the Revolutionary Guards extraterritorial operations that he helped mount attacks on Irans borders. His work in the Revolutionary Guards was related to the suppression of dissidents in Iran and abroad. and he personally participated in covert operations in Iraq around the city of Kirkuk. With the formation of the elite Qods. Jerusalem. Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Ahmadinejad became one of its senior commanders. He directed assassinations in the Middle East and Europe. including the assassination of Iranian Kurdish leader Abdorrahman Qassemlou. who was shot dead by senior officers of the Revolutionary Guards at a Vienna apartment in July of 1989. Ahmadinejad was a key planner of that murder. He also is reported to have been involved in planning an attempt to assassinate author Salman Rushdie. ","speaker_name":"MARK KIRK","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11935,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090183557,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in life we all have changes. They are so difficult to accept. In the last month or so. I have had a lot of changes in my life. One of the changes that has been so troubling for me is that we have lost a friend in the Senate. Ralph Waldo Emerson said: Sorrow makes us all children again. [It] destroys all differences of intellect. The wisest know nothing. The family member we have lost is Mary Arnold. She was such a wonderful. pleasant. thoughtful. kind person. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2698,"word_count":89}
{"speech_id":1090183560,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I dont have any idea. She was a true professional. It is to her credit that she was in service to the Democratic side of the aisle but had equal respect for both sides of the aisle. She was beyond partisanship. She really was a part of the whole Senate family. She treated everyone with such respect and professionalism. so gra.cious to junior staffers and pages and Senators alike. She performed so many countless acts of kindness in the 21 years she served here. People are now speaking out about those and I am glad they shared some of them. If a coworker needed a kind word. Mary was one of the first. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2436,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090183562,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"They did not believe in 200 years of experience. They did not hold conferences. They would bring a bill back that the Republicans in the House and the Republicans in the Senate agreed upon. We had to take it or leave it. period. That is not the way it is going to be next year. We are going to have Senators participating in things that many of them have never participated in: a real live conference. where Democrats and Republicans from the House and the Senate meet in a room and work out the differences on a bill. This year we have so much to do. And as I said. it is mission impossible. If we had years left. if we had months left. if we had weeks left in the 109th Congress. maybe we could do something about it. But we have days remaining to finish all the items I have mentioned. and many more. ","speaker_name":"HARRY REID","chamber":"S","state":"NV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4787,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090183592,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"So we have a unanimous consent agreement in place. I think we should follow that. In terms of time. I have maybe 5 minutes left in this opening statement and Senator DORGAN needs probably 20 minutes and then Senator LANDRIEU is scheduled for 10. if that is of assistance to the Senator. That would indicate that we have about 40 minutes.","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":337,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090183601,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We planted wheat. but have nothing to harvest this year due to a lack of rain. and crop insurance will barely pay our input costs. so there will not be any income from a crop this year. As for buying feed for cattle. hay will cost approximately $100 per ton with trucking. We will also need to purchase supplement and corn. This is in addition to the high cost of electricity. fuel. and propane. We dont know how much more we can endure. We dont know why our country helps other nations. but not our own people. and especially the farmers. Other nations give nothing back. Selling the cattle is not the answer either. As a result. there will be no income. Please let us know if there is any assistance for us. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5199,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090183617,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"That money could be used to pay for this. and then in the reappropriations process that we start in February we could come back through. recognizing that we are using $4.8 billion of that money to pay for this. One of my problems with the Agriculture appropriations bill that this amendment is going to be attached to is there is $800 million worth of earmarks. most of which come out of the very services the farmers are dependent upon to grow a good crop. A lot of it comes out of ARS. the very thing we shouldnt be taking money out of. but yet we have $758 million Worth of earmarks that arent necessarily a priority for our country or the farm communities but are a priority in terms of the political benefits that it gives the Members of this body and the House. This is a fineprint page of all the earmarks in this bill. Most of the American public. when they look at it. 50 percent of these projects they would have trouble stomaching saying this is a priority at this time. There is no attempt to eliminate the earmarks to pay for this. which would pay 20 percent of this Agriculture bill disaster amendment we have before us.","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3195,"word_count":211}
{"speech_id":1090183621,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I thank the Senator. I reclaim the floor. Let me talk again about some of the problems that are behind the bill as it is presently written. We are never going to have a crop insurance program in this country that will ever work if we keep bailing people out who fail to buy crop insurance. Granted. there is a change in this bill from what it was. It was 35 percent or 40 percent available to those who didnt buy crop insurance. Now we have cut it to 20. But we are still sending a signal that you dont have to buy crop insurance. because even if you do not. we are going to be there with the money. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":852,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090183624,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I will take this on my time. The Senator makes a very good point. In previous disaster bills. those that did not have crop insurance got 45 percent of the prevailing price. Under this bill. we have dropped that dramatically to 20 percent. Why? The Senator asks a very good question. Frankly. the overriding reason is there are certain crops for which crop insurance doesnt work at all. largely specialty crops in this country for which the crop insurance program badly needs reform. I think most of us from farm country would agree on that. There are real problems with crop insurance. ","speaker_name":"KENT CONRAD","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":841,"word_count":104}
{"speech_id":1090183628,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We dont have disagreement on those kinds of issues. I think the crop insurance program. while important. has never been sufficiently contracted to reap prices and replace disasters when a real disaster strikes. That is part of the issue here. These arent just bad rains or high winds. these are real disasters when you see the epicenter of a drought that destroys all of the farmers. I am sympathetic. I understand what the Senator from Oklahoma is saying. I hope he understands patience is not inexhaustible when producers are wondering whether they and their family are going to be able to continue. I am talking about a lot of families who are struggling very hard. Let me say finally the sentiments of the Senator from Oklahoma about trying to help family farmers is very much. in sync with the sentiments of Senator CONRAD and others. We very much want this Congress to reach out a helping hand to those farmers who risk losing everything if we dont help them some. and say. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1851,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090183669,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It said: We are no longer going to let the border security bureaucracy of the Federal Government use taxpayer money to take away those cheaper prescription drugs many Americans go into Canada to buy and bring back to their homes. We are going to let those Americans do that because that is fair and right. We were only talking about Canada. We were only talking about taking them back across the border in quantities that are for their personal use. not to go into business to be a middleman selling drugs to other consumers but for their personal use. That amendment not only passed by a strong vote in the Senate. but it remained in the bill through the entire process. After a lot of fighting. a lot of discussion and argument and work on this crucial issue. we were able to retain an important version of that amendment in the final version of the Homeland Security appropriations bill. President Bush signed it into law. Now we have made that important change that says Americans can go into Canada. buy those safe. cheaper prescription drugs for their personal use and bring them back without border security agents taking them away. confiscating them. and having them out the cost. trouble. and time of their trip. Today Senator NELSON and I offer amendment No. 5151 to the Agriculture appropriations bill. Of course. that bill covers the FDA as well. ","speaker_name":"DAVID VITTER","chamber":"S","state":"LA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7913,"word_count":237}
{"speech_id":1090183703,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to take a moment to thank Senator KOHL for his stewardship of the Agriculture appropriations bill. His work on this bill will provide funding to support our Nations farmers and consumers. and I support those efforts wholeheartedly. Mr. President. my colleague from California. Senator BOXER. and I would like to take a moment to engage our colleague from Wisconsin in a colloquy.","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":407,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090183706,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. first I would like to thank the chairman of the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee. Senator KOHL. for working with Senator FEINSTEIN and me on these important food safety projects. As Senator FEINSTEIN has already explained. a recent E. coli outbreak in spinach produced in California has reminded us of the critical importance of food safety and public health scientific research. We hope that with a renewed focus on providing food safety scientists with the proper tools. we can learn more about how to control the impact of future E. coli outbreaks and protect the Nations food supply from all foodborne illnesses. To accomplish this goal. the Agricultural Research Service. ARS. is ready to begin work on a leafy green food safety research program that will help inform the choices producers and regulators make to secure .the safety of the leafy vegetable food supply. With the necessary funding that we.hope can be provided in conference for these important goals. ARS will complete the ongoing process of expanding its small existing vegetable food safety program and produce applied science that the Nations growers can use to help keep their products safe. After all of the work done in recent years to get Americans to eat more fruits and vegetables. taking no action to prevent food safety scares like the recent E. coli outbreak in spinach will threaten to depress consumption and reverse progress made to encourage healthy eating choices. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1640,"word_count":238}
{"speech_id":1090183719,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank my friends for taking a moment to discuss this matter with me. I urge my colleagues who will be negotiating these provisions with the House to carefully consider the benefits of this proposal. I thank them in advance for any assistance they may render.","speaker_name":"THOMAS CARPER","chamber":"S","state":"DE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":260,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090183729,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"When this program was disclosed on December 16 of last year. almost a year ago. we moved ahead in the Judiciary Committee to have a series of hearings to try to find a way to have judicial review in accordance with the tradition and concept in the United States.. having the impartial magistrate between the Government and the person subject to surveillance. to search and seizure. or to wiretapping. The initial legislation would have given that authority to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. which was selected because of the expertise that court has and because they can maintain secrecy. In my legal opinion. there is no doubt that the administration program violates FISA. the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. But the President has asserted that there was article II power. inherent powers as Commander in Chief. which warrants this program withoutjustifies this program without warrants. I cosponsored legislation introduced by the senior Senator from California.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4342,"word_count":154}
{"speech_id":1090183736,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":13,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise to speak about our senior Senator from Ohio. MIKE DEWINE. Let me begin by saying this is a speech I hoped I would never have to give. For many in this Chamber. winter came a little early this year. A blizzard of political change swept through the country and. unfortunately. many were unable to weather the storm. in my particular case. in our State. through no fault of their own. MIKE DEWINE was one of the most effective legislators we have in the U.S. Senate. He was a victim of this storm. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE VOINOVICH","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9935,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090183739,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":1,"speech_text":"William said. \"[Al] would work with me in the summer. He was. strong. He was thin. And. he was fast. Sometimes my guys would come up to me and say. Hey! That kid works harder than we do!\" Allens father remembers that it was the terrorist attacks of September 11. 2001. that motivated his son to enlist in the Army immediately after high school. William worried about the decision. but was deeply impressed by Allens responses to his questions. This is what Alleh said: \"Just think. Dad. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6508,"word_count":87}
{"speech_id":1090183742,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to recoghize airman SMSgt Michael L. Lemke. stationed at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne. WY. Senior Master Sergeant Lemke was selected as one of the Air Forces 12 Outstanding Airmen for 2006. The award is based on his superior leadership. job performance. and personal achievements. The Air Force honors the 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year at the annual Air Force Associations Air and Space Conference and Technology Exposition in September. Over 352.000 ActiveDuty airmen were considered for this award. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2121,"word_count":88}
{"speech_id":1090183747,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":28,"republican":1,"speech_text":"George. Washington County. and the Utah State Legislature for their efforts. Past and present museum staff Theresa Walker. Andrew R.C. Milner. Janice Evans. Bob Kroff. and Anneli Segura have put forth countless hours December 5. 2006 COIN of work and dedication to enhance*. preserve. and share this prehistoric treasure with the community and future generations. In addition to the Johnsons. I recognize Suzanne Allen. Dr. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6368,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090183757,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am saddened to inform you of the passing of Judge James DeAnda. I would like to take a few moments to recognize Judge DeAndas many important accomplishments and the tremendous impact he made in protecting civil liberties. James DeAnda was born in Houston. TX. in 1925. The son of Mexican immigrants. DeAnda fought bravely as a marine for his country during World War II. Shortly after returning from war. at a time when only a small number of Latino students were enrolled in higher education. he returned to his studies and graduated from Texas A&M University and the University of Texas Law School. As an attorney. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1977,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090183764,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I honor Mississippi. Heights Elementary School. in Sauk Rapids. MN. which will soon earn an Award for Excellence in Education for its exceptional and innovative achievements in educating children. Mississippi Heights Elementary School is truly a model of educational success. The school begins each school day by welcoming all staff and pupils in the gym with a unique \"Lift Off\" program. which is led by the children and is designed to recognize birthdays. make announcements. and strengthen the schools strong sense of community. Another special characteristic of Lift Off is its buddy system. which matches each child in the primary classes with a blddy from the intermediate classes to act as a mentor. The buddies sit together at Lift Off and read to each other before the program begins. Mississippi Heights is dedicated to a successful literacy initiative. whose goals are: implementation of a balanced literacy program that will include independent shared. guided reading. writing. and readalouds throughout the day. students demonstration of individual improvement in reading levels. reading and writing throughout the day which aims toward raising RIGBY and Guided Reading levels for each student. and daily reading aloud by teachers. with 5.000 readaloud books as a building goal. Teachers at Mississippi Heights have made reading and writing a top priority. and it shows in their enthusiasm and passion in the classroom. ","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2462,"word_count":226}
{"speech_id":1090183765,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I honor Nevis Public School. in Nevis. MN. which will soon receive an Award for Excellence in Education for its exceptional and innovative achievements in educating children. Nevis Public School is truly a model of educational success. It is a unique school that utilizes the strengths of the teachers. community. and rural setting. as well as educational opportunities in the Twin Cities and elsewhere to provide its students with an exemplary learning environment. The schools rural setting and connection to the local community offer many exceptional learning benefits for the students. The school is adjacent to an 80acre school forest. which is often the classroom for the forest management class. while local rivers serve as the classroom for the aquatic management class. Each Earth Day. students plant trees in the school forest and throughout the comnkunity. Fourthgraders attend an annual Agriculture in the Classroom presentation. and sixthgraders learn about lakes and aquatic management at the Freshwater Festival. The school is committed .to a wellrounded education for its students and makes a strong effort to expose them to learning opportunities outside of the community. as well. ","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2715,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090183767,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Lancaster Public School District has been recognized by the Minnesota Department of Education for making adequate yearly progress for the past 3 years. The schools high achievement on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment tests has earned both the elementary and secondary schools a fivestar rating from the State Department of Education in reading. Much of the credit for Lancaster Public Schools success belongs to its principal. Bradley Homstad. and the dedicated teachers. The students and staff at Lancaster Public School understand that. in order to be successful. a school must go beyond achieving academic success. it must also provide a nurturing environment where students can develop the knowledge. skills. and attitudes for success throughout life. All of the faculty. staff. and students at Lancaster Public School should be very proud of their accomplishments. I congratulate Lancaster Public School in Lancaster for winning the Award for Excellence in Education and for its exceptional contributions to education in Minnesota.*","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2394,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090183770,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I congratulate Badger School District in Badger for winning the Award for Excellence in Education and for its exceptional contributions to education in Minnesota..","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2521,"word_count":24}
{"speech_id":1090183777,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Carol has been a true friend to Indiana agriculture. and I cherish our years of friendship. Ihope that you will join me as we honor and celebrate her many contributions to the State of Indiana.e","speaker_name":"RICHARD LUGAR","chamber":"S","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1092,"word_count":35}
{"speech_id":1090183807,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the following staff members be accorded the privilege of the floor during debate and all votes on H.R. 5384. the Agriculture. Rural Development. Food and Drug Administration. and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2007: Fitzhugh Elder. Dianne Preece. Stacy McBride. Graham Harper. Galen Fountain. Jessica Frederick. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT BENNETT","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":457,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090183812,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. this afternoon. the Senate will consider legislation that will have farreaching effects on the Nations readiness for bioterrorist attacks. epidemics. and other public health emergencies. The passage of the bill today is the culmination of a long process that our subcommittee. under the able leadership of Senator BURR. conducted to evaluate recommendations for renewing and strengthening the public health legislation enacted in 2002 and the BioShield proposal enacted the following year. That was no small challenge. Our lack of preparedness was painfully clear to the hundreds of thousands of Americans who suffered and are still suffering in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Today we face the possibility of a pandemic or a bioterrorist attack. which could be as bad as a Hurricane Katrina in every community in America. We know that we are not yet ready for a catastrophe of that scale. We need new medicines and new vaccines to protect against the disease threats of the twentyfirst century. Yet many biotechnology companies are unwilling to invest in this area because of its uncertain commercial rewards. Congress previously enacted the BioShield law to provide a guaranteed market for these products. but that program has been implemented poorly and has failed to live up to its promise. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6091,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090183831,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today. it stand in adjournment until 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday. December 6. I further ask consent that following the prayer and pledge. the morning hour be deemed expired. the Journal of proceedings be approved to date. the time for the two leaders be reserved. and the -Senate then proceed to a period of morning business until 11:30 a.m.. with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. and that the Senate stand in recess from 12:30 until 2:15 to accommodate the weekly party luncheons. I further ask consent that at 11:30 a.m. the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of Robert Gates to be Secretary of Defense.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":733,"word_count":125}
{"speech_id":1090183833,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. the Senate. tomorrow. will conduct a period of morning business so that Senators may pay tribute to our retiring colleagues. At 11:30. the Senate will proceed to executive session to consider the nominatioh of Robert Gates to be Secretary of Defense. It is my hope and expectation that consideration of this critical nomination can be expedited.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":360,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090183977,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. we have a problem. Without immediate congressional action. there are seniors in our country who will not receive medical care from their doctor next year. Payments to physicians who provide health care services to Medicare patients will be cut by over 5 percent as of January 1. 2007. If Congress fails to act before we adjourn this year. this cut will automatically go into effect. The- result will be reduced access to care for Medicare patients across our Nation. Older Americans should not have to worry that their doctors will be forced to stop treating them because Congress did not act. At a time when physician costs are skyrocketing. we cannot expect our doctors to lose money when they treat Medicare patients. There is still time to act. but the clock is ticking. and senidrs are looking to Congress for leadership on this important issue. The 109th Congress will soon end. It would be an outrage and a dereliction of duty if the Republican Congress. in its final days. does not fix this serious problem to avert a potential health care crisis for millions of our fellow Americans. ","speaker_name":"SHELLEY BERKLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1191,"word_count":190}
{"speech_id":1090183979,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"DC. Before I return Flat Stanley to Emily this next week. I am going to bring him to the House floor where Americas elected officials participate in democracy. I hope that Flat Stanley will have a safe trip back with me to our district and that Emilys class enjoys reading about his visit to Congress.","speaker_name":"GENE GREEN","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"D","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1432,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090183980,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I want to congratulate Lisas father and stepmother. Robert and Peggy Kaplan. and honor the memory of her mother. Carol Weisberg. I also want to honor the memory of BRADS father. Maurice Sherman. and congratulate his mom. my dear friend Lane Sherman. To Lisa and BRAD. we wish you a life together of health and happiness. Mazel Tov.","speaker_name":"LOIS CAPPS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1120,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090183992,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Representative WATERS and our staffs. especially Scott Morris and Joe Pinder of the Financial Services staff. Eleni Constantine from my staff. and many others for their very hard work on this bill. The bill that we consider today. though it bears a Senate designation. includes substantially all of the key initiatives that we included in our House bill. Chief among these hre new provisions on small business competition and transparency. Our small business initiative starts with a new small business division within the bank run by a senior VP who will advise the board directly. Within the bank. the bill creates small business specialists with authority to approve smaller working capital loans and guarantees to speed up the process. The bill also creates a Small Business Committee to assist the bank in advancing its small business agenda. Within this division. the bill creates an office charged with expanding outreach to socially and economically disadvantaged small businesses and small businesses owned by women. and it also increases the amount of loans. guarantees and insurance provided by the bank to support exports by these small businesses. The bill also empowers and directs the bank to deal more forcefully and directly with the looming threat to the U.S. export economy posed by China. which is effectively subsidizing its exports through its currency and otherwise. Since China is not a member of the Organization For Economic Cooperation and Development. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5294,"word_count":235}
{"speech_id":1090183995,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But in particular we have always felt that it is important to promote engines that help the economy grow but to recognize that growth does not automatically produce fairness. In our job. we have seen it as when we deal with these progrowth engines. as I believe the ExportImport Bank can be when it is done right. that we put in some elements of fairness. and that is what has been done here with regard to smaller businesses. with regard to women and minorities. Indeed. our colleague. the gentlewoman from New York. Ms. VELAZQUEZ. who will chair the Small Business Committee in the next Congress. had some particular concerns. some of which have been accommodated. and I want to take th is opportunity to say that if I become the chair of the committee. and the gentlewoman from New York will still be on the committee and will still be playing a major role. we intend to further work with the gentlewoman from New York.","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1907,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090183996,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"to make sure that small business gets a piece of this. Let me say. in an ideal world. we wouldnt have an ExportImport Bank. If there Were no interventions in the market by other countries. there would be no need for this entity. But neither in economics nor in the military area do I think that unilateral disarmament makes sense. and I would hope. and we did this with regard to China. that this would be regarded as an instrument to be used in the legitimate selfdefense of American industry. And to the extent that we can ever negotiate a disappearance of this kind of export subsidy everywhere. then I would be in favor of our dropping it. But until then. we need to be able to deal in this world. and I think this bill does this in the best possible way. and I thank the gentlewoman.","speaker_name":"NYDIA VELAZQUEZ","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":788,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090184004,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This bill also represents important input from the Committee on Small Business. various export and banking","speaker_name":"MICHAEL OXLEY","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1421,"word_count":16}
{"speech_id":1090184026,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I just want to say that the typically thoughtful intervention by the gentleman from Iowa who often brought to our deliberations more than was there before he did. it is just one reason why I will miss him. And as the gentleman knows. I have previously been an advocate for the country making great use of his services. I am torn now. Mr. Speaker. between expressing my hope that the administration will find a way to use his services for the country. and my fear that my saying so will make that less likely. Given that dilemma. I guess that is as much as I will say. ","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":630,"word_count":109}
{"speech_id":1090184045,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Dr. Sunny Anand. a neurologist and the Nations leading expert on fetal pain. testified that \"the human fetus possesses the ability to experience pain from 20 weeks of gestation. if not earlier. and the pain perceived by a fetus is possibly more in-","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2213,"word_count":43}
{"speech_id":1090184050,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank my colleague for yielding. Mr. Speaker. I rise in opposition to H.R. 60\u00a79 for many reasons. Most glaringly is the fact that this bill is even up on the floor to begin with. We have not passed our spending bills. We have not fixed the looming physician fee reimbursement crisis. physicians who treat pain every day. We have not increased the minimum wage. ","speaker_name":"LOIS CAPPS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":23.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2065,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090184074,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of H.R. 609.9. The Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act introduced by my colleague. Congressman CHRIS SMITH. This proinformation legislation ensures that women seeking an abortion are fully informed of the pain experienced by their unborn child at 20 weeks after fertilization. In addition. the bill gives a woman the opportunity to request pain medication for her child during the abortion procedure: Mr. Speaker. administering pain medication to an unborn child at 20 weeks of development is not a novel concept. Unborn children undergoing surgery in a mothers womb are given an anesthetic directly. and premature babies of the same age are given pain relieving drugs during medical operations. At a minimum. a woman should be given the opportunity to request the same paineasing medication for her unborn child. ","speaker_name":"ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":998,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090184088,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. today I rise in opposition to H.R. 6099. the socalled Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act. While this bill purports to represent the findings of the scientific community. it is merely sensationalistic junk science. This bill would force doctors to violate their Hippocratic oath by mandating that they provide women with incorrect. unsupported information. It misleads women into believing that they need general anesthesia for an abortion. By glossing over the established risks of general anesthesia. this bill puts womens health at risk. But dont take my word for it--look to the science. An August 2005. Journal of the American Medical Association study states \"for pregnant women. general anesthesia is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. particularly because of airwayrelated complications and increased risk of hemorrhage from uterine atony.\" The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said it best in their statement against this bill. \"Requiring a physician to provide a patient with information that is not supported by scientific fact violates the established doctrine of medical informed consent.\" As a scientist myself. ","speaker_name":"LOUISE SLAUGHTER","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":28.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2017,"word_count":174}
{"speech_id":1090184089,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. last month. I attended the Supreme Court oral arguments on the socalled Partial Birth Abortion bill. You may recall that like the bill we have before us today. that bill included Congressional findings that found no basis in medical fact or science. The bill we are debating today is pseudoscience. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. in consultation with physicians who are experts in fetal anesthesia and fetal surgery. knows of no legitimate scientific data or information that supports the statement that a fetus experiences pain. Requiring a physician to provide a patient with information that is not supported by scientific fact violates the established doctrine of medical informed consent. This bill is a clear attempt by the current antichoice majority to once again chip away at a womans right to choose. H.R. 6099 does not inform women who are seeking abortions. it misinforms them. It forces doctors and nurses to distribute a brochure filled with biased language written by antichoice politicians. most of whom have no medical experience. ","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MALONEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1707,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090184117,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H.R. 5798. a bill modifying the authorities of the chimpanzee sanctuary system. A few years ago. Congress enacted a law offered by former Congressman GREENwood of Pennsylvania to provide for sanctuary for chimpanzees that have been used for research purposes at the National Institutes of Health. I believe this legislation and the resulting sanctuary system have been very successful. The bill before us today would modify the existing law to eliminate a provision that could have. under very limited circumstances. allowed for the removal of the chimpanzees from the sanctuary system for further research. ","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2330,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090184127,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise to join Chairman BARTON in support of S. 843. as amended. the Combating Autism Act of 2006. Although many of us would like to have done more sooner. the bill represents a positive step forward in addressing the serious problem of autism in the United States. The legislation focuses on expanding and coordinating autism research at the National Institutes of Health. monitoring the disorder and educating the public through programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. as well as ensuring that citizens have a voice in the Federal Governments response to autism. Leo Kanner first described autism in 1943 as a developmental disorder characterized by \"extreme autistic loneliness\" and \"an obsessional desire for the maintenance of sameness.\" Since the 1940s. we have learned much more about autism. including its diagnosis. traits. and possible treatments. Data from several recent studies show that between two and six out of every 1.000 children fall within the definition of what is called autism spectrum disorder. ","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3980,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090184136,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We need more definitive information about that. and again. I think this legislation is good. bipartisan legislation. and it is an example of what we can do here when we put our minds together and work across the aisle and especially when we work with these many autism advocacy. groups that have been tremendous in helping to bring this legislation to the floor. So I urge strong support for it. I thank Chairman BARTON for bringing it up. even if it is late. but not too late. This legislation will make a significant difference in the lives of autistic children. as well as in the lives of their families. Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of S. 843. with an amendment. the Combating Autism Act. This bill is great news for the 1.5 million individuals suffering from autism.spectrum disorders (ASD) and their families. the many ASD advocacy groups who have been working hard for so long. and also the very many Members of Congress who have championed the cause of autism with the goal of providing meaningful relief to those autistic individuals and their families. From my first session in Congress in 1981. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SMITH","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9212,"word_count":194}
{"speech_id":1090184144,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of S. 843. the*Combating Autism Act. As a member of the congressional Coalition on Autism Research and Education CARE. as well as a cosponsor of the companion bill. H.R. 2421. I strongly support the provisions of the bill. This important legislation will improve the lives of those affected by expanding and improving detection. care and treatment of au-. tism spectrum disorders. The establishment of centers of excellence for autism research will enable us to conduct cutting edge research and apply it in the most effective manner possible to treat our young citizens affected by autism in the best way we can. I want to give a special thanks to the many parents. siblings. families and friends of those with autism. especially my constituents in the Second District of Nebraska. Your support of autism issues. and specifically this legislation. has been crucial to the advancement of this bill. ","speaker_name":"LEE TERRY","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1049,"word_count":153}
{"speech_id":1090184146,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask that my colleagues join me supporting S. 843. the Combating Autism Act of 2006.","speaker_name":"THOMAS DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1939,"word_count":16}
{"speech_id":1090184152,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill to authorize and strengthen the tsunami detection. forecast. warning. and mitigation program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. to be carried out by the National Weather Service. and for other purposes. as amended.","speaker_name":"VERNON EHLERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":294,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090184157,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Even a small tsunami can cause damage. An earthquake off the coast of Japan last month produced a tsunami that hit California with wave surges- of only 5 or 6 feet. but it caused an estimated $700.000 in damage in just one town. So we need to maintain and strengthen the Nations tsunami programs. That is exactly what H.R. 1674 would do. it would give specific continuing congressional direction to efforts in tsunami research. prediction. detection. warning. and outreach. the full spectrum of needed activities. The bill would also improve congressional oversight of the program by requiring updates on the condition of tsunami monitoring equipment and several studies of the overall effectiveness of the tsunami program. This is a good. carefully targeted. economical. bipartisan bill. I wish to thank my cosponsor. JAY INSLEE. for all his hard work and persistence on this bill. He understands well how his constituents in Washington State could be in harms way for a tsunami. I also want to thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the Science Committee who. as usual. contributed to the bill which passed the committee long ago by voice vote. ","speaker_name":"SHERWOOD BOEHLERT","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4453,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090184164,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In the last 2 years. I have made a lot of trips to the Oregon coast. and talked with many constituents about the possibility of a tsunami of similar size and destructive force striking somewhere along Oregon. Washington or the northern California coast. I have spoken with State geologists. tsunami researchers at many universities. and emergency management planners. and they all agree it is not a question of if but when the next big tsunami will strike the west coast. While this legislation or any legislation will not guarantee total protection. I do think that the funding in this bill for education and mitigation programs will go a long way towards making our Nations citizens more aware of the dangers posed by tsunamis and more prepared to act and ultimately safer. This is truly a bill that will save lives. I am also pleased there is money included in the legislation that will improve international coordination for detection and warnings. particularly in vulnerable regions like the Indian Ocean. It is in the best interest of the United States to assist in detection and monitoring of seismic events and tsunamis around the world because a large tsunami generated in Japan has a potential to do major damage to many places along the western coastline. It is for these reasons that I am proud to be a cosponsor of this legislation and urge my colleagues in the House and the other Chamber to quickly pass this legislation and to begin to provide support for our communities and our citizens.","speaker_name":"DARLENE HOOLEY","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"F","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2378,"word_count":257}
{"speech_id":1090184168,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. I insert an exchange of letters between the Committees on Science and International Relations in the RECORD. I want to thank the staff on both sides of the aisle. who have labored for more than 2 years on this bill. That includes Eric Webster. who has since moved on to NOAA. and David Goldston. Sara Gray. Chad English. and especially Amy Carroll. who has worked tirelessly to keep this bill moving forward.","speaker_name":"SHERWOOD BOEHLERT","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3149,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090184176,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. on November 16 the world lost one of its preeminent and influential economists and thinkers of our time. Dr. Milton Friedman is most commonly associated with his theories of monetarism. his devotion to the free market that sought to turn the Keynesian economic revolution on its head. and his visions of an international economic system that is free of pegged and fixed exchange rates. Friedmans top achievement. among many. was his Nobel Prize in Economics. which he was awarded in 1976. And while many of his achievements are well known. some of his lesser known accomplishments make him an intriguing figure. One of the abstractions Friedman developed in his famous work. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1683,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090184226,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I ask for the adoption of this resolution. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"ELEANOR NORTON","chamber":"H","state":"DC","gender":"F","party":"D","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"nonvoting","speech_char_length":2109,"word_count":17}
{"speech_id":1090184240,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself as much time as I may consume. I am today joined by a number of my colleagues in expressing strong opposition to this measure in the manner in which it comes before us today. This proposal. introduced only 2 weeks ago. has conveniently made its way here to the House floor without the benefit of a single hearing. markup or any other consideration or discussion by our committee. Now. one could understand the need to circumvent the safeguards embodied in the traditional legislative process if this measure proposed to solve some of the problems of the 46 million Americans who every day go without health insurance. One could also understand the need to rush the bill through if it sought to improve our local schools. proposed to make college more affordable. or attempted to enhance the standard of living of roughly 38 million people in America who currently live in poverty. Unfortunately. this bill fails to address any pressing public policy problems. but instead its sole aim is to influence the decisions of a local government located several thousand miles away in Paris. France. As many may know. the details surrounding the conviction of Mumia AbuJamal for the murder of Police Officer Daniel Faulkner are filled with a great deal of controversy. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3014,"word_count":217}
{"speech_id":1090184242,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He became something of a celebrity to the extreme fringe left. Free Mumia movements started to spring up across the country. Activists started calling him a political prisoner. Word spread. and soon his name became known across the world. leading us to this moment and the consideration of this House resolution. In early May of this year. I read a disturbing story in the Philadelphia Enquirer. The story reported that on April 29. the Parisian suburb St. Denis named a street of their city in honor of Mumia AbuJamal. I was shocked and I was disgusted. The man who. in 1970 as a founding member of the Black Panthers in Philadelphia. wrote. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL FITZPATRICK","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4523,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090184248,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Reading Police Officer Scott Wertz. Upper Saucon Township Police Officer David Petzold. and Police Officer. in Philadelphia. Gary Skerski. Gary Skerski was a constituent of mine. He had befriended my staff. and he was a beloved member of our community. I know how much he is missed by his. wife Ann and their two young children as well as the residents of Port Richmond. the Philadelphia neighborhood where he lived and was so involved. I know the St. Denis actions are an offense not only to Daniel Faulkner and his family. but also to the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police and to Officer Skerski and .all of our Nations fallen heroes. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution and to send a message to the leaders of St. Denis that police officers. not cop killers. are heroes worthy of our respect. admiration. and remembrance. ","speaker_name":"ALLYSON SCHWARTZ","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3584,"word_count":145}
{"speech_id":1090184263,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"However. legal disputes are not always confined to the geographic and judicial domain of a single State. The bill ensures that lawfully notarized documents from one State are also acknowledged by sister States in interstate commerce. The bill also clarifies standards by which electronic seals are to be recognized. This is especially important as more lawyers and business people notarize documents electronically. I emphasize that H.R. 1458 does not conflict with the 10th amendments defense of States rights. In fact. the bill promotes States rights through its compatibility with the full faith and credit clause of article IV of the Constitution. The bill address an obscure but important subject in the legal and business realms. and I urge my colleagues to support it. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"F. SENSENBRENNER","chamber":"H","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1590,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090184275,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The article noted industry fears that shortages may even become more severe over the next decade due to the flat medical school enrollments. aging baby boomers. and the high number of doctors heading for retirement. While some communities enjoy a glut of physicians. one in five Americans. in fact. live in rural and urbanareas with so few doctors that the Federal Government has classified these regions as \"medically underserved.\" It is these Americans that foreign doctors assist when they get a J1 visa waiver to practice medicine in communities that dont have enough American doctors. I believe we need to make improvements in this program so that it better meets the needs of the underserved. Right now some States who receive J1 doctors through the \"Conrad30 program\" do not lose their allotment of 30 waivers each year while other States find that 30 waivers are insufficient to meet the medical needs of their communities. In addition. some States may not need 30 waivers. but other States have trouble recruiting all the doctors they need. The result is that some citizens are still unable to get essential medical care. We need a plan that ensures that States having trouble recruiting enough doctors will be able to fill their allotment for J1 doctors and. ensure that States which fill their annual allotment of J1 doctors can get more such doctors to meet their needs without impinging upon those allotted to any other State. In this way the needs of all States and. most importantly. all of the citizens in underserviced areas can be met until U.S. medical schools are able to increase the number of graduates to meet our domestic needs. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the House and Senate in the 110th Congress to improve. extend. and sustain this vital visa program in the very near future. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3074,"word_count":311}
{"speech_id":1090184279,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It permits each State to obtain waivers permitting up to 30 physicians to work in medically underserved areas. It is not a. permanent program. It is sunsetted on June 1 of this year. That is why we need the Physicians for Underserved Areas Act. H.R. 4997 would reinstate and extend the program for 2 years. This is the second time that we have cosponsored this extension with Mr.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2414,"word_count":68}
{"speech_id":1090184283,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I would like to add my appreciation to all of the staff. majority and minority. who helped in the waning hours of this particular Congress. the 109th Congress. to help move this bill to suspension and to help move it forward. And I do thank Kristen Wells and Nolan Rappaport for their excellent cooperation and work on the minority staff in generating what I think is an important extension for doctors across America.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":418,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090184330,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I proudly rise in support of S. 1998. the Stolen Valor Act. I am extremely pleased that this body is able to consider this bill before we adjourn. because recent events in my district and across our nation have illustrated why Congress must act quickly to address the underlying issue of this bill. Under current law. it is illegal to wear. manufacture. or sell military decorations without legal authorization. However. it is legal. but not ethical. to falsely represent oneself as having been awarded a decoration or medal of the United States Military. This legislation will expand the prohibitions listed above to include conducting other transactions not already illegal without authorization. and falsely representing oneself as having been awarded any decoration or medal authorized by Congress for the Armed Forces or any of the service medals or badges.. It also increases penalties for violations involving a Distinguished Service Cross. Air Force Cross. Navy Cross. ","speaker_name":"SAM GRAVES","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2625,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090184337,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Thirteen percent of the veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who have turned to VA for health care are women. and 11 percent of the troops deployed there are women. This bill makes sure that Congress receives the report and recommendations. of the VA Advisory Committee on Womens Veterans which can help guide our actions and oversight of VAs capacity to address the unique needs of these veterans. I would be remiss if I failed to acknowledge that we are ending this Congress. apparently. without passing a funding bill for the VA. as for much of the government. Yes. we will pass a continuing resolution to keep all the hospitals. regional offices. and other services operating. but we are shortchanging veterans. Mr. Speaker. by not passing the appropriations bill for the Veterans Administration. The delay in an increase in VAs funding for fiscal year 2007 means that the VA medical directors are forced to put on hold a whole variety of necessary expenditures. from the hiring of needed staff to care for our veterans. to the maintenance and repair of their buildings. As a result. veterans access to needed services suffers. and VA staff is stretched even more thin in providing quality care. This failure to pass a budget is a clear illustration of the need for mandatory or assured funding of VA health care. and for the past 14 years I have been a firm supporter of this method of funding the VA. I agree with those veteran service organizations who have proposed that funding for veterans health care be mandatory. ","speaker_name":"BOB FILNER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":51.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7021,"word_count":261}
{"speech_id":1090184353,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"After returning home from World War II. Mr. Silvey had been active in various service organizations in the Farmington area and was instrumental in advocating for the construction of this new outpatient clinic and has served as an active member in his community as well as in local veterans organizations. Naming this outpatient clinic for Mr. Silvey would be entirely appropriate. I ask for the support of my colleagues in passing this legislation. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"HENRY BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1077,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090184367,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And also it directs the NTSB to develop and implement a plan to achieve the selfsufficient operation of the NTSB Academy. Mr. Speaker. with those comments. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JOHN MICA","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3826,"word_count":33}
{"speech_id":1090184376,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"England. to get that rule passed here. The Brits did it in 6 months. So often the NTSB recommends what they see as needed changes to protect safety. and all too often those things are ignored. They disappear in the black hole over there at the FAA. This bill will change that. The most wanted transportation safety improvements. which are available and published on an annual basis by the NTSB in all modes of transportation. are now going to have to be responded to by the FAA. Within 90 days of the date of enactment of this bill. we will get a report which will explain why they have not implemented these most wanted regulations here to better protect the traveling public. This will be an improvement. It will now at least require meaningful response from the agency. and perhaps move us forward in better protecting life and safety.","speaker_name":"PETER DEFAZIO","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1921,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090184387,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Also. Mr. DEFAZIo has worked very closely with us. We could not have accomplished this result -without our subcommittee chairman. TOM PETRI. and of course I just mentioned","speaker_name":"DON YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":693,"word_count":28}
{"speech_id":1090184393,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support this evening of H.R. 5782. the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act. and urge its approval by the House. This measure is both important and timely. It modernizes the Pipeline Safety Act of 2002. which. while regarded as successful. now should be expanded to address some new urgent needs. For example. there have been two instances in the recent past of major oil spills from low pressure transmission lines in Alaska. The most recent spill necessitated shutting down for an extended time a substantial portion of the oil flow from Alaska to the lower 48 States. These spills. which were much publicized. highlighted the need for regulation of the low stress transmission lines which are currently exempt from all regulation. The bill before us today subjects low stress transmission lines to Federal regulation and addresses that urgent need. ","speaker_name":"FREDERICK BOUCHER","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3617,"word_count":148}
{"speech_id":1090184395,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This legislation sets out many new provisions that will help to strengthen an already strong job that is being done by DOTs Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. It adds provisions to encourage and award States to adopt a OneCall notification system before digging or excavating work begins. addressing one of the only rising trends in pipeline accidents. It further addresses a low stress line exemption that allows pipelines like the ones in Alaska Prudhoe Bay oil field. operated by BP. to go unregulated and unaccounted for years while preserving DOTs flexibility in enforcing these new regulations. It also preserves current exemptions for gathering lines and lines affecting production facilities. All of these provisions reflect careful compromise with industry. with pipeline operation safety and environmental groups. administration and the States. It is cognizant of the critical and intentionally quiet role. pipelines play in fueling this Nations economy. and adopts provisions that reflect this delicate balance.","speaker_name":"RALPH HALL","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1723,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090184401,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of the bill. and I just want to draw attention briefly to one important item. This bill amends the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002 over which the Science Committee shares jurisdiction. That act provides for an interagency research program on pipeline safety. and that program has proved quite fruitful. This bill maintains that program and even clarifies and expands some of its tasks. What this bill does not do is provide explicit authorization levels for the work that the National Institutes of Standards and Technology will need to do to carry out its portion of this program. The language. which originated in the other body. excluded funding for NIST because NIST funding has not been independently appropriated but. rather. has been provided by the Department of Transportation to carry out particular tasks. We on the Science Committee are fine with this arrangement. But I want to say explicitly here that we expect NIST to continue to receive funding from DOT to carry out its vital work on pipeline safety and standards.","speaker_name":"SHERWOOD BOEHLERT","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1071,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090184405,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to thank Chairman YOUNG and others who have been recognized so far for their diligence. leadership and hard work on this very important issue. The safe and reliable operation of our Nations pipeline system is key to our security and our energy independence. and I am generally pleased with the conference report and do support it. I am concerned. however. by certain aspects of the legislation before us today. As part of the last pipeline safety authorization. Congress required natural gas transmission pipeline operators to undertake an integrity management program. This program required operators to perform initial baseline inspections on all their pipelines in high consequence. or highly populated areas. by 2012 and perform reinspections every 7 years thereafter. The 7year period for reinspections was a compromise between two versions of the legislation and was not based on scientific or engineering standards. As a result. ","speaker_name":"ROBIN HAYES","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3090,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090184411,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This bill subjects anyone who does not comply with this system to stiff action and penalties. This bill establishes a State Damage Prevention Programwhich is a program which aims to prevent damage to underground infrastructure. This program will be based at the state level and this bill provides for a state grant program managed by the Department of Transportation. This bill improves the management of pipeline infrastructure by mandating the recommendations set forth by the NTSBthe National Transportation Safety Board. The bill will also improve pipeline security by assessing risk associated with human error and reducing damage from these issues by specifically providing for training and simulation exercises. On the technology side. this bill will improve on Ieak detection technology and monitoring alarms which will improve safety around hazardous materials and the pipelines which carry them. This bill also takes into account environmentally sensitive areas. It mandates new standards for pipelines in these areas which will aim to limit or prevent accidents in these susceptible and crucial areas. This bill also aims to assess and prevent possible gasoline shortages and price spikes by assessing how future pipeline capacity shortages might impact the price of gas at the pump. And finally and most importantly. this bill provides for proper communications between the Department of Transportation and the Department of Homeland Security to ensure reliability for these important and critical assets.","speaker_name":"BENNIE THOMPSON","chamber":"H","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2434,"word_count":229}
{"speech_id":1090184413,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This approach will save time and legal costs and bring about safety improvements sooner. I urge our friends in the other body to take this bill up and pass it this week. as it reflects changes that were drafted in order to reach agreement with the Senate.","speaker_name":"JOE BARTON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2553,"word_count":47}
{"speech_id":1090184426,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of H. Con. Res. 484 and thank my colleague -from New York for introducing this bipartisan resolution to commemorate the 175th anniversary of The New York Institute for Special Education. Since 1831. the institute. located in the Bronx. has been a leader in educating children with visual disabilities. In the 1980s. the institute expanded its mission to include educating children with emotional and learning disabilities. Today. it educates nearly 300 students with disabilities from age 3 through 21 annually. The institute also develops educational programs and helps train prospective teachers from many universities. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WOOLSEY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1032,"word_count":108}
{"speech_id":1090184484,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"There is no place in a democracy for private armies. The parties of Nepal have requested U.N. assistance in monitoring adherence to the peace agreements. particularly the restriction of arms and armies. I welcome that request and the U.N.s involvement. and I strongly support a robust U.N. monitoring mission in Nepal for the upcoming elections. I am pleased and encouraged by these developments. The Nepalese people have spoken and expressed their will to have their voices heard. It is time for the political leaders to acknowledge their wishes and fully carry them out. Mr. Speaker. again it gives mb great pleasure to stand before you today to give praise to this historic comprehensive peace agreement as the framework for peace in Nepal and recognize the remarkable progress that has been achieved by all. Nepal can hopefully now travel down the path of peace. stability and prosperity. I commend the efforts of the leaders of that nation who focused on the greater good of the people of Nepal. and I urge them to continue to move forward.","speaker_name":"JAMES WALSH","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3926,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090184486,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But given the devastation that has been incurred on this small country. the loss of life. the upset. the loss of progress. being able to look at an opportunity like this. it is not just for Nepal. but it seems to me it is a demonstration of taking some of these intractable issues around the world and indicate that there are opportunities for hope. I just appreciate Congressman WALSH bringing this forward. I know he has had some other experience in the past looking at other modest conundrums. like in Northern Ireland. where his followthrough and his commitment makes a difference. and it is part of the richness of the experience here in foreign affairs. I hope that this is something as we move forward to a new session. that we will be able to keep the focus. the direction -and the attention. because coming out of what we see in Iraq. we are going to need more than ever opportunities to find areas of agreement and to reinforce the positive aspects of diplomacy. I appreciate again the opportunity to speak in support of this and strongly urge my colleagues to not just support this. but this is something where people think about ways that they can help spread this word for this important work.","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2255,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090184499,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Just over a year later. Run for Congo Women has blossomed into a global effort to raise awareness and support the women of the DRC. Lisa has tirelessly walked the halls of Congress to promote the bill were passing today and is a shining example of the difference that one committed individual can make. E 1945","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1444,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090184522,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this powerful resolution not only condemns these outrageous Iranian actions. it also calls for the United Nations to officially and publicly repudiate Irans antiSemitic statements. U.N. member states that echo and encourage such statements should also be held accountable. As we all know. too many U.N. conferences and resolutions have been hijacked irresponsibly to promote the same antiIsrael and antiSefnitic rhetoric and actions. I personally saw this happen in Durban. South Africa during a conference against socalled \"racism\" 6 years ago which was hijacked by extremists who used that conference to denounce the State of Israel. Mr. Speaker. we also must continue our efforts to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power and to condemn its outrageous and destructive goals of destroying our ally Israel and other Western targets. E 2015 Finally. Mr. ","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4679,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090184524,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. I cannot imagine anybody denying the Holocaust. Anyone who has been to Israel and seen the Holocaust Museum or been to the Holocaust Museum here could have no doubt about the tragic events that took place by Nazi Germany in World War II. But what I would like to talk about in addition to that right now is some of the things that are going on right now that bother me a great deal. that parallel this. In August of 1939 Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov stunned the world by signing the NaziSoviet Nonaggression Pact under the watchful eyes of German Foreign Minister Von Ribbentrop and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. They signed that nbnaggression pact and what it guaranteed was that there would not be a war on two fronts. That was what Hitler wanted. And then Lord Chamberlain went to Munich and signed an agreement saying he would give away the Sudetenland in exchange for peace. and what happened was we had a war that killed 62.million people. ","speaker_name":"DAN BURTON","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3675,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090184544,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. living in a country or trying to stabilize a country where 400 attacks are taking. place on a weekly basis. The situation is not getting any easier for American troops either. This October was the deadliest month for U.S. troops in more than 2 years. and the war is increasingly a war fought exclusively by American troops. To date 12 countries have pulled their troops out. and six more countries are planning to withdraw in the coming months. Now. what are our brave men and women accomplishing today in Iraq? They are essentially servingas referees in a civil war between Shia and Sunni militias. Mr. Speaker. we are also spending billions of dollars in Iraq. money that could be better served on domestic priorities here in the United States or in combating terrorists who are making a comeback in Afghanistan. Today we are spending $8 billion a month in Iraq. and we are not seeing any change on the ground. Mr. Speaker. the American people voiced their frustration with the problems in Iraq and demanded with their votes a change of course on election day this year. ","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4224,"word_count":188}
{"speech_id":1090184568,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"No one can doubt that KATHERINE HARRIS loves Florida. Her family roots run deep in the Sunshine State. and no one is more proud of our great State than her. I am honored to have served with her both in the Florida Statehouse and in this distinguished Chamber. I wish her all the best.","speaker_name":"MARIO DIAZ-BALART","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1204,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090184572,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He is a great baseball fan. a Yankee fan. People love the Yankees because they are the Yankees. They are New York. They are our brand name. He has served as a congressional staffer for 20 years. He served for former Congressman Alexander Pirnie. So he started at the bottom and worked his way to the very top. He is possibly the biggest baseball fan in the Congress. He is known as a centrist. a moderate. He served on the Science Committee sinbe 1983 and became its chairman in 2001. ","speaker_name":"JAMES WALSH","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":25.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5382,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090184580,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"And I know the year that I was born. which was 1950. the typical American family. in Federal income taxes. paid something like 2 or 22 percent of their annual income in Federal income taxes. Today. on average. it is closer to 10 times that amount. Now. that tells you something about what is going on. And when you look at what has happened here in Washington. D.C.. and the voters sent a message if people here will just listen to it. And what is the common factor. whether you are talking about the level of spending. the amount of earmarks. the bridge to nowhere. whether you are talking about campaign finance issues. ethics issues. lobbying issues. it all happens because big government creates big problems. big government creates big lobbying. big government creates a big need to defend yourself against it. So everything that we have that I think has caught the attention in a negative way of the voters this year traces back to the fact that we havent controlled the size of government. Now. I was really happy when we had some years during my time in Congress when we actually balanced the budget. Boy. that was important. ","speaker_name":"ERNEST ISTOOK","chamber":"H","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6857,"word_count":201}
{"speech_id":1090184585,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman for his gracious words. I know that I speak on behalf of all of the people of Indiana when I express my gratitude for your career of service that we know will be ongoing. Just the hours will be better. but we are grateful for your participation in allowing us to embarrass you tonight. I want to yield to the gentleman from Texas.","speaker_name":"MIKE PENCE","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":352,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090184593,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Now. first I want to say I am glad this report has been issued. Before the election. we heard a President who was bound and determined to stay the course. He was bound and determined to never take off rosecolored glasses. He was bound and determined to stay with his Secretary of Defense. despite the fact that every living human being who had looked at Iraq has seen nothing but a continued evidence of failure of leadership in the civilian ranks in the Secretary of Defense. He was bound and determined to have his Vice President say that we were dealing with deadenders and that this was just a matter of a short period of time to roll up the opposition in Iraq. Every single one of those statements by the President of the. United States was flat wrong. Then we had Tuesday. November 7 came along and the American people gave a very strong verdict to the Presidents staythecourse position. We hope that has been a sobering influence on the White House. ","speaker_name":"JAY INSLEE","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11152,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090184634,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We even have the nomination of John Bolton. Although a majority of Members are for him. he will not be accorded the fairness of an upordown vote. I urge my colleagues to treat nominees. judicial nominees and others. fairly. according them the fairness of an upordown vote. It is part of representative democracy. And lets have John Bolton be the last casualty of the unfortunate partisan obstructionism. If you want to vote against a nominee. vote against him. but have the Senate vote. and treat people with consideration. but vote. That is what the Constitution instructs us to do. Now. our third mission for Virginia and. in fact. our whole country is to make sure America is a land of opportunity for all. a place where every American is only limited by their imagination. hard work. and ingenuity. Looking ahead. we need to recharge our competitiveness by making sure taxes are not increased on families and small business owners. We need to keep taxes off of access to the Internet. ","speaker_name":"GEORGE ALLEN","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9793,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090184657,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He has been a member of the committee for many years. I asked Senator BYRD if he would like -to place before the committee the nomination of Robert Gates. He did so. I seconded it and then followed all members of the committee voting \"aye.\" Senator LEVIN and his staff and all members of the committeeand. indeed. my staffwere very helpful in the preparation of the very important steps that must be taken for this nomination. We didnt cut any corners. We didnt rush. We did what I say was a very competent job. consistent with the finest traditions of the adviceandconsent role which is especially entrusted to the Senate. In the brief period since the President announced his intent to nominate Dr. Gates on November 8. and recognizing the importance of this nomination to our national security. we have worked together to compile a thorough record on which the committee and the full Senate can rely with confidence. Doctor Gates has a long and distinguished record of accomplishments and service to his community and to the Nation. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6627,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090184663,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":11,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I support the nomination of Robert Gates to be Secretary of Defense. as did every member of the Committee on Armed Services. under the leadership of Senator WARNER. Over the last few weeks. I have met personally with Dr. Gates. reviewed his record. his response to written policy questions from the Committee on Armed Services. I listened carefully to his testimony before the committee yesterday. At every stage of the process I have been favorably impressed by Dr. Gates candor. his forthrightness. and by the direct answers he has provided to our questions. The American people in November demonstrated their strong desire for two important changes in our Government. ","speaker_name":"CARL LEVIN","chamber":"S","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10792,"word_count":111}
{"speech_id":1090184697,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. let me say right upfront. I hope this objection will go away sometime today. I think we are talking about whether something is done in writing or whether it is semantics. I didnt. have to agree to what was in the letter that was written to the leader because our Military Construction bill meets all of the criteria they set forth. I didnt have to agree to their letter because everything in our bill is authorized or it is in the Presidents bill or it is in the future years designations of priority by the Department of Defense. That is called a FYDP. It meets those criteria. We dont put provisions in our military construction conference committee reports that are not in the House or Senate bill. All I can do is give my word that this is not going to turn into an omnibus. I am giving my word it is not going to be an omnibus. ","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4964,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090184708,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So what we are getting out of this as Senators is nothing. We are getting little or no input into the appropriations process. The bills we handle. if we are chairmen or ranking members. are not going to get adopted at any time or even referred to at any time unless we decide. in the next 6 or 7 weeks. to do something together that will change that by reference or by adopting some new bill. There is much to be done and clearly we are not on the right course at this point. We are not going to pass many of these bills except perhaps a military construction bill. which is no longer a construction bill. but it is a bill for the health and welfare of our soldiers. and for many other things. and it is for building many new things that have to be built here at home for them and. therefore. that Military Construction bill will probably be a must and it will be around. and people will be talking about it and the fact that it has to be done. From my standpoint. this week. if this 109th Congress slinks into history. as seems to be scheduled. it will have completed work on only two appropriations bills. Defense and Homeland Security. and maybe the one I have just referred to as Military Construction. In place of the completed bills. we will have a continuing resolution through February 15. next year. about the time the President will send us a 2008 final fiscal year budget. We will be getting a new one before we have done anything about the old one. We will be getting a brandnew budgetimagineand we will not have done anything about all of those that are sitting on the desks of clerks. waiting to do their part in appropriately spending our money. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11554,"word_count":310}
{"speech_id":1090184715,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. there was never any other intention. I have discussed this with Senator COCHRAN. chairman of the committee. I discussed it with Senator FRIST. our leader. I have discussed it with the ranking member. Senator FEINSTEIN. And most certainly we will bring back a conference report that has either material in the Presidents budget request. something that has passed the House or the Senate in this bill. and all of the projects will be duly authorized on the military construction side. On the Veterans Administration side. we worked very closely with the authorization committee. Senator CRAIG. Senator AKAKA. and others to assure that we have the approval of the committee leaders -for all of the veterans expenditures. ","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1456,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090184740,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It is simple action: just an \"aye\" vote for a simple majority. and that is it. It will be done. This rather gigantic resource will then become available. It is -in America. sitting there waiting for somebody to use it. It will be usable with that vote. As I just told my colleagues. for purposes of an explanation and elaboration. 6 million homes6 million homeswill -have their gas for their full season for 15 years just from what we are going to do there. What an astounding achievement if we will just complete the work by having a vote in the House. I was saddened to read that we continue to lose businesses because natural gas prices are too high. The National Association of Manufacturers estimates that 3.1 million highwage manufacturing jobs have been lost since 2000. largely due to inadequate supplies of natural gas. This week. the House can join us in doing something about that. and I urge they do whichever they see as the best way to pass it. ","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7113,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090184742,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I wish him well in his very difficult but important task that lies ahead for the country and particularly for Dr. Gates. Very briefly. here is what I exject from Dr. Gates and really everyone involved in the war on terror: a winning strategy. He said at the hearing in one of the answers to one of the questions I posed to him that he believed the war in Iraq was one of the central battlefronts of the war on terror. If you believe that. as he does and I do and the President stated. then you have to throw everything you have at winning because the outcome in Iraq really will affect the outcome of the war on terror. If you believe that. you fight it to win. He also said something I thought was equally true and very candid: We are not winning. Our military has won every battle. but the extremists are trumping the moderates. and extremism is winning out over moderation in Iraq because we dont have enough security in place to allow moderation to flourish. My question to the country is. ","speaker_name":"LINDSEY GRAHAM","chamber":"S","state":"SC","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4548,"word_count":186}
{"speech_id":1090184743,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I wish to correct my vote on rollcall 271. the motion to waive the Congressional Budget Act point of order on Senate amendment No. 5205. I am recorded as \"yea\" to waive the Budget Act point of order. It was my intent to uphold the point of order. Therefore. I ask unanimous consent that the record be changed so I will be recorded as voting against the motion to waive the budget point of order. The record should reflect my vote as \"nay\" on amendment No. 5205. It would not change the outcome of the vote.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":521,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090184764,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The test was a failure. but it underscored their determination to challenge the international community. Finally. on October 9. they tested a nuclear device. I argue that Iranian and North Korean nuclear aspirations raise the most serious strategic issues we face today. If these countries are not checked. then there is a significant probability of a regional arms race. All of these international engagements. all of these international challenges. are creating enormous strains on our military. particularly our ground forces. Recent studies have shown that twothirds of our ActiveDuty Army and more than twothirds of the National Guard are rated as \"nondeployable\" \"noncombat ready\" principally because of equipment shortages. This is a shocking and scandalous record. This administration has allowed twothirds of our Army forces to essentially be denied the equipmentin some cases. the personnelto be fully represented for combat. Virtually every active brigade not currently deployed is not prepared to meet its mission if called upon. One of the reasons these brigades are not ready is because of equipment shortages. ","speaker_name":"JOHN REED","chamber":"S","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11198,"word_count":171}
{"speech_id":1090184775,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise in support of the nomination of Robert Gates to be Secretary of Defense. I believe that a change of leadership at the Pentagon will signal a new course of action in Iraq. During his nomination hearing yesterday before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Dr. Gates spoke the truth about the war in Iraq. In a very plain spoken way. he leveled with the American people when he admitted that we are not winning in Iraq. His ability to admit that Iraq is in chaos leads me to believe that he will provide independent advice to the President and speak truth to power. Our brave military men and women in uniform have done everything asked of them in Iraq. ","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1908,"word_count":122}
{"speech_id":1090184776,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We must satisfy ourselves that Dr. Gates not only has a plan to overcome these challenges but the personality. the drive and the skills to do so. That he once again accepted the call to national service at a time of grave crisis. requiring his departure from his beloved Texas A&M. to me speaks volumes about his character and dedication to service. As the Nation faces the imperative of charting a new course and strategy in Iraq. rising violence in Afghanistan. global terrorism. the threats posed by nuclear states such as North Korea and possibly Iran and the increasing strains on our military. America requires a leader of Bob Gatess caliber. who has the national security experience. the political acumen and the managerial style necessary to mend rifts that have resulted in the loss of Americas certainty and optimism. He will be responsible for ensuring a strong working relationship between the Department of Defense and Congress. trust between the civilian and military leadership in the Pentagon. and the credibility of the Department with the American public. To accomplish this in the relatively brief but critical tenure he will have at the Pentagon. he will have to rely on his pragmatism and his ability to work with others to develop consensus in order to create. the unified approach that is currently lacking in meeting our Nations challenges. In his previous service. he has shown he has the ability to work with both sides with a high degree of competency and in.tegrityand I believe this capacity to work in a bipartisan fashion is critical to our ability to work through the challenges we face today. One of his primary goals at the Department will be to foster mutual respect between our senior military leaders and the civilian leadership in the Pentagon. I look for him to provide our military leaders a clear voice on military operations. ","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9389,"word_count":314}
{"speech_id":1090184777,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"With a dozen men in a 30foot open boat. Smiths expeditions in search of food for the new colony and the fabled Northwest Passage took him nearly 3.000 miles around the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries from the Virginia capes to the mouth of the Susquehanna. On his voyages and as president of the Jamestown Colony. Captain Smith became the first point of contact for scores of NativeAmerican leaders from around the bay region. His friendship with Pocahontas is now an important part of American folklore. Smiths notes describing the indigenous people he met and the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem are still widely studied by historians. environmental scientists. and anthropologists. Chief Justice John Marshall wrote of the significance of Smiths explorations: \"When we contemplate the dangers. and the hardships he encountered. and the fortitude. courage and patience with which he met them. when we reflect on the useful and important additions which he made to the stock of knbwledge respecting America. then possessed by his countrymen. we shall not hesitate to say that few voyages of discovery. undertaken at any time. reflect more honour on those engaged in them. than this does on Captain Smith.\" What better way to commemorate this important part of our Nations history and honor John Smiths courageous voyages than by designating the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail? The Congress established the National Trails System \"to provide for the everincreasing outdoor recreation needs of an expanding population and in order to promote the preservation of. public access to. travel within. and enjoyment and appreciation of the openair. outdo6r areas and historic resources of the Nation.\" National Historic Trails such as the Lewis and Clark Trail. the Pony Express Trail. the Trail of Tears. and the Selma to Montgomery Trail were authorized as part of this system to identify and protect historic routes for public use and enjoyment and to commemorate major events which shaped American history. In my judgment. the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail is a fitting addition to the 13 national historic trails administered by the National Park Service. Pursuant to legislation we enacted as part of the Fiscal 2006 Interior Appropriations Act. in September 2006 the National Park Service completed a detailed study which foundl that the trail meets all three criteria for designation as a national historic trail: it is nationally significant. has a documented route through maps or journals. and provides for recreational opportunities. Similar in historic importance to the Lewis and Clark National Trail. this new historic trail will inspire generations of Americans and visitors to follow Smiths journeys. to learn about the roots of our Nation. and to better understand the contributions of the Native Americans who lived within the bay region. ","speaker_name":"PAUL SARBANES","chamber":"S","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5801,"word_count":456}
{"speech_id":1090184824,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to pay tribute to U.S. Marine Corps LCpl Ryan Thomas McCaughn. of Manchester. NH. a brave American who has made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country. Raised in a family that was familiar with the virtues of military service. Ryan knew from an early age that it was his calling to be a U.S. marine. Graduating from Manchesters Central High School in 2005. Ryan gave us a glimpse of the characteristics that would later make him a remarkable marine. While others may have been deterred. ","speaker_name":"JUDD GREGG","chamber":"S","state":"NH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3085,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090184829,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He has kept his door open to people of all faiths and. as a Seventh Day Adventist minister himself. has helped many Christian Senators and staffincluding meenter into a closer and more meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ. I am delighted that he will be continuing his service and I am pleased that I could have the honor of appointing him. Barry Black. thank you.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1103,"word_count":64}
{"speech_id":1090184834,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He is a tireless fighter for Americas children and youth. He cares about kids. He cares about their wellbeing. I am privileged to have had the opportunity to work with him on many pieces of legislation to help protect children and promote their health and welfare. I know that combating teenage drinking has been and continues to be very important to him. and I thank him for his interest in this area. I also thank Chairman ENZI and Ranking Member KENNEDY for their help in passing this important legislation. Kids are beginning to drink earlier and earlierat younger and younger agesand they are doing so in ways that could negatively affect their bodies. their minds. and their futures. I urge swift passage of this legislation and look forward to seeing the good work that comes from it.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4083,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090184842,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am grateful for the opportunity to join with my colleagues on the vitally important topic of Darfur and the entire humanitarian crisis facing that part of the world. Deceimber 6. 2006 When we look at a current map of Africa. we are looking. for the most part. at national boundary lines that were formed by the arbitrary dictates of Western European nations during their primacy as colonial power brokers in the 19th century. Those lines were. essentially. simple longitude or latitude lines that had no relevancy. at all. to the social. cultural. or tribal structures that had existed on those lands for centuries. Suddenly. the simple. cleancut decisions of 19th century Europeans have become. in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. far more complex than any diplomats in London. Paris. Berlin. or even Washington. could have imagined in those relatively distant times. Darfur is serious. Clearly. it is not the only place on this planet with unspeakable atrocities and unbelievable conditions. ","speaker_name":"HERBERT KOHL","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5742,"word_count":165}
{"speech_id":1090184848,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I give my heartfelt thanks to Stephen for his service. His cando attitude and tireless work ethic were infectious. His willingness to tackle issues which Were new to him and to embrace the goals Ive set for my staff on behalf of both the men and women of the Armed Forces and the citizens of New Mexico were truly commendable. I have no doubt that as Stephen continues his military career he will achieve great things for both the U.S. Air Force and his country. and I wish him the very best of luck in all his future endeavors.","speaker_name":"PETE DOMENICI","chamber":"S","state":"NM","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2635,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090184860,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Sometimes. however. it takes a little action by Congress to get NHTSA moving on these important safety objectives. Today. I rise to introduce a measure that I hope my colleagues will consider in the future as they continue to work on highway safety issues. I also hope that this bill might spur additional action by NHTSA. In speaking with leading safety advocates. I have come to understand just how significant the safety challenges are for pregnant women and their unborn children in motor vehicle crashes. Yet despite these great challenges and the importance we all place on ensuring maternal health and safety. we know very little about the way crash forces affect mothers and their unborn children over both the shortterm and longterm. While university researchers have begun to docuiment some of the chief safety challenges facing pregnant mothers. we need to do more to fully understand.these issues and to develop ways of applying what we have learned in manufacturing vehicles that are safer for pregnant women and their unborn children. Additionally. we need to do a better job communicating the immediate and lifelong safety risks associated with motor vehicle crashes to pregnant mothers so that they can do everything possible to ensure not only their own health. but that of their babies. Sometimes. these steps may be as simple as making sure that safety belts are worn and positioned properly. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4697,"word_count":231}
{"speech_id":1090184861,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Partnerships in the agreements will allow any party to an agreement to receive a credit as long as they pay or incur costs as a result of the agreement. This language will allow creative collaboration among governments. landowners. taxpayers and environmentalists. further increasing the number of people involved in finding new solutions for conservation. Furthermore. this bill also expands tax deductions for any landowner who takes part in the recovery plans approved under the ESA. and allows landowners to exclude from taxable income certain federal payments under con7 servation costshare programs. This will allow both individuals and businesses to deduct the cost of recovery work without bureaucratic obstacles. This bill not only sets forth the financing for private landowners. but it also makes it easier to implement the agreements. Landowners .will receive technical assistance to implement the agreements. Also. to remove some legal disincentives to recover species. liability protection may be provided to protect the landowners from penalties under the ESA. This removes the fear of trying to help species. currently. more species usually just means more liability for a landowner. As a result of these incentives. I expect to see a phenomenal increase in the number of success stories. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL CRAPO","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7505,"word_count":200}
{"speech_id":1090184863,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It would be enough to be located in that county. The SBA would provide an 85 percent guarantee for the loans. In addition. our legislation would provide authorization for the SBA to enter into agreements with qualified private contractors to process disaster loans. It also would require the SBA to provide Congress with a report on how the disaster loan application process can be improved. including methods to expedite loan processing and verification for sources vital to rebuilding efforts. This legislation would also require the SBA to promulgate rules within 6 months that would create a new \"expedited disaster assistance business loan program.\" These shortterm loans would have low interest rates similar to regular disaster loans. The program is intended to respond to major disasters. but at the discretion of the SBA Administrator. it can be implemented in the event of any disaster. I firmly believe the product before us is the best package to aid families. businesses. and communities through challenging times following disasters. We must not forget their pain. their determination. and their resolute refusal to walk away from the communities and small businesses they cherish. When a disaster strikes. the spirit. determination. and will of Americas small businesses help to create the firm economic foundation. propelling our nations economic growth forward. Therefore. we in turn must create an atmosphere favorable for small businesses and provide this assistance package to the SBA. ","speaker_name":"OLYMPIA SNOWE","chamber":"S","state":"ME","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4434,"word_count":234}
{"speech_id":1090184864,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The bill includes directives for the SBA to create a private disaster loan program. to allow for lenders to issue disaster loans. To ensure that these loans are borrower friendly. we provide authorization for appropriations so that the agency can subsidize the interest rates. In addition. the administrator is authorized to enter into agreements with private contractors in order to expedite loan application processing for direct disaster loans. The bill also includes language directing SBA to create an expedited disaster assistance loan program to provide businesses with shortterm loans so that they may keep their doors open until they receive alternative forms of assistance. The days immediately following a disaster are crucial for business ownersstatistics show that once they close their doors. they likely will not open them again. These shortterm loans should help prevent those doors from closing. A Presidential declaration of catastrophic national disaster will allow the administrator to offer economic injury disaster loans to adversely affected business owners beyond the geographic reach of the disaster area. Nonprofit entities. working to provide services to victims should be rewarded and given access to the capital they require to continue their services. To this end. the admiflistrator is authorized to make disaster loans to nonprofit entities. including religious organizations. Construction and rebuilding contracts being awarded are likely to be larger than the current $2 million threshold currently applied to the SBA Surety Bond Program which helps small construction firms gain access to contracts. ","speaker_name":"JOHN KERRY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5668,"word_count":243}
{"speech_id":1090184866,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to introduce the Pediatric Medical Device Safety and Improvement Act of 2006. I want to begin by thanking Senator MIKE DEWINE for joining me in introducing this legislation and for his leadership on childrens health. He has been my partner over the years as we fought to make drugs safer and more widely available for children. I believe the legislation we are introducing today will achieve a similar goal for pediatric medical devices. I would also like to especially thank the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.-the American Academy of Pediatrics. the American Thoracic Society and the National Organization for Rare Disorders for their expertise in helping craft this legislation as well as their tireless support for making medical devices safer for use in children. This legislation provides a comprehensive approach to ensuring that children are not left behind as cuttingedge research and revolutionary technologies for medical devices advance. Like drugs. where for too long children were treated like small adults and could just be given reduced doses of adult products. many essential medical devices used extensively by pediatricians are not designed or sized for children. In fact. the development of new medical devices suitable for childrens smaller and growing bodies can lag 5 or 10 years behind those for adults. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10296,"word_count":215}
{"speech_id":1090184870,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that on Wednesday. December 6. 2006. at 9:15 a.m. the Committee on Environment and Public Works be authorized to hold a Business Meeting to consider the following agenda: Alex Beehler to be Inspector General of the Environmental Protection Agency. Eric D. Eberhard to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Morris K. Udall Scholarship and Excellence in National Environmental Poilcy Foundation. Diane Humetewa to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Morris K. Udall Scholarship and Excellence in National Environmental Policy Foundation.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":588,"word_count":94}
{"speech_id":1090184886,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask of underage drinking. the RECORD. unanimous consent the Senate proceed There being no objection. the Senate The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without to the immediate consideration of H. R. proceeded to consider the bill. * objection. it is so ordered. 864. which we received from the House. Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent The amendment (No. 5219) was agreed","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":372,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090184895,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"When we enacted DSHEA. we separated supplements into two categoriesthose that were on the market in the United States at the time of enactment. and those which would be marketed in the futurenew dietary ingredients\". The presumption of DSHEA. which by and large has worked welt. is that products already on the market were being used safely. Some of these products. in fact. have been used safely for decades. if not millennia. Those \"grandfathered\" products are not subject to any kind of premarket clearance by the FDA. And for good reason. The cost and time alone required to see a product through FDA approval would sound the death knell for this industry. Most supplement products qannot be patented. and there is no incentive for a manufacturer to put its product through this costly and onerous process when any other manufacturer could benefit equally from the fruits of the research and investment. Finally. we also authorized the FDA to establish good manufacturing practice standards. GMPs. for supplements. Unfortunately. some 12 years later. those GMPs are still in the development stage. even though they were first finalized by the Clinton administration. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12368,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090184946,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read the third time and passed. the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. and that any statements relating thereto be printed in the RECORD. The bill was ordered to a third reading. was read the third time. and passed.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":281,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090185031,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. 7.5 million Americans would benefit from an increase in the minimum wage. That is 7.5 million people who are currently struggling to make ends meet in an economy where job growth is slow. pay is falling. and prices are rising. The minimum wage is currently at a historically low level in terms of purchasing power and at a striking 50year .1ow when adjusted for inflation. Hardworking families are currently struggling because this Republican Congress has refused to raise the minimum wage for the past 9 years. Democrats believe that these millions of hardworking Americans deserve a pay raise to help them make ends meet in this tough economy. We believe that no one who works fulltime in this country should have to live in poverty. They deserve a shot at the American Dream. a chance to give their family the opportunity to move ahead. Mr. Speaker. within the first 100 hours of the new Democratic Congress. we are going to give these hardworking Americans a muchneeded pay raise. ","speaker_name":"BART STUPAK","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1196,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090185038,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I congratulate the players and coaching staff of Lincoln Universitys mens basketball team on a historic performance. IRAQ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH PITTS","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":828,"word_count":18}
{"speech_id":1090185039,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. for months now. President Bush has refused to listen to anyone outside of his war cabinet and for any counsel on the war in Iraq. Yesterday. the bipartisan Iraq Study Group came to the sobering conclusion that the situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating. We lost 10 soldiers in Iraq yesterday. We have lost more than 30 soldiers already this month. I had hoped that the President would begin to reconsider his course after the November election. but the President continues to say that American troops will remain in Iraq after he leaves office in 2 years. This is simply unacceptable. We must begin the process of redeploying our troops out of Iraq now. The Iraqi Prime Minister was correct when he said that the war can only be won politically. and. therefore. it is time for us to bring our troops home. ","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1157,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090185045,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am proud to say that I was part of the majority of Members that passed a raise in the Federal minimum wage for the first time in 9 years. It is important that we assist those who are struggling with the necessary tools to help them develop as individuals and in the workforce. I tell you that the hardworking men and women of West Virginia deserve this raise. Another component of helping Americans succeed is making health care more affordable and accessible. This Congress has led the charge in modernizing our entitlement programs. allowing them to better serve the 21stcentury senior. Three years ago. we stood on. this floor and passed a monumental enhancement to Medicare. the creation of a prescription drug plan under Medicare. This program has helped to provide prescription drug coverage to 91 percent of the seniors in my home State of West Virginia. The numbers do not lie. This program has been a success. and I look forward to continued work with various groups in West Virginia and throughout the country to help the remaining beneficiaries find a prescription plan that best suits their needs. Regardless of- their districts geographic location. no Member can honestly say that our Nations immigration problems havenot touched their constituents. ","speaker_name":"SHELLEY CAPITO","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4427,"word_count":210}
{"speech_id":1090185071,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to thank my colleagues. I want to thank Congressman BURGESS. physician colleague and Congressman colleague. for yielding me time and allowing me to participate in this. In our lives we plan for all sorts of things. Some of them are trivial and some not. We plan for vacations. We plan for changes in our jobs. We plan for changes where we live. moving. We plan for changes in education. ","speaker_name":"TOM PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":676,"word_count":73}
{"speech_id":1090185076,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"for yielding. I appreciate the opportunity to rise and speak in support of the gentleman from Georgia. Dr. PHIL GINGREYS. House Resolution 934. which encourages the creation of a week that would be dedicated to the support and development of advance directives. Advance directives are a legal document that every American should explore and hopefully will find useful. An advance directive is something that has been very helpful in my own family since I lost a spouse to cancer and then subsequently lost my father to cancer. Now. the advance directives that come into play are something that would not take over unless the individual lost consciousness and went into a coma. Other than that. a person is able to call their own shots and make their own decisions. But if a person slips into coma. an advance directive can be very helpful in telling your family and your physicians and hospital staff in advance how you want to be taken care of. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BURGESS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1785,"word_count":163}
{"speech_id":1090185080,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"As important as it is to encourage Americans to prepare advance directives. Congress is in a position to do more to help families make these arrangements. Last year I introduced H.R. 2058. the Advance Directives Improvement and Education Act. This bipartisan bill would build on current advance directive laws to educate Americans about living wills. give people the opportunity to discuss options with their doctors. and ensure that their wishes are honored. In a word. the purpose of H.R. 2058 is to encourage all Americans to think about. talk about and write down their wishes for medical care near the end of life should they become unable to make decisions for themselves. It would also ensure that peoples advance directives are honored. even if the directive is issued in one state and endoflife care is given in another. The bill also encourages all Medicare beneficiaries to prepare advance directives by providing a free physician office visit for the purpose of discussing endoflife choices. and directs the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a public education campaign to raise awareness of the importance of planning for care near the end of life. Let me conclude by again stating my support for the resolution before the House with the hope that we can build on this effort in the next Congress.","speaker_name":"SANDER LEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2711,"word_count":221}
{"speech_id":1090185087,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may cpnsume. Mr. Speaker.. I am pleased to rise in support of H.R. 864. as amended. the STOP Underage Drinking Act. This legislation takes crucial steps to address the problem of underage drinking at the national level. The Senatepassed version of H.R. 864 contains several beneficial changes to the House bill which I am pleased to support. At this time I would like to recognize Representative ROYBALALLARD. lead sponsor of the bill. as well as Representative Tom Osborne of Nebraska for their hard work on this important piece of legislation. Mr. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL BURGESS","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":635,"word_count":100}
{"speech_id":1090185091,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"So the scope of the problem is truly massive. And the current bill. the STOP Underage Drinking bill. has been sponsored by Congresswoman ROYBALALLARD. Congressmen WAMP. WOLF. ROSA DELAURO. and myself. and then Senators DEWINE and DODD in the Senate. And I am sure that there will be others who will explain. but there have been some minor technical changes. There has been an offset provided so that those who had some heartburn over the funding aspects of it should be satisfied at this point. But basically it does three or four things. It creates an Interagency Coordinating Committee to coordinate underage drinking programs. which now are kind of growing like Topsy. It also provides a national media campaign against underage drinking which is aimed at parents. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS OSBORNE","chamber":"H","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3433,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090185106,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I urge all of my colleagues to supportthis very important piece of legislation. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"TOM LANTOS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3949,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090185125,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak about S..2370. the Senatepassed version of the Palestinian AntiTerrorism Act before us today. Earlier this year. the House considered a version of this legislation. I rose in strong opposition to that bill. because it would have unfairly punished the average Palestinian citizen for the crimes of extremist Hamas leaders. It would have shut off all aid but -the most narrowly defined humanitarian assistance. ending U.S. support for successful nongovernmental efforts to promote democracy. tolerance. and peace in the region. In short. though wellintentioned. it would have undermined our ability to stop attacks against Israel and to achieve our most important foreign policy goals in the region. I was joined by several of my colleagues in opposing the bill. Though the House passed this flawed legislation. we were able to send a vital message: at this critical moment. we cannot afford to pull the rug out from those working for democracy and reconciliation in the region. The Senate heeded our message. and passed a much improved bill. ","speaker_name":"DAVID PRICE","chamber":"H","state":"NC","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3505,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090185144,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H. Con. Res. 343. a resolution recognizing the 50th anniversary of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities. and I want to thank my friend and colleague from New York","speaker_name":"JOHN KUHL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":29.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":271,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090185145,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"In Congress. I have found CICU and its president. Abe Lackman. and his staff to be a valuable resource on higher education issues. keeping me abreast of trends and concerns of the New York higher education community. The students and private colleges of New York are lucky to have CICU advocating on their behalf in both Albany and Washington. I would like to personally congratulate CICU on their 50th anniversary. and I look forward to working with them during the next session -of Congress on ways to improve college access and affordability. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"TIMOTHY BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2590,"word_count":101}
{"speech_id":1090185172,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is a bill that -would eliminate the termination date of October 7. That termination date. unfortunately. got put in the defense bill. and there has been a great deal of media attention to it. and quite honestly. we should not have a termination date because that is an ongoing process. And I feel very strongly that that bill should be on the calendar. I want to say very clearly. Chairman HUNTER agrees with me that that bill is a good bill and should be on the calendar. And it is not up to us. It is not our choice to say it should not be. but somewhere along the line. Mr. Speaker. it was sidetracked despite the fact that the chairman and I both pushed it very. very\" heartily. Getting back to H.R. 6375. ","speaker_name":"IKE SKELTON","chamber":"H","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2350,"word_count":135}
{"speech_id":1090185193,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He volunteered. at the risk of his life. personally. to lead the battalion against the objective. When the lone remaining tank destroyer refused to go forward. Captain Galt jumped on the tank destroyer and ordered it to attack. As the tank destroyer moved forward. followed by a company of riflemen. Captain Galt manned the .30 caliber machine gun in the turret of the tank destroyer. located and directed fire on an enemy antitank gun. and destroyed it. Nearing the enemy positions. Captain Galt stood fully exposed in the turret. ceaselessly firing his machine gun and tossing hand grenades into the enemys zigzag series of trenches despite the hail of sniper and machine gun bullets ricocheting off the tank destroyer. As the tank destroyer moved. Captain Galt so maneuvered it that 40 of the enemy were trapped in one of the trenches. When they refused to surrender. ","speaker_name":"DENNIS REHBERG","chamber":"H","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3626,"word_count":146}
{"speech_id":1090185211,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"You are absolutely right. and it ii so important I think as we talk this afternoon that the American people are well aware that they are in good shape with Democrats in control of the Congress. Let me go on from the minimum wage. I mean. that is important. We are going to get that done and we are going to do it in a bipartisan way. We will reach qut to the Republicans. We will work with Republicans. That is. another thing that the American people want to see us do. I cant tell you the number of times on the campaign trail that people will come up to me and say. Congressman ScoTT. for goodness sake. can you all stop the bickering? Can you just get along? To paraphrase our friend in California. can we just get along? And we are going to do that. So we find common ground on the minimum wage and quickly pass that. ","speaker_name":"DAVID SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1332,"word_count":160}
{"speech_id":1090185223,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If the gentleman would yield. this is such a critical point. This is a national security area. And I know that the gentleman understands that so well. Mr. Speaker. last year the Department of Defense spent $10.6 billion on basic energy costs. That is what it costs the military to fuel itself. Of that. the Air Force spent $4.7 billion. about half on one thing: fuel for its airplanes. With this $8 trillion debt. we have to fund the defense budget. How do we do it? The gentlemen know well. we borrow the money from China. So here is what we are doing: We are borrowing money from China to fund defense budgets to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to fuel our Air Force to protect us from China and the Persian Gulf. ","speaker_name":"STEVE ISRAEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":985,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090185232,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He loves it. And it would be good for us. all Members. to remember the life that Chairman HYDE led in his chosen career. field. which is as a legislator at this level. and emulate that type of service. And I think we will be well served as a Nation to follow Chairman HYDES lead. I wish him the best. Gods blessings on him. and thank him for his service to this great Nation.","speaker_name":"JOHN SHIMKUS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":19.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1519,"word_count":74}
{"speech_id":1090185234,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I want to. first of all. thank my colleagues. Representatives KIRK and SHIMKUS from Illinois. for giving us the opportunity to take this moment to pay tribute and commend the life. the work. and I would even extend to the point of saying the legacy. of Chairman","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":276,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090185253,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"HENRY is that kind of man. I am very honored. because HENRY HYDE will now be a resident of my district. He is going to find a house down along the shores of the Fox River in northern Illinois. and I will be honored to have him as one of my constituents. So to HENRY. God love you. We love you. You have been a great leader. You have been a person who we are certainly honored to have served with and a person who we will hold very. very closely to our hearts for years to come.","speaker_name":"J. HASTERT","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2534,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090185267,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He has spent just a phenomenal amount of time on this legislation and spent a lot of time on this problem that we suffer from in this country. and I want to thank him for his leadership. and his very strong leadership at that. I also want to thank our full committee chairman. TOM DAVIS. and the Government Reform ranking member.","speaker_name":"ELIJAH CUMMINGS","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1064,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090185271,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. first of all. I want to thank the gentleman from Maryland for yielding. I also want to commend Chairman SOUDER and Ranking Member CUMMINGS for the tenacious and outstanding work that they have done on this issue ever since I have been associated with them and affiliated with the subcommittee. As a matter of fact. they have traveled all over America. the length and breadth of the country. listening to people. visiting with people. As a matter of fact. I do not know anybody who has worked harder on an issue than they have. and so I commend both of you for your tenacity and outstanding work. I rise in support of H.R. 2829. Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 2005. a policy which addresses prevention. interdiction and treatment. as well as all aspects of law enforcement. The use and abuse of illegal. illicit and contraband drugs is one of the most challenging and difficult problems facing America. For example. in Cook County where I live. in a survey that was taken a couple of years ago. 800.000 individuals indicated that they used drugs. 800.000. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2671,"word_count":187}
{"speech_id":1090185285,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I might consume. Madam Speaker. last August. the Federal Workforce and Agency Organization Subcommittee held a hearing in Las Vegas on Federal firefighter compensation. In addition to pay. one of the concerns raised at the hearing by the Federal Wildland Fire Service Association was the classification of Federal wildland firefighters. Federal wildland firefighters are classified as either general schedule or wagegrade employees of the Federal Government. However. many of them are placed in the occupational series called forestry technicians. range technicians. and biological science technicians that do not reference their firefighting duties. These current classifications do not accurately represent the work performed by these wildland firefighters. H.R. 5697 would correct that by redesignating forest and range technicians as Federal wildland firefighters. This bill changes the name but not the ppy of those currently called wildland firefighters or technicians. H.R. 5697 is supported by the FWFSA. and I urge my colleagues to do the same. ","speaker_name":"DANNY DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1181,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090185293,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Democrat to Republican. John left a legacy that will now be emulated by the thousands of lives he touched. We will all. in effect. pay it forward. Thank you. John. for that. We are the legacy we create. each of us as husbands and fathers. as wives and mothers. as employees and workers. and. yes. as elected officials. It is the mission of the 110th Congress to create a legacy in which families thrive and our Nation is strengthened. social and economic justice. fair trade. affordable health care for all. quality education. They sound like campaign slogans. and for the last year across this country they were. but they are now our tasksat hand. We have much work to do. the House and the Senate. Democrats and Republicans. ","speaker_name":"SHERROD BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"D","district":13.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5004,"word_count":128}
{"speech_id":1090185299,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it is with great admiration that I rise today to recognize the 25 years of public service that Chairman OXLEY has bestowed upon this body. He is a dedicated and hardworking public servant whose leadership as Chairman of the Financial Services Committee has been exemplary. Under Chairman OXLEYS leadership. the Financial Services Committee enjoyed an unprecedented level of collegiality and comity that permitted us all to work together and get things done. Chairman OXLEY has a series of legislative successes few others can rival. When investor confidence was at a low. Chairman OXLEY restored confidence in our financial markets by authoring the landmark SarbanesOxley Act. This legislation established tough new standards to ensure corporate accountability to all American shareholders. In addition Chairman OXLEY was responsible for the passage of The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act. or FACT Act. which gave consumers new identity theft protections and also improved credit report accuracy. Chairman OXLEY also spearheaded efforts to reform our nations deposit insurance system and modernize our check clearing process which brought our antiquated systems into the 21st century. ","speaker_name":"SPENCER BACHUS","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1718,"word_count":181}
{"speech_id":1090185303,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Some Arab leaders told me they estimate as many as 14.000 Persians. Iranians. have infiltrated to run death squads who are killing the Arab Sunnis and inciting a civil war as cover for the real war that is Iran versus Iraq. . Unless we change the course. unless we draw back our troops out to the borders in preparation for ultimately leaving the country. the day will come when the only banner proclaiming \"mission accomplished\" will be flown .by Iran. We cant let that happen. We have to change the course. The President must see this is not a sectarian fight between Shia and Sunni. it is between Iraq and Iran. They fought for 8 years. just recently. and now they are doing it again. and we have allowed them. the Iranians. to have the goal of making it happen.","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4909,"word_count":140}
{"speech_id":1090185320,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I rise today to pay tribute to my colleague from Illinois. LANE EVANS. and recognize his long. distinguished career in public service. From his time in the U.S. Marine Corps to nearly a quarter century in the House of Representatives. LANE has always put his country first. and now with his retirement at the end of the 109th Congress I join my colleagues in thanking LANE for his great service to his district. the State of Illinois and our Nation. LANE Evaris bravely served in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. His experience in the military and his firsthand knowledge of veterans issues led LANE to become a leading advocate for veterans during his time in Congress. On issues critical to veterans. such as posttraumatic stress disorder. the effects of Agent Orange. and homelessness to veterans. LANE Evans was consistently a leader in crafting real policy solutions. ","speaker_name":"DANIEL LIPINSKI","chamber":"H","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1920,"word_count":150}
{"speech_id":1090185334,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I thank my colleague for yielding. I rise tonight to discuss Delta Airlines tremendous progress since it entered bankruptcy in September 2005 toward its longplanned goal toward emerging in the first part of next year as a financially strong. standalone. independent airline. This is a very positive story that has involved difficult decisions by Deltas management. sacrifices from its em\u0095ployees and strong support from its creditors. from the home State of Georgia and other communities it serves. This is also an important story to tell tonight because U.S. Airways unsolicited merger proposal would jeopardize the progress and saddle Delta with a huge debt that would put it at a competitive disadvantage. On November 15. when U.S. Airways went public with this unsolicited merger proposal. Deltas CEO Gerald Grinstein wrote to Deltas 45.000 employees and said. Delta people have participated in the hard work and tough choices driving our companys already remarkable restructuring progress. ","speaker_name":"SANFORD BISHOP","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4541,"word_count":155}
{"speech_id":1090185346,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We watched the industry mushroom from a $30 million industry in 1996 to a $12 billion industry today. We watched an addiction undermine families. dash dreams. and fray the fabric of a moral society. So we acted with a solution . . . by passing the Internet Gambling Prohibition and Enforcement Act to provide new enforcement tools to prosecute illegal Internet gambling. Let me give you a few more recent examples of how we have led on principle. and acted with solutions. We passed the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act . . . which creates a national sex offender registry. strengthens measures to prevent child pornography. and reinforces laws against child porn. We passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. which renewed the first federal law to strengthen prosecution efforts against human traffickers. We passed legislation securing the right to prayer in U.S. military academies. We passed legislation protecting the Mount Soledad Memorial Cross. We passed the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act. which allows for the 10fold increase of FCC fihes for indecency violations. We passed Cord blood legislation that harnesses the power of stem cells in cord blood to develop new cures for lifethreatening diseases. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4303,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090185350,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Congress needs access to information and people in the executive branch. And that is what I did not. and still may not. be getting from the FDA under the leadership of Dr. Von Eschenbachas an example. 47 pages removed. another example. 43 pages removed. How are you going to conduct oversight when you get answers such as that from the Food and Drug Administration? I take exception to the statement made in support of the cloture motion. People ought to be ashamed of saying Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach has done a superb job in the position he is currently occupying with an answer such as that to the Congress of the United States. That is an insult. Before you cast your vote in favor of cloture. consider what is at stakeand particularly Members on the other side of the aisle who. during the campaign. in campaign commercial after campaign commercial after campaign commercial. said Congress is not doing its job of oversight. implying that Republicans were covering up wrongdoing by the administration. If you want to preserve your access to information and do the oversight that you think you are going to do. when you are in the majority and you get answers such as that. do you think you are going to be able to do the job of oversight? In my interactions with the Department of Health and Human Services and the FDA these last 8 months. I have seen a complete and utter disrespect for congressional authority and hence the law. ","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11804,"word_count":254}
{"speech_id":1090185354,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam President. during my time of almost 7 years as chairman of the Appropriations Committee. I have met with Dr. Von Eschenbach quite often. We had many requests for documents. I cant remember once that he refused. But beyond that. I came to the floor today to say that I have gotten to know Dr. Von Eschenbach personally. and I cant think of a more qualified man at this time to be confirmed to this position. I hope the Senate will vote cloture and we will confirm Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach as requested by the President. ","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":544,"word_count":96}
{"speech_id":1090185357,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Anderson as a urologic oncology fellow. He became part of the faculty and was named chairman of the Department of Urology in 1983. When he left M.D. Anderson in 2002. he became Director of the National Cancer Institute. At the time. he was presidentelect of the American Cancer Society which. of course. is one of the leading organizations in our country that fights for victims of cancer. He has. also. been published in more than 200 publications. This year. Time Magazine named Andy von Eschenbach as one of the 100 people who shape our world. The FDA is fortunate to have Dr. von Eschenbach. It is one of the Nations oldest and most respected consumer protection agencies. ","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5060,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090185370,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Those letters are from Omeris. Ohios bioscience membership and development organization. the New York State Cancer Association. the ALS Association. the Cancer Cure Coalition. and there are others. These groups recognize the absolute necessity of having a Senateconfirmed Commissioner of Food and Drugs. I understand some of my colleagues are not satisfied. They seek to use this nomination as leverage to accomplish some other agendas. That is something you can do in the Senate. However. I urge them to consider the consequences of those actions. In the upcoming year we face an exceptionally full agenda with respect to the FDA. We need this man in place. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1069,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090185385,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to honor the service and sacrifice of Colorado Springs police officer Kenneth Jordan. My wife Joan and I were deeply saddened to hear of the senseless death of Officer Kenneth Jordan while in the line of duty this past Tuesday in Colorado Springs. CO. during a traffic stop. It takes a person of great courage to become an officer of the law. It takes a strong. hardworking. and considerate individual. It takes a special someone who is willing to pay the ultimate price in protecting the safety of others. Officer Kenneth Jordan was just this person. Unfortunately. ","speaker_name":"WAYNE ALLARD","chamber":"S","state":"CO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2858,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090185391,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"America grew angry about it. grew angry about the number of illegals in our country and the fact this Congress did little or nothing about it. A great deal is going on. One of the reasons the labor shortages began to appear is because this Congress insisted. and the administration agreed. we put money behind the securing and the closing of our southwest border where literally a millionplus people were moving across annually into our labor market. We viewed that as untenable and irresponsible for a great nation to fail to control and secure its borders. We are doing that now. We are continuing to invest and will continue to invest in a secured border environment. But in doing that. and failing to couple with a more secure border a comprehensive immigration reform package that allows a real. honest. legal. fair guest -worker program. American agriculture now hurts as they have never hurt before. On December 4. all of my colleagues received a letter that in itself was almost unprecedented. a letter from over 400 agricultural groups around the countrynot just agricultural groups but nursery groups. warehouse groups. storage groups. all of them generally agriculture related. I ask unanimous consent to have that printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2811,"word_count":207}
{"speech_id":1090185414,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I was 1 of 23 Senators to vote against the Iraq war resolution. I opposed the large tax giveaways to the rich and superrich. In fact. during my 6 years in the Senate. I voted 29 times to raise my own taxes. Why? Because our country needs those tax revenues. and I can darn well afford to pay my fair share of them. as can all other Americans with my good fortune. I tried seven times unsuccessfully to get the Senate to honor its 30year promise to school districts and schoolchildren and fully fund special education. The Senate did pass my \"Taste of Our Own Medicine\" amendment limiting Members of Congresss prescription drug coverage to what they provided to senior citizens through Medicare. However. my amendment was discarded by the HouseSenate conference committee. It has pained me deeply to see the Senates majority lead our country into what I consider the wrong direction. Our Nations founding principle was \"we the people.\" and it remains so today. ","speaker_name":"MARK DAYTON","chamber":"S","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8896,"word_count":166}
{"speech_id":1090185425,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am mindful that the majority leader will be coming here in approximately 6 minutes to speak. and I am looking forward to his comments. Mr. President. I want to say that one of the great delights of being a partof the Senate is to sit at the knee of such great leaders. such as the senior Senator from Virginia. and to learn from him and to hear the stories that so often he can weave into any circumstance that is facing us. that has some application of a story he had encountered in the past. I thank him for his leadership. I thank him for his contribution. And I thank him for being a mentor to so many of us in this Senate.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":644,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090185427,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I thank my colleagues for allowing me the time. As we are awaiting the majority leader to arrive. I might say that since many Senators are here. I want them to know what a great privilege it has been for this Senator to serve with each of you and to serve in a bipartisan way. One of the messages of this election I have just come through is that people do not want this partisan bickering they have seen. They want us to come together. to build consensus. to perform. and to do it in a bipartisan way. This Senator is dedicated to doing that from now on. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":574,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090185441,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I hope hell be able to enjoy more time with them now without the burden of running the Senate. We wish BILL FRIST the best as he prepares to leave the Senate. We know he will have great success. and we thank him for his service to our country. We will miss the majority leader. but we know he will continue to use his immense talent to make a very real difference for all humanity in the years ahead. and continue to make us proud to call him our friend.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2837,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090185448,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":6,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He has been a leader on national security. energy. and criminal justice. As a member of the Senate .Armed Services Committee. JIM worked to extend production of the C17 line. allowing 30.000 workers across the country to keep their jobs. and more importantly to give our military strategic lift capability which they need to move troops and equipment to very difficult to reach places. JIM also cares about our troops in battle. He sponsored legislation to end predatory lending to active servicemembers and their families. The new law just took effect 6 weeks ago. Some of our soldiers were paying almost 400 percent interest on money loaned to them. Thanks to JIM TALENT. the rates are now capped at 36 percent. I trust that applies to the Marines as well. Last year. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER BOND","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4899,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090185449,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. my great friend and colleague from Missouri has an Intelligence Committee meeting to go to. So he went ahead and did his kind tribute before I give my speech. and those who are not aware of that may have thought that maybe they would be able to get in short tributes and avoid the long farewell speech. That is not true. I will devote my time to a substantive and very important subjectthe . appropriate level of funding for Americas military. It is an issue that I have worked on and fought for since I went to the House of Representatives in 1993. I am grateful for my friends remarks. and I want to say that I have always enjoyed serving in legislatures. in part because of the collegial nature of the service. When ou are done. yesit is the legislation that you worked on that you want people to remember. but what you remember are the friendships and the associations and the bonds that you have made. And. fortunately. those do not end with your service. I look forward to continuing to visit with my friends in the Senate for years to tcome. ","speaker_name":"JAMES TALENT","chamber":"S","state":"MO","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":11554,"word_count":196}
{"speech_id":1090185457,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"But it will be in the public record. and there will be more time for people in the profession to evaluate and comment upon it.","speaker_name":"ARLEN SPECTER","chamber":"S","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":894,"word_count":25}
{"speech_id":1090185480,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is at issue here if we do not have someone who is going to be the head of the FDA to make sure the agency that has responsibility for the safety of prescription drugs is going to work in ways to protect the American consumer. that the agency that is in charge of the food safety in this country is going to work to ensure that it is going to be effective for the American people. Now the agency itself. the FDA. urgently needs treatment. For too long. it has been without a confirmed leader. It has become a ship Without a captain. lacking the initiative and confidence that only a confirmed commissioner can bring. Year after year. under this administration. the FDA has been allowed to drift. and year after year the challenges that face- the agency have grown. Think of the controversiesabout antidepressants. about the withdrawal of Vioxx. about the sale of Plan B over the counter. about adequate review of drugs on the market. The agency has had to struggle unfairly with difficult scientific questions. inadequate resources and authority. and -political pressures to ignore the science that must begood science has to be at the heart of its mission. .Finally. the day is here when the Senate can act to confirm a commissioner whose job No. 1 will be to restore the leadership to this essential agency and begin the process of addressing the many major concerns that have gone unmet for so long. DCy. von Eschenbach is a good choice to lead the FDA. At the National Cancer Institute. he led bold initiatives on the human genome and nanotechnology. As a physician for patients with cancer and a survivor of cancer himself. he brought an indispensable patientcentered perspective to the Cancer Institute. and he will bring that to the Food and Drug Administration as well. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4768,"word_count":310}
{"speech_id":1090185486,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Education. Labor. and Pensions Committee. for his hard work and support during the process. I think it is time to bring this process to a close so we can get him confirmed as quickly as possible and have a true. fully confirmed Commissioner of Food and Drug. I thank Dr. von Eschenbach for his patience with our process and for the work he has done in spite of the process. I look forward to getting to see the kind of job he will do as a fully confirmed physician. I ask for your vote in support of him. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3740,"word_count":102}
{"speech_id":1090185508,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank my colleague for his very generous and kind comments. One final comment to say that it was his great leadership. along with the great leadership of Senator McCAIN and others. which allowed usgroup is the word I would prefera group of 14 Senators to make an agreement that I think was in the best interests of the Senate. and it has proved to be in the best interests of the Senate. in regard to our judges and how we confirm them. It has worked so far. My wish for you and my other colleagues as you go on is that you will continue to keep that agreement and. it will continue to work. That is my wish.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":610,"word_count":119}
{"speech_id":1090185510,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Daniel A. Shepherd. while Danny was deployed in Iraq. Daniel was born on St. Patricks Day and according to family members and friends. looks just like his father. Danny was scheduled to return from Iraq a week after he died. He was looking forward to meeting his son for the first time. When Danny died. his Son was only six \"months old. Recognized for his unrelenting drive. Danny simply had a passion for public service. He attended law enforcement classes at Lorain County Joint Vocational School and planned on contributing to the safety of his community by becoming a police officer upon his return from Iraq. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4817,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090185519,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I welcome this opportunity to commend our colleague MARK DAYTON. the Senator from Minnesota. for his distinguished service in the Senate and for his commitment to helping our country live up to its highest ideals at home and abroad. MARKS life has been about service to others. Whether as a teacher in the bowery of New York. a counselor to troubled teens in Boston. an aide to our beloved Fritz Mondale. or State economic development leader- working to bring quality jobs to his constituents. or a Senator. MARK DAYTON has consistently answered the call of public service throughout his long and outstanding career. He has been a champion of the right to quality and affordable health care for all Americans. and I know how frustrated he has often been by our inability to make greater progress on this critical domestic issue. Sadly. it will be harder to get there without him. but I am optimistic that we will still be able to accomplish it. and I have no doubt that MARK will continue with his commitment and compassion to help lead the charge from outside the Senate. As a Senator. he had an indispensable role in our effort to expand the availability of prescription drugs. His heart went out to the senior citizens in Minnesota whose only hope to afford the drugs they desperately needed was to cross the border into Canada. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2816,"word_count":234}
{"speech_id":1090185525,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I am taking this opportunity to announce that in accordance with title V of the Rules of Procedure of the Committee on Rules and Administration. the Committee intends to update the Policy for Use of Senate Rooms. Based on the Committees review of the policy for use of Senate Rooms. the following changes to these policies have been adopted effective today. December 7. 2006. The changes are designed to . streamline communications between the Rules Committee and Senate offices and to clarify the rules governing the use of Senate rooms. Set forth below is the policy for the use of Senate rooms. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the material be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":695,"word_count":118}
{"speech_id":1090185526,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the material be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"TRENT LOTT","chamber":"S","state":"MS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":796,"word_count":14}
{"speech_id":1090185528,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. today I rise to coinmemorate the 65th anniversary of the bombing of the Pearl Harbor naval lase. a dark day in our countrys rich history. brightened only by the courage and resolve of Americans soundly united to fight tyranny and bring order to chaos. We honor the memory of the service men and women and civilians who fell defending our shores that day. and pay tribute to the thousands who would survive to rebuild. rearm. and lead our war effort abroad. Millions of Americans. young and old. would join these brave men and women in factories. mills. in tanks and in trenches fighting under one flag for a common goal. President Roosevelts day of infamy has lived on in the minds of those who bore witness to that day and in the hearts of the generations who have followed. Every soldier. sailor. airman. and marine. fighting with our flag on their shoulder. has been passed the strength and courage of the service men and women that came before them. Every generations sacrifice is selfless and precious. On this anniversary. let us remember properly those who have served our country in times of conflict and peace and those serving our country today.","speaker_name":"HERBERT KOHL","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1170,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090185529,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Both of these menmade brief statements. I ask unanimous consent to print in the RECORD the following thoughtful remarks.","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":723,"word_count":19}
{"speech_id":1090185534,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I urge the President to work more proactively to end this unconscionable crisis.","speaker_name":"HILLARY CLINTON","chamber":"S","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3914,"word_count":13}
{"speech_id":1090185542,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Zucker has been mentor to the next generation of photographers. He has taken a leadership role in training emerging artists who. like him. aspire to capture special moments and create memories for families to treasure for years to come. He is an impressive artist and a caring and compassionate member of his community. In 2002. the UN named him Portrait Photographer of the Year. He has made an incredible difference in the world of photography. and it is a pleasure to bring his extraordinary Work to the attention of my colleagues.","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1116,"word_count":92}
{"speech_id":1090185612,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the amendments at the desk be agreed to. the committeereported amendments. as amended. if amended. be agreed to. the bills. as amended. if amended. be read the third time and passed. the title amendments be agreed to. and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":323,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090185781,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This rules also allows for consideration of special rules reported on this day. We are nearing the end of our session. always a chaotic time. and this rule will allow the House to finish its business in a timely fashion. I now ask my colleagues to support this rule so that we may continue the work of the American people in a timely fashion today. Completing consideration of these suspensions and remaining bills ensures that we may accomplish. as much as possible in the final days of this Congress. and I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this balanced rule. Madam Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"SHELLEY CAPITO","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"F","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2143,"word_count":114}
{"speech_id":1090185803,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":0,"speech_text":"It begins today. It begins with a policy that says that it is not enough for the United States to have hightech commerce with India. to have outsourcing of our jobs to India. to have massive increases in diplomatic relations and dozens of other areas with India. No. as a gesture of our friendship with India. we are going to gut our own nuclear nonproliferation policy. Now. back in the debates of 2004. there was really only one thing that George Bush and JOHN KERRY agreed upon. and that was that the most important issue in the world was nuclear nonproliferation. And here we are on the last day of the Republican era in the United States Congress gutting the most important policy. the policy which has kept the reins imperfectly but significantly on the spread of nuclear weapons over the last generation. And this is in a way almost the exclamation point on the end of this Republican eta. on the Bush administrations efforts to control nuclear weapons. This era will be looked back at as the era where the Bush administration and the Republicans in this Congress said: Anything goes. Anything for trade with India. When asked. we will surrender our nuclear nonproliferation policy. Pakistan is now in a massive escalation of its nuclear weapons program. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10362,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090185812,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Technological innovation is absolutely vital to Americas continued economic growth and prosperity. Without investment in research and development. all innovation and growth would come to a screeching halt. with catastrophic effects on our economy as we continue the fight to try and compete globally. We must do everything that we can to help incentivize research and development so that we keep the United States a leader in business and technological innovation. Additionally. this bill also extends the welfaretowork tax credit and the work opportunity tax credit. creating more chances to put people to work and further reduce the Federal welfare rolls. Recognizing our need to reduce energy costs and maximize energy efficiency. this bill also extends various energy tax credits for energy efficient homes and businesses. for methanol and ethanol fuel. and for businesses that produce electricity from solar energy. fuel cells or microturbines. Also. the underlying legislation provides for the exploration. the development and production activities for mineral resources in the OCS. Outer Continental Shelf. In February of 2006. the Department of Interior released a comprehensive inventory of OCS resources. estimating approximately 8.5 billion barrels of oil and 29.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Madam Speaker. the combination of energyefficient tax incentives and increased domestic energy production are integral to reducing our dependence on foreign energy as well as finding new and cleaner ways to produce and use energy. I dont know whether the Iraqi Study Group included this as part of their 79 recommendations. but if they didnt. make this No. 80. ","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9171,"word_count":255}
{"speech_id":1090185821,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would say that there is a kinship with many of my colleagues about the necessity of regular order. In the best of all worlds. we would have had a number of days to debate many of the very pithy and challenging issues that are in this particular rule that now will. ultimately. if this rule pass. will bring up any number of issues that require our thoughtful deliberation. But I would say that we are in the waning hours of the 109th Congress. and we look forward to a new day when the light of day will shine on issues dealing with conservation. dealing with the right relationship between patient and physician and the payment of their services and. yes. when we address the question of tax relief for people who really. really need it. I want to rebut Lou Dobbs attack on the middle class and say that we stand for working Americans. And so I believe that there is a great need for some of the aspects of this legislation. We need the college tuition deduction extension. We need the State sales tax exemption for States who do not have State income tax. but the burden of taxation falls unfairly on those who are least able to pay it because they pay a high sales tax. We need the welfaretowork tax credit. and we certainly need the tax that relieves teachers who pay their own money for books and supplies for children in innercity and rural schools. ","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12123,"word_count":252}
{"speech_id":1090185824,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"And why are we doing this? For 60 days of oil for the country and 97 days of natural gas one State. the State of. Florida. is being put at risk. also. at a time where there are. over 4.000 leases currently in effect for the oil and gas industry that are not being tapped. As a matter of fact. 80 percent of the known oil and gas reserves on the Outer Continental Shelf are already available for lease exploration and drilling. And yet. on the last day of this Congress. this Congress forces the American people. the United States Congress. who want relief for physicians and their patients. to be forced to open the Gulf of Mexico up to 8 million acres of drilling. Now. what should happen instead? This rule should be defeated. This Congress should come back next year and have a comprehensive energy bill. . Should Florida support drilling in .the Gulf of Mexico? Of course we should. We should be part of the national solution. but only after an open and honest debate to make sure that Floridas environment and our economy is protected. to make sure that drilling is part of a comprehensive bill that includes stronger. smarter fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks. emphasis on renewables and alternative fuel. That is the responsible approach. not just for the State of Florida. but for the country. So I would urge defeat of this rule. and lets go back and take up this issue in a fair way. not just for the State of Florida. but for the entire country.","speaker_name":"JAMES DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2991,"word_count":266}
{"speech_id":1090185825,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I can only say that Governor Blanco and Senator LANDRIEU must be awfully persuasive. This was a strong bipartisan support in the Senate. and I would guess it will have strong bipartisan support. including these provisions in regard to gas exploration in the Gulf of Mexico. It doesnt involve Florida or California. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1028,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090185846,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This is an ongoing issue that I want to work with the gentlelady with. and I compliment your effort and leadership.","speaker_name":"STEPHEN BUYER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":812,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090185847,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. once again. I thank Congresswoman BROWN.","speaker_name":"SHELLEY BERKLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NV","gender":"F","party":"D","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":546,"word_count":7}
{"speech_id":1090185848,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I also want to thank the gentlelady. Having visited her area. I understand the fast growth that she is experiencing with VA and her veterans. So I strongly support a new facility in her area. and will talk in a few minutes about the needs of the veterans in Central Florida for over 25 years. Mr. ","speaker_name":"CORRINE BROWN","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7074,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090185863,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill to extend oversight and accountability related to United States reconstruction funds and the efforts in Iraq by extending the termination date of the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.","speaker_name":"DUNCAN HUNTER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":52.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":280,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090185899,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. pursuant to House Resolution 1099. I call up from the Speakers table the bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide that the Tax Court may review claims for equitable innocent spouse relief and to suspend the running on the period of limitations while such claims are pending. with a Senate amendment thereto. and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM THOMAS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":392,"word_count":67}
{"speech_id":1090185917,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"earlier described your amendment as having more than one item. Mr. HINCHEY talked about it being OCS. Mr. MARKEY said it was OCS and it was AMT and it may be something else. What amazes me is that they can stand there with a straight face and criticize us because they only got the copy. the absolute legislative language. 2 days ago on .our bill. and they have the audacity to go to the well and describe their amendment and what it is when they wont even give us a copy of it. Now. this is a preview of the coming majority in terms of their saying one thing and doing another. Buckle your seat belts. The piety and the arguments about how correct they are and how unfair it is was just said. This was done by this Congress. it was signed by President Clinton. and we have no idea what is in your amendment because you didnt even offer the courtesy of giving us the language of your amendment notwithstanding the fact that we gave you the privilege of offering an amendment. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD MARKEY","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1107,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090185918,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Agricultural aviators. who are exempt from fuel excise taxes. will now be able to claim tax refunds directly without having to rely on fuel suppliers to pass along this benefit. Even though this is a small change. it will help reduce fuel costs for ag aviators and spraying costs for farmers who employ ag aviators to plant and maintain their crops. Mr. Speaker. I urge passage of this bill.","speaker_name":"WALTER HERGER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1450,"word_count":69}
{"speech_id":1090185928,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"We are saying goodbye. Mr. Speaker. I would like to yield 2 minutes to an outstanding Member who has served this Congress and served the Ways and Means Committee with distinction. And as he goes to raise the level of intellect in the other body. I yield to him on this bill.","speaker_name":"CHARLES RANGEL","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":15.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":274,"word_count":52}
{"speech_id":1090185940,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman beca~use I do appreciate the remarks that he just made. And we probably had not planned on highlighting it. but as the gentleman from Louisiana well knows. another portion of the changes that we are making in this package is to take what was known as the Katrina GO Zone. a benefit. and. after the time has passed. focus the money on those counties that still remain devastated by a high percentage of destruction. Rather than simply having money go where it may not be necessary. a portion of this bill focuses the money where it is absolutely necessary. And as the gentleman from Louisiana well knows. there are still major areas of his State and other States that can easily be defined as devastated.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM THOMAS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":738,"word_count":131}
{"speech_id":1090185954,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In recent months I and many others from States that only have a sales tax have heard from many constituents who are concerned about whether or not they will be able to claim this deduction as they begin their taxes. due April 15. Thankfully this legislation before us today will extend this critical provision. I know throughout the last several months I have probably been the biggest nag to Mr. THOMAS about this issue. I know all of my colleagues from States that only have sales tax also have been making their views known that this does need to be continued. I certainly want to stress that it is common sense. and. again. it is just parity. And we do need this very muchneeded tax benefit and it is good that we are able to deliver it just before the holidays. I want to thank the chairman.","speaker_name":"VIRGINIA BROWN-WAITE","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"F","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1381,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090185971,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the distinguished chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. and I thank my distinguished friends on the other side of the aisle for their strong leadership on these issues in this debate. Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of H.R. 6111. the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006. I want to especially thank full committee Chairman THOMAS. Subcommittee Chairman NANCY JOHNSON of the Ways and Means Subcommittee. and Subcommittee Chairman NATHAN DEAL of my Health Committee for their leadership on this legislation. It has been an honor to work with all of these folks over the years on the issues. and I am glad that we have some resolution that will help in the years to come. The legislation before us would ensure continued beneficiary access to quality health issues. ","speaker_name":"JOE BARTON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2541,"word_count":137}
{"speech_id":1090185975,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I want to refocus our Members. We are not on the Markey amendment. The Markey amendment will be presented following the conclusion of the discussion on the underlying bill: Mr. Speaker. the Nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation has made available to the public a technical explanation of the bill. This technical explanation expresses the committees understanding and legislative intent behind this important legislation.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM THOMAS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":436,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090186001,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I do think it is important to note there are a number of items. in the bill. not just the Outer Continental Shelf. As was indicated by the gentleman from Massachusetts and indicated by the gentleman from New York. there is an alternative minimum tax provision in this amendment. One of the things that the Democratic leadership has said. since prior to the election is. that if they were elected. if they were chosen. if they were going to be dealing with items that cost money. they were going to submit themselves to the socalled PAYGO rules. PAYGO rules are exactly what it sounds like: you pay as you go. I find it ironic that there is this great pressure to move this amendment now before they do come into the majority. because the alternative minimum tax provisions of this amendment have no PAYGO requirement. What. in fact. they have is spend without covering the costs. and so I understand the urgency to get this done right now so that they dont have to follow the commitment that they have made. Boy. is that typical. In terms of the railroad bonds. I will repeat. in a personal conversation with the Democratic leader of the Senate. he asked me to make sure. not withstanding previous support and structure that we were dealing with. in this extremely fragile measure. being carried in an unusual way to make sure that we can send it to the President. notwithstanding whether you believe the railroad bond provision has merit or doesnt have merit. it cannot be added at this time or you will lose the measure. I personally will put my trust in the judgment of the Democratic leader of the Senate. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM THOMAS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3399,"word_count":287}
{"speech_id":1090186005,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I expect that next year. Congress will take meaningful action to reform and stabilize. the Medicare provider payment system and I pledge to support efforts to that end. Unfortunately. this legislation also contains language authorizing an expansion of drilling in certain areas in the Gulf of Mexico. While I support efforts to improve our overall domestic energy production. we have not taken the necessary steps to encourage conservation efforts and energy efficiency programs. preferring instead to rely on oil and gas exploration. As I have stated in the past. we cannot dig or drill our way to energy independence. We need a comprehensive and forwardthinking energy policy that provides affordable energy. encourages the development of clean and renewable sources. and enhances our Nations economy. While I strongly believe that many of the tax provisions included in this legislation will significantly strengthen the middle class in our H9074 co: country. I am dismayed by the process through which we are considering this bill. The Republican majority has again waited until the last minute to bring this legislation to the floor. thereby considerably hindering our legislative process. In the 110th Congre~s. ","speaker_name":"JAMES LANGEVIN","chamber":"H","state":"RI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2534,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090186008,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. getting American trade policy right is important for many reasons. We must aim to provide opportunity for American businesses and the workers they rely upon. while also providing opportunity to people in less developed nations. We have before us a consensus measure. that is long overdue. Consensus building is hard work and too often those in power seek that which is easy. not that which is best and necessary. Im very pleased the bill before us continues the trade benefits vital to the nations of sub Saharan Africa. This bill would finally launch a more just trading policy with Haiti. and bring Vietnam into the community of trading nations that abide by international rules. I am pleased this bill continues to provide discretion to the President to retain competitive need limit waivers under the Generalized System of Preferences and does not require revocation of any such waiver currently in effect. Unfortunately. this bill falls short in some fundamental ways. First. we should make permanent GSP. not merely extend it temporarily. ","speaker_name":"JIM MCDERMOTT","chamber":"H","state":"WA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2453,"word_count":172}
{"speech_id":1090186012,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"However. let me state that I am greatly disappointed that relief from the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) is not in this legislation. The temporary AMT relief that Congress passed earlier this year expires at the end of this year. and it is not being extended in this legislation. That means that without AMT relief 15 million Americans face a tax increase as they stand to be hit by the AMT next yehr. The Republican leadership decided to punt to the Democrats on that issue. But that is okay. as we Democrats havd vowed next year to defuse the ticking time bomb that is the AMT. The American people have placed us. Democrats. in the majority for a reason. They trust us to tackle the important issues that affect American familiesand we will deliver.","speaker_name":"STEPHANIE JONES","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"F","party":"D","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2996,"word_count":133}
{"speech_id":1090186016,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this bill serves as a reminder why the American peopIe feel Congress is failing them. It is little more than an incoherent grab bag of the good and bad. I am disappointed that the Republicans. in their last act of power. chose to skirt their responsibilities as lawmakers by sending this bill to the floor at the last minute and under a rule that does not allow for Members to thoroughly analyze its contents. Due to a prior engagement in my district. I was unable to be here to vote on H.R. 6111. But in the end. there is no good vote for this bill. It is my hope that under Democratic leadership next year. we will hold ourselves to a higher standard and refuse to make policy like this. Had I been present for the vote on the MarkeyHinchey motion to recommit on the Alternative Minimum Tax and oil royalties. I would have voted \"aye.\"","speaker_name":"EARL BLUMENAUER","chamber":"H","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":850,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090186017,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H.R. 6111. the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006. I do so for three reasons. First. the bill extends and modifies certain key tax relief provisions through 2007. which provide much needed relief to working and middleclass taxpayers. Second. I believe that among the most urgent challenges confronting the Nation. none is more important than lessening. and ultimately ending. Americas dependence on foreign energy sources. H.R. 6111 advances this goal in a small but appreciable way by permitting oil and gas production in an 8.3million acre area of the Gulf of Mexico. with 37.5 percent of the lease income allocated to the Gulf Coast States closest to the drilling area. excluding the Florida gulf coast. Third. the bill blocks the scheduled 5 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors. and provides for a 1.5 percent increase in such paymentsnext July for physicians who submit data relating to certain quality of care standards.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":972,"word_count":161}
{"speech_id":1090186055,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. before I yield back the balance of my time I. first and foremost. want to urge my colleagues to adopt the rule and adopt the continuing resolution. afid express my highest regards and best wishes to the gentlewoman from New York as she prepares to take the leadership of the Rules Committee. And I wish her all the very best. And I regret that I will not be serving on the committee under her leadership. but certainly wish she and her colleagues all the opportunity and hope and advantages that come with that responsibility. With that. Madam Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time. nd move the previous question on the resolution. The previous question was ordered.","speaker_name":"ADAM PUTNAM","chamber":"H","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":12.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":688,"word_count":121}
{"speech_id":1090186059,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"But it is both by doing this. we are acknowledging the tremendous progress that has been made and an opportunity for further engagement that will help propel Vietnam forward on the path towards political and economic reform. Furthermore. granting PNTR for Vietnam is necessary to provide access for American producers and service providers to a market that will soon be open to the rest of the world. Vietnam will accede to the WTO. the World Trade Organization. in just a few weeks. essentially normalizing its trading relationship with the entire globe. If we fail to grant PNTR for Vietnam. we will be putting American businesses and our consumers. the American people. at a competitive disadvantage with our trading partners. all of whom will have access to the market in Vietnam. By seeking WTO accession. Vietnam has demonstrated its commitment to operate in a rulesbased trading system. It has clearly signaled that it wants to be a responsible participant in the global economy. and adhere to the rules that we have all agreed to. Through PNTR. we not only open up new market access. we gain the ability to hold Vietnam accountable for its trading practices. Many will argue\" that because Vietnam must still make progress in protecting human rights and ensuring individual freedoms. that we cannot normalize our trade relationship yet. I believe that it is precisely because of the need to focus on improving the human rights situation. on bringing about a full accounting of the POW. ","speaker_name":"DAVID DREIER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":26.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":7338,"word_count":248}
{"speech_id":1090186078,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I was unable to make the following rollcall votes on December 8. 2006: H. Res. 1101. Waiving all points of prder against the conference report to accompany H.R. 5682 and against its consideration (rollcall vote 529). On agreeing to the resolution. had I been present. I would have voted \"aye.\" H. Res. 1099. Relating to consideration of the bill H.R. 6111 to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide that the Tax Court may review claims for equitable innocent spouse relief and to suspend the running on the period of limitations while such claims are pending (rollcall vote 530). Had I been present. ","speaker_name":"ELTON GALLEGLY","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":24.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1611,"word_count":107}
{"speech_id":1090186079,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. due to illness I was regrettably unable to be on the House floor for rollcall votes 529. 530. 531. 532. 533. 534. 535. 536. 537 and 538. Had I been present I would have voted \"aye\" for rollcall votes 529. 530. 531. 533. 534. 536. and 537. and \"no\" for rollcall vote","speaker_name":"DAN BURTON","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":278,"word_count":54}
{"speech_id":1090186090,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 6406. And while I believe in free trade between free people. this bill would extend trading rights to the dictatorship of Vietnam and other questionable countries. Why are we doing this? We are told that. of course. increasing commerce with such dictatorships will eventually lead that dictatorship to evolve into a more docile or a more democratic society. That has not worked. It has created a monster in China. Why is there any reason for us to think it wont do the same in Vietnam? The Vietnamese themselves have been pleading with us not to grant Most Favored Nation status. basically permanent normal trade status is what we are talking about tonight. I include this letter in the RECORD. It is a letter to the President of the United States from 28 leading Vietnamese. who probably will end up in prison. discussing how their country is not free. that the people there have none of the liberties that we are talking about and that such trade would go in the opposite direction rather than making the leadership of the dictatorship more open to reforms.","speaker_name":"DANA ROHRABACHER","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":46.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1108,"word_count":193}
{"speech_id":1090186091,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The problem is that we can do more and should do more. This bill includes a 6year extension of the thirdcountry fabric provision. the longest extension for this provision in the history of the AGOA program. It also extends other benefits in the textile and apparel sector from 2008 to 2015. a major improvement. Mr. Speaker. these provisions will help the African workers and businesses compete against China and other competitors. including competitors who suppress their workers rights and provide subsidies to their industries. That is in the interest of the United States and our manufacturers and producers to have that type of competition from SubSaharan Africa. It is for all these reasons that this is a wellbalanced bill that will advance U.S. interests. and I urge my colleagues to support the legislation. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"BENJAMIN CARDIN","chamber":"H","state":"MD","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4574,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090186093,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I would like to thank Chairman THOMAS and Chairman SHAW for their leadership and key efforts in crafting this package and also for including Vietnam PNTR. The House is truly losing two legislative giants. and it has been a great privilege to serve with Chairman TH6MAS and Chairman SHAW on the Ways and Means Committee. I also want to thank my friends on the other side of the aisle. Ranking Member RANGEL and Mr. CARDIN. for working on this important package in a bipartisan way. It has also been a great privilege to serve with you. and we are going to miss you. BEN. when you move to the other body. I also want to thank Representative THOMPSON for his bipartisan support. his steadfast support. and hard work on this important legislation. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"JAMES RAMSTAD","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2288,"word_count":134}
{"speech_id":1090186113,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I thank the gentleman and also for. his years of dedicated service to this institution. He will truly be missed. Mr. Speaker. regrettably I.rise to oppose this legislation. in particular the portion that would grant permanent trade relationship with Vietnam. I do so for one very particular reason. According to the National League of POW\/MIA families. there are currently 1.798 personnel missing. still missing. from a Vietnam war that ended about 35 years ago. These families have continued to meet with resistance from the communist Vietnamesb Government and have failed to allow them to adequately search for their loved ones. Yet today. this legislation will reward that country and that government. I believe that is unacceptable. I think we should be talking about how to reward Vietnam for its good conduct if they were to cooperate fully with the efforts to recover these individuals. ","speaker_name":"NATHAN DEAL","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":10.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1825,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090186127,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He spent 16 years as a teacher and a coach at Yorkville High School in Illinois. and that is the best kind of public service. shaping the minds of our young people. Then he went into politics. and after 6 years in the Illinois State House. he came to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1986. In 1999. DENNIS HASTERTS colleagues elected him Speaker of the House. the third highest official in the United States of America. . While we have often. from time to time. disagreed on issues. we agree on the importance of public service. the kind of public service that has been the hallmark of Speaker HASTERTS career. whether in the classroom or in the House. Mr. Speaker. I know I speak for many people in this room and across the country when I thank you for one thing in particular: Rosa Parks made history a long time ago and changed America. She also made history when she was the first African American woman to lie in state in the Capitol of the United States. ","speaker_name":"NANCY PELOSI","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2278,"word_count":178}
{"speech_id":1090186138,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Sadly. . although both Mr. Do and Ms. Foshee are free today and back in America. I am concerned about hundreds of Vietnamese nationals as well as other U.S. citizens imprisoned in Vietnam. The Vietnamese government has repeatedly violated human rights. Hundreds of Vietnamese have been imprisoned. put under house arrest. or placed under intense surveillance for simply practicing their religion or speaking out about democracy and human rights in Vietnam. Following his return to the U.S.. Mr. Do provided me a disturbing list of over 130 Vietnamese nationals and U.S. citizens he believes are currently imprisoned in Vietnam as prisoners of conscience or harassed by the government for simply speaking about democracy and human rights. In addition. groups such as the Human Rights Watch have published reports of 355 Montagnard prisoners of conscience currently imprisoned in Vietnam. ","speaker_name":"ZOE LOFGREN","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":16.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4530,"word_count":138}
{"speech_id":1090186160,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"If you were worried about seeing the agreement before it was final. then you will love this conference report. because it gives Congress another chance to scrutinize and vote on approving the final deal. If you wanted the IAEA to be able to inspect Indias nuclear facilities. then you are for this conference report. because twothirds of all of Indias nuclear facilities will now be under IAEA safeguards. It is a nobrainer. Without this. we get to inspect zero. with this. twothirds of Indias nuclear facilities. If you wanted India for the first time ever to commit to the MTCR guidelines. then you get that in this conference report. If you wanted India for the first time ever to adhere to the Nuclear Suppliers Group guidelines. you get that in this conference report. If you wanted to send a clear message to nuclear rogue states about how to behave. then you are for this conference report. You are for it because it shows that responsible nuclear powers are welcomed by the international community and not sanctioned. If you wanted a broad. deep. enduring strategic relationship with India. then you are for this conference report. For 30 years. ","speaker_name":"GARY ACKERMAN","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4836,"word_count":197}
{"speech_id":1090186167,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I must also recognize the work of the Indian American community for the incredible advocacy they have demonstrated and the incredible support they have. demonstrated for this legislation. This legislation creates a twostep process. and by passing the conference report today. we will have taken that very important first step. The second step rests upon negotiations between the United States and India. as well as India and the International Atomic Energy .Agency and with the Nuclear Suppliers Group. I would like to be clear that this vote sets the stage for allowing cooperation. but the actual exchange of civilian nuclear cooperation will not take place until Congress is provided with the details of those relevant negotiations and takes a second up or down vote. I urge my colleagues to end Indias nuclear isolation and allow them to be brought into the nonproliferation tent with the rest of the responsible states who seek safe and efficient civilian nuclear technology. I have held the belief that this bill is not about nuclear weapons as much as it is about nuclear energy. I urge my colleagues to begin building a pathway of cooperation in energy with India that will help the economy of India grow and help American business opportunities prosper. Indias booming and growing economy needs fuel. and plenty of it. to uplift the lives of hundreds of millions who live in abject poverty. There is not enough wood. enough gas or enough oil in this world to sustain that growth. The greenhouse gases which have been produced by expending those fuels would be an unwelcome byproduct. ","speaker_name":"JOSEPH CROWLEY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"M","party":"D","district":7.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3522,"word_count":265}
{"speech_id":1090186174,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This legislation allows the vetting of India to begin. It allows the International Atomic Energy Agency to vet this program. And before the President goes forward. he must be convinced or she must be convinced that this is an appropriate step to make. If we can engage with Iran and Syria. though it is a difficult proposition for many. why not engage with a democracy and a friend who will benefit by the utilization of nuclear power? And so I would hope that we would look at this in a manner that says this is a good step for there is control over what is being utilized. unlike so many of those who have the access to nuclear power. I hope my colleagues will support this forward step and that they will see the checks and balances that are so necessary and continue. to support the South Asia region that includes not only India but Pakistan.","speaker_name":"SHEILA JACKSON LEE","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"D","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3034,"word_count":156}
{"speech_id":1090186243,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H.R. 6407. the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act. The Government Reform Committee. of which I am vicechairman. has held hearings and briefings on postal reform for several years now. and I am glad to see our efforts come to fruition today. The United States Postal Service has been forced to cut back on its service due to serious financial challenges. H.R. 6407 is an effort to modernize our nations postal laws for the first time in 36 years. It is intended to help ensure the United States Postal Service can survive in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Due to the increasing use of electronic forms of communication. such as email. firstclass mail volume is declining. but postal addresses are increasing. In lieu of simply increasing rates. an entire reform of the postal service is necessary. H.R. 6407 would require the Postal Service to operate in a more businesslike manner by creating a modern system of rate regulation. establishing fair competition rules and a more powerful regulatory commission. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER SHAYS","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1796,"word_count":173}
{"speech_id":1090186248,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 103 East Thompson Street in Thomaston. Georgia. as the \"Sergeant First Class Robert Lee Bobby Hollar. Jr.. Post Office Building\".","speaker_name":"THOMAS DAVIS","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":268,"word_count":45}
{"speech_id":1090186253,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Georgia. Postal Facility and had taken up residence in Thomaston. Georgia. Sergeant First Class Hollar had become a pen pal for students at Crescent Middle School in Griffin. Georgia. In May of 2005. Sergeant Hollar visited the middle school and was accompanied by his then 1yearold son. Wesley. Sergeant Hollar touched the lives of the fourth and fifth grade classes with whom he was a pen pal. These children became very attached to Sergeant Hollar as he continued to write them from Iraq. ","speaker_name":"LYNN WESTMORELAND","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3168,"word_count":83}
{"speech_id":1090186273,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. before yielding to my next speaker. I was just informed that we dont even know what this will cost. We still dont have a cost estimate. If somebody has one. that would be great if we can have it. Mr. Speaker. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California .","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":274,"word_count":53}
{"speech_id":1090186274,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. this is one of those darkofthenight type pieces of legislation. and I am going to oppose it not because I flavent had to personally lay off three committee staff as I went from the majority to the minority on my subcommittee. but in fact because it is not well thought out. It has not gone through the legislative process it should. and it is not a precedent we want to set haphazardly. The United States Congress is often accused of not even paying into Social Security when in fact for decades we have been part of it. The American people have a lack of confidence that we are run in a uniform and predictable way. and this is just another example of exactly that. We dont provide moving expenses. we dont provide per diem or reimbursements that other branches of government do. and yet. on a selective basis. without a cost assessment. we are being asked to throw in something. As a Member of the majority. the party that is in fact going to be laying these people off. I appreciate the sympathy of the minority in this effort. and I am not without some appreciation for what they are offering. but if they are going to do this. let us do it in a thoughtful. legislative fashion and let us absolutely make sure that it is something that will pass the test of the American people as a uniform policy for government employees of this body. So I ask that this bill be defeated and a thoughtful and proper bill be brought back to the floor.","speaker_name":"DARRELL ISSA","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":49.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1452,"word_count":269}
{"speech_id":1090186277,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York","speaker_name":"JUANITA MILLENDER-MCDONALD","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":37.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":831,"word_count":12}
{"speech_id":1090186278,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Any one of them can go into the private sector and earn a heck of a lot more money. So here we are at the end of a session. 11:00. almost 12:00 at night. and we are going to deny severance pay to those who have served this country so well. I urge my colleagues. no matter what our differences are. these people have done great service to this Nation and they certainly deserve severance pay. I hope that this Congress and certainly the Members here will put themselves in a position of what their staff might be 2 years from now. These are people that are devoted to each and every one of us. They have served each and every one of us. They have served this Nation. I hope we can pass this resolution and give them a severance pay.","speaker_name":"CAROLYN MCCARTHY","chamber":"H","state":"NY","gender":"F","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1446,"word_count":142}
{"speech_id":1090186293,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. it is very unusual for me to watch CSPAN on my television set in my office and decide this is something I want to come speak about it. It is rare for me to be on the House floor speaking about someone elses bills or speaking about an amendment. Usually when I am here. it is on a topic of interest and personal involvement from my committees and my involvement as a Member of Congress from a very rural community who is here to fight on behalf of rural America. Well. tonight as I watched the debate on this issue. as I heard it explained. it is one of those issues that caused me to walk across the street to come talk about something that is gnawing at me. We have talked about a double standard between the leadership staff. the committee staff. and our own personal staff. But to me the double standard is the way that Americans in the job market are not treated when they lose their job. What I see is that Americans. the taxpayers of this country. will see one more piece of evidence that Congress doesnt get it. that we are simply taking care of our own and forgetting the taxpayers. the Americans who go to work each and every day and those who may. through no fault of their own. lose their jobs. So what I see tonight. as we discuss this issue. it is about a double standard that treats the American people differently from those who happen to work for Members of Congress. particularly in leadership or in committee staff positions. They are important. ","speaker_name":"JERRY MORAN","chamber":"H","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":1.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2118,"word_count":275}
{"speech_id":1090186299,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"As I mentioned before. we are already accused of having different rules for Congress than exist out there in the general public.","speaker_name":"JEFF FLAKE","chamber":"H","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":813,"word_count":22}
{"speech_id":1090186306,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Speaker. in the little time I have remaining. I would like to recognize the gentleman from California for a closing statement.","speaker_name":"VERNON EHLERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1508,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090186341,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania for introducing the bill that addresses an important issue. People should be prohibited from defrauding. harassing others* using this technology. A misleading caller ID can enable criminals to get information that they couldnt otherwise get. It will enable people to harass. There may be. however. legitimate uses for this technology. and that is why I have to oppose the motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill at this point. Li 2345 There are a lot of people for whom it should be illegal. But. Mr. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1856,"word_count":98}
{"speech_id":1090186343,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"With caller ID fraud. one masks their identity by altering their outbound caller ID number in order to mislead the call recipient. In other words. you can make a call from your phone. but to the one who is receiving the call. your caller ID number can be anything you so choose. In short. caller ID fraud takes away accountability from people who wish to do harm to others. Today. 21st century criminals are using fake caller identification to anonymously defraud and harass Americans all across the country. That is why I am so pleased that Congress is considering H.R. 5304 tonight. in order to penalize caller ID fraud perpetrators. This bill is particularly necessary to protect American families and the elderly now. It doesnt take much imagination to understand how dangerous this practice could be for unsuspecting people. For example. a criminal could try to obtain personal financial information from individuals by falsely using a banks phone number. An exspouse can harass a former wife or husband who has blocked calls from the exspouses phone line. A pedophile could stalk a child by using a school phone number or the phone number of a friend of the child. ","speaker_name":"TIM MURPHY","chamber":"H","state":"PA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":18.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2154,"word_count":199}
{"speech_id":1090186347,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. the Department of Justice supports the bill. We recognize that sometimes in the helterskelter of closing up Congress. things happen quickly and maybe not perfectly. I think this bill is a good bill. I think this bill does what we need it to do. I think we have answered the major questions here. We may have to revisit it sometime in the future. but I would like to see law enforcement have this tool. So I urge my colleagues to support the passage of the bill. Mr. Speaker. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER CANNON","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":521,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090186348,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. when the FBI testified on the bill. they indicated they hadsome concerns. I assume I will get the concerns after we finish considering the bill. We had to beg for a copy of the legislation so we would know what we are debating. Now. I guess. would it hurt your feelings to let me know what the FBI had to say about it? They had concerns when they testified on the bill. Let me just say that. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":601,"word_count":90}
{"speech_id":1090186358,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I cannot support the bill in its present form. I think we can put a bill together if we are given time. Since we have little time. we got through E. F is the bill can be made more effective by prohibiting caller ID spoofing with the intent to mislead any other person. G. the bill could be made more effective by clarifying the definition of \"caller ID information.\" H. the bill can be made more effective by focusing the definition of \"telephone call\" on the service used to receive calls rather than the service used to make calls. ","speaker_name":"ROBERT SCOTT","chamber":"H","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1911,"word_count":112}
{"speech_id":1090186368,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Ice shows are planned many months in advance. but when ice skaters are recruited for these shows. H2B visas are not always available. This legislation would also allow ice skaters performing in theatrical ice productions to use the P1 visa category. The United States is the pinnacle showground for most athletes and performers. It is where the best athletes and performers come to display their talents and skills. By moving minor league athletes and ice performers to the P1 category. sports leagues and production teams will be able to recruit the most talented individuals from around the world and thus continue Americas tradition of excellency in the professional sports arena. I urge my colleagues to support Senate 3821. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER CANNON","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1874,"word_count":127}
{"speech_id":1090186370,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to rise in support of S. 3821. which makes professional visas available for certain athletes and entertainers who are needed for work and competition in the United States professional athletic industries. Historically. ninor league athletesenter our country as part of the H2B seasonal worker program. These visas are capped at 66.000 per year. and they often run out well before the year is out. So we. through this legislation. will allow sport franchises and companies to bring minor league baseball players. hockey players. and ice skating performers into the country to perform or compete when they are needed. without being barred by the visa cap. It shifts these talented people from the H visa category to the P visa category. the same one currently used by highly skilled professional athletes. With this change. the United States will no longer lose these talented athletes to other nations because visas are not available at the right time. This is a necessary piece of legislation to fix our visa categories. and I am glad that we are able to get the support of both Chambers in a bipartisan fashion to pass this at the very end of the 109th Congress. Mr. ","speaker_name":"JOHN CONYERS","chamber":"H","state":"MI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":14.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1271,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090186397,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Utah and I also thank the gentleman from Michigan for supporting this legislation. H.R. 6427 has no budgetary impact at all. This bill would raise from 5 percent to 15 percent the percentage of patent royalties that can be retained by the governmentowned. contractoroperated labs and universities and nonprofits with annual budgets of $40 million or less in any given fiscal year under the patent laws. The bill would provide relief to smaller contracts. and incentivize these labs and universities to reinvest in their research and educational operations. The bill would only raise the ceiling for very small budgets. The majority of these contracts have much larger budgets of $100 million or more. and for those current larger budgets the 5 percent threshold would remain. This bill has no opposition. and ensures that these contracts have the necessary funding to continue their successful pursuit of revolutionary inventions by keeping a larger percentage of the patent royalty. The thrust of this bill is to give incentives for smaller institutions and labs to continue investing in research and development. ","speaker_name":"TOM LATHAM","chamber":"H","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1587,"word_count":184}
{"speech_id":1090186403,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support tonight of S. 3718. the Pool. and Spa Safety Act that has come to this body with the help and the leadership of the gentleman from Virginia . the gentlewoman from Florida . and Senator George Allen of Virginia. This legislation. if the House and Senate pass it this evening. will help to ensure that backyard pools will no longer present \"an unexpected danger to American children and families. I urge my colleagues to support this bill. I would point out to my Republican colleagues. there are no Federal mandates in this bill. There is a consumer product safety standard that would require new pool drain covers that are sold or entered into commerce and installed 1 year after date of enactment of this bill to meet certain safety standards. ","speaker_name":"JOE BARTON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1114,"word_count":147}
{"speech_id":1090186405,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This type of legislation if passed and implemented will make it much more difficult for small children who are unattended and wander out and get into these pools and spas and drown because they are not as safe as they could be. I hope that the House will unanimously pass the legislation. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JOE BARTON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":631,"word_count":62}
{"speech_id":1090186421,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The program provides grants to State dam safety agencies to assist them in improving their regulatory programs. training. and research. and to create a national inventory of dams in existence. Withthe passage of S. 2736 today. we clear the bill for the President and ensure authorization of this successful program through the year 2011. I support the bill and encourage my colleagues to do the same. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"DON YOUNG","chamber":"H","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":0.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1019,"word_count":75}
{"speech_id":1090186423,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I support the bill and urge its approval. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"JAMES OBERSTAR","chamber":"H","state":"MN","gender":"M","party":"D","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3766,"word_count":18}
{"speech_id":1090186461,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"The purported reason was to restore the fall Chinook run in the Klamath River. system. How-","speaker_name":"NICK RAHALL","chamber":"H","state":"WV","gender":"M","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":458,"word_count":16}
{"speech_id":1090186491,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"I rise in opposition to ments. with as many as 60 percent of this bill. Having just seen this legislaAmericans using dietary supplements tion within the last hour. this is a sigdaily in an effort to maintain or im- nificant change to current law. It is prove their healthy lifestyles one that has had no House hearings Many responsible dietary supplement during this session. This is what we companies and manufacturers already used to describe at the State level as voluntarily report serious adverse the dangerous time for legislation. and events associated with their products this is clearly one of those instances. to the FDA. However. in order to en- I dont think that anybody is opposed sure the safety of consumers. all com- to decreasing the number of adverse panies should be required by law to re- events or of serious adverse events. But port such events. This bill accom- when you read through the bill. the plishes that goal. level of problem that can occur that The legislation before us today would would result in an adverse event can be amend. the Food. Drug. and Cosmetic relatively minor. an adverse event ocAct to require that the manufacturer. curring from the abuse of a drug. which packer or distributor of a dietary sup- would require companies to report to. plement or overthecounter drug no- the FDA. adverse event occurring from tify the FDA within 15 business days of the withdrawal from a drug. any failany serious adverse event reports it re- ure of expected pharmacologic action ceives that are associated with one of of the drug itself. This is just a huge their dietary supplements or overthe- reach right at this point for the FDA counter products. and the Secretary. A serious adverse event is described So I would encourage the House to as a healthrelated event that results not support this bill. ","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2558,"word_count":314}
{"speech_id":1090186497,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Including the Consumers Union. the Center for Science in the Public Interest. the Consumer Healthcare Products Association. the National Nutritional Foods Association. the Council for Responsible Nutrition. the American Herbal Products Association. and the United Natural Products Alliance. The Dietary Supplement and Nonprescription Drug Consumer Act is necessary legislation to safeguard Americans and uncover illegal manufacturers who are jeopardizing consumers health.","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER CANNON","chamber":"H","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2541,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090186510,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr.Speaker. I would say. again. the problem that we face right now is we have 10 pages that have been added to this -bill within the last hour. much of which does not seem to relate to the PREEMIE Act whatsoever. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.","speaker_name":"FRANK PALLONE","chamber":"H","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":259,"word_count":50}
{"speech_id":1090186517,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I thank Chairman BARTON for giving me an opportunity. I hope we can work out with the other side. and of course. they are doing the due diligence they should do in watching in these waning hours. that as we approach sine die to look out for any mischief. but I think as Representative TERRY described. this is a very good piece of legislation that was added to an outstanding piece of legislation. the PREEMIE Act. I am standing to support the PREEMIE Act. not the additions. but hopefully. like I say. the concerns can be allayed and we can work this out. But I am the granddad of premature. indeed immature. infants that were born at 26 weeks. weighing 1.12 ounces. They are 9yearolds today. My daughter is on the board of directors of the March of Dimes of the State of Georgia and has worked very hard and asked me to support this bill. As Chairman BARTON says. this is the number one piece of legislation for the national March of Dimes. and I would really hate to see this great bill go down sine die because of -some additions to it. but hopefully. those will be accepted by the other side. and I support the bill. I encourage my colleagues to support it as well.","speaker_name":"PHIL GINGREY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1183,"word_count":220}
{"speech_id":1090186529,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speakers table the bill to provide for a land exchange involving Federal lands in the Lincoln National Forest in the State of New Mexico. and for other purposes. with a Senate amendment thereto. and concur in the Senate amendment.","speaker_name":"RICHARD POMBO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":284,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090186539,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speakers table the bill to reauthorize grants for and require applied water supply research regarding the water resources research and technology institutes established under the Water Resources Research Act of 1984. with Senate amendments thereto. and concur in the Senate amendments.","speaker_name":"RICHARD POMBO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":339,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090186543,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speakers table the Senate bill to amend the National Historic Preservation Act to provide appropriation authorization and improve the operations of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.. and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.","speaker_name":"RICHARD POMBO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":303,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090186545,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Resources be discharged from further consideration of the Senate bill to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate portions of the Musconetcong River in the State of New Jersey as a component of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. and for other purposes. and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.","speaker_name":"RICHARD POMBO","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":11.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":383,"word_count":65}
{"speech_id":1090186555,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speakers table the bill to provide for programs to increase the awareness and knowledge of women and health care providers with respect to gynecologic cancers. with a Senate amendment thereto. and concur in the Senate amendment.","speaker_name":"JOE BARTON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":282,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090186558,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"On top of that. many doctors misdiagnose this disease. with 85 percent of women reporting they do not know which symptoms to look for. For all our progressthrough research at the NIH. at the Department of Defense. and with the recent approval of the HPV vaccineJohannas Law recognizes that one- of the most effective weapons we have to beat gynecologic cancers like ovarian. cervical. and uterine cancer is public education. In creating a federal campaign to educate women and. health care providers alike. as this legislation does. we can take a bold step toward ensuring women know which symptoms to look for and how to seek help before it is too late. This legislation represents only a first step. But this is a fight every woman has a stake ina fight the Silver family has dedicated itself to making sure we win. And so I urge my colleagues to help us pass this bill and take such an important step forward. It is. indeed. an idea whose time has come.","speaker_name":"ROSA DELAURO","chamber":"H","state":"CT","gender":"F","party":"D","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2805,"word_count":170}
{"speech_id":1090186559,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"House Commerce Committee. Dr. Richard D. Klausner. thenDirector of the National Cancer Institute. stated \"Condoms are ineffective against HPV because the virus is prevalent not only in the mucosal tissue (genitalia) but also on dry skin of the surrounding abdomen and groin. and it can migrate from those areas into the vagina and the cervix. Additional research efforts by NCI on the effectiveness of condoms in preventing HPV transmission are not warranted.\" In 2001. the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases along with FDA. CDC. and the U.S. Agency for International Development issued a consensus report regarding condom effectiveness that concluded \"there was no epidemiologic evidence that condom use reduced the risk of HPV infection.\" In November 2002. a metaanalysis of \"the best available data describing the relationship between condoms and HPVrelated conditions\" from the previous two decades was published in the journal Sexually Transmitted Diseases. The metaanalysis concluded: \"There was no consistent evidence of a protective effect of condom use on HPV DNA detection. and in some studies. condom use was associated with a slightly increased risk for \/ these lesions.\" CDC issued a report in 2004 that concluded: Because genital HPV infection is most common in men and women who have had multiple sex partners. abstaining from sexual activity (i.e.. refraining from any genital contact with another individual) is the surest way to prevent infection. For those who choose to be sexually active. a monogamous relationship with an uninfected partner is the strategy most likely to prevent future genital HPV infections. For those who choose to be sexually active but who are not in a monogamous relationship. reducing the number of sexual partners and choosing a partner less likely to be infected may reduce the risk of genital HPV infection.... ","speaker_name":"MARK SOUDER","chamber":"H","state":"IN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":3.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":8855,"word_count":293}
{"speech_id":1090186574,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speakers table the Senate bill to amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to public health security and allhazards preparedness and response. and for other purposes. and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.","speaker_name":"JOE BARTON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":282,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090186590,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speakers table the bill to amend title XXVI of. the Public Health Service Act to revise and extend the program for providing lifesaving care for those with HIV\/AIDS. with a Senate amendment thereto. and concur in the Senate amendment.","speaker_name":"JOE BARTON","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":6.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":288,"word_count":49}
{"speech_id":1090186623,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. after five United States Forest Service fire fighters were killed in the line of duty battling the Esperanza fire to protect life and property. a fund was set up to help care for the families of these brave men. Thousands of citizens from across the country donated to this worthy cause. The response was so overwhelming that soon. the County of Riverside found itself with approximately $1 million to distribute to their survivors. The County turned to the Central County United Way in Hemet. CA to help manage these donations.Local officials were surprised to learn soon thereafter that taxexempt charitable organizations are not allowed to raise money for a group as small and specific as the families of these five American heros. My colleagues. Chairman JERRY LEWIS and Congressman KEN CALVERT. and I. along with Senators BARBARA BOXER and DIANNE FEINSTEIN. are trying to remedy this situation. The pain these families have suffered through should not be worsened due to their inability to receive funds that Americans so generously donated. Nor should the United","speaker_name":"MARY BONO MACK","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"R","district":45.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1081,"word_count":176}
{"speech_id":1090186624,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Ways and Means be discharged from further consideration of the Senate bill (S. 409i) to provide authority for restoration of the Social Security Trust Funds from the effects of a clerical error. and for others purposes. and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM THOMAS","chamber":"H","state":"CA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":22.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":332,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090186652,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"changed their vote from \"nay\" to \"yea.\" So (twothirds of those voting having responded in the affirmative) the rules were suspended and the Senate bill was passed.* The result of the vote was announced as above recorded. A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.","speaker_name":"TERRY EVERETT","chamber":"H","state":"AL","gender":"M","party":"R","district":2.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":266,"word_count":46}
{"speech_id":1090186667,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that the chairman and ranking minority member of each standing committee and each subcommittee be permitted to extend their remarks in the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. Up. to and including the RECORDS last publication. and to include a summary of the work of that committee or subcommittee.","speaker_name":"JOHN BOEHNER","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":8.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":320,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090186689,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. as in executive session. I ask unanimous consent that if cloture is invoked this morning on the Jordan nomination. there be 2 hours of debate equally divided between the chairman and ranking member and that following that time. the Senate proceed immediately to vote on the confirmation of the nomination with no intervening action or debate.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":357,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090186761,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"The following Senators were necessarily absent: the Senator from Kansas . the Senator from South Carolina . the Senator from Utah . the Senator from Arizona . the Senator from Pennsylvania . the Senator from Missouri . and the Senator from Virginia . Further. if present and voting. the Senator from Utah and the Senator from Virginia would have voted \"yea.\"","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":358,"word_count":61}
{"speech_id":1090186772,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":9,"republican":1,"speech_text":"In comparison. 18.7 percent of men carried HPV16. one of 10 highrisk strains of the virus. Over 1.350.000 women will have invasive procedures each year just to assess the status of their abnormal pap smears secondary to HPV. According to the American Cancer Society. every year over 12.000 new cases of invasive cervical cancer are diagnosed and more than 4.000 women die of the disease. And noninvasive cervical cancer is estimated to be four times as widespread as the invasive type. HPV is also associated with other forms of cancer and more than 1 million precancerous lesions that affect both women and men. Few of my patients with HPV had ever heard of the virus and were unaware of its health risks including its link to cancer. Mansof my fellow physicians were not even aware of HPV and its symptoms. In 2000. I authored legislation directing the CDC and the Food and Drug AdministrationFDAto take actions to educate the public with \"medically accurate information\" about HPV and cervical cancer. I was disappointed when groups that claimed to advocate for womens health. such as the American College of Obstetricians and GynecologistsACOG--opposed my proposal and fought to keep the public in the dark about HPV. ","speaker_name":"THOMAS COBURN","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12456,"word_count":203}
{"speech_id":1090186779,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 3248. which was received from the House. I ask unanimous consent there now be up to 60 minutes of debate equally divided between Senators ENZI and COBURN or their designees with no amendments in order. and that following the use or yielding back of the time the bill be read a third time and the Senate -proceed to a vote on passage without any intervening action or debate.","speaker_name":"MICHAEL ENZI","chamber":"S","state":"WY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":456,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090186783,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"This legislation is intended to fill the gap. This important legislation will authorize competitive grants to Aging and Disability Resource Centers in collaboration with a public or private nonprofit State respite coalition to make quality -respite available and accessible to family caregivers. regardless of age or disability. In so doing. this bill will be a winwinwin for everybody involved. Patients will be able to receive care in the home from loving. caring family members rather than in a nursing home. Family members. will be even further encouraged to serve as a family caregiver knowing that services will be available to assist them. And. finally. the Federal Government and our health care system will recognize fiscal savings asmore care will be given in the home by a family member rather than in the more costly nursing home setting. As we all know. given the aging baby boomer generation. the cost of Medicaid nursing home care is expected to be a primary reason of increased healthcare costs in the years to come. The Lifespan Respite Care bill is one step in the right direction towards controlling these costs. I would like to thank Republican Congressman MIKE FERGUSON of New Jersey for his work and dedication to this cause. He has been a champion on this issue for years and recognizes its importance based on his very personal experience. as he witnessed his father serve as a family caregiver. ","speaker_name":"JOHN WARNER","chamber":"S","state":"VA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3488,"word_count":236}
{"speech_id":1090186859,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"He knew he wanted to go into the military.\" After graduating. Josh returned one August to talk to the students in the public safety class. \"He gave us hugs.\" Tonya remembers. \"and told teachers. Everything you said was right.\" Josh Ramsey will be remembered for his compassion and his love of children. While serving in Iraq. his favorite job was distributing soccer balls and school supplies to the kids he met. He would often stop his humvee. just so he could get out and talk to people. He told his father Bruce that Iraqis simply wanted the same thing that we all dojust to get by and to take care of their families. And that was Joshalways reaching out to others. always building bridges. \"[Josh] loved his job.\" his mother Joy remembers. ","speaker_name":"MICHAEL DEWINE","chamber":"S","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4838,"word_count":132}
{"speech_id":1090186864,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":12,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I chose to stand on principle. I came to this floor. and reminded my colleagues of the 14word oath of office we each take: \"I do solemnly affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States.\" Our first responsibility. above all else. is to do our constitutional duty. Yet in the 108th Congress. the Senate failed to perform an essential constitutional- duty. It failed to offer advice and consent to the President by filibustering ten judicial nominees and threatening to filibuster another six. So nearly 2 years ago. when the 109th Congress opened. I took a stand. In the spirit of bipartisanship. I extended my hand across the aisle to the new Senate Democratic leadership. I held the sincere hope that we could move forward beyond the difficulties of the 108th Congressto a future of cooperation. I said: If my Democratic colleagues exercise selfrestraint and do not filibuster judicial nominees. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":9077,"word_count":152}
{"speech_id":1090186867,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"A lot of people do not realize this. but Pat Moynihan was also an Oklahoman. The Chicago Tribune said on November 14 of this year. such distinguished ambassadors as Democrat Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Republican Jeane Kirkpatrick also were criticized for tough talk on occasion. even when their passion proved to be right on point. In recent years. it was Jeane Kirkpatrick who called my attention to something happeningand I am not blaming anyone in this Senate. A treaty that was called the Law of the Sea Treaty received a 16to0 vote from the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. People did not realize that was a treaty that would turn over to the United Nations the jurisdiction of twothirds of the entire surface of the world and the air above it. I held hearings as a result of Jeane Kirkpatrick calling this to my attention. We were able to stop it when it was ready to be. passed in the next week. .I would say we lost a real hero. a real American hero. someone who has been figlating Communists and fundamental Islamic terrorists for her entire life. She has made a great mark. I love her dearly and will certainly miss Jeane Kirkpatrick. I yield the floor.","speaker_name":"JAMES INHOFE","chamber":"S","state":"OK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3735,"word_count":208}
{"speech_id":1090186898,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":8,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Thousands more will transition out of the military service in the coming years and will attempt to reenter the workforce or go to school under the Montgomery GI bill. There simply was no greater calling than for me to assume the leadership role to ensure our Government was effectively assisting the current generation of Americas veterans and their families. Second. I have always been nonplused. I guess. at the characterization. that the Committee on Veterans Affairs was a \"B\" committee. This characterization exists despite these facts. Mr. President. 24 million Americans have served in the military and are potentially eligible for VAadministered benefits. In addition. VA will soon have a budget over $80 billion. which is one of the largest and fastest growing budgets within Government. ","speaker_name":"LARRY CRAIG","chamber":"S","state":"ID","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":10650,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090186901,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I know his working relationship with the new chairman is such that we will continue to see progress In this area.","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":759,"word_count":21}
{"speech_id":1090186905,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"We have had a considerable amount of time to do so. This is not .a routine disagreement between Members of the House and the Senate. This is a disagreement that affects our Nation while we are at war. We have hundreds of thousands of service men and women deployed around the world. This sends a message we are not willing to take the time to finish the work necessary to assure they have the money. the funding. the facilities to do the work we have asked them to do. It will have an impact on military life and the morale of our armed services. The Military Construction appropriations bill not only contains money for military construction and for quality of life. but it also contains the money for our veterans. In total. it provides critical funding for family housing. barracks. mission facilities. implementation of the base closure and realignment process. maintenance of defense and veterans facilities. environment cleanup. the Defense Health Program. and medical care for our veterans. Now I am told that the CR does now come up to the Presidents request for the medical health program. and that really removes part of my objection to proceeding on this bill. Without this bill. the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs have to contend with this continuing resolution. ","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4475,"word_count":218}
{"speech_id":1090186920,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I said a few words on the floor the other day. I meant every one of them. Senator PAUL SARBANES has been kind enough to thank me. I wanted to say briefly that from time to time people back in Illinois would ask me: Of all those Senators whom you serve with. which ones do you respect the most? Without hesitation. I would always mention the name PAUL SARBANES. I respect him so much. not only for his intelligence and his good humor but also for his wit and his wisdom. The reflective past he has referred to in public service starts in the House of Representatives. his service on the House Judiciary Committee during the tumultuous days of the Watergate hearings. impeachment trial. and coming full circle to the Senate. He has a lifetime of public service to be proud of. ","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1211,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090186924,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"PAUL chose to dedicate himself to the service of others. From his years in the Maryland House of Delegates. to his time across the Capitol in* the House of Representatives. through his years here in the Senate. PAUL has always used his unique abilities and vast knowledge. tirelessly working towards finding solutions to the countrys most pressing issues. That is why I was so honored to be able to work closely with him in drafting portions of the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002. more commonly known as the SarbanesOxley Act. PAULS leadership as Chairman of the Banking. Housing. and Urban Affairs Committee was needed more than ever as the America people learned of the deception that corporate leaders had perpetrated. In a business culture that seemed to reward greed and devalue honesty and accountability. PAUL was able to create a bipartisan piece of legislation that mirrored his values and took a stand for countless ordinary Americans who were victims of the prevailing culture of corporate excess. It was my distinct pleasure to work with him in such a noble effort. and I believe it is fitting that such important legislation bears his name and Will serve as a testament to his character for many years to come. I will miss PAUL SARBANES. although I take comfort knowing that he wont be far away. ","speaker_name":"PATRICK LEAHY","chamber":"S","state":"VT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2687,"word_count":228}
{"speech_id":1090186936,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Yes. The definition of \"IP enabled voice service\" in this bill is not meant to be the universal definition of \"IP enabled voice service\" to be used in future legislation that involves other contexts. And. it should not be interpreted as a signal to the FCC that it should alter or change the definitions of Interconnected or IP enabled voice services that it has used in other contexts. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a bhird time and passed. the motion to reconsider be laid on the table. and that any statements relating to the measure be printed in the RECORD.","speaker_name":"TED STEVENS","chamber":"S","state":"AK","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":593,"word_count":106}
{"speech_id":1090186944,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. at this time I would like to recognize Brian Pomper. chief trade counsel for the Democratic staff on the Finance Committee. Today is Brians last day with the committee. Brian has been a real asset to the Senate. and he will be greatly missed. He has worked both with my staff and sometimes against my staff. but let me tell you this: He is the sort of person who. whether he is with you entirely or against you. is a wonderful person to work with. So at all times the lines of communication with him between our staffs always remained open. and it has always been a friendly relationship. Brian is a very warm and decent person. and I wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors. It is my understanding that he is going to go into the private sector. the cold cruel world of the private sector. I hope he enjoys it. but I want to thank him for his cooperation with us.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":889,"word_count":169}
{"speech_id":1090186973,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Democrats believe that. and that is why we support passing legislation raising the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour over 2 years before we allow Members to receive a roughly $3.000 increase. While some people may say that the amount of the automatic raise Members are foregoing-$350--is only symbolic. keep in mind that minimum wage earners only earn $206 per week. To them. $350 isnt symbolic. it is the equivalent of 68 hours worth of- hard work. Therefore. on behalf of 6 million Americans making the minimum wage. I urge Republicans to join with Democrats in passing a clean minimum wage bill in January before any automatic pay adjustment for Members takes effect.","speaker_name":"RICHARD DURBIN","chamber":"S","state":"IL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3104,"word_count":113}
{"speech_id":1090186979,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"That is an understatement. This provision would allow some but not all types of Medicare Advantage plans to enroll individuals throughout the year. Only those plans that do not offer prescription drug coverage will be given this special treatment. This may sound like a small change because it only affects a certain type of Medicare Advantage plan. But it creates an unlevel playing field between plans with no drug coverage and Medicare Advantage plans that have decided to offer prescription drug coverage.","speaker_name":"MAX BAUCUS","chamber":"S","state":"MT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":509,"word_count":82}
{"speech_id":1090186982,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"It disturbs me. that this major policy change--one that treats some plans unfairlywas included at last minute by the House rules committee. I do not operate like that. and I know you do not. either. Unfortunately. we are stuck with this provision for the time being. But I assure of my commitment to working with you as soon as possible next year to revisit this provision.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":373,"word_count":66}
{"speech_id":1090186988,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I understand the concerns of our colleagues. Certainly. there are those who think we should have gone further in this proposal. There are Senators who support going from a 3year allotment structure to a 2year allotment structure immediately. And there are Senators who want to put greater limits on how CHIP dollars can be spent. to ensure program spending prioritizes children first. Senator BAUcus and I developed a CHIP proposal that is somewhere in between but is a proposal that meets our ultimate objective of keeping childrencovered. We can have a policy debate about the merits of various proposals when we reauthorize the program next year. Nothing in this package pre.cludes us from doing that.","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":704,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090187032,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I would like to discuss a tax policy matter that is important to several Senators. Although it is not a priority for me. I pursued the issue for those Senators during the \"trailer\" bill negotiations. On my side of the aisle. the interested Senators included Senators","speaker_name":"CHARLES GRASSLEY","chamber":"S","state":"IA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":281,"word_count":48}
{"speech_id":1090187103,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I today pay tribute to Will Edd Clark. who is the general manager of the Western Dark Fired Tobacco Growers Association in Murray. KY. Will Edd has served in this role for 27 years. and during that time. he has been a tireless advocate for tobacco farmers in western Kentucky. The Western Dark Fired Tobacca Growers Association was established in 1931 and has helped administer the Federal tobacco program as well as represent the interests of tobacco growers in nine counties in western Kentucky. plus three counties. in Tennessee. In 2004. the tobacco quota buyout program was signed into law. which dismantled the Federal tobacco program that had been in place since the 1930s. Will Edd realized the benefit that the associations growers would receive from this historical piece *of legislation. and he played a vital role in securing its passage. Now that the tobacco quota program is gone. the Western Dark FireQl Tobacco Growers Association has decided to close its operations at the end of 2006. Although the association will no longer be in existence. the associations historical papers will be kept by Murray State University. which will preserve the legacy of Will Edd as a true supporter of Kentuckys tobacco industry. ","speaker_name":"MITCH MCCONNELL","chamber":"S","state":"KY","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1548,"word_count":205}
{"speech_id":1090187106,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"He attended Horace Mann Junior High School and Omaha Central High School. He later earned an equivalency degree before enlisting in the Nebraska Army National Guard. Sergeant Mulhair served with the Army in Korea in addition to two tours in Iraq. On November 30. 2006. while serving in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom with A Troop. 1st Squadron. 7th Cavalry Regiment. !st Calvary Division. of Fort Hood. TX. Sergeant Jeremy Mulhair passed away when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle in Taji. Iraq. He was 35 years old and had been serving in Iraq since October. Giving his life in service to our country. Sergeant Jeremy Mulhair is the paradigm of courage and selflessness. ","speaker_name":"BEN NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1716,"word_count":115}
{"speech_id":1090187115,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to talk about a bill that we have been trying to pass for several years nowthe Water Resources Development Act. Yet. again. we were not able to pass this bill that is not only important for the State of Florida. but also for the country. It includes two particularly key projects for Everglades Restoration: Indian River Lagoon and Picayune Strand. Both of these projects are critical to \"getting the water right\" and restoring the natural environment of Americas Everglades. As incoming Chair of the Senate Environment Committee. will it be a priority of the new Chair. Senator BOXER of California. to pass the WRDA as soon as possible in the 110th Congress?","speaker_name":"BILL NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"FL","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":687,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090187116,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Yes. I commit to my friend from Florida. Senator BILL NELSON. that as the new chair of the Environment Committee. WRDA will abso. lutely be a priority for the committee. I look forward to working with him on projects important to Florida and passing WRDA as a whole as soon as possible in the 110th Congress.","speaker_name":"BARBARA BOXER","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":308,"word_count":56}
{"speech_id":1090187125,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. at the end of the year. a longtime public servant who is a former congressional staff member will retire after 40 years of distinguished Government service to the Nation. Since 1990. Anthony J. Zagami has been general counsel of the Government Printing Office. the longest serving general counsel in the agencys history. and I welcome this opportunity to commend him for his long and outstanding career. Tony has been general counsel at GPO for the past 16 years. Before that. he had worked ably with us in a variety of positions in the Senate. I first met him in the 1970s. when he was an impressive young aide in our Senate Democratic cloakroom. At the time. Tony was also earning his law degree from George Mason University School of Law in Arlington. and his strong commitment to public service impressed us all. ","speaker_name":"EDWARD KENNEDY","chamber":"S","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1379,"word_count":144}
{"speech_id":1090187127,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":1,"speech_text":"CO] Fund Management Reform Act of 1994 was enacted into law. which. among other things. created the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians. While I truly believe that as a result of these -and other enactments. and reform initiatives within the Department of the Interiorin part in response to court orders in the Cobell casethere have been improvements in at least some areas of trust management. we still have a very long way to go before the business of Indian trust reform is complete. \" I will not even try to recount here the difficult history of the relationship between the United States and its native peoples. But I am pleased to say that the past 25 years have brought significant advancements in the lives of many Indian people as a result of better access to education. health care and housing. and because of economic development in some parts of Indian Country. However. there are still many unacceptable disparities between conditions in many Indian communities and those of nonIndian communities in this country. S. 1439 represents an attempt to address one particular component that affects the economic wellbeing of many. Indian people: the way in whichndian trust and restricted assetsland. minerals. water. timber. crops. and the revenues derived from these resourcesare managed by the United States. The performance of the United States over the past 125 years in its capacity as trustee and manager of Indian trust and restricted lands is not something to be proud of. The policy of allotting Indian tribal lands. which had become the general Federal Indian policy in the 1180s. was one of several federal \"experiments\" in Indian matters that have had regrettable results both for the Indian tribes and for the Government. This policy of the 19th Century has come backto haunt us now in the form of fractionated ownership of allotted landswhere some parcels of land are owned by dozens. often hundreds and in some cases even over a thousand different individual Indian owners. ","speaker_name":"JOHN MCCAIN","chamber":"S","state":"AZ","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":5942,"word_count":333}
{"speech_id":1090187131,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Congress created a safety net in the Secure Rural Schools and Community SelfDetermination Act of 2000. This provided funding to bounties based on historic rather than current timber harvest levels. And not just Oregon counties. In the life of that legislation. California received California received $308 million. Idabo $102 million. and Montana. $63.4 million. That program expired. on our watch. 2 months ago. My colleague from Oregon and I have left no stone unturned to find money for an extension. Those efforts have been unsuccessful and we stand here. with our timber dependent counties. at the mercy of the Government. Their plight is compounded by a second Federally created disaster in Oregons commercial salmon fishing industry. delivering a double blow to many of the same counties. ","speaker_name":"GORDON SMITH","chamber":"S","state":"OR","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":3967,"word_count":126}
{"speech_id":1090187132,"chunk_id":4,"total_chunk_count":10,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Unfortunately. because of our disproportionate focus on Iraq. we are not using enough of our military and intelligence capabilities for defeating alQaida and other terrorist networks around the world. While we have been distracted in Iraq. terrorist networks have developed new capabilities and found new sources of support throughout the world. We have seen terrorist attacks in India. Morocco. Turkey. Afghanistan. Indonesia. Spain. Great Britain. and elsewhere. The administration has also failed to adequately address the terrorist safe haven that has existed for years in Somalia and the recent instability that has threatened to destabilize the region. ","speaker_name":"RUSSELL FEINGOLD","chamber":"S","state":"WI","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":12116,"word_count":97}
{"speech_id":1090187143,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":7,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I am only sorry he will not be here next year as we work to reauthorize it. In his years as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Senator DEWINE emerged as a leader in the area of antitrust law and competition policy. Both as the chairman and the ranking Republican member of the Antitrust Subcommittee. MIKE has played an invaluable role in each significant legislative change to the antitrust laws enacted in the past decade. In addition to his legislative achievements in antitrust law. Senator DEWINE has become known for the subcommittees active oversight of the antitrust enforcement activities of the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission. During the subcommittees consideration of numerous individual mergers. his thoughtful analysis and evenhanded approach earned him considerable respect in the antitrust community as a tough. but eminently fair. advocate of both consumer interests and strong competition. Earlier this year at the American Antitrust Institutes annual conference. where he and Senator KOHL received an achievement award for their many contributions to antitrust law. Senator DEWINE commented that \"[i]ts always difficult to find that fine line between aggressive. healthy competition and destructive or anticompetitive behavior. but its our job on the Antitrust Subcommittee to keep trying. and to promote the type of competition that helps everyone.\" From my perspective. ","speaker_name":"ORRIN HATCH","chamber":"S","state":"UT","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":6809,"word_count":216}
{"speech_id":1090187151,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":1,"speech_text":"RICK SANTORUM. and JIM TALENT have served their constituents with honor and distinction during their tenure here in the U.S. Senate. All care very deeply for this great Nation and I hope they will have continued success in their future endeavors. Senator CONRAD BURNS and I have had a great working and personal relationship over the last 8 years. He and his wife Phyllis have become dear friends of my wife Mary and me. I have enjoyed our time spent together both personally and professionally. CONRAD and I watched a baseball game with our grandsons a couple of years ago in Montana. CONRAD and Phyllis also joined Mary and me at the Kentucky Derby. I wish CONRAD and his family all the best as tiey start a new chapter in their lives. Senator RICK SANTORUM is a principled conservative who is not shy to tell you where he stands. ","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2057,"word_count":149}
{"speech_id":1090187152,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"His work with the National Nanotechnology Initiative will also help our country compete globally as other countries continue to emerge. Senator ALLEN understands that America must remain home to the best and brightest. I will miss working with him in this Chamber. and I will miss his friendship and support on the issues that matter most to America.","speaker_name":"KAY HUTCHISON","chamber":"S","state":"TX","gender":"F","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1235,"word_count":58}
{"speech_id":1090187156,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to discuss -the assurances my friend and colleague from Oregon and I have received from U.S. Trade Representative. USTR. Susan Schwab and Assistant Secretary of Commerce David Spooner about the import monitoring program on Vietnamese textiles and apparel. In response to concerns raised by Sexiator DOLE and Senator GRAHAM about the impact of Permanent Normal Trade Relations. PNTR. for Vietnam. Ambassador Schwab and Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez wrote a letter stating their intention to monitor U.S. textile and apparel imports from Vietnam and selfinitiate antidumping investigations if the normal elements of an antidumping case can be demonstrated. The Commerce Department will conduct a review every 6 months. and the program will last until the end of this administration. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":920,"word_count":124}
{"speech_id":1090187165,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"All other titles of this bill authorize increases in funding except title IV. which is flat funded. I pushed hard to secure a comparable increase for title IV. and although I am disappointed with the final outcome. I realize this is an authori zation bill. not an appropriations bill. and I will work to secure increased funding for this critical title. Unfortunately. it appears that the 109th Congress will come to a close without the House and Senate having passed a LaborHHSEducation appropriations bill for fiscal year 2007. It is a failure on the part of the leaders in the House and Senate that we did not debate this bill and have an opportunity to increase funding for the Ryan White CARE Act. As we look to the next Congress. I urge my colleagues and the whole advocacy community to join me in fighting for providing adequate funding for this program. I believe that the bill passed unanimously in the Senate is a fair compromise which stabilizes funding for cities and States and urban and rural areas for the next 3 years. Without this legislation. 17 Statesincluding Connecticutand the District of Columbia stand to lose millions of dollars next year. This legislation is now before the House of Representatives. ","speaker_name":"CHRISTOPHER DODD","chamber":"S","state":"CT","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4560,"word_count":209}
{"speech_id":1090187176,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. earlier today I spoke on the Senate floor about the need to pass the Indian Health Care Improvement Reauthorization bill. My colleagues. Senator MCCAIN and Senator ENZI. have worked long and hard over the past several weeks to address the many objections that have been raised by the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services. Those negotiations have brought clarity to the positions of the administration and have helped to define how legislation can best address the health crisis in Indian country. In an effort to memorialize those discussions. I am joining Senators MCCAIN and ENZI in cosponsoring the Indian Health Care Improvement Act Amendments of 2006. The bill being introduced tonight reflects. to a significant extent. the bill that the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs approved in October 2005. It also reflects the many hours of negotiations and meetings with the administration. the Indian Affairs Committee. the Finance Committee. and the Health. Education. .Labor and Pensions Committee. ","speaker_name":"BYRON DORGAN","chamber":"S","state":"ND","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2023,"word_count":164}
{"speech_id":1090187178,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":0,"speech_text":"This is an oversight which needs to be corrected. This legislation is supported by the Disabled American Veterans. the American Legion. the American Legion Auxiliary. the American Association of People With Disabilities. the Veterans of Foreign Wars. and the ParalyzedVeterans of America.","speaker_name":"BEN NELSON","chamber":"S","state":"NE","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1594,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090187187,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. in response to my colleague. through the Chair. there are a number of pieces of legislation we are continuing to look at tonight. I know this is one about which discussions are ongoing. We will actually be looking at that with many others. I have to say we do have scores and scores of pieces of legislation that are similar that have come forwardnot exactly. they have not gone through two authorization projectsthat have to be considered as well.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":463,"word_count":81}
{"speech_id":1090187197,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Inc.. is \"Seizing the Opportunity to Provide World Class Leadership. Friendship and Service.\" The members of the. North Jersey Chapter of Links. Inc.. exemplify that motto. Mr. President. I am pleased to recognize the dedication and commitment of the North Jersey Chapter of Links. -Inc.. members to help others. I urge my. colleagues to join me in thanking these individuals for helping fellow New. Jerseyans live longer and healthier lives.0","speaker_name":"ROBERT MENENDEZ","chamber":"S","state":"NJ","gender":"M","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2454,"word_count":70}
{"speech_id":1090187198,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Operation Desert Storm. Somalia. the bombings of our embassies in Africa. 9\/11 andi the hunt for Osama bin Laden. the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. as well as the current tensions with Iran and North Korea. Joyce has been a tremendous help over the past 27 ydars in getting the members and staff of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence the information and briefings we need to do our work. Thank you for your service. Joyce. and we wish you a healthy and prosperous retirement..","speaker_name":"PAT ROBERTS","chamber":"S","state":"KS","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1707,"word_count":85}
{"speech_id":1090187202,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I rise today to introduce legislation that will give tangible relief to the families of the five federal firefighters killed in the devastating Esperanza fire in southern California this October. The Esperanza fire tragically claimed lives. homes and other buildings. while burning more than 40.000 acres. No one has felt the pain of this heartbreaking disaster more than the families of Mark \"Lotzie\" Loutzenhiser. Jess McLean. Jason McKay. Daniel HooverNajera. and Pablo Cerda. These five men served honorably while exhibiting the utmost bravery in the name of helping others. They gave the ultimate sacrifice. and so have their families. who must now go on without a father or a son. a brother or a husband. ","speaker_name":"DIANNE FEINSTEIN","chamber":"S","state":"CA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2903,"word_count":117}
{"speech_id":1090187230,"chunk_id":3,"total_chunk_count":5,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Given the shortness of time and the critical need to pass this important legislation today. before this Congress adjourns. I agreed to this change rather than insisting that the entire funding transfer be stricken. I wish to make clear that my position on this bill tonight should not be viewed as signaling any intent on my part to fund these activities in 2009 and beyond. To the contrary. I do not anticipate that the Appropriations Committee will be in a position to fund these activities in 2009. 2010. or in any other year. I agreed to this date change to give the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs a full 22 monthsalmost 2 yearsto revisit this legislation and bring the costs of these activities back into the mandatory budget. If not. these activities will go unfunded. And it will not be the fault of the Appropriations Committee if they do go unfunded. My tolleagues on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee are on notice and the Postmaster General is on notice. The funding transfer included in this bill for 2009 and beyond will need to be fixed. ","speaker_name":"PATTY MURRAY","chamber":"S","state":"WA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4745,"word_count":189}
{"speech_id":1090187234,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R. 5682. the United StatesIndia nuclear agreement. that the conference report be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":262,"word_count":42}
{"speech_id":1090187297,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Chair now lay before the Senate a message from the House of Representatives to accompany S. 895 to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to carry out a rural water supply program in the Reclamation States to provide a clean. safe. affordable. and reliable water supply to rural residents.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":338,"word_count":57}
{"speech_id":1090187328,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"I ask unanimous consentthat on December 22. 2006. between the hours of 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. committees have the authority to file special reports on nonlegislative matters only. This does not include executive matters such as treaties or nominations. nor does it allow committees to report bills or resolutions after the sine die adjournment.","speaker_name":"WILLIAM FRIST","chamber":"S","state":"TN","gender":"M","party":"R","district":null,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":341,"word_count":55}
{"speech_id":1090187526,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":1,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Mr. Speaker. on rollcall No. 528: waiving a requirement of clause 6(a) of rule XIII with respect to consideration of certain resolutions reported from the Committee on Rules and providing for consideration of motions to suspend the rules. and for other purposes. had I been present. I would have Voted \"yes.\"","speaker_name":"CHARLES NORWOOD","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"M","party":"R","district":9.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":308,"word_count":51}
{"speech_id":1090187527,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":3,"republican":0,"speech_text":"Speaker. Mr. Green does note one trend that I think we should all be trying to overcomenamely. that \"state support (of community colleges and junior colleges) continues to decline.\" Many people with whom I have discussed the problem of inequality in America have noted that the most important thing. to do to help close that gap is to increase educational opportunity. I profess to be somewhat skeptical that this is going to do as much as many argue. but that is no reason not to go forward with increased educational opportunity as much as we can. And this will not happen if we allow \"state support (to) contihue to decline\" for these schools. They are an essential avenue for young people from families that are not affluent to begin achieving a college education. Mr. Speaker. I hope my colleagues will read Mr. Greens words and accept the relevance of what he says to our job of increasing public support for higher education. ","speaker_name":"BARNEY FRANK","chamber":"H","state":"MA","gender":"M","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1831,"word_count":162}
{"speech_id":1090187531,"chunk_id":0,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Madam Speaker. I rise today to honor MIKE OXLEY. a man who will be greatly missed in this House. Not only does he have more friends in this chamber than nearly anyone else. he has compiled one of the most distinguished legislative records in this body. I have had the privilege of knowing MIKE for more than thirty years going back to when we served together in the Ohio Legislature and he has been a good friend to have over that entire period of time. In Congress. MIKE has not only been involved in the issues of the day. he has been a good athlete and has led his colleagues in pursuing healthful activities. He was Chairman of the Gym Committee. In College. we used to think that anyone who became a three letter man was something special. MIKE has been a three letter man here and much more. He was the manager of the Republican Congressional Baseball. ","speaker_name":"PAUL GILLMOR","chamber":"H","state":"OH","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":1661,"word_count":158}
{"speech_id":1090187537,"chunk_id":1,"total_chunk_count":2,"republican":1,"speech_text":"Whos Who in America. Whos Who in the South and Southwest. Biographee for the Directory of Distinguished Americans. and Personalities of the South. Jeanette currently serves as president of the Homeless Veterans Services of Dallas. working diligently to obtain single residence housing for homeless veterans. In addition. she serves as president of the Womens Auxiliary of the Greater Hawkins Veterans Association. maintaining a memorial in honor of local veterans. Without a doubt. Jeanettes service to her community is extensive. and on behalf of the people living in the 5th District of Texas. I applaud her for her commitment to both her community and her country.","speaker_name":"JEB HENSARLING","chamber":"H","state":"TX","gender":"M","party":"R","district":5.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":2029,"word_count":105}
{"speech_id":1090187564,"chunk_id":2,"total_chunk_count":4,"republican":0,"speech_text":"When President Bush signed an executive order authorizing unlawful spying on American citizens. he circumvented the courts and the law. and he violated the separation of powers provided by the Constitution. Once the program was revealed. he then tried to hide the scope of his offense from the American people by making contradictory. untrue statements. President George W. Bush has failed to preserve. protect. and defend the Constitution of the United States. he has failed to ensure that senior members of his administration do the same. and he has betrayed the trust of the American people. With a heavy heart and in the deepest spirit of patriotism. I exercise my duty and responsibility to speak truthfully about what is before u.. To shy away from this responsibility would be easier. But I have not been one to travel the easy road. I believe in this country. and in the power of our democracy. I feel the steely conviction of one who will not let the country I love descend into shame. for the fabric of our democracy is at stake. ","speaker_name":"CYNTHIA MCKINNEY","chamber":"H","state":"GA","gender":"F","party":"D","district":4.0,"nonvoting":"voting","speech_char_length":4171,"word_count":180}